Hephaestus was continuously losing his strength and was barely able to maintain his body off the ground. He gripped his hammer and lifted his ax with difficulty.
His empty eyes locked on Layla and narrowed. He already was aware that after Lanya's final move and Arima's devastating magic, it was impossible to win against her. But his mind couldn't be controlled by fear or hesitation anymore. He kicked the ground and generated a hurricane in his dash.
Layla flapped her wings and her figure disappeared. Within the following millisecond, she was already thrusting her weapon at Hephaestus. The Demon used his ax to parry the blade but the momentum propelled him back right to where he started as the earth around him was trampled.
Layla didn't waste a single second and caught up with Hephaestus who was still affected by the knockback. She stabbed the huge Demon in the chest and then kicked him as she pressed the trigger of her sword. When Hephaestus crashed again, Layla stopped attacking him and flew toward Pandora.
"[First Resurrection]." The pinkish energy manifested itself around her.
She reached Pandora and touched it directly. The box started shaking before flying away to escape Layla. But even if it was fast, it was quickly grabbed again.
Pandora produced crackling sounds as it released a dark aura while the pink one was infiltrating it. Now that Layla understood what her power could do to the box, she wouldn't hesitate to use it.
But before she could inflict more damage, Hephaestus came back with bloodshot eyes and a still open hole in his chest. His body had turned even bigger; reaching twenty meters. He had discarded his hammer and now carried a two-handed ax that was almost as big as his body.
Layla clicked her tongue and waved her hand. A thin silver barrier formed in front of her and blocked the ax. The power behind it was out of her expectations and she had to let go of Pandora.
She stopped trying to block the weapon and extended her hand toward it. She placed her palm on the side of the blade and her crystal scales became filled with a red light.
"[Burst]," she intoned and the red energy within her scales broke through the ax as it deviated.
She then swept her rapier at an incredible speed. Flashes of light went by and Hephaestus suffered countless cuts in crucial areas; neck, wrists, shoulders, knees, shins, ankles. When she was over with that, she started kicking him.
Lanya's sword techniques were mostly taught to her by Karma. And, thanks to Lilis' and Chronepsis's experience, Layla perfectly knew how to weaken the body of her opponent. As for her close combat techniques, they were all taught by Arima and finally mastered after her 'rebirth'.
Each one of her kicks thus landed on critical spots such as the temples, spine, jaw, solar plexus, ribs... Hephaestus was powerless in front of the speed and combination of those attacks. He was already bleeding from everywhere and now the kicks were stunning his nerves and softening his muscles.
When Hephaestus was unable to even lift his arms, Layla stabbed him in the heart again and pressed the trigger. Hephaestus' thorax blew up and he fell back in a bloody mess. He vomited dark blood and his softened tendons and bones were torn apart.
"Scary…" Hades muttered. If even the ruler of Hell says it, it must be true.
He wasn't the only one though. Michael and Poseidon, the two other fighters shuddered. They thought that even they couldn't concatenate that many strikes while being so fast and accurate.
But that wasn't the main reason for their stupor. The true conflict in their minds concerned the contrast between Layla's divine appearance and her vicious attacks. **
They didn't move since they knew that their help wasn't needed and that they couldn't do anything to Pandora by themselves. Ifrit wasn't an exception. So, the gods kept on watching the fight awkwardly from the sidelines until Pandora suddenly stopped moving. Chronos and Layla immediately reacted. They both clicked their tongues and flew off.
"Get away from Pandora!" Chronos shouted and everyone heeded his warning. Ifrit glanced at Karaskan who was smiling and then followed everyone.
"What's wrong?" Zeus asked Chronos as they retreated.
"Pandora is finally unlocked," he answered with a hint of stupor. "It's open."
Azes frowned. "Why were you so surprised just now? I'd thought you already knew when it would open."
"Because it changed," it was Layla's voice who responded to him. Azes immediately tensed. He looked at his right to see Layla casually flying backward as she observed Pandora. "Future sight is not absolute. There are two types of future we can see; fixed points in time, and predictions."
"The former is something that will definitely happen no matter what you do," the gods became drunk in her voice and listened attentively. "For example, if a fixed point is the death of someone, then you will never be able to save that person no matter what you try. The second type is what just happened. The future can change. That's what predictions are; a variable outlook."
"'A butterfly wagging his wings can create tornadoes'," Layla smiled. "Future can change because of the slightest influence. Pandora opened earlier than it should have probably because I interfered," she concluded and the group stared solemnly at Pandora whose lid was slowly sliding back.
"Then, for the third time," Michael raised his voice. "What will happen?"
Layla shrugged and Chronos sighed. "Invasion," they both replied.
Pandora's lid then suddenly opened. The box spun in mid-air whilst releasing a thick black fog. It stopped upside down and a strange matter fell down from the box.
The gelatinous matter landed on the ground and separated into a lot of different smaller parts. Each part started twitching and expanding. What happened after was both terrific and stunning.
Around the empty Pandora, large and complex magic circles formed everywhere and filled the air. The runes were all in Greek and were written in a way that couldn't be understood even by those who knew the language.
The earth quaked and Pandora crumbled into pieces along with the temple. Karaskan snickered and retreated as well. Millions of magic circles were already covering miles of terrain.
When the circles finally stopped appearing, the smaller parts of Pandora's matter jumped as if they were alive and went through the circles one after the other. A circle for each one. The gods watched as the small gummy-like balls gradually vanished in those runic formations. They didn't even try to destroy any of them since they could feel that those things were as indestructible as Pandora was and possibly capable of striking back.
"Those magic circles are connected to other worlds," Layla enlightened them and they nodded as if it was normal… then completely froze.
"…What did you just say?" Chulainn asked.
"These things are going into other worlds right now," Layla reiterated.
"What are they going to do there?"
"That," Lanya pointed at the only ball of matter that had remained in Hell while all of the other circles were already closing. It began to bulge and tremble as if something was erupting from inside of it. After a moment, it exploded just like a balloon would.
Then everything quieted down. The circles had long vanished and Pandora had disintegrated.
"…That's it?" Chulainn frowned deeply.
Layla shook her head. "Wait for it."
Only after five minutes of wait, something finally happened. The soil began to turn black and raised from the ground to form a sort of big mound of mud. The soil started to shape itself into a humanoid shape and soon became a sort of walking mud with red eyes.
"What is that?"
"The first one," Chronos declared and soon enough, countless mounds commenced to appear on the surface of Hell. There were both small ones, as much as an insect, and big ones, as much as a mountain.
All of them became strange monsters with humanoid appearances. Sometimes they could have horns or wings, others could have scales and big claws but they never seemed to connect with any existing species.
"This is what you meant by invasion?" Ifrit asked.
"Yes. That strange matter will spread in every world and continuously create monsters like these. They will become enemies to anything or anyone living in the world they infect. They will also become stronger overtime," Layla uttered.
"Pandora has essentially provoked a war between every living being and these evolving monsters," Chronos added. "And if Lilis hadn't cast her manifestation, maybe they would have been strong enough to destroy almost every world they invade from the get-go."
"Additionally, every world currently magic circuits will acquire them," Layla stated. "But, in any case, many will die," she paused. "And I think I realized something after all of this."
"What is it?"
"Pandora's effect. It has nothing to do with the opener. I think that its original purpose was to do this. Create a common enemy for everyone and bring mortals to another level. The only setting that the opener changes is maybe how strong the monsters will be," Layla said and looked at Karaskan who was not that far away.
"He knew this all along…" Azes muttered.
"Of course," Karaskan's voice resounded. "I participated in Pandora's construction," he blatantly declared. "That's why I also can do this," he snapped his fingers and black mud emerged around him. But it didn't transform into monsters like the rest.
Karaskan smirked and glanced at something else. Layla followed his eyes and then her expression darkened. A prediction had changed once again.
The mud crawled on the ground and reached Hephaestus who was paralyzed. It slid over him and infiltrated his body. Hephaestus' body convulsed and his heart started beating faster. Even if it had been pierced by Layla twice and was still healing, the muscle pumped stronger than ever. The Demon's limbs, bones, and flesh were forced to restore themselves.
Then, his entire being mutated. When Hephaestus stood up again, he was already as big as Chulainn himself. He even surpassed him, reaching a hundred meters in height. The black mud had also restored his ax which he now wielded with a single hand.
Karaskan jumped on Hephaestus' shoulder and chuckled.
"It's time for the final act. I already achieved my goal. Now," he snorted. "Do your best to kill me."
Layla's eyes turned cold and sharp. She beckoned Gabriel with her eyes and flapped her wings. A light flashed and she charged at the enemy.
Gabriel breathed in. "{Let's go,}" she told the gods and they all nodded before following after Layla.