The explosion startled Master Crow, and when he looked up, he was stunned to find nine red lightning serpents staring him down through a hole caused by the explosion.
Run!
"IT'S HEAVENLY THUNDER!" Master Crow roared in fear as he flew out of the mountain at breakneck speed. But as he flew he felt a little heavier. And when he looked down to find the cause, he found a smiling Shadow Five who had latched onto his thigh and was holding on for dear life...
Pa!
"Get off!" Master Crow flung a backhand slap at Shadow Five and knocked him away!
"Master!" Shadow Five screamed in surprise as he fell. He had never expected that his Master, whom he had always looked up to as a father would ruthlessly abandon him like this. And to make matters worse, Crow didn't just stop after flinging him away, he had even sent some of his dark mist to restrict him by tying him up and kept him trapped inside the mountain, leaving him to his own demise!
Carrying Shadow Five along wouldn't drag Crow down in any way, but Crow knew for a fact that this kind of tribulation only happens if someone broke an oath, and since he didn't do it then that only left Shadow Five and that peculiar hog. Shadow Two had yet to regain consciousness after being knocked out by him earlier so he could be ruled out.
So, after assuming that the oathbreaker might be in the mountain with him, Crow didn't hesitate to abandon the Magical hog, the unconscious Shadow Two, and the dumb Shadow Five behind when he escaped. And although he had initially planned to just leave them and run, seeing Shadow Five clinging to him scared him terribly! What if this bastard was the one that broke the oath, then wouldn't it mean the lightning would strike him as well?!
And judging from how stupid this fellow usually acted, breaking an oath wouldn't be something he would put past him. So, Crow tied the fellow up and ran away.
Inside the Palace.
"Brother Nick, what are you looking at?" Loyd asked curiously upon finding Nick staring randomly in space. And Loyd was also holding a large metal pole with him as well. According to Nick this was a lightning rod, and it could chase away lightning…
"Hahaha! Great! This is great! Claire, prepare that talisman of yours!" Nick ignored Loyd and began hurrying Claire.
Since he could see the outside world then he could obviously also see the tremors and collapse that took place in the cellar.
And according to the Old geezer, this lightning would soon reach this palace space following the special tunnel Nick had used to enter this place. Which was back in the cellar.
But Nick wasn't worried, since Claire had confidently said she could deal with it by using the talisman, then he would just watch her perform. In fact, if one looked closely then this could even be the best opportunity one could find to escape from that goddamn mountain.
As a powerful assassin, Master Crow should be able to tell what kind of lighting these were, and he should soon understand the dangers of staying here, so he should attempt to flee soon enough, and when that time came Nick would rush out, save Piggy and leave this godforsaken mountain. And after that, if Master Crow could still catch him, then he could only admit defeat to this powerful senior!
But, contrary to Nick's predictions, there was one problem that not only him, but even Master Crow hadn't considered. And that was, even if one wanted to flee after the Heavenly lightning showed up, would the Heavens still allow it?!
Master Crow had just run out of the mountain when he saw the large barrier erected around the mountain that seemed to be crawling with the same dark red destructive lighting! It seemed that escaping this mountain before the tribulation ended would be nothing but a pipe dream!
But this didn't mean Master Crow intended to go back in, no, judging from the eight remaining lightning serpents in the sky who were still staring down the mountain he knew that being outside would be a lot safer than staying inside.
Boom!
The second lightning struck!
And with it, followed utter chaos!
Half of the mountain, which had been terrifyingly large just a moment ago, had turned to ash! And this had caused the inner mountain to be visible from a higher angle. The roof of the secret layer in the mountain which had been nearly a hundred meters thick, no longer existed.
But it didn't stop there, after decimating most of the mountain the second Lightning serpent still had energy left over to explode and spread tiny lightning flakes all around the inner mountain which had now lost its cover. And those tiny flakes of lightning began eroding the walls from the inside and recking the place by drilling many holes on the supporting walls of the mountain.
Oiiiiiink! Piggy who had been panting heavily while lying on the table in the main hall of the secret layer, squealed in pain as a tiny flake of lightning landed on one of her feet turning it to ash in mere seconds.
Nick could only see a tiny bit of the destruction that was happening due to the cellar being built bellow the mountain, and the outside viewing function of the system which allowed him to see things a kilometer away didn't help in this situation since it couldn't let him see through walls. So he didn't know the amount of agony Piggy had gone through or was going through at the moment.
Piggy soon stopped crying in pain and used her remaining three legs to stand up. And as she looked up, she found a couple of mean-looking flashy serpents staring down arrogantly at her. And after staring back at them for a second Piggy looked back at her body and saw the two long needles sticking out of her waist and her severed leg, and swore to one day seek revenge on those serpents and that bastard that kept on shoving needles in her!
Yet little did Piggy know, that she had just sworn to fight against the Heavens themselves!
Piggy then began to stumble around as she attempted to walk on her three feet. And although the pain was agonizing, she still walked forward step by step, in the direction of that cellar. Because that was the last place, she had seen Nick in, and Nick was the only person that always took very good care of her. Usually, he would mess with her and annoy her but he would also feed her delicious things and pet her head as he sat down. As for her mother, her mother spent most of her time chasing after Silver bugging him to be her husband so she didn't look after Piggy much.
And while Piggy dragged her bloodied figure across the room, Shadow Two had been woken up by a large boulder that had fallen right on his back. Moreover, since he had been unconscious he hadn't set up his defense so the pain was indescribable.
When Shadow Two first looked around he had searched for his Master hoping to plea for forgiveness. But no matter how he looked at it, this place was no longer that secret layer, but hell! The ceiling was crashing down, the walls were caving in, tiny sparks of lightning would land on the ground and either cause loud terrifying explosions or just silently turn everything they touched to ash! But the biggest and scariest part about this situation was that he couldn't move! Master Crow's dark mist had bound him tightly and restricted all movement and energy manipulation!
"Help! Master! Brothers! Please, I need help!" Shadow Two roared in fear as tears streamed down his cheek. He didn't want to die, not like this!
But as Shadow Two screamed, an image, that he would remember for the rest of his life, regardless of how short or long it might be, soon entered his eyes.
Right in front of him, the weird and quirky pig he usually saw playing around with Nick back in that weird space, was now passing by him as blood continuously gushed down from her absent leg and the large needles in her waist twisted in her flesh with her every step. And yet this determined pig with her gritted teeth and bloodshot eyes kept on moving forward, her destination unknown to Shadow Two.
But without even knowing it Shadow Two began using his only available and usable tool that could still move under these circumstances, his chin, to drag himself forward as he moved behind Piggy, and although he looked comical and was slow as a snail when he moved, it didn't matter to him at the moment because his mind, influenced by the little pig's determination, made him do it regardless!
The third lightning serpent, which was much larger than both the first two serpents combined stepped forward and prepared to attack. But this serpent seemed to possess some degree of intelligence, because it didn't blindly strike the mountain like the first two, instead, its eyes lit up a golden color as it searched for its main target. And although it couldn't find the person, it did find the general location! The cellar!
Boom!
This lightning used the opening at the top of the mountain to maneuver through the inner halls of the mountain and soon arrived directly above the cellar! And what followed next was another wave of destruction!
And this time, Nick could see it all happen because the cellar was the target. It was like watching a show in 3D, the fireworks and destruction was…beautiful!
Before the lightning could even properly touch the cages inside most of them had been liquefied and were now puddles. And soon the cellar suffered the same fate as the mountain outside, as it got wrecked beyond measure.
Nick gasped in fear as he saw all this. How could something so terrifying just appear because someone just didn't keep a promise?! Weren't the heavens just a little too…free?! How could they send all this wrath down on someone just because they didn't honor a deal?
"Hey, Claire?"
"Yes?"
"Are you confident about that little talisman of yours?"
"If Master Nick helps me in reducing its powers to the limit of the lower world, then I'm a hundred percent confident!" Claire patted her chest in pride. But only she knew how frightened she truly was, she didn't know if Nick was capable of keeping his promise and weakening the lightning to that extent.
Of course, Claire didn't also know that the lightning would actually be coming straight from the lower world itself not this weird space they were in, so Nick didn't even need to weaken it! The world outside would do it for him!
Nick just needed to pretend like he was responsible for it and take the credit later on. Since Nick knew how rich and powerful Claire's father was, he figured that she must have a lot of treasures, so Nick planned on using this moment as an excuse to get a few decent items from her later on…