Eterna Nieve, which means eternal snow…
…endless of pureness that yearned for the skies, but alas, its finish goal was too dramatic. While the genesis of the dirty mound merely was the surfaced crust, may sound romantic. A volcanic arc system activity that went through the arduous process, sinking the oceanic plates and dragging water down with the subduction crust to buckle and fold the outer layer, hence a mountain range such as Eterna Nieve was born… in an attempt so that the earth could reunite with the skies, just like before the creation day.
But then again… the earth and the skies were never meant to be one, for the skies acted as a conserved roof and the earth acted as a preserved floor. They weren't one of a kind, but two of a kind which complemented each other.
Eterna Nieve was the one and only metaphysical example of an altitude for an object that could come close to the skies. Having the highest peak in the continent, Eterna Nieve was situated on the western edge of Jaderural Plains and became one of the famous destinations of worshipping places for many pilgrimages. Following the ten thousand steps that would eventually take them to the white desert, where the gods granted it with the eternal snow falling endlessly from the skies. Because in their belief, Eterna Nieve brought them closer to the gods who resided beyond the skies… becoming one of the sacred places where many pilgrimages climbing the ten thousand steps on every first month of winter… confessing all of their sins above the everlasting whiteness for the sake of cleanliness of their sins.
Not excluding a savage confession from a savage abomination,
"Ghgaaaaaaghh!"
Violently falling from skies, a shrieking sound was heard echoing over the barren white desert… coming from the winged creature whose feeble body couldn't be controlled before the mercy of gravity and overpowered pressure generated from the sheer force of the one-horned Devil who watched the process coldly from the skies… as cold as the ambience surrounding.
Bruises all over the body, fractured bones might be common to have, burned limbs and displaced shoulder joint that was caused by overusing the oversized sword which now only half of it that still intact—the other half had been shattered into dust particles after this prolonged battle in which the Devil bested the winged creature in many aspects.
The harmful collision was seemingly inevitable. No matter how mushy the snow beneath appeared to be, falling from such an altitude with those injuries the winged creature suffered from, coupled with acceleration due to gravity and the pushing force of the Devil's spell… even though there was a slight chance to survive, the body would be immobilized out of shock and the nerves would go numb from hypothermia… yet the pain would begin to diminish because of it though,
Either way, that kind of condition would only bring disadvantages within this intensifying battle. Moreover the Devil apparently began to take it seriously, so did the winged creature, rejecting to give up despite the circumstance seemed unfavorable.
Therefore, in the midst of such a desperate situation, the winged creature charged up the energy that was left in her body, then channeled it to the half-broken sword to send an explosive energy directing toward the iced ground beneath. Destruction was no the purpose, instead as an antidote. A shock wave from the explosion she caused would push herself upward and negate the other force that pushing herself downward. Though her explosion appeared more weaker than the opposing force, at least it could minimize the damage upon landing.
Dispersing the snow was, as the explosion occurred, scattering all of its white powder seeds as the winged creature collided all of her limbs into it. All of those white dusts, somehow, were creating particles of mirage that could only be perceived by the winged creature herself. The scattered snow that blocked her vision from all around, surrounded her from all directions… giving an illusion of gentle and quiet snowfall that once being loved by her dear departed son; and for now, out of nowhere and never once expecting it before, the figure of her special person was appeared before her very eyes: a blonde-haired son who was smiling under the snowfall… and that sweet moments of her… flashing all of a sudden in the midst of chaos and distracting her from the current problem,
The snow beneath her slowly turned into bloody crimson, slowly stained by the drip of blood that came from the broken limbs concurrently with the time around her that seemingly appeared slower. Dragging her knees and pulling her hands above the iced crimson floor, the winged creature then crawled, trying to get closer once she realized who was that blonde kid… disregarding the fact that it was all purely a fantasy.
One sad fantasy.
"Huh?"
Until the sudden presence of the Devil that was getting closer woke her up, throwing her back into the reality where extreme focus was necessary to survive. The winged creature immediately looked up, noticing the one-horned Devil already moved from her place as she jumped down from the skies and was about to poke the off-guarded winged being with her wooden staff.
Ignoring all the fractured, dislocated joints in the limbs, the winged creature was then desperately trying to avoid it. With the remaining vigor that still resided inside the two large wings, she barely managed to dodge, floating all the way back to keep a safe distance from her foe who poked the iced floor instead. Such a simple attack indeed, outwardly harmless proven by the fact that the Devil barely did any damage to the iced floor. No cracks nor dissolved snow, because that wasn't the literal purpose of such an attack. Using one of every end of the wooden staff to cast a command rune, and place it on any solid surface for the runes could be written.
Played the role as the center, a circle of the runic alphabet was formed around the wooden staff in a small diameter. And a command embedded in it was to self destruct. Since every command of the rune was absolute and one should not disobey it, anything inside the rune circle was obliterated… leaving no trace,
No one forbade the winged being to exhale in relief after barely dodging such deadly magic, though it would be shorter than temporarily, for the Devil, in a blink of an eye, was nowhere to be found… she vanished yet again just to appear right behind the winged creature through a gap of space she created, later launching a sudden attack.
When the space cracked, however, the winged creature was able to perceive it long before the cracks turned into a hole, since she had learned first-hand from previous patterns of this odd arcane the Devil mastered. Alas, it meant nothing if she had no such power to best that power beyond her own.
The sheer force of will was futile,
The experience seemed inutile,
No time to escape, nor energy left to fight back… only this half-broken Wolframs could be relied on to parry the incoming attack from the one-horned Devil who just reappeared from the broken space, ready to swing the wooden staff straight toward the undisturbed winged creature as she was already anticipated it beforehand, hence she drawn the half-broken sword, placing it between her and the devil.
However, there was one variable change that was invisible to her. The Devil too being an expert at channeling her own energy into her wooden staff, forming a white light that filled all over the wooden surface—sparkling the staff and taking the shape of a weapon resembling a curved, single-edged blade which the Devil held using two hands. A wooden staff now became a white glowing blade which about to shoot its white eye-blinding energy to the stunned winged creature,
At this point, wishes to defeat the Devil already faded, let alone surviving such an attack at close range. The murky aura of Wolframs had been cleansed by the sanctity of that white-as-snow blade, and the shady shadow that took over Wolframs had been demolished before the bright force.
There was nowhere to escape, and no way to parry as the whitening energy that was already launched, moving forward slowly toward its target of purification on a large scale, forming a shape resembling a white crescent moon that transversed the horizon… urging to swallow its incapacitated target.
'Well, this is it. My glorious end so full of sins.'
Closing her eyes, the winged creature smiled to welcome this white of smite.
'I'm going to see you again soon, Kanin.'
One had once mentioned a controversial phenomenon called Life Review which only occurred during near-death experiences… flashing before one's eyes, rapidly seeing much or the totality of one's life history. Sweet moments, memories of the loved ones… all of them went implicit abruptly.
Not excluding this monstrous abomination, for she once was a human also. It was the merciless world that served as an agent of change,
Growing a loathing feeling, wasting away humanity… she was once a very loving mother who lived peacefully in a small snowy little town. Stars appeared brighter in winter which could warm the cold night breeze. While during the day, the skies too looked to be a deeper blue and clearer, bringing harmony into one's gaiety. Watching her son danced across the frozen land under the shelter of countless bright stars and a golden aurora. Nothing to fear, for his smile would never been faded into the darkness of the night. At least, not amongst these aesthetic lights…
Flashing before her mind as the winged creature closed her eyes… all of those sweet memories, for she eventually realized such moments were too good to be granted in this cruel world,
Blinding red flame light conquered the bright stars.
The golden aurora turned into a lightning pillar, raining down the iced land while the human war reigned down the peace,
Screams replaced silence,
Sweet memories had changed into sour memories,
'Erynew, was it? It may sound strange to begin to think of it. Regardless so, because it seems I begin to assure myself that the Devil moniker you so hold is too, a merely self-proclaimed one, eh? You're too powerful, and too kind. You said to protect is a reckless selfish act, but I can assure you now, that it is a selfless contemplation…
…why you may ask? It is because my son as well – he protected his mother. He was the bravest son I ever had, as if feared nothing. He trusted his future, planting his hopes and dreams inside the feeble heart of his fragile mother. And I am such a weak mother in fact, haha. My sorrow blurred my vision… my hatred turned the white snow into black ashes… I blamed those humans for their lust for power, and I cursed the world for feeding them more and more…
…I thought by claiming all kinds of power in this rotten world, humans would eventually give up and stop engaging in a fight for it. But in the end, it only made me realize that the rotten world is too enormous for me – too powerful for the weak me. If only… if only you had shown up earlier and stopped the cold steel blade just like you did for them… maybe, just maybe… we wouldn't have to end like this.'
Heat stroke was then surging her inside, indicating that the white crescent moon had devoured her whole body as well as her existence yet giving her a new ability to pour every honest emotion; unstained white sentiment; the untold sinful story which profoundly deaf for many… white confession.
A white blinding beam coming from atop a mountain which labeled sacred for some, surely would attract the attention of many, for it was visible from all across the Plains of Jaderural,
A white light above the white plains, bearing a resemblance to that kind of ritual where a white color neutralized others' colors.
Some felt frightened by this inexplicable phenomenon,
Some felt astonished by this uncommon occurrence,
Some felt blessed by this reverent event,
And some felt bothered by this galling adversity… because somewhere far from this white plains, coexisting with the current timeline… knowing what happened and what would happen…
.
.
.
.
.
"The lone survivor of the Crystal War. Code Project: Demon Vampire… has fallen."
The silence of one large room was filled by a definite type of voice—heavy sounding and rich of timbre coming from an old-looking man who was sitting on top of a throne-like armchair brown in color, situated at the end of a long rectangular table which too large for the rest four armchairs who placed in pair… both on his right and left side.
Three of them were occupied, while the rest was vacant,
Darkness was lurking from around the obsidian table. Only one simple chandelier hung above the volcanic glass table as its shiny, glass-like appearance reflected and spread the only light source inside this large room… illuminating its four residences at the same time.
Sitting antsy there a lady was… wearing a black tunic, resembling a member of some religious communities. Being the opposite of a revealing attire, this oversized silk fabric covered the whole body of the lady—from her feet to her hair, even her two eyes as well covered with a blindfold, leaving only the nostril for breathing and mouth for speaking, and likely eating as well. All of these quite taxing dress manners, exclusively to lessen the unnecessary desire from the outside and protect her piety, modesty, and humility.
Since only her nose and mouth that were visible—and a small, seemingly insignificant mole on the left side of her chin—it was quite ambiguous to determine what kind of expressions she displayed at the moment. The observers could only rely on the shape of her rosy lips and the implicit tone as she spoke. And it would soon be revealed as her lips stretched horizontally with the lower lip pushed up and the corners turned down, showing her sorrow and incredulous tone right after the old man was done with the sudden unexpected news.
"That's not possible!" snapped the lady, "Alice… has been defeated?"
"It is the truth unfortunately."
Vibrating the silence coexisted in the same dim room, the baritone voice of the old man appeared more conspicuous besides his plain facial face as if he had never ever been smiled since he was born into this world… always displaying that serious and stern face of his,
A black-covered book instantaneously appeared seemingly out of nowhere… floating above the table as the black book began to open by itself, revealing its old, fragile papers,
"Isn't that the Opus of Demon Vampire?"
With a very minimized sight, from behind the thin fabric the lady's eyes were somehow still capable of perceiving and sensing the presence of the black book which then abruptly turned into a heat source, for the black book then burnt by itself without producing any residual smoke or ash. The combustion process was a perfect one, as well as the retirement process of Alice bearing the Code Project of Demon Vampire.
The religious-looking lady had nothing to say thereafter, for it was inexpressible; she could only show an incredulous gasp through her lips.
"That freak woman finally got killed, huh? Wonder what kind of monster's capable of doing such a thing? Or maybe it's simply because she grew weaker recently."
Sitting right in front of her, across the table there was another male in the group. Voicing his harsh opinion upon the current situation – unmannerly however. His sharp-looking black hair and narrow crimson eyes in shape were not meant to intimidate, but simply to mock… either his foe or friend… for his complacent aura and smug smile told everything about him, let alone his shrill voice which always implied a disparaging tone.
"Show some respect, Tenen!" snapped the lady once again, intended for the young man whose name was known as Tenen, "She's been here long before you."
"Oh…" the smirk on Tenen's face became even more apparent instead, after being told to do something he disliked, "Since when the relation in here is about senior and junior? Isn't it always about who's the strongest? The fact that she failed at her own mission, showing how weak she became. Isn't that how you usually analyze things, Himna?"
"There's also a probability of difficulty spike. The fact that a member of Executioner must step in, meaning Redo as her Executor had met a big threat in such a way that Alice had to deal with it personally." the religious lady called Himna, replied the haughty statement of an overconfident man with a calm and precise remark, "I've known Alice for a long time. I know all of her capabilities, weaknesses and her abhorrence towards humanity. That's why I know she's not failing on her mission… she completed it in her own way, that is to warn us about the presence of a major threat."
Such powerful remarks full of logical way of thinking was a bit overkill for someone whose discourteous manner was the most prominent. Nothing could Tenen deny back, but to turn away his annoyed face as a young girl who wore a green hood with a pair of tiny horns on both of its sides as the accessories, sitting next to the religious lady, she then showed her childish expression to him as well her typical child mockery,
"Foolish Tenen." the child chuckled and smiled, revealing a child full of excitement behind that horned green hood, "You really don't know how to think, do ya? Ahaha~"
"You damn brat!"
When a little commotion was about to abruptly come along within the dim room, replacing the silence when they needed the most to plan the future movement, and the upcoming anticipation, the old man began to intervene…
"Enough!"
One prominent word echoed by such a charismatic individual was more than enough to silence his other three associates who were now beginning to take this short briefing more solemnly as soon as they heard such an aesthetic tone lurking alongside the darkness around them.
Tenen could now sit more properly but still exhibited his lazy face yet keen to listen,
Always showing her joyful face, the little girl sat freely on her own armchair which was too big for her size,
While Himna, the religious-looking lady, was paying attention with a little bit more concern about the said threat that somehow managed to defeat her dear old friend.
"Detach the unnecessary emotions, for Alice, the Demon Vampire, has fought with honor… and with honor shall she bring us the necessary information regarding the existence of this significant threat." the old man continued the subject matter, then instructed one of his associates, "Therefore for our next move… Himna. Code Project: A Hymn to Goddess."
"Yes, Master Lucafar?"
"Are you up for the task?"