12 minutes left before the Divine Banquet.
A large vehicle comes from the west gate of Citadel. It stops six meters near you as a team of 6 donning heavy protection gear opens the back trunk cargo. Freezing white smoke arises through the trunk ceiling and into the surrounding like spilled glass of visible air. The team gets into the thick smoke before coming back cradling machinations with a peculiar magic device in the shape of a staff. The staff has branching points that bend after reaching a certain degree, textured with geometrical mana line upon densest and smooth material. You don't know if appraising this dangerous artifact is legal or not.
M.A.D, a Massive Augmented Destruction, a type of artifact created or founded with high limit potential. From reviving the dead or destroying a whole continent, the M.A.D could achieve many things despite having 'Destruction' in its abbreviation sticking out like a killer with an axe on a horror flick. Only certified individuals with the verification from the ten big associations with Vagant in one of them, are permitted to use a M.A.D legally.
"That is one dangerous artifact," Lues whispered telepathically. "I made around 6 artifacts with that level of complexity, it took me around 102 years to make them, then again, I'm not an artifact maker."
"That was a sublime flex you just did there."
But you do appraise it anyway.
Soon, you realize that the artifact isn't just a strong mana-condurable staff. That object, no, that existence of physical matter is actually a wrapped space continuum filled with abnormally large unknown substances and circuit contraption. Some of your virus vessels are lost and unattainable, the massive sudden gap of length sends a massive jolt of pain throughout your body, it feels like your consciousness strings are stretched far wide into the end of time and beyond.
You insist on exploring the magnificent wonder more until the consciousness strings you used to connect with the virus vessel squadron are ripped apart. Knees weak, arms are heavy. You stand still unmoving, unconscious, until your worklings reboots your brain forcefully. The excruciating headache is still there, enough to make you go unconscious again but thanks to your chibi worker, it seems like you need to suffer for more just like that time during your first encounter with Lues.
"Bloody hell!" Shouts the crimson devil telepathically. "You almost killed yourself, always tell me before putting your hand onto something unknown like this!" Her tones change, not that usual smug of her.
You want to cry. "I learned my lesson now, painfully, extremely, painfully unfulfilling and unnecessary."
Lues sighs. "I'll look into the damage later, for now, you should contemplate and control your cat urge with a dog leash. You're lucky that your 'soul' is strong enough to withstand one of their branches literally ripped apart, even a primordial would scream in pain. What is your secret?"
"Being socially anxious to the point you're scared to show your pain," you say, as your heart sinks not from the depression, but from the imaginary tear that swallows your sadness.
"Hahaha, didn't know that an introvert was that powerful."
The artifact is presented in front of Ratatoskr on a device. With a firm stance, the moose put her right hand to the sky. In a blink, the area around her hand turns red, secreting blue substances continuously.
Slowly, she slowly tries to put her right onto the artifact, every inch her hand moves toward it, it burns brighter and volatile. The energy that was consumed is so huge that it repels everything near it. Until her palm is a finger away from touching it, the energy turns to nothing but blinding white. You can feel the jet-engine-like pressure both physically and audibly, in fact, it's more like Ratatoskr is forcing her way forward face to face with a jet propeller.
Her skin meets with the abnormal artifact. The pressure is gone, and the person you deem as Ratatoskr exudes more of a tyrant aura than before.
Energy is gushing out through every hole of her body, her ears, her eyes, her nose, her mouth. It's still mysterious whether she feels pain or a surge of power at that moment.
She heavily walks into the vast wasteland, west away from the citadel. Pointing the staff into the sky, it responds in shudder with lighting.
"Sahvelkan valoa!"
One by one, numerous shrines and towers with giant crystals rise from the ground of the ever vast wasteland. Spawning wide and high as if there is a city built in an instant, taking the quarter size of Amos Citadel. The shrine emits an energy akin to your virus vessels, you try to comprehend it but the massive headache prevents you from doing so.
But you do it anyway.
It's not a virus but more of a seeking nanomachine, after taking a look at the circuits, you send the schematic into your mana sea and let your Lueling and Chroling to work on it. It only takes a few seconds for them to send you back the results.
Basically, it's the type of virus that will wrap themselves into a certain targeted material. So more of like a crippling debuff depending on how you use it.
A good idea for some of your future techniques with your Chi of Decidit. You want to try it now real bad but constructing a circuit from the ground up takes a lot of mental energy and currently, yours is at the bottom line.
And just like that, Ratatoskr repulsively throws the artifact into the machinations at high precision and high speed. The machination cradles the M.A.D back to where it belongs. Just like a beaver basking in the sun, Ratatoskr lays down on the sandy ground, either she is trying to relax and fulfill her inner moose, or she is contemplating the meaning of life for the meantime.
Strangely, nobody finds it weird and as they focus on their respective task. It leads your brain in the good-ol pain to ask plainly what in the world has just happened.