Raum…
Even as Artemis stood, surrounded on all sides by the legion of warriors that he had summoned, he was still not convinced that it would be enough to put her down for good.
Though his magic was able to incite fear into his enemies, its not meant for a prolonged battle against someone of equal or greater strength than himself.
The power to manifest the concept of murder is only as great as its ability to make its victim feel weak. Once that weakness is gone, its effectiveness dwindles.
He couldn’t help but admire Artemis’s willingness to keep fighting even after suffering grievous wounds. Even with her ability to heal from them, to have such a tolerance for suffering and continue fighting is impressive.
“I must ask, even though this battle between the two of us is only for show, you still fight as hard as if it were truly life and death. You fight as if you still had a prideful goal to uphold. Why push yourself to such extremes if only to achieve victory in a meager battle like this?” he asked her.
Hearing his question, her eyes lowered as she smiled pleasantly and said, “I simply want to impress my beloved daughter, that is all.”
To look upon the titan of strength and power that is Artemis the Moon, the one who had slaughtered entire pantheons and even destroyed Lucifer’s tower of Babel, say that her only motivation to fight is for her daughter…
It was a reason that he could sympathize with.
“Over the ten millennia that I have spent on this planet, I have constructed shrines dedicated to our Goddess in every land. At these shrines, one might offer their weapons, their life’s work, or even their greatest riches. They would offer these to glean wisdom from those who have long been dead, or even just to spend one more moment with their lost loved ones. Yet there are those still who offered up their very being to our goddess in exchange for the full scope of her power. Whether it was to make them more effective in battle or as an answer to an incurable illness threatening to claim a member of their families, it did not matter to them. Every warrior you see around you has offered themselves to our Goddess for her power of rebirth. With our strength, we will take down the most powerful goddess of Terra.”
Artemis…
Raum raised his halberd once more and roared as all of his summoned warriors charged her at once.
Before they could close in on her, she pulled out her dagger and held it in her left hand while holding her longsword in her right.
The first one to reach her was shredded into a thousand pieces as her sword cleaved through him and reduced him to a bloody vapor that splattered across her body and into the eyes of the other warriors.
Yet despite seeing such a horrifying death happen in front of their eyes, they remained undaunted and came at her all at once.
Many of the warriors that faced her had pitiable souls that could not hope to hold up under the immense pressure she released as many of them crumpled to their knees just by being near her.
The few that could still stand and fight, even they were easily felled as their magic could not do much to counter her own.
Fewer still were warriors wielding light magic that could stall her for a moment and keep up with her, but could not match her raw power and energy output.
Yet as she continued to kill them one after the other, they kept coming back to life and charging at her.
What does Raum hope to achieve by throwing these walking corpses at me? They are hardly worth the challenge that he was speaking so highly of-
But then, as her sword cleaved through another warrior, rather than turn into bloody mist, their body erupted into flames and was reduced to ashes in an instant. From within the ashes, Raum appeared as he swung his sword at her neck.
She barely had time to react as she raised her sword to block but with only one hand on her sword, her guard was weak and she crashed into the mass of warriors behind her.
Before she could recover, over a dozen of Raum’s warriors raised their swords to stab her all at once. As their weapons came within an inch of reaching her, she slowed down time to the point they were almost frozen in place.
In one swift motion, she spun her sword around and shattered their weapons before her moonlight magic could reach their bodies as well.
Yet just as she got to her feet again, she noticed the warriors twitch slightly and their movements gradually speed up.
Can ALL of them manipulate time to this extent? No...it must be Raum’s influence, allowing them to move within this flow of time.
Even so, their ability to move through slowed time through Raum gave her an unusual feeling. Something about time manipulation and the power of rebirth felt strangely similar in how it was being used.
With that in mind, it gave her an idea.
The battle continued as she slashed through Raum’s forces, and every now and then, through one of their bodies, he would appear. It happened at random when one of the warriors she killed would turn to ashes and he would launch a surprise attack at her.
It was annoying and impossible to predict as none of the warriors gave her a tell for when he would appear, and it broke her rhythm. Even so, she knew what his intent was.
He was trying to wear her down enough so he could land a decisive blow, but she had a plan in mind.
With Raum slowing down the flow of time for his warriors so they could fight at the same relative level, it made it easier to focus on them at once.
She continued to slaughter his forces and waited for him to appear from their ashes to strike her.
An over enthusiastic berserker ran towards her with an ax in both hands as she slammed her knee into his chin and stunned him.
She then planted her heel against his chest as he started to fall backwards and plunged her sword through his mouth and into his heart. The moonlight magic shredded him from the inside out and just as she had predicted, Raum appeared from within the Berserker.
With Artemis falling towards her, it put her in a vulnerable position, perfect for him to take advantage of.
He pulled back his arm to run his halberd through her chest only for her to drop her dagger and divert it away from her chest.
Before she fell upon him, she contained the stream of moonlight magic emanating from her body as she dropped her knee into his chest and pinned him to the ground.
He smiled as he waited for her to kill him, for her to plunge her sword into his chest or head and kill him to reset the cycle, but she merely returned the smile.
His expression turned to confusion as the warriors all around her began to charge her once again and raised their weapons to strike her down.
She ignored them as she turned her blade so the point was aimed at the sky and slammed the pommel of her sword into Raum’s chest. As she did, the weight of the moon slammed into him and the land all around them, crushing all of Raum’s warriors in one fell swoop and keeping him trapped underneath her.
He looked up at her, confused as to how he was being unaffected by the crushing weight and kept alive.
“I learned something while I was fighting your warriors. When you brought them back to life after I killed them, I felt a similar sensation to when time was being manipulated. These warriors are simply being reborn to a point before they were killed in the present. Bringing the past to the present, or their future I suppose. This moonlight magic I was born with, though mighty, was never the cause for concern over why I was such a terrible force against the gods I slaughtered. Rather, it was my ability to revert all time to a singular point. This power, given to me by the Primordial Goddess Styx, allowed me the kill the Three Fates, take control of their loom, and conquer the Tower of Babel!”
Raum’s eyes widened in horror as he said, “Your power...is the influence of the Primordial Styx?”
Artemis nodded slowly before she asked, “Even so, in the face of my power, I thought you would put up a better fight. Putting fear into my heart is not enough of an advantage to overcome my strength. You said you would give me your all, yet this is all you could amount to? I am disappointed.”
Raum grit his teeth in frustration before he let out a roar and she was flung from his body. As she was no longer in contact with him, the immense weight should have crushed him into past, yet he stood up in spite of it.
“I did promise I would give you my all, and I will. The warriors were indeed a way to wear you down, but for the main event. With their deaths, I can unify their souls to manifest my Seraphic State.”
Hearing that made her feel nervous as she was well aware of how dangerous a Seraphic State could be.
It was a state of being that all angels exist in passively when God’s light flowed through them.
Even the lowest rank of angels, the Powers, could obliterate a star when using all of their strength at once even without the Seraphic State. With God’s light, they could release that level of power perpetually.
A former Ophanim angel like Raum, with his soul further empowered by Hell, could wipe a galaxy out of existence.
If he were to use a Seraphic State now...
She tried to bluff as she laughed at him and said, “A Seraphic State? You are no longer connected to Hell and you are no longer an angel, which means that God’s light no longer flows through you. How can you hope to make use of a Seraphic State?”
Raum had a crazy look in his eyes as he smiled and said, “My Goddess will provide me with all the power I need to defeat you!”
“Raum, this battlefield is not capable of containing this level of power. Not only will you destroy it but you will kill everyone outside of it. Nearly everyone on Erebus will die if you release that Seraphic State as things are now.”
“NONSENSE! I WILL CLAIM VICTORY FOR LADY CAMILLA AND MY GODDESS!” he shouted, ignoring her words of warning as his body began to change and energy started pulsating off of him.
A pair of black wings burning with hellfire unfurled from his back and his skin started to blacken. The energy was so great that his uniform started to burn up and cracks appeared across his vessel’s body, appearing on the breasts, abdomen, neck, arms, and legs. The cracks appeared as veins, venting out the power circulating through him, and allowed him to levitate off the ground. The vented power was so great in fact that it was eroding the earth beneath him, creating a city sized crater that only Artemis had the strength to withstand.
Looking at him now, he truly appeared as his title suggested, like that of a demonic raven.
“I’m sorry Raum, but I cannot allow you to take this any further. If you were to defeat me using any other kind of power, I would have entertained it, but this is too far,” she said as Raum began to charge towards her.
Before he could come within range of her, she snapped her fingers and put an end to all of it.
Ruvick…
He was still fuming with anger at the thought of that mysterious being toying with him when he asked for answer.
He thought he had made a breakthrough when he assumed it was Ender acting on its own will, but perhaps that was not the truth.
Or maybe he was lying…?
But even if he was lying, what would be the point of alluding to something even greater than a Primordial God?
He had never once come to the conclusion that there was any such thing, but if there was, then he would need to ponder further over what it was as soon as possible.
He was taking a relaxing stroll down the street, on his way to admire the Ruin Sentinels’ brotherhood hall when he felt an ominous presence.
An Ophanim angel? Here and now of all places?
The force being released was so great that it could only be an Ophanim, because what other force could release such strength?
He turned around to face the direction of the arena and focused his vision to see the cause of that power. He peered through every obstacle that would have obstructed his vision until his eyes laid upon Raum.
He’s releasing a Seraphic State! That fool will annihilate everything in sight! I need to stop this at once!
But before he could take a step forward, he noticed Artemis raise her hand in front of her and snap her fingers.
What is she-
Before he could process what was happening all around them, the entire universe shattered like glass all at once.
Destroyed in one single instant, before he could do a thing to stop it.
Wha-What just…
He looked around and saw nothing but pure emptiness. There was no light coming from any of the stars in the sky anywhere he looked.
Did Artemis just...erase the universe?
Ruvick tried to search for any trace of life in the entirety of the universe, releasing every restraint on his soul in the hope that it would collide with anything at all and felt...nothing.
It was all gone.
Marcus, Moyako, Reyna, Gomori, everyone…
Erased.
So she decided to deal with Raum by erasing an entire timeline…
I’ll need to have a very stern conversation with her the next time I see her, he thought as he left the vast nothingness that was Erebus’s universe and into the new timeline she had created.
Raum…
“YIELD TO ME ARTE-us fight and see who is indeed stronger,” he said as he pulled his sword from its sheathe just as the announcer called the start of the fourth match.
But when the battlefield enveloped them both, Artemis stood very still and did not pull her sword free from its sheathe, staring at him patiently. Her pleasant demeanor vanished and was replaced with a heartless stare that bored its way into his soul.
Raum blinked as he was confused as to why she was acting this way until a wave of memories flooded into his mind.
“What is...oh Father…,” he muttered in fear as his fingers loosened and his sword clattered to the ground.
He blinked and Artemis stood only inches away from him as she stared down at him.
“Do you yield to me?” she asked coldly.
Raum fell to his knees in despair in how completely he had failed.
“I...I yield,” he said.
The announcer failed to call the end of the match as he, as well as the entire audience, was left too stunned to respond. They had no idea as to how or why the match had been won in Artemis’s favor, but Raum’s declaration was his own and could not be refuted.
Artemis then looked up and shouted “CALL IT!”
The battlefield fell as the arena surrounded them once again and the announcer declared her the winner.
Artemis walked past him and into the hallway, leaving Raum to stand up and face Camilla and Moyako.
He met the two of them at Boggart’s diner, both of whom looked at him with confusion rather than anger, but he could not meet their eyes as he was too ashamed.
“Take a seat Raum,” Camilla said gently, with a tone that said she wanted to understand what had happened.
He did as she said and Moyako asked, “What happened to you in that fight? We were both watching it, but the moment the fight started, you looked so terrified that you gave up immediately.”
Raum shook his head as he said, “Th-That is not what happened. It might have appeared that way to you, but something far worse happened, beyond your comprehension.”
Moyako and Camilla stared at each other in confusion until they both said, “Elaborate.”
“Words would...fail to do it justice. I will show you,” he said as he pressed his fingers against their foreheads and showed them his memories of the battle until she erased the universe and the timeline along with it.”
Both Moyako and Camilla went still as they poured over this information.
“I...I knew Artemis was strong, but for her to do something like that…,” Camilla said with her voice trailing off.
“Both of you must forfeit from this battle. If she decides to erase the universe again to win the battle, the you that exists now will be erased from existence just as the one from the previous timeline was. I may remember you, but it will do me no good if you get erased.”
Moyako looked as if she were about to consider it but Camilla was strangely unbothered.
“No. I will not forfeit. To say she erased that entire timeline seems...incorrect. I think she erased its future rather which resulted in this new one. We all still have our old memories, but anything beyond that battle is gone aside from what you showed us. Even if Artemis tries that on me, I will not admit defeat so easily.”
Hearing her new outlook, Moyako smiled and nodded as she said, “I agree, but Raum, do not be disheartened by this by this loss. We will use this knowledge you’ve given us to defeat her.”
“Hah! If I don’t defeat her first!” Camilla said confidently.
“Right...but be aware of the other threat I warned you about. Knowing what we know now, Artemis is far more powerful and dangerous than either of us could have predicted, so we will both need to prepare for the worst situation.”
Camilla leaned forward and stared Moyako in the eyes as she said, “But I will be the one to claim victory so that you and I will meet in battle.”
“I look forward to it,” Moyako said happily, leaving Raum to wonder how the two of them could remain so hopeful after being witness to her might.
Perhaps it was his own failure for giving up so quickly, but he felt that either won of them would succeed where he could not.