Chapter 126: Expectations 2
"Do not tell me, that is not who it is supposed to be…" Veronica said, shock covering her face as she looked at her fellow sisters.
Each of them, using a spell that allowed them to spectate the event watched as Aeress, the great mother, came to life, knowing fully well it was not exactly her in that body.
"Quick, fortify the barrier, we can't let that thing leave." Helga said, hurrying to teleport Naiha away to her seat and then herself finally.
Deep down they all felt a bit powerless imagining just how powerful such a being could be, but the least they could do at that moment was hold up the barrier and stop the thing from having any contact with the world outside.
…
"Hmm… What is this? Are they trying to keep me in?" Aeress said to herself, well, more like the abyssal entity inhabiting her body. It looked amused for a moment as it looked all around deep into the distance.
'This place is so far off from where any living creature resides, even animals are scarce around here, but…' it said in its mind, sensing just where Aldritch was hiding before it floated towards his general direction.
Aldritch who saw this could tell that he had already been spotted, though, he remained calm.
The entity gradually approached, floating slowly as it made its way towards Aldritch who couldn't be bothered to try to hide anymore. He was already transformed into a bat and hanging in a dense tree, and even then, he was still caught.
Instead of keeping up the act, Aldritch came down of the tree and transformed back into his normal self.
"Interesting," the entity said while casting a plain look at Aldritch. "I wondered how a human soul could exist inside an animal like that, but it turns out you only used magic to transform into that bat. There shouldn't be people capable of such complex creations in this lower realm after all." It said, talking to itself more than to Aldritch.
Aldritch who could only listen in silence as his thoughts were racing, didn't show any resistance, he just existed for the time being.
"You must have been put here to stop me… useless." It said, using magic to bring Aldritch to his knees in an instant as Aldritch felt like the weight of the entire world had been placed on him.
'Gravity Magic?!' Aldritch couldn't tell.
Mustering his strength, Aldritch forced himself against the surmounting pressure, holding himself from collapsing further. No matter how hard he tried, he could not bring himself to his feet or even look up, the power of this magic or maybe it was a skill, was far greater than what Aldritch could handle, and distinguished clearly just how far apart the gap in their strength was.
Under such pressure, Aldritch got an idea, allowing the pressure to crush him subsequently, turning him into an almost flat sheet inside the ground as the pressure had even dug into the ground.
"Weak." The abyssal entity said, floating away while suppressing a maniacal laugh just undertone.
The three witches watching from their respective positions while watching were shocked beyond anything they could have imagined. They did have a concept of just how powerful this abyssal entity was, but to think the man who they all could agree they would have to band together to have a chance at defeating was taken care of in such fashion, it was unbelievable. Veronica for one was shaken.
They watched as the abyssal entity moved towards the barrier. Once it was there, it stopped, just half an arm's length away from the barrier.
Helga and the other two were already stressed seeing the abyssal entity so close to the barrier. It looked like it was studying the barrier for a moment and they had no idea what it's motives were. Instead of waiting to find out, they poured out even more mana to fortify the barrier.
"Helga, we shouldn't go further than this, you…" Veronica said in a worried tone.
Before Veronica could finish what she had to say, Naiha cut her off in an annoyed tone, "we don't have the luxury for that!"
Helga couldn't interject as Naiha was right, though, she still appreciated Veronica's concern, after all, she was the one under the most pressure as she had already depleted some of her mana beforehand and was not operating from her peak.
"Let's all just focus." Helga said in a heavy tone.
The abyssal entity casually raised its left hand towards the barrier while the ones holding it up watched. As its hand got closer to the barrier, instead of stopping him, his hand seemed to be sucked into the barrier. Slowly, his entire body followed, moving into the barrier and disappearing from sight. In that second, Helga and the rest were more than confused, but just then, the abyssal entity reappeared outside the barrier, slipping back into reality as though it was coming out of the fabrics of reality itself.
With a sly smirk developing on its face, the abyssal entity glanced back casually before leaving.
Helga, Naiha and Veronica were left at a loss for words as confusion came over them as to how to proceed. There was no way to curtail this entity yet, it was just impossible!
Just then, Helga's mana ran out, deactivating the barrier with it which now relied more heavily on their mana than the earlier setup.
"It's all over now." Veronica murmured to herself in disbelief.
Helga was half collapsed on the floor, her chest heaving in and out quietly in what seemed to be labored breathing. Her entire body felt such a degree of exhaustion that she felt like lifting the weight of an entire city when she tried to bring herself up. In no time, she collapsed and went unconscious there on the ground.
A minute later, Naiha spoke to Veronica through a form of thought transfer.
"I need you to go take care of Helga." She said in a calm but defiant tone.
…
A/N: Ahhh… I think its because this particular ark had dragged on farther than I planned, I'm suffering from insufficient motivation.