World Keeper-Chapter 1209: Darkness Falls

Despite the apparent advantage against the enemy Origin, Thelsa and her team didn’t show the slightest sign of lowering their guard. They knew fully well that a being of this level would have numerous other tricks at their disposal, and were simply waiting to see its next move. Perhaps the one true advantage that they had was that Sora’s second domain covered a broader scope than the Origin’s, allowing for her to counter his abilities, so long as she was fast enough and willing to expend the energy.

The enemy Origin, meanwhile, glared at the four girls, realizing that they were the true fighting force behind this army. Sure, there were numerous other gods within Thelsa’s troops, and many with their own incredible powers. However, they were not part of the same unit, and did not have the experience of working together.

“I see. If that’s the case…” The Origin extended his hand. “I’ll just erase the four of you.”

Petra stepped forward, stretching her hands out to the sides. Beneath their feet, the shadows scattered, held back by Petra’s divinity. “I won’t let you!” She said in a fierce tone, though the Origin smirked condescendingly. “If I don’t allow any darkness to approach us, you will have nothing you can use as a medium to manifest!”

“You seem to have forgotten where you’re standing.” The man said, snapping his fingers. Immediately, a pitch black pool formed beneath Petra’s feet, tendrils wrapping up to grab the little demoness’s legs. “This entire world is a shadow, where light and darkness are inverted. Regardless of what you do, I can manifest my abilities wherever I desire.”

“Then, I’ll just negate them!” Sora shouted, swinging her brush again. The black pool vanished, and Petra quickly pulled her legs up from the ground.

The Origin of Darkness shook his head with a sly smile. A white mass appeared behind Sora, growing to the size of a large building. “As I said, light and darkness are inverted. I thought that you would understand with that, but it seems that this world is more backwards than I originally expected.”

The white mass dove towards Sora, who turned to look at it with wide eyes. Maria lunged over, pushing her out of the way, though the white mass swept past her lower body in the process. When it faded, Maria’s legs were gone, and there was a glowing energy at the severed stumps, causing her to grit her teeth in pain.

“Maria!” Thelsa shouted, her eyes wide. As long as he chooses to manifest his darkness inverted within this realm, Sora’s powers will be countered. What’s our next play? She thought to herself, gritting her teeth.

The white energy lingered on Maria’s wounds, and seemed to be climbing up her legs, dissolving her body wherever it passed. “Petra, cut it off!” Maria shouted, and Petra turned, lifting her great axe and slamming it down on Maria’s legs, severing them above where the energy had reached. Afterwards, Maria pulled herself back, black energy slowly extending from the stumps to repair her limbs.

“Quite decisive of you.” The Origin praised. “However, it won’t be enough. That shadow has already tasted your essence. Even if you sever the limb, it will chase you down for an eternity.” As if to prove his words, Maria’s feet once again ignited with white energy, causing her to hiss in pain.

Thelsa lunged forward with remarkable speed, black spikes forming around the enemy Origin to pierce towards him. He lifted his hands, easily blocking the spikes, and launched a similar white mass at Thelsa herself. “Even if you consume every soldier within your shadow world, this will never stop.” He taunted, confident in his victory.

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“I’ll be taking that.” A voice spoke up from nearby, and the white mass disappeared, allowing Thelsa to continue her advance, plunging a black dagger directly into the man’s chest. Although he grunted in pain, he didn’t seem to suffer any true damage.

His eyes, however, quickly roamed the surroundings, locking onto two figures hovering in the air. “So, you came to me yourself?” He asked, recognizing the energy of the native Origin of Darkness.

“I can’t just let them have all the fun.” Dana said, holding a black staff in one hand. “If we were to fight one on one, you’d probably win. But, can you take us all on together?”

The man smirked, realizing that the odds were turning against him. “Even if I can’t, how do you plan to stop me from leaving? This world, and everything in it, is mine! I can come and go as I please. All that you’ve done is bought yourself some time.” He clenched his fists, shattering the black spikes that had been protruding towards him, and erected a black gate behind himself.

However, before he could step through the gate, the figure that had arrived with Dana spoke up. “I happen to be quite familiar with someone who likes to run away at a moment’s notice.” She said, and the ground around them shook. The elven woman stared impassively at the enemy Origin, as several trees began to grow from the ground.

“It’s always been a challenge to keep her in one place. She’s just so eager to explore. But, with a little ingenuity, I came up with a trick. Now, nobody can leave this place without my permission.” Julia spoke in a cold tone. She had used an array of plants imbued with the Travel domain, preventing any form of transportation from sending people in or out of the surroundings.

The enemy looked at Julia in surprise. He could recognize that she was an Origin, though he wasn’t sure exactly how a plant-related Origin would have the ability to stop travel. Perhaps it is a form of rooting space? He theorized, still trying to step into his portal. However, the portal shattered as soon as he touched it, preventing him from leaving.

Gritting his teeth, he locked eyes with Dana. It was obvious why she was there. She wanted to use her own powers to absorb any darkness abilities that he released, serving as the ultimate shield for her allies. While Sora may have been a major nuisance, Dana had placed herself at a higher priority. “Whether I can leave or not is for me to decide. If you want to keep me here… I suppose I’ll just devour you, first!”

Dana simply smirked, aiming her staff at the man. “I already know what you’re planning. It’s the same thing that I’d do in your situation, right? You’re trying to lock onto my inner world, that way you can devour the darkness within it, destabilize my energies, and then make me self-destruct. However… do you have enough time for that?”

As Dana spoke, Petra appeared behind the man, her axe radiating a menacing, black energy. The man grit his teeth, turning and catching Petra’s axe with one hand, though his feet dug into the ground as he did so. They want to overwhelm a Master with numbers? He asked, realizing that this group had likely never fought a being like himself before.

Admittedly, they were annoying, but none of them had the strength to deliver the final blow, as far as he could tell. Without the strength to destroy his inner world, he would be able to keep fighting forever. As for what Dana had said, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to lock onto his own inner world, as he had the privacy upgrade applied to it.

Thelsa extended her hands, and black whips emerged from the ground, wrapping around the man’s legs. “If any of you have a way to finish this, I would prefer it happen sooner rather than later!” She said, gritting her teeth. Maria’s legs were once again being devoured by the white energy, preventing her from joining the fight, and she could sense more and more of her shadow soldiers being killed. Bolstering their numbers with Sora’s power had been a large help, but it wasn’t enough to overwhelm them with simple quantities.

“Julia?” Dana spoke up, glancing towards the elven woman beside her. “You said that you have something that could work.”

Julia nodded her head firmly, extending one hand to the side. “I was working on preparing it. This sword is really dangerous for me to use, so I have to destroy it after each use.”

As she said that, a red, wooden blade appeared in her hand, radiating an immense power. It seemed to drip with blood as it hovered next to her. Dana’s eyes widened, and she instinctively backed away. “Okay, what the hell?” She asked, unable to stop herself from swearing. Dana felt a strong sense of danger just from being next to the blade.

“Ki, Mana, Nature, Disaster, Calamity, Ruin, Destruction, Death, and End. It’s a nine-domain sword I thought of a few months back.” With a wave of her hand, the sword flipped in midair, piercing straight towards the Origin, who was violently struggling against the tendrils holding him in place.

Feeling the threat approaching, the Origin of Darkness lifted his hand, creating the white mass from behind. It surged towards the blade, intent on swallowing it up, but was pierced through without the slightest resistance. The Origin’s eyes widened, surprised that the sword could withstand his devouring shadow.

A moment later, the sword pierced into his chest, and the Origin felt his energy exploding within himself. His world was shattering at its core, and he clutched the sword in his chest, desperate to pull it out. “N-No. I won’t let it… not like this.” He said, but his hands shattered as they touched the blade. Now, he understood why Julia herself never touched it, only controlling it with her mind. This sword was made to shatter universes, whether it was from outside or inside. One touch returned everything to nothing.

As that realization crossed his mind, the Origin’s body slumped, falling to his knees. Black cracks formed along his body, which shattered into countless pieces. Julia’s hand stretched out, stopping the sword from touching the ground. She clenched her fist, and the sword lost its power, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

However, not all was over. The world that they were standing in was a projection created by the Origin of Darkness’s energy. With him dead, the world shook, cracks forming in the sky. “We’ve got to go!” Thelsa shouted, running over to pick Maria up in her arms. “Julia! Whatever you did to stop people from leaving, you need to undo it now, or we’re all dead!”

Julia nodded her head firmly, and the trees that had appeared nearby all vanished. Thelsa focused, opening a giant black portal and calling back. “Everyone who’s still alive, get moving!”

She knew that there was nothing that she could do to stop the destruction of this shadow world. Not unless she was willing to abandon her own shadow world to take it in. That, however, was clearly not an option.

The group flew through the black portal, surrounded by countless wisps of black energy from the retreating army. It took only a few seconds for the shadow world to crumble, and Thelsa bit her lip as she felt nearly half of her shadows trapped within the ruined world. There was simply not enough time for all of them to get out, even if they crammed together to escape.

Meanwhile, Dana sat frozen on the ground, her eyes wide. She was feeling something that she had never felt before, a rush of power from the void. Her inner world expanded, new regions appearing within it. New shadows, dark stars, even galaxies where the space itself was living darkness. Everything that had been within the enemy’s inner world flowed into her after returning to the void.

“Are you alright?” Dana heard someone speaking up to her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up, and saw Julia looking at her in concern.

“Y-Yeah, sorry. A final resonance with the enemy. Maybe an inheritance? I don’t know what to call it…”

Hearing Dana’s explanation, Julia nodded her head, reaching out to pat her shoulder. “In that case, can you tell us what that church was for? It might be helpful in overcoming the rest of the invasion, if he was willing to spend so much time on it.”

Dana blinked, nodding her head in agreement. She closed her eyes, focusing on scanning through the new resources that she had been given. After a few minutes, she let out a faint hiss, shaking her head. “Absolutely not. The Black Cathedral is made to slay Keepers. There is a certain planet with a special system around it. There aren’t any signs or anything, but I just sort of… know. Once the Black Cathedral has been made, it spreads its power out, targeting the faith of those it can reach.”

“After it identifies the most common source of faith, it tracks it to its destination, and releases an endless stream of undying monsters. So long as people continue to believe in the target, the monsters will continuously get stronger, devouring all incoming faith for themselves.”

Julia’s eyes widened when she heard that, not sure how the man had avoided using such an ability on Sanction in their own world. Perhaps, because of how their social structure was set up, people did not have much direct faith in Sanction himself, or because it would take so long to craft the church, it was basically suicide to try it in a world that Sanction controlled.