1016 Arise!
Neptune seemed to freeze in time as the cries of the people paused. So did the boisterous laughs of the abyssals and the sounds of their weapons sinking into flesh.
The sky turned white as the sun itself was overshadowed by a white sphere.
Everyone stared up, eyes wide and mouth open, as a multitude of colors flashed from the white sphere and flowed out like, intersected and joined together to form a phantom.
A giant stood in sky, taller than anything or being humans ever knew.
"My people." The voice was solemn but there was a deep pain under it, grieving for the tragedy.
The giant waved his hands and the Neptune's sky lit up with colorful clouds made of pure aura.
Golden lightning clouds, blue ice clouds, translucent telekinetic clouds and so on.
They spread across the planet and positioned themselves near the abyssal army wrecking that just paused its wanton slaughter.
A man crouched in a ruined street, tightly hugging his six-year-old son against the abyssal that held her sword up.
The abyssal kicked the man and the latter crashed into a building and broke his bones. Thankfully, his fainted son didn't get any serious injuries.
"What the fuck is that?" The abyssal woman frowned at the giant. The face of the giant was built from colorful aura and wasn't clear. But for some reason, it was very familiar.
'Wait, is that…' The abyssal's heart nearly sprang up to her throat and she stumbled back, forgetting to breathe.
The fear abyssals held towards Varian was far, far greater than the adoration and respect he received from humans.
He's their devil, the being that destroyed all their great plans single handedly and was indirectly responsible for pushing them to the current state.
As a mere level 6, the female abyssal warrior never got the chance to fight Varian. If she did, she wouldn't be alive. Even then, she heard stories and saw the videos from those horrifying battles.
She had no idea how a single creature possessed so many powers. Nor did she understand the insane stamina of this one man. It shouldn't even possible!
As her thoughts swirled, she slammed her communicator instinctively and reported. "Captain, Varian's phantom is here. We need to inform the Thunder K—"
"They'll be here in ten minutes. They asked us to survive until then." Her team captain said in a hushed tone, his voice going low.
"Ten minutes? Are they crazy? We'll di—" The call was cut off and the female abyssal felt a shiver down her spine.
Ignoring the golden cloud in the sky, she stared at the giant and then back at the human.
The hand holding her sword shivered slightly but she gritted her teeth. "It's only one man! You're just one man!"
With swift strides, she reached the father-son duo and raised her sword.
The man hugged his son tight and closed his eyes in pain.
A pop sounded in the air and then a sizzling sound but the sharp sensation of his skin being cut didn't arrive.
"Huh?" The father opened his eyes and saw lightning enveloping the abyssal and electrocuting her.
In just a dozen seconds, her ash skin turned black and red before blood spilled out of her like a broken dam.
"Wha—" The abyssal woman dropped her sword as she curled in a fetal position and yelled in pain.
As lightning wrecked her body, she stared at the sky with an unbelieving gaze. 'How…?'
Across the planet, more than a hundred thousand abyssals collapsed as they all asked the same question.
'How did you find us all? How did you manage to attack us all? We're spread across the fucking planet! Even for a Sovereign, these many attacks are too much.'
With the help of Boo guiding him, Varian launched rest of the attacks and paralyzed the last abyssal on Neptune.
Most of the Thunder Abyss army and Undead army went to Uranus, leaving only a hundred thousand here to clean up the planet.
"Varian, these are the level 8s."
"And level 7s."
Sarah and Sia pointed to the two heap in the streets.
"We incapacitated them as you asked. But we should get going to other planets. Torturing them would take too long." Sia said.
"There's no torture. They'll die." Varian said and waved his hand.
The heaps of high awakeners, crippled to the point they couldn't muster a sliver of aura, were distributed across the cities and fell into the streets filled with people.
The crowds were startled and ran away from these abyssals.
"My people," Varian's voice caused them to stop. "Arise."
Some of the ones fleeing stopped in place and turned to check out the abyssals.
"Who did you lose today?" The voice was deep and earnest. "Your parents? Children? Lover? Do you not feel sad for the loss?"
Those words pulled most of the running crowd to a halt.
The people stared at the sky with tears pooling in the corner of their eyes, with some already shedding bitter tears.
Most of them were pale, exhausted and bleeding from injuries, minor or major. The only reason they kept running was they're afraid that once they stopped, their body would collapse. But Varian's words stopped even them to stop.
The pain they tried to suppress exploded like a volcano and the last scenes of their loved ones flashed in front of them.
Being hacked to death by a laughing abyssal, electrocuted into a black mass, crushed into a lump of flesh, choked to death amid desperate struggle.
The hearts of the survivors were flooded with grief and Neptune weeped.
"If you feel sad, if you feel sorry, then raise your hand and kill the ones who did this to your loved ones." Varian's voice was harsh and unforgiving. "You are killed because you are weak. But it's them who are weak. Go. Raise your fist. Grab the sword. Do anything. But take revenge."
In a street, a few men and women broke away from the crowd and walked toward the abyssal that collapsed in the middle of the road.
Looking at the enemy covered in red blood, the bodies of these shook in fear. But they pushed forward and towered over him.
"You…" The abyssal stared at the humans looking down at him with a bloodthirsty gaze. He tried to channel his aura, kill them and escape. But his body didn't listen. Instead, the pain coursing through his body increased.
"Kill!" Varian's voice sounded like the devil's mantra. "To avenge the ones you lost! To prevent others from losing their family!"
The abyssal squirmed on the ground as his face flashed with terror.
A haggard man with a deep wound on his shoulder grabbed a piece of stone. A woman holding a broken schoolbag grabbed a knife from a nearby home. An old man lifted his walking stick. A young girl only fifteen took out the blade she used for science lab.
"No, get away!" The abyssal wriggled as these common people that used to fear him approached with their little weapons.
All across the neptune, the hundred thousand abyssals screamed as the humans slowly raised the weapons against them.
The stone, the knife, the stick and the blade all fell on the abyssal at the same time, splashing his blood on their bodies.
But he didn't die yet. Even though crippled, he's still strong. Such vitality wasn't a blessing, however.
"They won't die easily. Inflict as much pain as you want on them! Tear them, burn them, do whatever you want! Show them hell!" Varian's devilish voice resounded, followed by the agonizing screams of the abyssals.
