The semicircular red doors leading into the siege tower were unlike anything any of them had come across till this current moment. They were a mixture of the dark red color of blood, covered in beautiful ancient runes that looked more complicated than the ones humans of the mortal realm used.

  Luna was not very knowledgeable about runes for obvious reasons. But she was aware that enchanters and forge-masters often used runes because runes were necessary for what they specialized in. Enchanters studied enchantments and were the ones who imbued purpose into materials through runes. While forge-masters created magic weapons with zenshi through runes with purpose already imbued in them. Although most forge masters usually had abilities that worked well with their specialized line of work.

  Amongst the group, the only enchanter Luna was aware of was Gail. His trick arrows were the work of the runes he engraved on the forged weapon, The Golden Athena. Through those runes, Gail was capable of giving the arrows purpose after channeling zenshi into them.

  …At least that’s how Luna understood it when he explained it some time back.

  “Binding runes. These are meant to keep whatever that’s inside inside.” Gail began to translate the few few runes he could make out. “This is the prison of Darkness. No...sorry…Oblivion. This is the prison for Oblivion, the Servant of Fate.”

  “I am guessing Oblivion is the reason why our powers are erased. How self-explanatory.”

  Len sighed and took the first steps forward. She approached the doors while wearing a deadly serious expression.

  She exhaled sharply and sealed her second gate completely before doing anything else. Once she felt no energy leave it, Ghost of Winter first studied the runes for a brief while and placed her hand on the Red-colored wood. Ghost of Winter sighed again and channeled her divine energy into the tower doors.

  Everyone else watched in anticipation as Len did what she had to.

  There was another explosion and the tower trembled both from inside and outside. But Len continued channeling her zenshi into the runes which hungrily siphoned her power to awaken. She gritted her teeth as the magic doors consumed an ocean's worth of zenshi from the ascender in what appeared to be a minute to everyone else.

  Luckily, Lena just happened to be an ascender with ridiculous reserves in her arsenal.

  After that minute and a few more seconds, Lena wiped the sweat off her face and stepped away from the wooden surface . The runes flickered and a strange mechanism played to life as the doors slowly opened, greeting them with the scene of grand floor with erect crimson pillars stretching to the roof.

  The group didn’t wait for them to fully open as they were already dashing in with their weapons ready.

  Luna, who was the last to run into the foreign space froze when her eyes landed on the humanoid being that happened to be the source of all this evil presence she felt….

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  Its entire skin was pitch black with purplish cracks. It had no eyes, no face, and no mouth to let out roars. The Corrupted had the build of a very tall man, stretching about nine meters.

  However, what she saw next made her heart sink and blood freeze.

  Her gaze had landed on Ascender Shin, who was leaning against the wall. His armor was smeared with crimson, a grim testament to the battle that had just transpired. The stump of his left arm hung limply and a large portion of his left upper shoulder was missing, exposing raw, mangled flesh. Despite the state of his injuries, Luna felt a surge of relief as she noticed the steady rise and fall of his chest.

  He was still breathing. With his oracle powers blocked, Shin was the most vulnerable here because he depended on them the most.

  'Thank the gods he's alive.' Luna thought, exhaling a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She quickly shifted her gaze to the other members of Snow’s team, assessing their condition with a newfound sense of urgency.

  Rita was still standing, but her armor was filled with cracks and dents after taking so many blows from the Devil.

  It was surprising that she was still alive and still in a condition to fight. Her rapier was also covered with cracks, but it was still holding thanks to her zenshi keeping it together.

  Snow, on the other hand, was locked in a serious battle against the Corrupted deity since he was the only one who could hold it back at the moment. His forged weapon and body were still in tip-top shape. However, the armor was also covered in spiderweb cracks. The nanomites holding it were going to collapse soon.

  Luna’s eyes darkened and tightened the grip she had on the zenshi Falchion her sister had made for her. She drew in some of the toxic air and followed the others who were already charging at the corrupted deity.

  Just like infected creatures, Devils shared the weakness of zenshi or divine energy. Because of this, ascenders were their natural enemies. The origin of Black Ether was a mystery to humanity so no one knew why zenshi was the perfect weapon against such.

  However, the fact that ascenders could manipulate divine energy didn’t particularly mean that they were stronger than Devils. This was why ascenders with auras were usually the only type needed when going against corrupted deities like this one.

  Unfortunately for them, this specific one just happened to rid them of their ability to use Auras.

  They were going to fight this thing the old-fashioned way.

  Len was the first to join the deadly fight by swinging her weapon at one of the corrupted celestial’s legs. Her aura didn’t activate this time, but a blue laceration appeared on its left leg the moment her sword touched its skin.

  Before it attacked her, a flying shield struck its arm and disrupted the dark energy that was gathering around the limb.

  “Don’t forget us, you bastard!” Darkness shouted as she pulled back her shield. It few back in her magnetic grip before she attacked with her gladius.

  Seizing the opportunity, Snow jumped and dismissed the war scythe while still in the air. His fist ignited in zenshi flames when he landed a powerful blow right where the being’s face was supposed to be.

  It stumbled back and Gail started shooting multiple arrows at its limbs while flying around around the room. With the way he was firing rapidly, it was hard to believe that one of his arms was mangled a few hours ago. He flew between pillars to avoid that dark energy that happened to appear everywhere on the floor.

  Whenever one of his arrows managed to penetrate the black skin, the would explode in hopes of blowing a limb off. But, to their luck, the creature staggered even more before colliding with the tower walls.

  Mira, who had remained at the entrance was now holding a large rail gun made from the material of a new fixed suit. In its chamber, there were four glowing zenshi bullets ready to fire once she got the perfect shot.

  And when the creature collided with the wall, she didn’t hesitate to press the trigger and let three of the four bullets fly out of the barrel.

  As always, her shots were perfect. The first one struck the left leg. The second one hit a black left arm. And the third one found its way into its shoulder.

  There was no shout or scream which kind of disappointed Mira because she wanted to brag about how she made a diety scream in pain. But that didn't happen, so she prepared to shoot at its head.

  Before she could shoot, though, the rail gun vanished once she sensed the slightest ting of malice pointing towards her.

  ‘Just like she said, we’re invisible to it until we do something crazy.’ Mira smirked upon remembering the discussion they had before coming here.

  At the same time, once Mira’s rail gun disappeared, everyone with a second gate felt a rush of power as their connection with their respective concepts returned.

  ‘She was right. It can only temporarily take out one thing at a time.’ Lena thought to herself as her eyes started to produce a silvery hue.

  “Everyone! Use your Auras!” she bellowed as she ran forward and turned into a white fog.

  …Gail’s golden eyes glowed as hundreds of golden arrows appeared out of thin air.

  …Darkness grinned and all the debris in the room started to float.

  And a familiar apparition appeared near the entrance.