Descent of a God

Mordain Asclepius

|Jude's Perspective|

I stared at the blue quest screen with a mixture of confusion and dread. "Save Mordain Asclepius before he destroys this world?" I repeated aloud, trying to wrap my head around the task at hand.

The massive asura before me, his black wings unfurled, seemed to sense my uncertainty. "Boy," he said, his voice dripping with arrogance, "I am building strength to go fight against Kezess. Unfortunately, the portal of this world was moved to a Relictomb, and I can't enter one. This is why I have been forced to stay here. That was before I became this."

I couldn't help but feel a shiver run down my spine at the power emanating from him. "What happened to you?" I asked cautiously.

He didn't answer my question directly, but instead continued on. "You must also realize, boy, that you aren't my match. My power of Death is far superior to whatever you have. I am a phoenix who has mastered Death. There is no one in this universe who can stand up to me."

I gritted my teeth. 'There has to be a way, a way to stand up to him,' I thought to myself.

I unsheathed my sword and released red flames of destruction, created by combining normal mana flames with aetheric flames. Revolving them around my sword, I shot up to Mordain before releasing my attack.

But he easily blocked my attack with one hand, shrouded in his black aether. I could feel my sword withering away, the power of Death he possessed decaying the aether and mana combination that I had built up.

'It's different... it's not destruction, but rather he kills the aether and mana itself. How is that even possible?' I wondered.

I quickly pulled away, using aevum to pause time. But Mordain had an auto-defense system, and black tendrils of death made their way towards me, unaffected by the aevum.

I gritted my teeth and released my destruction to clash against his death. Unlike before where my destruction would always reign supreme, his death was able to cut through it.

I used spatium to quickly run away as time unpaused. "Not a bad trick, but it won't work against the current me," Mordain taunted, releasing more of his power.

Determined not to give up, I struck my sword to the ground and collapsed the subspace while trying to seal Mordain in it, much like Cordelia had done to her enemy before. This was possible without a Godrune, but I also needed to use aevum to pause time while doing so.

Black tendrils of death continued to attack me in a world where time didn't flow. I dodged and destroyed them with Creation, siphoning more spatium to seal Mordain away behind a prison of aether.

But his whip of death caught my leg, burning through my aether armor. My leg withered away and died, but I quickly reversed time by a few seconds to rejuvenate it.

'This is dangerous,' I thought as I completed my spell.

[Aether Runic Sword: Fifth Movement: Quantum Prison]

I quickly locked up Mordain, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he escaped. Using spatium, I fled to the palace in disgrace.

__________________________________________

|Cordelia's Perspective|

I anxiously awaited Jude's return from battle, keeping a watchful eye for any unexpected assaults from the Black Church. Suddenly, I sensed a powerful presence enter the Empire's airspace, causing my body to freeze in terror and sweat to drip down my neck. I turned to the Princess, who looked puzzled by my reaction.

I realized that nobody else had noticed the presence, and I received a notification that Main Quest 2 had been completed. The next quest appeared on my screen: Save Mordain Asclepius before he destroys this world.