Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation (Volume 6)

Vol 6/Chapter 19: Taking Her Own Life

"What happened! Why is it Bishop Gilbert?"

The church guards who were beating realized they hit the wrong person! Gray-robed Bishop Gilbert was standing far away just moments ago, but somehow became the victim. Nobody saw how he suddenly appeared where Nicola was standing.

Of course, the guards didn't attack the wrong location! Their beating wasn't the main problem. The worst part was that Gilbert got hit by his own full-power Psionic Energy. He had no time to defend himself and died from just that one hit - he basically killed himself!

Meanwhile Nicola, who was their real target, stood quietly nearby watching everything happen, like she wasn't involved at all.

Just like that, the Ancient God Religion lost their high-ranking bishop. Even though everyone could see their enemy standing right in front of them, no one dared to attack like before.

"Just now... time was stopped! So you can control time like me!"

Only Selene could sense what happened. She didn't need eyes to know where Nicola was, and she angrily revealed the truth.

When it came to controlling time, Selene was definitely one of the best among humans. She was almost as good as Adonis, the Sage Council chairman from the other world!

But this power was given to her by others, so it wasn't as good as a real Wind Angel's Authority. Though she could tell how Nicola switched Gilbert's position during the time stop, she couldn't even speak up to stop it.

"Hahaha! The show is over!"

Without the gray-robed bishop and his super strong Psionic Energy, nobody here could threaten Nicola anymore. Finally she could release all her frustration. After taking care of all the church guards, she slowly walked to Selene, the only one left.

"Just kill me if you want! Under Lord 'Spring's protection, death is just a new beginning for me. I'll come back for revenge sooner or later!"

Since her time control powers were useless against Nicola, Selene knew she had lost. She couldn't fight alone, so she just lifted her head bravely, ready to die, but still kept talking tough.

"Actually, I don't want to kill you..."

For Nicola, Selene was an old friend. Looking at her face, Nicola remembered how another version of Selene had helped her a lot in another world. So she couldn't bring herself to kill her, and instead sighed and tried to convince her: "'Spring' won't help you go to the so-called god realm! They're just using you. You've all been tricked!"

To Nicola and Galadra, who controlled space, the god realm were just another dimension. Galadra had said that although the Ancient God Religion's god 'Spring' promised followers they could enter the god realm, in the nearly 100 years since the Religion claimed to contact ancient gods, countless followers had died. But Galadra never felt the number of 'Spring' increase - all dead souls went back to the Cycle of Rebirth...

This meant the Ancient God Religion's god was lying to control their followers. But was such a god really a true god? Were they worth worshipping? At least Nicola clearly thought not, and she was the first to say no!

"I won't be fooled by your lies! The Book of Ancient Gods warns us to resist demon temptations, no matter how attractive their words sound, no matter how real their illusions seem! This world was created by Lord 'Spring'. 'Spring' knows and can do everything. Only by following them can we be saved! Everyone who opposes Lord 'Spring' is a devil!"

But Selene wouldn't listen to anything Nicola said. She kept muttering what seemed to be verses from the Book of Ancient Gods, completely rejecting everything.

"What a joke! All-knowing and all-powerful? If your Lord 'Spring' is so great, where are they now? What are they doing? Why aren't they coming to save you? When I destroyed all the 'Calamity' they controlled, why didn't they do anything? Why don't they come down here and beat me up? Instead they just rely on fools like you to kill all humans who don't obey them!"

Nicola couldn't hold back anymore and laughed coldly as she argued back. Getting emotional, she remembered when she first came to this world and saw Ancient God Religion followers burn and kill an entire city that mainly believed in other religions!

That was a medium-sized city with almost 10,000 people, gone in just a few days! Some scared people said they would convert to the Ancient God Religion right away, but they were still killed because their "souls weren't pure enough."

This experience was definitely why Nicola later agreed to help Galadra fight the Ancient God Religion. Though Galadra also promised to send her back to her world and help make her stronger, it showed how much Nicola hated the Ancient God Religion.

"You can never imagine Lord 'Spring's wisdom and power! Only the most faithful humans deserve to go to the god realm and follow Lord 'Spring' forever! Light and dark have been enemies since Lord 'Spring' created this world. You're just dark's representatives, rotting away in your corner of greed. The worst part is you destroy everyone you touch, spreading despair and darkness to them. Even if my power isn't enough, Lord 'Spring' will come to end all this and free the world!"

But Selene clearly didn't agree with Nicola. To her, those were just necessary steps to reach the ultimate harmonious world.

To resist what she called "demon" temptation, her voice got louder and louder. Then she suddenly pulled out a dagger and stabbed her own throat, choosing to kill herself rather than listen to Nicola anymore.

"You..."

Since coming to this world, Nicola had killed many enemies, but mostly ones she thought should die. This was the first time someone killed themselves so decisively in front of her. She raised her hand to try to stop it, but it was too late.

Of course, with her new ten-wing power, she might have been able to save Selene. But Nicola knew there was no point in saving this Selene, so she just sighed deeply at the body.

"Now you know why I came to ask you to join me against the Ancient God Religion? So can you tell me your choice?"

After a few seconds, still standing there, she suddenly looked up and asked.

"From now on, New Parristol stands with the angels! We're willing to help fight the Ancient God Religion!"

Adrian walked out seriously from the crowd behind her and announced his decision loudly to all the citizens there.

Finally, Nicola completed this "difficult" task Galadra gave her.

Of course the story didn't end here. There's more to add.

The main parts were about how she and Galadra joined with the angels led by Nicora from another world. Using the floating city Lantine Oasis as a moving base, they started a second rescue in Lumina Sanctum and finally found and saved the captured Michelle.

Then element Angels were busy preparing to start the Angel Descent Formation to make a new body for Feliciara. But soon, as expected, the Ancient God Religion attacked crazily again.

This time was completely different from before. They say even a 'Spring' god came directly to the world, but using that world's Fernando's body.

As the former Hero of that world, Fernando of course had higher light element affinity than even Selene, so he could easily communicate directly with 'Spring'.

But when the 'Spring' god came into his body, Galadra said: it was probably only 70% power, but even that was very hard to deal with!

When a "god" fights personally, they're super powerful of course. They could control space, time, any elements and energy easily! Four element angels fighting together were at a big disadvantage - mainly because except Michelle, they were all incomplete versions, and they also had to protect Angel Descent Formation from being destroyed.

During the chaotic fight, when Nicola was about to be hit by an energy attack from the 'Spring' god, Galadra had to use her last power to send her back...

"So what's this 'Spring' anyway?"

After hearing all of Nicola's parallel world experiences, several hours had passed. It was now late at night, and I couldn't help asking a question I'd been holding back for a long time.