Mutagen

Day 368 - 6:06 PM - Mountain Back, Balong, Pucakwangi, Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

At the time it began to rain, Kana immediately joined the fray.

It was now the Night Goddess against the combined strength of Mei, Amihan, and Kana.

The clouds in the sky thickened. It was clear that the weak rain was slowly transitioning into a violent storm. Even the wind began to pick up, and natural lightning drew a brilliant flash across the darkness brought by the night sky.

However, even if sweat trickled on Mei's skin as she fought, not a single drop of rain touched her body, not on her, not on Amihan, and not on everyone else they were protecting.

It was because all the raindrops gathered around Kana, forming a giant body of water, moving at her behest. The more it rained, the larger it became. And all of the danger it posed was pointed at the single enemy before them.

"Jump!"

Kana yelled as she rode a wave she created, letting her go down the cliff without obstacles. As she landed in front of the barrier created by Iola, she raised her hand.

"Everyone get inside!"

Kana yelled to the ones still fighting the tentacles outside Iola's barrier. Although confused, they complied, and Iola let them in quickly.

"Protection!"

Kana commanded, and the water she gathered split into two, with one part creating a thin but deadly film of water between Iola's barrier and the attacking dark tentacles.

Not having any sense of preservation, the tentacles still tried to swarm the survivors. However, the film of water surrounding them tore them all apart like soap foam doused in water.

The other part of the water danced around Kana. She then pointed at the Night Goddess, and the water shot needle-like droplets. Like a heavy rotating machine gun, dozens of those droplets shot per second.

Seeing Kana's attack, the Night Goddess waved her hand. The darkness slithered and was given form. A black wall stood between her and the incoming attack.

The first few dozen droplets were stopped by the black wall.

However, as Kana continued to shoot those deadly droplets, the black wall deformed, losing its existence as it could not endure the consistent damage it received.

It only took seconds, and the black wall crumbled, forcing the Night Goddess to jump out of the way.

But as the Night Goddess evaded, she was suddenly hit with a strong force on her back, sending her flying.

Amihan, taking advantage of the situation, shot a wind vortex from a different direction. It worked as the Night Goddess did not expect the intensity of Kana's attack.

But the combo did not end there.

As the Night Goddess was sent flying up the sky, she was now heading towards Mei's direction.

Not holding anything back, Mei aimed at an angle where her attack would not hit Mountain Back. Then, she fired.

It was a beam of raw energy, the very same beam that killed Gar'Vlam.

Although the Night Goddess was seemingly surprised by the unexpected situation she was in, she still noticed Mei and her incoming attack. She waved both her hands. The darkness of the night suddenly enveloped her, and she vanished from everyone's sight. It was not a stealth ability. It was not her intention to hide.

It was just the side-effect of the darkness forming a barrier around her with the dark sky in the background.

What the Night Goddess did not expect even more was that Mei's attack tore through her barrier, piercing her body, before shooting straight to the northwestern horizon.

"KRYAAAAA!!!"

The Night Goddess' cry echoed, making everyone kneel while covering their ears. But that cry was less of pain and more of anger.

Mei flapped her rainbow-scaled wings as she prepared for her next attack. Her ears were ringing and felt like bleeding, but she endured. She would not let the enemy leave her sight alive.

As for the Night Goddess, she managed to evade Mei's shot, which was supposed to pierce through her torso. But it was not like she did not receive any damage. The lower part of her left upper wing and the entire right middle wing were gone, destroyed to nothing by Mei's attack.

The Night Goddess' cry carried both pain and anger from her wings being damaged by a creature she saw as prey.

Mei readied her weapon, putting in new crystals. She replaced the previous ones that had already vanished after their energy was consumed fully.

In her mind, words Magwayen gave when this fight started echoed.

The Night Goddess was both a Goddess and not. While she had the [Authority] at the level of a Godly entity, her incomplete existence still veered her far from being a True Goddess. She could be considered a Demigod at most.

That was why, although it would be hard, the Night Goddess would not be impossible to defeat.

It was even more plausible since there was Amihan. And Kana also joined the fray.

The only problem was that the Night Goddess had the most difficult [Authority] to deal with.

[Authority] implied more than just power over the rules. Powerful beings had [Authority]. It was what made them powerful.

[Authority] was the ability to ignore rules of the world over aspects of nature and command them freely. Sometimes, it was granted. Sometimes, it was usurped. Nonetheless, this ability to change reality itself was what made them Deities and Gods.

And the Night Goddess had [Authority] over one of the most troublesome aspects of nature. The control over the [Aspect of Night], which was the rule over specific pieces of the [Aspect of Time] and the [Aspect of Darkness]. And both these aspects were powerful ones.

The Night Goddess might not be able to stop time or give specific rules over it, but turning day into night would result in many things. It was because many things in nature behaved differently during the day and at night.

And when it was night, there was darkness.

Darkness was the state of nature without light. Even if everything was gone, darkness would still remain. It was not wrong to say that the [Aspect of Darkness] was just below the [Authority] over [Creation].

Darkness was intangible and shapeless. It was also an aspect that would rule over a large part of emotions like fear.

A God's [Authority] over the [Aspect of Darkness] would allow them to turn the intangible into tangible and the shapeless into any shape they desired.

Displaying the power of her [Authority], darkness crept over the Night Goddess' body. It then mimicked the shape of her wings, and with a strong release of energy, the damages on the wings of the Night Goddess were repaired instantly.

It showed that the Night Goddess would not go down unless killed instantly.

The Night Goddess suddenly jumped away. The place she stood exploded. A strong gust of wind and a burst of strong-pressure water caused a large amount of earth and mud to scatter. It was the combination of Amihan and Kana's attacks.

It seemed that the Night Goddess was becoming more and more perceptive of the attacks from her opponents.

The Night Goddess quickly turned her head, facing Amihan's direction. She extended her hand and strongly clenched her palm.

Amihan shivered as she felt danger. She immediately flew with a burst of wind on her back. It was when she noticed the large number of dark tentacles chasing after her out of nowhere.

Flying with a quick twirl, Amihan conjured a wind blade and cut off the tentacles chasing after her. But a tentacle suddenly appeared behind her. And like a whip, it struck her back.

"AH!"

Amihan felt the pain as she crashed to the ground.

But the tentacles did not stop. The darkness around Amihan slithered, trying to swallow her.

Of course, Amihan would not fall here. She slammed her hand on the ground. A surge of wind picked up around her and destroyed everything. As she did it in a hurry, she had less control over it. It caused everything within five meters around her to be torn to shreds. Fortunately, she was thrown quite a distance away from everyone, or she could have hurt someone by accident.

Still, the surge of energy seemed to have caught the attention of the Night Goddess. After all, that surge of energy Amihan released was powerful enough like a tornado while concentrated in a small area.

The Night Goddess' predator instincts kicked in. If she consumed Amihan's soul, it would be faster for her to become complete.

Amihan felt the unsettling gaze upon her. She turned and saw the enemy staring at her. Amihan shivered. She felt scared.

"Younger sister. Now."

Magwayen's voice faintly echoed.

All of a sudden, all the fear Amihan felt vanished. She felt a different gaze coming from the opposite direction.

Amihan suddenly shot away from the ground. The looming darkness about to consume her lost their target. She then glanced through Iola's barrier. Inside the barrier, Amihan saw Elise, still covered in a golden glow, nodding at her with eyes filled with determination.

It was the reason why Elise was crucial in this fight. The power of darkness was just more than materialization. It was because darkness could cause all sorts of illusions. Those illusions could affect emotions. Unstable emotions could be the death of anyone once they were consumed by them in the face of a manipulator of darkness.

Fighting the Night Goddess was more than just fighting against the darkness she controlled. It was also defending against the illusions that the darkness she had created.

A flash of light gnawed upon the darkness. Mei suddenly appeared beside the Night Goddess, brandishing her weapon she transformed into a sword.

The Night Goddess attempted to make a wall of darkness to block the sword but she paused and dodged instead. The Night Goddess was learning. Mei's previous attack tore through her defense. It was possible to happen again.

As the Night Goddess evaded in a hurry, she not only retreated a short distance but actually ended up shooting backward. As jumped off the mountain on the turtle's back, she flapped her six wings and flew up to the sky.

"Now!"

Magwayen's signal echoed inside the minds of Amihan, Kana, and Mei.

Since they were fighting on the back of the [Giant Infected Turtle], any powerful moves would not only affect the enemy but everyone on its back. That was why Mei only fired the beam upwards. It was also the reason why Amihan could not use more powerful moves.

It was the first thing they needed to do. It was to change the location of the fight. It did not have to be too far. Just not above the shell of Mountain Back.

This was the moment they were waiting for.

Amihan moved both her arms as if they were pulling something above.

At the same time, Kana commanded the waters and pointed at the sky.

It was when a gigantic vortex formed in the storm clouds and a tornado quickly shot down to the ground.

And the instant the tornado appeared, a water spout formed from below. The spiraling water torrent shot to the sky.

In between the two forces of nature was the Night Goddess, who did not expect to receive such powerful attacks before she could stabilize herself in midair.

The Night Goddess tried to evade at the last moment. But the moment she did, Mei appeared in front of her with a flash of bright light, shooting her sniper rifle and forcing her to retreat.

But as the Night Goddess retreated from the bullets, it forced her into the trajectory of the tornado and the water spout.

And finally, the wind and water collided with the Night Goddess at the center of it all.

"KRYAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

An earth-shaking screech echoed throughout the land as the body of the Night Goddess started to get torn inside the violent spiraling vortex.

First were her wings. Then her hair, and clothing. And after all that, it was her skin. Her face lost form, and her body was filled with terrifying gashes.

It could be the end of the Night Goddess.

The Night Goddess still tried to fight back. She gathered all her strength and called upon the darkness of the night.

Darkness was just the lack of light. It was everywhere during the night.

But at this moment, it was as if darkness was alive, as it slithered and crawled on the ground, flew in the air, and splattered like mud toward the Night Goddess.

Unfortunately, the Night Goddess was already surrounded by violent sword-like winds and terrifying spear-like water. The darkness she controlled could not penetrate the combined might of the Priestess of the Sea and the Fragment of the Goddess of the Wind.

This was the end. This was supposed to be the end.

However, the darkness had gone out of control.

It was as if the night itself began to fight back. The pressure emitted by the heavens made everyone feel like vomiting.

Everyone lost sight of the Night Goddess. It was not because she disappeared. It was because her body began to dissolve like mud. It expanded within Amihan and Kana's attacks. It mixed with the wind and water.

The darkness then expanded, destroying the attacks from the inside.

Everyone gritted their teeth. They tried to look for the figure of the enemy.

They found it easily.

But it was not the figure of the beautiful six-winged goddess. It was a gigantic shadow looming over everyone.

It was covered in darkness. They could not see any distinguishing feature.

But seeing that dark shadow larger than Mountain Back, everyone felt their emotions in chaos.

"KRYAAAAAAA!!!"

The giant figure cried. Everyone felt heavy. Most of the survivors fell unconscious. It was the pressure emitted by a Godly being in its raw form.