Odyssey of the Blind God

When the large icicle that was filled with blazing flames smashed onto the ground of the crater, a loud explosion resounded in the surrounding area.

The blazing flames within the icicle were unleashed moments after the impact. It was as if they were just waiting to break out of their icy cage as they surged out of the small gap through the icicle rather than destroying the icicle completely. The icicle was drilled into the ground with the intention to kill the woman who had been buried below.

As for the flames, they were supposed to deliver the final blow, if that was necessary, in the first place. While Nial sensed many things in the center of the crater, he understood very well and disliked the fact that Bella was far from dead. In fact, the mana within her seemed to be surging, getting stronger over time.

'Ability? Special trait?' Nial began to wonder while trying to control his rampaging dark energy to perceive exactly what was going on. He wanted to get to know more about the changes that were occurring in the center of the crater, only to realize that Bella had disappeared.

One moment she was getting crushed by the large icicle, and the other moment she had vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, the overly familiar Elementalist was making his way toward Nial. The Elementalist had changed quite a bit since they parted ways but he had still the same old, foolish smile on his face.

"Hey Nia–..." He said, just to be interrupted by Nial who shot forward as he sensed that something was wrong around his estranged friend.

"Run!"

However, it was already too late. Bella or the person he presumed to be Bella appeared next to Mathias. She waved her hand, which caused a humongous hand of light to manifest above Mathias, who was foolish enough to look up rather than run away in an instant. He looked at the hand that had its palm wide outstretched just to react only after the flat hand smashed down onto him.

Mathias was pushed into the ground by the flat hand that had been manifested out of light, causing Nial to curse in his mind.

But the woman whom he presumed to be Bella didn't seem to mind the killing intent pointed at her anymore. She was hovering in the air with a smug expression, looking tall and proud, her beauty radiating like a beacon in the darkness. As she closed her radiant golden eyes and raised her arms to the sky, a brilliant golden light enveloped her, seemingly as if to finish the transformation of a mere mortal into a divine being.

Her hair fluttered in the wind like molten gold, cascading down her shoulders in shimmering waves, while her eyes seemed to blaze with the intensity and brightness of the sun itself the moment she opened them. Her eyes exuded power, wisdom, and arrogance as she looked over to Nial, whose dark energy was being repelled from the brilliant golden light.

The corners of her lips curled upward when she understood this, and her eyes were fixated on him as she wondered what to do with Nial.

A holy aura mantled her, creating a semi-transparent halo around her head, giving Bella an otherworldly presence. She was not the same as before anymore. She was now unleashing every bit of power that had been granted to her, providing her with immense power, beauty, and the worship of the Angels.

'Divine Transformation?' Nial guessed, immediately thinking about his fight with Sylvian. Bella's transformation was stronger than the changes Sylvian had undergone when they fought. That was quite bothersome even if Nial didn't think that it made a huge difference.

No matter how high Bella's power was after the Divine Transformation, she was merely at the Low Keltia rank. Her vessel was not capable of withstanding the tremendous power of a divine being. That meant Bella wouldn't be able to endure staying in her current condition for long!

Nial was just about to initiate an attack when a familiar woman emerged next to Bella. The woman didn't even think of using any special means to attack Bella as she smashed the mace she was holding against Bella's shoulder.

The swing of the mace was powerful enough to create gusts of wind that passed through Bella before the blunt weapon impacted hard upon her shoulder.

Nial perceived everything in his surrounding as precisely as possible. Taking everything into consideration, Nial disappeared from his earlier spot before he re-emerged next to the hand imprint that had formed on the ground. He released his dark energy to shatter the hand of light that continued to push Mathias into the ground.

At the same time, Nial exuded dark energy from every single pore of his body to mantle himself once again. He was already wounded but the dark energy filling the wounds had already stopped the bleeding, working as a temporary band-aid.

Mathias was struggling to get up from the ground. His head was shaking and his entire body ached. Nonetheless, he looked at the human-like being that was mantled in darkness with squinted eyes.

"Nial, is that you?" He asked weakly, and in response, a hideous grimace formed out of the dark energy that shrouded Nial appeared.

"I don't know who else you expected to meet, but I am Nial, indeed. But that is far more important…what the hell are you doing here with my sister?!" Nial's voice turned cold at the end, and Mathias immediately felt that he was truly facing his old friend, Nial, once again.

He didn't expect to meet Nial in the Angel Kingdom, let alone that he would have been smashed into the ground, covered in dirt, and injured while meeting his old friend after close to two decades elapsed since they parted ways.

Mathias smiled lightly but there was no good answer he could give Nial, not that quickly at least.

"Things turned out like this. I can tell you once we're done here," Mathias said, hinting to Nial that they should focus on defeating Bella rather than talking about the good old times. Now was not the time to chitchat.

Nial nodded his head even though he was already focusing on the battle that had ensued between his sister and Bella. While Bella's strength had elevated to far above the Mythician rank, Sabrina was not doing much worse either.

She didn't seem to be able to release her mana outside the body, which Nial noticed the moment he recalled a few of her abilities that would have been quite suitable to be used in a combination every now and then. The mana inside her seemed to be sealed within her, resulting in a faster accumulation of power and acceleration of the cultivation process.

After all, her body forced Sabrina to make use of every trace of mana that she absorbed naturally.

Nial felt that this could also be quite dangerous if poisoned or decaying mana were to be absorbed. However, from the looks of it, his sister was doing perfectly fine. He didn't have to worry about Sabrina destroying her cultivation progress mistakenly.

It was far more important to make sure that she would come out alive today and that there wouldn't be an issue leaving this place once they got rid of the Saintess of the Angels, Bella Morningstar.