The Dawn of the New World



*RUUUUUUUMBLEEEE*

This time it was the pyramid shaking by itself, mainly because of the effects of the black lightning that was congregating on one spot in the maelstrom preparing to fall onto the chamber with all its might.

Claudia looked up into the eye of a storm that had become the center of all creation, and a feeling of relief fell over her. She knew their lives were coming to an end soon and there was nothing they could do to stop it. It was a vaguely euphoric sensation as if the heavens were welcoming her, forcing her to lay down her weapons and cease all resistance.

"It is a sign," she mumbled while lowering the book, "The sinners shall be marked and called down to hell, while those worthy shall ascend into the promised land!"

Her eyes glazed over as she completely gave herself over to the secondary effects of the Heavenly Extermination. The pages of the black book fluttered as if to protest but it was forcefully closed and the protection bubble removed.

Every single individual immediately fell to their knees, regardless of cultivation. And the same sense of doom began to instill into their hearts one by one, wiping away any thoughts of resistance. Their young minds did not have the capacity to fight against such powerful forces, even if they weren't directed at them.

"What have we done..."

"Beg for forgiveness! There is still time!"

"Mother, father...I'm coming to see you soon!"

No one could escape from its effects save for one person. Princess Ceni was the only one among them with the soundness of mind to still keep her wits about. Maybe it was because of everything she had gone through but her will was not so easily broken.

She felt the temperature rise even higher and knew they wouldn't survive for long without some sort of protection. So she crawled over to Claudia and slapped her on the back, "Wake up!"

*GAAASP*

"What are you blubbering about?! Hao Xuan needs us!"

Princess Ceni's words felt like a bucket of icy water pouring onto her very soul as Claudia opened her eyes to the truth.

"How could I forget??!" she muttered through gritted teeth and summoned the black book again.

Just then, without any warning or sign, one of the larger lightning bolts separated from the maelstrom and fell straight down.

Time slowed to crawl in Claudia's eyes as she tried her best to finish the chant before it made contact, but could she be faster than a bolt of lightning? There was no chance.

She watched in slow motion as the bolt of lightning came for the chamber and everything else around it, including them. But terrible as it was, it didn't 'feel' like the end and she understood why a moment later.

From the corner of her eye she saw a large shadow ascend from the depths of the chasm and stand in between them, moving faster than the lightning itself.

It moved quicker than anything her senses could perceive and threw itself at the lightning bolt, somehow destroying it in one go.

The breath she had been holding in finally left her lungs as time began to flow again and she saw the creature's full appearance.

It was big enough to scale the side of the pyramid with little effort, making it seem like a small toy in comparison.

At least a few hundred meters in size, it was not much different from an entire mountain range trying to pull itself out of the dark void beneath the pyramid.

The shadow that Claudia had seen stop the lightning bolt just now belonged to only one of the three immense heads attached to a body too large to be seen from just one angle.

What little remained of the cavern was instantly blown apart by the creature's appearance. It was so big that nothing else, not even the maelstrom could be seen behind its body.

Every single orifice of its immense form spurted out clouds of hell fire that surrounded most of its form, actually shrinking it to a more manageable size within the blink of an eye.

But even with its total size less than halved, each head was still big enough to take bites out of entire cities.

The black book floating in front of Claudia's face trembled and flipped all the way to the end, to a page inscribed in gold ink. It mentioned a legendary creature not much different from what stood before her now, a three-headed hound of death itself. (Reference image posted in Author's notes and Discord)

"Cerberus," she whispered the words aloud and one of the heads turned towards her, peering straight into her soul.

Every single mistake she had made in her entire life instantly flashed past her eyes.

*RUUUUUMBLE*

The shockwaves from the storm shook the planet once more, forcing Cerberus to focus its attention on it.

All three heads peered into the sky and let loose a roar that shook the very fabric of space.

***

Author's Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

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