Chapter 203 The End Of Days Terrain

In the genesis of all existence, the Divine Creator breathed life into the heavens and earth. But alas, the earth lay in a desolate state - formless, vacant, and shrouded in the darkness of the abyss. The very essence of the Almighty permeated the depths, an ethereal force that hovered gracefully over the undulating waters.

As the first verse of the holy bible comes to mind, I must confess that I am not a man of religious fervour yet the enigmatic beauty of those words touches my very soul. The beginning describes the dawn of creation, while the end describes the end of days, the ultimate moment of reckoning when every man shall be awarded his just reward.

At times, my imagination runs wild, and I wonder what that day will be like. Alas, fate has not granted me the privilege to witness it. Nevertheless, I have been endowed with powers and abilities that bring me closer to divinity with each passing moment.

And so, I have the ability to recreate that which was once only imagined.

Ah, the power to recreate the most dreadful prophecies of the last days on earth, to bring them to life in the flesh and unleash them upon the unworthy. I could make it happen, and oh, the horrors that would unfold upon the hapless soul who dared to stand before me without a shred of mercy. I would plunge him into the depths of hell, literally, and watch as he writhed in agony.

The assassin suddenly spoke out of turn. "No matter how strong you think you are, I will kill yo---"

"SHHH!!" I quieted him down once more. "I am thinking about your punishment, so please, be silent".

The assassin bristled with displeasure, but I was in control now, and he was nothing but a helpless victim. He had yet to realize this fact. "You!" He cursed at me, as if he still held some sway. "I will kill you" He spat out before disappearing into the shadows.

Hmmm! I should have known that his path's abilities were still going to function within my terrain creation. Nonetheless, it was useless.

Suddenly, a gust of wind encircled me, elevating me into the air and offering a bird's eye view of the earth beneath me. I could see everything with incredible clarity.

"SWISSSH!!" My victim appeared within seconds, brandishing his weapon as he swung it towards my previous position with ferocity."I have you now".

I smiled.

With a flash of realization, he realized he had swung his sword at nothingness. And the man that he had targetted to eliminate was effortlessly levitating in the sky, which jolted him back to his senses. He quickly regained his composure, creating distance between himself and me before he uttered. "Impossible..."

He cursed out again. "Impossible… That was almost instantaneous! I timed that attack perfectly, even if you dodged it, you should have been injured".

I couldn't help but grin at his bewilderment. "I suppose this is your first time fighting within a sorcerer's terrain creation" I remarked, taking a moment to consider what kind of terrain to conjure up.

With my left hand wrapped around Nina, I extended my right hand forward, and channelled my magical energy into the air. The terrain needed something more chilling, something that would strike fear into the hearts of any sentient being that heard its name.

"You won't be able to dodge the second time" He spat, before disappearing into the nearby shadow. In a matter of seconds, he reappeared in his previous position, wielding his blade with a horizontal stance, ready to slice open a neck. His widened eyes betrayed his surprise.

"Don't be surprised, this is my world..." From the moment he disappeared into the shadows, I could sense him. As such, I wasn't worried about his attempts and simply waited patiently, watching the slow creep of despair across his face as he came to the grim realization of his situation.

Suddenly, a smile crept across my face, and I knew just the name to give this terrain. It was a name that carried my definition of horror, a simplistic and chilling name. It was a name that would rain down upon humanity if I were divine.

With a snap of my fingers and a single utterance, I christened it:

"The End of Days."

…....

The desolate expanse that once surrounded me was suddenly transformed into a vibrant and lively scene. Right before my very eyes, a mountain was set ablaze by a fiery stream that erupted from its depths.

My unfortunate victim let out an agonizing scream as a barrage of hail, fire, and brimstone mixed with large droplets of blood fell from the sky. The cataclysmic event overwhelmed the heavens as they rained down upon the mountain and the assassin perched upon it. Yet, miraculously, they effortlessly brushed past my body, licking harmlessly against my skin like a child does to his father.

If the 'Matryoshka execution terrain' represents various terrains stacked against each other in increasing levels of difficulty and nightmarishness, then 'The End of Days' was the culmination of everything all at once - the ultimate execution.

Rather than drowning him in a mere flood, I elected to submerge him in a river of blood and fire. Rather than letting him wear himself out in a desperate, anxious struggle, I brought the terrain to life and commanded it to immobilize him. Solid rock morphed into towering 7-meter pins that penetrated his bones and flesh, holding him captive as brimstones and hailstones rained down upon his hapless form.

As time ticked on, the sun and the sky were stripped of their radiance, veiling the landscape in a shroud of darkness. This wasn't just any darkness, however; it was a pitch-black, bone-chilling gloom that consumed all light in its path. The darkest night.

"PLEASE....PLEASE....NO MORE!" He wailed. Frozen in place by my magical energy, he was unable to end his own torment, and so he implored me instead.

But I remained silent.

"CCCCRRRRAAACCCKKK!" "BOOOOM!!!" Lightning and thunder rent the sky asunder for a fleeting moment, striking with lethal accuracy against the assassin's back before disappearing just as quickly, affording him a brief glimpse of death.

"ARRGGGGHHH!!" He screamed in agony, his vocal cords stretched to their limits as his body suffered more horrendous bruises than even Nina's back.

And so it went, round and round in a dizzying cycle. The earthen spikes pierced him in a manner that brought death tantalizingly close yet kept it miles away from claiming his life. The lightning whipped him, doling out a thousand times more punishment for whatever atrocities he had committed against Nina. And the environment, in an eerie symphony, conspired to make his last days on earth a living hell.

But, that was not the end.

The true finale unfolded as the darkness was shredded by a magnificent light, so bright and vast that it illuminated even the most haunted recesses of the mountain. It descended from the heavens, a miniature version of the sun that I had conjured.

Its target was the mountain, and as it made its descent, it signalled the eclipse of 'The End of Days'.

"Haaaaa..." I breathed out heavily, feeling the weight of exhaustion settle over me before quickly vanishing. It appeared that the intricate complexity of 'The End of Days Terrain' was capable of draining my magical reserves, just as the 'Matryoshka Execution Terrain' did.

Regardless, as the sun collapsed upon the mountain, tearing it apart, I gazed on with unblinking eyes, piercing through the blinding light and beheld that it was indeed good.

My creation, my masterpiece, was all good.

"KAAAABBBBOOOOMMM!".

And at the end, except for I, the creator, there were no other eyes left to testify.

…...

This is not going as panned!

This is not going as planned!

This is n--

"WHISSSH!" The ice beneath me shifted as two arrows pierced through my previous position. I touched my chest and checked my body. "I'm alive!".

I snapped my head towards Bones, the Captain's tamed beast and the one who had saved my life over and over again.

"WHISSSH!"

The ice beneath me cracked and shifted my body to another position as an arrow was fired towards me again.

You see what I was saying.

Although I can understand the captain's intention of trying to ease the pain of losing my friends. But, as a sea slave, I had already accepted the possibility of death at any moment. Still, while their deaths were still a heavy burden on my shoulders, I was mentally prepared for it. However, I refused to accept my fate in this way.

After Bones and I had eliminated every assassin we encountered... Cough! Well, that was mostly Bones. Regardless, we finally arrived at the cellar where we discovered a group of malnourished adults and frightened children. We freed them and were about to leave when suddenly, spies from the Vrymath Kingdom appeared out of nowhere and demanded our surrender.

"Not possible!" Those were the exact words of the rat.