Threads of the Soul

Chapter 507 - 507: Rivers in the Desert

Bob chewed and chewed, gnawing away at the irritating God. If he was familiar with food, Bob would have compared the god to an under-cooked piece of chicken that was as tough as rubber, simply bouncing around in his mouth and refusing to break apart no matter how much he chewed.However Bob's experience with food was rather limited, and when he did eat it he did not do so through the process of chewing, so really this was a novel experience for him and he wasn't entirely sure if he was doing it right.

Unfortunately, like many first experiences, it was incredibly short and somewhat disappointing as it didn't feel as good as he expected.

The cheeks of the giant Bob face began to swell. The chewing stopped, replaced with an expression of discomfort as his cheeks continued to bulge and swell from within. His lips were pursed, trying desperately to keep everything inside, but there was nothing he could do against the swelling mass of water.

Sea water spewed from his nose and broke through his eyes, before Bob's defences finally broke apart. His giant mouth opened and he spewed out an entire river's worth of water as the form of the face broke apart, melting into nothing more than sandy mush.

Neptune panted heavily, an expression of pure, ego-wounded rage plastered his face as he hovered in the air. Water dripped from his body and plastered his hair to his head, or what was left of his hair.

Half of his face had withered away, taking his hair along with it, as the once young and supple flesh had shrivelled up to resemble a raisin - specifically one that had been dropped underneath the washing machine and had been left there for a few months before you finally found it during some repairs.

Definitely beyond the five second rule.

He turned his attention to the battle in the sky, as Astra was fighting off the Pegasi that had bowed to his will, as they were born to do. They were barely lasting a few seconds each, as a bolt of lightning was more than enough to fry their feathers and send their blackened corpses tumbling to the ground.

But he didn't care, they had served their purposes well, and made for a worthwhile distraction.

Shifting his Trident into a backwards grip, Neptune lifted it over his shoulder and drew it back. He poured energy into the weapon, flooding it with a mixture of pure mana and Divine Energy.

The arm holding the Trident withered at a rapid and clearly visible rate, as did a majority of his torso. The muscles shrank until his skin clung to the bone, then the skin lost its colouration as it shrivelled up.

As he poured more energy into it, the great and powerful Neptune looked more and more like he was one of the ancient Mummies that used to dwell in the Pyramids beneath him, with only parts of his body properly preserved.

However his miserable and withered appearance did not mean weakness. Instead the Trident glowed brighter and brighter, until its body thrummed with overwhelming power that was starting to crack.

Then, and only then, did he finally throw it. It rocketed forwards faster than a blur, faster than sound itself. So fast that the sonic boom didn't even have a chance to formulate before it struck its target.

Astra only had a tiny fraction of a second, as she noticed it glowing in his hand before he threw it, before her vision was filled with a golden light.

There was no deafening explosion, no colossal and earth shattering boom. There was only a blinding light and silence.

The Light grew rapidly, filling the sky like a second sun as it quickly approached the border of the city. It was all consuming and all destructive, simply a force of nature. No... it was the judgement of the true Gods.

Not even its own creator, who was looking on with a manic smile on his half rotten face, could stop its destruction. How far it would spread he had no way of truly knowing, it was hard for him to gauge how much this feeble body had allowed him to put into that blast.

But it was more than enough to consume the city, he knew that for sure.

As the all devouring light approached the city, Neptune let out a deep and satisfied sigh. Even as the light approached himself, he felt no fear. Death had no hold over him, that miserable old bastard would never be able to get a hold of him.

Through the Master he was truly immortal. Not even this light could snuff out his immortal soul, just the same as it could not be... stopped...

Neptune frowned deeply as the unstoppable, all consuming light did the impossible. Its endless expansion found an end, quickly slowing to a crawl before stopping. That... that was impossible.

His eyes were filled with utter bafflement at what he was seeing. Not only had it stopped, even before it reached the city, it was retreating?! What was going on?!

Neptune was forced to watch, in abject horror and confusion, as his unstoppable weapon retreated and shrank. From the width of a football field, to the length of three trucks, then only one truck, then a washing machine and even smaller still until it was just the size of a tiny marble.

A tiny, golden marble that hovered between the hands of a woman that seemed to be made of the night sky. Her body black as night with stars softly twinkling on her featureless skin. Her long, flowing hair looked like it contained a living nebula as the only features on her face was a pair of bright glowing white eyes.

Astra, in her Star-Child form, slowly lifted her hand until the tiny glowing orb of unstoppable destruction was eye-level with her. She tilted her head, staring at it with those empty eyes and featureless face, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Yet Neptune could feel it overflowing from her. It was contempt.