At some point it became a matter of trusting her instincts. Her presence boosted the morale of their armies. It was one thing to fight for a Beholder, but it was an entirely another to fight alongside them.
“Another one! The eyes are exposed Galia! Destroy as many as you can!” She bared her fangs as though possessed by a spirit of war.
She lifted a hand and pointed it at the nearest eye, conjuring [Retrocausality] to deal with it.
“SMITE! PLEASE – GIVE ME SMITE! EVERYONE! WE’RE CLOSE TO WINNING THIS!”
However, and much to her surprise, a new form of [Retrocaulity] emerged. Instead of firing a beam of light or bestowing the world with flesh-eating particles of light, her blackened, left claw was encased in a subtle white glow.
“Eh…? How come? What is this supposed to be?” Jury asked herself quizzically, holding it before her face with a troubled expression.
Her hand burned with a strange heat. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but was odd nonetheless. She closed her fist and at once, a small pulse was emitted from her hand.
“Agh… That… hurts now!” Pain shot from her heart down to her hand. But she didn’t have time to figure out why. Right now something strange had happened as a result of this pulse.
The Sins that pounced on her began to move slowly through the air. In fact, those that entered within 2 meters of her were instantly slowed to half their speed, allowing Jury to cleave them before they could strike her down.
|| Retrocausality – Temporal Distortion ||
< My time ticked down slower than they knew. I witnessed the rise and fall, the birth and death of it all in a timeframe so fragmented from causality that there was no redemption left for me. Use with discretion, me. Don’t let them take it away from you >
< EFFECT: Create a Temporal Distortion Field originating from your Qliphoth Corrosion. The Field improves as the Heart of Time evolves. Qliphoth Corrosion is deterred minimally when Temporal Distortion is active >
< COST: 3,000,000 NEX per minute >
< INITIAL COST: Nil >
“Qliphoth…? Is that what this is?” Jury had a closer look at her claw, but could not tell it apart from a regular, dark claw.
She didn’t know what Qliphoth was supposed to be in the first place either, but the fact that ‘Corrosion’ was mentioned alongside it implied that it was far from good. It came at a strange time, but then again, the last time she received a new form of [Retrocausality] came at times of crisis.
Did Elysia know this was going to happen? Or… is she watching me?
Jury couldn’t shake off this thought. Another discrepancy with this version of [Retrocausality] was that it was a physical augmentation, rather than a fire and forget kind of magic.
Still, the name implied that it was prepared ahead of time by none other than Elysia.
“Are you trying to help me Elysia?” Jury asked as though Elysia was present, watching blood splatters cruise through the air as she tore the Sins apart with her bare hands. “If you’re here… then what can we do to make the suffering end?”
Her claw seemed to cut through them twice as easily. Blood that dared to stain it was instantly vaporized, not even leaving behind a trail of steam. It became a weapon worthy of a Beholder, but she couldn’t gauge exactly how strong it had become.
No one answered Jury, as she expected. Ribs were still being torn open, and Galia found herself in the center of the spiraling Castigation Bird.
Castigation Bird | HP: 190,000,000
< Trumpets warned the world of their arrival. Did they know that what they said was heard? Drones of sounds were incomprehensible to them >
< The Castigation Bird spirals with vehement belief >
< They were punished rightfully >
< If words could not testify to their sins, then the proof needed to be presented in a way that all could understand >
< [Because It Has Been Seen] >
“GALIA! ANOTHER ATTACK! BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN SEEN!”
Galia, despite how far away she was, seemed to hear Jury. It was impossible from her distance, but perhaps due to her excellent vision she could read her lips perfectly.
She mouthed the same words back as golden orbs formed in the countless cavities of the Castigation Bird. Faux eyes were created as coagulated blood formed the sclera. Sins stopped pouring as the world fell silent.
Then, just like [Rightful Smite], those caught within these false eyes were subjected to [Castigation]. Crystal bullets made quick work of them. They were far weaker than the regular eyes and didn’t seem to possess invulnerability.
The mass scale attack affected the Repenters and Impuritas more than themselves, as they were already avoiding these chasms in the first place. However, despite how tranquil everything seemed, Galia’s expression darkened severely as she clasped the air, her hand trembling under the influence of something.
“Galia…? Galia!? GALIA!”
The impulses that drove the Repenters to madness had seemingly overwhelmed her. The countless gazes of the Castigation Bird froze Galia in place as she was forced to face segmented memories of her past.
Screams, bloodshed, betrayals, schemes – they all flashed before her eyes like she was being shown a reel of her evils. Galia’s mind was far too tempered to be affected by such a psychological attack, but even so, she had felt a part of her dabbling in these thoughts for a while now.
“I could have saved them.” Galia repeated to herself as she basked in the light of countless false eyes.
Slowly, those eyes transformed into stars. Her mind was lucid. She knew that what she saw was an illusion. There was still a battle to be fought. But even so, these memories were brought to the forefront of her mind, dominating all reason.
… Why would a Corrupted show me where I began? How worthless. So you wish to see what I have seen?
Galia knew this was perhaps what the Corrupted Skill [Because It Has Been Seen] meant. It was likely that she was not the only one forced into this retrospective illusion, but then again, it wouldn’t surprise her if she or Jury were the only ones affected.
Galia’s body was smaller here. She wasn’t as tall as she was, and her hair reached down to her waist in this world beneath the stars. Her eyes, which were colored a deep dark brown, reflected the majesty of the world above.
Those eyes belonged to a young woman who did not wear the black coat that so many feared and revered. Instead, what she wore was an outfit that didn’t belong to this world. It was ragged, and her hair was amess.
Cracked lips were pointed up to the stars as a dry tongue lapped them.
This was a Galia who laid in an empty field on bed of grass, waiting for death.