Aeternus began to laugh. He shook his head when he was done laughing. "Good one. Nearly had me fooled."
He looked onto the silent battlefield. There are no bodies because they have been destroyed by Chaos energy. The only thing standing are the tools and equipment the army brought with them. They are standing because dead things don't die. As for the living, he declared death to them and all of them died.
Then he returned to his work. His short break is over and he has a lot of work to do. His break would have been longer if the gods had tried their best to fight him. He blames Stelios for how boring the fight was. It would have been different had the sun god brought all 5 of his vessels instead of one. Aeternus knows that more than 5 vessels survived Helios culling.
The fight might be insignificant to him but it will go down in the history of giants. More than 100,000 giants were killed by a single attack and all of them died without a single contact. There's no need for contact when they've already been marked by the messenger of death. There also isn't any damage to their body. The entity had directly attacked their souls. It expended itself in the process that's why it reduced in size and disappeared.
Aeternus has perfect control of chaos energy now and he has perfect control of his soul force which means he can transition from attacking the physical to attacking the spiritual. Chaos energy used to be unwieldy so Aeternus hadn't been able to utilize its spiritual aspect even though it has spiritual components apart from the physical.
He has come a long way from being unable to wield chaos as a low-rank demon. So instead of fighting them like some brawny demon, he bombarded their souls with chaos energy and soul force. Their bodies began to burn from the inside out as Chaos energy got to work. They disappeared soon after leaving behind no trace of a battle. It was a soundless and quick battle.
The fight was too quick and unexciting for him. He had his hopes raised when he thought that the vessel of the sun god resisted his attack because if it can resist one attack, it can resist more. He was looking forward to the challenge but all he got was a disappointment. He didn't have much hope for them anyway but Stelios just had to tease him with the possibility of a good fight.
But he doesn't have to worry, he has all the time in the world. It is the gods that are desperate. They will surely come to him and if not, he will come to them. But he can't leave yet because he has to protect the abyss altar. He knows that there are more vessels out there so he can't leave the altar until it is complete.
In The Divine Plane.
Aeternus was wrong. The gods are not desperate. They are just scared and a little traumatized.
"I thought I was going to die," Harkam said shakily.
The other gods glared at him for saying it out loud. They are all sitting in the council chambers where they have meetings. They were sitting here while they controlled their vessels.
He asked them indignantly. "What? Was I wrong?"
They saw death when the word DEATH was proclaimed. An indomitable force threatened to overwhelm them. Their very being screamed out danger to them. It almost seemed like they would succumb to it but they didn't. They were prepared for the clash against the attack but the attack avoided them entirely and instead eradicated their vessels.
"You were right. But it was ultimately a bluff. It seems that demon kings are only so-so."
The gods began to laugh and jest.
All the gods are unharmed. They don't even feel anything from that attack. They might have lost epically to the demon king but surviving when they should at least be hurt makes them happy. The irony of the situation is that only Stelios was hurt by the attack. He is also the only one not joining in on making fun of Aeternus. His face is grim and he is frowning heavily.
The goddess of power and might asked him. "What's the problem? Why are you so gloomy? Did the loss of your vessels hit you that badly?"
"Relax, we can always get more if the GodSlayer works. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't matter how many vessels we have." The god of war tried to make him feel better.
Harkam dropped his opinion. "He is just an old party pooper. He can't lighten up even if gloom will kill him."
Stelios finally spoke. "You're all fools."
He can't be at peace after the battle because they didn't experience what he experienced. He knows that they are too weak to see what he saw but he still considers them fools for making light of the situation.
Harkam stood up in rage. He yelled angrily. "Watch your mouth. Who do you think you are to call us fools?"
Someone whispered to him. "He is a Celestial now."
Harkam's eyes widen. He withdrew the finger he was pointing at Stelios. He became a little unsure but he still maintained his stance.
He said to Stelios, "Even so, you can't just call us fools without a good reason."
He feels regret for lashing out as he did. Old habits got the best of him but he isn't willing to back down. It reminds him of a similar situation that occurred in the past when he refused to apologize to Stelios for making fun of him. The two situations are very similar. He is way over his head in both situations. Except for this time, Stelios is a Celestial. This time, a loss might cost him his life.
Stelios ignored him and hurriedly approached the god of order and the god of knowledge who are busy with the GodSlayer. He can't be bothered with Harkam right now. He just hopes that things are not too late.
