Only a few minutes have passed since the second phase of the Ritual started. The Primordial was still trying to reach the Aether orb, but its path kept getting blocked, and its limbs were severed, disintegrating and getting absorbed.

What’s worse, the nuisance that stood between it and its meal seemed to be quite resistant to telepathy. Not only that but she paid little mind to the ancient being, still blocking its way all while fighting another opponent.

The large golem army it created wasn’t making any progress at destroying the thing constraining it. Their numbers were dropping rapidly and soon enough there would be a need to create more.

The alien entity was angry, but it was far from afraid. It had long since understood that communicating with the small creatures was impossible. Even though it had provided them with the knowledge needed to evolve, they were still an ignorant and underdeveloped race. It would take them thousands of years to reach a level where they could share their thoughts, but before that could happen they chose to antagonize it.

The entity had no intention on harming those who managed to learn enough to manipulate the world around them. All it wanted was to gather the Aether left behind by those who had already died. When it saw that all of it had been gathered and concentrated in one location, it feared that someone might try to take the Aether from it, and by the time it understood it had fallen for a trap, it was already too late.

Escaping was going to be difficult, but not impossible. All it had to do was destroy the links and break the chains restraining it. To that end it used its power to create soldiers to fight for it while it tried to obtain the Aether, but that plan wasn’t working so far.

Composing itself, the Primordial observed the ground beneath it and tried to come up with another solution to its predicament. Raising its tentacles, it formed a new set of Runes then lowered them to the ground. Black dust began to gather around each one and soon enough new golems came to life. The new batch was different from the previous two, and fewer in number as well. They were much larger, and their forms were much more polished and detailed as if they were carefully carved out of a mountain, unlike the smaller ones which seemed like a bunch of rocks piled into a certain shape.

Mass producing soldiers became more difficult the stronger it tried to make them. The Primordial gave them several abilities the others lacked, and once they were ready to go it gave them the orders and they began to move.

Ominous red light glowed in the depths of their nine eyes and the jagged bloody Runes of Madness began to form over their heads. At the center of their chests was a large circular hole. As soon as the Runes appeared, air began swirling at its center as a small black dot began expanding until it was visible from afar.

The new giants spread their jaws all at once. The Nephilim and the Olympians both stopped as they noticed the giants preparing to do something. They instinctively felt the need to heighten their defenses and quickly increased the output up their force field and set barriers to protect themselves.

Everything was silent for a single second, but then the world seemed to tremble all at once. At first, it felt like the sound of a small handgun firing. A single BANG! Heard from a distance. But then the true magnitude of the giants’ attack showed itself as an invisible wall slammed into everything, followed by the sound of an ear shattering explosion.

The shockwave was powerful to say the least. Several Olympians were splattered in the air, and the Nephilim weren’t any better. Their bodies were sturdier so they held on quite well, but some lost consciousness and fell while others noticed that they were cracking like eggs. Barriers shattered in an instant only serving to lessen the blow a little. In the end the only thing that made a difference was the strength of the Force Field they used and only those who cranked all the way up managed to survive unharmed, although they still got swatted like flies.

Unfortunately, the Sacrifices holding the Ritual were completely unscathed. In fact all the shockwave did was blow away the Nephilim trying to free them, causing the enormous ring of Runes to remain sturdy.

Just as the shockwave began to fade in the distance, the New Giants began preparing for the second attack. The Olympians were stuck, unable to decide what to do. The first attack wasn’t enough to shut the Ritual down, but no one knew if the second would be the same. They already saw that the shockwave was capable of shattering barriers so it wasn’t unlikely that it could succeed.

The Olympians turned their backs to the Nephilim and spread out to create barriers and stop the second attack. At the same time, the Nephilim used that opening to head straight for their captured comrades. 𝒪𝓥𝐿xt.𝓒𝞸𝗆

Most of those who were brainwashed into guarding the giant Runes had been freed. Apparently all it took was removing the headgear placed on their heads and the mind control would be lifted, though it left them incapable of moving which meant they couldn’t join the battle right away.

Just as the sound of the small detonation resounded, several sacrifices had the barriers protecting them shattered. They remained still even as they were approached, but before they could be teleported away the shockwave reached the second ring and they were blown away. The giant rings slowed down and several rings disappeared the next second.

Thanks to the Olympian soldiers’ quick interference the blast didn’t do much damage, but when they noticed that several Sacrifices had been freed they began to panic.

Orders arrived the next moment. Five soldiers were chosen, and despite the horrified expressions they wore when their names were mentioned, they instantly resigned themselves and quickly took their places, generating new Runes and causing the outer ring to start spinning faster.

~~

“Things aren’t looking good for you.” Nino said with a smirk.

Atropos on the other hand was no longer smiling, dodging her sister’s attacks while glancing at the mountainous giants as they prepared a third attack.

“You know, those things haven’t even started yet.” The Japanese doll went on, swinging her Yari all the while. “Want me to tell you what’s about to happen.”

Her older sister turned to her with a glare, which only helped to spread her smile further.

“You see those black orbs at the center of their chests? You might’ve already guessed it, but they’re black holes. Three minutes from now, when the ninth shockwave fails to break the ring, the giants will take the black orbs and launch them at the ring. It’ll be a disaster, you know. You better find a way to stop it before it happens.”

As if to respond to her proclamation, Atropos deflected the red spear and teleported away. Nino turned to look at the giants and spotted her sister flying at top speed, a number of white disks manifesting behind her back.

“As if I would let you!”

She followed after her right away, creating several spears the moment she teleported and launched them at Atropos from above. In her rush, the elder sister failed to react at the right time and the spears hit the white disks shattering them one by one.

“Tsk!”

Having no choice, Atropos split the remaining disks before the spears could reach them. Having no time to create more, she used what she had to surround the head of one of the giants, but those things were simply too big, and without the right number of disks the range of her ability wouldn’t be enough to cover them. She tried creating more but Lachesis kept destroying them, and before she knew it the giants launched the third shockwave.

Summoning the pieces back the raven haired Olympian encased herself in a blue box isolating herself from the outside world. She waited for a few seconds then took down the box, and the instant she did she found the tip of a spear heading straight to her face.

“You know, if you time it right you can escape the shockwave just by teleporting.” Though her sneak attack was blocked, Nino continued her assault nonetheless. “All you have to do is head for an area that the shockwave has already passed through.”

“Well thanks for the info.” Atropos replied, anger starting to get to her. “Are you sure you should be running your mouth like that? Or are you trying to lose on purpose.”

“No no no. I’m just trying to have a talk with my beloved big sis. Do you even know how much I missed you?”

Nino’s attacks were becoming more furious by the second and Atropos seemed to be getting pushed back. In her defense, she was more focused on trying to stop the mountainous giants before they were able to ruin the Ritual. More Sacrifices have been freed after the last attack forcing more of her followers to take their place. Others were trying to stop the attacks and take down the giants, but they were having no luck.

“Hey, there is something I’ve been curious about for a while now.” Nino spoke again. “When we met the other day you said something really weird.” She paused for a moment, deflecting her sister’s sword before adding. “What did you mean by killing me properly?”