The Runic Artist Chapter 52: Chapter 371 - And Hell Came with Him

Read chapter 52 of The Runic Artist by Ellake on NovelPedia.

Ankh’aris was beginning to accept that maybe, just maybe, he had bitten off more than he could chew. Fighting against the three Luminous Crowns of the Celestial Realm at the same time was already pushing his luck. With the addition of a fourth Pillar on his opponent's side, he was slowly losing. He breathed a line of destruction wide enough to split a moon in half only for it to turn to normal fire which faded to nothing in the cold vacuum of space, courtesy of the Pillar of Truth rewriting Reality. As the flames dispersed, Ankh was forced to dip and roll to avoid three javelins of light laced with the Concept of Justice. The javelins zipped past Ankh as he maneuvered his massive bulk far more gracefully than should’ve been possible. Just when he thought he was in the clear, the javelins changed direction in an unnatural way, bending to the will of another Pillar as Triumph demanded victory. Ankh’aris was forced to expend Divine Energy to Destroy the javelins rather than merely avoid the attack, and that alone was enough to burn his pride far more than any javelin might have injured him. In retaliation, he spread his wings and flapped once in the Celestial Pillars’ direction. Space may have been mostly empty but what little was there was destroyed by the rolling darkness of his attack. The armour of the Pillar of Justice looked rusted and the swirling clouds of the Pillar of Truth shrank, turning red and black like falling ash. Then, in an instant, it was all undone as Restoration sang though existence and Quellian made her will known. Before Ankh could recover, he was once more on the back foot.Weapons of light filled with justice and the sound of triumph reverberating across his scales as he gave ground. He wasn’t in true danger yet, even as cracks and small cuts appeared across his scales. But if nothing changed in their battle, he would be. Sooner or later he would be forced to call on his Pillar. The moment he did, he knew exactly what would happen. Quellian would undo whatever he did by calling on her own Pillar of Restoration, assisted by Rhiddall, Pillar of Truth. Alone, neither could hope to contend with the Pillar of Destruction. Together though? They could almost certainly force him into a stalemate. In the weakness that followed the use of his Pillar, Triumph and Justice would strike with their own Pillars and snuff him out. With no way to win, Ankh’aris continued to fight, quietly hoping his Disciple knew what he was doing. More importantly, he hoped Nate wouldn’t take too long incoming to pull his giant draconic ass out of the fire! With that thought, Ankh’aris dove back in, keeping the Celestials at bay for a little longer. ************* Kiri listened to the sweet sound of Hol, Pillar of Corruption, screaming at her in unmitigated rage. Waves of bubbling black, blood red, and sickly yellow liquid rolled over her again and again without finding any purchase. Both her and the barrier around Nate remained undisturbed, a permanent fixture in Reality till Kiri decided otherwise. Apparently, Hol seemed to take issue with that. Unfortunately for Hol, Kiri didn’t give a fuck. Hol itself was already starting to show signs of flagging. Kiri had been cutting away at it piece by piece with the blades of her Regalia. The Destruction and Severing infused strikes were made worse for Hol as Kiri imbued Permanence into her strikes with Divine Energy. Instead of healing, they bled freely, and Kiri could tell that if she kept this up for much longer then the demon would be forced to call on its Pillar. She was ready for when that happened. Taking a second between attacks, she assessed the rest of the battlefield that spanned a large portion of the solar system. With the giant red sun as a backdrop to their battle, the Celestial Pillars seemed to be slowly gaining ground on Ankh’aris. Kiri grit her teeth at seeing the ancient dragon suffering wounds. She wished she could go aid him but leaving Nate unprotected was unacceptable. Eve