Floor 49 : Fallen Gods and Rising Angels

This was the last floor before they reach the top of the Red Tower. 18 contestants out of 1000 managed to reach this floor and every one of them had seen everything to see in this otherworldly structure.

Not all entered the floor at the same time but the sheer difficulty of the task made it hard even for the leading contestants to hastily complete it. In fact, what they had to do was simple, they just needed to survive inside a calamitous world.

"Master, these are not normal disasters."

The moment Arthur appeared on the 49th floor, he was knocked off balance and fell into a bottomless abyss. He quickly transformed into a bird and, with great difficulty, flew out of the crack.

There was a violent earthquake assaulting the area, furthermore, the gravity was increased by fivefold, at the very least, and not even his spirit could negate the effect.

"I can sense firestorms, earthquakes, whirlpools, and even black holes."

As it had a high sensitivity to certain elements, the spirit's sense caught the disasters occurring simultaneously all over the floor. Arthur looked at the shrouded sky, where there was a scarlet moon very close to the surface, and, from the looks of it, it was about to explode.

"These disasters are similar to what Claud spoke about."

Arthur's guess was spot-on as this world was a recreation of past events… tragic events that wiped countless races off the face of the multiverse. Basically, these disasters were the retaliation of the natural laws after the balance was broken. The sheer magnitude of the disasters caused every living thing to cower and hide far away as not even the God Race managed to resist them.

"I can sense Madam Lucy North of here."

'Is she alone?'

"She seems to be with the blacksmith."

Arthur clicked his tongue and flew toward where Lucy, after all, he just needed to survive and it would be better to stay with his wife. Unfortunately, he just traveled for a few minutes only to be attacked by beings made of an ominous black light. They are corrupted versions of the God Race, a once-prominent race which was cursed by the Darkness Laws.

Only two blocked Arthur's way but they were strong enough to stop the speeding parasite and even cast a curse on him, which shouldn't work thanks to his passives and high resistances. His movement speed was slowed but he negated the effect by buffing himself with the talismans. He unleashed a torrent of Dark Spears followed by several exploding detonators, which did no damage to the Fallen Gods.

Not only were they very tough to beat, their attacks were destructive and complicated the situation as Arthur also had to deal with the unfavorable terrain affected by the disasters. He had left the range of the earthquake and was now affected by a massive wind whirlpool hanging in the sky. It released violent gales that rendered Arthur unable to fly properly and forced him to stick to the ground.

To swiftly end things, Arthur used a fire Rizaki, engulfing the area with the hell flames, slowing down the spinning whirlpool and pushing away the Fallen Gods. He didn't try to defeat them and, instead, activated [Transmutation] and [Eternium], before transforming into a lightning bolt that disappeared into the scarlet horizon.

Apparently, Lucy was right under the moon-like thing high-up in the sky, even from his current distance, Arthur was able to see countless black dots, which actually were Fallen Gods.

********

"Those disasters happened in the Era of Beginning but no one knows their cause."

Anastassia looked at the ravaged world and curiously commented. The previous Death showed her many things but she still didn't know why disasters started hitting multiple words, sparing none.

While Leiu maintained his silence, the Joker explained:

"The balance was broken… in a way, it's the way the natural laws were administrating their punishment."

"And how did the balance get broken?"

"Well, there are many reasons, for example, the conjunction of two or more cycles, messing with time, etc…"

He paused for a second and studied Death's face before continuing: "In this case, it's because the natural laws couldn't handle the Shadow Emperor's existence. The Shadow Laws were getting out of hand and affecting the other ones hence the appearance of those disasters. Facing extinction, the laws started acting on their own, though what they had done didn't really affect Moriah, who chose to end his own life."

"So it's just because of Moriah?"

"What do you mean 'just because of Moriah'? It's more than enough of a reason. He became so powerful that his existence started erasing everything else, just thinking about it gives me the chills."

"I thought Moriah died because he couldn't handle his own power."

As she said that, the silent Leiu corrected her: "If he didn��t end his own life then he wouldn't died anyway. He absorbed too much from the shadows and wasn't able to contain it all regardless of how tough his shell was."

After saying that, the youth stood up and waved his hand while adding:

"It's almost time. You should leave… and take Saly home. Safely."

He didn't wait for Anastassia to reply and quickly left the room, followed by the Joker, who didn't want to leave his brother's side. They were heading to the 50th floor; the World of Darkness.

Left alone, Death looked at the sleeping little girl then at the monitor. She enveloped the young beastmen with her magic and left the Red Tower second later.

******

An enormous illusory golden palm struck two Fallen Gods, flattening them on the ground and when they were about to get up, thick jet black chains sprung from the ground and bound their bodies, the gravity was also increased, further decreasing their mobility. Arthur descended from the sky, hitting one of the targets' faceless heads with his glowing fist. A thundering explosion echoed across the area when his fist connected with the mass of black light, which was tougher than Amtir's Jade.

Arthur clenched his teeth and punched again, this time unleashing a burst of Dark and Void Magic. The Fallen God's head slowly vanished but its body continued its struggle to break free from the chains. As for the other God, it managed to shatter the chains and attack the parasite only to be hit by a meteor-like fireball created by the Quad-Spirit.

As flames engulfed the Fallen God, a grey tornado appeared from within Arthur's body and flung the enemy in the air before it started eating what little was left of its Life essence.

Without wasting any second, Arthur transformed into a White Tiger and leapt far away, leaving only one headless Fallen God wriggling on the ground. He left the perimeter of the whirlpool and entered another area flagged by a disastrous ash-colored rain.

The heavy pouring liquid slowly decreased Arthur's health and even when coated himself with Dark Magic, it didn't work. In the end, he had to continuously use Life Energy to regenerate the lost Health.

He was getting closer and closer to Lucy, who seemed to be in the middle of battling Fallen Gods along with Losha.

…

Several minutes after finishing those two Fallen Gods, Arthur finally arrived at where his wife is. His eyes glowed with a blue light, freezing one of two enemies next to Lucy and her teacher, he teleported three times, appearing behind the target then used the White Tiger's massive body to bash the Fallen God then he returned to his human form and flew next to Lucy, holding her wrist and spinning around.

He spun 180 degrees before letting go of her hand, causing her body to fly in the air, directly towards one of the enemies. The White Specter made use of Devil Arm to slash at the mass of black light, ripping it into pieces.

Surprisingly, the energy released by her arm was highly effective against the Fallen Gods. As for Losha, she didn't face any troubles as her body was able to block all the attacks while her Divine Sword purged those malevolent entities.

Once the few enemies were disposed of, Arthur looked at the massive scarlet moon above him, focusing mainly on the black dots fighting each other. There appeared to be two sides, one was composed of Fallen Gods and the others were humanoid-like monsters with horns and long tail. The shape of their hands and the scales covering them were a bit similar to Lucy's devil arms but theirs didn't release steam or has a shoulder-guards made of dark red scales.