'Boom'

'Boom'

'Boom'

'Boom'

Dozens of explosions happened in close succession. Hank and the others could still see snippets of the battle from their floating location in space.

"Are they trying to destroy the planet?" Sean hissed in a frustrated manner.

Hank shook his head "They are going overboard but the fight has not caused many casualties as yet,"

Kailani raised her brows "How can there be casualties when they're in the desert?"

Hank shook his head "The Savanah Deserts are homes to many primitive tribes and a decent amount of wildlife. The radiation alone will cause worldwide effects. At this point, tens of thousands should already be dead,"

Everyone went silent as they continued to observe the minor pieces of the battle they could distinguish.

They were not as knowledgeable as Hank, so they did not realize the seriousness of the battle below.

Even if the battle would have devastating effects on the environment, Hank and the others were grateful to witness a battle of Gods.

A couple of thousand terajoules of energy assaulted the Savanah Desert all at once.

Zeel could care less about the environmental impact since most humans would lead to their own demise in the end.

The mere fact that these bombs were here, meant that they would someday be used for the same purpose he was currently using them for.

Even his self-proclaimed Homosuperior race was no different in their self-destructive capabilities.

Each new nuke that landed depleted more and more of the energy that held the protective barrier together.

With all the wide-area jumps, and maintaining the current barrier, Alice's and Zeel's energy reserves were being depleted at an astonishing rate.

Zeel calculated that they had expended half a Mjump worth of energy thus far.

The technology used by Zeel was fairly advanced but it took too much primitive energy to function properly. He would need to find a suitable higher dimension energy core in the future.

It took about an entire half an hour for everything to settle down. The ground stopped shaking, but the view was far from being visible.

The nuclear fallout soon began falling like a snowy day – albeit a toxic one.

No doubt the governments had already begun to investigate the abnormality of the Savanah Desert by now.

Zeel and Alice had blocked out all surveillance equipment near their location, but long-ranged surveillance was still functional.

The Governments wouldn't be able to see the battle in detail but traces could be investigated to figure out the ins and outs of the situation.

Alice and Zeel began to cough as the barrier was released. They could feel the radiation grating against their skin, the snow-like fallout moved away from their bodies.

Their divine bodies were slightly uncomfortable in the area which only showed the intensity of the radiation poisoning.

Alice and Zeel didn't even have time to react when two fists flew in their direction – one belonging to The Kraken and the other to the Gigantape.

Zeel could see that both beasts were severely injured due to a lack of divine shielding.

The beasts had no doubt concentrated all their remaining divinities into their fist, abandoning all defense during the nuclear bombardment.

Their intention was simple – to drag Zeel and Alice to death alongside themselves.

Zeel grabbed Alice prepared to take the risk and active his dimensional traveler's divinity once more.

This would cause a severe backlash that could kill him, but at this point, his trump cards would take too long to activate.

The fist of both beasts were laced with the divine energy that would no doubt kill them in an instant.

Zeel was ready to activate the nanites so he could pull Elizabeth along with them to high tail it to the moon or some other planet nearby.

As ascending gods, they could go anywhere, since the solar system of Earth was safer than the planet itself.

Suddenly, the atmosphere froze, causing the two beasts to stop dead in their tracks. All traces of divinity disappearing from their bodies.

Zeel and Alice's bodies also seized up for a brief moment causing both to become startled. They felt a familiar, yet unfamiliar presence appeared in front of them.

A tempestuous atmosphere enveloped the entire desert, but like an illusion, it suddenly shifted to a majestic, everlasting atmosphere.

It once again shifted to a silent, vast atmosphere as salty smelling ocean breeze brushed past Zeel's and Alice's faces.

The salty, tranquil smell caused Zeel and Alice to enter a momentary trance-like state.

"So peaceful," Alice murmured in a daze, fully submitting to the will of the winds.

Zeel was about to respond in kind when he suddenly felt something amiss.

Elizabeth was in front of them but she was behaving strangely. Through their nanites connection, Zeel could always feel her, not just her but the very essence of her being.

Right now, he could feel that essence slowly fading away.

Even as Zeel was having a hard time keeping himself from entering a trance-like state, but he still paid attention to the fading feeling.

The way the two beasts were looking at Elizabeth seemed strangely familiar. It didn't take a genius to figure out the current situation.

Zeel slowly walked over to Elizabeth's side, taking note of the ancient feeling she was not emitting.

He already had an inkling of what happened but still opted to gain further confirmation. Zeel had a second ultimate trump card but it came at great risk to his soul.

Elizabeth turned towards him, giving his body an appraising gaze before saying "An ascending god, huh? If only I could have gotten a male body instead of this female vessel,"

"To think that a great god like yourself would steal the body of a little girl," Zeel voiced talking to Poseidon who had taken over Elizabeth's body.

Despite everything, Zeel did not forget his origins.

He was amongst the most Superior Races in the entire Multiverse. Even if his race was no more, Zeel still held the majesty of House Crawford in his every movement.

He often reigned in his superiority with Alice and Elizabeth around, but he saw it fit to demonstrate his heritage at this moment. Status was also a weapon that should be used when necessary.

"I had no choice you see. Her will almost extinguished my own," Elizabeth, or rather Poseidon replied.

Poseidon was no fool; he could tell that Zeel was a troublesome opponent.

It was better to treat this matter cautiously. At the very least, the girl he was currently possessing seemed to have sentimental value for the strange Being in front of him.

Zeel nodded since he could faintly feel Elizabeth's consciousness inside being barely preserved by the nanites.

"You made a mistake moving against my people," Zeel said walking toward Poseidon "Few beings in the Multiverse would dare pull an action like this, much less a weak God who cannot leave his Universe,"

"You can't do anything about this situation now, you are not capable of tampering with souls," Poseidon pointed out not minding Zeel drawing ever closer.

When he was right next to Poseidon, Zeel took her hand in his own then asked "Do you know what they call me Poseidon?"

"What does it matter? You are but an inconsequential god that could be killed at any moment in the Multiverse," Posideon answered without care.

Zeel's earlier statement had pricked her pride, so she saw it fit to put him in his place.

"Ievadiet to, kas sadedzina pasauli - un pēc tam sadedzina pats," Zeel replied in a foreign language that only Old Gods could understand.

"You know the language of the old gods?" Poseidon said rubbing her chin in concentration "That sounds familiar… He who burns the world and then himself,"

The moment Poseidon realized the significance of such a statement it was already too late, her eyes widened as she looked at Zeel.

Zeel's eyes suddenly flew open with a golden color dyed his ruby-red eyes, then the chains on his soul shot out and wrapped around Elizabeth tightly.

It was not wrapping around her physical body, but the incorporeal soul that was invading her body currently.

Poseidon, invading Elizabeth's body, squealed as he came in contact with the chains that bound Zeel's soul.

The fiery chains did great damage to his water-like soul.

"I see you're a slave of that old comic-being, well you will have a much worse fate than myself," Poseidon murmured viciously while laughing hysterically.

Now in his soul form, he knew it was futile to resists and instead resorted to sowing doubt in Zeel's mind.

After all, an idea is a dangerous thing.

The restriction on Zeel's soul strengthened that much more, the soul of Poseidon acting like nutrients for the loosening chains.

This was one of Zeel's trump cards, whereby he used the chains that sealed his soul as an attacking mechanism.

Though such an act would also damage his soul, and further limit his growth.

Elizabeth was never truly unconscious; she was still aware of everything happening on the outside. Her fading consciousness halted and once again returned to her body.

Instead of tending to the collapsed Zeel immediately, she instead turned to the Kraken and Gigantape.

"Head back to the island and protect it with your life. You are not to awaken unless the island is on the verge of destruction," Elizabeth commanded attempting to hold on desperately to the ancient aura left behind by Poseidon.

Should the beasts suspect she is no longer their master, things could get very ugly before they got better.

With a wave of her hand, both beasts disappeared back from whence they came.

Alice flashed to Elizabeth's and Zeel's sides looking on as they were now both collapsed on the ground.

Zeel was groaning as the clinging noise of chains could be heard coming from his body.

Likewise, Elizabeth was undergoing the final stages of her ascension.

Earlier Poseidon had suppressed the changes hence she was forcefully pulled towards an Ocean Divinity, but now with his influence gone.

The divine spark would merge and begin to follow a different evolutionary path, considering her personality and natural disposition.

Alice seeing she was the only one left awake, decided they weren't safe anywhere on Earth.

With a quick gesture, she jumped the three of them into space next to the floating Hank and company.

"I thought you forgot about us," Hank said holding Gabato, who held Sean, who held Kailani.

"We did," Alice replied pulling Hank to her side as she sent Elizabeth and Zeel in different directions, away from everyone.

∞∞∞

The moment Alice, Zeel, and Elizabeth left Earth, two kids clawed their way out from the rubble of the battlefield.

They had been trapped below the Savanah desert for eons, but it seemed today was still not the day of their freedom.

Suddenly, two silver-balls shot in their direction. It restrained them instantly, as they both disappeared from the location.

Zeel had many reasons for his actions, and bombing the Savanah Desert was not entirely to win the battle.

It was more to free the two Beings that were trapped under the desert.

∞∞∞

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was having her own internal battle. The prayers of the mortal races were the most disadvantageous part of becoming a god.

The chains that bind Zeel's soul was an entirely different matter.

Zeel had a god-like pain tolerance but even he was currently screaming under the intense pain of having his soul compressed.

Alice could only hope that they both get through this trial without serious damage to their divine essence nor souls.