Chapter 584: Summoned? (2)

Chapter 582

"Fuck you!!"

"....?!"

Even though they couldn’t move much, everybody turned their heads towards Ray, who was down on one knee.

His teeth ground against each other.

They didn’t understand what the hell a Tribrid meant, nor did they know what the fuck a Celestial was.

But one thing they understood was that the figure standing before them was powerful.

He didn’t look like someone who belonged on a battlefield, but his aura alone was enough to communicate the sheer extent of his strength.

Edd, too, was momentarily lost for words. A hint of confusion flashed across his golden eyes as one of his brows arched upward.

"Sorry?"

Ray gritted his teeth, his palms pressing against the ground as he sucked in a sharp, deep breath. His muscles bulged.

Thick veins protruded along his neck and arms as he finally pushed himself off the ground with tremendous force.

He staggered upright, causing the Messenger to take half a step backward in disbelief.

Standing there, his body trembling slightly but remaining upright as though the pressure bearing down on him were nothing, Ray curled his hands into fists.

His eyes flashed between yellow and white.

"I said, fuck you, fuck your First Ones, and fuck your realm! I’m not going anywhere with you because I know how this all ends!" Ray roared with all his might.

The anger in his voice was unmistakable.

"How this all ends?" Edd asked, tilting his head.

Ray scoffed, his eyes fixed intensely on the Messenger.

"Or what? Why have I suddenly been summoned after spending months as a Tribrid? You lot are all the same.... Humans, Celestials, you’re all the same.

"One can’t grow stronger in peace without you bugs coming to pester him. And then what? I’ll be arrested and maybe even executed? I haven’t even done anything!" Ray growled, his fury momentarily taking Edd aback.

Lifting one leg, the Tribrid planted it firmly in front of him. He drew in a huge breath before bellowing:

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS DAMN REPETITIVE PLOT! I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITH YOU, SO GO SCREW YOURSELF!!"

"...."

"....?"

Edd blinked a few times.

Silence consumed the room like a devouring beast, broken only by the Messenger’s soft chuckle, which sounded almost like a whistle.

"I never said you had any choice, did I?" As he spoke, he raised one hand.

The others, still on their knees, tensed up.

".... You have no choice. I was ordered to bring you over gently or by force, if necessary."

The moment he finished speaking, Ray’s eyes widened as he suddenly lost control of his body.

It felt as though invisible hands had seized him in a mountainous grip. Before he could react, he was lifted into the air, hanging helplessly like a lifeless doll.

His muscles strained as he struggled against the invisible force holding him aloft.

"You’re all the same. A tiny taste of power, and you think you’re on top of the world? Yet you haven’t even scratched the surface of the world’s true power.

"There are countless things you mortals know nothing about. Do you think you have the authority to refuse an order from the First Ones? If they wished, they could erase you all with a snap of their fingers, and you think you can simply disobey?"

Without hesitation, the Celestial yanked his hand backward, watching as Ray’s body blurred towards his outstretched grasp.

"JARVIS! REMOVE ALL LIMITERS!"

"Huh?"

The Celestial had barely turned his head when a thunderous bang tore through the air.

Earth surged like a tsunami, propelling Raze forward with tremendous speed.

The ring on his finger shone, and a moment later, his battle axe materialized in his grasp.

Blue lightning crackled around his body as he closed the distance in a flash, his axe descending with crushing force.

Edd was genuinely taken aback. The Captain was now the second person in the room to move under the pressure.

The pressure blanketing the entire room came from an item known as an ’Artifact’. Such items possessed tremendous power and could render anyone weaker than the Artifact incapable of moving for a certain duration.

Yet, this mere human had moved?

Edd had accepted it when Ray managed to move.... At least the boy was inhuman.

But just as the weapon hurtled towards him at such terrifying speed that it seemed certain to connect, Edd simply raised his free hand.

An invisible force seized the axe, abruptly halting its momentum and unleashing a powerful blast of wind throughout the room.

The ground cracked beneath Raze’s feet, spiderweb-like fractures spreading outward. No matter how much strength the Captain poured into his weapon, it refused to move even an inch, held firmly in place by the strange force.

Even so, Raze didn’t panic. He immediately twisted his foot against the ground, sending a dozen earth spikes hurtling towards the Messenger.

Edd quickly jumped backward, abruptly severing his control over the force holding Ray. The Tribrid dropped from the air and landed on the ground with a thud.

With a wave of his now-free hand, Edd redirected the spikes. Their trajectories shifted, and all of them rushed towards the side, crashing into the wall and tearing a gaping hole through it.

His Artifact’s effect faded almost immediately, and a hint of amusement crossed the Celestial’s face.

The moment the pressure lifted, the entire cohort lunged forward a heartbeat later.

"We will only allow you to take Ray over our dead bodies!" Van roared as mechanical spiders swarmed over his body, assembling into a pair of mechanical hands.

He didn’t have time to summon his full suit.

A brilliant beam tore out of the mechanical hands almost immediately.

At the same time, Caster dashed forward, moving at a speed far beyond what a mere human should have been capable of achieving.

A pair of short swords was already in his grasp.

Trisha skidded across the ice-covered ground before bolting towards the Celestial, who watched their coordinated assault with barely a change in expression.

"RAY! STOP YOUR FRIENDS!" Elyon roared inside Ray’s mind.

Before Ray could even lift a finger, Edd let out an exhausted sigh.

"They are not going to like this, but I have no choice. I didn’t come here to fight, and I’m not prepared to hurt any innocent person. So, sure. You can all come along."

Then,

SNAP!

The Celestial’s fingers struck against each other with such resounding force that almost everyone momentarily paused.

But they didn’t need to.

A brilliant light descended into the living room, consuming every single person inside like the gaping maw of a starving beast.

Ray’s eyes widened, but he couldn’t move fast enough to react.

The last thing the Tribrid, or anyone else, saw was the attacks missing the Messenger as he waved his hand, sending them crashing into and shattering a section of the wall.

And then,

In the blink of an eye, the light vanished.

And with it, everyone inside the room disappeared.

Not Ray.

Not his friends.

Not the Captain.

And certainly not the Messenger.

Nobody remained inside the living room, as though they had never existed there in the first place.

Smoke and dust drifted through the room, the ground badly scorched as if a meteor had struck the place.