"That's better. Tell me everything about that day," Lucifer said.
Roy took a deep break as he sighed. "The dark day where it all happened. I guess we were really lucky that day to stop everything. Or we might all be dead."
He opened his lips as he started explaining what had happened.
"Dungeon Dwellers had come out of their Dungeons. There was death and destruction all around the world. I believe no country was safe as people died in droves."
"That's where the Variants fought bravely and tried to defeat the monsters."
"We even succeeded up to some extent as we reached what seems like the commanding monster of the Dungeon Dwellers. Six of us faced him…"
As Roy kept talking about it, Lucifer felt like he was present there, experiencing everything himself.
…
"You can never stop the inevitable."
Dark clouds were spread all over the sky while a red mist could be seen in the atmosphere. The mist even seemed a bit like blood.
A strange winged creature was lying on the ground. The creature didn't look the least bit like a human. Instead, he had eagle-like wings along with a body that was covered entirely in fur.
There was a hole in the chest of the man, and six people were standing around him.
The six people seemed to be none other than Zale Azarel, Clarisse, Zeiss, Raia, Varant, and one more man who appeared to be a bit chubby.
Except for the chubby man who was looking at the strange creature, every other person was looking at the sky.
Seven strange stones were floating in the sky close to each other. Thunder was cracking everywhere, and it even seemed like spatial displacement was taking place around the stones.
As the stones got more and more in harmony, a portal started opening in the distance, albeit extremely slowly.
Through the portal, Zale and the others could see what seemed like eyes: one blue and one violet. As the portal was so small, the face these eyes belonged to couldn't be seen properly, but the portal was only getting bigger exceptionally slowly.
"I don't know what's behind that portal, but I don't think that's good news for us. We need to stop that portal from fully opening," Varant said grimly as he looked at the portal.
"I have an idea," Raia chimed in. "Look at those stones. All of this destruction and death was to make those stones. And only after they came together did the portal start opening."
"Raia is right. We need to destroy those stones," Zeiss agreed as he squinted his eyes.
He glanced at Zale before he asked, "Zale, can your lightning do it?"
"I can try," Zale responded as he raised his finger slightly.
Heavy thundering sound was heard that echoed everywhere as a powerful yet majestic looking thunderbolt fell from the sky like a spear of Zeus, striking the seven stones.
The blinding light forced most of them to close their eyes which they opened once everything returned to normal.
As everyone opened their eyes, they found the stones intact. Nothing had happened to them, and they weren't destroyed.
"I don't think I can destroy them. Let me try using my strength," Zale said as he smacked his foot on the ground, which helped him jump extremely high.
Even though he couldn't fly, he used this trick often. As soon as he reached the stones, he grabbed two of them before he started falling again.
He soon landed on the ground with two of the seven stones in his hands.
"I'm going to do it. Be careful," Zale said as he spread his arms, each of which contained a stone. He suddenly smacked both the stones with each other while keeping them in his hands.
Tuck!
A heavy metallic-sounding noise spread everywhere, even numbing the ears of a few of them momentarily, but the stones still seemed to be unaffected.
"Alright, these stones seem unbreakable," Zale muttered, frowning. "Clarisse, try your Decay. Maybe that will work?"
He tossed the stones to Clarisse, who caught them. She wasn't wearing any gloves at the moment as she had been fighting. So as soon as she caught the stones, her decay should have started acting up, but that didn't happen either.
The stones remained as they were even when they were in her hands.
"It doesn't work either. The stones certainly aren't normal," Clarisse replied.
"Let me try," Zeiss chimed in as he reached out his hand.
Clarisse carefully gave the stones to Zeiss, making sure she didn't touch him. As the stones landed in Zeiss' hands, he also started using his abilities.
"These stones… Just what is this mess? My abilities can't break them either," Zeiss commented, frowning.
Just like that, the stones kept changing hands. From Zeiss, they went to Raia, and from him, they went to Varant.
Even the chubby man tried it, but it didn't work.
It was certain; these stones were literally unbreakable.
In the distance, the portal continued growing bigger, still slowly. It was as big as the face of humans now. Moreover, it was finally showing more than eyes.
Through the portal, Zale and others could now see who those eyes belonged to.
….
"Give me the stone," Zale suddenly said to the chubby man who was holding onto them.
Without asking many questions, the man returned the stones to Zale.
"Do you have a way to break them?" Zeiss asked Zale, curious.
"I don't; that's why I'll just…"
Zale said something but didn't finish his sentence as he moved the balance of his body slightly back with one of the two stones in his right arm. He was going to use his entire strength, it seemed.
Everyone looked at Zale, wondering what he was going to do when he finally moved.
Zale used all his strength to toss the stone into the distant horizon.
The stones seemed to fly away like a rocket before ultimately disappearing into the sky.
"You idiot! What did you do?"
As Zale threw away one of the stones, Raia furiously scolded Zale.
Seeing Zale's actions, the mouth of the chubby man opened slightly. As for the others, they also looked at Zale in shock, wondering if he was an idiot.
"We needed to destroy the stones to stop the portal, not throw them. How can we find that stone again, let alone think about breaking it?" Raia asked. "It's final. It's impossible now."
"Find the stones? It could very well have fallen in other countries or even dessert. We can never find it without putting in years of work!"
