Now that the two were armed with weapons that could be used against the Knights, both Shiro and Nan Tian started to clear them out quickly. The portals that had originally opened by the summoning circles had been closed and the Knights had no way to escape.
Even though Shiro wanted to use the portal to reach the other side, she knew that there were too many uncertainties around the other side of that portal. If she goes without adequate preparation, it'll end very badly.
While she may have said safety was an option, she still needed to be careful.
Plus, there were plenty of subjects here for her to experiment on. With Nan Tian making a suit of armour, she could use that as a basis for her nanobots and research on some Knights on the side to speed up the progress. With that in mind, she couldn't kill the rest of the Knights since she needed all the Knights she could capture.
Summoning Iriel once more, Shiro could hear him complain.
"I'm pretty sure I just told you about how I can't do sh*t to them right?" Iriel asked as Shiro nodded her head.
"I know, but I'm not planning to use you that way. You're the only weapon I have that can boost my usage of tier 8 time runes." Shiro chuckled as the runes on Iriel's blade lit up with an emerald glow.
Activating the runes on the blade, Shiro narrowed her eyes and flashed behind one of the Knights.
Since the goal wasn't to kill, there was no need to worry if it'll harm them or not as her plan was to lock them in a stasis. Similar to what she did with Niphim. Only this time she hoped to make another skill aside from Averin since that one cost 60% of her Divine Energy for ONE use.
However, with Skill Scholar, making a skill for this should be rather simple.
Narrowing her eyes, Shiro activated Analysis EX as her surroundings slowed down to a halt. Quickly formulating what she needed of the skill in her mind, she continued to construct and deconstruct magic circles in her mind to suit her purpose.
'There's no need to be too concerned about how they're preserved. Unlike Niphim, I'm not trying to help them. They're my experiments. Hmm… I don't want to degrade their body if possible since it'll introduce annoying variables into the tests. Wait, since they're mostly energy and nanobots, I can probably transform them like Nan Tian then freeze them while they're transformed without worrying that it'll 'kill' them after being paused in time. It'll be similar to what the inventory does.'
Finalising her plan in her mind, Shiro pierced her blade through the Knights chest and focused her mind.
Overwriting the Knight's control over his own body using Error, she forced his body to collapse in on itself as it compressed down into an orb before being frozen in time.
[Skill Created, would you like to name the skill?]
"Yes, name it Karsin." Shiro replied instantly as it was the opposite of what Averin meant in Aria. While Averin meant ever lasting moment, Karsin meant stagnated moment which could also be interpretated as time prison.
[Skill – Karsin – Created.]
[Karsin]
An skill that focuses on capturing the target through time. Their comfort is not taken into account as they are forcefully torn from the flow of time while barely being kept alive. Must be readjusted for different species or else the lock will fail. The strength of the enemy compared to the caster will also affect the time they are locked up for.
However, due to the modifications done, the energy consumption has decreased significantly.
Cost: 10% of Divine Energy
Maximum Duration of Lock: 1 week
Cooldown: N/A
Reading the description, Shiro couldn't help but sigh since this meant that she could only capture 10 of them alive. The rest will need to be killed.
'I think 10's plenty no?' Nimue raised an eyebrow but Shiro shook her head.
'I mean I guess but if possible I wanted to capture the rest of them alive. That would have been the best case scenario but I suppose this is better than nothing.' Shiro replied as she begrudgingly started to select the best specimens for her collection.
Meanwhile, Nan Tian had just finished converting the Knights into a suit of armour except for the helmet. He wasn't eager on putting them on his head until everything was tested. Converting one of the Knights to a helmet, he placed it into his inventory. Right now, he looked similar to the Knights only more bulky since he wasn't made of energy.
Flying over to Shiro, he could see her annoyed expression while filtering through the Knights.
"I'm guessing there's a restriction to how many you could take." Nan Tian called out with a smile.
"Mn, I could only take 10 since it takes 10% of my divine energy. It might be annoying to deal with them later if they're not in stasis so I'll kill the rest of them." Shiro sighed.
"But setting that aside, seems like you finished your armour. You can probably ask Helion to do some final adjustments so that it's tailored to you." She suggested as Nan Tian nodded his head.
"That's the plan." Nan Tian smiled before turning to the summoning circles that had been turned off once they realised that Shiro could deal with them.
"Don't worry about that, I plan to get rid of any markers they left behind so they can't come to this spot again. Plus I think they were targeting my energy so I doubt they'll come here again unless it's for the egg that's still absorbing energy." Shiro narrowed her eyes at the egg that continued to grow during the fight. Every spell they threw out would have some of its mana get absorbed by the egg.
"Let's help out on the surface once we get rid of the rest of these guys." Shiro said while massaging her shoulders
Waving her fingers, Shiro created a ball of circuits before slamming her hand down. A giant magic circle appeared as all of the remaining Knights were trapped in the activating range. Before they could even react, a ball of circuits appeared beneath their feet as a spear shot up and exploded within them, tearing them into pieces.
Before the pieces could disappear and get absorbed by the egg, the circuits expanded and swallowed everything, leaving nothing behind.
Drawing error back into her body, Shiro suddenly felt a spike of pain through her body as her flesh started to crumble for a moment before healing itself.
'Wait, what? Your body should be perfectly fine, why is it crumbling apart???' Nimue asked in confusion as she frantically checked Shiro's condition.
Before Shiro could reply, a bundle of circuits extended towards Nimue.
'It's because mother channelled my power through her body. She essentially integrated herself with the system. Thankfully, she didn't do it for long and the power use was small. Or else she might have lost a good portion of her body to the system. I repurposed some of the creation energy I ate to repair her body through her code.' The circuit spoke as Shiro sat down in her mana continent and looked at her arm that still had a crack mark that soon disappeared.
'Well that certainly explains it. I suppose it's not a good choice to channel your power through my body.' Shiro chuckled as Error shook his head and floated over to Shiro.
'Mother, when you use my power you are essentially fusing a portion of your soul to the system. By channelling my power through your entire body, you're attempting to fuse completely with the system thus your physical body almost crumbled away. Please don't do that again since you'll essentially become like me. Just energy with no form. The only reason you see circuits are because of the influence of your nanobots.' Error sighed as Shiro patted him before smiling.
'Mn, I'll keep that in mind next time.' Standing up, Shiro stretched her body.
'Unfortunately we can't rest just yet. There are still monsters to deal with on the surface.' Shiro smiled as the two nodded.
###
Opening her eyes, Loki leaned back on her throne and hugged her knees.
"My my, she certainly dealt with that threat rather quickly. I was genuinely worried too considering the fact that she doesn't have her divinity right now. Who knew she had power to kill things on the side of creation." Loki muttered while observing the destruction on Earth. Watching the Queens panic as their city fell, she sighed. Those that didn't have power and rejected the influence of gods had no chance here. Places with little to no divine presence had their city razed to the ground. The previous inhabitants such as dragons or other mythological beasts were slaughtered to make way for the new.
Fiddling with her hair, Loki snickered.
"Though the most surprising is still her identity. Who knew she was such as big shot. Honestly I lucked out by possessing that Ancient Lord. Hmm… I should probably warn brother and father. Though…. Letting them get punished isn't a bad idea." Loki laughed as she jumped up and made her way towards Thor's domain.
"Mess around a little. Pretty sure Shiro will forgive them as long as they don't do anything stupid. But she's nothing like what the other gods said she was like. I can't see someone like her being a villain. Perhaps the fools of old provoked her and brought destruction upon themselves. Meh, not my problem. I don't think most of the gods know so it's perfect time to wrack up some goodie points with her."
Sensing Thor nearby, Loki grinned and kicked the air in front of her.
*CRACK PING!!!!!
Shattering the walls to Thor's domain, Loki hopped through the hole she made.
"Yo! Bro you there?" Loki shouted out as she could see Thor sitting on his throne on top of the mountain.
"What is it? Did you cause more trouble?" Thor asked as he glanced towards Loki.
"No no, trouble? Me? Impossible. I'm so well behaved." Loki stuck out her tongue before teleporting beside Thor and sat down on his arm rest.
Leaning back, she laid down on his lap.
"Big bro, I suggest you make friends with the mortals along with dad. I'll be beneficial to you." Loki smiled as Thor looked down and tapped Loki on her forehead.
"What are you planning now? Just tell me." He sighed.
"You know I can't tell you. If I did you won't change. I know I mess around a lot but trust me when I say you should make friends with the mortals. Don't subjugate them like they're slaves. Properly become an idol of worship with father and life will pave a way for you. If I say too much then it'll all be for naught." Loki said as she reached up and started to play with Thor's hair.
Hearing this, Thor was surprised by Loki's sudden moment of seriousness. While she liked to play around a lot, Thor knew that she didn't mess around when it came to survival. It was also Loki who helped them survive the war where hundreds of Pantheons were burned to the ground. Had it not been for her, the Norse Pantheon might not have survived.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. You shouldn't be messing around either, you should find some mortals to help you so that you can descend." Thor said as Loki giggled before sitting up.
"Oh I have my ways. See you bro, I'll go warn dad now." Loki waved before disappearing with a wisp of green smoke.
Shaking his head, Thor stood up.
*CRACK!!!
". . . "
Feeling as though a vein was about to burst, Thor looked behind him and saw his throne welded to his body and forcefully torn out of the floor when he stood up. There was a fracture that started to spread through his realm, causing it to destabilise and threaten to break.
On the throne, there was a small carving.
[Love you lots. From your favourite sister – Loki.]
"LOKI!!!!" Thor shouted out in anger as he destroyed the throne and started to repair his domain.
