Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

Onelight fell to her knees, shrieking in agonising pain. The dark energy flowing in the abyss was suffocating, causing a searing sensory overload for Onelight. The ladies gathered around her, trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

"Devils," Ivan said audibly with a ferocious scowl, looking at the innumerable demons flying around.

The demons gazed at the adventurers, most of them jeering openly at the bewildered group.

Suddenly, a system info panel popped up simultaneously in the perception of all the adventurers.

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The Lords of the Vate Realm have been angered.

Info: The Lords of the Vate Realm are infuriated with the bold abduction of their guests right under their noses. Their fury knows no bounds, and they have cursed the fate of those who aided the abduction of their guests. The fate of the accomplice is death.

Info: Having located the 'safe house' where their abducted guests have been transferred, the Lords of the Vate Realm are crestfallen that they cannot enter the territory and rescue their guests, for the 'safe house' is the very residence of the devil baron, Lhilac.

Info: Who said that the Lords of Vate Realm are completely powerless in Lhilac's Abyss? The Lords of the Vate Realm have planted a powerful curse within the light mage adventurer, Onelight. From Onelight's lips, the fury of the Vate Realm will be unleashed on Lhilac and his miserable abode.

A tumultuous mix of holy aura and dark energy enveloped Onelight's being. The ladies gathered around were startled, and they instinctively gave her room to raise her head. She looked at something in the distance ahead. Her gaze was locked onto Lhilac's throne altar, though he was nowhere to be seen. Then, she stood and took a couple of steps forward.

The holy aura emanating from Onelight's being made the flying demons go frenzied, and they rushed towards her, wanting to shred her to pieces, enraged by the holy aura she bore.

"What the heck!" Troy_to_Me was alarmed, her voice sharp with surprise.

She and Alita_72 quickly responded, raising their weapons to shoot down the incoming demons.

Onelight casually moved her right hand, gesturing for the demons to be gone. A blinding holy white light exploded from the demons, reducing them to naught.

The adventurers were utterly gobsmacked, unsure of their next move or what to say.

Where did she get this power?

The Vate Realm's Lords are truly powerful. Thank goodness we didn't anger them.

The adventurers marvelled at the devastating power they had just witnessed. They knew that Onelight wasn't in full control of herself, if she even retained an ounce of her consciousness.

"I curse this place! All demons in this abyss—Lhilac's Abyss—will lose significant power, becoming mere mortals. The lives of all demons in Lhilac's domain will fall under the mercy of my guest whom Lhilac abducted. Lhilac, you slimy, bold idiot, I curse you! I curse your fate! This abode will be your eternal prison and your final journey. This abode will be where you meet your end!" Onelight uttered, her voice resonating with an ancient power, cursing every demonic being in Lhilac's Abyss.

Instantly, all the flying demons lost their demonic membranous wings. The demons fell from various heights where they had been cruising. Some plummeted to their doom, falling into the epicentre of burning pits or dying on impact with the hard, sturdy ground.

A lot of demons survived. Some of them survived being pulled into the burning pits by anguished souls who wanted them to join them in their searing pain. Some survived the fall on the ground due to the height they fell not being too high.

Maniacal laughter echoed throughout the abyss. It was Lhilac laughing, a sound of chilling amusement. Onelight had reverted to her normal self; the overwhelming power of the Vate Realm's Lord had dissipated from her body.

Lhilac's powers had already been significantly restricted before Onelight's curse. After her curse, his powers were almost completely restricted. He was more or less a mere mortal. He retained a bit of supernatural aptitude because he was an abyss lord, but it was not significant power that would truly tilt the incoming battle between him and the adventurers in his favour.

Lhilac successfully struggled to control his laughter. Infuriated, he spoke audibly from the distance, "My powers have been severely restricted, and I have been restricted from leaving my abyss, cursed to die on my throne altar. But I assure you, adventurers, I will not die by your hands!"

Ivan raised his weapon and held it in both hands. He furrowed his brows and said, "We will see about that."

His resolute words had invigorated his fellow adventurers. They were ready to follow his lead. He was about to take a step forward when the abyss suddenly shook violently. The ground below their feet moved forward, forming high towers with battlements. The demons scurried along the rising towers, reaching the battlements atop the tower before it rose to its final imposing height.

Lhilac laughed maniacally once more, expressing his delight in the feat he had just pulled off. "You never saw it coming, did you?"

Ivan was not about to tolerate this devil's arrogant pronouncements. He swung his axe diagonally, unleashing the Straight Path Boomerang. The switch axe hit the target tower, rising out of the tower's battlement floor. The sheer power of the attack devastated the battlement, reducing it to fragmented debris. Demons atop the battlement either met their end at the hands of rising debris from the switchaxe's impact, or they fell to their death.

"Let's go!" Wanyama yelled, urging the team forward.

The adventurers charged forward, leaving Ivan momentarily behind. Ivan waited for his switch axe to return. He caught his weapon firmly in his hands and advanced quickly.

Lhilac was not intelligent enough to realise that it was a grave error to make the towers cluster so closely together. SheCyclones noticed this crucial detail, and fortunately, her AOE attack's cooldown period was up. As she sprinted with her colleagues, she leaned her staff forward. The gem atop the staff gleamed with a bright green light.

Atop a section of clustered towers, dark grey clouds gathered ominously over them. The clouds parted, and a pillar of green light cast down from the gap onto the ground, marking the epicentre of the cyclone.

"Rage!"

SheCyclones cast her powerful wind spell. A ferocious cyclone manifested, raging within a circumference of one hundred and fifty metres in diameter. The cyclone wasn't strong enough to damage the towers themselves, but it shredded to pieces the grotesque demons atop the towers' battlements.

Ivan caught up with Wanyama. He briefed his team leader on his observations, noting that the towers were not as numerous as they seemed. He urged the team to utilise the moment to its maximum potential. The demons were yet to launch counter-attacks because the adventurers hadn't given them room to recuperate. He suggested that Wanyama use his aerial attack to take out the towers.

Wanyama expressed his doubt about the attack because the tower was connected to the ground. Ivan convinced him to try. Wanyama agreed.

Suddenly, BlueBlack appeared beside Wanyama. She placed her hand on him, and they both vanished into the void. The duo instantly blinked their way to the top of a tower that stood at the 'centre' of the towers' region.

Following the plan, BlueBlack rapidly escaped from the battlement. Wanyama ran and leapt off the battlement, the runes on his body glowing crimson as he did so.

"Go flame!"

A dazzling explosion burst forth from his body. Aerial Obliteration had a wider area of effect than the Ground Obliteration. The terrifying explosion engulfed the top of every tower raised. The inferno raged for minutes, consuming the tops of these towers until they could no longer be seen. Only falling, burning debris was seen plummeting through the inferno.

Wanyama helplessly plummeted towards the ground. BlueBlack instantly blinked over to him, extracting him into the void, thereby ending his perilous fall to doom.

The adventurers all united, metres away from the towers still burning in a raging inferno. They watched the inferno subside and the tower tops become clear. There were no tower tops remaining. The towers' heights had been dramatically reduced, effectively decapitated. The demons were utterly no more.