Today was a great day. Francis finally got promoted from his job, even though most of his chances to slip away from it now are taken away from him. Now he won't be a grunt anymore; now he will become a leader of his own team.
"Try as you might, I won't become another tailor. Family tradition is meant to be broken. What if my family was to be a sweeper or a cook? Would Sidney even give me a chance if I was one?! The fine work of death is my calling—to feel my first warm blood, the first gasps of my enemy dying by my hands—", Francis looks at a passerby, looking at him with disgust. "Hey, you're getting it wrong; I'm not a psycho—What is this?"
The street trembles, and the buildings release dust and debris as cracks start opening. The passerby hit the floor violently, seemingly losing consciousness instantly. "What a joke—that fall even a kid could deal with. Wait", Francis couldn't get the feeling that this earthquake felt weird; it was normal to feel them on his planet, but his body felt pressure, like his body weight increased.
"The elders and their hijinks. Are they trying to create a supernatural treasure again? They should just experiment on an uninhabited site; I bet these old bags don't want to get away from home—", Suddenly, a supersonic boom is heard, a building nearby is exploding, and a red aura is emanating, like a shooting star, but instead of going down, it has gone up. Francis looks at the sky as more stars show up. During the spectacle, his body felt like a high-tier lead, being unbearable even to look up.
Forced to look down, he sees now that the passerby has become a dark red sludge, his body exploding and becoming compressed in the street. Forcing to look around, he wasn't the only one; far ahead, more people were already dead, some crawling still enduring the force, the —"Gravity, it isn't an earthquake; someone is messing with gravity. Wait, Sidney!"
Francis unleashes his fiery red aura, and his body becomes one with the line. The elimination line passes through his body to increase the power and durability of his body, thus erasing most of the pressure he felt. Such power would be mortal to someone not attuned to it, but for Francis body, it was like pure elixir flowing in his veins. Ignoring all the victims ahead of him—the poor buildings nearby also falling—their lower tier materials were not enough to endure the gravitational onslaught, Francis dashed ahead.
The youth's blue hair is now soaked in sweat, and his orange-colored skin is brightened by his red aura. Each step was a trial, but now he was so near Sidney, he couldn't stop, even as intrusive thought showed that there was no chance she survived; she was only a Touched. His blessed body was already failing; his wild elimination flames were becoming tame. All around him, most of the buildings had already fallen; the only ones still standing were the great tower of the elders and some of the richest people.
He felt his heart crushed, and ignoring the spending of mana and damage to his body, he increased the flux of lines in his body. His early Blessed incarnation was not enough to endure it, but the gravitational power lessened immediately. Francis started removing the debris from Sidney's house; the enchantments protecting it are now gone. He spent minutes trying to find her body, but without success. What he could only find was the sludge of her parents—"NOOOOO!"
Francis finally finds the pendant he gave her, broken and smeared with bloody red paste near it. How happy he was to give it to her when their fling became something more. From all the options she had, she chose him. He finally seized the power; she had the money from her family, and they would have a bright future ahead.
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Francis kneeled in the ground, both from pain and merciless gravity. "Ugh, AGHHHH!", sobbing and ingoring the pain and his body. He cast his newest spell, one of the greatest boons of becoming a Touched, flying without help or weak means. The line in his body weakly tried to connect with the lines from his peryphery; reality was an infinite tapestry made of lines. With each connection, he could try to give direction, and he only chose one. Up.
He reached 40 km/h in normal circumstances, but now. He could only go a foot each second, the pressure increasing each time. Reaching a kilometer, his body, now pure red, couldn't keep the height. Fueled by his wrath and aura, two flaming vortices are created in his hands. Not waiting more than mere seconds, and with a stiff yell, he launches the spell up.
The vortices area is now nearing 50 meters in diameter, but they don't go more than a hundred meters before being brought down by the unrentless gravity; even the spell impulse and low mass couldn't help against this singular force. Neither could Francis.
Trying the best he could, Francis reduced the impact as he fell to the ground. Looking above, his tears flew down like wrathful rivers of pain, pushed by the intense gravity. Minutes later, his eyes imploded, making him blind. The pressure became too strong to breathe. Finally, with a weak wimp and a thunderous, crushing sound, Francis was no more.
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A being more goddess than mortal looked at the crushing planet with apathy. Her skintight black armor fitted her strong body. Her atlethic musculature looked like a work of pure art made by a sculptor inspired by the muses. Her white skin was shown in some parts, creating a beautiful contrast with the black armor.
From the colapsing world, the last of the elder representatives of the planet started being pushed again to the furnace his world has become. The compressed world, less than a third of its previous size, immolated, its nucleus ruptured, and the pressure heated its body like a pseudo dwarf star.
Even with his praised power, he was not but an ant against his nemesis, the gravity pushing him down again to the world, a final time. The woman watched as the elder sank the planet surface, the melted material burning him. It didn't matter if his body had a better tier than the materials on his planet; would a tree survive a tsunami?
This question didn't need to be answered. As the black armored warrior opened her helmet and licked her black lips, her head was almost completely white, the mark of a changeling. The only exception aside from her lips are her pupils and some of her locks of hair, all of them black, hitting a bluish tint.
Making a predatory smile, her aura pulsed, encased all around her, but focusing and locking the entire world, she didn't yell spell names, didn't need to chant; she only used her will. And it was obeyed—dark streaks of lines looking more like space ruptures, darker than even space, moved and vanished.
Suddenly, the planet became half its previous size, which, considering it a planet, would be a mistake. It's now extremely hot, but now that it's extremely pressed, it has a glow. The woman released her smile and sent a message far away, her means out of a mortal, instantenous going to the other side of the galaxy.
"As pleasurable as it is to crush such a weak planet, I pray that it will do well to help start the play. Such a brute use of my abilities, causing insurrections like you are doing, would be more interesting."
From far away, an ethereal melodic but masculine voice replied, "Oh, joyous of you to think such a fickle thing is interesting; for me, it is like breathing. I would trade places with you, but we must act on what we do better. I'm not even the best at participating in this play, but let's rejoice; finally, change will flood the universe. Enemies, allies, and neutral parties are all eager for it, all fearful for it, nevertheless, all aware of its eminent start. Let's enjoy it to the fullest."