The word 'foolish' had barely left her mouth, Granny's voice still resonating in the air, when a thunderous boom exploded in the sky above. Before anyone could react, a white bolt of lightning struck the charging knight.
Before everyone's horrified gazes, including Granny's, who expected a violent reprisal but nothing so merciless from the guardians, the knight's armour melted as his flesh caught fire. Within a breath's time, it even started turning to ash.
The acrid stench of burnt flesh and molten-metal suddenly filled the air, causing those watching to take a couple of unconscious steps back. A few even gagged at the horrific sight before them.
They hadn't even had time to blink before the knight's body had vanished, only to be replaced by an entity they had only heard about but never seen.
Standing above the slag-metal and few bones that had yet to turn to dust, an enormous bear-like creature, seemingly made of lightning, towered above them menacingly.
"A guardian has manifested..." mumbled Granny as she retreated even further, unwilling to put Harold and her life at risk. While she had seen many strange and unexplainable things in her long life, she had never been shocked so consistently in such a short amount of time. If it weren't for the smell and vividness of the whole thing, Granny would even have thought she was dreaming.
Similar explosions erupted in the stormy sky above as new figures, most creatures but also two that had humanoid shapes, appeared around Nyx in a seemingly defensive manner.
"Stand your ground," bellowed a knight as he tried to reassure his men, his voice shaking from the absurdity of what was happening before him. "They will only protect for the duration of the tribulation. After that, we strike as one."
"Sir," came the unenthusiastic replies of the others.
Meanwhile, Granny hadn't even heard the knights words as sweat dripped down her forehead. After recounting four or five times, she still couldn't believe that all of the guardians, twelve for the weakest continent, would have appeared for a tribulation.
Not only that but due to the violently flickering energy of their lightning-like bodies, charging the air around them and releasing a stifling pressure as if one was being crushed by a mountain, it was evident that they were infuriated.
Granny knew it was because this event had disrupted them from intercepting the mysterious man, someone who had blatantly flaunted their laws, and so, with a light kick, she retreated even further to a nearby rooftop.
She couldn't help but look at the knights as if they were morons. They hadn't even dared to attack the strange man, yet now there were twelve god-like presences in front of them, beings that represented laws, laws that if you wanted to live could not be broken, and they were still standing there as if their presence could make a difference.
With a thunderous boom, another two streaks of lightning fell from the sky — the red and blue bolts of lightning twisting around each other as if, while racing to their target, they were trying to hinder the other.
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While most of the knights couldn't see the state of what was happening due to their positions and the surrounding guardians, now Granny was on the nearby rooftop, and due to her impressive cultivation, she could clearly see the body that had just been struck.
The ground was destroyed in a large area while the charred, smoking corpse of Nyx showed no signs of life causing Granny to frown.
Twin bolts once again fell from the sky, staggering everyone present as the energy released was multitudes bigger than the previous two strikes.
"Third level tribulation," exclaimed one of the knights, his drawn sword dropping slightly due to his shock.
It was well known that while a tribulation couldn't be used to judge another's strength, it did display their potential. The more strikes, the higher the future potential a being had.
What most couldn't work out was, was this a third level tribulation, or the almost unheard of sixth level due to the dual lightning.
Granny's eyes hadn't left Nyx's corpse, even during the blinding lightning, wondering if this tribulation would actually be a waste of time. Most creatures didn't survive a single strike, let alone three and she was almost sure Nyx was dead before it started.
However, Granny couldn't help but wonder why the tribulations had continued if Nyx was dead. After a few heartbeats, a chilling thought that even with her impressive cultivation she had been tricked by Nyx, crept into her mind.
After the fourth tribulation struck, red and blue lightning flickered from Nyx's body and left deep gouges in the ground nearby. However, this wasn't what caused Granny to inhale sharply.
Even though the body was charred black, seemingly burnt to a crisp, she had seen Nyx's back arch as its fingers clasped the ground. Moments later, its mouth soundlessly opened in a scream-like gesture before the body slowly relaxed and dropped back to the floor.
As the body returned to its starting position, what sounded like a drumbeat, yet couldn't be heard but only felt, smashed into the soul's of everyone present, causing their faces to pale as they rapidly circulated their internal energy to ward off its effects.
A second pulse flew outwards, causing those that had suffered internal injuries earlier to spew another mouthful of blood.
Moments later, Granny's mouth dropped, seemingly enough to dislocate it, as her attention was drawn to the clouds above. -"Dear mother of the seven virtuous Gods, what is happening."
Down on the street below, still waiting for their chance to strike, the knights suddenly felt an immeasurable sense of danger, as if a devil had grabbed hold of their throats causing them to almost fall to their knees in fear.
Granny, Harold in her arms, turned around and fled without a moment's hesitation, her senses much more accurate than the others.
Even with her impressive speed, Granny hadn't got two streets away when her skin prickled and her blood felt like it had turned to ice. Instinctively, Granny threw herself down toward a side street below, ensuring her body covered Harold's.
As if waiting for her move, ten streaks of lightning fell from the sky at once, five of each colour, and smashed into Nyx's body, destroying the ground around her and flinging the knights away as if they were nothing more than paper bags.
Huge, horrifying gaps appeared in their armour as streaks of residue lightening flew outwards. However, no blood emerged from the cauterised wounds, nor did any screams flow from the knight's shattered bodies. Every single one of them had been killed by the burst of energy long before the effects had reached them.
Nearby buildings shook violently, some even partially collapsing, as a feminine scream erupted from the centre of this electrical storm. The cry quickly rose in pitch and volume until it turned into a screech that seemed to have emerged from the depths of hell.
The sound, enhanced by the energy of the lightning, resonated outwards to every corner of the city leaving all that heard it cowering in fear as they turned in the direction and stared into the sky aghast.
The black swirling vortex changed started changing into a sigil-like pattern.