Chapter 1408 Astrology Puzzle
1408 Astrology Puzzle
"You can't kill Xyloth, or Rin," the clone chuckled, his voice a chilling echo of Michael's own. "They're death incarnate. You can't kill what's already dead."
Michael laughed, a harsh, grating sound that echoed through the chamber.
"Last time I checked, the God of Death was well, Death, not Xyloth or Rin," he said, his voice dripping with a mocking amusement. "Enough of this shit. Let's end this."
He vanished, reappearing a heartbeat later beside the clone, a blur of motion, a flicker of shadow. The clone, anticipating the move, reacted instantly, his crimson swords raised, ready to parry.
But he hadn't anticipated Gaya.
"I'm ready," Gaya's voice echoed through Michael's earpiece, sharp and clear. "Just give the word."
Michael grinned, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "Now, Gaya!"
As the clone focused on Michael, he clenched his fist. The whirring shield, a dark disc of razor-sharp edges, shot out from his wrist.
The clone, sensing the new threat, tried to deflect the shield with his swords. But Michael activated the shield's rotation, the jagged blades spinning with a high-pitched whine, a sound like a chainsaw tearing through flesh.
Michael, with a burst of speed, slammed the clone against the wall, his hand clamping over his mouth, muffling his scream.
"Frostbite," he whispered.
Soon, a wave of absolute zero, a surge of pure, icy energy, erupted from him, encasing the clone in a thick layer of frost. But the clone, its body imbued with something some kind of power, was resisting. It pushed against the shield, its crimson swords scraping against the metal, its eyes blazing with a furious light.
And then Gaya's arrow struck.
A bolt of pure lightning, crackling with energy, shot through the air, impacting the ice that encased the clone. The effect was instantaneous. The electricity, amplified by the ice, coursed through the clone's body, a blinding flash of light that made even Michael shield his eyes.
The clone convulsed, his body arching, a silent scream of agony etched on his frozen features.
It was only a few seconds, but those few seconds were all Michael needed.
He pushed, forcing the spinning shield against the clone's face, the jagged edges tearing through flesh and bone. The clone screamed, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony, as blood, a dark, viscous fluid, sprayed outwards, splattering the walls, the floor, Michael's armor.
He pushed harder, the whirring of the shield growing louder, more intense, as it ground through the clone's skull, mangling his face into a bloody pulp.
And then silence. The clone's body, its life force extinguished, went limp, the crimson swords clattering to the floor. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
The hall trembled, the walls shaking, the ceiling cracking. Above them, a section of the ceiling opened, revealing a staircase made of light, leading upwards.
Ignoring the staircase, Michael retracted his shield, his gaze fixed on the remains of the clone. He picked up the crimson swords, their surfaces still slick with blood, and with a flick of his wrist, stored them in his System inventory to analyze them later.
Gaya landed beside him, her boots crunching on the debris that littered the floor. She looked at the mess that had once been a clone of Michael, and then at the empty space where its contents had been.
"Fucking hell," she muttered, her voice a mix of disgust and disappointment. "Not even a souvenir? That's just rude." Gaya said, kicking at a stray piece of something that had once been part of the clone. She looked up at the staircase of light, her expression unreadable. "Up we go, then?"
"Let's see what other bullshit Nithroel cooked up for us." Michael nodded.
They ascended the staircase, their footsteps silent on the ethereal steps. The light, soft and warm, seemed to guide them, leading them upwards, towards the next challenge.
The third floor was different.
Gone were the statues, the obsidian, the combat as this floor was a puzzle.
They stood in a circular chamber, its walls, floor, and ceiling a seamless expanse of polished, white marble. The room was empty except for a few marble statues and a series of symbols etched into the floor, their shapes intricate, unfamiliar, pulsing with a faint, inner light. There were twelve of them, arranged in a circle, each one unique, each one glowing with a different color.
"What the hell is this?" Gaya muttered, her gaze sweeping over the symbols. "Some kind of cosmic game of hopscotch?"
Michael crouched down, examining the symbols more closely.
"It's a lock, I think," he said, his brow furrowing in thought. "A combination. We need to activate them. In the right order."
"And how the fuck are we supposed to figure that out?" Gaya asked, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "There's no instruction manual. No hint. Just glowing squiggles."
Looking at the symbols, Michael began to analyze them. He could feel something emanating from them. A faint energy. A pattern.
"They're connected," he murmured, tracing the outline of one of the symbols with his finger. "To something. To each other. There's a logic to it. A sequence."
He stood up, his gaze sweeping across the circle.
"We need to figure out the order, Gaya. The correct sequence. Or we're stuck here."
"And how do you propose we do that, oh wise and powerful God of Darkness?" Gaya asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You got a magic decoder ring hidden in that fancy armor of yours?"
Ignoring her jab, Michael began to experiment. He pressed his hand against one of the symbols, a blue, swirling vortex, and felt a jolt of energy. The symbol pulsed, its light intensifying, but nothing else happened.
"Wrong," he muttered, moving to the next one, a crimson triangle.
He pressed his hand against it, and again, felt that jolt.
"Also wrong," he said, his voice laced with frustration. "Damn it, Nithroel. Why couldn't you just leave a note?"
"Maybe she did," Gaya said, her gaze fixed on the ceiling. "Maybe it's invisible. Or written in invisible ink. Or maybe it's a riddle."
She began to pace, her movements restless, her eyes darting around the chamber, searching for something. Anything.
"What's the stupidest most obvious thing she could have done?" she muttered, more to herself than to Michael. "Where would I hide a clue if I were a goddess trying to protect a bow?"
She stopped as her gaze fixed on one of the statues, a figure of a woman holding a scroll.
"Maybe" she said, her voice a low whisper. "Maybe it's that."
She started towards the statue, her movements purposeful, her gaze fixed on the scroll clutched in the statue's hands.
"It's too obvious, Gaya. It's probably a trap."
"Well, it's better than nothing," Gaya retorted with a hint of defiance. "And besides, what's the worst that could happen? Another statue comes to life? We've dealt with worse."
She reached the statue, her hand hovering over the scroll. She hesitated for a moment, her gaze flickering towards Michael, then snatched the scroll from the statue's grasp.
She unrolled it, her eyes scanning the surface.
"It's blank," she said, her voice a mixture of frustration and disappointment. "Of course it is." She crumpled the parchment in her hand, cursing under her breath.
But as she turned away from the statue, walking past the circle of symbols, Michael noticed a flicker of light and a reflection. On the polished surface of the God Slayer crossbow, slung across Gaya's back, he saw it. A reflection of one of the symbols on the floor. But it wasn't quite the same.
It was different. The symbol, a swirling vortex of blue on the floor, was reflected as a constellation on the crossbow's surface. A cluster of stars, arranged in a familiar pattern.
Pisces.
The zodiac.
"Gaya, wait," Michael said, his voice urgent. "The reflections. Look at the reflections."
He pointed towards the crossbow, his gaze fixed on the altered symbol.
"The symbols they're not what they seem. The reflections they show their true form."
He looked at the other symbols, his mind racing, trying to decipher the puzzle.
"They're astrological," he murmured, more to himself than to Gaya. "Zodiac signs. But incomplete. We need to find the missing pieces. The order."
He looked at the symbols again, his gaze sweeping across the circle.
"Pisces that's water. What follows water? What's the next sign?"
Gaya, however, was not impressed.
"What the fuck are you talking about, Michael?" she asked, her voice laced with exasperation. "Astrology? Zodiac signs? You think Nithroel based her divine trials on some star signs?" She rolled her eyes. "Just pretend I'm retarded, which, frankly, at this point, isn't that far from the truth, and explain it to me. Slowly."
Michael sighed. He gestured towards the symbols on the floor.
"Look at them, Gaya," he said patiently. "They're not just random squiggles. They're constellations. See that one? The swirling vortex? That's Pisces. The fish."
He pointed towards another symbol, this one a crimson triangle.
"And that one that's Aries. The ram. It's fire. And this one" He moved to another symbol, a blue circle with a dot in the center. "That's Aquarius. The water-bearer. It's air." said Michael before turning his gaze at Gaya.
"They're astrological signs, Gaya. But they're incomplete. The reflections they show us the missing pieces. The order. We need to activate them. In the right sequence."
"And what's the sequence?" Gaya asked, her brow furrowed. "And what the fuck does this have to do with Nithroel? She's the Goddess of the Hunt, not the Goddess of Horoscopes. Why would she put a zodiac puzzle in her temple?"
Michael chuckled. "Maybe she liked astrology. Or maybe it's a metaphor. A representation of something else." He shrugged. "Who knows? But it doesn't matter. We need to solve it. To get to the next floor. To get to the bow."
"But how?" Gaya asked with frustration. "You said the reflections show the true form. But which reflection? We don't have a mirror."
Michael smiled, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his face.
"We don't need one," he said, his gaze fixed on Gaya's crossbow. "We have the God Slayer and its time to solve this puzzle and get to the next level,"