Chapter 1: Advent

“Elizabeth!” I frantically yelled, knowing the futility of doing so. The Torture Princess, surrounded by the desolate plains filled with various torture devices, could not hear me. She had sacrificed her hearing, her sight, and her emotions - all for a last-ditch effort towards God. The primordial Creator of the Church, the End of All There Is was an exalted figure - one capable of toppling the cosmos with a single thought. Yet, he was driven to a near stalemate by the proud wolf and the lowly sow, my eternal lover, Elizabeth Le Fanu.

God, as the Creator, was omnipotent. On the days of Creation, he built the world, and on the days of Desolation, he destroyed it. It wouldn’t be right to call Him an uncaring spectator, but rather one without sentience - a natural facet of creation; one who doesn’t abide by natural order, but is the natural order. With the passing of time, however, sentience germinated in Him. He did not wish to see the Desolation, for that would mean a new order would arise - an order without Himself at the helm. Thus He split Himself in two, forming the endless void and blistering chaos, which we know as God today. The endless void sought only to maintain the current order, acting as a neutral figure who watched over our universe emotionlessly. The blistering chaos was the sentience formed - the collective conscience wrought from millenniums of human suffering.

God was not invulnerable, but when half of creation put His mind to it, there was little anyone could do to oppose Him. I had known it would be a foolish endeavour to face Him even with the absorption of the 12 demons, but it was that or utter annihilation that followed. I begged my beloved to let me go alone, to confront the horror she and I both knew we were destined to perish against, but no. What happened on the dawn of our battle was still seared into my memories, and I would not forget…

“Breaking Wheel”, she had exclaimed, binding me tightly to the medieval torture device. Although the pain was a non-factor after what I had experienced, my complete trust in her was my downfall. I knew she had not betrayed me, but the melancholic look in her eyes made my soul dry up inside. She was not planning to let us both sacrifice ourselves, but rather for the slimmest chance of mutual annihilation between her and God. Of course, I could break through the imprisonment - but that would deplete her powers more, something both of us were acutely aware of. That sly bitch, using the threat of her death to prevent me from sacrificing myself in her place… Well, incidents like this were why I fell in love in the first place, but Jesus Christ, Eli, the dusk of our world was not the time to mess around. Actually, I take that back, it was precisely the type of thing she’d do.

Anyway, back to the present time. There she was, surrounded by a wasteland of various torture devices. From afar, one may see diverse hills and picturesque landscapes - but look closer and the hills are mountains of corpses; the landscape is one of gore, slaughter, and decay. Broken were the Brazen Bull, the Iron Maiden, and several of her core creations. They had not gone wasted - each having gorged on the organs of countless numbers of God’s vile spawn, but even the most pristine of metals will rust when faced with a river of corpses. Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthel lay buried within the crest of a Spanish Donkey, having long lost its lustre.

Elizabeth, with her mana depleted and on the verge of death, had cried out words which cut deeply into my soul: “I sacrifice my memories of sight, of the beautiful horizon, of my beloved Kaito”, “I forsake my memories of hearing, of the soothing rustling in the wild, of my beloved Kaito”, and most soul-wrenching of all - “I, Torture Princess Elizabeth Le Fanu, stake my emotions aflame and cast them into the abyss!”

Physical pain wasn’t the only way to gain power through this fucked-up thaumaturgy-infused landscape, but it was the most indiscriminate. Why should the ceaseless void care about the emotional damage suffered by a nameless entity, when cries of agony as its limbs are torn asunder could be far more delectable? In this case, however, Elizabeth was no nameless creature - she was the embodiment of mortal hatred, of pain encapsulated, and of boundless pride. The ceaseless void granted power upon suffering, and Elizabeth’s self-inflicted mental torture was the pristine sustenance it so desired.

It could be said that this was the height of her power, sacrificing humanity to become a ruthless killing machine - when she looked at me with those black iris devoid of emotion, I felt a shudder through my soul. Let her win, I prayed to whichever morally bankrupt higher existence out there, let her soul be strong enough to endure this suffering, for I was a perverse spectator, powerless to do nought but to witness the final curtain fall upon all.

“La (annihilate)!” she lashed out with a guttural voice low enough to let the corpses beneath us feel fear. The sky turned dark as thousands of torture devices rained down, converging at the polyhedron of mutilated flesh and bone; the wrangling mess of bubbling corpses; The End of All There Is. He waved His hand and half the sky fell, crippling half of the summoned devices instantly - but there are some forces even beyond the Creator’s control, and a massive silver crucifix remained unrelenting on its descent.

“I created this, you accursed wench”, a splintered voice rang out. It was the first time hearing God’s voice, and our souls inadvertently trembled upon this. “You wish to come into my world, use my magics, and even my own symbolism towards me? Foolish.”

There was no need for a response. The crucifix barrelled down, amidst the chaos Elizabeth intoned with a lilting rhythm, “Lingchi - Death by a Thousand Cuts”. The horizon was once again blotted out with darkness as a million sabres filled the sky, their blades aligned towards the blistering chaos. The impetus of looming death would hang over anyone who dared glance at the blade formation, an ancient torture method designed to draw out a victim’s suffering through a thousand mutilations.

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God looked up, and for the first time, his eyes reflected a twinge of anticipation.

All of a sudden, time stopped. Blinding light filled the sky, and as it cleared, we could see a single wing - a wing of seraphim, a wing of an angel - sprouting on the back of God, illuminating the blood-filled heavens. All was nothing underneath the light, and within a few seconds the sabres vanished. The light purified the environment, blotting out the gore-filled plains to which Elizabeth and I have grown ever-so-accustomed to. At the end, all that remained was a picturesque scene of life, of vibrancy, and of heavenly might.

God sighed, “I was once omnipotent, and that aspect of me was relegated to the ceaseless void. Every wing I sprout, I grow closer and closer to being one with the natural order, and at the same time, my consciousness weakens. I commend you, Elizabeth, for you have forced me to use a fraction of my true strength. Now, perish.”

Streaks of light converged from the edges of creation, sectioning the rampant carnage both on Earth and in Heaven. When the flash cleared, God was seen reborn - as a glorious warrior of light holding the holy sword Excalibur. One angelic wing adorned the sky, blotting out even the tiniest streak of darkness.

In contrast to the gore-filled corpse form he was attaining earlier, this almost seemed like a joke. This did seem like a more… ‘God-like’ appearance, but knowing that all our efforts were against a facade seemed like a cruel lament of creation.

Similarly, Eli was in shock - so much so that her binding shackles on me were released. None of that mattered, though, as the shattering light of Excalibur was already unleashed, and it would not stop till blood was tasted. At this moment, the brilliance was already streaking towards Elizabeth, intent on annihilation her in all entirety.

Futile as it is, I moved. Ascended Kaiser, Grand Exarch, Celestial Emperor, and other demonic aspects followed in my wake, shattering the boundaries of space and time to appear before the streak of light, just inches away from Eli.

As the light hit me, I knew I had died. With the world fading to black, I could hear Eli’s desperate cries echoing throughout my dissonant spirit. At the infinium of my death, I managed to croak out.

“If there is another life… Eli… Let’s have a peaceful one…”

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