The World Eater's existence alone was an anomaly, something that shouldn't exist but there were multiple of them that existed, eliminating anything that gets in their way.
Lucas's body shivered, this was what he had to go up against, what he had to take on in order to survive. He looked at the others, Karl's face showed that of anguish, David's was overcome with fear and Deborah's was filled with terror.
Karl caught himself and then screamed at the others:
"This is our only way back, do not yield to fear now. I understand how you all feel but currently it doesn't matter, we have to get home now or never."
Lucas nodded but the fear everyone felt was still palpable. They kept on walking towards the vicinity of the gate.
Lucas looked around and saw the name of a building he knew all too well, "Sarah's Home", the orphanage where she worked, he looked up into the sky and saw the formless creature descending upon the Earth. He wanted to run up to the building but held himself back, he needed to go home, doing anything now won't change what had already happened.
He heard a snap, and then another, and then the snaps started flowing like a well-oiled machine. Karl had gotten to work, he aimed his flames at the creature but nothing seemed to be happening, it seemed to just shrug it off.
The World Eaters embodied one concept or another, this one was said to embody destruction, Karl's soul flames were effectively destroyed upon touching the creature.
A giant flash of light appeared around Deborah, she was covered in armour, her crossbow in her hands once more. She turned to Lucas:
"You either use it now or die."
Lucas understood what she meant, Ravens Wings.
The light that appeared when summoning an artifact surrounded him, the others stared at him with David's and Karl's eyes widened in absolute shock. Lucas understood why, he had told them previously that he didn't get any artifact from killing Ravencroft, if Deborah's faculty didn't give her that cheat code then she wouldn't know as well.
The light faded and Lucas was in awe, the black leather armour was made to fit his stature, it was as luxurious as what a nobleman would wear on a day to day basis. Lucas felt something hanging from his back, he turned a little and could see the wings, his mind instinctively thought about moving them and they opened. David's and Karl's mouths were open as they witnessed the artifact in all its glory.
"Let's go then." Deborah said with a smile, she aimed her arrows at the creature and the turned to Karl. "Give me something."
Karl nodded and then snapped his fingers, the flames covered the tip of the arrow and then she fired, the arrow flew right through it, and then something happened, it seemed to be an earthquake, the entire area shook when Lucas looked up he could see the cause.
The formless creature was hit by that arrow, Lucas was shocked, all of them were, all except Deborah.
She had a slight smirk on her face, she turned to them and she said:
"My grandmother told me these things have cores, from what happened just bow it seems I hit one of them but I'm not sure it's been destroyed which means I only just grazed it."
"Why weren't your arrows destroyed?" Lucas asked.
It was a valid question, the things that came into contact with the creature basically got erased, so why were her arrows not erased when they came into contact with it?
"Well, it's simple. Just Ruin." Deborah replied.
"Ruin?" David asked. That didn't make a whole lot of sense, yes ruin basically exists everywhere but that doesn't explain what just happened.
"Yes Ruin, my arrows, Karl's flames and that thing are all made from Ruin energy so it's basically me trying to hit it with itself." Deborah replied.
Karl was about to say something but Deborah interrupted him:
"Yes I know what you're about to say, why your flames didn't work before, well I basically thought that since both my arrows and your flames are made from Ruin energy then why don't I stack them on top of each other to make a double-deck ruin attack."
Lucas understood her point but he knew they just got lucky. What she was essentially trying to say was that her arrows and the flames were like one layer being above another so before both could be erased, the arrow was able to hit the core of the creature.
"Karl?" David gestured at Karl to equip his blade with his soul flames as well. Karl stated at him for a while, his mind drifting back to when David's soul was nearly destroyed by those same flames.
'The end justifies the means.' Karl said to himself and then snapped his fingers, he knew this was dangerous, he knew David could potentially die but he was willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in order to go home.
Lucas and Deborah notice this, Lucas remembering what Deborah told him, that one of them would die, and with the way things were going it was clear who it was going to be.
"Take me up there." David said, looking at Lucas.
Lucas sighed and then put his hand on David's shoulder, holding his shirt tightly.
'I hope this works.' He leapt up and immediately found himself in the sky, his movements were funny, he hadn't done this before but he felt elated. He was flying, the wings granted him amazing speed which he used to get close to the disastrous creature almost instantaneously.
He hovered above the creature and then asked David:
"We're here now so what do I do?"
"Drop me." David replied.
Lucas was taken aback. "What!?"
"Just do it!" David screamed at the top of his voice.
Lucas stared at the young boy for a while, wondering what kind of childhood would give a guy this sort of determination.
He dropped David. As soon as he was dropped, David coated himself in layers upon layers of Ruin energy almost emptying his reserves. He fell into the body of the creature, the next thing that happened was shocking, a giant flash of light appeared from within the creature and then something that looked like a speck fell from it. It was David.
Lucas rushed towards the falling boy, catching him instantly.
David was unconscious but smiled, as the breeze touched his face, he woke up:
"I made sure to damage one of its cores."
Lucas smiled back at him, he was alive, maybe Deborah's prophecy was wrong, maybe none of them were going to die today and then he remembered that this was the day that Deborah's grandmother killed this creature but she was nowhere to he found.
He touched down on the ground with David in his arms, he let the boy stand and then looked at the others.
"David here was able to damage one of its cores which means we can kill this thing." Lucas said to them, he looked up, they were finally able to see its full size. It was the length of a cargo plane and the Titanic combined while it was almost as wide as the largest stadium in the world.
With its full form now completely through the gate, the behemoth turned its attention the pests that injured it.
A gigantic wisp of smoke cane at them, Lucas instinctively held the clothes of all three of them and flew away as fast as he could.
The smoke touched a car and it instantly turned to ash, and even said ash started evaporating, removing any trace that anything was ever there.
The roof of Sarah's Home got dragged off from the building, Lucas saw this and his heart skipped a beat, there she was. Her luscious red hair flowing violently as she covered the children, protecting them from the falling debris.
Lucas laid the others down and then rushed towards her, he stomped the door down and then walked in, his appearance as a man with wings made the children cry.
Sarah opened her eyes and saw his face, she stared for a while, she knew who this was but she couldn't remember the name, she saw the tears streaming down his face and the smile on his lips, she smiled as well and then she felt something flow through her.
She looked down and saw a huge wisp of smoke flow through her midsection, the children around her hand already turned to ash.
Lucas was shocked. What just happened? How didn't he notice this? He stared at her eyes and saw the look in it, it was that of failed hope, that of despair.
She looked into his eyes for a long while but she didn't know what to do, her feet had turned to ash and the rest of her body followed, she stretched out her hand towards him and he stretched his out and Well and when their fingers touched, hers turned to ash.