The Primordial Record

Tenma's regal features turned serious, the white of his eyes turning entirely black and he suddenly turned from a charming figure to one that was demonic.

His long black hair turned to black smoke, and the light shining on the surface of the planet dimmed until it appeared as if the world was in twilight.

The darkness he had conjured when he arrived had clasped the hundreds of thousands of spikes shot by the Ouroboros Serpents and with a squeeze of his hand, he crushed them to dust. The sound made from crushing those spikes was apocalyptic, and a slow grin began to grow on Tenma's face.

He pointed his second hand at the angered creatures, whose spikes were already halfway regrowing and he snapped his fingers, and a wave of darkness drawn from the boundless immensity of space and shrunken to hundreds of thousands of miles wide swept towards the serpents and slammed into them with enough force to crush a hundred worlds.

This force tore through the scales of the serpents pushing them back for miles and vaporizing a large portion of their bodies and their large golden bones could be seen underneath.

With a cry of rage and pain, the serpents opened their large mouths and began to inhale the darkness, drawing into their bodies this frightening power, and in a stunning display of adaptability, the corrosion brought by the darkness was beginning to lessen, as their bodies adapted to the energies they were consuming.

It was clear that if Tenma performed this attack once more, then it would not work as well as before.

Tenma's eyes opened wide at this display, "You are right Shario, these beasts are special… but only just."

With his hand still raised he bent a finger as if he was strumming a guitar string, and reality seemed to pause, as a subtle vibration escaped from his finger that grew increasingly magnified as it went towards the serpents, and when it reached them it sank into their flesh.

What was not readily apparent was that the string of the guitar behind him moved in conjunction with his fingers.

He made the gesture three more times as a subtle vibration escaped from his fingers and sank into the bodies of the serpents.

The first wave of vibration that entered their bodies made them flinch, the second caused them great pain, the third made millions of cracks appear on their bodies, and the fourth destroyed the five Ouroboros Serpents in their entirety, leaving a mountain of fallen golden ash behind.

"How do you like that?" Tenma laughed, "I call this move, Tasty Revenge. I have slayed many creatures that caused me pain in my life using it."

The entire world was enveloped in silence, and Tenma turned to Scorio and grinned once more as the darkness retreated from his eyes and his hair, she gulped.

Tenma had proved once more that he was the strongest and wisest.

He turned his gaze towards Rowan while addressing Scorio and Herod who came to stand beside him.

Herod The Flayed was a god who appeared to have been tortured so badly, that most of his body was covered with ghastly wounds.

He had clothes made from living thorns that circled constantly around his body and tore him to shreds, and his blood was ever flowing from his grievous wounds creating a large rain of blood underneath him constantly.

"I assume this is the leader of those beasts," Tenma pointed out towards Rowan, "Still it is surprising that he just stood there and watched them be destroyed. I had assumed he was going to attack and was holding back a greater portion of my strength for that reason, yet he made no move…. Strange. Who among you knows what he is or what sort of creature he commands? My guess is he is most likely an Infernal creature, either a Devil or a Demon. Every now and then such foul monstrosities emerge from their pits and cause havoc."

Shario cursed, "If he is a Demon then how are we supposed to win?"

"We can't," Tenma replied, "We can only chase him away, show him that there are easier targets outside the gods here."

A chilling hiss emerged from Herod's mouth, his tongue was far too shattered to speak clearly, but everyone here could perfectly understand him, "He seems… to be… waiting… for…. Something."

Tenma stroked his chin, "although he might be an Infernal, we must know what sort of being we are dealing with. If he is a Demon, then we might be able to go through this battle in a more structured manner, but if is a Devil, or worse… a Titan, then we have to endure a war that would last for an Age, and many of us would perish."

He looked at the Formation behind them, it was almost eighty percent full, the addition of the rest of the gods making a great impact on its completion rate, "Scorio, Herod, join the rest and activate this Formation, let me go talk to our guest, perhaps I might discover a clue about his identity that would make this war easier for us all. If we can strike a bargain and give him what he wants, we might just avoid a war altogether."

"Be…. Careful." Herod hissed.

Tenma nodded and vanished in a burst of darkness, appearing a thousand miles away from Rowan. That was the closest he could appear to a being of power to show his strength and also his willingness to give ground if necessary, for he understood that although Infernals were inherently chaotic and loved bloodshed and slaughter, they could also be swayed by greater benefits.

From a distance Rowan's body had been shrouded by a dim reddish haze that was a side effect of wearing clothes made from his Berserker Intent, although he was not a god, his Berserker Intent at the Origin Grade gave him powers that only those at this level could control.

Tenma could only pierce through this haze because he came this close to Rowan, and he could see his features, a flash of recognition passed through his eyes but it disappeared so quickly, that most would never notice.

Rowan was not like most people, his unique nature made him very aware of the smallest change in emotion in someone,

'How fascinating, he recognizes me.' Rowan thought in interest.