Chapter 320: Destruction!
For the briefest moment after speaking, silence settled between them. The floating constellation map shimmered softly within Sona’s divine territory, suspended between drifting runes and impossible shelves of ancient knowledge.
Jax remained still, golden eyes fixed upon the glowing coordinates now burned into his mind. He thought of how far he’d have to travel to arrive at that location.
It was extremely deep in the sea, far under even the deepest normal sea levels, and far deeper than he expected to travel on this journey.
It was the kind of place ordinary beings would never survive reaching and naturally, that only made him more interested in going there and seeing how it is.
Sona watched him quietly, "You’re already planning how to get there."
Jax glanced sideways, "Obviously, it’ll be a long journey," he responded.
Her expression softened by the faintest amount, "You really never hesitate. Lilith wasn’t wrong in pushing for you,"
"Should I hesitate?" Jax asked, looking at her.
"No," Sona’s answer came instantly.
Then, more quietly, she continued,"Just be careful."
She said, her amethyst eyes remaining locked with Jax’s, a small bit of care in her eyes as she continued speaking, "The Primordial Sea Goddess is not dangerous in the conventional sense you may think of,"
She paused for a moment before continuing, "But ancient beings like her rarely think like mortals."
The drifting runes around them dimmed slightly, "Especially beings tied to eternity. She’ll no doubt be surprising to you,"
Jax crossed his arms loosely, "Think she’ll attack me?"
"I doubt it," Sona’s gaze sharpened slightly, "But, do not underestimate her."
That alone carried weight, because Sona, with her intelligence, rarely underestimated anyone.
Jax exhaled softly through his nose, "Got it."
Silence lingered briefly afterward and then Sona stepped closer. Her silver hair shifted softly around her shoulders while ambient runic light reflected faintly against midnight-blue skin.
"You’ll come back afterward?"
Jax noticed that shift in her expression immediately and responded, "...Yeah."
Something softened further in Sona’s expression, "Good."
Then, with deliberate calm, she raised one hand and mana gathered instantly, reality folding around them.
"I’ll return you to the mortal realm."
The runes beneath the floor illuminated, divine power spread outward. Then,Sona paused, "...Good luck, Jax."
Her voice softened faintly, "And try not to accidentally offend a primordial deity."
Jax smirked at her, "No promises."
Her eyebrow twitched when she heard that response, "...That was not reassuring."
Then,
~WHOOOOOM!~
Reality shattered around Jax, and cold ocean currents swallowed him instantly. The crushing pressure of the abyss returned.
Endless ancient darkness swarmed Jax, and the cold, deep ocean stretched infinitely around him once more.
Far above him, sunlight no longer reached the location where he was. Only faint bioluminescence drifted through the black water like stars scattered across a forgotten sky.
Jax floated motionlessly for several seconds and then exhaled, "...Temple time."
Golden mana spread around Jax, and the coordinates in his mind aligned perfectly with his senses.
It was Southwest of his current location, and so without another word, Jax moved, the ocean bending around him as he begun to move through the water.
Water folded aside like silk beneath invisible force as mana propelled him through the abyss with supernatural speed.
He barely needed effort as currents shifted naturally to accommodate him. The deeper he traveled, the stranger the ocean became.
Massive trenches split the seabed below and ancient ruins occasionally appeared beneath layers of coral and time, swallowed long ago by the sea.
Some structures looked vaguely humanoid whereas others, not at all. Towering pillars covered in forgotten symbols stretched upward from impossible depths.
Giant skeletal remains rested across ocean valleys, their size suggesting creatures large enough to swallow mountains.
Even Jax slowed briefly at one point.
"...What the hell even killed that?"
The skeleton alone radiated lingering mana that was very ancient and powerful. Probably some kind of Giant being that used to terrify entire nations.
Yet now, only bones remained. The ocean truly did not care about strength. Everything eventually sank once it died.
Still, after staring for a bit, Jax continued on his way, hours passing him by, or what felt like hours as time moved strangely beneath endless darkness.
Then, Jax’s senses caught something and he slowed immediately, his golden eyes narrowed.
"...Mana." He muttered, but is was foreign to the ocean, while being slightly familiar to him, causing his expression to flatten, "...Seriously?"
Hidden within a massive underwater canyon, a structure emerged. Concealed behind illusion barriers and rocky formations.
An underground facility with notable church style architecture. Even underwater, he recognized it immediately.
Built with white stone, enchanted with holy inscriptions, protective wards, energy signatures, and worst of all, Jax could sense forms of human experimentation, causing his expression to darken instantly.
The surrounding water temperature subtly dropped, "...You people really don’t know when to stop."
He expanded his senses further and inside, Jax sensed movement, researchers, priests, combat personnel and much more people all inside the facility.
Finally, Jax’s eyes narrowed further as he sensed cages.
"Right," Jax’s golden mana surged outward.
~WHOOOOOOM!~
The ocean shook and water violently displaced around him as reality itself distorted. Inside the base, alarms erupted instantly, protective barriers activated and priests panicked.
"What?!"
"Enemy mana detected!"
"How did someone find us?!"
Emergency holy formations lit across walls, but it was too slow to stop Jax, who raised one hand, "...Disappear."
Then closed his fist.
~CRAAAAACK!~
The entire underwater canyon imploded. Protective barriers shattered instantly. Church defenses collapsed like paper.
Stone walls folded inward beneath incomprehensible force. Mana reactors detonated and hallways crumbled.
The ocean rushed in violently. Screams vanished beneath crushing pressure as the intense flood of high pressure water instantly crushed a-lot of the weaker Church people.
Jax didn’t even move, as telekinesis tore through the facility effortlessly. Anything remotely dangerous was destroyed.
Anything imprisoning people was broken.
Several surviving captives suddenly found themselves encased in protective mana bubbles as Jax extracted them automatically.
Demi-humans, captured aquatic races and a few humans. Meanwhile, Jax continued to crush the facility until it collapsed, a cloud of debris drifting through the dark water.
Then, nothing remained.
Jax scanned once and there was no survivors from the Church. He glanced toward the rescued prisoners.
"...You’re safe."
Several stared at him in complete disbelief. A horned demi-human woman blinked shakily.
"W-Who..."
"Demon King."
That answer alone stunned them silent. Jax opened a spatial portal.
"You’ll be taken care of."
They vanished safely toward the Demon Kingdom. Jax turned back toward the abyss.
Then sighed.
"...I swear every time I go somewhere, the Church is doing something illegal."