Lowly Ascent

Walking through the dark tunnels of the gigantic pillar, the group found much of nothing.

"I can't believe we have to team up to deal with him, are we not gods?!" Bell grumbled, his other three bodies nowhere in sight.

"And yet he's killed two of us already." The Kaiser growled.

Nihil was only a demigod, yet through sheer luck or by his own strength, he killed two beings above him in status. This could be done by taking advantage of the fact they were in a weakened state and by using a trap. 

The only woman in the group grew concerned. "These caves are strange, are you sure they are natural weak points? There haven't been any abnormalities, it's like this place was carved out."

The walls were smooth, and zero cracks and imperfections existed.

"Wait, you all see that too right?"

The group looked over and saw a shimmering light at the end of one of the tunnels.

"That wasn't there before..."

Although suspicious of the light, they all decided to follow it. They were gods, not many things could harm them, and even if Nihil noticed their presence, what could he do to all the big players in one place?

The six were the final gods, the last idols humanity held dear, some Nihil knew of, others he only had hints for. Two of the six didn't have cities, they focused on only a single follower, creating the perfect vessel for their descent.

"This is the light?" Before the gods was a small shard of glass, it glowed more and more as they neared it.

One of them got close, reaching out their hand to touch it. On contact, the glass lit up and lost its light, becoming a world of black.

Dreams clashed with reality and stole the very gods' souls.

...

"What happened?"

The gods did not drift off to sleep, for they did not have dreams. Still, they could be pulled into them.

To them, the scene of tunnels changed into a black realm where their senses were obscured. They did not know the existence of the Dream Realm or its core which was in the hands of Nihil.

Chilling laughter ruptured through the air. Bell shivered, the vibrations caused its soul to shake.

"What...how does such sound exist?!"

A voice echoed, "Because you are in my world now. So much energy wasted, just to kill you all..."

It came from above, the voice was above them.

Finding the voice with their eyes, the gods began to fear, they began to gain the emotions their subjects held for them when they showed their wrath.

Leaning over them, a giant that put the Cosmic Firestorm to shame towered over the whole world. Nihil's soul sent the gods into a panic.

Wrapped in a black cloak, his pure white soul still shined through, but the whiteness didn't mix with the black, nor did it illuminate its surroundings. It was a mute white, a silent color held within the confines of Nihil's energy.

"T-This...how have you reached a point like this?! This shouldn't be possible!"

Nihil's dark eyes landed on the one who spoke, and space moved, his eyes directly above the god's own.

Like a turtle, the god's head sunk into its shoulders.

Nihil's eyes diverged and he asked the important question, "So...will you let me win, or will you still try to get the fruit and die here?"

Everyone looked at each other, they then all looked at Nihil with ambition burning in their eyes.

The resolution echoed in their voices, "Die!"

"So be it."

Nihil disappeared. In his place, constructs of his dark energy manifested.

"What are these things?"

Taking inspiration from the City of Marble and its Creator, Nihil's creations had different builds, each with unique powers.

Tall lengthy soldiers would swipe their scythe-like arms and send out sword energy. Big, bulky giants would use absolute strength to crush everything, their bodies sturdier than their might. Short and small assassins' would lay traps of webs and teleport about. Then there were fire constructs that burned everything in the way like magical mages.

Finally, at the back, there was a commander who made sure the constructs operated at maximum effect.

This was all Nihil playing around, though he was interested to see how the constructs did. If they were better than the ghosts, he might even trap their souls into the constructs to create a stronger being.

The gods weren't weak, the Kaiser's stars pierced through any sword energy, Bell could break through the giants' defenses, and Wolf could tell where any assassins' would teleport, easily catching them and rending their bodies to pieces.

Hysteria dealt with the commander construct's influence and the most unknown god, Shadow, took out the mages.

Only one god remained silent, standing at the back without doing a thing. Their body was foreign, and unlike the others who still appeared to be in their vessels, his body was made of his Celestial Soul.

All the god did was watch, and the others didn't seem to mind.

Nihil too, watched.

The gods continued to fight, the constructs were finite, and the more they killed, the fewer there were. It wasn't much for such beings to exterminate such weak things.

Nihil clapped when the last construct fell. "Good, you are gods, you should be able to do this much. Now, shall we move on to the main dish?"

...

Kain was thrown into his city as he coughed up blood. Walls crumbled as dark creatures climbed over the walls and scurried in. They were giant insects.

These insects were the size of cars, their mandibles grabbing whole families as they chewed on them one by one.

Blood spilled, and screams resounded, all while the bugs munched and the brain fragments and juices mixed in their mouths, the tendons getting stuck.

"No!" The General rushed forward to defend his city, but a dark figure zoomed forward and locked his neck with its forearm, crushing him against a wall.

"Don't interfere, you are to fight me and only me!"

The new strange ghost Kain had met had powers of flight and super strength. But they also had powers relating to fire control and small bursts of teleportation. They were a tough enemy.

Bugs overflowed, and the cries consumed Kain's rattling mind. He screamed, biting his opponent's arm.

"Did you think that would work? Are you an idiot?" using his other arm, the Ruler grabbed Kain by the throat and twisted his body, throwing him toward a horde of insects to die.

"Such a weakling, good thing the Lord removed him." He watched with anticipation as Kain fell from the sky.

Suddenly, a figure broke through a window and jumped to save Kain, going from one roof to another with the prize in their arms.

The ghostly ruler yelled, "Who dares!"

Kain opened his eyes and relief washed over him.

"Ah...Chancellor, you returned..."

"Of course I did, the delegation split off to return to our cities. We can't let them fall can we?"

Hope returned for the City of Stars' survival.