“What do you think is happening?”
“Should we really just be standing here?”
“There is nothing we can do… You know what will happen to us if we resist now…”
Back in the central square where the many of the merfolk were waiting, some of the sirens and tritons considered taking up arms and help save their clan from being taken over by the Golden Garden Guild.
However, every time they mustered the courage to simply say such things, their eyes instinctively peeked at the golden statue standing right next to the great Nimue’s monument.
Seeing that was enough to make them swallow their pride and wait where they stood for the outcome, for Riana’s efforts to bear fruit.
“A-are you okay? Do you have any wounds that need help?”
“...”
To the side, Alviss had just finished wrapping bandages over the little Hyking creature’s injuries. When Lamia approached him, he simply got up slowly.
“Ya don need to worry, lass. I’m fine.” He assured before glancing over at the merfolk biting on their nails or darting their heads around anxiously.
“There is no way around it…” Lamia, the current leader of the Undine Clan, noticed the dwarf’s gaze and came to stand next to him. “It would take a miracle now for them to change. If you’ve ridden the same wave for years, it becomes difficult to break out of it. Especially when all that awaits is…”
“I ain’t in any position to judge ya… as you said, it would take a miracle for such a thing…” Alviss trailed off as his gaze turned to the legendary hammer lying on the ground in front of the unconscious Erik it just beat.
“Either way, we are grateful for your help here… for protecting our people from them…” Lamia winced, then after a moment of deliberation, let out a short sigh, “Sorry for the harsh treatment earlier… it seems we still have much to learn…”
Before Alviss could think of anything to say, the two were suddenly interrupted.
“?!”
“It’s all your fault! All of you men who took our savings and wandered off, leaving us alone!”
“That’s right! If it weren’t for your little revolution attempt, the guild wouldn’t have taken this kind of action!”
Some of the sirens had finally snapped, and they could only send the blame in one direction.
“W-we were controlled by that thing!”
“It’s a Hyking too, there was no way for us to resist it!”
“What were we supposed to do?! I can barely even remember what happened…”
While some of the tritons voiced their displeasure at being the scapegoats, most of the others were either holding their heads or biting their lips in frustration.
The recent events were still fresh in everyone’s minds, and the conflict between the two groups was still far from being resolved simply because the little Hyking creature was behind it all.
The things the tritons said… the things they did… They couldn’t be so easily erased.
“Excuse me for a moment…” Lamia muttered to the dwarf next to her as she took a step forward to try and remedy the situation somewhat.
Even though she had her own feelings about the current circumstances, as the current leader of the Undine Clan, she had a responsibility to do.
“...”
Alviss simply watched her walk away before noticing the tight fist he was making.
THUD!
“?!”
However, before Lamia could reach her people, the situation quickly changed once more.
“You thought we’d just go back and hide?! I hope you’re ready for-”
“Hey! Erik is completely out of it… what the hell happened here?!”
“What? Are you kidding me?!”
Before Bakari could continue boasting, Liv quickly shot him down by pointing out Erik’s defeat.
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Even the dozens of guild members showing up behind the two were taken aback by that revelation. They had prepared themselves for battle, donned their gear and picked up their weapons, but they had thought for sure that Erik would have done most of the heavy lifting by now.
Even so, this situation had escalated many folds for the merfolk.
“W-what?! They are back already?!”
“Should we run?”
“Run where?! There is nowhere else…”
“We might as well give in at this point…”
Lamia clenched her teeth as she watched dozens of enemies surround the central square.
“...”
WHOOOSH!
Next to her, the shirtless dwarf had summoned his golden and blue colored hammer back to his hand. At the same time, he put the little Hyking creature back into the empty fruit basket that carried him earlier.
“?!”
“Were you the one who beat Erik?! How did you endure those lightning strikes of his?!”
“It wasn’t much of a thing… any blacksmith can handle a few little zaps…” As Alviss trailed off, he walked forward with a crack of his neck. “Whoever wants to end up like ‘im, I won’t stop ya.”
As soon as he said that, the dwarf was met with multiple frowns and glares from all around.
“He had to have had some help!”
“There is no way!”
“Who do you think you are, dwarf?!”
Alviss didn’t bother to reply, and instead, looked back at the shivering merfolk once more. He let out a long sigh, then tightened the grip on his hammer once more.
“Stand back, lass. I’ll do what I can.”
Hearing him, Lamia couldn’t help but bite her lip. Any actions she would take now would reflect badly on the entire clan.
“Who cares who he is, he’s one measly dwarf! Get him!” Bakari shouted while holding the stolen rapier high, signaling the charge.
However, that same charge quickly stopped in its tracks.
CRACK!! CRACK!! CRACK!!
“?!”
Everyone turned to look towards the distant cathedral where the loud noise had come from.
“Was that lightning? But Erik is here…?”
“Don’t tell me they need help there?!”
“That’s more important than doing this now…”
“What are you saying? That’s Zoran we’re talking about here, he wouldn’t lose…”
As one side began to question their priorities, the other side stood in puzzlement at what could be happening inside the golden cathedral now.
However, a moment later, their shock grew much bigger.
CRASHHHH!!
“?!”
Suddenly, the top of the cathedral exploded as swirling shadows erupted from it like a raging tornado.
It didn’t look like they were stopping any time soon.
Everyone watching instinctively realized it.
The golden cathedral was about to collapse.
What are ya thinkin’, friend?!
**👑**
He watched in complete horror, unable to do a thing to stop it.
All his efforts were simply thwarted and before he could attempt to jump in himself, it was already too late.
“No… it can’t be…! Primordial Goddess of Light and Sun!” Zoran screamed as he watched the rising chaos of a shadow tornado ravage the top of the golden cathedral.
To make matters worse, it was growing wider with every second, threatening to collapse the entire building upon itself.
“What are you doing!? What about your friends?!”
If his Sign wasn’t going to work, Zoran tried appealing to his enemy’s emotional side.
However, things weren’t going as he had hoped.
“It’s fine… I’ll take care of it, after I’ve destroyed all your little toys!”
“?!”
CRASHH!! CRASHH!!
Just as Lawkey walked out of the shadow vortex that had surrounded him, it rose above him and widened to encompass the entire hall inside. A moment later, it quickly caused many of the stained glass murals to shatter into pieces along with the walls around them.
“No!!!” Zoran held his head as his eyes darted left and right. The murals of his beloved goddess were shattered in front of his eyes. “Damn you!!”
The priest held out both his hands and began to call onto new light beams from the glowing orb floating behind him.
“?!”
Just as light heeded his call, he saw a big section of the ceiling wall falling his way from the top of the cathedral.
In that instant, Zoran gave up control over all the light beams inside the wide hall and held his arms up instead, calling on the two sacred shields to protect him.
“!”
With the light beams blocking his vision gone, Lawkey could finally see both Sana and Riana not too far to the side of his opponent. There was another man too, but Lawkey had no time to study his features at the moment.
That’s because another piece of debris was falling directly towards Sana.
“Sana!”
After her initial confusion at what was happening above, Riana quickly noticed Sana’s predicament.
BANG!
CLANG!
“You’re not going anywhere, siren!”
Just as she was about to jump, Nast shot her with another revolver gun he had pulled out of somewhere.
Thankfully, Riana had been able to block the bullet from hitting her face at the last second, the new scales covering her limbs and body seemed hard enough to be able to do that, but she too, had no time to consider such things.
BANG! BANG!
More bullets flew towards the transformed siren’s way in an attempt to stop her from helping her niece.
Instead…
“Uncle!”
CRASHH!!!
“?!”
CLANG! CLANG!
Just as she blocked the new bullets, Riana saw the cloud of dust rising where her niece was. The debris had landed.
“Sana!!”
Although she had seen a figure cutting through the air right before the crash, she couldn’t help but worry.
A moment later, she could see an outline of a man appearing behind the dust.
However, her heart still dropped at the sight in front of her.
“Uncle! Are you okay?!”
“Ugh!”
Lawkey was gritting his teeth as he held the section of the wall many times his size above him and Sana.
He felt both his Sign and his strength finally give out.
Of course, now of all times would he lose the means to save her.
When she was right in front of him, chained and unable to get away from him.
Typical… just my luck…
THUD!
He fell down to one knee, still managing to hold on to the weight above him.
“Hey! Wait, I’ll be right there-”
BANG! BANG!
Riana was interrupted by more bullets coming her way. Not only that, but she had to deal with falling debris of her own.
And to make matters worse…
“You really did it this time!” Zoran appeared after having saved himself. He kept his sacred shields above him, blocking any debris coming his way. “This situation is a perfect indication of why your race shouldn’t exist! You’re a cursed monster and as the Eversun Goddess’ envoy, it is my mission to rid this world of you today!”
“Hngggh!”
Lawkey grinded his teeth as his muscles were beginning to rip and tear, trying to keep a hold of the giant debris getting hit by smaller pieces falling towards it.
“Uncle…”
He looked down to see the little girl’s teary eyes watching him with worry.
He knew the moment he would falter, she would end up dead.
No matter what, he couldn’t let that happen.
He created this situation, and he had to take responsibility for it.
Somehow.
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image [https://i.imgur.com/F6h7vmX.png]