“Of course – a powerful enough physical presence will always trump an ethereal visage.” The Grand Priest said as he took a deep breath and looked over at the howling followers and walking towards them. “The pain you are all experiencing is the continuation of your Penitence. Bear with it as you have in the past, and you shall be reborn, bathed in the blessings of the Goddess.”
The Grand Priest gripped his weapon firmly in his hands before taking a deep breath and raising it high above his head. In the blink of an eye, he swung down on the one closest to him, smashing their foot. He moved from the foot to the ankle, then to the shin, the knee, and so on. The screaming follower was picked apart, and the one referred to as Paladin was screaming in distress.
“Stop this barbarism, Zephyr!” He demanded. “Just kill him!”
The Grand Priest did not stop. In fact, the more pain he inflicted, the more his body emitted an aura which eventually engulfed him completely – clearly powering him up.
“There is nothing barbaric about this.” Zephyr stated calmly. “This is how both he and I fulfill our roles within the Church – I the punisher, and he the punished. For playing our parts successfully, we are both rewarded; me with a boost in Divinity, and him with absolution and a place beside the Goddess.”
Zephyr had continued wrecking the follower while speaking, and by the time he was finished the explanation, the whimpering man was little more than a heap of shattered flesh. The Grand Priest meanwhile was pulsing with Divine Energy, and he then addressed his subordinates.
“…get to it. We need as much of a boost as we can get to defend this place against that brute.”
The Priests got to work, beating the ever-loving shit out of the gathered flock, while the Colossus turned around with slow, laboured steps. It scanned over those being beaten as well as those who were crucified, and once its gaze settled on the pair in the middle, the giant began to approach them all. A horizontal slash of the sword crashed into and shattered the Priestess’ barrier; however, she quickly created another one, which was subsequently destroyed as well. Her subordinates joined in and poured their Divine Energy into her to strengthen the barrier. Their assistance was moot in the end, because with each swing of the massive sword, a barrier shattered. The swings were becoming progressively faster as well, and soon enough, were too quick for the Priestess and her subordinates to counter. Those who were currently being crucified appeared to be taking a severe beating from the buffeting winds caused by each swing, however thankfully for them, the Colossus stopped swinging and a few strides later, was standing in front of the structures with the wailing victims. It once again stabbed its sword into the ground, before kneeling and with a display of finesse and dexterity nobody present could have guessed it had, pried the Paladin from the contraption. Once freed, and whilst still in the grasp of the giant, the Paladin, whose puncture wounds immediately started to seal as golden, almost ethereal holy mana pulsed out from the rapidly closing holes, reached up, cupped the helm with both hands, and after muttering a few phrases, crushed the helm which shattered. As the remains of the helm fell, the shaved head as well as the wounded and bruised face that had been hidden started to glow brightly. Long, golden locks burst out from the crudely shaven scalp, growing with such speed that it didn’t quite make sense. The bruises and cuts healed almost immediately, and within a matter of moments, not only was the Paladin completely healed, but stood almost triumphantly in the palm of the giant’s hand. The same holy mana from earlier pulsed out from his back and formed wings, and he began to float up from the open palm, which prompted the Colossus to rip off a section of cloth from his armour and drape it over the human, creating a robe of sorts.
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“Thank you.” The Paladin said with a smile, his eyes finally opening and glowing rather brightly. “I also apologise. My naivety was the cause of all of this. It seems the cost of coming back down here was your arm. I truly apologise.”
“It matters not.” The Colossus replied, its voice reverberating throughout the mountains with a dull echo. “The Goddess heals. My time here is limited, it would be best if we left.”
“I agree.” The Paladin said with a nod.
“Yo Goldy, any chance your lopsided giant could help me outta this fuckin’ trap?” The thought to be dead Barbarian bellowed.
The Paladin, as if he didn’t hear anything, continued to float with his back to the contraptions, slowly gaining elevation.
“Heyyyyy! Goldy! Goooooolllllddddyyyyyyyyyy!!” The Barbarian continued, becoming increasingly more obnoxious with every passing second.
“Leave me alone!” The Paladin shouted, all dignity and stoicism evaporating from his visage as he turned to face the crucified man. “After all the times I tried to talk to you in that prison and you just ignored me, now you try to be all friendly?!”
“They cut out my tongue every day, Goldy! How was I supposed to reply?”
“You think I didn’t know how quickly your Blessing worked?!”
“I do not mean to interrupt, Chosen, but not only am I running short on time, but judging by what the Zealots are attempting to do, I fear we only have a few moments before having to make a decision either way.”
The High Priestess and Grand Priest, who had taken advantage of the giant’s attention being elsewhere and painfully massacred the remaining members of the flock to receive as much Divinity as possible, were on the cusp of completing a rather potent offensive Spell, as a combination of blood and Mana swirled around them before taking the form of a giant hammer.
“The remaining Holy Mana I have is enough to block that Spell, and nothing more.” The Colossus said to the Paladin.
“There’s no need to do that. Let’s go.”
“What about me, Goldy?”
“Arrrrgh!” The Paladin exclaimed in frustration before looking at the giant.
“Kha’Zur – kick that structure when we leave!”
“Understood, Chosen.” The Colossus acknowledged as it gently took the Paladin in its hand again and stood up.
As it pushed off and began sprinting towards the precipice of the mountain peak, it absolutely walloped the crucifixion structures as it did so, before reaching the edge and leaping off, the wings appearing once again to provide extra boost. The ledge practically exploded due to the force with which the giant took off with, and just as it flew into the sky, the massive blood hammer slammed down onto the mountain, practically causing the entire thing to explode, with dust, bodies, scaffolding, blood and everything else that was present on the mountain flying absolutely everywhere. In the midst of all that, the freshly broken, yet still conscious and laughing Barbarian was falling rather rapidly, as the structure his half limp body was connected to plummeted towards the darkness below. The kick had knocked a large amount of the spikes and stakes loose, but had also broken the majority of the bones in the freed limbs.
“Thanks a lot, Goldy!” The Barbarian shouted. “Next time we see each other, I’ll treat you to a beer before killing you!”
It looked as though the Barbarian wanted to say more before he suddenly went quiet and completely limp, his laughter quieting down instantly as well. The remainder of the fall into the abyss was made in total silence, with only the crashing of rocks, splattering of bodies and body parts, as well as the destruction of all the structures breaking the silence momentarily, before it all fell silent again.