Glenn was sleeping peacefully. Yeah, for once, he chose to sleep instead of meditating his tiredness away. A risky bet, for he exposed himself to more nightmares, but he still took it. He didn't remember the last night he slept normally, and he felt like he needed it. And thankfully, there were no nightmares or weird dreams. It had taken a while to fall asleep, though, and Glenn was most intent on sleeping in—
"GLENN!" Milena broke into his bedroom, heaving with difficulty. Glenn groaned and turned away, using his pillow to block the sound away. The lady dashed to his bed and ripped the pillow away, panicked.
"Shit, shit, wake the fuck up!" She shook him awake, blissfully uncaring of Glenn's nakedness. The young man sighed and sat up, rubbing the exhaustion of his eyes.
"...What's wrong with you, damn it...?" Glenn asked, his voice tinted with a hint of annoyance. He glanced at her and was startled for a bit. Milena was covered in gore and soot, her hair disheveled and adorned with a few strips of bloody flesh. He rubbed his eyes once more as Milena caught her breath, and looked at her once more.
She looked like shit. And a bloody one at that. Crap.
"...The hell is going on?" Nelg asked sleepily, while Diamanes laughed loudly, 'Seems like things are turning for the better!'
"I wouldn't exactly say that's "for the better", damn it..." Glenn muttered through his teeth, ignoring Milena's confused gaze. She shook her head, projecting a few drops of blood here and there, which Glenn promptly stopped with a dexterous Aqua Mundare.
"We don't have time for that, Glenn!" She grabbed both his shoulders and forced him to look into her eyes, "There's a breakout! The people have gone completely crazy, and the monsters are raging! This—This is madness!"
Glenn's drowsiness suddenly disappeared as his senses flared up. He jumped out of bed and summoned the Imoogi suit, before slipping on the two black clothes that came with it. Nelg appeared out of thin air and was slipped attached to his belt, ready to be drawn.
"Let's go." He stated without asking for more explanations. Milena would debrief him on the way; it didn't seem like they had any more time they could waste in his bedroom. The lady pressed her lips together and dashed out of the room, kicking the doors in her way open. Glenn closely followed behind her, still shaking off the last few bits of exhaustion as adrenaline began to flow in his veins. They ran in the Dark-Gold Dormitory's hallway for the stairs, when Glenn noticed a window.
"We don't know exactly what happened, but a good portion of the Northern Town suddenly became insane. The Church of Onnea is under siege, as is the Workshop. The Bureau of the Magi Brotherhood is untouched, but only thanks to the shields protecting it. A good amount of lower-ranked Fixers also fell to Corruption. This is mad—HEY!" She yelled as Glenn grabbed her by the waist. The young man didn't give her the time to protest as he threw an Implosion at the window, destroying it alongside the magic protections that defended it.
"Ready yourself for the landing," He warned just before jumping out. They were around ten stories high, but it was no problem for Glenn. Milena screamed in surprise but didn't seem too scared. Perhaps she had her ways to survive, or perhaps she just trusted Glenn to not be suicidal. Maybe a bit of the two.
Glenn and Milena fell, the young man using gravity manipulation to slow their fall at the last second. Glenn bent his knees as he landed on the hard ground, before letting go of Milena. She dusted off her shoulders, a little confused, but took off instead of disturbing Glenn for his sudden decision. The young man followed her, frowning as he saw medical personnel running here and there to help wounded warriors, some on stretchers and the others with missing limbs.
"We need everyone on deck to push them off. Most of the Cleaners are away due to an annual meeting, and only a skeleton crew is left to man the Workshop. And let me tell you, they're not enough!" Milena shouted as they ran in the Main Hall's direction. The scent of smoke reached Glenn's nose, as did the sound of rageful screams and cries of pain.
"What the fuck is going on?" Glenn blurted out as they arrived at the main fighting zone, the Workshop's entry. Bearing torches and forks, the Northern Town's villagers were shouting at them, trying to pierce through the Workshop's defenses.
"THE SAVIOR! THE SAVIOR! THE SAVIOR!" They called out with the fervor of an insane crowd. The Fixers tried to push them back without killing them as much as possible, but many were getting hurt due to that. A few houses nearby had caught on fire, and black smoke was billowing above the Workshop. The sky was filled with dark clouds, threatening to shoot thunder down at any moment.
The villagers were rabid, biting the defenders and clawing at them like wild beasts. A few mages were doing their best to do some crowd control, but they immediately became the targets of the crazed villagers. Glenn smacked his lips and drew a deep breath.
"Holy shit, this came out of nowhere!" Nelg cursed, bewildered. The young man pressed both of his hands together, Mana swirling around him as he prepared to cast. Milena didn't have the time to stop him and a wave of Mana was projected out of him, calling for a massive Flamebane Zone on the crowd of insane villagers. The torches went out and the villagers grabbed at their throats, unable to breathe. The defenders looked at each other with confusion and pushed back the villagers coming at them. Glenn had made it so that the Flamebane Zone would only surround the crowd, not affecting the Workshop's defenders.
One by one, the villagers fell to their knees and lost consciousness, their brains unable to continue working without the oxygen they needed. Soon enough, all the villagers were on the ground, spare for a few ones who weren't in the Flamebane's zone of effect. Milena's jaw was practically on the floor as she watched Glenn get rid of most of the villagers with one spell, shocked. The young man winced, dismissing the spell after making sure that none of the crazed villagers would stand back up. Using Flamebane Zone this way had expended a large chunk of his Mana, but that was a low price to pay to stop all of these villagers without killing them.
Sadly, there still were a few victims on both sides, but Glenn couldn't afford to care about them. The higher-ranked Fixers and a few Cleaners began ordering the lower-ranked to restrain all the villagers and throw them in dirt pits the surviving mages hurriedly dug.
"Alright, that's one thing done. To the Church, then?" He turned toward Milena as he dusted his hands off. The lady looked at him in disbelief, before nodding.
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"...Yes, they should be able to hold on here."
The two dashed away as the Workshop's defenders began establishing an actual defensive zone, Knights creating security perimeters while Mages installed Wards on all sides of the Workshop's entry. A large dome of black magical energy is enclosed on the Workshop, protecting it from further attacks. Glenn's power move managed to get them the leeway to activate the Workshop's defenses.
Glenn and Milena jumped on a nearby roof and moved through the Town as fast as they could. Everywhere Glenn could put his eyes on, flames and smoke were rising as more innocent people were hurt in this apocalyptical show. With a wave of his hand, he created a few concentrated Flamebane Zones here and there, killing all the fires he could, and promptly dismissing his spells once the fires were out. Mana management was going to be of the utmost importance, and he already knew he was going to have to use Flamebane more than once to save as many people as possible.
'The Insane Hero going back to do Hero things... Can't you just kill them all and be done with it?' Diamanes sighed with disappointment. Glenn almost froze in his steps but didn't, as each passing second was another second where someone could be killed.
'...And how do I live with myself after that, Diamanes? Tell me?' He questioned calmly while continuing to put out one fire after the other. Diamanes couldn't retort much this time, and so chose to stay silent. They didn't take long to arrive at the Church of Onnea, which was indeed under the siege of...the Thorn's Cult? What were the robed bastards doing here? Were they behind this fucking mess?
"Of course they fucking are!" Glenn cursed as shot through the air and prepared the perfect spell for ending the lives of crowds of sick, twisted bastards. Massive thorny vines were surging from the ground, wrapped around the barrier of pure white light protecting the Church. Paladins and Priests were doing their best to defend the Church and the innocents they were housing, but they were outnumbered 100 to 1. There were way too many cultists, it simply didn't make any sense. But Glenn didn't have the time nor the desire to dig into this lack of logic and instead decided to erase the problem. A black ball which seemed to swallow all light and things in its path flew away from his right hand, and dove in the crowd of cultists.
More vines were summoned, wrapping around the Blackhole and restraining it, but a few cultists still lost their lives to the terrible spell. Glenn frowned, for what he was seeing shouldn't be possible. A Blackhole, by definition, swallows all things and compacts them to an infinitely small point. But these vines could resist this stupidly powerful force of attraction? Why? Divinity was in the work, perhaps? Glenn glanced at the shield of light protecting the Church.
It was going to hold and should protect them from his next spell. Still floating above the crowd, Glenn drew a deep breath, filling his lungs with rancid air, and used a massive Hellzone on the crowd. The cultists all caught on fire at the same time, so managing to kill off the flames and jumping out of the Hellzone's way, some incinerated to death and ended up like the piles of ash they deserved to be. Glenn coldly watched as most cultists died a horrible death of Pain and Fire, some with ecstatic expressions on their faces.
Ah, yes, these sickos liked the pain. He had somehow managed to forget this deranging part of the Thorn's Cult. With a complete lack of emotions, Glenn continued to shoot down the cultists and reduce them all to ashes. Some of them suddenly turned to their allies and killed each other, probably the work of Milena. They were slaughtering these bastards by the dozen, and with this much-needed help, the Paladins and Priests of Onnea were finally able to push back.
The cultists weren't weak whatsoever, but Glenn was just too powerful for them to even try to resist. It also seemed like the few mages in their midst were barely at the True Initiate stages, with none of them having broken through the Wall of the Fourth Circle. When he was done killing all the cultists in his sight, Glenn let himself float down to the ground and walked to the wall of light. The Paladins and the Priests looked at him fearfully, when a paladin suddenly stepped forward with a wide grin plastered on his face.
"Sir Glenn, you cannot imagine how happy I am to see you!" Alabaster declared as he stepped through the shield of light like it didn't exist. He went and shook Glenn's hand, who shook it back with a similar grin.
"A pleasure to help, Alabaster. I guess Astrid is in the backline treating the wounded?" Glenn demanded more out of curiosity than necessity. Alabaster nodded and looked at the absolute carnage surrounding the previously beautiful Church of Onnea. One of the church's walls had crumbled down, with dead vines wrapped around the heavy block of stones. There were many corpses, but mostly from the Thorn's Cult.
"This is a mess, Alabaster. What the hell is going on?" Glenn questioned with a hint of urgency. Alabaster looked back at the church and his comrades behind the shield of light and shook his head.
"We honestly have no idea. My best bet is on the voice who shook the town a few hours ago, screaming something about "Awakening the Savior"."
Glenn paled. Wait, that eerily felt like that Savior was supposed to be him, wasn't it? He recalled the incident where mundane people attacked him in the Eastern Town, and paled even further. Was this chaos created to capture him? No, this seemed...overkill. Unless they used that occasion to create as much chaos and pain as possible, by trying to destroy the Church of Onnea, the Cleaner's Workshop, and the Magi Brotherhood's Bureau? This made a lot more sense. Without these three institutions, the Northern Town would be rid of the equivalent of a hospital, the police, and the influence of mages.
But this attack force seemed way too...weak, somehow?
"Oh man," Nelg suddenly despaired, startling Glenn, "Of course you had to ruin it."
"What—?" Something made his back shiver and he turned on his feet just in time to see the ash, gore, blood, and sooty bones join together into a single, black ominous dot. Glenn did not wait for a second and shot a Solar Flare at the dot, for why should he wait for his enemy to be born when he could kill it in the egg? The massive ray of pure, Solar flames crashed against the dot, and...did nothing. The flames died out against the dot as it grew to become a hole. A Hole in Reality.
A large hand shot out from the hole and grabbed the edge, pulling the rest of the body out of it. Glenn took a step back as his eyes widened, while Alabaster was frozen in place, horrified.
"Hello, 3333," A chilling voice came from the hole as the rest of the body passed through. It was a massive man, dressed in a dark, bloody clerical robe. He was transporting a thick book dripping with black blood under his arm, and his eyes were gleaming red. The giant smiled widely as he looked down at Glenn.
"My dear Savior. I, Abbot Hank, am back to lead you to Him!" His voice thundered around the Church of Onnea, bearing the power of malevolent Divinity. Glenn's feet dug into the ground as a shockwave of impure power pushed him back, Alabaster flying back to the shield of light. Specks of black were corrupting the Shield, increasingly eroding it. All the priests and paladins fell to their knees and began praying, reinforcing the shield of light.
'Wasn't that guy dead?' Diamanes questioned in confusion. Nelg grunted in pure incomprehension as Glenn unsheathed him. The young man gulped and steeled himself. Somehow, this resurrected Abbot Hank felt much, much more dangerous than the one he previously fought and killed. The Abbot opened his book and smiled, caressing the old, bloody pages fondly.
"Souls of the Repentir, of those who shan't be granted peace, rise again, share pain and suffering to the world, for it is the sole and only, true, Blessing!" He chanted fanatically, lifting both of his arms to the sky. The ground trembled as corpses dug through it, clawing their way out. Ashes and burned flesh gathered into malformed amalgams, hungry for souls and human meat.
Pale, bone-like light came out of Abbot Hank's book and showered his summons, buffing them with whatever evil powers those were. Glenn drew a deep breath and used Divine Blessing on Nelg, readying himself. Milena still stood on one of the roofs further away, watching and at a loss at what to do.
"This time, I'm taking this fucker's soul away," swore Nelg. Glenn grinned as sweat dripped down his chin.
Hopefully, he'll be able to kill the Abbot for good this time.