The bright skies, if they were likened to something modern would be considered as fireworks. Flashy imagery and the faint scent of gunpowder could be noticed.
Brun held the metal cylinder in his hands, the very same device that Gerald gave Reinhold. He was one of the few people who managed to cross the barrier. After setting the device up, the show eventually finished and he left, his path would never cross Reinhold ever again.
Higher Deacon Raxor and Yio were gazing at the skies. Yio was startled, and panic started to set in, he was all too familiar with this signal.
“The True Order! How did they get here?” Yio was completely baffled, one of the main players in the Holy War was now joining the fray.
“True Order? What’s that?” Higher Deacon Raxor wasn’t too up to date with the current situation but seeing Yio be terrified, he started to be unnerved as well.
“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! We need to leave right now! If someone used that signal then they must be close by! The last person we want to face is Gerald,” Yio immediately brought out a scroll hidden inside his armor.
Yio used his ceremonial sword and pierced this paper scroll, countless runes and symbols popped out and a golden red light shined through. It was a distress signal, something much more refined than the True Order’s method.
“We should leave right now… wait… no… no, no, no… we can’t,” Yio was trying to take the best course of action right now. With how exhausted he was from constantly being in a high state of alert, he could barely think right now.
Higher Deacon Raxor, on the other hand, was much more relaxed. He decided to take control of the situation.
“Whose forces are stronger? Ours or theirs?”
“It’s not even close! True Order doesn’t even stand a chance in warfare! It’s just that…” Yio trailed off.
Higher Deacon Raxor sensed something amiss, if the enemy forces were much weaker than them then why was Yio so afraid?
“What’s wrong?”
“If True Order has scouts in the vicinity, then it must mean…”
“Stop trailing off! What’s happening!” Higher Deacon Raxor was starting to lose his temper, signs of exhaustion were finally showing, the weakness he was trying to conceal.
“There’s a Land of Trial in the vicinity. Our god spread his conviction throughout the land, he gave everyone a chance to fight for power and glory. Every single Land of Trial rewards its challengers with coins, the same ones you used to ascend.”
Higher Deacon Raxor was starting to fit in more and more of the puzzle pieces. The red coins he bought for an exorbitant price actually came from such an odd place.
“Doesn’t that mean that’s better for us? We can take it for ourselves.”
“Of course, we could, the problem’s that True Order has a prophet that was able to divine where a Land of Trial exists.”
Higher Deacon Raxor’s eyes lit up, “So that must mean, there’s a gigantic force lurking in the shadows. The enemy’s stronger right now. If we leave immediately, we’ll be lambs to the slaughter, so we have no choice but to wait for reinforcements.”
“Exactly! These heretics dare blaspheme our holy ground! They’ll pay the price with their blood!”
Higher Deacon Raxor used his enhanced brain capacity to think, “If they just used this signal just now, it must mean that one of True Order’s men was inside. I’m guessing it was the red-eyed man that has been constantly ruining everything.”
Hearing about the very person he grew to hate, Yio’s veins popped out, he took deep breaths trying to console himself that soon enough he’ll have his vengeance.
He continued, “There're too many holes in his plans though. All the mercenaries won’t be able to escape so they’ll die sooner or later. He should also know that following the trials would strengthen our laws. This just seems too stupid on his end.”
Yio sheathed his ceremonial sword, “He knows what he’s doing. The Fanged Lioness still hasn’t personally made a move. Just what is he thinking? Does he have a way to stop our lord’s domain?”
Higher Deacon Raxor replied, “He shouldn’t be able to… but if he did then everything would make sense. Don’t tell me he’s going to-”
After saying his piece, he immediately ran out towards the city walls. He went to the periphery, just on the boundary where he saw something that completely terrified him. Reinhold was about to do something that could only be described as madness.
Reinhold was still sitting inside his abode, casually chatting with Aya who was frantically trying to get information out of him.
“Calm down, Aya. Nothing happened to Luke, in fact, I can bring you to him. You just need to take this poison. It’s not lethal, it only weakens your body.”
Aya glared at Reinhold, she was still being played until this very moment. The two mercenaries that Reinhold once hired were far too easily taken down compared to Houston. She managed to detain both of them before they managed to create further casualties.
“What are you planning? I’ve done everything you said but it makes no sense! Nothing I’ve done affected the city at all!”
“That’s the point. You weren’t supposed to be a hero, you were supposed to learn to fight back,” Reinhold answered back.
He continued, “You’re supposed to protect the people here. You awakened your laws and managed to have a basic grasp of how to use them. That’s enough, it’s finally my turn to move.”
“You… you made me do all this just to throw me aside?” there was no anger in her voice, there was only the feeling of being thrown aside.
Ever since she accompanied Reinhold at the beginning, she helped him spread flyers, strike a deal with nobles, gather supplies from the black market, and even…
Aya realized that this entire time, she was nothing more than an errand girl. She had no input, blindly following Reinhold’s orders and only causing a scene at the end. She was introduced to the vast world that was beyond her horizons, she learned far too many things these past few days about her powers and even more so the gap between her and Reinhold.
“Rei…”
“You don’t have what it takes. Just hide. I’m not saying it again,” Reinhold held out a pill in his hands. It was a pill that Aya very well knew about since it was one of the things she bought on the black market.
Aya held the pill in her hands, the faded yellow hue that she once knew was now extremely dark yellow. She could tell that it was specifically modified for her.
“I can just-“
“We both know you’re lying. Just get it over with, the longer you delay the more lives will be at stake.”
“That’s low…” Aya finally gulped down the pill. She felt her body weaken and numb as Hannah grabbed a hold of her. Hannah then proceeded to carry her across to somewhere else, a place where they wouldn’t be affected by the next event.
“Houston, have you ever wondered how gods bestow their power?”
“I haven’t really thought of it much, I just assumed it's similar to how we Gifted grow stronger from comprehending our laws,” Houston was leaning with his back to the wall.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Close but still a little further. So… you want to see it in action?”
Houston’s eyes lit up, something fun was about to happen.
“Don’t mind if I do! Who are you summoning?”
“There’s no point in hiding it, I think the God of Fire would like my offerings,” an odd smile appeared on Reinhold’s face, “I originally was going to summon the God of Destruction, but something just made for an extremely appealing sacrifice.”
He continued, “The God of Fire really likes stealing from other gods.”
Houston immediately went off to try and pick up Reinhold who was still sitting down. He knew what was about to happen and there was something more entertaining than seeing gods suffer.
“Come on! Hurry up! Go, go, go!” Houston tried to slam the desk in front of Reinhold in a frenzy, acting like a spoiled child. He just couldn’t help but find Reinhold so amusing to be around.
“There’s no need to hurry that much, I’m stilling waiting for the signal.”
“Signal? Isn’t that grand explosion earlier the signal?”
“Of course not, that’s my second assurance. The actual signal’s about to show up any moment now.”
As Higher Deacon Raxer left the plaza in the middle of the city, Yio finished up with all the tricks that the mercenaries left behind. There weren’t any more people who were trying to finish the trials for one simple reason. Right now, they would need 230 hearts if they were to substitute all the requirements into human hearts, a number too absurd to gather by one person.
Regardless, Yio needed to finish the trial, and to do so he needed to make an effigy from the body parts that were submitted to him. The thought of 4000 inquisitor hearts making up the bulk of his offerings made his stomach churn, this was not what was supposed to happen.
He still needed to push through, to finish the second trial, to survive. Bags of hearts were laid out in the middle of the plaza, extremely grotesque. Even some inquisitors couldn’t handle the smell and vomited.
Yio couldn’t care less, he’s seen much worse and smelt things even worse. He unsheathed his ceremonial sword, using it as the catalyst to create his god’s image.
Everything in the middle of the plaza turned extremely murky red. Blood and guts flew from the bags and started to form above the plaza. This ball of flesh and blood looked extremely smooth as if carved out from crimson jade. If one did not witness the process of countless organs turning into this orb, one would’ve thought it was an extremely valuable gemstone.
This shining murky red orb was slowly growing as it began to merge with even more blood and guts. The inquisitors began to step back, not knowing if it was even safe to be near. Yio ignored these foolish peasants and focused on his goal.
It didn’t take a lot out of him to create this since the Law of Trials was doing most of the work. Eventually, the orb consumed everything to the point that the once bloody plaza turned clean once more.
Yio kneeled down in reverence, this was the most important part. He conjured the image of his god unto this rigid orb. Slowly, the orb started to shift and twist, growing limbs, wings, and a tail.
It slowly formed to create the figure of the God of Trials. This figure had seven arms with seven fingers on each hand. He had seven wings and seven tails, each wing blood red in color and was in a formation creating a cycle behind him, the tails also had the same pattern as its wings. This figure’s face was human-like except for the lack of any detail. Its face was completely blank, white even. The figure had no eyes, no mouth, no nose, no hair, no ears, no anything. An extremely dense golden red light came from behind this figure, looking extremely holy for the wrong reasons.
“God of Trials, Hyuo’in, my savior,” Yio cried tears of joy from seeing this figure show up.
The spectators were a bit intrigued at first but seeing the sacrifices become this seemingly ethereal figure, they started to turn and run. It was too freaky to see such a thing occur.
The figure slowly descended onto the plaza, crushing the tents and other items underneath it. As scary as it looked, in the end, it was only an effigy, unalive.
Yio’s mentality was back, he could finally go forth and give out the third trial. He saw Higher Deacon Raxer come back from wherever he ran off to.
“Ah, Higher Deacon Raxer, I’m very happy to share the news that I have created my lord’s likeness here on this pitiful land.”
“Save it, Yio. There are more pressing matters at hand,” Higher Deacon Raxer was completely solemn, grim even. He saw what was about to happen and he hated the fact that he was playing into the enemy’s hands.
“What could possibly… is that smoke?”
“The forest is burning,” Higher Deacon Raxer went out and tried to extinguish the flames but the mercenaries outside were extremely skilled, he was stronger than them but they were too slippery. Adding on the fact that he hasn’t mastered his abilities yet, he couldn’t stop them from spreading the fire.
Yio scoffed, “Is that it? If it was inside it would’ve been somewhat of a problem but since it’s outside, who cares?”
Higher Deacon Raxer finally looked Yio in the eyes, realizing just how incompetent this person really was, basic knowledge slipped by his fingers.
“Yio, don’t you know anything about natural domains?”
“Of course, I know! That’s why it doesn’t matter if it’s outside! They can’t possibly control the laws outside if they’re stuck here!” Yio proudly proclaimed.
“Idiot! You clearly don’t know anything! Don’t you understand?! We’re dead if we don’t do something right now! Dead!” Higher Deacon Raxer was trying to show just how critical their situation was.
Their safety net was their God’s Domain but the enemy was currently trying to cancel it out. The worst part about this was that they gave their enemies a way out.
“You fool! You gave them a target! The effigy is the problem! If they manage to burn it, then it’ll react with the outside fire laws and completely shatter the God of Trial’s God Domain. You led us to our own demise!”
Yio’s wide smile drooped down. Ever since the beginning, he had been played around with. He was forced to accelerate his takeover due to an unnatural explosion in the wall. Although he managed to catch everyone off guard, Reinhold caught him off guard in return, somewhat influencing his decision for this kind of trial. The second trial not only caused devastating losses to his troops, from 10,000 soldiers down to a measly 1,000, he even created his own weakness by forming the effigy.
“We’re completely passive right now. The only thing we can do is… endure,” Higher Deacon Raxor was now backed into a corner, as much as he wanted to
To defend against enemies that could attack them at any moment while they were surrounded from all sides. This was the worst possible scenario for them. They were already somewhat mentally drained from the tactics from earlier, if their guesses are correct, which they are, this is going to be even more taxing than earlier.
“Quick, set up the new trial! We need to stop them from doing anything! Hurry and-”
An arrow was shot from the darkness, Higher Deacon Raxor and Yio were both caught off guard but it didn’t concern them since this arrow wouldn’t injure them. Higher Deacon Raxor didn’t even mind it until he felt something off about it. A seven-fingered hand was conjured out of nowhere and held the arrow in place.
This arrow flared up, burning the wooden shaft into cinders. Higher Deacon Raxor and Yio both felt their spines chill, if this arrow landed then their outcomes would’ve already been determined. Higher Deacon Raxor looked at the arrowhead, it had extremely detailed runes and symbols. There was a small fraction of ashen paper, it was an extremely odd arrow.
“How are they using laws inside our God’s Domain?!” Yio’s eyes widened in utter shock, it went against everything he understood so far.
Higher Deacon Raxor’s senses were more detailed than Yio’s, “This piece of paper has multiple laws from gods. With how weak your authority is, it makes sense. Hahaha! We’re being driven into a corner and we can’t even run away! Red eyes! Who are you?! Is this fun for you?!” Higher Deacon Raxor was starting to go mad.
As much as they wanted to hide the effigy away, they couldn’t. It was for one simple fact, would a devout believer cower in their faith? It was obvious what would happen once they blasphemed their god. Death.
Another arrow showed up to pierce through and strike the effigy. Higher Deacon Raxor was left with no choice but to conjure up another hand to block the arrow, as he expected, it was a dud. He knew there shouldn’t be too many arrows specialized in breaking through their God’s Domain but in the face of complete uncertainty, he had to block everything.
“I’ll bring upon the next trial! Let’s see them try to move! Trial of Ri-“
“Fool! Don’t start the next trial!” Higher Deacon Raxor rapidly went forward to cover Yio’s mouth, trying to stop him from digging his grave even further.
“What? Why not! I can force them to stay still! They won’t be able to make a move on us!”
“What kind of stupid… see that piece of paper? It nullifies the God’s Domain, do you understand? Your trials mean nothing! They aren’t affected but our people would be! It’s going to be much harder for us in the future!”
“Quite unfortunate, I was hoping it would end faster.”
Higher Deacon Raxor and Yio looked towards the man who spoke out loud, this man had a crutch and was holding a tattered book using a weird handle, Higher Deacon Raxor could feel the countless laws held within the book and the runes and symbols in the weirdly shaped metal handle that let the laws manifest themselves.
Beside the red-eyed man were two people, Houston, and the Fanged Lioness, they both were using their core laws, showing off their battle strength. Houston manifested his Law of Madness while the Fanged Lioness manifested her Law of Iron.
Houston was covered in an extremely eerie black light, this shadow was mist-like, slowly spreading out from his body. The longer one looked at him, the more numb they felt. This numb feeling slowly turned into nothingness as their bodies started to decompose.
The Fanged Lioness had a silvery white aura around her, her withered muscles looked extremely taut, as if the entire world could be crushed with nothing but her fingers. With every step, vibrations could be felt all around her and the ground under her had web-like cracks, showing just how much force was being used in her of her step.
“You, red-eyes! What’s your name!” Higher Deacon Raxor looked Reinhold directly in the eyes.
“Oh, far too soon. We were just saying hello. So, hello! Let’s go back,” Reinhold immediately turned back, disregarding Higher Deacon Raxor’s words.
After they left the vicinity, the Fanged Lioness got curious.
“Couldn’t we have just fought?”
“It’s more advantageous for us the longer this drags on, they’ll start breaking down soon enough. The moment they do, it would be far too easy to kill them by then.”
The pressure from having to protect the effigy and the looming threat of two existences that could kill them made both Higher Deacon Raxor and Yio stressed. Now, it was only a matter of time before they breathed their last.