Leung froze as he stared at the glittering crystal idol in the middle of the chamber. Soft angry hisses could be heard from inside his soul as Nerssia walked over, carrying the idol in her hands. She took before Leung and the Duchess and declared in triumphant, "Lord Ramuh stands before you! Kneel in His presence and confess all your sins!"
"Eh... Can I... I mean we... not do that?" Leung tried to joke his way out as he felt a strange sense of forbidding from the crystal idol. "I know he's your god and all... But... you know? Freedom of religion?"
An unworldly aura was suddenly given off by the idol and forced Leung and Duchess Manarva onto their knees hard and they could only bend their heads down under its pressure. Nerssia continued to speak as if not sensing their distress, "My Lord Ramuh! These two have been chosen as candidates for your accession onto the mortal realm!"
"Can... you... shut... up... for once...?" Duchess Manarva panted as she cursed at Leung next to her. "Will it... kill you... to not speak...!"
"VERY... WELL..." The aging voice of Ramuh rumbled in their heads as the crystal idol appraised them.
Originally, Nerssia wanted to use herself as the host for Lord Ramuh but her plans changed once she encountered Leung and Duchess Manarva. Leung seemed to possess some unorthodox teachings of Lord Ramuh and he looked young and healthy, while he did not possess good looks, his strange features and ears made him unique and different from everyone.
As for the Tri State Duchess, it was a bonus to find her on the floating island. It would be a great gain for the Protectorate if Lord Ramuh successfully merge with her soul, gaining her flesh body. With her identity as the Duchess of Lightning, returning her with Lord Ramuh residing in her soul would allow Lord Ramuh to subvert and convert the people of the Tri State to his faith.
The Grand Marshal of the Tri State will never thought to suspect the changed Duchess and if she was unsuitable to be the host of Lord Ramuh, the most was that she would turn into a soul torn fool from the failed process. And Nerssia would also not break her promise of the temporary pact with the Tri State as the Duchess's life was technically not harmed.
With these two unexpected candidates appearing at the right time, she felt excited that very soon, she will be able to stand right next to Lord Ramuh as he brings Judgement down on this lawless and disorderly world! And even if these two failed as hosts for Lord Ramuh, she still have dozens of candidates including herself to fall back on. Just the thought of it made her wet and she flushed with anticipation as she held the idol over the two kneeling at her feet.
"BE... HONORED..." The body of the crystal idol radiated brightly as a beam of white light was cast over the prostrating Duchess. She let out a cry of pain as she felt her soul on fire. Suddenly, with a burst of desperation, Leung lunged over and pushed the Duchess out of the way of the light beam and it shone over his body. Instantly, he curled up like a shrimp and screamed as his soul was being ripped out.
Nerssia frowned at the act but otherwise did not, instead under her mask, she sneered at the pale and sweating Duchess sprawled on the floor. She coldly laughed at Leung who was screaming on the floor, knowing that it did not really matter who became the host of Lord Ramuh, for once He entered the mortal realm, He shall rule the world!
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Leung was never a hero nor a good samaritian. While he might have notions of helping the occasional damsel in distress, it was more to feed his ego and only if it was a pretty face. For some reason, hearing the scream of pain from the icy Duchess made him lose his reason. He admit that he was attracted to the milfy looking Duchess and knowing his soul was damned for eternity, at that moment, he decided to be a hero.
Using every ounce of his strength, he threw himself over to the Duchess. The heavy pressure from the crystal idol had eased slightly when it turned its attention to the Duchess which allowed him to move and knock the screaming woman aside.
And he instantly regretted it. Indescribable pain coursed through his entire body. He could feel every strain of nerve, veins, bones, muscle, flesh and even his blood was like on fire. If it wasn't his whole body feeling the same amount of pain or more, he would had gouged his own eyes out or even ripped his ears and fingers off.
"BRAVE... BUT... FOOLISH..." A booming voice reverberated in his head, making him scream harder. "YOUR... SOUL... IS... FILLED... WITH... SINS!!! MURDER... THEFT... DESTRUCTION... BLASPHEMY..."
As the pain intensify more, tears of blood flowed out from all his apertures and he spasmed on the floor. The booming voice in his head continued to list out his sins as it absorbed his soul and read his memories. "GREED... TRAITOR... LUST... WAIT... WHAT... IS... THIS... HOW?"
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Ramuh the Creator and Judge was a divine being of extreme principles. With the Kingdom of Gods destroyed during the Divine War and broken up into thousands and thousands of pieces and having His divinity depleted against the Outsider Gods, He had no choice but to retreat into the Void and hibernate to recover His lost divinity back as it was the safest place for a wounded God to hide in the infinite darkness.
He swore upon His divine name to bring order back from the chaos that followed after the Divine War and before He departed, He gave strict instructions to the remnants of His faithful followers. They were to restore the Law and bring Order to the land and Protectorate the world from the Outsider Gods. They were also a set of instructions on how to summon Him back onto the mortal realm and it would appear that His followers had finally succeed.
He did not know how long He had slept, but when He was awoken, He could sense that many eons had passed and the descendants of His faithful followers during the Age of Gods had awoken Him. Unlike before, the flow divinity from faith was barely even a tenth of what He used to absorb and that made Him greatly displeased.
But still He has returned and while His strength was still not enough to breakthrough the barriers of the Void, thus in His wisdom, He had laid down instructions for his followers to provide hosts for Him, which will allow Him tear through the darkness of the Void. Now, before Him, kneed two people, one male one female.
He choose the female first as He could sense her proud and unyielding nature, which He admired. Yet, when He poured His divine essence into her body, that wretched looking male mortal had threw himself in His way. Unable to retract His divine essence, He could only make use of the wretched male mortal for now.
As he absorbed the mortal's soul, memories flowed into His divine mind. Memories were quickly sorted out and categorized while He read the mortal's soul. The mortal's deplorable actions and sins were all laid bare and He gave his Judgement on each and every sin, dragging out the agony of the process of consuming the mortal's soul.
Suddenly, while He was drawing out a memory from the soul, He felt a malicious intent lock onto Him. Surprised and curious, He focused onto the intent and to His shock, a hidden dark slithering mass shot out from depths of the mortal's soul and latched onto His divine essence. He reacted by using divine fire to attempt to burn the malicious intent that appeared in a form a shadowy snake.
Divine flames melted the smoky body of the snake, but yet it held on unyielding. Anger flashed in Ramuh's eyes as He channeled more of His power to kill the evil but despite what He did, the snake continued to bite on and suddenly, He felt His divinity was weakening slightly. "WHAT... EVIL... IS... THIS...?"
"AN... OUTSIDER... GOD!!!" He roared as He came to recognize the weak and foreign divinity given off by the snake. How did an Outsider God be hidden in the soul of this mortal? Thought Ramuh. Was it a trap?
He continued to battle yet the snake resisted all His attempts in trying to destroy it as it continued to absorb the divinity of Ramuh causing him to grow weaker. "DAMN... YOU!"
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The battle between two Gods inside Leung's body had him sweating blood. He wanted to faint but yet was unable to and he could only suffer in agony as he witness the battle of two Gods vying for control of his body.
"ENOUGH!" Ramuh roared once more, the roar of His voice in Leung's head made him feel like his brains were being beaten into mush. Ramuh halted his absorption of Leung's soul and sought to pull away from his body but the snake did not allow it. It hungrily held on as it absorbed more and more of Ramuh's essence and divinity.
Unable to retreat, Ramuh could only continue to fight, which wrought more agony upon Leung. Blood flowed out freely from his mouth and if it was not for the Duchess who had recovered and ripping the corner of her robe and putting it into Leung's mouth, he would had bitten his tongue off.
"Do something!" Duchess Manarva yelled at Nerssia who remained still as a statue as she watched Leung convulsing on the floor. "Stop the ritual! You are killing him!"
"All in faith," Nerssia smiled underneath her mask. "Soon, he shall be reborn as a God and cleanse this filthy world of its sins!"
"You are crazy!" Duchess Manarva growled and she stood up. Her body ached all over from the earlier divine pressure exerted upon her but her eyes glowed with determination. She suddenly lashed out with her leg, catching the Chief Inquisitor by surprise.
The crystal idol flew off her hands and rolled away to one corner. Underneath her mask, Nerssia's face contorted into fury as she charged at the Duchess. Fists flew and were blocked as both women fought in unarmed combat. The fight went on for several bouts without a clear winner as both women were highly trained in the arts of unarmed fighting. Despite both women were injured, one having being subjected to divine pressure, while the other suffering a stab wound in an earlier battle, it only further leveled the playing field.
"I will KILL YOU!" Nerssia finally let out a crazed scream of rage and frustration as the fight dragged on. "You- You dare defile Lord Ramuh with your filthy body! DIE!"
She threw herself forward without any care to her body, taking punches and kicks. Duchess Manarva could not stop her and suddenly she found herself trapped back against the wall. A moment of distraction caused her when Nerssia butt headed her causing her to slam the back of her head against the cold stone walls, knocking her dazed.
Nerssia quickly took advantage of the situation and saddled the Duchess and throttled her throat with both hands. The Duchess gasped for air and desperately tried to fight while Nerssia continued to scream crazily. Suddenly, Nerssia was pulled away and Duchess Manarva rolled over coughing as her lungs refilled with air.
She turned around and with surprise, saw a blood covered Leung pulling Nerssia away. Too surprised and with her throat in pain, she could only dumbly watch Nerssia stare at Leung with captivation as she bent the knee to him. In that moment, A sense of loss overcame the Duchess Manarva as she knew the person that had saved her more than a few times was gone from this world.