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”This is not a good idea Captain. You’re throwing away lives for no good reason.” Tsumi said with a tone that displayed just how little she thought of the idea under discussion.
“I understand that. Some others understand that. Heck, most captains hope that you’re right. The problem is, they can’t rely on your word alone. If we don’t attack and try to lift the siege of Zharr-Nagar now, very soon we won't have the chance to do so anymore. Every day our ships come under attack and more of the crew gets affected by the curse. If we don’t go now, we won’t be able to go at all. And while the captains would like to trust you, they can’t put the entire fate of our world into your hands.” The tired voice of the captain carried over the communication spell.
Another captain from the same fleet picked up where the previous one left off. “Despite the aid you provided us, we’re also running out of supplies. The cities we all came from couldn’t afford to send us off with more than absolutely necessary since most of our cities and villages are under siege. Spells can help maintain the situation for a while, but we were not prepared for an invasion like this. Even if the immortals arrived right this moment, it would still take them days to hunt down all the demons running around, and the resettlement effort will also take time. And just because the curse will be gone, that doesn’t mean everybody will suddenly be fine. Most people are either sick, starving, or both. The more time passes, the worse the situation gets.” The captain was rambling a bit but her point was made.
"Let it go, master. The decision is out of their hands and it has been made already. All we can do is help and try to limit the casualties." Karna placed her hand on Tsumi's shoulder.
"We'd be more than happy to have a rank nine participate in the battle." The first captain said. "As I said, we don't have as many high-ranking individuals."
“Fine. I won’t fight your battle for you, but I will participate.” Tsumi promised. Karna had created an amulet that kept Anaire safe from the curse for the time being, so now Tsumi was able to take part in the coming battle.
They didn’t have to wait long. A few hours later the fleet that had grown to a hundred ships crested a line of mountains and started raining death on the demonic hordes below. Karna noted that the battle was actually fairly non-standard for this universe. The people that lived here liked to combine magic and technology, and they used guns and cannons enhanced by magic as the most common weapons. Thousands of cannons roared, sending projectiles enhanced with magic at the demons, while countless guns fired bolts of coalesced energy at the enemy. The rows of musketeers on the walls and on the flying ships were protected by soldiers with sharp pikes and large shields, while more old fashioned trebuchets and ballistae also did their deadly work.
Despite the hail of projectiles and the iron will of the stalwart defenders, the tide of demonic creatures seemed almost endless and didn’t appear bothered by the losses. Three of the five outer walls protecting the city had already fallen previously, leaving the houses between those walls victim to the predations of the menacing and twisted forms that surged against the walls. The valley between where the flying ships appeared and the outermost wall was more than two dozen kilometers distant, the entire area now a chittering sea of baying monsters. which didn’t just stand by allowing themselves to be slaughtered.
Many of the larger demons seemed to just shrug off any projectiles sent their way. Countless spells were flung towards the ships that had appeared, as well as the defenders on the walls. Most of those were simple bolts of fire or chaotic energy that many demons could generate naturally, but some were much more sinister. A large mass of dark energy seemed to home in on one of the larger flying ships as it fell from the sky and punched through the magical protections of the ship in a single strike, leaving a gaping hole in the hull of the ship that started tilting dangerously and slowly descending towards the waiting horde below.
“It seems that someone down there is crazy enough to utilize Dhar.” Tsumi cursed. “Even we might be at risk.”
“You worry about the enemies, and I’ll take care of any attacks aimed towards our ship, Dhar or otherwise," Karna said confidently.
"Are you sure you can handle it?" Tsumi asked a little worried but realized how confident her disciple looked. “Right. Stupid question. Well, let’s get this show on the road.”
Tsumi had hidden her presence well as the ships approached the demons. She knew that the first spell she cast before the demon mages realized her presence would be the most important. Just like the Luminous Sect was able to stand against the demonic immortal, the demon mages below would be able to resist Tsumi’s efforts for a time once they were aware of what they faced. She raised her open hand in front of her to point at the demons, and three large glowing orbs of energy appeared above the demonic army. As she closed her hand into a fist, the orbs all exploded.
Two of the three orbs faced a large magical barrier that resisted against the cold energy that had appeared before the energy fractured and rained down on the demons in the form of sharp icy projectiles that tore into the demons. The third orb had not faced any resistance, and almost a third of the demonic army suddenly seemed to turn into frozen statues. As Tsumi snapped her fingers, the ice statues all seemed to explode, not only killing the demon that had become a statue, but also injuring those close by that had somehow managed to avoid the original spell. Some of the demons had been powerful enough to resist the freezing energy, but even they were hurt by the explosions all around them.
"Nice," Anaire commented in slight awe.
“Yeah. But I only got one out of three, and now the enemy is aware of my presence.” Tsumi frowned at the same time as three more bolts of Dhar coalesced above them and seemed to target their ship specifically.
Before Tsumi could react, Karna waved her hand almost disdainfully, sending the bolts of deadly energy careening towards the demons below. As if she had barely even noticed the danger, Karna kept looking over their allies. “It seems the locals are making an effort to do their part.” She gestured towards the ships that pushed forwards in the face of a constant barrage of fire while raining death below. Now that they were above the demonic army, the bellies of the ships seemed to open and odd-looking shapes started falling out.
“What is going on?” Anaire asked, never having seen anything quite like it, just before the falling objects made contact with the demons. The results were rather devastating and explosions of holy energy washed over the decidedly unholy demons.
“That’s a bombing run. Not a bad idea.” Karna commented. The bombs were doing their job, leaving massive holes in the demonic army.
"It's not enough though," Tsumi argued as the magical protections of the ships started to fail. The demons had focused their fire on the more imminent threat instead of continuing the attack on the city, and the effects were starting to show. The smaller supporting ships that Karna silently called fighters in her mind started to be overwhelmed as flying demons landed on the hulls of the larger ships.
"I guess that's my cue," Tsumi said and with a gesture from her fiery barriers surrounded the lead ships that were taking the most punishment. The flaming barriers seemed to absorb the fiery projectiles of the demons and used that energy to power the barriers. On the other hand, the barriers didn’t do anything against other elements, but as fire was the favored element of most demons, the incoming fire was halved in a single moment. It didn’t take long for the demons the change their tactic, but the delay bought the ships precious seconds, during which they continued their bombing run.
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“Still not enough.” Karna agreed as more and more bolts of Dhar were sent their way and swatted away by her. The lead ships all started losing altitude and many of the following ships were already belching out smoke from the numerous fires on board. Suddenly one of the ships in the middle of the formation expanded rapidly before exploding in a violent rain of holy energy, debris, and shrapnel that tore into the other ships in the formation. The bombs inside the ship had mostly likely exploded.
Tsumi was about to cast a third spell of her own but was interrupted as the air around the entire battlefield seemed to shift. Space above the city was torn open as silver-clad warriors came through and golden energy started raining on the demons below. "Here comes the cavalry," Anaire exclaimed with a relieved voice.
“Yes. And the fleet only needed to wait for a few hours to avoid this.” Karna looked at the remains of the fleet. Half of the fleet had already fallen or was in the process of crashing towards the ground. And the ships that remained in the air all seemed heavily damaged. “Victory, but at a cost. A cost that was paid because they didn’t believe.”
"We tried to tell them," Tsumi stated firmly. "Not our fault."
“I agree. Still, it feels like a waste. And I don’t think everyone will be able to see things the same way. Some will blame us even though we were the ones that called for help and even warned them against the attack.” Karna knew the nature of mortals.
The remaining ships, Tsumi’s among them, flew towards the city, leaving the demons to the Celestial Host. There was a wide open park area near the center of the city where the ships landed, some more gracefully than others. As they disembarked, Karna noted that most of the locals were a mix of Dwarves, Gnomes, and other smaller races like Beaver-clan beastmen. As they were all so busy taking care of the wounded and the dead, the three of them were left alone and to their own devices.
“I should see if I can help with the wounded.” Anaire’s voice was filled with sympathy. Her druidic abilities were not as adept at healing as priests, but it seemed the city had a severe lack of any healing. Likely because any wounds would almost certainly get infected due to the curse.
Tsumi stuck around to protect both Anaire and the ship as Karna wandered idly, gazing over the rows of the wounded. She noticed a significant number of what seemed to be orphans near a large temple. It looked like the children were able to resist the ravages of war and disease a little better, unfortunately that also meant that many of them lost their parents in the process. It broke her heart to see the crying and traumatized faces of the children who stared at the influx of casualties from the damaged ships, even though most of the crew members were not from this city or their family. Despite the arrival of the Host, there would be many more orphans tonight.
She walked into the temple made of simple grey stone and saw that it had been cleared of all other furniture as rows upon rows of patients lay on the makeshift pallets and beds while a scant few priestesses ran between the beds, trying to keep as many of the suffering people alive as possible. Karna could sense that most patients here were victims of the curse. All of them were suffering from some sort of disease, magical or mundane, that risked their life. It also seemed that most gathered here didn’t have very long to live.
“Please! Please! Someone help! Mother!” A feeble voice drew Karna’s attention. A brown-haired little girl from the Rabbit-tribe was leaning over what was obviously her mother on one of the pallets. “Please! Someone! Anyone…” The child’s voice grew more desperate while also growing quieter as the malnourished child obviously was running out of strength.
The priestesses looked over the crying child but shook their heads sadly. They had obviously done what they could already. The priestesses all seemed to be running on what little remained of their holy power and had to make hard choices about who they tried to heal and who they had to let go. Karna could also sense that the little girl's mother was definitely on her way out already, as the disease had ravaged her lungs to the point where she was barely breathing. The mother tried to console the child but didn't even have the strength to pat the girl's head anymore. A little bit of simple healing would not be enough for her. What she needed was a miracle.
By chance, the little girl looked towards Karna and the desperate plea in her eyes was clear. Karna took a glance towards the altar at the heart of the temple and released a small sigh as she noticed which deity this temple was dedicated to. "Fate can be a real cunt sometimes, presenting us with choices like these." She muttered quietly. It wasn't a proper choice though. Not really.
She took slow steps towards the large marble statue at the altar. The features had been altered over time by the fantasies of countless sculptors and the original face had been long since forgotten to time, even by other Divines. Most of them hadn’t even been around when the goddess supposedly depicted by the statue had lived. Karna gently laid a hand on the foot of the statue and looked behind her to check if anyone was looking at her. The little girl was staring at her, a strange mix of emotions in her eyes, as she seemed to realize Karna held the answer to her plight.
The many victims of disease in the town would not just miraculously get better just because the curse was removed. Even if the Host prioritized removing it, that'd only prevent new cases. Even with the number of immortals that had arrived, their priority was to hunt down the demon immortal, followed by the removal of all demonic presence. It was likely that the well-being of those affected by disease would not even occur to them until several days from now, and even then the Host was busy. There would be no help to those suffering in the temple, or elsewhere. With a deep sigh, she took a hold of the faith circling inside and above the temple and channeled it, before the entire temple was consumed by a golden light that rapidly started spreading around to the city, and beyond.
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Tethrine gave a pleasant smile as the demon immortal grunted in pain. The vaguely female demon had been pinned into the bedrock by several golden spears through all her nine appendages and a trio of silver warriors had their spears trained on her form. “You know, we could make the pain go away quickly. All you have to do is to tell me how you got here.”
That was the crux of things. Defeating the demonic immortal had not been too difficult. Even the mortals of this world had managed to keep her away for a long time, so a dozen silver-immortals of the Host and the Prince certainly had no trouble with her. They’d also taken measures to lock the world down to prevent the hideous creature from escaping. All this trouble because they had to take the enemy alive. They needed information after all. The problem was the demon knew it too. “You think I’ll tell you anything? Hah! Do your worst. What you dogs of the puppet emperor consider pain is considered foreplay where I come from!”
Tethrine easily dodged the bloody spittle the demon sent his way. “Every demon says that, but eventually you all break. We aren’t as bad at pain as you seem to think. And even if we were, there are other ways to get you to talk. You too shall break.”
The demon coughed out a throaty chuckle. “Ah, but you don’t have time for ‘eventually’ do you? You think I didn’t notice this world getting locked down and the way you rushed at me without any care for the mortals? You don’t need my information eventually. You need it now. And if you want it now, you’re going to have to make a deal. A deal that includes my life being spared.”
With a tiny gesture from the prince, one of the immortals stabbed his spear through the bloated abdomen of the grotesque creature. “I think you’re overestimating your position quite drastically. I would prefer the information now, but I certainly don’t need it. As it happens, I benefit either way. If you talk, I’ll get credit for quickly resolving the situation. If you don’t, this little skirmish will escalate. And winning will bring more glory to me the more things escalate. After all, killing a single demonic immortal that infiltrated the Higher Planes is an accomplishment. Killing a dozen or even a hundred? Well, that’s a whole other level of achievement. And make no mistake. We will win. The more of you bastards slip through the cracks, the more seriously the Divines will take this. Eventually, we will have a dozen immortals posted on every world of this plane until we find out what we're looking for. And like I said, you'll talk eventually."
“So why bother asking in the first place?” The demon grunted while ignoring the pain.
“Well, like I said. I prefer getting the information now. Call me a softie, but I don’t consider the idea of sacrificing a dozen worlds to demons worth the little extra credit I’ll receive. I prefer getting the information by a large enough margin to grant you a quick death instead of a prolonged one if you talk, and not a lick more.” Tethrine had a smug smile on his face. He knew he had the advantage and nothing to lose really. The demon knew that too and despite the earlier bravado preferred a quick death over a long period of capture and torture. So the Prince got his information.
“Gather any of our forces not needed for securing this world. We have a spatial crack to close.” He waved the spear he’d borrowed from one of the immortals to get rid of the putrid blood stuck to it. The demon had been too low ranked to warrant him using his own weapon to kill it.
“That’s going to slow down our effort to hunt down the remaining demons.” One of the warriors mentioned.
“While unfortunate, I think we can all agree that it would be a bigger problem if more demons make their way through the crack. Now that we’ve removed the biggest threats on this world, even a single immortal will be enough to kill the remaining demons. And with the large-ish sect here freed from the threat of the demonic immortal, they’ll be able to help. On the other hand, if more demonic immortals make it through, we might see several worlds fall.” Tethrine wasn’t without empathy. He realized that his decision would lead to several more deaths on this world, but he had to prioritize.
Just as he was preparing to leave, he sensed something that blew all thoughts of leaving out of his head. He could sense a wave of divine power from the other side of the world that spread out in a way that seemed to cover the entire area affected by the curse. The curse itself was broken like a dry twig. While a wave of power like this was not uncommon in the Divine Planes, it most certainly was here. And the more alarming thing was that he could sense a hint of Divinity behind that power. Not a group of mortals coming together to use the holy power granted to them by one of the Divines, but someone with actual Divinity. That should not be possible. And the worst part was that he sensed the Divinity was old. Very old. Old meant powerful.
“Change of plans. You’re going to handle the dimensional crack. Something more important just came up.” He said, shocking the immortal commanding the silver-clad warriors.