It was early the next morning that the entirety of the two expeditions had decided to move out to meet up with the remains of the Sanafalls expedition. While there was a team that was left behind to watch the boats and ensure they weren’t destroyed by any wayward Wild Spirits, given the easily defensible area, it was expected that most Wild Spirits would be repelled with little issue.
This meant that no Spirits below Tier three would be a problem or were expected to get within a certain distance of their camp. As such, only the Grand Scholar from the third expedition team remained, while their Legendary Hunters joined forces with the Legendaries from Tillsmont.
“How quickly can your forces move, Grand Scholar?” The avatar asked when they got ready to set out. “I can ensure that we are not interrupted on our way, so the only thing hindering us will be our speed.”
“We should be fine. While the Adepts can’t move as fast as us Legendaries, so long as we don’t have any conflicts that might hinder us, we should be able to make good time.” Marwyl replied as they began moving through the forest at a decent clip.
Ezekiel was once again held within the avatar’s arms, while Fiana and George were moving on foot alongside the other Scholars and Adepts. Since they were insistent on coming along to rejoin their expedition, the whole of Ezekiel’s scouting team had joined, including Sasha, whom Marwyl was willing to carry as the Apprentices weren’t able to keep up. Only the fastest Apprentices were permitted to accompany the group. This meant mostly Lightning, Tempest, and Radiant Mages and Hunters.
“In that case, let us be off. I am not sure how much longer they will last without conflict without my presence.” The avatar stated as it began moving faster.
Seeing the increase in pace, the Hunters and Mages following behind increased their speed as well. Soon, they had returned to an area near the Ruins of Trigat. At which point they came across something that none of them expected. Not even the Forest Spirit.
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Having back tracked to the Ruins of Trigat so as to allow the reinforcement expeditions to more easily follow along, neither Ezekiel nor the Forest Spirit were expecting what they found when they got close. Great billowing stacks of smoke were climbing into the sky, and the scene of an enormous fire was spreading throughout the forest within the Caldera side of the bluffs that covered Trigat.
Worse yet, it seemed like the enchantments that had been covering the Ruins and preventing them from collapsing had somehow failed, and much of the bluffs had sunken into the ground. From a distance, they could just barely make out a shallow u-shaped dent in the bluffs.
“What in the Desolate Hells happened here?” Marwyl muttered as they approached.
The original plan of making their way near the bluffs to gain their bearings and then diverting into the caldera to move toward the Sanafalls expedition was discarded as they approached. The Legendary Hunters and Scholars insisted that they investigate what had happened. The avatar of the Forest did not oppose this decision.
Getting right up close and personal to the collapsed cliffs, the dozens of Mages that approached were astonished to see that it appeared as though something had broken out from within.
Looking around the area, it was clear that the cliffs hadn’t just collapsed. But a large portion of it seemed to have exploded outward. Directly from where the Tempest entrance had been when Ezekiel had broken into the Ruins to ensure that the Sanafalls expedition could escape.
“What the hell did you do, brat!?” Martin, who still held a grudge against Ezekiel, exclaimed when they got closer. Ezekiel ignored the angry man’s accusation, but he approached Marwyl and the other Legendaries, as he assumed that they would also be wondering the same thing.
To his surprise, that was not the case, and Ezekiel was almost immediately cleared of any wrongdoings.
“Be quiet, Hunter Martin. This was not Ezekiel’s fault.” Marwyl started with such certainty that every other Hunter in the vicinity looked at him in confusion.
“How so?” Martin asked. “He’s the one who admitted to messing with the formation that was supporting the cliffs!”
“Because there are signs of a massive force expelling from within the cliffs. Meaning that something broke out from within. The enchantments didn’t fail on their own.” Marwyl pointed at several pieces of debris. “If you look at those boulders over there, you can clearly see burn damage from a massive force. The partial melting of the rocks implies that immense heat was applied to their surface. Similarly, the fact that they’ve been blasted so far away means that there was excessive force that sent them flying. This wouldn’t have happened if the enchantments simply failed, and the cliff collapsed on its own.”
Looking into the distance, Ezekiel and the rest could all see the massive pieces of stone that were once a part of the cliff face. Marwyl was right, had the cliff merely collapsed inward from the failing enchantments, none of the debris would’ve been blasted outward.
“But how is that possible? The Spiral Paths Formation takes in mana from the surrounding environment as fuel. But the amount of fuel doesn’t affect the strength of the enchantments, just the duration.” Ezekiel said. “Those enchantments stood up to Legendary powers for years. The only way the Death Worms could escape was from the partially damaged tunnels and preexisting waterways that ran through the city. None of the forces within the Ruins should’ve been able to break it.”
“This is not true, little Void Mage.” The avatar spoke up. All eyes turned their attention towards it. “I told you, did I not, that it was possible, that with the deaths of so many humans, Legendary ones at that, there was a small chance that one of the Legendary Death Worms might ascend into a state of ‘False Mythic Being’.”
The Legendary Beings in the group all turned pale at that, as it wasn’t mentioned earlier. But Ezekiel didn’t look convinced. Something still didn’t make sense to him.
“But you said that it would take at least a half a dozen Legendary Mages to allow that breakthrough.” Ezekiel countered. “Not only that, but there’s no way that a rampaging pseudo–Mythical Death Worm wouldn’t be destroying the area right now. Heck, there aren’t any Death Worms nearby at all right now!”
A look of confusion crossed the various Hunters' faces. Ezekiel was right. If there was such a large gap in the cliffs, why weren’t the Death Worms that had prevented them from making landfall just outside the caldera attacking them right now?
“Wait! You said those rocks had burn marks on them, right? Like they were melted by something with high heat?” Ezekiel asked Marwyl.
“Indeed. Trust me, I know my way around a Flame.” Marwyl stated. “Why do you ask?”
The other Legendaries all looked at him in curiosity. Though a sense of wariness and discomfort was beginning to spread throughout the group.
“Is it possible that those marks came from a different source of heat? Like a laser, for instance?” Ezekiel asked. A pit was forming in his gut. He remembered a face from three years ago. A face he saw when he was running from the Ruins after altering the control core.
“Ezekiel...” Shine’s voice cut through Ezekiel’s mounting panic, but that didn’t stop him from entering into a defensive position. Ezekiel was preparing himself for anything at the moment. He knew he’d have less than a second to react to any sort of attack if there were enemies nearby.
“... Now that you mention it, yes, those marks do look a bit too sharp. They could have been formed by a Radiant laser. Why do you know something?” Marwyl asked, his body moving into a defensive position. His eyes were looking around for any possible threats.
But before Ezekiel could explain his thoughts, a bright light cut through the clouds covering the sky above them. A massive hole seemed to appear in the sky, with a second sun shining brightly in the center. A somewhat humanoid figure stood beneath it, their hands raised, as if they were holding the massive ball of light with their hands above their head. Its voice called out for everyone to hear.
“JUDGMENT OF THE RADIANT LORD.”
“SCATTER!!!”
The Legendaries screamed in unison, with the Legendary Hunter from the third expedition tossing everyone within an assumed range of the attack into the distance with a wall of wind that spread outward.
The last thing Ezekiel saw was the avatar of the Forest covering him with its body before a bright flash of light blinded him. His vision turning black in an instance of burning pain, and the dull bruising of his body as he impacted with something hard were the last things he saw and felt before his consciousness faded once again.
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A couple of hours ago, after fending off a massive attack in the dead of night by a swarm of Death Worms, Meryn stood alongside his fellow Legendary Cultists. Not too long after the formation had been altered, they had been forced to rally their forces in order to figure out how they might escape.
However, after several hours of searching, and running their mana low before returning for the night, no answers had been found. Worse yet, their actions had drawn a horde of the remaining Death Worms towards them, and they were angry at the losses they had been suffering, and the loss of the prey that had escaped them several days ago.
This was a strange action, as the Death Worms didn’t previously attack entirely above ground unless they were certain that they would be able to trap their prey. In this instance, due to the proximity to the inverted pyramid that controlled the formation, the Death Worms couldn’t tunnel through the ground beneath their camp. As such, they were in the open for the most part as they moved across the ground to attack the Cult’s forces.
“I think that that’s the last of them.” Francis gasped out as he and Gwen were exhausted from the battle. Meryn was also tired, but he fared relatively better than the other two due to his element giving a slight advantage in maneuverability.
“Yeah... I guess those retches from the Church of Ten did something useful while they were here.” Gwen muttered as she looked at the fading corpses of the three Legendary Death Worms. “We’d have probably been swarmed by even more if they hadn’t wiped out some on their own.”
All around them were the corpses of their followers, the Apprentice level Hunters and Mages had died nearly instantly. Their superiors focused more on keeping themselves alive from the onslaught than defending their supporters. A handful of Adepts were still alive, and were trying to recover as best they could in the rubble of their encampment.
“This is all the Anathema’s fault.” Meryn angrily grit out his clenched jaw. “It cannot be allowed to live. The very idea that it would be allowed to survive after all this death is something that we cannot allow!”
Francis and Gwen both looked angry at the mention of Ezekiel as the Anathema, but they also looked tired. Neither of them believed that they would be able to succeed in killing Ezekiel at the moment. Their forces were too thinned out, with barely a couple dozen survivors from the most recent attack.
“Meryn, I get where you’re coming from. None of us want to let the Anathema survive either, but we can’t face it right now. We’re too wiped out, and there’s no way for us to even get out of here at the moment.” Francis said. “For now, we need to retreat and focus on regrouping with our base.”
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Francis approached his fellow Legendary, but as he reached forward to place a hand on Meryn’s shoulder, he winced in pain as a hand encased in light stabbed into his abdomen.
“Meryn! What the hell are you doing!” Gwen screamed as Francis found himself unable to breath.
“I’m sorry. I had hoped not to use this, but it is the only way to eliminate the Anathema before it can become even more of a threat to our Lord.” Meryn said. Francis’ Spirit tried to attack him, but it was blocked by Meryn’s, who had a resigned look on its face. “Just know that your sacrifices will ensure that the Anathema dies on this island.”
Taking out his other hand from the Void Pouch at his waist, Meryn held a familial looking orb. It shone brightly with a golden glow that consumed both him and his Spirit, as well as Francis and his.
“The Light of Enlightenment...” Gwen’s face went pale, and she immediately turned to run. But beams of light cut through her legs and consumed her Spirit in a blinding flash.
“Indeed.” Meryn’s voice was deeper, and rumbled outward as the light that consumed him faded away. He was no longer the noble looking figure he once was.
Had Ezekiel been there, he would’ve described Meryn’s form as that of a minotaur. Standing nearly twenty feet tall if you included the horns, his body was entirely golden in coloration and emitted a bright glow of Radiant light. Rippled with muscles and melting the stonework from beneath his feet due to the immense heat from his light, Meryn was nothing less than a monster filled with power. His mana nearly refilled after consuming Francis and his Spirit.
“You forgot that I was once a temporary member of the Seven Lights. Thus, I was granted knowledge that many of our members would not have been. Including the method of creating some of our most profound Relics.” Meryn said as he walked towards Gwen. “The Light of Enlightenment was amongst them.”
“Is that where all our resources went?! The creation of this Relic! You’re the reason why we suffered so desperately from a lack of resources!” Gwen cried out as she tried to crawl away with just her arms, but it was no use, as Meryn reached down and picked her up in a single closed fist. “No! No!”
“That’s right. I needed an ace, just in case things went wrong. Now, be calm, Gwen. With your sacrifice, and that of our fellows, I shall reach the Mythical Tier, however temporarily it might be, and destroy the Anathema once and for all.” With that said, Meryn mentally reached forward, touching upon the Light that was granted to Gwen and all the other Followers of Radiance, and pulled, taking in her mana and absorbing it as his own.
He was now at the peak of Tier four, just a little more, and he’d reach Tier five. But he could feel a burning sensation within him. As if his soul itself was set on fire.
“My soul. I can feel it being eroded by your Light.” Meryn muttered to himself. “But that is fine. Even if this will only last a few hours, and my soul is destroyed until nothing remains, I will see your will be done.”
Turning towards the fleeing Adepts that once supported him and his Legendary peers, Meryn let out a sigh.
“It seems like it will take some effort to reach the realm of Mythical Beings. Alas, nothing shall stop them from seeing the Light.” With that said, Meryn flashed forward, a streak of light in the darkness of the Ruins.
There were barely any screams as the various members of the Cult died in an instant. Their bodies burned out and their mana drawn in as fuel for the Light burning with Meryn’s soul.
Not even the remaining Death Worms were safe, as he hunted them down and allowed his light to consume the mana as well. Though there was some loss as they hadn’t previously been blessed by the Light of the Radiant Lord. Yet, when all was said and done, it was not a Mythical Death Worm that stood in the Ruins of Trigat, but a Mythical monster made of Radiant Light.
“Now, let’s see where you are, Anathema!”
Muttering those words aloud, Meryn stood before the area he assumed was the entrance that the Sanafalls expedition had escaped from, given their original findings previously.
Holding his hands out to his sides, two large spheres of light formed on both sides of him. Swinging his hands forward as if to clap his hands, the two spheres launched forwards. Light consumed the cavernous world beneath the cliffs. A massive beam shot forward, partially melting the stone and breaking the Spiral Paths Formation.
As large pieces of rock flew outward, the attack just enough to create an opening to the outside, Meryn flew through the hole, seeing that the sun had been rising for a while now. Rising into the air, Meryn flew above the clouds, his vision expanding across a large portion of the surrounding island.
The damage to his soul was eroding his spiritual sensing abilities, so he was unable to use his light to expand his area of awareness. But his vision was much stronger since his natural senses had been enhanced by his Lord’s Blessing.
In the distance, through the clouds below him, he could faintly see a group of people approaching the area of the Ruins. But he didn’t act right away. He would only act when he was certain that the Anathema was there. He would follow them if the Anathema was not. But when he found the Anathema, then, and only then, would he use his new power to attack, and all would be destroyed once he did.
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Ezekiel groggily returned to consciousness. Confused as to what had happened to him, he attempted to move and sit up. However, it seemed as though something was pinning him down. Pressure was pushing down on him, but not just from above, from all sides, nearly crushing him.
“Don’t move. You can’t distract it.” Shine’s voice cut through Ezekiel’s hazy thoughts. He immediately stilled.
“What’s going on?” Ezekiel asked. “I... I think there was a bright light?”
“We got attacked by the leader of the Cultists. I tried to reinforce your body when the avatar launched us out of the way, but I don’t think it worked right. How’s your head?” Shine said.
At the reminder of what happened, Ezekiel began recalling how he ended up in this situation. Checking himself over, he found that he seemed to have a minor concussion. His body was also moving, now that he could feel things out properly. But it wasn’t under his own power.
“Shine, what’s happening?” Ezekiel asked.
“The avatar took steps to ensure you got out of there alive. It even healed your burned out retina when we couldn’t defend in time. You’re currently wearing them like armor, and we’re moving toward the center of the island.” Shine explained. “It expended a large amount of its mana to make decoys to draw the cultist away, but we’re not sure how long we’ll be able to last.”
“What about the others? What happened to them?” Ezekiel was nearly panicking at the thought of losing even more people because of himself.
“I didn’t see anyone else dead. I think the Guild Leader from the third expedition team managed to blow everyone out of the blast zone in time.” Shine said.
“I see. How far out are we from the Forest Spirit’s main body?” Ezekiel asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s only been a few minutes since we started running at full speed. So, we should still be hours out.” Shine said, their voice sounded panicked now that Ezekiel’s head was getting clearer and clearer. “We did pass by the Sanafalls expedition, so we might get help from the Guild Leaders and Grand Scholars. But I don’t know how long that will take.”
He took a moment to think things through. The chance of reinforcements from the Legendary expedition members was good, but not a guarantee. Worse yet, the monster they were facing was something that none of them had ever faced before.
He knew that it could only be Meryn, the bastard from three years ago, that had done this. Given the strange abilities that the Cult of Light seemed to have, it didn’t surprise him that Meryn could somehow become a Mythical Being. But he knew that there must be consequences. There’s no way that someone who wasn’t even at the peak of Legendary could breakthrough in such a short time otherwise.
“Shine, I have an idea, but I need your help.” Ezekiel said.
“Anything.” Shine replied.
“Good.”
“Avatar.” Ezekiel said aloud. “I’m going to channel some of my mana towards you. Usually, it would make your mana go berserk, but I’m only going to channel it into your physical body. This will reinforce it and allow you to break some of your limits. Please try to speed up.”
Shine instantly understood that Ezekiel needed them to regulate the mana that was going to be channeled. With his head wound, Ezekiel might channel too much, causing damage to the avatar’s body.
As Ezekiel and Shine focused on reinforcing the avatar’s body, they could feel the minute sensation of the avatar speeding up as it no longer had to worry as much about ruining its body.
“How long will it take for us to arrive?” Ezekiel asked.
“That is not our primary concern.” The avatar replied. “The abomination is gaining on us.”
An image appeared in Ezekiel’s mind as the avatar showed him a terrifying sight. It seemed as though Meryn had noticed the avatar with Ezekiel moving differently, or he had already eliminated the other decoys. Either way, it seemed like Meryn was now headed in their direction. It would be mere minutes before he reached them.
“What can we do?” Ezekiel asked.
“I have sent out a call to all the Legendary Spirits that have not participated in the push into the Cruor’s territory. They, and many lower Tier Spirits, will be striking as soon as possible. But many of them are far enough away that it will take time.” The avatar explained.
“Dammit!” Ezekiel tried to think of something, anything, that they could do in this instance. “Wait, let’s try something.”
Ezekiel mentally sent his idea to Shine, who altered the flow of mana ever so slightly. The avatar nearly stumbled as the reinforcement of its body stopped. However, before it could ask what was happening, it found that its body was now Shrouded, and could not be viewed from the outside.
“That might help, right?” Ezekiel asked.
“We can only hope.” The avatar said.
Barely a minute later, Meryn appeared in the sky in a streak of light. His monstrous body made Ezekiel think of a minotaur. But it seemed like something was happening to him. Meryn’s body seemed to be breaking down. As if it was burning up from the inside out, pink mist seemed to seep from his body. His blood appeared to be literally boiling.
“Where are you, Anathema!” Meryn roared across the land. “Just because I can’t find you doesn’t mean that I can’t kill you!”
A large sphere of light, much smaller than the massive one that struck them earlier, appeared above his head, centered between his two horns. From the sphere, numerous beams of light began shooting outwards. Ezekiel couldn’t help but think that Meryn had gotten so desperate that he was now willing to destroy everything in order to kill Ezekiel.
“Evade!” Ezekiel screamed as several beams nearly clipped them. But it was no use. There were just too many of them, and while the avatar’s body was strong, especially as an armor for Ezekiel, it was still a Tier below their assailant when it came to the power of their attacks.
Just as they jumped out of the way of one beam, another struck them down from the air. The Shroud was dispelled, and half of the avatar’s body was destroyed. Ezekiel was fine, but as he rolled across the ground, he was fully exposed to the monster that was trying to kill him.
He tried to run away, but a flash of light blinded him, and Meryn’s huge fist held him in his grasp. Ezekiel couldn’t go anywhere, and the heat from the light was corroding his skin.
Ezekiel couldn’t help but let out a scream of pain as he was burned.
“Ezekiel!” Shine screamed in panic. They wanted to do something, anything, that might be able to help Ezekiel, but there was nothing they could do in this instance.
“So, Anathema, you are finally going to die. After all these years, my mission shall be complete.” Meryn growled out as he squeezed Ezekiel tighter. “Die!”
Meryn clenched his hand in order to kill Ezekiel, but before Ezekiel’s body could be broken in his grasp, Meryn let loose a scream of pain as a spear of wind struck him from behind. Immediately following it was a burst of icicles, gout of flame, and several other attacks at the Legendary Tier.
But the thing that did the most damage was the blade of shadows that reached up from the ground in the shape of a bird’s talon. It cut into Meryn’s arm, stopping briefly before passing through it entirely. The severed arm dropped to the ground. Ezekiel was released as the arm began to fade into motes of light and a slurry of blood and bone.
“YOU FILTHY HEATHENS!!! WHY CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND!!! I AM RIDDING THE WORLD OF ITS MOST DANGEROUS THREAT!!!” Meryn screamed as he turned to face the Legendary members of the various expeditions that had chased after them.
“Your words say one thing. But your actions say another. While your appearance disavows everything.” An elderly voice that Ezekiel was overjoyed to hear spoke up.
“Carrian!” Ezekiel weakly muttered as he saw the old man that had been somewhat of a mentor, and very much a guardian, to him was calmly walking to the forefront of the assembled Legendaries.
“Regardless, that boy is not going to die today!” Carrian stated. With those final words, the Legendaries opened fire. Attacks of all sorts launched towards Meryn, who tried to make one last strike to kill Ezekiel before he could escape.
But it was too late. Kari had picked him up while Meryn was distracted, and in a gust of wind, the two were away, moving further and further into the forest. Away from the battle. Even as Ezekiel cried out for them to stop, and for Kari to ignore him and go help the others. He knew that as things were, Meryn was still strong enough to be a threat to them all. A threat that he brought but couldn’t face.
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“You are all going to die!” Meryn stated as he saw that Ezekiel had escaped him again.
“Perhaps. But Ezekiel shall not. That, you can be certain of.” Carrian said as the Legendaries all took up defensive stances and prepared themselves. “Yorn, retreat.”
The Obscure Mage did so, moving away from the battle as quickly as he could, which was nowhere near his maximum speed. He had expended almost all of his remaining mana when he had cut off Meryn’s arm. Now, he was spent, and more of a liability than anything else in this fight.
“Ready to die, old friend?” Carrian asked as tentacles of water tipped with icicles gathered around him.
“Not today, you old bedwetter.” Marwyl replied. “Nor is anyone else.”
The Guild Leaders that were near, as well as Scarlet, all nodded in agreement. They knew this would be the hardest fight of their lives, but none of them were ready to die.
“Good.” Carrian said, as he charged forward, whips of water met a golden orb of light head on.
A flash of light illuminated the surrounding area, and chaos reigned over the land as the elements of the world did battle.