There had been a flurry of activity in the Feathered Peaks, as the final battle zones were being decided. Since the amount of land that the tribes still controlled had shrunk, there were now enough Hunters to push back directly, rather than perform delaying and sabotage actions.
This did not include Ezekiel’s offensive using the bombs created by the cult. As he had nearly single-handedly taken out the cult forces operating within the eastern mountains of the Fjorya.
With that in mind, it was decided that the largest bases still in control of the cult would be his next targets. But Ezekiel wasn’t going to be stealing more bombs this time.
He would simply be dropping off the armed explosives he had on hand, to destroy the lead and rear bases while Invera and a few of the Legendary Hunters took down the forces that were still in the central mountain ranges.
At which point they would pick up the remaining Legendaries that had managed to escape the now destroyed villages and towns that the cult had laid waste to.
It was estimated that their number would increase the eastern Tribe’s forces by at least a third, if not more. This was after the Legendary Hunters that hadn’t gathered at the Feathered Peaks had joined the temporary army that was being put together for this final push.
From there, they would meet up with the western tribes after making their way through to them in a few weeks. Given the aid of the guardian Spirits of the various mountain peaks, their travel speed would also be greatly reduced.
However, since the cult had also consolidated their forces, and spread them out so as to not be taken out by the explosives being used against them, Ezekiel would not be operating alone any more.
He found himself working with Riley and his mother once more, with Evelyn taking the lead this time. Since they also had to coordinate with other groups to pick off any stragglers.
Currently, the trio had broken off from the primary attacking force, and were making their way south, to begin their efforts against the Hunters that were still moving north from Tarquessa.
With the aid of Evelyn’s shadow travel, enhanced by Ezekiel’s Void mana, they were able to move at a much more rapid pace than normal. Something that wouldn’t be possible if they had greater numbers.
The fact that they could move as fast as a flying Spirit while remaining on the ground was also a plus, as it meant that the cult and Guild’s forces weren’t able to track them nearly as easily.
“We are reaching the area marked by the scouts. But I am not seeing any signs of Hunters having traveled through this area.” Evelyn’s voice echoed from the shadows that surrounded the group.
Neither Riley nor Ezekiel could actually see anything. So, they were utterly reliant on Evelyn to guide them at this point.
“That’s fine. If you can find a place with good enough cover for me to set up the concealment formation, I can do some additional scouting to find out where they are.” Given Ezekiel’s own stealth abilities, this was not a bad idea, so Evelyn swiftly found a large tree that they all figured had been home to a Spirit at one point, as it had an incredibly well dug out den beneath it that could fit all of them just fine.
Rising from the shadows, with three large boxes taking much longer than the three humans, Ezekiel realized that it was just hitting dusk now. So, he would be in an even more advantageous position when he went searching in a few minutes.
“Alright. I’ll get the formation set up first. Then I’ll be off.” Ezekiel started pulling objects and Artifacts from his Void Pouch.
“You find where they are, then you come back. No explosions until after we plan things out properly.” Evelyn gave Ezekiel a glare as she spoke. Not completely trusting his judgment at the moment.
Flinching at the reminder, and the warning tone in his mother’s voice, Ezekiel nodded and finished putting together the formation.
“I’m off. I promise I’ll be back in a couple of hours at the latest. Regardless of what I do or don’t find.” With that said, Ezekiel disappeared, fully Shrouded as he left the area.
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It didn’t take too long before Ezekiel found the base, though it was in a difficult place to find had they continued to move via shadows. Stuck within a large artificial crevasse, the base was not like the usual ones made by the cult.
There were no buildings that had been constructed, and the base seemed to be made of tunnels carved into the sides of the small canyon. This, mixed with the defensive formations, meant that the base was one of the more solid and well protected places the cult had built in the Fjorya.
“... I don’t suppose you managed to see what kind of formations they had in place?” Evelyn asked once Ezekiel had finished his initial reconnaissance. They were all stuffed into the large den that had been discovered previously.
“Not this time. It looked like the formations were built into the cliff sides themselves.” Ezekiel had seen a few mystical objects that were used in defensive formations, but nothing definitive. “They almost definitely have sensory enchantments that would find you if you got too close. Worse yet, Shine and I won’t be able to just ‘Jump’ in there this time either, since we need to know where we’re going. The formation on the base prevented me from sensing the mana of any Hunters or Spirits that I could’ve used as a reference. So, as much as I hate to say it, I’m not getting inside.”
Evelyn and Riley both grimaced at the thought of Ezekiel going in alone again. Unfortunately, that was still one of their best methods when it came to attacking cult bases.
“That means that things will be harder than we thought.” Evelyn pinched the bridge of her nose in thought. “Why did they need to start working smarter now, of all times?”
“Not necessarily. I could just drop the bomb at their front door. It won’t be as destructive, but it’ll destroy enough of the area that the cult will need to retreat from the area.” Ezekiel figured that this was the next best option. “We’ll still need to kill what stragglers we can, but I don’t think we’ll be too outnumbered when we do.”
Evelyn sighed as Riley began looking through her Void Pouch. It wasn’t an ideal plan by any means. But it was the best they had.
‘I don’t think this will go as smoothly as you are making it seem.’ Shine muttered in the back of Ezekiel’s head. ‘Do we have any contingencies? What if they call for reinforcements?’
‘No, we don’t. But I wouldn't worry about reinforcements. Not even the cult has the numbers to reinforce these bases after the losses they’ve suffered so far. Regardless, we’ll just run if things don’t look good. Even if we need to overpower a ‘Jump’ spell again.’
Ezekiel subconsciously clenched his hands at the thought of running once more. But he consoled himself with the fact that he would be fighting fairly soon.
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Given the time constraints, Ezekiel wasn’t able to wait until the middle of the night like usual before making his infiltration. So, it was decided that they would strike that morning.
Standing directly in front of the front door, Ezekiel activated the explosive he had brought with him. The rest had been stored in the den he and the others had stayed in the night before.
With that done, Ezekiel ‘Jumped’ away, throwing up barriers like he had gotten used to doing.
A second later, Ezekiel was thrown by the force of the explosion once more. The blinding light and force of the blast wave weren’t enough to disorientate him anymore. But it was still an annoyance as it took him a minute to get back to the destroyed base.
The crevasse where the base entrance was located was now a broken pit. Shattered stone and bits of glass littered the area. A couple dozen Hunters, who had survived in the depths of the base, beneath the defensive formations that had absorbed most of the blast, were also making their way out.
“Time to work.” Ezekiel muttered to himself. Shine started vibrating in his hand, a sense of excitement passing through their bond.
Refraining from using too much of their mana, Ezekiel relied mostly on his physical abilities to take out most of the Adepts and below as they fled the area. He only managed to cut down half of them before a Legendary Hunter covered in Cavern Spirit Armor appeared to stop him.
Grunting in shock, Ezekiel found himself flying backward as the ground exploded beneath him. A large stone spike lanced up at him. Striking him in the chest, but not breaking through his Spirit Armor.
Looking at the Hunter who had just attacked him, Ezekiel wasn’t shocked to see that their armor was somewhat damaged.
The Hunter in question had a stylized lizard motif on his armor. He wielded two large axes, and it was obvious that it was enchanted due to the glowing lines running up and down the length of the ankle and along the sides of the head.
The Cavern Hunter touched down on the ground after floating in the air for a moment.
For a second, the two stared off. Neither one was moving to attack.
“So... You’re the cult’s Anathema? You don’t look like much. Especially if--”
Ezekiel broke the standoff first. Rushing forward in a burst of purely physical speed and dodged the blades of light that sprouted from the ground where he was standing.
Bringing Shine down hard toward the Cavern Hunter, Ezekiel felt the ground beneath them crack from the force of the blow. His physical strength was enhanced a moment before impact, to ensure maximum force with minimal mana expenditure.
He briefly saw a flash of fire in the distance, as Riley must’ve begun cleaning up the Hunters he had missed. But he didn’t think about it for long, as the Cavern Hunter roared in anger before pushing Ezekiel back.
The tunnel he had sensed the Cavern Hunter making through his mana suddenly opened, and the reinforced earth revealed another Legendary that took to the skies in an instant. A Radiant Hunter that Ezekiel knew was going to be trouble.
The symbol of the Cult of Light emblazoned on a sash he wore over his Spirit Armor ensured it.
Forcing himself to stop from rushing in, Ezekiel let out an angry growl. The image of an actual cultist Legendary, and not just a Guild leader allied with them, was nearly enough to set him off.
“Anathema... I didn’t expect you to be here, during the final push to wipe out these Spirit worshiping savages.” The cultist spat on the ground after he mentioned the Fjorya tribes. “But I guess that heathens must gather together, like rats scrounging for scraps. Only to flee in all directions, aimless, when the cat comes prowling for blood.”
Ezekiel snorted at the attempt to mock and intimidate him. The fact that the cultist had a tiger motif on his Spirit Armor made it even funnier, as it was clear to Ezekiel that he was referring to himself in this metaphor.
Warily, Ezekiel eyed the two Hunters. From what he could sense, this Radiant Legendary was at the peak of Tier four. But his mana felt strange. Like there was the presence of two Hunters, rather than just the one.
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That’s when he realized this was a feeling similar to what he sensed from Riley, back when he had purged her body of the foreign Radiant mana that was forced into her soul.
Ezekiel smirked as he thought of how to piss this cultist off.
“Big talk from a man too pathetic to reach Legendary on his own. Tell me, how did it feel, to know that your power is worthless, and that you are nothing more than a pitiful charity case?” Ezekiel’s words made the cultist shake with rage, but he didn’t lash out just yet. “Can you even think by yourself anymore? Or do you need your broken Lord to do it for you?”
While not the best insult, Ezekiel knew that saying anything negative about the Radiant Lord the Cult of Light worshiped was enough to get a response from them.
“You take that back!” A flash of light nearly blinded Ezekiel, but he reflexively dodged out of the way as a halberd glowing with golden Radiance cut through his previous position.
Swinging his own weapon up to block the ax coming at him from the side, Shine sparkled with void mana as they transferred the forced of the blow, through Ezekiel’s body, and out his leg, adding the energy to his own, and exiting into the side of the Radiant cultist.
‘Crack’
The golden Spirit Armor nearly crumpled under the combined force of Ezekiel and the Cavern Hunter. But was swiftly mended by his mana.
Though not before a small spurt of blood had stained it, as the cutting spell Ezekiel had added to his kick put a small hole in the cultist’s side.
A second later, Ezekiel and Shine disengaged from the two enemy Hunters. Putting some space between them, Ezekiel couldn’t help but wonder why his mother was taking so long to support him.
Glancing around the area, he realized that the flames in the distance hadn’t died down at all either. Meaning that Riley was still fighting. Which was worrisome, as she should’ve been able to clean up a group of Adepts and lower within a few seconds.
A sudden plume of smoke and fire told him that things were not going well over there.
Focusing more intently, Ezekiel nearly failed to block a blow to his chest from the cultist. But he cleanly dodged the attack from the Cavern Hunter that followed.
“What’s wrong, Anathema? Waiting for something? Are you, perhaps, confused as to why your support isn’t here?” the cultist taunted Ezekiel with a sneer practically oozing through his helmet.
“That’s enough. We shouldn’t be telling him what we know while we’re fighting.” The Cavern Hunter held a hand up to stop the cultist. But the Radiant Hunter wasn’t listening.
“It won’t matter at this point. It’s not like he’ll live to spread the word.”
Ezekiel raised an eyebrow beneath his armor. A sense of dread was beginning to grow in. Both from his danger sense, as the situation seemed to be turning to favor his enemies, and one that was more an assumption than anything else.
“You have a spy...” Ezekiel trailed off, not wanting to believe his own words. “You made plans for if we attacked your bases with any more of your bombs. So, there’s definitely at least one more Legendary that’s fighting with the stragglers. Maybe even two...”
The cultist threw his head back and laughed. A shield of gold sprang up between them as Ezekiel sent a Void Cutter at the man. The invisible blade made a small crack in the shield but didn’t otherwise do anything.
“No... no spies. The heathens in these mountains are too far gone. Too lost in the madness that is their false guardians to accept any deals with us.” The cultist’s words eased some of the worry in Ezekiel’s mind, but not enough. The cult’s current planning was far more advanced than what they had used before, after all.
“We simply hired a couple of strategists from the Kindled family. They were more than happy to support us when we told them we would be hunting down you and your family.” Ezekiel started seeing red in the corners of his eyes as he listened to the cultist. It wasn’t from the fire. “The Com-Slates you created were an even greater help, as we got immediate responses to our inquiries regarding your actions.”
“I was quite surprised, to be honest.” The man continued on, ignoring the trembling in Ezekiel’s hands. “To find out just what they did to the traitorous donor that helped you spawn was enough to make me shiver in fear and disgust. Then, I remembered that that man was a traitor twice over. One that our Lord had marked for--”
Burning his mana at a greater rate than before, Ezekiel felt space itself snap around him, leaving black, star-filled, cracks in his wake as he overpowered a ‘Jump’ and appeared in front of the cultist.
The force of this ‘Jump’ was enough to create a sonic boom greater than that Ezekiel had ever witnessed, both in this world, and his old one, in conjunction with the other effects. Forcing the Cavern Hunter to cover his face as he was shoved backward.
The cultist was less fortunate and found himself taking a reinforced sword to the shoulder. Where it dug in several inches. Blood was spilled, and bones were broken, as the cultist’s arm now hung limply to the side. Utterly useless unless a Life Mage managed to get to him within a few hours. Even with the minor healing ability that Radiant magic had.
A clattering was heard a moment later as the halberd he held in that hand was dropped to the ground. Blood fell from the arm and stained the blade.
“Aaaahhhhgggggg!” The cultist screamed in pain and anger, as he registered what happened a couple of seconds after.
Using his other arm, he formed a dagger of light and thrust it toward Ezekiel’s side. But he was too slow, since Ezekiel had already pulled his sword free and backed away a second sooner.
“You filthy wretch!” the cultist screamed as he moved to attack.
Moving to evade, Ezekiel found himself knocked down from the force of the ax that got him in the back. He spun in the air to reorientate himself and managed to narrowly evade the Radiant cultist’s attack. This time it was a sword that was swung at him.
Ezekiel barely cared about this, however, as all he could see was red. The cultist could’ve only been talking about his father when he was being taunted earlier. But his dad wouldn’t have sold him or his family out for any reason.
He was certain that, even if he had been tortured for the full time that he’d been a captive, his father wouldn’t have betrayed them by telling the Kindled family, or the cult, any ideas regarding what Ezekiel would do in this situation.
But he also knew that his father knew him best out of all the people not currently protected by the Church, or currently with him in the Fjorya.
The only possibility was that his father had been corrupted by the Cult of Light’s so-called blessings. Brainwashed into giving them what they wanted.
“I’m going to kill you.” Ezekiel’s voice was raspy, his mana reflected his emotions and affected his appearance as an aura of opalescent light seemed to surround him.
‘Ezekiel! Snap out of it! You can’t let your anger get the better of you! You’re better than this. Fight properly, or you’ll just--’
Shine’s voice abruptly cut off as Ezekiel threw himself forward once more. Death to his enemies, was the only thing he cared about.
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Not far from the battle between Ezekiel and the other two Legendaries, Riley and Evelyn were just finishing up their own part of the mission, in that they had cleared up the remaining stragglers.
The body of a Legendary Life Hunter laid on the ground. Cut to ribbons and burnt to a crisp in several areas. Her strength had caused a few problems for the Obscure and Flame Hunter pair, but not enough to save her.
“Is that everyone?” Riley asked with a sigh as she looked over at Evelyn, who was retracting her shadow from the fallen Life Hunter.
“Yes. Like I said before. I finished off the stragglers you missed when this woman showed her full power.” Walking over to the corpse, Evelyn picked up the necklace that was around the dead woman’s neck. “It scares me just how many Artifacts the cult can now make. Worse, I can fully understand why the Church of Ten kept so many things secret from the world.”
Riley nodded in agreement, having seen the concealment abilities of the amulet on the necklace firsthand. She idly rubbed her side through her armor. A series of wooden roots had nearly dug through to her flesh after a pod of seeds had grown and exploded next to her.
The sticky fluid inside had caused her some difficulty in burning off the seeds away, and the stickiness had prevented her from simply wiping them off.
Given the disparity in skills, Riley wouldn’t have survived her encounter with the Legendary Life Hunter if she had been fighting alone.
A loud scream in the distance made both of them turn. Their eyes wide as they gazed into the distance. A flash of light glinting as Radiant constructs were used in quick succession.
“We need to move. Ezekiel’s fighting more than one Legendary.” Evelyn was already moving and had sunk into her shadow to stay unseen. She knew that Riley would be able to fly much faster than she could carry the two of them in her shadow.
Taking to the skies, Riley used one of the concepts Ezekiel had taught her to use her flame to fly faster. This allowed her to arrive at the scene of the battle even faster than Evelyn had thought she would.
Only to arrive at a scene that made her stomach churn with panic. Even as she rushed forward with a flaming spear in her hand.
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The clash of steel, and the shattering of glass echoed through the area where Ezekiel was still fighting the Cavern Hunter and Radiant cultist. A back-and-forth battle had been going on for a while now, with Ezekiel mostly tanking or deflecting his enemies' attacks.
Retreating for a moment, Ezekiel charged forward again, this time, his form blurred as he flew forward. The Radiant and Cavern Legendaries were ready, however, and they easily deflected the strikes that Ezekiel threw at them.
No large spells had been used yet. With only constructs of varying sizes and shapes being used with any regularity. The Cavern Hunter had refrained so as to keep a trump card should an opening show itself, while the cultist was focusing most of his mana on not bleeding out.
At one point, the Cavern Hunter had paused and looked away when he had a second to breathe, as if to consider leaving, but he flinched a moment, and was forced to reenter the fight.
Had he been clear headed, Ezekiel would’ve realized that the Cavern Hunter had suffered the effects of a contract reinforcing itself on his soul.
The sheer intensity of the battle was making sweat drip down both the Guild leader and the cultist. But that was purely from the physical exertion that Ezekiel was placing on them.
His enhanced physique was granting him a great advantage here, as he wasn’t using any spells in an overt manner. Shine did glow every now and then, however, which indicated that they were using spells where Ezekiel did not.
“You damned Anathema! Why can’t you just die already?!” the Legendary cultist had much less mana than before now, with Ezekiel’s berserker fighting causing him to make and discard more constructs as shields and deflectors than offensive weapons.
“Perhaps we should pull back. We don’t know if his support will arrive soon.” The Cavern Hunter said as he swung his ax, only to divert the direction of his swing, causing Ezekiel to overextend, as he had missed his target.
A kick to the side sent him crashing into the rubble of the broken base. But a moment later he was flying back out. Swing Shine once more and releasing a series of Void cuts and stabs.
Not all of which the Cavern Mage could avoid.
“Erg!” Grunting in pain, the Cavern Hunter held a hand to his stomach. He pulled it away to see a red stain on his hand. The hole in his chest plate failed to repair itself.
While not too deep, the bleeding was unlikely to stop anytime soon.
“We need to go!” The Guild leader yelled.
“Not yet! The Anathema must die, and by your contract, you will help me see it done!” Now fully enraged, the cultist stopped holding back his spells.
A pair of massive halberds made of light formed beside him, and they became nothing more than glowing lines of light as he swung them around at a reckless abandon.
Ezekiel threw up several barriers, blocking the first few strikes, but he was forced to run as the spell was too much for him. His eyes started to clear up as the exhaustion finally started to affect him.
So far, the only reason he hadn’t been forced to release his Spirit Armor was because he hadn’t done more than to ‘Jumps’ this entire battle. That, and most of his fighting had been reliant on his body, not his mana, so far.
‘Ezekiel! Can you hear me?’ Shine’s voice finally cut through the fog that had come over Ezekiel’s mind.
‘Shine... What...?’ For a second, Ezekiel didn’t realize that he hadn’t heard Shine speaking to him. Clarity had returned, but it hadn’t been as if he was black out angry. Just running high on the emotions, and now he was running out of fuel.
‘Finally! Listen, I don’t know what just happened, but we’re running out of mana. I think the Cavern Hunter is too, since his armor isn’t repairing itself, but that cultist can probably still go strong for a while longer.’ Shine helped Ezekiel understand the situation he had been ignoring in favor of hitting things. ‘I have an idea, but it’ll be difficult to do. We’ll need to ‘Jump’.’
Zekiel was breathing heavier at this point. Even his superior physique was finally running out of energy. But he could tell that Shine was confident in their plan.
‘Let’s do it... I’m in no state to disagree anyway.’ Ezekiel mentally sighed and jumped back again to avoid another barrage of rapid speed light constructs.
By this point the Cavern Legendary had backed off. But Ezekiel couldn’t blame him. At this point, friendly fire was almost guaranteed to happen if he got involved.
Suddenly, Ezekiel reared back, as if he was about to swing his sword in a horizontal slash. Shine visibly sparkled with mana as they prepared their spell. Whipping his arms around, Ezekiel swung.
Seeing this, the cultist moved his constructs to surround him entirely, to prevent any sort of attacks from hitting him. But nothing happened.
Warily opening his arms, the cultist sees nothing in front of him, but a thump and the clattering of steel behind and below him causes him to turn around in a flash.
His ally, the Cavern Hunter who had been focused on staying out of the way, was lying on the ground. He was bisected at the waist, while Ezekiel stood in the air where he had been flying a moment earlier. The Void Hunter’s body was heaving from how heavily he was breathing.
“Oh... how sad. It looks like your broken Lord couldn’t stop me from killing your partner. Truly pathetic, isn’t it?” Ezekiel taunted, causing the cultist to scream once more. This time even louder as he summoned dozens of Radiant constructs and began flailing them about.
The light in the area flashed more times than Ezekiel could count, but he wasn’t worried.
Dropping to the ground, Ezekiel kept out of the raging cultist’s range.
This only lasted for a few seconds, however, as Ezekiel could feel his mana slowly draining as he reinforced his body to move faster than he could naturally.
All the while, the cultist, stuck in his madness induced rage, fought even more recklessly than Ezekiel had just a minute before.
This exchange between the two Legendaries didn’t go on for long, however, as just a few seconds after it had begun, the sound of shattered glass echoed through the area.
Even as Ezekiel finally lost energy and slipped on a loose rock. His eyes started to close from exhaustion. Even as Shine called out to him again. Channeling just enough mana for one final spell.
As for the cultist, he had retracted the mana he and his Spirit used to form their Spirit Armor. Allowing him to create one last construct, a sword, that he raised above his head, intent on bringing it down on Ezekiel. Stumbling forward, even as his strength left him.
Blood pooled to the side as the magic holding his nearly amputated arm was finally released. There was no way he would live with this much blood loss now.
This gruesome scene came to an end, however, when a flaming spear pierced through the cultist’s head. While a wave of fire incinerated the feline Spirit that had just reformed, only to fade into mote of golden light.
Looking at his savior, Ezekiel gave Riley a wry smile.
“What took you so long?”