The prompt was all kinds of messed up. Clearly, I was supposed to know it was an avatar, but whatever these creatures were they were not part of what I could see. As panic descended across our forces, everything changed once again.

Three more massive surges of power rose right before the looming avatar was tackled by three figures half its size.

One of the figures arrived in a beam of black, which didn’t tell me much. But how the other two showed up did. The second black figure arrived in a blur and once its initial form was there, fast-moving flocks of ravens melded into its body, it was the avatar of Shad’ehki. The third figure, despite the distance, I recognized. Elias arrived as a bolt of gray lightning. He was a member of the Order of Equinox that had yelled at me about not reading their book.

Though all three of them were smaller then the avatar of Olattee, they managed to tackle it off the altar, and in a flash, they were gone. The sky filled with crackling bolts of power as the avatars clashed high above the clouds.

Our forces had time to rally just as the power at the top of the altar reached a critical point. Friar Brown noticed the same thing, or must’ve, because there was a burst of silver-white light and I saw a wave of black-and-white figures being tossed in the air as a torrent of power tore through them.

By this point, I was the strongest fighter we had. We needed to get to the top to stop whatever was happening.

Raven showed up just then. “Thoughts?”

I was about to tell her I didn’t know. There wasn’t a simple way to get to the other side. Seemingly understanding what I needed, Agreldo acted. He struck out with a divine eldritch smite that shook the entire plateau. The rocketing wave of energy tossed the black-and-white creatures aside if it didn’t outright kill them. I noticed that the wave wasn’t only eldritch divine power.

When I traced it back, I saw the Dread Thirteen had managed to make their way to where we were. All of them stood around the now exhausted juggernauts. They had given him their power as well.

I charged forward. Mercy was in its staff form, but I kept the eldritch plasma blade. It was too effective against these horrendous monsters to not use it. As I ran, I commanded the hordes of elemental zombies I had created to try and keep the path open. Volleys of eldritch blasts and arrows from my forces assisted me as the grave guard surged to try and widen the gap.

Not only did this provide me a pathway, but perhaps we could split up the horde of black-and-white creatures and destroy them. The friar reached the top of the altar before I reached the first set of stairs. Silver-white light clashed with alternating pure white and pure black as the friar battled with the Pure Heralds. But by the exchanges of power, Friar Brown was not doing well.

As I reached the platform where the three staircases met and merged into one, I saw players had broken through and were charging up as well. I was surprised by their numbers, more had survived than expected. I recognized a few figures, notably Icarus, Aaron, Ezra, and most of their teams.

When I reached the top, the friar’s cart was blasted to splinters, Gus was smashed against a pillar and lay unmoving, and the friar was looking rough. His brown robes were torn, his face marred with a burn, one eye hardly open. I activated the acceleration of my armor and channeled second tier death energy into my body.

Power scorched my body. I felt it tearing at the very essence of what I was, not even just my physical form but deeper. The power even reached through the connection to my phylactery where it burned. It wasn’t a conscious effort on their part, so the trap wouldn’t work. I released another point of second tier death energy. This one as a layer around me to try and protect me.

The two people fighting the friar were clearly brother and sister, there was a family resemblance in their faces, but outside of that they could not be more different.

Umbri’s hair was perfectly black and long, her eyes the same color. Her robes were also black, but with pure white runes etched across them. In her hand she held a scepter that seemed to tear the world whenever she moved it. Her skin was pale as if it had never seen the sun.

Blaze’s hair was perfectly white and cut short. His eyes burned with white light and his robes were pure white with pitch-black runes across them. His skin was tanned like spending too much time in the sun. He held a scepter that when he moved seemed to shift the entire spectrum of the world. I managed to get a scan of him as I charged.

Blaze Grail

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Monarch of Olattee

Level: ???

The monarchs wield the absolute power of their gods. Any other lesser servant would be killed by channeling the power that they do. Able to express the true will of their gods in the mortal world, a monarch’s power is as near to that of a true god as you can get without ascending.

Monarchs are not created they are chosen by their gods at birth, and walk through life so embroiled in their gods power that it changes their fundamental natures.

Traits:

Monarch of Olattee: Olattee is a god that pursues purity at any cost. The nature of this means that the un-pure standing in the presence of this monarch will have their souls judged and their bodies purified.

Twined Power: Two children were born, and the god Olattee imbued each with one side of his power. This both intrinsically bound them to him forever and each other. When working together, their power is massively amplified and the intrinsic nature of their connection prevents their magical powers from conflicting like they normally would.

Divine Tools: To better serve their god, both their bodies had been changed to channel divine energy and they have been given tools made of solidified divine energy. Those tools will only respond to them, the power wielded as simply as a wizard or mage wields magic.

I knew some of the effect of their scepters had to do with the proximity to the power. Though they weren’t actually changing the world like it seemed, it was still intimidating. As I had run up the stairs, I reshaped Mercy into a long curved blade. I expected to be fighting people in robes, and that curved blade would slash through garments and leave behind terrible wounds.

I also knew that we were in trouble. Not only could they directly threaten my phylactery, there was nothing Vito could do about it. The fact that their level registered as a question mark wasn’t good, especially since there was two of them.

The friar was powerful, but even he admitted he was weakened. Regardless, I threw myself into the fray, even if the smart thing would’ve been for me to run. Raven was already leaping out of a shadow behind Blaze, her sickles reaching for him. Her attack had come by surprise, yet he reacted in time.

Raven barely dodged a searing bolt of light that hammered the spot she’d emerged from. Her distraction allowed me to attack. Mercy drove down, its blade infused with eldritch power. It struck a barrier that was barely above the robes and stopped dead like I had slammed into an impenetrable wall. The eldritch power tore at the barrier.

I spun to the side as a blast of white light seared the air. Friar Brown had not been idle, and silver light hammered into Blaze. The barriers around Blaze flickered, then Umbri stepped out of his shadow and her scepter released a beam of energy that exploded against the friar and sent him flying back. He slammed into a pillar and fell to the ground.

“So, this must be the Lich Theonis was complaining about,” Umbri said, stepping towards me, completely unfazed that I was trying to kill her. I stabbed Mercy straight towards her chest, but the tip was stopped dead by her scepter which she casually held in its path. “You are quite interesting. Never have I heard of a Lich working for the god of balance, that annoying holier than thou prick.”

“And what is your point?” I asked, falling back. I needed to buy time. “Why would you use blood magic?”

“I make no point.” Umbri smiled at me. “Though I guarantee you that death from us will stick. Theonis might’ve fallen for your trap, but even if we were foolish enough to do the same, no vampire will hold us.”

“As far as blood magic goes,” Blaze said, walking to the back edge and gesturing for me to follow. I did, because every moment I wasted, meant my allies could recover and get here. “Blood magic, we found, gives us access to a highly pure form of magic, which we needed for this.”

It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. Beyond the edge of the platform was a pool held at the top of the temple full of blood. The only reason I could tell it was blood was from it dripping off the black-and-white creatures as they rose out of it. So intense was the power contained within, that it crackled through, making the blood appear transparent. Flares of white, black, and red energy constantly lit up the entire pool.

Occasionally one of the flares was bright enough that I could see several arches at the bottom of the pool where the creatures were coming out. But the worst part was the massive arch that was already slowly rising.

“Magnificent, is it not?” Blaze half whispered. “When that big arch is done, beings of immeasurable power will step through, and Olattee will take control of them. He will use their might to purify the world.”

“Imagine it, a perfect world,” Umbri said. “You can even join us. The friar is right in the purity of walking your path.”

“If the friar is right, then why is he your enemy?” I asked. I hope they didn’t notice Friar Brown quietly recovering or Raven lurking in a shadow.

“Because he was not willing to make the sacrifices necessary, we knew he would not, so we never even offered,” Blaze explained.

“You mean become blood magic practitioners?” I demanded. “I don’t blame him for passing, I don’t care if you call it pure, it’s just wrong.”

“That’s rich for you to judge,” Blaze sneered. “Do you think we do not know how you became a Lich?”

“Peace, brother.” Umbri surprised me by seemingly defending me. “It is part of his path. We also believe blood magic is vile, and neither of us would taint ourselves with its use personally, but it is a source of pure power.” She took on a seductive air. “We agreed, once we were done, blood magic will be purged. And these vile creatures we summoned will serve a greater good. We will right wrongs and make the world where both creatures of light and creatures of dark exist in their own unique purity.”

I was glad she was not a succubus, because for a moment her words rang true. Then I remembered how Mercy had been created. Yes, the weapon was wonderful, but if I had the power I would go back and ensure it was never created. It wasn’t the same as what they were doing, but it was similar. I could feel the second tier death energy reaching its end.

“You know, I do see what you’re saying,” I said. I struck with the eldritch blast from my gauntlet straight into Blaze’s face. “But I still think you’re steaming piles of garbage.”