The eldritch blast from my gauntlet did absolutely nothing. It broke on the barrier around his face, not even causing it to flicker. But it did its work as a distraction. I had no doubt they were aware of the players arriving along with Brown and Raven. But my sudden attack caught them by surprise long enough that the blow landed.

At the same time, the players charged. A mixture of arrows and magical ranged attacks battered Blaze. Then people like Aaron activated abilities which allowed them to rapidly close the distance and beat on his barriers with powerful magical weapons. Umbri was completely ignored.

A silver bolt of lightning hammered out of Friar Brown’s staff as he rose to his feet. It was by far the most powerful attack and the barrier finally shattered. The bolt hammered Blaze, but with the barrier shattering, it released the kinetic wave of stored up magical and physical damage it had taken. The explosion sent Aaron flying off the top of the altar. Other players were sent tumbling, several being reduced to red mush.

My own barrier absorbed a large amount of the explosion, and I managed to grab a hold of the altar where they’d sacrificed people into the pool and braced myself. The explosion was powerful enough that even Umbri was affected.

“You ungrateful worm,” she snarled, whirling towards me.

I struck out with Mercy, power rippling through the air as I released a cutting wave of eldritch power towards Blaze. He was unprotected now and the power would tear him apart. Neither of the Pure Heralds were melee-focused, and though they were far stronger than I was, they did not have the physical strength to match their power. I was doubly thankful they did not use blood magic. If they did, it would’ve been nearly impossible to win this. It was already almost impossible.

Umbri blocked my attack with contemptuous ease. But before she could strike back, Friar Brown swooped in and she had to defend against him. The players recovered, and Umbri was forced to split her attention to defend her brother. Every blow was turned aside, and we could not reach Blaze no matter what we did. Umbri released a kinetic wave of dark magic that knocked me back. I slammed into a wall and fell, dazed, losing track of everyone else.

The next thing I knew Umbri stood over me, but my eyes were not on her. Raven dove towards the exposed Blaze. Whatever attack Frier Brown had used was powerful enough to keep him stunned. Umbri turned just a little too late, just in time to see Raven driving the ritual dagger into Blaze’s back. Her other hand wielded one of her sickles, thrumming with huge amounts of dark magic. When she ripped out his throat, that magic was pumped into his body.

A wordless scream escaped Umbri as she fired a beam of black energy straight into Raven. The power of the beam pushed Raven farther and farther away. When it cut off, Raven was far out over the top of the altar, below her, the battle against the black-and-white creatures still raged.

Raven was very much still alive and conscious when she fell, but I didn’t have time to let my worry about her slow me. The dagger in Blaze’s back was pushed out by a pulse of white magic that washed out of him. The dark magic inside of him was no doubt causing huge problems, but it was being overwhelmed. Proof shown in the horrendous wound in his throat closing. Another pulse of magic carried the dark power out with it as the wounds healed.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

But the ritual dagger had done its job. The ritual within the dagger was a nasty piece of spell work. It was specifically targeted at religious type fighters. If she had managed to plunge it into Theonis, the fight would’ve ended before he trapped himself by trying to destroy my soul.

The ritual had been a pain, but once I understood the goal before us, I had worked with Othniel to figure it out. Agreldo had provided the power. Divine eldritch energy pulsed inside of Blaze. I doubted it would be enough to kill him, but as the power and ritual took hold it twisted the aspects of his body that allowed him to channel divine energy. The fact his entire body was that way contorted him like a pretzel. Bones snapped and he screamed.

“Blaze!” Umbri screamed, running to her brother. She stood next to him in stunned panic as she tried to figure out how to help. Unfortunately, she knew enough not to touch him. My guess was she could see the twisting divine power. She whirled on me. “What did your slut of a werecat do?”

“Hey,” I protested, once again glad to draw her attention. “Raven is not a slut. Sneaky, devious, and stabby, yeah, but not that. What I did, I don’t know if that matters now.”

I nodded towards her brother. She turned just in time to see Friar Brown flying through the air, bringing his simple wooden staff down like a pillar straight through Blaze’s head and contorted body. The staff glowed with silver-white light. Hoping I was right, I sprang forward and shoved Mercy right next to it, releasing a torrent of eldritch power. It mixed briefly with Friar Brown’s silver magic and then exploded outward, ripping Blaze to shreds.

The next thing I knew, an explosion of dark magic picked me up and threw me off the altar. Shields from my armor shattered, despite being nearly immune to dark based attacks. I crashed onto the stairs, tumbling down to the platform where the three stairs joined.

A whirling nova of dark energy consumed the top of the altar.

Players tried to retreat, only to be consumed and destroyed, their flesh dissolving into black mist along with their armor. Umbri dragged Friar Brown out to the top of the stairs where she glared down at me.

None of the players were alive, and I was glad Raven hadn’t been up there, though I didn’t know if she’d survived the fall.

Umbri shrieked at me, her voice shrill and mad. “His death will not stop anything!” She held the friar up, suspended by chains. “In fact, when I’m done, my brother will be back. It will be like nothing has changed. Olattee will summon his power and purge this entire world!”

“Run!” Friar Brown’s voice boomed out before black magic was poured into his mouth, silencing him.

“And once I’m done with this fat fuck, I’m coming for you,” Umbri she screamed. “As you made Theonis your bitch, I will do the same to you. But your existence will be tormented until one day, in my divine mercy, I decide to put you out of your suffering.”

I ran, but before I reached the bottom of the stairs, I stopped. Gus lay near the bottom. The second tier death energy ran out and I collapsed, staring at the oxen. It reminded me of a lot. I remembered running when I should’ve stayed, hiding when I should’ve stood up.

And I was doing it again.

Friar Brown may have told me to run, but that’s because he thought we had lost. Only a few might be able to outrun the coming purge. Hundreds of thousands would die. And I would live. If I went back, I would die, or would wish I was dead. I had no doubt Umbri had the ability and power to carry out her threat.

I suffused my body with my last eight points of tier 2 death energy and as much tier 1 death energy as I could. I refused to run anymore. This was my world. Summoning beings whose very power damaged this world just to purify it would result in nothing but true destruction. Possibly even destruction of souls, not just of lives. I would not run away, not again.

A simple spell formed around me, and I poured all of my power into it, activating a ring I rarely used. My spell amplification ring was a once-a-day use item that I often ended up not using. It was a bad habit, always figuring there would be a greater use or I’d wished I hadn’t used the amplification when I needed it for something else.

Well, there was nothing else I was going to need it for now. The power of the spell skyrocketed when I activated it.