“Kgh!” I quietly exclaimed as I tried to move my still recovering broken arm.

I was back at the only remaining base of the Followers of Leyfall, and what used to be a small base for the People's Liberation Army. There were people running all over the place, and commanders from the old army saying that it was the perfect opportunity to return to our original cause. They claimed they have no problem with having a religious viewpoint to our ideals, but that being so zealot wasn’t going to bring any more results.

But they didn’t understand! They didn’t know the importance of what I was doing; and how could I blame them. They couldn’t hear Altheras like I could.

I looked up at the ceiling—a thing I sometimes did when I wanted to talk to Altheras—hoping to hear Her words again… But She had been mostly silent for a while now. No matter how much I called out to Her, She wouldn’t properly answer me like She had been doing all of these years.

“Altheras…” I said with a low tone as I gripped my arm. “Please forgive me. I did everything I could, but they got away…”

She gave me a furious explanation for why She was acting like this. The woman that I fought in that other country was someone that She claimed was the ‘Icon of Darkness’. An embodiment of all evil that carried within her the power of the God of Darkness and Hellfire; the same one that destroyed our world. Just the fact that I wasn’t able to completely destroy that woman caused great distress on Altheras. She even went as far as screaming when I was fighting those groups of people, and demanded that I kill that woman, even if I died in the process.

However, I hesitated. I did try my best to overpower those people and get to what she was demanding of me, but I simply couldn’t sacrifice myself to kill that woman, since if I died, She would lose Her connection to this world in the process. I still managed to kill one of the people getting in my way as I tried to find that woman once more… But by the time I managed to do that, the Icon of Darkness was already gone, with a lot of those fighters coming my way.

Having lost more than enough already, I used what remaining power I had at the time to flee from that place. Thankfully, there were still a few people from this base that were ready to take me out of there, so once I was able to overpower my enemies, I left to come back to this place.

It wasn’t without a price… One of my arms was nearly lost in the struggle, and most of my body was battered, burned, and cut. It took quite a bit of healing magic to ensure I didn’t die from the wounds, and even then, I was still passed out until half-way across the world when I woke up with pain all over my body.

Something I didn’t allow healers to do with me was to fully heal me. By chance, a few years ago, I saw what too much healing did to a person. They looked no different to what the people from our division of drug dealing described about some of their customers: with an uncontrollable desire for more healing, even if they were perfectly okay.

I asked Altheras about that back then, but she said that it wasn’t really a problem. That healing was the touch of Her powers, and that it was obvious that people would desire to be closer to Her. But… I never really wanted to look like that person, so whenever I needed healing, I usually stopped at just enough to function and avoid getting more than that. Which meant that right now, I was covered with a few bruises and healing cuts, as well as an arm that would ache whenever I reached for something heavy, like the large machete that I turned to look at, leaning on a wall.

“Child…” Altheras’ voice sounded once more after being silent the past few days and I quickly looked up.

“What is it?! What can I do for you to make up for my mistakes?!” I said out loud, nearly shouting, and not caring at all about whatever someone outside my office might think.

“I was very disappointed that you couldn’t defeat the Icon of Darkness,” She said with a low tone of voice. “But I have come to the realization that being so far away from Us could have given the forces of darkness the time and space to improve.”

I lowered my head and closed my eyes. “I’m sorry that my incompetence allowed such a thing…”

“It’s okay. I’ve been with you, and I know that your devotion is true,” She said with a softer tone of voice. “Such a defeat, however, must not happen again. The Icon of Darkness cannot be allowed to live. It has far too much power as the embodiment of darkness, and with it there, We cannot properly descend to this world.”

“I underestimated its power. It will not happen again,” I said, lifting my head to look at the ceiling. “I shall bring everything that we have to make sure that it doesn’t get away next time.”

“And I shall be watching over you,” She said with the usual kind tone that She used.

I couldn't help a joyous smile from forming in face when she said that. She was just as reliable as always. It was me that failed. I was the one that had to improve, and I wasn’t going to fail again. With that thought in mind, I stood up from the chair in my office and made my way over to the door.

“I should start getting things ready to properly find that woman,” I said as I opened the door.

The office opened to one of the concrete corridors of this underground base. There were only a couple of soldiers standing close, who turned to look at me with surprise, before quickly doing a military salute. I waved it away and approached them.

“What’s the status for everything we have here,” I commanded, standing as straight as I could.

A woman with short black hair, neatly tied into a packed bun, answered while pulling her phone to look at it. I wasn’t too keen on those sorts of apparatus since I’ve caught a few of them doing completely unrelated things on them when they think they’re not being watched, but I had to admit that they had some good uses, like getting information quickly.

“There’s currently around ten thousand PLA soldiers mobilizing around the general area of the base, spread around in a few kilometers, with a few towns being used as fronts for operations and supplies…” she said, tapping her finger a couple of times on the screen. “As for what was sent from the Followers of Leyfall, we only have around a few hundred of their ‘knights’ and about the same in people that can use magic…”

“What about weaponry?” I asked, turning to walk down the hall, and the couple of soldiers following in tow with me.

“We’ve still got a lot of weapons from before the Followers of Leyfall took lead here, so there’s that… but anything magical, or more advanced, is being held by the same Followers of Leyfall that brought them here,” she said while we turned around a corner and headed for the restaurant, passing by a few soldiers that did a quick salute, before going back to their duties.

“Hm…” I quietly considered what she just said to me.

There really weren’t that many people left for a full assault on any of the major cities of the country—never mind the capital. I still didn’t know where I could find the Icon of Darkness, but according to some of the information the Followers of Leyfall had, it was supposed to be living in the capital of this country…

It was quite surprising to know that, since that woman was also being considered to be a Hero of the Holy Gods like me just a few months ago, but was disregarded when they found out that she used the powers of darkness and hellfire.

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Why they didn’t get rid of it when they could back then was beyond me… but I was also to blame, since I didn’t consider it a big deal either. There were a few mages from the National Army that use darkness magic, so I saw it as nothing more than just another enemy in their ranks.

I truly have been a poor ally to Altheras…

Perhaps it was time to move every soldier and every asset that we have to attack the capital and kill the Icon of Darkness, even if we lost it all. Altheras had been insistent about it, and She had been firm about the need to get rid of it; of that tainted woman.

However, if I, and everything that we’ve worked for was lost, then the Holy Gods were never going to get here, and they’ll never be able to bring peace to the world, or my family back.

No, I had to be certain. I would have to burn myself; to give everything that I have, to ensure that victory was achieved. At any cost.

The soldiers walking with me didn’t say anything while I considered those things. And I didn’t say anything either, as I simply walked into the restaurant, where every soldier that was eating and talking stopped doing so. It was customary for soldiers to salute me whenever I entered, but in this case, there were knights from the Followers of Leyfall.

The knights quickly stood up and then kneeled in my direction with their heads lowered, while a few other soldiers gave a salute from their spots.

There were, however, a few soldiers that refused to even acknowledge my presence as they simply ignored me and kept quietly eating. It was an unusual thing to happen… So I made my way to them.

I quickly realized that there was a commander from another front, one that was lost. He ignored me when I was standing next to him, so I spoke up to call his attention to me, “Is there a problem, Commander Rubiales?”

He remained silent and stopped eating while he just turned a defiant gaze my way for a moment. “No. Not really.”

“Are you sure about that?” I pressed, but he remained silent while just looking up at me.

One of the knights from the Followers of Leyfall didn’t seem to like what was going on and quickly moved over to where we were, stomping the ground as he reached the other flank of the commander. “The Hero of the Holy Gods asked you a question, soldier!”

“Hmph!” the commander replied, “Okay, I’ll answer. It’s these people.”

“Wha—How dare you?!” the knight shouted. “We are doing the Gods’ work here! This is all for the betterment of the world and the people! If you think that—”

“That’s enough,” I calmly interrupted and the knight quickly quieted down.

“I’m sorry for speaking out of place,” the knight said with his head bowed, “The Hero doesn’t need anyone to speak for her.”

“Care to explain what you mean, commander?” I asked, just as calmly as before.

The commander sighed with a shake of his head. “Don’t you see that we’ve lost the way of what we’re supposed to be doing? Sure, we hadn’t been gaining as much ground as before all of these things appeared here, but we had been doing honest work. These people brought their beliefs and their—magic—and now… it feels like we’re getting cornered; like the world has their eyes on us and refuses to even listen to our pleas; to the reason for why we’re doing this at all.”

“This is the best way to fight back,” I said, “The power of the Holy Gods will free the people, and make the wrongs of the past right in the present. We just have to keep going forward and we cannot have doubts now, especially when the enemy is pressing on us.”

“We’re just going to get exterminated at this pace,” the commander said, standing from his spot to look at me directly. “The world believes that we’re nothing more than terrorists that massacre small towns, kidnap innocent people, and send drugs and all sorts of vices out there. The people don’t know that it was us getting shot and killed at the start; that we were just simple farmers that had been getting bombed for not being on the right side of the government. And with these… religious zealots, the world just thinks that we’re nothing more than a problem to be removed.”

“So what do you suggest? That we lay our weapons down and surrender ourselves to the very people that have been killing us from the start?” I questioned with a deep frown on my face, “There’s no path back anymore. And to give up, is to allow demons, monsters, and all sorts of evil people to claim what we have here and do with it as they please. We will not falter, and I’ll make sure of that.”

The commander defiantly looked back at me for a moment, after which he brushed past me, only to stop a step away to half-turn his face my way. Once he did that, many soldiers in the restaurant stood up from the spots, and I noticed that they were reaching for weapons. The knights reacted in a similar way, by getting their magic ready.

“Do not do something stupid,” I warned the commander. “You can’t win here.”

“I know I can’t,” he said with a nod. “But, this is all I’ll say. I’ve talked to the soldiers here, and they’re willing to continue the fight. But not here. Not under these religious people, and… not under you. We’ll be leaving to fight in the same way that we did before. I only ask that you let us go.”

I opened my mouth to absolutely deny him, but… this would mean bloodshed inside the base, and I just couldn’t afford such a thing. So after a moment, I tightened my lips and nodded my head.

“Fine,” I said, “Just know that when the moment comes, it shall be the Holy Gods that will judge your actions. I can only hope that they find you worthy.”

“Heh. We shall see about that,” he mocked, turning his face to look at the other soldiers. “Time to go!”

The soldiers quickly picked up the things they had. It seemed like they were prepared to leave at any moment, as they all had their belongings packed and ready to go. They were waiting for me to come here, and they were determined to leave from the start.

I only watched as one by one brushed past the knights and the handful of soldiers that refused to join them, until eventually, they were all gone.

“Eliminate them all,” Altheras suddenly spoke with a cold tone of voice, causing me to raise my eyebrows slightly. “Anyone that doubts Us; anyone that isn’t with Us, is against Us. We have judged them, and all that turns their back on you and Us, cannot remain.”

“But,” I whispered, hoping that only Altheras heard me. “They just want to live, and they said they were going to fight in their own—”

“They’ll just be Our enemies in another battlefield,” She interrupted, “Many have done that in the past, only to stand on the side of darkness. You mustn’t allow it. Eliminate them all.”

I wasn’t sure about doing this but… If Altheras said so, then it must be the right thing to do. She was much wiser; much more knowledgeable than me, and if She said that they were going to be my enemies… Then I shall do as She asks.

With clenched fists, I walked out of the restaurant, following the same path that every other soldier that wanted to leave took while knights followed behind me, until eventually, I reached the outside of the entrance of the base, where I could see the commander and every other soldier that left with him walking into the jungle.

Some of them stopped to look behind at me, seemingly hesitating in their steps, while the commander simply looked back at me with the same defiance from before for a moment, eventually turning to march into the jungle.

“Do it now,” Altheras coldly commanded and I nodded my head. I had already failed Her enough, and I couldn’t disappoint Her here.

I slowly lifted my open palm to the sky, and started gathering Holy Power over it. Golden light gathered on my palm and then spread to the sky, where a bright light shone over the jungle.

Every soldier that was leaving noticed what was going on and urgently turned to look up at it, and then to me. The commander’s widened eyes were turned to me, and I could see him reach for his rifle.

“What is the meaning of this!? You can’t do this to us! You—you—” Realizing that I wasn’t going to stop, he turned to the soldiers with him, “Open fire! Kill them before they kill us!”

Every soldier with him quickly armed their weapons and shot at me. In response, the knights that had been following me raised magical golden barriers in front of me, where a barrage of bullets impacted, bounced, and exploded.

I didn’t stop, and when enough Holy Power was gathered, golden motes of lights appeared all around the place that I was aiming at; the place where every deserting soldier was standing under. Finally, with one quick motion, I brought my hand down, and from the sky, a pillar of golden light fell upon the army of soldiers. Some of them tried to run; others fell to the ground, hoping to find cover; a handful kept firing at me, as if such a thing would be enough to kill me; and most of them just looked up with widened eyes as the light engulfed them all.

In one moment, the jungle was illuminated by my exploding Holy Power, shaking the ground, the trees and the air, and in the next moment, nothing but a hole in the ground remained, where a mess of trees, rocks, and a few broken gear was sent flying all over the place.

The soldiers that left… were no more…

There was silence in the jungle after that, and I just looked at the hole. These had been loyal soldiers of mine… But, the Holy Gods were more important, and if they weren’t willing to follow us anymore, then they couldn’t be in the way either. Altheras ordered it, and I shall do as I was told. It was for the better.

“M-m-ma’am, My Radiance!” the same woman that had been with me exclaimed, and I turned to look at her.

“What is it?”

“W-we got information from our sources in the cities… it seems like the Government is getting something big ready…” she said with a bit of a fearful tone.

I took the phone from the woman and quickly looked over the information that she gathered. I frowned and looked back up at the woman.

It seemed… like the Icon of Darkness was coming to find me.