Winter pushed everyone out of my study and closes the door behind him. I hear the clash of swords and screams of pain and agony as I continue tinkering. I will let nothing stop me from saving my soul. After five minutes, Winter returns to my study, covered in blood and gore. "I fucking hate you," he says.
"Stand outside and continue guarding my study. Don’t let anyone but praetors inside." His eyes flash red once again and he leaves. Fifteen minutes. That’s all I need to get the Gate working. I cannot falter now.
As I work, I hear a massively loud shattering sound outside, along with a massive shockwave in the ambient vis. The barrier! FUCK! I look to my new Nefarium spell focus. No, casting that would send every noble soul I’ve collected past the Veil. I can’t lose everything I’ve worked for! I look out the window of my study. The several billion warriors now stream towards the tower. I see dragons and massive war beasts and horsemen and mech suits and siege weaponry, all aimed at the tower. A catapult launches a rock and shakes the whole thing. The autocasters should take care of most of them. The spell turrets around the tower all aim at the massive army. They begin shooting bolts of explosive vis, creating massive eruptions in the infinite sea of angry soldiers. The spell turrets eliminate about 100 million people before they are eliminated by precise ballista shots. The dragons and other flying war beasts, now able to safely approach, begin spouting fire and attacking the upper layers of the tower.
Five minutes until the Gate is complete. "Send out Tetrax!" I yell at a passing praetor. He nods and runs to tell Leviticus my orders. About a minute later, I see a figure cleaving massive waves through the flood of people, spurting blood everywhere. However, the sheer number of people and gods is superbly overwhelming. Even his battle expertise only holds them off for about three minute before he falls.
One minute! The warriors breach through the front gate. I hear my praetors clashing blades with the angry flood before inevitably falling. I hear my magical contraptions and defenses being smashed in other rooms. It’s complete! Power it up! As I begin the booting process of the massive arc-shaped contraption, I connect the warded jar full of noble souls to the gate through a hose-like apparatus and flip a few switches. The gate makes a low humming noise that slowly raises in volume.
"He’s in here! I can hear him!" I hear a voice shout from outside my study. My door is kicked down as an unfathomably large amount of people streams through the tiny doorway. I quickly slot a spell focus into my gauntlet and burn down many of the intruders with a stream of scorching fire; the pile of bodies the spell creates a wall in front of the door. I quickly seize the moment and cast a portable hole spell aimed at the ceiling and activate my thaumostatic harness to carry the gate up to the roof of the tower with a telekinesis spell. This makes me vulnerable to the assaults from the dragons, however. I cast a void shield to prevent a fire blast from a passing dragon from incinerating the still-charging gate and strike it down with a well-placed Doombolt. This repels most of the other flying beasts from coming near, but a few other threats present themselves. The tower, for one, is losing structural integrity. A few helicopters also try to shoot missiles at me (how they even got those through the flux rift is beyond me), but I easily hit them down with a few well-placed spells. As the gate nears completion of its charging, the white-haired old man levitates to the roof of the tower, along with several other gods I do not recognize.
"We’ve got you! You piece of shit!" The old man yells. "We’ve been planning this for months! You will get the judgement you deserve!"
"Who are you?" I ask.
"I am known as Odin, and these are the gods of the Aesir beside me! We have come from our world to end your terror!"
"You fools! You don’t understand! I’m done! I am so close to being out of your lives forever! Don’t do this!"
"You must pay for your mass omnicide! Attack!" The gods floating in front of me all cast several spells at me, all of which my runic shielding easily deflects. I socket a spell focus and shoot a beam of prismatic light from my gauntlet, cleaving several gods in half at their waists, causing them to drop out of the air. Several gods, however, are able to resist being killed. One with a large hammer, who I assume to be Thor, charges at me, electricity cackling from his weapon. It hits me dead in the chest, the sheer Potentia (Energy) coming from the hammer tearing away at my runic shielding. I counter his next hammer attack by grabbing it and plunging it through his stomach, causing him to keel over. Odin yells in fury and shoots more energy bolts at me.
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Suddenly, everyone on the roof is blinded by an impossibly bright light. The gate! It’s open! I run towards the now-glowing circular gate and jump through, but not before throwing my Nefarium spell focus at an energy bolt Odin casts at me, causing it to activate immediately after I jump through the portal, immolating all of my attackers.
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I open my eyes, greatly disoriented at my surroundings. When I look around, I see I am once again before the Veil. This time, however, no restraints hold me back.
I send all of my soul’s energy towards the Veil in a focused stream. At first, nothing happens. But over time, I feel the barrier cracking under my soul’s pure might. I focus harder, harder still, until finally, it shatters; the area on the other side a pure darkness compared to the dimensional spheres I was surrounded by a few moments ago. The darkness swallows me whole, but reveals a light on the other side. I activate my thaumostatic harness once again and begin accelerating towards the light I know is Heaven. I am almost there when I hear the most blood-curdling roar ever uttered by a living thing. The Leviathan.
I turn around to face the darkness once more, and find the creature I thought was only from my nightmares fast approach me; a massive eel-like entity, whose head must be the size of Texas and whose length must be several light years long, it’s tail extending into the infinite void. It opens its maw, revealing a portal to Hell. I can tell it intends to consume me.
No! Why does it seem my soul unworthy of Heaven? I am so close! I will not let it stop me! I socket a spell focus into my gauntlet, but some force prevents me from casting. I am once again forced to attack it with my soul’s energy. As I send tendrils of dark power from my soul into it, it stops its movement and closes its jaw, fighting my soul with its own. I feel intense pain I cannot describe within my very essence of being.
After a long spiritual battle, I sense the Leviathan has given up its battle as it turns away to swim back into the void. Relieved, I turn to face Heaven once again, embracing its warmth.
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I am once again greatly disoriented. I open my eyes and find myself in an astral realm filled with golden clouds and yellow skies. I look down at myself, and realize my original body has been restored. I take a moment to breathe, blink, and feel my heartbeat, things I have been without this whole journey. I am at peace.
Slowly, I notice a massive throne in front of me, completely composed of sapphire and light and goodness. Atop it sat a man, adorned from the waist up in holy metal, and from the waist down in pure fire. I could not comprehend what his face looked like, but on his head sat the likeness of a crown.
"Greetings, my son. It has been quite some time since I’ve had living company here." There he is. God.
"It is truly you, my God!" I notice my voice has returned to normal, and I bow to him on my knees.
"It is. But why are you here? What did you expect to find here? Why have you murdered trillions to have audience with me?"
"It was self-defense, my Lord! My soul has been fractured and doomed. Please, I beg you! Heal me!"
"I cannot. In your quest to find me you have violated my laws and command without regret. You have not known me since you first killed! You hold not a shred of repentance for your actions!" I remain silent. "For your crimes, I believe Hell is not enough punishment, and I don’t think it’s very fitting either. I do have some pity for you, as the circumstances of your downfall could not have been prevented by yourself. Therefore, my judgement is to send you into the eternal dreamless sleep. I will have you killed. I will now cast you out. Never return to my presence. Know that today, all of Heaven will weep for you." I am filled with sorrow.
"Please, my God! Have mercy on me!" He waves his hand, and I am flung through time and space. When I regain awareness, I realize I am back on the rooftop of the tower, sent back through time to moments before the Gate of Heaven activates. This time, however, through what I assume must be God’s doing, a bolt of stray energy from the gate shoots into my study and strikes the Deity Hammer, powering it up almost instantly due to the sheer soul power coming from the bolt. The hammer activates with me directly above it. Oh. Fuck.
The now-unattuned device of mass destruction fires its massive beam of energy directly into me. Even my runic shielding is not enough to block the damage. The cosmic energies completely and totally immolate my body and gear. No! Not like this! My cries are to no avail. My ego is cut from my id and superego as my soul is finally torn asunder, plunging me into perfect and inescapable nothingness.