Evalia struck first, her spear tip grazing my chest as I turned my body to let it pass. I roared in response, blasting her back with a wave of sound. She crossed her arms and a semi-transparent disk appeared in front of her to block the sonic waves and let her stand her ground, even though her feet slid across the ground from the force. She charged forward, her spear spinning and coming at me from every direction.
Void Asura activated as I struck at her with half a dozen weapons: spear, sword, club, claws and scorching lightning. She blocked with the shaft of her spear and her shield as she adjusted to the sudden onslaught. She quickly reassured herself and pressed forwards to take advantage of her higher rank and multitude of abilities. I lost a pair of weapons as Voidra stepped out of my soul.
Evalia suddenly felt the attacks on her double as I engaged her in direct melee combat as Voidra began raining down attacks, ripping out chunks of the mountain and hurling them at her. The rocks exploded into dust on contact but the Exarch tier elf suffered little as boulders the size of trucks collided with her. The fog of dust was streaked with bright red as her spear slashed and nicked my flesh; unlike my Heralds, I wasn’t covered in armor head to toe and even though my skin was stronger than any material back on Earth, I wasn’t immune to the skills of a higher tier Gifted.
“You talk tougher than you fight,” Evailia said, starting to relax as the blood flowed down my body and spattered on the ground. “You shouldn’t try to fight outside your own rank.”
I just laughed. “People have been telling me that ever since I came to this world. The thing is, you only grow strong enough to reach the heavens when you reach for the stars.”
The ground flowed up Evalia’s legs, trapping her in place. She struggled before her body began to glow. I jumped up to clear the area as an explosion blasted out of her; I’d seen Arthur do a similar trick once with a different ability. I landed back down, my bare foot colliding with her cheek and launching her into the side of the mountain.
My voice began to ring out.
“I have seen what you have done to my lands,” I said, looking out over the ashes of what had once been the Ancient Forest. “I have heard the cry of my people. I have witnessed the devastation you have unleashed in the name of ‘justice’.”
Evalia charged me as my words echoed between the mountain peaks, causing avalanches to slough off the mountain slopes. Her spear skidded off the metal of my vambrace as I raised my hand, redirecting her attack past me. My other hand struck her across the face, the blow doing little damage but its purpose had been more one of disrespect than an attack.
“The judgment is final; the verdict is death,” I said, my words as cold as the snow plummeting down the mountainsides.
“Who are you to deal out judgment,” Evalia scoffed, her spear jabbing and twisting into my shoulder before I twisted free and retaliated.
“I am the speaker for the dead,” I said. “Tell me priestess, did your goddess tell you what happens to most when they die?”
“My goddess has hidden nothing from me,” she responded with the absolute conviction of a zealot.
“We shall see,” I answered.
I lashed out with Clarent, activating Cruel Vengeance to deal extra damage with the Marks of Judgement I’d saved up. She blocked the attack but I could hear the bones in her forearm snapping as she did so. She launched herself backwards, sliver light engulfing her and healing the crippling damage she’d just taken.
“Silver Dawn!” Evelia shouted as an orb of pure silver light appeared above her head.
The light burned and small meteors like tiny moons began shooting off it and colliding into me.
“Two can play at that game,” Voidra said.
The sky went black as a dark orb appeared above her head, its silver nimbus shining brighter as Voidra pushed more ethereal into it. The light of the false moon was soon devoured by that of the star of the Void. Voidra began compressing the earth all around Evailia’s feet, trying to trap her legs again. The queen wasn’t falling for that trick again and the ground was soon a glossy black obsidian as she danced across it to avoid being trapped in one place.
Our weapons skidded off each other as we tested each other. Her breastplate was an artifact of some kind but the rest of her armor wasn’t. I scored multiple hits across her body, my strength and speed growing with each one I inflicted as Shadow of Death took effect.
“Lunar Beasts!” Evelia sang out.
Beasts of silver light with eyeless faces appeared. They lunged at me but I ducked under there snatching claws. A twisted horn appeared in my hand and I blew. Mist appeared across the ground and thirteen hounds emerged, rushing the moon elementals and locking jaws with them. Evelia and I squared off with each other as our summons fought to see which was superior.
“System, raise Mists of Avalon to rank twenty,” I said, as I blocked another spear thrust.
“I heard of your ability to ignore pain during rank ups,” Evelia said. “If you think that will intimidate me, you’re wrong. Such titles and abilities aren’t unheard of.”
“Intimidation wasn’t my goal,” I said with a shrug. “I was more looking for a live test subject. Ares, please take over the rank up choices for me.”
Of course, Ares agreed.
It was time to take the battle up a notch. My body began to grow as I activated Blood of Kronos. I was a bigger target now, but my speed was like the wind as I lifted my legs and dodged the flashing spear. The minor wounds I took only served to provide me strength, not weaken me. We went on like that as we tore into each other like rabid animals with the knowledge that only one of us was leaving this battle alive.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Mists of Avalon: (Rank 20, Max Rank); Create a Mist in a 250ft radius around you. No one but you and your allies can see within the Mist and anyone else within the Mist is inflicted with Confusion* and Exhaustion*. On a failed Toughness check, non-allied creatures are inflicted with the Paralyzed* Condition for 30 seconds.
Subjects that fail their Toughness check by a Severe amount are also inflicted with the Petrified* Condition for the duration, making them more susceptible to damage.
The Mist will teleport any unconscious ally who falls within to your domain with the Void.
Hands of lost souls will reach out and grab at enemy targets within the Mist, possibly tripping them.
All sound is muffled within the Mist and enemy communication abilities are blocked while within the radius of effect.
Final Rank Bonus: If the subject is a lower tier than you and is turned to stone, the duration is permanent until an outside force removes the effect.
*Paralyzed: Target is unable to move for the duration.
*Confusion: Target’s Mind attribute’s effectiveness is halved for the duration.
*Exhaustion: Target’s Speed and Might attributes effectiveness are halved for the duration.
*Petrified: Target is turned to stone.
Upgrade this ability to increase the radius of the Mist and the effectiveness of the Conditions it inflicts. Each rank up increases your Spirit and Perception Attributes by 1 each.
Cost:
60 mana per second.
Casting Time:
Instantaneous
I could only glance over the effects; they seemed useful but not something that would help me against a lone higher tiered opponent.
I could see every move she was making and the ones she had yet to make, allowing my enhanced stats from Heir of the Titans to be put to their full use. My attacks hammered into her defenses as I mostly ignored my own defense in favor of what must have been perceived as a suicidal attempt to take her with me. Blood poured down my body from gaping wounds and then, a gasp of surprise came with Evalia's next strike.
I activated Void Shield and all the wounds disappeared as a possible future I’d seen came to pass.
Finally, the moment I’d been waiting for arrived as Evelia slipped up. It was a simple misstep, but it gave Voidra the time she needed to encase Evelia’s foot in stone. Before she could activate her ability to break free, I grabbed her around her legs and soared into the air, ripping her out of the ground like I would a weed. Our rise was brief before I turned and we slammed into the ground, smashing her back and spine against the compressed mountain all around us. Artifact armor might be indestructible, but it didn’t stop the force of the strike from transferring through into her body, especially not as I used my Marks of Judgement and Cruel Vengeance to multiply the damage I did to her. Bones snapped and she screamed in agony as her legs stopped their kicking when her spinal cord was snapped.
A black portal opened before us; there was no more barrier of red energy blocking it. I tossed the queen through the gate and stepped through, closing it behind me. Evelia tried to push herself up and stab me with her spear, but I kicked it from her hands and it rolled away before the ground flowed around it, locking it in place.
“What are you doing?” Evelia asked me, and I could see terrible fear in her eyes.
“I am the God of Sacrifice and Heroes,” I said, bending down to grab her by the hair and dragging her to the edge of the temple steps. “And I require that my enemies pay for their sins in blood.”
Beast of Hades activated and I ripped out her throat, spilling her blood across the steps to water the roots of the silver trees. Normally even that wound wouldn’t have been lethal to someone of her tier, but the trees tasted her blood and wanted more. Her very life force was pulled out of her body as I let her hair fall from my hands. She gasped and tried to heal herself, but her mana was locked down.
Her body spasmed then went still. A soul rose up from the corpse, looking down at itself in horror.
“What did you do to me?” she asked.
I smiled. “I guess your goddess didn’t tell you as much as you thought.”
“I know this place!” Evelia spat. “This is the Void, but my soul belongs to my goddess. It should go to her when I die.”
“This is my domain. No soul leaves without my permission,” I said.
A portal opened and a gorgeous woman stepped through. She reminded me of Guinevere but her long pointed ears were a very clear difference.
Luren, Goddess of the Moon & Healing, Gifted- deity/Dikastheon, God, Rank: ????
My weapons all appeared back in my hands.
“I have come for my priestess’ soul,” Luren said.
“Why should I give it to you?” I asked. “I killed her fair and square, more than fair considering our rank difference.”
“It is the way things are,” Luren said. “You wish to be a god? We honor the sanctity of our followers souls. Do you think you have problems now? Try poaching the souls of our followers.”
“Why should I care?” I asked. “I don’t believe for a second that acting in good faith with you will get me anywhere with your pantheon. You’re terrified of this place, and I’m surprised to see you here at all even if it’s only an avatar of you.”
“She doesn’t deserve to be here,” Luren said, looking at the naked soul shivering as we discussed her fate. “She has served me all the years of her life since she was a little girl and could speak. I will not abandon her even if I must fight you in your own domain.”
“Why is she so worthy?” I asked. “Look around; thousands of souls are abandoned here each day. What makes her better than all the rest.”
“I know her,” Luren said. “All those other mortals, their lives flash in the blink of an eye; I hardly even know they existed, but I have spoken with Evelia many times. It is easy to overlook suffering when you don’t see it, but when you do, you have a choice.”
“Much suffering was caused by her,” I said.
“And she has paid for it with her life,” Luren answered. “Will you judge her for all eternity for it?”
“I could,” I said flatly.
“But you won’t,” Luren said. “I havent’ been able to watch you since you took the Ghost Path, but I’ve seen much of your work. You care for others and have your own sense of honor. I do not think you want the place of judge, jury, and executioner.”
I sighed. “Go with your goddess.”
The soul of Queen Evelia fled through the portal her goddess had created.
“This doesn’t mean we’re done,” I told Luren. “Your champion is still out there; if she comes for revenge, I won’t spare her body, or her soul this time.”
“I will let her know, but she is no more my puppet then you were Kalesa’s,” Luren said. “She will want retribution.”
“Then she had best be able to stomach mine,” I said.
Luren didn’t step into the portal, her avatar just disappeared. This battle had been won and I once more could enter the world. The war was just beginning.