I’d like to say the fight turned on a dime and I started whooping the goddess’ ass but even without access to her active abilities she was still at God rank and I was still at Hierophant. I had the advantage of the full use of my abilities, but I was the only one, even Guinevere was cut off from her active abilities. Almost every single one of my abilities had been reformed with ethereal energy and so did not require access to the System to function.
The silver flashing sword of Viviane sliced into me dozens of times but now it was just her passive abilities and literal godlike attributes behind them. The sky continued to peel back as the darkness of the Void descended down tearing into it as reality and unreality met in vicious battle to the death. The light of Albion shone down as the city in the Void loomed above us.
Viviane’s skin began to blister as the light of the Star of the Void shone down on her. The vassals of the Lady of the Lake began to evaporate unable to withstand the light of the Void. Exar’kun blasted the Lady of the Lake with his breath attack weakening her defenses. A massive maul crashed into her back before flying back into Tobias’ hand as my Lieutenants now freed from fighting the defenders of the divine realm to attack its deity.
“Worthless wretches!” Viviane roared her voice causing the waters of the lake to tremble. The waters rose up in a massive wave that rose higher and higher tower above before crashing down.
The magi and my vassals were blasted apart by the water. Earth crept up mine and Guinevere’s legs as I anchored us in place but this allowed Viviane’s blade to slide three quarters of the way through my torso, nearly bisecting me. I teleported away and my spinal cord reattached, I managed to dodge the next few attacks as my torso stitched itself back together.
Guinevere stepped forward her icy blue blade clashing the with the brilliant silver one. I stepped back a spiked horn appearing in my hand, I drew in a deep breath not just drawing in air but the pure essence of the Void. My ethereal energy protected me from the raw destructive force of that energy, but I still felt the essence of unreality trying to unmake me. I blew and the sound of the horn and the eldritch howl echoed between the ring of mountains.
The power of the Void broke the limits of the ability. Just as I had done to create the Star of the Void, darkness rose up all around not in the limited radius the System had assigned it. The soul chilling growls and howls of the Teeth in the Dark no longer limited to few thirteen beasts of shadow but multiplied now to hundreds.
Snarls and the snapping of jaws and clicking of claws on stone appeared around us. Even I couldn’t see or track their passing though I was their creator. The Lady of the Lake slashed about her as the beasts snapped at her from all sides. Brilliant light shone from the blade pushing back the darkness around it but whenever she turned the darkness would flood back in behind her.
“You think your beasts will save you?” Viviane asked, spattering black ichor across the ground.
Her movements were still perfect as she slid across the ground and slashed down Clarent snapping up to block her attack.
“A bear is mighty, but in the end the wolves bring it down,” I said. “Ask Artrix how it faired for him.”
“I am not a God of Bears and Barbarians!” she snapped back. “I am Viviane, Lady of the Lake, Goddess of Duels and Honor. Face me, Mordred.”
There was no notification to accept or refuse and in fact I felt like I wouldn’t have been given such a choice. This felt wholly different than Arthur’s challenge, an oppressive weight fell down on me. The snarls of the beasts in the darkness went silent, Guinevere slashed at Vivian’s back but her sword skidded to the side as if some invisible force had yanked her arm to the side.
“My divine power is a part of me,” Viviane said. “Did you think you could separate it from me?”
“No,” I said as I divided myself. Karnen, Aries, Voidra and the Shadow Stepped forth. I felt the loss of power as my abilities on me were deactivated but this was always the plan.
“This is a battle between you and me alone,” Viviane scoffed. “Your summons can’t hurt me.”
“We are alone,” a single reverberating voice answered as we struck.
Aries’ spear pierced her thigh as Voidra blasted her with black lightning outlined in silver light. The Shadow, as bestial as ever bowled into the goddess trying to drag her down and savage her but she slipped around his but still had her armor ripped and scored by his claws. She struck at the Shadow’s back but her sword was deflected by a mighty tower shield as Karnen moved in like a party’s tank. I slashed at her back with Clarent and drew a dark glowing line across her armor as the bands of red lightning crawled across the metal surface.
“I always noticed how Arthur wasn’t truly prepared for waves of attackers,” I said. “The ability you gave him limited his thinking to one-on-one duels and he was never truly able to adapt to the chaos of fighting multiple opponents. Apparently, that is a struggle the two of you share.”
She cut into Aries but he blocked her next attack on the shield he carried and she was struck behind by the Shadow as it tried to get its jaws around the back of her neck. She threw the Shadow off but it cost her as Karnen stabbed his sword into her side. A boulder hurled by Voidra nearly bowled her over but she managed to roll and stand on her feet.
“I’ll admit these spirits of yours are strong,” Viviane said. “But I can feel they have taken your strength to exist, that makes you the weak link.”
She struck at me but without a thought I reabsorbed Karnen and a dozen copies of myself appeared around me as I activated Shadow Guard.
“There is no weak link,” I answered. “Your world does not have the concept of a trinity, but these are not separate beings from me. We are one and the same, five persons one divinity, one will, one soul.”
“You’re a madman,” Viviane said. “What sane individual would merge himself with the spirits of others, your very existence is an abomination.”
“That will be a concern for historians,” I said. “As will you be.”
She slashed at my copies but couldn’t find the real me. Aries struck at her knee and she stumbled. The Shadow pounced driving her to her knees. Chains of earth rose up around her holding her down. The ground began to glow as Viviane began charging what I recognized as some break free ability, likely similar to the one Arthur had.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
I reached forwards and placed a hand on her shoulder. The goddess screamed as I began to invade her soul. What I was doing was a violation more foul than any physical abuse you could do to a person, it was exactly what the Ancients had done to the gods they fought against. She struggled as my soul invaded hers drawing the energy she was channeling into her break free ability and taking it for myself.
The golden glow disappeared as the chains tightened. Voidra disappeared from overhead reentering my spirit as I took to the air dragging the bound goddess behind me. She thrashed but my grip on her soul only tightened and her body began to spasm as I subverted her mind’s control over it. This soul attack was not without cost to me, I felt a poison running through my veins as the Celestial power of the goddess was anathema to me but I endured.
I arrived at the top of Albion and placed the goddess of the altar.
“Do you have any final words you wish to say?” I asked the goddess.
“You will not get away with this,” Viviane promised me the awesome power and authority in her voice gone now.
“I shall see,” I answered and drew a dagger across her neck.
Paved in Blood: (Rank 1); Your very touch creates legends, weapons you use to kill now gain a small percentage increase to the damage they will deal in the future, caps out at a 25% increase in damage. This ability uses the lifeforce inside the creature to power itself drawing out the energy of the creature and using it to reinforce and slowly evolve the weapon used. There are no limits to how many weapons can be improved in this way.
Casting Time:
Passive
Cost:
---
Rank up this ability to increase the powers weapons will gain and the benefits they will receive. Each rank increases your Might, Endurance, Toughness and Power by 1.
You have completed a hidden objective and earned a title. Objective: Slay a god while still a mortal.
Reward: Title, God Killer
*God Killer: Bypass the damage reduction for God Rank dealing damage as normal to divine entities.
A flash of light exploded across the Void. Something flew from Viviane’s soul diving through the rip I had made into her divine realm which already was beginning to fall apart. A hole opened in the air as it disappeared before I could properly grasp what the spec of light had been. There was no time to worry about that now, golden ichor spilled across the altar into the groves in the stone feeding into the roots of the Forest of Sacrifice. The trees writhed, I could not tell if this was pain or ecstasy for them. Sprouts rose up and grew for miles around the city of Albion as the forest expanded filling the plain around the mountain.
Bulbous silver fruit grew on the trees swelling in size and shining with inner light. One of the tree branches seemed to extend down to me a single fruit on its limb shining like the light of the sun. I took the fruit as it separated from the tree effortlessly. Guinevere alighted on the ground next to me looking at the fruit.
“Is that it? Will it be enough?” she asked.
“It has to be,” I said stepping over to Aurora’s cradle where she hung above it in suspended animation. “Remove the suspension.”
Inashra dropped the suspension and the static around my baby girl disappeared. At once the Blood Curse began to take effect and she began to scream in agony the sound breaking my heart. I squeezed the juices from the fruit rushing into her mouth. She spluttered but the juice of the fruit clung to her like molasses sinking through her skin. The healing power of the fruit did not remove the curse and Aurora continued to scream and cry as pain that I couldn’t protect her from and no human should be made to experience wracked her little body.
She couldn’t even pass out as the curse tried to unmake her, the only question would be if the healing or the curse was greater in power. I held her in my arms rocking her back and forth as she screamed Guinevere burying her head in my shoulder her tears soaking my skin as we her parents watched helpless to remove our baby’s suffering. I thought I had hated Arthur before but I hadn’t realized just how much hate I could hold before.
“If it even gets me a chance at killing him, his children will die,” I promised Guinevere. “No more holding back.”
“Don’t become him!” Guinevere begged me her body shaking as she clung to me. “Don’t descend to his level of madness.”
“I will not seek out the death of his children,” I promised her. “But there are no more lines left that he hasn’t crossed. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life, a son for a daughter.”
I held Aurora and breathed out a sigh of relief as after an hour the lines of red eventually disappeared.
“How is she Inashra?” I asked.
She is weak, A telepathic voice spoke from seemingly nowhere. This is a memory that will likely haunt her for the rest of her life, however she has also received a powerful title for surviving it. Soul Survivor, she is immune to all Curses now, no such evil will ever touch her again. She also received a title called God Eater, she will gain a percentage of power for every ‘follower’ who pledges themselves to her.
“Hopefully that is many years before she needs such a power,” Guinevere said. “Thank you Inashra, is there anything we can do to help her?”
She needs rest, I will sing to her soul while she sleeps to keep the nightmares away, she is my charge now her fate and mine are bound together now forever.
I handed Aurora to Guinevere who laid her in her crip cooing to her as she tucked her into the soft blanket. I allowed myself to relax for just a moment, war was coming, I hadn’t just stood by and let the gods hit at me. I had struck back and bloodied them. The world was not going to be the same after this, I wouldn’t let it be.
---
Arthur felt the muscles in his arms and legs tremble as he moved through the stances of his kata working to perfect what he had mastered long ago as a child to help his muscles recover. A ball of light appeared before him and he slashed at it reflexively but his sword only passed through it harmlessly. The figure of his goddess appeared and he instantly knelt on one knee.
“My Lady! Forgive me!” he said.
“I do not have much time my Champion,” The Lady of the Lake said. “Mordred has defeated me, this is shadow of myself that speaks to you now; already the blood of my true self will have been spilled in the Void and my soul devoured by him.”
“No!” Arthur shouted. “How can I save you?”
“You cannot my beloved knight,” the goddess said fondly. “I would have loved to watch you ascend into the Pantheon and taken your rightful place at my side but you must do so without me. I bestow to you this last gift.”
Ability gained, Spirit Armor: Your soul has encountered the Void and adapted to it, you cannot survive within it as one of its denizens, but your soul is shielded from its effects, and you are immune to the ability of its denizens to devour your soul, and you gain Moderate resistance to Void damage.
Cast Time:
Passive
Cost:
5 Celestia per second
Rank up this ability to increase your resistance to the Void and the protections given to your soul. Each rank of this ability increases your Spirit by +3.
“My Lady I need you! Please don’t go!” Arthur begged tears running down his face. “You are my goddess.”
“I’m sorry I won’t be able to see you grow into the god you are destined to be,” Viviane said a sad smile on her face as the shadow of her began to fade away. “Take up Kalesa’s offer, do what you must do, save this world.”
The echo of her spirit vanished.
Viviane, Goddess of Duelists and Honor has died, you no longer have a divine Patron and are no longer have a sponsor, however no part of the Accords accounts for a Champion losing their Patron so you are still a Champion and will not lose your titles and abilities associated with your former Patron, but you can also no longer advance your title without a divine Patron.
“Kalesa,” Arthur growled in grim acceptance. “I accept your offer; I will be the Warlord.”