I thought I had steeled myself at the idea of death.
With magic and the like, in this world death was far less of an eventuality than in my old one, but when it did happen it was usually in a spectacularly violent fashion.
And yet… I didn’t even summon any [Turrets] when defending myself from people that I knew intended to kill me, and now all I could do was walk next to the corpses of enemies and allies alike.
The scene filled me with an emotion that I hadn’t known until then, but I did recognize the acrid aftertaste in the back of my mouth: This level of violence disgusted me.
It wasn’t senseless, because both sides thought they were fighting for worthy goals, but it was still regrettable that there had to be such a loss of life for reasons that I still definitely thought of as stupid.
Killing me was stupid, because I actively worked with the [True Gods] as a [Fulcrum] in order to save this [Nexus]. Sacrificing so many people to save me was also… I don’t want to say ‘stupid’ and diminish the sacrifice of those fallen here- regrettable because I didn’t think that saving one arguably more important life was worth the mounting cost.
And it was mounting: Merga might have rendered most isolated [Priests] unconscious, but those in big enough groups still managed to act as raving lunatics possessed by [Divine Might] that rampaged on the battlefield. That is, until the [Depth Witch] teleported in front of them and knocked them all out with a concentrated blast of [Void Mana]. But she had to divert her attention from elsewhere in order to do so.
Nevertheless, I was still sprinting onto the battlefield in order to assist those still fighting, while at the same time trying to ignore the pale giant that always had at least one eye on me. Because there definitely wasn’t someone who had already demonstrated that it could kill me at a moment’s notice, and it definitely had better things to do than wait for the opportunity to blindside me.
Fortunately, there were plenty of distractions to keep my mind otherwise occupied.
I ducked under the [Handler] flying past me, with one part of my mind casting [Repair] on him, while another conjured a long and solid [Mana Bolt] in my free hand, which I promptly used to sweep the legs from under the [Hunter], who was too busy dodging the [Mana Orb] that I had sent hurling towards his head. Before his back hit the ground, or he otherwise recovered, my [Flying Trappers] were already tying him down all neat and tight.
Close by Sheeno was going for a more direct approach, in particular, she was attempting to put her fists through a person’s skull, repeatedly, and once their face had been pulped enough, she froze their libs together, and immediately moved on to the next victim.
Undine instead was following in the [Witch]’s steps by taking out the possessed [Priests] by exorcising them with her own ‘priestly’ powers, with admittedly less success than the former, often ending up having to fight them to submission first, or wait for one of us to do it.
Oh, there was also the tidal wave of [Aurumons] that fell on probably a quarter of the entire battlefield with ruthless savagery, and by that, I mean that the little guys were everywhere on the streets, their golden bodies working as a visual beacon for the weakest fighter to rally and use the number to their advantage. Speaking of, some [Knight] had even started using them as thrown ammunition, since they tended to multiply at an obscene rate in this [Mana]-dense war, and even when they seemed to take lethal damage they just disappeared on the spot.
It was clear that things were going again our way, and that’s why things just had to get creepy.
“You don’t belong here!” A [Priest] screamed in an otherworldly voice before he got knocked out.
“You will ruin everything!” Another said with the exact same voice before a black blast extinguished the possession in him, rendering him unconscious.
“You should have-“, Sheeno punched this last one in the side of the head and he went down like a sack of potatoes, his head bouncing on the pavement.
“Yeah yeah, the big bad [Demi-God] is splitting its attention between its [Avatar] and its mind-controlled [Priests] just so it can tell me how much it wished I was dead.
Too bad for you that I was a fan of horror movies, so I know that ignoring you will help in making you mad, and sloppy, and keeping me safe!”
I said all that while not even looking at them, being focused on directing the absurd number of minions I had in the field, and all that ‘not getting killed’ part that went along with trusting yourself amidst an active battlefield.
A thing that I knew I could do only because I had amazing allies.
More specifically, I had an amazing [Party]: Being in one had many benefits, including knowing their state whenever you focused on it, but one that often went unnoticed was a sort of ‘log’ for ‘subdued enemies’, although mine worked better than others thanks to [Buddy] showing me more than I should be able to see and reorganizing all of it in a comprehensible list.
You are welcome, by the way.
Sheeno had defeated [Priest of Purity] x3 and [Hunter] x3
Undine has defeated [Priests of Purity] x5 and [Hunter] x1
You have defeated [Priests of Purity] x27, [Hunter] x12, and “assorted sentients” x7
Obviously, my numbers were being inflated by my [familiars], but seeing my numbers go way up above the others still definitely boosted my ego.
And that’s why Fate thought it opportune to humble me a little. Unfortunately for it, I could see its threads.
I spun around and two [Shamanic Totems] slammed into the earth in front of me, followed immediately after by a golden ray slamming against the segmented [Barrier] that had barely enough time to materialize.
Both pylons shook, and tiny cracks formed in their wood, but they managed to hold on.
“YOU WILL DIE PER MY [GOD]’S DECREE!!!” A woman blazing with the now familiar white [Aura] shouted at me, and even though she had possessed eyes, she seemed perfectly conscious of what she was doing.
Naturally, I had to [Inspect] her, so I used my [Gaze of the Abyss].
What I got immediately raised alarm bells.
Name:
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Vernera Colliga
Class:
Crazed Zealot
Sub-Class:
Mind afflicter
Job:
High Demonic Priestess
Proficiency:
{ERROR}
Race:
Desert Djinn {ERROR}
Status:
Maniacal; Furious
Affinity:
Void; Life; Plant; Light; Dark
Danger:
{ERROR}
The woman had dark red skin and blond hair, and was dressed in the familiar regalia of the [Priests of Purity], except for a golden laurel on top of her head; if it wasn’t for the color of her skin I would have confused her with a [Human], except that the felt like the foulest thing I had ever met, second only to [Skulldigger] and her own [Patron].
And then I registered her [Affinities] and came to a worrying realization.
[Purity] was connected to [Demons], who were connected to [Destruction]: This bastard must be of the idea that the epitome of ‘purity’ must be ‘nothingness’, so he’s deliberately fomenting racists and idiots in order to attract [Destruction]’s ire!
Nothingness is expressed as [Void], as far as [Affinities] go, so that’s either his major one or he simply boosts that of his followers so that their presence creates an imbalance in the [Veil] that allows [Demons] in to correct it.
And the [Gods] can’t do anything against it because [Purity] played it all by the rules and only exploited loopholes that only the most intransigent of [Gods] wouldn’t care about, ergo [Destruction] got pissed by everybody’s else inaction and took the matter into her own hands.
After all, the increase in [Void] users increased the ambient [Void], which created an imbalance since the only entities that could make use of it are [Demons], so the [Veil] that protects this world from external forced purposely created a hole to let them through in order to correct the imbalance, but then [Destruction] tore the hole wide open so her army could come through and destroy what she though as a lost cause.
In retrospect, it was all kind of obvious, except I couldn’t understand how his followers could be so oblivious to his plans… unless that combination of [Class] and [Sub-Class], and other such similar cases, allowed their [Patron] to sort of direct their thoughts into specific patterns.
And if so… That was kind of scary to think about.
Although, I’m not saying that everybody is innocent and simply mind-controlled: I’m sure there are batshit people in the flock that simply agree with their [Patron]’s ideals, or otherwise wish for the [Nexus], and everything within it, to cease to exist.
The distraction caused by the sudden realization was such that the [High Demonic Cultist] was able to capitalize on it and unleash a second blow on the already cracked [Barrier]. This time she blasted a grey beam at me, with both black and white streaks intermingled within it, and after spending some of its force against the shield it managed to break through.
Thankfully my [Mind] was always working overtime, and even when distracted I managed to react fast enough to only get singed by her attack on my left side.
Unfortunately for me, even a glancing blow made me drop to my knees in pain, a scream of agony erupting out of my throat against my will, and the sensation of innumerable caustic snakes slithering within my flesh followed soon after, compounding on the already unbearable sensation.
It hurt worse than getting my limbs blown off, but maybe that was the absence of shock speaking, the worst part though was that it was definitely getting worse by the second, and I didn’t want to know just how bad it could get, or what would have happened if I hadn’t at least partially dodged.
I was barely aware of the [Tier 2 Aurumons] with tower shields jumping in between us, saving me from ulterior harm, but her voice managed to somehow cut through the fog of pain obfuscating my mind.
“YES!!! BE CLEANSED BY THE POWER OF OUR NEW [GOD]!!!” The red-skinned Djinn said right before starting to laugh maniacally.
“Urgh, I can’t -mhr- believe -huff- that you’re do- -oo-ugh- -ing the Bond-villain thing!” I tried to get out, pushing past involuntary moans of pain, choking on a missed breath, or similar difficulties born of what was wracking through my [Body] right now.
I reflexively tightened my grip on the charred haft still in my hand, while constantly trying to keep a steady stream of [Repair] going inside of me, which was probably one of the few reasons that I was still alive, if not the only one, so I couldn’t let up.
And yet, I met her eyes from behind my [familiars] and I almost burst out laughing, a stab of pain cutting my humor short, but failing to extinguish it.
“Shut it, scum! No number of pleas will save you from being CLENSED and subsequently EXTERMINATED! And then, those fools will see the error of their ways!” She seemed happy to keep monologuing, so I let her; still, I almost felt disappointed when she called me ‘scum’ instead of ‘fiend’ or ‘worm’, but I wasn’t going to point it out.
“Big words for -urgh- one that has her [Status] filled with [Errors]!”
“That works merely to show what a flawed machine this [System] we’re subjected to really is! It’s unnatural, and it’s time to be done with will come, together with old world-order-!”
“Out with old, and in with new. -Fuck- Blah, blah, blah, I got -huff- it”, I interrupted her this time, the changing circumstances making it better for me to rile her up.
“… ARE YOU MOCKING MY CREED, YOU INSIGNIFICANT FUCK!!!?” She screeched so hysterically loud that I could have believed that she had been randomly possessed by a [Banshee].
“I don’t think I’m needed for th-aa-ah-at, you’re doing a pretty banger job on your own.”
I don’t know why she was willing to let me recover and expel her affliction, but if distracting her long enough worked, I would take it.
Although, the simple answer could be ‘she’s insane and not thinking clearly’, it wasn’t nice calling out someone else for their mental infirmity.
“ENOUGH!!! Now, you DIE!!!” And so, this time she took the time to charge her attack up, maybe to make sure that I couldn’t block it.
“Before that, maybe you should look behind you?”
Suddenly her face looked supremely disappointed, and she gave me an incredulous look.
“Did you really think I would ever fall for that?”
“Nobody ever does, and that’s exactly why this instead usually works!” At my command two of my defenders stepped to the side, revealing an [Overcharged Discus Launcher], which immediately released its projectile at blinding speed; and before I could hear the ‘thump’ of it either leaving the chamber, or striking into flesh, it was already embedded in her chest, and the [High Demonic Priestess] was forced to take a step back from the force of the impact.
She robotically looked down at it, before snapping back to face me with a withering glare.
With normal-looking eyes.
“You DARE-!”
“You talk too much”, a manly voice came from behind her, interrupting another irate rant of hers, but before she could do anything about it a fist erupted from her torso in a gory fashion, punching out my disk in the process.
Her [spell] dissipated harmlessly, and then her corpse dropped to the ground.
“You should have aimed for the head”, the [Guild Master] commented while whipping his arm to the side in order to launch away some of the blood from it.
“Her laurel was [Enchanted] to protect her head better than any other part of her body, and I managed to hit her at all only because she was so focused on hating me that she didn’t notice when her powers drastically lessened due to her [Demi-Demon-God], or whatever we want to call it, being brought down”
“Huh, so it was just luck?”
“Or [Luck], and with her you can never know when it’s either or both”, I shrugged.
“True that. Now get up and go to your mate: She almost got an arm cut off while to rush to your side”, he indicated to the side where I could see Sheeno staring at me.
“Yessir! And thank you”, I honestly said, accepting his proposal and getting up.
“You’re welcome”, he said with a smile before rushing off.
You’re welcome!