***Nomad's Command Bridge – Elhort, Evenguar's Domain***

***Angrod***

As soon as I had Evenguar's arm restored, I gave the marching orders for our army. We took the Nomad and a good number of our best men. Tanja and Nicosar joined us on this campaign, together with Sven who is in charge of the troops and Samuel who commands the flying fortress.

That's why I am not sitting in the command chair for once, but standing beside it while my childhood friend has the honour of commanding the Nomad.

I study the main screen which shows the planet beneath us. The surface is one big forest with lakes and mountains, valleys and rivers. There are no oceans which strikes me as unnatural. I harbour the strong suspicion that Evenguar had a hand in shaping this world's geography and biosphere.

According to our database, the main population of Evenguar consists of elves, dryads and other races who are culturally and physically strongly connected to nature. Evenguar apparently built his own little paradise of nature – or at least what he perceives to be paradise.

Personally, I could do with an ocean or two.

It's still a beautiful world.

The side of the planet which we are interested in is bathed in darkness. Night has settled in and the larger cities are clearly visible on the planet's surface. Little specks of light cover the forest in even patterns.

The sight would be mesmerizing if it weren't for one dark spot on the map, spreading out like a tumour that's wringing the life out of its host.

Evenguar informed us that there are several cities with nothing left alive and our mana detection system confirms this. There is something like an epicentre from which the dead zone is spreading outwards.

The dead zone is larger than Evenguar reported it to be, so I assume that it is growing rapidly as the Calamity’s fiends conquer town after town. According to Evenguar, war is not unknown in his world, but the mortals are not capable of standing against this threat.

I point towards the main screen. “Someone else thinks the same thing as me?”

“There seems to be something like a source,” Tanja points out.

“Then let's wipe it out with our weaponry and clean up the rest.” Celes tilts her head while she studies something on the console next to her.

Nicosar shakes his head and points at the main screen. “I suggest to go down there and to investigate with a small team. If we use the heavy arms first, we may not find out the cause behind this. We would be as clueless as before. Right now, the Nomad seems to be safe in orbit, which gives us the opportunity to gather intelligence.”

I scratch my cheek while pondering the situation. “You may be right. Information is always important. And if we use the big guns first, there wouldn’t be much left to investigate afterwards. But there is something else that bothers me about this.

“Our enemies are keeping their heads down, even though I don’t think that they are as weakened as they want us to believe. We may have taken the Crystal City from them, but who puts all his eggs into one basket? Then there was this little episode with Elsaria and now this.” I gesture at the screen. “Little annoyances which don’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. If they have a way to flood entire planets with an invasion force, then why aren’t they doing it in several places at once?”

I grunt, feeling like someone is playing games with me. “They are poking us with a stick, trying to find a way of attacking us without committing to anything.”

Saving the world isn't as important as getting a clue of what the Council is up to. By going down there ourselves we will delay the end of this invasion. The mortals will pay with their lives and our people will pay with their memories. It may be harsh, but one world of mortals in exchange for the possibility to get a clue on the Council's whereabouts? I would take that deal any time.

“Then we go down there and investigate it.” Celes grins at us and corrects her combat armour.

“Hmmm. Yeah, it looks like there is a cave system beneath the dead zone. Our sensors don’t pick up anything aside from dead forest above. Just nuking the planet would leave us as clueless as before, but we can hit them with something less destructive. If nobody has objections, we will wipe the surface clean of any opposition,” Samuel comments and starts giving orders for a small team of elites to gather.

“If they have something they want to protect, then it is down in the caves anyway,” Tanja gives her approval. “Just don’t hit them directly, or the caves might collapse anyway.”

Meanwhile, the Nomad starts bombarding the ravaged cities with conventional weapons. Regardless, to the mortals it must look like Armageddon is upon them.

I watch as huge explosions start blooming within the dead zone, wondering if this course of attack will slow the Calamitys’ progress.

It takes a few minutes to get confirmation from our troops that ground zero is firmly in our hands. Five minutes later, we are down on the planet in our combat gear.

There are Celes, Tanja, Nicosar, five guards, and me.

All of the guards who are accompanying us are close combat specialists, hand-picked by Nicosar.

The forest around us is destroyed, the trees splintered and broken by the concussive waves of a kinetic bombardment. But the vegetation was already dead and dry before that.

We landed just a few hundred metres away from the supposed epicentre.

According to Evenguar's description, the Calamity’s fiends are humanoid, oozing a black substance from all over their body, and oddly deformed with many claws and teeth. The description comes close to the guardians which we encountered at the Sphere of Sight in the Crystal City.

Evenguar informed us that the fiends weren't very strong compared to a god. He slew several of them, but they there were countless and they always attacked in groups, not caring for their own existence. Only the fact that they could effortlessly bypass his godly aura ultimately forced him to admit defeat.

“We have to head in this direction.” One of the guards takes the lead and stomps off towards our destination, brandishing his sword and shield as if he is hoping for a good fight.

Our group advances at a steady pace through the destroyed forest. There is some remaining brushwood, but the guard is clearing it with long heavy cleaves of his crystal sword. I never would have imagined that one of my godly weapons would end up as a gardening tool!

“RWARRR!” Suddenly three ‘things’ jump out of the crown of a tree, landing close to our group.

They start storming in our direction while waving their claws. Claws and teeth everywhere...

They come directly out of one of my nightmares, giving me a sudden flashback to when I was a little child and fell into an adult Razorclaw’s cage!

“Kyaaa!” Before I can comprehend the situation, I wave my staff at those ‘somethings’ which shouldn't exist in this world, incinerating them and a huuuuge area behind them with a cone of unguided chaos magic, leaving nothing but sizzling earth.

I can take a Razorclaw – I even have one as a pet – and I can take those ‘things’, but combine the two together…

“What was that?” Celes arches an eyebrow and tilts her head while looking at me.

I steady myself and try to regain my composure, back to perfect manliness. “I changed my mind. I don't need to take a close look at those things.”

My grandfather purses his lips. “I think she meant that girly scream of yours.”

Shut up, geezer! “I fell into that pit with the Razorclaws inside, remember? I may have a little phobia of things with too many teeth and claws. Seriously, why can’t this infection stick to humans? Taking over the local fauna is just too much.”

At that moment, another bad rumour about me was born as the guards started to whisper among each other.

In the distance, a huge tree which was clipped by my haphazard spell crumbles to the ground, losing its fight against gravity, and the fire slowly spreads out to the rest of the dead forest.

“That was when you were a little kid!” Tanja complains.

“It was still a formative experience for me! One moment! Why do you know about that! We didn't even know each other at that time and I never talked about it!” I throw an inquisitive look at Tanja who starts fiddling with her fingers.

“Ahem... you see... My family wasn't completely uninvolved in that event, spies and all. But your mother found out and we changed sides afterwards. Please forgive me for not telling. I thought your mother informed you. It was just a badly paid assignment at that time – as my parents told me. And when your mother suddenly turned up at our main house and went on a rampage… let’s just say that we learned the hard way which side is the right one!” Tanja bows down to us with pearls of sweat on her forehead.

Just what did my mother do to them? If I think back to those times, she was pretty protective of me back then. Didn't she say once that any assassin who touched her family would wish to be never born? I am honestly surprised that Tanja’s people still exist.

“Anyway. Your spell saved us the time to search, your majesty. It looks like you wiped out the guards for the entrance.” One of the guards points towards a big hole in the ground. It was freed of the brushwood by my spell.

We carefully walk closer to the ominous cave and I throw a glance down into it. It's a long tunnel and the end is not in sight. After a few metres, it loses itself in darkness.

“Whohoo. That feels like a dungeon! Aaah. Those good old times when you went on quests and tried to save the world,” Celes chuckles and jumps down into the hole without waiting for us.

Is that her viewpoint on the matter? Back when I was a normal reincarnating immortal and ended up in a fantasy world with dungeons and heroes, I always almost puked. Those are the worst of places. Who in his right mind would crawl down into a dark and dangerous maze out of his own free will? Power and riches can be earned more easily by staying at home!

“Can't be helped. Let's go down there and see for ourselves where the fiends come from.” Nicosar jumps down into the hole.

One after the other, we follow to explore the darkness.

I light the way with a light-spell, surrounding the group with spheres of light which follow us automatically.

The tunnel is relatively broad and leads us at a steady angle down into the earth. From the left to the right wall, there are about ten metres of space. The walls look like they were scratched out of the stone. It gives me shivers if I imagine hundreds or thousands of those creatures digging this tunnel with their claws.

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After a few minutes of walking the tunnel splits into two. “Great. Now we can choose to split up or to stay together,” Celes complains.

I don't really want to split the group down here.

“What disturbs me more is that there is nobody down here. Just those things at the entrance,” Nicosar points out. “It feels like they are preparing a trap.”

After looking down both tunnels, I think of the smartest possible solution. Should I try to scry both tunnels with magic?

“Psst. You hear that?” Celes points a finger down the tunnel to our right.

The whole group falls silent and I can finally hear it too. Are those screams? Of people?

I start walking in the direction of the screams. “The right tunnel it is.”

The others follow me without objections.

We advance for another five minutes when I suddenly see fiends coming out of the darkness. I ready my staff and send a fireball into them as a greeting. Surprisingly enough, two of them get blasted to smithereens without so much as a squeak.

Weren’t they supposed to be immune against normal magic? Are those weaker versions?

The others just strive forward undisturbed by the death of two of their comrades. It's an unending wall of claws and teeth! And then they start running, apparently not having lost their disregard for the death of their own.

The others make a stance beside me and seconds later those things are all around us. I strike one of the monsters to the ground while another starts gnawing on my shoulder. Thankfully, the armour is protecting me.

I cover my left hand in magical energy and strike it into the thing where the heart should be. It lets go of my shoulder and starts wriggling on the ground. But it is still alive!

One of the guards gets tackled to the ground by five of the monsters at the same time.

I jump to his aide, hoping that his armour is enough to protect him from serious injuries.

Swinging my staff, I wipe one of the monsters off of him. He kicks another away and casts an Ice Lance spell at a third, nailing it to a wall.

Next, I try to invade the mind of the things, but I slip off like from a solid wall of glass. Either they aren't thinking at all or their mental resistance is extraordinary.

The guard kicks the fourth fiend, the chest denting in with an unhealthy crack. Having just one opponent left, the guard grabs the creature’s head in a contest of strength and twists it off like plucking a flower.

They may be able to ignore a god’s defensive aura, but apparently, that doesn’t account for the body-enhancing effect.

Something jumps at me from the side and I go down. A huge jaw is suddenly right in my face and I grab it in order to stop the thing from biting my head off. Then I realize the closing hole in its chest. It is the same creature which I skewered just moments ago! They heal that quickly?

“Try to dismember them or they will get up again!” Tanja's voice echoes through the tunnel.

Great! I redirect the flow of my mana to empower my muscles and tear the jaw of the monster apart, overextending the joint until there is the sweet pop of tendons. That done, I twist its head off as the guard did seconds ago.

“Arrgh!” A scream from Nicosar echoes through the hall, but I have problems of my own. Another three of the things are confronting me when I get up.

They jump simultaneously and I grab all three of them out of the air with telekinesis. It should be an easy task, but it feels like a huge effort for no apparent reason.

Activating my mana sight, I realize that one of the monsters feeds off the mana around it. Are the other two weaker versions? Every ounce of mana I use to hold them in place just adds to their food.

I grab my staff tighter and instruct the runes on it to rearrange, transforming the weapon into a halberd. The weapon doesn't use mana offensively now. Instead, it will use its passive function to absorb mana.

Swinging it in a wide arc, I behead all three fiends who are still immobilized by my telekinesis. Letting go of them, I allow the creatures to fall to the ground. I eye the dead bodies suspiciously but it doesn't look like they will regenerate after the staff absorbed their energy.

The absorbing function of my weapon robbed them of their mana. “Switch your weapons to mana absorption instead of using them offensively! We are just feeding them the energy to repair themselves!”

Then I get jumped by a new pack of fiends and the fight continues as ever more creatures stream out of the dark tunnel. Most of them are humanoid, former denizens of this world, but some seem to be converted wild-life which is somewhat disconcerting. Does this mean that our opponent found a way to spread through beings without a soul?

Once again I call upon my divinity and allow it to shape my power, throwing chaotic energies down the tunnel which seems to birth an endless supply of these creatures. A few moments later, there are no fiends left and I look around to check on our state. One injured guard, an injured Nicosar and an almost dead guard is the price we had to pay in order to learn a lesson against these monsters.

I kneel down beside the guard who got jumped by multiple enemies. The things had time to find some weak points in his armour and bit and stabbed into them. I try to cast healing magic on him but it doesn't work. The wounds inflicted by those things seem to affect the soul.

“Doesn't look good for me, eh?” The guard tries to smile but spurts blood from his mouth instead.

“You don't have to worry. We won't leave your soul in a place like this.” I concentrate and anchor his soul to his body. Then I wave to the other injured guard. “Take him back to the Nomad and report the current situation. They can only use the weapons which don’t use mana to attack. Rely on pure physics and activate the energy drain functions! Everything else just feeds those things!”

The guard nods and grabs his heavily injured comrade to teleport away.

Then I take a look at Nicosar who is curiously eyeing the evil-looking cut on his left thigh. One of the fiends managed to break through the armour. Luckily, it seems to be just a flesh wound. The fiend didn't get deep enough.

“It isn't healing?” Nicosar stabs a finger into the wound like not believing it really exists. “I had no problem with healing the wounds from the guardians at the Sphere of Sight!”

“No way! The immortal geezer got damaged by a critter!” Celes smirks at him. “Maybe it’s time for you to learn to dodge.”

Then her expression turns serious. “Joke aside, please avoid more injuries. My resistance potion can be overwhelmed if there is too much corruption at once. And it seems like these things were improved in some way. Although, some of them appear to be different from the others.”

I purse my lips at the sight of the dissolving creatures. “She is right, Nicosar. I suggest you be more careful with those things. They injure not only the physical world with their claws but the soul. These are definitely different from those we encountered earlier. You need to go back too?”

“You can’t tell me to abort the mission now.” Nicosar shakes his head. “The cut just looks nasty, but it is just a minor surface wound. It just surprised me because it hurt so much. I never felt pain like that before.” He points down the tunnel. “If those things are evolving, or there are simply many different types, then it is imperative that we learn more.”

“Then let’s go on and conquer this stupid tunnel. Now that we know how to keep them down it will be easier.” Celes leads the way and we follow her. Only that this time, we advance more carefully.

Getting jumped by such a large group of those monsters wasn't funny even though they were individually weak. They had numbers on their side and they didn't have the good manners to wait for us to finish our fights. They just came at us like a pack of rabid dogs.

After another curve of the tunnel, we arrive in a big open cavern. There are dozens of fiends and in the middle of them is a shiny, spinning sphere – which reminds me a little too much of the Sphere of Sight.

Multiple elves, dryads and other mortals are held in stone prisons at the walls of the cavern. An elven male is lying twitching under the sphere while spikes and claws break through his skin and he slowly turns into one of the monsters.

Probably it was his scream which we heard earlier when we had to decide for a direction.

“By the gods!” Nicosar curses, raising his sword.

“That's a second Sphere of Sight!?” Tanja exclaims, just as flabbergasted as me that there are two of the cursed artefacts.

I twirl my halberd with grim resolve and walk forward while readying my spells. “They connect to the Calamity through the Sphere to create those monsters! If we take care of the Sphere, their reproduction will be hampered.”

“They can still make more of them with the disease,” my wife points out.

“Yes, but I bet that those who were created by the disease are the inferior versions. Otherwise, they would have taken an artefact as valuable as a Sphere away from here,” I explain, walking deeper into the cavern.

The fiends waste no more time and rush us. Celes jumps up and runs across the ceiling, heading directly into the midst of them. Waving her open palm, two monsters are blown apart by the shockwave.

I don't waste time and throw my halberd at the new Sphere like a spear. It impacts and the artefact is blown apart into thousands of shards as if it were an inferior version to the Sphere in the Crystal City. Then I realize that this one wasn’t made out of Mana Crystal.

For a second, the Calamity's fiends waver as if they just lost something important.

At a gesture, the halberd returns to my hand and the remaining fiends continue their charge.

Another wild melee fight evolves. But this time it is a different story. We already know how to keep our enemies down.

Celes jumps into the centre of the action and I support her by throwing rocks at the monsters. With my telekinesis, I only have to accelerate my projectiles and draw back my power before the fiends can leech on it.

Then I realize that Tanja is in a tight situation with multiple fiends surrounding her.

At a gesture of my hand, I detach the crystal blades which are incorporated into my armour, deciding that now is not the time to hold back. The spinning blades cut into the group which is surrounding my friend.

I know that this won’t kill them but it will paralyse them long enough for Tanja to solve the situation.

Another creature jumps at me but gets cleanly cut in half by a guard with his two-handed axe. I nod at him and concentrate to guide my blades, cleaning out a safe area for our group.

As soon as the ranks of the fiends are broken, the fight is not as tight as before. The fiends may have superior numbers, but now my friends have their backs free. The fight concludes with a cavern full of minced creatures and a few mortals staring at us with big eyes.

There are about twenty prisoners left. Though the cells throughout the cavern should give enough space for hundreds of people. Did the servants of the Calamity cart prisoners to this place in order to turn them?

“Thank you so much for saving us, Lord.” An elven male bows to us from his spot inside his prison cell.

“What happened here,” Celes asks.

“I was doing my everyday work when these monsters appeared. They herded us into their lair and locked us into these cells. And then this nightmare started. People were turned into monsters by the sphere and left the cavern. From time to time the monsters would bring in new prisoners. At some point, no new prisoners were brought and our numbers started to dwindle,” an almost naked dryad gives us her story.

I gesture for the guards to free the mortals.

Then I kneel down beside one of the dead monsters, but I feel nothing from it. It's like earlier, just an empty shell. Probably they really are just agents for the Calamity to gather souls.

“Fair maiden! Could I hear the names of our saviours.” The freed elven male from earlier turns his attention to Celes with a sweet voice.

My wife almost bursts out into laughter.

“Fair maiden… she is neither fair nor a maiden,” I grumble, but I guess it is normal for mortals to mistake us. Celes stopped her ageing process somewhere at twenty-five. Nicosar preferred to keep his geezer appearance even as a god.

The elven male gets disgusted looks by the female prisoners.

“Don't even try. You aren't even worth the dirt on my shoes, little mortal.” Celes dismissively waves at the guy.

“Only the high god Evenguar would call an elf a mortal. From which race are you people by the way? I have never heard of folk with horns before,” the dryad raises her voice again.

“We are gods, just like your Evenguar. Our ilk comes in many different packages. He begged us for help in order to save this puny world.” One of our guards proves to have a loose tongue, causing the prisoners to draw in sharp breaths.

“Let's get going, I don't want to camp down here overnight.” Tanja urges the group towards the entrance from which we came.

On our way to the surface, the male mortals keep pestering Celes with their gazes. Even the female prisoners join in. Halfway to the exit Celes can't keep calm any more and snaps at the mortals. “What's up with you!? Never seen a woman before!?”

One of the women blushes and apologizes to Celes. “We are sorry. But you are all so different from what we always imagined about gods. And you look so beautiful!”

“Yes! I would actually like to go out with you! You are the finest woman I have ever seen.” One of the male prisoners adds, clearly losing to my wife’s charm.

Celes turns to look at him, then puffs out her cheeks and bends over.

“Blleeergh!”

As if looking at the guy was the cause, Celes barfs all over the floor.

The group stops as a whole, stunned, and I turn to assist Celes. I didn’t say anything about the mortals since they are insignificant, but if Celes is sick it is a different story.

Celes spits on the floor and turns on the mortals. “What? Never seen a pregnant woman before?”

Her comment is as shocking to the mortals as it is to me.

I jump to her side. “What are you saying, sugar!? Why didn't you tell me? And why did you go to battle in that state?”

“Shut up, husband. I only found out recently and being pregnant isn't a sickness where you have to refrain from moving and stay inside!” Celes snaps at me.

I know better than to object to her.

“Pregnant?" One of the disillusioned prisoners breaks the silence.

"A God?"

"Husband?”

“Hush! Idiots! Where do you think little gods come from!? Did you think they just pop into existence! Stupid mortals!” Celes barks at them and turns to me. “Just let’s hurry and get to the surface. Better yet, let’s take a pathway, I am done with this.”

Actually, they do kind of just pop into existence… It's only recently that gods are actually born. But I don't care to explain that to the shocked mortals. Evenguar will have quite some explaining to do if his world survives, based on how complex his religion is.

That’s when I notice a flash of light behind Celes, originating from the mortal who showed a little too much interest in her.

Celes and I react instinctively.

I summon a shield and my wife tries to dodge to the side, but not before the crystal spear which appeared in the mortal’s hands stabs through my shield as if it wasn’t there and cuts deep into her shoulder.

Celes’ scream of agony makes me abandon all restraint as I impale the mortal with my weapon. Stepping forward to rip the god-slayer out of his hands and hurl the corpse down the tunnel. A weapon of my own creation which I thought lost, a weapon that was used to slay Myrm and myself in our final battle was just used to hurt her once more. It was the same with the dagger, only that this time it worked.

Returning my attention to my wife, I find her unconscious on the ground. “Celes!”