Chapter 256

Chapter 256

Chapter 256

Retesh Vorath’s unnatural, fleshy organs curled and unfurled randomly across his bones as the undead lich called a black mist from the ocean around him and flung the cloud at his pursuers.

Judith Marcina’s golden wings pulsed with energy, encompassing her in a shield of white light that let her rip through the cloud of necrotic gasses to tear her flaming sword through Retesh’s mount - cleaving off a wing of the large drake in a single go.

The two other undead drakes on either side of Retesh screamed in rage as their brother let out a cry of pain and started spiraling downwards towards the sea below, where an even more violent battle between the merpeople and his fleet of black ships were taking place. Explosions of water and death, ice and storm, plague and rot all ripped and tore across the waves far below; while giant sea creatures - both living and dead - ripped and bit at one another frantically.

Retesh cursed as Judith’s high pitched laughter rang clear through the clouds, and the two drakes on either side of him diverted their attention to attack the angelic bitch as he summoned dark tendrils of death mana to his bony fingers.

“Artun Regles Unimor!” He hissed while performing the needed hand gestures, still spinning out of control but barely able to manage the spell.

The tendrils tore out of his hands and grasped at the severed wing of the skeletal beast he rode on. Reeling it back in, the wing was forcefully reattached and the drake quickly reoriented itself about a hundred yards up.

The eyes of a giant kraken pet of the merpeople glared up at him from the frothing sea underneath him, promising him a quick demise if he let himself climb too low, and the explosion of another black galley made him wince. Winged nephilim in the sky battled undead gargoyles of his make, one of the drakes he’d raised into undeath exploded in an echo of celestial power to fall past him, and his hands trembled at the realization that he might actually die here.

These undead were monsters to the merpeople , and to Judith’s forces. To them, the undead were creatures to be purged. But to Retesh, these udnead were just as eager to pursue a fulfilling life as any of those who would want to purge his kind. They were his brothers and sisters, his sons and daughters, and they were being slaughtered for no more reason than for merely existing. Just like on his last world before he’d been placed here on Panu, the living would never understand him or his people - and thus he would make them pay in the end.

If he survived this fight.

He screamed out in rage and pulled a medium-length stone staff off his back, causing it to light up with bright teal lights before turning back around at the incoming vengeful presences behind him.

Three high level nephilim decked out in valkyrie attire were gaining speed alongside Judith, swordings and wings aflame, and Retesh spat before holding his weapon aloft.ViiSiit novelbi/n(.)c/(o)m for latest novels

“YOU MAY HAVE WON THIS BATTLE, BUT IT IS I WHO WILL BE LAUGHING IN THE END WHEN I USE YOUR CORPSES AS SOLDIERS IN MY ARMY IN MONTHS TO COME!”

Judith summoned spears of white lightning that pulsed and snapped across the sky, only to meet an orb of death mana that deflected the blow. The explosion caused a cloud of conflicting energies to roil up into a blinding cloud, and Retesh used that moment to shatter the stone staff in his hand.

He flung the shattered remnants of the object behind him in the path of his pursuers while using his own life force to infuse more power into the mount he rode on. The drake underneath him doubled its speed in an instant, then pulsed into even faster speeds with a sonic boom, and the sky illuminated with a blinding flash of teal behind him.

Using a series of hand gestures to camouflage his escape, and keeping his course straight for Brightsville across the ocean, the guilt he felt for leaving his soldiers behind began to build.

“I am sorry.” Retesh whispered, enraged - perhaps hypocritically - at the culling of his people, but he kept his head down and his mind set. “Brethren, you will be avenged.”

***

[System Message from the Elysium Administrator:

Integrating planet: Panu - has been deemed lopsided during its integration phase. Key outliers noted x5. Stagnation of participants is highly likely. Parameters have been changed to encourage growth. Changes are as follows:

The Original Sin of Greed has been allowed to send a single agent to Panu in direct opposition to Gluttony.

World Quest total time limits have been expedited. Time limit is now set to 3 years total before integration ends. All time limits concerning quests and sub quests related to the World Quests of Panu have been reduced and expedited as well.

They both silently bowed, but returned her smile in turn.

She gestured to the two younglings, and allowed them to join her at the railing where she and General Viku were watching the marching columns of soldiers come into play. She snorted when she saw the untrained thousands of sarak being herded onto the fields, where vampiric commanders were - for the very first time - going to allow them to pick up weapons for training in what would soon become the first true soldiers the sarak had seen since this world had been conquered.

“As leaders of this expedition, you must realize that you may not return to the empire - even if you win.” High Queen Nephridi stated solemnly, glancing at both Crendir and Kathrine with a sigh. “We can only hope that Gluttony and my great grandson will decide to incorporate themselves into the empire through a show of goodwill, even despite what we nearly did to Allie not long ago. It will be your job to maintain as good of a connection with the Wraithtide siblings as possible, to convince Riven to establish the gate when the fight is over, and - without question - to eliminate all other outside forces during the integration. Help them complete the world quests, and dominate the planet. But above all, gaining Riven’s approval and convincing him to join The Blood Moon Requiem is of utmost importance.”

Kathrine, who’d kept her lips pursed this entire time, gave a hesitant frown. “I was under the impression he was already a prince of the empire?”

The queen chuckled. “He is. Again, we nearly stripped his sister of her prophetic abilities... I just want to be especially careful around this situation now, and to maintain our expectations of him - rather than lose him entirely. Usually with an heir of royal blood that has the gift of malignant prophecy, if they strayed - we’d just capture them. Or kill them, to keep the bloodline in our hands. However, now that he is the Reincarnation of Gluttony, it drastically complicates things. In the worst case scenario that I’d never wish upon any of the heirs, capturing or killing him wouldn’t be a viable option unless we wanted to make enemies of numerous demonic factions that would no doubt see that as a declaration of war on them. With the rise of the commandments and the other sins soon to follow, and the eternal war between celestials and demons coming to our doorstep in the next century, we are going to be very sure not to put ourselves in the middle of it.”

A new, older male’s voice called out from the doorway where Kathrine and Crendir had just entered. “Not to mention, it is the will of the founder himself that we try to bring Gluttony’s bonded partner into the flock.”

An aura of power settled down on the balcony as the voice spoke, making everyone there excluding the queen and general feel as if they were swimming in a thick, viscous pool. It wasn’t oppressive or directed at them, thankfully, but most of the onlookers widened their eyes and bowed or even knelt as two esteemed bishops from the Blood God’s domain walked slowly towards High Queen Nephridi to pay their respects.

Each were shirtless, bearing the crimson tattoos of their order, while wearing long flowing skirt-pants and large flat-brim, circular hats that had red drapes covering the faces of each man. They both bowed low, and the high queen returned their bow with one of her own in a reverent stances before all three lifted themselves into straighter positions seconds later.

“It is an honor to host such figures as yourselves, gentlemen.” High Queen Nephridi stated with a pleasant smile. “To grace our trading hub of Vartesh is an honor to all of us. What brings you out of your esteemed halls and to our humble planet, if I may ask?”

One of the priests turned to the other, and the second man chuckled from underneath his red veil. “Come now, Queen Nephridi. Let us not play games. You know why it is we are here, your own bishop no doubt told you of our passage and what we expect to talk about.”

Nephridi raised an eyebrow and gave them an innocent, taken-aback look. “I must say I am unsure of what it is you speak of.”

The bishops stared at her wordlessly.

She sighed. “Fine, you’re correct. But I must ask since you’re here, as it is the most pressing question I have... Will my great granddaughter be forgiven for her transgressions? Or will she still be labeled as...”

Her voice trailed off.

“As an apostate?” The first bishop asked, filling the word in for her. “No, she is forgiven. Speaking of which, we had one of our priestesses actually try to leverage Riven’s child, Gluttony’s child, as a token piece to acquire our forgiveness recently without our knowledge. I thought you should know.”

“Genua’s child? The elf thrall?” Nephridi’s eyes went wide in shock, then her face contorted into a horrified expression. “Did... Did Gluttony take offense?”

The second priest scoffed. “We intervened, apologized, and executed the priestess in front of Genua to make it very clear on our stance, The Blood God’s stance, concerning Gluttony’s progeny. The traitor's head will be sent back to Riven as an apology, and the founder has decided on forgiveness concerning Allie’s status as an apostate. She will be granted leniency, as long as Riven remains a loyal servant of the true path. It is not ideal to let such offenses go, but the benefits outweigh the downsides. I hear that you’ve already assigned our battle priests to the expedition?”

Nephridi nodded. “We have a single unit of battle priests, without masters, from your order in our ranks. Over 100 strong.”

The bishop nodded in approval. “Good. It will be a good opportunity to spread our religion to the frontier, a rare opportunity of expansion indeed. Under your banner, of course.”

The man bowed low again. “I must say that I am rather hungry, and was hoping that I could try some sarak blood while I’m here. I heard it was quite a delicacy. Is that true?”

He shot Jeltuna a glance, and the jarak man stiffened.

Queen Nephridi smiled. “Of course! But please keep in mind that this is Riven’s homeworld, and he has forbidden the slaughter of his slaves in favor of wanting to improve their lives. Ridiculous! I know! But we still wish to honor his wishes, especially now that he has become a reincarnation of original sin.”