Chapter 195

Chapter 195

The prompt was all kinds of messed up. Clearly, I was supposed to know it was an avatar, but whatever these creatures were they were not part of what I could see. As panic descended across our forces, everything changed once again.

Three more massive surges of power rose right before the looming avatar was tackled by three figures half its size.

One of the figures arrived in a beam of black, which didn’t tell me much. But how the other two showed up did. The second black figure arrived in a blur and once its initial form was there, fast-moving flocks of ravens melded into its body, it was the avatar of Shad’ehki. The third figure, despite the distance, I recognized. Elias arrived as a bolt of gray lightning. He was a member of the Order of Equinox that had yelled at me about not reading their book.

Though all three of them were smaller then the avatar of Olattee, they managed to tackle it off the altar, and in a flash, they were gone. The sky filled with crackling bolts of power as the avatars clashed high above the clouds.

Our forces had time to rally just as the power at the top of the altar reached a critical point. Friar Brown noticed the same thing, or must’ve, because there was a burst of silver-white light and I saw a wave of black-and-white figures being tossed in the air as a torrent of power tore through them.

By this point, I was the strongest fighter we had. We needed to get to the top to stop whatever was happening.

Raven showed up just then. “Thoughts?”

I was about to tell her I didn’t know. There wasn’t a simple way to get to the other side. Seemingly understanding what I needed, Agreldo acted. He struck out with a divine eldritch smite that shook the entire plateau. The rocketing wave of energy tossed the black-and-white creatures aside if it didn’t outright kill them. I noticed that the wave wasn’t only eldritch divine power.

When I traced it back, I saw the Dread Thirteen had managed to make their way to where we were. All of them stood around the now exhausted juggernauts. They had given him their power as well.

I charged forward. Mercy was in its staff form, but I kept the eldritch plasma blade. It was too effective against these horrendous monsters to not use it. As I ran, I commanded the hordes of elemental zombies I had created to try and keep the path open. Volleys of eldritch blasts and arrows from my forces assisted me as the grave guard surged to try and widen the gap.

Not only did this provide me a pathway, but perhaps we could split up the horde of black-and-white creatures and destroy them. The friar reached the top of the altar before I reached the first set of stairs. Silver-white light clashed with alternating pure white and pure black as the friar battled with the Pure Heralds. But by the exchanges of power, Friar Brown was not doing well.

As I reached the platform where the three staircases met and merged into one, I saw players had broken through and were charging up as well. I was surprised by their numbers, more had survived than expected. I recognized a few figures, notably Icarus, Aaron, Ezra, and most of their teams.

When I reached the top, the friar’s cart was blasted to splinters, Gus was smashed against a pillar and lay unmoving, and the friar was looking rough. His brown robes were torn, his face marred with a burn, one eye hardly open. I activated the acceleration of my armor and channeled second tier death energy into my body.

Power scorched my body. I felt it tearing at the very essence of what I was, not even just my physical form but deeper. The power even reached through the connection to my phylactery where it burned. It wasn’t a conscious effort on their part, so the trap wouldn’t work. I released another point of second tier death energy. This one as a layer around me to try and protect me.

The two people fighting the friar were clearly brother and sister, there was a family resemblance in their faces, but outside of that they could not be more different.

I spun to the side as a blast of white light seared the air. Friar Brown had not been idle, and silver light hammered into Blaze. The barriers around Blaze flickered, then Umbri stepped out of his shadow and her scepter released a beam of energy that exploded against the friar and sent him flying back. He slammed into a pillar and fell to the ground.

“So, this must be the Lich Theonis was complaining about,” Umbri said, stepping towards me, completely unfazed that I was trying to kill her. I stabbed Mercy straight towards her chest, but the tip was stopped dead by her scepter which she casually held in its path. “You are quite interesting. Never have I heard of a Lich working for the god of balance, that annoying holier than thou prick.”

“And what is your point?” I asked, falling back. I needed to buy time. “Why would you use blood magic?”

“I make no point.” Umbri smiled at me. “Though I guarantee you that death from us will stick. Theonis might’ve fallen for your trap, but even if we were foolish enough to do the same, no vampire will hold us.”

“As far as blood magic goes,” Blaze said, walking to the back edge and gesturing for me to follow. I did, because every moment I wasted, meant my allies could recover and get here. “Blood magic, we found, gives us access to a highly pure form of magic, which we needed for this.”

It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. Beyond the edge of the platform was a pool held at the top of the temple full of blood. The only reason I could tell it was blood was from it dripping off the black-and-white creatures as they rose out of it. So intense was the power contained within, that it crackled through, making the blood appear transparent. Flares of white, black, and red energy constantly lit up the entire pool.

Occasionally one of the flares was bright enough that I could see several arches at the bottom of the pool where the creatures were coming out. But the worst part was the massive arch that was already slowly rising.

“Magnificent, is it not?” Blaze half whispered. “When that big arch is done, beings of immeasurable power will step through, and Olattee will take control of them. He will use their might to purify the world.”

“Imagine it, a perfect world,” Umbri said. “You can even join us. The friar is right in the purity of walking your path.”

“If the friar is right, then why is he your enemy?” I asked. I hope they didn’t notice Friar Brown quietly recovering or Raven lurking in a shadow.

“Because he was not willing to make the sacrifices necessary, we knew he would not, so we never even offered,” Blaze explained.

“You mean become blood magic practitioners?” I demanded. “I don’t blame him for passing, I don’t care if you call it pure, it’s just wrong.”

“That’s rich for you to judge,” Blaze sneered. “Do you think we do not know how you became a Lich?”

“Peace, brother.” Umbri surprised me by seemingly defending me. “It is part of his path. We also believe blood magic is vile, and neither of us would taint ourselves with its use personally, but it is a source of pure power.” She took on a seductive air. “We agreed, once we were done, blood magic will be purged. And these vile creatures we summoned will serve a greater good. We will right wrongs and make the world where both creatures of light and creatures of dark exist in their own unique purity.”

I was glad she was not a succubus, because for a moment her words rang true. Then I remembered how Mercy had been created. Yes, the weapon was wonderful, but if I had the power I would go back and ensure it was never created. It wasn’t the same as what they were doing, but it was similar. I could feel the second tier death energy reaching its end.

“You know, I do see what you’re saying,” I said. I struck with the eldritch blast from my gauntlet straight into Blaze’s face. “But I still think you’re steaming piles of garbage.”Diisscover new chapters at novelhall.com