by Tj Dixon
“Oh… I thought it felt a bit odd but I’ve never done this before. I’ll release what’s left.” Juliet says and after a moment nods. “That’s better. We cleansed their souls so they can’t reincarnate as goblins. What will they reincarnate as?”
“That depends on who is living on this world at the time but if this is still a Contractian world when they eventually reincarnate they will most likely do so as humans.” I tell her.
“Ok, ready?” Kuro asks impatiently.
“Yes, ready.” I say and Juliet nods.
Kuro shifts us to another goblin encampment. There are about a thousand goblins and no humans this time so I let my soul thief tear through the goblins immediately. Juliet attacks a moment later. A few fireballs are thrown our way but I don’t even bother shielding. Such weak attacks just bounce off our scales and Kuro’s fur. It only takes a few moments to steal the soul of every goblin. Purifying the souls takes longer but I am starting to get used to the unpleasant feeling.
“The goblin souls feel really bad.” Juliet says.
“Why do you think I hate eating them or Kuro refuses to?” I ask.
“I knew they wouldn’t be pleasant but I didn’t think they’d be this bad. I feel sick.” Juliet says.
“You’ll get used to it, but don’t take too many at once or you really will get sick.” I tell her.
“But you’re taking lots more than me.” Juliet complains.
“I have a lot more experience stealing and absorbing souls than you do. I almost managed to steal Azrael’s soul once.” I tell her.
“Was he too strong?” Juliet asks.
“No. The old queen interrupted us.” I tell her.
“Ready?” Kuro asks.
“Yes.” I answer and Kuro shifts us without waiting for Juliet to respond.
There are a few dozen humans this time so I start off with divine flames. Surprisingly one of the humans, a black haired woman in silky black mage robes, manages to shield but Kuro charges her and tears her heart from her chest. Kuro then proceeds to eat it whilst the woman’s soul is still leaving her corpse. The surrounding goblins throw lightning, fireballs and huge rocks at Kuro but Kuro shields herself. There are about twenty thousand goblins but most of them haven’t yet realised what is happening.
With no time to waste I send soul thief amongst the goblins tearing out every goblin soul in just a few seconds. The surge of dirty souls almost overwhelms me but I manage to purify enough before the poisonous effect corrupts my own soul. I then work hard for at least a minute purifying and draining the remaining souls before finally releasing what is left of them.
“This many may even form a nature spirit.” Kuro says with a grin.
“Warn us first if there are that many goblins. They almost corrupted my soul.” I complain.
“The other goblin armies on this world are all smaller. The only enemy army that is bigger is the human army around the capital. Most of the human armies are probably stronger though.” Kuro tells me.
“We’re only fighting the goblins for now.” I remind her.
“I know. How is your mana reserve now though?” Kuro asks.
“Goblin souls aren’t as rich as human souls, but I still feel a lot more powerful.” I tell Kuro.
“Ready for some more?” Kuro asks.
“Yes.” I agree and Kuro shifts us into the middle of a couple of thousand goblins. There are no humans so Juliet and I both attack instantly. The enemy are dead before they even realise they are under attack so we don’t have to shield. The hard part as always is purifying their souls. It doesn’t feel so bad though, after having managed to purify so many last time.
“I’m feeling stronger too now.” Juliet says.
“You’d better be.” Kuro says with a glare. “I’d hate to be dragging along a total waste.”
“There’s no need to be like that, Kuro.” I say reproachfully.
“Ready for some more?” Kuro asks me happily, completely ignoring what I just said.
“Yes.” I agree.
Kuro ports us into the middle of a small group of five hundred or so goblins. We ignore the few weak fireballs that the goblins send at us. I let Juliet attack first so she has a chance to get some power. I do attack with soul thief after a few moments though, because even this few goblin souls would probably be too much for Juliet until she gains a bit more power.
“Ready?” Kuro asks.
“Yes.” I agree and she shifts us again.
We’re in the middle of a group of goblins as usual but in front of us is a very familiar human girl being held by the throat by a black haired human man. The girl has cool blue shoulder length hair, pale skin and she’s wearing a short skirt with a sleeveless top both made from woven green leaves. Even her shoes are made from green woven leaves. It is of course Elucia.
Dairon lies on the ground beside her and is bleeding from countless cuts. His green shorts and shirt are both torn almost to shreds but that is the least of his worries, because he is close to death. Sakura is floating above him in tears.
With no time for words I raise a divine shield around Dairon, Sakura and Elucia. I cut the man’s hands off with the shield but a moment later I rip his soul out with soul thief. It isn’t just his soul but those of about fifty other human enemies. Juliet has turned her soul stealer lightning on the goblins behind us, but both she and Kuro stare at the human corpses in shock.
“I thought you were hunting goblin souls.” Kuro points out.
“These are my friends.” I tell Kuro pointing at Elucia and Dairon. I send divine healing magic into Dairon’s body before it’s too late. Then I heal Elucia’s throat, which seems to be her only injury.
“Who are you?” Elucia asks rubbing her throat.
“Peter.” I tell her.
“Peter…? No, really, who are you?” Elucia asks.
“Don’t you recognise my voice or my arms, Elucia?” I ask.
“Those arms are dwarven so they don’t prove anything. As for your voice you could just be copying Peter’s voice so that doesn’t prove anything either.” Elucia says.
“If you were my enemy you’d be dead already.” I say with a sigh and then shift us all back to the temple throne room. I send a message to Midori and Hermes through our soul connection. “Come to the throne room with Rin. Elucia and Dairon are here.”
“We’re taking a break?” Kuro asks.
“I’d better clear things up with my friends. Juliet, why don’t you rest for a while? The strain of purifying all those souls is probably starting to build up because you’re not used to it.” I say.
“Ok. Where can I rest?” Juliet asks.
“Use my room, first room through there.” I say pointing at the illusionary wall. Of course no illusion is going to fool Juliet so as far as she is concerned the illusion may as well not be there.
“Peter!” Midori cries out as she enters the throne room at a run from the main entrance.
“Elucia!” Rin calls out from just behind Midori. They seem to be racing, with Hermes right behind them.
“Rin!” Elucia calls back and runs towards her.
“Peter, how did you break the contract?” Dairon asks.
“I died of course. Then I came back to life using my powers as an arch angel. This body is my real body.” I tell him.
“An arch angel?” Dairon asks incredulously.
“Yes. An arch angel of fire. A fallen arch angel of fire specifically. Not one of Azrael’s fools though. He’s a fallen death angel.” I tell Dairon.
“I’m sure we’ll have lots to discuss, but first perhaps we should pick up the rest of our little group. We left Jenny, Jimmy, the Aer sisters and Sakura’s legion behind when we attacked the enemy.” Dairon says.
“Do you know their location?” I ask.
“Sakura, do you know?” Dairon asks.
“Yes.” Sakura says and then shares a mental image of their location with me.
“I’ll get them now then.” I say and shift to them. S
akura must have warned them because nobody attacks me or raises a shield.
Jenny, Jimmy and the five Aer sisters are all standing by a small campfire in the middle of a snow covered forest clearing wearing leaf woven clothes just like Elucia was. The faeries are floating all over the place but they aren’t trying to hide. Not that they could hide from me, but if they saw me as an enemy they would certainly be trying to hide.
I shift everyone back to the temple without wasting any time on explanations or greetings. I only want to go through this once.
Chapter 7 (Peter)
“So does that explain everything or does anyone have any more questions?” I ask everyone in the throne room.
Kuro is sitting on my lap in cat form whilst I’m sitting on the throne. Everyone else is sitting on chairs that Kuro’s followers brought here for us, except Juliet who decided to rest in my room but is listening to the conversation with magic. The chairs are arranged in a rough circle that includes the throne.
Midori is sitting on my right and Hermes on my left. Beside Hermes are Rin, then her mother, Hinata, Yu Kii, Jenny, Jimmy, the Aer sisters, Dairon with Sakura on his right shoulder and finally Elucia who is of course also next to Midori. The faeries are floating around us just outside the circle of chairs in a broken circle of their own. None of them seem to dare fly over the throne. I can’t really blame them given that two gods are sitting on it.
The elves and faeries look to Dairon. Dairon frowns for a moment before answering for everyone.
“I think that explains what has happened so far, but what do you plan to do now?” Dairon asks.
“I plan to steal as much power as I can from the empire’s goblins. I plan to save my friends at the academy and everyone else there too. I intend to conquer the innermost hell and steal as much power as I can from the demons that live there. Then I intend to defeat Azrael and free the people living under his rule. I’ll need help from both the dwarves and the elves to do that though.” I tell everyone.
“So no big plans for the future then?” Sakura asks with a grin.
“No, just a few odd jobs.” I agree with a smile of my own.
“If you need elven help then you’re going to have to help us too.” Sakura tells me.
“That’s fine. What do you need?” I ask.
“My fellow legates have agreed to accept Dairon as king if he can kill one enemy chosen by each of the legates.” Sakura tells me.
“Who are these enemies?” I ask.
“The most recent was the man who almost killed us, whose hands you cut off with your shield and then stole the soul of.” Sakura answers.
“Oh, does it matter that it wasn’t Dairon who killed him?” I ask.
“As long as he’s dead it’s fine.” Sakura says.
“So who are the others?” I ask.
“One was a goblin but we killed him first. Then there was that damned rabbit. We almost died in the chaos after we killed it. So we’ve killed three of our enemies. That leaves three more but I need to check with the other legates who the next enemy is. They only tell us one at a time.” Sakura says.
“So what’s to stop them naming someone impossible or even an ally?” I ask.
“That would break the contract so they can’t do that.” Sakura tells me confidently.
“Then find out who is next.” I tell her.
“I only obey my king.” Sakura tells me, which prompts Kuro to growl.
“I’d like to know too.” Dairon says.
“Right away, your majesty.” Sakura says and then closes her eyes. We all wait in silence for a few minutes until she reopens them. “Your majesty, the next target is the emperor.”
“I thought they had to be on this world.” Dairon says sounding and looking just as shocked as the rest of us.
“It seems he is on this world at the moment. In fact he is very close.” Sakura tells Dairon.
“Kuro?” I ask.
“Give me a moment.” Kuro says and sniffs a few times. Then she contacts someone with a soul link. After a few more moments she looks up at me very nervously.
“Just how near is he?” I ask.
“The emperor and his six elite personal guards, known as the god slayers, are all standing outside the academy. The academy is surrounded by goblin and human mages who seem to be preparing a ritual.” Kuro tells me.
“I thought you were keeping an eye on the academy!” I protest.
“I got a bit distracted.” Kuro admits.
“Well it seems the emperor really is our enemy. If we manage to kill him, the empire will be in chaos, but if we fail or act too slowly our friends will die.” I say.
“The title god slayer isn’t an empty title.” Kuro warns me.
“I know they have each killed at least one lesser god in single combat, but I have no choice.” I tell her.
“Why are they using their leader against one academy?” Rin asks.
“Probably to draw us out. Between me, Juliet and Kuro we did slaughter tens of thousands of goblins in just a few minutes. If we keep that up the empire will be seriously weakened and Contractia will be able to easily destroy what is left of their forces on this world.” I answer.
“How did you kill that many goblins in just a few minutes?” Rin asks.
“There’s no time to explain. Juliet and Kuro, will you come with me?” I ask.
“Of course.” Juliet answers through a mental link, though only Kuro and I hear her response. A moment later though she is standing behind Hermes having shifted in from my room.
“I will too, but I can’t go easy against an enemy that specialises in killing gods and if you go easy on the enemy the academy will be at risk.” Kuro warns me.
“I know and I have no intention of going easy on the enemy.” I tell her.
“As long as you understand.” Kuro says and then jumps out of my lap and onto the floor.
“Dairon?” I ask.
“Yes, I’ll be coming too.” Dairon agrees.
“I will be leading the legion into this battle, and there had better not be any complaints.” Sakura says glaring around the circle at her fellow faeries. None dare to complain or refuse. I think they are more scared of Sakura than the enemy right now.
“I will come too.” Elucia says.
“Those who are going, please prepare for battle. Everyone else, please leave this room immediately.” I say.
“Are you really taking Elucia?” Rin asks as everyone gets up.
“If she wants to go.” I say.
“Then take me too.” Rin says angrily.
“You’re not strong enough and if we argue now our friends will die.” I tell Rin who looks at Elucia in frustration one last time before leaving without another word.
Everyone who isn’t coming with us has now left the room and those who are going are now inside the empty circle of chairs. Dairon and Elucia stand side by side surrounded by faeries with Sakura still sitting on Dairon’s right shoulder. Juliet is on my left and on my right is Kuro still in her little cat form. It’s easier for Kuro to shift in like this and transform into her giant cat form when we get there.
“Sakura, have your legion use illusions to confuse the enemy. Kuro, once the battle starts shift some of your followers and have them blend in with the illusions. Have them attack to maximise the confusion, but keep them away from us and the elites or they’ll be wiped out. Dairon and Elucia mix in with the illusions and disrupt the ritual if possible. Kuro, Juliet and I will attack the emperor and his elite guards. Everyone, please don’t die. Kuro, shift us there on the count of three. One. Two. Three.” I say.
Kuro shifts us directly behind the enemy. We’re in the ash that used to be a forest. Humans and goblins really do surround the academy and the air is charged with mana from the ritual that they’re performing. The enemy humans are mostly wearing mage robes. The goblins are wearing armour and holding swords or spears.
The enemy leader and his elite guards are obvious because their souls are far stronger th
an that of a normal human. In fact each of their souls rival that of a god. The elite guards are also physically larger than most humans with the shortest being eight feet tall and the tallest almost ten feet tall.
The emperor has an even more powerful soul than his guards but his body is far smaller than a normal human at only two feet tall. He is no child though. His appearance is that of a very old man. His skin is wrinkled and his head is bald. His eyes are white as if he were blind. Based on his soul I would estimate his age at no less than six hundred years but probably closer to seven hundred. His guards are also old men who have lived for centuries but they still maintain youthful bodies.
The emperor and his guards are also the only humans wearing armour or holding swords. The swords are forged from red metal and each of the elite guards is holding one large sword at least nine feet long whereas the leader is holding two swords each about a foot long. The armour is formed of black leather that covers their chest, arms, hands, legs and feet. They each have a red cloth wrapped around their forehead. I can’t sense any enchantments but there is no way in heaven or hell that their armour or weapons aren’t enchanted.
“So this is the Sky Lord and his pet cat that I have heard so much about.” The emperor says in a deep quiet voice that can be heard for miles around thanks to his magic.
I ignore the emperor’s words and attack him with soul thief. As expected he easily repels it with a strange shield. Normal shielding is of course useless but this isn’t a divine or demonic shield. It takes a moment to recognise it for what it is.
“Draconic shielding. In other words, magic immunity. It’s been a while since I came across that.” I say.
“Draconic shielding. Understood.” Juliet says with a grin and jumps into the sky.
As I follow Juliet into the sky Kuro restores her true size, which is larger than the academy. Illusionary mages, monks and warriors appear all around the enemy. Kuro then shifts some of her followers amongst them. I can’t tell where Elucia and Dairon are but they must be there somewhere.
I don’t have time to look at the rest of the battle though, because the six elite guards have all jumped into the air to engage us. They are flying in a double line, so paired up with the pairs in a line that is pointed straight at us. They clearly see two fallen angels as a much greater threat than one lesser god, but to leave their emperor without any elite guards is surprising. Hopefully Kuro will show them just how dangerous a mistake this was. Regardless I am not called the Sky Lord just for show. In the sky I won’t lose.
