All across Emerilia, these cannons were being run out. Behind them were specially trained crews and odd-looking boxes.
***
A few minutes earlier, the Dark Lord was watching the fighting going on in front of him. Around him were his Dark Champions. Every so often he would send them out, to bring back an angel or two to play with.
He used spells so that their screams and pleading could be heard all across Markolm.
He was laughing at the latest one they had acquired when he received a new alert.
With a wave of his hand, he made to dismiss it when another appeared. His eyes widened and then his aura surged as he opened his interface to his hall, taking control of it. It was as if he was there as he passed through the area around his hall.
“You dare attack my hall!” His voice boomed through the air and through his hall. His anger reached new heights as he watched Party Zero, Air, Fire, and Water breaking through his defenses and carving toward his hall.
“Good, very good. You’ve delivered yourselves to my domain. I have wanted to deal with you all for a long time now,” Dark said to himself. He activated the security protocols of his hall and locked it down so that they wouldn’t be able to leave.
With a wave of his hand, a massive spell formation stretched underneath his and his Dark Champion’s feet.
Shadows wrapped around them before they disappeared from the sky, appearing within the Dark Lord’s hall; the shadows that had wrapped around them now disappeared.
The hall shook with explosions and the sounds of fighting from the areas below the main hall. Power surged through the walls, breaking the different protections that had been placed there throughout the ages.
In a flash of gray light, the attackers appeared at the bottom of the hall, facing the Dark Lord and his champions arrayed around his throne.
Down the sides of the hall laid the Dark Lord’s divine wells. A few of them stopped glowing as they were no longer connected to the Dark Lord. Dave, destroying the Magical Circuits, had also destroyed a number of the circuits that linked the wells to the Dark Lord.
“Good. Very good!” the Dark Lord yelled. His rage reached new heights as he raised his hand. A pillar that seemed to suck in the surrounding light lanced outward. It hit a Mana barrier that snapped into existence between different orbs in front of the group.
The pillar’s power cut a line into the surrounding hall, firmly stopped by the Mana barrier.
The Dark Lord’s expression flickered as he felt the aura from Dave more clearly than ever before.
“Why do you have the aura of Neutral?” the Dark Lord asked.
“One could say he’s a friend.” Dave laughed.
“Seems like the old bastard forgot about me,” Fire said. A firestorm appeared around her as she lowered her staff, pointed toward Dark. It shot out from the barrier.
Dark snorted as he once again shot out a Dark pillar from his hand. He could feel Fire’s attack contained a lot less Mana than his did.
When the two attacks met, Dark’s expression changed once again to shock.
Fire’s beam turned into a raging dragon that opened its mouth, eating the black beam; flames exploded within the dragon, converting the Dark Lord’s energy as it rushed forward.
Dark activated a Mana barrier. He had to pour in considerable energy as the now massive dragon hit the barrier.
The hall shook with the power being unleashed. Parts of the roof came apart and fell down as a wave of destruction smashed out from where the barrier and dragon had met.
As soon as the destruction passed, Dark let out a roar and shot forward. Behind him, his Dark Champions and creatures followed, pulling out their weapons and displaying their different fighting techniques.
Party Zero rushed forward as well. The resulting clashes caused shock waves that tore through the hall.
The massive black dragon seemed unstoppable as it unleashed attack after attack on those around it, not caring whether they lived or died. It made it to three of the Mana wells that were unclaimed. It cut its hand and flickered blood over them; in a flash of light, they disappeared into a ring of holding on its hand.
Dark shot power into his people as a scythe appeared in his hands. He brought it down, creating a black arc that struck out at Fire.
Fire snorted and slammed her staff against the ground. Dozens of atronachs and dragons appeared, encircling the Dark Lord.
Water gave a cold cough and his trident struck out, meeting the black scythe.
He coughed out some blood and flew backward, seeming much weaker than before, but the scythe attack had been destroyed.
Air’s flute filled the air, making the champions shake their heads in pain while illusionary figures appeared around Dark.
He cut out wildly in a rage. He was all-powerful, much more powerful than his three siblings. However, the creatures that they had called upon and made were extremely powerful. They surrounded him from every direction and cut off his movement, not allowing him to use a spell as they attacked again and again.
This was one of the weaknesses of the members of the Pantheon who didn’t actually practice magic. To create spells, they needed to rely on the AI, which would take time to do; and if their mind was chaotic, then the AI would have a hard time completing the request.
Jung Lee was pinned down by three of the Dark Champions, all of them sweating as Jung Lee looked over them with an impartial look. His brows pinched together slightly as six spirits appeared around him and then were absorbed by him. Three heads shot up into the sky as Jung Lee looked for his next target; he turned around to see the mutated experiments and creatures that had made it up from the depths of the hall and were now charging the main hall.
Jung Lee flicked the blood off his blade. He shot forward, leaving a crater behind where his foot had been. He cut through the creatures, his blade rushing to and fro, but he was only able to slow their advance. A number of them actually put up a fight that needed him to take more than a few moments to deal with. As more of them arrived, the more powerful creatures started to show up.
“Dave, Lox!” Jung Lee yelled out to the two closest to him.
Lox kicked the man who he was fighting toward Steve, who turned without looking. His axe split them apart before he brought it over his head and met the blade of a giant he was fighting, sending the giant back a few steps.
Dave’s hands flickered as spell formations appeared around the party. Their power increased as the light of his armor flickered somewhat before returning to its silver glory. He pulled out his conjuration rods; from his arms and his hands, a gray smoke erupted, forming into a Gatling gun that Dave held by his side.
He held the trigger down, bracing himself as glowing rounds made streaks of light at the experiments. These rounds exploded with golden light; the weapon was conjuring grand working rounds inside. They were nowhere as powerful as the grand workings that were used by armies to breach walls or by the dwarven artillery. However, they were made to target the weaknesses of the Dark-created creatures. The Light grand workings were a potent acid that ate through their bodies, causing them to cry out in pain.
Dave stood there, guiding the line of fire across the creatures’ front.
Lox’s orbs shot out Mana bolts as they moved around him and he launched grenades from a launcher he’d conjured through his armor.
The creatures were in a state of disorder. Jung Lee rushed up their center; Lox blew up everything in sight to his right, and Dave peppered the almighty shit out of the poor bastards on the left.
Attacks rained around Dave, who wasn’t able to move. His shield orbs rotated around him to create a Mana barrier that sparked with the violent impacts.
Lox was moving around, making it harder to hit him but his armor’s Mana barrier took care of any attacks that came too close for comfort.
Deia and Induca were locked in combat. Deia ran across the ground and her arrows caused shock waves across the hall, tearing up the air as it passed. She d
odged backward in the air and used explosions under her feet to perform acrobatic acts as she loosed arrow after arrow, nearly keeping up with the pace of Dave’s Gatling gun.
Induca called down atronachs as she fought dozens of the champions, trying to take pressure off of Malsour.
Steve and Suzy were right next to Malsour, protecting him as he unraveled the Dark Lord’s control over the divine wells and wrested it away.
Malsour opened his eyes as seven more of the nearly fifty Mana wells came under his command, bringing him to ten in total. His body shuddered as his aura became more powerful; however, the change was only a portion as powerful as Dave’s had been. Only when he controlled them all would he be seen as the new Dark Lord and have the boost that Dave acquired.
“The creature doesn’t know its master!” Boran-al yelled in joy, a look of greed in his eyes as his creatures attacked Steve and he sent binding contract after binding contract at him.
The Mana wells were already cut off from the Dark Lord, so he didn’t notice as Malsour reached out with a claw toward Steve.
Power from the divine wells circulated them before slamming into Steve. His power increased by leaps and bounds; his body started to change and transform, condensing but becoming more powerful as his Devastator armor glowed with powerful runic lines.
Steve let out a roar. His entire body shook with a multicolored glow, like the soul gems his body was made of but much more powerful.
“Suzy is my only master!” Steve barked out. He unleashed an axe attack that killed a dozen of Boran-al’s creatures in one slash, breaking Boran-al’s connection and making the Dark Lord’s Champion cough blood as Suzy’s six Affinity creations used the opening to gain some space around Malsour.
In a flash of silver light, they were teleported to another section of the hall where the divine wells were connected to the Dark Lord and under his control.
Malsour unleashed a powerful attack and created a barrier around himself, Steve, and Suzy as he submerged his mind into the coding placed on the divine wells to break the hold from the Dark Lord.
Feeling the tug of Malsour’s attack, the Dark Lord looked over. His scythe cut through a handful of the creatures that encircled him. Whenever he unleashed an attack beyond the creatures, Water was there to stop him, while Fire and Air continued to harass him with more and more creatures.
He was filled with rage as he whirled around. “Dark sun!” the Dark Lord called out. He stood still for a few seconds, to channel the spell to his AI and then activate it. He hadn’t been able to do the specifics, instead going for as powerful as possible.
His Mana barrier shook and quivered with the impacts of the surrounding creatures, taking a large portion of power just to defend against their attacks.
Air and Fire, seeing him making a spell, didn’t waste any time bringing their most powerful spells to bear; they practiced magic and were able to insta cast.
Massive spell formations appeared around them as the ground shook and a volcano tore up through the areas underneath the hall and into the main hall under Dark’s feet.
The ground above shook. If someone was able to see the southern area of the Densaou Ring of Fire, they would see a massive tornado forming before it burrowed into a mountainside. It cut through everything in its path, not weakening in the slightest as the cutting blades of wind turned everything into dust that shot up into the sky.
The volcano and the tornado smashed together, atop the Dark Lord. His Mana barrier became lighter as the summoned illusory figures and those of flames increased the speed and ferocity of their attacks, using the now Air and Fire Mana-rich air to increase the power of their attacks.
The Dark Lord felt this all going on. He held his concentration as he felt the spell building as power rushed from his divine wells under the guidance of his AI. A black sphere appeared around his chest, pulsating with power, becoming more and more dense as it grew in power. Suddenly it expanded. A shock wave rippled out from where the sphere hit the volcano, creatures, and tornado.
Suzy spat out blood, as did those who were too close or weak to take on the impact of those forces meeting. Fire’s and Air’s faces were contorted as they fought to maintain their spells.
The Mana wells around were draining of energy, powering the Dark sun spell more and more. It seemed to struggle, fighting these opposing forces. The struggle ended and the sphere expanded at an alarming rate.
Everything within a hundred meters was destroyed, including the tornado from above and the volcano from below.
The Dark Lord panted as some of his strength fell away. Already Air and Fire were calling upon more creatures.
Dark looked around with a cold look in his eyes. Dave wasn’t the only person he had sensed a familiar Mana aura coming from. Dark’s eyes latched onto Deia, a chilling smile on his face as he disappeared from where he’d been and appeared next to Deia in a shroud of black smoke.
Dark’s hand reached out and clamped around Deia’s neck. “Seems that Fire really did have a daughter.” Even with the sounds of battle, his voice could be heard throughout the hall. He’d sealed her magic as he stroked Deia’s face, looking toward Fire. “Don’t worry, your mother will be following you soon enough.”
Dark let out a gloating laugh as an aura exploded out among Party Zero. Dark’s eyes went wide. He’d never felt an aura like this before. He turned and looked at Dave. The look of utter rage in Dave’s face made Dark’s heart clench before he started to sneer, his hand tightening around Deia’s throat.
Dave disappeared and reappeared in front of Dark. He slowly closed his hand, he and Deia covered in a Mana barrier so nothing could make it past.
Dark saw a flash of light and then pain, pain he had never felt in his life! He’d never had a bruise, let alone a cut! He had been the one to hurt others! Now he let out a squeal as he looked at where the pain was coming from—his arm. His barrier had been broken and his arm had been cut off, falling downward.
“I’ll kill you!” The Dark Lord charged Dave as both he and Deia disappeared in a flash of gray light.
Deia appeared next to her mother as a blade pierced out from the void, stabbing into the Dark Lord’s back; he cried out in pain as blades came in from different sides.
Dave floated in front of the Dark Lord. Orbs created a circle in front of him that flashed every few seconds, creating a wormhole that Dave stabbed the blade through, piercing the Dark Lord.
The Dark Lord felt his power being drained. Not the power of the divine wells, but his personal power, the power that he had never looked to increase. After all, he was a god; he never had to do anything.
He activated a spell, but nothing happened. “What’s happening?” he yelled out, enraged, in pain and confused.
“Oh, sorry, that’s a Jukal link. When I activate it, I’m seen as Jukal—you know, your masters,” Dave said. As they were in Dark’s hall, no one was able to see inside. Against the Dark Lord, it meant that his divine wells—a Jukal creation—were essentially useless and he couldn’t use any of the power he had saved up.
“No one is my master!” the Dark Lord said, spit colored with blood flying from his mouth.
Dave laughed. The noise sent chills down the spines of those there. He raised a finger and pointed it at the Dark Lord.
“Kneel.” Dave’s voice rebounded through the hall as the Dark Lord’s body folded and he dropped to the ground, kneeling to Dave, a look of shock on his face.
“Good boy. Now you can die,” Dave said.
The Dark Lord let out a scream as his body contorted before exploding.
Dave only looked on with cold eyes. He had changed a lot since coming to Emerilia. He had gained friends, a family, a fiancée, and a daughter.
There was no way for him to save Deia without using tricks that would raise alarm bells with the AI across Emerilia.
His eyes turned to the rest of the Dark Lord’s creations. From him, soul gem constructs rushed out, landing on the divine wells; these unlocked t
he wells within moments and connected them to Malsour, who let out a roar of power.
“Kill those who remain and we’ll head to Markolm!” Dave yelled out.
The Dark Champions looked at the group around them in fear. They had thought themselves unable to feel the emotion anymore.
The group charged forward, fury filling their eyes at coming so close to having lost one of their own again.
Dave disappeared from where he stood. His blade cut through the air in a silver flash.
Boran-al dropped to the ground as his creatures, now without a master, bowed to the ground, not daring to make a noise.
Dave’s hands flashed out, throwing out grenades that would shock the people of Emerilia. A virulent poison Jung Lee had created exploded out among the creatures trying to enter the hall. Jung Lee using the poison instantly increased the deadliness of his attacks.
Lox followed, not having to worry about the poison while in his armor.
After a few moments, Malsour raised his head. His body seemed chaotic, as if there were just energy waiting to explode out. The Dark Champions’ and the experiments’ power sharply declined under his gaze. He smacked the ground. Black pillars shot out of the ground. Instantly the sounds of battle ended as pillars pierced through the Dark Champions and creatures.
Party Zero, as well as the gods, looked around. Seeing that there was no one else to fight, they looked to one another.
“The Jukal have noticed your actions. Depending on reaction times, you can expect them to start moving within the hour.” Anna’s voice came from the air.
“Who is that? It sounded like Anna.” Induca looked upward.
Dave grabbed a Mirror of Communication and pressed a quick call number. It connected a moment later.
“Ready Pandora’s Box,” Dave said.
In front of his eyes screens appeared.
Quest: Defiance
You have foiled the Dark Lord’s plans and used his own power against his creations. He has marked you for revenge. There is only one way to stop a god: you must become one yourself.
The Pantheon Moves Page 33
