by Han Yang
Alright the orc was far superior in his fighting than I predicted, it became clear that he was toying with me.
Fair enough.
I didn’t bring up a menu or chant. Instead, I cheated.
I mimicked the once-a-week spell from my healer side. I connected to my skeleton, surging a washing healing into his core.
A black tendril locked between the betrayer and my core, allowing for a constant connection. The foot zoomed back, quickly latching back onto my body.
I turned sideways, giving my opponent an opening.
The ogre snarled, a pleasant joy in his eyes. Ah, he thought he had a victory. I even lowered my shield for his chop at my neck.
Crack!
The bone parted, the massive axe decapitating my skeleton. The head popped up then snapped back into place.
The crowd gasped. I chuckled, enraging the ogre. I repaired the damage from a wall of flame so intense the enemy ogre staggered from exhaustion.
After my fiery bath, he allowed me to walk to the back wall, utterly stunned. The crowd was on their feet, roaring in approval. The invincible skeleton must have been a sight to see.
I snickered, knowing all this was because of their all-powerful King feeding me an excess of mana. When I turned to grab a replacement shield, the enemy ogre lunged.
Clang!
I spun, avoiding his hit, and his weapons smashed off the wall. I picked up a trot, heading to his wall of weapons on the other side of the arena.
The brother pursued with a roar, the heavy thud of footfalls constant.
Instead of stopping, I slowed just enough to keep him hot on my heels. I curved by the magus then proceeded to run for my side again.
I thought most of the crowd hated the move, but I didn’t care. The boos from me running from my foe were deafening. I couldn’t blame them. It made for shitty entertainment.
I had this odd quirk, though - I didn’t like losing.
So, I ran until I finally had a decent lead when I arrived at my pedestal. I stripped the shields off, snatched two maces, and turned to see an exhausted ogre.
“You cheated,” he said between panted breathes.
His chest rose and fell heavily, his eyes filled with rage.
I could tell he was eager for my death.
I tossed the weapons to his feet, confidently striding forward.
The message was clear; do your worst.
The ogre snarled, leaping with a frenzy and power I had expected to have zapped out of his mortal frame by that point. I had to give it to him. His fluid attacks rivaled a master, and he must have summoned his energy from deep within, refusing to give up.
He carved, sliced, diced, kicked, bit, ripped, and stomped my boney frame.
The fight was never a contest between combatants. It was a contest between magus healers. I proved I won when my skeleton stood and the ogre took a knee, his heart likely almost failing him from overexertion.
At least the crowd loved that part.
I reached down, picking up the maces.
The crowd booed when I returned them to their spot on the wall. I grabbed a massive minotaur sized great axe. This – as expected – left my ears ringing from the crowd’s chants of approval.
I approached the ogre who knew death literally knocked on his door. He tried to stand, unwilling to die on his knees. I set the great axe down, grabbing his arm to hoist him up. I even stabilized him teetering before I went back to my weapon.
He nodded in approval, and I figured someone would end the farce, but no one did.
I snatched the weapon off the gravel grit on the ground. The crowd silenced when I cocked the massive axe back until it was high over my head.
The enemy magus stood at the ready; a healer who healed wounds or revived the dead. There would be no healing for the damage I was going to inflict. This wasn’t a skeletal corpse that could glue itself back together.
I grunted and swung so hard my feet left the ground. A green magic burst from the magus, ripping across the distance and onto the ogre even before the blade began to part skull.
Crack!
As expected, the honed edge and power sliced down. The healing tried to fight the damage, but an orb appeared a fraction of a second after the blade bit into the brain.
The healer lost his connection, unable to heal the dead.
The blade continued until the body parted in two, each side toppling a different direction with a wet smack.
I casually walked to the wall, taking the time to properly replace all the weapons. The crowd lost their damn minds, entering a frenzy of cheering and boos. I figured they thought I was going to lose. Oh well. They shouldn’t have bet against me.
Once I cleaned up my mess, I decided to dedicate my win to Caitlyn. I used a boney finger to draw a crude image of my goddess inside a ritual decagon in the rough ground. I had no idea if it would work, as it wasn’t a church, but I wanted to send her my excess magic.
I wasn’t planning on fighting anytime soon, and she could be clearing the island and low on mana. I kneeled before the ten-sided creation.
A silence washed over the arena. The people seemed to understand that something different was about to transpire, bringing both anger and joy. I left my minion and returned to my body.
In a display of flair, I stood on the stump, arms splayed wide.
“We all know the gods are real. We all know the gods need tribute. In Caitlyn’s name, I celebrate this victory, and in her name, I donate this mana,” I said, letting my hands crackle with power.
I saw a connection materialize over the image in front of the ogre. A rent in space formed, bristling angrily and crackling with loud pops that reminded me of exploding transformers.
Uh… Shit.
I grew concerned. The rip in space was not much different than how the portals from Leo had formed on Earth.
Not backing down, I dumped power from me into the portal. A few things happened that I clearly never expected.
I anticipated Caitlyn to be fighting the demons on Earth and for my mana to supercharge her.
Instead, the windowed portal revealed a sight that the entire stadium, myself included gasped at. Caitlyn hung from chains, her body flayed, and her chest hardly moving.
A trio of demons carved her flesh while a fourth healed her just enough to keep her alive. The moment I connected to her body, surging it with power… Well, they noticed. Caitlyn pried a swollen eye open, smirking with glee.
The demons shrieked at my audacity, and I cued into Caitlyn’s needs, pouring excessive mana from me to her.
A tap on my elbow revealed a little girl, no older than eight, standing at my side. She was an elva or maybe a yabbi who wore shiny armor fit for a princess.
That super condensing of time happened again, and I realized that maybe donating to my goddess was a bad idea given she was in a warzone.
“Shit,” I said.
“No, young human. Thank you. Our time of peace has come to an end, and the true war has erupted. We’ve been seeking a way to return those too foolish to retreat in time,” the girl said in a calm and soothing voice.
I glanced down at her in confusion.
“Time is short. They will counter my spell soon, but yours is true devotion and not a spell. They cannot close your opening. I must ask for you to bear the pain and do not let go. All will be explained with time,” the girl said.
“For Caitlyn?”
“For the six thousand against the demonic six hundred gods. You have likely saved her, and I -”
Time resumed, and the crowd drew blades. Even the King readied for war at the sight of the demons and the portal to Earth. Slight problem.
The sky above the arena flared with bright meteors racing down from the heavens.
Boom!
The impact of the falling object created a dust storm that quickly faded from an air spell. Hundreds of gods stood in the arena, their armor glistening with hope. Their might was unquestionable, their brilliance inspiring, and
I realized what I was witnessing – the warring divine.
They didn’t hesitate, charging into the portal.
Each time one of them jumped in, the joy of the transfer of power turned into an increasing pain.
Agony tore through every fiber of my being. In the image that blurred through the pain, I saw enemy green portals instant spawn in reaction.
The enemy torture crew fought the gods, and I was stunned when they didn’t lose to the swarm but instead held their own.
A yeti god crawled back to Nordan Prime, his guts trailing between planets. My vision began to fade as the pain wracked my body.
“Be strong,” a voice whispered.
I cackled madly, or maybe my reaper did. “I told you to never let your guard down. They would always create conflict, and you ignored me. You cast me aside, and now, your numbers dwindle.”
That was the reaper taunting the gods… But why?
I swooned. Adjusting, I drove my knuckles down until I balanced on all fours.
I increased my mana output, pouring it into Caitlyn.
“STRIKE ME!” My reaper cried out to the assembled spectators.
I died. For sure I died, and yet, I lived somehow. I realized through the incredible torment that the King was using the very spell I had used on him. Meanwhile, the power from the assembled minotaurs and spectators blasted into the reaper.
“Feed them all,” the little girl whispered into my ear.
I grunted, “How?”
My mind fought hard to stay out of the blackness. Collective thoughts evaded me, and I merely became a conduit. The raw power coursing through my being brought untold pain. I would never understand how I stayed conscious.
“Wish for all of the six thousand to receive your donation,” she replied.
“By the creator, bless the gods of Nordan and Ostriva, in their name do I bestow this gift!” I cried out, coming off all fours to arch my back.
The flow of power shifted, the stream of tendrils adjusted just from Caitlyn to all the gods. They grew. The cave they fought in became an arena of the divine. The darker demons continued to arrive through their portals.
Explosions ripped the air until the opening I had created faltered. That was the cue for a retreat. Caitlyn was thrown into Nordan, the fighting gods falling back. Those who died were chucked back to Nordan, flashing into the heavens a second later.
I could barely see through the pain, the blinding magic, and the constant green aura that healed me. The amount of shining gods in their finely crafted armor decreased. More and more flew away with the dead once they crossed the threshold.
The biggest of them, an ogre god, held the line and crossed through last.
I wasn’t asked to release the spell or told any instructions. Instead, the little girl reached into my body and squeezed my heart until it exploded.
CHAPTER 72
Xastriban
I found consciousness, and my vision revealed an advancing caravan underneath me. I glanced down at the hundreds of wagons wheeling out of the city and into the farm fields. In the distance, the lead wagons snaked along the road and into the jungle.
Glancing down at my hands, I saw I was a spirit sitting on a floating cloud. The broken and battered body of Caitlyn rested beside me. Beside her, the elva child sat with a warm smile on her face.
“What… What happened?” I asked, my voice firming.
“Short version, because you can’t stay here much longer, is that the creator brought balance. Leo was given three hundred gods while Earth earned three hundred gods, each starting their own journey of competing on Earth Prime and Leo Prime.
“Gillin - the AI planet, and Gearnix - the steampunk planet, are off limits, and very well may have their own gods created at some point.
“I honestly don’t know. However, the six warned us. Of course, they didn’t let us tell the mortals or reveal an exact date. They merely said a second wave of gods were coming into existence. The warning itself, well, don’t live on Leo or Earth. We have lost seventeen gods since the new creations came into being. Seventeen mortals waiting to become gods were given a chance at creating a whole new mess,” the girl said with a frustrated sigh.
“What? That is how it works? You wait in line to get called up to the big leagues?” I asked.
She winced with a terse nod. “Sort of, and it's not the almighty champions ascending to become actual gods. It's more or less the right kind of soul. Anyway, you directly gifted mana - which odd thing to do by the way - and you opened a portal. This was the first instance where we could strike back. We failed. Our power is nothing compared to the demonic gods, and it just means we need to prepare better and learn from our lessons. All because of you,” the girl said neatly folding her hands in her lap. She smiled like an amused teacher rewarding a student for answering a question right.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“Terfi, currently the fourth ranked god, and the least obsessed with ranking. I’m a farmer. I always have been, and I believe through creation, instead of destruction, we can achieve the most success. That is not a view shared by many. Orig, King Hartiger’s god, and the ogre you saw in the skirmish, is akin to my thinking while still enjoying war,” Terfi said with a shrug of indifference.
“I had no idea you were going to be fighting each other,” I muttered.
“Our entertainment was never the goal, merely the trial run. We only know so much, and Zozo said I can fill you in on what we know, so you can spread the word. Worshipping and donating to the gods has never been more potent or needed than now.”
“If I fed her so much power, why is she still a mess?” I asked.
“Ah, the girl is silly. She figured out what you were doing. You concluded she needed mana to fight. Remember the dream you had? We’ve all seen that one.” She noticed my confusion. “Sorry, it came as a dream to us. You saw it after a death. We all saw Caitlyn exhaust her power and become limited on Earth.
“That rocked our reality pretty hard, and you did exactly what she needed. Yeah, she could have smitten… smote… screw it - killed a demon god. Instead, she created a separate ghoulish pit for two souls. Your parents are stuck under Earth’s surface but capable of being revived and sent here if a goddess is willing to brave the risks.”
I shook my head sadly. “She used my power to keep her option open to honor our bargain. Silly, but I’m grateful.”
Terfi smirked and said, “Yes, she is also stupid for staying on Earth. But that is beside the point. She will take months to recover in our private society. Pray to her and give her your devotion. In time, she will recover stronger than ever.”
“I need to revive a few people from this planet, which was kind of why I reached out to help her,” I said. “Well, that and I was going to have my parents placed on the island if I could.”
“Your parents are safe, and I can facilitate the revivals at the standard four thousand per rate,” Terfi said, and I choked on air. “Your deals with her will be your own to sort when she recovers. Names?”
“Uh… I’m terrible with names, but there’s an Earl in my camp, and then Nim, the mother of my Head Priestess. Let me check…” I only had 11k Zorta in my storage. “I’ll have to wait for another. Yeah, just those two for now.”
“They will be raised in your camp, not this caravan. I have to smite your minion before rebirthing him. And… done.”
“You didn’t even move?” I asked in confusion.
“I’m not really here. I also killed you, and you’re about to be reborn right before your minion timer expires. Sorry, I had to kill you. It was the guaranteed way to shut the portal instantly. We learned tremendous amounts of information from the brief fight. This is the last you’ll likely see of me. Good luck in your endeavors,” Terfi said then vanished.
Caitlyn went poof, and I disappeared. A second later, I found myself in the courtroom, facing King Hartinger.
“Thank you, goddess Terfi,” the King said with a snort.
&n
bsp; I glanced around, finding the court packed, almost as full as the arena. Nick hurried from a side entrance to stand at my side. Terfi waved to the menacing minotaur who coyly waved back. I smirked, snorting a stifling laugh.
My confusion became evident, and the King continued, “You certainly bring excitement, Mr. Moonguard. I tell you to not reveal you’re a champion to the masses, and you instead bring hundreds of gods into my city. An event for the annals, and I already have sent messages out around the area for all worshipers to pay tribute to their gods. They need it like never before.
“Everyone who fought by shooting your reaper, well, we’re able to upgrade to levels never imagined. We owe you a debt for killing your mate and striking you down. During our raid to Tarb, we found a hidden den of elva. My informants tell me they’re kin to one of your advisors. Consider them in your care.
“Also, you weren’t supposed to blanket accept the best three hundred servants. In doing so, you acquired all korb and only korb, a most trustworthy and tolerant species. They will be supplemented with half as many males so you can prosper. Lastly, your mate requested to purchase sheep, ducks, bovine, and the jenix cats. I have allowed this purchase to go through.
“Your time in Xastriban is done. The unit accompanying you south is small, but when things stabilize, I expect them to return home, including Oskatriver’s most prized pupil, his son. Is this clear?”
I nodded, bowed, and said, “Perfectly clear, your Grace. I thank you for your hospitality and am glad I was able to improve the city's riches and power. And my minion and the brother?”
“The brother is relaxing. He fought with courage, standing to meet his death as a true warrior. Thank you for bestowing that honor on him. As for your minion, he has been helping ready the caravan that you will rush to catch up to. I hope we can trade in the future, and we wish you success in obtaining your High Priestess.”
“And crushing the ratkin swarm,” I said with a winning smile.
“I have my doubts, but yes, we wish you success.”
Nick led me to the exit. Our departure was abrupt.
The moment we were outside, I was ushered into an expansive carriage. Nick entered quickly, and a second later, plopped into a big comfy recliner. He pointed to an adjacent one, and I sunk into the massive seat.
