368 Nirtan IV : Battle

The fight was a bit enlightening about the scope of my new abilities, I had a feeling there was more I could do, a lot more that I could achieve, but I was mainly fumbling around. It seems it has become some sort of routine for my skills and abilities to change, and I would be left with no other option but to learn how to fight from the ground up once again.

I never even got to master magic, and while that would have been fun, I guess I've gotten to where I'm supposed to be strength wise. Magic was not for me, and I would never have been able to reach as great a height as the dragon queens of magic. After all those women have now become the very essence and incarnation of magic.

With my altercation with the monster completed, I let gravity take hold of me as I fell from the sky, of course my mind was still a bit burdened, especially with the fact that there was another god on this planet, and he knows that I'm also here. This was an era where gods still walked and lived amongst their worshippers, especially in Spero, so without a doubt; gods are subjected to the flaws of mortals.

Greed, mistrust, jealousy and downright wickedness; All these in a body capable of changing the very laws of nature; and reworking the universe to work in their favor. These were my most dangerous enemies yet, and without a doubt I have to be at the highest alert possible.

*BOOM!*

I've not reached the ground yet, but a loud explosion rocked the area below me, and the concussive force from the explosion pushed me back a bit. Soon enough I felt a wave of fire, guided by extremely intense winds flow in a particular direction, and I could see the large amounts of scorched black figures left in the wake of that flame.

Sounds of gun fire, skills and magic reached my ears as the survivors from the drop ships engaged the enemy, and there were a lot of them. People and creatures of varying races, all sharing the same characteristics of having glossy black armor growing out of their body like some sort of infection, and having a blank look with completely black eyeballs. We were being attacked by the collective, and from what I can see, these things are really cohesive and beyond dangerous.

I moved my body towards the area where they were mostly clustered, flying past a floating Joshua and a fully ablaze Baeki. I gathered the divine fire souls around me, and had them charge up an attack. I really had no idea how capable they were, or what were the limits of their abilities, but from the look of things, I think it's limited by my own imagination.

I fell like a meteor and smashed right into the middle of the army of mindless drones, releasing a wave of soul energy that worked in much the same way a bomb did, blowing away all the enemies from my side and making a crater seven meters deep and almost twenty meters wide. I had the divine souls lined up around the crater and start releasing their attacks on any moving enemy.

I floated up just in time to watch the carnage they unleashed, releasing bright yellow beams of divine flame that burned through dozens of the collective, leaving nothing behind but charred husks and blackened bones. There was death in the air, and with that death souls were born, thousands of them had died so far, and I could see them all, and it was such a terrible sight.

Even in death they were still tethered and bound to the devourer, as silvery chains with patches of reddish black could be seen extending out of their skulls. The chains stretched out into the distance; probably back into the devourer's gate that brought them here, and straight to the collective and the Devourer himself. Even in death they were not free.

Whether this was a choice of their own or not, such an existence was not living, this was torture and bondage in the highest form possible. It went against everything I stood for; even in my past life I came from a country that emphasized on the freedom of its people. America might be far away from here, but those were philosophies I grew up on, and in both my lives. Everyone deserved a chance to live and make their own choices, to love, fight, hate and believe in something; not be trapped in these endless blackness of nothing the Devourer offers and calls salvation.

I raised my head just in time to see Joshua and Baeki show up beside me. Baeki might not be able to truly connect to the unseen world, but Joshua was just like me, two sides of the same coin. I could see souls, he could see spirits, and the fury in his eyes were no joke, he was just as sick of this very sight as I was.

"I think there's a loophole we can exploit to set them free. Their spirits seem to be tethered to five creatures on this planet, I can't see them, but I can feel them. I believe this creatures act as relay lines, or rather generals under the Devourer. So while the devourer has a hold on their souls, there's not much he can do from wherever the fuck he is, leaving the controlling and management of these people's mind, souls, body and spirit to these generals.

We need to first isolate the generals from the devourer, I think since our universe doesn't recognize them, they have to draw power from the devourer himself, so the first thing we have to do whilst simultaneously searching for the sword key is to destroy the gate, and then kill the generals. It's just a theory, but I believe that once all these factors have been removed, there's a chance we can put a stop all of these and set these people free, mind, body, spirit and soul." Joshua said to me, as he shifted his eyes to the distance, seeing things that I couldn't see.

It was a good plan, but there was just one very massive unknown factor that we had to worry about.

"There's a god on these unfortunate rock, and the fact that he or she is here means that its one of those belonging to the Council of Dark gods. Aside from that, we can't leave our soldiers to face these hordes alone. And what you've just suggested is definitely a lead we have to follow, I still feel we have to destroy this planet, but if we can save the members of the collective that are here, maybe we're not the cold hearted bastards you think we are Baeki. We have to split up." I said to both of them, moving my head aside just in time for a bolt of dark energy to pass right by it. I ignored it and placed my focus on Baeki who was about saying something.

"You're right that we have to split up. I'll stay back here with the troops and organize with the reinforcements and keep the horde of enemies to a much more manageable level. Joshy love, you would go bust that gate apart, find those generals, end them and get back here in time for dinner. As for you Kael, there's only one option left to you, and that's to go find that god and have a chat with him. Depending on how the chat goes, bring me back a souvenir. However you're dealing with a god, if it comes down to it, scream like a girl and Joshy and I will come save your sorry ass, again! Now you boys run along, I have things to burn."

With that said, Baeki charged back into the fray, her entire body blazing with red scarlet flames as multiple spears made of fire appeared in the air and rained down on the battlefield like it was a monsoon of fiery death and agony. I turned to Joshua with a rather weird grin on my face as I asked.

"Joshy love?"

"Not.One.Word." Joshua growled out through gritted teeth as he turned into literal lighting and flew away, my laughter of amusement following right behind him. I swear his brown skin was turning red for a moment there.

With that said I withdrew the fire souls and brought them close to me and away from the battlefield as we flew up and away from the carnage. I flew deep into the clouds letting the wind fly past my body, my fire souls keeping pace with me.

For a moment there was stillness and a peace that I couldn't explain as my eyes rested on the view of the setting sun from my place within the clouds. I turned my head to the side and looked at the rather archaic dressed man floating in the air before me with a glowing golden chakram underneath his feet.

"Heh! I've been waiting for you?" I said to him with a smile as I turned to face him.

"So have I High King Kael of Spero or should I say God King Kael of Spero" he answered with an aggressive look on his face.

"Well is that so? Sorry to keep you waiting. Now let's have a little chat"

I said to him as my sword glinted in the warm light of the setting sun. for some reason my sword to rumbled in excitement, almost as if it had a mind, and that mind knew without a doubt, that it would be drinking the blood of a god today.