Chapter 77: The Descent of a God
The surviving Sky-Winged warriors fled in disarray, their white wings stained with blood. They had never imagined they would be defeated by the hands of mortals.
"Whew— Is it over?" Eirik said, collapsing to the ground. He had used up all of his mana just defending against the shockwave. He couldn't even imagine how much power Rhodes and Serie, the main attackers, had expended. And they had met the Divine Strike head-on and had broken it, crippling the Sky-Winged's most elite army.
"It's hard to say."
Rhodes gripped the Divine Right Sword, Org. It was now dull and lifeless, its mana clearly depleted.
Serie had planted the 'Light of Ersten' in the ground; she no longer had the strength to hold it. To continue to do so would only be a burden.
"Something's wrong..." she said, suddenly looking up at the sky. "The flow of mana has become strange."
All the mana in the area was in a state of chaotic flux, and the space itself was beginning to warp, as if something was about to force its way through. And the sky itself had turned a strange, dark red, a portent of something even more terrible to come.
"This is bad!" Rhodes cursed under his breath. The precognitive power of Org had shown him a vision of a terrifying being about to descend.
"RUN!"
He had no time to think. He grabbed Serie and ran. The others, without question, followed close behind. Somme didn't forget to grab the 'Light of Ersten'. Though it was incredibly heavy, with his dwarven strength, he could just about manage.
Behind them, the very fabric of space began to collapse.
"That's..." Serie's eyes widened in disbelief. "The power is so great that it's tearing space apart?"
There was only one being in this world with such power: the legendary Goddess, the one worshipped by both the elves and the Sky-Winged, the false god from the dwarven records.
"Run! She's tearing through space!"
They ran for their lives, and soon the collapsing space was far behind them. Only when it was out of sight did Norne finally ask, "What is happening!?"
First a Divine Strike, then a battle with the Goddess-empowered Sky-Winged, and now the Goddess herself was about to descend. What had they done to incur such wrath?
"It's probably because of Org, and the fact that we know her true identity. Otherwise, she wouldn't be in such a hurry to kill us." Her hand was held tightly in his. And though her heart was pounding with a mixture of excitement and terror at the thought of facing a god, for some reason, she felt a strange sense of peace. Perhaps this was what it was like to have a partner by your side. It was a good feeling.
In the center of the former battlefield, a large tear in space had opened up, and an ethereal figure had emerged. She first glanced in the direction of the retreating Sky-Winged. "Useless fools. But it is time to give them their orders." The Sky-Winged, her chosen ones, were so pure in their faith that they could even use their belief to replenish the power of her vessel's original soul, which was why she had been unable to completely eliminate it.
She had originally intended to use the demons to launch a surprise attack and cripple the Sky-Winged. But as it turned out, those little insects had done it for her. It was just a waste of her power. It would have been better if both sides had been equally wounded, instead of just one being completely routed.
"The power of Org... The Dwarven King... what a clever move," the false god mused.
When she had first usurped the Goddess's authority, her predecessor, in her last act of defiance, had scattered a portion of her power across the world. And that power had been found by the Dwarven King. With it, he had forged the god-slaying sword, Org, and had even used its power to glimpse a part of the truth. Fortunately, she had discovered it in time and had used the demons and their massive teleportation circle to destroy the Dwarven Kingdom, then had them make the ruins their stronghold, to ensure that no one would ever get their hands on Org.
But just as she was about to enact the next stage of her plan, a group of little insects had snuck in and had found it. She had been forced to bestow an oracle and use the teleportation circle to send the Sky-Winged to deal with them. But her servants had failed, defeated by the power of the very Goddess they once worshipped.
But in the end, it was a good outcome. The crippled Sky-Winged were no longer a threat. It was time for them to make their exit from the stage of history. A divine power spread out, and she sent a telepathic message to the demons hidden in the shadows. The Sky-Winged were at their weakest; it was the perfect time to attack. And the Great Elven Forest was also a part of their plan. Sometimes, the 'Divine Strike' was not an exclusively Sky-Winged magic. But a Divine Strike from the demons... that was a terrifying spell that could extinguish all life, a spell that could turn the very earth into a barren wasteland for thousands of years to come.
The Great Elven Forest was in grave danger.
After running for who-knows-how-long, Rhodes finally stopped, and the others, gasping for breath, stopped with him.
"Did we... get away?" Eirik asked, collapsing to the ground. The events of the day had been a real eye-opener. A Divine Strike, not once, but twice. To survive a single Divine Strike was something to boast about for a lifetime. But two... and that wasn't even the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was the descent of the Goddess herself. He hadn't seen her in person, but the sheer power of her presence had been enough to make his heart pound in his chest.
"I don't know. We've come a long way. We should be safe, right?" Norne said, looking back. He couldn't even see a shadow of the dwarven ruins.
"Not yet..." Rhodes said, gripping Org. "This is it... we're finished."
As soon as he said it, a blinding golden light suddenly tore through the clouds and shot down towards them. The pressure from the light forced them all to their knees, and they found it difficult to even breathe.
"That's..." Norne said, struggling to look up, his pupils constricting.
In the golden light, a hazy, feminine figure slowly began to appear.
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