Chapter 80: True and False Gods, and the Escape
At the critical moment, Norne and Somme rushed forward.
Serie had already blocked all the attacks on their side, and they had come to help Rhodes. They struck at the same time, their axe and longsword clashing against the divine attack. In the next second, they were both sent flying, coughing up blood. Even with their lives on the line, they had only managed to block two of the three fatal beams of light. One was still on its way.
Serie was right behind them. She unleashed the last of her mana, casting the highest-level elven spell she knew. The two beams of light collided, and after a blinding explosion, the final attack was finally blocked.
But they had completely lost their ability to fight.
Serie's mana was depleted. Norne and Somme could still move, but they were badly injured. Even Rhodes's life force had been overdrawn, and his face was deathly pale.
The Goddess watched them coldly. So what if they had blocked her attack? It was just a final, futile struggle. She raised her hand again, this time aiming directly for Rhodes.
But her attack was once again thwarted, by Eirik.
"You damned god! Take this!" he roared, and pulled several grayish-black metal spheres from a pouch at his waist, then threw them at her with all his might. They were magical items he had found in the dwarven treasury, an effect similar to a more powerful version of Rhodes's 'Light' spell, and the most insane of all dwarven creations.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of deafening explosions tore through the divine pressure. A blinding light, like a sun exploding, bleached the entire battlefield in a stark white. It was followed by a raging inferno that seemed to set the very air on fire. Norne and Somme, who hadn't been able to close their eyes in time, were temporarily blinded.
"That guy is so reckless!" Norne cursed under his breath, though he understood why he had done it. But a signal, a gesture of some kind, would have been nice.
"Well done," Serie said, a rare note of admiration in her voice.
As soon as Eirik had thrown the metal spheres, Rhodes had understood his intention and had immediately thrown up a magic barrier, just barely managing to shield them from the worst of the blast. But the barrier had quickly dissipated; he just didn't have the strength to maintain it anymore. His body gave out, and he collapsed to his knees, only his indomitable will keeping him from falling completely.
Even the Goddess had been affected by the blinding light. She had easily blocked the subsequent explosions, but they had still been a distraction. Her own beam of light had flown past them.
And now, she was furious.
Her projected face twisted in a rage that was anything but divine. To be thwarted, again and again... she turned all of her anger on Eirik.
She raised her hands high, and a terrifying divine power began to gather. The sky turned a dark, oppressive red. Dozens, even hundreds, of beams of destructive energy formed around her, a power so great that the very space around her began to collapse, revealing a heart-stopping black hole that threatened to swallow everything. All of the beams were locked on to the insignificant Eirik.
The air seemed to freeze. Faced with the Goddess's unsportsmanlike conduct, Eirik felt his blood run cold, and his bones began to creak under the immense, invisible pressure.
At that very moment, the Goddess's body began to tremble violently. She clutched her head and screamed, "Urk... ahhhh—!" A piercing shriek erupted from her mouth. Her body convulsed, as if something was trying to tear her apart from the inside. "No! Impossible!" her voice became chaotic. "I had you completely suppressed!"
And even more shockingly, her body began to flicker between two forms. One moment, she was the benevolent Goddess they all knew from the statues; the next, a stern, imposing figure, radiating an incredibly intense pressure.
"That's..." Serie stared in shock.
Norne suddenly understood. "Two souls! There are two souls in the Goddess's body, fighting for control!" The god was one being, but divided by their faith into true and false. It wasn't that there were two different gods, but two souls in the same body.
Just as the false god's snarling, twisted face regained control and her destructive aura was about to once again engulf them, the ethereal image of the benevolent Goddess miraculously reappeared.
"Quick... run..." she said, her voice weak but gentle as she looked at them.
And then, her image was replaced once more by the stern Goddess, but she had bought them precious time. It was clear that the Goddess was in the throes of an intense internal conflict and had temporarily forgotten about them.
"Go!" Norne said, pulling the still-dazed Eirik to his feet. "Get Rhodes out of here!"
Eirik snapped back to his senses and rushed forward. He and Norne flanked Rhodes, supporting his exhausted body. Somme picked up Org and the fragments of the 'Light of Ersten' and followed close behind. Serie brought up the rear.
Behind them, the Goddess's anguished screams echoed through the sky. "You can't escape!"
Her threat was cut short by an even more violent surge of divine power. The very sky began to warp, then shattered like a broken mirror.
They didn't dare to look back. With what little strength they had left, they ran.
Supported by his two friends, Rhodes's consciousness began to fade, a combination of excruciating pain and the depletion of his mana and life force. The last thing he saw was Org, its light completely extinguished, now just an ordinary iron sword. The holy sword that had once been able to strike down a god was now silent and dull.
By the time they had finally reached a safe place, Rhodes had completely lost consciousness. Serie examined his wounds, her pale, slender fingers trembling.
"His wounds are grave," she said softly. "Org used its last bit of power to temporarily stop the bleeding, but he needs treatment. The Goddess's power is still corroding his life force."
Eirik clenched his fists and looked up at the sky in the distance. "That benevolent figure... was she the real Goddess?"
Norne nodded grimly. "Yes. The one who attacked us was the false god."
"But those last few tricks of yours, Eirik... they were pretty impressive," Somme said with genuine admiration.
"I haven't been idle this past week, you know," Eirik said with a laugh, but his good mood was short-lived.
"Don't waste time," Serie cut in. "I remember there's an elven village up ahead. Let's go!"
They didn't delay. They carefully hoisted Rhodes onto their backs and ran in the direction she had indicated.
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