AO 6 Ch 41

"Maybe that's not what's happening," Eva offered, trying to cheer people up. "Besides, as long as Ard stays alive, he can bring all of you back.” She turned away from the growing number of chancellors in the sky beyond the cave with a weak smile.

“As long as we don't get our souls eaten," Aurelia muttered.

As one new dot joined the group in the sky, it started swaying back and forth like a hound dog would when searching.

"You said, even if they collapse the mountain, they can't find Arden?" Zuri asked, looking over her shoulder at the mage.

"Yeah, they'll need a mage who can do dark soul magic in order to pull him out and even then they have to know he’s there. I stuffed him in the shadow like one of his shadow bags. Only, it doesn't move. It's just the shadows inside the cave.” Eva answered.

“What happens if they collapse it? There won't be any shadows," Emlyn asked.

"There still will be shadows between the cracks of everything. Ard will be in those shadows. You just need to clear the space and pull him out. Or he can, I don't know, do an Ard thing and escape himself," Eva shrugged. "I'm still new to this part. Ard does a lot of Ard things I can’t explain.”

The ladies all chuckled around her.

"But if that's the case, do you want to rush in and do as much damage as you can, Zuri?" Aurelia swung her battleaxe back and forth like she was warming up.

"I think it would be best that we're able to go on the offensive as much as possible. Eva, stay back. And if you die, I'm sticking Missy's pendant in you in hopes that she can hold onto your soul." Zuri explained herself.

Eva’s eyes grew wide at the thought, but she resisted making any comment. It was better to have her soul in Missy’s hands than sucked up by one of the vampyrs.

“Hopefully Ard doesn’t put you in a horse.” Emlyn said, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"I'll just have to not die. I will hang back as best as I can and strike at what opportunities I get." She twisted up a spear of darkness from the shadows behind her as an example, before she slipped out of the cave, wrapping herself in darkness to hide in the shadows where she'd be a little less vulnerable.

She was almost positive that the enemy mages would come and collapse the whole cave as soon as they got the chance. In order to stay safe, Eva needed to not turn herself into collateral damage.

From where she was, crouching in the darkness, Eva used her magic to her fullest extent, covering her eyes and peering through it to watch as the four anchors launched themselves from the cave to take on the unit of powerful mages. It pained her that fighting so directly was less of an option for her.

She simply wasn't as durable as Ard's anchors and she couldn't be brought back to life. Not that she wanted to be brought back. Nor could she take and shrug off magical blows with Ard's life magic flowing through them to patch any damage instantly.

In fact, Eva was more than a little jealous of Ard’s anchors. Bonding their souls to him was something she never knew she wanted until she was suddenly surrounded by women more connected to her man than she could ever be.

It was only fair that that caused at least a small amount of jealousy. Though if it was any more than that, she was certain Ard would get very touchy.

He did not like when there was disagreement amongst his budding harem. He would be downright surly if they were to actually come into conflict. Teasing was perfectly fine, even encouraged, but no real heated emotions.

Eva watched as Ard’s anchors rushed fearlessly into the fight with over a dozen of the most powerful mages known to the continent. Eva shook her head at the dedication that represented.

Zuri's arrows caught them all by surprise. It struck one of them in the head and snuffed him out before they even realized the anchors had brought the fight to them.

What came next was quick and bloody as the anchors threw themselves up onto the platforms. Their surprise attack was initially effective, but the success ended as quickly as it began.

Powerful magic rippled out from a central figure, tossing Emlyn and Aurelia off of the platforms they had overtaken, only for Maribelle to be pinned by several swords of light.

The second she was pinned, Maribelle fought tooth and nail, the swords ripping at her flesh while she ignored them in a desperate attempt to rush the figure that could only be King Martin.

Eva watched in horror.

The way he stood amidst the battle could not be faked. The chancellors around him moved like a well-orchestrated military and instead of anchors; each of them had two vampyrs at their side.

Eva wasn't sure what to do to help. She was supposed to remain ready to ambush, but the fight was over as quickly as it had started. The anchors might have been able to kill a few with their surprise, but each and every one of the enemies in that group was strong enough to take on a small army themselves.

Once the element of surprise was gone, the amount of magic rippling off King Martin made Eva incredibly nervous. She hadn't been intimidated in front of the goddesses, and they hadn't really flexed.

The only level of magic she’d ever seen like King Martin was when her mother, the queen, had gathered a host of senior mages for a large-scale defensive.

Maribelle continued to push forward, ripping the light-magic swords out of her while flinging herself at King Martin. The anchor screamed loud enough that Eva could hear it all the way up the cliff as it echoed off its rocky face.

A torrent of death magic swirled around Maribelle as she tore at Garrish king with everything she had inside of her.

Eva just prayed that it would be enough. If they could take the head off the serpent before the battle truly began, they could save so much.

However, Eva was quickly disappointed as the torrent of death magic was flung aside and Maribelle's tattered form with it.

Eva tried again, a spear of darkness erupting from the flung Maribelle straight towards King Martin's head, only for him to bat her hardened magic away like it was a toy.

The man's gaze then swept over the area before he locked onto the shadows that Eva was watching from and his magic dove into them, reaching and clawing at her through her own magic and straight for her soul. He grappled with Eva's mind, as sticky tendrils threatened to tie it down and pin it within herself. 

She breathed slowly, remembering all of the soul magic lessons that she was supposed to have been the expert to teach Ard, fortifying her mind and refusing to give the other mage purchase on her defenses. She was so focused on those protections that she almost missed the form that flew from the forest below it all. It grabbed onto King Martin, only for them both to go crashing into the ground. 

She blinked, regaining control of her mind and her magic.

"Uncle Valken," she said in surprise, as all of the anchors shook off their constraints and threw themselves back into the fight with abandon.

Eva desperately hoped that Uncle Valken could turn the situation around. However, given what she had just witnessed from King Martin, her real hope was that Ard would wake up soon.

***

The gods that had appeared behind Cowtit were significantly more impressive than Hades or Thor. These ones seemed like real, bona fide gods.

One was a giant. She had to be twelve feet tall and held a club that might as well have been an uprooted tree. The only problem was that she was slack-jawed, and it looked like he was drooling a little. I didn't think there was much going on in her head.

The next was a one-eyed woman with a lower body of a serpent. Finally, there was an androgynous, six-armed god or goddess floating in the air with their legs crossed. 

"Yeah, they don't look so bad," I shrugged and smiled at the two goddesses in my arms, hoping to inspire the same level of confidence in them. 

"I'm glad you think so," Bad Kitty said, her face and tone expressionless as if she was trying to hide her true feelings. 

"Not confidence-inspiring? We can try again later. I mean, frankly, they throw their weapons into the fray, and I'll just take them all away, right?" I grinned. 

"Do you truly think you can?" Ditzy asked. The flirty blonde had also gone serious, and I slowly shook my head. 

"I think the spear, Gungy, or whatever you call it, helped me take Thor's hammer. Because they were from the same god, it worked," I gestured vaguely, not entirely sure how the soul magic worked. "These ones are completely new, and I don't know what that's going to mean."

Of all of us, Missy was the only one who didn't freeze up. Instead, her magic grew bolder before she held her hand out. 

"Bad Kitty, your mask, please." Missy called over.

The cat-eared goddess chuckled and tossed a mask her way. It was an ornate gold mask of a cat's face, with bright blue paint striped over it, marking some of the features. 

Missy's magic took the form of cats and charged straight through some of Freya's defenses.

She was expecting the move.

Freya held a hand out, and the giant leaned her club against the throne.

Now against Missy's cats, large feline monsters appeared one after the other. It was like a house cat versus a tiger. Freya's forces slammed straight through Missy's improved attacks. Freya's forces even grew so bold as to push Missy back, tightening the ring around her and pressing dangerously in. 

"Ditzy, the mirror," Missy said.

It seemed my entourage had more than one weapon in their arsenal. Ditzy threw a brilliant mirror through the air, only for its reflection to catch each of the monsters encroaching upon Missy and trap them within it. Then it spit them back out a moment later, this time clearly under Missy's control. 

As Bad Kitty's mask glowed brightly, she used the two together, merging all of the feline forms into a massive monster that rushed the field of magic, smashing through multiple of Freya's defenses and breaking a path out from her encirclement.

Missy turned to our group, watching the whole ordeal. "It's time to go," she shouted and gestured. "I cut the path out."

My eyes flicked to the path, and then Ditzy and Bad Kitty tried to pull me that way. However, if there was one thing that I could admit was my fatal flaw, it was that I was too stubborn for my own good. I planted my feet. 

"Missy use me," I said, even as Freya got more support and pressure increased on Missy, threatening to close the gap she had already made.

"I said go!" Missy pointed. It was clear she never had any intention of coming with us. Opening the path was all she could do.

“Not without you," I shouted right back at her with even more force.

"We have to go before the opportunity closes." Ditzy pulled hard on my arm, and while I might be confident in many ways, I can safely say that the goddess of war and victory is indeed stronger than me, despite looking like a delicate woman. She literally began dragging me down the path. 

"It's too much," Bad Kitty said quickly. "Freya brought far more to the fight than any of us expected. She was right when she taunted that the game of gods was further along than we expected." Bad Kitty looked remorseful. 

"But Missy's going to survive this time," I said, hope in my voice. "Right? Because it takes multiple attempts to kill a god.”

Ditzy looked back at me, and shook her head. "Missy is weak. She may be putting on a good front right now, but between all of those gods, her power is going to run out far before everything is finished. By creating this path for us, she has doomed herself. I'm sorry, Ard," Ditzy said. 

I wanted to scream. I hoped and prayed there would be a crack in her facade, and she would be once again teasing me. But it didn't come. And that was not acceptable. This whole situation was completely and utterly unacceptable to me. 

"I'm sorry." Ditzy told me.

Those words were not good enough for me. I was not going to let this happen.

I gathered what I knew of the Ardenium palace, of everything they had purposefully not told me about the gods. All of that I dumped to the side. Then, I took myself and what I wanted to be in mind as I threw my hand backwards and away from our escape.

A shield made of the same Ardenium as the palace flew through the air to expand in front of Missy.

A final push of magic erupted from Freya, crashing through the circular field Missy had used to protect herself. Freya had completely abandoned trying to stop us in order to trap Missy.

I refused to let that happen. Arden Aldis the four sphere mage did not lose people like the weak little village kid that lost two sets of parents. Arden the god certain-fucking-ly did not. Even a cow titted goddess wouldn’t make a difference.

Freya's push slammed against my shield.

A ripping and tearing of pain beyond belief ran through me as the shield shuddered under the magical assault. I breathed deeply as the shield not only blocked but began absorbing some of the magic and reinforced itself.

Meanwhile Missy was looking in wide-eyed shock as she survived another second.

"Missy, grab the damn shield!" I shouted at the top of my lungs even as Ditzy and Bad Kitty were trying to drag me out of the space.

For once, Missy listened to me, and as if the shield understood my will, it snapped back to me with an unyielding force, ripping Missy from Freya’s space and sucking her back into Soulgard as everything began to crumble. 

The portal that Missy had brought us through wavered and crackled, beginning to destabilize. It made sense; I had entirely removed her from the space.

Ditzy no longer needed to drag me, and I held onto both of them tight as I brought my feet under me and began running with them, pushing us through the portal as the soul fragments above cracked and gave way. Like the keystones above an arch once they failed, the arch completely collapsed. 

I breathed deeply as chains of Ardenium latched on to the tunnel, trying to stabilize it while Ditzy and Bad Kitty rushed us through. I could see the end of the tunnel before us. As we neared it, I switched my approach and stopped trying to hold the tunnel. Instead, I tried to consume anything and everything that was King Martin and Freya. I wanted to devour them and turn them into my strength so I could get back at them for what they nearly did to Missy. I had almost lost her and that infuriated me beyond belief.

One of my chains even stretched back out into Freya’s domain, wrapping itself around one of her pretty golden pillars, breaking it free and pulling it with me.

They both owed me a pound of flesh and more.

My chains ripped into King Martin's soul, dragging chunks of it back into me as I finally set foot in Soulgard with Ditzy and Bad Kitty, holding an arm each

 Missy threw herself at me and crushed my head into her chest as she sobbed tears that I was certain must have been a mix of thanks and relief.

While she cried the portal crumbled as my Ardenium chains pulled themselves back through with their loot.

"Missy," I grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled myself out of one of the most comfortable places in my life. "Calm down, I think there's still more to do." 

A great sense of dread flooded me the second I'd stepped in Soulgard. I immediately knew I needed to get back to my body. The sense I was getting from my anchors was terrifying.

"Freya had everything so planned that I think my anchors are in trouble." I kissed Missy once on the forehead. "This is something that you three cannot help with, I know that. And I'm sorry you have to watch, but I will be fine and I will be back," I said.

My voice was hard as I pulled away from all three, only to go back to complete and utter darkness.

As I woke up, I couldn't see anything.

And when I tried to move, it felt like I was laden down, buried under the earth. First, I pulled on earth magic to free myself, only to sense no earth around me, which was startling. Only then through my sense of magic did I realize the only magic I sensed was darkness.

My reality clicked in a moment later. I shifted my approach, peeling back the darkness around me and injecting a touch of soul magic for good measure. The darkness gave way back to the cave I remembered falling asleep inside.

Only it was much smaller, most of it collapsed.

As soon as I entered and tried to stand up, the ground shook precariously underneath me. I stabilized myself against the wall and rushed out of the cave entrance to see a battle in the distance.