Chapter 271 - Hope and Avarice

Nate stood on the foredeck of the Solaris, the ship soaring through the skies, the wind whipping his blond hair into a frenzy as he enjoyed

Nate stood on the foredeck of the Solaris, the ship soaring through the skies, the wind whipping his blond hair into a frenzy as he enjoyed

Nate stood on the foredeck of the Solaris, the ship soaring through the skies, the wind whipping his blond hair into a frenzy as he enjoyed his last few minutes of peace. He would’ve liked to have spent more time at the Adventurer’s Guild Headquarters in the Iflen mountain range. The way the snow collected on the mountain peaks had been mirrored on the roofs of the warm wooden houses making the entire city feel cozy and safe. The perfect place to rest and think. 

Unfortunately their debt to Arikanvil had loomed large on the horizon, the days ticking down till they would once more be whisked off of Galle and sent forth into the unknown. Well, mostly unknown. After all, he had learned what he could of the nature of the Heartlands. Knowing a little of Heartlands society was no balm, though, as they would be dropped into an entirely different structure from mana, to stratas and potentially even technology. 

If that had been their only problem to solve Nate would’ve been fine, but it wasn’t. The Lesser Divines Severen and Jemima had been killing any who gained access to Divine Energy on Galle for hundreds of years. Wulfgar was the only one to slip through their grasp and even he was centuries old. Well, Nate supposed, he and Kiri had also slipped through their grasp. The idea of the Law of Reciprocity should have kept Severen and Jemima at bay. But Nate had seen time and time again how the gaps in Reciprocity could be exploited; after all, he had done so himself multiple times already.

There was no future Nate could see where Severen and Jemima wouldn’t take advantage of the fact that Nate and Kiri were off-world. If they learned of Etrua or the Emporium, they would use that against him and his sister, and with empires at their command, they had the people to make it happen. They were a threat that needed to be dealt with. He was going to make sure that when he left Galle this time, he left no worries behind and no enemies at his back.

The land beneath him was different here to those he had seen so far. Helmfirth had been like living next to a picturesque alpine forest. Etrua was all plains of long grass, sandstone shores and clear blue water. Then the Iflen mountain range had been something between an arctic tundra and a boreal forest, straddling the edge of the two on the mountain slopes. Sliding below him now as he sailed through the sky were rocky hills filled with dense scrub that was more brown than green, the plants living off of dregs of water they could scrounge up from the barren stone. The beaches on the horizon were picturesque with sand dunes stretching as far as Nate could see down the coast. Ignoring the fishing boats and traders that sailed off the coast, Nate traced a large river that wended inland until he could see his destination. 

The city of Selnant dwarfed the Etruan Capital, its harbour stretching around a third of the city. The stone of the inner city had been buffed to a mirror shine and sparkled like a gem brighter than the water on which it rested its feet. This was a city that had stood for more than five centuries, and it showed. Beneath the sparkle were worn and pockmarked buildings, with the materials growing more weathered the further away they lay from the city centre. That centre was dominated by a palace painted white and gold, with an architecture that favoured spherical-style roofing that made it seem like the palace was bubbling up out of the sands.

Nate glanced at Kiri to the side of him and smiled before turning to Frick.

“Try to keep the damage to a minimum. Remember the goal.”

“Aye aye, Boss!” hooted Frick.

Nate narrowed his eyes at his Familiar. The little goblin had been unusually agreeable on the trip out here and Nate wasn’t sure what to make of it. Normally, Frick would baulk at being told to keep the destruction to a minimum.

With a sigh, Nate shrugged. It was too late now to do anything about it and the few days he’d had to spare with Wulfgar and Kiri had been spent planning and preparing. Frick would do his part and beyond that, hopefully wouldn’t decide it would be funny to destroy some of the city in the process.

The Solaris banked slightly as Frick guided them in, the city buildings flickering beneath them as they made their way towards the palace. At a nod from Nate, Frick jumped over the side of the ship and Nate made the Solaris disappear into his personal spatial zone. At the same time he shifted his Regalia, shaping a Gravity Control rune into its structure and continued to fly forward on his own power with Kiri floating beside him. Letting his painted robe flap in the breeze, Nate began releasing a large amount of Divine Paint from his Regalia. The paint drifted up into the sky above him, slowly forming a portrait in the sky that shifted and moved, mirroring Nate flying through the sky and showing the city below.

Before Nate could reach the palace a figure wearing white flew into the air to meet him. Severen hadn’t changed at all since he had appeared at Nate’s ascension to Lesser Divine. The centuries old Divine was a tall, thin man, with short-trimmed white hair, pale skin and red eyes. An albino, was Nate’s guess, though the changes may have been due to a Class or even something more esoteric. Albino was most likely though, thought Nate.

Severen flew closer, meeting Nate above the palaces inner wall. Nate could sense the individuals forming up below them to support their ruler and Nate tried not to sigh, suspecting but yet to confirm Severen’s plans.

“So, Wulfgar convinced you two that you would be enough to face me while seeking out Jemima himself? I admit I am a little surprised. I thought that his desire for revenge would cloud his thoughts and that it would be him I faced. Or was it that he thought I was the stronger of us and you decided that two against one would give you better odds? As if I would ever accept such odds!” bellowed Severen, his voice carrying over the city as the portrait hanging in the sky above them echoed his words for all to hear.

The warriors below screamed battle cries and brandished their weapons at Nate and Kiri in response to Severen’s speech. Nate just smiled and shook his head before raising his voice.

“Two against one? That sounds like one too many. Just a small ruse in case you had someone capable of following our progress.”

As Nate finished speaking, the illusion of Kiri next to him dispersed back into paint, sliding into his robe as it shifted colours to match the white and purple appearance that he had taken a liking to of late.

“No, my sister is dealing with Jemima personally. Something about not sending me to fight a four-hundred year old woman due to the risk of being seduced rather than battled.” 

Nate glanced down at the assembled army below.

“Wulfgar warned me that you would be willing to throw away your peoples lives to wear me down. Weak, he called you. Weak of character and weak of body. But a charismatic and influential leader. He was convinced you would send your elites to their deaths against me, having them spend their lives to sap me of mana and energy until you were absolutely certain that you could swoop in for the kill.”

Severen’s lips twisted into a derisive sneer, “The life of an Emperor is worth an army. My people know that. I am the God Emperor of these lands and my people will willingly lay down their lives in service to me, knowing that their immortal souls and those of their loved ones will be forever embraced in my loving arms.”

Nate's placid expression morphed into a frown. Severen’s words sounded exactly like the cult leaders of his past life. The kinds of people who brainwashed and abused their followers. Still, Nate had half-expected it and had prepared accordingly. The first preparation was already hanging in the sky above him.

“I guess I will just need to show your people that even God Emperors can die then,” announced Nate, his voice carrying through the portrait and over the city as he effectively created a movie screen for the people of the city to watch him dismantle Severen.

Severen was already drifting backwards, “Perhaps. Let us see how well you handle the Elite Serpents of the Severed Empire!”

The army below began rushing forward, many flying into the sky using what Nate assessed were at best Epic-tier flying enchantments. Others were drawing back short bows and a few had already begun to hurl javelins at him. A quick sweep showed that among the army were a number of Platinum-level opponents and even a handful of Gems, though the latter held back.

As they were attacking Nate felt Reciprocity recede into the background. He could destroy these people, if he wanted. End their lives. That was the power of Divine Energy. A gap almost impossible for others to breach. There were hundreds of them scrambling below and soaring towards him. And still, he could win within a minute. It would be costly, both in terms of mana and Divine Energy, but he had enough to do so and still be in fighting condition to face off against Severen. The problem was that by doing so, he would be thoroughly weakening the Severed Empire. An Empire he meant to take control of. 

Instead he sent a thought to Frick to activate the portal.

Immediately a portal stretched open just outside the palace walls where Frick had been quietly waiting. Stepping through that portal poured over a hundred Adventurers from the Guild, Wulfgar among them. A handful of his personally trained Gems and Platinums at his side backed up by a contingent of Golds.

“Well, what’re you waiting for? Give em hell!” roared Wulfgar.

Nate rolled his eyes and just hoped that they remembered they were meant to be taking the warriors of the Empire alive. A few deaths were acceptable. A slaughter was not. 

With the two armies of elites clashing below, Nate began drifting forward again, closing the distance between Severen and himself.

“Just the two of us then,” Nate commented, his voice mirrored over the city.

“Two? You brought Wulfgar?! Not confident in defeating me yourself you conniving child!” spat Severen.

Nate shook his head and pointed up at the portrait in the sky, “Wulfgar won’t interfere. It’s important that I not only cast you down for the things you’ve done, but that your people see that I did it, and I did it alone. You were a mortal once, just like they were. I want them to know they can rise to similar heights as us. And I want them to know what I will do to them if they abuse their power, as you have done.”

The paint on Nate’s robes began to bubble and shift as though he was growing, but it was pure theatrics for the people of the Severed Empire. The painting above shifted, elemental beings of fire, lightning, water and wind forming in the image around Severen.

“Life Imitates Art,” whispered Nate, the sound of his soft voice echoing across the city as the thirty or so elemental beings in the painting appeared around Severen. 

Then they attacked.

Severen formed scales over his hands and arms and began lashing out against the attacks. A fireball was deflected into a water elemental. A cutting bolt of lightning was dodged as the Lesser Divine flew down. A blast of wind was captured in a clawed hand like a roiling tornado and sent towards a fire elemental, dispersing it as though it had never existed.

The entire time Nate watched calmly as the now white-scaled Severen fought off his creations. He didn’t relish being so overbearing, but it was important that he put on the kind of show that made the people of this city accept him as their new ruler unquestioningly. Only then would he be able to have Wulfgar’s people start instituting the kind of changes he hoped would see the city morph from a cult into the kind of place that Etrua was already becoming. It might take a couple of generations, but Nate had that kind of time now. Ultimately, he just wanted to put Galle onto the path of being a better world where avarice wasn’t rewarded. The kind of world Earth had failed to be.

“ENOUGH!” yelled Severen, a blast of venomous mana and a single unit of Divine Energy blasting out from the man and erasing all signs of Nate’s elemental creations.

The same wave of mana washed over Nate and he felt his barrier begin to buckle until he used the tiniest amount of Divine Energy to reinforce it. His eyes narrowed on Severen. Wulfgar had been very clear on the little he knew of the man. Severen possessed a Serpent and Administrator based Path and would be very careful about spending any of his accrued power. The man was not unlike the dragons of myth, sitting on hoarded wealth and desiring ever more. Nothing at all like an actual dragon, though Nate acknowledged Ankh’Aris might be a bit of an outlier.

So why spend any Divine Energy? Nate was just wearing down Severen’s mana reserves. He could’ve beaten the elementals without it. What had changed? The moment he gave it a second of thought he got his answer. Wulfgar. Severen didn’t believe Nate that Wulfgar would stay out of their fight. He was expecting to get ganged up on and so planned to accelerate the fight to try and take Nate off the board, feasting on the Divine Energies within, so he could then face who he perceived to be the greater threat, Wulfgar The Bleeding Axe.

All these thoughts happened in the space of a second and Nate prepared to change the landscape again when he sensed a burst of something like Reciprocity fly from Severen across the battlefield and touch upon one of the Gems who had yet to join the fighting.

“The payment is due,” hissed Severen.

The Gem in question, without hesitation, knelt and immediately began to crumble. Hair fell to the ground, shifting from black, to grey, then white. His skin turned to dust, blown away like the sand of the dunes beyond. Even the skeleton began to crumble before Nate’s eyes. And the entire time, every bit of processed mana and spiritual energy flew towards Severen, who inhaled it through a jaw unhinged like a snake.

The process was over within seconds but Nate looked over at the bulked up Severen who smiled with slitted eyes.

“Come here, child. I am still hungry.”