Chapter 17-446: There’s a Big Boom (1/2)
The Servants didn’t last overly long. What magic they wielded was either useless against the Forsaken, or torn down by Dispels as it was going up.
That left the nine of them facing the uncaring King in Yellow, His cloth-wrapped body supremely aloof as He considered the nine mortals coming up there before Him.
“I imagine you think you are something special, having made it up here,” He said languidly, voice so full of arrogant superiority and bow-to-me hauteur it was like soup.
Even Briggs jerked at His voice. Ki flashed as everyone’s Sun Saves went off, and they Refocused hastily indeed.
“Damn! First time I’ve heard Allspeech!” Sama hissed with feeling, ignoring the poseur on His seat up there, flashing a look past at everyone behind her. “That was a 40, in case anyone was keeping track!”
“A blight on His poxy balls and the swamp rat what birthed ‘em!” The Mick piped up cheerfully.
“Sir Pellier,” Briggs pointed calmly, completely ignoring the antics of the thing on its throne.
Helix stepped up next to the Paladin as Sir Pellier stepped up between Briggs and Sama. A strip of bright metal snaked out of Helix’s Masspack and plugged into the side of Lady Florentine as the Rifle abruptly transformed, extra weight in gems and precious metal Morphing and shifting as it became something else completely.
The Gatling-works mini-gun cycled up, all the fires forming a torus on it...and Bane of Legends was among them! Sir Pellier grimly Proclaimed, “Aru and Mithar send you back where you belong!”
The King probably didn’t like those Names being mentioned in His presence, but He really should have been paying attention to the Silver Flames that had ignited on the most advanced portable assault weapon on the planet.
Tens of thousands of dollars of depleted-uranium-tipped bullets came out of that gun, like Sir Pellier was holding onto a plasma cannon of lots and lots of colors.
There was some deflective field in the way that imploded under the impact of the Smite, and the vivic lock on reality, along with Interdictions from the three strongest Forsaken on the planet, prevented the King from shifting, phasing, or timewalking away.
Despite this Avatar’s knowledge that it was only part of the real King and that it couldn’t really die, when that much Divine power, magical enchantment, and very hard reality comes hosing into you, welp, it also noticed the Pentagram flashing into existence about it a bit too late.
Sir Pellier literally erased the King, who seemed to be etched into reality there as the Smiting rounds played across and ate Him away. Cerulean fire and vivic power blazed over Him, and seemed to grow brighter and brighter as bright lines of silver played up, down, over, through and into Him. The holes and edges flared silver and cerulean, Heaven and Creation teaming up to finish the job, and the Pentagram contained it and fed it all back onto itself until...
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The explosion blew the lid off the ancient fortified palace, and took out most of the walls and floors that had been weakened by infestations of Leng reality ripples, too. The remaining monks, moonbeasts, and Servants in the area were instantly destroyed as the blast of cerulean and unwhite flames blew past them. A pillar of those fires ascended towards the coiling dark and yellowness in the Haze above that happened to look like a malevolent and sneering eye. It seemed to widen in some shock as the fires came for it.
It was not the Summer Equinox, but the death of the Yellow King Cracked Open the Sky, and peeled the Haze back clear to the horizon there, at the top of the world.
Tibet was dead, but on this day, it finally saw the sky looking down upon it, and the Vernal Equinox got its final tribute.
The Forsaken who had spent half a year and more chewing their way through the fears and nightmares of the whole world tilted their heads back and screamed as the Glory swept over them. Most of them had felt the Glory of bringing down a Shroudzone, even if they hadn’t been there at the time, but it was nothing like this. The wave of blue and white washed over them and past them, and the touch of the Land’s reward for faithful service to its immune system was everything a warrior who had sacrificed so much for their homeland could ask for.
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Sama walked up, dug her hand into the mound of glittering dust where the King in Yellow had once been standing, clenched her fingers, and lifted something out of it.
Sir Pellier had definitely eradicated the King’s skull first, but there it was, the inhuman lines of it unmistakable, frozen in streaked crystal and burning with white and blue fires, the Cerulean Sigil carved right into the top of it.
“Brother Ai Ren, I would give this to the Brotherhood, but I don’t think they need it. If you don’t mind, I will remand it to Sir Pellier, who can use it, and if you ever think you need to borrow it, I’m sure he will not mind.”
The hyn Brother looked at the Landbound Paladin, such a dichotomy of obligations, and simply nodded.
A Legendary Baneskull to Aberrants , a full empowered Dreadskull, was definitely something that might be useful to anyone, but such things could be gained by Slaughter on his own Truth and Death. The Powered were the ones who made the most use of Baneskulls, as the Forsaken only needed them if they wanted two Banes active at one time.
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Out in the distance, the Heavenly Sky Sect quavered when they saw the hole in the sky, and realized what it portended.