Book 7, Chapter 19 - Offending Divinity (1/2)

Book 7, Chapter 19 - Offending Divinity

Within the expansive hall eighteen people stood on a platform. Among them were Master Demonhunters, Generals, Temple leaders and other authorities. One could close their eyes and pick at random, their choice would be a man or woman whose name rang across the Elysian lands.

Arranged before them were a thousand more soldiers, the best of their forces. In short, half of all the Elysian strength had been brought together. Such a scene had not emerged since the Great War a thousand years ago.

“As all of you know, the Sword of Sumeru is nearly complete. Skycloud’s blasphemers run rampant, threatening the faithful. We have no choice but to eradicate them and ensure stability.” Master Anan’s voice proclaimed loudly across the gathering. “Here is our task, direct from the gods: Employ the Sword of Sumeru. Eliminate the heretics.”

Faces throughout the crowd changed. They were really going to use this terrible weapon. Expressions differed; eager, excited, solemn, conflicted… as varied as the soldiers themselves. After all, the Sword of Sumeru was a weapon of indiscriminate, absolute destruction.

Elysians were human, too, capable of compassion. They understood death. It was genocide, aimed against a former ally. But although it made them uncomfortable, no one would dare raise their voice in protest.

Master Anan went on to explain everyone’s responsibilities. “The names I read out will be tasked with activating the Sword. Everyone else will help in their defense. You will be on watch for any outside interference.”

The thousand soldiers were broken into two groups. Six hundred of the strongest were ordered to man the superweapon. By virtue of their strong mental faculties, they were chosen to rain destruction on the enemy. The remaining four hundred would be arranged around them as protection.

Most Elysian technology required mental power to activate. The Sword was special in that it took power from the Temple and needed a huge amount of power from its handler to use to full effect. Among Master Anan’s leadership crew, fourteen were Master Demonhunters. With the addition of six hundred more for support the Elysians had plenty of mental energy for the job. A frightening amount, in fact.

A thousand kilometers of mountains would be leveled. Nothing could survive a direct blast from something like this, especially no living creature. If Cloudhawk found himself caught in its line of fire, he would be atomized. It could be said that this was an absolute weapon of mass destruction. Sumeru spared no effort to eliminate Skycloud and cleanse it of demonic influence.

“Move out!”

The soldiers reacted. Some spread out while others clambered over the mountain of instruments to their stations. Floods of mental energy hummed as it was poured into the weapon. Before long it began to rotate and the gathered energy at its center warped space.

As the enormous load of mental energy compressed to a single point, it all collapsed in on itself. An area resembling a black hole swallowed all the light in the center of the weapon. From the darkness surrounding the Temple came an intense pulse, followed by a golden torrent of light. Like a galloping stream it poured into the weapon and filled the shadowy void.

It went from an impossible black to a blaze to rival the sun. The energy gathered into a radiating orb.

Cloudhawk hadn’t been selected as one to power the weapon. As far as the enemy knew, his mental powers were on the weaker end of the scale. As such he was selected as a defender, even though it hardly seemed necessary. Even if the rebels sent a force to try and stop this, how many could there be? Sky Fortress hovered hundreds of kilometers over ground and rising.

Very few vessels in Skycloud were capable of making it to space, which meant any invasion would be small in scale. What’s more, half of all the warships from the four Elysian lands were stationed around the Fortress. As it rose, so too did the armada, ready to fight at any moment.

No army was getting through these defenses.

One percent. Two percent. Three percent…

With six hundred demonhunters working in tandem, the Sword of Sumeru was powering up at roughly one percent every twenty or thirty seconds. In other words, it took a little over half an hour for one full charge.

What a terrible amount of power!

Cloudhawk was keenly aware that time was running out. There were still a few minutes, but he couldn’t afford to wait to the last. There was no choice – he had to drop his charade and do something to stop the Sword from firing.

But just as he was preparing to act, shouts caught his attention.

“Hold! Stop! You can’t fire this weapon!”

A man with fiery red hair, dripping with chains, staggered into the area. He howled at the top of his lungs, eyes wild. His clothes were in tatters and stained with blood. It looked like he’d recently broken out of prison where he was treated less than kindly.

Kirin Igna? It was! The defenders looked at him in shock and disquiet.

Master Anan stood by the Sword of Sumeru device, casting a grim expression down toward the man. “You have repeatedly ignored orders. I have endured as much as I can, yet you continue to press. How can you continue to ignore what is proper? You dare oppose the will of the gods?”

Everyone was quiet. He wasn’t wrong – the order to use the Sword came directly from Mount Sumeru. As citizens of the Elysian realms, they were bound to follow the will of their gods. For them, obedience was as ingrained as instinct. How could Kirin so blatantly stand against the gods?