Book 7, Chapter 98 - Last Judgment Comes (1/2)

Book 7, Chapter 98 - Last Judgment Comes

Cloudhawk’s most important task was holding off the Supremes and general crowd-control. He shuttled across the field, guarding his allies from danger and preventing casualties.

The gods were few, comparatively.

Still, the gods were a galaxy-conquering race who didn’t need numbers to dominate. A few deaths to them meant nothing. It meant nothing when a creature like Cloudhawk rose from among the herd the God King was little concerned. It would send waves of gods at him on a whim, and they with their superior weapons and tools would raze this planet promptly.

On the other hand, if Cloudhawk wanted to win this war then every life was precious. The gods could afford to lose a dozen of these grunts. The Alliance would crumble if they lost that many here.

For the moment the humans were winning. Little by little, the gods lost ground.

“Cloudhawk, get ‘em!”

Dawn released a beam of energy, large enough to engulf one of the soldiers. At the same time gravity increased by a thousand times under her power. Her target bowed under the weight as a streak of power closed in.

The god thrust its spear at her, striking several times. Dawn’s armor protected her from harm while her foe’s power siphoned away by the Abyssal Scale.

Cloudhawk summoned a vortex of spatial energy. With a heave, Dawn hurled the god through it. One less soldier to worry about.

At the moment things were going their way. One Supreme and four soldiers were captured, and two more slain on the field. Meanwhile Cloudhawk made sure their losses stayed at zero. If this was representative of the gods’ strength, then they didn’t deserve to be masters of this galaxy. Cloudhawk and his band of primitives were ripping through them.

Almost laughable. Their species wanted to rule the cosmos?

Cloudhawk, however, was unsettled. It was too easy. He drew on more of his energy to expand the Eye of Time. Perhaps he could protect them from any unseen traps if he peered deeper into the future.

“That’s… strange.” He realized the same thing Selene was discovering. Their Eyes didn’t work.

Not vision, but their ability to look through time. No insights of the scene to follow. Somehow that power was being interrupted. The future was a dark curtain.

Not often the Eye is suppressed. Something’s off.

The sense of foreboding in him grew. More enigmatic tools were being used by his enemies, things he hadn’t anticipated. Cloudhawk decided to fall back in the sake of caution.

“Break off! Withdraw!”

His sudden order came as a shock.

“What?!” Dawn balked. “We’re winning!”

She was right, they had the upper hand. If they kept fighting there was a chance they could wipe out this whole group. How did it make sense to fall back now?

“Follow orders!” Cloudhawk didn’t explain himself and stuck to his decision. He trusted his instincts. Any power strong enough to disrupt the Eye of Time wasn’t one he could discount. If they didn’t leave now it might be too late.

Legion knocked back an encroaching god with his sword. “Go!”

The humans banded together while Cloudhawk prepared their escape. They’d accomplished enough, humiliating the gods and capturing a few. Time to go, even if it was unlikely this small victory would do much for humanity’s morale.

At last the gods had enough breathing room to regroup. The Supremes saw that Cloudhawk was trying to flee. “These humans are clever to recognize our plans.”

“No matter. Escape is not possible.”

As the two gods exchanged their thoughts, changes crept into the environment. It caught everyone’s eye, approaching from overhead.

The sapphire blue shell covering the planet was stained dark red, like looking through goggles. A sudden and ominous sunset.

The humans looked on in confusion. One of the Supremes thrust his sword forward and released a beam of energy that was not uniquely strong. It was aimed directly for Legion but Abaddon saw it coming. He leaped in front of his Elder, hands raised, and summoned a burst of sand in midair.