Chapter 4:13 Retaliation |
I teleported beside Elvira, as Morgan deposited Alala on the floor of her palace. The musuclar woman was convulsing, her unconscious mind fighting tooth and nail against the Rot that kept trying to take hold once again.
"Hold her steady," I said unnecessarily, kneeling beside her, my power automatically going to work. The entirety of the Four Realms pressed down upon Alala, yet her strength was great enough that even that was not a guarantee of keeping her restrained without my active control. First, I created bindings, wrapping her limbs in anchors of pure Yin power - its subtlety a direct contrast to her intense physicality, and thus a heavier weight.
Then I closed my eyes, placed a hand upon her forehead - heedless of the sheen of slime across her skin - and impressed Balance upon her. Black and white swirled about me in a commanding wave, yin and yang warring against each other as Alala's mental state was revealed to the greater world. Her mouth opened in a wordless scream, eyes shooting wide open, muscles straining against the restraints, while my brow furrowed in concentration.
"I need you to protect us," I grunted from between grit teeth, sweat beading my brow. Physically, she was stronger than me. But she lacked the Heart and Mind. Morgan and Elvira poth perked up at my words. "The Rot will push the attack now. That will make it desperate and dangerous. Be cautious." I warned, my divine power threading through Alala, separating the rot from her cell-by-cell, from every microscopic inch of her own divine power.
She fought me. Then she didn't. Then she did, and I pushed my domain harder. White and black flared up and about chaotically, horrifically unbalanced, and a great golden taiji symbol swirled into existence beneath me to help balance myself, as well as acting as an anchor for her to ground upon.
Morgan and Elivira moved while I focused on separating the rot from Alala; or, more accurately, balancing the imbalances within her, so she could properly fight the rot herself. She didn't want to be like this. That was what made the Rot weak within her. She had become too aware of what the obsession was doing to her, what it had made her do. And even though the Heart was infected still, the Body and Mind rejected it wholesale. That gave Alala leeway to fight back, and I would provide the ground for her to stand on to do so.
The Rot was strong and used what she wanted against her, while at the same time trying to infect me. Which was, quite frankly, a ridiculous goal. Don't be arrogant, I chided myself. The Rot had gotten this far, and though I was powerful, I refused to become arrogant. That was how one got infected in the first place.
The Four Realms shook as artillery shells impacted the defenses.
"Go. I will join you when I have this stabilized," I said, but they had already left. A small smile danced across my lips as my mind tracked them shooting across the Four Realms, Morgan eagerly, Elvira with determination. Oh, my children. How eager they were. But none of them were giving Reika her proper dues. Nor Inesa. Those two had already been ready, now that the ones who fought first and fought hardest were gone on campaign.
"Now, let us begin."
***
There were no words Reika could use to describe her anger. It was not to say that she felt left out of the fighting, no, that was not it. If she had her way, there would be no fighting. Despite being a goddess of change, she had a distaste for conflict.
To say she was mad at the conflict itself was also not entirely true. Conflict and war were just things that happened.
No, what she was mad about was that she was lying to herself about both of those things. She was already at the "walls" when the attack started, hands held loosely at her sides, watching a red tidal wave come crashing down upon to Four Realms.
The Rot had given up the pretense of tactics. It was reacting, and reacting badly. Atreum was in the lead, screaming bloody murder while his entire army descended upon the Four Realms, accompanied by the cesspool of red slime that came crashing down toward them like a great ocean of obsessive hatred.
"Inesa, dear," she said calmly, not turning even as Fang Xu and Celene appeared beside her, their respective domains flaring, fire spilling from both of their eyes. Fang Xu's bow creaked ominously as it was drawn, a dozen arrows of orange flame appearing upon the fiery string alongside a dozen of blue ice from Celene. "Your home is under attack."
Silence echoed from Inesa, far below in the Heaven Realm as she was, helping tend to some of the sick and injured and healing the cracks in the Realms caused by the collision. Her husband was gone, away on war. It was just her and her duaghter now, no matter if Mother was still here, or anyone else. To her, bandits were knocking on the door of her home, and her domain told her she was alone. This was the first time the Goddess of Light had been alone, left to defend her house in a long, long time.
The Goddess of Light was more powerful than any of them realized, just like Reika.
The stars burned.
Elvira and Morgan skidded to a stop beside her, the defenders scrambling, then ceasing their panicked strides, as the defensive star array was activated, then weaponized. Beams of golden light lanced out in rays of burning heat, cutting massive swathes through the wave of slime and mold. Fire ignited along the formation pathways, burning like the flames from a hearth, coals scattered across the floor in a bid of defense - then lobbed in great fireballs at the approaching forces.
It was an attack fueled by desperation. A mother protecting her child, and all the more devastating for it - because it was the direct opposite of the Rot in a more fundamental way than freedom was. It was the healthy kind of obsession. The necessary kind. Reika smiled.
"I didn't know she could do that," Elvira muttered as she appeared beside Reika, wings flaring dramatically despite her subdued aura. She was still recovering from her fight with Alala - wounds of the soul, like the kind two gods gave each other, were far slower to heal than flesh.
"No one did. Not even her," Reika commented mildly. "Sister, you and Morgan focus on defense. I will handle Atreum."
"But," Elvira started, but Reika was already moving. Her season shifted, snow drifting about her as icicles formed along her fingers like claws. Atreum descended at the head of his great host, a sword of blood held high and ready to crash down upon her - arrows of fire, ice, and spears of blue light raced past her alongside beams of white yang, Fang Xu, Celene, and Elvira intervening.
The personal guard of Atreum, ten foul gods of various warlike domains, were blown away alongside entire sections of his army, leaving him and Reika to face each other alone. She pitied him. Once upon a time, she was certain he would have been a match for any one of her siblings, alone.
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The man swung at her.
"Change," she said, and the sword became a knife. Atreum, to his credit, did not miss a beat. He shifted immediately, darting close and stabbing at her. "Change." The stab became a wide sweep Reika easily blocked, using her frigidness to freeze the Rot before it could even attempt to infect her - by her nature, she was the most susceptible of her siblings to the rot. Fungus was a part of change.
That did not mean she would let herself be infected, or it would be easy though.
"You," Atreum growled. "Heretic! First, you betray us. Then, you steal Lady Curie's Authority, and now you threaten to do the same to Lady Alala?! I will obliterate you for this blasphemy."
"Change." Reika said simply, and Atreum jerked as if struck, the Rot within him screaming. She cocked her head to the side, the ice melting as she, herself, changed seasons. "Interesting. The Rot is defying its own nature to destroy, by trying to remain eternal, to keep your obsession upon a single thing rather than eroding it. How odd." Atreum snarled at her, charging forth once more, a wave of sludge washing over her.
It was burned away by the fires of Summer, the dry heat of the desert annihilating any and all moisture within the Rot.
"Dried fungus is good in soup, but I don't think this will provide any nourishment," she said, brushing off the destroyed rot and ducking under Atreum's next blow. Her rage burned within her chest now, so different from the cold rage of winter or the more manageable furies of spring and fall. This was her anger at full strength, a dry, desert wind howling through the air, the lighting of a summer thunderstorm tearing through reality. Atreum blocked with a shield and ducked beneath the wind, his domain of War flaring out of him, full offensive.
"Change," she said, and suddenly he was back on the defensive while she attacked. She was not like her siblings. She did not have the karmic strings of Keilan, or the fists of Elvira, or the draconic fire of Alexander. What she had, was an overwhelming force of nature. Raw elements pounded against Atreum in unending waves, howling hurricanes, tearing tornadoes, biting rain and blasting lightning.
"You!" Atreum shouted over the din, and Reika shook her head, hair whipping about wildly.
"It's a pity!" she shouted, everything suddenly stopping as her nature changed again, fading away to a dullness that transcended reality. Colors became monotone. Her entire body darkened from earth-tones to the pitch black of space. "Your domain is too stagnant now. Your domain of war is too...uncompromising. Like this, you could never hope to be my equal." Even her voice came out dull and lifeless, empty of all emotion and inflection.
"I am your equal," he snarled back, spitting up globs of blood, bits of fungus falling out of his wounds. His eyes were wild. His hair even moreso. And she could see the scheming in his eyes. He was trying to keep her occupied, as well. "And you underestimate war. I am never executing only one plan."
"You keep implying such things, though I feel none of your plans have worked. And while it may be true you have other plans in motion," Reika said, unmoving as Atreum charged, stabbing at her with his dagger - the attack passed through her empty, devoid body harmlessly. "Even that can change."
***
Elvira had to admit, she was still feeling the injuries of her fight against Alala. That, plus her worry about the pregnancy, made her an ineffective fighter. It had to be so, considering she was struggling against a measly seven gods of the One World.
"Elvira, get back!" Gilles shouted, her shadowy husband bursting onto the scene, bleeding from his forehead. "Go protect the mountain! The inner regions have already been breached!" The seven attacking gods hesitated for just a moment as Gilles engulfed the entire area in shadow - Elvira took the opportunity to burst forward, shattering the ribcage of one with a single punch, and searing the eyes of another with a beam of white light.
"We need to-" she started, but Gilles was already there, grabbing her by the shoulders and pointing down toward the Realms themselves. A veritable flood of enemies, but what really only accounted for a tenth of the army attacking, had managed to break through a few cracks in the defenses and were now sweeping through the Four Realms proper. The Outer Regions burned, the mortal and immortal defenders putting up a valiant fight but not able to keep back the tide as they surged toward Father and the original Holy Mountain.
"We need you commanding, not fighting!" Gilles barked, shoving her away and hurling a spear of shadow at the god that tried to get between them, skewering her bicep and sending her reeling. "Go! Rally the defenders, I'll hold here!"
Elvira cursed but did as she was asked all the same, breaking away from the fighting and hurtling down toward the Realms, shattering an enemy ship in the process. A few gods tried to stop her, but they were no match for her speed, especially not with the Will of the Four Realms cutting their strength down a little.
Her teeth grit, risking a glance up at Reika, who was shifting through forms at great speed, beating Atreum back handily. Their defenses had been ready for an attack. But even they had proven unable to hold back a mass, suicidal charge.
"Rally to me!" she bellowed, the holy light of heaven searing across the Realms, burning away what rot she could. Magic spells rose up to meet her, holding it at bay, keeping her from annihilating the attackers outright. Dragons roared, a line of the great beasts emerging from their caves to annihilate an entire section of whatever casters tried to hold her back. The spell wavered and she crashed through what was left, tearing apar a war machine - a metal contraption with an artillery shell already loaded - with her bare hands. Some of the defenders, members of the Heavenly Host who had been desperately protecting one of the new, smaller Holy Mountains, the peak of which had been blown off by artillery, rallied to her side.
Outside, the Four Realms rattled as more artillery shells were fired, the switch of the star shield from defense to offense working against them at the moment. No matter how many of the enemy forces it burned, and how much the rot was blown away, there was always more to replace it. Or so it seemed. There would be an end.
"You and you, take command of the breach nearest to the Realm Sun. I'll get you there, but we need to seal the breach up there. I'm sending reinforcements." Elvira commanded, already sending incarnations running across the Four Realms, rallying and saving who she could, trying to get defenders up to the breaches and push back the invaders themselves. The Realm Sun was currently helping to hold back that particular breach, Fang Xu's domain burning any who dared approach, but even it could not contain the entire tide. The enemy was driven by madness. Utter, raw madness. No strategy besides destroy and - her body stiffened as two of the new regions imploded, countless souls sent hurtling through space as even the Spirit Realm was momentarily disrupted in the area.
She had no time to grieve, despite the loss feeling like a blow to her very soul. She teleported the Heavenly Host to their positions and set about her task, rallying a few elemental gods and others who were in desperate need.
And slowly, they pushed back the tide.
***
The battle was swift and brutal. Every inch that he invaders pushed into the Four Realms felt like a dagger to my heart, every soul perished in battle a knife to the soul. Unfortunately for the rot, its desperate bid to get to me and Alala only made my own need to succeed even greater.
"Alala," I ground out. "Wake up!"
With a surge of power, I shifted my personal Balance to one extreme, countering Alala's own imbalance through sheer metaphysical weight. Freedom. All worries and cares flew away from me, replaced with bright, bubbling laughter as I grabbed the offending rot with both hands and heaved, finally breaking the madness loose after hours of breaking its hold on her soul nanometer by nanometer.
It shrieked as I wrenched out of her with a sickening squelch, biting and tearing, a skeleton of red fungus that had bound itself into every inch of Alala. Immediately it began trying to counter my balance, thrashing as it tried to get back to Alala - their fates were still tied together too much -
"Elvira!" I bellowed, and my daughter was there. Blood dripped from her forehead where a stray attack had caught her, but she held the Sword That Does Not Cut at the ready, already swinging as it fell down, down upon the Rot and the fate that bound it, severing it in twain. She stumbled from the backlash, but I reached out and caught it all the same - this was only a single piece of the Rot's fate, catching that much I could do with my hands.
"Thank you," I told her, chest heaving as I poured the Rot into a jar I created out of pure Void, a prison that would annihilate it if it dared to touch the sides, slowly letting my personal balance return. I turned my gaze skyward, to the invaders. "Now, I will help clean out the pests."
Not that there was much left for me to do at this point. The worst of the attack was over. Atreum was beating a hasty retreat, Reika chasing him with her ever changing moods. My children had repeatedly proven themselves as powerful and skilled in this conflict, proving time and time again that they were not the children I still so fondly thought of them as. Still. The least I could do to these beings who had invaded my home was show them how high the heavens truly were.
