Birds took flight, heading away from Fetch homestead, as if sensing danger.And, Luca beside him, Lars" eyes grew serious. He prepared himself for what was to come.
* * * * *
"…You WILL join us… Whether you want to or not…" Black vortices swirled sinisterly where Lord Seth"s eyes should have been, before jet-black strands of hair slowly snaked out of his eye sockets and coiled around Zera"s face.
The strands of hair softly brushed against her face, eliciting screams of fear and disgust. The hairs seemed like they were stroking her face lovingly, before crawling over her face to enter her eyes, ears, nose and mouth.
"No – NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lord Seth smiled wickedly as he watched Zera scream in panic; helplessly bound, she could do nothing to resist. She flung her head side to side and kicked her legs, but the hairs soon swallowed up her entire head, insistently approaching the orifices on her face.
*Ting!*
Just then, the clear ring of a bell resounded through the mind of everyone within a dozen miles. Then a beam of searing blue-golden light erupted from the centre of Fetch homestead, rising to the sky before curving in a wondrous ellipses to cut down the cloaked figures.
The sight of the soul-vanquis.h.i.+ng beam of light caused Lord Seth"s smile to stiffen as he dodged hurriedly, his moves followed immediately by the other cloaked figures - but as if out of nowhere, crystalline chains of silver energy locked onto their legs with a clanging sound, anchoring them in place, rendering them unable to move.
"ARGGHHHH!!!! MASH"NOTH!!!!!!!!!!!" Unable to evade, Lord Seth could only roar in rage as millions of dark roots and tightly wound hairs sprouted from his mouth, eyes, nose and ears to form a ball around him just before the beam of Divine energy crashed down on him in a deafening explosion. However, the other 4 cloaked figures were not quick enough, being engulfed by the storm of blue-gold lightning before they could defend themselves.
For an instant, everyone"s vision was eclipsed by a dazzling scene of blue lightning, golden Divine Light and sparkling energies that swept away every presence of darkness.
The tendrils, the roots, the strands of hairs were disintegrated like darkness dissipating under the light of the sun and eroded even the compressed defensive layers around Lord Seth, causing his body to erupt in Divine flames that damage the soul. The other cloaked figures fared even worse – not even a trace of their bodies or clothes remained in the aftermath of the Divine attack.
To their surprise however, Zera, Xiloth, Sir Kenneth, Gatyon, Katya and Albert were unharmed by the blue-gold light – instead, they found their bodies being nourished and their energy replenished. Even Zera"s damaged Life-Foci begun to be restored and repaired.
Even the injured goblins could feel the flesh and bones around their bodies itch – a sign of quickened healing.
However, all these were but for a moment – until the lance of heaven struck the earth.
When the Divine beam hit the ground, it was as if the earth were flipped over. An earthquake radiated outwards from Fetch homestead as the epicentre, wreaking havoc across the land.
Whether goblins or humans or Dark creatures, a sense of weightlessness was felt as everyone was forcefully knocked into the air by the impact. Dizziness and vertigo seized every individual, robbing them of their ability to move in the aftermath of the apocalyptic event.
A mushroom cloud of dust and soil surged into the air, blurring vision and inundating lungs, marking the end of the destruction and hiding the wounded earth and people.
* * * * *
The battle was won.
Lord Seth and the cloaked figures had been disintegrated without even a strand of hair left… But there was a price to be paid for the victory as well, one that left the people of Fetch homestead sorrowful and feeling hollow.
Mult.i.tudes of people, goblins, animals and livestock were strewn across the ground all around Fetch homestead. Those who were conscious were groaning, but the vast majority were knocked out cold, some even bleeding from their eyes and nose from the t.i.tanic impact.
The homestead walls burst apart into remnants of timber, stone and connecting materials, while trees were uprooted in a radius of several kilometres. Buildings were levelled instantly, leaving only heaps of rubble and dust, and even mountains were shaken, triggering avalanches and landslides.
Everywhere around, the heaving of the ground left only destruction and devastation with nothing and no one left standing – nothing except the barracks hall where the attack had originated, where the Truthstone and Elder Mash"noth were.
The barracks was surrounded by a s.h.i.+mmering golden globe that had protected the building and occupants from the explosion. Nonetheless, the earthquake could only be suppressed, not erased completely.
The barracks hall was teetering on the edge of collapse, barely held up by the pulsating glows of Divine energy, while Elder Mash"noth and the other 5 Divine wors.h.i.+ppers were covered in dust and lying p.r.o.ne on the floor.
They were exhausted and dizzy, partly from the earthquake, but mostly due to over-exertion of Divine power, for the Judgment of G.o.d formation was at the peak of the Spirit (Mythical) level, far exceeding their capabilities by a full level. This feat of Divinity was only made possible through the use of the Spirit-level Artefact, the Truthstone.
"I"m… Too old for this…" Elder Mash"noth panted in fatigue, wheezing and looking weak. But she looked greatly relieved. They survived…
"Though at what cost…" Her heart shook at the thought of the scale of rebuilding needed, what with food supplies low and autumn fast approaching.
And the goblin tribes would be in a state of turmoil for some time at least until a new lord was appointed. Even then, if the new lord chose a militant stance…
Elder Mash"noth pushed the thoughts aside. Those were worries for another season. Just getting through the winter would be challenging enough as it were.
Closing her eyes, her body turned into a blur and she used a Blink to cross the distance to Zera"s side and manage the clean-up of the battlefield.
She arrived before the city gates just in time to see Zera regaining consciousness. She had been lying on the ground propped up by Captain Xiloth while the other council members formed a perimeter in case of any retaliatory attack from the goblins – who, strangely, were yet to retreat but had not attacked either.
"Cough… Cough…" Zera regained consciousness quickly, finding herself lying on the ground. Checking her body, she found to her relief that she was fine except for her right arm which would need several weeks to fully recuperate.
"Father…? Father!" She raised herself up hurriedly and looked around, only to see a scene of destruction and chaos.
"What…? Elder…? Xiloth…? What happened…? Is father…?" Zera"s face was filled with conflicting emotions as she looked at those around her, hoping against hope for a miracle.
Those around her exchanged a glance, heavy hearted and weary from the aftermath of the hard-won fight. However, she knew from their expressions that Lord Seth was no more.
It was Katya who was the first to speak.
"Milady, at first, we thought that you were going to be taken by the Darkness too… I-We… We"re all so glad that you were saved just in time… If you were to be turned too, I wouldn"t be able to…" The pa.s.sionate woman could not continue, just falling silent as the tears wet her face. Her face fell as did her gaze, and she could not lift her head to look Zera in the eye.
"Yeah, Milady… We… We"re sorry we couldn"t do anything but, Lord Seth, he… We"re just glad you"re safe…" Gatyon added.
"Zera… I"m sorry…" Xiloth put his arm around her shoulder, holding her close. Today, she didn"t pull away even from what she normally termed as an inappropriate public display of affection.
Zera took in a deep breath and steeled her resolve. She knew that, if there had any other way, any other thing that they could have done it, they would have. She trusted her companions, trusted their hearts towards her and her father.
However, she knew as well as they that there had been no other way.
"Xiloth…" She looked up fondly at her long time sweetheart who she decided would from today forth be her man, then at her other companions, touched.
Then she reached out to put her left hand on Katya"s shoulder to tell her it was alright.
"Katya… Everyone… URGH!!" But before she could, she felt an erratic heart beat inside her chest, one that was so forceful, that it shook up her insides. A gush of blood rushed up into her mouth and she forcefully spat out a red mist as she heard a voice calling her… Beseeching her…
Commanding her.
-Kill them all-
"Yes my lord…"
And she answered.