The Godsfall Chronicles

Book 7, Chapter 99 - Under Threat

Danger was present from the beginning, but this was life-threatening .

“Go!”

In the instant of crisis Cloudhawk released a burst of mental energy . His will took hold and formed a tornado around them whose intense winds carried them from encirclement .

How? Their powers were being suppressed, where had his come from? Under the power of Last Judgment all relics were useless . Cloudhawk’s abilities came from something else .

Last Judgment was an inscrutable weapon established on the moon . As far as humans could grasp it had blanketed their planet in particles large enough to fill the atmosphere . Until now they had lain dormant, activated on command to perform it’s task – to disable relics .

It had to mean these particles disrupted the ability of relics to manipulate string-fluctations . Everything in the universe, both physical and energetic, when deconstructed to its smallest parts were merely resonating strings . Each hum was different, creating everything in the world around them . Manipulating those strings meant control over reality .  

Mental energy was a unique sort of energy . It was formless and intangible, created from the will of living things, difficult to capture and quantify . As far as anyone knew it was the only energy capable of altering strings, and only with relics as a conduit .

The G.o.ds’ new weapon severed the conduit . Without a source to pull from the relics were useless .  

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Cloudhawk, though, was different . He had merged several relics with his own body, limiting Last Judgment’s effects by turning his body into a tool . What’s more, over the years Cloudhawk had been learning to shake off the shackles of relics and manipulate reality with his own power . Such a power was wholly unique .

This budding ability was still weak but had tremendous potential .

From the beginning Cloudhawk understood that becoming Demon King meant only one thing, defeat . Not unless something was different . If he wanted to win he had to be better than his predecessor . He wasn’t going to defeat the G.o.d King with a tactic that already failed . What he needed was to grow his mental powers . To not only turn himself into the greatest relic ever made, but to transcend relics altogether! 

The G.o.ds aimed their spear and fired and the retreating humans . A rain of energy descended, as deadly as it was blinding .

Cloudhawk continued to float in midair, maintaining his composure . As the strikes came he extended his hands and a mighty wall of pale white force emerged . Everyone shrank as the barrage came cras.h.i.+ng into the sh.e.l.l .

The sound of cracking gla.s.s filled the air . Several blows broke through and slammed into Cloudhawk’s body .  

He was the only one who could use relics, but only relics he had absorbed . Even those were ten times weaker under the muzzle of Last Judgment . But despite wielding a fraction of his power, it made him their one hope at escape .

Cloudhawk was flung back as though he’d been struck by a bolt of lightning . No wounds were visible . It was a shot that would blow a hole through a s.h.i.+p’s hull, but against Cloudhawk is just stung . Thanks to the Demon King’s Cuira.s.s, his const.i.tution was highly empowered .

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Those spears would not be enough to shoot him down .

Soldiers closed in, weapons blazing . They slammed into Cloudhawk again and again until cracks began to appear in his armor . He was starting to take damage, but nothing significant yet .

“f.u.c.k off!”

Cloudhawk swiped at them with G.o.dslayer, although it had lost its power . With pure force he shattered one of the spears and sent its owner reeling . The soldier hit the ground at bone-breaking speed .

G.o.dslayer was still a sword .

Another G.o.d went flying . But even the fiercest tiger feared a pack of wolves . Several attackers flung themselves at Cloudhawk and he was finding it hard to fight back . After a few more exchanges he felt his defenses weakening .

Two plumes of fire burst from Cloudhawk’s hands and he sprayed the surrounding G.o.ds . Sickly green fire filled the air and coalesced into a wall while a dozen soldiers burned .

But in the process Cloudhawk took five more hits . He couldn’t hold out any longer, so with a burst of spatial energy he teleported back among his team . Exhaustion was setting in . Using his powers this way was draining .

An instant after leaving, two supremes and a group of soldiers burst through the wall of flame . Motes of green danced across their armor, but the G.o.ds paid it no mind . Such diminished power might burn them, but would not take their lives .

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“Buy me some time,” Cloudhawk growled . He gathered his power and s.p.a.ce began to distort around him . Every gathered around, waiting to be succored to safety .

The G.o.ds would not tolerate letting the little mice escape . Both Supremes charged forth, one with a sword and the other brandis.h.i.+ng a staff . Like streaking comets they quickly reached ten times the speed of sound, enough to pull up earth as they fly by .  

Legion’s Blade of Oblivion was only so much steel now, but his body was still a divine one . He was capable of defending himself even with an ordinary sword .

Clang! Elder and Supreme met in a shower of sparks . A nearby soldier fired at Legion from the side .

Unable to spare a hand in defense the blow caught him in the leg . Legion pitched to the side just in time for the Supreme to busy its sword in his neck . It only remained attached by virtue of his st.u.r.dy divine form .

The Supreme fought from the front . Behind it, soldiers fired their weapons . Their spears functioned like automatic rifles, firing beams of light one after the other toward the humans . Several Elysian tried to protect the group and were blown to pieces .

“f.u.c.k!”

Dawn was struck and screamed in pain . Despite her fury she wasn’t helpful here . She stumbled forward, but before she got two steps another blow landed and sent her flying . Selene caught her before she fell .

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Dawnbreaker armor was just sheet metal now . A hole had been blown through it . Dawn coughed up mouth-fulls of blood . Her injuries were dire, she was out of the fight .

Divine bodies were hardy, no less impervious than humanity’s greatest martial artists . With their spears that defied the tyranny of Last Judgment, they had a great advantage over the humans . Now the second Supreme joined the fray, wielding its long staff .

Its target was Cloudhawk himself . Orbs of energy gathered around its staff . This relic was like the others and could store energy . By the looks of it, its attacks were even more lethal than the soldiers’ spears .

But the Cloud G.o.d, Shepherd G.o.d, Frost, Phoenix, Siegebreaker and others saw it coming . They rushed to Cloudhawk’s aid but soldiers blasted them back, injuring them all . It was then the Supreme released the power from the staff . From the orb at its end a beam of unremarkable energy shot toward Cloudhawk .

He was almost there . A few seconds more and they would escape . But if this blow landed it would either badly wound or even kill him . Needless to say his concentration would be blown . Humanity’s one hope for escape would be robbed from them . It could spell their end .

“s.h.i.+t!”

At the last instant a figure shot forward, between Cloudhawk and the beam . Just as the shot found purchase, Cloudhawk released his power .

The humans vanished from sight .

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