God Rising: The Cult of Ainz
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
Chapter 206: Setting the World Right
...Kami Miyako...Yvon's Home...
Yvon's straight golden sword thrust out at Dominic, almost too fast for him to respond. Almost. Dominic's back bent unnaturally far back as Raymond came in with his single blade, he brought it back and forth to cut into his enemy's chest and neck, attempting to open an artery.
[Gift of Life] Yvon uttered, and the blood Raymond shed, flowed back into their wounds, which closed up immediately after. His other hand came up, drawing the second sword with it, Raymond dove to the side, causing it to whirl through the empty space. "A valiant effort. But you're going to die. I'm chosen by the gods. You can't kill me." Yvon remarked as he continued the fluid motion and brought the first sword overhead and down toward Dominic, whose shout of rage echoed all over the house as he brought his hands together around the blade, catching it fast between his palms. The force of the strike brought him down to one knee, he felt it crack when it hit the floor, but the blade did not cut him.
"You're not chosen! I refuse to believe it!" Dominic shouted, and forced his palms over, throwing Yvon off balance. [Heavy Blow], he uttered, and let loose a punch that caught Yvon squarely in the gut and sent him flying backward, he bounced off the table, straight toward Raymond.
Raymond's dagger flew down with inhuman speed, catching Yvon in the shoulder as the older Cardinal tried to roll off in order to avoid the blow and was only partially successful.
From on his back on the table, the sinister Cardinal brought his swords up like they were scissors in an attempt to take Raymond's head. "I am their chosen son, you are the prodigal bastards!" Raymond dropped down below the wild attack and pounced with a snarl.
His knife came up, and down again into Yvon's chest. Or should have. Yvon brought his injured arm up to take the blow, then dropped his other sword and thrust his thumb hard into Raymond's eye.
Raymond jumped backward at the sudden pain and grasped at the injury instinctively. "He's a traitor, Dominic, I swear it, he'll be the ruin of us all, kill him, kill him and I'll forgive you. I'll spare you, and I'll even give you a place in my government." Yvon said as he got up and avoided a hurricane blast that rushed beyond his head to smash a wall.
Only for Dominic to get his body with the next one and hold him immobile. "You're the traitor! You betrayed me! Now tell me, where is Yarvin! Tell me where Yarvin is, and I will make this painless!"
"Who the hell is Yarvin?" Yvon groused out, "Wait, that elf trash? He's 'around'." Yvon smiled his cruelest smile.
"Around?" Dominic demanded, the arm he held up was joined by another, the pressure of the air began to squeeze tighter around Yvon's body.
"Well, yes, some of him is under the table, bits and pieces are on the wall, some of him is reduced to ashes now, stupid trash managed to end his own life, I thought it appropriate we put him to use when I was supposed to get your head from 'him'." Yvon tried to indicate where Raymond had gone down, only to find Raymond was not there.
The meaning of Yvon's words hit home, and Dominic let out a wail of rage and despair, "I'll crush you! I'll crush you with the air you breathe!" He screeched and tightened his fists, increasing the pressure more and more around the Cardinal of Light.
Yvon laughed, [Godslight] He uttered, and it was as if a sun had burst in front of Dominic's face, all was brightness and nothing could be seen, his eyes felt seared, and he staggered away. Yvon grabbed both swords, indifferent to the pain, he went forward and drove a sword into Dominic's guts.
A shout of pain followed, and Yvon raised his other sword, only to feel his wrist snap overhead and his sword fall from nerveless fingers. A sudden yank and he felt himself staggering away, and before he could really get a glimpse, he felt a powerful leg kick him square in the ribs, and several of them crack as he flew through his window and out into the freezing snow. Raymond reached into his cloak and pulled out a healing potion for himself, not far away, Dominic was doing the same, and they were through the windows in almost the same moment.
Sadistic smiles were on the faces of both men as Yvon began to rise. "It was only an elf!" Yvon snapped out, "They're just animals!" He said as he staggered away, coughing up blood over his fine Cardinal robes. He felt his leg all but give out from under him where it fractured from the landing.
There, he spied Misu, his slave, standing nearby a stunning blonde girl in a maid outfit.. 'Why is she out here? No matter, no matter, she's useful now, they're both soft on these animals, I can buy time, my soldiers will come when word spreads, we'll outnumber the Agante, we'll finish them all off, and then... maybe then the gods will come!' He thought hurriedly as he drew himself over to her.
Misu froze when she realized he was coming for her. All she could do was clutch the coat around her body and whimper.
"Stay back!" Yvon shouted over his shoulder, "I'll kill her before you get close enough to stop me!"
For a moment, Raymond almost hesitated. Then, a memory stirred, 'I do not make negotiations using hostages.' The effectiveness of the policy, the brutality, the ruthlessness. He drew his knife up, behind his ear, and he saw the fear in Yvon's sinister eyes as it flew from Raymond's hand.
It spun over and over, and hit him right in the ass, sending him toppling down. Dominic's own knife flew at almost the same instant, and Raymond saw it sticking out of Yvon's back next to his spine. Howls of pain came from the Cardinal of Light.
Yvon crawled through the snow, howling like the wounded beast he was sure he felt like. "This can't be... I'm the chosen of the gods... this is not possible... they chose me..." He felt a kick to his ribs, and his body rolled over as his slave hid behind the eerily calm maid he remembered from Raymond's previous visit.
He felt blood gurgling up to his mouth, his eyes widened. 'The proof. She's not a former scripture trainee... she's an agent of the Sorcerer King! She's the proof! Dominic you stupid fool, the proof of his treason is in front of you!' Yvon tried to speak, looking up at the two Cardinals, and the sweet smiling maid behind which his slave now hid.
He moved his lips, his mouth, but other than gurgles and coughing, no sound came out, his arms flopped around uselessly, his swords long gone from grasp. Dominic crouched over him, burning hatred in his eyes. "You killed Yarvin, he was my only family... you took him from me? Now... suffer for it, and know this. You are 'not' chosen by the gods, you're only my chosen victim. You never... ever should have crossed me, you should have stayed loyal like Raymond. If you had, you wouldn't be dying out here in the snow. Think about that, in the few seconds you have left." Dominic said as Yvon still tried and failed to speak.
"Finish it already, Dominic." Raymond said calmly as he reached down and took his knife up from the snow where it had fallen when Yvon had been kicked over on his back. The tip of Dominic's blade protruded through the right side of his stomach.
Dominic put his hand over the bloody mouth of his bloody rival, [Control Wind] He uttered, and parted his fingers ever so slightly. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment as Yvon flopped like a fish cast onto dry land. It was only after those few seconds had passed, that Raymond realized what was happening.
Yvon's lungs were expanding, air was being forced into his body, but was not leaving, or if it were, not quickly enough to matter. "I want you to know... this is going to hurt... a lot." Dominic said with hate like burning acid pouring out of his eyes and into the wide eyed and terrified face of the dying Cardinal of Light.
"Mmmmhmmm! Mmmmhmmm!" Yvon managed to make the noise a few times, and then his lungs expanded as much as they could... then just a little bit more. And then a horrific and grisly 'splat' as they exploded from inside of his body, ripping his breastbone open and splaying the broken bones out into the cold evening air, and scattering blood over both men.
Yvon gasped no more, but it took several more hellish seconds, and then the light went out of the Cardinal of Light, and Yvon was finally, blessedly, dead.
They wiped the blood from their faces. "Not bad. Raymond, you should learn to kill that way, it's pretty." Solution said as she looked hungrily at the stain that had once been the Cardinal of Light. The Agante were slowly emerging from the house.
"Good work." Dominic said bluntly. "Let me thank you for your help somehow, you can have this one. Its name is Misu." He said, and pointed to Misu, who still shook behind Solution.
Raymond looked at him quizzically. "What?"
"This is the elf who warned me of his coup, at great risk to herself. I was going to give her light duty and keep her, but..." He shrugged, "You have a soft spot for slaves, pragmatic views aside, she'd be happier as your property than mine, and I don't need another one. Giving away a slave might not seem like much, but... she's pretty, and you might have fun with her, and she'll no doubt be grateful for your kindness." Dominic said in a friendly, grateful voice that belied the gravity of the subject and their recent circumstances.
"Ah... yes well... Thank you." Raymond said awkwardly as he cleaned off his knife and put it away.
"Misu, go with him, he's your owner now. You're welcome, both of you." Dominic said as he cleaned his own blade and put it away in an identical fashion to Raymond.
She nodded hesitantly, "Ah, sir... Cardinal Dominic... b-before I go, I w-want to tell you something." She bowed slightly.
"Yes?" he asked expectantly.
She stammered out as best she could with a quivering voice as she remembered the brave elf's death, "Th-The one called Yarvin. He endured his torture very bravely. He said for me to tell you that he never broke... that he... that he was a faithful servant right up to the end."
She paused again, "A-Also... thank you for saving my life, Sir." She said gratefully, prompting an odd look from Raymond as questioning eyes met hers.
"Fine. Get going." He said to her, dismissively, and looked over at Raymond.
It was a heavy voice he used to speak to his colleague. "I... think I want to be alone for awhile. I'll have the Agante clean up and parade Yvon's head around the city, and spread the word that I'll pardon every unit whose commanders present themselves at our governing hall, you go ahead and relax. For a few hours at least. Then there is a lot to do to prepare for the demon's arrival... but I think you've proven your loyalty well enough that you can skip out on showing up to pledge it, at least."
Raymond inclined his head quietly, and walked off with Solution and Misu in tow.
True to intent, the Agante forces that shed the blood of their leader's enemies at the table, picked up the head of the defeated Cardinal of Light, tearing it away from the scrap of flesh that still bound it to the stain that was previously a human torso. They stuck it on a pike, and began to march it throughout the city.
"Yvon is gone! Long Live Dominic! Yvon is gone! Long Live Dominic!" Over and over the chant was uttered, and little by little it was taken up as the crowd grew with the loyal, the indifferent, and the disloyal who now feared what would happen if their disloyalty were known. Step by step through the snow they tramped, with refugees and locals falling into line under the eyes of the black cloaks, the long knives, and behind the head on a spike.
Dominic did not hear it all, though he strained his ears for some time, eventually the sound was carried farther and farther on the backs of growing thousands of throats. He could hear swords being cast down, and he could, from his position on the balcony in the governing building, looking out over the whole of the city, hear the unmistakable sounds of soldiers' boots as some of them switched sides, and some revealed their true allegiance.
He watched the snow fall gently from the balcony, his hands folded behind his back, his black and red cloak that he'd chosen to wear for killing Yvon, stained up and down with blood that, short of magic, would never come clean. The light was fading fast on the horizon as night descended on the city of the Six Great Gods. But sleep was coming to few, the noise was rising and the fires everywhere were slowly dying.
"How many disloyal fools have died between yesterday and today, I wonder?" Dominic contemplated as he watched the announcement of his victory become an impromptu parade. He snorted, "Only after my victory, does it turn out nobody wanted Yvon to win at all. How marvelous." He uttered with so much sarcasm that he could not resist the urge to spit over the balcony in disgust at the fluid loyalties of peasants and soldiers alike.
As he watched his victory unfold seamlessly over the city from his high view over it, he spoke in a rare, solemn voice, "Now, as then, humanity is on the brink of losing everything, and the gods will come again for us, just like they did before, they will save us from destruction from this world's many evils. Demons, no matter their skin, demihumans, heteromorphs, undead... all will fall, those fools marching here, march only into the loving embrace of humanity's defenders, and here at the end of that march, they will be crushed by that embrace. And as for you... you fair weather faithful... when the gods come back, and you will bend the knee and confess your sins to them, and they will purify you of your wickedness. When all that is done, and we are purified, then and only then will humanity thrive again."
As he said these words aloud, he saw down below, that soldiers aplenty were streaming in, from on high, he watched units marching in formation, he watched soldiers acting alone, he watched squads and companies, and eventually, entire battalions. Behind them, came citizens, priests and merchants, peasants and tradesmen. Slowly, minute by minute, their numbers grew and picked up speed as they did so.
As the people moved in and in such numbers that he could no longer count them, nor even see the snow beneath their endless feet, a Dominic felt a rush of pleasure and power thrum through his veins. 'I am unchallenged now, there is nobody left, none will oppose me, none will get in my way.' He thought joyfully and opened his arms widely to embrace the crowds below.
"Dominic! Dominic! Dominic! Dominic! Dominic!" They shouted, their fists pumping, many holding swords, most of the distant glowing fires had died down, aided by the snow and the copious efforts of the population, and shadow began to seep slowly out and conceal with darkness, the place where the most dangerous form of light had extinguished lives of countless people, friend and foe alike, only to now be restored to peace.
He savored the moment, and closed his eyes to enjoy a waking dream, a fantasy of the arriving monsters, the demon in her pride and arrogance, their charging at the unbroken, unbowed, invincible walls of Kami Miyako, and her confusion at the moment when the six descended from the heavens on that sacred scene, and tore asunder everything she valued. He felt the warmth over his skin as he enjoyed the daydream in his mind, and the cheers of the crowd that was still growing down below.
He opened his eyes and saw the crowd began to fall to one knee and bow their heads. "I am the chosen one of the gods, it is me who they favor, it was never you, Yvon. Never you."
The moment, however, ended far too soon. He cocked his head slightly, and looked to the walls, he heard the many guards on the parapets, their shouting, screaming, horror and fear was evident even if he could only hear it because he was so far above the crowd.
He was about to cast [message], when someone on the wall did it first and reached out for him.
'My Lord Cardinal... our Great Defender...' The captain of the guard's voice rang in his head with a desperate urgency.
'Yes, what is it? Can't you tell I'm busy here?!' Dominic replied with annoyance.
'Yes, yes I know sir, the Agante already sent a man to tell us, we threw a few Yvon loyalists over the other side already, but this is important.' He replied with a childlike tremor in his voice.
'Then spit it out! I haven't got all day!' Dominic rebuked him lightly and urged him on, trying instead to savor the adoration below him as the bulk of the army, his Agante, and his people, pledged their loyalty to him once again. Officers were reciting their oaths, soldiers were repeating them, intoning the truth of their faith, and pledging to serve it through their loyalty to the Great Defender.
'It's the river... the river sir... before it turned red... now... sir it is black! The River has turned black, for miles and miles, as far as we can see, it's going and going, and it's dark as ink, darker than a moonless night...!' The captain of the guard emphasize, 'The refugees trapped outside, they're rioting! They think it's a sign from the gods, I think they're going to try to actually attack the gates! Lord Cardinal... what do we do?!' He begged for orders, and Dominic was silent.
"We've... made some room in here, now. Send out representatives, inform them we'll be taking those capable of fighting, or those who can provide supplies to help the city hold out. All the rest, have to stay out." Dominic replied swiftly.
'Sir, if you give that kind of order... they'll kill each other to get in… The captain of the guard replied with barely a moment's thought.
'Competent man, competent, but short sighted.' Dominic thought, but then replied, 'And that means they won't be attacking the gates. We'll get the help, and we'll solve a problem before it becomes one. I don't see the problem. Let them kill each other, and let the faithful chosen of the gods, come in to welcome the return of the divine with all of us within.'
'As you say, Sir. It will be done.' The captain answered grimly, and the connection was severed.
'Sign of the gods. No. Sign of that demon burning everything she touches, more likely. When the gods come, I'll ask that they burn her, it isn't right that she lives while he... while Yarvin... does not.' He thought, and tears of fury formed that he was grateful the crowd below could not see.
He reached up briefly to wipe away the burst of grief that was trying to make its way out through his eyes again despite his best efforts, "Yarvin... when they come back, I won't forget you. I'll ask that they give you a new life as a human, using magic only gods can possess, so you can have the existence you deserve as such a faithful servant, and no longer wear that failed, impure, defective elven skin you loathed so much. Until then, please... rest easy, wherever you are, and watch over me, as I remake this fucking world."