God Rising: The Cult of Ainz
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
Chapter 210: God Rising
AN: Here it is. All that remains after this... is the epilogue, the historical perspectives, and final note to this story. Then at long last, I will mark 'God Rising: The Cult of Ainz' as 'COMPLETE'
...Outside of Kami Miyako...
Neia walked the length of the encampment as torches lit up the night everywhere. Shouts and organized chaos were both abundant as stakes were hammered into soft earth and archers took a double issue of arrows. At her side, Lakyus walked as she filled Neia in.
"The core position was simply too close, so we pulled back twenty or thirty yards, their scorpions have a longer range than I expected, I realize it isn't ideal, but it will minimize losses." She said confidently as she strode beside her friend.
"That makes sense, good decision making on the run, my wife was right to choose you for this, you can sit out tomorrow's fighting if you want, since you established camp for us tonight. This is going to be very short. Very, very short." Neia said with absolute confidence, and taking Lakyus's hand and folding it in hers, she whispered a soft, and deeply sincere, "Thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for fighting with us, marching with us, thank you for your friendship, thank you for your loyalty, thank you and all your roses, for everything you've done. I believe we'd have won without you, but I believe a lot more would have paid the price for that victory than had you not come with us. Thank you for caring enough about me to... well, show that you did. Thank you most of all though, for your help at Wenmark, everything about your time with us, has meant so much to me, I can't ever repay it."
"Neia... are you going to... do what I think you plan to?" Lakyus asked as the torrent ceased, her eyes met the black emptiness that buried Neia's natural blue.
"Yes." Neia replied coolly.
"No." Lakyus said firmly.
"Yes. Tonight I'll issue orders to the other generals, officially take command of their armies, and tomorrow... I'll use it. Every ounce of it that I can, and then everybody else can do their part." Neia said resignedly.
Lakyus rested a hand on Neia's shoulder and clenched a fist in front, of the Black Paladin's eyes, crushing the space in her palm tight to emphasize the survival odds. "Neia, last time you did that, it almost killed you! You can't seriously be thinking about drawing on His Majesty's aura again...… it'd take a miracle for you to survive it if you try to take down that much!" Lakyus replied emphatically.
The sound of Neia's voice was hollow, as one who saw only the necessity of the moment and nothing more. "The goal of all life, Lakyus, is death. I will repay Tuare tonight with the captive refugees, send her home, take command of the combined armies of His Majesty, and then tomorrow, I will bring down the walls of Kami Miyako, turning them to dust... and with no walls in the way, a herd of cattle could capture that city. How much more easily can it be taken with all four hundred and some thousand of us?" Neia answered sweetly, she took her hand and put it on Lakyus's shoulder.
"Please understand, I can't lose anyone else, I can't. This is the last step, after this, there will be peace." Neia added hopefully, "I'm not trying to die, but... I know, it's probable, but it's the only way to bring down those walls without making more of my people pay the price for following me... it's a risk, but it is 'my' risk to take, it is 'my' decision to make. And if it helps... I've gotten some... more control over it, since Prart." She drew herself up to her full 'unimpressive' height, with her back straight, rigid, and proud.
Lakyus looked hesitant, "Then... why tell me all this?" She asked. "You sound more like someone getting ready to throw their life away than you do someone planning for the future."
"Because the last time I used it, you almost died too, trying to tear me out of it, you refused to make the promise I asked of you, so let me ask you for this one instead. If I do use it, promise you'll make sure my wife is OK. Look after her for me." Neia said gravely, and put her other hand on Lakyus's other shoulder, she held Lakyus's eyes in her own black pools. "Promise me, on Keeno's life."
"Damn it... alright, maybe it will help you focus a little better if you don't have to worry about her. Fine, I will look after her but... does she know you're planning to do this?" Lakyus asked with a little frown.
"Absolutely not, I want our night together to be a rapturous one, I want to screw her brains out before the walls of Kami Miyako, and if we're in a fight over my intentions, well that might put a dampener on the fun." Neia said with a lewd and lascivious smile on her face.
Lakyus snorted in shocked laughter at the brazenness of the Black Paladin. "Then go, go, I'll walk the rest of the camp, and make sure the refugees are counted, you go and make ready to receive the other generals, the sooner everything is done, the sooner you can wear your wife out."
Neia's smile was genuine, as was the brief embrace, before they parted ways.
When Neia reached the command tent, her jaw dropped. "That was fast." She said as she saw the delegates had already arrived and seated themselves.
Chindai grinned. "Ryla rides for two, I would have her bring the other forth on the plains of my home. Time here is time not on our sacred plains."
"I must correct you husband, a rider grows within us both. I confirmed it this morning." Khava said proudly.
"What?" Neia asked, befuddled at the trio of grinning elves.
"That means his wives are both pregnant, Ryla found out not that long ago, about two or three weeks ago, I guess, and Khava this morning. They're an odd lot, but... good to have at your back in a pinch." Leinas explained as she went over and stuck out her hand to Neia.
"Evidently so." Neia clasped Leinas at the forearm and the two tested one another's grips.
"Congratulations." She said to the trio as she and Leinas shook, and broke the clasp with evident satisfaction at what they found.
Neia's eyes were a whorling black, but she kept her voice from its ominous reverberation through conscious effort.
"Aureole Omega, you've done some remarkable work boosting the power of your armies, and your plan for the capture of Fortress Alaf was inspiring." Neia said with a charming smile etched on her face as she inclined her head politely to the beautiful young dark haired maiden.
"It is my job, and it has been a pleasure to work with Leinas Rockbruise, I could not have asked for a better partnership." She said emphatically in a silken, graceful, but playful tone.
"You flatter me." Leinas said, "But I won't deny it!" She added with a chuckle.
King Zanac stood and inclined his head at first, then bowed on second consideration. "General Neia Baraja... we're ready to finish this, when you are."
Enri approached, with Lakyus beside her, and held her hand out slowly. Neia looked down at it, and after only a moment of hesitation, she took it, and shook it gently, taking care not to do her counterpart any harm. "General Neia." She said calmly.
"General Enri. Will General Nimble be joining us with the rest of his imperial soldiers?" Neia asked in a cool, professional tone.
"I brought a few thousand with me as a token force, the rest are dominating the region between Ikari and Crossroads to ensure there are no further flare ups." Enri replied, struggling not to think of Neia's question as an implied rebuke.
"That'll be fine, history will record their presence, I don't think anyone will quibble too much about numbers." Neia remarked dismissively.
"General Zaryusu, so good to see you again!" Neia said as the lizardman approached.
The two came close, and gently embraced as old friends did, and then they clasped hands firmly, "Impressive victories in the north, I'm sure your village, and your wife, are proud of you." Neia said enthusiastically with a big, toothy smile.
"They are, but all I can think of now is getting home to them, and traveling no more." He said emphatically.
"Well, just a few more miles, then we're smack in the middle of Kami Miyako and nothing else gets in the way, it'll all be over. At least... the fighting part." Neia said with a grin.
"It doesn't matter, no matter what the contest, Lord Ainz will always win, to even call it a 'contest' is to be overly generous." Shalltear said as she relaxed backwards in her seat and filed her nails.
"No argument from me." Neia said contentedly. "And I am alright with that. So, now that everybody is here officially..." Neia moved to the far end of the long tent.
The generals of the various armies approached, and lined up side by side, and one by one they bowed their heads, covered their hearts with their fists, and said in unison, "My army, is your army. Command, as you will, and bring victory to ourselves, and death to our enemies. In the name of the Supreme Being, His Majesty Ainz Ooal Gown."
Neia returned their salute with one of her own, "In the name of my God, my king, I accept his will and your armies." The faint smell of wax, and the dancing glow of the lanterns that hung about the room, made shadows dance wildly over the canvas walls, it was, for a few seconds, only that creeping, dancing darkness from the bodies of the great commanders of nations and armies, which moved at all.
But even those dancing shadows, could not match the endless dark that dominated the eyes of terror which looked over the bowed and submitted heads of royalty and the servants of royalty.
Skana stood to one side, a look of boundless pride shining in the single green point, as she watched her wife become commander of the largest army the world had ever seen.
"That is done, now, eat." CZ suggested, shattering the moment in her innocent obliviousness to the somber mood.
Zaryusu was quick to second the motion. "It's been a long day, and I could do with a good meal."
A wicked look came over Neia's face. "Excellent idea, break out maximum rations, and... Skana, have Fluder use a small wind spell, blow the smell of cooking food over those walls, drive those bastards over there beyond the point of madness. Let them savor the smell, while our armies savor the taste."
"Oh, that's so cruel... I love it." Shalltear clapped her hands together with enthusiasm, baring her fangs with delight.
The Slane Theocracy's last city... did not love it.
Within an hour, the city was wailing in frustration.
Their cries comforted Neia as she went to the holding area. The refugees were licking the bowls of stew they'd been given, completely clean.
"Eating well?" She asked passively as she stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the torches.
"Demon!" They shrieked when they saw her eyes and tried to run, only to find that no matter how they shook the wooden barrier for their modular prison cell, that they could not escape.
Neia was nonplussed. "It's just a question. Are you eating well?"
"Y-Yes." A very thin woman said as she sat on the ground and pushed herself back against the wooden bars as if she could push through them if she tried hard enough.
"I'm not 'actually' a demon, you know. Just a human being, not especially tall, born from another human woman and a man she loved, a little over twenty years ago." Neia said calmly as she circled the barrier, there were around fifty people in that one, crowded, uncomfortable, but functional. As she circled the enclosure, they kept themselves as far from her as possible, feeling like sheep being circled by a hungry wolf, they shivered despite the unnatural warmth they found themselves surrounded by. The shadows danced around her face from the torchlight, concealing and revealing the emptiness of her eyes.
"How long are we going to be trapped in here..." A man not much thicker with muscle than the woman Neia had just spoken to, managed to ask.
"Not long," she replied, and raised a finger as if to make a point, "and before you ask, no, you're not going to be sacrificed. You're going to be released, allowed to go home, and with enough food to actually get there. I just can't have you skulking about my camp to get yourselves killed, or trying to cause some kind of trouble in an ill considered moment of patriotic or devout fervor." Neia said, crouching down so that she was level with a peasant that had been chained into position, and though she looked at him, her eyes took in the whole of them.
"The truth is, it isn't me you need to thank for your lives. I have always taken surrenders but... war has required me to be more expedient than I like. And ignoring you as you died or gutting you if you were in the way, would have been easier. I was however, reminded recently that I shouldn't do that if I don't 'have' to. And also, I owe a debt to a peasant, that I should save or spare ten thousand lives. That means I have to make sure you live, so I can do the right thing by someone better than most of those who live in your cursed country. You can thank her when she gets here. Left to me alone... this country wouldn't have much of anyone left living in it at all." Neia said with a dead stare that threatened to swallow what little courage they had left.
"I'm here 'now'." Tuare said softly as she approached with Sebas standing just in front of her right shoulder.
"Tuare." Neia said quietly, then went down to her knees without shame, and pressed her head to the dirt. "With this night, I will have met the price of your justice. Ten thousand lives are spared or saved, who would have been killed or at least, allowed to die. After the city falls, they will be released, and allowed to go home with supplies to live off of, and they will not be harmed. I swear it on the justice of my god."
Tuare stepped from around Sebas and, under the dismayed eyes of the prisoners, a little woman in a maid outfit, crouched down over the one they knew as a demon general, and caressed the short blonde hair as one would comfort a child.
"Neia." Tuare felt her heart pounding as she undertook the impulsive act and put her hand over, and almost touched the source of terror, but not 'quite'. "It was an accident... you didn't mean to hurt me... please. I've forgiven you, I forgave you before you did... this. I'm... I won't deny that you terrify me... but that doesn't mean I can't forgive you, and I have. Please... just promise me you'll try not to hurt anyone else when you don't have to."
Neia did not look up from her humbled position, "I will not. I... well, I mean I will try, that's all I can promise... I don't want to promise what I can't... I'll do whatever it takes to make 'try not to' into 'will not do'. Th-Thank you for your forgiveness." Neia whispered softly enough that only a few of the prisoners caught the nature of the exchange.
Tuare reached down, as if to take Neia's hand, only to freeze, then look over her shoulder at Sebas, who, seeing the sudden distress on his wife's face, approached, crouched, and took Neia's hand himself, and with his other palm on the small of her back, he guided her up to a standing position.
"Do you... want to count them?" Neia asked awkwardly as she looked down at the ground, unsure of what else to say.
"No. You're honest, I will trust that you've done more than you need to, because that is also who you are. That and Lakyus already told us how many were out here." Tuare said as she managed, with a gentle smile to step back away from Neia with her heart pounding in her chest as the endless black eyes were framed by shadows cast onto her face by torchlight.
'That took everything I had... and I couldn't touch her...' Tuare suppressed an internal shudder and felt her fear rising.
"Goodbye, Tuare, Sebas. If you'd like to stay the night, be my guest, but... I assume you'd prefer to go, so please, have a pleasant evening." Neia said calmly and turned away, as she walked off, she looked at the handful of captives, one of many such groups, she remarked to them again, as she jabbed her hand sharply toward the peasant maid. "You live because of her. Do not forget that." Then she walked away, leaving them behind, baffled and afraid as they huddled together in the unnatural spring.
As Tuare and Sebas moved to depart, and the little maid caught the pity flashing across the Pope's face, the little maid looked up to her mate and asked...… "Is she lying to them, or herself...… or at all? I can't tell.?"
"Even I don't know the answer to that, and I do not know that I want to. Sebas said patiently as he looked at the refugees huddle together for comfort within their confinement.
The next few hours of the evening were heady ones, just beyond easy reach and visible targets, attacks and counter attacks were few, but the experience of both sides could not have been more different from one another. Within the city, hunger and fear ruled the night.
Outside the city, the besiegers ate well, couples made love, generals and officers, and the great rulers of great nations, traded stories and jokes. And in one tent, the founder of the faith pressed her lips against those of her wife, and parted them passionately. Heated hands caressed bare skin, and bare thighs entwined around one another tighter than serpents in heat, so entangled were they, that were it not for the differences in their moans and mewling cries of pleasure, one could be forgiven for thinking, were the pair to be seen, that one was looking at a single writhing entity.
The lines blurred between the two, till in their hunger addled minds, they were as one, and collapsed together into sheets that were now soaked beyond further usefulness until they had been washed again.
"That was... wow." Skana whispered, her face inches from her wife.
Neia caressed the auburn hair lovingly, "Well, it's like you said the first time we did this... practice makes perfect." She smiled archly.
"I am one hundred percent sure that I did not say that." Skana said emphatically.
Neia snorted and waved a hand dismissively. "A petty detail, if you didn't, you should have, because it's true, isn't it?"
"OK yes, fair enough." Skana said, and was about to say more, when Neia got up and stretched, before reaching for replacement sheets, when the Black Paladin froze.
"Neia?" Skana asked anxiously.
Neia's hand went up to stop her inquiry. A few seconds later, she reached for another pair of sheets as Skana got off the bed to strip the ones they had just rendered useless.
"It was nothing." Neia answered, "A message from, of all people, Cardinal Raymond. He was asking how to mark the safe zone. I told him to spatter blood on every door in his district that had someone hiding in it. We'll put out orders to the soldiers tomorrow, to ignore any house or building that is marked that way. That'll be simple enough, and we shouldn't face such a hard fight that I... that I... that I..." Neia's confident voice began to waver as she spoke, and she slowly sank to her knees and hugged her body tightly.
Skana rushed to where her wife knelt, unfathomable rage hit her as it burst out of her wife's body in a wild wave of blackness and heat, and a tiny wail escaped Neia's lips as it all seemed real again. 'No... not again, not again... she's not even asleep! Is there even a term for a waking nightmare?!'
Skana felt her breath quicken, "Neia... Neia... calm down, where do you think you are... please... think about it... you can't be there, you can't, because that's over, whatever it is... that... is... over. Please... what day is it? What time is it now? It's dark out, you're outside of Kami Miyako, you're nowhere near Wenmark, or Wheaton, or Yanana... you're doing something here and then going home... you'll be safe..."
Skana lightly caressed Neia's arm, proffering gentle touch to contrast whatever she was reliving. "It's all OK, that was a bad thing, bad time, but it was a memory... I promise, I promise you're safe..." Skana whispered until Neia leaned forward and into the arms of her wife.
Skana gently helped her stand, and walked her over to the bed. "Sorry, I... know that wasn't exactly 'romantic'." Neia said shyly.
"No, but it was part of you, and I'm here for 'all of you' all the way, in every way." Skana whispered, and kissed her wife's cheek as they shared the bed again, and fell into a deep, sound sleep.
It was the howls of terror from the city that announced the dawn as surely as the crow of the cock, as the slow, plodding Gargantua came into view of the city, catching up with the army it was bound to.
"Well, that'll do nicely." Neia said pleasantly. 'I don't have to take down the whole wall, just part of it.' She thought to herself with a pleasant grin.
Probing attacks were already beginning around the wall as scorpions and catapults bombarded everything in sight.
A lucky shot from the wall destroyed a Black Justice scorpion, piercing a man through the chest who just happened to be in the worst possible position.
...Nazarick...
The guardians gathered again around the mirror to watch the scene unfold, and Ainz took his place on the throne, staring down at the conflict in the mirror. In his left hand, he held the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown... but over both hands, he wore the gauntlets of Járngreipr that were taken from the Elf King's treasury.
[Message] He cast the spell and connected to Neia. "Neia, order all your armies to gather together by one wall."
"As my father orders, so I will act." Neia replied, and within seconds the flags were going up that would draw all the armies of her allies away from the other walls.
...Kami Miyako...The Wall...
Dominic took a firm posture as he addressed the masses. "Have faith in the gods! The gods will not allow these walls to be breached! The gods are going to come and save humanity as they did before! They but test your faith! Pass this test, and they will protect you again as they protected your ancestors before you!" He put his all into every word, haranguing them and screaming powerfully to carry his words from the wall to all those who had gathered to defend it.
He paused only when soldiers rushed word to him. "What do you mean they're pulling away? Their mountain isn't moving, but all the other soldiers are going to gather in one place... fine! The easier for the gods to shatter their hopes all at once! Perhaps this is even their will! Perhaps they themselves order the demon of the west to draw her ilk together to die as one!" He said with proud enthusiasm, and then resumed his speech.
It took some time for them all to gather, during which Ainz explained his intent to Neia who, filled with joy at his words, wept openly as her soldiers assembled. 'A miracle.' Was the only way she could think to describe it in her mind.
Zesshi looked at her with worry, only for Neia to smile. "These are happy tears."
"I think I cut a decent figure," Neia said sardonically, "but sometimes I wish I were taller." She smiled, and got down off her horse, grabbed a pair of oversized scorpion arrows, and jammed them into the ground at an angle so that they formed a crude angular platform on which to stand. Overhead, dragons swept into position on the flanks of the host, and Enri fell in nearby.
"Want to explain, General?" Enri asked anxiously as she looked out at the bizarre scene.
"Father's will. Trust him. This... will echo for ten thousand years." Neia said as she got up atop the two scorpion arrows so that she could see and be seen.
She folded her arms over her chest and waited.
The Theocracy's cheers behind their walls sickened her, as from where she stood, she could see that the river still ran black. "You fools, you have learned nothing, and now... you'll never get the chance, not most of you anyway."
Somewhere, over the city, a [Gate] opened, and through it poured howling messenger demons that drowned out Dominic's words.
Silence fell over the great city. "You of the Theocracy have been calling for the gods to save you, you have called on your gods as you tried to slay those the Sorcerer King chose to protect. You called upon your gods to give you victory, and you have been defeated again and again. I sent every chance for mercy, and you called on your gods for more blood instead. Now, your prayers are answered, the gods do come for you, but they come for vengeance, and they come from beyond your wall."
It was the bizarre nature of the statement that kept the silence going as a summoned illusionist projected the view of the outside of the walls, over the city, so that the entire population could see what was happening. Necks craned from young and old alike, and for the first time in his life, Dominic was speechless, unable to look away.
Aureole Omega performed a simple, ceremonial dance, enhancing the attack power of the entire host. It was a beautiful, graceful performance, but left the Slane Theocracy's witnesses only more befuddled than before.
Neia took a deep breath. "The rise of our god is manifest in our will to fight for him! The rise of justice in this unjust world is a manifestation of his strength and his faith in us, who put our faith in him in turn! You are strong! You are the unbowed, you are the unbroken, you are the unbeatable warriors of the one true God! Behind us are the walls of the unjust! I call upon you all now! Tear! Them! Down!" Neia put every ounce of evangelistic power into her voice, it reverberated from heart to heart and the already buffed army, was buffed even further.
...Nazarick...
"My turn." Ainz said with a laugh, and using the staff, wearing the world class item gauntlets that he'd taken from the Elf King's base, and seated on his throne, he uttered fateful words, [Titan Strength: Allies]"
The effect was electric, Neia looked down at her hands to see if they were truly different, and found that she could see a faint, golden glow. "Did he... could he..." She looked out over the impossible host, eyes fell left and right, they felt it, but could not believe it. The power of a five became a ten, the power of that ten became a twenty, and the power of a twenty well surpassed a forty.
It was a wail of horror from somewhere in the last city that did cause the dam to break as someone understood what they were seeing.
"Only a god... can make gods..." Dominic whimpered, "It can't be..."
Neia summoned the aura of her divine lord, power surged through her, and far from tearing her asunder, she handled it as if it were as natural as wielding her own bow. [Wrath & Retribution] She whispered, and the overwhelming pressure of His Majesty, channelled through a body that could now endure it, it crashed down on the segment of the wall she focused on, and ripped the stone apart as if it were not there.
"Attack!" She shouted with unholy fury, her voice put terror into the wall she faced, and as if the stone itself feared the advancing horde, it trembled at the impact of the noise of the massive host.
The good became great, the great became as godkin, and the godkin, surpassed their ancestors. Zesshi howled with glee as the unbridled power surged through her body, "So this is the peak! This is what I truly sought! Marvelous! Wondrous!"
Most soldiers did not even bother to draw their weapons, they ran bare handed to the walls, and desperate archers driven mad by fear fired into the host, only to find that the vastly enhanced host, was so far superior that snatching arrows out of the air became like a game.
Then they reached the walls. Gagaran swung not her hammer, but her fist, straight into the eighteen foot thick stone, and shattered it like it was wet cardboard, sending stones through like deadly missiles, slaying everything in its path, the wall was breached in hundreds and hundreds of places, as common men became like gods and brought their wrath down upon mortals who had earned their ire.
Desperate Theocracy soldiers, men of courage and skill, were ripped in half bare handed by people they would have mocked as far inferior to themselves even two hours earlier.
The streets ran with blood, as the hundred thousand dark elves poured into countless breeches, unwilling to abandon their love of the bow, they pierced buildings with their arrows, the vast militias, trapped with nowhere to go but the grave, swung their weapons and found that their feeble steel was worth less than nothing, as it slowed them down from running away to even buy themselves a few more seconds of precious, irreplaceable life.
The dragons flew overhead, dropping lunchboxes of battle boosted ogres, and one overjoyed arena champion. "I am his forever, for as long as I live, I will serve the one who gave me this... this 'hour' of standing at the peak."
The overwhelmingly enhanced dragons, already monsters of supreme power, felt the rush as a drunk felt the warmth of good bourbon on a cold winter before a hot fire.
They tore through buildings, ripped knights apart with their talons, froze entire buildings so that they exploded or collapsed and killed those who lay within.
The defenders sought to rally still. "That worked even better than I could have possibly hoped." Ainz remarked, and rose from his throne to descend the steps.
The guardians were watching on the mirror with mouths agape, save for the one alone who had guessed his intent, and his faithful assistant, who paused from watching the fruits of her master's work, to turn her adoring sadistic eyes on him, and smile her toothy smile before turning back to watch the rest of the show.
A moment later, a gate had come, and he was gone, appearing over the city, he looked for those he sought as they drew ever deeper into the interior.
Kami Miyako was huge, and the attackers had slowed down considerably, not from need, but to savor the supremacy that was bestowed upon them by the will of the divine.
"The Gods Anger Slowly. But Their Wrath Burns Bright When It Strikes." Dominic remembered the verse from his childhood as he ran from the wall, his robes flying behind him, his martially enhanced body tore through distance like the army below tore through the sacred city. "How? How? How could it be?!" He screamed out loud and inside his head, as he saw the golem start to move just when he jumped down from the wall.
The small mountain's heavy hand, reached slowly to the walls, and...… as if to mock them...… slowly pulled and peeled them back while desperate soldiers accomplished nothing with their crude steel pointed arrows and scorpion lances. It was going to break through, nothing could stop it, that much Dominic could tell. He felt his eyes fill with tears of anger. "Gods, where are you?! We need you! We need you! Are we not your chosen! Your children! Have I not done enough?!" He screamed, 'Wait, they broke through in one strike each... oh by the gods no! They're like demons...… like gods?!' He yowled with outrage as he rushed to the capitol building.
...Artisan District...
Raymond watched it all with resignation from his place in the street. Bloodstained doors were plentiful there, and they'd been barricaded from the inside for good measure. Agante rushed through the street past him, in violation of Dominic's orders, their pounding feet were loud, but he could hear more clearly, their pounding hearts as their world came crashing down around them.
Howls of pain went out, only to die instantly, occasionally body parts flew through the air to land with a sick 'smack' sound down to the ground. The bright morning sun illuminated all of it, and the illusion overhead served as a twisted kind of 'map' showing how much of the city had fallen. Raymond turned to Nua, "Well, this is it. In a few minutes, you'll be as free as you can be, and we'll say goodbye. It has been... wonderful, to have gotten to know you. Thank you... thank you for saving my life before and... thank you for giving an undeserving humanity a second chance." He said affectionately.
Nua looked at him and touched his chest, she felt his heart pounding in his breast as his country died. "Raymond... please believe me when I tell you, one day, somewhere, somehow, whether in this life or the next, we will meet, again."
"I want to believe that. But you'll forgive me if 'that' makes it difficult." He chuckled with gallows humor as a torso went flying down the street and smashed through a door and into the wall beyond it.
Solution approached him. "Any final requests for me before I 'leave your service'?" She asked with a sadistic smile on her face, and pressed her body close to his as if to tease him one last time.
Most of the city was fallen, if the illusion overhead was to be believed. He believed it.
"Well, just don't let me be tortured here after I surrender, I didn't bargain for my life, so if I do have to die, I'd rather it be quick. Can you finish me without much pain?" Raymond asked hopefully.
Solution giggled, "Sure, but there's no need. She already bargained for your life. All it cost her, was one little soul... sort of." Solution gestured to Nua as she whispered her answer to Raymond, "But of course, you can't ever, ever ask her just what I mean. Better if you wonder about it, everybody needs one memory from all this to haunt them."
He looked at her with suspicion, doubt, and then saw the way Nua had planted herself subtly and protectively in front of him, and believed.
Boabdil shuddered as he exited the building in front of Misu. "We never... ever had even a prayer..." He uttered.
Nobody present, bothered to contradict him as a body that had been ripped in half, rained blood down on the street as it flew spinning and flailing overhead after being thrown away.
"Where is Dominic! Bring him out! Bring me Dominic!" Neia demanded as the slaughter continued. As she moved along the streets, she used her father's aura as a weapon of brutality, turning men in armor into tin cans of crumpled paste.
Zesshi however, was moving far, far faster. "I want him, Dominic is mine! Mine and mine aloooone!" She howled like a wolf, too much like one, as the howl of wolves from Zesshi's summoned pack answered her, but none louder than the Werewolf Queen, Lupusregina Beta, as she temporarily adopted the role of 'mount' to a sword swinging Enri. She clutched Lupusregina's fur and clenched at her hips as the maid demon went from rooftop to rooftop. Between sword or jaws, death came to anyone in the way.
Dominic still ran, harder and harder, he used every martial art in his arsenal to stay ahead, and he was rapidly failing, a score of long knife bearing Agante rushed past him, and leaped into the fray only for common Re-Estize Kingdom soldiers to turn them into meaty chunks, or tear their arms off and beat them to death with their own limbs. Their lives bought him seconds, precious seconds as he ran through the streets. 'No! No! No! Not like this! The gods have to come, we can't possibly defeat this host! The demon of the west, the traitor Zesshi... we can't, gods... please! Your faithful need you!' He prayed desperately, but if the gods heard his prayer, or anyones, they didn't answer, or didn't care, or couldn't.
"There you are!" Zesshi shouted, he had enough time to look over his shoulder, but not enough time to avoid the kick that sent him flying and bouncing over the street, shattering bones and cobblestones alike.
He tasted the copper of his blood in his mouth, he felt the puncturing of his lungs from his shattered bones, and the breaks in his limbs left him able to do nothing but crawl as Zesshi took her scythe in hand.
"You got to him first, and... I guess you deserve him more than I do." Neia admitted reluctantly. "But he's too wiggly, like a worm, like a god damn fucking worm. Let me hold him 'still'. She said delicately, and the aura of her master crashed down over his body.
Dominic couldn't even writhe, only groan in pain, and barely that. He tried to spit up blood, and it was forced back into his mouth, that same, coppery taste again, it made him sick.
Neia looked down at him with wrath in her terrible golden black eyes. "You set Remedios on me, you twisted her into the monster she was, you set Suchala on my people, inquisitors on my people, you had them burned alive, you had them tortured, cast out with nothing, deprived of their homes... so I hope you understand... how much you deserve this." Neia said as she pounded her voice into his veins, her hate was burning acid, and he could not even speak to curse her, or expand his lungs enough to scream in pain.
"But for me... this is even more personal. I was loyal..." Zesshi stomped his foot, and crushed it into powder. First his left, then his right. "You were not. You let my sister be abused, you let all my blood be treated like beasts of burden, and your people had me convinced for over a hundred years that it was how it should be!" She stomped on his knees, and they too became powder, yet he could barely groan through the agony. "And when I all but begged you to end the horror, to see 'me' and to see my baby sister, and whoever else was out there like me...… as something more than beasts...… you cursed half of what I am, and condemned them to a menial and degraded existence. Now...… it's come back to haunt you...… chosen of the gods. How does it feel," She asked as she planted her foot solidly over his chest. "To be beneath me, where YOUyou belong?" She growled slowly down at the agonized flesh of the once great Cardinal.
"Let him move, I want to know if he has any last words." Zesshi said, without looking over to the black eyed General Baraja.
The pressure was gone. Though the pain was little less. "Any final words, Cardinal Dominic Ihre Partouche?"
"R-Raym-ond w-i-ll f-ight." Dominic gurgled out.
Zesshi and Neia traded a look. "Oh, this is wonderful, this is marvelous, this is so fucking beautiful..." Zesshi removed her foot, bent down, and hooked her fingers into his nostrils and began to drag him through the streets where just a day before, he'd been praised by the masses.
He choked and gasped, and watched as a few survivors prostrated themselves in the desperate hope for mercy. That hurt more than the physical pain, as all those who believed in him and the gods, simply gave up on both.
When they reached the Artisan district, Dominic's eyes began to widen, which hurt like hell. 'Do they know where he is... my last faithful ally... and they know... how?! How?!'
He tried to shake his head in denial, Zesshi didn't even notice.
"Hey, Raymond!" Neia called crudely, "Come on out! It's time!"
Dominic was baffled, but a dread sense of doom was starting to come over him afresh.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the great temple collapse into nothing.
"Neia, good, you're here, I suspected you might be somewhere in this area." Skana said as she approached with a young elf woman in tow.
"Who is that?" Neia asked as they waited for Raymond to show up.
"Enlaith. She was in a spot of trouble, turns out she's an agent of ours, so I helped her out." Skana said, just as Raymond came around the corner with Solution, Nua, and Boabdil behind them.
Zesshi tossed Dominic in front of her, he rolled over the stone, scraping his flesh until he stopped on his back and found himself looking up.
"He thinks you're going to fight. You tell him, Raymond." Zesshi grinned happily and rubbed her hands together.
Raymond looked down at the broken body of Dominic and reached behind him. As Solution handed him a bottle, he said, "After Zesshi left, I joined the Sorcerer King. I was the serial killer who was quietly killing off the worst behaved slave owners. I killed Hodge, and most of the others, until Solution here took over. I haven't been on 'your side' for almost this entire conflict. Yes, I did warn you about the Pontifex Maximus, but that was his idea, because he knew he was trapped and there was no hope for him. The work camps were a place to hide slaves so we could set them free. I've been hiding slaves in my home for months upon months now. Oh, and you're probably wondering about this bottle. It was supposed to be dumped on your grave, but under the circumstances..." He popped the cork, and poured the late Pontifex Maximus's stored piss over Dominic's shocked face.
"This was from him. Now he didn't say it at the time, but under the circumstances, I think he won't mind if I spread it out over Yvon and Maximillian's graves as well. Besides I've got two more bottles, one from Berenice, and one from Ginedine."
Dominic felt the horrid, rancid taste on his tongue and the stinging sensation on his open wounds, but with nothing he could do but look up hatefully, he shut his eyes as another bottle, and then another, was partially dumped over his head.
"I'm sorry about the delay, I left these in my home by accident, and I had to impose on Solution to retrieve them for me." Raymond said to Neia with an apologetic tone.
"I know you'd rather take it slow, but Zesshi, could I impose on you to finish him so I can surrender properly?" Raymond asked formally, with a polite bow.
Zesshi grinned, "This is for my sister, for me, and for everybody else you bald bigoted bastard." Zesshi raised up her scythe, brought it down over the groaning Dominic's neck, and silenced that groan as his head bounced free into a patch of snow.
"As the last Cardinal of the Slane Theocracy, I officially surrender my city and my nation, to you, General of the Combined Armies of the Sorcerous Kingdom. I ask only that you stop the killing, and my people are yours, as is, it seems, my life." He went down to his knees, and raised his wrists together.
"In the Name of His Majesty the Sorcerer King, who has empowered me in his holy name to enact justice, battle, and surrender in his name, I accept the submission of the Slane Theocracy, and your surrender into our custody for the crimes of your government. But before you are taken away... you bargained I believe, for one more thing." Neia said in a noble voice, and stepped aside.
"Go ahead, have your moment with her." Neia said, and kicked the head over to a puddle of melted snow, where she washed the filth off of Dominic's head, then, still displeased, cut the cloak off an Agante corpse, and went to wrap it up.
"Well, it's over... and I can finally say this." Raymond said, and lowered his head to Zesshi's feet. "I'm... sorry. I'm sorry I didn't see, didn't hear, didn't understand, I'm sorry I failed you when you needed me most to be there. If I'd only made the same choice you had... maybe..."
Zesshi put her hands over his head, and caressed his hair, "Raymond, I won't say everything back then was right, it's true, it hurts." she paused, as overhead the powerful booming voice of the Sorcerer King echoed.
"The surrender has been accepted. All Theocracy forces are to lay down their arms, all forces of the Sorcerous Empire, are to accept every surrender without further hostility. The war... is... OVER!"
"But you know," Zesshi continued, "It worked out, you made a mistake but you made it right, and you saved a lot of my people... and I can really call them that. I forgive your mistake, because you did everything right, 'after' that. You even made sure to let the rest of the Black Scripture know where you really stood, even though that could have gotten you killed. When push came to shove, you laid down your life for me and for my family, and for that, I will always love you, no matter what happens after this." Zesshi then pulled him up, and for the first time in their overlapping lives, embraced him tightly.
He returned it gingerly, as the Sorcerer King descended to the ground only a few feet away.
Neia approached, and handed the improvised bag to Zesshi. "I believe presenting this was 'your' bargain, wasn't it?" She winked, and then went down to one knee and bowed her head to her lord.
Zesshi, imitated Neia, and held the bagged head of Dominic aloft. "He's somewhat of a mess but... per our bargain, I present to you, the head of Cardinal Dominic Ihre Partouche. His head, his country, like my head, and my country, are yours, now and forever."
Neia let out a deep breath... "It's fading... but... that... that was amazing... father."
Ainz nodded slightly, "A portion of my power, gifted to an army, for a little while, is a potent thing. Now, Solution, take Cardinal Raymond into custody, but have him well treated, oh and... honor the treatment of those errrh... bottles, when it comes to the grave of Dominic and his other vile ilk."
From out of her pocket dimension, came a set of manacles, which were placed on a pliant Raymond's wrists. He looked once more over at Nua. "Be happy out there, that'll be enough for me." He said with a sigh as he was led away.
Nua fell to her knees in front of the Sorcerer King, "Sire... what... what will happen to him? Please... he's good, he's good, don't hurt him..." She whimpered pitifully as he was led through a [Gate].
"He will go to Argland to await trial following an investigation, depending on his actions during his part in the government of this country, he may be condemned to a lifetime of imprisonment, hard labor, or he might be released. Only he could tell you what seems likely, and I'm guessing it wasn't being 'let go' was it?" Ainz asked gently.
Nua looked down. "No... it wasn't, but... surely he's made up for whatever he's done wrong, hasn't? Isn't it possible to atone...?" She asked as soldiers of the invincible host began to enter the area to rescue elven slaves and take human prisoners for processing.
"It may be that he has, all that remains to be seen. In the meantime, tell me what you will do? You have been with him for some time now, are you able to care for yourself?" Ainz asked, striking Neia straight through the heart with his generosity of spirit, and offering Zesshi some unspoken hope that what lay ahead would not treat her old comrade to harshly.
"Sire, Raymond gave me his home... I... I don't want to live here. I guess... I guess I'll sell it and go... somewhere." She said anxiously.
"I'll give you one thousand platinum for it, fifty to carry, and a writ authorizing more to be drawn when you settle down somewhere." Ainz said without flinching.
Zesshi and Neia felt their mouths drop open involuntarily, followed rapidly by that of Boabdil as he grasped what he'd just heard.
Nua however, staggered into Neia at the overwhelming price. "Sire... it can't be worth that much! I couldn't!"
"The house? No, it isn't. But what happened there? The historical value of it? Immeasurable." Ainz answered without flinching, "I will make it a landmark for the story of this war, as the center of the resistance to the old ways during the largest war ever fought." He reached into his pocket dimension, and held out a small leather pouch. "Count it, if you like."
She didn't bother to count it. She bowed deeply. "Thank you... for everything." She managed to sputter out with great difficulty.
"Sire... now that this is over... what do we do?" Skana asked from beside her wife.
"Now... you get ready to go to the Baharuth Empire. The Synod will be taking place very soon. And if you wish to convince them all, you will need to be at your most eloquent."
"Yes, yes. That is true, the world will confess that the Sorcerer King is truly a god, they will know as I have known for years." Neia said with absolute conviction. The whorling black of her eyes held inside them, imperceptible to anyone else, even herself... two tiny red points.
And Ainz felt a faint, curious buzzing in the back of his mind.
He concentrated hard, focusing on his inner self as it reminded him of his time in the game, and looking at his stats, and there, among his maxed out job classes and racial levels, sat something that was not there before.
He read it silently to himself, 'Level One... GOD.'