"An alliance with you?" he asked surprised. Of all things that they could have said it was the only thing he didn´t expect hearing from them.
"You sound surprise and I could not possibly blame for it, but for the greater good some dubious alliances must be done" said the closest to them. The armor that both of them were wearing was completely black, runes carved on it. "Crest stones" he quickly guessed. "We live in quite turbulent times. A war without certain end is ravaging the surface and in the middle of all of it, ancient beings try to return to this world. The level of such threat is something that cannot be overseen"
"You should know the consequences of your actions before doing so risky bets" said the self-proclaimed Sothis, a bit of anger in the tone of its voice. "How many times have you tried to overcome the outcome of a war you already lost? How many generations will take until you realize that you have already lost, not even the pass of time has allowed your kind to recover what they once lost. Your hopes for a past long ago forgotten are nothing but the dreams of a madman"
"The dreams of a madman? How ironic that such words come from such filthy mouth. In your quest for justice, you caused unnecessary suffering to this land"
"The same land that you were trying to destroy, to be more accurate"
The ambiance was tense, he knew that at any moment a battle could happen, and he was just in the middle of two ancient enemies. They were so focused on each other that they appeared to have forgotten about him, until one of the two armored warriors spoke again.
"Wielder of the Fell Star, you have the power to decide the fate of many. I beg of you, use that power for the sake of mankind. We, the primordial humans have known for ages the power of those who considered themselves gods. Their sins have since then fairly outweighed ours. If this world is rooting, if this world has stopped its development it is because of the devious acts of the descendants of the Fell Star…And now that a fragment of such threat is willing to create a new rule to subjugate the entire mankind it is the time to ally yourself with those that have battled for the wellbeing of mankind since the beginning of these dark ages"
"Fighting for you? You, the ones that consider all of us insects undeserving of life, you, the ones that have committed so many atrocities just for the sake of your own ambitions…One of your kind was responsible of the death of my father. Do you really think that I would ally with the likes of you? The only thing you´ll ever receive from me is my ire" he said, his eyes filled with hate towards the beings in front of him. He trusted neither of them.
"It is true, but every sacrifice made was for the greater good of this land. Every death, every sacrifice had its purpose. However, I must admit that Kronya was a loose end, a being whose existence we regret to this day. Her death wasn´t a pleasant one, although I dare to say that you already know such circumstances. But in that case, are you going to join forces with the being in front of us? Her existence will cause disruption to this world and many lives could be unnecessarily lost"
"Talking about a lack of self-awareness. I thought you were describing you and your kind. Don´t believe them, Byleth, my aims aren´t to oppress this world. I couldn´t care less about such thing, but these guys…they will never be honest about their true objectives, such is their nature. It would be more sensible to sleep surrounded by scorpions that to join forces with them. Words mean nothing, only the acts we do truly matter"
"An oath to an Agarthan is the most sacred thing in its existence. An Agarthan´s oath is meant to be protected; such are the rules that bind us together" one of them said as it offered its hand. "Under an oath we shall never interfere with you and those under your protection. It is on the best of interests that the surface and the primordial humans stay on good terms and we could even provide knowledge to overcome many of the calamities that have plagued this world for many centuries. With knowledge, the world will overcome many of its current problems, such as disease and fanatism"
"And it would develop many others as destruction of unimaginable consequences. Their words are filled with empty promises, but mine will turn into reality. You only need to accept my offer. I don´t care about who ends being the ruler of this land. To me such matters aren´t worthy of my attention" she was about to say something more when she was engulfed in black flames. He didn´t need to look at the source of the attack to know those who were responsible.
"And like this the time of words comes to an end" he thought as he prepared to battle as well.
"You two…..annoy me, please die like the cockroaches that you are" Pointing her hand at the two of them a massive ball of intricated energy formed from it, even from the distance they could feel the powerful magic being concentrated in a sphere of pure ire.
"If you are willing to play war games with me, catch it!" She said with joy before she threw it at them at a great speed.
He knew that the attack had an immense power so he created distance between them with a freezing spell over the waters, but the other two were standing still, adopting a defensive position as the magic sphere impacted on them. The following explosion shattered the very ground they were standing, tearing away rocks with ease. The shockwave sent him flying many meters away, making him grunt when his body landed roughly on the ice platform he had just created. A cloud of dust was the only thing he could see of the hill where a few minutes ago they were standing, the false Sothis pleasingly witnessing the result of her powerful spell.
"I must admit that I´m utterly disappointed. How pathetic….I expected more from the best agents of the Agarthans, I suppose that a worm with power is still nothing but a worm. Well, with those two clowns out of the way I suppose I should deal with you. Your refusal to join forces with me will have consequences. I might be a merciful being, but my patience has a limit and I´m afraid that you have overstepped many times. It is a pity, I really thought we could get along to achieve our own objectives. I suppose that I didn´t read you correctly…I thought you would be willing to make sacrifices for the wellbeing of others"
"And I´ll do them if needed. What I´m not willing to do is to turn into your slave"
"Such is the greedy nature of men. They want everything without losing anything. Don´t you understand how selfish is that way of thinking? You disappoint me deeply, Byleth Eisner. Of all people I thought you would be the one to understand the true meaning of making sacrifices for a better outcome…after all, your entire existence only has meaning depending on the people you will be able to save or not" she said as her hand started to canalize more magic. But then a spear made of dark energy came from the ruins of the hill, impacting on her.
The sudden attack threw her off balance, making her fall to the ground. Steam was coming from where the attack had collided. On the opposite side of what remained of the hill, they were standing still, the runes on their armors shining in a malevolent light.
"It will take more than an oversized ball to take us out abomination!"
"Just like the rest of your brethren, you reek of pride and arrogance to the point to blind you to the truth. You are not as strong as you think you are and we shall prove it to the world once we slay you and claim your power"
Their joy was short lived when Sothis stood up again, not real apparent damage on her body with the exception of a few burns on her clothes where the main impact had taken place. Slowly she started to get rid of the dust from her clothes as she started to float in the air, a green aura appearing around her.
"Well, well well….it seems that the children do have guts" Her voice was hollow, icy cold to the point that if she had wanted, she could had frozen them in place. "You will regret not finishing me off with one attack" She said with malice as the black waters around them started to violently move.
Both sides appeared to be focused on each other, ignoring him, a silent witness of the clash between two ancient foes.
"Bold words from a monster, but is just that, words. We know what you will do to the world and we will stop you"
"Are you trying to sound like a hero now? You truly are clowns…so full of yourself. You get hit once by a mortal and the next thing you see is that they think they are invincible. What a pain of beings you are. I´ll finish the work that I must have finished thousands of years ago. The duty that the Primordial Sothis should have achieved if she didn´t have any mercy against you.
I will admit that I have made the grave mistake to underestimate your…..tenacity to be an annoyance to me. Under normal circumstances I would not care but thanks to your efforts I know now that the play time is over, now you shall feel the full power of the Progenitor God!"
Great streams of water started to pour out from the ground around them, forming under Sothis´s body a small size lake that it was growing by the second. Around the edges of the dark waters a wall was erected, hiding her from the view of her opponents.
The two Agarthans decided to step back in case it was an attack, their bodies quickly teleported to the edges of the plateau as they decided to watch how things would develop. Meanwhile he was using his freezing spells to run away from the epicenter of the great mass of water that was forming next to heavily damaged hill.
Once the wall of water dissipated, they could see the so-called Sothis again, but this time there was a few important changes on her body. Her body was suspended a few meters up in the air, her eyes shining with a sickly tone of magic. Her features were far sharper than before giving her a more haunting appearance, but it was down below her waist where the real change had taken place. No longer she had legs as they had been fused with the dark waters below, giving her an otherworldly appearance.
"You should be proud vermin, many would kill to be in your place" she said, her voice echoing through all the area, as all kind of birds flew away in panic. He could also hear all kind of animals running away from the upcoming calamity.
The Agarthans response was sending at her a volley after volley of magic spells and bullets, all aimed at her heart, but she merely raised a wall of water, absorbing the attack as if nothing had ever happened. He detected some movement around as strange devices started to launch their own projectiles against her. The spells produced explosions, evaporating some of the water but it was quickly replaced while the bullets were slowed down to the point that they lost all their power, devoured by the ever-growing mass of water.
"Are you quite finished? Good, now it's my turn" With the slightest movement of her wrist the water around her started to levitate in dozens of columns.
"Take cover!" could hear someone shouting, as he erected his own magic barrier.
The projectiles pierced the night sky as they approached their objectives. Some of them erected magic barriers, while others teleported, but defenses against the rage of the elements was just delaying the inevitable. Not all the projectiles followed a straight direction. They were acting as if they were somehow alive, searching for those who had provoked the ire of the powerful being before them.
One would not have ever thought that water could be such a terrifying weapon, but the horror before him was telling him otherwise. The land was perishing under the rage of the storm, trees taken down as the petals of a flower, not even the hills and mountains around were able to resist the pressure of the giant mass of water crushing it. There was no doubt that if one of those projectiles were to hit bare flesh it would tear apart large chunks of if from the body, not even iron or steel could withstand such pressure.
But even in the chaos of the attack, the Agarthans were still fighting back. Even though all kind of devices had been devoured by her fury, they were resisting as a giant creature of fire was emerging from their size of the battlefield.
"Fire? Really? You disappoint me"
She said triumphally but she then noted a presence behind her.
With outmost speed she turned around in time to face the other Agarthan who had used her momentary distraction to get behind her. She was met with a blade that almost severed her head from her shoulders but thanks to her reflexes it just merely cut her left arm off, spilling a torrent of green blood to the ground, mixing immediately with the water below.
Her surprise was short lived when her eyes shined with an ever-stronger aura. With renewed anger Sothis threw at the Agarthan four of the water columns who had suddenly turned into massive solid spikes that started to rotate fast as they were released, but he quickly evaded the streams of water with the skill of a dancer, flying on the surface of the dark sea.
Enraged even further the very ground started to shake. The visible land starting to crumble before the might of her power.
"Don't you think that you are going anywhere filthy creature!" as she shouted, what remained of her left arm became a massive and elongated trail of water that ended in an oversized three fingertip claw.
With it she managed to grab one of the Agarthans who could not avoid to yelp in surprise when he was carried away from the ground as if he was a leaf, her claws quickly increasing the pressure to the point that it could be heard the sound of metal bending by the monstrous force. Not even a relic armor could save him from the demise that was awaiting him.
"Look at you, a bug about to be squashed" she said as she enjoyed how she felt the man's agony.
But the hand was cut in half by a silver spell, allowing the Agarthan to fall down to the ground, freed from its watery execution.
"How many times are you going to disturb me? How many times are you going to delay the inevitable? You should know your place" she sissed as a smile formed on her face. "But now I know where you truly are. I will drown all of you" she said as the black mass of water beneath her turned into a mighty torrent, devouring everything that stood before it. "To the east your ambitions will come to an end. To the east the last defense of Agartha will come to an end!"
The barriers erected by the Agarthans were useless as if a child was trying to stop the might of the sea with a wall made out of sand. The powerful being appeared to have lost all interest on him as the waters followed the path of destruction while the devices of the Agarthans were trying to block her path. But he knew he couldn´t just go to another place. He needed to stop the calamity before it turned into a living hell.
"I won´t allow the ancient times to happen again" he said to himself as he started chasing them.
….
"Hubert, are you ok?" she asked surprised. Hubert´s usual pale face was even paler than usual.
"Apologies, Lady Edelgard, but I have just felt a strange discharge of magic power"
She was about to ask what did he mean, when she felt something strange within her. A strange pain ran through her body but as soon as it noticed it, it had already disappeared. Around them she could see many mages feeling uneasy as well, some of them even on the floor.
"What´s happening Hubert?"
"This must be a reaction to strong levels of magic within the air. The air around us must be unusually charged with magic and as a consequence those sensitive to this art suffer the consequences of an overcharge"
An overcharge of magic was the thing that she least desired when she was about to send part of her troops to the west of Fódlan.
"What is the origin of such event?"
"I am not completely sure about it, but the air coming from the east is unusually charged"
"That could mean that a battle is taking place to the east!" she said alarmed. "The Alliance forces might be trying to invade the east side of the Empire. Perhaps a mole has told the enemy about our next steps and they have already started their offensive to overcome us. We can´t tolerate something like this to happen!
I´ll go with you and the rest of the Black Eagles Strike Force to the east. The rest of the forces must continue advancing to the west as aforementioned. Tell Ladislava to be weary of informants of the enemy as she heads to the west"
"Understood, Lady Edelgard, I hope that my sign of weakness isn´t the sign of an offensive coming from the east"
"We can´t truly know, although it could be a possible outcome. For months the Alliance has been preparing many fortifications on its side of the border and our informants have reported to us many movements of troops. Even if it just happens to be a false alarm, we cannot simply ignore a potential threat, even less when some of our own troops have felt such incapacitating effects"
"Your words are wise, Lady Edelgard, I will tell everyone so we can head to the east as soon as possible" Hubert said while bowing.
"Are you truly attacking now, Claude?" she thought as she looked around. Compared to Dimitri, Claude had always been cautious, always observing his surroundings before taking a decision. If he was truly attacking now that would mean that he was certain that there were more gains that risks and that could mean anything. Of all her opponents he was the most difficult to read, the only one he couldn´t really see the steps he was taking in order to take the upper hand.
….
The situation was problematic to say the least, nothing was able to withstand the fury of the elements which were advancing to the east. The giant trees had already disappeared, the great plain of Fódlan in front of them and with it probably the first villages that could suffer of the upcoming disaster. Among the animals that were running away from the disaster he was able to mount a small sized wyvern, but even at flying speed he was having difficulty to reach them. All kind of strange devices were flying on the air throwing projectiles to the fake Sothis, but it was like trying to kill a wyvern with a needle.
"Titanus! Eliminate the abomination! We command you!" roared a voice as an army of golems flew forward the primordial being, but they were welcomed by giant hands made out of water that crushed one after another with ease. However, those were just a distraction as another group of Golems had just teleported in front of her detonating all of them at the same time. The shock wave made the water beneath boil, slowing down its flow.
"You send puppets to attack me!? How disrespectful!"
From the ground a massive tower of pure energy erupted. Its intensity blinding them momentarily.
"You have underestimated me for the LAST TIME!" Finally, her more humane form had disappeared, leaving behind a monster, six massive serpents were emerging from her waist as well as turning into her legs, her arms turned into a multitude of tentacles and blades. Her chest as well had turned into water but some kind of black carapace had appeared on it. Only her head seemed to remain unchanged but that was debatable.
"You wanted a challenge!? Then here you got one!" she roared.
"Concentrate your attacks on her limbs then proceed with the main body!" with that command the remaining golems and weapons set to fight off the massive serpent like limbs, their massive size and shields allowing them to approach although they were received by a literal rain of death.
The two Agarthan generals did not stand idle as they continued to throw at Sothis anything they had at their reach, be it metal or magic.
As they started to bomb her with a torrent of projectiles, black clouds started to cover the sky. With each golem destroyed, an explosion happened, but the more they tried weakening her the more furious she was.
"I got tired of this farce. It is time to end this" she said as she extended her claw-like arms, the water beneath accumulating within her body. Fearing the worse he erected a magic barrier.
He felt something soft falling on his lap, when he looked at it, it was the head of the wyvern he had been mounting until now. It had just been killed as everything around him. The fall to the ground was painful, but he was shocked to witness a world of unreal destruction. The land was filled with craters and only fragments of the combatants could be seen. A lonely arm with a strange glyph on it made him realize that the generals had met their fate as well.
"No matter where you look at, they are all dead. This is the power of the Goddess, the water of desperation or should I call it the tears of the Goddess? I´ll get rid of what remains in a short while, but first I´ll need to get rid of you as well. You had refused my offer too many times to be alive. Nothing personal, my dear" she said as she extended her hand, but he was already running away.
"Don't run away from me, child! It's not a proper behavior!
Byleth did not waste time listening to her as he continued to jump over the tree branches in an effort to put as much distance between him and her, evading the streams of water and massive watery claws that were trying to kill him.
The claws were about to hit him, when they suddenly froze.
"Another annoyance!"
When he looked back, he couldn´t believe his eyes, the lifeless land was filled with giant wolves, packs that were charging at the only living being they could see in front of them as giant eagles were descending from the skies. All kind of monster that he had not seen before were gathering, they were looking for blood.
"Filthy creatures! You dare attack your betters!? How disrespectful!"
"He is not alone, you witch!" said a familiar voice.
"Hapi?"
"I am sorry that it took us so long but miss wannabe ruler of the world right there thought convenient to send us to the middle of nowhere. My hair got all messy and that demands holy retribution"
"It was kind of a pain to reach you, but it seems as if you had handled it very well"
"So much effort has made me sleepy, let's get over this before I take a nap"
"The high levels of magic coming from this being could booster my reputation and bring House Nouvelle to a new dawn…but even in that case I will not let you cause any more harm!"
"I thought I lost all of you" he smiled before he focused on the threat before them.
"It will take more than a faulty teleportation to take us out Byleth, you should know that better than everyone" said Yuri jokingly. "But now that we are finally here, we shall show this wannabe goddess the might of mankind"
"You again!? You humans are like a plague, so hard to eliminate when all that you should do is lie dead and use your feeble bodies to feed the ground as your kind has done for millenniums. That way your miserable and useless lives would have a purpose as servants"
"I´m not interested in such contract" Yuri said as he avoided a projectile aimed at him as the sea of monsters charged at the being before them.
The monsters were great in size and numbers, but they were being teared apart by the attacks of the primordial being, their flesh pierced by all kind of water projectiles. He knew that she would get rid of them in no time. To avoid such outcome, he needed to end the battle fast, but how? He wondered as he avoided one of the giant spears of water. He then caught a glimpse of something within her.
"There is only one try" he thought. As he started to canalize his own energy into his hand, a freezing aura coming from them.
"ENOUGH" roared a voice, as the hundreds of beasts around where quartered by her fury, lonely limbs, claws or wings falling to the ground around her. She was about to focus on them, but it was already late as he propelled himself with his own ice pilar. The projectile froze and shattered the water it touched as it pierced through the center of the being. The giant mass of water froze as the primordial being in front of him fell to the ground, its natural size recovered. She was trying to stand up again, but he was already on her.
"It´s over" he simply said as his sword pierced through her chest.
"It seems that I underestimated you, but my dreams will never perish" she said with an unnatural smile as she tried to approach him, the sword going even deeper until it was stopped by the hilt. "Let´s reward such willpower of yours, even if that will be the source of the deepest despair" she said while extending her arms as if she was welcoming the death, he had brought to her.
"You are a monster" he replied in disbelief.
"A monster with a generous heart" she said as her hands approached him. With his free hand he tried to destroy them, but he could feel how his strength was abandoning him as everything grew dark around him.
"Show me the future you wish for, so I can see it turn into dust"
Hello, the rencounter will probably take place on next chapter. Sorry for the bit of delay, but I had crappy connection until now.