Hope you like the chapter! Liking how all this is panning out much more now. I still owe you a chapter. Was hoping it would be finished alongside this one but I'm only about half way done with it. Aiming for tomorrow or Thursday.
A little good news was just what Hump needed.
Mav had his sister back.
He almost couldn’t believe it. For all the shit he’d been through, at least something had gone the way it should have. The exhaustion had long since caught up on Hump. Taking on the Divine Spark had rekindled some of his essence reserves, but his mental endurance was reaching its limit. He needed a long, long sleep, a few days of relaxation where nothing was trying to kill him, and the hottest bath he could find.
Standing in the gates to the Great Palace, such a thing hardly even seemed worth dreaming about.
Hump had been in many fights—seen more than his fair share of war and battle—but the essence in the air was different today. It was somehow fuller. Maybe it was the place in which they fought, but he felt it came to him more easily than ever.
Behind Baelkor, high overhead ,a portal opened high above the battlefield, delivering an entire squadron into the fighting overhead.
Amongst them, Hump spotted Vamir and another of other warriors from Drakalyn. His sword was already carving streaks through the air. Yunillia flew on her dragon above, lightning raining down, tearing through a group of flying demons as more soldiers arrived from below.
“Owalyn didn’t come alone,” Bud said.
“Of course not,” Celaine said proudly. “My people never run from a fight.”
On the far side of Baelkor’s position, the Army of Alveron finally broke through.
Blessings illuminated the battlefield in all the colours of magic. Clouds of essence filled the ranks of Alveron, their blessings and magic sweeping through enemy formations. Spears of lighting pierced through demons. Fireballs shattered dense packs of plant creatures. Swords, spears, and all manner of weapons carved paths onward, while heavily armoured warriors with large shields worked with barrier blessings and magic to form an impassable line.
A little further down the line, an entire formation of soldiers suddenly collapsed like puppets with cut strings. Their bodies twitched violently as a storm of wind blades carved through their ranks.
Beyond it, a woman descended, spear in one hand, shield in the other, a great aegis appearing before her on which the wind blades crashed—Madeleine. Behind her was Randall waving his wand like a conductor as ribbons of Frostfire danced through the ranks of the enemy. Skander appeared overhead in a puff of black smoke, dagger in hand as he dove into the battle.
A roar erupted before them—Baelkor. The giant stood amidst the chaos like a mountain refusing to yield. Plant creatures erupted from the ground around him continuously, unfolding into towering horrors of bark and thorn. Razor-sharp leaves slashed through soldiers before the creatures sank back beneath stone and emerged elsewhere. They appeared from Trees of Damnations. And for every demon, warlock, of Alveronian that fell, Baelkor only added to his number.
Around Baelkor, demons and warlocks gathered in growing numbers, the battle converging. Now that Alveron’s two reinforcement points were connected in a line, the pressure they created forced Baelkor’s armour to gather tighter and tighter, even as they pressed closer to the palace gates, sheer mass of bodies forcing Korteg and Isolde back step by step. With so many plant creatures, they were becoming less and less manoeuvrable.
Though Baelkor's army still vastly outnumbered Alveron's, the truly powerful amongst them could be counted on two hands. Beyond Baelkor himself and Demon Lord Draevor, few remained capable of challenging the strongest Chosen.
One thing was clear, if Baelkor fell, the battle was won. If he got inside the palace before Owalyn was ready, they lost. Everything else had become secondary.
Seeing such a tightly packed formation, Hump abandoned his defence for just a moment and leveled his staff toward Baelkor and the advancing tide of demons.
“Erupting Core.”
White fire gathered to the tip of his staff, floating in from all around his domain. Essence rose from the cracks of lava in the ground. Before him, a molten bead appeared, no larger than a pebble. The air distorted around it immediately.
Hump felt the spell drinking in power. Essence flowed into it from every direction. It drew upon his own reserves, the ambient essence saturating Heaven, and upon his Soul Domain. The tiny sphere brightened from orange to gold to white. Molten cracks spread across its surface like deep fissures, spitting blazing essence.
Around him, the white fire of his domain bent inward more quickly, forming a halo around the sphere. Flame spiralled upward in torrents. Even the drifting ash in the air was drawn to its gravity.
At the sixth rank, the spell would already have been unstable enough that Hump would need to release it. Now, he compressed it further, forcing more essence into the small space.
The bead shrank instead of growing, becoming denser and brighter until it was painful to look at. The stone beneath his feet softened into glowing magma. Space itself seemed to warp around it.
The wounded paused as they passed nearby, staring at it before immediately stepping away. Celaine, Dylan, and Emilia backed off too. Only Bud remained close, his Ice Armour thickening over him.
All could feel the promise of catastrophe about to be unleashed.
As he reached his limit, Hump thrust his staff forward. For an instant, the light dimmed. The core vanished.
Then a second sun ignited amongst the enemy ranks, erupting outward in a sphere of molten destruction.
Baelkor did not move.
Poisonous essence gathered around his body in a swirling haze. As the heat struck, it detonated, consuming the giant entirely.
Demons disappeared before they could scream. Plant creatures were reduced to drifting ash and charred heaps. Warlocks vanished beneath the searing rock and incandescent fire. A Tree of Damnation was torn from the ground and sent tumbling to the ground with an earth shaking bang. Where a few survived, hiding beneath artifacts or spells, they were on the ground screaming and covered in burns. The shockwave had hurled them through the air.
Then the flames parted. Baelkor still stood, his bark armour smouldering. Sections had cracked away, exposing blackened wood beneath, but already roots writhed through the damage like worms, knitting it back together.
Around him, a crater of thirty paces smoked where the enemy force had once stood. Molten stone bubbled at its centre. White fire still burned along its edges.
“A fine spell,” Baelkor called, his voice rich with satisfaction. “But you are simply too weak. “You cannot stop me, Bearer of Infinity. You can only delay the inevitable. Your death shall be as agonising as it is slow, and nothing you do will prevent that.”
Before Hump could reply, his attention went to the sky.
High overhead, Demon Lord Draevor spread his wings. Blood-red essence gathered around him in a sphere large enough to swallow a house. The air screamed as it condensed, reality distorting around its edges.
Hump felt the danger immediately. If that struck his domain, he could not stop it. Even with his Shield on top of it.
Lightning split the sky.
Yunillia and her dragon crashed into the demon lord from above. Thunder rolled across Heaven as dragonfire and crimson essence exploded together. The growing orb destabilised and detonated harmlessly amongst the clouds.
Draevor roared in fury.
Yunillia merely laughed.
“Secure the right flank!” General Korteg roared, seeing the opening Hump’s spell and Yunillia’s attack had created, his voice carrying effortlessly over the battlefield, clear as anything. “Form a line! Form a line!”
Soldiers and Chosen surged to obey. Ahead, the gate Hump and the others had first entered Heaven, powerful Chosen were arriving through portals created by Chosen of Vesta, while to the right, reinforcements continued to be flown up from below. The gates behind Hump had become a rallying point. Wounded soldiers stumbled back toward the sanctuary of white fire, while fresh fighters arrived in portals or by air to replace them. Chosen, adventurers, Dragon Keepers.
Dylan took on the Aspect of the Tree and rooting himself in place. A spectral tree formed, almost as tall as the Trees of Damnation, a canopy of the richest green spreading overhead until the top palace gate was lost behind it. Emerald essence surged outward, enhancing all that it touched and counteracting some of Baelkor’s decay.
Moments later, Celaine loosed arrows of shadow and silver and began picking apart Baelkor's support. A warlock fell. Then another. One of Baelkor's generals screamed as an arrow punched through his eye.
Bud rushed forward to try and exploit the distraction, Wings of the Frostfire Paladin surging from his back as he launched himself into the air. Baelkor's staff swung toward him with enough force to flatten a building. Bud somehow caught it on his blade.
The collision sent a shockwave through the battlefield. Ice exploded outward from Bud’s armour, almost catching Baelkor in the neck, but the giant dodged it more nimbly than anything his size should be able to.
Bud twisted and brought his sword down toward Baelkor’s leg, only for his blade to bite stone.
Baelkor’s hand shot out. Bud barely had time to raise his arm before the backhand caught him like a battering ram. Ice Armour shattered over Baelkor’s hand as Bud was sent flying through the air, smashing through a wall of roots before collapsing at the base of a Tree of Damnation, plant creatures surging around him.
“Bud!” Emilia shouted.
“Go,” Hump said.
She shot off without another word, but Baelkor ignored them both.
His staff struck the ground and the earth shuddered. Roots erupted from beneath the stone streets. Hundreds of them—thousands—thick as builder’s beams and moving with terrifying speed. They tore through soldiers and demons alike as they surged toward the palace gates.
Plant creatures burst from the ground everywhere at once, poisonous fumes spreading from the holes within. Dylan’s roots swatted aside the closest few, but it was hardly enough.
The air filled with screams as men fell clutching at their throats, their eyes bulging and turning the same sickly green-black as Baelkor’s essence.A dragon vanished beneath a mass of writhing roots. An entire formation of soldiers disappeared as thorned vines engulfed them.
Baelkor spread his arms and more poison spread from his body. The dark mist rolled forward in waves, devouring the white stone of Heaven. Wherever it touched, flowers of black essence bloomed from the ground. The entire ground before Hump was transformed into a twisted, decayed forest of roots and deadly flowers.
And all of it pressed against Hump’s domain.
He felt the strain immediately, but it did not break through. White fire blazed, burning back the corruption, setting roots and poison afire and holding the line before the gates.
His intent crashed against Hump’s soul like a physical blow. In it, Hump sensed decay. The desire to see the world rot, only to recreate it in his image. To see the current order fall and be replaced by something else. He sensed his loyalty to Uvdar, and his hunger—a desire so great—and somehow directed at Hump.
The Divine Sparks.
Hundreds of fighters on both sides collapsed to their knees, clutching their heads. Some screamed, while others simply fell unconscious. White fire blazed brighter around Hump as he pressed back with his domain, but Baelkor’s pressure pinned him in place.
Nisha stepped up beside him and roared. Gold spread through the black of her scales. Hump felt her presence join his own, their bond flared to life between them, a visual thing within his domain. Essence flowed freely between them, from one soul to another. And immediately, the pressure on his domain eased. Where Baelkor's corruption had been pushing forward foot by foot, white flame surged outward once more.
Beside him, Aldric's Silver Rain surged upward in a shining torrent, catching the edge of the wave and breaking it apart, lessening the pressure on Hump.
Aldric leaned heavily on his cane, blood staining one side of his robes, dust coating his shoulders. Beside him walked Melissa, an amused smirk on her face. Silver Rain spiralled upward around him in a constant torrent, his own domain taking form beside Hump.
“How long must we hold him?” Aldric asked quietly.
“Long,” Hump said. Half a spark took him two hours to process. Owalyn was absorbing her own power—her own knowledge, so surely it would take significantly less time.
How much less… they would find out.
Aldric grunted and took a big swig of his flask. Already, the essence wound in his chest made his veins throb in his neck and the bottom of his face. “Then luck be with us.”
The lava cracks in Hump’s domain spread beneath Nisha’s feet, white fire gathering to her jaws. She breathed deeply, heat building in her throat.
Scarlet flames erupted, laced with White Flame. It swept across the roots and plant creatures before them, burning poison from the air and pushing back the decay.
Hump didn’t miss the chance to let his own domain retake the space.
He grinned at Aldric, a concoction of adrenaline, fear, and excitement surging through him. “Who needs luck when we have a dragon?”
For a moment, it seemed to work. White Flame surged across the battlefield. Aldric's Silver Rain washed through the poison like a river cutting through filth. Nisha stood at Hump's side, gold blazing from her scales as their shared spark resonated between them.
The corruption stopped advancing, and Hump thought for a moment that momentum may have shifted.
“I feel hope brimming in your domain.” Baelkor laughed. “Hope is the refuge of the weak. Power is certainty.”
He stood amidst the devastation of Erupting Core, poison swirling around him in vast quantities. The roots and deadly flowers covering the battlefield shuddered in response to his amusement.
The battlefield trembled. Essence flooded toward the giant from every direction. The very foundations of Heaven groaned beneath the strain as something vast began to stir beneath the white stone.
Then Hump saw the poison. Not the miasma itself, but the patterns hidden within it. Runes that even his domain hadn’t seen through.
Thousands of them. They stretched across the battlefield, linking every Tree of Damnation, every plant creature, every patch of corruption into a single vast formation. Hump followed one glowing line only to realise it vanished beyond the horizon of the palace district. Another connected to roots buried deep beneath the city. Another stretched into the sky itself.
Then it dawned on Hump–something none of them had noticed. The corruption had never merely been spreading. They hadn’t been fighting inside Baelkor’s battlefield. They had been fighting inside his spell.