"You should be proud of yourself Human God," Karen stood above the collapsed body of the supposed God. Her hair was matted with sweat and clothes torn but her eyes shone in victory. "The last time ten of us fought together seriously was during the war of devils."
"N-no please! I am a God! A God!" the large man whimpered in defiance. "You cannot harm me."
"You're not a God. Just a man who's tasted too much power." With those words she plunged her staff down into the man's chest breaking apart the black orb. A haunting shriek echoed from his lips as his body rapidly began to shrivel until finally all that remained was an emancipated husk. "It's over."
For a moment the Mercenaries took stock of their surroundings. The large chamber had been broken apart and if not for the spells holding the space together the building would have collapsed long ago. The few knights who had been in the room had been taken as sacrifices during the battle and the demons spawned, destroyed again and again. At first the Human God held his advantage but as the fight waged on, even joining the fray himself couldn't save the outcome. Despite his seemingly unlimited power, experience was against him and step by step, minute by minute, his life was undone.
"Phew," Sephie leaned against a block of rubble trying to neaten her orange hair. "That was quite the work out."
"I haven't fought seriously in a long time," Kyle agreed. "Took me a while to work out the kinks."
"Right?" Arvel nodded and rubbed his injured side. "It was pretty close there a few times. Though I guess we can tick off killing a God on the list."
Estile however frowned and shook her head, "No... that was too easy."
"Easy?" Sephie looked at her like she was crazy. "We almost died there."
"That's the thing. We didn't die." Her eyes focused on the remains of the dark orb. "When we fought against the Archdevils we sacrificed so much more. Shouldn't a God be stronger than that?"
"Well we are much stronger than back then," Trent suggested. "And like Karen said before, he wasn't really a God."
"But did that feel like the strength of someone who could summon armies of demons from halfway across the world?"
Karen who was closest to the destroyed orb grew suspicious as well. She picked up a fragment, "This was the source of his power but where do you think he got it? Arvel what can you get from it?"
The tired man was barely able to catch the black crystal in time. He did as asked regardless of his state and began to analyse the piece, "I can definitely feel that it's similar to the demons. Hmm, strange. I can feel something else... this thing. It's barely there but it's linked to something else."
"Of course it is," Karen sighed. "I'm dropping the barrier. Lav can you get a contact to Mori and see how the state of things are on her end?"
"On it," the purple haired girl gave the thumbs up and as the barrier fell she immediately began to concentrate. "I can't get through. It might be the temple but-."
A sudden ripple of pain crossed all their hearts echoing a sadness they hadn't felt in near a hundred years. Not one of them was unaffected as they became unsteady.
Sephie reacted first, a tear in her eye, "W-was that Orpheus?"
"That's impossible," Edgar who had remained quite till then shouted. "He couldn't- he wouldn't just die like that."
"Oh no," Riften paled. "Mori is in danger. We need to leave now!"
Karen made the decision, "Everyone out!" Her skin had become much paler just like many of the others. Despite what she had said, it really wasn't over.
No longer composed as they were, the Mercenaries of the Ever-Garden rushed out of the temple ignoring everyone they passed. The death of a friend was rare, but scarier was still was how sudden it came. They all knew how strong they each were and Orpheus was no exception. Whatever was waiting for them back home was going to be trouble. The problem however wasn't what was waiting for them but what was already there.
Outside the temple a large crowd had gathered and trying to calm them were several robed bishops and the knights of the church. The reason for it was clear. Their battle with the Human God had focused their attention and all the while the situation in the city had turned. The sky was dyed in red and the once white clouds were stained black. Far to the horizon where the city's edge met the plains a shimmering wall of light blockaded their view.
The Mercenaries broke out of the temple unceremoniously. Their presence caused the crowd to gasp and the bishops turned in surprise.
"Who? How did you get here?" the oldest among them looked them enraged. "How dare you walk on the blessed grounds of our God. May he smite you for your insolence!"
Karen stepped past him, "Trust me he tried. Now get out of our way." The knights came to arrest them but were brushed aside and unconscious before they realised what happened. "Lav what's going on...? It feels powerful."
"It is," the girl, a master of barriers herself, trembled. "Give me a minute. All I can tell so far is that it's locked us inside."
Riften stepped up beside Karen, "We don't have time for this. Orpheus is dead which means Mori is in danger as well. Who knows how long she can last."
Ellen agreed immediately, "Riften is right. We need to leave. I'll break this barrier by force if I have to." She huffed clearly agitated.
"No stop!" Lav let out in a panic. Her hands were placed on the ground reading the current of mana flowing through the city. She gulped, "It's a bomb. If we do something wrong the entire city will blow up."
"What!?" the bishop who had been listening shouted. "Lies! This is a proclamation of our God! A challenge to our faith that which we must praise and obey for the sake of humanity."
A swift chop to his neck knocked him to the ground causing the crowd to gasp in shock. Edgar leaned over the collapsed bishop and rolled his eyes, "I never like the crazed religious type."
Karen was deep in thought. Her eyes swam around the crowd of onlookers. They weren't armed or dangerous. Just ordinary people trying to make their way through life. Their beliefs were skewed by the church but in the end they were all simply human.
Lav continued, "This barrier... it's not anything I've seen before.... No- that's insane why would they-?"
"What's wrong?" Estile slowly came up beside her.
"It's building up mana at a crazy rate. If we don't act soon it'll explode! Why would they do that? Even if they want to keep us here, to kill us- to sacrifice an entire city...."
"It was a trap all along," Karen bit her lip. "We've been fooled."
"But who would do that?" Sephie asked perplexed. "One of the other pro-human states?"
"It doesn't matter," Riften dismissed her. "Whatever is happening here could be happening elsewhere. We need to leave."
Lav held him back, "If we do, though we might escape, everyone else here will die."
"And if we stay we'll die with them!" he scowled. "My priority is Mori and the Alliance we promised to protect, not these people."
"How could you say that? They're innocent-."
"Enough both of you," Karen cut the two off. "We need to act quickly and calmly. Our first priority is to escape without triggering the bomb." Her eyes glanced at Riften, "You know what to do."
A smirk split the black haired man's lips, "Kyle, Arvel, Edgar we're doing the thing."
"A-are you sure?" Arvel clenched up.
"No better time right?" Riften postured himself into a crouch ready to burst.
Sensing something off Estile came between them, "Wait what thing?"
Kyle answered as he stood behind Riften, "It's something we practiced together to get Riften past barriers, even those Lav made. To be honest the point was to see if we could get Riften into the bath house without you noticing but it has other uses as well." Arvel looked away guiltily while Edgar shrugged.
"You're all idiots," Estile sighed. "Just go and you better come back so I can beat your arses later."
"You bet," Riften grit his teeth. "I'm coming Mori." Arvel, Edgar and Kyle stood behind him each with their hands focused towards his back.
"Locating barrier fluctuations... done," Arvel nodded.
"Charging pad," Edgar closed his eyes and an array of magic spread beneath Riften's feet.
"Firing!" finally Kyle shouted and in the next instant Riften had been launched straight into the air. His figure turned into a black shadow which continued to thin until finally with barely any reaction it slipped through the ceiling of the barrier and to the real world beyond.
Karen clapped her hands, "Stop gawking. We have work to do. Lav, Arvel keep analysing what we're dealing with. Trent, Ellen, go interrogate that bishop. Sephie, Edgar check our surroundings. Kyle stay here just in case. Estile you're with me, we're going to find whatever is powering this thing."
"On it!" they dispersed at once breaking through the crowd with full intent to ignore their panic. There wasn't any time to play nice.
Minutes passed as they all did their duties scrutinizing whatever they could. Estile followed Karen closely as they made their away to key points of the city and scanned for anything of interest. The people they passed could only gasp in surprise, many of them had resorted to kneeling down and simply praying for salvation. Even the guards of the city could do little to calm the people and were swarmed with questions.
Karen continued to grit her teeth, "Lav, Arvel what can you tell me?"
The voice came back through their heads, I can tell you we have about ten minutes tops. The barrier itself shouldn't be too hard to break but then you'll be sacrificing everyone else here.
Estile swore beneath her breath, "Whoever made this knew that we wouldn't just leave these people to die. It must have been one of the Archdevils.... Kalvara lied to me."
"Hold it. We don't know that Estile," Karen looked at her calmly. "The entire city is part of the circuit. I doubt even they could sneak in and do this.... I doubt even we could do this."
"But then who would? Even if it was the Human Gods revenge plan, even he wasn't that much of a monster." She crouched low perched on the edge of a rooftop. The sky was slowly becoming a deeper shade of red with each passing minute. Shocks of light and waves of heat and wind had begun to spiral out of control in random blips as the congregated mana reacted physically with the world around them. "What if-."
I've got it! The shout came suddenly and echoed throughout all their minds. Oh no.... Karen we need to all gather and quickly.
Hearing Lav's concerned voice Karen unhesitantly made the order and the Mercenaries drew back to the temple. The crowd had grown even larger filling almost every inch of the square. Most were in prayer begging their now deceased God for salvation. The rest were the knights and echelon of the Church who they stood on guard surrounding the temple entrance.
Karen ignored their angry and desperate gazes as they could do nothing to stop them, "Lav what did you find out?"
The purple haired girl's ordinarily strong attitude became uncertain, "The core source of the barrier and what's pulling the mana together... it's the people's faith."
"What do you mean?" Karen frowned.
"Unless we can stop the entire city from believing in their God, the barrier will remain and eventually explode." Although the cries of the city could still be heard, among the Mercenaries a stifling silence spread through them.
"Then it's impossible," Edgar declared with hard eyes. "The city is doomed and we'd die with it. We should leave now. You may have forgotten but we have bigger things to deal with. Orpheus, my best friend, is dead." His words held a challenging glint as if asking for them to speak against him. They all knew he was right but even then some of them couldn't allow it.
Karen looked at the crowd around them and sighed deeply, "We're leaving."
Estile closed her eyes and breathed deeply making sure her thoughts were clear. As they opened Lav beside her could only frown, "No. Don't you dare say it Estile."
"I'm staying," she said it regardless.
Although Edgar scoffed, none of them could fault her and more still, they knew that she could work a miracle. They had seen it before after all.
Estile continued without being told to, "When the mana explodes if I focus the energy on me, I might just be able to save the city."
"I don't need to tell you how insane that sounds do I?" Karen's eyes met hers with an understanding that reflected their long years of friendship.
"You're wasting time staying here. I've already decided on this." The white haired girl smiled with a sweet sad defiance. "Don't worry I'll come back. Out of all of us you know I'm the most... 'resilient'."
After one last look of acknowledgement Karen turned away and took a step towards the city's edge. "You heard her, we're leaving." Not everyone followed her however and with a sigh she was forced to look back. "Kyle, Lav... you're really doing this?"
Kyle shrugged, "What can I say. I don't really like the people here but it'll leave a bad taste in my mouth." His hand flew forward in a stop sign, "Arvel you stay where you are. They need you."
"But-," the flaxen haired young man grimaced. "Fine. Don't die."
"We don't plan on it," Lav nodded in agreement. "Now go, quickly. Riften and Mori need your help. We've already spent too long on this. Once you break the barrier we'll handle things on this end."
With that the Mercenaries split. From ten to nine and now to three. Seeing their numbers reduced the surrounding knights and members of the church chose to act. A single glare however held them in place as Estile exerted her own pressure upon them.
"Hey do you want to save them or kill them? Make up your mind," Kyle teased before turning his expression to a dire tone. "Seriously though, do you really have to do this?"
"Yes I do," Estile replied solemnly. "You know I can't just leave it like this."
"And you know I can't just leave you like this," Lav added with a smile. "Nothing good happens when you're alone."
"Thanks. I really do appreciate it." She took a deep breath. "Now get ready. If you're staying, help me out. The others should be breaking the barrier any second now." A moment later the entire city shook. Estile frowned, they really weren't wasting any time. "Kyle get ready to grab my body in case I actually survive this."
"You will survive this," he grunted in reply and began to channel his own mana in preparation.
"Lav I want you to contain as much of the mana as you can in one place. I'll do the rest."
"Here we go!" Lav clapped her hands expelling a tremendous amount of energy. Her magic spread across the entire city like a net gripping and condensing the rampant mana. Together with the breaking of the barrier it accelerated the eventual explosion creating a single point of bright shining light above them.
Estile herself began to work her own part. Her hair shone like the stars and with gentle steps she ascended into the air. The crowd around them fell to their knees thinking her to be an angel descended from their god. As the mana continued to condense the light spiralled around itself faster and faster until finally the sky above them cracked and the true blue of the real world leaked inside. At that point the city should have ended, disintegrated without even a few seconds of wonder. Estile however reached out and encompassing the light in both her hands ate it. The reaction was immediate and drastic. The swirling winds and ripples of heat and frost ended in an instant replaced by the calm shining blue sky of a normal day. The people cheered.
Kyle let Estile's body slowly float down into his arms, "Damn girl didn't even need my help."
"Is she okay? Will she wake up?" Lav herself was barely standing, her concern however was aimed entirely at the girl before her.
"She better."