With a flurry of both physical and magical attacks, Der and Roley took turns in their attempt to take the life of the aspect of existence, who, in turn, stood there in silence. Their attacks did not so much as leave a mark on Horror’s indestructible skin, and he treated each blow with the same interest he treated dust for brushing against his body.
Of defending himself he had little to no interest.
As time passed, however, the aloof deity seemed to be losing patience, as the constant assault of interplanetary nukes and futile attempts at mind controlling him went from something that did not bother him at all, to an annoyance comparable to that of a fly. Still negligible and not harmful, but an annoyance nonetheless.
His entire existence revolved around the creation of Horror, and the two men who kept attacking him were, in a way, slowing this process down. He wanted them to witness the demise of their civilizations, and bear the pain and suffering their lack of power and skills had brought upon those who trusted them.
However, as his lazy eyes moved onto the three armies currently engaged in a deadly battle, he soon realized the invasion was not going as smoothly as all the ones that had preceded it.
Despite the seemingly infinite flow of monstrous beings pouring through the interdimensional portal, the armies of cultivators and elementals were able to hold their own. In fact, they appeared ready for a war, as if they had been on the verge of fighting one of their own. Little did he know how spot on he was.
Nevertheless, the delay in his conquest did not bother him too much, for soon enough, the bulk of his army would arrive, and the members of the two armies would inevitably make the trade of courage for horror.
Following their lord’s will, more and more monstrous cultivators swarmed into the universe, joining an assault party that only a few minutes ago was comparable in size to either of its two adversaries.. But that now had reached ten times the size of both armies combined.
With claws and teeth, jagged swords and corrosive blood, the monstrous figures that each deserved to be the main character in a horror novel slaughtered their fill of elementals and cultivators, pushing them back. As this happened, a vast amount of brown colored lights began to appear in the battlefield. Lights that hovered around the bodies of the people who had created them, and that boosted the strength of the champions of Horror.
Noticing the sudden turn for the worse, both Der and Roley knew they had to do something, for if they didn’t, their people were bound to face extermination. Unfortunately, they soon came to understand that they were in no position of helping. After all, Der was already mentally exhausted, while any of Roley’s attempts at aiding in the war effort was quickly stopped by the aspect of Horror.
As Roley felt helplessness rise, he started thinking about the Elementalist. Of how he had destroyed the formation, dooming himself to perish alongside Der, Roley and their armies. But then he put the thought away. There was no chance that a champion of Destiny had gone the mutual assured destruction path.
“Wake up!” He shouted in his mind as a current of electricity coursed through his body, an action that found no response. Yet, Roley did not give up. A blazing white flame, bone breaking cold, even light and darkness started to ravage his body savagely.. Until finally, a voice sounded in his ears.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? WHY DID YOU NOT RUN!?” The Elementalist screamed in dismay at the sight of the aspect of Horror, who was standing just a few yards from him.
These few words told Roley everything he needed to know.
The Elementalist had not given up on his body. Instead, he had gone into hibernation thinking that, at the sight of the oppressive power of Horror, Roley would have fled. Not even for a second had he thought the Lord of elementals.. A mortal with the dream of liberating all elementals within the multiverse, would throw away his life and goals in what could only be considered a lost cause.
Unfortunately, while that was wishful thinking of the Elementalist, he was, after all, not human. He was born a consciousness, a parasite that did not understand the concept of sacrifice, and whose entire purpose in life was conquest and, more importantly, his own survival.
“If you have a way to get us out of this mess, this is your chance.” Roley thought as he sent a spider web of incandescent plasma towards the unbothered aspect of Horror.
Irritated by the sudden unreasonable request, the Elementalist immediately retorted, “Who do you think I am? I can’t beat him!”
“Then think of a way, quickly!” Roley yelled back.
The Elementalist was taken aback. While the situation he had left behind was a dire, and quite risky one, he had hoped to wake up in a much more favorable situation. One in which he would have woken up to find Roley alone, and possibly closer to achieving a pure elemental body which he then could steal for himself. That was the best plan he had managed to concoct without the use of his system, which, to his dismay, had stopped working correctly after he had merged his body with Roley’s.
And here he was. Forcibly woken up just to witness his death.. Lest he found a way to avoid it.
For several minutes he wrecked his brain, thinking of ways to get out of the mess either alone, or alongside Der, Roley, and their subjects.. But nothing came to mind. He was more than aware of the true advantage of Horror’s horde, and that was that war itself bred Horror, and the longer they fought, the more desperate the situation became.
As he thought of this, however, an idea came to his mind. Yet not one he was particularly happy about. “Lend me a part of your body!” He said in a hurry.
“FORGET ABOUT IT!” Roley thought firmly in response. He was convinced that the champion of Destiny only wanted to take over his body to attempt an escape, likely by himself. And such an assumption was not far off from reality. After all, that was not the first time both Roley and Der had met the consciousness formed by Destiny’s gift. Sewah too, the consciousness that was born and raised alongside Daniel’s karmic system, had attempted to take over over the latter’s body as well.
A betrayal Roley had not imagined could befall upon himself too.. And for a good reason. The systems resided in the champions’ bodies, and had the Elementalist left his body to possess his own, he would have lost the use of his system.
However, what had entered Roley’s elemental world at the moment of the Elementalist’s death was not his consciousness, but his very own body.. While he must have planted a portion of his consciousness at an earlier moment. When he had helped him merge with the treasures of primordial light and darkness, for example.
Dealing with the Elementalist had awoken Roley to the depth of their deceitfulness, so he was not willing to let himself be tricked again.
However, Roley seemed to have misunderstood, as the Elementalist quickly corrected him, “No no no, I don’t want the whole thing. Keep your brain, I just need the heart! And hurry, if you want to save your little followers!”
Hearing this, Roley felt conflicted. Behind him the elementals were being slaughtered. The strongest ones were forced to help their weaker companions at the cost of their own lives, going against five, ten or even more of Horror’s champions by themselves. And the situation was only marginally better for the cultivators, who could slim down the numbers of enemies with their ships, before meeting them head to head.
The death of his followers piled on him, until finally, he made a decision. Keeping his body wouldn’t have been worth it if the cost was the death of his people.. So he relaxed his mind, and allowed for the consciousness that roamed his body to violently attach to his heart.
As this happened, Roley’s heart, which to him now felt like a foreign body, began to glow a bright golden light. One so powerful that it pierced his sternum and skin, and reached outwards. What happened next was a shock to him.
Following the appearance of this golden light, the natural power of the elementals seemed to awaken. As if fed by dry wood, their elemental powers went from calm embers to a blazing inferno, strengthened many times over. That, however, was not the end of it.
As they used their skills against Horror’s horde, the cultivators noticed something odd. Those who specialized in manipulating the elements noticed a dramatic increase in the power of their spells, while those who wielded weapons saw them suddenly enchanted with powers of lightning, fire, light and darkness.
Der looked at his people, who now demonstrated a power far beyond what they possessed. He did not know this boost of power had come from the Elementalist, and yet, he welcomed it. Then, as he noticed his men hesitate at the sight of this change, he inhaled deeply, and commanded, “BRAVE ON!”
These two simple words resounded across the entire battlefield, erasing the doubt, fear and worry that not only the cultivators, but the elementals as well were feeling.
“ATTACK!!” An admiral of the Immortal Armada commanded before charging at the monstrous army. Behind him cultivators and elementals alike followed bravely, clashing with all their might, and overwhelming the opponent.
The boost of power produced by the Elemental System, paired with the compelling order of the Warlord, seemed to be just what the two armies needed.. For after receiving them, each soldier was worth ten of his own. Each slash charred, each bolt of lightning liquefied, each asteroid thrown overwhelmed the champion of Horror, who, at some point, had found themselves at a disadvantage.
This change, however, did not escape the eyes of Horror.
The monstrous aspect of existence was aware of why his subjects had lost the advantage, and it was not something he could ignore anymore.
Not only had Der’s and the Elementalist’s intervention overturned the result of the battle, but unbeknownst to them, the lack of fear Der’s powers had created in them had halted the production of horrific power, denying Horror’s champion from benefiting from their gifts. A consequence that was just as important of a reason for their newfound success as their increase in power was.
With these changes in place the two armies were able to fight back, and gradually eliminate the champions of Horror at a quicker rate than they joined the fray. However, before these changes could produce any significant result, the monstrous horde suddenly retreated. On their big malicious faces, just as big and malicious smiles appeared, alongside a cacophony of growls and low pitched laughs.
Roley and Der, however, had hardly noticed this change, and instead, were focused on the humanoid creatures that stood in front of them, aloof, unbothered.. And now, glowing of a dense light the color of soil.
The brightness of this light increased in intensity, more and more, until finally, it expanded outwards like a shockwave. It pushed past the two cultivators and the three armies, and only dissipated once each and every creature that had fought had been washed in it.
The cultivators and elementals immediately examined their bodies, worried for wounds to have suddenly appeared.. But they found nothing. In fact, by the time they had checked a fraction of their bodies, they had already forgotten what they were doing, and as they noticed this forgetfulness that prevailed over their mind, they had already passed out.
Before anyone could react, Roley, Der and each the hundreds of millions of beings they led, had fallen unconscious.
