Realm Wars 10 - End of the Star Rings II

FRANCO'S POV

We watched what was now an assured trap to kill the administrator gods take effect. Several unknown gods and known gods gasped as the administrators were swarmed by little Eldritch chaos beings.

Many focused on the coming fight while I watched a part of the black sea extend itself. I gulped as it moved aimed at the soul realm.

"It comes". The daemon announced, his deeper voice reverberating in my ears telling me his eyes were on the same thing I was watching.

" Hey guys," I turned to see the Aegis all congregating around me. Realer, Jean, Gertrude, Yarrow, Porteis, and Kondark. Even Hardima was here probably deported to the soul realm with everyone else. Of the known gods, I found Mariet, Nudan, Fosta, and Jondu already within the group.

"Where do we run to?" Mariet asked.

"I doubt there is anywhere to go," Yarrow stated. "I mean if this goes how it's expected it'll devour everything and leave nothing".

" The system said we had to survive. If it knows that this could devour everything it wouldn't say that" Gertrude pointed out meekly.

"Even with the administrators here, nothing has changed. " The daemon suddenly spoke. Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"Oh right. Guys this is..." I stopped realizing I didn't know the player's name.

"XxSteller. Call me Steller" the Argonne announced.

"Now there's two" Porteis mumbled facepalming.

"Well Steller I'm Daedalus and this are the Aegis." I started and then waited as one by one everyone introduced themselves. With the introductions done the Daemon continued.

"Now what do we do? Don't say run, this is... expected. So we have nowhere to run to that won't still be devoured "

"There's literally nothing we can do. You Argonnes fought it and lost. The Administrators are currently there and nothing is changing. " Porteis pointed out.

"The voice of reason has spoken true. Now what do you think..." his words halted as the ground rumbled.

"I don't think we have time to think anymore," Jean announced. We followed her gaze to see that the very edges of the blue realm had been breached. The flood of chaos devoured anything it touched and constantly surged forward.

Purple lightning flashed about within the dark sea even as we watched. Many of the players and NPCs began pointing to several figures that dashed out of the storm of water, lightning, and crumbling earth.

There were a lot of them, all racing towards the gods with a frenzy they had rarely seen on the monsters of their realms.

"I guess that answers the question" Steller looked back to us and the rest around me sighed and shrugged. I sighed before stepping forward the system lights appearing to weave my blade into my grasp.

"There's nowhere to run to". I looked back at everyone.

" Obviously" Mariet pushed herself to the front ice daggers forming into her grasp. Gertrude with her two short swords a good upgrade from her daggers shadowed Jean who held her long sword and pointed its tip to the ground.

Hardima frowned as did Porteis. Both muttering how it was all a mad endeavor. Realer and Kondark as well just shrugged and lined themselves up.

"Well then. If we are all in agreement " black and golden clouds gathered above Yarrow's head, gold steam pouring down around him. It swirled and took shape into the souls of the dead. Souls summoned from the star river to gather to his aid.

"Let's unalive them, shall we."

All around the gods paused to look as my group moved forward. Steller had a bloodthirsty grin on his face as he strode.

"You do realize we're gonna die, permanently. " Hardima asked the giant Argonne.

"Yup".

"So why smiling?"

"Because as much as I hate it. The Unborn was right."

"Wait he gave you guys the same speech?" Jean asked amused. The Argonne nodded with an exhale that strangely didn't wipe his grin

"Frustrating seeing that I actively try to get stronger. But he is right. We hide behind the fact that we will revive within the Soul temple or whatever your spawn points are."

"But now. This is a true threat." I wanted to remind him that we were still in a game just in case he was getting reality distortion, but I paused as I realized how right he was.

This was death in the truest form of it. Dying now would mean no do-over. No access to this game, and no way back. Even if we all managed to return as normal players, would we even still be gods?

That made this fight more dangerous than any other.

It seems my thought process must have hit the others and not just the Aegis. All the gods both known and unknown frowned as they stepped forward.

It wasn't like there was any safe place.

As if to make sense of their suicidal decision a Known God shouted.

"A good defense is an offense" Most nodded and cheered in agreement. Bright light filled the space as living armors spawned into the realm. More and more appeared as they marched forward.

Until there was nothing but living armors and gods standing before an arriving horde, legions of primordial entities. The chaos fed on the realm and spawned more of these entities each time encroaching more on the uneaten parts of the realm.

About two percent of the realm had been devoured. It had a lot of eating to do.

"Good thing it's not big enough". Jean muttered.

"Well then!" Steller shouted. All gods turned to him. "Let's buy those administrators time." Then he looked at me as if expecting something. What did he want me to say? I searched my brain for a moment before I pulled a lore out of my book.

"Most, if not all of us will definitely perish. At least now, we finally get to encroach on Mother's great hall and jabber her for leaving us defenseless." There was silence at first everyone looking at each other. Suddenly they all screamed with excitement at the thought. It wasn't anything awe-inspiring and my speeches would not make men want to die. But I doubted it was needed.

No one knew who did it. But suddenly everyone started running forward to the invading chaos. I found myself following, at the front but not the first.

"Gertrude!" Hardima yelled his little legs helping him move faster than most of us. I would never understand how. Even more, I wondered if this was even something a child should be exposed to. He did say he was a child then.

Too late to get him out.

"Techo-Light," Gertrude's whisper as divinity flowed from her reached my ears.

A glow of light spread over the Aegis pantheon and even most of the gods that she managed to reach as our armors were upgraded by a timer buff. Our weapons received the same buff. All of us shone gold while Steller was blue.

"It will last with your divinity poured into it". None replied just giving grateful nods to the Evershu goddess of technology.

"Little Argonne" Steller shouted. I was not going to like this guy much.

"The skies" he shouted. We looked and we saw the flying ones. Aerial it was.

With roars, we ascended. Behind the chaos creatures, the flood devoured all in its path. Right before we clashed the Elosas god races surged front and erected bent ice pikes. The Living Armors surged ahead and clashed with the front of the hordes. The Undule gods raced up the spikes while the Argatan gods blocked the spaces between the huge spikes. Crossing over the mass of chaos fiends while the Argonnes darted past overhead the Undules jumped off the tip of the spikes, descending into the thick of the madness. The Qitsalrmers hung back, weak on land they chose to fire arrows from behind into the horde.

The Evershus the largest congregation of gods in the realms raced into battle with the Lomries at their heels while the Argonnes fought in the skies. The Elosas chose to follow after the Undules extending the ice spikes and erecting caverns all over the battlefield. It cut off the hordes and gave groups of gods and armors time to obliterate group after group.

A blast of chaotic energy blasted an ice wall shattering it and throwing those on top to the ground.

The realm shook, the fighters screamed, divine blood rushed and chaos entities devoured shards upgrading themselves. Living armors were wrecked, torn apart then tossed to the ground the spot at the center of their chest black and empty.

Jean cut through Chaos entities, dodged blows, and avoided blasts that ate up armors and gods around her.

Hardima ran with his little legs hammer bashing the things from his path as he fought with a fierce thirst that was not something to be seen from a kid. Behind him stood Yarrow's soul attendants each defending the Lomrie, a treatment he disliked.

The gods held their positions. The armies of corrupted chaos pounded against their wall of armor and God bodies. They fell in droves yet the casualties didn't escape the gods.

*

ES-GNT

Bertha sat there biting her fingers. Comments had been almost useless as the auditorium was quiet watching the armors fall and gods die. Her device pinged suddenly for the first time since the gods began their fight.

She opened and read the comment then frowned.

"Seems the permanent death is true. Just got information from an Alpha player. He got forcefully logged out of the game." She straightened up. "Get this. He says and I quote ' It felt like I was actually dead. Until this light pulled me out of wherever I was and back to my pod. Scary' Damn scary I tell you". The crowd muttered at this.

She checked her statistics and her eyes widened at the over a million online views she was getting. Well, the war was getting but it was being watched via ES-GNT so a profit. She withheld from giving a fist bump to the air and looked up at the screen.

All her excitement drained as she spotted another corpse drop. A known God as the NPC gods were referred to. She lay lifeless her large almond eyes staring into the streaming raven lifelessly.

"Where the hell is that Creator player!" Bertha swore in annoyance her emotions getting to her.