The Priesthood

In shock, Kanrel barely managed to counter the flailing fireball that was sent their way. He smothered the fireball before it managed to hit its target, but soon there came another while the other attackers came from every direction with their knives out.

A stab came at Kanrel, and he blocked it with his left hand, leaving behind a bloody wound. Pain ran through him, but he didn’t have time to let it take over. He performed a code to heal the wound, then another to smother a fireball coming his way, and then he tried to form a third code to push the attackers away, but it wasn’t powerful enough, so the attackers were only slightly faltered by it.

But this gave Yviev enough time to prepare her code. Multiple ice spikes formed in different locations, and they all were aimed at the masked ambushers around them; they shot out at violent speed, but only one of them managed to hit its target. A scream of pain was heard as the spike ran through the ambusher, and he flew a few meters back.

Yirn had only bloodlust on his face as he formed more powerful codes and even more of them at the same time. He was there to kill them, and only death could stop him. He lunged a fiery whip at Kanrel, who had to block it with an ice wall. Kanrel then took a few steps back, only to receive another stab, this time to his back.

He quickly turned around while gritting his teeth. He punched the bastard in the face while forming ice spikes on his fists. Blood splattered out as the fist hit its mark. He followed this with a small ball of fire, which he slapped into the man's neck.

The ambusher screamed in horrible pain as his mask shattered into pieces and blood ran down his face. Behind the mask, only a bloody face could be seen, and icy spikes pierced into one of his eyes.

The fire spread all around his robes, and the man had to lunge backward; he was sent running for his life.

Another ambusher got to Kanrel and managed to stab his side, then another stab, after which a fireball hit him. Kanrel screamed as he once did during the simulations.

Yviev was busy as well, and she was not left without wounds, which she skillfully healed soon after. She kept lunging ice spikes at them. She helped Kanrel as quickly as she could, as most of the ambushers were surrounding him.

She could only heal the wounds and injuries that she saw, and there were many of them.

Kanrel gritted his teeth and focused on just one thing, and one thing only: a code he was forming as quickly and as precisely as he could. And when it was finished, the ambushers who were stabbing him quickly found out that their attacks did nothing.

Their daggers bent as they hit Kanrel; their confusion allowed him time to blow them away from him.

Yviev found herself mostly blocking Yirn’s violent attacks so that Kanrel wouldn’t get constantly cut in half by the sharp ice whip, which he constantly struck with.

They will not win if this continues. Yirn had the upper hand, and it was evident that his experience in combat was far greater than Yviev’s and Kanrel’s combined. Not to mention the nine attackers that were left standing, ready to buy Yirn more time to do as he wished. They had to do something quickly; otherwise, they would surely die.

"Release me!" Oidus yelled from the ground; she was still unable to move or see what was happening around her. She would be their only hope; only she could save them from certain death.

Kanrel let go of his part of the code and commenced his attack: "Do it!" Kanrel yelled as he began, in quick succession, forming different codes that would buy time for them. A mist quickly surrounded them as it formed into a thick fog, and from the fog he began launching different spells.

Kanrel only knew where Yirn would be positioned, so he mainly focused his spells there, blunging ice spikes and fireballs in his direction.

He would deal with the rest of the surroundings by freezing the ground and creating barriers around the position where Oidus and Yviev would be.

Yviev removed her part of the entrapment code as the mist began surrounding them. She was on her knees in front of Oidus, who, even after the removal of two parts of the code, was unable to move or see. She would have to find the strands of Yirn’s part of the code, which were most likely much greater than they had first thought.

She slowly began removing the code that truly held Oidus in place.

The fog soon disappeared as a strong gust of wind took it with it. Kanrel could see Yirn standing not far from him, on his face a grin that promised only death and in his hands an icy whip that soon struck at him.

Again, Kanrel had to block it with a barrier just to miss multiple fireballs that were sent his way. They struck him and soon set his hair and robes on fire. In the cold night, he was no longer in flames; he formed a code as an answer. The fire was suddenly extinguished, but his body was covered with burn marks.

From the left and the right, his barriers were removed and the ground was not frozen, so again he was under attack by Yirn’s minions. They came at him with their knives in their hands; they would again be sharp and ready to pierce him.

Kanrel focused on the coming whip and the fireballs that would follow. He formed a barrier to block them, and he then formed spikes that came from the ground in an upward motion, striking at multiple attackers all at once.

He could hear a scream of pain filling the air around; it was like ecstasy for Kanrel as he killed three of the attackers once; two had their chests pierced with long icy spikes, and one had his skull pierced through.

Most of the attackers were pushed back, but one got to Kanrel and stabbed him with his knife.

Pain didn’t matter; in a moment like this, it wasn’t allowed to matter. Even with his physical abilities impaired, his mind was still rushing with ideas and adrenaline. The moment the attacker stabbed him, he was already ready. An ice spike was ready; it came out of nowhere, from somewhere above, and stuck down on the attacker, crashing into his head, crushing and piercing its way through his skull until it stopped somewhere in his throat.

Blood flowed as the now-dead man fell to the ground. Kanrel didn’t have time to witness this, as he already had to form another barrier in his defense. He pulled the knife out of his back as multiple codes were healing the new wounds that had found their way onto his body.

He was breathing heavily, as the pain had become more real than ever. He wouldn’t last much longer, not with all the many things that he had to do. Not with his barriers breaking quicker than he could form new ones to place them. Not with the other six, who were ready to attack him again from all directions.

"Kanrel… Accept this truth that I have given you! Accept the death that I have thought for you!" A yell could be heard on the hill as Yirn screamed his nonsense; his attacks were growing swifter and his grin less human by the minute.

Things were happening too quickly. In one moment, Kanrel had to block a coming strike of the whip, and then multiple fireballs and perhaps a few icy spikes followed. He had to accept a stab by one of the attackers, who were now much more careful with how they approached him, but still, they would not stop; they would not be afraid to die.

He kept blocking, while at this point he was unable to form codes to counterattack. All that he could do now was block, parry, and dodge. The codes healing his body were more important than attacking back; if he stopped doing them, he would just die. He would be paralyzed with pain.

He blocked the violent attacks for as long as he could, then was struck by one of them. It stuck flesh; it ripped it apart, pulling his chest and shoulder open. He flew a meter backward and hit the hard ground beneath.

He couldn’t breathe from the shock and from the pain. He couldn’t move at first until he had to do something, as the attackers were already on him. Their knives ready to finish the kill. He tried to get back but soon found a knife in his stomach and then another one in his chest.

He would die. He was unable to form any codes, and he was unable to react to the coming attacks. He was unable to do anything. So he would just die here. Like this?

Like this.

It wasn’t as loud as it had been just moments ago. It was peaceful, and no sounds would come—not those of the battle, not screams of pain from his lips. Nothing. It would end here, and there would be peace at last for him. There would be nothing.

Sadly, it wasn’t allowed.

The attackers were instantly killed, as Kanrel could see. His wounds started to rapidly heal as multiple far-too-complex codes for Kanrel to understand began healing him. His breath stabilized soon, and the world wasn’t so dark or so soundless again.

From the ground, he watched as Oidus stood in front of him, her back toward him. She was ready to end this fight.

Yviev came to Kanrel’s side and began going through his body, looking for anything that Oidus’s codes might have missed. She pulled him further away from the battle and soon helped him sit up a little so that he might see.

Kanrel saw as the attackers that were left had their heads blown off; they popped like balloons, but with blood splattering in many directions. They were not a match for her; she was a master, and they were nothing in front of her; they were less than the dirt that they walked upon.

She looked at Oidus with a smile on her face, as if she found the whole situation to be a joke, one that was slightly funny to her. "My beloved student," she spoke as she blocked a spell that was coming her way. "You’re no match for me, so why even try?"

"Give up, and your death might be less painful," she promised, blocking the coming whip and shattering it into thousands of pieces that fell around them in a rain of ice.

The grin never left Yirn’s face. "Your kind disgusts me the most; a nameless that has become a mere hound for the Priesthood, a shill to powers that have lied to us, that have done wrong to us."

He said this while pulling a necklace from under his robes; it was one none of them had ever seen before. A weird-looking thing shaped like a dagger that looked plain and old, it was made out of a dark material that was slightly luminescent.

"Hail to the true God! Hail to the true magic! Behold; the truth!" He yelled and stabbed his chest with the necklace, which pierced deep into him. He stood still and watched only at Oidus, on his face the truest of smiles, a weird grin that lacked all humanity.

"Fool..." Oidus scoffed and observed what would happen next.

Dark gas came out of his mouth, followed soon by a liquid that flowed slowly out; his skin began crawling as if something wanted to come out, as if there were a thousand bugs inside trying to pierce the skin to be free.

His arms twitched as a scream muffled by the flowing liquid could be heard. With his hands, he rapidly started to tear his skin, his flesh that was beneath, and as he did so, first came blood, then a gray-muscled body from under. Many hands pushed their way through his skin. He grew slowly in size, first only a meter, then another, until he was at least six or seven meters tall; his head exploded violently, and another head grew to take its place.

The dark liquid covered the ground, and the necklace could still be seen in the middle of his chest. On his body, the dark gas danced around, as if he were much warmer than everything around him.

They all looked up at the eldritch creature with eight hands, most of them growing out of its back, standing before them. Its head was similar to the grotesque masks that the ambushers had worn.

It opened its mouth and let out a scream that could surely be heard kilometers away. It shook the ground beneath them, and even Oidus had to take a step back and the others had to cover their ears.

A toothy grin came to the monster's face as it took a step forward, perhaps the truest of Yirn's smiles. The ground shook under its heavy weight.

A flash of light.

The creature stood still and didn’t move for a few seconds. Then it took another step. Just to fall over, a loud thumb shook the ground violently, and the head of the creature rolled to the ground. It had been cut off cleanly; black blood spilled out from the neck, and the head of the horrible creature lay on the ground with a face of shock on its face.

From above, a figure of light descended on top of the creature's body—an angel of light, a woman who looked at them. On her face, no expression existed; only serenity and holiness oozed out of her as if she truly were a god or an angel.

She looked at those who were there and still alive; at last, her gaze fell on Kanrel. She smiled her unpracticed smile. "My son, are these the friends you wanted me to meet?" She asked and kicked the massive body that she stood on top of.

Kanrel lost his consciousness as the first snows of the coming winter rained down on them.