Fall Of A God
Light!
White light!
A scorching, dazzling brilliance that seemed to come from multiple worlds radiated origin force as it was launched from Thultanthar’s primary cannon. This was a fusion of a great arcanist and a flying city, possessing the power to kill gods! Such might showed itself once more in this world, causing many existences to cry out in alarm.
*Rumble!* Space shattered in the divine kingdom, and the avatar melted away under the white light. The light cut a path of destruction through the ocean, eliminating anything in its way. Shrines, holy spirits, or obstacles, they were all reduced to dust under the light, before even that dust was reduced to nothingness.
*Boom!* The white light finally burst through the divine kingdom, breaking through the confines of the First Hell to disappear into the endless void.
“AAAAAHH!” Sekolah’s divine kingdom had received a massive amount of damage. Numerous petitioners perished in an instant, and many more valiant and holy spirits cried out in pain.
[Beep! True body discovered, sniping down.] The terrifying City of Shadows swept through numerous churches immediately, the powerful Shadow Weave spreading its tendrils to form Sekolah’s true body out.
The true body of the Sahuagin God was much larger than his avatar. He looked to be made of gold, but he’d already lost an arm, the area around him horrifyingly translucent. This ease evidently due to to the main cannon firing just now.
“Wait… I’ll admit defeat and leave Baator!” Sekolah yelled loudly.
“Too late. I need the fall of a true god to pave my path to victory. This will intimidate the other gods as well…”
Leylin expressionlessly sent down the order., and the terrifying cannon rumbled once more…
On the prime material plane, in a hidden church in the ocean.
“Sekolah, my Lord, please protect us and ensure our victory in battle…” Guided by a priest, a group of sharkmen piously knelt down before a statue of the Sharkman God. As the Lord of the Sahuagin, Sekolah was the protector of the entire race. Without him, they would instantly lose 90% of their territory in the ocean!
“Sekolah, my Lord… You are the Lord of the Ocean, the Protector of the Sahuagin…” Devout power of faith gathered in front of the statue, glimmering with traces of light.
*Ka-cha!* However, at this very moment, slight shattering sounds could be heard from the statue.
The sharkmen below exchanged glances. Finally, someone gathered the courage against the danger of profaning a god and looked up. Afterwards the poor man gaped, his mind going blank.
“The… the statue…” The other sharkmen looked up, but were alarmed to find that the glimmer on the statue was dimming without end.
Finally, with a loud crack, the holy light of the statue disintegrated. The entire statue began to fragment, and turned into little piles of dust.
“Priest…” The sharkmen desperately looked for their priest, but found that he was now lying on the ground, the holy light leaving his body. He was twitching uncontrollably, a look of pain on his face as he lay unconscious.
All the sharkmen cried and yelled, feeling that the mighty existence had completely cut off all contact with them and left them feeling empty inside.
“Our god… Our god, Sekolah…” An elderly sharkman knelt on the ground, large drops of tears flowing from his eyes and turned into beads of pearls that fell to the surface of the ground, producing crisp sounds.
“God… our true god has fallen…” The rest of the sharkmen cried out, moving around helplessly like headless flies. The fall of their god was a calamity!
Without Sekolah’s protection, the sharkmen would lose all their priests, met with challenges that could wipe out the entire race. Mournful wails sounded as a bugle horn resounded in the seas. The Sahuagin Emperor had sent down an order. The entire race began to grieve, while remaining on their guard.
Unlike the prime material plane, the changes in the divine kingdom were far more terrifying. Layer after layer of chains undid themselves, and terrifying destructive storms poured in from the outerworld, causing great disasters. The petitioners and valiant spirits fell without the ability to resist, while the other beings and holy spirits didn’t fare much better.
Wide expanses of space crumbled. If nothing went wrong, the laws of Baator would enter and remodel the place once more, restoring it to the wasteland of bloody streams that was Avernus.
*Bzzt bzzt!* Thultanthar rumbled violently as it moved about the divine kingdom, bringing ruin and destruction everywhere it went. The city steamrolled all resistance.
[Beep! Treasure trove discovered, energy undulations at grade C.]
A dazzling shrine opened up, revealing a treasure trove filled with gems and other precious materials that contained energy. This was something Sekolah had accumulated after he ascended, but the City of Shadows took it all without reservation.
As a time-space fort, Thultanthar was essentially merged with the semi-plane it was created in. It had near endless space, and it would be no problem for it to store hundreds of such treasure troves.
Leylin was currently standing atop Thultanthar, allowing Shaylin to sweep through Sekolah’s divine kingdom in her excitement. He was paying attention to the greatest harvest of the battle.
[Beep! Law of devouring has been activated, 80% of the target’s divine force has been absorbed. Obtained divine domain: Sahuagin. Comprehension of the law of the ocean now at 17%.]
‘As expected of a god of the World of Gods. Just killing one can give a Magus so many benefits…’ Leylin looked at the golden crystal in his hand and sighed. One could gain less than 10% of the accumulation of the opponent in a battle between Magi of laws, but that number rose to above 60% in a battle between a Magus and a god. With his law of devouring, Leylin could even go as high as 80%. It was no wonder that the gods and Magi were so envious of each other, and the Final War was without end.
“But… Sharkmen and the ocean? It looks like Sekolah is only the God of the Sahuagin, only understanding a little about the ocean. Who knows, he might not even have a minor domain in the ocean… But then again, there’s the Goddess of the Ocean and the Master of Storms who are both more powerful than him, how would he dare to dip his finger into the laws of the ocean? This bit of comprehension was likely because of natural accumulation as the God of a marine species…”
Leylin shook his head. He had no interest in the law of the ocean, much less the narrower domain of Sahuagin. Being the god of such a race was worthless to him, and it didn’t even qualify to be branded into his origin force weapon.
“I’m afraid I can only gift or trade…” Leylin stowed the crystal away, “The ocean gods should have a bit of interest in the faith of those sharkmen. More importantly, they’re aligned to chaos and evil so it doesn’t go against my interests. They wouldn’t see me as an enemy…”
Since he’d chosen to side with evil, Leylin naturally wouldn’t help the good gods. He could still find a few allies amongst them.
*Whoosh!* Currently, the destructive storm had swept through the divine kingdom and eliminated all traces of Sekolah. Few even survived. In contrast, Thultanthar stood tall in the heart of the storm, the object of everyone’s terrified gazes.
This move had allowed Leylin to show the terror brought about by an arcanist using his flying city to the higher existences. They couldn’t help but recall the brutal memories of their war with the Netheril Empire.
*Rumble!* Just at that time, violent tremors swept through the Nine Hells. One could see a divine kingdom glimmering with gold as it left Avernus, moving towards the boundless void. The God of Kobolds slowly appeared behind the translucent divine kingdom.
Seeing Sekolah’s fate, Kurtulmak had wisely chosen to escape. After all, his strength was about the same, so if Leylin could kill Sekolah he would face no trouble in killing him.
Moving one’s divine kingdom wasn’t similar to the situation after Leylin ascended to godhood. At that point in time, Leylin had the support of the origin forces of the prime material plane and Dis, reducing the energy required for movement. It was different for a realm that had already settled down. If it moved again, it wouldn’t just use up a lot of divine force but also cause great turmoil within the realm itself.
In spite of all this, Kurtulmak chose to leave. This meant only one thing: he was afraid, terrified of Leylin! If a true god took the first step to withdraw, Leylin’s reputation would definitely spread through the worlds.
With Kurtulmak gone, nobody could stop Leylin from expanding into Avernus anymore. Under Borke and Azlok, the army of flame devils purged all resistance. With the descent of the floating city, the Bronze Citadel was taken over without any issues. The pit fiends who had been guarding the area had their heads thrown off the city walls.
The brilliance of Leylin’s divine kingdom finally spread all over Avernus, and the two planes slowly began to fuse.
“Damn it… He’s remodelling his divine kingdom too quickly… Is this because of the momentum from his ascension, or because he’s a Lord of Baator?” Glasya watched Thultanthar from outside Avernus. Seeing the city that looked like a heavenly country, she gritted her teeth before leaving, choosing not to attack.
Glasya had no confidence of victory in front of a true god’s divine kingdom. More importantly, her father’s main body was grievously injured, and their allies had became unreliable. She did not have the energy to waste here.
The laws of the devils were much more cruel than those in the mortal world. Asmodeus, who was seriously injured, had become prey to many of the Archdevils. This included even her, a Lord who had risen from his shadow.