[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]
Third Person POV
Novigrad.
...
...
The echoes of the explosion seemed endless, after thousands of tons had roared against the sea, already agitated by the storm.
Half of the other rock had simply collapsed, there was no longer any sign of the religion's glorious flames. Although Ciri had already destroyed the main flame that stood in an enormous golden basin outside the temple with her lightning, where people used to pray.
They said those flames were eternal, truly symbolizing the religion. That was until Ciri appeared.
"How... how can this happen?" the High Priest merely muttered. He was afraid. Just like practically everyone around him.
What had happened that night was not a simple storm. And it had not even ended yet. The lightning continued to roar across the sky, although it had already lost much of its strength.
The way the lightning had shaped itself in the sky, first changing color, then that roar and the figure of a serpentine dragon, frightened everyone, who barely had time before it descended upon the temple.
"Let's finish this. We've basically destroyed the entire strength of the Eternal Fire with this attack," Far from the destroyed temple, Madara said beside Ciri. "I'll let you deliver your little verdict while I make the city tremble."
Ciri merely nodded, still focused on the enormous hole opened in the sky, that abyss visible to anyone who looked up.
Madara then concentrated. An enormous amount of chakra began to be released.
Its pressure did not directly affect people sensitive to Chaos as Ciri had done. In fact, it could only influence chakra users, and there was no one in that world capable of using it.
Even so, the mere release of that energy began to make everything tremble.
Even though people were not directly affected by the pressure of his chakra, the environment around them was.
The next moment, the entire city began to feel it. If they had already been frightened by the purple lightning dragon before...
Now they were terrified. It felt as if the world was about to end.
As if the apocalypse had finally arrived. Fear and chaos continued to fill the entire atmosphere of Novigrad.
People began to wonder what kind of entity they had offended that night. It was not enough that every window in the city had shattered during the storm, the flames that had descended from the sky in one part of the city, and the final dragon-shaped lightning...
Now everything was shaking. Inside houses, tables rattled, utensils fell to the floor, and cabinets toppled from side to side. People clung to one another while praying to any god they knew. Many no longer placed their faith solely in the Eternal Fire.
Anyone who could observe the city at that moment saw only an impossible scene.
Rain and strong winds.
Flames in one corner.
Lightning illuminating the sky, despite no longer falling.
The sea still raging.
The former site of the Eternal Fire reduced to ruins, with clouds of dust and smoke everywhere.
And the entire city kept trembling without end.
Inside the resistance shelter, people were terrified. Even those who already knew Madara and Ciri.
When they heard Madara say he intended to resolve the situation by giving the city a scare alongside Ciri, they had never imagined anything like this. Everyone was shocked by the power they were witnessing.
"My God... what are they planning? To destroy the city?" Dandelion swallowed hard, completely terrified.
"Destroy the city? What kind of people do you even know, Dandelion?!" Priscilla, who had also been there the entire time, had to shout beside him. It was supposed to be just a romantic date with Dandelion, and suddenly, everything had turned into this chaos.
"I don't even know anymore..." Dandelion replied, equally terrified. "I couldn't even write a song that described everything I'm seeing tonight."
"This isn't a joke, Dandelion!" Priscilla snapped at his comment.
"This isn't Chaos this time..." Tissaia murmured as well, nearby, after helping the rescued people alongside the others.
"It's Madara..." Triss murmured, recognizing that power. She knew he could do something like this.
In truth, none of them were being directly affected. There was a barrier protecting the resistance mansion, making that place one of the safest locations in the city.
That was why there were no shattered windows or furniture being thrown all over the mansion.
Even so, they could still feel the tremors and see that the city was shaking even more violently. Suddenly, a thunderous voice emerged from the sky.
"TO THIS ENTIRE CITY OF SIN..."
The voice echoed throughout the entire city. Everyone immediately raised their heads.
Dijkstra, Zoltan, Vernon, Ida, Dudu, and all the others couldn't help but stare at the enormous hole in the clouds, frowning.
"Ciri..." Triss once again recognized her immediately.
That was made of Chaos.
The voice was distorted, but anyone who knew Ciri would be able to recognize it.
While Madara released chakra, surrounded by a blue layer of energy, Ciri was casting a spell so that her voice could be heard from the sky. From the eye of the storm.
Her eyes glowed green.
Hundreds of thousands of people raised their heads at that instant. All of them staring into the center of the storm, where endless darkness lay.
"EVERYONE IN THIS CITY LIVES UNDER SIN." Her voice echoed across the heavens. Even the priests of the Eternal Fire looked up, overcome by fear.
Ciri continued. "THIS CITY LIVES IN HERESY."
"YOU CALL YOURSELVES JUDGES WHILE PRAYING TO A FLAME THAT IS NOT A GOD. IT IS NOTHING MORE THAN ARROGANCE CREATED BY YOURSELVES, MORTALS."
The voice caused many to fall to their knees. Others raised their hands toward the sky as they trembled.
"A god..."
"We are hearing a god..."
The words began to spread throughout the city.
"WHILE YOU PRAY TO A FLAME, YOU EXECUTE PEOPLE SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU."
"ELVES AND DWARVES DO NOT COMMIT CRIMES SIMPLY BY EXISTING."
"SORCERERS ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF THE MISFORTUNE AND TRAGEDIES THAT HAPPEN IN YOUR LIVES."
"YOU PLACE THE BLAME ON THE WRONG PEOPLE WHILE IGNORING THE TRUE SINS YOU COMMIT."
"TONIGHT WAS ONLY A WARNING."
"TODAY, I WILL SPARE THIS CITY AND THE THOUSANDS OF SINNERS WHO LIVE IN IT."
"BUT THERE WILL NOT BE A SECOND CHANCE."
The storm roared above the clouds.
"NEXT TIME..."
Her voice became even colder.
"I INTEND TO ERADICATE EVERY PERSON WHO LIVES IN THIS CITY."
"PERHAPS IN THIS ENTIRE KINGDOM."
The moment all those words were spoken, Ciri signaled for Madara to stop.
Madara ceased releasing chakra, and the tremors began to diminish until they disappeared completely.
Ciri also started to dispel the enormous storm, and the rain came to an end. Lightning no longer crossed the sky. The wind was the last thing to cease.
Then the black clouds began to disperse, revealing a starry sky above the entire city.
Throughout the entire process, people merely watched in silence, swallowing hard.
Madara and Ciri remained there, watching Novigrad slowly return to normal.
Even so, fires still burned in various places.
The sea remained turbulent, mainly because of the enormous mass of stone that had fallen into it, generating waves that continued to spread in every direction.
Everything had happened far too quickly.
Ciri blinked, and her eyes were returning to normal. Then she looked at Madara and embraced him. An instant later, their lips met.
"Tonight was interesting..." Ciri commented after the kiss, smiling.
"They're going to think you're a goddess from today onward. They might even start worshipping you," Madara said in an amused tone.
"Well, as long as they don't kill people, maybe I'll become known as the Goddess of the Storm. The goddess who punishes sinners..." Ciri began to muse.
Madara merely shook his head, turning his attention to where the temple used to stand.
"What are we going to do now? We should wait for the High Priest, right?" Ciri asked.
Madara displayed a smile. "Why don't we observe the chaos first? Let's see how this city reacts to all of this."
He paused. "The damage from tonight was quite significant for these people. I want to know how they'll react now. I want to see what they're going to do with the High Priest." Hearing that, Ciri returned his smile.
"Let's first see how everyone is doing."
Madara then teleported her into the mansion. As soon as they appeared, all the members of the resistance stared at them.
"By the Gods... what was that?" Dijkstra couldn't help but exclaim.
Everyone present looked at the two of them with a certain degree of caution.
Ciri merely shrugged. "Like my husband said before, we were going to put on quite a show tonight."
"Quite a show? You say that as if you did something small. The entire city is terrified now..." Dijkstra muttered.
Madara looked at him before shrugging. "Well, that's what this city asked for, isn't it? We're merely giving it the same treatment they were giving to non-humans. Don't you agree?" he suggested at the end.
Dijkstra opened his mouth to respond. He tried to argue something, but ultimately found himself unable to come up with an answer.
It was very difficult to defend what had happened in Novigrad over the last few months or year without admitting how unfair all of it had been.
"Anyway, look what we have here..." Madara said, looking at the unconscious man on the ground.
It was none other than Caleb Menge, whom the wood clone had captured earlier. Madara couldn't let him be killed along with the others when he attacked their building with fire; he wanted to give Caleb special treatment.
An execution.
Several gazes were already fixed on him. Not friendly gazes, but gazes that wanted to kill him.
It wasn't only the prisoners who had been tortured. Even some of those being sheltered in the mansion, who had managed to escape the witch hunters weeks or months ago, looked at Caleb with a desire for revenge after suffering at the hands of that bastard.
Even Dudu was among them. That man had destroyed his life when he took power and implemented the king's new laws, a life he could never recover...
"We're going to execute him," Madara said.
Everyone left the mansion. The rain had stopped, but water still flowed through the streets and channels. Many places remained flooded because the volume of water was far greater than the sewers and drains could handle.
The current had even dragged some monsters into the canals that led to the sea.
Some posed no danger, but other creatures could be seen emerging at different points throughout the city.
People pointed at them desperately, begging someone to eliminate them before they attacked anyone.
Meanwhile, Caleb woke up at that moment.
He was tied to a wooden post created by Madara, prepared to catch fire easily.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a crowd watching him, everyone who had been in the mansion or had just been rescued.
He was trapped in the same way he used to execute his victims. Now he was the one who would be burned alive.
"What are you doing?!" Caleb shouted.
"Isn't it obvious? We're executing you," Triss replied in a tone filled with contempt. She hated that man as well.
"Stop! You don't know who I am! I know exactly who you are, Triss Merigold! You won't get away with this!" he said, trying to intimidate her.
But Triss started laughing. "Your entire witch hunter patrol, along with the support you had from the city and the Eternal Fire, was wiped out tonight."
"You don't know what happened during the storm after you lost consciousness. And you'll never know." Tissaia said.
"It's not because we won't answer your questions," Zoltan said beside her, arms crossed.
Triss looked at Madara, who nodded to her, and then she created a flame in her hand and cast the fire spell directly onto the wood beneath Caleb's feet.
The flames began to spread rapidly. Caleb was terrified when he realized it was real.
He began to scream as he felt the pain of the flames burning his flesh, while the fire quickly advanced and consumed his clothes.
The screams echoed within the mansion's walls, with the barrier preventing them from being heard outside.
But all those refugees watched without looking away, or at least most of them did.
Even so, there was hatred, and no one dismissed the idea of killing him. There were people there who had absolutely nothing to do with magic. They had been arrested solely because of accusations made by neighbors or enemies.
Sometimes, someone simply found a situation suspicious. Other times, they did it out of anger, envy, or hatred toward the victim.
Even if the person had committed no crime at all, those witch hunters would simply take them away.
And that made most of them watch the execution while taking pleasure in that man's cries of pain.
Until he finally fell silent.
"Good, we're finished here. Now let's see how the High Priest is doing," Madara said. He had already received information from a few clones and began focusing on the city.
The situation had changed completely.
After hearing the entity that spoke from the heavens, people quickly began placing all the blame on the Eternal Fire religion itself.
Now, crowds were desperately searching for the High Priest while advancing against anyone wearing white robes.
Many wanted to sacrifice the High Priest as an offering.
A desperate attempt to appease the wrath of that goddess whose voice had echoed over Novigrad.
After all, the voice was clearly feminine.
It was almost amusing. For years, the people of that city had supported its actions, cheered at every trial, and applauded every execution. They believed every word spoken by the High Priest, but all it took was a single night, and now everyone had turned against him. They wanted to kill him in an attempt to preserve their own lives.
They were terrified by the existence of figures who seemed far beyond the mortal world. At the same time, they felt anger toward their own religion.
In their eyes, they had been deceived. And worse. They believed the Eternal Fire had brought a goddess's wrath upon Novigrad.
A wrath that threatened to destroy the entire city the next time.
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