The air was thick with salt and gunpowder and desperation at the edge of the Iron Coast. The God-Wall was not a figure of speech it was a huge wall made of stone and enchanted metal that stretched across the narrowest part of the northern peninsula. This wall was the attempt by the remaining mortal kings to keep the darkness away.
The Divinity in my veins was no longer a hum it was a strong and violent beat that seemed to match the sound of the grey waves hitting the cliffs.
I stood on the ridge with the wind blowing my coat like a birds wings. Isabella was beside me adjusting her gloves her eyes cold as the ice she controlled. Elara was on my side her black book open the pages moving in the wind like a birds heartbeat. Behind us the Hollowed Legions stood in silence ten thousand dead men waiting for the order to finish what they started in life.
"They have spent all their money on this " Elara said, her voice cutting through the sound of the ocean. "The Mercenary Kings, the remains of the Holy See the merchant lords they have put everything into this stone. They call it the Shield of Humanity."
"A shield is only as strong as the arm that holds it " I said. My voice was dry and rough like it was coming from a well. ". Their arms are shaking."
[CURSE STATUS: 5.5% DIVINITY]
[OBJECTIVE: BREACH THE FINAL BASTION.]
The defense was led by High Marshall Valerius. He stood on top of the wall his gold and silver armor reflecting the grey light of the sky. Beside him stood the Sister-Generals, Clara and Mia paladins who had survived the fall of the Holy See. Their eyes were burning with a faith that only comes from staring into the abyss and refusing to back down.
"Alaric von Valerius," the Marshalls voice carried over the distance made louder by a horn of brass. "You bring the evil of the Void to our gates.. The Wall is blessed with the blood of martyrs. You will not pass."
I did not bother to give a speech. I did not even look at him. I looked at the Divinity percentage in my mind. 5.5%. I remembered Mnemosynes words: The parasite is a bridge.
I walked forward my boots crunching on the gravel. I did not signal the army. I did not call for the siege engines. I simply raised my hand. Used the Archives Eye. The world changed. The solid stone of the Wall turned into a web of glowing lines. I saw the points, the places where the blessed blood was thin where the metal was brittle.
"Viper. Helga " I commanded.
From the shadows of the ridge my elite guard appeared. Helga held her hammer her muscles moving under the purple mark. Viper was a figure her daggers already tasting the salt in the air.
"Helga hit the foundation at the pillar. Viper find the Sisters. I want them alive " I said.
I slammed my cane into the earth. The 5.5% Divinity surged, a pillar of pressure erupting from the ground and hitting the God-Wall with a loud sound. The blessed stone did not just break it screamed. The purple energy began to destroy the light of the wall turning it into a dark bruised purple.
"The wall is falling " a soldier shouted from the wall.
"No " I whispered, watching the first cracks spread across the metal. "The wall is becoming a door."
[Status: The God-Wall breached. The Coalition in panic.]
[Condition: The final slaughter of the Mortal Kings begins.]
The God-Wall did not just crumble it bled. The purple energy from my strike had infected the stones turning the mortar into a black weeping sludge. As the dust settled the Bastion of Shame appeared in the heart of the breach a pocket of the Bedchamber made from the ruins of the wall they thought would save them. The air was thick with the smell of stone, cold steel and fear.
Clara and Mia the Shields of the See were pinned against a slab of fallen metal. Their silver armor was cracked, revealing their sweaty skin beneath. They were identical in their defiance their eyes burning with a faith.. The Bedchamber had taken away their holy auras leaving them as nothing more than two terrified women in a room that breathed with the Sovereigns hunger.
They were naked now their bodies. Muscular from years of training. They were trembling with fear.
"You can take our lives Usurper " Clara spat, though her voice shook. ". Our souls belong to the Light."
"The Light is not here Clara " I said, stepping out of the shadows. ". I do not want your lives. I want your devotion."
I was a figure of throbbing power the 5.5% Divinity making my skin steam. I did not reach for a sword. I grabbed them both by the hair forcing their heads back until their spines curved.
I positioned myself between them. I did not choose. I took them both. I drove my body into Claras virginal body in one brutal thrust while my hand forced Mias face down her mouth forced open to receive my presence.
Claras scream was a shattered note that echoed off the stone. My body filled her until she felt like she was splitting the energy of my seed invading her holy marrow.
I began to move, a rhythm that swung between them. Every thrust into Clara was a blow to Mias spirit as she watched her sister break.
"Is this the Light you promised the world?" I growled, my teeth sinking into Claras neck.
Isabella and Elara moved in their hands working the twins into a frenzy of desecration.
Claras resistance did not just end it shattered into a need. Her body began to respond a hot release that coated my thighs as she began to move back against me her body seeking the very thing that was erasing her faith.
The climax was an eruption of sensory overload. I felt the Martyrs Brand ignite in my bones feeding on their faith.
[Status: Clara and Mia broken. The God-Walls soul is yours.]
[Condition: The Coalition is leaderless and hollowed.]
The purple pressure within the Bastion of Shame finally equalized with the world. The walls of weeping stone dissolved into mist leaving the wreckage of the God-Wall and the cold salt-heavy wind of the Iron Coast.
High Marshall Valerius stood on the trembling remnants of the tower his golden armor splattered with the black sludge of the corrupted wall. Below him the coalition army stared in horror.
I stepped through the settling dust. I did not need the Hollowed Legions to march yet the silence I carried was more terrifying, than any war cry. Behind me Isabella and Elara walked with the calm of those who had seen the end of the world and found it lacking.
It was the twins who broke the Marshalls spirit.
Clara and Mia walked behind me their fancy silver plates thrown away their bodies covered only by torn cloaks that did not hide the purple Martyr's Brand on their inner thighs. They were not crying. They were not screaming. Their eyes were fixed on my boots with a empty admiration. My mark was a drying, stain on their skin. A stronger promise than any oath they had sworn to the Light.
"Marshall " I said, my voice loud and clear over the sound of the waves. "Your God-Wall is a pile of rocks. Your Shields are footstools for me. What is left to talk about?"
Valerius looked at the twins. The women who were supposed to be the example for his crusade. And saw them lean into my touch as I reached back to touch Clara's face. He saw the 5.5% Divinity in my eyes a power that made the air feel heavy.
"It was supposed to be holy " the Marshall whispered, his sword falling from his fingers and hitting the stone. "You are not a king. You are the end of everything."
"I am the start of something Valerius " I said. "A world without the lies of the gods."
I gave a signal to the Hollowed Legions. Ten thousand undead soldiers started to move their old boots hitting the stone in a loud rhythm. They did not attack. They just took over. The mercenaries threw down their bows. The paladins fell to their knees. The God-Wall had not been defeated. It had been taken in.
[CURSE STATUS: 5.6% DIVINITY]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: IRON COAST ANNEXATION. COMPLETE.]
[NEW ASSET: THE DREAD-NAVY (Shipyards of the Mercenary Kings).]
The weight inside me got stronger. 5.6%. Every time I won the "bridge" got closer to being finished. I looked at Elara, whose black book was almost full of the names of the people.
"The mortal kingdoms are finished My King " she said, her voice shaking with an excitement. "The whole continent is under your control. There is left to go but up."
"Not yet " I said, looking towards the north, where the northern lights were shining with an unnatural green color. "The Gods have a guard. One last protector who stands between the earth and the heavens. The Seraph of the Gate."
I turned my back, on the wall the Sister-Generals following me like loyal dogs. The way was clear. I was the king.
"Isabella, get the Eclipse ready. We are going to the edge of the world. I want to see if a Seraph can bleed."