God of Nothing

“HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHHH!”

The scene burned into his retinas when he finally closed them. He shielded his eyes in addition to shutting them, but the image remained. Conquest, grinning in glee as Rage picked it up, growing into full blown laughter as the massive creature opened up right in the middle. The smaller herald all but jumped within the vertical rows of teeth, gaining even more wounds in the process.

It was the makings of a new nightmare.

Red mana seeped into Conquest’s wounds, even as his own black mana poured down Rage’s gullet. Eventually, the lights died down just enough for Rayse to take another look. He ventured a peek, if only to confirm what he had seen in the chaos prior.

“So, about that retreat…” Lacey pondered aloud beside him. Rayse took a quick glance, confirming that everyone had indeed converged on his position. They stood somewhat straight, though clearly apprehensive about continuing the fight.

“Commander? What’s our condition?” He asked aloud.

“Much better than earlier, if you can believe it. Aside from you and me, everyone else has been restored to close to about half of their mana reserves.” 

Rayse stood up at last, standing shoulder to shoulder with everyone. They held their weapons at the ready, looking equally eager to run or attack, whichever lets them survive.

“I figured that. What I’m asking is, are we strong enough to handle that?” He asked again, this time jabbing a finger at the abomination they were facing. Conquest had stepped out from Rage’s motionless body, rippling with their combined might. Enveloped in dark red mana, the power it emitted was extreme. Though it slumped with visible exhaustion, everything in Rayse’s body was telling him not to engage. Carrack’s next words just validated his instincts.

“Kid, entire armies might not be able to handle that thing.”

“So what do we do?”

“Well, it’s very clearly still wounded, so what you did clearly took its toll on him. We could probably make a run for it…”

As if he heard, Conquest touched the ground. The dark red mana spread all over the cave. It reached the back side of the wall first, where it circled around the entire hollow they were standing on. The pool then closed in on everyone, before crystalizing into several stalagmites. They glowed with power, looking like giant massive mana crystals at first glance, but far more ominous.

Rayse tested it with his powers, but the substance stayed in place. Whether it was exhaustion or something else, for whatever reason, neither the mysterious black crystals nor the mana within were budging at his command.

“Uhhh, commander? We shouldn’t touch that stuff. I got hit with that something similar back there, and it wasn't pretty.”

“Let me try something.”

“Dude, but–”

“Aura blade!”

A blade of mana erupted from Brandon’s sword, screaming towards the newly formed rock formation. They seemed to glow brighter as the attack hit, and when it did, fired back a black aura blade right at them.

“Aaaah!” Brandon had to block its return in his surprise, pushing him back a couple paces. Tiny little cuts appeared on his shoulders and arms, an after effect of taking his own attack.

“I told you not to mess with it!” Rayse warned again. Even he didn’t expect that to happen, but well, he had told his friend to be careful.

“No. One. Leaves.” Conquest declared. its voice was different, not at all like King Mios’ kindly, if the authoritative voice of an old, dignified judge. In fact, Conquest’s body hardly looked like the king at all right now. There was a long, thick appendage wrapped around his neck and head, ending in a lamprey’s rowed teeth. It chomped down half of the old king’s head, making him bleed endlessly down into the floor. A single long, bone-like thorn stuck out from the top of the creature on his head, giving him the appearance of a man whose head was replaced by a blade.

But what was most unnerving was a single, unblinking eye. King Mios was bitten in such a way that the eye was where his would have been. It quivered and swiveled erratically, looking at each of them on turn.

“Right. So our escape route is cut off and the herald’s gone extra ugly.” Brandon said, steam coming off of his arms as he applied a potion on his wounds.

 “Alright, I’m ready. Who wants to lead the charge with me?”

He said it so lightly that it got a chuckle out of Rayse. He joined his friend’s side, summoning Unbroken and his shield as he went.“You’re an idiot, Bran. Someone needs to keep you from dying.”

“You mean you? All I need from you is for you to stop shouting in my ear if you get worked by this guy. Seriously, that was so distracting…”

“Sorry about this, commander.” Lacey cut in as soon as Brandon drifted off. “I swear they usually know better.”

“...How Aleph trained you into useful soldiers at all is a mystery sometimes.” Carrack cleared his throat before taking the lead once again. “Alright. we’re not waiting on this guy to mangle us as it did to Rayse–”

“Hey!”

“–so let’s take the initiative, shall we? Lacey, sorry, I need you at the vanguard with us this time. Let my squad handle our backs.”

“Yes, sir.” She answered bravely, her orbs floating back into her hand once again. It glowed with power once again, presumably because of the mana they took from the king’s heart. She held out her hand at Rayse expectantly, giving him pause. He soon conjured her a decent sized pike from a piece of Unbroken.

“I’m fine. I’ve kept up with my training, too, you know.”

The mages behind her each started glowing with power, an impressive display of force considering how long they’ve been fighting.

“Okay men, move out!”

They scattered after that, attacking Conquest from every direction. Brandon reached him first, as he leapt directly at the herald.

“Die!” He shouted, coming down with a mighty chop. Conquest easily sidestepped the blow, but his friend immediately followed with a spinning slash. The herald surprisingly jumped out of his range, making Rayse hopeful that all their fighting had finally taken its toll on the monster. He charged from the side, eager to back up his friend.

“Valiant Thrust!” He met the creature as it landed, managing to strike it in the heart once again. The familiar sound of shattering glass was absent though, which disappointed him a tad. Still, it was about as effective as any of his other attacks against Conquest, so  he hastily prepared for a counter attack.

Whomp! 

He hastily raised his shield, blocking a massive swing from the herald. It struck him with an audible crack, driving him back a couple steps. There was a terrible vibration in his arms, but, like his head, he decided it was unimportant. He peeked over his shield to see the fight continue. Carrack carved Conquest up, his light blade leaving several burn marks on the creature. Lacey followed through with her own attacks, a blinding sequence of spear and fire.

Rayse jumped back in, resuming the beat down. They managed to finally stagger the herald, driving him back to where its motionless brother lay. They struck in unison, shooting a slew of spells at them both. A few of the mages followed with supporting fire.

When the smoke cleared, they saw an entire area in ruin, aside from one spot. Conquest’s body shone, enveloping both heralds in a clear black barrier.

“Damn! It’s that crystal again!” Brandon swore, a bit more wary now.

“Subjugation was insufficient. Domination is the way.” It uttered. The herald raised another hand, encasing his entire arm in mana.

“Brother, arise. Your assistance is needed.”

Black mana shot out of Conquest’s hand, enveloping Rage. 

“OhHhHhhh.” It responded, lumbering back to its feet. Its body oozed from multiple wounds, still clearly reeling from everyone’s attacks up to this point. It barely breathed, barely even moved. It stood there motionless for a second and then–

Woosh.

 And then it was gone. A gust of wind flowed through them all, heralding a disaster.

A cacophony of screams followed from behind, sending chills down Rayse’s spine. The mages! He abandoned the front, charging back the way they came. He was met with utter chaos. The mages were scattered as if a tornado passed through. Some had been blown away right into the crystal wall, bleeding and motionless. Some were flat out missing, with only bloody heaps to signify they were there.

Some survivors tried encasing Rage in a coffin of stone, but it broke free near instantly. A massive palm came down on the nearest soldier.

“No!” Lacey shouted, firing off a couple fireballs in Rage’s direction. It barely even registered. In the aftermath, Rage stood miraculously, massive patches of its body blown off but still somehow mobile, smashing another hapless human into paste in its hands.

“Rage. What a useful skill.” Conquest tutted, still hidden behind its barrier. Dispassionate, calculating, the herald’s boisterous pride was nowhere to be seen. Brandon and Carrack attacked him from range, but nothing went through. At this point, Rayse had come up to the rampaging Rage, trying to protect what was left of their squad. He and Lacey scored multiple hits on the creature, enough to kill it several times over, but the monster stood tall. He had even chopped at its legs and arms to incapacitate it, but Rage, impossibly, stayed upright. Within the gaps, Rayse noticed the black mana swimming underneath the surface of the creature, propping it up much in the same way Berserk did with him. He had an idea.

“Brother.” He heard Conquest once again, 

“Kill them.”

Rayse took his chance, Opening up a pitfall right where he knew Rage would step. 

Whoosh.

The wind came again, only this time, with disastrous consequences for Rage. He stumbled at such a speed that he cannonballed right into the crystal wall. It squished itself into an unrecognizable mound of flesh before finally tumbling over in a heap.

“Ah. What a shame.” Conquest commented.

“Brother?”

Again, the mound of flesh stirred. Rayse looked away now, seeing how futile it was. He turned his focus onto Conquest.

“Att–”

“Unbroken Geyser!” Rayse shouted,  striking his spear into the ground. A litany of spears followed, charging forward into the herald’s barrier. It bypassed it, attacking Conquest from below. Again, he managed to evade, but at least the spell was interrupted. What came next was hard to deny, though.

“Volcano!” Lacey screamed, attacking Conquest as well. The ground beneath him lit up, turning brown then orange until finally white as molten hot lava swallowed up the creature from below. With nowhere to go, it just encased the creature in white hot earth, trapped within by its own barrier. 

Eventually the barrier dissipated, along with the crystals surrounding them, marking the end of the battle.

Rayse huffed in exhaustion, feeling finally returning to his body. He dropped to a knee, head and arm throbbing like mad, but that wasn’t what hurt the most. He looked around at the destruction the battle caused, and wondered what the point of it all was. The rapidly setting sun enveloped the battlefield in a grim light, as if it too wanted to leave this day behind as soon as possible. The sight made him all the more eager to leave.

Someone sat beside him at this point. It was Brandon. His friend handed him half a potion.

“This is my last one.” He offered. Rayse silently accepted it, taking it with his uninjured arm. He splashed some on his other hand first, before downing the rest of the fluid. He hoped it helped with the concussion he was sure he had.

‘What’s our losses?“ He wondered aloud.

“Eight dead, a score more critically injured, and virtually none of us unscathed.” Carrack said. He said it morosely, as if each death was his fault. He hocked up and spat out a tooth as if to illustrate that last point.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes, let’s.” Lacey chimed in from somewhere. Rayse looked in the direction of her voice, where he found her digging out a pretty red jewel from Rage’s remains. She was stone faced, but between the eagerness in her words and the slight trembling of the light in her hand, she was probably close to her limits. Rayse made to stand, suddenly eager to go to her side when he felt something off.

“What’s the hurry? Dusk’s about to come, so I think it’s better if we–” Brandon stopped himself as soon as Rayse stopped himself. He looked up in confusion. It was almost completely dark in the cave now, but it should still be late in the afternoon. They didn’t fight for that long, did they?

“What the hell is that?” Brandon shouted,  pointing up in the air. There was still a bit of light coming in, but only enough to illuminate the massive… thing that floated overhead. It looked like they were staring at a deep pool, like a black sea that flowed through the clouds. Then something broke off, falling down into them with unnatural speed.

“Look out!” Carrack shouted, pulling Rayse away just in time before a human sized mound dropped from above. It splashed all over the area, clearing the space it arrived in. It fell right next to the still smoldering earth where Conquest was vanquished. 

The liquid pooled together right there, managing to pull Conquest out from the rock. Some of the liquid ‘carried’ Rage from where he had fallen, laying the two heralds side by side. Finally, all the liquid pooled together, forming something vaguely human.

“My children,” the newcomer sighed. “Who did this to my children?”