God of Nothing

“Aura blade.” Brandon declared, as the aura in his body turned sharp like a cloak of knives. It tore off the wood that held him and his mother in place, freeing them both. Then, he let go immediately, stopping the wood from reemerging.

They stood there awhile, as Brandon struggled to find the words. Even now, it took everything in him to embrace her again. But In the end, he settled on something simple.

“Bye, mom. I’m off to save the world now.”

Hayley only smiled, almost shooing his son away.

‘Go, my son. I love you.’ She said, before turning to face a group of wooden figures that weren’t there before.

Brandon’s heart sank, finally seeing who it was that killed his mother. A trio of harbingers emerged, led by a demon in strange clothing and a dignified appearance. Unlike harbingers, he had two horns on the side of his head, curled like a ram’s.

At his signal, they jumped out at her, a sick reenactment of his mother’s last moments.

“Aura blade.” He uttered again, extending his mana out to slice the attackers into bits. His mom held up her riding crop, prepared to defend herself, but there was nothing to attack her. Still, the scene played out, as invisible beasts mauled and attacked her, until she stopped moving. Instead of the look of horror in her face that he imagined, though, Brandon found her smiling until the end.

“Don’t worry about me, mom. I’m strong.” He said, watching as the play ended. He briefly paid his final respects, before turning his direction back to the battle.

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

Streaks of white meteors were falling across the sky, striking all around him. Brandon looked in awe for a while, recognizing the mana signature as Rayse’s handiwork. Across the flashing whites, he caught a glow of amber. He followed it towards the herald’s gem. Again, it was being used as a prop, as a pair of kids pretended to pass it around and take ‘bites’ off of it. Brandon refused to be lulled by what was surely another tragic reenactment, this time plucking the gem from amongst them. They tried their silent protests, but Brandon had had enough.

“Bastard. Death’s too good for you.” He swore, before punching a hole through it.

“Kriiiiiiikkkkkkkk!!” An otherwordly shriek echoed through the land, along with a massive burst of wind that expanded from the gem. Buffeted by the winds, even Brandon had to close his eyes. When he opened them again, the crowds of wooden people around him had stopped moving. He tried to bask in his accomplishment, saving all these poor souls from reliving their deaths, but alas, the end of the dream also came with the annoyances of waking life.

HEY! Hey hey hey HEY!! Brandon, Rayse, stop ignoring me! I know you can hear me, so can you at least answer back?

Lacey had been in his ear nonstop since he woke from the wood. Her voice had grown faint inside it, but now it was literally all he could think of. Brandon sighed and shook his head, finally addressing his frantic friend.

Shaddup, Lace, I was just finishing up.

__________________________________

Spears of light split off of Unbroken, showering enemies with impunity. The spell itself, his reimagining of Iona’s Judgement, proved very effective. All the enemies in his sight was swallowed up in his attack, and were dying in droves. Rayse’s rage was not allayed, however, focusing even more of his intent through the spell. Those that had fallen had their manas ripped from their remains, flowing back into Unbroken to hit an even wider area. This cycle of bombardment continued, once again flipping the state of the battle. Entire legions of demons fell in a stroke. Their hastily erected barriers were riddled in holes in mere moments, massacring the enemy within. After a few minutes, only the nimblest and strongest of them remained. Among these demons was, of course, the herald of Agony, whose mirth had not diminished at all.

“Hee hee hee!” It jumped around in glee, even as it battered away the spears of light that assailed it. A lot of these found their mark but still it shrieked and hollered, as if it didn’t care which side suffered and was entertained by it nonetheless. Rayse glowered at him, and gripped his shield even tighter.

“Scale spear.” He ordered, brandishing a makeshift spear made from the metal plates of his shield. Keeping his intent on his judgement, he dashed in to engage the festive demon.

“Hiik!” It shrieked as it swayed out of the way. Not with fear, but ecstacy. Several of its limbs struck out, attacking him with what looked like some gardening implements. Rayse hid behind his shield to weather the attack, stabbing with his spear when he found an opportunity.

“?” He struck out with a fierce thrust, but was surprised to find that he could not land a blow on the enormous being.

Bang!

He flew sideways, swept off his feet by a clubbing blow from his side. He was pinned to the ground by one of the demon’s more favored weapons, a massive claw stuck to a chain. Its bladed fingers dug into his skin.

“Hurt! Hurt them more!” The demon bellowed as he smashed his fists into Rayse. Each blow would have dazed him, would have sent him spinning into insanity as the blades that held him amplified the pain he felt, but today was different. The pain only amplified his rage, fueling his power even more.

“Rrrrah!” Rayse broke through sheer physical strength before taking another sweep at the creature. Again, his attacks only found air. He sprang up, turning wildly to look for it, and found the demon wheezing somewhere in the distance, giggling away.

“Hee hee hee!” Agony laughed, oblivious of Rayse’s mounting frustrations, before it once again faded before his very eyes. He sharpened his senses, tuning into the moment when the creature’s bloodlust gave it away.

He’s seen this attack before. Back on the plains, he managed to prevent it from wiping out the scouts.

Unfortunately, his anger prevented him from perceiving the enemy, and it wasn’t long before he experienced another hit from the herald.

He skidded across the ground in a pathetic display, rolling over a few times and even getting dirt in his mouth. 

“Ugh…” He groaned, trying to get back his bearings, as the sky gradually grew dark once again.

“Hrmmm? B-but, why’d you stopppp?” The herald bellowed, standing over him as if it had been there the entire time. It picked him up by the arms with some of its spindlier limbs, looking at him in the eye. Its mouth was turned downwards in a frown as he poked him in the belly repeatedly, each motion strong enough to bruise any ordinary man.

“Did you break already?” 

Rayse was mortified. The wounds were piling up, and the addition of Agony’s pain amplifying abilities made them harder and harder to ignore. To top it all off, he was too angry to even fight properly. He had recklessly done so against the hornless Deceit, but as it demonstrated, Agony was not an opponent he could face with just brute force.

HEY! Hey hey hey HEY!! Brandon, Rayse, stop ignoring me! I know you can hear me, so can you at least answer back?

Shaddup, Lace, I was just finishing up.

Oh, NOW you talk!? What could possibly be so important that you've decided to ignore me?

Well, if you must know, I just killed the tree herald and was just catching my breath. Rayse is probably about done, too.

…huh. Right, well– Lacey said evasively. Once you finished up, go back some of us up. I have my, well, hand full with Atrophy at the moment, but Iona and Carack are blocking the dragon from entering the city. It’s already broken the Eastern wall.

Damn. Okay, I’ll be right there…Wait, what happened to your hand?

I’M FINE!... Just, come deal with Betrayal for me will ya? Oh, and pick Rayse up on your way. 

While he lay there, Rayse tuned into some bit of the conversations his friends were having. Lacey had been nagging him for a while, but he was too busy trying to kill the herald in front of him. Now that his intent had been severed from his spell due to his exhaustion, the words were much more recognizable. It calmed him down, somewhat, which put a wet blanket to whatever fire he was experiencing moments before.

Huh, I didn’t realize Lacey’s nagging had that effect on me.

RAYSE! FINALLY!

…Did I say that out loud?

“Hello? Hel-loooooow~” Agony bellowed in his ear. The poking kept getting stronger throughout this exchange, making a particular spot in Rayse’s side a worrying shade of purple. Rayse turned his head, finally looking at Agony whose massive maw was upturned.

“No more? Boo…” It lamented, finally raising several of its appendages up high. 

“Oh, well.” With that, several sharp and heavy objects fell down upon Rayse, intent on finishing him off once and for all. Rayse rolled away, avoiding many of the blows, but his knee gave out just before he was clear of most of them. He raised his shield in panic, opening up siege mode in a desperate attempt to block. He winced preemptively, bracing himself for a blow that never came.

“Landslide!” A man’s bellow echoed through the plains. The earth beneath his body shifted, placing him well beyond any danger. He peaked to see Luke standing before him, both arms covered in densely packed earth.

“Sorry I’m late, kid. The boys back there needed some back up.” He said, without turning to look at him.

“The emissaries are mounting up quite the attack.”

“...Thanks, Luke.”

Rayse stood up gingerly, massaging the countless bruises in his body. Several of his wounds were contaminated with an evil mana, preventing his natural recovery from kicking in. Normally he would have just absorbed that mana into him as fuel for his own ends, but in his condition…

Instead, he picked one of the empty mana crystals on the ground and redirected the mana into it. That had an immediate effect. In fact, his healing was faster than he expected. Even the bruising had gone down substantially. Rayse downed a potion in order to hurry it along, stepping forward once again to stand by Luke’s side. He tried to smile at him, but it shifted into horror mid turn.

“Oh, you’re up. Good.”

“Luke!” Rayse caught his friend, as the old soldier stumbled into a seating position. His wounds were grave. He was afflicted by several cuts, scorch marks, even bones sticking out in places. Rayse hurriedly tried siphoning out the mana in his wounds, but to his surprise he found almost none of it on him.

“It’s not from him, kid.” Luke gasped. “Took a lot of work, breaking through to get here.”

“No! Luke, stay with me!” Rayse fumbled to douse his friend with potions, all the while his eyes shifted to where Agony used to be. He found a pit in that location, but that didn’t mean anything. Rayse’s concentration rose to the extremes, paying attention to every single motion in the surroundings. 

… There.

He caught the tiniest spark of something, and didn’t hesitate. He took Luke and dove out of the way just in time for a massive claw to appear out of nowhere, crashing into where they were into a massive dust cloud.

“Huhhhhh!?” When the smoke cleared, Agony’s dumbfounded look could be seen. Rayse would have smirked at that, but there was no time. He tended to his friend, his own injuries all but forgotten.

“Good job… cough, cough!” Luke said, before spewing out several mouthfuls of blood. Rayse was horrified. The wounds in his body were beginning to knit up, but it was far too slow. Even worse, Rayse suspected some internal damage somewhere. Without thinking, he summoned his mana to attempt to heal him.

“Gyaaahh!” Instead, he spasmed into the floor, assailed by a pain much deeper than any Agony had inflicted on him. Tears in his eyes, Rayse stumbled to a stand, trying to pinpoint the herald’s location. He just knew they woudn’t let go of this chance. He caught the moment once again, turning to where he knew the strike would arrive, but he was far too weak to block it. He tried anyway. The massive claw filled his vision immediately. Rayse brought up his shield arm once again, but once again he was saved.

Ting! A massive sword crashed into the ground, standing between the claw and Rayse. A red glow expanded from it, sufficiently blocking the herald’s attack. Rayse heard it groaning from out there somewhere, but he was mostly just relieved as to who had arrived.

“Ray.”

“Bran!”

“Lacey told me to get you.”

“I know, man, but listen. I need you to get Luke to safety.”

“But what about–”

“I got it.”

Brandon looked at him from head to toe, noting several torn and broken parts of his armor, and the blood that still flowed from several cuts to his sides.

“You sure, bud? If I were here, we could make quick work of this guy. I can’t see his attacks, but I can react quick enough if you could just point me in his direction.”

“Nah. I’m fine.” Rayse caught a glint of something falling from the sky, and jumped up and caught it mid flight. He landed into a stance, training Unbroken’s spearhead at an empty space just ahead. His breathing returned to even as soon as he held it, just another in an ever growing list of friends that let him survive the day.

“Just go, man. Several other places need reinforcements. Just help them all on your way.”

“...Yeah, alright.” Brandon had already picked up Luke at this point and thrown him over his shoulder. “But if they hail me a hero for this, I’ll be pissed. You know I don’t like crowds, Ray.”

Rayse’s eye turned to the side to see the smirk on his friend’s face. Despite the tension of the battlefield, it made him smile, too.

“Just shut up and go. Oh, and tell Lacey to stop nagging. It’s throwing me off my game.”

“I may be dumb enough to almost get eaten by a tree, but even I’m not that dumb.” Brandon scoffed as he lowered his stance.

“Jump!” And he was off. 

Clash!

A glint of silver followed his ascent, followed by another. Both objects clashed in mid air, preventing the first from reaching Brandon and Luke.

“Hey! Quit it!” Agony stomped the ground in irritation as it recalled his weapon. It seemed that he had been waiting for that chance to strike.

“Sorry, Agony, but no one else is gonna get hurt on my side because of you.” Rayse said as he recalled his own weapon. He took a forward stance, deciding it was time to take the fight to Agony once again.

“Now, then. Round two?”