Eicher

“The Lord has given us orders!” Several legendary werecreature shamans charged into the battlefield without the slightest hesitation. Malar had roared out their orders, and with him being the object of their faith their zealotry left them with no choice but to obey.

However, the secular leaders of the werecreatures grew irritable. Despite their reluctance, the shamans had pulled them into the fray.

“How much longer till preparations are done?” Mystra asked as she turned to Tyr. She had managed to block off the orc G.o.ds with her silverflame, and Leylin had been trapped as well.

“I need another moment, this is something we borrowed…” Tyr had reached into a ball of light that was surrounded by blue sparks. It seemed extremely magnificent, putting great pressure on the orc G.o.ds.

“There’s also some worms crawling over that don’t seem to know their place…” Mystra turned to the several legendary werecreatures.

“We’ve already prepared, haven’t we? Let our people take care of them,” Tyr replied indifferently.

At the same time, the ball of light finally a.s.sumed the form of an incredibly sharp spear. Ilneval was rattled immediately by the sight, and even Leylin’s eyes flashed with amazement.

“Eicher’s Thorn! They actually borrowed it!” Eicher’s Thorn was a divine weapon that even the G.o.ds feared. It had the ability to ripple out any damage done to an avatar to its controller, and even G.o.ds weren’t immune to its powers. It had caused the fall of two lesser G.o.ds in history, and sent a third into deep slumber. Mystra and Tyr had somehow managed to borrow such an ominous weapon.

“Hmm?” Leylin’s brows furrowed as the A.I. Chip retrieved the relevant information from its now almost all-encompa.s.sing database.

‘So it’s from just after the dusk of the G.o.ds. This ability, and the energy it’s radiating…’ Leylin smirked, ‘So they actually just took the weapon of a Magus of laws and renamed it. So much for integrity…’

Despite his smirking, Leylin grew more serious. He feared Magi much more than he did G.o.ds, their mysterious powers posing a much greater threat to him even as he was now.

On the other end, Ilneval sent a message to his comrades, “Everyone should’ve heard about Eicher’s Thorn. If you can’t get away, it’s better to destroy the avatar than to let it injure you. A bit of your energy reserve isn’t worth being thrown into a long slumber.”

“Malar!” Yurtrus shouted, “Stop being so stingy with your subordinates! We’ll give you enough compensation later…”

Pressured by his party, Malar pulled back the team of legendary shamans he’d sent to deal with Leylin.

However, their efforts had been halted before they could even re-enter the Moonwood. Cardinal Karal had arrived with paladins in tow, holding a staff made of aged maple. The cardinal chanted a holy spell that caused the paladins’ armour to glow with light.

“Purge all evil in the name of justice!” The werecreatures were a bunch of bloodthirsty savages in the eyes of the paladins, existences that had to be removed from the face of the world.

“We don’t have much time…” Gara looked at the paladins before him, a menacing look filling his face as various runes surfaced on his body. They seemed to be sacrificial rites.

Chaotic energy began to descend upon the region as a large fire began to burn in mid-air. A large metal door materialised, and numerous demons charged out under the lead of a legendary balor.

This was a legendary spell, Summon Demonic Army. Its unimaginable might was only canceled out by the complicated requirements it posed as a chaotic evil spell. The summoned army wouldn’t necessarily obey the orders of their summoner.

The balor looked at Shaman Gara with hostility, but another group in the area stole its attention. Paladins and demons were in completely opposite alignments, and neither group would rest as long as the other side. Just listening to the word paladin was disgraceful, blasphemy to demonkind.

“Demons from the Abyss!” A paladin screamed as he rushed forward, waving a greatsword bathed in holy light, “Holy Slas.h.!.+”

“(%^!%$!” The balor spoke in an incomprehensible ancient language as it looked at the group of paladins, its voice coa.r.s.e and unpleasant.

“The words of blasphemy!” A white rune radiated purity from Karal’s solemn face, “This is getting too troublesome.”

The balor’s spell had been cast in an instant, rooting the charging paladin to the ground. The balor smiled malevolently as he brandished his sword, cleaving the still paladin in two.

“Hehehe… It’s the prime material plane! We can harvest souls now…” Many other demons charged out from behind the balor, throwing spell after spell as they turned the place chaotic. It all happened too quickly, and that paladin had fallen to the balor’s sword before anyone could react.

“d.a.m.n it! You evil vermin, you shouldn’t exist in this world!” Rafiniya screamed as she recovered from a daze, killing intent boiling to the surface.

However, the words the balor uttered as it looked at Rafiniya astonished her, “Hehehe… A legendary paladin? No, I smell a whiff of energy from those idiots in Baator on you…”

“I am a paladin, protector of justice. Don’t try to ruin my reputation!”

Even Karal didn’t put any stock in the demon’s words. They only served to agitate the paladin, and she radiated powerful energy as she drew her sword and entered a frontal clash with it.

“Kill!” The other paladins looked each other in the eye before charging forward to meet with the demon army.

A scene of chaos began to unfold.

The battle of the G.o.ds had reached its zenith at this moment. Eicher’s Thorn had absorbed all the light around it, and the spear had come to float in the air as Tyr pointed it at Malar.

*Whoos.h.!.+* The spear pierced through s.p.a.ce to arrive at Malar in an instant. The Beast Claws had already been damaged once, and a hole was pierced through them with this attack. The spear moved forward unthwarted, heading towards Malar’s brows.

“ROAR!” The avatar could only cry in indignance as it exploded, filling the skies with divine light.

Seeing the situation worsening, Ilneval shouted at Leylin, “d.a.m.n it, do you still want to keep us engaged? Malar’s avatar has already fallen, there is nothing left here that you would want…”

“Of course… Not!” Leylin agreed immediately, just as Ilneval expected. He retracted his ma.s.sacre domain, immediately reducing the pressure the three remaining G.o.ds had to face. However, none of the three noticed a spot of red light landing amongst them.

“That’s right, we can still…” Before Ilneval could heave a sigh of relief, Leylin’s next actions left him stupefied.

[Beep! Silverflame has been a.n.a.lysed, beginning protection with the Shadow Weave.] Leylin immediately dashed towards the fire in the sky, as if he was committing suicide. However, a dark web seemed to cover his body as he came into contact with the flames, cancelling out with the Weave and allowing Leylin to escape.

Without the spatial lock of the silver flames, Leylin immediately cast a teleportation spell. White light flashed on his body as he immediately left the Moonwood.

“This…” It wasn’t just Ilneval that was dumbstruck. Even Tyr, controlling Eicher’s Thorn from the outside, gasped.

Of course, the one under the most duress was the G.o.ddess of the Weave. “The Weave,” Mystra muttered, but then she grew silent for a moment. “No… the Shadow Weave! SHAR!” She spat out the name of her rival.

“Shar? The G.o.ddess of Shadows?” Tyr seemed to have recalled something, “Didn’t she fall already?”

“I can’t be wrong, that’s the Shadow Weave,” Mystra confirmed. The Shadow Weave was primal and childish, but it had once been a prototype of the current Weave. How could she not recognise it?