Chapter 442:The difference.

Chapter 442: 442:The difference.

He released the arrow. It crossed the broken seal without as much as a sound.

For a fraction of a second, the entire world became silent as the arrow passed through the boundary that had separated the mortal world from the Sovereign of Fire for thousands of years.

Then the sky disappeared as white consumed everything.

Atheline felt Lilith’s hand tighten around his.

The fairy sanctuary vanished beneath their feet, the World Tree bent, oceans rose and mountains shook.

Across every continent, soldiers stopped fighting and looked upward as something greater than any pressure they’d experienced descended upon the world.

The arrow had struck, Atheline knew it had, he could feel his Authorities inside it as it touched it’s recipient.

It should have been enough to destroy almost anything that existed beneath divinity.

The white light faded and his expression changed. Someone was holding the arrow with two fingers, that was all.

The Fire Sovereign stood beyond the fracture.

No.

Atheline slowly understood.

He wasn’t beyond it anymore; one foot rested inside the mortal world while the remaining chains shook from the strain.

Fire looked at the arrow held between his fingers, then easily crushed it.

Atheline felt the destruction travel backward through the Authority connecting him to it.

His chest exploded with pain and he flew backward from the sheer force of it.

Lilith shouted his name but he couldn’t hear it very well.

Atheline struck the ground hard enough to tear through several ancient roots. He rolled, stopped, then coughed blood.

Silence filled the sanctuary as everyone gaze became confused. No one knew wether to look at Atheline or the monstrosity above them.

As though things couldn’t get any worse, the seal broke and Fire Sovereign stepped through, not completely though, but it no longer mattered.

Enough of it had failed tor it to allow him in. The red fracture across the sky opened from horizon to horizon. Ancient World Tree roots ignited beneath every continent. The chains that had held for thousands of years snapped one after another.

Fire finally descended.

Atheline had imagined him many times; a burning man, a monstrous Sovereign, perhaps something resembling the figure he’d glimpsed in ancient memories.

He had been wrong.

There was very little left that could be called a man. The being descending through the sky had a humanoid shape only because some ancient memory of mortality apparently remained.

Flames formed his body; black-red at first, then gold... then colors Atheline couldn’t name. Different Authorities moved through those flames.

Fire was only one. Death clung to one arm. Corruption moved beneath his skin. Broken traces of Life twisted around his chest. Something resembling Space continuously distorted around his shoulders.

Fragments of Earth, Water and other ancient Laws appeared and vanished within him.

Thousands of years of leakage had not merely weakened the seal, it had fed him.

Every corrupted creature, every mutated land, every battlefield touched by his power, every vessel, every core and every fragment of Authority carried through the corruption had eventually returned something to him.

The ancient Sovereign of Fire had disappeared long ago, what remained was something else.

The being looked across the world and smiled.

"Home."

His voice reached every continent. The sheer force of it caused people to collapse while some died instantly.

Atheline forced himself upright.

Lilith appeared beside him.

"Atheline."

"I know."

"No." She stared upward. "I don’t think you do."

Atheline followed her gaze.

Fire raised one hand; far away, beyond the sanctuary, an entire mountain range ignited, its existence transforming into flame.

Atheline’s expression hardened.

The ancient Sovereign looked toward him.

"You carry them."

He didn’t answer.

Fire smiled.

"The remnants." His gaze moved across Atheline’s body. "Wind. Water. Earth. Lightning. Ice. Life. Death..."

His expression changed slightly.

"How amusing."

Atheline formed his bow again.

Fire laughed.

"You think possessing Authority makes you my equal?"

Atheline fired and the arrow disappeared in Lightning.

Fire tilted his head.

It passed beside him as though it was a childs toy.

Atheline was already moving, wind and Lightning carring him across the sky. He appeared above Fire with an already formed Earth-reinforced arrow and fired downward.

Fire raised one finger and the arrow stopped.

Atheline’s eyes widened.

Fire flicked it aside and space folded with it. The arrow appeared behind Atheline but Lilith’s Darkness swallowed it before it struck him.

He turned but he was too slow. Fire appeared in front of him and placed a hand on his chest.

Atheline tried using Earth but it didn’t work. He used the other elements but all of those seemed like childplay to him.

Fire pushed into his chest, almost gently. Atheline vanished, crossing kilometers before a mountain stopped him.

The mountain broke first.

"Atheline!"

Lilith disappeared into Darkness.

Fire turned the moment darkness erupted beneath him, the concealment swallowing the region. She appeared behind Fire with her dagger already moving directly for his neck.

Fire caught it.

Lilith froze.

He looked at her, something changed in his expression.

Interest.

"Darkness."

She tried teleporting but his hand closed around her wrist. She couldn’t move.

Fire looked almost fascinated.

"I searched for you."

Her eyes narrowed.

"I’m married."

For the first time in thousands of years, the ancient being looked confused.

She drove her knee into his stomach and darkness exploded around them.

Fire released her.

She vanished.

Atheline reappeared through Lightning. His arrow struck Fire’s face, the explosion throwing both of them apart.

Lilith appeared beside Atheline.

"Did you just shoot him in the face?"

"Yes."

"Did it work?"

The flames cleared and Fire’s face reformed.

"No."

"I noticed."

Fire touched his cheek where a tiny wound remained, it closed moments later.

His smile disappeared.

"You are irritating."

Atheline drew another arrow.

"My wife says that constantly."

"I do."

Fire raised both hands and the world changed. Corruption answered; eEvery corrupted creature across every continent screamed simultaneously as black-red light erupted from them.

Draco looked upward from the frozen ocean.

"Move!"

Eliana spread her wings.

The Dragon King slammed both hands downward, ice Authority expanding. A dome covered the surviving soldiers.

A heartbeat later, thousands of corrupted creatures exploded. The ocean became black-red fire and Draco’s ice shattered.

Eliana caught him before he struck the water.

"Draco!"

"I’m fine."

He wiped the blood running from his mouth.

Across the Demonic Continent, Seragus buried his weapon into the earth and a wall of Aether rose.

Lucifer landed beside him.

"Father!"

"Behind me!"

"No."

"Lucifer!"

The prince planted his axe beside his father’s weapon and dark flames spread.

"Left and right."

Seragus looked at him.

Lucifer grinned through blood.

"You said you’d take the right."

Seragus laughed.

They held the line together.

Human armies retreated toward prepared defensive formations. Beastkin carried wounded soldiers regardless of race. Dwarven engineers collapsed entire tunnels to stop corrupted hordes emerging through the ancient roots.

Dark Elven teleportation formations remained open until their operators collapsed from exhaustion. At the World Tree, High Elves and wood elves poured everything they had into keeping its roots alive.

The final war had stopped belonging to kings, everyone was fighting.

Atheline felt all of it.

That was the problem.

The Authorities inside him responded to everything. Life screamed whenever someone died. Death answered every corpse. Earth reacted to collapsing mountains. Water responded to the oceans. Space twisted around thousands of battlefields.

His six original elements fought to remain at the center of it all.

Atheline gritted his teeth.

His core hurt and fire immediately noticed. He grinned.

"You cannot contain them."

Atheline fired.

Fire destroyed the arrow.

"You remain mortal."

Another arrow.

Destroyed.

"A vessel carrying oceans in a cup."

Fire disappeared.

Atheline sensed him too late. A fist struck his stomach, his ribs broke.

Fire grabbed his throat.

Atheline tried Lightning, nothing. Space around them belonged to Fire although not completely.

Fire lifted him.

"You are not the first fool to believe collecting Authorities creates divinity."

Atheline stared at him.

"Speaking from experience?"

Fire’s expression darkened.

Atheline smiled despite the blood.

"Sensitive subject?"

Fire threw him downward.

He hit the sanctuary, the impact destroying one of the ancient formations.

Fairies scattered in full panic while Lyria screamed for them to reinforce the remaining roots.

Lilith reached Atheline.

He tried standing but his legs failed.

"Stay down."

"Terrible timing for that."

"Your core is breaking."

Atheline froze.

He looked inward to find that she was right. Cracks covered it, the elemental core that had accompanied him throughout this life was failing. His structure simply couldn’t hold all the new authorities that had been forced into him.

Atheline had stabilized his identity.

Lilith had made that possible but identity and power weren’t the same problem. He was still trying to contain divinity using a mortal architecture.

Fire descended.

"Now I understand."

His eyes moved toward Lilith.

Atheline immediately noticed.

Fire smiled.

"She is the anchor."

Atheline stood even as pain tore through him.

"Don’t."

Fire ignored him.

"Darkness escaped me once."

Lilith’s expression hardened.

During the original Sovereign War, Darkness had destroyed the World Tree rather than allow Fire’s ritual to proceed as intended.

Her Authority had never become his.

Fire extended his hand.

"And now it returns."

Darkness moved around Lilith, then it was pulled. She staggered forward.

Her eyes widened.

The complete Sovereign of Darkness core reacted violently. Fire was trying to rip it from her.

Atheline moved even with his body broken and core cracking. He still placed himself between them.

Fire stared at him.

"Move."

"No."

"She is unnecessary."

Atheline’s bow appeared.

"Wrong answer."

Fire struck but Atheline blocked. Unfortunately for him, his arm broke, still, he remained standing.

Fire struck again.

Atheline’s Earth Authority shattered around him. Another strike immediately followed. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his organs were crashed.

Lilith screamed his name.

Atheline fired from less than a meter away. The arrow pierced Fire’s shoulder but he ripped it out.

Atheline formed another.

"Stop."

He fired.

Fire crushed it.

"Stop."

Another.

"Stop."

Atheline smiled, as blood dripped from the side of his mouth.

"No."

Fire appeared before him and punched through his chest.

Everything became silent.

Lilith froze.

Atheline looked downward.

Fire’s hand protruded from his back.

His bow disappeared as he started to feel faint.