The sensation of sending out my Heralds was…silence. I was so used to the clamor of their voices as a constant backdrop that I rarely ever even bothered to pay attention. Now that they were gone I was truly alone with my thoughts for the first time in several years. I closed my eyes and just listened to the silence for a moment. A baby’s cry broke the peace and I smiled.

  Closing my eyes, I looked through the eyes of the Shadow seeing the armored form of Lancelot. I listened to him talk and the Shadow try to rip through his armor only to be rebuffed. Lancelot made some snarky remarks about his armor being invincible.

  “Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down,” the Shadow growled.

  “What?” Lancelot asked, apparently the three little pigs was a story that hadn’t been carried into this world, but Lancelot got the point when he was blasted off his feet.

  I continued to watch them fight and caught glimpses of Mira flying in the sky above. Jeriah and the Shadow battled against both the Champions. I watched as they fled but that battle was far from over; eventually Lancelot and I would have to settle the blood between us. The Shadow disappeared and I felt its presence reenter my soul and my power return to me as its abilities came back online.

  Minutes later my vision changed as I looked through Ares’ eyes when he stepped into the mortal realm. Haggard goblins atop feather velociraptors stood before him.

  “Well done,” Ares said to Juruk. “It is good to face death without flinching. Your faith in the Warlord has not gone unanswered; he cannot come to you at this time, but I will fight beside you in his place.”

  I wasn’t sure about the heavy-handed nature of Ares’ religious undertones in his words, but I couldn’t control how my Heralds acted. Juruk seemed to totally buy it however, and I could feel the surge of power as all the goblins accepted the offer of knighthood and their worship further empowered my soul.

  “Counter charge,” Ares commanded.

  The raptor riders surged forwards as they activated the charge feature of Unstoppable Momentum from Hero’s General, surging forwards one-hundred-ninety feet. Their weapons had a spectral projection, increasing their reach by twenty feet, preemptively slicing and stabbing into the line before they collided, dealing tremendous damage as their own abilities were combined with the effects of Hero’s General to utterly destroy the line of calvary.

  They continued to move through the panicked lines of men and horses as they inflicted a bloody massacre upon the humans. In only minutes, what had been certain death for the goblins was a route for the humans. Juruk asked Ares if they should pursue them.

  “No,” Ares said. “The battle is won. Do not seize defeat from the jaws of victory by falling into a trap.”

  Juruk asked what to do with the captives next.

  “Take them captive and bring them to where Castle Dragon-breaker once stood,” Ares said.

  That gave me pause; that was not something I had told Ares to do.

  When Juruk asked if we took captives, I’d realized I’d never bothered to do so given that my Dominion ability had made the necessity for that irrelevant, but apparently that had just been taken as the policy.

  “We do not,” Ares agreed. “However, your god requires sacrifice. Others might balk at this, but I know you will do as your lord needs.”

  Juruk agreed, then Ares stepped back into the Void and rejoined my spirit, returning my powers to me. More prayers arrived from my vassals and it was a strange feeling; I could feel who was praying and sense where my vassals were in relation to each other. I sent the Shadow and Ares back out to help these new prayers. I tuned into another prayer and I could also feel who was seeking aid: Tobias. Voidra returned to me from her mission and I sent her out again to help him.

  “Hello human,” Voidra said, her voice and tone not at all appropriate for her appearance or situation.

  I probably should have had a talk with my spirits before sending them out, but it was too late for that now. Tobias looked her over and I could tell his womanizing nature hadn’t changed at all since I’d last seen him.

  “I’m Voidra,” she said smiling. “Your lust is very tasty but you have more important things to worry about right now.”

  Voidra’s blunt and to the point way of speaking was more effective than any other method of making people self-conscious. Tobias looked her over again, composing himself and I watched the blush leave his face to be replaced by a look of quiet awe. He bowed his head to her in respect, his demeanor completely changed.

  “It’s more what I can do for you,” Voidra said, waving her hand. “World Forge.”

  She created a bridge across the river allowing his wives and children to escape.

  “Your family must go to where the castle in the forest once stood,” Voidra instructed. “There will be passage to safety for them there.”

  Tobias stood beside her as a group of people on the back of exotic animals charged them. He asked Voidra if she planned on fighting them.

  “You could call it that,” Voidra said. “Make sure you get some hits on them; Mordred will need you to grow in strength if you are to be of use to him.”

  Tobias asked if I was back and I found it amusing he was unaware that I was able to see and observe him right now.

  “In a manner of speaking,” Voidra said. “He is able to help you. That is all you need to know for now.”

  The battle began with attacks hitting Voidra but unable to break through her armor. She didn’t carry any weapons because, of all my Heralds, she was the most magically focused, her abilities not designed to enhance her or others physically, but to directly inflict damage or to create or alter the world around her. I didn’t know what it meant to be the Herald of Change, but she had the most power to directly impact a battle on a massive scale or to alter how the world was. It was ironic that as a former Void entity she could now directly interact with and alter the physical world. No one could ever have predicted that.

  Her attacks hit the champions, scattering them before she gripped one of them with Force of Will and began to crush the female without laying a finger on her. Tobias only managed to hit the woman with one attack before she popped, spraying blood everywhere.

  I hadn’t thought I could gain abilities through the use of my Heralds; it opened some possibilities, but I didn’t really consider using them to farm abilities for myself. They were powerful but creatures of their rank would have far more than just four abilities. Even if those abilities were less powerful, the variety would give them an edge against my Heralds.

  The power of the new ability entered my soul.

  “Yes,” I said.

  Both abilities were rank one and Ensorcelled Mist was one of Voidra’s abilities, so making it more powerful would heavily benefit her.

  As the ability coalesced, I could feel what the System was doing in my soul and watched what happened when the two abilities merged together. . .Interesting.

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  Voidra raised her hands, activating Endless Eclipse. The champions began to stumble around, blind in the darkness, until one of them used a light ability to clear some of the darkness around them. They still screamed as the Void star continued to do damage to them. Tobias rushed forward, swinging his maul and crushing a woman under the weight and force of the weapon.

  No ability was gained but the sheer amount of rank points earned implied all the champions were well into Exarch rank. That power wasn’t going to help them though. Tobias went for the Champion creating the light and was blocked for a moment by one of the others, but he knocked him to the side before bringing down his maul on the other Champion, smashing through their guard and crushing his bones and organs regardless of the mutations he had to have at Exarch rank.

  I selected yes as this was one of the Shadow’s abilities. I don’t use it too often myself anymore, but it would be useful to him. I’d bypassed a lot of bite attacks previously so I was curious to see what I would gain here.

  Again, I felt and watched the process of the two abilities coalescing together, observinging how the System wove their patterns together in my soul.

  The light created by the Champion winked out with his death, plunging all the other champions into the blinding darkness of the eclipse. A red line of fire appeared as a whip made of magma appeared in Tobias’ hand. He whipped it around the armored form of a swordsman and began to roast him, using his armor like a broiler oven. Tobias swung his maul one handed, cracking into the side of the champion he held in place, snapping his neck. He swung repeatedly, until the head of the man went flying from the ragged stump of his neck.

  Only two champions were left alive. One stumbled forward, already injured, and lightning lit the darkness, electrifying both champions as the earth flowed up their legs then hardened to freeze them in place. Tobias crushed in the male’s head, killing him with a single swing.

  Only one champion remained, a young woman with light blue skin. She raised her hands in surrender, pleading for her life, but Tobias struck her down without mercy.

  There was no option from the System to combine this ability with another but…I’d seen what it had done. I reached out and took my ability Blood Renewal and pushed the abilities together. I wove them together, feeling the strain on my soul as a burning pain similar to when Kalesa had sundered the ability Dominion. I kept going, flooding my veins with Ethereal as I merged the two effects into one. There was a snapping in my soul and the abilities Bleed Together and Blood Renewal vanished, replaced by a new one.

  I looked over the effects of the ability and turned my attention back to what Voidra was seeing just as she vanished from the mortal world and returned to my soul, restoring my power to me. Another prayer for assistance came and I sent her out again. Karnen returned a minute later from his assignment and I could feel a new prayer arrive: Exar’kun. Karnen left my spirit again and I looked through his eyes as he appeared in the mortal world.

  He immediately had to jump forward, placing his shield in front of Vone to block the stab of a spear.

  That woman was three times my own rank. She circled around Karnen, questioning him about his origins.

  “I am the Herald of Modred, God of Sacrifice and Heroes,” Karnen answered.

  The queen scoffed at the idea of a new god.

  “Believe what you want,” Karnen said, shrugging. “My lord has heard the prayers of his vassals and has sent us to answer the call.”

  Vone questioned him about what he meant by us.

  “I am not alone,” Karnen said. “Both of you leave this to me; go to castle Dragon-breaker. Safety awaits you and your unborn child.”

  Evalia challenged the thought of them leaving.

  “The question really is, do you think I’m going to let you?” Karnen said, striding forwards as his body began to swell and grow in size as he activated Blood of Kronos.

  Evalia appeared behind Karnen’s back, stabbing with her spear, but he was fast as thought and knocked her weapon aside. Her weapon didn’t snap under the force of the strike, surprisingly, but then again her family had centuries to acquire and arm themselves with artifacts. Karnen slashed at the queen as Exar’kun swept up Vone and fled. Evalia tried to go after them, but Karnen wasn’t a creature she could ignore.

  She blocked the slash of his gauntlet sword with her shield, but the force compressed the earth under her feet, shoving her nearly a foot into the ground. She didn’t crumple under the force of the strike, her attributes equal to the task, but this clearly wasn’t the easy battle she had thought it would be.

  Karnen’s sword began to buzz as he activated the speed effect, vibrating it at supersonic speeds to enable them to bypass her armor. He wasn’t the only one who could do that as she cut into him, but the regeneration effects of Spawn of the Hydra let him recover from the damage she dealt to him. He was still slowly accumulating damage, but it would take hours at this rate for him to go down. Karnen knew her every move before she made it as Limited Omniscience let him see the future before him clear as a painting. He might not be able to win but she might lose.

  Evidently, Evalia realized this too as she unleashed some sort of ultimate ability. Moonlight burned into Karnen from the heavens and blades of moonlight flashed from her spear, sending Karnen staggering. She launched herself into the air and threw her spear down while he was still staggered. The spear passed through his armor and suspended itself inside the center of his torso. The spear began to glow and shine with light through the black flesh of Karnen’s body before it exploded.

  The queen staggered and collapsed, clearly heavily weakened by that attack, but Karnen was starting to disintegrate as the attack from the ultimate continued to do massive damage overtime. She spat at Karnen and I could see the proud glint of triumph in her eyes.

  Rage filled me and The Shadow, Ares, and Voidra returned to me, restoring my powers. The rage turned to mirth and I began to laugh as I looked at the pale faced moon elf. I opened my eyes and stepped towards the portal.

  “World Forge,” I said through my laughter as I moved ever closer.

  The System fought me, but even this ability wasn’t a match for the power of the first ability it had ever given me. I crystalized the red wall of energy and pushed it to the side as I stepped into the mortal world.

  It seemed the System was required to punish me for my transgressions, but that was fine; I welcomed the bounty on my head. My laughter slowly died out as I looked down at the queen while she pushed herself to her feet.

  “You can’t kill my Heralds,” he said. “You had trouble facing just a fraction of my strength. Let's see how well you fare against all of me.”