Shadowbane

I knew it wouldn't be easy, but it ended up taking almost fifty minutes to heal my soul. There were no large booming sounds erupting near the hive, so I didn't miss out on that battle thankfully.

Exiting the hole, I sprint directly for the village.

It may be the same empty forest, but this is still fresh in a way. There is way more flora here too since the spiders are picking them all up along the path they take. After the reset, all the flora they take is left behind, leading to an enormous amount of them littering the area around the eastern gate. Speaking of which, I can't believe that gate is still standing... There must be some powerful abilities at play over there.

After entering the settlement I spot a present someone left for me.

"I'll take this as a sign that Jasper is allowing me to buy it from him."

On the wooden floorboards of this demolished home, is the assassin outfit neatly folded. After putting it on I head straight for the tent, finding even more guards in white armor out front. The newly arrived ones are nowhere near as fancy though.

"Increasing security?"

"Welcome back Miss. No, this lot here is with the church. Master Godwin called for them to assist in the Eldritch hunt. They're waiting for you inside."

Thanking the man, I duck into the tent to find five new entries. The man sitting in my seat is completely bald, and roughly the same age as Godwin. There are also four young adults standing behind him; two women and two men. They're all wearing extravagant white robes, although nowhere near as intricate as Aresa's is.

"There you are! We had a feeling you'd be late after what you went through. Jasper was using his ability so we could watch you from afar." Godwin said.

"Wait, then couldn't you have watched your scouts as well? You'd have all the information you need then."

Jasper shook his head, "I can only create a window that looks far into the distance. It does not penetrate objects, so we are unaware of what happened to you inside of the village. We did however hear your... Screams?"

Aresa held up her board. {It sounded like the dying throes of several abominations. You scream weird.}

"... Yeah, I know."

Godwin slammed the table. "Where did my manners go?! Devon, this is an old friend of mine, Reimia. She saved Lady Aresa earlier and is now assisting us."

Devon's eyes went wide upon hearing my name.

"... As I thought, you're 'The Demon of Xelba'. I wasn't positive till I heard that name."

"The what? I've never been called that though?"

"Oh right, I forgot about that," Godwin said, then continued. "Sorry Rei, it slipped my mind earlier. It's been a long time after all. They called you 'The Demon of Xelba' after you slaughtered the entire city. Not that anyone condemned you. If anything, you received widespread praise, especially from the Dwarves! They built a giant statue of you... Somewhere? Hard to remember since they're all dead now."

"How did... No, hang on. How did anyone find out what I did? I made sure that..."

"That no one survived?" Devon said, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Exactly. Also, you're not exactly hiding your feelings on the matter, so I'll tell you straight out. That place deserved to burn. I will never apologize for what I did."

Devon sighs, "... I do not request an apology for you destroying that vile place. The city was quite literally under siege as you destroyed it from the inside, so it's not as if they weren't going to die either way. What I do condemn is you killing your own allies. The very citizens you were supposed to protect."

"My... Allies? Ha...hahahah.....hahahahaha!!!"

Protect those... Things?! Those creatures masquerading as humans?!

No... It's far worse than that. They were definitely human, and that's what disturbed me the most. The citizens were given wonderfully luscious lives, so they were willing to commit any amount of atrocities if their god requested it of them. I was also participating in raids, bringing back captives to be sacrificed 'For the greater good'. Even if we were at war, there's no denying how big of a hypocrite I am...

Godwin scoffed, "Enough of that Devon, you never even left Viseux for most of your life. I had entered Xelba once before, so I saw the madness firsthand. There was no saving that place. Now let's get back to the matter at hand, okay?"

"You entered the city, Father? I tried refreshing myself on the subject by reading my notes from your lessons, but there was no mention of first-hand accounts from you?" Jasper asked.

"... Another time, not now."

To my surprise, Devon looked like he wanted to apologize after Godwin said that. I... Think I know why. Only one fate awaited intruders who dared step foot into our capital. It's truly a miracle he managed to escape before the Lords found him.

Hera leaned over, whispering, "I've never seen Father make that face before."

Yeah... I'm not surprised that Xelba gave him memories so horrible that he doesn't want to talk about them.

Devon shook his head, "You're right Godwin, let us discuss what actually matters right now. The Eldritch hiding out in Fudo."

So that village is named Fudo.

"Rei, if you would?" Godwin said.

"Alright. It's a unique Eldritch that is in the shape of a massive ball of wood. It's connected to another large piece of wood but this one is kind of humanoid in design? It looks like a human sitting down on its knees. The ball in the back is roughly twenty meters diameter in size. When I woke it up, the ball raised high above the front portion; probably another fifteen meters? Then two eyes appeared a little below its mid-section, scanning the area trying to locate me. Eventually, the top of the ball lit up so brightly that it blasted the plaza in a brilliant white light. Unfortunately, that's all I was able to see the Eldritch do. The spawn chased me after that, emitting the same light."

"Only emitting light? There has to be way more to it than that. I'd like to know how it killed our scouts..." Jasper said.

"I didn't see any bodies there."

"Not a single one? Strange..." Godwin said, then looked to Devon, "I say we try to slay it at the start of the next reset. The prayer should be completed soon, so let us take advantage of the reset while we can."

Devon raised an eyebrow. "What's the point? You already know that even if we kill it, it'll be right back where it started the next reset. After that it will flee every reset until it gets away, coming back later on much stronger and far more prepared. The five of us can't purge the abomination's soul Godwin."

Godwin glances at me, then turns his attention back to Devon, "We'll deal with it when the time comes. Now come on, we only need your group to maintain the barrier. We're going for a demolition attack."

He's probably hoping I can eat the soul, and he's not wrong. A full Eldritch soul... Now that would make a world of difference. I wouldn't have to burn through all these human souls just to make simple attacks or evasions. I've been fortunate so far, but without the reset, I would have most likely died that first night. My core was destroyed and even if I did manage to crawl somewhere to hide, it would have taken weeks to heal enough to walk properly. The Satyr definitely would have found me before then... Once the reset is over I won't have some magical bullshit reset to bail me out if I screw up like that again.

"... Very curious. Why are you rushing this?" Devon paused, then continued, "Actually, ignore that. It doesn't matter why. This is your problem to deal with regardless of how this ends up. We're going to be busy elsewhere."

"The sky?" Hera asked.

Devon sighed, "If it's not one thing it's another... Maybe the North is right when they say Urza is beyond saving."

"Have you been told anything else? Besides to start an investigation I mean." Jasper asked.

"Nothing. There is a disconnect between the people of Viseux and everywhere else. All the followers of Rai'ga who travel the moon, staying in villages for long periods of time, and assisting all in need, know how truly dire things are right now. But to the lives of everyone in Viseux? Business as usual."

"There is a tremendous difference between experiencing something first-hand and reading about it in a report. Viseux will be the last city to fall. Even now they are sleeping peacefully with full bellies, therefore they won't comprehend the danger until it is too late. Honestly, I'm surprised a Demon hasn't slipped in yet with how lax the city is." Jasper said.

Devon chuckled. "A Demon within the domain of Lord Rai'ga going unnoticed? Such a thing is impossible... Or it should be impossible. However, at this point, I really don't know what to expect anymore."

I'm suddenly submerged underwater.

You know, this hole is actually kind of nice. When I reach a point where I can meditate into my soul realm to train, I'm going to create another hole just like this one to hide in. As strange as it sounds, I feel really safe down here... But, I can't say here forever sadly.

I burst out of the ice, rushing towards the hive.

They're probably going to siege the Eldritch before I get there. Not that I'll be much good right now against such a being. Nevertheless, I want to be there. I'm beyond excited at the idea of finally regaining some of my former strength.

It's just as I thought. Once I reached the broken wall I could see multiple lights moving around at the abandoned village. Fujo? Funo? Whatever the name is.

After getting dressed, I begin sprinting toward the village in the distance, reaching the group within five minutes.

"Now this is an interesting strategy. I see why Godwin called it a demolition attack."

Hera, with a mana line attached to her, turns around, "You're here already? That was fast. Father isn't a huge fan of this kind of attack, but he won't let his personal feelings interfere with the best tactic for the situation."

They're at the entrance to the village, with a massive barrier in front of them that's blocking off the entire entrance. However, the barrier keeps going for quite a while to both the left and the right, forcing the spawn to go all the way around to reach us. Unfortunately for them, there is a large group of warriors waiting for them at the end of each side of the barrier.

Meanwhile, the 'demolition' group consists of about ten people. Jasper is at the front, casting the smallest fireball I've ever seen in my life... It's about the size of my thumb, and he placed it on the other side of the barrier. There are two people next to him channeling onto the fireball and not onto him directly, which is something I'll have to ask about because I've never seen anyone do that before. Aresa is behind them, with her hands on Jasper's back. Lastly, the four priests around her all have one hand on her, and the other stretched out toward the barrier.

"Is she supplying mana to all of them?"

"Amazing, isn't it? Father, Devon, and Lady Aresa herself all said she could handle it. The rest of us doubted her, but look at her go..." Hera said.

Doubting her is a normal reaction to such a suggestion... It must be related to whatever she is a hybrid of. It's not often you see a human with horns.

"You the backup? Also, what are those two near your brother doing?"

"I'm here in case they fly over the barrier. And those two are compressing the fireball, that's why it's so small. If you're wondering why they are doing such a thing, then too bad because I'm not going to tell you~!" Hera giggled, then continued, "You're going to love how this ends. Trust me... It's beautiful."

The light on top of the Eldritch and all of its spawn shines a bright orange at the same time, leading to a large explosion of fire expanding around the spawn but not the Eldritch. Barriers on all the warriors flare up, with a couple of them shattering. The warriors without barriers retreat a little to meditate, while the others gifted in defense guard them.

"... Ahh, now I see why you forced the spawn to move so far away from the main group. Keeping the barrier up would be impossible with thirty or so explosions like that hitting it. If they do it often that is."

Hera sighed. "The pricks do. Our first barrier was shattered, which led to a very dangerous escape as they started to light up again, almost blowing us all up. After they returned, we came back and tried the current strategy. Devon is the one who proposed it, and then Father said he'd eat his boots if it worked."

Looks like he'll be eating his boots. I get why he said that though. Only a simple Eldritch would fall for such a dumb strategy, or he has no control over his spawn which are in fact the simple-minded ones.

... Hmm, I guess I'll also wait here? I'd go help one of the sides if they needed me, but from the looks of it they're killing the spawn at a slightly higher rate than the Eldritch is creating them. Plus, the only ability I have right now is the explosion one that I haven't tested yet. I can't imagine they'd be very pleased with me if I accidentally blew a few of their allies up.

Wait, this does give me some time to check on something that I've been curious about for a while now.

I sit down and pick up one of the blue flowers, tossing it into my mouth.

"Uhh... Hungry Rei?"

"I'm dying of starvation actually, but that's not why I'm doing this. I wanted to know what all the blue flora around here was, and apparently, all I had to do was eat one to know."

"Oh come on, it couldn't have been that easy... Brother said he was going to bring them back for research. 'No one has ever seen flowers like these before' according to him."

"They're ether. Pure ether and nothing more."

"... What? How is that possible?" Hera asked.

"No idea. It melted in my mouth and I immediately felt a massive surge of mana in my soul. Well, it was excess past my max, so it disappeared soon after since I had no use for it."

Hera stared at me, contemplating something. Eventually, she bent down to pick up a flower.

"Hang on, don't eat that you simple-minded fool. I've been listening to your conversation, and while I believe Rei wouldn't lie about such a thing, it doesn't necessarily mean it's safe for you to eat. What's fine for her, might not be fine for us." Jasper said, not turning around.

Hera dropped the flower while making a disgruntled face at her brother.

Now I know why the spiders were collecting these, and why this Eldritch is covered in them. The spider lords are probably reinforcing their armor with the extra ether while sending the rest to their god. It's looking more and more like the Satyr is going to be on the losing side.

... Hmm. Thousands of ether flowers surrounding a village that just so happens to have at least two different Eldritch nearby? Considering how important ether is to Eldritch, this whole situation is extremely suspicious. I'll ask the others what their thoughts are on this later.

The next group of newly created spawn heads straight for the barrier in front of the main group, but every single one of them burst into flames as they neared the tiny fireball.

Whoa, what the hell?

"Hahahahaha you see that?! I knew I'd have no purpose here!" Hera said while laughing.

Upon seeing this, the Eldritch creates a much larger batch of spawn, sending two groups of forty further into the village.

Looks like they're heading for the side gates? Planning on going all the way around huh...

Honestly, this was a good time to kill this Eldritch. The fact that it has zero lords tells me it's young, maybe even a newborn... But what if this Eldritch was allowed to grow up and build an army that copies the spells it casts? It would be a massive pain in the ass to deal with.

The top of the Eldritch turns a bright green.

"That's a new color..." Hera said.

We didn't have to wait long to find out what that color meant. The spawn we saw earlier came blazing around both sides of the village. They tried to go around both groups of warriors but it didn't quite go as planned. Godwin did an overhead slash with his greatsword into the ground, creating some kind of fissure with a hazy red glow above it. The haze transmitted to the spawn when they tried running through it, slowing them down to a crawl. While on Devon's side, he had cast some type of web spell made of light. The webs stuck to each of the spawn for a few seconds before pulling them all into the same spot, turning into a heavy net as it wrapped around them. The warriors on both sides quickly cleaned them up.

I was wondering what Devon was channeling this whole time. He had been sitting in the same spot not moving ever since I arrived.

"Now then, I'm dying to see what its next move is. This battle is going horrible for it after all." Hera said.

No denying that, these guys definitely know what they're doing. Even if the Eldritch is young, this is still going surprisingly well.

The Eldritch, apparently out of options, and not even considering retreat, began moving toward the main group.

"... Well, he could definitely crush us under that massive ball. Barrier or no barrier." Hera looks at her brother, "You done yet? You're out of time."

"I'm not, but it's close so this should be enough. Make sure to pour everything you have into the barrier when the fireball lands or we're all dead!" Jasper yelled.

Without waiting for confirmation, Jasper fires the ball directly at the middle of the sphere. A few seconds later it flies inside one of the myriad of holes on the Eldritch, leading to one of the fastest explosions I've ever seen. I've seen plenty of big explosions over the years, but none of them were quite like this one. There was nothing there one moment, and in the next moment this entire side of the village was instantly obliterated.

A large wave of fire expands over the barrier as burning pieces of wood fly every which way.

I stood there watching the village burn for a little while before I felt a tug on my sleeve. Glancing in that direction, I see Aresa mouthing the word {Tired}.

I laughed, "I bet you are. One day I'd like to find out just how much mana you have. I can't believe you were supplying all of them..."

Aresa puts her pointer finger up, shaking her head left and right while smirking.

"Never gonna tell me eh? You say that because you haven't seen how persuasive I am yet."

Godwin walks up to us, "Good work everyone!! We put that fucker down easily."

Before anyone could respond, Devon rushed past us towards where Godwin's group was before, kneeling down in the dirt. Initially, everyone was confused, but then the other four priests ran after him, kneeling down next to him. Looking past them I see something I missed before because of all the smoke obstructing my view. There's a somewhat large congregation of fifty or so people looking in our direction. Most of them are knights in quite possibly the most impressive white armor I've seen yet, and in the center of the convoy there are ten people in the same robes Devon is wearing. They appear to be more fanciful in design, but it's hard to tell the difference considering that Devon's is already quite flashy.

Jasper sighed, "It's time."

"Looks like this blasted reset is finally coming to an end..." Godwin said.

It is? Because those people are here?

"The Templars are impressive looking no matter how many times I see them," Hera said.

Templars huh? I heard that name long ago, but I never had the chance to fight one.

"You never did ask what the reset was about, Rei. I thought you would. This might be better though... When it resets, chase after that group there and witness for yourself why they are here. I was blessed to see it once in my life a few years ago. It's truly an experience like no other..." Godwin said, eyes glazing over.

I planned on doing that anyway, but for now, I need to quickly go eat that Eldritch's soul. I'm finally going to be more than a near-empty vessel...