'No—!'
Rhunok took a sudden step, but Mu'ezzala's body blocked his way.
The God of Death looked down at him, murmuring: "Choose, Bear God. Will you stop me—or watch them die?"
Skala was swinging his axe, severing the head of an undead, when he suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
Toka noticed the change in light, and the moment he looked up, his pupils sharply contracted.
The energy orb trembled uneasily, like a death sentence about to be delivered.
Rhunok no longer hesitated.
He roared, his entire body's divine fire instantly burning to its maximum, transforming into a golden-white stream of light, forcefully crashing through Mu'ezzala and charging towards the energy orb!
"Protection!"
Boom—!
The energy orb exploded at Rhunok's chest.
At that moment, the energy of death and the divine power of "protection" violently collided within him, erupting in a deafening roar!
The giant bear's body suddenly shook, the white fur on his chest instantly turning charred black, and his flesh developed more corrosive marks under the erosion of death energy.
Even so, he still spread his arms, using his body to block all the residual blast before the mortals.
"Call—him!" His voice trembled, yet it still thundered across the battlefield.
Rhunok's massive, mountain-like body, under the desperate gazes of Skala, Toka, and all the allied soldiers below, suddenly stiffened, then collapsed with a crash!
His heavy body slammed onto the ground, causing another violent tremor, and the stirred dust, mixed with the black mist of death, slowly engulfed his enormous form.
The King of the White Mountain had fallen!
The surviving allied soldiers on the battlefield, struggling to rise from the aftermath, could barely breathe at the sight of Rhunok's defeat.
Skala leaned on his battle-axe, the wound on his waist throbbing with pain again:
Toka's holy light around him also dimmed considerably, his knuckles white as he tightly gripped his divine emblem.
The King of the White Mountain had fallen, and the God of Death's malevolent domain once again enveloped the entire Gundrak Ruins.
However, amidst this suffocating despair, Toka suddenly raised his head!
He looked at Skala, at the remaining Ital'ruk warriors and allied soldiers around him.
Rhunok's final roar echoed in their minds—"Call—him!"
No hesitation, no slogans.
All faith, all despair, all hope, at this moment, coalesced into the same thought!
Toka was the first to kneel on one knee, his blood-stained fist heavily striking his chest, his head bowed deeply.
Skala followed close behind, raising his divine emblem high, closing his eyes in prayer.
The surviving Paladins, priests, barbarians, shamans, Lukare warriors—all remaining allied soldiers, regardless of the severity of their injuries, made the same choice—
Either kneeling, or placing a hand over their chest, casting all their belief towards the unseen existence that protected them.
"Flame Keeper."
"Emberglow Dragon—"
"My Lord Obsidian—"
Countless low, hoarse calls, like trickling streams, finally converged into a soul-shaking tide that pierced through the barrier of the material plane!
Mu'ezzala didn't care about what those mortals were doing; they were just insects.
He was preparing to walk towards Rhunok's fallen colossal body, to harvest this rich trophy.
In his hollow eyes of death, a hint of greed even flashed for the divine essence he was about to obtain.
However, when that invisible tide of faith surged, his blue-gray face changed once again—his facial muscles slightly tensed, his eyes turned towards the sky, with a hint of surprise. The sky—had changed.
It wasn't that the dark clouds had dispersed, but that the lead-gray sky was—ignited—from within by a power he couldn't imagine!
Without warning, without sound.
A point of pure, ultimate golden-red light suddenly flared at the core of the sky directly above the Gundrak Ruins!
The light was not blinding, yet it carried an absolute majesty, instantly dispelling the pervasive black mist of death and the dust of smoke and ash!
The light rapidly spread, then condensed, outlining the silhouette of a black Dragon, whose grandeur was beyond words!
His scales were formed of flowing flames, with edges shimmering like molten gold.
His colossal Dragon wings slowly unfurled; each tiny flap caused the solidified aura of death below to melt and dissipate!
The nauseating stench of blood and decay in the air was gradually replaced by a fresh, warm, and peculiar aroma.
The Dragon of Radiance, Obsidian, had manifested his avatar!
His vertical pupils slowly opened, sweeping over everything below, finally resting on the God of Death.
There was no anger, no killing intent in his gaze, only a calm akin to looking down upon dust.
Mu'ezzala's deathly pressure, before this manifesting Dragon God, was like a candle flame before the scorching sun, instantly becoming insignificant!
Beneath his blue-gray skin, the power of death violently writhed, as if sensing a fatal threat.
He forcibly suppressed the terror deep within his soul, and his hollow voice sounded again, attempting to gain a glimmer of hope through negotiation:
"Emberglow Dragon—these are the rules of death, the path of souls has its own—"
Obsidian didn't even let Mu'ezzala finish.
His lips curved slightly upwards, forming a mocking arc.
No roar, no charge-up.
He merely raised his Dragon claw, and with an extremely casual gesture, pointed into the air towards Mu'ezzala's direction!
The movement was gentle, yet heaven and earth trembled because of it.
The space around Mu'ezzala began to be filled with a pure, ultimate light of order.
That light was not an attack—but "Light" itself.
Death and Light, two essentially opposing forces, violently clashed in space.
Mu'ezzala was horrified to discover that his proud divine power of death began to be expelled and stripped away, instantly turning into dust after leaving his body.
Finally, even the shadows that formed his shape began to gradually disintegrate.
His roar turned into a tearing wail, the pain of everything being stripped away.
Countless souls he had imprisoned and enslaved burst forth from his disintegrating body, transforming into specks of light, flying towards their true destination—the Shadowlands.
Mu'ezzala's silhouette gradually became transparent in the light, the last trace of horror in his eyes completely erased, leaving only nothingness.
As the last shred of shadow was engulfed by the light of order, this God of Death of the Ice Trolls was completely obliterated.
Mu'ezzala silently annihilated under Obsidian's casual gesture.
Along with the Loa remnants and essences he had attempted to harvest, everything was purified and absorbed by the swirling flames in Obsidian's palm.
Above the Gundrak Ruins, only the majestic, fiery form of the Dragon of Radiance remained silently suspended.
The aura of death was completely purified, leaving only warm light and the silence of survival after a catastrophe.
Obsidian cast one last glance at Skala, Toka, and the allied soldiers kneeling below, then looked in the direction where Rhunok had fallen.
Then, he did not linger.
With a gentle flap of his fiery Dragon wings, his world-encompassing figure contracted and dissipated.
The sky returned to its lead-gray, and the wind and snow still howled.
As if the scene of heaven and earth being destroyed and then order being reshaped was merely a brief and shocking dream.
Only the lingering, reassuring warmth in the air proved the reality of a deity having descended.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"