The Pontiff, watching from his throne, slammed his staff against the marble, fury crackling through his voice. "Do not yield! Hold your ground! General Obi, join them!"
Upon the command of his Pontiff, the golden spectral-like being beside the Pontiff stirred from its previous guarding command it had been given before, and had now begun to adopt its offensive directive.
Upon receiving said directive, every inch of his armor began to radiate sanctified heat as a white and gold banner materialized at his back to display the insignia of the rising sun. The golden light around him flared brighter, transforming him into something that looked less like a man and more like the sun given human form.
General Obi leapt from the dais with the weight of a meteor, his massive form cutting through the air in a streak of molten gold.
BOOM!
The impact of the General's landing tore through the marble floor like a hammer hitting glass. The shockwave flung dust and shards into the air, and those standing nearest, undead, cadet, and paladin alike, were knocked from their feet and blasted backwards.
Deacon threw his arms up, bracing against the shockwave as fragments of marble flung across the Inner Sanctum. When the haze cleared and he managed to right himself, he saw the General now standing a height of three meters with his halberd beginning to take on a brighter hue as he sensed the general begin to feed his halberd holy mana.
"Shit—" Deacon muttered as he sprang forward, flipping his grip on Echoform Reliquary's dual short swords to hold them in reverse.
Kicking off the ground, Deacon vaulted upward, both short swords wreathed in flame as they carved twin arcs through the air; each one trailing straight toward the General's neck – catching the eyes of most within the Inner Sanctum as they were just picking themselves back up from the meteoric entrance of General Obi.
For a heartbeat, Inconel-tungsten met radiant golden armor, and the chamber rang with a sharp clang as sparks and embers burst outward when both of Deacon's blades struck the General's bevor.
However, beneath the flashing sparks and embers that decorated the air, Deacon's blades bit no deeper than a single centimeter into the General's bevor before halting dead, something that only the two of them were aware of within that instant as the General's twin coals of molten gold shifted upwards and met Deacon's defiant gaze.
A surge of disgust and rage twisted across the General's form as the halberd in his hands whipped forward. Before gravity could reclaim Deacon, the weapon swept out in a blazing arc of gold, striking him square in the chest and cleaving through his Chestpiece of the Barbarian as if it were parchment.
"Ghk—!"
The impact of the General's halberd striking Deacon square in the chest drove him higher into the air, his body doubling over as the air was torn from his lungs. Blood sprayed out, trailing in an arc behind him as he flew across the Inner Sanctum and halting when he crashed into a marble pillar at the back of the Inner Sanctum with enough force that the collision left a massive crater across the thick marble's top. Soon thereafter, Deacon's body peeled itself off the marble column and crashed to the marble floor below
The sounds of muted chaos flooded his ears before any other as Deacon began to pick himself up from off the ground.
Gritting his teeth against the burning pain of the gash across his torso, Deacon dragged his mind out of the fog of disorientation that briefly invaded him by tightly clenching onto the hilts of Echoform Reliquary that remained in both of his hands and forcing himself upright.
"Deke!" The voice was barely audible above the chaos, but he recognized who it belonged to instantly – Bonehead.
Deacon blinked past the blood dripping into his eyes to see him sprinting across the battlefield, rummaging through his Spatial Satchel with one hand. "Stay alive for five fucking seconds, yeah?"
"Working on it!" Deacon said after taking in a deep breath and examining his split wide open chestpiece that was split from sternum to shoulder.
A dozen meters ahead, General Obi moved like a storm given form. His halberd whirled in a sweeping arc, cleaving through three undead brute zombies in a single swing before backhanding a cadet who tried to leap onto his back, who, upon landing on the ground, got impaled by three blades from the paladins he landed next to.
A barrage of magic and arrows hit him from all sides; fireballs, ice shards, black darts of necrotic power, but each one shattered safely in the air as a holy-infused Manashield deflected them.
However, not only did the barrier defend the General, it purified everything it touched. Frost hissed to steam, necrotic energy burned to white cinders, and the black smoke of miasma dissolved into harmless motes of gold before ever reaching his armor.
High above on the dais, the Pontiff's outstretched hand glowed with the same hue, veins of light threading down his arm and staff as he channeled holy mana directly into the Manashield protecting the General and into the one protecting him. Each time another barrage landed, another layer of his sleeve turned to ash, flaking away until his entire left forearm was bare; his papery skin pulsing faintly with radiant veins.
"Holy fuck…" Bonehead muttered, his voice barely audible above the chaos as he skidded to a stop beside Deacon.
"How bad is it?" he asked, already yanking a bright red tub of medical salve from his Spatial Satchel. His eyes darted from the battle ahead to Deacon's chest as he grabbed the torn edge of the Barbarian Chestpiece and peeled it aside.
Deacon hissed through his teeth when Bonehead's fingers dug against the blood-slick gash running from his sternum to his shoulder.
"Lemme check," Deacon muttered, turning away and flicking his wrist to open his interface. Blue light flashed across his vision as a stream of notifications scrolled rapidly by.
*[Human Lv 7] has been slain – XP has been given.*
***
*[Human - Holy Paladin Lv 14] has been slain – Partial XP has been given.*
*Your Class has reached Lv 14 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
*Your Race has reached Lv 14 – Points allocated, +1 Free Point*
After reaching the end of all the System Notifications, Deacon was able to see his resource pools.
Health: 1002/1040
Mana: 253/260
Stamina: 891/942
"I'm good, it was a lot more painful than it probably looks," Deacon said, brushing Bonehead's hand away. "I'm good. Lost just under forty points. Honestly, the pillar hit harder than the halberd; my armor saved me from most of the damage."
"Yeah, sure," Bonehead replied flatly, his tone dripping disbelief as he dug into his satchel again. "And I'm about to convert and become a priest of Ever Sanctity."
Deacon shifted, ready to push forward, but Bonehead threw an arm out, blocking him.
"Bro," Deacon said with a glare, "I need to get back in there before that overgrown glowstick gets orders to leap into our backline and kill all the range dealers and healers."
"Relax," Bonehead said, not even looking up. "Just… give me two seconds."
Deacon's jaw tightened, but he stopped moving. Behind Bonehead, the clash of steel and the roar of magic filled the sanctum. General Obi moved like a golden hurricane in the distance with his halberd carving through the undead army's ranks like grass before a wildfire.
Visible even to him were Jass and Gael fighting the General in tandem with seven other warriors, darting in and out of his reach, their blows sparking uselessly against his armor as every spell that could've supported them was burned away by the Pontiff's interference.
Even through the haze of smoke and the bodies, Deacon could see the Pontiff's left sleeve now completely gone. His hand and arm glowed with the same radiance as the barrier protecting his general, and every movement he made sent fresh ripples of holy fire rolling through the air.
Bonehead whistled low, pulling out another, darker-gray salve tub from his satchel. "Alright. This one won't heal you," he said quickly, unscrewing the lid and scooping a handful of the thick paste, "but it'll seal the wound tight enough that it won't reopen while sprinting or when you attack. But don't worry, I'll talk to a healer for them to cast Heal From Afar onto you to speed up the healing."
"Got it," Deacon said distractedly as Bonehead smeared the salve directly onto the cut.
"…Jass wasn't kidding when she said you dumped every free point into your physical stats," Bonehead muttered, half to himself. "You tanked a direct hit from a level sixteen General and got up before I even reached you."
Deacon let out a rough chuckle as he winced at what he saw. "Yeah..."
"Yeah, well, next time try to balance your stats because you use magic quite a bit, too," Bonehead said while snapping the lid back onto the tub. "You'd survive longer if you threw at least a couple of points into your mental stats."
"Well…" Bonehead gave Deacon's shoulder a sharp pat. "You're good to go. Don't tear the salve open unless you want to bleed out."
"Noted."
Deacon gave him a quick nod, then pushed off the wall, both short swords snapping back into their ready position as Flame Armament reignited across the blades. "Thanks, Bone."
"Yeah, yeah," Bonehead replied, already turning to throw another vial toward the oncoming Paladins. "Just try not to die, dumbass."
Deacon grinned, rolling his shoulders as his eyes locked on the golden figure at the heart of the chaos — General Obi, cutting through their forces like divine retribution given form.
"Yeah," he muttered to himself, the firelight reflecting in his eyes as he broke into a sprint. "I'll explain everything once we complete this Floor."
His boots thudded against the cracked marble while twin trails of flame arced behind him on account of his dual short swords as he weaved between the corpses of the cadets, soldiers from the undead army, and paladins.
Deacon's eyes flicked upward, past the General and the chaotic melee he was in, and to where he could see the Pontiff standing atop the final step of the dais, encased in a Manashield that was infused with holy mana and shaped as a dome.
Amid the volley of spells and arrows fired at the golden dome that protected the Pontiff, a single arrow caught his eye. And this was not due to the fact that, unlike the arrows fired alongside it, the arrow's shaft was made out of metal, but that it was wreathed in an incredible amount of spiraling wind mana.
Deacon's gaze followed it on instinct.
The arrow cut through the storm of spells and arrows that flew alongside it with incredible speed before slamming into the Pontiff's golden barrier. And for a heartbeat, the golden dome looked whole and untouched.
But a moment later, a horrible shriek split the air as the wind-wreathed metal arrow tore through the barrier. And just as it looked like it was just about to crumple in on itself like the many other arrows, the wind around the arrow condensed itself, causing its torque to double and punch straight through the bright gold dome barrier and embed itself deep in the Pontiff's right shoulder.
The Pontiff lurched backward, his left hand clutching his right shoulder as pain twisted his face, causing him to nearly let his staff slip from his grasp at the sudden strike.
Though the arrow had lost much of its destructive force after having punched its way into the golden dome barrier, it had caught the Pontiff by surprise that someone had actually managed to pierce his Manashield. And due to that surprise, the Pontiff's concentration faltered, causing the barriers around General Obi to fall and the holy aura he exuded from himself to empower the paladins nearby him to vanish into thin air.
"Holy shit," Deacon breathed, eyes widening.
After pulling out the arrow embedded in his shoulder, the Pontiff's head snapped toward the source of the attack, where his gaze locked on the upper terraces lining the Sanctum's right wall, and onto the lone figure of a dirty-blonde-haired human cadet in leather armor.
Valorie, Deacon recognized as he saw her immediately begin to sprint while firing arrows at the Pontiff.
The Pontiff raised his left hand toward her.
"Impudent, traitorous child!" he roared as he raised his bloodied left hand towards her.
Dozens of spears of golden light materialized from the ceiling, descending like meteors.
Val dove sideways just as the first holy lance struck, rolling across the now cracked marble flooring of the balcony, and just as three more holy lances struck, she leaped out of the balcony just before it exploded in a shower of debris, where she was caught in multi-layered Manashields and Gust barriers by nearby mages.
The Pontiff's fury echoed through the chamber as he extended his hand again, wanting to summon another volley of Holy Lances, but a quick glance at the sunroof above caused him to stop.
"Enough!" He shouted as he slammed his staff down, the impact detonating through the Sanctum like a thunderclap.
The marble beneath every Paladin and the General lit up, glowing bright gold in a wide lattice pattern.
Before anyone could react, the Paladins and General Obi vanished in an instant, their golden silhouettes dissolving into the floor as the light consumed them, and in their places were grayed-out marble tiles.
Deacon barely had time to process that every Paladin and General Obi then teleported themselves around the Pontiff just before he raised his staff high as it surged with mana.
"Begone!" the Pontiff thundered as a single wave of raw force ripped outward from the dais, a tidal blast of compressed air and holy power that tore through the Inner Sanctum like a hurricane and blasted everything and everyone not behind him, backwards.