”Goodbye,” Xanc said after she was gone.
He would miss her, she was his only godly friend. Sito reminds of a certain someone from his childhood days but that person didn’t want to be his friend back then. But Sito and he had hit things off when they had met, they have a lot in common. No one likes to be around him too. People found him inflexible and boring. He had few friends as a mortal too because of these reasons. His status as a god has won him the admiration of countless mortals but they can’t replace Sito in his life. Gods are above mortals in every way.
He would have liked to give up now and follow her but he had made an oath. It is this oath that pushed him to greatness. He rose sharply in strength as a god but he wasn’t always this talented. He had struggled as a mortal without a bloodline. He had to compete with other kids who had bloodlines to help them. What took him years to grasp and master was achieved by those with bloodlines in months. He had seen and experienced the injustice that is bloodlines.
He saw bloodlines as an agent of segregation. It made things unfair for others. He made an oath to remove the cancer of the society that is bloodlines. He had yet to achieve his lifelong dream so he cannot give up now.
Did he think that the gods could lose? Maybe but he won’t know without at least trying. The gods have prepared for this day and he will at least fight to uphold the dignity of the gods. He couldn’t just run without fighting. That’s how cowards behave and he is not a coward.
He also saw the path of Godhood as an alternative for less talented people and there was no way he would watch such an opportunity that creates a modicum of balance be removed so easily. He resolved himself to do battle and achieve victory.
The gods knew that a passive reaction to the threat of their existence will only lead to their eventual demise so they were not going to do that. They had prepared for this day and they were going to fight back.
The divine city below the various divine kingdoms began to bustle with preparation for battle. Messages were sent to the various churches in the main plane and various avatars of gods were descending. In the main plane, it looked like pillars of light were descending as the gods walked the earth with their avatars. The gods were for war as they moved their troops to the border.
Presently at the border of the divine alliance.
The troops of the divine alliance at the border made contact with their first enemy.
“All of this, for me?” Guntu grinned.
He could see a vast army of people and machines arranged in war formation. He couldn’t believe it. Here he thought he would have to visit their church and notify them before they can put up a fight. But he didn’t have to. More than a million soldiers were displayed before him.
“This couldn’t have been a rushed job.” He smacked his lips as he watched this army. They looked like a tightly wound and oiled machine of war.
They had gigantic towers connected with walls that blocked the entire border. At the top of the towers were sovereign-grade ranged weaponry. Energy bombs and annihilation artillery. Above the towers, up in the sky were hovering weapon cities. The floating weapon cities are called so because they were not built for inhabitation. They are floating weapon carriers, launchers, and deployers all in one gigantic packet of the fusion between technology and magic. The numerous floating weapons also formed a shield between them that prevented Aerial passage. Both the sky and ground were blocked. Guntu marveled at the sight and couldn’t wait to destroy all of these.
He felt like a VIP for him to be shown this much attention. He wondered how they had mobilized such a force under the nose of the racial council. The fact that the gods could muster this much will work in his favor in regards to the approval of the war campaign.
“Stop right there.” A golem shouted from above the wall. It looked like a mechanical angel with halos of light shining from it.
“Interesting,” Guntu said as he examined the metallic golem. He had never seen anything like it. He could feel Divine force from within the golem.
“It looks like it is being powered by divine force but it is actually a vessel to channel your full power in the main plane. What an ingenious idea.” Guntu nodded his head in appreciation.
It seemed that the gods had found a way to circumvent the ban on divine power in the plane. They used a container that is fueled by their power. He could tell that this particular golem had reached the sovereign standard and it will possess this grade of power as long as its structural integrity holds out. They were clearly prepared for war.
“Good idea.” He praised again.
“We know why you are here and we will stop you right here.” The Sovereign golem said. It called other golems to it and they formed an enhancing array. The golems began to share energy between them, which formed a network that strengthened them. The more of them formed this network the stronger they became.
The sight of ten sovereign-level battle strength would have scared another person off but Guntu shook his head. “Multiple grand gods in golems and an array on top of that. It is a deadly combination and might be good enough to stop some other origin god but not me. You have outdone yourselves and have performed above and beyond my expectations for you. Sadly, you have met me.” Guntu clapped as he spoke. The sound of his hands hitting each other felt like thunderclap instead. The world boomed with the sound of it.
The grand god in the sovereign grade golem spoke up quickly to maintain morale.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, you will fall here.”
He is the commander of the army and he immediately recognized the threat that Guntu represented, even though Guntu currently looked like a mischievous monkey in a simple black cloak. The wine gourd he had strapped to his back wasn’t helping in building a fierce image either. Still, they could tell that Guntu was an Origin god, but the gods believed they had a good chance at victory since origin gods can’t use their full power in the main plane.
The machines of war started to load in preparation for battle. Guntu could see giant barrels that seemed to be cooking up nasty presents, swerving to target him. He could feel the rising energy in the surroundings. All these feelings made him feel euphoria.
“Let me introduce myself.” His voice echoed throughout the battlefield. The army didn’t hear his voice with their ears. They heard him with their bodies. There was an unpleasant rumbling in their bones that brought them understanding.
“I am destruction.” The people below the level of transcendent began to disintegrate as their understanding manifested into a reality.
“Attack.” The leading grand god commanded. Range weapons fired and all sorts of spells, forbidden or allowed were unloaded unto Guntu. His body was torn apart by the attacks, but the disastrous effects of the explosions didn’t dissipate. The destructive forces formed a cloud where Guntu used to stand. His voice continued to echo.
“I begat destruction.” Transcendents and Everything with that level of strength started to become dust. Their entire existence was also found wanting in understanding the message contained within Guntu’s voice.
The grand god realized that the voice was coming from the cloud and ordered the attacks to continue.
“Destruction begets me.” The voice continued. The cloud began to become restless, it was as if it was fermenting something.
“Attack more.” The grand god ordered.
“I embody destruction.”
Everything at the transcendent level disappeared. Lords of law and low gods started to dissipate. The last thing that went through their mind was the meaning of the embodiment of destruction. Their lives didn’t flash before their eyes as they faced death. It was understanding followed by darkness.
“Destruction is inevitable.”
“I am inevitable.”
“All will fall before destruction.”
As Guntu spoke, rings of destruction emanated from the cloud. The rings were like silent killers that transformed whatever they touched into their base form. They disintegrated everything on contact. This reaction was accompanied by the release of potent destructive energy, but there was no explosion. The energy released from the destruction and the destroyed objects were subdued by the rings. They were then drawn into the cloud by the returning rings. The clouds increased in size and more rings were created which in turn expanded the range of destruction. Guntu became the personification of destruction as in inevitable force of nature.