The Totoribus walked in front of the warriors, whose shields were still locked. He smiled as he looked at Nick, studying his features.
"So, you are the Spirit of Arogia," He said, laughing. Nick pointed his Kusaris at the Totoribus.
"And you are Lacrimae, the weakest of the Totoribus," He said, making Lacrimae growl. He flexed his hands, which were sharper than razors, and looked behind Nick, seeing Stella, Hati, and Mahdi.
"I see you brought companions, Spirit of Arogia. What else are you going to bring, a god?" He said, cackling. Nick growled and charged Lacrimae, blades in the air, but all he did was jump backwards, scattering the soldiers. Stella looked at Hati and Mahdi before she shrugged, casting a spell.
"Congelo!" She said, and the soldiers around Nick froze, covered in ice. Hati charged on all fours, barreling through the soldiers and towards Lacrimae, who stood in a defensive form and he dodged her slashes, uppercutting her with a quick strike. Mahdi swung his sword and kicked Lacrimae in the gut, but all he did was dodge and smack him in the face, knocking him backwards. Then, a pillar of flame erupted in front of Lacrimae, making him stumble back as Nick jumped through the flames, his Kusaris swung down. Lacrimae blocked Nick's Kusaris and swung at him. He ducked, kicked Lacrimae in the chest, and then slammed him into a pillar, cracking it. Lacrimae crawled up the wall and stood on the roof, summoning more troops to attack Nick. Hati, Mahdi, Stella, and Nick all looked at each other and nodded, charging the soldiers. The soldiers locked shields and advanced, but were knocked apart by Hati, who barreled through the shields, ripping the head off of one soldier. Mahdi threw his sword at one soldier, cutting through the soldier's helmet and took his spear, jabbing a soldier in the chest. Nick advanced as soldiers dropped around him, walking towards Lacrimae, who growled in anger.
"I will kill him myself!" He said, stabbing a soldier in the chest with his spider limb, ripping the soldier in half. Nick picked up a spear from a fallen soldier and threw it at Lacrimae, who caught it. But then, Nick threw his Kusaris, hooking Lacrimae in the chest and pulled his chain, dragging him closer to Lacrimae. He ducked as Lacrimae swung at him, just to eat a punch from Nick. Lacrimae was dazed as Nick threw him through a pillar, destroying it in the process. Then he swung his Kusaris and cut off Lacrimae's left arm, it falling on the ground with blood spilling out of his wound.
"My arm!" Lacrimae yelled, gripping his stump before Nick punched him again in the face, knocking his teeth down his throat. He coughed out his teeth as Nick raised his Kusari in the air, ready to decapitate Lacrimae, when someone grabbed him by the shoulders and flung him into the wall of the building, knocking it down. He spun around to see a woman with black wings, a golden dress and hair, but she had white eyes that glowed in the dark. She smiled and pulled a sword out from behind her back, made of bones, and charged him, swinging down. He sidestepped it and kicked her in the face, knocking her back. He then jumped onto her back and stomped hard on her spine, knocking her to the ground as the illusion around them dissipated, returning to the daytime as he grabbed her wings, ready to rip them off when Lacrimae tackled him, throwing him to the edge, him hooking himself with his Kusaris and pulling himself back up to see Lacrimae yelling at the girl.
"I told you just to do the illusion, Sangius!" He yelled when a spear flew into his shoulder, making him scream. Sangius casted a spell and a bubble sealed around Lacrimae and Nick climbed up when Stella yelled.
"Abiit!" She yelled and Lacrimae flew off the edge, screaming until he landed on the statue's knee. He then charged Sangius and drop kicked her, knocking her to the ground. She tried to fly away when he threw his Kusari, cutting one of her wings off. She fell to the ground and he kicked her in the face, blood spilling from her nose. She started to laugh as Nick grabbed her sword, shoving it in her back. She screamed and he stepped on her head, slicing her in half. He sat down as blood pooled from her severed body as Stella stood at the edge, looking at the ocean while Mahdi and Hati helped Nick to his feet.
"Um, Nick? You should see this," Stella said and Nick ran over to her to see the statue's head disappearing under the ocean, the water seeming to swallow it. He watched as the nose disappeared in the water when he heard footsteps behind him. He whipped around to see a woman with black armor, hair, and red eyes. She dragged a giant sword that was almost a foot wide. They charged her and she pointed at them, a black liquid coating them, freezing them in place. He tried to fight against her constraints, but it was to no avail. She stopped and grabbed Nick by the chin, tilting his head left and right.
"Nick, that is enough. It is time to serve your purpose, return to your place. Perhaps if you serve well, you'll end up on Tian one day," She said, smiling slightly as she holstered her sword on her back.
"I will not serve Bellum again!" He yelled, struggling to break his bonds.
"Oh, but you will," A female voice said, suddenly, Sangius appeared behind the woman, smiling brightly, unharmed. They all looked at the dead body of Sangius, just to see it dissipate. Hati groaned and set her head on the ground.
"Of course she wasn't real. Why wouldn't it be," She said angrily. Suddenly, Lacrimae climbed up the platform and charged at the four of them when the woman stopped him.
"Your methods fail us, Lacrimae. I will take care of him," She said, smacking Nick in the face.
"You will return!" She yelled.
"Death first!" Nick yelled back, spitting blood. Suddenly, a hand rested on his shoulder and he turned his head to see Pax, in all of her glory, standing between Nick and the woman.
"I should've done this a long time ago, Sudore," Pax said, making her jaw drop.
"Pax?! This is who you align with, Nick? A goddess of peace?!" Sudore yelled, shocked.
"This time, you will fail," Pax said and with that, she bowed her head and they all disappeared in a flash of light, leaving no one behind, except for the Totoribus. Sudore looked around, shocked, before she yelled in rage.
"Pax!" She yelled, then she turned to Sangius and Lacrimae, who avoided eye contact with her.
"Find them and bring them to me. Dead or alive," She said and they nodded, Lacrimae climbing down the statue and Sangius flew away. Sudore turned back and looked at the horizon.
"You will never reach the eyes, Arogian," She mumbled.
***
When Nick opened his eyes, he saw that he was underground, stalagmites and stalactites growing out of the ground. The black substance that was covering him was gone, giving him a sense of freedom. He turned around to see Hati, Mahdi, and Stella, standing up slowly. Pax turned to face them, looking around to see if she was followed. When she was done, she sighed and knelt to Nick's height. Nick sighed and put his Kusaris on his waist.
"Thank you, Lady Pax," He said, bowing sllightly. The rest of them bowed and she sighed again, looking at him with remorseful eyes.
"Don't thank me, Spirit of Arogia. You will never reach the eyes now that the Totoribus are after them. You will need to take this tunnel back to the statue and after that, I do not know what you can do," She said. Nick sighed through his nose and started to walk away when Stella looked at Pax, frowning slightly.
"Why are you helping us? I thought the gods sided with the Totoribus," She said, confused. Pax smiled and wiped dirt off of Stella's cheek.
"Because I can only see those you can bring peace," Pax said, getting a slight smile from her. Pax looked at Nick when she saw something that caught her attention.
"Nick," She said. He stopped and turned around slowly, looking at her, confused. She pointed at his feet and he looked down, seeing the arm of Lacrimae, slowly crawling towards him. He stomped on it and it stopped moving, blood pooling from its severed part. He nodded at her and went to walk away when she coughed a little. He turned around and she pointed at the hand. He grabbed it and brought it to her and she looked at it, nodding.
"I bet, you can use this," She said, shaking the arm. They looked at her, confused as Hati facepalmed, shaking her head.
"No offense, but what can we possibly do with an arm?" She asked when Pax ripped something out of its hand, blood dripping from it. She handed it to Nick, who picked it up and examined it closely. It was a stone, made of granite, in the shape of a rhombus with dried blood over the surface of it.
"That is the oath stone of Lacrimae. Every time a blood oath was made, their blood was dripped onto his hand, their fate sealed. But behind its simple look, it holds unimaginable power that no mortal nor god should have. So, use it wisely," She said, nodding at Nick. He looked at the stone before he pointed it in front of him, the sounds of a thousand screams echoing through the chamber before it stopped, a shadow of him standing in front of him, mimicking his movement. He nodded in approval before he pointed the stone at it, it flying back into the stone. Then, Nick ripped off a part of his shirt and wrapped the stone around his hand. He then nodded and made his way down the tunnel, the three of them following.
"I know you will make things right," Pax mumbled, then she dissapeared.