—Cole POV—
"What are your plans today, Cole?", Yasaka asked holding my hand with a radiant smile, "If you are free, I would really like to-"
Before Yasaka could finish her sentence, my phone began to ring. Hearing Mirellia's ringtone playing, I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket to answer it.
"Cole, please hurry to Faubrey!! My husband and his men are under attack!!", Mirellia shouted at me as I put the phone to my ear.
"Good Morning to you as well Mirellia…", I said giving my ear a moment to stop ringing, "Did you say your husband and his men are being attacked in Faubrey? Why did they go to Faubrey in the first place?"
"There is no time to explain, please go immediately and rescue my husband. The Shadows have not been able to infiltrate the castle so he and his men are without reinforcements.", Mirellia informed me desperate for assistance.
"Got it, I will head over and help them.", I replied ending the call, "Jeez, it has to be a full moon somewhere. Crazy stuff is happening everywhere this week."
Turning to Yasaka, I apologized to her for having to cut our morning walk short. Telling me to hurry back once the issue was resolved I gave her a kiss before promptly leaving.
—Faubrey Castle—
Arriving at the castle a few moments later, I discovered why Aultcray had reached out for aid. Barely hanging on when I showed up, the Castle Guards were down to only three able-bodied men and the Shadow Agent was barely breathing. Blasting the wall out with a Gigawatt Hammer, the resulting explosion knocked the warrior off his feet and into the opposite wall. Healing those that were still alive, the Agent quickly rose to her feet with a relieved expression.
"Lord Cole!!", the Agent said saluting me, "Thank you for coming so quickly. King Aultcray and his men took off after another Elf that fled the room a few minutes ago."
"I will take things from here, the Wild Hunt are beyond your level of strength.", I told her, "All of you evacuate the castle and get as far away from here as you can. Also, do you know how many of them are here?"
Staggering to his feet, one of the Castle Guard answered for her.
"My Lord, there are only two members here. There was a third when they arrived several weeks ago, but the third left a few days later.", the guard answered on the verge of tears, "The other Elf here is a Mage, they intend to freeze the entire capital in ice like they did our northern territory! I already lost my parents and siblings to them, I do not want my wife and unborn child to share their fate here too!"
"Do as I have ordered, I will handle the Mage after killing this Elf.", I commanded them as I looked at the Wild Hunt Warrior.
Fleeing the room without another word, the group quickly started fanning out to evacuate the castle occupants. Looking at the Elven man as he picked himself up, he brushed the dust off his armor seemingly unshaken by my surprise attack.
"You must be the deity the fat pig spoke of.", the Elf remarked sizing me up, "Lord Imlerith will reward me handsomely for bringing your head to him."
Pulling his axe to him, the fool readied himself for a fight. The Wild Hunt must have led their people to believe that deities were beings that could be slain with minimal effort. Opting to show him that I was no mere deity, I let my discontent with the situation speak for itself.
"Both of you ruined my morning with your fucking antics.", I spat kicking him straight in the chest as he charged me.
Caving in his chest plate, the warrior slammed into the wall behind him and continued on through several more rooms. Chasing after him, I hit him with a powerful downward axe kick that put him in the center of a twenty foot deep crater. Sensing that any further strikes like that would bring down the building, I chose to finish him the easier way.
"Fuck!", the warrior coughed as he puked up a liter of blood, "Why…why are you this strong!? King Eredin never said anything about this!"
"Not all of us are weaklings, just like not Elves are magically inclined.", I jabbed as I grabbed his face.
Digging my fingers through his metal vizor, they began to burrow into his skull as I prepared to take what information he had.
"The other deities we fought…used only magic.", the Elf replied glaring at me from behind his vizor, "I will not betray my King and give you…any details about us."
"That is unfortunate, if only I could forcibly extract the information from your mind without your knowledge.", I said pretending with a smile, "You better not think about the information you should not share with me."
Knowing that it would subconsciously pull those thoughts up in his mind, I effortlessly broke through his mental defense to obtain them. Violently tearing all the information he had on the Wild Hunt, a glimpse of what his comrade Callon was capable of. Seeing the mage rip the soul out of several people I could not recognize, a knot formed in my stomach. While I could resist the magic with my skills and training, Aultcray and his men had no such protections for their persons.
"I am done with you.", I remarked eviscerating Haleth with Destruction.
Disappearing completely from existence, I tore out of the room I was in and started shouting for Aultcray to stay away from the Elven Mage. Hoping that I would make it to them before one or more of them died, I did not want to let Mirellia become a widow like this.
—Basement Level, 3rd Person POV—
Mistaking the violent shaking for the Elven Warrior's attacks, the group increased their speed trying to reach the weapon before he caught up to them. Leading the men toward the treasury, the Minister informed them that the Elves were keeping the weapon in the vault. Finding the door was already shut and locked, the Minister fumbled around in his pocket looking for his spare key.
"Hurry up man, we do not have time for delays!", Aultcray shouted fearing that they would be caught before they got in.
"I am trying to hurry!", the Minister replied in a worried tone, "I…I am terrible under pressure, it is why I did not join the military!"
After a few moments of fishing for the key in his pocket, he found the magic key and quickly got it into the tumbler. Hurriedly unlocking the door, Aultcray spun the mechanism that retracted the bolts before having two of his men pull the door. Struggling to make the door move, the two men slowly managed to get it moving and started to open.
"That is the weapon right there!", the Minister proclaimed pointing at a large, spherical object on a golden pedestal, "Please hurry up!!"
Hearing the Mage chanting phrases in an unknown language to the weapon, Aultcray watched the icy blue vortex within begin to pulsate. Feeling his body tremble as the first pulse of raw magic hit him, the King instinctively knew death awaited them if nothing was done. Ordering his men to ready themselves for the fight of their lives, he commanded them to not stop fighting till the Elf died or they died.
"We cannot let them use that weapon!! Our future depends on stopping them here and now!", Aultcray shouted rallying his men.
"For the King and Country!!", Dregg roared.
"Damn it, that buffoon could not kill a few measly humans!", Callon spat with annoyance as he looked back at Aultcray and his men.
"Get ready men!", Aultcray shouted drawing his blade as the door opened wide enough for them to charge in, "Charge!!"
Following their King, Aultcray's guards rushed in with him ready to lay their lives down to stop Callon. Pulling his staff over to him, Callon finished his chanting and turned to face the men. Gathering a strange, magical green aura in his palms, the men did not stop their charge even though they felt literal death flowing in Callon's hands.
"Aultcray!! Stay away from him!!", Cole shouted out as he burst through the floor several hundred feet behind them, "He can use Soul Stealing Magic!!"
Realizing that he was a moment too late, Cole launched himself forward just as Callon activate the spell. Hearing Cole's warning, Aultcray pushed his men out of the way to spare them a terrible end. Feeling his soul start to be torn out of his body, Aultcray let out an unearthly scream as his soul started to turn into pure energy for Callon.
"Absolute Cancel!", Cole said casting an Anti-Magic spell to disrupt the Soul Stealing Magic.
The result magical clash sent the Elf flying back into the weapon he was activating. Flying past the group in a split second, Cole slid across the ground and grabbed the Navigator's Staff. Destroying it with his Destructive Powers, the Elf would no longer be able to flee as his magic required it to focus his magical power.
"You are too late!", the Elf laughed as the weapon began to glow, "If taking you down costs me my life, I can die at peace with that!"
"Cole!! You must stop it!!", Aultcray pleaded through the pain, "Please forget about me!! Save the capital!!"
With only a few moments till detonation, Cole made a very risky decision. Unsure of how powerful the White Frost was or the magical constructs it contained, he had only one option available to him at that moment. Drawing upon his Ice Conduit Powers, Cole began to siphon off the cold, wild energies inside the weapon.
"HAHA!! You must be insane to believe you can handle that power!!", Callon laughed at him, "The White Frost cannot be stopped, it devours worlds and universes whole with its icy grip! King Eredin himself was only just able to capture parts of it to weaponize, what do you think you can do?!"
"Shut up!", Cole growled continuing to siphon off every ounce of cold it released.
Focusing everything he had into containing the raw power in the feet in front of him, Cole sensed a change begin to occur in him. Feeling a tingling sensation race up his spine and into his head, suddenly Cole began drawing out the energy faster than it could be released. Watching the Aen Elle's unstoppable weapon be extinguished in front of his eyes, Callon's expression turn ghost white in disbelief. Having killed dozens of deities in his time with the Wild Hunt, he had never met such a powerful deity in all his travels.
—Cole POV—
Feeling a new, overwhelming power begin to flow through me I sensed that I had unlocked a new Conduit Ability. For the first time since I became a Conduit, I understood what all other Conduits felt like when they unlocked a new ability. Realizing that I could now stop time, similar to how Esdeath did, this newfound ability would be a great addition to my arsenal. Usually, I would have to expend a large amount of mana to stop time and have to prepare for it in advance, but now I could use my Conduit Powers to achieve the same result.
"Now that was a rush!", I laughed with excitement before remembering that Aultcray was in a bad way, "You stay here!"
Using Arc Restraints to pin him to the floor, I ran over to Aultcray and his men. Writhing around on the floor in intense pain, I ordered that his men restrain him so I could have a look. Depending on how fragile his soul was, the few seconds the spell was active could have fractured some of his soul or could have stolen a fragment completely. Once the King was held down, I used several spells to see the extent of the damage.
"Well, how bad is it Lord Cole?", Gregg asked me.
"It…it is not good, a small sliver of his soul is gone now.", I remarked with a grave expression.
"Can you not rewind time to save him?! The Queen said you possess this ability, so you could-", one of the other guards began to say.
"I do not possess the ability to regenerate a person's soul, the best I could do is find a donor and help him repair it. Souls are entities that exist outside Space and Time, rewinding time will not fix this as his very existence is now broken. If his soul completely breaks, anywhere it exists in the Omniverse Timeline will be erased as if he never existed.", I replied looking at Aultcray, "I am sorry Aultcray…"
Understanding the situation he was in, Aultcray nodded his head and accepted the diagnosis. Looking at his men, all of them demanded to know why he pushed them out of the way. It was their duty to lay down their lives for him, not the other way around.
"Haha…", Aultcray coughed with a warm smile, "I could not look your wives and children in the eyes if I let that Elf steal your souls. It would have been hard to tell them you died protecting me from him…telling them that you would not see them in the afterlife would have been far worse."
"Your…Your Highness!", Dregg choked up.
"All of you…if I do not make it, promise me you will be better fathers than I was.", Aultcray said, "I have been a terrible father to my children…I did not guide Malty down the right path as I should have…and I could not protect my son when he needed me the most. Please learn from his old man, put your family before all else, and cherish them. The time we get to spend with them is short…do not squander it."
Turning to me, Aultcray gripped my arm tightly with an absolute, certain look in his eyes. Recognizing that fatherly expression anywhere, I knew where this was going to lead.
"Cole…use what is left of my soul to save Malty.", he asked me, "I know you hate her…but she is still my darling daughter. If I can free her from her fate…I can die with a smile on my face. Please take care of Mirellia and Melty too…they will need every ounce of strength you can provide them with."
Not wanting to have this conversation without his family's input, I knocked him out with magic and told his men to pick him up. Doing as I asked I turned around to look at the Minister of Foreign Relations. Angry and upset that they did not alert anyone to the Wild Hunt's presence in this world, I wanted to blame it all on them entirely but it was also my fault as well. Reopening Ciri's portal was what brought them here, and that thought never once crossed my mind till today.
"Was withholding messages to allied nations all you could do to alert your allied nations? I understand they could have sensed magical messages, but old-fashioned letters would have worked fine too. Hell, you could have written a hidden message in one of your letters that could have alerted me to the threat here.", I said holding back my anger.
"Lord Cole, they are holding our families hostage and threatened to kill them. We had to do exactly as they commanded to the letter without fail, anything less would be taken out on our wives and children.", the Minister replied shaking like a leaf, "All we wanted was to protect our loved ones and prevent the rest of our nation from being frozen over. Thousands were killed weeks ago in the north when they froze the entire northern edge of our nation."
"You are truly a fool, did you not heed the warnings I gave everyone about the Wild Hunt?! These monsters do not make deals with beings they consider beneath them, your families and countless missing citizens in the capital are all gone.", I told him bluntly, "All of them have been spirited away to the Aen Elle Homeworld to work as slaves for them. Instead of saving them, you let more people be forced into servitude by the Elves."
Recalling hearing something like that in one of the meetings with Queen Mirellia in the past, he looked at the Mage hoping I was wrong. Seeing the look of despair and hopelessness on the Minister's face, the Elf reveled in the joy it brought him.
"Of course, it is you sniveling pig! Lesser Beings should feel honored to be of service to the Higher Race.", the Elf laughed in his face, "They will be worked till they drop, then fed to the dogs for food!! As the deity said, all of those missing souls were sent back to our homeworld as well! You served us more than adequately for these few weeks, good job."
Having sensed that it was the truth all this time, the Minister had tricked himself into believing he was mistaken. Forced to see the truth of the matter now, his mind shattered as he collapsed to the ground as a sobbing mess. Ignoring him for the moment, I walked over to the Elf and knelt down to look him dead in the eyes.
"I am going to enjoy cracking that brain of yours open to collect all the secrets you hold. Do not bother with the whole patriotic bullshit either, the dead have loyalty only to their masters.", I said with a sadistic smile, "My Necromancy skills are a bit rusty, but they are more than adequate for this task."
"Do not try bluffing me deity!", Callon protested.
Plunging my Gigawatt Blade into his heart, the Elf's expression did an abrupt 180.