In one afternoon, my entire life collapsed into rubble. No literally, like the whole compound was buried by explosive magic.
It all started one fateful afternoon. I had woken up in my chambers bright and early, up before the sun had risen in and out into our training cavern with the fifty odd people I was placed in charge of. After two hours of rigorous exercise followed immediately by an hour of basic magical training and spell-sculpting, it was time for breakfast!
Most of the day progressed normally, everyone had their duties already assigned earlier in the week, whether that be Sect 44 going out to man our ambush stations in order to secure more valuables whilst posing as bandits, Sect 12 bathing and changing to staff our various stores and merchant stands in the local major city, or Sect 38 finishing constructing the next gate to connect our outpost to the main cult center, everyone had their tasks!
As the leader of the Forward Operating Base, I was meant to oversee the gate construction and prepare the weekly report for the leader engagement scheduled for tomorrow.
But just as the day was coming to an end, everything went wrong. I had assembled the entire base into the Chamber of Deliberation in order to receive status updates, congratulate everyone on their continued hard work, and deliver the good news that the next round of blessings would soon be upon us. After all, no other base has grown as fast or as efficiently as ours, and hard work is always rewarded!
Yet just as I stepped onto the elevated stone platform that made up our speaking stage, a rumbling ripped throughout the base.
Despite the name of our cult and the name of our patron god, not a single member was slow on the uptake. Enchantments, fields, zones, and buffs immediately activated throughout the crowd. Hovering above the stage and my fellow cultists with my divine blessing, Control Freak, I started to call out orders.
"Devoted of Sloth, defensive formation! Physical Enhancers to the front, pure mages to the center, and mixed forces spread out evenly. Whoever dares to invade our sanctuary of work shall drown in the sweat of our brow!" I called out, empowering my words with Greater Motivate, the mana burning from my core and up my throat as I shouted. I was never blessed with a great pool of magic, so high tier magic was only usable thanks to the hours of effort I had put in.
That being said, it's not as if I could use it freely.
After a few tense moments, the slight tapping of metal boots on stone floor could be heard. Slowly stepping into the pseudo-amphitheater was a sniggering horned man in disgustingly shiny golden armor.
"You lot look a lot more put together than the last group. And a lot more angry. Are we sure you lot aren't dedicated to Wrath and the last guys were Sloths?" The golden flaked blueberry said, lazily placing his sword over his shoulder.
Why had I even let him start to talk? As soon as that thought passed through my skull, I shouted, the only sign my fellow cultists needed to know that this man was the enemy and to attack without letting up.
"Kneel!" I yelled, pointing my finger at the purple figure, the mana in my core lighting nearly my entire network on fire as I wielded the strongest magic I had at my disposal, Command Soul.
Yet as the sickly green mana overwhelmed the man, as every ranged mage in the base focused their spells on the figure clad in gold, as the strongest of our enhancers collapsed upon the man in a pincer attack they had practiced hundreds of times, the worst possible outcome occurred.
A brilliant aura of gold overtook the man. Fists and swords struck true, spells rained upon him like missiles, yet I felt something wrong the moment my spell took effect. Better to say, it didn't.
Swords and fists struck, magic exploded, yet the man stood completely unaffected. But the words he proclaimed the moment after would haunt the last few minutes of my life.
"Worldly Mirror" As the words escaped his lips, the enhancers around him were blown backward, missiles and beams of magic instantly shot out of him in countless directions, and worst of all, I felt myself plummet to the ground with the force of a meteor.
Bashing my head against a rather large boulder that a highly-motivated cult member had brought in to use as a seat, the following minutes of carnage passed in a blur. The man moved through our ranks and formations like a ghost.
Spells seemed to pass directly through or around him. Enhancers were suddenly sluggish before falling to his disgustingly bright saber. He was like a whirlwind of death, carving our members apart like bread before dipping it in a soup. The worst part of it all? I couldn't help at all, as each and every time I stood back up, he would focus on me for a moment, blowing me against a wall, the ceiling, the floor, and one time even pressing upon me with an invisible force so powerful that only my blessing allowed me to force air to continue to push into my lungs.
Why did he not kill me? Why leave me to live.
And so, I find myself pinned against the far wall of the chamber, using Control Freak to force my lungs to continue to work and slowly push back against this wicked magic as I watch the final brave members of our base fight against him and lose horribly.
After another painful minute, everyone was gone. Damien, who I was raised alongside and eventually grew stronger than died on his feet. Sarah, who was our newest recruit, had her head exploded. Andrew, barely knew the guy, but he got turned into a marble. Finally, it appeared to be my turn.
Feeling the strong force of the man's magic fall away was a relief for a moment as I dropped against the wall, taking large gulps of air.
"So, we meet at last, Emissary of Sloth." The previously golden, now rose gold on account of the foreign blood dripping from his armor, the man said with a cocksure grin. "You sure know how to hide like a rat."
"What?" I ask, genuinely confused. Emissary? I'm not an emissary, I'm a High Priest.
"Don't even try to hide it. I felt your blessing the moment I laid eyes upon you. It's extremely weak in comparison to the last couple guys, but I guess that's all the Lord of Laziness can give out huh? Tell me, what was the name of your original world? I'm keeping a running tab." He said, pulling out a small green notebook and a small pencil.
What? Huh? Original World? What the fuck is this lunatic talking about?
"What are you talking about you lunatic?" I ask, taking this break in rhythm to gather all the power I can into my right arm. If I'm going to die, the least I can do is hurt this dickhead for insulting our lord.
"Dude, cmon, everyone else is dead. You can stop pretending now." He said, raising his eyebrows and giving me a strange look.
Feeling that my mana network might literally burn out if I hold it any longer, I did what felt like the most natural thing in the world. Sticking out my arm, I launched a solidified spike of mana directly at his left peck, wrapping it in every ounce of additional power my divine blessing could offer.
The outcome was amazing.
After watching this freak cleave through our organization without taking an ounce of damage or breaking a sweat, watching the spike tear through his left shoulder and take his arm clean off was cathartic. If only my aim had been a bit better.
The golden idiot screamed out in pain, placing his remaining arm on the large wound and chanting something I couldn't hear over the heartbeat in my ear and the burning pain in my arm. If I lived through this, which I wouldn't, I would never be able to cast from there again.
The blood abruptly stopped flowing from the side of the man. Bad sign. At least I can get in a taunt before he brutally kills me.
"Hahaha! Don't worry, you're all right now! Get it? Cause I blew off your left arm you fucking idiot! If I can do that with my blessing, imagine what our leader can do to you! Get ready to meet me in-" Before I was able to continue my string of admittedly hilarious insults, the rube had the rude idea to remove my head from my body.
Thinking of which, how exactly am I still thinking right now? I'm certain I felt my ear hit the cold stone floor.
Taking one long blink, I opened my eyes to find myself sitting in a strange, living room?