Ep 69. Hide Well, Hide True. (3)

  Divinity was a loose term; being broken shards of one whole, one could even say it was ridiculous for each shard to tain equal amounts of the inal’s essence.

  A, Clyus couldn’t shake off the feeling that one was overly – extremely – unbanced.

  Another series of high-pitched shrieks rang out from the halls behind them; the building occasionally rumbled in unison. After each brief silehat followed, the shrieks would repeat all ain.

  The elf meekly gnced over to his grinning friend. The deity of death was no longer b to check ea, instead leaving it to Gio to kill everyone in his stead.

  “Felicir, I didn’t realize you were capable of trolling others.”

  “…”

  Instead of answering right away, Felicir gnced over to the far wall. He slowly came to a stop, his eyes fixed on an illustration of the Twelve.

  The Reaper was always depicted as a faceless, hooded figure, holding a scythe in hand. Most other deities weren’t too accurate either; in fact, most of it was acc to how mankind imagihem to be, of what little they knew of them.

  “Unfair, isn’t it? That a divinity of death would grant ohority over life as well. One would think it better suits Aldrid.”

  From the moment they’re born, all lives begin to die. No predecessor of his divinity had fully grasped at this truth.

  Death was not a singur event, nor was it a state of being. In the Reaper’s eyes, eople referred to as life was merely a lengthy process of dying.

  “Birth is a death sentence. We may wish to be immortal, but the truth is, no one is – not even us, Clyus.”

  “…A rather despohought, that.”

  “And our unfortunate reality.”

  The Reaper shrugged towards his elven friend. Felicir sidered the Twelve as divine more than anyone else – but paradoxically, he also knew better than anyone else that they would ruly traheir mortality.

  “We’ve spent the st thousand years shaping this star; it’s quite a det world now. But in those years, have you spent any of them w how we’d die?”

  “I do believe Aymeia came quite close to killing herself then and there. That could very well be our first precursor.”

  Felicir snorted in amusement. Suicide was, in fact, quite a likely oute for some of them – despite all the troubles he’d gohrough to prevent such outes.

  “I’ve worked tirelessly to hold ourselves together, Clyus. You may not believe it, but I truly did work hard to mediate our troubles and rid us of our worries. But how long will this tinue?”

  “…Forever, as far as I’m ed.”

  “Forever is a long time, my friend.”

  Despite their respective divinities, not a single one of them could foresee their end. There was simply no telling how long the Twelve would tio exist in their current manner – and Felicir was no exception.

  If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then sometime into the future.

  If not his own hands, then someone else. If not someone else, then something else entirely.

  Such a day would e. As long as he lived, then one day, death would iably cim its ination.

  ‘And when that day es…’

  The Reaper’s death would mark the end of the Twelve’s reign.

  Of that, he had no doubt.

  ? ? ?

  A team of enfort sector’s agents cautiously made their way into one of the Magistitute’s buildings. The only people they’d seehe numerous dead bodies haphazardly spread about in the courtyard; even the hallway was filled with a deathly silence.

  One of the agents slowly spoke up to the elf enforcer leading them.

  “…Enforcer Atlius? Isn’t Enforcer Alpid ing with us?“

  The leading enfritted his teeth. He shot a gre towards the questioning individual.

  “Shut it. Were you pnning to be her pdog until retirement?”

  “I…no, sir!”

  “Focus on the job.”

  Ray Atlius, He was by no means as famous as his red-haired coworker, but he, too, was an enforcer of the association just the same. He’d often handled longer cases that involved damaged assets more so than persons and terrors, but with Iris absolutely refusing to leave her office, he’d elected himself to hahis case with all the personnel he could muster.

  ‘The association will deal with her ter. Lives take priority.’

  A series of faint screams rang forth from the distahe elf enforarrowed his eyes, darting his gaze towards the sound’s source.

  He could see ahe building across from theirs outside the window. Two men were walking out of its side: a bck-winged half, apanied by an elf. It fit the exact description of their likely targets that had been seen moving into the institute before the explosion of reported deaths.

  Ray immediately wove his hand towards the wall. A violent gust of wind smashed through the bricks, opening a path for the enforcer to front the two terrorists.

  “Move!”

  With a quick shout towards his team, Ray burst out of the wall he’d opened first, rag towards the terrorists.

  The two deities watched in fusion as members of the enfort sector flooded out of a broken wall by the opposing building. The elf in lead was especially remarkable, with their eyes madly fixed owets he eeding towards.

  Felicir looked towards Clyus, pointing at the charging enforcer with his thumb.

  “I thought you were making sure no witnesses could escape the facility? They seem quite aware of what we’ve done here.”

  “I did. But there isn’t much I do about withat are outside.”

  “…Fair enough.”

  The enforcer threateningly raised his hand; the two men’s versation just now was all the firmation he needed. Ray cast his spell without aation.

  Swirling winds began to gather around the two deities to form a miniature cye, swallowing their figures whole. The bsting winds trapped them in the destru’s wake.

  Ohe spell successfully found their targets, the enforcer barked out his orders.

  “Fire! Now!”

  Several agents quickly cast fire-based spells that were unched into the enforcer’s wind prison. The fires were swallowed into the cye without resistaurning the spell inting firestorm.

  “tai!”

  Several ents stepped forth, ereg barriers of water that kept the firestorm’s destru tained in its location.

  Ray watched the se unfold with nary a blink. He didn’t even move an intil he felt someoap on his shoulders.

  “Isn’t that a little too much?”

  The angered enforcer turned around, scowling at the question.

  “Do you not uand the gravity of the situation? We’re-“

  Resting on his shoulder was the rear end of a bck e. Holding its handle was the white-haired elf he’d seen apanying the winged figure from earlier – an individual who should’ve been trapped in the raging firestorm.

  Ray widened his eyes, astonished by the assaint’s appearance behind him. What followed thereafter, only spanned out through a split sed.

  The enforcer couldn’t afford the luxury to be surprised. He’d immediately spped the e off his shoulder, reag towards Clyus’ throat with his bare hands. He’d fully inteo grip it whole a another spellcast burst the assaint’s head.

  But instead of the deity’s throat, the enforcer’s momentum instead carried his hand into an open cra the air betweewo.

  His arm sunk into a sizzling mass of liquid fire; his eyes could see a glimpse of flowing va oher side of the crack that had opened. When Ray pulled back his arm in scorg pain, nothing remained of his limb a few thin strands of molten bone.

  Clyus’ expression crumpled at the hideous sight.

  “Now that, looks rather painful.”

  The enfritted his teeth. He darted his gaze behind him to scream his set of orders to his team.

  However, not a single one remaianding. Every agent id motionless on the ground, and standing amongst them was the winged figure from before, staring at the two elves with a benign smile.

  “Well, aren’t you just perfect? I was just starting to wish there’d be someone else we could use.”

  Felicir raised his hand towards the enforcer who ainfully holding onto his molten limb. Evil is muddled his face, and Ray shut his eyes in anticipation of his ih.

  Instead, an alieion washed over his body. The enforcer felt his expression loosee the burning pain of his molten arm, his body no longer felt the o hold onto the pain.

  Ray bnkly stared at the Reaper’s figure. When Felicir’s lips parted, he immediately realized what was going on.

  “Go. Kill anyone you find.”

  ‘Mental interference?! When did-‘

  The ‘how’ didn’t matter – not when Ray’s limp body was already turning towards the gate, back towards the city. Just as he was told.

  Felicir watched the enforcer take his leave. The deity let a soft smile curve his lips as they sang a f tune.

  “Hide well, hide true…”

  Hopefully, the winds would carry his voice towards the city – towards their target.

  “…Death is ing for you.”