Chapter 27 – The Greatest Hunt Ends at Last

No mortal can kill a God.

Never happened. Never will.

- A Saying Among Divines

Fer watched as Atis strode to the centre of the room. Even the greatest minotaur and darkfur backed away from him. God of the Hunt, a natural antithesis to beastmen, a predator who made predators prey. He wore the divine leather from the Great War, the boar spear in his hand was used to hunt dragons. His eyes scoured over the beastmen and he took a sigh.

“Today Fer, we can finally end our chase!” The spear pointed to her. Fer wanted to run away. She wanted to flee and scamper, to crawl into a den and bury her head. She could not. She had a pack to protect. This was her family, she would sooner die than let them watch her flee. “Goddess of Beasthood! Like the olden days! A duel!”

Fer stood up and took a step forwards. The dozen or so minutes of rest weren’t a total recovery, but they were enough. They had to be at this point anyway. The three children Anassa sent stepped behind the ranks of beastmen, their heartstones glittering.

Fer took another step forwards, dropped to her fours, and howled. Her pack howled too and Atis burst out in laughter. “LIKE THE OLDEN DAYS!” Every muscle in her body twisted, every vein popped, her claws grew long, her teeth into fangs and she became a wolf pouncing for the kill.

Tooth and claw tore through cloth and flesh. Blade and magic tore through fur and muscle. The beastmen were a cornered rat, all grace and sense of self preservation was washed away under a flood of savagery and pure bloodlust mentality. Fer felt the strings of sorcery that Anassa’s little students played with make their move.

Explosions and fire and scythes of wind tore through the ranks of cultivators, but for every member they lost, another of her pack fell to the sound of a death howl. More explosions rang out from last time. Closer this time, rapid too. Even if they survived now, the castle would collapse on them. Fer took a deep breath as Atis knocked her away and adopted a fighting stance.

Behind him, twenty men burned up in an explosion, the work of Anassa’s students. A beastman was split in two by a dancing glaive, another frozen after being pierced by a magic sword. Fer grabbed Atis’ spear thrust, they both twisted, he was stronger. It slipped out of her hands and cut her palms.

She pounced at him again. He dodged, spun, it was masterful footwork, the spear flicked up and aimed at her chest. Fer twisted in mid-air and narrowly avoided the blow, a single cut lay on the back of Atis’ hand. He took a step back, shook the blood off and smiled at her. “Excellent, you are worthy of your title, Goddess of Beasthood.”

Fer merely snarled at the words. Her vision became red, her muscles tensed to almost rupturing, and she launched herself at Atis. The spear came up, she feinted towards it, sidestepped and swiped at Atis’ chest. The God of the Hunt took a step back and the butt of the spear smacked Fer’s head as her claws swiped at his armour.

A scratch for a concussion.

Fer saw the battle. Anassa’s three were still there, the short girl was flicking her finger at incoming blades. They simply got crushed into balls and dropped to the floor. The other two were slinging spell after spell into the cultivators. Beast still tore into man, but numbers on both sides were dropping down. Not from the outside, those sharp explosions were ever closer to the throne room. Fer smiled, she hoped the Guguoans would bury Atis in here along with her.

She launched herself at the God again. Divine against Divine, claw met spear, tooth met armour. She left a scratch on his cheek. His spear finally got her. The long blade slice her calves. She jumped backwards and felt Atis’ boot in his chest. It sent her flying across the throne room, sliding across the floor leaving a trail off blood until her back finally slammed against the steps leading up to the King’s seat. She howled in pain as Atis flicked the blood of his spear. “That was a good showing, Goddess.” He took a step as Fer felt fear make her red eyes grow large and begging. “Bu-“

Atis voice was cut off by a roar. A beast of Fer, but not one belonging to her back had dived from the ceiling onto him. She knew the man immediately, it was one of hers, a pureblood. Beast born of Sorcery, Anassa’s student, the last one. A werewolf. Fer smiled to herself as she tried to lift a hand.

Fire spewed from the werewolf’s mouth as it bit into Atis’ shoulder. Its fur began to ignite. The God merely swatted it away in an instant. The werewolf was launched against the wall and slowly began to transform back into a human. “LYCA!” Eliza screamed.

The fire on Atis’ armour would not go out. “Anassa’s sorcery.” Atis said to himself as he calmly took off his leather, patted the meagre flames on his white shirt away and kicked the chest-piece away. He turned to the child who had burned him. “Boy, do not play games. There are ways to heal your curse, it is not your fault if you’ve been tricked.” He looked to Anassa’s other students. “You too. Lower your weapons, the Guguoans will not kill you and you can be forgiven, falling to Anassa’s temptations is not a crime.” They looked to themselves, then to Fer.

The Goddess merely smiled at them. They weren’t important, it was the fact her sister was stilling looking out for her. “Go.” Fer said, her voice weak. “Do not come back. We are Gods.”

“No mortal can kill a God.” Atis said.

“Never happened.” Fer added to the saying.

“Never will.” Atis finished it. He took a step towards Fer, she was ready to embrace Death. She had cheated it too many times already. Those explosions finally stopped. The Guguoans were ready to bring the whole fort down anyway. “It was a pleasure, Goddess of the Hunt. I will wait for your next-“

“FIRE!” Explosions rang out. “FIRE!” More explosions. Atis’ face lost its confidence as he touched his chest. “FIRE AGAIN!” Blood stained his shirt. “FIRE AND KEEP FIRING! RELOAD AND FIRE! FIRE UNTIL YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT!” Atis took another step and his leg gave out. More explosions, so rapidly it was if the caster had turned insane. Atis’ eyes went blank as he turned his head. One more step and he fell onto his knees. “ONE MORE VOLLEY!” Another set of blasts and explosions. Fer recognised the voice, she simply could not believe it. “AND ANOTHER! FOR GOOD MEASURE!” Another set of explosions echoed throughout the room. “HOLD!”

Fer used all her strength to push herself up and look passed Atis’ body. There he was. An elf in leather boots, one hand on the sword on his hip. In a long fur coat, with bright green eyes and noble golden hair. A face so proud the man looked as if he did not regret a single moment in his life, a smile that beamed simple joy. To each side of him, a line of fifteen men lay on the ground. Then another kneeling. A next set slightly lowered and another fifteen standing tall. All of them were holding something Fer had never seen before.

The elf in the centre stepped forwards and Fer wanted to cry; Iliyal Tremali, General of Eighth Army a thousand years ago. “GENTLEMEN! BE HAPPY AND BE PROUD!” He stopped after a step, his smile ecstatic and turned around to face the men.

“WE HAVE JUST KILLED A GOD!”

- - End of Arc 1: The Greatest Hunt - -