Magic Mastery has been created at level 50
As an Archmage, you have attained one of the highest positions in the Mages’ College.
Mage, Ritualist, and Arcane Savant have been absorbed into the Archmage title.
Arcane Marksman has increased to 25
Due to the drop in level, all newly acquired points will be withheld.
Chapter 34
All across the world, the real world that is, television shows and advertisements were interrupted simultaneously. I hadn’t learned the extent of this ‘marketing strategy’ until later, but it effectively made sure that everyone knew about the game. I had to watch the video myself later, after such features were available, because I was too preoccupied with my own battle.
The video opened with a bird’s eye view of a large circular valley in the center of a ring of mountains, the Devil’s Valley. Hordes of strange creatures, big and small, littered the ground. Flying roughly a hundred feet above them, standing before a pair of massive giants, was an armor clad female with a black sword bigger than her body. Raising the sword to the sky, as if it weighed nothing, she seemed to be addressing the air.
“We’re here, Azrael. This is the battle you’ve always wanted.”
After her words spoke, the sound of trumpets filled the air, as golden gates appeared high in the sky. From the gates appeared the form of a single angel, wearing silver armor and with four glowing wings on his back. On his hip rested a shining mithral sword, whose presence could be felt even at this distance.
“Finally, Queen of the Damned. Your kind has been allowed to roam free for far too long.” Unsheathing his sword, he too raised it. “Come forth, my host of angels! Today, we end the spread of chaos. Show these misfits what a proper army looks like!”
In response to his declaration, legions of angels poured out of the gate, filling the sky in an even formation. Each one drew their sword, staff, or hammer, and placed it in front of themselves facing down. “Scriptures, ready yourselves!”
Roughly a tenth of the angels, those wearing white flowing robes instead of armor, closed their hands in prayer. Azrael, the apparent commander of this army, performed the same action. In response, Lilith let out her own order.
“The name is Lilith, asshat. Arcane Legion, give them a good greeting!” With her command, a horde of multicolored demons flew into the air around her. While their colors varied, they all had a roughly humanoid shape, and had horns atop their head. The number and shape of the horns varied with each demon, but it was obvious they were similar types.
With this, angel and demon prepared their opening attacks, chanting voices amplified in unity and carried across the battlefield. The angels seemed to be casting through prayer, a golden light shining around them. “Oh golden shepherd, thou who spoke the name of the first, pass your judgement upon these fallen souls. Return these sinful creatures to your divine embrace, so that they may be purified by the light of truth.”
Meanwhile, the demons were chanting their own spell, though they made no effort to hide its nature. An aura of runes spread out among them, converging on the demon queen. “By the truth of origin, let all voices be heard. In the name of the fallen, the one who knew the price that must be paid. Come forth, my soul, become the blade that devours. By my rights as the Queen, I pass judgement on those who stand before me.
From above, the words “Heaven’s Law” were spoken by the angels in prayer. From below, the demons declared “Hell’s Judgement”. The light cast on the angels expanded, and then condensed into a single beam which shot down towards the ground. Meanwhile, the runes surrounding the demons seemed to explode all at once, causing black and red fire to rise in countless tendrils.
Light and shadow joined in the sky, those various strands of hellfire converging on the beam and wrapping around it as if it were a solid object. The surprising thing was that it actually managed to stop the spell, both effects cancelling each other out. But not without side-effects. As the hellfire encompassed the angels’ attack, it condensed around it, appearing to devour the spell. At that moment, the full force of both spells were unleashed, causing an explosion to rock the sky.
With their opening attacks delivered, both armies charged. Among the angels, there were roughly two dozen that had four wings, similar to those of their leader. They remained in the sky while the rest flew to meet the enemy. Of course, not all of the demons were capable of flight. Some rode on the backs of great beasts in order to reach into the air, while others relied on ranged attacks to assist in battle.
Lilith herself was right in the center of it all, swinging her blade and cleaving through enemy after enemy as if they were nothing. Unlike the enemy commander, she didn’t hesitate to enter the battle. Though she appeared ruthless, her actions had been calculated to do the most that she could. Any time a demon near her was in trouble, or heavily wounded, she would appear next to them. With a swing of her sword, she dispatched the offending angels, and with a kick she sent the demon back a safe distance so that they could recover.
Without the aid of the four-winged angels, the battle was clearly in favor of the demons. Many were being killed on both sides, but the angels had been gradually pushed back until they were out of reach of those demons unable to leave the ground.
“Archangels, advance.” With a wave of his hand, Azrael and his companions joined the fray, seeming to tip the scale in their favor. Normal demons were not even able to withstand a single attack from their shining blades, leaving the demon queen no chance to save them. However, there were a few capable of fighting back.
Most people wouldn’t know the structure of Hell as well as I did, but I knew that the position of the Knights of Hell weren’t entirely based on skill. They were merely the first, the ones that stood tall and pushed back the angels in the first war. Why couldn’t there be others after all this time with the same power?
Soon each Archangel was met with their own powerful demon. Some were so fast that the angels couldn’t land a hit, while others seemed to simply ignore any attack that came their way. Naturally, neither of these possessed power enough to immediately defeat their opponent, but there were also those that had the proper strength. Small, seemingly frail demons dented armor and launched the Archangels back with a single punch, far more powerful than what their size should allow.
Far above the chaos of the ensuing battle, arguably the most important fight was taking place. Azrael and Lilith were clashing blades, with the angel relying on his superior speed to try and overwhelm the demon queen’s strength and defense. As if fearing her weapon, he avoided allowing it to meet his own sword as often as he could. But he was caught off guard when a red light came out of her gauntlet, forming claws of hellfire.
They seemed to pause their fight for a brief moment and exchange words, but their voices were lost in the sounds of the battle below. After that, they once more charged each other, with Lilith now wielding both her greatsword and her flaming claws to attack. Now the special abilities of each of their weapons came into play. From the tip of Azrael’s sword, space seemed to distort outwards, while Lilith’s weapon appeared to consume the light around it.
When their blades clashed again, Lilith was sent flying back dozens of meters from the impact, while Azrael’s sword wavered, slightly warped. The shock on his face was priceless, as if he had been sure of his victory with a single strike. Before he had the chance to prepare himself for another attack, the flaming claws of Lilith’s gauntlet lashed out, instantly crossing the distance between them and carving into his glowing armor.
From this interaction, it seemed clear that Lilith held an advantage in this fight, but Azrael refused to back down. Despite the condition of his blade, he readied it again for another exchange, while at the same time his eyes began to glow. Seeing this, Lilith brought her clawed hand to the hilt of her sword, now holding it in both hands. The flames from her claws wrapped around the blade, while at the same time still being sucked into it. The more the blade absorbed t
he flames, the sharper and longer it seemed to become.
When they charged again, a bright light enveloped Azrael’s body, lashing out at Lilith like a whip and moving her sword just slightly to the side. This allowed him an opening, which he used to carve into her armor with the damaged blade, eliciting a scream from the demon. Despite his arrogant smile, her armor immediately closed the hole, and her body instantly moved.
Azrael attempted to fly back out of her reach, but did not account for the new length of her weapon, allowing it to slam into his armor at full force. He could be seen coughing up blood, while parts of his armor faded from view, being absorbed into the weapon that struck him. His glare seemed more dangerous than any attack launched thus far, and he retreated back over a hundred meters while clutching his side.
Now, his voice easily carried, “This is the end of you, hellspawn.” His body brightened further, and the wound in his side began closing up. Though it did nothing to fix his armor, the healing still helped him recover. “I invoke the right of kings, and call forth the fury of Heaven!” Four orbs of light appeared, one at the end of each of Azrael’s wings, which shot forward to converge directly in front of him.
Lilith raised her weapon into a defensive stance, but did not make any move to evade as the four beams became one and shot towards her. A low mumbling could be heard from her, but her voice did not match her opponent, and likewise did not carry well enough to be understood.
Once the beam of light reached her, it began curving and slowing down. Azrael’s face darkened as he watched his spell be consumed by the sword the demon queen carried. For all intents and purposes, it acted as if it were a black hole, sucking all matter and energy directly into itself. Again the sword grew, while the King of Angels seemed incapable of accepting this defeat. He launched another beam of light, with similar results, and then flew forward to clash with her. Before he reached her, the thick metal tail of her armor lashed out with a bladed tip, slapping him to the side. Her body hadn’t moved an inch from her defensive position aside from the tail, which seemed to watch him.
Recklessly, he charged again, only to be slapped away with the tail once more. However, this time it had struck his unarmored side, causing a deep wound. He healed himself, and again charged, receiving another strike in the same place. All the while, Lilith had maintained her defensive position without moving a muscle.
Finally, the King of Angels seemed to accept that he wasn’t getting anywhere. His spells nor blade could reach him. His armor and weapon had been damaged, while she herself appeared perfectly fine. Looking down at the battle, Azrael also found that his army was gradually being overwhelmed yet again.
Turning to face her once more, he spat blood from his mouth. “This isn’t over, Lilith.” He spoke the name as if it were poison, before pulling back to the gates and signalling for his men to retreat. Surprisingly, not a single angel was attacked as they pulled out of the fight. However, those that were reluctant to leave were shown no such mercy, surrounded by the demons and defeated one by one.
The last angel to pass through the shining gate was Azrael himself, and as he did so the gates began closing, marking the end of the Battle of Devil’s Valley. However, the video didn’t end there, and instead focused on Lilith. Even with the angels gone, her posture hadn’t changed in the slightest. And when it did, when her body seemed to relax, she began falling. Her body plummeted uncontrollably straight towards the ground, her armor fading away into little more than metal lingerie.
The sight made the demons let out a collective gasp, before rushing to catch her. The wound she received from Azrael hadn’t closed when her armor did, and there was a long gash along her side and stomach. Lilith herself had seemingly lost consciousness long ago, which must have meant her armor had been protecting her on its own.
Lilith’s body slowed significantly under a pale blue light, before a similarly colored demon gently caught her in his arms, smiling softly to her. “You’ve done well, our Queen.”
Epilogue
And with that, the video faded out, leaving the rest of what happened to the imagination of the viewers. When it faded back in, there was an old man on the screen, sitting in the center of a dimly lit library. “Thank you all for participating in the Open Beta test for my game, known as The Dive. The battle you just witnessed was not a prearranged trailer, but a true event within the game itself. Known as the Battle of Devil’s Valley, this video truly showcases the most important aspects of this game.
“Many of you have already played, so this should come as no surprise to you. For the others, The Dive is a game of limitless possibilities. Where a single man can become a great soldier, mage, or even a king. Now that the Open Beta has been concluded, the previous ban on all information related to the game has been lifted. Likewise, an official site has now been established for players to review basic information.
“The official launch of the game shall commence in three weeks, after which ten years would have passed in the world of the game. Players from the Open Beta have the option of either keeping their old characters, or reestablishing themselves in one of the many new races available. As I have said, it will have been ten years from the Battle of Devil’s Valley.
“Now, what will you choose? Will you fight for honor, reach the heights of magic, or ascend the ranks of royalty? This world is shaped by you, the players. What happens after..” The old man had a faint smile on his face as he finished, “God only knows.”
Do you wish to connect to The Dive?
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The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 50