Chapter 36 - One Who Stands Above All (Part 1)

---Next Morning---

Waking up at 4am, I got up and had a bite to eat. Getting Escanor's armor on after that, I made sure that everything fit properly and was secure. The armor was heavy enough that if a piece came off as I moved it would crush someone to death. Walking over to the bed, I lightly shook the three Goddesses till they woke up.

"Mael...something wrong?", Aqua groaned, "What time is it..?"

"You three need to get ready to go. The Evilus are going to make their play in an hour, I need to get you three to Babel.", I told her.

Laughing at me, she thought I was joking till she saw the serious look on my face. Realizing this wasn't a joke, Aqua woke Hestia and Ristarte up. Telling them to get ready, they looked at her with confusion. They asked her why she was waking them up so early.

"Mael says the Evilus are going to attack, we need to get to Babel.", Aqua stated.

"Oh...that's not a big deal.", Ristarte yawned before it clicked with her, "Wait what!? You mean they are going to attack!! I don't want to go back to Heaven!!"

"The Evilus, are you sure?", Hestia asked jumping out of bed to wash her face.

"Yes, we need to leave in five minutes.", I told them.

Hurriedly getting ready, the three of them grabbed and followed me out of the church. Executing several Evilus Familia Members along the way, the three of them realized how serious the situation was. The entire city was still asleep, completely unaware that the attack was coming. Handing the three of them over to the Guild, I informed Ouranos that the Evilus were already on the move.

"Thank you for the warning, I already heard from Astraea.", he said with a nod, "Where are you headed?"

"I am going to stop the Stampede from coming into Orario.", I chuckled, "I shouldn't be too long, I will be back to help defend Babel. Make sure you bring all the Deities here, they intend to kill several of them to send a strong message."

Nodding his head, he said the defenders would be ready as they could be for the battle. Leaving the four deities behind me, I headed to the East Gate first. Rushing towards the East Gate, I got into position and waited for the Stampede to show up.

---3rd Person POV---

Deep in the Man-Made Dungeon, the Evilus Familias were already on the move. Sending their pawns out, they were enroute to the enemy Familia residences to carryout their suicide missions. While they were busy getting things ready, Erebus was admiring the two monsters he had raised from scratch using captured Adventurers and other monsters. Even though they were monsters, he had them under his control through means which the other Evilus Deities didn't understand.

"It's time for the world to see you, Chaos and Nightmare.", Erebus laughed, "All these years of planning has come to this moment. Don't hesitate to tear Orario apart, it's all for the greater good of the world. This place has become stagnate, the world will start moving forward once this city is gone."

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"Lord Erebus, it's almost time.", Valletta told him trying not to look at his pets.

"I know, my creations will make their grand entrance when we chaos envelops the city. You made sure that all the Adventurers will be outside the Dungeon right? I don't want any of them escaping.", he said.

"Yes Lord Erebus, no one is in Dungeon at this time aside from our men.", she replied.

"Good, lets head to Babel then to see the chaos start.", he said looking at his creations, "Both of you, wait at the entrance like I taught you and listen for my signal."

Doing as he said, the two monsters headed up like he trained them. Watching the scene unfold, Valletta felt unsettled by how well they behaved for him...they acted like nothing more than puppets for him. When they other deities gave them orders, they wouldn't listen and would immediately attack them. She wasn't sure how he did it, but it had to Dark Magic that was beyond her understanding.

The Evilus Familia members that weren't out fulfilling roles escorted the five Deities to edge of open area around Babel. All of them expected to see no one around, but instead they saw a heavily protected Babel. Seeing dozens of different Familia's gathered at the base of Babel, they saw Zeus, Hera, Freya, Loki, and Astraea at the front of the group.

"What's going on?", Thanatos spat, "Why are all of you here? You should be buried in your homes!"

"Your stupid night raid failed, that's what.", Loki retorted with an angry look, "Trying to bury my Familia using cowardly attacks, I shouldn't have expected anything less from a bunch of cowards."

"You should be buried under rubble or dead...", Erebus stated calmly, "This is a minor inconvenience at best."

"An Adventurer caught some of your spies, and got them to give up the plan.", Freya told him with a smile, "You have quite the nerve attacking my Familia in their beds. Sending ten people to kill my children...that's very bold of you."

Realizing the initial attack plan was compromised, Erebus didn't care. Even though they failed, everyone was here meaning no one was guarding the Gates. The hordes of monsters would wash over the city in minutes, and they would be trapped with no where to run. Thinking about what was about to happen, the Evilus and the defenders noticed hundreds of civilians running towards Babel.

"Why are there so many people?!", Finn asked, "No one has sounded any alarms..."

"What the hell is this!?", Rudra shouted.

As the first group of people got close, they explained what was happening.

"We were told to come here by a voice in our heads?", several people said.

"A voice?", Astraea questioned, "What did it say?"

"It told us to come to Babel.", a man spoke up, "It told us that we need to evacuate because an attack was coming. The voice said to come to Babel, and to heed the words of a man in Golden Armor."

"Golden armor?", Freya remarked looking around, "I haven't seen a man like that before..."

"Neither have I...why didn't we hear the voice?", Zeus muttered, "Zald?"

"No...I don't remember meeting anyone in my-", Zald started to say as several dozen beams of pure white light shot up around the city.

Watching more and more of them pop up, everyone was confused by what was happening. The moment the clock towers rang 5am, the Eastern side of Orario was bathed in a golden light. Everyone turned to see an enormous tsunami of golden fire crash into the wall followed by the loud roar of the explosion that caused it. Hanging on for dear life as three more identical explosions happened at each of the other Gates. Thinking that it was the Evilus that were doing this, Astraea pleaded with them to stop.

"Erebus, please stop this!!", Astraea pleaded, "I don't want to see any innocent people hurt."

"We are beyond that now Astraea.", Erebus told her, "I told you that before, and it won't change it now. It doesn't matter how many Familias you called in to help. All of them on the walls will die!"

"There are none...", Finn whispered looking at Loki, "That wasn't us, and I don't think it was them..."

"Who was it then?", Freya asked.

At the back of the group Aqua, Ristarte, and Hestia were all sweating heavily. They knew who was responsible for the explosions as only one person had said they were going there. Mael was the only Adventurer out on the wall right now meaning it had to of come from him. The only problem was how quickly the attacks happened...they understood he would have needed to teleport or move at extremely high speeds to do it.

'Not only that...those weren't normal magical attacks...', Aqua thought.

Not giving them a moment to collect themselves, Erebus gave the signal for the monsters to storm the city. Hearing the roar of monsters entering the city through the Man-Made Dungeon, Finn gave the order to close ranks to the Familias. While the Adventurers began to move, Ouranos had the civilians enter Babel for safety. Sending them to the higher levels, he wanted to minimize the causalities as much as possible.

'The only one that I have seen in Gold Armor...it was that boy.', Ouranos thought, 'He is the one fighting the monsters on the wall, I know it!'

Knowing that the monsters on the outside of the wall weren't going to box them in, Erebus changed his plans.

"Let's see how you defenders fare against my creations.", Erebus said pulling a whistle out of his pocket.

"Don't do it, please!!", Astraea shouted.

Blowing the whistle, an ear pierce sound shot out of a nearby building as two massive monsters broke through the ground. Seeing a massive three headed dog and some sort of insect looking monsters appear, everyone present felt chills go down their spines.

"Shit!! Those aren't normal monsters!", Finn spat, "Shield Bearers, to your positions!!"

"Ottar, do you think you can beat them?", Freya asked with a slightly worried look.

"I will die trying if necessary.", he replied stepping in front of her.

"Zald!", Zeus ordered, "Alfia and you have the best chance of taking them out! Tanks to the front and keep the small fries away from the civilians till they are inside, Archers focus on the aerial enemies, Mages focus on buffing Ottar, Alfia and Zald, and Healers prepare to cast healing as needed!! Support Mages, keep going till you can't continue!! This is life and death for all of us!!"

Glancing back, Finn was a bit shocked Zeus was dishing out orders instead of letting him lead. Initially this was supposed to be his operation, but that seemed to change the moment two powerful monsters showed up. Deciding now wasn't the time to argue, he fell in line to help the best he could.

"Stop standing around!! These aren't enemies we can show any lapse in attention with!!", Zeus shouted, "They are at least Level 7 if not Level 8, keep your wits about you!!"

"You heard him, if you can't follow those orders step aside!", Freya and Hera barked.

Cracking a smile, Erebus ordered Nightmare to attack them. Rushing forward the insect looking on raised its scythe looking arms, and readied a powerful swing.

"SHIELD UP!!!", Zald shouted to the Tanks.

Coming down on the shield wall, several Adventurers screamed out in pain as their gear was unable to stop it's attack. Watching shield bears going flying away through the air in pieces, it hit home how bloody of a fight this would be.

---Mael POV, Earlier On---

Standing on the wall waiting for 5am to come, I noticed that farmers were getting up to head out to the fields. Deciding that I needed to keep them from going out, I tried to reach out to the civilian populace and forewarn them of the impending fight.

'Where will all of them go though...Babel is too far for people to run with only a few minutes warning.', I thought, 'I will setup Safe Zones that the monsters can't enter, that's the best option.'

Changing into my Angelic Form, I zipped around Orario setting up the zones in places where a large number of people could gather. Once I was satisfied that there were enough places for people to go, I tried to reach out to the minds of all the civilians in Orario.

"People of Orario, heed my warning. A Stampede is about besiege the city, head to the closest Safe Zone and hold there till a man in Golden Armor comes. He will protect you from the monsters, those who do not do so may not see the light of dawn.", I spoke to them giving them a vague sense of where they needed to run.

I wasn't a hundred percent it would work, but to my surprise I saw lights come on all over Orario. Watching people grab their loved ones, they all took to the streets and started moving quickly. Content with that, I returned the East Wall and returned to my normal appearance. Seeing the monsters rushing towards the City Gates, the guards hurried barred the doors and braced themselves for a fight.