The struggle of the weak

Another week passed by and the situation had changed fast. The Warbeasts have backed off into hiding after attacking the Dwarves. The Dwarves then went and allied with the Dragons and the Gigants. The Elves on the other hand joined forces with the fairys and a few other phantasmals. Speaking of the Elves, we learned of their trump card. A weapon in the form of a spell called the Aka Si Anse.

However someone has been manipulating things in the background, and I can guess who. In the end, the Elves and Dwarves are on high alert of each other's super weapons. It looks like someone is feeding them information and had drawn them to move their main HQ to Ariena. Right now tensions are high, as the Dwarve's main fleet and the Elve's main city are at a stand off with the Flugel's home, Avant Heim at the center.

"Are you sure this will work?"

I turned to Emiya who had a look of concern on his countenance. Probably because I looked pretty wretched right now. It looks like Kokabiel told him about my condition.

"If it doesn't then worst that can happen is I'll drop dead."

"That's not very reassuring."

"No, it isn't."

I chuckled a bit. I'm not afraid of death, if I died here then I'll just start again. Hopefully I don't lose my memory again. It'd be annoying.

"The Aka Si Anse from the Elves. The E-bomb from the Dwarves. As powerful as they are, they aren't enough to deal with Artosh's Heavenly Smite."

Heavenly Smite or Heaven's Strike. The Flugel's most powerful offensive spell. A more powerful version of it exists called the Godly Smite, using the combined power of Artosh and his Flugels. Releasing all that power in one blast. Simple yet effective.

"Is Kokabiel and his legion ready?" I asked, not being able to see as far as I usually can with my blurry vision.

"Everyone's in position from what I can see."

Emiya confirmed for me after a moment.

"Good. Let's end this."

∞

"Nyahaha! That is just so cute nya!"

Azril laughed unrelentingly, flying around the sphere of magic with a loli Jibril at the center.

"I was never a fan of the healing procedure. Nya. It's been a long time since I've seen you like this Jibril!"

Jibril opted to just stay silent and ignore her elder's annoying antics until she quieted down and turned her attention elsewhere.

"Mm, The Elves have the Aka Si Anse. The Dwarves have their E-Bombs. But their both still weak and yet challenging Lord Artosh. The fools should get squashed, nyah!"

The Flugels were already aware of their opponent's weapons yet Azril didn't care much for it. Artosh wouldn't lose to them, even if he allowed them to hit him directly with both.

"You're the fool Azril, we can't afford to make any brazen moves ourselves. Lord Artosh is awaiting the right opportunity."

A Flugel with Aquamarine colored hair chastised her. Her name was Rafil, she had bangs that covered a missing eye. She wore a dark purple bra with dark purple undergarments and matching high heel toned boots.

"All that's missing now is if that insect lord showed up Nyah~"

"Don't remind me of that guy, you know he's the reason I only have one wing now right?"

It was true, that at one point during Zieg's assault on Avant Heim in the past. He had shown his dominance by tearing a Flugel's wing right off with his bare hands. Rafil would have been traumatized from that experience if she hadn't experienced worst in the past when Azril used her as a bullet to try and kill an Old Deus.

*BOOM sfx* "Eh?"

All of a sudden, explosions reverberated across the land.

[Detecting multiple heat signatures from outside.]

"What is going on here, who had the nerve to attack first Nya!?"

Over at the Dwarves, one of their airships had been struck down.

"We've confirmed the preemptive strike originating from the Elden Lord. Prepare to launch the E-Bombs!"

Across the battlefield, the Elve's barrier had been struck multiple times with some cracks on the surface. The Elf leader, Think Nirvalen began to give orders in response.

"Prepare to fire the Aka Si Anse at maximum output! Aim for the Dwarfish fleet to port and the Elden Lord at starboard!"

'I predict a strike from Avant Heim, but before that we need to eliminate the Elden Lord!'

"Nya...so you decided to show up. Elden Lord."

At the center of the 3-way stand off. Zieg stood atop the Elden Beast. He had provoked all 3 sides by attacking them all at once. His face was pale and there was an empty hole at the center of his chest. Large enough to see through to the other side. Despite this, a confident smile remained on his expression as he stared up at Avant Heim.

"Yo, Artosh. I know you can hear me. Let me ask you, have you ever taken the time to look at the inferior mortals below you?" His voice was loud, but being in the center of the chaos. Neither the Dwarfs nor the Elves could hear him. But he knew the god of war could hear his words.

"We are imperfect. We are weak, yet we continue to struggle. We struggle for various reasons. Whether to survive, to become stronger or to defy fate itself. If you've ever taken the time to observe it, you'd easily find it to be an ugly and wretched process."

His hand moved to the empty hole in his chest, where his heart should be. The blood flowing out of it had dried out, and he was obviously dying.

"Kid, you won't last much longer."

"If this doesn't work, then we're all dead."

On each side of his shoulder, was a small red and white dragon respectively. They were small and tiny, only large enough to hang on his shoulders. Draig and Albion finally had a body, but they weren't ready for combat yet.

"I know." Zieg knew they were right. However he kept his gaze towards where he felt Artosh watching him from. "Artosh, consider this a gift from me. The ugly process of my struggle to evolve and break the limit of my own weakness! Trust me, the end result won't disappoint you."

"E-bomb launched! Aka Si Anse, maximum output!"

The Dwarves and the Elves launched their greatest weapons straight towards the center, where Zieg stood with his arms crossed. However outside the battlefield, the legion of 3 thousand Fallen were positioned with magic circles rotating in their hands.

"Begin transfer!"

Kokabiel gave the order and a massive circle expanded from Zieg's position. The bright light lasted for a moment, and before the combined attacks of the E-Bombs and Aka Si Anse reached their mark. The Erdtree appeared around Zieg with him at the center.

*BOOM sfx* The combined attacks struck true and the bark of the great tree was shredded to pieces in the process. The ensuing force continued to dive deeper within the tree, reaching the Elden Lord. However Zieg didn't move, instead he held the core of the tree between his hands. Focusing all his attention on it.

[BOOST!]

[DIVIDE!]

The dragon emperors acted at that moment. The force of both the attacks were divided and a boost was directed towards the core.

"Kid I'm dividing it, but it's still burning up your body! We won't make it!"

"How much energy do we have to push into that damn thing!?"

Zieg continued to ignore everything around him, even as his body began to blacken and char. His sole attention on the core of the Erdtree. A crack appeared at the center, causing him to widen his eyes.

"Just a bit more!" Zieg roared out.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

[DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!]

Finally the core burst open and the seed was released.

∞

3 years, I've been working towards this. The Erdtree that I manifested into the real world. Merely an illusion of the real thing inside of me. It was no different than a bounded field that allowed me to use the Elden Lord's strength without any limit as long as I was inside of it.

So I decided to turn it from an illusion, to reality. 3 years, I've endured the strain of keeping the Erdtree manifested outside of me. Whether I was awake, or asleep or gravely injured. I continued to struggle and endure. Planting it straight into the Spirit Circuit, continuously siphoning off the power to turn illusion into reality.

After 3 years, a core in the form of a sphere had emerged and a seed was on the cusp of existence. But it wasn't enough, it just needed one last push. One last catalyst to break it open and allow it to show itself.

"Kid! You need to hurry up!"

"Shit, his arms are burnt to a crisp, they're falling off!"

Just a little more. My body is on the verge of death, desperate for life. It's the same with this seed, it's desperate for life as well. I was falling from the sky, the Elden Beast had been eradicated in the blast.

I'm so close.

Just a bit more.

"Shit, hold him up! I'll push it in!" I heard Draig's frantic words as Albion tried to slow my descent with his tiny body.

The seed was pushed into the empty void in my chest. Roots began to spread from the seed and I could feel the Strength of an Elden Lord returning.

I'm thankful that I wasn't alone for this.

∞

Sound had halted. All eyes remained on the Elden Lord, falling from grace. However when all had thought he was finished. A golden light pulsed out across the land.

"Impossible!" All 3 factions watched slack jawed at the sight of the man exuding golden light in the air.

He was shirtless, his eyes revealed the familiar Elden Rings within them. His chest had closed up, and he looked invincible as ever.

"An Elden Lord's strength shouldn't be temporary. If I'm going to carry the title, why shouldn't I always be that strong?"

Zieg voiced out the rhetorical question with a small smile. His power as an Elden Lord was no longer temporary, he had broken through his limit.

*BOOM sfx* an eruption of power was released from Avant Heim. A pillar of purple light descended upon the world as the black clouds rolled in. The seas began to evaporate from the sheer heat and the mountains crumbled from the apocalyptic power.

"Artosh-sama?" The Flugels were astonished that Artosh had decided to let out his power at that moment in retaliation to the Elden Lord.

[I've grown tired of this charade. And now I must respond. A beam of all my power shall confront the emergence of the weak. Yes, you... Zieg Aversis.]

"The weak eh? I guess as a human I am weak. No matter how strong I become, I'll always be weak. But I'll continue to get stronger, because I am weak."

Zieg's smirk borderlined a sneer as his blood began to rush. He stared at the pillar of light with anticipation of the strongest attack.

"You're not just gonna let him hit you with that are you?" Draig asked warily, knowing Zieg's bad habit when it comes to fighting.

"He better not, because I'm pretty sure that's enough to vaporize us in this form!" Albion grumbled from the other shoulder.

"I guess I shouldn't. Fine, Artosh! This is my first bet as an Elden Lord! I'll end this here, with one attack!" Zieg roared up to the war god. His spear appeared in his grip, erupting with a blood lust aimed towards slaying a god.

[Take your positions.]

As beings who thrive on war. They would not resort to any more tricks. Instead they would bring their full power to wipe the other out. This was especially true for Artosh. As a god of war, he would be at the height of his power in the middle of all this chaos.

Purple lightning fell from the skies and even the ground tore apart from the collective power of the two madmen. The Flugel positioned themselves in formation around the pillar of light. Their halos and wings darkening with destructive power, resonating with their god.

[You can struggle all you like. As you writhe on the dirt in face of absolute power. Know that no matter how many of you band together, you are no strength of the heavens.]

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

[DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!]

The power and blood lust of the god-felling spear expanded in size. Zieg remained in the air, eyes sharp and his smile for once not present.

[Godly Smite] The wings of heaven were released.

"GAE BOLG!" The slayer of gods ascended.

Even with his strength as an Elden Lord, the God-slaying spear was not enough to stop the enveloping fury of Artosh's Godly Smite.

All of that energy collided, building into a raging blaze in the sky like a new sun. The brilliant light signalled the end of the world.

And then.

"What?" Zieg glanced below him and widened his eyes in realization.

24 round spell matrixes emerged from the soil and expanded into one large barrier. Zieg watched in astonishment as the combined power of both his and Artosh's attacks bounced off towards another direction.

"The Ex Machina are here!" Albion was able to see a cluster of Ex Machina standing in formation in front of the blazing sun.

[We are machines, tools bereft of heart. We have lived here yet never alive. Let us die having lived!] An Ex Machina in the front began to speak as the cluster burned to bits in the face of the ultimate power.

[Aus. Jawohl!]

"Shit, need to end it!" Zieg realized they were about to do something insane with all that energy.

He flew above Avant Heim and grabbed his spear. The Spirit Circuits of the world shut off at that moment. In that singular moment, Zieg was the strongest being who didn't rely on the Spirit Circuit.

"HAVE ANOTHER ONE! GAE BOLG!" A second throw, with the last of all his energy. Piercing straight through the remaining defenses of Avant Heim.

His spear struck true.

Artosh had been impaled on his throne.