Chapter 77 - Dagan

Carlos was doing everything he could to delay Serena and the rest. Even though he was a noble, and Rudolf was helping him, he knew that sooner rather than later, Serena would go through with her investigation. The only reason she had not stormed the place, was because on the one side all the ruins had been surrounded by the Army so she was confident in trapping the people behind the kidnappings, and second she didn't want to lose decorum with all the nobles just yet.

However Carlos' hope was soon extinguished when they heard the noise and rumble coming from the dungeon area. All of a sudden a tremor was felt from a room right in the back of the ruins.

"What is that?" asked Serena. "Men, hear my command, under the authority of His Majesty, towards the back of the ruins."

"Lieutenant, I need to ask you to reconsider. If you make a blunder, even if you have the command of the king, the repercussions may be more than what you can withstand." said Carlos.

"Viscount Carlos, one more word from you, and I'll consider you to be in direct opposition to His Majesty. Now move!" Serena had finally lost her patience.

Carlos' countenance sombered. Then he looked at Eren and knew that something unbecoming may very well have happened in the back. However he could only hope that Sombra had managed to destroy the "evidence".

Everyone quickly

…

"Χέρι φωτιάς - /Chéri fotiás/*"

Nerun had attacked Sombra right as he left the cell area, and all five fireballs had caused a small explosion on the wall, which caused a tremor that went through all the ruins. "Quick, follow him. I don't know exactly why, but I have a very bad feeling".

Nerun's suspicions were not completely unfounded, since the Genesis Stone stopped its usual warmth and became surprisingly cold. A cold that felt gloomy in Nerun's inner being, so Nerun, Evelin, Whitey and Little Green went right after Sombra.

Sombra quickly charged through the door and entered the central room of the ruins. It was a very big room, possibly where parties and balls were held in the distant past. There was a broken statue in the back of the room, with one missing arm and that had a fishtail, similar to a merman. The face could not be distinguished and several parts of the face were also broken. There was an old, rusty sword nailed to one of the still standing walls. In the middle of the room there was an altar that was clearly new, and added afterwards. There were many magickal patterns drawn throughout the place. In the middle of the altar there was a cup that was filled to the brim with blood that shimmered with a sorrowful gleam.

Sombra quickly approached the altar, but at that precise moment Serena, her retinue, as well as Carlos and Eren and their henchmen also entered the central room. Serena's eyes dilated when she saw Sombra and recognized him as the man that had killed the leader of the kidnappers. Then she looked towards the other end of the room and saw four figures rushing in, which were a teen, a girl and two magical beasts that were in pursuit of Sombra. Serena as well as the rest of the Army and nobles saw that behind Nerun there was what looked like a dungeon and through a glimpse, they managed to see some small and scared children in one room (the one where Sombra broke the wall).

"Carlos, Eren, you pieces of scum. You were the kidnappers all along!" shouted one of the nobles, and Carlos could not help but stare at sombra with red eyes. He clenched his fists and even blood could be seen on them. He looked a bit deranged, and several of the nobles started to circle him. Eren was also quiet and was thinking fast on what he could do. He turned and looked at Rudolf directly. However all of the men suddenly were distracted.

"STOP HIM!" yelled Nerun, who knew that even with <Flash Walk> he would not make it in time, and once again used his fire magic to try and delay Sombra. However the latter simply turned around and used a Qi wave with his dagger and stopped Nerun's attack. The Fireballs thrown by Nerun were simply too weak to actually cause harm to a prepared Qi Praetorian.

Serena also got a bad feeling and even though they found out that Carlos and his men were also the kidnappers, she actually obeyed Nerun and went after Sombra. After all she was a Qi General and was more than able to stop him in time. But right at that moment, Carlos unleashed his full Qi, and his Voluntas materialized in a time lesser than a blink. He had been accumulating power for some time now. A Big Rat, like a phantom, materialized next to him, nearly 1,5 meters tall, with red sinister eyes.

The men surrounding Carlos however were also nobles and army officers, so they were prepared to quickly end him, however the Rat suddenly opened its mouth and made a horrible sound.

- SCREEEEEEECH -

All of the men felt their ears hurt badly, and even Nerun and company who were not the direct targets of the attack had to stop for a second. This was one of the secret techniques that Carlos used, and it was quite good to catch the enemy off-guard. Of course, there were powerful enemies right now, like Oliver, a Qi Emperor, and he could barely be stopped by this attack for less than a second, and he would quickly kill Carlos. However, less than a second was more than enough.

Eren was also a Qi General and he was a spear user. He took his spear out of his spatial ring and quickly used a barrage of attacks towards the men who were currently covering their ears. There were many spear shadows that attacked most of the men surrounding Eren, and even Serena was included in the attack.

<Spear Rain>. It was one of Eren's most powerful techniques, and he used it with all his might. Several of the men that were closest to him could not defend in time, and two died being pierced multiple times, while several more were injured. However rose petals appeared out of thin air and flew towards the spear whadows, and accurately stopped them, while many more rose petals started flying towards both Eren and Carlos and started to surround them.

<Rose Storm>.

One of the famous techniques of the Rose Emperor, Oliver Dai Vanilla, which could both defend, attack and entrap enemies with relative ease. Oliver however had not used his full strength, his eyes were fixated on Rudolph, lest he also decided to attack them. Both Carlos and Eren had deep relations with the Salento Family, and Oliver was highly suspicious of Rudolf's involvement in all this matter, so he was paying close attention to him.

Carlos and Eren were about to be subdued and all their efforts appeared to be for naught. However they had won precious time. Sombra managed to get to the altar. He was not the one supposed to perform the ritual, but changes had to be made impromptu.

Sombra quickly took the cup and looked towards Nerun who had also stopped from the rat's screeching. The eerie grim carved on Sombra's mask looked particularly malevolent right now, and Sombra poured the blood inside the cup onto the altar, while he started to speak in a cold voice that seemed to be coming from beyond the grave.

"I beseech thy help, Dagan, oh Grand Master of the world, thee who were named the father of all gods, lord of prosperity, forgotten olden one. The world may have left thee, but we seek your blessing. Take this blood offering, the blood of children, the blood of beginnings, the blood of growth, of unlimited potential. Take this blood, and come onto this continent forsaken from your presence…"

As Sombra was talking, the Magick Circles in the room started shining with a black light, and the moon in the sky seemed to turn red for a moment. The blood in the altar started floating and congealing into a ruby like crystal that was floating right in front of Sombra. The crystal emanated a mysterious power that made all of the people present in the room feel trepidant and deeply fearful, as if through the crystal a creature was actually seeing them as prey.

"I Beseech thy presence… Come... KLAATU BARADA NICTO"

When Sombra yelled the last part, the ruby shone with a bloody and dark power and floated towards the broken statue and stayed where the left eye was supposed to be. The entire ruin started to tremble, and an illusory figure surrounded the statue and started floating towards the center of the room.

The figure was filled with a dark and sombre majesty, and was looking towards all the present as if "it" was looking at ants. The figure was several meters tall, with the upper body of a man, with curly sideburns, and a grim face, with a mighty armor surrounding his chest and shoulders. There was a golden crown on top of his head. His lower body was shaped like a fish tail, with colors purple, black and gold.

Everyone started trembling. There seemed to be natural oppression exuded from the floating figure, that did not allow for any blasphemy towards itself. However, both Carlos and Eren were excited. The ritual was real. Dagan descended once more into the world.

"Mmmmh… the memories. It has been quite a long time since the last someone called upon my hallowed name." said Dagan with a thunder-like voice as 'he' turned 'his' head and looked at Sombra.

"Hallowed Dagan. I'm but your humble servant, Sombra. Me and my companions have prepared a mighty sacrifice to celebrate your return upon this world, however we were discovered by your enemies, the heirs to the people that once upon a time vanished Filistia from this world. We would be presumptuous to seek thy help in eliminating the rabble blaspheming your temple".

"Hmmmph! How presumptuous to demand power from me with such a small sacrifice. However, it is true that it's been ages since the last time my name was called, so I'll make an exception. I can feel the children whose blood summoned me… Such pure and beautiful energy. Immolate the children and sacrifice them towards my name. Purify them and let them become part of me. They will not suffer, for they will nourish me and become a part of eternity. I will, then, bestow blessing upon you who have called my name. And… What have we here?"

Dagan turned his head and started looking at Evelin attentively… "OH… so good. Such beauty… I need her. Give me her heart and I will give you and those who serve me enough power to become a Saint. Give her to me".. Dagan became a little frantic when he saw Evelin as if he had seen the most beautiful treasure in the world.

Serena and the rest of the men that came to catch the kidnappers were shivering uncontrollably. They seemed to be unable to muster any power whatsoever, and just by hearing Dagan's voice they felt as if they could die right the next moment…

"A god… A false god… You heretics, what have you done? There will be no place you can hide. The temple and the six territories will hunt you like dogs", screamed one of the nobles towards Carlos and Eren.

Dagan turned his head once more and looked towards the person who screamed. The man started to float out of control and his blood started to pour from every pore in the man's body until he died hideously, transformed into a desiccated mummy. Everyone present felt their hearts turn cold.

Sombra started to move towards Evelin and Nerun. He was beaming from the opportunity and power promised by Dagan and wanted to quickly bring Evelin to 'him' and offer her heart. However when he got close to Nerun, the latter suddenly attacked him with a ferocious punch. Sombra barely managed to defend himself and had to backtrack a bit. His arm was almost broken from Nerun's attack.

Dagan looked at Nerun and was a bit surprised… "A mortal child can withstand my pressure?". Nerun heard Dagan, and almost lost his balance, however a cold feeling quickly flowed in his body and let him resume control of his power. The Genesis Stone was constantly absorbing the evil energy emanating from Dagan and allowing Nerun to use his full power. This was the reason that Nerun was able to move.

When the false god saw this, 'he' was about to act against Nerun, when suddenly, a shadow descended at maximum speed from the heavens, as if a meteorite was coming to turn the world asunder. Dagan looked at the "meteorite" and extended his hand, and a chaotic ball of energy flew and clashed with it, turning the night into day.

- BOOOOM! -

__

* Fire Hand.