Chapter 97 - Earth Shattering Fight

—3rd Person POV—

While Cole battled against the God of Deceit, the Holy Knights scrambled to get civilians out of the city quickly. Being held up by families trying to take everything they could with them, it was costing the group more time than initially planned. Realizing that they would need to take drastic measures to get things moving, Dreyfus decided to shoulder this burden himself.

"We don't have time to wait on all of you!", Dreyfus snapped eyeing several families, "Those who are not at the portal in fifteen minutes will be left behind, no exceptions! I will not endanger everyone else's lives for a few family mementos."

Feeling the ground starting to shake violently immediately afterward, the families gave up resisting and began running out of their homes. Ordering the Knights to keep the line moving quickly, Dreyfus told them not to hesitate to use force if necessary. If left to their own devices, he knew they'd start rioting which would block everyone's escape path. As he began dishing out further orders, the defending Holy Knights arrived to investigate what was going on.

"Dreyfus, what is going on!?", Denzel shouted as he stepped to the front of his men, "Are you betraying the Living God!? Do you realize what he will do to our families!?"

"We have an equally powerful fighter engaging him in the Temple now. While he keeps him busy, Gilthunder is freeing our loved ones and we are evacuating the civilians.", Dreyfus explained, "I know you hate me for my past transgression against you, but I need your help. The evacuation is taking too long, we need to pick up the pace to get everyone to safety."

Eyeing Dreyfus for a moment, the elderly knight noticed that Griamore was among those helping guide people away. Knowing that his niece was romantically involved with him, Denzel accepted what Dreyfus was saying. Ordering his subordinates to help check homes for anyone that needed assistance, Denzel asked where he was needed the most.

"Please assist at the front of the line, I don't want us to get backed up.", Dreyfus told him, "Also…thank you."

"I am doing this for my family, nothing more.", Denzel remarked as he ran toward the portal.

While the main group of knights sped up their efforts, Gilthunder and his men managed to break into the Dungeon. Grabbing torches to light their way as they passed through the Jailer's office, the knights raced down into the bowels of the Temple as the building vibrated around them. Checking the first few cells they came across for their families, all they found were empty cells. Thinking that Cole may have been mistaken, Gilthunder was about to turn back when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Gilthunder…over here…", Veronica called out from within the black, "Margaret…she needs help…"

Hearing Margaret's younger sister cries for aid, Gilthunder had the knights spread out and continue looking for the hostages. Finding them about halfway into the Dungeon, all of the knights froze in horror as they saw their shriveled loved ones. Almost skin and bones at this point, most of them were nearly at death's door and in dire need of medical aid. Commanding his men to begin freeing everyone, Gilthunder ripped the door off of Veronica's cell to help her.

"Where is she!?", he shouted.

"Over there…", Veronica motioned to the corner, "She…she hasn't spoken in days…"

Shattering her chains, he quickly went to Margaret's side and freed her as well. Catching his lover before she hit the cold stone floor, Gilthunder lightly shook her trying to awaken the sleeping beauty. At first she didn't respond to him, but after a few moments, she opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile. Tearing up as he saw her sunken eyes and frail body, overwhelming guilt washed over him. Deep down he knew that this was going to happen, but he blindly trusted that their captor would honor his promises to them.

"Margaret, I am so sorry!!", he cried holding her tightly, "Had I known they weren't honoring our agreement, I would have rebelled sooner. Please forgive me for leaving you here!"

"It's…okay…", she weakly replied, "Can we go…home?"

"Yes of course!", he promised her, "I promise I will never let this happen again!"

Weakly hugging him, Margaret was just happy to be back in his arms again. Cutting their reunion short as the building started shaking violently again, Gilthunder told the men to start carrying everyone out as they were too weak to walk on their own. Grabbing as many women and children as they could, the knights ferried the families outside in a hurry. As they ran out of that hellhole, Gilthunder immediately called out to the other knights for help.

"GRIAMORE!!", Gilthunder called out, "We need more men, they can't move on their own!!"

Turning to see what he was talking about his fellow knights were devastated to see how badly their families had been treated. Dropping what they were doing dozens of knights ran over to help carry the remaining people out. Forming a relay line, people were being moved out of the Dungeon at a breakneck pace as the structure started to crumble around them.

"We don't have much time!!", Gilthunder shouted as the Temple began to collapse, "HURRY!!"

"We got the last few!!", Griamore proclaimed as he and several other knights came running out of the Dungeon.

Barely making it out before the ceiling finally collapsed, the knights quickly started carrying the families toward the portal. Seeing Meliodas off in the distance, Gilthunder called out to him to provide an update.

"Sir Meliodas, just a few more minutes!", Gilthunder yelled over to him, "We are almost done!"

"Make it faster, their fight is about to spill out onto the streets!", Zeldris replied motioning to the Temple, "We don't have minutes!"

Glancing over their shoulders to look, Cole and the Living God were exchanging a flurry of blows amongst the ruins of the temple. Moments after Zeldris' warning, the knights were hit by the powerful shockwaves which sent them flying in all directions. Holding onto their loved ones, the knights used their bodies to take the brunt of the impacts.

—Cole POV—

'Damn it, I can't land a crippling blow on him with all these fissures he's creating!', I thought as we continued exchanging blows, 'If I don't do something soon the World Barrier is going collapse, and we are going to get sucked out into the Void!'

Just as I started to think that, an audible cracking noise rang out through the surrounding area. Stopping our fight momentarily, the two of us looked for the source of the noise and found it just feet from us. Seeing cracks start to spiderweb in the air around us I knew we had only moments before a breach opened. Turning to my allies and civilians, I used Instant Teleportation to forcibly throw all of them through Merlin's portal.

"Close the portal!!", I shouted at Merlin as the breach burst open, "Do it now!!"

Feeling the intense air pressure the Void was causing, I anchored Gáe Bolg into the ground while all the structures and Apostles in the area began being sucked out of this world. Turning to look at the God of Deceit, he had already allowed himself to get carried away as he knew he'd survive just fine in the Void. Not wanting to let him escape me, I was about give chase when a terrified Eri cried out for me.

"Daddy!!", Eri called out as Merlin's portal started to close, "Hurry up, it's dangerous out there!!"

"I will be back, I promise!", I replied with a confident smile, "Listen to your mothers, and help out where you can till I get back!"

Yanking Gáe Bolg out of the dirt, I used my Ion Thrusters to shoot after the God of Deceit. Seeing me approaching them at high speeds, he ordered the Apostles to attack me while he attempted to open a portal. Doing as they were told, even though they were slowly dying from the harsh environment, they began to bombard me with spells. Now that I was no longer a distraction and didn't need to worry about collateral damage, it was time to pull out all the stops.

"Get out of my fucking way!!", I roared, "Buster Slash!!"

Unleashing a powerful, energy slash with Excaliber, the energy beam tore through the Apostles like butter leaving a deep gash in the deity's back. Screaming out in pain, he gripped his sword tighter and unconsciously opened a portal that all of us fell into. Crashing onto a sandy beach in the middle of nowhere, the two of us rose to our feet and faced one another.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!", the deity howled, "Why couldn't you just let me go!? You could have had that world, and never seen me again!"

"I refuse to let one of the Gods that took my children from me just walk away. The day they died I swore I would kill everyone single one of you bastards, and anyone that helped you!", I growled noticing that the Apostle's injuries were beginning to heal, "One of us is going to die today, and it won't be me!"

"We gave you a purpose and spared you lifetimes of misery!!", he proclaimed visibly beginning to tire, "You would have lived a mediocre life after completing your jobs, is that really what you wanted!? Did you really want to spend your days dealing with those little shits, and having those nagging women in your ear?"

Disappearing from his view, I reappeared above him and came down hard with both weapons on his shoulders. Unable to block the attack in time, the beach exploded underneath him as he felt his spine explode from the impact. Skipping across the sand and into his Apostles, the God of Deceit glared at me as blood began running out of his eyes.

"Don't you ever talk about my family like that…", I said in an enraged tone, "I don't view my family as an inconvenience like all of you do. They are the reason I get up every morning and continue to fight for a better future. Their smiles made all these years bearable…and all of you took some of them from me."

"I will fucking kill all of them!!", he snarled forcing his regeneration into overdrive, "All of you can rejoin each other in the afterlife!"

Stagger back to his feet, the two of us charged forward and began clashing once again. Throwing everything he had at me, each clash caused us to warp into a different world causing untold damage there. With each passing blow, I could feel his power starting to wane telling me that this battle was almost over.