Chapter 294: The Cleansing of the Cultists
Krug strode over the broken masonry while dozens of robed zealots poured from the surrounding cellars and collapsed archways.
They hoisted rusted blades and wooden staves to flood the narrow dirt alleyway. Krug planted his boots into the dirt and unleashed his mana core.
A singularity erupted directly beneath the charging mob. The shift in physics ripped forty cultists off their feet, launching them high into the sky to flail helplessly above the ruins.
Krug reversed the pull to slam the suspended men straight down into the bedrock, shattering bones upon impact and cratering the entire street under the trauma.
A second wave of attackers scrambled over the rooftops to hurl glass vials filled with corrosive venom.
Krug swung his greataxe upward in a wide arc. The Violet Flame roared from the iron edge to incinerate the falling projectiles.
The alchemical fire consumed the venom and cascaded over the brick structures to engulf the rooftop snipers. Burning zealots plummeted from the ledges and crashed into the dirt.
Three cultists leaped from the shadows of a ruined clock tower. They wielded halberds coated in a glowing green poison.
Krug stepped forward to catch the first halberd with his bare hand and crushed the wooden shaft into splinters. He drove his armored knee into the attacker’s chest to cave in the ribcage, leaving the cultist crumpled on the pavement.
The second cultist thrust a blade toward Krug’s throat. Krug shifted the gravity around his own torso to curve the halberd harmlessly past his shoulder.
Then, he grabbed the man’s throat and hoisted him entirely off the ground. The Violet Flame surged down Krug’s arm to ignite the zealot’s robes.
Krug tossed the burning body into the third attacker to end the ambush.
The remaining zealots lowered their weapons and turned to flee toward the deeper ruins after looking at the piles of scorched bodies.
Krug slammed the butt of his greataxe against the cobblestones to expand the gravitational field outward across the entire slum district. The fleeing cultists froze in place while an invisible force pressed them flat against the dirt.
The foundational supports of the remaining brick buildings buckled under the strain. Roofs caved in to bury the pinned survivors under piles of debris.
Kronos approached the perimeter of the destroyed sector a few minutes later. He navigated through the flattened structures and scorched earth, clutching the hilt of his broadsword while surveying the eradication of the hostile faction.
Krug wiped a streak of blood from his cheekplate and turned to face Kronos.
"The district is purged." Krug pointed his axe toward the flattened ruins. "Bring your laborers to clear the stone and expand the aqueducts. The Spiral claims this ground."
An injured zealot named Sog dragged his bleeding leg across the floorboards of the cellar while the ceiling groaned under the shifting debris. Three men huddled around a stone basin in the center of the dark room.
Sog gripped the edge of the basin to pull himself upright while dust rained down from the wooden beams. The remaining men mirrored his movements and drew their ritual knives.
The men positioned their wrists directly over the carved channels in the stone. Sog drove his blade deep into his own flesh to sever the veins completely, prompting the others to follow his lead.
A torrent of fluid washed over the waiting glyphs. Blood pooled inside the basin and ignited with a green radiance as the men collapsed onto the dirt floor.
"We offer our vessels to the hungry dark." Sog choked on his own blood and clutched his wounded arm. "Rise and claim the surface."
Under the radius of five hundred meters, every living being, animal, bird, and human, were chosen as a sacrifice.
Kronos and Krug were under the circle too, but they were simply too strong for it to have any effect on them.
The glowing blood hissed against the stone and boiled into a green mist. The liquid seeped directly
into the cracks of the foundation to reach the deeper earth.
Sog watched the skin melt away from his own hands as the summoning circle drained the remaining life from his body. His vision faded into complete blackness.
The cellar floor tore open to reveal a vortex of purple static. A towering hand erupted from the portal to crush the stone basin into splinters.
The street above buckled as the entity pulled its bulk upward through the bedrock and shattered the brick walls. The beast dragged itself out of the ruined basement to stand at the center of the devastated district.
Six limbs ending in scythes supported a torso covered in eyes. The creature opened its maw to unleash a piercing shriek that rattled the surrounding aqueducts. Rubble cascaded from its armor as it turned its gaze toward the perimeter.
Krug tightened his grip on his greataxe and glared at the towering nightmare.
Kronos stepped up beside Krug to survey the devastated plaza. His boots crushed the scattered brickwork as he tilted his head upward. A multitude of blinking eyes stared back at them from the towering torso.
Krug shifted his stance and raised his greataxe. He pointed the weapon at the writhing mass of limbs. "What is that? Where did they pull that nightmare from?"
Kronos gripped the hilt of his broadsword with white knuckles. He tracked the massive scythed limbs tearing through the surrounding architecture. "That is a pet creation of the Heavenly Divine Emperor. The cultists sing prayers about it to terrify their children."
Krug spat a glob of blood onto the ruined pavement while keeping his violet eyes locked on the towering entity. "Did your god finally wake up to do something useful for them?"
Kronos shook his head while tracking the purple static bleeding from the monster. "I feel absolutely zero resonance connecting it to a higher plane. The surviving zealots slaughtered themselves and dragged innocent civilians into the with them to fuel a forced summoning ritual."
Krug watched the creature rip a clock tower from its foundation. "They gutted themselves because they knew our axes would do it for them. Dropping a monster into a populated city is a pathetic final play."
The beast unhinged its maw to unleash a torrent of corrosive purple sludge. The fluid washed across a row of stone tenements and instantly liquefied the structures into bubbling gray paste.
A single strike from its massive scythe triggered a seismic ripple that swallowed entire city blocks into a sprawling chasm.
An entity of this magnitude possessed the sheer destructive capacity to flatten entire kingdoms within days. The creature pivoted its torso to lock dozens of unblinking eyes directly onto Krug and Kronos.
