Chapter 482: The Tide Cannot Be Reversed
At the heart of the theocracy, the divine silhouette was rapidly fading, His power draining away so swiftly that His form grew translucent. The moment His strength waned, the speed at which He raised the node also slowed. With that, the transformation of the surrounding terrain slackened as well.
This unintentional pause granted the remaining inhabitants more precious moments to flee. By now, the circular region encompassed by the altered landscape had spread to roughly seventy percent of the entire theocracy's radius.
Within that vast boundary, only a scant few—grand wizards and grand knights—could hold back the distortion spilling from the void. All others had already been twisted into voidspawn and slain, but nearly half the theocracy's population still lay outside the node's influence.
Naturally, the shifting state of the God of Light did not go unnoticed by the other powers outside. Though they could not fathom why the God of Light had suddenly slowed His attempt to haul the node into place, they at least recognized the opportunity laid before them: a chance to run, a chance to escape.
A massive alchemical construct plummeted from the sky and crashed into the Church of Light's territory. It was not alone. Dozens more descended across every reachable sector of Skyborne City's projection range. Their impact shattered buildings, crushed homes, pulverized furnishings and shop stalls alike... yet at this moment, no one spared even a thought for such losses.
Once grounded, the constructs unfolded from storage into humanoid frames or the spider-like bodies of Skyborne City's ubiquitous maintenance drones. Their audio units crackled to life, broadcasting assurances that they had come to aid in the rescue effort. Without delay, they scattered to begin the evacuation.
From high above, Skyborne City's command center coordinated every movement with ruthless efficiency. Constructs equipped with teleportation arrays were deployed nearer the interior, while high-mobility units swept through the outer ring.
These were two rescue methods, perfectly divided: at the outer edge, the spider-shaped drones cleared paths, allowing constructs to load refugees and rush them straight out of the node's influence.
Deeper within, residents were gathered into groups, then teleported away through the activation of transfer arrays. But despite Skyborne City's best efforts, the rescue operation proceeded slowly. Even Skyborne City could not cover the whole theocracy. Only half the territory lay within their operational reach.
Against such a merciless ticking clock, all they could do was save as many as possible.
"Hurry!"
A follower of the God of Light—formerly a priest, but now just a mere wizard after losing access to divine power—summoned violent winds to lift survivors toward the rescuing constructs. Once they had confirmed that the titanic machines were indeed allies, people poured toward them in desperation.
Metallic limbs hammered the earth as the constructs raced away, bearing refugees swiftly beyond the creeping void.
Light flared. Those standing within the transfer arrays vanished and reappeared near the theocracy's border. There, high-mobility constructs carried them to safety.
They did not teleport everyone directly outside the border—Skyborne City's large-scale spatial arrays had limits. The cost and burden of such long-range teleportation could not be ignored.
Even so, the machines' efficiency was breathtaking. With the assistance of the God of Light's remaining devotees, nearly all residents on Skyborne City's side of the theocracy were evacuated within minutes. Then, almost exactly at that moment, the divine silhouette began to move again and resumed its pull on the node.
Skyborne City failed to understand why the God of Light had frozen before. So too could they not fathom His renewed motion. All they knew was that, even though the node was spreading slower than before, their time was still running out.
"The God of Light is moving once more. He is continuing to drag the object the Utopia desires. The spread of void corruption is increasing again, though at a far slower pace than at first. We estimate roughly thirty minutes remain before the entire theocracy is engulfed by the void."
From his post atop Skyborne City, an analyst relayed his report, giving those directing the rescue their final window of opportunity.
"Ensure everyone on this side can evacuate, then expand the sweep to cover all remaining regions. And warn the believers still inside that, without protection from their god, even their extraordinary resistance will not save them from the void."
Icarus issued his directives within ten seconds. Engines roared as Skyborne City banked into a circular path, expanding the rescue zone into the half of the theocracy not yet reached. In parallel, long-range communications blasted warnings to all remaining devotees of the God of Light: Meanwhile, still suspended in the void, Sulla stepped free from the great sphere of light. Only the faithful of the Utopia remained within, sustaining the weakened God of Light and urging that fragile form to continue one single motion.
"Kiran, the beings born of your influence are... remarkable. But even so, I'm afraid the gulf remains too great. Whether they know the truth or live in ignorance, they cannot truly grasp the extent of their own power, let alone wield it."
The God of Light dragging the node up from the depths of the void was now little more than an illusion, a gesture sustained by the last dregs of power donated by the Utopia's believers.
The Utopian spires rising around the region were actually what was powering the node's rise. The divine silhouette existed solely to deceive Skyborne City and the Church's devotees.
The true God of Light was the newly formed sphere beside them, reconstructed and reclaimed, holding nearly all of the God of Light's original divinity. In terms of power, it was nearly indistinguishable from the god that had existed.
In other words, this restored God of Light possessed more than enough power to halt the Utopia's attempt. But He did not. The Utopia's false god still labored in plain sight, dragging the node—or so it appeared. Neither Skyborne City nor the believers of the Church of Light realized the truth unfolding within the void.
Skyborne City dared not strike at the God of Light. And the Church's devotees, still shaken by their own act of "deicide by denial," remained estranged from their former god.
Even though the new God of Light had been reborn, the sight of the "God of Light" still laboring to drag the node made it impossible for the devotees to turn their prayers toward the true god. None of them realized that they were, in fact, already under the protection of this reconstructed god, shielded from the corrupting touch of the void without ever knowing why.
Thus, despite possessing the power to stop the machinations of the Utopia, neither Skyborne City nor the remaining devotees of the Church of Light could do anything. Whether the other half of the kingdom's population could be saved remained an unanswered question.
"What a disheartening dilemma," Sulla murmured. "Those who cannot grasp the truth of the divine will be blinded. But those that do are incapable of faith altogether. Truly a situation worth lamenting."
Suspended in the void, Sulla watched the changing patterns of the world outside. The node was being steadily dragged up into the material realm by several Utopian spires, while Skyborne City fought desperately against time to evacuate the Church's citizens. Judging from the pace, the rescue would not be complete in time.
The node's influence was accelerating. The initial half-hour estimate turned out to be no more than fifteen minutes. And even with Skyborne City operating at full capacity as it swept across the kingdom, its efforts had extended the rescue zone by only a fifth.
"We're out of time. We never anticipated the Utopia would strike at the Church of Light, a theocracy with formidable strength and the protection of its god. Not to mention, even the Alliance network doesn't cover this region. Summoning the nearest legion would take two hours. It was a complete failure. Is this as far as we'll get?"
Icarus monitored the rescue progress with a deepening frown, issuing commands even as he muttered under her breath. Most likely, they would have to abandon the remaining citizens. Even Skyborne City itself would need to withdraw. There was no telling what dangers this distorted region might pose to an airborne fortress.
"Hm?"
A sudden burst of magitech communication made him pause. Would there perhaps be a new variable in this disaster?
Down below, within the half of the theocracy that Skyborne City could not reach, the people were running with everything they had. The sight of countless neighbors twisted and killed by void corruption drove them into pure, unreasoning terror.
But the boundary of the altered environment widened with every passing moment. Their legs could no longer outpace an inevitable demise. In the blink of an eye, those nearest the theocracy's center were overtaken. Their bodies seized as the void reached into their flesh, twisting, warping, remaking them—
—only for a veil of soft darkness to settle over their skin. It was dark, gentle, and cool as midnight. The void's corruption, passing through that gossamer film of the Lady of the Night's power, lost all its lethal force.
"Keep going. Run, quickly."
Many others were shrouded in that same quiet darkness. A tender female voice brushed the edges of their thoughts, urging them forward, guiding them away from death.
None of them understood how narrowly they had escaped death; they only felt a sudden calm, and then the irresistible urge to flee faster, toward safety, toward rescue.
"The Goddess of the Night is more peculiar than I expected. Connected to that being, perhaps? Yet her power is still diffuse, frail compared to the God of Light. Does that... make her less shackled? It seems I'll need to address this."
In the void, Sulla gazed toward the distant Tree of the Night, its branches shimmering like starlight against the dark.
Thanks to the intervention of the Lady of the Night, the remaining citizens of the Church of Light's theocracy survived. Yet nothing about this battle could be called a victory. A second node had been forged by Utopia. Over five hundred thousand were dead. The Church of Light seemed to have severed from its god.
It was, unquestionably, a crushing defeat.
