Under the blue skies, three mortals and two gods surrounded the Preserver, who was struggling against a shrinking grey sphere, something the Sentinel of Space had created. Up close, Gaius could feel a mad will struggle and batter at the restraints that bound the Human God, a mad will so thick that Gaius, for some reason, wanted to swallow.

Anren’s body began to deform, and the Last Star’s body, who the Preserver had occupied for years, burned away in a grey flame. A golden figure, somewhat intangible, shot out from the grey sphere.

“So,” Kolya muttered, “that’s your form in Orb right now. Did you have fun yelling at my home when no one was in it?”

Gaius’ vision flickered over to Twilight Elysium, where a flickering screen of energy was falling apart. Clearly, defences had been prepared for the arrival of the Human God, although it seemed that his mere voice was enough to crush the defences of a nation’s core. Similar screens of energy had also appeared throughout Upper Elysium, although they were in a slightly better state.

“So…this is a plot against me,” said the Human God.

“Call it retributive justice,” Kolya replied. “You’re not noble enough to plot against.”

“I care not about my reputation,” Anren replied. “I care only about victory. Survival. That is my mission, my calling. Even if I have to trample millions of innocents for it.”

“And for that reason,” Kolya murmured, “you cannot be allowed to exist anymore. The Second Extermination. The oppression promulgated by the Holy Temple, done under your name. Your attempt to seize innocents and use them against me and my people. Your attempt to murder someone whose sole duty was to protect this world from a horrible future.”

“I do this for the greater good. All who resist are enemies.”

“Your greater good. Not ours.” Kolya clenched his fist, and the air began to shimmer and warp. “If we allow you to continue on, even if we win in the war to come, the Five Lands will not be what it was. It will be a place where any and all atrocities can be done in the name of something greater.”

“You have gone insane,” Queen Hyperion added. “You, a great god who touched the Oblivion Portal…why? Is power so important that you’d willingly forgo everything else?”

“It seems that my tactics are unacceptable to you mortals…but so be it.” Golden waves of power roiled out from his frame as he raised a hand to the sky. “If you intend to have a showdown here, I will not hold back.”

The hand balled up, and with a jerk, he pulled down from the sky. The world shuddered, and golden rings of light shot out from the south. A golden star appeared from the sky, from the direction of the Central Circle. A heavy pressure began to weigh down on Gaius, but the restraining might melted away as Gaius drove the chaotic will within him.

His lips twitched at that sight. Don’t tell me…

He looked directly at the Human God’s Divine Kingdom, which was descending from the skies. It was common knowledge to look away when a god’s Divine Kingdom descended onto Orb, but for some reason, Gaius didn’t feel any threat at all from it.

A piercing gaze fell on him, and the roiling waves of golden divinity trembled. The Human God had noticed Gaius. Truth be told, it wasn’t the first time that they came into contact — they were in the same conference room during the Conference of the Four — but this was indeed the first time the Human God had noticed Gaius.

Murderous intent, one so heavy that it felt almost like water, inundated Gaius. The source was the Human God, who was staring at him so ferociously that he was involuntarily reminded of the hostility the great god held towards him.

“You…you…you…”

Gaius shivered. It wasn’t from fear. No, it was from being eyed by the Human God, who was apparently affected from his mere presence, to the point that the effects of his descending Divine Kingdom seemed like smoke.

The Terminus in his hand shot up on instinct, and a mighty force surged through his right arm and through his body. Gaius stabilised himself a moment later, just in time to block a descending halberd. Another shock ran through his body again, and Gaius couldn’t help but note that the great god was crushing him through the sheer weight of his divinity alone.

Clicking his teeth, Gaius tracked the halberd in the Human God’s hand, and his muscles flared with a burning pain as he deflected the next strike. Qi shot out from his arms a second later, propelling the Terminus into a sweeping slash that would have been impossible otherwise.

The shock of his counterattack blasted the two apart. Time seemed to still as Gaius locked eyes with the Human God, whose eyes were now glowing a dark red. Red veins were popping up all over the golden figure, each of them radiating a fell madness.

“So…the flower has bloomed before I could pluck it.”

A barrage of attacks slammed into the Human God from everyone else, including Thasvia and Rahwei. Golden energy began to leak out from his shuddering frame, but Anren didn’t seem to care about it.

Or, for that matter, anything at all.

An enormous eyeball emerged, popping out of the Human God’s chest, and its sudden appearance seemed to trigger other eyeballs to pop up. Within moments, the golden body had been dotted by eyeballs of all shapes and sizes, each of them ringed by a bloody vein or two.

Instinctively, he understood what was going on.

So…this is what happens if the Crying Abyss is allowed to influence the world. Gaius took in the sight without flinching. It was a reminder of the responsibility the dying Chanter of Innocents had entrusted to him. The Human God’s sudden transformation into this aberration had been clearly triggered by Gaius himself.

“How unfortunate.” Anren’s voice now carried a bestial, insane quality. “But it doesn’t mean that I can’t consume you! Come! Chosen of the Abyss! Let me devour you!”

The golden halberd turned into a fleshy mass of red and yellow with those words, and the body of golden bloody flesh pointed the corrupted weapon at Gaius. “Let me consume you! I am the one to save this world! I will not forget you and your sacrifice! Die, and be consumed!”

The others began to gather around Gaius seconds after that declaration, each of them taking up their own battle stances. Even Rahwei and Thasvia were staring at the…monstrosity; despite the fact that their features were masked and smoothed over, Gaius could tell that they were beholding the sight before them with a healthy dose of apprehension.

“He’s gone mad.”

“Thank you for that very astute observation, Pinnacle Kolya. Your cutting wit is a real boon in this situation,” Queen Hyperion replied. “Fortunately, we at least had the foresight to invite two great gods here.”

Archduchess Gaia grunted. “Truly, an impeccable observation that the sudden growth of ocular appendages couldn’t have told us.”

“I’m afraid that he truly has gone mad,” Thasvia’s smooth voice rolled out. “This…Oblivion Portal is a danger to even us gods, it seems. We have no choice. We will move our Divine Kingdoms over to besiege the Human God’s own, with Liamar’s help. We cannot guarantee that this madness will not infect Anren’s servants.”

“We’ll slay his true body here,” Rahwei’s gravelly voice added. “You, Lost Star, seem to have a secret that our insane brother covets. We will back you up. Focus on defending; we will crush him from the sides.”

“Don’t you lot find something odd in asking a teenager to fend off a mad god’s attack?”

“No?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t see an issue.”

“You’re an otherworlder.”

Gaius stared at the silent Anren, keeping his eyes on him. Inwardly, however, he really wanted to grab everyone else by the shoulder and yell at them madly. Orb, for all its peculiarities, seemed to have a rather idealised view of teenagers and even children, especially those from another world.

He was about to retort when the Human God began to move. A bloody arc slashed through the air, and Gaius met the downward slash with one of his own. The Terminus slammed into the crimson halberd, and the resulting force blew Gaius back. At the same time, tens of attacks — each of them blasts and beams of energy — battered at the Human God. Gaius’ ears hadn’t even stopped ringing when the resulting explosion completely overwhelmed his sense of hearing.

What a blunder…Whipping his Terminus up to deflect the rabid god’s halberd, Gaius kicked out with his legs. Anren’s form shuddered as his qi-clad shoe found its mark, and the impact threw the two of them apart for the smallest of moments.

His ears, which were now recovering under the Saviour’s healing Abilities, were beginning to pick up on a guttural growling from the mad god. It was decidedly something that Gaius didn’t need to hear, something that could even distract him. Dodging a wild swing, the hailstorm of attacks homing in on the Human God continued to intensify, and Gaius felt his spirits lift.

Alone, he was no match for the Human God, but with so many helpers…

He continued to retreat across the skies of Upper Elysium, with the Human God brandishing his halberd wildly. Dodging was a luxury, and whenever Gaius blocked or deflected a slash, a devastating shockwave would shake his insides. Without his natural hardiness and the Saviour, Gaius knew that he would have long died from multiple organ failures.

It also didn’t help that his supporters were bombarding the Human God without restraint. If Gaius had the choice, he would have used Blink over and over, but the area around Anren had been locked down, preventing him from using that particular trump card.

In fact, the sheer strength behind the Human God’s physical attacks were enough to deter Gaius from using other Abilities. The Dragoon could be broken by a Paragon; a great god would probably need a simple swipe to shatter it. If an Ability were to be forcibly deactivated in such a close battle, it would be a fatal opening for Gaius. Instead, Gaius continued to endure the frenzied attacks that Anren was dishing out, resisting the urge to use Abilities against the mad Preserver.

The great god was essentially a rabid dog, one that was hellbent on taking a bite out of him, injuries be damned, and Gaius grunted once more as he continued to defend.

Another shock slammed through his organs, and Gaius grimaced as he tasted blood. Sidestepping an overhead slash, he abruptly closed the gap. Gold blood flew as he landed his first nick on the Human God, and without a pause, Gaius followed up with a few wild blows of his own.

Up close, the shorter Terminus carried far more of a threat than the long halberd the Human God was wielding, but Gaius was well aware that he was, in turn, extremely vulnerable to being grabbed. Switching between bladework and unarmed martial arts, Gaius exploited his advantage at close quarters to land multiple successive blows.

His punches, elbows and knees weren’t dealing much damage, compared to the steady bombardment that the others were conducting against the mad god, but those simple attacks were able to prevent the Human God from retaliating properly. More importantly, each strike and blow would damage or even destroy the nauseating eyeballs, which were continually sending goosebumps up his spine.

“Keep attacking!”

Knocking aside the beginnings of yet another slash, Gaius continued to physically abuse the great god, who had evidently forgot what the basics of combat were. The sudden impulse to get up close to the monster of eyeballs and bloody flesh was inspired, even if it was disturbing. Anren was apparently obsessed with using his halberd; as long as he held on to it, Gaius knew that he would enjoy an unparalleled advantage up close.

Such was the weakness of a madman.

Batting aside yet another attempt to cleave him into two, Gaius spotted an opening and drove the Terminus deep into the Human God, twisting the dagger cruelly. The huge eyeball that took centrepiece in his foe’s chest burst into viscous fluid, and the great god reeled.

In that instant, time seemed to still. Gaius, despite himself, stopped attacking. A wisp of grey light seemed to settle around the Human God, freezing him in place in that moment of weakness.

Something…no, someone was guiding his body, a gentle compulsion that Gaius, for some reason, couldn’t find it in himself to disobey. Grey wisps of energy gathered around his left hand as he stabbed it into Anren’s mutilated chest, and the Preserver shuddered.

At the same time, his right hand clenched into a fist, and Gaius felt half of his qi reserves vanish to form a thick barrier around him and the Human God. The storm of attacks that had shaved away at Anren’s form stopped instantly; the others had gotten the message.

His left hand, which wasn’t under his control, clearly had other ideas.