“Good luck out there. One gold something even worse happens today that nobody could have predicted.” Finn patted Theo on the shoulder, before retreating to the medical area.

The bards were still (mostly) on medical duty, and any who didn’t understand why it was important to know Hymn of Healing had learned intimately.

Theo caught him looking in the direction of Etol as he left. For all the bravado and jokes, it was clear that he was unsettled by everything that had happened, as most had been. His shoulders were stiff, and his eyes were stuck on the Etol camp as he wandered, not looking at where he was going.

“That’s a sucker’s bet and you know it!” Theo called out at Finn’s retreating back, receiving a quiet chuckle in response. Most importantly, Finn returned his gaze to his destination. Theo smiled slightly to himself, as he checked the way his clothes fit.

At this point, they were little more than a strip of clothing or three. His pants were now tattered shorts. His loose linen shirt had lost its sleeves, and its buttons, and its everything else, now little more than a very stained vest. To be honest, their only job right now as to protect his modesty, and they still carried that duty out honourably, so he wasn’t fussed.

He had lost his shoes at some point too, and now he was just feeling the dirt between his toes and tried not to think about how much of that was still dirt.

It was a good thing he had internal magic; he couldn’t imagine how much he’d had to spend on enchantments and protection otherwise. Enchanted armour especially would set one back enough money to feed a family for a year.

That was probably how Chris the Alchemist made a lot of his money, he supposed. Very few people could shrug off attacks the way he could.

Speaking of internal magic – he watched as the world, a shadowy blue, turn lighter and lighter, with hints of pink and purple as the sun started to crest the horizon.

As its first rays reached him, he activated everything he had on hand that would be useful. Power surged through his body, as he watched the vines retreat almost sluggishly in his perception.

He rushed onto the battlefield to find a single figure striding out towards Union City.

Every warrior readied themselves, as weapons were drawn and footings were adjusted in the slightly squelching mud. Theo heard the nocking of countless bows and the ruffling of cloth as people waiting, and adjusted their position. It was less than yesterday, all the teachers having retreated for some secret reason. He hoped it was worth it.

“Ah, the anomaly.” Guiding Will addressed him directly, and Theo startled at the attention. "I must commend you for your dedication to interfering in our plans. If you spent even a half of that time praying, you might be redeemed. Unfortunate, how cruel the world can be. There will be no chance for your redemption, I will make sure of it.”

Goosebumps formed on Theo’s arms, as he listened to Guiding Will, physically unable to stop. The earth trembled with discontent.

“One way or another, today will be the last day of this war. The only question is whether you will see the end of it. The Will of the Gods has spoken, and I will deliver justice.”

It took Theo a moment to realise that the ground was actually shaking, and not simply the impact of Guiding Will’s words.

There was the rumble of an earthquake, before a river of refuse rushed out of the earth, a serpent wrapping itself around the old priest from Etol.

It was a mass of pink-grey slurry, with a slight tint of green and brown. The foul stench of rot, with a tang of sickly sweetness, spread across the battlefield.

It was disgusting, and Theo heard more than one person retch and evacuate the contents of their stomachs, but he was too focused on the building mountain slowly moving towards their direction.

Others were responding in force, as a hail of arrows sunk into the surface of the blob…and disappeared.

“Hold your fire! Magic only from now on!” A wave of fireballs charred the ‘skin’, stopping its movement and growth for a moment.

A cheer went up and died down almost immediately as, like lava, the solid chunk simply sunk beneath the surface and was replaced by more slurry.

“Keep firing!” Chunks were frozen, burned, and electrified. Magical and elemental effects of all sorts were thrown at it, doing little more than slowing it down, but that didn’t stop them.

Theo piggybacked off the magic, using it to set off backfires as close as humanly possible to the menace.

Clean spheres were carved out and disintegrated, but the pockmarked acne craters were simply filled in moments later.

What was it actually made of? Theo wasn’t sure if the way it behaved was due to its components, or just whatever perverse magic Guiding Will was pioneering now.

More and more material seemed to leave the earth, coming from nowhere. It was flecked with shards of white, which reminded him of what pulverised bone looked like after being hit with a backfire.

Ah.

This wasn’t too large of a logical leap from controlling intact flesh and bone.

“Well,” Theo mused to himself, “As horrific as it is, I have to give them points for efficiency.”

Shaking his head, he focused once more on the task at hand. More flesh and bone dust joined up, creating a mountain taller than Union City’s outer walls.

“If that thing gets closer, we’re done!” A shout rang out, and a renewed barrage of glowing projectiles peppered it once more, to no avail.

It slowly plodded along, oozing its way closer to Union City and the warriors still left on the battlefield.

That is, until tendrils shot out of the main body, wrapping themselves around whichever warriors were still on the battlefield, fast enough that most were unable to dodge.

Yelps and screams filled the air, as they were yanked away from the ground, and tossed onto the surface of the flesh mountain piloted by Guiding Will, slowly sinking into rotten flesh quicksand.