Eleonore turned her gaze to the gods inside the bubbles of holy water.
“For now, let’s destroy them all before they move,” she said.
Zeshia and Eleonore nodded.
“Got it!”
“Ennessone will do her best too!”
Things could get real messy if this army of gods descended to the earth. While my followers could defend themselves, many, many more couldn’t and would suffer enormous damages. The best move would be to eliminate them here.
“The army of gods cannot be destroyed,” a low voice suddenly echoed through the aurora temple.
Eleonore turned her Eyes towards a particular bubble of holy water cradling a god clad in rusty red armor and his head encased in a full-face helmet. From between the eye slit, his glare was piercing and familiar; it was the God of War, Pelpedro, who should have perished already.
“War is nature. Until the earth is burned to the ground, we will multiply for eternity. And while we individually can be destroyed, we cannot be annihilated outright. Thus, we remain undefeated.”
The bubble around Pelpedro burst, water flowing everywhere. The God of War set foot on the aurora floor and held out his hand. Light gathered.
“For we,” Pelpedro said, “are nothing like you, failures of the Heavenly Father.”
Eleonore gasped and looked around herself—at the army being born from bubbles of holy water, charged with the power of firedew. Although there were different types of gods, individually, they seemed almost the same. Similar, yet different.
“I see... The army of gods are source clones like Zeshia,” she mumbled sadly.
“Indeed,” Pelpedro confirmed. “We bear the burden of the order you failed to maintain. We will spread war across the world, and destroy all demons, humans, and draconids.”
Pelpedro held up a divine sword that glowed a rusty red. “Now rise, my undefeated army. The time to march has come. Open the door of god!”
The God of War slowly swung his divine sword in a downwards arc. As the sword moved, it burst bubble after bubble of holy water in quick succession, its rust-colored light drawing a magic circle across the entire temple.
The army of ten thousand divine soldiers woke up as the door of god at the back of the aurora temple slowly swung open. This door was most likely connected to the earth.
“I won’t let you!” Eleonore exclaimed.
Eleonore fired Teo Triath at the army of gods. But the bullets of light turned to stone the moment they entered their barrier—effects of the Dolzork’s magic.
“Regalomitein!” Zeshia cried.
Zeshia ran forward and used Regalomitein to multiply Enharle, with roughly one thousand swords appearing to slash at the army. Though it looked like enough to rout the enemy, only one soldier fell. Soon enough, the gods surrounded the girls in a formation that activated a glowing magic circle—the formation magic, Arnest.
The God of War’s order strengthened the art of war through the circle, with the strength of numbers overpowering any individual skill or ability. Before his order, individual strength became extremely limited.
“Unlike that incomplete puppet of order, we are order itself,” Pelpedro said. “A puppet and a broken magic order have no chance before our superior existence. This is the order of war.”
Legions of boots stomping in a unified march echoed through the temple as the Garmrgund and Schnelde moved forward.
Zeshia retreated to stand back-to-back with Eleonore. They were completely surrounded.
“Do not expect mercy. Unlike you failures, we gods have no heart. We are only loyal to fulfilling our order.”
The God of War gave his command. “Fire!”
Amysius fired arrows from their giant divine bows, striking Eleonore’s De Ijelia barriers, carving hole after hole into it. Under Arnest’s influence, Eleonore’s barrier was unable to exert its full strength; it crumbled instantly.
The soldiers advanced mercilessly, their weapons at the ready. The Garmrgund deflected Zeshia’s Holy Sword of Light with swords of their own while the Schnelde behind them thrust their spears forward.
“Zeshia!”
Eleonore used her own body as a shield, as six spears pierced through her abdomen, red blood gushing immediately from these wounds. The Spearman Gods who held these spears raised them upwards in unison, lifting Eleonore up into the air.
“You’re next, defective puppet of order.”
A squad of Garmrgund slashed their divine swords, sealing Enharle’s movements as some Schnelde thrust their divine spears at Zeshia. A shrill sound rang through the air—the spears had been blocked by a blinding light.
“Zeshia is my pride and joy. I won’t forgive anyone who calls her defective.”
Magic runes were floating around Eleonore, releasing holy water. The blinding light that had blocked the spears was a magic barrier created from Eleonore’s artificial sources. Arnest held the power of the majority—in other words, each soldier counted as one source clone. And so, Eleonore suspected that an artificial clone would count as one-third of a soldier. That assumption had been correct.
“Here goes, Enne!”
“Okay!”
Ennessone spread her wings and flew. Eleonore sealed the divine spears with artificial sources and pulled them out of her body. Then, a magic link connected from her abdomen to Ennessone, quietly tying them together.
“Focus fire. Now!” Pelpedro commanded.
The Dolzork all cast Jio Graze as the Amysius released their arrows. The black suns and arrows of light together aimed at Eleonore and Ennessone like a raging wave. At the same time, the Garmrgund and the Schnelde both attacked Zeshia.
“Eleonore! De Ijelia!”
Eleonore created a barrier of artificial sources and De Ijelia at the same time, protecting herself, Zeshia, and Ennessone.
The next moment, her entire body started releasing glowing magic power.
“Ennessone-Eleonore.”
At Eleonore’s signal, Ennessone spread her arms and drew a magic circle. 10,022 storks flew out of the circle and up towards the ceiling of the temple.
Eleonore sent her magic to Ennessone through their link. Ennessone’s body then started to glow, her wings extending until they were ten times the size of her body.
She had become the 10,023rd stork. Ennessone was the Demon King’s magic, something that shouldn’t exist according to the order of the world. In other words, she was proof they had exceeded the limit of artificial sources made through Eleonore.