Paladin 4: Chapter 54 (Patreon)

Over the following week, Darren and his forces engaged in a series of skirmishes against the Order of the Rod. Each time, the enemy thought to mass just a few more men to overtake him and claim Calabor. Each time, they were utterly destroyed.

Throughout the battles, Darren got a better idea about the distribution of Kalaziel’s forces while also thinning their numbers down dramatically. By the time he was finished here, no dangers would be left for his followers, even after he left them behind to take the battle deeper into the heavens.

“You think you can stand against seven Fifth Order members of the Order of the Rod?” asked a cocksure man with a mustache as wide as his sneer. “You may have beaten some of our junior members, but if you think you can do the same for us, you’re mistaken!”

The forces, as of late, had started growing thinner but more powerful. Darren was sure this was the last true attack the Order of the Rod could muster anywhere near Calabor, so it was time to end the charade they’d been playing.

“I am not mistaken,” Darren replied.

The mustache man scoffed as he drew his sword. Then Darren did something he’d been working on for the last few days. He reached into the deepest recesses of his mind and pulled. There, like a set of limbs, he’d never used before, lay his third set of wings. Upon reaching the Sixth Order, he’d gotten them, but only now did he unveil them and display his true power.

A third set of shining silver wings sprouted from his back. Each feather shimmered like a mirror, and flashes of images played across each one. The sins of the men he was about to kill played out for all to see.

“Three sets of wings! But... that’s the same as Lord Kalaziel!” the mustache man’s sneer finally dropped away, this time replaced by a look of horror. “You’re no Fifth Order! You’re a Prime Saint!”

Darren clenched his fist in reply. “Fetters of Fate.”

The seven Fifth Order members of the Order of the Rod turned to flee, but it was of no use. Their fate was to die by Darren’s hand, so they died.

There were a few casualties among his forces this time, mostly caused by the Fifth Orders before Darren rounded them up. However, it was no lasting loss because Darren brought his fallen followers back to life with a single cast of Divine Restoration.

Through their battles, the remaining Protectors grew closer to the forces Darren had brought up from the Sacred Seas. Given time, they could be forged into a cohesive force, so long as he was there to lead them. Unfortunately, they had a bit more trouble following Sasha or Thalia’s commands when he wasn’t there. Perhaps things would be different with Asuriel, a fellow seraph. Darren planned to reunite with her soon.

On that note, he learned through Cassandra that she was in communication with Horon, who was doing much the same thing he was, though they had the added difficulty of having to duck and weave away from Kalaziel himself. The Prime Saint of Valor was still trying to chase the Prime Saint of Honor down. Still, Horon had many friends, especially among the former Protectors. In addition, Horon now had a small army of guerilla fighters spread throughout the upper layers of the heavens.

This meant that Darren had the perfect opportunity to do just what he was planning on the lower layers of the Seven Heavens. He planned to conquer it and steal its power from Kalaziel.

“Dungeon Queen, I’ll need your help,” Darren said after they had cleared the area.

[Got it! Laying claim to the area! Wow, this place is a bit of a fighter. I feel like something is working against me here...]

“Just do your best,” Darren replied.

He wasn’t sure if he could seize this territory away from the Heavenly Throne, but Laura had said that contesting for control was a good idea. However, it would make the bonding process Kalaziel was going through a lot slower and reduce Kalaziel’s final power when the process was completed.

After defeating the seven Fifth-Order seraph from the Order of the Rod in battle, no more foes came. Victorious at last, Darren decided it was finally time to start delegating. The forces of the Order of the Rod had been so severely crippled in this region that they were unlikely they had the remaining manpower to put up a serious fight in any of the cities left to them, which meant Darren would be able to lay claim to the entire First Layer of the Heavens.

***

Atop the walls of Calabor, Darren surveyed the rest of this layer of the Heavens. Soon, he would snatch every tree and every scrap of grass from Kalazie’s hands.

The city behind him was bustling with activity, and the citizens of Calabor had truly been brought into the fold. Knowledge of what Kalaziel had done and was still doing had become common knowledge among the people here. Now, that information was also spreading through the Ophanim network to other cities.

Already, Darren had sent several stealthy operations to other cities to contact whatever remained of the Protectors there. He needed as many allies as possible, as would Horon, when the time came. Next, he planned to reunite the scattered forces and remake the Protectors. Asuriel was already on that task, but had to skulk about in the shadows. At the same time, Darren stood in the open, ready for any challenger of the Order of the Rod who dared oppose him.

Behind him, Morgana, Sasha, Thalia, Cassandra, and Ashe stood enjoying the view. Callum was there too, looking like he was wondering whether to stick around as a seventh wheel or leave.

“I thought this was a strategy meeting,” Callum said. “If it isn’t, I can go and come back later.” He jerked his thumb behind him off the wall.

“It is. Cassandra and Ashe just made snacks,” Darren replied.

“Look, heart-shaped sandwiches!” Cassandra said as she held up the food from the basket.

“They’re very good,” Sasha said. Her mouth was full, and she was already reaching for another. Of course, as a paladin, she could eat an entire picnic basket full of these things and still be hungry, as could Darren. Which was why Cassandra had brought a dozen such baskets.

“The Order of the Rod has spread far and wide.” Darren gestured over the horizon. “There are many Protectors who don’t know the truth. Many seraphim too. We must reach them all.”

“Agreed.” Callum nodded solemnly.

“You and Sasha will lead. Scour the remaining cities. The Protectors will go with you and pull the other Protector groups back together again.” Darren pointed, gesturing to the three nearest cities on the horizon. “Morgana will follow you in secret for backup.”

“What about me?” Cassandra asked, tugging at Darren’s arm.

“Stay here in Thalia.”

Cassandra pouted. “I can still fight!”

Darren pulled her closer to his side. “I know. But I don’t want you to. Thalia is staying in reserve as well.”

Despite his resurrection skill, he still worried about the baby inside Cassandra. And Thalia, for all her new power, made a much better leader than she did a combatant.

While his companions would lead, they would need others who could follow.

The teams set out on their missions, and Darren watched them leave with a mixture of pride and concern. He was used to leading from the front and being in the thick of things. Letting others take care of tasks he normally did himself felt unnatural.

But he was there to reinforce them the moment something went wrong. Callum ended up encountering a Fifth Order member of the Order of the Rod who hadn’t joined the assaults on Calabor that lead to the deaths of most of his peers.

He might have wiped out Callum and his group without Morgana quietly stalking in the shadows. Unfortunately, the man didn’t last long enough for Darren to show up before Morgana’s poison put him down for good.

Darren jumped between the two queens and claimed the regions around both cities with the Dungeon Queen’s help. They made rapid progress through the major cities, and the Protectors’ ranks, who’d previously been disbanded, were swelling with all speed. They were even recruiting sympathetic members of the public. More than one person recognized Darren from Asuriel and Ashe’s many posts about him on the ophanim network.

Before he knew it, nearly half of the lowest layer of the Seven Heavens was under his control. He received another message from Asuriel, who had discovered her city under increasing tension. As one of the few remaining bastions of the Order of the Rod’s influence on this layer, the Order of the Rod was rallying their forces there and growing all the more desperate.

Cassandra’s face went pale as she repeated the message Asuriel was sending through their link.

“It’s horrible, Darren! Asuriel says the Order of the Rod is... disassembling civilian seraphim to empower themselves and create new members of the Order of the Rod! She also fears she’s been discovered as a spy, and it’s only a matter of time before they come for her. Of course, they think she’s just a Fourth Order and won’t be expecting a fight, but there are a few strong people in the settlement now, and she doesn’t want to draw their attention by picking a fight.” Cassandra held a hand over her mouth. “We need to send Callum or Sasha’s teams there to stop this!”

Darren shook his head. “No. I’ll go myself. Tell Asuriel I’m on my way.”

***

He took to the sky alone moments later. All three sets of silver wings glinted in the sunlight as he raced toward Asuriel’s location. Though Asuriel’s insider information as of late had been extremely useful, the atrocities committed by the Order of the Rod here in the Heavens could not be allowed to continue.

They had committed countless atrocities and betrayals in the mortal world in their pursuit of power and influence. But the fact that they continued such practices even now that they had reached the heavens set his heart aflame.

He arrived at the large town where Asuriel had been hiding, and the gruesome sight of the Order of the Rod’s recent actions let a growl loose from his lips. The Order of the Rod had set up a makeshift facility, and he immediately recognized the artifact key to their recent work. It was just like the copper sphere that had consumed Ashe’s body and the egg-shaped device they’d been using to control the minds of captured Protectors.

The harsh and brutal knowledge of knowing exactly what they were up to, added to the fact that he knew Asuriel was in that very settlement, meant he had run out of patience or mercy.

He landed in the center of town like a meteor, sword already drawn and ready for battle.

He reached out and, with one hand, tore off the roof of the building the Order of the Rod was using as their facility. The walls, already shattered from the force of his landing, tumbled to the ground and revealed the Order of the Rod’s dark practices for all to see.

Ashe manifested from Melancholy a moment later, staring at the inside of the facility with wide eyed-horror.

The captured seraphim were shackled and bound to cold, metallic tables with their wings forcibly pinned by finger-thick needles. Members of the Order of the Rod stood over the suffering seraphim, drawing symbols around them with buckets of human blood.

He recognized the diagrams they were drawing. Kalaziel hadn’t just invented something that was like demonic ritual magic. He was using demonic ritual magic, complete with human sacrifices.

In the center of an array of seraph sat a young member of the Order of the Rod, only a normal paladin. He was screaming in agony just as much as the shackled seraphim and surrounded by those metallic eggs. Divine Aura was being drained out of the seraphim and forced into him.

Grimly, it reminded him of a far more brutal and unnatural version of what he’d been doing to bolster the powers of his lovers. Instead of waiting for their souls to grow and adapt to the new power, the Order of the Rod was making everything fit together by force.

“By the high heavens!” Ashe gasped.

Darren scowled at the Order of the Rod members orchestrating this unholy butchery. He raised Melancholy. “This ends now.”

Darren’s voice boomed over the surrounding area, echoing with righteous fury, making the Order of the Rod members freeze. They were already scrambling after he tore the building apart with his bare hands and left a small crater in the ground with his landing, but when they saw the three sets of silver wings on his back, they were truly terrified.

Ashe rushed toward the pinned and shackled seraphim, working fast to undo their bindings and disconnect them from the devices that were drawing their very life out.

The Order of the Rod members rallied themselves when six Fifth Order’s among them appeared, each armed in the Order of the Rod’s signature armor and prepared for battle.

“I hadn’t expected a battle this soon after reaching the Fifth Order...” one of them growled. “Is that... a Prime Saint? Heavens above, Commander Thorn said we wouldn’t face someone like that!”

“Are you Horon, Prime Saint of Honor?” One of them demanded.

Darren shook his head. “No.”

He said no more to the six of them, as there was no point in exchanging words with those that would soon be dead. The first crumpled to the ground with his first swift and decisive stroke of Melancholy’s edge.

He was surprised to sense it drawing Demonic Aura from the body of the one it had slain. He supposed that with dark enough deeds, even Divine Aura could be corrupted. What these members of the Order of the Rod had been doing had certainly been dark enough.

The rest were upon him, fighting furiously and drawing upon their entire arsenal of skills one after another. Darren braced for their attacks, summoning his Aegis and ready to disrupt their skills and lock each of them down with Fetters of Fate at the first opportunity.

But he never got the chance. Instead, a bright battle cry echoed out from across town, and a familiar form flew up before crashing down behind the remaining seraphim exactly as Darren did.

Golden light swelled in her palms, and when she landed, she threw them both down onto one of the remaining leaders of the Order of the Rod, enveloping him in burning light.

“Ha! See, I can do a heroic entrance too!” Asuriel said, placing one hand on her hip and raising the other in a victory pose.

With the power of the Sixth Order, Darren had been a match for everyone from the Order of the Rod with his strength alone. Now that Asuriel had also joined the battle, the Order of the Rod was completely outmatched.

Asuriel launched a barrage of holy light at their enemies. After freeing the captured seraphim, Ashe joined in as well.

Darren hit their foes with Fetters of Fate, ensuring that no one could get away and cause trouble for his forces elsewhere. Though the wreckage of the fight destroyed several city blocks, Darren’s overwhelming power meant the Order of the Rod never truly stood a chance. But the last member of the Order of the Rod still had one more trick up his sleeve.

“Brother Jamon, this is going to hurt. But you must avenge us!” Then the last Fifth Order targeted each metallic egg containing power robbed from hundreds of seraphim. He pointed at them and destroyed them one by one.

Asuriel killed him a moment later, leaving the human man tied to a chair and dumped full of energy. Though they had been disconnected, those eggs were still filled with power. In his final desperate act of vengeance, the last of the Order of the Rod had released all that power at once.

In moments, it was impossible to tell if the man strapped to that chair had ever been a human. His form morphed, twisting and hardening until he seemed like he was made from metal instead of flesh.

The gruesome transformation continued as gears and metal plates emerged from his body, morphing him into a disturbingly mechanical clockwork monster.

It reminded him of the dreadful visage of the ophanim when he saw them for the first time. This seemed less like a cohesive idea and more like a bunch of half-formed concepts of a mechanical creature that had been mashed together.

The thing that had once been Jamon, Archpaladin of the Order of the Rod, snapped the chains binding it to its chair as easily as snapping dry twigs.

“Throw down your weapons.” Darren lifted his sword, curious if the spirit that had once been the man within the monstrosity could hear him anymore.

The exposed gears on the creature’s chest whirred menacingly. The monster bellowed a guttural roar that kicked dust into the air and ruffled Darren’s hair.

Darren took that as a refusal, especially when the monster charged him a moment later. Its metal limbs extended with a sickening crunch, transforming to become twice as long as the monster was tall. Each finger shifted until it was as long and sharp as a sword.

Darren called upon his legendary Fetters of Fate skill, but for the first time, the ability failed him. The chains appeared over the monster’s body. Still, the moment they did so, the grinding gears all over the monstrosity’s form dug into the chains and ground them to dust. He would have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Absolute Analysis: Creature Analysis

Clockwork Divine Energy Construct (Quasi-Sixth Order)

Constructed from the disjointed remains of hundreds of powerful seraphim and combined with the drive and malice of one of the Order of the Rod’s finest archpaladins, the Clockwork Divine Energy Construct is an entity capable of destroying all that opposes it. It is impossible to control, and even the archpaladin soul in the core of the Construct has few means of determining its future courses of action.

This entity exists in an unstable state. Though it can currently exert the power of the Sixth Order, its body will self-destruct if it continues to utilize power at that level for long. Due to its temporary and unstable nature, the Clockwork Divine Energy Construct is highly resistant to any abilities that would bind it through mundane or magical means.

It is highly capable of redirecting kinetic and energy attacks and storing the energy from attacks used against it to empower its own future attacks.

The obvious way to beat this thing was to simply keep away from it. But, unlike him, it wasn’t a stable Sixth Order being, and from the looks of it, it would destroy itself after just an hour or two of operation.

But Darren couldn’t wait an hour. There were dozens of wounded all around him, not to mention an entire town of seraphim nearby. This creature would destroy and kill them all if given half a chance.

But it wouldn’t succeed so long as Darren was there.

The last of its abilities sounded suspiciously similar to his own, One With the Universe. So Darren decided to pit his Legendary movement skill against the creature’s own and see whose power was greater.

Melancholy met the Clockwork Divine Energy Construct’s claws, and for once, neither budged. Instead, all the strength of its attack flowed into Darren, and he redirected that same power back into the Construct. The Construct did the same, channeling Darren’s energy back into its attack.

Man and machine met and locked gazes, each immovable in their own way. The energy passing between them built to greater heights with each passing second. The Clockwork Construct’s body began glowing as all the energy building inside it increased and built to greater and greater heights.

That was where Darren had the advantage. Instead of storing all the energy he was taking into himself, he merged it with his surroundings. As a result, the power flowed into the rocks around them, lifting huge portions of earth into the air.

It started as a few boulders, but the more the Clockwork Construct fought back, the greater the energy Darren stored. Soon, a small mountain hovered above their heads.

Eventually, the metallic body of the Clockwork Construct grew so hot that the glowing plates of its body started to melt. Darren sensed his opportunity and struck out at a gear toward the center of the Construct’s body. He’d seen it twisting every time the Construct moved its left leg and realized it was crucial to the Construct’s ability to move.

Hot as it was, one swift strike bent the gear out of shape and fused it to its neighboring piece of metal. Like hot steel over a forge, Darren had welded the gear in place.

The Clockwork Construct stumbled and froze, finally giving up on opposing Darren so directly. It broke off its attack, and the moment it did, Darren jumped clear. The small mountain he’d lifted fell immediately on top of the Clockwork Construct’s head, crushing it beneath an enormous amount of stone and debris.

“Whew! You kicked that monster’s ass!” Asuriel said, holding her land up for a high five in congratulations.

Darren accepted her praise, and then they turned toward the survivors.

<Note>

Shoot. I accidentally published chapter 55. I guess I'll give you guys two bonus chapters today, since the other one is kinda already spoiled.