News of the silver light poisoning the forest spread like a cold whisper among the Silverwood Spire leadership. Within Nihil’s emergency command room, the holographic map that once displayed three escape routes now flickered with a new pulsing threat icon – a slowly expanding red circle on the eastern border. The silence in the room was heavy, laden with the weight of a problem lacking an obvious solution. Time for calm escape planning was gone, replaced by the urgent need to confront the threat knocking at their door.
"The Pillar of Purification," Elara said, breaking the silence. Her fingers danced over her data tablet, displaying encrypted texts received from Velka’s network. "According to this preliminary intel, it’s a high-level Inquisition artifact. Not designed to kill, but to ’cleanse’. It creates a persistent sacred zone, an energy field that actively repels and negates all powers antithetical to Holy Light. Dark magic, demonic energy... and, apparently, Void power."
Lyraelle crossed her arms, her sharp eyes fixed on the red circle on the map. "So they’re no longer hiding. They’re openly declaring war on our land. They’re trying to bait us out."
"This is more than bait," Nihil stated, his red eyes staring at the map with cold intensity. He didn’t see it as a military threat; he saw it as an elegant, lethal physics equation. "This is battlefield preparation. They won’t attack us here, where your nature magic is strongest. They’re creating an environment where your strongest weapon—me—is useless. They want me to go there, into the zone where I’m weakest."
"Then we won’t go," Lyraelle stated firmly. "We’ll fortify our defenses here. Let them sit out there and poison the forest. Sooner or later they’ll have to move."
"They won’t move," Elara countered. "The zone will keep expanding. Slowly, but surely. Within a week, it will start engulfing the outermost villages. Within a month, it will reach the Spire’s edge. This isn’t an attack; it’s a conceptual siege. They’re turning the land itself into a weapon against us."
*Lyraelle’s Thoughts: Damn it. They’re right. Traditional Elf tactics won’t work here. We can’t fight an enemy whose weapon is the ground beneath our feet. She...* her eyes shifted to Nihil. *He understands this on a different level. He doesn’t see it as desecration. He sees it as strategy.*
"So we have to destroy the pillar," Lyraelle said, shifting back into commander mode. "A swift, coordinated strike. My rangers could infiltrate close, and with your support..." she looked at Nihil.
Nihil shook his head slowly. "No. That’s what they expect. The zone is a kill trap. Inside it, my `Void Reconstruction` will drastically slow. My spatial abilities will be impaired. Any `Phase Step` usage might cause instantaneous `Cascade Collapse` due to interaction with the holy energy. And `Void Grasp`... against a concentrated holy energy source like that is suicide."
He walked closer to the map, his analytical mind processing every variable. "You don’t fight a concept with physical force. You fight it with a smarter concept. We won’t destroy the pillar. It’s too heavily guarded. We will... deactivate it."
Elara raised an eyebrow. "Deactivate it? It’s a holy artifact, not a machine."
"Everything is a machine," Nihil replied. "The artifact needs resources to operate. According to Gideon’s reports, he had five Purifiers with him. Their previous ritual required a pentagram formation. Most likely, this pillar also requires constant energy channeling from them to maintain a zone that large."
He pointed to five hypothetical points around the red circle on the map. "They won’t be standing out in the open. They’ll be in concealed positions, guarding the pillar while channeling energy into it. They are the batteries. If we remove the batteries, the machine dies."
A plan began to form in Lyraelle’s mind. Not a brutal frontal assault, but a series of precise, surgical strikes. "So... we don’t attack the center. We attack the periphery. We hunt the channelers one by one."
"Precisely," Nihil said. "But not with overwhelming force. That would alert the others. We’ll use speed and surprise. Small teams. You, me, and no more than three of your best rangers. We go in, kill one target, then vanish before they can respond. Repeat five times."
Elara nodded agreement, already modeling the plan on her tablet. "Tactically, it’s sound. It minimizes your exposure to the main energy zone and leverages the rangers’ advantage in guerrilla warfare."
*Nihil’s Thoughts: This is the only logical choice. But the risk is still high. I’ll be operating under severe power constraints. I won’t be able to rely on my regeneration or absolute mobility. I’ll have to rely on something else. Something I haven’t used fully in a long time. Heze’s brain.*
"When do we move?" Lyraelle asked, her resolve now burning.
"Now," Nihil answered. "Under the deepest night. They expect us to debate and plan for days. They won’t expect us to strike mere hours after they set their trap."
Lyraelle looked at Nihil. There was something different about him now. Since his fight with Gideon, since he re-engineered his own healing, he seemed more... focused. More dangerous. He was no longer just reacting to the world. He was beginning to impose his logic upon it.
"Pick your rangers," Nihil said. "Pick the fastest and quietest. Tell them to bring no light or life-based magic. It will only be a beacon for the enemy. We hunt tonight."
Lyraelle gave a sharp nod and turned to leave, her steps filled with new purpose. Elara remained, watching Nihil.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked softly. "You just recovered."
"I never fully recovered," Nihil replied. "I only achieved a new functional state. And that functional state will be tested tonight." He stared at the map, his red eyes reflecting the holographic light. "Gideon wants to play chess. Let’s see how he reacts when we start taking his pawns one by one."
Night draped Silverwood Forest, but the darkness was imperfect. In the distance, to the east, an unnatural silver light pulsed faintly, radiating from the Sacred Zone created by the Pillar of Purification. The light cast shadows into eerie grays and made the air feel cold and sterile. It was within this ghostly light that the hunt began.
Five figures moved soundlessly through the underbrush. Lyraelle led, her twin swords sheathed, every step as light as a falling leaf. Behind her, three of her elite rangers – a veteran tracker named Faelan, and the deadly twins, Laeron and Erion – moved like ghosts. Nihil was at the rear of the formation, his red eyes adapting to the dim light, his mind constantly processing data.
As they neared the edge of the Sacred Zone, they all felt it. The oppressive pressure, the unnatural silence where even the crickets had died.
"Feels like... a tomb," Faelan whispered.
Nihil activated `Void Sonar` with extreme care, only a brief pulse.
[Activating: Void Sonar (Rank F)]
[Capacity: 50/50 -> 49/50]
His mental map formed, blurred and distorted, but clear enough. Five smaller energy points – the Purifiers – were scattered in a loose pentagram formation around one blazing central point, the Pillar itself.
"First target. Two o’clock. Concealed behind the ruins of an old bell tower," Nihil whispered, relaying the information to Lyraelle.
Lyraelle nodded and gave hand signals. They split up, flanking, while Lyraelle and Nihil approached straight from the front.
[WARNING: ENTERING LOW-LEVEL SACRED ENERGY ZONE. VOID-BASED ABILITIES HINDERED BY 20%.]
They reached the edge of the ruins. Behind them, a Purifier knelt, eyes closed in concentration.
"Faelan and I will strike from the left," Lyraelle whispered. "The twins from the right. When we move, distract him."
Nihil nodded. He reached his hand towards the rubble above the Purifier.
[Using: Atomic Manipulation (Marginally Stable)]
[Capacity: 49/50 -> 47/50]
He ’erased’ the mortar holding together some large stones in the crumbling wall. With a sudden cracking sound, the stones fell, not beside, but directly onto the Purifier.
The Purifier jerked awake, but his reaction was astonishingly fast. He rolled sideways, avoiding the stones that crushed where he had knelt. He sprang to his feet, his sword drawn. "Who’s there?!"
That was when Lyraelle and her rangers struck. They gave him no time to shout.
Faelan fired three black arrows in rapid succession, not to disable, but to kill. The Purifier deflected the first two, but the third sank deep into his shoulder. He roared in pain.
Before he could retaliate, Laeron and Erion were on him from the sides. Their swords moved in a synchronized dance of death. The Purifier, though wounded, was a veteran. He parried Laeron’s strike, but it left him open to Erion, whose sword slashed his hamstring, sending him crashing to his knees.
He tried to activate his comm crystal, but Lyraelle was already there. She did not hesitate. Her twin swords crossed in one swift motion and lopped off the Purifier’s head. The helmeted head thudded dully to the ground. The headless body collapsed, blood spurting onto the silvered earth.
One dead. In the distance, the Pillar of Purification flickered, its light dimming significantly.
"Alarm! Alpha position is down!" Commander Gideon’s hoarse, furious voice crackled from the corpse’s comm crystal. "All units, converge on Sector Alpha! Kill all intruders!"
"We have to go. Now," Nihil said.
As they prepared to retreat, two more Purifiers burst through the trees, their silver swords gleaming.
"Too late, cursed Elves!" one snarled.
Nihil knew they had no time. "Get the others out," he told Lyraelle. "I’ll hold them."
Before Lyraelle could protest, Nihil moved forward, his passive `Void Shift` making him seem blurred.
The two Purifiers attacked him simultaneously. Nihil ducked under the first sword swing and deflected the second with the reinforced outer edge of his forearm. He stretched his hand towards the ground.
[Using: Atomic Manipulation (Marginally Stable)]
[Capacity: 47/50 -> 44/50]
A pillar of sharp stone shot up from the ground, forcing one Purifier to leap back. He then pivoted and kicked the wrist of the second Purifier, making him drop his sword.
He saw the fallen silver blade. He knew it would hurt him, but it was the only weapon available. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel fire.net
[Using: Void Grasp (Rank E)]
[Capacity: 44/50 -> 42/50]
He wrapped the sword in a thin layer of Void energy, isolating it from his direct touch. The sword floated into his hand, vibrating and hissing violently.
[Capacity: 42/50 -> 41/50... 40/50... (continually draining due to contact)]
The disarmed Purifier stared in horror. "You dare defile a sacred blade?!"
Nihil didn’t answer. He attacked.
The fight was a storm of chaos. Nihil, with his unpredictable movements and his enemy’s own sword, was an impossible opponent. He didn’t fight like a knight. He fought like a glitch in reality. He dodged a slash from the first Purifier and used the momentum to drive the darkness-wrapped silver sword straight into the heart of the second Purifier.
The second Purifier stared at his chest in disbelief as holy energy and Void energy annihilated each other, burning him from within. He collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.
The remaining Purifier, seeing his comrade slain, went berserk with rage. He charged blindly. Nihil, now feeling his arm sear from holding the sword, didn’t dodge. He stepped forward, letting the Purifier’s sword pierce his non-vital shoulder.
[WARNING: SACRED DAMAGE DETECTED. REGENERATION HINDERED.]
Ignoring the burning pain, he used the opening to drive the silver sword in his hand into the Purifier’s throat, ending him swiftly.
He pulled the sword from his shoulder and dropped the one he’d been holding, which now glowed red-hot from the conflicting energy. He stood panting among the three corpses.
He had killed three holy warriors of the Church. There was no going back now.
At the center of the zone, Commander Gideon felt three of the five energy streams sustaining the Pillar snuff out. The silver light over the valley dimmed to a ghostly flicker. He looked towards the battle, his fanatical eyes now filled with cold, absolute fury.
*Gideon’s Thoughts: Three. He killed three of mine. Three blessed souls. This is no longer a hunt. This is no longer a mission. This is holy war. And I will be its judgment.*