The Achievement Junkie

As the citizens scrabbled below, the two champions continued to clash with one another. The darkness around Hadurt would attempt to swallow the light around Lorwynn, never succeeding. The light encompassing Lorwynn would always try to chase away Hadurt's darkness, unable to vanquish it.

Looking to his rival, Hadurt asked, "We're about equal, so how do you want to end this?"

"That…" Lorwynn looked beneath him. He paid little attention to the citizens and more to the association he had spent his life building. "That's yet to be decided."

"Come on, don't tell me that you're out of ideas, Lorwynn. You're a trickier pestro than me," laughed Hadurt.

Lorwynn sighed. "Does that mean you're admitting defeat?"

"Never!"

"Then you give me no choice…" With a short distance between the two champions, Lorwynn stored Lyrun's Staff and gripped Halmut's Scepter with both hands. "Get ready. This is my greatest attack of all."

Excitement returned to Hadurt's face as he smiled wide. "Finally… I've been waiting for this."

"You won't attack me directly now?" asked Lorwynn. "Now that I've stored Lyrun's Staff, I'm vulnerable again."

"And then what will I do against your attack?" retorted Hadurt. "What's the point of killing you if it costs me my life?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Lorwynn chuckled as the light around him grew and grew until the clouds around the city center were entirely parted.

Hadurt gave Lorwynn a curious stare. "What do you mean?"

"Since it's too late to stop the spell, I'll tell you," replied Lorwynn, keeping his gaze fixed on Hadurt. "Wouldn't it be best for the gods if both of us perished together?"

"That…" confronted with such an idea, Hadurt was also torn at heart.

With the champions active, the differing factions of gods aren't allowed to fight each other. Only after a faction loses their champion can the gods begin to take action again. But wouldn't that just result in the faction without a champion gaining an advantage?

Such a thought wasn't new to Hadurt but it was the first time that Lorwynn had admitted to sharing such an outlook. That just made it harder for Hadurt to take in at that moment.

"Now… It's too late for both of us…" Lorwynn admitted.

Brought back to the moment, Hadurt looked to Lorwynn and saw Halmut's Scepter falling apart. The golden scales that covered it broke apart until they blew away like dust in the wind. The sturdy dragon bone that made up the scepter's form cracked and dwindled to dust as well. Nothing was left of the god's legendary weapon.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Hadurt.

Lorwynn smiled. "You and I both know what I just did. So, allow me to bid you farewell one last time, Hadurt."

"Shut up!"

"It was an honor to have such a rival."

As Lorwyn bowed his head, the light parting the clouding became blinding. An abrupt pillar of pure white light fell from the heavens with unfathomable speed. One champion was busy bowing while the other watched the pillar of light in absolute terror.

Neither of them had time to say another word or move another centimeter. The pillar of light consumed them and obliterated what remained of the central market below.

The pillar of light only lasted for a second before it vanished, leaving the clouds parted and the market nonexistent.

The combatants on both sides stopped fighting. The association members looked up eagerly while the syndicate members were anxious to know the results of the attack. But when they noticed that there were no signs of either champion remaining, both groups were shaken to their cores.

"Retreat!"

An order filled the minds of the syndicate members. They were extremely hesitant to follow but Ollan's order was repeated, "Retreat! We'll regroup and decide our next strategy soon."

The invaders kept quiet as they all pulled out a spell scroll. In a matter of seconds, all the invaders vanished in plumes of dark smoke that matched the clouds overhead. Also, the clouds started to fade away, leaving the night sky beautiful with the full moon overlooking the megacity's destruction.

"Stop the fire!" One of the two surviving guardians ordered through their guild contact crystal. "Help the citizens and calm the panic throughout the city. That's an order!"

Slowly, the association members went into action and split up throughout the city.

Once the two guardians and the four remaining councilmen were left behind with the troops that had been hidden for so long, they inspected the site of Lorwynn's battle.

Try as they might, they failed to find anything left of either champion thanks to the pillar of light that had annihilated everything in its path. Even the stone roads of the marketplace were evaporated, cut in a perfect circle to match the pillar of light. A pit over one hundred meters deep and over one hundred meters wide was left at the site of the pillar. And nothing was at the bottom other than brittle, scorched earth.

*****

"What was that idiot thinking!"

"Calm down, Pestro. We had no control over the holy champion and no reason to believe he would commit suicide to annihilate our champion."

"Shut up, Tralbok! It wasn't your plan that was ruined, nor was it your power that proved useless in a battle against mortals!" Pestro shouted to his fellow god.

Tralbok shrugged. "True, but that doesn't mean your efforts were in vain, Pestro. Your demon clouds forced the holy champion to become desperate, right? And with both champions gone, doesn't that mean we can finally act personally?"

"That… That's true, I guess." A wicked smile appeared on Pestro's orcish face. "Does that mean--"

"No, we can't make a move so soon. First, we have to learn why the holy faction chose for their champion to act as such," reasoned Tralbok. "There's a chance that they've learned about Moronti's rebellion and the two gods he killed in the process."

"You think they would dare take us head-on, Tralbok? That's unlikely since they've got more deserters than us," stated Pestro. "But you have a point… Let's gather information before we make a move."

"You know what this means, right?" Tralbok asked Pestro, raising an eyebrow.

"Right… We'll need Choron, won't we? And what should I do if he's uncooperative?"

Tralbok squinted. "Tell him that we'll offer him freedom once the holy faction has been eliminated."

"He'll never believe that," reasoned Pestro.

"He'll have to. Killing the holy faction would result in him meeting his requirements to terminate his allegiance to us," stated Tralbok. "I'm sure he'll be glad to know that you and I will help him with Naparn. Wouldn't you in his position?"

Pestro cackled, "Right! Then I'll be back once that ninja has started gathering intelligence again."

"Also, make sure he looks into Trodar and the neutral champion. We can't forget about them, not after Skaryn's final warning," Tralbok added.

*****

"Fool! Lyrun, do you realize what your disciple has done?!"

Sighing, Lyrun nodded. "I do."

Pacing back and forth on the pavilion high above the clouds, steam started to emit from Naparn. "Your disciple just destroyed all of our plans! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I don't know what he was thinking, but can you deny his final words, Naparn?" stated Lyrun. "If anything, the selection of champions was merely a delaying tactic to keep the gods at bay for a time. At some point, the champions would fall against the gods and our war would continue. So what's so terrible about both sides losing their champions?"

"And what about the third faction?" questioned Naparn, not wanting to let go of his anger.

Lyrun tilted his head and answered, "Aren't they at the greatest disadvantage? As the sole side with a champion alive, what can they do?"