A Fall From Grace

The balor’s Root of Evil was but a catalyst. The seed of evil Leylin had planted in Rafiniya oh so long ago had now erupted, fuelled by the weakening of her faith. Baator’s World Origin Force cheered as a legendary paladin fell from grace, turning into a devil!

“Haha,” Rafiniya knelt and wept, “Good, evil, justice… What do they even mean? What did all my effort come to?”

Flames began to burn around the fallen paladin, and a phantom image of Baator appeared as numerous devils and even the Lords of Baator cheered at the sight of a legendary paladin turning.

“ARGH…” The dark flames enveloped the Lady of Hope, causing her to shriek in anguish.

The flames greatly transformed Rafiniya’s body. Her face grew far more enchanting than before, as a pair of dark wings appeared behind her back to make her look like a fallen angel. The origin force continued to roar, turning the pious Holy Knight into an erinyes! Murky light enveloped the former paladin, instantly bringing her to the depths of hell.

Just as she was about to descend to the Fourth Hell, a crimson string of light appeared behind her. Leylin’s divine kingdom attracted the now erinyes, pulling her into the first three Hells. The cheering Lords and their subordinates instantly began to curse Leylin, but nobody dared step into his divine kingdom to seize her.

“A legendary paladin turned erinyes, huh?” Leylin knew best about any events occurring in his divine kingdom. The power of corruption formed at the fall of such a powerful paladin was favoured by every Lord of Baator. On top of that, the paladin would become a staunchly loyal devil, the most powerful of warriors fighting under their banner.

However, Leylin didn’t have the time to pay attention to Rafiniya right now. He instructed Isabel to welcome her, moving into Thultanhthar as the flying city left his divine kingdom...

The battle in the orc wastelands had reached its peak. Soul after soul was wiped out as the light of their deaths streaked across the skies of the combined divine kingdom. Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes… Various calamities rocked the place, causing many orcs to weep and cower as if the apocalypse had arrived.

An army of valiant spirits had set up a large formation on the outskirts of the combined divine kingdom, several hundred Professionals of each class. It was a rare sight in the World of Gods, one only enabled by the accumulated power of two greater gods over tens of thousands of years.

“Give up, Gruumsh. Leave Silverymoon and return to to your plains. It’s your only choice.” Mystra was now outfitted in armour, the army of wizards behind her emitting a powerful aura. The array of spell lights caused the orc god’s heart to turn cold.

However, it was no easy feat to attack the divine kingdom of the orc pantheon, even for two greater gods. Gruumsh was a greater god as well, and his accumulated power was not to be trifled either.

The bugles continued to sound out as the orcish armies joined up, forming a defensive line under the command of the Goddess of Fertility Luthic. Gruumsh and Bahgtru sent their clones forward to meet Mystra and Tyr, blocking their paths.

The fight for the north wasn’t limited to the north. Outside the prime material plane, it had erupted into a war amongst gods! Mystra couldn’t give up on Silverymoon, while Gruumsh couldn’t give up on the orcs. Their worshippers’ conflicts had forced them into battle, as was commonplace in history.

“Since that’s your choice…” Tyr raised his one hand slowly, “KILL!”

Wave after wave of paladins surged forward, charging towards the outermost defences of the divine kingdom.

“Damn it… That’s Mystra’s divine kingdom!” Bahgtru roared, his multiple clones radiating energy.

“We’re your opponents.” A portal opened to reveal the God of Wizards. He’d brought with him the avatars of the other gods subordinate to Mystra, as well as giant demigods to protect them.

“Your pantheon has suffered great losses, Gruumsh, you have absolutely no chance of victory…” Mystra and Tyr were squaring off against Gruumsh.

With how the orc pantheon was built, if Gruumsh was seriously injured or killed the entire race would be thrown to the brink of annihilation. Mystra held the upper hand here, able to suppress Gruumsh alongside Tyr. On the other hand, Bahgtru and Luthic were not strong enough to take on the rest of their subordinates.

Gruumsh originally had the help of multiple gods from his pantheon, putting his only strength slightly below Mystra and Tyr. However, some of his subordinates had been severely injured now, and the situation had completely reversed. She believed she could push the orcs back in one go!

Battles between gods were wars of attrition. Even Mystra and Tyr couldn’t defeat their enemies in one go, but they had to at least inflict heavy damage on their opponents, causing them to suffer losses in the upcoming wars in the prime material plane.

“Damn it… You despicable pygmies!” Gruumsh’s body wavered at the forefront, splitting into over a dozen clones each of which possessed a terrifying amount of divine force. Even having split up so many times, each clone possessed great power that wasn’t inferior to a lesser god’s! He could overpower a lesser god just by stacking on them with numbers.

However, he wasn’t facing a lesser god this time. Mystra and Tyr were both greater gods, and they exchanged a look that showed that they’d expected him to split up.

More clones walked out beside them as well, as a ball of light formed into a spear in Tyr’s hand.

“Eicher’s Thorn!” Even a greater god like Gruumsh dreaded something like Eicher’s Thorn that could cause grievous wounds to his main body. He gazed deeply upon the two greater gods, eventually deciding to fall back to his divine kingdom. “Alright, you two. Come in if you want to fight!”

It wasn’t easy to take out a greater god’s divine kingdom. With the home ground advantage, Gruumsh would be able to take on even Eicher’s Thorn without much trouble. On the other hand, his avatars and his son’s had bought them ample time, allowing Luthic to stabilise the situation in their divine kingdom and gather a large army of orc petitioners that were just waiting to deal a fatal strike.

“It still happened…” Tyr shook his head in helplessness. This was the one situation that they didn’t want to see.

“How is it in the prime material plane?” he asked.

Mystra’s eyes flickered with light, and the events occurring in the prime material plane flashed before her eyes. “Both sides have assembled at the Thunder Valley, and are ready for war any time. Alustriel and Elminster will be barely enough to hold back Saladin and the Thunder God’s Hammer…”

“Then all the more reason that we can’t retreat now…” Tyr made up his mind, slashing down with his hand. An explosion sounded as space itself cracked apart, a colourless hole appearing in mid-air with a crescent blade behind it. The attack struck the borders of the orc wasteland.

The powerful divine attack caused the entire planes to rumble. A huge rift was formed at the border, large whirlwinds spreading out as paladins charged into the divine kingdom.

“Charge!” The orcs had been waiting patiently all this while, and now they rushed forward as well to meet the paladins.

The petitioners in the divine kingdom were the most fervent of zealots, their gazes filled with fanaticism as they met the wave of paladins. They pit the boost from the divine kingdom against the superior numbers and strength of the paladins and wizards, the two armies clashing violently as a chaotic war erupted. The world seemed to stand still the moment they came into contact.

“Your greatest mistake was to step in here.” A massive voice boomed in the void, and the clouds in the divine kingdom turned dark.

*Bzzt!* World Origin Force whistled as lightning rained down upon the paladins and wizards, annihilating a large group of troops in an instant.

“The law of lightning… You actually want to become a Lightning God!” Tyr cried out at in alarm as he saw the lightning in the skies. The lightning contained the power of laws, and wasn’t something that could easily be created even in a divine kingdom. What’s more, the law of lightning possessed great destructive force!