A few hundred metres away from where the prison camp once stood, an army of cyclopes waited without budging an inch, watching as the fight between the West's forces and their Best Warrior ensued. It was a heart-wrenching fight for the cyclopes to watch, as this was the herald of their god, Kalkiba, the god of the sky.
Standing in front of the army were 4 particular cyclops, 3 of which were a part of a council that had led the cyclops for a bit.
"This… this don't feel right if ya ask me.", the captain of military grunted, clenching his fists and resisting the urge to jump into the fray.
"That's why no one asked yer, bimbo.", the assistant, the young cyclops that served the king of the cyclopes muttered under his breath.
"Huh? What was that yer weak trash?", military interrogated with a scowl.
"He betrayed us all! If he dies here, it's all his fault!", the assistant barked back.
"Huh? He didn't betray us! He musta been forced ta do this!", Military snapped back.
"Only an idiot would think dat. Ain't surprised you do!"
"Would ya two stop it!? Can't ya see past how crucial this moment is fer us as a clan!?", the captain of the walls interjected, causing a ceasefire between the two.
Both glared at him, about to shout at him, but were silenced by the King of cyclopes.
"Captain of the Wall is right. This fight is the most important fight fer us.", there was a hint of a smile on his face, but practically no one would have been able to see it through his thick beard.
"Chief?", the assistant asked, clearly asking for an explanation. Slowly and calmly, the king of the cyclopes responded.
"I believe you all know the belief of 'Might makes right'.", he didn't even need to ask. This was one of the most basic rules amongst the cyclopes. "This fight may not look like much, but it is a battle between the herald of our god and the herald of their god. Naturally, the better god will win."
It had been only a few weeks since the cyclopes came to the West, but from the way everyone talked about the master of the West, she seemed more like a goddess. There were some that didn't know her in particular and a great majority of them actually hadn't seen her since she was apparently always on the move. However, one thing was certain. They all revered her.
It didn't even have to be directly. Most of them had their own tribal leaders, and they would follow these leaders to the ends of the world. These leaders were so devoted to the master of the west that their subordinates followed instinctually. To them, she was much more than a leader.
Whether it was intentional or not, she had created an entire cult quite easily. The king of cyclopes had even started to wonder if this 'collaboration' of theirs would simply end with them being allies.
"Shouldn't we still go in ta help 'im out?", military asked anxiously.
"Hahaha! With or without our interference, if Kalkiba is the greatest, this battle will end in his victory, no?", the king burst out laughing, finding it hard to contain himself.
"Chief!" military growled furiously, grabbing his weapon, ready to attack the king, but was completely shut down by the king's glare.
"If all you do is swing your halberd, you'll never ever think about anything else. Give a child a sword and he will learn how to swing it. Give a child a book and you have given him the world.", the king of cyclopes walked over to the captain of military and slapped the halberd out of his hand before smacking him in the head. "You wish to attack the people that took us in, in our time of need? Where was he when we were being attacked? Colluding with the enemy, planning a false death! If you wish to side with someone like him, I will strike you down right now with your own halberd!"
The king towered above the captain of military, holding the captain's halberd and looking down on him with a monstrous glare. The captain was mostly never scared, but even he couldn't help but feel a little bit terrified.
"And that goes to the lot of you!", the king pointed the halberd at the army. "I have never liked your stupid beliefs, and I haven't once tried to hide this fact, but I respected them even after becoming your chief because I respected you as a people. If any of you wish to interfere in this fight, you have disrespected me and those who showed us compassion in our time of need. I won't stand for it! If you believe your god is almighty, then watch this fight with a confident heart and faith!"
He turned around and watched the fight, smiling brightly this time around.
To the king of cyclopes, this battle was going to prove whether or not he was right about the cyclopes having to change their ways. This battle was proof of his ambition. The results would determine the fate of the cyclopes going forward and for that reason, absolutely no one was allowed to help either side in any way.
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Two spears of murky water shot at an intense speed towards the lone cyclops warrior, breaking up upon touching his skin. The cyclops threw his battle axe at the conjurer, but that was deflected by Oki who was engulfed in flames. The oni charged forward like a cannon ball, but was a few steps too late as the cyclops was hit by an ogre that had streaks of lightning and fire following them.
Kiara slashed at the cyclops, but once again, her sword did little damage to him. Rather, he caught it in his palms and pulled her in close, grabbing her neck and slamming her into the ground. The ground cracked under the pressure and wind howled, subduing Kiara's grunt as she actually felt that.
The cyclops stood up and tried to cave her head in with a kick, but Oki came in, mallet ablaze and with an intense aura. His mallet made direct contact with the cyclops' chest, causing the cyclops to cough in pain and stumble back. Following that heavy hit were balls of fire from above, summoned by Yuuna who was maintaining a good distance from the close combat.
Kiara had recovered and this time, she had given up on using her weapons and went a bit more primal, delivering a powerful uppercut to the unsuspecting cyclops. Normally, her strike shouldn't have been strong enough to actually make him spit, but Taiku was at work in the back, buffing her up.
The cyclops let out pained cries as he was bombarded by her fire balls, but Oki and Yuuna didn't give him time to process it. Heartlessly, the duo barraged him with hits that could break steal. Oki had received a power up from the demi-god of fire that was his patron, and his flames had reached a point above wyvern fire, meaning everyone of hits did some really good amount of damage to the cyclops. Searing of the flesh on his chest or leaving burn marks.
Before anyone had realised, the cyclops was on the receiving end of an unstoppable barrage from the opposing side. Kiara and Oki were both dealing powerful, quick successive attacks up close, Yuuna was firing off decent fire attack magic spells to wound the cyclops and avoid the duo, whereas Taiku was buffing them up with his abilities.
Tsuna just stood at the back, waiting for something in particular to happen.
All of a sudden, thunder roared mightily in the sky above. The winds swirled violently and the ground shook. Lightning arced across the skies. In that instant, everyone instinctually knew something dreadful was about to happen.
Oki and Kiara immediately stopped flooding the cyclops' front with attacks and jumped back, turning to a run. It was precisely because they both lusted after battle that they knew that they had to get as far away from the cyclops as possible. Even though he was essentially paralysed, it didn't mean external forces couldn't aid him.
Kalkiba, the god of the sky was going to interfere directly now. A pillar of lightning much bigger than anything any of them had ever seen shot down in a flash. If this attack hit, that would be the end for anyone standing nearby, but this was the moment Tsuna had been patiently waiting on.
"Veil of Poison!", she yelled, spreading her arms forward and causing dark murky water to shoot up from underneath the cyclops, engulfing him whole the instant the pillar made contact with him. She didn't stop though, and kept on adding more water to it when she noticed that the amount she had conjured was evaporating.
It was this moment that Tsuna realised she had made a bit of a miscalculation. She had assumed that simply swarming the cyclops with water as he summoned lightning would be more than enough to leave him electrocuted, but the pillar of lightning was far stronger than she had believed.
The more mana she poured in, the weaker she felt and the lower her concentration fell. It hadn't even been a minute, but she felt like she'd been holding her arms up for hours and they were ready to collapse at any moment.
'Kekekeke!', shrewd laughter ensued in her head. Her unpleasant guest had become active once more. 'Take a little bit of my power. That way you can easily stop this.'
'That's… a lie… I'm… stronger than… you were!', Tsuna rejected the offer, after taking into consideration that there was no way her guest had any more power than she did. After all, she only died as a mere hob-goblin. A lone hob-goblin that died couldn't be more powerful than Tsuna who had evolved into a wight.
'Lies! Everyone knows I am the strongest out of us two. You know that I am the strongest out of us. Stop lying to yourself and accept my power.', she shot down any silly ideas Tsuna might have been getting.
'I terrorised the West long before you were born. The only one that could stop me was Goliath and none of these small fries come close! Take my power, stop that thing, save everyone. You'll never ever have to feel the loss you felt when he died.'
'He's not dead!'
'Is that what you still think? I'm the one who isn't dead. That hob-goblin is dead. Listen to me.'
'No! The master said-'
'You think she has any idea what she's doing? Are you really so silly as to put your faith into that fledgling?'
'But…'
'Stop being childish! Where is this master you speak of? Taking a nap and acquiring more power. I am here! Listen to me and save everyone here right now.'
Tsuna, feeling what little reserves of mana she had left, was put on the spot. She thought about everyone that was close to her who could end up dying should she fail to deal with this attack from above.
Yuuna, Oki, Taiku, Kara. She also couldn't allow harm to fall on Kara's sister as that would cause her pain indirectly. She remembered how she felt when Shitsuke died. She didn't want to feel so useless ever again.
'Fine! Give me your power!'
In that instant, Tsuna could feel ominous power spread throughout her body from her dead heart. She felt warmth for the first time since she first died and the sound of her beating heart evoked a certain emotion in her. In that moment, she felt invincible.
The power that flooded her body made her feel almighty. As if she had all the magic in the world and could do whatever she wished to. Quietly, with a grin that was uncharacteristic of her, she forced in more mana into her spell.
She even dropped one of her arms and controlled the spell with unexpected ease. With simple motions of her hand, she created more water that seemed to be eating up the lightning and even going into the sky, eventually piercing the clouds and splitting them, completely cutting off the source of the attack. The massive pillar of water then ate into itself, forming a massive orb around the cyclops.
She spread her palms apart and the black water froze, forming an odd star-shape that floated above the ground for everyone to see.
"Hahaha! This is… intoxicating.", she gloated, feeling empowered by this unprecedented boost. She then clutched her hand, forcing the ice to explode in different directions.
The only thing left of the cyclops was his torso which was charred black. The scene was almost gruesome enough to keep the others away. The bone in his left arm was sticking, and the sight of flesh that had rotted off from frost bite was nauseous. His massive eye had been hollowed out, allowing everyone to see the insides of his socket and even though he was frozen for a bit, he smelled like he was being roasted alive.
Tsuna looked at him and simply smirked, pleased with how easily she dealt with him when compared to the others, although she herself wasn't looking particularly good. More pieces of her flesh had fallen off as well as her hair. Her skin was dried up to the point that it felt like watching a skeleton wearing a tight skin suit. She didn't feel any different though and rather focused on the cyclops who was shockingly still alive.
She approached him, ready to deliver the finishing blow, but was stopped by the loudest thunder roar ever.
The moment the cyclops breathed his last, thunder boomed loud enough for some close by to bleed from their ears. Post the intense cry, the clouds parted, allowing sun to rain down violently on the field out of nowhere.
The crucial battle had ended in the victory of the West. All the monsters of the East that were still alive, kept their heads down and backed away, avoiding any sort of attention from those who fought the cyclops. Tsuna was planning on having the dark elves build up the wall again and both Yuuna and Kara would form the barrier before long enough. There were no heavy casualties on the West's side, meaning, operations could resume as usual in a few hours. By tomorrow, the West would be ready to fight the East and North once more.
Unfortunately, the world didn't seem to like this plan.
In the sky, a great number of monsters were coming in hot. From afar, they looked like a storm cloud, but the closer they got, the easier it was to tell what they were. Wyverns, griffins, manticores, harpies and 2 dragons. An army, far larger than what the West could hope to fight on such short notice.
That very army then multiplied out of thin air.
The North was attacking with everything it had now.
