Paradisus Amissa

A massive tree whose shade covered the whole arena quickly grew where Julius once lay. Whitish green spores fell from the tree’s branches upon the people. At Julius’ command, all the people in the arena began to walk out of the palace towards the southeastern mountains where the Qin Empire lay beyond. Those who resisted were wracked with immeasurable pain, those who followed were in a state of blissful rapture.

“Ah yes father Julius! Everything is clear now!”

“Only through father Julius can bliss be found!”

“An expedition to the Qin empire sounds wonderful!”

Cries of bliss were mixed with screams of agony as the few who resisted Julius fell to the ground and were crushed by the advancing mob, now reduced to bloated, reddish heaps of flesh that oozed puss as the sores burst open. The ones that crumbled under the pain and followed Julius’ command had their sores deflate almost instantly and were put in a state of stupor along with the others.

Julius’ voice echoed from the tree. “Yes my flock! Head south! Find salvation in my words, and let all unbelievers suffer for their resistance! Let their knees collapse from the weight of their sins! Let them make themselves known through their sins sprouting out from their body as my radiance exposes them for who they are! Let their sins be revealed and let them choke on it! For my light reveals those who hide within them the ultimate sin. The sin of resistance! My joy is the joy of all mankind! And such is my wrath!” As the tree grew larger, its roots dug deeper into the castle, spreading outwards into the city. The larger it grew the more spores it produced, eventually spreading them into the city by the wind. The city fell into chaos.

Synthara tried to cast spells at the tree but found it hard to concentrate from the pain. She felt her body become covered in red sores and felt her face break out into pimples, though not as quickly as the others. She looked around and saw a man dying on the ground pelted in spores, perishing in a red pussy mess. She noticed that even while he was dead, the spores were causing more welts on contact.

Synthara was brought back to when she had a tendency to break out into hives whenever she was particularly stressed. They were Histamine breakouts, the body’s chemical response to stress or allergies. Her mother was always angry with her whenever she would have breakouts right before worship night, saying it makes them look like they hit her. Which only made her condition worse. Coincidentally, she could not remember the last time she had a breakout ever since her parents got blown up. Nevertheless, this long-forgotten pain filled her with anger, she was not a powerless child anymore.

Synthara casted a spell that covered her body in a thin layer of fire that was hot enough to burn the spores on contact. She felt the sores and hives on her body begin to deflate and shrink.

“If you think you can beat me by just giving me a bad rash, then you’re sorely mistaken!” Synthara shouted at the tree as she manifested her flaming wings and shot up to the sky, unleashing a large stream of fire up the tree’s trunk as she approached the canopy. As she did she heard screams from below that grew louder the more wood the fire touched. Some of the people who were in a stupor suddenly felt as if they were on fire.

Julius laughed maniacally. “Fool! Did you not hear what I said!? My joy is mankind’s joy! That includes pain and everything you inflict on me! With my Paradisus Amissa, all mankind’s happiness will be transferred to me! Only through mutual pain and happiness will mortalkind finally advance as a species. I will spread to all four realms and bring an end to all conflict and strife forever! All mortalkind will become one under my divine command!”

As the spores reached more people throughout the capital, the tree grew larger, dwarfing the castle and almost reaching the clouds. As its height increased, the canopy grew wider, which released more spores in a positive feedback loop. The sporefall was stronger the closer to the trunk they were.

Synthara realized that the longer this continued the more people would fall under his thrall, blasting the tree as she soared up, though her attacks weren't doing much against the thick wood other than blackening it. She continued to soar towards the canopy even as it rose away from her. “If you think that’s going to stop me, then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”

“Such cruelty! Heartless! Your willingness to allow others to die for your desires is the sort of evil I wish to eradicate!” Julius said as wooden tendrils sprouted from the tree trunk and canopy and headed towards her. The tendrils blocked her spells, requiring her to move past them, dancing in the sky while flashes of red evoked from her.

Synthara smiled “Did you really think I'm the type to be satisfied by a pyrrhic victory?”

–

“Freeze…Fimbulvetr…”

As chaos erupted throughout the palace, Juno took advantage of Wilhelm’s confusion and threw him off her with a blast of cold air. She flourished a thin rapier seemingly made of ice in her hands as she took a battle stance and lunged at Wilhelm with blinding speed, who deflected her attack with his bone blade.

As Wilhelm regained his footing, he pushed Juno back with a flurry of swings of his bone sword, cracking the ground beneath them. As he looked at her face, he noticed that it was completely emotionless, with no light behind her eyes. While she was deflecting his attacks, her body wasn't moving as precisely as she normally did. Despite moving with great speed and strength, her swings were awkward, almost clumsy. This allowed him to make an opening and stab her with another bone blade from his other palm. But she blasted him away with more icy wind, though this time she took care to not be in melee range.

“Is this how your Ultimatum treats you? Turning you into a mindless puppet for failure?” Wilhelm said.

Juno wordlessly responded with a storm of icicles and ice slashes which Wilhelm dodged easily. His body was far stronger and nimble than it was before. It responded to his thoughts much faster. Had he been in his old body Juno would have easily freed Julius earlier, though he doesn't know if that would have made the situation better or worse.

Wilhelm diverted power into his legs and leaped towards Juno with a downwards vertical slash, breaking through the icicles in his way. Juno responded by releasing a cloud of mist that allowed her to dodge Wilhelm’s attack. She then hit Wilhelm with a series of hit-and-run attacks, his body covered in lumps of ice where she managed to hit him. The mist was not only obscuring his vision but also slowing down his body.

Wilhelm retracted his blades and channeled necromantic into the necessary muscles in his feet in order to make a great spin with his arms outstretched and his palms extended. He also grew flesh webbing around his fingers resembling those of a duck’s feet. The spin blew away the mist around him, not only revealing Juno’s position but also staggering her from the force of the wind. Wilhelm wasted no time in counterattacking. Juno attempted to block Wilhelm’s counterattack but not only was she off-balance but he put extra energy into his blade arm’s muscles to easily knock away her blade. As Wilhelm went for the killing blow, his blade was blocked by a shield of ice held by a creature that vaguely represented a woman in armor. He somersaulted backwards over an armored knight that swung an ice greatsword down where he once stood and leaped back.

Before him protecting Juno were two knights of Ice, one male and the other female.

“Sister…Prince…” Juno muttered. Wilhelm could see emotion flicker across her face. Whatever happened to her seems to be wearing off the longer the fight went on.

“Are these two your family?” Wilhelm asked.

Juno took a few seconds to respond. “...family…yes…” The hand in her blade twitched.

The ice on his wounds was blocking his ability to regenerate, he could feel his movements start to slow down. He had to end this fight while he still had the advantage in strength.

Wilhelm heard the sounds of screams coming from the crowd. He noticed what was happening to the crowd. Combined with Julius’ ranting and raving, Wilhelm had a clear idea of the situation but he was distressed that his people were suffering because of Julius’ ability. Was there nothing they could do?

‘If the spores are what are causing the madness, then why are we not affected?’

Wilhelm saw Morgan fly float beside her with a couple of armored undead bodyguards at her side armed with double-ended bladestaves.

“I casted a weak rot spell around the palace and some of the inner city. The people in this area should be fine for now but it won't hold if the spores keep falling more densely. I can't cover the whole capital either, we need to do something.”

Wilhelm was visibly relieved. “Thank you Morgan.” He looked back at Juno. “Leave this one to me, go deal with Julius.”

“It would be an insult to her strength if I were to assist a goddess in her battle.” Morgan said, remembering that she was specifically told that she wanted to defeat Julius on her own without any sort of underhanded tricks. Saying that she ‘desired entertainment.’

“What about Rusalka?”

“She’s away on another mission.” Morgan said.

“What could be more important than this moment!?”

“We have other plans beyond this moment. As you have just proven, us three will be sufficient for this battle.” Morgan looked at Wilhelm’s condition. “ It seems the body I created for you is working as expected, but I never expected to have cold resistance be needed for it. Fascinating data.”

‘Cold resistance…’ Wilhelm looked at the rapidly expanding tree above him and the frost forming around Juno and her protectors.

“I have an idea.”