Chapter 394 Battle End 1 : Blade of Slaughter
A strong shockwave formed from just one single punch on the ground. The Arch Wizard were scattered in every direction right away and lost the advantage of forming an array.
Still, none of them were badly injured thanks to the top-tier treasures and artifacts they have on them as well as their long years of experience and battle.
Still, as far as they could tell when they looked at Jon, this is something out of the ordinary.
The cloud of dust and snow settled as a large crack appeared on the ground with Jon standing in the middle. His appearance reflected a great deal of the experience he has been through. He was only in a large armored girdle covering his waist as if he is one of those warrior heroes of old.
The feeling around him was mystic and profound to the extreme and he had a sure grip of the power in his hands. He looked at everything once at the same time and all fell in awe for the unfathomable depth the saw in his eyes.
Every bit of energy settled down as if a large sea of calm unmoving water.
That was simply no longer a mortal.
The ones who realized it all were the Arch Wizards. They saw it before not too far from Winterhold.
200 miles and years ago to the east of Winterhold, there lies the Kingdom of Morrowind beyond the Velothi Mountains. Those Arch Wizards were once envoys to such a place where three Living God Kings ruled over the Kingdom along with its legitimate mortal rulers. These were the ALM-SI-VI. Almalexia, Vivec and Sotha Sil.
Just now, Jonhild Firemane, known to them as the Cursed Child of Imminent Disaster, was giving off the same power those Living Gods gave off back when they were still alive.
In those days, those three were the mightiest force on Tamriel as they attained divinity with the disappearance of the Dwemer from year 1E 700 till 3E427 which is almost 3500 years.
The ’How?’ in the minds of those Arch Wizard was explained on a rapid pace when they saw what was in Jon’s hands.
His right arm was clad in a bright gauntlet made of a hefty piece of Dwarven metal holding a short hammer and a blue crystal blade fixed on the gauntlet.
The appearance of those artifacts spoke of their identity right away.
The [Tools of Kagrenac] which [Wraithguard] the gauntlet, [Sunder] the hammer and [Keening] the dagger.
The appearance of those three relics struck deep in the hearts of the Arch Wizards almost causing their blood to flow backward.
Three Elder Scrolls and the [Tools of Kagrenac], just what on Nirn did fate hide more in the path of Jon Dare.
This was not important for now. The main character of this battle is here, someone has to stop him and someone has to relay a message to the whole Aldmeri Dominion, this human has to be stopped by any means possible even if the Elven Ancestors themselves were to be called back.
"Lannar, head back on your own with Elenwen. You two must survive." The oldest Arch Wizard whispered to one of his colleagues before walking forward.
"I assume you are Jon Dare." He spoke to Jon eye to eye.
Jon’s deep eyes moved towards the Arch Wizard slowly and the elements of nature were all directed to the man.
Gasps escaped everyone’s mouths. This power was too wild for something like the world itself to react with Jon’s power.
Jon opened his mouth and spoke slowly.
"Fight... or die."
With those words, Jon waved his hand quite slowly but [Sunder] was launched like a cannonball towards the old Arch Wizard. In an instant, the hammer took the Arch Wizard and crushed back at the ground almost 200 meters away from the old man’s first location.
Through those 200 meters, the old Arch Wizard seemed to have lost limbs and pieces of his body before crushing down by the force of the hammer.
Was there a chance of survival?
Of course not. This was an overkill.
Jon opened his palm open and [Sunder] flew back to him.
"Fight or die."
The High Elves couldn’t recover from the shock they fell to and so no one else.
Other than the nine Arch Wizard or rather the eight, none of the ones around have ever met a Demigod before.
The deep look in Jon’s eyes was now understood.
He was in a highly focused state of battle craziness. He wanted them to fight him, if not, they’d die.
In the end, there was no leeway out of this.
He looked at them for a few seconds, seeing how they are all frozen and his face twisted in anger.
"COME!"
A shout from him made them all wake up from their frozen state.
"BATTLE ME!"
Then he stepped forward.
"You think it is honorable ganging up against one the weak to rob them as you see fit? Yes, it is not a shameful act. The strong prey on the weak, I don’t hate you for it. But what I hate is that how you bunch got cold feet after being bested. At least you fought the odds just a while ago but now, now what? Think you being scared will spare your lives. Everyone has the right to fight and battle no matter the enemy and now your enemy is me. You have no right to freeze still, you have no right to remain silent. FIGHT ME!"
Jon was not giving them a leeway that’s true but he was giving them enough courtesy and respect to fight back or die with dignity even if they are Thalmor.
Seeing the leader of their enemies pumping up their spirits to fight him, such a thing was unheard of.
Run? How could they? He will kill them either way. Fight?! Then die?
What on Nirn was that Logic?
Still, it was really simple.
Death is imminent, either die with honor or die without it. And if they lived, it would mean they earned their lives back.
A simple choice indeed.
The ones who understood that were not the long living Arch Wizards but rather the Thalmor Soldiers.
No matter the contempt they held towards humans, there is possible and impossible, there is strong and weak. When the odds are impossible and the enemy is strong, wasn’t honor the least thing they could win.
With a deep breath, a Thalmor Justiciar pointed his sword at the approaching Jon.
"He is the enemy commander. Kill him and bring glory to our..." he paused his words understanding the political weight of them, "... to our ancestors. Forward!"
What is left of the Thalmor Force of 2,000 High Elf Warrior and Arch Wizard all marched as one towards Jon and Jon walked towards them.
As he saw their response, he smiled wide and praised them in his heart. Thalmor they may be but they knew that their life is not how they lived but how they died.
He took the [Tools of Kagrenac] and off in the [Cube] and seemed to be going to fight them with his bare hands.
He flexed his fingers and shoulders as he and the elves charged at each other then another change happened. The ends of his fingers started to grow as claws, his eye pupils turned into slits and his teeth grew larger fangs. On his head, unnoticeable because of his hair, two feline ears formed.
He jumped high and clashed with the Thalmor two thousand cutting and slashing with his claws as lines of red blood splattered to the sky.
***
Jon stood at the other side with every inch of his body covered in red blood. Even though they were golden, their blood was still red not different than any man.
Jon’s bestial transformation ended when a black cat walked out of his shadow. She transformed into a slim teenage girl in a black dress then her figure disappeared from its place and appeared on the other side of the Thalmor Arch Wizards.
The fight just a second ago was so fast for anyone to comprehend. Two thousand soldiers died in one minute. Each step Jon took during the fight was akin to a hundred meters on its own and each wave of his hands killed too many.
With Jon at the front and Nefertiti at the back, it would take the Thalmor Arch Wizards a tough fight to break from hearing.
"Jon Dare, you bite more than what you can chew. We are Arch Wizards and we have our positions. Even if you are a Demigod now, you are not a match for the Dominion and you can’t hold us down here all by yourself." An Arch Wizard shouted with a hysterical tone.
"Really?" Jon tilted his head.
With that word, two more figures appeared on the open flanks to the Arch Wizards.
Xikil was blocking one side and Odokuro appeared on another. Similar to Jon’s and Nefertiti’s change, Odokuro seemed to have also transformed into some hint of a golden skeleton with ebony gear and an angry masked kabuto of a wrathful oni.
Eight Arch Wizards which represented the power and the might of the war machine known as the Aldmeri Dominion and were parts of the ruling faction of Alinor are now being put to the blade in Skyrim by an 18 years old Nord.
"This won’t end well for you, Nord. The Mane will here about this, the Silvenar will hear about this and most certainly Her Majesty the Queen of Alinor, the Overlord of the Aldmeri Dominion will hear about this." The Arch Wizard kept howling his lungs out.
"Good." Jon replied. "So let this serve as a warning to whoever dares."
Jon raised his hands towards the Arch Wizard and the world obeyed.
The Elf shivered in his place and started groaning without uttering a scream.
His limbs were twisting, his bones were breaking, everything went into the wrong direction inside his body.
Jon hated arrogance except for his own.
The elf was twisting while being maintained alive for his grave sin of speaking out of order. He was no longer recognizable and an Elfbeing. His body became a mess as a mass of twisting and twirling flesh as his bones were all ground over while being kept alive to the best of Jon’s ability. The current living mass of mess was pressured to the extreme and reduced to the least of all forms.
Jon released his powers and left the tiny remnant of the elf to fall down on the white snow as a drop of blood.
The other seven Arch Wizards kept looking at the weird phenomenon in silence knowing that this bloodthirsty demon is no longer showing any face to a title or a crown. Even the High King didn’t utter a word to stop the bloodshed when Jon appeared so who may speak.
The end of the Arch Wizard just now was brutal and the magic itself was disobeying them whenever they tried to make any move not from suppression but from their broken wills.
"Now, I offer you the same... fight or die."