As much as he deserved death, I needed his crystalized tear to destroy the Blood Pyramid, and if he died, that artefact would lose a lot of its power—maybe so much that it would no longer be able to destroy the Blood Pyramid completely. I looked down at him, and anger still fizzed and hissed inside me, but I knew what I had to do.
“You’re lucky I have a Blood God and his pyramid to destroy, asshole,” I muttered.
Then I closed my eyes and rocketed my spirit across time and space to the Black Plane. I’d added many thousands of souls to the Gray Sentinel during the Battle of Brakith, and the tree was bursting at the seams with raw power.
I walked up to the Gray Sentinel, slammed Grave Oath into the trunk, and sucked out power like a tick gorging itself on blood. When I’d drawn enough power from the souls stored in the tree, I yanked Grave Oath out and blasted my spirit back into my body. Then, with the enchanted dagger in my hand, I knelt down next to the dying god.
“I’ll save your life, Lord of Light,” I said. “On one condition.”
“N-name it,” he wheezed.
“When this is all over, you make amends to every person in Prand for allowing your church to run rampant, for allowing yourself to be duped by Elandriel, and for all the persecution worshipers of other gods have suffered in your name over the centuries. And if you don’t, I’m going to shove this dagger through your eyeball and add your soul to my growing collection. Got it?”
“I will … do this. I … swear it.”
“You’d better be true to your word, Lord of Light,” I said, “because if you’re not, you’ll have me to deal with. You’ll wish you were back here, getting your blood sucked out by Elandriel.”
“I swear … I will do … as you have asked.”
“I’m holding you to that. All right, take my dagger.” I flipped Grave Oath in my hand, holding the blade and offering him the handle.
He was so weak that he needed both hands just to hold the dagger, and even then, he could barely keep a grip on it. While he was doing his best to hold it steady, I pressed my palm onto the point of the dagger, using just enough pressure so that the tip punctured my skin.
As soon as the enchanted blade entered my flesh, I felt its magic sucking the energy out of me. So, this was what my enemies felt like in the last few moments of their lives… I had filled myself with power from the Gray Sentinel, but even so, I was wholly unprepared for how intensely draining this process would be. I felt as if someone had just lopped off all my limbs simultaneously, and that my lifeblood was gushing out of me in gallons.
The Lord of Light, meanwhile, was transforming before my eyes. In mere seconds, his pallid skin became vibrant in hue, and his dull eyes started to glow, and then shine, like twin portals to the sun. His skeletal figure began to swell, and his muscles, wasted away to almost nothing, exploded with new volume and strength. After a few seconds, he was completely transformed, but I could feel my own power ebbing to a dangerously low level, and a feeling of intense weakness, verging on paralysis, started to choke me in its suffocating grip.
“That’s enough, sun boy,” I rasped, snatching the dagger out of his hands before he could suck too much of my power out of me.
Before he could say anything or react, I closed my eyes and zipped my spirit over to the Black Plane. I staggered over to the Gray Sentinel, plunged Grave Oath into it, and refilled myself with fresh strength from the tree. After a while, I felt like a million gold coins again, so I left the Black Plane and returned to the physical present.
The assassins and my women had finished off the guards, and were all standing outside the cell, staring in amazement at what—or, rather, who—was in it. To his credit, the Lord of Light, who was now restored to his former strength, got down on his knees to bow before me.
“God of Death,” he said, “you have given me life, and for this gift I will forever be in your debt. You are my liege, and I bow humbly before you. What strength and powers are left in me are at your disposal.”
“Remember the promise you made to me,” I said. “When it’s all over, you owe this entire continent one huge apology.”
“I know this.” He shook his head sadly. “I have let all of humanity down. Along with the divine cohort. The sins I’ve committed to both mortals and immortals weigh heavily upon me. Elandriel only became so powerful because of my negligence.”
“He smells disgusting,” Yumo-Rezu whispered to me, looking at the Lord of Light with an expression of revulsion on her face.
“And he looks like even more of a pompous ass than I imagined he would,” Friya whispered into my other ear, regarding the Lord of Light with an expression of disgust equal in intensity to Yumo-Rezu’s.
The assassins simply stared at him with naked contempt in their eyes. The Church of Light hated the Assassins’ Guild. The former had fought many campaigns to try to exterminate the latter.
“We should kill this pathetic creature,” Rhuz snarled. “So many of our brethren have been tortured to death in his name.”
“I agree.” Yollah curled his fingers tightly around the handle of his dagger. “If anyone deserves death, it’s this snake.”
“Believe me, I’d love to slam Grave Oath into his neck and give him the justice he so sorely deserves,” I said to them, “but we need him to beat the Blood God. And just think how satisfying it’ll be to watch him
