Homestead Survival

PART 050: Iratus Deus, Ratio absoluta

<15 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>
[Aflara Karzun]
As she stepped through the portal that Lady Dreamscaper had opened for her, Aflara was greeted with a System message, and she was very clearly on a battlefield.

>Local Message: A Messenger is present. Hostility against the Messenger shall not be permitted. Temporary peace is requested.

She took in everything around her, noting corpses strewn about and the large, bloodied man with an axe standing in front of a woman and an elemental. Aflara also noticed that the Humans and the Elemental with them were the only ones that did not bear the [Corruption] tag.

"They must be Theo and Julia, then." Aflara thought, taking in the massive human man who looked rather ragged. The slight woman was channeling a skill into the man and looked worried. Aflara shook her head. "Have to do this by the book."

Aflara bowed slightly to all present and then spoke. "Hello, I am Aflara Karzun. Here on behalf of Patriarch Karzun. Who are Theo Sorrenson and Julia Brahmin?"

Aflara had to suppress a giggle as Theo and Julia looked at each other in shock before raising their hands.

<15 August 2024, ????, ????>
[The Unwanted God]
"Yes!" Durn shouted, watching the last of the Horde close on the male. Then the female cried out, and the male dashed back behind the protection of some of the annoying Wards that the female was able to lay about. Angram was chattering with them. "No doubt extolling my greatness."

Durn was slavering at the thought of the death of the humans. He knew all that he was set to receive should he win this battle. He knew that this was the first step towards claiming this new world as a Corrupted planet. He felt his soul cry out for more and more as he thought of all the tasty beings he could eat from this planet.

Then Angram stopped, and Durn wondered why. Then, in the Crystal, the air shimmered, and a woman who had no business being there stepped through a portal. She bowed and said something. Durn was fuming. "NO!"

Then, the male and the female raised their hands. And the Dragon woman stepped up to them with a smile. Durn lashed out, and the servant holding the scrying Crystal died. "NO! What right do they have to interfere? They were on the edge! I was almost victorious."

He fumed for several moments. Ranting and raving. Finally, he cried out, "I demand to speak with an administrator about this interference!"

Durn raged again, and then an unsettling calmness came over him. "Fine, the System wants nothing to do with it; I shall deal with it myself. I am a God! I have played by the System's rules long enough!"

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Durn rose to his feet and triggered a Divine Effect. Power swelled and then dissipated. A box, unlike others, appeared.

Durn raged. "How dare you stop my Divine power!"

He slashed his hand through the air and summoned forth even greater levels of Divine power. Then, he triggered his Divine Effect once more. A sickly grey and green tear appeared in reality, and Durn stepped through.

<15 August 2024, Y-7F63C-3 Moon, ????>
[Patriarch Karzun]
Patriarch Karzun stepped through a portal into the stabilized area that surrounded every System Node. He arrived as Gurndin the Darksmasher, and Eg'Valla Dreamscaper arrived.

"Karzun, ye' scaley bastard, do you really think he will do it?" Gurndin said, clasping his hands behind his back as he looked down on the newly inducted planet.

"You should know better than many that Durn is a monster and has little regard for what the System decides," Eg'Valla said, and Gurndin's face grew dark.

"Oh, aye." Gurndin said darkly, "I'm still a little mad that you lot didn't let me forge his soul into a toilet seat."

Eg'Valla chuckled at that, as did Patriarch Karzun.

"Well then," Patriarch Karzun said, smiling at Eg'Valla, "Lady Dreamscaper, if you would be so kind as to provide us a view of what is happening."

With a wave of her hand, a shimmering screen of power appeared, displaying the Overlook.

<15 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>
[Theo and Julia]

"We are Theo and Julia," Theo said, gesturing between the two of them. "Um, well, what can we do for you?"

"I have been tasked to bring you a message and a warning," Aflara said with a smile. "First, the message is from Crypt Keeper..."

Aflara trailed off as a tear in reality opened up. Through it stepped a being that embodied the word repulsive.

Durn the Unwanted. God of Plague and Cannibals stood there, seething at everything. He spoke one word, and reality seemed to bend under the weight of the words.

"KNEEL"

Everyone except for three people dropped to their knees.

Aflara was surprised as she was looking at Theo's back. The human had stepped to put Aflara and Julia behind him and the Unwanted God in front of him.

The Unwanted God sent out a ripple of energy that Theo took head-on. The Ring of Eternal Mourning on his finger pulsing and making Theo immune to it. Durn looked angry. "Defiant to the end. Then I shall just kill you outright. Suffer at my hand."

They braced themselves, and just as Durn was about to do something, a mesh of purple and blue light fell over the area, freezing everything and everyone. Across the entire Mesa of Summer, all life froze. Everything that was connected to the System was looking at the same box.