Chapter 1363
The Hellscream Legion
Fifteen minutes later, Orion withdrew his divine projection. The Titan statuette in Aina's hand dimd, its ominous glow fading into cold stone.
"Heh... he he... I feel... stronger."
"I can feel it. I'm stronger than the bastard who killed my parents. I'm going to find him... I'm going to tear him apart..."
The manic laughter ca from a man whose torso had split to accommodate a second pair of arms. He had been a re Hero-level fighter, a nobody. Now, corrupted by divine blood, he had smashed through the ceiling into Alpha-level, his new limbs flexing with independent, grotesque precision.
" too!"
"I feel... I feel like I could..."
CRACK-BOOM!
Another man tried to speak, but instead of words, a bolt of lightning as thick as a forearm erupted from his mouth, shattering a nearby wall.
"Lightning? Actual lightning?"
"Hahaha!"
For this motley crew of fugitives and exiles, gaining abilities typically reserved for high-born mages was a revelation. It wasn't just power; it was survival. It ant they were no longer rabbits running from the hounds.
They were now the wolves. Vicious, hate-fueled wolves.
"Listen to !" Aina shouted, seizing the mont. "From this day forward, Grimm is the headquarters of Hellscream!"
"By the will of the Stoneheart God, Hellscream shall have two High Protectors and four Divine Envoys."
"These six seats of power are not given freely. They will be earned by the weight of your sacrifices!"
"The God himself shall choose!"
Aina was pulling a classic con, draping herself in the tiger's skin to scare the foxes. But it worked. Using Orion's na and the tangible power he had just bestowed was the perfect way to forge loyalty in the heat of the mont.
"Saintess! We follow the God's will! We await your command!"
The first shout ca from a plant Aina had placed in the crowd.
But the chorus that followed was real. The extras in this play had beco true believers, their minds twisted by the corruption in their blood. They had tasted power—the power to exact revenge, the power to take what they wanted.
"Saintess! We follow the God's will!"
"Saintess! Command us!"
The butchers and bandits roared, their eyes burning with a fanatical, drug-like high. They wanted more. They wanted a future.
"Darkness falls!" Aina scread, raising the statuette. "Light and inequality shall be purged!"
"The restless souls are wailing! Hell needs to scream!"
Hellscream was born in blood and madness.
Silverwood Realm, Current's Bend
The Cult of Four's warship dreadnought surfaced once again at the borders of Atlantis. The Witch, inhabiting her Marilith Naga avatar, Nym'zarith, had returned.
Once again, Kraken was there to et her.
"Grand Marshal Aqzathuun(Kraken)," the Witch said, her voice dripping with venom. "You have stalled
three tis."
"The Cult of Four has a rule: three strikes and you're out."
"Today, I demand an answer."
The Witch had played nice inside the palace, matching wits with the giant octopus. But the mont Kraken escorted her to the city limits, her mask slipped. She turned cold, sharp, and aggressive.
"Envoy Nym'zarith, did we not agree?" Kraken replied smoothly. "Atlantis just needs a little more ti."
The repeated rejections were Leonidas's idea—a calculated gamble. He wanted to bait a Demigod from the Cult into showing up. If Atlantis was going to defect, they needed to prove they were a heavyweight prize worth bidding for.
"I'm afraid our patience has run dry," the Witch said, shaking her head. She was frustrated. Three visits, and she had only ever seen the octopus. The other two Grand Marshals remained shadows, elusive ghosts she couldn't pin down.
"It is ti for Atlantis to decide."
As her words fell, a terrifying pressure erupted from the dreadnought behind her. A wave of Demigod-level aura slamd into the protective barriers of Atlantis, making the very water vibrate.
Deep within the Atlantean palace, Leonidas and Orion opened their eyes simultaneously.
"Bro, the fish took the bait!"
Leonidas grinned, his eyes sparking with anticipation. "Finally, a big fish. I really hope it's the Clown."
If it was the Clown, Leonidas was going to have a field day.
"You or ?"
Orion saw the itch in Leonidas's eyes, but he wasn't about to let this go.
"Bro, let
handle this. Since I ascended to Demigod, I haven't had a real fight. Not once."
"I need to test my limits against a real enemy. It's important."
Orion was serious. Sparring was one thing; a life-or-death clash with an outside hostility was the only way to truly gauge his new strength.
"Alright. You take it," Leonidas conceded. "But hey... if it is the Clown? Beat him into the dirt. Let the Cult know exactly who they're dealing with."
Orion nodded, rising from his ditative posture and striding toward the palace exit.
At the city gates, Kraken was struggling. The Demigod aura was crushing him. If he weren't a powerhouse in his own right, he would have been flattened into calamari paste by now.
"Marshal Aqzathuun," the Witch sneered, enjoying his discomfort. "Make your choice."
ROAR—!
A sound shattered the ocean—a roar that was half-dragon, half-whale, and entirely terrifying.
A mountain of flesh and scales materialized outside the city barriers. The Abyssal Dreadfin had arrived, revealing its True Form.
The beast opened a maw that seed to swallow the light itself. Empowered by Orion's divine energy, a vacuum of gravitational force locked onto the Cult's dreadnought.
The warship groaned. Its hull buckled. tal shrieked as it was torn apart like wet paper.
The elite Cult guards inside didn't even have ti to scream before they were sucked out of the wreckage and into the Dreadfin's gullet.
When the debris cleared, only one figure remained.
A gentleman in a tailored suit, complete with a top hat and spectacles, stood floating in the water. He was glowing with divine power, struggling to maintain his position against the Dreadfin's suction.
It was a puppet. It was the Clown.
"Envoy Nym'zarith," Kraken said, straightening his posture as the crushing pressure vanished. "The ocean is vast, and the world is wide. Do not mistake Atlantis for a soft target."
He walked over to stand beside the Witch, looking out at the standoff between the Clown and the massive beast.
"I am rely the Third Marshal of Atlantis. My greeting you was a courtesy, not an insult."
"But your little display just now? That was an insult."
Kraken gestured to the colossal beast looming over the tiny, struggling Clown.
"et the Second Marshal of Atlantis. And let
warn you... he isn't as polite as I am."
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