Just a few hundred meters away from the spot where the conflict that was actively drawing attention from all over the continent had begun, there was a patch of air in the sky which shimmered whenever a breeze passed over it.
The shimmering was imperceptible to even the most discerning of individuals, but if it was a Peak Hero who was watching, they would be able to tell, right away, that someone was concealed here.
Normally, the three women who had orchestrated the scheme that had resulted in the scene that was playing out now would not have chosen this method, but in this case, they knew that the only one who could cause them harm was too busy fending off all of the Heroes who were livid on seeing their most precious scions writhe in pain right behind the woman who had been accused of being a traitor.
Right from the exact moment when the announcement had rung out, Eloise had gotten a smile on her face, and it didn't take long for the same to happen to the other two women, too, even though they had been quite nervous about the entire plan.
The main quality which separated brilliant planners who were willing to go all out and try new things even if it meant that they might fail was audaciousness - even if others got the same plans, they would not be able to even think of going about implementing them if they did not have the special kind of attitude that was necessary, and noticing this, Eloise looked up to thank Daneel, as that was one of the main things he had taught her in all the time that she had spent by his side.
BOOMMMM!!
Interrupting her thoughts, a loud sound wracked the surroundings all around the Goddess's Sanctum, and as the birds and animals which were nearby all started to leave the periphery of what felt like a natural disaster, to them, she turned back her gaze onto the house and saw that the first attack had reached its target.
Only… the scene that she had expected, or rather, hoped her, was not present.
Instead of having to defend and expend Energy in order to protect herself, all that the Hero had done was raise her hand…and swat away the attack.
In a brilliant display of the art of manipulating elementary particles so that they would slide off of each other instead of colliding, the attack struck a house nearby, and that was the reason behind the loud sound.
It looked like both of the women beside her had been holding their breath as they saw this, and now, they let it out.
"It is well that we decided to evacuate the sect right before we began."
Hearing the Matron say this, Eloise nodded and said, "If what you say about her power is true, then we are looking at a scale of destruction which will definitely be hard to recover from… Are you sure that's okay for the sect?"
The answer was given by Xuan.
"Any amount of destruction is worth it as long as this scourge is defeated. Nothing else matters."
The Matron smiled and nodded approvingly as she heard this, following which Eloise nodded, too, and got a determined expression on her face.
Before, she had always wondered why Daneel tended to keep the final part of his plan secret, even if there was no clear-cut purpose for it.
Now that her own first plan was being carried out… She finally understood the answer.
The exhilaration of seeing something play out perfectly was so thrilling that she could feel the blood pumping in her veins. Even her heart had begun to speed up, almost as if she was the one on the ground, fighting against the evil woman from the Church.
On further thought, though, she realized that she was definitely even more excited than all of those taking part in the fight, and right now, she once again remembered how fun it had been to throw everything at Percy, and watch from afar as shock covered his face.
She had even almost sniggered like a little girl then, but of course, that snigger had stopped in its tracks when she had realized that it was probably what all of them had looked like whenever Daneel revealed his plans.
Coming back to the present, Eloise saw that the battle was heating up, so she said, "Let's go. Time for the final step. Best to make sure that everything is ready."
The other two women nodded as they heard this, and a moment later, all three disappeared.
Meanwhile, the Hero in the sect had finally come to terms with the fact that she had walked into the perfect trap.
Because it had all happened so suddenly, she had been flustered, but now, she was clear regarding what she had to do.
Someone had exposed her status as a traitor, and the most likely candidate for that was the one loose end that she had not tied up because she had trusted the one who had called herself "the Modern Empress of Torture".
Trust. It was the one thing that had led to all of the moments when she had had to face defeat in her life, and once again, she found herself believing in the decision to trust only herself.
It was at this time that the rest of the attacks were about to reach her, and turning around, she saw an opportunity in the hostages that she had been given.
As the attacks came closer and closer, she did not even put up any defense, but the moment before they were about to hit her, she simply raised a finger and pointed in the direction of all of the young men and women whose future would normally have been filled with privilege and power.
Any parent would always feel panic whenever there was even the slightest hint of danger for their loved ones, and the same was even more true for these Heroes whose hopes were all heaped on these young descendants of their family who would carry their legacy onward.
"No! Stop! It's a ruse, don't fall for it!"
Alas, the first Hero, who was apparently the most levelheaded one among the 14 who had gathered, was too late.
Fearing for the safety of the ones they had come to protect, the 10 Heroes whose attacks would have been enough to severely injure Hero Northstar even though she could easily have defeated any one of them in single combat all hesitated and changed the direction of their attacks at the last moment, which caused damage to themselves, too, as they had gone all out with the hope of defeating her in one fatal stroke.
That moment was enough. Elementary particles which were not being actively controlled could be taken control of swiftly when one was prepared to take advantage of hesitation on the part of the castor, and this was what the Hero had planned for - raising both of her hands, she masterfully took control of all ten attacks…and threw them back.
There was no time to waste, though - without even checking whether they found their mark, the Hero turned around and decided to take the gift that she had been given.
However… The moment she took a step in the direction of those behind her, numerous formations came into effect, and right away, she knew that she did not have the time to break through them all so that she could get to the ones inside.
A look of frustration once again cracking the veneer of confidence that she had just regained, she turned back to see that the 14 Heroes had all rallied.
Once again, the one who had attacked first spoke.
"Give it up, Northstar. Surrender, and we can go about deciding on a punishment, and then maybe even using you as our spy. There is no reason to die here."
The man said his piece while standing in the air with a dignified expression on his face, but when he saw the response that he got… Anger consumed all of that dignity.
The moment he said the last word, Hero Northstar laughed, and then spit in his direction.
"You useless bunch of denigrates really think that you can kill me? I see that it was a mistake to not make it clear just how much of a difference there is between us, the true elite, and you lot, who are a disgrace to the words "Peak Hero". There will be no surrendering today, Hellebore, but there certainly will be death. Do all of you really value this sorry lot over yourselves? Let's be frank. We are Heroes! We care about nothing but ourselves! If you don't want to die an early death, get the hell out of here, because my attacks, unlike yours, cannot be stopped. You all know by name is Northstar… But do you know why I have that monicker?"
Even as her words started to cause the expressions to change on the faces of those who had been depending on their numbers in order to ensure their own safety, the lone woman on the ground raised her hand.
She was surrounded by destruction on all sides which was the result of the attack that she had deflected, and behind her, all of those who still felt the poison coursing through their veins watched on with horror, as they did not know whether they would get through the day alive.
Her shoulders were set with the confidence and prestige of one who truly stood above almost all, and her clothes had nary a mote of dust on her, even though she was facing up against so many who were supposed to be on her level by name.
The moment the last word exited her mouth, her entire figure disappeared, and in its place, a shining star appeared.
Among the 14, only a few were aware of the Path which their opponent had created, and thereby obtained the rare right to name it, and take its name as her own.
Hence, the rest gasped as they saw a heavenly body which they were only used to seeing the sky appear in front of them, and as they all use their elementary vision to study everything that was happening in front of them, their jaws stayed open.
Piercing power, a method to break through defenses explosively, and indestructibility.
In any weapon, these three aspects were the most important to be sought after, and often, one would have to compromise on at least one of them to obtain enough strength in the other two, so that it becomes a weapon that is useful.
In this case, for the first time, the Heroes saw, for themselves, a perfect weapon that broke all the rules that they had thought they had known.
Made of thousands upon thousands of concentric layers of elementary particles, the circular heavenly body which they were seeing was a marvel of design.
At its core was its Energy source- shining so brightly that it would blind any who looked at it without protection.
It radiated waves of Energy which were absorbed by all of the elementary particles, heating them up, and as a result, due to the fact that a Peak Hero's level of Energy was humongous, the temperature all over the area began to rise.
At the same time…taking in the Energy, the elementary particles became excited, and started to rotate, and then revolve around the center.
This resulted in each concentric layer turning into a blade that could cut through anything, and together…when all the blades aligned, they turned into the weapon that made sweat appear on the backs of almost all the Heroes who were present.
For a moment, they didn't even know what they were supposed to marvel at.
Was it the sheer complexity of the mind that was required to keep up such an intricate array consisting of thousands of smaller formations, each of which would be difficult to be maintained by even a Champion?
Or was it the fact that the design was so amazing that there was even a feedback process, where the heat generated from the friction between the edge of the blades and the air flowed back into the center, thereby recharging the core and allowing it to go on for much longer than it normally would have?
If Daneel were here, he would have been shocked to see the resemblance between the final shape of the Northstar, and the most common figure of the solar system that was prevalent on Earth- a large body in the middle, surrounded by concentric layers of almost blade-like figures.
If they had time, the Heroes would have studied further and realized that there were even more secrets lurking within this amazing construct, but alas…Northstar had no intention of allowing reinforcements to arrive.
She had always loved to bask in the adoration that was visible in the eyes of those who saw her take this form, but this time, she did not dally.
She shot off from the ground at a blinding speed, and just the casual brush that occurred when she passed over the formations defending the 'hostages' broke most of them.
Seeing this, the Heroes were brought back to reality.
Hastily, they began to erect defense after defense, and as Northstar arrived…her laughter could almost be heard as she smashed into one of the Heroes beside the one who had attacked first.
She had chosen her target well, as they had been the slowest one to mount a defense. In a moment, she had broken through all of the layers present, and then…all of the Heroes could only watch as the true destructiveness of the famous 'Northstar' was revealed.
The blades had an almost…attractive force to them which pulled in the victim, turning them into smaller and smaller pieces with each layer that they entered.
There was no screaming. No hope. No mercy.
By the time the victim reached the center, only tiny parts of their body were left, but a Peak Hero would normally have been able to recover themselves even after taking that amount of damage, if they had trained in the right Paths.
Only…the 'sun' in the centre removed all hope of this happening.
It's extreme heat burned the remains so thoroughly that there was truly nothing left, and so, in one stroke…a Peak Hero was dead.
"A pity that this fellow was cowardly enough to always have a significant part of his consciousness hidden away in the event of something exactly like this happening…but at least, I think I've managed to push him back to the beginning of the Hero level! Now, then, shall we do the same to the rest of you?"
Even as the other Heroes reeled in shock, she shot toward her next target.
For a moment, it looked like she would be victorious despite the overwhelming odds stacked against her.
Only…all of that changed when the Hero who had spoken against her until now came in her tracks.
"Don't you all see she's bluffing! A traitor doesn't deserve fairness. Attack at once!"
His words began to undo the entire atmosphere of fear she had generated, and as he raised a glimmering, golden shield…Northstar finally stopped.
This completed the transformation, and as one, the rest of the Heroes began to attack.
In response, she shifted targets and renewed her attack, but soon, it became clear that he was right.
With their defenses up, the rest of the Heroes were able to survive her onslaught. If she had time, she could definitely have killed each of them, but as she was in danger of being hit by the attacks of the others in case she lingered anywhere, she had no choice but to keep moving.
That was not to say that she was ineffective. She bounded from Hero to Hero, and each time, she did not leave them unscathed.
Each one that she appeared at would have all of their defenses broken. Some lost their limbs, others, even their heads, but as her opponents were all at the Peak level of the continent…it was not enough.
If there were only three, or even only four Heroes, it was clear that she would have triumphed.
Yet…that wasn't the case, and soon, the attacks began to land.
The first one to do so was that of the one who had united them. Along with his shield, he also unsheathed a sword whose speed almost matched that of Northstar's, and as it struck her after a few more seconds due to her having to make a maneuverer to avoid the attacks of others, it bolstered the confidence of the rest of the Heroes.
The layers of elementary particles began to take damage, one by one, and as they began to disintegrate, a weakness of the Northstar was finally revealed.
The lesser the layers, the faster she was, but this…came at the cost of strength.
Soon, it became so bad that she did not damager her targets at all, and at this point, the outcome of the fight became clear.
As soon as Northstar realized where it was headed, she did not disillusion herself into believing that she could miraculously turn it around.
It was already a feat for the history books that she had managed to hold out against so many Heroes for so long, but victory was definitely not hers to obtain in this fight.
In fact, if she continued, she might even die, so she made her decision.
She abruptly stopped her attacks, causing the Heroes to heave a sigh of relief and think that their opponent had finally seen reason, but suddenly…the core at the center began to expand.
This bumped up the temperature around her to a different level, and with each layer that she consumed, she grew bigger and bigger.
It was happening at an alarming rate, and as the Heroes were all tensed, thinking that it might be another attack, they weren't able to spot her true intentions until it was too late.
The core reached the last layer, and as it stopped, it shone as brilliantly as the sun, itself.
For a second, it looked like it would zoom forward to use its heat to immolate her opponents and offer their ashes to its counterpart in the sky, but then, instead of moving forward…it moved inward.
"N-…!"
BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!
The word coming out of the leader of the Heroes' mouth was drowned out by the sound of the explosion that was heard all over the continent.
A major portion of the Goddess's Sanctum was wiped out in a flash, and even the Heroes had to run away as quickly as they could, lest they be consumed by the frenzied eruption of all the Energy of a Peak Hero.
If the explosion's target was them, Northstar would have sorely failed, but quickly…it became clear that she had something else in mind- the anti-teleportation formation.
The moment it broke, she disappeared, and a few seconds later, a woman who looked like the husk of the one who had bravely stood up against so many Peak Heroes, at once, appeared in a secret underground room that was mostly barren.
Gasping for breath, she collapsed on the ground, and had to drag herself to a pile of Ker Gems placed nearby.
Pain and exhaustion were visible on her face…but her eyes were also filled with pride.
As she made her way to her destination, she activated a formation that made light appear in the cavern, and this made it clear that except for that shining pile, there was only one other object present.
It was a 10-foot tall replica of the Goddess's statue that was present, and right as she passed it, its eyes…snapped open.