Chương 161: 74 - IN THE FACE OF TYRANNY

T'balt was ready to fight the collector with all of his remaining strength. He didn't know if that was gonna be enough, but if they were going to overcome Corlander, like he had promised Tyene and everyone else, then it would have to be with the tools he had on him right now. Albeit that wasn't promising. He was down to 2 loot slots before an overload. The second chance was permanently taking residence as his third, but that was useless to him now since it was already used.

Unfortunately, second chance meant he didn't get a third. That left him with the mirror and the time dilation. It was a combination Tyene assured him would allow him to hold his own, but it wouldn't be enough to win. That was where the loot thief came in. He wouldn't mind a temporary overload for when he had to use it. He just had to know when to use it, when Corlander would let his guard down enough for him to get to his neck. He held Corlander's golden sword with slow, bated breath.

"I've grown sick of you people and your surprises." Corlander had no other words. He was just as fed up with this fight as everyone else was.

"Jump left!" German warned. T'balt leaped left as the golden light of Corlander appeared at his right. He narrowly avoided the swing of the collector's sword. The sword in his own hand disappeared as he found a much more useful one. T'balt turned to light, trading places with where Corlander once was. The man in his golden armor and shining wings stood up straight, looking as if he wanted to laugh.

"There's so much more beautiful loot out there. So much more for my collection. I will have them all."

"German, how are you keeping track of him when he moves so fast?"

"I'm switching between your mind and his. I think all that loot has finally made him drunk on power, but at least I can still read his intentions."

"Good. I'm following your lead then." Corlander attacked again, this time with several beams of blinding light. T'balt light-formed above him, attacking with his own light beams. Corlander shielded with his forcefield. T'balt flew back and continued shooting light at it to no effect. The man inside only looked smug.

"It's a fake." The Redeemer quickly flashed away when the real Corlander came down on him with a ball of molten rock that turned into an explosion. The image inside the force field faded away, a mirage. Both the Redeemer and the Collector flashed together, colliding several times as T'balt sought to keep distance and Corlander sought to close it. But the Seraph loot was all T'balt had. And he didn't know how effective light would be against a man with multiple Seraph loot.

He remembered Monan being resistant when he had only one. But the light was too useful to trade for something else. The movement it allowed was the only thing keeping this fight going. He flashed to the ground as Corlander came at him with a frontal attack with his golden sword. He dodged and slammed his foot on the sword to jam it into the ground. Then he went to punch the man, only to be sent back by a sudden sprouting of trees. They erupted from the ground, attempting to skewer T'balt with their pointed tips.

He flashed upwards but was met by a gargantuan fist made of discarded stone. It hit him hard, knocking him into an impact crater. The fall sent bile through his throat as he landed right on his spine. Before Corlander could capitalize, there was a shout as David and more reinforcements started charging the collector. Though they lacked the speed to even touch him. Corlander flashed, stomping one of them under his boot.

he scanned the man's loot, seeing he was not a threat and opened his mouth to vomit a spray of green, burning acid into the man's face. He screamed, deterring his other attackers as the substance melted the man's face. Corlander smirked at those who stopped, but he was surprised when the man under his boot suddenly shot him with a line of lightning, no longer being burned by the acid. Though the burn it caused healed almost instantly, that reinvigorated the others to jump at him again.

"Tsk... pests." T'balt suddenly felt the pain leaving his back, and he was able to stand again.

"I've instructed Lila to hide underground and keep her prayer loot activated. You should be okay as long as you don't take any fatal damage." German told him.

"Understood. Thanks." That was going to make things a whole lot easier. If there was a healing field always active on the battlefield, then he wasn't going to have any problem overloading himself. Even still, he had the thief to prevent him from crashing out. He remembered the way Vienna used the Loot Thief. Quick, efficient, knowing every piece of loot on her person and the exact motion to seamlessly transition them on and off her neck. It made her seem like a Collector herself.

If he was going to win, then he'd have to be the same way. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. By the time he got back to the battle, the Gracelandians were doing a better job than expected thanks to German's coordination. Though none of them were able to land a significant blow, several more of them had already died, knowing they were fodder.

T'balt flashed underneath Corlander, who flung himself backward and summoned a metal hammer to swipe at his attacker. T'balt hardened, taking the full brunt of the blow, smoking cracks showing on his face. A punch sped by time dilation nearly connected with the Collector's nose, and he reared back, surprised at it. T'balt fed into the attack, flashing all around the man, who flashed around him back. Though the Redeemer was keeping steady breaths, feeling invigorated by Lila's prayers.

He threw measured punches, blocks, and kicks. One well-timed grab meant that Corlander couldn't light form, which left him open for a punch. Though T'balt found himself punching one of those phantom mirages, Corlander appeared behind him looking to chop off one of his limbs, but he was met with T'balt's own mirage. The surprise of it left Corlander open to a punch to his cheek. However, his own hardening prevented any damage.

He levitated back, prompting T'balt to follow, attacking him with a barrage of lightning attacks. It was the quickest attack loot he had. But Corlander didn't use his light form to dodge. He noted T'balt having used his mirror to copy his phantom imaging loot, which meant he wasn't as quick as slippery anymore. Corlander had committed not to let T'balt see it again so he couldn't copy it. That's exactly what German told T'balt. So that meant Corlander didn't have his movement either.

He was blocking the lightning with only his forcefield. T'balt took one deep breath… Before reengaging with Corlander, T'balt had visited Cannon's unconscious body. He thanked him in his mind and used his time dilation to quickly equip the 10x strength loot. The force of his next punch completely shattered the defense, knocking the collector to his heels, and the second punched through his golden armor.

Despite the double defense, it still sent him flying through several buildings until he crashed and rolled to the other side of the island. The handful of Gracelandians looked on, too slow to follow their fight but simultaneously in awe of it. This was a battle for their lives after all. T'balt fell to a knee, breathing heavily. For the brief moment, the strength loot was in him. It took a fifth slot, including the mirror, time dilation, and loot thief. If it weren't for Lila, he was sure he would've been dead.

He removed the strength and the thief as he regained himself. But of course, Corlander wasn't gone. Whatever he was using to heal, whether it was the Seraph loot or something else, it worked too quickly to keep him down for long. He floated high above them with a sharp look of anger on him. He held his chest, his armor broken and forced to disappear. He was staring right at T'balt.

"Not being able to kill you is a nuisance."

"You brought this on yourself," T'balt said.

"You could've walked away."

"No… No, I couldn't have." Just then, a long lightning rod appeared in Corlander's hand. It whixxed and cracked, a storm brewing at its tip as Corlander held it. Before T'balt or anyone could realize what it was, he threw it directly at the ground between them all. The result was a shockwave that sent every flying back, twitching with electricity. It left a crack in the stone where it hit as the attack was sent out in all directions for at least 50 yards. It even got Lila in her hiding place below them.

Corlander smiled at his tattooed hand, flexing it.

"I like that one." Ellie watched the battle from afar, flying high above them, unable to do a single thing to help. She knew it was what was best for the baby, but that didn't make it feel any better. She hated feeling so useless. But then she remembered someone else. Someone who wasn't useless and yet still did nothing. She flew to the perch of the Bestower's book high above the city. There Uriel continued to look on.

He looked sick, not only from the disuse his body was suffering from but in his eyes and what they were forced to see. So many dead. So many of his people dead.

"Oh… Ellie. Nice to see you again." He noticed her with a sense of familiarity, which alarmed her as she had not met him in this life. Not in person. But she wasn't here for pleasantries.

"This is all happening because of you!" she yelled at him, unable to control herself. He didn't flinch at it.

"All these deaths. All these people. It all could've been prevented if only you had come down and helped them."

"I'm sure they've told you why I'm here. Things are not so simple."

"That doesn't matter. You think anyone cares about your past lives… they're down there fighting for right now. And…" she paused, thinking of her child.

"The future."

"I'm sorry. I truly am. But my punishment is beyond the suffering of these souls, present or otherwise. The forces beyond the universe have made that clear to me. You were a reader of mine. I know I must not be the person you imagined me to be."

"You're not sorry. You're not even suffering. This is not a punishment. It's just a part of some egotistical self-immolation."

"Egotistical?"

"I can think of a man who once allowed his body to be put on display as you have. Allowing himself to be tortured and maimed and starved. But he did so to have his people's sins forgiven. Not his own." Uriel began to laugh, genuinely, realizing the irony of what he had done.

"I suppose you're right in that. I'm no christ. I'm not even a saint. This is purely for my sake." Ellie shook her head.

"If my Christ is up there… and I still believe he is. Why would he forgive a man like you?"

"Is that not in his nature… to forgive those who openly present themselves to him?"

"No… the son, perhaps. Not the father. For he has a taste for divine retribution." She held onto her necklace, the cross Abbot Kilgrove had given her when she had lost her way.

"Then what do you propose I do?"

"Beg for forgiveness. Not from God. Not from whatever you see as God, from the people down there. Those that you seem to have forgotten ARE PEOPLE! Because they're bent to suffer for all eternity. Not because of God but because of a man failing to imitate him. As Satan often does." Uriel raised his head, pondering. Ellie softened her voice, hoping to speak true sense into the man, who had hung himself around the neck of his own statue.

"I was one of your readers. You helped me through a very difficult time in my life. I looked up to you. The man who believed a place's power was its people. The world belongs to the many. Not the few. But it's still up to the few to fight for the many." She repeated the lines. He stared at her.

"Monkeys to Monuments." There was a silence between them, cracks of lightning and loot off in the distance.

"Did it really help you that much?" Ellie smiled confidently.

"It's part of the reason I am who I am. Someone who can't stand helpless in the face of tyranny."