The Unwilling Protagonist

Chapter 43: The Disgraced General and the End of the World

In the wagon lent to them by Empress, Geralt drove everyone across the land with great speed. Blackfire steeds were something else; not limited by terrain or weight, but also useless for riding since they were all ethereal. They galloped along the path the World left behind in its wake as it walked.

Geralt suddenly stopped the wagon and stared dumbfounded into the distance.

"Geralt, what's wrong? Why did we stop?" Reighland asked.

"Was that like that when we left it?" Geralt asked. Everyone went up front to see what had surprised Geralt so much.

There was a gap in the mountain pass. Something had totally erased a portion of it entirely.

Opening Theme:

The World continued its ceaseless movement forward, eliminating any obstacle in its path. Up ahead were the newly reformed armies of the five generals. Karl had his artillery set in place and ready to engage. Iradin readied his archers and his priests. Rathe prepared his new cannoneers to fire. Org'gax readied his army to blitz the World. The dragon riders swooped in to attack first. As they bombarded the World with bursts of fire, ice, and even lightning, the World retaliated by wildly spewing another stream of plasma at the airborne nuisances or by grabbing at them. It managed to catch one unfortunate dragon and ate it and its rider whole; their bodies were lost in the red void of its mouth. The World ignored the other dragons attacking and focused solely on the ones that could spew lightning. It opened its mouth again and its insides glowed brightly. Suddenly, a burst of light beams shot out of its mouth like a volley of lasers. The dragons could not dodge an attack that fast, and so they fell.

The four generals on the ground ordered their armies to attack now. The cannoneers fired explosive fireballs at the world along with the dwarves' catapults and cannons. Iradin's archers fired their volley of arrows at the World. The cannon shots impacted with the World and were no more than mere annoyances, but the arrows had a better effect; they stuck into the World's body like thorns and irritated it greatly. While that was happening, Org'gax charged at the world with his massive army, hoping for a better result than last time.

The centurions that followed the World started to rush to its aid, but Magician held them back.

"The World can handle this; no need to ruin its fun..." He said confidently.

Sure enough, the World dug its fingers into the ground, and countless spikes erupted from where the ranged troops were standing, impaling the unfortunate and less agile. Once the World was satisfied, it retracted the spikes and its fingers and turned its attention to the orc soldiers in front of it...

From the distance, Hierophant waited patiently in the newly formed canyon that the World made when it split the mountain pass open. His fear of the World was not abated as he watched it destroy the armies with ease. As a former general, Hierophant could sympathize with his enemies when it came to the matter of losing troops or even an entire army in battle.

A noise caused him to turn and see the wagon approaching him. He readied his chainblade for whatever would come next. To no surprise, he saw Geralt driving the carriage and the Hero and his allies jump out; what he didn't expect was to see Reighland with them.

"Reighland?" Hierophant shouted, "Impossible! You're dead! Magician killed you himself!"

"Nicodemus..." Reighland spoke, "You don't need to do this. I know you're afraid of Magician and the World. I am too."