The Holy Paladins were at a disadvantage before the battle even began.
They had no cavalry, and their morale was at an all-time low. They were exhausted, hungry, demoralized, and terrified. They were fighting an enemy they didn't understand, an enemy that seemed to be invincible.
But they were still paladins. They were still the chosen warriors of Uriel. And they had faith.
And faith, they believed, was the most powerful weapon of all.
Gideon led the charge, his golden armor a beacon of light in the encroaching darkness. His sword, a legendary blade named 'Sunfire,' was blazing with holy power, its light pushing back the shadows.
"FOR THE LIGHT!"
Thousands of voices answered him.
"FOR URIEL!"
The paladins surged behind him, their voices rising in a ragged hymn to Uriel, blades raised high despite the exhaustion weighing on their limbs like chains of lead.
The enemy did not break formation. They simply adjusted their shields in perfect unison, the red sigils flaring brighter as Sunfire's radiance clashed against the unnatural darkness radiating from their armor. The impact when the two forces met was cataclysmic.
Steel screamed against steel. Holy light sparked and hissed where it touched the corrosive halberds of the towering warriors. Gideon struck first, his blade carving a molten arc through the air. Sunfire slammed into a tower shield with the force of a falling star. For a heartbeat, the sigils held—then cracked. The warrior behind it staggered, a low, guttural sound escaping the depths of its helm.
'They are just enhanced humans!' Gideon thought with savage triumph. 'They can be killed!'
"Push them back!" Gideon bellowed, his voice cutting through the chaos. He pivoted, driving his shoulder into another foe, using his blessed strength to force the giant off balance.
Around him, paladins and inquisitors fought with desperate fury. Bursts of holy fire lit the night as priests channeled Uriel's wrath. Yet for every enemy they felled, another two seemed to take their place, the gaps in their line closing with an unnerving, seamless precision.
Then came the second wave.
It wasn't another frontal assault. It was a shadow falling from the sky.
One that shattered the very foundation of their faith.
"By the goddess..." a young squire stammered, pointing a trembling finger toward the heavens.
The fighting faltered. Men on both sides stopped to stare up at the impossible sight descending upon them.
Valkyries.
Ten of them, their forms radiant, their armor gleaming with a familiar, comforting golden light. Their wings were vast, catching the firelight from the burning tents, their faces stern and beautiful. Each one held a spear that crackled with the same divine energy that surged through Gideon's own veins.
They were icons. Legends. The living embodiment of Uriel's grace, the angels who came to bear the souls of the greatest heroes to the City of Silver.
At least that's what they were supposed to be.
These 'angels' were not there to save them.
With silent, deadly grace, they swooped down. Their spears didn't strike the black-armored warriors. They pierced the backs of paladins and priests.
The first spear pierced the back of an inquisitor who had been in the middle of a healing chant. The divine energy didn't mend his flesh; it tore through him, vaporizing his chest cavity in a burst of brilliant, golden light. He didn't even have time to scream before he collapsed into a heap of ash.
"No... No, this is a trick!" a commander roared, his voice cracking with a mixture of terror and denial. "An illusion! A demonic deception!"
But Gideon knew better. His golden eyes, blessed with the sight of the high priesthood, could read the flow of mana. This wasn't the dark, corrupted energy of the new goddess, nor was it the chaotic filth of demons. The power humming through the air, the radiant warmth that now felt like a suffocating poison, was pure. It was holy.
Screams of betrayal tore through the night.
"Why?!" a paladin wept, dropping to his knees as a Valkyrie descended upon him. Her face remained a mask of flawless, unfeeling marble as she drove her spear through his heart. "Why are you doing this to us?!"
The Valkyrie offered no answer. She simply retrieved her spear from the dissolving corpse and soared back into the sky, her golden wings beating a steady, ruthless rhythm.
The black-armored warriors seized the opportunity. While the paladins were reeling from the devastating psychological attack, they pressed their assault with renewed ferocity. Their halberds sliced through armor and flesh, their shields crushing bone and sinew.
The line broke.
Men threw down their weapons, not out of cowardice, but out of absolute, paralyzing existential despair. They offered no resistance as the black halberds tore them apart.
"Stand up!" Gideon's voice thundered over the battlefield, a desperate, furious roar. Sunfire flared with a violent, unstable intensity. "They are not our angels! If the heavens have turned against us, then we will cut down the heavens!"
A Valkyrie swooped toward him, her spear leveled at his throat.
Gideon didn't dodge. He parried the spear thrust with his shield, the impact sending a shockwave through the mud beneath his feet. The holy energy of her weapon clashed with the holy defenses of his shield, creating a blinding, static discharge that singed his hair.
With a guttural snarl, Gideon spun, bringing Sunfire down in a brutal, horizontal cleave, but the Valkyrie's grace was absolute. She twisted mid-air, her wings flaring, the blade of Sunfire passing inches from her gleaming armor. She retaliated with a lightning-fast thrust, aiming for the gap beneath his pauldron.
Gideon sidestepped, the point of her spear slicing through the air where his neck had been. He grabbed her spear, the holy energy searing his gauntlet, and with a mighty heave, he yanked her out of the sky.
The Valkyrie crashed to the ground with a surprised grunt, her wings flaring to catch her fall. Before she could recover, Gideon was on her, Sunfire raised high.
"For Uriel!" he roared, bringing the blade down.
Surprisingly, the Valkyrie flashed a smile, a chilling, predatory grin that had no place on an angel's face, and caught the blade between her gauntleted hands.
The divine energies of their respective powers met, and for a moment, Gideon felt a... connection.
Not between him and the Valkyrie, but between his sword, 'Sunfire,' and the Valkyrie's power.
"What an interesting sword," she purred, her voice like honey laced with poison. "Do you have more like this?"
Before Gideon could process her words, she twisted her wrists, and a surge of raw, unfiltered holy power, a power that felt both pure and corrupt at the same time, traveled up the length of Sunfire and slammed into Gideon's chest.
The Grandmaster was thrown backward, crashing into a pile of dead bodies, the breath knocked out of his lungs. Sunfire was knocked from his grasp, clattering into the mud beside him.
He looked up, dazed and in pain, to see the Valkyrie rising to her feet. She wasn't even scratched.
She walked toward him, her steps slow and deliberate, her smile widening. The black-armored warriors formed a circle around them, their war drums falling silent, creating a tense, expectant hush.
"You fight with a borrowed faith, old man," the Valkyrie said, her voice dripping with contempt. "A faith in a goddess who is deaf to your prayers, blind to your suffering, and silent to your cries. You are nothing but a pawn in a game you don't even understand."
"Silence, heretic!" Gideon rasped, pushing himself to his feet. He was weakened, but not broken. "I will not listen to your lies!"
"Lies?" the Valkyrie chuckled, a sound that was both beautiful and terrifying. "Open your eyes, paladin. Look around you. Your army is broken. Your faith is shattered. Your goddess has abandoned you. And yet, you still cling to her like a child to a broken doll."
She stopped in front of him, her spear held loosely in her hand, her white eyes glowing with a malevolent light.
"But there is another way," she whispered, her voice a seductive, hypnotic murmur. "A new faith. A new goddess. A goddess who listens. A goddess who acts. A goddess who rewards her followers with power beyond their wildest dreams."
She extended a hand toward him, her palm open.
"Join us, Gideon. Join us and become more than just a paladin. Become a champion."
Gideon stared at her, his golden eyes wide with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and a dawning, horrifying realization.
She was not just a warrior. She was a tempter. A missionary. A herald of the new goddess.
He looked at the Valkyrie at his feet, then at the black-armored warriors, then at the burning ruins of his camp. He saw the faces of his dead soldiers, their expressions frozen in a mask of terror and betrayal.
He had failed. He had failed them. He had failed Uriel.
A wave of despair washed over him, so cold and so deep that it felt like it was freezing his very soul.
"Never!" he roared, a surge of defiant fury burning through the despair. He lunged for Sunfire, his fingers closing around the hilt. "I will never bow to a false goddess!"
The Valkyrie sighed, a sound of mock disappointment.
"A pity," she said. "Mother was right. You all are too blind to see the truth."
She raised her spear, its tip glowing with a blinding, golden light.
But instead of striking Gideon down, she released a binding spell. A wave of pure, golden energy erupted from her spear, coiling around Gideon like a snake, pinning him to the ground, immobilizing him.
"Be grateful," she said, her voice cold and distant. "Mother wants you alive."