Warhammer

He walked forward with the lantern in hand, without saying a word.

The stranger following behind him also followed without saying a word.

The two of them walked on a dark path. Above their heads and below their feet, except for a small area created by the light in the hands of the lantern elf, the entire path was filled with darkness so thick that it seemed to be able to absorb everything.

Every step they took was on nothingness. Above their heads, under their feet, and in all directions, there was thick darkness, and from time to time there were strange sounds that sounded like roars or wails. Just walking on this path forward was a great test of one's will.

The silent person followed the lantern elf for a while, then took off his hood, revealing a beautiful female face with a kind of innate coldness on it.

The female sorceress of the White Tower.

Karen.

On the surface they are "believers of Myrmidia", but secretly they are believers of the Omniscient One of the Four Mothers of Chaos.

A fan-made re-creation by a Tzeentchian.

After betraying her fellow demon hunters and sending them to serve as thieves for El, and completing the mission assigned to her by the Omniscient, Kallen left the tribe to help El contact the secret Omniscient believers active in Estalia and the mages of the Council of Scholars. After that, she left the sight of the Chosen One and came to Osun.

As a human being, Kallen must have extremely unique talents and outstanding qualities to be qualified to study in the White Tower and to be able to call herself a "White Tower Mage" outside. This is a height that most human mages cannot reach, but Kallen achieved this when she was still very young.

The female sorceress had many secrets, and Al had thought about keeping her, but at that time the role the female sorceress could play had no special benefit to the overall situation of the tribe. In addition, it was impossible for Al to destroy "part of the plan" of the Omniscient just to have another cold female scholar-type flesh toilet in his harem, so he did not pay too much attention to Kallen, and chose to let her busy herself with her so-called "arrangements of the Omniscient."

Even after El's power continued to expand and until the Southern Alliance was established and it became a regional power, Kallen never appeared in the alliance's field of vision. El may have forgotten the existence of this "old friend".

And now, she suddenly appeared on the stormy sea, on the road leading to the central island through the endless darkness—and behind the darkness, the storm that covered the sky and the sun, tore, crushed, and swallowed everything.

121: Making Fire

The two people walked silently in the darkness, one in front and one behind. Kallen raised her head and seemed to be looking "upward".

Her sharp and powerful perception was enough to allow her to see through the darkness and see what was behind the darkness that was both an obstruction and a protection.

In the colorful world, countless streams of light and colorful flames are spinning and washing in the rolling storm. Many hideous shadows are turned upside down in it, and their images are distorted from time to time between complete shapes and blurred light and shadow.

From time to time, some terrifying faces flashed across Kallen's head.

Horns, fangs, strange shapes...

The beast-like human face, with blood-red eyes always filled with uncontrollable rage; the handsome elves and men howled in the imprisonment of the storm, suffering the torture of having their bodies worn away bit by bit...

The calamity of the world, the eternal enemy of all orderly beings, the wrath of cruelty, the evil of indulgence, the filth of corruption...

Chaos demon.

Hundreds of years since the Elves created the Ecathia Storm, the Magic Swordsmen and Guardian Mages have captured many Chaos followers in the Elf Federation and around the world. Through mystical rituals, they have also captured many demons who were either summoned by Chaos elements or "accidentally" came to the mortal world to cause chaos and were confronted by the Guardians.

Once they are captured, they will be immediately brought back to Osun and thrown into the storm. The mark of the gods will isolate the demons from the connection with the demon realm. Then, unlike the wind of chaos, the more disordered and dangerous storm will shatter their souls after a period of time and return to their most primitive essence.

Dying in this way is not only a more painful and cruel torture than being cut into pieces, but it will also prevent demons from being reborn in the Demon Realm, even for powerful and respected demon princes and great demons.

That is to say, dead, completely dead.

This is a very scary thing for the demons.

In the past, they could act recklessly in the mortal world. The K Party pursued slaughter and fierce fighting, the S Party sought hysterical carnival, leading mortals into the realm of indulgence and despair; the kind father's little boys were full of joy in spreading the blessing of the Crow God - the plague - to the world.

The cunning and fickle Tzeentchians are fanatically eager to create more changes for the Lord of Change, assisting a Chaos Warmaster to launch an expedition, or disguising themselves to plot conspiracies, instigate coups, and cause chaos. Most of the time they can escape unscathed. If the Tzeentchians are determined to hide, they will undoubtedly be the most difficult Chaos believers to catch.

Even if he is "caught" and found by the forces of order, it doesn't matter.

Most of the time, the demons have already caused enough damage, harvested enough souls, and pleased the dark evil god, so they are not afraid of death. After a while, they will be able to stir up trouble again after being resurrected through the lottery in the Soul Furnace.

If you are favored by the evil master, you don’t even need to wait for the "cooldown" of resurrection, you can go online seamlessly.

But things are different now. Under the "major version environment trend" of the receding tide of Chaos, not only are demons rarely active in the mortal world, even the never-ending bloody battle between the four gods in the Chaos Realm has become decadent.

If there are a few demons who come to the mortal world by accident and are captured by the guardians by mistake, they will no longer be treated as in the past: "You will be a brave man again after XX."

First they will be tortured severely. No matter whether what they say is true or false, they will have to confess first. The guardians will then slowly examine the authenticity and usability of the information revealed by the demons.

Then just throw it into the storm.

Under the mark of the gods, the demons cannot return to the demon realm. Their tangible entities will be quickly consumed by the storm, and only their soul essence will slowly endure this long torture until the final collapse.

The length of this process varies according to the strength of the demon's soul. Weak ones, like the most basic Khorne demons, Bloodletters, Nurgle Plague Walkers, Plague Bearers... will be annihilated in an instant, while those that have received more blessings and received more attention from their gods can persist for a long time. It is said that the Guardians once threw a Great Keeper of Slaanesh into the storm, and its wailing has continued since then, and it is still struggling in the storm to this day - less than one-third of its body is left.

.........

What Kallen saw were those guys who were thrown into the storm by the guardians for "humanitarian crushing". Among them were not only demons, but also some other anti-civilization elements that posed a threat to the world order, such as the stubborn remnants of Nagash, and deformed monsters captured in the colonies whose vitality was so strong that it was difficult to be eliminated by conventional means.

In addition, some extremely evil cultists and chaotic elements will receive the same "honor" as their "imperial army" and be thrown into the storm.

When he saw a familiar face, the other person seemed to have seen him as well, and his face, which was distorted by unimaginable pain, revealed a hint of surprise.

She cast a pleading look at Kallen, seemingly wishing that the female sorceress could help her escape from her suffering.

But Kallen just glanced at "her" and continued walking forward without even stopping. As soon as her eyes moved away, the soul with a beautiful face but only a head left in the storm immediately showed a mouth full of fangs and let out a silent cry of pain. The beautiful female elf's appearance also changed, becoming a bald and hideous face with a nose that looked like it had been chopped off, leaving a pair of ugly holes.

The old elf leading the way in front paused slightly, as if he had sensed something, but he still said nothing and continued to lead the way.

After a while, Kallen and the old wizard walked into a fog and finally arrived at the destination of their trip.

A strong wind blew away the fog surrounding the two people.

At this time, they were standing on a stone bridge that was just above the water.

Less than ten steps ahead is a dazzling island.

The elf handed the lantern to Kallen and walked into the darkness alone. His figure soon disappeared into the shadows and no trace of his existence remained.

Kallen came back from her momentary trance and stepped onto the island.

Rows of ornate "statues" are placed around the perimeter of the island.

But it was not a dead object. Instead, it was a living being with a heart as strong as a dragon beating in its chest.

Phoenix Guard!

The most devout and steadfast believers of the Creator God Asuryan among the elven race will choose to swear an oath to remain silent for the rest of their lives and guard the flame and all the mysteries contained therein in the holy land of the Phoenix God.

122: The Fire of Asuryan

When Kallen stepped onto the central island, the silent and solemn "statues" immediately "came to life".

Six Phoenix Guards came over. They stood in two rows, leaving a passage in the middle and motioned for her to pass.

Kallen did not hesitate and walked straight forward. A total of six Phoenix Guards, who were her escorts, followed her as if they were monitoring her as she walked towards the heart of the central island, to the destination of her trip.

Asuryan's silent guards are bound by their oaths to keep secrets.

They spent most of their lives thereafter in the temple of Asuryan, guarding the secrets engraved in the murals and scriptures, and protecting the Phoenix Fire.

Phoenix Guards are all blessed warriors. Since they have never left the protection of the Phoenix's blessing, it is basically impossible for them to be corrupted. They are absolutely reliable warriors. They are stationed on the central island in the storm, which can guard against attacks from external enemies and monitor the guardian mages and priests internally.

They are not like Caledor and his assistants whose bodies were annihilated and who were forever bound in a special space outside the two worlds. Therefore, they are not affected by the dark enemy. The elves stationed on the central island are still "living people" in the conventional sense. They have bodies and emotions, and thus are likely to be eroded and exploited by darkness.

Although there has been no precedent of Chaos Corrosion entering the Central Island so far, the elves, who are very vigilant about this, still decided to take precautionary measures and not give the enemy any chance to take advantage.

......

Kallen finally met the person who decided the purpose of her trip.

A burly elf-like man wearing a black and white robe, with completely white eyes without any other colors, as if flashing with lightning.

Behind him stood a high platform, on which stood many elves that looked like priests, praying and worshipping around a flame suspended in the air at the top.

Twelve elven wizards stood around the platform, also constantly performing some mysterious rituals.

Kallen came in front of the burly elf and bowed slightly to him.

"Hail, Guardian of Worlds; I come at the command of my Lord, to fulfill the covenant signed by Asuryan the Creator."

Kallen came straight to the point, and the tall elf blinked his eyes that flashed with lightning, stared at her, and suddenly frowned and said: "They are treacherous and evil, and can never be trusted. The Phoenix Fire is related to the survival of the Storm, and the survival of the Storm is related to the peace of the universe. I can't make a decision lightly."

Kallen raised her head and looked at the tall elf in front of her.

From the perspective of mortal eyes, this is a "giant" elf with a sturdy and strong build, which is very rare among elves.

But in Kallen's perspective, what was in front of her was clearly a giant dragon standing proudly above the earth, with majestic crown and horns, and neatly arranged scales, as if it was inviolable!

Its huge red eyes looked down at the petite female elf, its nostrils spewing hot breath and its tail shaking gently, as if it was considering whether to turn this Chaos molecule who dared to set foot on the central island into ashes with a breath of dragon's breath, or to bite it off and swallow it?

But Kallen is not afraid of this. Her faith is unshakable, and she has dedicated everything to the Supreme Eagle, the great master of mysteries.

Her mission is clear:

Get the flame.

She would do it no matter what difficulties she faced, even if the Phoenix Guards would capture her and throw her into the terrifying Icathia storm the next moment. That was not something Kallen considered. The only thing she had to do was to get fire.

"The gods have their own judgment. In the Phoenix Hall, I believe that the gods have seen everything that happens. All we have to do is to carry out their will."

She explained modestly, without making any guarantees or excuses for the concerns raised by the wise dragon who had transformed into an elf.

That doesn't make sense.

And her coming to get fire was not something that the guardian dragon in front of her could stop because of his personal will.

As expected, the dragon elf snorted coldly, made way for the stairs, and stood aside with his arms folded.

Kallen nodded to him, expressed her respect, and walked straight to the platform.

The Phoenix Guards also followed behind her. On this island, there were no "secrets" for the Phoenix Guards, nothing that could be hidden from them.

No matter how earth-shattering the conspiracy is, it cannot be discussed without their knowledge.

They believed that the Supreme God King Asuryan was watching everything that was happening right now. The Phoenix Guards also saw everything that had happened in the past, present, and future from the murals and books that were only open to them.

Including what is going on now.

Kallen climbed to the top of the platform without any hesitation. The priests already knew of her coming. Similarly, these gods' priests who had been guarding here for more than a hundred years and would guard here for another ten, a hundred, or even a hundred years in the future, until the end of eternity, also knew the purpose of Kallen's coming.

Make fire.

Take away the most important of the sacred objects that maintain the existence of the central island and allow the elves to maintain and control the great storm that replaces the great vortex:

The Phoenix Holy Fire of Asuryan the Creator!

Although not completely taken away, Kallen will take away most of the Fire of Asuryan, which is vital to the entire elven race. This will leave only a small part of the flame on the central island, and the blessing of the gods will be weakened. It is conceivable that the elves' control over the storm will also be weakened, and they will have to devote a lot of energy to compensate for the effect of the weakened flame.

It is somewhat equivalent to one country "borrowing" another country's nuclear button or nuclear weapons for use for a period of time. The most crucial thing is that in the broad division of camps, the two are NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and more importantly, "one is good and the other is evil."

The existence of the Fire of Asuryan is related to the stability of the Icathian Storm, and the stability of the Storm is related to the probability and intensity of Chaos Corruption appearing worldwide.

What's more, if the Great Storm fails, although the elves have learned the lesson of the Great Vortex and have made special preparations so that there will not be a tragedy like the Great Vortex disintegrating and causing the sinking of Osuun, the damage caused by its escaped power alone will be a heavy blow to Osuun, not to mention that after losing the restraint of the storm, the magic power guided by the elves will scatter, which will cause the magic concentration to rise extremely in a short period of time, which will make it very easy for the Chaos Demon Realm to influence the mortal world, especially Osuun. Thinking more deeply, they have used the Great Storm to continuously supply Osuun with a portion of the rich magic power of the mortal world for hundreds of years, maintaining the elves' home world like a paradise garden country, while using "pressure" to discharge the extremely rich magic wind from the cracks left after the collapse of the Great Vortex into the Demon Realm, so as to relieve the pressure once and for all.

It is equivalent to quietly throwing "garbage" into someone else's yard, even though their home is a garbage dump, so they don't notice it.

But if the storm breaks one day, it is hard to say whether this action will not lead to more terrible consequences.

123: Dragon Ladon

No normal person would agree to such a request, even if the two countries have an unbreakable alliance like that between humans and dwarves.

But this time it’s special:

This "transaction" was about "borrowing" the Holy Fire of Asuryan. It was an oracle that Asuryan, the king of the gods of the elves and the god of creation, had given long ago:

Someone will come here with a lantern to borrow the sacred fire.

And everything at that moment was clearly displayed in the oracle.

Generally speaking, all the problems on the Central Island directly affect the safety of the entire world.

Without the will of the Supreme Being and the consensus of the guardians, no one can make any decision on their own.

But no one present questioned Kallen's taking of the Fire of Asuryan.

They watched calmly as the female sorceress, a "chaos element", climbed onto the platform and reached out to touch the ever-burning, never-extinguished Phoenix flame.

Everything seemed to happen naturally. The flames suspended above the platform flowed smoothly onto Kallen's body like liquid. They wrapped the woman up and then quickly sank into her body.

He looked very ordinary from beginning to end, and Kallen, the carrier of the Fire of Asuryan, had no abnormality on her body.

After the flames stopped moving towards the sorceress's body, she nodded to the guardians, then turned around and walked away.

At the original position, there was still a ball of flame less than a quarter of its previous size still floating in the air. Obviously, most of the Fire of Asuryan, the core of the power of the gods, had now been attached to Kallen in some mysterious way.

The guardians did not make any other moves. They continued to do everything they had done in the past, praying and monitoring the operation of the magic circle...

As if not acknowledging that the elves' "nuclear weapons" had been borrowed, there was only one "person" present who was worried about it.