Chapter 572: Interlude - The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy II
Xocoh’s arms trembled as she held them up, her knees weak as she’d held the pose for days.
“Son of the sun. Son of the sun.” The kobold ardents chanted. Thousands chanted and marched around Xocoh’s position at the top of the ziggurat, where a gigantic spell was being channeled. It was too bright to look at, a second sun to attract Itzel’s attention and divine favor.
“Son of the sun. Son of the sun!” The chanting reached a fervent pitch, and Xocoh did her best to aim the massive skill.
The kobolds of Tonaltzintli had gotten a bit of the short end of the stick in life. A mortal nation surrounded by Immortals, the deadly jungle environment and grand rituals were enough to keep the younger elves at bay, while the elders usually didn’t care enough. But there were no easy trading partners, and the kobolds were isolated, the elves snubbing them at every turn.
They weren’t aware of the greater goings on in the world - simply that a group of elves had put one of their cities to the sword, tearing down one of the ziggurats sacred to Itzel, and the kobolds operated on an ‘eye for an eye’ principle - nevermind that the elven eyes were far larger than theirs.
The skies split to fervent cheering from the kobolds. Some started speaking in tongues while others passed out in relief. Xocoh was simply happy that the end of the ritual was in sight. A divine hand reached down out of the heavens, picking up the [Second Sun] and lifting it into the skies.
Then in a mix of divine and System energies, Radiance mixing with the very sun itself, the ball turned into a beam of light, breaching the shields and protections of a city and burning it to the ground in a great conflagration.
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Depths flinched back as a sword came for her face, a wall of water appearing in front of her thanks to [Water Echo]. It fouled the swing enough that she was able to continue dodging, the knee-high water not slowing her down at all. The slash ended up nicking her cheek, simply another line added to her face.