The Abundi Mages, formidable warlocks steeped in the dark arts, wielded their sinister powers with practiced ease, each a product of the Coalescence Ritual—a malevolent spell that siphoned the souls of countless beings. Be they animals, humans, or elves, the Munda Abundi showed no mercy in their relentless pursuit of magical dominance, seeking to hoard Vescrutia's arcane wealth for themselves, heedless of the destruction left in their wake."Mystic art...."
He whispered as the clods, emboldened with his semblance, roared and rumbled, echoing throughout the valley. A magical circle would weave itself into the sky. The piercing light of his power began to pour from the sigil, like ooze solidifying as it breached the circle, birthing onto the shrine a cascading deluge of blades whose numbers were virtually incalculable. And even if they were, cultists hadn't the time to speculate, let alone count them all.
"Resplendent SkyFall ..."
Yet, their arrogance crumbled beneath the onslaught of Zol's divine fury. Like a symphony of celestial wrath, the sky erupted in a crescendo of blinding lacerating light, each radiant beam piercing the darkness with surgical precision. Despite their desperate attempts to conjure protective barriers and unleash their most potent defensive spells, the Abundi found their defenses shattered by the overwhelming force of the Paladin's celestial strength.
Their dark incantations faltered in the face of Zol's technique resolve, each celestial blade tearing through their spells as easily as a scythe through ripe wheat. Their screams echoed across the battlefield, mingling with the pungent scent of blood as their hollowed bodies were rent asunder, their once-imposing forms reduced to mere shadows in the wake of Zol's divine retribution.
As the Abundi fell one by one to the relentless assault, their leader, observing from afar through some cosmic lens, realized with chilling certainty that their dark powers were no match for the radiant strength of a Zol's might. But Zol wasn't the first celestial warrior to deface this shrine with self righteousness. The Munda Abundi had slaughtered hundreds of crusaders and stormed a hundred monasteries across Vescrutia's many faces. They've killed plenty of priests.. employed several paladins. But Zol was different.. It was clear that to safeguard their vision of prosperity, the ForeRunner would need to confront this threat himself, for no mere mortal could stand against the divine fury of a Paladin on a mission.
Once Zol's onslaught laid waste to every remaining mage on the battlefield, a beam of black and crimson energy erupted from the top of the shrine like a bolt of lightning. This ripped through the surface of the foreboding monolith and filled the air with the chorus of a hundred agonizing screams. Every member of the cult, every sorcerer, guard, knight, and every captured tribute within the shrine was relinquished of their life-force. And the culmination of that energy- the avatar of the Munda Abundi would appear before his enemies via a similar bolt of dark energy. This was the ForeRunner. A being barely capable of being called a human any more. His bearish body was covered in an exoskeleton. Its roots crawled around his ash colored flesh like a parasite, pulsating with a dark miasma that could have scrambled the minds of weaker men.
"..heretics.” His voice boomed and thundered as he stepped from the molten earth left at his feet. In his left hand, he wielded a scepter that held a large mass of crimson crystals at its core. Zol would recognize this dark mass of power as a Sardonyx Cluster. In his left hand he carried a mysterious antiquity. “The ritual is already complete paladin. Whatever deity that sent you to our gates has damned you to fate worse than death.” His eyes pulsated like pools of murder. His weapon hummed with menace and horror as he pointed it toward Zol. "For you too will feed the ForeRunner.. just like your friends." His words were emphasized by the radiant glare of a sigil forming at his feet. His eyes glared at Okoye and giant ghoul that stood in front of her like a guard dog. She was a summoner of sorts? A sorcerer, but far less problematic.. laughably so.
"Your souls will feed the engine." His voice shook the crumbling shrine behind him as his scepter fired a devastating bolt of crimson energy that was large enough to envelop both Okoye and Zol.