He let her go and she dropped to the ground but she didn't drop in one piece. He had formed a blade construct on his other hand using light and fire. The red glass object looked fragile but it is very sharp. He was able to cut off one of her arms in a smooth and swift motion.
She didn't see it coming at all. It was swift and unexpected. She felt relief that she didn't know she was experiencing before the pain hit her. The contrast in emotions outlined that she had felt relief that she wouldn't die more than she thought she would. It also made her rein in the reflex to scream in pain.
Instead, she stood back up and picked up her bleeding arm from the ground.
"Thank you for your consideration, exalted demigod. I made a mistake and you corrected me. I am happy to say that the lesson has been learned."
She had to appreciate him. The way he cut her arm off is a warning and a message that he could have killed her earlier without her being able to struggle.
He waved his hand like it didn't matter. "It is the least I can do."
In fact, it is not the least he could do. He could have taken two arms for her two mistakes or taken her eyes from her, but he didn't. Instead, he left her mostly intact, and most importantly, alive. It took a lot out of him to not kill her for such disrespect. Twice she did it and if he hadn't reacted the way he did, she would have done it again. He wished to kill her. He didn't kill her because he has to look towards long-term benefits and not the short-term pleasure of killing her. Everything he does is being watched by the gods.
Helios folded his arms again and returned to his posture of an unconcerned onlooker as if he hadn't just fought a bishop more than a thousand years old while he is just a hundred years old.
Then he said to the strike team that was frozen in shock, "You people should get on with what you're doing. We don't have all day."
The bishop's shout had drawn their attention. What they saw next was mind-blowing. It is why most of them have wide eyes and open mouths. That short fight might as well be accepted as a heroic feat. It was that unreal.
He turned to his team members that were still frozen in shock even after he reprimanded the others. "You guys can join them if you want. This is the only chance you'll get if you want to have fun with them."
Only five of his team members chose to join the strike team. They wanted to join in on the heroic quest. Escorting Helios wasn't a chore for them. Now that they are not part of his team, they can take credit for the heroic feat if they kill the queen. Instead of being his babysitters, they can now become competitors.
Helios watched merrily as changes were made to their formation. Then the strike team separated from the army and ventured into the ant horde. The priests were cycling through their barriers to protect their charges while they used various spells to attack.
He caught a brief look at Tanya. She was wielding two large hammers charged with Lightning. They stunned the ants as soon as they come near the hammers. The hammers will then crush them to pulp and fry their remains. She is also able to discharge chain lightning strikes to control the crowd of ants. The Lightning strike kills the smaller worker ants and stuns the larger soldiers.
"It wouldn't have helped Tyke in our fight." He mused to himself.
Her Stigmata is impressive like most Stigmata are, but he isn't intimidated by it. He would have been able to kill Tyke even if he had the assistance of the rune. His numerous understanding of fighting skills is not for show. Being without a weapon doesn't mean being unarmed. You can use your body as a weapon if you know how to. And being with a weapon doesn't mean you know how to use it.
Helios watched as the strike team disappeared into the ant hoard. It was then that the annihilators started to load up. The entire bodies of 10 giants of order lit up with pure white light as the stigmata on their bodies consumed divine crystals to power them. These ten had attendants that threw divine crystals at them. The divine crystals get consumed when they reach the halo of light around the giants. The giants couldn't even be seen beneath the white glow around them.
The ants noticed the development. The light that the giants were giving off was glaring and difficult to hide. The giants of Order weren't even trying to hide it, they wouldn't have brought the annihilators to the front lines if they didn't want to draw attention. An annihilator can fire at a target within their sight from any distance. There's no need for them to be here if not to draw attention.
'So much wastage of power. It may be powerful, but it is inefficient."
Helios noticed some of the intricacies of the stigmata activation. All that light that the annihilators are releasing is energy being wasted. It is what happens when the creator of a stigmata doesn't have enough knowledge. They achieve what they want to create because of their powerful divine will and divine power but the Stigmata will be inefficient at what it is made to do.
The ant horde went crazy with the development. That many annihilators will literally annihilate their numbers and will allow the giants to march freely to the ant mound. They increased the frequency of their attacks. Most of them ignored the strike team and tried to reach the annihilators. Things went into a frenzy as the army also increased their attacks in retaliation.
He nodded calmly. "Everything is going well."
The bishop had returned to his side after the strike team was deployed. The bruises and cuts on her face have healed and her throat has bounced back. There is no sign that she was held by her neck a few minutes ago. Even her arm has been attached and healed.
"It is a good thing." She said.
"Yes, it is."
"Are you really not going to join in on the heroic quest? The sun god will be disappointed." She asked carefully.
She didn't want to say what she said but it is her position as the representative of the church to say it. Her superiors and her god will not take it kindly that she watched on and did nothing as the demigod of the sun failed a heroic quest because he didn't participate. People might say he was scared.
He chuckled. "Who says I'm not joining the heroic quest? I never said that. I only said that I won't join your strike team."
"But they will be ahead of you by too much. It will be too difficult, if not impossible to catch up to them."
"Maybe. It also means I won't be with them if something goes wrong with your plan."
She shook her head. "I don't think something will go wrong. The ants think that we have 10 annihilators at our disposal. They don't know we can only use one. You just said that things are going well."
Helios's eyes were focused on the ants. He said to her, "There's still time for things to go wrong."
She chose to remain silent. When Helios said the same thing when he first heard about the plane, she had become angry at him and dismissed his opinions. Now, she still doesn't think he is right, but she isn't going to openly disagree with him. She doesn't agree with him because they already planned for most of the scenarios, so things should go well unless the ants disregard the threat of the annihilators and focus on the strike team.
She chose to keep her opinion to herself because if there is one lesson that she learned from that physical exchange, it is that Helios is strong and it is a bad idea to get him angry. The two of them are not equal. Even if she were stronger than him, she can not kill him unless she wants to suffer the wrath of the sun god. That is not the case for Helios. He can kill her and he is also strong enough to kill her. So she remained silent while wishing the strike team well.
Too bad that wishes aren't horses. Things went wrong. It is said that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Is it a matter of certainty or possibility that the worst outcome is inevitable? Does wishing for something bad make it happen or does wishing for something good make bad things happen?
It doesn't matter because if the ant queen got information about the real amount of annihilators that will be fired from a reliable source, then the worst outcome becomes a certainty, regardless of what you wished for or the possibility of it happening.