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123 AC, Oldtown
"No more. My name is Daeron Targaryen, son of Viserys Targaryen, Prince of the Seven Kingdoms, and I denounce you, Seven Who Are One." The chamber stilled, and the god looked almost taken aback by his proclamation, before seven inhuman voices spoke at once, "SO BE IT!"
Despite the situation he was in, Daeron couldn't help but wonder what his mother would think of what he had just said. He had denounced the Seven, the gods that she treasured before everything else, and he had done so in their faces, in the very centre of the Faith, which happened to be her home.
He had no doubt that she would be horrified, at the very least, and likely punish him severely. To Alicent Hightower, the gods were sacred. He had often tried to emulate this, to find comfort in faith. He had often heard that the gods were cruel, but he often dismissed it. Alas, that wasn't the case, not truly. No, the gods were not cruel by nature, but they were uncaring, which in Daeron's opinion was worse.
Still, matters of faith aside, Daeron couldn't help but feel like his mind was his own once more after his proclamation. The pressure building inside it, the small voice that urged him to kill Harry, that stopping him was the right thing, just stopped the moment he had officially ended his faith in the Seven, leaving a blessed silence instead.
Unfortunately, he didn't exactly have the time to enjoy this fact, as the Seven Who Are One erupted in a burst of light, and Daeron stared around him only to see a gigantic expanse of pure whiteness before him. No, that wasn't exactly that. The world was seemingly split into two, with the sky being pure white, while the bottom was the normal temple.
The line separating the world from the white sky was seemingly held up by Harry and Daphne, whose faces looked quite strained by the effort. He couldn't help but mutter, "What happened?"
"Oh, nothing much. After your little speech, good job with that by the way, the Seven Who Are One realised that they couldn't use you to take me off-guard anymore. Honestly, it's like they forgot that I caught you like three times already, and well, they didn't react very nicely…"
"How so?"
Daphne spoke up over her husband, her voice still strained, "This isn't the time for your antics, Harry." She then turned towards Daeron, "This is the centre of their influence over the material realm, where they are as strong as they could be, and they're done trying to be subtle. They're trying to squash us with a manifestation of their divinity, their Light, so to speak."
People often spoke of the Light of the Seven, a blessing that shows their attention on this day, and yet it felt oppressive to Daeron. It was odd to see such a benediction, a sign of the gods' favour, be used as a weapon like this.
Harry burst into laughter, "I almost feel nostalgic, huh?"
His wife rolled her eyes and spoke up with an exasperated tone, "Just get rid of it, already."
"You know what to do, Daph?" the sorcerer asked.
"Of course, I do. You said it yourself; none of this is new, is it?"
Harry snorted at this reply, and Daeron couldn't help but voice his confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"Well, these guys are very unlucky that I'm something of an expert when it comes to fighting Light-based dimensional attacks."
Daeron didn't have time to even understand what the man meant when the white sky started to fracture, with similar fractals to those in Harry's former invisible shield, and the white sky broke down like panes of Myrish glass.
In the distance, he heard seven inhuman screams that were filled with rage and frustration. The creature of light returned, this time completely crimson, with the shape of a giant, muscular man with a gigantic sword of red light, another aspect of the Seven Who Are One, the Warrior. From his face, a voice spoke up that sounded more like a grinding stone, "I WILL ENJOY THIS!"
He swung the sword at Harry, who, in a surprising display of martial ability, dodged it in seconds without even wielding a single weapon. However, he did not see the hidden flash as a dagger in the Warrior's left hand, tried to skewer him, only to go through him completely.
Harry then swung his hands, and a scythe appeared mid-swing, sending the Warrior back from the impact. The sorcerer twirled it in a circle before falling into a stance, "Oh, honey. You think that just because I negate your little conceptual Light attack, that I wouldn't be able to fight face to face."
"YOU ARE NO WARRIOR!"
"I suppose I don't blame you for being mistaken. Most people on this continent wouldn't consider me a warrior, and you're influenced by that."
The Warrior did not let him finish and leapt at him with his sword drawn, which Harry redirected with his scythe, followed by a purple glow that seemingly bent the Warrior's form, more than enough for Harry to slice him with his weapon.
The god released a pulse of light that shook the temple once more, only for Harry to spin his scythe and use it to keep himself upright. He then dodged a slice of red light from the Warrior and retaliated with a slice of darkness that sent the god flying out of the temple.
Harry casually walked outside to meet his match once more, and Daeron froze, not knowing what to do, only for his companion to decide for him by addressing him quietly, "Stay near me, Daeron. I'd rather that they not have the opportunity to use you as a hostage."
The young Prince followed, and saw the Warrior standing there, in a ready stance as well, and Harry stepped forward, his voice loud despite it being solemn, "I have fought in a war bigger than you or your people have ever seen, with stakes that were higher than you could possibly imagine. I still remember the faces of the people that I lost. It was when it was over that I saw that there was more to the world than violence, war, and death."
Harry dodged a slash of red light from the Warrior's sword, and his scythe elongated past him, grabbing the attack at his back, before spinning at blinding speed and hitting the god, as he prepared to start another swing.
The god released a roar, and a gigantic shroud of crimson light enveloped him, growing higher and higher, before he ran at blistering speed at Harry, who seemingly dodged everything with simple movements, angering the god even further.
The Warrior lashed out and sped up, finally breaking Harry's guard, only for his sword to pass through the sorcerer, only to roar in pain.
Daeron gaped as he noticed Harry appeared to the god's side, becoming visible once more, with a black dagger made of what looked to be ice, skewering the god's side.
The god's pained cry released another wave of light that seemingly crumbled everything around them, but Harry conjured circles of glowing light with some strange writing on them that protected them, like invisible shields.
Daeron couldn't help but stare agape at the battle before him. People often called prodigious knights the Warrior reborn, and yet they all fell short of the god's display of skill and power. And yet, Harry seemed to match every single attack despite the relentless onslaught.
The young prince had watched knights spar with each other in Oldtown, as well as with the occasional visitor from Essos, and sometimes even from Dorne, even if the latter was rare. He had seen displays of martial ability from far and wide, and he had trained enough to know that Harry was not a trained swordsman. He didn't fight in a stance or block properly. Even his dodges were something that his Uncle Gwayne would hit him in the head if he saw it before him.
He understood why the god claimed that he wasn't a warrior, and yet, it worked. He was fighting the Warrior to a standstill.
Harry casually stared at the god and continued his earlier speech, "You will have to be more than the sum of your parts to have a chance at victory."
The crimson shroud faded slightly, and the god nodded, seemingly in respect, before his features shifted once more. Unfortunately, Daeron did not close his eyes quickly enough, and he saw a monstrous amalgamation take the Warrior's place, one that was larger than anything he had ever seen, before the migraine forced him to blink, and instead, a humanoid creature stood before him.
It was a featureless humanoid creature of light, constantly shifting colours. The god created a spear of light and twirled it before leaping at Harry. The spear turned crimson, the same shroud as that of the Warrior as it neared, but the sorcerer managed to dodge the thrust by leaning back, and creating a circle of light beneath him that somehow propelled him into the air. The Seven tried to attack him mid-flight, only for the attack to go through him untouched, and the circle to explode and distort their form.
Harry then created another circle while still in the air, which fell down towards the distorted god, and froze its form completely. For a moment, Daeron thought that the madman had done it and somehow defeated the gods themselves, only for the ice to expand outwards, and a giant red weapon appeared in the air, trying to skewer Harry.
The sorcerer dodged it and retaliated with shards of black ice. The shroud around the god turned grey, and the god easily weaved through them, and with a pulse of the grey light stopped an attack that came behind him, using the attack to stop it.
Harry wasn't deterred, and he created some odd fractals in space that somehow disturbed the grey shroud, but whatever he planned was stopped as the god sent a gigantic crimson arrow at him with speeds that burst the very air.
Daeron expected him the dodge the attack, but the sorcerer simply raised his hand.
He should have been skewered. Everything that Daeron had seen in his life said that it was beyond what he possibly imagined. So, imagine his surprise when the glowing arrow stopped before Harry, as if its speed had disappeared completely, before condensing into a ball of pure darkness that he threw back at the Seven.
The black ball seemed to warp the very world around it as it traversed to its destination, and just as it was about to impact, a pulse of golden light shattered the attack and transformed it into golden fireflies. The Maiden's light, because what else could be this pure, faded away, and both combatants stared at one another.
Harry stared at them and spoke up loudly, "That's more like it. The Warrior giving you strength, the Smith forging your weapons, the Father Above and the Crone planning every move, and the Maiden purifying any corrupting attack, while the Mother Above is subtly trying to rob my will to fight. However, there's an aspect of you that is missing, isn't there? Is he shy, perhaps?"
Daeron stared in shock as the shifting god froze in its tracks. Why would anyone ever dare ask for the Stranger to face them? There was a reason why people never prayed to him in the first place. That last bout showed that they were evenly matched, even if the young prince could barely believe that a mortal could ever fight a god to a standstill.
Then, after seconds that felt like an eternity, the air changed. Daeron couldn't explain how, only that it felt wrong. What little light there was in this cursed place flickered away, and a black shroud slowly started to spread over the Seven's ever-shifting, featureless figure.
Daeron couldn't help but shiver in fear of that, and the Seven suddenly released a beam of darkness that Harry intercepted with his strange fractal shield. He then followed by creating thousands of ice spears that he threw at the God, who jumped up into the air and raised his hands.
For the first time, Daeron looked up and saw stars blinking in this nightmarish world. He froze as he realised that they were falling towards them. Harry raised his hands and sliced it open, making the entire world fracture and return to normal. Hoping to take him by surprise, the Seven swung a spear of crimson light, which had a black shroud around it, towards Harry's face, only for the mortal to just raise his hand and catch it in his hands.
The black shroud seemingly disappeared, and Harry stared the god down, seemingly disappointed and said, "I know Death, and you are no Death, just the crystallisation of the idea of the Unknown into a divine entity. You are the fear of death, of magic, of everything that they simply do not understand. Powerful, perhaps, but you simply don't have the conceptual weight of the End. No wonder that they don't like to pray to you."
The god tried to attack him once more, only for Harry to slap the god's chest, somehow bypassing his shroud, and he released a pulse of green light from the moment he touched the Stranger's chest. The god froze almost in time for a few seconds before flying back into the distance.
Daeron thought that this was all there was to it, that Harry had defeated them, only for an inhuman sound to cut through the air. It wasn't exactly a roar, but more akin to a screech that vibrated through Daeron's bones, like the very world was straining to remain coherent.
Above them, the sky bent, and something emerged from the distorted air. Seven shapes began to shift in and out of one another, combining into a single entity, merging and separating with no pattern Daeron could understand. One moment, he saw the Warrior's frame, then the Smith's, then the face of the Mother Above, and then nothing human at all. Every shift left something behind, as if the world couldn't understand them correctly.
The air darkened, and rings of light began to appear around the thing. They turned, changing colours with every moment, with a point where light gathered beneath it. Daeron looked towards Harry with a pleading expression, "What is that?"
"Who else? The Seven Who Are One. They're about to smite us, I believe. I have to say that I didn't expect that they'd be able to manifest like this, but I suppose with the space-time anomalies that this maze is filled with, and the amount of power they likely have access to, it would make it possible. I suppose that makes up for the disappointment that was the Stranger."
The young prince's gaze turned to incredulity, followed by horror as he realised what was about to happen, "Can you stop it?"
Harry shrugged with an unconcerned look on his face, just staring up at the sky calmly. Suddenly, the light pulsed and fired down like an impossible arrow. Daeron instinctively closed his eyes, expecting to feel a flash of pain.
Only for him to hear a hauntingly beautiful sound and for the pressure of the coming attack to disappear completely. He cautiously opened his eyes and saw that the world around him had shifted completely, with all colours drained from it, almost as if it had been separated from everything outside.
Beside him, Harry had opened his mouth and was singing something that comforted Daeron completely, and he noticed that there was a barrier that was seemingly stopping the Seven's full attack.
The attack continued for what felt like an eternity.
That was until the light flickered slightly, and suddenly the gigantic mass in the sky disappeared, and Daeron saw no signs of the Seven. Harry stopped singing, and the world returned to normal.
What had happened?
Daeron had been all but a spectator to the legendary battle, saw Harry fight with a scythe, a farming tool of all things, against the Warrior himself and come out victorious, defeat the full power of the Seven, and yet he had no way to describe what he had just witnessed in the last few moments. He didn't even know what happened to the Seven. Had Harry killed them, somehow?
Daeron did not have the time to say anything as suddenly, the Seven appeared in a burst of light, but this time, Daeron noticed that they had less of a presence; their appearance almost faded, akin to that of a ghost. Yet, their voice shook the earth nonetheless, "EXPLAIN!"
There was something in their tone, an emotion that hadn't been there before. Was it confusion, desperation, or fear? Daeron couldn't presume to know what lay in the Gods' minds, but he couldn't help but wonder what it could be.
Harry, on the other hand, seemed completely undisturbed by this and rolled his eyes, "People always forget about Daphne for some reason. I think it has to do with your worshippers living in a patriarchal society, which would influence you as well. Pretty interesting, huh?"
Daphne.
By the gods, Daeron had forgotten about the golden-haired woman who had stayed behind at the temple.
He didn't have time to say anything, as Harry snapped his fingers and the avatar of the Seven Who Are One, cracked like glass and disappeared. A second later, they were in front of the temple and walked inside. "What happened?"
"Like I said, this was all Daphne. I'm the distraction. I swear, this is starting to become a theme, but it's just so effective."
The moment he took a look inside, Daeron realised what Daphne had done, "You changed the tree."
That was the main difference in the room. Instead of the branches of the gigantic tree originating from the dead god being absorbed inside the pillars of Black Stone, they had avoided it completely, and seemingly tied themselves into a knot far above, which pulsed with power.
The woman gave him a smirk in response, "Clever, huh? I disconnected the tree from their pillars of Black Stone that they bound themselves to, and all I had to do was wait for them to exhaust their rather large reserves of power. Thankfully, Harry is an expert at irritating people into exhaustion."
"The smiting," Daeron realised while looking back at Harry with his mouth agape, "That was always your plan."
"I needed to exhaust all of the energy of each aspect of them, and it seemed the most efficient way to do it."
"Are they dead?" Daeron blurted out.
"No. I just depleted whatever energy they held in the material realm, and by doing that, broke the spell they had over half of Westeros. But that's not important. We still have a job to finish and stop this god's realm from spilling over to this world. Thankfully," he continued while staring up at the knot filled with power, "the maze builders gave us exactly what we need to do that."
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AN: That chapter really ran away from me, and I'm not really sure about it, since it feels. I wanted to try something new with the fight with the Seven, essentially using the fact that there are seven aspects fighting together, each one different in some way, but I think it came out a bit underwhelming. I know that I did the whole thing with Harry being the distraction by fighting, while Daphne discreetly defeats and dismantles the opponent, before, but it kinda felt appropriate here too. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me, check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions on them, so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.