The death of the Red King alone is a major blow; we've seen time and time again that the leaders of the supernatural factions constitute a major portion of their respective faction's strength. Without him to threaten Titania or Mab or even Merlin, even the Lords/Dukes/Counts will have trouble surviving against a heavyweight taking to the field. Much like how the Erlking and Odin, despite being higher-ups in the Winter Court, still did jack and squat against Ethniu, so too are the mid- and low-ranking vampires gonna fall like wheat against a serious push from their enemies once they lose their own leader. If we took out a major portion of the Lords as well, that's even more damage. Basically, while the sheer number of vampires is the main reason that the Red Court has an iron grip over South America, it's the heavyweights of the Court that actually matter in the face of supernatural opposition.
It won't be a killing blow, but it will be a fatal one (with some luck) once the other factions, like the Fomorians, take advantage (it may even work out better for us with more mooks alive to deal damage to the Fomorians as they clash).
And I assure you, I'm not gonna complain about the Red Court using WMDs. I haven't called foul on their whipping up a Bloodline Curse to kill the Blackstaff, and they really can't call foul on us when they're all fucking dead. That's the beauty of nuking your opposition first; if you wipe out everyone who can retaliate, well, nobody can retaliate. And by the time Molly could feasibly get her hands on a nuke, it'll take at least the Red King and several Lords to take her on in a fight; once the Red King is out of the picture, even if all 13 Lords somehow survived and tried to take vengeance, considering each one is supposedly only on par with Odin (and given Odin's piss-poor showing in Battle Ground) they're not gonna be much of a problem with the right allies on her side (13 vs 1 is not gonna end well, but that's what friends and minions are for).
The backstory of the entire book of Changes was Arianna Ortega deciding her father was incapable and trying to get enough political cred to overthrow her father as Red King and elevate another Lord of Outer Night as Red King in his place, and Kukulkan the Red King trying to outmaneuver his daughter and eventually arranging to have her killed in a duel by Dresden.
If he was a critical element of Red Court power, it wouldnt even have been an option.
So no, I think you misunderstand the relationship of the Red King to the Red Court's total political and military power.
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Thats not how it works.
We dont have a reasonable hope of getting them all, and then the apocalypse codex is open. Of all the vampire Courts, the Reds are the second fastest at replacing losses after Blampires, and they are much less vulnerable to random banes than the Blacks.
Not like its especially difficult for a polity that essentially runs most of South America to have a pharmaceutical company or a chemical supplies company cook up several hundred pounds of military-grade sarin or VX; Aum Shin Ri Kyo did it in Japan, and they were just a cult.
After that, a single Bloodpack can haul a chemical weapon or six into Chicago by the NeverNever.
And voila, strategic retaliation.
Careful what you wish for.
Not to mention that failing to get them all does things like push them further into Outsider bargains.
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Also, heavyweights is apparently not how the Red Court fights.
See Archangelsk, home of a Senior Council wizard and a major White Council fortress of combat wizards, and the fact that while Paolo Ortega planned that attack, nothing says he, or any of the major big wigs, were there.
So, we don't know how God's debuffing works. It's never explicitly explained whether or not Ethniu would weaken after blowing her load in Chicago, but given she was confident enough to take on everybody at the same time, I think it's safe to say it would last long enough for her to kill everyone. Doesn't matter if Ethniu weakens afterward when she's ready to execute everybody who thought they could scrap with her, and she probably had that capability. Otherwise, it really doesn't make sense for her to make an enemy out of the entire world and then once she's weaker go "haha, that was a prank guys! We still cool right?"
Which begs the question, once again, how the heck the Fomor got driven into the seas. Ethniu, as you said, doesn't give a shit about the world. Why wouldn't she just roll out 20 years ago when Mab tried to set up the Accords and steamroll Mab? It's pretty clear Mab can do a whole lotta nothing against Ethniu, given one single city block-busting laser took her out of the fight. Literally, one shot and she's done. I would make a joke about her stamina if it weren't already so pathetic. It didn't just disable her, the Eye of Balor knocked her on her ass to the point she face-planted straight into the dirt. If her Court and sister-Queen hadn't shown up to get their asses kicked, she would've gotten her ass kicked a second time, probably inside-out Malfeas-like given how much Ethniu hated her.
Also, Ethniu herself admits to being powered by the fear of children in contrast to Odin being powered by their faith and calls that out as part of the reason she could snap him like a KitKat bar. She sure didn't speak nor act like she was gonna weaken anytime soon. Not to mention none of those fighting her brought up the cheat code of just waiting Ethniu out until she weakens. Which, let's face it, no immortal shown in Battle Ground would've had an issue with letting Chicago burn if it meant they could fight Ethniu in a weaker state; Dresden and the White Council might've still fought, but they very much could not be compared to Odin or Erlking or Titania, and if Ethniu were to actually weaken to be jumpable by them, you bet your ass they would've sat out the fight and wait for a better time. That everybody jumped Ethniu regardless pretty heavily implies she wasn't gonna weaken anytime soon.
The worst part of all of this is just how weak everyone seems. Ethniu, who destroyed every immortal tried to face her head-on, had the firepower of a couple dozen pieces of modern artillery to take out Mab, and less than that to bitch-slap Titania at the height of her power.
Even the naagloshii turned out to be way weaker than thought. We now know nukes can kill them, but also that that's way overkill given Listens-to-Wind sent one fleeing by shapeshifting in Turncoat. Literally, beat the naagloshii like a percussion set with a bear's paws, mountain lion's claws and a fucking turtle's jaw.
Similarly, if Mab could soak a nuke, she wouldn't have damn near passed out blocking a city-block-buster, while on a super-unicorn boosting her magic. I'll put a nuclear weapon at way more conceptual an armament than a random mythological bauble that maybe ten million people know of; more people probably think LOTR when you say Balor than Irish myths. Mab might be more than a skinwalker, but she's shown her upper limits, and they're still pretty fucking low.
1)Ethniu did not act like someone who was entirely rational. There's been a whole bunch of that going around from the beginning of the series. A lot of Dresdenverse bad guys are either irrational or afflicted by tunnel vision; see Nicodemus going to call in a favor with Mab to rob Hades barely a handfull of years after he flagrantly violated her Accords.
Seriously, go through every Dresden villain, from Sells to Ethniu; who wouldnt have been better served with a simpler plan or fewer enemies?
2)Ethniu rules the Fomor.
Ethniu is not Fomor herself, nor does she forward Formor foreign policy. They serve her, not the other way around.
At least, thats her thinking.
We dont know when she assumed command of thr Formor, just that it was a long time ago, and presumably after the Fomor fled; its explicitly said the Fomor made alliances with forgotte gods after fleeing.
3)The Eye of Balor is a magic weapon with conceptual weight. Its effectiveness is not measured in biggatons.
Neither are most things or people in the setting.
Michael and Amoracchius killed a Dragon, but Amoracchius can be parried by common steel, and Michael was crippled by an AK. Mab can wreck the earth if she chooses, but she can also be paralysed by an iron projectile through the neck, and walk it off as soon as its removed. Fidelacchius killed a Lord of Outer Night, but it was broken by one guy, and its then-wielder died to a gunshot.
4)Dont overthink Ethniu's bantz.
Prebattle insults and the like are not to be taken literally. Especially since a lot of the power her superweapon was tapping was enhanced by fear and panic, and so its in her favor to exaggerate.
As far as I know, neither her nor the Fomor have any prohibitions against lying.
5)Not actually true.
Chicago was a challenge to the Courts in particular, and the supernatural community in general. They couldnt not come.
The bulk of the defenses of Chicago were Winter; the White Council sent 3x Senior Council members only.
The Eye is stupid in terms of what we seen from Battle Ground juxtaposing really hard with WoJ; the Eye isn't exactly presented as something incredible even though everyone reacts that way in-universe - it's literally just a super laser that you can dodge, block, get out of range of, and yet everyone's losing their minds as if they've never heard of an artillery gun before. The manner in which you can confront the Eye is more or less equivalent to trying to confront a tank as an infantryman; head-on it's suicide, but you have a lot more options than taking a tank-shell head-on.
Permit me to rephrase this:
The
Eye Swords of the Cross
isn't arent exactly presented as something incredible even though everyone reacts that way in-universe - it's literally just a
super laser sword that you can dodge, block, get out of range of, and yet everyone's losing their minds as if they've never heard of an
artillery gun sword before.
I could do the same substitution with a bunch of other things, like Morgana's Athame, the Shroud of Turin, the Blackstaff, or the Spear of Destiny. And it would be similarly misleading.
Some items in this setting have conceptual weight, even though you can defend against their use.
If Uriel stood still. Which he and the rest of the top-tier figures never would. There's a reason super-speed is the best superpower, and that's because if you can't hit someone it doesn't matter how hard you hit.
Not to mention that it can be blocked as well, as Mab showed. The Eye's no Avada Kedavra is what I'm trying to say.
Point of correction:
If Uriel did nothing. Small but subtle distinction.
He might well choose to stand and soak it, like Mab did. Only Im reasonably certain that if he chooses to soak it, he's going to be in much better shape than Mab was under the same circumstances.
I would like the Bakemono, especially the kid, to be captured alive. We have an upcoming XP buy we can use to get Sapphire Circle Exorcism and cure them, and our healing potions make it survivable. They're essentially extra-hard hostages
Shouldnt need Sapphire Circle Exorcism or magic.
Demon exorcism and banishment is literally in-theme for Michael as a paladin of the White God and a bearer of a Sword.
He has canonically broken Mab's sealing of Dresden's memories of fire magic in Small Favor, and the working of the Fallen Angel Imariel in Skin Game. AND Amoracchius is capable of truekilling demons.
A demon of Kankuri possessing a mortal is bush-tier by comparison.
And there's always Gard.
