Author's note: Sorry for the long delay. The length of this arc ended up spiraling way beyond what I expected, over 25k words. I ended up rewriting several large portions of it, so I'm glad I did the whole thing as a single piece. I also had to deal with some unpleasant IRL stuff and did basically no writing in July or August, but that's all dealt with now, so hopefully I'll be able to get back on a semi-regular update schedule. For now, enjoy the next five chapters, and some scenes I've been looking forwards to for a long time.
As I floated with our assembled forces, I was struck with a wave of nostalgia for my first Endbringer fight. Save for the lack of masks, the crowd of sacred artists gathered here was every bit as flamboyant as the force of capes who'd fought Leviathan. And although this battle would be fought on a massively larger scale, the numbers weren't dissimilar.
In front of the group floated our equivalent of the Triumvirate. It wasn't a perfect match, but there were undeniable similarities. Emriss, the most affable of the Monarchs, took Legend's place in the center. To her left was Malice, far more expressive than Alexandria, but with the same sense of absolute confidence and quiet menace. To the right was Northstrider, his arms crossed and an impatient scowl on his face, as unapproachable as Eidolon had ever been. Sha Miara floated slightly beyond Malice, shrouded by rainbow light and trying her hardest to look like she fit in.
I floated with the other Sages and Heralds, nineteen in total. Beside me were Charity and Min Shuei, the Winter Sage. Malice had also acquired the services of an additional Sage and three Heralds from the Wasteland. Unsurprisingly, every Sage and Herald from Everwood was present, a total of nine. Miara had brought fewer, two Heralds and a Sage. A single independent Herald from Iceflower had also volunteered to join the fight. Northstrider had brought no one, not entirely surprising since he rarely bothered with vassals anyway.
Behind us were the Archlords, numbering slightly less than a hundred. Any one of them had the power to rule or destroy a major city, but on this battlefield they were reduced to mere footsoldiers. If Shen brought the numbers we were expecting, then this battle would involve well over half of the most powerful sacred artists in the entire world.
The Silent King's prison was a perfect circle slightly less than three hundred miles across, situated in the dense jungles that covered the heart of Everwood. Inside was what appeared to be a peaceful, prosperous nation inhabited by millions of people, every one of them the Dreadgod's slave. The boundary was marked by a dense wall of trees half a mile in height, their branches and roots intertwining to form an enormous organic script circle powered by a Monarch's madra.
Our cloud fortresses were situated just beyond the prison's edge, spaced around twenty miles apart. Further fortifications had been dug into the ground between them, bunkers bristling with launcher constructs and protected by Archlord level scripts. Those defenses were manned by nearly twenty million Golds led by thousands of lesser Lords. Even a Monarch wouldn't be able to break through instantly, although that would only be put to the test if things went very wrong.
"I want to begin by offering my deepest gratitude to all of you for being here today," said Emriss. "You have chosen to place yourselves between the world and the tyranny of the Silent King. No matter what other reasons you may have for fighting, that is something truly noble."
"The Weeping Dragon is approaching from the north, and the Bleeding Phoenix from the east," she continued. "Have no fear; they will not be permitted to reach us. The Queen of Shadows, Akura Malice, shall hold back the Dragon, while Luminous Queen Sha Leiala restrains the Phoenix."
"The rest of us must confront the one who set these dire events in motion. Reigan Shen will be coming with all the strength he can muster. Hold strong, and together we will destroy the cursed Cults which have plagued our world for so long. The lion himself will be dealt with by the honorable Northstrider, who has crafted a potent weapon to guarantee victory."
"As for myself, I will watch over all of you and provide aid when necessary. Above all else, I will ensure the Silent King does not break free. Now, let us put an end to Shen's mad schemes, and restore peace to the world."
The crowd cheered loudly as she finished her speech, then began drifting apart. Many Archlords sped away, returning to the fortresses they commanded. Heralds and Sages could move much faster if needed, so most stayed where they were for now, but two groups of three split off from the rest. Since it wasn't known exactly how much stronger the Dreadgods had grown since the Titan's death, it was judged best to give both Malice and Miara a little extra support just in case.
Malice drifted towards us, joined by the Winter Sage and two Wasteland Heralds. Charity would be staying here, both to look after the Akura forces and because her skillset wouldn't be particularly useful against the Dragon. Both of us offered respectful nods as she approached. "So here we are at last," she said, her smile predatory. "The fall of House Shen. I only wish I could kill him myself, but perhaps I'll still have the chance. We'll see if Northstrider's oracle codex can actually deliver on all his promises." Her tone of voice suggested little confidence in that outcome.
"It will," said Northstrider flatly from where he was floating thirty feet away.
"Then perhaps I'll have to make my own after this is finished," replied Malice lightly. "I'm sure Shen's vaults will cover the cost." Northstrider ignored her.
Mercy joined us a moment later. "Mother," she said, nodding slightly and smiling.
"Mercy," said Malice, smiling back. "How are you feeling?"
"A bit nervous," she admitted.
"It's a momentous thing that we're on the edge of," acknowledged Malice. "The world has never seen a battle like this in even my lifetime. In time, you'll learn to savor these moments, the calm before the storm. Don't fear the storm; teach the storm to fear you."
"I'll try my hardest," promised Mercy.
"I know you will. Fight hard, and make me proud. Charity will look after you."
"Okay," said Mercy, nodding. She bit her lip. "You'll… You'll be careful too, right?"
Malice laughed musically. "My sweet daughter. Have I ever given you cause to doubt me?"
"Never."
"Then trust me once again when I say I'll give that overgrown lizard something to really cry about."
Mercy giggled, then nodded firmly. "Alright. I won't worry."
Malice looked at her for another moment, then turned back to Charity and I. "It's time. You're both prepared?"
"We are."
"Then good hunting."
She turned, and a black portal opened in front of her. Accompanied by the Winter Sage and the two Heralds, she stepped in and vanished. A few seconds later, Sha Miara departed as well. Thirteen Heralds and Sages remained, compared to the ten that Shen should be able to muster.
Even from thousands of miles away, everyone sensed it when the Monarchs engaged the approaching Dreadgods. Shen wouldn't have missed it either, and tension hung in the air as we waited for him to make his move. There was a small but real chance he'd try to ambush Malice while she was fighting the Dragon; if he did, Emriss and Northstrider would immediately open portals so we could go to her aid. But the more likely scenario was a direct assault.
A presence tickled the back of my mind. I obligingly strengthened the link slightly to allow for communication.
[CURIOSITY]
When I'd modified my link to my pass- no, to Hera - to let me adjust its strength at will, I hadn't realized I'd been signing up for the equivalent of having a toddler who couldn't stop asking "why?" in my head. In fairness, Hera was clearly taking her promise to investigate the human mode of thought seriously. She'd just decided that the best way to gather data was to constantly ask me questions.
As usual, her latest question was actually many questions rolled up into one, but they generally seemed to center around emotion. She understood the purpose of emotion from an evolutionary perspective, but it seemed like a crude mechanism to her, something better cast aside once a species developed the capacity for abstract thought. Given that any sacred artist of sufficient advancement could potentially disable their own emotions, she didn't understand why Mercy still chose to feel fear, or why Malice indulged in petty vindictiveness, or why I felt so conflicted over the source of hunger aura when it posed little personal threat to me.
There was a simple answer, of course, which was that advancement in the Sacred Arts required a greater degree of introspection the higher you went. Removing your emotions would almost certainly cripple your future advancement. That was no doubt the part which Hera would care about, which meant I could use it as bait.
I'd become quite a bit more proficient in Hera's language since our first conversation, so I attempted something new. I assembled the usual packet of information in my mind, but then I began attaching memories. After a short consideration, I decided my Overlord revelation would work best for what I had in mind; not just the words themselves, but everything which made them meaningful. Every time Mercy had accepted me without reservation despite knowing what kind of monster I was, every time I'd helped her come to terms with the uglier parts of the world without losing the spark that made her who she was. Of course, emotions were nothing but chemical signals in the brain, meaningless to Hera's species. But I was a Sage, and I declared they were more than that. I sent the message containing my authority back down our link.
[MEANING]
There was quite a long pause before she responded.
[DISCOMFORT]
I kept my expression blank, but inside I chuckled. Like a sacred artist viewing a dream tablet beyond their understanding, my message had apparently given Hera her species' equivalent of a killer headache. But rather than being deterred, she'd persevered, modifying herself until she was capable of comprehending it. Even then, she'd suffered something like sensory overload, having never experienced anything similar before. I would've worried I'd overdone it, except the final part of her message was something along the lines of, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"
Pleased with my success, I assembled more memories with strong emotions attached to them and sent them down our link. Most of them were positive memories, but I included a few painful ones as well to provide contrast. I received a response after only a few seconds.
[CONTEMPLATION]
This time, Hera wanted to take her time analyzing everything I'd sent her. She thanked me, and let me know she'd tell me what she thought later. I hoped she wouldn't let herself get distracted, if that was even possible.
A few minutes later, the waiting ended. Nearly two hundred miles away, too far for even a Monarch to interfere easily, the sky split open. The crack in reality started near the ground and rose well above the clouds, and it widened into a portal of enormous proportions. The first cloudship through was just as enormous, almost five miles across and over fifteen in length, its prow decorated with the snarling face of a titanic white lion. More ships followed, smaller, but still as large as any of the fortresses boasted by our side.
The gathered Sages and Heralds let out a collective breath; part relief, part apprehension, and part eagerness. Even for these masters of the Sacred Arts, none of them had ever seen a force like this assembled against them. "So it begins," murmured Charity beside me. Through our still open link, I received another message from Hera.
[CONFIDENCE]
I couldn't help but smile slightly. The emotion contained in the message was missing plenty of subtlety, somewhere around the level of a cartoon meant for preschoolers, but the mere fact that she'd thought to wish me good luck was enough. She was growing quickly. I sent a brief response back before dampening the link slightly so it wouldn't distract me while I was fighting.
[GRATITUDE]
The enemy fleet approached slowly, closing the distance to just under a hundred miles before pausing. That was too far for even my eyes to pick out individual figures, but I could sense Reigan Shen unveiled, floating at the fleet's head.
Emriss moved forwards slightly, aura carrying her words to the distant ships. "Shen, it isn't too late to stop this madness. You've made yourself an enemy of the entire world, but if you ascend now, I give my word that your people will be spared."
His reply echoed back to us. "Am I the only one among us who still remembers the taste of ambition? You call yourselves Monarchs, yet you're content to settle for ruling only part of the world. You've let yourselves grow complacent, weak. I will not be stopped by the likes of you, not after coming so far."
Emriss sighed. "As always, you mistake compassion for weakness. So be it, then. We will correct you."
Shen laughed. "Will you?
There was a sudden flare of power behind us, muted, but still incredibly strong. Shen struck simultaneously, a bolt of death and venom madra containing the power to kill a city lancing towards us. It was met in mid air by a mile long serpentine dragon of blood madra. The two techniques detonated, leveling the forest beneath them for miles around. A blast of wind buffeted us, not yet from the explosion, but from the supersonic departure of both Monarchs.
A cloud of leaves fluttered around us in the wake of Emriss's departure, each with an eye in its center. I reached out and took one, and her voice spoke in my mind. "The Silent King is attempting to break free. I am containing it, but I will be unable to aid in the battle beyond providing guidance. Deal with Shen's underlings as swiftly as possible, then aid Northstrider against the lion himself."
I assumed she was talking to all of us, because I didn't think I was quite ready to poke my nose into the Monarch battle yet. Even at the speed my mind worked, I could only barely perceive what was happening. In under a second, three more titanic explosions rocked the landscape from clashing techniques, each miles apart from the last. There was a short pause, then another flurry of devastating techniques was exchanged over eighty miles away from the last. The sky, which had been a calm blue a few moments ago, was already starting to be consumed by snarling aura storms of different aspects.
Meanwhile, Shen's fleet began advancing towards us. Emriss's voice spoke in my mind again. "Shen's Heralds and Sages are splitting up to attack the perimeter in multiple places, leaving his own fleet weakened." There was a brief pause. "Shadow Sage, I'm assigning you to offense. Focus on independent Archlords." The words were accompanied by a burst of knowledge on Shen's forces.
"Understood," I murmured.
Around me, the others acknowledged their own independent instructions. Most of the other Sages were opening portals, Charity among them. She turned to me before stepping through and said, "Be safe. Good luck."
An Everwood Herald shouted, "For the Dreaming City!" Then she rocketed forwards towards the enemy fleet, followed by five more Heralds. Although I couldn't keep up with them, I was more powerful than I'd been even a month ago; the Heaven's Gate Elixir had done its work. For the first time, I broke the sound barrier as I flew forwards. More than fifty Archlords followed behind me, Mercy among them.
With Shen's fleet also approaching at high speed, it took just a couple of minutes for me to close with them. The Heralds had already engaged, announcing their presence with a volley of Striker techniques. All of them targeted one of Shen's smaller fortresses, a ship about three miles across. A meteor hundreds of feet wide and glowing like the sun slammed into its barriers and exploded, followed by a cloud of thousands of spears made of ice. The barriers cracked. Next came a bolt of force capable of toppling a mountain, and they shattered. An instant later, a brilliant crescent of sword and light madra sliced the fortress neatly in half, and the two halves plummeted as the cloud they'd rested on dissolved.
Shen's forces retaliated immediately, dozens of lethal techniques launching back from Archlords and powerful launcher constructs. My scarabs hadn't had a chance to catch up yet, but it looked as though most of our Heralds took at least a couple of hits. They seemed to easily shrug the hits off, but they were still driven back, each of them forced to defend themselves against multiple Archlords.
And then I arrived with our own Archlords, and the battle became chaos. Two of Shen's Archlords and one of ours died instantly in the first apocalyptic exchange, caught by techniques they hadn't noticed in the sheer volume of devastation flying both directions. Others were injured, dropping back to recover. The rest merged into a confusing maelstrom of duels where it was barely possible to keep track of who was on which side.
I hadn't yet acted. Veiled in my Umbral Mantle, I'd managed to fly over the worst of the exchange. It wasn't yet time to bring out my swarm; at present, it wouldn't last for more than a few seconds before being torn to shreds. Instead, I picked my targets carefully.
There, three enemy Archlords were engaging the Herald on the sword and light path. Like the rest of the battle, their fight was constantly moving. I waited for perfect moment, when one of the Archlords was coming towards me, separated from his two allies. From barely a hundred feet away, I unleashed a swarm of more than eighty Dream Parasites containing my full power.
The Archlord whirled towards me, preparing a technique to annihilate my own. Before he could release it, my flying daggers darted in, slashing at him from every direction. The Archlord-level weapons were excellent conduits for my will; I couldn't yet use them to their full potential, but I could make them extremely difficult to notice. Focused on the Herald, my target hadn't sensed them coming until they were already on top of him. The gouges they cut were shallow, but as he reflexively raised his hand to protect his eyes, he was distracted from his technique for a critical instant.
My Dream Parasites slammed into him, and he plummeted with a scream. Madra and soulfire blasted out of him as he attempted to purge the techniques, pitting his will against the authority I'd imbued them with. He probably would have succeeded, but it hardly mattered; in a fight like this, losing control of your spirit for even a second was a death sentence. He'd barely fallen ten feet when he was struck by another crescent of sword and light madra. Unable to muster even the slightest defense, the Herald's technique sliced him in half as easily as it had the fortress.
One of the enemy Archlords sent a technique at the spot I'd struck from, a cloud of blood madra needles which widened to several hundred feet across as it approached. I was already nearly out of the way, but not quite. Not yet wanting to use my repaired shield bracers, I instead focused my will and said, "Vanish." It was difficult to contest an Archlord's will without a technique of my own, but I only needed to negate a small gap in his techniques near the edge of the cloud. That would have revealed my position if he'd been paying attention, but he had no time for a followup technique when he had a Herald to deal with.
With their numerical advantage cut by a third and afraid of another ambush, the two remaining Archlords beat a hasty retreat towards the nearest fortress. The Herald pursued, beginning to bombard the fortress with techniques. I left him to it, searching for more vulnerable targets.
A number of smaller cloudships had detached from the main fleet. Each was manned by an Archlord and twenty to thirty lesser Lords and carried a script circle which allowed them to channel their power into a collective Ruler technique. The ship closest to me was surrounded by a crackling web of lightning, bolts lashing out at the trio of friendly Archlords trying to bring the ship down.
Invisible, I came close enough to the web for my hair to stand on end, taking care to never put myself between the ship and one of its targets. I use no technique, instead striking with my will alone. I focused on the Ruler technique and said, "Diminish." The technique didn't break, of course, not with the will of so many powerful scared artists in it, but it did falter slightly. The web of lightning thinned, the bolts coming more sluggishly.
A moment later, a lance of shadow and force madra slammed into the ship, the weakened web failing to stop it. The ships own barriers managed to hold, barely. The enemy Archlord shifted his focus to defense, intercepting a barrage of razor sharp crystals and a two-hundred foot whip made of lava. But that meant the friendly Archlords were no longer being pressured, and they intensified their attacks.
It took only a few seconds for the ship's defenses to fail. Another rain of crystals broke through, instantly shredding a dozen unfortunate Underlords. The remaining Lords abandoned ship, the Archlord attempting to cover them as they retreated. I immediately added to the pressure, unleashing a barrage of Dream Parasites from close range while the Archlord was busy trying to deflect the lava whip.
The five Overlords present did their best to defend, hastily releasing techniques of their own or raising defensive constructs, but my living Striker techniques were difficult to stop without overwhelming power. The centipede-like bolts of madra writhed in corkscrew paths to avoid the defensive techniques, circling around to get behind raised shields. More than twenty got through, each Overlord and the Archlord taking multiple hits. The Archlord was barely inconvenienced, but the Overlords were crippled for at least a few moments while they purged the techniques.
I sensed space twist as the Archlord broke a gatestone, clearly realizing there was no way the group was making it back to their nearest fortress intact. "No," I said, and the portal failed to form. His attention split too many ways, he took a direct hit from a shadow lance. It wasn't a lethal blow, but it was all downhill from there. The cleanup took barely a few more seconds.
A couple of miles away, half a dozen of our Archlords were in trouble. Their fight had brought them a little too close to Shen's enormous flagship, and they'd found that its defenses were nothing to take lightly. They'd already lost one of their number, and most of rest were injured. The two uninjured Lords were doing their best to hold off five enemy Archlords as they retreated, but they wouldn't last long without help.
I quickly surveyed the rest of the battlefield as I approached. The fighting had drifted apart some, forming into small clusters of violence. The nearest enemy Archlord was three miles away, too far to easily interfere. I nodded slightly, then said, "Darken." For a moment, the world was shrouded in shadow. Many powerful wills immediately opposed my working and tore it to shreds, but I already had the aura I needed.
For the first time in more than two months, I unleashed my swarm at its full power. It was enormous, a sphere almost five miles across, easily covering all of the enemy Archlords and their targets. I immediately wove illusions, guiding my injured allies to safety and distracting their pursuers. The enemy Archlords immediately let loose a variety of powerful techniques, wiping away broad swaths of my swarm. I didn't bother contesting any of their attacks; I had plenty more to replace it.
The five of them came to halt, debating over what to do. After a few seconds, they decided there was no point in continuing their pursuit through my swarm, and it was best to retreat before they were led into an ambush. They turned, flying back towards where they thought Shen's flagship was. But even though they easily kept a wide space around themselves clear of my swarm, I was still able to slightly distort their sense of direction.
They flew fast, fast enough that my swarm couldn't keep up. They kept up a steady stream of techniques as well, forcing me to burn through my enormous swarm surprisingly quickly. I made no effort to stop them, and it took them less than half a minute to reach my swarm's edge. But instead of emerging near the flagship, they found themselves quite close to one of Shen's smaller fortresses… and the three Heralds who'd been bombarding its defenses.
The Heralds had obviously noticed my swarm approaching, and I'd woven illusions to direct their attention to the correct place. When the enemy Archlords emerged, they barely had time to realize what they were facing before deadly techniques were flying at them. They reacted instantly, but there was only so much they could do. One took a direct hit from an eye-searing meteor which smashed through every defense he tried to raise. Horribly burnt, he managed to survive only to be immediately struck by a storm of razor-sharp emerald leaves which cut the lifeline along with the flesh.
The other four fared slightly better, avoiding or defending themselves from the explosion, the storm of leaves, and the barrage of icy spears which followed that to varying degrees of success. Three of them broke gatestones. I was more than a mile away, but I still said, "No." The Heralds also focused their will against the portals. Without authority, that was like trying to close a door by blowing on it, but a Herald could blow quite hard. Two of the Archlords managed to keep their portals stable, and they vanished. The third didn't, and remained behind with his unlucky companion who had no gatestone.
"Wait! I surrender!" yelled one of the Archlords.
The other Archlady, a Stormcaller, looked at her companion, then said, "I sur-" That was as far as she got before a sword with a blade in the shape of a leaf sliced her head off.
Emriss's Herald looked up at the remaining Archlord, who I assumed was one of Shen's. "You will swear oaths," she said flatly, casually dispatching the Stormcaller remnant.
"Whatever you require," said the Archlord, nodding fervently.
Leaving them to it, I took a moment to observe the larger battle. With our numerical advantage in Archlords and the absence of opposing Sages and Heralds, the fighting was going heavily in our favor. We'd lost only six Archlords so far, while Shen's forces had lost almost three times that number. His forces were retreating to their fortresses across the battlefield, allowing us to attack them directly.
But Shen wasn't an idiot, and the losses he'd suffered hadn't been for nothing. The entire time we'd been fighting, his fleet had never stopped advancing. Although his Archlords had paid a heavy price to protect it, the fleet had lost only two of its smaller fortresses, leaving him with more than twenty. We had far more fortresses than that, but they were spread out across the prison's perimeter, unable to get here in time to make a difference. Only five of our own fortresses were in position to intercept his fleet, and we had just a couple of minutes before it was close enough to engage.
With the mobile opposition rapidly vanishing, we made the most out of those couple of minutes. Our Archlords naturally clustered around the Heralds, targeting Shen's ships one at a time. Each one of his fortresses was manned by two or three Archlords, hundreds of lesser Lords, and thousands upon thousands of Golds. Defenses like that could have easily repelled a single Herald. Against three or four Heralds supported by a two dozen Archlords, they held out for maybe twenty seconds on average. By the time they'd closed the distance, the fleet was reduced to only eighteen ships.
Shen's monstrous flagship, however, had been left untouched, even the Heralds cautious of coming too close. I sensed power being gathered a few seconds before a lance of blinding white light shot from the roaring mouth of the lion on the ship's prow, an attack strong enough to make even a Monarch flinch. The lance struck one of our fortresses ten miles away and was repelled. The next lance, fifteen seconds later, smashed through the fortress's barriers and consumed the entire four-mile wide ship in a raging fireball.
I wasn't sure how many times they could fire that weapon, but any more was too many. I tried to think of anything I could do, but my personal power was barely enough to make a difference even against one of the smaller fortresses. And as comfortable as I'd become with taking charge, the people who could make a difference here didn't answer to me.
Fortunately, I wasn't the only competent person on the battlefield. Just moments after the weapon fired for the second time, five powerful new presences appeared in my senses, rushing towards Shen's flagship. I recognized the mix of fire and shadow madra; these were the Akura clan's living weapons, bound dragon remnants which had been fed until they were only slightly less powerful than real Heralds. They weren't sentient enough to be trusted with complex tactics, but a straightforward task like "attack the cloudship" was perfect for them.
Fearsome as Shen's flagship was, it didn't have unlimited power. The main weapon didn't fire again. Instead, a barrage of pale golden bolts empowered with some sort of space-twisting effect shot towards the oncoming remnants, less destructive but more difficult to defend against. Several hit, blasting clouds of purple aura off the remnants, but even if the weapon had been crafted by a Monarch, it didn't have a Monarch's power behind it. The remnants continued forward with only moderate damage.
With the flagship distracted, a pair of Heralds took the opportunity to attack from behind, followed swiftly by their supporting Archlords. Their attacks were blocked by that same golden space-warping effect, this time in the form of a barrier. The same barrier appeared a few seconds later to defend against the enormous plumes of dark flame breathed by the remnants as they drew into range. Unlike the smaller fortresses, the flagship was capable of enduring the furious assault for at least a little while, but the defenders were clearly being overstressed. Attacks began slipping through, smashing into the ship's inner barriers, which quickly began to crack.
If things continued as they were, Shen's fleet wouldn't survive to reach the edge of the Silent King's prison. They'd clearly made the same calculation, because a moment later, everything changed. A bolt of gold lightning several dozen feet across lashed out from the flagships prow, swatting one of the damaged remnants from the air. The woman who'd launched it flew just in front of the ship on wings of that same gold lightning, her array of flying swords crackling with power. The Thunder Fairy had entered the battle.
From the Stormcaller's fortress, a five-hundred foot long dragon made of lightning madra erupted towards the nearest group of friendly Archlords. From Redmoon Hall came a cloud of bloody needles nearly a mile across. The Herald of the Silent Servants launched himself at Emriss's Herald, striking at her with pale white crescents of sword and dream madra. Another half-dozen techniques of enormous power lashed out at our forces from different fortresses as Shen's Heralds and Sages arrived and went on the offensive, supported by his surviving Archlords.
Only two of our Archlords were killed by the initial attack, but our forces were still pushed back, away from Shen's fleet. Fortunately, their numerical advantage was short lived. Shen's Heralds and Sages had clearly prepared to return and defend his fleet at a moment's notice, but that meant they were no longer tying up the rest of our own forces. A pair of our Archlords had been caught by the Silent Sage's Ruler technique, but the white halos above their heads had barely finished forming when Charity appeared between them and casually slashed through both techniques.
Portals opened across the battlefield, and the fighting resumed at an even higher intensity than it had been before. With more Sages joining the battle, the techniques became more exotic. In once place, a flock of blood-red birds the size of cars was met by an army of animated swords, the living techniques twisting around each other in a thousand aerial duels. In another, space warped in a way that reminded me of Vista's power, sending a barrage of poisonous green spears back at the cloud fortress it had come from.
As I searched for another place to strike, a new threat grabbed my attention. Throughout the battle, I'd kept an eye on Mercy. She'd exercised admirable caution, staying on the edge of the fighting and attacking from long range, relocating using her Moonlight Bridge whenever anyone tried to close the distance. Although she was a valuable target politically, we'd been pressing Shen's forces hard enough that they were much more concerned with immediate survival. Unfortunately, it looked as though there was at least one person on the other side who wasn't prioritizing survival.
A tiny figure shot from Shen's fleet towards Mercy far faster than any Archlord could hope to move, covering the miles between them in mere seconds. He wore a faded brown robe and a highly intricate stone mask, and glowed gold with a potent Enforcer technique. The Herald of Abyssal Palace screamed incoherently as he flew, but I didn't need to understand him to see that he was beyond all reason. Now that he'd caught sight of Mercy, the rest of the battle and Shen's plan meant nothing to him. He wasn't going to stop until one of them was dead.
