Jonathan roared as he sent his fist rocketing forwards, surrounded by a dense orb of energy. His mana, Void energy and Divinity worked in concert to create the ultimate attack that he could muster, and he thrust it into the weakened leg of the golem. Where his runic assault earlier had damaged the monster, the flesh was weakened to the point of being normal rock. Jonathan thrust his fist into one of the nearest cracks, having to leap into the air to reach it. There was a sharp retort as his energy shattered the stone, blasting it apart in a storm of shards.

An entire hill sized slab of rock broke off, fifty feet or more in length. The Hegemon stumbled, and fell to one knee, its weakened leg starting to come apart. As it fell, Jonathan struck again, which proved to be the final straw. The leg broke apart completely, and the monster collapsed to the ground, unable to support its weight. As its head was exposed, Jonathan raced backwards, getting into position as it fell.

As the gem came into view, he cocked back his fist, and struck. Trails of energy followed his strike as it rocketed forwards, and it struck home with a titanic crack. The gem splintered at the impact point, and broke apart, finally killing the golem. As its energy source was destroyed, the last vestiges of motive power that it had left vanished, leaving it nothing more than a pile of rock on the ground. Jonathan raised his fist in victory, and then winced as his skin tore. The burns were still there to some extent.

The essence from that fight had been enough to raise him by another level, and he went on a hunting spree to take him to the final level of Tier 2. The spawning ground provided an endless feast of essence rich monsters, and before long, he was ready. As it turned out, he hadn’t needed the Uthraki city in the first place. He was finally ready to take on Granath, although he would be returning to tie up loose ends.

Jonathan returned to the Ash Heaps, burning with his newfound power. Edgar was sitting in repose within the cave, and as soon as Jonathan entered the realm, his eyes opened, drawn to his aura.

“Is it time?” The man asked. Jonathan simply nodded.

It took about a day to ready the city for war, and there were more than enough volunteers to join the elite strike force that was preparing to assault the Ashen Citadel. Obviously, there was no hope of the city being able to match the might of Granath’s armies in terms of numbers, but if Granath died, none of that would mean anything. Instead, all they really needed were a few powerhouses to deal with the guards as Jonathan took down the circle lord himself.

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Because the city was covered in a mana gathering array, all of the enemy fighters would be fully empowered. For them, the Uthraki were ready and waiting. The vast majority of the Tier 2s in the realm were far weaker than them, even without the ambient drain on their power.

When the day was up, a group of about twenty five fighters stood at the city gates, ready for battle. All of them were outfitted with their best armor and weapons, and they were all Tier 2s. They made up the large bulk of the city’s effective fighting strength, but they were hardly leaving the place defenseless. There were many guards on the cusp of Tier 2 that would be able to reach that rank before long. Besides, Granath would likely keep all of his soldiers nearby to defend himself. There would be little reason for an assault on the city without the main targets there.

Jonathan stood at the front, his armor glittering heroically in the sun. For this occasion, he had his helmet down, letting his hair fly in the wind. Then a cloud of ash washed over his face, and he spluttered. Now he remembered why he had kept the helmet on before.

“Forward march!” He called out, which really entailed a sprint at the speed of sound.

The fighters simply ran, but the mages were forced to use their magical abilities to keep up, blasting themselves forwards with various elemental effects. Edgar simply levitated, using the wind to push himself forwards. He stayed beside Jonathan, keeping pace with ease. Of course, if Jonathan actually let loose, he would be nothing but a streak to most of these people.

The Uthraki ran right behind him, along with Eva. Behind them were the weaker Tier 2s, those who were relatively new to their power. None of them were slouches through, and their experiences with the monsters of the Rim had granted them bonuses to their classes. Most of them had at least a Rare ranked class, which provided a large boost to power over the average.

It was a force powerful enough to defeat the entire armed forces of Earth, but it was pitifully small compared to the might of the Legions of Granath.

As they ran, Jonathan refined his elemental mastery and pathway skills, dipping into the store of insights that he constantly accumulated. It was time for him to cash in fully. That fight against the Peak Tier 2 Volcanic Hegemon had given him great insight into the power of the Void, which was only added to with his new Void skill. He slipped into a trance as the wastes flashed by, his mind filled with the cold darkness of the Void.

Some time later, he had fully internalized his new knowledge on the concept of the Void, and his mastery ticked up by one point. He didn’t bother opening the notification, instead summoning a tiny spec of the Void to his hand. His control over it was marginally better than before. System notifications were always nice, but in ambiguous situations like this, practical testing was always better.