“What about the neighbouring kingdoms?” The paladin kept questioning the elderly spellcaster. “Do they also keep the accord? I mean, aren’t shardwakers the main source of power in the army? Why would anyone willingly lower their military might, knowing that their neighbours could attack them with a large force of shardwakers?”

“They all signed a treaty to make sure that the peace would last. It had been signed by the royal families of the three kingdoms and it is now enforced by the Heart itself.”

“This doesn’t make a lick of sense,” Regis sighed. “Sure, having higher-tiered people could lead to some trouble when it comes to keeping them in line, but to willingly give up on having even a single fourth-tier spellcaster or knight... that’s stupid. That would be the equivalent of... SHIT!”

“What’s wrong?” Both the old spellcaster and the paladin asked as the dark elf snapped.

“Trojan horse.”

“What is that?” Felix looked at him confused.

“Regis?”

“Give me a moment. Let me think! Fuck! It makes so much sense!”

“Maybe for you,” Quentin rolled his eyes. “But you’re not making any sense to us.”

“Remember what I told you about the power scaling between the later tiers?”

“Maybe?” His friend asked back a bit embarrassed.

“How many fourth-tier would be able to take on someone of the fifth-tier if they wanted at least someone to survive from their group?”

“At least five, but more around seven. So?”

“Elder Felix, how many fourth-tier people fought against the archdemon the last time?”

“Four.” The man replied still confused.

“Can you honestly say that with only four of them fighting against the archdemon, they would have been able to banish it and also have someone come out of the battle alive?”

“Well,” the old man coughed slightly. “They did have an army to aid them.”

“So did the archdemon.”

“Just spit it out!” The paladin snapped as a steadily growing annoyance and headache made him lean back in his chair.

“One last question, Master Felix. Which race did the surviving tier-four hero belong to?”

“She was... she was a dark elf,” The man answered after a few moments of silent thinking, his eyes widening with the horror of realisation. “It cannot be!”

“Hold on a second,” Quentin caught up with the two in their conspiracy theory. “You’re saying that the dark elf made a deal with the archdemon?”

“Is it really that surprising? The only possible way for her to survive that fight was if the demon decided to spare her and they are not known for their magnanimity. It’s more likely that she made a deal with it or straight-up swore her allegiance to the demon in exchange for her life.”

“And now the bastard is making her descendants keep their end of the bargain. Bloody hell. Now I know why Cruz hates it so much when you and Osmond start winding up with your conspiracy theories. They’re downright terrifying.”

“Theories are one thing, but without proof, we are still just fumbling in the dark. Master Felix, do you have any records of the previous archdemon war?”

“Not as much as I’d like,” the old spellcaster remarked as he got up from his seat and walked over to one of his bookshelves searching through its contents before plucking a tome with a faded leather cover. “This is a copy of a record made by one of the scribes of that era.”

Saying that he handed over the tome to Regis, the loremaster silently reading it at a break-neck speed.

A few minutes later he let out a deep sigh while closing the book, putting it down on the table.

“Any thoughts?” Felix asked anxiously.

“It’s pretty threadbare as if someone had purposely left out half of the events that happened. Even the reasoning of this... Linea for the treaty sounds like a joke.”

“Linea?” The paladin looked at him puzzled.

“Linea Shadowblade. She was the dark elf that survived. A tier four shadow-blade.”

“A shadow-blade called Shadowblade. How original.” Quentin remarked.

“She claimed that the one to summon the archdemon was a fourth-tier warlock who wanted to find a way to become tier five. Apparently, only tier four and above had the power to initiate such rituals.”

“So they decided to stop the rise of any new tier fours to prevent the whole thing from happening again? How the hell did nobody question the legitimacy of her claims?”

“According to the records,” the dark elf looked at the book on the table. “She brought back the severed arm of the archdemon along with the remains of her companions and a bloodied journal belonging to the warlock.”

“But that’s just circumstantial evidence,” Quentin said. “It’s easy to fabricate stuff like that. That’s why even back home we always thoroughly investigated the crime scenes.”

“True, but think about it. Pretty much every paladin or priest of that time had died in the battle so if this... Linea had an ability like Natalie’s bestowed on her...”

“She could have used it to manipulate the leaders into believing her. Fuck. I hate dark elves and their scheming shit! No offence.”

“Some taken, but understandable.” Regis grumbled as a firm knock could be heard on the door behind them.

“Master,” Cedric’s voice resounded from the other side of the door. “I have brought back Bishop Emil as you requested.”

“Come in, both of you!” Felix responded and the door opened, revealing a slightly out-of-breath Cedric and a greying-haired man in priestly robes.

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“Emil.”

“Felix,” the man nodded as he and Cedric entered the room, closing the door behind them. “I take it whatever you want to tell me is quite dire if you had me dragged over here on such short notice.”

“I’m afraid so, old friend. This is Regis Thorne and his knight commander, Quentin Bailey.”

“Lord Thorne,” the priest nodded with a knowing look before turning toward the other new face. “Paladin Quentin.”

“Sir.” Quentin nodded in return, acknowledging the man’s rank.

“So... what danger looks about this time?”

Felix let out a deep sigh before spending the next quarter of an hour re-telling the information Regis brought to him before sharing their theories about the previous archdemon war. Bishop Emil listened to their explanation without asking any questions, the man looking more and more pensive by the minute. When Felix finished speaking, the priest was obviously in a foul mood.

“You understand that this… accusation could cost you your position as the grandmaster of this guild, right?”

“I do.” The grey-haired man nodded.

“Good,” the priest sighed. “At least you’re aware of the stakes. As for this archdemon, it is indeed troublesome news, if true. The source of the information, however... to think that you would trust a dark elf of such traitorous nature. No offence, Lord Regis.”

“Believe me,” the loremaster looked Emil in the eyes. “Given our shared history, I’m the last one who would want to believe anything Natalie says. However, it’s exactly because of that history that I’m all the more worried. To see someone of her tenacity and high self-esteem be so ragged and fearful of her life...”

“I understand,” Emil nodded. “There were many who questioned the records of the previous archdemon war throughout the past two hundred years, but with the treaty signed and the peace kept, we had no excuse to dig too deep. However, given recent events and your theories, I must agree that there are far too many coincidences lining up for us not to question the truth of the matter.”

“Do you have any idea how we could do that without causing a civil war?” Quentin asked, the bishop gave him a reassuring smile.

“We might not interfere with the kingdom’s matters as much as the rest of the nobility, but that doesn’t mean we are powerless. I’ll send news of what you have told me to the rest of the church. We’ll ensure that each territory’s bishops would have a private conversation with their lords. Should they have been compromised, we have the means to cleanse the dark influences that loom over them.”

“Wouldn’t that alert the enemy?” The paladin questioned relentlessly, earning a sigh from bishop Emil.

“Perhaps, but that is not something we can control. At the very least, we should regain the support of the nobility. Even if His Majesty is indeed compromised as you say, with the nobility on our side, we should be able to stop him.”

“But he’s just a puppet,” Regis stated with a firm tone. “He’s nothing but a weapon wielded by the enemy. If he becomes useless, the Exiled Court will just throw him away and find someone else.”

“That is exactly why we first need to ensure that the nobility is on our side. That way we would have both the people and our order to rely on for purging those demon worshippers.”

Regis looked at the bishop in silence. When he came to meet Grandmaster Felix, he didn’t expect their talk would end up with the involvement of a zealous priest. Emil talked with a firm and righteous conviction, but the dark elf knew how bad things could turn out when a religious organization decided to wage war.

For a moment there, Regis had his doubts about the matter. Was this the best course of action? They wanted to prevent another civil war, but if the rest of the church were as zealous as Emil was, then he could pretty much see a holy war happening at the first sight of King Mikkel being influenced by the Argents and the Exiled Court.

“I should get going,” Emil said as he stood back up. “My guards are waiting for me downstairs and I don’t want them to think something is wrong. I’ll send word as soon as something happens. As for you, Lord Regis. Thank you for bringing this news to our attention. I pray that it proves to be wrong, but please be ready. Should it turn out to be true, we might need to call upon you along with the rest of the nobility.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, the loremaster just nodded. The bishop left the room in a hurry, Cedric escorting him out of the guild.

“Is it just me,” Quentin looked at the aged spellcaster and his friend. “Or the bishop was a bit too excited for his own good?”

“Emil might seem a bit overzealous,” Felix sighed. “But make no mistake. He cares for his people and the people of Ecragurne. The prospect of another war troubles him just as much as us.”

“He sure seemed a bit trigger-happy. Anyway, we should get going as well. Hopefully, our next meeting will be under better circumstances.” The dark elf noted while getting ready to leave.

“On that, we can agree,” Felix nodded as he too stood up from his seat. “Still, I must bid you farewell. Preparations must be made, both here and amongst my allies. Safe travel.”

“Best of luck to you as well.” Quentin nodded as he and the dark elf left the guild through the arcane gateway, appearing in Regis’ manor.

“Well, this was an epic cluster-fuck if I’ve ever seen one,” Regis said as he closed the door behind them. “Do you think we made a mistake, trying to involve the church?”

“Hard to say,” the paladin shrugged. “We knew this could get ugly, but to be honest, that Emil fellow looked far too happy for the prospect of a holy war against the Exiled Court and the demons.”

“In a way, I’d say it is understandable. It’s their sworn duty and calling to purge the demons, not to mention that it would help them regain some of their lost influence as well.”

“Even at times like these, they still can’t give up on their political schemes.” Quentin sighed.

“What did you expect? They are no different from the church back on Earth.”

“True. Anyway, I’ll go and inform the others of the new developments.”

“Fine. I’ll be in my workshop.”

“Again?” Quentin looked at him quizzically.

“I plan on taking Cruz’s advice.”

“About what?”

“Trying to figure out some mad arcane scientist shit that could help us in case we have a literal archdemon knocking on our door.”

“Just don’t blow up the place, alright?”

“Can’t make any promises.”

After returning to the manor, Regis went straight to his workshop as an idea was forming in his mind. Nothing they had was strong enough to nuke a tier-five enemy. That was a fact. However, these past months of crafting and experimenting told him that nothing was impossible, only slightly more difficult to achieve.

If he couldn’t one-shot the enemy, then he would whittle them down until nothing but scraps remained. Rummaging through his crafting materials, a faintly glowing yellow crystal surfaced from the pile of experimental resources. He cast charlatan’s wisdom on it, a curious yet hope-granting description appearing above the stone.

{Divine Sun-stone}

{Item rarity: unique chipped}

{Item quality: chipped}

The chestnut-sized crystal was the result of one of his previous experiments where he wanted to see what would happen if ‘divine’ magic was channelled into the elemental charging circle. The loremaster still remembered the time he asked Lithia to try and cast her faith-based ‘divine’ magic on the transmutation circle, only to have no effect at all.

He remembered the frustration and curiosity he felt after seeing that he could not capture the ‘divine’ element. It was thanks to Osmond’s suggestion that he tried adding regular light magic into the mix, managing to finally create results. The stone was the remaining piece of two he created, the other one becoming the focus stone of an enchanted bracelet that allowed the young priestess to wield her powers with a slightly reduced arcana cost while simultaneously boosting their power.

Some of his previous experiments proved that any light spell cast through this crystal would gain the ‘divine’ attribute, making them especially effective against the demonic and undead creatures above the regular doubled damage light elemental spells would do. ‘I’m going to need a lot more of this stuff.’ He thought as he began to create two dozen Redbull-sized clear quartz crystals.