Krayli, the orc, sat on the stone of the human's castle. From her viewpoint, she could see the desperate fighting in the southern encampment as well as the more formed lines at the broken wall.

But her eyes were on the sky.

Fighting Drakes and Toucans had battled it out in the air. The Toucans themselves were not comparable to the Drakes. Even with demon assistance either from the ground or their backs, they still floundered.

It wasn't until some high ranked Classer started shooting bullets of stone at them that the Fighting Drakes were beat. With only a couple dozen Toucan remaining, the last Drake tried to fly evasively to continue the fight, but one of their wings was caught by a bullet of stone.

The last Drake flew wildly away from the battle, less aiming and more just trying to stay aloft. The Toucans didn't give chase, having effectively won, but Krayli leaned over the side of the human's wall as the Drake crashed at her feet.

Her Skill told her this was the last one.

One hand on the wall, she used her claws to help slide down. She still hit the ground hard, but it was manageable. Despite all the battle surrounding her, it was just her and the Drake.

The Drake's eyes rolled as it was dying, but eventually found her and stopped.

One... of us...

"No," Krayli said, her voice devoid of emotion. "My father worshipped your god. Not me."

You are... the one who hunts...?

"With your death, the duty from my father will end."

The Fighting Drake's eyes started to roll back, either in pain or death, but some deep bellowing breaths brought him back. Blood mixed with the red of his scales so it was hard to tell where his wounds actually were.

You... What will you do...?

For a moment, Krayli was confused. Obviously, she was going to kill him, but then she realized that the Fighting Drake meant, "what will she do next."

"I haven't thought that far ahead." She had, but no thoughts ever bore fruit. Her father had been a man of vision and purpose. Krayli had simply adopted his cause. Even now, she hesitated to end this Drake's life; not because she had any compunctions against killing him, but what would she do after?

The Returner... battles for this realm and others. Our former god... would see him helped.

"The Returner?"

Gi.

Teal energy lit up her bow and an arrow ended the Fighting Drake's life. His corpse relaxed as whatever pain it was in finally stopped. Her Skill [Hated Enemy] went dormant and she suddenly felt like a boat kicked off from shore without any means to guide it.

Gi had killed her father. She hated him... but it was a dull thing now. More reflex than passion. She'd heard his reasons and believed them, but how could you not hate the one who killed your family?

The old golem Hillin had taken her in when that Child Stage seemed impossible. Stuck in-between the overwhelming Fighting Drakes and the corrupted forest. He'd believed in Noctua, spent his long life trying to make it out so he could be of service.

But they were only connected by the wish to die.

Hillin was a monster of conviction. He'd want her to help Gi and close the final loop on his worship of Noctua.

But could she truly help her father's killer?

***

Gi huddled against Ellen's [Mud Coffin]. His summons were struggling now to find openings to kill any demons as they'd more properly organized underneath the water shields.

With the Fighting Drakes fallen, the bullets from Xarin, the fourth heir, were raining down harder than ever. All of the humans on the ramparts were forced to stop their counter assault and take cover behind the wall.

Poe, unable to fly away without attracting the attention of the fourth heir, lay huddled near him. "Do you think Georgia's okay?"

"I'm sure she's safer than any of us for the moment."

"Do you remember how scary it was when we were slimes? We could barely see and all of these strange slimes with other powers wanted to kill us."

Gi hadn't been scared at the time. He'd been wrapped up in the First One's influence which hadn't fallen off until Igna. That hadn't been the case with Poe. For some reason, the First One's influence had never touched him.

"I remember."

"I'm... more scared now. I finally got to find my family between all of the Otters and Georgia and my children. I have more to lose now, and when you died, I...really understood what loss meant. How it hurt."

Gi knew that the happy go lucky dragonfly was not as simple as he seemed, but to hear him be so serious was sobering. He really was quaking as they lay there on the battlements.

"You don't have to fight if-"

"No, I do!," Poe practically shouted. "I'm more scared now, but I have more reasons to fight. I have people that I want to protect. I just... needed to share my feelings."

Gi understood. He wrapped Poe up in a hug and the dragonfly hugged him back fiercely. "No matter what happens," Gi said. "Thank you for being the best friend that I've had in any life."

Two spikes of Aether stopped whatever Poe had started to say. Each one was less than the Demon Emperor's initial attack, but together it was greater.

"Not again," was all Gi had time to say before the wall he was on collapsed.

***

Wane stumbled through the wooded slope. The Hunters and Priests around him handled it better, but each of them were exhausted from the fight as well. He'd saved as many as he could, but they'd still suffered losses.

Compared to Kumo though, the rest of them were pristine.

Sanya held Kumo in her arms as they made their way down the slope. Wane had managed to stabilize her, but her wounds were severe. It would take days or weeks for her soul to settle enough to be fully healed.

Despite the damage, Kumo was conscious. Each jolting downslope step caused her to wince and Wane felt that ache with her.

As much as it pained him to see, it was a welcome distraction from his own Soul. Wane wasn't sure when it started, but this feeling of danger pulsed through the connection he had with Wax and he didn't know what it meant.

Was Wax somehow in danger? Was he trying to warn him?

Those questions ate at Wane until they took their final steps to the camp and he saw the state of it. Tents knocked over, others on fire, and the dead littered the ground.

If it wasn't for the mass of humans still standing, Wane would have thought they'd lost whatever battle had taken place here.

Wane could see the human leaders in conference as some of them eyed their returning group, but without a translator, they couldn't communicate.

"We need to find Elizabeth or another monster. Figure out what happened here."

Sanya agreed and they reached the back of the encampment. A handful of goblins and Faithful still lived, but they looked distant and lost, staring out at the sky or the dead.

In the middle of all that Galvina sat.

The Demon Heir looked up as they approached and then down at Nori who lay near her feet, clutching the hand of Glom. Lines cut through the dirt and blood on Nori's face, showing she'd been crying not long ago.

"Is she dead?" Wane found himself asking.

"Not yet, but... she strained her Soul too much during the battle so she can't be healed. Her wounds will take her soon."

Nori's form was already very still and her breathing incredibly shallow. The occasional twitch of pain was the only sign that she was still alive.

Galvina's eyes fell to Kumo in Sanya's arms. "Is she alive?"

"Don't... talk about me like I'm not here, you bastard." Kumo struggled to get out the words and she didn't have the energy to add any heat to them.

Galvina just nodded. The demon was surprisingly calm which was far out of character for her. Wane couldn't remember ever being around her for this long where she hadn't said something crass or offensive.

"I'm not sure where Elizabeth went," Galvina said, looking around. "Her clan was here for the fighting. Without her, I can't talk to the humans."

Two spikes of Aether cut through the battlefield, stopping all communication. With [Omniscience], Wane was able to see that one source of the Aether swelled from the center of the demon's army while another was right near the wall.

"They're taking down the rest of the wall," Wane said, but his words were just stating the obvious. Even from here, they could see the wall falling on their side, revealing the demon's army which before had been impossible to see from this angle.

Kumo's ragged voice was the first to speak. "We... have to go help them."

***

Stone fell all around Gi as the wall came down. It only took seconds to fall, but as soon as he'd tried to fly out, bullets rained down as the fourth heir looked for any opening to take him out.

It was all Gi could do to get Ellen's [Mud Coffin] and Poe and toss them inside the walls. Well, what little remained of the wall anyways.

"Poe! Go to the camp and try and grab help! If they're still there, we need the reinforcements now."

All around him were the lucky humans who were pulling themselves out of the rubble as well as the unlucky ones who were crushed by the weight of the stones. The rest of the humans who'd formed the main line against the demon army suddenly had to deal with a huge surge of demons on their flanks.

Orders and shouts rose up from the human commanders. They might have been able to rally, but then two demons blasted through the edge of the frontlines on either flank.

The one closest to Gi wielded a giant sledgehammer and had bits of stone embedded on his shoulders and chest like armor. A giant roman numeral two took up his entire back.

He'd launched from where he'd hidden near the front lines and smashed his giant sledgehammer into some unlucky soldier. A wave of force struck with it crushing all of the soldiers around his initial target.

Aelg, the second heir, possessed gravity manipulation on top of high physical prowess.

The second demon was worse. He flew through the air completely covered in fire before dive bombing the humans and exploding like a fireball. As he stood to his full height, he had four short swords held within four fists, sharing the four arms of the Emperor.

Fel, the first heir.

Between the wall, the charging mob of demons, and their strongest Elites, the human lines were in shambles. Cedrick, Luke, and the other commanders were already moving to engage the first and second heir, but they'd be hard pressed to survive. Winning was just not an option with a power gap that large.

Poe had already flown off and Gi was just considering what to do with Ellen's [Mud Coffin] when a trio of boulders sailed into the already chaotic front lines of the Veridian humans.

Across a sea of red, the Demon Emperor had decided to engage. His four limbs were crossed on his chest and dirt was solidifying into more projectiles to break the humans lines further.

Gi had hoped the Emperor would stay out of the battle until his forces had been worn down, but that had been a fool's dream. Gi took to the air, spinning as he dodged the shots from the fourth heir that he knew was coming and then activated [God's Passage].

A chunk of Aether disappeared as space stretched and he deposited himself in the middle of the demon's army and directly across from the Emperor himself.

Unlike the other demons who mostly wore full leather armor, the Emperor wore an enchanted leather skirt and leather pauldrons that glowed, leaving his chest bare. Scars dotted almost every inch of his skin like an abstract painting telling the history of war itself.

If it wasn't for his height and the crown atop his head, Gi might have mistaken the Emperor for some other elite until he felt his presence.

As soon as Gi landed in the space around him, the Emperor's Aura washed over him like a landslide. It crashed into him, trying to pour into his very being and crush him from the inside.

The Emperor was the earth itself and to fight him was folly.

His own Aura control was scant by comparison, but he clawed his way back from the coffin that the Emperor's Aura was making for him.

The ringing of church bells sounded as Gi's own Aura finally took hold. Its ancient walls fought against the history of earth with the history of divinity itself. He wasn't able to turn it on the attack, but his Aura became an impregnable defense with [Divine Spouse] at its core.

All of that happened in a single breath after the Emperor's first attack. The mob of demons rushing for the front line didn't even have time to realize Gi was among them.

In the second breath, the Emperor was upon him.

Gi's [Papal Legion] activated instantly putting two summons out at his side. The music of his aura was already building and he set to receive the Emperor's attack with his (Boundless Serenade of the Enlightened Hands).

The rhythm and syncopation already built by his Aura fell apart. The Emperor's punch was as simple as it was unavoidable.

The Emperor's fist crashed into his face before he could even begin to dodge. Beams of light lashed out from his summons as he tried to use [Divine Commandment] to force the Emperor back, but Gi only managed to get back to his feet before a fist exploded into his stomach.

Each punch hit like a wrecking ball and only a sheer force of will stopped him from vomiting. With only two punches, he'd overcome his Quicksilver Body, his Waterborn Vitality Core, and his [Fighting Style].

Gi was hopelessly outclassed.

With a third punch coming, Gi activated [God's Passage] again and sent himself hurtling backwards into the sky. His three summons turned into a dozen and thirteen [Divine Commandments] were turned upon the Emperor who'd already stepped into the sky and the earth rose up to meet each step.

Four arms crossed in an X as the light struck and Gi had a small hope that he'd ended him there.

That hope was in vain.

The Emperor pushed through. The enchantments in his armor helped to disperse the Aether to something that he could more easily weather as he sprinted up into the sky.

Gi scattered his summons and activated his invisibility, but the fourth heir was already taking advantage of them being in open air and started to snipe his summons one by one.

[Concealing Light] wasn't a high enough ranked Skill to defeat an upgraded Soul. The Emperor didn't even hesitate as he just switched directions like a heat seeking missile.

In a few more breaths, the Emperor was back upon him. Gi managed to dodge a low hook, but the arm above it snatched him out of the air and the Emperor spoke for the first time, his voice radiating with all the inevitability of his Aura.

"You will fall."