Insanity was everywhere on the battlefield. Moonlight fell down from the sky as the elves joined the battle. The first and second demon heirs were still fighting back despite being outnumbered.

The water shields were breaking everywhere among the swarm of demons as arrows started to pour in.

Samba barreled through it all.

His arms covered his face so that his scales were facing outward. His Domain flared protecting him from any of the odd strikes or attacks from the demons around him.

The demons dodged or his charge sent them flying into their own ranks. His momentum didn't even slow when he burst into the small opening in the center of the army where Gi and Veritas fought the Demon Emperor.

A space opened up as he charged forward into the explosion of rock and sand and light and Samba had a straight shot towards the Emperor. He tried to dive tackle the tall demon, but it only knocked him back a step before his two lower arms wrapped him in a grapple.

Samba swam his arms up to try and get inside his guard, but the Emperor simply blocked every attempt. The Emperor yanked him backwards as he blocked a shot from Gi with his fist. That allowed Samba to finally get into a proper position, but it didn't matter.

Every elbow, every knee, every headbutt was turned aside easily. Up close as he was, Samba could see the scars of a thousand battles crisscrossing the Emperor's form.

That experience completely nullified his own [Fighting Style] that he'd never been bested directly in - not since the Coastal Goblin's had first taught it to him. He still had his [Defiant Riptide], but with the Emperor's strength, he wasn't confident that it would do more than waste his Aether.

Samba wasn't a fool though. He used his [Radiant Guard] to protect the other two and give them enough space for them to find an opening.

***

Xirin internally checked her Aether stores. She was down to about half from using her Domain [Stone Passage] as much as she had. Unfortunately, more of her shots had missed than hit.

She'd taken out the powerful mud mage or whatever she was, but after that, their Elites had been ready for her. Even now as they fought with the Emperor, they were managing to keep themselves safe from her shots.

It was so frustrating.

She squirmed uncomfortably on the rock she was perched on, lining up her fingers in two circles as she took aim on the white dressed otter. A stone materialized at one end and then rocketed through the path of her fingers and straight towards her foe.

Like usual, he sensed it and changed up his motion causing her too miss. If she was going to improve her Domain after this, she'd need to find some way to hide its signature more effectively.

Idly, she rested her hands against the boulder, watching the Emperor fight. While the white clad otter flitted around firing some kind of light beams, another giant otter and a human were engaged in melee. The former was some kind of grappler while the latter was more of a short ranged Aether fighter using Earth.

The Emperor countered them easily, but... it felt too slow.

The Emperor had always been an attrition fighter. In his rise to the top, he'd always outlasted his enemies, weathered their most powerful skills, and then defeated them. His caution had netted him success, but now she was worried.

This was their enemy's strongest remaining fighters. Would it not be better to end them just in case? The elves had already arrived much faster than anticipated and she hadn't seen Graves since his attack on their reinforcements. Even the first and second heirs were being held down.

The Emperor's caution of wanting to see all their cards before he used all of his was a mistake here.

Not that she'd ever say that to him, of course. Xirin sighed. Then lined up another shot.

"No more."

The words caused Xirin to jump, spinning around to see what demon had approached her without her noticing. Her eyes widened in fear when instead of a demon she saw an otter that looked like death itself already swinging a mace towards her.

***

The fourth heir's brains splattered over the boulder she'd been shooting from. Kumo's breath came heavily as though she was intensely exerting herself which was a strange dichotomy from how she actually felt.

Perfectly fine. Better than fine.

It felt strange to have been on the edge of death against Auraco, then miraculously healed, and then put back on her feet. If she looked internally, the strain on her soul was there, tight like a band that would snap at any moment.

Knowing what it meant made her feel melancholy. Her thoughts drifted to the time right after the Dungeon where they'd come to Igna for the first time and the home they'd had beneath the lake.

The world had seemed endless then like nothing could stop them and that they'd do it all together. A lot had changed since then, but... Kumo still saw all her family the same.

She... wasn't ready to leave them.

Frantically, she stuffed that emotion back deep into the dark recesses of her mind as it threatened to overwhelm her. She couldn't afford to stand around blubbering like Samba. Her work needed doing.

She activated [Shadow Meld]. Her Aether blended in with the turbulent Aether in the air while at the same time her form seemed to disappear into shadows. Her stealth was probably stronger than Gi's invisibility at remaining unseen.

On top of that with the Demon Larvae Secretion Tonic pounding in her veins, every Skill she used was just that much better.

She was a ghost.

Stalking through the enemy lines, her form wove its way through the demons, each of them standing nervously as they waited for their moment to fight or firing off their ranged abilities towards the front. Part of her wanted to lay waste around her and truly cause chaos to help the war, but that wasn't her best move.

A small box appeared in her hand from her [Expanded Pocket] and she pulled out the dagger inside. Supposedly, it was a poison strong enough to take down the human emperor Veritas. Kumo would have never used it on him without Gi's explicit permission, but a Demon Emperor?

She doubted Gi would mind.

It took her longer than she'd have expected to work her way through the horde of demons that were slowly churning their way into Harlond, but eventually she reached their edge.

The demons around her were constantly pushing backwards against their compatriots, not wanting to be too close to the Emperor or his foes. It was a battle out of their league and they were smart enough to keep as much space as possible.

Kumo darted through an opening where two demons shoved back against the crowd to try and maintain their space, giving her just enough room.

Samba, their control expert, was getting slowly dismantled on every attempt he made to tie up the Emperor. Veritas had a wild look in his eye as he poured Aether into his attacks. Rocks summoned from nothing crashed towards the Emperor on his fists or in the air, but the Emperor blocked them all.

Even Gi with all his strength was floundering to make any headway against the leader of the Demons. Either his light was intercepted with a fist or Samba was dragged into the way or even Veritas was subtly shifted by the Emperor's expertise.

Any regrets Kumo had from drinking the tonic vanished. She'd made the right choice.

Her [Shadow Meld] was a strange skill. If you pushed more Aether into it, it just smoothed out her own Aether across a wider area, making it subtle and indistinguishable from the wild Aether in the air. As she moved forward, she pushed it, giving it only minuscule increases at a time.

Her Soul had never been particularly strong and the care she took to stay undetected now was a struggle for her already strained Soul. Step by step, she encroached into that battleground, trying to stay slow and silent while the four of them danced around in a battle of strength and skill.

The Emperor's eyes cut to her and she froze. Unwilling to breathe or even think, she prayed to Danna that she remained hidden for just a little longer.

His eyes had only remained on her a moment and then flickered away. He'd been scanning his environment, nothing more, but it spoke volumes about his awareness and reaction time. She wouldn't be able to attack him directly. She'd just have to hope that he'd come to her.

Carefully, Kumo continued inching forward, trying to gauge where he might land in a dozen more steps.

And... there it was.

The Emperor shoved Samba backwards, temporarily breaking his grip so he could defend against a combined attack from Gi and Veritas. Samba was already charging back in, but Kumo was close. If she could get just a little bit closer...

She stretched herself, pushing just a little faster and a little further than she was comfortable moving undetected. Two steps and the Emperor had deflected both attacks and had set to receive Samba's return charge, but he'd already braced, he wasn't going to step-

Samba activated his [Darting Fortress] Skill at the last moment. The brief look of surprise on the Emperor's face was enough to know that he hadn't seen it yet. The extra force was easily managed by the overpowered Emperor, but he did need to take a single step back.

Just in range of Kumo.

The knife plunged deep into the Emperor's thigh. Whatever poison that was on it must have been delivered because the Emperor bellowed. His shout rang out over the battlefield and drew all eyes to him, but it was one of rage, not pain.

A backward kick that was faster than she could dodge struck her in the chest and she went flying. She hit the ground and her breath caught, forcing her to exhale before she could suck in more air.

A nova of sand exploded out from him, forcing Samba and Veritas back. The Emperor spun, ripping the dagger out of his leg and his eyes focused on her. The fury she saw there froze her in place like chains had lashed her to the ground.

The next second a fist smashed into her face and sent her flying across the open ground and bowling into the demons that circled the fight. Her jaw felt broken and her neck had twisted in a way that it shouldn't, but the tonic drew further on her Soul, patching those issues just enough to keep her going.

I'm... already dead. I just... got to get back in there. I need to achieve... a little more before...

Her Soul felt so tight and stretched that she thought it might not last more than a few minutes even outside of the fight, but she hadn't done all she could yet.

Tangled in limbs of demons, some sought to extricate themselves while those nearby stabbed their swords towards her. Activating [Berserker Clone], she and her summon burst free in a tornado of maces.

Unfortunately, her clone couldn't be directed so it fought whatever demon was closest while Kumo used her [Fighting Style] (Oppressive Downpour) to beat her way through the mob that had closed in around her and get back to the fight.

It was... not going well.

Whatever reason the Emperor had remained restrained before was gone. He pummeled Samba with enough unbridled aggression that it gave insights into Kumo's own [Fighting Style]. With all the turbulent Aether in the air, she thought it might even evolve if she had the time to observe. She didn't, obviously, but it was that far beyond her.

Veritas and Gi were doing everything in their power to get him off of Samba, but when either of them closed the distance, they were knocked away just as easily as Kumo had been. Honestly, he was so strong she wondered if the poison had actually been poison and not some other alchemical reagent.

She wasn't as strong as Samba or as powerful as Gi or as high ranked as Veritas, but she did have one Skill that neither of them had and if she didn't do anything, Samba would die before her tonic wore off.

Despite burning the wick of her own life, she pulled harder on her Soul, forcing it to give her more and more Aether. As she did, she dumped it into her Domain [Phantom Strikes]. Just like against Auraco, she built up as much power as she could into the Domain.

It hurt.

Her Soul burned like a crackling black fire sought to devour every inch of who she was. Her stomach roiled, nausea washing over her as her sense of separation between Soul and Body blurred. She somehow lived with one step in reality and one step beyond the Veil. The only thing that kept her grounded was the pain.

Despite herself, her Aether grew and it served as a beacon to the Emperor. He kicked off of Samba, using his giant body as a springboard to fly towards her, his two right fists raised to end her life.

Even as the blow collided with her, she activated [Iron Counter].

Her own mace exploded in iron shrapnel from the Aether she'd shoved into it and all that was left was the power that she'd gathered in her Domain. It slammed into the Emperor's chin at the same time as his fists hit her head and neck simultaneously.

After that, she'd given everything she had. The tonic was used up, her Body was used up, and her Soul was used up.

Her [Iron Counter] must have killed some of the strength of the Emperor's attack because she only smacked so hard into the ground that she bounced back towards the wall of demons instead of having her explode on her shoulders.

She couldn't move, but it didn't matter. Between her attack and the poison, the Emperor had to be damaged.

Now, all she could do was put faith in her family.