The placement of Avalon and the Lunar Empire by Sophia had to some kind of cosmic joke. These two mighty kingdoms who were now enemies had found themselves linked by the near one hundred kilometer land bridge which both sides had taken to calling the Serpents Way.

Ever since their arrival upon Jord, both sides had anticipated a serious clash in future and they had this began stockpiling weapons and war machines, like the battleships that roamed across the Lutunas Ocean and the Xunamere Sea.

That day had come and those who lived close to the shoar to the north of Avalon and south of the Lunar Empire could hear the sounds that reverberated from the battles which raged from the waters and the Serpents Way.

Hundreds of battleships chocked the Xunamere Sea as they fired off shots at eachother, but they were not the only ones as in skies flying beasts, jets and flying carriers near bloated out the sun as their attacks parted apart the very clouds.

Each shot that was taken at sea level was of such intensity that the waters of the Xunamere Sea were stirred madly, sending out such high waves that had Avalon and the Lunar Empire not had magical shielding at their coast line to halt such waves, their coastal cities would have been drowned under twenty meter waves.

Roland Ddraig had seen many battles before, in fact he had even led the forces of Avalon against the legendary Phantom King and the dragons who had come after, so this battle did not seem even that terrifying in comparison. Though with his wife fighting besides him, he felt more terrified for the attackers safety than his own.

Natalia Ddraig herself was a demon upon the battlefield as she rode her Prygan, a steed that was made completely from condensed winds which rode the air with the speed of a lightning bolt. Natalia would ride it forward into the thick of enemy sea vessels and with a swing of Excalibur, she rendered thousands of tons of metal to scrap.

Roland flew upon his Fae wings and around him burned a thin layer of flame. He had increased the intensity of the flames so much that they glowed white and drew the attention of every enemy battleship upon the waters. In response they opened fire upon him, but each artillery shot was melted by the intensity of the flames.

Roland had done this to act as an obvious target for the Lunar Empire ranged weaponry. But he wasn't simply a standing target, he would occasionally respond with blasts of flames that melted ships and left portions of the sea covered in thick clouds of steam.

But the Lunar Empire were not simple sitting ducks for the slaughter. They poured more and more troops to meet the Avalonian defenders and amongst them were troops who Roland knew suspected were above the average.

"Are they coming towards me?" he thought in amusement as he watched these Fae come flying towards him.

They let loose bolts, winds, flames and waters infused with so much magical energy that they would levelled a good quarter of a continent. Roland increased his shields and he halted the attacks, though they rocked him and the King of Avalon winced as he was knocked backwards by the consistent stream of power.

As he struggled to keep his shields up Roland could almost hear his father's scolding voice say, "Dont get too cocky boy, that is a quick way to get yourself killed."

Though he wasn't sure if his mental simulacrum of his father's voice matched up with the cold bluntness that the first King of Avalon had possessed. Roland had always disliked him for it in his younger days, but now he saw the wisdom in a lot of his father's words, of course he also recognised that his father could be a pompous prick at times.

"Sorry to break you out of your musings about your daddy issues, Roland. But maybe you could deal with that before your flames and you are potentially extinguished."

"Tilo, have you taken care of the bomb?" he mentally asked the Paladin of Magic.

"Yes I have, now will you do something about these attackers before you turn your wife into a widow for Leza and Sophia's sake." the older man scolded him and Roland smiled at his old mentor's sarcastic wit.

Roland then drew up a white ivory horn which was strapped to his waist. The horn was engraved with beautiful iconography of various beasts and while it could be used to call for help, Oliphant had an even greater use, for it could bend space itself to allow him transport, as long as he knew where he was going of course.

Roland brought it to his lips and he blew with a destination in mind. Reality around him instantly began to warp and blur within seconds it returned to normal. It took a split second for the Lunar Empire warriors to realise that their target had teleported from his previous position, and that was all the time Roland needed to open his palm and utter his Alpha-Spell.

"Ganrotha." Roland uttered a whisper but the effect that came was more destructive than that.

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In his palm a small fissure in reality began to open quickly, this dark maw began swallowing everything around it in a ravenous hunger. Roland's Alpha-Spell birthed a Black Hole and were he not suppressing the range of its pull, he suspected that the entire solar system would be a thing of the past in seconds.

The Lunar Empire warriors were in range and the pull of a cosmic force that could draw in planets effortlessly dragged them in kicking and screaming to a near instantaneously crushing death before Roland undid his spell.

"A bit of a reckless move out my boy." the voice of Tilo Hachibambo, the Paladin of Magic came and not from within Roland's mind but besides him.

The old man was dressed in colourful wardrobe of yellow and green. His hair and thick beard had turned snow white a long time ago and stood in near complete contrast with his black skin. The old Wizard flew upon a thick cloud and in his hand was a wooden staff with green glowing glyphs carved into it.

"But I won, didn't I." Roland responded as he watched Natalia lift a battleship out of the water and hurl it as a projectile into the sky, knocking out some Lunar Empire air forces.

"That is the thought process of a younger more foolish man, not the King of Avalon." Tilo scolded him and Roland's mind wandered back to the past when he was placed under the Wizard's supervision by his father.

A ten year old him had found the Paladin of Magic to be a worriwort bore who constantly nitpicked everything he did, not too different from his father. But over the years the two had gotten much closer and though Tilo was a grumpy old dog, Roland would never doubt that he cared.

"My apologies, Tilo." Roland apologized and then used a favourite spell of his to blind many enemy soldiers as he increased the amount of heat in their eyes and boiling them. "They have gotten quite bold."

"Indeed, one would think that they have gotten desperate and want to knock us out of the fight near instantly. I wonder just how much long until their Emperor and his true retinue make themselves visible upon the battlefield."

As he spoke, Tilo stroked his long beard as if if some kind of living beast that he calmed down with a touch. Though Roland would not be surprised if the greatest Wizard of this Avalonian generation had somehow turned his beard into a living thing.

Roland took a moment to think about the matter as he looked to the lands of the Lunar Empire or Dál-Ligan as they called it. It felt so easy for him to bullrush passed the magical shields and bodies of the enemy troops, all the way to the enemy capital itself. He knew that the Lunar Empire would put up one hell of a fight, hell the man might even be equal, but still....then the revelation came to the mind of the King of Avalon.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, Tilo. But I fear that the Emperor won't be reaching out shores anytime soon."

"And why is that?" Tilo asked as multiple projectiles flew their way.

The old man made a gesture as he bent and weeved a complex magical pattern. The projectiles were instantly halted in midar as if some telekinetic was holding them in place... no that wasn't it, everything in that space had been paused, the flow of time itself was halted in place.

Tilo then snapped his fingers and all the projectiles instantly transmuted from steel and energy to atmospheric gases. The flow of time was then restored and the as the transmuted gasses flowed back to their owners and the moment that the gasses fell upon them, they instantly returned to their original form and multiple ships burned that day.

Such a display of power could only be achieved by such a small amount of Wizards and magically gifted persons that Roland was sure that they were no more than thirty, and Victor Destiny could do it near casually.

"Because all of this is bait." Roland responded, gaining him quizzical look from the Wizard. "These forces are a hook and should we bite it and go rolling into the Lunar Empire, we will be bogged down before we ever reach the capital and even if we do, we won't find their Empire."

"Then where would he be?"

"Here," he said as he gestured towards Avalon. "Like the old saying always goes, once the guard dog is away, the jackal comes out to play."

Tilo smiled and playfully patted Roland on the shoulder as he said. "An insightful observation, my King. Though I question what we should do if that is case."

"That is quite simple. We fortify and destroy every they send our and eventually they will have to withdraw this hook and give better bait."

"The others won't like that." Victor warned and Roland understood his words and he hoped that the other Paladin would be as understanding as Victor was.

XXXXXXX

T

hey were not understanding, not even in the slightest. The Imperators office in the fortress of Mistgurd located within the Greylands northern costal city of Kagenhild was filled with so much shouting that it drowned out the usual Greylands storm which raged outside.

Within the room Paladins and high level Imparetors angrily shouted at one another whilst the King and Queen sat behind the Imperators table in defeated silence as they were reminded that some of their old friends still had their youth burning within. Of course the only one the other Paladins who remained silent was Hector Mychana, the Paladin of Defense was a silent wall in eternal vigilance with the Vortiguard.

"This is madness, we should march on the Lunar Empire now!" Beowulf Mwansa angrily shouted over the ruble of disagreeing voices.

The Paladin of Beasts and the greatest Animus in Avalon was unlike most Fae. He was more stocky in build than his brethrens usual lean build and most Fae lacked the type of mad beard on his face.

"For Sophia's sake, Beowulf show some actual tactical thinking." the sharp rebuke came from Pierce Dolton, the Paladin of Secrets, a Fae who was the total opposite in appearance and mentality to his fellow Fae.

"Don't you dare lecture me on battlefield tactics, Dolton. We all can't scurry about in the shadows, protected from actual dangers."

"Actual dangers?" Dolton scoffed. "The number of "actual dangers" that would have killed you and your pets without me are more than you would ever know, simpleton."

Before Beowulf could respond with a biting remark another Paladin jumped and that was when Roland cringed as the elf, Morrigan Ulster, the Paladin of Death and their official instigator of arguments, jumped in. "Beowulf is right, there were actual dangers on that battlefield. Though what he neglects to remember is that his dangers were the sloppy seconds that me, Mwindo and Eve mopped."

Mwindo Nyanga and Eve Star, the Paladins of Strength and Nature looked taken aback by Morrigan effectively putting them in the limelight.

"Using our friends as an excuse to glorify yourself, how very much like you, Morrigan." Mebarasi Kish, the Paladin of fire snickered.

That was enough for Roland, needed to bring everything under control before a mass brawl started and levelled the city of Kagenhild. He could started a bright fire around him or even pulled a meteriot out of the sky, he was the Paladin of the Cosmos after all... but there someone else who could do that, a certain Paladin of the Light.

He turned to his wife and without a word passing between the two of them, Natalia instantly understood his intention. She then raised her hand and her control of water sent the subterranean lakes in a frenzy, shaking the entire city of Kagenhild as if an earthquake had struck it.

All of the squabbling Paladins and Imperators went silent and turned to face their rulers who greeted them back with disappointed scowls.

Roland turned to face Natalia saying. "Thank you honey. Now, I will not even begin to talk about how inappropriate this behaviour is, I will humour your fears of course. Yes, we will not try to take the entire Dál-Ligan continent and leave Avalon defenceless, but that does not mean that we won't take their southern costal regions slowly and strategically."

He looked at both Beowulf and Dolton as he spoke and both Paladins found anything else more interesting than facing their King. "Strategic raids into the Lunar Empires heartlands will also happen but our main focus should be crippling their overseas war efforts and then, only then will we frustrate and box them in enough, that we will easily dictate a full invasion. Our enemy are not stupid and if we act stupid, it will be the flag of the Lunar Empire which will hang of Asalon. Now, any smart ass remarks?"

No one said anything and whilst he had won this argument, Roland could not help but dread the future of this campaign with such clear fractures within the Paladins.