Once again, the Cridian army arrived under the walls of Avalon. This time, however, the gathered people were emanating a heavy aura that I knew all too well after dealing with all scums and bandits in the nearby area. They were murderers, slavers and...

"Servants of Chaos and Void." Zephyr's voice was full of disgust as he confirmed my internal suspicion.

"Awfully many of them." Zeus coldly looked around, disgusted, and a little disappointed. "I expected many degenerates like them, but these are some serious numbers."

"There is no single untainted person out there... Oh, look! The Mountain Dungeon servants are here as well. I think he or she wants to prove something at this point." I pointed at the giants that hauled large stones with them. "They want to throw them at us?"

"No clue..." Zephyr shrugged and looked at me with a hint of a smile. "I see that you are not holding back this time. Good."

Every single Hussar in Avalon was already outside the wall. They were hidden in the forests, out of range of the enemy army. "I won't allow him to retreat." I shrugged.

We were waiting. The closest gate to the enemy was wide open and unprotected by any barrier, leading straight into Avalon. In fact, I rebuilt it using a regular stone, making it a weak point that would invite the enemy army, daring them to try. They saw it clearly because I ordered my fog to retreat inside the castle. It regenerated very slowly and even now it couldn't envelop such vast swaths of land in an impenetrable veil as before. But sooner or later, my magic fog was going to return to what it used to be. Three of us stood on the top of the open gate, waiting for the enemy to attack.

"Hmmm... What if they won't attack?" I asked. "What if they just stand there pretending to besiege my castle?"

"Then we will allow your Queens to erase them. They should be within range of their spells." Zeus shrugged.

"Or I can trample them with cavalry and then mow them down using heavy infantry."

"I think they are coming." Zephyr laughed, seeing a small detachment of about two hundred enemy soldiers heading in our direction.

"This is going to be boring..." I pulled the bridge of my nose and gave a tired sigh.

The enemy detachment was about two hundred metres from the walls when they abruptly died. A deadly valley of exactly two hundred arrows shot by the Legion's dedicated archers made quick work of the enemy.

•••

"The fuck was that?!" Kneht gazed at the dead soldiers in shock.

"Shit... The dungeon minions got stronger." Korkas spat at the grass.

"All right... I must admit, you really needed everyone." Jilai sounded impressed.

"What's the plan?" Kneht crossed his arms in front of him, waiting for their ideas.

"That castle is far too huge to just besiege it and hope they die of hunger. Besides, they are in the dungeon, so I don't see how they would run out of food." Jilai spat on the ground. "So, as much as I hate it, we have to attack them directly. I guess we bombard them with siege golems. I guess that's why you brought so many stones, right?"

"Oh, you still don't know the best part." Kneht started laughing. "These walls are made of enchanted stone."

"Fuck, what?" Jilai turned his head at the large human so abruptly that his neck made a cracking sound.

"This is still only half of the best part," Korkas added, amused. "This entire castle is shielded."

"What the fuck we are doing here? We shouldn't even be here in the first place!" Jilai looked at them as if they lost their minds. "Korkas, you sick fuck. Why did you haul me here? I don't have a death wish!"

"To fuck with your wishes. He killed Luia." Korkas growled.

"She was your bitch. I don't care!" Jilai responded angrily.

"Then rejoice, Jilai, as this is the will of our Gods. We will kill the Hero and everyone in that castle, or our Gods are going to reject us. You still don't care?" Korkas looked at the big orc while Kneht laughed quietly.

"Fuuuu..." Jilai muffled the curse halfway. He sighed, resigned, but then he nodded as if he tried to convince himself. "Then let's start with bombarding the castle with the stones the giants brought. We could imbue them with some rudimentary explosive magic."

"I think they are waiting for us." Kneht pointed at the gate where three immensely powerful magic sources were standing without even a single effort to mask their presence. "Those bastards are fucking cocky..."

"This is a trap," Jilai yelled.

"No shit..." Korkas looked at him like he was an idiot. "I previously destroyed this gate, so I am going to do that again. Then we proceed with the plan. I'll deal with the Hero and you will hold Zeus and Zephyr."

•••

As expected, Korkas tried to do the same as previously; namely, destroy the gatehouse. Since that time, I had levelled a few times as a dungeon. The power of Stella's enchantments and defensive barriers was incomparable to the previous battle. However, to successfully lure them as close to us as we could, I deliberately lowered the defence in this part of Avalon and placed a decoy gatehouse. We observed from the large round tower how Korkas was working to destroy the gate where our illusions, made by Hestia, were standing. Korkas, Kneht, and Jilai approached the ruined gatehouse, so we teleported there to play along.

"We meet again, puny hero." Korkas raised his sword at me.

I said nothing and used my magic minigun skill to trash him. It would be nice if he simply died by it, but I knew this was not going to be that easy. The fearful gazes of Kneht and Jilai made me smirk, as they clearly had not anticipated something like that. But their idleness didn't last long, as Zeus and Zephyr engaged them in fierce combat. They then vacated the area quickly, thinking they deprived me of the help of two Eternals. I finished my skill and noticed that Korkas was breathing heavily.

"Battlefield of Armageddon. Limitless blades." I gave him no pause, closing us inside an impenetrable barrier of darkness as thousands of blades created dozens of wide rings that slowly circled around us, one over another, forming a huge cylinder.

"Oi... Oi... You gotta be kidding me..." Korka's eyes went wide. "How the fuck have you gotten so powerful?!"

"Scene of massacre. Act one: Blades of Wind." I accelerated beyond what was possible for a mortal man, leaving Korkas no room for error.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He was fast as well, keeping up with my inhumane speed as he tried to parry my attacks and even try to find openings for his own. But he visibly struggled to the point he took out an additional sword from his holding space. The two blades he was wielding were strange. No, that's wrong. Those blades were tainted and gave off an aura of absolute darkness, hurting my eyes by just looking at them. They must have been forged in the cursed realm of chaos with the power of the void gods. But as powerful and dangerous as they were, they couldn't match my wrath. His attacks harmlessly slid off my armour, adding to his anger and irritation.

"This world is mine!" Korkas yelled.

I smiled coldly, which infuriated the Void Born even further. My speed increased even more, but I couldn't keep up that technique much longer. While my speed finally overwhelmed Korkas, my strength wasn't enough to wound him seriously.

"That's all you got?!" He tried to laugh, but the change in his demeanour told me that he was getting serious.

"Scene of massacre. Act two: Shattering Earth." My voice was carried by the wind that still blew from my opening attack.

With my remaining speed, I smashed Korkas, who went flying into the wall of swords. He spat blood and looked at me with a hazed gaze. The animal fury in his eyes made me wonder what he was hiding, because right now, he was not the opponent I remembered from our last battle. I moved far slower than before, but Korkas wasn't taking advantage of the speed he displayed earlier, either. In fact, he became stronger, like me. Like two titans, we clashed, and with each of our attacks, the earth was torn asunder. With curiosity, I observed his face as he tried to remain calm. He was weighing his parries very carefully, devoting himself fully to defence. I pushed relentlessly, breaking my swords that couldn't hold more than a few swings before being destroyed, despite being strengthened.

"Not bad for a half-assed Hero brought here by broken godlings who already gifted others before you with their power." Korkas jumped back, panting heavily, but laughing.

"Oh? You think I am a Hero?" That took him aback and his laughter was cut off abruptly.

"Of course, you are a Hero! Why else would you do this?"

"But I am not a Hero, Korkas. I was not even brought here by Zeus and Zephyr." My attack staggered him back as the next cut that followed smashed his pauldron. "But I guess, for all intent and purpose, for such scums like you, I am the Hero."

"Shut up! Shut up!" he replied in the flurry of cuts that lacked any substance or technique behind them. "I am the Hero! I was chosen by Eriar!"

"Hahahaha! I doubt that." I laughed and Korkas finally snapped.

"I should have been chosen... I would save this world..." Korkas mumbled as he just stood a few steps in front of me. "Eriar should have chosen me!" He lunged at me with his swords, preparing to attack from different angles.

"But he has chosen me..." I replied with a cold smile on my face and put extra strength into my swing, sending Korkas flying again.

"Impossible..." He coughed blood and started screaming. "I curse you!"

"But you have no power to do that." I laughed as I raised my sword and tossed it straight at the Void Born.

•••

Amber stared, somewhat unseeing, at the meadow in front of Avalon before focusing on three prominent places. Off to the east, Zephyr was facing off against Kneht, even as Zeus battled Jilai across the horizon. Between the two, shrouded under the veil of impenetrable darkness, her beloved was locked in single combat with their most dangerous enemy. Irene, Luna, Hestia, and Aoi stood beside her with the ever-present Praetorians and an additional three legions who awaited her following command while remaining perfectly silent. The unholy hordes of dark cultists and monsters pressed forward, insulting her home by lobbing stones at the pristine walls of her husband's castle. The siege golems hurled large boulders that disintegrated once they came in contact with the barriers created by Stella and empowered by Hestia. She glared at the heretics and traitors of this world with scornful eyes as they defiled the very air and earth around them. The barrier that prevented the intruders from reaching Avalon seemed to finally have broken under a constant barrage of the chaos mages and the once emerald fields of Avalon were trampled and burned in large swatches as the dark horde breached into the lower castle.

"Kill them all," Amber ordered with a cold voice.

The horde was welcomed by the relentless barrage of arrows and spells that tore the enemies and the ground they stood upon indiscriminately. Their shields failed as they fell one by one in the onslaught. The hordes pushed forward; people tried hiding behind the enemy dungeon monsters, but they soon realised that they were not inside the castle but between the two mighty walls instead. The entire enemy army was welcomed by Legio Aegis in full battle formation, waiting in the breached zone. The two other Legions that protected the rest of Avalon deployed their archers, mostly on the walls near the expected intrusion site. Amber, with Luna, had prepared that plan before a minor consultation with Theon, who had approved the idea of an ambush.

Hestia raised her hand towards the sky and, from her pointed finger, shot a blue light that made one of Avalon's barriers flash rapidly and solidify once again, trapping the enemies inside. Once the attackers realised there was no escape, their focus was divided between the Legion that butchered their weak first lines and desperate attempts to destroy the barrier that cut off their way out. While the barrier was not even as remotely durable as physical walls, it was enough to create chaos in enemies' ranks. With all of their casters committed to destroying the barrier, their warriors couldn't match the combined attacks of the forces of Avalon.

"Moonlight Bullets!" Luna sent fifty orbs of silver light that expanded like a deadly flower from her hand towards the enemy mages. Each one of the silver droplets hit the target, killing the enemy mage on the spot.

"Arcane Flame!" Amber sent a ball of blue flame towards the second group of enemy mages that exploded, leaving a small crater.

"Preserve your mana, girls." Irene looked at Amber and Luna, who slightly nodded.

"That's right... If any of those three lose their battle, only we can stop the Void Touched. And if Theon is going to lose, then we would have to combine our powers." Hestia nodded. "I really hope that won't happen..."

"You are right..." Amber sighed, and she waved her hand towards the group of enemy mages that tried to regroup.

The archers instantly targeted the group and sent a deadly payload towards them, killing most of them and making survivors panic. Luna, in the meantime, calmly observed how the infantry was fighting with the groups of mercenaries and slavers. The enemy lacked commanders skilled in the art of war and it was obvious that despite being strong, those warriors couldn't match the Legion. It was not a one-sided battle though either. Some of the enemy groups were better than others, even successfully standing their ground. However, in the long run, their efforts were meaningless, causing only minor inconveniences. Aoi observed the distant golems and their summoners who had no idea how bad the situation was for their army. After all, they merely watched one of Hestia's illusions, so they were fully convinced that their compatriots were the ones who were winning.

"Hussars, cut down the escape routes of enemy forces outside of Avalon. Crush them and let none survive!" Aoi gave an order, using her power as a Queen of Avalon.

The Heavy Cavalry hidden outside the castle moved in a few dozen groups to cut off any chance of escape for the enemy. Aoi received the confirmations from all unit leaders under her command and she closed her eyes. The hazy image quickly clarified and Aoi smiled when she saw the battlefield through the eyes of one of the Storm Eagles that was circling above. She clearly saw the ranks of enemy summoners, poorly covered by the intermediate cloak spells. She also discovered, with mild surprise, that Korkas had saved a few infantry battalions for later. The Hussars moved swiftly, not giving the enemy any chance to spot or hear them, thanks to the distance between them. The Cavalry was a new concept in the military doctrines, but she loved them, though she was torn between the beauty and power of the Winged Hussars and the freedom of seeing the world from above. Her thoughts returned on track once she received the confirmation that everything was ready and her troops were moving to the second part of her plan.

Aoi Sora va'Theon watched the charge of the Hussars with satisfaction, who had appeared at the rears of the enemy casters and summoners. The sudden cries for help and the screams of the dying made the remaining forces start turning around. The plan she devised to destroy the enemy forces outside Avalon was working perfectly. She was so focused on the movement of the attack that she almost heard the screams and panic when her Cavalry hit the open flanks of the enemy infantry. The Hussars' large horses cut the enemy formation in their wake while their raiders wreaked havoc, leaving only the dead behind. The enemy formation was in disarray and already under attack from the other side. The enemy tried to fight back, but they seemed to understand they had no chance. Once this realisation settled, many of them broke the lines, trying to save themselves.

She opened her eyes with a delighted smile and looked around. "I made sure that no one can escape."

"Excellent, Sister." Amber patted the golden hair of the Fifth Queen. "We are almost done here as well."

Aoi nodded happily and watched in awe as Luna directed the ranks of the Legio Aegis below. Her silent orders were immediately carried by the Heavy Infantry. Aoi watched the spectacle unfolding before her eyes. The Hastati and Principes suddenly opened paths between their impenetrable shield walls, through which the Triarii pushed forward, surprising the enemies. The unstoppable wall of death was too much for the bleeding and overstrained ranks of Cridians. The charge of Triarii not only broke their spirits, but destroyed their formation, leaving them at the mercy of the warriors of Avalon. A mercy that would never be given.