Damien stood on a balcony, watching the approach of nine spirit lords from miles away. The others stood beside him, also watching as lightning illuminated their arrival.

All around the city, high-level cultivators—lord realm upwards—came out to watch as the spirit lords approached, their different auras blaring out. And at the forefront, the most powerful of them led the way—The Sun Emperor.

The emperor was clad in blood-red armour that emitted burning heat waves as he flew. His golden circlet rested on his head, glowing a dull colour. Even with his lack of sufficient height, the emperor looked majestic, like a sun god.

"How'd they get this close without being spotted?" Helera asked, worry leaking from her.

"They took the fastest route, the one you all didn't believe they'd use," Damien replied. It wasn't hard to understand. The fastest route towards the Kingdom of Camlen was straight across the borderlands, the least expected route.

They'd probably flown over, using the massive storm to mask their approach, no wonder the monarch scouts couldn't see them. Monarchs had good range on their perception, but they couldn't reach the heights where spirit lords could fly. They'd been expecting battle squads accompanied by at least a spirit lord or two. What they hadn't been expecting was that squad to be comprised of only spirit lords, led by the sun emperor himself.

Damien smiled, a chuckle coming out of him. "They played us, why take the expected route and have your approach monitored halfway from the kingdom when you can just fly straight from your capital."

They all turned towards him. "This isn't funny, they're already at our doorstep and the city isn't even prepared. With this much power, they could completely level this city." Danor said, looking distressed.

Brunos slapped him on the back. Despite the difference in stature between the two men, Danor didn't budge an inch. "Man up, Danor, you're a spirit lord, act like it."

They were all gathered, except for Keilan. The others stood around him as he watched the enemy's approach getting closer.

"What's our response, boss?" Brunos turned to him, the other following him.

Damien smiled, a strange sense of thrill filling him. "Why don't we go give our visitors a welcome party," he said as he began floating off the balcony.

Flying up to intercept, he called on somebody who had been absent for some time now. "Gray! You done?" He said in his mind.

[Hmm? Oh, uhm, yeah, just give me a little while.] The little grey man replied, sounding kind of sleepy.

"I don't have a little while,] Damien said, blasting the still-sleepy spirit with images of what was about to occur. "And why do you sound like you've just woken from a nap?"

[Oh, i see, I'll have to rush this, then,] he replied, totally ignoring Damien's question.

You see, the reason Gray hadn't been active for the past two days or so, was because he'd begun assimilating Damien's memories in order to better help him in battles and with his techniques. It had taken lots of convincing for Damien to finally allow the little man to fully delve into all his private memories and the emotions that came with them. For Gray to better assimilate, he and Damien should have been incapacitated for the better part of maybe two days, but Damien didn't want to go on any nap when he could be attacked at any moment, so they'd agreed that only Gray should go asleep. Damien had done without a spirit for the better part of his life, so he could do without one for just a few more days.

As he flew to intercept the emperor and his coterie, the others flew up to join him, taking positions on both his sides. The emperor had noticed them from the beginning, so he and his squad slowed down.

When they were half a mile between each other, Damien spoke. "Nice of you to visit, though you should have sent a message first," His lips stretched as a smile formed.

The emperor looked at him with piercing golden eyes that seemed as if they could bore a hole into his soul. "Why send a message when you could deliver it yourself," he replied, his aura spiking a little. Oh, my dear, you don't know what you've just walked into, Damien thought.

He laughed. "It's been a while since we last met, Solar," he said, the other spirit lords showed varying signs of infuriation at having their emperor's name be called so casually.

"You keep the emperor's name out of your filthy mouth, you heathen," one said.

The emperor raised his hands and the man quieted. "Stupid much? I don't know how some of you even got to spirit lord if you're this stupid." Damien said, riling them up even more.

"Gray! Anytime now!" He sent.

[As if it's that easy, do you know how hard it is to sort through your memories while sifting through every random thought that passes through your mind? No, you don't, that's why I said I needed you unconscious for this to work properly. Now you've got me working in unfavourable conditions, and still, you rush me,] he tsked. [No love for the fine arts of mind Cultivation.]

Damien ignored the ranting. "Just hurry up."

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"Do you think it a wise choice to intentionally anger my subordinates? After all, you're about to be dead. You wouldn't want to suffer first before you die, do you?" The emperor said, his confidence in their odds palpable.

"I don't care a rats ass what your subordinates think, and besides, aren't you a little too sure of yourself?"

The emperor looked at his own gathered group of two royalties, a renowned swordlord, and all their subordinates. "You've gathered quite a group, but you know one thing they all have in common? They've all lost to me." He said, a smug smile escaping his normally neutral features.

He looked at Fenore. "Didn't take you for one who would readily bow down to anyone."

She shrugged. "When you can't defeat the big bad villain, you get someone else to do it for you."

"Oh ho! Wow! I mean, we were always bad in you people's eyes, but to see us being called the villain, that's a first," Solar said, surprise on his face.

He turned to Brunos. "What's your take, you big brute?"

Brunos didn't answer at first, seeming to think about it, before he spoke. "When I took my throne, I swore to protect my kingdom and all who lived in it. You have threatened that and I'm not ashamed to say that I can't defeat you alone, so I've bent the knee to someone who'll help me protect what's mine." His honesty surprised most of the people gathered, as they'd expected him to spit curses and threats towards the emperor.

Getting a hold of his expression, the emperor finally turned to Danor. "What of you, Danor? You do not have a kingdom, so you don't have the same excuses the others have, so speak, let us know the reason for a renowned swordlord to bend the knee towards an unknown cultivator that wouldn't even tell us his origin."

"Me?" Danor chuckled, his earlier nervousness gone. "I'd rather serve somebody who'd take care of his business himself than someone who would frequently require me to do his bidding every time," they all knew who he was speaking about.

The emperor slowly nodded. "So what you all are saying is that Damien here is better than me?" When they agreed with a variety of answers like, yep, definitely, by far, the emperor made as if looking around. "I can't help but feel the absence of the most important person in your group. Where is Keilan? Damien," he asked.

Damien who'd mostly tuned out the conversation with the emperor and was arguing for Gray to work faster, replied. "Keilan? Oh, uhm, that's none of your business,"

"Brother's spat? What'd you do to make your own brother abandon you at this inauspicious moment?" The emperor said, a little twinkle in his eyes.

Damien was about to answer when he was interrupted. [Done! I'm done! Your brain has been tweaked and tuned! Booyah!] Gray basically yelled in his mind.

To Gray, he said. "Good! I was worried there for a moment. Let's do this,"

Turning to the emperor, he replied. "You know what? I'm no longer inclined to trade words with you. Let's take this up a notch, shall we?" He summoned his armour, not wanting to use Gray's armour form. A silvery grey glowing battle spear did appear in his hands though, two long blades jutting out at both ends and blazing with power. Everyone's attention was drawn towards the spear the moment it appeared.

"Nice weapon, don't worry, when you're dead, it'll find a better wielder in me," he said it casually, but Damien sensed the caution in the way he looked at the spear. The emperor summoned his own Warhammer. A large monstrous thing that glowed a dull golden red and emitted large amounts of energy—Not even half the amount Gray emitted.

The varying spirits lords around also summoned their armours and weapons. Fenore switched her long black dress for a form-fitting armour made of wood bark made from the corpse of a ten thousand year old ygg tree, even spirit lords would find an extremely hard time cracking such armour. A large war bow appeared in her hands, made from the same tree. A long thick arrow slowly formed on her hands, the tips glowing a blazing emerald. Her aura emitted the authority of a warrior queen, calming her people miles back in the city.

Danor equipped a silver armour with blue glowing lines running through it. White lightning crackled from the armour, while a simple sword appeared in his hands. One would have looked down on such a weapon if they couldn't feel the powerful cutting concept imbued onto it, along with the stability and perseverance concepts to further bolster it.

Brunos on the other hand always wore his armour and carried his weapon openly, so his red armour only began glowing a soft red, signifying the activation of enchantments within. Both his hammer and shield did the same, both imbued with powerful concepts of crushing and protection along with his armour which was imbued with the perseverance concept.

Together, they faced down the emperor and his own lords, matching them evenly with Damien facing down the emperor and his two spirit lord guards.

"You didn't think you could overwhelm us, could you?" He said, as his aura contested the emperor's for authority in the area, their auras alone enough to crush anybody lower than monarchs in the city, if not for the city-wide enchantments drawn under it.

The Emperor smirked. Seriously! What's with him and his sudden smugness these days, Damien thought. "Look again!" Behind the emperor's group, five spirit lord auras blared into existence as they appeared, massive heatwaves washing over everyone.

The inferno cult.

His smug face slowly died down when, instead of seeing Damien despair, his smile only grew wider. "You sneaky snake! You thought to invite the inferno cult to this party and you didn't even think to tell me! Thank goodness I invited mine too," behind Damien, over the city, an equal amount of spirit lord aura came into existence, bringing with them the shivering cold of the church of winter.

"Now, we're back to even footing," he said to the emperor. Beside him, his Emissaries looked at him with different emotions.

"With this much power, this fight could potentially level the city by mistake if we're not careful," Fenore said to Damien, fearing for her city. While Brunos only laughed, his voice booming like a madman.

"Don't worry about that, it's covered," he said to the worried queen.

"Gray, punch it!" He sent.

[Aye aye captain!] Gray replied as he did his thing. Damien began cackling like a mad wizard when he felt his senses enhanced, increasing his capabilities manifolds.

Normally, as a spirit lord, his senses were already far above what a normal human could perceive. He could sense and see people clearly from miles away. His hearing was so great that he could listen to any conversation from a whole city block without overwhelming him. His sense of smell could let him track anyone with just a sniff, all together, his senses were beyond ordinary mortal comprehension.

But what Gray did was take it to the next level. All his senses were significantly increased. He cackled as his eyes captured a mouse scurrying into a hole in a tree a dozen miles away. "Gray! Forget every awful thing I've ever said to you! You're the best!" He sent.

[I know I am, you like what you see?]

"I love it!"

The emperor had already gone back to his neutral expression, but a raging anger burned in his eyes as he panned his gaze from one opponent to another.

"Let's not delay shall we," Damien said. With that, he attacked. Lightening flashing and illuminating his move. The emperor welcomed him with a raised hammer.

And Gray laughed madly as he highlighted the different routes an attack would come from. [This is gonna be fun.]