The white tower in the center of town ignited, a blinding ray of fire streaking from it across the mountains.

The distant landscape erupted with thermonuclear-like detonations wherever the tower's beam struck. The earth shook, and the sky was filled with a kaleidoscope of horrifying colors of magic setting the world alight.

The tower fired again and again, but the tide of men in skull masks seemed never-ending. Dave saw that many of them held their hands up in the air, forming dome-like magical shields over the crowd, protecting themselves and numerous others from the onslaught.

A massive hologram of the fat Emperor flashed into existence above his army, his bald visage a twisted display of arrogance and malice.

"City of Shandria. Lower your ward and surrender or perish," the rotund man spoke, his voice booming across the battlefield.

Another ray from the tower fired, defiant in the face of the God-Emperor's ultimatum.

"So you have chosen death," the fat Emperor said, his tone laden with menace. "Isekai!"

A grotesque, kilometer-wide sphere manifested into existence high above Shandria. It was made up of naked tiny shapes, people fused into each other, their forms twisted and distorted in a macabre display. It plummeted directly onto the central tower, punching through the clouds. The shield over the town held as the macabre sphere struck it, but at a terrible cost: the shield flickered momentarily and countless corpses rained down all around the city, a gruesome testament to the price of defiance.

Dave's ears rang as another ray of fire blasted from the city into the ever-growing force of the invaders, igniting firestorms across the mountains, the clash of powers creating a terrifying spectacle.

The trembling ex-programmer clung to the old crumbling bricks as the ground shook with earthquakes caused by the detonations all around him. More spheres made from people fell from the sky, pummeling the ward shield that protected the city.

"You are really testing my patience," The fat God-Emperor growled. "Iseeee-ee--eekai!"

He pointed one of his bloated fingers at the center of the tower. Dave squinted as a flash of countless people merged into a single point right above the shield. It wasn't a big sphere, but as the fat emperor pointed his fingers at it, Dave gulped as the mass of a single dot of people kept increasing. Eventually, the combined mass of the summoned became so great that air began to whoosh towards it.

The shield wobbled and shattered as a small black hole, formed from the absurdly high number of summoned heroes, came into existence right above the city.

"Advance!" The Gold Dragon God-Emperor ordered, and the tide of skull-wearing men moved forward.

A firestorm of spells erupted from them as they got closer to the city. The tower in the center of Shandria folded into itself as the catastrophic singularity sucked everything in, bending space and time.

The hexagrams stretching the city streets popped; buildings collided with buildings, and catastrophic explosions rippled across Shandria.

A firestorm spell struck the smithy lighthouse tower from the advancing horde, and Dave saw that Remicra rushed to try to shield him with her body. Her arrival did nothing to stop the spell from devouring the tower and both of them in brilliant flames.

Dave screamed as his flesh boiled and his eyes popped, the world around him collapsing into chaos and destruction.

. . .

The air was thick with the illusory scent of sulfur and burnt flesh as Dave's grip loosened on the dark, furry wrist.

With a scream of pain that seemed to reverberate through the very core of his being, he fell to his knees, curling up into a ball, desperately trying to protect himself from the invisible flames that threatened to consume him. His heart raced, pounding against his ribcage like a trapped animal, as he came to a slow realization that he was, in fact, still alive. He could feel the cold, clammy sweat on his skin. His body wasn't on fire, his flesh wasn't melting away with magical flames.

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"What... what the fuck was that?" Dave hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes filled with tears of pain and abject horror, as he stared up at the source of his torment.

Cedez looked down at him with a hostile scowl. Her ears twitched with barely contained annoyance.

"Shandria without my meddling," she replied in perfect English, her voice dripping with disdain. "Shandria without me defending it. The future, an alternative, parallel path in which I don’t exist. The ward showed you exactly what you wanted to see, the city without her Divine Shadow. Go on then, tell me how much I suck, how useless I am, you jerk."

Dave opened his mouth to speak, but the words were caught in his throat, strangled by the realization of just how much he had underestimated Cedez's importance in the grand scheme of things.

"Maybe I should go find a less rude hero to hang out with," the foxgirl mused aloud, getting off the bench and stretching her lithe, sinewy body. Her tail swished behind her, betraying her agitation. She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand, her eyes never leaving Dave's crumpled form. "Hrmmm? Someone who won't yell at me for being useless!"

The ex-programmer gulped, his adam's apple bobbing nervously as he struggled to find the right words to say. He knew he had crossed a line, but it seemed impossible to find a way back, difficult to find the words after his insane vision. Cedez stepped over his curled up form, her eyes cold and distant.

"Every slave collar, every red rune feeds the ward of Shandria power from its citizens, makes me what I am, helps me hold back the tide of endless monsters that wish this little domain gone,” the foxgirl uttered. “I’m as bound to this city as any given slave, except you can’t ever free me… because if the ward is gone, if I quit doing what I do… Shandria will fall.”

“Ir… errk,” Dave stuttered, unable to pull words out of himself as his teeth chattered.

“Have fun making Bakelite with your dragoness," she said with a sigh that seemed to carry the weight of regrets as she dropped the Rimzadria gate key on his curled up body. "Goodbye, Dave."

The dark foxkin quickly strode away.

. . .

Dave dragged himself back to the shed, each step heavier than the last, feeling as if the weight of his newfound knowledge was pressing down upon him. His mind was a whirlwind of emotions, the memory from the absolute charisma spell still burning within him like a dark reminder of the evil that Cedez was holding back with her Shadow.

The door to the shed creaked open, its hinges protesting against the intrusion as Dave stepped inside, seeking solace and refuge from his own thoughts. The rays of light cast long shadows on the walls, which seemed to close in around him, suffocating him with their oppressive silence.

"I heard screaming," Remicra commented, her voice cutting through the stillness like a knife. She looked at Dave's pale face, her eyes filled with concern, and she couldn't help but wonder what had transpired between him and Cedez. "What's going on?"

Dave hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to put into words the enormity of the revelation he had just experienced. Finally, he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, as if he was afraid that speaking any louder would shatter the fragile balance of the world around him.

"Cedez is the... ward of Shandria personified," he revealed, each word feeling like a heavy stone in his mouth. "She's the Sovereign, her Divine Shadow protecting the city, feeding on slave collars and pyramidal runes."

Remicra's eyes widened at the revelation, her mind racing to comprehend the implications of what Dave had just shared.

"I see," Remicra said. "I was wondering why I no longer feel like I'm getting years of my life and half of my mana sucked out of me."

Dave nodded, his eyes downcast.

"You firmly let her know not to screw with my head with her charisma bullshit and to stay away from our residence?" the dragoness asked.

"I did," Dave nodded, his face etched with lines of worry and regret. "I... don't know if she will be back. I think I've managed to really piss her off."

"Good," Remicra smiled, her lips quirking up into a wicked grin that revealed her razor-sharp teeth. Her eyes glinted with a mischievous light, as if she relished the thought of no longer having to share Dave's attention. "No more fox-shaped distractions. Come here and help me make bricks. This forge isn’t going to build itself."

Dave acquiesced with a nod, his shoulders slumping with resignation as he followed her through the stone shed. Together, they began the tedious task of making bricks from rune-expanded barrels filled with sand and clay that they pilfered from the smithy.

As they worked, Dave couldn't help but feel a growing sense of emptiness within him, a void that seemed to echo with the absence of the foxgirl’s cheerful smile.

He knew that he had made a mistake, and the consequences and the sight of Shandria and Remicra burning to ashes weighed heavily upon him. But even as he toiled away under the blacksmith’s watchful gaze, a small, stubborn part of him refused to give up hope that perhaps, one day, he might be able to make things right with Cedez.