The envoy had barely disappeared into the distant clouds when the entire battlefield finally loosened. Weapons lowered. Flames dimmed. Deathmist thinned and drifted away like dying fog. Even the air felt as though it had been allowed to breathe again.
Orobas hovered in the air for a few more seconds, letting his blood-fire settle. Then he took in the ruined city below and exhaled heavily.
"Everyone, put your blades down," he said. "We are done here."
The grandmasters around him nodded and began dispersing. Some flew toward the burning rooftops, others toward collapsed houses. The sky was full of scattered fires and rising smoke. A piece of the main district was still glowing red from the residue of Primus’s flames.
Orobas pointed at a group of four seasoned grandmasters.
"You four. Go put out the fires along the east wall. The buildings there are old, if the flames spread, half the district will fall."
They bowed and shot downward instantly.
He pointed at two more.
"You two, check the wounded outside the city barrier. Bring the healers from the inner ring. And someone clear the deathmist pockets stuck in the air."
One of them saluted. "Yes, ancestor."
Demons all over the capital moved at once. Some rushed to pull survivors from broken homes. Others carried buckets of water or summoned flame to burn away remaining deathmist. The Bloodreaver masters used their fire to melt rubble so they could pull people out from under it.
Dorian descended among them, barking orders with calm authority.
Even the ordinary demons joined in. Everyone picked up debris, carried broken wood, or supported injured neighbors.
Primus, still covered in faint embers of fire, helped lift an entire fallen beam with one hand so healers could reach a trapped family underneath. Steve moved from street to street with lightning speed, checking for anyone stuck under rubble.
North worked silently with a group of demons, using her wind to strip away dust clouds and reveal hidden survivors beneath stone piles.
I floated quietly above them for a moment, watching the scene unfold.
The destruction was massive but I had prevented all the deaths. Entire blocks had been crushed by falling abominations or scorched by explosions. But the demons worked with fierce determination. They did not cry or panic. They rebuilt.
Few minutes passed as the demons started working like a machine to get the city back up.
Orobas and family finally gathered together. He looked exhausted and weakened.
He stared at Primus for a long moment. His eyes softened.
"You are alive," he said with a small smile.
Primus looked tired but managed a nod. "Yes, grandfather."
Orobas turned to Dorian next.
"And you... are you an idiot to declare your own son dead?"
Dorian grimaced. "Father, we looked all over Armus. Anyone would have assumed he—"
Orobas cut him off with a wave. "I will scold you later. First tell me, what happened?"
Primus straightened. "I will tell you everything later. There are too many things to explain here."
Orobas narrowed his eyes. "Later, then."
Dorian stepped closer. "Father... did he really attack you?"
"Of course he did," Orobas snapped. "Do you think I’m lying here? If I had been one heartbeat late in waking up, you would be preparing for my funeral right now."
He shook his head.
"But what I cannot understand is how he arrived directly inside my chamber."
"We need to look deeper into this," Dorian said.
"We will," Orobas replied. "Someone guided him there."
As they were discussing the attack, North suddenly spoke up.
"What are those three doing there?"
All the demons turned.
Lying outside the broken entrance of the ancestor chamber were the three unconscious demons—Bonras, Luo, and Revie. They were sprawled across cracked stone.
Dorian frowned.
"Bonras went to summon you, but I have no idea what Luo and Revie are doing here."
They all moved toward the three unconscious demons in a tight formation, landing in a half-circle around the bodies.
Orobas stepped forward first. He pointed his finger one by one toward each of them. A pulse of red energy rolled through him.
All three of them began groaning and waking up.
Bonras jolted awake with a harsh gasp, coughing as he pushed himself upright. The moment his eyes settled on Luo and Revie lying nearby, his face twisted with fury.
"You two!" he shouted, voice cracking with anger. "You traitorous bastards!"
Orobas narrowed his eyes. "Explain."
Bonras pointed at Luo and Revie with a shaking, accusing hand.
"When I reached the chamber to summon you, these two appeared out of nowhere and surrounded me! They didn’t say a word, they just attacked. I had no choice but to defend myself. They knocked me out before I could even understand what was happening."
Orobas’s expression hardened. He turned slowly toward the other two.
As if on cue, Luo groaned and forced himself upright. Revie followed, rubbing his temples. Their eyes flicked from Orobas to Bonras’s accusing glare and panic instantly filled their faces.
"Ancestor!" Luo shouted. "He is lying! We didn’t do anything to him!"
Revie nodded quickly, words tumbling out in panic.
"We saw him speaking to someone in a cloak! When we went to check who it was, he attacked us and knocked us out. He’s the one hiding something!"
Bonras snapped back immediately. "Liar! I wasn’t talking to anyone!"
"You were!" Revie barked. "We saw you whispering—"
"I wasn’t whispering to anyone!" Bonras shouted.
"Then who were you looking at?" Luo shot back.
"Shut your mouth!"
Voices overlapped. All three demons argued loudly, each shouting over the other. Their words bounced off the ruined stone walls, mixing with the distant sounds of crackling fire and falling debris. The argument grew so heated that even nearby demons began watching, whispering among themselves.
Orobas finally lifted a hand.
The gesture alone was enough, silence slammed into the courtyard like a physical force. All three demons froze mid-breath, their mouths clamped shut.
Orobas scanned their faces slowly, one by one. His gaze moved from Bonras’s trembling anger, to Luo’s tight jaw, to Revie’s darting eyes. Then he glanced back at the destroyed chamber behind them, the shattered entrance, the cracked stones, the lingering traces of foreign energy.
"Enough," he said. "Either you two or Bonras is lying. And I have a way to know who. Hand over your storage rings."
Luo and Revie stiffened instantly. Their eyes widened before they quickly tried to hide their panic. They exchanged a brief glance before schooled expressions stretched across their faces.
"Ancestor," Luo said carefully, forcing a calm smile, "I... have some personal items in my ring. Private things. I would prefer if...."
Revie jumped in, nodding too fast. "Yes, ancestor. There are... things in mine too. It would be embarrassing if...."
Bonras didn’t wait for anyone. He yanked his storage ring off his finger and placed it firmly in Orobas’s hand.
Orobas raised an eyebrow at Luo and Revie.
"This is making you two look bad," he said bluntly. "And only I will be checking your rings. Your privacy will remain intact."