My eyes moved to the most heated place on the battlefield. The battlefield shook under Primus’s roar as he clashed with Herald again and again. Sparks of red flame and blue soul-fire collided mid-air, exploding like stars dying too close together. Both armies kept watch on them, breath held, waiting for the moment one of the two would fall.
And then Primus made his move.
He rotated his shoulders once and pulled his sword behind him. The air around the blade distorted, heat gathering in heavy waves that shimmered like molten glass. I felt the surge. Everyone felt it.
Primus roared.
"Blazing Wave!"
He swung downward with full force of his Essence and law comprehension.
A massive X-shaped burst of blazing fire screamed across the battlefield. It tore the ground apart as it shot forward, burning a trench through rock and sand, then crashed into Herald with a violence that shook the valley. The blue-armored patriarch of the Del Reys tried to block but failed.
The blast swallowed him whole.
A heartbeat later, a scream tore out of the flames.
When the fire settled, Herald fell from the sky, crashing into the dirt and rolling violently. Red fire burned along his ruined body. His right arm was gone. His left leg too. Only smoking stumps remained, charred black.
The Del Rey army screamed in horror.
"LORD HERALD—!"
Primus landed lightly, sword still blazing at the edges. His eyes were wild with hate.
"It’s over," he growled, walking toward the crippled man. "You die here."
But Herald was not finished.
His face twisted in agony, yet his hand trembled into his armor and pulled out a silver cube covered in runes.
My eyes narrowed.
Primus stopped only for a second and Herald slammed the cube into the ground.
The runes flared.
BOOM.
A shimmering field burst into existence, twisting the space around Primus. The air bent, light fractured, and suddenly Primus froze in place like an insect trapped in amber.
A space-lock.
Herald laughed through blood.
"You think... I came unprepared... for YOU?"
Primus struggled. Nothing moved not even his breath.
Herald lifted himself on his remaining limbs, desperation turning into madness.
"Kill him! Kill him now!"
For a moment, Del Rey grandmasters surged forward. And that was enough. I didn’t wait another heartbeat.
’Now,’ I commanded mentally.
Six auras answered. The hidden cloaked figures silently hovering in the air finally moved. And the entire valley changed.
Steve moved first. A blue spark ignited, then the spark became a streak, then the streak became a tear in space itself.
Steve shot forward like living lightning. He didn’t slow, didn’t hesitate, didn’t even fully appear, just a blue line ripping the battlefield apart.
The moment he reached Primus, he raised his sword and pressed it against the space-lock.
Blue essence roared.
SHRRAAACK!
The space-lock shattered like thin glass. Primus stumbled out, free again.
But Steve was already gone.
He’d already vanished again and reappeared above the Del Rey barrier. He slashed downward.
BOOM.
The barrier rippled once...
Then exploded.
Steve crashed into their frontline like a meteor, sending bodies flying hundreds of meters. Blue lightning crawled over the Del Rey soldiers, stunning, burning, ripping apart formations.
The Del Rey army panicked. Their fear spread like wildfire. But they didn’t have time to recover.
Because the wind moved. North vanished next. Just empty space for one instant and the next instant, she appeared inside the enemy army. Her dual blades flashed once. A curved line of shimmering wind spun out from her position and nine heads fell. Perfect, clean cuts. Her movement was invisible. Her expression calm and hidden under the cloak.
Then she moved again.
And again.
Bodies fell like leaves in an autumn storm.
Del Rey elites screamed, unable to even see her.
"Where—where is it—?"
"SOMETHING IS CUTTING US DOWN!"
"DEFEND—DEFEND—!"
But defending didn’t matter. They couldn’t defend against a ghost. And still...
The real nightmares had not joined the battlefield yet.
Lyrate lifted her hands beneath her cloak. The battlefield stilled for a heartbeat as an ancient, terrifying pressure gathered around her. Her voice followed. Soft, feminine, beautiful and echoing through the entire valley like a forest deity whispering into every ear.
"Forest’s Wrath."
The sky darkened.
The ground cracked.
And then—
A giant tree erupted from the earth in the middle of the Del Rey army.
It rose hundreds of meters tall, branches spreading wide, leaves shimmering with emerald fire. The shockwave threw soldiers into the air. Roots shot outward like serpents. And the slaughter began. Roots burst through armor. Wrapped around bodies. Crushed entire squads. Dragged demons screaming into the earth.
Each time a root struck, it left behind tiny flower-like particles drifting through the air. The petals glowed softly.
Beautiful. Peaceful.
Then they exploded.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Fireworks of nature-energy tore the Del Rey army apart in clusters of twenty, fifty, a hundred at a time. The entire battlefield froze. Even Orobas and Platius stopped mid-swing, eyes wide.
Even Herald, still bleeding on the ground, stared upward with terror spreading across his ruined face.
"What... what is this...?"
The Bloodreaver army roared in disbelief.
"The tree, what kind of power is that?!"
The Ronics stared in shock.
Platius whispered under his breath, voice trembling, "Those cloaked figures... they’re not demons. They’re something else."
Primus looked over his shoulder for a brief second. He grinned.
The battlefield belonged to us now. The tide was in our hands. The Del Rey family’s fate was sealed.
In the middle of the chaos, a sharp whisper hit my mind.
Aurora."You’re going overboard. At this rate you’ll erase the entire valley."
Lyrate snapped back instantly, her tone sharp and offended."Excuse me? Who are you to scold me? I’ve been here longer than you, lightning girl."
Aurora huffed, a crackle of blue behind her voice."I’m pointing out that you’re killing half the battlefield by yourself."
"That’s the point." Lyrate replied sweetly. "If you’re too slow, just say so."
"Oh, please. I could erase this army faster than your oversized weed."
"Try it, spark."
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Of course they would start now .