Smoke and ash spewed from the opening in the ground, like a gateway to the pits of hell. By concealing themselves in the artificial ravine, the horde had avoided detection. But so had they cut off any easy means of escape. Some desperate critters tried scaling the cliff face of the gorge to get away from the funeral pyres that Velastra had conjured at random. Or the whirlwind of death that was Ignar.

But Jenny and the Abyssal Wolves stood watch at the rim. Any creature—or human—who managed to get to the top were met with icy mist and hungry shadows, before being flung back into the chaos below.

The audience to the carnage just stood at the cliff edge, waiting in anticipation for their turn. Aenon though, had his eyes on something else. His Sovereign's Eye showed the humans gathering into one location, desperately avoiding the stampede all around them. What was left of the group anyway. Only five of the former group were left, and they had sealed themselves in some protective barrier. But it wasn't the barrier that snagged his attention.

It was the spell that was being channeled: space wisps. Within a few minutes, the spell was complete as the humans completely vanished. They were escaping. But unlucky for them, their spell only teleported a few kilometers away, well within his Sovereign's Eye range.

"Thalindra," Aenon commanded. "Take charge of the assault. I'll deal with the rats."

"Got it, Lord Fenrast," Thalindra replied, the other soul mage no doubt having sensed the escapees. She quickly asked, "What about the survivors?"

Aenon turned back to meet her gaze, his voice stone cold.

"All I see is a mass grave that they themselves dug."

With the declaration, he turned towards his fleeing prey and disappeared into the Shadow Realm—a silent dark spot racing across the land. He didn't have to use Shadow Meld, but he felt like he was close to a breakthrough. His suspicion that the ability was rooted in the void had grown, as had his mastery over the spell. The mysterious mana around him swirled in delight, as he ran full tilt through the parallel dimension.

It took him almost five minutes to catch up to his quarry, which meant it would be Jenny's turn to wreak havoc. Aenon regretted not being there to witness it, but he couldn't let this splinter group return.

At least, not all of them. And not without experiencing true despair.

He halted a few dozen spaces away from the panic-stricken group. Their strength was laughable, borderline comical in fact.

Human | Mage | Level 65

Human | Mage | Level 62

Elf | Warrior | Level 78

Human | Mage | 60

Human | Mage | 61

Aenon was surprised that one of their members was an elf. And the man seemed to be in charge. At least he would appear to be in charge once he stopped shivering.

"What the hell was that?" a blue robed mage exclaimed, fresh sweat dripping onto his already soaked clothes. "I thought we had concealed ourselves well. And… and… who the hell attacked us?"

Aenon didn't immediately attack, choosing to study his prey first. If they let him know of their plans, it would be so much easier than extracting it from them. He sat down on a nearby branch, hidden away from his clueless victims.

"How did an army get through? Why didn't our informant warn us of this?" the man continued demanding answers from his superior.

But their leader was in no position to reply. He was still hyper ventilating from the shock. A female mage, presumably the second in command, spoke on his behalf.

"There was no army," the woman said in a clear disbelief.

"What? What do you mean? Then who the hell attacked us?"

"I…," she hesitated as though giving voice to her thoughts would seal her fate. "I got a glimpse of them. Standing up top."

Aenon felt pure terror coursing through her soul. They all had experienced his Aura right before the assault. But it seems only the woman had located his group.

"And?" the blue robed mage asked again. "How many were there?"

The woman's voice quivered as she spoke. "Seven."

Her statement was met with silent disbelief, herself included. No one could make sense of it.

"Seven? Seven what? Seven hundred?" the shocked man retorted.

"No. It was a group of seven, with a large Treant standing behind them."

"You must have hit your head during our escape," the blue robe scoffed, refusing to acknowledge the ridiculous information. "No one is foolish enough to assault a horde of fifteen hundred monsters with a party of seven."

"Only two of them attacked," the woman frantically shook her head. "The others…they were simply standing there."

The guy blinked several times before laughing dryly. "You need a brain scan if your delusions have reached such a degree. Too bad our whole technology was left behind on Earth. I would have administered the procedure myself just to see the amount of damage in your skull."

"You have got to—" the woman desperately tried to explain.

"Enough," the man cut her off before leveling his gaze on the yet to recover elf. "You promised us this plan was foolproof. That the artifact's control was unbreakable. And yet I felt my control on the monsters slip completely. That artifact isn't a dud, is it?"

When the elf didn't answer, the blue robes guy walked forward and laid a solid slap across the elf's face. That finally made the guy snap back to reality.

"You can have a mental breakdown on your own time," the irate human demanded. "I lost a lot of henchmen on this scheme of yours. You better have an explanation for the screw up."

The elf shook his head to collect himself. Only after the gentle coaxing from the woman next to her did the guy calm down enough to respond.

"The artifact's control is absolute," the elf spoke in a low whisper. "But nothing can overcome primal fear. And that Aura…"

The elf's voice trailed off, his eyes replaying the horror concealed within.

"What the hells' an Aura," the mage shot back. "You never mentioned anything of the sort before."

"You felt it, didn't you?" the elf responded glumly. "That oppressive feeling right before the devastation."

"You mean the Fear spell? So? Some warrior has a stronger version of it. Big deal."

"Its not—"

The voice died in the man's throat as Aenon unleashed his Aura. He smirked as he stepped forward at a casual pace, having heard enough for now. These humans were obviously from Earth and severely lacking in any more important information.

All five froze in an instant, their very souls laid exposed to his glare. His Sovereign's Eye had gotten stronger. He didn't even need his mask's active ability to inflict paralysis on these weaklings.

"This…," Aenon said in a deliberate cold voice. "Is an Aura. Not a warrior's Spell, but the weight of my existence upon this world."

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Aenon could feel the panic rising from within their souls as they watched his shrouded form approach them. Any thoughts of retaliation or defense were swept away as he cast Kingdom of Darkness, plunging the area into the abyss.

He walked up to each of them one by one, analyzing their souls closely. There were no traces of foreign soul fragments on any of them, not even the elf. But he did sense the familiar mix of weakness and false pride that he often associated with tyrants. Such people thrived by showing their superiority to the less fortunate, but cowered at the mere glimpse of someone with power. All fight had left them, making them unworthy of dying to his hands. But they still had their use.

"How many more of such monster pits are there?" Aenon asked as he stood before the elf. His piercing grey eyes burned away any thought of resistance.

The elf stammered, unable to string together two coherent words. Aenon felt the man's soul unravel in real time, before losing consciousness.

"Tch," Aenon scoffed, before turning to the others. "Guess you will be answering on his behalf. How. Many. More."

He enunciated each syllable as he circled them slowly.

"Nine…teen," the female mage managed to blurt out. "That we know of."

Aenon stopped and regarded the response. If each pit had more than a thousand…they had a army of well over 20,000 heading their way. Even with the city's strongest defenses, they wouldn't stand a chance. It was no wonder the Alliance felt confident that they could win.

If it was merely fighting their way through, maybe they could do it. But protecting the citizens while facing the army was an impossible task. Unlucky for the Alliance, Aenon's party excelled against the impossible. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind.

Aenon approached the most vocal mage from the group since the other two hadn't said a word so far. The poor guy made the unfortunate mistake of looking right into his eyes, deepening the paralyzing effect.

Aenon made his mask disappear to dispel his mask's passive. They couldn't see his face anyway.

"What is the Alliance planning to accomplish with this assault," Aenon said, not even bothering to lace his words with Aura.

"The mistress…," the man stammered. "She wants to setup something called a Domain."

"Is she an Awakened," Aenon asked with a frown.

"I…I don't know what that is."

Aenon considered this new piece of information. So far, none of the information channels Henry and Thalindra were working on had uncovered this bit. There also wasn't an indication that the Alliance had an Awakened amongst their ranks. But looking at how uninformed the group before him was, it wasn't surprising. They definitely wanted to prevent key knowledge from spreading.

Aenon turned to the elf, the only one with the possibility of having any useful information. A plan started to coalesce in his mind. He dragged the five into his shadow, before dispelling the darkness. He could continue the interrogation at a later time. For now, he wanted to return to his team. It was almost time for his turn.

As Aenon returned, Jenny was tagging out along with the wolves. More than a third of the monsters were already culled as Boff and Toff jumped into the fray. Facing such a wide assortment of monsters from all sides in such a controlled environment was invaluable experience for everyone. Especially for what came later.

Jenny had various cuts and bruises all over, none of which even slowed her down. She turned to Aenon right as he reached the group.

"You missed my turn," she pouted, completely ignoring the vicious gash on her face.

"Sorry," Aenon tried to pacify. "I had to catch some rats."

Thalindra walked up and cast a healing Spell, which stitched the wounds without leaving any scars.

"And I had to forgo my turn since I was overseeing the operation," Thalindra remarked while channeling her Spell.

Aenon turned to the fighting arena, admiring the twins in action. The familiar earth spikes were erupting all around them. And they definitely held more power than his Blooming Earth.

"Guess I won't have much left, by the time you are done," Aenon observed succinctly.

So far, this entire exercise hadn't even come close to being life threatening. In fact, Talia and her grandmother had left the safety of the Treant and were sitting on a conjured platform. The wild girl was cheering in excitement, her words egging the twins to push harder.

"Should have pulled rank to go first," Jenny quipped.

"How far did they get?" Thalindra asked. No one even assumed that they had managed to give Aenon the slip.

"The morons were busy chatting at the rendezvous point," Aenon said dismissively.

"I swear, their incompetence is just jarring," Thalindra said while shaking her head. "How they managed to subdue multiple cities is beyond me."

Silence settled on the group as the dwarves were running out of time. Aenon could feel the anticipation from Thalindra. This would be her debut battle in front of their core group. Everyone else had shown some level of their fighting experience before.

The life-death dual affinity mage approached the edge, her restlessness growing with each second. Jenny looked at Aenon, silently pushing him forward. She dragged everyone else to where Talia was.

Aenon approached her slowly, standing next to her as they both looked on.

"Nervous?" Aenon asked simply.

"Huh?" Thalindra remarked, coming back to reality. "Uh, no. I mean…"

"Bane has already updated me on your fighting style," Aenon continued, not turning towards her.

Familiar doubts started to resurface in her soul, strengthening some of the chains.

"That is why I am giving you just 5 minutes," Aenon said with a smile. When she turned to him with shock and confusion, he added with a wink. "Otherwise there really won't be any left for me."

Thalindra's doubts began to simmer down as she looked at his calm expression. Aenon knew why she was afraid. It wasn't the possibility of failure or injury. She feared showing how effective of a calamity she could be. She was afraid of the judgement from others.

"Heh," she chuckled. "You still won't have much left once I am through."

She gave a confident smile, her worries getting washed away. By showing her that he expected her to cut loose, Aenon had quelled some of her doubts.

As the time ran out the dwarves made earthen platforms to scale the steep cliff.

"Bahaha. That be more fun than I had in a long time," one of the twins hollered.

"Bahahahaha. Pretty sure I got more than you," his brother ribbed.

"In your dreams…"

Aenon tuned out the bickering, his gaze focused on the next combatant. The familiar feeling of life mana radiated from Thalindra as she cast healing Spells on the twins before making her way to the edge. Aenon too walked over to the others.

Everyone was nervous. Despite knowing her power, no one had ever seen Thalindra fight. Even Aenon had heard excerpts from Bane. Sending a healer to confront hundreds of monsters was pure stupidity by all standards.

Time slowed as everyone regarded the woman who stood with her feet at the edge of the cliff. Aenon sensed her emotions simmering down, before extinguishing completely. Unlike Jenny's Awakening, which muted her emotions, Thalindra's stilled completely. Like death.

She turned towards her audience, her soul utterly empty of any signs of life. Her skin started to turn pale, while her eyes started to sink in. Within seconds, her complexion resembled a draugr. Even her hair transformed, becoming ethereal as they started floating despite the wind.

But her eyes didn't lose the familiar care as she smiled.

"My turn," she stated, her voice raspy like an eldritch ghost. She took a step back, but to everyone's surprise her form floated in the air. Everyone saw her take a deep breath as she turned towards the horde.

"Might wanna cover your ears for this one," Aenon stated simply. He cast a wind barrier around them to dull the effect of what came next.

Keeeeeeiiiiiyaaahhh!

A banshee's shriek split the air, high and jagged, like glass grinding against bone. Even through Aenon's barrier, it rattled their teeth and clawed into their skulls.

And with that call, Thalindra vanished. Everyone exchanged confused glances, except Aenon. He could still sense Thalindra's incorporeal form floating towards the closest enemy. As she passed through the deer like creature, it simply dropped to the ground lifelessly. So did the dozen or so monsters that lay in her path as she reached the ground.

What followed wasn't a fight, it was a reaping of souls. Thalindra stalked the field like an invisible specter, her enemies dropping like flies at her slightest touch. There was no defense against her assault, as she travelled the entire basin, untouched and undetected. Only magical barriers could block her attacks, something the monsters didn't possess.

Aenon could sense the mana drain on her soul. In a typical fight, this method was unsustainable. But she wasn't aiming for a prolonged fight. She just wanted to show everyone what she was capable of. And looking at the dropped jaws, she had definitely hit mark. Even Mrs. Ashvein, who was thoroughly unimpressed with all the demonstrations so far, looked interested.

Aenon sighed. "I should have given her even less time," he groaned.

Within three minutes, nothing that was alive stirred. In their place, undead monstrosities ran rampant, tearing into the walls mindlessly to reach the small group of the living.

Thalindra eventually returned, before transforming back to her usual self. She collapsed from exhaustion, Aenon barely managed to catch her in time. She looked guiltily at the aftermath of her rampage. A dogpile of undead were starting to climb over each other to get out of the trap.

"I…," she said while averting his gaze. "I can't control the undead that are born from my attack."

Aenon could feel the pain in her voice, her gaze desperately looking for validation. She didn't want to be feared by those she loved and respected. But she had taken a big chance by exposing her vulnerability. And Aenon knew he had to do something.

He put her down gently before approaching the cliff. Seeing him, the undead struggled with renewed vigor.

Aenon stood there for a moment at the precipice with his eyes closed. He outstretched his hand and started channeling. He dumped his entire mana pool to create the largest gravity bomb spell he had ever attempted. The dwarves had to erect earth walls to withstand the pull from the insane spell.

In a moment of inspiration, Aenon added something else to the mix: void mana. He never truly got any Spells from it, but he could feel its effect. As the unknown Spell coalesced, the orb turned a darker black. Even the undead who were trying to climb up began to flee in the opposite direction. Aenon unleased the Spell, the orb flying towards the center of the basin. It travelled at a sluggish pace, as even time and space were distorted. He raised his hand and waited for it reach the center. That is when he clenched his fist to detonate it.

Space itself shattered as the amalgamation of gravity and void mana erupted in a torrent. It sucked in everything indiscriminately, the undead flying helplessly to the event horizon. And the moment anything reached the borders of reality, it didn't get crushed. It simply ceased to exist.

Five seconds. That is how long it took for the complete destruction of the everything—alive or dead. At the end of which all that remained was a deep ravine with not a stone in sight. Aenon slowly turned to the horrified gazes of his team.

He tilted his head toward Thalindra.

"What undead?"

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