Aloran helped train the four of them at first, but Lani found that he was figuring things out faster than the others, to the point that Aloran had to hire a personal tutor to keep up with his pace.

Though he had fragments of Aloran's memories, it was spotty at best. Those gaps in knowledge were being fixed rather quickly, and he was beginning to learn his and Aloran's purpose.

They were guardians. The people in this city were not particularly good at fighting, so Lani and the rest had to be strong enough to take on anything that came their way

Aloran started taking them on excursions, fighting with them. He oftentimes had to go much deeper into the caves to find any monster that posed even the slightest threat, killing the denizens of the deep. Lani found his leveling incredible, and in just three years he was level two hundred and fifty.

He loved the time he spent with Aloran, but the more he learned about the world, the more afraid he became. Not because a monster in the dark scared him, but because he was afraid of losing Aloran and the others.

He was afraid that, at some point, he would end up alone. Like Aloran was for so long.

The thought planted itself deep within him, at the very core of his being. The fear drove him forward, and the other of Aloran's equipment followed his feverish pace of building strength. He didn't want to lose the life he had, the one he cherished.

* * *

Decades went by, then centuries.

Much to Lani's dismay, his power slowed drastically. In three years, he was level two hundred and fifty. In three hundred years, he'd hardly cracked the five hundred mark.

He was warned many times in his younger years. That it became exponentially harder to level up as you went, but the power was greater at each step. Still, he didn't like it.

The others wanted to slow down a bit. They'd trained hard for three hundred years, and very little could fight them now. Every battle was easier than the last, any worthwhile challenge near impossible to find. Now that they were past level five hundred- the level cap for average beings- Amaya, Moren, and Jasmine wanted to stop. They wanted to appreciate the life they had, and love each other.

But Lani couldn't, he had to keep pushing them.

He found out early on that he had an affinity to Wrath, and it was this affinity that insisted he keep going. He didn't know what Rule of Wrath pertained to strength, but he was sure that something within him would never be satiated until they were undoubtedly the strongest.

Level five hundred was the cap for most creatures, but the noteworthy ones could go further. It was the cornerstone where legends were born.

To surpass level five hundred, a being had to be made of sterner stuff, their bodies breaking down under its own power if they weren't. Luckily, Lani and the others were made from one of the rarest and strongest metals in existence. He didn't know their level cap but considering he was level five hundred and three, he knew it wasn't five hundred.

The others were happy. Content.

He wasn't.

He was consoled by only one fact: Aloran himself never pushed one way or the other. He was happy to let Lani and the others argue with each other, and he said he would go along with whichever they decided.

Lani took this as confirmation that Aloran, at least slightly, agreed with Lani. There was reason to be afraid. There was a reason to vie for the impossible heights of power. Lani would reach it, and he would drag the others up, kicking and screaming if he had to.

* * *

Four hundred years. It'd taken them four hundred years to go from level one to level six hundred, but they did it.

It was here that Aloran dropped something of a bomb on them. He could no longer carry them through every battle. The monsters they had to find now would even put him down if he dropped his guard. It'd been so long since he'd advanced his level, but Aloran was starting to level up again now.

The others began to fear for Aloran, not wanting him to be put at risk, but this is where Lani doubled down.

It was exactly now when they had to keep going. Their coordination was sloppy, impractical. Though they had drilled together frequently and would succeed in theory, only real combat with real threat would sand away the edges. He ranted and raved, the other three pulling back against his insistence. They would be gaining levels much slower now, without being practically hand-fed experience, but that wasn't what Lani wanted anyway.

Lani wanted to become a well-oiled combat machine with the others, and it was only now that they could truly reach their full potential.

He would whip them into shape, just as Lani Jurae once did to Aloran. Without Lani Jurae's fierce insistence on Aloran's skills, Aloran would have died many times over.

He brought this fact up to them, and only then did they acquiesce.

'For Aloran. For Amaya. For Moren. For Jasmine. For them, I will push us further. For my family.'

* * *

Five hundred and thirty two years. It took five hundred and thirty two years for Lani to be proved correct.

And he hated it. He hated that he was right.

Getting briefed on the enemy forces closing in now, Lani felt like his worst nightmares were coming to life. He always hoped he'd be wrong… but he always knew he was right.

Now, they were all almost level six hundred and fifty, but their power had grown in leaps and bounds. Faster than their class and profession levels, their coordination was pushed to greater heights than ever. They were not the same people they'd been a hundred and thirty years ago.

They would have to be better. For everyone, they would have to be more.

Looking over the war board, they studied what little information they had. Scouts had used communication stones to report the enemy numbers at the cost of their own lives. The sacrifice would not be forgotten.

They were still unsure how the demons had pierced Aloran's divine domain of Refuge, but it didn't matter right now.

The scouts estimated tens of thousands strong, an average number for demon-kin sieges.

The unusual aspect was their levels. In the mass-scan the scouts had deployed, they detected that not a single one was below level two hundred, with two demon-kin at level seven hundred.

It was an apocalyptic force. Anyone else, any other city, would be squashed before the council could arrive.

They knew Aloran was here, and they'd planned for it. The demon was a frugal bastard, always using just enough force so that he could save his resources for another front. The demon was using just enough numbers to ensure no survivors would make it out. Lani hoped he didn't account for their new strength.

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The evacuation was underway as people tried to buy time for reinforcements to take this front down. They initially wanted an army of Shamans to meet the demon-kin on the field with them, but this was a coordinated attack. Multiple other villages, ones without manifested Gods protecting them, were pulling on the resources of the Shamans. Luckily, a few of them had instantaneous communication stones, and Oura was teleporting people around while shoring up defenses as necessary. He'd be stretched thin, so Lani didn't count on his help. Besides, this was a battle that would turn even Oura into little more than collateral.

No, they were on their own. Only him and his family could save the citizens. Aloran knew it too, so he didn't wait a single moment longer. They would not wait for the demon-kin to get close to the city, they would meet them halfway.

Aloran quickly instructed the guard captain to get as many out as they could. The man's bloodshot eyes told Lani that he'd already figured out how Aloran would respond to the invasion, and might not come back.

Trusting the structure of the city to handle things, Aloran wasted not a single moment more, sprinting to and jumping over the walls towards the army. He tried sticking to straight tunnels where he could, but he shattered the stone walls where he couldn't. The further they were from the city, the less people would die. Divine spells and powerful Skills were never small.

When finally the army was within Lani's sphere of perception, he knew they would need to pull out every stop. There would be no holding back.

Aloran did not slow as they came into view, charging up everything he could into the very first strike. He'd been charging it since they left Alora behind, they wouldn't get another chance at a charged attack once the fight started.

With a roar, he swung Jasmine in a wide arc as Jasmine herself activated multiple Skills.

An ocean of cuts flew out in a wide cone, catching the entire army in its grasp. A thousand cuts, a million, a billion. Uncountable phantasmal blades shot through the air and earth, shredding the demon-kin.

For their part, the opposing army attempted to resist, putting everything they could into slowing down the blow. Thousands of barriers sprung up, but an attack like Aloran's could never fully be denied.

Hundreds of kill notifications sounded. Hardly a drop in the bucket, but they needed to start somewhere.

Only two places in the army were unscathed, and Lani knew they'd located both level seven hundred demon-kin.

Aloran continued pushing into the heart of the armies. The chaff would struggle to harm him, but Aloran knew that the enemy's attacks would catch other demon-kin in it. His job was not just to win, but to allow as few demon-kin past as possible.

He felt an attack from one of the high tiers approach, and dodged to the side through hard stone. Behind him, a gargantuan metal rod collapsed hundreds of tunnels, crushing more enemies.

The second noteworthy combatant sprayed a cone of focused fire towards Lani and his family, but Amaya said to ignore it. She absorbed the attack fully, exploding outwards and melting everything within hundreds of feet of them.

Moren kept them from falling down, and they now had a visual on the two elite monsters.

Demon-kin, as a race, technically did not exist. Demons could never make anything original, only stealing or destroying. When demon-kin were made, they took on the shape of an already-existing race, stealing its racial bonuses as well. The only difference was the grayed out or monochrome look to them, seeming perpetually bland.

Lani saw that they faced a Grovyn- a plant based sapient with a tangle of vines in the middle as its main body- and an Arachnotaur- a cow-headed humanoid with six clawed arms, two legs, and monstrous strength.

The Grovyn was the first to launch itself towards Aloran, and Moren cast explosive magic to blow away the Arachnotaur before it could join the fray. Lani played a helper, focusing on using Skills that would enhance his family's capabilities and speed of casting.

Aloran swung Jasmine like a lumberjack, cutting away the whipping vines of the Grovyn, but the demon-kin had more than just physical attacks. Swarms of vines shot out, penetrating the earth. Where the Grovyn touched, hundreds of trees, grasses, and other plants grew, spewing out spores and pollen.

Aloran knew he didn't want to be here as the Grovyn set up its own domain skill, so he bolted to a different part of the demon-kin's forces. He'd need to keep moving anyway to kill the maximum possible as collateral.

The Arachnotaur exploded- literally- in Lani's vision, hundreds of weaving fireballs spinning around the caves and melting through stone, all attempting to converge on Aloran.

Lani deactivated his helper Skills and sent out mental disruptive pulses as Moren sent out magical disruptive pulses. Aloran kept on the run, weaving in and out of the army as the meteors that chased him bowled through any and everything.

When finally Lani managed to disrupt the control over a single meteorite, it went off hard enough to bring down a collapse tens of kilometers wide, crushing thousands more demon-kin. It would not kill them, but it would slow the army.

Only eight seconds passed since Lani's family met the demon-kin army. If they kept up, they would make it

* * *

Rumbling explosions rocked everything. There was no sense of caves anymore, only dirt and stone. All the monsters that mattered in this battle were completely unhindered, both seeing through the stone and practically phasing through it with how little it slowed them.

Every clash was an eruption that beat back the rock and crushed hundreds more demon-kin. Every parry deflected a blow that could rend a mountain. The Grovyn continued to grow, its vines whipping into a storm of undodgeable blades. The Arachnotaur never tired, every single hit containing the full force of the very first.

Lani thought it'd used its biggest attacks right at the start, but every single Skill or punch after was just as strong as the first. It must be an endurance focused creature.

Endurance focused, but it could match Lani and his family blow-for-blow.

* * *

One hour after the start of the fight, Aloran was no longer fighting back, only evading. Moren tried where he could to help narrowly evade each attack at the slimmest of margins. Both monsters were clearly focused on drawing the fight out as much as they could. The Grovyn slowly became stronger, growing infinitely over the space, while the Arachnotaur was much more mobile, with explosive strength to match.

The Grovyn cut off Aloran's escape, the Arachnotaur beat into Aloran like a hammer.

* * *

Three hours after the fight started, Lani began to plan. If they wanted endurance. They would get endurance. It would require… sacrifices, but it was their only hope. In just three hours, it was clear that Aloran would not last in a prolonged battle. Not as he was.

As long as his family members could be united once more after the battle, Lani knew they would be happy.

* * *

One day after the start of the fight. They no longer even tried to catch demon-kin in collateral, simply closing off all exits to prevent them from chasing the civilians. The force was still around three thousand strong. Too much. They would have to focus on cutting it down… later.

Lani originally wanted Aloran to pretend to flag, but Aloran didn't need to pretend at all. He was flagging. The constant strain of Skills drained his mana and energy. It pressed against his very soul, threatening to break it. Despite his godly might, Aloran was still human at his core. He wasn't endlessly enduring like Lani and the others.

For now.

* * *

A day and a half after the start of the battle, Lani said it was time. It was time to bet it all.

They would either walk out of this whole and stronger than before, or they would die horrible deaths having failed the entire society.

They all scrounged together what little mana they had left for the final move, and Aloran sent one final message to them.

"If I don't make it back from the other side… I want you four to know that I love you. I love you all, and you've made the centuries worth living."

"Enough about that!" Lani said, and the others talked over him simultaneously, getting their words out. "These last few centuries are nothing to the millenia we will continue to live. No more whining! I… but… I love you too. Come back to us Aloran, prove your life to Grim."

Finally, it was time. They could never strike the Arachnotaur, not for anything that mattered, but if Lani's plan worked, the tides of battle would change.

Finally, Aloran let it happen. He let the Arachnotaurs claws strike him directly.

Piercing cleanly through his chest, destroying his heart.

The Arachnotaur itself looked surprised to have succeeded, but did not waste the chance, ripping a large gash out of Amaya and causing complete organ failure. Horrible magic pumped through Aloran, dropping his HP faster than he could blink. The Arachnotaur grabbed Aloran by the neck, no doubt going for one final finishing blow, when he paused.

Lani knew what it was, he'd just seen Aloran's soul pass on, guaranteeing the man was dead.

In that single moment. In the nanosecond of its guard being lowered, Lani and the others struck. Lani took control of Aloran's corpse, swinging upwards with Jasmine as she released a fully-charged bladestorm. Moren cast terrible flaying magic, and Jasmine launched the Arachnotaurs own attack back at it as Lani hit it with the strongest, most mind-shattering blow he'd ever cast.

In the nanosecond of hesitation, the Arachnotaur was dead.

There was no time for celebration though. The battle was only half done, as there were still thousands of demon-kin and a Grovyn to slay. They needed to keep Aloran's body intact from any more damage, slowly healing up what was temporarily broken.

Lani had long studied the phenomena of resisting death. He worried for Aloran, and looked for any way to ensure his survival. To face the Grim Reaper, specific characteristics were required of someone in specific situations.

Lani believed in Aloran. He believed he would be back. They just needed to give him time to finish his confrontation with Grim.

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