General Peridot was a soldier at heart. Although he led his men into battle, he never forgot that he answered to his liege and country. He had often voiced his opinion and argued with his leadership, but never outright disobeyed.

It felt wrong that he was even considering it today.

"I beg you to reconsider, Your Majesty," General Peridot argued with his leader as they reviewed their army gathered outside Citadel Sapphire. "The risk is too great!"

Of all magmorians, none matched the Fire Sultan in size and power. His Majesty Onyx loomed more than twice as large as Peridot himself, with ember-wings and searing magma-flesh hotter than a volcano's heart; he was so hot that only his enchanted gauntlets and crown could withstand his body heat. His horned head and obsidian-fanged visage represented the fearsome perfection of the magmorian ideal. He had come prepared for warfare with a whip and sword of flames. His trusted Grand Vizier Malachite, a lithe, four-armed faceless humanoid statue of pale green gemstone, followed him everywhere, his single eye glowing with blue light.

"My decision is final, Peridot," the Fire Sultan said. "I shall lead our troops personally!"

"But with Princess Bloodstone on the frontline and Princess Topaz in custody, only Princess Alexandrite remains at home to guide Lavaland!" General Peridot argued. "Defeat here today would decapitate our nation's entire leadership and throw Lavaland into chaos!"

The Fire Sultan's eyes gleamed with fury. "Are you saying we could lose?"

General Peridot chose his next words very carefully. "I am saying the forces at play here are beyond anything we have ever confronted before," he argued, pointing at the red-streaked sky. The strange phenomenon had only grown in power over the last few hours. "We should expect the unexpected."

"I would advise caution, too, Your Majesty," the Grand Vizier said with his soft, metallic voice. "We should at least avoid concentrating all of our forces in one spot."

Grand Vizier Malachite had always been a tempering influence on his master—being a calm administrator to Fire Sultan Onyx's bright and charismatic leadership—but today, his pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Are you listening to yourself, you cowards?" the Fire Sultan snorted. "We possess this land's greatest army and the Eternal Flame's blessing! Moreover, Lady Pele warned us that the enemy we fight today will destroy all of Lavaland unless it is stopped!"

Lady Pele said many things that proved untrue. General Peridot kept those thoughts to himself, having confirmed that the goddess could hear anything within miles of her Altar.

"Moreover, look at our secret weapon," Fire Sultan Onyx said, upon waving at the great red-scaled behemoth ahead of the troops. "Who would dare stand against a dragon?!"

General Peridot wasn't so sure. Their own dragon was only slightly bigger than the one who attacked Citadel Sapphire and, from what little he had seen, much slower. He did remain quite the impressive sight with his black horns, thick red scales the color of molten rock, and yellow eyes. A black muzzle linked to a chain bound his great maw.

Princess Bloodstone, an elegant magmorian warrior carved of ruby enveloped in a suit of black armor worth half a kingdom's treasure, rode the beast's back. She held its chain with one hand and a barbed lash with the other.

"We are ready to depart at your command, Father!" she said, her flaming hair flowing with the wind.

"I am happy to serve, Mistress Bloodstone!" her dragon mount squeaked in response through his muzzle.

"Who allowed you to speak, Soumis?!" Princess Bloodstone lashed the dragon's backside, which he seemed to enjoy very much. "You dirty minion!"

"Forgive me, Mistress Bloodstone!" the dragon whined, the slight dash of pleasure in his voice making nearby magmorians wince. "Soumis has been a baaaad dragon!"

General Peridot suppressed a shudder. He had been quite happy when Lady Pele announced that she had secured the help of a dragon as her newest Champion, but his personality… left much to be desired.

"Now bring me the werelings," Fire Sultan Onyx ordered. "They will rethink their resistance twice once they see our strength."

Soldiers swiftly brought the wereling ambassadors to the Fire Sultan. A small regiment of Verglanian scouts appeared under close watch, led by Ambassador Sagesse and Rickart Coeurdelion. All of them had been disarmed and proved to be most unhappy about it.

"Is this how Lavaland treats its allies?" Ambassador Sagesse protested. "With threats and suspicion?"

"This is how we treat thieves and robbers!" the Fire Sultan snapped angrily. "Make no mistake, the Lady of Eternal Flame may insist that this Whiro's machinations are to blame for the frontier incidents, but I shall not forgive you for stealing my beloved daughter! I will demand compensation for this humiliation!"

"Compensation?!" Rickart the werelion growled. "You attacked us first!"

"At least allow us to help you scout ahead of your army once you march," Ambassador Sagesse argued. "We know the land better than you do. Our assistance may prove decisive in this clash."

"I second this proposal," General Peridot said. "The Ambassador's ability to fly would also enhance army communications."

"The wereowl's number-based sorcery would also supplement my offensive magic, Your Majesty," the Grand Vizier argued.

"As if I would put my soldiers' lives into beast hands!" Fire Sultan Onyx replied with a scoff. "You will stay at Citadel Sapphire under my general's watch, and observe from the sidelines how real warriors win battles!"

"Well-said, Father!" Princess Bloodstone reeled her mount. "Let us go, minion!"

"Oh yes!" her dragon yelped. "To be ridden and dominated by a true princess is the highest of pleasures!"

"Is yours also like this?" General Peridot asked his wereling guests. He couldn't suppress his curiosity even if he dreaded the answer.

Ambassador Sagesse audibly shuddered. "He's just as bad, but in a different way."

"You have my deepest sympathies."

All of Narc was on war footing.

Victoire reviewed the situation from the outer walls. Week after week of diligent siegework had steadily raised three layers of walls and fortifications around the sacred city, starting with ditches and barricades, then a moat backed by ice constructs, and finally stone defenses. No military force could break past such fortifications without taking terrifying losses, and they had gathered enough food to survive a long siege.

Nonetheless, Victoire remained acutely aware that their enemies wouldn't be a conventional army. Beelzebub fielded bugs and machines that could simply fly over these defenses, and the mysterious deity that challenged Lord Wepwawet beforehand could raise the dead and teleport around. They should expect anything.

Her god had sent them a telepathic warning half an hour ago that the enemy would come for Narc itself. All non-combatants were being evacuated through Lord Wepwawet's Idol to other areas across Verglane. Everyone else capable of carrying a weapon or of contributing would remain behind.

Lord Rickart and Sagesse were at Citadel Sapphire to coordinate with the magmorians; Goreville and Rapoleon had taken command of a group of skirmishers outside the walls; Jarlack led his own group of giant charioteers and wyvern cavalry ready for immediate deployment, backed by Lord Raymond's infantry; and finally, Wintresse held the walls with her legion of wand-artillers.

"We have completed the evacuation, Milady," Filou said upon joining her at the highest wall. Princess Topaz and her bodyguard, Jasper, were already there, observing the land which their nation had fought to seize by force. "We… we are ready."

"Good," Victoire replied before turning to Jasper. "I must say, I never imagined you would one day fight with us to protect Narc."

"The same goes for me," Jasper replied, his hand clenching on his claymore before whispering to himself. "I wonder if that's what he meant…"

"Jasper?" Princess Topaz asked.

"Nothing, my princess." Jasper glanced at Filou next, and his scimitar most specifically. "You carry that sword well."

"I-I'm not giving it back!" Filou protested.

"Keep it," Jasper replied with a shrug. "You've earned it more than I ever did."

The ground trembled soon after, which Victoire knew heralded the start of the most terrible battle of her life. Her grip tightened on her shield and spear, one an heirloom from Verglane's past, the other the symbol of the Glarmes' hope. Somehow, it felt as if her entire life had led her to this point.

"Prepare yourself," her god said in her mind, his tone far more subdued than usual. "Five, four, three, two… one."

The ground shook, and the rift in the sky swallowed the world.

Victoire had participated in enough godly battles to grow almost used to the appearance of the great barriers separating the battlefield from the rest of the universe, but today's transition seemed the most abrupt and violent yet. The area beyond her god's Influence vanished in an instant, the landscape shifting and rearranging itself. The plain beyond the city shrank until a dark fortress of carved stone appeared south alongside its lava moat.

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"What's happening?!" Jasper gasped, while his princess covered her mouth in shock. "Could it be–"

"Citadel Sapphire," Victoire muttered in surprise.

In spite of all geographical logic, Citadel Sapphire was now within sight south of Narc's walls. The plains which separated their fortifications had shrunk in size to a mere five miles. Pillars of mana rose from the earth across the horizon, some close to Narc, others much farther away.

This is nothing like previous battles, Victoire thought as her gaze turned to the sky. Lord Wepwawet's projection had appeared behind Narc and protectively loomed behind the city, while the fiery, gigantic specter of Pele had done the same behind Citadel Sapphire. They are reshaping the land rather than merely isolating it.

The enemy appeared over the horizon, great and malevolent. It was somehow even larger than Beelzebub had been, a moon-sized amphibian colossus of slime and malice with jaws and teeth longer than mountains. Whereas Lord Wepwawet's previous opponents had barely deigned to acknowledge the mortals beneath them, this Whiro bothered to glare down on them with a very familiar emotion in its many eyes.

Hate.

That deity hated them to death. It saw their mere existence as a crime, as vermin to be stamped out, and it would not stop until Victoire and all the people she cared about had all perished.

"Bring it on," Victoire said, her fear replaced with determination. Her squire unsheathed his sword, and Jasper comforted a horrified Princess Topaz in his arms. "You will not break us."

An enormous black statue of a dark, reptilian creature descended from the rift and landed somewhere southwest. Victoire didn't see where it crashed upon the earth, but the impact's result was visible to all onlookers; a tide of vile purple poison spread across the plains, followed by a mass of rusted steel, multicolored rubbery substances, and iron towers. The very landscape beyond their walls had turned into an alien, unnatural marsh hostile to life itself.

The Battle for Elphion had begun.

Whiro carved an eighteen-mile-long board for them to fight on.

Wepwawet immediately reviewed it in an instant. As per Titan Incursion rules for Idol-focused battles, Pele's closest Altar to the rift had transformed into her Idol for the duration of the match. Citadel Sapphire and all lands within her Realm of Influence had thus teleported six to seven miles south of Narc, with both fortresses taking up the northeastern and southeastern corners of the board, respectively. The rest of the battlefield was covered in plains, with Whiro's Idol landing on the southwest corner of the map.

"As per the Titan Incursion rules, your closest Altar to the rift will be transformed into your Idol," Whiro declared. Which in Pele's case meant that the Citadel Sapphire's Altar had become her new Idol. "Additionally, Whiro can play the Rank 12 Animism Anthropocene Age for free directly from his deck. Not only will all creatures caught in it be exposed to Corrosion damage and the Disease ailment, but whenever Whiro casts a damage-inflicting Animism with his realm of Influence, then Whiro can discard any number of cards from his hand to cast it again, again, and over again."

The Animism's effect was immediate. An enormous garbage patch drowned everything within a good six-mile radius of Whiro's Idol. Plastic lands, acid lakes, and rusting iron pylons covered two-thirds of the battlefield. Wepwawet could smell the odious fumes from the heavens above.

"That's your Animism? A glorified junkyard?" Pele mocked Whiro as all players drew five cards each. "What, you think you can kill us with the stench?"

Whiro didn't even bother to answer her. His reptilian eyes immediately assessed both his hand and two counters which appeared next to each player: one showing time, the other their currently empty mana reserves.

Five minutes, Wepwawet thought upon checking the time counter. He tried to draw an additional card, only for his deck to deny him, and his personal counter to remain frozen. Miss Athena was right; each player will take a five minute long turn during which they could draw their card and cast Miracles, and then pass on to the next.

His starting hand was so-so: Sacred Food, Ruin Excavation, Masterworker, Treasure Hunter, and Ice Barrier. The Revelations were useless, but he could set Ruin Excavation to recover his Ice Barrier after using it, and Sacred Food could let him supply his troops in a pinch.

Wepwawet couldn't check Pele's hand, but it seemed good enough that she would rather waste time on small talk rather than check it thoroughly. "Hey!" she snapped at Whiro, who continued to give her the silent treatment. "Hey, you think you can ignore us?!"

"Don't waste your breath, Pele," Wepwawet advised as he assessed the board. Six mana loci capable of holding an Altar had appeared across the board: two north of the battlefield and thus close to Narc, one south within a stone's throw from Citadel Sapphire, and three across Whiro's garbage patch. "You won't throw him off his game."

"Whiro takes the first turn." A mana point counter appeared next to Whiro's deck the moment he drew his sixth card, increasing to four and then nine; the result of two mana surges fueling him in quick succession. "Whiro opens hostilities with the Rank 6 Kaiju Fusion Premonition Ritual. Now Whiro sends five creature-conjuring cards from his deck to the discard pile, and Whiro will be able to summon their fusion onto the board at the beginning of his third turn."

"Five components?!" Pele blurted out.

Whatever creation he's going to summon will be tremendously powerful, Wepwawet thought as five Miracles exited Whiro's deck, thinning it out. If each individual's turn lasted five minutes, that left them around half an hour before the summoning Ritual ran its course. We must seize the Altars and establish a board advantage before the creature arrives–

"But Whiro won't wait that long," the Titan said upon casting a second Miracle. "Whiro plays the Rank 3 Recycling Fusion Ritual. This allows Whiro to remove creature-summoning Miracles from the discard pile and summon their fusion by permanently banishing them from the game."

Wepwawet blinked. "What did you say?!"

An enormous amount of mana gathered at the edge of Whiro's Influence. Wepwawet and Pele could only watch the building blocks of creation gather into silvery slime and bulk up in the form of a monstrous creature that grew, grew, and grew ever larger.

"Come forth," Whiro said, "Rank 10 Thessalonian Hydraslime!"

The creature burst onto the battlefield with a mighty roar.

The monster was by far the biggest Wepwawet had seen walking on Elphion's surface yet. It superficially resembled an eight-headed snake of colossal size, but made of silvery slime and oozing venom rather than flesh and blood. The monster reached over a hundred feet in length, making it nearly twice as large as Insupportable himself. The horror crawled across the garbage patch with slow and methodical intent, gliding across poisonous waters, dissolving plastic at simple contact, and casting down the iron pylons in its way.

This was bad. Wepwawet had expected Whiro to start slow by bolstering his Idol's defenses, but the Titan had decided to go straight for the offensive. None of his Champions were strong enough to confront that Kaiju-sized monster on their own, and certainly not without magical support.

"Jarlack, seize the closest mana locus with your cavalry!" Wepwawet telepathically ordered his troops. "Goreville, Rapoleon, take your skirmishers westward and seize the Altar there quickly!"

His Commanders immediately went on the move at full speed. Wepwawet checked the board to see that some of Pele's troops were moving to seize the closest Altar while others gathered outside Citadel Sapphire and prepared to march.

"A dragon?" Wepwawet snorted upon seeing that the magmorian force moving to seize the Altar was led by a princess-riding dragon. If only Insupportable could be so obedient… "And you called me mad for recruiting one?"

"Yes, but mine is obedient!" Pele argued, as if 'dragon' and 'obedient' belonged in the same sentence. "It's not the same!"

"It's your move," Whiro coldly told Wepwawet. No sooner did the Titan's timer hit five minutes than Wepwawet's own countdown started.

Wepwawet drew Oath of Winter and gained four mana from the surge. The only useful Miracle he could cast in this current situation was his Ruin Excavation Prophecy, but he took a moment to assess the situation and see whether it would better stockpile his mana.

The Hydraslime, while immense, wasn't a Commander creature. It thus completely ignored the mana locus on its path and advanced northeast with determination. Wepwawet's eyes widened as he figured out Whiro's strategy.

The Titan said he had come to kill, not fight.

"It's going straight for Narc!" Wepwawet realized. "It's aiming for the largest population center!"

Since Whiro's Providence let him gain mana from everyone dying within his Influence, then the effect likely extended to anyone slain by his conjured creatures. That Titan bastard selected the Idol victory condition to maximize the number of mortal casualties!

"Keep your cool!" Pele admonished him. "Just follow our brilliant plan and we'll be fine!"

Wepwawet clenched his jaw. She was right, the die was cast, and Whiro's actions benefited their strategy. Having Wepwawet bog down the Titan's forces heading towards his territory would allow Pele's magmorians to march on Whiro's Idol unimpeded.

None of Wepwawet's Champions could hope to slay the Hydraslime alone. Insupportable might be able to fight the creature head-on for a time, but he certainly wouldn't win without sizable assistance—the size and rank difference remained simply too large. Wepwawet decided to keep him in reserve until the Hydraslime reached his fortifications and thus give terrain favorable to his own troops.

The silver lining was that the Hydraslime was as slow as it was big. Wepwawet calculated that it would take it a bit less than an hour to reach Narc's outer walls at this rate, so roughly the equivalent of eight individual turns. This would give him time to seize Altars, stockpile mana, and perhaps draw something useful.

"I cast a Rank 4 Prophecy and conclude my turn," Wepwawet said as his timer reached its end. His Ruin Excavation should prove useful in a few turns.

"I'm up!" Pele boasted. She dramatically swirled in place as she drew her card, her mana counter rising to six. "Ah, see how fortune favors me! Here's one of my best Miracles, the Rank 5 Hula Kuahu Doctrine! It boosts all of my Champions' coordination, accuracy, and evasion for a meager one mana cost each turn!"

Casting a buff Doctrine like that early on is pretty good, Wepwawet thought. The coordination effect was noticeable enough that Pele's dragon rider flew noticeably faster towards the mana locus and swiftly claimed it. An Altar in his classmate's image arose from the earth and projected her Influence further.

Meanwhile, Jarlack and his wyvern managed to reach a mana locus two miles away from Narc ahead of his troops. A statue of Wepwawet appeared the moment he touched it, a second before Pele's turn concluded.

Whiro drew again the moment his counter started up again, his mana counter rising to four and then ten. "Whiro summons the Rank 10 Artifact Ecocide Cauldron."

More mana gathered near Whiro's Idol and coalesced into a colossal machine. This circular contraption was a tiny bit smaller than the Hydraslime and only reached up to sixty feet in height, but far more impressive in its mechanical complexity. Grey plastic tubes akin to tentacles burrowed into the ground from its base, and red exhaust pods unleashed steam from across its rusty, grey metallic outer shell. Green and blue substances swirled within its cauldron and spilled out in the form of blobs similar to Slimon.

"Ecocide Cauldron can produce four ranks worth of polluting slime creatures per minute," Whiro said sternly without elaborating further.

"So four Rank 1 monsters each minute?!" Wepwawet choked. Miss Athena wasn't kidding about the Titans packing some overpowered Miracles. That machine was basically a monster mass production facility! "We need to destroy that thing fast!"

"Leave it to me!" Pele boasted. "My troops will pulverize it!"

"Boss-in-the-Sky?" Wepwawet heard Jarlack calling out to him on the ground. "I suppose that creepy snake-thing is not one of ours?!"

Wepwawet focused back on the board. The Hydraslime had advanced far enough across the region that Jarlack could see it approach from atop his wyvern. The giant was too proud to show fear, but Wepwawet sensed a dash of unease in his cold, greedy heart.

"It's not," Wepwawet confirmed through telepathy right as Whiro's turn concluded. Two mana surges empowered him with eight as he drew his Protect Champion Prophecy, which he immediately cast. "Can you slow it down?"

"Jarlack can do many things, but killing that thing is way beyond my budget."

"Just harass it and fly away when it tries to retaliate. Every second counts." Wepwawet watched Jarlack reluctantly fly towards the Hydraslime with a war cry and then focused on his other Champions. "Victoire, Wintresse, prepare the artillery wands and tell the wereowls to ready the alchemical fire."

Wepwawet would soon bring modern warfare to a fantasy fight.

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