From the way Whiro hesitated, Wepwawet could guess what cards the Titan had in his hand.

The most sensible play would be to cast a Miracle and recover those he had in the discard pile, yet Whiro didn't do that. This meant he lacked any of such options, having either discarded them during his initial Tsunami barrages or most likely losing them when Pele milled four cards off his deck with Auto-da-fé. Any option he played now might be his last.

"Whiro casts the Rank 5 Animism Acid Downpour, which causes acid rain to fall in an area for three minutes and inflict Corrosion damage," the Titan finally decided. "Whiro discards two cards to activate Anthropocene Age."

Whiro spread the damage this time. Two of the acidic rain clouds materialized over each Hydraslime—which were likely immune to Corrosion—and a third over the Ecocide Cauldron as a defensive measure.

Using Acid Downpour that way was a smart choice… but the fact that Whiro used a Rank 5 Miracle instead of stronger ones despite the amount of mana he had told Wepwawet a lot about his current situation. Either he lacked stronger Miracles, or those he had would kill the few creatures he had on the board without Elemental Shield.

"Next, Whiro conjures the Rank 5 Gecko Ballista with appropriate Ritual." A monstrous, elephant-sized orange gecko with an enormous cybernetic piece of artillery integrated on its back appeared atop a hill of trash near the Ecocide Cauldron. "This creature can sacrifice Whiro's slime servants to fire Light element projectiles at a distance of twelve miles."

"Twelve miles?!" Pele protested. "That's almost half the board!"

He has only one card left in his hand, which he could have discarded to strengthen his Acid Downpour, Wepwawet noticed. That has to be his one last offensive Ritual or a last-resort option he's unwilling to commit until all is lost.

Unfortunately, Whiro remained in a good position even with his lack of resources. The first Hydraslime rampaged through Narc, the second was breaking through Citadel Sapphire's walls, and the Ecocide Cauldron had been in play long enough to produce a small army of slimes to fuel the Gecko Ballista with. One of the goo creatures climbed up onto the latter's back and slid into the artillery cannon's ammo container. The machinery processed the slime and then used it as fuel to fire a light bolt projectile across the map.

This is the decisive turn, Wepwawet thought as his own began with a record twenty-two mana from four different mana surges, bringing his reserve to a total of twenty-three. Whiro's Heavenly Treasure had let him grab a Smite, and he now drew Geyser Tribute. Both of Goreville's troops and Narc's defenders were in position to strike.

"Renarde, sing a song of Vitality," Wepwawet ordered. "Filou, launch the firebombers right after the DRY golem."

"I play the Rank 2 Power Dice Ritual! I roll a die and my Champions all gain a damage bonus equal to the result for one minute!" The number 3 flashed before Wepwawet's eyes. Not too high, but still better than nothing. "I follow it up with the Rank 1 Smite and Rank 4 Geyser Tribute Rituals!"

The counterattack had begun!

The hydra roared under a rain of death.

Victoire felt the acid burn her skin on the few spots that her armor didn't cover. The poison wasn't strong enough to reach all the way into the flesh in an instant, and Renarde's song dulled the damage, but it hurt where it landed and contaminated the water flooding the city. Narc would face many sanitary issues should they live to win this battle.

That remained a tall order. Jasper was stuck within one of the hydra's jaws and was using all of his strength to keep it open and not be swallowed, so Victoire threw her spear at the beast's gullet to force it to release him. Her weapon radiated with holy light alongside her ice and its own fire, whereas her arm surged with additional power granted by her god. The projectile punctured the hydra's throat and forced it to spit back Jasper on top of a debris pile sticking out of the water below.

The hydra retaliated by attempting to bite Victoire with another of its heads. She barely managed to leap to the side as its slimy fangs closed in on a pang of the wall with enough strength to crush stone. Princess Topaz cried out as she struggled to protect herself from both the debris and acid raindrops damaging her pristine gemstone skin.

"Away from my princess, you vile zmey!" Insupportable snapped in the sky, his icy breath clashing with the hydraslime's venomous one while Karen the Kraken tried–and failed–to drag the larger hydra to a watery grave below. While terrible, the flooding had allowed their monstrous ambassador to take the field by swimming out of her lodgings.

Victoire was happy to see Insupportable for perhaps the first time in her life. The dragon proved to be enough of a danger that the Hydraslime dedicated three of its heads towards keeping him at bay, while three others snapped back at Karen's tentacles. Unfortunately, the others had decimated Wintresse's wandcasters and forced the witch herself to retreat on top of the flooded houses. The changeling now alternated between strengthening archers with her devilish sorcery and firing icy blasts at the hydraslime, to little avail.

A projectile surged across the sky and missed Narc's mountains. Victoire summoned her spear back to her hand and looked up to see that another had successfully hit a cliff with enough force to blast it apart.

They're bombarding us?! Victoire couldn't see the source of the attack across the horizon and the acid rain clouds, but each shot was more accurate than the last. They're aiming for Lord Wepwawet's Idol!

A war horn echoed above Narc.

Victoire's heart skipped a beat when she noticed Filou rode his flying elephant to battle alongside a cadre of wereowl firebombers straight at the hydra, braving the acid downpour burning their fur and piercing their feathers. A golem below hopped across the roofs of drowned houses on its way to the enemy.

Two of the hydra's heads turned at these new threats, opened their jaws, and gathered runic power to unleash their venomous breaths. Victoire managed to throw her spear at one's gullet in time to deviate its attack, while a bolt of divine power surged from Lord Wepwawet's Idol to blast the other. A geyser of pressurized water materialized out of nowhere beneath the golem and propelled it straight at the hydra's body at an arrow's speed.

The automaton smashed into the monster's slimy chest and exploded on contact, blasting it with spores.

Victoire had to give it to Slimon, the slime's invention proved spectacularly useful. Mushrooms immediately spread from the point of impact and drained all the water the hydra was soaked in and made from. They grew at a blinding speed, far faster than the corrosive rain could destroy them. The hydra shrieked in rage as its entire body was soon covered in mushrooms and shriveling it up, with the spores moving on to dry out the flooded streets of Narc. Karen barely managed to avoid being caught by taking refuge atop a pile of stone debris floating above the water.

"For Narc!" Filou shouted with more glee and enthusiasm than Victoire had ever heard from him. "Fire!

His flying elephant dived towards the hydra, followed by the wereowls. They all dropped alchemical fire bottles onto the beast and then quickly retreated before the projectiles could make contact. The incendiary substance held within the containers burst out with flames that set the mushrooms ablaze; so hot was the fire that not even the acidic downpour could extinguish it, and that Insupportable's icy breath turned to steam at its contact.

The hydra shrieked with its eight heads and then burned to death. The flames consumed it utterly, down to the last slimy drop, before incinerating the mushrooms that spread across the streets. When the acid clouds finally dissipated, nothing remained of the beast other than smoking ashes.

It didn't regenerate this time.

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A short moment of silence followed as onlookers half-expected the hydra to come back to life, which was then shattered by a chorus of cheers and shouts. Victoire allowed herself a sigh of relief. At long last, the beast was slain.

"Well done, minions!" Insupportable magnanimously congratulated the troops before turning his reptilian gaze towards poor Topaz. "The path to the princess is clea–"

A projectile hit Insupportable in midair and knocked him out of the sky. The dragon ended up crashing on a couple houses below and crushing a few unlucky wereling soldiers under his weight.

Victoire's sense of triumph turned to dread as she looked back over the horizon. Their mysterious attacker continued its bombardment, and the second hydra was now digging its way into Citadel Sapphire's depths. Rafts carrying soldiers ferried out of the magmorian fortress, but it would only be a matter of time before the creature turned its attention towards them.

The battle wasn't over; not by a long shot.

The citadel trembled above his head.

General Peridot kept his cool as he turned the valves regulating the flow of magma underground under the stern gaze of Pele's Idol. The temperature increased in the tunnel until all forms of humidity evaporated into steam. The ground shook beneath his feet, the burning lifeblood of the earth stirring.

The hydra had to be right above him, digging its way past stone and steel on its way to the magma chamber below. It was only a matter of minutes before it succeeded, but it didn't matter anymore. The chain reaction he had started could no longer be halted.

"Are you done yet?!" his false goddess snapped at him through her Altar. The statue's eyes shone with red light, and a hint of panic in her voice betrayed her unease. "We don't have much time left!"

"It is only a matter of minutes," General Peridot replied as he faced the altar. "This fortress' fate is sealed, and ours too."

"Great!" she replied with relief. The thought of Peridot's death didn't seem to bother the goddess. "Do not worry, I will not forget your sacrifice. Death is no permanent obstacle when favored by a goddess. You shall rise one day to serve again!"

Peridot would rather stay dead and return to the magma than obey this insufferable incompetent any longer, and the earth seemed willing to grant his wish. A strong tremor shook the cavern and cracked the walls around them.

"W-what's happening?" the goddess' voice wavered with a hint of panic. So her kind could indeed experience fear. "I feel pressure building up beneath us!"

Was she only noticing it now? How pitiful for a self-proclaimed fire goddess.

"I have rerouted the power of our fire runes towards the magma chamber to push it past the breaking point," General Peridot replied. "I am afraid Operation Cobalt won't be a controlled flood. This whole site is about to be blasted to oblivion in a localized eruption, and us along with it."

"B-But that will destroy my Idol, you fool!" The goddess sounded genuinely afraid for once, and failed to put up a strong front. "Are you trying to make me lose?!"

"Yes," Peridot replied bluntly.

The goddess was so taken aback that it took her seconds to recover from her shock, and she struggled to find her words even then. "W-What?"

"Let me clarify my intent," Peridot replied calmly. Being already a dead flame walking, he had no obligation to keep his thoughts to himself anymore. "I wouldn't say I want you to lose, I simply do not care what happens to you. Destroying this site is the only way I can ensure the hydra won't pursue and slaughter my remaining men. You are simply collateral damage."

"But you don't understand!" Pele's eyes burned with rage and panic as quakes shook the chamber from above and below. The magma boiled beneath them, and the hydra's roars echoed above. "If my Idol is destroyed, then the Titans will destroy Elphion!"

"More lies!" Peridot snapped in anger. "One day, the werelings' god is the cursed enemy we must defeat at all costs, and he becomes an ally against a greater foe the next! You cannot even keep your stories straight!"

"We don't have time for this!" Pele protested. For such a powerful entity, she seemed so powerless when backed into a corner. "Y-you need to call everyone back and stop that creature!"

"Oh, I am sure you would have had us all fight to the last magmorian to defend this place if you knew what Operation Cobalt entailed." General Peridot sneered beneath his helmet. "That is all that we are to you, is it not? Disposable pawns on a board."

"That's…" Pele hesitated, likely because she couldn't come up with a good excuse. "That's not true!"

"I told you we shouldn't pursue a full war with Verglane on the day you showed up, and I begged you to convince the Fire Sultan to split our forces!" General Peridot rarely felt the need to raise his voice and prized his self-control, but all the anger and frustration he had built up over the last few months boiled back to the surface in the face of such entitlement. "Instead, you filled His Majesty's head with foolish dreams of conquest and delusions of invincibility! Our country's entire leadership is dead because of you, alongside thousands of magmorians and kobolds! It will take Lavaland years to bounce back from this disaster!"

The glow in the goddess' eyes flickered for a moment, and for once, it seemed that Peridot's words finally reached her. Her voice grew quieter when she spoke up again. "I never wanted this…"

"It doesn't matter what you wanted, only what you did," Peridot replied harshly. He looked up at the cracking ceiling and waited for either the hydra or the eruption to finish him off. "If you are so powerful and wise, goddess, then you should survive this… and if not, then you never deserved our worship."

He pointed at that false deity which led his country to disaster.

"Let those be my last words," General Peridot denounced the goddess. "You are no flame of mine."

His harsh words echoed in the chamber alongside the sound of bubbling magma and explosions rocking the tunnels. A rising pressure spread through the air, announcing the end for them both.

Then the goddess cast her foul magic upon General Peridot. A layer of gemstones grew over him and encased him in a diamond cocoon he could not break from; though he didn't even try.

"Imprisoning me is useless," General Peridot warned the false goddess. "The chain reaction is underway. I could not stop it even if I wanted to."

"No, it is not useless… not for you…" The goddess let out a sound that could pass for a sigh. "I am… I am sorry, my Champion."

The ceiling crumbled as colossal serpentine heads broke through, their jaws rife with poison. Peridot could only blink behind his gemstone shield as the beast turned its breath against Pele's Altar and lava surged from below.

The fury of the earth erupted all around him.

What was she doing?!

Wepwawet anxiously looked at Pele, waiting for her to do something. His turn had ended and her own had begun, yet she had spent the last minute with a forlorn look on her face instead of smiting the creature breaking its way into her fortress. Her soldiers had evacuated on rafts alongside Lord Rickart, and they were too far away to turn back and stop Whiro's monster.

Did Pele lack the Miracles to destroy the creature? She said her Champions had a plan, but so far the hydraslime had started to dig its way into Citadel Sapphire in search of whatever cavern housed Pele's Idol. How long would it take until it reached its target?

Pele finally rose from her torpor and played. "I cast the Rank 2 Ritual Gemstone Shield which lets me reduce the damage one of my Champions is about to take, with every extra mana point reducing it further. I spend all ten of my remaining mana points on General Peridot."

"What?!" Wepwawet blurted out. Spending all of her mana on protecting one Champion at this critical juncture was insane! Was Peridot fighting a desperate last stand to shield her Idol or–

No. Wepwawet stared at the shaking Citadel Sapphire. Earthquakes caused the remaining walls to crumble. It can't be–

Citadel Sapphire erupted in a blast of fire and stone.

A massive explosion rocked the entire fortress, vaporizing the hydra in its midst, shattering its towers and sending tons upon tons of debris flying across the land. A ripple spread through the artificial sea covering the plain, causing waves to push the magmorian rafts further away from the detonation point. A colossal plume of smoke rose in the sky until it could be seen from miles.

"What… what have you done?" Wepwawet muttered under his breath, with Pele reacting with uncharacteristic silence.

The blast had finally killed the second hydraslime, true, but it destroyed the entire fortress alongside it. Wepwawet guessed what had happened from Pele's dejected face long before the System notification confirmed it.

Thessalonian Hydraslime 2 has been destroyed.

Pele has lost her Idol! Pele has lost the battle!

"You are done," Whiro said with a thumbs down. "To the abyss with the defeated."

Penalty: Goddess Pele is permanently banished from Elphion!

Pele barely had time to clench her jaws and send the Titan one last glare. "Wepwawet, kick his ass–"

"Pele!" Wepwawet called out to his classmate, but it was already too late. Her essence was suddenly flung across the rift. Her divine spirit was expelled from the board and Elphion alike the same way Aunt Isis disappeared from the planet. She vanished alongside her dead Champions' souls, leaving Wepwawet to fight Whiro alone.

Did… did she sacrifice herself to take out the Hydraslime? Or did something go wrong with her Champions' plan? Wepwawet wondered, his hands clenched into fists. Why?! Why didn't she tell me she could blow up the citadel earlier?! We could have coordinated and found a better solution!

"It is just you and Whiro now," the Titan threatened with all of this malice.

"Yeah…" Wepwawet glared back at Whiro. "It's just you, me, and my army!"

Pele had trusted him to carry on the fight and finish the job, and that was exactly what he would do.

"Your ally is gone, so Whiro takes his turn now," Whiro said coldly. "Whiro will stockpile mana and wait for the timer to reach zero."

Wepwawet analyzed the board. Citadel Sapphire's eruption had taken out Whiro's last remaining beatstick, and his followers in Narc did the same with their own Hydraslime, so the Titan only had the Ecocide Cauldron's weak slime army and his giant gecko to rely on. That one fired projectile after projectile at Narc from miles away in an attempt to calibrate its aim enough to hit Wepwawet's Idol directly. Goreville's crew had meanwhile managed to power through the acid downpour and engaged oozes in battle on their way to both.

If they managed to destroy the cauldron and the gecko, then Whiro would have lost all possible avenues of victory… except that one card in his hand.

One way or another, this would be the final bout.

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