Soldiers rained from the tridents like bold arrows let loose from the tightened string. Scattering throughout Alliance alongside Aradin’s group and a handful of others, they searched and scoured every inch of the upper city. Finding the elite and making them more agreeable with a blunt weapon or the fist.

As for the lower city, only six people were in charge of containing it and its citizens. Erika, with Asmodia taking over her body, had taken the lead with the Mistress following closely behind. Filling the gaps the two were missing, Maria, paired with the Djinn sisters Riyanzah and Seraphim, was gathering the mind-controlled public at the ocean bay. Once all followers of Oruon were gathered–their minds and bodies following the tone of Riyanzah’s singing–they were to be whisked away to safety, away from the chaos a battle against a god would bring.

Bringing one of the reserve prison ships to the bay, Mercedes and Mono’s Twin had already begun loading up the citizens. For now, they would enjoy the luxuries of a flying vessel behind a set of bars; in the meantime, the elites of their cities were in a state of war against the hero’s soldiers.

Led by Aradin and his group, with the exception of June, multiple battalions of soldiers were raiding the nobles’ houses and battling against high magic users. Being able to predict the soldiers’ actions thanks to their true sight, the elites were putting up a surprising amount of fight; however, nothing the general hadn’t already prepared the soldiers for.

Overwhelming the enemies with numbers and numerous tactics working at once, the fighters would hurl themselves at the enemy while the shield bearers and the magic users would either cut off any escape or bind them in place through magic. The houses proved much easier because of their limited number of escape routes, all of which were blocked off by the soldiers. The outside, however, was an entirely different story.

Working under Aradin and Regalia’s command, many battalions were scanning every inch of the city. Finding the elites hiding in corners and trying to ambush the soldiers with the help of their foresight. A handful of casualties had already been suffered on the hero’s side, but that didn’t stop the second general and the corrupted father from dragging out the elites from whatever corner in the city they could find them in.

"Harpy! Take the injured soldiers back to the bay with your group! Jenna will tend to their injuries!" Looking up in the sky at one of the winged leaders of the rebel clans, Aradin shot out commands with pure confidence. "Raga! Find the hiding bastard! And Bamm! Tear through the houses if you have to! Get these cockroaches out of their houses!"

Ordering around the rebel clan leaders, Aradin himself was busy fighting against magical projectiles being fired his way. Surrounded by his companions, Tris and Hannah, he had remained at the centre of the city to keep the conjoining roads between the two sections clear of any threats. The elites had already tried to choke the soldiers off an escape, and thanks to Kleismeth’s influence, teleportation wasn’t working.

"Detect Prey!" Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Aradin used his scout ability to detect the invisible enemies shooting magical projectiles at them from above the buildings. Glaring right into their eyes, he pointed a finger and marked them with another skill. "Haunt!"

Every person shooting at his group felt a strange presence breathing down their necks. The cold air sent a shiver down their spines and made them turn to look behind them, and that’s when Hannah finally let go of her seeking arrows.

"Take that invisible fucks!" Not the most amiable because of recent events, the spell archer put as much power into her magic arrows as possible. Following their trajectory with his noble feet, Tris–the demi-human monk readied his fist to beat the life out of the invisible nuisance.

As soon as the arrows struck the elite’s bodies, their flesh was marked by their glowing light–making it much easier for Tris to land his fist. The very first blow to a noble’s chest knocked the air out of his lungs, so much so that his invisibility wore off and his limp body fell off the terrace. Landing right on his neck, the man became the first enemy casualty of the war.

Sparing only a passing glance at the dead body, neither Aradin nor the rest of his companions cared if these people died. After what had happened to them in recent days, their empathy, after all, was running quite low.

"Let’s clear this area and move up front to help the rest of the group!" Snapping out of his head, Aradin hurled out another order. All the while, Tris was still busy knocking some heads from their shoulders.

While trying to hit the very last one, his fist nearly connected with the elite’s groaning face when a massive astral blade cut through the human’s body–barely missing him by a hair’s breadth. Gasping for breath, the demi-bull leapt off the crumbling house and cast his gaze upon the giant visage of the king of crows. His blade was clashing against a winged beast with countless eyes and just as many limbs, with pulsing red veins bursting and gushing blood everywhere.

"An angel?" The bull whispered, and the rest clicked their tongue in response.

Looking upon the massive angel fighting against the king of crows, their group was reminded that it wasn’t only they who had the angels on their sides. Lifting their heads further up, they noticed golden portals from heaven opening up in the skies.

"We hold this position!" Stomping his feet once more, Aradin got everyone’s attention. "Keep the exit secured! We don’t want our soldiers here when the hero starts his battle against the goddess!"

A sharp sound of something flying towards them cut through the leader’s words, but before he could look up again. Regalia–who had been quiet all this time and was more focused on directing the battalions while Aradin dealt with the invisible enemies–stretched her arm skyward and called upon the strength of her patron.

"My blood for your strength! Shield us!" Responding to her call of power, the Eldritch Lord, one of her three patrons, brought forth a translucent, green-hued miasma. Falling into the clouds of the very same, the heavens hurled from the heavens were stopped dead in their tracks. That is, before the clouds began to turn into a massive ship. "Come on! Fight me, you flying fucks!"

With her screams, the same green flames erupted from within Regalia’s body. Covering her in its entirety, they consumed her very blood to channel the powers of the eldritch lord far above or far below. Leaping off one of the buildings, Regalia quickly boarded the flying ship with tentacles flying out of every window and countless cannons being manned by astral skeletons.

"I doubt she needs our help," Aradin whispered, seeing the wolf-girl quite literally breathing flames and burning the angels’ wings.

Directing her crew with orders and screams, the warlock was perhaps back in her element. A battle on a ship with countless targets. Watching her just for a few seconds more, Aradin and his group saw how the angels tried to board her ship, and in response, the tentacles and Regalia both grabbed their bodies and tore them in half with nothing but brute strength.

However, she wasn’t the only one fighting tooth and nail. There were others just a little further ahead, giving it their all to clear the city before the battle against the goddess finally began...