After a year of a calamitous siege, the walls of the city were finally breached, and the warriors of the Steel Horde poured inside along the dry riverbed.

The river was gone, and the great iron grate blocking the passage lay as a wreck in the mud. The makeshift barricade built in front of it had been dismantled by the axe of the King of Kings, and the gap was already being widened by the adversary soldiers.

Nothing stood between the defenders of the city and the besieging horde anymore. However, if Azarax hoped to win an easy victory, he was going to be disappointed. Even with the impregnable barrier of the city wall breached, the mercenaries hired by the Mason had no plans of surrendering. On the contrary, they were prepared to fight to the last man.

The Steel Horde held an absolute numerical advantage, yes, and among its innumerable warriors, there were far more powerful Awakened than there were among the defenders of the city. Azarax had previously conquered innumerable realms, after all, subjugating and enthralling their most powerful champions.

However, Effie and her companions were not without an advantage, either.

First and foremost, there was no Saint more skilled and deadly than any of them among the champions of the Steel Horde. They had come from the Age of the Nightmare Spell, after all — a terrifying era of calamity and bloodshed, born from the corpses of dead gods. Not only that, but they were also the strongest and most revered warriors among the vicious children of that nightmarish epoch.

So, none among the champions of the Steel Horde could claim to be their equal. Second, while they themselves could not consciously command the Will, their spirits were augmented by the power of the Mason — the Supreme ruler of the besieged city. And while the Mason was not suited for the battlefield, his Will was as stalwart and impregnable as the stone walls of the city he had built. This was his Domain, and within the boundary of his Domain, no foreign authority could be expressed or asserted unimpeded.

The warriors of the Steel Horde were not only invading a city — they were invading an enemy Domain. That meant that the Will of Azarax, which bolstered and empowered them, was all but nullified by the city walls. The defenders, on the contrary, enjoyed the boon of fighting on their native soil.

That was the dire challenge of a war between Supremes. The aggressor had to overcome the resistance of the defending Domain, fighting an uphill battle — and while Azarax had crushed more than a few Supreme adversaries, the tenacious nature of the Mason King's power was difficult to deal with.

He could have overwhelmed the Mason easily, since no amount of defense had value in the absence of offensive power. However, the War Maiden and her warriors made up for the fatal flaw of this peaceful Domain's defenses... and now, these warriors were about to prove their worth.

The battle for the walls of the city was nearing its fiercest stage. The ocean of steel had already reached the moat, which had long ceased to be an obstacle. It was filled with corpses, and in a dozen places, the corpses piled so high that one could cross to the other side by stepping on them.

Now, the warriors of the Steel Horde were lowering wooden boards under a hail of arrows, making the crossing even easier. Those who survived retreated, while those who were struck down by the arrows fell and rolled into the moat, adding their bodies to the towering piles of corpses. Next came the soldiers bearing enormous ladders, as well as the shield-bearers protecting them. The walls of the city were imposingly tall, so mundane humans lacked the strength to raise these ladders — let alone climb them to the distant battlements under the constant barrage. Their job was simply to drag the ladders to the base of the city wall and die for it, many of them perishing to accomplish that deadly task.

But they did accomplish it, and only then, finally, Azarax sent his true warriors forward. Usually, the middle-rank Awakened and Ascended soldiers of the Steel Horde would raise the ladders and attempt to ascend them — but this time, he bypassed the core forces of his vast army and commanded his most elite troops to advance instead.

A sudden chill enveloped the battlefield, and the defenders of the city atop the wall paled, some of them taking an involuntary step back. It was as if a palpable pressure descended upon the world, making their blood run cold and stealing strength from their limbs.

That was because the Dread Warriors — ruthless butchers of myriad horrid tales — surged forward to attack the city. These were the most feared warriors of the Steel Horde, each of them a thrall who had been personally defeated by the King of Kings once, and therefore sharing in his chilling power.

They rushed through the steel ocean like a dozen black currents, swiftly reaching the ladders and activating the sorceries imbued into the enchanted wood. The ladders soared into the air, slamming into the lip of the wall moments later — and before even that, grim warriors were already clinging to them, as if in a hurry to spill adversary blood. At the same time, all across the great length of the city wall, those of Azarax's warriors who possessed suitable Aspects used them to climb or fly up. Just in a few moments, the tide of the battle seemed to turn in favor of the attackers.

Then, however, the defenders of the city responded to the swift assault with a devastating fury.

“Abandon fear! Abandon mercy! Kill them all!"

As the voice of the Dragonslayer thundered, drowning out the clamor of battle, the defenders of the city were liberated from the dread gripping their hearts.

As they saw the radiant, towering figure of the War Maiden — the living incarnation of war who had come to defend their city against the insurmountable foe — a newfound strength filled their bodies. Empowered by that ferocious might, burning with vigor and passion, mundane people felt strong enough to face Awakened, while Awakened could band together to bring down Masters. When the first Dread Warriors leaped over the parapet and landed on the battlements, they were met with a ferocious roar and sharp steel instead of horrified cries and wails of despair.

Blood spilled onto the stones once more. The Dread Warriors failed to sweep the ramparts... but they were not thrown down from the wall, either. Many of them died, but many persisted, buying more of their comrades time to climb the ladders.

Their goal was not to conquer the wall, anyway.

They simply needed to distract its defenders — including the Transcendent commanders — long enough for the true menace, the colossal siege towers, to be pushed against it.

And even though Effie and Kai did all they could to prevent that, the siege towers drew closer and closer.