Cassius was mounted on his griffin in front of the resurrection shrine, and was more than a little pissed. Avaron had failed his simple task of retrieving the flag and buying his team some time to resurrect, and his team was defeated in their first battle so soundly by Hearthtribe.

Each one of the enemy’s warriors had crushed his, and it wasn’t even close. So many of them were far beyond the level of his third Tier elites.

Their equipment, their skill levels, magical technology, and tactics were all shocking, and he now had doubts about their strength and Origin. None of it matched those born on a first Tier world as natives of this Sector, and he questioned how such advantages could possibly be gained. Cassius had completed a Prime Instance at every Tier starting at the first as a Divine Descendant, how could his potential be any lower?

He now had doubts that they were even Tier 2 Races at this point, their capability truly shocking. Champions were strong, sure, but the giant lamia had nearly killed his Jotun Legionnaire of Ares in a single, casual attack, as if he were nothing but a joke. The two-hundred year old warrior was experienced through thousands of battles, facing countless bosses and warriors in War Games alike.

And yet again, Cassius struggled to defeat the two abominations, mere subordinates of their leaders and simple clergy classes. Cassius himself counted as three warriors by the Framework, but he could not even defeat two with all the support provided in the way of buffs on himself from his clergy and his expensive Epic accessories and equipment.

Worse, they were toying with him, and he couldn’t land a single, meaningful blow. He could feel the immense defenses and enhancements provided by the two Champion Auras, but this excuse was not enough–he had received buffs too, and had used several items to boost his strength.

From their gazes alone, Cassius’ elite warriors looked at him with less respect, their reverence gone from his failure to beat common soldiers of the second Tier.

Cassius has had numerous wins under his belt. He’d faced a Divine Descendant of Mars and found victory, along with winning a duel against a daughter of Minerva. Sure, he had extorted the Son of Mars by threatening his kin, but a win was a win. Combined with countless challenging Boss battles and a few Dungeon Raid Prime Instance victories, his men had previously held faith in his strength. But now, his men looked unsure, their belief in him shattered.

And the giant plant… monsters. Just what were they? Such creatures could not normally have sentience, and aside from the summoner, Baron Hart, no beast tamer or master had been identified among them. The monsters were intelligent beyond their Tier by how they thoroughly dismantled his warriors and blocked magical attacks, and were Adventurers themselves somehow, judging by how the banishing spells did not work.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the two identified summons of the Garuda and singing naga were both rather effective, and resilient to the same spells. Even their attempts to strip the many positive effects on their enemy had limited success, making him wonder how such rare, powerful creatures were obtained. A Garuda was a third Tier creature, and should not even be obtainable by a second Tier summoner in the first place.

Just how his team could find an edge? Hearthtribe’s armors were covered in shimmering runes, the magical densities reaching levels beyond what the most talented crafters could create. It was clearly a blend of the peak of magical technology and skills that Cassius would normally only see on higher-Tier worlds.

The three Champions appeared to be invincible. The valkyrie riding the draconic mount moved so fast across the battlefield, and any warriors trying to best her were quickly cut down like a scythe through wheat.

The woman also protected several allies at once, nearly teleporting where she was needed on her stronger mount as she shielded them, and her summoned valkyrie was nearly stronger than one of his men on its own. Several warriors had to use a burst of all their war energy to even slay the two bird women, the weakest links among them.

And Baron Hart almost looked bored as he rode on the invincible giant lamia’s back. Cassius knew he had devastating offensive attacks from watching their Dungeon Raid recording, but the summoner hadn’t even attacked, only used control spells, apart from throwing his fiery weapon around.

It was a strange weapon that made Cassius wonder about its origins, but that was a mystery that would go unsolved until he could get his people to probe the party and find out everything they could. The Champion family had been in hiding these past five years aside from a few small appearances, but details were difficult to learn. The beastkin people were all loyal, and the few worlds where they might have been able to learn more, his people weren’t even allowed to step foot on. He was still trying to get details about the semi-recent appearance on Aetheris, but the clans were insular and not easy to bribe or extort.

Cassius had some tricks up his sleeve to kill some of the powerful warriors among Hearthtribe, but the problem was that it would only get them one victory, one potential flag capture at the very most. It would be a win of sorts if he could get them to expend enough of their Divine Energy, but he doubted he could force them when they would only give up a single capture from his efforts.

Even if Calix was here, he didn’t think they could win. But no excuse would be allowed, his team needed to win this. Much of his and Calix’s plan hinged on Hearthtribe spending time dead and setting the events towards the world’s doom. Three days with them and their many allies dead wasn’t long, but they required enough time to set their plans in motion without their watchful eyes.

Their prophets and seers were unable to predict just what they might discover in such a short period, and they imagined the only way to ensure they did not witness their plots was for them to be dead or otherwise unable to spend much time in the many cities and villages.

Tartarus was working toward the latter, and combined with their efforts to keep Rifts open this past month as long as possible, the area near Firewake was already getting dangerous, and the areas near the other Grand Temples was the same. Unfortunately, the area near Firewake was almost completely countered by Hearthtribe in just three days.

Hearthtribe had spent a lot of time near Firewake, closing so many Rifts that it had nearly undone all of their efforts for the past several months. Tartarus was to keep anyone from interfering at the Grand Temple, but he doubted if they rode straight for it that it would truly be able to stop them. It wasn’t allowed within a certain distance of it, after all.

If Hearthtribe dug up the details of their betrayal, all of their plans would be ruined. The three days bought by his divine father had granted them just a little more time to slow their investigations, just in case. The final deliveries of captives at the other temples had allowed their Tartarus allies to send one last wave of corruption and to move forward its machinations.

However, the moon still held on by a thread. Without the additional rituals at the Grand Temples, they could not set in motion the inevitable world’s destruction. These would take days to complete, and it also took time to plant evidence and shunt the blame to Hearthtribe, besides. They needed to pin the blame on Hearthtribe to ruin their chances at entering the War Trial, and to achieve that they had been forced to wait for them to actually arrive and begin to act first.

It was impossible to pin the blame on someone who wasn’t even present. If they had known the precise date of their arrival, this would have been much more trivial.

With the world falling in a couple of weeks at most, his father’s resolution for Avaron and himself to be questioned even if Tyrsdottir was unavailable would be countered by the manufactured betrayal of Hearthtribe.

Loki or Hermes would put forth a motion to change or remove the questioning in light of the betrayal, and as more and more evidence built from other worlds falling before Hearthtribe could even be ransomed out of the void, it wouldn’t matter if Tyr could find out the truth. Hearthtribe’s reputation would already be destroyed, and as heroes, they would feel broken, their potential forever lost.

The plan was nearly foolproof, but Cassius couldn’t believe their terrible luck. To think that not only would their enemy suddenly arrive in the dead of night, but that they would arrive when Avaron’s men had slacked off in their duty protecting the node. For Hearthtribe to both claim the event and catch those men fleeing with their prizes was a huge shock. The valkyrie and her mount were simply too fast.

But first, they had to win this Battleground. Cassius shouted out his plan, getting ready to mobilize his men who were all waiting on their mounts. It had been nearly two minutes since they resurrected, and now it was almost time to move. If they died now, they would respawn in just a short period and with Avaron.

“Avaron failed to retrieve the flag, and we couldn’t kill more than just two lesser enemies among them–shouldn’t you warriors be ashamed? We must win this battle. Our only chance is for Avaron and I to expend our Divine Energy, and–”

A voice entered their Battlegroup chat. It was Bradicus in the flag room. “My Lord! Someone is here stealing the flag! They–ahh! It burns!”

Several messages filled his view as his allies were killed.

[Your ally, Bradicus has been slain.]

[Your ally, Dronak has been slain.]

[Your ally, Leonard has been slain.]

He knew at least one remained. “How many is it?”

“Just one! They’re too strong–”

[Your ally, Chadicus has been slain.]

[Hearthtribe has stolen your flag! Kill the Flag Bearer and touch the flag before the enemy team to return it to your base!]

Cassius growled, trembling with rage. They dared attempt to steal the flag with just a single person now, like his elites were some useless weaklings? He was watching Hearthtribe as they stood or floated in front of the recovery shrine past the base of the hill, and all of them had remained visible. Some began to move toward the tunnel entrance to begin the escort of their ally, a few of them with cheeky, infuriating smiles, as if daring the Obsidian Blades to rush down at them.

At the very least, they must kill the Flag Bearer. Hopefully, Avaron would respawn by then, and then buy them a little more time…this time. He would rather not use his Divine Essence unless he was sure of achieving a capture.

He said, “Rush to kill the flag bearer and return the flag, ignore all enemies! We must not allow them to capture it!”

Some men rushed down to cut the person off at the tunnel, and a couple of his faster men rushed toward the flag room from the top entrance. The latter was likely pointless because who would run toward almost forty people when by themselves? They should be heading down the tunnel.

Cassius was about to head down too, when suddenly, the giant plant monster leaped through the air, crossing a great distance and arriving up top near the resurrection shrine and landing on someone, crushing them as they swung their weapon almost immediately after landing. The massive tree club was so large that it smashed into several warriors on their mounts in a single, sideswiping swing that sent dirt and rock scattering into the air. More kill messages scrolled by his vision as his men were turned into motes of light.

The creature was even bigger than before, and multiple quick suns of Apollo and lightning bolts of Zeus from his mages on their mounts landed on it ineffectually, vines forming into shields deflecting the attacks while that haunting song from the naga was sang.

A somewhat feminine yet low voice came out of the giant creature, taunting them. “Hehe, that kinda tickles!”

“Hit it with dispels, and ignore the monster to go after the flag.” Cassius growled.

Many tried to bypass the monster on their mounts, but vines whipped out like a storm of spears, piercing into the mounts and dispelling them. The thorny vines then wrapped around the dismounted warriors like living snakes, preventing anyone from easily running past the giant creature as it continued to swing its massive tree club.

“Gather your war spirits, and follow me!” Cassius and his mount gathered their mana, and then rushed toward one side. The war priests of Ares gathered their faith in war, and sent the chaotic haze of war energy over to Cassius.

He swung his xiphos downward, and the wind from his griffin’s claw combined into a deadly bladed wave attack. Flickering, sharp, chaotic energy exploded downward in the rough shape of a sword being swung, cutting down the creature’s shoulder. Vines were shredded, and green blood sprayed as the protective aura was pierced and cut into the tree monster’s shoulder.

Cassius clicked his tongue, he had only caused what was effectively a flesh wound. It wasn’t enough to damage the creature heavily, but it had at least accomplished his goal. With the vines destroyed from the chaotic blades, he and his allies managed to storm past the creature on one side. His allies who remained on mounts followed, about twenty of them making through, the rest forced to continue fighting against the creature.

Dispels landed on the monster, but it appeared the growth effect was strong and protected against their efforts. Not only that, but Cassius had noticed that the pathetic wound he had created started healing over with both bark and vines. The shredded vines were rapidly regrowing with a frenzy, new tendrils whipping and striking nearby warriors.

Each spell only reduced the size slightly, and she stomped through with her immense size crushing his allies, and her club flashed and smashed into other targets. What was left was a creature nearly as large as the first time they faced it, and her vines on the side not destroyed manifested powerful imagery of beasts. The monster’s spirituality was high, and as Cassius scanned her with his magical senses, he understood the truth.

This strange creature was a Divine Descendant–he could feel it. Now he understood why they were losing–they were completely outclassed. Three unsealed Champions, two sealed, and two Divine Descendants. Thinking on it, their enemy only had about twenty people, even including summons or spirits. Avaron had only said two people were in the flag room, before he lost.

Still, he continued with his men toward the flag bearer down the center of the battlefield, who was now only a third of the way to the destination. Despite being slowed by carrying the flag, the five-tailed kitsune pranced across the field with leaping strides, infuriatingly quickly.

As the other Hearthtribe members positioned themselves spread out to the side to attack his people as they chased, they created a deadly gauntlet for his people to traverse. Cassius couldn’t help but groan at that.

They were taking full advantage of how their men were forced to chase this Flag Bearer to the flag room. Even if Cassius and his men could actually win in a straight-up battle, if the Flag Bearer got away, then it wouldn’t even matter.

Damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Cassius even saw the unstoppable lamia Champion coming down the opposite tunnel, the giant monster of a woman moving faster than they could on their mounts. The kitsune could even hand off the flag to the invincible carrier if they wanted, making this capture nearly a foregone conclusion.

Cassius motioned with his sword to a few of the people behind him, and said over their Battlegroup chat silently, “Five of you, avoid all combat and go straight for the enemy’s flag.”

His men immediately began to peel off, but as he saw the Garuda and flaming woman lining up to take them on, he realized this was rather pointless. Still, they had to try.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Some of Cassius’ men neared the Flag Bearer on their mounts, not all of them being dismounted, and some even faster than his griffin. Really, the value of his griffin was that it could fly, but it couldn’t even do that in this Battleground. Soon, a half-dozen men with weapons would be upon her, along with himself not long after. But a storm of attacks suddenly landed on them, arrows flying from the beastkin archers, removing them from their mounts and slowing them. A few arrows even struck his mount, and he was forced to block another arrow with his shield.

She suddenly spoke, “This flag sure makes me move a lot slower. Maybe I should have let BB come back first? Ah, here’s an idea.”

Blackish purple flames appeared as they flickered all around her like small candle flames, and a mysterious magic washed over all of them–reminding him of what Avaron could do. The woman suddenly split into a dozen copies, and continued her leaping run with a satisfied smile on her face.

One of the warriors shouted, “You fool, we won’t fall for that. Ignore the clones! We see where the real flag is, no matter what!”

His man was right. Despite her illusions each holding a copy of the flag, the correct one was very obvious, the flag shimmering in a special way. They could feel the flag in their perception, the Framework making it impossible to conceal.

The woman was slowed nearly a half by carrying the flag, but his men were only barely gaining on her. Cassius was the only one still on his mount, his men used potions to either speed themselves up, or by using other class abilities. He was catching up, but wasn’t yet upon her.

The kitsune woman put a finger to her lips as she leaped into the air, slowly falling toward the ground as her tails flickered erratically. “I wonder. Just because you know they are illusions, can you truly ignore them?”

One of the men ran past the kitsune clones carrying the fake flag, and one of them suddenly honed in on him, floating towards him with incredible pace. The illusion exploded into purplish flame, consuming the man. His scream was terror-inducing.

Several dispels from the priests landed on him, but the flames were hungry, consuming the magic itself as fuel, until he burst into motes of light and a kill message accompanied him. Then, the flame actually shot back to the woman, the flickering flames around her brightening.

The kitsune woman grinned back at them as she leaped through the air, spinning to laugh at them. “Ouch, that looked like it really hurt. You boys should be a little more careful when you play with fire.”

His men tried to avoid a few of the illusions, the men now running wide in order to evade their chase and being hit by the archers harrying them. The cowards, the flag was getting away! When a copy or two of the kitsune touched others–nothing happened, and they disappeared like soap bubbles being popped. A couple of others, they also burst into flames, slaying those chasing.

If that was all, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

Hearthtribe was picking them off this entire time, though some had stayed behind to support the giant plant monster woman in slaying the rest of his allies up on the plateau with the resurrection shrine. His griffin had already been tagged numerous times by powerful arrows, causing it to stumble and slow it down, making it unable to catch up.

The flying beastkin launched volley after volley of arrows into the chasing warriors, and now, the valkyrie appeared in front of Cassius to the side. She was not quite barring his path, and the lamia woman was not far off, though not even on an intercept course with the flag.

Cassius narrowed his eyes and prepared for a fight, but her mount just strutted casually as she smiled at Cassius, the mount whinnying and snorting in his direction.

It seemed the warrior was avoiding him instead of engaging. She said, “Bloodberri–the snake girl–is going to go get that third flag as soon as this one is captured, and I’m going to go join Ava–that’s the big plant monster–in killing your men as soon as they respawn. That means, this fight just might be your last one here today. Better make it count, Son of Ares.”

Cassius was filled with rage as she dashed past him–he was being treated like a joke. But between those killed by the giant plant monster’s disruption and his men slaughtered as they chased after the flag bearer, they had lost nearly all the men chasing already. Then, all of those at the resurrection shrine were almost dead.

They would soon respawn along with Avaron in a minute or so, but the kitsune woman already made it more than halfway across the battlefield–and the plant monster was still alive. Heals had landed on the creature, and no doubt, it would slay many of his men as soon as they respawned. Just its presence alone would slow them down from possibly recovering the flag in time just as the Champion of Guan Yu had said.

Cassius still chased after the flag bearer, not having a better option. As his griffin was about to pounce on the woman, the large red and green, horned plant dinosaur, got in between them, with vines whipping all around it. This was as far as he could chase without having to fight.

The creature suddenly spoke, “Let’s fight, child of Ares.”

It could talk too? Forced to stop, Cassius reigned in his mount. “What… are you?”

The creature gave a canine-grin, revealing the teeth of a predator. Despite looking a bit like a triceratops, the creature was somehow a sort of…dinosaur dog.

“I can’t be that weird to a third Tier, can I? I am Bree, daughter of Echidna. I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but…like father, like son, I guess. Unfortunate.” She chuckled.

Another daughter of a Divine. Now his loss would feel more than justified, but that did not matter. They needed to win this match, and to fail might result in his death–indirectly. If they didn’t claim The Burning Steps and the other worlds, then Cassius’ life would be forfeit. Either for his crimes against the Framework, or his soul and Divine Essence fed to some…Tartarus abomination to empower it, for his failure to prevent Hearthtribe from capturing this world.

Cassius would have to use some of his nascent Divine Energy to save his reputation. While not the same as a Champion’s, it was still nearly as effective. It was limited to enhancing his Divine Traits or manifesting them in different ways, and required him to have mastery over the energy itself, without any help from a Divine. He was still on the fourth level of Divine Energy Manipulation after decades, finding it a challenge to progress in it at all.

And unfortunately, unlike Champions who easily restored it over time, it was a pain in the ass to restore. By adhering to the Divine Essence he was born with and gathering tons of mana or other spiritual energies, it would slowly be restored.

Even if he was only expending a quarter of what he had available, it would take months of fighting battles, adhering to the chaos of war ingrained in himself, to restore it. The only other way was to drain the spirituality from rare and powerful magical items, especially those containing Divine Energy–an expensive proposition. Or, he could drain it from living beings in a sacrificial ritual, but that was more of a pain to do under the watchful gaze of the Framework. Easier to just use items.

It was a price he would have to pay, just to restore his dignity by defeating this disgusting being. He needed a win against this Divine Descendant for no other reason than that.

“I accept your challenge, daughter of Echidna. Let none interfere, lest our reputations for a fair duel be ruined.” ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by ɴovel(ꜰ)ɪre.nᴇt

Cassius was proud to have achieved a Legendary Class in the third Tier: Soldier of Chaos. Previously an Acolyte of Conflict, similar to the Warrior Priests of Ares, he was ecstatic when it had matched his efforts and his essence, and evolved to something much more worthwhile.

Several of his allies had already fallen, so he activated one of his class’s abilities: [Vengeance of the Fallen]. Thanks to his Divine Trait, this ability was enhanced by the chaos of battle, and it enabled him to control his clergy’s energy of his father as a conduit. He was an agent of chaos, his class benefiting from the greatest representation of it throughout all of civilization: war.

His body grew to nearly twice his original size as his fallen ally’s war energy surged toward him, and he spurred his griffin forward as he dismounted. He then dashed toward the monstrous plant dinosaur by its side, his shield and sword glowing a bright white.

Bree chuckled as flames erupted and brightened across the numerous flowers and vines adorning her body. The vines lashed out at both of them as she charged, her still-larger body barreling toward them. The green energy surged toward her, and several dino dogs similar to her formed next to her.

Cassius sneered as he activated the glyph on his gauntlet. A flash of light emanated from it, sending dispelling winds into the summoned creatures. To his shock, even as they were torn apart by the blast of neutral magical energy, the green energy rebuilt their forms. He had already faced the wolf and raven constructs, and he knew he could not ignore these much larger, more dangerous creatures. He had saved the gauntlet’s ability for a more important fight, but it was completely useless.

The two dinosaurs crashed into his griffin and took it to the ground almost immediately, as its teeth and claws met the dinosaur’s flesh, and Cassius charged forward with his shield. To his surprise, a woven shield of vines drove into his and started to wrap around it, and a large paw was raised above him. It came mercilessly down, and he swung his sword upward with mana infused in his arms to counter.

Despite his increased size and empowerment from the Vengeance of the Fallen, the force behind the paw would have been enough to send him flying. The weight overpowered him easily, and his sword crashed into his chest and the claws were dragged across it at the same time. The claws did not pierce his armor, but the blow felt like he had just gotten hit by a wagon filled with goods.

He barely held on to his shield as his body was flung because the shield was braced by the monster’s vines. Barely finding his footing as he recovered, the next attack was already coming toward him, the other claw now being swung, along with several vines snaking around to lash out at him.

With a roar, Cassius activated his ability, [Blades of Chaos]. The war energy within him blasted out like water exploding from an overfilled barrel, miniature blades and razors shredding the vines and freeing his shield, and heading toward Bree as he positioned his shield, preparing for the claw.

Rather than dodge or block, Bree shifted her large body only slightly and met his attack with her shoulder. Vines were torn apart and Cassius noticed with some satisfaction that the wave of blades struck her hide–and partially cut through it, scattering blood onto the grass. However, the cuts were not deep, the woven plant armor she wore already consuming much of the chaotic blades–and, the paw was still heading toward him.

Bree wasn’t even slowed by taking the hit as the next paw threatened to shred him in half once more. It was only now that Cassius noticed the flames filling her entire body–somehow hidden beneath the vines and her flesh. Her wound was already healing over, and vines were regrowing rapidly, just like the giant tree monster.

Things weren’t looking good, so he used his Technique–The Echoes of War. Consuming his mana, each of the swings of his sword were mirrored with an echo of his attack as if he were fighting with spectral soldiers on his side, even his shield bashes. If he got lucky, his chaotic trait would actually produce many copies, allowing him to deal devastating blows.

He swung his shield in a bash to meet the paw, and this time, rather than be blown back, a second, ethereal shield met the heavy claw and reduced the advantage the large monster held–he was only knocked back a few paces. His sword ready, he swung it at the vines, and ethereal swords cut through others, and then he dashed forward to go on the attack, before Bree could.

Unleashing a series of swings and bashes, his echoes doubled and in some cases tripled his action. Bree deflected one swing with her horn, but the two spectral warriors cut into her legs, tearing away at her vines and sending plant matter onto the grass.

He continued his assault with several more attacks, but Cassius couldn’t help but frown even as Bree backed up. He had put all the power he could into his attacks, but it was like hitting a heavy block of wood with a club rather than a sharpened sword.

Bree grinned. “Your little weak attacks are so…cute in a way. Like a child–a dumb, ugly one.”

Before he could even shout a retort as he brought his sword down in an overhead swing, a mace-like object smacked him across the chest hard, and sent him flying. It was only as he looked back at the dinosaur woman that he realized what it was: her reptilian tail, with a bulbous, spiked growth at the tip.

He spent some of his nascent Divine Energy to restore his broken rib as he landed on the ground sliding, recovering as he found his footing, and he learned that his griffin battle mount was dispelled. Rushing forward once again, he released his same Blades of Chaos attack as he swung downward at Bree’s face. Two echoes of warriors attacked from the sides, and Bree just looked at him with a condescending smile.

Another vine shield blocked his attack, only this time, it was different–it was covered in flames. It blasted outward just like his Blades of Chaos attack, deflecting much of the magical blades. Then, his three strikes didn’t land on her face, but on a second shield of woven vines that quickly interspersed itself between them.

His attacks barely weakened the shields alone, the green energy rushing into them. The writhing, woven vines were already regrowing on both shields as he watched. The dinodogs moved to surround him, and Cassius couldn’t help but grimace. He could scarcely even wound the creature, and he’d already spent much of his mana and war energy from his fallen allies. Not only that, but he could not maintain this larger form forever.

Bree chuckled. “Something wrong, Son of Ares? You know, I can keep this up all day, but it seems like you might be flagging. A man with no endurance, I do feel sorry for the missus.”

With the dinodogs on their way to join Bree in the fight, Cassius knew this was going to be his best opening. Focusing his nascent Divine Energy on his Trait, he used his ability–the Winds of War.

An apparition of a battlefield appeared around him, corpses strewn about across the ground. Bloodied weapons were scattered and inserted into the dried ground, and a wind blew through the battlefield. Echoes, sounds of fighting, weapons clashing, and shouts of anger, pain, and despair rang out, changing the atmosphere around Cassius as he infused the last of his mana into his body and blade.

War caused the breakdown of order: law, morality, diplomacy all crumbled and gave way to force and violence. War corrupted all of civilization’s tools: logistics, science, magic, communication, and even culture were repurposed for nothing more than destruction. Morals were even flipped on their head, killing becoming valorous, cruelty incentivized, and survival overriding compassion.

The Winds of War would only help him recover some war energy for himself through his class ability, normally. But enhanced by his Divine Trait, it corrupted and repurposed every special energy nearby, from the mana in the air of the Battleground, to the beastkin of Highland’s unique magical energy: auril. The green haze was drawn toward him with the winds, and was combined with the mana to create a large pool of war energy, his body shimmering white and gold.

Cassius was actually a bit disappointed by how much of this auril was drawn in. The strange energy fought the effect of his magic and spread away from it as if it were alive and unwilling to be tainted and corrupted in this way. He had also hoped to dispel the two dinodogs too, and repurpose them, but they continued their charge toward him. He had to end this now.

Bree didn’t look worried, grinning. “Ah, there it is–interesting. Now it’ll be worth facing you.”

The energy within Bree surged, and the spirituality, her weight on reality, increased. Her entire body was covered in flames, and she grew larger as she raised her paw, apparitions of scales and woven vines wrapping around her arm and paw. The vines surrounding her twisted and wove as they grew, a special, endless vitality within her fueling the effect. It was strange, however. He didn’t feel her using much if any of her nascent Divine Energy at all. This was simply the power of auril, and perhaps her Divine Trait.

With a grunt, Cassius swung powerfully downward, and more apparitions of warriors joined Cassius’ attack. A large Blades of Chaos attack was also released like a flood, the last of his war energy surging toward Bree like a flood of metallic blades flowing toward her.

Rather than meet his attack with a swing, two flaming woven shields of vines stacked on each other and crashed into his blade. Thousands of miniature, magical blades swept through the shields, shredding the woven plants. However, they kept regrowing even as the storm of blades continued, and he shoved his blade apparitions toward Bree. His sword eventually slashed through the shield from the might behind his blow, and it continued toward Bree’s skull, though severely weakened.

With a belch, Bree breathed out a cone of flames into Cassius, the force behind her blast shoving into him, and slowing his blade as some of it crashed into his body and shield. With all his might, he brought the blade down, only for it to be met by Bree’s horns and directed to the side by her superior weight.

Then, the two dinodogs crashed into him with their horns, one smacking into his right shoulder with its heavy weight, and another into his left knee. The opposing forces caused his body to shift, and so his force wasn’t what he wanted it to be, but the two apparitions from his Technique, Echoes of War, swung and struck her body, shredding vine and scaled flesh alike.

Unfortunately for Cassius, the blows were not deep enough to make the wound grievous, and strangely, now he felt some form of Divine Energy moving within her, the vines and scaled flesh writhing where she was struck.

He missed where it came from again, but the tail’s mace then smashed into his armored head. His vision blurred as he was smashed into the ground, his body shrinking as his magics were expended. Even if he tried to infuse more nascent Divine Energy into his attacks, he could see it was pointless. His mana and war energy was gone, and his abilities were used.

The large dinosaur’s raised paw pressed down onto Cassius, causing him to grunt as several bones were broken from her tyrannical weight. Bree crushed his shrunken form to the ground, her claws sinking into his flesh and pinning his arms off to the side because of its large size. Her mouth loomed over his throat.

[Your flag has been captured. Hearthtribe leads 2-0.]

Bree chuckled, as she looked behind him toward their resurrection shrine. “Looks like that’s my win, and our win–even if you respawn, you won’t be able to do anything to stop us.”

His final allies had been slain during their battle, the messages scrolling across his vision, and he was forced to ignore them in favor of concentrating on their fight. Then, his fight had taken the entire minute. Even Avaron had fallen during their respawn, surprisingly, so he couldn’t even rely on him to turn things around. Cassius began to regret fighting this Bree, and not just because he lost the duel. He had missed the respawn, the biggest chance to make a difference in the battle, with all things considered.

He coughed up some blood, and sneered at Bree. “This isn’t over. You may have won the battle, but you won’t win the war. This battle was meaningless, unimportant in the big scheme of things.”

Bree narrowed her eyes, and chuckled. “Oh really? If it didn’t matter, then why did you fight so hard? Why were your eyes so filled with despair as the kitsune woman dashed across the field with the flag–as if your life were flashing before your very eyes? My gut says this battle meant a lot more than just a simple weekly Battleground win, and not just because of your fragile ego. We’ll get to the bottom of your plots, and crush you and your allies, no matter what they are. Enjoy your vacation from Conquest, things will likely be quite different when you awaken.”

“Fuck off.”

Bree grinned. “Oh, I will. After we claim The Burning Steps, I’m sure our celebration will be quite glorious. And my mate doesn’t have endurance problems.”

The giant maw latched around his neck, and his mind was sent into the void as his body dispersed into motes of light and reformed within the resurrection shrine, where his allies were being picked apart. He watched the area as a specter, forced to witness Hearthtribe slaying his allies.