Not long before Akagi left the King's Mausoleum.

"Oof, there's a whole lot of them out there." Zephiria said as Kira looked through a visor. "I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that they eventually sent forces to engage us. Honestly, I'm shocked that it took this long for the Gods to do something." She said while observing the hundreds of small floating figures on the horizon. They'd been hovering and keeping their distance, seemingly observing the Dumetor base while making no moves toward it. Zephiria and the others didn't know exactly who they were but had a few guesses.

{They look like machines... Hmmm. And with the magic coming from their bodies... Are they some kind of golem? But I've never seen ones that look like that, and their more metallic and humanoid than the kind I'm used to. They kind of remind me of mechsuits.} (Zephiria)

"I should report this to Lady Akagi." Kira said as she put her visor down. "If the Gods are launching an assault, she must be informed immediately."

"Yeah, go ahead and-" Zephira paused as a massive magical circle formed over the base. "Maximized Area Shield! Triple layered!" She said, quickly casting a multi layered magical barrier to block an enrmous magical blast that slammed onto the base from above. It was similar to the one used at the start of the battle with the Demon Army, though this one was much, much more powerful.

*WOOSH* *BOOM*

"Jeeze. Not even a warning shot? Do they not have any decorum? You're supposed to choreograph your big attack at least! Where's the fun if you just fire it out of nowhere?" Zephiria laughed as she lowered her hand as the magic circle faded, lowering her shield. The attack had been successfully blocked by her shield and no damage to the base or surrounding area was sustained, though the attack did leave Zephiria a little jumpy from how quickly they'd cast such a powerful spell. "But in all fairness, I wouldn't have given one either." She said before snapping her fingers and summoning a dozen grimoires from her inventory.

"I think that clears up any doubt as to whether they're our enemy." Kira said with a wry smile. She was happy that Zephiria was here to handle that attack since no one else in the base could've created such a complex barrier that quickly. "I'll gather everyone I can from the base, and we'll take them on together. We can't allow them to live after such a brazen attack like that.”"

"Nah, I've got this." Zephiria said as she floated into the air, summoning more grimoires to her side. "You just stay back and make sure there's no sneak attack. I'd rather not find out this is a feint and their real target is the base itself. Go a head and see if you can get Akagi on the phone, but let her know that I've got things handled and want to test some magic out if she doesn't mind.”

"Understood..." Kira nodded before running back inside, leaving Zephiria alone to face these foes. If it were anyone else, Kira wouldn't have left such an important job up to them but Zephiria was different. Though their circumstances were different the Warlock was a servant of the Demon, and Kira had no doubts about her loyalty or competency.

Observing the forces amassing in the distance, Zephiria estimated that there were more than six hundred of the floating figures, and after their big attack, they didn't seem too keen on trying again, instead moving together in the distance as if they were waiting for some kind of signal. The Warlock figured that the magical attack was essentially a kind of probing maneuver, and seeing how easily she blocked it must've made them, or whomever was ordering them, wary. Naturally, Zephiria was going to take advantage of this lull to prepare herself for whatever was to come, though she found it odd that her foes were making the mistake of giving a magic caster time.

"Alright, alright, alright, alright!" Zephiria cheered as she floated higher into the sky. "Hmmmm... You know, I don't think I've gotten a chance to really put myself to the test ever since we got out of FWO." She said, stretching and doing some comical air punches. "Even against Halifax I had to hold back a bit since it wasn't exactly a fight to the death, soooooooo." She cackled evilly. "How about we really give things a go?"

Taking a moment to center herself, Zephiria stared down her foe from a distance. By this point she was quite certain that they were some kind of creation of the Gods and were intended to be a scouting force rather than something intended to overwhelm their position. Thus the Warlock decided to show off her power, mostly in an attempt to give the Gods pause and show them that Akagi wasn't the only person they needed to be wary of.

{They don't seem intent on moving either. Are they waiting for a response? I'd imagine whoever is controlling them is wary of me since I easily blocked their attack, so maybe they want to see what my next move is? Though the Gods should know better than to sit around and wait. Odd.} (Zephiria)

"Well..." Zephiria smirked as she commanded one of her grimoires to appear in front of her. "If you're going to wait, I might as well prepare myself thoroughly. Though, I would've expected that the Gods would know that giving a caster time is the worst thing they can do." She said before taking a deep breath and casting a series of buff spells. "Body of a Thousand Stone. False Data. Full Mana Control. True Sight. Extraordinary Speed. Three-Headed Giant. Magic Caster's Blessing. Wall. Freedom of Movement. Full Potential. Intuition. Greater Resistance. Status Nullification. Continuous Restoration. Indomitable. Chaotic Twist. Magic Boost. Luck Boost. Total Magic Shield. Penetrate Up. Defense Up. Magic Up. Ignore Resistance. Quadruple Maximize Magic Proximity Mine. Pact of the Joker. Flow Like Water. Cast Speed Up. Mana Cost Reduction. Cooldown Reduction. Complete Control. Mental Acumine. Mind Shield. Magic Ward: Holy..."

Zephiria rattled off a list of buff spells. With each one, her body was briefly covered by a colorful light, indicating a successful cast. Ordinarily, she wouldn't be given the opportunity to set up so many overlapping spells, but it seemed that the Gods' minions were either unable or unwilling to interrupt her. This series of casting when ont for over a minute, and once she was finished with her self-buffing, Zephira threw out her hand and created a massive set of overlapping magic circles that surrounded her from above, below, and on the sides. Each contained an intricate and complex weave of magic; the formula for each could be seen carved into the circles themselves as it flowed around her.

Zephiria was nothing short of a magical genius, and her ability to understand and skill of controlling magic was astonishing. Even within the confines of FWO she had an extraordinary grasp on the game's magical system, but when that system turned into reality she found that it just clicked. For her magic was little more than an extension of her body and she could move and manipulate it as if it was an appendage. The question of why a person who came from a world without magic could use it in such a way came up a few times, though Akagi could never really get a solid answer and eventually stopped asking questions.

"Hmmm. Still no response after all that showboating?" Zephiria said as she continued to watch the golems. She thought they looked like a cross between mecha and angels due to their humanoid shape and metallic bodies that had 'wings' protruding from their backs. They were an odd shape and didn't seem to fit in with this world's high fantasy aesthetic, seemingly more at home in a sci-fi anime than on Enoris, especially with their angular shape and clearly visible 'cannons' in place of arms. "I'm surprised. When I've used 11th Tier Magic in the past it always attracted all the aggro, especially because it leaves you vulnerable during the start-up." She sighed as her spell continued to power up.

Eleventh Tier Magic was unique in FWO in that it wasn't technically magic. No MP was consumed upon the use of the spell, and it was treated as an ability rather than a true casting. A Player could only use the individual spell once in a twenty-four-hour period due to cool down limitations, but to compensate for that each of the nine 11th Tier Spells was incredibly overpowered. The developers hadn't fully implemented the system at the launch of the Alpha, and as a result, there was absolutely no balance when it came to such high-powered abilities. Each had the power to completely upend a battle and turn the tide in the caster's favor, though as a slight bit of balance Players couldn't use them against World Bosses, though when used on anything else the effects tended to be devastating.

Naturally, like everything else from the game, these Spells changed in the real world as well. The cool down was replaced by a massive stamina/life force drain on the user and restrictions on usage were removed completely. Zephiria had practiced with them a few times, and was currently the only caster actually able to use them due to her full dedication to magical study in the game and because she possessed more than enough strength to actually activate said spells. Most Players didn't bother with the laborious quest requirements to obtain 11th Tier Magic since nuking a bunch of regular enemies, while useful, was generally not seen as worth the effort. The Devs did include 11th Tier Magic that buffed one's allies, but again the challenge in obtaining them was generally not regarded as worth the reward.

"Perhaps this really is overkill but, you know, I'm curious to see how it plays out." Zephiria said as she thrust her arms out into the air, channeling an insane amount of magic through her body. "ELEVENTH TIER MAGIC: THE END OF EVERYTHING!"

As the spell was cast, the intricate web of magic circles around Zephiria expanded even further and gained new layers as it grew. The spell's activation seemed to electrify the very air itself around her, and even those within the Dumetor base could feel the extraordinary weight of the mana being coalesced and ejected. It was far more magical energy than they'd ever

felt gathered in one place, and could be best described as suffocating due to its density.

Mere moments later, a massive plume of white power exploded from the ground just beneath the flying enemies in the form of a cylinder that rapidly expanded outward, engulfing all of them and reducing the entire gathered force to little more than free-floating atoms. The power of the attack was so great that everything within a mile the origination point was annihilated as a crater of approximately the same depth formed underneath. The Eleventh Tier Magic: The End of Everything was quite possibly the single most powerful magical power a Player could access within FWO. It was intended to be a mass horde-clearing magic for wiping out entire armies, and the version of it cast by Zephiria was even more powerful than what could be done within the game since traditionally it would be no larger an AOE than that of a football field.

Even without adding Akagi's power to boost it Zephiria's mastery of magic and high mana pool meant that when she unleashed this spell the entire planet felt the impact. Enoris itself shook under the weight of the blast, almost as if a worldwide earthquake had struck for just a brief moment. While Herlex's Angel's Lance was certainly capable of shattering a portion of the Earth, it was entirely possible that a casting of The End of Everything, unrestricted by FWO's systems and sufficently boosted by Akagi's power, could actually eradicate it if one was not careful to limit the spell's area of effect during the casting process. Had it not been for the fact that Zephiria simply lacked the energy to make the spell more than a few miles across she could've easily taken a large portion of the Northern Continent out right then and there. That was a terrifying enough prospect in and of itself, and the Warlock was keen on one day growing so powerful that she could wipe out entire planets with a single spell. Something that she knew from her experiments with the Demon's power was more than possible given enough time and training.

"Hmpf." Zephira smirked, admiring the irradiated hellscape she'd created with her magic. "Not bad. Not bad at all. I just hope I get to use it against something a little more formidable than grunts." She said before turning and flying back toward base, pleased with her test.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Gale POV

"I see..." Gale grumbled as he tapped his foot, irritated as he sat at his desk. He'd been watching the forces he'd deployed via his divination magic and was displeased by how easily the Warlock had disposed of his forces. "I didn't expect those constructs to actually succeed at their job... But that magic..." He clicked his tongue in irritation. "It would see the Demon Lord is not the only dangerous one. I've underestimated her subordinates, and it appears I need to rethink my plans if we're to account for other beings with such power." He said, looking at Cheofla who was absolutely mortified by the magic just used.

"A spell like that... I've never seen anything like it." Cheofla said, her face slightly paled. As the Goddess of Magic, she had an intricate understanding of it, how it worked, and what it could do. But the formulas and magic used by Zephiria left her completely flabbergasted, as they looked nothing like what she'd seen during her long life and defied her understanding of the basic fundamentals of magical theory. "No... I don't even know if that was magic..."

{It was as if I watched the weaving of something even more fundamental than magic... That... That may very well have been creation itself. I... How could a mortal...} (Cheofla)

"It matters not. Find a countermeasure for it." Gale said curtly. "And tell that that stupid King that his constructs need some work. We're going to need far better soldiers if we hope to confront the Demon Lord." He said, waiving his hand and causing the view of the Simoea Plains to vanish.

{At the end of a day a mortal is still a mortal. They might have powerful abilities but against a God, they'll be no match. Hilare is nearly done with his project and soon enough they'll face our full power. I hope you're prepared, Demon Lord.} (Gale)