"Your Excellency Edward, what are your plans moving forward?"

The Demigod of the Moonwell, Gima, materialized on the rampart. Everywhere she stepped, vines and flowers coiled into existence, reinforcing the living wall she had summoned with her divine power. The original stone fortifications had been obliterated.

Though the Cult of Four's leadership had been annihilated, the swarms of demonic monsters surrounding Staghelm City showed no signs of retreating. With the Black Tower destroyed, they were leaderless, driven only by their final command: raze the city at all costs.

Gima had been forced to personally intervene, weaving a temporary wall of thorns and ironwood to hold back the tide. The surviving city guards now stood upon this living battlement, fighting with renewed ferocity.

Without their demigod commanders, the monsters were a manageable threat. To the north, the Champions Alliance's main force was steadily advancing. The longer the defenders held out, the more the pressure would ease.

"We're pushing south," Deputy Commander Edward stated, not taking his eyes off the skull in his hand. "The Champions Alliance came to the Silverwood Realm to carve out a piece of the Cult of Four's territory. That's what we intend to do."

He glanced at the Demigod of the Moonwell, noticing the slight furrow of her brow, the subtle tension in her expression.

After a moment, he clarified the Alliance's position. "As our ally, Staghelm City's existing lands are off-limits. We won't touch a single inch. In fact, if you were to join our southern campaign, we would be willing to cut you in on the spoils."

It was a strategic offer. Not only was Moon Elf Isilra now politically bound to Orion, making Staghelm City practically family territory, but Gima herself was an invaluable asset. A support of her caliber—a super healer, as some might call her—was a force multiplier worth courting.

"I appreciate the generous offer, my ally," Gima replied, her voice as serene as ever. "But Staghelm City is a neutral and peaceful faction. We have no desire to expand. Protecting what is already ours is enough."

Edward nodded, saying nothing. He considered it a shortsighted view. While Gima, already a demigod, might not need more territory for herself, Isilra was another matter entirely. To ascend, she would need to comprehend a Lord's Stone, and she would need a massive wellspring of faith from her followers. Faith wasn't generated from thin air; it required land and a populace to rule.

But that wasn't his problem. It was Orion's.

A shimmer of spatial energy distorted the air beside Edward, and two figures materialized on the wall. The first was Orion's mirrored avatar, identical to his true body. It was the second figure that drew Edward's gaze.

"Huh… You've ascended to demigod?" he asked, sensing the distinct pressure of a demigod and the power of cosmic rules emanating from the bloodline curse avatar.

"Damn right I'm stronger," Orion grinned. It was this newfound power that had given him the confidence to reinforce his comrades. He took in the scene, the joy of his arrival quickly fading. He was too late. The decisive battle between the top-tier players was already over.

Arthas was in a deep slumber, and Alexander's fate was still being decided inside the skull of his enemy. "Still… I'm sorry I was late."

Edward didn't reply, his eyes still scrutinizing the strange new avatar. It felt like a demigod, yet there was something fundamentally different about it.

"Your Excellency Edward, and who might these gentlemen be?" the Demigod of the Moonwell asked, offering a polite nod to both of Orion's forms.

"This is Orion," Edward said flatly. "The one engaged to your city. And that," he gestured to the other figure, "is his demigod avatar."

Edward was, if nothing else, a professional. If Leonidas had been there, he would have undoubtedly quipped, "Meet your son-in-law," and there would have been no stopping him.

At the mention of the engagement, Gima's eyes lit up, and she studied Orion with a newfound, intense curiosity.

Orion, however, was completely lost.

"Wait, what? " he blurted out. "Since when am I engaged to Staghelm City? How am I the last to know?"

Sensing his confusion, Edward simply tossed him a contract scroll.

Orion scanned it quickly. When he saw the other party was Moon Elf Isilra, his objections vanished. First, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, Isilra was flawless, on par with Violet. He certainly wasn't opposed to the arrangement.

Second, the Stoneheart Horde desperately needed another Archlord. Once she was his wife, Isilra was part of the Horde. Even if she wasn't suited for the ugliest front-line missions, she could serve as a powerful guardian for his territories, a major deterrent to their enemies.

Of course, Isilra's arrival would undoubtedly crank up the pressure on his other women. Lilith, especially, had just started to relax. Now she'd probably throw herself back into her training with a vengeance.

"So, where is Isilra?" Orion asked, finally looking up. He couldn't sense her presence in the city. "Don't tell me she's already dead," he added, the question couched in a grim attempt at a joke.

"She was pulled into The Dais of Judgment by an archlord from the Cult of Four," the Demigod of the Moonwell's serene expression faltered, her voice shifting from calm to anxious. "I can feel her spatial coordinates, but I lack the power to break the barrier."

The Dais had been summoned by the Witch, a demigod-level opponent. Gima knew she couldn't shatter it alone.

"Share the coordinates. Let's see what the three of us can do together," Edward said, finally peeling his gaze away from Orion's new avatar. He placed another sealing ward on the War Golem's skull before turning his full attention to Gima.

"They are… there."

Gima projected the location, and both Orion and Edward looked toward the same point in the distance. It was an empty patch of void.

"It's too far," Edward said, his face grim. "And the barrier is infused with the power of a god. Our combined strength is irrelevant."

He lowered his gaze. The Cult of Four's Dais of Judgment was a Divine Art, a ritual that summoned a phantom of a true Divine Artifact. To break Isilra out, they would have to shatter a projection guarded by a god's will.

Gima, and Orion's new avatar were all first-stage demigods. Shattering a divine artifact phantom, even a phantom, was leagues out of their weight class.

"She's on her own," Edward concluded. "She has to play by the rules of the Dais and defeat her opponent to get out."

The Demigod of the Moonwell's face fell, a look of despair clouding her features. She had placed a sliver of her own demigod phantom on Isilra before the battle; she knew her time was running out.

Orion's mind raced, searching for another angle. "Is there any of Isilra's hair, or anything of hers, left in Staghelm?"

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