The divine plane was burning.

It had never burned before.

Not during the Wars between the Courts.

Not during Adrill's Folly.

Today, it burned.

Those who served Oda were turned. The corruption was sleeping and hidden. With the revelation of corruption in Oda, it spread through his servants. Its awakening was another shock. Like the mortal realm, none were ready for the assault.

Rickle looked on from his realm. The spreading violence was shocking to see. So much was happening. The divine realm was a place of perspectives and layers. What a mortal would see was never all of it. Rickle could see it all and was horrified.

The Courts were gathering. The neutral gods were gathering.

Nictor and Xandus were already fighting Oda. Hackyon was helping.

Oda was head of the pantheon and the strongest of the gods, who hid the full extent of his power. Rickle was like him in that regard. His ability to manipulate time was his most significant advantage. The surprise and ferocity of the assault were the others.

Rickle and his servants were preparing to join the battle.

He had to ignore the mortal realm right now.

The gods were fighting.

They were losing.

## ## ## ## ##

"Lord Goldwind! We need to seal the Temple District!" Danrum had to yell over the sounds of battle. Chaos was everywhere in the streets.

"How bad is it?" He yelled back. Danrum had to step in closer to be heard.

"Madness! The fight is escalating. We do not know the number of attackers or where they came from."

"Do it!" Ranus gave the order.

Danrum needed no other instructions and was away. Yelling orders and trying to bring order to the chaos.

Ranus's attention was drawn to the roof as a series of explosions erupted in the next street. Screams increased, and the panic grew.

Fires were spreading, and the Temple District was burning.

Ranus could see the temple of Minras, the god of trade and money. It was aflame, with survivors running from it or trying to help. The wounded and dead were in the streets, being ignored by most. But not all.

Ranus went to help.

## ## ## ## ##

Something was happening.

The adventurers had stopped coming.

This was unusual; typically, each team was replaced quickly by another to avoid wasting daylight. So far, none had arrived.

The doors were open. I went over to them.

Over the years, I have pushed back the static beyond my sphere of influence. I still could not see far, but I could hear.

I caught the sounds of distant explosions.

"That's not good."

Larry in the rafters was agitated. He was sensing the violence beyond the building.

"What to do?"

My options were limited. I shifted to Mana Sight and took a look around.

"Shit!"

It took a few moments for me to notice it, but when I did, that was all I could say. The void essence in the air was increasing. Not by a little bit, but a lot and fast. I watched as it travelled into my dungeon and down the stairwell, caught in the vortex of air being drawn towards my Core. I opened up my character sheet and checked the corruption level I was dealing with.

The number was flickering between zero and one. I had never seen it go above zero from just me absorbing the air's contents. This was a bad sign, and I was thankful that I had managed to improve my ability to process corruption to such an extent.

Something bad was happening out there.

"Larry, best head downstairs."

He didn't need any more prompting and was quickly on the way. I kept my focus on the doors with my limited view outside. Eventually I realised I was hearing something else…… Screaming and the sounds of battle.

## ## ## ## ##

"We cannot keep this contained." Danrum was sweating and breathing hard as he spoke. He had blood on the front of his clothes from fighting.

"Are you sure it's the twisted?" Ranus demanded.

"Yes. We've already lost a good number of the Watch. The adventurers have now committed and are helping stabilise where they can."

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"What of the clerics and the paladins?" Ranus asked, looking around.

"Dead, wounded or still fighting. Most of the twisted were fighting, dressed in the robes of priests or acolytes. Danrum spat out some dust from his mouth as he spoke.

"Do you mean they came from their churches and temples?"

Dan gave him a nod with a grimace.

This was terrifying to be told. The entire strategy against the twisted relied on churches and temples as a cornerstone to be trusted. That plan had been completely shattered by what was transpiring right now.

"What numbers are we facing?" Ranus demanded.

"Impossible to tell. Corruption is spreading, twisting more people who have been wounded. It's spreading quickly, moving more like a bloodfire plague." He looked around as he spoke, watching as a rough barricade was being constructed in the street. "The marketplace is the sight of a pitched battle. The temple district is just chaos."

"What of the Temple of Ilinia?" Ranus knew that if they had any chance of containing the twisted, they would need that building and the knowledge of the priests within it.

"That's the only good news I have. Two adventurer teams were there when this all broke out. They were collecting wounded members and arming themselves as soon as the chaos began. They were able to hold out until help came. The building has sustained some damage, but it still stands."

"Thank the Gods for small mercies."

"I'm afraid that's all we can expect, Lord Goldwind." Ranus turned and found Arbiter Nextom approaching, accompanied by surprisingly High Priest Hexus. Both were covered in soot and blood. Both were armed: Nextom with a heavy warhammer and Hexus with a barbed whip and a dagger. Ranus would never have expected to see such a strange pair working together the day before. Today, anything was possible.

"Why, Arbiter Nextom?" Ranus asked, fearing the answer.

"The divine plane is under assault." He said gravely.

"What's happening?" Danrum demanded.

"We do not know, but this is happening everywhere, it seems," Hexus answered this time.

"What do we do?" Ranus asked, needing to do something but unsure what to do.

They had no answer until another voice spoke.

"They are being drawn to the Dungeon." Averance had suddenly appeared among them.

"By the Gods! High Guild Master Averance! Do not do that!" Nextom yelled at her. They had all jumped in surprise at her appearance, but none more than Nextom.

Ranus recovered and spoke. "Of course. Let's channel them."

## ## ## ## ##

Gran was tired.

He looked around the barricade at this team and the few other defenders. They were all tired. They had been constantly attacked almost right after this all started. They had built the barricade as others fought. The main door was blocked, and all the low windows had to be defended. Several rooms had to be sealed off as they were running out of bodies to protect them. The ground floor was emptied, and the stairs were guarded.

The dead were added to the barricades, including both defenders and attackers.

They had identified the attackers as the twisted. The bodies clearly showed all the signs they were told to look out for. Many of the last attackers were showing physical changes. Gran was outwardly calm, but internally was growing more fearful.

The fighting was relentless. Wave after wave came on. They were defending the entryway. The twisted never stopped, and his team was burning through skills and magic at a pace that was putting them in danger. He was like his teammates were running out of combat tricks.

He was breathing and sweating hard. His body was aching, and his arms were starting to shake from exhaustion. He was looking around during a brief break in the attacks. He had to take stock.

"Sound off." He spoke, and his team replied, telling him their condition.

"Holding, but I am almost out of stamina." Tobar was first. He was holding the central part of the doorway with his great shield. Both were battered but unbroken.

"I am… suffering the… start of mana drain backlash." Hena wheezed from a bent-over position. She might start throwing up if she could not control it.

"Ready when needed." Kimora was sweating just as severely as he was.

"I am running out of arrows," Nilus said, but Gran noted the slight tremor in his hands. He had been utilising his skills extensively.

Mags had pulled a wounded Watchman further into the temple, but was just as tired as they were. Other priests were moving around, doing what they could to help. A mixture of others hold the different parts of the defensive line.

"More coming." Tobar rumbled. Gran returned to the line.

It was only a matter of time before the line collapsed.

Gran looked out across the body and rubble-strewn street. He counted the twisted running around the building.

Too many.

He sensed the fighters around him bracing themselves to meet the charge.

As they charged, he took note of even more physical changes amongst them.

They were nearly at the doors when an explosion went off, knocking him back with its force. He scrambled back up and looked out.

He nearly collapsed in joy.

Help had arrived. Minvar and her team slammed into the twisted with Doltum.

## ## ## ## ##

Across the city of Shadow Vale, the population rose to defend their city.

This was being echoed across the world with different levels of success. Cities and towns were burning. The streets were filled with blood, death, and battle. This world's population knew suffering and challenge; most did not surrender to fear.

The rulers were now engaged in bringing order back to their lands.

Over the last few years, they had nearly all become aware of the twisted and limited options available to combat them. The problem was that most of these plans involved the churches.

They were forced to adapt.

Adapt they did. They reinforced those who were fighting already, and street by street, building by building, they pushed back, hunting down and killing the twisted.

## ## ## ## ##

"They are moving down the streets." Danrum informed Ranus.

"Have we cleared everyone?" Ranus asked, fearing the answer.

"As many as we could." Danrum did lie to him, knowing that this would come at a cost.

Averance had been right. The twisted were not attacking entirely at random. They were being pulled towards the dungeon, and Ranus acted upon this information. The main route to the palisade and the gates was cleared, and they were doing their best to funnel the twisted onto it.

There were already successes, as most of the twisted, when able, had moved towards the dungeon. Battles were still raging all around, but they were finally starting to subside. The twisted were moving with a purpose.

Ranus pulled out the back speaking crystal and sent the message.

## ## ## ## ##

Ranus had sent me a warning.

With only minutes to prepare, the bastard.

I had one of my intelligent minions get ready. Krag was already in the stairwell, as it was part of his floor, and he was almost vibrating with excitement. The others were preparing for the alert that would trigger the raid.

Larry and Puck were down in my Core Room.

The doors were left open.

"Now we wait."

I did not wait long.

I ignored the red alert message as the twisted started to enter the surface building. Thankfully, they were not coming in one solid horde but arriving in waves.

The first ones charged in and down to the first floor. These were not seasoned or well-coordinated adventurers. Nor were they combat-hardened, twisted but newly corrupted in the throes of madness. My wasps swarmed them and brought them down with losses.

I felt the corruption affect me, but not as severely as I had feared.

I was even able to reset the dungeon before the second wave arrived.

This was a much larger group, and many were suffering from pronounced examples of more aggressive corruption. They can charge down the stairs to the first floor. They broke through my defenders but lost two along the way. The second floor was also broken through, but another three fell here. The boars of the third floor finished off the last of them.

My Core absorbed more corruption.

I did want to look at the number. But I did, and I was sitting at 10%.

Not as bad as I feared.

I knew more were on the way. This was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. I had to pace myself and hope I could process the changes I had made quickly enough.

My dungeon barely had time to reset for the next wave that arrived.

## ## ## ## ##

"They are entering the Dungeon!" Came the report from a messenger.

Ranus was exhausted and almost sagged in relief. This was one of the few good pieces of news he had received today.

"Keep funnelling them. But try to keep the broke into small groups." He knew that was almost impossible, but he had to try to prevent the dungeon from being overrun.

None of this mattered in the long run until they found out what was happening on the divine plane and to the rest of the world.

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