Ranus was sickened by what he was watching.

The reinforced palisade was holding, but the casualties were mounting fast. The two bolt throwers on the towers on either side of the gate had been ordered to ignore the monsters attacking the wall and concentrate on those swarming the ruins of the surface building of the Dungeon.

The rest of the defenders were focused on the abominations, trying to kill them. More of the void corrupted were being drawn to the palisade because they couldn't gain access to the Dungeon at the moment. They were lashing out at the nearest target they could find, which was quite often other members of the Horde. They were in a frenzy and cared not who they were trying to kill.

The Dungeon has supplied them with a large number of void stones, but he feared that even that bounty would not be sufficient to protect them from what they were dealing with. The Dungeon Core hinted that there were more stones, but they had been integrated in some form of defence within its boundaries. Some are criticised for hoarding this valuable resource, but then Ranus reminded them that it was the only force that could create them in the first place. If it were destroyed, then no more would be created.

Most of the support teams positioned behind the palisade were now fully committed. Additional teams were brought up, and he knew that this was the last part of their reserve unless they took from the other two barricades behind them. He suspected that Danrum might be planning to do this. They had a speaking stone linked to each other and had only recently been in communication. Ranus was still on the platform overlooking the battle, but was thinking about repositioning to the first barricade.

The air was filled with screams, magical explosions and the din of war. Elian had already emptied two quivers of arrows. A runner had just brought more, but there were fewer than originally. He suspected that this was the case all along the line as the first row of housing behind the palisade had arches and mages who specialise in range attacks. He could see that some of those majors were being swapped out as he had exhausted their mana pools.

Below, the forces sworn to protect the city were suffering but were holding. Nextom was dressed in plate armour, swinging a mace, holding one part of the wall, rallying the defenders with his booming voice. He was covered in gore from the battle, and Ranus feared how much of that was his blood.

Across the floodplain, more void corrupted monsters were coming, but all could see that their numbers were thinning. It seemed that the bulk of the Horde had arrived and was now committed. The problem was that the monsters that had arrived were the largest of the Horde. Their enemies' numbers might be thinning, but the most dangerous of them was yet to commit themselves. That was taking nothing away from the seething mass of flesh and madness that covered the floodplain. This battle was far from over.

The bolt throwers shifted their aim and concentrated on the larger void twisted monsters that had appeared. Ranus was terrified by them alone and dreaded to imagine the ones that had assaulted the city of Nygar. He was thankful that the King of Nygar sacrificed himself and the city to destroy the mightiest of those monstrosities.

The press against the palisade intensified as more monsters turned their attention to them. It was hard to see what was happening in the ruins of the surface building, but it seemed that they were being somehow restricted from accessing the Dungeon. Or he hoped they were. If the Dungeon fell, then everything they were doing would be in vain.

More void corrupted monsters began to scale the palisade and were engaging with the defenders on its top. Nextom was fighting these new attackers in his area before the building from which Ranus was observing the battle. He swung his glowing mace down on the head of one of the monstrosities, crushing it. He did not have time to notice the second that had come up behind him. When he did, he turned to try to defend himself, but the beast lashed out, impaling the Arbiter on its talons. It lifted the body of the still living representative of the God of Law and threw him from the battlements into the defenders below.

The beast could not celebrate its victory as it was soon peppered by half a dozen arrows, and several spells collided with it. The arrows wounded it, and the spells ripped it to pieces in a series of flashes and blasts.

Still, they came on.

"Lord Goldwind!" Came Danrum's voice from the crystal he was holding.

"Speak." He ordered. He knew he had to keep his orders direct and straightforward in chaotic times like these.

"The main gate is starting to collapse. It will not hold much longer." His words were grim.

"Understood. Signalled the withdrawal to the second line. Arbiter Nextom has fallen, status unknown." He told his Watch Commander.

"Understood." Ranus could hear the weariness and the other man's voice and understood why.

There was a loud crash from beyond the palisade that echoed around the valley. A plume of dust was rising from the surface of the Dungeon. Something had happened there, but he didn't know what.

A horn sounded across the valley in a prearranged pattern to signal the withdrawal to the second line.

## ## ## ## ##

The Gods had gathered—all of them.

They had come armed for war and ready for violence.

Xandus and Nictor led them. Rickle was with them, and he knew that they were following the path he had shown them. It was subtle, but they had confirmed it was what they were looking for. They told the other gods that they had the means to contain Oda, but did not elaborate on what that meant.

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The hordes rampaging across the continent were a horrific sight that shocked even the most passive of the divine beings. The destruction of the city of Nygar was a sight that few of the divine had ever seen, or ever imagined in their worst nightmares. Some of the older ones remembered other ages where such battles took place, before they were horrified by the scale of the destructive force unleashed.

That was not even counting the aftermath. It could take centuries, even millennia, to fully grasp what had happened there. The location of the former capital was now a magically polluted wasteland that they would have to deal with, along with Folly's End.

They tracked the link between the Horde and Oda to where he was hiding. It was the subtly hidden pocket dimension that was easy to miss even by the most observant. It was hidden behind numerous glamours, which contained wards and alarms to alert Oda when danger was near. The God of thieves was busy working on them at the moment.

The others were gathering around, ready to assault whatever was in there. They did not need to beat Oda; they only needed to contain and prevent him from escaping. That did not mean that this would be an easy battle, and the possibility that they might be injured or even destroyed was a risk they had to take.

On the mortal plane, the city of Shadow Vale was being assaulted. The Dungeon of the Tower in the Shadows was mounting a desperate defence. They had to act now because if that Dungeon fell, they were all doomed.

The Horde was being controlled and directed.

Oda was the only suspect.

All that he hoped with his removal was that the hordes' coordination would collapse, giving the defenders the desperately needed time to emerge victorious.

Xandus sent a subtle signal to them all; it was time.

Nearly two dozen members of the Pantheon reached out and grabbed the pocket dimension that they believed Oda was hiding in. Collectively, they pulled in different directions. This was the best way to describe it to any mortal who would have witnessed the event. This caused the pocket dimension to stretch, distort, and ultimately collapse.

Oda was suddenly there, ready for war.

The Pantheon did not hold back and threw everything they had at him. He was first among equals and willed powerful divine beings into existence. However, any great predator can be brought down by the combined efforts of many. That was their tactic here.

He disrupted and manipulated the floor time around him to prevent many of the attacks from landing, but the sheer volume of them meant that he could not catch all of them in time. That did not mean he was entirely on the defensive as he lashed out with his abilities at those around him.

He was sitting in an obscure corner of the divine realm. That was why they had never been able to find him at first. Nearly all believed that he had fled into another part of the realms they presided over. Rickle knew from his own experience dealing with him that the best place to hide was right in front of your opponent. This meant he had investigated the divine realm and found the clue he needed.

Now they were here with him, and the battle was on.

Rickle struck at his former mentor whenever he saw an opening. The temporal manipulation around Oda was shielding him, but Rickle can now see the injuries starting to appear. Oda could not prevent every attack from connecting.

The plan required them to keep him surrounded as they formed a divine energy net to stop him from teleporting out. That did not mean he could use temporal magic to escape, but he could not protect himself and escape. He was pinned. He had to win or lose.

That's what he thought. Yet, to win this fight or be destroyed was not their objective here.

Behind the mass numbers of the Pantheon fighting, several stood apart, gathering around a small gem that was being prepared. Around it, magic was flowing as the enchantments were added upon and increased in potency.

He was not aware of the danger yet, but they knew that would change once the gem reached a certain threshold of spells and enchantments. It would be impossible for him to ignore it as he would recognise it straight away. It was the same means he used to create the Dungeon Core Bhaldor, but recalibrated and increased in scope to contain a God.

Rickle turned his attention back to the battle. Nearly all the most powerful members of the Pantheon were now engaged directly with Oda as the others like him maintained the net around him, preventing his escape. Many were now sporting injuries of their own.

They were slowly overwhelming him, but he was not going down easily. Injuries were present on all of those fighting, but Oda was showing more. All were gritting their teeth and enduring his counters. It was hard to look at him due to the corruption that had taken hold of him. It was manipulating and twisting everything around him through both its effects on him and his divine powers.

He alternated between laughing, cursing and just plain raging. He was madness personified now. Gone was the balanced and measured being he once was.

Rickle now senses the gathering power behind him within the gem. It was then that Oda realised what was happening, and he began cursing louder, launching even more desperate assaults, trying to break free from the trap he was in. Badtor, the God of War, was forced to protect Kyross, the God of Animals and the Wild, when one of Oda's attacks got through, wounding him. Tan, the God of the Sea and Nyralia, the Goddess of Nature, supported Nictor as he pressed Oda back from the injured God.

The speed and ferocity of the battle were building as everyone recognised that it was coming towards the moment of truth. Behind them, the power was gathering in the gem, and whatever it was going to do would happen soon. Oda's desperation was starting to show through in his attacks, but in turn, this made him more vulnerable.

Xandus surpasses defences and impales him on her spear. The Spear of Fate was a divine weapon that represented a part of her Mantals. The injury was terrible but not fatal, but it distracted him long enough for the others to rally and, in turn, pin him with more representations of their Mantals in the shape of weapons.

Each blow was a terrible wound. Each God striking him made sure not to inflict a fatal one, as they knew killing him would be worse than just letting him go. The resulting blast of void corruption could spell the doom of them all.

The power behind them was throbbing and increasing at an exponential rate. Oda was slashing like a wild animal, now trying to escape the trap. He had been aware of the additional injuries he inflicted upon himself and those holding him; they had to make sure that they did not inadvertently allow him to destroy himself.

"It begins," Hackyon announced from behind him. Rickle could not turn to look at what was happening as all of those maintaining the net were straining under the wild actions of Oda.

Oda looked directly at Rickle. Around him, energies were forming with dust that was once the gem that they were working on. The other divine beings were preparing to withdraw their weapons as the containment began to form. Rickle and Oda shared a look. There was madness, hate, and desperation, then suddenly, there was peace. For a few seconds, the old Oda returned, and he stopped fighting.

That was all that was needed to finish the spell.

Oda, the God of Time and Balance, was sealed away, cutting off from the Paths of Ascension. In its place now was a large gem that was so black it seemed to be absorbing the light around it.

Now they needed to see what happened next.

The grand system that they used to regulate everything reacted quickly.

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