The dome shattered.

  It was in the twenty-third hour of its creation, soon reaching its one day limit, when the dome was destroyed, turning into millions of glittering remnants of mana that showered over the Grove. There was a moment of silence as the two forces weighed each other.

  Then, battle began once more as the thousands of demons that had been gathering at the edges of the Grove moved to attack.

  Bolts of elemental energy flew from ballistas, exploding in flashes of ice and fire upon the masses of demons. Arrows showered down from atop the pillars, each one different in effect as they were enhanced by their shooters. Some acted like Zalia’s own arrows, adjusting course in the air to punch through not one but many enemies. Others multiplied as they flew until there were dozens of arrows where there had once been one.

  Fire and bolts of cursed energy fell down on the archers in return, though most attacks were deflected by rituals created by Zalia to defend those locations. A large majority of the demon forces teleported or otherwise fell towards the keeps, to be met in battle by the contingents that defended them.

  A smaller number of the demons moved to try attack the pillars and Morning’s Shade members were sent through the portals to defend the archers there.

  From the edges of the Grove, more enemies came. Smaller demons, like dogs, came sprinting. They were outpaced by larger ones, feline creatures of the type that had killed Aylie’s family. There was power here though, that these creatures were not ready for.

  The four Mythical elementals burst out from their respective elements. Water surged and rippled, drowning those who tried to swim through its depths and shooting up to drag flying enemies down to its depths. The elemental given by the Spirit of Heat and Stone threw fire, lava and rock, crushing and burning enemies alike. The elemental of Scour whirled across the desert, whipping it up into a sandstorm that blinded the demons before desiccating them, the moisture of their bodies sinking into the sands never to be seen again. Along the mountains, winds whipped and pulled at the demons, forming into a storm that shot bolts of lightning down to burn some, winds slamming others into stone.

  Far above it all, another being descended down upon the Grove.

  An aura came with it, crushing down upon all like the sky was falling down. Nateysta’s rose to meet it, aura impacting aura and… coming to a halt. They were matched, unlike the Thousand-eyed ones that were weaker than him. The boughs and leaves of the great tree that covered the Grove cracked and tore apart as the being came through.

  It was monstrous, a leviathan in comparison to any enemy she had seen before. Even Nateysta, flying up in his largest form, was dwarfed by it. The thing had tendrils with jagged spear tips on their ends, waving about in hypnotic motion, attached to a bulbous body. From that body, more and more demons were detaching and flying down towards the battlefield. Its head, which was disproportionately small, had seven beady eyes that observed everything, each flicking this way and that of its own volition.

  Those wavy tendrils became weapons as Nateysta approached, stabbing towards him as a sphere of roots and vines formed around Nateysta to block.

  Zalia turned away from that fight and back to the rest of the battlefield. Faian was calling for her and Zalia rushed over to see what needed to be done.

  “Water quadrant, the team sent to protect the left hand pillar has been overwhelmed.”

  Without another word, Zalia signalled Boreal to stay and located the correct portal, running through.

  She came out inside of the pillar. Before her, one man was fending off three demons of the type that had killed Delphi. Two were high Bronze rank and the other low Silver. Sword in hand, she ran forward and cut one of the Bronze rank ones in half before it had time to react. The others turned to her, but she was already moving to attack them. The other Bronze rank demon died gurgling.

  Zalia ducked under the swing coming towards her head, stepped into the strike and shoved her shoulder into the demon. It went flying, hitting the wall hard before an arrow from her bow impaled it. Before it could react, her sword was jammed into the centre of its torso, then ripped upwards to cut it in half.

  The man she had defended slumped down, though his wounds were already gone. Zalia left him, heading out to the chaos on the platform and got to work.

  An archer died to her left, his throat torn out by the clawed hands of a demon. Zalia removed that hand, soon followed by the head. A misty form stepped out of her, the healing spirit that inhabited her aura. It touched an amorphous hand to the dead archer and her throat healed. She gasped, a light returning to lifeless eyes. Within them was panic and fear, so Zalia helped her to her feet and sent her stumbling into the more protected central room.

  The mental wounds could wait.

  More demons were pouring through a break in the ritual defenses. She flew towards it, cutting down enemies until she reached the gap. Her slaughter continued out through the cracked shield and she repaired it behind her. Hoping that the others would be able to deal with the enemies there, she fended off the tide of demons until at last, they pulled back.

  The gash she had received on her cheek from a particularly hateful enemy healed and she turned back to the platform and teleported in. Arrows and bolts had started flying again, as the last of the demons on the platform had been slain by the Morning’s Shade man she had saved at the start of the fight.

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  She briefly checked everyone, but any wounds were quickly healing due to the Grove and the dead… well, her healing spirit could only bring back the recently deceased.

  The archer she had revived was still sitting on the floor hyperventilating when Zalia returned, so she helped the woman to her feet and took her back through the portal to the command structure. Faian took one look at the woman and signalled to the portal to Nature’s Reclaim.

  “Send her through, we have a team there that will take care of her.”

  Zalia did as told, then returned. Boreal was missing, probably having been sent to reinforce another location.

  “What’s next?”

  Zalia leaned against the balustrade of the platform she had most recently defended, watching the demon forces retreat. Nateysta and the demon god above had fought to a standstill, neither strong enough to defeat the other, and with the other forces of the Grove having been able to fend off the rest of the demon army, they had won the day.

  The leviathan, trailed by thousands of smaller forms, flew off into the depths of Cormaine. The fighting had lasted half a day, each and every person, barring Hildebrandt and the other higher ranked beings, utterly exhausted. This included Zalia, who felt like she could sleep for a week despite not needing to.

  She made her way back to Faian and the rest of the commanders, flopping down into a chair that grew there for her.

  “Casualties?”

  Faian grimaced.

  “Bad. Could be worse but… bad.”

  Zalia put a hand to her forehead. There was a lot that the healing of the Grove could deal with but some wounds just couldn’t be healed. Unless you were a high rank like Hildebrandt, losing a head was just not something that a person survived.

  “Think they’ll come back?”

  “I don’t know, you know them better than I do. What do you think?”

  Zalia thought back to how the demons acted. Their thirst for power and their enduring need for revenge against perceived wrongs.

  “Yeah, probably. Not without a lot more to throw at us, though, that might be something we could slow down or stop. From what I know of these demons, in particular from my experience with them in Ostoss, they’re incredibly territorial and power hungry. We’re not winning any direct fights with them but we could destabilise their power base and let them fight it out amongst themselves.”

  “Hmm, that’s a good idea. We’d have to be really careful with that though, we don’t want to take out too much competition that we allow one of them to rise to power above the rest. How do you plan on killing off some of those Thousand-eyed ones to accomplish this?”

  Zalia shook her head.

  “No, not them. I’m talking about some of the lesser demons. They function in these kinds of… clans. Each clan is led by a powerful demon and I assume those report to the Thousand-eyed ones or worship them in some way.”

  “And what about that thing Nateysta was fighting, where does that fit in?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Faian tapped at the table.

  “Okay. The Morning’s Shade can help with this too. Finding and eliminating individual powerful enemies are kind of their thing. I assume you and Boreal will be doing this too?”

  “Oh yeah, we will.”

  “Good. You can return almost instantly unless I’m mistaken, so that shouldn’t be an issue. I’d like to keep Hildebrandt here just in case. Anything we need to know planning this?”

  “Yes. Travel between islands is hard, you’ll need flight or a way to traverse the ceiling. You will also need a way to hide from or scare away those shades. All teams will also need some type of healing to counteract the corrosive effects of existence here. I have a feeling that the closer we get to wherever the clans live, the stronger it will get. That’s all I think.”

  Faian raised an eyebrow at her.

  “That’s all?”

  “It’s pretty bad, I know. Most Morning’s Shade teams should be capable of some sort of healing though, along with good stealth skills. Those were part of their doctrine in recruiting members and forming teams.”

  “What about those elementals you have, could they be used out in the field?”

  Zalia cocked her head.

  “Uh, I have no idea. I think they will respond to Nateysta’s orders but that’s an assumption. Either way, it would be best if they stay here to ensure we maintain a secure foothold. Losing even one of them out there could be disastrous.”

  “It’s just something to consider for later down the line. If we do find a way to remove the rest of the demons from Cormaine then an all in by abandoning the Grove might be worth it to accomplish that. Any other objectives that you can think of from your time here? If I recall, you came back with that heirloom.”

  “Actually, yes. Two things. The first is a city out…” Zalia looked around, getting her bearings before pointing, “that way. It’s filled with undead Bathar but they shouldn’t be too hard for me to clear out. There could be a number of secrets there. Otherwise, it’s risky, but Zayes is imprisoned here.”

  Faian frowned.

  “I’m afraid you’re going to have to remind me who that is.”

  “Uh, he is Juniper’s husband and one of the founders of the Morning’s Shade. I believe he is at least Emerald rank and could be an asset in our fight here. The only problem is the degree to which he was involved with Juniper’s plans and if he wasn’t, then how much of his mind is left after who knows what was done to him in his time here.”

  “Yes… that is something to consider. How heavily defended is this prison?”

  “Last I checked? I saw it in some sort of vision he sent me and there were at least half a dozen Thousand-eyed ones there.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind. Well, it looks like we have a lot to do. Let’s get to it, shall we?”