"Phaenora, ghost protocol. Now. Feed us everything."
I was still anchored in physical state when Veneri said this.
"I can assist directly. My combat—"
"Information is more important. Now!"
My physical form turned into light particles, In their place, I became a digital ghost. Holograms appeared all around me, showing events across the entire city. What I saw was catastrophic.
Sunderer Rank Krepsunas— they are Ascender-tier—were ripping through the elven districts. Their frames were larger than standard Krepsunas, armored in serrated plating. Their claws carried infection that began to turn a few elves into Krepsunas.
"Elven casualties rising at one percent per minute. Sunderer Rank units are breaching the city!"
Veneri's glaive tore through three Sunderers mid-charge. Elyonari's arrows detonated on impact with bursts of pure Life Divinity that vaporized entire clusters. They were decimating Ascender ranks like they were made of paper. They couldn't use massive attacks because the Divines would be caught up in it.
I activated Soul Vision across a wide field scan for clearer results. Every Krepsuna I scanned had a structured soul.
"All Krepsunas are Sentient! Veneri, they're all Sentient Krepsunas!"
There was a fraction of silence in Veneri's movements.
That should not be possible. Infected Krepsunas function through hive-instinct hierarchies. Only upper ranks exhibit individual cognition. Sentient Krepsunas had independent consciousness. We were dealing with an actual army of about two hundred thousand Sentient Sunderer Rank Krepsunas who are actually intelligent.
Fuck.
Elyonari glanced toward Veylonar, who was holding a defensive line with Celadille shielded behind him.
"Take her away from here—"
A massive sphere of black energy appeared above them without warning, charging towards them.
"Impact in—"
Veneri reacted first. A barrier materialized around the monarchs and Elyonari, covered in Protection Divinity and Protection Mystic Circles. The explosion swallowed the rampart in black energy. Shockwaves pulverizing the stone beneath their feet. The shockwaves were so strong that the impact reached the entire city.
When the smoke was halfway cleared, Edarea stood directly in front of Celadille.
"It would be a loss if you died here."
Veneri's presence shifted instantly. But before he could fully activate his Time Divinity to slow down time, Edarea's Divine Presence surged. The density of it was compressed into a singular spike that shattered concentration across the battlefield.
For half a second, every single Divine flinched. It was half a second for the strongest Divines but that was enough.
Veylonar's arms ignited in flame as he prepared to strike. Her hand held a fan and both of Veylonar's arms were severed mid-cast. Before the blood could even hit the air, black smoke erupted around Celadille, swallowing her entirely.
"Celadille!"
The smoke vanished before Veylonar could finish. Veylonar staggered as his arms regenerated in bursts of flame and flesh.
Greshina's movement speed exceeded Sixth Enlightenment baselines by at seventy percent and she wasn't even trying. How is she so fast that she even managed to interrupt an attack from Veylonar? He's not exactly weak but still...
Entire elven battalions faltered as the monarchess vanished. Elyonari drew her bow and released an arrow so fast that the naked eye couldn't see it. The projectile split into nine mid-flight, each one spiraling with Nature Energy designed to annihilate infection at a molecular level.
Edarea lifted her hand and caught the primary arrow between two fingers. The other eight shattered against her Presence. A pillar of emerald and silver erupted, vaporizing dozens of Sunderer Krepsunas around her. When the light faded, Edarea was unharmed.
Veylonar roared and charged. His fist engulfed in green flame that. He swung with full Sixth Enlightenment force but Edarea caught his fist mid-strike.
The impact cracked the earth beneath her feet. The shockwave was so massive that even Veneri and Elyonari were pushed away by it. However, the impact didn't even faze her.
Elyonari's second arrow hovered centimeters from Edarea's temple as if frozen in suspended time. Veneri stepped forward as he slowed down time. The glaive materialized in his hands.
Her Divine Presence intensified again into the fabric of slowed time itself.
The distortion shattered like glass. Time turned back to normal. The recoil from his movements sent shockwaves through the battlefield and this time, the pressure was unbearable.
Edarea's Divine Presence was so strong that it felt like gravity had increased hundredfold. Elyonari fell to one knee. Veylonar was crushed by the weight. Even Veneri staggered. His Divine Presence was being pushed away.
From my incorporeal state, I felt the tremor ripple through every Divine in the city. Scavenger Rank Krepsunas took advantage immediately, impaling stunned defenders. Elven districts erupted in screams as Sunderers tore through civilian barricades. Entire buildings collapsed under stray Divinities misfiring from disrupted focus.
I prepared to reconstitute physically. If I manifested, I can help—
[Don't.]
Veneri's telepathic command stopped me.
[She's the Split of Death. If she senses your incorporeal state, she'll capture you. Don't show yourself.]
He was right. If Edarea detected my dual-phase existence, she can capture and even try to kill me. If she took Celadille because of curiosity, then I'll be next.
"You're disappointing."
I could see the bodies of the Sunderer Rank Krepsunas tearing through barricades. Every time one fell, another took its place. It was a relentless tide that refused to break.
Veneri's presence alone made the ground tremble beneath the weight of his Divinity. I could feel it even in this form. When he summoned his Divine Presence to a higher level, it was so massive that it terrified even the most seasoned Mintheris Divines. Injuries that had marked him moments ago simply healed as he rose to his full, terrifying form. Edarea's eyes widened.
"You really are a monster. No one beneath the Sixth Enlightenment could even stand up and yet here you are."
Elyonari drew in a slow breath, preparing herself to intervene but Veneri had already moved. In a blink, he was behind Edarea. The moment he struck, her head came off her shoulders, rolling across the ground. He slowed down time so fast that not even I noticed it.
The decapitated head began to laugh. It was so creepy seeing a head laughing even though it didn't have any means of doing so.
"You're really strong. Too bad I'm not here! Hahahahahaha!"
Black mist rose from her severed body, leaving nothing but the echo of her laugh.
The silence that followed was brief. Divines who had flinched under the oppressive pressure of her presence now rose, all of them recognizing the sudden window of opportunity.
The city was far from safe. Fires leapt from one building to another, igniting flammable timber and rooftops. The Sunderer Rank Krepsunas kept coordinating attacks to exploit gaps. Veylonar's rage was visible but Veneri glared at him that was relaxed by shock.
"Focus on the elves. Every life you save here matters more than your anger. Act like a Monarch."
I watched as Veylonar's chest relaxed. And just then, another black energy appeared. Veneri responded without hesitation, conjuring a beam of concentrated Soul Energy ot of his hand that obliterated the sphere in midair. The shockwave wasn't nearly as catastrophic as it could have been but even the tremor sent dozens of Sunderers sprawling backward, momentarily stunned by the sheer force.
"It's a Scavenger Rank Krepsuna north of the city. I'll hunt it down."
Before anyone could argue, he vanished, leaving a distortion in the air where he had been. I tracked the trajectory of the earlier sphere and projected it to him. The telepathic acknowledgment he gave me was brief:
"Thanks."
Elyonari turned to Veylonar, who was looking at the chaos the city was in.
"Focus on the elves. Protect the civilians. Celadille is fine for now. If Edarea wants to use her, she'll have to wait."
She raised her bow and each arrow she loosed cut a precise path through the Sunderer ranks, turning flesh into ash.
I marked high-priority targets and coordinated movements as best as I could. The Sunderers were relentless. They kept adapting to each tactic and attack, learning in seconds what would take ordinary beings hours to comprehend.
Veylonar's flames, earth and wind cut paths through the enemy. His power was impressive but insufficient against the sheer tide. Even as a Sixth Enlightenment Divine, he had to be careful not to harm the civilians. Also, the quantity was way too much. They didn't even clear a quarter of the enemy. However, he compensated that with time.
I hovered around the city, feeding Elyonari the data she needed, marking paths and angles, movements and counters. Every time I glimpsed a chance for an opening, I calculated the probabilities of success, the risks and the collateral damage.
It was horrifying, watching a city fight for its life, and yet my incorporeal state meant I could do nothing but guide and observe the slow survival against an enemy whose hunger seemed limitless. But in the long run, I was helping them survive.
Another formation of Sunderers approached from the east, moving with coordinated precision that screamed of Edarea's lingering influence. Elyonari's arrows hit the enemy at incredibly fast speeds. She was releasing about nine arrows a second. Each elf saved was a victory, but for every life preserved, dozens more fell.
The tragedy of it all was staggering. 507 Divines and more than fifty thousand trained Ascender Rank Elves among 800,000 elves were not enough and yet, they fought.
When the casualties began to dim, I tracked Veneri's movements.