The throne war finished that day.
Gunlaug was down, Tessai and Gemma had been killed by the members of the church, Kido and Harus were found dead too.
Seishan and the handmaidens were allies of the Changing Star, so all of them had survived. Most of the city guards had been killed because they were troublesome and unwilling to follow Nephis. However a large quantity of the hunters and the pathfinders decided to join with her along with the artisans who lost their chief.
In the end about eight hundred people survived, soon everyone were assigned to their duties to protect the streets of the bright castle once again.
The Church of The Godless had been revealed to the public as well. Seraphine was the Priestess, Veynar was the bodyguard of the priestess and the lord's right hand man. And the lord was naturally Aether.
In the aftermath of the grand assimilation, the core members of the cohort gathered in a small room that was situated not far away from the great hall.
Judging by the expressions on everyone's faces, no one had been aware of the secret alliance between Nephis and the Handmaidens and the Church.
Aether entered the room alongside with Seishan. Seishan properly introduced herself as Song Sei Shan, revealing her identity as a legacy. They were sisters with Lady Theola.
"Sunny, my friend. Has life been treating you well?" Aether smiled as he saw his short friend. Sunny now looked more like a killer than a defenseless boy.
"No, it has not been treating me well, as you can see."
His response prompted Aether to let out a short laugh.
Then he glanced at the rest of the people gathered there.
Nephis, Cassie, Effie, Kai, Seishan, Theola, Sunless... and him.
Eight in total.
"So, are you a pope or something like that?" The tall huntress asked with a curios tone.
"No, Lady Athena. Our church is not the conventional church, to go along with my true name we broke some rules."
Aether then turned to Night. "It is great to see a talented fellow industry member here."
"Yes... It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Aether. I have always liked your performances." Kai responded to him with a bright smile, a bit too bright if you asked him.
"Just Aether is fine."
***
In the next week or so, things moved with terrible speed.
It was just a few days away, anyway. In the meantime, everyone who was left alive had a lot to do.
The halls and corridors of the ancient citadel were cleaned of blood and corpses. The Nightmare Creatures that had found their way inside were methodically hunted down and eliminated. The breaches in the defensive lines they had created were located and repaired.
Neph's watchmen assumed the role of the obliterated Castle Guard, manning the walls and protecting the stronghold from outside threats. The hunting parties resumed their expeditions into the ruins, with hunters from the outer settlement and the Castle joining forces under the leadership of Effie and Veynar. Once again, there was food for everyone to eat and safety to enjoy.
Despite the harrowing hollowness and the absence of so many young men and women who had died in the turmoil of the bloody struggle for the throne, not to mention the invisible scars left on the souls of those who had survived, things were slowly starting to resemble how they had been before.
But behind this veil of normalcy, they were anything but. And the reason for that was Changing Star and her Crown of Dawn.
With the help of the miraculous Shard Memory, humans of the Dark City were now able to not only hunt more Nightmare Creatures and with less risk, but also challenge Fallen rulers of the cursed ruins. Not every one of these terrifying creatures could be killed without paying too terrible a price, of course. But after so many years on the Forgotten Shore, experienced Hunters knew a lot about various horrors populating the city. Putting the knowledge together, they determined which ones they could challenge and survive.
By killing Fallen abominations, Nephis was achieving several goals simultaneously. She was steadily accumulating an arsenal of Memories to arm every person in the Castle. Some of those Memories were even of the Ascended Rank, and the number of such powerful armaments slowly grew.
She and her warriors also brought back large quantities of soul shards, which were then given to the inhabitants of the Castle to absorb and grow stronger.
But most importantly, perhaps, was the fact that through these hunts, she was training her people to fight together as a cohesive force and prevail against creatures that were much more powerful than them.
Aether had sent Seraphine to train with Night to train her archery skills. Her aspect was going to work very well during the siege of the crimson spire if she was an archer instead of a close ranged fighter. Which she was already a great archer, but training was never bad.
Just like that it was december, the winter solstice. A month before Aether hit the unc status. He had turned nineteen in his first month in the forgotten shore, and now a month later he was turning twenty.
And then, Night was sent to scout the labyrinth to see if anyone survived. Unfortunately no one, the seven of them had been the last ones that would ever set foot onto the forgotten shore.
Then Nephis's cohort went to slay the Lord of the Dead, which the church did not join in. They had only agreed to siege the crimson spire after all.
***
Eight hundred people descended the hill and entered the Dark City. A few Nightmare Creatures tried to attack them, and were eviscerated before managing to do any harm.
These eight hundred humans were not a defenseless crowd. They were a battle-hardened army, one comprised of exceptionally powerful Sleepers… the most powerful Sleepers to ever be born from the human race, perhaps.
They moved the ruins, cutting down anything that dared to block their path. Soon, the Sleepers approached the western boundary of the Dark City and scaled the ancient wall.
There, they stopped and turned, staring at the silhouette of the Bright Castle in solemn silence.
…By then, pillars of black smoke were billowing from each of its windows. Soon, the whole castle was enveloped by furious flames, which slowly devoured the white stone of its walls. The magnificent marble cracked and melted, destroyed by the terrible heat. The smaller towers swayed and moved, and then fell into the terrible crucible.
The fire was slowly destroying the Bright Castle, turning it into a molten ruin.
In a sense, this was fitting. After all, everything else in the Dark City had been ruined a long, long time ago.
They wanted to destroy the ancient citadel, because they hated it. They hated these ancient, bloodsoaked stones only a little bit less than they needed them to survive.
And now that they were leaving, they wanted to erase the Bright Castle from existence. Perhaps if it was gone, the memories of all the darkness that they had witnessed there, and were the perpetrators of, would disappear with it.
After a while, the misshapen, twisted silhouette of the dying fortress was completely hidden by the fire and smoke. Slowly, the silent Sleepers turned away from that sight and looked far away into the distance.
They were looking west.
That was where they were going.
To lay siege to the Crimson Spire.
One after another, the Sleepers descended from the wall and left the Dark City behind.
***
In the cold light of dawn, a gargantuan crimson tower was rising from the Labyrinth. From this distance, it looked like a bloodied sword that some primordial titan had thrust into the heavens.
The crimson coral streamed from its walls like the blood of gods, spreading out from the base of the Spire to devour all of the Forgotten Shore. The tower itself seemed to stand on an island, which was surrounded from all sides by black water. Even though the sun was already climbing up, this part of the cursed sea did not disappear.
Instead, it lingered and moved endlessly, forming a giant whirlpool. Unclear shapes could be seen moving under the surface of the black water, drowning the hearts of humans who dared to approach the Spire with dread.
For the past week, the eight hundred of them had traversed the Labyrinth to reach this place. Some had perished along the way, but not as many as he had expected. For that short journey, luck had been on their side.
People were busy preparing for the battle. The dread they had felt at dawn, after looking at the Crimson Spire, which was now so close, turned into grim determination and resolve. Everyone was making final preparations. Some were checking their armor and weapons for the last time. Some were hurriedly building makeshift fortifications.
Aether stood next to Seraphine who watched the spire with a grim look.
"Do you think we will succeed?" She asked with a hushed tone.
"Sure. Is my priestess worried?" Aether tried to lighten up her mood, however he got another reaction.
"Don't call me yours so casually."
Aether blinked. Then blinked again. Then he shook his head and stared at Veynar who was showering himself with alcohol. He would have made a snarky comment about this, however he did not, after all it may be his last drink.
Not that Aether would allow it to be.
"Make sure to prioritize the lives of the church members." Aether's words made Seraphine frown, however she did not object. They were already short in followers, so they needed to make sure they survived.
***
Very soon, the sun rose higher, and the dark whirlpool surrounding the Crimson Spire became a little smaller. Several bridges of red coral rose from its depths, connecting the island to the rest of the Forgotten Shore.
And out there on the island, countless silhouettes suddenly began to move, crawling out of the crimson mounds. They were the Nightmare Creatures guarding the cursed tower.
All kinds of horrors were among them. All of them moved together in strange harmony, devoid of the usual territorial aggression that forced the Nightmare Creatures of different tribes to fight each other. They were subjugated by the Crimson Terror and now served to guard the Spire.
Like a terrible wave, the horde of monsters rolled over the bridges of crimson coral and flowed toward the human army.
...The battle for the Crimson Spire had begun.
***
Veynar
On the outskirts of the Crimson Spire, there were no more passages and tunnels in the coral. It was just a solid red mass, an unbroken surface of the strange living substance that had devoured the Forgotten Shore thousands of years ago.
Currently, Veynar and Effie were standing on that surface.
Several hundred people were standing beside her, staring at the approaching wave of Nightmare Creatures with horror and shock. All of them knew what was going to happen once they reached the Spire, but even then, the sight of it was terrifying.
They were at the center of the front row of these frightened people, supposedly in command of them. With his tall stature and tattered, ragged armor Veynar stood out amongst them. His bushy long hair fluttered in the wind, a silver scabbard was attached to his hip.
The scabbard contained his strongest weapon. An ascended memory of the second tier. It was a katana that glowed in a green hue, his hand was gripping the handle roughly.
As always his face was expressionless. But in truth he was scared shitless.
Looking at the rolling horde of abominable horrors with a grim expression, the swordsman lowered his head and summoned a hat that was called 'kasa.' It was the helm of his armor, although it looked weak, it was actually very durable.
Next to him, the huntress shouted loudly.
"Stand your ground, wretches! If anyone runs, I'll kill you myself!"
'There is no was to run anyways.'
The only person who could have stayed nonchalant in this situation was probably Aether. He was sometimes very reckless, making Veynar worry.
Veynar almost felt like an older brother, it was a hassle. In any case, he wished all of them would survive.
He wished he could survive too. He wanted to taste new types of alcohols back in the waking world. Four years had passed since then, maybe they have invented new types of drinks?
"First mark!"
Effie's shout was repeated by Seishan, who commanded the second line, and reached Night somewhere in the third.
The plan of the battle was really simple. The first line had to hold off the monsters, changing places with the second once they grew tired. Meanwhile, the third was in charge of eviscerating as many creatures as they could.
But first, they had to withstand the initial charge. Nothing was more important than breaking the momentum of the attacking horde.
A strange and melodic sound reached his ears, and a fraction of a second later, six heavy metal spears, each at least two meters long, flew above their heads with incredible speed. They streaked through the air and collided with the front of the horde, sending bits of chitin and streams of blood to the ground.
'Not bad..'
"Second mark!"
Almost immediately, a rain of arrows fell on the monsters, wounding many and killing a few.
And with the second mark came the rain of arrows. When the arrows hit their marks, each one of them detonated with powerful shockwaves that pulverized the creatures bodies, sending blood and chitin flying.
It was no doubt the doing of the Priestess.
The second rain of arrows fell, and shortly after, six more spear shot from makeshift ballistae crashed into the horde. By then, the Nightmare Creatures were already too close to the front line of humans to change anything.
Making a step forward, Effie strained her muscles and threw the Zenith Shard into the approaching mass of abominations. The beautiful bronze spear shattered the steel carapace of an especially tall creature and pierced its heart.
'Here goes nothing.'
Right after Effie threw her spear, Veynar lunged forward and performed a quick-draw into the empty air, the sword had been gathering kinetic energy for a few days now. Empowered by the Crown of Dawn, the energy that was unleashed was devastating to a large degree.
Immediately many runes started appearing before Veynar's eyes. With just one slash he had slain many numbers, disrupting the hordes advance.
All around the him, numerous abominations fell, killed in a similar fashion by the Memories thrown by the other Sleepers.
After putting the sword into the scabbard once again, Veynar watched as the first row of Nightmare Creatures fell into a deep ditch that the Artisans created just an hour earlier. Those moving behind them simply stepped on the bodies of their fellow abominations and continued moving forward.
Those moving behind them simply stepped on the bodies of their fellow abominations and continued moving forward.
But finally, the speed of the horde was diminished drastically.
"Brace!"
That's all Effie had time to yell before the wave of monsters crashed into the line of humans.
Then, the world was consumed by nothing but madness, havoc, and death.