While the embers of the war starting in the heat of noon continued to burn even when it was night, activity continued in the largest tent within the Orc Empire Armies too.
"Are we sure she will do this?"
Alyon was trying to speak without looking at the face of a person staying on his front right diagonal. Even if he wanted to turn his head towards her, it was impossible for him to succeed. Despite this, Dona Gracia didn't turn her head, resting on her neck consisting of three layers of fat, in any direction other than where Alyon was.
"Have no doubt; I made her an offer she can't refuse."
The dwarf servant of Dona Gracia, the living monument of disproportionate body measurements, directed his angry gazes at everyone without exception. Had it been any other time, the orcs would have used him as a toothpick, but this time they only settled for laughing.
"I hope it goes as you say, otherwise even the little man next to you can't save you. Wherever you run to on the World of the Six Civilizations, I know how to pull you out of that hole!"
Apparently, only Nafız wasn't taking it slow, but even her anger didn't affect the great merchant Dona Gracia's attitude. Her confident stance and the aura she radiated around her didn't waver for a moment.
At the same times, an activity in the Northern Part of the Golden City caught careful eyes. In the part that had been brightly lit day and night for a while, some silhouettes were walking at the foot of the walls. Ten different teams divided into groups of ten were using different routes, but their targets were the same; they were accelerating towards the only gate of the Golden City opening to the outside.
At the head of the team closest to the ultimate destination was father Godfrey, burning with longing for his child, and the light mage was exerting intense effort to hide his brightness. The Companions of Light front had decided to do what Nafız said.
This would be the choice anyone who could think logically would make too. The purpose of the mages, who separated from the Companions of Light Society following father Godfrey, being here was to save their master's son. Neither the Golden City, nor the people inside it, nor the Mercenaries' Home continent was of any concern to them.
"The stars are very dim tonight. Don't tell me you darkened their light too!"
While the group leading at the front was turning a corner, they stood frozen along with the words catching their ears. When they turned one more corner, the gate would be in front of them, and it was child's play to unite with the mages coming from behind and destroy it.
"I am talking to you, why are you surprised? Why is your light, shining for days, hiding inside the darkness like this tonight!"
Father Godfrey raised his jewelry staff, which had a pure diamond stone at its tip, and directed the power coming from the magic circle appearing under his feet at the person inside the darkness. For a moment, in a time shorter than even the duration of a blink, a thin thread of light came out of the tip of the staff and reached its target, but there was a problem. The target was no longer in the same place.
"Companions of Light, but which light? The one created to deceive the eyes or the one inside the darkness?"
Father Godfrey and the other nine mages, along with the voice coming from behind them, directed ten attacks resembling lightning this time to the point where the voice came from.
"What a pity, yours was the first option!"
The person, who didn't budge from his place while the attacks landed upon him, didn't even say 'ah' while all the lights entered his body. He stood up calmly from his place and straightened his clothes with the back of his hand. He looked to be in his mid-thirties; even if the darkness of the night tried to cover his hair, it didn't stop shining.
His outfit was very elegant; under the black pants with long gray stripes he wore under his shirt woven with silk fabrics, there were bright patent leather shoes possessing the same color again. He smiled; when his teeth shining as much as the stars in the sky were revealed, his handsome face became the place attracting everyone's attention.
"Who are you? Why are you messing with us?"
Father Godfrey shouted, looking at the person who repelled the two attack waves he was also involved in. The delirium created by the unexpected event appearing at the last moment while he was so close to his goal could be sensed from his voice.
"Poor Godfrey, you've become the third elder in your society, but you have not the slightest knowledge about the essence of this world. It's all about that stupid son of yours and the efforts you give to solve the troubles he creates. One can't help but pity you; instead of developing the power you attained with your narrow understanding a little more, you are striving for a piece of trash more incompetent than even orcs.
If the Master didn't need time, I would have liked to watch you open the gate. I could have excitedly followed the orcs flooding into the city and killing, tearing apart everyone coming their way, but circumstances, you know!"
The words of the man beginning to walk towards them step by step would be enough to drive father Godfrey crazy. He raised his hand into the air; the beam of light coming out of his staff rose about twenty steps and then scattered by exploding in a way to be seen from everywhere.
"All mages forward! Whatever happens, we will open that gate!"
The man walking without the smile wiping off his face stopped, watched the signal rising to the sky, and turned his gazes back to the mage group in front of him. The members of the Companions of Light, feeling no need to hide, had drawn a large magic circle on the ground by forming a Pentagram shape in a way to put their leader in the center.
At the same time, dozens of light whips shot out from Godfrey's staff and wrapped around the body of the mysterious man who appeared before them at the last moment. The technique making it impossible for him to move was taking the chance to strike away from both sides.
While the light energy forming at the corners flowed towards the leader in the center, their enemy was waiting where he was, but his gazes were turned to the place the remaining ninety mages were supposed to come from. Father Godfrey didn't attack either; a short wait break was given between the sides, but the man with bright hair would break the silence again.
"Are you waiting for the light moths trying to hide in the darkness? While you hold me here, are they going to go and open the gate too?"
That was the plan; when the ninety light mages came together, even if all the forces inside the Golden City united, they couldn't stop them. Without fail, at least one group would reach the gate and open the way for the orcs using powerful magic.
The flare father Godfrey sent to the sky was a signal for both his own mages and the orcs. The gamble played was big; if a mage group couldn't do what was wanted during the time the orcs reached the gate, the son of the former third elder of the Companions of Light Society would experience death.
"Up until today, you have been inside the city without making a mistake, but thinking others didn't see the message at the tip of that arrow was the biggest mistake you made. Of course, thinking you can also achieve the goal of the other mages by holding me here is a great stupidity too, but I can excuse this since you don't know the Seventh Apostle went after them!"
The Companions of Light took refuge in the protection of the darkness by donning black cloaks, but would their enemies of all those years allow them to do what they wanted so easily? The Seventh Apostle, the true child of the darkness, had begun his hunt the moment they left the Northern Region.
Silently, without anyone even knowing, he destroyed his eternal and everlasting enemies. First, he crippled the mages he caught off guard; he cut off the limbs of some, the tongues of some, he used all the advantages the night gave him.
Even though Father Godfrey had just learned the fact that he was alone, the Child of Darkness actually didn't struggle at all while making him be in this state for a long time. When in his living space, the Sixth Apostle was the natural enemy of the Light Mages.
"You gave the signal, but the gate won't open. You can hold me here as much as you want; even though I could get rid of this weak magic of yours in a breath, I stay solely to watch the expression on your face, Godfrey.
Don't worry, you won't die; even if I won't be able to say the same thing for the nine people next to you, you will stay alive until you see your son's head on an orc spear tomorrow morning."
Godfrey, understanding the enemy's words were true from the non-appearance of his subordinates, was squeezing the enemy with light whips using all the power of the magic circle, but in vain; the smile on the face of the man shining like the morning star couldn't be wiped off, until the two words they would hear a moment later.
"The gate opened!"