As the first monster crossed into the blackened ground, a ring of obsidian-dark rose bushes erupted from the soil. The brambles surged outward and engulfed the creature; as the buds burst open, thorned vines shredded it to pieces. The clearing turned into a living blender, tearing apart anything that entered the zone without Liebe's permission.
"They're using the corpses of the fallen to walk into the black zone," someone shouted.
"Gelda — deploy!" Liebe ordered.
"Understood, Lord," Gelda replied, already moving.
Gelda rose above Black Rose Headquarters — the impregnable fortress known as Líf Illr, more commonly called Armageddon Evil. Below, the battlefield crawled with grotesque forms. "Where are your vanguards?" Gelda muttered. "Will of Ice! Summon holy relic — Divine Lance Aurelis."
Gelda's thoughts turned inward with a flash of memory: I never thought I'd use this here, not after Tenebris's death. She felt the relic stir, hungry for action. "Aurelis," she whispered, "you've starved long enough."
The lance answered with a chill hum. Its passive awakened: Death — Bloody Valkyrie.
Liebe observed the field, calm and calculating. "With Gelda's holy relic, this battle will be easier," he said. "Her relic's passive — Spatial Erasure — erases whatever it destroys from the fabric of reality." Gelda added quietly, "It doesn't affect anything less than one-tenth her power, but her spirit form more than makes up for it."
Gelda intoned the chant, her voice ringing across the blood-dark sky:
"Oh gentle light, forgive this hand,that wields your mercy across the land.To end all pain, I set all free —in mercy's name, let none remain."
Spatial Magic — Divine Mercy. The beam lanced outward in perfect silence; anything alive it touched winked out of existence, as if erased from the world itself.
Liebe watched the beachhead clear. "As of right now, our defense is basically impregnable," he said. "The only exception is counter-spatial magic." His eyes narrowed as larger monsters began to lumber into view — twenty feet tall behemoths, each bulked and monstrous enough to survive a short approach.
"Time to join the fray," Liebe said. He strode from the base; as his boot touched the ground, the black soil reverted to normal earth.
Azelf called from the line, "Looks like the king has entered the field."
Meanwhile, in Vah Meadow, Licht grinned as he watched a snow-laced ridge above the burning forest. "You're one hell of an evil genius, Liebe — using an avalanche to clear the forest fire." He summoned his light: Light Magic — Light Wave. With a single slash through the cornices at the mountain's peak, a controlled avalanche thundered down and smothered the blaze. "Fires out. Now I head to Helm and Beto — they'll need me."
Back at the ramparts, Liebe twisted his blade through the air and unleashed Dark Magic — Darkest Lariant Slash. The condensed, blacked arc cleaved through the horde; the strike alone obliterated over seventeen thousand monsters in a single swing.
Liebe let out a short laugh. "Looks like all that training paid off."
But the laughter died when a voice—not human, not wholly monster—echoed inside Liebe and Gelda's heads:"You will die a slow and painful death, and your corpse will be my trophy."