The tense silence following Zeron's chaotic ultimatum shattered the moment King Borin gave the command.
"The time for talk is over!" Borin's voice echoed, channeled by Earth Magic. His hand signed the Sovereign's Command—a cascade of runes directing the highest-tier ministers.
Within the palace sanctuary, the true defenders moved with military precision. Jai (disguised as Arthur, Tier 9), his silver hair now streaked with war grime, stood beside Zayn (Tier 8) and James (disguised as Clement, Tier 9). Jai's eyes, still burning with the suppressed fury of Alex's betrayal, scanned the room.
"Everyone!" Jai commanded, his voice sharp and absolute, drawing on his immense strategic training. "Ministers, Generals! All personnel Tier 6 and above, split immediately. Your mission is the populace. Get them out of the capital. Tier 10, 9, and 8 Masters will form the civilian escort and transportation unit."
He turned to Minister Brokk (Tier 6 Void) and King Winston (Tier 5 Light)—the true strategic anchor of the escape. "King Winston, Brokk, you follow us. We must create a secure sanctuary before Zeron's troops arrive."
The idea was instantly recognized as brilliant. Low-tier defenders were too slow and too vulnerable to hold the walls against Zeron's army, but they were fast enough to transport masses of citizens. The highest-Tier masters were needed to create an impassable defense boundary. The ministers and the two kings immediately implemented the strategy.
The capital city of Khazad-Dar was colossal, reflecting the Dwarf Kingdom's vast territory and massive population. Dwarf citizens, already prepared for disaster, flooded the main arteries. Jai, James, and Zayn worked with the high-Tier Masters, using their elemental control to carry, lift, and escort citizens toward a predetermined safety zone: the same vast forest that Jai and James first see the Morisa when she locked up in a Chronos cage and also it take one and half month to both Jai and James to leave from human kingdom to dwarf kingdom.
The time window was agonizingly short. Zeron's main army was composed of both riding forces and the terrifying flying Tier 5 and Tier 6 elemental masters, putting them only four hours from Khazad-Dar.
They reached the Forest, the ancient trees towering like natural columns, their immense canopies filtering the pale sunlight into shafts of gold. This was the staging ground.
King Winston (Tier 5), renowned for his command of Earth Magic, took point. He activated his Tier 5 Earth Artifact, "Builder." The Builder was a massive, glowing gauntlet that allowed Winston to manipulate geological formations with speed and precision rivaling Tier 3 magic.
(Builder : It is a Tier 5 Earth Artifact. It is used to build palaces and also huge walls fir protection. It is a defence artifact and the food for this artifact is "Gloo worms". It eats one thousand gloo worms at span of one month).
(Gloo worms : It is a worm that looks like caterpillar but white in color and also 10 times bigger than caterpillar).
Winston slammed his fist into the ground. A subterranean tremor rocked the forest floor, and in minutes, using concentrated Earth and Stone energy, the ground warped and rose. Winston sculpted the earth into immense, temporary palaces—structures built from compressed mountain stone, designed for maximum capacity and protection.
The need was staggering. Dwarf Kingdom was a densely populated empire. Winston, working with the speed of a Tier 5 Master, created thirty such mountain-stone palaces, each capable of holding approximately thirty thousand people. Within three grueling hours, aided by dozens of Tier 5 and 6 ministers and also the tier 8, 9 and 10 elemental masters who had used their own magic to transport citizens from Khazad-Dar and surrounding, already threatened towns, they saved over Five lakh citizens.
Minister Brokk reported grimly that communications with several border towns were already silent, confirming they had been consumed by Zeron's troops.
As the last citizens were sealed into the temporary stone sanctuaries, the high-Tier Masters converged. Winston, Brokk, Jai, James, and Zayn, alongside the dedicated Tier 5 and Tier 4 ministers who had escaped the capital, formed a circle.
Their goal: create a magic boundary to seal the civilians off from the coming war. If the enemy forces—particularly the low-tier Shadow Ledger fodder troops—found the sanctuaries, the high-tier defenders would be hopelessly distracted.
They began the incantation for the Tier 5 Guardian Wall. Winston provided the massive Earth and Stone foundations; Brokk wove the Void element to make the barrier invisible to low-tier scrutiny; Jai layered it with reinforcing Water/Ice Law; and James added Space-Time anchors to prevent easy warping across the boundary.
The resulting barrier was an Impassable Border—a shimmering, nearly invisible dome of mixed elements that Tier 5 and 4 Masters could breach, but which would utterly repel any Tier 3 or below soldier.
Inside the barrier, the heroes could finally breathe. They had bought precious time to heal, restore their energies, and most importantly, fight without the overwhelming distraction of five million lives hanging in the balance.
In the distance, the forest edge was disturbed. Zeron's troops, an endless tide of foot soldiers, riding units, and flying elemental masters, were arriving at the outskirts of the Capital.
Zeron, Zevan, and Leora had correctly deduced that engaging King Borin immediately would result in heavy casualties for their top tiers. They wisely decided to join the main army to ensure maximum siege impact. Now, with the army arrayed, they executed their entrance to terrify and demoralize the city's defenders.
The silence that descended upon Khazad-Dar was not peace; it was the crushing, expectant quiet before an avalanche.
Then, the spectacle began. The air above the city gate tore. The atmosphere above the palace wall ripped, not with light, but with an immense, palpable pressure—the initial wave of their collective Vortex. Dust and debris from the streets were instantly vacuumed upwards into a spiraling funnel, defying gravity as the physical laws bent to their will.
A portal of pure, unstable energy—a chaotic blend of Dark, Ice, and Void—ripped open.
Zeron, wearing the skin of Alex, stepped out first. He did not float; he descended, standing upon an intricate, rapidly forming platform of black ice and solidified Dark energy. The platform slowly lowered him, an absolute demonstration of control. His blue eyes were the only source of light in the sudden, deep gloom.
Leora Stonehead, the traitor sister, emerged next. She rode a twisting funnel of pure wind and Void Magic created by her Wind Swing artifact. She was perpetually airborne, descending with fluid, effortless speed, landing silently behind Zeron, her presence emphasizing her mobility.
Zevan, the vengeful brother, arrived with primal force. He crashed down with a devastating impact, surrounded by a sudden eruption of Earth Spikes and corrupted Metal. The collision cracked the palace pavement in a wide, starburst pattern, leaving him standing in the center of the shattered stone, his archaic armor shimmering with destructive Earth power.
The moment the three were present, their combined Tier 3, and two Tier 4, spiritual pressures converged into a single, overwhelming force. The Vortex peaked: The hair and clothing of the few remaining defenders, including King Borin, were violently pulled backward by the invisible, crushing force. The palace's defensive runes emitted a frantic, high-pitched screeching sound as the collective Vortex strained the ancient magic.
King Borin, standing in the air alone above the main gate, faced the terrifying trinity. He had watched the spectacular display of power and the raw terror it instilled. The time for games was over. He wanted to end the war immediately, not fight a protracted siege.
Borin released a breath that was not air, but pure, focused spiritual energy.
He unleashed his own Vortex.
It was not the Tier 3 pressure he projected from the marsh. It was something far older, far deeper, and devastatingly powerful. Borin's counter-pressure was a Tier 2 Vortex.
The moment it released, the combined spiritual pressure of Zeron, Zevan, and Leora was not met, but instantly nullified. The dark, chaotic Vortex above them imploded, replaced by Borin's overwhelming, radiant, Tier 2 energy. The palace runes immediately ceased screeching. The atmospheric gloom vanished.
Zeron, Zevan, and Leora, along with the Shadow Ledger troops, were hit with such an impossible wave of Dominance that they staggered, their formations breaking.
Borin, floating calmly in the air, a mocking smile on his face, revealed the shattering truth: they had miscalculated his strength by two full Tiers.
Zeron, his face contorted in shock, and Zevan stared at Leora. "You idiot! Didn't you know My Dad is a Tier 2 (God Seeker) elemental master?"
(God Seeker : The persons who are stronger than tier 3 is known as God Seekers).
Leora, her face pale, stammered a denial. "I... I didn't know! He always released his Tier 3 spiritual pressure, so I believed he was Tier 3! And he is only 140 years old—how could he possibly become a Tier 2 God Seeker in this short time?!"
Zeron, Zevan, and Leora finally understood. They had started a war they were utterly incapable of winning, not against the city, but against the sheer, devastating power of its King. The silent battle of the Vortex had already been decided. The war, which was supposed to be a crushing victory, was now an impossible struggle.