"You useless pieces of trash!"
The roar shook the air. Atticus looked up to find Balanar staring at the carnage, eyes wide. The composed lord from earlier was gone, his calm completely shattered.
"You fools couldn’t even handle one simple task!" Balanar snarled, staring at Atticus.
"I don’t care how you did it, it won’t be enough to win!"
He stabbed a finger toward the fallen champions.
"You can only fight gods!"
’Looks like he figured it out.’
Right now, Atticus was nothing more than fuel. Noctis was the one acting, and as a champion himself, he couldn’t engage gods directly.
Slaughtering the champions had changed the battlefield, but it hadn’t erased that limitation. This wasn’t a fact he could ignore.
"Every abyss god!" Balanar shouted. "Leave the fortresses and kill the others! Don’t hold anything back!"
Atticus watched as more streaks of light tore out from the forest, racing toward the hilltop fortresses manned by his gods.
’He has even more...’
His forces were already outnumbered. Adding more abyss gods to the fray would tip the balance entirely.
Still, Atticus didn’t panic. He focused his attention on a single direction.
’You’re up.’
Cards were meant to be revealed only when they could change the board, and there was no better moment than now.
’Anorah.’
A blinding pillar of violet light tore into the sky. An overwhelming presence descended upon the battlefield, forcing eyes to turn and wills to waver.
As the light collapsed inward, Atticus fixed his gaze on Anorah.
She now hovered above the fortress, radiant and untouchable, like a goddess.
"Attack!"
"Kill her!"
Attacks from multiple gods surged toward her, but Anorah merely lifted a hand.
Purple light spilled from her, swallowing the incoming assaults and snuffing them out as if they had never existed.
In the same motion, beams of violet shot back toward the attackers. Shields flared, then flickered and shattered, the beams tearing straight through their bodies.
The surviving gods scattered at once, dodging the next wave.
"Another marked!?"
Balanar’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. "How!?"
’As expected... he didn’t know.’
Since the abyss army’s arrival, Balanar had never once acknowledged Anorah. Someone of his rank should have known of fragment bearers, even if only rumors.
Yet despite her bounty being active, no one had paid her the same attention they had Atticus.
It was an advantage he had no intention of giving up.
The Willguard were dangerous, but gods of the same level were not. They had no way to resist the absolute authority of Solvath. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Anorah’s presence crushed the battlefield and every god’s will wavered beneath her.
"How can there be another mark!?" Balanar was in disarray. "Why are you only revealing yourself now!?"
Atticus ignored him, and turned his focus to his people.
’The champions are gone. Ignore the fortresses and capture the rest.’
With the abyss champions dead, no one could threaten their fortresses anymore. Only champions could threaten champion held fortresses.
Whisker, Ozeroth, and Magnus nodded once before turning into streaks of light, tearing through the forest.
Announcements echoed across the battlefield.
"Lord Atticus has acquired one fortress. Total count: A: 11, B: 9."
"Lord Atticus has acquired one fortress. Total count: A: 12, B: 8."
"Lord Atticus has acquired..."
Balanar’s eyes trembled with every report.
"What are you idiots doing!?" he roared. "Leave her and go for the other fortresses!"


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