Chapter 2813: Exile Army

Shadow Slave

Morgan's arrival bought them more time. The staunchest loyalists of the old Domains — most of them former retainers of Clan Valor — had been exiled to Godgrave, where they spent their days keeping the scarlet jungle away from the Road of Shadows. Theirs was a stark and austere life, full of nothing but endless strife and a lingering taste of defeat.

There were not too many of them, but also not too few. More importantly, those most loyal were usually the most dedicated. So, many of the exiles were the core of the Great Clan Valor's forces in the past — seasoned Knights who had subjugated the northern reaches of the Dream Realm with Anvil and Madoc, scores of promising Squires... and several Saints, as well.

Saint Jest of Clan Dagonet and Saint Gilead, the Summer Knight, were the most powerful of them. Not only were they powerful, but Jest was greatly adept at playing with the enemy's mind. Against an adversary like Mordret, whose single consciousness controlled countless vessels, such an Aspect was especially potent.

Gilead's Aspect, meanwhile, granted him great affinity to nature and its elements, including water. There was a reason why he had been called the Guardian of Mirror Lake in the past. Now, the same power that had made him the champion of Bastion could help the Human Domain in defending the Lake of Tears.

The problem, naturally, was that neither of them was a subject of the Human Domain. They and the rest of the exiles had already refused to submit to Changing Star, so there was no reason for them to join the fight against either Mordret or Asterion — in fact, many of them were prime candidates to become thralls of the Hunger Domain.

That was why Morgan had ventured into the Hollows of Godgrave to meet the exiles and convince them to join the fight against Mordret.

It had not been a given that she would succeed, but just like Seishan was the former princess of Song, Morgan was the former princess of Valor... the Princess of War. So, if anyone could convince the embittered exiles to put their lives on the line for the woman who had usurped the thrones of their monarchs, it was her.

And she had.

At the break of dawn, the small but powerful outcast army descended from the edges of the Moonriver Plains to join the battle against the King of Nothing.

Of course, these powers were not enough to shatter the will of a Sovereign, but they could at least serve as a persistent distraction.

The rest of the exiles reinforced the reeling forces of the Human Domain...

And, naturally, there was Morgan herself. She alone was one of the deadliest Transcendent warriors in the world, competing for the first place with people like Nightingale, Raised by Wolves, Soul Reaper Jet, Nightwalker... and Seishan herself. So, when she joined the battle against her monstrous brother, the effect was both visible and immediate.

The battles beneath and above the Weeping Goddess were still frenzied and precarious, but the Citadel itself, at least, was firmly in the hands of its defenders once more.

Out there on the walls of the fortress that clung to the cliffs, Morgan coalesced into her human form. The battlements around her were like a scene from hell, painted entirely red and littered by unrecognizable pieces of shredded flesh as far as the eye could see.

Those were the remains of countless vessels she had sliced apart as her Transcendent form washed over the walls and aerial bridges of the Citadel.

The scarlet blood suited the vibrant color of her vermilion eyes quite well.

Looking around with a cold expression, she walked across the morbid carpet of rent flesh and offered her gloved hand to Beastmaster, who was kneeling in a small island of clean stone.

Pulling her to her feet, Morgan gazed down upon the battlefield.

Her expression darkened.

Beastmaster, who had once commanded the Song army against Morgan in the Battle of the Black Skull, gave the former princess a smile. Her smile was exquisite and enchanting despite the blood and grime covering the mesmerizing canvas of her beautiful face.

"We're... doing quite well, aren't we?"

Morgan pursed her lips.

"We're not."

She lingered for a moment and then pointed at the vast sea of vessels below.

“Can't you see? Most of these vessels are of modest Ranks, with relatively few Great abominations participating in the fight. His Reflections are nowhere to be seen, either."

Beastmaster sighed, then chuckled bitterly. "So... he's holding back on us?"

Morgan gave her a somber look.

"Of course he is. We are not even his enemy, after all. We are simply the obstacle on the road to facing the true enemy. So, he's saving the best of his forces for later."

Beastmaster's smile faltered.

“Saving the best for later..."

Mordret's worst was already enough to make the strongest warriors of the Human Domain feel despair. The gap between Saints and Supremes was simply that vast... and he was not just any Supreme, at that. Just like Changing Star and the Lord of Shadows, he had clawed his way to Supremacy by relying only on his own strength, without the support of the Spell. In that regard, Mordret was perhaps more dangerous than Asterion.

The worst thing about him, however, was that he was not interested in preserving anyone's lives. The Dreamspawn wanted to spare as many people as possible to devour them later, so he had not caused grave losses to humanity yet.

Mordret, however, was the opposite — if anything, it was beneficial to him to kill as many of them as possible, so that Asterion could not add their strength to his Domain. So, the losses the Human Domain had suffered in this one battle were more grave than all the deaths caused by the spread of the Hunger Domain thus far, combined.

It was enough to start questioning who the real enemy was.

And who wasn't an enemy at all.

"Come to your senses!"

Morgan's shout made Beastmaster flinch and shake off her momentary reverie.

What had she been thinking about?

"The battle must go on. Command your thralls to defend the Gateway and do not let my brother get to it, no matter what."

Beastmaster nodded.

“That was what I've been doing, anyway. What about you?"

Morgan gazed upon the Lake of Tears, which looked black in the bleak light of early dawn due to all the blood mixing with its waters.

"l am going down. He is my brother, after all... we have a tradition of trying to kill each other every time we meet, so I ought to give him the opportunity to finish me off today, as well..."

Her scarlet eyes glowed with cold sharpness.

“And who knows? Maybe I'll be lucky enough to chop his head off, instead..."