Manohar released once again the power of the cube, summoning the images of himself, Vastor, Marth, and Balkor.
Each shadow unleashed its best spell, but even the power of the four gods didn't slow down the Bright Day. Much to Manohar's dismay, Vastor's Tetrastrophe spell turned out to be the most effective.
While before Tetrastrophe was a tier five spell that produced four different tier four elemental spells, now that Vastor had become a hybrid each spell that comprised Tetrastrophe had been upgraded to tier five.
"The power of humans is irrelevant compared to the power of the Hors.e.m.e.n!" Life Maelstrom made Dawn ten times stronger than she previously was.
Even though each one of the gods' spells was powerful enough to blow a mountain open, she only needed a flick of her wrist to deflect them all.
"When men aren't enough, then it's a hero's job." Manohar had to suck his pride up for the second time in a single day and recognize that maybe, just maybe, learning other elements and specializations wasn't such a waste of time after all.
He tapped into the Cube, calling upon the first spell that it had stored back after being created. A spell that it was forbidden to cast unless the people of the Kingdom were in danger.
The people, not the Kingdom.
Because according to Valeron, they were what made the Griffon Kingdom worth fighting for, not a bunch of lands and riches.
"I knew you were a pompous jackass, but calling yourself a hero is beyond pathetic!" Dawn lunged again with Twilight, knowing that even her equipment and her steed had their power increased tenfold by Life Maelstrom.
"I wasn't talking about myself. I was just saying that it's a hero's job to do the impossible. For everything else, there are people like me." Manohar said as Dawn's blade stopped a millimeter away from his forehead and the momentum of her charge disappeared.
The shadow of Valeron, the First King, had appeared in front of Manohar and held the Twilight blade between his thumb, his index, and medium finger.
Those conjured by the Cube were supposed to cast their spell and disappear, whereas the King stopped looking at the bloodied plains with eyes veiled with tears.
Manohar couldn't believe how much Valeron resembled Lith back at the academy. The First King had the same black hair, the deep-set eyes, the high forehead, and even the perpetual frown.
The shadow depicted his true appearance, without the body refining.
Valeron looked more like the guy next door than as a swimsuit model, but he exuded such nobility and power that both Manohar and Dawn blushed in arousal. There was something in him that made Valeron the father, the lover, and the friend they had craved their whole life.
"How dare you to attack my children?" The First King's roar threw the undead behind him away from the city and back on the other side of the battlefield. At the same time, it healed the injured soldiers, bringing them back to their peak condition.
"Wait, how did you do that?" Manohar asked, seeing his body healed and his mana replenished.
Valeron ignored him, putting the Griffon head-shaped helmet of the Royal Amor on and holding the Sword of Saefel with both hands. The artifacts were nothing but residual images, lost memories of the past.
Yet the power the First King had left behind made them almost as good as the real deal, allowing everyone to see even the finest detail and the smallest rune that decorated his equipment.
"Glory…" The tip of the blade rose from the ground, in a delicate rightward arc.
"…to…" The seven-colored white crystals on both sides of the Sword lit up in unison, resonating with those on the armor and the King's white core.
"…the Kingdom!" Valeron executed one of his personal Blade spells, True Griffon.
Unlike normal spells that only relied on the mage's mana and willpower, the Blade spell used the Royal equipment to its fullest, as if every single one of their runes and crystals was a part of Valeron's body.
The slash was so slow that regular humans and undead alike could appreciate its perfection, but also so masterful that it was impossible to dodge.
A rainbow-colored line as thick as a hair flashed throughout the battlefield, putting an end to the war.
Dawn's undead army disappeared in a giant ashen cloud as the Horseman fell to the ground, cut asunder. The King's slash had pierced through her masterpiece Adamant armor, through the Life Maelstrom empowering it, and cutting even her crystal body in half.
The Horseman screamed in pain, feeling her life fading away while she did everything she could to mend the damage, but to no avail. Valeron turned toward Manohar as his body started to fade.
"You are a horrible man, but since you're also the only one here, I'll entrust my message to you. Tell Saefel that I will always love her and that letting me go was the best gift she could ever give to me." Warm tears streaked the First King's cheeks but his voice was firm.
"Saefel who?" Manohar asked in confusion.
"You should know her as Tyris she is-"
"Tyris who? I need a last name, pal. The only one I know with that name is a bothersome prick." Manohar cut him short.
With no mouth left to speak, Valeron did the only thing a reasonable man could and gave the Mad Professor the finger.
"By the Great Mother, what did you do, you foolish child?" Sunrise was fine but Dawn's crystal core was shattering as she spoke, forcing Baba Yaga to employ creation magic to save her.
Manohar mistook the flashy spell for an attack and the chicken-legged hut betrayed the Red Mother's identity more than any spell could.
"I'm not holding back anymore. I want to go home, lady, so stay the heck away from me!" The Mad Professor conjured another sealed spell in the Cube, Valhalla.
"Mogar almighty have mercy." Baba Yaga shuddered in fear as the shadows of the entirety of the First King's guard appeared for the first time in almost a millennium.
Valeron was back, but this time he had brought along the four people that back in the day had helped him to unify the scattered lands and give birth to the Griffon Kingdom.
Juria, had been an army sergeant before joining him. After the end of the war, Valeron had bestowed upon her the name Ernas and she had founded the Knight's Guard corps.
She was a brown-haired woman, 1.8 meters (5'11") tall with a muscular build that vaguely resembled Phloria. After Lochra Silverwing had spread her legacy, Juria Ernas's personal spells had become the foundation of the Mage Knight specialization.
She had invented the Full Guard spell to always be where her liege needed her to be. The version taught at the academies was nothing but a pale imitation since only a bright violet-cored individual like her could cast the real deal.
Oghrom Gernoff, a battle-hardened assassin who after hearing the wannabe King make a recruitment speech had gotten tired of his life of crime and solitude.
