"Don't worry, Lutia is safe. Mirim is taking good care of your family. Before I go, take this since I don't need it anymore." Vastor handed a piece of paper to Lith that he put inside Soluspedia.
It contained the instructions to use the Master's device embedded inside the violet crystal and study the orc shaman's technique.
"Consider it a gesture of my good faith. Xenagrosh really likes you and spending some time together would make her happy. Don't be a jerk like you've always been with me and don't call her only when you need something." Vastor said with a chuckle, turning around to leave.
"Wait, this doesn't make sense." This time it was Baba Yaga stopping him. "My children would never do such a foolish thing. All of those cities are more than strong enough to kick their collective asses, let alone one of them at a time."
"Do you want to hear the screams of the soldiers in real-time? I've no reason to lie to you, Red Mother." The Master said with a scoff.
"I believe you. I was just warning you that my Hors.e.m.e.n would never be so stupid as to attempt a raid without their steeds." Baba Yaga took her miniaturized Hut out of one of her pockets, growing its size enough to look inside of it.
"I was right. Those damn fools dared to take them without my permission. I need to leave, now!" Over the centuries, the Firstborns had rarely seen their mother panic so her distress covered them in a cold sweat.
"What do you mean, warn me? There are no records of steeds. On top of that, why should I care for a couple of horses?" Despite his bold words, Vastor's face was stone cold.
"I didn't call them my Hors.e.m.e.n just because that word has a nice ring to it. Of course they have steeds. While my Firstborns are free to spread my children over Mogar, the Hors.e.m.e.n have a higher purpose.
"They are my right hands, my lab assistants, or as you Emperor Beasts call them, my Harbingers." Baba Yaga said.
"Nonsense!" Scarlett roared. "Only the offspring of a Guardian can produce a Harbinger and no one ever had three at the same time."
"It was just a metaphor." Baba Yaga shook her head. "I gave them more knowledge than I did to anyone else. I shared with them more than just my blood, I also gave them my expertise and resources."
"Please, enough with the riddles and get straight to the point." Having to deal with both Night and Dawn, Lith's worry grew worse than anyone else's.
"Their steeds are not mere animals. They are made out of the purest white crystals and shaped like a horse. They are the Hors.e.m.e.n's own mage towers." With those two last words, everything changed forever.
***
Distar Marquisate, Distar Household, that very moment.
Marchioness Distar was having the worst night of her life. Sunrise would either put an end to it or just make her transition into the worst day of her life as well. As the Lord Commander of the Queen's Corps and the Corpse, she had never been so busy.
Mirim had to mobilize the troops from both corps whenever it was necessary, splitting the workforce and the Royal Fortress armor to maximize the odds of success of each group.
She couldn't give one even to Manohar. The Royal Fortress armor was best suited for less powerful and talented mages that needed all the help they could get. Yet since failure wasn't an option, she had given him the next best thing.
"Farg, how is it going there?" The Marchioness asked through the amulet.
"Awful. Night is stronger than ever and the city arrays put us barely on par with her army. I need reinforcements ASAP!" Farg replied from Vesta.
"And I want Tyris to make more than seven Awakened. We don't always get what we want. Vastor should be there any minute now." Mirim said.
"That fatass? What good could he possibly make?"
"You've never seen him taking his gloves off. Pray you never have to see him do it again." The Marchioness closed the call and pressed Faluel's rune.
"Is everything alright there?" She had been true to her word and was treating Lith's family as if they were her own. The Marchioness had violated protocol and informed the Hydra the moment the alarm had resounded.
"Peachy. I have informed the Council and got my reinforcements. They should send a few of us to help you with your cities as a thank you."
"Good. I don't like this at all. With our forces stretched so thin, this is the perfect moment for our enemy who gave out Balkor cards to strike again." Mirim said.
"Do you think they belong to the undead faction?" Faluel was flabbergasted.
"I can't rule that out. Yet like my good friend Jirni likes to say, coincidences usually take a lot of planning." The Marchioness replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it. The Blackest Day wasn't just an undead holiday, it was also the moment when our surveillance was at its weakest. Between human and Beast criminals, plus the undead threat, the attack on Lark's household encountered minimal resistance.
"Even if the members of the Corps managed to call for reinforcements, with our slower than usual response time they would have still arrived on the scene too late. If I was the culprit, I would strike today" Mirim said.
***
Duchy of Essagor, Zogar Vastor's home.
The Master had left Lightkeep at the same moment when Baba Yaga Warped to the city of the Eclipsed Lands that needed her help the most and Ilthin went back to Nightingale to protect her people from the ongoing attack.
He looked himself in the mirror, staring at the Highmaster armor that he had hoped to never have to wear again. The black suit of armor had performances inferior to a Royal Fortress armor, but it had a perk that not even Tyris's masterpieces had.
On top of that, he wasn't really wearing it. It was just Bytra's Dominator armor that replicated the Highmaster armor's appearance and mimicked its properties after storing it inside the Dominator armor's dimensional space.
Yet the reflection in the mirror made Vastor want to puke as the memories of all the slaughter he had perpetrated in the name of the "greater good" flashed in front of his eyes.
The moment he received a message on his army amulet, he used the personal Gate of the Vastor Household to reach Vesta with a single step. On the other side of the dimensional tunnel, Amyla Farg and five elite squads of the Queen's corps waited for him.
Their bodies were covered in wounds and their armor cracked or broken. Judging from how much they bled and their wheezing, they had just taken cover inside the local branch of the Mage Association.
"Is the city still standing?" Vastor asked while making the black helmet cover his face.
"Yes." Farg panted more than talked.
"Then it's time for our counterattack." The Master stepped forward, using the Yggdrasill staff as a walking cane.
"No, it's not." She held his arm to stop him. "We need some time to let the tonics take effect. Then, we need to wait for the reinforcements and strategize-"
"You don't get it, girl." Vastor freed himself from her grip with a tug. "I'm the reinforcements."
He typed the one-time code he had received from the Royals, making the Highmaster armor and its wearer immune from the city arrays and the laws of the Kingdom.
