Finn’s thumb trembled, as if it was screaming, and the city shook. Not a second later, Raul came running over from the signaling device bearing a new message.
“I-it’s Zald!” he cried. “He’s been spotted engaging our troops!”
“Tell me where!”
“On South Main Street, Captain! He’s heading north!”
Before the building they were standing on could even stop shaking, another blast—the shock wave of the conqueror’s attack—rocked the city.
“…Weak.”
“Gwaaaaaagh?!”
Each swing of Zald’s blade was like cannon fire. Nothing could halt its devastating arc. South Main Street had become the venue for a concert of screams.
Scouts trembled in their boots at his mere presence. Adventurers flung themselves at him, hoping to inflict even a single scratch—but he flattened everything in his path. Weapons and armor shattered like glass at his touch, and each footstep turned the cobblestone beneath his feet to dust.
Nothing could stand in his way. The former hero continued his advance toward Central Park unimpeded.
“Glutton sighted on South Main Street?!”
Nearby, in the adjacent pleasure district at the besieged Casino, Falgar spoke in hurried tones with another Hermes Familia adventurer.
“That’s right, sir! But that’s not all; the enemy is ramping up their assault! The monsters are growing fiercer! There’s not much more we can do at this rate!”
“Curses! Our target is right under our noses, but we can’t leave our posts! Is there really no one who can stop him from strolling through our streets as he pleases?!”
From his vantage point atop a nearby theater, Olivas watched the siege and chuckled.
“Fools. You’ve boxed yourselves in, and we intend to keep it that way!”
Spreading his arms, he shouted down at his forces.
“My loyal brothers! Take the fort before they have time to even weep!”
Cheers was too joyous a word for the horrendous cries of evil that rose from the dark host and quickly spread to all parts of the city.
“It seems our time has come earlier than I expected.”
The cries of evil rang in Basram’s ears like a feast being held all across Orario, and the animal person priest of Apate Familia roused his old, yet stout, frame and gazed at the Amphitheatrum ahead.
He stood atop a building on East Main Street, surrounded by his fellows as well as the Level 5 spirit warriors.
“Still, I would much prefer to be assaulting Braver’s location rather than this colosseum.”
The Alecto Familia and Apate Familia made up the bulk of the Evils’ strike force, and thanks to their preliminary skirmishes, the Evils were confident they had mapped out all the allied strongholds. With their combined power, it would only be a matter of time before Guild HQ fell, and without Finn to lead them, Orario’s forces would quickly fold.
And yet, the Evils refrained. Basram couldn’t help but think this was Valletta’s ill nature at work. She always granted her archnemesis Finn special treatment, even when such behavior bordered on strategic error. Perhaps she intended to leave him alive until the very end in order to prove her superiority once and for all.
There was always the option of disobeying her orders and marching on Guild HQ regardless, but what Basram was seeing here at the Amphitheatrum quickly put such thoughts out of his head.
“I never expected them to be able to muster a counteroffensive without opening holes in their defense. This is a threat that cannot be ignored.”
The forces of Freya Familia were very close to eliminating their besiegers. If this happened, they would be able to sally forth and reinforce the other strongholds. Basram smiled bitterly at the thought.
Freya Familia was being supported by the blacksmiths of Hephaistos Familia and their magic swords. Their bombardment had prevented the Evils from making much progress on the barricades, a task that was made next to impossible by the presence of Vana Freya. Allen’s speed was unmatched, and he tore through the attackers’ ranks like a chariot of war.
If the Amphitheatrum garrison were allowed to go on the offensive, the balance of power would shift decisively in Orario’s favor. They would first march south, rescuing the Casino from Olivas’s forces, before joining the defense of Twilight Manor in order to liberate Loki Familia. At that point, Zald’s one-man assault would be in peril. That was why it was Basram’s job to keep the Amphitheatrum locked down and nip that possibility of relief in the bud.
“If we lose the power of Zeus and Hera, I would place our odds of winning this war at about fifty-fifty… But given the adventurers’ knack for seizing fate by the horns, perhaps it is even lower. Very irritating.”
But despite his words, the black-and-violet-swathed priest wore a smile on his lips.
There could be no doubt that the ongoing battle here at the Amphitheatrum was the pillar of Orario’s morale. Just like Braver at Guild HQ, eliminating this location meant dealing an unrecoverable blow to Orario’s forces.
“In which case,” said Basram aloud, “I am more than happy to obey Valletta’s command. In the name of our goddess, Apate, we shall beat them back.”
“““Groooooaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”””
With a shake of the beastman’s golden staff, a dozen spirit warriors let out an earsplitting cry, and marched upon the enemy stronghold.
“Hey, Vena, I don’t think Hegni’s here, do you?”
“I heard he and Hedin are both behind that large wall of ice, sister!”
““Then what we really want to do is go over there and give them both a big, warm hug!””
Like Basram, the duo Dina and Vena were preparing for battle nearby. They stood, hands clasped, looking down from a rooftop at the Amphitheatrum in the distance.
Below, their subordinates were visibly anxious. The Dis sisters were infamous for slaughtering anyone who displeased them, friend or foe. The twin leaders of Alecto Familia shared a venomous smile, like the blossoming of a toxic flower.
““But wouldn’t Hedin and Hegni be just so happy if we put all these poor, crying people to sleep first?””
The only care in these two sirens’ heads was their twisted affection for Freya Familia’s elven brothers. The two danced gleefully in each other’s arms, their voices swollen with perverse joy, before offering the name of their spell in support of the Evils assault.
“Let the first gate devour all. Turn all hope into despair! Dialv Otua!”
From the sky came balls of black fire. Like meteors of Armageddon, they rained across the land, causing widespread destruction. The walls fell, the people screamed, and adventurers burned, while the blacksmiths used their magic swords to intercept the projectiles, defending as many of the civilians as they could. Up until now, Orario had been displaying its superiority in the defense of this location, but in the blink of an eye, the scales of war were tipped.
“Zeo Gullveig!”
Then the Andhrímnir, Freya Familia’s formation of expert healers, unleashed their spell. The mending light spread in all directions, encompassing the entire arena and restoring everything within, save the barricades and walls.
No matter how many times they were skewered, sliced, or torn up, those brave adventurers stood up once more, throwing themselves again and again into hellish battle.
“Tch! So they came after all, just like that asshole said they would!”
Executing his rampage on the north side of the Amphitheatrum, Allen suddenly stopped and looked across at the sudden emergence of Alecto Familia and Apate Familia. The indiscriminate carnage put a sour look on his face.
“And…he’s in the south…”
For all the hell the followers of Alecto and Apate were raising, there was one sound that couldn’t be silenced—that of Zald’s advance on South Main Street. Allen had been hoping to secure a rematch with the black-clad man, but it was looking vanishingly unlikely he’d get that chance. Annoyed, he took his frustrations out on a group of monsters, turning them into diced meat with one swing of his spear, which sang like a silver flute in his hands.
“M-Mr. Fromel! Wh-what do we do?!”
For direction, all the younger members of Freya Familia looked to Allen, the only first-tier adventurer on the eastern battlefield. But Allen didn’t hear their cries. His mind was on Central Park and the ice walls that surrounded the foot of Babel.
But after a short moment, as if to cast aside his regrets, or perhaps to uphold a promise he had made, he tore his gaze away.
“…We don’t do anything,” he barked back. “Just shut up and follow Finn’s plan!”
With that, he dashed across the battlefield, eyes fixed on the spirit warriors advancing toward the northeastern walls of the Colosseum.
“If you got time to complain, then you’re not fightin’ hard enough!” he yelled. “We can’t do nothin’ till we get rid of these assholes!”