"For Silvermoon, for the Alliance, for all the common folk of the North..."
Just as Leilin was locked in a tangled confrontation with numerous orcish deities, in New Silvermoon, the Silvermoon Queen
"Oorah! Oorah!" The multitude of knights beat their swords against their shields, letting out rousing battle cries.
However, given the painfully slow pace of a massive army on the move, these soldiers would still need several days of marching before they could fully reach the battlefield.
But that didn't matter — this was merely ceremonial. The high-ranking mage corps led by
With Silvermoon's arcane power and several Legendary Mages standing guard, the prepared Legendary Spells would deliver a lesson the orcs would never forget!
In an instant, a surge of excitement and smugness filled Alustriel's chest...
"Is this a declaration of war?"
What transpired in the mortal realm was naturally known instantly to
"If you refuse to stand aside, then yes, it is!"
"Keeping me occupied here, sending all your incarnations to crush my lesser deities, dealing a severe blow to the orcish pantheon... A rather clever scheme... Was it the God of Slaughter who leaked the information?"
Gruumsh understood everything in an instant.
"Truly a cunning and evil deity, utterly without honor..."
"Therefore, we have no intention of sparing him either... We merely need to deal with you first..."
Mystra spoke in a deep voice, a terrifying manifestation of the
...
The numerous deity incarnations in the Dark Forest were similarly struck with shock.
What was originally just an ambush and counter-ambush had suddenly become the fuse for a full-scale Northern War — something none of them had anticipated.
At this moment, they involuntarily looked toward Leilin, who was surrounded at the center.
The situation in the divine battle within the void was quite intriguing — several orcish deities had joined forces to encircle Leilin, but from outside, they were themselves being ambushed by Mystra and Tyr's incarnations.
Under these circumstances, a single moment of inattention could result in the fall of an important incarnation and grievous injuries to their true bodies. The orcish deities, therefore, dared not make any rash moves.
Leilin, taking in all of this, felt the smile at the corner of his lips widen.
Yes — the current situation was entirely the result of his machinations.
Long before meeting the chief deity of the orcish pantheon, he had understood that they would not abandon
So Leilin had directly used the earlier curse incident to notify Mystra and Tyr of his arrival, drawing the attention of these two powerful deities and reaching an agreement with them.
Of course, these two were also Leilin's adversaries, so the process was naturally not so straightforward.
Even now, Leilin was certain that Mystra and Tyr intended to wipe out both him and the orc incarnations in one fell swoop.
In their eyes, he was an evil God of Slaughter with only a single incarnation present — weak in power. Why would they possibly let him go?
Leilin harbored no such expectations himself. But as long as they were willing to exert themselves first against these orcish deities, that was enough!
At least, with this group of orc gods drawing fire in the front, his own safety would be guaranteed until they were all wiped out.
...
"This is our lord's plan — first, eliminate the other orcish deity incarnations. We are to intercept any possible reinforcements from the Beastkin tribes..."
Archbishop Kalar addressed Lafinia and the paladins behind her.
"And what about the God of Slaughter?" Lafinia's brow furrowed.
"He has agreed to restrain the orcish pantheon's forces from within. This is highly advantageous to our lord's plan... Therefore, our targets should initially focus on the orcish deities. Once the Northern campaign concludes, we can deal with him..."
Amir replied.
This great war concerned the safety of countless Northern civilians, and with this precedent as justification — it wasn't that Leilin would be left unpunished, merely that his reckoning would be postponed. This way, even ordinary paladins could accept it.
— Given the Archbishop's standing, his words essentially represented Tyr's will, and the paladins were not to entertain any dissenting thoughts.
Unfortunately, the reasoning that would normally convince others had lost much of its weight in Lafinia's heart.
Under the influence of the infernal power Leilin had planted within her, her temperament had become increasingly extreme and fragile.
"Why should we compromise with an evil god? He was the mastermind behind the terrorist attack on New Silvermoon!" Lafinia growled in a low voice.
"Watch your words, Commander of Paladins!" Kalar's expression darkened. As Tyr's Legendary Cleric, he could not tolerate anyone questioning the deity's decisions.
"It seems... upon our return, I should report this matter to the Pontiff. She is clearly unsuitable for the important position of Commander of Paladins..."
Simultaneously, a thought was rapidly taking root in Kalar's mind.
"As you command, Lord Kalar!"
Lafinia's voice came out in a low murmur, laced with intense reluctance. The hand gripping her sword hilt had turned deathly pale, the knuckles standing out like bone...
At this moment, the divine battle in midair also entered its most savage phase.
"Arcane Fire!"
A brilliant point of light rose from Mystra's fingertips. The Weave across the surrounding area materialized, as if supported by the entire world, surging with astonishing primordial force.
With Tyr's cooperation, the arcane fire — the very essence of sorcery — instantly engulfed the entire sky, sealing Leilin and the orc gods firmly at its center.
"This is... Silverfire!!!"
Leilin gazed at the ocean of silver-white flames, a hint of gravity and slight wariness in his eyes.
In his memory, so-called Silverfire originated from the very source of magic and was the embodiment of Mystra's divinity, wielding devastating destructive power.
"ROAR!"
Among the orcish deities, Malar had the most volatile temperament and was the first to suffer.
Several droplets of silver-white flame landed directly upon the Beast Claw. The terrifying heat began to corrode even the divine artifact — the Beast Claw flickered with unstable light, like a wax figure on the verge of melting.
"Damn it, Mystra! Why are you going this far?!"
Watching the divine Beast Claw emit pitiful wails as the silver flames pressed ever closer, Inaf's expression turned extremely ugly.
Mystra's Silverfire, according to legend, was powerful enough to annihilate divine artifacts and even divine bodies!
However, each use of this flame consumed Mystra's divine essence, so her current actions were entirely a losing proposition — surprising even to Inaf, the Orcish War God.
"We're retreating!"
Indros scattered a swath of pale light spots, from which numerous blank-faced souls emerged, forming a translucent wall.
Hiss! The Silverfire slammed into the wall and began spreading across it, making the barrier groan ominously.
"Tyr and Mystra have activated a higher-level Spatial Lock. Breaking through will take time..."
Inaf frowned.
These were both Greater Deities. Although in the Material World all divine incarnations possessed roughly equal power, the Greater Deities still held the advantage when it came to the application of that power.
Moreover, due to the limitations of divine rank, whether in terms of the number of incarnations or the speed of recovery, these Lesser Deities could not compare to Greater Deities. Their opponents could simply outlast them through sheer abundance of resources!
"Why should we retreat?"
Shagos roared, his eyes turning bloodshot, as if all reason had been stripped away in that instant, reducing him to a purely feral beast.
"Against not just two Greater Deities, but also their lesser divine servants! Are you not afraid that a true deity might descend directly in mortal form?"
Inaf countered coldly, immediately stifling Shagos's momentum.
Although a deity's true body entering the Material World was extremely dangerous, it also represented the pinnacle of power!
And if Mystra and Tyr truly abandoned all restraint, those lesser deities — such as
When that happened, not a single one of their incarnations would escape. The resulting loss of divine power would not be recoverable even after thousands of years!
Inaf's cunning was, after all, still somewhat functional. After being played by Leilin, rather than letting rage cloud his judgment immediately, he began calculating how to preserve their strength to the maximum extent.
"Now you want to leave?"
But at this point, it was no longer a question of whether they would let Leilin go — it was whether Leilin would let them go.
Leilin laughed wildly. Behind him, the phantom of three layers of Hell materialized, causing the world's primordial force to tremble. The dark-red Slaughter Domain expanded once more, firmly pinning down the orcish deity incarnations.
"Have you gone mad?"
Inaf transmitted to Leilin: "Even if you fight desperately here, they will never accept you in the end!"
"Of course I know that. But how could I pass up such a good opportunity?"
Leilin's voice echoed throughout the entire Dark Forest, the dark-red radiance on his body blazing even more brilliantly.
"Damn it, this lunatic — is he some chaotic demon in disguise?!"
Inaf's head throbbed painfully in an instant, but he simply could not think of a better solution.
"Malar, have your believers come! Those Legendary ones are at least some fighting force!"
He transmitted to Malar.
The massive ape, already terrified by the Silverfire's power, was crouching to the side, tenderly clutching the Beast Claw. Much of his golden fur had been damaged in the earlier encounter, making him look rather comical. Upon hearing the message, he immediately let out several roars.