?Chapter 3263 Clockwork (Part 2) The artifacts amplified each other's effect and timed their respective attacks to hammer at the enemy lines without giving them time to recover. Only a Silverwing's Bastion could stop the barrage of Chaos Spells, but to conjure it required seven violet-cored elves. The groups of Wood Golems couldn't move without dooming their shell-shocked brethren to oblivion. The Fire Dragons came after the Eldritches. Their advance was slower, each step opened deep cracks in the Fringe's ground from which more lava gushed out. Valtak and his Firestarters unit spread their Primal Spark so that the rivers of Origin Flames and magma burned at the arrays on their path and purified the world energy from the Yggdrasill's influence. Each Fire Dragon was accompanied by a Golden Dragon that shielded them from stray spells and ensured that the Wood Golems that slipped past the white cores couldn't regroup and cast Silverwing's Annihilation from behind their backs. Every piece on the board moved like clockwork, increasing the pressure on the World Tree from different fronts. The telepathic agony and hunger from Ra'ntar crippled the Yggdrasill's focus What was left was barely enough for the World Tree to thwart Solus' escape and match the white cores spell by spell. Cosmic Devourer disappeared before hitting the World Tree but that had never been the point. With the Yggdrasill focused on Tezka's Blade Spell and the Chroniclers on the Eldritches, they had missed Cyare and Hushar approaching. The Fenrir and the Leviathan had already accumulated plenty of world energy while waiting in the safe zone and absorbed even more on the frontlines before unleashing a double Doom Tide. "Mogar almighty!' The World Tree cursed as the two Eldritches took away the world energy the magical formations needed to work and then released it in a powerful blast. With the array network already damaged by the Demons and without the world energy to fuel them, the magical formations surrounding the decoy team shattered under the combined attack of Hushar and Cyare. A second safe area free from the Tree's influence formed, allowing the invaders to use the full scope of their bloodline abilities. New world energy coming from the depths of Mogar quickly replaced what had been consumed by the Doom Tides. Nandi and the towers were ready to seize control and keep the World Tree's will at bay. "Push forward!" Baba Yaga's wooden sword cut a Wood Golem asunder while her shield released a Silverwing's Annihilation that blasted a second construct into wooden splinters. Silverwing dropped her defenses and cast three Annihilations at once. Silverspire took some damage from the return fire but it was worth it. Three Wood Golems disappeared in the blast, creating a hole in the defensive line. Without the support of the blue-cored elves and with their minds distracted by the explosions, the formation of the Chroniclers quickly fell into disarray. "Damn, you Paax." Vastor felt the energy signature of his old mentor disappear and understood the meaning of his final lesson. "You knew you wouldn't survive. Murder is your parting gift." "I can't believe they did that." Lith said. Almost a third of the Demons had followed the Grandmaster's lead and thrown themselves at the elven villages. "That wasn't part of my plan." 'Not yet.' He inwardly added. Lith wanted to keep Balkor's self-destruct spell as a last resort but he couldn't argue with the results. Thanks to the decoy team and the attack on the elven villages, the strike team managed to cover the kilometers separating them from the Yggdrasill's main body unimpeded. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂 "You damn monster!" The voice of the World Tree roared throughout the Fringe. "You have no idea how much damage your selfish quest for revenge has caused. You have no respect for the knowledge of the ancients. "Because of you centuries if not millennia of Mogar's history are lost forever!" Rage and hatred gave the Yggdrasill the strength to resist the waves of relentless agony that Jirni inflicted upon them from the Blood Desert. The massive body of the Heir of the First Awakened spanned across the entire Fringe and as their branches and roots quivered in outrage they weaved countless spells with body casting. "You've forced my hand. You've ruined centuries of work and all my efforts to increase the elven population. I'm going to kill you, Verhen, no matter the cost. I won't allow you to live one second longer!" Tier five spells of all elements blotted the sky and rained down on the decoy and strike teams from every side. They weren't strong enough to kill a white core or one of those empowered by the When All Are One Array but their sheer number forced the invaders to a halt. 'Keep moving and leave this to me!' Orion cast Ernas' Full Guard, spreading a brilliant violet aura than encompassed the area around his teammates for over thirty meters (100 feet). The spell created by Juria Ernas and perfected by her descendants through the centuries not only gave Orion perfect spatial awareness within its area of effect, making him akin to a dimensional mage, but it also allowed him to infuse every kind of spell with his willpower. Orion took control of the elemental crows and used them as shields against the hail of tier five spells. At the same time, he Blinked from one point to another and intercepted the spells missed by the crows with his Davross shield, Honor Guard. The ingot of Darwen at the heart of the artifact coated the Davross one split second before the impact, scattering the mana, and then retreated, leaving the sturdier metal to whether the ensuing shockwaves. Orion's timing was impeccable but he was only one man. He focused on the spells that would hit vital areas and ignored the rest. "You are a smart cookie, kid." Fyrwal's seven heads conjured a barrage of counter spells and followed Orion's lead. War Mage and Battle Mage spells flowed one into another, intercepting the bulk of the Tree's attack with pinpoint accuracy thanks to Ernas' Full Guard. Whatever she missed, she intercepted it with her mace, Dreamweaver. "Good. Very good." The Yggdrasill voice betrayed surprise and oozed spite. "I can see you've studied me very well for this plan of yours, Verhen. Better than I've studied you and your allies. I must admit that I didn't consider you worth the effort. "I was wrong and I'm willing to pay the price for my hubris. Tell me, Supreme Magus Verhen, did your intelligence, did any of your friends warn you about this?" Lith's title was spoken as an insult, every one of the words following it a murderous threat. The Tiamat and his allies ignored the World Tree's speech and focused on their actions as the strike team continued its advance. Ernas' Full Guard covered the area above and below the ground while everyone's Tiamat Eyes could see the hair color of the single elves in the villages. Suddenly, the chaotic lines of the hundreds of Chroniclers amassed in front of the white cores stopped scrambling around and assumed a tight-knit battle formation with no weak spot. The distraught elves stopped screaming and crying as a deep violet aura burst out of their bodies, forming a cloud of raw power floating right above the ground.