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The War Games ceased to matter the moment the arena broke.
Earlier in the day, Enoch and Sal walked the lower districts of Conscriptus. Unlike the other capitals of the FETC, there are no visible slums within the city proper. Citizens appear fed, housed, and structurally supported. The cost, however, is obvious: everything is built in service to the Armada. Prosperity exists, but only insofar as it sustains imperial strength. Enoch later volunteered within the healing tents under House Katharis’ name and, by all accounts, worked without pause through the night. Selene, a senior cleric of Xalithea, formally recognized him as an honorary cleric for his efforts.
Before the duels resumed, I sent a letter to Celeste. I advised her to focus on the Vorynth spellbook and to stop yielding ground in battle where she did not need to. I have never been particularly skilled at disguising concern as anything softer than instruction.
That evening, Mazarin, Charles, and I conducted further research into Charles’ weapon and the entities surrounding it. Charles wished to understand the Wand of Orcus. Mazarin focused on methods of severing the pact entirely. I attempted to establish broader historical context first before narrowing conclusions.
There are no recorded endings to pacts with Orcus that could reasonably be called victories. Most pact-bearers are consumed, transformed, or discarded long before achieving whatever ambition drove them to accept such bargains. More concerning was the realization that Charles possesses not merely a cursed relic, but something far closer to a vestige tied directly to the Demon Prince himself.
Our investigation led through fragmented demonological records, primarily excerpts attributed to the witch Tasha. The texts referenced the Pale Knight, an ancient and poorly understood entity described as one of the oldest demon lords in existence, perhaps predating many modern cosmologies. Some accounts claim Xalithea herself once defeated this being. Whether that is truth or imperial mythmaking remains impossible to determine.
Mazarin uncovered references connecting the Pale Knight to Graz’ate, a demon lord associated less with destruction and more with manipulation, temptation, pleasure, and contracts. The descriptions were unsettlingly familiar. Tall. Beautiful. Refined. Often depicted carrying a massive serpentine greatsword known as the Wave of Sorrows. Belladonna’s blade matches those descriptions almost perfectly. And Gracious matches those descriptions as well.
No historical connection between House Vorynth and Orcus could be established directly. Their associations appear more aligned with rival demonic entities, particularly Graz’ate.
Charles later sought additional information through Father. I facilitated the introduction. During that time, I briefly encountered Vaelin and Takamiro in the Katharis camp. Takamiro initially refused to advise me further due to his obligations to House Katharis, though eventually relented enough to offer observations regarding Freya Maelthrumm’s style for my upcoming duel. Heavy strikes. Deliberate pacing. No feints. And, most importantly: daughters of Maelthrumm do not relinquish momentum even when they should already be dead.
The assessment proved accurate.
I fought Freya shortly thereafter and secured victory, though not cleanly. I utilized a Xeresian Guard during the exchange. Predictably, the crowd reacted strongly. Freya continued pressing well beyond the point most duelists would have fallen.
Elsewhere, Yuna Lysandra defeated Isolde unexpectedly, significantly disrupting prevailing expectations within the tournament brackets.
Celeste then fought Belladonna. Celeste fought perfectly, but it did not matter.
Belladonna killed her publicly and brutally before the arena healers could intervene. For several seconds the healing failed entirely. I remember moving before I consciously understood I was moving. I remember thinking, with absolute clarity, that I had failed her.
Then Celeste returned. Body anew thanks to the Pruning tether. I had not realized how tightly I had locked my breathing until that moment.
The relief was brief. Belladonna’s conduct immediately triggered formal investigation. Evidence mounted rapidly that her blade was tied to Graz’ate and that she possessed the Demonomicon itself. She showed no remorse when confronted. Only defiance.
Enoch attempted to engage her and was mentally dominated before recovering. Around the same time, Mazarin reported encountering Gracious directly in the corridors beneath the arena. He disappeared before further confrontation could occur.
Mazarin and I then recognized something deeply wrong about the magic Belladonna was constructing. The sigils were not isolated spellwork. They were activating something already embedded beneath the arena itself. A prepared ritual structure. Ancient. Vast.
Mother struck first, blasting Belladonna backward with a thunderous wave of force.
Then reality split open above the arena.
Radiant light descended hard enough to shake the entire structure. Xalithea appeared in full manifestation, vast and dreadful in equal measure. Her voice silenced the city.
“Petulant child. You have forsaken your house, your city, your blood.”
Belladonna did not retreat.
Fifty hooded figures emerged throughout the arena as hidden runic structures ignited beneath the stone. Father completed a divination in the same moment and reached the same conclusion many of us had already begun to fear.
Tasha was here. Tasha and Belladonna were one and the same. But the realization came too late.
Black chains erupted outward and bound Xalithea herself. The Forever Blade scattered across the arena floor. The hooded figures began chanting in unison while the arena dissolved into chaos.
“Bind the mother that betrayed us. Bind the blade that rebuked us. Bind the throne that forsook us.”
I attempted to unravel one of the ritual anchors directly through counterspell and discovered the construct was operating at a level of magic I had only previously encountered in theoretical texts. Twelfth-order spellwork at minimum. I managed to break one rune. Two remained active.
Above us, Tasha floated over the bound form of Xalithea, the Demonomicon open in her hands.
Xalithea spoke directly to Enoch then, urging him to take the blade before it fell into enemy hands. He obeyed and fled with it as the battle escalated beyond containment.
By that stage, the arena had become a war zone.
Demons swept through Conscriptus. Members of the council disappeared amidst the fighting. Loyalists and infiltrators turned on one another. Through the city itself, Tasha’s voice echoed across stone and steel:
“Tasha of House Vorynth, Queen of Karsus, wielder of the Demonomicon. Cast aside for ambition. Today I reclaim what is mine, beginning with Conscriptus.”
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