Damon's eyes widened in shock. The center of the fairy forest… held the remains of an Ascended fairy king?

A shiver ran through the mana threads around him, as if even the world itself remembered the weight of that name. It was no wonder this entire grove reeked of power, even in death. No wonder the Umbra Hand, this princess here, and everyone else wanted a piece of it.

"The Ascended Realm, huh?" Damon smiled. "Sounds like a risk worth taking. Alright, I am in. Do you know anything more than that?"

Alzara smiled bitterly, shaking her head. "If I knew more, why would I be here wasting my time with you. I would have already entered the core region."

"Okay." Damon smiled. He did not believe a word that came out of the woman's mouth, but he also had no other information. So, he had to let all of this play out. "What's the plan now?"

Alzara crossed her arms and turned her back to him, gazing into the looming treeline where the bunch of fairies were resting.

"The plan is simple," she said. "We wait till dawn. When the sun touches the central grove, the fairies will be at their weakest. That's when we move. The Umbra Hand knows it too. So it won't just be us."

"Wait. Isn't the core in that direction? Why do we need to deal with the fairies?"

"The moment we enter, we'll be seen as intruders defiling a sacred tomb. The stronger fairies will awaken. Guardians, spirits, and who knows what else were left behind by the King. It will be chaos. It's better to thin down the number of fairies before we do that. Increases our chances of survival. Also helps to take out some of our enemies."

Damon understood the strategy very well. It was something he would have also done. The woman was definitely not all boobs and waist. She also had some brain.

Essentially, it would be a three-way fight between the Umbra Hand, the fairies, and the princess fan club. Whoever stands at the end would win.

"I am guessing you want me to go into hiding and surprise everyone during the fight."

"Yes." Alzara nodded. "My victory depends on you. You are the key to everything. Don't be arrogant and overconfident. The Umbra's hand is not to be taken lightly. You need to be more prepared. Do not disappoint me."

Damon chuckled. "Well, I have disappointed plenty of people. You wouldn't be the first. Ask my wives."

Alzara's face twitched. She did not want to continue talking with the annoying guy and silently walked away.

Everyone stood around tensely for a while. It was only a couple of hours, so Damon did not mind standing around. He reached out to Lirae in the meantime and confirmed that she was doing fine.

He also reached out to Kate, who became extremely happy, especially at the fact that Aurora couldn't do this while she could.

Soon it was time for action.

As the first hints of dawn stretched across the sky, casting golden veins through the dense foliage, Alzara stood up, adorned in a fresh set of enchanted desert silks that shimmered slightly under the dim light.

Her retainers circled around her like a living phalanx, every one of them brimming with restrained power. On the far end of the grove, shadows twisted unnaturally, coalescing into vague, humanoid forms. The Umbra Hand had arrived.

Damon remained in the shadows of a broken tree, his body cloaked in [Shadowmeld], completely invisible to normal senses.

Everything happened in an instant. Alzara and the group shot forward while the Umbra's hand did the same. The fairies erupted like hornets from a broken hive. Numerous fairies started throwing around all sorts of attacks.

Stronger fairies shimmered into being, their tiny forms glowing with layered magic sigils. A forest guardian emerged, a treant the size of a building with silver bark. It let out a hollow roar, shaking the grove.

There had to be hundreds of them, and more were coming in by the second. Damon had no idea how they were going to handle so many. However, right at this moment, a shrill sound blasted in the midst of the battleground. Some sort of sonic attack.

The piercing shriek cleaved through the chaos like a blade of sound. For a moment, the battlefield froze.

Fairies clutched their heads mid-flight, losing control of their spells as their delicate wings spasmed. Several weaker ones dropped like dying fireflies, their bodies twitching. Alzara's men stumbled, blood trickling from their ears. Even the forest guardian groaned, its massive limbs creaking as it staggered backward, bark splintering along its legs.

Damon winced, feeling the frequency dig into his skull despite his distance and protective buffs. However, it looked like Umbra's hand was pretty much unaffected.

A grin tugged at Damon's lips even through the pain. So the Umbra Hand brought a sound-type disruptor? Smart. Disrupt the fairies' intricate magic, break their formations, sow chaos, and then sweep in with their assassins. Classic suppression tactic.

But that wasn't what truly caught his attention.

It was how cleanly the attack threaded through the battlefield. There was no wasted energy, no stray sonic pulses spilling beyond target range. It was precise. That level of control could only mean one thing.

"One of the Twelve," he muttered under his breath. "That guy should already be here."

Damon did not jump into the battle from the get-go. He silently observed everything first. All around him, fairies were falling left and right, as they were the most numerous. Despite their strength and illusion abilities, and home-ground advantage, they still couldn't stand a chance against the combined assault of the two forces.

Damon made it his priority to grab the blood essence of these guys. He also freely absorbed any and all of the blood essence on the battlefield. Thankfully, the chaos was more than enough to hide his deeds and his presence.

Though he had been showy before when absorbing the blood essence, now he had the time and necessity to hide his presence. So when he sucked everything in, barely anyone noticed.

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