*** Holy Allied Territories

"We've been stuck here for days..."

Augustus complained about his war tent. This was supposed to be a simple job: take over the lands of the now two dead rulers and finish off the last one.

But even taking over one was nearly impossible.

Raven, the highest-ranked ruler of the Holy Allied Territories, was known to possess a potent gift, but its effects were unknown.

Until now.

Augustus and Julius' army was stuck, unable to leave the first town they had just captured.

They had tried to retreat, attack, and even send out scouts with no other instructions, but all efforts always led them back to this quaint little city.

What was once supposed to be a simple endeavor had now turned into a hellscape for the armies of the two prodigious brothers.

"Can't you just... magic this all away?"

Augustus sat down defeated in his chair, surrounded by his generals.

"I don't have a target. What am I supposed to do?"

Julius continued to look over the map they had laid out, scribbling notes throughout the paper.

They had tried almost everything, yet nothing worked.

"What kind of blasted gift did the goddess Nyx even give him?"

Nyx, the lady of the night and darkness, is a patron to all dark elves and one of the more powerful gods of the pantheon.

Not much is known about her beyond her dominion over everything the light doesn't touch, and even her gifts are much less known.

"If Justinian's spymaster was correct, it should have something to do with teleportation..."

"What does that have to do with anything...? I refuse to believe he's using the same gift to keep us all stuck here. It would take too much energy to continuously try to teleport our entire army to stay stuck in this single city."

Julius laughed. "Who knows, maybe he's just that skilled and compatible with his gift."

"Says the prodigy."

"Don't kid yourself, you know full well we have the same skills, brother."

Julius went out of the tent and headed to the city's battlements, taking a look at the distance, a distance they were unable to cross.

"If only Lord Marcellus were done with his annual rites..."

He sighed, crossing his arms. He no longer even bothered to wear armor; almost all of their army didn't, and there was no use if they couldn't even go anywhere.

The invasion had now become almost like a vacation.

[You called, child?]

The voice of Northros suddenly pierced through Julius' mind.

'That was impossible.'

He thought all the gods should have been busy due to the annual rites, but... back in Snowkeep, he did hear about Cassia and Ilmund's sudden divine abilities.

Something that could have been possible only through a god's interference.

'Lord Northros...?'

[Surprised...? I am as well, it seems like that duke somehow severed my connection with Marcellus.]

'What about Lord Arethrus?'

[Him? He was fine... the interference was of his own volition, and he was able to reconnect with Marcellus by spending divine karma.]

'I see...'

[Back to the topic at hand, I have already scanned your mind for the source of the problem; it seems Nyx has been giving you quite a problem.]

Northros coldly laughed.

The gods' relationship with each other could be described as nothing more than familial, as evidenced by Northros's mention of Nyx's name.

He had always found her gifts to be quite amusing.

[Since you seem to be on the side of my vessel... I will help you this once.]

'T-Thank you, my lord.'

*** Raven's Palace.

Raven looked worse for wear, his eyes now sunken and his skin as pale as the snow of the land he had recently failed to invade.

His constant use of his gift to delay Augustus and Julius had severely weakened his life energy.

He was on the brink of death; the only thing keeping him together was the priests who were tasked to use their lesser gifts to heal him continuously.

Buying time until their territory could amass a force big enough to start a counterattack.

"This is good... they don't seem to know how to break my gift."

Raven laughed weakly, coughing blood even as he continued his focus.

Priests around him looked at him with pity and reverence; to all of them, he was merely a devout ruler seeking to fight a heretical duke who disobeyed church laws.

"I just need to... keep going."

He muttered, but he wasn't going to be able to keep that promise.

[Sleep now, child.]

Northros' voice pierced Raven just like it did with Julius, but unlike Julius, Raven was too weak to come out unscathed after hearing a god's voice like that directly.

He had passed out, all to the surprise and shock of the priests who had immediately called for the palace doctor.

*** Holy Allied Territories – Julius

The effect was immediate.

Julius felt a pressure lift, not physically, not like wind or magic, but like the air around them finally remembered how to exist without being distorted.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

General Varro approached cautiously. "My lord… the men are reporting something strange."

"Let me guess," Julius said, eyes fixed on the distant road that had always looped them back. "They walked straight… and didn't return to the same spot?"

Varro swallowed. "Yes. The scouts reached the far hill. The loop is broken."

The loop was broken.

The 'curse' was broken.

But no teleportation magic faded. No mystical shimmer. No fading barrier. Just normalcy. The road now simply led away, as roads should.

Augustus emerged from his tent, eyes wide.

"It's gone?"

Julius nodded. "He's unconscious."

"Who?"

"The one who held us here."

Augustus' eyes narrowed. "Raven?"

"Yes." Julius looked toward the silent palace on the horizon. "I had a little bit of help."

Augustus scoffed. "By help, you mean the gods, don't you?"

"Of course," Julius chuckled slowly, "What else do you expect from me, brother?"

His fingers brushed against his cloak. The divine sigil underneath pulsed faintly, not glowing, just present.

Northros was watching.

The gods were still stuck in their annual communion with Marcellus.

And Mithral, far away in the mountains, had just actually stirred for the first time in decades.

That was no coincidence.

Augustus approached him, gaze leveling. "Are we moving?"

Julius nodded. "We move."

"Finally..." Augustus stretched his body, "Who's leading this time? You or me."

Julius looked back at his brother with a small smirk. "Oh, please, like you would even allow me to lead..."

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