Shadow pulled themselves upright from where they'd been thrown, clearly in pain but still functional. One hand pressed against their ribs where the tail strike had connected. "Mission accomplished," they said in that magically-altered voice, though there was a slight wheeze underneath the distortion. "Target eliminated. Ready to proceed to secondary objective?"

"The temple," Satou confirmed, already thinking ahead. "But first—Freda, do you have enough energy left to cast detection magic? I need to make sure there aren't any other cult leaders or commanders hidden in this camp."

The young elf nodded wearily. "I can manage a basic detection spell. Give me a moment..." She took several deep breaths, centering herself, then her hands wove another pattern. This one was much simpler than the purification magic, but it still required concentration.

Arcane energy spread out from her position like ripples in water, scanning the entire encampment for magical signatures that indicated active spell-casting or enhanced beings beyond normal warriors.

After several seconds, she opened her eyes and shook her head. "Nothing. No other major magical presences. Just the corrupted warriors, and without Vexor sustaining the connection, even they're fading. The corruption is slowly burning itself out of their systems without an active source feeding it."

"Will they survive?" Satou asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

"Some might," Freda said carefully. "If they get treatment soon. The corruption is lethal if left unchecked—it's literally consuming their life force to fuel the enhanced abilities. But now that the source is gone, it can be cleansed with proper magical intervention before it kills them."

Chief Krrax entered the tent, his greatsword dripping with dark blood but his remaining eye blazing with something Satou hadn't seen before—hope, fierce and undeniable.

"Lord Satou," the chief said, his voice trembling with emotion he couldn't quite control. "We've broken the siege. Six of their eight camps are already captured or abandoned. The serpent warriors... they're not fighting back effectively. It's like they've lost the will to resist."

"They lost their command structure," Satou explained, gesturing to the pile of ash that had been King Vexor. "The king was the lynchpin holding this whole operation together. Without him, the corruption magic has no direction, no purpose. The enhanced warriors are reverting to their base state—which for most of them means death, since the corruption was fundamentally unsustainable without active maintenance from a controller."

He stood, grimacing slightly at his own injuries that had already been healed in an instant—nothing serious compared to what the others had suffered, but he'd taken a few solid hits during the intense battle with Vexor. His ribs ached, and there was a deep gash along his left forearm that would need proper treatment. "But we're not done yet. The temple. Whatever ritual they were building, it needs to be destroyed completely. If we leave it intact, another cult leader could come along and complete what Vexor started."

"Then we go now," Chief Krrax said immediately, his military mind understanding the tactical necessity. "My warriors can mop up the remaining resistance here. You take your strike team to the temple and finish this."

Satou nodded, then turned to his companions. "Anyone too injured to continue?"

Grimnir stood up, testing his wounds. The deep gashes had stopped bleeding thanks to his enhanced healing factor, though they were far from fully healed. He rotated his shoulders experimentally, wincing but functional. "I'm good. Sore, but I can fight. Won't be at full strength, but I can still swing an axe."

Kelvin finished bandaging Urgot and stood as well. He'd popped his dislocated shoulder back into place earlier, and though it was clearly painful, he could still move the arm. "I can fight. Just don't expect any fancy acrobatics from me."

Urgot struggled to his feet despite his broken ribs and the deep laceration across his shoulder. Blood had soaked through the bandages Kelvin had applied. "I'm coming too," he said with determination that overrode the obvious pain. "I didn't come all this way just to miss the finale. Besides, somebody needs to make sure you old guys don't do anything too reckless."

Despite the situation, that got a small laugh from the others. The young orc's spirit was impressive.

"I'm out of major spells," Freda admitted honestly, "but I can still provide magical support and detection. And if there really are cult members at the temple, you'll need someone who knows how to disrupt ritual magic. I just... won't be able to cast anything on the level of that purification spell for at least a day."

Shadow simply nodded, their assessment of their own condition apparently positive enough not to require words. Though Satou noticed the way they moved more carefully now, favoring their injured side.

"Then we move," Satou commanded. "Chief, take care of the wounded and secure the camps. Make sure any surviving serpent warriors who can be saved get proper treatment—they were victims of the cult's corruption just as much as your people were. We'll be back within the hour."

The chief saluted formally. "Be careful, Lord Satou. If the temple is truly the heart of this ritual, it will be defended."

"I'm counting on it," Satou said with cold determination.

They exited the command tent and began making their way toward the valley's center. The path was eerily quiet now—serpent warriors who should have been attacking them simply stood motionless, their corrupted minds unable to process what to do without orders. Some had collapsed entirely, the corruption finally consuming them without Vexor's power to sustain it.

The temple was easy to find—a massive stone structure that dominated the valley's center, clearly visible even in the darkness thanks to the sickly green light that radiated from within. It pulsed with an almost living rhythm, like a heartbeat of corrupted magic.

As they approached, Satou felt wrongness radiating from the building. Not just dark magic, but something older and more fundamentally corrupted. This was power that shouldn't exist in the natural world, power that reality itself rejected and tried to expel.

"That's... that's really bad," Freda whispered, her magical sensitivity making her more aware of the corruption's intensity than the others. She actually stumbled, one hand going to her head as if she'd been struck by a physical blow. "The ritual is at least ninety percent complete. Maybe even ninety-five percent. If we'd been even an hour later..."

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