While the Slane Theocracy mobilized its holy warriors and god-slaying weapons, the atmosphere within the Great Tomb of Nexus was one of calm, focused activity. Kaelus sat on his throne, the information from Jircniv's summit still being processed and cross-referenced with his own internal lore database.
He was in the middle of reviewing the newly drafted plans for the expansion of his underground arcane forge when a frantic, shimmering ripple appeared in the air before him. It was Spidy's personal communication sigil.
"My Lord," her voice purred through the connection, but it lacked its usual playful lilt. It was sharp, urgent. "We have a problem. A big, white, and gold problem. My little spiders on the southern border have caught something. A lot of somethings."
Kaelus's head rose, his full attention now on the report. "Specify."
"A massive military force has crossed out of Theocracy territory," Spidy reported. "Ten... no, closer to fifteen thousand strong. Heavy on paladins and angelic-type summons. They're moving fast, and they're not marching towards our Dominion. They're marching on Lyria, the old Elysian capital."
Rose, who was overseeing a report from the new dwarven quartermasters, looked up, her expression instantly turning serious. "A punitive expedition. They mean to make an example of your vassal-state."
"It gets better," Spidy's voice continued, dripping with cynical amusement. "At the head of this little parade is a man my agents identify as the Captain of the Black Scripture himself. The Theocracy's boogeyman. They aren't sending a token force. They're sending their best."
Before anyone could process the implications of that, Spidy added her final, most chilling piece of intelligence.
"And that's not all. A second, much smaller group has split off from the main force. They're moving with incredible speed and stealth, using some kind of high-tier concealment magic. They're cloaked, but not from me," she said with a hint of pride. "This group is led by a woman with silver hair who radiates an absolutely disgusting amount of power. They're on a direct course... for you, my Lord. For the Great Tomb itself."
A heavy silence fell over the throne room.
Gravity, who had been meditating, opened her eyes, a dangerous purple light swirling within them. "A two-pronged attack," she stated, her voice like ice. "A feint and a decapitation strike. Crude, but potentially effective if we were blind to it."
"They mean to burn my old home and kill my father," Lilliana, who had been summoned at the first sign of the emergency, said with a calm, cold fury that was more terrifying than any outburst.
"They mean to destroy our home," Flora corrected her, her sweet smile gone, replaced by a look of predatory possessiveness. Her hands were clenched, and small, thorny vines began to snake up the legs of the throne.
Kaelus listened to his followers, his own mind processing the information with supernatural speed. The Theocracy's plan was brutal and direct. Against any other opponent, it would have been devastating. But they had made one fatal, arrogant mistake.
They had assumed he was blind. They had no idea of the true reach of his information network. Spidy's webs were not just physical; they were a network of spies, magically bound creatures, and scrying sensors that covered half the continent. The Theocracy had been marching into a spider's web from the moment they crossed their own border.
"They believe we will react to the threat on Lyria first," Rose analyzed, her mind already dissecting the enemy's strategy. "They want to draw you, my Lord, out into the open. The second force is the real threat. The silver-haired woman... she must be the one carrying their trump card. The World-Level Item."
"The [Downfall of Castle and Country]," Kaelus confirmed, the name of the item surfacing from his lore knowledge. "An item that, once activated, deletes a fortress and its contents from existence. A powerful, but clumsy, weapon."
"So what is our move, my Lord?" Boom asked, his voice a low growl of anticipation. "Do we meet them on the field? Do we fortify Lyria?"
Kaelus stood from his throne. The time for quiet consolidation was over. The holy war had been brought to his doorstep.
"They have presented us with a gift," he announced, his voice resonating with a chilling calm. "They believe they are the hunters, setting a trap. They do not realize they are the prey, walking into a perfectly prepared abattoir."
He looked at his assembled court, a plan of beautiful, terrible simplicity forming in his mind.
"We will not react as they expect," he decreed. "We will not be drawn out. We will not rush to defend Lyria."
Lilliana looked up at him, a flicker of concern in her eyes. "My Lord? My people..."
"Your people will be the anvil upon which we shatter the Theocracy's army," Kaelus stated, his voice absolute. He then looked at Gravity. "You. Go to Lyria. Now. Do not engage the enemy. Do not reveal yourself. Your task is singular. You will use your magic to place the entire city and a one-mile radius around it into a compressed time-field."
Gravity's eyes widened with understanding and excitement. "A stasis bubble, my Lord? Time within the bubble will move at a fraction of a second for every hour that passes outside?"
"Precisely," Kaelus confirmed. "The Black Scripture will arrive to find the city frozen, untouchable. A fly trapped in amber. They can surround it, they can bombard it, but they will not be able to harm a single hair on a single citizen's head. You will turn their target into an invulnerable prison for their own army."
The sheer elegance of the counter-move was breathtaking. He wasn't just saving the city; he was turning the Theocracy's own momentum against them, trapping their main army in a strategic dead-end.
Gravity bowed deeply, a rapturous smile on her face. "It will be done, my Lord. They will beat against the walls of time itself and find them unbreakable." With that, she vanished in a swirl of spatial distortion.
Kaelus then turned his attention to the second, more dangerous threat. "The strike team heading for our home. They are the true prize."
He looked at his remaining Guardians. "Spidy, you will continue to track them. Do not let them out of your sight. Rose, you will coordinate our defenses. Activate the Tomb's outer-ward protocols. Let them think they are approaching an unsuspecting target."
His silver gaze then fell upon Force, Boom, Blast, and Flora. "You four will be the welcoming party. You will intercept them five miles from the Tomb's perimeter. The silver-haired woman is not to be killed. She is to be captured. The World-Item she carries is to be secured. The rest of her escort... are yours to dispose of as you see fit."
The four Guardians bowed, their eyes burning with a collective, deadly light. They were being unleashed.
"And what of you, my Lord?" Lilliana asked, her voice filled with a new level of awe.
Kaelus's shadowed helm turned towards the scrying mirror, which now showed the marching legions of the Theocracy.
"I," he said, his voice dropping to a low, predatory rumble, "am going to pay a personal visit to the Captain of the Black Scripture."
He was not going to be drawn out as bait. He was going to proactively hunt the hunter. He was going to appear before the leader of their "invincible" army, while that army was trapped and helpless before a frozen city, and he was going to deliver a message of his own.
"They wanted my attention," Kaelus declared, as he opened a personal [Gate], the portal shimmering with an energy far more potent and menacing than any before it. "They shall have it."
The plan was in motion. The Theocracy thought they were playing chess. Kaelus was playing a game on a level they couldn't even comprehend, and he had just flipped the entire board.