The rest of the undead were of little concern, but their leaders were enough to take out the entirety of Jonathan’s army in one fell swoop.

  “Jonathan!” the Stillborn Hegemon boomed across the wastes. “We finally meet! What a pleasure…”

  Jonathan scowled. “It’s not what I would consider a pleasure. You’ve come to die, I take it?”

  “We’ve come to kill,” Ashokan rumbled. “To kill you.”

  The two Circle Lords paused above five miles away from Jonathan, their army stopping behind them. Ashokan took a few thunderous steps forwards, his weight shaking the ground. “We are generous demons, so we’ll let you evacuate your soldiers. Tier 3s and newly ascended Tier 4s are meaningless in a battle like this. Besides, without you, they have no way out.”

  “Why wouldn’t I simply flee with them?” Jonathan asked.

  “Because of this,” Ashokan said, raising his club. The weapon blazed with a bright yellow light, and suddenly, Jonathan felt the world around him closing in.

  You have been afflicted with a Tier 6 Spatial Ward!

  Until it wears off after two hours, or its caster is slain, you may not teleport, travel through dimensions, or use any sort of spatial magic for the purpose of moving yourself.

  Jonathan gritted his teeth, but there was little he could do other than what Ashokan had said. “Very well. Give me a few moments.”

  He summoned the portal once more, this time below his soldiers. Those who weren’t Tiering up simply jumped in, and Jonathan started to move it around, the meditating warriors plummeting through it. Because of the way the portal worked, they would simply be deposited on the other side. Their advanced stats would prevent anything negative from happening to them. It was far better than the alternative, which was certain death.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Arkanon leaned in. “Jonathan-”

  “No. I know what you’re going to ask. You’re still only a Tier 4. Only Eliza is powerful enough to fight here. Go back. You’re going to have to trust me on this one.”

  “I don’t think so,” Ashokan called out. His club shone once more, and every one of Jonathan’s most powerful allies were afflicted with a spatial ward. “They die with you.”

  Jonathan glared at the Circle Lords, his eyes alight. “You underestimate me. You underestimate us all.”

  As the portal continued to scoop up warriors, Jonathan used his free stat points. Two hundred to Resilience, two hundred to Dexterity, and the rest to Constitution. He clenched his fists, staring down two of the most powerful beings of their Tiers, and of their realms.

  As he did so, he let his aura out fully. A swirling dome of purple fire, tinged with the gold of Godhood itself, swept out across the grey sands of Cessation. Within it was the surety of the end itself, the gaze of an empty abyss, one that would rise to swallow the universe itself. Jonathan stood at its center, a hurricane of boundless energy rotating around him. The portal transported the final few warriors back to Jonathan’s realm, and he closed it over. Then he raised one fist to the heavens. Divinity rumbled within him like thunder, and with a flash of brilliant light, gold and purple flames washed across his form. His aura exploded outwards, until it threatened to overtake the Circle Lords before him. Only then did the two monsters use their own auras.

  A dry, rattling wind rose up around the Stillborn Hegemon, the winds of a desert devoid of life for eternity, of a land where the sun rose and set on legions of unliving eyes. Meanwhile, Ashokan bellowed, cracking his club into the desert floor. A wave of pure force erupted from his body, a yellow wall of Earth elemental power, representing his mastery of the element. It went beyond simple connection to the concepts that made up the Earth. Rather, it was as if the Circle Lord was a part of the ground beneath him, in the same way that a mountain might be.

  Jonathan’s aura paused beneath the pressure, unable to move any closer to his foes. He crossed his arms and smiled as his allies lent their own auras to the contest. While much weaker than his own, they were still significant in their own right. Two whirling hurricanes mingled with a few sweltering miasmas of molten air, representing the predominant elemental domains of those present. Eva’s was a bit different, but still potent in its own right, made up of verdant Life energy.

  With a sharp crack, the combined aura shattered that of the Circle Lords, and washed over the army behind them. Jonathan laughed out loud. He could tell that this battle was going to go differently than those before.