Suddenly, the surface of Aria begins to rumble and a few of the structures within the kingdom begin to crumble apart. Then, a multitude of gaping holes inside the kingdom appear by caving into the ground. You peer out into the kingdom below and what you see coming out of the smoky craters leaves you in shock. Just like Aatu said, you see at least a hundred sets of familiar mechanical claws digging their way out of the surface of the planet inside of Moriarch's border wall in every direction around you, and the machines let out a supersonic roar, crumbling even more buildings with Morian citizens inside them. You get flashbacks to when you were in the High Temple facility with Tom as you look at what just emerged and you immediately feel a sense of panic, thinking about the massacre that's about to take place.
" Tarragons… "
You murmur to yourself as you watch these titanic mechanical monsters tear through the kingdom's buildings like they're made of paper and massacre the people within the kingdom's walls with their antimatter lasers and claws. The Champions that were stationed inside the kingdom to protect the citizens and the archers within the kingdom's border wall all immediately jump on the threat, trying to stop these colossal beasts but they only manage to distract a few of them as the Champions and archers die trying to protect the civilians.
Before Aatu can act to handle the Tarragons running rampant in the kingdom and sowing destruction, the enemy cruisers resume their bombing runs over the kingdom to keep Aatu occupied. Aatu teleports the antimatter bombs out into the horizon where there are no allies and they explode in the middle of the enemy forces in the distance. He remains focused on protecting the kingdom from the thousands of bombardments that are all coming down on the kingdom at once by redirecting their attacks and destroying any cruiser that gets too close.
" I'm going down there. "
Roary says with conviction as he looks over the edge of the tower at the Tarragons fighting below him.
" So am I. "
The King says as he unsheathes his sword and walks up beside Roary. Sir Gerard follows suit, obviously fulfilling his duty to protect the King, but the King stops him by putting his hand gently on his shoulder and speaks to him in a heartfelt tone.
" No, Gerard. You stay up here with Aatu to command our forces. You've done your duty with diligence, but I require your blade no longer. It was an honor to have you by my side throughout all these years. "
" But… your majesty… I have a sworn oath to protect you until the day I die… "
Gerard says confusedly and with a sorrow stricken voice. The King then looks down at his sword as he responds to Gerard assuredly.
" Without a commander, our forces will lose their strength. I'm sure you remember that this blade has been passed down through King Mori's lineage and hasn't tasted blood since the first ages. When wielded with a pure heart, its legendary power is unrivaled to the likes of even the most formidable foes of Moriarch. I should be fine, old friend. Thank you for your service. "
The King then turns towards Roary and speaks to him with a smirk.
" Together? "
Roary smiles back and responds, nodding his head.
" Together. "
You watch as both Roary and the King jump off the edge of the tower, Roary catching himself by surfing on a jet of magma and the King taking flight with a pair of glowing golden wings that shoot out of the armor on his back. Once they reach the fight down below, Roary collides directly with the side of a Tarragon's head and it explodes violently, leaving half of the Tarragon's face molten and dripping off before the Tarragon flips upside down and crashes into one of the neighboring buildings. The King's sword glows radiantly as he comes down on top of another one, sinking his sword into the Tarragon's back before glowing golden light begins fracturing the Tarragon from the inside, bursting into an explosion of holy light and leaving it in pieces. Sir Gerard nods his head before continuing to shout commands at Moriarch's forces in order to keep them organized.
Roary and the King both split up to help the remaining Champions while the two Tarragons that they just disabled begin putting themselves back together, and Princess Elise looks down at the fight taking place below the tower, talking to you in a worried manner. You can barely hear her voice over the chaos of the battle raging on below and Aatu protecting the kingdom from cruisers zooming above.
" I can't… I can't just watch this! It's only a matter of time before they're both killed! "
" Have some faith in your father, Elise. Even when we were both kids, he's always had the courage and strength of a lion. Had he not been born into the royal lineage, I have no doubt that he'd be one of Moriarch's greatest Champions. "
" Our Mana is running out! "
One of the royal guards shouts from behind.
" We're at 40% and draining fast! "
" It must be the legendary blade that our King is using… It's very powerful but it comes with a cost. "
Sir Gerard says as he looks down at Roary and the King continuing to tear through Tarragons to immobilize them as they fly around the kingdom.
As Sir Gerard says this, you immediately see one of the Tarragons that Roary destroyed has already put itself back together and crashes through the border wall to attack a group of Moriarch's forces that are faring well on the outside, leaving a giant hole in the wall for cultists to pour through into the kingdom. The Tarragon effortlessly slaughters the knights and mages who were fighting along with several groups of cultists before a steady stream of cultists begin to pour into the kingdom to pillage and murder the people within the walls. Aatu diverts his attention to the broken wall in order to repair it, stopping any more cultists from getting inside, and you see him hold out his glowing white hand before rotating it. As he spins his wrist, the wall begins putting itself back together in the exact way it was destroyed as if time is reversing. Once the wall is restored, another Tarragon that's repaired itself barrels directly towards the tower that you're standing on to destroy the castle, but Aatu uses his power over space to disintegrate the Tarragon at a subatomic level.
Moving swiftly and smoothly, Aatu multi-tasks between handling the aerial attacks and disintegrating the Tarragons one at a time without a single second of breaking his consecration or making an error. The Tarragons' numbers slowly begin to dwindle and you look over at Reylesh to ask her a question. However, unexpectedly, you see a shadowy figure behind her moving incredibly fast in a threatening manner; so you instinctively blitz over to her and catch the arm of the figure who's attempting to impale her from behind by its wrist. Your eyes widen, registering what's happening and what you just prevented as you breathe heavily; and the figure smiles a crooked and sinister smile as it realizes that you just caught its arm.
It's a Valghul who's possessed Naril Zrima, the Voldoorian executive that you met earlier, and it somehow has found its way into the tower.
" Well well well, someone's gotten faster since the last time we fought. "
The Valghul says before cackling as it grows two more arms out of its back to get a cheap shot on Reylesh, but she quickly turns around and dodges the attacks, distancing herself from the Valghul.
" AATU!! VALGHUL!! "
Reylesh screams before Aatu peers at the Valghul out of the corner of his eye, still occupied with protecting the kingdom. Mimi and Elise both run away and hide behind some furniture in the tower and the Valghul quickly attempts to juke you in order to attack them, seeing that the children are the most vulnerable. However, you're much faster than last time and you immediately stop the Valghul in its tracks, grabbing it by its neck and slamming it into the ground. The Valghul quickly distorts its physical form, slipping out of your hand and slithering up your body like a snake before constricting your neck in an attempt to suffocate you instead. You try to pull the Valghul off your neck, but Aatu shoots a beam of Light at it which causes it to distort its physical form again to dodge the beam before turning back into a humanoid and sliding on its feet back towards the entrance of the tower.
" What are you gonna do, Eldest God? You can't protect this kingdom if you're focused on fighting us. "
Aatu turns back around and looks at the Valghul with a cold stare as he responds.
" Us? "
Suddenly, several of the guards in the room begin to scream in agony as they drop to their knees. You look around confused, then you pull The Holy Omniverse Transcript out of your robes once you realize what's happening. Before you know it, you count at least 20 Valghuli around you that begin slaughtering everybody in the tower.