The Herald of the New Dawn reappeared in one of his safe houses. He looked at his hand, and took a deep breath.

It had actually happened. He had struck a blow against Anualë and all the Blessed Land, though he had to sacrifice much of his power to do so. He…was Aesdes no longer. Holy mana no longer filled his body with power and light…and no longer bound him to the world.

In a way, Rélseomo had truly died now.

But he shook his head and started up the communication device he had designed for the Heralds. The time for sentiment was over. The time for second-guessing and regret had passed a long time ago.

So he let his perception fade from his body, and move into the Realms of Mana, where the Aesdes could not see so easily.

He had set up the Heralds of the New Dawn to be fully contained within each region they were active, each separate from one another. But now, he gathered the leaders of every group here, with masks over the top halves of their faces. There was immediate commotion, but they quieted as he lifted a hand.

“Brothers, Sisters, all members of our family. The time has come. I have struck a blow against the very Aesdes themselves. Now is the time to act.”

One of the Heralds grimaced.

“But…without our status…is it truly wise to fight?”

Another one clicked her teeth and shook her head.

“You reveal your ignorance. The status may be gone…but our powers are not.”

The Herald of the New Dawn nodded his head.

“It is as she says. The Aesdes claimed credit for your strength, but that was never true. All they were ever doing was controlling the growth of your own stature. That stature, those achievements, and all of your own skill remain, as well as any morsel of power the Aesdes saw fit to throw you. The difference now is that the Aesdes will no longer use those things on your behalf, nor will they show you how they want you to develop. For those who relied on the Aesdes to hold their hands, this is nothing short of a calamity. But for those who knew the truth, who worked to gain their own power, this changes nothing.”

He then smiled.

“And for those of us who always sought to break the chains of the Aesdes, this represents a unique opportunity. While the sheep stumble blindly, we shall show the world something better.”

Slowly, one by one, the Heralds began to grin. The first one who spoke, however, rubbed his chin.

“Hmmm…perhaps. But…what of the Aesdes? Did they truly abandon Aelea? Or was the blow you dealt them that great?”

The Herald of the New Dawn nodded.

“A fair question. And no, the Aesdes have not abandoned their designs, nor have I dealt them a blow they cannot recover from. And I have lost the majority of my own power in the process.”

He then smirked.

“But…they are preoccupied at present. It will take them quite some time before they can counterattack and reimplement their system of oppression. Which is why we must move quickly. We have an opportunity, but only just that. We must take advantage of it, and secure our position.”

The Herald in question frowned.

“But…can we truly do that? Can we become powerful enough in this time to fight the Aesdes? Can mortal men truly defy the Blessed Land itself?”

The Herald of the New Dawn chuckled.

“You’d be surprised how likely that is.”

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“Kómeon! Hold the left, we need your fire to burn the plants! Niashus! Give us as big a wave as you can make, you need to take the pressure off the line! Uondér! Give us a storm or something! Without Anualë, we can’t hold the skies, so we need to deny them!”

Velus grimaced as he waved his sword around and barked orders. A massive wave of monsters had spilled out into the Blessed Lands, coming out from under the ground. The Aesdes were mighty, and even the least of them could fell countless monsters by their own hands…but the vast majority of the Aesdes had never seen combat, and even fewer had actually commanded a battle. It had been pure chaos, many of the Aesdes, those who had only known the peace of the Blessed Land, had fled in terror, while those who possessed experience or valor had run off to confront the threat alone, without any sort of organization or coordination with one another.

Colleöne, who had commanded the Aesdes against the Great Demon Lord, wasn’t here right now, though Velus hoped she was on her way back. And Anualë, First of the Aesdes, was apparently wounded, and incapacitated as a result.

And so Velus, the mortal man who had ascended, found himself taking command of his betters. He had not expected to be the most experienced commander in the Blessed Land…but he supposed the people of Aelea were a bit more contentious than those who lived here.

He glanced behind him, to a girl frantically forming countless magic circles around herself.

“Shialnor! Any word on what’s happening here?!”

Shialnor, in human form for the first time Velus had ever seen, jumped and gulped at being addressed.

“I-I’ve been locked out! Someone took control of the Dungeon and System cores, and is using them to summon and empower monsters!”

Velus grimaced. That…was not good.

“Get them under control!”

“I-I’m trying! But something’s blocking me. I-I think I need physical contact to get back in!”

Velus resisted the urge to sigh. But, at least he had an objective now.

Of course, before he could even think of advancing towards an objective, he needed to form these people who had fought maybe once in their lives if at all into a coherent battle line.

He could only hope the people of Aelea…and the Empire of his children, could take care of themselves in the meantime.

Shialnor grit her teeth as she formed another dozen magic circles, all of which turned red as they failed to connect back to the cores of the systems.

Yes, Shialnor hated working.

Yes, Shialnor hated being in charge of the dungeons. Or anything, really.

Yes, Shialnor wanted with all her heart for someone to take over the job, and designed the system such that she could hand off control to someone else with ease if the opportunity ever presented itself.

But at the end of the day, Shialnor was Aesdes, someone who protected and nurtured the world. That was why, for all her complaints, for all her wishes, she still completed her assigned tasks. She would cut as many corners as she could, but she still made sure it got done.

Which, unbeknownst to her, actually made her relatively diligent in the grand scheme of things, and given her natural talents in the field kept Anualë from ever replacing her.

So now that someone had taken advantage of those measures she had designed to hand off control, and was using them to attack her home…

Well, even Shialnor had limits.

So she tried everything she could think of to take back control. But she had poured a great deal of her power and herself into that system. It was still hers, but it was outside of her at the same time. As such, it turned out it was possible for someone to block her connection to it.

If she could contact it again, it would answer to its rightful owner, but there was now an army of monsters between her and the core. Monsters empowered by Colleöne’s parallel system.

So Shialnor looked for alternatives. She tried to reach down to the dungeon below. But the Core of the Dungeons in the Blessed Land was the means by which she and the Aesdes were connected to the dungeons of Aelea, as long as she couldn’t contact it, she couldn’t contact any of the dungeons.

But then, her eyes widened.

She couldn’t contact any of the dungeons…save one.

One…that was not primarily connected to the Blessed Land’s core anymore.

Shialnor’s eyes glowed as she examined the connection in great detail, determining if she could use it to resolve this situation.

She heaved a sigh.

She could not. That core’s connection to the Blessed Land’s core was too weak for her to use it as a back door. It would not resolve this situation.

But…that didn’t mean she couldn’t use it at all.

Shialnor took all she knew of her system and Colleöne’s and sent it to the one core she had access to.

“Well…hopefully that will help them down there until we can figure this out.”

Shialnor then swept her hand, causing the magic circles to transform themselves. Her eyes started to glow. She couldn’t do anything with the Cores from here…so instead, she would help in other ways.

“You stole my system…you attacked my home…and, worst of all, you interrupted my nap! I am SO done with this!”

Shialnor waved her hand and the magic circles flashed. Dozens of monsters appeared before her, and started to attack the invading monsters. The ground between the Aesdes and the monsters shifted, and invading monsters began to fall into pit traps while arrows shot from hidden slits, tree branches suddenly turned into spikes, and invisible magic circles teleported monsters high into the sky to then fall to their deaths. Jets of flame shot from the ground, rolling boulders fell from the sky, and explosive runes erupted once stepped on.

She may not have had control over her core, but she was the one who had designed all of its functions. And so the Mother of Dungeons joined the battle.