As Dee noticed the solar flames coming down on them, the best way to resist she could come up with was to use the black sun to consume as much of the incoming power as possible. She sensed many of the immortals in their attack force converging towards the center of the palace as they too sensed the coming attacks and realized the weird black sun floating above them was a possible method of defense. Even a questionable defense was better than nothing. As those immortals arrived, they used their own powers to do what they could to erect their own defenses. Some of them made it in time, while some of them did not as the flames crashed down on everyone. Even with the defenses in place, the flames were reaching everywhere. It was not a matter of not being burnt, but an attempt to avoid the level of burns that they could not survive.

Once the solar flames hit the black sun, Dee felt like she was trying to lift a mountain. The flames were theoretically weightless even as they consumed large parts of the palace in an instant, but the power driving the flames was pushing against the power she used to maintain the black sun. The black sun consumed the flames growing larger in the process, but it had not yet grown to its old size after the events with the Spider Goddess’ avatar and covered only a portion of the palace. Even those parts it did cover were not completely spared from the spreading flames. She realized that more needed to be done if she wanted to save their allies.

Dee’s Domain grew to its maximum size and effectiveness in an attempt to suppress some of the destructive power of the flames. The effectiveness of the Domain was limited as the beings that were controlling the flames were not within her reach, but every little bit helped. She also placed an Aegis over the areas where her allies seemed to be gathered, the holy power draining from her like a flooded river. Because she didn’t have the strength to stand against the flames by herself, she intentionally blocked only a portion of the flames, leaving the rest for her allies to deal with. Luckily her body could ignore the flames so she didn’t need to focus on her own defense. Incidentally, it seemed that the empress was taking care of defending herself and Dee as much as possible, as she was situated right below Dee inside the throne room.

At first, she could sense the Living Mountain also protecting the place where the hostages were located at, but the deluge of power soon drowned that out from her senses. In addition, blocking the flames was drawing more and more of her concentration and power, and she also had to heal her own body at the same time. While the flames were not touching her, the sheer amount of power she was channeling was putting a strain on her and causing damage. She had an almost bottomless ocean of holy power to draw on to maintain the Aegis, and her body had become much better at dealing with this sort of strain, but she was still at her limits.

Luckily she didn’t have to deal with the danger alone. The dragons had come together to protect their own, taking some of the strain off her, and while the monks and the Children of the Gods were not as adept at dealing with this kind of attack, they were also naturally more resistant, even if the solar flames seemed to ignore some of the resistances completely. With Dee’s help, their losses were being kept to a minimum. The real problem came from the Crimson Witches, but Teresa had come to their aid after dealing with the hollow duplicate of the emperor. A giant dome of red energy had materialized above the place the majority of the Crimson Witches had gathered, and apparently, Teresa was using this opportunity to push herself towards the thirteenth rank by straining herself to her limits.

Once the flames ceased falling from the skies, the sight greeting the survivors was desolate. There was very little surviving from the palace and even that very little was still in the process of burning. Any unprotected areas had been turned into ash and the sort of weird glass that formed only as a result of extreme heat that could not occur naturally. Dee almost fell from the sky above the palace remains as she let go of the black sun, returning it back inside her Domain, now much larger than it had ever been.

The empress was the one that ran to catch her and check her condition. Dee wasn’t truly injured, just strained beyond measure. Her increased rank had truly helped her in handling enormous amounts of power. “That’s the second time I’ve had to clear up your mistake. Let’s not allow a third one to happen.” Dee stated in a bit of a sarcastic but plenty tired voice.

The empress nodded and replied seriously. “I will make sure there won’t be a third time. I’ve already sent some of the other survivors to bring everyone here and to check the situation.” She knew Dee would be worried about some of the others, made obvious by the way she had tried protecting everyone. Dee didn’t actually care about everyone, but the groups had gotten mixed in the chaos and she didn’t have the chance to make sure which groups contained the people she did care about. So she had tried to protect everyone.

The harsh temperature and difficult terrain made movement a little challenging, but they were all immortals after all. It took a few moments but the survivors started filtering in. The first to arrive were the monks as they were the fastest out of everyone. They thanked Dee profusely for saving them and reported that their losses were about half of those that had come on this expedition. Most of those that had died had been those that had attacked the outer parts of the palace and didn’t manage to regroup with others as the solar fires fell. The monks had utilized their speed to attack a wider area than the others but were now paying the price for that.

By the time the dragons and the Children of the Gods arrived, Dee had already managed to regain some of her mobility. The dragons had lost roughly a third of their number as they had been in the air when the fires came, while the Children only lost one thanks to their ability to resists the damage, even though the Authorities of the Solarians made their immunities void. That said, every member of their group lost was a tragedy as they could not procreate normally. They needed the gods to do that for them.

“So I have a pretty good guess myself, but what the hells just happened?” Dee asked the empress.

“The emperor managed to gain some assistance from the Solarians. I…have some slight ideas on how that might have come to pass, but I don’t know enough to be certain. I’m still working up a plan to turn this mess around, but I think it’s relatively safe to assume the two are not proper allies. The Solarians simply performed this attack as a favor to the emperor. Otherwise, they would have attacked a second time once they noted some of us were still alive. I think that this will not repeat, but I can’t say that with certainty just yet.” The empress explained, her mind working overdrive due to considering all the possibilities.

She already had a basic outline of a plan, but it depended on the survival of the hostages, something they had no word of just yet. They also needed to deal with the Solarians somehow. The key to turning the situation around lay in the different factions of the Celestial Court and their anger towards the emperor for sacrificing the hostages so callously. If the empress could show that their group had saved the hostages from the emperor, and were incidentally now keeping them safe, then those factions could be turned against the emperor, or at least convinced to stay out of the hostilities. With that, many of the immortals currently following the emperor around might stand out, giving the empress and the rest of them a fighting chance. It was not all that different to their original plan, just that certain things had changed, making the situation more dangerous. But if everyone had to worry about the Solarians interfering further, then all was doomed. The factions within the court would be too scared to act.

“It better not. I don’t think I can block another one of those.” Dee felt restless as her friends had not shown up just yet. “I better check on them. You can handle things here for the time being.”

She flew towards the Living Mountain that she had sent towards the hostages, and happened to fly over the spot where most of the Crimson Witches were gathered. Many of them had differing levels of burn injuries and their numbers had been reduced. Not as much as one would expect from the severity of the attack, but still a blow that would take a long time to recover from. She also saw Anastasia holding the horribly burnt body of a dark-haired Crimson Witch that still had the remains of a number ten on her shoulder. The woman was burnt to the degree of missing limbs, but she was alive for now.

Teresa was meditating by the side and Dee could sense unstable pulses of power coming from inside her. Dee guessed that she might be attempting the breakthrough to rank thirteen, but wasn’t sure and wasn’t planning on interrupting in case that was true. She flew on towards the Living Mountain that had grown in size to cover more of the area but still far from its true size. The mountain was sheltering some buildings that had fared a little better than most things inside the palace. Dee could sense that the buildings were empty, but that the mountain had several people inside of it.

The mountain itself seemed fine, though a little charred in places. The large golden halo around the mountain’s midsection seemed a little dimmer but still perfectly functional. Dee flew to the cave mouth near the peak that worked as the main entrance because she sensed that the people had congregated there. She could sense a great amount of mixed power of various kinds that had most likely been used to block the flames from entering. She was greeted at the threshold by the flamboyant Phoenix man that looked conflicted.

“What’s the situation?” Dee asked without preamble.

“We got the vast majority of the hostages inside the mountain safely. We lost some, one of our eggs among them, but the mountain did a good job protecting almost everyone.” The Phoenix patted at the nearby wall, and the mountain sent an image of satisfaction in return. “However, there were some…losses.”

Dee braced herself as best she could and drew a deep breath. “Tell me.” She said simply.

The Phoenix was aware of the people that mattered to Dee, so he didn’t bother mentioning the other people that had either been injured or killed. “Razark is injured to an extent that I believe it will take a long time to recover. Healing burns like this is not a simple matter, and the power of fire like this makes natural regeneration almost impossible. That holds as true for immortals as it does for simple trolls. It’s not to the extent of the corruption that you wield, but the power from the flames also invades the wounds and needs to be cleansed. We already have some people doing what they can. Shioko is fine, but Nyx…she ran out once more to try and save the last people still stuck outside, yelling that she could handle it thanks to her new fire-related abilities. She almost could handle it and would have if the fires had been natural. She got everyone else to safety, but…”

“And Moirai?” Dee asked with a stony voice while closing her eyes in grief.

“Physically she’s fine, but mentally…she had to watch her mother burn to death. Not a pleasant way to go at best of times and having resistance to fire only prolonged things. We had to physically restrain Moirai from running into the flames as well. She isn’t taking this well. That’s how Razark got injured. He managed to bring Nyx’s remains back, but it was too late at that point. Outside the mountain’s protection, neither of them could deal with the flames.” The Phoenix explained.

Dee gave a deep sigh. “Take me to her.” She managed to say and shoved her own feeling of grief into some deep corner of her mind. It could wait. It was more important to deal with Moirai and the Celestial Emperor.

Dee found Moirai cradling the charred remains of a small woman that Dee could guess was Nyx, though there was not enough remaining to say for sure. Moirai was a mess with her face marred by snot and tears while her clothes and hands were covered in ash and what remained of Nyx. She didn’t even react as Dee entered the small chamber. Dee could sense what remained of Nyx’s soul still floating by, too damaged for any sort of resurrection but unwilling to pass on just yet. Lumen had taught her the spells required for resurrection but had also pointed out that being the Herald of Death made using the spells pretty much impossible at best of times. And she would have to fix the damage done to the badly burnt corpse to even try, something that was beyond her capabilities.

Besides, trying to resurrect a damaged soul like this would have bad consequences anyway. With a slight inviting gesture, Nyx’s soul floated to Dee and entered her Domain. Instead of adding another skull to the already completed totem, the soul just floated around the largely empty Domain, still not moving on despite the pull of Death being present, and Dee decided to honor that wish. She left the remains of the soul to float around while she would deal with Moirai. The soul would pass on eventually.

“Moirai?” She called gently, drawing closer. She got no answer, but there was some slight change in Moirai’s eyes, as they seemed to become a little less lifeless.

So, instead of speaking, Dee got behind Moirai and simply hugged the smaller woman to her chest, not minding the dirt and ash that got on her clothes. Dee wasn’t good at dealing with these kinds of emotions, as her own seemed to be different from others. Instead, she simply sat there holding Moirai, sharing some of the grief while trying to portray a sturdy rock the smaller woman could cling to if necessary. She couldn’t tell how long they sat like that before Moirai stirred.

“Dee?” Moirai asked tentatively, regaining some sanity.

“Yes?” Dee answered gently.

“We…need to find a good place to…to bury her. She…what remains of her should not stay here.” Moirai’s voice broke a few times as she struggled to deal with her emotions.

“We’ll see to it that she’ll have a place worthy of queens.” Dee promised. It seemed better to just allow Moirai to talk, but the other woman became quiet again for a long time.

“Dee?” She finally spoke tentatively again. “Can you take me with you?”

“With me?” Dee asked a little confused.

“When you leave Pantheon. Can you take me with you?” Moirai asked, her voice fragile, as if afraid to hear the answer.

“Of course. You’re welcome to come with me. It will not be easy or pretty though.” Dee didn’t ask why. Probably even Moirai would be unable to answer that fully. She would be glad for the company, and there was still time for Moirai to change her mind.

Still, Moirai probably felt some need to explain herself. “I need power. Power that I won’t be able to get here. If I come with you, I think I’ll have the opportunity. If I stay here, everyone will just expect me to take her place.” There was no need to explain what the power was for. That much was obvious. And revenge required a lot of power. This was something Moirai needed to do, and she could not rely entirely on Dee for her revenge.

For some reason, Dee felt that Death was preparing to give her blessing to the small woman. The goddess would not do so now, but she approved the path Moirai was choosing and would aid in it if Moirai stuck to her decision. The goddess would help with that path just a little. There would most likely be a price to pay down the line, but it also might be that the goddess wanted to get on Dee’s good side. That was for the future though. The goddess certainly wasn’t tactless enough to do anything now and was only letting Dee know of the possibility so that it would not come as a surprise.

“I understand.” Dee said in reply. And she did. Moirai would be expected to take Nyx’s place as a representative, assuming the Five Winds survived this whole thing, and she had already carried much of the administrative burden before this. Those kinds of responsibilities were not conducive to the growth of personal power. Moirai had been stuck with her level once before. She didn’t plan on getting stuck again. Then there were all the memories that would be constant reminders of what she lost if she stayed. So she decided a clean break would be better for now.

The two stayed quiet and holding each other for a long time before the silence was broken again, this time by soft tears of two people, one grieving over a lost parent and one grieving the loss of a friend.