In the pit of ascension, Nuroka was already at his last moments.

His forces were gone. His fleet had perished. Guraj had had him right next to his side of the edge. A few more strikes and he would be pushed over the edge and into a fiery death.

“Guraj!” He made a last attempt to gain some ground. “Can’t you see? Alarak used both of us. Now we are both weakened! If he wants to challenge you now, can you win?”

Guraj glanced at Alarak, who kept his head down in obedience. He was actually hiding a smirk. Nuroka realized what his plan was. So what? He had overwhelming forces. Even if, which was more than unlikely, Nuroka and Guraj suddenly teamed together and fought him, he could crush both of them with ease.

Realizing a similar thing, Guraj turned back and continued to push Nuroka toward the edge. She knew about Alarak’s threat, but there was little she could do.

Suddenly the entire pit was darkened as if something blocked out the light of the stars. All the tal’darim in the pit looked up in shock. EVen the two sides of the duel looked into the skies in confusion.

“What the?” Guraj whispered. Her blade shaking.

The sky was covered with an entire fleet of scarlett ships. Two motherships towered in the air and radiated power on those below. Behind the motherships, three rows of carriers lined up loosely. Each row held 12 carriers. Smaller fighters and destroyers covered the gaps.

It was an entire fleet of tal’darim.

“Impressive, is it not?” A deep voice came from beside, and the three ascendants turned and found Nyon to be the speaker. The obedient look on his had faded away and was replaced with a smirk. A victorious smirk.

“Is it...is it your fleet?” Nuroka asked in disbelief.

“You’re smarter than you look.” Nyon insulted without caring about the consequences.

The three ascendants were obviously insulted, but there was little they could do. Their fleet had suffered heavy losses. Even the strongest of them, Alarak, had a mere 6 carrier count. He had a dozen destroyers, but they would evaporate in a few seconds under thousands of destroyers. Nyon had an overwhelming advantage.

Guraj acted quickly. She didn’t know why Nyon was wasting time talking, but she saw an opportunity. SHe suddenly focused her psi energy on her competitor.

Nuroka was still surprised by Nyon’s action when Guraj’s surprise attack hit. Guraj was still linked to her forces and Alarak’s forces, which gave her an overwhelming psi power. That, and the element of surprise, successfully pushed Nuroka over the edge.

“You have made a mistake! Amon will destroy you!!” Nuroka could only make empty threats as he was tossed over the edge. Nyon just stood by and watched Guraj’s action with a smile.

As Nuroka screamed briefly before being melted, Guraj turned to Nyon.

“I am the Highlord now, and I order you to back off!” She demanded. She was the winner of the duel and the new Highlord of the tal’darim. Nyon might be powerful, but he wouldn’t want to go against the entire tal’darim tradition, would he?

“You are a fool. Both of you.” Nyon included Alarak, who was trying very hard to think of a way out. “Wasting precious forces on a title? How long can you keep the title of the Highlord if you don’t have enough forces to enforce your command? And how easily can you become the Highlord if you are the strongest among all the tal’darim?”

Guraj knew what Nyon meant, and she knew this might end in another battle unfavorable for her, but she made another attempt. She really couldn’t win another battle with her rag tagged forces. She didn’t defeat Nuroka so she could be killed by someone else.

“You must obey me! I am the Highlord! It is the words of god!” The female ascendant was near desperate.

“God? Amon?” Nyon said casually. “Amon had lied to us!” He used psi energy and floated into the air so all the tal’darim spectators could hear him.

“Amon promised us ascension! A chance to rise and become hybrids! A chance to be strong! I believed his lie just like all of you here, until someone woke me up!”

“Amon doesn’t want us to rise! He wants to destroy all lifeform in the universe, including the tal’darim! The day we achieve victory for our god is the day our race dies!”

“You have no proof!” Guraj cut Nyon off. Amon’s command of the chain of ascension was the only thing keeping Nyon from executing her on the spot. Whether she believed in Amon or not Guraj had to maintain his authority.

“Proof? You’re right. I don’t have proof,” Nyon’s red weapons coated his figure in a crimson shade. “But I havemy blades and my warriors.”

“Tal’darim! Disable your shields and submit to me or face my wrath! My warriors! Execute all the stands against me, starting with her.” Nyon pointed at Guraj.

Thousands of light beams landed in the pit. Each of them represented a tal’darim loyal to Nyon. The fleet in the air opened fire on any ship that didn’t immediately surrender its shields.

“Followers of the dark god, stand with me and destroy that traitor! For Amon!” Guraj had no retreat. It was victory or death. Nyon would never allow her to live, and his forces were too great. God knew how he got this much ships. Wait, even Amon wouldn’t know that.

Throwing the strange thought out of her mind, Guraj launched her tired and injured body toward Nyon. She was going for the throne. It was her only chance. The longer she waited the more tal’darim of Nyon there would be on the field.

Guraj was relatively confident in her art with the blades. As long as she could get close enough her blades would behead Nyon before he could use his ability. When her blades cut through his chest, his forces would surrender to her strength.

Facing a determined Guraj, Nyon turned off his blades. Guraj’s eyes widened, but her confusion was quickly shut down when four figures walked up and placed themselves between Nyon and Guraj.

Four vanguards. Wait, no, two vanguards and two immortals.

Guraj, as experienced as she was, noticed the two assault striders in the front weren’t modified tal’darim weapons but were rather Daelaam styled immortals. But before she could do anything she smashed into one of the immortals.

Guraj’s lightening charge smashed into the immortal’s barrier. The layer of energy shield easily deflected the effect of the charge. Guraj reacted quickly and slashed down on the immortal 12 times in four seconds. The plasma shield of the immortal was shattered, but before the finishing strike Guraj’s psi suddenly screamed danger. She subconsciously jumped back, and the area where she was in was covered by a wave of scatter cannons. When the smoke cleared, the ground was gone, and the immortal was reduced to a few pieces of scrap metal. If Guraj had remained she would be no better.

Looking up and beyond the one immortal and two vanguards, Guraj saw Nyon was looking at her, relaxed.

All around her the battle had quieted down. Guraj’s forces were completely overwhelmed and eradicated. The female ascendant, no, Highlord, realized her attempt to rally supporters had failed. Under Nyon’s fleet the tal’darim mass had yielded. The few that resisted were instantly destroyed.

“You coward.” Guraj did her best to provoke Nyon. The tal’darim forces had surrounded her, and she knew if she made another move she would be taken down. As strong as she was a round of scatter cannons would blast her to pieces. Her only chance would be to challenge Nyon to a fair fight. “Fight me like a real tal’darim!”

Nyon tilted his head in consideration.