"And so, this is where it all ends," Helen whispered, watching from atop a faraway hill as elven soldiers and guards swarmed into the elven capital by the thousands.

"Indeed. If we lose here, humanity will be forced to rely upon the Lord for protection for the rest of time." A half-elf said from beside Helen.

"Hehe... Little Mark, you say that like it's some kind of bad thing for us to rely on the Lord." Helen giggled, but it was obvious she was very nervous. The odds were not in their favor.

Winter was coming soon, and the deadline was approaching quickly. They had secured almost everything by now, and the last piece missing was this city. If they could take it, that would mean a strategic victory.

However, they were currently stretched far too thin. There were barely ten thousand soldiers available for the capture of the capital, compared to the close to 60.000 elven warriors within the capital and all of the elves streaming back from the demon's front.

"Well, it is! It would be unbecoming for us to rely on the Lord. She has done so much for us, and we so little for her. Haven't you noticed how she hasn't smiled in such a long time by now?" Mark pointed out intelligently.

Helen pursed her lips but didn't respond. Mark was unfortunately correct, as much as Helen hated to admit it. The brat was far too observative for his own good, Helen thought.

Sighing, Mark turned back towards the capital and stared at it with analytical in his eyes.

Seeing this, Helen could only laugh somewhat sadly. "Mark, I know you like thinking, but don't do it too much. The generals are all wracking their brains over a possible strategy to take this damn city, but we've come up empty so far."

"Helen," Mark whispered, eyes wide. "Hm?" She hummed, locking her eyes with Mark's.

"I... I think I have an idea." Mark's eyes were gleaming so much they looked almost eerily akin to those of Sacred Light's.

"Huh? Really?" Helen asked, somewhat in disbelief. She wasn't the brightest tool in the shed compared to the sheer genius of some of the strategists of the Golden Republic. She was more of a hands-on kind of woman, preferring to think things up on the fly. Thus, even if she tried, coming up with an assault plan for the capital would have been difficult for her, and should have been much more so for a 12-year old brat.

However, as Mark whispered his plan into her ear, her expression went from apprehensive, to shock, and finally to complete elation.

"Genius! You're a bloody genius, Mark! How the hell didn't any of those damn generals think of this!? I'm going to implement the plan immediately!" She roared in laughter, vanishing as she ran off at insane speeds back towards their hidden camp.

"H-hey! Wait for me!" Mark yelled, quickly taking off. Compared to Helen's tyrannical strength and magical techniques, he was much more specialized than her, having chosen to devote himself to a self-created path that he called the Holy Mage, which focused much more on destructive holy magic but somewhat neglected his body. Thus, he was much slower.

A couple of minutes later, Helen charged into the temple set up in their camp. She was so excited she even accidentally bumped into a few priests who were running about, healing the injured or doing some other tasks. She quickly apologized but nonetheless didn't stop as she kept running.

When she finally reached the interior, finding within several generals pouring their entire minds into maps and plans. The moment she entered and the generals saw her, they all stood up and bowed to her.

"Champion Helen, what brings you here today?" One of the generals asked, eyebrows raised and arms crossed underneath her very generous chest.

"Silence, Slut Macgee, my cute little fellow champion just came up with a genius plan." Helen retorted. The female general wasn't even fazed at the nickname as she, along with all the other generals, leaned forward. "Oh? A plan?"

After telling them of the plan, she could see the shock in their eyes as they looked at each other. "Holy shit, why didn't we think of it? It's so simple!" Another general cursed, holding his face in his hands.

"Quick, get the troops ready. I'll rally the Holy Warriors, the sooner we do this, the better. Also, keep in mind that if this plan succeeds, you will say that it was little Mark that came up with it. Understood?" She glared at the generals, who all quickly nodded. Even the feisty female general didn't dare be sarcastic when Helen was serious, for she had seen the consequences of making Helen angry.

The next day, the troops were all ready and lined up for war. There were only around 1200 soldiers along with a couple hundred holy warriors to execute the plan with, but if it worked, perhaps that would be enough.

Around mid-morning, the regular infantry marched forward and stopped around 700 meters away from the capital, forming into three lines in front of it. Several dozen priests were ready to cast barrier spells in case the elves thought they could bombard them from far away.

"Hey, what are the humans doing?" One of the Royal Mages asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Who knows. They might just want to surrender." Another Royal Mage sneered, eyes fuming with anger at the sight of the human army finally showing itself. They knew they'd been somewhere around here, but they couldn't find them and didn't dare leave the capital in case of a sneak attack.

"Hmm... What should we do?" A third royal mage asked. In the entire garrison, there were only 6 royal mages, while all the others were off fighting the demons. In truth, there were barely 600 royal mages in total through the entire elven population, thus, each one was especially valuable and powerful.

Humans were much weaker than these royal mages, but they had a lot more opportunity to grow in strength. The holy warrior path, for example, was much laxer in its requirements compared with becoming a powerful royal mage. Thus, there were more Holy Warriors than Royal Mages, even if they were weaker. However, considering the difference in population, it was obvious which path was harsher.

"Go kill them, quick. If they run off once more, it'll be difficult finding them. If we can pin them here and destroy them, we'll achieve a great victory for elfkind." A female royal mage commented, eyes gleaming with desire at the glory such an achievement would bring.

"Alright. But, how should we do that?" The first royal mage asked. "If we ourselves go, we'll just deliver ourselves to them. Their winged warriors are rumored to be close to us in power."

"Hm..." The final royal mage, an elderly elf with a long beard hummed. "Send forth 40.000 troops. If it's some kind of trap, we won't lose everything. If there's no trap, they'll be slaughtered."

"Yes, Lord Grumblebirb." All the royal mages instantly said in compliance. In less than 5 minutes, the order had been passed around, and the great gates of the capital swung open as 40.000 elves charged out.

Seeing this happening, Mark and Helen's eyes gleamed with happiness. "Those fools. They'll be slaughtered." Helen roared in laughter.

"Hehe... The war temples have been erected, and although it might take a bit longer to move them into the city, we should manage." Mark laughed.

Mark's plan had been incredibly simple. Simply set up the temples outside of the city. Although the effect would be much duller and less strategically important, they would receive the boost all the same. Although the effects would only be 50% as effective inside the city due to the various magical barriers, it was still incredible.

The fact that nobody had thought about this went to show just how little experience the soldiers and generals had with something as heaven-defying as the War Temples. Once plopped down, they could become a huge fort in and by themselves, comparable to the city standing in front of them.

The human soldiers were all grinning as they waited for the enemy to line up. Amongst the common soldiers, Holy Warriors hid, prepared to wreak havoc amongst the enemy common troops.

Once the two armies were within two hundred meters of each other, arrows rained down onto the human soldiers but were easily repelled by the barriers of the priests. Archery was but a joke in front of holy sorcery.

Standing in front of the army, Helen and Mark, along with all the sacred generals, let out an earth-shaking roar together. "CHARGE! SLAUGHTER THE ELVEN SCUM, RID THIS EARTH OF THEIR UNHOLY TAINT!"

With their warriors, the 4 War Temples that had been hiding behind their lines, having been cloaked with the most powerful invisibility spells, roared into effect as golden dome after dome charged outwards, covering the entire area.

Immediately, the six royal mage's expressions changed to those of panic of fear. "What the hell is this!? Begone, Nature's Fury!" One of the mages roared out, green roots shooting out from his body and trying to destroy the dome, albeit uselessly. It wasn't exactly a tangible substance, but the magic-attuned elves could easily see the golden energy surrounding them, suppressing them and stopping them from absorbing mana.

As the royal mages panicked and tried to destroy the golden dome, not realizing what the source was, the human army charged forward, slamming into the panicking elven lines that had lost both magic and a good portion of their physical strength.

This kind of attack would likely not work once the elves figured out the trick behind the War Temples. After all, those things were much more suitable for defense than an offense like this, but Helen and the generals were happy to exploit the elves' lack of knowledge. After all, as they say, knowledge is power, and lack of thereof is a weakness.

The elven line gave out almost immediately while facing regular soldiers that were easily ten to twenty times as strong as normal thanks to the full-out effects of the war temples. Furthermore, the Holy Warriors that had been hiding came out like thunder, shattering and murdering hundreds of elves almost instantly with their special attacks.

"Hmph. Small fries like you will only die. When will the big kids come, or will they hide like the vile rats they are?" Helen roared out, purposely having her voice reach the royal mage's ears.

"That bitch! I'll kill her!" One of the royal mages fumed, flying over to her with a spell. "No, stop! She's baiting you, you moron!" The older mage roared, but to no effect as Helen's next words came.

"Wouldn't you like to avenge all your little friends? Oh wait, you can't, you're nothing but hiding rats filled with so much shit your mothers can't even recognize you." Helen laughed arrogantly as she tore apart an entire section of the elven line by herself. By now, the elven army had completely collapsed, facing massive casualties as they rushed back towards the city.

Landing in front of her, two royal mages took out their staffs as they sneered. "Human slaves like you are good for nothing but a quick fuck. Shut up and suck my dick, slut." The first royal mage roared, readying a spell.

"Haha... You retard." Helen laughed, licking her lips. The first mage suddenly yelled in pain as a knife stabbed into his guts before bisecting him.

"What the fuck!?" Turning around, the other elven mage that had also been preparing to cast a spell turned to find a cloaked figure holding two long knives, licking the blood trickling off of them.

"Jejeje, elven blood. It's my favourite!" The figure laughed before charging towards the remaining mage. "Shit! HELP ME!" He roared as he cast the spell before it was completed, launching hundreds of ice spears towards the figure.

"Hey, scum, forget about me?" A voice suddenly said from behind him as Helen slammed her fist into his skull, slamming him to the ground.

Turning back towards the city, she licked her lips. Apparently, the elves had decided to turtle it out, otherwise, they would have immediately reinforced the two overreaching mages.

That was probably the worst thing for the human army, but also the most expected. Thankfully, over 35.000 elves had been killed, and the remaining that had survived would likely not be able to fight anytime soon.

"Bring this shit to the Lord. She'll appreciate this little gift." Helen said towards the cloaked figure. Taking off his hood, revealing himself to be Hagrid, the man nodded and heaved the elf onto his shoulders before vanishing into the shadows once more.

"Damn is that a useful ability. I can't wait to finally break through gain my own complete path." Helen's eyes held a little bit of desire. She was so, so painfully close to breaking through both the Priest and Holy Warrior path, but she lacked just that little, little bit to do so. When she had complained about it to Sacred Light, she'd just laughed and told Helen that it would come with time and to not worry about it.

Once she broke through, she would become the first Angel. The Lord hadn't given her any information beyond what was beyond those two paths, but judging by the teasing smile on her Lord's face, she guessed it was something pretty amazing.

"My warriors! Followers of our Lord!" She roared out as the chaos of the battle began to die down. "Our Lord wishes for us to take this town. Even if we die, we will merely reunite with Her, and continue living forever! This is for the glory of the Lord, for the safety of our children, and revenge for all the years spent under the elven boot! Charge forth now, annihilate the filthy scum!"

Her words were all the encouragement the humans needed as they charged forth. Holy Warriors led the charge as they slammed into the gate, quickly tearing it apart.

Even as the elves on the walls rained down death on the humans, it was ineffective. With their magic sealed by the War Temples, the elves had lost over 90% of their offensive power, while the humans had gained far more than that. Furthermore, the difference in number wasn't as staggering now, even if the humans had also taken a number of casualties.

However, as the humans were about to break into the city, a terrifying pressure fell onto the city as a towering figure fell from the skies.

Giant reptile wings, a salamander-like body with indestructible scales, and smoke coming out each time it breathed out. It was undeniably an ancient dragon.

"Foolish humans! You dare act presumptuously in the territory of I, Xakarak Hardscale!" The dragon thundered, the skies darkening with its oppressive voice. Helen's eyes were hard as she looked at the giant figure that was looking down upon the warring mortals.

"For your crime of offending me, you will all die!" It roared before breathing out a literal ocean of fire that charged into both human and elven lines.

Or so it should have. However, an oppressive force tens of thousands of times stronger than that of the dragon fell upon the world as the darkened skies split open and a golden figure flew down, the earth shaking under her wrath.

"YOU DARE BREAK THE PACT YOU'VE MADE WITH ME!?" The figure, obviously Sacred Light, roared out in pure wrath. Having seen her followers so close to victory only to be halted by a dragon that didn't seem to agree to her plans of world domination, she threw caution to the side and charged down.

"Y-you! You're not allowed to descend unless She comes!" The dragon cried out as it's breath attack was vaporized by Sacred Light's aura.

"YOU FUCKING DARE TELL ME WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU YOURSELF BREAK THE RULES!? I'LL FUCKING MOUNT YOUR HEAD IN MY PALACE!" Sacred Light roared in pure madness. As of right then, she was pissed.

"W-wait!" The dragon cried pitifully as it tried to fly away, but a golden ball surrounded him, trapping him inside of it.

"Light Annihilation" Sacred called out with no little amount of venom in her voice, and the moment her voice sounded out, the dragon's cried and struggles stopped as the ball shined brightly before vanishing. Nothing was left behind except for a dragon head floating there.

"Hmph. Foolish reptiles, if they don't submit after this offense, I'll really kill them all." Sacred sneered. She'd come to an agreement with the dragons that, if they didn't oppose her and joined her after she won this war, she wouldn't touch them. However, they were forbidden from interfering in her affairs, and she in theirs.

However, that was before one of them acted against her directly like this. Now, Sacred was pissed with them. She'd spared them immediate subjugation and/or destruction because of her admiration for their beauty, power, and history. But, that was before they were a threat.

She turned back to the stunned elves. Her followers looked as though they had seen the Goddess, which was true. Their expressions filled with reverence, including Helen's and Mark's, who knew of her strength, but still rarely got to see it.

"Since I'm here, there's no need to continue fighting. Disappear." She called out, and immediately, all the elves in the city began to find their bodies disappearing into golden motes. Their pitiful cries served for nothing as, within ten seconds, they were all gone, including the oh-so-powerful Royal Mages.

In front of the gods, mortals were all the same. It was pointless for one to resist, as a mere look could exterminate a country.

Sacred slowly descended onto the ground where Helen was, who immediately got to her knees. Sacred cracked a small smile seeing this, and said, "Well, looks like we got here before winter. That's good, even if I had to come out earlier than I wished, it shouldn't be a problem, as I made sure there were no survivors."