When Darien arrived at the Red Tower, he noticed there was a lot of bustling movement around the streets of Renee. Knights and mages danced about, trying their best to fill carriages with all sorts of weapons and goods. He curiously hurried into the tower and looked for Jospeh to provide an explanation.

Darien found Joseph in his office talking to a large mustached man that Darien didn't recognize. The man gave off a dangerous air. "Who might you be, Sir?"

The man's already pronounced smile grew even wider as his eyebrows were practically raised to the tip of his hairline, "The name, is Jamie Vallas. You must be Darien Northwood! It's a pleasure to meet the Salamander in the flesh."

Darien narrowed his eyes. They had been expecting Jamie to show up eventually, but it had happened sooner than he was expecting. The biggest surprise came from the fact that Darien hadn't heard about Jamie being here at all. He had been at his home looking after his wife, but not a single person had provided that little tidbit of information. It had either been a big secret, or he had just been too preoccupied with his wife to notice.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Sir Jamie." Darien turned his attention back to Joseph as he asked, "What, exactly, is going on? People are frantically running around as if an army; is headed this way. Are we under attack?"

Joseph shook his head, "What's going on is we are preparing for you, Tower Master. I know you. I know the moment you arrive you're probably going to want to charge headfirst into Ayes, and I know that no matter what I say, you'll go regardless of whether I support you are not. So we are getting ready to enter Ayes. These things take time, as all preparations do, Darien, we should be ready to move by the end of the day."

Darien was dumbfounded, "What do you mean we are ready to move now? Did you already come up with a plan?"

Jamie stepped in to fill in the gaps, "We've painstakingly been working on the details of our plans for the last few days in your absence. We expect you to take point in the invasion team, but we have several teams made already."

Darien took off his glasses and sat down across from Joseph. "Alright, Jo, I get it. Please fill me in. I won't storm off, and I won't say anything. I'm listening."

Jamie's plan consisted of three teams: the invasion team, the Princess infiltration team, and the Ace team. The invasion team led by Darien would be responsible for a frontal assault. Darien needed to attack the Tower Master currently residing in Ayes and would have to confront the full force of their military might. If the other teams didn't manage to get Ayes involved in the battle then this could likely lead Elion to destruction along with Ayes.

"I don't like putting the Tower at risk like this. Were you able to acquire troops from the crown? Do we have any reinforcements from the nobles?"

Joseph sighed, "King James gave us as much support as he could. Kingsguard and Royal knights will flood the streets tomorrow when you leave. The Red Tower will have 2000 soldiers and 500 Royal knights provided by the crown. Duke Mayweather and a few of the other nobles have provided some knights and mages as well, but they'll be going with me."

Darien nodded not really catching the last part of what he said, "I don't like trying to force things in Ayes without a guarantee. The risk for this operation is far too high."

Jamie laughed, "If you're not willing to take risk, Tower Master, then there can be no reward!"

Darien pointed at Jamie and said, "Especially if we have to trust a foreign fox for the plan to succeed."

Joseph clasped his hands together as he placed his chin on his hands. He looked at both Darien and Jamie before saying, "That's why I'm going."

Darien looked genuinely surprised as he responded loudly, "You haven't left the tower in years. Not since the monster stampede over ten years ago."

Joseph responded brusquely, "Times have changed. I'll be going to provide reinforcements when needed. I'll make sure from a distance that everything is going the way it's supposed to be."

Darien smiled, "We haven't fought together in years. Hopefully, we won't have to."

The Princess team would sneak Princess Emily into the largest noble family's estates. They would leave first as their mission was infiltration. Princess Emily wanted Darien to lead her team but understood why he was better suited for direct confrontation. Not that she wanted to be anywhere near him but thought he was skilled at silently skittering around, but the monstrous physical force was definitely his specialty. Her castle could attest to that.

What irked her the most was that he had somehow managed to get past her hearing and slip into her room without anyone knowing the wiser, but she couldn't exactly explain her hearing in the meetings, so she just decided to leave it.

Jamie chose to lead the group as he was most suited for negotiations and was a fast traveler. He was well known for being as slippery as an eel and was confident he could get the Princess to the noble families without getting caught.

The final team would be led by Joseph Keller. The Vice Tower Master rarely, if ever went to battle. Most knew him as an administrator rather than a combatant, but Darien and the top mages knew that wasn't the case. Joseph Keller was the Vice Tower master not just because of his administrative ability, but because he had earned it. He was the second strongest combatant in the Red Tower, and anyone who had sparred with him over the last ten years would know it. Even Darien preferred not to spar with Joseph as he was an annoying mage to deal with.

The Princess infiltration team would leave the moment the sunset, and the rest would follow 24 hours after. The time was set, and everyone involved was working as quickly as possible to prepare.

Cole stood in front of the Shay castle with the remaining half of the silver order by his side. He donned his midnight black armor and a cape as red as blood as he walked toward the top of a grassy knoll. The Castle had been surrounded on all sides, and there were even search parties roaming the forest in case there were any secret tunnels or escape routes. There was zero room for failure, and Cole had made sure he had learned from his colleague's mistakes.

Over sixty percent of Argon's forces in Ayes were concentrated around Castle Shay. A little over one hundred thousand soldiers, mages, and knights made up the group. The land and surrounding forest caused a significant portion of the troops to be scattered in the forest and unable to line up in rank, but that wouldn't affect Cole's strategy.

He stood in front of the Silver Order and yelled, "Duke Shay! If you come out and surrender, I promise to let your people live!" Pausing for a moment he continued, "However, if you choose to resist. We will kill you all to the last man!"

The Castle was quiet as there was no reply. Cole could see Duke Shay in silver armor standing at the very top of the rightmost watchtower. His gray hair stood out as it waved around wildly in the wind.

Cole snorted and yelled, "Very well!"

He looked around at the knights by his side as he said, "Everyone we strike when the sunsets!" The Black Tower Mages were most effective at night. Their magic sharper, stronger.

Hours went by as the tense build-up before a battle permeated the air. The soldiers grew tense as the sun cast its shadow on the horizon. The light receded like the tides of the ocean before it vanished completely. Then there was only darkness and the stillness of the moon.

"KILL!"

Screams erupted from both sides as Argon's soldiers swarmed the Castle from all sides. Cole would not make the same mistake as Sternbright. He would destroy his opponent in one night, and wouldn't give them a chance to recover, casualties be damned.

"Oh, spirit of darkness, I welcome your quiet despair. Cast forth your shadowy hand onto the precipice of the world! Let loose your abysmal rage and hatred for the living! Hand of Betzalel! Keeper of the Abyss!"

Duke Shay hadn't seen anything. No one had, but they could hear the rumbles. When four massive holes were carved out of the front side of the castle, the foundation began to shake and quake. The back of the wall formed an even larger hole as though a massive claw had punctured it. If you could see both sides of the wall, at the same time, you'd notice it looked as though a hand had come up from the earth and clutched the Castle wall.

Duke Shay screamed, "Cast fire magic and light magic!" In mere moments several mages chanted in unison as a bright light burst on the scene. Shay had been prepared.

Cole frowned as his eyes hurt from looking at the bright light in the distance. His spell now drowned in light was visible to the knights and mages of Castle Shay. It had weakened significantly under the draining power of light and was only half as strong as before. But half as strong was all he needed. He willed the hand to clench as a massive hole quickly formed in the wall.

"Destroy the hand!"

Waves of magic lashed out and smashed into the giant shadowy hand, but it quickly finished its job. The wall's bottom was ripped open wide enough to allow ten people to pass at a time. Some of the Duke's earth mages were quick to cover up the hole with stone and rocks, but the damage had already been done.

Cole let out a breath. "That spell is draining. I would never use that in combat against another mage, but for something like this it does the job perfectly."

Duke Shay didn't wait for the damage to accumulate as he leaped off the watchtower and landed in front of the damaged wall. "Earth mages! Cover the wall as quickly as you can! Knights with me!" Duke Shay and his knight order stood in front of the Castle wall as they drew their weapons. "Don't let them through!"

Flames burst around the Duke as his armor and sword were swathed in glowing orange fire.

The Duke swung his magic-infused sword. His swing wasn't too fast nor too slow, but the first knight covered in silver armor was cut through. Duke Shay took another step forward and repeated the same swing, and another knight clad in dense earth magic and rocks was sliced through like butter. The Duke didn't need to be fast, as every single swing was precise and measured. His knights by his side did an even better job as they cut straight through Argon's forces creating a wedge formation. The Duke and his knight order soon got the support of mages, and the battle for Shay Castle started in full swing.

Cole watched from the grassy knoll, "They are quite good. Even better than I suspected, but unfortunately for the Duke, I was never going to underestimate him."

He sat on a particularly soft spot of grass and closed his eyes, "The moment my mana recovers, this battle will be over."

Jamie led his group into the darkness of the night. For some reason, a feeling of panic had come over him right as the darkness of night came. He noticed that the feeling was mutual between Joseph and especially apparent with Darien. Something was wrong, but what exactly remained to be seen? He hurried with his group planning to move a little bit faster than he had initially thought. Any prowling beast or monster that stood in his path was slain without so much as a noise as they made their way through the Ayes border.

Their first target was the Faircone Castle.