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"As you can expect, this method is limited." Nerenth continued once Erik recovered from the shock of the situation.

"I can\'t do much to help. I can, however, converse with all the plant life inside the forest. I have already contacted Zamia. For now, you two should stay here. Akarui will know when it is safe to leave."

With that, the fairy disappeared.

"Akarui, what did she mean by that?" Erik asked.

"No idea. Oh, look! The flowers are dancing!" Akarui shouted, her attention completely stolen by the dancing lilies. Even Erik had to admit the sight was amazing.

Still, he would rather have an answer than watch them dance. Clearly, he wasn\'t going to get one. Knowing this, Erik resigned himself to watching the phenomenal sight of dancing flowers.

They didn\'t uproot themselves, but they somehow extended their stems. Allowing them to weave together as they controlled the amount of light they were releasing. They even extended their stamen and stigma to perform some more intricate moves.

It was certainly surreal, though perhaps lacking to be called dancing.

Akarui, however, found the sight absolutely enthralling.

—

"Thank you for coming." Agamemas said, a tiny fairy floating next to him.

With her aid, they could leave the scouting and directing of resources to her, and focus their efforts on countering those who the other Alicorns couldn\'t match. Such as the two devil princes who had attacked along with the Devil King.

Hopefully, there were only those two left as the cornerstones of the enemy.

"Think nothing of it." Nerenth replied. "You should have reached out sooner if the situation is as dire as I believe it is. I might not visit often, but this is still my home!"

"Indeed, and you are always welcome." Agamemas replied. "Sadly, we did not expect this level of force. Over thirty devil lords have been confirmed. Six have been killed, though we lost two as a cost."

Each loss was a bitter one to Agamemas, who considered everyone in the forest family.

And, yet, that was only the most elite of the enemy forces. Their battle hadn\'t ruined the surroundings to the extent that Agamemas and Zamia\'s had. However, the immediate surroundings of their battle were certainly in ruins or flames.

The forest had taken plenty of beatings, and still was.

There were also the Night Terrors trying to sneak in, the demons launching their attacks on the barrier incessantly, and the horde of monsters sneaking through the gaps that the demons made. Along with the three, of which two remain, that they had fought, and who had nearly claimed Zamia\'s life.

Not to mention that those they had called for aid had not come. Neither Amnur, who was closest, nor Athtar, who should be able to respond regardless of distance. They must have been stopped by Legends, particularly powerful ones if that was the case.

Considering that, Agamemas felt that this was only the start. More devil kings, queens, and perhaps even a legend would arrive in time.

Perhaps had Zamia not gone to attack, the enemy would have waited until their victory was secured.

Regardless, the situation was dire.

Thanks to Eldrian\'s help, they now had a slight advantage in terms of quality for the time being.

But they were still far outclassed in terms of numbers. The rabble who had fled would soon gather to continue their sacrifices to burn the forest. Throwing their lives at it as if it were oil.

"I can\'t decide whether going on the offensive was good or bad for us." Zamia said with a sigh. She was still bathing in the spring\'s lake. Removing something as small as dust from her blood was no simple task.

It would take her some time to do safely. Had she not had the spring for aid, it would take her hours. Most of her effort spent to prevent the worse from happening. Luckily, the spring allowed her to focus on removal. It contained the danger of the voidstone dust activating.

"It was intentional. That much is clear." Agamemas said with a sigh. "The only thing I don\'t understand is why didn\'t they attack Ceph while he was flying over?"

It couldn\'t be that Ceph had passed them too quickly. Yes, Ceph could fly astonishingly fast, but he would not best a devil lord, not to mention a king.

As far as classifications go, a devil king or queen was around the same level as Agamemas. Princes and princess\'s were at Zamia\'s level or a bit below. And Devil Lords were at the level of a Tier 10 unicorn or pegasus.

Knowing this, there was no way Ceph simply slipped by. It was intentional. The question, then, was why.

"Does it need to be something complicated?" Ceph asked. Having returned to hear only the last bit of the conversation. While he cast a curious glance towards the floating fairy, for now, he didn\'t question who she was.

"What do you mean?" His father asked.

"There might be some grand scheme, or it might simply be a ploy to have you overthink things. Keep you paranoid so you can\'t fight with your all. Always needing to watch your back, in case something happens to the forest."

This would have always been true, but with Ceph here, Agamemas\' and Zamia\'s only child. The paranoia would be far worse. While they considered the other family, he was their one and only son.

"That... is possible." Agamemas agreed, though he didn\'t honestly believe it.

Yet, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Ceph wasn\'t a normal Alicorn. His black coat and green feathers stood out far too much to even try to hide the fact.

It would be easy to notice his uniqueness, and it wouldn\'t be strange for the devils to know that their son was the one prophesied to herald the end of days.

Taking him captive would have been beneficial, but only if their goal was to kill Agamemas or Zamia.  Which, honestly, should be their goal. It was the only way that they could take the spring—

"Ah, I see." Coming to a realization, Agamemas understood why they hadn\'t. They didn\'t want to risk losing the spring. They needed to defeat the defenders of the forest, but not in a way that made them lose hope.

Should they deemed their future lost, they could destroy the spring. That would be far better than letting their enemies have it. It would be no simple task, but it was within Agamemas\' abilities.

"What is it, dad?" Ceph asked.

"It seems they aren\'t after us, but the spring." Which, as obvious as it was, had taken the old Alicorn some time to realize. To realize that there was a difference between the two.

Taking the spring hostage, as insane as it might sound, was an option. Though, the same could be said for every unicorn and pegasus in the forest. Agamemas did not want to turn the situation into one where he had to watch his family die.

Yes, many would die in the battle, too. That was sadly the reality of their situation. But that would be better than a stalemate with hostages.

As much as Agamemas wanted to rush back into the field of battle, he knew doing so blindly would only invite openings for his enemy to use.

As he contemplated his next move, Ceph asked what the spring was. "What makes it holy?" He asked. "I was told before that it is the blessing of Asteria, but... if the enemy can claim it. Then it must be natural, no?"