The battle for Leonora had not stopped for a single mont after the expeditions departed.
Across the capital, knights and mages continued resisting the endless assault pouring from the portals scattered throughout the city. Entire districts had beco battlefields. Streets once filled with rchants and civilians now lay shattered beneath layers of rubble, stones, and the corpses of both defenders and invaders.
The defenders were exhausted. Many of them had fought continuously since the invasion began. They watched comrades die beside them. They watched wounded soldiers drag themselves back into formation. They watched entire defensive lines collapse and reform again and again.
Yet they continued fighting. It was not because they believed victory was guaranteed. But because surrender ant the destruction of everything behind them that they could still try to protect.
Magic exploded across the city as mages launched spirits and spells into advancing waves of disturbing creatures. Knights charged forward to hold defensive positions whenever the monsters broke through, using their cultivated strength.
But the situation continued worsening.
More portals opened and more creatures erged.
And above it all, the voice of the Void Architect continued echoing inside their minds.
"Your resistance is aningless."
"You cannot win."
"Everything will belong to ."
The voice repeated endlessly.
At first the defenders were still able to resist it. But then fear began growing and desperation followed deep inside their hearts.
Those emotions felt familiar and beca part of them, because they had lived with them since the invasion began. But they still fought and resisted.
However, eventually their bodies started reaching their limits.
Their Magic reserves dwindled, their stamina faded.
Their weapons felt heavier and the influence of the Void Architect’s voice beca harder to ignore.
Many defenders found themselves struggling just to stand. So of them could barely continue fighting.
Then suddenly a voice shouted from sowhere behind the battlefield.
"The Dragonborn is here!"
The words imdiately spread through the defenders.
Their heads snapped toward the source. Hope appeared in their heart where only despair had existed monts before.
"He’s here!"
The voice ca again. This ti everyone recognized the speaker as a young knight.
"Where?"
"Where is he?"
"Which Dragonborn?"
Knights and mages looked around frantically.
Then one defensive group near a large portal saw sothing. A figure shot across the sky above them at trendous speed.
Before anyone could react, the figure descended.
BOOM!
The ground exploded beneath the landing and imdiately massive earth spears erupted in every direction.
Dozens of creatures surrounding the portal were instantly impaled. Their bodies hung from towering stone spikes before disintegrating into dark particles.
Silence fell across the defenders. Dust rolled through the street. Then it slowly cleared, revealing a lone man standing between them and the portal.
Golden and brown energy flowed around his body. The remaining creatures lunged toward him.
However, they never reached him. In the blink of an eye, he moved.
One creature shattered beneath a punch. Another creature disappeared beneath a wall of stone. Several more of those creatures were crushed beneath erupting pillars of earth.
Within seconds, every monster near the portal lay dead. The defenders could only stare.
The man turned toward them. "You all okay?" he asked.
It was Eccar.
For several seconds, nobody answered him. They were too stunned by his arrival.
Eccar smiled. "It’s okay," he said calmly. "You can leave now. Rest. Heal yourselves. I’ll handle this damned portal."
The words felt almost unreal. After hours of desperate fighting, soone had finally arrived who could truly change the battlefield.
Without waiting for a response, Eccar turned back toward the portal. Golden and brown Dragon Magic surged violently around him.
The ground trembled again as if answering his power.
The defenders exchanged looks but nobody needed to say anything. The decision was obvious. The Dragonborn had arrived so they could finally withdraw without fear of being overrun.
The exhausted knights began helping their wounded comrades away from the battlefield. The mages supported their friends who could barely walk. And they hurried to seek healing or reinforcent.
Behind them, Eccar stepped toward the portal alone.
The portal towered over the ruined street like a wound carved into reality. Dark energy churned within its depths while countless disturbing creatures continued erging from it in endless waves.
The mont the monsters noticed him, they charged.
Eccar did not move.
Golden and brown Dragon Magic flowed around his body. The ground beneath his feet trembled violently.
Then dozens of creatures lunged at him simultaneously. The street exploded and massive pillars of earth erupted up and impaled the front ranks before they could reach him.
Stone spikes burst from beneath the creatures, tearing through bodies and launching them into the air. Blood and dark corruption scattered across the battlefield.
The remaining creatures continued advancing without fear.
Eccar finally moved and beca a blur. He appeared in front of the nearest monster and drove his fist through its chest. The impact shattered not only the creature but also the stone road beneath it. Before the corpse could even fall apart Eccar had already appeared sowhere else.
Another creature lost its head. Another was crushed beneath a collapsing wall of earth. A group of creatures attempting to surround him suddenly found the ground beneath them turning into a giant stone hand that closed into a fist and reduced them to nothing.
The defenders who were still watching from farther away could barely follow his movents.
The battlefield that had nearly overwheld hundreds of knights and mages beca completely one-sided the mont the Dragonborn entered it.
Within minutes, hundreds of creatures littered the area around the portal. Yet more continued erging.
Eccar narrowed his eyes. "The damned portal is the problem."
Golden Dragon Magic surged from his body. The earth beneath the entire district began shaking.
Buildings rattled and streets cracked apart further.
The portal itself started fluctuating as Eccar raised both hands toward it and used his will to close it.
A colossal formation of golden runes materialized throughout the battlefield. Hundreds of Magical circles appeared above, below, and around the portal.
The creatures erging from the portal imdiately began disintegrating under the pressure.
Then Eccar clenched his fists and the earth responded.
Gigantic stone chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the portal from every direction. The runes blazed bright and groaned.
Cracks spread across the portal’s surface. Then the entire gateway collapsed onto itself.
The dark energy shattered. The portal imploded into a single point before vanishing completely.
The endless stream of creatures was gone.
Eccar lowered his hands and looked across the devastated battlefield.
One portal had been destroyed but many more still remained throughout the capital.
Without wasting a second, golden and brown Dragon Magic exploded around him once more as he launched into the sky, racing toward the next portal.
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