The game had begun, and the Astraea familia went on the move. Alise led from the front of their formation, in a forward charge towards the castle wall, not a soul was moving slowly through the grassy field. The posted defenders on the raised castle walls noticed the movement.
"Draw bows! Take Aim! FIRE!"
A hail of arrows blotted out the sun.
"Asta!"
"On it!"
Alise slowed the formation just enough, Asta Knox took the forward position, raising her shield and she grew more serious.
"None shall breach the gorge, SHIELD WALL!"
It was a short chant, however, it was enough. A gigantic wall of magic, in the shape of hundreds of shields centered off of her, appeared, denying the arrows passage, bouncing off, harmlessly.
"Push forward!"
The Astraea familia continued running straight for the Castle, and now, they were in range.
"Ryuu!"
"In the sky of a now…" Ryuu chanted, with practiced efficiency, as if she'd cast this spell at least a few thousand times. "Imbue the light of stardust and destroy the enemy…" Ryuu began to channel a glowing light on top of her spell… "LUVIA!"
Ryuu's magic, luminous wind launched forward directly at the castle wall. The wall which had once stood against the constant battering of the monsters in ancient times, fell… It crumbled with terrible force. There was now a massive gaping hole in the castle defenses, and just as everyone thought it was over, the after glow shone so bright it temporarily blinded everyone who'd been unprepared.
"Infiltrate, and disable all of their forces, no one fights alone. Celty, you know what to do."
Celty's magic was cast, she handed out a buff to everyone, they were now borderline invincible. They could each individually handle Bokhoir now, with great difficulty, but still, that was nothing to scoff at. The fight continued as the invading force split up into groups.
…
Back in Orario, specifically the Denatus chamber, Freya & Loki were trembling a little bit after seeing such a display of might. Other gods were excitedly cheering, and eagerly waiting for the next big show.
"Astraea, your familia… How do you have such powerful members?"
"Isn't that obvious? Each and everyone of them is one of Shurry's childhood friends. Of course he'd be teaching them a few things here and there."
"Even so, this magic…"
"Oh quit worrying, and deal with the consequences of your own failures. Take responsibility and trust in your familia."
…
"OH YEAH! What amazing magic! That spell tore down a thick stone wall like it was made of paper!!! What a show!"
"Hey don't forget about that other spell, the shield wall, she protected all of her allies with that spell, fearlessly charging forward despite the hail of arrows."
"And now a word from Lord Ganesha! What are your thoughts!"
"I am Ganesha!"
"Riveting!"
…
The castle's command room was filled with the sounds of the castle walls crumbling, and magical light. Finn was biting his thumb as it continued to shiver relentlessly.
"Break into teams, and confront them head on. There really isn't any other way to deal with them… Huh, what's that?" The floor began to swell upwards. "Everyone get out now, and confront the enemy!" We really shouldn't have gathered at all. This is bad.
Up from the floor shot a massive bolt of fire, tearing through the floor like it was nothing, exploding with incredible impact… The tower of Shreme Castle… Was destroyed mere moments later. Debris falling everywhere, Freya and Loki familia members were running around to avoid all of it, breaking every single formation they had spent countless hours working towards.
The pickings from there were easy for whichever small group of Astraea familia that would come across them. It was such an overwhelming difference in strength that Loki members were knocked unconscious in a single blow, and the Freya familia… well, they were receiving a few more hits even after they went unconscious…
Their goddess did try to violate Shurry directly after their members killed his big brother, these beatings were meant to be his way of venting vicariously through the actions of others. After all, if Shurry was the one beating them up, they might end up as red mist on the first blow, and that's just too painless, and too quick.
The high ranking members of Freya and Loki familia were both currently struggling to recover from the concussive explosion they'd been at the very heart of, all except for Ottar, his resistance was enough that while he may have been injured, what he had amounted to a few bruises at most.
Once he stood up, he dusted off his shoulders, and took a deep breath, then scanned his surroundings for enemies. His instincts were screaming at him to prepare for combat. And then as if fate was toying with him, the other members of the joint familia force began standing on their own as well.
"Damn it, this whole castle is ruined. Isn't blowing up a building like that some kind of-" Bara muttered, holding her left arm, it was obviously broken.
Like Bara, all of the other level 5s had enough broken bones there was no way that they'd ever have the ability to fight to their full ability. Finn, and the other level 6s, were in a bit better condition, however, they had many injuries like; gashes, dislocations, and concussions… they were not in any sort of condition to fight.
"Damn it, how did they reach inside so quickly, and undetected?" Finn bellowed with a cross expression, he was pissed. He started biting his thumb as his brain went into overdrive trying to think of how it happened, failing those under his command once more.
"That's not the right question now is it? You'd be better off thinking about how to get out of this situation." The sound of a young boy's voice, pierced the confusion and the smoke, filling the air.
Ottar raised his weapons, and swung, banishing the smoke from the area… His eyes watched as the smoke cleared, revealing a young boy's face, one that looked eerily familiar to someone he'd seen a little more than 8 years ago.
"Alraj? No, it can't be-"
"My name is Bell Cranel, you killed my father, now prepare to pay!"
…