Chapter 1358
The Ashenheart Domain
Orion couldn't care less about how magnificent Ariselle found Stoneheart City, nor how prosperous the Stoneheart Horde appeared through her innocent eyes.
His focus was entirely on fulfilling an old promise.
Hulk: "Bro, I hit Demigod."
Orion sent the ssage to Arthas. The subtext was clear: I have the power. I can help you now.
He had reached out because he sensed sothing was off. Arthas, usually the first to greet new blood, had been uncharacteristically brief when Tangere joined the Champions Alliance—just a quick "welco" and then dead silence.
Arthas was Orion's ntor in the Alliance, just as Orion was now Tangere's. There should have been a natural camaraderie there.
The radio silence ant only one thing: Arthas was buried in sothing deep. He didn't have the bandwidth for pleasantries.
It took a long ti for the reply to co through.
Arthas: "Leonidas said you're rushing the clock. Can you even spare the ti?"
Orion smirked. Arthas was blunt as always, confirming he was indeed in a jam.
Hulk: "Bro, I'm a Demigod now. My phantom can go wherever it wants."
Arthas didn't waste any more words. He initiated a trade, sending over a specialized teleportation scroll etched with specific coordinates.
Arthas: "Bring your Wraith Knight armies. Leave the rest."
Orion held the scroll, turning the instruction over in his mind.
Where the hell is Arthas? he wondered. And why only the Wraith Knights? He's been acting mysterious lately.
Unknown Coordinates: The Ashenheart Domain
The realm was a pocket dinsion, shaped like a massive, shallow basin.
At the dead center of this concave wasteland stood the Ever-Burning Volcano, spewing plus of black fire into a starless sky.
This volcano was the heart of the world, the anchor of its laws and origin. To control the volcano was to be the Master of the Ashenheart Domain.
Currently, Arthas and his inner circle were dug in deep.
"I told you the kid had sharp instincts. If he's a Demigod now, he's definitely got the firepower to match us."
Leonidas erged from a cave near the crater's rim. When Arthas broke the news that Orion was inbound, the tension in the group noticeably lifted.
"He just ascended, though. Doesn't he need ti to stabilize his Divine Power?"
A towering, multi-ard figure stepped out of the shadows. The massive blade strapped to his back identified him imdiately. It was Alexander, who had successfully fully assimilated his Asura Avatar.
In truth, Alexander's rapid assimilation was due entirely to the environnt of the Ashenheart Domain and the energy radiating from the volcano beneath their feet.
"Hulk's strength... it defies standard logic."
The Deputy Commander drifted out of the cave. His Demigod Phantom was flickering and dim, the sign of heavy, unhealed trauma.
He had tried to pry information out of the Commander regarding Orion, but the leader had been vague, only confirming that Orion's ability to punch above his weight class hadn't diminished with ascension.
"If we can't hold the line," Edward said, his voice practical and cold, "we should trigger the hatching early. A partial success is better than a total wipe."
He pivoted instantly from praising Orion to planning for the worst.
"We have to hold," Leonidas roared, his patience snapping. "This is Arthas's shot at Ascension! A chance like this cos once in ten thousand years!"
The Deputy Commander's defeatism rubbed Leonidas the wrong way, though his anger was really directed at his own inability to secure the periter alone.
"He's right. We hold."
The voice didn't co from anyone present. It rolled out of the empty air, vibrating with authority.
Space twisted, energy rippling outward as Orion's form materialized from the void.
He had projected his voice across the dinsional barrier before the teleportation was even complete.
The display of power made the pupils of everyone present contract. Even the Deputy Commander, a Second-Stage Demigod, was visibly shaken. Transmitting audio across worlds before establishing a stable link was a feat of raw power he couldn't replicate.
"Hahaha! Bro, you actually made it!"
Leonidas didn't hesitate. He charged forward and crushed Orion in a bear hug that would have snapped a lesser being's spine.
"Bro," Orion laughed, patting the massive back. "When did you change classes to Blacksmith?"
Up close, Leonidas looked like he'd been fighting inside a blast furnace. His eyebrows were singed off, his hair was scorched, and faint embers still danced on his armor.
More concerning was the manic anxiety burning in his eyes.
"Blacksmith?" Leonidas pulled back, confused for a second before realizing his state. "Bah! Bad luck. This place is a shithole. It's not fit for creatures."
He aggressively rubbed the soot from his forehead, trying to fix his ruined hair, clearly frustrated by the miserable conditions.
"My Lord... this is Hell."
The whisper ca from behind Orion. Ashreign, the Wraith Knight commander who had teleported in with him, was staring at the landscape with recognition.
He wasn't interrupting out of rudeness. The unique atmospheric signature of a Hell dinsion was a critical tactical detail his liege needed to know imdiately.
"Heh... Bro, your subordinate has good eyes."
Leonidas looked at Ashreign with surprise. He hadn't expected a summon to recognize the obscure environnt so quickly.
"Ashreign was born in a Hell world. He knows the scent of sulfur," Orion explained, stepping past Leonidas to approach Arthas.
Arthas stood there, his armor radiating heat, looking like he'd been standing in the fire for weeks.
"Bro," Orion said, a confident, slightly smug smile playing on his lips. "You've been waiting a long ti for this day, haven't you?"
The implication was clear: Arthas had recruited him into the Champions Alliance for exactly this mont—to stand shoulder to shoulder in a fight that mattered.
"Follow ."
Arthas gave Orion a sideways glance, masking his relief with stoicism, and turned to lead them deeper into the volcanic caldera.
"Hold position here."
"Yes, My Lord."
Orion left Ashreign and the Wraith Knights on guard duty. He nodded to Alexander and the Deputy Commander, acknowledging them, before following Arthas.
The other three exchanged looks and fell in line.
The environnt was extre.
It was a dead zone. No flora, no fauna. Just the roiling magma in the center and a suffocating, corruptive pressure that weighed on the soul.
"This is a Minor Hell," Arthas said, stopping at the lip of the crater. Hot wind, heavy with the stench of brimstone and sin, blasted their faces.
"Beneath us lies the Ever-Burning Volcano," he gestured to the black fire raging below. "And burning inside it is the Ashenheart."
"It's fueled by the power of corrupted souls."
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