Claudia's adjutant came back way faster than she expected—more than twice as fast, actually.
Turns out he hadn't even made it halfway there when he ran into a priest coming from the Holy City, sent to deliver an oracle from goddess Larentia to the Seventh Fortress.
Yeah, you read that right.
Not from Celestine Lucullus, the high elf believed to be the goddess's reincarnation, but from Larentia herself—the true goddess who had sealed the rift and stopped the evil god seven years ago before falling back into slumber due to overexertion.
If Larentia briefly waking up again was enough to shock and excite Claudia…
Then the content of the oracle that priest delivered hit her like a thunderbolt.
{"Treat these two the same way you treat Celestine."}
{"Obey their every order without question—even if they tell you to abandon the fortress."}
If the priest hadn't been radiating that unmistakable divine pressure unique to their goddess—something the Shield Alliance would never mistake—
Claudia would've seriously doubted if the priest, or even those two people the oracle referred to, were actually creations of the evil god trying to sneak into the barrier.
"Looks like things are really bad."
Sitting on Veyron's shoulder, little Merlin swung her legs while speaking to him telepathically. "The world must be way worse off than it looks. Otherwise, that goddess wouldn't put all her hope on someone like you."
"You're acting has nothing to do with you."
Veyron replied mentally, "Don't forget, you are mentioned too. You're just gonna keep hiding?"
"I like things just the way they are."
Merlin, now mini-sized and hidden by an illusion that only Veyron could see through, patted his ear. "Anyway, don't just stand there. She's been kneeling for a while now."
Weren't you the one who started chatting just now?
Veyron looked down at Claudia, who was kneeling on one knee along with her knights. Further away, archers, mages, and clerics who had witnessed the oracle were all bowing in their own way.
Raising his hand just a bit, Veyron said calmly, "You can all get up."
Though his voice wasn't loud, his words—carried by spiritual energy—rang clearly in everyone's ears, just like the divine message had.
"No need to overthink things right now. Just defend the fortress like you always have."
Once everyone had returned to their posts, Veyron signaled for Claudia to stay.
"Yes, my lord," Claudia answered respectfully.
She hadn't expected that, after seven years of silence, the goddess would wake up only briefly… just to hand down such an unbelievable oracle.
But in her heart, Claudia didn't feel much resistance toward the idea of obeying Veyron. Mainly as he got her goddess's approval.
Well, during the time she'd spent waiting for her adjutant to return, she'd stuck close to Veyron just in case something unexpected happened. She'd stayed by his side the whole time.
Besides the initial debriefing where she explained the history of the rift and the world's transformation, they'd talked about all kinds of things.
Through those conversations, she came to see that Veyron's mindset, his way of thinking and dealing with people, was normal.
Definitely not something you could fake if you were a cultist or some corrupted pawn of the evil god.
Plus, the way he openly loathed the evil god? Honestly, it was even more intense than her own hatred after seven years on the front lines.
"Do you need anything from me, sir?" Claudia asked, glancing toward the enemy forces endlessly attacking the fortress, day and night.
"Hmm… just give me a second."
Veyron lifted his hand, palm facing the sky.
Black and white flames burst to life in his hand, swirling and tightening together until they compressed into a lotus-shaped flower, its core flickering with deep black fire.
He handed the flame lotus to Claudia and pointed at the evil-god cultists beyond the walls.
The moment she touched it, Claudia felt something click inside her—like she was instantly linked to the fire lotus.
So, she tossed it forward.
Mid-air, the lotus rapidly expanded and stretched outward, morphing into a massive wall of fire hundreds of meters long that blocked the entire front of the fortress.
Every cultist that crashed into the wall instantly evaporated into ash—just like what happened when they hit the divine barrier surrounding the fortress before.
Some of the winged ones tried to fly over it.
The Black flames shot upward too, igniting them mid-air and incinerating their bodies just as easily.
Claudia exclaimed in shock.
"Destined Death—that's the name of my fire," Veyron said simply. "I'm heading to the Holy City soon—to meet your goddess, or at least her vessel, and figure out what comes next."
"But I don't want to leave the seven fortresses completely unprotected while I'm gone, so I thought I'd leave a little something behind."
Honestly, he had originally planned to head straight out.
But after hearing the goddess's oracle—which basically screamed "I'm counting on you guys for everything now"—he figured it'd be smarter to play it safe.
"How long will this fire last?" Claudia asked, eyes fixed on the towering wall of black flame.
"This one's just a test. Based on how much power I put into it…"
Veyron closed his eyes and sensed the energy in the fire wall.
"…about ten minutes."
"Ten minutes…" Claudia murmured, thinking hard.
Even without him adding, "just a test", the fact that a wall could block all evil cultists for a solid ten minutes in the middle of battle… that was already huge. It gave them room to breathe.
"Anything I can do to help?" she offered.
"Actually, yeah," Veyron replied, pointing toward a tent. "I'm gonna start making more fire lotuses—ones that'll last longer."
"In the meantime, go back to your tent and get some rest. Fix your condition first."