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Back in the Arbiters’ Bay of the Dawn’s Early Light, John and the other arbiters reloaded their weapons and then watched the battle on the holographic display.

“If we could just retreat,” one of the elves said in frustration. “All we need is a little space to move into the aether.” The elves were frantic to get to Aroth as soon as possible. If Aroth fell then everything they did here was meaningless.

“I say forget about retreating,” another elf said. “We destroy them all here and now, and let Aroth deal with the invasion for the time being.”

“Hush! Look, human immortals are entering the battle.”

On the display, John could see twelve small figures fly through space in a spread out formation. The ships and banshees in their path were swatted away like flies. The display zoomed in on the twelve figures.

“That’s Ovin the Destroyer leading them,” the elf said. “Where are our realm masters?”

As if his words had made them appear, elven realm masters rushed out to meet the immortals. Both the immortals and the realm masters were dressed in regular clothing, some in ornate and colorful silks and some in plain cottons. They were so powerful that the dangers of traveling in space were non existent to them. They didn’t even need to wear armor in battle.

The realm masters began to weave spears of pure light, launching them at the immortals. Ovin the Destroyer shrugged off the explosion when he got hit, as though it was nothing. The other immortals were similarly unharmed. Red hot sparks continued to burn like charcoal in the space they had been. There was no aura shield around Ovin and some of the others, John noticed.

“They must be martial artists,” he thought aloud. He had been fascinated by martial artists as soon as he heard about them. Relar had said that a person who used aura could not learn martial arts, which was a pity.

The other elves ignored John’s sudden outburst, too absorbed in the battle to bother with him.

The human immortals continued to advance while the elven realm masters let loose a barrage of light spears. The realm masters then launched wheels of fire at the enemy. The wheels revolved at different speeds, some slow, some fast. Perhaps there was some strategy to it. The wheels managed to hurt one immortal. His arm was cut off. The immortal flew after his arm and collected it before returning to the battle. Perhaps it could be reattached. He did not delay their advance by more than a few seconds. A few seconds was enough for the realm masters to launch a third attack. It was dark element weaving, Dark Rainfall. Black bolts outlined with blue electricity stormed the immortals. The immortals stopped as one. One of them cast a big spherical shield that covered all of them. The black rainfall fell down harming no one. These human immortals were just too strong. Could anything stop them?

The realm masters sent lightning bolts towards the shield trying to destroy it before the rain ended. A second spherical shield formed over the first. The lightning did nothing. The immortals began their offensive. Fire erupted from one of them like a volcanic explosion. Balls of plasma were thrown at the realm masters by another one. Lightning bolts thicker than a corvette were unleashed by yet another. Five other immortals wove fire, lightning, darkness, light, and gravity balls. Ovin, in the meantime, continued to move forward with three of his companions. With such magnificent cover fire they were able to move unhindered. Eight human immortals were enough to hold back fifteen elven realm masters. The realm masters couldn’t go too crazy with their power though. There were eleven ships all around them. The humans did not feel the same way. They destroyed everything with wild abandon.

Ovin was now within a mile of the elven realm masters. He stopped and tapped his wrist. It was a sign asking for the elves to surrender. The cover fire ceased as they waited for the elves’ response. As one the realm masters fired lightning at Ovin. At this range he could not dodge and he was too far away for his companions to shield him. Ovin seemed to shake his head slowly. He punched when the lightning was about to hit him. Space folded in on itself and the lightning vanished. Ovin covered the one mile distance separating the two sides in the blink of an eye. With a second punch he shattered one of the realm masters’ aura shields and the realm master drifted lifelessly through space. It was that easy for him. He could probably punch planets apart. John was mesmerized by such power.

“We have to surrender,” one of the elves on the ship cried. “This is too much to handle.”

“Have faith,” said another.

With a kick that bent space itself, Ovin shattered the legs of a second realm master. The other realm masters had flown back several hundred miles away by this time, and launched everything they could at Ovin. John could see that their attacks were faltering. Their aura reserves were drying up. Ovin and his three companions relentlessly made their way towards the realm masters once more. Just as Ovin came into range once again and all hope seemed lost, rainbow lights circled around the battlefield and coalesced before Ovin, forming an enormous gateway. Space seemed to fold in on itself, destroying a few ships within a thousand mile range of it. Runes of every color shone brightly on the gateway and the silhouette of a giant could be seen walking through it. For a moment every place was illuminated by shimmering rainbow light. John could feel the vast aura energy of the gateway. It should how meager his own aura reserves were, a tiny drop compared to an ocean. There was a sound, shrill and eldritch. John felt his ears pop.

An elf, with tears of joy, began the shout, “Ir! Ir! Ir! Ir!”

All the other elves in the Bay joined in, stamping their feet in time.

Ir, the god of war, walked out the portal. He wore a silver helm. His face was covered by a black wolf mask. His body was covered by a silver cuirass, his back by a red cloak. He wore red pteruges of some unknown material. On his feet were plain looking sandals. His skin was bronze and his long black hair was tied into a plait at the back. He held a shield and spear. With one sweep of his spear he destroyed the several human ships that were holding the elven fleet back. A real life god had joined the battle.

Ir looked at Ovin and mockingly beckoned him with his palm. Ovin drew his sword. John was aghast. Ovin had crushed two realm masters and he’d done it without using his main weapon? This was too much. Ovin looked like a tiny little ant in comparison to Ir. A projection of Ovin began to form behind him, standing as tall and wide as Ir. It held a sword in its hand just like Ovin did and mimicked his every movement. The projection was probably made of the internal energy of Ovin.

Ovin charged at Ir, but was blocked. At the same time the elven ships heard a telepathic transmission from the war god himself. “Go now,” the god’s voice boomed in John’s mind. “I can only hold him off for so long.” Even a god couldn’t stop Ovin for long.

The elven ships, given an opening by the fight between Ir and Ovin, managed to escape into the aether. They headed towards Aroth where the real battle was happening.