The tides of the war began to turn to their enemy’s favor. The Dischordian lords of prepared a spectacular attack to bring a swift end to the conflict. Sultan Suleiman, a master of spirit magic, led the largest ritual the kingdom had ever seen. New Faith ritualists, students of the Arcane Academy, and a million occultists gathered from all domains aided him. The sky itself bled with the power they summoned. Chunks torn from the spirit realms themselves bombarded Lazarus’ Empire. As each realm struck, it laid waste to thousands of miles of Lazarus' territory. Millions perished in an instant, as the realms destroyed immense swaths of land.
As Europe reeled from Dischordia's devastating attack, Aether seized their chance to cripple both. Cities which had fallen to darkness during the War of Aether bled shadows like an open wound. Abyssal armies swarmed from these tears in reality. Shadow-eaten vampires, spectres, and demons laid waste to surrounding territories. The Aether fought without regard for their own destruction, and inflicted considerable damage.
One such attack consumed the city of New Constantinople, as the Gateway Arch portal unleashed an army of demons and djinn. Citizens fled, only to find the city surrounded by spectral remnants of the Domain of the Dead. They fought a desperate battle but, without their lord's leadership, suffered devastating losses. They carved an opening through the enemy, affording survivors the means to escape
A column of refugees fled, without rest, for the safety of the Society of Deus and the Second City. Their spectral pursuers thinned their numbers with each passing mile. Only a fraction of the refugees survived to reach the safety of the other cities. Each refugee knew that Nothing remained in the city of New Constantinople.
Those refugees who reached the walls of the Society of Deus found it, too, under siege. Many of the outlying cities had already fallen to the endless waves of abyssal enemies. Nul’s forces appeared to take particular delight in slaughtering the city of Saint Cloud... the settlement which housed refugees from the former Domain of the Dead. Yet some of the outer cities were saved, by a great shadowy dragon. Though none can say why, the creature appeared and aided in halting the Aether's advance.
The Twin Cities themselves were well-defended behind their magical, eldritch-green walls. As the Sage Council took up defensive posts, the abyssal threat battered the walls. Deus nobles, known for their arcane studies, unleashed waves of magic to turn back the attacks.
After hours of determined persistence, the first cracks formed in the walls. Black tendrils seeped into the cracks and picked away at the brick. Arcane sigils and wards burned them apart, but the tendrils were without end. The wards finally failed, and a section of the wall crumbled away. Dark fog poured through the streets, reducing anyone it enveloped to mere shadow. As it neared the center of the city, a lone figure floated above the tower.
Through the driving rain, the citizens of the city saw Damien Vryce for the first time in decades. Though the body was not his own, his magic was a telltale sign. At his command, lightning and fire tore into the shadowed army, shredding their forms. When the last of the Aether’s minions had vanished, he vanished once again into an arcane gate.