The United Forces choose a plateau surrounded by natural defences. With the crystal forest to the west and mountain to the north, east and south this place was a fortress. A fortress dubbed Nova City.

Illuminura who was the death of the Minotaur horde knows the location of their source. Extracted from the mind of a minotaur were some alarming revelations. She goes now to learn more and decide the fate of these creatures.

She flew high up into the sky with ease. There she passed through the mist of the clouds to meet with her subordinate above them. Her angelic golden wings formed from her own energy flapped in great powerful strides as they propelled her onward.

Unlike the regular humans from Mars and Venus, her powerful lungs allowed her to breathe unassisted in this irradiated world. It would be aeons before any human could expose themselves to this planets' hostile atmosphere without rampant mutation ravaging their body.

It wasn't long before Léon joined her. A young squire put under her command for this mission he seemed ever the admiring aspirant. He bowed his head. When he faced her he grew worried.

"Is it done Lady Illuminura?"

"No. We need not fret. Come Léon; accompany me, we must go to the source of the horde. It is far afield but answers await us there." Illuminura answered.

"My Lady. Would it not be prudent to travel in the protection of the knights?" He asked

"And announce our arrival? That will not suffice. Lest we kill our chances of obtaining the answers we require we better use stealth."

"Understood my Lady."

"To succeed, we must be able to dictate the condition under which the United Forces operate under. Thus, we must know the way of things here. Perhaps these... Minotaurs may prove useful."

"Understood my Lady."

She flew for miles taking in the features of this new world in for the first time. She smiled as she opened her mind to absorb the masses of information that flowed from her eyes. She admired this world of life.

Every single organism glowed in an amalgamation of colours that formed a vibrant display of flourishing life and emotion. She saw the hunger of gargantuan lumbering beasts as they stripped the land clean of the strange grass. She saw the glee of humanoid creatures as they swung through the trees.

Deep down Illuminura revealed at this new world and smiled more knowing the fate the Celestials had planned for it all. This beautiful will become even more so once they were done.

They found the hideout a network of hidden tunnels high up in the mountains at the border of the forest. From her height, she would not have noticed their presence if it weren't for her hypersensitive nervous system feeling the unnatural heat flow from the various air holes and furnaces that dotted the mountainside.

She focused her attention on it the mountain she found it glowed with life from within. The lights all scurried about up and down narrow tunnels and large chambers like ants in their home. Illuminura flew down and found a tunnel void of life. She beckoned Léon to follow silently and he obeyed.

The two crept down the narrow passage and viewed the tunnels all around them. She could see signs of abundant life all around her but the tunnel grew dark so she closed her mind to them and sharpened her eyes.

To the average human, the darkness Illuminura walked through would be impossible to pierce with their naked eye. To her, there was just enough light to allow her to see the outline of the rocks and walls all around her.

Soon they happened upon a large chamber Illuminura found herself near the ceiling of the twenty stories tall chamber. She sensed the raging nature of the beasts before her and her helm materialised around her head. With no way of walking forward she resorted to spying from where she was.

The floor far below was a mess with Minotaurs gathering all around while they devoured the huge piles of meat that had been left all over the place. It seemed that they'd just barbarically rip handfuls of meat from the piles of rotting carcases whenever they grew hungry.

The largest ones would gorge themselves without restraint and dignity. The place was noisy with the roar and crude language of Minotaur beasts. Every now and then a fight would break out seemly for no reason. Illuminura would cringe at the vile barbarism of the Minotaurs' way of life. She turned to Léon.

"We must pass by unseen." She whispered to him.

Léon bowed his head and concentrated for some time. Soon Illuminura fade from sight and so did Léon. Now completely invisible Illuminura leapt from her perch. Swift and silent she flew down to the ground floor entrance on the far end of the chamber undetected with Léon followed suit.

Passing from shadow to shadow they made to the heart of the hive. There the largest chamber proved to be the most significant find. Twas a titanic chamber within stood a massive gothic style fortress. Innumerable towers reach high up to almost pierce the ceiling.

Great walls of stone and iron-barred every approach with tall, narrow windows letting out firelight in almost any direction. The light grey of the fortress walls stood out against the natural dark grey of the surrounding rock.

The thump of marching troops alerted Illuminura to the presence of an approaching patrol. They both froze as the patrol passed by. These Minotaurs were different. These were even larger than those in the outer chambers and perhaps more civilised.

Unlike the raging fires of those barbarians in the mess hall, these were dim lights in the dark. It was as if their minds had been rewritten to suit their purpose of obedient servants. As the guards marched away in neat column formation she turned her attention to the fortress.

She became intrigued as she scanned the castle. It was not long before she noticed a single light glowing far brighter than the rest. It resided deep within the fortress, fearless and confident in her abilities she advanced forwards with her faithful subordinate following behind her.

She infiltrated hall after and hall and chamber after chamber. Each one was a lavish incarnation of gothic architecture and luxury. Each one housed Minotaur workers of an increasingly civilised nature. Wearing furs and steel plate armour they would have seemed almost human if they didn't bear the heads of bulls.

Eventually, they make it to the centre of the castle and found themselves in a huge ballroom illuminated by great glass chandeliers. They revealed a lavish marble floor, stonewall and pillars with the doorway that Illuminura just passed through being the only exit.

On the far end, a woman danced about. Slowly spinning about as if reliving in a memory. Illuminura took a step forwards but Léon grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait... This one's light shines brightest. Be on guard."

"We are Celestials. What can possibly be a challenge to us"

She shook free and heightened her senses as she closed her mind. She snuck up on the strange dancing woman focused the power of her mind. Turning powers to her telepathy she reached into the strange woman's mind.

The woman strained as she felt her mind being opened and some entity pry through her memories, she resisted. She collapsed to her knees as her body spasmed unable to speak she mentally screamed as she gathered her power. Her arms raised into a T-pose as Illuminura didn't relent.

"I am Saint Gallia! Leave me be!" Growled the strange woman.

Gallia unleashed a great pulse of kinetic force pushing in all directions. It launched Illuminura backwards into the air for several meters. The celestial landed on her feet and leapt to the side as a bright purple energy beam is fired her way.

She strikes back with her lashing tendrils to no effect. A beam struck the floor in front of her sending up dirt and debris in a great plum. Then the flying matter glowed a shade of purple and clumped up together to form a giant humanoid golem.

With the fury of its creator, the creature roared as it charged Illuminura only to be torn apart by her tendrils.

"Who are you beasts?" Gallia roared.

"We are the rightful rulers of this land! Will you capitulate?" answered Illuminura.

"You dare mock my domain?"

"Twas ours since before your time witch!"

New purple energy beams struck the floor all around Illuminura and she found herself surrounded by a horde of golems forming before her eyes. Léon had taken it upon himself to hold off the oncoming stream of rushing Minotaur guards racing to interfere. The beasts roared and clamoured in anger as they raced through the many halls of the castle only to be utterly shredded.

For all their size and numbers, they were but ants before Léon's power. His own tendrils atomised flesh and armour alike as they thrashed about in the narrow hallways in Léon's wake.

It wasn't long before gold and purple clashed in a mighty duel of raw power as golem after golem arose only to be put down. The castle strained and crumbled to the ground under the sheer amount of damage inflicted by the battle.

Illuminura's tendrils were vicious weapons as they scythed through dozens of the automaton golems at a time with ease. Yet their numbers still grew as Gallia focused on manufacturing her army no matter the cost.

Illuminura jumped and lunged in leaps and bounds again and again as she fought on only to be struck by the lightning fast strike of an energy beam. Soon, she was struck by the witch's power repeatedly; each time the power of the blast grounded her. She tried to strike back wildly striking at the witch but her foes defences withstood her might.

Then another strike almost broke through her armour and knocking her against a pillar. The Celestial felt her cuirass and angered as she found a small crack in its blackened plating. Illuminura growled as she tore apart a dozen charging golems before a chandelier snapped free of its restraints and landed on Illuminura shattering upon her armour.

Gallia pounded in her with a constant bombardment of energy beams. Each blast tore away at her tough armour. Again, and again, Gallia let her anger drive her into a berserk fury as she battered wildly at Illuminura's defences. Illuminura felt her strength seep from her body as exhaustion set in rendering her defenceless.

Soon Illuminura's helm crumbled under the immense forces battering against it. Then a powerful blast blew it away, revealing Illuminura's beautiful face. Anger took the celestial's heart and invoked her wrath.

"Enough!" She roared in outrage.

With a thought, she activated her armour's weapons systems. She enjoyed the restoration of her power as omega radiation is fed into her body. The goddess glowed a bright gold as golems all around her vaporised as they struck her armour. Power flowed from energy reserves in her suit into her body reinvigorating it and restoring her tired self to its former glory.

The witch witnessed this and foresaw the oncoming danger. In a desperate last gambit, she destroyed her army to draw upon all her might and power.

Gallia wailed in anger as she poured her very life essence into a focused blast of energy with the power of a small sun at the invader. The very atmosphere around her atomised as the entirety of her strength poured into a single coup de grace strike. The celestial's sophisticated armour merely absorbed it all and fed the immense power to its wearer.

Gathering it all with inside her, she roared with all her might as she unleashed the power of a goddess upon her foe. A single beam shot from Illuminura's heart and out the centre of her chest. It blasted through the witch's mysterious defences to vaporise her from the waist down.

Screeching in pain and horror she flopped helplessly to the floor. Short of breath Illuminura panted as she staggered towards the dying enemy. She sighed as she stood over and watched the beaten witch squirm and screech about in her sorry state.

"Now. Reveal onto me your secrets." Illuminura demanded.