Then in the spring of 609, the Demon struck again, his combined forces assaulting the Castle of the Knights. It was at this time that the forces of the Watchers struck against Val Miran and Justice. While this seemed a grave coincidence it occurred at the plans of the Demon Lord, who had included even the Watchers in his ploy. King Branor Tsidkenu, successor to the Queen Isabeau Shrythara, was lured out of Val Miran on a diplomatic mission. With the King away, the Watchers struck. As the city of Val Miran was reduced to rubble by the Treants of Eshaine, and the halls of Justice torn down, the Knights battled for their lives against the Demon General VUTRAVIKYR, who was Malchaeius’ chosen. It is known that the Oracle Saisha Luinwe saught, earlier in the war, to decieve the demon in an attempt to learn his plans. In doing so she pretended to betray the Knights and it seemed her ploy worked. She gained knowledge, yet her actions allowed the Demonic forces the time to position themselves against the Castle. When the battle began the Knights, long allies of Val Miran, could not come to the city’s aid and thus the plans of Malchaeius were made clear, to sunder the alliances that made the western world strong. While the City of Val Miran was reclaimed by the forces of Gaia, the Knights were not defeated.
The Castle may have stood, yet the Oracle Saisha Luinwe had not forseen the underhanded plans of the Demon. Even while she pretended to aid him, he had prepared for her betrayal. Each time they spoke, each time they met he planted a small demon bug upon her person, which when she returned to the Castle hid itself. When the battle raged on even the Demon Lord Malchaeius knew the gates of Knight could not be breached from without. Thus, while the General and the Oracle confronted the Demon’s armys and commanded the Knights, the demonic bugs opened the gates from within and the demons gained the Castle. In this dark hour the Castle might have been lost forever and the Knights defeated, yet one of the Order of the Crusades, a Lord of Battle who walked Aabahran centries before came to their aid. Corim Altierre, the Fury of the One returned, though those who watched him fight say he had calmed a great deal in two-hundred years. His blade Sefirot cut down the demon VUTRAVIKYR and forced the retreat of the Demonic army. Once he was done, he again vanished into the Chasm, his final words being that he would always be ready to protect the Knights of the Crown, as would those known as the Vanguard.
Thus was Justice cast down and destroyed, the city of Val Miran left to the wilderness, the city of Miruvhor cast in the dark hands of the Syndicate, and the Castle of the Knights left in ruins. Thus was the War of the Demon Malchaeius.