Conquest doesn't bother answering; he's got bigger things to think about. He avoided getting anticlimactically eaten, and managed to get the back half of the giant frog half caught in Sadde's pit trap. He tears out one of its distinctly non-amphibian tusks, throws it at the next largest target, and commences shooting.

The Lord of Toronto stands alone against a horde of monsters. It would probably be inspiring if the Lord weren't, well, him.

...she should go help him. Not only would that prove she's not behind these monsters even more than her word, but also he's hers, she is the one supposed to defeat him, her little resistance. Also if he dies she doesn't get the super powerful familiar, which is a minus.

She can try to aim and shoot.

Hard to guess which ones are vulnerable to bullets. The long serpent and the lizard with the parasite colony have taken several hits from Conquest already, the terrier is too small to hit, and the insects and sphere of darkness are mostly intangible. And the other one only probably has a defined position at all.

One of the first two it's gotta be, then. Aim. Prepare. And...

And Conquest's voice rings out. "People of Toronto! Your Lord calls for your aid!"

Sadde hears it in person, and also hears the same words overlaid a fraction of a second later. It comes with a sense of Conquest is that way, not that she needs it.

—oh, well. If he's gonna call for help she doesn't need to.

Well, they aren't going to teleport to him. It's still just him and the Eye of the Storm. The Eye and the lizardlike monster are fighting to a blazing inferno of a standstill, while Conquest drives back whichever he is currently facing. This of course leaves plenty of bogeymen to outflank them both.

Okay, maybe Sadde can shoot some of them, then.

Her shots don't do much other than attract attention.

Some of that attention is from Conquest. He glances over from where he's somehow managing to fight the opposition one at a time. "So! You really meant it about these not being from you!"

"I'm not forsworn, am I? I'll defeat you myself but I don't want to kill you."

"Now that I can respect!" Punch, gunshot. "Giving up an advantage"—bayonet jab, backhand—"for sole claim on the victory. Still foolish."

He's making his way around the perimeter, beating the bogeymen down one after the other. First he and the Eye manage to get the parasite-infested lizard flipped over onto its carapace, then they chase down the patch of darkness with teeth. Nothing moves close to the Lord on its own initiative, with the exception of the mosquito swarm and the occasional lashing tongue from the still trapped amphibian, and few of the monsters seem to be fighting up to their full capability. Despite which, he's not really progressing or seriously incapacitating them either.

Hmm. She can watch for a bit, with the excuse that she's aiming again (also ow that recoil hurts).

The battle repeats a pretty regular progression. The newcomers pretty clearly have the defenders outclassed in some kind of abstract sense: any of the three large ones can fight the Eye to a standstill. Neither the mass of toothed darkness nor the flicker in the corner of the eye has been seriously threatened at all. The swarm of insects avoids the fire elemental but manages to stick its proboscis into Conquest occasionally. Nevertheless, as soon as Conquest closes in he starts winning against his current opponent. Even the ones that physical strikes and gunshots shouldn't be able to touch. He wins wherever he goes, but can't be everywhere.

Conquest doesn't see the need to change tactics. He was serious about literally not tiring and places a lot of faith in however he's doing this.

Does this seem to suggest he is eventually going to overcome all of them?

Maybe eventually. In the short term he's more knocking them down than taking any of them out of the fight.

The Shepherd is the first to arrive. He's wielding his crook and carrying the same bag he brought to their last fight on this ground.

Hm.

"Hey, Diana? How's it going there?"

Her hushed voice comes across the cell phone. "Haven't made an exit yet. We've done enough that this is definitely a win, but we don't know that any amount is enough of a win to end it. l want to stay until it's completely done."

"Okay. The diabolists released their reinforcements here. Conquest is fighting them."

"Run. We need a distraction, we don't need it to be you, and for this much firepower he'll call in everyone. More eyes might catch you."

"They won't find me, and we do have more traps and contingencies," she reassures. "I'll see this through. We promised the Sphinx this would be done with by tomorrow."

"If you're sure. Doug and I are doing fine here, haven't even had to use anything we prepped yet."

"That's good. I'll keep you informed. If I don't call in fifteen minutes assume I'm busy with fighting and if I don't call in thirty assume I'm in trouble."

"Good luck. I'll try and finish up here fast."

"Good luck to you, too."

She hangs up.

It coincides with a loud wail as the Shepherd casts out one of his masses of weaponized ghosts. The shadow creature stays in one position for long enough that he ventures toward it and starts drawing a circle with his crook. Whatever he's attempting fails, there's a glint of teeth, and a small spot of blood visible through his shroud. Which he ignores and goes right back to trying again.

Other practitioners are starting to trickle in. The High Priest, flanked by some humanoids who might or might not be human. The Queen's Man, visibly out of his depth and mostly staring wide-eyed at one bogeyman after another.

Conquest looks up from his progressless victories. "Try to hem them in! If they scatter there will be another battle."