The Battle for Azure City was not close at all. -- Xykon won by a landslide.
Here's the proof, in terms of troops.

Having 'one more paladin' guarding the gate would not have changed anything either. Xykon epically out classed all the living paladins very easily.

Even if the Azurites had another thousand ninjas and whatever-else (Assuming he could convince the aristrocrats, which I doubt "Mr. Scruffy needs your ninjas!" would work...); Xykon still would have ended up victorious. He had too many too strong troops in terms of his army, and he had all the highest level creatures on his side of the playing field (Himself, Redcloak, MitD). They weren't about to lose.



The only real thing Shojo could do that would have impacted the plot would have been him getting captured by Xykon, similarly to how O'Chul was captured. The only difference being, Shojo isn't comparable to Chuck Noris; and Shojo wasn't bound by the oath so he actually may have information on the other gates..