Rayse’s heart fluttered, watching the scene from above. The soldiers had been clashing with the enemy for hours, an endless procession of demons coming to strike them down. Mui was a spot of beige in a sea of blue, surrounded by demons for miles over. The sheer number made them seem as one body, slowly devouring this island from which they stood.
The common folk fought valiantly, using the tactics he saw back in the siege of Hios. They fought the demons three to one, one to tie the demons down, and two to go for the kill. These soldiers were a lot more proficient than his town’s militia, however, and made quick work of each individual harbinger.
The problem was that there were too many of them. They had erected a maze of spikes all around the fortress, slowing the tide of monsters, but it was like cupping your hands to stop a waterfall. They were holding out well, but even he could see that casualties would soon begin to mount.
He struck out in impatience, flinging Unbroken down into the crowd below. It sailed across the air, punching through dozens of harbingers before it floated back to his hand. More harbingers took the place of those that fell, souring his mood even more.
“Stay your blade, son. Save your strength for the others.” Aleph chastised.
“It’s just hard, watching them get hurt when we can clear these guys out in about half an hour.” Brandon chimed in. They had been together since the battle started, keeping close watch in its development. The battle was at a deadlock, but as always, the soldiers had steadily been pushed back quite far from when they began. “We have to help them.” Lacey pleaded, seeing things the same way he was.
“And what of the heralds? What will we do if they all strike at once and you’ve wrung yourselves dry? Will you send your lessers to stand against Betrayal in your stead?”
Those words hung over the sounds of battle. He’s right, of course. The three of them knew it. When they faced off against Lost and declared war, Rayse had envisioned an all out fight for survival, but they were immediately set aside when the fighting began. In fact, in the four hours since the battle has begun, neither side has employed their mages at all.
“Your absence in the battlefield is what affords us this stalemate. Lost is no fool. She won’t lay out her cards unless she feels a pressing need for them. In that time we can whittle down the chaff, hopefully until they understand their folly.”
“...We get it, but master, even you should know they will eventually run us over. If we don’t make a move soon, then–”
As if in answer, they heard a strong gust of air from behind, followed by a familiar voice.
“It’s almost time, my lord.” It was James, the blacksmith from Alephton. He floated from below, landing next to them in billowing winds.
The middle aged man was quite the mage himself nowadays, as were the rest of the refugees that Aleph had saved. Rayse remembered Vaynard beaming when the hundred odd squadron of mages had arrived seemingly from out of nowhere. It was an unexpected windfall for this place where such talents were in short supply.
“Thank you, James. Your men may begin whenever you please.” A rare smile played across his master’s lips as he said so. James obliged, leaping off the battlements to do Aleph’s bidding.
“Yessir.” James responded, going as quickly as he came. Rayse and his friends watched him go, their eagerness to act reined in by confusion for the moment.
“I know you have misgivings, but lest you forget, this isn’t Kyrios. We are no longer isolated, and our friends are capable. You may be heraldslayers in your own right, but still young in the ways of war.”
Aleph stood straighter, gesturing at something down below where a scene was taking place. The gates had opened up, and the soldiers were retreating inside. Rayse hoped for a moment that it meant that their turn to fight had come, but without word from his master, it was quickly quelled. He began to feel a different way, however, because a different atmosphere had befallen the fortress. He suddenly had people on either shoulder, looking down on the enemies below. The harbingers were pummeling their gates with bare hands, their cleavers, some even flung their fallen against it, all in an effort to enter. The clanging rang all the way up to where they stood, but Aleph paid them no mind. Instead, he held out a hand, scattering a peculiar dust into the air.
“Now, witness. This is humanity’s strength.”
Shoooooooshhh—
A loud hissing could be heard from all around. Rayse looked down just in time to see that jets of flame had erupted from the gates, covering the harbingers in emerald green flames. The fire quickly spread, and soon, small explosions accompanied the flames, a familiar reaction of heat melting through the creatures’ mana hearts.
Brandon whooped, along with the other soldiers atop the battlements. Some had gone up from below to watch, celebrating as their enemies burned to a crisp. The blue sea had been replaced by an emerald blanket of flames, devouring the demons like an unfettered wildfire.
“But, we tried this before, didn’t we? How is the fire spreading so fast?” Lacey marvelled.
“Again, you underestimate the people here. Did you think they were twiddling their thumbs the entire time? Erebos gave us a month to settle our affairs, but we took that time to prepare their funeral pyre.”
The fire had quickly died down at this point, considerably faster than their stalling tactics back in Kyrios. Lacey ‘Ooh!’-ed in surprise, pointing at the ground where, among the remains of dead harbingers, scorched pits had interspersed the land. Seeing those finally made things click for him. He imagined barrels full of oil and other incendiary materials being buried all around, preparing for this very day. The entire valley had been covered in the stuff, an almost impossible undertaking that had only been possible with a massive workforce.
Rayse felt warm, only partly because of the embers dying down from below. He looked at his master, who had no doubt thought this up, with renewed respect. He and his friends had spent much of the last month in the infirmary, but he wished that he had been on the ground with them, helping set all this up.
The sea of harbingers began to reconverge, but they hardly covered the lands as well as they did before. Scribes were arriving, reporting enemy death tolls as much as seventy percent of the harbinger army. It was a massive win for humanity.
A grin split his lips at last, and he was about to turn and celebrate with the rest of them when the temperature suddenly dropped. From the corner of his eye, Rayse saw the floating black sea, lightning crackling across its tumultuous surface. It made his hair stand on end. He immediately reached for his spear.
“Valiant Shot!” He threw Unbroken with all his might, making it as large as he could. The spear traveled up to the heavens, but stopped well short of the floating black sea. It was by design. Rayse expanded his spear, extending it to the point that it struck the ground well away from the fortress.
Crackle! A massive bolt of lightning descended from the heavens, striking the spear he had thrown. The electricity moved through its shaft and dispersed on the ground, averting the crisis that had unexpectedly sprung.
Rayse panted as he put his hands on his knees in his exhaustion. He felt for his weapon, sensing that he had almost completely bottomed out its mana reserves. Aleph pulled him up, handing him a mana crystal to replenish his stores when more scouts arrived to give their reports.
At their head was Andrew, a former farmer from Kyrios. He didn’t even bother to land, just shouting out his report without even waiting for his turn.
“Sir!” He panted. “News from the other gates! Heralds and their armies were spotted in the east and south, charging towards us with their personal armies.
Aleph’s eyes widened, staring back out at the floating sea that had begun to advance. Rayse, still catching his breath, looked at it too, experiencing a similar sense of dissonance. If any of the battles up to this point were an indication, this was far too early for the enemy’s main force to come out. They were thinking the same thing: Lost wasn’t in complete control of this war.
