***

- Shit, those fucking... - Swore an archer on the walls, looking as another imp evaded her arrow. She reached into her quiver, only to find that her arrows ran out again. She already emptied her second quiver, and reached for the third, only to stop in her tracks as an order was relayed from Sarah. It was an order to stop shooting and switch to supporting the spearmen that were repelling the imps on the walls.

She honestly agreed with it. She was hitting all her targets, until the normally mindless imps started to focus on dodging all at once. As soon as this happened, the excitement about the wave being easier than usual evaporated. All of them realized at the same time, that this wave might be the toughest one yet.

The last time the normally mindless demons started thinking, humans were almost completely obliterated. If not for the Savior, who took on command after their previous leader's body was turned into an undead, this settlement wouldn't even exist. She lowered her bow and unsheathed her rapier. Then, seeing one imp evade the soldier's spears and land on the walls, she jumped into the fray.

***

Deep inside the red mist, a stir could be seen. The mist was raising and falling into itself, as if the wave was trying desperatly to go up. Up? Sarah looked at the massive red clouds still hanging above them. She already was preparing countermeasures and adjusting their strategy to match the behavior of the wave. The working theory was that there was a kind of a mind demon inside the mist, and it was controlling the demons to a degree. Xeo was checking his equipment for the third time, waiting for the opportune moment so he could go and assasinate the demon commander. At this time, a shout was heard.

- It's here! Lady Sarah! It's changed! - One of the lookouts scouting on the walls was pointing at the mist, which collapsed onto itself once again, indicating that a huge amount of demons was spawning inside. And sure enough, in the next moment they saw a huge, three meter tall humanoid creature. Unlike the imps, this ogre-like demon had two horns at the sides of it's head, like elephant tusks. Then they saw another, and another still. The ogres stood there, as if still waiting for something. Then they acted all at once. They each took a stone brought to them by the imps, and threw them at the walls.

- Mages! Smash them! - Screamed Sarah, but the magicians on the second wall were already using their magic and skills to snipe the slowly falling stones. She heard Pippo shouting profanities at the trebuchet crew as they reloaded the machine after completely missing the ogres.

As this all was playing out, the report came from one of the crystal balls laid out in front of her.

- Lady Sarah, we have a problem on the eastern wall! The mist seems to increase in size in here, we might be attacked soon! - Hurin laid a hand on her shoulder as to indicate he will take care of it, and left in quick steps after picking up his axe. He was followed by two dozen paladins, his personal unit. Each segment of the wall had it's commander, but it was Sarah that was in charge of the overall defense. The most elite paladin forces were waiting for her orders if the regular troops turned out to not be enough.

- Hurin is on his way, keep me informed.

***

The creature of mist was slowly breathing in the rich mana of the plateau, and it created more and more mist as it walked closer and closer to the pillars. The paladins hidden inside the tents readied their weapons. They were tasked with protecting the pillars, and after they witnessed the creature control and create the demonic energy of the wave, they were serious. The humanoid creature was slowly walking closer and closer to the pillars, and on it's way it had a trap prepared by the priests. Just a few steps more...

The black foot stepped on the glyphs hidden beneath the sand, and an explosion of light was released. The air was suddenly filled with high pitched screams of the creature, as it's body was burned by holy energy. The paladins sprung up from their hiding spots and unleashed all manner of attacks onto the creature. Three arrows filled with holy power pierced it's head. A warhammer smashed it's stomach. A ray of holy fire scorched it's lower body, and it's arms were cut off by a sword. After that, the light subsided, and what was left was blown away by the wind.

- Good job. Now let's hide and hope it was... - The paladin in heavy armour halted his words for a moment. Soon, the rest of the guardians saw why, as they looked in the same direction. There was another black creature climbing the mountain, and it was almost here. - ...alone. - He finished, looking at a dozen other creatures, all breathing out clouds of red mist, and an endless amount of them being spewed out from the cloud of mist near the walls.

- Sarah, we're going to need some backup. - The archer reported to the small orb at his wrist.

***

Things weren't going well when Leo got to the northern wall. As soon as he got up on the walls, he had to duck and roll away to avoid the claws of a flying lizard demon. He looked around, and noticed the mages huddled in groups, trying to maintain shields to protect themselves from the flying demons. He circulated the energy through his legs, and jumped into the barrier protecting the commander of the northern wall.

- What's the status? - He screamed, trying to shout over the sparks flying from the barriers when they blocked another attack. He was sent here by Sarah and got here as fast as he could, but she couldn't give him many details.

- We're pinned! The spearmen and archers are focusing on killing the ogres at the walls, and if the mages try to do anything, these beasties in the air are taking swipes at us! - It seemed the monsters knew that the mages were the most vulnerable ones, as they didn't even try to get close to either the spearmen or the archers.

- Recall the spearmen in waves, I'll take care of the demons.

Leo circulated the power in himself, causing his entire body to exude a soft, blue glow. Before the commander knew it, the spearman was already in the air, jumping off the wall, right onto an ogre. A satisfying crunch of broken bones announced his arrival at the bottom, as his weight alone crushed the head of one of the ogre demons. Soon, slashes of energy pierced through the air, decimating the huge demons that were pounding at the walls.

- Fuck you! - Screamed Leo. - Fuck you, fuck you too, and fuck you in particular! - Leo accented each phrase with another energy blast, and soon, most of the demons were defeated, freeing the spearmen and archers to deal with the flying demons. It didn't free up Leo however. As soon as he dealt with the last ogre, another wave arrived from the mist, running full speed at the walls. Leo grinned, and clutched his chest.

<Soul of the Devourer, Time Dilation>

And as the world around him started slowing down, Leo clutched his spear, and charged at the ogres.

***

Hurin and a few paladins he took with him reached the eastern wall. The mist was bubbling outside the walls, raising up and falling down like a sea during the storm. Oddly enough, the imps here were few, and the ogres were nowhere to be seen. Instead, he saw a few dark shadows moving within the mist, almost as if there were people inside. There were far more demonic energy here then anywhere else, and somehow, it seemed to only grow in size. The commander stepped up, and shook their hands in a welcoming gesture.

- Thanks for coming. We haven't seen much action yet, but it seems as if the mist itself is readying to swallow us. I have already readied the priests, they will raise the barrier immediately if it flows this way.

Hurin looked north, assesing the situation on that front. It seemed that there were more enemies there than on the southern wall, where he was before. He even saw some flying beasts trying to breach the walls via air, only to be shot down either by arrows or magic. He also remembered that the western wall was dealing with waves of imps too, as he was leaving to assist here. Then why this place was the only one in which the wave was still? He took the communication orb from the commander's table, and sent a small impulse of power to wake it up. He then spoke.

- Sarah, this is Hurin. I'm on the eastern wall, something's not right. The mist itself seems to rise, and both the north and south are constantly under attack. If the mist was taken from there to bolster the wave's mass here, it wouldn't have enough to create any pressure on the other fronts. I think the demons might be manipulating the wave to make us think there is more of this mist than there is in reality. - He waited a second for the message to be recieved, and then the orb started shining weakly, indicating an incoming answer. Soon enough, he heard Sarah's hurried voice.

- Hurin, Xeo is currently going to the Gate. There's some trouble there, im passing the communication to you now. If you can, I want you to come back here, we will be sending an elite unit to assist them soon. - Hurin furrowed his brows, but remained silent. Soon, he heard the voice of one of the paladins sent to guard the plateau.

- Sarah, we're going to need some backup. - The voice sounded firm, yet there was an underlying tone of urgency. - The enemy is coming from the mist at the walls. They are only one type, demons in black carapace armour, they look humanoid, I've never seen anything like this before. They're not very strong, but they release mist everywhere, and there's lots of them coming. One of them was directing the mist to the pillars before, it looks like the mist has an adverse effect on them. I repeat, we need back...

At this moment, the communication started to become grainy, the voice whittling down to a buzz, and then dissapearing completely. - Sarah? - Asked Hurin, not knowing if it was the end of communication, or if something happened to the orb on the other side. Soon he saw a light flicker inside the orb, and he sighed with a bit of relief. It's not like they haven't died before, but something happening to Sarah would cripple the chain of command here, and that would be a huge problem. Then he heard a voice he did not recognize, and his heart sank again.

- Huuuuuriiin? - Asked the deep voice, and at the same time the light inside the orb turned red. The voice started screaming in an unknown language, and the orb flickered, and then cracked into pieces. Hurin then remembered. He heard the same voice at the beginning of the wave, coming from the mist. It looked like the owner of the voice was disrupting their communications.

- Bad news all around... - He sighed. At the same time, a roar was heard from the mist. Hurin snapped his head up, and saw the humanlike shapes hiding in the mist jumping out, barreling towards the walls. Hurin now saw them clearly, four thin limbs with huge claws tearing through the rocky ground, jaws ready to snap a man in half, and a body that was connecting all these features concealed by black smoke.

Tier two demons, rarely appearing throughout the waves, were now storming the walls in hundreds. One of the paladins nearby has already sent a fireball in the air, which was a signal they used before crafting the orbs, signalling the need for immediate reinforcements.

- Use your souls. It's not the time to be saving up energy. - Ordered Hurin, as the few heavily armored Paladins dispersed themselves along the walls to support the regular troops. All of them clutched their chests, and used the powers given to them by various tier two demons. And as a shadow leapt on the wall, shredding the spearmen on its way, Hurin leapt into action, his axe held up high, ready to fight to the death.

<Soul of the Juggernaut, Phase One.>

They chose the wrong wall.