Everyone scrambled into the nearest alleyway in anticipation of another devastating conflagration spell, time seeming to slow as Woods, now farthest in the back, tripped over his feet under the burden of the dead girl’s body and fell to the ground with wide, disbelieving eyes. A bright flash suddenly stole away their vision, all of them covering their bodies as best they could as a rush of hot air whooshed into the alleyway as if a mythical beast had just let loose a scalding breath. Anice sensed the pillar of flames punch through the western gate and continue on into the land beyond the walls before abruptly flickering out like a candle.

Woods, along with a significant portion of Mayhaven’s population, had almost instantaneously disappeared from sight. The rest of the Dozen, for their part, had been protected from the tumultuous torrents of scalding air by sudden shields of invisible energy, their lives preserved by the charms that Mr. Albeck had made for them.

No…

Jaden stood up in a daze and stumbled out of the alleyway, shrugging off Zech’s fumbling reach as he came to a stop a few paces away from where their friend had fallen. He subconsciously reached out with his left hand, only to retract it almost immediately before gritting his teeth and turning his head.

Just a handful of minutes ago everyone had been smiling in the hot sun while they awaited the arrival of the holy delegation. Now, thousands of people were dead including many of the Dozen’s family members.

Everyone began to sob with different levels of hysteria as it registered in their minds that Woods was dead. An upbeat and lively young man that all of them loved, erased in the blink of an eye in a merciless manner.

Were they all destined to die today? Anice could sense the demon as it moved closer, lashing out with its arms to destroy anything in sight while blasting things to bits that were beyond its physical reach. After killing all those that had fled down West Street, it had turned its attention to the hundreds of people that were still hiding within homes and other buildings, blast after blast sounding in the background from not far off. Its intent was clear; to kill everything and everyone that fell within its perceptions.

Jaden winced and took a few steps back, noticing that the soles of his shoes were melting away from the heat of the pavement beneath them. Like everyone else, his mind was a mess.

As the group remained in place, dazed and disturbed, a scarlet blur suddenly shot past the mouth of the alleyway a second before an echoing sound of impact filled the sombre streets. Something had just smashed directly through Mayhaven’s western wall in a shower of fractured stone, as if the fortifications had been struck by one of the great projectiles of the siege engines commonly used in war.

That aura…the demon? Numb as her mind currently was, Anice didn’t know what to think as a second silhouette suddenly appeared in front of them.

Sword Master Tramon Lawson locked eyes on the group the moment he appeared, a bloodstained sword in his right hand as he approached Anice with brisk steps.

“Where’s the boy?” he said curtly.

Anice shook her head, at a loss.

“He went out this morning.” Corrie spoke weakly, his thick hair dishevelled and his clothes torn in places where he’d been nicked by falling debris. “We don’t know where.”

Zech’s tone was that of someone who was desperately attempting to convince themselves of something. “H—he might have left the city. That’s what he usually does when he doesn’t tell us where he’s going.”

Tramon nodded and turned his gaze westward, his eyes narrowing as he tightened his grip on his weapon's handle. “Girl, your father’s helping people leave the city through the northern exit. He intends to bring them to your estate. Go there while I deal with—”

The old warrior disappeared with an abrupt shower of metallic sparks and a small flash of scarlet, his life signal covering hundreds of paces in a matter of moments before a terrible crash sounded from somewhere along the opposing end of the distant plaza. After tackling him in a display of unprecedented physical prowess, the demon’s roar echoed throughout Mayhaven as if to announce the revival of the Devil Drune himself.

Corrie was the first to come to his senses, his narrowed eyes focusing on the continuation of the alleyway on the opposing end of the street. The buildings on either side were aflame, as if Anice and her friends were staring into the entrance of hell itself.

“You heard him,” he said shakily. “We need to head north!”

“Let’s leave through the western gate,” said Zech, who was breathing heavily in an effort to calm himself down. “There’s…there’s no traffic there now.”

Corrie stepped out onto the street and peaked at the gate, shaking his head a moment after. “It’s on fire.”

Anice stumbled after him, steps slow as if her legs were encased in heavy metal. As if someone had covered the exit with an excessive amount of oil, a sea of flames remained where nearly two thousand people had stood just moments before. For some reason or other, the spell that had wrought so much damage didn’t simply diffuse and dissipate like the ones that had preceded it.

“There,” said Corrie, pointing to a spot several dozen paces to the left of the gates where the wall had crumbled inward, likely due to Tramon’s intervention. “We can leave through that gap!”

Slowly and with dulled senses, the rest of the group gradually emerged from the alleyway, but all of their attention was quickly drawn toward the empty plaza.

Tramon and the demon were exchanging rapid strikes that would be difficult to follow for even the most seasoned experts, the sword master’s body covered in such a heavy layer of swordsman’s aura that it was visible to the naked eye. Frighteningly, it was the same for the demon.

Leaping backward with enough strength to fracture the cobblestones for nearly three paces around the spot where his foot had kicked off of, Tramon opened up a distance of about thirty paces and then immediately leapt forward to unleash an immaculately timed horizontal strike with his bloodslicked blade. His mindless opponent instinctively deflected the attack with a forearm, causing a long crescent of golden energy to slice through the roof of a nearby building rather than bisect him as Alistar’s master had intended. As most of the construct’s upper level sagged and then fell to the ground with a chaotic crash, the two combatants traded dozens of similar exchanges that quickly damaged whatever buildings in the area that had thus far escaped the destruction of the demon’s spells.

Speaking of the mindless monster, it was now far more agile than it had been mere minutes before, a foreboding fact considering that nearly a third of the city was already up in flames with countless buildings having been toppled or blasted apart. All within just a handful of minutes.

Anice and her friends could only watch on in awe as Tramon ran through an endless series of masterful techniques that none among their group had even heard of; delicate deflections, profound parries and perfect sword strikes that didn’t waste a single bit of time or energy. Whenever the demon attempted to unleash one of its vicious, fiery blasts, Tramon would redirect its arm with a succinct movement of his sword so that the massive, air-shaking pillars shot skyward like the expulsion of an aquatic geyser after years of pent-up pressure. Likewise, the demon did the same whenever he attempted to use advanced techniques that involved external projectiles of swordsman’s aura.

Even in her fright, Anice was shocked to witness the true strength of Alistar’s grumpy old teacher. It was the same for the others, whose minds had gone blank in the face of such an unbelievable battle.

Giving his head a violent shake, Corrie decisively withdrew his weathered old dagger from the scarred sheath he’d purchased in the marketplace and then stabbed its tip into his forearm. Eyes gaining some clarity, he returned it to its container and began to urge his friends onward. Before they could move more than a few paces, the wall of one of the adjacent buildings sagged downward and crashed into the alleyway, blocking it from view with a pile of flaming, smoking rubble.

Now that the route at their backs had been sealed off, Corrie led the group toward the hole in the western wall, everyone following after him with subconscious faith in their quick-witted friend.