"CHAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGE!"

The army started running toward Ansur. All the Kuroinu remained unfazed, even smirking at the foolish Shield Army.

Up on the walls Schmidt was just giggling with anticipation. "They're just sending those people to their deaths. By the time any of them get over here, most will already be dead."

"You promised us the Princess Knights, Schmidt." Boaris stated. "Their bodies will make big money on the market and no one wants to fuck a corpse."

"I'm aware Boaris, Vault himself also wants the Princess Knights intact." He said pensively. "I give them to him then I'm sure he'll give them to you. The man's a sadist who likes to humiliate his enemies."

"That's not what we—"

"Not what we agreed, yes, but that is what's going to happen. If you want, you and your gang can fuck the young blonde and pinkette. The others though are already taken."

Boaris reached for the handle of his sword, but Schmidt already had his blade drawn and pointed at the multi-chinned pigman.

"Remember, Boaris, these demons and Black Dogs are under my command and I can easily tell them to slaughter you and serve you at tonight's supper! Get in line or get killed, your choice." He threatened.

Boaris glared, but slowly took his hand off his weapon.

"How are you so sure that they won't die in battle?" Resse asked, the dogman twitched his ear curiously.

Schmidt looked at the hound and then removed his sword from Boaris' neck. "I'm certain they'll come out of this alright. Afterwards, maybe not so much?" He laughed. "Look, everything will work out. We have the home advantage. We have the numbers. We won't have to do anything, so just sit back and watch the show."

The traitorous beastkin representatives decided to do just that. Though they didn't like being double-crossed like that, they weren't foolish enough to go against one of Vault's men. At least, not yet. They joined up for the simple matter of power. Vault and his Army seemed the better option, one that would grant many prizes should they win.

Only one though didn't join for power and he was standing silently, watching the whole battle.

"Hey, lizard boy." Resse got Slayne's attention. "You haven't said anything yet."

"I don't much care for Vaults plans. I just want my brother's head." The young lizard specified.

"And you shall receive it. Your drunkard of a brother should be among the Resistance." Schmidt said. "Once this battle is over, we should be able to dig out those pesky little nuisances."

"Didn't you help little lizard boy here kill his father?" Resse asked, but Slayne answered for him.

"I wanted my House's strength . . . and my mother protected. That's it."

The dog barked a laugh. "I see . . ."

"What?" The lizard gave the dog a focused glare.

"Nothing. I guess being the youngest, of course you'd desire to fuck your own mot—HURCK!"

Slayne had gripped the dog with his claws and got ready to rip his throat out. "Say one more word mutt and I'll—"

"Break it up you two, now!" Schmidt got between them. "We aren't fighting each other! We're better than the demons, both humans and beastkin alike. So, don't prove peoples prejudices got it?"

The dog and lizard glared at each other a bit longer before Slayne released Resse.

"Just keep your trap shut, mutt." Slayne spat.

"And you keep you claws to yourself, bugeater. Or you'll find my bite is worse than my bark." Resse growled.

"Brr, here they come!" Boaris said eagerly, getting everyone's attention back on the battle.

"Launchers ready!" Schmidt shouted.

Back on the hill, overlooking the battle, Celestine began chanting. Her body started glowing with a golden aura. All around her felt warm and protected like a mother's embrace. Celestine continued to chant, the longest chant anyone had ever heard. The language she spoke was not one anyone but her could understand.

"Fire!" Schmidt yelled, swinging his arm out.

Boulders, bolts, and arrows were fired upon the charging army. From the looks of the first attack, it would take many lives.

Celestine had finally finished her chant and shouted "Protection!" The aura burst out and engulfed her whole army. The Kuroinu's long distance attacks finally landed and hit many soldiers.

The demons and Black Dogs laughed hysterically seeing so many useless pawns die. They laughed and laughed until they cried, but then they all slowly stopped when they realized something.

The army was glowing and no one was dead. Not a single one.

The Alliance troops looked themselves over. The golden light surrounding them made them feel weird. But that sensation was nothing compared to what the soldiers who got hit were feeling. Which was nothing.

Soldiers that were crushed and rolled over by boulders got up and looked themselves over. They were fine. Better then fine! No broken bones, squished organs, even their armor was still intact.

Those that got hit with bolts merely felt like they got a light push. The bolts laid uselessly next to them.

Arrows scattered the ground. Not a single one embedded in a body despite hitting many, many targets.

"What?" Was all Schmidt could say, doing a perfect impression of a handless dummy.

Very confused by what was happening, Claudia spoke up for them all. "This is the power of Celestine! She has graced us all, her loyal fighters with her Godly Protection. We are invulnerable now, nothing short of a demigod can harm us! Go forth men, and show these dogs the true power of the Goddess-Incarnate Celestine!"

"For Celestine!" A soldier roared and they all continued their assault.

"Reload the catapults and ballistas! Archers stop gaping like cock-filled fishwives and fire!"

Everyone quickly rushed to do as ordered. The archers quickly tried shooting more volleys, but they might as well have been throwing twigs at a wall.

It was no different for the catapults and ballistas. Boulders hit many soldiers, but they just got back up like they were knocked down by a gust of wind. Bolts were just as useless as all they did was hit, but not pierce.

"Fire. Fire! FIRE!" Schmidt screamed hysterically. He had never seen such sorcery done. Even seeing it he could hardly believe it.

"Not a single casualty. Not one." Boaris' jaw dropped.

"Is this . . . the goddess' power?" Resse said, equally dumbstruck.

Slayne remained quiet as usual, but even he could not comprehend the power before him.

The opposing army was now advancing. Closer than anyone could guess, especially at the very beginning of the battle.

"Shit. SHIT!" Schmidt looked down at his own army. "Don't just stand there you drooling idiots! Advance! Advance! Do not let them get anywhere close to us!"

The Kuroinu stopped whatever sick, twisted activity they were doing and squabbled for their weapons, armor, meat shields and war machines. None got in any formation, some even trampled their own as they charged, it was the sloppiest attack ever seen.

It didn't help that one of the Princess Knights, a fellow Shield of Virtue was at the forefront of the Alliance Army.

Claudia took the very first kill as she raised her sword and cleaved right through an orc. That was then followed by the clashing of the both armies.

At first the Alliance was swatted away on impact, but they immediately got up and tackled the demons. Halberds and swords tore through the orcs, arrows and spears downed flying imps. The demons fought back. They fought back with the ferocity and cruelty that they were known for, but nothing hurt the foes before them.

The humans were unbreakable and they seemed unstoppable. No amount of crushing destroyed them. No amount of cutting or stabbing penetrated them. An orc ground a human into the dirt with his foot, but the soldier showed no sign of death or at least pain.

Another orc probably cut the same soldier twelve times now, but even his armor was undamaged.

Imps tried tearing a soldier apart, by pulling his limbs, but there was no cracking of bones or ripping of muscles. The human was even laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

"AAAAH!" Claudia shouted. He body glowed as golden as the others. Her sword cleaved an orc in twain. She jumped high, both hand griping the handle of her sword and parted another orc's head from its shoulders. "Break through! We must reach the gates!"

Her soldiers heard her command and stopped reveling in their indestructibleness. Soldiers cut down flying imps like flies or grabbed them with their bare hands and gave them a taste of their own medicine of dismemberment. Orcs were bigger than imps and needed more men to take down. Three attacking soldiers, with sharp swords and bludgeoning cudgels, was enough to bring down the pig-like demons. Some soldiers even started tackling orcs, dogpiling them and stabbing them everywhere and even ripping off their heads with their bare hands.

The human Kuroinu were of no consequence. They weren't as strong as the demons or as shifty. They tried using human and beastkin women as shields, but those men were rushed and the hostages were saved and allowed to retreat. Those particular men were then beaten to death.

The Princess Knights, however, needed no assistance in taking out their foes. Luu-Luu charged forth with wanton abandon, swinging her axe like the berserker she was. She cleaved through legs, toppling the orcs, allowing the soldiers to finish them with ease.

The dwarf ran all over the place, the demons tried catching her like a fluttering moth. She swung her axe in large arcs, cutting long and deeply into demon flesh. Sliding under one orc, she cut his genitals, forcing the demon to its knees. Then she turned around and sliced open his back, making blood spray out like a geyser.

She spun around and sliced off an attacking orc's arm. Then she leaped into the air and cut the screaming orc in half from head to toe. A feat that caused many surrounding her, humans and demon alike, to gawk in fear.

Luu-Luu just smiled viciously at the blood fallen and took advantage of the stupor. Extending her greataxe out, she started spinning like a tornado and moved forward. The demons couldn't stop her from slicing though their bodies, even as they used their own weapons to block her, which she just shattered on impact.

When Luu-Luu stopped she looked behind her to see many orcs dead or on the brink from bleeding out. She smirked and allowed her men to finish them.

Something stomped toward her. The ground shook with each step and a minotaur presented itself. Its red eyes glowed and snarling teeth gnashed. It carried an axe, much larger than hers and all Luu-Luu could say to the demon was—

"Overcompensating?" She joked.

The minotaur scowled more and roared, charging the dwarf. Luu-Luu readied herself for the oncoming attack. The minotaur's hooves kicked up the ground with each step. It raised its axe, ready to deliver a fatal blow.

Luu-Luu jumped back and as the axe came down, she narrowly avoiding the blade. The dwarf was not worried. Though the minotaur was formidable, the red-head knew she had an advantage. The Minotaur swung its axe again, Luu-Luu dodged, missing her by a mile.

Her advantage was her size. Minotaur's were HUGE and a giant enemy trying to hit a down-to the ground opponent was very difficult. Luu-Luu was practically giggling how unfair it was to the bull-demon. Its attacks could hardly reach all the way to where she was.

But she could hit the minotaur.

She sliced off one of its hooves. The minotaur didn't fall though, only bending to one knee.

Luu-Luu was about to try and finish the stubborn monster off when it roared in pain. Surprised, Luu-Luu saw a couple of soldiers stab the minotaur in the back.

"We got your back, Lady Luu-Luu!" One of them declared.

Luu-Luu chuckled. "Looks like you got his!"

The minotaur shook the soldiers off, their weapons still imbedded in its back. The minotaur turned to cut them apart with its massive axe, but Luu-Luu blind-sided it and cut off its arm and its horn.

The demon cried out in pain, but growled through it and grabbed the dwarf's body. Luu-Luu was shocked, but not worried. The demon snarled at her and tried crushing her body. But she, like all the others, was still glowing gold.

"Sorry, pal, but that won't work." She didn't even feel any pressure.

Frustrated, the Minotaur started slamming her in the ground. All that did was dirty up her already bloodied attire. Unfortunately, she couldn't move her body. The minotaur was still strong enough to hold her in place.

But the soldiers around her wouldn't leave her. Some fired arrows and got the demon in the eye, blinding it. The minotaur released Luu-Luu dropping her. The soldiers charged and started stabbing the beast in the chest and face. It tried fighting back, but with only one arm, one leg, and one eye, it was futile. The minotaur died slowly and painfully.

Luu-Luu picked up her axe and looked at the men. "Good job, fellas. I'm impressed." She said, resting her axe on her shoulder.

Still glowing and covered in minotaur blood, the men said, "Thank you, Lady Luu-Luu. You honor us."

"Let's go, men!" One of them shouted. "Let's not waste time with frivolity! We cannot waste this blessing our Goddess has given us! AHR!"

They all charged forth, back into the fray. Luu-Luu chuckled and spun her great-axe playfully. "I like these boy's spirit. I'll have to recommend most of these men medals when the time comes." Luu-Luu then followed after the soldiers, just as eager as them for a fight.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Celestine had not moved from her spot. She was still glowing like her army, and still posing in a t-shape, keeping her massive spell going.

The soldiers that remained behind stared in awe at what their goddess was doing.

The two dark elves were just as awed as the men. More so Chloe, Olga had seen her friend's powers in action before. They were equals once upon a time and if she had any say about, she would be again. However, it didn't mean that she couldn't admire her equal's power.

"Incredible." Chloe said breathlessly. She hated to admit it, but what the elf goddess was doing was most impressive. She had never seen Olga perform any spell like this before.

"That's Celestine for you. She always had a talent for high level spells." Olga said.

"S-she is powerful . . . but nothing compared to you, my Queen!" Chloe praised.

Olga pat the girl's head, making her blush happily. "Thank you, dear. But it's alright, Celestine and I, as much as I hate to admit it, are equal in power." She looked down at her hands and felt the weak energy of mana spark pathetically between her fingers. "At least, we used to be."

"What spell is she even using?" Chloe asked.

"Divine Protection." Olga answered. "It's a godly spell that can make everyone under her command invulnerable to all forms of damage . . . at least for a short time."

Chloe looked at the glowing high elf. "Is she invulnerable too?"

"No, that's the drawback to such a spell. It can be easily interrupted if the caster is disturbed in any way."

"I see."

"As long as she holds that spot, Celestine can probably keep that spell going for another . . . five minutes? Maybe longer if she keeps her focus."

Back on the battlefield Claudia had cut through many demons. She could see the portcullis straight ahead. They were so close!

"Keep pushing!" She shouted.

She didn't know how much longer her leader's spell would last. They needed to make every second count. She blocked a sword from an orc and sliced open his gut. She then jumped from atop its corpse and impaled her sword in an orc's head.

There was a rapture of cheers, the soldiers, once more inspired by their leaders. Many of them took on the demons unafraid, rushing them and skewering them with all manner of sharp weapons. The spell and obvious fervor of the Alliance gave the Kuroinu Army pause and kept their focus on them solely.

Claudia smirked, that's what they wanted. All the attention on this battle. The knight looked off into the distance and could see a small, lone group, far away from the current fight.

Kaguya was leading a small team of mages around the battlefield. They weren't exactly an infiltration squad like Jason's team, but they were on the move for sabotage.

The priestess looked to her left and could see the battle playing out. It fascinated her, the power her leader held. She made an entire army invincible. The amount of mana that would take would be insurmountable. And yet, the elven goddess proved why she was one of the strongest in Eostia.

She truly admired her Grace.

"Priestess?"

One of her fellow mages drew her out of her musings, since she was slowing down to look at the fight.

"Apologies, let us continue on."

Behind her were four other mages. Three humans, two women, one male, and a high elf man. Their orders were to sneak around the current battle and reach the walls of Ansur. Again, they were not to infiltrate, but to sabotage.

They finally got around and reached the moat. One of the girl mages, Siban, performed an elemental spell and froze a section of the water. The ice created a path that led straight to the massive wall.

Walking across, they all kept a lookout for anyone that could potentially spot them. Thankfully, everyone's eyes were glued onto the glowing army kicking demon ass.

"Excellent work, Siban." Kaguya complimented, making the girl rise on her toes in glee. "Now for the hard part."

She looked up at the gigantic wall. The sight reminded her of her homeland's royal structures. Different in design, but built mighty and to keep the unwanted out. In her travels such architecture was almost universal.

But now was not the time for admirations. She placed her hand on the stone and pushed magic through them. Intricate sigils started glowing and taking shape, revealing elaborate symbols, words, and glyphs. This was Ansur's magical defenses, that all city-fortresses possessed.

The other mages behind her marveled at the complicated magical equations.

"Incredible." Siban breathed.

"Look at all that." The second human female, Hether, marveled.

"How are we going to disable this whole thing?" The sole human male, Drew, asked.

The male high elf, named Aaron, replied hopefully, "I'm sure, Lady Kaguya knows what to do." He smiled.

Kaguya herself was a little unsure. But Celestine had given her some information

"Yes, I believe I do." She held both her hands out toward the symbols and started channeling mana into her hands. "What I'll need you all to do is slowly pass your mana through each other and into me. While you do that, I slowly try to disable the magical protection wards imbedded in the walls. Then we can bring forth the siege weapons and tear down their defenses."

Everyone nodded in understanding. They started doing as she said, two stood behind her on each side, in two lines. They held their hands out and started channeling mana through each other and into Kaguya.

The Priestess then began disassembling the wards.

"How long is this going t take?" Aaron asked.

. . . "As long as it has to."

Back at the Alliance Main Camp, Celestine was beginning to exhaust. Her golden light was waning, her spell losing energy and focus. She tried reasserting herself to hold a bit longer. The longer she lasted, the closer her people got to Ansur without anyone dying.

"She can't hold that spell much longer." Olga observed quietly.

"The army got pretty close already, why not call off the spell and save some of her energy?" Chloe asked.

"Because she wants all of her men to live through this." Olga answered.

". . . That's impossible." Chloe stated.

"It is . . . doesn't stop her from trying."

The soldiers left behind to guard Celestine and the camp had watched their leader with awe and admiration. Their goddess was protecting them! And even though she had already gotten them so far, she was still fighting despite the clear exhaustion. Seeing her strength diminish, everyone started cheering the elven goddess on.

The two dark elves looked around at all the clapping and cheering and the hollers of encouragement. They had never seen anything like this before. The closest Olga had ever gotten of this kind of admiration was when she would declare the demons to attack and take whatever they wanted. Even then, they were cheering for their perverse, sick debauchery. These men were cheering for their leader. FOR Celestine.

And the amazing thing was, Celestine seemed to take their encouragement and push through her exhaustion. Rising higher and glowing brighter.

Olga . . . was a bit jealous of this.

One of the soldiers was taken out of his cheering when he heard a strange noise come from behind him. He turned around, facing a bush and walked toward it. He examined it and found nothing inside. Shrugging, he was going to ignore it and return to encouraging his goddess.

Then his head was split in two.

Both the left and right side of his head fell down like a pealed banana. His fresh corpse fell to the ground, spilling blood and brain-matter.

Another distracted soldier was then beheaded. Followed by the bisecting of another soldier. Then another dead soldier and then another.

By the time everyone realized they were under attack, five soldiers had been murdered.

Chloe turned to the commotion and realized who their assailants were. "Red Caps!"

Red Cap Goblins to be precise. These goblins were preteen-sized, green-skinned demons, wearing crude leather armor, topped with a red leather cap. In their hands were, long, razor sharp scythes that gleamed with fresh, wet blood.

Chloe immediately took out her daggers and got to the front of the soldiers.

"Be careful!" she warned. "These bastards aren't your typical goblins. Their elite assassins, that'll take every advantage against you. Watch each other's backs!"

The goblins smiled sadistically. There were already three exposed, with three more coming out of the shadows. This worried Chloe as these guys were no joke. They weren't elite for nothing. She and Olga would send them on only the most impossible assassinations. Some of them wouldn't come back, but a majority of them would.

The goblins giggled menacingly and lunged forward, blades brought back, ready for killing.

Soldiers raised up their shields, blocking the sinister scythes. The red caps were stronger than they looked as even the highly trained soldiers could barely hold them back.

Chloe blocked her own red cap, his blade nearly sunk into her shoulder, while her daggers came dangerously close to the demon's neck. The red cap chuckled, drooling slightly as he got close enough to the dark elf to sniff her lustfully.

Disgusted, Chloe pushed the demon off and kicked him away. She looked to her left and saw one soldier futilely fend off a red cap, but it was too much for him and got his arm cut off. Just before he could be finished, Chloe saved him by throwing her dagger, embedding it in the goblin's skull.

The demon that Chloe was previously fighting returned to her, now angered that one of his own was killed so easily. His massive swings, forced Chloe back, secluding her from the rest of the group. Chloe kept blocking with her only dagger, but that was all she could do.

Then suddenly, a second red cap joined the fight and tried slicing her from behind. Chloe ducked underneath and gave a back-kick to the goblin. She then swung her dagger repelling another scythe swing, then spinning around to kick the demon in the face.

A red cap then tried cutting off her head again. Chloe ducked and rolled out of the way, then lunged at the red cap. She went on the offensive, this time pushing the red cap back. Angered, the red cap, tried fighting back, taking on the offensive. But that was a mistake, as it left an opening for the dark elf to take advantage of. She left several cuts on the goblin, nonfatal, but they hurt badly.

Before Chloe could finish off the downed goblin, the second goblin came back after recovering from her kick. It distracted Chloe, allowing the other red cap to recover and join his fellow goblin.

Chloe was now back on the defense, blocking two long scythes with a measly dagger. She was good, better than good, she was the Queen's right hand and knife, but red caps were still elite killers.

They came at her fast, she blocked them fast. Sparks flew all over from the swift clashing of blades. The goblins got in good and gave her some stinging, deep cuts. It soon became too much for her and she was pushed down. The goblins stood over her intimidatingly. They giggled, eager to make the elf suffer before her demise.

For a moment, Chloe thought this would be the end, but then her other dagger hit one of the goblins hilt first, making the red cap stumble back in slight pain. She saw her dagger fall midflight and quickly reached for it. The red cap saw this and brought down his weapon.

But Chloe was quicker, having caught her knife and spin around to deflect the scythe. The she stabbed the goblin in the chest.

The red cap looked down and saw the weapon intruding his body. It was about to scream out, but Chloe had cut open its throat, releasing a high-pitched wheeze. The second red cap, the one that was hit by the flying knife, saw this and attacked in outrage. But this time, Chloe was ready.

She jumped back from the blow, then lunged forward like a cat, bringing down the two daggers. The red cap blocked her with the shaft of his weapon. The two struggled for dominance, with the goblin cockily thinking it had the advantage. But Chloe simply struck the goblin in the testicles, making it double over.

This created an opening for Chloe, and she brought down her two daggers onto the demon's skull.

When both red caps were dead, she looked over at the one that threw her knife. It was the soldier that got his arm lopped off a while ago. The one she saved. He was a young man, couldn't have been any older than twenty in human years. He had dark circles under his eyes, and super pale. His stump of an arm was still bleeding badly.

He smiled at her, wordlessly saying "we're even." Even Chloe couldn't help but return the smile.

Unfortunately, the red caps were proving their reputations as assassins. The guarding soldiers had only managed to kill one of the goblins, so only three remained. But the red caps had killed more soldiers. Some were flat out dead, beheaded, cut down by the scythes or had lost limbs, severed very painfully and left to bleed out.

One of the remaining goblins took advantage of the haggard soldiers and rushed straight for the still glowing Celestine.

"Shit!" Chloe cursed and rushed after the goblin.

"Chloe, stop him!" Olga shouted from her safe spot, worriedly.

Chloe picked up speed on her Queen's command, but she knew she wouldn't make it. So, she did the only thing she could do, throw her knife once more, making it spin through the air and bury in the back of the goblin.

The red cap slid to a halt. Chloe thought she had the demon dead to rights, but then it started getting up and pulled the blade out of its back. Snarling, the goblin chucked the bloody dagger at the still Celestine.

"No!" Chloe screamed, restarting her run to stop the attack, but once again, she knew she wouldn't make it and the dagger would hit the elf goddess' right in the back, not only stopping the spell prematurely, but killing her as well.

Olga saw the knife fly through the air with deathly intent. It was heading straight toward her friend, the one person she truly respected above all else. Someone that saved her life when millions of others would see her dead.

And she could do nothing to save Celestine.

"NOOOOOO!" Olga refused to believe that and threw out her hand. Mana barely leaked through her hands, it was hardly a trickle. But she pushed! Pushed the mana out as hard as she could, to the point of pain.

It hurt so much forcing the mana out, but she had to. For Celestine. She just needed enough for one simple spell.

She closed her eyes and focused on the knife. Mana released from her hand and the knife was knocked off course by an invisible force. However, though she saved Celestine's life, she only had enough power to knock it off course slightly. So the blade kept going and cut Celestine's arm.

The goddess-queen flinched in pain and the golden aura around her dissipated. This resulted in her army also losing the glowing, magical enhancement.

Celestine dropped to her knees, clutching her bleeding arm. She looked on at her army as they were no longer immune to damage and the demons were now killing her men. She was horrified at the sight and cursed herself for breaking the spell too soon.

Something walked up behind her. Looking back, her horror increased when she saw the red cap looming over her evilly. Normally she could handle a creature like this easily, but after using one of her more powerful spells, she was completely drained.

Before the goblin could even touch her, Chloe was already in front of Celestine and sliced off the red cap's hand.

The goblin retracted, looking at his blood-spurting stump. Chloe glared at the creature, silently telling him he would not go any further.

"Thank you, Chloe."

Chloe scowled distastefully. "Don't thank me, I do this only for my mistress. I couldn't really care what happens to you." She looked behind her at Celestine. "But my queen would be very sad if you were to die."

Celestine, nevertheless smiled. But then her smile turned into shock. "Look out!"

The one-handed goblin tried attacking, forcing Chloe to block, but then three more red caps showed up out of the blue. Reinforcements that hid in the shadows in case they were needed.

This was really bad. The soldiers were already weakened and on the verge of death. Now more were coming out ready to finish them. Chloe was one of the most skilled combatants in the area, but even she could only do so much against such deadly foes. She was being pushed back by the new goblins.

All Celestine could do was watch on. She cursed her weakness at this time. She hardly had any mana left to help in the fight.

Suddenly, Olga stumbled over to her. The dark elf could barely stand, the forcing of her magic did a number on her. But she was too prideful to crawl.

"Olga!" Celestine cried. "Are you alright?" The poor woman looked haggard, just walking over was too much, making her breathing heavily.

The dark elf removed the light elf's hands from her. "I'm fine." She lied. "Here, take this."

She handed her a blue mana potion, contained in a glass vial. This was Olga's "medicine" of sorts. While training to control her magic again, she had to take one of these a day in order for her to not collapse from exhaustion and possibly die.

"No!" Celestine pushed it away. "You need that now more than ever!"

Olga forced it into her friend's hands. She scowled and almost growled at the elf. "At this point it'd be wasted on me. Right now, we need your brand of magic."

"But this won't rejuvenate all my magic." Celestine said. Which was true, the potion wasn't powerful enough to replenish all her mana, just a little.

"No, but it'll be enough to perform a simple spell. One that can both help and hurt the enemy." She said, glowering at the demons. "Now stop arguing and take it!"

The potion was finally in Celestine's hands. The light elf looked between the bottle and Olga and saw the conviction in the dark elf's eyes. This was the best option for everyone.

Celestine drank the entire potion in one go and she could feel a small stream of mana return and flow through her.

She stood up and tossed the bottle to the ground. Everyone, plus the demons stopped what they were doing and looked at the glowing Celestine, who was preparing a spell.

She held out her arms and allowed the glowing aura to snake around them. The demons looked worried as they could sense the light magic emanating from her, but the soldiers and Chloe looked on in awe.

After gathering the mana, Celestine shouted, "Mass Heal!"

And a veil of golden magic passed over all of them. The soldiers who were still alive were cured of any ailment they had, from damage to exhaustion. The soldiers who were on the brink of death, like the ones limbless and bleeding out, no longer felt their pain and a blissful warmth passed through them. Their severed limbs, left lying and bleeding on the dirt, disappeared in a flash and returned back to their owners, much to the shock of the solders. Even Chloe felt herself relieved of any pain or exhaustion. The damage the goblins dealt was nonexistent.

As for the goblins, the red caps were screaming in pain. The light magic of Mass Heal passed through them too, but because they were creatures of darkness and evil, instead of healing them, it damaged them. It felt like their insides were on fire, some of their blood vessels boiled and burst open, making them bleed from every orifice. They screamed and screamed, gripping their bodies in excruciating agony.

When the spell ended, all of the soldiers and Chloe were at full health and even rejuvenated. The goblins, however, were lying on the ground, covered in blood, and could barely stand.

After they got over their shock, the soldiers and dark elf assassin approached the goblins.

The green skin demons looked up and saw the eager grins on their faces, looking down at them. None of the men's looks matched Chloe's though, who bared her teeth with a smile that reminded them of . . . themselves, minus the lechery.

The solders, raised their weapons and started bashing them into the red caps, making them scream out in pain. Bones cracked and blood spurt out, with every swing covering the soldiers. Chloe took her time too with her twin daggers, ripping open the goblins like frogs.

Celestine dropped back down, now completely drained of mana again. Both she and Olga watched on as the elite red caps were finished off. Celestine, however, looked out toward the battlefield. Her people were no longer protected by her Goddess Protection. Olga saw her worried look and grabbed her shoulder.

"You can't save everyone."

"I know . . . but I really wanted to try."

Olga nodded. "Now it's up to them."

The second the spell was disrupted, all of the Alliance lost their glowing, indestructible aura. Its immediate loss came out of nowhere and surprised the army. This left them, literally and figuratively, vulnerable to the Kuroinu. The demons, despite losing more than half of their starting forces, took advantage of this and began slaughtering them all.

Claudia growled in frustration; they were so close! Now they had to push through the rest of the way.

"Form up!" Claudia called at her highest tone of voice. Unfortunately, most of the army was too spread out and focused on the enemy they couldn't comprehend her.

"This is bad." Luu-Luu came to her side. "The shock of losing their invulnerability has instilled fear in them now. They can hardly hear us."

This was bad. This was why Celestine wasn't always brought into battle. She made fighting too easy with her enhancement spells. Made her army too cocky and now things were sideways in the worse ways.

The two fighters looked around at the carnage. Despite winning a moment ago, the Army was now terrified of the demons, ripping them apart, limb by bloody limb.

Claudia looked over to the city walls and still the magical wards stood.

"Kaguya has yet to take down the magical protections on the city walls. We need to buy more time."

Luu-Luu glanced at the warrior. "Well then, we better get to work." She smirked. "Throw me."

Claudia smirked back. "As you wish." Her body glowed with a subtle white aura and picked the dwarf up by her cape. She spun around at high speed and tossed the dwarf like a ball.

"WWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Luu-Luu squeed as she flew through the air. She lifted her heavy axe up and started spinning in a circle as she descended.

The demons looked up to see the spinning girl of death and made to run, but the dwarf landed with the impact of a crashing tornado meteor. Killing many of the demons and then killed many more when she took off running for them, swinging her axe

Claudia herself took a deep breath and gathered her composure. The orcs saw the woman just standing there with her eyes closed and thought her easy prey. They charged, ready to strike and take her for their pleasure.

But once they were close enough, Claudia opened her eyes and struck with a sword glowing in white aura. She cut through each of the attacking demons. Their wounds were deep, but not fatal. Just when they were about to turn and attack her again, their fresh wounds began to glow white and burn like a hot sun.

The orcs screamed in pain as their wounds burned them from the inside out with white fire.

Claudia smirked as all the enemies around her backed off. She would let none of them escape her power.

Her speed increased and she caught up with the demons, striking them down and cutting off their heads. White flames engulfed each demon, incinerating them to ash. Some demons attacked, striking the woman in the back and chest.

But the swords didn't even cut or pierce her body, despite nothing there to protect her. Claudia narrowed her eyes at the daring demons and cut them all down in one arc of her blade. Her magical armor may seem impractical to the naked eye, but it's impervious to most damage.

Some imps flew overhead and bombarded the woman with arrows. The missiles shattered upon impact. Claudia brought her sword close to her face, she brought forth some divine energy, engulfing her weapon in a white fire-like energy. She pointed upward, shooting the energy like a firework and when it got close to the imps it exploded like one. It flash-fried the demons, burning them and dropping them to the ground like dead, roasted fowl.

The soldiers all around looked on with awe at their commander. Her sword strikes were professional and precise, with the added benefit of greatly hurting the demons. Her armor though peculiar and distracting, was the perfect trap that drew in the demons, allowing her to strike them down with her gifted abilities when they eagerly came too close.

And her powers were just as the rumors said. They had heard that Sir Levantine was blessed by their goddess-queen Celestine, becoming her Paladin. Now she bore not only great speed, strength, and stamina, but held divine light inside her to vanquish evil forces such as the demons . . . so long as she kept her Oath of defending the innocent.

When most of the demons around her were dead, Claudia addressed the men with the authority that was befitting of her status.

"FALL IN, MEN!" Her voice carried to all that could hear her and many could. "YOU WANT TO LIVE OR DIE?!" Her deep, commanding voice permeated through them, making them stand straight and hold their weapons tightly.

"LIVE!" They all shouted.

"THEN GET YOUR ASSES IN LINE AND SHOW THESE DEMONS THE TRUE STRENGTH OF THE ALLIANCE!"

"MA'AM, YES MA'AM!" All the soldiers started rallying to her call, forming up and readying for what they prepared.

"CELESTINE HAS GIVEN US THIS CHANCE! WE WILL NOT WASTE HER BLESSING! BECAUSE SHE PROTECTED US, WE WILL NOW PROTECT HER!" She moved around them, looking at each soldier.

None showed fear or cowardice like a moment ago. Her voice had stomped their fears and turned it into courage, reminding them that they were soldiers. Soldiers with a righteous cause, fighting for a woman that tried protecting them.

Claudia pointed her sword toward the demons. "GATHER YOUR BRAVERY MEN AND CHARGE THE FILTH THAT DARES TO DEFILE OUR HOME, COUNTRY, AND GODDESS! RAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The army, now composed thanks to the rallying cries of Celestine's knight and paladin, charged the demons, stupefied by the woman's loud words.

The demons fought back, but now the Alliance was once again fighting with the fervor of an invincible army. But this time they were more coordinated. They fought together with the help of Sir Levantine, fighting with tact and teamwork. Though the battle was still a bloody, the Alliance was no longer floundering like they were previously.

Schmidt looked from atop his stronghold, his eyes practically bulging out, and his teeth grit into a mad snarl. This was not how he expected any of this to go! It was bad enough that the Alliance became temporarily invulnerable, but now they were too close for their siege weapons to do any massive damage. Sure, they could fire a rain of arrows from where they were, but the fact that was all they could do . . .

Not to mention, there were more of them than the demons down below. Sure, the Alliance soldiers were getting killed now, but that damned paladin bitch Claudia managed to inspire and rally her troops to make them more effective.

"This is complete bullshit!" Schmidt screeched.

"We still have the advantage of our walls, Schmidt." Resse pointed out.

"I agree with the dog." Slayne added in. "Even if they kill all the demons down there, they'll still have to get past our defense and even by some miracle they get past that, there's still another army waiting for them inside. They'll have exhausted themselves by then."

Schmidt growled. "I still don't like this. That bitch-goddess, her damn army, and that helmeted freak . . . GGRRR, making a fool outta me!"

"Brr! Brr! Speaking of our former city-ruler, I don't see him among the army." Boaris noticed.

"Maybe he's staying back, defending Celestine." Resse suggested. "Maybe the red caps finished him off with the others."

"They should be back soon. Hopefully with that merc's head on a platter." Schmidt grumbled.

"And with those beautiful women too, Brr!" Boaris exclaimed excitedly. "I can't wait to fondle Celestine's body, maybe even have a little taste before she's sent off to Vault."

"You know what I said, you greedy pig!" Schmidt snapped. "Vault wants her delivered intact so he can make a show of her defeat and conversion. Her AND Olga; anyone else you're free to take a shot at."

Disappointed, Boaris sighed. "Fine."

"That Claudia truly is an impressive fighter." Resse noted. "If she and her army do make in here, I'd like to fight her."

"Don't even jo—"

Suddenly the ground beneath them started to shake, making them all lose their balance for a moment. Some of the Kuroinu soldiers fell completely on their asses and couldn't get up. Schmidt held himself in place by holding onto the ramparts.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Is someone striking the walls?!"

"Impossible! Even with siege weapons, these battlements with their magical wards would protect us!"

"Well something's going on with them!"

Schmidt looked down at the walls. His eyes widened seeing the protection spells glow brightly, revealing their intricate display. Before he could question what was going on, the wards literally shattered, eliciting a glass like noise upon their destruction. Once they were gone, the quaking stopped. It didn't take long for Schmidt to put together what that meant, but Celestine's right hand said it better.

"The magic wards have fallen! Men, ADVANCE! SIEGE WEAPONS, FORWARD!"

The Alliance was fighting even harder now. Pushing the demons to the brink of death quicker and closing in on the now magicless walls. In the distance, Schmidt could see the siege machines being brought forth, pushed by even more soldiers. Meaning, his red caps had failed to take the camp.

"Shit. SHIT! Archers, FIRE! Take down anyone that gets close! Load the catapults and trebuchets! Do not let those siege machines get any closer!"

"They're going to get through." Slayne pointed out.

"Shut up!" Schmidt screamed, going in to slap the lizard, but the youngest lizardman merely grabbed the hand and shoved Schmidt away.

"The next time you do that, you lose an arm."

Schmidt would have barked and scratched the boy for daring to threaten him, but Resse got in his way.

"There's no time for this pettiness. The enemies are at our gates now. You need to calm yourself and think!"

Schmidt wanted to muzzle the dog, but he was right in the end. He needed to level the playing field again. He needed to one up the Alliance or it'd be all over. He had the extra forces inside the city-fortress and his siegers and archers, but he needed something that could do major damage and even keep Princess Knights away.

Then he remembered the little "gift" that Vault gave him and he unveiled a wicked grin, disturbing his fellow ttraitors.

"You there!" He pointed to a random Black Dog.

"Yes, sir?"

"Send out Vault's gift.'"

Resistance Headquarters

Tachibana and Fang led the group of soldiers and Jason to the Resistance's hideout. They escaped from the sewers, entering into an empty part of town. Then it was a matter of sneaking around to a cellar behind an old inn.

Down in the cellar they were met with the pointy heads of spears. Once Tachibana and Fang identified themselves, they were allowed through and went even deeper.

They passed by dozens of people. Some looked like fighters, others looked like they were refugees, taken in and protected from the Kuroinu.

"The Dogs have been less than hospitable when they arrived." Tachibana said.

Jason looked over and saw a beastkin getting bandaged up on his head. A woman was lying in a bed in the fetal position, with a dead look on her face. There were some children playing in the corner, they too had far away looks in their eyes.

"I'm assuming there are more people suffering?" Jason asked with dismal sarcasm.

"Before you showed up with an army, the Dogs were abusing the people of Ansur. It was chaos. Women, young and old, human and beastkin alike, were rounded up and made the sex slaves of those bastards. The men that tried fighting back were either killed or left to rot after near-fatal beatings." Tachibana answered.

"Where were you two when the city was being taken?" The merc asked.

Fang answered this time. "Back at the mansion, as always." He took a quick drink before continuing. "Most of the city was on fire before anyone could do anything. Not that anyone could."

"A good portion of the city guard was under Schmidt's payroll and they slaughtered the guards that wouldn't join them." Tachibana clarified.

"Yeah." Fang piped. "They were storming our mansion fast. We killed a few but we were being overwhelmed fast. But then one of the help showed us a secret way out."

"We were running, hiding, and fighting for hours. If not for Kiera and the others we would have likely been captured." Tachibana continued.

Before Jason could ask who Kiera was, muffled shouts could be heard in a room they were walking towards. The noise got louder and louder until Tachibana opened the door.

"We should join in on the fight!"

"Don't be crazy! There's still a ton of enemies waiting on the inside."

"We'd be slaughtered before we reached the main gate."

"It's better than waiting in a hole while others fight for our home!"

"This hole has protected us and many others from those Dogs. Without it we'd be screwed."

The arguing group turned their heads when they heard the door open. The guards standing watch went for their weapons, but everyone relaxed when they saw both Tachibana and Fang. Jason got a look at the individuals that were arguing around the table. All of them were beastkin.

There was a familiar face; Anya, the swan-harpy and one of the councilmen. She was no longer wearing a beautiful dress, instead sporting leather armor that looked odd on her small frame, even weirder it drew more attention to her long neck.

Another familiar face; Fresca, the gato-woman with the pink hair and vibrant eyes. Like Anya she wore a set of leather armor that didn't seem to match her demeanor. Jason supposed most politicians just couldn't wear armor well.

Then there was a lizardman, but he looked nothing like Fang's kind. Fang was tall and lanky, this lizard man was shorter, only going to Fang's chest, but he was stockier, had more muscle, and instead of scales he had more thick, leathery skin. Her wore a mix of metal armor and leather and wielded spiked gauntlets.

The last individual stood between the two, a humanoid wolf-girl. She had a heart shaped face, silver hair and fur on her arms and legs. Her tail swished happily seeing the samurai and lizardman walk in. Covering her body was a set of light metal armor and a sheathed sword tied to her hip.

"Tachibana! Fang! You've returned!" The wolf-girl said happily. "I assume the mission went well?"

"It did indeed, Kiera." Tachibana answered. "More so then we could have hoped."

"Rescued many captives from the RRrrrats." Fang belched. "And got the Captain safe and sound in the infirmary."

"And even better news, we slayed the Rat King and drove off his forces." Tachibana smiled brightly. "Best of all, it was thanks in large to my Master!"

She stepped aside to show Jason and the Princess Knights standing behind her.

Kiera's happy demeanor seemed to fade as she viewed Jason and the others. Even her blue eyes narrowed slightly. The lizardman standing at the table flicked his tongue curiously as he eyed the armored merc.

"The Eighth Shield?" The lizardman asked. "Where've you been?"

"Fighting, same as you." Jason answered plainly.

"Not for Ansur apparently." Kiera stated hushly, but many could hear her still.

"Master, I believe you are familiar with Anya and Fresca, the Harpy and Cat representatives." Tachibana introduced.

"My Shield." Anya greeted courtly. "It is good to see you well."

"If you are here, then I imagine that battle at Feoh was successful-nya?" Fresca asked curiously.

"It was and it's good to see not all the councilman betrayed the Alliance."

"And this is Grell, a freelancer like you, Master."

Grell gave him and the others a smile and nod. "Heard quite a bit about you, a pleasure." He greeted politely.

"You're not part of the Lizardman clans here in Ansur are you?" Jason asked.

Fang answered for the old lizard. "Nah. He's an exotic, not from around these parts."

Exotics was slang for beastkin that traveled outside their native homelands. Many are very unique in both appearance, skills and experience. Jason had met a few during the early days of his career. Exotics were usually mercenaries, if they weren't travelers.

"If I recall, he's uuuuhh . . . ummmm, he's . . ." Fang tried to recall the lizard's species.

"I'm a komodo dragon." Grell answered. "And before you ask, no, I'm not related to actual dragons, komodos are just called that because they're big lizards."

"Interesting. And you are?" He looked to the woman-wolf standing between the Komodo and swan-harpy.

"Kiera of the Crescent Clan." She answered strongly. "I'm the leader of this Resistance."

"Kiera saved us and many others that were trying to escape the Black Dogs." Tachibana added. "She's a talented leader, Goshujin-Sama."

"Is that so?" Jason looked the wolf over, pondering for a quick moment. "And what exactly have you achieved since the Kuroinu takeover?"

Kiera glared. "More then you have. I've saved women from being raped or auctioned off at the Kuroinu's "swap meats." Aided those that were left wounded or tortured by the demons. Been raiding the Dog's supplies to feed and heal my people. I've been keeping the last good part of Ansur safe from those damned demons and humans. Most humans have treated us beastkin badly over the years, but these bastards are a new low for your kind."

"Indeed." Kiera was a bit surprised to hear him agree with her. Most humans would try to defend their kind. She was even more surprised when he praised her next. "Excellent work. I saw the number of civilians out there. In bad shape, but alive and clearly, you're doing everything you can. Thank you for protecting Ansur when I couldn't." He bowed his head gratefully.

"I . . . you're welcome?"

He thumbed to the people behind him. "These are the other Shields of the Alliance. This is Alicia, Prim, and Maia."

The three women returned a friendly greeting.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't here to defend Ansur as is my responsibilities, but I'm here now and with an army."

"We're aware." Grell stated. "Unfortunately, we can't decide on what to do right now."

"What do you mean?" Maia asked confused. "Just attack the Kuroinu on the inside and help us pincer the bastards." She suggested.

Kiera shook her head. "It may look like we have a lot of people, but the fact we've been able to stay in hiding from the Dogs is because we're a small group. We don't have enough to fight back, let alone push in to help the army."

"Seriously?" Maia asked incredulously.

"Wouldn't the risk be worth it if it means liberating Ansur?" Jason asked.

"You don't get just how many Vault sent to the city. Most of his army is here! Even if the Alliance manages to break into the city-fortress, they'll have exhausted themselves by then and the Kuroinu remaining WILL run them down."

"Vault sent that many?" Jason sounded actually surprised.

"He did and we've been suffering for it." Kiera replied, recalling the number of nightmares she's seen in the last few days.

"Surely there is something you can do to help?" Prim said desperately. "I'm sure with the combined effort, we can take Ansur from their clutches."

"I believe we can do it." Grell said. "But wolf-girl here doesn't want to risk it."

"Our people have been through enough!" She barked.

"And what if I tell you what we should do?" Jason asked. His voice was stern, but held no threatening undertone. Regardless Kiera glared.

"You may be the Shield of this city, but you haven't been here since they attacked. I've protected this city and its people since the start of this chaos. I have sheltered children, consoled women, inspired men, and fought with both fang and claw. If the fate of the Beastkin is to be decided it will be decided by a beastkin. That is my responsibility to bear."

The mercenary and wolf-girl held gazes with each other. Though she could not see his eyes, she refused to not stare down or show any weakness. This was her fight and she will keep it that way.

Everyone looked between them wondering what would happen. Almost anything could happen any moment and it made the air so tense you could cut it.

Jason would break the uncomfortable silence and say, "Very well, we shall follow your lead."

Everyone was surprised by his remark, even Kiera herself.

"Sir Jason, are you sure?" Alicia asked.

"I am. She is not wrong. This is her operation; she takes the lead." This made Kiera smile. "However, I also have my own operation and I agree with Grell. It would be best to strike the Kuroinu and join the Army in their assault."

Kiera growled in annoyance, but then sighed. "I want to, really I do, but we just don't have the man power to be effective. At best we could just make a dent."

"Then we even those numbers." Jason stated.

"Even thousands from hundreds?" Kiera drawled. "You make it sound like that's easy."

"It is if you know what to do. If you have a small force use them in impactful ways."

"How?"

"Hit and runs, guerilla tactics, ambushes, blitzkriegs. Strike hard and fast like you are a major force."

"How is that going to help? I told you, there are too many of them!" Kiera barked frustratingly.

Jason looked to his samurai. "Tachibana, do you still have those maps of the sewers you took from the Rat King's horde?"

"Yes, Master." She chirped and fished the old, dirty parchments out.

Jason laid the papers on the table for everyone to see.

"I don't get it." Kiera said, furrowing her brow. "What do the sewers have to do with assaulting the Kuroinu?"

"Depends. From your raids, you wouldn't happen to have gotten your paws on some explosives, would you?"

"As a matter of fact, we did steal a shipment of bombs from the Dogs." Grell answered.

"Then it's not a matter of going through them, but under them."

Battlefield

Claudia decapitated another orc. There were still some demons running amok, but for the most part they had pushed into the front of the city-fortress. With Kaguya dispelling the protection wards on the wall they could now attempt to breach the city.

Just before she could give the order to advance and push the siege machines further, the drawbridge fell open.

For a moment, Claudia thought perhaps that Jason and the others had managed to open the other side for them. But then her instincts were telling her otherwise; something was wrong. Unfortunately, the soldiers didn't have the same internal warning as her.

"The gate is open! Now's our chance!"

"Charge in, men!"

The soldiers were once again high on the inspiration of their leaders and courageously ran towards the exposed entry point.

"No, stop!" Claudia tried to warn, but it was too late. As soon as some of the men reached the halfway of the bridge, a white beam shot from the entrance and vaporized ten soldiers, halting the others in their tracks.

Slowly, a large floating creature came through the gate. It was the size of three fully grown men, both in height and width. It was nothing more than a large, fleshy sphere that moved without the aid of any extremities at all, like it was defying reality itself. It opened up, revealing one massive black eye, with six tentacle appendages that also possessed eyes. The main pupil looked like that of a cat's.

"A Beholder." Claudia mouthed in fear.

The abomination's black eye suddenly brightened, meaning—

"RUN!" Claudia roared.

The soldiers retreated, but many of them could not escape the Beholder's disintegration beam and were reduced to ash.

The abomination floated slowly out, following the fleeing fighters.

"Archers!" Claudia called and a line of snipers came to her side. "Ready!" They got their arrows ready. "Aim!" The pulled the arrows back onto their bowstrings. "Fire!"

The missiles flew, all of them would have been direct hits, had the Beholder not closed its eyes and defended against the projectiles. The arrows merely bounced off its fleshy hide.

"Damn! Reload and continue fire!"

The archers did as ordered and continued to fire. The arrows continued to do nothing but bounce off the abomination's fleshy hide. The Beholder opened up and charged up another disintegration beam.

"RUN!" Claudia ordered her archers. The bowman quickly did as they were told, running in the opposite direction. Claudia grabbed a discarded shield and activated her aura, glowing white. She braced as the beam fired and impacted against her. The paladin could feel herself get pushed back slightly as she tried protecting her people from the blast.

The Beholder finally stopped, but Claudia felt weakened by the attack, even her shield had been reduced to slag. So, she could do nothing when the Beholder's many tentacle-eyes opened up and released their own, less-powerful, beams. These attacks did not disintegrate, but they did kill her men on contact.

The Beholder made it across the drawbridge and the Kuroinu pulled it back up. Claudia could hear Schmidt taunt them from his ivory tower, saying how weak and pathetic they were.

The Beholder used its main beam again, and started blasting the siege weapons now, turning the catapults, trebuchets, and siege-towers into splintery, fiery, ashes.

"Damn!" Claudia cursed. She needed to stop this thing before it annihilated them all! She summoned forth the divine energy once more, drawing it into her blade. White flames danced around her sword before being flung upward into the sky and it came down toward the Beholder like a falling star.

The Beholder looked up, seeing it coming. It used its tentacle-eyes and fired at the falling attack. It missed a few times, but three direct hits reduced the divine fireball to nothing. Then the Beholder turned its gaze on the tired Claudia, who had used a large amount of her power.

The Beholder approached her slowly, getting as close as it could without the danger of the paladin attacking. Claudia was bent to one knee, sword pressed into the ground for support. She could hardly move, let alone get away from the thing. All she could do was scowl at it daringly.

The Beholder's black eye started glowing white and was about to turn the paladin into ash. Not even her enchanted armor could endure its powerful disintegration beam.

But then it was struck in the side by a heavy object burying into its body. Its beam was fired off point and blasted away at the ground. Luu-Luu had struck against the abomination with her axe, burying it deep, causing orange blood to spurt out.

"I got your back, Claudia!" The dwarf shouted, while stomping her foot into the Beholder's side. The demon groaned out in pain as the axe was violently removed from its body. The dwarf spun in the air as she landed near the paladin.

"Here." The dwarf gave Claudia a yellow stamina potion. Claudia quickly drank it, biting back against its bitterness.

"Thank you." Claudia said, standing and throwing the bottle away. Reenergized, Claudia stepped to the side of the dwarf and readied her sword.

The Beholder recovered and seemed to "growl" angrily. Its tentacle-eyes started glowing and fired off concentrated beams. Luu-Luu charged in as Claudia once again defended against the attack. The dwarf weaved left and right, avoiding the individual beams. She intended to get close and kill the demon with her axe.

That would be proven a bit more difficult as the six constant beams mostly kept her at long lengths from the demon. Nevertheless, the dwarf charged through and she thought she would make contact, but the Beholder fired all six on one point at her. Luu-Luu only had a second to bring her axe up and block the attack.

The condensed beams pushed her back, sending her flying, but once the beams subsided, Luu-Luu skidded back unharmed, if just a bit winded. Despite gritting her teeth, the dwarf was smiling as she panted. She wiped away some sweat gathering on her chin.

"Are you alright, Lady Luu-Luu?" Claudia asked, coming up behind her.

"Oh, I'm fine Claudia. In fact, I'm better then fine. I live for these kinds of battles!" A red aura started gathering around her; her battle-lust rising.

"Oh dear." She knew what the little berserker was like when she REALLY got into a fight. "How's your weapon?"

"It's fine." Luu-Luu waved off. "It's made of some of the strongest materials in Eostia; you know this!"

"I do, but I'm just making sure it's in okay condition to fight. A Beholder's attacks are nothing to scoff at."

"You got that right!" Luu-Luu squealed excitedly and charged forth once more. This time Claudia joined her, glowing white to Luu-Luu's red.

The Beholder once again fired off its individual beams and the two warriors dodged them. But then they started using their weapons to deflect them. Luu-Luu's axe was strong enough to take most of the brunt and Claudia's sword was covered in divine aura, making it powerful enough to deflect.

They divided the demon's attention, keeping at most three beams on each other. Little by little the two warriors drew closer until Claudia was able to get near and strike with her sword. She left a deep gash on the demon and the Beholder groaned in pain from the divine, white fire spreading from its wound.

Luu-Luu herself managed to attack after Claudia and added another wound to the demon, but this one was bigger and bloodier. The Beholder backed off slightly, groaning and shaking from the amount of pain it endured.

"Alright!" Luu-Luu cheered. "We're getting it now!"

"Don't celebrate yet, Lady Luu-Luu." Claudia cautioned. "It's still not dead."

"Not yet." The dwarf grinned thirstily. "Let's go!"

Again, the two warriors charged forth and prepared to end the Beholder. But as they got in close for the kill, the Beholder's body burst with a dark energy, pushing the two back and apparently dispelling Claudia's holy fire.

"Damn!" Claudia cursed. "It must be using its own dark powers to heal itself."

"Then let's make this quick." Luu-Luu jumped high and brought down her axe. Claudia remained on the ground intending to attack low.

But the Beholder was ready for them this time. Its tentacles shot out thwacking Luu-Luu away midair and blocking Claudia by swinging its tentacles like whips.

While Claudia was kept at a distance, Luu-Luu tapped into her inner-berserker, glowing red and charged forth with higher speed. The Beholder though was keeping up. It swatted the dwarf away several times. Just as she came in for an attack, the demon would smack her down or away.

It would grow tired of the dwarf's head-strong method and catch her by the neck, mildly choking the small girl.

"Lady Luu-Luu—RGH!" The paladin was batted away, blocking another tentacle with her sword, being kept at a distance.

Luu-Luu had dropped her axe when the demon tightened its hold. She scratched the tentacle, struggling to get it to let go, but it was as strong as her and slowly choking the strength out of her. It brought up one of its other tentacles, opening an eye. Luu-Luu looked at her reflection in its dark pupils. Said reflection was gone when it started glowing. It was going to finish her at point blank range.

"Luu-Luu!" Claudia called out in fear, she couldn't get to her.

Luu-Luu herself just stared ahead. If she was going to die, she would do so staring down her killer. She was a proud dwarf berserker! She would never give the satisfaction of begging for her life to anyone!

Just then, a gust of wind whooshed by and sliced off the charging tentacle.

The demon groaned loudly in pain as blood spurt from the severed extremity. The pain caused it to loosen its grip, which Luu-Luu took the opportunity to free herself and rip off the choking tentacle.

The demon groaned even louder from having two of its eye-tentacles severed.

Luu-Luu threw the tentacle away and retrieved her axe. She retreated to Claudia and both saw what had saved the dwarf: a flying, white and black weasel with a scythe at the end of its tail.

The strange creature rode on the air as if it commanded it and landed on—

"Kaguya!"

The priestess elegantly strode toward the two, her beautiful garments flowed in the gusting wind, untouched by battle, unlike her fellow compatriots.

"Are you alright, Lady Luu-Luu? Lady Claudia?"

"We are fine, thanks to you." Claudia said.

"'Bout time you joined us." Luu-Luu said cheekily.

"Apologies, I was aiding in the battle elsewhere, cleaning up any straggler demons causing trouble for our men." She faced the multi-eyed demon. "I am here now though."

"Yes, you are." Luu-Luu twirled her heavy axe like it was a light baton and pointed it at the demon challengingly. "Let's get back to the fight."

Claudia readied her blade. "Let's."

The Beholder managed to calm down and turn to the three women angrily. The demon fired its remaining four of its six tentacles at them. The two warriors charged forth, dodging and ducking under fire; Kaguya remained behind and sent her Kamaitaichi to attack in her stead.

The sickle-weasel spun in the air like a spinning blade and flew around beam after beam. Unlike Claudia and Luu-Luu who had no choice but to take retreating moves when overwhelmed with firepower, the Kamaitaichi was able to serpentine around the beams and get closer. It would reach the demon, slicing up a lot of its body and even severing another tentacle.

The Beholder groaned, but now it held more rage than anything else. The Kamaitaichi came back around, but this time the Beholder charged up its main beam. It fired the disintegration beam and blew the weasel away.

"You're little weasel friend!" Luu-Luu called worriedly.

"Don't worry." Kaguya calmly said. "It's not dead, it merely went back to where I summoned it from. It seems this Beholder is much more persistent than I thought." She pulled out a paper talisman with her native language scrawled on. "It seems we shall need cover. I will provide it for you two, get ready."

"Got it." Luu-Luu said.

"Understood." Claudia replied.

Kaguya whispered her summoning spell and the paper talisman lit on fire. She threw it out and smoke materialized from it. The smoke took on a large face and arms.

"Enenra. Shield us from the Beholder's sight!" Kaguya commanded.

The Enenra expanded out and surrounded the demon. The Beholder fired its beams on the smoke creature, but they merely past through it unharmed. The Beholder didn't know what to do and just kept firing. It could no longer see its opponents and again, all it could do was attack and hoped it hit something.

It caught a glimpse of something shining falling from the sky. It was another of the paladin's energy attacks. It knew immediately what it had to do and fired its main beam again, blasting the attack, negating it.

But then the little dwarf had fallen through the smoke from its counter. She was hiding behind the paladin's attack to come in for a surprise attack. The Beholder didn't have time to charge up another beam and the dwarf buried her axe in the main eye.

The Beholder screamed now! It shook around as the dwarf kicked the back of her axe, hammering it further in and it couldn't fire its main beam. Then it felt a horrible burning pain in its back. Claudia had managed to get around it and bury her sword in its hide. The magical white fire she created started spreading again and it couldn't dispel it with the little dwarf digging into its eye!

Luu-Luu dislodged her greataxe and started swiping it against the demon's massive eye, blinding it further. Claudia had dealt several blows to the demon already, spreading her holy flames all over the creature's body, even burning another one of its tentacles.

The Beholder swung its remaining tentacles, batting the two warriors away. Claudia slid back, protected by her magical armor and divine energy and Luu-Luu merely corrected her fall, landing perfectly on her feet.

The demon shook around in utter pain, wailing like the wounded monster it was. It no longer cared about protecting the city, now it just wanted to destroy these annoying pests!

With all of its remaining power the Beholder blasted all it had from every remaining ocular organ. It fired disintegration beams in every direction. Some poor Alliance soldiers were wiped away from existence. The walls of Ansur were tattered by the powerful beams. Even some of the Kuroinu got caught in the crossfire. Schmidt himself almost got hit.

"AH! You're supposed to kill them, not me!"

"That thing's gone crazy." Boaris said.

Kaguya got in front of her two allies. "Get behind me girls!"

She took out two paper talismans and imbued magic into them. After giving a little chant she threw them out and they circled around her and her companions. A blue barrier manifested around them, shielding them from the incoming wild attacks.

"Will this hold against that thing?" Luu-Luu questioned.

"We'll see." Kaguya said, continuing to funnel mana into the two talismans.

The Beholder kept spinning and shooting. Faster and faster, it wanted to kill everything, everything, everything, and EVERYTHING! It couldn't feel its pain through all the rage, because if it could it would've realized that the wounds inflicted on its main eyes were ripping and the holy fire spread over its body was mixing volatilely with its demonic energy.

Before it knew it, the Beholder exploded in a large rupture that was felt from a mile away. Even some Kuroinu up on the battlements were knocked over, sending some hurdling down to their deaths. Kaguya managed to keep her barrier up as the demon exploded. She released it when she no longer needed to hold it anymore. She fell tiredly to her knees and the three looked at the destruction the demon left. There was naught but ash and a huge twenty-foot, smoking crater from where the Beholder floated.

"Ae you alright, Lady Kaguya?" Claudia asked in concern.

"Yes. I will be fine."

"Nice job!" Luu-Luu patted her back strongly, knocking the wind out of the poor priestess. "You saved our butts back there!"

Kaguya coughed. "You are welcome." She said, once she recovered. "But it's not over yet. We still need to take the city."

Claudia looked behind her at the remaining forces. "That will be difficult." They still had the numbers to do so, but . . . "That Beholder destroyed our siege weapons. This last stretch will not be easy."

Luu-Luu twirled her axe effortlessly. "Nothing is ever easy and that's what makes it fun. Claudia you get the army together, maybe Kaguya and I can open up that gate."

"Kaguya?" Claudia wanted to make sure the priestess was up for such a task. That fight and the taking down of the wall's wards had no doubt put a strain on her.

"I can . . . I will continue. I will be alright, Lady Levantine." Kaguya assured, as she stood up.

On the battlements, Schmidt was anything but happy. "Fuck. Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUCK!" He slammed his fists on the stone. "What was that worthless piece of shit Vault gave me. Couldn't stand up to those pathetic bitches whatsoever!"

"Relax, Schmidt." Boaris stated. "It at least destroyed their siege weapons and took out a good number of their men. Now it's a war of attrition. They'll be throwing themselves at these walls now, making it easier for us to pick them off."

"They're not favorable, but I do like our odds here. The pig is right." Resse agreed.

"Even if they get inside somehow, they'll have exhausted a good number of their forces by then." Slang added.

Schmidt took a deep breath and tied processing their words. "You're right. We have them by the balls now and all we have to do is squeeze. Things are finally looking our way."

Then the ground started shaking.

Boaris sighed. "You just had to say something."

Suddenly there was a great boom, followed by a series of more booms and the ground rumbled.

"What is that?" Schmidt stumbled over to the wall that overlooked the inside of the city.

Down below, many of the Kuroinu were trying to regain their balance from all the shaking underneath their feet. For a second many wondered if an earthquake hit. But then the ground caved beneath them, taking dozens of men down into the abyss, crushed under fallen stone and dirt.

Three massive, crack-like holes were what remained and the rumbling stopped. Some Dogs checked it out, looking to see where the holes had come from and why they happened.

One dog looked as closely as possible to one of the holes and was killed with a bolt to the brain.

"Huh?" A confused Black Dog dumbly said.

A few more bolts killed the closest Kuroinu and then Grell leapt from the dark hole, claws bared. He slashed some surprised Kuroinu up, downing them or outright killing them. He then grabbed the largest Kuroinu he could find, gripped him by the shoulders, opened his jaw wide and bit down. With astounding strength, Grell ripped the man's head clean off.

"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A howl erupted from the holes, signaling the Resistance forces to charge.

Kiera led the charge, attacking with the ferocity of a wolf. She fought with sword and claw, grappling any Black Dog unfortunate to get into her reach and then introduced the tip of her sword to them. Then the rest came up from the holes, roaring and attacking the surprised Kuroinu.

Suddenly, many Black Dogs were hailed with arrows. From the rooftops, beastkin archers fired on the invaders. Now the inside of the city erupted with war cries and clanking weapons.

Jason and his entourage trudged out of the hole. The mercenary cut down a couple Dogs that tried getting in his way. Tachibana, Alicia, Prim, Maia, and Fang kept most of the enemies off of him as he surveyed the area. He pointed toward the closed drawbridge.

"Get that gate open!" He commanded.

Prim launched some arrows, killing a pair of Kuroinu guarding the levers for the drawbridge. Some Resistance fighters went over and released it. Jason launched a fireball at the last lever, forcing the whole gate to come down.

The Alliance was confused for a moment by the sudden opening, but charged through without hesitation, joining the Resistance in the battle.

Jason looked up and saw a panicking Schmidt. He pointed his sword at the man. "SCHMIIIIIDT!" Alerting every soldier of the traitor's location.

"I'm going after him." He told the others. "Tachibana, Fang, you two with me. The rest of you, stay here and help the others."

Alicia, Prim, and Maia nodded.

"Got it." Alicia said.

"We'll have your back, Sir Jason." Prim promised.

"Don't die now." Maia stated.

"Shit." Schmidt panicked. "Shit, shit, shit, shit! How did everything . . . we gotta move—get outta—"

He turned around to address his cohorts, but Boaris, Resse, and Slayne were no longer there. They were nowhere in sight.

"Where did they go?!" Schmidt screamed in a man's face.

"T-they left a while ago, sir! After those people came running out of the hole." The Kuroinu whimpered.

"FUCK! Those fucking COWARDS!" He shoved the soldier away. "I'll skin those animals and have them for supper! We need to get—get out of here . . ."

Before he could even take two steps to the exit, Jason and his team burst through the door. The mercenary locked on to the traitor. "Schmidt." Jason growled.

"Fuck. Fuck! Don't just stand there, protect me!" He shoved some soldiers toward the three. Schmidt made a run for it in the opposite direction.

Tachibana and Fang made a b-line to the Dogs. The samurai parried a few sword swings before slicing open the man's jugular.

Fang danced around his opponent drunkenly, annoying the man. He then used his tail to slip the man up and then slammed his talons into the man's gut, rupturing them.

More Kuroinu arrived on the scene though, blocking their path. The samurai and lizard accepted the challenge and beat a few away.

"Master, go! We shall handle these fools. G after Schmidt1"

"Are you certain?" Jason asked, making sure his compatriots weren't biting off more than they could chew.

Fang chopped another Kuroinu in the neck, breaking it and his collarbone. "Relax, bosh—we got thish!"

Jason nodded and charged through after the traitor.

"Not so fast!" A pair of Black Dogs tried to block his way.

Jason rolled underneath then and slashed them in the back. He didn't kill them though, he merely wounded them and kept moving.

One Kuroinu tried stopping him with a large axe. He took three major swings, before Jason stabbed him in the leg. He was then kicked in the face; his axe getting taken away. Jason then used his new axe and buried it in the Kuroinu.

Jason continued his chase and caught up with Schmidt, but he was surrounded by six Kuroinu now.

"You're really making me work for my plunder, eh Jas?" Schmidt tried to act casual.

Jason's response was throwing the axe at one of Schmidt's guards; killing him on impact.

"Fucking get that fucker!" He screamed.

The remaining five charged forward.

Jason blocked one sword and surprised the Black Dog by pulling out a dirk. He swiped the dirk across the man's belly, opening it up and spilling guts. Jason then pushed the man's sword, cutting open his neck.

The third and fourth tried attacking him from two directions. The merc activated his Shield spell and defended against their measly attacks. When an opening presented itself, he dropped the spell and stabbed one of them in the gut with his dirk; it wasn't deep though, just painful. He then quickly spun around, parrying a sword blow. Two swords clashed and Jason pushed the man back, by pressing his dirk against his sword. With a little slide and redirection, Jason managed to cross-slice open the Kuroinu's neck.

The other Kuroinu he had just stabbed tried going for his head, but Jason moved out of the way swiftly and the man killed his comrade. Jason then sliced off his sword arm in an upward slash. Bleeding from the sternum and arm, Jason ended the fool's suffering by decapitating him.

The fourth Black Dog intended a sneak attack and went to pierce his back. Jason moved to block the sword, but the momentum caused him to lose his weapon. He quickly brought up his dirk, blocking several sword blows, but he was being pushed back.

The Black Dog put more of his weight into it and knocked the merc down. The fifth Kuroinu joined his comrade in finishing Jason off, bringing their blades down.

"Haste!" Jason quickly crawled away, both swords missing him. He grabbed one of the fallen swords, just in time to swipe another sword swing away. He then quickly stabbed his dirk into the Kuroinu's foot. The man yelled out in pain. He swung his sword trying to get Jason, but the merc was out of reach and regaining his position.

The fifth Kuroinu took advantage when he could and went after Jason. Haste was still activated for another few seconds, so he ended the fifth Kuroinu swiftly, by parrying one sword blow, then slashed him on the side, then the chest and finally stabbing him through the back.

The last Kuroinu remained, still stuck to the ground from Jason's dirk. He struggled to pull it out, but was getting nowhere. Jason slowly approached and the two traded blows. But a quick kick caused the man to scream in pain and get distracted. The mercenary then cleaved his head in two.

Jason removed his dirk and turned to face Schmidt. Both his blades were held out, at the ready. "Next."

"Shit!" Schmidt looked like he was sweating, but he tried maintaining in cool behavior. "You're really causing me all kinds of stress right now, Jas."

The mercenary didn't respond and waited for the traitor to make the first move. Schmidt fidgeted frustratingly and ruefully put on his helmet and unsheathed his own sword.

"Fucking, fuck—damn you, bastard shit-stain! Why couldn't you have just fucking died!"

He charged forth and both their swords clashed.

They each deflected sword blow after sword blow. Jason proved to be the faster one, able to get away and return with avengeance. However, Schmidt was wearing thick plate armor, so any strikes that would be fatal slid or bounced off the traitor.

Jason would strike his shoulder; he'd hit the pauldron. He stabbed the chest; the breast plate was too strong. He went for piercing the leg; the cuiss protected him.

Schmidt on the other hand, had no trouble dishing out damage. When he could hit Jason, they would be shallow, but he managed to get Jason in the arm, a slight cut on the leg, and even delivered a good groin kick.

Jason fell, the strength in his legs giving way. Schmidt made to end the merc, but Jason used his momentum and rolled out of the way; Schmidt's sword hit the ground. Having rolled behind the traitor, Jason swung back with his dirk, but only created sparks, slicing metal against metal.

Schmidt took a full arc swing behind him. He almost took off Jason's head, but the nimble merc fell back. He lifted up his legs and gave a swift kick to the traitor, causing Schmidt to stumble back.

Jason jumped back up, readying his blades again. Schmidt caught himself and corrected his stance, also ready to continue.

They charged; trading blows once more. Their clash resulted in another stalemate and they backed off, taking a moment of rest.

They circled one another until they traded places. Schmidt ran forward again, but instead of meeting him, Jason threw his dirk at his face. Schmidt tripped up, trying to deflect the thrown weapon, but this was what Jason wanted. The merc ran for the axe he'd thrown and pried it out of the corpse.

Schmidt tried stopping him, but the merc again tossed his sword at the traitor. Distracted by the thrown weapon and blocking it, Jason came up and slashed upward with the big axe. He managed to cut the armor, leaving a large gash and from the sound of Schmidt's grunts, he must have hit flesh too.

"Bastard!" Schmidt cursed at him.

Jason swung the axe around him and pointed it at the traitor challengingly. Schmidt took the challenge and struck. Jason guarded with the shaft of the axe. With it being a heavier weapon, he couldn't strike as fast like a sword, however . . .

"Argh!" Jason once again got the guy, cutting open his pauldron.

"RGH!" Got a bit of a shallow cut on the grieve, but at least the armor got damaged.

"Fuck!" Schmidt backed off when the axe came dangerously close to slicing open in his gut.

Tired of the mercenary getting the edge on him, Schmidt stepped up his game and struck once more. He was again, blocked by Jason, but this time, he made sure not to give Jason any room to swing the axe-head at him.

He got his opening when Jason took a swing at him and grabbed the axe, mid swing under the head. Schmidt swung his sword up, breaking the axe's shaft and getting a good cut on Jason.

Jason stumbled back, surprised and hurt by the attack. Schmidt didn't relent though and kept swinging. Jason blocked flimsily with his broken weapon. The axe-less shaft was turned to splinters with each strike and Jason had to rely on the other part. But because the shaft was already broken badly, Schmidt managed to slice off the axe-head easily.

Schmidt gave the mercenary and hard punch to the helmet with his armored hand . . . hard. Jason again stumbled back, disoriented, and fell. He was sure, Schmidt had dented his helmet.

"I may have lost the battle, but I'll at least win this fight." He kicked Jason for petty measure. "Maybe if I bring your head to Vault, he'll give me another chance of running a city." He gave another swift kick to Jason's side.

The merc kept trying to get up, but the traitor was just having fun with him kicking him while he's down. Schmidt moved to take one more kick, but this time, Jason pulled out a small carving knife and shoved it between the plates of his armored leg. Schmidt screamed out in pain and hopped around. He pulled it out painfully, he was sure it hit bone, but thankfully nothing too vital. He turned to cut the bastard down to size, but found the merc stood up and in his hand was a glass vial.

Jason threw the vial and it impacted against Schmidt's armor.

"What the—?"

"Flare!" Jason launched a fireball from his hand.

It made contact with Schmidt and engulfed him in flames. Jason believed he had finally ended the bastard . . . but he was quickly proven wrong.

Schmidt chuckled confidently. His armor glowed blue as the flames slowly dissipated.

"Nice try, but no dice, Jas. Did I forget to mention that my new armor is engraved with protection runes?" He held himself out and showed off the magical runes glowing, protecting him from the fire.

"Your cheap magic tricks won't have any effect on me, Jas. I'm immune to all forms of elemental attacks. Light me on fire? Protected. Try to freeze me alive? Can't do it. Try to cut me down with wind magic? Negated. So now your only option is for you to fight me head on like a real man."

"Immune to elemental attacks?" Jason mumbled. He looked behind himself to the edge of the broken-down wall. An idea had formed.

Jason ran forward and picked up a sword in the process. Schmidt met him half way. He was now smiling the whole time, his cockiness getting the better of him. Jason was attacking a lot faster now, but with more coordination. He struck only when needed. He jumped, shifted, and slid away from most of Schmidt's attacks, but he went in for the strike when he found an opening.

One opening presented itself when Jason parried one of Schmidt's attacks, he slashed upward toward Schmidt's face, but the traitor dodged it only barely by backpedaling.

Jason's sword came close to Schmidt's head. Only grazing it, cutting off the strap of his helmet. The helmet came off and clattered to the ground. Schmidt rubbed his neck and saw a trickle of blood seep onto his hand.

His ego once again damaged, Schmidt snarled and glared at Jason. "You think your so fucking better than me, huh, you arrogant fuck!"

He clashed with Jason again, but the merc weirdly grappled Schmidt while they were sword locked. He spun around with him and then gave a swift kick. Schmidt stumbled back, but he was quick to correct and be ready for anything the merc brought.

But Jason just stood calmly and didn't even have his sword at the ready.

"I know I'm smarter than you, at least." Jason said, pissing Schmidt off even more.

Just as Schmidt took the first step to attack, Jason threw another bottle of oil, but Schmidt shattered it midair with his sword. He looked at the gooey substance drip to the floor and snorted.

"Smart?" He scoffed. "Did you already forget? Elemental attacks have no effect on me, idiot!"

"Your armor is unaffected by elements . . . but you aren't." Jason shot forward and clashed one more time with Schmidt.

The traitor blocked then held Jason back, but then the merc moved the swords out of the way and shouldered Schmidt.

Schmidt was pushed back and his feet slipped on the oil beneath him.

"Wahahahahahahah!" He yelled as he kept falling back. He flailed his arms around trying to regain balance, but the oil kept making him slip back. Before he realized it, he fell over the edge of the wall, where a boulder had smashed and cracked apart the stone.

Schmidt was now looking upward, Jason and the top of Ansur's wall getting farther away. He screamed all the way down until he crashed back first into the moat.

Under the water, Schmidt tried swimming back to the top, but his armor was dragging him down. He was sinking down like a rock, to the bottom of the moat. Schmidt haphazardly tried holding his breath, while he moved to remove his plate armor.

Every second though was causing him to panic and exert himself. His lungs felt like they were on fire! He already didn't have much oxygen when he fell, but then his panic caused him to release his breath, absorbing water.

Soon he found he was too weak to remove his armor. His face turned blue as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His last sight was of the light of the sun getting further and further away from him. The last sight of Schmidt was of him falling into the darkness below.

Jason had watched from atop the ramparts. He watched the wake of where Schmidt had fallen and observed the bubbles. Once the waters calmed and no bubbled continued to rise, he knew he had won.

That was when Fang and Tachibana burst through the door. They were posed for combat, but all they saw were corpses and Jason. They walked up to the mercenary. He didn't say anything, just kept looking down at the moat, much to their confusion.

"Master?" Tachibana tried getting his attention.

"Yeah?"

"Where's Schmidt?"

Jason then turned on his heels walking the opposite direction. "He went for a swim."

The two looked at each other, sharing the same thought and looked over the edge.

Jason needed to inform the whole battle that the leading commander was dead. He would usually try to get all leading parties; the three traitorous beastmen, Boaris, Resse, and Slayne, but there was no trace of them. Perhaps maybe among the dead? He'd check later, for now he had one current death.

He swiped Schmidt's helmet from the ground and went to stand on the edge of the rampart overlooking the city. More fighting was still going on, all the more reason to declare this.

So, at the top of his lungs he yelled, "Jacque Schmidt, is DEAD!" Hoisting over his head the defeated armor piece of his enemy.

Many stopped fighting when they heard the declaration. The remaining Kuroinu, both human and demon alike looked around and saw the number of fallen allies. Combine that with their fortifications breached and the number of enemies around them, they knew only two things they could do.

Only a few continued to fight to the death, the others threw down their weapons and got on their knees, hands placed upon their heads in surrender.

The Alliance and Resistance cheered loud enough for all of Eostia to hear.

Ansur had been liberated.

This is thirty chapters long people, over 15k words, almost 16k. Thank you for your patience. Hope you enjoyed the read.