The Ciel army slowly marched towards the mouth of the plateau. Their speed was limited by the supply carts kept in the center of the formation. In a normal assault, those supplies would have been left in the encampment under the watchful eye of a detachment of soldiers but it was clear the Ciel were still warry of my presence. They moved carefully with just as many soldiers ready to fight at the rear of the formation as there were at the front.
“How do you want to do this?” Dad asked as he observed the enemy’s march through the shadows of the night, “We are still vastly outnumbered. If we commit to a direct assault, the Ciel army will turn on us before we can do much damage, but if we do anything less than a full assault, we will not exert enough pressure on the army to disrupt their formations.”
“Why would we need to risk our own troops for something like that?” I replied with a grin.
I looked to the south where the howls of Demonkin were emerging from the blood mist. The Demons may command their lesser kin but that authority was not absolute. If prey was directly in front of them and provoking them, Demonkin would often break ranks to pursue it. Why would we need to attack the Ciel army ourselves when I could just use the Demonkin to do it for us. For that, however, we needed some very good bait.
“I will be right back. Prepare stage three and be ready on my mark,” I said as my domain wrapped around my body. My feet lifted off the ground as I flew up into the air.
“Be careful.” I heard Mom shout into the night.
Wind whipped at my hair as I peered through the darkness. A night attack held a great many advantages for the Demonkin army. While not all Demonkin had better night vision than humans, most did. General Arthur would be pushed hard tonight. Our death toll would likely be much higher this time around.
Above me, I could already feel the clash of domains as our warriors met with the Demons and Alphas. The sporadic light of Sebastion’s innate talent and Cyra’s flame lit up the sky like lightning strikes. At a quick glance, I counted at least three more Alphas present than during the first assault. It was not a good sign that so many had made it through the unstable rifts in the realm in just two days.
As much as I wanted to help, I was still too weak to do much more than distract a couple Alphas. I had to focus on the task at hand and bring an end to the threat of the Ciel Empire as quickly as possible.
To that end, I flew quickly towards where the Demonkin horde was beginning its stampede towards the plateau. A few flying Demonkin quickly noticed my approach and tried to dive at me. For those few, I showed no mercy. Golden flames erupted from glyphs surrounding me and devoured the Demonkin before they could fight back.
My actions drew the attention of several other nearby Demonkin. I flew close to the ground, close enough that the myriad of monsters would almost be able to swipe at me if I was not careful. A few ranged attacks of thorns and acid hit my domain armor and I could feel my energy reserve rapidly draining in response. I needed to do this quick or I would be at the mercy of the horde and torn limb from limb.
Taking a deep breath, green and blue flames swirled around me. Ignoring the Demonkin trying to overwhelm my defenses I focused on that fire. One flame became two and two became four. Within a few seconds, hundreds of small candlelights danced around me. Before I had become an Adept, controlling so many separate instances of my talent would have been impossible. Even with my new and improved finesse this still taxed my mind to its limit. Luckily, I did not have to maintain the hundreds of flames for very long.
With a wave of my hand, the hundreds of small flames flew out. It was almost mesmerizing as a rain of colorful fire poured down. Each candle light found its own target as it spread out in every direction. The green and blue fire completely ignore the thick hides of the Demonkin as it sunk into their flesh. These little flames were nowhere near strong enough to kill any of the creatures that surrounded me but it was enough to cause intense, persistent pain.
Furious roars of several hundred Demonkin shook the night. A sea of glowing red eyes locked onto me with extreme bloodlust and savagery.
I stuck out my tongue at the Demonkin as I flew low enough for them to try and claw me before racing away. “Catch me if you can!”
I could smell the putrid sulfur of the monsters’ breath as I stayed just barely out of reach. Claws scraped against my domain armor more than once whenever I misjudged the speed or reach of one of the creatures.
My choice of leading the Demonkin personally carried more than a little risk. If I was hit hard enough to fall to the ground, the swarm of Demonkin would be on me before I could even blink. My domain armor was sturdy but it also drained energy fast. If I was stuck within the horde I would die in seconds. However, I was still the best choice to act as a diversion. None of my undead would be able to rile up so many of the creatures like I was, nor would they be guaranteed to make it back to the Ciel army before getting torn apart. It could only be me.
I barely dodged a razor-whipped tentacle as I flew just fast enough to stay out of reach. Up ahead, I could see the torches of the Ciel army. They had already clashed with the allied forces at the mouth of the plateau. Screams drowned out the cries of the Demonkin as steel cut through flesh. Arrows and glyphs rained down randomly. In the darkness, many ranged attacks were just as likely to hit your own allies as they were the enemy. The battle had instantly devolved into complete chaos as even the colored armor of the enemy was difficult to make out in the dark.
The Ciel army had many archers and scouts watching the sides and back of their army in preparation for my attack, but they would not be able to stop me. As I approached, I flew higher so that I would not be bombarded by the army and continued flying straight. The Demonkin still followed in single-minded fury as my flames continued to eat away at their souls.
The soldiers guarding the rear of the army let out a shout as they spotted the horde of Demonkin. Detachments of troops were already prepared for this as they moved to intercept. Arrows and glyphs rained down on the Demonkin, enraging them further and forcing many to turn their focus to the new threat attacking them.
The horde of monstrous Demonkin barely slowed as they slammed into the shield wall created by the soldiers. Claws as teeth shredded through steel and flesh. The Demonkin attacked their ‘allies’ without a shred of concern. To them, they were just more humans to eat.
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I smiled as I watched my success from the safety of the clouds. “Begin stage two,” I said softly. In the distance, a single undead relayed my words to Donte. The floating island of Dragon’s Nest began to move as it floated into position over the Ciel army.
Still focused on the attacking Demonkin, only a few soldiers noticed the shadow overhead. Their shouts of warning were drowned out by the screams of battle and only a few reacted to their cries. That changed when the island suddenly fell out of the sky.
Under normal circumstances, the soldiers would have been able to spread out and avoid catastrophic damage from the island crashing down but with everyone fighting for their lives, most did not look up until it was too late.
Dragon’s Nest slammed down directly in the center of the army with an earthshaking boom. Hundreds of soldiers were crushed in an instant. More importantly to the war effort, where the island crashed down happened to also be where most of the supply carts had been kept.
Dozens of domains flared to life in outrage as Dragon’s nest floated back up. Blood and gore filled the crater where countless soldiers had once stood. To my surprise, near the center of the crater was one patch of ground that was relatively unharmed.
The main command tent of the Ciel Empire as well as about half the army's supply carts were protected by a thick domain that prevented the most important people of the army from being crushed. The domain began to move as a thin elderly man with a long beard rose up into the sky. His eyes burned with a furious dark yellow light.
“Aurielle! Come out and face me!” the old man screamed.
“No need to shout, I am right here,” I said softly as I descended out of the cloud.
The old man was practically foaming at the mouth as he glared at me malevolently. "After all these years, I finally meet you again.”
“Do I know you?” I asked as I cocked my head to the side curiously.
The old man was shaking with barely contained rage as his domain became unstable. “No, no, you wouldn’t remember me. After all, I was just some kid when you ruled the continent but I never forgot you. My father served you loyaly his entire life. He may not have been perfect but he did not deserve what you did to him and the other Chancellors. My name is Zaccai Nima and I am the man that will kill you.
“Nima?” I replied with a chuckle, “I see, you must be Chancellor Nima’s kid. You have done well to create the Ciel Empire despite being related one of my corrupt lackeys, but you are far from enough to kill me.”
Something within the old man seemed to snap as he suddenly started laughing hysterically. “A couple weeks ago that might have been true but now I have real power!”
As the man spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out more than a dozen blood-red stones. I instantly recognized the stones as corrupted seeds created by the Demons but before I could stop him, Zaccai swallowed the entire fist full of stones.
Zaccai’s cackling laughter continued as his domain suddenly tripled in strength. His muscles bulged unnaturally and his eyes took on a blood-red glow.
I shook my head with a sigh. “You are just as foolish as your father. He sought power through any means necessary and I executed him for his actions. Now you give up your life to the Demons for what? Vengeance? Is there a point if you cannot even remember what the vengeance is for?”
Zaccai roared like a wild beast as his body began to leak corrupted energy. Just one corrupted seed was enough to turn a normal man into a Demonkin. Though the process usually took a long time to complete, Zaccai had just eaten more than a dozen corrupted seeds at once. There was only one outcome to such stupidity.
There was no longer any sign of humanity in the man’s eyes as he charged at me. His domain twisted violently, acting like a battering ram. My domain armor condensed until it was like a second skin as I prepared to face the psychotic man.
A glyph formed on my hand, igniting a whip of golden fire. Zaccai had no reaction to the weapon as he barreled forward madly. I frowned as his domain crashed over me like a tidal wave. Despite losing his reason, Zaccai had been right about one thing. He was now stronger than me.