Chapter 642: Hidden Horrors
The screech of steel and blood-chilling screams of death shattered my sleep, plunging me into the midst of a battlefield. I whirled around, completely disoriented, until I realized it was just a vision.
A vast plan spread out beneath me, open and flat like a scroll. A few distant mountains hovered on the horizon, but my gaze was drawn to a mass of stone and enchantments on my left side. Towers soared into the air, built upon fifty-foot walls and bristling with magic cannons and other siege weapons. Soldiers scurried within the courtyards, dragging wounded from the walls and carrying arrows, magic crystals, and supplies back up.
A shimmering dome shielded the keep from above, generated by a powerful, seventh-level enchantment. Dozens of fifth and sixth-level spells reinforced the walls and gate. Most of the soldiers were only first and second level, but several elite units made of sixth took positions behind the gate, waiting for the enemy to break through. It was an impressive force and, while lacking compared to the empire’s finest, felt overkill for such a remote position.
The army array without the walls was humble in comparison, numbering less than ten thousand strong. Their souls, however, blazed like a raging fire. For every first and second-level soldier, there was a sixth to match them. It was a proportion beyond anything I’d seen before, save once.
A thrill ran through me, and I searched their ranks for a banner. When I found it, my heart leaped, and I clapped my incorporeal hands. It was them! The Last Light Company!
The battle was young, but many hundreds had already fallen, most from the walls of the fortress. Sixth-level mages and archers picked off enter squads of defenders with every attack. In normal times, each of these would be enough to decide a battle of this scale on their own, yet they filled out the Last Light Company like rank-and-file soldiers.
"Charge the gates!"
Bethiv’s voice cut above the tumult, and I willed myself toward it, materializing just above the fortress’s main entrance. The commander himself led a squad of familiar faces. Luxxa, her sword held high, charged in the front, Gith and Jenna behind her. Dozens of other fifth and sixth-level veterans joined them, an unstoppable tide that surpassed the raw, overwhelming power the demons had demonstrated in the Empire.
A magic cannon unleashed a furious streak of white light. Luxxa leaped in front and slammed her massive steel shield into the ground. A pulse of mana erupted from her feet, and hundreds of thick trunks and vines surged out of the ground, forming a half-dome around the advancing team. There were no chant or magic circles, but the power transcended anything a magical technique could accomplish.