The city was quiet.
Not the quiet of peace—the quiet of waiting. Soldiers stood at their posts, their eyes scanning the darkness beyond the walls. The turrets hummed, their muzzles gleaming in the dim light. The streets were empty, the civilians hidden in the shelters.
Reyes stood on the eastern wall, her armor still on, her cloak draped over her shoulders. She had not slept. She could not sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the faces of the soldiers who had fallen.
She thought about Aurelion. About the strike force. About the message Vorthar had left behind.
Soon.
She touched the hilt of her sword.
What are you planning? she thought. Where are you?
She didn't have answers.
The wind was cold, carrying the smell of ash and smoke from the distant fires. Below, the city stretched out in darkness, its streets empty, its windows dark. Somewhere out there, beyond the walls, the demon army waited.
She turned to the lieutenant beside her. "Double the watch on the eastern wall. I want eyes on the sky at all times."
"Commander, we're already stretched thin. The soldiers are exhausted—"
"I know what they are." Her voice was sharp. "But I also know what happens if we're caught off guard. Double the watch."
The lieutenant nodded and moved away.
Reyes turned back to the darkness.
What are you planning? she thought again.
The silence was her only answer.
The attack came at midnight.
There was no warning—no sound of marching feet, no distant roar of the demon army. Just the sudden, terrible silence of the sky opening above them.
The flying demons descended from the clouds like a plague.
Hundreds of them. Thousands. Their leathery wings blotting out the stars, their screeches echoing across the city like a scream from the underworld. And in their claws, they carried the ground demons—massive, armored, their eyes burning with hunger.
They dropped them onto the walls.
The first wave hit like a hammer. Demons crashed into the parapets, their claws gouging the stone, their bodies scattering the soldiers. The second wave followed, then the third. The turrets opened fire, mana bolts tearing through the sky, but there were too many. Always too many.
Reyes drew her sword.
"To arms!" she shouted. "To arms!"
The soldiers rallied. They fought with everything they had, their weapons blazing, their faces grim. But the demons kept coming, relentless, unstoppable.
The battle was chaos.
Demons poured over the walls, their claws gleaming, their eyes burning. Soldiers fell, their bodies broken, their weapons scattered. The flying demons circled above, dropping more ground troops, their screeches drowning out the cries of the wounded.
Reyes moved through the carnage, her sword flashing, her cloak billowing. She killed. And killed. And killed. But for every demon she cut down, two more took its place.
She saw a soldier fall—a young man, barely out of his teens, his eyes still open, his mouth still frozen in a scream. She saw another—a woman, her blade broken, her body torn apart. She saw a third—a veteran, his face scarred, his hands still clutching his weapon.
She kept fighting.
She had to.
The turrets fired until their barrels glowed red-hot.
Mana bolts streaked through the sky, tearing into the flying demons. Dozens fell. Hundreds. But more took their place. The ground troops kept coming, their claws scraping against the stone, their bodies piling up at the base of the walls.
The soldiers on the walls fought with desperate courage. They had been trained for this. They had prepared for this. But nothing could have prepared them for the sheer scale of the assault.
Reyes saw a breach forming—a gap in the eastern wall, where the demons had broken through. She ran toward it, her sword raised, her voice cutting through the chaos.
"Hold the line!" she shouted. "Hold the line!"
The soldiers rallied. They formed a shield wall, their weapons raised, their faces grim. They fought. They held.
But they were losing.
The ground troops were overwhelming.
They poured through the breach like a flood, their claws gleaming, their eyes burning. The shield wall buckled, reformed, buckled again. Soldiers fell, their bodies broken, their weapons scattered. The turrets were overheating, their barrels glowing white-hot, their fire slowing.
Reyes saw the line break.
A group of demons surged through the gap, scattering the soldiers, carving a path into the city. More followed. The defense was crumbling.
She grabbed a lieutenant by the arm.
"Open the barracks! Get the Apaches in the air!"
The lieutenant stared at her. "Commander, the barracks—"
"NOW!"
He ran.
The barracks doors opened.
The Apaches rose from their hangars, their rotors thundering, their mana cannons glowing. They had been held in reserve, saved for the worst-case scenario. This was it.
They swept over the walls, their searchlights cutting through the darkness. Their cannons opened fire, mana bolts carving through the demon ranks. The ground troops scattered, their formations broken. The flying demons turned to face the new threat, their screeches filling the air.
The battle shifted.
The Apaches were not enough to win the fight—but they were enough to hold the line.
The flying demons descended on the helicopters.
They swarmed around them, their claws scraping against the armor, their screeches deafening. One Apache went down, its rotors shattered, its hull crumpled. Another followed. A third.
But the Apaches fought back. Their cannons tore through the flying demons, shredding wings, shattering bodies. Their pilots were veterans, hardened by years of war. They had done this before.
Reyes watched from the wall, her sword still in her hand, her heart pounding.
Hold, she thought. Just hold.
The battle raged on.
The Apaches circled above, their cannons blazing, their pilots fighting with desperate courage. The soldiers on the walls held the line, their weapons blazing, their faces grim. The demons pressed forward, wave after wave, relentless and hungry.
Reyes fought at the center of the chaos, her sword flashing, her voice cutting through the noise. She could feel the exhaustion creeping into her bones, the weight of every life lost pressing down on her shoulders.
But she didn't stop.
She couldn't stop.
The night stretched on.
The demons kept coming. The soldiers kept fighting. The Apaches kept circling.
Reyes saw a flying demon swoop toward a group of soldiers, its claws extended. She ran toward them, her sword raised, her voice a roar.
"GET DOWN!"
The soldiers dropped. Her blade caught the demon mid-flight, slicing through its chest. It crashed into the wall, its body broken.
She turned to face the next wave.
Hours passed. The battle continued.
Reyes lost track of how many demons she had killed. How many soldiers had fallen. How many times she had thought the line would break.
But the line held.
The city held.
The Apaches fought on, their rotors thrumming, their cannons blazing. The soldiers fought on, their weapons blazing, their faces grim. Reyes fought on, her sword flashing, her voice cutting through the chaos.
Dawn came slowly.
The demons withdrew, their numbers broken, their will shattered. The soldiers on the walls watched them retreat, their faces hollow, their eyes empty.
Reyes stood in the middle of the carnage, her sword dripping, her body aching. She had lost track of time. She had lost track of everything.
A lieutenant approached her, his face pale, his voice shaking.
"Commander, the eastern wall is secure. The breach is sealed. The Apaches are returning to base."
She looked at him, her eyes hollow.
"How many?"
"Too many."
She closed her eyes.
The sun rose over the burning horizon.
Reyes walked through the carnage, her boots crunching on the broken stone. She found the body of a young soldier—barely out of his teens, his face frozen in a scream. She knelt beside him and closed his eyes.
She found another. And another. And another.
She counted the dead. She counted the wounded. She counted the cost.
The city was still standing. But barely.
A lieutenant approached her.
"Commander, the wounded are being treated. The breaches are being sealed."
She nodded slowly.
"And the strike force?"
"No word. They haven't returned."
She closed her eyes.
Kade, she thought. Where are you?
She didn't have an answer.
She turned and walked back toward the command center.
There was still work to do.