The demons hit the fortress walls like a wave against a cliff.
Lee fought on the front lines Onyx Tempest blazing with golden light, each swing sending demons screaming back into the darkness. Beside him, Kira burned a path through the soul drained, her fire so hot it turned their empty bodies to ash.
"Keep formation!" Lady Ashara shouted from the battlements. "Don't let them breach the gates!"
The gates held. The walls held. But the demons kept coming wave after wave, endless and mindless, driven by the Hollow King's hunger.
Taro fought like a dancer, his flexible body slipping between demon claws, striking at joints and eyes and throats. He wasn't the strongest fighter, but he was the fastest, and speed mattered when you were surrounded on all sides.
"Lee!" Taro shouted. "Behind you!"
Lee spun, Onyx Tempest coming up just in time to block a claw that would have taken his head off. The demon a massive thing with three faces and too many teeth roared in frustration.
"Nice try," Lee said, and drove his sword through all three faces at once.
The demon dissolved into shadow.
But more took its place.
"We can't keep this up forever," Kira gasped, her flames flickering. "There are too many!"
"Then we fight until we can't fight anymore," Lee said. "And then we fight anyway."
Inyocha fought beside them not with shadows, not anymore, but with a sword he'd forged himself from the remnants of the Eclipse Engine. It wasn't magical. It wasn't legendary. But it was his, and every swing was a declaration that he was done running from his past.
"You're not bad," Kira admitted, watching him cut down a demon.
"I had a good teacher," Inyocha said, glancing at Lee.
"Don't get sappy. We're in the middle of a battle."
"Right. Sorry."
They fought on.