Chapter 17: Chapter 16: Attrition

Aleph and Vaynard found themselves facing a company of harbingers. They had their backs turned, likely moving to where the rest of their army was assembling. They didn't pay them any mind, and likely would not have noticed if not for the group of emmisaries manning this side of the portal. They were on them instantly, sending various spells in their direction.

"Flame!"

Aleph acted quickly. He set fire to the tree, which served as the portal's anchor, before getting out of the way. The violent waves of mana threw him off even farther. The momentum sent him towards one of the emissaries, who slashed at him with his claws. sending sharp tendrils of blue energy in his direction.

Reacting almost instantly, Aleph commanded the knife in his hand to encircle the oncoming foe. He did not let go of it though, causing his body to fly in a strange arc. The spell sailed harmlessly past him and into the night. 

The emissary's last expression was one of confusion, not even knowing what hit him even as Aleph stabbed the knife at an angle from under his chin. 

He scanned around in search of his next target when he hurriedly hid and used the emissary's corpse as a shield. The force of the incoming spells threw both him and the corpse into a nearby tree. 

Aleph writhed on the ground, looking up to see the other three emissaries converging on his location, with the harbingers following behind.

Aleph was exhausted. They had been fighting constantly since they escaped, and he had been running low on both stamina and resources. The handful of seconds he bought against the dragon rider had paid its toll. He stayed on the ground, all but tapped out as the emissaries came closer and closer. 

Aleph wracked his brain, searching for some way to get out of this situation, but nothing was forthcoming. Vaynard was nowhere to be seen. That powerful defensive spell must have taken more out of him than he realized. He must not have evaded that first attack, Aleph thought.

His most powerful weapons, the knives he made with the emissary horns, had to be expended in the battle with the dragon rider. That left him his other magnetite knives and the mana heart to control them remotely, none of which is sufficient to fend off an army this size. 

"You've proven yourself quite capable, but I doubt even you could have handled a hundred of them."

Carrack's words came back to him at this moment as if scolding him for his hubris.

If I can at least take these creatures out then there will be that much less that Rayse and the others have to deal with.

With that in mind, Aleph sat up. He pulled his knife out of the dead emissary at his side and was about to make his final stand, when he remembered something. He slashed at the dead emissary's chest and dug his hand in, feeling for the core.

The enemy reacted at his movement, preparing a final collective blast of spells in his direction. Aleph had finally grabbed hold of the emissary's core and was now reimagining the spell he saw him do.

The enemies shot multicolored bullets at him, spelling his demise. 

"Night slash!"

Aleph squeezed every last bit of mana out of both the heart and his own and poured it into the spell, which collided with the enemy's spell. The energies mixed violently, resulting in a localized explosion.

The emissaries and their army pushed through the smoke only to find their fallen comrade. They looked around for any traces, but the intruder was long gone.

Aleph was nowhere to be seen.

_______________________________

Rayse's squad stood in formation some distance from the gate. They were manning the northern side, with the rest of the squads set up on either side of them. It was pitch black, with only the glow from Iona's orbs to see through. The other squads stuck torches on the ground, looking more like a traditional group of soldiers than one led by a warmage.

"Get ready." Iona warned. Rayse put his guard up at the command. The ground still shook, but seconds passed in tense silence.

"Alright." Iona continued, "Keep looking ahead. Once you see the signal, intercept them as you please. Only the ones directly in front of us, alright? You can let a few past you if it gets dicey. The men at the walls will take care of the rest. If any of you see something strange, call it out immediately." 

Rayse was about to ask what the signal was, but he felt something that answered it for him. A massive spell was casted right behind them. He could feel the sheer amount of mana used before he could see its effects.

The surroundings were suddenly completely visible. He could see hundreds of Harbingers charging at them, silent as the night save for their heavy steps, but now they were completely visible. A rain of arrows intercepted them, felling a few, but mostly ignored. 

Rayse felt weirdly calm, unlike his first battle. He could feel the nerves bubbling underneath the surface, but they sharpened his senses further, rather than dulled them. He tuned out the hundreds of harbingers, and forced himself to focus on the dozens in front of him.

"Descend."

He called down his magnetite spears from the battlements, sending them down towards the first harbingers that he saw. The barrage critically wounded those that it hit, but the harbingers paid them no mind. They practically climbed over their allies to get to the town, only to be intercepted by Rayse's squadmates.

The battle began in earnest. Rayse elected to stay behind to hit any stragglers, commanding the spears from a distance while occasionally casting supportive spells upon the frontline.

Their squad was doing great. The veteran soldiers were nothing to scoff at. It seemed that most of them were using a spell similar to the harbingers' strengthening one. Their bodies grew massive as they clashed with the enemy, matching them in speed and power, but had a sizable advantage in tactics. They fought as a group, often teaming up and quickly dispatching the enemies rather than face them one on one. 

The harbingers may be strong, but their attacks bore no semblance of strategy. They roared and attacked whoever was in front of them, which made them predictable.

Brandon was amazing. He didn't have an actual partner, so he settled on helping the others out whenever he could.His mobility and strength was a great help, tipping the deadlocks all around the battlefield. He was actually doing most of the finishing blows. 

"Watch out, everyone! Wildfire!"

Everyone cleared out as Lacey finished her spell. Waves of flames spread out from where she stood, growing bigger and bigger as it expanded outward. It engulfed the incoming mass of enemies and burned them into a crisp.

"Nice!" Rayse shouted. The spell gave them a brief reprieve to reposition and take stock of the battlefield. The battle had barely started, but they were holding well. Some harbingers had gotten through, but were quickly dispatched with falling rocks and arrows from above.

"It's going well, eh?" Brig said, suddenly at his side. Rayse nodded in agreement. He was looking ahead, judging that the next wave of enemies would be here soon. As he looked, he saw that the enemies were kicking up far more dust than the first time. He looked closer to see that there were hounds charging with the harbingers now.

"Mana hounds incoming!" He warned the others. These beings were attracted to mana, and they were all mages. He noticed that a large bulk of them were charging in their direction, attracted by the big spell Lacey just used. Rayse turned to see her unfazed, calmly uttering wordlessly under her breath as she prepared her second spell.

Rayse took up position in front of her. They will be intercepting far more enemies this time, and it was about time for him to start pulling his weight.

The second wave came shortly after. Rayse gave himself up to the rhythm of battle. He jumped into the fray, focusing on the hounds while his companions went after the harbingers. Sometimes Iona would point something out to them, such as a group of hounds coming in from the side, or a breach in their defenses, but they adjusted well, and the state of the battle went favorably.

An hour passed in frenzied combat, and the end was nowhere in sight. The spell that casted artificial light around them began to dim, signaling to the vanguard to fall back.

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"Alright, men! Fall back!" Iona said, and the rest of the squads began to bunch up. They fought a defensive battle back into the gate, letting themselves be pushed back by the attackers while defending.

"Our squad will be bringing up the rear. Make sure everyone gets inside." She added to her own troops. 

Rayse nodded, eyes still trained on the enemy. They hadn't seen them yet, but this transition was a good opportunity for an ambush. He recalled all his spears, all primed and ready to respond to any attack.

Contrary to his expectations, they were able to get back safely. There was much less resistance from the enemy as they retreated back into the safety of the gates. The next troop intercepted the ones who pursued them, continuing the fight as they recuperated.

"Rest up, men. We go back out there in two hours." Iona declared. She marched back to the commander's tent with no visible fatigue.

The rest of Her squad broke up in little groups, mostly to find food or a place to nearby to get some rest. Rayse and his friends opted to look over the battlefield, anxious about the developments down below.

They watched the next batch of soldiers fend off the harbingers. There are regular soldiers mixed in with this group, making it look much more hectic. They were far enough away, but Rayse could just about hear their cries of pain. There was just too big a difference in strength.

He steeled himself. He knew there would be loses in war and experienced it first hand, but it was still difficult to just sit by and watch his people fight to the bitter end like this.

"Burning thrust."

Rayse threw his spear straight to the head of one of the harbingers that made it to the wall. His spear flew true, making a burnt hole right in the harbinger's forehead. 

Rayse's expression didn't change. He felt little from killing these creatures. Fighting with them for a while now, he suspected that they were barely alive to begin with.

"What do you think, Ray?" He heard Brandon ask from his side.

Rayse looked back at his friend. He seemed winded, like Rayse would be after a hard days' work at the stables. Tired, but still servicable. They were this tired from a mere hour of fighting.

He recalled the spear that he threw, catching it deftly. He noticed his hand shaking from exertion. He shook it off and set the spear down, then answered him.

"I don't like it either, but we need this time to recuperate. We slaughtered what, about a hundred of them? And harbingers are still pouring in from god knows where." 

"I know, but still. It sucks being weak. I wish we were out there still. These bastards are getting on my nerves."

He could feel Lacey leaning into him for a while now. He turned to see that she was starting to nod off, so he set her down gently against the wall and kissed her in the forehead.

"Lace is doing way too much. She'll be too weak to stand by the third or fourth time we go out there again." Rayse continued.

He turned back to Brandon, who was holding something up to him. It was a lump of cloth dripping in demon blood.

"What is-"

"Harbinger hearts. Filched 'em off of my kills back there. I figured if we're gonna be resting anyways, absorbing this should be good for our mana."

"Good thinking, man." Rayse said, putting his hand through the bag without hesitation. He was dangerously close to his absorption limit, but he would gladly take any edge he could.

"You leave some for Lace?"

"Nah. She'd make it a reason to go even more overboard. We've gotta pick up the slack for her, Ray."

"Mmm." Was all Rayse could say. His friend's been really on top of things recently. He'd been noticeably easier to work with. He was spot on with Lacey this time too.

"Uhhh, hey, Bran. I gotta ask. Did you really confess to Lacey?"

Brandon's eye bulged out, looking at Rayse like a mad man.

"W-what? Why are you bringing that up now?"

"No reason… Your concern for her just brought it to mind, is all."

Brandon let himself slide down the wall, covering up with his arms in shame.

"...Yeah. She was really nice to me when Ma passed. I didn't know what I was thinking, man. I knew you guys kinda had a thing going, and it was during my asshole phase, so I.." His voice was getting tinier and tinier. 

His mortified expression made Rayse laugh out loud. He slid down to sit beside his friend, fighting back tears. Lacey stirred beside him, hitting him with a forehead to the cheek that was way too painful for someone who was asleep.

"Just, don't bring this up anymore, okay Ray? I already said I was sorry, didn't I? Hey! Stop laughing!" Brandon protested, before letting loose a few chuckles of his own. They sat like that the rest of the way.

It was silent for a while after that. Brandon had dozed off a while ago, while Rayse was staring up at the artificial sun one of the commanders miraculously conjured up. It gently shone light down in a good radius around the town, letting him relax. The noise from the battlefield gradually got away from him, letting him finally close his eyes.

…

Is the city safe? Are you alive? 

"Rayse! Rayse!! Wake up!" Someone was shaking him awake. He sprang up and looked around, suddenly alert. Something was very wrong.

"Brig? Is it our turn again?" Brandon said, squinting in the torchlight. Lacey was conjuring a flame, gazing at the fight below in manic concern.

Wait, conjuring a flame?

Rayse finally figured it out. He looked up at where he knew the ball of light was, but it was gone.

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