As the sun rose from the west Ubel sat at his desk, drinking a hot cup of tea while he looked over his plan one last time. He went over every detail and contingency he could think of, making sure he was as prepared as he could be in order for them to win this final battle.

Once finished, Ubel looked out the window to see Volt, who was still deep in meditation with his aura fluctuating like a heartbeat. Before Snorri left she had informed him that Volt was in the final stages of his breakthrough. Usually this wouldn’t be a concern for anyone, but since Volt had sworn an oath, that made his attempt at a breakthrough become much more complicated.

“He might die, turn crippled, go insane, or forever be stuck at the wall created by that oath... With him straining against his chains you never know what’ll happen. But if he can break through while under such an oath that man is a monster.”

Ubel rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Useless, even now. He won’t even wake up in time for this realm’s final battle. Still, I accounted for that.

“Are teams G1-G4 in position, Reaver?”

“Team three is running late, but should be in position in two minutes tops.”

“Acceptable. What about Team M?”

“They are on standby and ready to launch at any time.”

“Good, and the main force?”

“Urist has split them up under your orders. He’s currently waiting to be given the signal to begin his rallying speech.”

“Excellent. Are our enemies reacting as expected?”

“Lighter than we assumed. However five bone mechas have taken position along the outer walls of the castle, so it’s within your predictions. They also placed around two thousand gunners and warrior skeletons on top of this wall closest to our army. They only have minor forces stationed on the other walls, so I guess they don’t think we plan to stage an ambush. There are also some necromancers within their ranks, but they seem weaker than the ones we assassinated.”

“Wish they were stupid enough to put all of their forces on one side of the wall. Too bad for them, they still fell for the bait. When G3 is in position, give the order. Let’s end this.”

“Understood.”

...

The dwarven forces had positioned themselves far enough away that they could avoid getting shot at, yet close enough for them to stage a quick charge.

On the off chance that the necromancers and their undead army would charge at them, they had made fortifications in order to easily crush such an attack. Although Ubel had assured Urist that there was a 90% chance that their enemies weren’t stupid enough to do so, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Urist, dressed in his flaming battle robe, sat atop of the massive white tiger, Rex, and stared at the castle of bones in the distance, his forces lined up behind him in a loose line formation.

As he looked at the walls littered with guns he felt no fear, but behind him, he could feel the nervousness of his people.

I would also be scared to charge at those walls if we didn’t have a way to stop the gunfire.

“Rawr.”

Rex growled at him and snapped Urist out of his thoughts.

Urist looked over and patted Rex’s large head with a smile only to see it tapping its paw three times.

Ah, time to put our lives on the line.

He pulled on Rex’s reins and turned to his army, trying to look as heroic and majestic as possible.

“Brothers and sisters! This battle is where Dwarven kind, Fox-kin, and Rat-kin will be bonded together by the fires of war! Look to your sides! The ones by you are the men and women who will cover, bleed, and die for you!

“We will crush the undead under our feet, sever Malous’ head, and place it on a stick for all to see! We will rescue our captive brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, and march into our future with our heads held high!

“FOR GLORY! FOR OUR FUTURES!” Urist shouted, raising his spear towards the skies.

“FOR GLORY! FOR OUR FUTURE! FOR GLORY! FOR OUR FUTURE!”

The army behind him roared at the top of their lungs, chanting for victory.

As the maelstrom of voices cried out, Urist lowered his spear, pointing its blade towards their enemies.

…

Ubel leaned back in his chair, lazily nursing his cup of tea as he spat out an order.

“Blow it.”

...

“The Commander says to blow it!” A voice called.

“Those undead are so fucked, keke.” An earth mage laughed, deep within one of four half collapsed tunnels as he finished securing a bomb to the tunnel’s ceiling.

Once done he moved away, collapsing the rest of the tunnel as he went, and eventually joined up with the earth mages from the other three tunnels. Their group quickly moved to a safe distance before pouring their mana into the bombs’ triggers.

*Click* *Click* *Click* *Click*

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!” One of the mages shouted.

...

The bone walls in front of Urist’s forces exploded. A good portion of Urist’s army was blown off their feet by the sudden blast and fell on their asses as a shockwave swept over the area. Some of the weaker fighters and mages in the army were even sent tumbling and rolling before eventually a few times before stopping with dizzy heads and bile rising from their guts.

Those with high strength, such as Valkus, weren't affected by the shockwave and just stared at the massive explosion in awe. They watched as the undead, the necromancers, and even the bone mechas were shredded by bits of wall fragments moving at a high velocity. The force was so immense that when two mechas were struck they detonated violently, creating yet another explosion that blew those who were just picking themselves up right back down onto the ground.

They watched in a daze as massive chunks of bone wall shot across the field and up into the sky, as flames crawled along with the destruction and reached up towards the sun, causing the air to twist and warp from pure heat. Bones burned to a crisp as fragments large and small scattered through the land. A few pieces even launched in Urist’s direction. The mages quickly got to their feet however and were able to prevent the large pieces of debris from crushing anyone.

It took a full minute before the flame-covered fragments stopped falling. Urist ordered the wind mages to push the dust and clouds away to reveal the sun.

By the time the light appeared once more the rest of Urist’s forces had picked themselves up, though some of them were still dazed and confused, not knowing what had happened.

They knew Urist and Ubel had had a plan, but they didn’t expect anything like this.

Urist was also somewhat dumbfounded at how well Ubel’s harebrained scheme had worked. The four combined explosions had created a massive hole in the wall that could allow an army five times their numbers to pass through with ease, shoulder to shoulder.

Well now. Ubel did say not to worry about the wall, but to just punch a hole through with some stones... I would say that it’s unexpected, but this is Ubel we’re talking about.

Urist quickly put an end to his musings and infused his voice with mana.

“CHARGE!!!”

Rex gave a roar before rushing forth, leading the way with Urist on his back. The leaders of the army followed suit, roaring to charge as they shot after the pair.

Those still dazed by the explosion snapped back to attention, picked up their weapons, and charged towards the enemy, their spirits anewed with vicious bloodlust.