Hi there, short chapter, but this brings an end to the first Arc of my story. enjoy!

“Hurry! Bring out the Cindertails! Men! Wield your hammers! Crush those bones! Tamers! Make sure your cindertail sears the flesh and burns the muscles! We can win this! Raywof has shown us the way!” (fox commander)

It’s been almost a month since the Avian alliance first managed to push back the undead with the help of the giants led by Commander Raywof. Since then, the alliance has had multiple victories on the battlefront pushing back the first line of forward bases that Diantes had set up to counter ther 3 provinces.

It was the middle of the night, as fiery tails of elemental foxes burned brightly in a neat row. With their tamers by their side, the neatly assembled cindertails rushed forth enveloping the legion of undead in flames. Lamias wielding heavy hammers slithered forth unaffected by the flames due to their fire resistant scales and started an onslaught, targeting the skeletal warriors, crushing bones into fragments that would be impossible to piece back together.

The tamers, each equipped with crossbows, held the defensive line, protecting their home province of Fiora with their lives. The tamers picked off any unlucky zombies that managed to crawl their way past the flames, their heavy bolts smashing the skulls and brains of the undead.

With their backs against the Fiora mountain range, the Fax-people were the first tribe to come into contact with the Diantes undead army.

“Commander Raywof protected his province of Luna! We shall do the same for Fiora! We WILL persevere and push the damned diantes back to their measly city!” the commander roared again, picking up her twin hammers and jumping into the fray. Like Raywof’s halberd, the twin hammers lit up her surroundings like 2 enormous torches. Swinging them around, she created a ring of fire that crushed and roasted everything they touched.

The undead army was relentless, getting back up after being knocked down. With no perception of pain or morals, they kept trudging on, attacking former comrades. Each one they fell is another comrade that would join them. Mindless, vicious and numerous, the legion kept pouring forth without an end in sight. Their only downfall is the sun. That’s when they are returned to the nether realm via teleportation, awaiting to be summoned again, living a cursed life, repeating the same process over and over again.

Soon, the undead overwhelmed them, as the fox commander issued an order to retreat. Tamers, lamias and cindertails alike, all ran back towards the mountains where they would turtle up and await the dawn.

Treading carefully over the wooden beams, each soldier made their way across the chasm, before removing the temporary bridges. From across the 50m wide chasm, soldiers set up defensive perimeters, awaiting the approaching legion of death. This was not the first time they’ve done this. They were pushed back this far every night thus far. They were ready for the tricks the undead used.

While most of the undead simply fell to their doom into the bottomless chasm, some with lingering cognitive function chose to stop. With specific control from the necromancers in the forward bases, these ‘smart undead’, as the demi humans call them, would toss their own kind over. 50m was not a long distance, and with their natural limiters removed, the undead were far stronger than their living counterparts. Zombie wolfmen towering at 3m would toss their skeleton buddies over the chasm.

The Lamias were ready, batting the thrown skeleton back into the chasm or into the swarming legion on the other side with their hammers. The fox commander Feni was the one that came up with this defensive formation and it hasn’t failed thus far. While she has yet been able to show results on the attack on the undead, her remarkable usage of terrain and defensive formations has kept the undead legion out of Fiora for the last 3 decades. Since she came into command, citizens in Fiora have had a peace of mind, not fearing for undead attacks and raids.

As the twin moons began to set, the battlefield became enveloped in darkness. It was nearing the end of spring, so they only had 1 more hour till the sun rose and the undead legion disappears. Feni set her hammers down as she entered the commander’s tent. On the large table in the middle of the tent was a map of the region spread out and held down by bronze goblets in each corner.

She had seen this map countless times, studied the map and memorised it until she saw it in her nightmares. And yet, she could not find a way to take advantage of the terrain or weather to push the undead back. Having to resort to using the chasm every night, she was at her limits, knowing that it won’t be long before the necromancers from Diantes army came up with a way around the chasm. Time was short on finding another trump card.

Suddenly, a messenger came running in with an emergency report.

“Commander! The cats have spotted 2 unknowns approaching us from the east! We don’t know if they are friendly or not, but reports say they are humans!” (messenger)

“Shit! Fuck this! How did they get behind our front lines!? Did they come by sea? What are the cats doing, only informing me so late!” (Feni)

Dashing out of the tent, Feni picked up both her hammers and sprinted to the frontlines, barking orders to tighten up the formation. The first ray of sun peeked into the battlefield, reflecting off Feni’s shining hazel fur. With 5 tails swinging behind her, each with a white end, Feni covered her eyes to shield it from the ray.

“Report!” Feni yelled, her voice ringing through the mountain forest while she continued to oversee the battle over the chasm, “Update me on the 2 unknowns!”

Immediately, a cat-man descended next to her from the nearby forest canopy and knelt down next to her. Dressed in a black garb that blended with its black fur, the hooded cat-man began his report.

“It’s been confirmed to be 2 humans, commander! But.. there is a problem..” the scout trailed off towards the end, afraid to continue with the report.

“SPEAK UP! Finish the report!” (Feni)

“The humans… they are…they are flying here commander! To this chasm! Estimated to arrive in under 10 minutes!” (scout)

“Flying?!?! FUCK! Just how advanced is their magic now?!? And to think 2 human mages managed to break our ranks from behind… We don’t have time to come up with countermeasures. Everyone! FALL BACK NOW!!! There are advance mages flying our way! Make sure you avoid any battles with them!” Feni bellowed her orders, making sure everyone heard her loud and clear.

With that, all the soldiers abandoned their posts, and ignored the undead that were being tossed over.

“O- Over there!! They are here!” One of the fox tamers yelled, pointing in the sky.

There were 2 people just standing on air roughly 50m above ground. One was a silver haired beauty, while the other was a masked stranger, wearing brand new steel armour.

Feni raised her hammers and prepared for battle, hoping to buy her subordinates as much time as possible to flee. As she watched the 2 mages, the masked mage raised his arm and the red metal that was part of his shield flowed forth, caging some of the undead. Seeing the undead that are exposed to sunlight disappear, the masked man changed the design of his prison from a barred cage into a sealed metal container.

Feni watched in horror, as she knew she would not last a second against the mage. The masked maged caged several undead variants – a skeleton, a normal zombie and one of the wolfman zombies that was hurling its comrades over the chasm. With the 3 scarlet cages in tow, the 2 mages headed back towards the east where they came from, but not before staring at Feni and chuckling.

Scared out of her wits, and relieved to be alive after witnessing the power of the mage, Feni dropped both her hammers and collapsed to the ground. 2 cat scouts came to pick her up and left for the base, returning moments later to retrieve the hammers. The battle for the night was over and they needed to prepare for the next night.

They may not know it yet, but the battle that has gone on for centuries was about to come to an end, closing the curtains on the countless bloodshed that has plagued this continent.