“A long time ago, before Ragna was known as the demon and monster’s continent, it was a primitive land void of people. The reason was because not only it was hard to cross the sea just to get to it, no one who ventured into that continent ever returned. Perhaps the thing that turned the Northern kingdom into ruins still lurked somewhere on that ground.

At that time, the demons were scattered across the world, living in constant fear of being pursued and killed by the Primes. And mostly because they were not united. Any gathering of a large group of demons would be easily found and dealt quickly. Even the demon lord was not out of danger as it needed time to grow and there was no safe place for a demon.

The Old One, Progenitor of the Demon race, pitied its children being slaughtered like cattle not for what they did, but for what they were. It gave its blood so that the monsters and demons could defend themselves. But now It understood that it wasn’t enough. These Primes would never understand the concept of peace. It must help Its children once more.

Wielding incredible power out of this world, the Old One made a plan: using a magical device, It transported all demons and sentient monsters to the land of Ragna. And with it came the creation of the demon nation in this northern continent.

This event was later known as Exodus or the Great Exile.

While no one actually remembered what the device was, some said it lied deep somewhere in the underground of Ragna, waiting to be awaken once more.”

* * *

The silent night in Caelum was disrupted by the sounds of the bell tolling. And everyone in the city knew what it implied. One toll meant the beginning of a festival and two for the death of the pope.

But this time it wasn’t one nor it was two they heard. It was three: their precious city was under attack. The undeads have come.

“Barricade the gates with everything we have! Not a single one of them is to step into our Holy City on my watch!” shouted the captain of the city guards.

With haste the men gathered everything they could find: caravans, rocks, sand bags and stuffed them against the gate. Though in their mind this gate alone would be more than enough by itself and these additional barricades served only to calm their hearts. Made in black steel, the hardest and heaviest steel in the world, if not for the special mechanism installed just to move the gate, no one would ever be able to even budge or scratch it.

“Captain, it’s done!” a soldier reported.

“Good! Archers and mages, rain fire upon these demon spawns! They can’t reach us here! All we need to do is to keep them out until our reinforcement arrive!”

Receiving their orders, hundreds of archers and mages gathered on the high wall and shot everything they got onto the undead horde below. With no way to reach them, the soldiers could safely attack from above without fear of retaliation.

But they shall not have that satisfaction. Something blocked them. A luminous barrier was covering the horde, deflecting all projectiles. That was light magic. Someone was using holy magic to protect them. Who could it be? Well the answer was obvious: the undeads themselves. And the one responsible for this magic was none other than Vyncis, the last pope of the Church.

Unlike the necromancy used to raise undead, what Sinforma did was to temporarily resurrect the bodies while suppressing their consciousness. This way Sinforma’s undeads could retain their formal abilities, even capable of wielding light magic which was considered impossible for normal undead while still obeying faithfully to their master. However, controlling all of them of at once was incredibly challenging and arduous even for Sinforma himself, which was why these undeads could only use a part of their formal power but still far more powerful than the normal undeads.

“Captain, our magic and arrows don’t work against them! What should we do?” another soldier panicked.

“Then throw rocks! Use the catapults or anything you idiot! Do whatever you need to keep them at bay!”

“CAPTAIN WATCH OUT!”

Without warning a small portion of the wall was blasted away, throwing a few soldiers of the wall and fall to their death. Luckily for the captain, one of his soldiers has pushed him out of the way before he might end up either scattered in pieces or down at the wall.

As he stood up and looked down at what has been shooting at him, he realized his mistake for even thinking this was any normal undead army.

Instead of just hitting on the door like mindless creatures, the horde stood still under the magic barrier to avoid casualties. On their front line was a beastman holding a portable cannon that constantly shot cannonballs at the wall. At this rate the gate wouldn’t matter anymore if the walls were gone. Not just him, surrounding the undead pope were a group of priests who appeared to be chanting something. Each holding a candle with both their arms, fireballs came flying in from the candle targeting the men and the walls itself.

Suddenly a loud sound of explosion could be heard. Did they breach the wall already? No the wall was still intact, at least where the soldiers stood. Then where did it come from?

Then they spotted a column of smoke rising from the western wall. It couldn’t be the undeads. The scouts confirmed that they only came from the south, where the graveyard was. If then what was attacking that wall?

Immediately they found their answer, coming out of the smoke: a skeletal dragon was spitting a green smoke, eroding everything it touched. And it didn’t stop there. The smoke itself was inflammable and caused a series of explosion when the soldiers over there tried to light their arrows.

“A dragon? How come I didn’t hear any report of a damn dragon?” screamed the captain.

“It’s coming toward us!!!”

“Men, bring down that thing! Now!”

Using everything they got, hundreds of arrows were hurled to the sky aiming at the incoming dragon. But the stupid soldiers should know that arrows didn’t work well against undead since they were basically just bones. Fire would be a good idea but if they accidentally lighted one while that smoke was around them, it would be suicide.

But the arrows didn’t even reach the dragon. Out of nowhere, a strong gale has warded off all the projectiles and made them falling down, killing a few guards.

With the dragon now right above them, the soldiers could see a figure riding it. Wearing what seemingly to be a black leather set with a black cape, the person bore an odd helmet that covered all of his face. How could he even see anything like that? And even that helmet looked strange with the spikes coming out of its back.

“You demon dares desecrate our holy city? Shoot him down!” shouted the captain.

“Nothing we do can harm him sire! We have to activate the barrier!” a soldier advised.

“Then fucking do it! Courage men! The Cathedral has already been informed! The heroes will be coming here to help us!”

All of the sudden, columns of light rose to the sky from the outer walls, forming a dome of light shrouding the entire city within the walls.

“Take that demon! This is the ultimate defense of Caelum, capable of repelling all attacks and unholy creatures from entering the city: Deus Lucem! Do your worst! See if you can even hurt us!” the captain provoked. He no longer had the same fear as before. He didn’t need to. He was confident that nothing could pass through this barrier.

As the dragon rider touched the barrier, he was pushed back along with being electrocuted by the barrier. It seemed what the captain said was true.

“Impressive! But to sustain such a large scale spell like this, it will need a lot of people to do that. Hum…judging from the number of the columns I say about one hundred spell casters.”

‘How did he guess it just from that information? No…even if he knows that, he can’t do anything if he is outside. ‘ thought the captain.

“Humans never learn do they?” said the man in black.

“What? What do you intend to do?” screamed the captain.

“Me? Nothing! The seed of chaos has already been brought inside the capital by your own hands. All I need to do is to watch as your city burns!”

* * *

A small shadow was sprinting from roof to roof in the middle of the night. While the citizens of Caelum holed up in fear in their home, this little girl was outside by herself, roaming the street. But she wasn’t just strolling without purpose; her destination was a certain place in the eastern part of the city, currently under guard.

“Fours around the Gate, two more on the watch towers! Where is the mage in charge of activating the Gate?” the girl mumbled as she observed the area around the Nexus.

Every Gate in the world was always under heavy monitoring from that city’s guards with at least one mage who would control the mana flux into the Gate in order for it to function. Even when the city was under attack, this place must be kept secured just in case of an incoming messenger from their allies or to keep outsiders out.

Hiding in the shadow, the girl finally spotted the mage. The sorceress was talking with two of the guards. In order for her plan to work, the girl must stop the sorceress from interfering with the Gate. And by that she meant to kill her.

“I don’t understand why we are here, keeping watch of this damn Gate! It’s not like anyone would use it now! I want to fight those god damn undeads!” said a guard.

“It’s not like I don’t understand your sentiment but we need to guard the Gate. Maybe a messenger will come to give news of our incoming allies!” the sorceress explained.

“One messenger isn’t going to matter. Even if they are on their way right now, we are already under attack. It’s not like an army is going to walk out of that fucking Gate!”

“Still it’s our duty to remain here. Just suck it up! Now go back to your….”

All of the sudden, the mage fell down on the ground like a log. Not understanding what just happened, one of the guards crouched down and shook the woman on her shoulder to see if she was fine. Could it be because of the few drinks they shared from earlier? That was weird, usually she could drink half a barrel by herself without even flinching. Yet no matter how they tried to wake her up, she laid motionless.

Suddenly a guard spotted a shadow walking toward them from a dark alley. Immediately everyone took their weapon.

“Who is there? Show yourself!” shouted the guard as he pointed his spear toward the shadow walking out.

As the stranger came out of the shadows, the men relaxed their guard. It was just a little girl, a small cute elf with red hair like fire. Realizing their mistake, the guards quickly hided their weapon to avoid scaring the girl. One of them decided to approach her.

“Hello there little girl! What are you doing here? Are you lost?” asked the guard. He too had a young daughter so he knew how to deal with kids without scaring them. Or at least that was what he thought.

However the girl didn’t answer. Instead she just stared at the guard without uttering a single word.

“You are scaring her, Pete! Leave it to me! Do you want a candy, young miss?” another man interfered.

“Humans never learn do they?” the small girl spoke.

“What?” everyone was confused by what she just said. What was she talking about?

“They build these great walls and barriers to protect themselves. But have they ever considered that the enemy can come from inside too? You know, like those guys!” the young elf pointed to what was behind the guards.

‘What is she pointing at? There was nothing there but …. ‘thought the guards.

Then the guards could hear a skittering noise from behind. The cries of insects, a lot of them. As they turned their head back, they realized it was their last moment in this world.

Now time for question. The Gate normally allowed a small number of people to travel through it one at a time. If the guards on the other side realized they were being invaded, the mage could simply shut down the Gate, stopping the invasion and trapped those who have passed it on the other side. But what if the creator of the Gate unlocked its full potential and there wasn’t any mage around capable of shutting it down? What would happen if the other side of the Gate was linked to a terrible place?

The answer was simple: Death.

From the Gate, hundreds of giant spiders swarmed into the city. In an instant, the men who were supposed to keep an eye on it became food for the flocks of the insects. Each was at the size of an adult with a few much bigger than the rest. Within seconds, the streets in the area were filled with spiders, crawling everywhere from building to the sewers. And they left nothing untouched on their onslaught.

Now all that was left was a small elf, surrounded by a swarm of spiders. Yet she was not afraid. Rather the spiders were afraid of her. They knew her relation to their Queen and most of all her power as they have once had a taste themselves.

One spider, holding a staff made out of bones with a skull on top, approached and kneeled before the girl.

“As decreed from our Queen, we await your command, Lady Alice!” bowed the spider and spoke in an inhuman voice.

“Good! Your task is to find the one hundreds sorcerers who are maintaining this barrier! Once they are dealt with, attack the southern wall and open the gate for the undead horde!” commanded Lilith.

“Your wish is our command!” the spider stood up and looked toward his comrades now crowding the entire street. “Brothers and sisters, the Queen has given us one simple task: crush this city to the ground! Leave none alive! Feast all you want! Tonight Caelum shall fall!”

* * *

Back at the southern gate, where the undead legion was attacking, the captain of the city guard was horrified by what he was seeing. One by one, the columns of light faded into nothingness. With each gone, the barrier became weaker and weaker. What the hell happened?

“Sire, we are under attack!” screamed one of the soldier.

“By what? The undeads are out there! It’s impossible for them to enter the barrier!” raged the captain.

“Not the undeads sire!!! It’s the spiders…..they are swarming the entire city, killing all the mages who are sustaining the barrier. And now they are all coming toward our location!”

“Spiders? How? HOW?”

“We don’t know sire. They just appear out of nowhere!”

“Do you see humans? How futile your efforts are?” a voice interfered their conversation.

The barrier, now nothing more than a paper thin light wall, was the last thing that stood between them and a dragon. But so far they didn’t see the extend of the man in black’s power. But surely he was the one responsible for all these catastrophes: rising an undead army, controlling a spider’s invasion and riding a dragon. The mere thought of someone capable of such a thing could only terrify them. Only one person would be capable of something like that: a demon lord.

“You are the demon lord!!!” shouted the men.

“Instead of answering your question, how about I show you what I am capable of! Seeing is believing after all.”

The stranger said as he raised his arms toward the sky. Suddenly the atmosphere became so heavy that knocked out some soldiers.

“Impossible! This is impossible!”

“Now, know true despair! ”

From the sky, the dark clouds gathered and formed a huge cyclone that descended into the ground. Within seconds the entire district along with the southern wall was ravaged by the tornado. The wind was so strong that it could lift entire houses and throwing them at the wall, damaging it further.

The scene could only be described as hell on earth. Soldiers flung into the air before falling again to the ground with their heads cracked open. The residents tried to escape their home were blasted away along with their house. Who knew where they would end up? Children who cried by the side of their parents’ corpse as they didn’t know what to do, awaited to be smashed by the flying debris of the storm. As blood dyed the streets of Caelum, the figure riding the dragon remained motionless.

Looking down at the destruction he caused, Alastor trembled. But the shaking was not due to the fear not did he feel any kind of remorse. In fact he felt something else: a certain delight, a twisted desire to kill more and more. Face to this calamity, the boy gave a soft smile on his face as he thrilled on the carnage.

At this moment, Caelum’s fate seemed certain. The walls have been breached and the horde continued its march.