Within the downpour of a thunderstorm, the battle reaches a critical juncture. Forces of both sides stare down at each other. A monster army of little over 3,500 which is all the remaining monsters stare down at the fort garrison of little more than 02 battalions of mixed troops and personnel.

Ryu leans heavily on the railings of the balcony as he gazes out at the monster army. His head is in shambles. The size and scope of the monsters have taken a qualitative leap compared to the frenzied wave from earlier.

Tolle, standing behind Ryu stands noiselessly waiting on Ryu as he contemplates.

After taking almost 2 breaths of time, Ryu turns to face Tolle.

[Send out this order. The next wave will the last. It will also be the most chaotic and unpredictable. Depending on scenarios the following needs to be executed.

If the hoard army moves out all at the same time, the defense should fuss cannon fire on to the giant monsters. Rifles must target the fastest moving monsters. Pick off other monsters as and when it is possible. Can use suppression bombardment of the howitzers to help contain the field.

If the monsters reach the wall, as long as the gate is not compromised, they are to man the wall turret positions.

If one of the giant monsters reach the gate. All fire power must be focus on it. Make all attempts to prevent fall of the gate.

If in the event the gate becomes compromised, all forces are to fall back into the pre dug bunkers and trenches across the compound and man the turret positions from within the central tower.

Last, during this wave, demons are expected to appear. No specific details are known about these targets, but we can assume that their target will be me directly. If they make an appearance, other than the 02 platoons present with me are to steer clear and focus on the monsters. Only after the monsters are dealt with are they to focus on the demons.

That is all. These orders are irrevocable and must be followed precisely]

As he was issuing the command, Ryu gazed directly at Tolle. He could see the surprise on Tolle’s face. Explicitly emphasizing on the last sentence, Ryu sends Tolle down to pass on the orders to the front as he turn back to oversee the battlefield.

The stand-off continues for several more minutes as Tolle returns back. Just as Tolle reports his return, the giant monsters release a deafening roar. This becomes the signal for restart of the battle.

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(POV from the Walls)

Just moments ago, the Lieutenant Commander had come down from central tower to pass on the Commander’s orders. The commander had issued explicit commands. Here the soldiers got to learn of confirmed demon appearances. Worse is that they have not appeared so far in the exchange.

[So that means, what we have killed so far is only just monsters?]

[Doesn’t that mean that the demons are scarier?]

Different soldiers had different responses. However, it was pretty obvious that each of them accepted the orders without question. Only, they were concerned for the commander as he seemed to be the target of the demons.

[Listen up all of you! We are to execute the commanders orders resolutely. We will be precise, efficient and deal with these animals as fast as our abilities allows us. We must support the commander soon as the demons show up!]

The captain of the 2nd platoon shouts out.

[Sir, Yes Sir!]

And the troops respond accordingly. Their determination reinforced. They were fanatics. It may or may not be the work of the summoning settings, but each of them had a profound loyalty to Ryu that bordered fanaticism. The gleam in their eye proved it.

Ryu who unbeknownst of the soldiers’ morale and temperament, stands on the balcony with his own resolution. His visage is portrayed to them as an unfettered and undeterred general.

With morale at an all-time high and rested from the break, the soldiers prepare for Phase 2 of the battle.

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The battle promptly starts after the loud roars. As Ryu had predicted, the monsters dash up unorganized, all at once. Howitzers release cluster shells over the battlefield that blasts several hundreds of shrapnel onto the monsters. The lighter monsters are torn to shred under the barrage of shelling.

While the bombardment continues, cannons target the giant monsters, 02 at a time. Minotaur’s are first targeted as they are faster of the two types. Some riflemen target the Cyclopes’, especially focusing on its one eye. This stalls them from coming forward until cannons clear up the Minotaur.

The hoard charges wildly. Several monsters avoid rifle fire as they mingle across the battlefield.

Ryu looks over the scene with much comfort, knowing that the soldiers are capably holding the monsters at bay.

{Boooom}

Just as the thought occurs to Ryu, a loud boom is heard from the position of the gate.

The battlefield goes silent.

All eyes dart at the position of the gate as smoke bellows from its position.

As the smoke clears, they all notice that the gatehouse as completely blown off. No, it is rather that, it was blown to kingdom come as nothing remains.

[Uhuhuhu…. Hmm…]

Before Ryu could digest the situation a scornful laughter is heard from above.

His eye dart upwards to find a female demon flying in the sky. She had raven black wings and pale skin countenance. Behind her 03 large crows floated in position.

[Hello! How do you find my greeting?]

The demoness asks with much amusement.

Ryu doesn’t respond to her as he looks back down again.

[All captains are to act as they best see fit from this moment forward. All forces are to steer clear of the central tower]

Ryu loudly shouts out this order and pulls out his carbine. He looks back again at the demoness.

[This demoness, I do not know you, however, I have been expecting something to come over]

Ryu taunts it.

[Oh! You seem to be fearless, or is this a human façade? I can’t seem to ever tell the difference from you humans. Well regardless, you should be humbled to know my name. I am demoness Zesta, a crow demon of the 25th level. And I shall be your demise. Be pleased, you will become food for my growth]

The demoness declares smugly.

Ryu does not retort.

After a breath of time, shots are fire out from the platoons near Ryu as Tolle directs them.

The demoness and demon crows, rise higher dodging the shots fired.

After rising a distance, the demoness raises her arms. From the tips of her fingers, a magic circle grows out.

Seeing this Ryu immediate orders the soldiers near him to disperse as he jumps down to a lower balcony.

The demoness releases a dark ball of energy at Ryu’s former position, blasting a huge portion of the room and the entire balcony to smithereens.

Not looking back to confirm, Ryu aims his carbine and fires at a crow that is dodging the hail of bullet fires from the troops on the ground. A clear shot through its eye, kills the crow. A lucky shot.

Seeing the demon crow get killed, enraged the demoness greatly.

[You, you, puny human. How dare you! I will slaughter you!]

In her rage the demoness swoops down towards Ryu with her claws stretched out to gnaw at him.

Just as the demoness near Ryu, Tolle jumps out of the wreckage of the top floor and grabs on to the demoness.

This throws her off, just as she was a few meters from Ryu. Both the demoness and Tolle fall down on to the central plaza.

[How dare you latch on this one. Dirtying me with your filthy hands]

[Shut up to freaking bird brain. NO ONE endangers our commander!]

Tolle retorts angrily at the demoness as he charges at her with his carbine and sword as hand.

Both Tolle and the demoness engage in close combat.

As the scuffle is going on Ryu, diverts his attention back to the larger battlefield.

With the gatehouse gone, monsters are more frantic to reach the inside of the fort. Soldiers on the walls have not retreated and have keep the monsters at least 50 meters from the gatehouse position. This is very close to breaching the defense line.

Ryu also notices that the cavalry has moved out as they are absent from the central plaza.

As he sweeps his gaze across, he notices large number of casualties from among the garrison forces. He grimaces as the pools of blood and gore from his soldiers.

Ryu can’t help but lament that the fortification was too simple and offered far less defensive positions.

After contemplating this, Ryu immediately disregards it. He known it cannot be solved now, but in future. It is more important to secure that future y winning now.

Ryu turn back to scuffle between the demoness and Tolle.

Tolle has been successful as stalling and even injuring the demoness. The demoness on the other hand is enraged at her suffering and at Tolle. She has failed to cast any magic at close range and has to reply on her physical strength. However, unexpectedly she can’t harm the human in front of her. It is commonly known that humans are weaker than monsters and demons, yet the one before her seems to defy this logic.

[What! Is this all? Demoness! You aren’t much. Let me finish this now! In the name of the Commander!]

The demoness is irked by Tolle’s words as she dashes at the same time he launches.

In a split second the engagement decides the winner. The demoness slumps to the floor helplessly. Ryu is thrilled with this result he jumps down and rushes up to Tolle.

Ryu finds that Tolle is barely standing. He has a large slash across his abdomen. Unexpectedly, the blood only trickles down from the severe looking wound.

With a grin Tolle looks at Ryu as tries to lightly sit down.

[The demoness was quite powerful. She had a hidden card to play and could have killed me if not for her getting hit with a stray bullet at the last minute]

Before Ryu could ask on his condition, a hoarse voice is heard.

[What?! The crow demons failed? What a lousy bunch. They dishonor all demons. Falling into the hands of some low level humans. Shameless]

The gruffly bear like man appears at the edge of the plaza. By his side is a younger male. He has features of a leopard. Both give off an unpleasant feeling, which put Ryu on alert. He knew that they were demons.

Just like the gruffly man had said, all the crows had been killed off by rifle fire and the troops had assembled around Ryu and Tolle. Now only 11 of them had gathered. Ryu had not been able to clarify the death or the status of the troops as he stared at the demons across from him.

I fit was as the man said, Ryu on only had these demons to deal with. However, roughly estimating, Ryu also knew the forces he had in hand were only a third what he had at the start of battle, monsters’ sill outside the fort.

The situation was dire. Dire enough to leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

[Master: Less than 10%]

Just as Ryu was about to step up.

[You demons, I will dispose of you!]

Tolle get back up and points at the pair of demons.

Just as the words left his mouth, Tolle is blown out of the plaza and into a store house as it crumbled and collapses from the impact.

Ryu slowly turns to find the younger man standing with his fist extended out. Most likely, Tolle was punched quite physically and possibly incapacitated.

The soldiers caught unaware, quickly recovers from the stupor as 5 of them surround to protect Ryu and the others jump at the demon with their bayonet charge.

With victory for Ryu’s group all but settled, in the climactic moments of the battle, other challengers appear infront of the group, throwing the situation for a loop. Ryu grimacing, silently laments at the change of favors as misfortune that has yet to wash away from him.