Eric’s (leader of the Golden Lions) POV, 11 am, third day of the wave

“Fall back and regroup! Mages! Flare for reinforcements!” I cried, smashing voles left and right with my hammer while slowly retreating. Damn, but there were a lot of these bastards. I didn’t know where everything had come from, but they were a pain in the ass. Voles the size of dogs, with claws and jaws that tore through steel armor like it was paper. Even my own enchanted plate had taken a few slashes, and it was enchanted for extra defense. Their fur was reinforced with earth magic, making our archers useless. Only Zach had the skill to punch through, but his limited reserves were nothing in the face of this horde.

“Eagzards! Prepare a rush!” I ordered as I fell back, frantically searching my mind for a solution. The bombs were effective, but we had used most of them against those damnable spiders.

“Eric! Pull back! Cavalry Charge!” I used leap to get out of the way, and watched from a safe distance as the eagzards charged through the flank of the voles. They didn’t aim to do much damage, we learned that after the first charge bogged down and we lost a full third of our men. Instead they went for glancing blows and to use the massive noise of their charge to confuse the senses of the voles.

“Tawnya, what’s the status of magic reinforcements?” I asked.

“West wall has sent a third of their members, they should be here soon. The northwest wall is still engaged, and south wall has no reinforcements to send.”

Before I could respond, the trees at the edge of the cleared area were shredded by the massive swipe of a huge vole. An ugly beast, its nose had several wriggling protrusions that made it look like it had two hands on the end of it. On its back rode a person in black, form fitting armor. Once it cleared the area, the figure jumped down to survey the situation.

“Sir! Reinforcements have arrived and are awaiting orders!” Tawnya said from beside me.

Several scenarios flew through my mind, but the only one where we had a chance was to limit the number of enemies we faced. “Mage storm.” I ordered, knowing we would be blowing through most of our magical reinforcements. Tawnya turned to make several signals to the watcher on the walls, and hell erupted in front of us. The voles were obliterated in a hail of magical mayhem. Blasts of flame and lightning ignored their armor while they were skewered from above by spears of ice and below by eruptions of earth. The results were amazing, and likely gave us a chance. Our only chance.

“Damn, I never expected you guys to call in for a magical bombardment against our little vole friends.” The black figure spoke, using magic to amplify her voice. “And here I thought you would tough it out Eric. You are supposed to be the unstoppable golden lion of the battlefield, no? But lions wouldn’t dare let a mere vole scratch them, and your armor has seen better days.”

I calmly strode forward. “You seem to know a lot about me. Care to introduce yourself? All I can see is that you must be a Viper with that black armor of yours.”

“Do you like it? It’s the latest and greatest when it comes to coverage. But I suppose you are right, some of you people have a superstition where you can’t rest in peace without knowing the name of your killer, yes? I am called Mamba of the Vipers.”

“Tawnya, you and the rest of the Lions handle the Viper for now. I’ll take on the oversized vole. Have the rest back me up.”

“Yes sir. And the mages?”

“Shots of opportunity on the vole.” I ordered. “Sorry Miss Mamba, but I’ll have to dance with you later. My card just filled up.” I said, then charged toward her vole. Several blasts of magic assaulted it, and to my surprise it bunched down its nose. “That nose is sensitive to magic at least! Mages target that, I’ll hold its attention!” I yelled out, dodging several magical blasts from Mamba. A flurry of arrows forced her to start dodging as Zach and the other archers finally had a target they could theoretically do damage to. Trusting my friends, I leapt into the air on the tail end of the second volley of magical strikes. “Thunder crash!” I activated my weapons enchantment, unleashing a blast of lightning onto the vole’s sensitive nose.

“KRRRREEEEEEE!!!!!” It screamed, backing up and slashing wildly with its claws. I parried the first, but was forced to retreat when I saw it starting to channel mana onto them. I was glad I did, as the second slice tore through the ground like it was nothing.

“Eagzards, harry the flanks. Keep to hit and run tactics, and watch those claws for the counter. See if you can’t weaken a portion of his flank with repeated strikes. I’ll keep his attention facing me.” I called out, darting back in and smashing my hammer on the base of one of his claws. The vole retaliated by smashing me with a nose protuberance, trying to force me into his mouth! With its other claw trying to prevent my escape, I had to desperately smash his nose with my hammer to alter my trajectory.

“Watch that nose!” I called out after I had gotten out of danger. “It’ll knock you toward the mouth!” Warning given, I had to focus all my attention on just staying alive. Each of the ten protuberances acted like an independent weapon, between them and the claws it was like I was fighting six people at a time. Six people that were in perfect sync with their attack. As we began to get into it, my senses expanded. While the majority of it was focusing on all movements made by myself and my opponent, another portion was hyper aware of everything around me. How despite their attacks, Mamba had no damage on her, and her movements seemed like she was just toying with her opponents. Madness! She was battling against four seasoned warriors while archers pelted her with arrows from a distance!

“Sorry sir, we can’t make a dent in this thing!” Someone from the eagzards said. “It’s not even bothering to counter us.”

“Fall back then, send any mage reinforcements down here as soon as you can. We’ll have to blast this thing.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll keep it busy here so it doesn’t take out the city wall.” I said, dropping back into a more defensive stance. This just became a battle of attrition; one I wasn’t looking like I was going to win.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Twenty minutes later, and I had dropped back, panting heavily. I had lost my shield ten minutes ago, it had gotten pierced by the claws of the creature and ripped from my arm. Though it wasn’t broken, I wasn’t able to hold anything with it. The vole reared back to strike again, forcing me to give ground. Instead of blindly slashing, it dropped back down and started charging! Unable to get any footing, I was desperately trying to figure out some form of escape.

“Arc Lightning!”

“KREEEEEE!!!!” The creature screamed in rage and pain as a continuous bolt of lightning left scorch marks on its nose, eventually forcing it to retreat a bit.

“Are you ok?” A female mage pulled me to my feet.

“I am, thanks to you two.”

“I’m Carrigan, this is Heidi. Where do you need us?” The male asked.

“Watch out!” I heard Tawnya’s scream, and was unceremoniously shoved forward by Carrigan slamming into my back.

“GAAAAAH, CUT IT OFF! CUT IT OFF! POISONED ARROWS!” He screamed, holding out his left arm. The arrow had pierced through his forearm, and already I could see black veins extending from the wound.

“Dismember!” Tawnya cried, slashing through the mages arm at the elbow.

“Heidi! I need you to create a fireball and hold it still.” He ordered, face paling as the blood spurted from his wound. In an act of incredible pain tolerance, he shoved his stump into the flame, searing it with the smell of burning meet.

“Carrigan!” Heide cried.

“Aww, best keep your eyes on your enemy my dears.” I heard Mamba say, as she effortlessly danced around, using her bow to parry blows.

“Skewering lunge.” Tawnya activated her fastest attack, nearly instantly crossing the twenty feet between her and Mamba, her sword piercing through her chest. All our eyes widened in horror as a black arrow sprouted from Tawnya’s chest, her sword falling limply to her side. “But, how?”

“Illusion!” Heidi screamed, pointing out that Tawnya’s sword didn’t have any blood on it. Everyone backed away, but we couldn’t tell where the enemy was.

“Awww, you figured it out so easily!” Mamba taunted. “Now, which shall be the next to die? Decisions, decisions.”

“Eric, we need to take down that vole first. If Heidi blasts it with lightning on the nose, can you leap in the air and smash its head?”

“Yeah, I got just the skill. Attack away Heidi.” I turned and charged at the vole, trusting these new mages. Carrigan was right, Mamba was just trying to distract us so the vole could get into town and cause some carnage.

“Lightning bolt!”

“Super Jump.” As soon as I heard her, I used a skill to jump sixty feet in the air. As the lightning struck the vole, it hunched down to protect its sensitive nose. Flipping my hammer so I was attacking with the foot long war spike, I activated another skill of mine. “Piercing Meteor!” My falling speed increased as my weapon was encased in flames, adding even more power to my double handed overhand smash. “HHHHHHYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!” I screamed as my body shook with the force of my impact. The spike easily pierced the skull of the vole, releasing flames inside and cooking its brains. The creature died immediately, and fell over in death. Exhaustion creeping in, I wrenched my weapon free and turned to see how the others were faring against Mamba.

“Now you can all die!” Mamba shouted. “Multishot.”

“Vortex shield!”

“Escape arts!”

“Guh.” Though Carrigan had created a shield of swirling air in front of him, Mamba’s arrow cut through it. Elain, the other member of the Golden Lions still in the fight, used her monthly escape skill to ensure that she escaped as a black arrow tore through the stomach of her after image. “Mage killers?” Carrigan asked as another arrow buried itself in his stomach.

“Heh, guess this is the end of the line.” He muttered as he fell to his knees. “Guess I can. Go out with a bang.” Forming a circle with his remaining hand, even I could feel the heat from the flames he concentrated inside. “Ignite, flames that rival the surface of the sun. Burn away the shell and leave the core of the smallest portion of matter. Become the fourth stage of matter, and everything away in a torrent of heat. Plasma wave!” As I watched, a blast of flame so intense I could feel it from over here erupted from his hands and shot out in a massive horizontal wave that cut through the area they were fighting in.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!” Mamba screamed in pain as her figure was revealed in the flames, a few feet away from her illusion. As quickly as they moved, the flames were spent and Carrigan’s body fell to the ground.

“NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” I heard Heidi scream.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Heidi’s POV

“NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” I screamed, watching Carrigan fall down. I saw the two shafts sticking out of his torso, and felt like my heart shattered at the impact. Just last night he was holding me in his arms! He couldn’t be gone now! Then I noticed it. HER! She took him from me, and his last act was to reveal her to everyone else. I would obliterate her, for him. System. I thought. Give me the power I need. You know my heart and mind, and the depths of my resolve. Give me this vengeance. At the thought, words appeared in my mind, and their cost. One I was more than willing to pay. I started chanting, feeling the mana in the atmosphere respond to my orders.

The heavens tremble at the depths of my rage.

Soul searing pain shall let me break reality.

I reach through the future,

And claim my power for the present.

I hereby seal a month of mana

To summon forth an unprecedented storm.

Strike down the target of my fury

THUNDER GOD’S VENGEANCE!

As I screamed the last words, shackles of mana bound Mamba’s true body as storm clouds gathered overhead. Once. Twice. Thrice. Again and again and again. What started out as repeated bolts every second soon came so closely together that one couldn’t distinguish them. For ten seconds, my vengeance rained from the heavens upon the body of the bitch that killed my Carrigan. In the end, the only thing left was a smoking crater with some deformed armor. That’s all I saw before I collapsed in exhaustion.