Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:25

Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

General Merrick Miller.

“General…” One of the generals adjutants ran up to him, a pained look on his face, “The snow owls sent to Morristown and Riversdale have reports.”

“Hah,” The general sighed. “How is it?”

“It is bad. The owl sent to Riversdale reached the town, but it was already…”

“Understood. And Morristown?”

“There is a host of elementals, about two to three thousand strong advancing north-west towards the town, they are only minutes away. The owl has a warning for the garrison, but…”

But Morristown’s garrison was at best one hundred men, and they were barely trained. Even if they were elites, the best of the best, with minutes to prepare, and outnumbered twenty to one, they would still stand no chance.

“The host that hit Riversdale, where is it now?”

“It is heading towards us now, it will probably be the first group to make contact.”

“And the retreating forces from the Forest?”

“They… They split off another group to try and hold the main elemental host off, but…”

“But they were destroyed.”

“Yes, Sir. The rest of their forces are still retreating north, but a force of about two hundred cavalries broke off, they might make it to us before the elementals catch up, but the remaining infantry…”

“I understand.” The general said solemnly. “Still, it is good that the Temple of Nature decided to help us out, Wodof is one of the few gods that utilize druids, and the snow owl familiars are greatly helping right now.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The adjutant saluted and then backed up before turning to resume his duties, leaving General Merrick to continue watching over the preparations.

The Berzin Hills were a series of eight hills that were clustered next to the main road that ran north to the Capital. Considering that the surrounding land was relatively flat, and that the hills were rather unusually shaped, it was thought that they might have been artificially built in the past, however, no records indicated anything of the sort, and no research into the hills turned up anything either. They were simply an oddity.

Still, people believed there was some greater meaning to them. The hills formed almost a perfect circle, with only a small opening to the south. There was enough space between the hills to allow easy access as long as the hills were not defended, but the road was still diverted around, even if it was a somewhat large detour. The earth around the Hills was very soft and loose, prone to becoming a muddy mess with even the lightest of rain showers, and the basin in the middle of the hills held water like a bowl.

Right now the ground was frozen, so the army in the middle of their preparations did not need to worry about that particular problem.

Palisades were being built surrounding the northern four hills. Normally, all eight would be used while the central basin would be where the main army rested. Or, the defenses would be hidden with the intent to lure an enemy into the basin itself, and then attack them from all sides. However, the Elementals were not a normal opponent. They could sense life from miles away, so a hidden ambush would be impossible. And if they had fortified all eight hills, the elementals would just mindlessly charge the first they encountered, leaving the others with nothing to do.

Instead, only the northern four were defended, and the bulk of the army was left behind those four. The elementals would charge those, and would, to some extent enter the basin, allowing the mages and the limited siege weapons they brought to catch them in a crossfire. While the elementals focused there, the rest of the army would move around on both sides to flank the elementals.

Still, while the flanking maneuver was a huge aspect of their battle plan, their methods were primarily defensive. The forces flanking would only move into a range that allowed them to bombard with ranged attacks, and then would take a defensive stance themselves. No one would charge into the elementals.

Still, the fighting would be intense, and the flanking forces would be lacking the palisades that the defenders on the hills would have. So to help them out, pitfalls and trenches were being dug where the flanking forces were to move to, and even magical mines were being buried in the frozen ground.

Still, there was one huge gamble they were taking.

“Commander Tale.”

“Yes, sir?” The half-elf responded immediately.

“We brought five of the Capitals Light Throwers to face off against the Fragment. We can whittle it down with normal attacks, but we can only rely on something like the Throwers to finish it off. And since the Fragment is just as mindless as a normal elemental, we figure it will come straight down the middle.”

“Of course.”

“There is a chance it will hit somewhere else, but we have plans in place in that event, the Light Throwers are being pulled by mountain oxen, so we can move them easily if we need to.”

“I understand, what is it that you need our Pine Family to do then?”

“Based on the size of this Overflow, we think there is a good chance that a Greater Elemental will show up. They are considered to be around Rank 8, as strong as the Fragment, just smaller. They are also a bit smarter, so they could attack us anywhere. Your Pine Family sent us the largest group of high ranking combatants, so i want to ask you to stay near the front, but away from the actual battle. If a Greater Elemental shows up, you will need to rush there and engage it. I will give you the authority to command any soldiers in the area to assist.”

“What if there is no Greater Elemental?”

“Then you get to sit the fight out, unless the worst comes to pass, but I do not think that will be the case. I know all of your forces are high ranking, so it’s unlikely you would suffer losses regardless, but you never know what can happen in a battle like this. Fend off a Greater Elemental, and as payment, you can rest easy during everything else.”

“I understand General. In that case, I should head back to my forces.”

“Thank you, Commander. You’ve already done us a great service just with your show of force, I do not like pushing this task on you. With luck, there will be no Greater Elemental for you to face, and you will be able to spend the battle idle.”

“No, Thank you General for being so accommodating.” The Half Elf offered a crisp salute before turning to leave the command center.

“Hopefully, things go well.” General Merrick muttered as he watched him leave.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:29

Bleeding Forrest Garrison Retreat, North-South Main Road, 12 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Colonel Issold Redia.

“Ma’am, do you think… that Lieutenant Colonel Lores will be able to hold them back?”

“No. He will not.” Colonel Issold Redia replied without even looking at Captain Mike.

Issold was not normally such a taciturn person, she was friendly and easy to get along with, unlike her superior, General Frederica Canyon Fredirin. Her General was brusque and a somewhat difficult person to be around, she was hot-blooded and fiery, and Issold acted as cool water to compliment her fire. But tonight, she was not the smooth water she normally was, instead, she was frozen like ice.

Major Korlean’s mages all at least dabbled with scrying magic, it was simply too valuable when maintaining the Bleeding Forrest for every mage to not use it. Even exhausted as they were, a few of her mages were able to scry behind them to see what was happening.

Issold had, despite the difficulties of this retreat, maintained her normal calm demeanor, but fifteen minutes ago when a mage reported that the elementals were chasing after them, her calm expression had begun to freeze.

If the elementals were behind them, then the fortress had been overrun. If General Frederica had been in good shape, if she hadn't nearly lost her leg years ago, she might have been able to flee on foot. But she did nearly lose her leg, and she would have been fighting there on the front line herself, so she would have been exhausted and wounded. There were no horses left at the keep, no way for anyone to flee.

General Frederica, one of the only people that Issold Redia looked up to, had died, and so her smile had faded.

As she realized that they couldn’t outrun the elementals, she became colder.

When she ordered Lieutenant Colonel Lores to take a third of their forces to stall the elementals, she had begun to freeze.

When she asked Major Alarville to take Korlean and nearly all of the remaining mages, she had frozen over.

In her heart, she knew that only the one hundred and fifty horsemen and the similar number of mages stood any hope of survival. The rest of them, they were dead.

An hour ago, she would have expected the Capital’s forces to rescue them, but with her frozen heart, she no longer had any hope. She moved forward not because she planned to live, but because she had no choice. Her general told her do whatever she could to protect her men, and she would obey that order to the best of her abilities.

Even if it were impossible.

Even if she was only staving off the inevitable.

Even if all she wanted to do was follow her general into death.

“What should we do then?” Captain Mike asked.

“Keep moving Captain.” It was Apz, one of General Frederica’s adjutants who spoke up in Issold’s stead.

Two of her adjutants had stayed behind, Vai and Wiln, and both were presumed dead. Apz, Porso, Kark and Urlis were now with her, serving her since she was their commander’s second in command.

She knew without even needing to look, that the four each had a face caked with ice, their tears froze from the cold as they fell down their cheeks.

The same as her own.

“Colonel…” A voice called out to her.

The speaker was a man mounted on a donkey, one of the few beasts of burden from the keep, the donkeys were now being used to carry the remaining mages that were all too tired to stand let alone walk. In fact, the mage on the back of the donkey was so pale that he was pure white, cold sweat was dripping from his head, and his eyes were barely focused.

Sure signs of mana exhaustion.

“What is it…” Issold glanced at him to see his rank insignia, “Sergeant?”

“I scried… behind us… Elementals… two thousand feet… away…”

Issold heard the hiss of sharp breaths being let out as the news was heard by those around her.

“What do we do?” Captain Mike asked again, “Should we… scatter?”

“Won't work,” Urlis answered this time.

“Elementals can sense life force, we won't be able to escape.” It was Porso who continued. “If we split up, it might delay them for a minute or so, but we’ll all end up dead.”

“Then, what should we-”

“All forces!” Colonel Issold interrupted him, “About face! Battle Formations!”

The two thousand remaining soldiers stalled in their march, sluggishly coming to a stop. But while they paused, they did not begin moving into formations.

Colonel Issold could see it in their eyes, they were tired, they were scared, they were battered and beaten. Even if they had not seen combat against the elementals themselves, they had watched their friends get slaughtered just hours ago. They had been forced to flee with their tails between their legs, to abandon their comrades. They had to suffer the guilt as they left the others behind, the guilt as they realized, deep down, that they were relieved to flee, to not need to fight and die. As they rushed through the blizzard, their strength being sapped by the snow and the cold, they had realized that their friends who stayed behind were dead, they were forced to split again, and those left behind had again, fallen.

And now, it was their turn.

“The Elementals are behind us. Minutes away.” Issold called out to the forlorn troops around her. “We can not escape, we will not be rescued. We can only die here tonight. If anyone wants, you may run. The Elementals will chase you down, they will catch you, and they will kill you wherever you hide. You might get lucky, they might overlook you, but i would not bet on it.”

She looked around, seeing the resignation in the soldier’s eyes.

“We are all dead. Not now, not yet, but soon. We are all dead.” She said solemnly. “But, so what?”

The men and women around her shifted nervously.

“It is said, that it is a sin for a child to die before their parents. Well, it is also a sin for a general to die before their soldiers. Our General stayed behind, she stayed so that we could have a hope of survival. She died. Died so that we could live.”

No one in the surroundings spoke, everyone was focused on Issold.

“Well, I say, FUCK THAT!” She roared. “Our General ordered us to retreat, but we are all dead. And the dead do not follow orders. The military says to put the group ahead of the individual, to not allow our emotions to take charge. But we are dead!”

Issold drew her sword, a thin rapier, and pointed it towards the south.

“They killed our general, those fuckers killed her. Regulations tell me to follow orders, to not seek revenge, but fuck that! Fuck the regulations! Fuck orders! And Fuck those ice bastards! I will kill them, each of those fuckers i murder will be an offering for our general. Run if you want, hide if you want, but I. Will. Fucking. Kill. Them!” She bellowed, her yell even seeming to cower the wind.

Issold ripped her rank insignia off of her chest, the piece of metal falling to the snow as she stormed backward towards the elementals.

“Fucking Kill Them!” “Die!” For our General!” “Those Bastards!” “Kill all of them!” “Fuck!” “Damn them!”

Two thousand voices roared, in anger, in resignation, in pain, in sorrow, in hatred.

In agreement.

The men around her drew weapons and marched back to face the elementals. They tore their own ranks off, creating a mixed blur that combined officer and soldier, subordinate and leader. Everyone was united in their hatred of the Elementals.

As they roared their resentment to the heavens, they marched forth. And in the distance, through the snow, silhouettes of ice could be seen.

For a second, all was quiet.

“Charge! Kill!” Issold roared.

Her roar was echoed by her side, but met with silence from the other. They charged, steel and flesh crashed into ice.

Hot blood splashed onto the ground, where it cooled and began to freeze.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:35

Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

General Merrick Miller.

“We have little time before the enemy is upon us, so I want to take this time to go over the plan.” General Merrick Miller’s voice easily encompassed the entire tent that made up the temporary command center.

“I will be candid,” he spoke as he looked at his various aids and adjutants, along with his lieutenant generals who he was nominally in charge of. “As you all no doubt know, direct battle plans are not my strong suit, while ultimate authority lies with Lord Xavier, I am his instrument in all of this. Since his Lordship has sat out during the planning stage, it has fallen to me. Now, our plan is simple, but I want everyone to feel free to speak up and add anything or point out any flaws.”

Seeing everyone nod affirmatively, the General walked to the table in the center of the tent, upon which sat a crude, but mostly accurate representation of the Berzin Hills and the hasty defenses built around it.

“The bulk of the enemy force is heading due north, directly towards us. They will enter the battlefield from the south. Two enemy detachments will enter a matter of minutes behind the main force, one from the south-west, and the other from the south-east. Since the battle lines will have already formed at that point, we do not expect there to be any issues with the detachments’ arrival.”

The General paused, giving enough time for someone to poke holes in his plan, but there were only a few affirmative nods at his words. A good sign for sure, but this was only elementary strategy at this point, the problems would come later on.

“This battle will primarily be a defensive one, the enemy will strike us, and we will hold. However, the unique aspects of this enemy should be well known, even if few of us have ever personally encountered them.”

“Elementals…” High Priest Brent, a paladin from the Temple of Defense spoke with a haunted look on his face, “Do not tire, do not rest, do not stop. Their hatred of all that is living overwhelms even the undead. They are mindless, they will advance without end. They have no morale, they will not panic, this will not be a normal fight.”

The High Priest’s words were taken seriously by everyone in the meeting, he was the only one here who had ever stood against an Elemental Overflow. The middle-aged man lived in a village of nearly one thousand that was destroyed by a small Overflow of Earth Elementals, he was one of only four people who survived.

“If this humble one may speak a word?”

“Of course, Ambassador Zhou An, feel free to speak.”

“Many thanks,” The ambassador from the Crystal Jade Empire said as he gave a deep bow. “This humble one has never directly seen an elemental, however, this humble one had inspected the aftermath of an Overflow that occurred near Green Vine City.”

General Merrick shot a glance at the adjutant who was nearest, but the man only lightly shook his head in denial.

“Ambassador, I do not recall having heard of an Overflow occurring within the Empire recently. I haven’t heard of Green Vine City either,” General Merrick stated.

“This humble one knows that your Excellency. The Overflow happened sixteen years ago, only a year after I entered officialdom as a eunuch, inspecting the aftermath was one of my first major duties, and it had stuck with me ever since.”

As the bald man spoke, General Merrick was able to hold himself back, but a few others in the tent cringed or otherwise drew back at the mention of his status as a eunuch. While not everyone knew what that entailed, enough did, and they struggled to hide their revulsion at the Empire’s methods of ensuring loyalty in their bureaucrats.

“As for Green Vine City,” The aged, not-quite-a-man continued on, “the city was located far to the south of our mighty empire, but during the Overflow, it was destroyed, the entire population of sixty thousand was lost.”

“...I see…”

General Merrick was not exactly happy with the ambassador right now, truth be told, he found the man to be similar to a snake, his nature as a eunuch only made his distaste for him stronger. The General had wanted to remind the men under him that should they fail, the Royal Capital would be in danger, but the ambassador had preempted him.

“That day a relatively small Overflow happened to occur, but the Elementals that came forth were Fire Elementals, and they burnt the city and its inhabitants to ash.” He spoke solemnly as he twirled his thin, white beard with his fingers. “The nearby garrison forces, in an effort to stop the fire, destroyed the local dam, flooding the city and surrounding area with water. It was due to this that the small garrison was able to defeat the Elementals”

“Unfortunately ambassador, we have no nearby dams to break.” High Priest Brent said sourly.

“Of course, this Humble One knows that. However, this Humble One just wanted to point out a simple fact. Elementals do not breath, they are not alive. While some were undoubtedly destroyed by the force of the water, most were left almost perfectly fine. The reason why the garrison could defeat them wasn’t due to the damage inflicted by the water but was due to the fact that the flood greatly upended the elemental balance of the area. Fire and water are opposed, when the area was infused with the elemental power of water, the Fire Elementals were then severely weakened. Even the powerful Fragment, was easily destroyed by a group of rank 4 soldiers. This Humble One just wanted to suggest that we use fire as much as possible in the upcoming battle.”

“The… ambassador brings up a valid point,” Brigadier General Tino spoke suddenly, “However, we lack oil or tar to create a large fire, and with the blizzard raging, finding a fuel source is…”

“A natural fire is out of the question, which leaves us with a magical one, however, the strong influence of cold and water brought about from the Elementals themselves will hinder the casting and use of most fire spells.” Colonel Dexter followed up.

“This humble one, of course, knows these facts. This Humble One just wanted to inform you illustrious gentleman of what this Humble One knew. However, if this Humble One were to be presumptuous, this Humble One has noticed a fuel source that was overlooked.”

“And that source is?” General Merrick asked.

“Are there not nearly forty thousand men and women in this army? This Humble One suspects that some are most likely of noble blood, but many of them will be peasants. The human body can serve as a fuel source if need be.”

“You…” Cardinal Drei from the Temple of Mercy looked appalled, “You want us to burn our own people?”

“This Humble One only suggests it as a last resort, better to suffer self-made losses here, than to get destroyed and let the city suffer damage.”

“Enough!” General Merrick shut down that discussion. “Ambassador, I thank you for your suggestion, but we will not sacrifice our own citizens like that.”

General Merrick realized what Zhou An was trying to do.

Defending the Capital was of the utmost importance, but preventing heavy casualties within their own forces was also extremely important. If everything went well, they would be able to easily handle the Elemental host and suffer only light casualties. Even if things were to go wrong, while they would suffer for it, they would still triumph.

But, it could still be said that their backs were to the wall. If something were to go wrong, before they could calmly respond, there was now a chance that someone would pointlessly ignite their own troops.

Unlike everyone else here, the ambassador served a different nation, one that was sometimes at odds with the Kingdom. From his perspective, any loses the kingdom suffered, would be a boon to his own nation.

“No, this Humble One apologizes for his words, they were lacking in thought.”

No one said anything, but most of the people glared or otherwise sent looks of disdain towards the balding eunuch. Some of them probably realized what he was trying to do, but they could not voice those concerns to his face.

“Then moving on,” General Merrick brought that topic to a close before continuing, “Our basic strategy will be a simple one, we will focus on defense while wearing the enemy down with ranged attacks. Archers will have limited effectiveness, so we will be relying on heavy crossbows, slingers, magical attacks, and siege weapons. On the topic of siege weapons, we have brought all of the lighter ones from the capital, so we will have an abundance of those.”

Everyone around the table nodded in agreement, the fact that they would be able to batter the elementals down with the heavy weapons was a great relief for everyone there.

“The plan for our actual defense is a bit more involved, so I will ask Brigadier General Tac to go over it, it is after all his plan.”

“Thank you General,” Brigadier General Tac, a dwarf, said as he moved up towards the center of the room. “If we face the Elementals head on, we can expect catastrophic casualties. This is why we are taking a defensive stance, however, just that alone will not be enough. If we focus on making a sturdy wall, the Elementals will just break through it. If a hard defense will not work, we will use a soft one.”

The dwarf let his words sink in for a moment before he continued.

“The fortifications we managed to build are not designed to block the Elementals, but to break them up and funnel them to certain areas. We do not want them crashing into us in one mass, but in small streams. Our regular soldiers will focus on defense using shield walls, but they will form platoon sized clusters with mage and ranged support mixed in. These clusters will be durable enough to weather an Elemental assault for a short while, but nothing more. Meanwhile, the area between each cluster will be filled with our warriors who are of at least Rank 3. They will make up the kill team, while the others act as distractions.”

“If I may General?” High Priest Brent interrupted.

“Go ahead.”

“While this does seem as an effective way to destroy the Elementals, it does put the greatest burden on those high Rankers. If they get worn out, the other defenders will crumble rather quickly.”

“Yes, that is a valid concern, but it brings me to the next point.” Brigadier General Tac nodded in thanks to the Paladin before he continued, “Each defense sector will be handled by a regiment of two thousand troops. Each sector will be split into two parts, a left and a right. Nearly all of our ranged support will at first focus fire upon the left part, this will greatly reduce the Elementals that get through that part, but at the same time, the other part will face their full fury. After a while, we will change targets to the right, the positions of the regiment will be swapped. While the left part takes over the bulk of the fighting, we will cycle out the tired and injured. We will repeat this as we go, the focus fire will buy us time to reorganize.”

“I understand, thank you.”

“There is one last thing I need to mention,” General Merrick took back the reins of the meeting, “We have a plan for dealing with the fragment, the Light Thrower’s we brought from the capital should be sufficient to destroy the Fragment with a single volley, assuming all Throwers score hits. That is, however, probably not going to happen. Still, we should damage it enough that we can either finish it off with concentrated attacks, or at least keep it at bay with concentrated spellfire long enough for the cannons to recharge. However, that is only one problem.”

The General looked around the tent, meeting the eyes of everyone within.

“Based off of the size of this Overflow, we are confident that there will be a Greater Elemental mixed in. There is even a decent chance that a second Greater Elemental slipped through before the tear closed.”

“One… I would expect, but two…” Cardinal Drei mumbled to herself while everyone else expressed basically the same idea.

“Thanks to the assistance from the Temple to Wodof, we have been able to view the aftermath of the battle at the Forest, there is a large destroyed area within the trees. Most of you might not know this, but General Frederica is… was, a Rank 8 warrior. We suspect she did battle with one of the Greater Elementals, and even if she didn’t destroy it, she likely damaged it heavily. Rank 5 and Rank 6 warriors will be able to keep it at bay while our mages finish it off.”

“That will be enough for an injured one, but what about an uninjured one? Granted, there may not have been two in the first place, and General Frederica may have killed the second, so all of this might be a moot point, but still.”

“And that, is where the Pine Family comes in,” General Merrick said, for the first time this night, he felt at ease. “Commander Tale will utilize the Pine Family's forces as a detached group that will hunt down the Greater Elemental when it shows up. Even if two appear, the Pines will be able to assist with the second.”

“Then, everything sounds good.” Cardinal Drei stated.

“Yes, this is a good plan, it will allow us to defend the Capital, and nothing else matters.”

“Do not forget everyone,” General Merrick said, “We are the protectors of the Capital’s citizens, we cannot fail.”

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:46

Bender Street, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

“Two more, heading down the alley to the east!” Ula yelled from her vantage point atop a nearby roof.

My machete was currently cleaving through the body of an Elemental, two of its four heads, the laughing one, and the crying one, were already severed and on the floor. The angry face and the expressionless face were still attached to its bloated body, but the top half of that body was now breaking apart as my blade cut through it. Two short stubby arms flailed about, trying to stop me, but coming nowhere close to reaching me or my blade, and they then ultimately failed, the fat, four-headed Elemental was cut in two.

I could sense the wretched elemental powers that gave it life fading even as it fell, soon it would shatter and begin to melt.

“I’m on it!” Yelled one of my cousin’s two Guardian Knights, so far only that one had moved more than two feet from the young girl, the other had stayed to protect her.

Elementals were beings of pure elemental power, pure fire, pure water, pure cold, pure earth, pure darkness, pure whatever.

These… things, these Elementals were not pure at all. They were tainted in some way, some inexplicable way that corrupted them so deeply that I had never seen anything remotely similar. Whatever happened that caused this, certainly left an impact on the Elementals’ behavior, turning them hateful, insane, and unable to think.

Lillian’s knight charged through one of the houses, knocking the door apart as he did, and then lept through the backdoor into the alleyway. He was swift and came from an unexpected direction, but he was spotted by the two Elementals well before he got close, they could sense his approach with ease. Whether they were sensing magic, heat, or something else, I did not know, but the result was the same. His sword clashed with a tentacle-like appendage sent to block him from one of the Elementals, but it was then cut through.

My cousin’s Guardian Knights were Rank 6 as I suspected, but they were also outfitted with high-quality equipment. That knight’s sword was magically enchanted to increase the weight of the blade when it made contact with an object, so despite being a normal longsword, it hit with the force of a great ax. He would easily handle just two Elementals.

Which was good, because I was still occupied.

An Elemental with an upper body of an hourglass and a mass of tentacles for legs charged at me and attacked by swinging its head at me like a club. Due to the difference in size between us, I was not even four feet tall, and the Elemental was closer to ten, the only attacks it could send my way were a low sweep, or a headbutt smash directly into the ground.

It chose the sweep.

Which I was easily able to duck under and step into, the point where the top and bottom halves connected was thin, I didn’t even need my sword for this, a well-placed punch shattered that point and the upper half went flying before smashing into a wooden house.

Elementals only die when more than half of their body is destroyed, this one was unharmed before I hit it, and while the top part was a large portion of its body, the bottom part had the addition of the tentacles, losing the top was only losing about 40% of the body. Elementals, at least these Elementals, do not feel pain, nor do they even notice the damage to their bodies, as such, even as the top part of its body was crushing through someone’s house, the tentacles shot up at me.

I jumped back, my machete swinging as a few of the tentacles of ice that tired to entangle me fell to the ground. But even as I landed, the Elemental charged forward, the part where I broke of the top had now become a point for which it tried to impale me.

“Too easy,” I said, stepping a bit to the side and catching the charging point under my left arm. Having locked it in place, I slammed my blade into its body. Even as its tentacles lashed at me, I pulled the machete back, leaving a trench upon the formerly flawless ice.

The Elemental began to crack and shatter, the mana animating it began to fade, so I dropped it to the ground and moved on.

The first of Lillian’s Guardian Knights was still in the alley, but he should be done soon, and of the three Elementals that I was dealing with, one changed targets and went towards my cousin, only to be smashed down by her remaining defender.

“How is it, Ula?”

“There is a group of civilians three blocks north, but there are Elementals on their trail.”

“Will we make it in time?” I asked.

“...No.”

“Well, too bad. Still, we should go and finish them off.”

“No need, Cat, there are only two Elementals, and a group of mercenaries is closing in on them.”

“Then we will keep heading west towards the wall, we need to reclaim that first.”

The great wall that surrounded Arvas was fifty feet tall, and while the buildings surrounding us partially obscured the view, from what I could see, Elementals were still jumping down from it.

The city had issued a mandatory evacuation order to the southern sections of the 7th and 6th Circles. The Elementals were advancing due north, but they would be intercepted by the forty thousand strong army that the Capital had sent out. There was no real chance the army would be defeated, and if it were, the Capital would suffer severe damage regardless of any evacuation orders. But, there was a chance that some Elementals might slip through, in fact, the odds were good that the Elementals would split up, some heading north-west towards Morristown and some heading northeast towards Riversdale.

Riversdale was only slightly out of the way, so while the Elementals might have been able to hit that and then rush towards the Capital, the Army would be right in their way. Commander Tale assured me that Elementals were mindless, so something like diverting around the army to sneak attack the Capital would be impossible. But even if they did, they would have hit the south side of the city.

Likewise, if the group that went after Morristown decided to go towards the capital after finishing with the small town, they would likely hit from the South too. However, Morristown was further away and required a larger detour for the Elementals to reach, based on the reports, they should just now be reaching the town, they would still need to destroy it before moving on. Simply put, there was no way for the group that went to Morristown to already be at the Royal Capital.

The south of the city was evacuated, and the majority of the remaining guards that were not helping with the evacuation were stationed on the southern walls. The western, eastern, and northern walls had even less than a skeleton crew, and that crew, lacking as it was, was made up of new recruits and the elderly.

To make matters worse, the primary method of noticing enemies was through detect life, detect magic, and detect heat spells. All three of which would not work on Elementals. With the blizzard reducing visibility, the defenders on the northwestern section of the wall didn’t even raise an alarm until after the wall was covered in Elementals.

“We will follow you wherever you go,” My cousin spoke up, even as her two guards, including the one who had just come back, frowned, but said nothing.

Her guards were not at all happy right now. They wanted to retreat to safety, bringing my cousin with them. The fact that I had revealed strength at the peak of Rank 6, while they had just stepped into the Rank had also left them concerned, after all, my identity was still unknown. Still, while they were nervous around me, they also realized I was a valuable partner who could help protect their charge, and while they did want to retreat to safety, they also were not willing to abandon the thousands of people who were currently being slaughtered in the 7th Circle.

“If we can retake even a section of the wall, we will be able to get a better idea of what is happening,” I said, more to the two knights than to my cousin or Ula, “And we can also act as a rallying point. Right now the few defenders left are being bogged down in this chaotic melee in the streets. Not to mention the fact that the Elemental’s have an advantage in detecting our allies.”

Neither of the two knights said anything, their frowns remained on their faces, but the fact that they did not object was an agreement in its own way.

“Okay, Ula, keep an eye out as we adva-” I stopped mid-sentence and swiveled my head to the north.

Bender Street was not a major road, nor a notable one. Like all of the roads running parallel to the city’s walls, Bender Street had a slight curve to it, which limited how far a person could see down it, although the blizzard that still raged made that a moot point at the moment.

I could not see anything, but I could feel it.

Approaching through the snow and ice, was something so corrupted, so wrong, that I could feel the very fabric of the planes begin to groan. Different from my own kind, different from the chaotic demons, different from even the creatures from beyond the void, what was approaching now was so wretched that existence itself cried out, refusing to bear its burden.

“Ula,” I spoke without turning my eyes from the end of the road, “I need your sword.”

“Yes?” She hesitated, before unsheathing her dirk and then tossing it to me.

Ula’s sword was about as good as mine, but thinner and agiler than my machete, it would be a particularly poor weapon to use against these Ice Elementals. However, Ula had not used her sword, instead, she had used her short bow to harass the Elementals. Her sword was undamaged, unlike my own which was chipped and cracked.

“It is here”

Through the snow it stepped, its large and powerful form slowly revealed. An evil looking knight, it’s armor studded with spikes, it’s helmet sporting two horns that curve upward. It held a shield that was easily large enough to cover my entire body, and in the other hand was a spear of crystal clear ice.

Unlike the other Elementals that had charged straight at me even before we could see each other, this one slowly walked forth, its gait was leisurely, but it held great power.

“That… That is a Greater Elemental.” One of Lillian’s knights muttered.

“I see…”

A Greater Elementals. A being of at least Rank 7, but most likely higher. A very powerful opponent, and with Michael’s soul still within my heart, I would not be able to use even the limited powers I had available to me.

Still, I could not allow such a thing to continue to exist.

“Defend yourselves, and if you see an opportunity, strike,” I said as a gust of icy wind blew down the road.

The Greater Elemental bent it knees and rested it’s lance upon its shield as it prepared to charge.

The veins on my body bulged, the blood within flowing faster and faster, stronger and stronger.

The knight launch itself at me, its feet sliding across the frozen ground.

My blood vessels ruptured, blood flowing from my body. My arms, my legs, they all dripped with my tar-like blood.

The knight covered the hundreds of feet between the two of us in only a second, its lance thrust towards the center of my body.

My blood formed a bubble in front of me, catching the lance within and slowing it. It still pierced through, the ice sizzling as it was corroded by my blood, but it was too slow. I sidestepped the thrust and my machete flew towards the wall of ice that was the Elemental’s shield.

The blade shattered, shards of ice were scattered, and blood sprayed.