Right. so I apologise for this late update. i had actually intended to upload this on Friday, but apparently someone hacked into my account and used it to post spam, causing me to be banned from posting on this site until today. Also, I'll be starting a new fiction titled One Of A Kind. So I'll be working on 2 fictions concurrently. Don't worry though, I will still upload 1 to 2 chapters per week for this fiction. and so, without further ado, here's this week's chapter.

A deep continuous roar hummed from the thick city walls as thick black smoke began billowing out of the numerous chimneys at the top. Flickers of bright red and orange glow could be seen within the windows on the interior of the wall. As the bell towers continued to ring throughout the city, the city walls became a hectic bustle of people.

Kina and Rose stood at the foot of the towering wall and looked around. Nobody seemed to even care that they were there, only rushing around either carrying supplies or making preparations for an attack. Wagons full of scrap metal were continuously being shuttled into the wall from both within the city and from the mines. Miners and merchants alike were fleeing back towards the city from the outskirts.

Within a quick leap, Kina and Rose were both standing atop the walls, watching the preparations. They had already figured out earlier in the week that the wall doubled as living quarters for the city guards, as well as workshops for maintaining weapons. However, what they had not expected was that upon seeing all the furnaces within the city wall roar to life, they realised only a minuscule portion of the wall was for the guards. The majority of it was actually a series of smelting furnaces powered by the city’s mages.

The guards were working frantically, their captain barking out orders non-stop. They began pulling out large wooden boards that were hidden under a thin layer of soil on the ground. As people continued to trickle in from the forest, the guards kept pulling the boards up and towards the city wall to reveal a deep trench in the ground. The trench was situated only about 2 metres away from the exterior of the city walls, and it was at least 15m wide. Kina couldn’t gauge how deep it was but she was sure no normal person would be able to climb his way out. It ran along the entire length of the city, protecting the city wall like a moat, except there was nothing within the trench.

Tension rose gradually as eventually people stopped streaming in from the mines. The heavy gates slammed shut as the guards kept a vigilant lookout. Until now, neither Kina nor Rose had any idea how the trench was supposed to help stop the 4 legged metal swarmlings, especially millions of them. With preparations complete, the only thing anybody could hear were the roaring flames of the furnaces that were blasting away within the city wall.

As Kina waited, Kronos wagged his grey and white tail while lying lazily on her head. Then, his large triangular ears twitched. Opening his eyes, he squinted his small black beady eyes and focused on the faraway forest canopy. Muffled screams could be heard as the swarmlings found pitiful and unfortunate merchants and miners who had attempted to hide and wait it out. The treetops rustled as the smaller, less sturdy trees fell. Within minutes, the sound of trees cracking and being broken radiated towards the city wall, finally revealing the large black and brown mass that had made its way towards Mayheir city.

The swarmlings came pouring out of the undergrowth like locusts, rolling and flowing as a single entity. They scurried over one another, climbing and crawling their way towards the trench. The guards atop the wall tightly clenched the fists as nervousness set in. They have experienced attacks before, but they would never get used to the terror that such a large sea of swarmlings brings.

“Everyone! Get ready!” the guard captains yelled out fervently. Small windows that littered the exterior of the city wall opened up was the men inside readied their spears. Oddly enough, the spear heads were blunt, looking more like metal rods than spears.

“oi oi.. Isn’t this more than the usual amount of demons?” One of the guards operating one of the heavy ballistae complained as he watched the demons flood over.

Within minutes, as per Kina’s prediction, the swarmlings traversed the trench with ease, with very few falling in. Almost all the swarmlings jumped over the trench without a problem, with the occasional few being pushed down by their allies that were rushing in from the back. Even then, they would just crawl back out the trench after some effort.

As they crawled up the side of the wall, a loud order bellowed from within, which was followed by even louder yells coming from the guards. It was their war cry. They were all pumped up as they began shoving the spears through the tiny windows with their full might. This knocked the swarmlings that were climbing up the wall backwards, towards the trench where they would collide with those that were in mid-jump across the gap. Together, the collision caused numerous swarmlings to fall into the pit in a dazed thud.

Given the sheer height of the wall and the number of guards stationed at the windows, not a single swarmling made it to the top. It would seem that the method was working in repelling the attack was working. However, Kina, Rose and Kronos all frowned. They continued to stand atop the wall, scrutinising the situation. The major flaw to this plan was that the guards did not have a way to dispose of the attackers. Without a method of killing the incoming swarm, it was only a matter of time before the city was overrun with demons.

Then, as if answering their queries, large pipes protruded from the windows near the middle of the wall. As soon as the trench seemed to be almost full of swarmlings, bright red molten metal came flowing out the pipes and into the trench, scorching the swarmlings and melting their armour. The furnaces roared ever so loudly as ton by ton, molten metal kept pouring out, drowning the swarmlings and slowly encasing them as it cooled.

“Mages! It’s your turn next!” The captains roared as commands kept streaming down. Soon, the upper floors of the city walls had their spears replaced with mages who took over the window from the spearmen. It had been close to 2 hours since the attack started and yet, Kina’s party had yet to move a single inch. The trench was filled with boiling molten metal by now as swarmlings continued to tread over the moat of red hot liquid metal. They would slow down, but still make it through nonetheless.

At the command, a myriad of water and ice spells came raining down from the higher levels of the wall, falling towards the molten moat and ending with loud steam explosions. This method caused the metal to solidify quickly, trapping any swarmlings that were stuck inside or on top of the metal river. With the first line of defence gone, almost half of the invasion swarm had been dealt with.

“Fire mages! You’re up next! Melt their armours off! The spearmen will keep them off the wall!” Another order rang out. What was next was a tiring 3-hour repetition of fire and water mages casting spells against the horde. The superheated metal body of the swarmlings would crack under rapid cooling from water and ice spells. These cracks became their weak points as warriors and spearmen would rush forth out of the wall and pierce their vital through the cracks. Shrill cries rang out as the city’s forces slowly whittled down the millions strong attacking force.

Finally, Kina could watch no longer. Her mana pulse had already indicated that a second wave was on its way and if they could not finish this wave quickly, the city walls would surely be overrun. Kronos sighed, as he leapt off her head, landing gently on the wall’s roof without a sound. Seeing Kina step forwards, Rose shook his head slightly, before sighing as well. It would seem that the city was ill-prepared after all, even after their warning. At least this would be a good chance to make a name for himself.

“Wait, Kina,” Rose called out just as she was about to leap into action. “Leave your sword here. Just use your magic this time. We don’t want to reveal all your trump cards too early,” he suggested, to which Kina hesitated for a brief moment before slamming her sword into the stone wall.

“Kronos, help out too. I’ve seen enough for today,” Kina muttered solemnly as she watched brave men and women give their lives. Limbs were torn apart by the swarmlings, heads crushed, and some even hit by friendly spells. With a confirmation nod from the small fox, Kina turned back to face the carnage below and leapt without fear.

Standing on a mana platform above the battling mess of metal and flesh below, Kina turned to face the wall which was already crawling with swarmlings. Many were being tossed off the wall by the spearmen through the small windows, but even more were making their way up to replace those that fell.

“,” Kina yelled out fervently, attracting the attention of many of the mages hiding within the wall. A large circular rune appeared on the ground just below the wall where there were no swarmlings. Within seconds, the rune glowed a bright purple hue before activating, forming a 5m wide pit of molten lava. Then from within the boiling lava, a single hand emerged, grabbing the air as if it belonged to a drowning person. At first it was one. Then it became 2, then 5, then 20 then 50 hands, wriggling like a mess of worms in the lava pit. Every single one was bright red and glowing, as if it was made out of the lava itself. Then, under her superb control, the hands elongated and shot out, each one grabbing a swarmling from the wall and pulling it back towards the pit, drowning the swarmling, never to be seen again.

Casting several more time took a slight mental toll on Kina, but with 5 spell running concurrently, the pressure on the wall eased up, with the spearmen having a chance to take a short breather. Meanwhile, Rose had already joined the fray, his daggers flashing green here and there as each strike took out the swarmlings with deadly accuracy. It helped that the blade was reinforced with orihalcom, and that he had ungodly strength achieved from countless years to training and meditation. The daggers easily penetrated the metallic bodies of the swarmlings to destroy their core organs.

Even more awe-inspiring was the work of Kronos, who by now had already transformed back into his ghastly grim-reaper shape and was slicing through the swarmlings with his double-scythe like butter. He would materialise from the shadows on the ground in a burst of dark grey gas, take a swing, slice a swarmling and then disperse once more into the shadows, only to materialise once more in a similar fashion several metres away, all within the blink of an eye. Anyone who saw it had thought that the god of death had for some reason descended upon them to help them take out the swarm.

Within 15 minutes of Kina, Rose and Kronos joining the fray, the remainder of the first wave was easily taken care of. As people rushed to ferry the injured back into the wall, they could only stare in awe at Kina who was still standing in mid-air, dumbfounded by her prowess. The moment she joined the fight, what would have taken them another good 5 hours or so and countless casualties, was settled in the time they would take to have a meal.

As the battlefield settled down at their section of the wall which was closest to the forest, war raged on at the rest of the wall’s sections. Kina promptly proceeded to run through the air towards other sections, with Kronos and Rose following her closely behind. She continued to fight for another hour or so, before the swarmlings finally showed signs of retreating. As the mass of metal and claws pulled away from the wall back to the forest, cheers rang out throughout the city wall. Kina however, could only frown.

This city’s defence is clearly too feeble to handle the attacks, and yet they have managed to survive until now. This proved that her conjecture was indeed true. The demons were simply playing with the city, and that they could overrun and bring the city down to its foundations easily. And yet, for some reason, it bothered her that today’s attack was clearly more than what the city was supposed to be able to handle. It was almost as if it was testing the city’s strength, expecting a sudden boost in her defences.

[[Elsewhere within the central district]]

“What should we do? The girl is more powerful than we thought. And there seems to be some entity helping her too. We never accounted for their strength.” (Mason)

“I’ve issued the order to recall the first wave for now. They don’t seem to be expecting a second wave. Let’s regroup and see what she does then.” (Mempheus)

“I don’t care for your little games. Just as long as we get an idea of the full spectrum of her abilities. I want to be fully prepared for anything she can throw at us. In the end, All of you report to me while I’m held accountable for all morphling activities within the city. I still have to give regular reports on the progress of our invasion plan to the general. The swarmlings are disposable anyways, and the whole point of sending in a small wave at a time is so that the city can grow stronger from the resources the dead swarmlings bring. The faster this city grows, the better it is for us, so don’t go wrecking it just yet.” (Mirillia)

[[Back at the city walls]]

The cheering had been going on for almost half an hour now. Everybody was in a joyous mood, having just repelled the largest wave the city has experienced till date. Den, suddenly, horns rang out as the celebrations stopped abruptly. The scout lookouts on the top of the walls froze where they stood, their faces ashened by the sight. A second wave. This time, it would seem to be even larger than the first, and they were gathering just at the edge of the forest. The original upbeat mood immediately turned into despair as desperation and fear set in once more, crushing their spirits harder than ever.

Hushed whispers could be heard as everyone contemplated running towards the ocean. The city was doomed, and they knew it. They had just fought off 1 wave with much difficulty, and yet another was preparing to edge in on their walls, giving absolutely no regard for their fatigue or mental strain. This time, even the fog of toxic miasma rolled in along with the swarm, as several broodmothers stood, towering over their swarmlings.

As the guards assumed their positioned drearily, they stopped to look at the young girl who had saved them dash out towards the enemy fearlessly. From the wall, they could only catch a glimpse of the girl casing some kind of grand spell, as a beam of light fell upon the swarm as if it was heaven itself smiting them with its might. All they could smell was the burning smoke of charred wood and molten metal. Just who was this girl? And why had she only chosen to act now instead of earlier? These were the questions running through their minds as a tiny glimpse of hope returned into their once bottomless pit of despair.

So, I'll post the link to my new fiction once it has been uploaded successfully.