The island of Dragon’s Nest flew slowly until it entered the range of the splinter cannons. At that moment, the building shuddered as it picked up speed. A moment later, the world lit up as beams of light struck the island by the hundreds.

From inside Dragon’s Nest, I watched the light show through a distorted window of ice. There was no sound from the clash of power, only a rainbow of colors. It could almost be considered beautiful if I had not known just how deadly it was.

“We are sure this ice will not melt, right?” Dom asked skeptically as he watched the spectacle outside.

Vissna nodded as she stood confidently with her arms crossed. “If the mirror Demon was still alive to direct and concentrate the light into a single point, we might have had to fear the ice melting but scattered like this, there should not be any problem for the next few days. Our more pressing concern is if the Demons and their kin attack the island directly and damage that protection. This remnant is nowhere near the strength it should have. If cracks appear in our armor, Dragon’s Nest will not be able to handle the splinter cannons as well I could and the building itself might stop functioning properly.”

“Leaving us stranded deep in enemy territory,” Dom said with a grimace.

I patted Dom’s arm. “All we have to do is kill anything that approaches. Compared to Sebastion and Svend, our job is easy.”

“Let’s just hope that brat can handle it,” Dom grumbled.

For almost fifteen minutes, the splinter cannons continued to strike the crystal exterior of the building without any respite. Thanks to the protection of the Ice though, there was no visible effect. Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief. There was a big difference between being told that cannons could be blocked and seeing it for myself.

The splinter cannons continued to fire for several more minutes before coming to a halt. The silence was almost tangible as everything fell still. The only movement was the red mist billowing around the island as it moved.

“Here they come,” I said with bated breath.

The red mist became darker, thickening with each passing second. The silence was broken as the cries of beasts echoed from somewhere beyond our sight. Vissna, Dom, Sigmund, and I stepped outside. We were careful to stay behind the pillars of ice and small barriers we had created around the edge of the island just in case the splinter cannons suddenly started back up. Our own domains pushed back the red mist and allowed us to move freely. The crimson haze twisted and squirmed as if in protest to being unable to reach us.

The four of us stood silently as more and more cries could be heard gathering just out of sight. The number of Demonkin out there had to be in the hundreds of thousands. No matter how powerful we were, those kinds of numbers could swallow a person whole. I had little doubt the Demons would use them to grind us down before they made a move of their own. Our party could match the Demons in an even fight but against an army, we would simply be exhausted to death. Luckily, defeating all the Demonkin was not today’s goal. We simply had to hold out as long as possible and test what the Demons prepared for our arrival.

I spotted the first signs of movement as a mass of tentacles latched onto the side island. The Demonkin’s arms and legs each moved as if they had a mind of their own. The creature did not even hesitate before rushing towards the four of us.

Sigmund, the Sword Saint, proved he deserved his title as he easily sliced apart the tentacles of the monster in a single flash of light. My attention, however, was not focused on the Demonkin but on where it had come from. Peering through the fog above the island, there was a creature so massive it blocked out the sun. It almost looked like a whale as it glided through the mist. Along each side of its body were hundreds of holes large enough for a person to pass through and within those holes was the movement of countless horrifying creatures.

“That is a really big Alpha,” Dom muttered, “How many Demonkin do you think it can carry at once?”

“Several hundred at least,” I replied with a frown.

Vissna eyed the creature with an almost predatory gaze. “I did not expect there to be Demonkin so much bigger than me. Should I go bring it down to earth?”

I shook my head. “No, focus on protecting the island. We wanted their attention and now we have it. Let’s see what else the Demons have in store for us before we make our move.”

Even as we spoke, the giant whale had flown into position directly above our floating island. Demonkin started to fall from the sky like rain. Each creature landed on the island with an earthshaking thud. A large boulder of ice near the back edge of the island was directly knocked over the side and fell into the red abyss below.

Vissna grew to her full draconic size with a mighty roar. With a single leap, she landed at the top of the palace of ice. Her body wrapped around the towers as she shielded the building from the falling invaders using her own enormous size. Any Demonkin unlucky enough to land directly on her quickly found themselves freezing into a sculpture of ice.

Sigmund, Dom, and I spread out to each protect a different side of the building. I did not have the time to watch their performance as several dozen Demonkin landed near my location. Conserving my power, for now, I did not immediately turn the area into a sea of flames and instead created a golden whip of fire that lashed out at the closest creature. A single lash of the whip was all I needed as the golden flame spread upon coming into contact with the Demonkin as if they were made of dry tinder.

I had grown strong enough that a single Demonkin was now very little threat to me. Even the hundreds falling from the sky would not be enough to overwhelm what I could handle. Only a mature Demonkin would be able to threaten my domain armor and only an Alpha would be able to block one of my strikes and fight against me evenly. However, numbers could still overwhelm. Just as I had once exhausted Sebastion, Berith was now trying to exhaust me.

As soon as the first few hundred Demonkin fell from the giant whale in the sky, the alpha flew away. It returned barely a minute later with another several hundred Demonkin ready to rain down on the island. To make matters worse, several smaller flying Demonkin also appeared in the sky above us. Each of them carried at least one other Demonkin to drop on the island. Within less than five minutes, the entire place was teeming with thousands of horribly mutated abominations all trying to rip out my throat.

Even holding a whip of golden fire in each hand, I was quickly getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of creatures surrounding me. “Come on Berith, bring out the big fish.” I mumbled impatiently. However, despite my desire, all that came were a flood of normal Demonkin. Berith was being cautious.

For every Demonkin I cut down, several more fell from the sky. The number was quickly becoming so ridiculous that the Demonkin were now landing on top of each and charging forwards in a squirming mass of claws and teeth.

I grit my teeth in frustration as I faced the growing horde. There was nothing I could do to force Berith’s hand and I could not risk the ice protecting Dragon’s Nest getting damaged this early just to make it happen. Reluctantly I gave the order.

“Begin the first phase. Clear the island.”

The cacophony of cries from the Demonkin was abruptly overshadowed by a thunderous roar. The doors of Dragon’s Nest swung open with a wave of golden fire that incinerated any Demonkin unlucky enough to be in its path.

Fully resembling the king of all beasts, Nox stepped out of the building, followed by several other animals. Sylvie puffed out her feathers as she stood atop his head. Beside them, the small snake, Naga was rapidly growing in size and behind them, were the two stallions, Mordere and Mitis that once pulled our family’s wagon. Now revived through the golden flames, the two stallions looked like steeds from ancient legends. Their manes billowed with bright golden embers and every step they took left behind scorched earth in a shower of sparks.

The five animals may not have been as numerous as the Demonkin but the threat they posed was not something that could be ignored. Each one of my revived creatures could control the golden flame far better than I could. As soon as they exited the building, the island became a sea of fire. Each Demonkin that landed was almost instantly turned to ash.

There was a sudden halt to the shower of creatures falling from the sky. I expected this reaction from the Demons and had hoped to catch a few of the more powerful Demonkin with the first display of the revived animals but Berith was far too cautious. A thousand regular Demonkin would not even leave a dent in her army.

Instead, Berith took advantage of the moment the island was cleared of Demonkin to reactivate the splinter cannons. Most of the animals were small enough to find cover behind the ice pillars on the edge of the island. Only Naga was left exposed as she was not able to shrink fast enough to completely avoid the rays of light. To my relief though, A purple energy radiated from Dragon’s Nest protecting Naga long enough for her to hide.

“Thanks, Mare,” I said softly. The nearby building pulsed in response.

A moment of stillness covered the battlefield as the Demonkin circled overhead as if deciding how to proceed. The fighting had only lasted less than ten minutes but my arms already felt like wet noodles. Flailing the golden whips around did not cost much energy but it was still physically exhausting to face so many Demonkin at once. I took a moment to calm my breathing and smiled in the direction the splinter cannons had fired from.

“What will you do now, Berith? You cannot stop me without sacrificing something and you know it.”

I doubted Berith was close enough to hear me but I could feel the Aym’s gaze locked on me through the fog. The Demon’s sight was more than capable of reading my lips and relaying what I said to her. Not that it mattered, my words were mostly a bluff to force Berith’s hand. Nox was the strongest of my revived companions but even he would not be able to incinerate Demonkin for the remaining half hour or more it would take to reach the city. If all Berith did was throw weaklings at us, we would all run out of energy before we reached our destination.

Unfortunately, Berith knew this as well. She did not fall to my provocation. After a brief pause, the splinter cannons stopped firing and Demonkin once again fell from the sky by the thousand.

Between the sea of golden flames and Vissna’s ice, the Demonkin died as fast as they fell. The ground had become a carpet of corpses and charred bones. I frowned in disappointment but knew better than to push my luck. Despite not getting everything I wanted, we had still achieved my main goal.

The Demons had been so focused on stopping my approach, that they had not been paying attention to the one boulder of ice that had fallen to the ground below at the beginning of their siege. Blocked by the main building of Dragon’s Nest, not even Aym had been able to see that the boulder had actually been hollow. By now, Sebastion, Svend, and Cyra should have reached close enough to the walls of Ater-Albus.

As if on cue, dozens of explosions thundered through the blood mist. The sounds of destroyed machinery and angry roars sounded like music to my ears.

“Let’s see how you handle having a few less splinter cannons at your disposal,” I said with a satisfied smile. From my pocket i pulled out a pair of dice and dropped them on the ground before turning to the others. “Fall back according to plan c and cover their retreat.”