Vlad raised his arm, palm facing the hole that had been made in the top of the dome. He narrowed his eyes as he forced mana into the palm of his hand, igniting a spark that grew into a large ball of fire. He held the ball there for a moment as it began to shrink down to half of its size, growing denser and brighter.

  The black, oily blood of demons etched against his skin like acid. Though, he could not focus on that or any of the demonic beasts that swarmed around him. He blocked them out, their presence like a nuisance of flies.

  Vlad clenched his teeth against the sudden stinging in his eyes as more of the demonic blood sprayed him in the face, accompanied by the giant beast falling out of the air in front of him chopped into pieces, clearing a straight path for him to the hole in the dome.

  He let go of the energy he held in his hand, and the ball of fire exploded into a stream of flames faster than the eye could see. His flames streaked across the sky like a bolt of lightning and slammed into the horde of beasts pouring through the hole, erupting into a massive explosion and putting a temporary halt to the demons pouring through the hole.

  Vlad let go of his breath and glanced around him as the giant winged beasts, repeatedly tried to attack him with no prevail. As soon as they flew into range of his Phantom Blades, their bodies were cut into pieces like they had flown straight into a thousand swords, none of them taking a hint after seeing the one before them fall in silence.

  Vlad quickly drew his sword and swung it through the air behind him to cut a spear-sized arrow that his invisible blades had missed, right before it struck him. He looked up in the direction that it came from to see one of the beasts hovering in place in the distance, with several other dark figures mounted on its back. The quick gleaming of light that he saw prickling the distance between them was the only visible indicator that more arrows had been loosed onto him. Their blackened shafts giving him no visual aid against the darkness of the night, only their silvery metal heads that reflected some of the firelight around him.

  Vlad quickly thrust his wings forward, propelling himself backward just in time to avoid the spear-sized arrows that tore through the air in front of him. They struck a beast on the other side, causing it to wail in pain—one arrow piercing its eye while the other deflected off the armored plates lining its back.

  His eyes burned—burned gold, even brighter—as he peered through the blood running down his face. A heartbeat later, the distant beast and its two riders erupted into a massive fireball, the creature thrashing wildly for only a moment before its charred corpse plummeted lifelessly to the ground.

  With that threat eliminated, Vlad turned his gaze downward. The city streets below him had collapsed into chaos, buildings reduced to piles of rubble. Terrified civilians fled for their lives as demons and their monstrous, winged kin rampaged through the city, slaughtering everyone in their path.

  Human artillery was proving completely useless against the attackers. Their guns were devastating against both humans and greater beasts but had done practically no damage against the demon kind. It frustrated Vlad.

  The humans always boasted about their weaponry and how it was far superior to anything that the Greater Beasts could ever wield, yet here they were, helpless. It was the Vegans and the brave Greater Beast civilians—who dared to fight—that were cutting down the ranks of the demons. Swords, magic, and sheer willpower were the only things bringing a sense of balance to the battlefield.

  Vlad scanned his surroundings. He was one of the few Vegans who dared to take to the skies. From what he could see, the beasts outnumbered them tenfold. Tens of thousands of men had already fallen, and the enemy clearly saw Vlad as the greatest threat—most of them relentlessly hurling themselves at him in a frenzy of bloodlust.

  But no matter how much of a target he made himself, it wasn’t enough. Everywhere he looked, another Vegan fell—one after the other.

  “We can’t hold out like this for much longer…” Vlad said to himself angrily, before looking back at the west gate behind him. It had been drawn shut, with the iron gates dropped down to the ground to prevent more demons from pouring into the city.

  The sight of a red flare being shot up into the air towards him drew his attention back to its origin point. It came close to where Akabi’s station point was on the wall, just to the right of the west gate.

  “They must have news,” Vlad thought to himself, before glancing back as a giant piece of a beast that tried to attack him from behind struck his wing, knocking him slightly off balance.

  Vlad steadied himself and then sheathed back his sword onto his hip. He stretched both hands out in front of him, then slowly raised them into the air before drawing his elbows down to his waist. He took a long, deep breath, pulling the abundance of his mana into his core. Once he had gathered as much as he desired, he thrust his hands outward again.

  Giant jets of fire erupted from each of his palms, igniting the air around him. The flames twisted and danced like enchanted ribbons brought to life, swirling with a mind of their own as they devoured everything in their path.

  One by one, the beasts around Vlad fell in rapid succession, their flaming corpses plummeting to the ground like falling stars. With a moment’s reprieve, he tucked his wings and dove toward the wall below, where a flare had been shot.

  As he descended, he drew his sword again out to the side and, with a single swift motion, severed the head of a demon that had climbed to the top of the wall before him. Vlad slammed it lifeless body onto the stone as he did not bother to slow his fall.

  The Vegan soldiers stationed on the wall instinctively leaped back to avoid being crushed beneath the beast’s corpse. Quickly regaining their composure, they gathered around him, forming a protective circle—one that enclosed both Vlad and another Vegan at its center.

  Vlad rose to his feet and stepped down from the demon’s corpse, kicking its horned head aside, sheathing his sword as he approached the slender, brown-haired man before him.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Have you heard any word from the outer wall, Ishida?” Vlad cut in, wasting no time on the Vegan’s words of gratitude.

  Ishida blinked in surprise, fumbling for a proper response. “N-No, sir. Nothing from the outer wall yet.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” Vlad argued, irritation creeping into his voice. He was growing increasingly frustrated—he had been pulled down to the wall where the rest of his men were instead of being out in the open to keep the beasts away from them, “Aside from the obvious…”

  Ishida cleared his throat before dropping to one knee in respect.

  “Sir, several things. First—” He hesitated. “The High General has not entered the middle ring. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t been sighted anywhere near the center ring either.”

  Vlad’s brow furrowed in confusion. Why hasn’t Father come? He was in charge of the center ring—he should have already been there.

  His mind wandered, racing through possibilities as to why his father had yet to appear. But before he could dwell on it further, Ishida continued, pulling him from his thoughts.

  “The second report came from your sister, Lady Veyra,” Ishida continued, glancing up to meet Vlad’s gaze—only to find his eyes burning with frustration, piercing straight through him.

  Vlad snapped. Without hesitation, he thrust his left hand toward the city, unleashing another ribbon of fire that tore across the sky, incinerating any beasts that had begun to draw too close.

  “She—she said that these beasts are Sablecrests—creatures of legend…? They were supposedly once thought to be the very embodiments of fear itself.”

  Vlad’s expression darkened. “How does she know this?” he demanded, stepping toward Ishida. “Were they attacked? Is she alright? Do you know if Abiky has brought my brother back to her?”

  Vlad’s pressure only made the Vegan even more nervous.

  “N-No, I mean—I don’t know, sir,” Ishida stammered. “Apparently, they were attacked, but the soldier left before stating their condition. He only said that they were in retreat outside the kingdom walls.”

  “Out of the walls...” Vlad muttered to himself, barely acknowledging Ishida as his gaze drifted.

  A sudden surge of chaos erupted, louder than before. Stepping back onto the demon’s corpse, Vlad turned his head sharply toward the city. In the distance to his left, near the North Gate, bursts of fire and rock continued to shoot into the sky. Yet, oddly enough, there didn’t seem to be many of the supposed “Sablecrests” flying in that direction. The sight piqued Vlad’s curiosity.

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  “I’m going to be near the North Gate. If you hear anything from the outer wall or about my father’s whereabouts, send up another flare—I’ll make it back to you as quickly as I can,” Vlad said as he stepped along the back of the demon’s corpse, moving toward the edge of the wall.

  “Yes, sir,” Ishida said, standing to his feet and slamming his fist against his breastplate. He watched as Vlad shot back up into the air with a powerful thrust of his wings.

  Once Vlad was far enough away, Ishida let out a long sigh of relief.

  “You really need to work on communicating with your superiors,” one of the Vegan soldiers commented as the defensive circle broke apart, and the soldiers returned to their original posts.

  Ishida scratched the back of his head, forcing a nervous laugh as he too moved to take his position. “Yeah, I assume you’re right.”

  Vlad flew as fast as he could toward the North Wall, narrowly avoiding large chunks of flesh from the beasts that dared to attack him, as well as arrows shot by demons on the ground.

  He did not worry about them. He had to trust that his Vegan soldiers would handle the smaller nuisances. His role, as one of the most powerful beings in the kingdom, was to eliminate the greatest threats.

  However, that task became much harder when it was only him guarding such a vast area.

  It didn’t take long for him to reach his destination, and his thoughts were confirmed by what he had seen. The Sablecrests did not chase him into this area, and it did not appear that any demons were patrolling the ground either. But what he did see made his heart race.

  All the buildings in the area had been reduced to nothing but piles of rubble, and in the center of the destruction stood a single demon, surrounded by several dozen Vegan soldiers. It stood alone, fending off all manner of their persistent but calculated attacks, almost as if it were toying with them.

  Vlad’s blood boiled as he watched his soldiers fall one by one to the demon’s blade, their shields shattering under each of its blows. Despite the overwhelming force, the Vegans never backed down, continuing to fight if they could stand. All the way up until all of the Vegans quickly cleared out from around the demon and dropped to their knees in salute to Vlad.

  Their actions caught the demon off guard for a moment before he stopped and slowly glanced up to the sky, its burning red eyes peering straight onto Vlad.

  He watched his soldiers rise to their feet, readying themselves against the demon. They encircled it, preparing for another assault. Vlad also drew his attention back to the enemy below, not bothering to lower his descent.

  He saw the demon raise its massive blade high, holding it suspended in the air as if its weight meant nothing.

  “Are you the keeper of this land?” the demon hollered out.

  His deep voice was clearly heard over the chaos raging through the city.

  Vlad scoffed, his tone laced with disdain. “Hardly, but I am the one in charge of keeping things in order.”

  Even with the distance between them, Vlad could see the red glow burning brightly in the demon’s eyes, narrowing as it glared back at him.

  The demon lowered its sword, casting a gaze around at the Vegan soldiers who still kept their distance.

  “Vegans, the great and mighty race,” the demon chanted, before looking back up at Vlad. “Protector of all nations, a race wrought with power. My, have you all grown weak?”

  Vlad narrowed his eyes further, feeling his blood begin to boil.

  Vlad looked up to his right at the hole in the top of the dome, watching as more demons continued to pour in through it, like black ink spilling into a water basin.

  “Only the weak boast about their strength,” Vlad said, quoting scripture as he looked back down at the demon below him. “Like the king of beasts, the strong lie in wait.”

  The demon growled, stepping forward angrily toward Vlad, causing the Vegan soldiers around him to shuffle anxiously.

  “Only the weak hide themselves behind fortresses once thought to be indestructible.” The demon boasted, “The era of the spirit’s reign is over. Tahuln, has delivered us from your oppression, and soon our kin will rule over both the physical and spiritual realms. It is only a matter of time now.”

  “I’ll be the first to admit that busting through our shield was impressive,” Vlad said, sighing and waving his hand dismissively. “Though it would have been more impressive if you had broken through an area that was not the weakest point.”

  “Also, raising beasts of legend back from the dead is a nice party trick. But if I remember correctly, legends depicted them as far more… ‘intimidating’ do they not?”

  The demon bared his teeth before turning it into a wide smile. “What is your name, Vegan?”

  “Irrelevant,” Vlad replied. “You won’t live long enough for me to bother wasting my breath.”

  “‘The weak boast about their strength’ was it…?” The demon said, raising his arms to the side, “I am Neroz, the ninth general of the Demon Lord’s army. And I challenge you to a duel of generals. You are daring enough to say that I will die. Let’s see if there are any truth behind what you say.”

  Vlad narrowed his gaze.

  He’s singling me out. Does he know that I’m an S-rank? Vlad thought for a moment before coming to the conclusion that this demon probably knew full well who he was up against.

  Lord, give me strength to overcome my adversaries, Vlad prayed, bowing his head in silence. He then looked back up at the demon below him.

  “I accept your duel.”

  No sooner had he spoken before a large pillar of fire shot up toward him with incredible power and heat. Though Vlad did not bother avoiding the strike, he simply hung in the air, unflinching as he bent the fire around him like water over a stone. After a few heartbeats, the explosive fire ripped past him, leaving no part of him touched by its flames.

  He saw the red glow of the demon’s eyes dim a little as it bared its teeth, readying itself for another attack. Vlad did the same. He drew his sword with his right hand and raised his left hand in front of him, his two leading fingers pointing straight up into the air. A small flame slowly began to grow at their tips.

  “Interesting… A demon using spiritual arts…” Vlad remarked, drawing his fingers down toward the demon, as if holding an imaginary human pistol. “My turn.”

  All of the Vegan soldiers around the demon quickly cleared out with haste as the small flame at the end of Vlad’s fingers exploded with pinpoint accuracy. The column of fire, no thicker than the size of Vlad’s fist, was extremely condensed and moved faster than the eye could see.

  Neroz reacted quickly, raising his giant blade in front of his chest with the broadside facing Vlad—just in time to block the small but powerful column of fire slammed into the blade, knocking it back into his chest and sending him sliding several paces from the force. Vlad’s attack was brief but powerful, even pushing him higher into the air. He lowered his fist, opening and closing his hand slowly to work out the numbing sensation.

  Vlad watched as Neroz stood up straight, inspecting his great sword, now bent into the shape of a V. He cast the bent sword aside and raised his fists.

  “I don’t need a weapon to kill the likes of you,” he barked. “Come down here so I can beat you with my fists!”

  Vlad cocked his head to the side, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

  “What fists?” he asked, just as two loud thuds rang out, metal striking stone.

  Neroz looked down to see both of his arms severed, lying on the ground beside him, black blood spraying from his shoulders. His eyes widened in surprise as he stepped back, away from Vlad.

  “Impossible!” he barked anxiously. “This armor cannot be cut!”

  Neroz looked back up at Vlad and his mocking grin. “How can you wield such powerful magic!? The mana burning around you is no greater than that of the rest of those Vegans!”

  Vlad’s smile grew wider, slowly turning into laughter.

  “You can see our auras?” he said, spreading his arms out, mimicking Neroz’s earlier gesture. “Forgive me, I didn’t know your kind could do that.”

  Vlad lied through his teeth. He knew full well that all demons could see the auras that burned invisibly around Greater Beasts, the size determined by their mana capacity. That’s why the Sablecrests had repeatedly attacked him before—his aura burned the largest and brightest in their eyes. But he had learned a special trick during his days at the academy…

  He could suppress his aura at will.

  It wasn’t necessarily a skill, but a technique that was extremely hard to learn. It was one of the things that made him favored in the eyes of all the professors—that he could master such a difficult technique at such a young age. What made it even more astonishing was that he hadn’t even known he could do it until one of his classmates, a man of seer, pointed it out to him.

  The one downside to this ability, though, was the fact that it placed a handicap on the amount of power he could use. It was a universal rule: by unlocking the chains that bound him to suppress his mana he would unlock the full extent of his power, but that also meant he could drain his mana much faster, which was not something Vlad wanted.

  Closing his eyes, he focused, tapping into his core and undoing one of the shackles he had bound himself with.

  Nero stumbled back; his eyes wide as he watched the faintly golden hue of mana that burned like fire around Vlad. It was just large enough to encompass his body and the span of his wings, but it quickly grew five times as large. It was by far the most amount of mana Neroz had ever seen radiating off of a Greater Beast.

  “You, you monster!” Neroz growled back in fear before he began scanning the sky frantically. “Come to me! Come to me, you beasts!”

  He looked back at Vlad, his breath becoming labored as he tried to force the fear from his mind and body. “You’re not the only one with tricks, Vegan!”

  He forced all his energy into his shoulders, and slowly, his arms began to grow back—extending down to his elbows, then to his hands and fingers. All the while, he watched anxiously as Vlad began to slowly descend toward him.

  “Now demons can use spiritual arts in fire and healing,” Vlad said, before pausing at the sight of Neroz’s smile.

  “You think just because you’re powerful, you can let your guard down?” Neroz snarled, watching as three Sablecrests descended rapidly behind Vlad, their massive maws wide open, ready to devour him.

  But instead of witnessing the outcome he desired, Neroz could only watch in disbelief as the three giants lost their form. Their bodies spilled past Vlad, a shower of black blood pouring from them, their entire beings reduced to nothing more than liquid.

  Vlad’s back burned as the acid-like substance showered over him, but he paid it no mind, his focus unwavering as he continued his descent.

  “I thought this was supposed to be a duel of generals…?” he said, before an odd sound began to grow faintly louder to his right. He turned just in time to see a massive figure tearing through the air toward him, its giant axe held out to the side.

  Vlad quickly focused his phantom blades on the demon, but a strange sensation prickled his neck, an unsettling feeling that gnawed at him. Without hesitation, he threw out his left hand, releasing a burst of fire toward Neroz to help him get out of the way of the massive demon just in time.

  He watched as his phantom blades sliced through the demon’s armor, shredding it apart along with its giant axe. But the attack proved rather ineffective, especially against the demon’s skin, which showed no sign of damage as it streaked past him and crashed onto the ground to his left.

  “A nullifier…” Vlad muttered as he watched Baron stand upright and glanced back over his shoulder towards him.

  “Did you really think any part of this invasion was going to be fair for you, Vegan?”