At the top of the walls, the archers quickly prepared another round of arrows, pulling fresh shafts from the barrels beside them while the mages stepped forward with raised hands.
Streams of magical energy flowed into the arrowheads, igniting the tips in blazing neon-purple flames that distorted the air around them with overwhelming heat.
One of the Spartan commanders looked up toward the battlements before shouting across the battlefield.
"Loose another volley before they reach the gates!"
The archers tightened their grip, boots scraping against the stone walls as they steadied themselves against the cold wind.
A young recruit swallowed nervously beside an older archer. "T-They're still advancing after the first barrage…"
The older soldier kept his eyes forward. "Then we keep firing until they stop moving."
Below the walls, the Pandemonium Legion continued marching through the smoke without slowing down, black banners swaying behind them as the ground trembled beneath their synchronized steps.
"Fire!" the commander roared.
Hundreds of arrows were released at once, streaking across the night sky like burning purple comets as they descended toward the advancing Pandemonium Legion.
Since the Pandemonium Legion had already deployed a temporary force field after the first volley, most of the incoming arrows vanished the moment they struck the shimmering barrier spread across the front line.
The flaming projectiles exploded against the Pandemonium Legion's shield wall in waves of neon-purple fire, lighting up the battlefield with violent flashes.
"Keep firing!" the archer commander shouted from the top wall on the side of the other archers, his voice cutting through the noise of the battlefield. "Don't let them advance freely!"
The kingdom archers immediately prepared another volley while the mages reinforced the flames burning at the arrow tips.
Below the walls, however, the Pandemonium Legion continued marching forward behind massive black shields without hesitation, their formation remaining steady despite the bombardment.
"They're still moving?!" one young soldier yelled in disbelief while watching from the wall.
A veteran beside him tightened his grip on his spear. "Those bastards aren't normal soldiers…"
Some arrows missed entirely, crashing into the dirt or bursting against the road in violent explosions of purple fire, while a few managed to pierce through small openings within the advancing formation.
One Pandemonium soldier was struck directly through the chest, the intense flames erupting violently across his armor before consuming his body almost instantly.
Another took an arrow through the head and collapsed backward into the dirt, burning as the magical fire spread across him.
But the soldiers around them did not stop.
They simply stepped over the burning bodies and continued marching forward as though the fallen meant nothing.
One of the Spartans stared at the advancing legion with growing unease.
"They're not even reacting to their own dead…"
Far in the distance, one Pandemonium officer raised his arm calmly.
"Advance men."
The entire legion obeyed without question, shields raised as they continued pushing toward the kingdom walls through the rain of fire...
When the Vikings began feeling the rush of battle building in their veins, their hearts started pumping with adrenaline as the distant war drums echoed across the battlefield.
One Viking suddenly raised his axe high into the air and roared loudly.
"SKOL! SKOL!"
The others immediately joined in, their voices booming across the front lines as they beat their chests and shields with pride and excitement.
"SKOL! SKOL! SKOL!"
The atmosphere shifted instantly as the Vikings embraced the coming battle like starving wolves finally unleashed.
Then one massive Viking stepped forward from the formation, larger than the others, his fur-covered armor hanging heavily from his broad shoulders.
Resting atop his head was the skull of an alpha werewolf, its fangs still exposed like a warning to anyone who faced him.
He slammed the bottom of his battle axe into the ground before shouting toward the warriors behind him.
"Better to fight and fall than live without hope!"
The Vikings roared in agreement, raising axes, spears, and shields into the air as their morale surged higher.
Nearby, the Spartans watched the scene unfold in silence, some unimpressed, others unable to deny the energy spreading through the battlefield.
Omen stood with his arms crossed, a faint smirk appearing on his face as he glanced toward Rook.
"Well, I'll be damned…" Omen muttered. "This is really happening."
He tilted his head slightly before speaking louder.
"Well, Rook… got any grand speech for us Spartans?"
Several soldiers nearby looked toward Rook, waiting.
Rook remained silent for a moment before stepping forward to the front of the Spartan formation.
Three divisions stood behind him, one hundred Spartans in each unit, shields raised and spears ready beneath the cold night sky.
The wind caught his red cape as he planted his spear firmly into the ground.
"No retreat," Rook said, his voice carrying clearly across the battlefield. "No surrender. That is our law."
The Spartans immediately straightened further.
"You have trained your whole lives for this single heartbeat in time." His eyes moved across the soldiers before him. "Look at the brother to your left. Look at the brother to your right."
The warriors obeyed instinctively.
"You are the wall! Shield to shield, spear to spear, we are one unbroken beast of bronze!"
The Spartans slammed their shields once in unison.
"Let the Pandemonium come!" Rook roared. "Let them choke on our spears until the pass is slick with their blood! We will carve a scar into their empire that will bleed for a thousand years!"
The Vikings behind them shouted wildly in approval while even the Thespians tightened their grip on their weapons.
"Tonight, Belladonna will weep for her thousands!" Rook continued. "Tonight, the gods themselves will look down in envy at the glory we forge in this dirt!"
He raised his spear high.
"Grip your shields! Raise your spears!"
Hundreds of weapons lifted into the air.
"FOR SPARTA! FOR THESPIAE! FOR FREEDOM!"
Rook slammed his spear against his shield.
The impact echoed like thunder.
Three hundred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians answered with a deafening unified roar that shook the kingdom walls themselves.
At that moment, Rook no longer looked like just another Elite Spartan but a captain.
For the first time, he truly carried the presence of Captain Louis, living within the legacy left behind by the man who once stood at the front of Sparta...
The Four Pillars watched the soldiers behind them erupt with morale, the roar of Spartans and Vikings shaking the walls beneath the cold night sky.
Grimwatch glanced slightly over his shoulder before letting out a quiet breath beneath his helmet.
"Heh…" he muttered, shaking his head faintly. "This war will truly leave its mark on the kingdom's history…"
Nearby, Rook stepped forward once more, raising his spear high above his head as the wind whipped violently through the battlefield.
"SPARTANS!" he roared across the front lines. "WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?!"
The response came instantly.
Three hundred elite Spartans slammed their spears against their bronze shields with terrifying force.
The sound exploded across the battlefield like thunder, heavy and unified, shaking the very ground beneath them.
Again..
And again...
The rhythm echoed through the kingdom walls with brutal discipline.
Even the Thespians joined in by striking their weapons against their shields, while the Vikings laughed wildly and raised their axes into the air like beasts finally unleashed.
Far across the battlefield, Belladonna stood at the front of the Pandemonium Legion with her cape flowing behind her in the wind.
Her golden eyes observed the kingdom army carefully.
Despite being heavily outnumbered, the kingdom soldiers still held their ground without fear.
A faint smile slowly crossed Belladonna's face.
"So they've decided to stop trembling…" she said quietly, sounding almost impressed.
Behind her, the endless ranks of the Pandemonium Legion waited in silence, shields raised and weapons ready beneath the burning glow of the battlefield.
Back at the kingdom walls at the front, Grimwatch slowly raise his massive sword toward the enemy army ahead.
The moment the blade lifted, the archers atop the walls immediately paused.
"Hold your fire!" one commander shouted across the battlements.
The archers lowered their bows slightly, understanding exactly what was coming next.
There would be no more volleys now, only collision..
Belladonna raised her hand calmly toward her advancing army.
"Let's go."
The Pandemonium Legion moved instantly.
Thousands of soldiers surged forward together, boots slamming violently against the earth as the black tide began charging toward the kingdom forces.
Grimwatch tightened his grip on his sword before stepping forward himself.
"Come on," he said calmly.
Then the kingdom army charged as well.
Spartans lowered their spears.
Vikings raised their axes.
Thespians rushed forward beside them.
Both armies stormed toward each other across the battlefield as the distance between them disappeared second by second, the sound of war swallowing the night whole.
While all of this was happening, Solarynth, Asura, and Steelbeard stood watching the battlefield erupt into motion around them.
For a brief second, even they looked surprised by the sheer scale of it.
Then they moved.
"Guess standing around is over," Steelbeard muttered, gripping the handle of his war hammer tightly before charging forward with heavy steps.
Asura cracked his neck once before a light glow energy pulsed faintly around his arms.
"Tch… fine then," he said with irritation, though the excitement in his eyes betrayed him. "Let's tear through them."
But Solarynth reacted first.
While running toward the battlefield, he slowly closed both of his eyes, his expression remaining calm despite the chaos unfolding ahead of him.
The wind whipped violently through his white hair as magical energy began gathering around his face.
Then...he opened his eyes.
Kurie activated instantly.
Celestial rings spiraled within his pupils in smooth circular motion, glowing faintly beneath the darkness of the battlefield.
Magic Level IV — Mastery.
The world around Solarynth changed completely.
His perception expanded outward in every direction at once, granting him a near perfect three-hundred-sixty-degree awareness of the battlefield.
He could see everything.
The movement of soldiers behind him, flow of mana through weapons.
The structure of a armor and shifting pressure beneath the ground.
Even the smallest fluctuations in magical energy became visible to him like threads woven into reality itself.
Enemy movements slowed within his perception.
Patterns revealed themselves effortlessly, weak points appeared everywhere.
Brief flashes of microscopic detail flooded his vision, allowing him to see the internal structure of matter and magic alike.
Solarynth inhaled slowly while continuing forward...then magical energy surged violently through his body.
Electricity exploded outward from his legs and core, yellow, gold and blue currents crackling wildly around him as the ground beneath his feet shattered from the force alone.
Asura noticed it immediately.
"Oh, you're serious now?" he said with a grin forming across his face.
Steelbeard's eyes widened slightly.
"That damn monster…"
Solarynth leaned forward..then vanished.
A sonic explosion erupted behind him as his body accelerated instantly to over five thousand miles per hour, electricity tearing across the battlefield like a living storm.
The soldiers nearest to his path barely had time to react before a violent gust ripped past them hard enough to throw some off balance.
From the perspective of the Pandemonium Legion, Solarynth became nothing more than a violent streak of nebula-colored light tearing directly across the battlefield toward their front lines.
Blue, white, and faint crimson energy spiraled around his body like fragments of a galaxy collapsing into motion.
And he was coming fast.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" one Pandemonium soldier shouted, his voice breaking slightly as the approaching light grew larger by the second.
Another soldier immediately raised his shield. "Incoming! Brace yourselves!"
The ground trembled violently beneath Solarynth's path.
Electricity ripped across the earth behind him while bursts of compressed air exploded outward from each step, throwing dirt and shattered stone high into the air.
From atop the kingdom walls, several archers froze for a moment while watching him move.
"He's already crossing the battlefield?!" one of them said in disbelief.
"That speed isn't normal…" another muttered.
Even some Spartans slowed slightly just to watch the streak of celestial light cut through the darkness ahead of them.
Asura smirked while continuing his own charge forward.
"He's trying to reach the front line before the armies even collide…" he said, light energy beginning to pulse around his arms again. "That idiot really doesn't know how to hold back."
Steelbeard let out a rough laugh while gripping his hammer tighter.
"Then quit talking and catch up!"
Back within the Pandemonium Legion's formation, commanders immediately began shouting orders.
"Shields up!"
"Magic units, target him now!"
Rows of soldiers quickly locked shields together while several mages raised their hands, magical circles forming rapidly in front of them.
But Solarynth's Kurie eyes were already reading everything.
The flow of mana, weak points in the formation.
The exact timing of their attacks.
Within his spiraling celestial pupils, every movement became predictable.
Solarynth lowered his body slightly while lightning surged harder through his legs.
Then he accelerated again.
The battlefield exploded behind him from the sudden increase in speed and in the eyes of the enemy army it looked like a star was crashing directly into them...