The Forsaken Hero
Chapter 608: Determination

Chapter 608: Determination

It was strangely quiet. The Mirror Lock muted the noise of the battle and the rumble of explosions, leaving me alone with only the sound of my ragged breathing and occasional whimpers to break the silence.

Mirror Lock was a regional spell, so unlike a traditional ward, it wouldn’t spread through the Aegis. But its rigidity gave it much more power, effectively combining Blade Ward and Mirror Sphere into a single sixth-circle spell. With support from Adaptive Resistance, it should be capable of withstanding at least a few hits from a seventh-level magical technique.

Light flashed through the tent, tinted by the glinting, rainbow of colors of the Mirror Lock. The bubble rippled occasionally as powerful shockwaves glanced off. More than once, powerful spells enveloped me completely–fire, ice, sunlight, even a burst of raw infernal mana. These reflected directly off the spell, scattering in all directions.

I huddled in a ball, trapped by the anxious pounding of my heart and the babbling voices echoing in my head. The Nexus oozed with the demon’s thoughts. At first, it was rage and hunger, but as the minutes dragged by, there began to be frustration and helplessness. The shift piqued my curiosity, and I loosened my grip on the Nexus, allowing a bit more of their minds to slip through.

Death and pain ripped through my mind, graphically depicted in brief glimpses of sight and sound. Demons throwing themselves against the walls, human mages incinerating swaths of scions at once, and above all, a terrifying deity-like being.

Through a thousand eyes, I beheld Lord Evlon. His soul blazed like the sun, his chant thundering over the battlefield. Thick mana currents twined around his body, bearing him aloft over the gate. Eighth massive magic circles hovered half a mile in the sky.

Beneath him was Fable. He’d assumed his true form and now towered over the walls by an entire head. His fur was slick with blood, but the awful, gaping tear in his shoulder had closed to a jagged scar. Scions climbed over his back, leaping onto the walls and towers, sinking their fangs into the more vulnerable mages and archers.

The entire battlefield was a cacophony of death, pain, and suffering. But the demons were losing. The crystal enchantment smothered their souls, suppressing their spells and techniques by an entire level. On the other hand, the humans received its blessing with proportional strength. Even though most of the soldiers on the ground were only first and second level, they stood man for man against the ravenous scions. The more powerful officers confronted the evolved demons bonded to me in teams, using brute force to overcome the protection Adaptive Resistance offered through the Nexus.

Fable threw back his head and roared. The sound thrummed in my natural ears, penetrating the Mirror Lock, startling back to my own senses. I jolted upright with a gasp, trembling as the voices of the demons retreated again. Extricating my thoughts and identity from the horde was a strange experience, reminding me of when I’d accidentally entangled with Luke.

I closed my eyes and breathed, tail twitching anxiously. Fyren’s demons surpassed the keep’s defenders in numbers and power, but the crystal enchantment stole those advantages. Once Lord Evlon landed his spell, they’d lose what little chance they had to break through and rescue me. Fable alone might be able to make it to my side, but escaping against an eighth-level mage supported by the same crystal enchantment would be impossible.

With a deep sigh, I brushed a few errant tears from my eyes and sat up, only to immediately regret it. The injuries I’d sustained from the inquisitors had layered over those I received during the crash, leaving my body, especially my back, laced with angry red lines. Every joint and muscle aches from the whiplash and abuse I’d suffered. Even worse, my dress hung in tatters, soaked in drying blood that was almost invisible within the crimson fabric.

"It’s not over yet,’ I mumbled, mustering the strength to stand. "I’m not going to stand by and watch as everyone dies for me. Not again."

I picked up my staff from where I’d dropped it, rubbing the haft tenderly before drawing what little mana I’d recovered.

"Blade Ward!"

A shimmering, golden aura materialized, blending with the bleeding light of Adaptive Resistance to form a thick mist that radiated a few inches from my skin. After it settled, the power flowed into the Nexus, shielding nearly three hundred evolved demons. It wasn’t much, but all I could hope for was that it protected them until I completed my task.

I hesitated, shifting my staff from hand to hand, before lowering it. No matter how much I needed them, my mana was too low to cast the other wards I normally needed. Blade Ward and Adaptive resistance would protect me from anything lethal, but spells like Sound Ward and Mirror Sphere especially would have been nice. I was growing tired of the constant explosions and ringing in my ears.

I lingered a few moments, gathering my courage, before peeking out under the tarp again. The Mirror Lock tinted the world outside in a kaleidoscope of colors, making the already hectic courtyard dizzying to look at.

The battle had thrown the encampments and temporary structures into utter disarray. Every tent save mine had been thrown hundreds of yards back against the keep, their contents scattered across the cobblestone gardens. Soldiers shouted and screamed, gathering supplies from the ground, tending to the wounded, or rushing toward the gates. Compact rows of corpses were laid against the keep, growing longer with every passing moment.

Ice covered the ground around me for several dozen yards, encasing a few motionless corpses. Despite the fact they must have died recently, there was no hint of the light of a lingering soul. I watched tentatively as a squad of third-level priests approached from the keep, deliberately circling around me to get to the gate on my other side. Though the Mirror Lock was translucent both ways, leaving me on display, they refused to so much as glance in my direction.

A familiar presence descended upon me, close enough to register through the miasma of the crystal enchantment. My face brightened as I looked up, some of the tension leaving my body.

"Borealis!"

An electrical tingle raced down my spine as I stumbled through the Mirror Lock, leaving its protection behind. I hardly noticed, however, as Borealis tucked his wings and dove toward me, pulling up at the last second with a joyful screech. His claws stretched toward me, and I braced myself, letting him land on my shoulder. He was chill as an autumn breeze, and his weight, slight as it was, caused me to stumble a few steps.

The demon cooed softly and rubbed my cheek with his head. I smiled faintly, a lump in my throat, and tilted my head toward him, nuzzling him back.

"You’re alive," I whispered, blinking away tears.

He clicked his beak indignantly and shook his feathers, producing a melodious shower of tinkling glass.

"I know, I’m sorry. It’s just...I was worried," I said, biting my lip.

The demon cawed again before nudging me with his wing. I glanced down at the corpses frozen over, and gasped, taking a few unconscious steps back.

"They’re dead?"

It was the seventh-level inquisitors, eyes staring blankly, mouths open in a final, silent scream. I crept toward the female inquisitor and nudged her with my foot, flinching away before determining she was really dead.

"I know, her soul’s gone, but..." I mumbled, cheeks warming at Borealis’s condemning gaze.

I reached out and touched her shoulder, shivering at the frigid chill of the skin of ice over her armor. With a thought, I stripped her magical gear and stored it in my spatial ring, repeating the process with the other inquisitor. I barely glanced at their hands before shuddering and turning away, deciding that whatever they had in their own spatial treasures wasn’t worth breaking their frozen fingers off to claim.

A furious explosion rocked the gate, blasting them off their hinges. Fable charged through, trampling an entire company of soldiers and throwing their ranks into chaos. Demons poured into the breach after him, pouncing on the fallen and devouring their souls. An evolved blade demon nearly thirty feet tall scaled a tower from the inside, tearing apart the archers and mages posted within. It roared in a shriek of steel as it ripped the mana cannon from its pivot, tossing it at the turret opposite the gate. The cannon collided with the weaponry within and exploded, sending a brilliant fireball into the heavens.

"Hold the line!" Lord Evlon’s voice boomed as he finished his chant. "Solar Storm!"

The eight magic circles came together into one. A ball of light, brighter than the sun, formed in its center, its aura making my heart skip a beat. Streams of sunlight burst out of the ball, descending like meteors into the demon horde on both sides of the walls. They exploded violently upon impact, vaporizing any demon unlucky enough to be caught in the blast but leaving the humans completely unharmed, if a bit dazzled by the blinding light.

A streak of light landed on Fable’s shoulder, sending him staggering back. He crashed into the wall, setting the ground trembling. My breath caught, but he quickly regained his feet, fur barely singed, and I had to remind myself that, despite his appearance, he didn’t carry much infernal blood. Sunlight was barely more potent on him than a regular human.

Fable roared and met my gaze, a wave of encouragement seeping through the crystal enchantment into my soul. My lips pressed in a determined line, and I nodded, sending him my gratitude.

"Let’s go," I said to Borealis, turning my back on him and striding toward the keep. "It’s all up to us now."