The battle between nature and mist receded all of a sudden, not a single wraith in sight, this sudden silence caused one to be nervous, afraid of what was in store for them

And in this silence they watched, for any moment now the mist would spit out tons of wraiths in an attack like never before

​​

"Are we not heading to the front Master?"

"No, we are sitting this one out"

Knowing that was a final decision Ellis stabbed the greatsword into the ground and leaned on it, prepared to witness the guild's capability along with the silent vampires

No conversations were held, no one said a single word, only staring into the mist with peeled eyes

"....Here they come"

YuJu announced to his followers, seconds before Sofia did the same, sensing the deathly energy intensifying

And so they did, with horror inducing screams scores of wraiths charged out of the mist, throwing themselves at nature with every intention of snuffing the life out of it

"Fire at will!"

Whoosh! Bang Bang! Boom!

Fiery balls energy flew throw the air, gunshots accompanying them, explosions rang out soon after, there was no care for ammunition or preserving energy whatsoever

"Front line, engage!"

Out from the forest came out figures clad in fire or light, meeting the wraiths headlong with the forest's roots assisting their flanks

Shrieks soon filled the place as wraiths were one sidedly slaughtered, managing not to lay a single hand on any of the frontliners for quite a bit of time

"Frontline, rotate! Support, provide cover fire!"

Just when the wraiths seemed to tire these brave warriors down more charged out of the forest, meanwhile fire rained down on them preventing any chase

Helpless and without means of wounding the enemy the wraiths could only throw themselves forward, trying to provide an opening, small as it may be, for their army, knowing that it was all they needed to win this battle

But try as they may they couldn't push the frontline bac, their numbers mattering not in the face of the combined forces of nature and man

"We are winning?"

Ika muttered in desbeelife

"Of course, this is only a testing wave, if it was the real thing then they would be beaten back in a matter of seconds"

"But that's in the case of us not intervening right?"

"Oh we will intervene, just not the way you think"

Feeling like it was the right time YuJu motioned for the thralls strewn across the forest, giving them the order to mobilize

The fifth rotation was just around the corner, it being the Waxy¹ Guild's turn to take the front with the few fire energy wielders they had, every one of them was so focused on the battle ahead they did not notice shadows creeping behind them

It was at that moment, a scream sounded through the forest, one very much human

"What's happening?"

Demanded Sofia, looking toward the source of the scream hidden between the treelines

She didn't need anyone to tell her that something went horribly wrong, for she could see the frontline not yet replaced, what she needed to know was what exactly interrupted them

"Leader, leader!"

Came running one of her followers, a look of dread in their eyes

"It's that vampire woman! And she brought along an army!"

"No!"

Her eyes showed disbelief but a sound said otherways

"KIIIIEEE!"

Everyone lifted their heads to look at the forest, even from such a distance their ears were disturbed, the backup frontline bearing it at close distance was surely done for

"Send the next backup, quick!"

"They are also occupied with the vampires"

"Send the next batch then!"

"We are on it, the frontline won't make it though!"

Panicked Sofia glanced a the battle only to see them being pushed back, it seems the wraiths were on to something as they pressed on with renewed vigor

'No, the front will collapse, I have to help'

Her hand started gathering energy, a spear of light forming only to fade as she stopped all of a sudden

Looking back into the shadows she found her absent, guessing that she went ahead to meet that damned creature

'Mia said not use up my power and save it for the end'

She thought to her friend's advice, she'd never given a wrong one yet but…

"Sorry Mia"

She apologized, condensing a spear in hand and throwing it at the mist with all her strength

"You shan't invade our lands, foul creatures!"

Wnnnnng

The ringing sound followed a bright flash, one that banished plenty wraiths, receded some of the mist even, but it was all only for a moment, as the next they surged forth once more, not at all relenting in their fervor

This almost did nothing in terms of giving backup more time, the momentary breather however helped the frontline a lot, allowing them to last longer, enough to hold on for their replacements to come

"What's the situation with the vampires"

Asked Sofia, on her knees after the exhausting attack,

"Its quickly getting under control, a powerful unknown figure engaged with the two most powerful vampires while a hidden team from the Waxy guild we didn't know about is fighting back the third, the rest of the vampires don't seem very bright or strong, we guess they are some sort of minions"

"Arrange the next backup team to be at the ready, have the ones from the first rotation change order to take the front after as well, we can't have the teams fighting the vampires go back straight into battle when they are done"

"Yes!"

Quickly passing down the order calmed the situation on the battlefield, everything seemed to be going well despite the major hiccup

"Unexpected, there were some people actually prepared for us"

YuJu commented, making out the figure of Faris and his bunch through the foliage of the trees

"Do we send more thralls?"

Nee asked, having more than enough of these blood crazed fellows in store for a good second wave

"No, Sofia exhausting herself early balanced things out, with no one to stop the last wave the same amount of casualties should pile up"

Nee nodded while the rest remained silent hearing this, perhaps only Nee and Mia among his human, or once human, followers cared not for their race's lives, alas what could they do?

Feeling down they could only watch as his words bore truth, a few figures suddenly started dotting the sky, one look and they knew this was what Sofia was meant to stop

"....Mia, I'm so sorry…"

Staring at the surging wave of winged wraiths tears trickled down her guilty face, one could only imagine the pain she was feeling knowing that all the lives lost would fall upon her shoulders

"Yaaa!"

"Run! Run for it!"

"Help me, please save my child!"

Horror stricken the helpless citizens scurried away further from the defense line they once trusted, a few brave figures emerging among them only to be drowned in the cluster of wraiths, this was unlike the well prepared front, facing the wraiths directly in few numbers was like sending oneself to doom

"Let's go, we've nothing more to see"

Sensing the mist receding along with the army of wraiths YuJu ordered, he didn't want to witness the heartbreaking spectacle of humans being massacred in the thousands either

'Can't you at least stand and watch the price of your games'

Ika clenched her teeth hard, barely holding in those words, she almost dug into her palm even if not for a hand patting her shoulders

Turning her head she saw Sa shaking her head, having noted her distress even with having to control the forest to battle

Heaving a sigh she let go of her anger, sending a grateful look to her new best friend

The vampire situation also seemed to have ended not long after the breach, with Mia who was supposedly battling the winged thrall and Jona ending their fight and going into hiding, the one handed white skinned thrall, barely escaping Faris's clutches, and the rest of the vampire wave dead at the hands of the guilds

Victorious as they may be humans were not happy, this type of pyrrhic victory only brought them endless sadness and distress, for it was the first, but not the last

While the guilds were dejectedly making their way back to base a message was spread requesting assistance from the members to hunt down the flying wraiths who infiltrated human camps, meanwhile, the leaders and one of their assistance were demanded to meet at the Somia guild once more, with the Waxy guild needing to bring along the leader of the hidden team

This was naturally under the arrangement of Mia, who was busy consoling the crying Sofia, as well as preventing her from running to help the survivors uselessly, knowing that barely any energy was left within her

And so another meeting came to be