Although he wasn’t happy waiting for the time when the main demon army would show up, William would have really preferred if they decided to call the invasion off. He wasn’t really sure why they would invade to begin with- better land, or just more land, probably. That was how it usually went. There might be some other reasons given for war, but generally it was that people wanted “more”. Only on rare occasions would there be a side that proclaimed an idealistic rightness or goodness and started a war, yet actually had such things on their side. In the case with the demons, though, there hadn’t been any proclamations at all. The demons had no interest in communicating at all with the humans. Though, William couldn’t say he had seen any effort made in the other direction either. However, what William did know is that the demons were interested in killing humans, and presumably taking their land. Whether there were any deep seated reasons for it, or the humans had been the cause of trouble in the past, that wasn’t true now. He would kill any demons who came to attack, and that would be that.

Of course, the reasons that humans were never the aggressors in any of the wars might possibly be that they were too weak. It was all they could do to hold on to their lands, and then rebuild. The demon lands were known to be dangerous, and from what humans had seen of them their lands weren’t particularly desirable. William couldn’t say that the humans wouldn’t act the same as the demons in their position, but they weren’t in that position so they retained a kind of moral superiority. However, in the end, none of that mattered when the battles actually came. Then, it was just kill or be killed.

William didn’t want to be one of those in the second group, but he didn’t have much confidence in his chances. Especially not upon seeing the enemy army approaching. The scouts had informed him of the main body of the army approaching a few days earlier, and now it was within sight. The numbers predicted at least weren’t too far off. There were somewhat over 1000 infantry, and about half that many cavalry. However, the cavalry took up more space than the infantry division, since they were riding on giant hell hounds. Certainly, the large dogs with fiery eyes weren’t much bigger than horses, but that was only if you considered pure height. They were much bulkier than horses were, and they looked very intimidating with their armored riders on their backs. William couldn’t spot the enemy wizards, but he knew they must be there. The infantry themselves were also quite fearsome, with their horns sticking out from their helmets giving them a look as if they were movie type vikings. Real vikings, of course, were smart enough to know that horns weren’t useful on helmets, and were just a handhold. The demons, however, got an actual advantage from the horns, which was that all of them could use magic, at least to a small degree.

The enemy leader was also quite obvious, riding on the back of a giant armored lizard. His armor was especially well made, and quite likely magical. William presumed that since he was so confident in making his presence known, it wouldn’t be easy to just kill him with a shower of arrows or magic. That said, it would still be worth it to try.

William didn’t spot anything in the vein of siege weaponry. That unfortunately wasn’t a good sign. It meant they didn’t think they needed any of it, and they were probably right. Having seen their physical abilities, and even a few hellhounds, William was aware of what they could do. Even though the humans far outnumbered them, William still got a feeling of uneasiness.

The battle could start at any time. William was in charge of the wizards, but had discussed with the commanders of the army what their actions would likely be. Uncoordinated magical attacks would probably be worse than no magic at all. Of course, a portion of the wizards would have to be devoted to defensive measures at all times.

The enemy army was currently about 1 kilometer away. The maximum range of and spells or arrows was likely about 200 meters, and that was only because there was an army to attack. It would be impossible to target and individual or even a small group at that range. Fortunately, such ranged worked both ways, and the human side had the advantage of elevation and defensive walls. However, to effectively kill the enemies, they would probably have to be closer. Demons could move around in heavier armor and had tougher bodies. Thus, the range at which an arrow could kill or injure them was less, since they lost power over distance. The same was also somewhat true of spells, but it varied more for the individual wizards. William had already worked out what each was capable of, and assigned them to the best roles he could find. The one exception to William’s leadership would be Lila. She wanted to be able to act independently, and William agreed that it would be better. She was good at reading battlefields, and would be able to react to situations quickly. This didn’t mean she wouldn’t synchronize attacks with the other wizards when appropriate, though, just that she would also be free to make her own decisions.

Sometimes before a battle a messenger would be sent out for purposes of negotiations, even if it was a pointless gesture. However, this was not to be one of those cases. After properly forming themselves up, the demon army started marching towards the walls. The ground trembled with increasing intensity as the demon army got closer. Then, the battle truly started. William heard a call of “archers, fire!” and then he himself gave the command. “Wizards, first volley!” Then, William felt as if everything fell into chaos, as spells were also returned from the other side from various locations throughout the army.