The horde of Alphas roared as they charged after Sebastion, Svend, and Cyra. The lesser Demonkin in the area all echoed their cries, creating a cacophony of ear-rending noise. Sebastion kept the creatures back as he fled with a barrage of attacks strong enough to punch through mountains. Combined with his domain, Sebastion’s attacks were far stronger than anything a single splinter cannon could replicate but the Alphas were not weak. Their domains and tough hides allowed them to survive a direct hit from his innate talent with only minor injuries. If one became too wounded, it simply vanished into the blood mist where nobody could target it any further.

Emerging from the blood mist behind the frenzied horde of Alphas, the silhouette of three figures stood. The Demons calmly watched as the Demonkin took the brunt of Sebastion’s attacks. It was clear the three of them were content letting the Alphas wear us down before they made a move themselves. Curiously, though, I noticed that neither Berith nor Aym were present among the Demons in the distance. I could still feel Aym’s gaze which meant he was likely still in the nearby city, commanding the Demonkin there, but I did not understand why Berith had not come herself.

I could not shake the sinking feeling that I might have missed something important as I rushed towards the entrance of Dragon’s Nest where Donte and Charly both fought the weaker Demonkin alongside a menagerie of animals. There were still sixteen Alphas in the air above the island and now more than three dozen following Sebastion, far more than I had planned for. Even if the Demons did not make a move, those numbers could overwhelm us.

Sebastion, Svend, and Cyra landed on the floating island as they prepared to fight back against the bloodthirsty monsters. Sebastion’s breath was rough as he narrowed his gaze at the charging Alphas.

“What is our plan of escape?” He asked after calming his breathing.

“Scenario c,” I replied.

Sebastion grimaced as light started to radiate from his hands. “Of course, you roll the plan that makes me work the hardest.”

As he spoke, a loud roar echoed from the depths of the mist down below the island. Vissna emerged into view, still tangled in a now frozen giant whale Demonkin. She slammed her body into the floating island as she landed and the tentacles coiled around her snapped and shattered like ice. The giant body of the Alpha slid back into the depths of the mist below. The creature let out a mournful wail as fell down into the mist. Despite Vissna’s triumphant roar, the leviathan was only injured despite how long the two had spent fighting, a testament to its power.

With everyone back on the island, I motioned towards Donte. “We have accomplished our goals for today. Let’s get out of here.”

Donte nodded. He closed his eyes and took control of the Preateritum remnant. The island shuddered as it started to move. It did not move away from the direction of the city, but rather, straight up.

Sebastion’s entire body was glowing like the sun as rays of light shot in every direction except the crystal palace of Dragon’s Nest. Several of the Alphas were sent flying with varying degrees of injuries and even the Demons in the distance had to back away. Sebastion used his power without restraint and bought us precious time to begin our escape but everyone knew he would not be able to keep up such a constant array of attacks for any length of time. He would run out of energy long before we could escape the encirclement of the Demonkin or the range of the remaining splinter cannons still waiting for their moment to fire.

The Demons knew this as well. They called back a majority of the Alphas and hid within the depths of the mist. The normal Demonkin, however, were not so valuable. To force Sebastion to continue wasting energy, average Demonkin were the perfect pawns. Waves of the creatures still dropped out of the sky without restraint. Countless Demonkin were incinerated before they even reached the floating island. smoldering corpses fell down like rain but the number of enemies appeared to be endless.

“That should be enough for now, Sebastion,” I said as I tried to glimpse the Demons through the haze of the blood mist, “If our enemies want to play this game of attrition, I will be happy to oblige them.”

Sebastion was gasping for breath the light radiating from his body started to dim. He looked at me curiously but I did not elaborate.

I closed my eyes as I focused on the flames raging inside my body. “This will be a good test to see how much stronger I have really grown,” I mumbled to myself. Concentrating intently on the innate talents inside my body, green fire flared brightly. It exploded out of my body and began to spread across the ground in every direction. The crackling fire let out an almost eerie cry as it spread.

Throughout our fight, more than a thousand Demonkin had died. Their corpses were strewn across the island like a thick carpet. Green fire washed over these corpses like a wave. There was a moment of silence on the island as even the Demonkin in the distance halted their advance. The stillness was broken when the first of the bodies began to twitch.

Looking into the fog where the Demons were undoubtedly watching, I smiled. “When it comes to a battle of numbers, I will never lose.”

Simultaneously, hundreds of dead Demonkin began to move. To save energy, I did not bother healing their injuries, giving rise to a ghastly sight of burned and broken bodies shambling to their feet. Their movements were jerky and erratic but that did not mean they were weak or slow. Debilitating injuries meant nothing to the undead.

A gurgling cacophony of roars rang out as an army of undead was born. I pointed towards the few Demonkin unlucky enough to find themselves dropped onto the island amidst the undead horde. The unfortunate creatures were not even able to retaliate as their throats were ripped out and their bodies were rent limb from limb. A few seconds later, a new mangled undead joined the horde.

It was a gruesome sight. Nearby, Charly paled but I did not have the luxury of making my undead look pretty. I ignored his gaze and looked into the blood mist. All the undead moved in unison, also looking in the same direction as me.

I laughed in delight and shouted into the blanket of mist. “What will you do now, Demons? Will you feed my horde with more cannon fodder or are you finally ready to fight for real?”

My shouts were met with silence from the mist. The swarm of lesser Demonkin started to fall back, leaving the floating island alone in the endless mist. Dragon’s Nest continued to rise straight up as it moved to escape the dangers that surrounded us.

I stayed on alert as the seconds ticked by. I knew the Demons would not let us escape this easily. If they fought alongside the Alphas, they would be strong to overwhelm us and stop our escape. Sebastion’s power would only be able to push them back for ten or fifteen minutes at most. They had no reason to be afraid of us.

With every moment that passed, the tension in my chest turned to dread. I kept my peeled on the distant mist, watching for even the slightest change.

Almost three minutes passed in absolute silence before I spotted something wrong with the mist. It almost looked as if it was sparkling. I knit my brows in confusion, not quite sure that it was not a trick of the eye from our increased altitude. Another minute passed before I was sure something was wrong. A cloud of fine red dust had begun to cover the entire floating island, almost like snow. It had been so sparse an miniscule that i had not noticed the dust until a thick layer had started to form.

“What is this?” I mumbled as I brushed the dust off my domain armor curiously. It floated to the ground, reflecting the light in an eerily beautiful way. Dragon’s Nest suddenly shuddered as a dome of purple energy encircled the entire island.

“Everyone, inside now!” the disembodied voice of Mare shouted at an earsplitting volume.

I frowned in confusion but knew better than to ignore Mare’s warning. I eyed the dust as I moved. It did not seem to be poison, and even if it was, we were all protected by our domains. The few poisons that effected domains could be felt and none of them were that i knew were red but I did not feel any danger from the dust at all. It was almost pretty, like freshly fallen snowflakes that glittered like crystals…

It was at that moment that I knew what the dust was. My domain flared outwards to push as much of the dust away from myself as I could.

A chuckle echoed out from the mist. “You noticed a little too late, Aurielle.”

I looked up towards the source of the voice. The three Demons stood in the air above the floating island. Their arms were stretched out in front of their bodies and from their hands, the red dust floated down to the ground.

No, it was not dust. It was crystalized energy, just like Cyra created for me and I absorbed to increase my own strength. Only, these crystals were so tiny that they looked like dust. They were small, but size had very little bearing on how much energy was contained within the crystals. If the Demons had prepared this ahead of time, with their strength, there could be enough energy inside this unassuming dust to level a mountain.

Thanks to Mare’s warning, we were barely able to retreat inside Dragon’s Nest before the surrounding dust started to glow a bright red. The Demon’s laughter echoed maniacally through the mist as a wave of power started to radiate from the dust.

“Everyone take cover!” I shouted. I gave a direct command to my new undead and they threw themselves at the walls of Dragon’s Nest, creating a wall of bodies that protected the building. However, my attempt was like trying to block a tsunami with sheets of paper. The dust was everywhere and covered the entire building as well.

When the minuscule energy crystals exploded, the entire world shook. The protective ice that surrounded the outside of the building was shattered into powder by a wave of red energy. The undead I had ordered to encase the building were all disintegrated in an instant. A shield of purple energy tried to protect the heart of the building but cracks appeared in several sections. Windows were blown out and walls began to crack as the pulsing purple light that ran through the building began to dim.

Svend stood at the door of the building as his body took on the golden sheen of his Divine Body. Through sheer physical might, he took the brunt of the explosion that blew apart the doors and stopped it from reaching the hall where the rest of us had gathered.

A familiar sense of weightlessness appeared as the purple light of the building turned dark. Without energy, the floating island began to plummet to the ground. It only stopped when a weak pulse of light shot through the floor, stopping our fall temporarily but it quickly vanished again. This light reappeared in brief flashes, causing the island to alternate between falling and gliding as it tumbled out of the sky.

Everything shook as the island crashed powerlessly into the ground. The entire building went dark as no more flashes of purple appeared. Through the broken door and windows, I could see the memorable sight of a forest of ice stretching out in every direction. With the last of her energy, Mare had managed to control the crash into a place where the splinter cannons would not be able to attack us freely.

Donte clutched his head. He started mumbling in a language I did not understand before crying out in pain and collapsing motionless on the floor.

We did not even have time to pick ourselves up off the floor before the figures of three Demons and more than four dozen Alphas appeared outside.