"Fill that gap, don't let a single corpse reach the wall!" I commanded my meagre forces, manoeuvring them across the battlements.

The undead had spilled from the camp and converged on the castle walls. With the leftover corpses from the previous attack, the massive horde had the perfect means to overcome the wall.

Zombies were stumbling over one another to throw themselves at the wall. Thousands of them seemed to have a single goal. Get over this wall and consume everyone within.

It was obvious what a monumental effort would be required to defend this castle against such a vast horde of undead. This was no army, no siege, it was a horde pure and simple. It was numbers bearing down upon us like a tidal wave.

"My lady, the third battlement is being overwhelmed!" Wilhelm, who stood beside me at our makeshift command desk, informed.

He had awoken a short time ago and despite my desire to let him rest, he protested. Instead, he set up a command desk on the wall, establishing several scrying spells to oversee the entire battle. He had become our eyes and ears, indispensable in this battle.

"Asmordis, can you send a demon to reinforce the third battlement." I commanded over the abyssal communication spell, the Demon had established.

"Yes mistress." I heard over the link. "Astragoth, go blow shit up over there!" My demon howled.

"Oh yeah baby, kaboom!" I heard his demon reply.

I couldn't understand these demons sometimes, but I supposed I didn't need to. They did their job well enough, if a little messily. Alas, it did not matter how the demons comported themselves, as long as they destroyed my enemies. Still, I wondered if researching demonic behaviour might be useful for my future school.

I shook my head at the absurdity of my thoughts. Studying demon behaviour is one thing, but thinking about curriculum during a war we might not survive, I wondered if it was crazy.

"Keep steady men, don't let a single one of these corpses get past the line!" Sir Felmun boomed, his voice seemed to travel across the breadth of the wall.

His soldiers were on the front line, shields, spears and maces were keeping the undead at bay. Everyone who managed to even touch the battlements was pushed back with shields, skewered with spears or bludgeoned with maces. Our undead were keeping up with dropping rocks, but soon they would run out of objects to lug.

The arcane device that allowed me to control them was safely set aside on the table. When they needed further orders, I simply needed to feed it some mana and speak the order. As long as it was simple, they would obey.

"Their numbers were growing, the eastern wall is increasing. They wont survive the onslaught." Wilhelm gestured to the bowl of water, reflecting the eastern wall from above.

It depicted a massive swelling of undead, clamouring over each other, for a chance to reach the living inside. They hadn't managed to scale the wall, but the pile of undead was growing exponentially.

"I don't have any more men to send. Even the soldier rotations are taxed." I complained and I should not have done that.

Calming myself, I turned to the next rotation. They were ascending the wall, bright-eyed and fresh. That picture was truly at odds with their previous haggard appearances, as they left the wall. I examined them from my perch and found they were climbing up the wall with not an ounce of fatigue.

"How are they so fresh?" I wondered aloud.

"Emily! Emily! Emily!" They cheered the name as they rose to replace the line.

Haggard soldiers were relieved and sent back, oddly each of them brightened as they descended. The replacing soldiers each whispered something to them and that seemed to brighten their gloomy demeanour. I swear they somehow regained some of that lost energy and made their way to the barracks.

Inspecting the replacements, Sir Felmun easily incorporated them and they went about their tasks. Skewering any undead that dared to reach our domain. Unlike the previous soldiers who had become weary of the constant barrage of enemies, these soldiers were full of vigour and energy.

"What is that about?" I wondered aloud, voicing my thoughts again.

"I hear that Gerald got his little apprentice on healing duty, The two are quite the pair and Emily's spells can energise you." Wilhelm explained, not taking his eyes off the western walls scrying bowl.

I was initially puzzled, not parsing the connection. But ultimately accepted it, since it meant we had a competent wizard in the making.

"Let's hope we survive long enough to teach her." I chuckled, trying to make light of the situation and failing.

A scream resounded from the west and I quickly turned to the scrying bowl. It depicted a large contingent of undead overwhelming one of the defenders, this in turn knocked down several others. Undead piled over the wall and quickly grabbed a hold of any piece of flesh in reach.

The scream was from one of my soldiers as a zombie bit through his neck and tore out his throat. His death struck me with the hammer of reality, with the inescapable notion that many more will die despite my efforts.

I resolved not to let death affect my plan and the plans of my subordinates. We had a strategy to repel the onslaught and we needed to remain on course.

"Asmordis, send a demon to reinforce the western wall!" I commanded and he obeyed.

The constant shifting of demonic resources kept the casualties to a minimum, but there were only so many demons I could command. The undead horde was spreading across the wall. Projecting a wide net that we were barely holding.

Another shriek came from the eastern wall, with that sound, another death struck me. Again I sent another demon and the zombies were repelled.

"We are stuck in a cycle, I reinforce one area only to be overwhelmed in another. And every death we sustain weakens our ability to hold the line." I commented on the state of the war.

"We have no choice but to hold fast my lady." Wilhelm replied, giving voice to the situation.

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I couldn’t accept that, I had given hope to the hopeless. I could not simply dig in my feet and hope. I needed a plan, something that would thin out the enemy.

I had thoughts of sending my demons to bombard the rear of the zombie horde. But their arsenal was running dry and was needed on the wall.

Our undead were capable of being tireless shields, but their numbers were few and were only a stopgap.

I looked at the camp in the distance. I wondered what Belus was doing there. But alas we didn't have a means to communicate. Wilhelm knew only how to observe and establish wards. Communication was beyond him, I mean to rectify this in the future, assuming we survive.

Immediately a thought popped into my head and I chastised myself for being so foolish. I had a communication spell right here. My demon cams up with it, I really should question him about it.

"Asmordis, how far can this communication spell reach?" I queried.

"No idea, but I suppose an infinite distance since it passes through the Abyss between us demons." He answered and I marvelled at the possibilities.

"Alright, can you send one to investigate the camp, probably that first order of yours." I suggested.

"Sure, hey Jelmak go over there and investigate what is going on!" He ordered and an excited voice responded.

"Yes master, it will be my greatest joy to serve!" The demon bounded away, I could spot its tiny wings flapping.

With that done, I oversaw the battle and noticed the replacement soldiers were holding well. The central, western and eastern walls were holding and no more casualties.

"What is that?" Wilhelm pointed to the central bowl.

What was depicted was a group of undead, clearly created from the corpses of soldiers. Instead of shambling forward, they were moving in concert, side by side they travelled behind the horde. Gesturing to Wilhlem, he zoomed in and the truth of them became known.

"Ghouls!" I said a bit too loud.

"They aren't undead, im pretty sure they are just infected with a hunger for flesh, but their faculties are still intact." He explained.

"Wait, what are those things behind them?" I wondered aloud, taking a closer look at the hunched-over forms trailing behind.

Once their faces came into view, it became clear what they were. Bloodshot eyes, giant maw with rows upon rows of serrated teeth. Hands extending to claws and an air of monstrous ferocity hung around them. I knew what they were and shuddered at the idea of them climbing over the wall.

"Asmordis! Vampyres and Ghouls are incoming! Central wall!" I announced and my demon went about the task of passing on the words.

It felt odd to use a third-order demon as a personal messenger service. But it was too late, the group of deadly creatures rushed the wall, climbing over corpses like a ladder.

Turning back to the wall, I could see the Vampyres ascend and lunge at the nearest living creature. I watched helplessly as a soldier I knew, had his throat torn out and head ripped from his shoulders.

In that moment a burning heat radiated from my chest. I normally didn't get angry, I normally didn't let myself get emotional. But for this, the rage burned within me. I knew him, I know his wife and children!

Without thought I retrieved the staff my demon enchanted with his Infernal magic and strode forward. The creature was busy feeding on his kill, ignoring the frightened soldiers scrambling back.

Its eyes locked upon me and now it had new prey. Without a second thought, if the monster even had thoughts, it leapt across the distance. Claws and fangs threatened to rend flesh as it soared. Only to bounce off my warding spell like a bug splattered upon a wall.

With it dazed, I strode forward, disabling my ward with a gesture and jamming the end of my staff down its maw. With a brief trickle of mana, I activated the spell. Its maw glowed like a sun, heat and smoke billowed from its mouth.

"Die monster!" I screamed as the spell did its work.

The Vampyrs head erupted in flame and exploded. Luckily the blast was facing away from me and what remained of its head showered the undead below.

The body dropped, headless and destroyed as any undead would be. Its existence left my thoughts just as quickly as its death. I looked down at the corpse of the soldier. His name was Ellis and he died because of me, under my orders and in my service.

Distracted, I barely noticed another Vampyr climbing over the wall and reaching out to me. His claws racked across my shoulder and I winced away from the pain.

"My lady, duck!" The voice of Sir Felmun bellowed.

In reaction, I did so and the spear soared overhead, impaling it through the chest. The nightmarish creature fell from the wall and out of sight.

"My lady please move back from the wall." He commanded and I did so, moving away from the danger zone.

The wound was deep and painful, blood spilled profusely. To staunch the bleeding I tore a piece of cloth from my surcoat and haphazardly bandaged the wound.

"Another person who didn't listen during my first aid classes." A voice came from the side. "Emily take note of the improper way so you may correct it in the future." The voice that was Gerald spoke again.

I turned to the approaching healer, his petite apprentice timidly trailing behind. "Battlefield Gerald, no time for finesse." I shot back.

He shook his head as he approached. Without another word, he stripped away my bandage, and quickly replaced it with his own, followed by chanting a low-level healing spell to slow the bleeding and to promote the healing process.

He did all of this while teaching his students, the young Emily watched and aided when appropriate. She was a bit distracted, that was obvious, with her furtive glances towards me.

"Thank you, now tend to the men, there are more injuries worse then mine." I directed and he nodded, accepting the truth of my words.

"You will be getting a lot of, on the job training my young apprentice." Gerald told his pupil and I lamented at the necessity of it.

Despite the necessity, I truly didn't want my first new student to learn her craft in a war zone. It flew in the face of everything I was trying to build. I gave a pitying nod to the young girl, she oddly blushed and looked away.

I will admit in this bloody and brutal situation, her adorableness made me feel better. Must be the power of cuteness that can make it all okay, even when literal monsters are at the wall.

"Thank you both for the aid, I and the men appreciate it." I spoke from the heart, treasuring that I had two capable healers.

Gerald bowed slightly and Emily attempted a curtsy and that was too, adorable. I sent them away to attend to the other men, some had wounds greater than I. They did so, with vigour and energy. I now know where the soldiers got all that energy from and I was grateful.

I returned to the command table just as another Vampyr made its way over the wall. I was prepared to use my staff, but the beast was too close and the collateral would be devastating.

Sir Felmun and his men were busy tangling with a group of ghouls so they could not intervene to prevent the carnage to come.

Before I could act, a spear of ice impaled the undead, skewering it through the chest. I turned to the source and found Wilhelm, our resident ward and scrying expert.

"What? Did you think I was just a pretty face?" He said cheekily, but the Vampyr didn't find it amusing.

It snarled, ignoring the fact it was just impaled. Such an injury would mean death to any mortal, but our enemies were not so hindered.

Instead of fear, Wilhelm smiled and snapped his fingers. The spear of ice writhed in the Vampyrs chest and spikes erupted from every direction. The creature was skewered and impaled from within. One of the spikes went through its brain and out the back of its head.

The creature dropped, its undead life taken with the snap of a finger. I turned to my wizard, noting internally that I should query him on his hidden combat skills.

But now wasn't the time, I moved forward, ready to take on any further threats. Sir Felmun was battling two ghouls and soundly defeated them with two quick strikes to the neck, decapitating them with graceful movements.

With the ghouls vanquished I cast a glance to the western and eastern walls. More Vampyrs and Ghouls were ascending and our meagre defence was being overwhelmed.

I felt like everything I had done, achieved nothing. Resolving to do what was necessary, I gripped my staff until my fists became white.

I quickly sent a mental order to my demon, giving a command as a last resort. It was time to pull out all the stops and truly unleash the power of Conjurer.

"My demon, I command you to destroy my enemies, crush them all without restraint. You will do everything in your power to keep the undead off the wall!" With that command, I immediately heard the flapping of wings and a sudden thud.

Turning to look behind, I found the goat-legged, red-skinned demon, smiling down at me, ready to inflict horrors upon my command. I will admit, I was intimidated, but would never show it.

"By your command, Mistress." He spoke with a very odd tone of voice, pleasant and inviting. Perhaps this was the start of my corruption, but for now, I needed my enemies dead.