“They reached the wall!” A City Guard screamed at the top of his lungs before a Demon’s claws ripped through his chest. A pain squeal escaped the man’s lips before he collapsed to the ground. He writhed in pain, unwilling to die yet unable to escape his fate.

“Jeremy!” One of the other City Guards shouted, charging the Demon in fury.

However, before the City Guard could reach the demon, a sword blade sliced through it. The City Guard Captain, Pablo, appeared next to the fallen City Guard with a somber expression. He sighed deeply and shook his head faintly but didn’t say anything. No words were needed to tell how sad the City Guard Captain was.

His blade vibrated violently as he looked up to face the stream of Demons ahead. The longsword glowed vibrantly as he brandished the weapon. Pablo pulled the weapon back, breathed out, and gathered his energy alongside the blade's edge. The glow and vibration intensified.

A mere second later, Pablo’s upper body leaned forward. He adjusted his weight in the enemies’ direction and slashed at the incoming Demons.

He didn’t strike an enemy with the blade, but that wasn’t what Pablo intended with his attack. The paper-thin, crescent-shaped energy blade released through his slash was the deadly attack he’d wanted to release. An explosion resounded through the surroundings as the energy blade whizzed through the air, and screams of pain and despair followed shortly.

The energy blade struck dozens of demons. Some tried blocking the incoming attacks with their demonic powers and bodies, but they failed miserably. The incoming attack was too powerful to block by mere Tier-2 Demons. Paper-thin streaks spread across their chests and neck, separating their bodies neatly.

Their heads and upper bodies slit from the rest of their bodies and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

The City Guards watched their Captain in awe, but Pablo never diverted his focus from the battlefield. He kicked the ground, leaped across the Demon corpses, and jumped straight into the battle. His attention lingered on a particularly large Demon, whose attention was pulled to him after he easily killed a few more Demons.

‘A Greater Demon? Is there a fissure to the Underworld somewhere near Spyro?’

Pablo frowned deeply. It didn’t make sense for a Greater Demon to appear here, but he accepted it silently. All Pablo did was add another task to his to-do list.

‘I will be busy once this has been taken care of.’

He charged forward and collided with the Greater Demon, whose elongated – crocodile-like – jaw snapped at him. Pablo dived to the side and jumped up, drawing his sword upward to slice the Greater Demon’s side, only to notice how tough its hide was. He managed to cut into the Greater Demon’s side, but only the sword tip disappeared inside the Greater Demon’s hide.

Pablo cursed quietly, twisted the blade, and stepped back. He had to organize his thoughts and tactics to fight the Greater Demon head-on. However, the Greater Demon wasn’t going to give him any time. It shot toward him and lashed out at Pablo’s blade, nearly ripping it out of the Guard Captain’s hands before a mighty kick, enveloped in bubbling dark energy, struck him square in the chest.

The impacting force pushed back Pablo, but he suffered less than imagined. The Greater Demon was strong, but Pablo was more resilient than most humans. There was only one issue.

The Greater Demon’s demonic power stuck to his armor like glue. It was heavy.

‘Is that Gravity? Fuck!’

He was lucky that only a portion of the Greater Demon’s demonic power remained, but it was enough to slow him. His movement speed deteriorated as his chestplate doubled in weight from a single attack.

The Greater Demon and Pablo were about to clash again when several red streaks filled the City Guard’s eyes.

A pained scream escaped the Greater Demon’s lips as his hide tore open wherever the red streaks passed. Dark, almost black, blood spurted from the wounds as a familiar man appeared next to Pablo.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You looked like you needed some help,” The new arrival said with a smile. His voice was light, seemingly not taking the situation too seriously, but his body was tense and ready to dive into battle at all times.

“And you look like you’re having fun after serving the Princess for way too long, Igor,” Pablo responded, unable to hide the smile blossoming on his face.

The Princess’s bodyguard, Igor, smiled at Pablo and brandished his sword.

“Let’s kill that bastard quickly. Your subordinates won’t be able to stall the Demons for long,” He said with a trace of concern.

However, Pablo merely chuckled when he saw a glimpse of something – or someone, to be precise – from the corner of his eye.

“I don’t think they need our help.”

Igor followed Pablo’s gaze for a second after blocking the Greater Demon’s attack, only to see Zayn and dozens of golden-glowing Demons dive into the masses of the Demon horde.

At the same time, the whole battlefield began to rumble.

“It’s starting,” Pablo announced.

“What is?”

“Our counterattack, of course.”

**

The rumbling intensified as the battle continued. At first, it was subtle and barely notable even by the most perceptible Mages. Their senses perked up, and they were ready to warn their people only to top mid-way. They recalled that everyone had been warned about the rumbling long before the battle with the Demon horde started.

At last, their chance to counterattack emerged.

The battlefield grounds and the walls all around the pathways trembled violently. They had been cracked and uneven before, but the ground and walls burst open now that the rumbling grew stronger.

Zayn smiled brightly, focusing entirely on Nature’s Little Wrath and Florakinesis.

Massive roots shot out of the ground, the ceiling, and the walls. They emerged from all directions, strengthened through Reinforce, Thorn Attachment, and Draining Touch.

Dozens of flying Lesser Demons were slapped across their backs, smashed to the ground, and impaled by several roots before they could. Meanwhile, other aerial Demons found themselves in the grasp of smaller roots. The roots coiled around their legs or wings, pulling the creatures to the ground, where the Spirit Souls awaited them.

Lifeforce and Energy was drained from the Demons rapidly, granting Zayn everything he needed to maintain the Cards draining his stored energy rapidly. The excessive lifeforce transformed into power through Lifeforce Conversion, transforming Zayn into an even bigger threat. He multitasked, focusing on the Nature Card Set and all augments to control the root network while maintaining Power Up on all Spirit Souls.

Some Spirit Souls were torn into shreds and killed before their comrades or Zayn could help them, but they never died without a fierce battle. For every Spirit Soul that died, dozens of Demons were killed. That was good enough for Zayn, especially as he could resurrect more Spirit Souls if his soul had enough capacity to control another Spirit Soul.

‘The root network was worth preparing.’ Zayn thought, filled with satisfaction.

He had been preparing the network of thousands of roots all across the northern part of Spyro’s walls for the last 20ish hours. Zayn wasn’t sure how much energy he’d used, but it was certainly a lot more energy than combined in the last two months…combined.

He’d suffered a lot in the last 24+ hours, but the result was worth it. Even the Tier-2 Demons were too weak to ignore the restraints of the massive roots. The stronger Demons could slash through the roots and cut through them as long as they used their full power, but the weaker Tier-2 Demons required multiple fully empowered attacks to rip them apart.

The time most Demons required to escape the entwinement of roots was enough for the City Guards, Golden Age members, and Spirit Souls to execute several attacks and kill their foes.

Zayn considered switching his plan once he found the Greater Demon, but upon seeing that Pablo and the Princess’ bodyguard stalled the Greater Demon, Zayn’s worries disappeared. He could focus on the Lesser Demons and Elite Demons.

‘But to think a Tier-3 Greater Demon would appear here. Pablo can stall the Greater Demon, but it has a Unique Infernal ability. He would be dead if not for Princess’ bodyguard.’

Zayn was unsure what would have happened if Zayn and his people decided against helping the 7th Princess. Maybe Spyro would have been destroyed today if not for their help.

‘Thinking about that doesn’t help anyone. We are here, and we’re helping them.’

The Greater Demon was a variable Zayn didn’t wish to see, but it wasn’t out of his expectations. He had plans to kill a Tier-3 Greater Demon, though it would be a bit difficult. To kill a Tier-3 Greater Demon with a Unique Infernal Ability, Zayn would have to sacrifice most of his Spirit Souls and endanger his life. Maybe it would have been necessary to sacrifice Pablo, resurrect him as a Spirit Soul, and sacrifice the Tier-3 Spirit Soul to kill a threat like a Greater Demon with a Unique Infernal Ability.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to pay any attention to that. He could trust Pablo and the bodyguard to handle the Greater Demon.

As for the remaining Demon horde… Zayn was more than ready to obliterate them all.

What followed was death and destruction.