The soldiers waiting at the gate could hear multiple impacts striking it, as many as thirty, knowing they would be next.

“Get ready!” Stein shouted, wielding his blade.

Projectiles kept coming from the magic circles, despite every undead mage having been shot down. Lethal fireworks, exploding right at the fortified gate with extreme accuracy. Almost a hundred comets managed to get through, before the Black Tide rammed into the entrance, crying and hissing like a rat infestation.

“Defenders of the light!” the High Priestess, a middle-aged woman, yelled to her all-female apprentices in white robes. “Conjure, Overshield!”

Hundreds of undead got through at once. They pushed against each other, tripping and trampling one another, violently reaching out with dead arms and broken hands. They stopped abruptly as they crashed into a wall of pure golden light. Like see-through glass, the undead could be seen impacting the barrier, burning into ashes when making direct contact with it, as others took their place in the unending, stubborn swarm.

“Fire!” ordered an eagle sergeant. The positioned tank shot round after round, getting through the holy protection.

“Sister Serca!” the High Priestess called while maintaining her white staff aloft, keeping the shield from fading away. Like her other apprentices, sweat was coming down her forehead. “I’ll leave it to you!”

“Oh, my! It’s already my turn?” A young nun stepped forward, maintaining a smirk that would make any of her partners look arrogant. She stood facing Stein’s knights, giving her back to the dead trying to reach for her clothes. “My beloved brothers and sisters, sons of Artheos! Your swords please!” She raised her right hand towards the heavens, with a bright, beautiful, exceedingly innocent smile. The knights frowned for a second, before noticing Commander Stein solemnly raising his weapon. They followed. “Oh, Lord Artheos, Giver of Justice and source of light to our entire world! Please guide us through these tumultuous times! Give us a glimpse of your holy presence!”

A knight closer to her could see the wall of light starting to give up. “Watch out!” He stepped forward, cutting a hand that had managed to grab Serca’s hat, revealing her golden hair tied in an updo. She remained unflinching, as the tank fired another shot into the upcoming horde.

“Superior Light Charm,” she channeled while giggling, making a white summoning circle appear at her feet. “Taken by God’s hand!”

Each soldier and knight in a thousand feet radius could feel their muscles ache and their chests tingle, as their strength suddenly boosted up. Those who could use mana sensed a great surge in their energy reserves. Serca smiled faintly and strolled forward as the protective light faded away. The undead charged against her like moths to fire, but Stein’s knights shielded the young nun in an instant.

“Prepare your healing spells!” the High Priestess ordered her subordinates, who started channeling.

The young, golden-haired nun faintly smiled at the commanding priest, and then almost fell to her knees. The woman quickly caught her before she could touch the ground. “How did it go?” Serca asked, panting.

“Wonderfully,” the woman replied. “Take a blue drink and prepare for another charm at the wall. We’ll take care of the main gate.”

“Holy shit.” Spencer whistled from atop the wall, watching the effects of Serca’s spell.

“Such blasphemy,” Boldo scorned.

“Hey,” Spencer snickered, “do you think I could get a boost too?”

“I’m sure it would burn you up instead.” Boldo jokingly remarked, making Spencer burst out laughing.

“Sir!” A young male summoner approached him. “The main gate has been breached!”

“I can see it from here. Is it time to unleash the cat?” Spencer snorted. “Alright, let’s get to work.” He made his way towards the east side of the wall, leaving behind mages who were steadily unleashing ice and fire into the field brimming with the dead. He glanced with pride at his apprentices, who commanded rock golems that tore through the enemy's numbers, only to succumb after a short minute. After arriving at the gate, Spencer looked downward to what seemed like a dark river rushing through it. “They don’t pay me enough,” he muttered while drawing a summoning circle in the sky up above. “Major Summoning,” he started, as the circle started sparking flames, “Flaustos, Hell’s Pet!”

A fire-engulfed, feline creature entered the physical realm, instantly scorching every enemy on its landing site. It got its back against the entrance and roared, incinerating the undead closer to its huge snout. Every quick movement of its paws could quickly crush a triad of hostiles, while its tail could launch as many as twenty foes into the air.

“Don’t worry pal,” Spencer whispered while drawing a second circle, “Your backup’s on his way. Major Summoning, Ventor, The Cold Terror!”

A monstrous bird as big as its fire-summoned brother was freed from the immaterial realm it was captive. It possessed shiny, black feathers like a crow, a huge curved beak, and the tip of its wings sparkled with what seemed to be snowflakes. It launched itself into the flight, and once it flew close enough to the Black Tide, it left a whitish trail of instantly frozen undead behind it.

“Damn Spencer,” Boldo chuckled bitterly while looking at the beasts running free. He knew his whole elemental division was no match for the destructive potential those monsters were displaying.

“He’s truly a man of legends,” a mage said, beaming.

“Yeah.” Boldo sighed. “A very cocky one.”

1.3

WHITE KNIGHT

“This has no end,” Candice said to herself from atop the wall, enduring the deafening noise of gun turrets firing. She fixed on the endless flow of enemies, and frenzy of allies looking for a way inside.

Something isn’t right. If the Necromancer just wanted to increase his numbers, he won’t achieve that here. Candice clenched her jaw, restless. There’s nothing in this place that he can’t get anywhere else. He’s sacrificing too many converts, what the hell is he doing it for?

Her hunter’s eye allowed her to see farther than the common man could. She got lost in the tales of death that could be read on the bodies of the horde. Dismemberment, impalation, cutthroats, and more. None of them were bleeding, but a black substance could be seen leaking from their wounds, a byproduct of the necromancer’s injected mana.

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“The gates! Focus on the gates!” a soldier was desperately yelling as Flaustos, the giant infernal cat, started to slow down its movements. Once the army of undead got a hold of the creature’s flesh, they started tearing on it. The now-weakened beast couldn’t stand against their numbers. In a desperate move, the remaining fire covering its body exploded, unleashing a heat shockwave that would melt everything in a 50 feet radius.

Candice observed the black sea below her while thinking to herself. Should she help? Should she wait for an opening to attack? Or should she flee instead?

My strength isn’t enough to make a difference… There’s only one who would.

“Goddammit!” Candice heard Commander Stein yell from the main gate, blood spilling down his face. “Where the hell are the Paladins?! We need those religious zealots more than ever!!”

“Sir Stein!” the High Priestess called from her position a few feet away while nursing a fallen knight. “The Order of the Pearl has been fighting outside this whole time. They were never in the fortress.”

Stein stared at her dumbfounded. Candice turned quickly to the battlefield, searching for anything resembling platinum armor across the sea of blackness.

The Order of the Pearl was renewed for its brave, impossible deeds, but any time Candice heard of them, only one name would come to mind. “Joseph!”

White caped knights, riding powerful stallions, charged through the field of dead at soaring speeds, taking every head on its path.

“They're still coming!” An eagle soldier gunning one of the turrets stopped firing, watching in awe as the three knights fought against all odds, their armor shining like beacons of light among the darkness. “Should I stop firing, Sir?”

“Fix your fire on the hills,” Rhino answered through the Crownet. “Shoot any incoming enemies. Give the knights some room to work with.”

“That's the Doves for you," Spencer smirked, before commanding his ice bird to stand down. “You wouldn’t like to have your wings frozen, eh, little doves?”

“This is Paladin Hortace,” a voice spoke through the Crownet, “What’s the status?”

“Colonel Rhino speaking,” the mustached man answered quickly, looking for the white knights through his binoculars. “It appears their numbers aren’t increasing any longer.”.”

“How’s the situation inside the wall? Should we retreat?”

“No, keep going. If anything, we’ll need more reinforcements."

“Ah, don’t worry Colonel. We can call backup any time if necessary.”

“Ho.” Paladin Thomas smirked confidently, as his horse rammed against the sea of undead. “Sir Hortace, don’t you think it would be better to handle this without bothering our beloved Saint?”

“If you are that confident we can do these alone, by all means! If we push through, we might even finish before supper!” Hortace laughed.

The marksmen George and Tara exchanged worried looks. They were not the only people frowning. "Aren't they being too laid back?" George said.

“We can make it!” Boldo yelled abruptly, startling his subordinates. “Support the Holy Knights! Don’t let them fight alone! We are a team! We are survivors!”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Can you feel it?” Paladin Thomas said, glancing at the wall, before decapitating another undead. “This is the power of our people.”

“Yeah.” A third Paladin answered with a stern voice. “Don’t let them down.”

“Come on, Sir Joseph, cheer up a little! Go forth, my brothers! For our people, for our apostle, and for our God!” Thomas yelled, raising his sword.

“We are the protectors of the light!” the other two answered through the Crownet in unison, their bodies glowing like comets burning every foe that met its way. Every swing of their sword was deadly.

“Look what we have here,” Thomas muttered, as a large man-beast made its way through the enemy crowd. Fully armored, it had a large, scaly snout instead of a face, and carried a heavy, worn-out battle axe. Light damage on its helmet showed signs of Eagle shooter attacks, who tried their best to take it down to no avail. “Perhaps you might be worthy of my blade."

Thomas started channeling as his horse crushed everything on its path. Magic circles manifested behind him, sprouting frozen, icy lances that burst out at full speed. The axe-wielding undead swiftly blocked the first two shots, but it was not quick enough to avoid a third shot, which managed to impale its chest. The sudden impact prevented him from reacting to a fourth projectile, which pierced his helmet and skull. Thomas got closer full-speed and finished him off by cutting his body in half from top to bottom.

“It seems not.” Thomas chuckled without panting. “Colonel Rhino, is there any threat worthy of my justice?”

“Um…” Rhino muttered.

Thomas sighed. “Any Fallen One still around on the battlefield?”

“Y-yes! Our troops are struggling with crimson knights southeast of the wall.”

“Already got them.” Paladin Hortace informed. “Anything else?”

“Wyvern Riders!” Maya, the archer, yelled to her mic.

Atop the wall, elemental mages witnessed as enormous bird-like creatures came into view. Fangs, horns, and rough skin were the last thing some mages saw as they were incinerated by a fire breath, only a few being quick enough to avoid the attack. These last mages targeted their offensive on the closest wyvern, but it was impervious to their magic. Boldo glimpsed at the undead riding its back, staring back with cold, blue eyes.

“Watch out!” Maya threw him to the ground, saving the man from the wyvern’s stone-melting breath.

Boldo looked at her, confused and scared. He regained his courage for a moment, and immediately yelled: “Take them down with ice magic!”

“He has flying units,” Spencer, the summoner, muttered to himself while commanding his mythical ice bird to target the new threat. “Of course Bob the Necromancer has freaking undead flying units.”

Spencer’s giant summoned bird soared the sky around the flying enemy beasts, and took hold of one of the riders, crushing his entire body with its claw. It fixed on a second wyvern half its size and swiftly took it down with a gust of icy wind.

Meanwhile, a flying undead rider got close enough to destroy a gun turret. Seemingly unstoppable, it crushed a second machine before being taken down, crashing over a third turret, causing a small part of the structure to crumble.

Spencer barely dodged the oncoming rubble, getting hit in the head. He coughed and covered his nose from the dust, squinting to see if the enemy was still active. The dust settled, and the rotten head of the downed wyvern appeared in front of him, firing a quick flame burst at him.

Spencer rolled to his side while channeling. “Mayor Ice Boost, Frozen Heart!” He kneeled and his whole body got covered by a thick layer of protective ice, helping him withstand the second shot of fire. The wyvern tilted its head, confused, and released a long, ceaseless breath of fire that Spencer could barely endure. “Ventor! Come here!”

Spencer anxiously waited for his summon, when he noticed an object rolling to his feet. Closer inspection revealed it was the head of the undead rider. The flame’s heat made him squint, but he managed to witness a shadow quickly cutting the wyvern’s head. The neck still sprouted fire when it plummeted into the ground.

“I. Fucking. Hate. Wyverns!” Candice yelled, wielding a bloodied blade in her hand.