Zalia managed to hold back the corruption for another hour before it became too much. Her own power shuddered, then collapsed, under its oppressive power. The entire army came to a stop, some falling to their knees, others still standing, all in pain as their inner beings were attacked.
It only took a few seconds before Ro-ak’s power was released, a warm, earthy blanket spreading across the land. Soldiers all around her slowly recovered, yet many of them looked shaken. She had been holding back the power, using Hildebrandt’s presence as a post to hold herself up against. The rock in a river aura that she emitted was the only reason Zalia had been able to hold out as long as she had.
Faian had the army back up and moving in short order, but stared towards the capital with concern. They were still an hour's walk away and there was yet to be a response.
Zalia managed to push herself to a sitting position, quickly recovering now that she didn’t have to hold back the power of an ascendant being any longer. She wished she could have gotten them all the way to the city wall, but hadn’t expected to.
Turning to Ro-ak, she could tell he was doing much better than she had.
“Ro, what’s happening? Can you feel what they’re doing in there?”
The release of his power had turned him back to his natural form, that of a crow with leaves for feathers and a hood made of vines. His legs were that of tree trunks, feet made from roots.
“I can feel the panic in the Thousand-eyed one’s aura. It did not know I was here. It has blocked me from seeing within the city, yet I feel it is preparing to react.”
That got the attention of both generals and Faian began immediately sending out orders. They would be able to send out scouts with the possibility of discovering something now that Ro’s aura was protecting such a larger area of space. His aura felt somehow similar to Zalia’s own, not the same but like it was a relative.
A few groups of people split off from the army, running towards the city. They looked scared, yet as they watched, a few nearby wandering undead died under Ro’s power. They fell apart in strips before collapsing to the dirt. Various plants grew from their bodies, sped up by Zalia’s now unhindered aura.
“Preparing to react how?” Faian asked.
Ro’s power-filled gaze turned to Faian and she flinched despite herself. It was one thing to talk to Ro in the form he had been holding to attract less attention, it was another to see him with his power out on display. He was yet to release it fully, something he would only do when in combat with the Thousand-eyed one. Zalia still remembered her first contact with an Ascendant, the starlight wolf. She had come out of that shaking.
“I cannot tell the exact details. I only know that it means to act somehow. To an Ascendant, their aura is their being. Some creatures like this one never learned to hide away their intentions from their aura, rather using it as a means of intimidation. It means to scare us.”
Faian nodded, then turned back to their march.
As they got closer to the dark, looming walls of the capital, the tension in the army could be felt like a bowstring ready to snap. Soldiers put worry, fear and anxiety behind stoic, determined expressions. More undead bunched around the base of the wall, some turning to move towards the army. Many of the undead from all around the fields were beginning to approach them now, though they fell to Ro’s power soon enough.
Ten minutes from the wall, they saw the large metal gates of the city swing outwards.
Faian immediately called a stop, waiting to see what would come through. They had planned to break through the city wall but it didn’t look like they would get the opportunity now.
A flood of undead burst out of the city, some tripping and the others rolling over them like a tide. They started filling the plains, so great in number that it was hard to stand their ground.
Ballast gave the order, and the army reacted.
The whole army rotated as one to face the incoming wave. The vanguard put down shields, building the wall of steel that would be their first line of defense.
Earth mages began excavating deep ditches in front of the vanguard as well as to the sides and behind the army. Walls were soon added to those, units of lighter armoured mages and archers rushing to fill up the tops.
Two units of soldiers took flight, wielding bows and air magic.
Zalia joined them, while Boreal went to join a group of legionnaires, the soldiers there looking a little emboldened to have a fearsome fighter like her by their side.
The few administrative people still with them, the ones Faian couldn’t do without, went to the very centre of their fortification, a stone structure built around them. This had been one of the alternate outcomes that they had planned for, evident by the quick and orderly way they reacted.
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The majority of the army had to stay within the walls, out of sight. Each wall had small gaps for the soldiers to sling spells and arrows out of, with the legionnaire units on both flanks.
A fiery and vengeful, yet protective presence spread across the battlefield as Hildebrandt took her stance at the very front of the vanguard, activating Stand Your Ground.
Then, they waited.
Zalia realised she wasn’t breathing at all and forced herself to take a deep, steeling breath as she watched the endless flow of undead spilling from the gate.
The few enchanters they had with them were rushing about the edges of the army, inscribing quick and imperfect runes into the walls.
From over the city walls came a horde of flying demons.
Ro flew high above her and the archers she was with, growing in size. He doubled, then tripled his previous form, his aura similarly growing in strength.
In the distance, up the hill that the capital was built upon and at its peak, the Thousand-eyed one lifted up from the castle there.
It flew at speed on demonic bat wings lit with a dark flame towards Ro, who held his ground above the army.
The horde of undead began melting away by the combined powers of Ro, Hildebrandt and Zalia. Still, they came, the aura of corruption around them building as their numbers increased, protecting them more and more.
The auras of the two Ascendant beings intermixed and overlapped, warring with each other before they clashed. While the earth and air around the army were still, it felt as if the very world was being shaken and torn apart to their magical senses.
Spells and arrows flew from the walls. Large chunks of earth ripped themselves from the ground and crushed chunks of undead. Swaths of flame followed, chased by a storm of various other elemental spells and abilities.
Zalia released her own arrows, quick sharp lines of brilliant light showing their path as they punched through countless undead each. She need not even aim, as the mass of undead was such a big target that the arrows tracking abilities found their own marks. Instead, she focused on releasing arrows as quickly as she was able.
The horde filled the pits made by the earth mages, slowing their charge, before smashing into the vanguard with the sounds of groaning metal, grunts of straining people and weapons stabbing. Hildebrandt swung at blurring speeds, her mace sending out bolts of energy that tore apart entire sections of the undead. A huge explosion rocked the field as she let off Explosive Force.
Zalia and her unit had to turn their attention to the swarm of flying demons, the small ones of Tin and Iron rank. They shot down as many of the approaching swarm as they could, many of the ranged soldiers down in the square below turning their spells to the new threat as well.
Above it all, the Thousand-eyed one let out a terrible screech as it clashed with Nateysta. Deep, resonant booming sounds echoed down from the battling titans, the physical fight a shadow to the deeper fight seen only with magical senses. The sheer force of the clashing ascendants sent many of the flying demons tumbling, allowing Zalia and the other flying units a little more room. Soon though, the demons were upon them.
Zalia had to focus her attention entirely on her own battle as the flying soldiers switched to long, thin swords. They performed expert aerial maneuvers as they fought the demons, cutting them down with precise strikes.
The demons scratched and tore at her armour as she flew and dodged, never stopping, constantly swinging. Each strike cut one or two of the demons in half, yet there were always more to replace them. Some started latching on to her but she quickly disposed of each of them. They were pushed lower and lower in the air, trying to keep close to each other. Zalia cut a demon off one of her allies' backs, and another of the flying soldiers cut down a demon that had been going for her head. A few of the flying soldiers were taken down by swarms of the demons, though were quickly rescued as they fell into the army below.
The earth mages opened a hole in the flanks as two legionnaire units rushed out of each side. One was led by Larel, each punch an explosive force sending undead tumbling through the air, the other led by Boreal, who pounced with precision, ripping apart several undead in a few short moments. Her icy magic spread through the enemy, slowing them down and freezing them to the ground.
The legionnaires threw javelins with incredible strength, the rain of weapons sending the entire front of undead sprawling. They followed up Boreal and Larel with their spears, stabbing in quick and precise movements. They were fast, each of the soldiers' abilities focused on their physical strength and speed. The undead barely had time to react to the strike.
Zalia dropped lower and started using Hunter’s Mark to spread her cursed flame through the flying demons. The high-pitched screeching that ensued was loud enough to cause her pain, the flaming demons knocking into others and setting each other aflame.
Soon, there were dead and dying bodies dropping from the air like tiny flaming meteors.
Not a moment too soon, the enchanters finished their work and a weak shuddering energy formed a dome above the army. Zalia thought the falling demons would shatter it but the dome grew stronger by the moment, the enchanters down below working hard to fix the flaws in their design.
As quickly as they had left, the flanking strike units retreated back within the walls, quickly shored up by the earth mages waiting. They had done their job, taking some pressure off of the vanguard for a moment.
The battlefield stopped as a vine that must have been twenty metres wide grew from the ground in an instant. It smashed through the undead, reaching upwards and impaling the side of the Thousand-eyed one. Zalia looked upwards as the Thousand-eyed one summoned a dark roiling flame that burnt down the vine, the scorch mark down the vine reflecting on Nateysta's own body. His wide wings beat heavily, blowing the Thousand-eyed one back as their struggle continued.
It was in that brief pause that Zalia saw a bunch of demons grouping up further away from the army. There must have been a few hundred of them, of the type that Zalia was all too familiar with. With her bettered eyesight thanks to many different enhancing effects, she was able to see the obsidian-skinned demon at their fore.