Toku glared menacingly toward the horizon.

Not just because he looked cool doing it, though he did. No. It was because, far in the distance, so many birds were flying towards Noh that the land beneath them was covered in shadow and darkness.

That being said, the land had an issue of its own—thousands of strange beasts, small, large, and absolutely gigantic, slowly advanced from the distance.

Given that they were not yet in range of any of the city’s artillery yet, the defenders atop the walls could only stare as the horrors crawled and flapped onwards.

There were many emotions palpable atop the walls, yet there was one typically found in lead-ups to huge battles that was missing.

Fear.

As impossible as it sounded, the entire city of Noh had long come to terms with the fact that one day, they would have to wage an all or nothing war against those that would control them, torment them.

There was even a child standing in the middle of the street with a fistful of rocks in one hand and a sling in the other, gritting his teeth angrily at the approaching wave.

They would either win this war and free themselves… or they would all return to the cycle.

The birds soaring in the skies traveled far faster than their land counterparts—a situation that Shiki, the scarred leader of Noh, immediately took advantage of.

“The cats’ foolish automatons have come to perish! Archers, take aim! If you miss a single damn arrow against that many targets, I’ll chop your damn head off myself!”

Indeed, the sky was so densely populated by the robotic birds that it would have taken a particularly skilled archer to find and needle an arrow through an open path between them all.

The archers on the wall began to let loose, and so did the machines of war.

There were two variants present on the defenders’ side. The first were your typical ballistae, hurling giant javelins into the sky.

The second was a bit more interesting. Fun, even. This variant utilized several rotating cogs to repeatedly load bolts, draw back bowstrings, and fire said bolts into the air. It could fire three bolts a second, and could be loaded and utilized by even the most green of soldiers.

Given that the birds were not actual living birds, but wooden and metal machinations, the larger javelins blew them apart, sending splinters and fragments careening through the air and breaking apart the surrounding birds.

Those then fell to the ground in bits and pieces—something that soon became an issue for the charging beasts as the bits and metal dug into their feet, piercing and lacerating them.

Far behind the wave, high above even the mechanical birds, was a giant flying dragon. Atop its back was a platform, at the front of which a single, gigantic cat lounged on top of a gigantic pillow bed.

At its side was a lion, which in comparison seemed very small and unthreatening.

“Your meow-ness, our bird constructs are nearly at their walls, but are suffering heavy casualties. Their body parts are falling and disturbing the advance of our slave-beasts, as was predicted. It would be wiser if—”

The one-eyed, black cat glared at the lion. “Are they advancing?”

“Y-Yes, sir,” the lion replied. “But our offensive would be much more effective if—”

The black cat growled menacingly, causing the lion to cower in fear. “It is our slaves’ privilege to die for us. My idiot brothers and sisters might see fit to do as the Warden commands, but they’re simple idiots. I don’t want any of those pests living on my layer. Not a single one.”

Seeing that his leader had gone silent, the lion slowly backed away. He really wished he’d been assigned to a different layer.

Just… any other.

***

Toku quickly strode through the streets, his blood boiling as he rubbed the soot off his face and clothes.

He’d faced many assassins before. Too many to count. But he’d never seen such a construct before. If he’d been just a moment slower or just a bit less skilled, he would have died then and there.

It was one thing to potentially die to an assassin—they typically had to interact with him somehow, whether it be one of them trying to stab him in the back as he walked down the street, or throwing a firebomb at him from a rooftop.

But a mechanical bird, sent from who-knows-where? That would have been a truly inglorious death.

Having reached the city gates, he strode past the soldiers lined up behind the gates, ready to defend the city in case the beasts broke through, and went to unbar the gate.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Surprisingly, not a single warrior moved to stop him.

With a sizable heave, Toku tossed the giant wood bar that had been holding the gates closed to the side and swung the gate wide open.

As he walked through, he turned around and commanded the soldiers, just audible over sounds of the beasts charging toward the city from the distance, “Close it behind me.”

Once outside the city, the first thing Toku noticed was just how much louder the sound of the birds flying in the air and the beasts charging in from the distance was. It was a noticeable rumbling within the city, but out in front, it shook the earth and accosted his ears to such a degree that it was as if he were in the midst of a hellish storm.

Toku closed his eyes and drew his sword. Both he and the strange knight from the Holy Kingdom, Dario, had greatly benefited from their time training with the legends of Boomtown, but he had benefited more.

Far more.

By unlocking something the legends called his “innate talent”, he’d gained the ability to slice through things he’d previously never thought possible.

He’d even been able to slice through one of Hugh’s shields.

His new ability was also how he’d managed to save himself from the explosion earlier—that, and the manipulation of mana to protect himself. He’d been able to slice through the explosion itself, deflecting it so that it only buffeted him instead of impacting him directly.

And it was Toku’s faith in his newfound ability that had led him to step out, alone, to defend the city from the countless invaders.

Now, the mechanical birds were too far for him to do anything about. He could potentially gather his mana to attack them a few times, but that was far too inefficient a use of his skills.

No, as a warrior king, he understood that this battle would be long and tiring—one he wouldn’t be able to win alone.

He turned back and looked up, toward the top of the castle wall. The scarred man stood there, looking down at him.

The two exchanged a look and nodded toward each other.

Satisfied that the skies would be taken care of, Toku rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck before slowly drawing his draconic sword.

He might have learned the ways of civilization, but these beasts were about to find out that under his human visage and skin… was the soul of a ferocious, rampaging demon.

A particularly large beast, what looked to be a cross between a giant elephant and a lizard, was at the very front of the monster wave, clumsily lumbaring forward. It was so tall that, even though its neck wasn’t completely extended yet, its head was already higher than the city wall.

It lumbered closer and closer, covering a hundred feet with each step.

Toku calmly wrapped his right hand around his sword’s grip and stepped forward with his right foot. Then, as the massive beast stepped forward, sliced off its two front legs.

As it teetered forward and snorted in pain through its massive snout, Toku continued his way forward and sliced its hind legs as well.

It fell to the ground, causing the surrounding ground to shake and send earth flying in all directions.

Without breaking pace, Toku continued his way forward, slicing his way through the charging beast wave like a hot knife through butter.

Still, it wasn’t enough. The beast wave consisted of almost every single non-human that lived on the second layer. And although Toku was able to cut his way into the heart of the vanguard, the wave simply surged around him and the gigantic beast’s immobilized body, continuing their untiring death march.

Just as how the city had prepared aerial defenses, they had machines of war ready to deter attackers from the ground as well.

There were nearly a dozen contraptions spread across the wall meant to pour oil over the side, where it could then be lit with burning torches, or if need be, wooden planks.

As the beasts neared, entire sections of the ground beneath them gave way, crumpling beneath their weight. Of the frontmost, some were lucky enough to leap their way to safety, but the rest fell into pits, the bottoms of which were lined with wooden pikes.

Those immediately behind tried to slow down, but were pushed into the pits by the momentum of the wave.

Quickly, though, the pits filled with beast corpses, and the beasts simply clambered over their fallen brethren to advance toward their goal.

Now, the residents of Noh knew full well that no matter how wisely they were to use their oil reserves, they would eventually run out. There was simply not enough flame in the world to kill all of the beasts that would be heading their way in the coming days and weeks.

So, until they were forced to use their oil, they had another tool of war to use against the pesky beasts who made it to the walls.

It was a giant log, the inside of which had been hollowed out, but not overly. Only enough for a round metal bar to fit through.

The metal bar was then attached to metal chains, which were attached to a pulley anchored to the top of the wall.

The log could be dropped, crushing the beasts as they smashed themselves against the wall and dislodging any that dared to climb up. Furthermore, it could be lifted back atop the wall in under a minute.

Despite all this, though, it was clear that the aerial defenses they’d set up were far from adequate. The rainstorm of arrows soaring into the heavens was not enough to completely deter the bird wave from approaching, and many were able to fly their way close enough to the walls to commence the next instruction in their programming.

As their eyes began to flash red, the mechanical birds adjusted their wings and dive-bombed toward the city. Upon making contact with buildings and the ground, they exploded, creating small, but blazing hot craters which set the surroundings on fire.

Some crashed into the wall, exploding and knocking Noh’s soldiers off. Some of the luckier ones had their falls broken by rooftops and the like, while the unfortunate fell all the way to the city streets and died on impact.

The few residents who weren’t geared for battle rushed forward and dragged the injured and deceased away, behind battle lines.

Although the archers had been blown off the wall in several spots, the wall remained mostly undamaged and archers who’d been waiting below the wall ran up the stairs to replace their fallen comrades.

Still, the effect of the explosions was clear, as the momentary decrease in archers allowed countless more birds to dive bomb into the wall and city.

Loud thuds sounded as those manning the siege weapons atop the wall dropped the logs, squishing any monsters in its path. Then, chants of “Heave-ho! Heave-ho!” sounded as they began winding the chains back up.

Several arrows bounced off the metal wings of a particularly large winged contraption as it descended towards the middle of the castle wall where Shiki, the scarred man, stood.

As the winged contraption neared, those in Shiki’s vicinity slowly spread out, a good distance away from him. Shiki growled and rolled his shoulders and, with a guttural grunt, unleashed his aura.

A shockwave burst out from where he stood as he, in one fluid motion, drew his sword and sent a wide-arcing slash towards the contraption.

The slash sliced right through the contraption and several behind it, causing a chain reaction of explosions in the air.

Having protected his section of the wall from immediate threats, Shiki turned and shouted to his soldiers, “Open the gates!”