The forest continued to burn, and the battle continued to rage. Unlike imps and ogres, demon and human bodies do not burn when they are slain, so a mound of corpses had begun to build up between our formation and the attackers.
Hundreds of demons had been killed. Dozens of my girls had been taken with them.
“Commander Hana! With every comrade we lose, our formation grows weaker! We cannot hold them for long!”
“We need to buy more time! There’s no hope for Earth if the Hussars don’t make it back!”
“But Ma’am! We have no idea how long that could b-”
Hikigaya fell instantly silent as a flaming arrow pierced her throat, killing her instantly. She joined the fifty-something of my comrades who had been killed already.
“Hikigaya! Fuck!” I blocked an arrow aimed at my own head as I watched her corpse fall to the ground. We wouldn’t hold out much longer at this rate. I had to think of a new plan.
Burning the forest was a double edged sword. It had forced our enemies to move headfirst into our spears, allowing us to cut down a few hundred of them. But it also cut off all of our escape routes. All of them except…
“Isshiki, ready your archers to focus on the clearing over that way. We’re retreating towards Matsue.”
“Towards Matsue?! That would lead them straight to the city! Hundreds of thousands will die if we don’t contain them!”
“Billions will die if we lose. We’ve no other choice.”
“...I’ll prepare the archers for a push.”
I had to admit the tactic was insanely risky. Many of history’s most famous battles, from Hastings to Thermopylae, saw thousands die due to breaks in formation like this. But with our defences crumbling already, it would only be a matter of time before our forces were annihilated in their entirety. If we managed to retreat to the clearing, we could reposition ourselves in a way that would not allow a total encirclement.
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“Ready! Take aim!” I called, and every archer and ranged magician turned their attention in the direction I indicated. “Fire!”
A hail of spells and arrows descended upon the demons blocking our way, carving a sizeable hole in their defensive line. Dozens were killed, even more injured. This would be our only chance.
“Advance! Through the clearing! Do not lower your shields until death takes you!”
All 240-something of us left advanced in unison, cutting our way through the newly opened hole in their lines. The rest saw through our plan and closed in on us, our shields taking a beating from their weapons and arrows, but we didn’t stop moving.
The clearing was close, but not so close as to be an easy journey. Ten more were killed.
The rest of us barely made it through the gap in the burning trees, a trail of blood following us from those who had already sustained wounds. As soon as we were through the narrow gap in the trees and out into the clearing, we rearranged our formation like a well oiled machine and took up a defensive line. There was no way to approach our flanks without burning up in the forest. Were they to teleport behind us, they’d also find no route of escape due to a heavy police barricade that had been set up through the night. It wouldn’t slow them down for long, but long enough to be picked off.
This was it. Our final stand. The last wall between demonkind’s invasion, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
The demons piled through the entrance to the clearing, some shoving others into the flames to avoid being burned themselves. I had noticed at some point that, despite seemingly being on the same side, the demons had no concept of discipline or teamwork. They were intelligent, no doubt, but had no loyalty to one another as comrades. That had been the sole reason we had managed to kill so many more of them than they had of us. They were too willing to sacrifice their “allies” to save their own skin.
“Shoot them down! Force them back!” I called to my archers and spellcasters, though at this point both were running low on ammunition. If we could force them to not advance through to the clearing, the flames would take more of them than we could.
Another torrent of projectiles launched at the demons, forcing several to retreat to the flaming forest. The anguished cries of burning demons filled our ears, and I knew my tactic had been successful.
But they were simply greater in number. They piled through into the clearing and returned fire with their own projectiles. Many of our shields were already splintered. Many of our soldiers were already wounded. Many of our comrades were already dead.
We were weak.
The battle raged on, our defences being tested every step of the way. A few more deaths were suffered, plus injuries aplenty. Our line would not hold forever.
“Saki, if you’re gonna do something, you better do it now…” I muttered to myself.
And, as if answering my call directly, a ring of fire opened in the sky that drew the attention of human and demon alike.