For the first time since I joined the army, my seemingly unstoppable overlords were stumped.

To say that the dome of mana was a shocking new development for them would be an understatement. Even from my place in the formation, several feet away, I could hear the argument between the brothers.

“They’re mocking us,” Glaustro hissed, staring up at the locals patrolling the wall.

That wasn’t the impression I got. The soldiers on patrol seemed stiff, their movement stilted. They might have been pretending to ignore the army of demons, but the surreptitious glances in our direction betrayed them.

Interestingly enough, I could not spot a single local on the wall who resembled a mage. I liked to think I’d be able to recognize them if they were present. After all, while Clarinette’s memories were mostly a nuisance, they did acquaint me with mage types rather well.

“A perfect mana sealing formation? Primarily made out of space mana? How? This is barely a class one world on the best day. They’re not supposed to have access to this kind of knowledge!” Glaustro was on one of his angry rants. He wasn’t so much talking to his brother as at him.

Graighast replied calmly, “Just because they cannot produce an Archmage doesn’t mean they can’t perform deeper studies into the nature of mana. It would be far more difficult and time-consuming, but if the right kind of genius came along… it is theoretically possible.”

“Genius?!” Glaustro scoffed. “Among this rabble? Do you really think they’d be able to produce someone like that? With the requisite mana sensitivity? This is pure sabotage! I don’t know if it’s another legion’s meddling, or those thrice damned angels, but I’m telling you that mortals in a world like this couldn’t possibly produce that kind of barrier on their own. What are they using to power it?”

“Mana crystals? It is a simple enough resource to harness.”

Glaustro glared at the dome as if trying to bring it down with rage alone. “Maybe, but have we even found proof that it’s possible to mine it here? The mana density of this world is abysmal. Even if it’s enough for some lesser deposits to form, they’d be located at a depth impossible for mortals to reach. And even then, there wouldn’t be enough to fuel something of this level. I’m telling you, they couldn’t have managed on their own.”

“And I’m reminding you that they have managed, whether they did it alone or not.” Graighast sighed. “Which means that we need to deal with this, before it impacts the speed of our invasion. You know our orders. We can’t afford to let the conquering of this world drag on. If it does, and we miss out on the conquest of Lagyel, I’ll be most displeased. More importantly, the general will be displeased.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Glaustro snapped, finally tearing his eyes away from the barrier. “I know that. I also know that the general wants us to reinforce the troops there as soon as possible. I hear they’re putting up far more of a struggle than initially predicted.”

“I am not surprised. Lagyel might not be the most prominent world we’ve invaded since our inclusion in the legion, but it is definitely one of the more powerful. Regardless, the issue at hand…”

“I’m still saying they shouldn’t be able to power this thing!” Glaustro threw his arms out to indicate the dome, grinding his teeth so loudly that my ears hurt even at a distance. I was impressed he could grind his teeth at all, considering those fangs of his.

“Well… I don’t necessarily disagree,” Graighast finally allowed. “That might be where our answer lies. If they are barely managing to support the barrier, then perhaps we can drain it.”

I didn’t have to be nearby to imagine how Glaustro’s eyes lit up with malice at this suggestion. And I mean literally. I had seen actual flames burning inside his eyeballs on more than one occasion. The effect was stunning, if disquieting.

“For once, your idea has merit, brother.” Glaustro managed to inject the title of endearment with enough venom to kill a herd of elephants. “They might be able to ape the power of their betters briefly, but they can’t hold out forever.”

The two commanders didn’t start screaming orders, exactly, but they did give their instructions loudly and with more vigor than usual. Whether the two demons wanted to admit it or not, something about the barrier unnerved them enough to throw them off-balance.

I could tell that some of the other demons shared this sentiment. They were eying the barrier like it was going to bite them. To me, it was just a perfectly innocuous, shimmering dome, almost like a large crystal bowl had been placed upside down over the city. To be completely honest, I thought it was pretty.

Interestingly, it was these disquieted demons who were ordered to step forward and array themselves in a line before the dome. About sixty received this order, drawn from both troops. I noticed my fire-slinging assailant was among them.

This movement caused some stirring among the human locals on patrol in the city. But they didn’t panick. I strongly suspected their orders were to project an air of calm and poise, but even from afar, I noticed that they were tenser than before as they watched the demons warily.

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One of Graighast’s assistants shouted, “Prepare!” — and the show began.

Every time I had seen demonic magic before, it always involved instantaneous effects wielded to great destructive potential. It was all fireballs and flame whips and freezing cold that sapped the life out of the living in mere seconds.

The attack on the barrier was something else altogether. The demons were taking their orders seriously.

Lines of pure power slashed through the air as each demon began preparing a spell. At first, I thought they were forming stereotypical magic circles, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The spell forms became more complex rapidly, growing from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. Clusters of shimmering runes appeared. The lines of power twisted, spinning and orbiting around the runes, which fused into giant balls of mana.

As the demons drew more and more mana out of the air, each spell form took on the intensity of a miniature sun.

Some were constructs formed of mundane mana types, such as the basic elements of air, water, fire, and earth. Others I could recognize from Hayden’s studies as demonic mana specialties like poison, rot, or rust.

Some, though, were entirely alien to me. For example, I spotted a spectral silver mana that stabbed into my very being every time I looked at it. Each stab inspired in me thoughts of things that cut. Swords, knives, axes, the frigid air of winter, unkind words… the mana itself whispered to me of what it meant to cut, and be cut, and inflict an indelible wound on the very foundation of the world.

Then everything… shifted, and I had to fight down the urge to crumple to my knees and throw up. I had no idea how many dimensions the spell forms were inhabiting, but all the lines of power were slipping in and out of view in a disorienting way that made my soul hurt, let alone my eyes and brain.

I tore my eyes away, deciding that I should maybe not casually watch demons performing magic in the future.

“Begin!” Graighast’s aide snapped, and the demonic mages unleashed everything they had.

The assault was glorious. The sheer variety of spells boggled my mind, opening my imagination to what would be possible if I kept advancing down the mage path. Miniature tornadoes erupted. Reality turned into glass that cracked and then shattered into a billion little pieces. Sickness took root in the very air a spell passed through.

All this power, all this merciless magic might, was hurled against the crystalline dome under the stunned gaze of both defenders and mortal soldiers in the demonic army. Hell, even some of the demons looked impressed.

For a moment or two after impact, no one could see the results. The explosions had swallowed up the sky. But long before everything cleared enough for mortal eyes, the demons’ strangled gasps and exclamations told me the dome was still standing, unmarked and pristine.

I was right.

I noticed Graighast’s aide gaping at the dome along with everyone else. Then, glares from both sergeants snapped him into action.

“Repeat!” he bellowed. “Prepare your spells again! We’re not stopping until this barrier is down!”

Round after round, spell after spell, the demonic mages repeated their offensive. On the third round, they started teaming up in small groups. Some groups worked together to form one massive spell, while others concentrated their individual attacks together on a single point of the barrier, casting a barrage of spells in devastating sequence.

At first, everyone was tense, ready to spring to action the moment the barrier was brought down. But half an hour later, everyone was starting to get bored. More than a few of the demons were snickering at their fellows for being bested by ‘mere mortals.’

When we hit an hour, unrest settled in for real. It was one thing to mock your colleagues for taking a bit too long with a task that should have been routine. It was quite another to confront the possibility that the whole troop might fail.

Demons didn’t do failure, because every demon that fails is a very, very dead demon. Not even Wilhelmina had failed. If anything, it could be argued that she was a bit too successful and had simply channeled that success in a way that didn’t suit the general’s needs. The growing rumor in the two groups was that if somehow failed to conquer all the cities in our way as ordered, the general would do unspeakable horrors to us.

The commanders caught onto the anxious chatter quickly. They were, unsurprisingly, displeased.

“Do not panic, you imbeciles!” Glaustro snapped, rising out of the seat he’d taken at the front so he could watch the destruction of the city from a premium spot. “No matter what they do, unless they’ve learned how to leverage principles that even superior worlds struggle to master, they’re running on a limited pool of mana. In a world like this one, containers for vast amounts of mana do not exist. Are you telling me you believe mortals can match up to demons in mana capacity? Even with whatever trick they’re using here?”

This seemed sufficient for the demons, who settled down.

Me? I wasn’t quite so certain. No one had expected this barrier. It had already withstood an incredible assault of demonic magic. I couldn’t shrug it off as a casual warding spell.

Plus, there was just something… scary about the dome. It's mana type, if I had to guess. Glaustro had mentioned space mana, which was probably what the general used every time he opened a portal. That didn’t seem like a substance to mess around with.

I didn’t speak up, of course, and no one exactly rushed to ask for my opinion. Not that my speculation would’ve changed the proceedings. Regardless of anyone’s concerns, we were all stuck in place, explosions booming above our heads as the demonic mages struggled to overcome the barrier.

Somehow, in clear defiance of demonic expectation, the locals were actually putting up a decent defense against the otherworldly invaders. I doubted it was easy or cheap. I didn’t think they could keep it up, for all the same reasons Glaustro had given. Nonetheless, it was exciting.

Eventually, the commanders lost their patience, and even more demons joined the assault. Their spells were far less impressive than what the specialized demon mages had produced, but they still contributed. I could feel my eyes glazing over as I watched. There were only so many incredible spell formations and mind-blowing mana manipulation you could see before it all started to feel mundane.

The tension in the air didn’t lessen though. If anything, it continued to ratchet up as we waited to see the defeat of this outrageous local defiance, the end of these ignoble fools who dared to inconvenience demons.

We waited as more guards, then knights, emerged on the battlements, looking tense and weary.

We waited as our commanders’ bloodlust was stoked.

Whatever their initial orders might have been, once that barrier faltered, I knew what would follow.

Total slaughter.