Chapter 107 - Vol. 2 - 72

Kasumi

The inn she'd been staying at was silent today. Of course, she knew why. A guard had come earlier and explained what was going on to her. The fight was starting soon. Everyone who worked at the inn along with those who had been staying here was taken away, led to a place where they could hide until everything blew over. 

Or, until they'd have to run away from the city. Kasumi was betting on that latter being the most likely scenario. Still, this time, she planned to do her part. Based on her walk with Ash through the portal realm, she guessed that at least a few demons that attacked the city would be vulnerable to her Illusion magic. So, she had no excuse to sit the fight out like she did last time. 

She didn't bother putting on armor, as generally speaking if an enemy got close enough to attack her, she was likely dead anyway. She decided it would be better to be able to move around. As for her weapons, she had her daggers at her waist. Right now, she was putting on a pair of leather gloves, strapping them tighter. 

She walked out into the inn and found it empty. Stepping down the stairs, she went to the bar and smirked. Might be my last drink. Why not? She thought as she uncorked a bottle of wine and poured its contents into a glass cup. Drinking as much of it as she could, she sighed. 

Okay. Now I'm in the right state of mind. 

When she got out into the city's streets, she was nearly run over by a group of soldiers who were carrying some strange catapult. I guess they're heading in the direction of the fight. Kasumi thought, following them. Citizens around her were being escorted back, north of the city. The crimson-haired Savior was currently heading towards the south, where the portal was. The closer she got to the bridge that gave access to Sapphire, the fewer civilians she saw and instead, the more soldiers that covered the area. Kasumi held a glare the entire way to the front, where she saw Lord Anders speaking with a few generals. 

She walked up to him. 

"Everything's in place?" Anders asked. 

"Yes, your majesty." 

"Good."

"So," Kasumi interrupted, "where do you want me?" 

Anders waved the other men away and turned towards the bridge. 

"The fight won't last long in this area." 

"Hm?" Kasumi hummed, crossing her arms. "What's the plan then?" 

"You'll see when they arrive," Anders smiled. "Once they do, try to use your spells to keep them at bay. But, and this is important," he said, "the instant they cross the bridge, retreat." 

"To where?" 

"The Iceheart Inn. Based on the reports of soldiers who fought at Pearl, we calculate that at that point, their buff, while still active, will be at a weak enough point for us to make a stand." 

"And, if they take that place?" 

"We run away," Anders smiled again. 

"What?" 

"There is no other place where we can make an effective stand," Anders said. "Sapphire was not built to fight demons. If we were fighting humans, every part of the city would be an effective battlefield, but these are monsters enhanced by magic, are capable of flight and on top of all of that, they are relentless. Our soldiers would grow cramped in the tight alleys of the northern side of the city, their demons wouldn't care. We would die all too easily. We will fight in front of the inn. Whatever happens then, happens." 

"… You're taking the possible takeover of your city pretty well," Kasumi noted. 

"Haha," Anders chuckled. "That is because I am confident that we can pull this off. After all," he noted, "I only said that we don't have much room to work with. Not that our options were entirely limited." 

At that moment, the sky darkened. It gradually turned violet, lightning, and thunder cracking above them. Ahead, the growls and snarls of monsters became audible. 

"Well," Anders said, calmly. "It's starting. Good luck, Kasumi. Remember what I said, the instant they pass through the bridge, you run away." 

Kasumi nodded. 

"You don't have to tell me twice." 

"Good." 

And with that, the youthful lord walked away. Kasumi moved forwards. The demons were starting to emerge from the portal. From here, she could see the bridge. This bridge was just about 150 meters long, with icy cold water flowing underneath it. At the walls of the city, Kasumi saw archers and mages, as she could tell by their white cloaks, standing by. Behind the walls were cannons, with other mages standing by those. Satsuhiro was standing by the bridge, alone. Kasumi walked over to him. 

"You're that eager to get taken out?" She asked as the demons started marching towards the bridge. It would take just a couple of minutes for them to reach. Satsuhiro didn't even glance back at her. 

"I have a role to play here. Once I'm done, I leave." 

Kasumi nodded. 

"Where are your rookies?" 

"Waiting by the inn. We don't expect to be here for too long." 

"… So, what exactly is the plan?" 

Satsuhiro looked back at her and then took a few steps forwards. 

"This." 

The demons reached the bridge. The mages standing by the cannons cast some fire spells and lit the boulders that were loaded onto them on fire. Atop the walls, those mages began aiming spells at the enemies as well, while the archers began shooting arrows into the air that fell like rain onto the enemy. As for Satsuhiro, well, Kasumi hadn't noticed the lines of oil tracing the path just in front of Satsuhiro, leading to the enemies. 

"Blaze the field and set our enemies alight," Satsuhiro spoke aloud and aimed his hands at the oil. Then, flame siphoned into the black lines of oil, lighting them. Ahead, those lines became puddles, and those puddles erupted in fire under the demons' feet. 

It was, admittedly, an impressive sight. However, it was massively ineffective. The demons casually continued walking through the flames. That was when the catapults began being used, and flaming rocks like meteors flying through the sky were propelled at the enemy. Again, 

"Blaze the field and set our enemies alight," Satsuhiro said once more, however, this time, the flames from his hands surged out towards the enemies. Kasumi could see the effort he was putting into the spell, as sweat rolled down his forehead and his veins popped out, but the effect was noticeably better. Finally, the mages atop the walls began concentrating fire onto the demons, and now, their combined efforts were being rewarded. 

"They might have enhanced Constitution, but they aren't invulnerable, they can be slowed down," Satsuhiro muttered. "Kasumi, now would be a good time to use those spells of yours. See if you can keep them from crossing for as long as possible." 

"Right, if their levels are low enough, anyway."

Although they were taking damage, the demons were still strong enough to continue walking through the bridge. Kasumi waited until they got in range, and only then did she speak her incantation. 

"Fear becomes a weapon, courage becomes a distant dream, petrify!" Above her, a red and black face appeared, one of a dark monster. Half of the demons reacted, slipping and scurrying back. The other half continued, only slowed down by the spells they were receiving. So... Some of them are affected. Could it be that their levels are similar to the ones we saw in the portal realm? 

Then, she heard a screech come from above. What? 

She looked up at the sky and Lust demons were flying out of the portal, straight towards the city, dancing through the arrows and spells. Oh. Right. 

"Uh… The spells and stuff don't seem to be working. Any other plan for those?" Kasumi asked. 

As though in response to her question, a Lust demon came from the city and attacked one of the enemy Lust demons. Wait… What? 

Kasumi squinted. It took her quite a while, but then she realized. 

"I-Is… Is that Ash?" 

The half-demon was currently engaging two enemies in the skies. She crashed into one, clawing through her neck and then turning to the other Lust demon, grabbing it and bringing it all the way down to the street, where she crushed it on impact. 

Quickly, she went back to the skies and continued fighting other Lust demons that got close to the city. 

I… How…? Then, as she saw more demons walking through the bridge, Kasumi shook her head. I'm not even going to ask. She cast the same spell and more demons were scared off, while others trudged through the flames and rocks sent their way. 

However, they didn't make too much progress. The combination of attacks was working to slow the enemies down. Their pace was not halted, but it was slowed significantly enough to, at least, weaken the humans' opponents. 

If we keep this up, by the time the fight actually starts, we should be in a good spot. Kasumi thought as the onslaught continued. However, then, she just barely saw them. Coming from the portal were demons who were substantially larger than the others. Kasumi's eyes widened. The Nightmares. 

Of course they'd come, but I didn't think they'd come this soon. Maybe they know what we're doing and want to break through as fast as possible. Kasumi took a deep breath. This is probably when we retreat. I can't imagine any of this stuff stopping those things.

Anders appeared to agree.

"Soldiers, prepare to retreat!" His voice rang out through the streets, cutting through the chaos. 

"Heard that?" Kasumi asked Satsuhiro. 

"Another round of spells," he said. "Then we'll…" 

Something distracted him. He stopped casting his spell, even. Kasumi looked at him and saw the man staring at something ahead. What? Then, she searched for whatever had taken Satsuhiro's attention. When she found it, she had the same reaction he did. 

It was one of the Nightmares. A bald man with a thick white beard, wearing a white robe. He did not carry any weapons, instead, walking through the groups of burning demons bare-handed. What shocked Kasumi was that she recognized him. 

It was Takomaro. The senior Savior who had been lost at Pearl's battle. The Savior turned Nightmare walked towards the city and Kasumi saw him healing demons as he passed them. 

Kasumi shook her head. 

"Satsuhiro, focus!" She called out. The man took a deep breath, nodding. 

"Right… Right." The Fire mage cast one more spell, engulfing the field ahead, and turned back. Kasumi did the same. As the other soldiers saw the Saviors running, they too dropped what they were doing and ran. It was as chaotic as one could imagine, but it needed to happen, as they were simply far too close to the portal at this point. 

The sounds of animalistic demons followed the humans as they moved all the way back to the north of the city. Eventually, Kasumi found the inn. Easily over a thousand soldiers were waiting, lined up through each of the nearby streets, ready to fight. When the retreating soldiers arrived, those who were on stand-by walked up. 

The demons were right on their tail. The soldiers met them up ahead. Both forces met, and, here, the battle began properly. Kasumi tried her hardest to stand back, seeing the soldiers attempt to fight back the demons. 

It didn't take too long for it to become clear that they were outmatched. For every demon that the soldiers killed, three humans perished. Although Ash was still fighting Lust demons up above, there were simply too many for her to take on at once. Some of them flew down to the streets and attacked some of the soldiers from above. Kasumi was hesitant to use her spells, as she feared they would accidentally affect the humans as well. 

A demon ran up to her from her right. 

Kasumi looked at it but was slow to react. It had already closed the gap between them. She raised her hands in a feeble attempt at self-defense but she knew what was coming. 

Then, the demon's head was lopped off its body. 

What? 

Then, a blur passed by Kasumi. She turned to her left and found a girl rushing from one demon to another, like a flash in the battlefield, killing off enemies left and right. She paused for just a moment, holding her weapon at her side and looking around for more demons. That was when Kasumi recognized her. 

That… The one blindfolded girl, from Pearl! Kasumi realized. 

Shaking her head, she breathed in. Focus. I need to help. 

The fight has just truly begun.