Hunter leapt do from the walls into the heat of battle, firing volleys of arrows into the Shadows that had invaded Warfang. Ruthlessly efficient, every arrow found its mark as if it had been guided by wires.
Sensing a tightly-knit group behind him, Hunter changed the affinity of one of his 4 quivers into fire and nocked the red-tipped arrow into his bow before letting it fly, straight and true into a mob of monsters charging towards him.
In the blink of an eye, they were consumed by a massive fireball that had erupted from within their ranks, incinerating them easily. With a smirk, Hunter leapt onto the roof of a home in one bound, surveying the carnage from his elevated point of view.
Many roofs had collapsed and burned, leaving nothing but a fiery ruin. Townsfolk were fleeing the streets for the safety of their homes. Most of them didn't make it.
Once again, Hunter swapped the affinity of another quiver to air. When he placed the arrow in his bow, a scope formed on his right eye, lending him enhanced vision and reflexes.
That was the beauty of his weapon; its ability to rapidly switch elements and arrow types made it an extremely versatile weapon. Right now, his arrow was in Marksman mode, creating a scope around his eye to allow him sniper-like vision. Coupled with the affinity of air, which allowed arrows to be carried thousands of kilometers without losing speed, made him an extremely effective long-ranger when required.
He aimed down his scope and took aim at a rather large, lumbering beast that was bearing down on one of the warriors. The dragon was evidently fighting a losing battle and seemed exhausted. As the beast brought up its sword to deliver the killing blow, Hunter let loose with a single arrow.
Swirling currents of air twirled themselves along the particularly long shaft and feathers of the arrow, lending it astonishing accuracy as it embedded itself into the skull of the monster. It shuddered once, groaned, and fell to the floor, dead as a doornail.
Hunter didn't have time to check if the dragon was alright as a horde of flying beasts rose right in front of him. The swarm was massive, shaped like a larger version of the individual insects that swarmed together.
He leapt back and, once again, swapped the type and element of his 3rd quiver. He nocked the stout arrow into the bow, its tip crackling with lethal electricity. The further he drew the bowstring, the stronger the electricity grew and it began arcing to the ground, sparking wherever it hit.
The swarm, unfazed by the bluish lightning, zipped forwards towards Hunter, buzzing angrily.
When it was the right distance, Hunter let the arrow go. It burst open, revealing a net of electricity connected to the lethal shards of steel. The net flew straight through the swarm, shocking its individual minds and causing the swarm to lose its form, dissolving into a harmless mass of insects.
Hunter released another arrow, frying the straggling insects before turning his attention to the unbearably loud screech below.
Chrisil was in front of a house, shielding a pair of young children from a horde of monsters. There were easily a hundred of them, yet, Chrisil seemed unfazed.
"Cover your ears!" When they'd shielded their hearing sufficiently, she released a Siren Scream, sending 3 red conical blasts of sound that disintegrated the monsters in one fell swoop.
She looked up when she heard someone hissing on the roof. Believing it to be another enemy, she let the kids run off to their elated parents and flew up to investigate. Prepared for another attack, she was thoroughly surprised to see Hunter clutching his ears painfully, staggering about.
"Oh, it's you, Hunter… Sorry about that!" She apologised as Hunter glanced up.
"What?"
Elsewhere, Hrunting and Solaris were holding off their own attack from a herd of centaur-like beasts, armed to the teeth with swords.
"Where's Cynder?" Hrunting asked loudly over the clanging of steel as he rammed his poisoned tail into the chest of one centaur, killing it instantly.
"She went off to help Spyro! She's doing the right thing!" She added hastily before slicing the centaur right ahead with a Shadow Claw.
"Duck!" Solaris complied just as Hrunting swung his tail in a wide circle, slashing the monsters with a poisoned tail-blade.
Without another word, Hrunting leapt up as Solaris fired a hail of dark missiles from the ground, impaling the centaurs where they stood.
They continued their deadly dance, easily dispatching the hordes that came.
Directly above, Volteer and Baero zipped through the air, pursued by a squadron of wyverns, occasionally attacking their pursuers.
"Feels like old times, doesn't it?" Volteer shouted over the roaring winds as he launched another volley of electrical projectiles at the wyverns.
"Yeah, I guess. I wonder how Chrisil's doing." Even while being chased at high speeds where even a second's lapse of concentration would lead to a painful and potentially lethal landing, he still found time to think about his wife.
"Oh, don't fret. I'm sure she's alright." Volteer replied casually as if they were having a friendly chat.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Wanna do something about those wyverns?" Baero did a midair somersault and ended up behind the squadron in prime position for a pincer attack.
"Certainly, my friend!" As if they'd rehearsed this maneuver a thousand times, Volteer dived into the streets and alleyways, forcing the wyverns to chase him.
Most of them took themselves out on the low-lying bridges and walls and, by the time he flew upwards, less than half the squadron of wyverns remained.
He shot further upwards, giving Baero a clear line of sight of the pursuing wyvern. He flapped his wings once and a razor-sharp wind shear rose around him. Seeing this, the wyverns stopped their ascent and locked on to their new prey.
At the same time, Volteer launched a lightning bolt into the gale-force winds circling Baero, charging it with electricity.
As the wyverns neared, the lightning leapt out of the winds, arcing from wyvern to wyvern, decimating the flock.
As a final blow, Baero launched the wind storm towards the stragglers, destroying them easily.
Unfortunately, even after that squadron was eradicated, another was already on their tails. With a sigh, Baero and Volteer commenced the cycle once again.
In the distance, a maze of mountains had risen up out of the ground and Terrador was already leaping from spire to spire, launching massive boulders at the cougar-like beast that had been leaping after him.
"A little help here, Cyril!" He shouted to the blue dragon some distance behind.
Instead of replying with words, he fired a machinegun burst of icicles, impaling the shadow cougars to the mountains' surfaces.
Behind you!
A blast of electricity shocked the remaining cougars, knocking them off the mountains and sending them plummeting to their deaths on the roofs below.
Cyril caught up with Terrador, Hikari astride on his head, panting.
"That enough help for you?" Cyril panted. Hikari looked somewhat dizzy, the way he'd collapsed on Cyril's head.
Ugh… I don't feel too good…
"Sorry, Hikari. Anyway, where'd these mountains come from?"
"Not me, that much is certain. Must've been the Shadows." Terrador replied nonchalantly.
From his cot, Bolzan was observing their progress in the fight and, admittedly, they seemed to be fighting a losing battle.
"Maybe I should help them out…" He sat up in his cot, grimacing, and plucked at the sir with his claws. A miniscule point of light appeared and he pulled it open like a hologram. Drawing it closer so that he could use it without aggravating his injuries, he forced on his armor. It wasn't exactly complete, missing a piece here and there, but it would have to do.
A main screen flashed onto the holograph with 3 secondary screens appeared next to it. The main screen showed a simplified map of the city, criss-crossed with red and green triangles with names hovering above them.
The top-right secondary screen was a picture of a pair of crossed swords, his war controls room, while the screen directly below had a rectangle in it, his live-action camera. The bottom-right screen contained his insignia. That window was particularly special; it served as sort of a health monitor for him. The only time he used this was when he was incapacitated and unable to move so, it seemed prudent to have one.
He tapped the war room and the screen imposed itself on the map, showing multiple white triangles, his own soldiers.
They weren't particularly lasting but, while they lasted, they were ruthlessly efficient and lethal.
Dragging the triangles onto the map, he began manipulating them fluidly as he tapped the health monitor, revealing his current status. It didn't look too good so, he reluctantly admitted, he'd be unable to keep this up for long.
Outside, Hunter was surrounded by Shadows, seemingly defeated. He fired off another volley of ice arrows before collapsing, exhausted. The Shadows crept up and were about to kill him when there was a burst of darkness and a shadowy figure with 6 wings stepped regally out of the portal. It had a dragon's head and tail but no mouth and its eyes glowed with a white fire as it gazed at the Shadows, which had slunk back hesitantly.
It turned to Hunter and nodded before slashing once, slicing the Shadows with countless invisible blades that seemed to sprout from its glowing white blade.
In that brief moment of eye contact, Hunter saw Bolzan's insignia on its chest, glowing brightly. At the same time, a voice invaded his mind.
We'll help, but not for long…
Strength renewed by its appearance and slight anger at Bolzan for lying, he launched himself into battle once again.
Throughout the city, these Seraphs were assisting the defenses of Warfang as Bolzan grinned from his live-action camera.
"I can't hold for long, guys, but I'll try."
He winced as his heart squeezed painfully; he really was pushing it a little too much. His vitals had begun dropping and he was growing fatigued.
"Win the fight, guys; for Spyro, Cynder and Warfang."
With that, the screen blinked out, the seraphs dissolved, and Bolzan collapsed in the cot, breathing shallowly with a smile on his muzzle..