Citadel

Sharp streams of sunlight poured over the tattered gate, flooding the land that had once been bathed in the shadow of a gigantic golem. As soon as the towering colossus fell away, broken by a single massive strike, Aisha and Elsword stumbled up to their feet and drew their weapons.

"Ready?" Aisha kept her eyes forward, downing a full skin of water and wiping the sweat from her brow. At her side, Elsword followed suit, panting heavily as he kindled a small flame in his palms and dug his feet into the ground. Rolling his shoulder and swinging his sword down to his side, he nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Without a moment's pause, they rushed into the ruined courtyard ahead and began blasting the marching golems with crackling fire and bursts of dark magic. Close behind them, Raven and Rena surveyed the field ahead and charged into the fray.

"It's a bit-" As she ran, Rena raised an arm over her head as small explosions shook the air and bits of rock and debris flew into the sky. "It's a bit hectic over there. Shall we head around and hit them from behind?" Rena grinned and Raven nodded, smiling slightly as they ducked beneath a golem's swinging arms and headed straight for the rock hurlers stationed on the high wall of the courtyard.

Still at the gates shouting commands to his lieutenants, Lento worked frantically to move his soldiers into position and prepare for a counterattack. In the chaos that followed, the commanders voice was only barely audible over the cadence of two thousand boots rushing toward the shrine's weathered gate.

"Largo, Arietta, take the first and third divisions along the western wall and keep their reinforcements off our flank! Dolce, Fermata, move in behind the captains and prepare to advance along with them! Keep your guard up and push forward to the Chapel!"

As his soldiers acknowledged their orders and charged into the courtyard and overwhelmed the remaining golems, the grand gates of the Chapel of the Lady opened in the distance and a great, growling morass of heavily armored demons marched out to face the soldiers of Feita. Catching sight of the advancing horde, Lento's eyes narrowed and he drew his sword. Just before he headed through the gates and into the calamity beyond, however, the clamor of galloping hooves rose about the chaotic sounds of battle and drew his attention to the west and left a confident grin upon his face. Within seconds, two dozen riders had arrived at the shrine's gates and their leader circled around to Lento's side.

"Are we late?" The leader of the cavalry hopped to the ground, his crimson cloak flowing in the summer breeze. As he approached, Lento smiled and sheathed his sword, extending his hand out expectantly.

"Late? I was expecting you to ride in when we were ten paces from the top of the spire and stick around for the victory parade. You're about three weeks early."

The cavalry commander shook Lento's hand and then pulled him in for a firm embrace, laughing heartily all the while. "Ha! Three weeks? If that's your estimate then we'll not see the end of this for half a year." He stepped back and smiled warmly. "It's good to see you again, Lento."

"Heh..." Lento smiled, "Good to see you as well, Penensio. Now let's get down there before we run out of demons to kill."

Racing the wind along the parapets, Rena plowed through the enemy archers, knocking them to the ground and breaking their bows with a quick flurry of kicks. As she ran and leapt along the walls, the demons below her stabbed at her feet with their spears and she hopped back gracefully, spinning as she fired off powerful burst of air that swept the remaining archers over the wall and into a pile of smoldering rubble. As she continued to pick off the demons that locked swords with the soldiers of Feita below, a brilliant flash erupted in the middle of the field and a half dozen demons flew up into the air.

At the center of a bustling crowd, Eve threw a shining sphere of lightning out toward a pair of charging demons, exploding and hurling them high into the air. Behind her, Oberon darted across the field, dancing around the demons' blades and crippling those that targeted his queen. Seeing Eve marching calmly through the savage mob, Rena smiled brightly and waved to her.

"Eve!" She stepped aside and ducked as an archer pulled a knife and lunged toward her, twisting her bow and catching the demon's neck as it charged past her. With a quick spin, she tossed the creature over the wall and onto its comrades below. "It's been a while! How have you been?"

Eve dashed forward past an enemy formation, directed Moby and Remy down to their feet and knocking them off balance as Oberon rushed in to finish them off as they lay helpless on the ground. "I have been well." She turned and leapt back, dodging an axe blade and firing off a pair of sharp metal stingers in response. "We will have to speak more when we are not so busy." Raising her hand, Eve caught the shaft of a spear as it swung down toward her, gripping it tightly and sending a burst of electricity along its length. As the spear-wielding demon collapsed in a heap on the ancient stone of the courtyard floor, another rushed to take its place only to be snatched off its feet in mid stride and flung across the field onto a soldier's waiting blade. Cutting through every gap in the enemy's defense, Raven forced his way through their ranks, disarming every demon he faced and knocking them aside as Feita's knights followed close behind to finish them off. As he passed Eve on the field, she glanced aside at his left arm.

"Has your arm been working as intended? It has not caused you trouble, has it?"

"No," Raven punched through a demon's spear, shattering its tip and knocking its owner unconscious. "It's working fine. More importantly, who'd you bring with you?" He looked toward the chapel as a deep, deafening rumble shook the ground and sent a pack of demons flying into the air. At the center of the disturbance, a small, armored figure swung a giant cannon into the ground with tremendous force, staggering the demons all around and setting them off balance.

Eve stepped forward and delivered a powerful smack to a heavy shield-bearing demon, sending it spinning into the nearby wall. "His name is Chung. I will introduce you after we are finished here, but for now you can trust him to protect the soldiers here without fail."

Deep within the sea of gnashing fangs, Chung slammed his Destroyer into the advancing enemy line and swept the front row of demons over the edge of a narrow path and into the unfathomable abyss of the chapel's moat. As the panicked shrieks of dying beasts climbed the moat's mile high walls, Chung smashed his way through the snarling horde and opened a narrow escape route for the trapped soldiers of the third battalion. As the wounded and weary soldiers fell back, their attackers gave relentless pursuit, rattling their blades and filling the sky with a cloud of jet black bolts. Raising his cannon high and holding his ground, Chung shielded the soldiers and held off the enemy's advance, pushing back and crowding the demons into a corner before slamming the barrel of his Destroyer into the ground and firing off three explosive rounds. As the demons scattered in the wind and hurried to regroup, Chung knelt down and loaded up five silver cased shells into his cannon. When a savage war cry rang out and signaled the demons' charge, he pulled the trigger. Within seconds an ear splitting whistle ripped through the air and a bone rattling explosion shook the ground as artillery fire fell across the narrow path, launching the mass of gleaming eyes and bloody fangs off the ground and into the gaping ravine below.

Glancing aside at the distant flash and fire of Chung's artillery, Aisha paused and surveyed the destruction in the distance. Their allies were holding the demons off just a hundred yards from the single bridge that crossed the ravine and led to the chapel, but with a near constant stream of fresh, ravenous demons pouring out from the chapel itself, there was no doubt that the soldiers of Feita would soon be overrun. As the shadow of a spear crossed her face, Aisha slid backward and left a crackling orb of dark energy in her place, exploding and sending her attacker flying back into a crumbling wall. As the breeze scattered her hair across her cheeks, the a small, swift assassin rushed from the shadows and leapt toward Aisha, its blade aimed at the base of her neck. Gritting her teeth and swinging her staff out with all her strength, she caught the demon mid-leap and smashed the side of its jaw, hurling it through the air as it spun and flailed wildly. Stepping back, Aisha glanced aside and shouted over the clamor of battle.

"Elsword!"

Catching himself on a mangled fence, Elsword turned quickly and jumped onto the nearest demon's face, kicking off of its furled snout and smashing the airborne assassin into the chapel walls. As he landed, he drove his sword into the ground and the cobblestone path erupted in flame and ash, coating his blade in a veil of fire and setting the surrounding demons ablaze. Rushing through the crowd, he cut through his opponents with practiced ease, each strike flowing into the next as his flames blinded and stunned his attackers. Only yards away from where Aisha stood fending off a group of heavily armored swordsmen, Elsword slammed into a solid wall of steel as a line of shield-bearing demons moved in around him. Scowling indignantly, he latched his sword to his back and pounded his fists together, kindling an intense, pulsing flame in each hand. As the demons approached, Elsword lunged forward and punched the flat of their shields. After a dull, impotent thud, a scolding wave of fire blasted the air behind each shield, sending the demons into disarray and opening the path ahead.

Just as Elsword arrived at Aisha's side, a chorus of blood chilling shrieks spilled out across the sky. As steel and stone clashed below, the wings of a hundred hideous gargoyles darkened the sky and surged toward the soldiers of Feita like a crushing wave of teeth and claws. With scarce seconds before the gargoyles reached the ground, Aisha took a deep breath and teleported onto the nearest wall.

"Wait, Aisha, what're you doing?" Elsword chased after her, keeping his eyes on the sky beyond. Chanting beneath her breath, Aisha turned back to Elsword as her fingertips began to shine.

"Get ready to catch me!"

Without a moment's pause, she ran along the wall and teleported high into the air, snapping her fingers as she fell and sending a dozen streams of molten plasma cutting through the cloud of beating wings and blackened eyes and felling all but a few of the shrieking gargoyles. With her energy spent, her eyelids fluttered and she began falling to the ground, limp and light as a sheet of silk. Dashing across the courtyard, Elsword snatched her from the air as she fell and held her in his arms while she caught her breath and regained her senses.

"Hey, you okay?" He looked down at her, worry in his eyes and on his face as Aisha stared aimlessly into the distance. After a moment of disorientation and dizziness, Aisha blinked and saw Elsword's face only inches from her own. Rolling out of his arms in a panic, she blushed fiercely and turned away as she straightened out her jacket.

"T-thanks, I'm fine..."

Stunned by her reaction, Elsword could only stare for a moment before blushing himself. "G-good. Gotcha. You ready to head back to the front?"

Aisha nodded, breathing slowly and steadying her voice. "Yeah. It looks like their reinforcements just keep pouring through those doors. We've got to get them closed somehow or-" She took a moment to study the field before them, her eyes drawn to the broad, sturdy bridge that connected the courtyard to the chapel. As soon as she saw the droves of demons pouring across the bridge, she bolted off toward the central corridor and fired a bright signal fire into the sky as she ran.

"Come on, we've got to get to Lento!"

"Wait, what're you-" Elsword stopped and, as soon as he realized what Aisha was planning, a broad grin spread across his face. "Heh... alright, let's do it."

With his troops weary and injuries mounting, Lento was quickly losing ground as more of his soldiers were forced to withdraw from the front lines. Soon, only Penensio and a half dozen men and women were still standing at his side. With fatigue settling into his bones, Lento charged the enemy commander, kicking away its sword and slicing through its nose. As the demon reeled back and began frothing at the mouth, Lento pulled his sword in close to his side as the demon charged, its fangs bare and bloody as it bounded toward him. Ducking down and thrusting his blade out, Lento simply held his ground as the monster impaled itself upon his blade and coughed up its putrid blood. With the next wave of demons only a hundred yards off, Lento spotted a signal fire hovering high overhead and he called Penensio over to his side.

"Can you hold the line here? There's a problem up ahead."

"Of course." Penensio nodded firmly. "Watch your back. I don't want to have to pull you out of the fire again."

Lento scoffed lightly and smiled. "And I don't want to have to take half a battalion aside just to cut out an escape route for you. That's been twice now, hasn't it?"

"Really?" Penensio smiled jovially. "It's hard to remember after all these years. Stay safe."

"Right." Lento hurried off as the Aisha, Elsword, Raven, Rena, Eve, and Chung gathered together beneath the shining signal in the midst of the courtyard. With the advancing line of demons now stopping to take stock of the group before them, Aisha gripped her wand and turned aside to Lento.

"We need to destroy the bridge. How far will that set us back?"

Lento blinked. "Destroy it?" He thought to protest but, seeing the swelling tide of fangs and teeth gathering at the other end of the courtyard, he realized they had little opportunity. Before he could answer, Eve stepped forward and studied the bridge and its structure.

"That will be the best course of action. It is the only path from the chapel to the courtyard and destroying it will allow us to split the enemy force."

"That's true, but..." Rena laid a finger across her cheek. "How are we going to get close enough to take down the bridge with all those demons crowded around us?" She glanced over the seemingly endless sea before her, her bow drawn as they faced down the cautious horde of clattering claws. Without hesitation, Chung hefted his Destroyer onto his shoulders and nodded swiftly.

"Leave that to us. We can do it, right Miss Eve?"

"Yes." Eve nodded. "I finished preparations for such a scenario just before we left. Please leave this to us and concentrate on eliminating the enemies that have already crossed the bridge."

"Alright." Raven slid his left foot forward and drew back his blade. "Then we'll open a path for you. Rena?"

"Okay~" Rena smiled as she took aim, glancing aside to Lento as everyone prepared to rush forward. "What do you say, commander?"

Lento's eyes narrowed as he stared out across the courtyard, its dusty stone now swallowed up by the writhing shadows of the demonic swarm. With a swift, decisive stroke, he lifted his sword to eye level pointed it toward the chapel bridge. "Very well. Let's finish this."

At his command, Rena concentrated all her strength into a single arrow that shimmered and swirled until finally bursting into a roaring flame. Digging her heels into the ground, she fired her bow and a broad, sweeping flame tore through the crowd ahead and cleared a narrow path all the way to the foot of the bridge. As Eve and Chung rushed across the courtyard through the army of spears and fangs, Raven and Oberon dashed alongside them, fending off a barrage of blades and arrows as they kept the path clear and pushed the demons back. With Aisha, Elsword, and Rena circling around to the outer wall and Lento pulling back to prepare his troops for a valiant charge, the stage was finally set for a triumphant finale.

At the foot of the bridge, Chung stood facing the burning eyes and gaping jaws of the demons' elite guard. Without pausing or breaking step, he slammed his cannon into the ground and charged ahead as the demons poured in around him. Spears and swords fell across his back and arms only to slide harmlessly off of his Freuturnier as he forged his way to the bridge's crest. Jumping slightly, he drove his Destroyer into the ground and pulled the trigger. Thunder split the ground and demons scattered and fell to their knees as the bridge shook at its very core, the ground cracked and glowing brightly from the radiant blast. Leaping back, Chung used his final round to rocket himself up to the outer wall while the smoke and dust settled over the field.

As the air cleared and the demons stumbled up to their feet, the broad, crumbling bridge still stood in defiance of Chung's assault. Enraged and emboldened, another wave of demons poured out of the chapel doors and crashed down upon the captains as they made their stand at the mouth of the courtyard. With no end to the demon's onslaught in sight, Eve kicked off of the outer wall and rose high into the air, opening her console and rapidly entering a series of commands. In an instant, Moby and Remy flew out over the bridge and began tracing a faintly glowing circle in the sky. As they flew faster and faster, the air filled with an eerie, unsettling crackle and every eye fixed its gaze on the bright, blinding circle of light hovering overhead. Calmly drawing her hands away from her keyboard, Eve slid a pair of dark glasses over her eyes as lightning arced off of the glowing circle and spread through the air.

"Final safety lock disengaged. Everyone, please take cover." As soon as she pressed her hand against her console, the sky split open and King Nasod's severed fist came crashing down through the bridge and shattering it into a storm of dust and rubble as an overwhelming shock wave burst through the air. Bracing themselves against the blast, Aisha and Elsword joined hands and chanted into the howling wind and thrusting their weapons into the ground. A curtain of flames, savage and wild, erupted across the field and engulfed the demon horde, hissing and cackling fiercely as it drove a wedge between the beasts fighting in the courtyard and those who had just passed over the bridge. Scattered, wounded, and now outmaneuvered, the demonic swarm fell quickly as the soldiers of Feita descended upon them.

On the other side of the fire, standing at the base of the shattered bridge, Eve's feet delicately graced the ground as Chung and Oberon dispatched the last of the demons on the near side of the ravine. Snarling and snapping from across the moat, the remnants of the horde slowly retreated into the chapel just as the wall of fire began to fade away. With the day won and the sounds of battle drifting away on the wind, Lento hurried over to the broken bridge and stared out across the empty void with a vague sense of shock and horror in his eyes. Before today, that bridge had stood for over a thousand years, a testament to the strength of stone and the precision of its engineering. While Lento had expected it to be broken, he was stunned to see it entirely annihilated and his words failed him. After catching his breath, he turned to the captains and nodded solemnly.

"...Good work."

"What are the casualties?" Rena stepped forward and glanced back into the courtyard at the mass of weary and wounded soldiers behind them. Sheathing his sword, Lento shook his head.

"I can't how many injured, probably in the hundreds. Fortunately, as far as I know, only thirteen dead. If we're lucky, that will be all we-"

A subtle, hissing whisper sapped all sound from the air, growing into a grating, anguished groan as a heavy, dark cloud poured out of the chapel doors. As everyone turned and glanced across the moat, a pair of giant, ghastly hands shot out into the sunlight and grabbed the sides of the massive doors, slamming them shut in an instant and sealing the chapel off from the outside world. With a sharp gasp, the tortured groans faded away, leaving everyone present with a persistent sense of unease. Although they had finally pushed their enemies back and gained a permanent foothold within the shrine, the ominous haze that lingered in the air stifled their cries of victory. With less than eight hours before sunset and more than a week's worth of work left to be done, Lento rounded up his lieutenants and began the arduous task of moving their camp within the gates of the shrine, forcing himself to ignore the foreboding presence that waited just beyond the chapel gates.

"Careful with that! We've broken three already!" Allegro shouted across the courtyard as a pair of soldiers jerked a bundle of tent poles across the ground and through the center of the new forward camp. As the setting sun splashed across the grand spire at the center of the shrine, the soldiers of Feita marched wearily between the edge of the courtyard and their old camp outside the gates while Allegro darted about in a frantic attempt to coordinate the construction of their new campsite. Even without any demons to slow their progress, trudging through the winding corridors and collapsing chambers of the shrine entrance was only wearing down the already exhausted soldiers. Night would fall within the hour and more than half of Feita's knights had yet to pitch their own tents let alone bring in all the supplies needed for their continuing siege. In fact, the field hospital was one of the few structures standing in the courtyard and it was bursting at its seams.

At the edge of the campsite in one of the few intact chambers of the entry hall, Eve quietly finished off a cup of tea and handed it over to Oberon as Lento sat across from them, his eyes weary and lost in thought.

"In short..." Eve met Lento's eyes, her voice low and even. "The sovereign powers of Altera wish to provide you with assistance in reclaiming your lost territory. In return, I request your support in our future diplomatic relations with the kingdom of Velder. Will you be willing to help us?"

"..." Lento crossed his arms and lowered his head, still surprised by the existence of a Nasod empire and entirely unsure of whether or not he should agree to Eve's conditions. After another moment of deliberation, he nodded to himself and raised his eyes. "Alright, I don't know how much I'd be able to do for you once we retake the shrine, but we'd grateful for your help."

Eve rose from her seat and bowed graciously. "Then we shall give you our full assistance until this crisis is resolved. I shall make preparations to repair the path to the chapel at once. Please excuse me." With another slight bow, Eve and Oberon headed out into the hallway through the maze of hallowed rubble and smoldering ash.

Though the smoke and haze of battle had obscured much of the shrine's features, Eve was struck by the sheer volume of care and craftsmanship embedded in every chipped and shattered stone. Artisans had inscribed each brick with their personal seal, a prayer to the lady of the El, and a tiny piece of a grand mural that, when viewed from afar, told the story of the Last Day and the wars that followed. Dim torchlight danced across the cobbled floors and wrapped around the crumbling remains of now headless statues, spilling through the shadows and pooling in the small hollows where pilgrims once offered their prayers. It was an atmosphere entirely unknown to Eve, though somehow strangely intriguing. From the ornate columns that supported every doorway to the winding web of wrought iron vines that climbed the tremendous spire in the midst of the shrine, she felt a faint sense of familiarity; it took only another moment for her to realize that this shrine must be as important to the humans as Altera's Core is to the Nasod. Standing in the midst of the now ruined corridor, Eve stared at the ragged edges of human history and poured over the ancient engravings that had already lived through two centuries by the time she was born. As she traced the lines of coarse black mortar, a faint, weathered name carved into the rock caught her attention and stirred up an unexpected, nostalgic fondness.

Empress... Astarte?

"Oh, there you are." Rena's voice echoed through the air, interrupting Eve's examination of the ancient stone. As Eve turned toward the end of the hall, Raven and Rena stepped out of the haze of dust and shadows and into the dim sunlight that poured through the broken ceiling. "How did negotiations go?"

Standing at Eve's side, Oberon gave an enthusiastic thumbs up as Eve answered quietly. "The commander has agreed to assist us in our future diplomatic relations with the kingdom of Velder. It is fortunate that he did not decline, as I was not prepared to withdraw our support if he did..."

"Don't worry." Raven shifted in the shadows as a few rocks rained down from the ceiling above him. "Lento is a good man, he'll keep his word... not that I expect it'll help much against the nobles in Velder."

"Well, that aside..." Rena smiled softly in an attempt to diffuse the bitterness of Raven's words. "You said you'd introduce us to someone once everything calmed down."

Eve nodded. "Yes. Oberon, where is Chung?" As she turned aside, Oberon looked away and scratched his head. Sighing, Eve turned and headed back toward the campsite. "Very well. Let us return to camp and look for him there."

Rena hummed lightly. "Ah, so he's not one of your assistants like Oberon?"

"No," Eve rounded the corner and waited for the others to catch up before continuing. "Chung is the first crown prince of Hamel. I cannot be sure if it is related or not, but he was thrown out to sea after battling demons in his homeland several months ago. Based on what little information I have been able to gather, that nation is now largely occupied by the invading army."

The announcement that the prince of a far away kingdom was in their midst was almost entirely lost as Rena and Raven drew the conclusion which Eve had likely arrived at weeks ago. Even without hearing any further details, the timing of the demon invasion of Hamel and the sudden appearance of demons in Feita could scarcely be coincidence, especially when considering that the creatures they knew as 'demons' only existed as garish nightmares in bedtime stories before they stepped out into this world and took up arms against it.

"...Do you think they're coordinated? The attack on Hamel and the invasion of the shrine, I mean." Rena stared wistfully through the debris as she imagined the scene of devastation across the sea and wondered just how many people must have died defending their kingdom if the crown prince was even forced to fight on the front lines. "This is the first I've heard of it, but it sounds like they've landed right next to the two largest kingdoms on each continent. If the shrine hadn't been sealed when the demons attacked, then Velder might be under siege right now..."

"Yes, that would likely be the case." Eve paused as she spoke, staring at the stray piles of spears and shields scattered across the ground. "...There is something else I have been curious about. I am unfamiliar with modern military practices, but how have you disposed of all of the corpses so quickly?"

"We haven't." Raven's eyes darkened and he approached one of the piles, kicking a shield without revealing even the slightest trace that a demon had ever held it in its claws. "For all we know, we haven't even killed more than a few dozen for sure. When they fall unconscious, or maybe just when they get too close to death, they fade away and disappear."

Eve met his eyes, inquisitive yet skeptical. "Is this some form of magic?"

"We're not really sure..." Rena knelt down and brushed the rubble away from a demon's spear, pinching the shaft between her fingers and testing its weight. "Aisha and I have been talking with Feita's mages about it, but if it's a spell then there's no sign of anyone casting it. It's possible that this is natural for them and their bodies just disappear when they die, though we did have another theory; if they really are from another world like most people believe, then maybe they're returning there whenever they lose consciousness. If that's the case, then we might be fighting the same demons we defeated today over and over again..."

"...I see..." Her eyes drifting across the corridor, Eve let her thoughts consume her for a moment as the storm of possibilities surrounding the current crisis collided with the graven images and eternal names all around her, washing through her memory and leaving only a single, significant event on the shore. It had been shouting at her from the moment she arrived, carved even into the very structure of the shrine itself and emblazoned upon every stone in every hallway in one way or another, a grand chorus announcing the answer to all of her lingering questions so loudly that she was only now able to see the thread that bound everything together. On every brick, in every enclave, and on every offering plate lay some part of the record of the single most catastrophic moment in the history of the world, the moment that Eve knew as The Last Day. With the answer firmly in hand, her mind cleared and she started back down the hall.

"Please hurry. We must find Chung quickly, and then I need you to take me to the shrine's chief historian."