Chapter 21: Darker and Darker

"Don't be afraid of what you might regret / Stand by your men until the enemy's dead

"Clash your sword and go for the win / Follow me down into the shadow of the mountain"

-'Shadow of the Mountain' by Grailknights

The battle for Castle Town raged on. Swordsmen clashed with one another. Crossbowmen traded shots from sniper nests all throughout the town. Mages on both sides dominated the battlefield with brilliant and deadly displays of magic. The streets were stained with many colors of blood and swept with the dust of the fallen.

Though it was initially an even fight, the Shadowborn had slowly tilted the battle in their favor. The army of defectors had suffered severe losses of their leadership. Most of their field commanders were either incapacitated or dead, their higher ranking troops were falling one by one, and Captain Nerys was nowhere to be seen.

The Shadowborn, meanwhile, had deeply entrenched themselves in the town. Even with their diminished numbers, they held a decisive advantage over the defectors. A seemingly endless stream of Shadowborn troops poured forth from every building under their control.

Despite this, the defectors had gained significant ground against them. At least half the town had been reclaimed, but the Shadowborn guarding the castle approach proved to be particularly troublesome.

A crossbowman fired a shot at an approaching foe. One of his allies took the opportunity to slide into cover beside him.

"So, what's the word?" The crossbowman locked a new bolt in place.

"We're throwing ourselves right at their most fortified line," his ally explained. "We'll be trapped in a deadlock if we keep this up. If we flank around to the east, there's a weak point in their formation."

"Time to pivot, then." The crossbowman addressed the rest of his squad, "Everyone flank to the east! We're gonna blindside these bastards!"

A six-armed Shadowborn mage blinked into position beside him. "Are you sure about that?"

She unleashed a blast of magic power that sent several defectors to the ground. She conjured a series of ethereal blades over each of them. Most of them were able to roll out of the way before they plunged downward.

A halberdier swung his weapon at the mage, severing a pair of her arms. A swordswoman ran her through from behind, and a crossbow bolt to the forehead finished her off.

The halberdier took up a position among his comrades. "How do you suppose we hit their weak point without drawing too much attention to ourselves?"

The squad leader looked over at the rest of the defectors' fighting force, currently engaged in their own respective skirmishes. They were holding their own against the Shadowborn, but there weren't enough of them to gain any significant ground. Their line held, but they were in imminent danger of being pushed back.

The squad leader sighed. "If we had more manpower to keep them busy, we could handle this no problem. Didn't we already send for reinforcements?"

"Yes, sir," a crossbowman said. "The two we sent haven't returned yet, but I think they got away without running into trouble."

The squad leader sent a wave of flames at a cluster of Shadowborn troops. "God, I hope so. If we don't get help, we won't last much longer."

The crossbowman took a potshot at an enemy sniper. "Well, then we need to hurry up and blindside them before everything goes to hell."

"We're seriously outgunned here. If we charged their flanks now, we'd probably be throwing ourselves into a meat grinder." He took another look at the battlefield. Both sides were still locked in a stalemate, with soldiers falling left and right. No ground was gained or lost.

He shook his head. "But, I guess dying in a heroic charge beats dying in a deadlock." He raised his sword overhead. "Let's do this! Rush them down and kill them all!"

With a valiant war cry, they charged forth. The squad's few remaining mages formed a line of magic barriers to defend against the sniper nests. The rest of them struggled to fight off a series of Shadowborn troops wielding all manner of weaponry. A few of them were cut down in the process.

They continued their advance, ignoring their losses and taking every opportunity to disrupt the Shadowborn formation. Their advance came to a grinding halt when the Shadowborn formed a phalanx. The defectors quickly found themselves caught between a veritable wall and an encroaching legion of swordsmen.

"Damnit… what now?" one of the defectors tightened his grip on his weapon.

"Keep fighting!" The squad leader enwreathed his sword in flames and engaged his opponents.

The defectors fought off attackers from all directions. The phalanx forced them to retreat until they were caught in a crossfire from a pair of sniper nests. The Shadowborn's melee fighters continued their assault. They began to overwhelm the defectors.

Within minutes, the squad had been thoroughly devastated. Less than ten of them remained, and many of them were on the edge of death. Still, they fought until they succumbed to their wounds. Only a few of them were able to bring their opponents down with them. Soon, only the squad leader remained.

"You people don't know when to quit, do you?" one of the Shadowborn remarked. "What did you expect to happen after you betrayed us?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping you'd realize you're fighting for the wrong side." The two locked blades. The other Shadowborn troops attacked their opponent from behind, bringing him down without much difficulty.

"I think you're the one on the wrong side, friend," the soldier said, bringing his blade to the squad leader's neck. "Any last words?"

The squad leader wiped the blood from his face. "I hope you know you won't stop our rebellion by killing me."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. We stomp you out, and the rest will follow."

"I'm not the one behind this whole operation. You'd only be taking out one squad out of fifty-something."

The soldier looked around himself briefly, suddenly remembering that there were still several defectors to deal with. He shrugged. "Eh, I'd rather deal with fifty-something, minus one."

He thrust his sword into the squad leader's neck and tore it free, leaving him to bleed out. He turned his focus to his remaining foes and menacingly brandished his weapon.

A sudden burst of magic energy from behind sent most of the soldiers forming the phalanx flying. Before any of them could recover, they were executed by a series of crossbow bolts fired with ruthless precision.

Additional defectors rappelled up the cliffside in droves and immediately rushed the Shadowborn troops. Their defensive force capitulated under their assault, until they were soon forced to retreat.

"I was never told to expect dudes coming up the cliff!" one of the Shadowborn shouted, desperately firing back at their latest threat.

A soldier bearing a dagger faded into sight behind her. "Why do you think we came that way?" He buried his dagger into her chest hilt deep and left her to fall.

The defectors made short work of their foes. They came to the aid of their allies, blindsiding the Shadowborn posted outside the castle. The Shadowborn were thrown into disarray as they divided their focus. Being caught in a pincer attack, there was little they could do to fight back.

After breaking their line at the castle, the defectors patrolled outside to root out the few Shadowborn that remained. Most of them chose to surrender, and the few that kept fighting were easily rebuked.

"I think we've got the town secured," one of the defectors breathed a sigh of relief. "We'd be dead if it weren't for you guys."

The captain of the second group looked over the battlefield and shrugged. "I wish we had gotten here sooner. Looks like this was a serious struggle."

"Better late than never. Now, let's take the castle."

The castle gates were wide open, and there was no Shadowborn presence inside. The defectors spread out through the castle and established themselves.

They entered the fountain chamber, and were taken aback by what they saw. Slumped against the wall was Captain Nerys, clutching at a bleeding chest wound. Her sword lay broken beside her, its pieces scorched and bloodstained. A thick layer of dust covered the floor, along with several kinds of discarded weapons.

"Nerys!" One of the defectors rushed to her side. "What the hell happened here?"

Nerys took in a rasping breath. "I got the Delta Warriors through the fountain… Then I got to deal with Helsing's boys. All eight million of them."

"Shit… come on, we'll get you back to Card Castle."

"No…" Nerys' hand went to her mouth as she coughed violently, spitting up blood. "I'm a lost cause. You should… you should go through and help the Delta Warriors. You… you secured the town, right?"

"Yeah, we did…" The soldier placed a hand on her shoulder. "But how are we supposed to help them? I thought I heard Helsing say your equipment changes when you go through the fountain."

"Yeah, that's right…" Nerys pulled herself to her feet, leaning heavily against the wall. "The last one who came at me, I gave him an interrogation…" She limped toward the fountain, wincing with every step. "He said Helsing cast some kind of spell… He used power from the dark fountain."

She stood before the fountain, her legs nearly giving out on her. She took a moment to look upon it in awe.

"Maybe I can do something similar."

"Nerys, wait—"

She paid him no heed and reached into the fountain. Intense, searing pain surged through her body, eliciting an agonized scream. She sank to her knees, but did not falter. She slammed her bloodied fist into the floor, and with a final cry of pain, she pulled her hand free, clutching a spark of the fountain's power.

Wordlessly, she held the spark high and crushed it in her hand, filling the room with a bright flash. When it cleared, each of the defectors carried an aura of writhing darkness.

"There…" Nerys' breath faintly rattled past her lips. She collapsed into a heap on the floor. "Go… help the Delta Warriors… and kill Helsing for me."

With that, her body dissolved into dust.

Meanwhile, in the light world…

"Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable!" Helsing threw a punch and dented the concrete wall. He withdrew his hand and shrieked in pain.

The messenger retreated in fear. "Sir, please calm down—"

"Calm down? Calm down?!" Helsing's tendrils flared out. "The single largest congregation of our forces just got completely swept by the Delta Warriors, all of our prisoners have broken free, and now we're the ones on the defensive, and you're telling me to calm down?"

The messenger fought to suppress the urge to take off running. "Sir, I understand the magnitude of this situation, I really think taking a minute to collect your thoughts would be for the best. Blind rage doesn't make for the best plans, after all." Her voice shook as she spoke.

"I didn't ask for your input!" His hands tightened into trembling fists. He heaved a heavy sigh. "The Delta Warriors won't stop here. They'll come for me next, and they'll ruin everything, just like they always do. We can't afford to wait for them. We need to hit them back twice as hard.

"Head out and gather my troops. I want all hands on deck for this. I'll lead them into battle myself. I want to mount the human's head on a stake myself."

The messenger raised a hand to speak. "Not to question your judgment, sir, but I think that's exactly what they want. Perhaps this was all a plan to bring you out into a trap."

Helsing waved his hand dismissively. "Let them think they have an advantage. They're fools, all of them. They'll probably be expecting me and only me. So, I'll come at them with an army… or whatever's left."

"Sir, you really shouldn't go after them. You'd just be putting yourself at risk for no reason. Your forces are competent enough to handle the Delta Warriors on their own."

Helsing's icy glare met her eyes. "Really? If that's the case, then how did they wipe out the battalion I sent to destroy them? How did they take Card Castle?" Fury crept into his voice. "How did they make it through the Castle Town force and get back to the light world? And how did they bring down over a hundred of my troops in one afternoon?"

The messenger stepped back, raising her hands defensively.

Helsing continued, "You'll notice we didn't even slow down the Delta Warriors until I took matters into my own hands." His eyes turned a mottled white color. "I'm the one that killed their leader. My troops fall all over themselves because one of them is good at flirting. Does that sound like competence to you?"

"I don't— I don't think I can… I don't think—" she stammered.

He pulled her closer. "No, it doesn't. You shouldn't have to think about this at all. It's fucking pathetic. If I'm not out there babysitting my army of trained soldiers, they're worth as much as a glass of water on the sun."

He shoved her back with enough force to knock her to the ground.

"Go, gather my troops and bring them here. I don't want to hear another word of complaint out of you. Understood?"

She stood and dusted herself off. "Understood, sir."

She wasted no time in leaving him alone with his twisted thoughts.