Wait, what? The horizontal line functions don't seem to work right now...so I'll have to use dashes.

---

The red sun rose over the horizon, the first rays of light piercing the sky and shattering the darkness. Everything the light touched took on new life as another day began.

But, unlike most days, the heralding of the sunrise was not a happy occasion.

In the earliest minutes of the day, the soldiers of the Etruria-Ostia army were already donning their armour, sharpening their weapons and mounting their steeds. For them, and for everyone else about to participate in the upcoming blood feud, the new day seemed to be calling them to their dooms. Not one of the soldiers, the lords, not even the demons themselves were sure they would survive. For them all, they thought, the end was coming.

The battle-horns sounded. The soldiers reluctantly took their places in line. Even the Fallen had a grim look on their faces. Pent, Louise, Hawkeye and Archsage Athos rode to the front of the regiment.

Hector entered the small blue tent.

Matthew was huddled up in the corner, a terrified look on his face.

"Matthew! What are you doing in here?"

"You don't really expect me to fight, milord? I am only good for stealth missions, and not very strong at all!"

"You should at least be outside, tending to procedures."

The young rogue winced and stood, half-heartedly. "What do you require of me, milord?"

The marquess smiled. "Go and tend to things at the castle. I will put you in charge of the kingdom."

Matthew froze.

Hector laughed. "In the likely event of my…elimination, I expect you to tend to all my duties, as the Steward of Ostia. Besides, you should do that anyway, at least until…if…I return."

Matthew bowed stiffly. "All right then, milord. I will do as you ask."

Hector smiled and patted his spy on the back. "Good lad."

"By the way, milord, you don't happen to like that Sirius fellow, do you?"

"No! He's a pain in the rear end. Why do you ask?"

"I pilfered some gold from his room. There's enough to buy a good portion of Lord Pent's estates."

Hector grinned. "What do you plan to spend it on?"

"A…good portion of…Lord Pent's estates?"

"Good lad."

---

"It is time. The final battle shall now be fought. Blood will be shed. Lives will be lost. In the name of freedom, today, we fight."

X nodded his approval. "Well said, Damien."

The fire demon drew his crimson katana. The assassin drew his twin knives. Skarmandros wielded his scythe in the right hand, and his katana in the left. Jo clutched her machete.

"Today, two demons will fight side-by-side," Skarmandros noted. "Let us hope it will be enough."

X turned to Jo. "Are you ready?"

Jo nodded.

The group lined up at the bottom of the hill. They looked up at the enormous army standing at the hilltop. "I hope I don't live to regret this," X muttered. "Be careful what you wish for," Damien replied.

---

"Dark Inferno!"

A large blast shot up from the ground, incinerating quite a few soldiers. It was the same blast that had engulfed the forest a few days earlier.

Damien chuckled. "Oh, come on, Skar. I can do much better than that."

"Go ahead. Make my day."

"Oblivion!"

Suddenly, about a quarter of the plain ceased to exist. And it hadn't just disappeared – it now formed an enormous black void.

"You know, Damien, I wasn't even trying. If I had showed you the best I could do, everything within a fifty-league radius would have been engulfed in flame, and nothing would ever grow there again."

"I wasn't trying, either," Damien replied.

X slashed yet another soldier. "How many have you killed?" he asked Jo.

Jo swung her machete into another soldier and wiped sweat from her brow. "Thirteen."

X laughed. "Is that all? I have twenty-eight – twenty-nine, now," he added as another soldier fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Show-off."