Prologue 3: Flame Caller

  On the North Wall of Last Bastion, a small demoness sat watching the horizon while a group of fierce demons were guarding and supplying the bombardment towers.

  “Princess Alnis,” one of the burly demons approached.

  “The mages have sent a message mentioning that magical disturbances have been detected a few kilometers from here.”

  “I see… then they will not only attack the main gates. They are trying to surround us to divide our attention… just as Midas said.”

  Alnis began scribbling in her small notebook and handed it to the demon to read.

  (Go wake up Armageddon. We are going to need him for the battle.)

  “Yes, princess, I will go immediately.”

  Before the demon could leave, Alnis raised her hand and pointed toward her neck, making a gesture of drinking water, only to then give a pained frown of fake suffering.

  “I’ll bring you some water.”

  Alnis smiled and gave a thumbs-up in approval.

  In the distance, black clouds, heavy with dark rain, began advancing toward the North Wall, and a supernatural dark mist descended from those clouds.

  “Well… What a grim stage I’ve been set today. An artist of my caliber deserves better.”

  Alnis took her ever-faithful viola and played a sad melody to accompany the atmosphere. The demons around her placed their hands on their foreheads in embarrassment. One braver than the rest mentioned:

  “My lady, can’t you play something to cheer us up?”

  Alnis looked at him and frowned.

  “You are the best audience without a doubt… but why can’t you read the atmosphere? Why would I taint this beautiful grim scene with ‘something more cheerful’? As an artist, I cannot do such a thing.”

  The clouds and mist finally covered the entire North Wall area, converging unnaturally above it. Alnis kept playing with mastery; her fingers moved over the viola in a way no other musician could replicate. Then a small, chubby dog with bulging eyes came drooling at her feet, looking at her playfully while sticking out its tongue.

  Alnis smiled and stopped to pet the cute little dog.

  “Princess, I have brought your glass of water.”

  Alnis took the glass, sipping the water slowly, enjoying the freshness.

  “Well, now I feel much better. Maybe I can use the power of the vox a few more times.”

  Alnis brought her hand to her left side and unsheathed a beautiful saber encrusted with red jewels. At that moment, all the demons stood firm in their positions.

  The battle was upon them.

  The mist thickened until visibility dropped to less than twenty meters. Then, a wet, slithering sound echoed in the distance.

  “WGHREEEEEEEEEEEEE”

  Terrifying screams pierced the air, followed by many footsteps running in the distance. Alnis pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocket with a prepared order.

  (Fire the cannons.)

  The orders were heard from one side to another.

  “FIRE THE CANNONS!”

  The roar of the cannons, enhanced with infernal magic, rumbled, and a sound similar to a woman screaming shot out of them.

  “IIIIIIIIKKKKKK”

  It sounded like screams with each explosion. However, the creatures were getting closer and closer. Somehow, they were climbing the wall.

  Then, over the edge of the wall, the face of one creature peeked out. It had two round, eyelidless eyes protruding from its head. Its skin was corpse-pale, like that of a long-dead corpse. It resembled a human face, almost. The most terrifying thing was its jaw: an unmoving smile, unnatural in every sense. The creature rose even higher, showing an armless torso that ended in a spider-like lower body.

  “WREEEEEEEEEGH”

  The horrid roar sounded again.

  “How grotesque…… any normal person would be afraid after seeing such a horrendous creature as this. However, you are not facing weak civilians from some village. You are facing the fifth demon legion of Princess Alnis.”

  The demon warriors rushed at the creature with flaming swords, tearing apart its limbs before it could advance.

  The creature fell from the wall, shrieking until the sound of its body smashing against the ground was heard. But heaps more began climbing. One of the demon soldiers stepped out of formation to look.

  “THEY ARE USING THEIR OWN BODIES AS A LADDER! THEY ARE PILING UP!”

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  Just as he finished shouting, a creature attacked him with a scythe arm. Alnis, faster, mutilated the limb with her saber, grabbed the soldier, and took him back to the formation.

  “Thank you very much, princess.”

  Alnis nodded.

  “FIRE THE CANNONS AT THE WALL!”

  The cannons of Last Bastion fired upon their own walls to prevent more monsters from piling up. Then, at that moment, pieces of flesh began falling from the sky.

  “What is this?”

  Alnis, alarmed, watched as the pieces of flesh slowly began opening.

  “THEY ARE EGGS! DESTROY THEM QUICKLY!”

  The alarmed shout came from a older demon than the rest.

  From the pieces of flesh emerged many small-legged beasts with sharp jaws that hurled themselves at the soldiers. And they kept falling nonstop. Alnis burst into infernal flames, raising her body temperature. Her soldiers followed her, and the battlefield filled with the smell of burning flesh.

  “If we keep this up… we can hold them off.”

  But just at that moment, a titanic roar was heard in the distance, while the earth rumbled.

  “Damn… I’ll have to start right now.”

  Alnis then let her prodigious and divine voice be released, singing to the four winds.

  “Clear away, o mist, with eyes of flame

  cursed were those

  who once surrendered

  Yet today we rise and fight again.

  for this beautiful world

  let the fog dissolve

  for the children of fire

  cannot be deceived

  by such worldly tricks.”

  At that moment, the eyes of all the legion warriors were no longer affected by the fog. Their vision returned to normal. But the joy did not last long. What they saw approaching made them hold their breath. A beast resembling a grotesque, horrid dog, with a single eye, ran toward the wall.

  Alone, it would not be a problem. However, that monster was even taller than the wall. Alnis looked at the cute dog still at her feet.

  “Wake up, Armageddon.”

  At that moment, the dog’s body began to expand and turn red, just like Alnis’s skin. The difference was that Armageddon’s skin tore apart, and from its open wounds flames burst out. In a second, he appeared in all his splendor: A ten-meter demon, grotesquely muscular. His face combined the ferocity of a dragon and a dog, with two horns at the sides. He wore armor that only covered torso and legs, adorned with skulls and screaming faces. In his hands, he wielded a gigantic bardiche made of ebony.

  “Princess, what is your enemy?”

  The creature spoke between growls in the demonic tongue, understood only by his race.

  Alnis pointed toward the enormous beast running at them.

  Armageddon smiled, and he launched himself toward the edge

  One of the human-faced creatures tried to get in his way. But a single movement of his axe was enough to end it. With a leap, he launched himself from the wall like a ball of fire wrapped in flames, crashing into the giant cyclopean dog.

  The monster opened its mouth to devour him. It succeeded easily, given their size difference. But as it closed, an explosion shattered its right cheek, and Armageddon emerged, flapping his wings with a wild smile.

  The giant dog channeled ether in its mouth and let out a howl. The scream cleared both the mist and the clouds in the sky, striking Armageddon head-on. The demon grew furious at the challenge. He shot down again, bardiche ready to cut flesh.

  The beast let out another howl, but this time, Armageddon was ready. He unleashed an infernal breath of his own. The two forces clashed, generating a colossal explosion that eliminated hundreds of flesh lumps still falling.

  Out of the smoke, Armageddon came flying, weapon in hand. The dog lunged, trying to strike him with its claw.

  Armageddon dodged it and slid his flame-wrapped bardiche, cutting off one of the giant monster’s arms. The titan lost his balance and fell. The crash reverberated everywhere.

  With his enemy vulnerable, Armageddon channeled all his aura energy. He launched a gigantic slash that split the cyclopean dog in two. An infernal laugh resounded on the battlefield as the demon rejoiced in his victory against such a colossal monster.

  Then, his body vanished in flames, returning to his dog form. When he hit the ground, he had to run at full speed: the mist creatures were already chasing him.

  On the wall, Alnis and her legion had no time to celebrate. The endless horde of beasts had finally worn down their energy, and slowly they made mistakes. Cries of pain echoed from the towers.

  The creatures had infiltrated, tearing apart the engineers in charge of the cannons. Alnis dodged scythe limbs and bites, focusing on burning any flesh-spider that pounced at her.

  But the demon soldiers were not as lucky. Many were torn apart when trying to defend their comrades. The creatures launched suicide attacks, forcing the demons to help each other.

  They acted as a team. And the beasts took advantage of it.

  The worst part was that, when one of them died, the creatures reveled in tearing apart and playing with their corpses. Rage flooded the survivors, making them abandon formation.

  They were surrounded.

  Easy prey.

  Even Alnis felt furious upon seeing her soldiers treated as entertainment.

  “That’s enough… even if I end up losing my powers forever… I will not allow my men to be massacred in such a horrifying way.”

  “STOP!”

  Alnis unleashed her power without chants or ornaments.

  A direct order, raw.

  “THROW YOURSELVES OFF THE WALL!”

  The beasts, who before screamed joyfully, screamed in another way as their bodies moved by themselves toward the edge of the wall. They were no longer having fun. Alnis began coughing up blood.

  That was her limit without using the vox.

  “PRINCESS!”

  “There’s no time… protect me!”

  The remaining soldiers hurried to form a defensive square with her at the center, eliminating the flesh-spiders that fell inside. Alnis gathered all the vox she had left, still in pain, and cried to the heavens.

  “O land unworthy of our blood.

  o scorned heavens.

  Let not your vision be clouded.

  Let not evil deceive you.

  Part the clouds

  and banish these evils.

  Let corruption be shattered.

  Let the mist obey.”

  Alnis felt as if her vocal cords were being shredded, but she continued.

  “LET THE HORIZON BURN!

  MADE MANIFEST BY MY VOICE!”

  At that moment, the mist and clouds retreated as if they were afraid.

  They caught fire.

  The entire sky burned in incandescent flames.

  Flames devoured the clouds and let the sun’s rays through.

  The creatures, touched by that light, burst into flames and were reduced to ashes.

  Alnis fell to the ground, exhausted, along with the few soldiers still standing.

  Then, the sound of little paws running alerted her.

  “Damn… I’m too weak to do anything.”

  A silly-faced, bulgy-eyed dog stopped in front of her and licked her face.

  “AAAAAAAAH”

  Alnis screamed.