Ili jumped on a building, running on the roofs, scouting around. The ground started to shake. She looked to the side, where she finally saw the first demon. A massive, white beast with claws and sharp fangs, running on all fours towards a group of people.
The demon jumped in the air, ready to strike the people with his claws, but right before falling back on the ground, the demon's body was severed in two.
The people were frozen, taking a step back, seeing the demon's upper body fall on the ground, sliding slightly before stopping in front of them.
On top of the demon's body, the figure of a girl with a white sword appeared.
"T-Thank you so much!" a woman cried, tears filling her eyes, holding her child in a shaky embrace.
Ili looked down at them with a soft smile, and at all the other people around them.
"Listen, I want all of you to gather in front of the gate!" she spoke loudly, looking at the people that were starting to gather around. "I will take care of the demons, but I can only protect so many of you if you're spread out. So, I want all of you to gather at the gates of the city. Anyone who can fight or knows magic, I'll want to be ready to fight in case any demons break through. Also, don't try to open the gates yet. We don't know what's outside, and the possibility of demons waiting for you to get out isn't out of the question. Alright?"
The people nodded, running towards the gates. They all seemed like simple people, probably poor and ill equipped too... The chance that any of them would be able to fend off any demons was probably next to zero. Ili tightened her grip on her sword, her heart pumping in her chest. But she knew one thing for sure. She wasn't going to let any of them die...
She jumped back on the building, scouting around. She froze... There were so many demons, of all kinds... It was as if the city had been infested by them...
Right as she turned around, another demon jumped into the sky, falling towards her, ready to take her in its jaws. The demon was soon cut in two in length, falling off each side of the building, making a loud sound as his halves hit the ground.
In that moment, all the demons stopped in place, their eyes turning brown for an instant. They all looked at Ililith.
She froze as that happened. But she wasn't going to let that opportunity pass. They were all paying attention to her… She clenched her fists, before starting to run towards the center of the city, away from the people. If all the demons were after her, then she could use it to her advantage to guide them away from the people.
It wasn't long before she noticed her plan working, as the growls of tens of demons were heard in the air, and all of them started to run after her.
All around her, demons start to jump on the roofs of the houses, some buildings crumbling underneath them, running chaotically towards her.
Suddenly, Ili barely manages to dodge as a metallic pole is sent flying next to her body. Right then, another demon appears above her, holding his fists above its head, ready to pummel her through the building she was standing on.
In a moment, the demon's arms are severed, before its head suffers the same fate, and Ili jumps on top of him.
From the air, a massive bird-like demon with the face of a centipede attacks, nearly taking Ili in its claws, but suffers the same fate as the demons from before, having its wings sliced off and falling through a building. Soon, many more demons make it to her, climbing up the building. Ili jumped back as the building started to collapse under the weight of the tens of demons climbing over one another, landing on a building behind.
As another large, humanoid shaped demon attacked her, she noticed something. His eyes were brown. She dodged backwards, avoiding the demon's slam into the roof, trying to get her off balance.
Unlike the other demons, which were chaotically running and attacking her, a few demons seemed to attack with purpose and technique, such as the demon's distraction to get Ili in the air as the bird demon attacked her. And each of the demons attacking more naturally had brown eyes.
The demon launched at her, letting out a growl as its eyes turned black, jumping at her. So then...
She jumped in the air, barely dodging another demon which had attacked her from behind, trying to grab her. Looking as the new demon fell into the previous one, she noticed that it had brown eyes. As soon as the demon's eyes turned back to normal, the two demons started fighting against each other, ripping their heads off.
Looking around at the endless amount of demons that were constantly appearing around her out of nowhere, no matter how many she killed, it became clear. They were being used and controlled by a summoner. The moment their eyes were burning brown was the moment when the summoner was specifically controlling that certain demon. But if they were summoned, then it meant that they were already dead. Which meant that if she took down the summoner, all the other summons would be gone as well…
She jumped backwards on another building, as the previeous building collapsed as well.
The thing about summoners and their summons was that they both used the same mana frequency. It was like an invisible tree, with its root at the summoner, and its summons growing outwards from that said root. Normally, the link between the root and the summon would be nearly imperceptible, but in the case that the summoner wanted to control a certain demon directly, the link would become stronger, being able to track the root from the demon itself.
Before she could think of anything else, the ground beneath her feet crumbled, as a demon broke through the roof, trying to attack her from beneath. As Ili noticed its brown eyes, she tried to touch it with her hand, but she wasn't quick enough, and the summoner abandoned his control over the demon.
Ili leaped back on another house, getting some more distance between her and the incoming demons.
"Are you trying to do what I think you're trying?" the demon asked with a mocking tone, its eyes brown once again. It was the summoner.
Another flying demon attacked Ililith, also with brown eyes. Ili tried to touch it as she dodged it, but didn't manage to get it in time this time either.
"My! You really are trying to do what I think you're trying to do!" the demon laughed again with a wide smile.
The large beast leaped on the roof of the building Ili was standing on, making her retreat further back.
"Come on, now! Let's meet in person!" The demon smiled, holding out his hand, letting Ili touch it.
Ili looked at the demon, wary of its invitation, but walked slowly towards it, holding out her hand, trying to touch the demon and track its mana signature.
Right as she held out her arm, the demon attacked, nearly crushing her under its fist. The demon let out a laugh, as it jumped back as well.
"You really thought I would let you do that? You really are something else, haha!" The demon's smile remained on its lips, but its expression darkened slightly. "Well, I had some fun, but I don't have time for this."
The demon turned its head towards the eastern gate, where all the people were gathered. It raised its arm towards them, and right as he did, the horde stopped in place once again, shifting their attention back to the people.
Chaotic growls filled the sky, and the ground started to shake as the demons started running towards the citizens.
The demon's smile faded, turning its head backwards as it felt a hand on his back. "You really think you'll get to me before the demons get to them? By all means, feel free to try..."
The demon's eyes turned back to red, returning to its beastly nature, but fell dead to the ground before it could even turn properly to attack Ili.
The girl finally managed to track the summoner's position. There were far too many demons attacking the people, and she would get overwhelmed far too quickly if she tried to stop them on her own. So she only had one choice... To take down the summoner.
Her eyes quickly darted towards the direction where she felt the summoner's mana. Clenching her sword tighter, she launched herself in that direction, moving as quickly as she could on the rooftops.
Zephyr's body was slowly being pushed to its limit. The crystals were continuously growing, blocking the thousands of ice shards that were being fired at him by Apl. His mana was diminishing... Soon, he wouldn't have enough to keep the barrage in place... Soon, she would break through the barrier...
Right then, a figure flew over their heads, running on the rooftops, disappearing in an instant.
Zephyr turned his head towards the roofs. "Ili..."
Apl's attention was also caught by the figure, turning her head in the same direction. Her arm lowered, as her attacks started to slow down. "Mephisto..." Apl quickly jumped on the building, running in the same direction as the figure.
Zephyr's eyes widened as she abandoned the fight. His wounds were starting to make every slight movement more painful than the last. But, if that was Ililith, and Apl was going after her...
Zephyr quickly followed on the rooftops, running after Apl.
Without waiting a moment, Ili jumps on another building, crushing through the roof and into the room below. For a fraction of a second, she sees her target with the corner of her eyes, standing down in the room with his eyes closed. It was a kalzraak with dark horns and clothing. The kalzraak opened his eyes, looking towards Ililith with his brown eyes.
In an instant, another demon appeared in the room, jumping at Ililith point-blank, trying to grab her. Ili barely managed to dodge the grab, but only then noticed that it wasn't trying to grab her.
The demon took the kalzraak at its chest, protecting him with its body and leaping through the wall onto the rooftops.
The kalzraak looked at the demon he was controlling, trying to get as far away as possible, but as soon as the demon's feet touched the rooftop of another building, they were severed. The demon fell over, opening its arms to let go of the kalzraak before its body was cut in half.
Before he could act, the kalzraak found himself on the ground, underneath Ili's body, with her sword at his neck.
"Impressive..." the kalzraak spoke, looking at Ili with a dark look.
"Stop the demons, or I'll kill you!" Ili spoke, keeping the sword tightly at his throat.
From another rooftop, a worried scream was heard. "Mephisto!"
The kalzraak turned his head to the side, seeing Apl. Mephisto's eyes narrowed, looking towards her coldly. "Apl, behind you."
The girl turned around just in time to dodge Zephyr's dagger. She mustered an ice dagger as well, their weapons clashing with each other before she leaped back on another rooftop.
"Ili!" Zephyr shouted, looking desperately in her direction, creating a blockade of crystal behind her, to protect her from Apl's incoming ice shards.
Mephisto turned his head back towards Ili, feeling her blade digging deeper into his skin. She wasn't listening to Zephyr. She wasn't paying attention to anything else around her. The sounds of war from the west, the demon horde from the east, she wasn't hearing any of them anymore... She only had a thing in her attention...
"I told you to stop them! Now! Stop them or I'll kill you!"
Ili's body was shaking, looking at Mephisto with desperate anger.
The kalzraak gazed at her calmly, with a cold expression. "No, I don't think you will."
"I swear I will! Stop them!" Ili screamed, digging her sword deeper into his flesh. Her blade cut through his crystalised skin, cutting on his neck. Blood started to flow from the cut, flowing down the kalzraak's neck.
As the blood started flowing outside, a smile appeared on Mephisto's face. "You know, you're really stupid... Never harm a kalzraak before you're ready to end their life..."
Ili's eyes widened, the realization hitting her. She was too late...
The blood from the kalzraak's wound shot towards her in an instant, sharp as a dagger. She tried to dodge, jumping up, but right as she raised her head to see the blood barely passing by her face, the massive fist of a demon hit her in the stomach, sending her flying backwards.
As she was in the air, she managed to make up another presence behind her... Another demon, holding an axe... There was nothing she could do... In a moment, her body would be severed by the axe...
The moment felt like an eternity, waiting for the inevitable... Zephyr was too far away, and even if he wasn't he wouldn't be able to do anything in such a short time...
Her eyes instinctively turned towards Zephyr, who was looking at her with wide eyes, holding out his hand towards her desperately, shouting her name…
'Please, don't look... I'm sorry, Zephyr... It seems it was never meant to be... I'm sorry, everyone I've failed to protect... I'm sorry, Master... I know I promised you, but... I'm going to die... Please, forgive me...'