The remaining Divisionals were completely exhausted. The majority of guardsmen leaned on their shields and spears, breathing heavily.

Even past their limits, a few of the guards were fawning over Soren and Alistaire, who had enraptured the group with their flashy combat cycle switching.

Those two never had formal weapons training, instead, they’d developed a style very similar to Julius’. It looked like they were competing at a tournament with every strike. Every attack had an elegant motion to it.

It was truly something to watch the three of them in training, and I’m sure it was at another level in real combat.

The guardsmen dispersed when I walked over, saving me the trouble of trying to figure out how to get my party members back.

"You boys look like you’re in one piece."

Alistaire grinned, "Not a scratch on us."

Soren nodded.

"Looks like you’ve gained some admirers as well." I pointed at the guardsmen who were walking away.

"Hah! Yeah we did. Soren and me hit those demons like thunder strikes! Pow! Pow! Pow!"

Alistaire punched his fists in the air.

"Lightning strikes..." Soren interjected quietly.

"Yeah lightning strikes, Soren! You knew what I meant, whatever, that battle was intense!"

"Uh huh, well Lightning Striker, how about you take some of this energy and focus it on making sure this gatehouse is secure?"

Alistaire kicked at the ground with his boot in a ‘Awh, do I have to?’ response.

Soldiers were scrambling around us, busy repositioning barricades to form a new defensive position.

I laughed, "Look, just make sure the guards moving the barricades don’t have anything nasty sneak up on them."

The two of them scurried off to help a pair of soldiers struggling with a heavy steel-reinforced spike barricade.

The main gatehouse to Tolin stood at a menacing forty-five feet tall. It was designed to elicit a sense of admiration and awe towards the former empire that built the city. Though in part it was built to be defensive, its main features were more dramatic than practical. The vaulted stone ceiling was crumbling, revealing the rotting lumber of the floor above.

Hailey, Luke, and Mei joined us at the gatehouse. They all looked healthy, though Hailey looked a little drained.

The archetype for priest healing was expensive, long cast time, spells that applied an area of effect heal in a wide range. Where I, as a paladin, could get away with using less than ten magicka for each of my minor healing spells, Hailey would spend thirty or more per each basic healing spell. The trade off for efficient healing being an area effect was well worth it to most Divisional healers however.

I swiped at my wrist to activate my OVERSIGHT ability to see how she was fairing.

PARTY MEMBERS	STATISTICS	VALUES
HAILEY BROOKS	HEALTH STAMINA MAGICKA	60 / 60 115 / 185 225 / 540

She definitely had her work cut out for her. With a little over three-hundred magicka spent she would have cast ten or so spells in an hour. That kind of mental drain was hard for any caster if you didn’t have an absurdly high SANITY attribute.

Even battle hardened war-mages couldn’t pelt an opposing force with a barrage of spells.

The best magickians in Axio could only conjure two or three action class offensive spells every ten minutes without succumbing to magicka feedback.

Feedback made even the worst case of brain freeze feel like a calming massage in comparison.

Her head was probably throbbing in pain.

"Hails, you doing okay?"

"..."

Her response was walking straight into me, pressing her head against my breastplate and letting out the tiniest whimper that only I could hear.

"Nnhh-uh."

Well that answers that.

A hand clapped my shoulder and Luke’s voice came from behind me.

"That was an incredible display there, Commander," He whistled softly, "Those demons didn’t know what hit them."

"I was just as surprised as anyone else. I’m still not entirely sure how the sword’s ability effect works, but I think I’ve got the general idea down."

The damage the blade inflicted was doubled by the SOULFIRE effect, that damage was then splashed to any nearby enemies. What I didn’t know was if the effect applied a major wound to any foe, or if these demons were just susceptible to that particular effect.

I was getting lost in thought, when Valiance let out a high-pitched screech above the gatehouse. We all looked at Mei expectantly. I wasn’t sure if they could communicate somehow through their soulmate bond, but you never know what sort of weird tricks an Elf could pull.

"Danger is approaching." she said blankly.

I felt and heard Hailey groan, but it was quiet, muffled by my armor. The rest of the party was still unaware of her condition.

"Any chance you can elaborate on the type of ‘danger’?" Luke asked.

"Monsters." she shrugged.

Luke sighed, and gave Mei a pat on the shoulder, "Really narrowed it down there."

Julius picked up his shield, "The soldiers aren’t ready for another fight like that last one. They’ll buckle against the next wave. We should take a position in the courtyard past the gatehouse and keep whatever is coming busy while they rest."

Soren and Alistaire both shrugged and followed Julius, who was already walking away. Mei followed closely behind them.

"He’s something else, ya’ know that?" Luke said flatly, staring at Julius.

"What do you mean?"

"He organized the guards during the first attack—and ordered moving the barricades and shieldwall in absolutely no time. Before the first demon even took a step past the gates, we were ready for them. No doubt that the only reason anyone here is alive, is because he was around."

"That’s Julius for you. He’s not just a pretty face. There is a reason he’s my vice-commander."

Luke continued to stare as the rest of our party walked through the ruined gateway.

"Next fight should be easy, Hails. You only have to watch the six of us. I’ll assist if you need me to."

Another pitiful groan echoed up from my breastplate. Hailey stomped her feet as she followed me and Luke through the gate to face the new threat.

No rest for the weary, they say.

The gateway opened up into the market square. The city’s main street continued south. The ruined exterior of shops stood along the promenade. Overgrown foliage entangled every surface. Roots broke their way through the paved streets, making the whole place a hazard.

The sun was setting fast, the light was barely bright enough to illuminate the courtyard ahead.

“Source of light that dwells among the veiled. Come forth and guide our way, Radiance!”

Bright golden light washed over us as AURA OF LIGHT took effect. In addition to its increased healing spell efficiency, the aura provided a small radius of visible light around each of us, allowing us to see for about fifteen feet in any direction clearly—though the light faded quickly past that point.

The open market square had little in the form of cover or defensive positioning. We were in the open. But before I had a chance to bring up my discomfort in our current state of affairs, a new situation developed.

Guttural howls pierced my ears, and the faint red glow of demonic eyes appeared around us. More of the goatmen charged out of the surrounding buildings, this time accompanied by demon-hounds—Identical to the two that Julius and I had fought a week ago.

"Hey Julius, good thing you remembered your shield this time." I teased.

The snarky response that I was expecting didn’t come. Instead, a soft silver light emanated from his shield. The light grew in intensity until his entire shield was glowing. The shield itself started to shift. It warped in shape, now extending down past his knees to a sharp curved-point and up above his shoulders. The top of the shield jutted forward in what looked like the face of a bird of prey. The face of the shield was a flashy crimson-red, and was emblazoned with a silver feathery pattern. Three ruby-jeweled sockets adorned the crimson-red face of the shield.

“Light, grant me Strength. For in Strength I find Power. In Power I create Unity. In Unity, I serve the righteous and bring forth justice to these tainted lands. Despair forces of darkness, Silver Bulwark!”

The silver glow that had been building up as Julius spoke his incantation, burst—flowing out around us and forming a bubble.

» YOU ARE AFFECTED BY A PROTECTIVE BARRIER.

"What in the Aether is that!?"

Julius flashed me with the largest and by far, the most annoying grin to date.

"You weren’t the only one to get a new toy from that dwarven lady."

"Are you kidding me!? This whole time you’ve been keeping some crazy superb skill from me!" I huffed.

I cannot believe this man!

He turned to address the rest of our party and started calling out orders.

"Stay inside the field, and any damaging effects will be reduced. Soren, you’re up first with me. Mei, pick off these hounds. There are too many of them, their charge ability can do some serious damage."

Soren jumped into action with Julius and they began to engage the oncoming legion. Soren’s flashy swings perfectly mirrored Julius’, It was like watching the performance of skilled artisans. Each strike was deliberate and perfectly timed.

Mei’s arrow shots produced a deep ‘thwang’ from her longbow, echoed by the ‘thud’ of a devastating impact. Each arrow loosed resulted in a near perfect headshot. Her arrows were a complex variation that were issued to an elite core of rangers, called Waystriders. They were, in terms of lethality, twice as effective as their standard Divisional counterparts.

Luke had disappeared from sight and was prowling out in the darkness looking for unaware targets to ambush.

Alistaire was on our left flank waiting for his turn to switch in.

I took the right flank. I held my sword with the blade low, ready to counter an attack and follow through with a forward strike.

A demon hound leapt at me from the darkness, and I swung my sword upwards. The blade connected with the hound mid lunge and cut deep. It impacted against bone and knocked the hound off course.

Flames engulfed the demon and illuminated the surrounding area. The newly lit corner of the market square turned into an archery range as Mei let loose a volley of arrows at a cluster of newly exposed demons, now illuminated by MARK TARGET.

I used the opening to engage my own new targets, a group of goatmen who were skulking behind a ruined market stall.

I charged forward, lunging at the closest demon.

My blade sank deep into its chest and flames erupted from the cavity within, taking its allies down with it.

We pushed deeper into the market square slaughtering the demon hordes with gross efficiency.