Chapter 46: The Last Standing City

In the sky a red winged demon hovers above a large heavily fortified city, away from the prying eyes of the soldiers below patrolling the large stone walls. Loud explosions, Fire whizzing through the air in what looks to be a makeshift training ground.

The demon watching, took note of the strange weapon they were using. He brought forth a parchment writing down this vital information. Another blue winged demon joined the other red demon.

 "It's just like he said," The red demon said.

The scroll was handed to the blue demon.

"Give this to the king."

The blue demon agreed, leaving the red demon to continue his recon of the city. He watched as all the villagers started to be escorted into the nearby fortified castle. With the army, most likely sensing an impending battle.

********

The demon army marched onwards towards the heavily fortified city with Lucius, Lillian and their two top generals following closely behind, guiding the demon army.

"Hmm… strange," Lucius pondered.

Lillian glanced at Lucius curiously. "What is it, Lucius?"

"We should have encountered some patrol's by now… according to the information we've received, they typically patrol this rough terrain thoroughly."

Lucius immediately halted the marching army, commanding the available scouts' to thoroughly scan the area. With the new order's two red demons are sent out in search of the scouts. Just then, the blue demon with the report arrived, gracefully landing by Lucius.

Lucius is given the scroll in hand, quickly reading its contents, curiously.

"Azar, Jala. Have everyone start setting up camp."

"What about the patrol?" Jala asked.

"It seems that the confederate army is converging in Gralin. Perhaps news of their last ports fall had reached them. In any case, we'll need to be ready by tomorrow."

********

In the dead of night Lillian sat upon a rock in the middle of the plains. She looked in the night sky gazing upon the stars, away from the prying eyes of the army she was leading.

"No prayers, again?"

Lillian turned to find Lucius making his way to her side. She turned back to look at the skies. "Back from your war meeting already?"

"It's unlike you not to pray to your God. no one else is here. Is that sister of yours on your mind again?"

"No… But I would like to see her again. It's almost been half a year." Lillian then gave a slight chuckle. "Do you think she misses me?"

Lillian glanced back at Lucius, seeing that he could only give a chuckle at the idea.

"I thought so too…"

Looking upon the stars more seriously, she found two mountains, not too different from that cliff Kalika would look over every now and then. Memories of a deeper past flourished through her mind. Memories of simpler times.

"When this war is done, I'd like to give Kalika her own room in the castle…" she suddenly said.

"Hmmm...? What brought this thought upon you, Lillian…? Have you forgiven her?"

"God no." she chuckled. "I don't think I'll ever forgive her for what she's done… But after everything that's happened, with the Heroes of Prophecy and that angel. I guess I just want her to be closer to me I guess."

Lucius could only smile. "If we do that, she'll be your responsibility. I hope you understand."

"Of course, and if you want, we can even revise our old agreement to include- Uhh… You know."

"Ah, yes. It's due to expire after this war is over, isn't it? I almost forgot about that." Lucius now looked at the stars above too.

"You've been a lot of help to keep the orders in my court, it must've felt strange to keep your origins as a Saintess hidden."

"Not quite. I was already used to keeping it a secret. To be honest I never wanted this power to begin with." Lillian looked at her hand, channeling a faint glow of her holy magic.

"I always wanted to live my life day to day as carefree as possible. But that didn't work out." she closed her palms, canceling the magic.

Lillian got up stretching from head to tail. "So much changed in one day. But this is my life now and I'd like it to stay as it is now."

"Hmph." Lucius, amused, gazed back at Lillian. "So how would you like to do this agreement?"

"We don't have to change anything. Well maybe just a line or two but… I think that's it."

"Just a line or two? Why not three or four?" Lucius teased.

"Let's look it over then, when the time comes. How does that sound?" Lillian, leaving, rubbed the tip of her tail by Lucius's neck, almost playfully. 

Lucius smiled at the interaction and followed close behind. "That sounds good to me,"

********

Within a highly decorated room with fancily designed carpets and other rare-looking ornaments decorating the stone walls, two men cladded in heavy iron and gold-plated armor knelt before an old man. One of the kneeling men had great blonde hair, while the other had brown hair.

"We are ready. Head Priest Frances." The blonde-haired man said.

In his raspy voice the priest spoke up. "Good… In the name of God Cassell. We will drive these horrid invaders away. God is on our side." 

"Yes. Tomorrow will defeat the Demon King and Queen and take back our country!" The brown hair man proclaimed.

"We will avenge our fellow brethren!"

*********

The morning of the drums of war encroached. Rows and rows of the demon army troops marched in unison, approaching the city. rows and rows of infantry littered the front lines of the confederate army. Men with bows and those Celestine pipes kept a vigilant eye out on the demon army, as some of their winged compatriots took to the sky.

Some of the archers stationed at the wall started to lose nerve seeing the demons flying in the air.

"Stand firm." a veteran archer said.

Back down on the ground, the Demon army was now face to face with the confederate army. 

Slowly Lucius approached the confederate army dressed in his dark-gray armor, all the way up to his head with a frightening looking helmet. Despite the stoic expression of the men he saw before him, the frightened murmurs of the other soldiers behind could clearly be heard.

Lucius, without saying a word, lifted his right index finger. He steadily channeled a small light, turning it into a blazing ball of fire. Bigger. Bigger. Bigger. It started to grow much bigger than even the huge, fortified gate before them.

"So, this is what remains of the confederate army?"

Men in the front start to panic as others quickly readied their shields. Orders to charge flooded the battlefield as the confederate army made their last stand!

With a simple flick of Lucius's finger an entire row a battalion became engulfed in fire, charring each man to ash.

The Demon army charged in upon this attack! 

Winged demons swooping in as archers fired arrows. A mess of blood stained the ground in an instant with the confederate soldier easily being overwhelmed by the demon's strength.

Explosions from both Lillian and Azar's attack filled the back line of their enemies, scattering the bits and pieces of the human soldiers across the battlefield.

Jala on the other hand broke through enemy lines. Using both his scorching blue flames and chilling Ice magic to cover the field, inducing further chaos onto the battlefield. He continued driving through the enemy forces and slaughtered man after man. Slowly closing in on the walls of the fortified city ahead.

"Sir, they're breaking through our lines!!" An archer shouted.

"Ready your bows." Their Captain ordered.

From the wall the groups of archers pulled their strings and upon their command. Released a hail of arrows upon the demon horde.

"READY!!!"

The captain readied many more archers this time.

"FIRE!!!"

The fire in rapid succession in hopes to slaughter their enemy. Arrows rained down onto the battlefield striking ally and foe alike. Very few people were safe from this barrage. Sparing most of those who wore armor.

"Ready the Pipes," The blonde-haired General stated.

"General Trevor? What are you doing here?" The captain questioned.

"What kind of general keeps himself off the battlefield?"

"But what about the Head Priest!??"

"He'll be fine. Right now, we must repel these monsters! Now ready those pipes!" Trevor commanded.

A line of men ready their arms and fired on command.

Lucius seeing this, ordered for his winged soldiers to fall back as blistering fire scorched the ground and the air alike.

Azar in the sky landed right beside Lucius. "Do you want the ground troops to fall back too?"

"No. We have to keep pushing. have them keep pushing their army to the wall as planned. then we'll have our spare men attack from their side."

"So be it." Azar said, taking back off into the sky.

 Marching around all seeing all the archers he, General Trevor turned his attention back to their Captain. "Do we have any more of those pipe weapons in reserve?"

"Y-yes I reckon over a thousand sir."

"Well, what are we doing, we should arm our best men now!" General Trevor turned his attention to a wimpy looking soldier. "You! Kid! Go grab those pipes and deliver them to our best, and those pouches of powder too."

The weak soldier looked a little dumbfounded.

"Kid!"

"Oh! Y-yes sir!!"

The soldier ran off to gather the equipment, leaving the general and captain as they watched the chaos unfold before them.

"We can't let them get any closer."

"Folly. They can't get any closer as it is. All we have to do is lead them back and blaze them with the pipes. I doubt that they'll expect our barrier." the captain said.

"Fool. Didn't you hear? Thomas perished at the hands of that Demon Queen."

"And?" The captain became confused.

General Trevor scowled at the man. "You must be new to your position." he scoffed. 

"Alright listen carefully. Thomas was not only one of the best generals, but he was also extremely cautious. He even went as far as to wear a holy relic of the church. Not only that, but he was also give a piece of the holy stone itself." 

"W-wait he was given both a holy relic and a holy stone from the church!?"

"Yes. In fact, the priest gave me and Cier a piece of the stone too just recently. Albeit much weaker than Thomas's." Trevor became much more serious looking over the battlefield with scrutiny.

"Still… If the Demon Queen is able to destroy his barrier, how do you think our city's barrier will hold up if she arrives? For all we know, it could crumble at her touch. So don't you dare let your guard down!"

Hearing General Trevor's statement, the captain began to feel a sense of dread. "R-right! B-but what should we do??"

"Isn't it obvious? We find the Demon Queen as soon as we can and kill her. But then we'll need to find the Demon King, But the priest already has something ready for him. just in case." 

"Even if this war ends in a draw. It's much better than the former." The General finished.

Back onto the Battlefield, the demon army is noticing that the confederate forces are being slowly pushed back to the walls.

"Hey, Look They're running" a demon yelled. The demon's army continues to press forth.

Lucius continued to watch from afar. Something felt off to him. 

"They've ceased firing those pipes…" he thought to himself. He narrowed his eyes from the strange circumstance. "What are they up to?"

Lucius quickly turned to Azar who rejoined him much earlier. "Tell everyone to fall back."

Azar became shocked upon hearing this. "A-are you sure you want to fall back now?? We have them where we want them."

Lillian, who is also with them, stared straight at the large stone wall. She saw a strange familiar wave or some sort of distortion.

"Lucius. There's a Barrier."

The Confederate army fell back to the walls, just as it seemed that the battle was finished a demon blade struck an invisible blue barrier!

"READY!" 

"AIM!"

The demons looked up, finding even more of the confederate soldiers on the wall now geared with the pipes in their hands.

"FIRE!"

Torrents and a flurry of balls of flames shot at the demon's horde. Massacring many of the demons there.

All Lucius and his Lillian could do was watch as their force started to get decimated by the piped weapons

"So, they were holding back," Lucius said. "If they have a barrier, we won't be able to reach them."

"Strange, how is it that this city has a barrier?" Lillian questioned.

"Most likely thanks to the Celestine Empire just like those staff's they're using…"

Lillian became more serious hearing this. "Them." 

Without warning she grew her demonic wings taking off back into the battlefield.

"Hey! Where are you going!?" Lucius questioned.

"I'm going to destroy that barrier!"

Hearing this Lucius Furrowed his brow as Azar became evidently confused by these proclamations. "Destroy the Barrier, That's impossible."

"Lucius, watching Lillian, Issued his orders. "Have our frontline fall back and on standby. And gather your best with earth magic to erect walls until further notice."

"Your Majesty?" Azar bit her lip and followed his instruction. "Right away!"

Lillian in the sky shot through the battlefield hurdling her way to the barrier. 

General Trevor, scanning the progressing battle, notices a blue demon woman with white hair flying low to the ground at an almost blinding speed. seeing her uniquely fitted armor, he came to the consensus that their target was found.

He quickly gathered men with bows and pipes, ordering them to fire at Lillian.

"Kill That demon!" he shouted.

Lillian, noticing them, took off into the sky to shake off their aim.

Fire and smoke filled the sky with a single target in mind. A blast fire grazed Lillian's wing and face as she dodged the fire and arrows being hailed to her. She continued maneuvering through enemy fire opting to reach the far side of the barrier, at the corner of the fortified city.

Like a bolt of lightning, she landed on the barrier and quickly used her holy magic to disrupt and make a hole in the barrier. She entered the newly made hole that had closed back up just as quickly.

"Tch"

as disappointed as she was, she understood full well that there had to be a source for the barrier. She flew herself over the wall casting explosive magic unto the archer below, decimating their forces on the wall.

Azar and Jala, seeing this, become shocked. All the while Lucius could only strike the hairs on his chin, impressed by Lillian's ability.

"Y-y-your orders?" One of the demon captains asked.

"Standby until this barrier is destroyed."

Azar returns, finishing her duty. "Anything else Your Majesty?"

"No. For now, we can't pass that barrier. But with Lillian on the other side, it's only a matter of time."

"But what if she's killed?" Azar Ask's.

Lucius glanced at Azar uncaringly. "Worried for Lillian's wellbeing…? How unlike you. She is the Queen of Demons, the second most powerful among all of you. And you know this better than anyone here. Azar."

"I'm not worried for her. But there's two of those human generals in that city with those strange pipe weapons."

"She'll overcome it. Just like she did with the Heroes of Prophecy." Lucius finished.

Lillian continued to rain down chaos on the soldier below until finally she was struck in her wing with a torrent of fire from a pipe.

Falling from the sky she landed on her feet hard, quickly retracting her wings. She became surrounded by soldiers gunning for her head. But with a wave of her finger, she dismembered each and every one of the soldiers around her with wind magic. She cleans the splattered blood off her skin taking note of her surroundings.

She found herself in a leveled part of the city that was demolished aside from a few homes with thatched roof tops. Behind her stood the large town that was now consumed with fire.

An explosion rang out, she quickly dodged to her side, nearly avoiding an attack from another of those pipe weapons. Now standing before her was General Trevor who now sported a freshly burned scar to the right of his face. And the blonde hair he once had partially burned from his head.

"Strange. I feel like I recognize you from somewhere." Trevor readied a second piped weapon in his other hand.

"It's just your imagination." Lillian attacked the General with her wind magic aiming true until it struck his Barrier. "Huh!?"

The General smiled, contently. "I won't be dying that easily! Queen of Demons!"