Town Defense

A discussion had immediately begun on what to do after reading the letter. The guards weren't very high-leveled, most were only around 65-70 so they doubted they would be able to overcome the host of demons in front of them. They finally decided to send someone to The Misfit Toys Guild Hall to request Eura to turn himself over.

A young guard barely over 18 stood in the guild's doorway, he was afraid to walk in any further so he used his armored hand to knock on the door for a louder effect.

"Good Morning Vance! What brings you here?" Lyra was the one to notice and respond to the young man. He was glad it was her and not the monsters he had heard were lurking within. Unfortunately, his knocks had summoned Rotnam and Eura from a back room as they watched the man curiously.

The guard named Vance gulped before forcing himself to repeat what he was told. "T-t-there are d-demons at the gate that" he felt like a huge lump had appeared in his throat and he couldn't force himself to say the next line. His eyes were on Eura trying to gauge if he was going to lash out and attack him.

Lyra had approached him and began pulling him into the guild hall. Before he realized what had happened he was sitting at the bar along the wall with the woman next to him. "Don't worry about them, you're not in any danger in here. We don't blame the messengers." Lyra did her best to reassure him, she had sat him with his back to the two men on purpose.

"I'm sorry, they said that they want Eura's head." Vance was looking at his hands in his lap as he fidgeted nervously. He had barely been audible when the words left his mouth.

"Well then let's give it to them!" Vance was startled when he heard the voice speak so loudly next to him. Turning he saw Eura spinning in circles on the barstool behind him like a child who was ready for Christmas morning. Vance's eyes could not get any wider as he realized he was mere feet away from the demon he was asking to die.

"Rotnam, Hesa, you two go with Eura to greet our guests properly. This should be good training for you." Mikax's voice came from the third-floor balcony as he leaned over the edge with a smile on his face.

All three jumped up and grabbed their battle attire. Vance watched them leave the guild hall with big smiles on their faces joking with each other. You would never guess that they were going to fight off a foe that greatly outnumbered them.

After he could no longer see them Lyra reminded him of his duties and the man ran off towards the northern gate.

"Mikax do you think they will be okay?" Lyra was like the mother worried for the 'kids' of the guild, if she didn't worry she wasn't sure who would.

Laughing Mikax made his way to the first floor, "Oh Lyra you worry too much! To answer your question though, absolutely not, I've already been out there and they are most likely in a bunch of trouble."

"WHAT!?!" Lyra never expected that he would send them out to fight knowing they weren't up to the task.

Mikax hadn't stopped laughing, "don't worry I won't let them die." He then walked out the door waving his hand dismissively.

'This man is always too unpredictable.' Lyra was beside herself with frustration.

At the gate, all of the guards were shocked to see the demon in question appear with Hesa and Rotnam by his side so carefree. "Can you open up so we can go out please?" Eura was the one to address them. They didn't even hesitate, they were happy to let the demon out of the town.

Once the three had crossed the threshold, the gate slammed shut shortly after. A collective sigh of relief could be heard from the town walls.

A single demon had broken off from the group and walked towards the town. He was a fire demon and had flames bursting through joints in his armor. Not feeling intimidated at all, Eura did the same to meet him in the middle.

"Ehlman, I'm shocked to see you leading this force to kill me." Eura greeted one of his former generals.

"I'm not. We are under orders from someone else this time." The demon Ehlman responded gruffly.

Almost as soon as the sentence had finished Eura could feel an immediate threat coming at him from behind. Instinctively he dove forward, body-checking the demon in front of him. Despite his quick reactions, Eura felt an extreme pain piercing the back of his calf.

Both sides had started charging towards the two demons in the middle. After gaining what balance he could Eura noticed a demonic blade disappearing into his shadow. Eura ducked a battle axe that had swung for his head. Ehlman's attacks were far too slow to worry him, he needed to focus more on the mysterious being attacking him from the shadows. Using what strength he could spare he forced himself to run towards his guild mates.

After covering a little bit of the distance he felt a soothing sensation cover his leg as the wound sealed. Hesa had finally made it within range to cast a spell.

"What just happened?" Rotnam moved between Eura and the charging forces.

Looking around trying to sense the lingering killing intent Eura finally answered, "There is a very strong assassin that can hide in people's shadows."

Everyone immediately became serious. For Eura to call him strong made this assassin a very real threat, this wasn't going to be as easy as they thought.

As they readied themselves for the coming battle Mikax had made himself comfy on the wall. He was sitting with his legs over the edge swinging them back and forth. All the soldiers were giving him a fairly wide berth out of both fear and respect.

The battle had begun and was now in full swing. The three members of The Misfit Toys had adopted a back-to-back approach with Hesa in the middle. She would use what little offensive skills she had to just create space while the other two would defend, block, and counterattack. Eura was constantly on edge trying to find the presence he had felt before. This was stopping him from using his full power.

Suddenly everyone heard the sound of ice shattering behind Hesa. When their eyes had caught up to the noise Eura noticed the demonic blade retreating into another shadow. He hadn't even been able to feel the assassin's presence this time. If it weren't for that timely ice spell intercepting the blade Hesa might have been killed.

Everyone's eyes on the wall were focused on a Mikax who was whistling casually while spinning his handgun. No one had seen him pull the gun from his holster or cast the spell but they felt the mana erupt from his location.

Slowly, the numbers of the small force of demons had dwindled. Mikax had saved Hesa 2 more times but had let Rotnam and Eura both be stabbed 2 and 3 times respectively. Once the assassin had realized only the lady was being fully protected did he stop targeting her. The two men were at a higher level and wore armor meant for close combat, Mikax didn't mind letting them learn the hard way.

Once the trio had finally killed the final demon a shadow emerged from underneath of it. It slowly formed into the shape of a young demonic fox with 3 tails wrapped around his waist. The majority of his face was covered by the shadow of his hood but his ears could be seen thru the holes on top. His head moved to look in the direction that Mikax sat in and without hesitation raised his hand giving him the middle finger.

"Rude." The fox stiffened and did a spinning attack behind him but was shocked when he felt and saw nothing. He glanced back to the wall to see Mikax returning the gesture with a grin on his face. The trio had seen Mikax appear only for a split second so they knew that he was teasing the fox.

Doing his best to ignore the man on the wall the demonic fox regained his composure and pointed his blade at Eura, "I am Zed Asura, do you dare fight me by yourself Demon Lord!"

"First, I'm no longer the demon lord, the fact that you're leading demons that were under my command before is proof of that. Second, the only Asura I have ever heard of was one of my fathers former generals, are you his kid?" Eura did not have the energy to deal with this guy right now. He was mentally strained from being on such high alert for the last 30 mins of combat.

"His name was Meda Asura and he gave his best years to your father only to be chased and hunted like a dog for retiring! A hunt that ended up killing my mother!" Zed was infuriated. His aura was leaking blood lust and killing intent. At this moment he wanted nothing more than revenge.

Eura really didn't know what to do. This was completely irrational by all accounts. He had nothing to do with any of it, he had only been a young boy during that time frame and never had even met Meda.

"Let's go back to the guild hall, this guys lost it." Eura couldn't deal with someone like this, there was no talking things over and fighting him was pointless bloodshed.

As the two men began walking away Hesa instead approached Zed. "I understand your pain, you don't have to shoulder it alone." She then produced one of the recruitment posters that she had been working on from her storage and handed it to him.

The demonic fox quickly read the information on it. As he looked up only then did he notice that all three really were leaving and giving him no face.

Unable to control his anger anymore he charged at Hesa from behind. If they wouldn't fight him fairly then he would just slaughter them as they left. Some revenge is better than no revenge was all he could think about.

Right has his blade was about to plunge into the unsuspecting young woman, a hand grabbed the blade stopping it in its tracks. Next, Zed had felt something hit the side of his head harder than anything he had ever felt before. Before he knew what happened he was falling to the ground his vision going black.