V2 C4 A shimmer of hope

As Eloise killed her opponent, there was but a single thought that invaded her mind: that she must kill as many as possible, no matter the cost.

Her thoughts had long since grown numb to murder, and even as exhausted as her spirit had become from the labyrinth – from both the abnormal situation that always remained her to stay on guard and the stab of pain that went through her heart after losing her loved ones – that would have normally made one thought about oneself, this truth remained not for herself, but for Nirl's villagers.

That's why, no matter what, she would fight till the end. Only then would she – if the worst were to happens – be able to leave this world without regrets. Surely.

As minutes passed, she still holds, creating a pressure that no demons who had even a little intelligence would dare ignore. Her body began to sweats heavily but she remained calm. No, this feeling wasn't calmness, but… liberation? She didn't know how to call or think about it. As she fought, her consciousness became lighter and lighter, and her skills improved – a result that hardly seems logical given the exhaustion she would normally feel as even if she didn't create energy, controlling this quantity should have heavily exhausted her as was her body.

''Brace yourself! As long as we can defeat another one, we can survive! With me!''

Still gripping firmly her sword, she fastened it at the familiar voice. Briefly looking towards the sounds, she saw the heavily wound François charged towards another group leading Cleppe's squadron with a determination that even long-time general would find worthy enough of praise.

At this, her body moved swiftly and unconsciously, taking always care to stay near Nirl's group. Then, the fight continued with them yet affronting another group.

It was a dull, repetitive, almost boring battle. Taking advantage of both their numbers and strength, they easily defeat them, taking as many new recruits as they could – causing some fright from the spectator's groups whose plan was to watch them kill each other before finishing the bloody task.

''This isn't looking good! If we wait for more, there soon won't be any more demons standing! We should go fight them.''

As a demons group said that, all of them began to unite and charged towards them like a proper army – as if they already had an alliance beforehand. This charge wasn't a silent one, though. Deafening noises were now filling the battlefield, proving their might.

A hint of worry began to spread among the humans' force as fear was beginning to freeze their hearts. Eloise too felt that way, though in an extremely limited way that couldn't compare to Nirl's villagers, their bodies trembling as chills were let out.

This was yet another power of a group. Their sheer numbers would not only protect them from dangers but inspired fear in all of their enemies, even if they did nothing but standing there or worse, yelling. And if their morale were to lower, so would their coordination. Not only that, mistakes that shouldn't normally happen would, and their fighting strength would definitely be greatly impacted.

Not waiting for it to happens, François directly gave a few orders, taking always care to give some promising words while always fighting in the first lines – as if proving he knew for sure a path towards victory. And even if some doubts remained, most of them were too busy to think about it, using all of their willpower to fight and survive.

The clash began.

Yelling, they bring forth all of the courage they could muster. Then, without caring for their life, they followed François, striking their enemy with an unbelievable strength that lets little place to defense – something they compensate by fighting till their last breath, even if that means to get up after tens of attacks. Some of them even willingly take blows to disturb their enemy and killed them. Yelling or not, wounded or not, dying or not, all of them had that fire that lives in both their body and eyes, making them seamlessly unstoppable as if they were but a single natural disaster.

But as courageous as they could be, their enemy wasn't lacking motivation either: their life being at stake easily provided it. This wasn't a usual war but an extermination war, a battle without glory – or one only the dead would enjoy – where near 100 % of a group would have to die, most in a gruesome and unfair manner.

As such, their extraordinary motivation was more of a last struggle they could gather than an advantage. This was a scenario that allowed them to only have a chance, in a fight who opposed 220 or so of them – both exhausted and wounded – against a little more than 600 enemies which – if we couldn't abduct their stress – were still in a good shape for most of them.

In such a battle, Eloise's act of constantly defending Nirl's villagers was truly a reckless one and as the battle time was increasing – her allies and enemies constantly falling never to rise again – so were her wounds. But as if she didn't feel anything, she continued the fight at a frightening level. If having the system's energy and new equipment allowed her to roughly have a Knight level, then her stamina, techniques, and willpower now surpass it.

With the battle still raged on, and without notice, a giant hourglass appeared right above the center of the place, its golden sand flowing towards an indistinguishable yet fearful path. But nobody seems to have remarked it yet apart from a demons' group of about 100 people who still hadn't fight.

Time passed, and the battle was progressively becoming a human victory. Still, the losses were insane and of the 220 or so soldiers, only 100 remained alive affronting slightly more than 250 demons. At that time, however, the sand had finished flowing.

Roars covered the ancient zones disturbing the fight. The miserable who looked away had all of their hopes crushed, some falling as they only hold through their will who disappear the moment they saw the diabolic show: Tens of demonic creatures were popping a the seconds, and as time passed, the numbers only increased.

Tens, hundreds… soon, the thousand limit was crossed without its speed decreasing the slightest bit.

This test… were they destined to lose from the very beginning?

''Nothing has changed!'' François exclaimed. ''Our only hope has always ever been the door! As long as we kill them quickly enough, all of us will survive!''