Leith and Auriel take down a demon

Leith whistled as he listened to Satori's briefing. Not only had the demons turned against Tyrael, but Khan had been poisoned. He winced when a demon ran into the column of fire and burnt to ash. It didn't look like it would be a pleasant experience. When Satori asked him to stay and help defend the dining hall, he nodded, and when she told him that a demon was comming his way, he looked around, spotting the large demon quite quickly as it made its way towards him.

At the sight of the demon, Leith's mouth went dry and he felt the blood drain from his face. He started back-pedaling as it started swinging its mace. It had gone on for a few moments before Leith remembered that he had his gauntlet and a sword. He put his dagger back into its sheath, and when the demon made its next swing, instead of taking a step backwards, he dove underneath the weapon and landed by the demon's legs. As quick as he could, Leith brought his arm back and swung the sword at the demon's leg, trying to cut it in half before it attacked again.

That plan didn't work as much as Leith had hoped. He felt resistance in the gauntlet and as soon as he felt it, his arm stopped suddenly, jarring his arm quite terribly. The blade of the sword had sunk into the demon's leg halfway. It roared in pain, and before Leith could figure out what had happened, he was backhanded by the demon. He let go of the sword as he was lifted off his feet and sent across the floor. As he laid on the floor, his head spinning, he watched the demon as it pulled the sword out of its leg and make its way over to him, limping as it did.

This night had only gotten worse for Auriel after she had defeated Zaad with her teachers help. Her axe was embedded in the sand demons shoulder and now thoroughly out of her reach, leaving her with nothing but her long dagger to defend herself from the hordes. She had had to tangle with a few small and fairly weak demons thus far, and though she had defeated them, each one had left its mark. Unlike some in the room, she was not wearing armour, and her bare arms were marked with scratches and slick with blood, both demonic and her own. She had still managed to avoid any injuries worse than being clipped with Zaads magical ranged weapon, but the many minor cuts were beginning to take their toll.

She whipped around from the latest of the small imp-like things she had butchered just in time to see the incredibly pale form of Leith, a hydromancy student she had run into several times, being thrown across the room when a large demon backhanded him. He looked like he'd lost his weapon, and while he looked a bit fresher than she was at this point in the battle, that didn't mean she would leave him to fight the demon alone. It was facing away from her for the moment, and that meant she had the advantage.

Bounding forward quickly on her long legs with her dagger in a reverse grip in her right hand, she once again summoned forth her pyromancy to heat the blade. The fiend was a massive thing that looked like it would hardly notice an attack from such a small weapon, but when that weapon was searing hot it might not shrug it off so easily. As soon as she was in range, she stabbed the dagger into its left side in a quick motion. She did not try for any great depth in the attack so as not to loose the weapon by getting it stuck, merely intending to get its attention and let Leith recover. She leapt back to evade its wild swing at her and stuck her tongue out at it as it turned to face this new foe.

When Leith didn't immediately get up, she realised the battle was gonig to be a little less one sided than she had hoped. After its flailing swing at her with its arm it quickly brought the mace around for a horizontal swipe. It was all she could do to avoid the mace, leaping back jsut barely out of its crushing arc. She hated maces, getting hit by one was far more difficult to shrug off as they tended to break bones even when thy just clipped you. The beast stepped forward and lifted the weapon above its head then, clearly desiring to crush her in one fell blow.

Leith watched as the demon got closer and closer to him. The backhand had given him a ringing in his ears and an inability to see the room around him clearly. He closed his eyes to try and clear his vision. When he opened them, the demon was much closer than he had expected. He held his hands up and braced for a large and painful impact, but when nothing happened, he lowered his hands and looked at the demon. Its back was facing him and it was facing another student, Auriel. He had bumped into her a couple of times, and her direct way of flirting had always caused him to roll his eyes. It seemed that he needed to thank her for saving his life when everything was over.

He tried to pick himself off the ground, but when he did, his vision went black and he noticed that the sounds of the battle had sounded like they skipped. When his vision returned, the demon was in a different place and it had lifted the mace over its head with both hands. He got up and took a few staggerd steps towards the demon. When he was close enough. He jumped up and grabbed the mace above the demon's hands and planted his feet on its back before attempting to pull the mace away from the demon. The demon gave a grunt of surprise and started pulling the mace away. Leith's eyes widened in when he felt the pulling in his arm. The demon was definitely strong. He struggled to pull the mace from the demon. He looked at Auriel from over the demon's shoulder and gave her a slightly amused look.

"Think you could give me a hand?"

Auriel had been ready to jump to the side of the strike that would no doubt crush both her and make a large dent in the stone floor when the demon suddenly let out a grunt of surprise. The mace never fell though, and it wasn't long before she noticed the reason - Leith was clinging to the things shoulders and somehow matching its strength. She had to admit it was rather impressive, she hadn't thought he was either as brave or strong. When he looked down and asked her for help, she had to resist the urge to chuckle at the comedic scene. It was still a battle after all. With the thing stuck holding its arms in the air, she had free reign to strike wherever she liked. Heated dagger in hand, she darted close to its side and slashed at the vulnerable muscles in its arm, cutting deep, nicking the bone just barely. The blade insantly cauterized the wound, but that arm would be useless now without its muscle to move it. The beast gave a cry of pain and kicked towards, remaining precariously balanced on one foot, but she was able to leap back unharmed.

When Auriel rushed at the demon, Leith readied himself for whatever happened. The demon's grip loosened on the mace when its arm was cut, making the tug-of-war more evenly matched. Leith breathed a sigh of relief. He was starting to lose the battle before the thing's arm was cut. He still wasn't having any luck pulling the mace from its hands, though. As he looked around his immeadite area for something to use to his advantage, he got an idea. He leaned as far back as he could without sacrificing his grip to take a look at the wounded leg of the demon, which it had used to kick at Auriel. It looked nowhere near as deep as it had been when Leith cut it, but it was still bleeding.

With a small gesture of his left hand, he pulled what blood he could see from the wound to near his hand. When he had pulled a small handfull, he forced it inside the demon's grip and moved it around, which made his head throb painfully. He then bent his kness and jumped off the demon's back, pulling the mace through the demons slick hands and with him. His vision blurred as he landed awkwardly on the ground. When it somewhat cleared, he noticed that the demon had taken a few steps away from both him and Auriel, and was glancing at both of them. With a few wobbly steps, he made his way over to the wood elf, the demon's mace in his hand. He took a couple of deep breaths when he stopped. He was starting to tire out. With a small glance at Auriel, he spoke.

"You go high, and I go low?"

Auriel watched with an impressed expression on her face as Leith wrestled the mace from the demons hands, probably with the help of magic, even as she kept well out of the way of the beast in case a flailing limb sent her flying.

She grinned at his questioning statement and quickly replied "I do love to be on top." With that she winked at him and leapt up onto the table next to her, running nimbly around the scattered remains of tablewear and dinner. When she was alongside the lumbering behemoth of a demon she leapt from the table and onto its broad shoulders, stabbing the knife down into its chest through the thick hair that cascaded from beneath its helmet. The demons skin was tough and the blade rarely penetrated far, but Auriel kept stabbing at it with the ferociousness of a wild animal, caught in up in the exhiliration of battle and the promise of victory.

Leith rolled his eyes at Auriel's comment. "Glad to know that there's always a time for dirty mind." He watched as Auriel jumped up onto the table and made her way towards the demon quickly. When she jumped onto the demon and started stabbing it, Leith started making his way over to the demon. He was glad that the demon was too preoccupied with trying to get Auriel off to notice him. When he got within swinging distance of the demon, it noticed him and kicked out at him. He grunted as he jumped out of the way, which made his head spin. Pushing through the feeling of the world around him spinning, Leith swung the mace at the demon's supporting leg as hard as he could.

With a loud crunch, the its leg broke at the knee and sagged inwards. Leith felt nauseated at the sight, and took a step back as the demon started to fall backwards.

A loud crack reached Auriels ears right before she began to feel the thing she was clinging to begin to fall. With a shriek she let go, falling to the ground behind it, her dagger still stuck in its chest. The bulk was bearing down on her, and for a moment she thought she was done for. Crushed to death by a falling body - hardly a dignified way to go. Before she could be ended by such misfortune, she began to roll. Rolling as fast as she could to the side, she only stopped when she hit the nearby table leg, feels more than hearing the body of the big demon hitting the ground next to her. Slightly dizzy and nearing exhaustion, she scrambled to her feet, using the table as support. The pain of the many small wounds she had suffered this night was becoming harder to ignore and she looked over at Leith as if to tell him to finish the job. She would retrieve her weapon whent he thing was dead.

When Leith heard the shriek before the demon hit the ground, he had thought that Auriel had been crushed by the demon. He felt a momentary sense of loss before he noticed her getting up beside a table. She looked like she was nearing the end of her rope. He was starting to as well. The adrenaline rush from the fight was starting to wear off. He started walking towards the demon. As he neared the demon, which was pulling itself away from him, he remebered that Satori said something about taking the heads from the demons to keep them from returning. He swung the mace at the demon's abdomen. There was another crunch as the spiked weapon hit the demon and stuck. It gave a wet sounding grunt of pain.

Leith searched for the sword that he had let go of and found it not far from where the demon fell. He picked it up and made his way back to the demon, and with one last swing, detached its head from it's body. He switched the sword over to his left hand. It was hefty, but it was manageable. He picked up the head by the hair, not wanting to misjudge his grasp and destroy the head. He then walked over the the pile of heads in that had accumulated in the center of the dining hall and deposited the one he held onto the top. He then took a few steps away from the pile, dropped to his knees, and violently voided the contents of his stomach.

Auriel looked away as Leith cut the things head off. She had seen beheadings before, but that didn't mean she wanted to see more. She looked away again when Leith started throwing up. That was not a pleasant thing to watch. She hoped his stomach would get stronger, otherwise future battles might end just as unpleasantly. Once the sound had stopped, she picked up a jug of water that had somehow managed to stay upright and full on the table despite the battle and walked around the corpse of the demon, handing it to Leith. She then leaned awkwardly over the thing to reach her dagger, slowly working it out of the flesh, a task made more difficult now that the blade was cooling.

Collab: Lucius, Luna and Ryonara

Although the Dinning Hall was well defended, the sheer number of demons invading would occasionally cause a break in the defenses, forcing the defenders to move back and take out the demons for the next wave arrived. This current wave managed to get a few slasher demons. They were fairly fragile as far as demon durability went (Meaning that a guard could slay one himself if he fights smart) but they were most dangerious because of their speed and sharp rending claws, which would make even the guards steel armor useless. Three of the slasher demons broke in, killing five guardsmen. The rest tried to fight back, but blocking was useless against them. One guard learned this when she tried to charge at a slasher demon with her sword and shield, but her shield and sword was cut in half with a swipe from the demon. She fell to the ground and screamed out as the demon raised his claw up to kill the guard.

Colette, who was walking around the campus, stopped when she heard the scream of a female coming from nearby. Concerned and curious she ran swiftly towards the spot where the noise was coming from. Once her marron eyes landed on the sight she grew disgusted at the creature before her. 'What in the world is that? she thought with completely disgust. Seeing the creature about to land another attack on the poor girl, she ran at it and jumped on it, holding its neck with her small but strong hands distracting it so the guard could get away.. She struggled as it began to fight back against her but she managed to keep her grip her eyes darkening with deep fustration and anger seeing she wasn't even close to killing it wih her bare hands but since she left her trusty bats at her dorm room, she had no choice but to fight back herself.

The demon was about to strike the killing blow when he felt something wrap around his neck. He did not exect any mortal to be able or even willing to try to do something like this, and he began to flail his body around to get rid of the vampire. He managed to get his hands on Colette and threw her off of him, coughing a lot due to the fact that she nearly snapped his neck. The other two Slasher Demons took notice of Colette and began to approach her, seeing her as the biggest threat so far.

She narrowed her eyes bitting her lip knowing she was trapped, but before they could get her she felt something telling her to call out for an ally and just as they were close enough she did so and managed to summon a small bat demon that dove straight for the enemies biting them each. Colette looked shock at the sight and looked at her hands as the bat continued to fight aganst the enemies. Seeing a chance to get to the guard, she took it and ran to the wounded guard helping her up being carefully to not josile her too much and cause more pain. "Hang in there I will get you out of here okay!" she said to girl.

The Slasher Demons were once more caught off guard when the vampire girl managed to summon a demon of her own. Granted, it wasn't a very big or even particully strong demon. It was a bat demon, but aside from being agressive it wasn't even all that different from a normal bat. Still it was annoying, causing the demons to try to kill it, but to no anvil. It was much to small and fast for their claws to actually hit it. During the confused flailing, one of the Slasher Demons actually ended up killing another Slasher Demon, when an attempt to catch the bat cause the demon to cut it's ally from shoulder to waist. This made the remaining two demons turn their attention back towards Colette, remembering who the real threat was.

The bat continued to battle them and bit one of the slasher demons hard to cause its fangs to go deep into its enemy. Colette continued to watch her ally battled against the two with bewilderness and curiosity at the sight. 'What the...How is a bat suppose to win this battle....How the heck did I summon it....? She thought almost getting lost in her thoughts but mentally slapped herself and pay more attention to the battle. Seeing the slasher demons somewhat distracted she took her chance to get the wounded guard out of danger. Once she was a good few yards away from the battle site she set her down carefully before returning in case the bat needed some help from her.

When the Slasher Demons began to walk towards one of the students who had rescued the guards, a flash of green shot across one of the demons. One of the demons was on the ground, a foot shaped mark on it's head. Meirin stood between the demons and the other student armed with her three sectional staff. "You have to get away quickly! I'll handle this!" The demon swiped at Meirin, but she charged forward and underneath it's claws. Spinning her weapon to gain momentum, she slammed one side into the demon's face, causing visible damage. but it wasn't quite dead yet as it kicked Meirin away. She braced herself quickly enough that she was able to block the kick, but it still sent her flying. she landed on her feet no worse for wear, right next to Colette.

Meirin's never seen this girl before. For a moment she almost mistook her as Satori due to her bright pink hair, but since it wasn't the Psychomancy teacher Meirin simply looked at the girl. "It's too dangerious for you right now, you should head back with the other students while we take care of this." Though to be honest, they needed all the help they could get. Ssarak was busy fighting his own battles right now and Meirin herself just barely managed to get away from a tight spot. Meirin was a bit wounded, bleeding heavidly from scars on her arms and legs.

Colette looked at Merlin confused. 'Who is that and why is she telling me to run....No way am I backing down'. she thought narrowing her eyes slightly. "Heh I won't back down from a fight." she said before turning her head back to the battle noticing the swords at the slasher demons waist. "Hey you...I think I know how we can defeat them." She said looking to Merlin.

Better sense would have made Meirin tell the girl she needed to go, but right now the girl didn't want to flee. She was either brave or foolish, but either one could help her now. Meirin got into a fighting stance as the demons made their way towards the two, getting ready for two deadly attacks when the girl told her how they could defeat the demons. Meirin figured that bashing them around with her staff ought to do the trick, but she supposed if the girl had an idea they ciould go for it. She'd need to be fast though. "What are you thinking?"

"See those swords those things have." she pointed to them as her bat continued to fight biting the other one. "While my...bat ally, I am guessing what it is, continues to fight and distract them we can use those swords to finish them off." Colette said as the plan continue to form as if it was a movie. "We need to finish this fight now before someone comes by and gets hurt as well." she said the blood smell begining to give her headache and she rubbed her head, a sure sign she had a headache. Slowly she got closer to the enemies and took the sword she saw and stabbed the one that her bat ally was not battling right in the head.

Looking at the swords the girl pointed out, Meirin figured that she had a point, obvious as it was. Meirin's plan was always to kill the demons before they managed to hurt others, though now she did regret breaking her hook swords on that other demon before. Blades seem to be most effective against these demons even though they themselves had very sharp claws. Before Meirin could act the girl already left ot stab one of the demons in the head. "She has guts I'll give her that..." Meirin looked at the sword she could take. While the girl's bat distracted the slasher demon, Meirin threw her three-sectional staff at it. The slasher demon saw this and cut the staff into four seperate parts but missed Meirin, who had picked up the sword and jumped up to stab it in the head.

Try as they might to ignore the bat, the Slasher Demons couldn't ignore the bat's poisonous bites. Even though it could hardly bite deep enough to make them bleed, it still hurt a lot. They at least made sure to stay far away from each other so they didn't kill one another like before, but thanks to seperating they couldn't watch each othe'rs backs. One of the demons was blind sided by Colette after her bat had fled from him, and before he could react he had a sword go through his head. His body went limp and fell to the ground, dead. The other Slasher demon became to claw feriouscouly all around, and in his wild slashing he managed to destory Meirin's staff weapon. But like the other demon, he too was blind sided by Meirin and got stabbed in the head, falling dead on the floor.

With the three demons dead the college guard could go back to securing the entrances of the Dinning Hall. The guardswoman that Colette saved stopped by to thank her and gave her a small ether to restore her magics, before she went back with the other guards to help defend the Dinning Hall.

When it seemed like the demons were killed, Meirin looked down at her broken staff. Now all she had was some of the guardsmen weapons and her own daggers. She looked around for some other weapon she could use and traded her sword for a steel spear. It was a bit heavier and longer than what she was used too, but it won't be too hard for her to adapt. Meirin looked over to the other girl who helped her kill the Slasher Demons with new found respect. Meirin thought the girl would be too soft to be of any help, but Meirin was wrong. walking over to her the red-haired woman bowed. "Sorry for trying to order you around a little while ago. I didn't think you were a fighter. Nice job. My name is Meirin Kurenai."

"It's alright I dont look much iike a fighter with my victorian looking dress, perhaps I should use some cloth in in my room to make something...I don't have more up to today's fashion." she said pointing her bloody stained dress as her bat ally landed on her shoulder making her pause in what she was going to say and look at it. She smiled and turned her head to Merlin. "I am Colette nice to meet you and you are a good fighter to."

Certainly a strange girl, but the college had a way of attracting all sorts of unique people. "Thanks. Anyways, we should get ready for the next attack; seems like there's no end to these demons..." Sure enough outside the dinning hall more demons were on their way, and the guardsmen were slowly dwindling down. Meirin took a deep breath and began to move her arms, legs, and body in a methotical fasion, even though she was holding her spear. She was using one of her Vitamancy Weaving magic; a simple spell that would mend some of her lighter wounds. Her cuts were healed and she stopped bleeding, but once she dance was over her breath was heavy. Even though the dance was suppose to heal her, it did nothing to restore the blood lost to cast it. It was a bit of a double edge sword in that regard. "Anyways... Let's... Let's get going..." Meirin's voice was panting but determined. She wasn't about to let a little blood sickness slow her down.

Colette nodded somewhat annoyed about the non stop demons but quickly got over it. [i]'Oh well better get used to it.'[/it] She thought as they headed towards the dining room where most of the fighting was at. "Where are all these things coming from?" She muttered as she looked around the dinning hall.

As the two girls went back to battle, another wave of demons were on their way. Fearsome demons, some of the best amongst them. There was a total of twenty-six in the group, and they were sent to break the guardsmen line and open a path for the demons to come in. By now the Dinning Hall was fitted with a little under three hundred guardsmen, even spread out to make sure no side was weaker than the other. But many were injured or weakened, and they had very few healers between all of them. But not all was lost yet; the current demonic wave was indeed the best they had, and should they fail to break the line the demon horde would be stuck with their fairly generic demons who relied soley on brute strength, and their leader. With the elites dead the demons would be heavidly demoraltized, allowing for a proper counter attack to drive off the rest of the horde.

The fighting seemed to die down for a time in the dinning hall. They had managed to drive the demons out, but now came the task of defending it. The guards seemed to have set up defensive lines at the entrances to the hall, looking something like retrofitted hoplites with their spear walls. It seemed to be working for a time, but the guardsmen were tiring, the fatigue from battle quickly catching up with them as they fought. With every one demon that threw itself on the defenses two more followed behind. Every so often the demons would break through and resume the rampage through the hall. But before i could get too far back it would meet its end by either a student, a teacher or a guardsmen's hand.

One of these groups of demons was just being finished of by a small force of students and gaurdsmen. The demons had not been the most powerful, only having broken through with pure numbers, once they were through the breach and they spread out they lost a bit of their advantage. They were able to kill them off one by one only taking minimal casualties in the fight much to their luck, for they would need to make use of every capable fighter to defend the hall.

Deven and Jenna had joined up with a group of guardsmen who were jumping between the defensive lines mopping up any demons that broke through. The latest of this put up some fight, not so much with skill but with numbers. They left their mark on the group of defenders just as every group of demons had before them. It seemed to have fallen down to a battle of attrition at this point, and this battle the defenders would surely loose. The demons, from memory, had the numbers to keep throwing weaker demons at them and whittle down their defenses. They would not hold for ever, unless something changed.

---

"Fucking demon!" Deven growled as he stomped on the head of one of the now fallen demons. "Go back to the inferno where you belong!" He added, his abuse of the demon's body doing little to quell the fire that burned in him. His eyes bore into the demon's lifeless body containing such a immeasurable amount of hate and pain with no small amount of fear laying below. Old emotions were brought back into light bringing out a side of Deven he would much rather keep hidden away. His resentment for demons and any associated with their kind was already higher then most, this, only served to tip him over the edge. He wouldn't be content unless every demon here was slain were they stood, in the most grueling way possible, but even that would not serve to make amends for what they had done here and before.

When things began to calm an increased clarity of all the damage the demons had done came with it. Deven's calm demeanor he had taken up during the opening fight had melted away when he saw everything the demon's had done. During the fight he had watched the demons claim some of the lives, but his drive to fight to survive and the immediate threat on both his and Jenna's survival had kept him focused and his head for the most part clear. But now, there was no immediate threat on his or Jenna's life, they were safe for a time and he could not stop the rage from swelling within him.

"Deven." A voice said from in front of him.

Slowly he lifted his eyes from the demons lifeless corpse to see Jenna standing before him. Blood coated her in many parts of her body, some of it her own and some of it not. Her clothes had large stains of crimson dotting it and her cloak was long gone, her hair had clumped together in places from both sweat and blood. All over her arms were scratches and cuts from the many demons they had encounter across her stomach lay the slash from the two demons they had fought sometime ago. She had been forced to focus her healing efforts on only threatening and inhibiting wounds, leaving many of the smaller cuts and scratches open. She had not been able to heal these large wounds by far but had managed to close them, yet she was left winded by the effort.

Deven's own body showed the signs from the fighting. His helmet was dented from when he had been struck with the blunt of a demons sword. His chest plate was decorated with dozens of slash and claw marks some digging deeper then other while even fewer actually breaking through. One his side was the wound he had sustained in the same fight Jenna had taken hers. The armor going up his arms showed just as much if not more marks then that of his chest plate. Across his armor splatters of crimson darkened his dark silver armor. Through the slit of his helm his grim eyes were set gazing forward looking like that of a soldier's caught in a never ending battle.

"Don't waste your energy on the dead ones. Save it for those that can actually do some damage." Jenna said stepping towards him and pulling his shoulder forward. "Come on. Some Slasher demons broke through at one of the defensive lines. We need to go help." She continued pushing Deven onward. He nodded his head in response and followed her push.

"Sorry, your right. Lets go, the longer we take the more people can get hurt." He said, his tone grim and far from what it once had been when they walked this great dinning hall.

---

When the fighting died down and Deven's attitude changed so did Jenna's. She had taken the chance to finally get her head on her shoulders again, no longer was she cowing in fear and struggling to will herself forward to fight a demon. The sight of the dead and the wounded gave her a will to protect those that were still standing and filled her with a sense of purpose that was more then to just purely her own survival. She wanted to make sure as many people as she possibly could survived this night. When they managed to push back the demons her dwindling hope was sparked anew again and with each demon death that followed her hope that they may have finally turned things around was strengthened.

But her new found drive came as a double edged sword, she had found her will to fight but with each defender that fell she felt a great pain a their loss each one struck her as her failure to help them. But with each loss she would push harder and fight harder as to try and stop more from meeting the same fate.

She nodded towards Deven as he began moving towards the breach. Many of the guardsmen from their group were already far ahead so their was a chance they would not even need to fight the demons, instead the demons may already be dead by the time they got there. Jenna had managed to scavenge a decent amount of arrows from fallen guardsmen and soldiers which she put to deadly use, in truth she was thankful for finally getting her hands on a bow and arrows, she was much more effective with a bow than a sword and many of the guardsmen were thankful too for at times a well timed and placed arrow had saved a guards life and claimed that of a demons.

---

Soon the pair arrived just in time to see two students finish off the small group of claw demons. Both Deven and Jenna only barely recognized one of the students having seen the girl hanging around Ssarak earlier in the night before all things went to the inferno. The demons seemed to fall easy enough, having been distracted with what seemed like a bat of some type. Once the students finished off their opponents they made there way towards the defensive line. Just as Deven and Jenna were about to turn and head for a new defensive line they heard a shout from the spear wall.

"Incoming! We have a large group of demons coming this way! We're going to need some back up!" Shouted the voice from somewhere in the lines. Cries of despair rang out from points in the lines. Deven and Jenna both flashed each other worried looks, they had no way of seeing over the line of soldiers so they had no idea just what was coming for the their defensive line.

Deven's eyes skimmed around the area before settling on a nearby overturned table. He sheathed his sword and jogged over towards it. "Over here." He said as he reached the table tipping it back upright before pushing it closer to the lines.

Jenna catching on to what he was doing ran forward and hopped onto the table just as Deven brought it to a stop. Once she was on she turned her gaze towards the approaching defensive lines now able to see over the majority of the guardsmen in the defensive position. With the new vantage point she was able to see just what was coming for them. Jenna's heart dropped to her knees as she watched the oncoming group of menacing demons.

"By the gods..." She said almost under her breath. Just as she did Deven climbed up onto the table to see for himself. As he did he immediately understood just why the guardsmen had cried out as they had. "We are going to need a lot more to defend from that..." He said his tone grim.

---

Deven turned and looked back as to try and spy one of the teachers. "We need some more help for this. We are going to be in for one hell of a fight if we do this on our own." He said quietly as the group of guardsmen they were traveling with joined into the ranks of the defensive line. "Someone! Go find the teachers! We are going to need their help for this." Deven shouted as he turned his head back to the defensive line. Once done shouting he quickly turned his head back to Jenna, "Whittle those demonic bastards down with every arrow you have, anything you can do to hurt or kill them will help in the long run." He said before looking back to the guardsmen. "If you have a bow or skill with a bow now is the time to use it! Get to a vantage point and put some arrows in those bastards!" Shouted Deven before he hopped down off the table.

We need something. Something to help slow them down or at least hurt them. He thought to himself as his eyes scanned around the area for anything they could use to help them fight these demons. Then he spotted it, what once had served as a spot to refill your drinks, it had a collection of barrels all containing different alcoholic beverages. Deven rushed over towards the barrels quickly scanning over their labels looking for one he knew would work well for his plan. Then he found it, Dragon Spite a gift from Yarsomere and something that to his knowledge should ignite when coming into contact with fire.

Deven looked towards the defending guardsmen, "Someone help me over here! I have an idea!" He shouted, hoping someone would come to help. Once done he turned back towards the job at hand. He stepped towards the barrel and wrapped both his arms around it and lifted it up, he then turned and set the barrel on the ground before looking back toward the other barrels. Behind most of the barrels was a even larger keg, much larger then his whole body, its label read "pure alcohol". Deven was bewildered as to why the college would have pure alcohol out but he just pushed the thought out, Now is not the time to question the colleges choices in alcoholic beverages! he scolded himself. [I]If we could get our hands on that barrel, we could do a hell of a lot more. But we'll need some serious muscle to get it rolling.[i] He thought to himself as he looked the barrel over.

---

Mean while, atop Jenna's table she was repeatedly nocking arrows before letting them loose towards the approaching Demons. Her primary targets at this time were the claw demons, their quick movements made them rather difficult to hit, but she was a skilled archer and managed to land a few arrows before another target crept into her ire, the Fallen Sorcerer. She nocked an arrow and aimed for the Sorcerer, "Get out of our College you son-of-a-bitch." She said angrily before letting the arrow fly, it whizzed through the air heading towards the Sorcerer. With grace her right hand moved to retrieve another arrow from her quiver before nocking it, pulling back the string and letting it fly towards the mage.

Dirssi, Haklo, and Liam (EliteCommander, WitchChild, and Frettzo)

---

Dirssi wanted to give chase to the creature which emerged from the husk of the masked demon, but the arrival of three more demons of another type stopped her. As they moved around them, they changed in size an shape, though none were as tall as Dirssi, at least at the moment. They all had gaping, toothed maws and clawed arms, making them appear quite deadly.

Since these demons also had masks, Dirssi guessed they might be their weakness as well, so once again, she disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind one. She sank her blade into what passed for the creature's head into its mask, but all that seemed to happen was that both the mask and her blade sunk into its amorphous body. Pulling on her sword, she found that she did not have the strength to remove it alone, so thinking quickly, she used her other hand to rapidly decay its head, freeing her blade. The top quarter of its body had essentially disintegrated, but as she backed away, she saw that it all reformed as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, the other two were surrounding the Human male. If her own decay could not harm them, then what chance did he stand of killing them?

---

While both warriors fought, both foxmen watched and placed bets. Liam had nearly won the first one, but life didn't want him to earn some easy money. Their bet placing was ground to a halt when suddenly they heard loud shifting right behind them.

It was a demon. Short, thin and presumably as strong as both Liam and Luna, it stood there. The foxmen stared at the demon, and the demon stared at them, a hairless eyebrow raised in a questioning manner. Liam smiled awkwardly and looked everywhere but at the demon, while Luna's eyes were peeled open, pupils shrinked and eyebrows raised in silent surprise.
The demon yelled. The foxmen screamed in terror and flailed their arms. They pushed each other around in accident as they tried to escape the stall and avoid the demon.

---

As the two amorphous demons were bearing down upon the Human, Dirssi, teleported herself directly behind him, into his shadow. Two spiked arms were already striking out towards him when she grabbed him around the waist and lifted them both off the ground, narrowly avoiding their attacks. Her wings could not carry the armored human for long, so she set down a short distance away, which happened to place them in the path of two fox-people, who by the looks of them were also students. Students who could not fight, to be specific, not that it mattered. If weapons did nothing to these demons, and they were novices, then it would be best if they were simply out of the way.

"If you want to live, you'll get out of here. Let me deal with these pests; I will make sure you are not followed, trust me." Dirssi said in a commanding tone while they just looked alarmed. The three amorphous demons were spreading out to surround them, but Dirssi was thinking more on how to kill them than on how to avoid being killed. Since her blade was useless, the sheathed it to focus solely on her magic.

---

Haklo had a small concussion after the violent roll he was forced to make when the demon threw him off his back. His armor was scraped after rolling and he took a bit of time to get the spinning away from his head and his lunch in his stomach. He was greeted with the sight of the mask demon retreating and three others replacing it. Haklo knew that he would not be able to stand alone againt them. However, he bared his sword, looking back and forth between the approaching demons until he felt himself getting lifted off the ground. He paniced at first, struggling in the esyire's grip before he noticed that she was taking him away from the demons and to safety.

He looked around and saw the two fox men and then looked over at the esyire. He did not know her power but getting out of danger was the outmost goal of his at the moment. "Come on, you two. Let's get inside. Can't be worse than facing those" He said to the two foxes, his voice sounding a little like it was inside of a bucket due to the helm. The glowing visor looked back at he amorphous demons and he headed straight into the collage building once more, sword in hand and ready to be wielding in a two handed grip.

---

The two foxmen weren't idiots apparently. Liam and Luna had run out blindly towards the man who had spoken to them and had, thanks to who-knows-what, lived enough to reach the man. They were mad with fear, but slowly they regained their wits.

"I thought we wouldn't be so-" Liam gasped for air, "scared! Damn, I need some fun right now, Luna."

"Tell me..." He gasped as well, "about it... Geez... Freaking demons..."

---

Dirssi waved for the others to run before advancing at the three amorphous demons. Two seemed focused on her, but the last split off left after the students. It was annoying, but not unexpected. Just as she entered one of the demons' shadows, she teleported directly in front of the one chasing the students. Immediately, she let out a burst of decay magic in front of her with both hands. It tore two large holes through its body, along with a third after she hit it another time, but each one began to reform. She dashed back with the assistance of her wings to evade its claws, but was unable to counterattack before the other demons were upon her as well.

Dirssi could feel some effects from the use of her magic, but she was still capable of fighting. Dodging the fast moving arms of one of the demons was difficult, so three at once would have been impossible without the ability to teleport. She continued to decay the beasts in different spots, trying to find some weak point in them. She had never head of any creature or demon that could not be killed, so all that needed to be done was for her to find a way to harm them. One of the demons eventually guessed right on where she would end up through a teleport and scraped a spiked arm across her chest. The force of it did manage to cut through her scaled armor, but it put up enough resistance to prevent the gash from being threatening. Dirssi teleported away, ending up atop a statue of a gargoyle on the side of a nearby building. She showed seeming no reaction to her wound, instead focusing her gaze on the demons beneath her. An idea formed in her mind, causing her to use a small amount of decay magic on the statue before flying down straight at the trio.

Dashing to the side just before reaching them, she managed to hit one directly down the center from above with a burst of decay magic, but after landing behind them and turning to face them, she saw that, once again, it had survived. With a visibly frustrated look on her face, she let out a low growl, collected shadows around herself, and charged once again at the trio. She blended in almost perfectly with the shadows, so it was near impossible to see her, but with three of them slashing at any movement, it seemed one of them had finally found their mark. The shadows dissipated with Dirssi holding her arm over her stomach and stumbling away until she had backed herself up against a wall. The first of the demons to spot her immediately rushed at her with its gaping maw wide open, ready to consume her. It had grown itself in size, so it took up nearly all of her field of view by the the time it was upon her. Dirssi, however, showed no fear, and merely cracked a smile.

Almost predictably, Dirssi once again teleported away, this time straight up to a spot above the same statue from before. She landed on it with enough force to break it away from the building, since she had weakened it before. Just as she wanted, the large stone gargoyle crashed directly onto the demon beneath before it had a chance to move, and, more importantly, it did not seem to be reforming. Dirssi landed in the open, her body unwounded apart from the single minor gash on her chest. "Now, let us end this."

Gods in Ivellios

The four Gods watched the unclaimed pieces die and crumbled into death within the college grounds. Their bodies fell into growing piles from the demons' weapons as Gaurot's domain went to work, their once living energies swirled and danced off the board where they separated into their components. Sins shifted into the Inferno while the souls were tossed into the pit. It was a very old process that no longer truly needed the Gaurot's presence to complete it. However it wasn't the gloomy display that had caught the four Gods's attention but the actual life and death struggle within the college. Demons, mortal's fellow toys of the divine, slashed then hacked down guard, student, and more alike as the mortals attempted to defend their home.

Each God sought out his or her 'favorite' when the chaos had began. Either to see the pawn's victory or failure, their mettle proven in the battle field of a usual peaceful scene around this time of year. Ren's face gave little away to his inner thoughts as he watched his own pawn's, the feisty red haired Wood Elf, conflict first against Khan's demon then with a fellow student took out more. It wasn't her victory over Khan's tool which had impressed the God but her ability to cooperate, his mind pushed aside his lingering doubts she had even reached her full potential. It was then he noticed Duuri's current mood and posture.

The red haired Goddess had her arms crossed over the table, her bottom lip out in a slight pout and seemed fixed upon the infirmary. After a moment or two, she edged a finger out to touch her chosen toy, her figure fallen into a heap. Without warning, Ren's hand snapped out and took hold of Duuri's wrist and stopped her finger just inches from contact with the half breed's head.

"Duuri, no..." Ren spoke in a calm voice, his fingers tightened against his sister's attempt to interfere.

Her eyes looked at him with childish guilt as both voices spoke, one outraged inside his head and the other curious. "Why? I just want to give her a little boost." 'Back off Ren, this is none of your business! She's my pawn, I'll do as I like!'

Ren's hand tightened, his patience prevented him from hurting her any farther before he reminded her the consequence of her would be actions. "You know the rules. Besides, the last you... had aided with your power, you drove him insane. It's bad enough your gifts are both a blessing and a curse but thankfully only a few have been discovered. I rather you don't add more trouble then what's there."

Xiah's light hearted chuckle broke any farther argument from Duuri, the two's head turned to see the reason for the mirth from the Lust Goddess. In her currently form, she had a full figure and white hair coiled up into a small bun, pinned to the back of her head as she held her hand to stifle her amusement. When she spotted Ren's warning glance she rolled her eyes. "What did you expect Ren? She picked such a freak of nature that's little wonder she fell short of expectations and risked everything to protect another little freak. You should've chosen better my little, naive sister."

Duuri frowned and abruptly pulled her hand from her brother's grip, her cheeks puffed in a slight temper at her sister. "Xiah, take it back! Stop teasing my pawn!"

"As if, Duuri. The Foreas is much prettier then yours any day and far superior. Mine after wasn't stupid enough to nearly kill herself." Xiah continued to bait, her lips curled up in a smile and played with her nails.

"No, Xiah. Yours just had help from the Noxomancer, didn't she?" Aarem's voice spoke out against Xiah's taunting as he seemed to have appeared from no where. His form stepped from the table and pulled behind her, his eyes seemed to be cold and the usual pleasantness filled them. Xiah froze in place at the sound of his voice, her eyes turned back to glimpse him there. He looked a bit like a cat toying with a mouse in his claws, he scanned from her to Duuri then finally Ren. "Then again, this is what happens when Divinity, even pitiful minor deities, interfere with the world."

Ren's expression narrowed upon his brother. "What are you saying, Aarem?"

Aarem lips turned into a greasy smile with his coated words. "Merely the fact things didn't go to shit until those wretch Naga Goddesses became involved. Even now they slither free like rats without punishment for disrupting our game... My little pawn too weak to return to his old ways or he would've finished off the child killer in the most pleasant of ways."

"But he didn't, Aarem. And this doesn't seem like the three Minor Goddesses work. It doesn't involve their future or one of their own. It would make no sense." Ren defended against the thoughts he suspected swirled within his brother's head. Gently, he pushed past Duuri and came face to face with Aarem. The two Goddesses fell eerily silent at the tense between the pair, their faces each reflected their opinion until finally Aarem broke it.

"Very well brother... But keep in mind I will not be walked on forever. The bitches interfere again then I will ensure they suffer dearly. Make that clear the next time you visit them, won't you?"

Slowly Aarem turned away and walked off alone, the other three left to watch the mayhem still rampant in the College.

Ovak: Archmage

~---Minutes before Norschtalen entered---~

The room, unlike the rest of the College, was dead silent. Seemingly oblivious to the death which bathed the stones and was soaked by the school's dying allies, the air was still in a eerie calmness shared only by its sole occupant: the Archmage. The once proud man, a strong and intimated mage, was propped against the many pillows and covered by several mix match fur blankets across the bed. A fragile figure was completely shrouded within the velvet drapes. They hung from a rod connected to each of the four posts in each corner, their stout body carved in a braided and twisted design all the way up into a claw foot. Light illuminated from several handcrafted candles and pyromancy runes that settled on to twin table beside him. They filled the room with a faint glow, one that barely spread a foot outwards and grew dimmer with the distance. At the side and leading to the balcony was the glass window paneled doors that sealed out the bitter chill, it's frosty touch danced upon the surface creating a beauty only unique to nature. The frame made from a firewood, origins unknown, which had curved to firmly twine about each rectangular plate.

Far too quickly the serenity was shattered when the door flew open. A vampire, Norschtalen, then darted through and toward the balcony as her hasten steps cause the age figure's eyes to snap open. Bright blue, they studied the young creature that dared to intrude rudely into the Archmage's room and disrupt his needed rest. Slowly he examined the power which radiated off her, the vampire's attention bluntly unaware of his presence when she ripped open the door and walked out. Blood mixed with the winter air after Norschtalen bite her thumb, her back turned to the Archmage while she spoke.

"Poor, petty mortals. Your struggle will be the siren's song of the college...A new age will unfold. No gods. No Masters. Only Kudd."

The Archmage's eyes sparked at the mention of the name, his body pulled to rise from his bed. A withered hand raised as vines grew from the firewood frame and slither about the stone floor until it reached him. The wood cracked and formed into a staff he used to support himself, his voice rang out when he rose to his feet. "He's only merely using you for his own gains, young vampire. Deception is one of his greatest skills and one he's had plenty of time to perfect."

Ovak's eyes glowed alongside his tattoos, his magic activated to show he was on the defensive. If Kudd's servant tried anything then she would find his own magic far more formidable as it would both null hers and then send the vampire straight out the window.

Haklo entered the collage once more as he left the Esyrie woman to fend off the amorphous demons by herself. He was met with a smaller demon when he entered and with a two handed strike he swung his sword hard down it's shoulder, severing arteries and breaking bones. The blade went in deep enough so that it was actually hard to yank out. The demon, shrieking and flailing, tried to go at him with it's claws,, hitting his helmeted face hard enough to make him roll with the strike. He placed a foot on the demon's chest and pushed it away while pulling the sword out of it's shoulder. When he got his balance, he grabbed the sword by the blade and raised it with both hands before sending it down to the fallen demon, the straight crossguard piercing the demon's skull and killing it. With that, he took the sword again by the grip and proceeded down the hall.

The nobleman met a pair of demons who had decided to take a break and were feasting on the entrails of a poor student. The student was a young man, very young, with his face marred by a trio of scars that rand from ear to hear, his nose torn and hanging by a string of flesh. His throat was wide open, torn so much that the spine could be seen clear as day. The clothing were as torn as his flesh and from breast to belly, the young man was seemingly dissected as if by a mad drunkard using a rusty edged hook. The two demons turned to look over at the Desol son, both of them smeared with blood and bits of gore. The pair hissed at him through their blood coated fangs before they rose up, one of them holding the victim's torn off arm, jagged bone protruding from the bloddy flesh. The nobleman raised his sword once more in a firm grip, his eyes darting left and right between the two demons.

The first demon sprung into action, howling at him with claws ready to rend and tear through the nobleman's armor. The demon swiped with it's left hand which was met with a swinging parry of the blackened steel blade, severing the demon's flesh from between the middle and ring finger and digging all the way down to the wrist. The other demon then struck, using the severed arm as a form of a crude club. The weapon smacked Haklo across the helmet, knocking it off his head, leaving him vulnerable to attacks. Haklo decided to repeat the same risk he had with the masked demon and shot the most powerful psychomantic attack that he could muster, blinding the arm wielding demon which went well seeing that demons seemingly didn't use wards.

With that, Haklo yanked the sword out of the other demon's hand, spinning once and in the same movement yanking out his long dagger and burying it into the demon's throat before taking another, faster, spin and swinging his sword with all his might, departing the blinded demon's head from it's neck. With his foes no longer a threat, Haklo grabbed his helmet and continued through the halls.

He met up with a small group of students lead by an advanced student that served as a simple teacher. He joined up with them and headed to the dining hall, not too long before the doors were completely closed.

Uicle

Uicle ignored Upsah. What was more pressing was the fact that both Grey and Lucilia seemed intent upong killing their opponents. Which would mean Khan would likely die as well. In an amount of pain Uicle knew far too intimately. "Great...just, great." Well..first things first. Keep Lucilia from giving into Upsah's taunts and killing the annoying bastard. A gust of wind(the Golem from before, to be specific), pushed against Lucilia. Hard. It wasn't enough to send her crashing to the ground so hard she'd be injured, he hoped anyways, but it was enough to hopefully distract her enough to listen. Or, at least, concentrate on killing him rather than the demon. Before he could address her, however, his golem was still flying towards Grey and the demon he was trying to kill. Quickly, Uicle cut the connection of life to the golem, reducing it to separate chunks of rubble once more. He gave life to a few of them, and had those crash into the other ones, and all the rubble went flying past Grey. The demon wasn't so lucky. One, rather large one, continued flying towards her. Uicle thought she would serve a better purpouse trapped under a large boulder rather than still talking and trying to kill them.

With the dual problems hopefully addressed for now, Uicle tried to talk Lucilia down from mass murdering every demon in sight. Or at least, these demons. "Lucilia, I know you hate demons, and I would gladly let you eviscerate Upsah any other time. But, remember, if you do, Khan will feel an amount of pain that no one creature should feel repeatedly. Enough to kill him if you don't just incapacitated the demon."

Lucius Cypher, EliteCommander, Konan, Ryonara, Sundered Echo, Leon5431, and WitchChild collaboration

---

The horde marched forward. Among their numbers were some of the best there was, including a Fallen Demonmancer. He had left the mortal world to conquer the Inferno, and he did so by joining the Archdemon of whom Tyrael defeated a few days ago. But this Fallen Mage was also privy to the scheme of betraying and destroying the college, as the mage was actually an agent of Kudd. Though he did not have a demon's strength in magic or physical prowess, he made up for it as their elite demonmancer; only he could rend the veils of the Inferno here at the college to ensure a steady supply of demonic troops. In his arrogance, the mage sat on a makeshift thrown carried by some of his own demons, so that he too could join the battle. But this just made him an easy target for the likes of Jenna. But he would not be so easily killed.

Before the Arrow met it's mark, the Demonmancer swiped it out of the air, killing a mere imp below him. Underneath his blood-red helmet the demonmancer smiled, before he lifted his hand to create a portal into the Inferno. Out from the Inferno came bats, not entirely unlike like the ones Colette had summoned. But these bats were bound to him, and they came in a large swarm of a hundred. They flew towards the guards and the student defenders, biting and swiping at them with their teeth and claws. The other stronger demons began to work their way inside, or dealt with the various defenders impeding them. The Fallen Sorcerer got out of his thrown as his body began to engulf itself in a supernatrual Green Fire. Now he would enter this battle and crush the resistance in the Dinning Hall.

---

Ssarak was battered and sore, but he was still fighting. The front lines of the guardsmen had broken and reformed a few times, and he had been at the tip of the spear most of the time, He was not without his injuries, with dents in his armor and bruises under his scales. He had been hit a few times by clubs and maces, but luckily, most had been more of glancing blows than serious impacts. Adrenaline suppressed any pain he might have been feeling, so he was still fighting with all his normal ferocity. At the moment, the guards had once again been pushed back from the door, causing Ssarak to fall back. The guards with shields were in front of him, while he was behind, fighting any demons that made it past their front. It was the last line of defense between the approaching horde and the unarmed students on the far side of the hall who they were protecting. The guards in front were holding fast for the moment, but as Ssarak looked through the door the enemy was advancing through, he saw someone being carried on a throne by imp demons beneath it in the hall just beyond. It looked like it could be a demon, though it did appear rather humanoid. Regardless, if the imps were carrying it as if it were royalty, then it was likely important...and powerful. Ssarak quickly glanced around his immediate area, looking for others to help take on the new threat.

---

After taking out those Slasher Demons and getting herself a new weapon Meirin as ready for another fight. The guards were holding, but not for long. They needed to do something decisive soon, because despite having the home field advantage, the college didn't have the numbers to fight a war of attrition. The demons were coming in with uneven waves, but they kept on coming more than they could afford to replace guardsmen. Meirin swore that she saw a couple of students don fallen guards armor to help out, but as much as she appreciates the effort, it won't matter. The students were just that; students. Even if they dressed like guards, they couldn't fight at the same level. Meirin was fortunate to have her training, but even than it doesn't compare to what some of the guards can do if they work together. And that's not something any student could just pick up on the fly.

Patching herself up with some bandages Meirin noticed another enemy coming from the distance. A big shot demon or something, given that he had the gall to ride into battle on a throne carried by imps. She had half expected to see him get pelted full of arrows, but it seems like he just deflected them like flies. She noticed that Ssarak saw him too, and while she can't read minds like he could, she had a feeling that he was going to fight the new enemy. Walking over to her friend she put a reassuring hand on his side, since it would take a bit of effort to reach his shoulder. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

---

After the battle with the large mace wielding Demon, Auriel had parted ways with Leith in an effort to escape the grand melee that seemed to be the night main entertainment in the hall. That had proved exceedingly difficult however, and the demons just kept coming. Rather than try to fight her way through, she stepped back to continue the brief respite from fighting. She grabbed the nearest pitcher with clear liquid in it, catching the scent of it immediately. It was not water. She poured a little on either arm to wash away some of the blood, wincing as whatever it was stung on contact with her wounds, before taking a swig of it as well. The stinging immediately subsided, a warm numbness setting in instead - that of strong drink and extreme exhaustion.

The fight was not yet over though, a fact driven home as a man shaped demon, or maybe a demonic looking man, stepped off his throne to the ground, surrounded in fire. He seemed to be one of the ones in charge. "You have got to be kidding me!" Auriel exclaimed to no-one in particular. Why couldn't it just be over? Long fights just weren't any fun. Thankfully it seemed she was not the only one to notice this demonic big-shot. She quickly and quietly moved to join the others, relieved to see both the hulking form of Ssarak and the noble shape of Deven. Coming up behind Deven, she spoke, tiredness evident in her voice, even though it maintained a playful note. "I hope you're ready for your knight in shining armour routine Deven. You might need to save a damsel in distress..." Speaking to make evident she would be that Damsel.

---

Once Leith had somewhat recovered from his fight with the demon, he tried distance himself as far as he could away from the chaos in the dining hall, but since demons were still trying to make their way in, he went to the small area where the medics of the armies tried to heal the people wounded from the battle. He was quickly tasked with finding and bringing wounded students and soldiers to the make-shift infirmary. After he had moved a couple of people from the battlefield, he heard a whole bunch of shrieking noises that came from outside his head. Looking up, he saw bats pouring into the dining hall and attacking people. He also saw many of his friends standing by the doors getting ready for something.

As much as he didn't want to fight, Leith knew that he would feel horrible if one of his friends got hurt and he could have prevented it. Without another thought, he grabbed his gauntlet, which he barely got off his hand, and put it on. He then grabbed his sword and ran towards the doors. He noticed Deven and Auriel and made his way over towards them. When he arrived, saw Deven eying a barrel of, if the label was correct, pure alcohol. He transferred the sword to his left hand and rested his right hand on the barrel. "Need a hand?" he asked with a dry smile.

---

The Fallen Sorcerer smirked underneath his helmet as he saw the opposition he was against. He may not know the names of these people, but he could tell from a glance that they were no mages, barely warriors even. Looking down on the novices gathered before him, he directed a hand towards their direction, which caused the swarm of bats to gather together and head in the direction the Fallen Sorcerer was pointing at. As far as he cared, the novices would naught but a curiosity. His task was to break the guards formation to allow the rest of his allies to make it through, and that is what he planned to do.

After he sent the swarm of bats to attack the group of novice mages, the Fallen Sorcerer slammed his fists into the ground, and from the point of impact the ground began to darken and crack with flames, and it slowly began to spread out from the center. He was creating an area of the Inferno for his demonic allies to utilize, at least the ones who were capable of Inferno Magics. The settling was fire and brimstone, making the air in the area thin and hot. Guardsmen unlucky to be within the circle would feel a great heat wearing them down, and those who stayed for too long would notice their steel weapons and armor slowly melting.
All the while the demonic bats from the Inferno continued to swoop and pester the novice mages. Those who had any bare skin or were only protected by light cloth would feel the bites of the hundred demonic bats, and the venom from their teeth. Otherwise however, those fully armored or with tough skin would merely find the bats an annoyance as they continued to fly in front of thier faces and screeching loud noises in their ears.

---

Ssarak glanced down to Meirin and nodded. "We need to deal with it quickly." He commented. It was not long before the being revealed the nature of its abilities, as it had begun to alter a part of the dining hall near their front lines, slowly summoning forth the Inferno. If its influence spread throughout the hall, then everyone in it would surely perish. Unfortunately, they could not simply charge through the Inferno; they needed to find another way to interrupt him.

Before Ssarak could even start thinking of a solution, the Demonmancer sent a swarm of strange, demonic bat-like creatures to attack them and a few other students. Between his armor and scales, he was rather well protected from the small creatures, but all the same, he whipped his tail back and forth while flapping his wings to try and prevent them from latching onto him. Meirin had considerably less protection than himself, so their attacks had the potential to be more effective on her.

After a few moments of fighting off bats, Ssarak got the idea to face Meirin, hoping that the gusts of wind from his wings would interfere with the bats' flight paths. Their situation was turning increasingly more dire; the bats were merely a pest compared to some of the other demons in the hall. If they couldn't reach the demonmancer directly, they would need to find some other way to distract him. "We cannot get to him through the inferno, and I would only make myself a target if I tried to fly to him. Perhaps...archers. Let's see if we can coordinate some bowmen to fire on him."

---

Where's a hulking Esyrie when you need one? Deven thought to himself annoyed as he eyed up the large barrel of alcohol. Then a familiar voice spoke up from behind him, he turned his head to see a rather bloodied Auriel standing behind him, "Gods, Auriel are you a sight for sore eyes!" He exclaimed as he turned entirly to face her. He took the chance to quickly look over her wounds, a top the many minor wounds scattered over her body she looked as though she was seconds away from collapsing from exhaustion.

He smiled under his helm at her comment, "You know I am always here to help." He said before turning his head to the entrance of the dinning hall, "But, I think there are more important things to deal with then saving your ass from trouble. Everyone in this hall is in danger, once we get that solved, then we'll see if were both still standing for that little routine." He said his tone grim. With that said his eyes turned back to the barrel before them. "I think we might be able to use that barrel there to hurt if not kill some of those damned demons." He said rather angrily. "But it isn't a very good idea for just me and you to mo-" He tried to say before a figure rushed into view and rested its hand on the barrel.

Deven was surprised when he finally recognized the battered form of Leith standing before him, "Leith! I-I saw you get tackled by those imps, I thought you were dead." He said, his surprise clear in his voice. "Never have I been so glad to be wrong." He added after a short pause. "If your willing to help with this then by all means. The more the merrier." He said as he stepped towards the barrel. "If we can tip it then we can easily roll it to where we need it. But the main issue is more so getting it to stop when we get it into position, that is...if we even want it to stop, maybe a big rolling barrel might just help us out. But in no way will it help us as much as what's in it will. Me and Aur-" He went to say before remembering Auriels current condition. "I can light it once we get the alcohol in place, I am not sure how much this will do against demons, but some of those things seemed like they weren't as fire resistant, like those little claw demons, hell maybe even that big green thing, but either way, its something." He said hopefully.

"Now we should probably make this quick. Time is of the essence, there are lives at stake." He said his eyes shooting to the defensive lines where he caught a sight the form of Ssarak standing further to the back. Good, even he made it to this point. Had a feeling that big scaley bastard would get this far. He thought happily to himself before looking back to the barrel. "Lets hop to it then." He said partially to himself before he joined Leith at the barrels base. "Care giving us some moral support, Auriel?" He teased, his tone uneasy as he forced a smile under his helmet.

---

Ssarak looked rapidly around the room, using every ounce of his observational skills to get a sense of what was happening. He was still having to ward off the bats, though so were many others around him. Standing on a nearby table, he saw a familiar face, and the first member of the firing squad he was forming. Jenna evidently had been firing on the demonmancer, but the swarm of bats had interrupted her.

"I'll gather the archers, you find people to help keep the bats away while they aim." Ssarak said telepathically to Meirin before rushing over to Jenna's position. He used a burst of air from his wings both to grab her attention, and to help push away the bats before sending her a telepathic message as well. "Jenna, I have an idea of how to stop this mage, but I need archers. Find as many as you can; I'm going to find a way to distract him."

Ssarak looked across the battlefield and the growing inferno once more. The mage was out of range of the frontline guards, and additionally, there was a demon at its side which worried Ssarak. It was a strange-looking demon with many arms and a gaping maw. He did not know what its capabilities were, but its changing, amorphous-looking form concerned him nonetheless. While Jenna was gathering archers, he needed to join Meirin in getting others to help, and quickly. By the way the battle was going, they had only a precious few minutes to act.

---

Haklo kept himself safe as he joined up with the people in the dining hall. He saw what was going down and saw this Demonmancer and how he demonstrated his power. He noticed some people in the crowd, such as Auriel and Ssarak which he could see clearly further in the hall, battling with the Demonmancer's forces. He looked around at the battle raging around him and he saw a fallen soldier and grabbed his shield, a kite shield scratched and dented from both old and recent battles. He used it to defend himself against the claws and fangs of the cursed demons. He kept himself away from the larger demons but didn't pass up the chance to hamstring any larger demons that were already preoccupied with other matters.

He smashed his shield against a demon's face, occasionally using his psychomantic attack sparingly just so he could get a kill swipe, opening throats from ear to ear. There was one time where a demon with straight horns attacked the nobleman only to meet his swordpoint through the chest. His ally was close behind him but with his sword stuck in the demon's chest, Haklo instead pushed the demon by the chin, causing the other demon to inadvertently impale itself on the other demon's horns. Safe for a few moments, Haklo retrieved his sword and continued on with the fray.

By the time he managed to get to his destination, his armor had suffered scrapes and dents by demonic weapons. "Not quite the study lesson I had hoped for" he decided to quip and looked back at the Esyire psychomancer known as Ssarak.

---

Meirin saw the enemy mage summon a whole swarm of bats at them. "Crap!" Meirin didn't bother trying to fight off the bats; even if she could cut down ten or so, there were at least hundreds of them. Ssarak was able to batter most of the bats away from her with the gust from his wings, which gave her ample time to escape. Right now they needed to deal with that demonmancer; she knew if they could kill him, his demons would be gone. If memories served correctly anyways. Either way, he needed to die. But how? That's when she Ssarak gave her a telepathic message that he'd be gathering archers. She needed to find able-bodied fighters to protect the archers from the bats. "Simple enough." She thought.

A quick glance and Meirin spotted Leith working with some others with a barrel of alcohol for some reason. She didn't imagine they were going for a drink, but it still begged to question what they were trying to do. The girl ran towards them before the bats took notice of her. "Leith! We need your help! That demonmancer is doing a number to us right now, and we need someone to help us defend some of the guards. Ssarak is going to get them ready for some sort of attack."

---

Leith chuckled at Deven's remark and replied with a tired smile. "If it makes you feel any better, I thought I was dead for a moment there. I just got really lucky." He shook his head. "I wouldn't count on myself getting that lucky again." When Deven said that he wanted to move the barrel toward the doors, Leith's smile grew a little wider, and when the man went to tip the barrel over, Leith waved him off. "Don't strain yourself. Tell me where you want it and-" He was cut off by someone shouting his name. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Meirin.

As she explained that she needed help defending some of the garuds, Leith nodded and looked towards the demonmancer and noticed that the area around him looked a bit more hellish than the dining hall. Not only that, but it seemed that the bats that had swarmed into the room earlier had started attacking everyone close to the doors. "Alright, let's go, then," he said with a nod. He sunk the claws of his gauntlet into the top and far side of the barrel of alcohol, lifted it off the ground, and hurried towards the guards. Once he had made it close, three of the demonic bats swarmed at him. One of the bats managed to bite him in the back of the neck, causing him to drop the barrel where it was and swat at it with his hand. He realized what he had done moments the gauntlet made contact with back of his head.

Letting out a string of curses that would put a sailor to shame, Leith swatted the bats out of the way before transferring his sword over to his right hand and rubbing the back of his head with his left to try and ease the pain caused by the ten pound gauntlet. He paused when he felt something wet on his neck. He didn't think that the bat had bit that deep. He pulled his hand from his neck to examine it. He saw a clear liquid in his hand. Venom? As he stared at it, the bite on his neck started to hurt, and he got an idea.
With a small flick of his wrist, he forced all of the venom to fly off his hand and form a ball that hung in front of him. It wasn't that much, a small marble at most, but he would get more of it. He grabbed a cup off the floor and shook the remaining contents out of it. He then moved the venom into the cup and hurried towards the archers that were starting to form, taking note of the dead bats along the way. Once he got to a table that was upright and quite close to the archer's, he set the cup on the table, and as fast as he could, he ran back the way he came and collected all the bats that he could. and brought them back to the table. He stopped at guard with a bow and told him to send the archers towards the table he was at. He then set his sword down and got ready to collect some venom.

---

The room only got more chaotic by the second. When the bats began to swarm, Auriel rushed closer to Ssarak, seeing how effective his wings were at keeping the beast away. She was feeling quite useless, she had exhausted her magic already and with no armour and only a dagger, she couldn't exactly engage any of the demons up close. At least not when every muscle in her body was crying out in agony. She couldn't even give Deven the 'moral support' he asked for. Her mind went blank and she couldn't just kiss him with his helmet in the way.

When she saw a group of archers beginning to gather, an idea came to her as to how she could be useful. She may not have been the perfect shot that her nemesis Siala had been, but she was still trained with a bow. She had been able to fire a bow before learning to read in fact. Not very accurately, but it was the thought that counted and she'd since improved. She looked around for a bow, and quickly found one on the fallen body of a guard. Taking it up, she gave it a slight tug to test the weight. Slightly heavy for her, especially with how out of practice she was, but at this point the exertion just to move was such that pulling the bow felt hardly out of the ordinary. Gathering up a number of arrows to hold in a hunters grip, she joined the archers and prepared to fire. At least she would be a little useful in this fight.

---

No matter how slowly time seemed to be moving with the adrenaline pumping through Ssarak's body, he knew they did not have much time remaining. The front line was holding at that very moment, but that could change by the second. Jenna was gathering the archers, but the question remained on how exactly he should coordinate the attack. He had a feeling that a simple barrage would not suffice; the demonmancer had already shown he could defend himself against ranged attacks. Plus, the amorphous demon at his side could intervene. They needed a way to deliver a surprise attack.

While Ssarak was working on keeping away the bats, he heard a familiar voice: Haklo. He was a psychomancer, perhaps not a close friend, but someone he knew. He did not respond immediately, as his presence inspired him with an idea. Ssarak knew well the limits of novice psychomancers such as himself, so he knew they could not manipulate their opponents' minds to any great extent, but subtle, minor illusions were within the scope of their abilities. If they didn't see an attack coming, then they would not respond to defend against it. It would be difficult to hide the intentions of an entire group of archers...unless he spread them out. If they were positioned at multiple angles, then not only would it reduce the likelihood of their arrows being interrupted, but it would also make it easier to hide the fact that they were all aiming at the demonmancer, especially if they remained in the periphery of his vision. Even better, if they refrained from aiming directly at him until the last moment, the demons would have even less time to respond.
Ssarak had an idea of what to do, but there was still the matter of executing it. He did not look at Haklo, but instead sent him a telepathic message. "I have a plan of how to deal with the demonmancer. Jenna is currently gathering archers. I will order them into position, and just before they fire, I will plant an illusion in the demonmancer's mind to prevent him from recognizing the threat. I need you to do the same to the amorphous demon next to him."[i]

---

Haklo did not respond to Ssarak verbally, not even through telepathic speech but just gave him a nod of acknowledgement and looked at the amorphous demon and the demonmancer that was with him. A lesser demon, about the height of a dwarf, leapt into him and the noble just managed to bash it's face with his shield. He made his stance though, awaiting for the plan to be set into motion.

---

Ssarak nodded back to Haklo, then turned his attention to the group of archers Jenna had gathered. He still feared they were not ready, that his plan would not be successful, but it didn't matter. They had used the time they had, and now it was time to strike. Looking to the archers, Jenna, Auriel, and the guards they had gathered, he sent them a mental message detailing his plan. [i]"Spread out away from one another, behind our front lines in places you can get a good angle on the Demonmancer. Do not act like you are working together; take aim at the other demons approaching, and perhaps fire a few shots while everyone else is getting in position. When I say ready, draw your bows, but do not aim directly at the Demonmancer. Only when I say fire do I want you to take aim at him, then fire as soon as you are on target. Be sure to fire a few volleys. Now, get into position."

Turning his attention to Meirin and the others she had found, such as Deven and Leith, he sent them another message "The archers are spreading out into their positions. Protect them, and when I say ready, make sure to keep the bats off of them." For Haklo next to him, he gave a short, and simple message. "When I say ready, prepare the illusion you plan to use, then when I say fire, activate your illusion against the amorphous demon."

Now, the plan was setting into motion. While the others were quickly moving to their positions, Ssarak continued to use his wings to keep back the bats from himself and Auriel, since she was nearby. He was far enough back from the frontline that the bats were the only thing harassing him, for the moment. He looked across each person as they got into position to make sure he knew who to send his message to. To an observer, the archers had little cohesion. Most had a partner keeping away the bats, but they were all in different places, firing and aiming at different targets. Once they all stopped, he sent the first telepathic message.

"Ready" Ssarak ordered, signaling the archers to draw their bows, but not aim or fire until given the order. Ssarak prepared in his mind the specifics of the illusion he was going to use, then let out a deep breath as he sent the final message. "Fire.

Immediately as he sent the message, Ssarak began his illusion. There would be a short delay between when the archers took aim and when they fired, but it would not be long. His illusion was simple, and subtle. When the archers took aim, the intent of his illusion was to prevent him from noticing that they were focusing on him, since his attention was on the inferno he was bringing into the dining hall. Once they fired, he would keep the arrows out of his view for as long as he could.

---

What were these pathetic students trying to pull? Rallying their soldiers to counter attack? With most of them concerned with the other demons baring down on them, there was little any of them could do. Which gave the Demonmancer plenty of time to create an Inferno Field. He had his Amorphous demon on standby, to protect him from any rogue fighters who saw the mage as an easy foe. But with the chaos and confusion in the dinning hall, the likelihood of anyone really paying attention to him was rather slim. A shame, for he had made such a grand entrance.

The bat swarms continued to harass and bite at the students; even if they had ways to blow them back, many more would continue their assault, biting and clawing at them. The Amorphous demon took notice of a noble man who was dangerously near his master, so the demon strode forth to fight him. He did not give him any mercy; the demon took on a size as large as the dinning room wall, and simply fell onto the noble to consume him completely.
It seemed that the plan would go without a hitch. The demonmancer only needed a few more moments before setting up a permanent Inferno Field, giving all the demons a natural environment to use for their advantage. Like he predicted, there was nothing the college could do. And just as he was about to finish, the demonmancer felt the sting of twenty arrows. "Impossible...."

Many arrows skewered the mage. Many shot into his body, but a few into his arms and legs. He fell onto his knees and looked around. He noticed, finally, of the Eysire who seemed to have been watching him intently. It was than that he realized that the Eysire was a Psychomancer, who used his minor abilities to block the image of the archers away from him. They had been working underneath his suspicion and waited for the opportunity to focus their fire onto him, even during the bedlam. If the fallen sorcerer was a noble sort, he would have congratulated him on his plan. But instead he was vengeful.

The sorcerer knew that he was as good as dead. Even if his body was recovered, he would die of his wounds before long. So in one final act of defiance, the Fallen Sorcerer used the rest of his life blood for one final spell; to empower another demon in this room, one of the more powerful demons. "Death comes to us all, fools! Yours... Yours is coming now!" With his final breath the sorcerer taunted the fighters, before falling and succumbing to his own injuries.

The Amorphous Demon felt the shutter of his master's death. Knowing that he is without his power, the Amorphous Demon ceased his attack and fled. The Bats, no longer led by the Fallen Sorcerer, no long attacked in organized swarms and simply flew around aimlessly. The students had just barely moments for rest, as soon the empowered demon step forward to do battle.

Khan

Khan's eyes merely hardened at Kudd's words as the creature seemed disappointed, the headmaster too distracted by the conversation to notice the scene around him had changed. The ever shifting landscape had became dark and voided of any light before the ground gave way out from under him. Immediate he felt himself plunged downward as his arm raised, hand reached to stop his descendent but it was fruitless. His body was treated to the sensation of the wind whipping by and ears to Kudd's words echoed in his mind before he was jerked back into his body.

Khan's eyes jerked open and the smell of blood filled his nostrils, rustic and thick in the air. Warmth where the wounds had appear upon his runes, the worse of them belonged to Rathel and Upsah, as his odd colored eyes noticed the group of hands working to save him. Their magics swirled his exiting blood then poured back into his body which had seemed weak and feeble. However it was too dark to see who they were or what race. Despite the terror within his mind, Khan forced himself to stay calm and pulled himself upright.

Lightheaded and confused, his hand raised to create an Inferno portal. The faint light of the hash environment peered through to douse the endless darkness in deep red and give identity to what was hidden. The vampires slight recoiled from the light, his stomach churned from the nausea that had swept over him and nearly had him hurdle forth the sourness within his mouth.

By the Gods he seemed so weak. His mind flickered to the first time he had experience this sensation and if the situation wasn't so grave, Khan would've laughed at the memory. Instead, he only became concerned. His mind focused harder on the portal to enlarge it while the vampires pulled farther back, unable to stop him but trying to fulfill Lucilia's request of them.

"Thank you for the help but I need to regain control." Khan said simply then when the portal was large enough, he pushed off the table and into it.

When he emerged, right at the edge of the of the fight between the teachers and his demons. However Khan's body crumbled into a heap. His body shook violently for a second then slowly faded, sweat poured against his scales and seemed to chill his temperature like the signs of Blood Sickness. Khan managed only to throw up once, his dinner piled with meat chucks and his drink upon the floor and waft it's sour scent.

He ignored the pain and illness as he forced himself upright upon his feet. His hand trailed up the wall as he fought to steady his wobbly balance and slowly made his way toward the group. Blood still seeped from his wound, left small drips in his wake with each painful step. The first demon came upon was Upsah.

He saw the demon's skull dented and warped from Lucilia's work, some of the vines still there and the amber as well. The demon just clicked his jaws when he spotted the Headmaster over him. "My, my... With allies like these, who needs enemies?"

It was a clear attempt to mock Khan but he didn't jump at the bait, instead he limped forward and shook his head. Upsah currently unable to move, the Headmaster turned to bark a command at Heus. Aligned not far from the brutish demon, Heus's rune glowed and shimmered as the damage had already painfully started to meld itself. Fighting the fire burning within him when he addressed Heus. "Enough! Heus, stop..."

The demon's pain seemed to had ceased but it's wrath hadn't doused in the least, confusion deep in the creature's simple mind interfered. Khan, on the other hand, wasn't about to be deterred. His hand raised upwards. The small spark of green flame sparked and flickered into a flame, a fireball formed inside his hand. It wasn't as hot as pyromancy but it would get Heus's attention shortly.

Not wasting much time, Khan's arm tightened and threw the flame. It rushed forward then splattered into the creature's face before it died. The flame barely affected Heus but it caused his head to turn, noticing his Demonomancer for the first time. The dull eyes slowly registered Khan's image for what seemed like ages. Slowly he no longer applied pressure to Grey and massive demon lifted his foot then gingerly placed it onto the ground beside the man's waist.

Khan, on the other hand, once more heaved. More blood poured onto the floor from the combination of blood sickness and Kudd's poison. His legs weakened and gave out from under him, his head swept up in the dizzy spell. He hadn't even enough time to utter a word when he was on his hands and knees in the following moments.

Colette

Colette grumbled when she saw the same type of demons as well as new ones standing at the entrance of the dining hall. 'This is so not my day first I have to fight humans off when I was still over at my old home now these...whatever the hell you call these damn things' she grumbled in her head before preparing to fight, the sword that she got from the last fight still in her hand. The bat on her shoulder screeched and flew off her shoulder preparing to fight making her smile showing a fang.

"Well no use complaining about it now lets get going if we want to make it inside the dining hall" she told her ally before running towards her enemy with swift feet regardless of the fact she was wearing high heeled boots and managed to get one the enemies's attention on her as her bat went after another. She fought it hard with her fellow
and was tossed in a wall making her yelp as she felt her wing on her back fold in ways it wasn't suppose to bend.

"D damn it" she said as she stood up panting from the pain she just endured from the collision. She ran back at her enemy with the sword and managed to stab it in the head. It fell to the ground and she looked at her bat ally who was already on another enemy. 'How many things are there she thought running towards the enemy putting her guard up. She could feel her back was bleeding but she ignored her wound to fight back.

'No matter how many there are I will fight until these things are gone' she thought as she started another fight with her new opponent

Collaboration of Pyromania99, Lucius Cypher, Ryonara and Konan
____________________________________________________________________

Just as the other students had defeated the Fallen Sorcerer, the next demon attacked. The Black Knight; a warrior of the Inferno. He watched the battle and knew who was the biggest threat; the eysire with the battle axe, who seemed to be have the mind to lead the others. The Black Knight made plans to eliminate him, but first he had to fulfil his objective; free Zaad. In the distance stood a tall pillar of Inferno Fire, so violent and intense that even demons would be burnt to ash being near it. He noticed the woman sitting calmly near by in a wooden Chair, and suspected wisely that she was an opponet to be wary of. He would have to strike hard and fast however, as all he needed to do was dispell the pillar and free the demon inside. As his fellow demons fought the battle around him, The Black Knight got itno a readied stance before shooting out like an arrow, over the footsoldiers and moving directly towards the pillar.

As the Black Knight shot through the air, another flew as well. Her goal was different from his though. It was to stop him. “Not today!” Lyris shouted as she flew into the Black Knight and redirected him towards the ground. With that action, she chained into it a blast of air. If nothing else, she hoped that it would at least create a small diversion for others to help.

The Black Knight was not expecting resistance like this. Rather foolish actually, as he did not want to fall to the same trap as the arrogant Fallen Sorcerer. Still, the Black Knight was forced onto the ground but on his feet. He looked towards the flying girl. She didn't seem to be too much of a threat, so he would kill her quickly. Angling his sword at her, the Black Knight vanished in a series of after images. His true form only appeared right as he had his blade poised to cut down the flying girl.

"Don't even think about it!" Meirin shouted as she finished a Weaving Spell, launching a gust of wind right at her feet to propel her into the air strait towards the Black Knight. She stabbed her spear at the Black Knight towards his chest to impale him through the folds of his armor, or at least knock him away from Lyris.

Another foe appeared, the Red Haired warrior that he saw from before. Her spear bounced off his armor plates, but the only thing he could do to counter was to kick the Red Haired girl at the flying one as he was sent back onto the ground. He landed on his feet once more as he returned to his stance. Right now the flying girl was still the bigger threat, as he did not think that the redhaired girl could counter attack or resume her flight. To not waste his energy, he simply leapt towards the girl again to impale her on his sword.

Lyris caught sight of the Black Knight leaping at her before her fellow student was caught in her arms and they flew back. With Meirin in her arms, Lyris used her wings to blast air and dodge to the side. Sadly, besides not getting hit, there was not much she could do right now. Her wings and her power help keep her afloat, but that can only last so long. “Not the best circumstances are these?” She asked Meirin as she recovered from the dodge’s blast.

The Black Knight only managed to land his feet onto the shaft of her spear, leaving Meirin mostly unharmed aside from hitting Lyris. "Yeah... This guy is tough! Damn bastard keeps jumping around." As the knight came at them again, Meirin braced her spear towards him, hoping that he'd impale himself on it as he tried to attack them. "We need to keep him from being so mobile! I actually have an idea, if we can work this out somehow..."

The Black Knight once again nearly found himself killed as the redhaired woman aimed her spear at his chest. It had a longer range than his sword, so at the last minute all he could do was block the spear and found himself back on the ground. He was wasting too much time trying to deal with these two. He looked towards the pillars and made a break for it. If he could free Zaad, he could than deal with the besky students.

Lyris took off after him with Meirin when she noticed him bolt towards the pillar again. "Any plan then?" She asked Meirin as they caught up to the knight. "Tell me what you need me to do."

"If you have any more magic left into you, use it and blast me as hard as you can at that Knight!" Meirin's spear was still poised to the back of the knight, but she knew if she could just slide it underneath his armor, no matter how strong a demon he was, surely it would kill him. She just needed a speed boost to get the force behing her stab.

Lyris nodded, "Just don't bite your tounge off." She set Meirin up so she could be launched easier. With all her might she launched the girl at the demon enemy, hoping that the red-head could kill it. "Good luck!"

The demon had at least ten more yards to go before he felt something puncture through his armor. He turned his head to see that the red-haired girl had stabbed him in the back of the knee, forcing him to kneel. "Damn..." The demon spoke quietly as he pulled the spear out, throwing it and the user towards the pillar of fire. He tried to stand, but his wound made that difficult even for him. Seemed like he won't be able to fulfil his mission... But at least he could die with a bit of honor left intact. The Fallen Sorcerer gave him his powers, which he used to restore his leg back to normal. He had put this off for longer than he should have; he would fight these two students, and defeat them. If he could, than there should be no one to stop him from freeing Zaad. And if they do stop him... It would at least be a worthy death. The Black Knight took on a defensive stance and was ready for any attack.

Meirin wanted to impale the knight through the chest, but she supposed that nailing him through the knee worked to stop him. Too bad he seemed to have healing magic, as he was just fine by the time Meirin got back to her feet. It was very hot near the tall pillar of fire, wherever that came from. Seemed like it was the demon's objective however, and now that she stood between it and the Black Knight, perhaps now he would stop running and fight. From his stance he was prepared for Meirin to attack first, but she knew better than to try to fight him in his element. Instead she began to weave her magic together, and finished by blasting a gust of air at him. Meirin followed shortly behind the gust of air, and she hoped Lyris was still nearby to offer her support, however that comes.

Lyris was exhausted to say the least. She never really exerted herself that much. She hoped it was this same exhaustion that made her see that the enemy healed himself. She finally grounded herself to take a rest and hoped to whatever god that her vision was messing with her. Sadly, that was not the case. He really had healed his injury and was already standing again. Lyris wasn't sure what she could do to help. The most, she figured, was probably lobing air balls at the demon. She looked around to see if there were anything else to help. She found stones laying around. . . Perhaps. . .

The Black Knight stabbed his sword into the ground to prevent himself from being pushed back by the gust of wind, and than slashed upwards at the spear-woman as her weapon came close to him. He didn't waste much movements with fancy attacks; after slashing his sword to deflect the attack, he swung his blade the oppisite direction to cleave the woman from shoulder to hip.

"Hey!" Before the sword could hit Meirin, another sword shot up to block the blade. Leith could feel the power of the swing travel all the way up his arm. Maybe trying to block the attack was a bad idea. As quickly as he could, and with as much force he could muster, he pushed the blocked sword down and to his right.

Meirin would have been half the woman she is now if Leith didn't come in and block the Knight's attack. She didn't let his efforts go to waste as she pulled her spear back again and thrusted towards the Knight's shoulder, hoping to penetrate his pouldron. But she didn't stop there. She launched a flurry of blows to the knight's shoulder, chest, gut, legs, and arm, as his weapon was being locked by Leith's sword.

A new challenger appeared, deflecting the Knight's attack and leaving him exposed for the spearwoman's flurry. His armor deflected most of the stabs and only got a little bit scratched up. The Knight stepped back and away from the two fighters, noticing that one of them had a Daemon Artes. "Hmph." He grunted as he took out one of his own; Sephira Sword, a small sword shaped amulet. Wrapping his hand around it and releasing it, he summoned an absurdly large sword. It was larger than the Knight, but floated on it's own. And by the way it flew towards Leith, fought on it's own as well. The Knight charged at Meirin once more, sidestepping to avoid her stabs and swinging his sword in a wide arch at waist high.

A hand grabbed the back of Meirin's shirt and yanked her out of the path of the blade. A tall man clad in robes leaned down and spoke into her ear over the sound of the fighting in the dining hall. "Go help the pale one. He needs help," he said as he pointed towards Leith. Sure enough, the man looked like he was about to keel over, even as he readied himself to defend against the flying sword. Darius straightened up and faced the thing in armor, unsheathing his sword as he did so. "I despise fights where one faces many. Let us fight like it should be."

The knight watched as a new challenger arrived. Unlike the others, this one was not so young. He carried himself like a true warrior, an experienced fighter and someone who could pose a challenge. Indeed, the Knight rather would not have to fight so many opponents at once, even if it would make more sense for the weak. Either this man was strong or cocky, and the Black Knight would soon discover which. The Knight lunged towards the man with his sword aimed to impale him thorugh the stomach.

While she wanted to protest being taken out of the fight like that by the stranger, Meirin did see that Leith seemed to be struggling against the magic word. So Meirin didn't argue with the stranger as she went over to help Leith, though she wasn't sure how. She could kill a demon easy enough, but how does someone kill a sword? Meirin pulled Leith up to his feet and away from the flying sword as Meirin attacked it, stabbing it anywhere that looked like a weak point such as the gem on it's hilt.

Darius turned his body to avoid the knight's lunge. The sword barely missed him and instead tore through his robes, A hiss of anger escaped his lips as he took a step forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the redheaded girl attacking the sword while the pale man was circling around it. He grabbed the knight's wrist with his left hand while he brought his sword up and swung it horizontally at the knight's head.

The Knight twisted his own hand to grab the mortal's hand, and lifte his sword up to block the man's own strike. The knight than leaned forward, smashing his helmeteted and horned helmet into the man's own face and freeing himself from his grasp. The Black Knight continued his assault, slashing fariously side-to-side at the man.

The sword was able to block and parry Meirin's stabs well enough, but it was apperant that it was indeed trying to protect the gem on it's hilt. Without a master to wield it the sword's attacks came from imposible angles, such as sliding acros teh ground and simply falling down from above Meirin, even able to sharply turn on a dime after it flies towards her. as it tried to find a weak point on Meirin it quickly moved behind her and swung itself towards Meirin's sides.

Lyris had found her strength regained, for the time being at least. "Guess he's got the knight under control." Lyris said as she saw Darius fight the demon knight in a one on one challenge. He attentions were directed at the sword. . . The giant sword, instead. There was really little she could do against such an opponent. Blasts of air would do very little to it most likely. She observed the swords fighting and found that it acted in a bit more wild way than if someone were wielding it. While Meirin and the other person fought the sword, she noticed it specifically tried to protect the gem on the hilt. "Hmm." She lifted up one a stone she saw on the ground. Decently sized, gray, hard as. . . Well, rock. Perfect material to launch as a projectile. Maybe even a bombing run. She took to the sky with a stone or two. She flew straight up for a bit and dropped as fast as she could (as safely as could be of course) to gain momentum. Flying down towards the mystical sword, she fired off one stone missing by a bit, the other she shot and was aimed right for the gem.

The sword continued it's path until it felt a ping off it's gem. It suddenly crashed to the ground, only for it to quickly rise back up and fly away from Meirin. It seemed to swing around as though it was looking for something, and soon noticed Lyris in the air. It knew that she was the one who hit it's gem, and flew towards her.

Leith had been waiting for the correct time to re-enter the battle with the sword that Meirin had saved him from. The time came when the gem on the sword was pelted by a stone. As the sword shot towards the winged girl, Leith ran after it. He dropped his sword and lunged for the hilt of the sword.

Darius laughed as he fought off the attacks of the knight. Blood ran down his face and stained his robes red. The fight was feeling like one of the many brawls he had had in the past. He faltered as a trickle of blood ran into his eye, and he gained a deep gash across his left arm as a result. With a roar of pain, he jumped backwards and out of range of the knight's sword. He glared at the knight as he felt a familiar rage fill his mind. One that gave clarity instead of muddling it. In a fluid motion, Darius dropped his sword and drew his dagger before shooting under the knight's next slash with a speed that he had experienced very few times before. He intended to tackle the knight to the ground and get a few stabs in before the pain started.

Meirin was having a hell of a time trying to fight off that sword, but luckidly it seemed that Lyris knew what to aim for. When that gem was struck the sword crashed, telling Meirin that it was it's weak point. Now if she could just land a clean hit on it, she was certain she could shatter the stone somehow. That's when Leith reached out and grabbed the sword by the hilt, stopping it from not only running through Lyris but also giving Meirin ample time to land a blow. "Here I go!" Meirin roared out as she lunged with her spear, putting her full force right through the blue gem on the hilt of the demonic sword.

The sword struggled against Leith's inhuman grip. It shook and tugged against him, even tried to turn around to slice off his arm, but before ti could really do anything Meirin destroyed the gem. In a flesh the sword imploded, and falling to the ground was a sword-shaped trinket. The Daemon Artes Sephira Sword. Currently it was in it's inactive state, and will remain so for some time as it's gem was destoryed instead of it simply being recalled. But by tommarow morning, it will be usable once again.

Meanwhile the Knight continued to square off against the mortal swordsman. Despite landing several grievous wounds on him, the swordsman did not let up, and seemed to only become more furious. Fine by the Black Knight, however; the swordman failed to get past his armor and so far only succeeded in making the Knight somewhat winded. Right after the mortal parried one of the Knight's Blow, he reversed his swing to slash him across his mid section. However, the mortal somehow managed to duck under his attack and lunged at him, tacking him around the waist and knocking The Knight to the ground. This surprise attack even made him lose his grip on his sword, but made him no less deadly. As the two grappled, the Black Knight began to pummel the swordman around his head an shoulder using his demonic strength. The Knight was confident that he could survive a few stabs even if the man managed to put his dagger through the folds of his armor.

After seeing the sword transform back into it's small state, she turned her attention back towards the Black Knight. The man from before seemed to have managed to get the demon onto the ground, and now the two were grappling. This would be her best chance to finish this once and for all. Her bones were weary, her body ached, but she was going to finish this. Gripping her spear Meirin ran towards the Black Knight. She knew that his armor would deflect a direct blow, she she had to hit him where he wasn't protected; right in the eyes. She leapt into the air with a practiced movement, looking at her target. "JAOOOO" She shouted off the top of her lungs as she plunged her spear right into the Knight's visor.

The Knight's struggle came to an end as his last vision was that of the red-haired warrior hgih above him. The tip of her spear tore throguh his visor and into his head. For a moment, it didn't seem as though it worked, as he took hold of the spear and broke the shaft with his own hands. But that was his last act before his arms went limp and blood poured out from his head. The Knight was slain, and so ended the fight.

Lyris stayed in the air long enough for the sword to be done with. As soon as it was "dead" she landed and took a heavy breath. When Meirin finished the demonic knight she was just glad that was over. She laughed a bit as her body rested from the ordeal.

Leith picked up the item that the sword had turned into. A demonic-looking artifact with a unique ability. He was pretty sure that it was a Daemon Artes, like his gauntlet. Without another thought, he pocketed the item with the intention of getting Tyrael to have a look at it. He picked up his sword and took a seat on a surprisingly intact chair and tried to get his breathing in order.

Away from the turmoil and chaos of the college the winter night rolled ever onward uncaring to the struggle of those living in the college. Icy winds came down from the mountains and into the land surrounding the college sending up whirls of loose snow into the air before for eventually dying out and settling back into the eerie calmness that settled over the land. This calmness only off set by the glow from the distant fires ate away at the great Twilight College.

Running in a long winding stream of stone away from the college and hidden under layers of white was one of the many roads leading both to and from the college. This one road which was once abuzz with the many travelers looking to arrive at the college for it's annual Winter Solstice. Had now died down into a nearly empty path hidden by the snow. At times one would be able to see bits of stone through the sheets of white, these little brief windows through the blanket of snow that covered the land served as a means to see if one had yet lost their way. Whatever path through the snow that had been carved by the travelers before had long since been hidden away once more by the snow.

But, at a point where the roadway led down from a mountain and into the college valley, a band of travelers made their way through the bitter winter mounted upon snow coated horses. This group of twenty travelers were bundled in winter coats in their desperate attempt to keep warm in the cold. Some had cast unused cloaks over the flanks and necks of their steads in an attempt to help keep their mounts from freezing in the bitter cold, others covered themselves in all the warmth they could find.

Every so often worried eyes would lift up from the road ahead and settle upon the orange glow of the college in the distance. The fires stood out drastically in the dark of the night and this band of travelers had noticed the fires when they first began to descend on the road from the mountain pass. Eventually these worried looks would return to the road or sometimes be shared between other members of their band. Even at this distance it was clear something bad had happened and this revelation had only served to quicken the bands pace.

In the lead of the band a cloaked figure mounted atop a black coated stead pushed ever onward in his journey, a hood pulled over his head and cloth pulled over his mouth and nose leaving only his eyes exposed to the bitter cold. Eyes that starred ahead towards the fiery silhouette of the college in the distance. His eyes were a mixture of worried and scared, not scared for himself but for the inhabitants of the college. For several long moments his eyes hung on the college before a voice behind him cursed bitterly drawing his attention.

"Fuck!" The voice exclaimed as their cloth fell from their face and two shivering hands rose to fix it. "I can't get this damned mask to stay in place, my nose is freezing!" The voice complained as the cloth was barely worked back into place.

"Try tying it tighter in the back, it should help to keep it from falling." Another voice said from behind.

The frustrated travelers eyes shown of his annoyance as he looked back to where the second voice had come from, he was about to speak when he was cut off by the leader of their band. "Come on, we need to hurry, things don't look good at the college." The voice said before he pushed his stead to move faster. The other members of his group quickly followed in suit.

The band continued on down the mountain at a faster pace then before, their pace matching their desperation to figure out what had happened and if there were still people alive in the great school of magic. The winter wind nipped at the travelers as they rode on, each one somewhat protected thanks to their cloaks on which the insignia of a wolf was inscribed.

---

After Leith literally carried away the barrel in one hand leaving Deven partially stunned at his strength, he quickly followed after. But before long he heard a voice in his head, it was extremely odd to Deven to have a thought that was not his own go through his head but he did his best to ignore it and do as he was told moving in to a position near to Jenna and began slicing at any bat that tried going near her or any other archer. On multiple occasions a bat would swoop down at him and swipe at the visor of his helmet blocking his vision, but the bats could do little more them that against his armor. He had managed to cut down multiple bats but for each one he killed there seemed to be a dozen more, but he did not falter, it seemed as though their was a plan in motion, even if he did not know the details of this plan he knew his role, and he would fulfill his role to the best of his ability, especially if it meant keeping Jenna and many others safe.

Between slashes at the swarming bats he watched as the gathered archers moved into random positions and began picking off random targets, they seemed to be refusing to fire at the demonmancer, something that annoyed and worried Deven. [I]Have they given up on attacking him with arrows? Are they really just going to leave him be?[I] He wondered to himself. Part of him wanted to yell out to the archers to focus fire on the demonmancer but before he even began to open his mouth the archers all almost at the same time aimed for the demonmancer and let volleys of arrows loose at him.

It seemed not even a single one was blocked by the demonmancer as dozens of arrows met their marks, a smile spread across his face as cheers erupted from nearby guards and students alike. He even let out a cheer himself as the swarm of bats began to break apart, "Yeah!!!" He cheered as the demonmancer collapsed to his knees before calling out towards them. "Not today." Deven said to himself after the demonmancer finished. "Not today.".

---

Jenna managed to loose a few other arrows before the bats came upon her, she raised her left arm to shield her face and used her bow to swat at the bats only connecting with a few before a gust of wind cleared the bats off her. She lowered her eyes and saw the armored form of Ssarak standing before her. She smiled and was about to thank him when she heard something in her head, it was a thought that was not her own that told her to gather all the archers she could. She quickly realized it was Ssarak that was speaking to her telepathically using his blood.

She nodded to him before speaking up, "Alright I will." She said before hopping down off her table and rushing about the room looking for anyone holding a bow or with a quiver on their back.

It took sometime and no small amount of swatting bats but she eventually found a good amount of archers telling them to grab as many arrows as they could and come with her. Eventually she returned to her position with a band of both students and guardsmen following behind her. As she arrived she once more heard that voice in her head delivering her more instructions. The other archers did as they were told and made their way to other positions just as she climbed back onto her table. She turned back to the fray only to see Deven take up position nearby and begin fighting of anything that came near, be they demon or bat.

She sent a few of her arrows flying towards some lesser demons picking them off before they could do much harm until she heard the order to focus fire on the Demonmancer, as the order went through her eyes narrowed on the demonmancer and a grim smile spread across her lips. Everything seemed to slow down as he hand reached back for the arrow, pulling it from her quiver before nocking it on her bow. She let out a calm steady breath before she spoke, "Block this bastard." She said as she let the arrow loose.

Quickly she grabbed two more and sent them quickly after the demonmancer, just as more and more arrows met their marks on him. And as he fell to his knees she almost couldn't believe that they had done it. They had killed him. cheers erupted from all across their ranks including one from Deven just in front of her. "Next time don't mess with the Twilight College you bastards!" She joined in, before preparing more arrows for the remaining demons.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak had been doing his best to provide useful information to the guards' frontline via telepathic communication. Mental communication was not all too taxing when he did not have to break through mental wards, so as long as he did not attempt many more illusions, he guessed he would have the stamina to last through the fight. He just hoped this fight would be the last one. This battle felt like organized warfare...something he was familiar with. His eyes scanned the enemy lines, trying to determine their next move. As they were demons, they fought differently than any army he had faced, but there were still enough similarities for his experience to be useful. He could tell when it seemed like they were about to push a particular spot.

Whenever he noticed a threat, Ssarak did what he could to reinforce the area by notifying guards of the attack, directing archers to the location, and moving in himself to reinforce the front. Overall, the demons pressed hard, but they were holding. Ssarak used the defensive posture of the guards, and the height difference between them, to his advantage. While the guards used their shields to block, he could swing over their heads to wound or kill their attackers while they were vulnerable. This continued until a few demons broke a small hole in their lines, which Ssarak immediately tried to fill himself. He pushed back a few of the smaller ones with a few swings of his axe and his overall size and strength, but one of the larger ones gave him more trouble. Instead of dodging or defending when Ssarak took a swing, the seemingly suicidal demon simply let Ssarak's axe through so it could land a strong hit on Ssarak's chest with its warhammer, which he was only slightly able to deflect by angling his body.

After the impact of the hammer, Ssarak was nearly thrown off of his feet. The guards finished off the demon and filled in the gap, but the blow had left its mark. There was a decent sized dent in his chestpiece, and, after he was able to breathe again, he felt a slight, but noticeable pain with every breath. One of his ribs was at least fractured. Fortunately, the battle seemed to be shifting. The teachers had taken notice of some of the tougher demons, demoralizing some of their minions. The guards were not only holding, but beginning to push back. Ssarak had been hurt worse before, and could still fight if he needed to, but it would not be appropriate for him to lead the charge. If he was correct about his injury, it would not develop into a serious one as long as he moved carefully and, most importantly, did not get hit again.

Glancing away from the frontline for a moment, he saw some of his friends in various states of exhaustion and injury, but all obviously alive. He felt a bit of relief come over him, but with the battle still raging, it was not over yet. Still, he took a moment to approach the body of the Black Knight. Ssarak had caught glimpses of the demon, but was too focused on holding the front line to join the others in killing it. The Knight had looked to be strong, but with Meirin standing over its corpse and half of a spear protruding from its face, it was obviously not strong enough.

"Impressive." Ssarak said to the group as he looked to Meirin. "Are you hurt?" He asked, not truly caring about his own condition.

Darius' gaze shot up from the now dead demonic knight to the girl who had killed it, his face showing confusion. The confusion on his face then twisted into a grimace as he started to realize what had happened. He picked himself off the ground, all the while glaring at the red-headed girl. He turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. An Esyire walked up to them and asked if the girl was alright. He ignored his headache and the pain that had blossomed in his shoulders and legs as he laughed flippantly at the question.

"I do not believe she could have hurt herself stealing my kill," he said, anger evident in his voice. He turned his gaze back to the girl and spoke to her, ignoring the Esyire for the moment. "I did not call for hel-" The man swayed as a wave of dizziness washed over him. "For hel-" Darius fell backwards onto the edge of a table, tipping it over. He spent his last few moments conscious wondering how bad his wounds were for him to be feeling the effects of blood loss.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leith had finally gotten his breathing back to normal when Ssarak approached them. He stood up and made his way over towards his roommate. Leith chuckled as when he heard Ssarak mention that taking down the knight was impressive. "You should have seen the sword-" He was saying before a robed man the he hadn't seen before interrupted him. The man saying something about Meirin stealing a kill before he addressed her. His voice was rising as he spoke, and Leith was going to try and defuse the situation before the man fell, bringing a table and all its contents with him.

Leith rushed over to the man and checked for a pulse. He still had one, but it was weak. Leith glanced at Ssarak and Meirin. "That was interesting. Can you help me move him over there?" he asked as he pointed towards the small area in the back corner where the medics from both the armies and the college had gathered all the injured people

Meirin stepped away from the Black Knight and left her spear in his head. She was very tired now, having cast a few Wing Weaving spells in quick succession. She could go through each of her forms ten times, one through twenty, but a single Aeromancy Weaving Spell seemed to take a lot out of her. She didn't even have much energy to try preforming a Vitamancy spell to heal herself with. Ssarak came over, his armor dented and his body bleeding form various injuries. He of all people asked Meirin if she was okay, which aside from a few cuts she sustained trying to fend off the knight and his flying sword, she was much better off than Sssarak. "I'm alright. You, on the other hand, really need to get yourself patched up!"

Just than the swordsman from before spoke out against Meirin. Apparently he din't like that she killed the Black Knight before he could have, which she herself found very stupid. Who cares who killed him? The demon needed to be dead. She was just going to ignore him until he collapsed, the injuries he sustained fighting the Black Knight finally taking him out. Upon closer inspection, the man was very heavily wounded, no doubt because he had the Black Knight's full attention. Meirin supposed she should feel grateful that he was willing to put himself in harms way to buy her and the others some time, even if he did seem like an arrogant bastard for it. Leith came over to comment on the battle itself, but when the man fell he wanted to bring him back towards the corner of the Dinning hall where the medics were curing the wounded. "I think we all need to visit the healers right now." Meirin mustered what was left of her strength to lift the swordsman by his arms. He was quite heavy so she couldn't so much as carry him as much as drag him towards the corner.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak also found himself annoyed with the swordsman's comment, but they did not have to deal with his arrogance for long before he lost consciousness. Ssarak shook his head. "We have too many wounded with life threatening injuries, and not enough healers as it stands. My wounds will not kill me, let them focus on those who need it. Like this...individual." Ssarak approached the swordsman and picked him up by his feet while Meirin grabbed his arms, expediting the process of taking him to the back of the dining hall where the other wounded were being treated. Despite their current success in the overall battle, the situation on their side of the dining hall was desperate in a different way. They had almost no proper medical supplies, with no shortage of wounded. Their vitamancers were being taxed to their limits, so something needed to change if they were going to save all of the casualties..

"We should rejoin the fight as best as we can, and aid in pushing out the demons. If we can open the way to the infirmary, we may be able to do more for the injured." Ssarak suggested. He was beaten, bloody, and in real danger of cracking his ribs, but he had not exhausted his mageblood to the point that he could not help coordinate an offense. The others seemed similarly fatigued, but at the moment, their forces had the momentum to push out the demons.

Ovak vs Norschtalen

Norschtalen lowered her hands as the Archmage stepped forward. "Deception? That implies that I don't know what he's up to. Oh no, I fully understand what ends I'm suppose to meet... And I'll gladly fulfil those ends. What about you, Archmage? Who's ends who you meet?" Norschtalen dropped the blood stained amulet off the side of the balcony, where it began to plummet down towards the ground. She turned towards the Archmage and saw that he was ready for battle. Her purprose fulfilled, she just gave him a slight grin and glare. "Times are changing. You can be part of that change, or you can be part of the past. Kekekeke..." Norsctalen's form suddenly dispeared into a large swarm of bats, with each creature flying in different directions. A few bats formed a rough silhouette of Norschtalen right behind the Archmage, and fired off two clouds of ice at his figure.

---

"I could sit around exchanging philosophies with you all day because we all meet the same end. Some just chose to meet it sooner like yourself." Ovak spoke in a casual voice not befitting an Archmage. "Kudd is not the type to show all his cards until he's got a winning hand. So it's very likely you're missing some key pieces to his plan."

He was unfazed by the vampire's batty display as her figure crumbled into several small critters who dispersed throughout the room, instead merely closed his eyes. It was one last distracting sense to filter and mind centered upon his Electromancy, his ESI stretched all about in a wide area. There was a large gathering of bats right behind him which formed into a familiar, female shape before she shot two icy clouds right at him.
Ovak shook his head then focused his magic, Aeromancy mixed with Pyromancy, into a simple snap of his fingers. Together they created a hot gust of air which both melted any hidden icicle weapons and tossed the clouds, still filled with overwhelming heat, back at the silhouette. In the brief moment before the gust swirled about the large cluster of bats, his eyes snapped open and intensely focused upon a figurine topped upon his bedside table. It was a ferret with webbed skin from its forelegs to its hind ones, betraying it's gliding ability. It's wooden surface melted into white fur as it's eyes, once dull and lifeless, came alive. It's nose twitched when Ovak gave it an order.

"Retrieve the amulet before it can cause anymore damage." He said, the figurine no longer wooden but a living breathing creature. It wasted little time and darted off the table then out the window.

---

"Pointless. Utterly useless." Though the form of Norschtalen scattered, many more bats still lingered, enough to create at least ten rough shapes of her body. "Even the Archmage cannot stop what's to come. Why try to fight this? Why not just see what happens?" Norschtalen laughed as the ten rough shapes fired more clouds of ice at the Archmage.

---

"I could say the same for you and your master but I doubt I get very far." Ovak stated plainly as he kept up the ESI field, eliminating any chanced for surprise by the vampire. His wind abruptly changed course. It whipped about and swirled about the fragile figure, providing a barrier between him and the icy clouds. He had to end this quickly. A lengthy battle would be the end of him and he didn't intend to die from one of Kudd's pitifully misguided pets. If the demon wanted him dead then he would have to do it himself.

---

And even as the small ferret creature went down to the amulet... It would find the amulet in peices. From the Amulet, a dispropotional amount of blood flowed from it.

---

The ferret's eyes appeared disappointed when it noted the Amulet had shifted from one piece to many. It's head tilted as blood leaked upon the stones and swiftly snatched a single, largest piece, then shimmed upwards. One shard held within its mouth and careful not to swallow was all the Archmage would need to undo what would happen next.

---

"Strange to see you so up and about, given that you've been sitting on your thumbs for the past few years. Surely even you had some clue as to what my master is doing. Perhaps you're just trying to stave off the inevitable? Or do you truly think you have some cunning plan to put a stop to his goal?" The blood began to glow red, and a crimson energy began to form from it. It shot into the skies, piercing the night and blocked out the moon. Suddenly, the entire skies turned red. "This is but a glimpse of the future, Archmage. The peace that you've been living has come to an end. I hope you're ready for the hell that is to come. There is no stopping it. Just suffering and death."

The college began to change. Stones began to warm, the air became thin. Plants shrivled and began to catch fire. Others started to instead grow stiff and cold. Frozen. Water boiled and evaporated, and the same happened to a few unforunate students around the college. "Surely even you can see the futility of your resistance. Why not join us? Ease the world into it's end. Stop the pain."

---

Ovak shook his head, his heart filled with sorrow at the woman. Pain was always a part of life itself and those who believed the world was better off dead were fools indeed. He merely chided her.

"Poor, ignorant child. Suffering, pain and misery is apart of life but it only sweetens emotions of a more positive nature. Some thing that complete death will never solve or fix. Besides..." He continued as the ferret's form appeared through the door, it's lithe and agile body bounced towards him to stop at his feet. The wind broke a small space for the creature to dart into and quickly closed, slicing any creature that tried to follow in half. He stooped over to clasp the Amulet piece from the creature's tiny jaws. "It's not me you need to worry about stopping it. My magic has it's own price, unlike Kudd who bit the hand that nurtured him in his greed and paid for it. My successor has denied those same forces himself yet he hasn't any idea he has. Others will stop you... I can only aid them."

He focused upon the arcanite around him, attune upon one arcanite's signature: Kudd's. It oozed from the pieces, namely one in his hand, while he also sensed it from the vampire herself due to the gift her master bestowed. It was time to stop this childish game at the root he decided. With that thought, Ovak centered most his focus upon the very arcanite. It buzzed within the Amulet and Norschtalen, the later grew bit from the friction as if slowly being microwaved alive. No matter how many bats she turned into or where she went, his magic affected her and only grew in strength. Their power levels, even In his weaken state, were a cut above. Unknown to the vampire, he had been drawing energy from all around him and this aided in the illusion he was fitter the. is crippled body would suggest... For a bit.

---

Though still in the form of a swarm of bats, Norschtalen felt pain. Whether or not it came from the Archmage or the result of what happened from the broken amulet, she didn't know. "He said as much... You and your gods, refuse to change. Stuck in your old, archaic ways... To perpetuate the same lives, the constant suffering, the slight ease. Such a cruel cycle that you enforce." Soon Norschtalen's body revealed it's true form back on the Belcony, but she bent down onto one knee as she could feel the archnite in her burn. "My master has not spent his last enternity merely biding his time... See now, his true.... Power." Norschtalen took out a dagger hidden on her person and impaled herself through the heart with it. She knew that her death was near, and she would not let it go to waste. She gave the rest of her life energy to fuel Kudd's spell.

---

The Archmage merely just stayed silent. He was unfazed by her actions as she lunged the dagger deep, her life blood flowed into the spell. Ovak could almost hear Kudd's terrible chuckle when the vampire gave her life and soul in the final devotion for him. His eyes, on the other hand, reflected pity for her foolish decision and his inability to break his vow to save her. Visions were both a blessing and a curse all their own. To act upon it would alter key events, risking a new and far scarier outcome then allowing her to die would've made. It don't make it any less painful when he made past preparations for this moment. He continued to listen to Norschtalen's final rants out of respect for the would be dead.

---

"Your gods have created prisons and cages for all of you... My master will set us all free..." Norschtalen's body slumped onto the ground and dissolved into ash as the Inferno grew ever closer to the Mortal World. The Veil around the college, which itself was fairly weak, was now nonexistant. The demons who died here at the college simply stood back up. Only those who have been decapitated did not immediately rise up to fight, and even so, it was only a matter of time before their bodies were restored. All the demons the college worked so hard to kill got back to their feet, as the Inferno began to prolong their lives, to allow them to keep on fighitng. Stone began to melt, and the trees became to catch on fire. The air was thin and filled with poison, and soon a strong wind began to whip up the dust and dirt at high speeds, tearing off flesh from exposed skin. And that was not even the end.

---

Ovak felt the air swirl and change into a familiar scene he had only seen a few times. His last visit was when he saved Khan from Kudd's grasp with aid from the last Demonomancer, something he had hoped to avoid happening again. This had to end now he realized, his eyes watched Norschtalen's body burn up within the scorching heat and sun into ashes. His mind sensed the looming threat above and frowned.

---

From above the college, a MASSIVE Inferno Portal opened. The covered the entire college, and even a little bit beyond. Through the portal was blackness, as though it was an eclipse. And from the portal came a large creature... A creature larger than the college itself. He didn't even waste time landing; on it's maw was some sort of light. Even those who have never seen the creature would be able to tell that it was going to attack. And it did. Strait towards the Archmage's tower.

---

Without wasting any time, Ovak closed his eyes and let the energy fill him deeply. It coiled and swirled in his being as ribbons of transparent colors gathered about his form then shot into him. His mind focused upon the weakened Veil and started to use the gathered energies to weave another, strong one he quickly shortly. The white beam darted quickly in a straight line for the Archmage's form but it would have to wait for now. He raised his hand up and manipulated the magic to restrengthen the barrier on his command. His hand had began to grey, fingers ridged and curled while the power flowed to it. First he made the glowing, colorless ball within his grasp pulse. Each of Kudd's allied demon within the College would feel the blood within them bubble under their skin as it was followed by immeasurable pain. Boils formed and shortly, their bodies, no matter the species or type, would be withering upon the ground. All crippled and unable to attack.

Ovak's teeth gritted in equal agony when he sent out another pulse. This one ruptured the Arcanite and set it to explode. One by one, every last enemy demon exploded into a red cloud of blood.it temporarily cleared the grounds of any demonic presence and would allow him to reform the fallen barrier.

Slowly the Archmage then turned his attention to the impeding attack. He began to null the beam and instead reflected it. His already dead hand reached it's clawed fingers when the attack shattered the windows, splitting the melted stone and remaining scene into utter destruction. It should've consumed his hand into ashes but instead dimmed. With a powerful cry, Ovak shoved the attack right back with twice the force.
He didn't wait to see if the attack hit before he instantly slammed the new woven barrier overtop where the old one had been and exhaustion washed over the old man all at once leaving him to crumble onto the floor. The dead and ash grey skin now covered along his wrist to his rib side, the putrid smell unable to bother the man's unconscious mind. His arm seemed frozen in death and now useless. It was a heavy cost for his magic because no mortal was ever meant to wield the power of life itself and it wrecked it's own hellish costs upon his body. In truth, each time he over extended himself then he would pay with a piece of himself in the end. At least, for now, his school was safe.

---

Suddenly, the demons came to a grinding halt. Although the merging of the Inferno allowed even their most mortally wounded to keep on fighting, that did little when they all spontaniously exploded. On one hand, this allowed them to return to the Mortal realm almost instantly as their remains were destoryed, but it caught them off guard massively. And while the college had no idea what happened either, they took advantage of the demon's own confusion to increase their offensive, breaking the demon's assault and making much more headway into clearing out the college.

The large demon from the portal saw the attack and tried to dodge it, to no anvil. But it was too powerful to be destoryed, not even by it's own attack. It was enough for it to be pushed back through the portal however, just as Ovak created a new Veil that closed the portal. Just as quickly as it came it left, and the colossal demon was gone. The college struck hard and fast, giving the demons little breathing space. Even their elites were caught by Ovak's surpise attack, weakening not only the demon's forces but also their moral. But they must act quickly now; it would only be a matter of time before the demons would try to attack the college again, and right now it was not in a good state to defend itself.

COUNTERATTACK

With the sudden death of all the demons, the college had a precious little amount of time before the demons returned. But that was all they needed to ensure that they could defend their home. Satori rallied what remained of the teachers and guardsmen and had them rapidly cover lost ground, set up fortification, and recover any wounded. By the time the demons were starting to claw their way back from the Inferno, they were met with an indomitable line of guardsmen. Though severely outnumbered, the demons were out maneuvered. It became a slaughter; piles upon piles of demons began to form as they ran into the grinder, unable to efficiently fight back. A few were smart enough not to take the same path as the fallen, but ultimately it was too late; their forces were routed, and staying at the college would only resort to more pain.

Indeed, after the Archmage created a new Veil over the college, the demons were unable to warp into the college ground. Now all that was left was to gathered the wounded and the dead, and clean out the remaining demons who haven't yet fled the college.

Colette

Colette panted when she finally saw the fight over, she allowed her bat ally to vanish before falling to her knees, her dress was torn and she was bleeding in several parts of her bod. She stood up steadily and made her way slowly back to her dorm holding her shoulder wound which was the deepest. "Man if I don't get back soon this blood loss will cause me to become even hunger which I fear for since I never been so wounded" she said looking down at her dress which was completely torn up "And I might have to make a new outfit for me" she said to herself again.

She smiled when she made it to the tower and went upstairs landing on her bed her bat pets nuzzling her whining at seeing such wounds on her small body, she patted them lightly wincing. "I will be fine as long as I stay here and heal the best I can" she said her eyes looking up at the dull ceiling with a sigh

Ssarak could not admit that he entirely understood what happened over the course of the next few minutes. At first, it seemed like demons were raising from the dead while the air became difficult and painful to breathe. It looked like the fight was lost, but then, as quickly as they had risen, the demons spontaneously exploded and the air returned to its normal state. With Satori as an organizing force, the guards overcame their confusion and pushed back against the demons that were already trying to return from the Inferno. Ssarak, Meirin, and Leith joined in the offensive as well, with Ssarak foregoing any physical combat in favor of closely examining enemy movements and providing useful tactical information.

It was not long before they had cleared the way to the infirmary. With access to those supplies and healers, the wounded in the dining hall would stand a much better chance of recovering. For all intents and purposes, unless something else catastrophic happened, the battle seemed to be over. There were almost certainly stragglers hidden in the college, but the guards were in much better shape to deal with them than Ssarak was.

Ssarak returned his axe to its place on his back and leaned himself against a wall outside the infirmary. With the chaos and excitement of the battle essentially over, he could feel the pain in his chest more clearly with each breath. It wasn't what he would associate with a broken rib, but it was almost certainly fractured. Overall, though, he was not worried about his health, but rather what this attack would mean for the college. He would recover, but from his perspective, the future of the college was less certain. How many students had survived the attack? How much would it cost to rebuild? Was the college even capable of continuing? Even more concerning was the source of the attack itself. An immense amount of power had been directed at the college, and while it had survived, how close had they been to death? The inferno had nearly manifested in the college twice during the attack. Had either succeeded, what hope of survival would there have been for himself, and his friends?

"So...it's over, then." Ssarak said, looking to Meirin and Leith with a pained expression, not because of his injuries, but because of the realization of the danger they were in, and were likely going to continue to be in as long as they remained with the college.

Meirin had no idea what sort of chaos was forming now. At first she thought the worse had happened, that the Demons had somehow been resurrected, only for them to shortly after explode into a bloody mess. The confusion was surprisingly short however, as soon Meirin heard Satori's voice in her head telling everyone to begin their counter offensive. Meirin was quick to adapt to the situation and picked up a new spear, skewering the remaining demonic invaders alongside the guards and students. Before long they sent the entire horde into a full retreat. Meirin followed Ssarak and Leith throughout most of the attack as they made a path towards the Infirmary. Than Meirin dropped her spear so she could help carrying the wounded into the Infirmary, even got herself patched up to full health. She carried as many bodies as she could before the Infirmary was packed full, and even than they tried to bring some healers to those who couldn't be placed inside the Infirmary.

Meirin left to take a breather and brought back a few health potions for Ssarak and Leith. She definitely knew that Ssarak was injured, and Leith was likely in no better shape after fighting that demonic sword. "Hey guys, I brought some potions for you." Just than Ssarak asked if the attack was over. Meirin's face grew solemn. "No... This is just the beginning. It's never that simply, you know? This was just one attack. One day they will come back, and we have to be ready for them. They always come back...." Meirin's memory began to resurface the thoughts of her home. When it too was attacked by demons, forced to fight off the invaders. She saw friends cut down, people she could have saved if she was just a second faster. It was all coming back to her now, and a single tear was shed. She looked at her hands and noticed all the blood. She wasn't sure who's it belonged to. How many people could she have saved today, if she had been stronger? What would happen to the college if she couldn't?