A volley of rocks and fire pelted the city’s walls.

  The defenders of Jaeda rushed onto the defences and saw an unthinkable sight.

  Overnight, the Demon Emperor’s forces had built sixteen siege machines.

  “Ring the bells! Get ready to start running water across the city!”

  “Men, to the walls!”

  Flustered shouts and cries echoed throughout the walls as the invaders continued to rain down fire upon them.

  The rocks of the catapults left massive dents on the ramparts and towers.

  Some of the pitch barrels broke against the walls; others soared into the city, setting homes and businesses abze.

  Soon, fires broke out and started to spread.

  Yet, despite the bombardment, the Demon Emperor’s legions did not move.

  They simply stood in formation, protecting the siege machines from the front and sides.

  “General, we’re trying to control the fires, but-”

  “Pull down some of the houses, and be quick about it! Contain the bze, then tell the other captains to rally their men.”

  “Sir?”

  “They intend to burn us.”

  “Right away, sir!”

  The bombardment intensified, as did the fires and devastation to the walls.

  From the frontlines, Abaddon grinned as he saw the defenders atop the battlements scrambling about, disorderly and scared.

  “Can’t help but feel a bit bad for them,” Fenrir muttered.

  “Why?”

  “If you had to die in service to our Master, how would you want to go out?”

  “…Right.”

  Just then, the gates slowly started to open and, behind them, Abaddon saw hundreds of armed horsemen.

  The general drew his cymore, wound his arm back and infused it with his mana.

  Then, with great force, Abaddon threw his mighty weapon at the top of the city’s gates.

  A massive, fiery explosion blew the city’s gatehouse to rubble.

  The shockwave alone was enough to shatter parts of Jaeda’s walls, and it was even felt by Abaddon himself, several hundred metres away.

  The horsemen on the other side stood no chance.

  All of them had either been crushed by the falling debris or sent flying by the shockwaves.

  “Impressive,” Fenrir appuded. “Though, I’m guessing you’ve drained all of your mana, right?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Fenrir transformed into her gigantic wolf form and sped towards Jaeda, leaping over the destroyed gatehouse and unleashing her fury upon the soldiers inside.

  If Abaddon’s attack had demoralised them, Fenrir’s appearance was more than enough for most to break and rout.

  Those who did stay to fight were quickly torn to shreds by the massive wolf as she quickly cut through them like butter.

  Abaddon, who had started running to catch up to Fenrir, recimed his cymore and joined in.

  With a single ssh, he cut seven men in two and, against those odds, even the few brave soldiers who stayed behind knew that they were doomed.

  All they could do was give everyone else a chance to escape.

  ***

  The desperate people down at the docks could see the never-ending bombardment devastating their city, and the fires etching ever closer.

  Without any real organisation, the people of Jaeda climbed onto whatever boats they could and tried to set sail.

  There were roughly twenty warships and ten merchants’ vessels in the docks, as well as numerous small civilian and fishermen boats, but only a small fraction managed to depart.

  Despite the great army that surrounded them, there was nothing blocking their escape across the ke.

  Or so they thought.

  Slowly, from the depths of the ke, a great green serpent arose, with multiple heads all barring razor sharp teeth the size of men.

  Riding atop her head was her sister, Scyl.

  The great beast drew close enough to Jaeda to allow her twin to depart, then set her sights upon the retreating boats.

  With a mighty roar, Charybdis descended upon the ships and struck their hulls. She left gaps too rge for any of them to repair, before moving onto her next victims.

  Charybdis repeated this until all of the ships that had set sail were slowly sinking into the ke.

  Those who jumped overboard and tried to swim away were quickly devoured by Charybdis, but she didn’t chase after them quickly.

  Instead, she moved as slowly as possible to savour each person’s st moments of despair.

  As expected of my sister, her cruelty is matched only by Master’s.

  Arrows flew at Scyl, but she skilfully wove between them, before unleashing half a dozen daggers from her palms at the attackers. A row of archers fell down dead as more soldiers swarmed towards her.

  “Pathetic."

  More than fifty armoured soldiers charged towards her, but none ever got within five metres of her.

  Dagger after dagger flew, each skewering several men with the strength of a ballista bolt, until they all y dead by the docks.

  More arrows flew at Scyl, but she dodged them once again.

  Just as she was about to attack the archers once more, she felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.

  Scyl leapt backwards and narrowly avoided a sword’s ssh.

  When she nded, she looked around for her assaint and found a man in full pte armour at the other end of the docks, carrying a sword and shield. His sword was overflowing in a golden energy and his armour was a spotless white colour.

  “Who are you?”

  “That’s my line, monster.” The swordsman took a few steps towards her. “What are you?!”

  “I have no reason to tell an insect my name.”

  Scyl unched three daggers from her right palm at the man, but he cut all three out of the air. The golden energy around his sword started glowing and he sshed his bde four times at Scyl.

  Beams of bright energy soared at tremendous speed towards Scyl; she leapt up over the bdes and fired five more daggers at the man. Once again, he cut them out of the air, but Scyl had achieved her goal and closed the gap between them.

  Once she was a few metres from him, she thrust both her palms at him, hoping that he couldn’t react in time to stop them.

  The swordsman panicked and brought his shield before his face, catching both daggers in the metal, but the shield cracked and shattered in numerous pces. The man stabbed and sliced at Scyl, but she stayed low to the ground and masterfully dodged every attack.

  The man, frustrated, gathered golden energy around his whole body and stomped his right foot hard into the wooden docks.

  The energy exploded from his foot and turned half of the docks into a wreck.

  Scyl narrowly avoided his attack by leaping to the side and onto the nearby grassy bay. As she did, two more volleys of arrows flew at her, forcing her to flee deeper into the city where several dozen soldiers surrounded her.

  They’re trying to box me in! Scyl spun around, firing countless daggers into the crowd.

  Half dropped down dead before the next wave of arrows came. Scyl slid beneath them, throwing more daggers at the surviving soldiers, but she had to retreat when more beams of light soared towards her.

  Scyl leapt up into the air, throwing four daggers at the archers by the bay, killing most of them, just as more beams of light approached her from all sides.

  Shit!

  Her opponent had predicted her actions; each beam from his sword was aimed to put her in a box and cut off any possible escape routes.

  Scyl bit her lip and braced her body for the attack.

  It hit her hard and she flew across the rooftops, before finally coming to a stop and falling into a narrow alley. She was hurt and bleeding a little, but it wasn’t fatal.

  If anything, it hadn’t hurt as much as Scyl’s instincts told her it would, but it wounded her pride.

  She, one of the Demon Emperor’s chosen, had been wounded by an insect.

  Worse, she would be the third of his generals to be wounded by such a foe.

  First Fenrir, then Mímir and now her.

  She stood up, brushed down her clothes and leapt up onto the rooftops, a volley of pitch barrels and rocks devastating the buildings behind her.

  The swordsman was waiting for her, his whole body glowing with golden energy.

  “I’ll admit, insect, you aren’t weak, so I’ll grant you this honour before you die.” With a polite curtsy, she introduced herself. “I am Scyl, Beast of the Ocean and one of the Demon Emperor’s chosen generals."

  “Richard Weiss, S-ranked adventurer of the Jaeda Adventurer’s Guild. Scyl, could you tell me one thing?”

  “What?”

  “Why is your master doing this?”

  “Huh?”

  “Why did he start a war between our countries? Why did he make us kill each other? Why are you burning my home to the ground?”

  At first, Scyl wanted to ugh.

  Out of everything the insec-Richard could have asked her, it was something so trivial and inconsequential.

  But Scyl smiled. “Because he desires the world and anything that stands in the way of his prize is meaningless to him.”

  “…Then, I know now what I have to do.” Richard steadied himself, discarding the remnants of his broken shield and gripped his sword with both hands. “Even if I can’t prevent Jaeda’s fate, I can at least stop you!”

  Scyl giggled. “I like your resolve, so much that I wish we could Awaken you. As.” Scyl let two daggers slip into her hands. “I don’t have the authority to make that decision.”

  The two stared each other down for a few moments, until Richard charged.

  Scyl met his first attack with one of her daggers, then swung at his neck with the other. Richard jerked his body away from the attack, narrowly avoided her bde, then kicked at her chest. Scyl sidestepped his attack and sshed at him again, but Richard parried it with his sword. He sliced at her neck, then stabbed at her throat, but Scyl caught both attacks with her left dagger.

  Then, she leapt towards him, slicing as she did, forcing Richard to retreat a few feet. He gathered energy around his sword and sliced at her five times, forcing Scyl to weave between each slice. Once he thought her off bance, he lunged at her again. Scyl was a second too te to properly avoid the attack as it cut across her stomach, making her wince in pain. However, it was a thin cut and didn’t stop her from fighting.

  Richard didn’t give her a chance to recover and followed up with four more energy slices, forcing Scyl onto the defence again, and struck when she was vulnerable once more. Scyl barely avoided a lethal blow as Richard’s sword cut at her hip, bouncing off the bone. Scyl scowled and violently shed out, throwing both her daggers at Richard before bombarding him with twenty more.

  Richard cut down or dodged the first twelve, before two finally caught him in the side and a third scraped across his helmet, taking out his left eye in the process. Richard stumbled as he tried to dodge the remaining five daggers, but Scyl wasn’t going to let him recover.

  She relentlessly kept up her attacks, firing daggers with her left palm whilst slicing with a new dagger she’d spawned in her right hand. At first, Richard managed to dodge her attacks, but his wounds slowly increased until he finally stopped moving and fell onto his knees.

  Eight daggers were lodged in his flesh, five of which were in his chest, and he was vomiting blood every time he tried to breathe.

  Despite his great agony, Richard forced himself back onto his feet, shakingly grasping his sword and pointed it at Scyl. He gathered the st remnants of the golden energy into the tip of his sword and fired it at Scyl.

  Scyl zily sidestepped his attack before cutting Richard’s throat.

  “You fought well, Richard. Rest well and pray you are reborn in another world.”

  The swordsman colpsed onto his back as his soul departed from his body.

  Once Scyl was sure he was dead, she colpsed onto all fours, panting heavily and gripping her bleeding side.

  That was exhausting!

  After he’d managed to wound her, she’d let her emotions get the better of her and drained most of her mana conjuring her weapons.

  It was a victory, but Scyl felt like she’d lost.

  Lady Mania thought Hilda might be an outlying case, but we’ve seen even more evidence against that tely.

  Hilda, Herakles, the Divine Padin and Caster, Dante, and now this S-Ranked Adventurer.

  There are people in this world that can defeat us.

  ***

  From the Demon Emperor’s camp, the recently captured sves watched in horror as the great city burnt.

  Any who did manage to escape the fmes and sughter found themselves ruthlessly cut down by elven arrows or Hysminai spears.

  The two groups formed an impregnable barrier around the city limits and all who tried to flee or fight couldn’t escape.

  The demons not taking part in the attack simply watched on calmly, sometimes cheering or roaring as the artillery bombarded Jaeda.

  One man, watching the fmes consume the city, thought to himself that if the Summoned Heroes really existed, could they possibly win?

  To that man, the answer was no,

  To him, there was no hope left.

  ***

  As Jaeda burnt, the liches entered the city.

  Then, they started chanting, spreading their foul miasma over every corpse inside.

  Soon, the dead began to rise.

  A city of half a million civilians and soldiers rose up in eternal service to the Demon Emperor and ensured that no army in the north-east could possibly outnumber Abaddon’s forces.

  With his new host raised, Abaddon marched to Sliva, surrounded it, then stormed to the gates with his fellow generals at his side.

  “People of Sliva! I, Abaddon, General of the Demon Emperor, come to you with a single demand. Surrender now, or suffer the same fate as Jaeda. You have six hours to decide, after which we will assault your city and raise it to the ground. Oh, and if you’re wondering what happened to the people of Jaeda, well.” The demon chuckled. “Simply look out from the battlements.”

  Abaddon had purposefully put the recently raised undead in the vanguard so that all the defenders of Sliva could see was half a million corpses.

  Sliva had a popution simir to Jaeda and seeing the fate of their former allies and friends terrified those behind the gates.

  Just an hour after Abaddon issued his demands, the leaders of the city came out carrying a white fg and surrendered themselves to Abaddon.

  “Do you swear to serve the Demon Emperor loyally from this day forth?”

  “…We do.”

  “Then, I welcome you as the newest lords of the empire. Long may his majesty reign!”

  “Long may his majesty reign!” Abaddon’s army chanted, again and again.

  ***

  With the city disarmed and occupied by all the non-undead forces in Abaddon’s army, the general felt particurly proud of himself.

  So much so that he was boasting to his fellow generals about his feats.

  “You know it wouldn’t have worked out this well without us too, right?” Scyl reminded him.

  “I know, I know, but it was my pn to raise the city like this, wasn’t it?”

  “…Yes, but-”

  “Lord Abaddon, can I ask you a question?”

  “What is it, Charybdis?”

  “Do you really think that this mission has brought us all closer together?”

  “I think it has a little bit, don’t you?”

  Charybdis made a complicated expression, then ughed gently. “I don’t mean to sound so doubtful, but we did all act independently inside Jaeda didn’t we? Perhaps, next time, it might be best for us to work together in pairs or as a small team.”

  “Do whatever you want,” Fenrir zily said with a yawn. “I’m exhausted. Night.”

  She curled up in a nearby corner and instantly fell asleep.

  “Well, time will tell, I’m sure,” Abaddon mumbled. “From tomorrow, we will be acting separately in smaller teams.”

  “Oh?”

  “I want you two to remain here in Sliva and solidify our control of the city and nearby regions, crushing any remaining rebels and pacifying this country. Word of what happened to Jaeda should spread quickly, and I imagine many might be inspired to resist us.”

  “What would you and Fenrir be doing then?” Scyl asked.

  “We’ll hunt down the remnants of the Allied Forces in the north-east. The Ravens say that they went to the east to the Golden Fields and have made camp there. It’s a few days march, so I’ll head off with just the undead.”

  At that, the Twins raised their eyebrows. “If that’s what your orders are, then we’ll obey, but.” Scyl gred at him. “Are you putting us where you think we’d work best, or are you just trying to earn more glory for yourself?”

  The demon grinned. “Both.”