General Ismor towers did a good job at whittling down the Undead, protecting his base camp, not allowing them to gain much of a foothold, but when everything seemed to be stable, the Demons and their Devil overlords delivered something to crush the Necromancer; Demon cavalry charged with thunderous hooves, allaying the Demons’ fears of defeat, they rode through much of the Undead. Undead spears on the other hand were seriously hampered by fire, the Undead crackled under Demon attack. Imps rolled down the hills, forward and onward, Maras looked like he was about to be heavily flanked, surrounded, if not outright destroyed. Large Demons smashed the lines, Devils joined in the fray, more pikes came to their aid; Maras’s force were pushed back, an impish army came at their rear. Skeletal pikes held a formation to keep them at bay, and Ildrid’s archers opened more devastating salvos; Maras’s Wraiths slowed the momentum of the flanking manoeuvre, their constant slinging of knives devastating the charge. Demon riders were unhorsed, the elite troops were being rinsed from the front. As time went on, more archers produced more salvos, more Ghouls tore the belly out of the Demon flanks, Wraiths took out elite units, and the momentum began to turn, as Maras’s units began to churn. Maras’s Reapers smashed into the front, lopping off heads, Ildrid produced more axemen and sent them after the imps, but focused most of his attention on creating an ever increasing hail of arrows. A slow and bloody maul ensued, the cavalry’s momentum was stopped completely, the elites began slowly falling, and regular rank and file began cracking in certain places. Demonic towers fired down at the now advancing Undead forces, but Spectres soon took over said towers.

  “Ildrid!” Maras screamed, in the thick of the fighting.

  Demon towers were converted into Undead towers, Ildrid stuffing the towers with archers, nonetheless the city of Carson still had Demon archers occasionally that peppered the Undead, but the effect on the Demons was not good. Ismor’s troops were being crunched. He was aghast at the power of the Necromancers, he watched the casualties accumulate.

  Who are these, what are they? Ismor thought

  The numerical superiority did not help, all Ismor could see where his troops dying, and Undead being raised. Elite Devil troops revived Demon troops, but Ghouls continued to push the Demons backwards into the trenches and then out of them, Wraiths helped bring down Devil after Devil, more imps were brought endlessly out from the city, and from Ismor’s reserves to try plug gaps. They were just added to the slaughter; Ildrid’s hail of arrows turned on the imps behind them, more or less finishing them off before turning to the Demon army in front of Maras. Ismor looked at the spectacle of death, paralysed, screaming to his troops to finish the dead, but unable to think of a solution. Skeletal melee units began to reinforce Maras’s units. More Demon mages attempted to create a firewall, Spectres and Ildrid’s archers quickly neutralised them. Demons put wooden barricades, they were quickly knocked over, the second trench fell, imps and Demon regular troops in a panicked state attempted to beat back the Undead. They were unsuccessful. The city of Carson’s walls were taken over, firing at the behinds of the Demons. The walls became a battle ground too, Demon archers tried to take their spot on the walls, skeletons prevented it, skeletal archers were adding to the hail storm that hit the Demons. Ildrid was racking up enemy casualties, which meant he could add more troops to the fray. Skeletons added a consistency to the Undead army, while Maras’s units acted as a more of an elite shock troop; both bludgeoned the Demons and Devils endlessly. Ildrid captured the walls completely, preventing Ismor’s troops from retreating, while skeleton troops circled around the beleaguered Cahov army. Ismor attempted to break out of the encirclement, but it consistently got worse. Every attempt at a breakout lead to more casualties.

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  “Fry them!” Ismor screamed defiantly. He swivelled as he said it, trying desperately to inspire a break out, “don’t let him win!”

  Troops died at an astonishing rate. Demons hid behind their shields, but the Undead picked them apart. Ismor would die heroically, he would be the last to die through twisted fate; his troops were all killed, all demon would rue the date, Maras stabbed Ismor personally, but it was a Reaper that would lop his arms and legs and then his head. 100 million Demons lay dead, 20,000 Devils, while Maras had lost many, he had replenished much of his forces, Ildrid stormed Carson, but the garrison soon surrendered, hearing that the vast Demon army outside had been bested put them in no mood to resist.

  Just outside the city, the dead bodies littered the view, the trenches were filled, the dirt became a dark red with the blood of the Demons. The decomposing bodies were cremated, a large unavoidable fate after such a massacre. Maras marched on the local forts, Demons surrendered without much of a fight. When Agelas’s bodyguard heard of the defeat, he was butchered, Maras had no knowledge of this, marching his Undead army to take forts and towns along the way. The great city of Volcanar was taken by Spectres as well as Ultremar. No one had the stomach to fight the great Undead army, simply letting it roll through their territory in the vain hope that it would leave.

  “What kind of regime should we leave here?” Ildrid mused, “should we rule the Demons?”

  “It is best not,” Maras said, “our forces took their lands as a show of strength. We cannot hold these lands, not without even more carnage.”

  “Which you’re against?” Ildrid mused with mirth and skepticism.

  “Ildrid, we fought soldiers and beat them, this is not uncommon in any land. If we fight rebels, it will get ugly. I might be Undead, but that’s not who I am.”

  For sure Maras. I will see to it, that I will emulate you. That you live up to those words. Perhaps exist is better words.

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