Seige!

Hamqua City

Unnamed Continent

Planet Zorix 1I

January 20th

Year 9025

The morning sun bathed Hamqua City in a golden hue, its rays gleaming off the roofs of the hundreds of buildings in the city.

The air was filled with the scent of blood, burning flesh and ashes as the demon host gathered on the plains outside the city.

Above the main gates, giants clad in heavy steel armour and elven mages combined their power to repel the invading demons.

Layers of protective enchantments shimmered to life over the city's fortified walls, bolstered by the efforts of the elven mages.

The elven archers nocked and fired magic arrows, raining them down on the thousands of unranked demons surging like a tide of shadows.

"Hold the line!"

One giant bellowed, his voice echoing like thunder across the walls and the other giant threw giant flaming boulders atop the demons.

But even though they were unranked, a great number of these demons had been fighting for months now. They had learned to control their powers more effectively and were capable of conjuring demonic energy barriers to block such obvious attacks.

Behind the demon lines, the Low-Rank demons barked orders, with some of them even yawning at the sight of the boring battle.

"Breachers, forward!"

One ordered, and the group of unranked demons he had reminded multiple times that they were the 'Breachers' charged forward with their steel battering rams.

These ones were older unranked demons who were over Level 90 and had powerful strength. Mostly animal-type demons.

They drove the reinforced tools against the metal gates and the elven mages unleashed torrents of spells to stop them.

Fireballs, lightning bolts, and shards of ice rained down, carving fiery paths and freezing swathes of the battlefield. One unlucky Demon was struck mid-stride by a bolt of lightning, their charred remains collapsing into the dirt. 

But the demons had their own mages too.

Protected by a cluster of shield bearers, the unranked demons with magic-type skills unleashed their spells in response.

Demons with grappling hooks and ladders rushed under the onslaught, dodging the arrows loosed by the elven archers above.

A few fell, pierced by the glowing projectiles that detonated upon impact, sending shockwaves through the nearby ranks. But more continued, scaling the walls in a frenzy.

Above the walls, the giants fought to push them back. One giant swung their club and sent multiple demons flying from the ladders, while another hurled boulders the size of wagons at them.

Meanwhile, the elven mages worked tirelessly to maintain the magical barriers. Their hands trembled with exertion as they channelled streams of magic into the walls, bolstering their defences even as the battering ram thudded relentlessly against the gate. 

Suddenly, a squad of demons joined the fray, wheeling in improvised elven artillery and launching flaming projectiles over the walls.

The bombs exploded upon impact, engulfing sections of the ramparts in roaring flames. Elves frantically scrambled to extinguish the fires, using water spells and buckets from nearby cisterns.

The defenders did their best, fighting as hard as they could while hoping for reinforcements from other territories.

Alas, the only reinforcements that could come to them had been blocked by the lines of Mid-Ranked demons far beyond the city's region.

Eventually, the siege reached its crescendo as the sun climbed higher into the sky.

A squad of unranked demons with fire and ice magic was carefully guided to the front. They took positions near the battering rams and began to pour their spells without holding back.

Waves of searing flames heated the steel until it glowed red-hot, only to be followed by an icy frost that rapidly cooled it. Over and over, fire and ice clashed, weakening the metal with each cycle. 

The metal gates, even with their magical reinforcements, began to buckle under the strain.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the heated and frozen metal as the battering rams slammed against it with bone-jarring force. Finally, with a deafening screech, the gates gave way, shattering into jagged shards that rained down like shrapnel. 

"Push forward!"

The Low-Rank demons ordered and the unranked surged through the breach with a roar. With the gates broken down, some of the demon mages charged in and to the sides, attacking the backs of the walls that were not protected by magic.

They blasted sections of the walls into rubble, collapsing entire stretches and sending the defending elves tumbling to their deaths as they opened additional pathways into the city. 

With the gates down and the walls breached, the siege was effectively over.

The Demons abandoned their siege equipment, swarming into Hamqua City like a flood of shadows, forcing the defenders to do the one thing they were avoiding–-meeting the demons in melee combat!

In the streets of the city, chaos reigned.

Unranked Demons, wild and bloodthirsty, overwhelmed the unranked giants and elves who had been the last line of defence. They grouped together in packs, overwhelming their opponents with numbers.

Fights broke out here and there over who got what soul, leading to some of them being caught by the elves and dying, but surprisingly, those were the minority.

One group of elven warriors stood their ground in a narrow alleyway, fighting valiantly and cutting down Demons left and right. But for every Demon that fell, three more took its place.

The elves were surrounded, their formation broken, and the alleyway soon became a slaughterhouse. 

In the central plaza, the unranked giants, as tall as buildings, swung their massive clubs and axes, each strike sending bodies flying. One giant crushed a dozen Demons beneath his spiked hammer, roaring aloud, but the poor giant was soon taken down.

The demons adapted very quickly. 

Dozens of them swarmed each giant, clawing and biting savagely. They leapt onto the giants' backs, slashing at their necks and faces.

The giants tried to shake them off, but their size worked against them. One by one, the giants fell, their bodies dragged to the ground under the sheer weight of the Demons. 

Once grounded, the giants stood no chance. The Demons descended on them in a frenzy, tearing through flesh and bone ruthlessly.

The goal of the demons was not to conquer, but to exterminate, as extermination gave the precious EXP these unranked demons needed to overcome their levelling walls and gain a Rank.

◇　◇　◇

Amidst the chaotic series of battles of Hamqua City's collapse, a small contingent of demons carved their way through the battlefield.

Leading them was a tanned brown-skinned demoness, with long white hair and obsidian black eyes.

She was the embodiment of the phrase; "Small but Mighty", as wherever she passed, dozens of elves and giants fell.

Compared to her 4"4' frame, these giants were ginormous. But her blade tore through their skin, pierced their flesh and split their bones.

Behind her were four others, two moving like a well-rehearsed troupe of executioners, while the other two, though initially out of sync, were quickly adapting.

Naturally, Xaren was among those two.

He infused his gravity magic into his sword and cut through the necks of elves over and over. His grey skin seemed to blur in the smoke-filled air as he twisted and spun, his short stature making him harder to pin down.

Just as he cut through an elf, a giant burst out from a nearby building and swung a massive club at him, but Xaren lightened his body and leapt to the side.

He drove his blade deep into the giant's calf, eliciting a roar as the giant collapsed to one knee.

Before Xaren could regain his balance, something black flashed in his eyes and he looked up to see the giant's head falling to the ground.

Xaren caught sight of Ilya's white hair as she tilted her head to the side to avoid an elf's arrow, before kicking off the ground and blitzing towards the archer.

They drew a sword and rushed at her, but she parried the sword easily and drove her blade through their chest, her eyes locked on her next target even as her current victim fell.

A scream entered his ears and he turned to see Bjorn, the leopard demon he met in his first battle crushing the windpipe of an elf, before hurling the lifeless body into a group of nearby elves and scattering them like bowling pins.

Xaren stretched out his left hand, and an invisible weight seemed to press down on the elves. Their movements slowed, and Bjorn didn't hesitate to hammer his fists into them, cracking their ribs like dry twigs under his blows.

As Xaren rose to his feet, Carack and Kravok arrived beside him, both soaked in the blood of countless elves.

"Why'd you stop?" Kravok queried.

"Needed a moment to rouse my magic."

Xaren responded as he turned his gaze towards a nearby bronze statue. His attention then shifted to Ilya, who was rushing toward a group of a dozen elves standing with their backs to the statue.

Deciding to turn those elves into his EXP, Xaren raised his left hand in their direction, then pulled back his arm with a command.

"Attract."