“What are you, some kind of Night Lord?” Adam asked, staring at the figures ahead of him. Jurot stepped forward, slightly ahead of his brother. The Iyrman crossed his wrists, simirly to a Demon Lord’s aide, his shield arm c his stomach as he waited. He could feel it. The thundering of his chest. The heat of excitement filling his body.

  A rge wolf, rger than any other wolf they had seen previously, gred towards Adam. It was not the wolf Adam was looking at, but rather the heavily armoured warrior atop it, adorned in armour that was made of the night sky, wielding a rge gve which seemed to almost reach the sky with its presence. An army of creatures, which were part man, part animal, part darkness, shambled behind the mysterious being.

  A darkness emanated from the mysterious figure, pressing down even against Adam’s shoulders. Adam could feel it, that sensation which had seeped into his heart, a darkness which had taken him during the year, even within the Iyr.

  When he had e across the Encroag Darkness, he had been too cocky, but this figure? This figure gave the same presence as that man, a presence which stated that they thought of the creatures before them as nothing but ants. They believed themselves not just above the people, but they believed themselves to be among the Divine.

  Battle OrderD20 + 1 = 8 (7)

  The figure motioned with its gve towards the group. It did not wish for subjugation, but sughter. The soldiers had prepared themselves, spears and shields in hand, ready to face the Night Lord in bat.

  “Ha!” came a shout from a soldier, whose face had grown pale, sweat dripping down their entire body. They charged forward, and a half step behind the rest of the army charged with them.

  Health: 78 -> 64

  Fighting Spirit: 3 -> 2

  Attack - Wraith (Fnking)D20 + 11 = 18 (7)D20 + 11 = 29 (18)Hit!Wraith: 3 -> 2Mana: 21 -> 20Ability: Divine Smite2D6 + 2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 32 (2, 6)(3, 6)(1, 5)32 damage!

  Attack - WraithD20 + 10 = 15 (4)D20 + 10 = 20 (9)Hit!Wraith: 2 -> 1Mana: 20 -> 19Ability: Divine Smite2D6 + 2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 33 (4, 6)(2, 6)(1, 5)33 damage!

  Onward Soar: 0 -> 1

  Mana: 19 -> 16Spell: Fireball8D6 = 32 (1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6)32 damage!

  Adam raised his shield, barely managing to deflect a blow from the wolf, though the wolf’s paw held such might that he was forced back a step. ‘Damn!’ Adam’s arm throbbed, but he inhaled and focused, stepping aside another blow, which cttered against his side, before he swung Wraith across the creature’s side. Though Wraith fshed white with divine magic, the axe didn’t mao cut too deep. ‘Whoa!’

  Due to Adam taking a step forward first, Kitool and Jaygak both charged around it, cutting off the creature’s escape, while bde and staff cut and crashed against its side. Jaygak did not hold back, her glowing bde moving with expert swiftness as she cut into the creature. Kitool’s staff blurred wildly, crashing against the wolf, managing to finally crush its skull. It was a wolf that would have eaten even an Expert for breakfast, but it was nothing before the monsters known as Adam, Jaygak, and Kitool.

  “We will hahe Night Lord, Adam,” Kitool stated, turning her back to the fighting soldiers.

  Jurot had leapt up to face the Night Lord in bat, his axe meeting gve. Yet, as Kitool had informed Adam to deal with the Night Lord, the trio watched as Jurot was forced back, winded by the blow of the Night Lord, who had stood while their giant wolf had fallen.

  ‘Holy!’ Adam thought, watg how easily the Night Lord had swatted away Jurot. Adam was about to step forward when he heard Jurot’s voice.

  “Adam.”

  Adam turned, swinging his axe wildly, pointing it towards the mass of soldiers. He felt the electricity of magi through his body as he called forth a great spell.

  “Explosion.”

  A tiny bead of fire shot forward, engulfing the middle of the enemy soldiers in fire, managing to kill at least a dozen of them, while those who had mao defend themselves from the fmes, barely mao shamble ever forward. The vor soldiers gasped in awe for a moment, but they tio charge forward, renewed by the fsh of light.

  ‘Danger.’

  Adam gnced back towards Zee and the ical steed, watg as a small portion of the enemy army had fnked around, meeting the noble and his retinue in battle. Yet, a few soldiers had slipped past, and had marched towards the steeds, where a box of silver gleamed uhe torchlight.

  “Margrave!” Adam excimed. “Protect the mounts!”

  “The mounts?” Margave Moonglow shouted back, bde in hand as he readied himself to ehe soldiers. “We have bigger issues than your mounts!”

  “Don’t be an idiot! Do you think I care about the mounts?” Adam shouted back. “Don’t let them get to the mounts!”

  Mana: 16 -> 13Spell: Fireball8D6 = 31 (1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6)31 damage!

  Adam held out Wraith, still pointing it towards the enemy soldiers, the electricity of magic rushing through him again. “Explosion!”

  The light of the Fireball illumihe Night Lord, whose gve met axe while staff and bde cttered against his armour, the four in a dance of death. Jurot tio step forward to csh with the Night Lord, keeping the great figure’s attention while Kitool and Jaygak darted around. Kitool swept the Night Lord off their feet, but as the Night Lord fell, they twisted their body, swinging their bde wildly to the side.

  Jaygak could see the blur of the gve as she swung her bde. Her bde made its way towards the falling neck of the Night Lord, while the gve made for her neck. For any other person, perhaps there was a choice to be made, to stab at the cost of taking a mortal wound, or to ge the trajectory of their bde to deflect the gve. Jaygak was not just any person.

  ‘I’m an Iyrman too!’ Jaygak thought, f her bde down, while the gve struck across the side of her neck, denting her helmet, striking against her jaw with so much effort that she spun and o one side, while her owruck against the Night Lord’s helmet in the same mahough it felt like she had cut into stone.

  “Gah!” Jaygak coughed out, her head ringing as the battle raged around her.

  Margave Moonglow sshed towards the enemy soldiers who had mao slip through, along with a handful of guards who had remained by his side. The bourers threw stones and jabbed with their spears towards the enemy, their hearts pounding with fright.

  Mana: 13 -> 10Spell: Fireball8D6 = 15 (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5)15 damage!

  Adam tio rain down fire onto the enemy, cursing from his ck of damage as the enemy soldiers tio march forward. The trio of Iyrmen tio press the Night Lord. The giant gve crashed against Jaygak, who swung her bde wildly to barely deflect the blow, though she crashed against a tree. She coughed, almost falling unscious.

  Jurot and the Night Lord tiheir daeel meeting steel, ringing even through the screams and shouts of dying soldiers. Kitool’s blows nded upon the Night Lord from the darkness, f the Night Lord to take a khough they still focused solely on the red Iyrman ahead, who could shrug off blows which could kill any normal man.

  ‘Jaygak’s in trouble,’ Adam thought, throwing barely a gnce back towards the fights. However, he pointed Wraith forward once more, and willed his magic.

  Mana: 10 -> 7Spell: Fireball8D6 = 21 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6)21 damage!

  The fmes engulfed the enemy soldiers once more, with Adam having taken out or wounded over fifty of them. Images of the charred birdcat corpses filled Adam’s mind, perhaps one of the first times he had used Fireball in such a manner previously, but now…

  The gve filled with darkness, before fshing white for a moment. The Night Lord brought down their gve with a great heft, threatening to split the earth in half, while Jurot swung wildly to meet their gve with Phantom. Jurot winced as he was forced to bend his knees, squatting down as he tried to resist the Night Lord, his thighs burning with effort.

  Jurot could already feel his sciousness slipping. He had already found it difficult to csh with the Night Lord, each blow threatening to force his arms to fly back if not for his sheer strength and rage. This blow, however, was unlike any other he had felt previously. It was a blow which almost dowhe young Iyrman, but it was also a blow which told Jurot something important.

  Taking the moment gathered from the Iyrman’s thinking, the Night Lord spun their gve wildly, managing to catch Tigerstaff, causing it to bend and flex, f Kitool to skid away. With Kitool taking a moment to gather herself, Jurot readied to fight, but he was in so much pain and Phantom had never felt heavier. He raised his axe and cshed with the Night Lord, but this csh was unlike any of the previous blows either.

  The gve shook violently as the Night Lord cshed with Jurot, while Kitool struck against the back of their head, though the armour made of the night sky still felt like stone. It was not that blow which caused the Night Lord to barely meet Phantom with their mighty gve, but the bde which had pierced through the back of their knee.

  Jaygak held the hilt of Great Moon against the back of the Night Lord’s knee, grittieeth as she fought through the pain. She had crawled through the dirt, willing her bde to darken as the bright light had been too blinding to her eyes, and the sounds of battle had drowned out the noise of her armour.

  “I’m an Iyrman too!”

  Yes, you are.