1 The last war of Humanity (1)

Mars knew from the beginning of this fight that today would be the day of his death.

Even an idiot would have guessed the obvious just by looking at the absurd number of their enemies. The army of monsters and demons was so large that it filled and covered the entire landscape up to the horizon.

There could be no hope in the face of something like that. But even so, him and all the other warriors would not make it easy for those sons of bitches.

"Fire!" cried a harsh and authoritative voice through the telepathic network. In response, a deafening explosion resounded as the great magics cannons began firing. Lightning bolts lit up the night sky and for a moment the entire fortress and surrounding area were illuminated, while flashes of magical energy turned entire lines of demonic monstrosities into ashes and charred flesh.

The fury of magical projectiles had even managed to evaporate part of the imposing bone carapace of a Carnigor, those giant demon species used as a battering ram to destroy the gates and walls of even the strongest fortresses, before frying out its tiny brain. And when the tens of tons of the titanic monster's body - larger and more imposing than a thirty-story building - crashed to the ground, it crushed hundreds of minor demons with it.

Mars' ears were whistling because of the deafening sound caused by the magic cannons. He hated the noise they made when they fired, not because they hurt his ears, but because when they fired it always meant that very bad things were going to happen. And he hated bad things. In truth he hated a lot of things in this world, but there was nothing he hated more than the monsters and demons that were storming the fortress right now.

A new thought echoed through the telepathic network "Beastigors on the southeast wall!"

A squad of warriors, all equipped with heavy armor and their giant swords, ran to defend the designated area. Through the use of the Art of Extreme Displacement, the remnant's images seemed to follow the movements of their bodies as they ran nearly two hundred meters in just a few seconds. When they arrived on the scene, the Beastigors' maws, those demons as high as a four-story house, appeared on top of the walls, ready to pour a deadly fire from their mouths. Their four incredibly muscular arms, with claws capable of tearing through metal, rushed at once to take the lives of the warriors on the wall.

Several warriors sacrificed themselves to maintain the line of defense. Their ultimate cry "For Humanity!" resounded with fury and unshakeable conviction just before their presence suddenly disappeared through the telepathic network.

The warriors fought the many Beastigor without faltering, cutting and destroying with their enormous swords the demons that looked like monstrous mountains of flesh and bone, some ten meters high. A sorcerer came to reinforce them and recited short incantations of power, and under his spell dozens of luminescent crystal lances materialized in the air before raining at supersonic speed on the Beastigors and stabbed them in place.

One of them appeared just where Mars was. The Beastigors, those demons servants of the Lords of Fear exuded an aura of terror around them, and Mars was not immune to this aura, but it had long since learned that fear had its advantages. Adrenaline could give a warrior more speed or strength. Not much, but sometimes it was enough to make the difference between life and death.

When the Demon began to build up a breath of fire in it throat to attack him, Mars felt the world slowing down. He liked it when the world slowed down. He gave him a few moments to formulate plans, simple plans, which often failed, but sooner or later each of his enemies would eventually die at his hands.

And the one he had just formulated was the simplest of all. He was going to cut the son of a bitch in half. Mars imbued his whole body with his telekinetic magic, and by manipulating himself like an object, Mars arrived in an instant in front of the Beastigor before wielding his giant sword with his superhuman strength to attack him.

His blow almost completely separated his opponent's shoulder from the rest of his body. The arm tossed limply, shreds of bloody flesh and bone fragments hung from the wound. A second blow severed a major artery in the demon's chest, and after a few seconds the demon's fiery breath spread down it own throat, burning it from the inside. His opponent collapsed into a pool of blood as his flesh burned from the inside, his death was almost instantaneous.

Quickly, another Beastigor replaced the previous one, as if those bastards worthy of being end of level bosses in an RPG game were just cannon fodder. He wielded his long, enchanted sword with precision, falling methodically and relentlessly on each time a new opponent appeared. The oversized sword, which had been designed to deal with oversized enemies, cut the flesh of the demons as easily as a hot blade would cut a piece of butter.

Even so, the demons continued to pounce on him and the other defenders without ever stopping.

Yeah, today was definitely going to be the day they all died. None of them could or would run away. After all it was impossible, and even if it had been, there was no place left on the mainland where they could hide. But that didn't mean that they would have to give up their lives so easily to their enemies.

As he took the lives and souls of his enemies, Mars thought about his situation. Several days before the fighting began, and as a harbinger of their cursed fate, the icy wind had blown like a damned and shouted a thousand spectral voices over the thick walls of the ancient fortress as if to try to tear them down and remind them of their powerlessness to protect them.

Horrible visions of monsters and demons had appeared in the dreams of the few people who had managed to take refuge in their sleep. In retrospect many omens indicated that their worst fears had come true, and when an aura of madness and psychic terror crept through the corridors of the ancient fortress city and the walls shook under attack, their situation had become obvious.

Once again, demons had come to bring death and despair to them.