CHAPTER 22: IS DUSKFALL GOING TO FALL?!

A roar split my skull. Not the simple stomp of boots or the call of a war horn. No. A monstrous rumble, a vibration that made both the walls and my heart tremble. I snapped my eyes open, breath caught.

My cheek was pressed against firm, sweaty warmth... and when I lifted my head, I met her steel-gray eyes. Elyra. Naked. Her heavy chest still rose beneath my face, her hardened nipples brushing my skin, and the memory of the night slammed into my gut like a slap: her body arching beneath me, the bloody scratches she’d carved still imprinted on my flesh. Fuck.

She blinked once, then her voice cracked like a battle command:

— "Get up. We’re under attack. That’s the alarm."

I bolted upright, still drenched in sweat, my heart pounding like a war drum.

— "Wh... what?!" My voice broke as I scrambled to gather my scattered clothes. I shoved my pants on crooked, my lance already trembling in my grip.

— "Hurry. We need to go."

She was already on her feet, buckling her straps as if she’d never slept, her perfect body still marked by the wounds I’d left. My stomach tightened: last night I thought I had tamed her. But now... I was the boy caught off guard.

I remembered Albrecht’s warning. Always ready. Always on edge. Fuck, he was right.

I shoved the chamber door wide. The hallway stretched before me, dark, drowned in distant chaos.

And then...

A brutal force yanked me backward. My body literally flew, hurled across the room, slamming into the cold floor.

— "The fuck—?!"

One word pounded frantically in my skull: Why?!

I understood a heartbeat later.

The hallway exploded.

A trunk. No... a fucking gigantic tree had just crashed down where I’d stood a second before. Wood burst into splinters, shards piercing the walls like spears. Dust engulfed us, stones shattered, and soldiers’ screams echoed in the distance.

I froze, choking in the haze. She had pulled me. Saved me from certain death.

But... a tree? How the hell could a tree end up in a fortress corridor?

Elyra, panting, stepped close, her bare breasts swaying. Her eyes burned with icy intensity.

— "Are you alright?"

I coughed, throat raw.

— "Y-yeah... thanks..."

She shook her head, yanking on a top in haste, silver hair whipping her face.

— "It’s nothing. Get up. We have to find the others. Now."

I didn’t hesitate. I vaulted the wreckage, Aurelia clenched in my hand, heart slamming in my chest. The fortress shook, cries mixing with the alarm horns, and outside, the sky blazed red.

We burst into the courtyard.

And I saw it.

A giant. A demon. His twisted body rose higher than the ramparts. Veins glowed with a foul light, and in one colossal hand, he gripped another tree, uprooted like a twig. His yellow eyes burned, his guttural laugh rattling my bones.

— "Holy shit..."

He hefted his arm and hurled the tree. A monstrous projectile screamed through the air. The fortress seemed to freeze.

But before impact, an arrow whistled. No, not an arrow. A spear of light. The tree imploded mid-flight, bursting into incandescent fragments that rained down like meteors.

My breath caught. It had to be him... the Archer of the Seven.

Elyra seized my arm, dragging me toward the ramparts.

— "Tss... it’s Gorgomath." Her voice trembled with rage. "A lieutenant of the Demon King. His power... gigantification."

Her fingers clamped my wrist, searing.

— "Come, Hero. We have to reach the others."

The ground quaked beneath me. Each step resounded like the fortress itself was collapsing. Elyra and I sprinted through shattered corridors, under a rain of stone and fire. Beams crashed down, torches snuffed out in clouds of dust.

Fuck... this is war?

Every uprooted tree that smashed into the walls shook the world. At intervals, a flash sliced the sky: one arrow. Just one, yet strong enough to shatter the giant’s projectiles into showers of blazing shards. Elyra’s rough voice cut through the din:

— "That’s Ilyas."

I couldn’t help but glance up. Yes... the Archer of the Seven. His silhouette carved against the night, impassive, his runic bow strung as though he could split the heavens. Every shot pulsed with dark-gold magic, every tree hurled by the demon exploding in pieces.

The earth tilted. We finally stumbled outside, breathless, into the main courtyard. Chaos. Soldiers running everywhere, women screaming, armored men howling. And atop the walls... I saw them.

The Seven Thorns. All of them. Standing like war statues. But most of all... them. My family.

No time to ask if they were safe. Already, a voice cut through.

— "So, we worried for you... but turns out you were just between your teacher’s thighs."

Miyu. Fuck, even now, her eyes blazed with defiance, her huge chest still bouncing from the sprint.

— "Y-you can joke at a time like this?!" I shouted, throat dry, crushed by the chaos around us.

But this time, it was Hikari who turned. Her crimson eyes, glowing sharp, pierced me like a blade.

— "... Is it really a joke?"

Fuck. Shame crushed me harder than a projectile. My gut twisted, my breath cut off. I was about to answer, but—

— "LISTEN TO ME, ALL OF YOU!!!"

Albrecht’s roar drowned everything.

Saved by the bell.

His arm raised, his black armor blazing in torchlight, he towered like a living wall. His voice rolled like thunder:

— "The demons attack us! But WE... we are humanity’s ramparts! These dogs don’t know who they’ve picked a fight with. So show them!!!"

A brutal, savage roar erupted in unison.

— "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Soldiers slammed their spears to the ground, war drums thundered. Orders screamed: archers to the battlements, oil heating in cauldrons, shields ready. The fortress came alive, furious.

Then... the sky exploded.

A tree. A massive fucking tree, shattered into pieces, rained down like spears. Air shook, stone burst, and one shard hurtled straight toward us.

— "HIKARI!"

Ayame lunged, tackling her daughter. They rolled in the dust, and I froze for a heartbeat. My stepmother’s kimono gaped open in the fall, her huge breasts smothering her daughter’s face. Hikari gasped, hands trembling as she tried to shove away the suffocating weight of flesh. I tore my eyes back to the walls.

And what I saw froze me.

Thousands. Tens of thousands. A tide of demons, twisted silhouettes, shrieking maws, corrupted armor glinting under the moon. And in their midst... a colossus. The giant hurling trees. But not alone. Another figure beside him, shrouded in dark chains.

Demon King’s lieutenants... this is our daily life now. This is war. I have to get used to it. I have to get stronger. I have to protect mine, no matter the cost.

A scream ripped me from my thoughts.

— "NO!! NO!! NO!!!"

Hikari.

I spun. The shard meant for her... had pierced another’s throat. The soldier behind her. The poor bastard impaled, blood already splattering the stones.

I froze. Bad luck. A vile shiver crawled up me. But deep down... better him than her.

She, though, collapsed. Tears streamed as she dropped to her knees.

— "Please... stay with me!!!"

Her hands pressed the wound, her mana crackled. Golden pulses shot from her staff, surging through the corpse. Faster. Harder.

— "Hikari, stop!" I yelled. "You’re wasting your mana! He’s already—"

And then... the impossible.

The soldier’s eyes opened. Empty. Orbs glowing with a sick light. With a grotesque groan, he lunged forward, teeth snapping for Hikari’s throat.

— "SHIT!!!"

No time. I leapt... but already a streak of steel flashed.

A sharp crack. A blur.

The corpse’s head rolled.

Elyra stood before us, her lance still vibrating. She’d appeared as if by magic, a blur that defied time.

She spat, eyes blazing.

— "Necroth." Her voice snapped. "He’s here too. Demon King’s lieutenant... his power is necromancy."

Blood streaked Hikari’s face. She trembled, unable to process. I gasped. And above us, the drums pounded. Heavy. Funereal.

War had begun.

The world shook. Every step felt like the ground would split beneath me. The giant’s projectiles crashed into the walls like meteors, each impact wrenching my guts.

A massive tree slammed into a tower, stone bursting into fiery shrapnel. Debris rained around us, sharp as blades. A flaming beam swept so close my singed hair stank of burning. I choked, air thick with smoke and dust, soldiers’ screams piercing my skull.

But no time to think. The defenders surged, and I with them. I grabbed one of the massive stones stacked behind the rampart, fingers white on the rough surface. My muscles screamed as I hefted it, then hurled it into the void. The boulder whistled through the night, crushing a pack of ghouls that exploded in black gore.

The voice of the world rang in my mind:

— [Level 23 reached.]

A howl rose from the plain, drowned instantly by another projectile’s crash.

— "Oil!"

I didn’t hesitate. With others, I tipped a steaming cauldron over the wall. The viscous liquid rained down scalding. Dozens of demons shrieked, twisting as their flesh crisped in a chorus of agony. The stench of burning fat churned my gut.

Hold. Fucking hold.

Behind me, more human cries. I turned.

Hikari.

Already kneeling by a soldier skewered with an arrow. Her hands shook, but her staff pulsed with soft light that seeped through the wounded body. The man coughed, spat blood, but life flickered back in his eyes. Hikari, flushed from effort, gasped, her breasts trembling under her kimono torn open from the sprint.

Further off, Miyu let out a manic laugh, flames crackling around her. She pounced on a corpse rising again, her katana slicing red before fire consumed the husk. Her bare thighs smeared with ash.

Beside her, Ayame... fuck. Upright, divine, almost inhuman. Her brown eyes tracked death’s trajectories as if she read them before they fell. Every order she screamed saved another soldier from a shard or a collapse. Her hips swayed in her torn kimono, her breasts nearly spilling with every movement. A goddess striding through hell.

And Reina, icy, her face locked in a mask. Her thin fingers danced over her staff, lances of frost bursting into the horde. Each spike impaled a cluster before shattering, splinters mutilating more. She looked nothing like human. Just a killing machine.

Me... I kept going. Stones. Cauldrons. My arms burned, fingers bled, but I didn’t stop. Not when they gave everything. Not when every second bought another brother-in-arms a breath.

And then, once more, the voice of the world chimed within me:

— [Level 24 reached.]

An hour. A fucking hour in hell.

I’d lost all sense of time. My ears heard nothing but a constant roar. My eyes saw streaks of red and black, bursts of flame and blood. My hands... I didn’t even feel them anymore.

Then suddenly, a call.

— "Regroup! Here, now!"

Eldracht.

We gathered. The Seven Thorns aligned like statues, except Ilyas still deflecting the giant’s volleys, and us by their side, lungs aflame. The commander swept the plain with grim eyes, then turned to us. His voice thundered, heavy, final:

— "This war... we are going to lose."

A brutal silence fell, colder than screams. My gut clenched, my legs nearly buckled.

He raised his arm toward the horizon, where the two Demon King lieutenants still stood, unscathed:

— "Unless... we send a suicide unit to strike down the necromancer."

His words cracked like a death sentence.

I clenched my lance. My eyes slid over Hikari, still smeared in blood, over Miyu licking ash from her lips, over Ayame’s torn kimono, over Reina’s frozen mask.

Suicide unit... fuck. What if it was us?