The castle, much like during the last invasion, was holding out remarkably well. Three powerful beings and their retainers were keeping the demonic forces at bay, the defensive lines holding firm despite the constant pressure. The vampire and the sage had even engaged the Demon Lord and her demon knight directly, each fighting one-on-one and were holding their ground.
That balance shattered in an instant.
The death of five Demon Lords echoed across the battlefield all at once, a sudden, crushing absence that everyone felt deep in the air. The Demon Lord assaulting the castle—a woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and unnervingly flawless fair skin—stiffened as the sensation washed over her. A shiver ran through her despite herself.
"How did that happen?" she muttered, fingers tightening around the haft of her mace.
She snapped her head toward the Demon Knight, her black, sisterly robes fluttering with the abrupt movement. "We should retreat," she said sharply. "This is no longer going according to plan."
The demon knight responded immediately, pulling away from the sage and giving orders to nearby demons to swarm both him and the vampire. He was about to signal a wider withdrawal when something else hit him. His body locked up mid-motion. He dropped to one knee, planting the blade of his scythe against the stone of the castle floor, and bowed his head deeply.
The Demon Lord clicked her tongue in irritation. "I suppose he has already been called," she muttered.
She barely had time to register the vampire's movement before claws raked toward her. She turned and brought her mace up, blocking the strike with a solid impact that rang through the courtyard.
"What is he doing?" the vampire asked, eyes flicking toward the kneeling Demon Knight.
Before the Demon Lord could answer, the vampire tilted their head, a slow, knowing smirk spreading across their face. "And what is this about a retreat, Zerakhea?" they asked lightly.
Zerakhea froze for half a second. Her eyes narrowed. "How do you—no." Her gaze lifted upward. "She told you, did she?"
High above the battlefield, the succubus hovered casually in the air, still in conversation through her communication device while dispatched horned demons with effortless brutality, their bodies dropping away like discarded refuse.
"Yep! She did," the vampire said brightly. They rolled their shoulders and stepped forward, smile widening. "Now, back to what I was saying—do not retreat. It will be much more satisfying if I get to kill and drain you."
Zerakhea scoffed, planting her foot and raising her mace. Without another word, she lunged straight toward the vampire.
Meanwhile, the sage finished off the remaining lesser demons with a final sequence of spells, their bodies collapsing into ash and dissipating mana. He turned his attention back to the kneeling Demon Knight, eyes narrowing as he leveled his staff.
"Whatever," he muttered. "I don't mind killing you the easy way."
He began to channel power—but before the spell could form, the Demon Knight moved.
Demonic energy detonated outward from his body in a violent surge as he rose in a single motion, the stone beneath his knee cracking. He launched forward immediately, crossing the distance faster than the sage could react, scythe drawn back in both hands, blade angled for a full-force horizontal cut.
The sage barely had time to register the movement.
The scythe slammed into his midsection. A sharp, crystalline crack echoed across the courtyard as his magical shield shattered instantly under the impact. The force sent him flying backward, skidding across the stone before crashing into the far end of the courtyard.
"What the fuck!?" the sage shouted as he forced himself upright, pain and fury flaring together. "Do you realize how long it takes to weave that!?"
He snapped his staff forward and unleashed a barrage of magic. Forty beams of condensed light erupted at once, lancing toward the Demon Knight from multiple angles. At the same time, the sage conjured reflective planes of magic in midair, angling them with precise intent. The beams struck the surfaces and rebounded, crisscrossing repeatedly, forming a sealed dome of intersecting light around the Demon Knight—an enclosed kill zone with no visible gaps.
An inescapable trap.
The Demon Knight vanished.
Not dodged—vanished.
He moved faster than the light itself, scythe flashing in a blur as he spun through the dome. The blade struck the incoming beams at precise angles, deflecting some, dispersing others, and shattering one of the reflective planes outright. The broken surface destabilized the entire structure, and in the same motion, the scythe redirected the remaining beams, compressing them into a single, concentrated line of force.
The beam fired back.
It struck the sage head-on.
Another sharp crack rang out as his second shield shattered instantly, the impact hurling him into the castle wall hard enough to spiderweb the stone. He let out a pained grunt, dragging himself upright and locking eyes with the Demon Knight, fury burning in his glare.
Then he looked up.
"Hey! If you're done with your chat, help me down here!" he shouted.
"Coming~" the succubus replied, already diving from the sky toward the courtyard.
Elsewhere, the vampire pressed their assault.
They moved in bursts, faster than lightning, claws flashing as they attacked from every angle—above, below, behind—never staying in one place long enough to be cleanly tracked. Zerakhea met each strike head-on, her mace moving in tight, disciplined arcs. Every block sent sparks flaring outward, metal ringing as she absorbed the blows without yielding ground.
"You're fast. And strong," Zerakhea said calmly as she stopped another flurry of slashes. "But you don't seem to know how to fight very well."
"Ow," the vampire replied theatrically. "How hurtful. My poor, unbeating heart." They followed the remark with a rapid sequence of seven claw strikes, each aimed at a different opening.
Zerakhea blocked every one.
She stepped in to counter, swinging her mace downward with full force. The vampire slipped inside her guard at the last moment, their movement precise rather than reckless. They caught Zerakhea's weapon arm at the elbow, pivoted their body sideways, and pulled while stepping past her centerline. Using Zerakhea's own forward momentum, they twisted their grip, dragged her off balance, and drove her down.
Zerakhea hit the ground with catastrophic force.
The stone beneath her shattered as she punched through it, collapsing into the structure below and disappearing entirely into the depths of the castle, the impact carrying her straight into the dungeons.
The vampire didn't pause to admire the result.
They turned and immediately launched themselves toward the Demon Knight, closing the distance in a blink to deal with the more pressing threat.