“So, we’ve got a day to get ready, huh? Guess I’ll be making sure my new hammer’s sharp.” Kravok said, his tone a bit nervous.

  “You’ll need more than just a sharp on for what’s ing. It’s going to be a full-on siege.

  Not just against soldiers—we’re going to face their defensive magic, traps, and whatever else they’ve got prepared.”

  Ilya shot Kravok a wry look as she spoke, and for a moment, Xaren wondered if the demons couldn’t just drop them in like they did today ahem to opees.

  ‘Well, it’s a whole city so the scale is different. We’d need a bigger force…’

  “What kind of resistance are we expeg?”

  Xaren asked aloud and Ilya turo him with a light frown, clearly recalling the details of the meeting she just came out of.

  “They have a mix of a few human and predominantly elven forces. And giants…lots of giants.

  The thought of fighting dozens of those building-sized creatures…”

  The demoness pressed her head to her temple and the others couldn’t help but rete to her as they all had apprehensive expressions.

  Uoday, they’d surely have a lot more o deal with the giants so while Xaren expected the individual battles to be easier, things would quickly bee a hassle if the giants grouped up.

  He felt it should be an order: ‘Don’t let the giants group up.’

  “We’ll be ready,” Kravok said, his voice brimming with fidehough his hand gripped the hilt of his new hammer a little too tightly.

  “This bad boy’s gonna bash iy of giant skulls—and the city gates first,” he added with a strained grin.

  “We don’t have a choice. We either take the city, or we die trying.”

  Ilya remihem of the cold reality of their situation and the demons all sighed softly.

  The weight of the uping siege hung over them all, but for now, they pushed aside the dread, unwilling to let the night dissolve into gloom.

  Eventually, their versation drifted to lighter topid the group settled into a fortable lull, their initial energy giving way to quiet refle as the night deepened.

  Sometime ter, a demon from a different group wandered over to join them. Xaren reized him as one of those who had been part of the ones his group left outside when they headed to the trol room earlier.

  The demoled beside Kravok, dusting off the dirt from his cloak. He gave a weary sigh before speaking, his gravelly voice breaking the soft crag of the fire.

  "Long day, huh? You lot should’ve seen the chaos outside the trol room earlier."

  His eyes turo Carad Kravok as he chuckled, though it was more out of exhaustion than humour.

  "We were out there holding off the elves—had to make sure they didn’t break through before you guys cracked open the trol room. We were pletely outnumbered for most of the fight, but we mao hold the line somehow.”

  He paused, his face darkening slightly. "Got hairy when the Giants showed up, though. One swipe from those things and... let’s just say a few demons didn’t make it."

  While Xaren’s group had gotten to deal with the stro giant in the fortress, the others outside had to deal with multiple weaker giants.

  Xaren could now uand why Ilya’s face darke the thought of having to deal with miants again.

  “…and I’m sure it gets annoying when the elves join in…” Xaren muttered under his breath, but the newly arriving demon caught them and nodded.

  “Exactly. While we had our hands full dealing with the giants, they hit us from multiple dires, sending squads to fnk us.”

  The demon took a sip from a fsk someone passed him, before raising the fsk in Ilya’s dire and tinuing.

  “But we got reat Captain here, moving faster than any of us could keep up. Saw her take out aire group of soldiers before they even knew what hit ‘em."

  The mention of Ilya's speed caught Xaren’s attention. He’d seen her in a earlier, beheading elves faster than the eye could see, but something had puzzled him.

  He gnced over at Ilya, who was quietly listening to the versation, her arms resting on her knees as she stared into the fire.

  After a momentary hesitation, he shrugged and asked as casually as possible, "I noticed something strange when you were fighting earlier, Captain.”

  Ilya turo him with a raised brow and Xaren took that as his cue to tinue.

  “You were moving fast, sure, but there were these... bck things, like thin bdes, slig through the air with you."

  His words caused a momentary pause around the fire. The demons all turoward him, fusioched on their faces.

  "What bck things?" Kravok asked, his brow furrowing in fusion.

  "No idea what you're talking about, dude," another demon chimed in, scratg his head.

  But Xaren wasn’t looking at the others. His gaze remained on Ilya, and her rea told him everything he o know.

  A flicker of surprise crossed her otherwise calm expression and though she quickly posed herself, Xaren could tell that she kly what he was referring to.

  Xaren remembered what he saw when they defeated the giant, and the door to the trol room was blown open.

  When Ilya approached, along with her sword, there was this thin, dark, bde-like mass. It cut through the air, and some of the elves were dead before she even moved.

  Though he noticed this, the others, however, seemed genuinely clueless, exging puzzled gnces.

  "e on, you're tellihere's something flying around Captain that none of us see?"

  Kravok asked, his tone skeptical, but Xaren didn’t answer and that retty mu affirmation.

  The reason why he’d noticed this thie no one else having seen it, was one even he didn’t fully uand.

  Being a ‘High-Demon’, one of the pluses of his superior race breed was an advanced kiic vision.

  Then his gravity powers enhahem even further. It made him notice the pull of gravity on objects and bodies in motion. Due to the mass those thin ‘Dark Bdes’ carried, he’d been able to notice that there was something there.

  Ilya’s expression remaiense as the seds ticked by, but before she could respond, one of the demons called out.

  “Hey, look over there!”

  The loud voice broke the tension as its owner poio anroup sitting by a separate bonfire further off in the camp. A small otion had started up, and several demons were standing, their voices rising as they seemed tue over something.

  The attention of the group immediately shifted toward the disturbance.

  “What’s happening over there?” one demon asked, voig the curiosity of the group.

  A few of the others stood up, ing their necks to get a better view. A couple of them started to head over, curious about the sudden argument.

  The cause of the otion became clearer as they watched. Two demons were squaring off, their voices raised in challenge.

  One of them, a burly bull demon, seemed to be arguing about a piece of equipment—a set of armour, maybe—that the other demon was holding onto.

  Their shouts carried across the camp, and it looked like things were about to escate into a full-blown fight.

  Before the tension could boil over, a low-rank demon dropped in from the sky, ndiweewo with a heavy thud.

  He was tall and rger thawo, with wings that folded ly behind him as he straightened up. His presence alohat of a Master Realm existence— seemed to calm the situation.

  “Enough. Whatever this is about, it wait until m. You want to fight, take it outside here.”

  The low-rank demon’s voice cut through the noise like a bde, and Xaren was a bit surprised he didn’t stop them but simply told them to postpoheir fight.

  The two Unranked demons looked at each rumbling uheir breath but clearly unwilling to go against the Low-Rank’s words.

  After a few tense moments, they relutly backed down, and the low-rank demon nodded, his wings fring slightly as he turo leave.

  The group around Xaren rexed, and the moment of tension diffused. But even as the others turheir attention back to the fire, Xaren could feel Ilya’s gaze lingering on him for a moment longer.

  Clearly, he’d touched upon a special topic.

  ‘I was just curious. Maybe it had to do with her skill. Or it’s a Unique Skill. If so, it makes sense she doesn’t wanna talk about it.’

  The demoness’ eyes assessed him for some time, but just as quickly, she turned her attention back to the group, her expression unreadable.

  The fire crackled again, filling the quiet that followed the otion.