The door exploded.

  Finn hurled the fireball so hard that the wooden panels shattered into splinters, the metal bent, and the flames briefly illuminated the entire corridor.

  — Forward! — Norris roared.

  The swordsmen burst in first — five dark silhouettes against the smoke. I stepped in after them and immediately slammed my palm against the stone floor.

  Ice spread like winter’s breath, instantly covering the stone plates with a transparent crust.

  The first demon that rushed at us slipped and sprawled out.

  The second dropped to one knee.

  The third tried to hold on, claws digging in — but I was already freezing his legs, turning his stance into an awkward, helpless twist.

  The demons clearly hadn’t expected this kind of tactic.

  In their eyes — irritation, confusion, fear of a magic that humans “should not” possess.

  Elinia understood my plan faster than anyone.

  — Zen! When you cover the whole hall — turn the ice into semi-water! I’ll run the current through it!

  I nodded and expanded the area.

  The ice grew like living tissue, spreading farther and farther, rolling forward beneath the demons’ feet.

  Meanwhile, the swordsmen fought fiercely. Siren, Tara, and Miella moved almost like a dance.

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  They slid across my ice faster than the demons could fall on it.

  Kairen’s vortexes raced between the columns, knocking aside flying fire projectiles, intercepting demonic whips, pushing enemies away.

  Each vortex was like a mini golem of wind — with spiral eyes and translucent, trembling arms.

  Edgar held the barrier — again and again, as it shattered, and again he raised the next one.

  We held the line.

  When I felt I had covered the entire hall, I shouted:

  — NOW! GET READY!

  And with a single motion, I turned the thin icy carpet into semi-water.

  The demons howled — their feet sank, balance vanished, and the entire mass of enemies froze for a moment in absolute vulnerability.

  And in that moment, Elinia raised her hands.

  — DISCHARGE!

  Lightning struck the spilled water.

  A flash — white, blinding, crackling.

  A howl — deafening.

  The current surged through the hall, flowing around the swordsmen, because I had заранее created insulating patches of ice beneath each of them — small platforms protecting them from the electricity.

  The demons convulsed.

  The swordsmen didn’t lose a second.

  Tara slammed into the nearest one, cleaving him in half.

  Siren leapt over a body, finishing another.

  Miella spun, as if the wind itself helped her strike more precisely.

  Within minutes, the hall turned into a mess of blood, ice, and steam.

  But the battle wasn’t over yet.

  Footsteps of an army.

  We all turned — and saw units of the royal army in the corridor entrance.

  They burst in with a battle cry:

  — FORWARD! FOR THE CAPITAL!

  And when they saw the scene before them, they immediately joined in, finishing off the remaining enemies.

  Finn gathered a massive fireball — nearly five meters across — and hurled it through a shattered row of columns.

  The explosion wiped out half the demons near the far wall.

  A crowd of goblins breaking in through a side entrance was caught by Elinia’s electric whips.

  Finally, the hall fell silent.

  The last demon collapsed, and a column of smoke rose in its place.

  And then, above us, on the platform near the portal, ten mages in gray cloaks stepped forward — the research Order of the Circle.

  They began chanting loud, low incantations.

  The portal trembled.

  Darkened.

  Contracted.

  And — closed.

  We stood among the ruins, breathing heavily.

  And only then did I realize:

  The capital… had been reclaimed.