The General spoke calmly, but an icy shiver ran down everyone’s spines at the sound of his voice.

  — The more time we give the demons, — he said, — the stronger their defenses in Dordwood become.

  — We attack today. Not tomorrow. Not in an hour. Now.

  Before him lay a sea of people.

  Humans, beastfolk, and a few elven observers at the edge of the forest.

  A mixed formation — impossible just a year ago.

  A roar rose in the forest so loud that the branches trembled.

  The army moved.

  The steps of the legions merged into a single thunder.

  Beside the humans marched the wolves — the beastfolk of the White Clan. In their movements there was no fear, no haste — only cold readiness.

  Our squad was not in the vanguard.

  We were left with the 2nd Legion, in reserve.

  — Children won’t go on reconnaissance, — Norris said briefly that morning. — Too dangerous. We need you alive, not as dead heroes.

  Haras was serious as stone.

  — Watch your surroundings, — he told us as we marched. — Don’t freeze in place. A shield is good. But it’s better not to be standing there at all.

  Seteya, surprisingly, almost didn’t joke. She walked beside us, giving dry, very adult advice:

  — If chaos starts — stay closer to Haras or me.

  — Don’t play the hero. A hero without a head is just a corpse.

  I listened… and still felt something dull and heavy growing inside.

  Reserve… Children…

  Weakling…

  Creating a dome over ten people is already serious.

  Over a hundred — requires a master.

  Over a legion — at least three strong barrier mages working in unison.

  We didn’t have those.

  But we had wolves.

  They marched along the flanks, and over the orderly ranks began to rise translucent ice arches, intersecting shields, walls. The ice froze the air, but gave the feeling that we weren’t completely naked under the sky.

  It felt like we were protected.

  It felt like it.

  As soon as Dordwood appeared at the edge of our vision, the sky… went mad.

  The blizzard rose so suddenly, as if someone pulled an invisible lever.

  The wind howled. Snow fell like a wall.

  Horses began to neigh and rear.

  — HOLD THE FORMATION! — commanders roared.

  I could barely see the backs ahead of me. Only the banners, fluttering in the wind, served as landmarks.

  And then — from above.

  A fireball.

  Not just fire — enormous, the size of a house.

  It flew slowly, heavily, lighting the gray sky with a bloody glow.

  — SHIELD! — roared the White Wolf chieftain.

  An ice dome flared over the front ranks.

  The fireball slammed into it with a deafening impact.

  BAAAAM!

  The shield cracked, but held.

  Ice shattered into fragments.

  Everyone was alive.

  — They won’t last long, — I heard Norris curse under his breath. — Not against this…

  The closer we got, the more frequent the fireballs became.

  Every ninety meters — another blazing projectile.

  Each time the wolves raised ice walls, domes, spikes — deflecting, dampening.

  For now, they held.

  For now.

  The city was already almost within reach.

  We saw the towers, the walls, the silhouettes of demons.

  And then the first ice shield failed.

  A fireball slammed into the formation between domes.

  Flash. Scream.

  The smell of burnt flesh.

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  I saw a dozen people simply vanish in the fire.

  Those nearby fell, burning and screaming.

  Then a second fireball.

  A third.

  The wolves’ shields cracked, shattered.

  The chieftain’s voice dropped to a hoarse rasp — they were clearly at their limit.

  And then from above… something else fell.

  A hail of arrows.

  Demons on the walls, like black thorns, rose and released a volley.

  Arrows coated in blackness — neither fire nor ice — rained from the sky.

  Where they struck, a human fell, twitching.

  Then stones followed.

  Massive boulders, catapult shots.

  Each impact — craters in the ground, shattered bones, broken ranks.

  I caught myself searching the sky for red smoke — the scouts’ signal.

  Open the gates… Come on… faster…

  But the gates were closed.

  The scouts were silent.

  People were no longer marching — they were crawling forward under fire.

  And then — the sky flared.

  Red smoke.

  Signal of failure.

  Norris swore so violently that even Seteya raised an eyebrow.

  — The diversion failed, — he said dully. —

  General…

  The General’s voice cut through the roar of battle:

  — HOLD!

  — LADDERS TO THE WALLS!

  — ASSAULT!

  And then the gates finally opened.

  But not for us.

  Something came out.

  A massive creature, like a bull, but taller than the wall, with demonic horns and eyes like burning coals.

  On its back — a rider.

  Tall, clad in black armor, holding a spear that radiated darkness.

  The magic around him rang like a blade.

  He burst forward, and the very first sweep of his spear tore an entire squad of humans apart.

  One slash — and they were gone.

  Behind him poured demons in a wave.

  A horde. Black. Furious.

  I saw beastfolk beginning to fall as well.

  They were torn apart, burned, crushed by sheer mass.

  One elite demon unit — and an entire human legion simply…

  ceased to exist.

  Somewhere voices screamed:

  — RETREAT!

  — HOLD THE FLANK!

  — WOLVES, FORWARD!

  But I barely heard them anymore.

  There was only one voice in my head.

  Enough.

  Enough pretending.

  Enough playing the weak student.

  You can save them. You know it.

  Zenhald.

  It felt like someone was calling me — not from outside, but from within.

  Not a teacher’s voice.

  Not my parents’.

  Not a demon from the past.

  My own. But… different. Deeper. Older.

  Before my eyes — people burning.

  Wolves falling, staining the snow with blood.

  Elves at the forest’s edge, gripping their bows.

  Norris struggling to hold the line.

  Seteya, suddenly furious like the storm itself.

  Haras shielding three at once with his body.

  If I don’t act…

  They will die.

  Something snapped.

  I felt the mana I had kept hidden all this time,

  like a beast in a cage,

  break free.

  Rage crashed over me like a wave.

  The world went dark for a second.

  When my vision returned — it was different.

  Colors were sharper.

  Sound — deeper.

  Every source of magic glowed.

  I looked at myself — at my hands.

  At the white, floating haze of mana around me.

  Somewhere behind me, Elinia whispered:

  — His eyes…

  My entire body pulsed.

  I felt my pupils — usually black — fill with blood, turning crimson.

  I had let too much power into my eyes.

  Wind rose from below.

  No — not wind. A storm.

  A vortex began to spin beneath me — snow, stones, shards of ice ripped into the air, spiraling around me.

  — Zen?.. — Astra said quietly.

  Someone reached for me — and instantly recoiled from the wave of pressure.

  Haras raised his hand:

  — DON’T TOUCH HIM! — he roared. —

  Let him do this.

  People instinctively stepped back, leaving a circle around me.

  I raised my hands to the sky.

  Clouds thickened above the battlefield.

  Not ordinary clouds — heavy, blackened, streaked with violet from excess mana.

  Thunder did not rumble — it growled.

  I drove my hands into the ground.

  Mana flowed downward — into stone, ice, roots.

  And the earth moved.

  Figures began to rise from snow and ice.

  First — vague shapes.

  Then — bodies.

  Titans.

  Each three meters tall.

  Formed of stone, ice, and snow, bound by darkness and wind.

  Their eyes — blue like the ice of the White Wolves, but within them — my power.

  They rose by the dozens.

  Then hundreds.

  And moved forward.

  Each step — a crack in the ground.

  Each swing of an arm — demons crushed, flung like rag dolls.

  I walked with them.

  The storm around me roared, but beneath my feet lay a smooth path — foreign magic retreated.

  The wall of Dordwood had always seemed unbreakable.

  Not anymore.

  I directed the titans toward the wall.

  — Break it.

  They struck.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Three times.

  Stone cracked.

  The ice reinforcing the seams shattered.

  On the fourth blow, part of the wall collapsed like rotten wood.

  Through the breach surged humans, wolves, remnants of the vanguard.

  Demons rushed toward us.

  I swept my hand — and hundreds of ice spears erupted from the ground, impaling the first wave.

  On the left, wolves raised a new ice barrier.

  On the right, earth mages — likely the first bears — raised a wall of stone.

  And I…

  I looked upward.

  The clouds I had summoned reached a critical point.

  And then the sky… exploded.

  BOOOOOOM.

  Not one lightning strike.

  Dozens. Hundreds.

  The lightning struck only demons.

  I saw them as glowing mana nodes — black stains against the world — and guided the strikes where they were thickest.

  Each time: flash, roar, the stench of burned flesh.

  Demons who seconds ago believed the sky belonged to them…

  began to run.

  They fled toward the portals at the city’s center, trying to escape through falling stone and titans.

  I was already there.

  The main portal — a black hole in reality, swirling symbols, darkness inside.

  Demons were still emerging from it.

  — Enough, — I said.

  I raised both hands.

  Compressed mana so tightly that the air groaned.

  From the shattered stone beside me, a single boulder began to rise.

  It grew.

  And grew.

  Until it was the size of a house.

  Maybe two.

  I felt each increase in mass tear away a fragment of my life.

  Blood was already dripping from my nose.

  Tickling my lip.

  — Just… a little more…

  When the stone became so heavy that the air around it cracked, I directed it.

  — GO.

  The boulder flew into the portal.

  Slowly.

  Unhurried.

  Nothing could stop it.

  The first demons trying to emerge were smeared across its surface.

  Then the stone vanished into the darkness.

  The world went silent for a second.

  And then…

  The portal shattered.

  Not just closed — collapsed like broken glass.

  Shards of mana exploded outward.

  The air screamed.

  Demonic energy began to disperse wildly.

  The remaining demons in the city panicked.

  Chaos. Screams. Flight.

  I saw it all as if through water.

  First, my legs buckled.

  Then — the taste of iron in my mouth.

  Blood flowed not just from my nose — it poured from my mouth, my eyes, my ears.

  My body couldn’t withstand the amount of power I had forced into it.

  Someone screamed:

  — ZEN!

  — ZENHALD!

  Someone ran toward me — I couldn’t see who.

  The world swam.

  I tried to raise my hand to hold the storm…

  but my fingers didn’t respond.

  Looks like… too much…

  Well… it happens…

  The last thing I heard was Haras’ voice, dull like a shield impact:

  — Catch him.

  He’s done his part.

  I smiled — or at least it felt like I did.

  And fell into darkness.