42

The creatures of the Titan ground army were demons of the most terrible kind. More terrifying still, in the sky above them flew a battalion of hideous bat-like beasts with huge black wings and razor sharp teeth and claws. On each one, clinging tightly, rode a dark demon warrior with staring eyes filled with bloodlust. The ground forces held back and, for their first attack, the Titans chose to send the flying beasts and their riders in order to test the strength of the defenders and their troops.

“Take off!” Felicia cried, and hundreds of mythical winged horses soared upwards, carrying the Amazons on their powerful backs. The Princess, herself, rode on Pegasus, her sword drawn and ready to do battle as the mighty horses’ wings lifted them all up above the black river of attacking forces.

Thousands of Amazon arrows rained down onto the flying demons below, sending hundreds of them hurtling to the ground - dead or wounded.

Shocked by the suddenness of this counterattack, the Titan ground army scurried back into the shadows of the forest that surrounded the Palace of the Gods and waited for their next orders.

Taking advantage of this short break in hostilities, the army of Good prepared itself to fight the inevitable next wave. In just a few minutes, a thousand soldiers were divided into three main forces: Five hundred Orizons, two hundred Amazons, and three hundred Centaurs. The Orizon forces were split into two sub-units of two hundred and fifty warriors each, led by Turgoth and Foster, respectively. Rebecca was with her father and Leiko in Turgoth’s army.

“Have no worries, Rebecca,” Leiko grinned confidently. “We will smash them.”

The forces of Good spread out in four main spots while remaining in direct contact with each other. They were about three hundred yards apart and could regroup at any moment, if Lord Life commanded it. He was the General Commander of both the outside Forces and the ones waiting inside the Gods’ Palace. Bull stood firmly by his side, sizing up the situation and biding his time.

The enemy sent a couple of scouts to determine the strategy of the opposition before launching another attack. They reported how low the numbers were amongst the forces of Good and, as the bloodsucking demons of Hell approached once more from the darkness of the forest, Rebecca felt her blood run cold in her veins. All she could see were hundreds of glowering eyes shining out from the blackness. Their leader, a huge, repulsive demon, emerged first from the gloom and screamed an angry order for attack.

General Hunter pulled himself up to his full height and raised his bow. “Stay away, hideous creature,” he roared, “or I will burn you alive!”

The demon continued its attack - yellow fangs bared, thirsty for blood - giving courage to the shrieking hordes that were galloping up behind him, sensing excitement and an easy victory.

Hunter shot a flaming arrow directly into the knotted grey muscles and matted hair of the demon’s chest. With a scream that threatened to deafen all who heard it, the demon reared up, writhing frantically in his attempts to escape the terrible pain, though he merely fanned the flames until his wings were blazing and he fell to the ground in a white ball of fire.

Shocked, his followers pulled back to redeploy their forces and attack again before the light of dawn had arrived. This time they came in massive numbers from every side at once. The Amazons fired continuous volleys of arrows into their ranks while the Centaurs drew their swords and jumped upon those who survived the onslaught, slicing them down without a hint of mercy and creating a lake of black blood on the ground they fought on.

In a matter of minutes, the forces of Good had stopped the charge and were redeploying themselves, counting no losses. They burst into cheers of relief as the shrieks of the demons grew fainter.

“Let’s remain calm,” Field Marshal Foster ordered. “There must be a reason why the Evil sent these creatures as if they were sheep ripe for the slaughter. It must be a diversionary tactic. Let’s see what lies ahead before we start celebrating any victories.”

Even though the sight of the carnage disgusted her, Rebecca was thrilled by the outcome of the battle. It seemed like they had already won.

Minutes later, however, the Commander of Good realised that the force they had just overrun was only a tiny part of a giant army. Now, hundreds more demons came hurtling towards them from the dark.

“Reunite in front of the Palace walls,” Lord Life ordered the troops, “close to the main gate!”

The frantic forces of Evil were approaching their target like a whirling fireball of fury, paying no attention to those amongst them who were dropping to the ground as the arrows of the Amazons, the lances of the Centaurs and the swords of the Orizons found their marks.

By the time they reached the walls, the demons were at the peak of their killing frenzy, fuelled by a mixture of anger and fear and excitement, attacking with a ferocity that gave them more power than they had ever before possessed. The situation for the forces of Good grew worse as they struggled to defend themselves against the onslaught of Evil.

Felicia was protecting the west side of the Palace, where the Flame was kept, but even she was being forced back, little by little. Seeing his daughter’s plight and realising that the Flame was in danger of being captured, Lord Life gathered as many forces as possible and sent them in waves to join Felicia in her battle.

As the Orizons emerged from inside the walls, they were met with a blizzard of stones as the enemy snatched up every possible weapon they could lay their hands on, to prevent them from reinforcing their fellow combatants. The Orizons marched on, regardless. Although the demons were wearing a special body armour made from a material that was believed to be everlasting, it was not proving strong enough to resist the onslaught of the crystal weapons.

The forces of Good drove forward into the heart of battle, determined to beat back the forces of Evil at any cost. Rebecca stood at the centre of the battle, her sword moving with the speed of light. She shivered a little whenever a head was severed from its shoulders, but her revulsion did not stop her from pressing on, slashing and stabbing her way through the attacking hordes. It was obvious to all who caught a glimpse of her fighting that she was almighty and unbeatable as the piles of dead bodies heaped up at her feet, raising her ever higher in the eyes of her foes.

Once more, the forces of Evil were pushed back and fell silent for a few moments as they pulled themselves together and redeployed. Some of them - instead of either pulling back or fighting - were still on the battlefield, sucking the blood out from the bodies of their fallen companions. The glorious Elysian Fields were left piled high with the foul-smelling bodies of dead and dying demons, the fumes of battle thickening the air above the stained and blood-drenched battlefield.

By the time they re-launched their attack, the forces of Evil found that the soldiers of Good were tiring beneath the constant onslaught. Despite their fearsome fighting skills, it reminded them that no one has unlimited powers and it once more raised their confidence that they could still defeat them and gain access to the Flame that they craved so avidly.

The forces of Good were thrust back on the defensive as the enemy surrounded them. No one was able to help any of their struggling colleagues since all of them were simultaneously under siege. The Amazons and the Centaurs were being forced back while the Orizons struggled alone against the enemies closest to them. Despite the huge losses that they had inflicted, the enemy still outnumbered them. Even the leaders were beginning to wonder how long they would be able to last. It was crucial that nobody perished, since death in the Elysian Fields meant a very real death for them - one from which no one could return.

Even in the thick of the action, Rebecca was able to sense that some great, invisible power had entered the battle scene. Glancing over her shoulder just in time, she saw Zeus conjuring up a mass of forked lightning so bright that it temporarily blinded the demons, creatures of darkness who feared and despised any light.

Taking advantage of the momentary confusion among the blinking and squealing demons, the forces of Good mustered their strength and surged forward, slicing and stabbing at their temporarily incapacitated enemies, forcing them to stumble back blindly towards Tartarus. Many of the demons fell from the cliffs, smashing down onto the rocks below and emitting terrified screams as they found themselves falling through the air, limbs flailing and eyes bulging.

Zeus, however, had only managed to gain them a short lived advantage and it wasn’t long before thousands more demon soldiers appeared to fill the fighting space left by their fallen comrades and, once again, they started to regain their lost ground.

Julius, unable to cope with fighting three demons at the same time, found himself staggering on legs that threatened to collapse. Turgoth saw Julius stumble and slashed violently through the demons trying to reach him, giving him long enough to regain his strength so that the two of them could continue to fight, standing back to back against the slavering, shrieking hordes, thirsting for their blood.

Bull - who up until that moment had remained icily calm - was suddenly overcome with a boiling fury and roared in a voice so terrible it made the enemy freeze in terror as they felt the earth trembling under their feet. Leaping into the epicentre of the chaos, he began ripping the bodies of demons to pieces and hurling them back into the faces of their oncoming comrades.

“We will kill you, Bull...” the Evil forces screeched, “and afterwards, we will take your carcass and desecrate it!”

Two vile and vicious creatures leapt from the crowd and fasted themselves to the Minotaur’s mighty body with their teeth and claws, trying to drag him down.

Their ferocious attack merely added fuel to the fire of anger burning in Bull’s belly, feeding his strength until no sword, spear or arrow could touch him. No demon could fight against him as he swatted them aside like flies, striding across the battlefield like a hurricane and smashing everything in his path without seeming to suffer a single wound himself.

After rampaging through them for several hours, he made them turn around, until it was he who was eventually chasing them, howling and wailing, towards Tartarus, pursued by the Orizon warriors, who continued to kill them down to the last demon.

Although it seemed in the ensuing calm that Good had triumphed, none of them could figure out why the Titans had sent their army to certain death. It seemed to be a deliberate move. Their suspicions were well founded. Unbeknownst to them, dozens of manned spacecraft, each carrying hundreds of demons, had already landed in the Land of the White Sun and were preparing themselves to attack Utopia.