Earl Mikael Donnert and Viscount Justinian Corville made their way through the chaos of the melee straight toward the Demon Sergeant. When they got twenty feet past the melee, the Sergeant acted. He cast spell after spell causing the Earl and Viscount to separate. One to the left, one to the right, they circled the demon. Spells fell around and off them because of their own defensive magic. The ground exploded around the Earl and flames surrounded him. He had become the center of the demon’s attention.

  One explosion threw the Earl ten feet backward. He landed on a rock that burst from the ground. The sound of bones breaking was audible over the suddenly quiet battlefield. As soon as I saw what happened, I teleported toward the Earl and kept teleporting until I was next to him.

  The Demon Sergeant grinned from ear to ear. But before it could take advantage of the Earl’s situation, Justinian called out to it. “I am your opponent, not the Earl. Face me if you will, die with my sword in your back if you don’t.” Justinian switch his hammer for a Great Sword. One of the ten Great Swords from the Age of Heroes, I found out later. It was name Ravager and was six feet long from tip to pommel. A blade of mithril, a hilt made from the World Tree, and a diamond as big as my fist set in its pommel. Its magic power making it glow a subtle blue.

  The Demon Sergeant was confident in its ability to handle anyone from this backwater city. He turned toward Justinian and said “You think you alone, are a match for me. I will kill you and your family for that insult. Your famed Earl is dead. Killed by my blow. He was the best of you and he died quickly. Not something that I will let you do.”

  “You speak before the facts are known. The Earl still lives and will outlive you. I will keep you alive until all your soldiers are dead. The only one left of your kind here, you will die alone. I will be the one to kill you.”

  The Demon Sergeant roared out in rage and exploded towards Justinian. Justinian stood there until the demon was near and then quickly parried its attack, pushing the demon to the side, then launching a powerful counterattack. The demon was barely able to block the blow with its own sword.

  Justinian was correct. I had reached the Earl in time to cast a Heaven’s Heal to keep him alive. Diagnose showed that his back was broken, along with some ribs. Some of his internal organs had burst from the impact. His left lung was punctured by one of the broken ribs. The Earl was messed up. Without me being there, he would be dead in minutes.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Using my spell ring, I cast Heaven’s Heal on his ribs, which pulled the one out of his lung. It was very painful for the Earl, but necessary to save his life. Most people would have passed out, but the Earl was a trough SOB, and stayed awake throughout the healing process. I immediately follow it up with a casting of Heaven’s Heal on his lung, then his internal organs. Now, he would live, but was still paralyzed. Lungs and organs fixed; then I concentrated on fixing his back. I cast Heaven’s Heal from my ring, but it wasn’t enough. Casting from the ring wasn’t as powerful as if I cast it myself. I use my mana to cast Heaven’s Heal and put extra mana in it to fix his spine and spinal cord. This took quite a bit of effort, but in the end I was successful. I finished just in time to see the fight’s last stage.

  Attack, parry, attack, block. On and on it went. The swords creating burst of sound each time they met. To the world, it seemed they were evenly matched, but they weren’t. Justinian seemed content to wait. Attack, counter attack, riposte, parry, block. He kept the Demon Sergeant engaged, but wasn’t really pressing him. I wondered what was going on.

  This went on until Countess Majora kill the last demon soldier. Then Justinian stepped back, putting space between him and the Demon Sergeant. “This is it for you. All your minions are dead, as you will be soon. You came to us with evil intentions and have been met with resolve. No one will remember your name. You will just be another nameless enemy fallen before Ravager. Die now, knowing the despair of failure.” Wow, that was just. Just, just terrifying.

  Quicker than the eye could follow, Justinian attacked. Somehow, the Demon Sergeant blocked the first blow. Not the second, which immediately cut through its armor leaving a trail of blood along its stomach. Nor the third, which broke its sword arm, causing it to drop its sword. The fourth stroke took its head, but was so quick the Demon Sergeant didn’t know it had died until its head fell to the ground. Its headless body stood in place for a moment before it too realized it was dead, and collapsed to the ground.

  The Earl looked at me and said “That is why I thought it best to settle things between you and Justinian” pointing at the head of the demon sergeant. “Justinian is our secret weapon.” I totally agreed with that sentiment. Like I said, terrifying.

  The battle was over for today, or was it. Something didn’t feel right. Before we left, Alaster the Blaze incinerated all the demon bodies, leaving nothing but dust and ash. He too felt something was off and wanted to prevent any type of resurrection. We all gathered in one group and slowly made our way toward the gate.

  The cheers that greeted us at the gate were overwhelming. Everyone was yelling in excited tones. Everyone except Ruberm. Ruberm looked like his best friend had just kicked his puppy. Angry and hurt at the same time.

  “It's a double wave. The fifth wave will be here any minute.”

  Well, damn.