Davon’s restless thoughts wouldn’t let him sit still. He offered to take a guard shift from the Revenant currently on duty. When his offer was happily accepted, Davon stepped outside and peered over the small cover set up for the lookouts.

  Fixing his eyes on the distant inner wall ramparts, Davon looked for any signs of movement. He found nothing but the remains of the previous day’s battle.

  A sense of awe filled Davon as he looked at the inner wall. With the gate house obliterated, the two gates had fallen onto the street below, leaving an unguarded opening into the inner city.

  Davon found it strange that the Crimson Reavers hadn’t reinforced the hole in their defenses, even just with a layer of simple barricades.

  Maybe they were hit by the Godslayer’s collateral effects even harder than we were, he mused.

  He remembered one of Lyla’s many lectures of magic and casting. She had mentioned that non-Revenants were much more susceptible to magical overloading. Furthermore, the consequences of the overload itself were significantly more catastrophic for those who did not follow the path of the Revenant.

  Davon wanted to think that the Crimson Reavers must still be recovering from the overloading impact of the Godslayer. It was a reasonable explanation for why they had abandoned the gates.

  Yet it didn’t sit quite right with him. Everything about the gate felt like a trap to Davon, like their enemy had left such an obvious opening to lure the Vanguard into the inner city.

  Davon bit his lip, trying to quiet his churning thoughts. Was the enemy truly weakened, to the point of being unable to put up new defenses? Or were they just trying to be clever? And, most importantly, what was the best strategic response?

  Then Davon’s eyes landed on the massive bloodstain left behind by Tenebris. The general had bled enough to paint an entire section of the wall in red.

  A wicked smile crept up onto Davon’s face. His growing anxiety eased as he imagined the pain inflicted on their greatest enemy.

  Before he could return to his musings about the suspiciously undefended gates, Davon felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned in surprise to find Emma standing behind him.

  “Your teammates are awake,” she informed him. “Come. It’s time we jumped back into action.”

  Davon nodded and followed Emma back into the hideout, eager to do anything rather than sit there and fret.

  As soon as they stepped inside, Emma motioned for Kai and Lyla to join them.

  “Good to see you three made it through the first assault.” Emma smiled proudly at the trio. “Now, we need to push to end this fight. And the first step is to thin the ranks of the enemy further. While our main force is recovering, the scouts we left behind at camp have been busy scouring the inner city. Our enemy isn’t doing much better than we are, but they still outnumber us three to one.”

  Davon exchanged a worried glance with Kai and Lyla.

  Emma sighed before continuing. “To make matters worse, whatever enchantment Tenebris placed on the sun to embolden the Crimson Reavers still holds. The general himself should be pretty beat up right about now, courtesy of the Godslayer, but his forces are the worrisome part.”

  The Revenant commander paused, looking at each one of them in turn.

  “So, you three, as well as a lot of other small teams, will strike the enemy where they are weakest. Hit them where it hurts. Take out as many of them as you can before the rest of the army shows up. Remember, the goal isn’t to take them all out, but to thin their forces enough to make a direct assault viable again.”

  Davon knew the situation was grave, but he couldn’t stop the excitement brimming in his heart. He fought to hold back a grin at the thought of attacking the Crimson Reavers while they were down.

  “What does ‘hit them where it hurts’ mean at this moment, exactly?” Lyla asked, obviously more concerned than excited.

  “The remaining Crimson Reavers are mostly their elites,” Emma explained. “They move primarily in large groups, but there are smaller groups that patrol through the inner city. Your goal will be to wipe out those smaller groups, preferably before getting noticed by the larger assembly.”

  Lyla nodded thoughtfully.

  Kai spoke up next. “What if Tenebris calls for them to gather, or they push for a counterattack?”

  “Tenebris hasn’t left the central castle since he was hit by the Godslayer,” Emma replied, a hint of satisfaction in her voice. “I’ve seen what that thing does to ancient dragons. Trust me, Tenebris won’t be rejoining the main combat any time soon.”

  Davon’s eyebrows rose. “Do you really think he’s out of the fight?”

  “Don’t get me wrong.” Emma shook her head. “He ‘s still dangerous. He will still be plenty capable of defending himself. But… let me put it this way. He will only be able to use about a fifth of his strength now. So, for the moment, we are focusing mainly on his forces.”

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  Over the next ten minutes, Emma gave the trio directions as to where exactly in the inner city they would be going, and what to expect from the enemies they would encounter.

  By the end of the briefing, Davon’s excitement had reached new heights. He had prepared himself for so many different hit-and-run tactics during his previous solo foray into the city. Now, faced with the possibility of finally using them, he could barely contain himself.

  “That’s all I’ve got for you,” Emma concluded at the end of the briefing. “Good luck, and may the Wind be ever at your back.”

  Giving only a nod to Emma, Davon headed directly for the door, trusting that Lyla and Kai would be close behind him.

  Once they were outside, he drew his weapon. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m ready to kill some more Crimson Reavers.”

  “I would contain that excitement if I were you, D,” Lyla warned, narrowing her eyes. “We should be careful with how we approach this. Recklessness could get us killed very easily.”

  “Of course, caution first. Always.”

  Davon nodded vigorously, but Lyla just sighed in exasperation.

  “I really wish I believed the warning was understood,” she said, leaning on her spear.

  Kai stepped past the two and headed directly for the inner wall gates. “Well, there’s no point dilly-dallying. Let’s go.”

  “Not so fast, Kai,” Davon called, interrupting Kai’s bold approach. “I may be excited about this, but I did mean it when I said caution first. Both of you, come here. I’ve got some tools that can help us.”

  When his friends drew close, Davon called upon his Invisibility rune, cloaking the three of them. He couldn’t sustain it for all three of them very long, but it would help them reach their appointed spot safely. Then they could take cover and make a plan.

  The trio set out towards the inner city, ready to continue the fight.

  —

  Roughly half an hour later, the three Revenants were hiding in one of the many gardens in the inner city, waiting for their prey. According to the information given to them by Emma, an enemy patrol would walk past this garden regularly, making it the perfect spot for an ambush.

  Davon had laid some traps as soon as they arrived. Invoking his Trap rune, he’d used the point of his bow to etch three runes into the cobblestone pathway. The three runes formed a triangle, right in the middle of the street where the patrol usually walked.

  The trio had been lying in wait behind a small, sturdy fence for only a few minutes when their patience was rewarded. A group of two Heavies, a Necromancer, and two Duelists turned into the street, walking slowly towards the hidden Revenants.

  “Looks like not all of the Duelists abandoned the fight,” Kai commented, eyes fixed on the approaching figures.

  “I suppose that makes sense. Powerful as she is, I doubt the Red Plume would command as much respect as Tenebris,” Davon replied. “I imagine most Crimson Reavers would be afraid of the general’s retribution, even if they wanted to break away from the conflict.”

  “Does it really matter?” Lyla interjected. “They stayed to fight, so they die.”

  The belligerence in her voice caught Davon off-guard. The next moment, though, he found himself smiling grimly.

  Lyla understands, he thought. She’s wants vengeance on these brutes as much as I do.

  Davon detached the bow’s limbs and gripped the blades tightly. After the grueling, ranged fight for the Duke’s Road, he was eager to deal with some enemies up close and personal.

  As the Crimson Reavers drew nearer to the trap laid for them, Davon found himself holding his breath in anticipation. He tracked every step of the Heavies leading the group. When they were just about to step onto the traps, adrenaline surged through Davon’s body.

  Time seemed to slow as an armored boot stepped onto one of the dimly glowing runes. The fraction of a second between the footfall and the following explosion passed like an eternity in Davon’s mind.

  The blast was as sudden as a summer squall. Caught entirely unawares, the two Heavies leading the group were blown to pieces and scattered across the street. The remaining three Crimson Reavers stopped in their tracks, raising their weapons in confusion.

  Before the enemy could recover from the shock, Kai jumped over the fence and charged directly at them.

  Golden light enveloped Kai’s axe as he closed the distance, an attack Davon had grown to appreciate since the first time his warrior friend used it. Kai brought his axe down on the Necromancer with all of the fury he could muster.

  Aided by the momentum of his charge, Kai’s attack broke through the shadowy barrier conjured by the Necromancer at the last moment. While the strike itself slid against the Crimson Reaver’s armor, the infused enchantment broke through, transferring the golden energy from the axe to its victim.

  Davon didn’t waste time watching the Necromancer disintegrate. Instead, he launched his own attack against the Crimson Reavers by Shadow-stepping directly behind one of the Duelists.

  Even before his vision cleared, Davon swung both of his blades towards the small of the Duelist’s back. The blow left two gashes in the enemy’s armor. Before Davon could continue his assault, the Duelist retaliated with an elbow strike, aimed at the Revenant’s head. Davon dodged at the last moment. Dashing to the side, he used the momentum to prepare his next attack.

  Then Lyla’s spear pierced through the Duelist’s gut, cutting the engagement short. The Crimson Reaver stumbled and dropped his blade as he placed both hands on the spear, attempting to pull it out.

  The Duelist’s attempt was useless, however. The spear suddenly erupted with electricity, effectively frying the Crimson Reaver from the inside out.

  But Davon could not savor the moment. The final Crimson Reaver reached out a hand, aiming to grab Davon by the head. Davon attempted to dash out of the way, but the enemy’s fingers still made contact with the Revenant’s chest.

  The world around Davon fell into chaos as he was transported into the Duelist’s arena: the Crimson Reaver’s final desperate attempt to salvage the situation.

  Facing off with the Duelist alone, Davon spared not even a second before beginning his assault. He launched a cross-strike aimed at the Duelist’s chest. It was a flashy attack, though seemingly ineffective. The Duelist blocked it easily by raising his blade in front of him to catch both Davon’s blades.

  Except the cross-strike wasn’t meant to kill. It was meant to goad the enemy into making a mistake.

  Falling entirely for Davon’s gambit, the Duelist placed his free hand against the dull side of his blade and pushed against Davon, trying to break through the Revenant’s guard.

  With a smile, Davon waited for his enemy to put his full force into the struggle, then Shadow-stepped behind the Crimson Reaver. Suddenly pushing against nothing, the Duelist stumbled forward, wide open.

  Davon instantly spun on his heel, swinging his blades and invoking his Sharpness rune. He felt the blades cut through armor and flesh as he dug his heel into the ground to stop his momentum. Blood sprayed from the Crimson Reaver’s back, staining Davon’s clothes in gory red.

  As the world around him returned to normal, Davon flicked the blood off of his blades, then turned to his teammates.

  “Ready for more?”