The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when twenty-eight thousand soldiers began forming their marching columns outside Reiva. Kai stood on a small hill overlooking the organized chaos, trying to wrap his head around the sheer scale of what he was commanding.
This is insane. I've led maybe a hundred soldiers at most. Now I'm supposed to coordinate an entire army.
"First column is ready, Your Highness," Commander Thorne reported, approaching with a stack of reports. "Mixed units as planned twenty regular soldiers supporting each magician knight."
Kai nodded, watching the formations take shape. It looked impressive from up here, but he could see the problems already. Regular soldiers were clustering together, avoiding the magician knights like they carried some kind of disease.
Great. My army is afraid of its own magical support. This is going to go smoothly.
"How are the regular troops handling the integration?" Kai asked.
Thorne's expression was grim. "About as well as expected. Most of them have never worked alongside magician knights. They don't know what to expect."
They expect to die horribly, just like I do.
Naris approached, his silver hair catching the morning light. "Your Highness, I've positioned my most experienced knights with the front columns. If we encounter resistance, they'll be ready to respond immediately."
Still being helpful. Still making perfect tactical sense.
"Good thinking," Kai replied. "What's our march order?"
"Advance scouts first, then front columns with our strongest knights," Naris explained, pointing toward the forming ranks. "Supply train protected in the center, with rear guard covering our withdrawal routes."
Standard military doctrine. Maybe I was wrong about him after all.
Darek jogged up, slightly out of breath. "Your Highness, the scouts report clear roads for the first ten miles. After that, we enter territory that's been... problematic."
"Problematic how?" Kai asked.
"Villages abandoned, trade routes disrupted. No direct sign of demons, but plenty of evidence they've been through the area."
Of course. Because marching into confirmed demon territory would be too simple.
Kai mounted his horse and rode along the forming columns. The sight was both impressive and terrifying thousands of soldiers in armor, weapons gleaming, banners flying in the morning breeze. But he could see the fear in their faces, especially among the regular troops.
They know what they're marching toward. And they're trusting me to keep them alive.
"Move out!" Kai called, his voice carrying across the assembled force.
The army began its march north of Reiva, twenty-eight thousand boots hitting the road in a rhythm that shook the ground. From horseback, Kai could see the column stretching for miles, a steel snake winding through the countryside toward an uncertain fate.
Four days to reach the fallen cities. Three days after that until the ritual. And I still don't know if this is all going according to someone else's plan.
By midday, the sun was beating down mercilessly, and the army had made good progress. They'd passed through two small towns, both hastily abandoned but showing no signs of violence. The inhabitants had simply... left.
Smart people. They saw what was coming and got out while they could.
Kai was reviewing reports with Althea when shouts from the advance scouts brought the column to a halt. He spurred his horse forward to see what had caused the delay.
The village ahead was different from the others. This one hadn't been abandoned, it had been destroyed.
Oh, shit.
Buildings stood like broken teeth, their walls shattered by something with incredible strength. Wooden beams were snapped like twigs, stone foundations cracked and scattered. But it was the claw marks that made Kai's blood run cold.
Deep gouges in walls, door frames, even the cobblestones. Each mark was easily six inches long, carved by something with talons like steel blades.
I've seen marks like this before.
The memory hit him in fragments, broken pieces that made his hands shake.
Red eyes. Glowing in the darkness.
Silver hair. Stained with…..
Claws. Too long, too sharp, cutting through….
Screaming. Was that him or….?
Helpless. Watching. Couldn't move, couldn't help, couldn't…..
"Your Highness?"
Kai snapped back to the present, realizing Althea was speaking to him. He was still staring at the claw marks on the destroyed building, his hands gripping his reins too tightly.
The same marks. The same size, the same depth. Whatever killed whatever happened before it's connected to this.
"Sir, are you alright?" Althea asked, her voice concerned.
No. I'm not alright. These demons are connected to something that already took everything from me once.
"I'm fine," Kai lied. "Just... analyzing the damage patterns."
The claws that made these marks could shred armor like cloth. And we're marching straight toward thousands of creatures that have them.
Commander Thorne rode up, his face grim. "Your Highness, the advance scouts found evidence of a fight. Bodies, both human and... other things."
"How recent?" Kai asked.
"Maybe a week old. Whatever hit this place moved on, but..." Thorne hesitated.
"But what?"
"The tracks suggest they were heading in our direction."
Of course they were. Because this day couldn't get any worse.
Kai was about to respond when horns began blowing from multiple directions around their column.
"CONTACT! DEMONS IN THE TREES!"
The shout came from everywhere at once. Not just the rear guard, the entire column was surrounded.
Fuck. They waited until we were spread out across three miles of road. This isn't an ambush, it's a massacre setup.
Chaos erupted along the entire length of the army. Demons poured out of the forest on both sides, not fifty like Kai had expected, but hundreds. They'd been positioned to hit multiple points simultaneously, fragmenting the army's response.
This is coordinated. Planned. They've been watching us since we left Reiva.
"All knights to defensive positions!" Naris bellowed, his voice enhanced by magic. "Regular troops form squares! Do not break formation!"
But the regular soldiers were already panicking. Kai watched in horror as entire units scattered when the supernatural enemies hit their lines. These weren't bandits or enemy soldiers, they were nightmare creatures that moved too fast and hit too hard.
Twenty-eight thousand troops, and half of them are useless against magical enemies.
"Yeldvi, left flank!" Kai shouted over the chaos. "Keep the supply train intact!"
"Already on it!" Yeldvi roared, his massive war hammer glowing with earth energy. He slammed it into the ground, and stone spikes erupted in a line, impaling three demons that had been charging the medical wagons.
A fourth demon tried to flank him, but Yeldvi's next swing caught it in the chest with an earth-enhanced blow that sent it flying twenty feet backward.
"Stay behind me!" he shouted at the terrified supply workers. "These things bleed just like everything else!"
At least someone's handling their sector.
"Darek!" Kai called. "Coordinate the scattered units!"
Darek was already moving, wind magic swirling around him as he used air currents to carry orders across the battlefield. But it was more than just communication he was deflecting demon attacks with precisely timed wind blasts and enhancing the speed of their own knights.
"Eastern flank, reform your lines! Western units fall back to the road!" His magically enhanced voice cut through the screams and clash of steel.
Good. At least the magician knights are responding. But the regular troops...
Entire squads of regular soldiers were running. Not retreating in good order flat-out running in terror. Kai could see demons chasing them down, cutting through them like wheat.
This is what happens when normal humans fight magical monsters. They break.
"Althea!" Kai shouted. "Covering fire!"
She was already positioned on a small rise, her bow wreathed in flames. Fire-enhanced arrows whistled through the air, each one finding its mark and dropping demons before they could reach the fleeing soldiers.
"Get back to your units!" she shouted between shots. "I can't cover everyone if you scatter!"
Fire and precision. She's buying time for the regular troops to regroup.
But there were too many demons, and they were hitting too many points at once. Kai could see his army fragmenting, magician knights fighting isolated battles while regular soldiers fled in all directions.
We're going to lose this. Not because we don't have enough firepower, but because half my army can't handle fighting supernatural enemies.
A demon broke through the defensive line, charging straight at Kai with claws extended and eyes burning red. In that split second, all the fragmented memories crashed together
Red eyes, just like before….
Silver hair falling, blood spreading….
Helpless, couldn't save….
Not again. Not fucking again.
Something cold and dark erupted from Kai's chest. His spear blade shimmered with shadow energy, becoming hard to focus on. When the demon's claws met his weapon, the shadow-enhanced spear sliced through them like paper.
His follow-up thrust punched through the creature's heart, dropping it instantly.
That... actually worked. Finally.
But there was no time to celebrate. The battle was still raging, and his army was still fragmenting.
Naris appeared beside him, fighting with deadly efficiency. "Your Highness, we need to rally the regular troops or we'll lose cohesion completely!"
He's right. And he's fighting for us, not against us. Definitely wrong about him.
"All units, rally on the road!" Kai shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Magician knights, protect the regular soldiers! Everyone else, get to the center and hold!"
It took thirty minutes of brutal fighting before the demon attack finally broke off. They'd hit hard, tested the army's response, and then melted back into the forest as quickly as they'd appeared.
A probe. They wanted to see how we'd handle a real fight.
Kai dismounted, walking among the aftermath. Bodies were scattered along the road, demons, regular soldiers, magician knights. The smell of blood and death hung heavy in the air.
Too many bodies. Way too many.
"Casualty reports, Your Highness," Thorne said, approaching with a grim expression and blood on his armor. "Three hundred and forty-seven killed. Two hundred and twelve wounded. Most of them are regular infantry."
Kai felt his stomach drop. Three hundred and forty-seven dead. From one ambush.
"How many magician knights?" he asked quietly.
"Eleven dead, twenty-three wounded. The demons focused on killing regular soldiers; they're easier targets."
Eleven magician knights died. That's almost a full percent of our magical forces, gone in thirty minutes.
Kai walked among the bodies. Regular soldiers who'd never faced anything more dangerous than bandits, cut down by supernatural claws. Young men and women who'd trusted him to lead them safely.
Each demon probably killed three or four soldiers before we could stop it. And this was just a few hundred of them.
"Your Highness?" Althea approached, her face pale. "The men are... shaken. Many of the regular troops have never seen casualties like this."
Casualties like this. From a minor skirmish.
Yeldvi spat blood, wiping demon gore from his hammer. "Could've been worse. If we hadn't had the magician knights positioned properly, they would have slaughtered the entire supply train."
Could've been worse. We lost over three hundred people and it could've been worse.
Darek joined them. "Your Highness, the men are asking questions. They want to know if this is what we can expect when we reach the main force."
Kai stared at the carnage around them. Three hundred and forty-seven dead soldiers. From maybe two hundred demons. In a fight that lasted half an hour.
The math is simple. And terrifying.
"Gather the officers," Kai said quietly. "All of them. They need to understand what we're really facing."
Because if two hundred demons can do this to us...
Twenty minutes later, every surviving officer was assembled around Kai. Regular army captains, magician knight commanders, supply coordinators all looking shaken by what they'd just experienced.
"I want everyone to understand something," Kai began, his voice carrying across the group. "What just happened wasn't a battle. It was a test."
Murmurs rippled through the assembled officers.
"Three hundred and forty-seven of our people are dead," Kai continued. "Killed by approximately two hundred demon hybrids in a thirty-minute engagement." He let that sink in. "Does anyone want to do the math on what happens when we face fifty thousand of them?"
The murmurs died. The reality was hitting them.
"Each demon killed an average of two soldiers before we could stop it," Naris said grimly. "And that was with our magician knights responding immediately."
Two soldiers per demon. When they catch us prepared and ready.
"Your Highness," one of the regular army captains asked hesitantly, "what do we do? How do we fight an enemy like this?"
Kai looked around at the faces staring at him, commanders who'd expected to fight rebels and bandits, not supernatural monsters that could tear through armor like paper.
How do I tell them that we probably can't win? That we're marching toward what might be the destruction of the empire?
"We adapt," Kai said finally. "We learn from this. We change our tactics, improve our coordination, and pray to whatever gods are listening that we're strong enough when it matters."
And we hope that three hundred dead soldiers taught us enough to save the south.
After dismissing the officers, Kai stood alone among the bodies. The sun was setting, painting the battlefield in shades of red that matched the blood soaking into the road.
Six days until the ritual. If this is what a few hundred demons can do to my army...
He looked north, toward where fifty thousand more of these creatures were waiting.
The Death Panel's ritual won't just create an army. It'll create the end of everything.
And I just learned exactly how helpless we are to stop it.