Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Magic soared over the heads of hundreds of elves, as mages did their best to defend from enemy barrages and counter with spells of their own. Were it not for the excellent construction of the bridge, it would have certainly collapsed from the battle atop it. Golden mana colored the battlefield in short bursts as warriors engaged their Arts to gain momentary advantages against their opponents.

The fight soon crawled to a standstill. With introducing several barriers, neither side could penetrate the defenses of the other. Many times, war devolved into these awkward moments where each side uselessly flung spells and arrows at the enemy, only to watch them helplessly bounce off the many layers of defense.

It was in moments like these that people like Snow truly shined. As she approached the bridge, she took a last-minute deviation from the side, disappearing into the bridge's shadow. "[Umbra: Invisibility]"

So long as she remained in the shadows, only those with extremely sharp eyes attuned to sensing mana could see her. She quickly leaped along the support beams under the bridge, pausing occasionally to regain her footing. The mist rising from the river hitting the supports made the beams extremely slick, and if she was not careful, she could fall into the raging waters below.

After a few close calls and last-minute catches, Snow finally made it behind the enemy's barrier line. She swiftly climbed up the side, using daggers to assist in her ascent. Once at the top, she peeked her head over the side of the bridge and located a handful of mages that appeared to be supplying mana to the defenses.

Snow took a deep breath before readying her mana. Once she began casting a spell, her invisibility would be broken and any mages would immediately know her position based on the mana accumulation. There were few options available to her, so she quickly took one of her more jagged daggers and sunk it as deep as possible into the wood of the bridge.

Once she was satisfied with how secure it was, she withdrew a rope from her storage ring and tied one end around her waist and the other around the dagger's hilt. After the rope was fully fastened at both ends, Snow took a deep breath and cast her spell. "[Glacies: Frost Spikes]"

In an instant, dozens of eyes trained on her position. Several archers readied their arrows and a few mages moved from attacking the enemy barrier to targeting her instead. A line of frost spread across the bridge's surface before massive ice spikes sprouted from it. Each spike was at least two feet long and was as sharp as a knife.

Though only a handful actually struck and injured targets, it interrupted many of the mages casting the barrier spells. Soon the spells cracked from the onslaught of Snow's allies and the enemy was forced to retreat to the edge of the bridge.

Snow grabbed another dagger and sliced through the rope now that she no longer needed an emergency escape. She retrieved the dagger she was using as a pseudo-piton and hopped over the railing and onto the bridge proper. Her allies charged past her as a barrage of enemy arrows fell upon them. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

Snow only barely dived behind a handful of elves, forming a shield wall before the sound of hundreds of arrows striking metal filled her senses.

"Shit…" she muttered after realizing one projectile had found a gap in her armor, leaving her with a slight wound that had begun to drip. The cut was on her left bicep and cut pretty deep. It was likely it struck as she was diving for cover because she could not feel it when it happened.

After a moment of waiting, she realized there were no ill effects, so it appeared she was safe from being poisoned. Snow quickly splashed a healing potion on it to at least make sure her arm stayed workable. It was unlikely it would fully heal in the middle of battle, but it would keep her arm working.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

As soon as the arrows stopped, she ordered the soldiers to advance. By this point in the battle, they had gained supremacy over three-quarters of the bridge; far more successful than any previous attempts, thanks to her ability to sneak past the barriers. Dark Magic users were scarce. It was even harder to find ones capable of using [Invisibility] like she could.

The enemy had retreated off the bridge entirely at first, but had reinforced and re-engaged with just enough time to still hold a presence. Now, knowing that they would be at a disadvantage trying to engage the barriers again, they opted to simply meet Snow's forces head on.

Once her wound had healed enough to be moved with little pain, Snow rejoined the battle, giving small commands from the front line. She left a majority of the troop orders to the other commanders who were better versed in such tactics, but occasionally, she made calls where she could.

A sword then suddenly came rushing in toward her head from the right side. With tremendous effort, Snow parried the blow, pushing it away from her using the flat of her blade. The warrior wielding the sword grunted in frustration and attempted to smash her smaller frame with his massive shield.

His attempt to hit her failed as she jumped backward into a small pocket of space that luckily opened up in time for her to use. The warrior shouted in anger and rushed in, ignoring the other soldiers around him. Though, he did not need to pay too much attention, as almost everyone was focused on their own fights to step in to help her.

Snow met his approach and swung her two daggers in an X-shaped pattern, "[Dagger Arts: Double Slash]". With the mana enhancement creating phantom blades, the warrior brought up his shield just in time to take the brunt of four dagger strikes from the much smaller elf.

Snow followed up quickly by quickly casting a minor spell. "[Glacies: Ice Spear]"

"[Shield Arts: Barrier]"

The spell shattered against the barrier, but instead of feeling defeated, Snow quickly rushed in and jumped over the warrior, using the shoulder of a random soldier to gain extra air and complete the maneuver. As she came down, she activated another Art. "[Dagger Arts: Pierce]"

Her rank was likely higher than the warrior because the [Pierce] shattered what remained of his barrier and sunk her blade hilt-deep into his shoulder. Unable to remove the dagger before he rounded on her, she quickly jumped back again into another space, sliding across the bridge before regaining her footing and charging forward once more.

Now that his sword arm was useless, all he had with him was his shield. However, he did not appear defeated and instead met her charge with his own. His arm hung limply at his side, flopping around uselessly with every step. Snow brought her dagger in an upward swing while he moved his shield to intercept.

"[Shield Arts: Shatter]!"

Mana swelled in his shield and form cracks all along its surface. Unfortunately for him, Snow had figured he would make this kind of reckless move. The moment he met her charge without his weapon was the moment she understood he wanted to defeat her, regardless of the cost. To her, this easily identified him as a meathead with a single-minded goal for victory.

It was a useful mindset in a one-on-one duel; however, it had no use on a real battlefield or in an actual fight. With her prediction proven correct, she quickly transitioned into a slide. Using her feet, she knocked the warrior off balance with little effort.

Since his movement had been predicated on her being within the attack range of his [Shatter], he was already slightly off his center, making him even easier to topple.

The warrior went sprawling onto the wood, and his shield uselessly sent shrapnel into his own allies. Before he could recover, Snow jumped onto his back and sunk her weapon deep into the base of his neck. She swiftly retrieved both it and the other dagger stuck in his arm.

Another attacker started a swing against her, but this time, she could not react. The crouched position she was in only gave her the ability to move forward, but the way was blocked by soldiers. She attempted to turn around and parry once more, but the attack came too fast and she noticed it too late. A massive spiked mace seemed to slowly consume her visual range.

Just before it made impact, the weapon was wrenched away from her. She took a moment to blink, with her feeling like her life flashed before her eyes. She gazed down at the soldier wielding the mace and saw a metal spearhead coated in flames sticking out of what used to be his eye. His face had been turned to pulp by the force of the blow.

Off to the side, a purple-haired man gave a quick, two-fingered salute, and the spearhead disappeared with a flash.