Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

The camp was burning down around them, but despite that, the elves were recovering quickly. Those with minor or no injuries quickly jumped to assist those in more danger. They carefully triaged the people needing assistance, prioritizing those with the most chance of survival.

Others quickly searched the remnants of the camp for usable equipment to replace any that had been lost in the brief confusion. Such efficiency and rapid recovery shocked Desmond, who was a human, and figured such a sudden attack would have done much more to sow discord amongst their armies.

For a moment, he found himself distracted by the incident and trying to figure out the source of such an attack. If they had such a capability, then it was likely they would have done it much sooner.

"Lord Adler! Assistance please!"

One soldier near to him called for assistance, pulling his attention back to the present. The soldier was pulling an injured person out of the remains of a blazing tent. Desmond quickly gathered his mana together into a spell. "[Aqua: Downpour]"

A small cloud appeared overhead in a two-hundred-foot area and instantly dropped water over the top of the camp. Steam rose into the air as dozens of the fires died out. His actions earned him several hurrahs and approving looks.

In minutes, they had gathered as many soldiers as they could that were still in fighting condition. Desmond ordered what remained of the archery corps a few hundred feet south of the bridge and ordered that they remain in range of the river's center, but out of range of both the bridge and the other side of the river itself.

Desmond then took the remaining mages and isolated out those with Earth Magic capabilities. They ended up losing almost thirty percent of the mage troops they had brought with them, but they only lost a couple of their Earth Mages. Even with the diminished numbers, they could pull the job off, much to his relief.

They were also fortunate because the only Thunder Mage was also mostly unharmed. He suffered a major injury to one of his legs and could not move on his own for several days, but he could still cast spells. Their plan was made easier by his survival, though they could have still made it without him if needed.

Up ahead at the bridge, Desmond had noticed that both sides had established large barriers. This meant that they would be at a standstill soon. Such a stalemate would be useful for their purposes, but it appeared as though it was occurring at the halfway point of the bridge. For it to assist them in their own task, the standstill needed to be at least two-thirds of the distance over the bridge.

Desmond desperately hoped that Snow had some sort of plan. Trusting that she did, he continued moving towards the river just north of the bridge. All the soldiers they located who were not part of the troops they brought with them from the main camp were sent to the bridge. Those that remained joined Desmond.

Once they reached the bridge, Desmond ordered them a hundred feet to the north. Though it would have been safer for them to begin construction out of projectile and spell range of the enemy, Desmond wanted to make sure he could respond to any issues directly on the bridge without additional effort.

Some of the enemy archers spotted their mage force and peppered them with arrows. Since Desmond had kept all the mages he brought with him from the main camp, they had a handful of people capable of providing cover through the means of magic.

With a handful of magic walls and barriers thrown up in front of them, the Earth Mages began their work in building the barrier. The dam itself had to be built in sections to fill the gap between the other side. One of the other reasons they chose an area this close to the bridge was because of the natural shape of the hills that created a bowl once the river was blocked off.

The amount of work that began from the mages attracted even more attention from the enemy forces. It looked immediately as though they were trying to construct another bridge. With two routes of attack, the enemy was concerned about the extra risk of having to divide forces between the two different bridges.

Read exclusive adventures at empire

Since they would rather avoid that, several more archers and mages concentrated fire on their location.

Desmond stepped forward and struck out at errant spells with walls of water and other spells. "[Aqua: Water Ball], [Aqua: Water Wall], [Aqua: Wave Crash]"

Mana swelled around their forces with the sheer concentration of mages and spells being formed. With this many powerful spells being launched at once; they risked spells going 'haywire'. Thankfully, they were not yet at that point.

Desmond's [Water Ball] intercepted an equally powerful [Fire Ball]. The [Water Wall] joined with several other wall spells to create a nearly impenetrable barrier for the barrage of archer fire. The water before him began to churn and swell with mana from Desmond's last spell.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The Earth Mages paused for a moment as if confused where the water had gone. A massive swath of the riverbed was now exposed to air as the churning water gathered together and rose into the air. The enormous wave peaked at over twenty feet tall and crashed onto the enemy force on the opposite side of the river. The resulting waves and water crashing against itself threatened the work on the dam.

Five additional Water Mages leaped into action next to Desmond, who was wheezing from the exertion of three powerful spells back-to-back. They cast basic water control spells to create a safe zone around the early construction. Desmond was thankful and looked at the potential devastation on the opposite bank.

Unfortunately for him, they had several competent Water Mages as well. Since their focus seemed on magic and his was split between specialties, they could prevent most of the damage he was hoping to cause. The positive of the situation was that he had given them pause enough to prevent them from attacking immediately after recovery.

He did his best to hide his exhaustion and make it seem like he had more spells in the bank.

These exchanges continued on and off with several pauses as they constantly estimated each other's continued prowess. Desmond felt the mana building in his new spear, which was yet to have a name. He thought he would charge it faster by using only his Arts, since they were funneled through his weapon. It seemed he was incorrect, and it seemed to siphon off mana from his spells as well.

"That crazy princess is a genius," He mumbled before smiling.

By this point in the battle, their force on the bridge had pushed the enemy back, and another standstill was starting again, with the enemy forces holding firm at the last quarter of the bridge. He watched through his periphery earlier as Snow seemed to materialize out of nothingness and cast a [Frost Spikes] spell. The distraction disrupted the barriers and allowed them to advance.

Feeling spurred on by his cohort's success, he and his mages felt a resurgence in energy. They quickly formed massive sections of stone, using enough magic to take several of them out of commission. Up to this point, they had been cautiously building it using smaller spells that took up little mana.

However, it was unclear how long this advantage would last, so they threw caution to the wind and began exhausting themselves.

Desmond hopped onto the top of the dam to gain a good vantage point over the bridge. He caught flashes of white as Snow advanced through the soldiers and began clashing with enemy forces. He watched, almost mesmerized by the graceful dance she created as she moved across the battlefield. To any other person, she might have simply looked like someone defending their life.

Unfortunately for the swordsman she was facing, she had complete control over their fight. Every step was calculated. Even down to his reactions, Snow manipulated everything. Truth be told, it was like watching an artist at work.

Once she killed him in one last leap onto his back, Desmond felt panic well up in his chest. She did not seem to realize another soldier was preparing to swing a massive mace down on her. He felt mana well up inside him as he forced as much as he could into his new spear. The secondary blade on the rear of the weapon glowed brightly.

Remembering the features of the weapon, Desmond aimed his spearhead at the man and activated the launching mechanism. With a flash of light, the spearhead shot toward the mace-wielding warrior and struck him directly in the eye.

Desmond nearly winced at the sudden explosion of flesh that used to be a man's face. He quickly recovered his expression and shot a quick two-fingered salute in her direction before using the Recall function on the spearhead.