Creatures of all manner and sizes poured through the gap in the wall, leaving dozens of dead soldiers in their wake. Some, the bravest of them, stood up and faced the threat, though courage and willpower alone were not enough on the battlefield. The fact of the matter was simple: Avitou City neither had the defenses nor the manpower to survive against such a large threat.

  Corrin walked slowly in the way of the monsters that were plowing through whatever resistance was left. He winced at the pain; his arm would never fully recover. Whatever had just caused that explosion, it not only served its purpose in eliminating most of the soldiers guarding the gate but also nearly incapacitated one of the best soldiers on the field.

  Corrin brought his sword up to his face, peering through its blackness for only a moment before bringing it back to his side. He closed his eyes, desperately hoping he would be able to hold the monsters back just long enough for reinforcements to arrive. He opens his eyes again and readies himself, bringing up just one hand with his sword. The other was far too wounded to be moved by a substantial amount lest it create a world of pain.

  In an instant, a river of golden light protruded from Corrin’s sword and body as he cut down the monsters in his path. He kept his left arm limp to his side as he fought, though he did not let the pain obscure his goal. His body ached and twisted in pain as he brought in the Ani Energy residing in the air around him. His courage brought morale to the few soldiers left. In fact, more than just soldiers came. Blacksmiths, merchants, farmhands, all those brave enough to defend their city came forth with all manner of different weapons. Pitchforks, swords, rusted pans, anything they could find.

  Their deaths would not be in vain. Their courage would be remembered for many years, surely. As Corrin fought, he caught a glimpse to his right of Tutsoi standing up with his own weapon. He brought the weapon up horizontally.

  “Realms…”

  Golden light danced around his body in a beautiful scene. Oval-shaped glowing objects suddenly shifted into existence over the monsters; dozens of them. Then an oval-shaped object appeared before Tutsoi.

  “...Waking World!”

  He dashed through the portal, and suddenly he flew around in and out of them, cutting down monster after monster, killing them in one blow. Corrin himself was disoriented at the sight of Tutsoi flying in and out of existence. Tutsoi then slid out of one portal and back beside Corrin. Tutsoi looked over to Corrin, who got a clear look at him: a wound chipped away at the left side of his head. His left ear was all but destroyed, and parts of his hair were cut down to the root. Tutsoi then got a look at Corrin’s arm.

  “That looks horrible.”

  Corrin only nodded and turned and faced the new hordes of monsters streaming through the gate. Tutsoi then spoke his mind.

  “My whole body is in so much pain, but I don’t think it’s any wound. It’s the shard, I think.”

  “It is, and it hurts like hell when you use more of it at a time.”

  Then all the creatures at the gate stopped, and Corrin grew weary. Then, a silhouette of a person came walking through. Corrin and Tutsoi both stopped in their tracks. Was this him? Had Nevarii decided that this was the gate he would charge through? As the person got closer, it became clear it was not Nevarii. And, for a moment, the person was unrecognizable. However, soon their features became noticeable, and both Corrin and Tutsoi gasped audibly.

  Janis was standing in their midst, holding her ball and chain, which dragged on the ground to her left. But her body was not what they remembered. Her limbs were attached by nothing but bone in some areas; flesh and blood covered her. Her body was mutilated nearly beyond recognition. Part of her head was ripped open, her brain visible to them beneath the dried blood. Both Corrin and Tutsoi were completely stunned. Was this Nevarii’s plan? To make them fight somebody who was once their ally?

  “It’s sickening…”

  Tutsoi was holding his mouth in terror. Janis’s mouth opened slowly, and a hoarse voice came out.

  “Aren’t you… happy to… see me…?”

  The voice was covered in clicks and dry gulps as she spoke. It was clear that Janis was dead, and Nevarii was the one controlling her. Corrin gripped the handle of his sword tighter. Nevarii is a disgusting human being, he thought. Then and suddenly, Janis shot forward at a speed Corrin did not expect from the dead, and she swung her ball and chain around and towards Tutsoi. Tutsoi fell back through a portal, appearing just above her. Corrin dashed around the spiked ball and brought his katana forward towards her.

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  “Light Katana Style…”

  His sword appeared horizontally, hoping to cut her head clean off.

  “...Power!!”

  The blade shot forward with immense speed and, perhaps too easily, Janis’s head was cut clean off. From above, Tutsoi fell through another portal and slid away. Corrin jumped back. Janis’s head fell and rolled a few feet in one direction. But her body stayed upright. Then, horror struck through Corrin and Tutsoi as she continued to move as though nothing had occurred. She once again threw the spiked ball at them, holding onto the chain as Corrin jumped up to try and dodge it, but that was a mistake. She flung the ball up with a mighty force, and Corrin quickly adapted by hitting the ball away from himself and downward.

  Janis then spins the ball around behind her and towards Tutsoi, who had used a portal to appear behind her. Corrin then spots the head of Janis, which had rolled over to view Tutsoi. Corrin landed on the ground in a flash and slid quickly towards the head. He had one plan: to destroy the eyes of Janis. If he did this, then perhaps she couldn’t fight anymore. However, as he went, suddenly another creature, a monstrous flesh dog, appeared over it. In fact, dozens appeared around the head, protecting it. One of the creatures grabbed the head and lifted it so that it could see the battle.

  “Tutsoi! We have to destroy the head, then she–... it won’t be able to fight against us!”

  “Got it!”

  Tutsoi used a portal and appeared just above the flesh dogs, but suddenly, one of the birds appeared above and swooped down, trying to get to Tutsoi. He narrowly escaped through another portal and appeared beside Corrin, facing the creatures. Corrin faced Janis.

  “I’ll keep Janis busy and try to buy you time by killing some of the other creatures, you just focus on destroying the head!”

  Corrin dashed forward, and Tutsoi created more portals and flew through them. He used them to, hopefully, disorient the enemy as he whipped back and forth, increasing his speed in doing so. Then, suddenly, one of the portals appeared near the head, and he again shot towards it, but it was no use; the creatures once again predicted his movement, and he narrowly escaped once again.

  Behind him, Corrin fended against dozens of the monsters. He was aided by any soldiers left standing still, which were few, and the brave citizens who fought with nothing but rusted pans and pitchforks now. He cut down numerous creatures that tried to get around. Above, he noticed that the walls on the top had been completely breached, and soldiers were running down the stairs once again defending them. Even the commander was overrun as he disappeared behind multiple creatures. But Corrin couldn’t focus on that now; he continued his best to buy Tutsoi a little more time.

  Then, with vigor, Tutsoi’s body cracked with golden light, and it flowed greater and brighter than any other light in the city at that time. He winced; the pain was severe, though he would not give up. He moved faster and created portals with a greater swiftness. He flew around the monsters surrounding the head with the portals, flying back and forth around them all. He cut them down one at a time, and they weren’t quick enough to replace them as he appeared, cut them down, and disappeared in a flash.

  The light flickered like a fire as he went in and out of the portals. Finally, he made his move. He darted upward from below, bringing his sword down on Janis’s eyes. They turned his way, and Tutsoi gave them a look of determination. However, it was not enough. One of the dogs swooped in from below, jumping and biting down on Tutsoi’s leg. Tutsoi quickly slashed at Janis, missing one eye but disabling her left. He created another portal and flew through it as far as he could; the dog was still attached to his leg. He pulled through and closed the portal on the dog's neck, and it cut it off in an instant. Tutsoi flew and fell on his back.

  He quickly pulled the dog's jaw off his leg and surveyed the wound. It was minor, but no less painful. His boots luckily saved him from most of the teeth, though some particularly sharp ones had punctured through and into his foot. Tutsoi stood and limped back towards the pile of flesh dogs, which now numbered much less.

  As he looked towards them, he saw that past them and into the city, more soldiers were arriving in the dozens. They were clad in chainmail and holding pikes. A new sense of morale flooded into Tutsoi as he watched them. They could perhaps slow down the impending hordes, which were now flooding around Corrin and Tutsoi and into the city, breaking into different houses and surely killing the innocent families inside.

  Tutsoi turned towards the flesh dogs, and once again his body erupted in bright light.