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1. The Calm Was a Lie
Dawn never came.
Scorchfront waited beneath a sky veiled in smoke, thick and black, choking the morning sun. No birds, no wind—only an eerie stillness that tightened every soldier's chest.
Aira stood on the city wall, armor charred, hair tied back in a fresh braid. Beneath her, the remnants of the southern ring smoldered. The fires still hadn't died from the night before.
> "Scouts haven't returned," Kaelen reported beside her, hand resting uneasily on his blade.
> "That's because there's nothing left for them to return through," Aira said.
She felt it again—that pressure in the air. The same weight she'd felt before the first beast wave, only now it was crushing.
> They're coming again… and this time, with something worse.
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2. Siege-Class Creatures
The first vibrations came through the ground.
Not footsteps.
Tremors.
From the distance, shadows emerged—massive, lumbering, hideous silhouettes that moved with unnatural synchronization.
"By the stars…" a mage gasped.
There were three of them:
1. Molgaron the Gravedigger – a centipede with legs like spears and a maw filled with rusted chains.
2. Skarth, the Stone-Bleeder – a walking hill of muscle and stone, its back home to nesting lesser beasts.
3. Ulzareth, the Living Battering Ram – horns of steel, eyes of molten gold, and breath like a blacksmith's forge.
Each one stood ten stories tall.
Siege-class monsters.
The kind of horrors that shattered entire kingdoms.
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3. The Battle Begins
> "All defenses — engage!"
The horns of Scorchfront wailed across the city.
Ballistas fired.
Mana cannons roared.
Archers launched volleys of enchanted flame arrows.
And the beasts didn't even flinch.
Molgaron burrowed underground mid-charge.
Skarth soaked up the arrows like leaves in rain.
Ulzareth's charge split the outer wall in one terrible blow.
Soldiers were thrown like dolls.
Aira launched herself from the battlements, fire wings propelling her toward the breach.
> "Blazing Meteor Shower!"
Dozens of flame-laced meteors fell, lighting up the siege beasts—but they merely grunted.
Not enough.
Not even close.
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4. The Underground Threat
The first real horror came not from above, but below.
Molgaron had tunneled beneath the city. Its emergence shattered an entire district—buildings collapsing into a sinkhole as its armored segments erupted from the ground.
Aira barely dodged a rising spike.
Civilians screamed.
> "Protect the evacuation route!" she yelled.
The Soulfire Chains lashed out, wrapping around one of Molgaron's limbs. She yanked hard and redirected its descent—but the ground still cracked apart like broken glass.
Aira called out to a group of nearby Earth Mages.
> "Seal the tunnels! Now!"
> "We can't hold it for long!"
> "Then make it long enough."
With burning speed, she plunged into the crater—straight toward the beast's head.
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5. Inside the Siege
Molgaron's core was a hellscape of acidic breath and clanging chains.
Each time it opened its maw, dozens of smaller creatures spilled out—like it had eaten a dungeon and was vomiting the contents.
Aira gritted her teeth and summoned her full fire essence.
> "Flame Cloak: Devourer Form!"
Her body ignited into a roaring avatar of pure fire.
She dove into the creature's mouth, detonating wave after wave of spells inside.
The beast screeched, entire segments convulsing.
From above, the mages collapsed the tunnel, burying Molgaron beneath an avalanche of enchanted rock.
It didn't kill it—but it trapped it.
One siege beast down.
Two remained.
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6. Skarth Ascends the Wall
Meanwhile, Skarth had reached the main fortress.
It didn't need ladders or siege towers—it climbed, gouging the stone with its claws.
Every step up the wall sent shocks through the defenders. Those nearby were flung from their posts, armor shattering on impact.
Kaelen and the elite guards held the last battlement.
> "Hold your ground!"
> "It's climbing! It's almost—!"
Then came a massive slam—Skarth hurled its own tail onto the battlement, crushing three men instantly.
Kaelen retaliated with a full burst of lightning. It rippled across the creature's stone carapace—but again, no effect.
> "We can't pierce it!"
Then a burst of red light flashed from the sky.
Aira returned.
Her body burned like a dying star. Her wounds hadn't healed, but her spirit refused to break.
> "Its weakness is the runes on its back!" she shouted. "Hit them!"
Using her Soulfire Chains, she latched onto Skarth's horn, flipping onto its back.
There, pulsing black runes glowed in sequence—likely shielding enchantments. Aira ignited her hand.
> "Eternal Ember — Runebreaker Pulse!"
The runes flared, then shattered in a surge of heat and flame.
Skarth roared, staggering backward—long enough for Kaelen and the archers to launch everything they had into its now-exposed flesh.
The siege beast finally fell, crashing like a small mountain.
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7. The Last Charge: Ulzareth
But Ulzareth was still coming.
It had breached the inner gate. Aira turned, covered in ash, only to see the final horror enter Scorchfront proper.
Its hooves cracked the ground.
Its horns radiated molten power.
It was like a walking god of ruin.
> "We'll never stop that…" a soldier whispered.
> "Yes, we will," Aira said. "I will."
She stepped forward alone.
Ulzareth charged.
And Aira—charged to meet it.
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8. The Final Clash
She called every last drop of mana into her core.
> "Soulfire Chains—MAX LIMIT."
Chains burst from the ground, from her back, from her arms.
They tangled like spiderwebs across the air as she threw herself into Ulzareth's path.
Just as its horn was about to impale her—
> "BLAZING METEOR SHOWER — FOCUS FORM!"
She unleashed her ultimate spell in a pinpoint beam—a concentrated meteor falling from above, bound in chains of eternal flame.
The meteor struck Ulzareth's skull at the exact moment Aira detonated her chains at the beast's legs.
The explosion ripped through several districts.
And when the smoke cleared…
Ulzareth stood no more.
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9. Aftermath
The battlefield was silent.
Scorchfront's walls were half rubble.
The southern ring no longer existed.
Thousands were dead.
But the siege beasts… were gone.
Aira stood in the center of the crater, her legs barely holding. The flames around her had dimmed to mere embers.
Kaelen rushed to her side, catching her as she fell.
> "It's over," he whispered.
> "No," she said hoarsely. "Just the first wave."
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10. The Cost of Victory
In the hours that followed, healers scoured the ruins. Survivors were pulled from wreckage. Fires were finally extinguished.
Aira sat before a smoldering brazier, watching flames dance quietly.
She'd won—but at what cost?
Half of Scorchfront's troops were gone.
The city would take years to rebuild.
She hadn't even seen the real army behind the Beast Tide yet.
And yet…
She was still standing.
Still burning.
> "Let the next wave come," she whispered, eyes glowing.
> "I'll burn until the last shadow dies."