Faced with the river of Light, many demons cowered in fear, not knowing what to do. Many were thinking about their home, their partners, friends or even children. Having the path they walked cut off before their very eyes, the future was a complete mystery.
They were all given a simple choice, and despite their brain coming up with dozens of ideas, they all boiled down to two simple actions. Stay and fight or run and hide. It wasn't brave or heroic to run away, but what else could they do? Not everyone had such courage or bravery.
Unlike some, one Duke wasn't all that scared of the coming genocide. In the south, before the invasion happened, the local Duke had been looking over his agricultural plans. Unlike most lands, his weren't taking part in the desertification, as if the lands refused to die.
That, or perhaps he was just lucky. Either way, he wouldn't let this chance go to waste. "Elianor, how far have we progressed with the introduction of different crops?", Standing next to the Duke was his loyal butler, normally the position was reserved for men, but her insistence of being the butler swayed the Duke.
Walking through a beautiful garden, the Duke had a light pep in his step as he lightly touched the petals of a blooming flower. Elianor responded with a clear report.
"We have been able to split the land and produce around 80% of the most common vegetables. Normally this would be just enough to supply our own lands, but with the coming extinction wave, we should be able to supply most of the lands with produce if the growth is as we expect. Though there are some remarks that we should enlarge the space."
Having spread the extremely confidential matters to certain members of his family, the Duke was completely transparent about the coming apocalyptic event. He cared little if the people ran away to a different planet or stayed and fought. He wanted to give them a chance. Of course, the general populace was none the wiser, and that would have to stay so.
Luckily, things were going his way, it was good, no, even better than that, it was fantastic. The Duke and many of his close associates didn't need to eat or drink, so there wasn't a need to focus on strengthening the dukedoms local production of foodstuffs, yet he did so with a smile. "With this, our goal is in sight."
The Duke had a very simple thing he wanted to achieve, to become the sanctuary after the fall. He would make sure that everyone had housing and enough food and water to survive. In order for that to happen, he had modified his lands and crops to make sure they would survive after the care for them had stopped, even preparing a massive place for people to take shelter in.
Dabbling into plant magic, he had gotten extremely far to uncover plenty of secrets of nature, which he openly shared with his closest members.
"Sir, while the plans to have a reliable source of food and water are going great, we will fail in reaching the quota set up by the Demon God."
The Duke basked in the light that came through the red smog in the sky. Covered in green robes, he almost blended with certain plants around him. Many were discolored, but the obvious color of nature couldn't be held back.
"The Demon God has long stopped communicating with us," his voice wasn't filled with dread or disappointment, he kept his smile. "He is either dead or close to dead. All we have left is the Demon King, who's ready to pass away as well. We demons have simply lost the race. Fulfilling the quota or not didn't matter."
Elianor nodded somberly, "Is there nothing we can do?"
"Hmm?", picking a blue rose from his garden, he stepped towards Elianor, "Thinking of running away? It's a pointless endeavor unless you want to go to the edge of the known universe. Once She starts her crusade, it doesn't matter where we are at, any who are loyal to her or are willing to cash in a bounty will have our heads on a spike in no time."
Placing the rose in her hair, she didn't stop him. Having the urge to hug him suppressed, she stood in silence as the Duke patter her head.
"If we had a few good seeds, we would have a new Demon God, but the current Demon King has failed his ascension, making him weaker than your average Rank 6. The Demon God has suffered a life threatening injury, so his first priority is recovery. We are left abandoned and weak."
"We are not weak," Elianor was willing to agree with every word that came from the Duke's mouth, but looking down on themselves was out of the question. They held powers far exceeding any normal mage.
"Hahaha! Oh Elianor. We are weak, no matter how much you try to protest. The end will come for us all one way or another. At least this one is entertaining," the large smile on his face shook Elianor.
Turning his back to her, Elianor couldn't read his expression any longer, "I will not live through this fight, neither will all our Rank 4 mages. Once they have killed around 80% of all demons, they will start to retreat after all strong mages have been dealt with.
I've kept you at the peak of Rank 3 so that you won't become a noticeable threat, but if push comes to shove, you can step into the next Rank."
Hearing the tone of his voice, Elianor wanted to abandon all her rigorous training and just embrace him one final time. The warmth, the proximity, how it ached. Both the Duke and Elianor knew how they felt about one another, and both wanted to indulge in their desires one final time, but the Duke forbade it, for it would make parting only more painful.
As they stood in the large garden, the Duke felt the ground beneath him slightly shake. Taking flight, he spread his willpower to cover everything, yet avoiding people as best he could before slacking a sigh.
Elianor arrived not long after. "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm afraid the end has come for us, sooner than expected."
Staring at the same spot in the distant sky, she didn't really see anything specifically out of place. Everything looked completely normal. Sending a magical signal out, soldiers from all over the Duke's land quickly gathered near him.
Surrounded by all his strongest soldiers, the Duke regained his light smile. "I'm proud to see so many willing to fight for their families."
The Rank 3 and 4 mages laughed it up, "It's only natural, my lord, let's give them hell."
"Hahaha, indeed. Listen up, my warriors and inhabitants of my lands!", spreading his voice through magic, he reached the most outstretched corners of his land. "From this point forward, Elianor will inherit my position and gain all authority over my treasures and land. Listen to her well, for my sake."
All the demons around him saluted to her, who didn't know how to feel. Her only lover and master was essentially abandoning her to fight a losing battle just because he had to.
What came next shocked everyone, as two large hands appeared in the sky and fought one another. When the hand of Light won, rivers of light appeared from her fingertips, four of which spread out in the cardinal directions. They started to split up, branching out to cover as much ground as they could.
A ripple appeared in the sky for a small moment, the Duke looked up and sighed, "Escaping from this planet through spatial magic has become impossible. It's time for us to depart. Elianor, take care of yourself," the Duke didn't dare face her, as he kept his eyes plastered on the sky.
As they all left her, new soldiers started to appear next to her. The army they carefully prepared for the coming fight stood ready at her side.
"Duke Elianor, what do we do?"
Hearing that title hurt her pride and heart, but she wasn't going to be caught up in her emotions now, there would be plenty of time for that after this. She didn't dare turn around, so she just ordered them from afar.
"W-We will be going up against a large army of humans dressed as angels. We have prepared a lot of forces that consist not only of you, but our good cooperators. I believe it's time to awaken them all at once."
The demons nodded to themselves, ignoring the light sob they heard at the beginning. Flying down near the forest, they started to inject a ton of mana into they trees.
Wiping her face, Elianor faced the coming stream of Light with a strange determination. 'If Arbor thinks we can make, we will make it.'
As one of the branches of a nearby stream of Light went towards their direction, Elianor knew nothing could be done. Giving the lands beneath her one final look, she tried her hardest to distance herself from it, knowing full well nothing would've worked.
The battlecries were already audible despite the first forces still being quite far away.
"Everyone! Hold on for just a moment longer."
The stream of soldiers got closer and closer, the distance between them was just enough to start firing of spells, yet everyone on Elianor's side waited patiently as the armored humans neared them.
"Now!", at once, the humans felt a massive spike in energy below them in the forest as enormous vines climbed to the sky to grab any unfortunate soldier. "What is this!?", using their weapons, they cut the vines apart, freeing themselves from their grasp, but the moment they did so, the vine started to contract around their body and large spikes formed on their stems, piercing the soldiers from every side.
Seeing their fellow soldiers die instantly, they couldn't understand. The vines were just plants, yet they pierced through their magic infused armor? It didn't make sense! Looking down, thousands of vines quickly stretched to the sky to grab as many angels as they could.
The angels were in disarray as they flew into each other while avoiding the spikes and vines that seemed to be everywhere. For each body that fell down, a nearby tree sucked up all the nutrients it could from the corpse, treating it like fast fertilizer, allowing it to create more vines.
The obvious tactic came to mind, as every soldier started to conjure fire spells or imbuing their weapons with flames.
Elianor watched on in silence as angels kept on falling from the sky. She was happy to know her beloved's plan worked out, but the constant reinforcements also meant this tactic would inevitably fail.
"This is just an unfair fight," right as the newly appointed Duke realized how the deck was stacked against them, a fellow demon arrived at her side. "Miss, they have started to use fire, do we activate it?"
"Not yet, we need them to think the fire will completely turn the tide. Then we'll use it."
"Yes, miss!"
Seeing that their spells worked in driving back the vines, almost all of the angels started to use fire related spells, burning the forest and all the upcoming vines with ease.
A sea of fire formed as the entire forest was caught up in the flames. Still, vines seemed to try to reach the sky and grab more angels. Elianor was still quite a distance from the forest, but the heat was already reaching her.
The beautiful landscape they had created together was all going to fade away. She didn't want this, nobody did, but the author of their world's demise intended it.
Reaching for the rose in her hair, her hand hesitated before turning into a clenched fist. "Release it."
With that signal, the mages activated a large array that spanned the entire forest. Magic seemed to go crazy as the fires in the forest suddenly spiraled together to form a giant created from pure flames.
Multiple giants appeared as they shot streams of fire towards the mages in the sky. Massive fireballs shot out from their arms. Tornado's of pure fire followed not long after, turning the once picturesque landscape into a portal to hell.
Screams and spells raged through the sky as the conjured golems fought against the mages in the sky. And while many perished and were reduced to a heaping pile of steaming flesh or ash, Elianor didn't look on with satisfaction.
The stream of Light kept reinvigorating the badly damaged troops. 'How long do we have to hold out?'
"Miss!", a demon joined her side, behind him, the entire army the previous Duke had formed stood at the ready. They were joined by plenty of civilians that knew running away held no promise in the slightest.
Against the never ending supply of soldiers, running away would only worsen their chances of survival, not on an individual basis, but as a species. Seeing all the hopeful eyes, the eyes filled with a desire to live, to be reunited with their loved ones, Elianor felt her sadness turn to anger.
"Prepare for battle! Lay down your lives to save your loved ones! This will not be our final fight! Live on!", she didn't have it in her to face them any longer as the angels were still tangled in the sea of flames.
Of course, they were still mages, it didn't take too long after the initial confusion for water to be thrown around the place. The mages turned their spells around to combat their own fire, and as they started to summon clouds of rain to diminish the powers of the golems, Elianor raised her hand.
The demons behind her waited in the sky as patiently as they could. There were only a couple of Rank 3 mages and quite a few Rank 2's behind her, but their flight was limited. Sharing the spell to many, it didn't make their cores any bigger. Prolonging the battle would only be detrimental to her side. Yet she kept everyone back, as their mana was being drained from their cores.
'Thank you, Arbor.'
After seeing enough of the angels were covered in water and the rain was going hard, she snapped her fingers, activating the final array that conjured thousands of actual lightning bolts, killing a vast portion of the army in an instant.
"Now!"
The army moved forward, but so many of the Rank 1's and 2's were stuck on the ground, launching spells to the sky, hoping to reach at least a single angel.
Catching the angels who were still battling against the fire golems and recovering from the lightning bolts, the demons rushed between their ranks to cause as much damage as possible. Blood flowed as the bodies of angels and demons fell from the sky.
Following their orders, the Rank 1 mages were dedicating their time to revitalizing the trees and vines to continue their efforts on the battle.
Stuck inside the large army of angels, Elianor and her aids fought for their lives. Elianor could only see danger and weakspots, fighting to her last breath as the troops kept coming over.
Elianor lost track of time as she tried to ignore the dwindling numbers on her side. Hours must've passed by now, she could't tell. The once beautiful blue rose in her hair was now completely red.
She still felt someone or perhaps multiple demons around her, as they covered each other's back as the angels kept coming. Flying through the sky, she glanced once at the place where the soldiers came from to find the massive hand of Light to have disappeared from the sky. A surge of hope coursed through her veins as she announced their victory was close.
"Men! The Goddess of Light has retreated! The reinforcements will stop! We just have to hold on a little longer!", a feeling of hope rejuvenated her completely as the adrenaline in her veins shot forward again.
Looking down however, displayed how terrible the situation truly was. There were but a handful of Rank 3 mages around her, while the troops on the ground were almost all gone.
"Fuck," catching her own lapse, the angels around her slowly closed in. 'It's just us? How did things move so quickly? We were with tens of thousands!'
The sea of bright angels in front of her only told her a single thing. There was absolutely no way for her to get out of this alive. She was destined to die just like her beloved had to die. 'This is just the fate of a Duke, huh? Dammit.'
"Miss," a bloodied demon approached her, "We can hold them off for you to escape. We still have all our families here. We need someone to protect them."
"What? Are you crazy? We will perish here together!"
Grabbing her by the shoulders, the demon didn't look like he was willing to negotiate. "I need to know my wife will be safe. Go and escape with them."
"That's right Miss, get a move on. We can handle things here ourselves," a demon without his right leg spoke up with a smile on his face as he prepared a bunch of spells.
"You got that right, a bunch of humans dressed with chicken wings? What's there to be afraid of?", covered in blood, a lone Rank 2 mage was still keeping up his flight. Were he not here, perhaps he would've become one of the most powerful mages of Sabaoth, yet fate desired something else.
Elianor wanted to cry, she wanted to burst out in tears and hide away from the responsibility pushed unto her shoulders, but the sad eyes right in front of her only reminded her of beloved.
"Please do this for us, Miss. We'll create a path for you to escape. We've activated the arrays that should open up the tunnel. Meet them at the exit and protect them."
Elianor could only nod slightly as she tried her hardest to keep her face straight.
"Alright fellas! Time to show our beloved Duke the reason he chose us as his Guardians."
Diving into the wave of soldiers, they conjured massive barriers from darkness as they created a path for Elianor to slip through. Arriving at the other end of the wave, she didn't look back as she was entirely focused on hiding her presence and flying as fast as she could.
She ignored the screams from behind her, the vibrations in the air that could only occur when a core exploded, the deafening silence afterwards, all of it had to be ignored just like her tears streaming down her face.
Nothing good would come from trying to reflect now, she had to reach the exit of the tunnel that went north.
After almost reaching it, she scanned her surroundings to find nothing of note. The angels didn't chase after her, she was safe, for now.
Landing on the ground, she cried her heart out as she screamed as loud as she could.