In the camp down in the valley, the sun was slowly setting. The soldiers were enjoying the last rays of sunlight. Commander Davor sat with Commander Leon. Commander Valea was in her tent, reading a book. The atmosphere was like every evening: slightly relaxed, but at the same time tense.
Suddenly, Valea heard a faint crackling. She put her book aside, stood up, and stepped out of the tent. Her gaze wandered across the camp. Everything seemed normal. But where was that crackling coming from? she asked herself and looked toward the portal.
Before she could realize what was happening, a massive spear shot out of the portal. It was as big as a tree. With full force, it struck a turret and caused a powerful explosion.
Sirens immediately howled across the camp. Confusion spread. Soldiers stormed out of their tents. Others were already outside, frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Leon and Davor turned their heads sharply and saw the portal opening.
"That can't be. Two days too early," Leon shouted in disbelief.
Davor immediately yelled, "All men to battle stations. This is not a drill."
Chaos erupted. Panic spread throughout the camp. Soldiers ran in all directions, grabbing their weapons. Some had to dress while running. Valea quickly grabbed her gear and headed toward the two other commanders.
Davor tried to form a defensive line with the first wave of shield fighters. Leon sprinted to the destroyed turret to find out what had caused the explosion. But thick smoke blocked his view. As he tried to help a wounded soldier, he suddenly felt something.
He turned abruptly toward the portal and saw a giant stepping out of the flickering light.
Leon shouted to a soldier, "Send immediate report to command center."
Then he sprinted to the front line.
Everyone was shocked. No one had ever seen such a giant. Three stories tall, armored for battle, massive in build. The giant simply stood there, silently staring toward the camp.
The entire camp held its breath. Then the giant let out an earth-shaking scream. Moments later, more creatures stormed out of the portal on both sides of him. Beings that looked like orcs, demonic figures, spiderlike monsters. Creatures known only from dark tales.
But this was no nightmare. It was real.
Davor tried to organize the shield fighters as quickly as possible. Valea called the archers to her and began positioning the ranged fighters.
Leon stood beside Davor and said quietly, "So the dance begins earlier than expected."
Before the front lines could clash, Valea looked up and spotted new danger. More portals opened, this time high in the sky. Winged creatures shot out from them, fast and sharp.
She turned to the turrets. "Focus on the air attackers. Only them."
Leon glanced at Davor. "Now they're coming from the sky too. Where are all these portals coming from? Why so many at once? Is that even possible?"
Davor responded without taking his eyes off the front. "I don't know. But I do know one thing. If we don't stop them here, chaos will spread across the world."
"Did you reach the command center?"
"Yes," Leon said. "They've been informed."
Then he lowered his gaze, his face tense. "Let the party begin."
Together, the two commanders charged directly into the advancing enemy wave.
The front row of Valea's unit unleashed a coordinated attack. Lightning, ice projectiles, fireballs, and magical barriers struck the advancing creatures. But they kept coming. Faster than anyone had thought possible.
Davor raised his mighty war hammer. With a powerful strike on the ground, he unleashed a tremor that hurled several enemies into the air. The earth cracked open, armor shattered. The ground itself seemed to feel his rage.
Leon Virell moved across the battlefield like a shadow. His blade sliced through enemies with precise elegance and incredible speed. Few enemies even realized they had been struck before falling.
But the onslaught did not stop.
The turrets of the camp fired nonstop. Magical projectiles, explosive rounds, concentrated beams. Everything available was used. And yet the horde showed no sign of ending.
Pure madness had overtaken the camp. Chaos reigned everywhere. Orders, screams, the screeching of steel, the hiss of magic. Everything merged into one storm of war.
And the wave did not stop.
It rolled on. Again and again.
And the end was nowhere in sight.
At the same time, in the command center:
All lights began flashing. Sirens blared. On the monitors, red warning signals appeared. Portals had suddenly opened all over the world. And from each of these portals, creatures poured out, attacking cities and outposts directly.
The command center was in a state of emergency.
"Call all R9 fighters worldwide," one of the officers shouted.
Another soldier was already pounding the console. "Connecting to the allied worlds."
The general stepped in front of the main display with a serious expression.
"Connect me to the Council of the Alliance immediately. We need reinforcements. We are under attack."
A young soldier called out from the back. "New data incoming. The portal in the Earth sector just jumped from level six to level nine."
A murmur went through the room.
The general slowly turned around, eyes wide.
"What? That... that is impossible."
On the grounds of the Sky School Arcanum, a portal opened as well. Right where the six heroes and the three R9 fighters had once completed their training.
Meridion, the old master, stood with several instructors against the approaching invaders. His gaze was serious and determined.
"Evacuate the students," he shouted. "We must hold them off until the students are safe."
One instructor was already leading a group of panicked students toward the evacuation corridors. Meridion remained with four other instructors to face the attackers.
The battle began mercilessly.
Magic clashed with brute force. Swords crossed with strange weapons. The overwhelming number of enemies pushed forward relentlessly.
Then new creatures rose from the portal. Nightmarish beings that grew straight out of the ground. Their bodies were made of dark, pulsing substance, and they absorbed any spell cast at them.
They attacked.
The fighters of Arcanum were cornered. This was no training session.
It was a fight for survival. For the school. For the students. For everything they had built.
Cities burned. Battles raged everywhere. Wherever a portal opened, destruction and chaos followed.
Not only trained fighters stood against the invaders. Civilians too took up weapons to defend their families, their homes, their hope. The entire world had become one massive battlefield.
Fire, smoke, screams. Even the sky seemed to burn. There was no safe place left.
It felt like there would be no end.
As if the destruction of Earth was only a matter of time.
Nothing like this had ever happened before.
The armies, the warriors. They were all overwhelmed. Not just fighting a massive force, but a power beyond understanding. And at the same time, they tried to save civilians caught between the fronts.
The devastation knew no bounds. Corpses and body parts littered the streets.
But the fight was far from over.
High above the mountain, looking over the burning land, Keal shouted,
"Draw your weapons."
Elandra and Kiro did not hesitate. Their bows snapped up, and they fired elemental arrows at the approaching enemies. Lightning, fire, and icy blades cut through the air.
Nerion raised his hands, focused his magic, and released a concentrated energy beam that struck several enemies and hurled them to the ground.
Torgul leaped high into the air. His axe split a flying enemy cleanly in two. Blood sprayed, wings tore apart.
Mika transformed into a massive eagle. With thunderous wingbeats, she dove at the enemies, tearing them from the sky one by one.
"Unutay. Get into the hut, quickly. Hide there," Keal shouted. The number of enemies increased rapidly.
Creatures with black wings and full armor landed on the plateau. Their blades were long, their movements precise and deadly.
Then more figures appeared. Cloaked in dark robes. They attacked from the second row, hurling dark magic toward the heroes.
Keal and Torgul charged forward. Elandra and Kiro covered them from behind, their arrows hitting true and fast.
Mika kept fighting in the air, circling like a storm above the enemies and tearing through entire groups.
Nerion stood in the center of the battle, arms raised, casting protective barriers to shield his allies from the magical attacks.
Unutay reached the hut and disappeared inside.
Torgul flew through the air, right before Keal's eyes. He could barely believe it, staring for a moment in shock as his comrade was thrown.
Then reflex. Keal raised his sword and blocked a strike. But there was nothing there. No visible enemy.
"Kiro, watch out," Keal shouted.
Slash. A cut hit Kiro on the thigh. Not deep, but painful. Kiro barely managed to avoid more.
An enemy, invisible. It only appeared briefly before attacking, then vanished again. Almost untouchable.
Torgul growled and got back to his feet.
The ground trembled. From the direction where Torgul had been thrown, a massive golem stepped forward. Five meters tall, covered in dark stone armor, wielding a gigantic club. Every step shook the ground.
He charged straight at Elandra.
She reacted instantly, unleashing a salvo of arrows. Some deflected off his stone body, others pierced his arms and legs. But he could not be stopped.
He raised his weapon. A massive blow aimed directly at her.
Torgul jumped in front of her and blocked the strike with his axe. The impact was massive. Sparks flew.
Keal sensed where the invisible enemy was. He dashed forward to stop him, but was struck again and again. Cuts, scratches, small wounds. Too many at once.
Nerion raised his hands and cast a swirling dust storm across the battlefield. The dust spun like a vortex, and through it, the invisible enemy became visible. With no sunlight to cast shadows, there was nowhere for him to hide.
Kiro drew his twin blades and rushed to Keal's side. Together, they fought the now visible foe.
Torgul was locked in a brutal duel with the golem. Every strike echoed like thunder.
Mika was still circling above, attacking the enemies from the sky, but she was nearly at her limit. Her wingbeats slowed.
Elandra rushed to help Torgul, aiming her arrows at the golem's joints. Nerion stood at the edge of the chaos, casting magic and holding the front line against the advancing attackers.
In the middle of the raging battle, the door of the hut suddenly opened.
Unutay stepped outside.
In his hand he held a sword that shimmered with soft light. He was no longer the smiling, quiet man from earlier. Something about him had changed. His stance, his gaze, his entire aura.
He walked forward with calm, deliberate steps.