The Legend of the Dark Fiends

It was to be the greatest battle that Trioustan had ever seen. Lotus soldiers, New Trioustan soldiers, mutants, Sleepless Ones, Alliatus warriors. All of them would go down to the Temple of Light and engage the massive demon siege in battle. No history book had ever recorded a battle with so many bodies fighting, nor a battle with armies so diverse, nor a battle with so much at stake. At least, not in Trioustan, anyway.

The plan was simple. Given that this was as strong as the defense forces could ever be expected (unless the Shadow decided to show up and help them) and that the New Trioustan Headquarters was finally siege free, Vince's father had forgone classical strategy (but not tactics) and had decided to charge directly through the siege. The Alliatus were running low on supplies, so New Trioustan would provide a few supply vehicles (yes, they still had some working trucks) and force their way through the siege, relying on brute force to carry them through the day. Once their Alliatus allies were re-supplied, they would begin to push the line from inside the siege while the remaining officers, snipers, and defensive forces at the New Trioustan Headquarters worked up a second strategy to maximize their chances of success.

Stephanie had requested that she lead the attack, but Cemeria, being the only actual Alliatus leader in the entire building, demanded that she lead instead. Vince's mother sided with Cemeria on the grounds that the Sleepless One was a much more experienced leader. However, in order to spare Stephanie's feelings and in order to keep someone she knew personally high in the chain of command, Mrs. Zeng placed Stephanie as Cemeria's second-in-command for the assault.

Strong forces, strong leaders, all-out offensives, yes, it was to be the greatest battle that Trioustan had ever seen. But Vince would be sitting this one out.

"This is an outrage!" Vince roared when he heard the news. "I'm your strongest warrior. You know that."

"Actually, I don't know that," Cemeria interjected.

"I know you're the strongest, Vince," Stephanie replied. "But your foot's pretty much busted. And it hasn't healed much since the last time I had to patch it up because you've been running around so much. It's a miracle that the thing hasn't torn itself apart yet."

"Oh, come on, Steph. You know that's not the reason dad doesn't want me in the mission," Vince said skeptically.

"That may be true," Vince's mother responded, "but that doesn't change the fact that you need your rest."

"But..." Vince tried to argue but couldn't find the words. "Isn't the well-being of New Trioustan more important than the well-being of one little man?"

"Yes, it is," Vince's mother answered. "But we are perfectly capable of liberating New Trioustan without you, even if it is slightly more difficult. Whereas you, as we've seen, are not capable of fighting on that injured leg without injuring yourself even more."

"Mom!" Vince shouted, but he couldn't find any more arguments. "Cemeria, you're in command for this attack. Help me out here."

"I'm sorry, Vincent," Cemeria responded, "but even though I'm the leader for this attack, Mr. Zeng is still the commander-in-chief for all New Trioustan paramilitary. And Mrs. Zeng is the de facto leader of New Trioustan. Their wishes outweigh mine. And even if I did have a say, I don't even know how much of an asset you'd be in battle, not with that injury, anyway."

"I'm the Dark Fiend of the Inferno," Vince said. "Haven't you heard of me?"

"Yes, I have," Cemeria answered. "The Dark Fiend of Fire. You were a big target a while back. Then, about four months ago, when the war with the Shadow broke out, you weren't such a big deal anymore. Then, after Thalloric Motarius made a fool of himself and lost the MMHs to the terrorists, we pretty much forgot all about you."

Vince kept his mouth shut for a minute as he tried to figure out another argument for putting himself in this battle. Or a plea. Or anything at all. He didn't really care anymore as long as he could fight alongside Stephanie.

But he was out of ideas.

"Fine!" he shouted as he resigned to his bed. "Go on ahead without me! I hope you're all happy!"

Satisfied, Vince's mother and Cemeria the Sleepless left him. Stephanie, however, remained behind, a look of concern on her face.

"Vince, I'm sorry," she whispered. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad at you, Steph," he responded, forcing a smile, "I'm just... unhappy. You know how I am with fighting."

"I see," Stephanie gave a sigh of relief. "Thank Heaven."

"Stephanie," Vince interrupted her. Reaching his arm around her, he pulled Stephanie close to him and kissed her. "For good luck," he said. "Hopefully, you won't need it."

"Hopefully," Stephanie answered with a grin.

"Go," Vince said. "It's about to begin."

"Okay," Stephanie nodded.

Slowly, the teenaged girl walked toward the other end of the room. After turning around to look at Vince one more time, she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.


Leading a mixed group of Sleepless Ones, mutants, and soldiers, Cemeria marched down the streets of Trioustan. In order to improve flexibility and to better protect themselves from demon ambushes, they had split up into three groups. Cemeria led one, Stephanie led one, and Channis led one. The plan was to approach the Temple of Light from three separate, but equidistant paths, and then converge on the point of attack.

During the walk, they had fought a few skirmishes against a few small groups of demons. They had been scouting parties, not much of a challenge. Despite that, Cemeria was glad to have run into them. They were a good warm-up for the real thing.

They were almost at the point of attack. Cemeria could see the Cathedral's bell tower rising above the line of roofs. The battle would begin any minute now. She could even visualize where her allies were behind the many rows of buildings, assuming that they had kept up pace with the plan. To her left was Channis' group. To her right was Stephanie's. Stephanie. By Heaven how Cemeria hated her. How dare Megan Zeng place her as her second-in-command? Sure, Stephanie could fight, but she was too naive and too inexperienced. In short, Stephanie was unfit to lead. But Megan was her superior, and she was the one that had put Stephanie in a position of leadership, so Cemeria would have to make do.

They were now within charging distance. Cemeria raised her silver broadsword into the air and gave a battlecry.

"TRIOUSTAN!" she roared.

From her right, she heard Stephanie. "Trioustan!!!"

From her left, she heard Channis. "TriouSTAAAAAN!"

After the leaders cried, each Paladin, Mystic, and Priest, each mutant, and each soldier joined in, adding their own note to the collective battlesong. It was quite an impressive sound, hundreds of souls screaming their righteous fury at the demonic hellspawn. The air grew so noisy that even the demon besiegers turned to see what all the commotion was. That was when the charge began. Still shouting, the warriors of Trioustan charged toward the demon line.

Much to Cemeria's dismay, Stephanie was the first to reach the line. Her body glowing with a Holy aura and with ethereal angel wings on her back, Stephanie slammed a mass of Holy energy into the ground, creating a Holy explosion that wiped out every demon within a ten foot radius. Using her wings for speed, she followed by rushing at nearby demons and, using the blade end of her staff, cutting them down with high precision.

"Fool," Cemeria thought. "Precision attacks are useless against a horde of weak enemies. Watch a master."

Her broadsword glowing white with Holy energy, Cemeria entered the fray with a spinning leap. As she swung her blade in a full circle, her blade discharged energy in the form of electric sparks, tearing through any demon that was just out of range of her blade. When she finally landed, there was a trail of havoc and demon corpses behind her. One surviving lesser demon tried leaping on her, but Cemeria caught it with the tip of her broadsword. Leaping high into the air, the Sleepless Leader threw the demon back into the fray, then fired an arc of white lightning at it from her left hand. As the demon's body hit the street, it exploded, leaving a space just big enough for Cemeria to land hard, sending out a shockwave which knocked over all nearby demons. Swinging her sword to the side, Cemeria caught half of the grounded demons before they could climb to their feet. Then, leaping forward, she knocked a dozen demons into the air with an upward stroke. Finally, she leapt free from the fray and landed in the balcony of a nearby building.

"Stephanie!" she yelled out. "Stop wasting your time with small attacks! Get out of the melee and cast a large-scale Angelhair Snare. Then, follow that up with a Radiant Scales of Justice."

"Okay," Stephanie nodded.

With that, the young Priestess turned and ran for the safe side of the line.

Having clearly subdued Stephanie as her subordinate, Cemeria leapt back into the fray, swinging her broadsword.


"Efreet!" Mardonius shouted to his master on a road far from the battle.

"What is it?" the Demon General replied in a deep, hoarse voice.

"The humans from New Trioustan are attacking the siege forces," Mardonius reported. "They bring numbers far greater than expected, though they are still hopelessly outnumbered."

The Demon General then laughed with laughter like the rumbling earth.

"Those foolish humans!" he finally spoke. "Shift the siege forces."

"Yes, master," Mardonius replied with a bow. The swordsman then ran off to pass the order to a nearby taskmaster.

"Those humans," Efreet chuckled. "They don't stand a chance."


Vince stood on the rooftop high above the streets of the snow-covered city. A fuzzy snowflake slowly descended and landed on his shoulder. The sky above him was dull gray, adding an air of sorrow to the scene.

"Where am I?" Vince said, blinking. "I must be dreaming."

In front of him stood a short little girl with a pink jacket and a pink skirt.

"Vince," the girl spoke with a voice that echoed eerily. "You will kill another human being today. Will that be okay?"

"Tina, I don't understand," Vince replied. "What do you mean?"

"You will kill another human being today," Tina repeated. "Will that be okay?"

"Who says I'm gonna kill anyone?" Vince answered defensively.

Vince woke up with a start. He was back in his room in the New Trioustan Headquarters.

"That's odd," Vince thought to himself. "I don't remember falling asleep." Slowly, he climbed out of bed and stood up. "Hmm, I think I'll go see how the others are doing."

Stepping carefully, Vince exited his room and made his way down the hall. After the battle yesterday, not only had Stephanie re-wrapped his wounds, but she had also plastered a hard cast around his foot. It made walking rather difficult, since not only did it disrupt the balance between his legs, but the cast was also so tight that he couldn't move his toes, making it hard to adjust his footing.

Vince finally arrived at the observation room, which was moderately crowded with those who were incapable of fighting (and had thus been left behind), intensely following the action (as best they could from miles away) through the windows.

"Pardon me," Vince said as he limped his way between a group of teenagers idly chatting away and a couple who had apparently fallen asleep in each others' arms.

He stepped through the open sliding door onto the balcony, where several people were already pressed against the railing, trying to view the battle from afar. Carefully, Vince squeezed in between two viewers. From over here, he couldn't see very much. All he could make out were little blobs of color and flashes of white and red. It was nearly impossible to tell what was going on. Vince wondered what these people hoped to accomplish by watching the battle if they couldn't even see anything. It was then that Vince noticed the man to his right had a pair of binoculars.

"Excuse me," Vince said. "Would it be okay if I borrowed your binoculars?"

The man put the binoculars down and turned to look at Vince. "Sure, but it doesn't look too good."

"Thanks," Vince said as the man handed him the binoculars.

Even through the binoculars, the individual figures were hard to make out, as they still appeared miniscule to him. At least now, though, he could tell who was demon and who was human.

"It doesn't look too bad," Vince said to the man. "It looks like their doing well."

"Zoom out a bit," the man responded.

Vince did as he suggested and almost gasped when he saw the scene. The siege had shifted. Instead of simply a single circle around the Temple and the Cathedral, the demon siege forces now made a figure eight. One of the loops still held the Alliatus at siege, but the other loop--a much smaller and tighter loop--trapped the New Trioustan defense forces.

"Good Heavens!" Vince exclaimed as he put down the binoculars.

"I know," the man replied. "They're trapped. I'd pray for a miracle, but you know, if I were a religious man, I'd be over there."

"Wait," Vince interrupted him.

He had spotted something in the corner of his eye. Raising the binoculars back to his face, he saw a brigade of wurm-tanks gathering in a large street intersection.

"That's odd," Vince thought, making a quick estimate in his head. The wurm-tanks were too far away to attack the New Trioustan Headquarters, and it didn't look like they were preparing to move from that intersection. "But if they're not attacking here, then..."

Vince opened his eyes wide with horror when he realized what the wurm-tanks were about to do. He hadn't meant to, but in his shock, his hands had released the binoculars and allowed them to fall. He heard the man catch the binoculars, telling him to be careful, as the binoculars were worth more than his life, but it didn't matter anymore. Stephanie was in danger, and Vince had to act.

The people on the balcony screamed in bewilderment when Vince leapt from the balcony. When he landed, he was the Dark Fiend of the Inferno. As he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, he heard his father's voice, amplified and distorted, shouting, "Dark Fiend! You are not authorized to participate in this mission!"


Stephanie and Cemeria stood side by side, standing their ground with the rest of the mutants, Sleepless Ones, and New Trioustan soldiers, facing off against the circle of demons around them. They needed to protect the supply trucks, which stood safely in the center of the circle, but more importantly, they needed to survive, and survival meant they needed to stick together.

"Another wide-scale Angelhair Snare," Cemeria commanded. "Now."

Stephanie sighed. "Yes, Commander."

There really was no point. The demons could burn through the Angelhair Snare in a matter of seconds. At best, it would stall the demons from overrunning them. At worst, it was a waste of energy, and Stephanie was starting to tire out. Still, she did as commanded and cast the spell. Hundreds of strands of yellow thread emerged from the air and entangled demons all around them. Almost immediately, she saw wisps of smoke and heard sharp hisses as the thread made contact with the demons' hellish scales.

Cemeria began moving right away. Already charging her blade with Holy energy, the Sleepless Leader skewered her sword at a forward angle into the ground. As Cemeria channeled even more energy into the blade, the broadsword unleashed a Holy explosion, sending waves Holy energy forward, incinerating demons for about a hundred feet. The gap, however, was quickly filled by more demons. Stephanie wiped out a few more demons with a well placed Holy beam. Then, with two swift swings of her staff, she beheaded two more demons. Beside them, The Talon charged a squadron of demons with feral fury, tearing them limb from limb. The Hands began a graceful dance of death with four daggers, two held blade up, two held blade down. The Tail swung his namesake appendage, knocking a battalion of demons into the air, which other mutants leapt and mutilated in mid-air.

Suddenly, a volley of fireballs fell upon them, sending gravel and flame in to the air and leaving impact craters in the street. Stephanie screamed as a fireball exploded just a few feet to her left, knocking her to the ground and instantly vaporizing a few soldiers. More fireballs fell, wiping out soldiers, mutants, and Sleepless Ones by the handful. The New Trioustan defense forces were in full panic now as the humans ran wildly around, only to be killed at random by a falling fireball. Soon, the air was filled with blood and gore, which, like the fireballs, rained down upon Stephanie's allies. The supply trucks were already destroyed, burning and turned over, as soldiers desperately tried to salvage the supplies. One of the trucks, filled with ammunition, exploded, sending shrapnel in each direction. Any nearby human who had survived ended up with a random piece of metal sticking through a random body part, screaming in agonizing pain.

"No," Stephanie whispered as tears streaked down her bloodstained face. "No!" she screamed as the gore soaked her hair and her clothes. "No no no no no! You can't do this!"

Her body flashed a bright white, and suddenly, the Holy aura on her body was stronger. The ethereal wings on her back had grown twice the size. Screaming with sorrow and rage, Stephanie leapt over the line of demons, moving with unnatural speed. Her staff was a blur, and any demon unlucky enough to be within six feet of her was shredded into rope. One demon tried to leap over the shimmer of metal, but Stephanie caught it by the neck. Leaping into the air, she flapped her wings once, then dove back upon the street. Slamming the demon into the asphalt, Stephanie left little more than a bloodstain. Stephanie roared with tears of anger, and a bright flash of white sent every demon around her flying away.

As Cemeria stood there with her broadsword in hand, she said to herself, "She has just learned her first lesson: there is no glory on the battlefield."


The Dark Fiend of the Inferno pulled the door off a nearby car and set it ablaze. Using the now burning metal as a blade, he impaled one end into a wurm-tank and dragged it down the length of the beast. The wurm screeched as blood and entrails leaked from the newly formed gash in his side. The flaming garbage in Vince's hands was just about worn out by now, but Vince continued to run to the next wurm. Leaping into the air, he gathered more flames into the twisted metal he carried and slammed it into the top of the nearest wurm's head. The resulting explosion bore straight through the wurm's skull and out its throat.

Suddenly, the Inferno Fiend felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and before he knew it, something had knocked him off the wurm's head. Climbing back to his feet, Vince noticed that something had sliced cleanly through the armor on his right shoulder.

"Please don't do that," said a voice. "We need those wurms."

Vince turned to face his attacker and recognized him immediately. Instead of wearing the decorated black body armor from Lotus, the swordsman wore a heavy suit of spiked, crimson red armor. Although Vince had never seen that armor before, he knew immediately that it was the armor of the Demon Army's Inferno Knights. The Knight stood upon the dead wurm's head, standing just where Vince had been before. A look of grim seriousness was on his face as the Inferno Knight held his saber--which was still made of red dragon metal--in one hand and pointed it directly at Vince.

"Mardonius," Vince called out. "Why did you betray us?"

"I told you before," the swordsman said. "I didn't betray you. I was always an Inferno Knight. Why do you humans so stubbornly refuse to believe that?" Then, as he leapt from the wurm's head, he added, "En garde!"

With a backward roll, Vince quickly got out of the way of the blade attack. However, Mardonius quickly landed on his feet and began charging at him with his sword extended. Thinking quickly, Vince threw a fireball. Mardonius stopped his tracks as the fireball exploded across his chest. However, instead of grunting in pain or falling over, Mardonius simply laughed. When the smoke cleared, Vince could see that the crimson armor was glowing.

"I knew I'd run into you today," Mardonius explained, "which is why I wore this. This armor absorbs fire-elemental magic and uses it to replenish my Lifeforce. In other words, your fire attacks are useless."

"Oh yeah? What about my fist attacks?" Vince asked as he threw a right fist forward.

"You'll never land a hit," the Knight taunted.

And then, Mardonius' sword was in the air, following through from an upward stroke. There was a slice through the Inferno Fiend's gauntlet, and his right hand now bled profusely. Vince was in pain, but he wasn't about to let Mardonius get the counter-attack. Moving swiftly, he grabbed a nearby parked car and lifted it, grunting with the force of the exertion. Spinning it around once, he threw the car at the Knight. Mardonius, however, simply watched the car fly at him and took a backward step at the last second, putting him just out of the range of the attack. However, the Inferno Fiend suddenly appeared from behind the car and leapt upon the Knight. Mardonius simply took another step backwards, and Vince landed on bare gravel. The Knight quickly lunged at Vince, counter-attacking with the tip of his blade. Vince leaned to the right to avoid the saber, but Mardonius followed through with a horizontal swing, aiming to decapitate. Vince let his body fall all the way to the floor and let the sword sail harmlessly above him. Shifting his momentum, he transitioned the fall into a roll and quickly regained his footing to the Knight's side. Mardonius was quick, though, and had already turned around to face him. Wasting no time, the Knight stepped forward and swung his saber. Remembering their last battle, Vince decided not to play the game and simply stepped out of the attack's range. Mardonius stepped forward with a several more swings of his blade, and in response, Vince took several more backward steps to avoid the attacks. Mardonius took one more step with the blade, but when the Inferno Fiend took a step back to avoid it, Mardonius' feet brought him into a full-out lunge, catching Vince off guard. Vince hadn't expected Mardonius to close the distance so fast, and as such, barely had enough time to escape. He leaned his body away and jumped backwards in hopes he could get out of reach in time, but the saber cut through the side of his helmet, scratching him across the cheek.

Fortunately, this maneuver left the Knight in a full lunge, giving Vince a short respite. Mardonius' right leg was bent and supporting most of his weight, while his left leg was fully extended behind him. Vince took this opportunity to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. With Mardonius' armor absorbing fire-elemental magic, the Inferno Fiend's fire attacks were useless. With Mardonius' sword skills preventing him from landing a hit, Vince's melee attacks were useless. Vince thought hard. Besides those, did he have any other attacks?

The Inferno Fiend was out of time as Mardonius moved back into en garde position. Then, springing forward, the swordsman flew wildly at Vince, swinging his blade with intent to kill.

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