The Battle of Themis (Part 1)

As the sun rose of the city of Themis, the defenders could see the vast undead horde slowly marching towards them.

Under Prince Julius’s command, Themis had two weeks of hard preparation put into its defences.

The walls were manned by archers, mages and paladins; the ballistae and catapults in the ramparts were loaded and ready to fire. The Holy Legion were on the streets in tight formations.

There was a deep, ten-metre-wide moat surrounding the city. There were a series of two-metre-deep trenches, each equally spaced apart, spread out before the city with thin wooden bridges as the only safe way across.

The defenders of Themis were outnumbered, but they had strong defences and most of the undead horde weren’t that strong.

Once Karak-Harth’s army reached the first of the seven trenches, they stopped.

Thirteen figures floated forwards.

When Karak-Harth saw the city’s defences, he scoffed. “Pathetic, minor distractions.”

He raised his staff up and the ground began to shake.

Dirt rose up from the bottom of the trenches until they were completely filled in, rendering them useless.

Karak-Harth laughed. “Don’t disappoint me now, blood of Themis.”

***

“That’s disappointing,” Julius muttered with a frustrated smile; the undead had already started to charge forwards. “Fire at will.”

“At once, sire,” General Pontus answered. “Fire at will!”

The command was echoed from officer to officer as thousands of arrows, hundreds of bolts of magic and dozens of artillery rounds launched at the undead.

Each arrow that found its mark destroyed its target.

Each bolt shattered the bones into a million pieces.

Each shot from the artillery blasted scores of the undead away and their fires set alight the pitch in the grassy fields.

Even as the fire raged and burned them to dust, the undead didn’t stop running forwards.

It’s not enough. Julius’s fingers dug into the battlements. If the trenches hadn’t been filled in, we’d have easily been able to kill tens of thousands of undead.

At this rate, we might not even get a fraction of those numbers.

All of the fields were burning brightly with an orange flame, but still the undead drew ever nearer to the gates.

Once they were in range, the skeleton archers shot up at the walls, killing and wounding the defenders a few at a time.

“Don’t let up!” Julius bellowed as an arrow soared past his face. “Every time you destroy one of them, you save another life behind you!”

Julius’s soldiers cheered even as two of them were pierced by arrows.

“Your highness, you should head down and be ready for when they breach.”

“I trust you won’t let me down, Pontus.”

General Pontus grinned. “Never, sire.”

“Then, I’ll leave this to you. Just be ready to drop the portcullis the moment-”

“Julius.” General Pontus put his hand on the prince’s shoulder. “I will.”

Julius nodded. “Stay safe, Pontus.”

“You too, Julius.”

***

Karak-Harth flew above the burning fields and slowly turned his staff towards them.

The flames that had roared so fiercely stopped.

With his free hand, Karak-Harth twisted his fingers into a claw and began dragging the fire towards him, condensing its power into a ball the size of his palm.

The fields below were left a scorched, black char littered with dust and bones.

Karak-Harth smiled maliciously as he slowly turned towards the city. Then, once he could see those on the walls staring at him in horror, Karak-Harth launched it towards Themis.

It flew with incredible speed into the stone walls.

The full might of the fire outside Themis was unleashed in a single instant.

A gigantic part of the walls and gates were destroyed.

Hundreds of those on the walls flew through the air, burning, before they slammed dead inside the city. Massive chunks of the wall burst into the city, crushing many people and buildings. The fire spread to the buildings inside the city, setting them ablaze.

The Holy Legion behind the walls had been blasted onto their backs from the shockwaves of the explosion.

Karak-Harth turned towards the Heavens and threw his arms out to the side. “Are you watching, Themis?! Watch as your city burns!”

***

The death knights and bone golems were the first into the city.

On their mighty steeds, the death knights charged into the destroyed lines of the Holy Legion, cutting them down in twos or threes at a time.

The bone golems stumbled into the city and swung their mightily limbs around carelessly, killing several people at a time.

The lesser undead easily swarmed in, no longer impeded by the walls or the Holy Legion, and an intense, brutal battle started on the streets.

Much to Karak-Harth’s surprise though, Prince Julius, carrying the flag of the Holy Empire in one hand and his sword in the other, rallied the soldiers around him. Together, they soon resumed their formations and the undead advance was halted.

Karak-Harth snapped his fingers and four liches flew off to another part of the city, taking with them a hundred thousand undead from the rear of the horde.

They were heading towards the lesser defended western gate.

***

“My lords, we have multiple confirmed sightings of liches and other strong undead at the north-west gate!”

“How many?” Lawrence asked calmly.

“Hard to say, my lord. More than a dozen, at least.”

“Alright, leave that to us,” Dante said. “Kella, get the adventurers together and head that way.”

“What about you?” Kella asked.

Dante smiled. “I’m going ahead.”

Using his arts he’d learned from the Monster Hunters, Dante propelled his body high into the air, then forwards towards the gates.

“I really hope he’s as strong as the stories say,” Kella mumbled, following after him on foot.

***

“The walls have already been breached, sir! Surely we need to help them?”

“No. We have our orders from Prince Julius and I am not going to disobey them.”

“But sir-!”

“Undead approaching!”

The captain and his men looked over the battlements and saw the hundred thousand undead Karak-Harth had sent their way.

“Fire at-!”

Seventeen fireballs smashed into the walls, blowing dozens of men, including the captain, off the walls.

The liches continued their barrage as Karak-Harth joined them.

“Break the gates!”

With inhuman groaning, five bone golems sprinted towards the tall western gates, smashing into it with their shoulders, denting the wood.

Then, they threw punch after heavy punch at the gates, slowly breaking small pieces off the gates until they could rip large chunks clean off.

Once they had, the undead charged through, but the surviving guards dropped the portcullis on top of the bone golems, skewering and destroyed them.

The four liches flew down to the portcullis, placed their palms on the metal and began generating heat from their hands.

Within a minute, the portcullis had melted away and the attack resumed.

Karak-Harth watched on happily as the undead spread out onto the streets and some moved to outflank Prince Julius’s forces.

Now then. His eyes turned to the centre of the city. It’s time I claimed my prize.