The battle pressed forward, Luke and Luina taking the lead with Rose commanding the ranged spellcasters and Commander Lance leading the knights and with each fallen beast, Luke's confidence grew.
Bodies of demonic beasts littered the grounds, their corpses dissolving into ash as magic and steel carved a path through the enemy ranks.
Knights shouted orders, spellcasters advanced, and for the first time since the march began, Luke felt the weight on his chest begin to lift.
He moved without hesitation, his mind clear and calm, his objective simple.
His blade struck true, cutting down a charging beast before it could reach the formation.
Luke leapt skyward, unleashing multiple wind barrages at beasts that had slipped through the front guard and were heading towards the ranged spellcasters.
Clean wind strikes cut them down, and turning back he saw his teacher dealing with a whole horde on her own and smiled, there's nothing that could harm his teacher, The Wind Mistress, Luina page.
Training and instinct blended into something sharper, something real. This was war, yes, but this was one they could win with minimal casualties.
"Left flank's clearing! Support!" Commander Lance shouted as with a raise of his hand, flames, earth weapons, water spears and light swords flew above and struck countless demonic beasts down, clearing a whole unit.
A few managed to survive and were approaching Luke quickly while he was distracted dealing with another horde.
Rose's fire roared overhead, a controlled wave of flame that forced the remaining beasts to scatter.
The mana signature familiar, he glanced back to see Rose grinning, sweat and soot streaking her face as she waved her hands at him in triumph.
Luke returned the smile and together they both glanced towards where Luina was situated.
She stood still and alone in the midst of fading corpses of demonic beasts.
Turning back, Luke's heart skipped a beat as her face was frozen in fear.
It was subtle, so subtle that Luke almost missed it. Her hands lowered slightly as her gaze lifted past the battlefield, past the smoke, the broken earth and rising embers.
"Hold." She said
The command, laced with fear caused the knights to slow down in their attacks.
The beasts were retreating, that wasn't normal. They were scared, but weren't they just attacking a second ago. Luke frowned as a sickening felling started to form in his stomach.
Then the wind shifted.
The air thickened, pressing down on Luke's shoulders until each breath felt heavier than the last.
Magic, raw and oppressive, flooded the battlefield, drowning out the familiar rhythm of spells and shouts.
The sky darkened.
The roar came first.
It wasn't like the cries of the beasts they'd faced before. The sound rolled through the land like a living force, rattling armor, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
Then the clouds tore apart.
Something massive moved within them, its silhouette eclipsing the morning light.
Wings unfolding slowly, deliberately, each beat sending shockwaves through the air.
Scales the colour of darkened iron reflected flashes of lightning, and along its spine ran glowing veins of sickly violet light.
A dragon.
Not the feral kind that razed villages or hunted cattle. This one was different.
This one hovered in silence, its presence alone enough to fracture morale.
The demonic beasts tried running back but with a single flap of its wings, it sent them flying back.
"They're scared…they're scared of it." Rose whispered, disbelief and fear creeping into her voice.
The dragon's eyes ignited, twin slits of pale poison green light, and it looked down.
Not at the army or demonic beasts.
At them, Luke and Luina standing at the forefront of the onslaught.
Luke stood frozen in fear, his whole body shaking.
"Formation!" Luina barked, already running towards Luke.
"Mages, suppressive fire. Now!"
Flames, lightning, earth, light and condensed mana streaked upwards, colliding against the dragon's scale in a dazzling display.
Sadly, none of it mattered as the attacks seemed to do little damage to the colossal beast.
The dragon exhaled.
A breath of hot fire streaked from the dragon's mouth with the intention to incinerate Luke.
He saw the attack coming but couldn't do anything.
"Why isn't my body moving, God damnit. I cant die like this."
Closing his eyes and ready to accept his fate, the fire approached him.
Even with his eyes closed he could still see the orange hue but after a second after not feeling he opened his eyes and his eyes widened in surprise.
In front of him were Rose and Luina who were holding the fire due to Rose being a fire mage she was controlling the flame with Luina redirecting it with her wind magic.
"What the hell are you doing Luke?! Don't you have a wife and kids waiting for you at home. You cant give up. We'll all die if you don't get your act up." Rose shouted in pain as her arms burnt from the heat.
For a second to Luke time slowed down, he looked around and observed.
Everyone was still fighting so why was he giving up now.
He looked at Rose, the ever cheerful part of their team, now screaming in pain because she was trying to protect someone as unmanly as him and he sparked.
His blood started to boil as his adrenaline rose.
I'll make this dragon pay. Luke swore in rage.
The flame was becoming overwhelming and Rose thought this was where she might die when…
"North wind, four seas." A huge wind extinguished the flame.
The two women turned and looked at Luke who nodded at them and started to run towards the dragon without saying anything.
The supporting mages were still shooting projectiles as Luke closed in on the dragon.
"We can still beat it, we have a chance." Luke thought hopefully.
As if sensing his hope and strategy, the dragon smiled.
The smile was what Luke would remember in the future as the look of the devil.
It exhaled, for the second time.
This time, the breath wasn't fire.
It was a dense, drifting cloud of violet mist that rolled across the battlefield like a living thing.
Where it touched the ground, stone hissed and cracked. Wherever it brushed against armor, metal blackened instantly.
"Poison.." someone screamed.
Sadly too late.
Knights collapsed where they stood, choking, their screams cutting off mid-breath.
Luke felt his lungs burn as he threw up a barrier, barely shielding himself as the mist brushed past.
"Luina should be in a wind shield so they should be…"
"ROSE!" The scream brought Luke out of his thoughts as he looked towards Luina.
His eyes widened as he looked at a moving figure running towards the dragon.
"Rose!" Luke shouted as his body started to glow and summoning the strongest winds he could, he swept it through the battleground and started to run towards Rose.
"No, no, no, I'm supposed to be the one fighting that thing, not her."
Standing alone before the dragon, Rose stood alone, her wand in her hand, her face pale and three pills in her other hand.
The dragon bent its head towards Rose and laughed a high pitch blood curling roar.
Luke and Luina had caught up with her just to see Rose swallow the last of the three pill.
Without turning back she said,
"I've already inhaled too much of the poison and I'm probably going to die, so at least lets kill this fucking dragon while were at. Please can you help me do that?"
"We're going to kill this dragon, but you're not dying here. That's an order!"
Luina said as her voice cracked.
Rose was already moving.
"Luina, I'll draw its attention." Rose yelled, flames spiraling wildly, violently, due to the mana pills, around her as she launched herself skyward. "You finish it off while its still underestimating us."
"Rose, don't…!"
The dragon turned.
Slowly.
Its gaze locked onto her, and for the first time, it reacted.
Although the dragon was intelligent in the end it was still a beast and it still had instincts, and those very instincts were warning it to be careful.
The sky turned purple as the gigantic fireball, changing from red to purple, fully charged slammed into the face of the dragon.
Annoyed, the dragon let out a blood-curling roar.
"Now!" Luina shouted.
The whole battlefield, watching the entire scene unfold stood back up, knowing this was the turning point. Even those still healing from their wounds and poison by the healers stood up and blasted as much mana as they could spare.
The battlefield turned into a rainbow of flashing color as mana of different types slammed into the dragon.
The attacks started to pierce the tough scales of the dragon, although not enough to kill it, it was more than enough to restore the morale of the knights.
Getting desperate and more frustrated, the dragon exhaled another toxic fume but this time Luke was ready and the second the mist came out of the mouth of the dragon, it was sent back by a great gust of wind conjured by Luina and Luke.
Above them, Rose burned brighter than the sun, pouring everything she had into keeping the dragon's attention to her.
The second attack, twice as lethal as the first slammed into the dragon, breaking through its fire resistance, and burning the face of the dragon.
Infuriated and blood lusted, the dragon swung out wildly and struck once.
A single devastating swipe of its claw tore through her flames, through her defenses, through her.
The sky went silent, time stopped.
Rose's body fell from the sky.
As her body fell Luke heard her whisper "Take care of Nadia for me."