The army Commander named Gagiel, accompanied by a group of formidable Fifth Rank soldiers, stood waiting before the portal, his presence exuding his dense mana pressure, making his presence known to everyone in the city.
While every mage tower in the vicinity hummed with charged mana, their mages poised to unleash devastating spells upon anything that dared to exit the portal.
As the massive dark warship emerged from the portal, Gagiel moved with lightning speed, appearing before the vessel with his Warhammer crackling with thunderous energy.
In an instant, Gagiel delivered a colossal blow, the hammer colliding with the energy barrier surrounding the warship.
The tremendous impact sent shockwaves through the city, its reverberations echoing in every corner while the point of impact caved in dramatically, with cracks branching out like a spider's intricate web.
The energy barrier, though severely strained by the force of the blow, remarkably held firm, and while the onlookers expected Gagiel to deliver a second blow, he vanished and, in his place, appeared a fully armored knight firmly griping a lance.
The lance pulsed with an overwhelming surge of wind mana, and with a rapid and forceful thrust, the knight aimed at the weakened section of the barrier. Despite the barrier's initial resistance, it succumbed after a brief struggle, and the lance tore through it, leaving behind a massive breach.
Gagiel zipped through the breach and appeared above the warship. His entire form crackled with red lightning, giving him an imposing, awe-inspiring presence.
Gagiel, suspended above the warship, looked down, his hand raised as a massive circle appeared above him, as the very surroundings cracked with tongs of red lightning.
While the warship's many mana cannons unleashed a barrage of attacks upon him, their efforts were met with a barrier of crackling lightning.
In a matter of moments, the magic circle dissipated, and crimson-red clouds composed entirely of crackling lightning materialized in the sky, stretching to hundreds of meters.
Shortly after that, Gagiel lowered his hand, and with it came a barrage of enormous, unrelenting lightning bolts rained down upon the warship.
The bolts tore through the dark metal deck, burning and melting anything they touched. In seconds, the warship's hull was covered with openings, its colossal structure weakened, and the numerous demons manning the vessel were consumed by the lightning, turning to charred corpses.
As the ship's engines exploded, it plummeted to the ground, and from its emergence to its destruction, less than thirty seconds had passed, but even with the swift end of the first warship, no celebrations were made.
As the wreckage smoldered on the ground, another warship emerged from the portal, accompanied by a growing swarm of powerful fifth-Rank demons, numbering over thirty and steadily increasing with every moment.
Gagiel, still covered with red lightning with the lightning clouds thundering above him, hovered above the remains of the first warship, his cold gaze focused on the demons floating a distance away from him.
The mage towers across the city continued to pulse with charged energy, ready to unleash devastation upon the demons. Human soldiers, their weapons gleaming, stood poised for battle, their eyes filled with determination.
On the opposite side, the demons prepared for the inevitable clash. They did not rush headlong into battle but maintained a disciplined formation, awaiting their commander's orders.
The massive lightning clouds still hung ominously in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the battlefield. It was a moment of tense anticipation as both sides stared each other down.
"None of you will leave this place alive," Gagiel declared, his voice carrying over the battlefield like thunder.
In response, a towering demon gargoyle at the forefront of the demon ranks stepped forward, its eyes burning with malice.
"Human, your words will indeed come true, but it won't be us who will meet their end." The gargoyle growled, its voice a sinister rumble, his face carrying a hideous smile.
With that ominous proclamation, the demon gargoyle charged forward, and the human captain, matching the demon's determination, moved like a lightning bolt before smashing the demon with his mighty hammer in the face.
The demon got flung back, crashing into the ground, but Gagiel wasn't given any time to attack the gargoyle again as multiple fifth-rank demons threw attacks at him, engaging him in battle.
The power difference between a fifth and Sixth Rank was immense, from control over their element to their destructive power, and in one one-on-one, the fifth Rank individual had zero chance of victory, but even though powerful, a sixth Rank would still struggle against multiple fifth Rank opponents.
Gagiel engaged with six demons while his group carefully picked their opponents, fighting to maintain their formation and not let any demon slip by them.
The warship and the newly arriving demons were pinned down by the relentless bombardment from the six mage towers, which unleashed devastating spells upon them.
Gagiel, despite the overwhelming odds and relentless demon onslaught, didn't go all out. He knew that burning himself out in the initial stages of the battle would be a grave mistake, especially when help was hours away, given the destruction of the teleportation center.
However, Gagiel was a force of nature even in this restrained state as he moved with incredible speed and precision, his Warhammer and lightning-infused attacks mauling any demon unfortunate enough to cross his path.
Each swing of his hammer sent shockwaves rippling through the battlefield, and his powerful lightning strikes left a trail of scorched earth in their wake.
In just a few minutes, both the demons and human forces suffered losses, with two demon casualties, both claimed by Gagiel himself. Gagiel and the captains fought valiantly, buying precious time for the city's civilians to evacuate to the fortified districts.
However, as minutes ticked by, two more warships emerged from the portal, and more and more demons poured out. The combined attacks from the mage towers were no longer sufficient to hold them at bay.
The captains also found themselves increasingly overwhelmed as more fifth-rank demons joined the fray, and recognizing the dire situation, Gagiel issued a retreat order.
Instantly, four of the six mage towers erected mana barriers, protecting four of the city's districts. While not the entire city, these barriers shielded more than half of the population, and those not under protection were getting evacuated to the secured districts.
The remaining two mage towers continued to launch spells at the demons, offering support from a distance as Gagiel and his captains pulled back to defend various districts within the city.
The demon ranks continued to swell, numbering in the thousands, and now free from the earlier pressure, the demons formed groups and began to spread throughout the city.
The warships dropped their protective barriers and unleashed devastation upon the two mage towers that were still operational.
Various high-ranking demons led their groups toward the unprotected parts of the city, intent on slaughtering its citizens. Meanwhile, Gagiel and his soldiers braced for clashes with the demons while also protecting the evacuating districts.
The city was plunged into chaos, its fate hanging in the balance as the battle raged on, and the ominous portal remained active, a relentless source of demonic onslaught.
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