- ---
I watched on in awe as Hagen's manifestation took on a brilliant blue form, a dragon that matched the intensity of Selene's inferno.
It was much brighter and much more complete-looking than the one I had pulled out some time prior, which showed me that there was still a long way for me to go.
Valeria and I tucked behind one of the pillars, as Selene quickly pointed the beam towards Hagen, who was charging in at full speed, Viktor covering his back.
"What's going to happen? I hope we can pitch in to help them!" Valeria asked me, as she had her back to the wall, and I was facing the wall and facing the direction of the fight taking place.
"He's going to lose." The voice in my head whispered to me, and my eyes just went wide listening to that.
"What do you mean Hagen's going to lose!?" I asked back, expecting an answer, but I got none.
"Hagen's going to lose? Impossible." Valeria quickly retorted, and her voice was laced with concern, as she peeked out the corner to see the fight going on.
Just as she said that, I could hear some noise amidst the heat of battle that was going on between Hagen and Selene.
Valeria froze too, and we slowly turned to face each other, knowing all too well what that sound was.
It was the sound of footsteps, hundreds of them.
We turned to see the doors situated on the side of the rooftop, and they burst open with men, flooding out in numbers I didn't think I would be seeing.
It was a sea of men headed for our general direction. "Support commander Selene! Go now, Soldiers!" One of the troop commanders, clad in a better armored suit, shouted to them, and Valeria instantly sprung to action.
"Ed, we have to prevent them from getting to Hagen and Viktor!" She said, as she dove out of cover, and ran to intercept them.
I quickly followed her lead, and we stood right opposite the wave of soldiers.
Standing in front of them, the grip on my sword wavered as I saw the sheer scale of the amount of men that were charging at me, and self-doubt started to well in me again.
Will I be able to hold them off? I thought to myself, as I brought out my powers, but this time, despite trying my hardest, I couldn't manifest anything like I did in the fight against Aurelia.
As I was distracted trying to summon my manifestation, A wave of soldiers descended upon us, and I didn't know what to do.
Just then, I could see a silvery haze in the poorly reflecting stone floor of the castle, and I looked up to see that it was Viktor, who had jumped in to help with his enormous battle axe, which was giving out a ghostly white aura.
With one blow, he sent the line of soldiers careening back, from the mere shockwave of that hit.
"Viktor!" I called out to him as he got back up from the ground, ready for another bout.
"Ed!" He called me back with my real name, and I just stood there, waiting to listen to what Viktor had to say, a slightly surprised look on my face, seeing that he had figured out my identity.
"Finally figured out who I am, huh?" I said, with a slight smirk in my face.
"I never thought it'd come to this, but to be serving for the princes of the Heraklean kingdom, I'm truly honored." He turned around and gave me a bow, to which I quickly tapped on his shoulder and raised him up.
"No need to be so formal. Let's get this done with." I said, a determined smile on my face.
The onslaught began, and was very ferocious right out the gate.
The soldiers had to get through a narrow section of the roof to get to Selene and help her, and Viktor, Valeria and I were holding the line, primarily because of Valeria's signature aggressiveness, being complemented by Viktor's just as aggressive defense.
They were so in sync, and years of them fighting side by side, totally showed here.
Just then, I felt the ever-so-familiar build-up of heat behind me, and I wanted to move out of the way. At that exact time, one of the soldiers broke through the hold, and moved in to get me.
"Ed, watch out!" Valeria screamed, and the hairs on my neck started to stand up. Every bit of fibre in my body was now telling me to move.
I spun around, and just in time, I was able to dodge the blinding white beam of inferno, which obliterated the soldier who was charging at me.
I looked ahead of me, and I saw that a hold had burned through the lines of soldiers who were trying to break past us,.
I just realised that, had I been in the line of fire, I probably wouldn't exist right now.
"This is getting really dangerous!" Valeria shouted, as Viktor and Valeria held the line, despite me standing there in shock, doing nothing.
"Ed, we can hold this! Go help Hagen!" Valeria shouted, and I quickly came back to my senses.
"Alright!" I shouted, and started to make my way towards Hagen, who was starting to show signs of sluggishness.
"Bahaahahaha, what is it, you two can't even touch me?!" Selene laughed as she continued to blast beams of destruction his way.
As I saw the fight drag on for a bit, something clicked in my mind.
I quickly sprinted to Hagen, who was struggling to gain ground against Selene. As I reached him, I saw a powerful burst of energy building up around Selene's hand, ready to unleash a devastating attack.
With no time to explain, I grabbed Hagen's arm and yanked him out of the way just in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding Selene's destructive onslaught.
Hagen looked at me with a mix of shock and gratitude, panting heavily. "What the hell, Ed? How did you...?"
"I have a solution!"