Kumbanaka landed on a demon beast lightly, and began making like a whirlwind. His claws slashed out too fast to see, and demon heads started popping off demon shoulders in his wake. Kumbanaka kept moving, which was good, because the demons were exploding after they died, and he didn`t want to be caught in that. In fact, the demons were so densely packed (as they pressed into the wall breach) that some demon explosions seemed to set off chain reactions of demon death and subsequent explosions.

　　Kumbanaka was fast, but he was also visible, even in the rainstorm, and every demon turned to grab at him. Still, he moved like the demons were standing still, and he loved to step from demon to demon, walking on and above them all, still spinning and slashing like each of his limbs was a whip. Fred was almost mesmerized by the performance, but he knew he had to keep working on the Inner Wall. He got back to it, but kept an eye on Kumbanaka as he worked.

　　The big boss finished its personal demolition of a tower, and moved on to the next one. Again, it seemed to want to do the job thoroughly, for no apparent reason. Meanwhile the humans were beginning to shine. As the first few demons came over the breach, human fighters (glowing gold and covered in magical armor) rushed to meet them. The humans used the same tactic. They quickly dispatched a demon, with a stab through the chest or throat. Then they ran away, avoiding the inevitable demon explosion.

　　Sometimes the demon fell to an arrow. Several mages had spells that worked just like arrows, flashing out and piercing the demons. Many humans worked in small teams. Fred saw a group use spells to freeze demons solid, before the fighters stepped up with mauls, to knock the demons` heads off.

　　Look at them, Fred. You`ve been training them for this, and you`ve done so well.

　　Fred felt some pride at the skill of the adventurers, too. All told, he counted about five hundred of the adventurers, together with the nine hundred soldiers, who weren`t nearly as well trained or equipped, but nonetheless fought valiantly.

　　Fred looked again at Kumbanaka, who seemed unable to slow down or stop. But looking closer, he saw that the Rakshasa had a couple of long cuts on his legs, and this confirmed that it was only a matter of time until Kumbanaka got what he wanted. Still, he was single-handedly putting a big dent in the army outside the wall, and in response the whole army seemed to be after him.

　　"Amazing," said Martin.

　　"Yep," replied Fred. "Kumbanaka is gonna kill hundreds of demons all by himself."

　　"I`m not talking about the cat!" Martin shot back. "I`m talking about the human army that`s approaching."

　　"What? What army?"

　　"I can`t tell one group of humans from another. They`re coming from the southeast. You`ll probably be able to see them within five minutes."

　　"Kumbanaka could tell me who they are, from their flags and colors and such," Fred said. "But he`s busy."

　　"Busy getting killed! That stupid cat," groused Martin.

　　Now the boss was smashing the third tower. Fred wondered if it would attack the south towers next, or the white north towers, or go for the Glass Citadel. He didn`t feel especially bad about all this devastation. If he survived all this, he knew he could fix it all very quickly. Fred had about half the Inner Wall raised up, and instead of raising the back half, he started thickening the part of the wall he thought the boss would attack. He also raised the ground behind the wall, creating a berm to support the wall even more.

　　More demons came through the Town Wall breach every minute, and they began pressing the humans harder. But again, the humans were extremely well trained and equipped, powered up by the golden glow, and very motivated. Spells slammed. Steel flashed. Arrows flew. If Fred weren`t so scared, the sight would have been the most incredible show he`d ever watched.

　　As he watched, his eyes fell upon the Four Tropes. He felt elated, and watched as they led the fight against the demons. Since Fred had first met them, they`d grown (individually and as a team) into fearsome humans who now killed demons wholesale. Fred could even see other human groups relying on them, following them, supporting them. "Way to go, guys!" Fred laughed. "You`re my favorite humans!"

　　Back outside the Town Wall, Fred saw Kumbanaka go down. One small mistake was all it took, and a demon grabbed Kumbanaka`s foot, dragging him down. Instantly the demons piled onto Kumbanaka like rugby players, making a huge mound of writhing demons above him. The mound seethed and jumped for almost two minutes, as Kumbanaka fought to the last. The golden glow magic allowed him to continue fighting until major parts of him came off, and even those separate parts kept fighting for a while. But finally Kumbanaka died, soaked in the burning blood of his enemies.

　　"Stupid cat," Martin grumbled quietly.

　　After the three towers were down, the boss demon turned its attention to the Glass Citadel. Fred knew it was tough, but also knew it wouldn`t survive the boss. He only hoped it would delay the big demon. And it did.

　　The boss walked up to the Glass Citadel, and Fred saw that the boss could just barely see over the top of the building. The boss didn`t do subtle; it just punched the Glass Citadel. And its fist bounced off. This hurt the demon, a bit, and it howled in pain and anger. Then it resumed punching even harder. And this time it broke through the wall. The building as a whole remained stalwart, even as repeated punches knocked a bigger and bigger hole into the side of the building.

　　As with the towers, Fred couldn`t see any way the boss wouldn`t complete the destruction of the Glass Citadel. But it frustrated the demon in every way. Every wall and floor refused to collapse until the demon hit it hard enough. The rubble from the destroyed walls fell on the demon`s feet, impeding its steps. Twice, the demon`s fist plunged deep into the building and became awkwardly trapped. The demon then squawked and struggled to remove it.

　　Here comes that human army.

　　Fred turned from the boss demon, and the Inner Wall that he was shoring up, and looked outward. There was indeed a human army crossing the southeastern fields, and approaching the demon army from behind.

　　"Do you think it`s the Awhirwe army?" Fred asked Jim.

　　The A`wheriwe army, yes, most probably. There`s no other human army near here.

　　"I`m glad they came, but&"

　　Fred`s concern was reasonable. This new army was bigger than the army Fred already had, and the demon host had been severely reduced by the battle so far. But it looked to Fred like there were still five demons for every human. Fred also knew that these soldiers hadn`t been trained in Fred`s domain, nor had they been covered in the golden glow of Sharfroen`s bird song.

　　This was their choice, Fred. At least, the choice of the A`wheriwe king. Accept their help. And help them. Now is a good time to use your "shove-throw" technique, to disrupt the demons as the humans attack.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

　　Oh my, the sixth gate has been closed! There is only one demon gate left open, Fred. The humans can do it. They WILL do it! They have to! You simply have to hold on with me, Fred.

　　Fred was reasonably done with the shoring of the Inner Wall, and the boss demon was still wrestling with the Glass Citadel, so Fred turned to the battle of the new army. In a couple more minutes the A`wheriwe army got close enough to charge the demon army. The rain and the general situation meant the attack was very surprising to the demons; they were already unprepared. As the humans charged the demons, Fred took a large part of the earth below the demon army, and shoved upward.

　　All the demons were instantly knocked off their feet, so the demons were a tangled mess on the ground when the A`wheriwe army rolled into them like a freight train. Initially this was beautiful, as the demons died in droves, and the mass confusion worked to protect the humans.

　　But then dead demons started exploding, and demon blood started spraying everywhere, and the fumes started attacking human lungs. And then it was just chaos and misery and death. The back half of the A`wheriwe army was able to reel back, and regroup out of immediate combat range. They were all mounted, and the horses helped them quickly reform lines and columns. But the front half, the people who had led the charge into the demon army, were all dead. Half the army, just like that.

　　Fred saw that the boss demon was finally finishing the demolition of the Glass Citadel, when Martin attacked again. He repeated his wing-grab trick, and once again the boss howled in pain, and toppled over. This time, Martin twisted in mid-air, turning unbelievably quickly. His rear legs came down on the stomach of the boss demon, driving the air from its lungs.

　　Martin quickly took wing again, and the demon missed as it reached out to grab him. But Martin left behind several gaping wounds in the boss`s stomach. The black, viscous blood of the demon poured out in pulsing sheets, and Fred wondered if the demon was gonna die.

　　"Yeowch!" Martin shouted. "That demon blood really stings!" He flew quickly over to the heated pools Fred had made for the humans, and landed with a splash. Martin swished his back feet around in the water, and said, "Ahhh, much better."

　　Looking back at the boss demon, Fred despaired. The demon`s tummy wounds had already stopped bleeding, and the demon stood up slowly, shouting more angry words at the foot-soaking dragon.

　　"Well," Martin replied, "You`ll have to catch me first." Then he took flight again.

　　Fred could see that thousands of demons had now entered the town through the wall breach, and the humans were beginning to be overwhelmed. Where he saw very large groups of demons directly attacking the humans, he reached down and used a push/throw to disrupt them. This generally worked great, but all it really did was throw the demons to the ground; they got right back up again.

　　The boss demon, now standing, shouted at the dragon in the distance, and then resumed pulverizing the Glass Citadel. The building still refused to go down easy, and the demon quickly became focused on it again. And Martin swooped in to make another attack. But the boss demon was clever enough to be ready.

　　As Martin raced by and grabbed at the demon`s damaged wing, the boss twisted its body and grabbed Martin`s back leg instead. The demon was huge, but Martin had considerable momentum. The result was that the dragon slammed into the ground, stretched out onto his back. The demon also toppled over, with an even louder crash, and his giant hand locked around Martin`s foot.

　　Every living entity in the town stopped what they were doing, almost mesmerized, as this titanic battle took place far too close to them. Martin thrashed to get free, but the demon, with tremendous power, dragged Martin toward it. The demon got its knees under it, and began crawling up and over Martin`s long, supine body. It wouldn`t let Martin go, so instead Martin used every one of his huge claws to tear at the demon, inflicting horrific slashing wounds that poured demon blood. The demon blood (of course) began to cover Martin, who shrieked and struggled and lashed out with every ton of his considerable strength.

　　Martin`s wide, thrashing wings beat against the ground, smashing demons and humans alike. The boss demon continued its slow climb towards Martin`s head, enduring the full-on attacks of all four of Martin`s legs. Finally, despite Martin`s struggles, the boss was laying directly on top of Martin, and the demon`s hands reached up to grab each of Martin`s wings, where they attached to his shoulders.

　　Then the massive demon pulled, and ripped Martin`s wings off.

　　Martin`s body went rigid, then limp. Fred wondered if the pain had simply killed him instantly. The demon, blood pouring from its face, chest, arms, and torso, left the separated wings on the ground, and pulled itself forward until it could get its hands around Martin`s neck. It proceeded to choke the dragon with both hands, cracking vertebrae. And Fred realized that Martin had continued to breathe, up until now.

　　Finally satisfied that the dragon was done, the big demon took a full two minutes to stand upright again. By this time so much demon blood was on the ground, Fred wondered how the boss could have any left. However, like before, the demon`s wounds were already closing up. Still, Martin had done a real number on the boss. It looked like it had been attacked by a cheese grater, or perhaps a snow blower. Long strips of the demon`s flesh still hung off it, and deep gouges continued to decorate its body. It moved like it had been wounded, too.

　　Then the spiteful demon stepped forward. And stepped on Martin`s head. The head was crushed completely. Martin was dead.

　　Fred had to look away. Within the town, the fighting had come to a standstill, but outside, the A`wheriwe army was attempting a new tactic. Instead of directly plowing into the demon army, the riders were galloping past in a slashing maneuver. This allowed the humans to do quick damage without being caught and stopped by the demons. They could kill demons, but avoid the fumes and explosions that were so dangerous. The human army had separated into three teams, and each was using this tactic on the outskirts of the (still huge) demon army. Fred wished them well. He wasn`t sure how well his push/throw ability could help them, so he didn`t try.

　　Instead he refocused on the demons in the town. Lots of demon blood was splashed around, but though the rain was finally lessening, the torrent had done a good job of washing and diluting the blood. The way Fred was feeling, he knew he could still control the earth within the town. So he did so.

　　Quickly, hundreds of demons at a time were swallowed by the earth. The nearby humans cheered when they saw this. They knew Fred was still up and still fighting for them. They redoubled their fierce attacks on the demon hordes. Fred was getting into it, too. It felt good to him, working with the humans, saving them from large groups of demons.

　　Just like in the outer fields, though, Fred`s pits and the demons they crushed quickly made the ground numb and treacherous. Fred knew that he couldn`t keep killing demons this way; he was running out of ground that 1) the demons were standing on, and 2) he could still control. Still, it looked like the human/demon battles could possibly be won by the humans.

　　Then the boss demon reached the Inner Wall, and started smashing it.

　　This wall was bigger, thicker, and more supported than the Town Wall, but even with the first blow, the stone of the wall started to crack. Fred knew he`d only bought more time.

　　Fred was momentarily distracted by the sparkling magic, making Martin`s body disappear. In a small way, this was comforting, since it told Fred that his magic was still working normally.

　　"What else can I do? How can I kill this guy?" Fred asked Jim.

　　I don`t know, Fred. Think. Can you use your creativity? You can control so much ground, just not near the demons. What can you do with that ground?

　　"I dunno! What can I do?" Fred looked around frantically. He thought about his creatures, all completely agitated, cowering in their lairs. None of them had any chance against this big demon, he thought. Right now the Inner Wall was protecting them from the demon. Fred didn`t know what the demon planned to do when he got inside the Inner Wall, and he didn`t want to know.

　　Fred looked back, and saw the many stone hands he`d made to throw bombs back, and thought about the siege engines the demons used to throw the bombs. This gave him an idea. A lame idea, but he felt he should try it. On the other side of the wall, on the far side of the Tree Shaft, he made a very large hand, and used it to pick up a very large rock. Both were really created out of nothing by Fred`s magic, but the result was the same.

　　Fred used the hand to throw the rock at the demon`s face. It missed.

　　It flew past the demon, into the town, and smashed down on some hapless demons who had just entered through the breach. "Shit," Fred said. "I shoulda practiced this."

　　He made the hand gather another big boulder, and threw again. This flew just above the top of the wall, and smacked the boss demon in the forehead. The boss reared back and shouted. "Yeah!!!" Fred shouted. "Okay, that works."

　　Amazing, Fred. keep doing that.

　　Fred kept doing that. For the next twenty minutes, he kept throwing boulders at the demon`s face. The demon hated that, but wasn`t knocked out, just dazed and inconvenienced. But the demon kept pounding away, and chunk by chunk, the wall was broken and reduced.

　　For the next twenty minutes, the humans battled demons in the rubble- and wall-strewn town. The humans were powered up, highly skilled, nearly unkillable, and fought for their lives. But the demons kept coming, and they`d figured out that the humans needed to be dismantled in order to truly kill them.

　　For the next twenty minutes, the A`wheriwe army slashed at the gathered demons outside the wall. One of the three human teams seemed to suffer some sort of mental attack. They all grabbed their heads at once, as though blinded, and started screaming. Their horses carried them to (temporary) safety, but Fred was reminded that Jim had told him about the mind magic demons could use. After the team got far enough away from the demons, their affliction suddenly lifted, and after regrouping, they turned around and charged the demons again.

　　The battle raged on, both sides suffered greatly, and while the humans were stalwart and valiant, they simply didn`t have the numbers to finish the job. But they kept trying, and dying.

　　Finally, the big demon kicked one last huge chunk of wall. It went flying, and fell down into the Tree Shaft. It bounced down and almost completely crushed the poor silver tree. Fred would have worried about that, but the huge demon had finally gotten through the wall, and started taking steps into Fred`s inner domain. He`d never really thought of it as the "inner domain", but that`s really what it was, after Fred had expanded so much, and had made an Inner Wall around it.

　　The demon reached the Tree Shaft, and fell to its knees. It reached out, and placed each hand around the edge of the shaft, and leaned forward, almost like someone planning to throw up into a toilet. But instead, the demon flared its aura, and Fred suddenly felt compressed.

　　He felt like a giant weight was pressing him down. He felt like he couldn`t breathe. He felt dizzy and disoriented. He wondered if he was dying.

　　And then it was gone, as quickly as it had come. The big demon was gone, too. As Fred paid more attention, he realized that all the demons were gone. Even the ones outside the Town Wall had just& disappeared.

　　Fred! Fred! The last gate is closed! They`re gone, Fred! The demons are all gone!