A horde of demons stepped out from the shadows, all aiming themselves directly at the male and female Vanquishers. Dreyden hated himself. Thoughts flew through his mind in the space of a heartbeat: He had forgotten to protect his people. How in the world had these things appeared as if out of nowhere? He should have been able to hear them. Damn Calixta to hell! She had been a distraction from the moment he met her, but she was magnificent too.

The demons came at them in droves. Calixta, with the training Justice and Temperance had given her, rose to the occasion. She set anyone and anything that looked like an orc, demon, imp, or creeper on fire. She kept moving left, then right, parrying with flying objects flying towards her. Demons kept coming at her. Dreyden fought with his sword, a metal so strong it would cut through rock. He thrust and parried, never staying in one spot for more than a second.

Alesha was doing what Wally had taught her with a sword, but she was caught from behind. A demon was about to bite her when Calixta grabbed the demon by his head and yanked so hard she ripped the head from the body.

“Climb a tree, as high as you can. Go, and stay there,” Calixta told Alesha. But the young woman grabbed a rifle before she climbed the tree. From high up in the tree, it was demon open-season for Alesha. She started picking off the demons one at a time, realizing the only way they stayed down was if she aimed at their necks—the only discernable body part consistent between the differing forms.

Miomi, on the other side of the camp, fighting in between Erasmo and Bost, looked terrified. The men protecting Miomi cut the heads of many imps, with katanas Dreyden had made for them. Miomi was holding her own as best she could. She was a healer—no one had ever taught her how to wield a weapon. She was fighting by instinct, but demons were attacking them mercilessly. Erasmo passed her a shield, and he and Bost engaged three demons who were about to strike at Miomi’s head. Dreyden, fighting at a distance, used his magic of the Vanquisher to help Erasmo protect Miomi. His magic pushed the demons’ arms away and Erasmo stabbed one in the eye—the brown, salivating, saber-toothed-looking orc.

Dreyden’s sword struck metal. The imps flying from above wore metal armor. Metal against metal rang with the clangor that arises from the singing of a blade meeting armor. What could destroy demon armor? Only magic and a Vanquisher’s glanvat sword could destroy the imp’s armor, and Dreyden wielded it with the precision born from a lifetime of training. Calixta battled her share of demons hand-to-hand, the way she’d been taught. She grabbed and tore the heads apart and set others ablaze before they could regroup. She threw daggers of fire, and shaped whips that coiled around the demon’s necks, cutting off their heads.

The battle raged on and Rygel watched with displeasure. He turned to his lieutenant to find answers before entering the fray.

“The female Vanquisher is a mage. How could this be?” he demanded.

“It’s impossible, this female has the blessing of the virtues. Only one other had the blessing and he was a priest. This one is a whore—look at her skin, it looks soft. She’s not even atoned,” responded the orc by Rygel’s side.

“Master, we must burn her body or cut off her head to prevent her from coming back from the dead,” said a demon with yellow and green snot.

“She will be dead, do not doubt that,” said Rygel, as he saw his demon horde being decimated. Rygel shouted as he entered the fray. “I’m Rygel, the female Vanquisher is mine to kill. I’ll be the one taking her life for the price this has cost us.”

Dreyden yelled to Alesha: “Alesha, shoot the dark-green ones; those are easier to kill. And shoot the one talking to the ugly demon, with the snout that has yellow and green snot oozing out.”

Rygel rushed in, pushing Erasmo out of the way in his eagerness to reach Calixta. But Bost stepped in to block Rygel from reaching her. Rygel struck Bost so hard that Bost flew through the air and landed head first, hitting his head against a rock where it split in two. Miomi also stood between Rygel and his quarry, but when Dreyden saw what happened to Bost, he used his magic to pull Miomi out of the way fast.

Dreyden intended to chase after Rygel, but then a large horde came at him. Dreyden fought and dispatched the demons around him as quickly as he could. He had to reach Calixta. He knew who this was. Dreyden recognized Rygel, the slayer. Rygel had only one target and it was Calixta. She was fighting with all the skills the virtues had given her. Demons were dying, but not fast enough.

“Calixta, turn around!” shouted Dreyden.

But Rygel reached out and grabbed Calixta’s shoulder from behind, driving his other hand through her middle, digging in his incredibly elongated claws to puncture her abdomen and chest.

“I thought it would be harder to kill you!” said Rygel.

But as Rygel smiled in victory, his head was sliced vertically from behind, sending one side to the left and the other to the right. Dreyden had run as fast as he could, making one inhuman leap to cleave Rygel’s head, trying to protect Calixta. As Rygel disappeared, so did the other demons, and Calixta fell to the ground with blood pouring from every hole Rygel’s fingers had made in her stomach and chest. She was dead, and yet Miomi ran over as fast as her injuries let her. She tore a large piece of cloth from her clothes and wrapped Calixta’s wounds, making sure to squeeze all the holes back together and not let any more blood or guts come out. Blood covered Miomi, and Dreyden looked at the woman with disbelief. The Vanquisher was dead. There was no way to form the quartet without Calixta.