-Callen-

  Once our destination was in sight, Karia immediately gave a simple command.

  “Charge.” With that, she disappeared into the distance, moving forward at an incredible speed, leaping well over twenty feet with every step. The other knights beside me also let loose, rushing forward without hesitation, our formation breaking in moments as the fastest among us raced after the queen. I took only a brief moment to center my mind before leaning down and kicking off the ground in pursuit of the others.

  The previously distant horizon neared rapidly, and with our approach I could make out details of the town that were previously obscured by distance. The town was desperately trying to mount a resistance; however, packs of elves moved in cycles, sweeping down every defender in their path, gradually collapsing the town's ability to mount resistance. I lean further forward, pushing myself in a long-range sprint unlike any I have ever done before. It didn’t take long for me to start passing the knights who had set off slightly before me and quickly accelerate to second in the pack, just slightly behind Sir Harold.

  Up ahead I watched the queen barrel straight through the back of the elvish formation. Her flail swung widely, ripping multiple elves to pieces before they could even respond. The head of the flail landed squarely into the back of an elder elf, sending him cartwheeling into the walls of the town. With a flourishing spin, she continued her assault, knocking aside another six in seconds. She continued her rampage for several moments until the elder, who had previously been sent flying, launched himself from the rubble back at Karia. She nimbly danced around the charge while grabbing a loop of chain, from which she snapped at the elf like a whip.

  The elf managed to resist this time; instead of being sent flying, he crouched down and diverted the majority of the force of the blow into the ground next to him. Despite that, he still had to dig his feet into the ground, as the remaining force was still enough to push him back. The elf had no time to resist as she mercilessly overwhelmed him with additional strikes. The chain of the flail whipping around Karia like a storm of steel, knocking aside or ripping through anything caught like a chainsaw. The elven elder was repeatedly knocked back as he desperately tried to withstand the overwhelming barrage. Right as the elder seemed to hit his limit, more elves from around the village flooded over, including another elder who slammed his staff into the ground, forcefully summoning a gaping rift between Karia and her target.

  Karia turned to face the new elves while Sir Harold and I finally arrived. Harold slammed into the first elder, cutting deeply into the elf's chest before he could recover from Karia’s previous assault. I wasted no time exploiting the opening created by Harold’s attack to slam my hands into the elder’s chest while infusing Void energy. The veil sustaining the elder collapsed almost instantly, and he let out howls of shock and fear as his flesh vanished and a dry, withered husk of a body collapsed to the ground. Nearby, the shredded body of another elf pulled itself up from the ground. It never finished pulling itself up before I reached over to break its veil.

  The elves tried to surge around Karia to attack me, but despite the elder doing everything in his power to distract Karia, she easily manipulated the flying chain of her flail to catch or knock aside the others, all while keeping her focus on the elder. Harold moved with me as I jumped from downed elf to downed elf, breaking the spell keeping them fighting. Still, it wasn’t quite fast enough. The elves that had previously been slaughtered by Karia were recovering quickly. Harold tried to hold them back or set them up for me to destroy, but too many were closing in.

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  I ducked under a sword, slamming my fist into the chest of an elf infusing a lethal amount of void energy. Between using Mana Boost and Manifest Mana, I didn’t have enough mana to spare on any of my fancier tricks. The elf’s torso dropped to the ground as his veil collapsed and reality recognized he had in fact been ripped in half by Karia’s chain earlier. I pulled back from my strike, but an elf took the chance to catch my overextended arm with a swipe of his sword. It bit deep into the elbow, cutting halfway through my arm before I managed to push myself away. I slid back-to-back with Sir Harold, gritting my teeth.

  “Duck,” he called out just in time for me to bend over, letting him sweep his sword in an arc, cutting down my earlier assailant. I dip down, taking the chance to kick the elf’s ribs and infusing energy to confirm the kill. An arrow zips into the melee, tracking for Harold's throat, but I burst out my Mana Zone, catching it with Void Gate in the nick of time. Right in time the remaining knights swarm onto the field, slamming into the elves around us and tilting the dangerous fight into an even one. I take the chance to slide back behind friendly lines. I grab my injured arm, holding it in place while quickly and sloppily reconnecting it on a skin-deep level to stop myself from losing more blood.

  I turn back to the fight and see a horde of angry townsfolk pouring out from the city, waving all kinds of weapons. I jump back into the fight, flitting about the field, grabbing bits of fallen elves, and collapsing their protection. As the mob of angry citizens reaches the fight, the elven elder finally seems to realize the problem. He cries out, sounding their retreat, but Karia finds the perfect opportunity in his distraction to yank the spiked ball of the flail back. It zips through the field, slamming into the elder with absolute precision, decapitating the elder, and launching his head in my general direction.

  I boost myself off the shoulder of a nearby knight, jumping clear of the fighting and into the air, grabbing the screaming skull. In moments, his head collapses into dust. The remaining elves try to scatter, but without the elder, Karia is free to reap the masses. The battle finally winds to a close as I dart from place to place cleaning up the last of the elves. As the field quiets down, Karia’s voice rings out.

  “Victory!”

  Additional Measures

  In the ruins of the elven capital, a single child-like body swayed in despair. It was aware of the condition of every elf it had sent to retrieve its ring. At first the humans put up no resistance, but it was impossible for the ancient magic not to recognize the human who had devised a method of collapsing its anchors. At first the human was deemed inconsequential, living in an outcast village, but that human then joined up with the human army in opposition. The ability to undo magic bindings was almost as unacceptable as the ring's absence.

  The ancient magic was willing to sacrifice everything for the precious. Yet despite its resolve, the ring had been stolen and remained missing. The magic consulted what remained of the elven people as countless elves began to mumble to themselves as they each spoke the first plans coming to mind. The ancient magic examined every word spoken and plan devised, but none satisfied it. The elves were unable to accomplish its designs, so it would need to act personally and consolidate its forces. The scattered elves were unstoppable to normal humans, but with the destroyer present among their army, it was necessary to destroy him by any means necessary. The army of elves picking through the ruins of Meccas and its neighboring towns in search of the ring turned as one and moved back east to consolidate at the witch's body.

  In the ancient capital, a mass of bodies swarmed around the witch, creating an amalgamation of bodies, a giant ooze made of a mix of elves, some who appeared to be living while others were clearly dead. Amid moans of suffering from the fake living in the mass, slowly the giant abomination shifted in mass to leave the capital and join the search for the ring. Everything could be abandoned, even its stronghold, but the ring must be found. The ancient trees surrounding the ruined city were ripped to shreds and devoured as food for the mass of corpses marching south. Its progress slowed as it consumed everything in its path, adding the bodies of every creature drawn towards its seemingly weak presence.