The Demon Wolf (Book 1 of The Devil and the Huntsman)

Chapter 57

The vast majority of the knights who were with Julius and Harald were shaking a little. Harald was busy telling some of his men to calm down as Julius watched the demons preparing to slaughter their foes. Julius always cared about his knights, even if it seemed like they were at the brink of defeat. He pulls out his greatsword and points it at the demons. And he dared them to take him on and cut him down. Most of the men pulled out their weapons and be ready for whatever comes their way.

The knights of Midland had every reason to either be afraid of what is about to happen or be fearless of the night. If there were anything that Julius and Harald taught the knights, it would be never to fear the demonic beasts and always fight back. The night creatures were getting much closer to the front doors and try to knock them down to enter the city. The kingdom was already at the brink of destruction, but only fate can decide who lives and who dies. Julius held onto his greatsword along with his men, and the demons held onto their weapons under the night sky.

"DESTROY THEM!!" The demon leaders shouted.

"FOR MIDLAND!!" Harald shouted. Every creature and human gave out a war cry which showed that they were all ready to fight to the death.

And so, a battle between the knights of Midland against the demons begins as everyone becomes ready to shed lots of blood. Every archer aims and shoots at every monster who tries climbing up the walls and hiding their faces. The men with spears start aiming and releasing their spears upon the chests of any dark creature. Everyone kept firing at their opponents and made sure they did not get back up; they all had a reason to be here defending their city against the demons. A lot of creatures had shields with them, and they could deflect every arrow and spear coming in their direction.

Julius and Harald watch some creatures climb the walls with their fingers and never cease to fall. They all held onto their swords to cut down whoever reaches the very top of the wall. All the demons who did that were welcoming death or getting at the top. A great deal was made that most of those who get to the top of something were very likely not able to survive an encounter. But these were the kinds of demons who were after Julius to take him with them, and they did not care if they wiped out the entire city.

Suddenly, Julius sees one demon not only climb to the top but run with its feet touching the white bricks. Then, he uses his greatsword and kills that unlucky creature before it can cut him down. Harald was doing the same thing to make sure his walls and city are still standing. He was not afraid to soak his blade with as much gore as possible to make them all stay away from Midland. A few seconds later, pretty much everyone's strategy was to make sure none of the night creatures make it past them.

Then, a dozen demons somehow made it up to the very top and kill a few men with their claws. They all had their swords on their back to make it seem easy for them to crawl up instead of having to use their weapons. Some of them ripped the humans apart with their bare hands while the others punched their foes to the ground to kill them with their weapons. Julius sees a bunch of them coming towards him, and he uses his greatsword to kill anything that is not a human. Even though he got rejected by his men, he was still willing to protect them against anything that serves the night.

Julius wields his nordic greatsword and slices down all of his enemies who did not hesitate to kill his comrades. He knew both the powers of darkness and the forces of Midland, and he could see a pattern take form as he mercilessly kills every night creature. Hunting down and killing demonic beasts has become something of a hobby for Julius because of how much he despises them. He did not care if they beg for mercy; he knew that his king's murder is beyond any power of forgiveness. Julius swung his greatsword across every demon and watched as their blood and gore splatters all over the place.

It seemed as if Julius is decorating the barrier of Loftain with so much blood that it may as well have served as a warning. A warning to all who would lift their swords against him and betray him to his opponents. Julius saw Harald kill the demons in a way that an earl would do to protect his people and the city. His blood-stained greatsword would serve as a sign to all of those who desire to fight in the name of Midland's last king. Julius looked up and saw the moon grow more significant as the night increases, and he became worried about his dark power.

"Not yet, Mephiles! Not yet! Only when I command you!" Julius shouted.

"There is no other time, Julius. There is no other way out of this. The demons will just keep coming, and you will be defenseless by fighting in this state!" Mephiles said.

"There is no honor or glory in this. They will come to me now. All of them! Give lie to your words, Demon Wolf. I will avenge the fallen and defeat every demonic beast who stands in my way. Activate your power now, and I will be called a criminal in everyone's eyes."

"People seriously have a problem with demon slayers? Would they rather do the heavy lifting themselves? They would rather wait for their crushing end instead of allowing demon hunters into their city?"

"If you want to put it that way, sure. But it's not the truth that I tell you. You will only activate this power once I am outnumbered, and only if the Midland army feels defeated. The same will be true once I build my army for my kingdom. For now, we can only hope for the best that we fight off any creature already on top of the walls!"

"Keep fighting them in your state, and you will die before you fulfill your destiny. Your earl and knights have already turned their backs on you. What's the point of putting your trust in them any longer?"

Julius knew Mephiles was right about a bunch of things concerning him, but it was not too late for him to defend Loftain. He would continue fighting them off before the midnight hour is at hand, and he would keep his humanity close inside of him. His dark power will only occur when midnight has come; he will have no choice but to activate it before the demons ensure their victory. He saw that many knights have died at the creatures' hands, and a few of them were dragged down to be eaten alive. Julius still had the gall to fight off any monsters coming his way and make sure that Harald is still active.

"My power will only take form at midnight. Mephiles, you will stay silent until then! Let's push forward!" Julius said. The dark wolf remained silent until his master gave out the word of letting his powers run rampant against his foes.

Julius runs towards Harald to see if he is still drawing breath and not losing any of his arms and legs. While doing this, he continued killing any demon who lifted their weapons against him and did not hesitate to bring his head with them. He throws his greatsword at one of their bodies, and the blade lands on the creature's face and runs to the back of its head. Julius runs towards his sword while punching a few night creatures standing in his path and shoving them away from him. He watched as some of them fell and looked on as a few of them landed on the spears from the demons.

A few seconds later, Julius pulls his sword out from the face of the beast he killed with the weapon. As he runs back to Harald, he becomes ready for even more of his enemies to take him down before midnight comes. He continued swinging his greatsword and dismembering many body parts of the night creatures as the battle went on. One minute later, Julius found himself reunited with Harald and Balvu; he made sure that their opponents do not kill both of them. Harald got next to Julius and joined him in slaughtering every beast who served the darkness.