I'm the Villain, But the Heroines Keep Choosing Me-Chapter 128: First Wave

The demon assault began at dusk, when the dying light made accurate archery difficult and shadows lengthened across the battlefield.

Damien stood on the eastern wall beside Lyristae, watching three thousand demons organize into attack formations with disturbing military precision. This wasn’t the chaotic assault of mindless beasts – this was coordinated warfare.

"They’re better organized than the capital attacks," he observed.

"They’ve had time to prepare." Lyristae’s hand rested on the stone battlement, knuckles white. "Two days of probing our defenses, learning our patterns, identifying weak points. This won’t be random – they’ll hit us exactly where we can least afford it."

A horn sounded from the demon lines. The front ranks began their advance.

"Here they come," Damien said unnecessarily. Around them, Valdaran soldiers tensed, weapons ready, fear and determination mixing on their faces.

"Archers!" Lyristae’s voice carried across the wall. "On my mark! Wait for effective range!"

The demons closed distance. Fifty yards. Forty. Thirty.

"Now!"

Arrows darkened the sky, raining down on the advancing demons. Some fell, but most raised shields, their armor absorbing impacts that would have killed unprotected targets. They kept coming.

"Mages!" Lyristae commanded. "Fire pattern delta!"

Arcane energy erupted from the walls – fireballs, lightning bolts, elemental attacks from Valdara’s battle mages. Demons burned, but their ranks didn’t break. They just filled the gaps and continued advancing.

"They’re not stopping," a nearby soldier said, his voice cracking. "Gods, they’re not even slowing down!"

"Hold your position!" Lyristae snapped. "First wave is expendable – they’re testing our rate of fire. Second wave is the real threat."

She was right. The first demon ranks hit the walls like a wave against stone, throwing grappling hooks and siege ladders, climbing with suicidal determination. Soldiers met them at the top, steel clashing against demonic weapons, screams mixing with battle cries.

Damien’s shadows exploded outward, sweeping a section of wall clear. Demons fell, their bodies tumbling back to the ground thirty feet below.

"Nice trick," Lyristae muttered. Then her own shadows lashed out, mirroring his technique on another section. "But we can’t hold them off one section at a time. There’s too many."

She was right. For every demon they killed, three more climbed to replace it. The wall was being overwhelmed by pure numbers.

"Fall back to secondary positions!" Lyristae ordered. "Fighting retreat – don’t let them break our formation!"

They pulled back from the outer wall to an inner defensive line, letting demons claim the outer battlements but denying them the space to establish a foothold. It was a calculated trade – giving ground to compress the enemy into kill zones.

"Oil!" Lyristae shouted.

Soldiers poured burning oil over the outer wall. Demons caught in the flames shrieked, their advance faltering as fire consumed the front ranks.

But more kept coming.

"How long can we maintain this?" Damien asked, shadow blades forming and launching toward clustered demons below.

"Until we can’t." Lyristae’s magic flared, shadows crushing demons trying to breach the secondary line. "My kingdom has eight thousand total soldiers. Three thousand are here. The rest are at Thornhaven and Silvermill. Against three thousand demons per location, we’re evenly matched at best."

"Evenly matched means attrition warfare. Whoever runs out of fighters first loses."

"Which will be us. Demons don’t care about casualties. They’ll throw bodies at us until we physically can’t kill them fast enough." She pointed to the massing forces beyond the burning outer wall. "That’s not even their full strength. They’re holding reserves back, waiting for us to exhaust ourselves."

A massive demon – easily ten feet tall, covered in thick armor – smashed through the burning oil like it was nothing. It grabbed the secondary wall and began pulling itself up with raw strength.

"Elite," Lyristae said. "Shit. I was hoping they wouldn’t deploy those yet." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Damien concentrated his shadow magic, forming a massive spear that punched through the elite demon’s chest plate. It roared but didn’t fall, just kept climbing one-handed while the other clutched at the wound.

"They’re tougher than the capital elites," Damien observed.

"Everything’s worse here." Lyristae’s shadows joined his, multiple strikes hitting the elite demon simultaneously. It finally fell, but two more were already climbing behind it.

They fought for hours. The moon rose, casting silver light over a battlefield that had become a meat grinder. Bodies piled at the wall’s base – demon and human alike. The defenders’ numbers were thinning, exhaustion setting in, mistakes becoming more frequent.

"We need to end this," Damien said. His shadow comprehension was climbing – already hit level 47 from the constant combat – but they were still losing ground. "If this continues, they’ll overwhelm us through pure attrition."

"I’m open to suggestions."

"Their command structure. Every organized force has one. We kill the leaders, the coordination breaks down."

"Assuming they have leaders visible enough to target. These aren’t stupid beasts, Damien. They might have command positioned safely behind the main force."

"Then we go to them." Damien looked at the demon army beyond the walls. "You and me. Shadow magic lets us move through their lines. We find whoever’s coordinating this assault and eliminate them."

"That’s suicide. Even for shadow wielders."

"It’s tactical sacrifice of two people to save eight thousand. The math works." He met her eyes. "Unless you have a better plan?"

Lyristae was quiet for a moment, then she smiled – sharp and dangerous. "I don’t. And honestly? I’ve been wanting to cut loose with the shadow magic properly. Been hiding it for so long, using it carefully. Tonight, I want to see what it can really do."

"Then let’s go hunting."

They left command to Lyristae’s second-in-command – a grizzled captain who looked terrified but capable – and moved to a quieter section of wall.

"Together," Lyristae said. "Shadow transit on three. If we get separated in their lines, we’re dead."

"Agreed. One, two – "

They dropped into shadow simultaneously, their forms dissolving into darkness that flowed down the wall like liquid night. The demon lines below never saw them coming.

They materialized in the middle of the demon army, surrounded by hundreds of hostile forces, and Damien felt his shadow comprehension surge as true combat began.

[COMBAT: Deep enemy territory]

[ALLIES: Queen Lyristae only]

[MISSION: Eliminate demon command structure]

[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: Unknown]

[SHADOW COMPREHENSION: Level 47 and rising]

This was dangerous.