Chapter 388: Reinforcements Arrive

Chapter 388: Chapter 388: Reinforcements Arrive

The second wave hit harder than the first.

Sixty cultists poured through the split in the sky, and the royal guards on the left flank folded under them like wet paper.

A shield wall cracked, and then a whole row of armored men went down at once. Damon cut through two cultists, and by the time he turned, three more had taken their place.

"They keep coming," Lumina said through her teeth. Her sword arm shook, and she steadied it with her other hand. "I can’t tell if we’re killing them or just feeding them more room."

"We’re killing them." Damon drove the Chaos Devourer through a masked man’s ribs and kicked the body off the blade. "There are just more of them than I counted."

"That isn’t very comforting."

"I wasn’t trying to comfort you."

She laughed, short and breathless, and it startled him a little. Then a bolt of eclipse fire hit the stage between them and the laugh was gone.

Above the arena, Eclipse Sovereign drifted lower with his hands folded behind his back.

Dark light curled around his robes like smoke from a snuffed lamp.

He hadn’t lifted a finger since the cultists began to die, and that bothered Damon more than anything.

"Is this the great champion of the east?" Eclipse Sovereign called down, his voice warm and unhurried.

"Hold on a little longer, little prince. I’ll end this when the tower has no one left to hide behind."

"He’s enjoying himself," Selene said.

She landed beside Damon in a spray of frost, her sword dripping, and a ring of ice spikes froze the cultists in front of her mid-lunge.

"Damon, the king’s line is breaking on the north side. Mei is holding it alone, and she says she can’t hold it for long."

Damon glanced north.

Mei stood on a broken pillar with her sleeves torn and her silver light flaring like a stormcloud, and around her the guards were dying faster than she could cover them.

"Ariel," he said into the ring, his voice flat.

"Pull the twins back to the platform and set up a water wall in front of the injured. I want Alena on the wounded, and Flare and Seraphina on the edges."

"Already moving," Ariel answered. She sounded tired.

"Damon, they’re everywhere."

"I know."

Hold the line a few more minutes. I can end this with the Chaos Devourer, but if I tear the sky open with that many people standing under it, I’ll kill half of them too.

He weighed it, and he did not like the number he got.

Then the horn sounded.

It rolled in from the east gate, a long, low note that shook dust out of the stands and set the arena banners snapping.

Every head in the colosseum turned. The cultists stopped mid-swing, and even Eclipse Sovereign’s smile slipped a little.

A second horn answered the first, then a third, and then a dozen at once, brass and bone and war drums rolling in from every gate in the colosseum.

"What is that?" Lumina whispered.

"That," Selene said slowly, lowering her sword, "is a call to arms."

The east gate burst open. A line of Imperial Enforcers in gold-plated armor marched through with spears leveled, and behind them came the Royal Solaris Academy with a miniature sun floating over its captain’s palm.

The white-robed fighters of the Glacial Palace came next, with Lysara at their head and frost already creeping across the stone.

Sky Sword Manor flooded in behind them in perfect formation, swords drawn and lattices of sword Qi shining over their heads.

Then the Black Tortoise Sect locked shields and rolled into the gap on the north side where Mei stood.

The White Tiger Sect followed them with Tora at the front, bandaged and snarling, his bulk shifting toward beast form as he ran.

"Eastern Continent!" a voice bellowed from the stands. It was the Thunder Fortress captain, and lightning ran down the iron pillar he held over his head. "Not one inch to the cult! Hold the ground!"

The stands exploded. People who had come to watch a tournament were suddenly on their feet roaring, and some of them were climbing over the rails with weapons in their hands.

"They came," Lumina breathed. Her eyes were bright. "Damon, they all came."

"They did." He kept his voice quiet, though he felt something settle in his chest, heavy and sure.

"You told me ten years of running made you a burden. Look at them. Nobody drags that many people out of their seats for a burden."

She did not answer, but her shoulders loosened, and she lifted the Radiant Dawn Sword a little higher.

Above them, Eclipse Sovereign’s laughter had stopped.

"Interesting," he said. The warmth had gone out of his voice, and now he sounded like a man counting. "The sects and the crown, all in one place. I expected a few stragglers, not a full muster." His gaze swept the colosseum, then settled on Damon. "Your doing?"

"No," Damon said. He didn’t raise his voice. "I just told them what you were. They did the rest."

For a heartbeat the dark light around Eclipse Sovereign flickered. A few of the cultists nearest the stage took a step back, and Damon saw it clearly.

There it is. He didn’t count on this.

Across the stage, King Aurelius stood at the edge of the royal platform with blood running down one sleeve and golden light roaring around his fist.

He had been looking at the gates, and now he turned his head and met Damon’s eyes.

Neither of them nodded.

The king’s jaw tightened once, hard and grim, and something that was almost gratitude crossed his face before it vanished. Damon dipped his sword a few inches in answer.

That was all they needed.

"Enforcers, forward!" the king roared, and his voice shook the broken stands. "Every sect under the sun, push them back to the gates! No one leaves this ground alive unless they wear our colors!"

The colosseum answered with a roar.

Gold armor met black robes in a crash of steel.

The Glacial Palace froze the cultists’ feet to the floor while Sky Sword Manor cut them down in tight, rhythmic strokes, and Tora hit the cult’s right flank like a falling boulder.

Mei dropped from her pillar with a laugh that was half exhaustion and half joy, and the north line held.

"Now," Damon said.

Lumina grinned, wild and bright, and swung the Radiant Dawn Sword in a wide arc that lit the whole stage gold.

The fight didn’t slow down.

It grew louder, wilder, and every blow found a friend to answer it, and for the first time since the sky had cracked open, it was the cult that was falling back.