The battle for Leonora had not stopped for a single moment after the expeditions departed.
Across the capital, knights and mages continued resisting the endless assault pouring from the portals scattered throughout the city. Entire districts had become battlefields. Streets once filled with merchants and civilians now lay shattered beneath layers of rubble, stones, and the corpses of both defenders and invaders.
The defenders were exhausted. Many of them had fought continuously since the invasion began. They watched comrades die beside them. They watched wounded soldiers drag themselves back into formation. They watched entire defensive lines collapse and reform again and again.
Yet they continued fighting. It was not because they believed victory was guaranteed. But because surrender meant the destruction of everything behind them that they could still try to protect.
