The upper courtyard echoed with the metallic clatter of forty draw swords clearing their leather scabbards in perfect unison.
Senior Brother Bai stepped to the absolute front of the commoner vanguard, holding his heavy iron shield before his broad chest while his men locked their boots into the white granite flagstones.
"Lock your shields!" Bai shouted, his voice ringing out across the blood red mist that filled the circular yard. "Keep your ranks tight and do not let their front line split our center! We hold this ground for the disciples on the mountain road!"
Opposing them, two hundred mutated cultist guards surged forward across the granite floor, their eyes glowing with wild, crimson fire behind their black iron visors.
They moved with unnatural, terrifying speed, their heavy stee
