Solam stood atop Ferrug's twelfth wall, watching from afar as the devils made their final stand within the last Furnace Fortress. The Sons of Solam stood in formation behind him.
By this point in the war, everyone was utterly exhausted, including the ten Sons of Solam. Leman Russ had suffered the worst. During one reckless assault, he had become separated from his troops atop the devils' walls and was subjected to concentrated fire. If Vulkan had not reacted quickly, instantly transforming into an Abyssal demonic dragon and charging over to rescue him, Leman Russ would have died there. Even so, Leman Russ had paid a terrible price.
One of his hands, one eye, half a lung, and an entire liver had all been left behind as the devils' midnight snack. Even now, Leman Russ remained a pale-faced one-eyed man. The excessively frequent battles had drained his strength too severely, leaving his regenerative ability with no energy to heal his wounds.
The other Sons of Solam were not doing much better. Even Horus, who had served as commander throughout, was covered in injuries.
At the fiercest point of the fighting, Horus had been forced to lead his personal guard onto the walls as well. Once battle reached a certain level of intensity, everyone was swept up in it. Even a Son of Solam like Horus, renowned for his calmness and rationality, would be stirred by the bellicose impulses in his blood and charge forward to fight the enemy to the death.
In short, after this battle, Solam's forces were exhausted from top to bottom. High-intensity combat was torture for devils—was it not torture for demons as well?
Watching both sides in the distance reach the end of their strength, Solam felt that this could not continue. After all, the demon troops