The thundering of thousands of hooves almost deafened him. Shouts of men who should not exist and the wails of the dying Mandelovian citizens threatened to rip his tenuous hold on sanity away from his mind.

Larry LLance reached the first of the many buildings in Mandelovia and reared his great, dark steed on its hind legs. Brandishing his broad sword he spurred his demonic cavalry on to the heart of Mandelovia and their objective: transforming the Palace into a permanent gateway for Hell.

Suddenly large explosions rocked the charging lines. Red eyed horsed bucked in confusion and threatened to dismount their fiendish riders. More flashes of light, and more cries of pain, but he could not see the source of this newfound turmoil in Larry's men.

The cavalry was not yet in position, but someone had acted too soon. He would have to hope they were close enough to make his plan effective.

Avatar emerged from the alleyway where he had been crouched and saw the first knights just passing into the business district. He had wanted to wait longer, but their position would suffice. He pressed a small button on a device in his hand and waited.

Within seconds twelve explosions rocked the Mandelovian countryside, spilling flaming death in all directions. While the horsemen were not in prime position, the sheer size and radius of the explosions meant that most of the first wave had been decimated.

Avatar waded through the hundred-foot high flames his explosives had created and was greeted by a grey armored knight still trying to crawl his way through the death. A look of complete disdain crossed Avatar's features and soon thereafter a three foot glowing blade jutted from the knight's skull. He continued to stride through his destruction and dispatch any men who were unlucky enough to survive the initial onslaught. Then, as quickly as he had entered the flames, he arrived at their end. He saw the vast numbers still surging like a black tide towards the people of Mandelovia.

A rider rushed past him. His horse was large and powerful, its legs carrying it swiftly across the ground. There was triumph in the eyes as they beheld the shrinking distance between them and their goal.

But the horse was not swift enough, nor did its rider possess the power to deliver himself.

Avatar caught the man's leg and drug him from the horse. While in mid-flight Vigrid severed his head from his shoulders. Avatar passed his eyes acoss the landscape once more and was made aware of a glowing figure flying above the countryside.

"D'Goon...this changes things, thought not decidedly in our favor."

LLance and Bibbo floated down to Avatar's position.

Bibbo spoke first, "Where have you been? No, don't take the time to answer that. What have you done?"

"I've killed some of our attackers. I believe I will do much more of the sort in the time to come."

"You destroyed a quarter of the business district! I understand what you were doing, but there were people still in there!"

"The people still alive in that sector were few, and they were spared the worse suffering of death by those knights."

LLance spoke up, "We could have saved them first, then blown everything up."

"D'Goon's attack forced my hand early, but Larry had already reached that section. Those people were lost and you both know it."

Bibbo's face became somber and he acknowledged what Avatar had said.

"I hate war..."

Avatar looked in the man's eyes and Bibbo saw an emotion in the other man's heart that he did not expect to ever see again.

"I've no great love for them either Bibbo, but this one has been forced upon us. Let us end it."

Avatar mounted the dead demon's horse and spurred it towards the approaching infantry.

LLance yelled after him, "What are you doing! You can't just charge in like that!!"

Avatar looked over his shoulder and called back, "If I die it will be no great loss. You two just help D'Goon and try to keep yourselves alive."