The Toronto Maple Leafs assault further into Dracula’s Castlevania. After their initial rush through the broken gate the Leafs separated to strike from every angle against Dracula’s strength.

Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman, and Connor Brown make a straight push directly at the main tower. The resistance is fierce. A walking siege engine, Auston blasts whole columns of enemy into powder. Connor and Zach dive into the gap wreaking their own brand of devastation. Connor gets stronger every time he gets hit but his incredible spear skill keeps that from happening often. As one of the few non-super Leafs Zach is still a terror with his battle ax. The trio scatter an army of skeletons and reach the tower steps.

Suddenly flames erupt beneath the Leafs feet. A towering demon shimmers onto the material plane and smashes Auston beneath a fiery fist. The demons arm is obliterated by Auston’s energy blast. As it roars in pain Zach and Connor attack the demons legs, dropping it to its knees. Auston sends another blast into the demons face. The fiend opens its toothy maw, readying a blast of it’s own, when suddenly ice begins to form on its snout. The ice spreads quickly over the demons body, freezing it solid before it can even scream.

“Don’t worry.” Freddy Andersen says from behind his teammates “I got your back.” The goalie strolls past the demon, punching it, on his way up the tower stairs. As Auston, Zach and Connor follow, the ice shatters, leaving the demon in tiny insignificant pieces.

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Mitch Marner, Patrick Marleau, and Tomas Plekanec are attacking the west wing of the castle, through the grand ballroom. Mitch makes dozens of copies of himself, seeming to be everywhere at once. Patrick is once again in control of his werewolf side making him even more dangerous, if slightly less terrifying. Tomas, finally comfortable with his new teammates, uses his ability to warp time around himself to always stay one step ahead of his enemies. The trio make sort work of the zombies packed into the ballroom. In the silence that follows Mitch sneezes loudly. Patrick and Tomas glare at Mitch who just shrugs. Before the young Leaf can make a smart comment the air around them explodes with hurricane force.

A wind demon swirls above the Leafs cackling with malicious glee. Tomas and Patrick are thrown into the walls, Mitch splits into three copies of himself and the demon only manages to catch one. The Mitches split into more Mitches and the demon lashes out in vain. For every Mitch it catches another escapes, soon the demon loses track of its captives and loosens its grip on Patrick. The wolf takes over and Patrick leaps onto the demon biting and clawing at its face and throat. The demon loses its grip entirely and Tomas and the multiple Mitches break free. Tomas spears the demon in the belly and pulls it down out of the air. The Mitches hack at it with their long knives and Patrick rips into its putrid demonic flesh. The wind whipping through the ballroom slowly dies down. Mitch reverts to a singular Mitch and Patrick pushes the wolf back down, doing his best to ignore the horrid taste trickling down his throat.

****************

The east wing of Castlevania is quiet. Kasperi Kapanen is desperate for some action while his veteran teammates, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk, are more than happy to enjoy the calm while it lasts. The Leafs make their way through a dreary corridor and into an atrium. The plants are all dead and decayed, rot is the only thing growing in Dracula’s garden. The stench of death is thick, pushing back against the Leafs as they make their way further through the garden.

There is a wet groan behind Kasperi and he turns just in time to avoid the clumsy attack of a rotten demon slug. More slugs manifest into existence surrounding the Leafs who spring into action. James smashes the closest slug into paste with his warhammer and uses his momentum to begin spinning. Faster and faster he spins until he is a tornado of destruction, smashing the demons as quickly as they arrive. Tyler turns himself into liquid mercury, he jumps at a slug and flows into a lance to skewer it. Then another and another and soon there is a trail of demon corpses marking his path. Slightly amazed but not to be outdone Kasperi draws his sword and races into the fray. His super speed makes it easy for Kasperi to cut down the slow moving demons and soon the Leafs are ankle deep in greasy grimy demon guts.

****************

In the deepest dungeon of Castlevania Wily Nylander and Andreas Johnsson sneak through the blackness. They are the only Leafs who are not attacking Dracula’s forces directly, they are on a different mission. They approach a cell bathed in the blinding brilliance of a bright demon. Nazem Kadri is chained to the floor of the cell. As a shadow walker Naz is exceptionally difficult to keep contained but with his powers nullified he has been trapped for days, unable to help his team. Now it is all he can do to hide his excitement as his teammates sneak into his cell.

Andreas turns his left hand into a sword and slices open the cell door. Wily casts a glamour over the demon who shakes it head, confused and delighted to meet new friends. The blinding light flickers, for a split second the cell is pitch black, Naz is gone. The demon roars its anger at the lose of its charge. It lashes out at Wily who easily blocks the demons swipe and punches back three times quickly hitting the demon in the face. The demon staggers back and Andreas slides in low and slices off its legs at the knee. Naz steps out of Wily’s shadow fully armed and armoured. The Leaf unloads two 9mm pistols into his tormentor and the light is extinguished.

****************

The Toronto Maple Leaf Defense Corps has the dubious honour of holding the gate against Dracula’s dread host and maintaining the Leafs exit strategy. Dracula has sent an undead swarm to cleanse his kingdom of intruders, fell bats, skeletal wolves and bears, and all manner of rotted rodents pour out of the wilderness. Apparently the idea is to overwhelm the Leafs with vast numbers.

Ron Hainsey giggles as he fires an endless stream of explosives into the horde with his Toronto Maple Leaf fully automatic rocket powered grenade launcher. Even without super powers Ron is one of the scariest Leafs. Nikita Zaitsev uses his cyborg strength and invulnerability to smash through the endless host. Beside him Jake Gardiner has transformed into a giant snake and each lash of his massive body sends skeletal beasts flying. Roman Polak has the power to speak to any form of plant life. This in no way helps him in battle which is why he relies on his massive strength and his eight foot long greatsword which he calls Samantha. Travis Dermott has a simple power, he grows big and stomps or smashes everything. The defense hold strong against the attack even though one of their number hasn’t fired a single shot from his Toronto Maple Leaf assault rifle.

Morgan Rielly is a technopath, which means he can telepathically link to any technological system he comes in contact with. Dracula uses magic which makes his castle immune to Morgans powers but he can still follow his team through their armour. He knows when Freddy freezes the fire demon. He knows when multiple Mitches trip up the air demon. Morgan feels a pattern forming as Kasperi wades through demon guts. He understands the danger as Naz comes back online. As the ground beneath his feet begins to shake Morgan wonders if they’ve cut it too close then he pushes all thoughts of fear from his mind.

“Leafs!” Morgans speaks to the whole team through the communications array built into his armour. “Fall back to our position, repeat fall back.”

The forward attack teams all send in their acceptance of the order. Morgan can feel the unspoken reluctance in each reply.

“Holy Fuck!” Ron Hainsey shouts.

Morgan turns and sees the undead beasts combine to form a massive bone demon, big enough to tower over Travis. Ron fires a rocket into it and the demon laughs as it absorbs the explosion. The demon smashes down a fist onto the defense corps and Morgan is suddenly fighting for his life in a sea of scratching and biting. The sea recedes as the demon raises its fist. Morgan can see Nikita and Jake racing up the demons arm.

“Move fast.” Morgan says to the Leafs. “There are demons left to slay.”

Every man on the team knows that the challenges will only get harder the longer they survive. Total defeat lingers behind every mistake, no matter how slight, but glory waits ahead for the faithful, for the strong.

Go Leafs Go