Maeve and Solanna were standing at the entrance of the palace.
"Solanna you know which window belongs to Renner's room?" Maeve asked
"Yep." Solanna replied
"Alright you go for the window I'll clear out the ones inside." Maeve said
"[Blessing of the Wind] [Feather Feet] [Anti Gravity]" Solanna intoned as she leapt onto the wall and began running along it.
Maeve looked on as Solanna run up the side of the castle, she took out a pair of oversized mechanical gauntlets and put them on. The runes of the gauntlets began to glow and the spiked knuckles began to glow with heat.
"The forge priests of Amanomahitotsu are as good as ever, thank you Yamaiko Sama for this gift, it seems I finally have a chance to use it." Maeve said to herself
Maeve took a low stance feet far apart knees at a ninety degree angle, she extended her left palm out hand in a claw and her right hand arched over her head. It was a low stance known as Ma Bu a technique developed by Yamaiko Sama and converted into a full fighting style by Takemikazuchi sama, Maeve had no idea how the Shao Monks of Yamaiko can spend months in this stance. Their level of detachment from the material world always impress her, they were spiritual beings in the purest sense. The Heart of Still Lake was a state that they could enter, Maeve herself has never achieved it although her prowess with their combat style was still extremely deadly. Maeve knew she was kind of cheating using her superior physique, she had the uncontested best physical body in all the realms due to her heritage of the 41. 41 essences ran through her veins and this gave her immense power, although she knew this often made her skip many of the steps usually needed to master some of the forms. It was a bad habit, she made a point to return to the Mountain Temple of the Shao once all of this was over and try to achieve The Heart of the Still Lake when she had the time.
"Takemikazuchi Form 63 Gaia's Tragedy, technique Flowing Stream." Maeve said as she took a deep breath
Renner stood looking at her door as she heard the sounds of fighting in the corridor. She trembled as she hoped and prayed that whatever was happening outside would turn out well. Then the sounds stopped, and the door burst open. Revealing a burly man wearing the colours of Marquis Buollop.
"Hello there Golden Princess." the man said with a malicious grin
Renner didn't reply she tightly gripped the butter knife that was on her table a few moments before. She stepped back fearfully towards the window.
"You are as beautiful as they say, I'm supposed to kill you but I think I'll have some fun first." the man said with a grin as she approached behind him several more men entered the room
Renner pointed her knife at him as she backed away, she wondered if she should perhaps jump. That way at least she would avoid some of the horror that was to come. Then she saw the man's eye widen as he gazed at the window behind her. She turned to see Solanna standing at the window ledge bow drawn pointed at the man, the bow had a glowing yellow bowstring and the arrows were made of a glowing yellow energy. Quick as lightning she fired off a few shots, Renner turned to see the men crumple to the ground smoking holes at where their hearts were.
"Hey Queeny." Solanna said
"Solanna dono…" Renner said relieved beyond measure tears forming in her eyes
Then Renner heard sounds of fighting from the corridor. She heard screams and thuds of bodies hitting the floor. Then she saw a body fly past the open door in the corridor. Then from around the corner Maeve stepped through.
"Your Majesty, thanks goodness we made it in time." Maeve said with a sigh
"What's happening?" Renner said shakily
"We have traitors at the gates, they raised the portcullis letting the cavalry through." Maeve said bitterly
"No… so what now…" Renner asked
"We kill them all. We have no other choice now, they were torching houses, we need to get rid of all the rebels outside of the walls so that our troops at the wall can deal with the threat within. We need to do this fast before they burn the whole capital to the ground." Maeve said
"How could this happen this was supposed to be simple, now thousands will die." Renner whispered
"I'm sorry your majesty, Solanna would you kindly cut Croxy loose, tell her to kill everything outside the walls." Maeve said wearily
"Got it." Solanna said
"Also provide what sniping you support you can from that window." Maeve said
"No probs." Solanne replied and drew her bow
At the wall
Gazef looked down at the rebel panicking as the Croxilisk barreled into their congested formation at the foot of the siege towers. The screams and the sight of bodies being thrown in pieces splattering onto the wall would haunt him to his dying day. The rebels below began to disperse those that ran away from the walls were quickly caught by the Croxilisk, just being struck by the massive scorpion was enough to fatally wound the average person. The Croxilisk was also spitting acid onto grouped up troops dissolving dozens at a time. The troops soon realised that no escape was possible and they began desperately banging on the gate, begging to be let through. Then the Croxilisk emerged behind them, forcing them against the portcullis, it approached slowly as if savouring their fear. There were what was left of the troops who were outside the wall about five thousand men. Many of them fell to their knees clasped their hands and prayed to whatever gods there may be for a reprieve. Gazef closed his eyes unable to bear watching what would soon happen.
"Croxy STOP!." Climb called out as he jumped down from a destroyed siege tower
Gazef's eyes shot open as he looked down to see Climb standing between the Croxilisk and the trembling troops.
Climb gazed right at Croxy's beady eyes, he was shaking like a leaf in the wind. In the back of his mind he thought this might perhaps be the stupidest thing he had ever done. There was stupid and then there was whatever the hell he was doing. But… stupid doesn't mean it was wrong… it was a stupid for a princess to drag a beggar on the verge of death off the streets… it was stupid to wish for gentler world in this ugly horrific reality… So now he stood before the most horrifying thing he had ever seen protecting the rebels behind him, the very same rebels who had come to kill his queen. However Climb knew that they were citizens of the Kingdom too, they were like him, peasants with no say for the position they were in. They didn't ask to be conscripted, they were ripped from their homes and families to fight in a faraway land. Now here they were inches from this otherworldly beast whose intentions very clear. It wanted their lives…
Climb watched as Croxy lifted her claw and tried to gently push him aside.
"Croxy no STOP!." Climb screamed as he struggled against the claw.
It shoved him aside and he landed in the blood stained dirt. Climb scrambled back to his feet and dived under the claw interposing himself between the Croxilisk and the rebels once again.
Climb watched as the beady eyes narrowed in annoyance, Croxy let out a huff as it backed off slightly before suddenly charging forward maw wide as it let out a roar that shook the heavens. It was the loudest thing Climb had ever heard, his ears were ringing as he gazed back into the beady eyes. He smelled the scent of ammonia from behind him and the sound of weeping. He turned to see all five thousand rebels were on their knees trembling.
"Croxy please… stop… " Climb pleaded
The Croxilisk lowered its gaze and huffed in annoyance before turning around and burrowing back down into the ground. Leaving a still shaking Climb staring at the hole in the ground that Croxy had made. Climb felt his knees give away as he knelt in the dirt staining his pure white armor further, he took quick gasping breaths as he tried his best to get his breathing under control.
"ARE YOU INSANE YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" Brain screamed from atop the wall
"Ha… Ha… I guess so!." Climb shouted back
"Open the gate!." Brain shouted exasperated
As the portcullis began to rise the remaining troops began to shuffle inside. Climb knelt there in the dirt as the rebels were let in, he tried to rise but he couldn't muster any strength into his legs and collapsed back into dirt. Then he felt a hand put his arm on his shoulder, he turned to see one of the rebels stand there.
"Need a hand?" the man said
"Err yes thank you, sorry my legs don;t seem to be working now." Climb said with a tired smile
The soldier put Climbs arm over his shoulder and hefted him to his feet and helped him through the gate. On the other side he saw the loyalist troops stand there with spears pointed at the rebels. Climb was half carried to the front where Brain and Gazef were standing. Brain walked up and took Climb from the man and walked him over to the spearline.
"Wait before you go… who are you?" the man said
"I am Climb the Queen's personal bodyguard." Climb replied as he took his arm off Brains shoulder and stood unsteadily on his feet.
"Why did you do that?" the man said
"Because all of you are citizens of the kingdom too." Climb said
"I see… we didn't want to come here, you know. They just took us from our homes, they didn't pay us a single copper. They just said the king demands our service, one of my neighbours in the village refused they hung him for treason." the man said
"Queen Renner wanted to keep casualties to a minimum, the original plan was for that scorpion to scare you off. However the gate was breached my best guess was the order was given to eliminate the ones outside the wall so that the troops holding the wall could focus on the threat within." Gazef said
"We never wanted to kill all of you." Climb said
"I still can't believe that… thing can be controlled… but thank you for saving us. So what happens to us now? I suppose the noose is better than that thing's teeth." the man asked
"We won't kill you yet that will have to wait for the Queen's judgement. We will put you under guard until this battle is over." Gazef said
"Very well thank you, one last question if you please… I feel I must ask but what made you stand there in front of us?" the man asked as he locked his gaze with Climb's
"To me at the time I just felt it was what Queen Renner would have wanted. You see I used to be a beggar dying on the street but Queen Renner saved me." Climb said
"Myself and him used to be commoners as well until we were ennobled by the late King Rampossa. That decision was at the advice of then Princess Renner. The Queen cares for the commoners, which is more than I can say for most of the nobility." Gazef said as he gestured to Brain
"I see, I have always slaved under the nobles, they take our crops, they take our coin. I always thought myself lucky, for you see I have heard of nobles take more than crops and coin, I have heard some take daughters and lives. Well I suppose our lord now has only spared our daughters since they sent us here." the man choked out as he looking down
"Thank you truly for saving our lives." the man said as he looked at the soldiers surrounding them. The man looked to their uniforms and realised they were wearing more or less the same armor, just with a different coloured scarf denoting their allegiances. In a fit of spite and anger the man grabbed the scarf before ripping it off and throwing it into the dirt.
"Fuck the king and fuck his kingdom." the man spat and one by one the men behind him started throwing their colours into the dirt.
All around the grips on the spears pointed at the rebels began to loosen, then one spear lowered and hit the ground with a soft thud. Then the rest of the spears slowly lowered and the troops started raising their spears and putting the buds in the ground. Soon there was not a single spear pointed at the rebels.
The Merchant District
[Shard Buckshot] Evileye intoned as she watched the multitude of crystal shards cut a group of rebel cavalry to ribbons. She turned to see Tia and Tina engaging another group of cavalry, they were making short work of them. Elite troops or otherwise the roses were still adamantite adventurers. She heard the sound of hoofs behind her and she saw another group of cavalry charging towards her, she raised her hand preparing to fire another spell. Then a shower of golden light arrows fell upon the cavalry knocking all the riders off their mounts while leaving the horses unharmed. Evileye turned in the direction of the palace to see bursts of arrows being fired out of the windows.
"That must be Solanna." Tia said as she approached
"Her archery might be second to none." Tina said
"I heard elves were good archers but this is something else." Evileye said as she saw another shower of arrows fire out from that window
"I really wonder where those four come from…" Tia muttered
"I'm just glad they are on our side." Tina replied
"Agreed, come sisters we need to clear out the cavalry as soon as we can." Evileye said as she casted a flight spell
Evileye soared above the building as she looked around, she noticed that most of the cavalry had been cleared out. She saw a flash of black and red barrel through a group of riders, cutting them and their mounts to pieces. She caught a slight glimpse of Momon's red cape when he paused for a slight moment. Then she saw another rain of golden arrows decimate another group of cavalry. As she slowly surveyed the city the fighting seems to have died down, although almost a quarter of the city was on fire. Hundreds of families would be sleeping without a roof tonight.
Renner's Bedroom
Solanna stood at the window as she unleashed her barrage of arrows down on the pathetic ants below. She was using a special rangefinder artificial intelligence that was gifted to her, it was a gift from Peroroncino sama along with the rest of her equipment. The AI was called the Oculus, it was designed together by Peroroncino and Tabula Smaragdina. It was apparently standard issue for certain units that served the 41. It allowed her to lock onto more targets quicker, at a longer distance and to fire with greater accuracy. The AI would help guide her arm through visual and mechanical cues, effectively creating an aim assist. It also helped guide the arrows fired from her special bow known as the Bow of Heracles. It had the ability to pierce most damage resistances and the arrows fired would also respond to the tracking done by the AI effectively making her shots homing to a certain extent. The arrows could adjust their flight path by up to 2 degrees per second so rapid changes in movement and teleportation could still allow for evasion. Solanna however would not need all the penetrating powers she merely had to fire the bow as fast as she could while she trusted the AI to adjust her aim and correct the flight paths for her arrows. Of course to fire accurately from such a distance was also a testament to her skill, while the equipment helped it was still mostly due to the skill of the user.
As she shot barrage after barrage the cavalry finally started to thin, a lot of the remaining cavalry had realised what was happening and started taking cover inside the buildings. Which was extremely annoying as she now had to fire into the houses without hitting any of the civilians or any major structural supports. It was a pain to say the least but not difficult, not to her anyway. Soon there were only a few hundred remaining, some of them had walked out with their hands up, she shot them anyway. She was lazy and bored out of her mind, it was extremely dry work shooting down thousands of ants from window. As far as she was concerned the faster this was done the better, plus she was hoping she could tally her aim with her past training in nazarick. She had the AI keep score of her accuracy and fire rate, she feels she might have hit a new record. So she was certainly not getting let some of these idiots surrendering lower her kills per minute, especially since she had to slow down because they decided to hide the houses. When at last she loosed the last shot at this weeping idiot on the street her job was done and she gave the command to count the tally. 92 kills per minute, accuracy 100%, vitals accuracy 97%, Solanna pursed her lips in annoyance at the score, the kill count was down 3 kpm and the vitals accuracy had dropped by 1%.
"Not happy with your score?" Maeve asked
"The kills and vitals accuracy is down." Solanna grumbled
"Well you are firing from a less than optimal position and the range is quite far so I think it's not that bad. " Maeve said
"Yea I suppose." Solanna said sullenly
"You didn't miss any did you?" Maeve said with a smirk
"Of course not!." Solanna snapped indignantly
"I know, I'm just teasing." Maeve said with a chuckle
Solanna sighed as she looked out the window and saw the sun setting, it had been a rather hectic day. Too bad about the score but overall today went well, she thought as she looked at the cooling corpses in the dirt. The capital would have a lot of spare horses now, she disliked killing animals, they were cute so she just took out the riders.
"Yup today was a pretty ok day." Solanna said to herself with a self satisfied nod.
Rebels Camp, Command Tent
"Your Majesty our agents say the attack has failed, the usurper queen still lives." Marquis Buollop said
"This is a holy war Marquis, it is naive to think it would be won by men. The old gods have sent their champions to this battlefield, their worshippers dirty the great capital. It is only fitting that they fall by the power of the six great gods." Barbro said as he gently lifted the golden statue before him.
When he gazed at the statue he thinks back to when the angel first approached him in his room. The angel told him the coup will fail, the old gods had sent their champions to corrupt the kingdom and steer it away from the light of the six. The angel brought him alone into a divine realm, it was a place of warmth and happiness. He gazed at the angel, he was wearing a strange blood red suit, with thin black cloth hanging off his neck. His clothing was ornate and well made, clearly beyond anything that a mortal could create. On his face was a smiling white mask with blood red eyes. The angel told him he was the voice of the six great gods, that the very faith was at risk, that the heretics of the 41 have come to corrupt their kingdom. It spoke that the tendrils of corruption had already sunk deep into the kingdom, the only way to save it was to burn away the corruption. Yes the kingdom shall be cleansed in divine fire…
Barbro clasped the sculpture and the mark on his hand began to glow, then he felt a surge of divine power, he felt all his doubt and fear melt away. He was powerful, such power was only possible through the gods, he felt all his inhibitions fall away as he fully accepted his desires. Yes he wanted blood, the blood of all the traitors in that city, the heathens, they will all burn…
Marquis Buollop looked on slack jawed as the power blew away the rest of the camp. The remaining 40 000 troops were incinerated in the inferno. Only the small area around Prince Barbro was left unscathed, the other nobles shook as they watched demons appear all round them. There were demonic beings appearing all around them, from the diminutive imps to the massive winged scaled demons. All manner of horrors started walking through portals as they entered the mortal realm.
"Your Majesty please stop, this power... it's evil." one of the nobles pleaded
"What did you say? You dare call this divine power evil? I see… you have been turned as well… holy warriors kill him." Barbro hissed as the hellhounds around pounced atop the noble and started tearing him to pieces.
Marquis Buollop fell to his knees and prostrated himself before Barbro, desperately trying to keep his trembling under control. This was a mistake he thought desperately, they have made a deal with the devil…
The Palace, Renner's Guestroom
Queen Renner's guest room had become one a meeting room for the various elites that held her confidence. They were all sitting around the table, the lesser mortals such as Climb and the Roses were exhausted with the exception of Evileye. They were enjoying some tea when two balls of arcane energy suddenly appeared above Maeve and Quacey's head and spoke in unison.
"Warning high level magic signature detected, Bearing 42 degrees northeast, Distance 2 km." at these words the two spheres flew to the window and began scanning to the northwest.
"Warning detecting 11th tier spell, designation [Armageddon Evil]." the spheres said
"What how?" Maeve shouted as she sprang to her feet kicking the chair back.
"11th tier magic?" Lakyus said eyes wide
"Icarus status of the host." Maeve ordered ignoring Lakyus
"Scanning… Analysing… Host is incompatible, race human, detecting demonic influence within. Host cannot sustain spell designation [Armageddon Evil]." the spheres replied
"How long until the host succumbs?" Maeve asked brows furrowed worry
"Calculating… 24 hours." the sphere replied
"24…" Maeve said as she buried her head in her hands
"Maeve what's going on?" Lakyus said
"Someone has casted [Armageddon Evil] outside the walls, it's a super tier spell that constantly spawns demons. If a suitable host is casting the spell, it will spawn demons indefinitely until the whole continent is dead. Luckily for us the host isn't able to bear the load, so the spell will end in 24 hours." Maeve said
"24 hours? So we have to defend this city for 24 hours from a constant stream of demons?" Lakyus said slack jawed
"That's one option, the other is that we can try to get to the host and kill him. The problem is that the stronger demons tend to stay close to the host for protection." Maeve said
"So what do we do?" Renner asked
"We need to secure the city first, my brother, Solanna, Quacey and I will head out to delay them, in the meantime formulate a defense plan." Maeve said as the four of them stood up and walked towards the window.
"I wish you good fortune in the battle to come." Maeve said grimly as the four of them lept out the window.
The rest in the room was silent as they looked to the open window, they wondered how many in this city would like to see the dawn…
"Bring me a map of the city and get the head of the adventurers guild." Renner said
The Wall (24 Hours remaining)
Momon leapt onto the wall, he looked around the walls were in chaos. The flying demons had descended on the troops stationed there. The ground based demons were clawing at the northern gate. It seems that the demons were only attacking the northern gate, this made it much easier to defend. Momon carved a winged demon in half as it descended on him.
"Brother hold the gate, Solanna drop those flyers and send Croxy out to thin them out, Quacey buffs and healing, I'll sweep the walls." Maeve shouted
The four nodded as they spread out to accomplish their tasks. Momon jumped in front of the gate and cleaved the demons off the gate. He turned to see hundred of hellhounds glaring at him. He tightened his grip on his swords and took a stance. His back was against the wall, his front was completely surrounded by the demons.
"I'm not trapped in here with you, you all are trapped in here with me!" Momon roared as the hellhounds charged. His blades were a whirlwind of death, the hellhounds fell like chaff before the wind, he could do this all day…
Solanna stood on the wall and activated her skills, [Hurricane Blitz] [Song of the Tempest] [Eye of Asura] [Blessing of Artemis] [Hou Yi's Accolades] [Valor, Grace, Presence]. After activating her spells she crouched planting herself in a more stable position.
"Oculus rapid fire configuration." Solanna said as the magic circles appeared in front of her bow forming a barrel of magic circles. A translucent helm appeared over her head and set of sights appeared over her master eye. The limbs of her bow split from two to four, the runes etched into the bow began to glow and the limbs started to steam.
"[Arrow Enchant: Shatter Star] [Hellfire Battery], try and run…" Solanna muttered as she unleashed hell
In her vision the lock on of the overlay flashed as quickly as she could fire, she was locking on up to 30 targets at the time. The whole night sky was filled with light arrows as the flying demons dropped to the ground in droves. The kill counter was jumping too fast for her to see, the walls immediately received some reprieve as Solanna swept the skies of any demons. This technique however drained mana quite heavily she couldn't keep this up indefinitely. Her current gear was designed to help alleviate this problem but there were limits to this. She could do this maybe for about 2 hours but after that she would have to deactivate it.
Holt was a guard serving on the wall, he had grown up in a nearby village. He had a talent for the bow, so he came to the capital to offer his services in the hope of a better life. It was no secret being a guard paid well, being an archer paid even better. He always had pride in his skills but seeing this small elf girl fire arrows faster than he could even see. It was a humbling experience… he looked to the night sky that was now bright with the glow of arrows. It was oddly beautiful as he saw the streams of light strike the demons in the air, it was as if some higher powers has come to smite the demons. He looked to the wall and noticed the other archers have also stopped to watch…
"If you have time to gawk, shoot the demon's on the ground. If you wear that uniform contribute to your country, it doesn't have the resources to waste on incompetents." a cold voice said from behind him. Holt whirled to see the short blonde girl with the glowing eye, gazing at him.
"Yes my apologies!" Holt exclaimed, he ran to the wall and began losing his arrows.
"You lot help me! If they get over the wall we're finished!." Holt shouted
The rest of the archers snapped out of their revelry and began losing their shots at the horde of the demon's below.
"Their piling up!." one man shouted in panic
Holt looked down to see the demon's were crawling up on each other, as they formed this stack of howling maws and gnashing teeth. The archers began to panic as the demon's started steadily making their way up the wall. It took multiple arrows to kill even one hellhound at this rate they would be overwhelmed. Then the ground erupted and a giant scorpion plowed into the stack of demon's knocking them over. That one charge must have killed hundreds of them. He looked to see the small girl jump off the wall into the swarm of demons and began cutting them to pieces. He couldn't follow her movements, she was a blur of black and gold trailed by the splashing blood of the demons. In his mind as he looked to the girl tearing the demon's apart and the elf archer lighting up the night sky, he thought this is what heroes look like…
The Palace, Renner's Guestroom (23 hours remaining)
"Ok that can work, pull the guards back and have them start to erect barricades. They can't hold the walls like this there's too much ground to cover. We'll use the Temple of the Water God as a forward command base and medical centre." Lakyus said as she gazed at the map
"Nfriea you manage the medical side of things." Renner commanded
"The evacuations are stalling, there's just too many people." one of the guard captains said his face pale
"MY QUEEN! The demon's have breached the gate. Maeve dono said they will hold them back for awhile but not for long" a soot covered soldier said as he burst into the room
"How long until we finish the evacuations." Renner said
"2 hours at the minimum." the captain said
"Did Maeve say how long the four of them can hold." Renner asked
"She said half an hour." the soldier said softly
"I see…" Renner said
The whole room looked to Renner as she picked up a quill and drew an arc around the proposed defense line.
"Halt all evacuations past this point, send the residents back to their homes." Renner said softly
"My Queen what about those citizens? If we don't get them evacuated the demon's will tear them apart." Lakyus asked
"Yes I know, it will take time to for the demon's to do so. We can use that time to save the rest." Renner replied her face a calm mask
"Renner you can't mean that…" Lakyus said
"Does anyone have a better solution?" Renner said
The room was silent as no one dared to give a solution. This decision was condemning thousands to save tens of thousands. Most of all, the reason why no one dared to voice an alternative was that if their idea failed they knew they would be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. The entire room looked to Renner hoping that they wouldn't have to go through with this.
"That would buy us enough time." Marquis Raevan said softly
"I think it could buy us an hour." the guard captain said his face now pale as parchment
"Use it well then, the next hour is going to be paid in blood." Renner said
The rest of the table looked down as the reality of the situation started to sink in. The history books will record this event and depending on the outcome, the Queen will be known to have sacrificed innocent citizens to demons.
"Let's get to it then, we need to make their sacrifice worth it." Renner said
The first defense line (21 hours remaining)
Holt squeezed through the crowd of desperate screaming citizens and was pulled through a shield wall. He clambered over the barricade as one of the archers there pulled him over the barricade. The nearby houses have been demolished and the stone and wood as been piled up to form a makeshift barricade. This position was the most important for the initial defense. The barricade had been set up at the entrance at a large plaza, it was chokepoint that gave great sightlines within the plaza making it great for defense. The barricade had been hastily constructed with the intent of making it like a castle wall with positions for archers to shoot from the top. Archers were also positioned on the rooftops to whittle down the demons.
"Is there anyone else?" one archer asked
"No… I'm all that's left… it's just me" Holt asked as he desperately tried to get his breathing under control
Then the screaming started, Holt heard screams of agony and the roars of those hell hounds. He scrambled to his feet clutching his bow, he knocked an arrow and aimed over the barricade. He saw in the distance there were demon's appearing on one of the streets leading into the plaza they would be here soon.
"Please let my daughter through, she's just a child…" a woman sobbed
The shield wall held firm stopping civilians from charging over the barricade, but the panic was building and the panicking crowd pushed with the desperation of souls who knew they were at death's door.
"Please let us through!." another man begged
"There's too many we can't hold." one of the soldiers at the shield wall shouted
"Pikes force them back!." the captain shouted
The soldiers knew what they were doing was wrong, however they also knew that they had to get the civilians back. If the demon's crashed into the back of the civilians the force would push the mass of people into the shield wall potentially collapsing it. The soldiers with the pikes started to inch forward trying to push the people back. However the citizens knew what was coming, death by a pike was much more preferable than a death being torn apart by demons. The citizens started grabbing the pikes in the panic and started to pull on them. The captain realizing this gave an unthinkable order.
"Thrust!." the captain commanded and the soldiers obeyed following their training. The rows of pikes thrust forward stabbing themselves into the civilians. Still the civilians kept pushing heedless to the danger.
[Shockwave] intoned Evileye as the force of the spell blew the civilians back into the plaza. The force was strong enough to outright kill some of the civilians. All those that still lived were injured to a greater or lesser extent.
"You monster! MURDERER!" screamed the woman from before as she clutched her child. Her daughter was killed in the initial impact of the spell. Her mother clutched her as she screamed in grief while the demon's started closing in.
Evileye watched as the demon's closed in on the mother, she raised her hand preparing to firing a spell. [Magic Missile], the spell flew forth and struck the mother in the heart right as the hellhound pounced on her and began tearing into her corpse. She looked on as the demon's began feasting on the civilians in the plaza, then a shower of light arrows killed all the demons. Solanna jumped down from a rooftop landing behind the barricade, she was followed by Maeve, Momon and Quacey. They all looked terrible, covered from head to toe in blood and soot. From the ground in front of the shield wall emerged the Croxilisk, it turned to face the direction of the demons.
"Maeve why are all of you here shouldn't you to head to the other positions?" Evileye asked
"There's a big wave coming this way, it's all the demon's that were pooled against the walls." Maeve said
"Solanna, Quacey hows your mana holding up?" Maeve asked
"I'm almost empty." Solanna replied
"Me too…" Quacey said
"Once we clear this wave head back to recover your mana, use the out of combat mana regen potions." Maeve said as both of them nodded and took up battle positions.
Evileye turned back to the plaza and saw the horde of demon's approaching there must have been tens of thousands of them. She turned to see the other four reading their weapons and magics, this was going to be a long day…
The final defense line (16 hours remaining)
Holt clambered over the barricade and rolled over the top. He almost rolled the rest of the way down but some of the archers caught him. He was so exhausted he felt he could collapse right there, it was a miracle he knew that he had survived both at the wall and at the first defence line. He had been fighting and running for the past 8 hours, he felt that the exhaustion would kill him before the demons did. He felt his vision blur and he blacked out.
"Get him into the temple, he's been fighting all night." Maeve said
A medic approached and helped the exhausted man into the temple. Maeve turned to look around the area. There were soldiers collapsed around the buildings in exhaustion, there were scores of wounded being carried off into the water temple. They called this place the final defense line, but in reality it wasn't… not really. More accurately it was the final defense line for the majority of the civilians. They could definitely hold the Palace seeing as it was so defensible but they would only be able to house 10% of the cities population in the palace.
This place was the linchpin of the defenses, if this place fell the defense would be lost. There were adventurers guarding here and the other major strong points. The queen had managed to get the guild master of the adventurers to guild to persuade the local adventurers to aid in it's defence. They would be paid of course at the crowns expense, their skills would be needed in the battle to come.
There was a slight lull in the attacks, this might seem like a good thing but the defenders soon realised that it was just the demons massing for another attack. Sensing there was abit of time Maeve walked into the water temple and saw Lakyus and Evileye conversing heartedly in a corner. They were trying to be discreet but their argument was starting to get more and more heated.
"You don't know that!" Lakyus hissed
"I'm not entirely sure what it is, but here is something behind that wall Lakyus. If we could have the four of them look at it we might be able to find something." Evileye argued
"I will not defile the sanctity of this place." Lakyus retorted
"Sanctity? You see that boy over there." Evileye snapped as she pointed to a boy no older than 10
Lakyus turned to see the boy sitting with his back against one of the pillars in the great hall. His eyes were blank, a bowl of soup lay untouched next to him. His clothes were in tatters and blood stained.
"You see him?" Evileye said
"Evileye I don't see how does that boy… " Lakyus began
"I dragged him from the rubble out of a collapsed building, earlier today I used [Shockwave] to blast a hundred civilians back from a defenseline into the maws of the demons. That boy his mother's dead, his father's dead, his brother's dead, his home is a pile of rubble. There's no sanctity left in this city, if I have to tear down the wall myself to even slightly improve our chances that's what I'll do, the six be damned!." Evileye spat
Lakyus looked on flabbergasted as Evileye shouted at her.
"Is there a problem?" Maeve said
"It's nothing." Lakyus replied
"I want you to see what's behind that wall, there's some kind of pedestal there. I have a feeling it's some sort of control panel." Evileye said
"Alright let's go." Maeve said as she turned and started walking towards the wall
Evileye took one last look at Lakyus before turning to the wall and began walking towards it.
"Wait you can't be serious, the priest will never allow it." Lakyus said chasing after them
"Let him try and stop us." Evileye replied curtly
"You think the Queen will agree to this madness? We are both from the water sect!" Lakyus shouted drawing stares from the people around
"Then go and ask her. Bring back a royal decree so we know without question what is her will." Maeve replied as she stopped and turned to face her.
"Now? We still have positions to defend." Lakyus said
"Then you better go quickly, Evileye you go too, it would be best for her majesty heard both sides of the argument." Maeve said
The two women looked at each other before walking to the door, Maeve stood and watched as they exited the hall.
[Greater Teleportation] Maeve intoned as she teleported behind the wall. She approached the cool black pedestal and saw the inscriptions of Amanomahitotsu. She read the words engraved on the cool stone, it read that this temple was the control hub of a defense system. The problem was there was a keyhole, Maeve recognised the shape, it was a key granted to the Ordo Custodes. The Custodians were a special order made up of both direct creations of the 41 and ascended mortals. They were the inter world intervention forces, they were warriors, generals, politicians and advisors. They may hold no titles or any material possessions, they dedicate their lives to this sacred duty. Maeve was in a similar role as the custodes but not exactly, the scope of her work did not allow her to take the vows of the Ordo Custodes as a result she did not possess the master key they possessed. All across the different realms there were always secret defenses, relics, guardians and many other treasures that the Custodians can access if needed.
That key is only granted to the Ordo Custodes, it was a special construction that held immense power within. Each key was crafted by the most skilled of the forge priests of Amanomahitotsu. They required decades to craft, due to the complexity of compressioning so many magic scripts into such a small frame. The Custodians were not numerous, the bar for entry was absurdly high, there were only a few thousand Custodians to help guard tens of thousands of realms. To dispatch the Custodians was one of the last few solutions to alleviate a crisis, it was on the same bar as having Ulbert Alain Odle crack the world, unleashing the Abyss Walkers and severing the mana vein of the world. Most worlds aren't even aware of their existence for the few that have some inkling of their presence they are often relegated to myth and legend along side the Abyss Walkers.
However she felt her brother's gift might be able to help with this. Her brother's gift was something special, it had never been created before. It was stable raw abyss, most of the time when the raw abyss came into contact with the air there would be a great explosion that could level cities. This was because the abyss was the substance that held the highest amount of mana per cubic centimetre, dwarfing even the best mana crystals and prismatic ores. Now that it was stable however it would be possible to pour the raw abyss into the keyhole, the keys of the Custodians were special because the magic circles were able to condense a large amount of mana into a small frame. They were essentially a starter, a burst of magical energy to activate the various systems that guarded the treasures. So in theory the raw abyss could also fulfill this role.
She turned to see the four inanimate steel statues positioned around the room, to the normal bystander they would think they were just statues. Maeve however recognised them, they were Purity Class Dreadnoughts, they were 6 metre tall light mechanized warframes. In level terms they were level 90, with extremely robust defences. They were the warframes of choice for many of the ordos when a frontline warframe was required. They were cheap, easy to maintain and easily replaceable while boasting considerable firepower and armor. These however were venerable dreadnoughts, they had the thousand campaigns pattern inscription. They could trust these to handle the defense while herself and the guardians assault the caster of the spell and end it quickly. They didn't want to attack the caster previously as if all of them left to deal with it there was a good chance the demon's would overrun the defenders. Even if they defeated the caster there may not be a city to return to wasting all their previous effort. Maeve took one last look at the statues before teleporting out of the temple and returning to the barricade.
The Palace, Renner's Guestroom
"Renner you can't be serious! You were baptised in that temple." Lakyus shouted
"Temples are just like castles, they were built to serve the people. If sacrificing the temple will save the citizens I will do it. Level it to the ground if you have to, it can be rebuilt after all of this is over." Renner said as she took out a piece of parchment and began to write her royal decree.
"What if you're wrong and whatever is behind that wall doesn't help?" Lakyus challenged
"Then I will be known as the Queen that knocked down the wall of a temple for nothing. I'm already the Queen that sacrificed a quarter of my citizens in this capital as bait. I can live with breaking down a wall. " Renner said as she let out a sigh
Evileye walked over to the table and took the rolled up decree.
"Thank you, your majesty, Lakyus lets go, we have a city to save." Evileye said
Lakyus looked at Renner for a moment before looking away and following Evileye out. Renner stood up and walked over to the window and looked down at her burning capital. She held herself against the wall as she felt her legs grow weak. She felt her father's words ring in her head…
I will not be welcome in the kingdom of heaven
"Yes, I won't... not after today…" Renner thought to herself as she clutched at her chest.
The Water Temple (15 hours remaining)
Maeve, Momon, Evileye and Lakyus stood in front of the pedestal, the priest was being dragged screaming out of the room by two soldiers. They all gazed at the pedestal and looked on as Momon took out a small urn. Outside the battle still raged but here the mood was eerily calm as they all watched what would happen once the pedestal was activated. Momon poured some of the pitch black tar like substance into the keyhole. At first nothing happened then the Temple began to shake as blue runes started appearing all round the room. The false walls started to crumble and shake revealing the black stone behind. Maeve smiled as the walls of lies started to fall apart around them, there were shouts of panic from within the congregation hall but she didn't care. This was the true face this temple, no matter how much you tried to cover it, the truth of the 41 will always shine through eventually.
The statues around the room started to stir, as a floating AI sphere appeared over the pedestal.
"Activation sequence initializing, all systems nominal, awakening guardians." the sphere said
"Arise sons of Amanomahitotsu." Maeve said with a smile
"We arise to the summons." the warframes spoke in unison
"Demons besiege this city, we must destroy the invaders." Maeve said
"By the forge god's grace we took our oath and now we shall fulfill it. By the forge god's holy light we shall destroy the cities enemies." the warframes said
"Defend this place, defend this city, protect the citizens. I and my fellows shall seek the source." Maeve said
"Only death may relieve us of our sacred trust, go in peace fellow servant. None shall pass." the warframes said
"I grant you the data you require, use it well." Maeve said as she keyed information into a panel displayed above the pedestal
"We receive with gratitude, fear not for the rear for we shall hold as we always have." the warframes said
"Thank you." Maeve said as she watched the steel giants were enveloped by arcane circles and vanished.
"A teleportation array… impressive… " Evileye said
"Yes it allows for rapid deployment, I sent them to the essential defense points they would be able to hold the demons off for a time. Can the rest of you help hold the defense in the meantime? My friends and I have a caster to kill." Maeve said
"Go we will hold as long as we can." Evileye said
Maeve nodded as she and Momon bolted towards the door.
Eastern Defensive Line (10 minutes ago)
Climb jumped back as the giant scaled winged demon took another swing at him. Momon had been recalled on some urgent business leaving him with Brain and the prisoners from the wall to defend this road junction. They couldn't lose this place under any circumstances, if the demons got through they would swam all over the inner city, the people would die by the thousands.
The prisoners offered to fight after news of the demons reached them. They had said that they would rather die spear in hand defending humans rather than rotting in a cell waiting for the demons to swarm in. In the light of the severe lack of manpower, the captain of the guard had begrudgingly agreed.
Now he was standing next to the man that had helped him up at the gate, his name was Jeralt now he and a dozen other men were trying to keep the hellhounds and imps back while Climb and Brain dealt with the scaled demons. Their archer cover was long gone, all of them were snatched off by the flying demon's. Jeralt heard a scream and saw the man to his right take a burst of fire to the chest from one of the hellhounds. He screamed and thrashed as he tried to shed his now burning armor, it wasn't long before he collapsed on the ground joining the other burnt up corpses. He looked around and saw less than a dozen men remained, it was just him 8 other prisoners and royal guard sergeant.
"We have to get out of here, this place is done for." one of the prisoners said
"No if they break through the defenses are finished, besides we're headed for the noose anyway might as well die doing something worthwhile." Holt said
"I can't die here, my wife is pregnant…" another prisoner stammered as more hellhounds started emerging over the burnt out barricades
"It's a sorry state of affairs if the only worthwhile thing you ever did was to get a girl pregnant." the royal guard replied as he stabbed another hellhound
"To hell with you, you want a glorious death go for it." the prisoner retorted
"Where the hell you gonna run to? The way I see it we can die on our feet as men or on our knees like dogs." Jeralt replied
"Yea there's no way we can outrun these hellhounds." the royal guard said as the hell hounds started to surround them. Behind them were Brain and Climb, the soldiers had ran in front in order to delay long enough for them to finish the fight.
[Shukuchi Kai] Brain bellowed as he slid under the demon's swing and landed a solid hit with his [Field] enhanced sword strike. The scaled demon clutched it's side and collapsed bleeding out in the dirt. He turned to where Climb was dealing with the other one, [Field] [Shukuchi Kai] Brain yelled as he charged the last demon from behind and decapitated it at the waist. Brain staggered onto his knees, during training he was only able to do this combo 8 times before he was drained, just now was his 11th time. He threw up a mouth full of blood onto the ground as he struggled to get his bearings. He knew he had overdone it, but he couldn't afford to collapse now. Brain struggled to his feet and saw four more scaled demons land around him. The guards in front were struggling to hold the hellhounds and imps back, there were only four of them left.
Climb looked at the four demons and knew this was the end, unless some divine intervention appeared to save them they were done for. He looked up and saw the imps fly over head, he wished he was stronger. He thinks back to how Solanna cut down the demons by the hundreds as she poured fire down, how Momon cleaved thes scaled demons apart like they were stalks of wheat, how Maeve dashed and blurred across the battlefield opening throats and piercing hearts, how Quacey ripped entire groups of demons apart with his magic. He wished there were more of them, then the people wouldn't have to suffer so much. Sadly, they were only four and now none of them were here. It's just mere mortals against the forces of hell itself, all they could do was buy time. Well if that's all that they could do then that's what they would do, every extra second was valuable. So he steeled himself to fight, even if his arms felt like lead, even when his legs screamed in agony at the exhaustion. One more swing, one more dodge that was all he needed. So Climb charged…
Brain looked on as he saw Climb charge one of the scale demons, Brain raised his katana and prepared himself for his final moments. He charged at two of the scale demons, [Shukuchi Kai] he roared as he dodged under a swing from the scale demon's club. He took a swing at the Demon's ankle trying to sever a tendon, but his strength wasn't enough the blow glanced off it's thick hide. Brain sensing danger immediately rolled back as the other demon's club smashed down onto where he was previously. He braced himself as raised his sword and charged again.
Climb rolled off the side as the demon took an overhead swing at him, he messed up his roll and ended up sprawling on the ground. He scrambled to his feet and ran off to the right as the demon approached, he heard a crash and turned to see the other scaled demon land on the roof behind him. He saw the mace fly towards him from the right side, he tried to roll under it but he botched the roll again and ended up on his back. The fatigue was getting to him, he couldn't do most of his techniques anymore. He could barely lift his sword let alone make a decent swing. He clambered to his feet and turned just in time to see the mace, he raised his sword in an attempt to block. Then he felt a searing pain in his right arm then weightlessness, then his back hit something hard and whatever he had hit gave way. He crumpled to the ground, he couldn't breathe, his entire mouth was filled with some copper tasting liquid. His vision was blurring and tried to move his right arm to get up but all he realized he couldn't even feel his arm… or his legs. Whatever was choking him was suffocating him he tried to use his back muscles to raise himself. He felt a cracking sensation in his chest and felt more of the liquid bubble up from his throat and he coughed expelling whatever it was that was in his mouth. He gasped in a short breath before the liquid bubbled up again, his vision started to darken and it was getting really cold all of a sudden. Then he saw a ray of light…
"CLIMB!" Brain screamed as he saw the demon smash Climb right through a wall of a house.
He tried to run to the house but instead his found way blocked by a third scaled demon that dropped down from a roof. He saw the two remaining guards run towards the demon that had hit Climb. One of them a royal guard jammed his halberd into the side of the demon while the other ran past straight towards the house that Climb was knocked into. One of the demons took a swing at Brain he rolled to the side but he was a second late and the mace clipped his katana snapping it a few centimetres from the hilt. He tumbled and rolled away, he looked up to see the demon that struck Climb grabbed the royal guard and began to crush him in his palm. He looked to his broken sword, it was no longer than 5 centimetres now, he wouldn't use it to cut bread let alone fight demons. Then he saw a flash of blue light behind the demons, the demons all turned to look and Brain saw a blade made of rotating knives burst out the back of one of the scaled demons.
"Who dares challenge me!" a deep voice bellowed
Then he saw another demon was bisected by that same massive blade, then he saw it. It was massive, taller than even the scaled demon, it was a giant wrought of metal. The craftsmanship was on another level, he was sure he could scour the continent and no one would be able to create something like that. The remaining demon took a step back as the steel goliath advanced, he knew in that moment even demons felt fear. The demon swung it's mace but the goliath batted the mace aside like it was a wooden stick with its iron hands. The goliath swung with it's massive rotating blade and carved the demon in twain.
Jeralt scrambled through the rubble looking for the young knight, he found him lying mangled among the rubble. He ran over and saw blood pooling out of his mouth, he looked at his person. Looking for a satchel or pocket or something, anything, warriors of certain station often carried healing items with them. He found a leather pouch lying torn off lying a few centimetres from where the young lay. He grabbed and heard the sound of glass clinking, POTIONS! Jeralt thought joyously when he stuck his hand into the satchel he only felt shattered glass. He tipped the satchel upside down and out fell showers of broken glass. His eyes felt hot as he gazed at the pale face of the young knight. Then he heard a sound and turned to see the demon that had struck the knight standing at the hole in one of its hands held the pulped remains of the royal guard. Jeralt grit his teeth, he reached down and grabbed a loose brick and chucked it at the demon. It bounced off of course doing nothing, in his blind panic he grabbed another brick and threw it. This time however the demon coughed up blood and collapsed forward. He looked on mouth hanging open at the twitching corpse. He saw on its back was what appeared to be a ballista arrow. He looked up and saw the other warrior running towards him and a giant iron goliath batting away the other demon's like they were ants.
"Shit shit shit! Climb!" Brain shouted
Brain reached into his side pocket and pulled out two health potions before pouring them on top of him. Some colour began returning to his face but he started coughing spewing blood out his mouth. Brain remembering how Maeve had saved the king in the throne room sprang into action.
"You help me sit him up." Brain said as the man scrambled behind him and pushed Climb up right.
"Take off his armor." Brain said as both of them started removing the mangled remains of his once shiny armor.
"Okay hold him still." Brain said then he took his palm and slapped it as hard as he could into Climb's back causing him to vomit out a large portion of blood. However Climb starting coughing and taking in deep rasping breaths.
"We need to get him to the temple now!." Brain said as they each took one shoulder and began running in the direction of the temple. Brain could only hope that goliath could hold that place long enough for him to come back with more soldiers… if there were any left that is…
The Water Temple
Nfriea bent over to look at the two children before him, as he listened to the mother recount what happened. Their father had caught a blast of fire from one of the hellhounds, he was killed instantly. The younger brother had been hit it the arm by the first blast and the older brother had been struck by another blast to the back as they were running. The boy's arm was badly burnt but not nearly as bad as his brother's back. Nfriea could see some hints of white bone on the boys back.
"Priests! I need healing magic!." Nfriea shouted
"Head Alchemist sir, the priests are out of mana…" one of the attending physicians said
"Get me a healing potion." Nfriea said
Then an attendant came running while holding a potion.
"Get me another one." Nfriea said
"I can't… that's the last one… " the attendant said softly
Nfreia looked to the two unconscious boys, both were grievously injured. They would die slow painful deaths because of the festering burns unless they were granted healing. There was however only one potion…
"Choose one…" Nfriea said softly
"What?" the mother asked
"Which one do we save, we only have one potion…" Nfriea said
"Please can you not make more?" the mother pleaded
"We don't have the materials, we used up everything." Nfriea replied
"Then can we split the potion, they can each take half." the mother said
"No their wounds are too grievous even with the full bottle it still may not be enough." Nfriea said
"Please save them both, I beg you." the mother wept
"There's nothing else we can…" Nfriea said emotion straining his voice
"Please… please… " her mother begged as she prostrated herself and grabbed the hem of Nfriea's robe.
"Im sorry there's nothing… " Nfriea tried to say
Then there was a shout at the door, Nfriea turned to see Brain and another soldier drag Climb in the front door of the temple.
"Nfriea! Help!" Brain shouted
"What happened… " Nfriea said as he gazed at Climbs mangled body
"He got hit by one of the demons give me that potion." Brain said as he caught sight of the potion in Nfriea's hand
"I… but… " Nfirea said as his face paled as his current predicament started to sink in
"What are you standing there gawking for, he's going to die." Brain shouted
Nfriea then felt a thug on his robes, he turned to see the mother tearfully grabbing onto his robe. Eyes wide in terror as she realised that she was about to lose both of her children.
"Please… save the younger one… please… " the mother said eyes wide in terror and grief
"I'm sorry…" Nfriea said as he closed his eyes and turned away. They needed every fighting man on the lines, Climb was a decently skilled warrior. The choice was clear but that doesn't mean it was an easy choice.
"PLEASE!" the mother shrieked as some of the other physicians pried her off Nfriea
Nfriea ran over to Climb all the while hearing the desperate wails and cries of the mother. He knew those cries would haunt him to his dying day.
The Camp of the Rebel Army (13 hours remaining)
Momon leapt out of the way of the [Napalm] spell from the demon lord of wrath. The demon lord was level 84 and there were 4 of them. He was taking one, his sister was taking another, Croxy was currently struggling the dirt with one and lastly Solanna was dueling one as well. This would be a tough fight, since they had to restrict their powers. They were effectively fighting as if they were level 70, so Quacey's spells were limited to mostly buffs, debuffs and crown control. Quacey did have lower tier offensive spells but they weren't effective against demons. Demonic fire was the natural enemy of nature based druidic magic.
Momon swung at the Demon Lord of Wrath knocking it back, he could see the usurper king in background still holding this golden statue. His skin parlour was black and cracked, the item was clearly killing him. Momon tried to pressure the Demon Lord away so that he could get an opening to cut him down but time and time again the Demon Lord would interpose himself between the two. He saw a light arrow fly towards the king but the Demon Lord reached out with it's hand intercepting the shot.
[Nuclear Blast] one of the lords intoned, the shock wave blasted Solanna back. The spell had rather low damage but it did have a significant radius and knockback effect. It also had a side effect of temporarily jamming magic due to it's emp effect. Luckily Quacey had already cast a defensive buff on Solanna reducing the damage to negligible levels. However the knock back had pushed Solanna almost 20 metres back and now the Demon Lord was charging the gap trying to zone Solanna away. They were doing damage to the Demon Lords but they were regenerating rapidly.
"Brother don't bother trying to kill them the spell is regenerating their health. Try to get a hit on the caster." Maeve shouted as she hacked off the arm of the Demon Lord she was fighting only to have it reappear moments later.
This exchange went on for the next hour as both sides tried to accomplish their objectives. The demon lords blocked all attacks towards the king with their bodies only for them to regenerate whatever damage they took. While the four servants of the 41 desperately tried to find an opening.
"This isn't working! Brother I'm gonna try something, you see an opening you take it!." Maeve shouted
With those words Maeve changed her black swords into a pair of chained scythes.
"Takemikazuchi form 35, Dark Harvest" Maeve muttered
She dashed at the Demon Lord she was fighting and stabbed the scythe into its chest before dashing around and looping the chain around the Demon Lord's torso. She hurled the other scythe at the demon lord that was fighting Momon and the scyther flew over the Demon Lord's shoulder. Maeve pulled on the chain and the scythe retracted embedding itself in the Demon Lord's collar bone.
Momon seeing his opponent disabled dashed towards the king, he raised his sword, a few seconds more and he would have the kings head.
[Greater Teleportation] the demon lord that Momon was fighting intoned as he vanishing a reappeared in front of Momon. The slash that was meant for the king slammed into the Demon Lord's side burying the blade deep inside it's abdomen. The Demon Lord heedless of it's injury grabbed Momon pinning them both as they struggled against each other.
[Vermillion Nova] the Demon Lord that was disabled by Maeve intoned. Maeve's eyes widen as a flash of white light enveloped both herself and the Demon. She was blown back tumbling head over heels in the dirt. The spell did quite a bit of damage Maeve was badly burnt on her face and exposed skin, her eardrums were ruptured and her normal eye had burst. This would be a grievous wound for most but Maeve had been implanted with extra organs and redundant systems. The moment she was hit her body started regenerating rapidly thanks to her specially engineered physiology. By the time she stood back up the wounds have started to heal, restoring function to her eyes and ears. Her skin would take awhile longer to heal as it was seen as a lower priority as compared to the internals during the implantation of the healing organs. Thus not much emphasis was placed on healing her skin, which meant that sometimes when she fought she would come back looking like she should be dead but in reality all her internals were still working fine.
"Sister!." Momon shouted
"I'm fine." Maeve replied
"Got any other ideas?" Solanna shouted
[Maximise Magic Crystal Lance] intoned Evileye as she shot her lance at one of the Demon Lords. However the magic disappeared before it could hit the Demon Lord.
"Evileye? What are you doing here?" Momon asked
"You four have been gone for three hours, I came to help." Evileye replied
"Well good to have you, we need to kill that caster." Momon said as she jumped back along with Solanna and Quacey as they regrouped.
"We can't tie them down long enough for us to get a clean shot." Solanna grumbled
"Yea they can use teleportation, and they regenerate constantly because of the spell so we can't kill these guys. " Maeve said
"Well we now have you, we'll hold them back you try and got a good shot in." Maeve said
"Alright" Evileye said
The four immediately charged the Demon Lord's again, Evileye flew above the battlefield trying to get a good angel. However the lesser demon's started swarming her forcing her back to the ground. Once she saw an opening she fired off a Crystal Lance, but each time the demon teleported to block the spell. Then she tried to teleport to an opening and get a clear shot but this time the Demon Lord teleported right in front of her a swung it's fist at her.
[Translocation Damage] Evileye cried in panic as the fist struck her barrier. She felt her mana drain in torrents, that fist must have dealt a lot of damage. Judging by how much mana she had lost to negate the damage of that punch, she would have died instantly if that hit her. This was bad she had wasted a good portion of mana with nothing to show for it.
This time she tried again and waited for an opening before firing a spell, but this time she knew it would be blocked so she teleported without even seeing if it would be hit. As she expected one of the demon lords teleported to block it. Then she fired another spell from a completely different angle but this time a different Demon Lord teleported to block it. That confirmed it the teleportation had a cooldown. The other demon lords would try to block her so she needed to teleport fast enough to negate the cooldown. Problem is she had a cooldown as well, there was a solution but with her current mana she had one chance… she did the math in her head and prepared for her final gamble… due to here mana constraints she would be immobile once she did it success or not. This plan was suicide she knew… but she knew it had to be done. In the back of her mind she heard the voices of her fallen fellows in Ordo...
It is better to die for the greater good, Than to live for yourself...
Fear only a death with your duty undone...
Charge boldly sister, to die for the 41 is as good a death as any…
Sister Keeno courts death like some knight errant… Ha that's as good a title as any...
Here we stand and here shall we die, unbroken and unbowed, Though the very hand of death itself come for us, We will spit our defiance to the end!
There is no courage without fear, No victory without sacrifice...
Evileye closed her eyes and prepared herself for martyrdom.
"Maeve please give my regards to my sisters… it has been an honour to fight alongside you all… " Evileye said
Maeve looked up in surprise as she looked at Evileye. She had an air of someone who was about to go out in a blaze of glory. To do her duty to the last. Maeve nodded as she looked at Evileye's mask.
"Thank you." Evileye said then she began her spells
[Delay Magic Teleportation] then she waited for the cooldown and did this four more times with different delays. Once the timing was right she suddenly ascended rapid a fired a [Crystal Lance] at the accursed prince. As expected one of the Demon Lord's teleported to intercept the shot. Then her delayed magic activated, she was instantly teleported to another position and let loose another spell, the second it was fired her teleportation spell activated. She did this again and again for each of the demon lords and finally she teleported right behind the prince and cast her spell.
[Shard Buckshot] she intoned as she felt the last of her mana leave her body. She watched as the shards of crystal cut the usurper king to to ribbons. The stray crystal shards flew and hit some of the surviving nobles who were standing nearby but she couldn't care less. She watched as the item dropped from his hand and the demons stopped spawning. She heard roars of rage from around her as the Demon Lords started to be rapidly overpowered without the regenerative effects from the super tier spell.
[Meteor Fall] [Napalm] two of the Demon Lords intoned as they shot their last dying spells at Evileye. Evileye looked to the spells hurtling towards her, she stood shakily to her feet as she saw her impending death approach. Then she saw Momon appear in front of her, he grabbed her and pulled her into his chest shielding her. In that moment she felt her face flush, as she was held by the towering warrior.
[Solar Blessing] [Lunar Blessing] the twins shouted as their necklaces both glowed and a wave of powerful magic surrounded the two of them. They glowed in a white hallowed light, giving them an almost ethereal appearance. Maeve dashed forward and snatched up two of the nobles within reach and ran out of the spells range. Evileye felt the spell impact, it was a searing heat the likes of which she had never felt, then she felt weightlessness then an impact as they skidded across the earth carving a trench in the mud. When they finally ground to a stop, Evileye felt the arms holding her relax and she tried to disentangle herself but she started to feel her injuries. The impact had broken quite a few ribs, shattered her right shin bone, her right wrist was also dislocated and she thinks she feels a few fractures throughout her body. Evileye feels the hand of Momon gently pick her up and lay her on the ground.
"Stay down for now Evileye, your injuries are not to be taken lightly." Momon said
"Thank you…" Evileye said weakly
"Outstanding job there Evileye, quite a risky move I should try it when I get the chance." Maeve said as she dragged the two nobles she had managed to save and tossed them into the dirt.
"My gratitude for the buffs Solanna, Quacey." Momon said as took a seat in the dirt. His armor had lost its sheen and there were multiple cracks and pieces missing. His armor was completely wrecked after taking the spells.
"No problem." Solanna replied as she sprayed arrows around the area clearing up the stray demons.
"[Regeneration]" Quacey intoned as the healing spell covered Momon
"I'll handle Evileye, [Lesser Lethal]." Maeve intoned as an arc of black lightning struck Evileye. Immediately she felt her wounds heal up.
"Thanks, perks of a vampiric constitution." Evileye said with a sigh
"Brother, you, Evileye and Quacey rest here for now. Solanna and I will clean up the Demons." Maeve said
Evileye watched as the two small diminutive girls dash towards the city slaughtering the demons in their path. Evileye lay down on the ground and closed her eyes, it had been a long day...
The Water Temple 2 hours later
Renner rushed in to see Climb lying on the ground and very grim faced priest surrounding him. He had multiple tubes connected to him and sphere known as Asclepius seemed to be injecting fluid into his body.
"What happened?" Renner asked as she looked at Climb's motionless body
"He got hit by one of the demons, the impact sent him flying through a stone wall. It's a miracle he's even alive." one the priests said
"I don't think alive is the right word to describe this." Maeve said
"Enough with your nonsense, I told you if you just disconnect him from that infernal arcane construct we would be able to heal him." the head priests spat
"If we disconnect him, he will die in minutes, it's really lucky I decided to leave Asclepius with Nfriea" Maeve replied
"What's wrong with him…" Renner said as she shakily knelt beside Climb and held his hand
"He's brain dead your grace, he is still alive because Asclepius is keeping him alive. Asclepius is in essence forcing his body to breathe and injecting nutrients and water into him." Maeve said
Renner looked on at Climb's pale emotionless face and felt her eyes grow hot.
"Is there a way to save him?" Renner asked
"Not here, we don't have the expertise or the tools." Maeve replied
"Then we just need to bring him…" Renner began
"Your grace we had this conversation before with regards to your late father." Maeve said
"No… no… Climb… " Renner sobbed as she clutched his hand
Those gathered watched as their queen lay on her knees weeping over Climb's body.
"My queen we also require your instruction on what to do with Marquis Buollop and Count Lytton. They were captured at the site of the spell. We also have 2000 of the soldiers that surrendered who aided in the defence of the capital. We wish to know what to do with them." the captain of the guard said.
Hearing the names of those who supported her brother, those who had a hand in the desolation of this city and most of all those that were responsible for what happened to Climb. Renner felt her mind go red with rage, as she turned to the captain tears still streaming down her face and she screamed.
Kill them all!
Tie them to stakes and burn them!
BURN THEM ALL!
Author's notes:
Hey guys sorry about the really long gap between chapters. Had some personal stuff going on and this chapter took awhile to write. It's about double the normal chapter length so I guess this counts as a psuedo double release.
Also I am thinking of doing a Q/A Chapter so leave your questions in a review or pm. If I don't reply to it will be because the answer would be a spoiler or I am not sure on how to answer it.
So once again leave a review if you like it or hate it, all criticism is welcome. So again see you in the next chapter!