Testament XVIII: Casualties Mounted
Pride's initial invasion, while intimidating to the siege defenders for a few minutes, quickly dissipated as artillery barrages obliterated the oncoming charge of demons, along with small arms fire and precise marksman shots at distinguished leaders of the horde.
(Music: "Mood Infernal", by Vladislav Zharkov)
Nonetheless, many of the demons managed to survive the hellish defense, and began scaling the walls in frenzied glee. Many of them were impaled on the bayonets fitted onto the defending soldiers' rifles, but soon they flooded over the walls, using their superior agility and strength to break the defensive line and slaughter those unlucky soldiers standing in their way.
Further lines of soldiers had formed in the courtyard of the fortress, holding an inner-defensive position as they sniped and shot any stray demons that had broken the lines on the walls; Blood and gore from both sides was splattered across the battlefield, corpses beginning to stack over one another as the bodies grew in volume.
"HOLD THE LINE! HOLD THIS MOTHERFUCKIN' LINE OR DIE RUNNING WITH YOUR BACKS TURNED!"
Rhett did his best to rally the troops as he held the courtyard, directing soldiers to various positions and issuing orders for re-capturing lost strategic points; Casualties be damned. Blitzo worked by his side, though he was more inclined towards engaging in the bloodshed close-up than offering support of any kind; Rhett had to marvel at the way he practically 'danced' across the field of battle, slicing across the demons' bodies with relative ease and outmaneuvering even the quickest of the devils, all while blasting off their heads with a golden flintlock revolver, as if he were some goofy-looking duelist. The sight was certainly surreal beyond imagination to Rhett, but in the horrific wake of the global demonic invasion, it was something he just had to come to terms with to keep sane in these grim times.
"KEEP THAT SHIT UP, YOU!" Rhett encouraged him very Frenchily, unsure of what his name was, but relieved that he had such capable fighters at his side for such a horrifying war as this, even if they were goofy-looking demonic turncoats.
"WILL DO, LES MISERABLE!" Blitzo replied sarcastically.
An entire day of constant and unadulterated warfare passed, as the soldiers fought valiantly to hold back the demonic wave with all of their desperate courage; By the end, they were successful, as the demonic assault wave eventually dwindled, with the remnants of less-brave demons fleeing away from the fortress. The surviving soldiers inside cheered raucously and exhaustedly in victory, raising their weapons in the air and whooping. Yet still, Rhett felt uneasy about the situation, as if there was more to come.
"STEADY YOURSELVES, MEN!" He shouted out, ordering men to retake the fortifications and walls. "DO NOT CELEBRATE PREMATURELY!"
As if on cue, the sound of several distant objects whistling towards the settlement could be heard audibly, and the soldiers braced once more. Except this time, the barrage was far worse.
Wheeeeeeee-KRCK!
KRCK! KRCK!
KRCK!
Rhett lurched back in shock as he saw the dead body of a cow suddenly slam into the courtyard, sending gore and guts flying in every direction, caking soldiers in viscera and grossing them out considerably.
"EEWWWW! FUCK!"
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
He heard the disgusted shouts of soldiers as more animal (and human) bodies began slamming into and around the fortress, painting the fort with even more gore than there was previously. Rhett's heart began to sink into his chest as he realized what was happening.
"CLEAN YOURSELVES IMMEDIATELY!" He shouted in panic to the others, wiping his outfit with his gloves and slinging the viscera across the ground. "DON'T LET IT GET INTO YOUR EYES, MOUTHS, NOSES OR EARS!"
And yet, even as he shouted these orders, he began to take immediate notice of several soldiers keeling over and vomiting, groaning in pain as they suddenly became seriously ill. Rhett grit his teeth in deep anger; There really were no restraints in this kind of warfare.
It was total war.
"ANOTHER FORCE OF DEMONS IS ALMOST AT THE WALLS!"
"WHAT?!"
Rhett was in shock; Looking back at the thousands of UAC and They had just killed off the bulk of the demonic forces' army, and there were still so much more…
"YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Rhett screamed at the soldiers on the ramparts. "PIKES BEHIND RIFLES, KEEP THEM LEVELED AND DON'T BREAK THE LINE-"
BANG!
Rhett's voice faltered as he suddenly saw one of the rampart soldiers take a bullet through the head, his body crumpling and freefalling off the walkway. A succession of more bullets began tearing through the rampart soldiers, sending them falling backwards into the courtyards as their bodies broke on the ground.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Rhett demanded to know, running up the rampart stairs, and being met with a horrifying sight.
Thousands upon thousands of humanoid demons were laying ladders against the towering fortress walls, climbing up with bayonet-fitted riflery as their comrades relayed suppressive fire on the rampart walls. Rhett just barely managed to avoid a bullet whizzing by his face, grazing his cheek. He touched the facial wound with a feeling of deep dread; The siege was not over yet.
"RETURN FIRE!" Rhett shouted to nearby soldiers. "PUSH THEIR LADDERS OFF, AND REGROUP IN THE COURTYARD! WE'RE MOVING INTO THE BUNKER TO-"
THUMP.
…
There were only two times in Rhett's life where he had felt abjectly in horror. The first was when he was a young boy, and for the first time in his life had come upon the brutal reality of warfare in his homeland; Being caught in the middle of a massive firefight between government forces and guerilla rebel factions. It was a memory he'd never forget for as long as he lived.
The second time…
Was right now.
"VALIANT!"
Rhett could only describe what he felt at that moment as 'supernatural dread'; Slowly turning around, he realized he was standing only feet away from a behemothic, 10-foot tall golden-clad female warrior with elongated horns jutting from her head, a proud and wide grin mounted on her face. She hadn't even drawn the massive sword that rested in her sheath, which only served to terrify Rhett even more than he already was.
"YOU FOUGHT VALIANTLY, HUMAN! MORE SO THAN THE PAST HUNDRED YEARS OF WARRIORS I'VE SEEN!"
The sheer intensity of the malevolent energy that radiated from the demon was straight-up unbearable; Even the stoic Rhett was reduced to a shivering, huddled figure as he was unable to stand up to the towering, ancient monster in front of him. He and all the others in the Slayer's army had been brief on their enemies; From the Slayer's reports, aligned with the scouting reports gathered by forward patrols over the last few weeks, they had determined that primeval entities from times long past had coalesced and joined forces with their current demonic enemies, but they hadn't known what exactly they were.
Now, just mere inches from this unimaginably-powerful and ancient warrior, clarity came to him so clearly; He was in the presence of something akin to a god. Not the Almighty Father, but…
The devil-spawn he'd cast from the Heavens. Undoubtedly.
"que le Père Tout-Puissant me protège en cette heure horrible…" Rhett suddenly began praying desperately in French, fearing the end of his life, or the pain that was to come.
"HAHAHAHAAAA!"
She released a mighty roar of laughter that shook the foundations of the very ground they stood upon, as she saw him cowering before her.
"BE NOT AFRAID, HUMAN." She declared, her voice carrying across the entirety of the fortress and its surrounding areas with ease. "I WOULD NOT TAKE AWAY YOUR HARD-FOUGHT DEFENSE! THIS SIEGE HAS ONLY TAUGHT ME THAT I NEED BETTER, STRONGER WARRIORS FOR THE FUTURE BATTLES TO COME!"
In the midst of his abject horror, Rhett had noticed that the gunfire from both sides had stopped; Practically everyone that was seeing the giant demonic warrior had been paralyzed with fear. Pride's face contorted into a sneer as she glimpsed the mass of Khimeras surrounding the fortress, all of them staring back at her with clear terror in their expressions.
"YOU PATHETIC WHELPS ARE UNWORTHY OF STEALING THIS VICTORY FROM THESE WARRIORS!"
(Music: "Limbo - Ghost Slowed", by Freddie Dredd)
And with not another word, she snarled, unsheathing her impossibly-long broadsword and SHOUTING a war cry that shook the foundations of the fortress, before launching from the ramparts and raising her weapon far above her head, bringing its great mass down upon the unfortunate lives in her sight, slaying Khimeras and her own remaining demonic forces in a raging fervor.
WOOOOOOOOOOSHH!
Her massive weapon's blade suddenly burst into flames, matching the ferocious intensity of its owner, as she hewed Khimeras left and right like a scythe to fields of grain. Her presence was of such aggressive malevolence that those demons nearest to her were paralyzed by pure, abject terror; Her speed was so lightning-fast that she instilled a horrific sense of supernatural dread within those in her wake; That dread which would grip any mortal that faced down a bloodlusting deity.
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
With each great swing of her sword, dozens upon dozens of demons were felled; Dismembered, beheaded, mutilated or cut to ribbons. In the midst of her blood-frenzy, she paused in such an unnatural way, then suddenly outstretched her arm, making a tight-gripping motion with her free hand-
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhwwwwwwwwww-
Rhett was filled with terror as he felt the air from his lung suddenly leave his body momentarily; Pride's hand began to fill with a violently-bright purple ball of concentrated energy, of what kind Rhett could not possible describe.
Once the supernatural ball of energy was the side of a basketball, she shoved it into the ground; Immediately causing the ball to explode with violent kinetic energy that sent tremors through the landscape and caused lightning tendrils to launch outwards from the source, striking every single demon within a 50-meter radius; Those tendrils that failed to hit a demon caused grenade-like explosions in whatever they slammed into.
The battlefield was a disorganized chaotic mess, with dead bodies and mutilated corpses strewn across every crater, other demons and Khimeras stumbling across the blood-soaked, broken landscape. Rhett had thought the massacre to be over, but he then noticed all of the Khimeras hit by the purple energy blast suddenly stand up awkwardly, as if possessed. It was then that they immediately launched into a violent frenzy, attacking their fellow soldiers with a maddening craze; He witnessed Pride gliding across the gory battlefield, casually fending off crazed attacks as she smiled in selfish contentment.
"A FAR MORE APPEALING ATMOSPHERE!" She declared raucously, executing all who dared to attack her with impunity. "THOSE WITH NO FEAR NOR FUTURE PROSPECTS WILL TRULY SHINE BEST IN THE MALEVOLENCE OF COMBAT!"
The next few minutes carried on in this outrageously bizarre deathmatch between the demons' forces; And Rhett was simply unable to take his eyes off the ethereal yet bloodstained spiritess that was commanding the chaos of battle with such ease that it enamored him- A twisted yet sincerely awe-inspired feeling akin to that of how a young boy felt when seeing a great warrior or war veteran in their prime.
At last the minutes drew to a climactic end, and the great open desert plains around the fortress grew silent, now completely entrenched in the bodies of demons both Old Age and New. Pride glided mere inches above their bodies, gazing down at them with contempt and disdain in her expression, so concretely defined despite having just slain her battle allies in droves.
She came upon Rhett once more, her sword drenched in blood, flesh, muscle and other gore from the great massacre she had just carried out, and by this point Rhett couldn't even find himself able to breathe as she floated ever closer. The soldiers that had previously rallied behind him and were defending the ramparts had long since fled inside the fortress, hiding from the unstoppable fury that they had just witnessed slaughter the entirety of the invaders with maximum ease.
Still, Rhett wanted to curse their cowardice for leaving him here to be the sole stupid bastard talking to this primordial being of malicious nature.
"I SEE IT IN YOUR FUTURE, WARRIOR. YOU WILL BEST GREAT FOES, AND VANQUISH THOSE WHO STAND IN YOUR WAY WITH A PASSION UNRIVALED!"
Her shouting carried easily across the whole landscape, yet it somehow maintained a volume that didn't render Rhett deaf; Even more arcane magic that Rhett was not up for dealing with. He decided the best course of action was to just nod along to this bizarre rant and hope this stupidly-powerful threat would leave them be.
"SHOULD WE EVER CROSS BLADES IN BATTLE, I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR GROWTH!"
I am never fucking dueling you for as long as I live, Rhett thought to himself fearfully.
And with that, the warrior-deity simply walked off the ramparts into the open air, her supernatural presence dissipating into a swirling plume of flames and hell-fire before she disappeared from sight completely- Wherever she had gone.
Rhett stood up from the previously-cowering fetal position he had been in, dusting himself off and throwing his rifle over the rampart walls, watching it slam into one of the devil-corpses down below.
"Putain cette merde." He muttered in great frustration, before storming into the fortress to slap the shit out of several of his own subordinates. He had learned too much from this encounter; and he had plenty to discuss with whoever the fuck had stationed them here.
(Music: "Kalinka", by The Red Army Choir)
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO! YOU MOTHERFUCKER, BLYAD'! GLUPAYA YEBANAYA SUKA! FUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!"
From a few miles away, Shamble was losing his shit entirely; Unleashing his demonic fury upon his nearby surroundings, everything except the precious few subordinates he had kept with him as an emergency force; Now his primary force in the wake of this unbelievable fuckery.
In one fell swoop, Pride had wiped out about 98% of his entire Khimera army, along with the entirety of the Old Age demons that had been gifted to him so graciously by Lord Argados.
OVER WHAT?!
Initially, as he watched Pride slay his troops in rapid succession, he had thought she was trying to instill fear in order to propel the demons forward; Which would have been tolerable, at the very least, as long as they had accomplished their task and taken the fortress.
But in the growing minutes after, Shamble came to quickly realize- THERE WAS NO REASON OR RHYME FOR THAT!
She had just slaughtered his entire military force- FOR WHAT?!
He had spent a painstaking amount of time, energy, planning and exhaustive training to ensure he could carry out this operation as efficiently as possible.
And this-
"STUPID BITCH JUST RUINED FUCKING EVERYTHIIIIIINGGGGGG! AAAAAAAHHHHHH, GOD HELP ME!"
He screamed to the skies; No matter what he seemed to do, there always seemed to be some fucking Deus Ex Machina to come just in time to save his enemies' pathetic asses! Time and time AGAIN!
This was maddening- was this what 'destiny' was supposed to be? A predetermined fate that ultimately prevented him from achieving his ambitions, no matter how hard he fought for it?
VrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRR-
The sound of a distant engine suddenly took the attention of his entourage- A group of military buggies were flying across the desert terrain, heading towards Shamble and his remaining entourage. The soldiers inside the vehicles were whooping and shouting victory cries as they came ever closer, as they had been informed via radio about the recent news.
Their raucous whooping and hollering pushed Shamble's rage over the edge, and he screamed in apoplectic rage, slinging his chain towards a fast-approaching buggie and wrapping it around one of the wheels; He used the momentum of the approaching buggie to sling it over his head, sending it flying into the sky and plummeting towards desert ground several dozen meters away; Its passengers now screaming in terror rather than victory.
And yet, as Shamble saw the other buggies approaching undeterred, he released a venomous sigh of anger, poisonous gas seeping from his maw once more.
"HELENA, DEREK!"
His top two lieutenants stepped forward, awaiting his orders silently.
"Withdraw the troops back to the nearest Khimera factory. We're replenishing our forces, and I must get in contact with Lord Argados. Helena, you lead the way- Derek, you hold the rear guard and make sure these ublyudki don't track us back!"
His lieutenants nodded, and began mobilizing the remaining forces for a 'strategic' retreat. Shamble gazed back at the heavily-blasted fortress with a raw anger that preceded his original hatred; No longer did he resent his past and all those past grievances which led him down this demonic path…
Now, he was deadset on exterminating these cockroaches from the Earth. No matter the cost… he would not be made a fool any longer.
And above everything else, HE WOULD KILL PRIDE FOR THIS!