—Over a year ago—
“Life magic?” Baston asked as he set down his cane and took a seat.
I and Moonwash sat across from him on the table. We were currently back at their ho in Blank City of Northern New Grandera.
“Yeah. We recently managed to secure so, and we wanted to see if you’d like to get your arm and leg fixed.”
Baston heard my words and pondered for a long mont. He had gotten a permanent injury because of how he’d protected Moonwash and all those years ago.
“Have you asked Luine?” he finally said. “She needs it more than .”
“Ah, no. We don’t… have nearly enough to do that. Yours just needs so correcting, but hers will require us to regrow her an entirely new one.” Our best bet for that might really be Moonwash’s prosthetic work, which was coming along nicely, as the limbs were mostly… behaving, but we still couldn’t find a good way to actually send it instructions.
Baston’s condition, on the other hand, actually presented a harder problem to solve with potential living prosthetics, unless if we were willing to just cut off his existing limbs entirely.
“Save it up, then,” Bastan said. “Or have Moonwash use it in her experints. But there’s no need for you to feel bad about what happened. I chose to help you grow in secret back then because I wanted to.”
I furrowed my brows a little. “And I do not think that. At all. It’s not our fault. But what is true is that you’ve helped us a whole bunch in the past. So if we can help you out now, then it would be great.”
“I want to learn how to restore living bodies with life magic,” Moonwash added. “It’ll be helpful for my research. That is one of the experints I want to run with it.”
“Ah,” Baston paused for a long mont, taking his ti to think again as we all drank our tea. “I would’ve suspected that you were just looking out for , but I actually believe it,” he laughed. “Of course you’ll want to do that. So sure. It would be a bit disorienting for a while, but I would certainly not mind getting so feeling back in these old bones of mine. If you’re sure that it’s safe, of course?”
“I am,” Moonwash confird, and Baston could say nothing more in front of her confidence.
“Well, you are talented,” I heard him eventually murmur, as if to reassure himself.
~~~
Elfrafin taught Moonwash how to actually use life mana as so lucky animals got their bones fixed, or unlucky if my girlfriend made a mistake and happened to make it worse. But finally, she was ready to heal Baston, and the process went off without a hitch.
Now, our old friend could finally move… quite well enough. It would take a while longer before we could truly move like before, or maybe it would never happen if he preferred the company of his flowers, than the field of death along this continent’s many battlefields.
~~~
—Back To The Present—
In a dark underground chamber, empty of all things aside from a dark gleaming enchanted device that ca down from the roof, and a rough stone-hewn chair below it. I faced Larah and Ragnar, who gulped at the sight before them. It was what they wanted, the experience of being a demon, now sothing they could truly understand. But before any of that, there was sothing I needed to tell them. Sothing I had decided upon.
“You can’t have babies.”
“...What?” Ragnar blurted without understanding.
“It’s another condition that I have for helping you to beco a demon,” I explained. “I’m sorry, I know I’ve made this as difficult as I could already. But it has to be done.”
“But why?” Larah decried, accusing.
“It’s not so weird cult thing,” I quickly defended myself. “I don’t actually give a shit if you have a child or not. It’d just be a problem if it’s a demon.”
“This is sounding speciest…”
“Well it’s not!” I snapped. “Listen first and let finish! You already know about the nace heart or any other sort of curse. Not to ntion the hellfire heart. Now what if baby straight up born as that? Do you think a child like that will turn out okay!?”
“Well…”
“They can’t.” I gave them the answer they were too slow to arrive at. “I’ve proven that an adult might be able to handle it. MAYBE. Big maybe. But there is really just no way a child can. So, as the first Demon, the Progenitor, I have decided that we cannot reproduce as babies. But, we may still reproduce, if we want. It’d be too fucked up otherwise. Only, we will not procreate like the other species, though we could still do it recreationally. But the only new demons will co from powerful new rituals, that can only be taken after soone has proven worthy through many trials and tribulations. I Declare It So.”
My eyes widened at the voice that ca out of my mouth. It was mine, of course, but with a distinctly otherworldly hue. Like whenever I chose to cast a ritual. The greater magic humd, and power pulsed this deep underground.
I touched my pelvis, and sohow knew as my perception of all things spiked for a mont, that my womb still functioned, capable of giving birth to calamities.
Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.
“I… understand why,” Ragnar said.
“I don’t like it,” Larah complained after a mont’s hesitation. “Why did you make demons so fucked up anyway?”
“I…” didn’t? I didn’t have control over the process? But I did. Enough. Our blood at least did not need to be able to hold so much mana. Most of it could have just been vented out. “For power,” I settled on instead.
I took a step towards Larah, and she involuntarily took a step back.
“If you think being a demon is so fucked up, then why stay? It is not what you expected. Go find sothing else, then.”
She swallowed, but looked at defiantly. “Because it’s my dream too.”
I held her stare, then looked at Ragnar.
“I’ll… need to think about it so more… after that. I haven’t really thought that much about having children yet, but… what if I want so in the future?”
“Adopt,” I shrugged. “Or just don’t beco a demon. Take all the ti you need to think. Answer as you please. I will be fine as the first and last of my kind.”
I pushed them both out of the room, to Larah’s dismay.
“Hey! Wait! I’m still down to try, goddamit! Give the curse experience!!!”
She reached past my grip, squeezing longingly at the cursed device that would turn all her thoughts to evil.
“It’s the last one. Don’t worry. I know you hate thinking. But just a month or two more of rubbing that pea inside your head, and I promise, this ti I’ll start your torture, okay?”
“A month?” She protested with utter incredulity.
“I have important business to attend to. I’m sure you don’t want to keep from it, hmm?”
“Ah. AH!” She pulled herself away from my grip, which I did release her from after a few seconds of struggle. “Fine. I want in. This has been soo annoying, so I’ll go take it out on so Edengarian skulls! ARGH!”
“...I’ll go too,” Ragnar decided next.
I just shrugged as I grabbed them both, the small Larah, and the only slightly shorter but definitely wider Ragnar. The several layers of ceiling opened, and I flew past them, to my passenger’s screams. Of delight.
~~~
An army a hundred thousand strong marched through the forest and chewed through the trees below . It was of Northern New Grandera, and for once, I arrived early. My family and friends were with , from Moonwash, to the Piss Hunters, and then the Demon Aspires. Marcus was still with the latter; he continued his adventuring work with his friends, even when he had already given up on becoming a demon himself.
The landscape slowly changed, as the green trees gave way to blue. The humidity rose by many levels, in a way I could hardly feel from all the way up here. The war for the Endless Dive began with an arrow that streaked right for . I swerved the mont I felt sothing from the very edges of my spatial senses, but the arrow still managed to hit my wing. I wobbled in the air, my altitude dropped, and a wall of arrows reached for high in the sky.
I swung Devilcalibur and countered them. Broken shafts rained along the ground. I remained in the air, for my wings had already healed. Our own army released a warcry and charged for the yet overgrown forest to et our enemies who had sohow evaded our scouts.
I arrived there before they could, but our enemies were already in full retreat. They jumped from branch to branch, or ran along the overgrowth. I was able to easily catch up to anyone I set my eyes on, but they had already scattered, and it would be impossible to get all of them. Hellfire set alight trees, but this wonderzone of all things was the best at countering that kind of thing, even here along the edges.
Most of my prey escaped as I glared at the forest, promising great retribution once we arrived at Ocirin City.
~~~
After a long march around the wonderzone, filled with countless small skirmishes and confrontations amongst our scouts, we finally did arrive at Ocirin City. It was a heavily fortified position, with walls made of both earth and wood, and I knew it hadn’t always been like this.
Oh, it was fortified, of course, given the importance of the outpost. But those fortifications had only grown over the last year, as news of an imminent attack reached the ears of Edengar, long before any official announcent was made. This made it clear that despite the lack of diplomacy or any open dialogue, all the nations involved had their roots deeply entrenched into each other’s systems. This included my own Arisen City, which was super annoying. All the Demon Aspires who had more recently joined us had already inford about several suspicious people who’d approached them. It was embarrassing. I was glad they told , though. The hype around them would surely die down once they’d proven incorruptible enough.
The spies naturally did not survive, whether they were captured first, or outright killed.
“LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS AND SUBMIT YOURSELVES FOR JUDGENT!” a shepherd yelled from the other side of the enemy walls. I’d quip about how useless it was for such a declaration to be made, but soone of their species yelling such things was less useless than others.
I narrowed my eyes, having spotted who I was going to kill first. Or second. War was no ti to be choosy.
“SURRENDER AND GIVE US BACK OUR CONTINENT!” our general and his posse chorused back, in a booming voice that thundered far louder than the enemy’s. He was a Level 40 chiron(bat-like people) and he flew with a small colony of a dozen of his comrades.
There was no need for further words beyond that. There were never any actual negotiations to be had. The throes of war started when the projectiles started flying from both sides. My allies defended themselves against the arrows and spells, while our own barrage proved more effective against the enemy soldiers who remained outside their walls.
Chaff. Most of them were inhexes, left here to die. This was exactly what Arx was fighting for. He should have been here, fighting to kill those who had reduced his people to atshield slaves, but he could not even do that. Those very sa people, Inhex Queen Iz, they were taken hostage. So I would do so of this fighting in his stead. Our armies would put to rest these poor inhex, while I did what I was best at.
I flew with the harpies and bombarded the walls. The sheer volu of projectiles that ca for us from the various firing ports and towers actually held us back. But we held them back too. The ground battle quickly tilted in our favor as the enemy troops below lost their projectile support. I kept up the threat of my hellfire and curse magic as my allies drew ever closer to the wooden walls. It was a good counter if you were expected to face people, instead of monsters who only had their bodies to bash against the tougher earthen walls. Our dwarven engineers reached said walls, but as expected, they could not easily tear it apart with magic. The walls were still planted in earth, however, so they made it quake. The enemy mages swiftly countered, but I had already flown ahead. I weathered a portion of the projectiles that filled the skies, which quickly reduced in number as people wobbled and missed. I activated my intimidation package to prolong their bewildernt, just before I crashed upon the ramparts and started hacking.
Bodies broke and entrails flew as Devilcalibur reaped a great harvest. Magic rushed out of , and I faced magic in turn. Their spells were much harder to evade from this up close, just as mine were the sa. The full projectile might of this fortification turned on for one second, but the harpies quickly put a stop to that after I’d rushed deeper into enemy lines to evade most of the strikes directed at . General Damian and his chiron ilk also joined us, as the bat-like people scread at the gathering of enemies and tore them apart with their fangs. We began a full sweep of the ramparts with at the center, the harpies following close, and the chirons as disruptors and executor of stragglers.
The ground battle then quickly tilted heavily in our favor as well, as our people had finally broken through one part of the wall in all the chaos. Allied troops crushed the new walls of nature earth attempting to be erected, and then rushed in. Soon, another hole was blasted through the enemy walls, which only followed the sa process. A fierce lee struggle ensued, especially as it spilled further into enemy lines, and the next set of enemy walls and archers fully ca into effect. We were being held back once again, for now.
anwhile, the troops up here were in full retreat now, and many were making their way down. I killed another of their Level 40 elites, before I rushed through the sa stairs they did, and pushed them off in pieces as I made my own way down. I scanned the battlefield, and helped where my allies were having the most trouble. From a powerful ogre smashing through our ranks, or a charge of centaurs and a sundertop doing the sa, but worse.
They all fell by my blade.
I killed a tyranight assassin who had co after far too many of our own elites.
I targeted their powerful healers who were getting their fighters back to fighting shape too fast.
A powerful group of templars was steadily chewing through our lines, and I put a stop to that.
Their human general was escaping, and I decimated him from behind.
My sheer speed thundered through the fields of battle, and in that noise, soone I’d neglected moved.
A partially serrated blade ca out from the robes of a person that felt exceedingly wrong. I barely reacted on ti to get my neck out of the way, but the slash was able to reposition and at least bite deep into my arm from an existing wound on my armor. Flesh was rcilessly torn away by the serrated part of their cutlas.
I ripped Devilcalibur out of the dead general, and swung it to drive away the interloper. A refined cackle echoed out of the robe, which montarily stalled the rising and falling morale around us in favor of confusion. And then those very robes were ripped away to reveal the person who hid underneath.
A shepherd. In a battle dress that simultaneously looked fit for royalty, a powerful pirate, and the admiral of a full navy. The natural crowd that grew on her skull looked far more nacing than others. She wore rampant jewelry, especially one that I recognized to be Moonwash’s own handiwork. An amulet that prevented her heart from influencing those around her. I did not even know it was a shepherd under all those fabrics. I did not realize she was… Level 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, beyond!
The amulet too ca off, and I could feel the sheer confidence that she felt even in the face of . The shepherd woman clearly had the ability to hide her level, but now it was all coming out. The sheer presence of a Level 80 creature, coupled with the emotions that she shared, bolstered the spirits of her side, while diminishing our own.
You… YOU…! YOU!!!
“I AM QUEEN EDEN GENESIS, AND–”
FUCK YOU! YOU’RE THE ONE! THE FUCKING ONE! WHO HAD IMPRISONED! WHO TORTURED ! TRIED TO RAPE ! USED SOONE WHO I THOUGHT WAS MY FRIEND AGAINST ! IT’S YOU! IT’S ALL FUCKING YOU!!!!
I appeared in front of her. A sonic boom garbled her worthless words. Devilcalibur ca right down, but my enemy reacted on ti, dodging the blade with ti to spare. She deflected it lightly with the non-serrated parts of her sword just to put off balance, and then landed a quick biting slash across my guts with her other identical blade. Blood poured, but was quickly stifled by my healing. It did not delay from bringing Devilcalibur back around to wipe the shorter woman’s whole fra off the face of this world.
She only dodged out of my way with grace.
“--I AM HERE TO SECURE OCIRIN CITY, DRIVE BACK THE REBELS, AND CAPTURE THEIR DEMON HERO!!!” Eden finished, as if she had the leeway to chat in the face of . And she fucking did! Our clash continued, and I only found myself repeatedly pushed back. It was like she could read my every move. She reacted before every slash I threw out. Her parries were perfect, always taking full advantage of the weight of my own superior strength. Her serrated blades caught my own, and threw off my aim before I could even swing. She was never caught off guard, where I suffered nurous cuts for every exchange. Most of them were from the jagged parts that dealt heaving damage, while the clean cuts of the long straight edges sliced deeper and occasionally paved the way.
The over 2-ter-tall woman could move faster than the speed of sound without the accompanying thunder, which ant that her armor must be of the wind variety, and fast. Those were powerful, but typically far less durable than their other counterparts.
I grinned and exploded with magic all around us.
Eden didn’t even flinch. I should have expected as much. Her armor being weaker was only relative; My enemy was a Hero-Rank being of her own right, and the Queen of a whole vassal nation that spanned half a continent. Her armor was made from only the best materials, and by the best smiths that she could find. She didn’t even have to tank all of my hellfire and curses, as I had to truly saturate the entire space with them. Any denser waves I sent at her were just as easily dodged as my sword strikes. It only served to stall her a little, but I still got cut up. Only my Rapid Combat Nervous System allowed to even prevent my head from getting outright chopped off. My healing staved off the damage, but I would still run out at this point. I was losing.
I didn’t care to count how many hits she’d gotten on after only a handful more clashes. I was pretty sure those gleaming gloves of hers absorbed most of the vengeance magic my curse tried to dish out.
“Haell! HAELL ZHARIGNAN!” And even now she had the leeway to chat, though her voice did fall so that only we could hear. “You’ve truly done a number on by taking Astro City. Impressive work burning the manor, and breaking the minds of everyone around you. It’s only made want my own legion of pet demons more and more. But I know you’ve grown enough by now to where I cannot take you alive. It’s amazing really. But you also know that you’re outmatched. You are still much too weak to face , and it is your folly that you were arrogant enough to co out while you still were!”
I stared at her, eternally livid. We exchanged another set of blows, and I got two cuts that gouged through my chest. I growled.
“Hmm? What was that? Ready to surrender? I just need your babies, I’ll treat you well in your new ho!”
“I said… DON’T TALK AS IF YOU’VE ALREADY WON!!!”
Resentnt was unleashed. New power flooded my body. Eden was left reeling after my slash suddenly sped up. Her hand shook from the force of the blow she was forced to parry or die. She defended with her other sword when I returned for another go way too fast. She was pushed back, hard. The accompanying wave of curses that ca with my most powerful attack finally seeped deep enough into her armor and skin to draw blood.
The easy smile finally fell off the bitch’s face, and she glared at . We took no ti to gloat, and had instead brought my sword up again to put an end to this so-called queen. My mini-rituals went off at the sa ti, though Eden had tried to get as little of my blood on herself as possible throughout this entire fight. I felt magic suddenly latch onto my mind, but that only stoked the flas of my anger further. The pain of this headache was my fuel, and it would not color my aim. Like how I broke the mind of her subordinate, The Duke Astro; I sent a powerful semi-ritualistic vengeance curse rushing through the bridge she had so foolishly built between our minds. Devilcalibur inexhobarly advanced as the massive headache was suddenly reflected back into my enemy. Her grimace deepened, but neither the magical explosions around her, nor the devastation inside her own head, slowed her reactions at all. Her two swords finished crossing in an X, to receive my powerful blow. Her knees buckled beneath her, and she took trendous damage. Her bones were certainly sprained, and the ocean of magic under my control had only grown stronger. But still, this clash had finally given Eden the leeway she needed to redirect my unstoppable slash, and parry it away.
Crucially, no counter ca to draw blood, as my enemy instead chose to retreat and regain her bearings.
“Wow. Level 80 and you’re this strong.” The grin returned to her face. “But not strong enough.”
I put that pointless bravado to the test. I charged for her, and swung Devilcalibur in an arc with all my afforded power. Eden jumped back, only getting a deep scratch on her armor. She then leapt back into the fray to land a light cut on . My greatsword was already returning for another go at this ti, but Eden guided the heavy weapon to strike the ground instead with perfect form. I wrenched the blade back up to slice her in half, but she had already fallen back before charging back into the fray.
This sa song and dance continued, with Eden able to slice around far less easily than before. But I was still losing! I thought I had her when I awoke resentnt, but… that first clash was only a fluke, I had to admit. She was in a terrible position for my sudden powerup, yet still she reacted, parrying my strike for only a little bit of numbness upon her hand.
I was still losing.
Maybe I could outlast her. I could sip so strears of blood here and there. Devils knew there was so much bloodshed happening all around us. But even that might not be a sure thing. Even if I could eventually win the 1-on-1, what would happen until then? We were attacking an entrenched enemy position; they had the advantage. If my allies get pushed out, that would leave here surrounded. If she were willing to sacrifice so, I was sure Eden could at least prevent from taking flight. There was no way out.
For .
I considered for a mont if I should call for help.
Elfrafim was here… sowhere. She had co in case an angel showed up. But that was precisely why I did not wish to call upon her. I did not want to reveal her potential presence just like that. I knew that she did not like either New Gradera or Edengar as nation-states, even if she hated the latter a lot more. She would help if I asked, but I didn’t want to involve her any more than necessary.
I devoted a portion more of my senses towards understanding the war happening around us, and I learned that the flow of battle had stabilized. The battles lines had grown stagnant as neither side could make a significant push. The number of elites we had was for once, actually around equal, thanks in part to my actions up north months ago. I’d killed not only the swordreaper, but possibly the largest gathering of gold-rank elites in one battlefield for decades. That had forced the enemy kingdom to adjust and redistribute their forces to protect all fronts, else they would’ve been able to concentrate a lot more troops here in Ocirin City. And yet, even in that circumstance, the best we could manage was a stalemate.
I bled.
Eden landed deeper slashes thanks to my distraction, but it was nothing I couldn’t swiftly recover from, as I’d already demonstrated.
I shelved the plan to ask for reinforcents for now. I’d revisit it later if we were truly losing. Maybe we could find a breakthrough yet.
~~~
“Poison Rain.”
“Fog Thunderstorm.”
“Freezing Mist.”
Sure enough, the balance did shift. Rituals were set up by both sides in ti, but it was my girlfriend’s work that truly stood out, in both quality and speed of creation. Her extensive versatility allowed her to take full advantage of the environnt here, extrely humid and full of ambient water mana that did make spells of that sort more effective. That last one was even cast after a passing flock of cloudbirds had sohow been lured down by harpies, and then the chirons, thereby drenching predominantly the enemy soldiers. That frost was their death knell.
Eden too noticed this as a frown crossed her face.
“Tsk. So Moonwash had indeed co. That’s a problem.”
More than she expected, I bet. Moonwash had not participated in too many wars, and I would be worried about her in a one-on-one against anyone, but she had only further perfected her craft while living in our basent. Using two elents for a single ritual was but the norm for her now. They had seen nothing yet.
And Eden did not want to see any more, as she imdiately rushed for my girlfriend.
My already overwhelming bloodlust grew exponentially upon realizing her plan. Unfortunately for the queen of stupidity, where my regular speed only mildly overca hers with the help of resentnt, my charging speed was an entire league above. I easily caught up, and she was forced to stop and defend herself again. Devilcalibur finally managed to land a blow past her armor and to her flesh, though it was only a skin deep cut on her bicep. But even sothing small may be unbearable, if it was a curse anathema to the living.
Eden grimaced before widening the distance between us once again.
“You’re truly an unpleasant enemy, aren’t you? A bloody brute, with only brutish tactics to her na. Maybe I don’t need demons after all.”
I did not bother to respond. It was hard to think of anything, when my mind was filled with an endless desire to kill. A desire that I could just as endlessly indulge in as I charged forward to keep the painful battle going. Eden’s guantlets were dripping blood now, for I knew that my vengeance magic was finally taking its toll, and towards the parts of her that wielded her weapons no less. She had not weakened yet, but even if she was unfazed by pain, her body itself would eventually fail her here.
I took a dozen more cuts from her, while Eden only suffered the diffused devastation of my magic, until she finally decided that this was untenable and she needed to be the one to change things.
“ELITES TO !”
“GOLD-RANKS! CO HERE!” I answered decisively, and both our most elite units rushed in!
Projectiles of all sorts suddenly rained down on us from both our armies, and we were forced to separate. A few more volleys followed, until both armies returned their focus to each other again. The first of our elites had arrived before I could chase after the Edengarian Queen that fled. I t the eyes of my parents, who saw how my white armor had entirely turned red and broken, and nodded at them. They didn't say anything, and nodded back. I knew of the worry they kept bottled inside, but this was the life I chose to live, and there would be no stopping . All I could do was acknowledge their totally reasonable concerns.
I charged back into the fray once I saw the first signs of Eden getting healed.
“OH NO YOU DON’T!” I detonated the blood of mine that remained on her body just as people started to clean it off. I even caught so of her healers along the blast, which was good. I arrived, but Eden managed to protect her healers from my blade, and her arriving mages countered a good part of my magical barrage. Our own elite mages and archers then began their bombardnt, forcing her own side to the breaking point.
Her sundertops arrived and started to heal her from afar with a bright and shining solar spotlight. My allies did the sa for myself, but this developnt was still a big loss for , because previously, only I could heal. But thankfully, between and Moonwash, we actually had the advantage in magical warfare here. That advantage lessened when my girlfriend began working on sothing else, but that was okay because I was now actually a better regular mage than her in sheer devastation.
Eden was never keen on letting Moonwash work her magic, and she was certainly more livid now. My tail strained as I turned with all my might, and ensured that my enemy was stuck here. Neither of us wanted the other close to our allies, only I had a harder ti keeping her away because Moonwash could not be moved right now, and I was certainly not letting her die out of anyone here. I scread and threw myself at my enemy, getting more cut up than at any point in this fight, all to protect the woman I loved.
That love alone was the most important thing, but it also paid off.
“Chain Lightning.”
The world took a small breath. Moonwash stood at the center of the ritual, and the lightning struck herself. It pained to see her sacrifice her body like this. A ritual born from a curse I’d recently discovered and created. Extrapolated from vengeance magic’s ability to seek out those who hurt , to instead have a simple homing effect that sought out my enemies. Coupled with lightning’s inherent desire to seek out certain materials, my girlfriend gestured towards an enemy templar, and the thunderbolt left her hand and body to strike him next.
“ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!” the human man scread, but it did not end with him. The lightning continued to leap from enemy to enemy, like the points of a constellation. The ritual of a shepherd mage was disrupted, an archer missed her shot and spasd, a sundertop roared and stopped healing their queen; that very sa queen was struck, and even she did not escape unscathed!
I took full advantage of the situation. It was my unending harassnt that prevented her from dodging to begin with. Eden’s body seized up, spasming and stunned. She was not able to react to this next slash with the sa dexterity and grace she had this entire fight thus far.
I was finally able to land my first clean hit.
And it was amazing.
Her armor was torn right open.
The blade continued on to her torso underneath.
Skin broke, muscles were torn, and flesh decayed.
A ravaging wave followed and made a total ss of her insides.
Eden vomitted a massive volu of blood and bile before she was able to regain control of her body and jump back.
She took one glance towards her elite units, and instantly decided to head sowhere else.
Of course she did. They were in a full rout. Moonwash’s chain lightning had done massive damage on them, and my allies had imdiately pounced on that mont of weakness. Even then, the Edengarians might’ve still managed to save at least half their number and heal, but this was when our aerial troops swooped down from above to provide a distraction.
The harpies descended, creating sharp cyclones of wind, and fighting with their talons.
Chirons screeched a glass-breaking sound as they dropped down, and then picked soone to latch onto with their fangs like their life depended on it. Which it did. Not many of these guys were even gold-rank material.
They were cut down and blasted apart by our enemies in their death throes. A regrettable number of harpies and chirons t their ends here. But for their sacrifice, the enemy had lost the opportunity to regroup and were now getting slaughtered. Eden made the pragmatic choice of abandoning them, and had instead ran towards the nearest cluster of her allies.
“TO ! STOP HER! SAVE YOUR QUEEN!” Her voice ca out, along with a powerful wave of emotion. Our enemies entered an enraged and frantic state, now throwing themselves at to die. Arrows and spells flew as I was surrounded and hemd in by their warriors and tanks. I tried to take off, but my wings were naturally targeted when I did. I descended back to the ground, and shredded my enemies in turn. I only minimized the damage that I took as I made my way past the sea of writhing bodies, and towards the direction where Eden had fled. I reached her, and clenched Devilcalibur’s hilt in fury when I saw her wounds being nded by a very powerful nature healer. Except he was no longer using nature magic, but instead life magic! The belfegor mage was actually soone I recognized, for he was present during the earlier battle of our elites, but he had sohow slipped away long before Moonwash could cast her ritual. And he was not alone, for all their healers were now converging here. The sun magic of a hundred sundertops turned the entire space into a blinding star. Eden was even chugging down potions, all of which I recognized to be made by Moonwash!
“THOSE ARE NOT FOR YOU!” I scread, but it was too late. I charged, and Eden sprung up, healed enough. She made an easy and delighted smile as she avoided all my attacks. I was the one completely surrounded this ti, and her people did not hesitate to give their lives to cling unto and hold back for even just a single breath. Even the waves of hellfire and curse were unable to hold all of them back.
Eden naturally did not let go of this chance either, as it was now my turn to suffer catastrophic damage. I avoided getting my head chopped off at all cost, but that cost was precisely an arm and a leg.
“Retribution of The Abscised!”
I called upon a ritual I hadn’t used in a while, but Eden had mitigated the damage by imdiately jumping back after she’d cut off my arm. She only did the sa when I cast the sa ritual for my leg. The information of that ritual I used in Astro’s prison had naturally reached her.
“HAELL!”
“HANG IN THERE!”
“RIGHT HERE!”
“DON’T DIE!”
“WE’RE COMING!”
“PLEASE!”
My side’s elites, who had survived unlike her own, finally arrived. This gave Eden a greater sense of urgency, but I managed to escape by beating my healed wings so hard that they broke again after only one flap. I crashed through so many armored enemy soldiers along my supersonic tumble, until I was finally caught by soone so endlessly dependable and kind.
“Thanks, Dad,” I muttered, just as the wave of allied healing ca. The extra help was appreciated, though there would be diminishing returns. My missing limbs were already halfway healed, and now they shot forward, whole and hale.
Eden cut through walls upon walls of roots and thorns, past great workings of magic that stalled her, only to find Devilcalibur descending from above like a guillotine, just as powerful as before!
My enemy jumped back and wasn’t caught, but she was certainly spooked. The confident, if annoyed expression on her face fell away, replaced by a frown so sour you would think she was dying.
“Limb regrowth? So it wasn’t a one-ti thing, nor sothing you can only do with a ritual so massive.” She sighed like the weight of the whole galaxy rested on her shoulders. “So ridiculous. So uncontrollable. Unwilling to listen to reason.”
She parried more of my attacks. She had to dodge the spells of my allies, though most of them were still focused on her enraged army. I did not stop to chat. But that was precisely what Eden wanted to do as she turned around and just ran.
“STOP THEM! STOP HER! GIVE YOUR LIVES IF YOU MUST! DO NOT DIE WITHOUT TAKING A HUNDRED WITH YOU! YOU WILL BE REMBERED AS GREAT WARRIORS BY THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE–NAY, THE VERY HEAVENLY HEGEMONY! FOR THE ANGELS! FOR THE ANGELIC GOD!”
“FOR THE ANGELS! FOR THE ANGELIC GOD!”
Our enemies charged at us with an outright suicidal rush. Other fronts were abandoned, just to converge on my position, and that of my friends and family. The gates of their second set of walls opened, and the troops spilled out with the sa fervor. I could charge after Eden, but she was still deep inside the enemy formation, and I had already learned my lesson about engaging her in such a situation.
“AARGGHH!!” I roared in frustration. At my weakness. Unable to kill the enemy queen when she’d already presented her head to on a silver platter. Such a good opportunity might not co again.
“FOR QUEEN EDEN!”
“FOR HOLY EDENGAR!”
“FOR ADAMO!”
“FOR EVEL!”
“KILL THE REBELS!”
“BURN THE HERETICS!”
“DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!”
“WE HAVE THEM SURROUNDED!”
“FOR OCIRIN!”
“PROTECT OUR PEOPLE!”
“JUST HOLD ON!”
“THE QUEEN WILL BE BACK!”
“WITH HER WE’RE INVINCIBLE!”
The Edengarians chose the worst ti to try and crush us with the sheer weight of their bodies. I ground the weak, pathetic, and fragile carcasses of my enemies with the sheer weight of my greatsword. I drank of their blood to replenish my empty stores. I’d nearly used up all the archdemon blood stored in my extra-dinsional blood storage, actually. I’d overused my hellfire and curse mana, so now I had to use them sparingly.
It was good enough to kill this rabble anyway. My hearts pumped, and my reserves of magic grew with every second. My enemies too cald, and then despaired, as Eden’s influence disappeared.
As did the vile woman herself.
I clicked my tongue when I got confirmation that she’d escaped.
Ocirin City was inevitably brought down without her help, nor of the many elites that she lost, because she actually thought she could defeat with them. But the victorious battle still left a slight bitter taste in my mouth, for it was like I’d been presented a bloody treat that I was just unable to get no matter what I did.
I swore in my hearts that the next ti we t, Eden would be nothing more than a stain on the road in the face of my power.
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