The skeletal army surged forward with coordinated precision that spoke of military training retained even in death. I gripped my demonic spear tighter, feeling the familiar weight of Incursio's armor as I calculated angles and distances. Without my fundamental force abilities, this fight would come down to pure combat skill and tactical thinking.
One hundred enemies, elevated position disadvantage, unknown capabilities from that hybrid spear. But how the hell did Yoruichi end up here?*
"Yoruichi?!" I couldn't hide my shock even with skeletal warriors bearing down on us. "What are you doing here? How did you—"
"I saw that purple mist starting to swallow you and jumped in after you," she said matter-of-factly, golden eyes already tracking the approaching undead. "Seemed like the smart thing to do at the time."
"You jumped into unknown magic? That was incredibly reckless!"
She shot me a look that was equal parts amused and exasperated. "Says the man who has picked fight with a god. Besides, someone I have to keep you from getting yourself killed, You're my only way to return back home"
Despite the dire situation, I felt a surge of gratitude mixed with concern. She'd risked herself to follow me into what was obviously a trap.
"Well, since you're here," I said, gripping my spear tighter, "these things are self-repairing and we need to coordinate our attacks. Can you fight with your abilities suppressed?"
"What do you take me for? I was throwing down long before I learned to manipulate spiritual energy," she replied with a confident grin "I'm gonna enjoy cracking some bones!"
The first wave reached us in loose formation, rusted swords and spears thrusting toward vital points with mechanical efficiency. I spun my weapon in a wide arc, the demonic spear's enhanced cutting power cleaving through three skeletal warriors in one motion. Their bones scattered, but the necromantic magic quickly began pulling the fragments back into combat-ready forms.
Yoruichi's response was pure artistry. Even with her abilities suppressed, centuries of hand-to-hand combat experience showed in every movement. She flowed like liquid lightning between the skeletal ranks, each strike finding structural weak points that dismantled the undead with surgical precision.
"Self-repairing enemies," she observed, catching a skeletal sword with her bare hands and snapping it before driving the broken blade through its wielder's spine. "How delightfully tedious."
We fell into a fighting rhythm, our combat styles complementing each other perfectly. Where I used reach and cutting power with my spear, she employed speed and precision strikes that exploited skeletal joints and connection points. Together, we managed to create a defensive perimeter that the undead couldn't easily breach.
But the numbers were still overwhelming, and I could see Cao Cao beginning his descent from the mountain, that hybrid spear radiating suppressive energy that made the air itself feel thick and hostile.
Need to change the terrain to our advantage.*
I spotted the collapsed remains of what had once been a stone house and sprinted toward it, using my enhanced speed to stay ahead of the pursuing undead army. "Yoruichi, this way! We can use the ruins for cover!"
She followed immediately, her movements so fluid she seemed to dance between the grasping skeletal hands. We vaulted over a crumbling wall and took defensive positions among the rubble.
The confined space worked exactly as I'd hoped. The skeletal warriors had to approach through narrow gaps between collapsed walls, limiting their ability to surround us and forcing them into predictable attack patterns.
"Much better," Yoruichi said, systematically dismantling a skeleton that tried to climb over the wall. "Though we're still badly outnumbered."
I continued my systematic destruction of the undead, but kept one eye on Cao Cao's approach. The hybrid spear in his hands pulsed with that suppressive energy, and I could feel my enhanced abilities from Incursio beginning to weaken the closer he got.
Cao Cao had reached the base of the mountain now, approaching at a measured pace. His confidence was evident – he clearly believed his skeletal army would wear us down before he needed to engage directly.
"You know," I called out to him while decapitating two skeletons with a single sweep, "I'm curious about that weapon. Divine and necromantic magic don't usually play well together. How did Hades manage to make them compatible?"
"The Divine Spear suppresses all supernatural forces while the necromantic staff provides the power for animation," Cao Cao replied, apparently unconcerned about explaining his advantage. "Hades is more creative than most give him credit for."
Dual-function weapon with potentially conflicting magical systems. That suggests there might be structural weaknesses if I can force them to work against each other.*
I maneuvered toward a specific section of the ruins where the fallen stones had now revealed a particular pattern – the remnants of what looked like a giant magic circle which seemed to glow every time he used his animation skill.
"The real question," I continued conversationally, driving my spear into the ground at a precise weak point, "is what happens when you lose one of your trump cards"
The ground gave way with a satisfying crack, sending a dozen skeletal warriors tumbling into the newly opened pit. More importantly, the sudden terrain change forced Cao Cao to adjust his approach, breaking his concentration on maintaining the suppression field and loosing access to the animation skill momentarily but then he used it once again.
Damn it! Just how many magic circles did he have around this place?!
For just a moment, I felt my abilities flicker back to partial strength. But no access to my Fundamental forces, shit.
I sprinted directly at Cao Cao, covering the distance while his suppression field was still in action. His hybrid spear met my demonic weapon in a shower of sparks, the collision sending shockwaves through both our arms.
Up close, I could see the strain the weapon was putting on him. Managing both divine suppression and necromantic animation simultaneously was clearly taxing, even for someone of his skill level.
"You're slower than before," I observed, deflecting a thrust aimed at my chest. "That spear is limiting you as much as it's limiting us."
"Perhaps," he acknowledged through gritted teeth, "but I have other resources at my disposal."
That's when he made the call that changed everything.
"Georg!" Cao Cao shouted while maintaining pressure on me with his spear. "It's time. Summon him."
Him? Is he about to bring Hades?
Georg's response came immediately from his position overlooking the battlefield, his professional calm never wavering. "Understood. Beginning summoning sequence for Samael."
The purple mist around us began to shift and coalesce, taking on a darker, more malevolent quality. The air itself seemed to grow heavier, filled with an oppressive presence that made my skin crawl even through Incursio's armor. The temperature dropped noticeably as something that transcended the normal laws of existence began to manifest.
"Yoruichi!" I shouted over the growing supernatural disturbance. "Get out of there, fast!"
Even the skeletal army had stopped their advance, as if they recognized the presence of something that dwarfed their necromantic animation. In the swirling darkness, I could see the outline of something massive taking shape.
First came an enormous cross – ancient, ominous, easily twenty feet tall. Then the figure bound to it began to solidify from the malevolent mist.
It was a sight that defied natural order. His upper body retained the twisted semblance of what had once been a Fallen Angel, but corrupted beyond recognition. Pale, sickly skin stretched over an unnaturally muscular frame, and where an angel's mouth should have been, curved fangs protruded like ivory daggers designed for tearing flesh. His lower body was that of an Asian Dragon, scales black as the void between stars, coiling with serpentine power despite his bound state.
The restraints were what truly drove home the horror of what we faced. Ancient nails had been driven through his arms, wings, and tail, pinning him to the cross with deliberate cruelty. Binding chains covered in archaic script wrapped around his entire form, each glowing letter representing divine power meant to contain something that should never have existed. Most disturbing of all was the bloodied blindfold covering his eyes, tears of crimson seeping from beneath the cloth as if his very existence was eternal agony.
"Who dares summon me to this pathetic realm?" Samael's voice was like the whisper of death itself, carrying undertones of pain, rage, and something far worse – the promise of corruption that could poison the very concept of divinity.
Those burning eyes behind the blindfold fixed on our general direction, and I felt the weight of attention from something that had existed since the dawn of creation. The air around him shimmered with toxic energy that would make breathing feel dangerous.
Cao Cao's smile was triumphant even as sweat beaded on his forehead from the strain of maintaining his weapon's dual functions. "I have need of your services, Dragon Eater, Samael. These two have proven... troublesome. That one," he pointed at me with his spear, "has destroyed multiple Longinus users and wields power of a very powerful dragon"
"Foolish mortal, you think you can give me orders?" There was terrible interest in that simple sound. Then his attention shifted between us like a predator evaluating prey, more specifically at me "Yes, I can sense it even through these accursed bindings. You carry the stench of being that I absolutely detest."
This just became a completely different kind of fight. We're not just facing Cao Cao anymore – we're up against something that was cursed by God himself and has spent millennia perfecting the art of killing dragons and anything associated with them.*
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