Sabreman spat tobacco into the soaked dirt, placed another silverblast tip on the lance, screwed it into place and winced as Leon treated his wound. The bastard had run low on mana since the third attack, his eyes were heavy with bags.
"You should piss off." Sabreman grunted, "Need as many medicus alive as we can afford."
"Athoric's orders are to remain." He shielded his eyes from the rain with his hand that was missing three fingers, "Radu and Davis say they can cover for you this impact."
Impact, stupid name. "What of the Knights?"
"We've lost four to the greater demons," he said somberly, "They collapsed the cave on themselves, said they're dead while they were still alive and kept fighting."
"True believers." Sabreman said drily as he gave their shoddy camp a combat assessment that came up in the godless reds, "Withdrawal order?"
"Not until Chel is evacuated." Hobbes said from atop a horse, in his shining bloody armour with fresh troops, "I've brought the reserves, we are going to spit in Ephem's eye and feed her holy water."
"Officer Chief and Sub Marshal Hobbes," Sabreman said, "How piss poorly have we bloody stepped into a plot that's had the stars wheeling for years on?"
"The northerners call this stepping in black cat's shit." Hobbes galloped off with his troops.
The air left Amelia's lungs.
A demon contorted the air with a spell that stained the air a darker shade of crimson. One of the Paladins struck it with an English longbow; its eyes erupted black sludge. Reconciler evaporated the liquid with a burst of flame. The melee continued in cycles of new arrivals being obliterated by their militaristic offensive. Everyone watches everyone's backs. Reconciler compensated for Amelia's lack of training. She detonated as many demons as she could manage. Other Paladins destroyed portals on contact with their Hashtar weapons.
"Crescent Moon!" Saint of Sin Bane bellowed.
Reconciler grabbed her and pulled her down as a blinding white flash of light sliced the room from the neck up The knights and paladins were unaffected. But all the demons collapsed without their heads. They began to regenerate, but were quickly put down for good by fire and divine spells. Carbyne fired blasts of fire that seared the trash spawn into molten meat she ate with surprising ease.
Lily-May had departed a while ago. Hopefully, the city was on its way out to being evacuated, but that would mean they would have to remain here locked in combat for hours. She drew breath, readied her club.
Be as an angel of death.
She plunged into the heart of the melee, underneath the dripping blood of the lake suspended on the ceiling. She was at least somewhat of a threat to demons, but spent her time cleaning up the seemingly endless legions of trash that dragged their arses out of the portals. Chewing on flesh, muscle, organ and bone to maintain her mana. She hovered over thirty per cent and was steadily dropping one or two per cent below, which forced her to eat more. On a particularly heavy hit to an ephesh that tasted dry, she ducked under a kick from Masa. Then bit into the woman's leg. Slammed her onto the ground with her jaw. Carbyne swung her club down and shattered the woman's skull, and drank more of her blood. Only sustenance. No, buffs or powers. She touched the woman all over and hurled her corpse into a portal before detonating it inside. She crawled out, laughing madly. Carbyne fired spheres of flame. More trash low-level creatures took them and splattered themselves across the floor.
"Ephem calls me to the Chel Cave, Carbyne. Come, take revenge for Esther Crossbridge."
"Crossbridge?" Reconciler stepped forward and looked at the two of them, "She did what to Crossbridge?"
"She raped her," Amelia whispered.
"I see." Reconciler slapped Amelia's shoulder, "After this battle is done, you will train with us before going to the dungeon."
"I thought we were—"
"The battle happens now." He looked up at the ceiling again.
The pool of blood rippled rapidly, and a hand the size of a car emerged with black flames flowing from the tip.
"Baal approaches, brothers!" Reconciler said.
A Templar dressed in armour with cloths depicting upside-down red crosses began to chant. The only words Amelia recognised were 'Salve regina.'
"Sir Reconciler," Amelia said, "How do we win?"
"By destroying each portal and then this structure that has anchored it." He said, "I have an idea, and I'm sure you have the same."
She nodded, "I can touch the entire room and myself to set off a multiplicative explosion."
"Let it be done. We will destroy the building from the outside once the portals are sealed. We have Sir Dornwalt defending your room in the Inn."
She smiled at him, "I know you're asking me to die, but you've treated me well. All of you. I'm not mad and I'm happy to do it."
"We're furious that we must ask a woman to end her own life simply because we are valuable tools of the Lord." He said, "But cold-blooded warfare will win us the victory."
"Be as angels of death." Amelia deployed a smoke screen from her pores.
Hours passed with Hobbes' men changing shifts with Sabreman's squad, who had Targon at the head. Two more knights had perished in the melee along with thirty soldiers. Sabreman gritted his teeth for the bad news about his arm.
"You're lucky." Akatsuki said, "I won't have the pleasure of amputating it. You can keep the arm, but you're not fighting again. Start preparing Silverblast and more heavy bolted ammo."
"But-"
"Shut your inbred easterner mouth and do your job." She kicked his shin lightly and marched off.
"How's Esther?"
Sabreman's mouth nearly fell open in shock when for once in her life, Akatsuki looked remorseful.
"Report, Akatsuki." Hobbes approached from the other side, "I'm sure Sabreman wants to hear it."
"Esther was raped," she chewed the words, "And she awakened the divine gift of Foretelling."
"What is foretold?"
She shook her head, "Baal will take his place among the Elder Qiddish. The one who will be instrumental in man's bid to defeat them requires the King's plan to be fulfilled. He is called Yan, born of a human, an alien resident and Revairrejun."
"Revairrejun?" Sabreman had never heard the word before, "Anything else?"
"She said they're closely related to Fae, we must cross the mountains to rescue them, and the plan will unfold once that's done."
"Which means the Nullshade project must succeed." Hobbes folded his arms.
"Sir!" a sapper bellowed, "Breach incoming, third impact. Our Silverblast cannons are ready!"
"Send them back to the hells!"
Sabreman laughed as the explosions rang into the cavern's giant maw. Bits and pieces of demons were lobbed into the air and splattered the troops, who cheered at the deathly fireworks display.
The Knights and Paladins had retreated into the tunnel with Amelia to make culling the stupid demons who attempted to charge through more easily. With her vengeance for Esther trapped behind legions of demonkind in Chel's dungeon, she felt frustration building in her bones as she loosed more explosives. Waiting and waiting, rotations and shift changes. Bludgeoning demons and the like. She wanted to leap in there and play cubby with Baal's fucking head.
No, she took a ragged breath of bloody air, Be as an angel of death.
"The evacuation is complete!" Lily-May bellowed.
Ammy-Mel squeezed Reconciler's shoulder, and he nodded.
Her nerves gave her brain a shock when she upped her density and held it to break through the demon's ranks with an all-out sprint and leap out of a video game into the centre of the room, where pale-skinned demons that looked human with charcoal-black eyes began to form. She loosed a smoke screen from her pores. Spawned disembodied shadowmancy hands and touched herself all over. Touched the room, furniture and all the demons around her. Spread the touch to the entire room and even onto the ceiling under the pool of blood.
"Line end's here, cunt." She clicked her tongue to set off the eruptions as a demon lunged for her. She screamed as her eyes bubbled in their sockets from the heat—
Lily-May watched the centre of the castle collapse down on itself once all of the Knights and Paladins were outside with the sound of an explosion that shook the entire structure. Disturbed rats and mice, and had the stray cats that the Duke brought in, enjoying free meals. They set out to gallop to the dungeon where a new camp had been set up to thwart the new demonic threat. The Magdaleina were going to be overworked; she'd have to recruit and train some new girls to bolster their ranks for the times ahead. Especially with Akatsuki's worrying prophecy.
The Nullshader was a degenerate knave that should have been sent back. Now she'll either become more hypersexual or become a vengeful revenant; the best she could hope for was both.
As they left the castle, she cursed under her breath at the King's overly macro plans, though she could not deny their efficacy. This is one issue that must be avoided, and for that—
"A message from the king to all Knights, Paladins and the Shieldmaiden of Magdaleina in Chel. Come with me." Said a messenger from the Royal Guard.
"Hail." The Knights and Paladins said.
As per custom, Kells are to remain silent and obey.
"We have identified the traitor who spread information about Nullshade in the ranks and commissioned Magdaleina to provide a lady who reports directly to you, Lily-May. You will report to us; you serve the crown now. You will be assigned a Paladin as a guide, and the King's plans will be revealed to you to a degree. Congratulations on your promotion. Your sister will also receive a reward for safeguarding the Crossbridge child."
"Why was she not under protection to begin with?"
"Naturally, to avoid attention. She was put close to Nullshade, who would see her for her attractions and seek to protect her." The messenger said, "The Duke of Chel was unwise in his trust of Masa. As such, we are increasing Papacy patrols and will establish a new church that will have more fingers in royal families."
She nodded, "The King acts quickly and wisely." Lily-May said meekly.
"The King disagreed with you before you thought that," he said, "He accuses himself of battling worlds but not the enemies within them. He sends his apologies."
Lily-May took a moment's pause to process the travel time. The King figured it out, but without portal spells akin to the sorcery that Ephem wields, it was an impossibility to inform us before the issue happened. And here, he was only two days late at most for us to have made motions. She looked at the black-silver clouds that contorted the space around the manifested Sunbloom they had to free before crossing the mountains. King Dace, it is no wonder you defeated us Kells and every faction of men so easily.
When Amelia watched her body erupt as she awoke in her bed, she slammed her fist against the wall. This time, with the utter evisceration of her body, she was surprised that her fist made a few cracks in the concrete or whatever stone they used. She stood up and looked in the mirror to see that the armoured robes she wore were still on her instead of her usual hoodie; she had less of her gold highlights in her hair. But she felt as if she had rewound to that day she was freshly nineteen and sex starved. She dropped the plates on her battle skirt, trousers, to find her dick and balls still in place, along with her pussy and sat down on the bed. Thumped her fist against the wall, lightly this time.
It was like someone had set cluster bombs off in her chest that boiled her thoughts into a maelstrom of frenzy. She needed to get something done, needed to—
"Fuck." she whispered between her teeth.
Amelia got down on the floor, increased her density and hammered out some push-ups, then sit-ups and squats until she panted for breath while sweating. She punched the floor again and again, then buried her face in a silk-clad pillow.
I'm sorry, Esther.
Tolmyr sat on a model of the solar system that was at least five years out of date. He moved a chess piece on the board beside it and flicked the king piece that represented the Duke of Chel over. Then placed another demonhead piece onto the board.
"That wine must look appealing," Lily-May said from the corner of the room.
He nearly jumped out of his skin, "When?"
"I just finished meeting with the king." She said half to herself, "I've astronomical knowledge to share with you from our scientists."