章 17: Nightly demise
Barren wastelands:
A beautiful girl walked near the tent of some soldiers.
She was lightly clothed, showing a fair bit of skin.
Her skin- fair. Her eyes, blue. Hair, light pink.
“Young lady, are you lost?” One of the soldiers said.
There were four soldiers. And they were arguing for quite a while about who’d be the one to go ask the girl. In the end- the lucky one- won.
The girl didn’t say anything. Rather, she just smiled and walked closer to the soldier. There were two cute wings behind her back- unseen.
Other tents were in the distance: soldiers everywhere. Pyres, camp fires.
This whole place would be a battlefield in a day. But now, everything was so peaceful.
Almost as though war wasn’t even a thing.
Since this place was a wasteland of sorts, even monsters weren’t here. The stars were on full display- so were the moons. There was but a speck of clouds in the sky.
And yet- the soldiers didn’t even bother to question, what a girl- a young, beautiful girl like her was doing here.
Perhaps they were too drunk.
“Young- lady-?”
The soldier paused as the girl just stood in front of him. She touched his cheeks, exhaled.
He turned around and walked closer to the other three who weren’t so happy.
“What, got rejected already?” One of them chuckled. The mug on his hand was dry- he’d drank it all.
The rest also chuckled.
The man didn’t say anything and just walked towards them, reached them, unsheathed his sword and- swung.
Slash!
“ARCGH!” One of the soldiers screamed and fell flat on his stomach. The empty mug rolled.
“What are you doing? Have you gone mad!” Another soldier punched the man and he fell on the ground, foamed and died the very next second.
“What the hell?” The other one gasped.
Two soldiers dead.
Hearts raced.
“Wh-where’s the girl?”
The two of them stared around but- the girl wasn’t here.
Nothing.
Silence.
And yet, they could hear each other’s breaths.
“Be-behind yo-” before the soldier could say another word, his armor was pierced. Something sharp or rather a hand had pierced him from behind and he could see the bloodied hand, the blood coming out of him. “Run.” He closed his eyes and slowly fell.
Perhaps he should have been more worried about himself.
The girl- she was behind the pierced soldier, she just smiled, licking her lips.
“The blue-eyed pink demon…” The last soldier muttered. “You’re her… you’re a Succubus!” He unsheathed his sword and prepared for battle.
The girl- still smiling walked flawlessly and impaled the man. She was a good meter away from him, and yet, her hands- almost like a skewer, reached him.
“ARGHHH!” The man shrieked and dropped on the ground, dazed. ‘I’m dead?’
He couldn’t believe it. he’d promised his wife and kids he’d return no matter what.
And yet- he was dying here?
Tears streamed and so did blood. His eyes gradually closed for good.
“What happened!” Soldiers from the nearby tents came running.
But when they appeared, they only found corpses and blood.
“ARGHH!”
Similar screams came from across the tents.
Everywhere.
Screams.
Blood.
Death.
***
“They’re confused my lord,” the young lady lowered her head. Her hair flowed with the wind.
Up in the sky-
“Good, good,” The man’s voice faded with the wind. “Time for stage three.” He was large- perhaps larger than most mortals.
The two were floating in the sky, watching the tents below. The girl had wings, the man did not.
So many pyres, so many men. Just running for their lives, dying below them.
Chaos.
“Sisti, Nana and the others have encountered a hero,” the girl said. “They will not make it.”
“Their sacrifice won’t be in vain.” The man made a fist and held it in front of him. Half of his face was covered in a skull- a skull of a fallen warrior. “Engulf the light, force your way; one DARKNESS!” In a split-second a ball of darkness formed and a second later, spread through the area, covering everything. “We’re done here!”
“Sir!”
The girl closed her eyes, spoke voicelessly, and a moment later hundreds, no thousands of demons flew towards the sky.
Succubi and Incubi.
They were mixed into the army, giving them sweet dreams.
And death.
“Blade of light!” A massive beam of hot light was headed straight for the two.
“GO!” The masked man screamed. “Come, darkness!” a cover of darkness appeared before him and protected him.
But the intensity of the light was too much and he fell to the ground. His ears ringed, he felt faint- but he just stood tall.
Breathing erratic, burns here and there- but he stood.
He had to- for he was the last one. His brothers were dead- and his father too had perished. If he died here, his whole line would cease to be.
The demons escaped but the masked man was now on the ground, surrounded by men, elves, and dwarves.
But more importantly, there was a hero here.
And more were coming.
“TO think you were cowardly enough to attack us during the night!” The hero screamed. He had dark circles beneath his eyes. He’d probably just woken up.
“And to think you’re foolish enough to let your guard down in demon territory,” the masked man fired back. “War isn’t a game boy!” His eyes raged, bloodshot.
“Save your bs. Shreya, do it!”
A girl was also there- another hero?
She lifted her staff in the air and swirled it muttering something.
Meanwhile the screaming hero glowed in a yellow light and grinned. “But you were too hasty.” He came dashing.
The masked man just stood his ground, spear drawn, whispering something.
He didn’t do anything in particular.
And waited.
Waited for the hero to come close.
Waited for him to strike him.
The masked man’s chest was exposed.
And the hero attacked just there- a thrust to the heart. He was fast, too fast for the masked man to dodge. His sword went straight through the masked man’s chest, and came out through his back.
And yet- the masked man didn’t even grunt. He carefully finished whispering. “Reversal,” he spoke fluently.
Instead, the hero threw up blood and fell on the floor.
Meanwhile, the masked man slipped out of the sword and again, took flight. The few soldiers who were supposed to attack, also fell on the ground. They were dead. But they got up a second later and started attacking the other soldiers. They weren’t alive anymore, but they weren’t quite dead either.
“Jay!” The female hero ran to him and started chanting, hands hovering over his chest.
“Why didn’t you kill me!” Jay screamed, throwing up a bit more blood.
The masked man just looked down on him, from the sky. He just grinned and disappeared into the darkness.
Fireballs and thunder went for him, but he was already gone. His mission was complete.
There was no point in risking it. After all, the other heroes had just arrived.
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