Kane was standing on top of the ridge, looking down on the soldiers and what
they had next in mind to do, as he saw the formation being split up into two
formations, a wing on each side. The monster group was being ushered to the front
line and remained there. What the hell were they up to now? Did they really think
about attacking? It didn’t matter, they had to prepare so he returned to the camp fire.
Kane looked over them, staring at each of them for a long moment in turn. ‘’I
will rush the shield summoner and kill him, hopefully. Alpha, you just jump around the
battlefield along with your helpers, killing people at your will, Gabriel, you will take
one wing as well. Our ladies, Janine and Rasiela, summon a pair of abyss golems
each and send them into the monster group’’ Kane said and paused for the directions
to sink in. ‘’Please, keep an eye on the whole battlefield. If you see someone is in
trouble, help them. Most of all, help our ladies stay safe’’ Kane said as he looked
over at Walfrid. Form a wall around them and be vigilant, do not get lost in awe as
you see us fighting, understood? Theirr golems will play a big role in this battle
because if either of us had to deal with them, one or the other thing could get past
the golems and get up here’’
Janine pulled up her sleeves, showing off the molochite which was glowing
violently with a swirling purple haze. Kane’s Belial started glowing as well, a green
poisonous colour. His skin started feeling strange, as anticipating battle, hardening it
slightly. The rush of magic went through them both, as they were mentally
connected, the sensation was even stronger and felt more alive than not. Rasiela and
Gabriel looked over at them, questioningly, not understanding what they were going
through at that moment, but soon gave up and turned around, embarrassed by the
groping and moaning they were showing off without any sense of shame, like usual.
A few long moments later, Kane and Janine came to their senses and kissed each
other violently once, then separated and nodded at each other.
‘’Let’s go’’ Alpha yelled, running down the slope, gaining speed by the second,
Beta and Gamma on his heels. Kane shook his head in amusement and nodded
towards Gabriel, wishing him luck and they ran off behind Alpha, hoping all would go
well this day, so they could return home and take some time for themselves. Rasiela
and Janine started chanting, holding their hands over their breasts, pressing their
nails in hard, almost drawing blood over the dresses they had on. The ground started
shaking violently, rumbling and shredding all around them. The soldiers who had
formed a protective wall were stumbling over each other in their heavy armours,
trying to get up again. Rasiela and Janine didn’t seem to feel or notice what was
happening all around them and they went on with their chants. The rest of their group
was far off behind them, the six women and Herald, who went into some kind of
trance, so they weren’t in any danger, yet. Suddenly, in front of them, the ground
erupted, spewing out rock which was sent flying towards the enemy lines, dropping
just ahead of Alpha, who was almost upon the enemy already. Out of the ground
came eight pairs of thick and long hands, black as tar, glistening in the sunlight, as if
oiled up. Four mighty abyss golems were rising out of the holes created moments
before. Sharp edges on all of the joints and massive fists. The bodies roughly looked
like a human’s, but carved into stone, and much larger. As the golems drew
themselves out of the ground and were standing up slowly, one of them was standing
taller then the other three. Almost doubling the others in size, glowing with a purple
hue, as if the air around him was blurred out of existence, he roared as he got onto
his feet. The sound was primordial, guttural, violent. At that moment, Janine knew he
would be hard to control, and that something was off, as he was trying to twist control
from her and it was all she could do to keep him under control, straining the magic
pool of her and Kane, massively. She saw Kane stopped running down the hill,
clutching his chest and convulsing violently onto the ground. A few moments later he
coughed up some blood and stood up, shakily, still clutching at his chest, but not
moving. Alpha felt something was wrong, but still pressed on, soul forging together
with Beta and Gamma until there was an army of them, smaller versions of
themselves, as lethal as their bigger counterparts. Moments before they reached the
left wing, there were hundreds of Alphas, Betas and Gammas and they swept into
the wall of shields as a tidal wave, knocking the soldiers down and ripping at their
throats and bodies.
‘’Damn mut’’ Kane muttered to himself. ‘’He didn’t tell me he learned
something new, again’’ he laughed and started walking again, getting his breath back
and the pain subsiding. The belial started vibrating and pulsating, compensating for
the damage done earlier by the sudden magic spike caused by the golem. At the
same moment Gabriel had reached the right wing which had stopped in front of him,
as if not knowing how to proceed. Gabriel decided for them as he activated his own
soul forge. Two long blades, thin as an ordinary knife some two meters in length,
razorsharp. As he rushed into the right wing of soldiers, he activated his soul burn, a
burning flame of purple appearing around him, it looked as if he was on fire. As he
made contact with the line of soldiers, he propelled himself off the front rank,
stepping on the first few shields and landing in their midst, spinning his blades in
circles, cutting down soldier after soldier. After he finished his spin he started
slashing indiscriminately at soldiers, one by one, cutting them apart or just cutting
them open. Within the first minute of his contact a hundred dead soldiers lay around
him. He was trying to preserve strength in case something out of the ordinary
happened. Suddenly, a spear pierced his side. How did he miss the spear? It must
have been thrown from afar. As he ripped the spear out of his side it turned into a
snake, growing constantly in size until it had reach an enormous length, perhaps
twenty meters in length, a good meter thick. It had a sharp outer layer, as if it was
made out of razor blades all over it’s whole body. Gabriel backed off, afraid of the
sudden appearance of the snake. The soldiers backed off as well at its sight and the
snake swirled into itself, bringing its head towards Gabriel, its long tongue hissing at
his face.
‘’Ussssse me. I kill for u’’ the snake hissed. An enormous smile appeared on
Gabriel’s face as he looked over towards the hill, where Rasiela was waving at him.
‘Damn woman, you scared me to death’’ he sent her telepathically. She winked and
went back to control over her golems. As on cue, the snake started spinning around
in circles, shredding up soldiers in its wake, some biting in half with its huge mouth
and swallowing even more of them. The real carnage on the right wing had just
started.
The golems were rushing down the hill, the earth trembling under their weight
and force as they lifted stones off the ground as they ran, hurling them into the group
of monsters. Two were killed by huge boulders the massive golem had thrown in their
direction, penetrating a greptodont and a silvaren. The remaining eleven monsters
started running, gliding and sliding towards the golems and were on top of them
within seconds. The bulk of the enemy monster group was made out of fomordil’s,
large monsters looking like a bull on two legs. They had a massive torso and iron like
fists which they used to pummel their enemies to death. Huge two horns on top of
their head which were sharp from both sides and could be used to slash and slice, in
total seven of them. The remaining four were two more greptodont’s and two
silvaren’s. As the groups clashed, the huge golem just jumped on top of the nearest
four fomordil’s, pinning them to the ground, crushing two in an instant, as it’s twenty
ton heavy body fell on top of its enemies. The remaining two tried to get out from
under him, but the second golem crushed its head with a massive hit of its fist, at
which moment the other three remaining fomordil’s pummeled into the golem, pieces
of its body flying in every direction with each punch that connected. It tried to block
the carnage with its massive arms, but as one hit connected, it severed the golem’s
arm and it fell to the ground. The other two golem’s were busy with the greptodont’s
and silvaren’s. Obviously, they were no match for the two golems, so one of the
greptodont’s lunged at one golem, bringing it down and the other three ganged up on
the other golem, bringing it to the ground in a carnage of stone and debris. They
couldn’t do much damage, but somehow they managed to rip off its head and the
golem disappeared. The other golem had stood up and pummeled the greptodont’s
head in and launched himself at the silvaren standing atop of the dead golem,
flattening it with a loud shriek.
The trio left a torrent of blood and carnage behind them, swirling around the
battlefield, their large numbers decimating the soldiers. For every copy of the trio that
died, another reappeared and the carnage kept going on, until the magic was being
drained, slowly and the lost copies weren’t replaced anymore. By that time, the tidal
wave had killed over ten thousand soldiers and forced them to retreat, routing the left
wing. Just in time since their magic was all but there, depleted to the point they could
just sustain their own bodies. The right wing having seen the route of the left and the
death toll the snake and the lone man were taking on them, did basically the same
after a few thousand more had died, without even a single more scratch on the man
or the snake. Seeing that the monster group was having the upper hand, the snake
and Gabriel rushed to help the golems, which were being beaten to death. The one
remaining golem was facing off the three fomordil’s, the greptodont and the silvaren.
Gabriel jumped on top of the silvaren, slashing at it and cutting it up within moments,
his soul burn helping with the penetration and slashing of the meat and hide. He ran
up its back and finally slashed at its head, cutting it neatly off. The snake had come
up behind him and had rushed into the greptodont, entangling herself around it and
shredding it up with its razor sharp skin. The silvaren was dead even before the
snake had crushed him. All that was left was the three fomordil’s which were backing
off from the golem. He took one of the dead fomordil’s bodies and rushed at the three
left standing and clubbed them before they could run, sending them flying and falling
to the ground. The golem then stepped up towards the three fomordil’s and kept
beating at their heads until there was nothing left beside a puddle of gore and blood.
The golem raised his fists in the air, as if acknowledging its own victory, a strange,
hoarse and guttural sound coming from its mouth, the sound of victory.
There was still a large group of soldiers left at the center, standing in front of
the man with the barrier. Panic was written on the face of the enemy and some even
tried to turn around and run towards their castle, but were picked off by the casters in
their midst. The lone figure from earlier who had summoned the shield started
walking towards the front line. A barrier could be seen forming around the man as he
walked towards Kane, Who started chanting his own spell out loud, summoning two
huge blades, light as feathers, sharp as razor blades. The blades were two meters
long each, and almost shadowed Kane as he held them up in his hands. An evil
smile painted itself on his face, a dark expression and then his eyes went black,
Egeryon had taken over. Kane charged into the defensive line and slashed at the
group of soldiers that had stood with the hooded man, wildly, cutting through armour,
shield and blades alike, decapitating men and horse in a bloody frenzy. Within a few
seconds of slashing around, a black mist appeared around Kane, suddenly getting
thicker and covering more and more area around him as he was cutting the soldiers
apart. As the blood mixed with the fog, it seemed to pulsate with life and in an instant,
it grew more than tenfold around him, and again tenfold. Roughly hundred meters
across to each side was covered in darkness. A vacuum appeared drawing in
anything above and inside the fog. Time seemed to stop and everything stood still.
The sky grew dark, almost pitch black, all the light draining instantaneously from the
area around the castle, a dozen kilometres across. Kane floated up to the air, raising
his hands up, still clutching at the blades which disappeared a moment later. The fog
drew within itself shrinking by the moment leaving nothing behind. Red bloody earth,
metal parts from armour and blades, bones and wasteland. Across the whole area
affected by the thick, pulsating fog, everything died a horrible death, leaving only a
presence of agony and fear in the air. Time seemed to move again and the soldiers
closest to the fog which were spared, fell to their knees and weeped, mostly grateful
to have kept their lives, but losing part of their sanity in the process. They had seen
what happened within the fog, the horrors it had harboured and the agony their
comrades had gone through. As Kane dropped to the sticky ground, the lines
withdrew into themselves, leaving an even larger empty area around the man. Kane
put up one of his hands again and the blood started rising into the air, amassing into
a large, drifting pool above his head. As soon as it had gathered, the blood
evaporated into Kane’s hand. A strong light red glow surrounded him, marking him
amidst the darkness that had befallen the whole battlefield. Kane twitched a bit as he
felt the magic pool draining ever faster. He looked over towards the hill and sent a
mental note to Janine, who was sweating and breathing hard, barely keeping control
of the golem to unsummon him or just release it, no way he could fight being drained
by the golem at this pace..
‘’You wouldn’t mind if he wreaked havoc upon the humans, would you, darling.
O how i wish that Egeryon was never a part of you. You hunger for death, for
destruction. Where will it end?’’ Janine sent him as a mental note back. .
‘’Where i want it to end, wench!’’ Egeryon sent his own message towards her.
He had listened in, of course, since he was in control of Kane, gathering his tribute
for the day.
‘’Do not insult my wife, you demon, or i will carve you out!’’ Kane yelled back at
him. Grasping for control, not succeeding quite, his magic reserves mostly depleted.
Egeryon could feel it and he didn’t waste any time. He pushed Kane away, locking
him inside, putting up a barrier between themselves At that moment, they all knew
what had happened, and felt it. Gabriel, the trio and the snake all ran, glided or slided
back towards where Janine and Rasiela were standing and stepped up between the
two women and Kane, even though a few hundred meters was separating them, not
taking any chances.
‘’Do not panic, my loved ones’’ Egeryone shouted, his voice amplified by a
strange magic ‘’You will not be harmed today. I will let you leave in peace. However!’’
he shouted even louder, ‘’The same could not be said for the rest of the men present
here. They will serve as a sacrifice for my own glorification. What better way for them
to use their life, then to die for me!’’
‘’You filthy liar!’’ Kane screamed at Egeryon. ‘’We had a deal. You would retain
control over this body when i was at my journey’s end! Not before!’’
‘’Well, i lied. I am an ancient demon, after all. Am i not?’’ he smirked, his image
floating beyond the barrier, inside of Kane’s mind. As suddenly as he had appeared,
he was gone again. All Kane could do was hope that he would not harm his loved
ones and stare through a looking glass, a world beyond his own eyes, without any
chance of doing something about his own actions. He had lost his freedom, and if
something would happen to Janine, he would lose his will to live on. He would be as
good as dead.
‘’What happened?’’ Gabriel asked as Alpha walked up towards them. ‘’Anyone
has a damn idea?’’ he almost yelled, as they were all staring out towards the
battlefield and Kane, who was walking towards the shielded man.
‘’He… lost’’ Janine said as she started sobbing uncontrollably, hysterically.
‘’Egeryon put a barrier between himself and Kane! He has lost control of his body!’’
she yelled out again. Rasiela stepped over towards her, taking Janine into her arms,
tears rolling down her cheeks as well. ‘’I have lost him!’’ she yelled again, now
screaming atop of her lungs, pulling her hair and hitting herself with her clenched
fists, clawing at her own face. Gabriel stepped up as well, holding her arms down as
Rasiela held her chest and head down.
‘’We will find a way, sister!’’ Rasiela yelled. ‘’We will get him back, i promise!
Please do not do this to yourself!’’
‘’You do not understand’’ Janine replied. ‘’He is my life. Without him i want to
die! Kill me, please, kill me now! Spare me a life without him!’’ A loud slap could be
heard amongst her screaming. Rasiela had slapped her face with all her power,
rocking her head to the side. It became red instantly, swelling up to the damage
done. It had the desired effect though, as she stopped crying and screaming.
‘’Listen to me, you idiot!’’ Rasiela yelled at her. ‘’If you kill yourself, his body
will die as well. As long as the both of you are alive, there is a chance for you to get
him back. Do not lose hope yet!’’ Janine’s eyes went wide, realising how she forgot
something as basic as that. They were bound for life, and if Egeryon didn’t want to
give him back, she would make him, or the three of them would die together at her
own hands.
In the meantime, Alpha was observing what was happening down the hill on
the battlefield. Egeryon was on a rampage again. He had somehow changed the
shape of Kane’s soul forge. It was a huge scythe at the moment, which he was using
to slice through the masses as if they were nothing more than mere air. Egeryon
looked frightening, even worse than the worst nightmare someone could dream up
and he was chasing down anyone who was running, larger clusters dieing first. The
longer you looked at him, the more he looked like death incarnate. He was engulfed
in a black flame that licked the air around him, never straying too far from him and,
he himself was pitch black, with a tinge of red shadow here and there. The forms of
his armour was clearly visible though, the spikes on the edge of his shoulderplates,
the horns atop his helmet, the curves and lines of his breastplate and greaves. A
dark knight, no even better, a death knight, Alpha thought to himself. How the hell am
i supposed to stop that? Each time he brandished his scythe, a score died. It was
truly a crowd controlling weapon, keeping the soldiers at bay, but killing masses with
each flourish. Alpha counted to twenty inside of his mind, and at the twentieth second
there lay another thousand dead. Suddenly, Egeryon looked over towards the
shielded man, who seemed to figure that something had happened, but still didn’t
back down, rather he was pressing on, even though all of the monsters were dead.
He rose one hand in the air and chanted something, what Alpha couldn’t read on his
lips as they were too far apart. A second barrier appeared around him, but instead of
staying there, it floated over to Egeryon. Too late did he figure out what it was as the
barrier surrounded him, pressing him down to the ground with the weight of a
mountain. Egeyron first fell down on one knee then on both knees and his arms,
pressing into the ground, sinking into it slowly.
‘’What… did you… do’’ Egeryon muttered, looking at the shielded man. He
flashed a smile.
‘’I knew you would come out, fiend. Too much temptation for you not to, my old
friend’’ a familiar voice said to Egeryon, who snapped his head up, questioningly,
staring at the man. Kane was looking through his own eyes as well, noting a faint
familiarness in the other man’s face. Kanes eyes went wide open, as well as
Egeryon’s. ‘’Father!’’ Kane said at the same moment Egeryon muttered ‘’Nemesis,
you have come’’