Gurren and Lox, within their Devastator armor, couldn’t be touched, and Steve didn’t have a soul nor did he use nanites that powered the Xelur, so it had no effect on him either.
The white light rushed outward, becoming weaker as it was hit by the Mana bolts.
Lox brought his fist back, wreathed in gray Mana. He punched forward and smashed against the attack.
The attack failed. Lox continued to fire his attacks. The Grand Demon Lord now smashed his hammer toward Gurren’s attacks, advancing on him. The pressure from the attacks made it impossible for him to close the mere ten meters quickly.
Steve broke through the war hammer attack at the same time as Gurren. The both of them added in their attacks onto Lox’s. The Grand Demon Lord howled in pain as the three streams of Mana bolts kept it contained. Waves of Mana flew from the three as they looked like demigods trying to restrain the full might of a god between their efforts.
The Grand Demon Lord was completely suppressed as it tried to move; to get past the Mana bolts holding it back.
The power consumption was incredible with runes across all three sets of armor lighting up to collect rampant Mana. The wind was whipped up with this intake sucked in like an ancient beast was trying to breath in the planet’s air.
If the Grand Demon tried to move in one direction, then the three would also move to block him.
The Grand Demon’s soul aura was still strong enough to stop the attacks but it was burning off its soul energy at a massive rate to stay alive. It dropped its hammer, staring directly at Steve, it raised its hands slowly, fighting the streams from Lox and Gurren. Its soul aura spun and twisted down its arms, concentrating in the palm of its hands before light tore outward. The twin streams pushed back Lox and Gurren’s bolts, defeating them before they reached the Grand Demon Lord, just as it had done with Induca.
However, Induca was much stronger than Lox and Gurren and their armors’ attacks; even though they were powerful, they didn’t have the complexity or power of Induca’s attacks.
Steve, seeing the two dwarves being suppressed, altered his coding, pouring more and more of his Mana into his arms as he stepped forward.
The Grand Demon Lord laughed crazily, its soul aura taking on the attacks from Steve. It looked as if its entire body was aflame with brilliant and powerful soul energy. Motes of light of all colors danced around in the soothing miasma of energy.
“Not again!” Steve’s voice boomed. He continued forward. Each step left a crater from the force of his attacks.
The Grand Demon Lord’s attacks pushed Lox and Gurren’s attacks back farther.
Fear started to form in Lox but he clamped down on it. He could burn out this Grand Demon Lord’s power—then someone might be able to kill it! If he lost the armor or even his life, it would have been worth it. He planted his feet firmer, thinking of Suzy and Induca, who’d been seriously injured to the point that they’d fallen from the sky, unconscious.
The light beam from the Grand Demon Lord reached Lox and Gurren’s hands. They didn’t flinch as their hands were melted away and their wrists were destroyed, breaking the magical coding.
The attack raced back and their wrists slammed into their chests.
To get the most power to their attack, they had both stopped powering their Mana barriers. They were thrown backward, craters in their chests.
Lox saw all kinds of warning lights on his interface as his armor was severely damaged. He looked over to see Steve cancel his ranged attack. His hand shot backward; his axe responded to him and flew into his grip.
The Grand Demon Lord grasped his war hammer and swung it around at Steve, who brought his axe up and around, smashing into the oncoming war hammer.
They had both imbued their power into their weapons. Steve’s was covered in a dark miasma while the Grand Demon Lord’s was covered in that soul aura once again.
With the impact of their weapons, the dust at the wall that had been churned up by the trio’s attacks was dispersed, showing the outside world.
Runic lines across Steve’s armor lit up with darkness as the two separated. Hammer and axe met again and again. The two of them fought with everything they had: Steve burned his soul gem reserves while the Grand Demon Lord burned up his soul energy.
Lox made to get up but found that his armor was too badly damaged to be of much use. Restorative runes had been activated across his armor, repairing his destroyed hands and forearm as well as his chest section. Lox knew that getting out of his armor around these two would only make him a hindrance to Steve. He focused on pouring as much power in getting his armor functional as he watched the two giants battle in the middle of that crater.
Xelur were now moving into the area as the Grand Demon Lord’s Legendary attack soul domain had worn off. The Legendary ability didn’t care whether those within it were allies or not; they would consume all.
Malsour regained his feet as people tried to charge into the crater. Malsour let out a roar that shook the very heavens as his body grew at an alarming speed revealing his dragon form!
In the eyes of Malsour—once he was in dragon form—these low-level Xelur weren’t much of a problem.
“We have a breach in the southeastern wall! The Grand Demon Lord there has made it through!” someone called out.
Around the crater, black flames rose to ten feet in height, burning all of those who were less than ten meters away. Some were simply turned to ash in the face of the attack.
From these flames, darklings stepped out. Four hundred darklings looked upon the Xelur, amassing their numbers. Malsour looked down upon them like a titan making his judgement.
The flames surged outward for forty meters in every direction, killing tens of Xelur.
As they were recovering from the sudden attack, the darklings that had advanced in those flames brought forth from the abyss itself descended upon the Xelur ranks. In the early morning darkness, the darklings were in their element, moving through shadows as easily as one might walk.
The Xelur used soul energy, which was highly effective against the darklings. But they were within the Terra Alliance’s walls—they were being cut down by ranged defenders as well as melee types.
The eastern side of the castle was in chaos. The eastern gate was still open and Xelur were coming in but at a much lower rate than before. Outside the northeastern wall, Deia, Jung Lee, and Dave were fighting against the Xelur there and the southeastern wall had been breached.
Lox looked to Steve and the Grand Demon Lord as they continued to clash with each other. Lox moved his legs, to prop himself up and try to get upright. All around him, people were yelling out their roaring cries as they clashed with Xelur and those of the Terra Alliance.
Indas and his people rose to their feet as well, anger in their eyes.
Lox watched as they rushed forward; their chained blades darted outward as they seemed to dance with their weapons. They flowed through attacks, looking exotic and beautiful even as their blades struck the Demon Lord’s vital areas.
The Grand Demon Lord’s wounds healed at a slower rate but they were still sealing up.
Steve, however, did not have the fighting experience or power reserves of the Grand Demon Lord. His armor was scratched, dented, and opened in several areas. His body underneath was exposed, with some attacks cutting open his soul gem construct.
Still, these titans clashed with each other—only now with Indas’s men was Steve approaching parity with the Xelur Grand Demon Lord.
Lox couldn’t help but feel his heart moved as he conjured new hands, and a sword and shield for his armor. It wouldn’t be as strong as if they were real but they would function.
“On your right!” Lox yelled, rushing forward to support Steve, who was quickly weakening under the Xelur Grand Demon’s attacks.
“What took you so long!” Steve said, trying to hide his happiness.
“Thought you could handle it!” Gurren stepped up to Steve’s left side. The three of them stood sid
e by side to hold back the Xelur Grand Demon Lord.
“Die for me!” The Grand Demon Lord hacked at all three of them.
Steve blocked the attack; Lox and Gurren darted forward, their blades piercing the sides of the Grand Demon Lord.
He coughed blood and retreated a meter or so. Several chained daggers came from behind and sliced open his back, making him stagger forward. He let out a bellow of pain, just blocking Gurren’s attack in time and brought his Warhammer across to hit Steve in the side.
Lox interposed himself against the war hammer; his conjured shield shattered and he was tossed sideways. But Steve didn’t let the opportunity pass by. His hand, covered in Mana, punched the Xelur Grand Demon in the side, which pushed him back two steps as he tried to defend against Gurren’s attack. He was thrown back while Steve turned, gaining momentum with his axe, and smashed up against the Grand Demon Lord, who was just able to stop the attack.
Lox rolled over, conjuring a new hand to grab the ground as he threw himself forward. The runes on his body made him fly as he came across and behind the Grand Demon Lord, cutting his calves.
Steve and the Grand Demon Lord’s attacks were broken off. The Grand Demon Lord let himself drop, barely missing Steve’s axe that swung over his head. The Grand Demon Lord came upward from the ground and under Steve’s swing. His hammer slammed into Steve’s chest and sent him back five meters. He made to attack Steve again as chained daggers went for his face.
He smashed them away with his war hammer as Gurren stepped up in front of him, cutting down with his sword. The Grand Demon Lord’s defense was strong enough to break the conjured sword.
Gurren jumped backward and out of the range of the war hammer. The Grand Demon Lord cut out with his war hammer and a soul gem light filled the air.
The light spread outward and smashed against Gurren’s hips. His Mana barrier was active so there wasn’t any damage to his armor but it sent him tumbling away.
Steve— who’d recovered from being hit back, the armor around his chest dented inward from the war hammer’s impact—now ran forward as Lox, who’d overshot the Grand Demon Lord, came on a right angle from him.
With the two of them, they were able to pin the Grand Demon Lord in place.
They were evenly matched. Steve and Lox had both burned so much power that they were no longer able to show off their strongest abilities.
Likewise, the Grand Demon Lord had burned through his soul power. With Malsour’s new magical formation, less and less were making it to the Grand Demon Lord and he had already needed to burn most of it in order to stay alive.
In the shadows from behind the Grand Demon Lord, a claw as big as the Grand Demon Lord emerged, striking out so fast that the Grand Demon Lord didn’t even know that it was there. The claw pierced through the Grand Demon Lord’s back and exited his front.
He looked at the claw in shock and horror.
The claw turned around as the Grand Demon Lord found itself looking up at a dragon with scales that seemed to be made from obsidian and black flames darker than the night across its body and resting in its mouth.
The Grand Demon looked up in horror, powerless to resist and unable to restore itself with a claw through its body.
Malsour looked at the Grand Demon Lord with disdain. “This is for my sister.” Malsour opened his mouth. Flames shot out from his maw, covering the Xelur Grand Demon Lord completely.
After a moment, the flames disappeared. There was no sign of the Xelur Grand Demon Lord’s existence.
From within the castle, a familiar noise shook the castle and the grounds its foundations were buried in.
“The War Clans have arrived!” Lox yelled out. He would know those drums anywhere.
The dwarven War Clans had finally reached the castles. The drum beat was fast and fierce as dwarves’ feet jogged through the castles. They swarmed out of the main corridors, pressing out and into the open area between the outer walls and the inner castles. As they stepped out of the castles, dwarves would turn and plant themselves. Their shields faced toward the eastern side; from the north and south, dwarven walls formed quickly as dwarves moved into place, the first rank filling in and the second rank lining up behind them.
Lox climbed to his feet and conjured his hands, sword and shield once again.
“Well, let’s see if we can’t give them some time to form up!” Lox yelled, looking to the players and POEs nearby.
They checked their weapons, nervously looking to the Party Zero members.
“Malsour, clear us a path to the tunnel. If you can seal it up, we can cover your rear,” Lox said.
“Understood.” Malsour’s voice was deep and powerful, like the ancient, powerful, and wise beast that he was.
“Let’s show these Xelur Demons what we’re made of! With me!” Lox yelled, jogging toward the gate tunnel to the east.
Malsour unleashed his terrifying breath over them all, scouring the ground clear of Xelur and anything that was in their way.
A few of the Demon Lords that were within their ranks were able to resist, only to find themselves alive but without support of their weaker soldiers and facing the forces that Lox was able to rally.
“Leave none standing!” Lox yelled as he clashed with a Xelur Demon Lord, their power easily matched as they fought each other.
Battle was once again joined. The others cleared the path for Malsour, who was breathing down the gate tunnel, killing those in his way.
Chapter 7: Live or Die
Anna caught Induca and Suzy as they fell, she could tell they were both badly injured as she used healing spells on them both. She didn’t have time to look backward.
“Lu Lu!” Anna yelled out.
The lightning phoenix, hearing the familiar name, turned and rushed toward Anna, who was already entering the castle, holding both Suzy and Induca and covering the trio in air.
Anna continued to use healing spells, not having enough time to pull a potion from her bag of holding as she rushed through the halls into the main area of the castle. She followed the stream of wounded passing through the ono.
As soldiers and forces moved in through one side of the teleport pad in Terra, on the other side people were rushed through the intake area, which doubled as a triage area.
Anna raced in, putting Suzy and Induca on two different beds. Anna pulled out Health potions, pouring them on Induca’s wounds and pouring it down Suzy’s throat.
Suzy only had blood on her mouth but Anna could tell that her Vitality was weak. Knowing that Suzy could respawn, re-spawn Anna focused her efforts on Induca. Her armor was in tatters; her body was cut up from the ravaging energies of the attacking soul energy.
A healer came past and put his hands on Induca.
Healing light came from his hands even as he talked. “She needs to get to intake right away! Priority one!” the healer said to the bearers behind them. Without hesitating, they picked up Induca and moved for the underground tunnels that would take them and Induca right to the Stone Raiders’ tower and the hospital that lay within.
“Odd—looks like a soul attack to me. Take her to the shamans,” the healer said after touching Suzy’s head.
Another set of bearers whisked her away as well.
Anna followed Induca. Suzy would win her fight or come back again. She would lose some levels but that would be it. If something happened to Induca, she could truly die. Anna followed the bearers to the underground stations; her identity was confirmed before she was allowed to pass.
When they found out that Emerilia was real, Dwayne and Jules had enforced rules on the activities within Terra. This was to make sure that no one from the Jukal or from groups that wanted to attack the Terra Alliance or the Stone Raiders would ever be given the chance. Such as allowing wounded into the hospital but keeping them in secured zones compared to the Stone Raiders and vetted personnel.
They stepped onto a platform, all around there was nonstop movement, with capsules constantly on the move, some arr
iving while others were leaving.
Seeing it, Anna was surprised with just how modern-looking it was. She followed the bearers onto a capsule.
A Mana barrier formed over the entrance as they shot off. Gravity and inertia magic kept them in place and not feeling anything while also accelerating them at incredible speeds to the towers.
They reached the towers. Underneath the towers there was another platform; this one was not laid out simply like the first but had defenses in place, as well as automatons.
They were checked once more as they reached an elevator on the capsule.
Other elevators shot capsules upward or brought them back down before sending them on their way through Terra.
The capsule they were on finally reached an elevator that shot upward.
They came to a stop. The capsule’s barrier disappeared as the bearers walked out. A door opened beside the capsule, as they walked out of the capsule and into the hospital.
“Stage one! Soul energy attack!” one of the bearers yelled out at the waiting people facing the doors.
“Room E-73!” One called out.
The bearers rushed down the halls with Induca. The stretcher underneath her had magical coding that was constantly healing her and trying to keep her stable in transport.
They passed wards filled with all manner of wounded. People from castles all over Emerilia were transported to this hospital.
The bearers entered the ward for E-73. A a healer nearby rushed over; a team followed them.
“Stage one, Xelur soul energy attack,” the bearer repeated.
“What kind of Xelur was it?” the healer asked.
“Grand Demon Lord. His spell was too powerful, broke through hers and hit her,” Anna said.
“Looks like she was able to blunt the power of the spell. Instead of hitting her right in the chest, she broke the beam and it hit most of her body. Thankfully, she directed it downward,” the healer said grimly.
Anna felt lost as she looked at her friend barely holding on to life.
Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9) Page 10
