Death Knight Box Set Books 1-5: A humorous power fantasy series

by Michael Chatfield

  Her eyes glowed as she used a spell to her vision, allowing her to see the Skalafell wall. It had been marred and broken. The stone was melted in places from the chaotic power; scratch markings from where the beasts and Drafeng had charged; roots and trees, dirt and stone replaced the stone wall, filling in the breaches.

  People wore mismatched and well-worn armor and weapons on the wall. Guards, shopkeepers, laborers—the people of Skalafell had risen to the call to defend their home and the people they cared about.

  Her eyes caught on a man resting on the battlements. His ar- mor stood out against the others, a massive hammer on his back.

  The walls were in better condition and those on the wall looked alert. Even in a few hours, they were able to enhance their defenses and position.

  Cecilia looked at the battlefield. To the north and the south, the armies had been able to advance and the United Army to the east had pushed in, turning the U-shape from before into an an- gled W-shape. She looked over the people of the United Army. The mixed units and formations lined up, facing forward: The

  beast kin with their massive shields and spears. Dwarven sharp-

  shooters in their firing

  squads, with large gnome-piloted Mechaniks. Hob-run goblin par- ties of grenadiers. The humans with their swords and shields, mount- ed upon their familiars. Each broke into their own ordered forma- tion that created their army.

  The mages remained at the rear with the siege crews.

  The human and beast kin armies were formed up. They stood there quietly, rank upon rank. Dew formed drops of water on their armor that dripped off their helmets and shields, creating water veins on their spears.

  “Commander?” Someone looked to her. “Sound the ad- vance,” Cecilia said.

  An oxen beast kin raised his horn to his lips.

  Douuuuuuurn.

  The braying horn rolled across the foggy battlefield covered in dew and to the walls. Even on the walls, one could feel the horn with- in their chest.

  Lighter horns followed up behind it. Following its call, drums rumbled to life and people shifted their shields and weapons, check- ing them one last time.

  Commanders and leaders called out orders and feet moved as one. The formation rumbled to life like a sleeping dragon, pushing their way forward.

  Chaotic beasts used their claws, getting to the top of the crystal walls, like wolves upon a mountain looking at their prey.

  Archers opened their quivers and drew arrows on their bows.

  Shamans and mages called down buffs on the armies, increas- ing their combat strength.

  Drafeng, in their ranged form, sent out chaotic beam at- tacks.

  Shields were brought forward, rippling across the armies as they covered themselves from the attacks. Mages hidden among the ranks created mana barriers, taking the impact of the spells. Mages started to cast their spells, working in groups to share the load. They created

  a rolling barrage of attacks ahead of the advancing armies, can- celing out the chaotic attacks from the Drafeng army, covering the advance and forcing the Drafeng back.

  “Chaotic beasts seen exiting from the north and south to attack the flanks!” a human aide said.

  “Continue the advance. If the flanks cannot advance, they will hold position and the center will push forward,” Cecilia said.

  “Understood.” The aide used messaging spells to pass on her or- ders.

  The chaotic beasts raced out. Many were killed and wounded by the mages, before being greeted by the human and the beast kin armies’ ranged attackers, using bows, javelins, shamanic arts, and their familiars’ ranged attacks.

  Those remaining were greeted by the steel shield walls of both forces.

  The beast kins’ clan tattoos blazed with power and the humans’ eyes changed colors, ’channeling the power of their familiars.

  These were battle-tested men and women who had fought countless battles. The rhythm of war had been branded into their bones.

  The wall took the impacts but they didn’t fold. They held strong. The power of the buffs ran through them as beast kin spears and hu- man blades cut, stabbed, and sliced into the enemy.

  Drums and horns became their language as the two armies called out to one another.

  “Rah!” The beast kin shields, as big as a man, rose up and slammed forwards as one. “Sha!” The second line stabbed out their spears and stepped forward, becoming the new first line as their shields snapped back into place, a new iron wall to greet the Drafeng. “Hou!” The humans called out and their swords slashed out, shining in the early morning light. Blood colored the ground

  as

  Drafeng fell.

  “Ha!” The first line turned to the side and the second line pushed forward with their shields, their blades slicing outward.

  Hearing the two lines made one’s blood boil. The beast kin and humans on the United Army’s front lines held their shields ready and marched forward. The Iron Guard, an elite unit made up of the strongest shield bearers, were the point on the arrowhead forma- tion of the United Army.

  As they advanced, the trailing edges moved up the armies to the north and south. The soldiers there turned from their positions and ran around the rear of the army, going from the west side to the east side, much like one would move logs underneath a massive ob- ject they were moving.

  Cecilia rode atop of her were-cat, a refined-looking creature of shimmering browns and greens, with large, intelligent eyes and six limbs and curved horns around her head.

  All of her guards wore blank expressions as they looked around, also riding were-cats.

  A dominating pressure weighed on those around them, making others unconsciously back away from them.

  “Slow and steady. We will grind them down. Make sure that the other armies know this,” Cecilia said.

  “Yes, General.” A goblin Guardian used their shamanistic pow- er to send a message via Guardian Flame.

  Guardians had been embedded into both armies, to remove cor- ruption, organize them, and restore order. The beast kin and human armies had both been judged; for many, carrying out their sentence meant that they had to fight for Dena and then they would be sen- tenced for a second time. Conscripted fighters weren’t reliable, so she wanted to rein them back so that they didn’t charge into the fight and break apart.

  “They’re conserving their power.” Cecilia frowned as the armies continued to advance in their slow, careful, and methodical manner. A high-pitched wail came from the main crystal camp.

  Beasts and Drafeng poured out of the main camp, heading east. Those who were fighting the armies turned and ran, many getting cut down as they fled.

  Cecilia felt the others relaxing but her frown only deepened. Suddenly, the interior of the crystal camp started to glow. “Shields!” Cecilia enhanced her voice so it could be heard over

  the three armies and Skalafell.

  Mages who had been taking a breather readied their shields.

  Cecilia saw the forces that had been going northeast and south- east now crossing back. They had left a straight path from their

  camp to Skalafell.

  She saw all of this and her stomach dropped. A beam that was made from the combined power of several Drafeng elites shot across the battlefield. It threw up dirt and burned a line in the ground un- derneath it. The twisting light broke through mana bar- riers, shatter- ing them as if hammer striking glass. It slammed in- to a purple bar- rier that covered Skalafell—the Guardian barrier, powered by the Guardian Flame.

  It held, becoming darker and darker as the beam increased in strength.

  The shield faltered as more power was pumped into the beam. With a shudder, the barrier dimmed and brightened before it broke. The beam hit Skalafell’s walls. Defensive and strength-en- hancing runes flashed into existence and then were burned away as

  Skalafell’s wall exploded. The beam from the Drafeng forces died.

  Cecilia looked away from the blinding light of the impact but force
d herself to look back as the light dimmed.

  Rocks and debris rained down on the city. She could hear the people of Skalafell screaming out. Those who had been standing on the wall couldn’t have survived.

  The Drafeng who had feinted their retreat now charged for the twenty-meter-long breach in the heart of Skalafell’s defenses.

  “Sound the horns! Double time it!” Cecilia ordered, snapping everyone out of their reverie.

  ***

  Damien saw the blast of chaotic energy but they barely had time to react. The mages had only just thrown their mana barriers up, but they didn’t even slow the attack.

  Damien turned as the wall was struck. He saw the light swal- low- ing people, the rocks and people flung into the air as rocks smashed through houses, slammed into the roads, and peppered the already savaged city of Skalafell.

  The wave of force from the explosion threw Damien backward and into the rear battlements of the wall.

  He grabbed the wall and pulled himself back up. Dust settled over him and those nearby. He saw the fear in the people’s eyes. He looked to his right, seeing the Drafeng army charging right for the breach.

  Damien started running. Three sets of tattoos glowed through his armor and he started to grow in size. He grabbed his hammer; his speed increased as he pulled the falling dust with him, passing those who had been knocked down and others who had been wounded.

  With a yell, he jumped off the wall. The first Drafeng were just entering the large breach.

  Damien brought his hammer down with all of his might, land- ing it in the middle of the breach. A wave of force flowed through

  the area, clearing the dust and sending rocks flying in every direc- tion as the front line of the Drafeng were thrown back.

  Damien picked up his hammer and swung it with a grunt, gain- ing momentum. His hammer glowed with purple Guardian Flames; purple runes appeared on his armor and his Guardian em- blem burned into his chest. He stood there in his werewolf form as a Drafeng who had been just out of the blast wave leapt up. Damien sidestepped in a move that belied his overall size, strength, and his still-swinging hammer.

  The blow took the Drafeng in the side, sending them flying back twenty feet.

  Damien’s speed increased as two chaotic beasts arrived.

  Damien shifted through the gaps in their attacks. His hammer cracked bones and took their lives as they were sent flying back.

  People were still recovering. Damien knew that they were in shock. They were tired and on their last legs; they needed to rally themselves.

  “Hear me, Skalafell—hear me, people of Dena! Today!” Sev- eral beasts attacked him and Drafeng sent a chaotic blast at him. Damien greeted them with his hammer as he talked. “Today is the day we start our march to victory!”

  Damien ran to the side and jumped off a piece of rubble. Two chaotic beasts and a flash of a chaotic beam appeared underneath him. He landed, holding his hammer in one hand and he crashed a Drafeng head with it, and then brought it across his body, striking a Drafeng in the face and sending them flying to the side. He grabbed an axe from his belt and threw it underhand, hitting an- other Drafeng readying a blast in the mouth. They exploded and Damien sideswiped a beast to his left and threw his hammer to the left. He grabbed the axe on his right hip as he caught his other axe in his right hand. He sent them out again, taking out a chaotic beast trying to climb the breached wall and sending bricks and rocks to the ground below.

  His hammer struck a group of beasts, exploding into purple flames that covered the ground.

  “Stand firm and hold fast! Protect those to your right and left. Protect those who stand behind us, your friends and your families! For Skalafell!”

  His hammer shot back toward him. “For Dena!”

  A collection of voices appeared behind Damien as two purple ar- rows crossed over his shoulder and under the opposite arm, striking down a Drafeng. As Damien’s hammer returned to him, he grabbed it and turned with it. His hammer crashed into a chaotic beast. Clearing his vision, he saw a shamantic curse fall on a group of chaot- ic beasts, slowing them. A gnome rogue appeared among them in a flash of smoke. Her blades shone with enchantments; her attacks were swift and accurate as she tore through the chaotic beast’s weak- nesses.

  A woman from the badger clan ran forward. Her spear took a chaotic beast in the neck. A dwarf, behind her, fired his hand can- non, taking out three beasts that were rushing her.

  “Spray and pray!” The dwarf showed his missing teeth, wearing goggles to block the smoke from his eyes.

  Explosions went off from the side. Goblins hurled grenades that were as big as their heads, their hobs making sure to control them as they excitedly threw out the explosives, seeing the resulting explo- sions.

  All around him, Guardians joined the fight, becoming the new wall in the rubble.

  He saw the chaotic beasts and Drafeng clamoring to enter the city. They were climbing up the walls on either side; the pressure on the defenders increased rapidly. The army was moving in the dis- tance; their pace had increased but Skalafell needed to hold their walls.

  If we don’t hold, then they will pour into the city, killing the peo- ple here before the army arrives.

  Damien slammed his hammer forward. A Drafeng stopped his blow, stabbing out with his arms. Damien was forced to roll to the side; he grabbed his returning axe out of the air and threw it. It was covered in purple flames. The Drafeng smacked it away with a mace but the purple flames covered its vision as Damien’s hammer glowed with force.

  He hit the Drafeng. A blast of purple flames emanated from his hammer, creating a vacuum in the Drafeng army ranks that was swift- ly filled with greater numbers.

  ***

  Dion let out a yell as his spear took one chaotic beast in the neck, dropping them off the walls into the writhing mass below. “Duck!” he yelled.

  Jun, one of the three leaders of the Black Scarves and from the feline kin, did so as Dion brought his spear across in a wide arc, aim- ing to slice across a Drafeng’s neck.

  A blade came out and blocked him but Jun drove his sword through the gap in the battlements, hitting them in the chest and opening them and covering him in blood. They dropped to the ground below.

  “I thought that Drafeng didn’t climb walls.”

  “Guess they just don’t like it.” Dion jabbed forward at another chaotic beast that had appeared.

  The walls around the breach were chaos. Melee fighters stood there, holding against the climbing beasts and Drafeng.

  The Guardians held the breach, but even they weren’t immune to fatigue.

  People cried out as they were torn from the wall, or cut down by the enemy getting in an unexpected attack.

  Someone cried out; Dion and Jun looked over to see the person pierced with a spear, before being lifted up and tossed back over the wall. His attacker jumped over the wall and landed on the walkway. People rushed forward, but the elite’s blades and weapons spun forward, pushing through their ranks, chaining attacks together un- til two shield bearers pinned down his weapons, locking the

  elite down, neither side getting an advantage.

  Jun and Dion ran to help.

  The elite’s mouth glowed and fired a chaotic beam from its mouth to hit the person on his right, making them scream out; it used three arms to throw the other shield user back before cutting down the blinded and screaming beast kin.

  It turned to face Dion and Jun. Jun attacked low while Dion went high. The elite cut out with two swords at Jun, who fended them off with his own swords and contorted his body to drive the at- tack away from Dion.

  Dion’s spear, aimed high shone in the Elite’s eyes.

  With a yell the Elite forced his head to the side, a bloody line ap- peared on the side of his face. Jun cut out with his free swords, open- ing up the Elite’s leg.

  Dion’s spear forced the Elite to the side. The Elite stabbed out at Dion and Jun jumped tp the side, leaving a bloody line on his chest.

  Di
on’s spear jabbed forward, stabbing into the Elite’s neck. He stumbled, finding the wall behind him.

  He had a look of shock on his face as he fell back over the wall, crushing a Chaotic beast on the land below. His weapons weapons

  dissipating and his body starting to fall apart from the chaotic pow- er consuming his corpse from within.

  Purple flames appeared across the battlefield, burning away the chaotic power and forcing the Drafeng to convert the power of De- na into chaotic power. Reducing the speed at which they could at- tack or the number that could evolve quickly.

  Dion looked at the shield bearer. “Are you okay?” “No, but I can fight,” the lizard kin man said.

  Dion nodded and he turned to the wall again.

  Bloodline evolutions were rare. It happened when a beast kin surpassed their abilities and pushed beyond their limits. The beast kin people of Skalafell were fighting against creatures that were much stronger than them, fighting for their homes and the ones they cared for. In the fighting, bloodlines continued to be ignited as they stood firm and held their positions.

  Dion focused back on fighting. He couldn’t think of anything else, just noticing as the United Army pressed into the rear of the Drafeng army, pressuring them on two fronts and crushing them against Skalafell’s walls.

  ***

  “Break, dammit, break!” General Jaxus almost pleaded under his breath, seeing the people of Skalafell on the walls. They were so close yet so far away. He wanted to be up there supporting them, but he had to maintain the northern flank.