The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “The day that the people from the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association will either be cleared and they can act, or they will be confirmed to have the plague and we’ll be screwed, with no reinforcements,” Yui said.

  “You’re really positive for an officer, you know that?” Imani said.

  “Don’t worry—I’m gunning for a spot on the special teams as soon as I can.” Yui laughed.

  She smiled as the dawn turned into Morningside, fire was still exchanged back and forth between the groups. Some smart people hid their magical cannons in different buildings to shoot out of or used their trebuchets in courtyards, making them harder to find until after they attacked. The mages were the worst as many of them didn’t need a direct line of sight at their enemy to unleash their spells, so they were hidden all over the place. The Blood Demon army had all been pulled into the city, but teams headed out into the battlefield and collected the dead, dumping them in several large open spaces in the city.

  “Command, this is Observation Post Thirteen. Message, over.”

  “This is Command. State your message,” the man in command said.

  “I am looking at what looks like Blood Demon army soldiers collecting the dead and then putting them into open areas under Mana barriers. I wanted to know if we have any information on this being a practice of the Blood Demon Sect?” As she heard Yui’s boots scrape on the ground, he looked over to her and then back out on the capital.

  “It’s hard to see but they’re doing it on this side as well,” he confirmed in a low whisper.

  “Observation Post Thirteen, this is Command. We don’t think that this is something to worry about over.”

  “Command, did you check with someone?” Imani asked.

  “Yes, I did,” Command said back. They must have been from the Crafter’s Association or from the Blue Lotus because they stopped caring about how they spoke on the sound transmission device, annoyed at her question.

  “Command, this is Observation Post Thirteen. Who did you ask?”

  “Just tell me the targets and what they look like,” the man said, in a tired voice.

  “Chain of command is nice but sometimes it doesn’t work.” Yui pulled out his sound transmission device and started talking into it.

  “Understood, Command. Observation Post Thirteen out.” Imani cut the connection to the annoyed man.

  “Talked to Glosil. He asked Hiao Xen directly. He is looking into it,” Yui said.

  “Thanks. Didn’t think that it would be so difficult to get information.” Imani sighed.

  “Well, that’s what happens with three organizations smashed together into one military. Well, that is what I was told by Erik, at least. Apparently, it nearly never goes well unless they have a common enemy and the same background at least. Then he talked about an air force, navy, and army.” Yui shook his head and went to staring out over the city.

  “They have some strange sayings.” Imani scoffed.

  ***

  “Bodies collected in open spaces?” Lei Huo sounded confused. “Why would they do that and not just put them in storage rings or toss them into holes?”

  “I’m not sure.” Cui Chin looked through information he had been sent by different people who were looking for anything related.

  A new message came in to Cui Chin.

  “It’s a ritual!” the researcher said, looking through the archives of the Blood Demon Sect.

  “What?” Cui Chin asked.

  “It is a ritual that gives them the name Blood Demon Sect. They use the bodies, combine it with Alchemy and a formation—the bodies turn into demons!”

  Cui Chin was pulling out a sound talisman.

  “How do you defeat it?” he asked the researcher.

  There was a pause as they looked up the information.

  “Destroy the bodies completely, the formations or the Alchemy concoction. Once it is done, it will be nearly impossible to reverse. At least, there is not a solution in these notes,” the researcher said.

  Cui Chin cut them off and used his sound transmission device, sending a message to Hiao Xen, repeating everything that he had heard.

  ***

  “All observation posts, this is Command,” Hiao Xen said, talking to everyone in the field. “I want the bodies that are being piled together to be reported in and marked. These are supposedly ritual sites. Look for formations or Alchemy concoctions in the area.”

  Imani and Yui looked at each other as they started to call out the locations of the different open mass graves.

  “Well shit, it must be one hell of a ritual!” Imani said.

  The defenders didn’t play any games anymore, directly targeting the siege weapon locations and the points of interest that the observation points had marked. Their attack, which had been like scattered rain, now hit with deadly precision as attacks rained down on the ritual sites, not allowing anyone into or out of them.

  The Blood Demon army suddenly charged forward. The defenders, who had been watching, quickly moved to their positions. The mortars and other siege weapons changed their aim onto the armies massing and running forward.

  Formations that were around the dead started to glow with a red light. Between the arranged formations, lines appeared, connecting them all. People inside the barriers smashed down potion bottles that were filled with black and red blood, soaking the bodies inside.

  A tremendous amount of power was drawn in from the surrounding area to the open grave sites, the new ritual sites. The bodies that were grouped together made cracking noises; they started to move, as though there were something alive underneath them. They started to writhe and move, melding into one another. The blood potion mixed with the Mana that was drawn in, entering the bodies and something inside them.

  The power from the surrounding area dissipated on one of the ritual sites as the corpses moved. They had been fused together—mounted beasts, humans, armor, and weapons creating an abomination covered in blood.

  It stood up, looking roughly humanoid, with two stubby legs. It let out a terrible and miserable wail. Even the veterans gripped their weapons tighter as their faces paled at the tremendous bloodthirst and power contained within the creature.

  Its right arm peeled back to reveal dead mages. Mana distorted around the mages, as if broken pieces of spells from each of them were forced together, firing out a chaotic blast of Mana that hit Vuzgal’s Mana barrier.

  Another and then yet another wail came as the blood demons were formed.

  A mortar struck the first raised corpse demon, tearing off bodies. It took a step back, before regaining its balance and pushing forward. Its leg power caused the buildings to shake around it as it wailed and shot out another Mana Blast. Spell scrolls were activated, and ranged attackers concentracted their fire.

  Attacks hit it, causing it to lose more bodies. It became smaller, but the remaining bodies that it was constructed from melded back together in front of Imani’s eyes.

  There were seven massive blood demons about the size of a five-story house, while there were around thirty smaller blood demons between two and three stories tall all being raised across Vuzgal.

  One of the larger blood demons opened its chest, revealing mage corpses inside. It fired a Mana bolt. The twisted Mana lost a great amount of power as it flew, but as it smacked into the Mana barrier, it was still stronger than fifty magical cannons.

  Fire shifted from the army to the blood demons. The defenders were left to directly engage the army attackers as they rushed through the streets and alleyways. The Blood Demons had not been idle and had been working out paths that would allow them access through the city to the inner walls.

  Under the attacks of the focused fire, they could only engage two or three at a time, shifting fire away from the Army.

  “Well, I fucking hope that they don’t have the plague because we need reinforcements now!” Imani picked out a commander and fired on them. The mortars and the large-scale magical attacks were damaging the blood de
mons but they weren’t able to destroy them.

  She pulled out a spell scroll and started to activate it and her communication device. “Focus on destroying the ritual sites. Better to take them out before they can become a threat!”

  Chapter: Seven Titans

  “Well, fuck,” Rugrat said as he heard the information coming in. “Erik?”

  “I’m open to ideas,” Erik said.

  “Burn through the spell scrolls, activate every damn trap that we have. Take out as much of the army as possible. Destroy the small blood demons and then we can focus on the big ones?” Rugrat offered.

  “Sounds about the best plan we’ve got. We’ll put everything on the line. All of the guards that can wield a weapon will engage; the ones in bad shape will be as a reserve. Masters target the demi-demons. Have Fred and his people help us. Observation posts, go for commanders—full strength mortars. Break out the M32s as well and fire repeaters like the government is paying for the ammunition. We need to hold out for three more days. Just enough time for the higher-ups to confirm there is no plague today, then send people and then for them to travel over to here. Make sure the reinforcements know what the hell we’re dealing with right now.”

  Erik sounded calm and collected but Rugrat could tell he was ruffled. Magical battles and enchanted firearms, that made sense. Using the corpses of the dead to give rise to demons? It was not your regular Tuesday anymore!

  “Why does it have to be demons? Couldn’t it be like cute goblin healers or something?” Rugrat muttered under his breath.

  “Demons are bad, but no one wants to have to deal with Fibbles,” Hiao Xen said with a haunted look on his face.

  “All right, you’re scaring me, Hiao Xen. What did they do to you?”

  “They tried to sing,” Hiao Xen said.

  Dude has some serious issues. Rugrat nodded as if he understood.

  “We need to remain strong on the walls. Deploy Masters through the underground tunnels to intercept the demons and titans. Take away the Blood Demon army’s new support. We have the Elites and the soldiers hold the line. Ask Fred and his people for their help. They’ll need to not only fight the titans and demons, but they’ll be in the middle of the enemy, so they’ll need to be the strongest people we have,” Erik said.

  Hiao Xen nodded, looped into the channel as well. He started to talk on his communication device to get the strongest Masters ready and deployed to the battlefield.

  “The undead are good fighters but they’re simplistic in their actions. They’ll back up the defenders on the wall. Have the mortars be replaced by the people we have been training and are oathed in. Rugrat, I want you with the army and a group of undead. You will act as our quick reaction force. The fighters who are affected by the concoction will be our reserve force. Glosil will be our link to Hiao Xen. I will remain on the wall and command from here. Rifles and M32s are free to be used,” Erik said.

  “Understood,” Rugrat said.

  They were using nearly all of the trump cards that they had left. It was Go Time.

  ***

  The demons and the titans were large and slow as they moved toward the inner walls of Vuzgal. They would fire off the occasional Mana Blast when they could. Each blast seemed to take a lot of energy out of them as they advanced slowly.

  They weren’t alone, either as there were Masters grouped with them, protecting them.

  Around the approaching demons, the defenders’ Masters ran through tunnels, appearing in the outer city.

  The Blood Demon soldiers had reached the inner wall, hurling spells and ranged attacks where they could to try to cover their advance.

  They didn’t rush forwards, taking their time to cover their advance, they were wary, tired and scared, only being pushed forward by their oaths that wouldn’t allow them to retreat.

  Special Team One and Two had been scrambled, their target one of the smaller blood demons. They were much weaker than the titans, but that didn’t mean that they would be any less deadly.

  Imani had been tracking the demon and the group of thirty Masters grouped around it with their Mana barriers covering them and the demon.The Demon left a trail of destruction in it’s wake, walking through buildings taking a couple of blows to break them, sending it’s defenders running for cover from the falling rocks and building.

  It entered an open marketplace with remains of wooden stalls, the buildings around the square in a state of disrepair with craters and signs of fighting marring the surroundings. with all of it’s defenders grouping together out in the middle of the square, exposed and all alone.

  Hitting them from range would only serve to alert the Masters where they were. Niemm and Roska had set up an ambush with their teams. They were hiding in a row of broken buildings along the road that the large demon needed to pass.

  “Fire in the hole!” Han Wu said as he powered his activating formation.

  Formations buried under the road and an IED went off underneath the Masters. The barrier formation was shattered as the demon stumbled backward, its body covered in shrapnel and cuts across its body from the wind blades called up by one of the formations.

  “Fire!” Roska called. All of the special teams were armed with the new M32s from Alva, they fired into the blast zone as one. The Masters were like cockroaches; even with the element of surprise, a number of them had lifesaving items that kept them alive.

  “Advance!” Roska yelled. She turned her team toward the demon as Niemm turned his to face the group of Masters who had been walking in front of the demon.

  A wind cut through the air, revealing bodies of Masters on the ground, nearly twenty of them lying on the ground.

  The special team didn’t need orders.

  Niemm saw two moving on the ground. Severely wounded but getting back on his feet, he fired his repeater into them at point blank range. They flopped backward from the impacts. The arrows seemed to have their own eyes, piercing through the openings in their armor as they dropped to the ground. Two new tombstones appeared.

  Deni shot an arrow into a wounded man; they had the presence of mind to interpose their armor. The enchanted arrow exploded on impact, peppering the man with shrapnel. Rapid-acting poison that had covered the arrow entered the man’s body as he staggered, grabbing at his body where the poison had entered, and dropped to the ground.

  Setsuko fired her arrows but the soot-covered Master used their staff, deflecting the arrows, and cast a spell to deflect those that it couldn’t get with their staff.

  A wail came from the demon but they didn’t even pause in their attacks.

  Lucinda, who was on an open angle to the mage, fired her M32. A barrier appeared and the round exploded. But the mage was unaffected as spell formations appeared around them. Tian Cui had the highest Agility and appeared behind the mage. Their sneer turned into a look of horror as the poisoned blade stabbed into their back, draining them of Strength as their spells disappeared and they dropped to the ground. Tian Cui jumped back, dodging an arrow from a Master and sending a curse at them, slowing their reactions. As the bow user returned to speeds like a normal human from the curse, Storbon appeared at their side. His spear went through their armpit, making them cry out. Yao Meng fired an arrow at a Master who was charging forward, slowing their advance. The shot forced the Master to focus on defending. Yuli buffed Storbon and Yawen, who dodged underneath a spear aimed for his head. They swung down the spear as Yawen jumped to the side and rolled away. They kept coming for him, their spear jabbing at Yawen. He danced more than he fought; he jumped back and fired his rifle. The Master was pushed back, leaving trails of blood on the ground as Yawen jumped to his feet, that spear chasing him once again.

  “Yawen, grenades!” Lucinda yelled.

  Yawen jumped to the side and pulled Storbon with him. The two of them rolled away as the exposed spear wielder made to charge forward, only to get hit in the front with an M32 round. They were tossed backward as Lucinda kept firing. Storbon and Yawen got to their feet, with
their weapons ready.

  They had greatly increased their Strength, but the Masters were still powerful, much stronger than them in not only their attributes but their techniques. The special team was able to hold their ground with the advanced weapons that they could employ.

  All of their actions flowed together as five more Blood Demon army Masters joined their allies.

  As Storbon and Yawen had been fighting, the others had rifles or repeaters in their hands.

  The Masters charged forward after them.

  Deni’s target dodged suddenly, making her miss her attack. As her attacker faced Deni, they did not notice Setsuko aiming for them.

  Setsuko’s round pierced their leg and exploded; the master went down, screaming in pain. Only their strong body extending their time left in this world.

  Niemm shot at a spear-wielding Master running forward. The arrow hit their armor, making them grimace as they launched their spear in the air.

  Yao Meng cried out as the spear hit him in the leg.

  Tian Cui fired. The Master with shoulder length black hair defended against her attack and launched one against Yawen who was next to her. Tian Cui’s body glowed green as her speed and strength increased. Storbon attacked the black haired Master, forcing her to defend. Yawen placed his life in Storbon’s hands as he launched forward; his body showed a red glow as he left a trail of blood behind, cutting the black haired Master’s stomach open.

  The Master turned, her face filled with rage as her power reached a new high. Yawen’s face was grim; he had used a lot of Strength in his recent strike.

  The bleeding Master pushed Storbon, hitting him in the chest with such strength that a snapping noise could be heard on the battlefield.

  Bullets and arrows threaded through the fight around them. Deni’s struck a target, forcing them back as she kept on pumping arrows into them. Lucinda’s bullet was explosively enchanted and went off, the force of the spell exploding, blowing them to the side, opening up their defenses and killing another badly wounded Master. Deni’s arrows found purchase as the Master looked at her with questions in his eyes as he died.