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(TPD) Chapter 11: The Starborn Fallen Angel
🕑 Added 2024-11-04 10:02:15 +0000 UTCChapter 11: The Starborn Fallen Angel
(Third Person)
Supremacy War - Year Four.
Sylas was no longer nestled within the main fortress, having moved out with his army and formed a temporary camp as they marched onwards to Mortis.
At least, that was the plan.
Right now his soldiers were a complete mess, with over 20% of them having been killed in action, and almost 30% of his current manpower being too injured to move, requiring medical treatment and probably some time out of action if they survived long enough.
His force now numbered at 8,000 with only 5,600 of them being mobile.
And these were all soldiers that the Bael Clan had personally invested in, nurtured, and trained to the best of their abilities.
It had all happened at once, the battles preceding went smoothly. The Scourges were swiftly defeated, and the same went for any Fallen Angels that had been lurking in the distance, hoping to use their range to catch him off-guard once they believed the Scourges had worn him and his army down enough.
But as Souji feared, they had yet to see everything the Fallen Angels had to offer.
“What the hell were those monstrosities?” Sylas muttered to himself while one of the medics were busy tending to his wounds.
“I haven’t the faintest clue,” one of his close aids replied while clutching their head in pain. “There were no prior reports of Scourges of that magnitude existing, so we’re probably the first ones to have encountered them.”
Scourges were usually as big as people, and had some level of awareness and intelligences befitting a mindless weapon of war.
However, what they had just been met with was nothing of the sort.
“We must have destroyed those things hundreds of times, but they just kept on regenerating as if it were nothing. How is that possible?”
“I’m not sure of that either, but there’s something about them that confuses me even more.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense, spit it out.”
“Why didn’t they give chase? It was a one-sided domination for them, I don’t understand why they just let our forces go after we had retreated a certain distance.”
Sylas’s eyes rounded, he had a point.
“Maybe they ran out of energy?”
“Energy seemed like the last of their problems, whatever those things were, they have to have a weakness. I refuse to believe they were simply just invincible.”
“Then we better figure out what that weakness is fast, lest they decide to change their minds and come after us while we’re still vulnerable.”
Both of them sat upright as they heard the sound of their tent fluttering.
“Well isn’t this quite the sight?” But upon hearing that voice, Sylas immediately laid back down and rolled his eyes. “Yo, it looks like you’re not having the best of times, Sylas.”
“You certainly took your time coming here, Lith.”
“Can you blame me? You called me on short notice,” Lith chuckled as he enjoyed the sight of Sylas looking like he had been put through a woodchipper. “On a serious note, what actually happened here? I heard that you were doing just fine as of late.”
“The Fallen Angels have a new toy, that’s what happened.”
“Did they upgrade their Scourges again?”
“Upgrade, is an understatement.” Sylas motioned towards one of his servants. “Show him.”
Lith’s eyes shimmered as he was shown a recording of what looked to be two, 32 foot tall metallic titans wielding longswords that seemed capable of cleaving buildings in half.
Each swing the titans took, resulted in at least a hundred deaths or so. It didn’t matter how many times their head was blown off, or their chest was destroyed.
The shards of metal on the ground that had come off their body, would just turn into dust and float right back into the titan's wounds. Repairing any and all damage it took.
“It called itself a Sentinel.”
“It spoke?” Lith asked.
“Yeah, it spoke. A lot. It just kept blabbering about Sentinel this, Sentinel that. It’s obvious that this is some kind of golem, but we can’t even begin to guess how it works.”
“Well if it’s a golem, then it has to have a core. As long as you destroy that, it shouldn’t be able to regenerate the way it did.”
“Really? Golems have cores? I had no idea Lith, thank you for this ground-breaking discovery you’ve made.” Sylas felt tempted to throw something at him. “We couldn’t find its core, we destroyed every square inch of it and it was still nowhere to be seen.”
“Fascinating,” Lith mused as he continued to watch the recording. “So they’ve got Projectile Scourges, Armored Scourges, and these Sentinels now. At this rate I doubt it’ll be long before they start replacing their entire armies with just Scourges.”
Sylas couldn’t help but agree with Lith.
The Fallen Angels knew full well how much of a weakness their numbers were, and they had done a solid job at making up for it.
“Taking Mortis will deal a massive blow to their finances, I’m not sure how they’re able to keep up this level of production to begin with. But targeting their economy is the key to rendering their technology useless.”
Lith smiled upon hearing the word Mortis.
Once they got there, he had no doubt that they’d finally see a Cadre take to the field.
But first, they had to deal with these Sentinels, and whatever else the opposing side had prepared to stop their advance.
“What happened here? This place is like a graveyard.” A face popped through the tent entrance, looking around with a befuddled expression.
A face wearing a blindfold.
“Avalon, you’re here. Good.” Now that Avalon and Adaloth were allowed to join the war, he had decided to make their first assignment helping out with his current predicament. “Where’s Adaloth? And uh.”
“Lars.”
“Yes, Lars.”
“Both of them are just outside, do you want me to call them here?”
“No, there’s no need for that. Since you’re their King now you can handle briefing them.”
Avalon shrugged, stepping inside as he turned to face the recording Lith was watching.
He couldn’t actually see what was on it, but he could hear the sounds of soldiers screaming and the ground being torn apart.
With Sylas still in the room, revealing that he was in fact capable of normal vision was probably a bad idea.
“I feel like I’m supposed to know you,” Lith narrowed his eyes as he looked Avalon up and down. “Have we met before?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Lith hummed, scratching his chin as he continued to stare.
And then it clicked.
“Oh! You’re Blindfold! Nox told me all about you a while back.”
Avalon’s eyes widened, having not expected to hear that moniker again.
“Nox did? I see, I haven’t had a chance to check up on him in a while. Is he doing alright?”
“Yeah, he’s just fine. I’m shocked though, you’re a lot taller than he told me you were. Did you have a growth spurt or something?”
“Pretty much, my name’s Avalon.” He extended his arm.
“Lith, you may or may not have heard of me.” They shook hands as Avalon’s surprise furthered, everyone on this side of the war had heard of Lith.
The rekindled Umbral Knight who had been slaughtering Scourges and Fallen Angels alike left and right.
“That’s an interesting piece of attire you’re wearing, taking the heat into account.” Lith smiled as he looked at the white scarf wrapped around Avalon’s neck.
“It’s a fashion statement,” Avalon returned the smile, looking at the purple scabbard attached to Lith’s waist. “So what’s up with that?” He pointed to the recording.
Sylas proceeded to explain the situation to him, Avalon shocked to hear about the Sentinels overpowered ability to simply regenerate from all sorts of damage.
From his perspective, it sounded like Megatron and Ruval had a child.
And most surprising of all.
“It spoke?”
“Yes, it spoke.” Sylas sighed. “Try to focus on the more important fact that it can regenerate, Avalon.”
“Right, sorry. So basically you want us to figure out what its weakness is?”
“Yes, you’ll go with Lith’s army and a detachment of some of my still able-bodied men tomorrow. If it really proves hopeless then you have permission to retreat, but I can’t stress enough how important it is we get rid of these Sentinels. The longer we spend here, the more time the Fallen Angels have to try to counter our advance.”
“You can count on me,” he said with a firm nod.
“That’s good to hear, make whatever preparations you need to alongside Lith. If you require any assistance from my side, then don’t hesitate to ask.”
Lith and Avalon left the tent, looking at each other knowingly once again.
“I didn’t think there was another Demonic Sword wielder taking part in this war other than me,” Lith didn’t bother to hide what he knew.
“I only acquired mine recently, I doubt it’s the same case for you.” Though his expression didn’t show it, Avalon was shocked that Lith figured that out despite Tomoe being in his hidden form.
‘It’s not my fault, he just happened to notice that I was trying to speak to his sword out of curiosity.’ Tomoe rebutted.
‘Excuses.’
“Yeah, I’ve had this since the Civil War. I have to say though, Nox told me you were young, but it’s even more shocking seeing you in person.”
From Lith’s perspective Avalon looked like a teenager, when in truth he was even younger than that.
“I have to start somewhere don’t I?”
“True, I started when I was about your age as well.” The same seemed to be true for most of the strongest Devils of today. “Try not to die alright? Nox expects a lot from you.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” they waved each other off as Lith went to speak to his men, and Avalon to his peerage members.
“How’d it go?” Adaloth asked with Lars right beside her.
“Lord Bael seems to have run into a complication of sorts.”
He started to relay what Sylas had told him, both Lars and Adaloth more intrigued by the so-called ‘Sentinels’ rather than worried.
“I have two theories,” Lars began. “Either these ‘Sentinels’ aren’t actually golems, or their core is hidden.”
“Hidden?”
“Yeah, like a wireless core placed elsewhere constantly supplying the golems with energy. Allowing them to regenerate without issue since no matter where they’re hit, their cores won’t be damaged.”
“Is such a thing even possible?”
“That’s where the retreat part comes in, the detached core is probably preventing the golems from leaving a certain area, since they’ll be cut off from their only supply of energy and no longer be able to operate. Therefore once Lord Bael’s men were a certain distance away, the Sentinels could no longer give chase.”
Avalon nodded in understanding.
“It’s basically a trade-off, in exchange for not having their core inserted inside them. Their range is heavily restricted, which would make the Sentinels more of a defensive measure rather than an offensive one.”
“Well, they are trying to stop us from advancing further towards Mortis. So I have to hand it to them, it was a good decision. I mean just look around us,” Lars motioned to the side of Sylas’s camp receiving treatment.
Avalon’s expression turned grim upon seeing a certain part of the camp.
A large array of white sheets covering the 2,000 or so soldiers that had been killed.
Sylas was right, the Fallen Angel’s machinery was not to be underestimated. It was the biggest obstacle standing between them and assured victory.
“We should be fine,” Adaloth interjected. “As long as Avalon can spot the cores, the rest of us can keep the Sentinels distracted while he destroys them.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be that simple,” Lars countered. “The Fallen Angels are probably aware of the condition of Lord Bael’s troops after the battle, I imagine they’ve already started to reinforce their position to squash our advance while they have the upper hand.”
“So the second attempt will be harder than the last,” Avalon sighed. “What’s done is done, we’ll just have to do our best with the hand we’ve been dealt.”
---
(Third Person)
“How’d it go?” Ajuka asked as he sensed a familiar presence approaching him from behind.
“He succeeded, well, half-succeeded.” Sirzechs replied, looking around and noticing that Ajuka’s abode seemed to be a lot busier than usual.
Which was to be expected, they were at war after all.
“Oh?” Ajuka raised his brow, still not turning around to face him as he continued to focus on whatever was on his desk.
“Tomoe didn’t agree to lend Avalon his power, but he didn’t outright refuse either. They’ve formed more of a ‘wait and see’ deal if you would.”
“Tomoe is an especially picky spirit, it’s understandable.” Neither of them seem surprised by the fact. “Both him and Adaloth are fighting in the Mortis Campaign now, correct?”
“Yes, Lord Bael experienced some trouble prior to their arrival with-”
“The Sentinels, I know. A childish gimmick disguised as brilliance, all it takes is for one person with enough common sense to figure out how to deal with it.”
“You’re well informed as always,” Sirzechs sighed. “With the two of them there I doubt there’ll be much trouble from this point onwards.”
“I’d agree with you, but you don’t sound very pleased about the fact.” Ajuka observed. “Let me guess, you regret not pushing back against Zekram harder about deploying them?”
“They’re younger than even we were back then, it doesn’t sit right with me to have them fight a war we failed to prevent.”
“Then what will you do? Chain them up in a cell until the war’s over?” Ajuka breathed a faint chuckle. “It’s all about circumstances my dear friend, if our war had started a little earlier, or had we been born a little later, then we also would’ve fought at their age. The experience they’ll gain throughout it will do them wonders in the future.”
“There’s plenty of other ways for them to gain experience, it doesn’t have to be-”
“Me. You. Serafall. Falbium. Tell me, where did we get our experience from before we became Satans?”
Ajuka shot a stern glare towards Sirzechs, the latter knowing full well what he meant.
“War is a part of our genome, engaging in it is what stimulates the deepest parts of us, and reveals our true colours to the rest of the Underworld. This war will not only give your brother the skills to become a Satan, but will also tell us what kind of Satan he’ll end up becoming.”
The room fell silent for a bit, the still air interrupted only by the sound of Ajuka shuffling through a stack of papers.
“And what about Adaloth?”
“Adaloth?” Ajuka paused, hesitating about something. “I don’t know.”
“What?”
“Unlike Avalon, I am not capable of reading Adaloth all that well for some reason. I don’t know whether that’s because she’s somehow just that good at hiding her intentions, or because of something she’s doing unintentionally.”
Sirzechs looked at Ajuka in stunned silence.
His friend was an unparalleled genius, one that could even see through the mask of someone as old as Zekram.
And that same person had just admitted to not being able to comprehend an eight year old child.
“Don’t look at me like that, she’s your sibling not mine. If you’re really that keen on understanding her better, either find a way to spend more time with her. Or ask Avalon for help, you always said it was like they had their own little bubble didn’t you?”
“I can’t bother them right now, they need to focus on what’s in front of them.”
“Then to talk to them some other time, if it’s about their growth I’ll gladly give my assistance. However, family affairs are your business. Not mine.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Sirzechs exhaled. “Has there been any attempt to communicate from the Governor-General?”
“If there was, I would’ve told you about it by now. You still think he’s opposed to this?” Ajuka quickly figured out what his friend was thinking. “I see, I’ll only say this once. Whether he wants or doesn’t want this war is now irrelevant, even if he was opposed to it, he failed to prevent it from happening. And so did we. What’s happening now is the consequence of our failure, there’s nothing to be done about it now other than see it through.”
Sirzechs knew that every word Ajuka had spoken was nothing but the truth.
“And one more thing,” Ajuka said right before Sirzechs was about to leave. “Stop trying to blame yourself for every single thing that’s wrong with the Underworld, it needs the Crimson Satan right now. Not the Self-Pity Satan. There’s four of us for a reason, don’t forget that.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
---
(First Person - Avalon)
“Talk about imposing,” Lars said to me.
“No kidding.”
We had both moved upwards ahead of Lith’s men in order to scout out the area and report back what we could before the assault began.
I told Adaloth to stay behind with Lith since she’s not exactly as mobile or suited to scouting as me and Lars, not to mention that if anyone tries to attack Lith’s army with her there she’ll destroy them in seconds.
We were nestled into a hill, looking at the sight of two metallic giants kneeling on the ground. Their colossal longswords stabbed into the earth as they appeared to be resting.
Those were the Sentinels that had destroyed Lord Bael’s army.
“It looks like you were right after all, Lars.”
But they weren’t the only things blocking our advance, a large battalion of what I can only presume are Scourges were lined up around the Sentinels.
There were also a few actual Fallen Angels amongst them, who seemed to be issuing orders to the Scourges as they started to line up in formation.
I see, Scourges can replace their soldiers, but they’re still incapable of replacing their Commanders.
“I sort of wish I wasn’t,” he sighed. “They’ve prepared at least 6,000 of them. Our forces at the moment combining Lith’s and most of Lord Bael’s still able-bodied men is at 4,000.”
Lord Bael couldn’t give us all of his soldiers since they still needed to defend both him and the camp.
But I’m shocked, I had heard chatter about how the Fallen Angels were able to produce these Scourges at a completely unprecedented rate, but seeing it up close is different.
“Should we target the Commanders first? I should be able to hit them from here.”
“No, that won’t do much,” Lars said. “The Scourges are capable of operating on their own just fine, killing the Commanders will only serve as a minor inconvenience. We need to focus on the Sentinels first. Have you managed to figure anything out?”
“Give me a second.”
I took a deep breath, focusing as I expanded the range of my Demonic Power, masking it beforehand so the hoard of machinery wouldn’t notice.
Now that’s fascinating.
“You were also right about their cores Lars, they really aren’t inside the Sentinels. They’re underground.”
“Underground?” He repeated. “That must’ve taken a lot of time to prepare, could these Sentinels have been prepared before Lord Bael even began his march?”
“You think there was a leak?” I raised a brow.
“That’s a possibility, there’s also a possibility that they were spied on before they started moving towards Mortis. You know how Fallen Angels are with their pain-in-the-ass cloaks.”
I can see through them no problem, but I wasn’t with Lord Bael at that point in time.
“In other words, someone’s watching.”
Great, the list of things to worry about is just continuing and continuing to pile up.
“Can you discern the radius of the core’s reach?” He asked me.
“Yeah, it’s 150 metres.”
“If it weren’t for the terrain, that wouldn’t be much of a problem.”
I nodded in agreement.
We’re completely surrounded by mountainous and rocky terrain, I’ve triple-checked for any viable flank routes and there doesn’t seem to be anything that we can actually use.
Which means the only way is forward.
“I think we should start with Lith’s archers,” Lars suggested.
The bows that most soldiers use are completely different to the shabby ones Nox had to use back then, they now look more like something that belongs in a sci-fi movie.
They have assisted aiming features, specialised arrows with piercing and explosive capabilities.
And even if our archers run out of ammo, the bows can make use of their Demonic Power to create arrows for them.
I’m not sure why we don’t just commit to it and go for guns, but that’s not my department.
Maybe it’s just because we’re more used to bows? Though I don’t think it’d take very long for them to be trained with guns.
In hindsight, I think it’s just the American in me taking hold.
The point is, they’re not the only ones with technology on their side.
“You want to weaken the number of Scourges before we go in?”
“Yeah, if they go airborne and rain down as much ammunition as they can from above, and the infantry start going in from the front at the same time. The Scourges will have to split their attention, they’re intelligent, but complications like this should be more than enough to disturb their coordination.”
And if we can take out the Commanders on top of that, they’ll be in shambles.
I sometimes forget that Lars is actually eight years-old unlike me and Adaloth.
Is this what you call a natural-born genius?
Hehe, it’s a good thing that I got to him first.
“And what about the Sentinels?” I asked.
“Me, Adaloth, and Lith should be able to handle them long enough for you to go after their cores.”
“You’re going to fight them head on?”
“Well, I’d rather leave most of the fighting to her and Lith. But I should be able to provide some support.”
I don’t know how strong Lith actually is, but I can say without a doubt that Adaloth is the powerhouse of our group.
“It’s settled then.”
I tapped the transceiver in my ear, relaying what we had discovered to Lith, alongside the plan that Lars had suggested.
“You want to start with an aerial assault?” He asked me.
“Yeah, will that be an issue?”
“No, we can handle it. But about the Sentinels, are you confident that you’ll be able to take them down?”
“About as confident as I can be, just make sure none of your guys are in front of Adaloth during the battle. I’d hate to see them get caught in the crossfire.”
“If she’s as strong as you say, then I’m looking forward to seeing her in action. Alright then, I’m going to go ahead and get everyone in formation. Try not to disappoint, Blindfold.”
“That’s my line, Umbral Knight.” I chuckled a little before ending the transmission.
“Let’s hope all goes well.”
“Don’t jinx it,” Lars replied.
---
(Third Person)
Lith had just finished getting Avalon’s report, Adaloth looking up at him in anticipation.
“We’re going to start with a barrage from up above, and the rest of us will start moving in once the Scourges are scattered enough.”
“And the Sentinels?”
“You and I are going to be leading from the front to clash with them head-on. According to your brother you’re more than strong enough to handle them. Their cores are hidden underground, so while we stall the Sentinels he’ll go after them.”
Unlike Nox, Lith didn’t pay very much attention to age when it came to soldiers. Strong was strong, if they were capable of helping then there wasn’t any cause for concern.
“Sounds good.”
Lith nodded, turning around and raising his arm in the direction of his men.
“ARCHERS FRONT!”
There was no hesitation amongst his men, about 800 of them shifting towards the front in a neat rank.
He pointed up, causing them to bring out their wings and fly upwards with their bows pointed at the 6,000 Scourges in front of them.
Naturally, the Scourges optics were able to catch onto the sight of them going airborne, each of them signalling to one another to fall into a formation of their own.
The Sentinel’s hollow eye sockets started to light up as they sprung to life from their slumber, the ground trembling as they withdrew their longswords from the ground and stood upright with their hulking 32 foot frame.
Strong presence, didn’t even begin to do the sight of their full height justice.
“NOCK!”
Lith’s voice was strong enough to reach the Devils from below, each of them putting an arrow on their strings.
Red circles appeared in front of their eyes, guiding them to their targets with pinpoint accuracy.
The Sentinels raised their longswords, stepping in front of the Scourges in an attempt to block the soon to be fired projectiles.
But it didn’t matter, the bow’s in-built guidance adjusted the trajectory of the Devil’s arrows for them. The gaps in between the legs and arms of the behemothic Senintels being more than enough of an opening.
Not to mention that even with their massive frames, they weren’t big enough to act as a shield for all 6,000 Scourges that had been spread out.
“DRAW!”
They pulled back on their bowstrings, each archer locked onto a different part of the Scourge’s formation.
“LOOSE!”
Similar to when Avalon had stopped the ambush during the evacuation a few years ago, explosions started to hit the Scourges head on.
The Sentinels did their best to block as many of them as they could, but there was no way for them to fully prevent the barrage of projectiles being shot at them.
Lith then signalled to his infantry, all of them having been spread out behind the hills with their swords, spears, and shields at the ready.
“ON ME!”
Roars echoed across his ranks, all 3,200 soldiers following behind Lith and Adaloth as they charged towards the Scourges who had begun to rush forwards to meet them.
“I’ll take the left one,” Lith said as his attention locked onto one of the Sentinels.
“Are you sure you can handle it on your own?” Adaloth questioned.
Lith grabbed hold of the purple scabbard hanging by his waist. “I don’t just carry this thing around for decoration you know?”
The chains surrounding the sheath started to rattle, unbuckling one by one as the ominous aura leaking from whatever laid within started to grow more potent.
The veins leading up from Lith’s hand all the way to his neck started to bulge out of his skin as cold sweat started to build up on his forehead.
“I finally found something worth your time, Zodd.”
A single curved horn grew out of the side of Lith’s head, and the usual bat-like appearance of his wings started to turn into something truly demonic.
His presence imploded onto the battlefield, both Scourges and Devils alike being drawn to the sight of him charging at one of the Sentinels with a pitch-black blade in his hands.
A group of Armored Scourges appeared in front of him, all attempting to block his path forwards as they started to reinforce themselves with Light Magic.
“Sorry, I unsheathed him for the big guy behind you. Not you small fries.”
He swung his blade once, releasing a torrent of Demonic Power in the shape of a crescent, lopping the Scourges heads off their shoulders in one clean motion.
The sound of thumping grew louder as Lith’s grin grew wider, the Umbral Knight watching with glee as his towering opponent marched closer and closer towards him.
“Sentinel. Superior. Devil. Inferior.” Its deep, hollow voice spoke as it raised its colossal longsword.
“You really do speak after all! Cool!” There wasn’t even a modicum of fear on Lith’s face as he watched its sword come crashing down towards him, one that casted a large shadow over both him and a good chunk of his soldiers.
CLANG!
In spite of the size difference, Lith’s current strength was revealed to be enough to meet its blade with his Demonic Sword.
A shockwave erupted from their clashing metal, both the Scourges and Devils needing to plant their feet into the ground to avoid being blown away.
“This is gonna be fun!”
Unlike Lith, Adaloth seemed to be taking her time with making her way over to the other Sentinel.
“Yoru would probably enjoy this place more,” she said to herself as she recalled one of her sisters from her past life. “I can’t say I really see the appeal, it’s too noisy.”
She was able to feel the forceful vibrations of the Sentinel walking towards her, having deemed Adaloth a prime target, but she didn’t pay the metallic titan much attention.
A group of Projectile Scourges surrounded her, Light Magic building up in their mouths as they prepared to fire upon her.
“At least this’ll be over quickly.”
Instead of using her Power of Destruction, Adaloth simply allowed a wave of Demonic Power to shoot forth from her body.
A wave so powerful that it seemed like a tsunami had descended on the battlefield, the surrounding soldiers shocked to see her decimate hundreds of Scourges without so much as breaking a sweat.
All she had done was stand there, with her arms at her sides, but she had still managed to unleash such destruction as if it were nothing.
“What?” She turned around, meeting the stunned faces of Lith’s soldiers. “Stare at me all you want, it’s not going to get you anywhere.”
They immediately snapped out of their trances, the sight of a young girl displaying strength they’d expect from an Ultimate-Class Devil still freshly engraved in their minds.
“Danger. Detected. Sentinel. Vanquish.”
Like its comrade had done with Lith, the Sentinel raised its sword as high as it could. Swinging downwards with all its might in an attempt to exterminate Adaloth.
But instead of using her Demonic Power, all Adaloth did was raise her hand in response, confusing some of the soldiers who still had their attention glued to her.
And then, she caught it.
With her bare hands.
“You sound and look imposing, but if it weren’t for that hidden core you probably would’ve been destroyed in seconds.”
One of the side-effects of the unfathomable amount of Demonic Power within Adaloth was that it increased both her physical strength to insane proportions.
Or as Avalon called it, her “gorilla strength.”
Adaloth couldn’t make much use of active reinforcement, since her lack of control over her overbearing Demonic Power would only cause her to hurt herself.
However, the more she progressed her training with Mathers, the stronger the passive effect grew.
A trait that had also been furthered by the Queen piece Avalon had given her.
The Sentinel attempted to draw its blade out of Adaloth’s grip, but its struggle soon proved to be a futile endeavour.
She was just too strong.
Adaloth tightened her grip, shattering the Sentinel’s longsword into pieces as it stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over its own weight.
All of the soldiers under Lith couldn’t help but let out a round of ear-shattering cheers. Unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed, but undoubtedly impressed by it nonetheless.
“Battlefields really are way too noisy,” she sighed.
The shards of metal that had broken off the Sentinel’s sword started to turn into dust, returning to the titan and reconstructing its blade in a matter of seconds.
“So you’re capable of regenerating your sword as well, that’s fine. I’m just here to play with you until your core is destroyed.”
“Impossible. Sentinel. Superior. Devil. Inferior!” It bellowed, while making another beeline towards Adaloth. Since as a Scourge, it had no concept of fear.
A Fallen Angel on the other hand would’ve probably taken off screaming if they had encountered an opponent like Adaloth.
“Having fun?” A figure approached Adaloth.
“Lars? Shouldn’t you be with my brother?” She asked.
“What’s the point? He’s too fast for me to keep up with, and he already knows where both of the Sentinel cores are hidden.” Lars pointed to the very back of the battlefield, where nothing except Scourges should be at the moment.
But despite the fact that no Devil should have made it there, it was clear that the Scourges were fighting something.
Some Scourges exploded.
Some had objects thrown into their heads or chest.
And some were cut cleanly in half.
Whatever they were fighting, was too fast for any of the Devils to actually see.
Which made for quite the comedic sight of Scourges appearing as if they were schizophrenic.
“The cores are over there?” Adaloth asked while the Sentinel in front of her prepared another attack.
“According to him they are, apparently they’re hidden about a hundred feet underground.”
“That deep down? Won’t he need me to clear that much area?”
“Again, according to him he has it under control.”
“I see.”
The Sentinel’s sword came crashing down on her again, but Adaloth just held her arm up, letting the blade crash into her forearm while still looking at Lars.
‘He wasn’t kidding, she really does have gorilla strength.’ Lars thought to himself, having been warned not to use that term around Adaloth unless he wanted to lose a few limbs.
“Lars,” she said, startling the Bishop as he thought she had somehow read his mind.
“Yes?”
“Set up a detection barrier around where Avalon is, he might get tunnel-visioned while he’s focusing on fighting them and dealing with the cores. I don’t want him getting caught off-guard.”
“As you wish,” he nodded.
---
(First Person - Avalon)
At first, I assumed these Scourges were similar to something out of Terminator.
But now that I’m fighting them, my opinion has changed.
They don’t appear like killer androids to me, they’re much more like animals.
They react when they sense something or someone powerful, and group together in various formations to try and take them down.
However, they have no ability to plan beyond that.
Scan, detect, attack. They don’t take their opponents movements or actions into consideration, they’re literally just firing whatever they can and praying it hits before they’re hit.
“The Sentinel can talk and you can’t, but there still doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in intelligence between you. I wonder why that is?” I mused aloud as I slapped explosion seals onto the Scourges trying to take me down while I advanced through their lines.
Maybe that’s why they’re able to produce so many of them? They could be lowering their intelligence in exchange for more numbers.
Still, the amount they’re producing isn’t anything to scoff at.
I only really have to worry about the Armored Scourges, since my speed seems to have caused the Projectile Scourges to malfunction.
I am quite literally just too fast for them to lock onto, therefore they just keep trying to hone in on me and make no attempt to charge up any attacks.
‘How boring, you should’ve fought the big ones instead. You’re not going to get a chance to properly use me if you stick amongst these sad excuses for opponents.’
First of all, you still haven’t given me the ability to use ‘you’, and secondly, I’m the only one who can detect the cores. What choice do I have?
‘Can you at least fight them with your daggers or something? I’m about to fall asleep watching you stick seals onto them and dart away.’
Good, that way I won’t have to listen to you pestering me 24/7.
‘Hmph, you’re just like Souji. Boring! Boring! Boring!’
I’ll take that as a compliment.
I’m not sure how many of these Scourges I’ve taken down so far, I think the number is nearing a thousand.
It helps that the explosion seals I’m using have a large area of effect, the Armored Scourges tend to bunch up once they’ve found a target so it’s easy to get some collateral damage in.
It should only take a few more seconds for me to reach the first core which is located on the westernmost side of the battlefield.
“Oh? What’s this?” I almost forgot, there were a few Fallen Angels I spotted when I was scouting the area with Lars beforehand.
It would seem that I’ve stumbled across one of the Commanders. I wasn’t really gunning for them since not only is their effect on the battle near meaningless, but I also think they were only sent here to report back and forth.
I mean Scourges are already programmed on what to do for the most part, I can see these Commanders having some use before the battle starts to get everything in position.
But once it does? There’s no way they can keep up with 6,000 of them.
Or I guess 5,000 now, thanks to me.
Hehe.
“Wha-”
Before the Commander could get the words out of his mouth, I reached into my pouch and pulled out a kunai and threw it into his throat as I was passing by, using the string technique Souji had taught me to bring the kunai back to me without having to look back.
It’s a bit easier to kill in comparison to last time, but I still don’t have much of a stomach for it.
I guess I’m just soft.
“Honestly, I think you guys would be more productive fighting everyone else.”
I finally arrived at where one of the cores were hidden, but a bunch of Armoured Scourges have decided to surround the area in an attempt to prevent me from getting access to it.
The more time I waste, the more of our men get killed. So I better make this quick.
“You might as well try to be useful, or at least the other part of you.” I tugged on the white scarf draped around my neck, holding it in my hand as it transformed into an unnaturally long blue-tinted katana.
Seriously though, this thing has to be at least 2 metres long. If I were a human, I’d probably struggle just to lift it.
I imbued it with Demonic Power, tensing my grip on its hilt and swing horizontally, unleashing a forceful crescent of energy aimed at the necks of each of the Scourges.
The crescent didn’t have much power in it, since I put more effort into coverage rather than output.
However, I’ve figured out that there’s a weak spot in the Scourge’s armour, right in the middle of their neck.
And since I aimed for that, I was able to lop their heads off in one go. That, combined with the fact that Demonic Swords counter Light Magic.
‘Still bored.’
Could you at least wait till the battle’s over before you start complaining?
“Alright, here goes nothing.”
Once I confirmed that a hidden core was directly beneath me, I pulled out a hundred explosion seals and arranged them in a circular formation around the spot.
The good thing about seals is that you can prepare them beforehand, and I’ve had three years to stockpile them.
However, the fact that it was a learning process means that some of them are significantly weaker than others.
I got a good distance away from my seals so as not get caught in the explosion, and then-
BOOM!
Well, yeah.
I walked over to the hundred foot deep crater, my eyes marvelling at the sight of a large yellow orb chalk full of Light Magic in the ground.
So that’s a Sentinel Core.
Impressive, part of me wants to find a way to preserve and see what I can find out.
However, now isn’t the time for research.
I took out my three-pronged kunai, using a storage seal that had already been filled up with Demonic Power in advance to charge it up as quickly as possible.
I threw it straight into the core, watching as cracks appeared all over it until it finally shattered into pieces.
In an instant, the Sentinel Lith was fighting and was reduced to dust. What remained of it being carried by the wind as it could no longer sustain its form.
It’s good that the one he was fighting went down first, I don’t think he can resist the influence of Demonic Swords as much as I can, so prolonged fighting will be dangerous for him as long as he remains in that state.
‘You underestimate yourself, Avalon.’
What?
‘You’re not resisting Muramasa’s influence, you’re immune to it. It can’t invade your mind no matter what it does or tries, it's given up. The amount of control you have over it is too much for it to even attempt to manipulate.’
Wait, are you being serious?
‘Of course I am, Souji would’ve made a grave error giving you to me if you weren’t capable of at least that much.’
Giving me to you? Isn’t it the other way around?
And now he’s gone silent, not that I’m complaining.
“Uh oh, it looks like we have some runners.” My attention was caught by the sight of a group of Fallen Angels, presumably all the Commanders attempting to flee from the battlefield.
Yeah, that’s not happening.
I caught up to them in a split second, appearing in front of the Fallen Angels as I observed their expressions of pure shock upon seeing me.
“Fleeing at this point is a little bit tasteless don’t you think? Well, even with that said I guess I can’t really blame you considering how the battle’s going.”
I could smell the sweat building up on their bodies as they looked at one another, probably thinking about what they were going to do next.
But something’s off about them.
“I’m not that experienced so forgive me if I’m wrong, but close up you all don’t really feel like Commanders to me.”
Their tension rose.
I was right.
“Wait a minute, if you’re not Commanders. Then what exactly are you doing out here?”
Come on, think Avalon think.
They started fleeing the nanosecond the first Sentinel went down, maybe that’s a clue?
Oh! That could be it!
“Nevermind, I understand now. You’re not Commanders, you’re researchers!” It was just a guess, but their reactions turned it into truth.
“You’re responsible for creating the Sentinels, and you’re here to gather more data on them in order to make them stronger. Isn’t that so?”
“We-”
“No, there’s no need to say anything. Your body language tells me enough.” They’re probably not the masterminds since they’re out here, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re clueless either.
“I was thinking about killing you all like I did the other guy, but you’ll have a lot more use alive than dead.” We’re looking for weaknesses in their technology, so these guys should be able to give us some valuable information.
I swiftly knocked each of them out, putting seals on their bodies to prevent them from being able to move in the rare case that they woke up before I was finished.
Now then, let’s finish up.
I bolted towards the second core which was located on the easternmost side of the battlefield, using Muramasa in conjunction with my explosion seals to make quick work of the Scourges trying to block my path.
It only took about half a minute of travel to get to where the second core was, where I laid the exact same formation of seals as I did with the last.
BOOM!
I think I might have a thing for explosions.
I shattered the second core, bringing an end to the Sentinel Adaloth was busy fighting. I mean, if you can even call it fighting.
She’s just way too overpowered.
“I think I did a pretty good job if I say so myself,” I thought aloud.
“AVALON! ABOVE YOU!” Lars screamed at me through my earbud.
Above?
“Ah shit, I let myself get distracted.”
