28.

Essence stormed his body, a fire that etched his veins and burnt his soul. Power thick as ambrosia and with the strength of a mountain. His heart was made of ice and filled with electricity and his eyes were ready to burst as the pressure threatened to overwhelm him.

Blood red energy caked his spear and as his lunge crossed the room, fear entered the Empryrean’s eyes for the first time. It struck out with its double bit axe, trying to divert Erak’s Spear Strike. The steel broke, bits of the axe head spraying around like a grenade as Erak’s lunge continued on and into the Empyrean.

Blood geysered outward and painted the remnants of a wall behind them as Erak slammed his shoulder into his enemy. His legs pumped as he rode the high of the Essence rush and he carried the dying Empyrean through a wall and out into the street.

Bits of charred wood and plaster coated them as he picked the Empyrean up and over his head like a pennant, blood raining down to coat him as everyone stopped to stare. Erak flung the dying Empyrean at a group of Infernal Soldiers knocking them over as he roared in joy and victory. His scarred vocal chords ached as he screamed his dominance, but the rousing sense of his bloodlust began to fill the area. Essence swirling around the soldiers as they screamed and cried out, attacking with fervor.

“ERAK!” Nevia bulldoze into him, her blood glistening black and a cut across her brow.

“The golems are looted. It’s time to keep pushing. Scouts went ahead. There’s a large group just a block over, through those houses,” she stopped to point with her bloody blade. Erak followed the steel and looked at the burning homes and beyond them.

“It’s a reserve, Erak. If we crack them, we can scatter everything the fuckers have in the area. Foy will be able to link with Gressen and we can have the breathing space to enter the floating docks!”

Erak nodded and trotted back to his tank, the kill notification for the Empryrean still not having come through. He clambered on and smacked the top of the tank twice and Del popped his head out. Erak pointed at the wall of burning homes and the tank driver looked confused.

“Fire on them?”

“Through them!” Nevia explained.

“Oh, we can do that. Conny! Through those fucking houses!” A wild smile lit the man’s haggard face and he dropped down again as the tank lurched forward, picking up speed as it crushed through the fallen.

Gun slots opened on the front and lines of needlething bolts raced out, peppering the remaining demons as the tank strafed them. Erak kept his eyes open and when they passed the dying Empyrean, he leaned over and struck down with the butt of the spear, braining the creature and killing it.

Anothering level alert. Erak ignored that, he could do it later. Right now there was a wall of buildings to push through and a demon army to kill. Del was humming, the tune nearly lost in the rumble of the treads over corpses and stone. The cannon fired again and a hole appeared in the center of the line of houses. Slowly the hole collapsed, boards and timbers cracking and falling inward as Del whooped in joy.

“Psycho,” Nevia whispered next to Erak’s side. Her spare hand was looped around a handle and she huddled in Erak’s shadow. He lifted his shield to cover her as the tank hit the burning buildings, plowing through without hesitation.

Bits of wood and plaster, wiring, tiles, and other odds and ends slammed into Erak, battering him, but he didn’t budge. The rest of the squad waited as the tank demolished the house, bursting free in a spray of flung wood and into an army.

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They were on a wide cul-de-sac with large homes lining the court and demons everywhere. Hundreds of Infernal Soldiers, Flesh Shapers, Flesh Golems, and more filled the cul-de-sac. Siege weapons were laid out in neat lines and thousands of eyes turned to look at them.

“Oh, fuck me,” Del whispered. Erak grabbed Nevia and jumped clear of the tank, landing behind it before the demons could react.

“FIRE CONNY! FIRE!” Del screamed, the slam of the hatch shattering the stunned demons out of their stupor. Small arms fire struck the tank and evaporated in a burst of flames, doing nothing more than scorching it as several squads of demons gathered around a siege engine, trying to spin it around and point at the tank.

The second tank burst out of the houses, not slowing as its cannon fired into the heart of the demon formation and then its treads were pulping demons. Conny fired and the siege engines were turned to slag and then their tank was running forward too. Hundreds of soldiers poured through the gaps and Erak led the charge, heading toward the thickest grouping of Infernal Soldiers. A commander was rallying them, whip cracking in the air above their heads. Erak took a hop, skip, step and threw the spear, watching as the Infernal Commander’s head blew apart.

The spear went on, embedding itself in the next demon’s chest. Erak drew the sword and began to lay about himself. The long blade screamed in the air, notes of madness on the breeze, as blood flowed like rivers. The handle was too thin and the blade too long, but it killed with ease. Leather armor parted like paper and demon heads rolled while freed limbs splattered to the ground.

Spear strikes and bursts of hellflame rolled over him, but Erak kept on. Pain mounted, each blow bruising in force, his vision becoming red as he painted himself in black gore. A roar filled his ears as the sword cleaved and cut. Demons tried to flee, but the battlefield was too compact, their bodies wedged too tightly together. Erak’s strength carried the sword through multiple demons, the supernaturally sharp blade unstoppable.

Imperial soldiers fired into the panicking ranks. The tanks continued their rampage, firing their main cannons on any concentration of forces while their smaller casters fired continuously, spraying into the crowds as they cut a bloody swath through the reserve force. Kill notifications were ringing out, levels adding as the aura of bloodlust grew and grew, soon covering a large portion of the battlefield.

Imperials were frothing at the mouth as they grappled with demons half again their size, their knives rising and falling in a delirious ecstasy. The demons were running, fear ripe in the air as they tried to escape, but they were penned in by the ring of still standing homes.

Erak split a demon in twain and heard a harsh shriek split the air and burst the bubble of his aura. Imperial warriors calmed and then looked horrified at their deeds while the ragged handful of Infernal Soldiers still alive tried to regroup in a house. One of the tanks fired on the house, and then the second one did as well and then the demon army was gone. Crushed and pulped, cut and burned, they were all scattered about as the Imperials cheered out.

Erak looked about for where that crying shriek had come from. There was nothing in the shrouded skies, nor on the battlefield. There was little to see at all in the smoky haze, just the burning fires and the surviving men of their mad charge.

Then the cry came again, haunting and lonely, filled with scorn and hatred. It sent chills down his spine and rose the hairs on his neck. Erak looked toward the entrance of the cul-de-sac and watched as the smoke was blasted away in a burst of air. Clean sightlines was something that he had forgotten existed, but now he wished the smoke had stayed a moment longer.

Lances glittered in the found sunlight. Pennants streamed on the conjured winds, flayed skin tattooed with the logo of a horned beast with black eyes. Ten across and deep back, wide and broad shouldered lancers sat on insectoid beasts. The leading rider lifted a curved horn, four feet long and ivory, to its lips and the haunting sound came out again.

“FUCKING KILL ‘EM CONNY!” Del screamed and the tank fired again. Heat suffused the air and the bolt crossed the distance in less than a blink of the eye. A wall of flame went up towards the sky and diffused in the atmosphere. A robed figure sat behind the wall of armored lancers, a cowl covering its features. A pale hand was stretched out from oversized robes, black manacles biting into flesh.

Flame Guardian lvl. 19

Herald of the Damned lvl. 18

Gnull Rider Commander lvl. 21