30.

Bones splintered against his steel, showers of off white bone flung into the air as Erak picked up speed. He peeked over the edge of the shield and saw the line of spears facing him, tips steady as the line of Infernal Warriors marched forward.

Erak felt his core stir as Essence whirled through him, gathering strength as his aura spread out amongst the Imperial Soldiers and began to infect the front lines of demons. He saw the shift in their stances, the fear beginning to blossom like a rot. The Imperials behind him roared, their caster fire coming furious and hot as Erak charged in front of it all. A stray bolt dinged off his armor as he reached the leading edge of spears.

His sword swept a spearhead away, while his shield battered another, leaving him a crease in the spearwall to push through. The tightly packed demons screamed in rage, in defiance, and in horror. Erak kicked out, his front leg shattering a demon’s knee.

He dragged his sword down the shaft of a spear, relieving the owner of its fingers, before he cut its belly open. He threw himself side to side, jostling the entire front row of demons as he continued to lash and kick, trying his best to free up room around himself to use the longsword to full effect.

The mounted lancers were a distance away, the Flame Guardian protected by the wall of armor as its arms danced in a frantic display to keep caster fire away. Erak started through the ranks of demons, shouldering and tossing demons to the ground. Most of what he saw through the thin slit of his helmet were weaker demons, not a single one above level ten.

The back row was a different beast, the lancers all lower teens and the final row of spear holders were slightly lower. A spear scraped his leg, a fist pounded ineffective against his shoulder blade, a knife tried to wedge itself in the gap of armor at the back of the knee. The demons pressed and shoved, the weight of the crowd threatening to tip him backward.

They were too weak. His aura swelled as demon blood drenched him as he finally made enough room around himself to swing the sword. He slashed and hacked, moving forward one step at a time. The uncommon sword continued to scream in the air as it split flesh until a notification popped into his view.

Synergy Found

Sword of Discord and

Aura of Bloodlust

Fear effect doubled on all enemies

Erak laughed, his scarred throat making it sound like the crackle of gravel. Demons blanched and tried to back away from him, their weapons doing nothing more than scraping his armor as he marched over them. His laugh swelled, joining the music of the sword, mingling with the fear of the demons until Erak could see it. Essence flowed above their heads filling the smoky clouds with a red energy tinged with yellows and violets.

His speed increased and demons died in droves, their lines breaking as Erak rampaged through them. His direction was unwavering, his will undeniable, his existence violence incarnate.

The honor guard shuffled around their charge, affected by the aura attack to a lesser degree. They backed their mounts up and from behind, Erak could hear caster fire burning flesh. There was a range to the Flame Guardian’s skills then. Erak cut through the back line, taking an arm and a head from different demons and then was facing the line of higher ranked spearmen.

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Ten of them, all of them only a few levels below him. Erak’s bellowing laugh dropped to a threatening rumble, the exhilaration of the fight slowing as he paced forward. The leader struck like a snake, energy wrapped around his spear in the same way Erak had used Spear Strike

Erak turned and twisted, letting the energy wreathed blade flash by him. He moved faster than the demon and trapped the spear to his body by wrapping his sword arm up and over the spear and pinning it to his torso. He yanked the spear and the demon foolishly held on.

The Infernal Soldier flew at him, its strength a pale shadow do the depths of Erak’s monstrous power. Pale yellow eyes were wide with fear as Erak headbutted it, leaning down and forward to connect, the sound of breaking bone loud in the confines of his helmet as the demon was staggered backward.

It released its spear as its clawed hands went to clutch at its ruined face and Erak stabbed it through the belly, twisting and ripping the blade out of its side to block another attacker. The rest of the spear line sprang at him, skills coming in a fast flurry as Erak was forced to use his shield and sword in concert to survive.

A Spear Strike hit his chest, Erak a second too slow to block, and pain burst in his chest, stealing his breath. His armor held, but now there was a small dent in the breastplate, when nothing else had managed to do more than scrape away the enamel of the rare grade armor.

Erak lopped the offending demon’s head off and then was staggered as a pair of blows hit his right knee. He managed to stay on his feet and kept his composure as he slashed back, cutting a furrow in a demon’s thigh. It screamed and tried to back up, but Erak pounced. Forcing his tired legs to surge forward, he caught the spearman and hit it with the front of his shield and sent it sprawling as Erak dueled its partner.

Another blow to the back, between his shoulder blades, and then another to his left hamstring. Erak snarled, pain and rage deepening his bloodlust as he cut down the demon he was facing.

Erak spun on the ball of one foot and then in a smooth motion crushed downward with his other heel on the throat of the demon he had knocked down. Six of the ten demons were now dead or fled, the remaining four all arrayed in front of him in a thin imitation of their company’s formation.

The gnulls were fleeing, their charge nestled between them. The scattered company of lancers had managed to regroup with them and they rode away in a force of several hundred, disappearing into the smoky chaos of the capital city without pausing. They had abandoned the foot soldiers and the song the sword and his aura made crushed what morale they had.

The block of infantry collapsed and Nevia was there, her own sword slicing and cutting as she made her way to him. He turned his eyes back to the four remaining demons and leapt, clashing with them in a ring of steel on steel.

Two in the middle fell, one under his boots and the other as he ran the edge of his sword along its neck. The last two split apart, leaping far away from him. The one on Erak’s right broke, turning and fleeing away toward where the gnull riders had left. The one on the left lifted its spear up and roared in defiance to its fate.

Nevia’s sword burst from its sternum, the small officer appearing behind it as the higher ranked demon staggered about. She withdrew her sword and let the demon fall to the ground before taking its head in three bloody chops.

“Erak.” her chest heaved as she gulped air. A few stray hairs were pinned to her sweaty and blood spattered face. Erak looked about and saw the state of the Imperial Soldiers. All of them were lost in the fervor of battle as they hacked and clawed apart the invaders with feral intensity. He looked up to see the thick cloud of Essence above him.

Releasing the aura was hard but instinctual. Reminiscent of climbing out of a warm bed on a cold morning. The cloud faded away and the Imperials slowly regained themselves as the tanks rumbled forward. They still had more blocks to secure until they reached Titus’s Square, but Erak’s part was over. He had a ship to command.