Lieze bolted out from the terraced house, slamming its front door against the brickwork. Shadows danced on the cobblestone road - silhouettes of angels wielding spears. The skies above Tonberg were clouded with Artificial Scions, each and every one of them bound for the eastern district.
A winged specimen landed in front of Lieze with enough force to crack the ground beneath it. She had made a mistake by stepping into the light and exposing herself with such gusto. She was, after all, defenceless without thralls to protect her.
There was no time to think or react. Faster than she thought possible, Lieze stole into an alleyway opening like a wound in the block of connected homes, ducking just in time to avoid a spear aimed right for her head, its speed boring it straight into the wall of a nearby house.
Another Artificial Scion descended from on high, blocking Lieze’s escape route with surprising grace. As she turned her head with the thought of retreating, the previous Scion cut her off at the entrance to the alleyway, retrieving its spear from the wall with a forceful yank. In less than 5 seconds, she had been surrounded.
“Shit…” Scrambling for her Bag of Holding, she pulled Ricta’s rapier from its contents, “There’s nothing for it…”
Without missing a beat, she raised her Briar-touched arm and slid the rapier’s elastic blade over its flesh, forcing torrents of black blood to spill from the wound.
Lieze’s HP - 241 / 290
As one of the Scions stepped forward to impale her, she dropped the rapier to the ground with a clatter and used the same hand to summon a few litres of blood from her Bag of Holding. Both fluids - the Mercuria from her wound and the blood from her bag, mixed in the air to form a [Blood Spike] of monstrous proportions, shaving the timber frames from homes on either side of the alleyway as it grew.
Lieze’s MP - 575 / 1,390
“I only recovered 8 hours’ worth of mana while I was asleep…” She thought “Thankfully, I’ve still got one of Baccharum’s potions in my Bag of Holding if circumstances become truly dire…”
She launched the Mercuria-enhanced [Blood Spike] towards the Artificial Scion blocking her path, impaling the angel and sending it hurtling into the wall of a house where the alleyway intersected not far ahead. She didn’t turn to face the other Scion, taking the first opportunity to power through the alley.
Her arm continued to leak fresh Mercuria. Once she turned right at the fork, Lieze summoned another globule of blood from her Bag of Holding, allowing it to mix with the Mercuria before turning around mid-sprint and focusing her will on the confined space behind her.
Lieze’s MP - 425 / 1,390
She cast a [Blood Barrier], melding its surface to blockade the alleyway. At first, she wasn’t certain if it would be strong enough to hold against the pursuing Scion’s attack, but was pleasantly surprised when the creature’s spear was not only blocked by the barrier, but outright repulsed by it.
She didn’t have time to examine the effects of a Mercuria-enhanced [Blood Barrier], but it had granted her the few precious seconds she needed to escape from the alleyway.
On the street beyond, Gravewalkers stood with their heads craned towards the sky, keen to attack the Scions but unable to overcome their innate power of flight.
A tingling at the back of Lieze’s mind told her that the thralls were masterless. All she had to do to control them was exert a fraction of her will.
The Scion behind her overcame the barrier with ease, gliding its crimson veneer with a leap. It would have returned to pursuing Lieze immediately if she hadn’t sicced a few of the Gravewalkers on it, buying her time to sprint towards the cemetery while leashing more thralls along the way.
Having exposed herself, it wasn’t long before Artificial Scions descended in droves to impede her progress. Some became preoccupied with the stray Gravewalkers, but most had landed close enough to approach her. Lieze’s quick mind wasn’t fast enough to outwit a spearhead thrusting towards her abdomen. She grunted in pain as the silvered weapon sank into her abdomen.
Lieze’s HP - 132 / 290
The Scions did not relent in their assault. Another launched forward to plant its spear in her side.
Lieze’s HP - 20 / 290
Her wounded gut flared with survival instinct. A desperate manoeuvre lashed out from her adrenaline-soaked brain.
[Supreme Regeneration] Activated Remaining Heavenly Favours - 2
Vigour surged through her body, but not fast enough. A third Scion approached with the intention of snuffing out her life, giving Lieze only seconds to react.
A Gravewalker latched onto one of her attackers and sank its teeth into the Scion’s marbled flesh. The thrall was at arm’s length, giving Lieze a single opportunity to free herself. Without the rapier at hand, she dug her nails beneath the barky flesh of her corrupted arm, tearing a flap of un-skin free and causing a flood of Mercuria to pour forth.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
[Supreme Regeneration] Activated Remaining Heavenly Favours - 1
Nothing in the rulebook stated that she was forbidden from stacking Heavenly Favours together. A fine exploit, too, considering she would need every spare ounce of HP to survive the incoming blast.
With a tired, anaemic hand, she touched the shoulder of the Gravewalker.
Lieze’s MP - 335 / 1,390
Her ears couldn’t comprehend the sound of the thrall’s body exploding, leaving only a pleasant ringing in her ears. For a split second, her consciousness faded as she and the three Scion attackers were blown away. Indeed, for all she knew, Lieze could very well have died for a fleeting moment.
Lieze’s HP - 1 / 290
Her twinned [Supreme Regeneration] knitted the gaping wounds in her body. The profane flesh of a God filled the cavities in her mutilated face with an uncomfortable stiffness. One of her eyes - simply destroyed outright by the [Corpse Explosion] - was replaced with a thorny sprig digging its tendrils into her socket.
The pain was beyond agonising, but it was a reminder that she was still alive. Soon, the pain faded, and she was back on her feet. Every other Artificial Scion was preoccupied with slaying the Gravewalkers, allowing Lieze to sprint through the chaos towards the cemetery.
The scene was almost pitiful. Thralls holding their hands up in the air could do nothing to defend themselves as Scions impaled them from above. Only the Briarknights, gifted with enough intelligence to wait for the correct moment, were capable of snatching the angels out of the air.
A Scion dove towards Lieze’s position, weapon poised to run her through with a single lance. But before it could close the gap between them, bolts of crimson magic spindled into its flank, ruining the beast’s balance and forcing it to crash head-first into the ground.
The source of the attack was a staff-wielding Gravewalker lingering nearby. The familiar discipline to its paces set it apart from the others as it marched to Lieze’s side.
“We are under attack, Lieze.” It reported simply.
“Yes… I can see that.” She blinked, “What’s the situation? How are we faring?”
“Marché and other members of the cult gathered a number of thralls before departing for the eastern gate.” The thrall said, “Drayya chose to remain here.”
“Where is she?”
The Caster raised its twisted arm towards one corner of the cemetery, where thralls had been organised into strict formations - a tell-tale sign that Drayya was near.
“Come with me. Bring every Dark Caster available.” Lieze commanded, “Focus on knocking these angels down rather than killing them. Our ground forces will finish them off.”
“Understood.”
Lieze roped in as many thralls as she possibly could. She was only allowed a passing glance at each of their levels, making it difficult to determine the strongest among them, but she wasn’t about to be picky when her life was on the line. By the time she was approaching Drayya’s forces, a mixture of Gravewalkers, Dark Casters, and Flesh Elementals were following in her wake.
[Blood Spikes] ascended from the centre of the mass, catching stray Scions before melting and descending to the earth in showers of blood. Lieze pushed the group of Gravewalkers aside to see Drayya discarding a crimson-stained vial before retrieving another from her waist.
“Drayya!” She called.
“Lieze!” Drayya’s voice was filled with shameless elation, but she recoiled as the two made eye contact, “Wha- what have you done to yourself!?”
Lieze didn’t have a mirror on hand, so she could only imagine the state of her face after so much of it had been replaced with the Blackbriar’s un-flesh. Her half-vision blurred as the God’s false anchored itself to her socket with onyx tendrils.
“You won’t last here.” Lieze shuttered her eyelid a few times out of discomfort, “We need to regroup with the Order. I’ve been told that Marché has already left.”
“Well, someone had to stay behind until our ambitious leader woke from her beauty sleep.” Drayya replied, “But yes… now that you’re here, it’s about time I got moving.”
“How many Scions are there in total?”
“Hm? Scions?” The two of them raised their heads as the Dark Casters fired another volley of magic into the skies, creating ribbons of light which sought out and clipped the wings of the flying monstrosities.
“Artificial Scions. That’s what they are. That’s what the scale calls them.” Lieze said, “There must be… 100, at least.”
“-And that’s only here. I saw plenty more flying towards the eastern gate.” Drayya replied, “But as long as we protect those Dark Casters, we can win. Not without losses, certainly, but it’ll thin out some of Alistair’s troops, at the very least.”
“We need to move. Gather the Scions in one place, and my father will have something up his sleeve to deal with every last one.” Lieze lowered her guard for an instant to think, “We’ll reinforce the Dark Casters with our Briarknights to prevent the Scions from picking them off.”
“You won’t hear any objections from me as long as we escape this ordeal alive.” Drayya shrugged her shoulders, “If Alistair wants to waste his manpower instead of building up a defensive army, then he’s more than welcome.”
There was nothing else to be said. After rounding up the Dark Casters, Lieze commanded the 3 Briarknights present on the battlefield to defend them at all costs before ordering the fragmented army to march eastward.
Gravewalkers fell in droves as the Scions lobbed their spears into the crowd only to be met with magical barrages in return. The [Magic Missiles] fired by the Dark Casters weren’t enough to put the Scions down for good, but knocking them out of the sky allowed for the rest of the army to tear the angels to pieces.
With that said, the advantage of flight vastly reduced the effectiveness of Lieze’s thralls, and altogether, she was losing more undead than she would have liked. The Artificial Scions were especially durable combatants, and far more troublesome than the average guard with their graceful hit-and-run tactics.
By the time Lieze and Drayya made it to the east, their numbers had been halved. The chaos was even more pronounced at the gate, where the Order’s necromancers were out in full force to repel the attack. Marché had only just broken into the fight himself, and was relieved to see Lieze and Drayya pulling up the rear.
“Oh! The two of you are still alive!” He made time for a quick smile between his volleys of [Blood Spikes], “Lieze… you look…”
“Yes, I know. There’s no time for this.” She interrupted, “How is the battle going?”
“As far as I know, the Order was caught by surprise. It’s far from unwinnable, but if we want to save most of our thralls, then we’ll need to come up with something. Those Dark Casters are the only thing giving us a chance.”
“Where’s my father?” Lieze asked.
“Near the gatehouse. I saw him levitating over there a few minutes ago.” Marché answered, “Those things didn’t even pay any attention to him… it’s like they were afraid of attacking him.”