Joshua ran through the open door, not bothering to shut it behind him. He dashed through the trembling wooden living quarters, in to the kitchen, jumping elbows first through the window, shattering the glass and landing on his feet. Using all of his strength to keep the advancement, he ran towards the garrison.
The front part of the house he entered exploded in roaring flames and earth, as a massive slab of ground moved from underneath the house, rising high above, and slamming down on the house next door. The newly created opening released heat and malice in the form of demonic laughter. The ruins were quickly infested with Crawlers and Imps, spreading like a living red pool of blood, looking for prey.
Clutching tightly on the one potion he had, he ran past the burning plains and houses, fighting the urge to rush out to help the civilians that were tormented by the demonic invasion.
Mother’s cries echoed around as entertainment to the invading forces. Men fought Imps with the tools they had, unable to escape the surrounding ridicule and taunts of the little Demons.
There was death everywhere, Bolomon had his raging Demon Bulls tearing buildings and people apart. Endless numbers of these Crawler Crabs were searching and gathering on anything that did not resist. Even Devils were carving their screaming prey with markings.
“This is bad,” Joshua exclaimed after seeing that Devils were present as well. Then he saw the one thing he could not get pass his notice. Outside the alleys that offered Joshua cover, in the plains of burnt and wilted flowers, a group of tattooed men were shackled together by their own flesh, wailing torment, being used as a resource, a catalyst key to allow these Demons passage. Cultists.
These humans are most likely responsible for releasing this chaos. Their miserable existence must be put to end, especially since they’re still connected to the source, Joshua decided.
Joshua’s stealth and speed had carried him through the chaos unnoticed, but now he deviated from the safest paths. He jumped out into the open, running towards the cultists that were huddled and wailing something foul. Joshua noted that they were standing within a circle of inscribed formations that was most likely there to protect them.
Although Joshua was now running out in the open, the Demons were blind to his presence. Joshua’s cover behind the veil allowed his stealth to continue, which was only now beginning to break.
Joshua opened the potion he had. He poured some of its content on his now unsheathed sword, muttering a few words, and then emptying the rest in his mouth. As his sword began to glow, he was released from behind his veil, entering into the plain sight for the cultists to see.
The surprise on the cultist’s deformed faces was accompanied by elation at the potential freedom. The hope for relief marked by his bright blue glow amidst the red and ash was welcomed.
Joshua swung his sword, facing mild resistance at penetrating the barrier, severing the head of every cultist inside. As the heads fell, the rumbling red hue toned down. It was so subtle that one got used to it fast, but now that it ended, it was a major relief, and Joshua felt a bit more hopeful about this all.
The feedback form breaking the barrier had sparked a defensive sequence, forming burning runes on the now fading shattered surface that was supposed to negate passage. In a burning flash, these runes chained together and transferred themselves on Joshua’s sword arm. It felt like a heavy burden that demanded everything from him, a crippling charring effect burnt his flesh, penetrating deeper into his tissues. Joshua spit the remaining potion on his arm, dousing the effect of the curse.
He heard the cries of unsatisfied Demons. The smallest ones could not sustain their existence in this realm for long anymore. As advantageous as this action was, it had attracted the attention of the enemy that Joshua would have rather avoided. He felt being targeted and saw a large Demon fast approaching him, leaping towards him, creating small craters where it landed. Joshua gripped his sword in his offhand and started to run again.
He heard the impact of the Demon’s landing get closer with every leap. Focusing on outrunning the enemy, he did not have time to look, trusting his other senses to signal him of danger. He started a little prayer.
“Your flesh is mine,” a horrid voice boomed in his head. This sound was not heard, it was felt with his whole body, stirring confusion in his psyche, inspiring deep fear and doubt to cloud his judgement. Joshua continued trusting his senses and focused on the words he channeled. Then he dodged, a heavy blade passed his left into the spot he was moving towards, Joshua didn’t see the Demon, but he saw the blade being retracted, it was close.
Waiting a moment and then finishing his prayer, Joshua ran into four directions at once, separating into multiple copies of himself, in the form of bright blue light. Joshua wasn’t bound to any of these copies, he was able to observe all of them, as well as the Demon, who just destroyed one of the lights.
It was a ten-foot tall Bolomon Demon, a humanoid goat, a herald of destruction, a lesser Demon wielding a huge claymore, still too young to have its bones cover its vitals properly. Its chest was ripped open and the heart was visibly excited to gather all the living spirit that was loose in the environment. The Demon destroyed another light.
Joshua chose the light that was closer to the garrison, inhabiting it. He was running again, closing his distance to the now visible garrison. He saw troops in silver plate fighting Demons, fighting Nimin Souls, faceless, broken, horned humanoid forms that were lashing out their wrath and greed. One was usually larger than a human, but less proficient in movement, blind to anything but essence. These Demons were abundant in the corpse-filled streets beside the garrison, being drawn in by the rich essence of the area.
One of the soldiers in silver plate was grabbed by the arm, he panicked, stabbing the Nimin in its guts. The Demon reacted to being stabbed by crushing the man’s arm in its grip. A meaty crunch and a cry ringed the air among other sounds of battle. The Nimin pulled the crying man under itself, pinning him to the ground. Sensing a release in essence, it pushed the man’s chest with both of its hands, killing him. Another soldier screamed as he saw his friend got crushed a bit before he could react, he tackled the Demon off the corpse, another soldier approached and swung his sword severing one of the Nimin’s arms. The faceless Demon twitched form the loss but regained its composure and swung its other arm, bashing the solder on his shoulder, sending him tumbling into another Nimin. This Nimin’s horned head suddenly exploded with a shockwave. A man in robes was breathing heavily next to it, trying to regain his strength. More Nimin were approaching, but so was Joshua.
His main hand now mostly healed, he unleashed a flurry of slashes as he passed the multiple Nimin Soul Demons that were on his path. They fell in pieces, severed in legs, heads and torsos.
“Priest,” one the soldier remarked in hope and raised his visor, “glad to see you here. We still hold the garrison, but we’ve lost many of our men, these Nimin are pouring in without stop.”
“Are Nimin the only Demons you’ve encountered?” Joshua inquired.
“Imps and Crawlers also, sir. They vanished a while ago, making this battle a lot simpler, but these Nimin have been massing up their numbers, I’m not sure if we can handle this.” The solder said concerned, and looked at his fallen friend.
“Brace yourselves men, there are Devils in the area, Bolomon also has his troops here.” Joshua said, and the soldier paled.
The other man in robes stood up, somewhat recovered, and asked. “What are we to do? Those are high level creatures we can’t handle.”
“We defend the altar. I’ve destroyed their catalyst, they can’t hold themselves in our realm for long.” Joshua stated and studied the battleground.
It wasn’t a huge garrison, a defendable wall surrounded the barracks and a temple, which contained the altar. The one entrance had a reinforced door that was slightly open. All of the soldiers were outside, fighting together and by themselves. These soldiers were sadly still fresh in training, unable to organize themselves without proper leadership. They were all spread out, fighting the Demons to prove themselves and to protect each other. Most knew the value of the altar, so they kept their determination up. There were about thirty soldiers and four mages in total, still fighting. There were about fifty of Nimin in the proximity and one hundred more closing in, somewhat slowly.
Joshua shot a signal made of mana above his location, the blue light took the form of a shield and made a piercing sound, a sound that the soldiers knew, it was an order to fall back and regroup.
“You three, go help them to disengage, gather here and protect the entrance. We fight in groups of five. Three doing damage, ganging up on these Demons one by one, and the two protecting the three, using only shields, keeping the proximity clear. Tell the mages to focus on regeneration, not to participate in the battle against Nimin. There might be bigger foe coming up.” Joshua ordered, and the three took action.
Joshua entered the garrison and went inside the temple. It was a simple building, containing only the altar; the Keeper, who was sitting on a stool; and a small space for worship. The altar was a huge stone, pure white, smooth, almost transparent but not quite. Symmetrically carved golden veins ran inside the stone that seemed somehow alive. It was as if this stone was a part of a greater whole, connected by the veins, now separated. The veins that connected to the top of the altar oozed a transparent liquid that accumulated and covered the altar top. This liquid dripped down from the four angles of the stone, slowly filling the containers that were below.
The Keeper crooked a little smile as Joshua entered the place of worship. Joshua ignored the man and went to the stone he considered holy. He cupped his hands in prayer and went within himself. After a moment of praying. He took his potion out and set it by one of the angles, letting the liquid drip within the potion, filling it slowly, taking multiple moon cycles to fill completely.
There was a rack on the wall, containing five potions, filled. Joshua took two of them and attached them to his belt.
“Any other Priests around?” Joshua asked the Keeper.
“No, just you, today.” The Keeper said calmly, not opening his eyes.
Joshua took the remaining three potions as well.
A huge boom sounded outside, and the yelling of the soldiers intensified.
Joshua quickly stepped outside the temple and drank one of the potions, feeling somehow shameful for drinking this holy liquid so close to his god.
His body lit up with energy, experiencing a charging and an overexpansion of his spirit. He felt his strength exceed its vibrancy, the exhaustion he had accumulated vanished instantly, his capacity to think and reason was unburdened, like something was guiding him, and he surrendered to it.
There were two groups still fighting the Nimin when Joshua came outside, they were beginning to be overwhelmed. One group of five was down, the last fifteen troops were scattered around the sinister Bolomon Goat, trying to prevent it from wreaking havoc within the formations.
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The mages were channeling lighting together, burning the big target, tearing its flesh away in chunks. The Goat roared in pain and swung its sword. The men that tried to defend the attack were thrown to the wall by the impact, their blades and bodies shattered. Three men down with one swoop. The men behind the Goat Demon used this moment to slash and pierce its thick flesh, unable to penetrate anything vital, but managing to separate more flesh and muscle form its host. The channeled lighting now ripped part of its face, blinding it in one eye. The beast roared in rage, hoofed one of the soldiers behind, killing him, and started dashing towards the exhausted mages.
Joshua cast a sphere of light around the Demon, clutched his hand with power, imprisoning one of the legs of the Goat. It fell on its front, prone, attempting to raise up and pull its leg out.
The channeled lightning was now demanding too much effort to control, it lashed around, hitting some of the now approaching Nimin. The mages abandoned the spell and started to retreat into the garrison to recuperate.
Joshua quickly ran towards the group overwhelmed by the Nimin. He separated himself into a mirrored form of blue light. He and his mirror advanced into the enemy swarm, taking a crescent path through them, reducing their numbers as he continued.
Bodies of hollowed gray tried to grab Joshua as he advanced; one step in, slash, dodge, slash. When he was too slow to dodge, his mirror slashed. He advanced with and increasing speed, drawn into the rhythm and surrender, every step more powerful and determined. It was flow; and the stronger the flow grew, the wider his slash was, the more effective his havoc was. His slash now grew in speed; as he sliced, another copy came from within his body and sliced as well, like a deadly afterimage. The Nimin fell by the dozens without being able to touch Joshua.
Then he slashed something he could not penetrate. This something grabbed his arm and raised him off his feet, something invisible. Joshua didn’t panic and summoned a blue lit copy of himself that came out of his body wielding a huge hammer, smashing the invisible creature with great force. The pressure released around Joshua’s arm and he was standing securely on the ground again, looking at what came out into the open.
It was a Nimin Devil, an ashen Demon, a horned creature with wings and tail. Its size was slightly larger than Joshua. It had a complexion as plain as the Nimin Souls did, but this one had its obsidian skeleton penetrate the skin. Two curved horns grew from the skull that was larger than the skin could cover. The Nimin Souls didn’t have mouths, but the Devil had a functional jaw, which made it look like it was smiling. Its wings were made of obsidian bone and the tail was of obsidian vertebra. Obsidian claws penetrated the skin on its fingers and toes.
“Rrrrrr,” a soft and extended growl was the sound the Devil made and Joshua was suddenly being held by his face in the Devils hand. Experiencing a mild concussion and feeling the Devil’s grip tighten, Joshua quickly transported himself into his mirror self, still slicing among the Nimin Souls. He separated into six copies again, trying to clear as much to the Nimin as possible.
The Bolomon Goat had broken through the binding light and killed some of the soldiers. Eight were down, seven remaining. The Goat had taken serious damage as well, having had most of its soft tissues removed, now unable to protect its heart properly. The ten troops facing the Nimin were now a group of nine, and they were closing on to the Bolomon creature.
A wide cleave was blocked by the advancing human defenders, and the other party had their opening. They swarmed the now weakened Goat Demon, immobilizing its limbs, and as they were about to penetrate its heart, a winged Demon flew to the Goat, blowing the soldiers off balance. It beaked and ripped the heart out from the Goat Demon’s chest, and flew away with it, eating it.
“Hell’s gates! Not more of these creatures!” One of the soldiers yelled.
“Stay vigilant! Take formation!” Another yelled.
The soldiers were somehow disheartened for losing their victory blow, stolen by another Bolomon creature, “A flying sack of shit!” one yelled. Nods of approval were shared among them.
Joshua tried to spot the Bolomon Beak, but he was unsuccessful. Waiting for an ambush was stressful, but then again, these were vulture creatures, so he decided to let it drop, directing his attention on the Devil.
The Devil had ravaged all but one of Joshua’s copies, using speed too fast to follow, swiping its claws widely, playing with its strength, flinging the corpses of Nimin Souls into air with ease.
Joshua was forced to open another potion and drink it.
Another surge of power washed through him, he felt his cells expand and divide and expand again, he grew in size, a sign of irreversible damage. This was the price he had to pay, he needed to protect the altar. His guts were on fire, suddenly on his knees, it felt like he was vomiting lava. The power didn’t stop overwhelming him, his mind was going supernova, like a top spinning so fast it lost its physical form. Joshua’s body reacted without his control, he was flying in the air so fast he was unable to focus on what was happening, only the intensity of the experience was what Joshua could feel. Kinetic impact reverberated through his body, multiple times, as he fought the Devil. Joshua suddenly realized he was watching what was happening from above, he saw his body, covered in armor made of light, dueling the Devil. He was in the hands of God now.
God had created a mace of light as a weapon it used against the Devil, but the Devil had relative ease dodging and negating the attacks with its superior speed. Sometimes the Devil got hit and it hissed a foul screech, clearly affected by the damage. Bindings of light appeared around the Devil as God extended his hand and squeezed it. A powerful force bound all of the limbs of the now immobilized Fiend. Joshua watched as his body extended his arms above his head, shining furiously, conjuring a hammer so bright that the soldiers had to cover their eyes, and then he struck the restrained Monster.
The impact connected with force, and cracked the Devil’s skull.
Joshua felt hopeful as the Devil was hanging slack against the support of the bindings; then it suddenly tilted its head, looking at its foe, somehow still fine.
“Rrrrrr,” a soft and extended growl rung the air, as the Devil slipped from the bindings without effort, and approached God in a peaceful manner, like it was in complete control of the situation. God inhabiting Joshua’s body was somehow paralyzed and unable to react to the seemingly slow movements of the Devil. Joshua saw the soldiers stuck in place as well. No, not stuck, moving extremely slowly, so was God. The Devil grabbed God’s chest armor of light, ripped it off and struck a piercing blow to his chest with its obsidian tail, leaving a gashing hole. It grabbed his collarbone and threw him aside with great force.
Joshua’s body flew, bouncing on the ground and then was abruptly stopped by a simple well, breaking his spine, as it didn’t bend over ninety degrees.
Joshua was now in his body, overexerted, unable to communicate to his limbs. He was broken, but his hand still worked. He felt around his belt and grabbed the three remaining potions. He did not want to do it, the intensity of the previous experience left him scarred and scared. He knew his body wouldn’t survive the next time, but he had to try. Joshua was confused. He opened the potions with one hand and attempted to pour them in his mouth. Where was his mouth exactly, he didn’t know, he couldn’t feel anything. He just poured the potion down to where his arm had enough range to move, one after another, three potions down, Joshua’s consciousness faded into nothingness, into the grace of One God.
The soldiers were watching in horror as Joshua died. They were doomed. The only hope was that the Devil would ignore them, but that was not going to happen, for Devils were keen on having their supply abundant.
A sudden rumbling light penetrated the field with a boom, as a blue-lit mist appeared to surround everything. The soldiers breathing it in felt reinvigorated, and strong, but not strong enough to face the Devil. The Devil on the other hand seemed to dislike the mist, flapping its wings, trying to clear the area of effect.
The well that Joshua had died on spewed a gush of water that seemed alive, slithering like a Snake, fast approaching the now flying Devil. The Snake was long, and as the back end of the Snake came out of the well completely, it whipped a bolt of water flying straight at the Devil.
The Devil was following the head of the Snake and was surprised by the attack that hit it. Like acid, it burned the Devil’s flesh, revealing more of the obsidian structure of the Demon. The Devil hissed and flew to attack the Water Snake, clawing it.
The Snake was cut, falling in pieces of water and evaporating into air, but the Snake was coming fast and long, circling the Devil, shooting its body toward its target. The Devil managed to dodge the head but the rest of the body was like a wall of water that followed. The Fiend was doused in the acid like substance, burning its flesh off completely, revealing its weakness, the foul beating heart, which was still well protected by the bones.
The Devil shrieked loudly, seemingly mad, still levitating in the air even without its flesh. It charged its bones with dark power and extended it around itself, covering itself and the Snake completely in darkness, a darkness that boiled the water, a darkness that ended in an explosion.
An epic blast of wind ripped the air and knocked most of the soldiers off their feet.
As they recovered, the skeleton Monster was floating in air, searching for something. Then it saw the soldiers. “Flesh,” was the grotesque sound the soldiers heard in their heads and were instantly filled with an unnatural terror, frozen by fear.
Then the air pressure suddenly changed; all of the evaporated mist condensed in a single area, forming a humanoid form. It wasn’t Joshua, it was something plain, something female, an avatar of a Goddess with flowing hair, made out of water. The sound the condensed water made was like being next to a waterfall. This highly pressured water was going crazy within a space that was too small to contain it all. The Devil shrieked again and shot a ball of dark energy from its mouth. The ball of energy hit the Goddess, but it just did not penetrate the elemental surface tension.
The elemental evaporated into mist and then instantly reappeared behind the Devil, in the same powerful form. The Goddess simply extend her hand through the Devil, as the obsidian bones were ripped to pieces, and its heart destroyed.
The Devil fell.
After a moment of peace, the soldiers realized they were probably going to live, and cheered!
The ground that was littered with corpses was now being cleared by the pure mist the elemental emitted. Flowers were blooming and thriving in their most beautiful form, nourished by essence rich waters. The last of the Devil’s bones were also being corroded by the now holy environment.
The holy water elemental broke down into mist, and flew as a mist, clearing the whole town out of enemies, while providing a nurturing presence, rekindling the lost hope of the people.
The young Keeper who came out to see his goddess smiled sadly at what had happened, knowing that this was just a fraction of the opposing forces colliding. Thinking how the human species was such an insignificant thing among the higher powers, he sighed.
“Oh well. As above, so below.” He muttered, and went to Joshua’s dead body, picked it up, and took it within the temple, placing him on the altar.
The Keeper cupped his hands in prayer.
“A Hero, for your cause, dear Loya.”