The situation had become akin to a terrible nightmare. Deadly chaos squads advancing from the front, the Daidarabotchi demolishing fortifications in the center, and behind - the yokai, crazed from feeling the pain and terror of the fallen great spirit.
Only one of the mountain spirits was made of twisted mountain rocks mixed with beams from some gigantic palace; the other two clearly lived in pure, wild nature. They appeared as enormous, grotesque humanoids with pumpkin-shaped, deformed heads. Inside their eye sockets burned the emerald flame of chaos.
But what truly united them was their incredibly tough hide, which superbly withstood all the techniques and spells hurled at them in desperation.
Even though each strike by the Daidarabotchi was tremendously slow, their close connection to their element allowed the spirits to perform dreadful deeds.
Rolling waves of spikes and stones, pits devouring people, and other joys of clashing with such powerful geomancers. The Sumada fought fiercely to protect their allies but still failed to fully block all the spirits' strikes.
The worst part was that they couldn't be quickly destroyed. Chaos had chosen the right adversary for the humans. The mountain spirits greatly hindered the defenders while the main threat approached their positions.
In a couple of places, the underground communications collapsed, causing parts of the battlefield to sink. The same fate befell the Daidarabotchi, who tried to escape but were successfully thwarted by the Sumada, who came to their senses.
Meanwhile, the situation at the command post was, if not catastrophic, perilously close to it.
The death of her sister hit hard the Nine-Tails, who, kneeling in disbelief, stared at the dead Teruko in her arms.
The air was thick with the intolerable scent of the great spirit's blood, a fragrance unique and indescribable.
Could there be some interesting secrets hidden in the blood of such powerful beings?
These were the thoughts that raced through Ordyntsev's mind as he, at the limit of his body's strength, rushed toward the fallen Imperial Turtle, nearly getting burned alive by the flaring Fox.
Her hate-filled eyes stared directly at Stas while the stone beneath her knees ominously began to smoke and heat up. The air instantly dried, and raindrops evaporated before even reaching the ground.
"Traitors... Traitors everywhere... Chaos scum... Die!" the woman's growling voice barely resembled a human's. At that moment, there was no doubt that she had nothing in common with humanity.
"Stop!" Jishin quickly shouted, managing to attract the spirit's attention and distracting her from the frozen Stas, who cursed himself for his rash action. His doctor's instincts pushed him to try to help the injured, but he hadn't considered how Izanami might interpret his actions. "He's not a traitor!"
"Lies! It was he who brought her! He justified her deeds and defended her from my followers! Just as did your ally, Katashi. What did you discuss with that chaos whore, water-wielder?" Izanami's accusatory words hissed like a steel blade being drawn from a sheath.
The gazes of the gathered involuntarily focused on a momentarily stunned Katashi. However, his confusion quickly turned to anger.
"Don't attribute to me what I didn't do, spirit! I knew no more of her treachery than you!"
The next moment, everyone began suspiciously eyeing each other. A single spark, and the flame of discord would engulf them all.
The offenses and disagreements were too great. These beings had united, but they never forgot their grievances for a moment.
Stas watched the unfolding events in despair, feeling as if a portal to the abyss had opened beneath his feet.
Everything was going wrong! Why was everything so bad?!
Clearly, something had to be done while the situation could still be controlled.
Sometimes, Ordyntsev particularly hated his life.
"I am guilty," the earthling's words made the Nine-Tails flinch and look at him again. "Yes, I took Minoru into my squad and brought her to the army. She managed to deceive many people, including you, me, and Katashi. And no, I'm not excusing myself." Ordyntsev dismissed her potential words with a wave of his hand.
"Nevertheless, remember, it was I who developed the technique that led to the death of countless chaos agents among us all!"
"Then why did you overlook her? Why didn't you kill her?" Yamato's stern voice sounded quite unexpectedly, yet it did not derail Stas from his explanation.
"Because chaos handled her more cunningly," Ordyntsev grimaced. "It didn't try to pump her full of the energy of impermanence. It deliberately broke and reshaped her mind, using the bare minimum of its power, which likely dissipated afterward. It's a long and complex process, but such agents are very hard to detect. She was one of them, perhaps without even realizing it. And now..." Stas took a deep breath and stared directly into the Nine-Tails' pain-filled eyes.
"Let me try to save Teruko. She is innocent of our mistakes. Give me a chance. I can still help her."
The Fox's face twitched as she clearly struggled with herself. Not trusting her voice, she weakly nodded, stepping back and allowing the man to lean over the body.
Nevertheless, she watched intently, ready to attack at the slightest suspicion. The other leaders relaxed slightly, returning to giving orders and monitoring the battle.
Ordyntsev's hands glowed green as he began to diagnose the Turtle's condition.
And the only good news was that she somehow hadn't died yet. Yes, her heart wasn't beating, there was no pulse, her lungs weren't pumping air, but some activity still lingered in a surviving part of her brain, and the cells, miraculously, were still refusing to die.
That's where the good news ended. As it turned out, the blow from Minoru, although devoid of chaos influence, still caused energetic damage.
What worried Ordyntsev the most were the brain injuries. A significant part of the occipital region was irreversibly destroyed, now lying somewhere on the ground.
The last time he treated something like this, Jishin's father ended up with amnesia. And if his latest check and Io's words were to be believed, there had been almost no improvement.
But one way or another, something had to be done. It was necessary to restore the body's integrity and resume the work of the main "systems" like heartbeat and breathing as soon as possible.
The Nine-Tails squinted suspiciously, seeing the swirls of natural energy manifesting around the man. This turn of events truly surprised her, but right now, Izanami chose to ignore it.
And the visible regeneration of the insides, bones, and skin finally filled her heart with hope.
Another shock wave shook the command post, causing Jishin to curse involuntarily.
"I'm going into battle," Yamato said indifferently, bending his knees briefly before propelling himself upward with formidable power. Already in the air, he began to change, rapidly expanding in size and growing scales.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
At the highest point of his jump, a majestic dragon hovered in the air. The patriarch of their kind. The mightiest beast, who had seen the rise and fall of entire epochs. His power was no less than that of the great spirits, and in some aspects, even surpassed them. To just match him in power, about seven supreme warmasters were required.
With a flap of his red wings, he charged towards the rampaging Daidarabotchi at the center.
And behind him, it seemed, followed the Fire Element itself.
At the same time, the command post rapidly emptied. The mountain spirits' appearance had broken the couriers' chain, so communication with the troops, specifically the first and part of the second line, was lost.
That's why the samurai commanders were the first to head to the battlefield to restore some control over the situation.
The old onmyoji, closing his eyes and delving into the spirit world, struck at the approaching chaos servants. His swarm of spirits, among which was the familiar Yuki-onna, gnawed at the Daidarabotchi, slowing their movements and weakening their natural armor.
"She will live," Stas murmured tiredly, stepping back from his patient's body. All external and internal wounds were healed, which might have seemed to indicate that the threat to her health had disappeared. But the problem was that the energetic wounds had not diminished significantly. "If I were you, I'd make sure to have her taken from here to a safe place."
"That will be done. Orek, Izin," Izanami commanded authoritatively, looking at her messengers-guards, who stepped forward. "I entrust you to take care of Lady Teruko. Send her to the hospital and guard her. You are responsible for her with your lives."
"We will do everything, lady!" One of the guards - Stas guessed she was a Kumo - carefully picked up the Turtle's body and, protected by the second yokai, dashed through an underground passage towards the hospital.
But Stas didn't see any of this already.
His entire attention was focused on the battlefield.
At the moment, he couldn't take his eyes off Yamato, who had dived onto the back of the Daidarabotchi, now tearing at it with his claws and fangs.
The unyielding stone shattered into pieces as if it offered no resistance. The mountain spirit broke into thunderous laughter and tried to grab the agile target by the tail.
But Yamato wouldn't be who he was if he acted so straightforwardly. The reptile's claws glowed red, after which he powerfully plunged them into the spirit's head, causing it, ceasing its laughter, to scream wildly.
A few seconds later, crimson radiance began to emerge from all the cracks and crevices of its titanic body. The behavior of the Daidarabotchi changed. The spirit began to panic, trying to stop the inevitable, but only amused the red dragon, who, in the last second, soared from the spirit's back, powerfully pushing it forward.
A fierce flash illuminated the entire battlefield with intense red light for a moment. The remnants of the gigantic stone spirit clattered around, deeply embedding into the ground due to the force of the impact.
A thunderous victorious roar echoed through the area, restoring the resolve of the defenders to fight to the end. Other dragons picked up the cry of their leader, slashing the air even faster with their claws and fangs. Their elemental breaths engulfed all the nearby space, leaving nothing alive.
But it wasn't even this magnificent spectacle that captured the Serpent's attention - the approaching chaos champions were already here.
And to understand the full horror of the situation, one must ask, what exactly were these champions? Why distinguish between ordinary corrupted warmasters and those chosen by chaos?
The answer lies in such a seemingly ordinary concept as loyalty.
Yes, indeed, most planes of impermanence, as well as their owners, reverently regard the loyalty of their followers.
Promises of power from chaos are mostly true. But, as they say, there are a couple of nuances.
Firstly, of course, the price. For the plane of decay, it's the inevitable transformation into a pus-oozing pile of crap and the loss of one's individuality. Although the latter is somewhat a fault of all chaos planes to one degree or another.
But there's also a second point, the aspirant for chaos's gifts must wholeheartedly believe, comprehend, and enjoy what's happening to them.
As you can guess, this is not as simple as it might seem. But if the aspirant does walk this path for even a little while, their powers begin to grow at an enormous rate.
Thus, among the champions were not only warmasters. There were ordinary people, ashigaru, or even peasants.
Chaos had given them so many gifts and powers that they were in no way inferior to warmasters. Perhaps they didn't know techniques, but their speed and strength were beyond human capabilities. Moreover, chaos could give them a couple of unexpected abilities.
A peasant's fear of death, a noble's desire to live forever, a sick fascination with diseases - these are all keys to the power of decay.
That's why they could rightly be considered the heavy infantry and elite of any chaos invasion.
Armed with a variety of heavy weapons, the most loyal followers of decay, with grim, filled with wicked irony, laughter, charged at the noticeably weary ranks of samurai, which the chaos spawn had managed to rough up.
If previously the samurai were gods of war compared to the mutated peasants, now the battle was even.
Blue blades deeply plunged into decaying bodies, yet only eliciting taunts.
Mad laughter and a furious cry of "Banzai" mixed in the air, filling it with blood and filth from the ever-growing number of corpses.
The space literally rippled with clashes of katanas, axes, spears, and naginatas. Opponents fighting at inhuman speeds parted and met again, spinning in the whirlwind of death.
And the chaos servants found true pleasure in such a slaughter.
Meanwhile, another Daidarabotchi on the right flank, having lost most of its armor, was struck by a couple of powerful techniques directly at its core and began to crumble.
But there was little time to celebrate, as now the ordinary and advanced corrupted warmasters reached the defenders' positions.
Avasaki and Hizoru - air and fire.
The increasingly strong wind finally turned into an uncontrollable hurricane, causing the rain to fly not downward but sometimes upward!
In dozens of places, the air spun in circles, soaring up. The earth, destroyed by techniques, began to be sucked into such tornadoes, revealing their elongated shape.
But while these random manifestations of the element were relatively safe, the attacks of the Avasaki warmasters posed a real threat.
And when joined by the Hizoru...
Creating fire, the latter sent it into Avasaki's air techniques, turning fire and air prana into something incredibly terrifying.
Those standing in the second defensive line had to do something about it if they didn't want to turn into dispersed ash.
With a splitting crash, the various stone walls bravely bore the raging hellish cyclone, only to hiss and emit whole clouds of steam.
The Mizuno were not about to stand still either, covering the created fortifications with water streams, which were abundant due to the rain.
The fire-enhanced air met the water-covered earth, and the elements paused in mutual standoff. Any attempts to pass above were immediately suppressed by water whips.
Such battles sounded along the entire front, causing the world to shudder from deafening noise and impacts.
One should not forget that the stream of mutants and chaos spawn showed no signs of stopping.
Thus, despite the desperate resistance of the warmasters, samurai, dragons, and yokai, they were clearly not coping, gradually retreating under the ever-growing pressure.
However, as difficult as it was, everyone knew they still had a chance to win.
For the fourth, penultimate line of defense had not yet entered the battle.
Supreme warmasters, elder dragons, and ancient yokai - all patiently waited, carefully watching the actions of the warlocks and the enemy's supremes.
For beings of such a level of power, the deaths of ordinary and even advanced warmasters were perceived as the removal of expendable chess pieces from the board.
Each of them, in the case of humans, had spent decades in unending war. Forgiveness, pity, and weakness had been burned out of them long ago. As for the yokai and dragons, their lifespans could total hundreds of years altogether.
Living for such a long time, one cannot relate to life as usual.
They waited for the enemy's attack - to immediately defend and counterattack. In battles of supremes, usually, the one who attacked first lost.
Yet chaos played with entirely different cards.
"Attention! They're trying to cast some kind of spell!" the warning began to urgently pass along the entire chain of onmyoji when the Nine-Tails, worried about her sister, noticed something amiss.
The warlocks began their attack, using, as before, chaos dispersed in the air. But fortunately, it was a different type of spell this time, and the defenders were prepared for it.
Obeying the order, dozens of onmyoji readily struck at the spreading wave of decay.
Where they attacked, the threads of the spell and runic circles were destroyed, manifesting as green flashes and otherworldly wails.
Nonetheless, some part of the spell still worked.
An emerald, sickening blanket seemed to descend upon the world. The air acquired a rotting smell, and the ground began to slowly cover with a disgusting film. Encouraged by the support, the chaos servants surged forward with new strength.
Ordyntsev shook his head.
The way of managing chaos energy was so different from the local magic, rendering it difficult to resist it.
And though the onmyoji and the great spirit did everything possible, it wasn't enough. In such kinds of manipulations, chaos clearly surpassed them.
And that meant that sitting it out in defense was not an option.
"Pass the word to the fourth line," Jishin and Katashi turned to the numerous messengers waiting for their orders. Izanami did the same with her yokai. Spirits wouldn't listen to humans. "Prepare for the offensive! Today, we end the threat to our world once and for all! Attack on command!"
Like a wildfire, the order began to spread across the entire front. Noticing something amiss, the warlocks and the corrupted supremes displayed signs of movement.
The cards were played and beaten. The game board was broken and thrown away.
Now, it boiled down to what decides everything in this world.
Force against force. Spells against techniques. Chaos against the world itself.
A tragedy that didn't know yet whether it should occur or not.