The night did not pair well. “Someone…something? Someone is coming? A lot of…someone….”

“Are you alright? That makhes no sense.”

“I know, but…multiple contacts approaching rapidly from the Northeast. Moving very fast, on an intercept course with us.”

“M-maybe they’re following the river like we are?”

“No, the river runs East-West. They’re farther North than that, but moving straight at us regardless.”

“I likhe that not. Are you two fit to fight?”

“Sure. Tch.” The wink couldn’t be seen in the dark, but the finger-gun could.

“S-somewhat. I’m very t-tired though.”

“I am also weary, and have numerous small injuries. How many foes are khomming?”

Gloe shrugged. “I don’t know. Doesn’t taste right. Just a couple, but spread out across many sources somehow? Or echoes or something?”

“That isn’t very helpful. Khan you not be more precise?”

“No. I don’t have time to explain why though. They’re coming fast.” He looked off into the distance. “I don’t like our chances. If I were you two I’d down any reserve potions you’ve been holding onto. No sense holding onto them if later never comes.” He laughed. “Or don’t. Your funeral.”

“Pah.” Emokha carefully extracted a potion from a wooden case and drank it. “Do you need one Oresus?”

“N-no.” He opened up his own handmade case and grinned weakly. “I’m more c-cautious than you are, for obvious reasons.” One after another he drank and discarded three potions.

“They’re almost here.” Gloe looked toward the horizon. “I think some are airborne. Damn they’re fast.”

Oresus sighed and unlimbered his spear from his back. “B-be free.”

“We are free my friend. They khan khill us, but we will not be khaptives again. I will not allow it.” She cocked her head sideways. “Zekhow, do they know precisely where we are?”

“They’ve been heading right at us without wavering. If they don’t we have the worst luck ever.” He laughed. “Which I can’t rule out.”

After a moment Emokha hissed a soft accompanying laugh. “We shall see. Try not to die.” Unsheathing both scimitars in one fluid motion she leapt into the sky, unleashing a keening, buzzing, screeching warcry.

“Well at least she’s having fun. You want light for this?”

“N-no, I can see pretty good. Y-you?”

“Nah.” Gloe removed the makeshift blanket bag from his back and rummaged through it. “They’re fast. I wish I had hatchets or shortswords.” He settled for a mismatched pairing of different-sized prybars. “They’re here. Good luck.”

“Y-you too.” He paused for a moment. “This t-tree will work.” The two stood side-by-side, the trunk shielding their backs somewhat. Then it was just time to wait.

But not long. To normal humans they would have been black and white blurs in the night, indistinct and virtually unstoppable. Oresus and Gloe however could pick them out clearly even in the dark at high speed, much to the latter’s displeasure. “Are we being attacked by fucking super-goths? Sometimes I have serious doubts about this place.”

The attackers swept in before Oresus could reply, even if he’d been interested in doing so. They were humanoid (or at least demonoid) in shape, if not in capabilities. Unarmed except for their own prominent fingernails. Those quickly proved to be as sharp and tough as blades.

The demon-creatures were incredibly fast, but Oresus and Gloe had just finished killing quite a few fanatics. They weren’t faster, but they could sort of keep up, at least enough to stay in the fight. As the creatures swept forward they lashed out themselves.

Oresus used the length of his weapon to his advantage, flicking his spearpoint at his attackers’ chests before they could reach him. Their shroud held so he didn’t actually inflict all that much damage, but it still served to protect him. He was imbued to the ground while they were in mid-leap. The force of his blows sent them flying backwards, rebuffed for now.

Not having much reach Gloe needed a different approach. Parrying claws seemed counterproductive, so he resorted to vicious continual counterblows, smashing downwards on forearms. Once again he had stability from imbuing while his foes did not, so although the attacks didn’t do all that much damage they did serve to smash them into the ground. He never let up for a second, knocking down new attackers while raining blows on the shoulders and heads of the fallen when he had an opening.

Both techniques were effective, but in the end they felt pointless. The monsters rolled away and charged back in without pause. Over and over again. There were probably around two dozen of them, and although they couldn’t all manage to attack at once they came in a seemingly endless stream. Fast. Strong. And somehow, less deadly than they should have been.

“They…aren’t v-very…skilled” Oresus panted.

“No. Hunger and fear. Almost primal.” Gloe looked off into the distance. “Something is off.”

Perhaps it was that they didn’t need to be good. They were seemingly tireless. Fast enough to dodge a good many blows, tough enough to take what they couldn’t avoid. Still, why weren’t they using weapons? This probably would have been over a long time ago if they had. Gloe puzzled over the matter as he fought.

And fought. And fought. They just wouldn’t quit. Wouldn’t die.

A light flared in the sky. “H-how…she…?” Oresus was reeling in place, barely able to stand upright. His strikes were beginning to wobble.

“Get behind me.” Gloe kicked his comrade back against the tree, and the latter no longer had the wherewithal to resist. He half fell backwards, wearily pulling his limbs in as Gloe took a half step in front of him. The monsters tried to use the space created to sneak around and attack the exhausted target, but Gloe was able to swing a bit wider and keep them at bay. At the price of exposing himself somewhat though. He was taking more hits now.

“She’s hurt. Furious. Very, very tired. I suspect she’s using her ability solely to stay in the fight.” Light blossomed again. “Looks like she’s got a few molotovs left though. Maybe fire works on these things.”

“I…m-might…have…enough…left…for one…flame spear.” Oresus was sucking in air like his life depended on it, clearly focusing on staying conscious. From behind Gloe could smell the putrid iron of preserved blood.

Suddenly every glowing eye in front of them was focused on Oresus. The spiking of hunger was so sudden Gloe was almost disoriented. “They want blood” he muttered to himself. Dropping one pry bar he reached behind him, taking several nasty hits as he exposed himself. “Give me the flask!”

Hesitantly Oresus complied, only to recoil as Gloe dumped the entire container over his head. “Z-zekhow!” Gloe only laughed, scooping up his fallen weapon and resuming his defense. “Looky looky, delicious blood! Come and get it!”

They complied. Or at least they tried to. Oresus was mostly forgotten as they charged forward, even more focused and aggressive. Their eyes were locked on Gloe’s bloodstained head, throat and torso.

Which was unfortunate, as that was where Gloe’s defenses were the strongest. If he couldn’t protect his vitals he’d already have died in this fight. Ironically their renewed ardor actually made this fight easier for him. He spent a whole lot less time protecting his legs. On top of that although the attackers were more vigorous they were even less subtle. It was a lot easier to knock them into each other or otherwise foul them given how single-minded they were. That in turn made it easier for him to get a counter-attack in here and there.

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It wasn’t much, but in a battle of attrition it was what he needed. They didn’t tire, well neither did he. They were incredibly tough and he was regenerating the comparatively few hits he’d actually taken. If he didn’t manage to do some damage this fight could be an endless stalemate.

Or maybe it would be anyway. He had to be doing something, but the situation was too chaotic for him to be able to track individual enemies or gauge their remaining shroud. It was hard to tell if he was actually making any headway.

It seemed like things were getting ugly up in the sky too. Every once in a while Emokha’s fury slipped a bit. Gloe was afraid she was micro-sleeping. They’d been up all day and already fought a long battle after all. It was well past their bedtime now, and this fight had gone on for hours already. Oresus had passed out a while ago and was dozing against the tree despite the clamor, jolting awake periodically.

Not looking too great. Gloe could probably go indefinitely as long as the emotions kept pouring in. There was plenty of overwhelming hunger and fear rolling off of these guys, even if it was oddly echoed and tasted odd. Sort of had the mass-produced energy bar quality.

Was there more fear now? There was. That was interesting. He picked a source and tried tracking it more consciously. One of the monsters. It kept coming in with the others, but instead of taking his counter-attacks it was dodging back out of reach. Every time.

It was afraid of getting hit again. He let it come in a bit closer on its next pass and took a deep breath. And grinned. It was low on shroud. And if the fear he was eating was any indication, it wasn’t the only one. He could work with that.

Normally Gloe’s system was pretty simple. His priorities were, in order: pain from him and his companions, Emokha’s excess emotion, Oresus’, then his own. His ability capacity now was such that this never filled him up, so after that (providing there weren’t any other friendlies or noncombatants) he just took evenly from the emotions of as many enemies as possible. This kept him topped off on energy and healing while minimally affecting the behavior of his opponents.

Now he shifted. Picking a random monster whose anxiety was spiking he ceased feeding on its hunger and ate up every scrap of fear he could. Predictably the increase of appetite and decrease in concern goaded it into attacking more aggressively, which wasn’t hard since that’s what it already wanted to do. Right as it stepped into Gloe’s range he swapped, eating no fear but as much desire as possible.

Suddenly more inclined toward caution the creature hesitated. Only slightly, but Gloe had been waiting. He struck out viciously, battering the foe in between countering his other attackers. His barrage of blows broke through its weakened shroud and he smashed its skull. There was no flow of life energy though, and it was still moving. So he just kept hitting it until one of the others dragged it clear.

Once there it slumped over, twitching in place. Fear was rampant now. There was no blood, but it seemed to be fading nonetheless. After a while it stopped moving. If it wasn’t dead it at least was the next best thing to it. Still no life energy though. Hmm.

Filing that in the ‘qualified success’ category he decided to repeat it. Once. Twice. A dozen times.

The creatures knew something was wrong. That much was obvious. They began to pause occasionally, hissing communications to each other. They were unable or unwilling to cease attacking though, still trying to win through attrition. Interestingly they seemed to recognize that his technique was focused on those with reduced shroud, as once that occurred the monsters in question had greatly intensified terror.

For some reason though they could not deny their emotions, their bloodthirst. Nor could they flee the fight. He caught them occasionally glancing off to the sky or to the northeast before launching back into the fray. It seemed there was something more frightening to them than death.

After the fourteenth ‘kill’ he discovered what it was. The two new attackers were substantially better-looking and more well-dressed than their compatriots. They were faster and stronger by a substantial margin too, but it was their intelligence that truly made them dangerous.

They charged into the fight without giving him a chance to size them up, but it was immediately clear they had been observing him beforehand. A gesture drove the other monsters back so he couldn’t use them to hinder these new elites. One attacked him head-on while the other circled around, ignoring the blood to attack Oresus.

With his focus split Gloe couldn’t repel both attackers. Their claws ripped at his shroud, and the areas they were targeting were equally troubling. Every blow was aimed at an important muscle or artery. If they punched his shroud, and they would quickly at this rate, he’d be crippled in short order. There wasn’t really a winning play here, not if he was going to continue to protect Oresus.

They did miscalculate slightly though. Oresus had been out of the fight for some time, not due to injury but exhaustion. He’d leveled quite a bit since Tranche, and as an aberration that meant everything was improved. He hadn’t recovered much slumped against a tree in the middle of a battlefield, but he had regained a bit of strength. More importantly, he was able to read the tactical problem as quickly as Gloe could, and refused to let it stand.

An incredible spike of rage washed off of him. After a millisecond’s consideration Gloe left it alone. He didn’t know what Oresus was planning, but if he didn’t act they were likely both dead. That being the case his companion could probably use the adrenaline and energy.

With a scream Oresus flowed to his feet, using imbue to snap improbably into a charge, his spear held sideways. He used it to bull rush the elite, knocking him away from Gloe. Not content with that he kept going, pushing the elite forward in a mad dash. He only caught it off-guard for a moment but given his implausible acceleration that was all he needed. His forward movement took them both over the nearby bank and both plunged into the river and out of sight.

Well that changed things. Gloe instantly changed tactics. First things first, he charged towards the remaining normal monsters and unleashed a series of smashing blows on those with the most fear. The moment the elite came in pursuit he veered off, fleeing in sharp zig-zags, looping back towards his targets whenever it was feasible.

His classic engagement pattern, but like so many of his foes these creatures didn’t seem to know how to imbue. Without that a good deal of their speed and strength were lost to insufficient traction, so they simple couldn’t keep up with his well-honed agility. It was another attritional fight.

As it turned out the elite was smarter, but not necessarily more skillful. For some reason it still didn’t use a weapon, and its responses were thoughtful but not really reflective of training. He wondered if its abnormally advanced natural abilities made techniques somewhat superfluous. Against a regular foe, even a sojourner, it could probably just attack continuously and let its strength and speed wear down its target.

That wouldn’t work on Gloe though. He spent most of his time fleeing, but whenever there was an exchange of blows he tended to come out ahead. Even if his blows were parried it only took a slight twitch to make them land on wrists or forearms rather than claws, so they basically counted as hits. Slowly but surely he was winning.

Naturally at this point the fight shifted once again. It fell out of the sky like a comet, still trailing flames. Another humanoid figure, the burnt remnants of its clothing suggesting it had once been dressed quite nicely. It came at him like the wind.

A single pass snapped a pry bar, the head spinning away. The accompanying blow made most of Gloe’s shroud vanish just as quickly. That was…bad. There’d been a lot left.

The creature whipped back around, ducking under his blow and coming back up with his fangs at Gloe’s throat. “How delicious to return to battle with the strength of her friends flowing through me” it whispered.

“She kicked your ass, didn’t she?” Gloe smirked. Then the fangs sunk in. Oh. Oh. Shit.

Fucking vampires. The damn thing was drinking his blood, and his life energy with it. Well this wasn’t good. Gloe wasn’t quite sure what to do.

He wasn’t nearly strong enough to beat this thing. He could maybe injury it slightly, but that was about it. It was going to kill him and Oresus, then go back after Emokha. Without Gloe to eat her emotions she’d probably fight to the death, but this thing would be back almost to full-strength from its meal. There wasn’t much he could do about that, unless…maybe he should stop using his ability? If he stopped regenerating he’d be less of a meal. Would that make much of a difference? Probably not.

After several heartbeats he smiled and wrapped his arms around his killer. “Let’s hug it out big guy.” The two rocked slightly for a moment.

Then pain erupted from Gloe’s side as Oresus’ spear tore through it. It wasn’t a killing blow, but it certainly ripped through plenty of flesh. Gloe grimaced and held on, and it was worth it. The spear blade continued onward, punching through the monster’s chest. Emokha must have shredded the guy’s shroud, and he hadn’t yet drunk enough to replenish it.

The vampire tried to rip free, but Gloe was using all his remaining shroud to imbue to the ground, holding them both in place. He managed around four seconds before the demon escaped, sending Gloe flying. He tumbled and flopped, finally rolling to his feet. He didn’t have much else he could do but he was going to go down fighting.

Turned out it had been a good four seconds. The vampire was clawing at the stump of the spear, writhing and twisting in place. Its eyes turned up into its head and growing root tendrils emerged from its mouth. Then it fell over, its body rapidly turning to dust, leaving only the now-sprouting weapon behind.

“That was a good spear.”

“Y-yeah. I’ve been s-saving that one.” Oresus collapsed, utterly exhausted.

“Bold, but pointless.” The remaining elite hissed out a laugh. “You have not slain my master. You have not gained anything but a single day. We will see you tonight.” It turned and fled to the east. Those low vampires still mobile rushed off in its wake. Those unable to move wailed, then began turning to dust themselves.

A sporadic buzz approached, then there was a crash. Emokha lay on the ground, barely able to move. “Did you…khill it?”

Gloe looked in the direction of the fleeing vampires for a long moment, then sighed. Carefully he flipped Emokha over, straightening her out and helping her lie flat. He found some bedding from their discarded packs and helped both lie down comfortably. “No, not really. Oresus destroyed its body, but I don’t think it’s actually dead.”

“Then…”

“Sleep. For now. I’ll keep watch.”

“B-but…”

“I got this. Tch.”

“Very well.” Her eyes closed, one after another. Within a moment her breathing steadied. Oresus hesitated for a moment. Grimacing with the effort, he clenched one hand. Eventually he flopped it down by his side. “S-seeds.”

“I’ll take care of it. Sleep.”

The smile would have been weak if it had been completed. As it was Oresus fell unconsciousness mid-way through. Gloe’s smile was soft, far softer than normal. He looked to the east again and frowned. After a bit of contemplation he began rummaging through Oresus’ bag. He had a lot to do today, but first things first. They were going to need their wounds dressed but he didn’t keep any bandages in his bag, for obvious reasons.