“Section B, your commander is away with illness so you have been assigned Seargent Greaves as a substitute. As you already have 5 members I trust this will be enough to hold the lines.”
“Sir, Yes Sir!” They repeated back.
Malum eyed up Jameson’s replacement and found himself looking at a fairly built, bearded, tanned dude.
He spoke casually, although his voice was deeper than Malum had expected, “Morning team members, names Grieves. I’ve been here for 4 waves and done 2 in the Northern Front as well. Was reassigned here from being training instructor which I did for 3 years. You want any advice, ask me anytime and speak casually, my ears can hardly stand any more shouting.”
Malum smiled at the endearing man and shook his rugged hands. He respected anyone who worked hard and he was looking at a prime example.
They chatted more and with a new member, Mr talkative didn’t miss the chance to ask Grieves about his love life.
“I’m married... 14 years now.”
Carl almost cried, still he at least got first encounter and several other questions to keep his habit fuelled.
It wasn’t until the last Section was finished did the Commander begin to talk about the regular strategy. Except this time he added a warning,
“Information has been going around that incidents last wave were particularly high. Higher sequence beasts were concentrated on particular Sections and so casualties were unusually high. I’ve been told it was a coincidence but be warned of any danger, and if something you can’t handle shows up then remember to report ASAP. Clear?”
Another round of shouting lead to Malum being led to the canteen. They ate their fill and Malum got to chat more with Greives.
“I reckon that’s why I was transferred you know. 3 squads got wiped last wave and one of my old friends led one of them, and he wasn’t a weakling. Wouldn’t die to anything at least below 30.”
Malum agreed that the warning seemed odd. Raises and falls in death rates were not unusual as soldiers tended to make mistakes nearly by chance. Recruits had the worse odds but at the end of the day they were odds and even the strongest commander would fall to a Demonic Noble.
His Uncle had told him of their strength and even the beast that killed him would only be a steed in their army.
Malum shivered slightly but calmed at the fantastic taste of the food. Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, Malum didn’t want to stop eating.
Alas physical limitations soon stopped him from shovelling more into his gullet.
Usually he would have worried about the weight he would gain but with the exercise he was about to put in, he couldn’t help but smile.
Power was what made the sword butcher.
Behind that sword was a smiling Malum. The demons were becoming weak, which meant he had grown strong.
Poison entered their bodies and infected their corpse. When its brethren came to feast only more bodies joined the dinner table.
Thrill was what sped the beating of his heart, but his intellect kept him from running berserk.
He still had perfection to reach, he still had death to avoid.
There would be stronger opponents, and so Malum calmed and returned to his slaughter, this time every action set on improvement.
From fast to slow, from predictable to not, his forms needed to flow as water did, from the seas, to the sky, to the rain.
Autumn was soon on the horizon and his birthday was near enough. He looked towards the rainy sky to answer what present he would get on such a fateful day.
It had certainly been an eventful year, so he wandered what the Gods had in mind to top it off.
Or perhaps he was just being dramatic, again the smile on his face showed his white teeth. Against the rain falling on his shoulders and the blood clinging to his clothes, if he didn’t look like madman then Malum wouldn’t know who did.
A Demon charged through its fallen, Malum could have written its fate from the moment he spotted its attack.
He didn’t care if he looked like madman, perhaps even if he was one. As long as he was alive then everything else didn’t matter.
Like bread he carved through the demon, from its glowing red eyes to its spiked tail.
The demon died, Malum lived.
The slaughter was as usual.
After a couple of hours it got boring.
Even improvement couldn’t help his falling retention. Only so many times could he excitedly use a new technique and now all he could do was repeat what he already knew in hopes he could learn something from it.
Yet all he got from repetition was boredom.
Malum wanted to spice things up a little. For as much as the unholy sight would intrigue those around him Malum had already seen it more than a few times.
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He didn’t want to drop a sword, as he still wanted to enhance his techniques. Instead he was going to give himself a small challenge.
He relief a lot on his senses, so he decided to close one of his eyes.
It wasn’t too risky, as his intuition would warn him if he was about to die but it was dangerous enough to where his heart would begin to beat again.
Culling a few demons and Malum noticed the changes.
First was the mental toll. Boredom meant his previous state was easy and this new one was the exact opposite. His brain had to learn so much and the danger surrounding him forced it into overdrive to find the answers.
Second was the accuracy strangeness. It was such an odd feeling that when he cut in a direction as his sword got further away he felt like he was aiming at the right place but his estimates where well off.
The beast was further away or closer to where he had thought. He struggled to compare where his sword away from his eye. The speed of the action didn’t help, but it was an issue Malum wated to fix.
Third was balance. Because he was centred around where he could see, now that he had one eye that was no longer true and that single difference caused to stumble on more than one occasion.
Other strange differences occurred but Malum reckoned those three were the ones he was best of trying to solve. With a new fresh goal he got to work.
Darkness overset the sky, Malum never stopped trying to improve. One less eye was far less important when both wouldn’t work anyway.
Demons never stopped in their path for greed and with no poison left to coat his blade he returned to the styles most basic technique.
For a Martial Art named Poison Sword it was well aware that not every time the swordsman entered a battle would they have poison so it adjusted one form for that particular occasion.
With no poison wearing the enemy down, the technique was more bloody than the other techniques and it also had more deadly blows to make up for the lack of the deadly poison.
Malum was using it because frankly poisons were expensive and because he didn’t want to use the stolen money anytime soon he was as broke as could be. He still had few spare for any strong encounter he might find himself in but otherwise he was empty.
It was a good idea to because not half an hour later he met a variant in the 20s. He couldn’t remember the name, but he remembered the beasts weakness and that’s what really mattered.
It was a large almost flat beast that stood on all fours and used its reduced weight to not only hover but also for great speed.
Its claws made good weapons and its eyes were made for nighttime hunting.
As quick as Malum felt the danger he ducked below a small ridge but still felt the beasts claws on its back. Poison was what he immediately reached for and he choose the most potent one he had.
A strong numbing one that caused muscles to fall into sedation minuets after its consumption.
He coated his blade and then stood up to find his attacker. Looking into the dark he only heard the sound of their demonic beasts eating its brethren, the sound of gnashing teeth against tough skin and meat didn’t drag his eyes away from the sky.
Intuition just told him that the sky in general was a danger, it seemed it couldn’t help him in finding exactly where his attacker was from such a distance. His ability seemed restricted by range and now wasn’t a great time to find such a limitation.
The moon was to dim for Malum to get a good visual and so instead he focused on what he would do once it dove for him again.
His surrounding terrain was fairly favourable with many places for him to duck and hide in the need arrived. With bodies stacked around him all he would need to do was duck and enter one and he would be fairly safe.
That method wouldn’t work forever, instead he used his knowledge of the demons distinct hate for a certain smell.
Usually such a weakness would have been pointless but as Malum searched through his bag he found a set of potion that had one ingredient the beast absolutely hated.
A Jervento Tree’s Leaf was a particularly odorous plant that had a certain intoxicating effect when boiled at the right temperature. That and several other ingredients had made a potion that would make an average man foam at the mouth with his mind so intoxicated it couldn’t’ physically continue to work.
Malum just needed the smell though and so he poured it on his clothes and ensured the beast would attack again. Not soon after he threw the empty bottle back into his bag did he feel a rush of danger going for his back.
He turned to see the attacker, and kicked back with his right leg. He rolled to the side as his eyes remained on where the danger was approaching from.
With his new strength his speed was a fast as an arrow, and he hit the desert floor with power that recoiled onto his side.
Not moments later did Malum see a blur pass through where he once was. The desert floor flew up with the wind the beast created and Malum was left second guessing if his attack was even possible.
If he couldn’t attack the beast perhaps he could poison it.
With an idea in mind Malum quickly ran towards the nearest body. He dove next to it for cover as he began to wipe his sword on the corpse.
He kept his mouth shut and breathed only through his nose as he then lugged the body on his back and stood as tall as his body allowed him.
“COME GET ME YOU FUCKER!” He shouted.
Seconds passed but nothing happened. Malum second guessed if perhaps the beats had continued onwards, or even gone for his partner on the other side of the river.
Both were options he didn’t like.
Danger revealed the answer as he felt a wave of dread pass through his skull he heaved the corpse into the air and dived into a nearby mound of corpses.
He felt the whistling of the wind and a rush of danger and wind pass by him.
It wasn’t him the demon had gone for, instead it had taken his bait. Now it was time for him to wait out his praise last few minutes.
He hoped the demon chowed down and thankfully they weren’t known to be ascetic with their desires. The danger still pervaded the air and blood still dripped down his back. Or perhaps it was from corpses he was laying with.
With poison perhaps in their blood and with his proximity Malum could even risk opening his mouth so instead he had to force himself to deal with the stench and before long Malum had added to the pile a mound of his own sick.
Something about the combined stench of decaying bodies with the funny smell of that tree ingredient and perhaps the poison he had used to kill the demons around him had created something truly unforgettable.
Sticking to his position. He waited longer and longer. Waiting for the danger to leave the sky he kept on breathing the smell through his nose.
He started to cry long ago, but now he felt it running down his face. He gagged almost constantly but finally as the danger left his surroundings he erupted from the pile like a eruption from a volcano. He gasped for air and felt the cold breeze return to his senses.
Decay still lingered but that was just one part of being a soldier. Now he needed to find the body of that demon, because a big kill meant a bonus and that would do well with his goal of promotion.
He was about to feel relief knowing the danger had passed when a demon pounced on him from the shadows. He turned quicker and managed to get his blade in the path of the demons claw.
Two forces met each other and Malum was forced back.
He arms ached from the collision but the demon didn’t give him any chance to rest and immediately closed the distance.
Malum held back his sword and prepared. Once the demon was close enough he also rushed forwards to gain some speed and as the claws came once again, this time he predicted where it was going to attack and with a simple slight change in the blade direction, and a lean to the left and Malum had sliced the demons right shoulder whilst he himself had just dodged the attack.
He finished off the demon with quick slice along its eyes and with no sight and the amount its shoulder was bleeding, the demon was as good as dead.
Not a moment of rest and Malum found himself attacking another demon who was feasting on its dead brethren. He kept the thoughts for later, for now he just ensured he was safe.