We took a running start and burst out of the portal outside of the ring at speed. I looked over my shoulder long enough to see Herzblatt continue their rampage. He held an axe in one hand and a sword in the other as they acted like a Viking Berserker against the overwhelming forces; attacking and drawing blood whenever the chance rose. The Grigori maintained a loose perimeter around the frenzied opponent to release attacks at range.

But, the dog priest wasn’t enough to focus the attention of all of our captors. One of the Grigori raised their arm and pointed at us, alerting the rest to our location. A portion of them, including Sir Leal, left the apprehension of Herzblatt to the rest and chased us in hot pursuit.

We had only managed to get a hundred or so feet in front of our enemies before we were met with a difficult obstacle.

The crowds.

These rubberneckers, open mouthed and fish-eyed, watched the scene unfold with passivity. In their eyes, they were not participants in the events unfolding about them. They were simply neutral watchers. Someone else was going to do something about this. Someone more knowledgeable or more equipped would interfere.

But they were taking up too much space for this herd mentality to be of a benefit to us. We would need to jostle bodies and push through while the Grigori chomped at our heels.

I opened my claws and slashed through the first demon in my way. My hands passed through them like they were soft butter. Even their bones did not offer much resistance to my swipe through their life. Blood and flesh splattered in every direction, yet the crowd did not move. It was unfortunate for that soul, but that demon wasn’t them. They were still fine.

“Yoshitsune, help me clear these fucks out of the way!”

Yoshitsune looked at me with a shocked expression. I could see the connections in her head that traced these non-combatants back to her greatest shame, but there was no time left to be delicate.

“Do you want to be caught?” I questioned. “We need to get them to start running.”

Her face turned down as I heard the meaty mechanisms snap into place to release her blade. A flash of metal cleaved through several demons at once. Bolts of lightning shot out of the sword to ricochet several rows back and killed numerous more.

I summoned my tar from the sky and was finally recognized as an enemy by the group at large. My stolen red eyes flared angrily in the faces of many of the weak demons that stood before me; the difference between our stats too great to withstand.

Mass panic broke out. An orchestra of screams and shouts greeted my ears. I got to watch all the reactions of the human mind at once. Most began to flee from me, unable to stand in the face of my [Aura of Fear]. They pushed anyone slower than them to the ground to be trampled by the rest.

Some continued to remain perfectly still, their minds incapable of making a decision at all. Like deer in the headlights to wait for the car to smash into them. I ignored these ones in the hopes that they would turn into valuable roadblocks for the pursuing Grigori.

My favorite reactions were the ones who tried to fight without the abilities to back it up. I respected that their inclinations were to fight than to cower, but these demons did not have the skills to back it up. A slash and a bite were what it took to dispatch these foolhardy souls. All they became were free XP and stats to fuel my body and make my aura all the more potent.

I heard a squelching sound behind me. The dog knight’s hammer was stained with red and the pulped remains of one of my civilian obstacles was pancaked against the cobbles. The other demons were aghast at their protector’s actions.

“Move, you’re interfering with Church duties!” Sir Leal barked irritably as he turned another frozen citizen into red mist.

I could only laugh at what I just witnessed. Only a coward or a dipshit would have believed there was anyone down here with their best interests at heart. Even an organization that tried to distance itself from the base behaviors that brought us all here could not stand to maintain their mask to bear in a moment of inconvenience.

The screams of the crowds broke out into the crowded streets of demons trying to continue their days. They casually looked in the direction of the commotion to see us rounding the corner. As I prepared to act out all over again, a look of glee stretching from ear to ear. Yoshitsune summoned her portals and gave me an expectant look.

With a sigh, I hopped in the portal to pop out in a side street to continue our escape. From the sounds of Sir Leal’s barking, we had made a temporary escape.

The brief reprieve allowed us to slow slightly to catch our breaths. Yoshitsune topped off on a mana potion.

“How are we getting out of here?” She questioned.

I opened up the shop to purchase ourselves a teleporter, but found a red screen denying me entry. I scowled at myself for fucking up my shopping earlier but had to remain calm.

“Jump the walls, grab a teleporter, and get the fuck out of here,” I replied.

We were not allowed to be missing for long. The sky turned crimson as a large flashing “ALERT” wrapped around the defensive dome of Brunswick like a dystopian advertisement as an ear-piercingly loud horn blared a panicked note on repeat. A photo of each of us, mugshots taken at the gate checkpoint, was shown with our names.

Groups of winged demons began circling overhead like owls on the hunt for rats. We stuck to the shadows of the walls to buy us a bit more time. However, with Sir Leal carving his warpath down the main streets, it was only a matter of time before we’d get flushed out.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

We left the other side of the alleyway at full speed. Now that our faces were plastered all over the sky, people finally had the good sense to flee into their homes and slam the doors shut behind them. I felt like a monster from the stories of old, terrorizing the townsfolk and driving them to cower in their hovels.

The winged reinforcements plunged from the sky to intercept us. At the same time, a map of the city appeared in the air. A red dot appeared above our location with an arrow pointing in the direction that we were heading in. I chuckled to myself at the fortune that fell in my lap.

“We need to take that road to get to the wall!” I shouted as I turned left.

Winged shadows grew in size above us, briefly offering shade. I turned my head up and spat acid at the closest one. A glob of toxic liquid covered the lead demon’s face, causing them to hesitate just above my head. I grabbed the demon around the torso and swung them head-first into the pavement. I leapt several inches in the air and slammed down with both feet atop their head, popping it like a frozen grape.

I grabbed the body again and spun it around to block the attack of the next demon. Yoshitsune turned and swung her sword over my head. I heard a groan as a pair of hands fell to either side of me with a sword clattering to the ground not too far away.

“Ishmael-san! Above!” Yoshitsune screamed.

From under the shade of my meat shield, I saw a flash of purple. I tossed the body upwards and leapt backwards just in time to watch the corpse be atomized under the augmented weight of Sir Leal’s hammer. Stone fragments, bone, and blood shot in all directions at speed.

I stepped in to rake my claws across the dog knight’s chest, but the armor was too thick to allow much damage to be done. Loathe as I was to abandon my revenge, the sheer amount of Grigori that were flooding the streets gave me little other option. I pushed Sir Leal as hard as I could and turned to run towards the walls alongside Yoshitsune.

Sir Leal did not stay down for long. His body and weapon turned purple as he weightlessly pushed himself back on his feet. Like an astronaut, he floated high into the air before switching gravity and coming back down like a bomb atop our heads.

I leapt forwards to land on my stomach as an explosion shook the street behind me. Rocky shrapnel stole portions of my health as I quickly scrambled back onto my feet. I looked over my shoulder to see Sir Leal’s figure through the dust cloud. Walls were ripped down from their foundations, stained red from the blood of the unfortunate occupants.

A portal opened beneath me and spun the world to drop me on the roof of some buildings. Yoshitsune was already sprinting in the direction of the nearest stretch of wall. Her agile body effortlessly propelled her from rooftop to rooftop.

Screeching that was abruptly silenced by Yoshitsune’s lightning informed the dog knight of where we had slipped away to.

Our weightless predator slammed down on the roof behind me, collapsing the building and sending me flying to the next building. I smashed through a window, scaring the occupants shitless. Knowing that Sir Leal would slay all of them in a few seconds anyways, I tore out the throat of the one closest to me to regain some HP before smashing their wooden door off the hinges.

A split second later, the building was turned to rubble and the remaining occupants were turned into puddles. Grigori with nets hemmed me in at the next intersection. I dropped my tar atop them and clambered up the side of the nearest building.

As soon as I got to my feet, another flying enemy attempted to take my head off with twin axes. I grabbed onto their feet, hoping for a free flight. I appeared to be too heavy so I pulled down as hard as I could. Their body smacked against the rooftop and I stomped down on them as hard as I could, squeezing the blood from their organs like a juicer.

In the sky, I saw that a large red X now appeared over Herzblatt’s face. His opportunity had finally ended and now there were no distractions to keep the full might of the Grigori at bay.

The ground rumbled beneath me as I ran towards the next rooftop. Sir Leal’s meteor hammer smashed through the walls of the building and sent it crashing down. Seeing all the demons waiting for me below, I tried to jump towards the next building.

Flying demons dove down on top of me to drive me into the ground. Multiple lightning arrows tore through them and I tumbled across the next rooftop and into a portal that took me directly to Yoshitsune’s side. With me taking the bulk of the aggression, she had managed to get a few rooftops ahead of me and Sir Leal’s next assault had no enemies. The building I was just on disappeared in an explosion of dust.

We sprinted over the rooftops, our projectiles enough to keep the airborne enemies far enough away that they could only throw projectiles and cast inaccurate spells in our direction. Below, the Grigori had suspiciously disappeared.

It took a few more jumps before we found out where they had gone. The rooftops in front of us began to shake and fall. Row after row of homes was demolished by the Grigori to keep us trapped here. And, going by the lack of citizens in the street, there were no evacuation orders given beforehand.

With little other option, I led Yoshitsune off the roof and down onto the enemies waiting below. I spewed my tar from the ground below and forced the weaker demons to hop away with their legs boiling.

I landed first, slicing through the demon directly below me and igniting the tar with my claws. Yoshitsune hopped onto my back reflexively to avoid her old terror.

We took the demonic Slip ‘N Slide down the cobbles, slashing out at anyone that tried to impede us. Yoshitsune slashed out and destroyed a series of nets and flew down from overhead while I powered us through the group, taking a chunk out of anyone that I could.

The weight on my back disappeared immediately after we reached the end of my tar path. Only a few blocks remained between us and freedom.

A rumbling of the ground rudely informed me that there was a dog-shaped artillery strike still chasing us. Sir Leal’s form, once again, became visible as he caught up to us. His shadow loomed large as he took to the skies to assail us again.

My stamina was flagging. I could see Yoshitsune panting, her greater speed showing me how fast I should be going. Thoughts started falling out of my head as my only focus fell to running. Each heavy step that I took sent ripples through my brain, giving it the cadence that it needed to increase if it wanted to continue to experience life. Orders were sent to my burning muscles to dig deeper, to push harder. Or else.

I felt the rocky surface of the hammer scrape against my heel as rocks pummeled my legs. The shockwave of the strike pushed me forwards and challenged my balance. My ankle protested that it was not getting paid enough for all this abuse. I gritted my teeth, fortunate that nothing broke.

A portal took us back onto the rooftops as we hopped unimpeded from building to building. The edge of the city was drawing close. One more jump, and we’d make it out of here. Without a second of hesitation, we flung ourselves from the final rooftop and towards the blaring red warning lights of the dome.

Like birds to freshly cleaned glass, we smashed directly into the magical wall of the dome. The spell did not give and we slid down the side to come to rest atop the wall. Blinding red lights and deafening horns assailed my senses.

It was fucked, it was fucked from the start. With a groan I tried to rise to my feet and face death on my feet. I was going to take down as many of these bastards as possible. If I could drag down Sir Leal with me, all the better.

The hordes of enemies that rapidly closed in on our position suddenly stopped their charge. A thick smoke covered the stretch of wall we were standing on. My eyes began to water and the scent of smoke filled my nose. I could hear Yoshitsune coughing slightly over the blaring of the alarm. Through the darkness of the black smoke, I saw two flames watching me closely from the other side of the barrier.

“You must be the ones that toppled the Dungeon. Allow me to be of some help.”

“Who the fuck are you?”