Tilly handed the now filthy rag back to Linus with a smirk, and the Satyr took it with a frown. He pinched it carefully between two fingers and gave it a flick and Tilly watched in dismay as it began to glow before releasing a starburst of energy and returning to its original state as a freshly laundered square of cloth. Now that Tilly thought about it, he had seen the commander bust out the same square a couple of times in the last hour. And it was always fresh.
“Standard issue for officers.” He said matter of factly, not at all succeeding in hiding a slightly smug demeanor behind his mask of professionalism. Tilly sighed, coming to his feet and wiping off the front of his primitive but already clean jacket. When juxtaposed with the disgusting layer of grime that was slathered over almost every inch of exposed skin...
“Ok, Mr. Magic cloth, I'm ready to keep moving,” Tilly said dryly as the scattered crowd started to return from their panicked press at the edge of the streets. Linus nodded and continued forward as if the attempted assassination was just another thing on the To-Do list. Tilly looked back for a moment at the bodies that they were leaving in their wake and realized that they didn't bother him. Not the near-death thing. That sucked. It was the savagery of Nephesh that he was weirdly ok with.
So many people moved through life never breaking a bone. They worked on a computer and played Call of Duty in their off time. They had never seen someone burned alive, never felt the force of arterial blood as it escaped the vessel it was meant to animate. Grusome shit still happened all the time, but most people lived protected lives that kept them insulated from just how brutal life could get.
Tilly hadn't.
And in some messed up way, he was thankful. There were a lot of firsts for him in this new life. But leaving dead bodies on the street wasn't one of them.
“Make way in the name of the Emperor!” Linus shouted again, drawing the attention of all the nearby eyes towards him. As he followed the yelling officer, Tilly realized that the bastard could have just pushed his way through the crowd. He had been intentionally drawing attention to himself as an agent of the emperor, hoping to instigate any more attacks or hidden traps the enemy may have planted in the crowd.
It was a good plan... it just would have been nice to get a warning.
Just then, a blaze of blue magic showed from their destination, and the people around them started to cheer and scream in desperation all at once.
“That would be the Portal going up. We need to be there, now!” Linus shouted back, doubling his pace to a slightly hobbled jog as he pushed through an increasingly panicked crowd that was already as tightly packed as possible.
Linus had no qualms about forcing his way forward, increasing in ferocity as he shouldered people aside, “Emperor’s business! Let us through!” He barked out as the surrounding crowd worked its way into a frenzy that only the hope of salvation could have birthed.
Tilly stayed in the commander's shadow, even grabbing onto his armor at one point. The press had become so thick that as soon as Linus moved through a space, it would begin to collapse back on Tilly with the weight of thousands of bodies. The experience was claustrophobic, to say the least.
Thirty feet ahead stood a barrier of empowered rushing water that held back the panicking refugees. Beyond that, sitting like a beacon of hope, was the re-enchanted teleport platform, which supported a newly created stable portal. At each corner of the platform was an ornately outfitted Honu moving through motions, continuing to empower the ongoing spell.
“How do you feel about getting thrown again!” The commander called over to him, the noise and press of bodies becoming too thick even for him to navigate without actually hurting people.
“Three in a day? I'm in.” Tilly shouted back.
Without any preamble, Linus turned and grabbed Tilly’s waistband and jacket, crouched down, and lobbed the full-grown man over the crowd to crash into the protective barrier guarding the Hub.
Tilly was proud to say he didn't scream as he flew through the air toward an opaque magical barrier. The oddest moment of calm reflection hit him as the barrier loomed before him.
'I guess the human mind can adjust to any kind of trauma if it happens frequently enough…'
Just before he was going to hit, there was a flash, and the barrier opened in front of him, allowing him to crash behind the line of Honu casters. Tilly barely felt any pain from the crash landing, it was mildly uncomfortable, but he could tell he wouldn't be developing any road rash or bruising. He had the throwing part down, now if only he could figure out how to land.
His sliding roll came to a stop right at the feet of a Honu with a particularly glorious light blue scarf, “How are you friend?” He asked in a light tone.
“Oh hey, Franklin! What are the chances, huh?” Tilly chuckled staggering to his feet
Linus landed with a few staccato clacks as he skipped forward a few steps to arrest his forward momentum. Franklin just looked at the both of them before gesturing behind him as if this had all been a part of the plan.
“We have the Portal online and connected to the other end. Unfortunately, we can't just open the barriers. I am afraid the resulting stampede will crush us. The elder and Lord Hiro are working on something near the platform. You better go see what they need.” He finished, eyeing the crowd with tight concern.
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“Thank you, young TideCaller,” Linus said respectfully before heading off. Tilly shot off a saucy wink to Franklin before following after the Commander. They soon approached the platform adjoining the Portal where both respective leaders were orchestrating the operation.
“... a good point…. Fortunately… I have a… solution.” Tilly caught the tail end of their conversation.
Kihei turned away from Hiro and offered a kind smile to the approaching pair before lifting his staff and slamming it to the ground. The sound of crashing waves suffused the Hub and Tilly saw the magic of the barrier blocking all entrances to the Hub ripple and change. Azure energies moved from Kihei’s staff and connected to each of the barriers present. Then each wall of infused water responded to his magic by growing a path leading straight to the platform, wide enough for three to pass at a time.
Yet all were still barred from walking these newly created paths designed to stop a panicked stampede. Except for the barrier before a wider road leading perpendicular to the main promenade. It alone opened, funneling those waiting onto Kihei's impromptu magical path. Tilly noted with a mixture of dismay and satisfaction that all of the figures that rushed the gap were lapins. In fact, that particular street was entirely filled with lapins, and they moved quickly to the platform, not hesitating to jog through, obviously having been prepared for just this occurrence.
The rest of the crowd saw this and howled in frustration. Some even began attacking the barriers, which showed no signs of weakening under the control of Elder Kihei.
“Mr. Tillman. It is very good to see you alive, here with Linus no less! You do not disappoint.” Hiro said, looking over with a warm smile.
“Hiro, I see your negotiations paid off… what about all the others?” Tilly said, not at all trying to hide his disquiet at the sight of clear favoritism.
“This world is a cruel place, and all you can do is protect what is yours. I think you will come to understand this in time. Until then, know that my people will all be through in minutes, and all the other barriers will open, allowing all those who can make it, a chance.” Hiro rumbled, showing the human patience that he normally reserved for children.
“Did my runner make it here?” Linus interjected, not caring for moral debate.
“He arrived well before you and we sent him off to the Palace. Shuji would have sent a bird, but the ability is already active with Mochizuki. He lost track of her somewhere beyond where my people are stationed, and went to investigate.”
“I'll head to the Palace as well. Gods willing, he has something planned for the coming cataclysm. He had a plan for everything else.”
“Many of those plans have failed... You will forgive me if I don't share your trust.” Hiro replied shortly, turning to watch the remnant of his people rush down the magical corridor to the portal and move through.
A booming crack reverberated across the sky, and a reddish haze along with a network of fractures filled the area above the Cult's army. All of them at the center of the Hub looked up as the crowd's shouting became screams of panic.
An unnatural-looking bulge formed in the heavens at the epicenter of the fracturing as something pushed through from a higher reality. Then with a terrible ripping sound, the sky burst, and blood rained down from above. Even this far from the epicenter of the ritual, a spray of blood misted over the city inciting an even greater reaction of terror from the refugees.
It was one hell of an entrance.
A serpentine head the size of a warehouse pushed through the opening in the sky, followed by a long uncoiling body the size of the Empire State Building. Tilly, along with everyone else looked up in frozen astonishment as the God of the enemy forces took the field.
Level ??? Deified Serpent of the Sixth Circle
Everyone stopped moving as the divine being looked around, surveying the battlefield and the city that was all but abandoned with its vulnerable neck exposed.
“Well done Broodlingssss, you may now feasssst.” A harsh hissing voice grated on Tilly's psyche, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Even at this distance, Tilly could hear the roaring cheer that rose up from the enemy's lines at the approval of their God. They would be charging the city at any moment. Tilly looked around at the others to see what they were going to do. Everyone else was grimly watching the emergence of the snake god. He saw that the Lapin people were almost all through, and following on their tails was Amelia with her contingent of children.
'That's right, they had planned to stage with the lapins... smart.'
More interestingly, Tilly spotted Shuji hurrying in their wake supporting a barely conscious Mochizuki.
He turned to inform Hiro and was surprised to see Linus looking in the complete opposite direction of the snake god. What the heck was he-
“AHAHAHA!” rang out harsh mocking laughter. It too boomed out with the immense weight of unbelievable power.
“It's good of you to finally show your forked tongue, Nehebkau.” Tilly struggled to track the source of the voice, looking all around before remembering Linus' hope-filled face. He followed his line of sight as the others on the platform turned to do the same.
“Now I see why he so closely guarded his plan,” Hiro intoned as they all watched the silvery haze that had been coming off the structure start to thicken into tendrils of energy. The tendrils were emerging from every part of the palace, all leading to a nexus of energy at the top of the highest dome of the roof. There stood a figure that Tilly could make out in perfect clarity despite the distance. It was as if the immense weight of his power on the plane caused the nearby air to magnify his presence somehow.
Standing there was a proud ancient Satyr, wearing ornate armor. The centerpiece of the armor was a golden Cuirass with a blindfolded female satyr holding a set of scales on the front. He looked sickly and the shadows coloring his face gave a severe cast to his features.
Level 98* Emperor of the Thousand Phalanx Empire
His eyes showed the black tears of a longstanding Corruption infection, but some part of Tilly recognized another who was fighting back the influence with all he had. He didn’t know what the asterisk meant after the level, but he assumed it had something to do with the streams of silvery energy entering his body from thousands of separate points.