RD 5 Ch 4

As the demon squared up against me, I raised my sword high into the air.

My men delivered a rallying cry from the wall, that shook the ground and caused the morale gauge to rocket upwards.

The demon scoffed, "Humans are so weak. I can't believe their leader would step down here to his own slaughter. I was hoping just to kill a few decent fighters and break their spirits, while you all slowly starve to death behind your walls.”

“I suppose you won't be getting what you wanted then.” I leveled my sword at him, and could feel its gaze rake over me, yet fail to penetrate my high spirit stat.

I had no such difficulties. I quickly gauged his abilities with Soul Gaze, smiling as I gripped my sword tighter.

The demon shocked me with a sudden roar, launching himself into the air with a kick of his feet and a flap of his wings, only to hurl himself at me. 

Part of my goal to raise my men's morale went beyond simply winning this fight. I needed to devastate the demon before me and make all of the demons in the army behind it second guess throwing themselves at my walls.

So when this demon came down on me like a rock dropped off a roof, I caught its weight on my blade. For just the barest of seconds, I let it lean in as far as it wished before stepping to the side and flicking its sword away. A backstroke of mine slashed at its chest.

With a flap of its wings it twisted, but its big wings made an easy target.

I tore out the webbing on one and rounded on it, leveling my sword once again. 

"Oh, is that all you have?" I mocked as it shifted towards me again, its eyes burning with rage.

This time I met its blade with as much force as I could squeeze out of my arms. It had taken my blade softly, no doubt expecting another feint. Using that to my advantage, I pushed straight through its strength, or rather lack of it, checking its sword against its chest and shoving it back.

"Cheap tricks won't win you any battles," the winged demon growled, and swept towards me once again.

I found myself smirking.

It was in for a world of hurt. Its own strength wasn't enough to even get me to falter as I stood up strong and took its next blow head-on.

With my variable strength the demon had been unable to get my true measure and now I was going to show it how poorly it had picked its opponent.

"Seems you might be a little overconfident of your abilities," I couldn't help but laugh in its face.

The demon, growing furious, had spittle frothing at the edge of its mouth as it tried and failed to move me. "You pathetic human," it grunted with effort as it tried to push me away.

The morale of the men behind me only swelled greater. Cheers from my men drowned out the angry shouts of the demons behind my attacker. 

I dropped a hand off the blade, knowing I was going to lose ground with only one hand, but it was enough. I lasted long enough for my other hand to fly past both our blades and smash it squarely in the face.

The demon didn't quite appreciate that and tried to return the punch, only to realize that it would lose the one arm contest of strength.

Too bad it had already let go and I smashed its sword aside and slashed it deeply across the chest. 

It seemed to be stunned by how quickly it was losing.

Even I was surprised at just how powerful the buff from the morale was at the moment. I had an advantage in stats, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near this large.

The demon came at me again, and this time I didn't even block, letting its punch land on my cheek. I brushed it off like it was a gnat and returned the hit several fold.

This time my punch was powerful enough to send the demon sprawling backwards and furious at his own ineptitude. Trying to save its hide, it came back swinging recklessly, even managing to score me with his blade.

But the cut did not last long; my Immortal Body quickly healed any damage done. The demon’s eyes grew bigger.  I could see on its face that it was quickly accepting that it was utterly outmatched.

Its pride so clearly deflated on its face, like a popped balloon.

But I didn't have time to be sad, nor did I have time to be smug. I needed to push for a swift and decisive victory. It was time to crush the demon’s champion before their army and grind their hopes back while bolstering the morale of my own men.

I forced the demon back with several more swings that it didn't commit to blocking. 

Instead, it greeted my sword with a soft brush of its own, enough to prevent my blade from reaching it, but certainly not enough to put it in a position for any level of counter-attack.

I harried it with a flurry of blows until I saw an opening, slipping through it guard and slicing its leg to the bone. Demon or not, an injury like the one I had just delivered would leave no one on good footing. I pressed it back and sliced the other leg open as well to the point that it had no strength to stand and fell to its knees.

The winged demon’s head dropped until its chin was against its chest in utter defeat, those big wings that had made it seem larger than life earlier, were tattered and bleeding as they hung limply to the sides.

It was the picture of defeat as the sun bore down on the darkening plains that looked particularly dry and parched for more blood to be spilt.

The cheering behind me was deafening. Every warrior on the wall was screaming for me to kill the demon, to avenge a loved one or a friend, or simply to give the demons what they deserved.

Of course, I was more than ready to give them that closure. I didn't stall, I didn't ask for its last words. Demons did not need nor deserve my mercy. My blade swept across its neck and cleanly removed its head. 

In that moment, the demons that had been rallying behind the one in front of me grew eerily quiet. It felt like the calm before a storm. That moment that an angry person goes silent just before they burst into a mad rage of ill advised action.

The silence was so deafening that I was tempted to throw myself backwards and run back to the wall. It was, no doubt, incredibly dangerous. If they grew too bold, they could charge and overwhelm me in some sense of avenging their dead fellow. Not that demons were remotely sentimental.

While they weren't sentimental, they certainly weren't dumb. The leader of the enemy forces before them might just be tempting enough to overcome any self-preservation they might have.

And while I could take a number of them if they came at me at once, I couldn't take them all without my own death or my men jumping from the walls and helping me retreat, which would be costly in its own right. 

My men cheered from atop the wall, shouting profanities at the demons before me.

I watched as the stirring among the army slowed. I nudged the demon's head with my boot, wanting to look down and see if he had a spatial ring on his hand. But I knew that the present situation was not unlike squaring off with a wild animal.

The system was already reclaiming his body, but if I bent down they’d swarm me, sensing weakness. 

If I took my eyes off the demon army in front of me, they very well might throw themselves forward, thirsty for bloodlust, only to meet their own deaths. It would only take one charging forward for the rest to follow. 

"Take your friend," I said, kicking the head across the field.

The demons at the front of the army looked away to follow the head.

That was my chance. I gathered the strength in my legs before leaning back and pushing off with as much power as I could muster to fling myself away. While it wasn't perhaps the best of exits, it was far safer than turning my back on them. 

The demons hollered and screamed, calling me a coward, daring me to fight another as their heads snapped back and suddenly they were filled with regret that they didn’t have a chance to spill my blood.

I smiled to myself, ignoring their calls. I was not trying to give a fair fight. This was a pissing contest amidst the siege, a way for us to break the other's forces momentum without having to put my forces at risk. 

But it was painfully clear that enough of the demons thought I was out of reach, and that was the only reason they didn't rush forward for the chance to take my own head.

I landed back closer to the wall, and men were already jumping down to protect me. 

"My lord, what a fitting battle to show your prowess to all," Frank excitedly greeted me as I returned. It was like a blushing bride or perhaps a fan finally meeting his hero.

"If you were going to greet me so enthusiastically, then I would have dressed for the occasion. Though, I don’t think white is my color," I chuckled and patted Frank's shoulder before glancing at the blood on my armor. "They should have enough taste of defeat for now," I said to Frank loudly enough for all surrounding soldiers to hear. "Now we must prepare to greet this delegation so we can put this whole mess behind us."

The men cheered, thrusting their swords in the air and shouting for the demons to come and try them.

The act was important. I had to stand tall in front of my men, and make sure that they understood that we would get through what was in front of us. The present situation was temporary, a tough spot to find a much brighter life after.

I moved along the wall, unable to fight the gnawing feeling at the pit of my gut. Some instinct told me this fight might never end. And even as I went out past the walls, the sense of urgency returned, pulling me back towards the demons. I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly I was forgetting, but I had the ever-present feeling that something very important was waiting for me and the demons were in the way.