RD 5 Ch 3

Diving headfirst into the demons could be seen as problematic to many of the men watching from the wall. However, Soulgaze had already told me that the fodder at the front of the army wasn't enough to concern me. So, I threw myself in, gathering my strength.

This time, the fight wouldn't be like the nightmare earlier. Instead, I would plow through the swarm of demons. I had a fighting style perfectly fit for the battlefield. 

Gathering my strength, I cut the demons in front of me down in twos and threes. A sanguine slash rolled off the tip of my blade with all the strength behind each swing. I was quickly and cleanly cleaving through the demon horde before me. I could feel excitement building in the men behind me.

A gauge for morale appeared at the corner of my eyes and began to rise steadily. A warm electric buzz built on the wall behind me before the first cheer erupted. 

I could barely hear the yell over the howls of the demons as the army swarmed around me, trying to engulf me with numbers. Their attempt to trap me was of no issue.

The more I was surrounded, the more demons each sweep of my blade could reach. My blood iron blade cracked on two occasions, but that was only an excuse for me to reforge it and catch a demon off guard. 

I was a merciless wrecking ball, crashing through the disposable troops meant to soften us up. I had no interest in these.

They managed some smaller hits, their claws making my arms and my shoulders bleed. But the wounds quickly closed up as soon as they were cut from my flesh. 

The end result was the momentum of the charging demon army slowly but surely shifted. They collapsed on me like the point of an arrowhead. All of the brunt was borne on my shoulders alone. 

But I had my fighters behind me. As I fought, the morale gauge ticked ever higher. Once this was done, I was going to have to take a closer look at the gauge. I could feel my strength swelling as it grew. 

The more I fought, the more I realized that leading these people was not just about being individually strong or coming from the right womb. No. Having their trust, the people believing in me at my back, was possibly one of the most important factors in me being successful.

A moment later more cries began to erupt from the wall. It was as if the cheers filled my veins, and I crashed through ever more demons, Sanguine Slash being my bread and butter leaving behind a crimson wake that ran with thick, black demon blood.

Occasionally, I charged across the battlefield, only to use Crimson Barrier to block off demons trying to reach the wall. I felt invincible as I crushed one demon after the other until there was a slowly forming lake of blood beneath me. 

"My lord!" There came a shout from behind, and I didn't have a chance to spare a glance. I knew that my follower was about to rush out behind me.

The vigor had boiled so hot on the wall that my men were practically frothing at the mouth to join the battle. While I would have normally encouraged them to join, them leaving the walls behind would have been too great a risk.

Even as I worried, several jumped down, ready to join me.

"To the wall!" I shouted and swept the demons behind me, beginning to fight my way back through the mire and the forces that had encircled me.

Arrows began to rain down on the demons, giving me relief enough to launch myself back atop the wall and to safety. 

The men who had looked like they would have given up for a morsel of food minutes ago now had steel in their eyes and fire in their bellies. Shouts rang up and down the wall as officers organized their men without a single complaint. 

"My lord," my close follower fell in next to me as I stepped back up on the wall. "That was incredible.”

"At times you must take the lead, especially if anyone is to ever follow you." I wasn't entirely sure where that had come from, but it felt true to the very core of my being. Then again, much of my past was foggy at best. Though it seemed I hadn’t had much time to dwell on that since I’d woken from that nightmare.

"Wise words, my lord," he dipped his head to me. 

"Common sense," I countered. "If you're going to praise me, do it for something far more worthy. And if you have the energy to praise me, then I ask you to pick up your sword and join the fight." 

"Of course, my lord," he replied. "I just wished you knew that your men stand firmly behind you." The man bowed low.

I would expect nothing less, but I didn't dare voice that thought. Instead, I stared out over the battlements as the demon's forces peeled apart.

Those that had been at the front, the vanguard, were abandoned, continuing to rush forward without a single idea that the stronger demons behind them had halted. They were cruel creatures, to throw their vanguard as fodder to wear us down in this siege.

"They test us again," my follower spat.

I crossed my arms and tried to use Soulgaze on him as discreetly as possible. I needed to get his name. "That's just what demons do, Frank." I told him. Demons were just a resource to the more powerful ones. Either to be devoured for their own strength or to soften up a more fitting target.

"Yes, but for it to be so constant," he seemed at his wit's end.

"Let the men mop up the fodder. It should at least bolster them some.” I watched as the demons quickly burnt their number against the walls. Unlike me, they couldn't simply jump high overhead. Any attempts to do so were summarily smacked down by stronger men wielding heavy maces or javelins. 

"The food situation, sir," Frank said as we watched the battle.

Fights like these were often over far quicker than expected. After all, each life only lasted a few strokes of a blade. In a chaotic melee like this, it was all too easy to catch someone completely off guard, crushing them with a few well-placed blows.

Men atop the walls held a huge advantage and the demons died by the dozens. 

"Yes, the food," I said, shaking my head away from watching the battle.

"We have at most another week." He bit his lip. "And when it comes to the delegation arriving here, I'm afraid to say we don't have anything nice to serve them."

I cast Frank a dry look. "We don't have anything nice to serve them? That is our greatest concern? Oh, we must have fallen if our allies won't assist us because we have nothing but stale bread to serve them in the midst of a siege." 

Frank winced and cast a pitiful glance towards the battle.

I was doing my best not to enjoy his reaction to my small reprimand, but I got distracted as I noticed more stirring amongst the stronger demons who had stayed behind. My eyes narrowed at the shifting demon army. 

"Sir?" Frank asked. 

"They're moving." I answered, stepping up to the edge of the wall and leaning as if that would actually help me see farther.

I squinted as a large demon stepped out up front, a pair of massive bat wings extending from his back, and a spine running from his nose up over the top of his head and down his spine, much like the mane of a horse.

The demon separated enough from his fellows and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "SEND YOUR CHAMPION!" 

He roared even as my men slaughtered the last of the vanguard.

I took a step backward and Frank already reached for my cloak trying to stop me. 

"Morale is good. We can't let it down now," I said before reclaiming that step for momentum and launching myself clear into the air, flying in a graceful arc only to land thunderously on the demon blood soaked plains below.

The demons bristled and I watched carefully to ensure that they weren't rushing me. I knew that I was putting myself at risk. But it was vital that I kept morale up.

My eyes shifted to the gauge that had held high since I had taken the field earlier. The gauge had only dipped slightly in what I could assume was my men growing tired and weary from the battle.

Yet, it seemed to me that not only did this gauge strengthen me, but my men. If they had sent someone else out to the field and they lost, I had no doubt that would be the prelude to a horrible turn to this battle.