RD 3 Ch 44

Chapter 44

The fight began in earnest. It quickly devolved into a chaotic battlefield where allies and enemies were uncertain. Magic and muscle clashed as I dodged backwards, grabbing Merlin by the cloak while fending off my latest attacker. 

"'Merlin, do me a favor,” I said, noticing a lull in the combat around her. Amongst the Free Players' Alliance, no one wanted to mess with Merlin, which was duly noted.

"'I'm not going to help you, Bran,” she replied sternly.

"'Eh, not with a fight. I can handle this,' I waved at everyone. The melee wasn't that different from a battlefield. Honestly, in a sick sense it actually felt comfortable like returning home.

"'No, what I need your help with, Merlin, is finding the demons that are trying to escape. This place was full of demonic souls. It is run by demonic souls,” I emphasized. “My goal has been to eliminate the souls before they possess everyone who entered, which means they need to not be cautious around me. Sorry for the cloak and dagger, but it's critical that we catch the pieces of one that tried to possess me. He's the leader and the strongest of them all. However, he had split his soul into a number of small pieces and tried to escape.” It all rushed out in a single breath as I tried to get Merlin on my side.

Merlin narrowed her eyes as an attacker heavily signaled his attack, checking to see if Merlin was going to do anything. When she didn't, he went ahead and swung for me. I supposed that was all the time I had to talk to Merlin. 

Blocking a spear and moving fluidly through the battlefield, large sweeping arcs of my Blood Blade parted fighters before heavy-handed chops shattered weapons and forced people back. Unless they were demons, I was only injuring them. I moved through the melee smoothly, protecting my own.

Simone, Nyx, and Gloria put themselves back-to-back. Nyx was supporting everyone with her arrows, and Simone was quickly throwing out heals on the Mul Branova, trying to ensure her small army of faithful wouldn't lose anymore.

Gloria was the only one of the three on the offensive, purple fire flying into the already chaotic combat. She picked her targets carefully, goading several attackers away from the weaker Mul Branova. 

A demon possessing someone with 2,000 stats in each category tried to sneak up behind and go for the weaker members of the Mul Branova, only for me to intersect them.

A heavy overhanded chop stopped their advance long enough for me to get in front of him and slam my knee against his hip, driving him off balance.

Purple fire flew over my shoulder, exploding into his face and forcing him back.

I paused to wink at Gloria behind me, only for Simone to return the gesture with an exuberant cheer, drawing even more attention to me. 

"Get him! He's the one you want!" one of the possessed screamed.

I rolled my eyes, there was still the giant arrow above me, but accepted the fight as several more came for me.

Arrows and spells gave my regeneration a workout and hopefully worked on my resistances a little. Maybe by the end of the fight, I'd be able to get another rank in my Titan physique. But I wasn't necessarily excited for what that would do to me physically, being denser wasn’t always a good thing. 

I covered another of the Mul Branova, this time coming up behind the demon before he even realized I was nearby. The blood from my wounds splashed on him as Sanguine Locking pinned him down long enough for my blade to sever his head. I pulled a talisman out of my spatial ring and slapped it to the head, it sent an image of the demonic soul into the air before he perished. I came into the vault to seize every advantage I could find, while also weakening the demon army being built.

It turned out, proving that they were demons was what I needed right now.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Merlin freeze two figures attempting to escape. Instead of joining the fight, she clung tightly to her staff as if she were the referee, fixing people's feet to the ground with a warning look when they tried to leave the area.

"Don't look at me like that," Merlin said, turning to me. "As I've said before, I'm not on your side. However, your argument has enough merit that I think we should discuss it once they're finished. Besides, you have more pressing matters at the moment."

I followed her gaze to notice that the Demonic Swordmaster, who had previously been trapped in my Sanguine Locking prison, was now completely missing.

His stats hadn't been that impressive, so he must have received help or perhaps he had a card up his sleeve. Either way, he had slipped away during the fight, and I was frantically scanning the area to locate him.

He materialized like a red specter, next to Gloria, a maniacal grin on his face as we locked eyes. He knew exactly what he was doing, targeting one of my people instead of coming straight for me.

Then again, all demons were cowards in my opinion. I shouldn't have been surprised that they would go for the weaker members of my group.

I rushed through the melee to assist Gloria as the grinning swordsman sliced into her side, catching her off guard.

She gasped, a cloak of flames wrapping around her as she tried to protect herself. Simone was quick to heal her.

"Get away from her!" Nyx shouted. Her serpents snapped forward, grabbing the blade even as it sliced through them.

He was forced to pull back as the rest of her serpents went for him, one after the other, trying to drive the grinning swordsman back. He drew a small knife from his spatial ring and cut off one of a handful of Nyx's hair serpents, while attempting to drag Gloria away. He was burned for his efforts.

Gloria wasn't one to go easy. "Get off, you bastard!" Gloria screamed. Purple fire engulfed them both.

The grinning swordsman didn't seem to care about the added heat. He cut deeply into Gloria once again.

By this time, I was there. I grabbed his blade with my hand, twisting it and ripping it away from Gloria before I bodily checked her out of the way and headbutted him.

Now that we were locked up close. He only took a single staggered step backwards before he drew a line with his eyes. It was as if a sword sliced out of them, chopping for my throat.

I let go and twisted out of the way, earning a nasty gash on my throat for my efforts. "You're just full of sneak attacks," I sneered. 

"They're not exactly sneak attacks in the middle of a fight now, are they?" The demon hissed.

I still held him by the wrist and squeezed him hard enough to feel his bones crackle and give way under the pressure.

He gasped and stepped back, waving his sword to force me to let go of his hand or lose my own.

I had considered what to do. I could grow it back, afterall, but the end result would be the same. I'd rather keep my hand. I wasn’t entirely insane.

He came for me again, his sword swinging.

A bloodblade appeared in my hand and matched him. Unlike many of the other demon possessed I had fought thus far, his stats had enhanced significantly during the trials.

I could immediately feel that I was at a disadvantage. His blade came harder and faster than when I had fought him in the streets. There were also several other demons doing their best to throw small aid his way. 

Our blades crashed together in an explosive exchange that caused the white world around us to crack with black jagged lines seeping around the edge of our combat.

I frowned, and so did the demon. We paused, seeing the cracks. I became cautious, cracks in space weren’t good, but the demon grinned with glee and only came at me even harder. 

"What? Are you holding back?" He laughed as I switched to parrying rather than matching blows.

It seemed between the two of us, there was enough pressure coming from our attacks that this white space was having trouble holding up. Perhaps all those problems that Boss had been discussing and anguishing over were finally coming to pass.

I paused, wondering where Boss was in all of this fighting. He certainly seemed to be a coward, like most demons. But I was surprised he hadn't shown himself. 

As I began to fight more cautiously, I noticed the Demonic Swordsman once again glance to the side.

Gloria had pulled back along with Simone.

My wonderful Simone had drawn both of them over next to Merlin, where they were currently spared from the melee.

Merlin, who had insisted she wasn't going to help, stood in front of them, pointedly ignoring the two, yet clearly using her presence to protect them.

I don't know how Simone did it, but she seemed to always get everyone on her side. 

"I wouldn’t get distracted," the Demonic Swordsman mocked me as his sword pierced my side. Painful red and purple energy crackled down his sword and into my body.

Pain racked me from the inside as the demon only grinned wider.

It was enough pain that I had to fight with my body as it tried to lock up, causing my movements to slow as he shifted and drove that thin dagger of his into my other side. I could only groan as he activated the same painful skill, cackling with glee. 

"You know, this is always the best part," he said, still smiling. "It doesn't matter how strong you think you are, concern over your weaker members will always be one of humanity's weakest points. Demons do it much better," he said. "If you're too weak to survive, then that’s not my fault. With only the strong living and able to multiply themselves by splitting their souls, demons grow ever more powerful. It’s a far superior strategy," he said.

I coughed up blood. "It's also why you'll never win. Humanity is too good at struggling for every last breath." I grabbed the hand that held the dagger and twisted it until his forearm was against my knee. Then I pulled back with every fiber of muscle that I had.

My body strained until his arm broke, though he didn't so much as cry out. As his wrist dangled uselessly to the side, I spat some blood that had welled up in my mouth and activated Sanguine Locking on his arm, as thorny red vines climbed over his skin.

Unfortunately, one of the cracks that had been spreading around our fight touched my Blood Blade, cutting it in half instantly. It was enough for me to jump back and avoid it as it continued to spread.

The demon used my shock to cut off his arm before Sanguine Locking spread further and escaped, running through the white space as quickly as he could. Several powerful strikes from him caused the already damaged space to shatter further. Now cracks were everywhere, and spreading so much that I didn’t dare chase him.

The cracks continued to branch off erratically, slicing into the space around the battlefield.

However, I wasn't the only one concerned.

The fighting ceased immediately, with people becoming more concerned about the prismatic black cracks that were suddenly devouring weapons and people whole. The initiated rushed to escape the cracks. The fighting seemed to have already done its job in destabilizing the space, the cracks were rapidly expanding. The problem had already grown bad enough that it seemed it wouldn't stop, even if we stopped fighting.

“Bran!” A voice cried out, one I knew well.

"Simone!" I shouted, seeing her trapped amid the cracks. "Hold tight!" 

Quickly, I created multiple talismans and slapped them down on the floor. My move quickly got Da Vinci's attention. 

"What are you doing?" he asked. 

"Trying to stabilize this space," I replied as I churned out talismans at an incredible rate. 

Even as I said those words, a loud, clear voice came overhead. "Warning! Warning!" A red light flashed through the entire white room, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. 

"Warning! Containment breach," the soft female voice said. 

"No shit, Sherlock," I grumbled. 

Yet the light flashed again, and this time a singular portal opened up ten feet from me.

Several others began to crop up around other clusters of people. Da Vinci had taken what I was doing and began to throw other talismans down on the ground. His weren't perfect for the situation, but they would at least pass.

I knew I had kept him alive for something. Perhaps there was a modicum of respect for someone who had delved as deep as he had into inscription. After all, he hadn't had half the resources I'd received over my previous life

Getting as far as he has was at least respectable, even if he was doing it all wrong. 

I stepped up to the portal. "One moment, everyone. We're going to get you all out of here." 

A moment later, I jumped through the portal, knowing that we had to hurry before there was a mass exodus and we lost our chance to trap General Zaydelin.