WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 45

Before the Demon Beast alarm began echoing through Nevaria, the first thing that warned me of danger was the incredible Spiritual Pressure washing over the amphitheater—no, through all of Nevaria. It was not particularly powerful. However, it was invasive. Even though the power was barely enough to activate a B-rank Spiritual Technique, it spread across the city, causing even those who were not spiritually sensitive to feel something that made them squirm in their seats.

The Demon Beast alarm came after.

“That’s—” Empress Hilda stood to her feet, shock etched all over her normally calm features as she quickly determined what was happening. Immediately after the alarms sounded, she turned to her husbands and began issuing orders. “Dante! Head to the Nevarian Spiritualist headquarters and mobilize your troops! Rainer! Take the Nevarian Spiritualists currently here and have them lead these people to the Colosseum! Valence! I need you to gather the Imperial Royal Guards and have them shore up the defenses!”

It was a testament to both their training and talent that none of them responded with shock when given orders. Despite how surprised they must have been feeling, each of them bowed to their wife and empress, and then began moving.

Empress Hilda turned to her sons. “You three will remain here and help Rainer.”

“But I can fight too—” Geirfolf started, but he stopped when Empress Hilda looked at him. It wasn’t a glare. There was no anger or judgement in her gaze. Her eyes contained the commanding presence of a leader who expected her orders to be followed. “Y-yes, Mother. As you command.”

“Don’t worry.” Mikkel placed a hand on Geirolf’s shoulder as he looked at their mother. “We will aid Father Rainer with protecting the civilians.”

Empress Hilda graced her middle child with a warm smile. “I will be counting on you three. Remember, our people are this city’s livelihood. Without them, we are nothing.”

Mikkel and Earland nodded, and while Geirolf didn’t look satisfied, he also reluctantly agreed with his two brothers.

With them dealt with, Empress Hilda turned to me, Kari, Fay, and Lin. All of us had stood to our feet. I was sure she was going to give us orders, but when I saw the look in her eyes, I decided to head her off.

“I plan on heading to the front lines,” I told her. Empress Hilda paused as though she hadn’t expected me to head off her orders before she could even make them, and I used that time to turn to Kari, Lin, and Fay. “Kari and Lin, I need you two to head over to the Imperial Royal Palace. Grab the Spiritual Recovery Pills, Blood Clotting Pills, and your weapons. Then head to the north gate. That is where Lin and I will be traveling. If the Demon Beasts are attacking, they will be coming from there. We need to push them back.”

“Excuse me,” Empress Hilda began with a frown, “While I appreciate that you are so decisive, don’t you think these orders are a little too dangerous? You four are—”

“Capable of defeating A-rank Demon Beasts,” I announced to her. “I can beat them on my own, and these three are strong enough to beat one if they team up together. No one else aside from yourself and your husbands can boast that kind of strength.”

Empress Hilda glanced at her daughter. The conflict within her was clear as day, even to someone like myself who still didn’t know her very well. Kari stepped forward and placed a hand against her chest.

“Mother… please trust me—no, trust us,” she said. “We can do this.”

“Very well.” Empress Hilda almost seemed to sag in on herself, but then she drew her back straight and looked at all of us before locking gaze with me. “I will trust you on this. However, know that if my daughter dies as a result of your actions—”

“If she dies, you won’t be able to reprimand me because it will mean I am already dead,” I interrupted.

“That is a good answer,” Empress Hilda said at last. “In either event, our time is limited. You may do as you please. I’ll ask that you defend the front lines until we can muster our forces.”

“Count on us,” I said.

There was very little time to waste, and we had already wasted several of those precious minutes talking. I could now hear the roars of Demon Beasts. Judging from the sound, the ones I could hear were likely Silverbacks—bipedal Demon Beasts with broad chests, short legs, and long arms. However, even as this thought crossed my mind, a loud screech caused me to look up and spot the Pteranodons that were flying into the city.

“We really are out of time,” I muttered with a grimace.

The appearance of the Pteranodons caused the civilians to panic. Terrified shrieks filled the air as people began running every which way, trampling each other in their effort to leave. Many people were injured as a result of this pandemonium, which only added to the chaos.

I could do nothing for the civilians. I didn’t know much about controlling mass amounts of panicking people, so I did the only thing I could do.

Disappearing with a Flash Step, I used the Jump Step to leap high into the air, landing near the top of the amphitheater, and there I raised both hands and channeled my Spiritual Power. I felt it rush through me. A flow of water and lightning shot through my arms and out my fingers, turning into ten beams that soared into the air. Each beam looked like a streak of white light.

Each beam struck a Pteranodon and pierced the monster core near their chests, killing them instantly. As the now dead Demon Beasts fell to the ground, the beams I had created continued moving. I forced them to curve back around, imposing my will on them and attacking the remaining Pteranodons from behind. One. Two. Four. Eight. Sixteen of the flying Demon Beasts were killed in less than a tenth of a second. There were only four more left after that, and they were easily dealt with by the Nevarian Spiritualists who’d been guarding the amphitheater.

“Everyone, remain calm!!” a shout came from the stage. It was Rainer. He stood with his hands cupped to his mouth and began issuing orders. “Please exit the amphitheater in a slow walk. Do not run and shove people! Also, use one of the exits guarded by a Spiritualist! Nevarian Spiritualists! Form up and protect the civilians! Do not let a single Demon Beast through!”

His words didn’t quite calm the crowd, but it did serve to make the crowd stop panicking. No longer trampling over each other in their effort to escape, the tens of thousands of individuals began climbing up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, in the grassy field where I stood, several hundred Nevarian Spiritualists formed a line of defense against potential Demon Beast incursions. Fortunately, the Pteranodons had been the only ones so far. While I could see more in the distance, they weren’t coming this way but spreading across the city.

That was both a good and bad thing.

“Eryk!”

Kari, Fay, and Lin rushed over to me. I nodded at them.

“You two know what to do,” I said to Kari and Fay. “Once you have those pills and your weapons, come find us. Lin, you’re with me.”

Kari and Fay nodded before turning toward the Imperial Royal Palace and racing away with the Flash Step. They had enough Spiritual Power that they should be able to make it to the Imperial Royal Palace before exhausting their reserves, and the Spiritual Recovery Pills would help them recover that power. I figured they would be fine.

“Are you ready, Lin?” I asked.

“This princess is always ready.” As if to emphasize her readiness, Lin produced a purple whip made of Spiritual Power. She cracked it once against the ground, gouging out a chunk of grass.

I was just about to head off with her when another voice shouted, “Hold it! We’re coming too!”

Turning my head, Lin and I found Catalyna and Marko Kriger standing at the head of a fairly large group. I didn’t recognize anyone among them. There was an old man who looked like he was in his 90s, a woman who could possibly be Catalyna’s and Marko’s mother, and several people who were wearing full battle armor. As expected of the Kriger family. It looked like they had come looking for a fight.

“You’re all coming with us?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s right.” Catalyna grinned as she hefted her massive, jagged sword and set it against her shoulder. “Demon Beasts are attacking and you are heading to the north gate to meet them head on, right? In that case, the Kriger Family is heading with you.”

“What my daughter is trying to say is that we are a family of warriors and refuse to back down when battle is upon us.” The woman who looked like an older Catalyna with bigger breasts stepped forward. “Whether you let us come with you or not, we are going to the north gate. However, I believe it would be better for all of us to travel there together.”

“Fair enough,” I said. We didn’t have time to argue. “Then follow me and Lin. We’ll be carving a path straight through the enemy, and we will be counting on all of you to protect our flanks.”

“I’m glad we understand each other,” the woman—I believe this was Catherina Kriger—said.

With the members of the Kriger Family in tow, Lin and I raced into the city and headed for the north gate.

There weren’t that many Demon Beasts this far into the city yet. Pteranodons were faster than the standard Demon Beast because they could fly, which allowed them to travel greater distances in less time. The few Pteranodons that appeared within my field of view were quickly shot down when I fired beams of condensed water and lightning from my fingers. Most of my shots were one-hit kills, but a few only pierced a wing or their bodies. Those ones fell to the ground where they were beset upon by a member of the Kriger Family.

“There are some four-legged Demon Beasts coming from the front, Darling!” Lin shouted as I finished off another Pteranodon.

Indeed, appearing ahead of us and charging forward were a pack of canine Demon Beasts known as Dire Wolves. Bristling silver and gray fur stood in large spikes on their bodies. Powerful limbs rippled with muscles as they rushed forward. Their muzzles were set in vicious snarls like a pack of rabid animals. I remembered these monsters from the Demon Beast Invasion in my previous life.

“Lin! I’m counting on you to get any of the stragglers that I miss!”

“Leave it to this princess! She’ll take care of them!”

I used the Flash Step to quickly appear before the leader of this pack, a creature with four jagged scars moving across its face. Without stopping my momentum, I slammed a foot into the Dire Wolf’s nose, breaking it and forcing the face to cave in. It was instantly killed. The body went limp underneath my assault before I launched it into another creature with the same kick that killed it. A loud yelp echoed from the one who was struck by the corpse as it went down.

Creating a sword made of lightning, I sliced straight through the Dire Wolf on my left without hesitation, carving the creature in two halves, the top and bottom, which separated. The legs tumbled to the ground. The top half continued forward before striking the road with a wet splat.

Dire Wolf packs often consisted of twelve. I had just killed two. There were ten left. 

By this point, the Dire Wolves had recognized me as a threat and were turning around to confront me, but I killed another one before they could even fully prepare to pounce. The beam of condensed water and lightning shot from my finger, pierced the skull of one, and then curved around and pierced the neck of another. Two wolves died, leaving only eight.

This was the point when Lin appeared. She couldn’t use Flash Step like me, Kari, and Fay because she had no legs, but she was faster than any human when running. The Lamia had a whip in each hand. She lashed out with one, wrapping it around a Dire Wolf’s torso, pulling tight and causing an explosion of gore as the wolf was severed in half. At the same time, she wrapped her other whip around the neck of another Dire Wolf. Using the immense strength her people were known for, she pulled the creature off its feet and used it as a bludgeon to kill two more wolves before slamming the one tied to her whip into the ground.

That was four down and only four left.

Taking a page from Lin’s book, I created two swords, one for each hand, and then used the Flash Step to appear before the remaining four Dire Wolves. Each attack was a killing blow. One Dire Wolf lost its head when I swung down, another was cut open when I spun around, and the last two were killed with I thrust both blades down their throats.

It was at this moment that the Kriger Family caught up to us.

“What… the…” I didn’t know who said that.

“Ohohoho!” A man with gray hair who appeared younger than I believed he truly was laughed when he saw the sight that caused his family members to stare at me in shock. “Now I see why Catalyna holds you in such high regard. You truly are a monster, aren’t you?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said.

“Don’t think I’m gonna lose to you just because you are stronger than me!” Marko suddenly shouted. “I will prove myself to Lin today!”

“Good luck with that,” I muttered.

“It doesn’t matter how much you try to prove yourself,” Lin said. “This princess will never love anyone other than Darling.”

An aura of gloom hung over Marko’s head, but we didn’t have time to deal with his depression. I ordered the Kriger Family to continue following Lin and I as we cut a path straight to the north gate. Along the way, we protected any civilians who hadn’t been able to attend Kari’s birthday (Nevaria consisted of about 2.4 million people). Everyone we rescued, we told them to stay indoors and not come out. It wasn’t 100% safe inside of their homes, but it was better than having them get in the way of our battle.

Of course, there were already a large number of dead. Several corpses were littering the streets. A pack of Dire Wolves were chewing on a family that had been caught running away, several Pteranodons had swooped down and carried off their unfortunate meals before I could save them, and quite a few were also trampled by Silverbacks, their broken bodies now littering the streets.

“Silverback incoming!” a member of the Kriger Family shouted. I turned back to see Marko pointing at something racing down from a larger side street.

The creature coming for us was about two times larger than an adult human male, but its arms were nearly as long as it was tall and it had short, almost stubby looking legs. Short, silver hair covered its muscular body. With a flat nose, no eyebrows, and sharp teeth set on a snarling face, the creature was easily the stuff of nightmares.

Silverback. A B-rank Demon Beast.

I could see members of the Kriger Family getting ready to attack the creature, but we honestly didn’t have time. We needed to reach the north gate.

Pointing my index and middle finger at the Silverback, I released a much larger beam than the ones I’d been firing off before. This one traveled faster than light, slammed into the Silverback, and tore a hole right through its chest. The creature didn’t slow down. However, it did die instantly. Its body pitched forward, slamming into the road and skidding across the surface. It came to a stop about two meters from where the Kriger Family had been preparing for battle.

“Hey!” Marko shouted. “That was my kill!”

“If you think you can take on a Silverback by yourself, then you must be dreaming,” I said. “We have no time to deal with these right now. We need to keep heading for the north gate!”

I turned back toward the road we were traveling on and began running. As I did, Lin slithered alongside me at a speed that was honestly pretty astonishing. Even having fought against several Lamia in my previous life, I’d never seen one that could move so fast.

“Darling,” Lin said with a serious expression, “these Demon Beasts, do you think they are being drawn here like when we went to explore those ruins?”

Drawn here like before, as in when the Demon Beasts had been whipped into a frenzy and drawn to our location. That incident was still burned into my mind. It was something of a defining moment. Thanks to what happened, I now understood how the Demon Beast Invasion in my previous life came about.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” I said to Lin. “The Leucht Family and Skygge are definitely forcing Dyr’s power to activate using some kind of ritual.”

***

Dyr writhed in agony as pain raced through her body. She could no longer scream. Her voice had long since left her. It was a miracle she even had the strength to move.

Watching from the sidelines, Hagen eyed both Dyr and Skygge as the girl laid in a circle composed of numerous glowing Runes. Even though he knew many of these Runes, he didn’t know what they all did, or how they worked in conjunction to force Dyr’s power to activate.

“Has the ritual been successful?” Hagen wondered out loud. They were located deep within the sewers, in the levels so far below the city that no noise from the outside world could reach them. He couldn’t tell if the Demon Beasts had successfully invaded or not.

“Ke ke ke. I’m sure they have, but let’s wait for confirmation before celebrating,” Skyge said from where he knelt, hands on the ground as he fed Spiritual Power into the runes.

Hagen crossed his arms as he waited. His two concubines stood by his side. Neither of them spoke, but that was partly because they couldn’t speak. Spread around the four of them were members of his family, though most of the Leucht Family was currently top side to keep an eye on the situation.

They didn’t have to wait for more than fifteen minutes before a young man pushed aside the entrance to this hidden room. There were many such places within these sewers. Hagen and his family had used them to keep from being discovered. Not even Hilda Astralia knew of the many hidden passages located within these sewers.

The young man knelt before him and reported. “Demon Beasts have begun invading Nevaria, Lord Leucht.”

“Ke ke ke. That didn’t take long,” Skygge giggled.

“Should we stop the ritual?” asked Hagen.

The cloak shifted as Skygge shook his head. “The longer we keep this ritual going, the more Demon Beasts we can draw to Nevaria. I recommend we continue with this course of action until this tool’s life expires.”

Hagen thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. I wish to see Nevaria destroyed, so we shall do it like this. More Demon Beasts means more trouble for our enemies. Not even Hilda Astralia or that fucking brat Eryk Veiger will be able to defeat millions of them.”

“Ke ke ke. Very true. Then… let us keep going.”

A massive wellspring of Spiritual Power erupted from Skygge. It appeared as a black shadow that traveled into the glowing Runes of the ritual. Within the center of this massive array, Dyr arched her back, threw her head back, and released a soundless scream of agony.

***

Hilda had never felt more regret over wearing a dress than she did now. Dresses looked great and flattered her figure, but they were impossible to run in. Even after tearing the long dress and turning it into a skirt, even after removing her heels and traveling barefoot, she still couldn’t move the way she wished.

Demon Beasts were attacking their group from every direction now, coming out of side streets, flying in from overhead, and racing down Main North. The Nevarian Spiritualists under the command of Rainer were doing what they could to keep them back, but they were overwhelmed.

A young woman to her left danced across the ground, her yellow aura shooting arcs of lightning as she delivered a punishing blow to a Dire Wolf with her battle ax. While her attack pulverized the one in front of her, another pounced at her. However, that one was taken care of by her partner, who used a shield to block the attack and a sword to cut its head clean off.

On the other side several meters to Hilda’s left, a middle-aged man launched a powerful punch that unleashed a blaze of fire. The flame traveled in a spiral pattern, catching several Man Eating Pythons unaware, roasting them. Not all of the pythons were destroyed. Even so, it didn’t matter because the ones that weren’t killed were beset upon by nearly a dozen other Nevarian Spiritualists. Unfortunately, the man was too slow to avoid a python that came in from the side. Blood gushed from his neck as the Man Eating Python sank its fangs into him and injected him with venom.

Hilda was doing her part as well.

Moving her left hand up and then down, she unleashed a wide slicing attack that traveled in a vertical line and cut a Dire Wolf down the middle. Looking up, she saw several Pteranodons getting ready to swoop down. She frowned. Then she pointed at the Demon Beasts with her index and pointer finger, channeled her Spiritual Energy, and created a small sphere of golden light near the tips of her fingers. A loud thunderclap suddenly echoed around the city, and then the sphere was gone and a Pteranodon was pulverized, its ruined body crashing into a housing unit.

Hmph. Nothing can move faster than the speed of light.

Hilda wished she had her sabre. If she had a weapon, then it would be so much easier to activate Three Thousand Steps and begin decimating the forces attacking her city. Even though she could use her signature Spiritual Light Technique right now, it wouldn’t do any good. She at least needed a weapon to help give her an edge during combat.

Their group had no choice but to move slowly. With Demon Beasts attacking on all sides now, they couldn’t afford to run. What’s more, their numbers were increasing as they came across civilians and other Nevarian Spiritualists. Nevaria was about 1,657 square kilometers. Assuming the Demon Beasts had invaded from the north, there were probably numerous battles happening all around the northern quadrant of the city at this moment.

The Colosseum was located on the border between north and south quadrants of the city. It was far enough away that the civilians would hopefully be safe, but close enough that she could plan their counterattack. More importantly, the colosseum had an underground bunker that could be used as a shelter, though it could only hold about 60,000 people. The Colosseum itself could hold 150,000. That meant they could hold around 210,000 people, assuming they could rescue that many.

Several minutes past, but they eventually reached the Colosseum, which loomed over them. Rainer, in charge of leading the Nevarian Spiritualists, shouted orders, “Everyone gather inside of the Colosseum. Nevarian Spiritualists, protect the civilians as they enter!”

The Colosseum was a roofless building made in the shape of an oval. It was several hundred meters across and featured five stories of superimposed arcades surmounted by a podium on which stood a tall attic. The arcades were framed by half-columns, while the attic was decorated with pilanthers. There were four entrances into the Colosseum. Each one was located at one of the cardinal points. Since they had come from the north, they were only using one entrance to get inside. Rainer ordered several of the Nevarian Spiritualists to head inside first and clean out any potential Demon Beasts that may have made their way inside, and then he had the civilians begin entering.

Hilda remained near the back alongside the more powerful Nevarian Spiritualists. While she couldn’t fight in close range combat without a weapon, her light element was great at long range as well, and she had several techniques that could be used to attack opponents from a distance.

Once more, Hilda began creating small spheres on the tip of her index and middle finger, and then firing them into the hordes of Demon Beasts that were running along the ground. Each of her attacks struck the cobblestone streets, then detonated in a brilliant explosion, annihilating several dozen Demon beasts at a time.

Most of the Demon Beasts that had come this far were either the avian Pteranodons or Dire Wolves, which could travel more swiftly than most other Demon Beasts. Both of these were C-rank Demon Beasts, so they weren’t very powerful, and they couldn’t use Spiritual Attacks like B-rank Demon Beasts could. If there were any B-ranks among those attacking, then she hoped they would stay far away until she was able to get her armor and weapons.

“Hilda,” Rainer called out to her.

Turning to face her second husband, Hilda found Rainer standing by her side instead of protecting the civilians. Then she realized all the civilians were gone.

“It looks like all of the civilians have been evacuated into the Colosseum,” Hilda said.

“Yes.” Rainer nodded. “Now that they have been evacuated, we are awaiting your orders.”

“We need more information first,” Hilda determined quickly. “We know they came from the north as that is the only direction they can come from, but we do not know how many there are, which directions they headed off to, or even if they moved around our walls to attack us from one of the other gates.”

“I understand. We should survey the land from a high vantage point then,” Rainer said.

“Correct. Have twenty Nevarian Spiritualists guard each gate. When they become tired, rotate them out with other Spiritualists. Do this constantly so none of them are too exhausted to battle. This won’t work forever, but it should be enough for now. I’m going to take some guards and get to higher ground.”

“Yes, Hilda.”

As Rainer went off to follow her orders, Hilda gathered four women Nevarian Spiritualists who she knew by name, including Hellen who happened to be among those at the amphitheater. She entered the Colosseum. Traveling past the civilians huddling against the walls, she walked at a quick trot up the stairs, until she had reached the highest point she could, and then she leapt onto the archway that acted as something of a window. From this vantage point, she could see most of Neveria’s north and western quadrants.

It looked liked her calculations were misplaced. Almost all of Nevaria was under attack. However, it was only the Pteranodons and Dragles—another C-rank flying Demon Beast with thick feathers, a wide wingspan, and long talons—that were attacking the other sections of the city. They had probably flown in from above the Demon Beast Mountain Range on the south and east sides. That explained why they could attack most of the city.

“The situation is more dire than I thought.”

Hilda jumped back down from the archway and marched up to Hellen, who straightened her back and awaited orders.

“Gather of squadron of eleven Nevarian Spiritualists and head to the garrison in the east. Tell the commander of the eastern garrison that he is to begin evacuating civilians to the Leucht Family estate. Since they felt the need to betray Nevaria, there should be no problem if we use their home as a means of protecting our people.”

“As you command, Empress.”

As Hellen bowed low and then moved off to comply with her orders, Hilda took a moment to catch her breath. Then she straightened her back and marched back down the stairs, through the hall, and out the doors.

The battle had grown more fierce. It looked like the Demon Beasts were continuing to make inroads into the city. Two dozen Neverian Spiritualists were fighting against a Silverback, but it looked like they were being pushed back. One unlucky young man was struck by a massive hand from a Silverback and his broken body was tossed through the air like a ragdoll.

Rainer was battling alongside a group of Nevarian Spiritualists to hold back a pack of Dire Wolves, but there were several more packs charging in from either side. Hilda clicked her tongue. Then she used the same Spiritual Technique she’d been using, Light Shot, and wiped out both packs within six shots.

“Ha… ha… I cannot afford to fire off too many more of those if I wish to use Three Thousand Steps.”

Squaring her shoulders, Empress Hilda marched over to Rainer, who had finished mopping up the pack that had assaulted him and his squadron.

“Rainer.”

“What are your orders, Hilda?” Rainer asked with his back straight despite his breathing being heavy.

“I need you to send someone to fetch me my armor and sword,” Empress Hilda commanded with a glint in her eyes.