[Let’s split here!] I tell the group and Dash toward the centre of the city.
Gotta go fast! Drawing on my inner Vibrant, I channel the power flooding through my Spirit Nave and turn it into strength, filling my body with vigour and helping me run even faster. Aha! Behind me, Invidia and Al disappear as they split off to deal with another threat, whereas Crinis and Tiny continue with me.
We race through the tangled web of buildings, and any demon unfortunate enough to get in our way meets a grisly and sudden end. We don’t have time to mess around! I can hear the roar of the fighting before I see it, the constant hiss of acid being released along with the percussive impacts that rattle through the stone beneath my legs as spells are hurled from both sides. The smell of my family is everywhere, layered pheromones of commands, cries for assistance, and battle cries that echo against my antennae.
I’m coming!
We burst into the clear to find quite the scene. A literal wall of ants has formed, gnashing and spitting acid as Grokus himself, surrounded by a cadre of his most loyal demons, attempts to storm out of his compound. The city lord has undergone a hideous transformation, if that’s even possible. The humanoid torso that sits atop his bulk is bellowing constantly, spitting a stream of abuse toward my siblings. The main mouth that splits the front of his body in half is off the ground for a change, revealing wide, elephant-like feet underneath that crunch into the stone with every step.
The mouth itself is the stuff of nightmares, similar to Crinis’ in that it appears less a mouth and more a portal to a separate dimension entirely reserved for suffering. His throat yawns like a void behind rows of needle-sharp demon teeth.
The moment I burst onto the scene, a chorus of cheers rise from the assembled ants.
“The Eldest is here!”
“They’ve arrived!”
“Slacker! We’ve been working over here!”
“Stop being lazy! There’s a job to do!”
“YEAH, YEAH! SHEESH!” I curse my own siblings as I rush forward to do battle. “Give me a break already. Nobody told me when you were attacking the city!”
My protestations are met with a chorus of boos and jeers, which is a little hurtful. Ingrates! Nothing for it though, time to get to work. My minds come together and forge a powerful Mind Bridge that I ram directly into Grokus’ head before the huge demon can react.
[Hey there, big guy! Are you ready to dance?]
The moment I connect to him, his smaller pair of eyes focus on me with laser-like intensity.
[DAMNED INSECT!] his voice rumbles in my mind, full of wrath. [BECOME MY FOOD AND I MIGHT FORGIVE YOU!]
[I don’t think so. Look around, we’ve got a lot of mouths to feed in the Colony, so I think your Biomass is going to wind up in a good place!]
With nothing else left to say, I Charge, my loyal pets by my side as we draw closer to the wall. The ants part before us, giving us a clear lane and then surge forward behind us.
It’ll all get decided here!
137. Confronting our Demons, Part 2
As cool as he’d tried to play it, Isaac wasn’t exactly pleased to be where he was. The ground beneath him felt like fire against his boots, and the air itself scorched his lungs whenever he took a breath. Sweat fell in a constant stream from his brow and he’d stopped bothering to try and wipe it from his eyes. There was plenty more where that water came from. The ants had loaded them up with canisters of water before they’d come down, and most of the human contingent had knocked the lot of it back before they’d even set foot in the city.
“HOLD THE LINE, DAMMIT!” he roared as he furiously worked his spear, holding the demonic push as far from his person as possible.
On either side, his fellow soldiers roared along with him. Teeth gritted, their heels dug in and using micro Dashes to slam their weapons into the demons whenever they found an opening. The constant drone of the priest behind him was a reassuring sound, since it meant Isaac and his group wouldn’t be without the powerful buff that was keeping their heads on their shoulders anytime soon.
“HOW MUCH LONGER?”
“Captain! Sir! I don’t know!”
“THAT’S ABOUT AS USEFUL AS A BARREL OF PLOPS, YOU DAMNED MORON! YOU REALLY THINK WE CAN HOLD LIKE THIS FOR LONG?”
Isaac felt sure his mother would be less than impressed by his tone and language, but the current situation was trying his patience something fierce. His squad had been flanking the demon position that surrounded the huge monster that was holding off the Colony on the outskirts of the plate when they’d run into a group of four moving to reinforce the suspected tier seven.
Naturally, he’d cut them off and prevent them from joining the main fight, but that left his small group facing off against four bloodthirsty tier six demons, which wasn’t a fight they would win, or come close to winning. The last few minutes had been a desperate, all or nothing struggle to prevent his soldiers from getting eaten, an endeavour in which he’d been successful… so far.
Backed into a corner with spears forward, he didn’t like the way these demons were leering at him, as if they were considering what sides to serve him with.
“Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on! COME ON!” he screamed as he raised one hand to present a rude gesture to the monsters.
He never did find out if they understood what the gesture meant. One moment they were there, about to charge into the blade of his spear and rip him apart, the next they were… gone. A fine mist all that remained of them.
“Uh, Captain?” one of his men whispered with awe. “Was that you?”
Isaac turned to the poor fool.
“No it wasn’t me, you idiot! If I could turn demons into mist whenever I wanted, you think I would have let them kick our arses all over the street?”
“Probably not, sir.”
The tension gone out of him, Isaac collapsed into the wall.
“Probably not…” he agreed.
Still hidden from perception overhead, Allocrix looked down on the relieved humans with mixed feelings.
[You are certain your master would wish these to be saved?] he asked his floating companion.
[Their livessss belong to the masssster,] the envy demon hissed. [None sssshall take from him!]
Allocrix took no offence, he was no stranger to the ways of demons, and the obsessions of envy were quite familiar. He dismissed the matter and continued to make his way toward the billowing Mana of Mongu’nin, his recent rival. Allocrix did not yearn for combat, or vengeance, he was not built for such things. Instead, an insatiable flame that hungered for knowledge burned within him, a flame which Grokus and Mongu’nin had stifled and made difficult to feed. For that reason, they needed to be removed, and he would lean on Anthony and his colony to make it so.
Floating above the wreckage of buildings and the teeming ants, he spotted the massive form of his foe rising out of the smoke. Mongu’nin might have been a more recent arrival to tier seven than Allocrix, but he was powerful nonetheless.
A war demon was a force in and of itself. Tall, with an imposing physique covered in devastating spikes and deadly scythes attached to its hands. This particular species of tier seven demon was known throughout the third stratum as a creature not to be trifled with in a direct confrontation.
But with help… Allocrix was confident he could win.