The arrogant bastard just grinned up at him, cutting down three more demons with casual motions. He never even bothered to look at them or break his stride as he continued to close.
“Prepare yourselves,” the lord general ordered his personal guard. “We will have to end this one here and now.”
The guttural noises of acknowledgement from the guard were of some comfort, as the general really didn’t know whether he could successfully take on a Forsaken. He rather doubted it, if he were honest with himself, though that was difficult to admit. His guard, however, were strong. Stronger than he was in personal combat by far, even if they were sometimes unfortunately lacking in…other areas.
A variety of weapons made their appearance. Upper circle demons rarely used such things, often lacking the intelligence or temperament to learn to properly wield a weapon of any real quality, but as the Change was completed, that sometimes changed.
His own blade might be enough to level the odds, the lord general supposed as he laid his hand on the hilt of the weapon he had been gifted from the lord of the territory for one of his victories in years past.
The rust-red and black blade was enveloped in a light-absorbing mist as his hand closed around the hilt, its deep magics sensing the coming fight and eagerly straining at the leash to be set loose.
“Hold until he’s close to the top,” the lord general ordered, “and then kill him!”
*****
Kaern read the play as he disposed of the last of the fodder, seeing how the general’s guard was setting themselves. They would strike at him while they still had the terrain advantage, but would wait for him to wear himself out as much as possible.
It was a good plan.
A tad simple, perhaps, but effective to be certain.
Of course, he wouldn’t be worn down by a little piddling climb like this. The fighting had really just woken him up as well, though he had to admit that running from the city to this fight had certainly tapped some of his reserves. He was far from running on empty, however, so the question was really just about how strong the guards were.
Even he didn’t know that, and it was a rather important bit of information.
He marched slowly up the hill, eyes on the waiting demons as he tried to judge their intent. It was a strange standoff for a few moments, with him slowly approaching and them glaring at him, waiting for the right moment. Kaern saw it in one of their eyes a moment before the decision was made, however, and the standoff ended in an instant.
The demons were all Fourth to Sixth Circle, by his estimating, an even dozen, which meant that this particular general was considered valuable as a war leader indeed. When they attacked, Kaern lunged up the hill in a full sprint and dove under the demons as they leapt for where he had been.
Idiots.
Power did not connote intelligence.
He hit the top of the hill in a roll that brought him back to his feet and headed right for the lord general himself, who was already swearing up a storm as he drew his own sword.
“Tough to find good help, isn’t it?” Kaern asked with a grin as he charged in with his sword, drawing back for the strike.
“You have no idea,” the lord general grunted as he brought his own blade up to intercept Kaern’s strike.
Lightning and black eldritch energy bled from their weapons as they engaged, a shockwave flattening the grasses around them.
“A death blade?” Kaern asked with some surprise. “Someone’s been a kiss-ass.”
The necromantic blade screeched against his own weapon as Kaern used his leverage to push it aside before pivoting for another strike. The general jumped back, narrowly evading the blow, then countered with a powerful overhead chop that undoubtedly would have split him asunder had Kaern stuck around to take it.
He didn’t.
Twisting aside, Kaern brought his weapon up and spun it into a slash aimed at the general’s side. Again, the two blades intercepted and a concussion wave erupted from them, blue lightning dancing amid the necromantic energy being bled off the general’s weapon.
“I earned my blade,” the general grunted, muscles bulging as he held off the shockingly strong pressure from his opponent.
Kaern had to split his attention, as the demons he’d evaded would shortly have corrected their overshoot and, hill or not, be right back up and coming for him. He’d tested the general’s skill, and it was a little better than he’d expected.
Hopefully not enough to make the difference.
He stepped up his assault, hacking in one slash after another with enough force to break a human’s bones. The general began to backpedal, blocking the blows one after the other, sweat pouring down his misshapen features as the blows came harder and faster. Slowly, the lightning began to eclipse the black eldritch energy, growing in power with each strike, tendrils occasionally lancing out to strike the general and burn him time after time.
Metal met metal once more, and the black blade flew from the general’s hands just as Kaern sent a solid kick into his torso that flung the demon onto his back. In the next instant, Kaern lunged forward to end the fight, only for his blade to be stopped by blue steel less than a foot from the general’s head.
He tilted his head, looking at the general’s savior. A female demon, clearly lower circle than the general, as she looked more human and wasn’t straining particularly hard against his blade.
“Nice wings,” Kaern said, winking. “Succubus?”
“You wish.”
Kaern looked her up and down. “I rather do, actually.”
She hissed as he winked at her, then kicked out to force Kaern to dance back and away from her.
Metal scraped on metal as he dodged back, cursing his luck.
Wings. I should have had at least another thirty seconds before they recovered, he grumbled as he dodged left, countering her assault with a pivot to slash out with his blade at her thighs.
She jumped over the blade, then hovered for a moment as her wings beat steadily before she swept her blade up and overhand, dropping to deliver more force. Kaern took the blow on his sword, angling it off and deflecting the attack to the ground at his side before he delivered jab to her nose that rocked her head back with a rather satisfying crunch.
Her blood was dark red tinged with blue as it flowed freely from the shattered nose, and she stumbled back from him just as Kaern was forced to throw himself to one side to avoid a bull’s charge from behind.
And there’s the rest of them. Shit.
He turned, sword in one hand and the other held out to ward off attacks as he evaluated the situation.
My evaluation is: I’m fucked.
He’d gambled on a direct move—take out the general and hopefully put much of the remaining demons into a state of disarray. Demons didn’t tend to be controllable at the best of times, so if it had worked, he might even have been able to survive. Since it hadn’t, he was in real trouble.
Kaern ducked a slash from behind, kicking out to catch his attacker in the guts. The demon folded up, but before he could press that advantage, a roar and a charge from his flank caught him. He managed to bring his blade around in time, but despite stabbing it deep into the charging beast, Kaern was still picked up and carried by the charge as he slammed his elbow down into the demon’s neck time and again while twisting his blade ceaselessly.
The charge faltered fifty feet away from where it started, the demon finally falling dead as he pulled his blade out of the sucking wound and rolled clear before he could get pinned under its bulk.
One down.
That just left eleven more, and all of them were charging him even as he got to his feet.