Dom scanned the street with a steely expression, his gaze lingering on each of his men and women from the constabulary, including Josh.

Lina called out to him from the end of the street, “It’s clear on this end. No signs of anything.” She jogged back after a moment.

He turned to his company again and addressed them briefly. “Right, seems we’re going this way then. Keep your guards up.”

Their boots pounded the stone-set ground with a chaotic rhythm, the officers warily following their leader with swords and shields raised. They had already come across three large groups of Order militia, as well as plenty of stragglers in between, so they had used up all their ammo by now. However, Dom knew they had been quite lucky with their pathing so far since Elise had reported to him that several of the other companies had come across proper trouble, some even severe.

In particular, it sounded like the Order’s true leaders had been in Lyfort for a while, wiping out one company and crippling two others, Silas’s and Floyd’s at that. Even after upgrading his class to Black Knight, Dom acknowledged there was a considerable rift of power between himself and the two rankers, so it was worrisome to hear that they had been bested by these aliens.

In fact, Dom had been one of loudest people who had pushed Elise into taking swift and devastating action to destroy Lyfort after their declaration of war, when she had wanted to try and solve through diplomacy. He knew from his experiences with Mike, Sabine, and even Grace before them that you were never safe with rabid dogs roaming your backyard, never - not even when they occasionally rolled over for you. But because of this, it also meant every death that occurred during this war could be attributed to his decision, a burden which chained itself to his back and weighed down his steps. But this was not a time for weakness, rather the opposite as Dom was aware his officers expected him to remain confident and collected at all times. Well, most of them at least.

“You good, man?” Josh asked from his side, looking to the Black Knight with a knitted brow.

“All fine,” Dom replied, swatting the Antimage Brawler away. He knew the burden he carried was one of leadership, the same that Silas had once hauled and also the one his Ellie managed on a daily basis; he refused to show any chinks in his armour - even to a well-intending mate - when this was his load to bear. Thankfully, his curt response satisfied Josh, although that was more likely due to the fact that no one here was in the mood for longer conversations while marauding through a town.

Dom’s focus immediately shifted away from his worries when he heard the clang of steel from a nearby house. They were just entering a residential district with the intention of washing the streets red, their job physically made more difficult but mentally easier by the primal ferocity Lyfort’s denizens fought back with. However, right now Dom was getting the feeling that whatever awaited them was going to be worse than what they had faced so far, especially since they had already drained all their ammo.

“Shields up,” he yelled out, and not a second too late as a barrage of blowdarts shot out from nearby windows onto the humans. Most of them got stuck in armour, but some found purchase on skin instead, and a handful of humans collapsed almost at once. Although the officers tried to drag these few into the centre of their formation, they couldn’t quite manage it in all the chaos before the Order’s charge followed, dozens of cultists emerging from the surrounding houses and pouring out into the streets.

Casting Rotting Flesh, Dom rushed into their midst with his mace and round shield, his bandana fluttering over his head. Although he did his best to keep it clean and blue, it had come speckled with blood like the rest of his equipment. The gore over his body only grew as he swung and bashed, battering head and limb and stomach, his strikes gaining strength with each kill.

Some parts away from him, Lina danced in a frenzy of fire, her blade streaming out flames which licked and ate at her opponents’ flesh, drawing agonised screams from their mouths. Unlike her, Josh fought in a less eye-catching manner, using his practised motions and superior combat skills to cut down ogres here and satyrs there. Dom glimpsed back at his lieutenants to ensure they were doing fine and saw a cloud of smoke speedily drifting towards them. Even in his battle-crazed state, he had fought alongside the Order for long enough to recognise the smoke for what it was.

“On your 3 o’clock,” Dom yelled out, shoving his way closer to them. However, the noise of combat drowned out his warning, and all seemed bleak for a moment until Josh glanced in the direction by pure chance. The Antimage Brawler must have recognised the smoke as well as he suddenly kicked at his opponent with widened eyes, shoving them away, before turning to face the fully clothed and masked ryfin who materialised in the following moment, lunging forward.

One of Ish’s daggers stabbed into Josh’s shield with enough force to push it aside, and the other dagger made use of this opportunity to flash forward, thirsty for blood. All the same, Josh brought up his sword in time and knocked the dagger away with its hilt, just as Dom arrived at the scene. The Black Knight’s mace swung down, but Ish poofed into smoke again, swiftly swerving around Dom and re-emerging at his flank. This time, the ryfin’s daggers struck true as they sunk deep into the human’s back.

Seeing this, Josh darted at the ryfin to save his friend from further damage. As before, Ish turned to smoke again, but this time the Antimage Brawler had anticipated such and dropped his weapons in advance, lunging instead with just his bare hands. He called on both Magic-Repellent Skin and Arcana Reflection at once, not knowing which would work, but work they did as his hands caught around Ish’s shoulders and forced him to materialise against his will.

Ish’s mask hid his look of panic as he tried to escape Josh’s grasp but the human held on with superior strength and magic repellence. By the time the ryfin managed to slip away, booting Josh in the groin and ducking out of his grip, it was too late as Lina was there, her sword swinging in a sideways slash. Its blade seared through the ryfin’s neck and decapitated Ish in a clean, burning blow.

Despite this, the nearby cultists didn’t fall into chaos on seeing their commander fall as they continued to fight on in desperation. But what Ish’s death did mean was that a bloodthirsty Black Knight was now uncontested in the region, and this proved to be deadly for Lyfort’s denizens as Dom smashed through their numbers like an enraged bull, goring here and lacerating there. Dominic Wood, the Black Knight, was unstoppable.

****

Natalie advanced with her face held high. Although she was at the centre of her company, her fellows kept their distance around her because of her chilling aura. They hadn’t come across many enemies so far, so the assault troopers still carried plenty of ammo and the fighters looked relatively spotless. However, she knew that was about to change on hearing Iris’s voice.

In the large building over there, there are at least thirty on the ground floor. In that one too, and that one. Iris was standing some strides away from Natalie and pointing for the Cryomancer’s benefit. They’re waiting to ambush us; I can sense restlessness. Iris’s ability to sense life energy from the roots in the ground, providing a sort of x-ray vision, had proved pivotal in their successful run so far, so Natalie took the warnings seriously.

“Can you tell what kind of enemies they are?” she asked back in a low voice, simultaneously signalling to her company to stop. She didn’t want to give away the fact that they knew about the ambush to the Order just yet, but at the same time she didn’t want her company unwittingly marching into the trap. For this reason, she began to gesture meaninglessly at another street while whispering to her troops exactly what she was doing, hoping that this act would momentarily fool those watching them.

Iris closed her eyes and grimaced for a long moment before answering. A lot of mages and archers, I think, with some frontliners.

Chewing her lip, Natalie considered what to do. Glancing over her troops waiting for orders, she hastily decided on a plan and instructed them on their roles. She motioned at them: three, two, one.

The shielded warriors rushed forward, followed to some length by the gunners who took positions and fired into the buildings. The hail of bullets shattered windows and evoked frightful cries, adequately flushing out the ambushers who appeared at once, shooting down with arrows and magic projectiles. Only a few of them tried to charge against the human frontline, and these few were shredded down before they made it very far.

“Slow advance,” Natalie called out. The humans moved forward warily, knowing that a great number of mages and archers still hid behind cover, waiting for the right moments to take potshots. Fortunately, Iris somewhat dealt with this issue by raising brambles from the buildings’ floors and wrapping vines around the cultists’ legs. Although she only caught a few to drain the life out of, many more ran away on sight of her slithering brambles and placed themselves in open view of the gunners who proceeded to take fire.

Natalie took a more passive approach during this as she only sent forth her deadly icicles when she spotted particularly strong cultists making moves. One such instance came when she detected a strong buildup of mana, glancing around in confusion until finally she looked up and saw Krisa, Lyfort’s former envoy to Riverside and regular attendant of their Mages guild, standing on the second floor in Iris’s blind spot. There were a collection of blazing fireballs floating around her body, and she protected herself from gunfire using a strong mana barrier.

A single glance was enough for Natalie to figure out Krisa’s intentions in building up so many fireballs since one of the first lectures given out after the Mages guild’s formation had been about fusing spells into exponentially more dangerous variants. Although it was a ridiculously difficult technique to grasp, Krisa had been a natural at it even then… As suspected, the nymph finalised her spell by drawing all the smaller fireballs together and clumping them into a volatile ball of glowing lava. There was no doubt that it would birth an inferno on landing, one hot enough to boil blood and melt flesh.

The circumstances left Natalie with very little time to react, and as such she panicked and cast her level 10 ability, Tinkling Glass, despite its severe mana cost. Above her formed a chest-sized cube of glassy ice; it shivered strongly for a moment before shattering violently into a dozen of floating shards. Unlike her usual projectiles, which boasted a foggy white tint, these shards were totally transparent except for their slightly impressioned edges. Without wasting another moment, Natalie shot them towards Krisa, streaking through the air with a faint twinkling sound.

The nymph appeared to fully accept her fate as she spread her arms wide and peered down with a grin, releasing the inferno ball then. The glassy shards smashed through her mana barrier and speared through her body. Krisa gasped softly before falling back. All the same, the inferno ball continued down its path even after its maker collapsed, only speeding up on seeing the humans sprinting away from its target. The second it hit the ground, it spread like a lit oil spill as the flames blazed out with frightening speed, roaring and swallowing any who had been too slow to get away. Even the stony ground beneath seemed to burn with inky fumes as black as the void rising to the sky.

The inferno found fuel in nearby buildings, wholly ignoring their fire resistance as the flames devoured all equally. In its entirety, the fire would spread to three districts before it finally stopped its spread, even then having already consumed several dozens of Lyfort’s denizens and marauders.

____

Black Knight (rare)

Unlock conditions: class can only be obtained through upgrading uncommon class, Squire. Denounce the morals that earned you the Squire class, and murder several fellows of your race in unprovoked attacks. Have high strength, constitution, and agility.

Abilities

Rotting Flesh - activate to cause opponent’s flesh to rot on successful blows. Activate again to drain life from each instance of concurrent rotting flesh, healing yourself with the stolen health.

Revel in Death - every kill increases strength, constitution, and agility by 3% for 20 minutes, up to a maximum of 60%. The higher your percentage bonus, the more healing Rotting Flesh provides.

+10 strength, +10 constitution, +10 agility.

Black Knight is a direct upgrade of the uncommon class, Squire.

System