The sentinel demon wasn't like many others of its kind. It lacked their characteristic pride, and one sign of that was its ability to smartly choose the convenient method to walk through the tiny house of the parents of the child it had just murdered.

Rather than try and walk through the tiny abode on its legs at its full height, which was the behavior of many sentinel demons who valued pride over efficiency, it did what many gorillas do: it walked on its long hands, enabling it to speed through the house while slightly lowering its height. It was an ugly mimicry of a gorilla's method of locomotion: knuckle-walking.

Rather than have to take its time to avoid obstacles and duck underneath low-hanging objects the creature was able to speed through the living room that had previously belonged to June and Arthur Moonbond. It effortlessly reached the end of the room, and from there all that stood between it and the outside world from which it heard the sounds of galloping horses and the twanging noises that it knew came from archers firing upon their enemies, was a thin wall made of wood.

The creature lifted one of its knuckles off of the floor and closed its fist. It took a deep breath, willing the demonic equivalent of ki to stop flowing needlessly through its body and instead redirected it into its fist. After a few seconds of concentration, the creature felt power and energy swirling in its large fist.

The creature looked at the wall and searched for a place that looked thinner than the rest of the wall. After a few seconds of searching, it successfully found such an area and swung its fist at that part of the wall. The thin wood was no match for the concentrated strength of a sentinel demon, and a chunk of the wall exploded outward after falling victim to the demon's explosive punch.

The explosion created a hole in the wall, but not one large enough for the demon to fit through it. The demon looked at the hole and sat down, on its rear end. It pondered the situation before it for a moment, before it quietly hopped back up and decided that the fastest solution to its problem was for it to expand the hole.

The resulting barrage on the wall could be heard throughout the neighborhood, but with the sounds of the nearing battle in the distance, the odd arrows sailing and screaming through the air, the town's other inhabitants either couldn't hear it or weren't moved to investigate it.

The first time Golorina, the only female orc who participated in the raid on the small town, heard the orcish archers who had joined her on this raid fire their arrows into the sky, she sprung into action.

She was all business, unlike her fellow rogues, and hadn't been swayed to drink herself into a stupor just because she was close to free alcohol. Rather than go out and drink with her peers, she took the opportunity the raid had created to gather as much loose gold as possible by methodically going through the few local businesses the town had and cleaning them out.

She was in the local smithy when the archers started fired upon their distant enemies. She had been counting the coins left on the corpse of the town blacksmith and had already looted the woman's safe when she heard the whistling noise of orcish arrows sailing through the sky. She grabbed as many loose coins as she could and turned to run towards the location of her allies.

Within two minutes the secretive and serious rogue had reached the gate where her companions had set up shop in the aftermath of the raid's success. The archers were busy readying another volley to fire towards an enemy in the distance, so far from them that at that moment the rogue couldn't yet actually see the foes beyond the gate.

Only one of the archers bothered to respond to her speedy sprint towards them. He was a gruff-looking fellow, dressed in an odd mixture of fur armor and metal plates placed strategically over sensitive body parts. He was perhaps the oldest of all of the orcs who participated in the raid. His name was Talvin, and he called out to her.

"Golorina! Where are the others? We could use all hands on deck to prepare for this. Horse-mounted soldiers are closing in. They'll be here within the next few minutes."

In response to Talvin's question, Golorina quietly hissed. She loathed having to answer this orc, but knew that he was expecting an answer and that disobedience wouldn't be tolerated by someone as young as she was.

"They aren't here. I bet the sounds of your arrows woke them up if they weren't already awake, but they went out to drink hours ago. Shortly after the raid was declared over."

He clicked his tongue in irritation and uttered a single word in response.

"Fuck."

Althos and its servants ran through the town in silence. In their silence, they were able to periodically overhear the strange sound of orcish arrows flying high through the sky, as on the other side of the town the majority of the remaining orcish archers fired upon unknown enemies.

As soon as they overheard that first volley of arrows they were in motion. Althos had followed behind them, suspecting that wherever they were running too was worth following them too.

It was Ragnor who revealed, mid-run, that the source of that sound were arrows which had been fired by orcish archers, aimed high in the sky. Their purpose was to fall upon and terrorize an unknown and hopefully distant enemy, as well as serve as an alarm for the other orcs. It meant that someone was coming to the town and that the orcs should gather to defend the entrance to their raided territory.

Of course, each of the orcs present wondered how the orcish raiders would react to Althos, but they suspected that at least the orcs wouldn't attack someone who wasn't hostile towards them and was joined by a total of 4 of their peers. And it was then, when the orcs and Althos were less than a minute away from the others and when Althos could already see them, that Bazur had the brilliant and necessary thought to actually ask the godling what it would do when it met other orcs. He did so while forsaking subtlety.

"Althos! We are part of a group of raiders. There are 5 other archers in our group and 6 rogues. All of us are orcs. Judging from the fact that our archers are apparently either attacking a group of people, or themselves being attacked, I would like to know what you're gonna do when you meet them?"

Bazur's voice was filled with concern and curiosity. The orc was a smart fellow who'd likely see through any attempts to hide the truth from him. Not that Althos felt like lying anyway. So it didn't.

"I'll see if I can make them my servants. After that, since they are your allies I'll most likely help you all fight off the mysterious enemy."

Althos's answer didn't shock Bazur. The orc simply nodded and accepted such an answer as predictable and acceptable.

At that moment both Althos and Samyaza, who was inside of the godling and saw the world through the godling's enhanced eyes, saw the sentinel demon for a fraction of a second.

The group had reached a part of a town that was densely packed with buildings. They were running on a small street that occasionally opened to reveal other parts of the town. When they were passing through one of the open areas that allowed them to see other streets, the godling and the angel saw the sentinel demon moving in the same direction as them, but a bit slower than they were. It was far enough away that only the two of them could see it, but even from a distance, the creature was a frightening sight.

The godling's enhanced sight picked up on the creature's massive frame, it's thick arms, and even noticed the blood that covered some of the creature's teeth. The blood looked fresh.

Althos was so shocked by the sight of the creature that it immediately transmitted a mental question to the orb angel who was currently dwelling inside of it.

[What... the... fuck... was... that?]

Samyaza was silent for a moment, its mind blank as it dared to mentally replay what it had seen and succeeded in verified what it had felt it'd never have to verify. When the creature spoke, Althos detected a bit of fear in its voice.

[That was a sentinel demon. Sentinel demons are a type of demon who are known and feared for their zealotry. If you can convince it to serve you you'll gain a powerful minion, but given that it's heading in the direction of the other orcs, I recommend you defeat it. Now. Those things are no joke.]

Althos considered the counsel given to it by the angel, and within seconds chose to follow it. The godling ran alongside its servants for a second longer and then shouted to them.

"Go on and join the other raiders. There's something I need to take care of first. Tell them about me, and if necessary help them defeat whoever is closing in on the town. Oh, and take this. It might come in handy."

The godling didn't wait for a response and immediately ran faster to run beyond the orcs, and into position to intercept the demon. The orcs sped up and each of them wondered what their new master was running off to do. That was when they received or perhaps became aware of, their master's strange gift.

The godling's mind was racing as it made use of its blistering speed to search the streets for the demon. The godling wasn't just thinking about facing down the massive beast it'd have to fight, but it was thinking about what other information Samyaza inadvertently revealed when discussing what type of creature the demon was.

The godling made a mental note to ask Samyaza about types of demons after this encounter, and to encourage the angel to search its memories to see if it knew of specific demons who'd make good servants.

After a few minutes of searching for the surprisingly speedy demon, the godling reached an area wherein it could see the demon heading straight for it. Althos stopped in that area and waited for the creature to approach.

The demon was a terrifying sight as it charged down the street in the direction of the godling. Each of its steps pounded the floor beneath it, whether it was walking through grass or through a road. And when the demon detected the godling, which it did quite quickly, it opened its mouth in a feral roar, while moving in a way that showed that it intended to skid to a stop.

The monster's open maw, while the beast was roaring, revealed countless sharp teeth, many of which were stained red by Selena's blood. Earlier the godling mentally noted that the blood looked fresh. Up close the deity confirmed that the blood smelled fresh as well.

In the distance, the constant background noise of horse-hoofs pounding on the ground began to grow in volume every second, as the horses approached.

Golorina had spent her time doing something which in minutes would reap dividends. Upon being informed of the situation the rogue immediately threw herself into her work and began installing basic traps throughout the area near and just beyond the gate.

She kept various items on her person due to her work and so rarely did those items promise to be so useful as they did in that particular situation.

The rogue wore thieves gear, a thin but pocket-covered vest that had space for multiple dozens of items and which she kept stocked with an assortment of roguish goodies. Upon learning of the dire situation and hearing that their archers be unable to inflict real harm on their distant enemies, the rogue began to search through her multitude of items.

The first particularly useful items she found were simple but had a real shot at inflicting damage on the mysterious enemies who were closing in fast. She found that in one of her pockets she had caltrops, dozens of caltrops.

Her caltrops were very tiny, metal spikes. In the case of the ones she possessed, they were ruined nails that she had asked to be reforged and shaped into a tiny, time-consuming trap that had the potential to steer enemies away from her or at least force them to slow down as they tried to chase after her.

Normally she'd try to come up with a more elaborate trap, but she was on a time crunch. The orcish rogue looked at the ground and spent a few seconds trying to determine what areas she should prioritize covering in her very cost-efficient trap.

After selecting what areas she'd need to focus on the rogue ran to the wooden gate that granted entry into the town and began to sprinkle the ground just beyond the gate, inside the town, with her spikey objects.

The orcs marveled at the power their master had bestowed upon them. They felt a small boost to the speed and strength of their fists. It was an odd sensation to feel, but they definitely didn't mind it. Even Ranthor, despite how useless the power was to him, appreciated at least the idea of his knuckles being enhanced. The orc might have fought with a bow and arrow but he recognized the versatility of having multiple weapons to use against any enemies.

The orcs kept running even as they marveled their master's odd power, and before they knew it they were at the edge of the town. The orcs reached their colleagues quickly as they hadn't slowed down even after realizing that their jog had brought them almost all of the way to their colleagues.

They had maintained their speedy pace long enough for them to reach the gate, and shortly before they arrived the other orcish rogues had arrived as well. All 15 of the orcish raiders were in the same place at the same time for the first time since the raid ended.

Talvin saw the brawlers and Ranthor approaching and winched as behind him other archers fired another volley of arrows into the sky. The elderly orc waved at his allies and gestured for them to approach. Then he turned and quickly fired his own arrow.

Althos's allies looked beyond the open gate, and in the distance, they could see the quickly approaching horse-mounted soldiers. The four orcs had a collection of grim looks on their faces, as they assessed the situation and concluded that it was dire. The orcish raiders didn't have much in terms of a frontal fighting force, and the archers didn't look to be

It didn't look good for the raiders. That was what made each second of preparation they had all the more valuable.

Talvin took command of the situation, his experienced gaze, and strategic mind quickly considering numerous variables, and enabled him to come up with the first steps in a strategy.

"Let's get out from in front of the gate for now. The enemy is too close for us to be effective with our current tactics, so, for now, let's retreat behind the wall, and hope that Golorina's surprise takes a few of them down. Rogues, get into whatever position where you can do the most harm, and brawlers... get ready for a fight."

Talvin's gruff voice had confidence, which was something that Althos's allies weren't expecting. The minions of Althos also overheard something interesting: Golorina had apparently set up a surprise for their enemies. The servants of the godling looked at each other and then spread themselves out, deciding on the fly where they should go, and hoping that this impromptu strategy resulted in very few if any at all casualties on their side by the end of the next few minutes.

The sound of horse hoofs pounding on the ground began to get closer and closer, and in the absence of the vaguely comforting sound of orcish arrows sailing through the air the tension of the raiders near the gate increased rapidly.

Modred finished his song as the soldiers began to close in on the town. He suspected that they were less than a minute away from the town's entrance, and he assessed the situation to the best of his ability.

As far as he could see whoever was shooting at them had given up. The gate was off in the distance, but there was no one visible just beyond it. The last volley of arrows to fly at them had sailed in their direction minutes ago, and they had been riding smoothly for uncomfortably long.

When one of the soldiers holding a shield above himself to Modred's left began to waver, Modred extended a single finger in the young man's direction and silently cast a spell on him. With a forceful grunt, the soldier began to heft the shield upward with renewed vigor, and Modred quietly thanked his impish companion for teaching him about stamina recovery magic.

Modred did his best to examine the 7 soldiers he had brought with him. Each of them carried different armaments. One had a lance on his arm and was leading the pack. He was only slightly ahead of the next few riders though. That was so that two other soldiers who had shields on their off-hands could cover him since he was less than skilled in using a lance and a shield simultaneously.

The two soldiers who protected the wannabe knight with no defensive ability had different weapons. One of them had a short sword and the other had a small mace in their main hands. They were flanked by warriors who wielded daggers and shields, using their shields as offensive weapons who surrounded and protected Modred.

Modred had been at the center of the little formation since right before the squad almost fell victim to the first volley of arrows. When the group went to hunker down and dash through the attacks of the far-away enemies they surrounded Modred himself. He was covered primarily by the odd soldiers whose shields were both defensive and offensive.

The final fighting members of the squad were specialists. Their weapons were mysterious, but they were often effective against their enemies when the two had time to tactically assess their situations and make considered decisions about how to attack.

The entire squad was now seconds away from reaching the gate.

The demon saw Althos from a distance and began to skid to a stop shortly after rearing its head back and unleashing a loud and long-lasting roar that due to the godling's proximity to the demon was only barely able to be heard over the noises of the horses in the distance.

By the time the demon came to a complete stop, the distance between the two powerful beings were just a few meters apart even though the demon began to skid to stop from at least a few dozen meters away. Even after its roar ended the creature didn't immediately look at Althos.

It's thinking was that Althos wanted to stop it, which was exactly right. Where it was mistaken was that it thought that Althos was another human or humanoid. Since the demon lacked any real extrasensory abilities and relied on things like sight and other simple senses to assess prey, it couldn't detect Althos's real power. The demon decided to take a close look at the creature who had dared to boldly appear in front of it, figuring that someone that brave deserved a bit of acknowledgment.

Althos was waiting for the creature to stop roaring and even when it did the deity waited some more. The deity wanted for the demon to look at it, so that the two beings could look each other in the face. When the demon eventually looked at the deity the hateful crimson eyes of the demon met the pitiless gaze of the godling.

The godling lacked the sheer hate that inspired the demon's wraith and was a source of strength for the dark being but the godling's eyes were filled with something else. A sort of bizarre and seemingly random strength. An incalculable and intrinsic strength that enabled the deity to be calm in this situation, even as the godling took its first soft step in the direction of the demon. In response, the demon pounded its thick arms into its chest and tried to intimidate the godling.

The godling didn't say a word, and instead took another step towards the demon. And then, off in the distance, the incredibly loud background noise of multiple horses in barding galloping towards the town was suddenly replaced with a massive crashing sound as multiple horses fell victim to a wonderfully well placed but simple trap.

The demon, momentarily distracted by incredible noise in the background, turned away from its foe to see if looking in the direction of the noise brought it much needed answers regarding their source. The godling took advantage of the distraction and leaped at the demon, with a single leg outstretched like a spear. Its leg was a simple weapon, but at the speed of the godling coupled with its innate power, it was also a vicious one.

Seconds before the horses came galloping through the open gates, at the gates in question:

The battle positions the orcs had taken depended on the orcs in question. Talvin and many of the archers were far away from the gate and in place to fire crippling arrows at their enemies once they rushed through the gates and were either forced to turn around to lash out at the rogues in the town or were injured and hopefully sent flying by the caltrops placed by Golorina. The archers who stayed away from the gate had thicker, longer bows that specialized in fighting from far away. Those orcs were Talvin, Ranthor, and a younger orc.

Only some archers stayed closer to the gate, hoping to use their more compact bows. Their shorter bows were gifts they had received following training in combat archery, a more close-up form of archery that required flexibility and intense kinetic vision. They all hoped that they wouldn't be needed this fight since their light fur armor offered little protection against collusion against a horse.

The orcish rogues were near the gate since their tactics relied on them being up close and personal. They each knew to try and take down weakened enemies first and then gang-up on seemingly reliable foes. They were, after all experienced raiders. They were nervous but not any more nervous than they had been before any other fight they couldn't trick or flee their way out of. They occupied themselves by warming up and checking their blades.

The brawlers prepared themselves mentally for the next clash. The three were huddled in a corner discussing tactics and how to split up if it came to that due to enemy numbers. That was when the loud noises of the horse-hoofs galloping towards them became deafening. The enemies had arrived.

And then just seconds later came the first shouts of horse riders as they sailed through the air coupled with the loud and beautiful sounds of horses neighing in agony as they fell onto the trap Golorina laid out for them and subsequently began to collide. With each other.

The godling, not the sort to hesitate, was the first one of the two powerful beings to attack. While its foe was distracted It sailed through the air, launching itself using its own explosive strength to try and land a potentially devastating attack moments after it met the demon. Its outstretched leg had the hardness of thick metal, and the creature was aiming for the center of its demonic foe figuring that it was best to aim for a large target than a precise one.

What ended up saving the demon from an instantaneous defeat was the creature's remarkable instincts coupled with its odd physiology. It reacted to the godling's attack just in time to raise an arm, its right arm in fact, and position it right in front of where the attack would have hit and been even more devastating. Even if the blow had smashed through the creature's chest it would have survived, but the blow would have rendered the creature helpless.

The demon took the hit, being barely able to minimize the damage it would take, and staggered back as pain exploded throughout its right arm as the godling's strike pierced it. The godling instantly retracted its foot from the creature's arm, and thick acidic blood began to pour out of the thin hole in the arm of the demon dripping onto the ground beneath the hole and the godling could hear a faint hissing noise as acid reacted with the ground beneath it.

The demon reacted to the pain it felt by emitting a foul scream, which was loud enough to shatter the glass of nearby windows and turned its grim gaze on the godling, expecting the divine being to be running in terror, affected by the sentinel's mind-altering shout. Instead, the demon saw the godling looking it dead in the face with a neutral expression and gently moving lips, and then heard the evil creature heard the newborn deity speak in the ancient language of demons for the first time in the god's short life.

The godlings voice was like a hundred whispering voices speaking in the ancient tongue of the demons at once, and only barely intelligible. It was one of the very few truly frightening things the demon ever experienced.