With each concentrated barrage of heavy objects lobbed by the siege weapons that hit the weakened wall sections, more damage was being done to the defensiveness of the Western Fortress’ ramparts. Soon enough the fifth section of the wall to receive the treatment broke apart and collapsed in on itself. Old Kain still had memories of the sturdy walls that could withstand multiple high-powered magic strikes. Compared to those works, these were like walls of glass. If Kain really wanted to, he could just let loose a volley of his own and likely erase a large chunk of the wall in a single strike.

“Wait. Why was I not doing that to begin with?!”

In a huff, Kain directed his Dragon Zombie mount to lift off and he rode the colossal beast into the air. Piotr quickly followed suit, and the two airborne commanders tried to keep pace with each other as they moved over the walls. Kain looked down from on high and let his gaze flow over the city behind the ramparts which had begun to be engulfed in a firestorm.

“Piotr, attack targets of opportunity and try and deal a major blow. Go as far as you can without getting caught by more than you can handle.”

Piotr was still getting used to being an undead, and Kain was concerned that he might not be as powerful as he was while alive. Piotr was more than willing to test his new limits in live combat, and drove his undead Pegasus towards a large contingent of militia and random soldiers. Kain on the other hand made a pass over the city and was quite annoyed by the Junta’s lack of anti-air defenses.

“Being a fantasy version of Nazi Germany and not having designated Triple A defenses? For shame, Teutonia! For shame! Anyone who knows that the ranks of their enemy contain airborne combatants should at least try to invest in a defense against them! I could rain down destruction with reckless impunity! What are you going to use against me? Sticks and stones? You learned nothing from the Great War! Absolutely nothing!”

Kain taunted the Junta’s citizens and soldiers from just beyond arrow range for a while before circling a section of the wall that had been heavily damaged.

“Bombs away!”

Kain let fly a powerful blast of magic at the rubble that was once part of the walls. A thunderous noise and intense pressure wave erupted from the spot where the rubble once stood, and as the dust cleared it was revealed that there was naught but a smoldering crater where once was a buffer. Kain laughed mockingly at the militia and soldiers who desperately tried to line up in the gap, seemingly ignorant of who they were facing, and the fact hat Kain could, at any moment, blow them all to kingdom come. However, while it was fortunate in the short term, they would not be struck down by Kain’s magic. Instead, Kain unleashed yet more explosions upon the ruined sections of the battlements, creating yet more openings for his forces to exploit and yet more holes that the defenders needed to fill.

Kain was having the time of his second life, as was Piotr having the time of his unlife. As Kain blew apart buildings and battlements with nary a care in the world, Piotr was having a ball carving up the mass of untrained and undisciplined mortals who seemingly lined up for the slaughter. He had dismounted his undead Pegasus and was going to town on the mass of troops and fools who lacked the discipline to form even a basic formation to fight in.

With each swing of his corrupted blade, body parts went flying. With every second he was among the rabble, the chilling aura he gave off claimed more victims. The flame in his empty socket burned brighter and more fervently with each death by his hand and his one good eye was gleefully watching the gore and slaughter that he was unleashing.

Even before he came back to Mortis, Piotr had changed irrevocably. When he became an undead on Mortis, the changes he had undergone on Earth fully overtook him. Family? Country? Communism? None of these things mattered anymore. All that mattered was bringing death and pain to his enemies. When he was made an undead, he lost all control over what his enemies were; the freedom of deciding such a thing was now solely the privilege of Kain and Alexis. So, now that he was surrounded by enemies, he had only one major objective; to kill as many foes as possible, as fast as possible and as brutally as possible.

The two maniacs were having an amazing time causing death and destruction in nearly equal measure, and there was no one in the area that could stop them. The thunder of explosions that rocked the city were intermingled with the screams of men losing life and limb, forming an orchestra of pain and misery that would put a smile on the face of anyone who loved to watch the works of the directors of Kill Bill and Transformers. The brutality that was going on proved to be a perfect distraction, not only for Kain and Piotr, but also for the five armies. The discord that was raging in the city was a show great enough to focus the attention of the people that should have been guarding the breaches on Kain and Piotr. With their focus squarely on the two psychopaths inside the city, the poorly trained militia were caught unawares by the oncoming rush of undead cavalry.

They only realized at the last second that they were being charged, but by then it was already far too late to brace for impact. The undead forces collided with the living and sent bodies flying as they bum-rushed the undisciplined lines. As it turns out, having your backs to a group of undead is not the best military strategy in the world, especially when the undead in question are significantly more powerful than the more basic types.

Right behind the cavalry came the infantry. Those wielding sword, shield and halberd marched in sync and together they swept the insignificant residual resistance from the breaches. Swords carved into flesh as spearing points pierced through flimsy ‘armor’. The battle was as one sided as it could possibly be, the militia not even proving to be a threat to the undead. Fire still spread like the end of the world through the city, and the undead merely followed the trail of destruction that it wrought, mopping up any resistance that remained in the ashes and smoldering wreckage. The march of the undead ceased for no one and nothing; all were to be purged for their impudence and idiocy in opposing the might of Darksol.

Kain directed his mount to make an attack run on the center of the city, where a large stone keep stood defiant. The elites of the city were hiding out in here, trying in vain to weather the storm that was soon to claim them. Kain fired off a lance of entropic magic that struck the gate of the keep, carving a massive hole straight through it. His Zombie Dragon flipped upside down and Kain dropped from its back and flew directly through his new entryway. Cracking his knuckles through his gauntlets, Kain limbered up and prepared to have some fun.

It had been quite a while since he last toyed with mortal humans, and he was itching to show the world what he could do. He felt the gaze of a magical scryer fixed upon him and he turned to his unwanted observer and gave a shit-eating grin that exuded sheer cockiness and disdain. As the living forces assembled to try and hold back the inevitable, Kain merely rushed forward at a human running pace and prepared to do battle.

It was going to be a massacre.