Tides Of Protomis CVII-

Sigma Takes The Field

A rush to the keep ruled by the demon general Sigma had begun, and all of those who’d come to invade the demon realm were involved. The surprising acts of the demon Ghemzaan before his death, were certainly a boon to their efforts. As well as their will to be more involved in this battle. Other than the obvious reason of protecting those they held dear on earth, there was now the added want to liberate the demon’s siblings from the clutches of the general, but even as they ran there, they all recognized a possible issue with their course of action.

“We do not know what the general’s abilities are, or how strong they are. We’ve undoubtedly gotten stronger since we’ve started training here, but this is a demon on the same rank as that Zeta guy. We could have a serious issue if he’s at the same level of strength.” Gilga noted.

“You aren’t wrong… But at this point, We’ll have to come up with our strategies in the midst of battle. There’s a chance he may not even know we’re coming yet, and if that is the truth, we have an advantage to press. I like the odds of a sneak attack rather than letting them prepare better.” Arctaius responded. Jirou nodded his head in approval.

“Who knows what plan they could cook up if we wait too long.” Jirou agreed.

“Fine then, Lets-” Miyamoto began, cutting off her speech as she took note of what descended upon them from above, as well as what she sensed. The woman just narrowly dodged a gigantic spear, forged of crystallized ice, which slammed onto the ground instead of onto her.

“Damn! Looks like the sneak attack is out of the window!” It did not take long for the source of the attack to descend from the sky above himself. A white-furred creature, with a thick mane around its neck, standing in a quadruped fashion. But, he was not the only one to land. Appearing as well, was a taller, lanky creature, with a featureless Ebon Body. The last, an ivory winged bird-Like creature who perched itself on a nearby cliff.

“You go no further… General Sigma has ordered it.”

“Should’ve figured things wouldn’t be that simple.” Arctaius mumbled.

“Make no mistake, You will not stand in our way! Your so-called general will not live another day!” Liang shouted. But the beasts did not respond. The white-maned demon fired off a storm of ice Crystals, directed at the members of the group, and from there, the chaos of battle had begun. Arctaius hand shot forward, firing off a wave of plasma that reduced the ice to water, and from there, to vapor, within moments. But his attack did not continue for long, as a string of red light, shot from the Black creature latched onto him. And before he knew it, he was being launched into the air, directly in the path of the white bird creature, who was currently charging at him. But before the creature was able to attack, his allies were already on the case. Zhao bounded up quickly, as did Liang. The two both glanced at each other, and nodded, as they drew their respective blades, slashing through the demon’s wings, and cutting off its flight. With this, an attempt by all three to pursue, and finish the job, was interrupted by the White-mained one barring their path, a solid block of ice appearing.

The three weaved around it, only to find the featureless one attempting to fire off the very same string of crimson. But the threads didn’t make it far before Miyamoto intervened, cleaving them apart with a swing of her blade. But it didn’t take long for the creature to fire another, trapping her in place.

“Fool… Did you believe you could stop me that easily?” The words only resulted in a smirk crawling onto the woman’s face.

“That’s my line…” Before the creature could respond, it was sent flying away, and set on a spin cycle, courtesy of Gilga and Enkidu. Keeping up the pressure were Jirou, and Alarick. The blonde’s eyes moved across the Ebon creature, watching for the moment it would use its preferred technique. And the moment it did, Alarick found his strategy. He would remove the arms,where the generated string originated, and end up getting rid of a future nuisance.

But it seemed even that much wouldn’t go unopposed, the bird demon was barreling through the sky once more, apparently having regenerated from his earlier injuries. Thankfully, another member of the group was more than prepared for the prospect. Holding his blade in front of him, Hyperion stopped the attack where it was.

“Nice try.” No sooner did the demon remove one hand from the hilt, slamming his fist down upon his opponent's head, which stopped his charge for the moment. And to no surprise, he took full advantage, charging through the creature with his blade angled forward, leaving it bisected. Apparently, it’s ally wasn’t doing much better. Alarick’s void blade slicing through with ease, and leaving it without its main means of attack. And a follow up from Jirou, a gravity enhanced punch, would end it entirely. Now, there was just one demon remaining, and that wouldn’t be the case for long.

“Devil Slicer!” As Miyamoto swung her hand, a crescent of red light rushed toward the white-mained creature, and ended it almost instantly. With the short, if chaotic affair, now over, the members re-grouped in the very same spot the battle began.

“Well, we’re uninjured. But if nothing else, that delayed us a bit. Though I get the feeling that delaying us was the intention, not winning.” Miyamoto offered.

“Indeed. If he were, I'm sure this general would’ve sent someone closer to Ghemzaan in terms of strength, unless there’s nobody else left. Either way, we need to be prepared for anything.” As Alarick spoke, nobody responded, verbally, at least. After all, it was an agreeable enough statement.

…

Elsewhere, their target, Sigma, looked down upon his subordinates. Though, all things considered, Sigma tended to stay his hand quite a bit, there was no doubt a reluctance within his quarters. Not only had the enemy not been stopped, they were directly on their way here? It was a failure no matter how one looked at it, and one could only imagine what the general’s wrath would look like… Eventually, one of the room’s occupants managed to choke the words out of their maw.

“Ghemzaan… Has failed. The enemy is making their way to our gates as we speak.”

Surprisingly, the general said nothing in response. Almost seeming nonplussed by the situation. His next words came quickly, and they were as simple as could be.

“Then I Will eliminate them… And as for Ghemzaan’s kin. One of them will simply have to take his place.” With nothing more to say, the general’s limbs drifted backward, as he flew out of the window. And by now, the two opposing forces were on a collision course. What the effects of such a clash would be were not known, but it was to take place regardless. A fact that the opposing side recognized as well, they knew quite well their battle wouldn’t be easy, and that they had to be prepared for anything. But what use would any plans made have now? They didn’t even know what their opponent looked like. Let alone their abilities, or any of the tactics they made use of. But they’d have to pull through regardless, the casualties that resulted from the 1st invasion alone were too large for one to ignore. Arctaius, thinking of the friend that had died just days ago, was especially wary of another happening.

“We already lost Kazumi. Close, me and her weren’t, but the same can’t be said for Asami… I won’t allow any of them to get to those I hold dear. I won’t have her cry because I couldn’t manage to defeat these opponents we face.”

As for Zhao, he thought about his recently gained students, and how they’d ended up in their situation. While he could guess that the underground city wasn’t exactly the best in terms of living conditions, at the very least, the two had a family, surrogate or not, that they were with. But by this point, they were no different than they were. Which was something that resounded within him…. Nobody at the monastery were his birth parents, and yet, he saw them as family nonetheless.

He still remembered that night, the night when Guan faced that Kaemerge swordsman in battle, and fought him to a standstill, before both died right there. As far as he knew, even if they’d just met, they were the only ones who paid Yuji and Emi any mind. He could only guess that by how they took to trying to find and follow them around since they made it to the surface, apparently.

“But what do I know…” Zhao mumbled. Before they had much time to keep speaking, Miyamoto stopped in her tracks, as did Hyperion and Gilga. Shouting out soon afterward.

“That Power… He’s Here!” Right as they spoke, descending from the sky, was the demonic general. In but a moment, they all prepared for battle, The void blade’s black luminance appeared over Alarick’s hands. Liang and Zhao promptly drew their blades, Enkidu appeared in Gilga’s hand, with a flash of Azure light, Arctaius’ aura began to swirl around him, with Jirou’s bubble of gravity appearing soon afterward. Hyperion himself, drawing his blade.

“A starfish? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.” Alarick thought.

For some time, there were no movements made by either one side. A silent confrontation, with anybody prepared to attack at any time. Eventually, the silence was broken, by the general projecting his voice outward.

“So… This force is what’s been going through my territory, and causing me so many issues.” Sigma paused, as his attention moved toward Hyperion, and the army of demons behind him. Though he obviously couldn’t show it, due to his lack of the things required to do so, there was some amount of confusion in the Demon’s mind.

“What are Denizens of this continent doing with humans? Have you loyalty to these… Invaders?” Sigma questioned. So that’s the angle he was going with. Hyperion had a feeling what was coming next, some spiel about leaving them behind and proclaiming his loyalty to Maleggan, but, regardless, he wouldn’t have it. His answer came quick, and straightforward.

“Because that Maleggan guy has been making changes we don’t agree with. This land was fine as it was before. We don’t need another “Lord” trying to take things over. That simple.” It became clear from those words that the visions of a good society between demons and humans were different, to a good amount, but not all, the current state of the demon realm would be abhorrent. But how they ran their realm in the absence of humans didn’t seem to be of their concern, not even to Gilga, who they somewhat even expected to voice his disagreement, but it seemed they were incorrect in that assessment. Sigma himself saw this difference between them as well, and decided then and there, no more attempts at negotiation… It was time for pest control.

And to that effect, his attack began, a quick charge forward, his tentacles behind his body, Miyamoto was knocked off her feet, and into the sky. The demon attempted to turn,and spin back to continue the chain of attacks, but did not make it much farther before Liang entered his path. But he would not allow for the human to get in the way, slapping him aside with his arm, and continuing forward as if nothing took place. As for the martial artist himself, he most definitely felt the strike, his torso shaking, and himself choking back a load of spittle and blood, nearly ejected from his mouth. But Miyamoto herself wasn’t exactly waiting to get hit, changing her direction in the air, and flying forth, with her Energy constructed Tachi in her hand. And in moments, he was joined by Liang, who grasped his shuriken between his fingers, and flung them forward.

Which only resulted in the demon weaving around them… Or so he believed, as Liang began swinging his arms around, bringing them to the demon’s current place, by use of the string supporting them. As the grayed metal approached from his left, and the charging demonic girl attacked him from the front, it seemed as if he was in a predicament. But one that was quickly solved by the being’s speed, Weaving around a lateral swipe from Miyamoto, and knocking her into the ground via a swipe of his tentacles… While the shuriken were an issue, it was nothing he couldn’t handle. He went directly to the source of them, a simple enough plan… But Liang seemed to be prepared, making calculations in his mind, 10s of them within a single moment. Which culminated in him making microadjustment to the positions of the shurikens, as well as his arm’s position, culminating in the release of his grip with one final swing, Making them ricochet off of eachother, essentially, forming a dome of flying projectiles surrounding the demon and Martial artist.

But this would not be enough, it seemed, with what came next. Sigma’s arms took on a strange shape, opening at the very ends, and firing out rays of a strange liquid. Within which, the Shuriken melted with ease, leading to an expression of surprise to cover Liang’;s visage.

“What, Those were Portomis Forged. Just what was that liquid?”

He didn’t have much time to ponder this, as he too was charged, and knocked away. But, before he landed, He was caught by Jirou.

“This guy’s good…”

While this took place, another one of their allies moved in to try to attack him, zhao. but he didn’t get far before one of the same ray’s of liquid were fired, landing onto his sleeved arm. Within a moment, the sleeves were almost disintegrated, and a searing pain was rushing through the monk's arm. as he looked down, he took note of the fact that it seemed as if his skin had been stripped, replaced with red, and the spread was continuing.

“Dammit…” Zhao cursed.

“While the general charged forth and prepared to continue his attack, Luckily, Hyperion was there to intercept him, Via his blade, placed in front of him…

“So you still stand in my way… Regardless, You have no chance of victory. Maleggan will conquer this continent, Zeta and I along with him.” Sigma stated.

“Don’t get too excited… You’ll first have to get through us!”

“A simple enough task…” The armored demon was nearly cast aside with another swipe of his tentacle, but his defense allowed him to weather the blow. And return with a swing of his blade. Which, to his surprise, was stopped almost immediately. Support was soon to come, with Gilga descending upon the demon from above, war axe in hand, glistening in the light from above. The demonic general launched the demon toward the slayer, making them collide in midair. But the relentless attack continued regardless, With Arctaius, and Jirou jumping back in next. But the three weren’t even allowed to get an attack in, the general moving with great speed, almost appearing in front of them, and hitting them multiple times, and knocking them back onto the ground once more. Making the gap between the two sides very clear…. The group clearly stood against great odds. Would they be able to pull a victory was the question. To that end, Alarick looked toward his allies.

“We need to figure something out, and quickly…”

“His speed is an issue, no doubt. But that liquid he fired from his arms is another. He melted both my strings, and shuriken as if they were nothing…” Liang noted.

Zhao pivoted, showing the group the wound he gained from the ray that was still spreading, even if slowly.

“My skin and clothing weren’t safe from that either. I’m willing to bet it was some kind of Acid. A strong one if it’s able to melt through protomis-forged metal…” Zhao responded.

“We’ll need to stop his movement, first of all. If we let him zip around like that, He’ll have too many angles to att-” Alarick began, before shortly being launched a way by a strike from Sigma, who apparently appeared to break up their impromptu strategy meeting. Arctaius jumped in first, surrounding his fist in a yellow light, before his fist flew out, only to hit air, with the creature dodging. But in no time at all, Jirou came next, slamming a gravity enhanced fist into the General. Which at the very least, made him draw back a bit. But the two shared the same fate as Alarick in the end…

The battle had begun, and from how it looked, Sigma would have his victory.

To Be Continued