Tides Of Protomis CXXVI

A new Target?

While the tides engaged in battle elsewhere, on another side of the vast Ixian continent, the holy order had established their camp. The two forces of humans that made their way into the realm had built up quite a reputation. Enough that the demons in the area had decided to steer clear of it. A vast number of tents, surrounded by improvised earthworks created by those who could manipulate the material they were formed, surrounded it. Within the largest, at the very center, was one Jurugen Volker. The meal he ate was a rather simple one. A sourdough bread, cheese, and Coffee. For the time being, he’d decided to keep his meal quick, and light. Though they certainly had more food than that. The logistics of the force they’d send through a tunnel to an unknown realm, that, from what they knew, many not have any food they could consume, was one of the first things they considered.

Beside the rather Young Advance Force Commander, where his fellow slayers, The Woman known as Goda Ayaka, The Long-ranged Commander, Saka Ademola. And two of Volker’s oldest friends, Mazurus, and Bui. The room was quiet, aside from the clinking of silverwave, but, overall, pleasant.

“We’ve made good progress. A demonic general is dead, and we’ve decreased the amount of forces they’ve had over time. Add in our troops’ training, we certainly have something. Perhaps some have rosen up classes by now.” Bui noted. This much was met with a nod by Jurugen.

“I only wished we’d done more. From what I’ve heard, the Agium, Violet devil, and their allies have killed two generals… We’ll need to step our game up… If I keep working, and show just what the holy order is capable of, Moth-... Nay, that woman, will stop disrespecting my father’s legacy… We are not some occult group, we are fighting a real threat.” Some, who knew the boy a bit less, looked upon this with raised eyebrows. But as for Mauzurus and Bui, this wasn’t the case. The boy’s strained relationship with his mother wasn’t exactly unknown to them. But to think even after the invasion had happened, she was still saying such things…

“On that same subject. Jurugen, Do you think the demon responsible may be out there somewhere?” Mazurus questioned. For some time, his query went unanswered, this being a question even the commander himself didn’t have an answer to,

“It’s possible… But my memories of the one responsible… All I can recall is the name it called itself But who knows if it was the full thing.”

In a short time, the vision began to come to his mind once more, his father standing bloodied, using his own body to shield him. The downpour that caused water to pool on the cobblestone street below them. The fear that ran through him, and the cold that creeped across his body. His vision was growing blurry, and his hearing, muffled.

“Know my name before you die… Za-” The rest of the statement did not make it to his ears, as the young Volker’s body went limp, and his vision fell under a pall of black. That was the farthest he remembered. And as he saw it, that was hardly of any help, an unfortunate fact but one nonetheless.

“As of right now, it’s not important for our goal… We put that subject aside for the time being.” Volker's sentence was punctuated with another sip of his coffee taken.

“True enough, I’m sure no shortage of us here have had someone taken from us by these demons… Surely if we all ran to try to find the specific ones, we’d be getting nothing done.” Ayaka responded.

“For me, just being able to get my hands on em’ and trying to keep them from attacking is more than enough. I hope everyone back on Earth is alright. I have no doubts that some countries are probably pulling some maneuvers, trying to take advantage of those that were damaged the most.” This gained a raised eyebrow from Bui.

“Isn’t that a bit pessimistic?” He questioned.

“I’ve been alive a long time… If there’s anything I know about this world, it’d be that some people are always grasping for power… Given what we’ve learned from the demons we’ve interrogated, it looks like it’s the same over here.”

Sympathizing with these creatures? That seemed unlike the Saka he knew? When he’d gone to the order’s base with his father, he always took him to be the no-nonsense, uncompromising type… But perhaps that was just due to lack of exposure. He wasn’t sure how to feel about his statement. Volker stood from his seat, as he began striding over to the door.

“I believe that it's time to get moving… Our campaign has been fruitful, but it's best for us to get onto finding the center of this Empire’s governance, and killing their leader to end all of this.”

That much was true enough, and it seemed to get no disagreements for anybody in the room. It didn't take long for them to begin finishing their respective meals. In the meanwhile, Volker simply walked through the camp, watching as his troops quickly began to pack the site up. Unpitching the tents, place the cargo they had back in its place. His troops seemed to be good at their respective jobs, as they were usually, which certainly boded well. But. it seemed, at this time, that his focus wasn’t as lasered. The questions raised earlier had begun to come to his head once more. What if his old friend was right, what if the demon he’d wanted to kill was truthfully here, and alive. It wasn’t exactly a high chance. After all, they didn’t know the origins of every demon who entered earth, they hadn’t even known this realm had multiple continents until they got here.

It took an entire hour, but the campsite had been stripped of any useful supplies they brought with them, and their march through the landscape surrounding them was to continue. It was dry, extremely so, something that could very well be an issue. If there hadn’t been any preparations for that possibility, they’d likely not have made it this far… At the least, not with all of their troops intact. The sand of the dunes crunched under the soles of Volker’s boots, the same could be said for the others. A myriad of conversations were, as usual, taking place with the troops. How soon would they be going home, was the invasion essentially over? Certainly the killing of three major figures had to have sent the army in disarray.

If nothing else, the fact that there hadn’t been any demons trying to scout them, or any ambushes occurring, certainly led to some believing that was the case. But, there was a piece of the puzzle all of those there were missing. Atop one of the highest peaks, was an insectoid demon whose chitin resembled the desert sounds around them, along with a contingent of his own personal troops. His gaze went to the blonde human who seemed to be leading them, Volker.

“So… These are the ones that Maleggan sent us to attack… The one in the center apparently killed both Mu, and Muso. They will be a good fight… I wonder why he didn’t come with us...” The more humanoid demon standing next to him scoffed, focusing on the same one below.

“As if that would impress him. Mu was an old fool, over 3000 years old and still trying to act like he was fit for his position… Even that some of his was stronger than him, and his time on this world was much younger. If I was in his position, I’d have taken the spot from under him…”

The insectoid did not respond to this, only leaping forward into the path below, and, soon enough, so did his allies. Descending rapidly from the peak, and drawing the attention of all the slayers below. In no short time, Saka summoned his holy arm, a downright gigantic bow, its height almost exceeding that of his body.

“Ranged fighters, Present, and Fire!” In no short time, his troops began acting upon his orders. Holy arms were summoned en masse, and aimed upwards. In no short time, a storm of projectiles, and descending demons filled the sky. Some managed to avoid the strikes, but others found themselves pierced, and dispersing into particles, others sent crashing to the ground. Regardless of what happened as a result, it seemed that the battle wouldn’t be as easy as they first expected. Such was confirmed with what happened next. Soon enough, they found a whirring blade flying toward them, spinning rapidly as it cleaved through much of their force. Before swiftly returning to the direction whence it came. The insectoid looked upon this with surprise, as did the others near him. One to his right, who more resembled some sort of eel, began to speak.

“He’s strong… Is this the one who killed M-” His query would remain unanswered, and unfinished, as his body was parted by a ring of metal, and promptly began to disperse. Apparently, this mission wasn't going nearly as smoothly as he would’ve liked. Had he truly been underestimating his opponents? It certainly seemed so, at this point, his troops were dropping like flies, even his inner circle of fighters. Was it time to return and warn their leader of what happened here? Many questions were raised, but he was ot exactly in the best position to find the answer. For now, he’d focus upon surviving for the time being. In a short time, a cascade of stone was forged in the sky around him, and promptly sent down to the troops below him… But apparently, things wouldn’t be so easy, in short time, the same holy arc user who granted the troops around him light, earlier in the battle, spoke once more.

“Sancta Lux, Clypee socios meos ab impiis!” - Holy Light, Shield my allies from the Wicked!

An elaborate array of shields, decorated by arcs, and lines, appeared above the troops, stopping the rubble where it was… It seemed the problem was only going to get worse from here, seen more so with one of the humans, jumping at him. Goda had apparently decided to take the initiative, and eliminate the demon quickly. One swipe of her blade would have bisected him, had he not moved quickly, weaving around it. In a short time, a melee had begun between them. The two scythe-like limbs on the demon’s body were sent to intercept the incoming barrage of swipes, and stabs. It seemed as if the two simply couldn’t manage to break through the other’s defenses.

“You are stronger than most, but don’t believe that will make a difference!” The demon shouted.

“The same to you!” Goda shouted back. As the two swung their weapons once more, they only found that they had clashed against each other once more. However, the woman found her blade slowly, but surely being pushed back, as the creature put more, and more of his strength into his strike, trying to overpower the woman, but it seemed he herself was prepared for such a thing, in short time, she’d already drawn back, a lateral blade cut across the being’s arm, causing blood to spurt as she moved past, and in short time, she’d taken a stance. Her holy arm was held vertically on the right side of the face with the guard at her cheek. And no sooner, did the blade hack through the demon’s chitin. From his left shoulder, to his right hip, a gash had formed. But it seemed that wasn’t enough, the demon resurged, turning on a dime, and nearly cutting her torso to ribbons.

But interference was soon to come. An arrow forged of a brilliant luminance, implanted itself into the demon, in a very short time, a boom sounded, as a large section of the demon’s thorax was disintegrated… Was this how it ended? Dead in a battle that would ultimately be forgotten? This certainly wasn’t what he envisioned when he left his village.

“Man… Zagan’s gonna be pissed when he finds out we got wiped out by you guys…”

These words caught the leader of the Order’s troops by surprise, and in a short time, the blonde had already shot toward Goda, and the creature alike.

“You, This… Zagan, has he Been to our realm before… Answer truthfully.” His words were spoken with a deadly edge to them. If that wasn’t enough to say how seriously he took this, it was the downright piercing gaze he projected, and the scowl on his face…. But what reason was there for him to answer this question? He was already on death’s door, it wasn’t as if he could do anything to threaten him. The demon said nothing, only smirking at him, as his body began to undergo the process known as DEMED. A result that certainly didn’t please Volker.

“ANSWER ME!” He shouted. A clear departure from his earlier statement, where he almost seemed ambivalent at the prospect of his father’s killing being here. Bui watched this from below, noting the anger on his old friend’s face.

“He’s losing his cool… But I can’t exactly blame him for that… Regardless, somebody needs to say something.”

“Jurugen, it's not worth it! That demon’s already on death’s door, and I doubt he’ll answer us!” This statement gave Volker pause… At one end, he wanted to ignore it, continue yelling, continue questioning at. Had he not been as over his father’s death as he’d acted earlier? Either way, Bui wasn’t exactly wrong. What would lashing out, and dwelling on this do? He had an army to lead. And that much had to take priority… He quickly began to descend, placing his feet back onto the ground. And in a short time, his commanders had appeared around him, standing there in silence.

“Let’s keep moving. The answers that I seek, may very well be where we’re going.” Saka stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“As good a plan as any.” With this, the holy order began to move once more, thankfully, due to quick action, they’d managed to get out with only a few injuries? Had the increasing strength of those there contributed to that? That was one of the likely answers to Volker. But his mind had drifted elsewhere in a short time. What exactly awaited them in this hypothetical capital, and how long would it take for them to get there. A question he didn’t know the answer to, but one he wanted to find out, sooner than later.

To Be Continued