The Hydra squads were attacking the target dead zone from the south, coming up Franklin Ave in an arrow formation, with the Golem triad following right behind. The avenue was a one-way street with traffic heading south, cars parked bumper to bumper along each shoulder, trees growing out of dirt plots in both sidewalks, the buildings three stories tall, ground floors boasting salons and liquor stores, restaurants and fenced off stoops leading up to old brownstone entrances.
It was 12:52 PM, and the demon symbol burned four blocks up ahead, revolving as ever in its wreath of purple fla, malefic and dire.
One more block to go.
Jas lifted his radio. Hydra is in position, one block south of target, over.
I read you, Hydra, said Richard from the command center in the Marriott. Hold your position till I give you the green light, over.
Jas rolled his shoulders. The fire-axe felt light in his hands, and he wished he had a spear, the rebar, even, but there hadnt been ti to scrounge up sothing fitting. Crimson Hydra ca to a stop just behind him, with Ebon on the left side of the street, Ivory on the right. He heard the Crimson Golem team leader radio in.
Almost ti.
It was clear the Nesis 2s had been busy. Only a block away Jas could see them moving along the southern facades of the three-story buildings, working on a pink wall that partially extended across the street, so tenuous strands already connecting, other segnts nearly completed. The wall glead, but in the manner of porcelain, not slick at; whatever the Neses did to human flesh, the result was hardened and stiff.
I can see about a dozen of them, said Serenity, her new IWI Tavor X95 bullpup rifle raised so that she could sight down the length of its Smite-burning stubby barrel. Theyve either not noticed us or simply dont care were here.
Their mistake, said Becca Locklear, the private security guard with the Bushmaster rifle. Her tone was proud, callous, cold.
Bjrn the CFO guy was standing just behind their front rank. What are they doing? Building a wall? Forming a castle of sorts?
Impossible to say. Jas took a deep breath. And it doesnt matter. Whatever theyre doing, were going to tear it apart.
All triads prepare to move in on my mark, ca Richards voice over the radio. Three. Two. One. Advance.
Bless Green, said Jas. Another of Richards innovations. Green ant the Blessers should hit everyone with a generalized 2. Bless Red ant they should each target their 5 Bless to one of the Smiters, with the pairings designated ahead of ti. Bless Jas, or any other single mber na ant all three should concentrate their 5 Bless on that mber alone, giving the target a stunning 15 across the board.
Bjrn, Jason, and Yadriel hit the team with Bless Green. The wash of power was intoxicating as every aspect of his being was enhanced, his reserves doubling, his strength and explosive power deepening, his body growing light and almost febrile with nervous energy. Jas flicked up his stats for a quick review:
Strength: 11 (Bless 6: 17)
Stamina: 5 (Bless 6: 11)
Speed: 6 (Bless 6: 12)
Agility: 5 (Bless 6: 11)
Power: 10 (Bless 6: 16)
Oh, thats good, breathed Serenity, and visibly shivered. Agility 27.
Now what the hell would that feel like?
Jas strode forward with grim deliberation. He sensed his team moving with him, and then peripherally Ebon and Ivory Hydra behind, followed by the three Golem teams. Fifty-four high ranking killers. Fifty-four of the most advanced fighters that had survived the apocalypse thus far, with another nineteen such groups advancing on the dead zone from all points of the compass.
Jas resisted the urge to grin, to walk faster.
Serenity had the bullpup at her shoulder, hands cradling it, gazing up the block with the stubby rifle. Becca had her Bushmaster up, Smite activated, her posture almost identical to Serenitys though her rifle was nearly twice the length.
Permission to engage, boss? asked Serenity.
Let em know were here.
Serenity glanced sidelong, gauging sothing, and Jas only understood what when she started firing and brass cartridges started flying out the side, passing right behind Jas to ring out on the street.
The Tavor wasnt automatic, but Serenitys rate of fire was still remarkably accelerated; she began to aim and unload on the distant Nesis 2s, the echo of gunfire sharp and loud in the narrow street and joined by the report of other guns from all around the dead zone.
Becca didnt have Deadeye, so she waited calmly as they continued to advance, and soon enough Nesis 2s leaped to the ground, their agility unnatural, insectile in their grace, and began rushing down the block toward them, scythe-arms raised.
Jas half-expected her to unleash a hailstorm of lead, but at first Becca was as precise as Serenity, squeezing off her shots, aiming for the white masks, drilling neat little holes in each, cartridges ejecting rapidly from the side of her gun.
They kept on advancing, the sound of gunfire now ubiquitous, both Serenity and Becca walking slowly and firing with care, each Nesis taking about half a dozen carefully placed Smite rounds to the mask before dropping, limbs sprawling, large abdons and thoraxes crashing to the ground.
Shields, eyes on our flanks, Jas called, fingers rippling on the fire-axes haft. Lets avoid surprises.
Half a block to go. The Tavors mag just dropped out of the gun when emptied, and Serenity drew a new one from a vest pocket, slamd it ho, and resud drilling.
Yo, I got a level, said Denzel.
Sa, said Bjrn, surprise evident.
Jas kept stealing glances at both won. Where Becca was solid professionalism, her braid dancing on her back as her shoulders absorbed the recoil, Serenity was laser-focused lethality, her bullpup having virtually no recoil, its muzzle swinging to and fro as she found new targets and hit them.
Look sharp now, Jas called out. The pink wall segnts were right up ahead.
Dont think about what theyre made of.
Level, called out Joanna triumphantly.
Sa here, said Jason, his voice quiet, intense.
But there wasnt ti to figure out what was going on. Both won had dropped at least a dozen of the Nesis 2s, their precision and head shots doing more damage than Delvecchios spraying.
They reached the alien wall. It rose the height of the three stories, was perhaps a few inches thick, and its surface was swirled and variegated in hue, ranging from salmon pink to deeper dapplings of umber, while here and there were white, fibrous streaks that could have been liquefied bone. Its bumps and whorls were set, and in a sudden rush of anger and disgust, Jas raised his axe and stutter stepped forward to swing at the closest edge that reached across the block to the other side.
He swung, two-ard, and the axe-head bounced off as if hed swung at a stone wall. Hands burning, arms buzzing with the impact, Jas frowned, stepped back, and activated Smite.
Gray flas licked down the length of his axe, and when he swung this ti a huge chunk of the wall shattered off into large flakes.
Here they co! said Bjrn, his tone calm but tense. Looks like a wave.
Nesis 2s were boiling out of the surrounding buildings, their legs blurring, their bodies inky black, their sneers universally sadistic. They scuttled forth like a kicked hornets nest, out of doorways and windows, erging from all the buildings contained within the periter.
Becca shifted to full auto; the Bushmaster suddenly roaring in a staccato blur as she targeted Nesis after Nesis. Serenity fired even quicker, slamd another mag ho, kept taking down the enemy as they ca - but there were too many.
I begin, said Sarah, and even over the gunfire Jas heard her whisper. A complex circle began to burn white around the floor, overlapping the roads tarmac, glowing under parked cars, flowing over and onto sidewalks, three or four yards in radius, encompassing everyone as they fell back.
The circle was gorgeous. Faint curtains of white light rose from the curling lines, shifting and rising and falling as they moved with Sarah, and Jas wanted to study its complex patterns.
But now was not the ti.
Shimring shields of force appeared on their flanks, angled to push Nesis 2s into a funnel before their moving circle, appearing here, waiting for a demon to hit it, then flickering away once the demons course was corrected to guide another.
The first demons hit the circles outer edge and slamd to a stop, their scythe-arms carving at the air, scoring deep grooves in the white light that arose from the ground, but which healed over ti and again as their blows bounced off.
But Sarah was forced to a halt; she leaned forward, grimacing, but couldnt force the dozen Nesis 2s that had gathered before her back.
Both won slamd in more mags.
Level, shouted Denzel again.
Your rank is now Supplicant 3
You have 5 unspent points.
Fucking hell, whispered Jas, summoning his sheet and quickly spending his points on Arete, bringing to 45 and his Aura to Level 8. All right. My turn.
He stepped forward, right up to the now constantly burning white circumference of the protective circle and swung his axe, activating Sacred Strike.
A blast of white fla washed over the four closest Nesis 2s who were packed so closely together they fell under his attack. For a second they were little more than shadows in that flaming glory, and then they collapsed, and the circle moved another yard forward before hitting more resistance.
Jas activated Smite, went to hack those Nesis 2s that scuttled in, but his aura blazed forth, resplendent and bright gray, washing over the demons at a distance of eight or nine feet, and imdiately they began to burn like sheets of paper held too close to a living fla. Their exoskeletons began to grow dull, to turn gray, their limbs curled in upon themselves, their legs buckled, and they shrieked and threw themselves forward, only to bounce off the white wall.
Cant hold much longer, gasped Sarah.
Jas glanced around rapidly. The shields had failed to keep the demons away from their flanks. Behind them Ebon and Ivory were facing smaller numbers without the aid of the Protective Circle and advancing more slowly for it.
By far most of the Nesis 2s were targeting Crimson Hydra, but even as Jas looked, he saw more of those in the backrows peel off to attack the less protected prey.
Fuck it. Jas inhaled deeply and threw himself into where the demons were thickest, swinging his axe and unleashing another Sacred Strike. Another four Nesis 2s died, and more fell upon him, only to begin immolating on his bright aura.
Jas strode forward, the demons before him losing their vigor and speed, hacking with abandon, his Smite cutting and shearing the demons apart.
While the aura torched them, it didnt kill them outright; they kept trying to slash at him, falling forward, and were it not for the shields that kept popping up on his sides Jas would have been cut apart several tis over.
A burst of bullet holes appeared in the mask of a demon to this right. Jas ducked around it and hacked another demon in the neck as his aura washed over it, then stutter-stepped back and buried his axes head in third demons chest.
Your rank is now Supplicant 4
You have 5 unspent points.
Yes!
Jas poured the points into Arete. His Aura bounced up to 9, and his mystical pool of divine strength grew.
He wanted to laugh. He felt himself a god of vengeance. Unstoppable. Black ichor splashed across him, and his aura extended outward now ten feet in every direction, bathing Nesis 2s before they could even close, causing them to crack and fall apart, their joints shattering, their arms swinging wildly, their masks going black.
Jas pointed his axe toward one concentration and unleashed his third Sacred Strike. Turned his axe as if it were a shotgun and unleashed a fourth.
Another seven or eight Neses died.
Fucking level! shouted Denzel.
Level, called out Becca, not looking up from her gun. Taking Dark Vision. Done.
Supplicant 1! Joanna punched a fist into the air. Taking Remove Fear.
Level, whispered Yadriel, words carrying like a wind blowing through a cetery. Dark Energy Siphon.
And black mist began to flow from the closest handful of Neses toward his outstretched hand, condensing into a thick stream as it disappeared into his palm.
Jas paused, shoulders heaving, and saw Yadriels eyes turn jet black, sclera and iris both.
Oh, he gasped, and then he laughed, the sound close to being unhinged. Ohyes.
And he leaped out of the protective circle, bounding forth with the sa flea-like spring of the neses, to fall upon the closest demon, his baseball bat swinging and catching the demon across the chin.
Its mask shattered, its head wrenched around, and it fell in a jumble of segnted limbs to the ground.
No aura, though, Jas realized, as Yadriel fell into a neat crouch. The kid had no aura at all.
Second wave! shouted Bjrn.
Jas looked up. More Neses were racing down the center of Franklin Avenue toward them, hundreds of them, coming in a tide of oily black limbs and white masks, leaving a central pink structure theyd been building under the demonic symbol.
Co on then! laughed Yadriel, rising and spreading his arms wide. Co see the true aning of fear!
And he burst into a sprint, racing toward the oncoming tide.
Yadriel! roared Jas and ran after him.
The kid leaped even as scores of Nesis 2s leaped at him in turn. Yadriel extended his hands, drew black mist from a half-dozen of them, his laughter rising till one slashed him across the stomach as it flew by, disemboweling him.
He fell and disappeared into the mass of demons.
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