Chapter 184: Famine

With War dead, the blood of Heaven’s army wasn’t rising up to fuel Hell’s rage. The cloud of crimson mist he’d created still seeped into the other demon's eyes, but only a fraction of their army was infused before the blood ran out. Those who were infected fought with twice the ferocity of their fellow monsters, but were close enough to the front lines that the angels could make a concerted effort to take them down. Scanning the battlefield, Harvey saw that the red-eyed demons were all within the range of his aura, so he guessed whatever skill War used had similar restrictions as his Modular Array. That put extra pressure on him, but at least the entire wall wasn’t about to collapse all at once.“Wait for the lightning strike, then we’ll jump down and clear them out!” Celeste commanded, beckoning Harvey to the edge of the shell. He barely heard her, his heart screaming as he watched a battleaxe carve a long gouge in his father’s shield. Stuck with G-Grade strength on an F-Grade battlefield, all Steve could do was brace the tall tower shield against the ground and duck away. If it weren’t for Harvey’s reinforcement arrays, the herculean swing might’ve snapped the shield in half, but a blast of retributive holy fire sent the minotaur reeling. A second crystal embedded in the shield flared, activating the burst self-repair rune that sewed the rent metal back together like a bleeding wound.

Harvey used Booster to launch himself into the minotaur like a human ballista bolt. He felt ribs crack as his shoulder pressed into them, followed by the smell of burnt hair as the thick layer of Fangburner he’d coated himself with snapped, bathing the beast in Forgefire. The impact was almost enough to send them both tumbling off the side of the shell, but when they finally skidded to a stop, Harvey jammed his shotgun up under the minotaur’s neck and pulled the trigger.

[Reload!] Julius called.

Harvey pushed himself off the dead body and turned to see a second Helltaur accosting his father. Its flesh was singed by beams of light shooting out of his father's conjured sword, but they only seemed to annoy it.

Harvey thought as he launched himself again. The combo of Booster, Fangburner, and a shotgun blast to the head was working pretty well, but he was running out of essence.

[Helping Tyler. Now Reload!]

Harvey complied, forcing his dwindling reserves through his injured weave to pour into Echo Forge, conjuring a fresh set of Heaven’s Wrath bullets into the revolver floating above Steve’s head. The cylinder snapped closed and fired immediately, hitting the Helltaur right between the eyes. The brief moment of blindness caused by the golden eruption gave his father time to slash a pair of shallow cuts in the beast’s chest before letting the sword dissipate and launching a chain to wrap around its horns.

“Damn it, Dad!” Harvey swore, frantically redirecting his flight before the impact yanked his father off his feet. Slamming into the beast while his dad had himself tied to the horns would send him flying, so Harvey was forced to spend even more essence slowing himself down.

“What?” Steve asked as Harvey landed beside him, grabbed the chain still connected to the sigil on his dad’s right arm, and yanked. Steve wasn’t strong enough to play tug of war with a minotaur, but Harvey was. Jets of forgefire shot from Harvey’s gauntlets, helping him yank the beast off his feet. The shell rattled as the minotaur faceplanted into the marble. Harvey strained to hold on with one hand while he cut the chain with the Sentinel’s Arcblade, worried that his father would forget to sever the connection and get tossed away by the flailing beast. Rupture levitated above the minotaur’s head, shooting all four of its remaining bullets into the back of its neck.

“That’s what I was gonna do!” Steve exclaimed.

“You’re G Grade!” Harvey shouted.

Lightning flashed across the stormy sky.

“Harvey!” Celeste called.

“You’re not strong enough to fight alone,” Harvey explained. “You and Tyler need to fight with Cash or not fight at all.”

“But,” Steve began.

“You’re going to get yourselves killed!” Harvey shouted.

“Harvey!” Celeste urged.

“Don’t follow me!” Harvey said as he turned to run towards Celeste. An F-Grade essence potion appeared from his ring, and he poured it into his mouth before jumping over the side. Power shot through his weave as essence surged within him. Not enough to restore him completely, but enough to keep him in the fight. He could probably afford to take one or two more now that his Endurance was higher, but he couldn’t keep chugging potions forever. Doing so might add more water to the pipes, but it didn’t keep the pipes from bursting.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Celeste wasn’t dumb enough to jump down into the water full of blood, bodies, and leftover lightning. She’d led him off the side where a pair of red-eyed Helltaurs cut through the thick shells of a Cathedral Beetle, opening the door for a pack of hellhounds to go to work on their soft underbellies. Being creatures conjured from pure essence, the beetles did not run when their brethren started to fall, rather choosing to let their corpses remain as part of the wall. That made it hard for the larger demons to squeeze through, but the nimble hellhounds found a way.

Most of the healing mist wafting out of the beetles had faded, but Harvey could feel what remained soothing his aching flesh as they charged. A single slug hitting center mass was enough to kill the hellhounds, even if they were juiced up on angel blood. Celeste killed them even faster, her sword dancing through the air as she used some sort of movement skill to flit through the pack. She refrained from using her cutting waves of light so as not to accidentally hit the beetles, forcing her to kill them one at a time rather than cutting down multiple from range.

Even with their speed, they couldn’t save all of Heaven’s beasts. The demons worked with singular focus, opting to open one more wound rather than fight to save their own lives. Harvey heard a floodtusk trumpeting in terror as dogs scrambled up its thick legs, climbing onto its back and chomping down on its neck. Blood stained its porcelain skin even as it swung its armored trunk back and forth, blasting water in tight streams that cut through flesh like a saw blade. In the end, there were just too many demons for the elephant to contend with, and it collapsed. He wanted desperately to save it, but there were just too many for one sword and one shotgun to deal with.

Realizing these hounds were willing to die, Harvey traded his gun for his own sword. He’d realized fighting the first Helltaurs that he wasn’t really a warrior, and he likely never would be. He’d forged Aftershock and the Sentinel’s Arcblade back in Veils End because they were the best weapons he could make at the time. Now, his skillset had evolved. Trying to match someone like Celeste when his Profession gave him the opportunity to use guns in a way few others could replicate was pointless, but he could still make the most of an opportunity to carve through a horde of demons with the blade he’d forged for one of the best men he’d ever met.

Ruby eyes dimmed as the hound's head fell from its neck. One after another, demons died by his hands. Most of the strain in the battle so far had been placed on his weave, but he felt his body slowing down as he swung the heavy longsword over and over again. His breathing grew ragged, and he was surprised to hear Celeste struggling as well. A wave of supernatural exhaustion washed over him, and he turned to see the shell of the beetle he’d saved start to wither and crack. An axe cleaved a large chunk away, revealing the battle still raging on the other side of the wall. The minotaur on the other side was huffing just as hard as they were, straining just to hold his weapon aloft.

“What the,” Harvey gasped. Imbuing his aura with his Guardian of the Gilded Return imprint helped ease the drain on his body, and he pulled Celeste close to shield them both as they peered out of the hole.

They watched the muscular body of the minotaur wither away, as if a parasite was devouring it from the inside. Once bone became visible beneath its skin, the bull toppled out of sight, revealing a third centaur marching towards them in the distance. He couldn’t quite make out the details, but this had to be Famine.

The horseman didn’t wear any armor like the others. Dirty rags draped across his frail frame. His face was gaunt, skin pulled tight over high cheekbones. Instead of a weapon, he carried a gnarled stick that he leaned on for support.

“We need… to get back to our people,” Harvey panted, his mouth suddenly as dry as if he’d been stuck in the desert for days.

Celeste nodded, and the two jogged back to the Marbleback, where Cash threw down a ladder for them. Clambering up over the side, Harvey saw Steve and Tyler struggling significantly more than the angels as they all combined their auras to fight Famine’s skill. The addition of Harvey and Celeste’s powerful auras eased the burden, and Harvey didn’t hold back as his mental energy filled the area with his life-bringing Guardian of the Gilded Return.

Similar scenes played out atop all the Marbleback shells as squads of angels worked together to rebuff the drain. The Heavenly creatures weren’t faring as well, but the effect on them was nothing like the army of demons. While Cathedral Beetles and Floodtusks looked sick and starving, Brimfiends were falling dead mid-flight. Mortarhorns and Minotaurs collapsed like sacks of skin and bones, sending streams of sickly yellow essence flying through the air to gather in a roiling ball above Famine’s head. Similar strands were siphoned out of Heaven’s army, but it seemed their beasts could at least partially resist the pull. Rain still fell from the clouds above, and the fact that none of the Fulgur Phoenixes fell out of the sky meant they were still up there somewhere.

Once the stolen essence had all gathered above Famine’s head, a second centaur galloped into view.

Death looked exactly like the Grim Reaper from all the cartoons Harvey watched growing up. Black fur, a flowing black cloak with a shadowy hood, and a long scythe. The horseman nodded at each other, and Death lifted his weapon into the orb. Streams of black rushed from the scythe like drops of ink dropped into water.

Five bolts of lightning all shot into the orb at once, but the raw essence of an entire army easily rebuffed the attacks. In moments, the orb had transformed, now looking like a black hole beckoning them into the void.

“What are they doing?” Tyler gasped.

“I don’t know,” Celeste replied.