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    His prosthetic sucked. Not enough traction. Even putting a boot on it, the simple fact he wasn’t getting physical feedback from his footing led to him making constant, slight adjustments.

    It was a considerable problem when the stones beneath his feet had been painted a consistent, slick ruby.

    Thank the gods he’d lost his leg now, not a year ago. He had the dexterity to manage the impediment. That didn’t mean he had to like it — just another month or two and he could lob the damn thing back into storage.

    Until the next time one of them got a limb ripped off, that is.

    “Heave!” a sergeant yelled from down the line.


    Guards and militia alike let out a roar, shoving forwards with their shield as they forced back the beasts. Two fell from the wall, and two more fell with spearpoints in their throats.

    Despite their success, Kaius could see the sweat. The pallid clamour. Not even the rust red of dried blood — human and otherwise — could hide it. The defenders were exhausted. They were scared.

    Their constant struggle had made them strong, but few were built for a drawn out battle like this. Even he was growing tired of the constant burn of his muscles.

    He did what he could to lighten the pressure on them. Dashing along the wall, he charged into the narrow gap between the parapet and the guard’s shields. A dozen beasts tried to capitalise on the sudden opening. Each one grew intimately familiar with the taste of his blade.

    The beasts were weak. Endless, but weak. He could give the shieldwall a moment’s rest, they deserved it after a night like this.

    Kaius forced away the image of blank-eyed bodies being dragged from their positions, replaced by yet more men. There was always someone — three rotations of men on the walls, and he’d yet to see an entire squad make it through without losing someone.

    At least he’d recovered a fair chunk of his mana. Once it was full, he’d get his own opportunity to rotate off — though he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. They needed him.

    Ro and Rieker had insisted. When the Tyrant itself came, he needed to be sharp, not worn down from endless toil. Even Arc had agreed.

    The sharp crackle of a communication artifact shook him from his thoughts. The command channel.

    “Kaius! We need you, the northern wall’s been breached — large, invisibility or camouflage abilities, and unknown strength. Kenva’s following its trail, but can’t pierce its cloak — I need her focused on aerial threats anyway.” Ro barked.

    Shit, if Kenva couldn’t get through its Skill, it would be at high-steel at minimum. He was the best the city had at besting that sort of thing — but to abandon the wall?

    He shot a look down the wall, at the exhausted rows of men who were pushing back the beasts. More would die if he left, more would die if he stayed.

    Fucking war.

    “I’ve got Steel teams coming to support the eastern gate, but I need you and Porkchop to go now — it’s heading straight for the temple!”

    God’s scorn! That was where their healers were.

    “On it!”

    Kaius kicked off, the thump of an Expedient Shunt hitting him in the back. Touching down on a nearby roof, he only stumbled a little.

    A little to his left, he caught sight of Porkchop diving from the wall — unsummoning his armour as he went to reduce the impact. His brother didn’t bother with a roof, not when he’d simply crash straight through it. Landing with a heavy thump, Porkchop’s armour reappeared with a pop.

    He tore down the street. Kaius ran to meet him, jumping from roof to roof until he leapt directly onto Porkchop’s back.

    Even weighed down with heavy armour, his brother was fast.

    “Whats our plan!?” Porkchop asked as his claws tore up the cobblestones.

    “Don’t really know — hard for us to get intel when the only thing people can see is that it’s big, or maybe strong enough to break houses! Is it enough if only I can see it?”

    They were able to share senses, but it wasn’t the same as seeing something personally. The shift in perspective would make dodging hell.

    “It should be — probably not going to be able to pull off a perfect parry, but that’s not really my style anyway.”

    Kaius nodded, looking further into the city as he heard a crash. A drifting trail of dust cut the sky, revealing the creature’s path. Every second that passed, he heard another crash.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Rotten roots, was the thing even trying to navigate, or was it just running straight through every building that stood between it and its target? More importantly, how the fuck did it know where their healers were in the first place! Even if the Tyrant was directing the beasts, surely it wasn’t actively doing so? It was a godsdamned army!

    Grinding his teeth, Kaius simply leaned in close to Porkchop as he tightened his grip on his blade. He wished he had more of his spells. Necessity had limited his options significantly, but if he had Compel Obsession or Zone of Discombobulation he would have felt much more capable of slowing the creature’s advance.

    As they raced through Deadacre, Kaius got a close up look of the devastation he had missed while defending the wall. It felt like every second building had been broken by the bombardment of the initial push from the aerial beasts.

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