"How utterly revolting....Kill them all." With those hate filled words the horde of monsters that had been motionless and silent while in the demon's presence started to move once again. A discord of roars, squeals and grunts erupted in response causing the very air to vibrate.
Valend, Frostine and the two t-rexes showed evil smiles as they unleased their auras to their maximum. Joining with the demon's aura to weigh down the last stragglers who showed rebellion, doing their best to snuff out the last vestiges of fighting spirit. However this seemed to have no effect, perhaps even the opposite.
Those still standing or rather still breathing all stared at the golden back of their commander, remembering his words.
'Brave men and women of the empire do not falter! And if you feel yourself waning look upon my back! As long as I still stand this battle is not lost!' As long as Hamon still stood at the forefront with his great golden back filling their sights this war wasn't over. Not until they and their commander drew their very last breaths would this fight be over. The empire did not birth cowards after all.
"Rahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" Passionate roars and howls from the sapients side clashed with the voices of the monsters, refusing to lose in terms of tenacity despite their lesser numbers.
Sounds of the ground cracking beneath each of the remaining elites rang with these roars as they each tensed their bodies to their upmost, activating their last ditch techniques, caring not for the cost. Hamon saw himself grow even larger, his muscles threatening to tear themselves apart while Vaccos entered a full on berserk state seeing nothing but carnage through his eyes.
Maggie covered herself from head to toe in thick bear fur, her nails elongating into sharp claws and her stature growing to match that of Vaccos and Hamon, she drew on her lifeforce to further spark the beast blood within her.
Ryuu and Jessie clasped one another's hands and began casting their most powerful combined magic. Their bodies shook and blood trickled from their noses, but they didn't stop. The remaining mage corps also siphoned their remaining mana into their commanders, empowering their magic even at the cost of leaving themselves open to attack.
The remaining frontline forces charged forth with their weapons drawn, going full on offensive with mad smiles plastered on their faces. A sight which caused the demon's anger to intensify to frightening levels. He was so angry that he was going to move against these ants himself.
The great demon raised his hand, summoning a pitch black scythe that sported a blade as long as his own body. The sudden appearance of this weapon changed the demon's aura making it feel far more sinister. A simple glance upon it would make one feel as though their very soul was being pried out from their bodies.
It was scythe that bore the mark of death, an evil weapon that would see its victims suffer even in death.
Douglas who activated the full capabilities of his noble armour looked at this weapon and felt his heart stop. These people fighting were his responsibility, his people, how could he condone such treatment. His eyes quickly scanned the battlefield until he found Frost. The capable young man who not only saved his life twice but also that of his son's and helped defend his town at its most vulnerable.
The demon was forced to cover his eyes from the bright light lest they be damaged. His skin even began to tingle as rays struck against him. The hellscape he summoned blew apart thanks to Hamon's counter thus allowing Hamon, Vaccos and Maggie the chance to retreat.
The screams from the hellscape intensified as it broke down and eventually shattered, the tortured souls returning to the scythe, bound to it forever.
"Frostine, Valend and you two idiots kill them! Kill them now!" Completely enraged and sporting some minor burns the demon screamed out orders to which the targets responded immediately.
Each commander class monster had a single opponent each, leaving the demon grand commander to conjure up something even more nasty than the hellscape he just used. Before he was just letting out a standard attack against those three persistent ants but now he was going to summon something that would absorb the souls of every last one of them at once.
Something that a mere [light God's dawn] couldn't stop.
As Hamon and the others prepared themselves to handle the onslaught of Valend and the rest Frost sat atop Kiba's back, his heart in turmoil. He'd tried to get out of this quagmire of monsters but failed, there were just too many of them and the B-rank minotaur was particularly adamant on keeping him here.
His left hand still held the talisman as he wavered on whether on not to use it. The wounds across his body and Kiba's continued to pile up as did his fear towards the demon that so easily dealt with Hamon and the others. If Douglas didn't have a particularly powerful light based enchantment the three of them would have been captured in its hellscape to be tortured for eternity.
A thought that caused his skin to crawl, such a fate was a terrifying prospect.
Boom!
As he was distracted the minotaur's mighty battle axe clashed against his glaive, sending him and Kiba careening backwards.
"Whimper" Kiba let loose a whimper as his leg was hurt from the blow, blood was leaking out and it appeared twisted. They weren't escaping by themselves anymore with that kind of wound. Calling Maya was the only resort.
Frost looked over at the struggling Douglas, Hamon, Vaccos and Maggie one last time before firming his resolve. He withdrew the teleporting talisman from his robes and moved to tear it apart and summon his mighty guardian to his side.
However as he did this the demon had finished chanting something foul and a massive black magic crest appeared beneath him and expanded across the entire battlefield, marking every living sapient as a target, Frost and Kiba included.