He turned until he faced the platform once more and stepped out, rolling the hammer behind him, over his head and then into the back of a nearby Lupe. “Netzatch,” he said, his second step quicker than the first, his second strike quicker than the first. A misty scent of iron and meat permeated his surroundings as he began whipping up a storm with each action he made.
He cut through the crowd of Lupe Saints like a knife through butter, each swing taking a life. Blood covered his forearms and chest, it was on his face and had clotted in his hair. All he could smell was gore, but he kept focus. He needed to find the others before he became overwhelmed. The mana within his reservoir trickled out of his body bit by bit as he walked, a third propelling his movement step after step, a third for increasing his damage blow after blow, and a third stored in preparation for a final strike. After his fifth step shadows of his movements appeared behind him and around him, obfuscating his existence from the surrounding soldiers. He was everywhere to them, even though his path of destruction was clear after the fact.
He saw one of the Zephyr soldiers near the dais and began to move towards him. Even now there would be strength in numbers against the mass of Lupe. Cutting another Lupe down he was only five feet from the soldier when he saw six beams of mana pass through the man. A team of ten Lupe were focussing their strength together and taking out anyone who was not one of them one by one. As they watched the Zephyr man fall, the looked around and saw Laurence. In unison they raised their arms and mana began bubbling in the air around them.
“Tiphereth!” Immediately Laurence disappeared like smoke and ten shadows looking just like him replaced him on the battlefield. The shadows moved up to the Lupe squad, but before they could reach them the soldiers fired off their beams of mana once more. The beams ripped through four of of the shadows harmlessly, tearing apart the air and the Lupe soldiers behind them. There were screams as they fell, but it was lost in the cacophony of noise all around. As one, the shadows opened their mouths and the word Naamah came out. It echoed around the area as the ten hammers made their strike. They converged into one as the blow landed on the centre Lupe. A ripple spread out from the impact against the first Lupe and spread past him, ripping through the second and third. The first combusted, from a fully formed figure to ash and dust as the wave passed into the third row of Lupe. As it reached the fourth row the strength of the blow began to wane, but that did not stop the second and third Lupe soldiers from turning to dust just like the first.
Laurence stepped past the group of standing corpses as they all collapsed into dust and glanced around. He looked left and right, hoping to spot another person, a face he recognised. However all he could see were Lupe rushing towards him or the occasional Zephyr clansman. The Lupe were beginning to thin out, but so were the Heaven rankers on the Zephyr side. Bodies lay everywhere in various forms of completion, human and Lupe alike. It was becoming difficult to walk on the field without slipping on blood, but still Laurence strode on. He had to find them. He had to find Cleo.
Lupe after Lupe rose to try and kill Laurence, but he continued to charge through the Lupe like a god of war. Wherever his hammer turned a creature fell, which soon attracted the attention of the other Heaven ranked Lupe in the area. A riotous sound sprung up to Laurence’s right. He turned and saw thirty Lupe Saints following after a young man. Laurence smiled and leapt towards him. He was only fifty metres away, and yet it seemed like they were worlds apart. Still, he knew he had to try. He raised his left arm and pulled his hammer down by his side, galvanising more of his mana, but before he could activate his ability an overwhelming sense of dread spread over him. Immediately he stepped backwards instead as a huge slab of stone slammed down in front of him. A Lupe stepped forwards and grabbed the slab of stone like it was a sword. Raising it up he slashed out with the huge blade only to raise it and smash it down again. Four, five, six times he struck before he leapt into the air and waited for the dust cloud to clear.
Laurence saw the first strike coming, and stepped back slightly. The overwhelming sense of dread had not left him, so he did the only thing he could do. He pulled the mana from his strike back towards himself and then around his entire body. “BREAK! MALKUTH!” he screamed as the mana unceasingly poured out of him. A giant hammer appeared in the very air around him. It was quickly obscured by the cloud of dust but the fact that Laurence had activated the ability meant that he was able to manipulate the nading sites of each of the enemy strikes. Every single one missed him by inches. The shards of stone that sprung up from each strike scattering across his across his chest, leaving thin rivulets of blood on his body. He smiled as he let the hammer avatar dissipate. It was time to attack.
He stood in the centre of the sword scars left upon the ground, waiting for the cloud to disappear. As it faded he released more mana from his reservoir and gathered it in his fingers. The mana spread to his palms, then his shoulders and then all through his body while he waited. “Arabzeren...” he whispered as the dust finally showed him to the Lupe in the sky. The Lupe roared in anger and swung down once more and watched as his strike split Laurence in two.
Laurence smiled as his body moved through the blade and the body of the Lupe, solidifying as he began to be affected by gravity once more. The Lupe continued to float in the air as half his body sank left while the other fell right, splitting right down the middle. As the corpse hit the ground, he turned and looked at the timer. In what felt like moments to him, the timer had reached thirty-four-hundred. He turned to look for the crowd of Lupe and saw it, now slightly further away than before, but still reachable.
Instead of wasting more mana, Laurence began running towards the crowd. He had scant enough mana to spare, but he knew that Jim would likely have far more than anyone had any right to in the situation. He crushed bones under his feet as he trod through the muddy detritus of combat, finally catching up with his friend who had gained a rather large following.
“Jim! Are you alright?”
“Never better, Law! My horde is building, though I have yet to meet a Heaven ranker amongst them”. Jim laughed, wiping sweat and grime off his face.
“Odd, I’ve fought and killed two. They must love me for some reason”. Laurence took a deep breath and began revolving his inner flame formation, in the hope that he could recover some of the mana that he had lost in the time he had been fighting. Using five big abilities like he had drained him of most of the mana within his body. He was alive because of it, but he knew that if he kept going that he would quickly end up like so many other people within the Valley of Kings. “You seen Cleo?”
“No, I thought she was with you. Just look for the flaming explosion though and you’re sure to find her!”
Laurence swore before glancing round the field once more. “I’m going to look for her. I don’t like being apart from her, it gives me a bad feeling. If you see Winoa, you two should team up. There’s strength in numbers after all”.
“Of course!” Jim began moving once more, walking towards another group of Lupe Saints. Laurence turned and scanned the horizon. He could see windstorms, and shards of rock flying all over the valley, but still he could not see Cleo.
She has to be okay... Cleo...
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