Chapter 134: Siege

A klaxon began to sound.

Strident, penetrating, it rang through the entire castle, over and over, jumping James’s adrenaline up to 11.

“You fucking kidding me?” asked Yadriel, rising up into his classic Nem2 demon form. “What the fuck they got a siren for?”

“Someone turn if off,” said Serenity through gritted teeth. “Shit. I forgot my autocannons outside on my Wing. I’ll be right back!”

“Serenity!” James flung out a hand but she was way, way too fast. She blurred as she ran out of the throne room, a flitting shadow. “Fuck. You guys hold the diamond. I’ll be -”

But he was running. Digging deep for that extra push only to realize he was thinking like a meathead. He reached the double doors to the throne room and flung up a teleportation circle to where the Wings were outside.

Leaped, hit the burning fire like a hurdle jumper, and flew out into the main courtyard below.

The Castrum Mortis was letting rip with everything it hand. The walls. Holy shit, the walls were alive, the windows, the gaps, the doorways, a tide of demons were flowing down them, a fucking zerg rush, thousands like an ocean wave washing over a sandcastle.

High above Jessica clung to a tower like King Kong to the Empire State, her Vault Gun blazing.

But it was the Castrum that held center stage. Each of its Vault Guns were operating independently, raking the walls with fire, streams of Aeviternum bullets pounding into the demon horde without surcease. Its laser arm was a continuous line of crimson death, slicing endless gashes through hundreds of demons and into the rock itself, while its huge Empyreal Cannon belched forth hyper-heated Aeviternum in great swathes over the bailey.

And still the demons came on, the klaxon blaring, blaring, blaring.

Serenity burst out over the second floor balcony, knees to her chest, arms flung out wide, eyes widening at the battle that was just starting. She landed, rolled right up to her Wing, and James got to work helping her strap in.

The din. The noise. The air was purpled, bruised, gored by the texture of aural havoc. Guns, cannons, demon screams, a million screams torn from their throats, screams of death, of dying, of bloodlust, of desire. The blare of the guns, the roar of the canons.

The motherfucking klaxon.

James finished strapping on the first autocannon, all three meters of it, a ridiculous weapon, the very gun that had earned the Warthog its deadly reputation and whose removal caused the plane to tilt over.

“You idiot!” James couldn’t tell if she heard him over the noise. “You should have stayed put -”

Serenity laughed. The sound was high, near to breaking, and her eyes were feverish with delight. “And miss this?”

Agility and Speed allowed James to strap on the second gun in record time, then she rose, swiveled, and opened fire.

She couldn’t miss.

The walls were hidden behind demon bodies. They were leaping off the tops of the walls now, incinerated as they fell, sliced apart, blasted into chunks, but there were so many.

It was like ordering a full battalion of US Marines to hold back the tide with everything they got.

Insufficient.

Serenity’s autocannons blazed. Such was the sound outside that their DONDONDONDONDONDON was lost in the cacophony. She leaned back, guns gouting flame, each extending a whole three meters before her, dwarfing her, unleashing hell.

Such was her power that she matched the Castrum. Where she fired she cleared bright paths of cream stone, shattering demons by the hundreds, but evermore flowed down to take their place.

“We gotta go!” yelled James, hauling on her shoulder.

“Fuck that! I’m just gonna kill a few more -”

James picked Serenity up by the waist and leaped back into the portal, burning a second point of Aeviternum to carry them back. Fortuna Aeviternum restored that point, keeping him at 18.

His last sight was demons crawling up the Castrum’s legs, demons flying through the air like a thousand jumping spiders, demon bodies piling up at the base of the walls like the shattered bodies of incinerated cockroaches.

Then they were back in the throne room, staggering, Serenity’s guns tearing fist-sized holes in the far wall above the double doors, everyone else shouting and ducking in alarm.

“Fuck, James!” Serenity put up her guns, their smoking barrels raking the rafters high, high overhead. “I was just getting started!”

“Don’t even try me,” growled James. “Everyone, inside the chamber. They’re coming.”

“That bad?” asked Jason.

“Worse.”

Everyone hustled around the throne. The klaxon rang on, over and over, but James could hear the Castrum’s armaments still going full bore.

“Circles up,” said James. “Shields layered before the door.”

The eight bands of gold began to revolve around them, interlocking, and the air shimmered in the doorway as Shields appeared. “Aureate Bucklers, too,” said James.

“Damn, it is that bad,” whispered Miriam.

Eight bucklers appeared just behind the Shields.

James took a deep breath. The air shimmered with their gathered power. “You know what? Everyone summon a Host Angel in the throne room. Let’s get their multiplication powers going early.”

“You sure?” Denzel looked askance at James. “We got a pretty tight defense going here.”

“I’m sure.”

James pulled up his sheet, selected the angel section, and summoned an Angelic Host.

A golden seam appeared in the air within the center of the throne room, and an elegant and refined angel stepped forth. James couldn’t tell if it was the same one as before; he looked identical, but his expression was polite, curious, even mildly enthused.

“Oh,” said the Host, blinking as he took in the door, the layered defenses, and his position outside of it. Then he looked up as another seven golden seams appeared beside him, as if hearkening to the klaxon.

“Oh,” he said again, his voice deeper, his eyes widening. He whipped around to face the double doors. “Oh shit.”

Seven more angels stepped forth, all with the same superior and smug smiles, but that’s when the demons came pouring into the hall.

They overflowed from the balconies. They came scrabbling through the double doors, piled atop each other, shouldering and leaping like an avalanche of fleas. Their arms and legs were yard look blades whose edges glowed with infernum, their faces were Giger-esque masks of horror, their bodies spindly and withered. They hurled themselves at the Host angels who summoned blazing swords of yellow flame in one hand and tower shields in the other.

For a split second the eight Host angles rebuffed the assault, but then the demons from the balconies hit them from the sides and they were torn apart, their flesh resistant but unequal to defensing against the blades.

James dropped his first Heavenly Assault even as a handful of the others filled the hall with Seraphic Web, every tendril glowing with Gloria.

The white flash of the lightning bolt cleared the room which then grew choked with endless scores of webbing, some strands as thick as James’s thigh, others hair-like filaments. Serenity stood front and center, leaning back to counterbalance her two ridiculous guns and just opened fire at the double doors where the demons were a constant wall that flowed into the room.

Flowed in and died. The Seraphic Webs were like mandolin wires and they the cheese, such that their limbs and blades and faces and bodies were chopped into chunks as they came and died.

But it was a firehose of demons.

No end to them.

James placed his own Seraphic Web, then flexed his will and extended its coverage to include most of the rooms and hallways outside. “Push your webs! Fill the castle!”

The others complied, everyone grim and focused, and James felt his divine power pool began to dip ever so slightly as he fueled it against the demons.

Who kept coming, even as James heard the Castrum’s continued fire outside.

He checked his countdown timer.

Protect the Divine Heart for 5 Hours 27 Minutes

To Unlock the Next Level

Holy fuck. They were supposed to hold this for another five hours?

The corpses of the angels lay scattered across the floor, but the air flickered and sixteen new angels emerged. These came in prepared, expressions flat, blades burning in hand, shields raised, to form a phalanx before the double doors, eight wide, two deep. Their burning swords shimmered and became long spears, their broad, leaf-shaped heads layered and set with professional exactitude before the doors.

“Damn,” said Denzel softly. “That was intense.”

“But we can hold them back,” said Yadriel, shifting back down to his human form. “Right?”

“One way to find out,” said Olaf with false heartiness.

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James monitored his divine pool. It was huge and restored by his Ruby regeneration rate, but even so it was being tested. Demons were flooding the Seraphic Webs from almost every direction, hurling themselves against the strands without surcease.

“So far so good,” he said. “It’s gonna be a long five hours, though.”

“Five hours and twenty-six minutes,” muttered Serenity.

“Sure.” James forced a smile. “Thanks for the correction.”

The Castrum’s gunfire continued. The demons, unseen, continued to hurl themselves against the webbing. James’s divine pool continued to dip, the expenditure just above his regeneration rate.

“Dude, how come they’re taking so much juice to kill?” Yadriel licked his lower lip. “That’s eight webs they’re hitting.”

“Tougher demons,” said Jason quietly. “They may look like those we fought last time, but they’re far tougher.”

“They fell apart easily enough when I shot them,” said Serenity.

“Doesn’t mean they’re not harder to kill overall.” Jason wiped at his brow. “Say the demons in the Hollow Hill took 5 units of divine power to destroy. These are taking, I don’t know, say 25. We’re still destroying them, but it’s taking more power to do so.”

“James, a plan,” said Olaf. “We lower webs for a moment, let demons come into palace complex -”

“Castle,” corrected Yadriel.

“It is not castle. They come rushing in, we hit them with Heavenly Assault, put webs back up? Kill many hundreds, thousands at once?”

One of the Angelic Hosts looked back over his shoulder at them. “That is a terrible plan. Keep them exactly where they are, if you please.”

“Good plan,” said James. “Drop webs in three. Two. One. Now.”

The webbing faded. The demon howls picked up and the sound of their approach rapidly grew louder. James held up his fist. Waited. Watched the double doors.

Any moment.

Any moment now.

Demons came barreling in through the shattered doors, flooding over the balconies, leaping high through the air with shrieks of delight.

James dropped his fist.

Heavenly Assaults obliterated the demons in the hall, then Seraphic Webs sprang up. James felt his own fill the rooms and halls, choking them, slicing the demons apart everywhere.

The angels had been driven back a yard or two, but the demons were slaughtered before they could be hurt.

“Again?” asked Olaf.

“Again,” agreed James. “There’s gotta be an end to them eventually, right? Let’s get to that finish line already.”

They dropped webs. James counted. It took the demons eleven seconds to flood into the chamber again. James dropped his fist. Heavenly Assaults flared throughout the room, ashing the demons instantly, and Seraphic Webs sprang up, flooding the chambers and killing everything within them.

“Again,” said James.

“Again.”

Time slowed and lost all meaning.

Occasionally James checked the countdown time. It took forever to reach five hours. Miriam let out a little ‘yay’ when they did, but otherwise nothing changed.

Olaf’s strategy allowed for lulls in divine pool expenditure during which Ruby refilled their reservoirs, but each time the activation of the webs cost them a little more.

When the four hour mark crawled around, James ordered everyone to drop Shields, Bucklers, and Circles of Protection. They’d not been needed once, and while only a slight drain on their reserves, they now needed everything they had to keep slaughtering the demons with impunity.

The throne hall was choked with black dust. The angels hadn’t taken any casualties. The Castrum was still firing full blast outside - its massive armor plating had to simply be too much for these demons.

The demons kept coming on, unceasing - right till they suddenly quit. The klaxon went silent, the Seraphic Webs stopped being tested, and the Castrum’s weapons fire outside ceased.

“Whoa,” said Denzel. “We done?”

“Looks like it,” said James, moving to the chamber entrance. “Unless that was just the first wave.” Jelly? How’s it looking out there?

All clear, boss. I’m gaining altitude as I speak and can’t see any reinforcements. The horizon looks empty.

“Maybe we are in the clear. Jelly says the coast is clear.”

“Shall we take a peek outside, then?” Serenity crouched down and Miriam knelt beside her to help with the straps. “See how things look?”

“Sure.” James moved past the throne. The Angelic Host were lowering their spears. “We all good?”

As one they turned back to look at him, identical as a massive bunch of twins. “Yes,” said several of them at once, then deferred to a central angel who stepped forward. “This encounter is finished. We’ll be returning home.”

“All right. Thanks for the assist.”

They all inclined their heads with the same wry amusement. “We are honored to serve, lord.”

Golden seams opened behind them and they filed out.

“Eerie bastards,” said Yadriel stepping up beside James. “You think they heading back to the bar?”

“Something like that.” James crossed the hall. The black ash lay in thick drifts, in some places knee high. “Not our problem right now.”

They made their way out to the second-floor balcony. Black dust choked the corridors. How many demons had they killed? Tens of thousands. Maybe hundreds? It was impossible to tell. The bailey outside looked like a black sand desert; the Castrum’s huge feet were planted in the ash, its frame nicked and scarred and dented by what must have been countless attacks. It looked like a horde of kids had gone to town on a car with razor blades. The paint was messed up, there were dents here and there, but mostly the Castrum was undamaged. The barrels of its guns glowed cherry red, however, and it kept swiveling from side to side as if expecting more prey.

The Somnia was similarly unhurt. Jessica clung to the tallest tower, lean and lithe and casual, though from the dents in the other turrets it was clear she’d done her fair share of leaping back and forth.

“All good out here?” called James.

“SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL,” the Castrum boomed.

“All good.” Jessica leaped down to land in the bailey with ease. “Was much less frightening when I realized they couldn’t deal with the Castrum’s ablative armor. They covered him completely at one point. Inside?”

“No problem.” James checked the countdown.

Protect the Divine Heart for 3 Hours 48 Minutes

To Unlock the Next Level

“We shouldn’t let down our guards, though. No telling when another attack may come.”

“Damn,” said Yadriel. “We still ain’t leveled.”

“Were you at any point in any danger?” asked Serenity.

“Well… no. But shit felt a little tense.”

“I think we’ll get levels when we start getting pressed,” said James. “We’re still cake walking here. Soon as we start being forced to burn Aeviternum and taking hits we’ll get some XP.”

“Think of it this way,” said Jessica, looming over the balcony. “When you start gaining levels you’ll know you’ve hit the appropriate difficulty level for a Lord of the Increate. Until then, you’re overpowered for this level.”

“Yeah, fine. I guess I’ll take being OP for now.”

“But it’s catching up to us,” said James. “Ruby regeneration rate is fantastic, but the demons were starting to drain my reserves faster than I could keep up. It was subtle, but it was there. If they’d kept coming at us for the full six hours, things could have gotten dicey.”

“Nah,” said Serenity. “You’ve got Refill the Cup. And we’ve yet to call on our souped up Virtues. And we can still tap more powerful angels. Jessica’s right. We’ve not been pressed yet.”

“Give it time,” said James, looking past the scarred Castrum to the ruined walls. “We got more coming.”

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