Chapter 9: Leon the Slayer | 2

The fires that had devastated Barvada died down over time, after there was nothing left to burn. It was now early in the morning.
Larkan Warmages set up camp near the area at night and they were waiting for the inferno their artillery wizards had caused to disappear so they could invade what they thought was an undercover military base, or what was left of it. After that, the plan was that the artillery wizards would advance and incinerate the next town or base. If they faced any opposition the Warmages would take care of it. They would repeat this pattern until they reached the capital of the Empire.
"Move out! We need to make sure the area is secure so our artillery can move in." The Warmage high general was wearing a heavily decorated amalgamation of an outfit that consisted of blue traditional wizard robes and hat, and heavy plate and chain armor. Signature attire for Warmages.
He ordered his troops to advance. Larkan Warmages were not very talented flyers, but what they lacked in mobility they made up for in defence and firepower.

After a little while of walking they almost made it to the ruins of what was once a beautiful town, when suddenly,
"Aahh!" Multiple Warmages were being shot at.
"Barriers! Now!"
Soldiers of the Holy Khulast Empire had already set up shop in nearby hills, they were expecting an attack like this, after the artillery strike. Larkan war tactics were simple and formulaic, they relied on the huge advantage that their magic superiority gave them.
Soldiers of the Empire were using mounted heavy machine guns, mortars, rifles, and a new innovation their R&D department had produced; Heavily armed and armored mobile war machines, they called them tanks.
The tanks were deployed later on, after the soldiers' cover was blown when they started firing. They were hidden behind the small hills and now they were making their way toward the battalions of Warmages.
In combination with the firing support from tanks, the soldiers of the Empire managed to get through the magical barriers of the Warmages, and thus they finally started reducing their numbers significantly. While it seemed at the time that the Warmages were on the losing side, this was an illusion created by the fact that the Warmages had just become victims of an ambush.
Once they started firing long range spells at their foes, the soldiers also started losing a good amount of men and equipment. They had no way to defend against magic attacks.
"Sire! When are we getting daemon support?"
"They didn't send any..."
"W-What?"
"HQ told us we could handle this. I want to believe that they are not mistaken..."
After the short period of time that they had enjoyed victory, the soldiers of the Empire were starting to feel worried.

"Try earth magic!" The mages were trying to destroy the Empire's newest war machine with fire magic, but it had no effect on the tanks. They were advancing forward and firing their deadly cannons.

In the middle of all this disaster, there was a lone survivor.
"Ughh..."
Leon got up. He had fainted the night before, but he was still in daemon form.
His senses gradually came back to him and he started hearing all sorts of terrible noises.
Machine gun fire.
Fireballs flying through the air, hitting their targets.
The macabre screams soldiers from both sides produced when they died.
He woke up from a nightmare only to find himself in another nightmare.
But once he started looking around and understood what was happening, he begun seeing red.
"Raaaaeeeehh!"
He instinctively picked up his greatsword and started flying to the mages.

Before they could even react, Leon had beheaded 3 mages with one swing of his greatsword, landing on the ground.
Their comrades saw this gruesome scene, and started to retaliate. Before they could cast any spell, Leon had already torched them with his fire breath.
A taste of your own medicine...
The mages, now human torches, were screaming in panic trying to do something, anything, to survive this ordeal.
More and more mages turned their attention to Leon, who was now rampaging through their numbers, killing them one by one with swings and thrust of his now bloodied sword. While their attention was grabbed by Leon however, that meant they weren't holding as many barriers now, so the constant barrage of fire from Empire soldiers was making it through and murdering even more of them.

"Sire, you said we didn't have daemon support..."
"Looks like HQ changed their mind. I don't mind though, as long as he doesn't start killing his own after he's done with the mages."
The battle quickly turned in favor of the Empire. Eventually, the Warmages had to retreat.
That victory meant nothing to Leon though.
These monsters burned it all down...
He started chasing the now retreating mages and slaughtering them with his vicious methods.
That victory meant nothing to him.
Their screams meant nothing to him.
The fact that these people had a family, much like the one he used to have, didn't even cross his mind.
All that mattered at that moment was that he had to slay them all. Avenge his parents and the people of his beloved hometown.
The Empire soldiers had stopped firing their weapons. This sight was a first for them. Never had they seen a daemon as bloodthirsty as this one. Everything about him, the fact that he was killing retreating soldiers, his relentless fighting style... they started to fear for their own lives.
"Is it out of control..? Sire! Do we need to kill it?"
"Wait."

***

About half an hour passed. Leon did not let anyone escape his bloodbath. At the end of it all, when there were no more mages left to kill, he felt an incredible emptiness inside of him, almost as if his heart was missing. No, something else, much more important. He collapsed on the ground once again, turning back into his human form. He had pushed his body to its limits.
All the fields next to the destroyed town of Barvada, including the one their family owned, were now painted red. A sea of blood with corpses acting as small islands, and in the middle of it all, lay a broken young man.