Chapter 23: Infinite Demon Army

The once beautiful sight of the Forbidden City is now shrouded in dark clouds. Massive roots hill up and down throughout the land, all leading back to the towering red, flesh tree that resided in the very center of the complex. The branches of the tree continued forming more faceless beasts. Some with wings, some with multiple arms or legs, or some very tall and muscular. The creatures would fall from the branches and land on the stone floor, and more would be produced. The tree itself had nearly a hundred eyes, and each of these eyes was used for faceless beasts to see. Leisurely lying within the middle of the tree was Mortem, wearing the jade-colored robes that once belonged to Emperor Fenrir.

He pulled at the robes, examining the color. “Hmm,” Mortem hummed. “I don’t think this is my color. Oh well, the blood stains will make up for it.”

Mortem sat up cross-legged, looking out at the complex. No one had shown up yet, stirring boredom within the clone. He let out a fed-up sigh as he threw himself back, looking up at the lightless sky.

“Ugh, this is so boring,” Mortem complained. “All these fools, taking their sweet time. Hugging and kissing their loved ones, disgusting.”

He turned to his side, resting his head in his hand. With his tendrils, Mortem created six little dolls. The dolls were faceless and featureless, merely being in the model of humans. He watched uninterested as the dolls danced and frolicked about.

Laura, Cello, and Berus were placed into a massive military plane. The inside was spacious, not only able to fit all of the soldiers in the complex, but still leave plenty of room for more. Which is exactly what they were doing. The plane was also fast, being able to get to the other villages of the Amber Empire in less than an hour each. The experiment trio would come out to tell their neighbors the tragedy that has happened and ask for all of the warriors in each village to join them. Not a single one hesitated, at least, at first. When they saw humans were inside the plane, many of the experiments became weary. But Laura reassured them that they were on their side. After exchanging glances amongst themselves, the rest would join in. Those who weren’t part of the defense forces were to stay behind.

Dawn had begun approaching, yet the Forbidden City was still shrouded in darkness. It seemed as though those ominous clouds were frozen in place. Mortem turned his head when he heard the sound of waves of planes. The sides of his lips curled into a wide grin. He stood up, fixing his stolen robes before transforming. All of the beasts shrieked in mindless anticipations for the upcoming conflict. The planes all set down far away from the north entrance of the complex. The back of the planes began to open, humans and experiments alike were filled with a sea of emotions. They all knew this could be their last fight, and yet, it somewhat made them excited. Laura gripped the hilt of her sword, and a few beads of sweat ran down her face. Cello stood beside her, cracking her knuckles with a smirk on her face. Berus stood behind them, his face stoic and serious. Once the doors were fully open, each group marched out of the plane. The six groups slowly started merging into one massive army. Hundreds of thousands filled all around the outside of the complex. Young and old, men and women, humans and experiments. Standing shoulder to shoulder, sharing a common enemy.

Laura and others made it to the front of the army. They stared up at the skyscraper-sized tree, its many eyes staring back. A figure flew out from the top of the tree, coming over to the horde. Mortem landed on the roof of the north entrance, looking gleefully down at the sea of people.

“My, my,” He said in a loud voice. “Ask, and I shall receive. Good on all of you for having the courage to show up on such short notice. Try not to die off so quickly, I wanna have fun.”

“The only one dying is you!” Laura shouted.

Mortem raised an eyebrow and said, “Unrealistic, but I can’t say I don’t admire the delusion.” He laughed before flying back to the tree.

Back at the complex where Armin, Everett, and Anthony were, they watched the upcoming war with several drones Armin had sent out. They were all on edge, but had full faith in Laura and the rest of the humans and experiments. 

A scientist poked his head into the room and exclaimed, “We got it, sir!”

Armin looked back and said, “Great. Put it in my workshop.”

The scientist nodded. Arming turned back around to watch the screen.

“What did they get?” Everett asked.

“Nothing too important,” Armin replied, keeping his face forward. “Just something to help if necessary.”

The army of humans and experiments wasted no more time and charged through the south, west, and east gates. Experiments that could fly took to the sky, and as they pushed through the gates, the humans started firing at the red beasts. Several of the creatures were brought down by the bullets, but their numbers were overwhelming. They let out spine-chilling cries as the horde of beasts rushed recklessly. The flying beasts flew up and started brawling with the experiments. It was an all-out war.

Laura effortlessly sliced through each of the beasts, pulling out a few flame strips and setting them ablaze. One of the larger beasts backhanded Laura, but she blocked the strike with her blade. She was sent sliding back, and the large beast came charging at her. Laura composed herself, bolting forward before leaping into the air and slicing the beast down the middle. She landed back on the ground, taking a look around. The beasts were pretty easy to take down; they were mindless and weak. She looked back to see the massive tree in the complex’s center, from the branches more of the beasts were being made and falling onto the battlefield. That tree was going to be a major problem if it kept creating more of those creatures. Laura dashed toward the tree, cutting down each of the beasts that were in her way. After a while, she spun and blade around and slid it back into its scabbard, using her fists to knock them all away.

As Laura got closer to the tree, she pulled out two flame strips from her sleeves, ready to place them on the tree and burn it to the ground. Just before she could, long, sharp spines shot out from the trunk of the tree. Laura stopped herself with her heels and jumped back. Seems the tree had a defense from incoming attacks. She looked up to see some of the eyes looking down at her. The tree let out a low, angry growl. More beasts were formed over Laura and let loose. They landed around the young woman, already going on the attack. She quickly unsheathed her sword and cut down each of the beasts.

There was no end to the beasts, and eventually, some of the humans and experiments became overwhelmed. Falling by the hands of the beasts. Bodies of both ally and foe started to litter the battlefield. Every time a wave of the beasts would fall, a new, larger one would take its place. All of the fighting would be pointless if they couldn’t get rid of that tree. Mortem watched the war with joy. That’s when his eyes caught Berus blowing past the beasts and heading toward the tree.

Mortem’s grin grew wider. He leaned down and whispered into the tree. “Let that one up,” He said.

The tree let out a soft growl, and as Berus approached, spines from the tree formed a staircase. He was confused at first, but when he looked up, Berus saw Mortem looking down at him, waving. Berus sneered and ran up the makeshift stairs. He reached the top, Mortem waiting with his hands on his hips.

“You!” Berus hissed.

“Me!” Mortem replied.

Berus lunged forward to deliver a punch, but Mortem caught it with ease.

Berus’s face contorted with rage, and he shouted, “You killed my mother! Destroyed my village! I’ll tear you to shreds!”

“That’s right, boy,” Mortem said, no concern in his voice. “Let that blood boil. I wanna see the red in your eyes before I murder you just like your mother!”

Mortem kicked Berus back, then got into a fighting stance. Berus growled and let out a roar, transforming to Super Full Power.