Year 2: The Battle of Rhodes - Chapter 12

The fight against Mímir had never even truly begun.

Before most of them had moved, almost all of Hajime’s team had been incapacitated.

All of them except for Akane.

Knives coated in a cocktail of poisons landed in their shoulders, rendering them all useless.

“Oh?”

Mímir smiled thinly at Akane who had transformed into her Oni-form, a form she’d never been able to deploy before in real combat.

Lacquered metal, tied together with silk laces and cords, and a mask resembling the demons from her homeland.

Her hammer, Ukonvasara, pulsed with thunderous lightning.

Her breathing was steady, calm.

Her gaze focused on the spymaster before her.

“Amen told me about that, yet I must admit it is a glorious piece of equipment.”

“Thank you.” She watched both of his hands, one held a katana and the other throwing knives. “When did you set up those string-wire traps?”

“Does it matter?”

“It does, because if you can set them up that quickly, then I’ll be in a spot of trouble. But.” She swung her hammer a few times, then gripped it tightly with both hands. “If you had to prepare those before Amen took Hajime, I don’t have as much to worry about.”

“Don’t fear - you’ll still have plenty to worry about.”

He threw his knives and Akane instinctively dodged, despite her armour’s great defensive capabilities.

…They’re sharp enough, aren’t they?

Akane ran forwards, keeping her body low to the ground, and swung at his chest. Mímir ducked beneath the strike, then whipped his free hand to the side, sending his wires at her. Akane tried to block them with Ukonvasara, but the wires bent and spun unnaturally around the hammer and gripped her arms like a vice. She unleashed thunder-based magic to shake the strings off, but Mímir had already closed the gap between them and sliced at her throat.

She managed to dodge at the last second, but Mímir’s katana carved through her left shoulder, taking a small chunk of flesh with it.

Akane ignored the pain and went back on the assault, generating mana in her war hammer and slamming it onto the ground between them, breaking the ground and shaking the corridor around them.

Impressive. Mímir’s eyes narrowed slightly. She’s able to direct all of that energy forwards, however. He jumped into the air, then made a makeshift platform out of multiple layers of string to stand upon. It’s nowhere near the level his majesty was afraid off.

He threw more knives at her, forcing Akane to swipe them out of the air, and pounced. His blade dove into her stomach, but the armour held out, keeping the blade from penetrating the skin deeply. Akane threw a punch at Mímir which the spymaster wasn’t afraid off, until he saw lightning crackle and shoot from her knuckles.

It was too late and the blast hit him in the side, knocking him through the nearby wall and into the adjacent room. Akane roared and followed after him, swinging Ukonvasara at him from a distance, unleashing a thunderous shockwave and a bolt of lightning at him.

Mímir clicked his tongue and leapt out of the way, throwing two move knives as he did. The first Akane batted out of the air with her fist, but the second landed in her thigh, piercing it quite deeply.

Still, Akane did not let the pain bother her and she ripped it free, discarding it to one side before sprinting forwards once again.

Mímir met her hammer with his blade though, contrary to his expectations, he was pushed back a little.

…I did it again! He cursed. After all this time, after all this growth and reflection, I still keep underestimating them!

“No more!”

Mímir pushed her weapon aside, then sliced at Akane’s waist, cutting through the skin and hitting the bone, before spinning dozens of threads around her, binding her and keeping her from being able to move. Her limbs were outstretched, a cord wrapped around her throat, and her fingers were forcefully removed from Ukonvasara.

Yet.

Akane roared again and her armour vibrated with great force, shattering Mímir’s string to pieces, and then headbutted him, unleashing another wave of lightning at him.

The blast sent them both soaring in opposite directions, crashing and collapsing ungracefully onto the ground.

However.

Akane’s Oni-form vanished and blood poured from her eyes, nose and mouth.

She coughed and spluttered as she nearly choked.

Mímir, bruised, bleeding and his pride in tatters, managed to force himself onto his feet. He used his threads to bring his katana back to him before the last of them broke. Sighing, Mímir marched towards her, swallowing the blood back down that would have otherwise dyed his scarf a deeper shade of crimson.

His forehead was bleeding heavily and obstructing his vision and making him look pathetic.

“Twice and no more,” he muttered, ready to slice Akane’s throat.

“Oi.”

Mímir jumped away out of pure fright from the bloodlust emerging from the room next door, just before Hajime’s spear landed in the ground where Mímir had been standing.

“…Amen lost then?” The spymaster asked.

Hajime ignored him and drew Tonbokiri from the ground, all whilst looking down at Akane in worry.

The Japanese girl, for her part, looked up and tried to smile, even with tears in her bloodied eyes, just before she started to splutter again.

“Mímir, right?” Hajime turned to face the undead general and pointed his spear at Mímir’s heart. “I’ll kill you for hurting the people I love.”

***

Hilda slide beneath Dante’s Arts and lunged at his chest.

Dante blocked it at an awkward angle with his scythe, then removed his metal arm from it and thrust it towards her, shooting a liquid-metal spike at her head. Hilda narrowly dodged it, then swung her scythe at his chest. Dante jumped away from it, swinging his scythe down towards her as he did, but the Satyr Knight rolled out of the way, then sprung onto her feet. She charged him and started stabbing at his chest, but he kept moving out of the way, leaving as little time as possible between her thrusts.

As we are right now, I don’t think I can win. Therefore, I need to use this as a learning opportunity for the next time we fight. Then! He stopped dodging and parried her spearhead away. I’ll kill her for certain!

He blasted her back with his Arts, sending her skidding on her feet across the room, then launched an attack with his scythe. It was a wide-reaching swing that, if it hit, would cut even a dragon in two.

Hilda, however, ducked beneath it.

But Dante had expected and planned for that.

He grinned, stopped the scythe’s momentum, then drove its tip towards at her skull.

Hilda rolled forward and Dante’s blade impaled the ground, allowing her a chance to pierce his neck. Dante caught her spear with his metal arm, then released his scythe and wrapped his other hand around her throat, before tackling her to the ground.

They crashed through the ceiling and into the room below, startling the soldiers of both sides battling to the death, their weapons tumbling down beside them.

Dante slammed Hilda into the ground once more for good measure, hoping to at least stun his opponent for a few moments, and hurriedly took back up his arms.

A nearby Machai kicked Hilda’s spear to her which the Satyr Knight caught with deft hands, before resuming her assault.

Dante, who had been too slow to reclaim his weapon, had no choice but to try and dodge.

He was able to and he’d gotten noticeably better at it than when they’d first started fighting, a detail that Hilda observed too.

So, she changed her strategy.

Hilda thrust the butt off her spear into the ground behind her and it vibrated, illuminating briefly a faint yellow, and thrust her spear at Dante once more.

It pierced his side.

It was a thin wound, but it had hit nonetheless.

What the-?! It got-!

Then, she kept up the attack, alternating between high and low, left and right, just as she always did, but Dante was taking wounds this time.

They were akin to deep scratches, but they made him bleed nonetheless.

How has she gotten faster?!

…What happened when she hit her spear to the ground?

Dante thrust his palm at her spearhead and absorbed it into his arm, hardening the liquid into a solid metal, trapping Hilda’s weapon within.

“What in the world did you do to this?” He demanded.

“I have…no reason…to tell…you.”

Two of Hilda’s fingers glided along the spear’s shaft and it glowed again.

A white colour as a lightning bolt discharged inside Dante’s arm, blowing it to pieces and sending the man in question hurtling across the room, battered and burnt.

He slammed hard against the far wall before dropping onto his knees, his skin peeling off and blood gushing from the open wound where his metal arm had been.

“Dante?!”

The Alliance soldiers rushed to his aid, but the Satyr Knight made short work of them as she approached him.

The great monster slayer chuckled bitterly as she drew closer. “Runes? When did you...? No, you haven’t always had them.” He looked up at her and snickered. “I wasn’t the only one learning from our fights, was I?”

“Correct.” Hilda pushed her spear’s tip into his chest, into his heart. Dante vomited blood as the Satyr Knight roughly removed her weapon from his body. “Your Arts…were…powerful and…I realised that…I needed…a…way to attack…at a distance.”

She lifted her spear up and aimed it at the back of his skull.

…Two losses and a draw. Dante took a deep breath and closed his eyes. What a shit record to go out on.

***

The ballroom had seen some of the bloodiest fighting in the King’s Palace, though thanks to the efforts of Guy and the other heroes, the number of dead VIPs were next to none.

However.

Delwyn’s arm was torn off by a Machai’s strike.

Eerika, one of the team’s frontline fighters, had nearly lost her life to a group of demons, so Delwyn threw herself between them, saving her friend’s life.

“Delwyn!”

Tomar threw his javelin at the demon and shattered its skull, but he left himself and a Hysminai drove its spear through his chest and into his lung.

“Tomar!” Guy slew another Machai then raced to their aid, but five Hysminai stood before him, shield to shield, and he had to break through.

Reis’s magic burnt them to a crisp, but an arrow landed in his eye.

Screaming madly, he fell to the floor, crying out in pain as blood rolled down his face.

Eerika immediately came to his rescue and pulled him behind the line of Alliance soldiers that were supporting them, but they all knew if reinforcements didn’t come soon, it’d be all over.

They were wounded, exhausted and their healing had been taken down protecting Eerika.

Liam, Kavi, Adrien and Gati came running over in just as bad of a shape, but Kavi immediately ran to Delwyn and began using the lasting of his healing magic on her, hoping to regrow or reattach her arm.

“Jesus Christ,” Liam whispered, out of breath. He stood beside Guy and helped fend off the next wave of demons. “When will this end?”

“…Don’t worry.” Guy killed another Machai. “It’ll be fine.”

“…God I wish I had your optimism.”

Guy laughed a little, though he nearly fell over, tired as he was; Liam steadied him as Gati raced over to cover them with his Divine Artifact, the Shoes of Víðarr. He kicked several demons away at once, but then had to immediately start dodging for his life as too many attacks came his way.

Yve, everyone…you’re coming for us, right?

…Right?

***

Kayleigh slowly opened her eyes and found herself being carried in a set of muscular arms.

“You did good, Kayleigh.” The adventurer grinned at her, then handed her to a mage at her side who began to heal the wounded hero. “Leave the rest to us!”

“…Who are you?” The wolf girl growled.

“Me?” With a boisterous laugh, Atalanta swung her gigantic battle axe onto her shoulders. “Atalanta - an S-rank Adventurer. An expert at brewing potions and unbeaten in battle.” She grinned eagerly at Fenrir. “Based on what I’m looking at, I don’t think that record will be beaten tonight.”

Visibly angry, Fenrir began to let out feral-like noises from her throat, the ground cracking beneath her feet as she bared her teeth and fangs.

“Stealing my prey and then challenging me.” Fenrir howled wildly and prepared to leap forwards. “Die!”

***

“Reinforcements from the city! We’re saved!”

Cheers and similar calls rang out quickly throughout the Alliance, revitalising the exhausted soldiers and knights, driving them to fight until they could stand no longer.

Elysa, for her part, smiled a little sadly at the sight, as more men and women rushed into the King’s Palace from the city of Rhodes.

“The siege is over, but the battle isn’t won yet,” she murmured. “I guess I better-”

There’s no need. A spider crawled out from inside her hair and sat upon her shoulder.

“Oh?”

This one has received orders from the Demon Emperor.

After five more minutes, everyone is to withdraw to the Dread Keep for our objective has been achieved.

Elysa purred, then giggled, before glancing across the way towards the horizon. “As his majesty commands.”

Though, I do wonder how many will still be alive when the sun rises?