Chapter 759 759 Emperor Claudius Attacks
Cassie and Ella began to fire, and on the other side of the portal, shields began to shatter, throwing charred bodies through the air and leaving dismembered soldiers howling in pain.
But the moment that the barriers were breached, a group of soldiers in the back, wearing long robes inlaid with spell circles, began to rebuild a shield in front of the advancing armies.
Cassie and Ella were joined by other members of the Pentacles, who came running with their rifles and their Familiars when they realized where the Portal had opened.
Some of them were staying to defend residential areas, but Wolfe managed to get six of them at Rank Four, which was enough that the barrier erected by the mages was flickering and the leadership of the invading army began to stare Wolfe down, wondering if he was going to flinch, or when these witches would exhaust their auras.
Only, that wasn’t going to happen. They were all pulling their mana through Wolfe, and far from what he could maintain on his own, so they could keep this until they ran out of ammunition, or they passed out with natural exhaustion.
The Bunnies were already bringing fresh bags full of loaded magazines to the defenders, expecting the worst. But it was understood that this state of affairs would only last until the first rank of soldiers set foot in Forest Grove. After that point, there would be nothing that could hold back the Fae and Demons from tearing this army apart.
A lone arrow, fired by a dark cloaked figure in the command group, sailed toward Wolfe, who simply sidestepped it, forgetting that there was someone standing behind him. Asmodain caught the shaft of the projectile in his hand, and a surge of light accompanied by a palpable rage filled Forest Grove.
“You dare to attack a Sword of the Light?” He roared, and the Emperor flinched in terror.
He had reacted quickly, but a bit too quickly, and the arrowhead had scraped along the palm of his glove before he brought it to a stop. That had triggered the defensive spells that were woven into his armour, and a second portal opened over the town, spilling thousands of small glowing Faeries and a retinue of winged soldiers in silver armour into the air above the town.
It was an automatic feature, so that if one of their people was ambushed, there would be immediate assistance, but that also left Forest Grove caught in the crossfire between an outraged group of soldiers from the Upper Planes, and the invading army from another world.
With the Light Sprites here, the afternoon sky was now blindingly bright, too bright for the soldiers on the other side of the portal to look up before the retinue of Seraphim was upon them.
They were all near Cassie and Ella’s level, on the strong side of Rank Four, but the glowing aura that they projected seemed to pass right through the enemy armour, heating metal and burning the soldiers inside, while the light burned their eyes when they tried to retaliate.
The group passed through the portal with most of the Light Sprites, and the restraint holding the Fae and Demons back vanished. The first to follow were the Wrath Demons, who combined their powers to tear apart the barrier around the army in under a second, then the Fae followed behind them, while the Witches adjusted their positions so they weren’t hitting friendly targets with their shots.
The leader of the Upper Planes rescue team set up a device right in the opening of the portal, creating an energy field of some sort, but it wasn’t stopping the flow of bullets or fighters.
“It will prevent them from closing the portal and trapping our people on the other side, you see. It’s a standard tactic for us when we are fighting away from our homeland.” Asmodain explained.
That made sense. Open a portal, pull a small portion of the enemy troops through, close it until they were eliminated, rinse and repeat. It was a solid tactical move, in Wolfe’s opinion, but a device like this completely nullified it.
Finally, Emperor Claudius took action, encasing himself in a shadowy mist of armour, and surging with energy as he gathered a spell in front of him.
“Rank Eight, human magic user. Very impressive. But I am not convinced that his world is on the level where they should be attacking other planets, if he can call himself Emperor of all he sees.” Asmodain noted.
He had a point. If this idiot had attacked the Demon Realms, he would have been laughed at, slapped around and sent home to think about his mistake, while the survivors of his armies were imprisoned with centuries long work sentences to pay off the damage they did.
“It’s only one Element. Unholy, and it’s barely at the Adept Level. I wonder if that is what gave him the confidence? Unholy Flames are pretty wicked.” Wolfe suggested as he strode toward the portal.
[Emperor Claudius, lay down your arms and surrender, or we will be forced to eliminate your army for crimes against Forest Grove and her people. This is your last warning.] Wolfe announced, using magic to enhance his voice.
A torrent of Unholy Flame shot toward him at the same time that Wolfe unleashed Nether Lightning focused on the Emperor, draining five of his seven mana cores, and pulling a little from everyone who had a Servant Bond to him.
Even Asmodain’s eyes went wide at the display of power, and the ethereal lightning cut through the flames without resistance, hitting the Emperor and spreading all through his troops, drawn to souls the way that natural lightning is drawn to ground.
The Emperor’s armour glowed, absorbing and deflecting the attack, while all around Claudius, bodies fell to the floor, their souls burned away, and the barriers over his army completely dissipated.
Their weapons fell dim, no longer enhanced by the Command Squad, who were closest to the Emperor, and the dome overhead that was keeping the Light Sprites away from the supply lines vanished.
A dark blue, Unholy Fire licked over Wolfe’s armour, flickering and burning for a few seconds before being snuffed out. Five Elements combined in a Rank Seven Array was too much for a single Rank Eight attack to break through, though a few more might do the job.
[I do hate to repeat myself. If you wish for any of your troops to survive today, surrender.] Wolfe insisted.
The Emperor only had a minute to make up his mind, or it wouldn’t matter anymore. All their powerful casters had either been standing too close to him when Wolfe counterattacked, or they had been targeted by the Seraphim who flew over the battle.