Chapter 214 - Commander Of The Blood Knights.
One word for the events that occurred after the transformations; Devastating.
The Plebeian force was completely incapable in the face of the Five hundred Flame Demons whose strength seemed to have been heightened to defeat the Plebeian Experts whose strongest were at their stage of the Cosmic Armament realm.
And this was a heightening that had nothing to do with minute details such as the stages the demons were in before taking the pill. So long as they were at the Cosmic Pearl realm and the Cosmic Armament Realm, which they all were, the Plebeians were powerless against them.
Soon, there were orders from behind to engage the Demons as little as they could and wait out the time limit of the transformation which was bound to be coming up soon.
The Great family heads were all smiles as the Five hundred went ahead to kill at least two thousand of the Plebeian forces and when they looked to Hal, thinking he would be smiling as well, they found him frowning at it all.
There was a bad feeling that he just couldn't shake and it only intensified the more the battle went on.
So he reached out to the bodies of the Payne Force who had been killed after the effect of the Flame Berserk pill had run out and found that they were void of Blood Essence.
So he asked the Blood Knights if they had absorbed and they said they had done no such thing.
He found it quite perplexing and upon closer observation, he noted that the bodies of those dead men were lined with orange-flame colored lines.
A sign that the pill was still active in them, which begs the question;
Does the pill burn up Blood Essence?
It was a definite possibility and when he asked Grimoire, it confirmed his thoughts.
It was at that moment that the effects of the Flame Berserk pill wore off and the Five hundred began dropping like flies on the field of battle.
However, quite unlike the Paynes, the other Great family forces grabbed the five hundred and pulled them back so that they would not be killed.
A fraction of the conjoined forces became in charge of getting them completely out of harm's way while the others tried to hold back the Plebeians who were now fighting with a vengeance.
Those Plebeians that had hung back at the start of the battle now stormed forward, fresh and ready for battle.
Joining up with the diminished acting force, they pressed the Great family Force and killed extensively.
The situation was back to how it had been at the start, except that the Great family men had a better chance at survival now...
Or so they thought.
San suddenly stood from the Palanquin on which he had sat to showcase his status and then pulled out a little pouch from his spatial pouch and out of it, he poured out pills that looked quite like The Flame Berserk pill!
And then he tossed it to the midst of the Plebeian forces at random but not one pill hit the ground as they were all snatched up by the Plebeians.
The Great Family heads were shocked as they saw not a mere Five hundred Plebeians get the Flame Berserk pill, but at least a thousand instead.
"That bitch played us" Edvard snarled as the Plebeians who got the pills combusted and became Flame Demons.
Ford shrugged,
"Be that as it may, she did tell us she was more about profits. She is obviously only interested in enriching herself"
Hal chuckled,
"Do you really think so?" He asked but said nothing further.
What he was thinking, however, was that if Arya had truly been just about profits, then she could have at least made the supply equal and it was not.
The Plebeians obviously got the better end of the deal.
The Great Family heads did not share his humor as they hung their heads in despair.
Hal sighed,
"Order your men to retreat. You've done your part, it's our turn now" he said.
There was a mixture of looks on the faces of the Great family heads (which by the way, includes Darryl and Marlon), there was relief, disbelief and a struggle to believe Hal could pull something off.
After all, other than the forty Blood Knights and the ladies, Hal had had no one else present.
Hal ignored those looks and turned to see the ladies were already standing and smiling at him.
He gestured to the edge of the Hill and the ladies of pleasure inn unleashed purple sensual flames that shrouded their forms, after which, led by Camilla and Irina, they all combined their flames in what soon became a colossal ball of flames.
It remained there and continued to rotate and then they tossed it.
Not to the Flame Demons who had now paused and looked to be preparing to go after the retreating Great Family forces, but to those that were behind them and had not taken the Pill.
*Boooommmm*
The explosion was immensely large and with it came the lustful combustion of at least Twenty Plebeians.
A change that caused San to sit up and his eyes to twitch. He looked to the ladies who were now charging up another attack and frowned as he realized what they had done in the Mansion was a mere hint of their full capabilities.
He gripped the handles atop his chair on the palanquin and fought the urge to attack them.
He needed to save himself for the Malevolent One or more accurately, Hal.
If Hal knew this though, he would have been quite flattered that even after killing the Strongest Man in the City, San still took him as a serious threat.
Granted, San had not delivered the final blow but he had facilitated it nonetheless.
Emily looked upon the combustion and nodded in appreciation.
But Hal was not done.
The sound of footsteps drew the attention of those Plebeians who were attempting to escape the range of attack of the Semi-succubi who was charging up another Ball of lustful flames.
The footsteps belonged to a thousand Man force who dashed out together from the surroundings and went around the Great family Forces who looked quite fearful as the flame Demons got ever closer.
They did not need to be told as they all moved back and allowed the newcomers to come between them and the Flame Demons.
After that, the forty Blood Knights who had retreated after absorbing the Essence of the dead Payne Men and the Plebeians they killed came back out to stand before the thousand man force.
At the forefront of the thousand Man force were Scarface, Rickety and the Fair lady. The Fair Lady was standing on a side of which was mostly populated by females and most of them used to be a part of her gang.
The respect they had for her seemed not to have faded.
The arrival of this thousand Man force caused San's eyes to narrow further.
Hal on the other hand was grinning. Of all those who were here, there was none with Cultivation lower than the Early stage of the Cosmic Pearl Realm.
While it might have cost him quite a bit of Gold to upgrade their techniques, at least none of them had let him down.
Hal bestowed them with the Semi-Fiend Bloodline and made them into Blood Knights that were to fight under the first Forty.
Out of the First forty, Hal created a hierarchical system with twenty of them as captains, 19 of them as Lieutenants...
"Karmen" Hal called out, opting for vocals instead of telepathy as he retrieved an Ornate violet Broadsword from his Inventory and tossed it to her.
Karmen raised her hand and caught the Broadsword that was once the Payne Family heirloom Artifact, just as Hal said,
"Lead them"
...and sealed Karmen as their Commander to lead them in Battle.
Karmen grinned and bowed as she cradled the Broadsword, not because it was an Armament Rank Artifact, but because it was bestowed to her by her Master.
"I shall" and with that, the Blood Knights fell into formation as all their eyes turned Blood-Red and released fog of the same color just as the Flame Demons reached them and made to attack.
Karmen infused the Broadsword with Cosmic Energy and it lit up as she swung it and beheaded the first to reach her.
After that...
...it truly became a battle of Demons.