Hero Scout 33 Chapter 33 - They Came At Nigh

Kenji waited in the dark, Hartog having ordered every candle and lantern to be covered.

A dozen ranged Guild members waited in their strange tree forts, while a dozen more had mostly vanished into the night. Distantly, Kenji heard clacking bones nearing, the sounds of screams piercing through the night air and his pounding heart in his ears most of all.

"Tenko, Violet, we go all out tonight. Understood?"

Both nodded.

"Kenji, we should send them away," Tenko whispered as she pulled at his sleeve.

Turning, Kenji found several children clutching kitchen knives, saucepans and old farming equipment. The oldest was the buck-toothed kid, but the youngest couldn't be more than four years old.

"She's right you know," Kenji said fully aware of how keen the senses of this Guild's adventurers were. The buck-toothed boy just stuck out his tongue while he clutched his stave. At his side the wicked girl with a thing for knives muttered in their ears quickly, swatting one or another until they rearranged their grip and nodded approval when they finally got ready.

"Leave the fighting to us," Kenji insisted, the girl finally turning to him with the deepest hatred Kenji had ever seen. Her eyes were filled with poisonous derision, a milder version reverberating in the other child soldiers.

"And allow our family to be butchered in there, then raised again? Not on your life - outsider."
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Kenji lowered his shoulders, the term having hurt quite a bit more than he had expected.

"You don't know what you're doing, you're as likely to get in the way as to help. Please, head inside," Kenji said, forcing a smile, needing them to heed his words as the horrible sounds of fighting grew nearer. A man's sudden shriek that cut off as quickly as it come unnerved him greatly, and yet the children held firm, their eyes too hard for their age.

"You weren't here during the plague years," the wicked girl hissed and pointed a jagged knife at him. "You weren't here when people died all over, and kids had to watch their parents turn into monsters. You weren't here when the Plague King appeared, and the King Thundberad had to send in the Royale army to stop this whole region turning into a gigantic festering pit of death!"

Kenji stepped away, the intensity of her eyes, the hoa.r.s.e nature of her voice, and the determination of the children, too much to bear.

"We are the orphans from that time. No matter how many found work in town, there wasn't enough when half of everyone - half of our world - turned into a monster! You call us kids, well some of us killed our parents when they tried to eat us! How about that, what have you done to be so confident of protecting us?"

Kenji strode forward and put a hand on her knife.

"[Blessing-Fire]," Kenji muttered...and yet no flame appeared.

The girl snarled at him.

"[Blessing-fire] [Blessing-fire] [Blessing-fire] what the h.e.l.l is going on?" Kenji pulled his fiery hair back as he looked over the annoyed child soldiers. "Sorry, I had meant to set your weapons on fire so that you could fight better. It's always worked before..."

A sudden light swept across the land, and another, and another.

Turning around, Kenji's mouth fell open and his eyes became filled with pure, blazing, all-consuming fury. Seven flaming crucifixes had lit up the night, their non-human sacrifices screaming like banshees as the fire ate at their bodies.

As...holy fire ate at their bodes.

"What kind of sick, twisted, evil G.o.d gives it's powered TO A NECROMANCER?" Kenji roared, the dead of night now alive with fighting. The Guildmembers were too few to deal with the grand wave of skeletons, zombies and Ghouls that attacked in packs.

Then the crucifixes started to move, each a different screaming path on-route to the Headless Hunter guildhall. The blood drained from Kenji's face as he turned around to stare at the old dry wood of the barely standing structure, fully aware that even a lick of flame would turn the whole thing into a smouldering pyre.

"They can't let them get here - everyone inside will be burned alive!" Kenji announced, but there were no senior Guildmembers nearby. Too many were already embroiled in battle.

While Kenji could make out Jed leading a band of guildmembers as he sent blasts of dark magic towards one crucifix [F], the snake-woman lithely pa.s.sing all in her path towards another [F] and Hartog smas.h.i.+ng his way to a third [E], it would not be enough. And even if they destroyed them all, what was to stop the Necromancer from setting her Ghouls alight and throwing them against their lines until one got through?

That's why Kenji's eyes narrow on the figure standing atop a brute with a claymore. Around her were three packs of the largest and most feral Ghouls, some bristling with armour. And yet, it was the only way.

"Kids, I leave holding the line here in your hands. The plan was always about me getting to the leader anyway, so just hold the fort while we take down the boss," Kenji gestured to Tenko and Violet. Violet had already summoned her crystal knight and Tenko swiftly transformed into her giant wolf form.

Focusing, Kenji started speaking at breakneck speed.

"[sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] [sight] -"

[Enough! Crusader, you are forbidden from using your abilities against a higher ranking member of my congregation. Cease your prayers, and resume them only once harmony is found again within my flock.]

"You...won't let me use your powers to save people...because the Necomancer is of a higher rank...?" Kenji said with complete disbelief.

[This is how it has always been. Your enemy is not each other, but those who would deny my light in their hearts]

"Then I denounce you," Kenji whispered, feeling only troubled agreement from Arthur.

[Denounce me? You would dare jest of such a serious thing?]

It felt like a bell rung within Kenji, as he pushed on with this decision.

"I DENOUNCE you! I denounce what you stand for! I d.a.m.n YOU AND YOUr WRETCHED KIND INTO AN ENDLESS TORMENT for daring to think I should hold back from saving innocents from evil!"

Something broke within Kenji. And when it was gone...Kenji felt somehow free.

"Are you ok, Kenji?" Violet whispered, looking concerned.

"I'm fine, just had to have a few stern words with a G.o.d. Now, let's start the plan - OH! Do not get hurt! Like, more than normal, because I have the feeling my patron G.o.d will no longer heal your wounds for me," Kenji tried to look sheepish, but he was too proud to care.

Today, he had stood up to a G.o.d. So what chance did a Holy Necromancer stand?