Butcher's Graffiti 6 Battle At The City Of Enkka Part 2

It has will, memory and sentience. But the insatiable hunger she felt, the never-ending famish she was met with the first breath of air she took. It took form in her mind and morphed her actions savage, like a dictating voice she couldn't disobey.

Search and Destroy.

Feed and Satisfy.

She immediately realized her abominable nature after having devoured her summoner. The first taste of flesh was like nectar, a drug she would never return from.

u003c'The sweetest form of nourishment.'u003e the queen thought as she snagged another one of her children, tearing it apart to snack on the juicy innards.

The prey had cowardly barricaded themselves in the middle of an artificial inferno. The ghouls she'd given birth to were the perfect couriers for efficient gathering of more food. A certain amount of nutrition allowed her to produce temporary troops that lasted for about two weeks before crumpling up like dried paper.

A few hours had pa.s.sed by and she telepathically knew that about a thousand of her children had died. From what she 'saw' by telepathically linking with her p.a.w.n's senses, the humans possessed weapons that dealt with her ghouls from a great distance. They were also adept manipulating the mana of the earth near the only open path, creating whips of mud that la.s.soed her ghouls into the inferno.

She was aware of the clear disadvantage of her situation. However, the children she'd sent in were the first few thousands that she'd born from destroying the Hovarin Kingdom nearly two weeks ago.

These thousands will become useless in another day or so, that's why she chose to instead make use of them now than travel to farther lands in search of other prey.

This intelligence was directly linked to how much she's fed.

Having devoured an entire kingdom with a population of about 600, 000 people was an unprecedented edge it was blessed with. Defenses fell helplessly to the surprise. Because even if they had powerful heroes, mystic and technologically advanced weaponry, the swarm grew way too fast thanks to having been summoned below a populated area.

CRUNCH

u003c'It's time!'u003e she slithered, commanding her children to intensify their advance.

.

Officer Rovan Quill could not understand how he ended up getting a.s.signed in the firing squad. In the heat of the moment after listening to the commander's moral-raising speech, the other soldiers went ecstatic. Their sudden enthusiasm led to fist b.u.mps and intense manly handshakes.

One thing lead to another and now here he was firing his 161st volley. The bodies of the dead ghouls had become quite the pile near the castle gates and had become some sort of barricade that stopped the from entering.

However, it turned to be double-edged sword.

Fatigue had been straining the soldiers for a while now. Wether it was from the multiple recoils they received from firing, the pressure of keeping their shots consistent and accurate, or the endless cycle of casting spells and restoring their mana pool with potions. Everyone was way past their human limit and was running on sheer will.

Major Rodrick himself was running out of profanities. Having to swear for nearly 4 hours straight, the major was left with nothing more than shallow words of encouragement.

So when the mana potions ran out and the first mage fell out of exhaustion, the entire squadron fell into despair. To make things worse, the amount of ghouls pouring in from the gates began to significantly increased.

"BACK TO YOUR POSTS MEN!! DO NOT LET THE SACRIFICE OF OTHERS BE IN VAIN!!

DEFEND THE FORT!!" the commander shouted, prompting the soldier to continue firing.

The chaos that Rodrick was seeing scared him. Not the monsters, not the explosions, nor the gunfire. It was seeing his men carry themselves into action despite the despondency of their situation. He was the one who brought them here, one last stand to their graves.

"ARRGH!! GET SOME, MOTHERf.u.c.kERS!!!"

Rovan was p.i.s.sed.

"NO WAY IN h.e.l.l I'M DYING HERE!!"

He was really tired. In his head, he was counting all the unlucky events and misfortune he'd gone through in the span of four days. Coupled with having been placed in battle against his will, the man's annoyance outweighed his cowardice.

The unexpected fits of rage from the most unlikely man in the room caused the other soldiers to laugh and regain some fighting spirit. They were able to recover from the shock of seeing one of their own fall, their drive to live restored.

As the battle continued however, they noticed how the new wave of ghouls were different.

It became harder to kill them. Some, after having been tossed into the flames, return alive despite suffering from fatal burns. They were bigger, tougher, and more oriented.

Three more mages fell victim to exhaustion. The spare guns had run out, no more cannonb.a.l.l.s to fire, potions were almost gone, and the remaining ammunition wouldn't last them for longer.

One ghoul was able to bypa.s.s their defenses. It used the pile of dead bodies to leap and reach for the firing squad.

It was dead before it could hit the ground, but a soldier was snagged away from the line-up and fell to his death. Their day had just gone from dire to hopeless.

More and more ghouls began to follow suit. Most of them died before causing any harm, while some were able to slowly but surely reduce the human's numbers.

The fire had been put out and the rain had stopped as well. The monsters could now attack from whichever side and had begun to swarm on the burnt city. The Queen herself stood atop the outer walls and cackled like lions roared.

TROAAKAKAKAKAAA

The humans were down from 139 troops to just 52 able-bodied men. Commander Rodrick decided for them to abandon post and retreat to the topmost level of the castle, carrying the remaining ammunition and explosives together with their wounded and exhausted comrades.

They jammed the stairs up after detroying it with a grenade, limiting the monsters to just scaling the castle walls. They did what best they could at the moment to add makes.h.i.+ft barrides along the edges of the roof and postioned themselves accordingly. Wounded and immobile men were gathered in the middle together with the last of their resources while those able to move lined up around them.

There wasn't enough guns for every soldier so some just comforted themselves by wielding a knife or a sword at ready.

Gunfire defeaned their hearing, their hands were numb from recoil and they were both physically and mentally exhausted. Their thoughts were a haze and only the adrenaline kept their senses out of blur.

Shoot. Kill. Reload.

Their lives flashed before their eyes as bodies of white and tar-like blood filled the roof. For each pa.s.sing second, a life was taken. Whether it be ghoul or human, black and red blood flooded the floor. A gigantic, four-clawed hand crashed against one side of the castle, causing tremors as a one sinister, vertical eye stared at them like it could see their souls.

Honourable Suicide. Major Rodrick had set his heart, deciding to implement Protocol No. 1642 of the Imperial Military of the Orophrus Empire.

A final course of action stating that "If the commanding officer of a unit deems victory in situational cases of combat as worthless struggle, he/she may command the unit to forfeit their lives to prevent any information about the empire may be leaked to opposing forces.

There were 3 remaining GK30 Impact Gravity Mine, the latest development of the Empire's Engineering department specifically designed to kill these creatures, left in their a.r.s.enal.

"...how dare you...?" a deep hatred grew inside of him, tears streaming from his eyes as he glared back at the Queen.

"You can take our lives. You can rip off our limbs and shred our flesh.

WILL NEVER! TAINT OUR HONOR—!!!"

What looked like another humongous yet human-looking hand shocked him to his core and cut him short. A bright golden aura was emanating from it as it grabbed the queen's face by the mouth.

"ah."

BBOOOOOOMMMM

.

Bastian and Phillis were standing outside the palace on the eastward gardens, beside one of the cannons which had its barrel peeled violently like a banana.

"..."

"..."

Bastian was looming over what method should he address Phillis with his current state.

"...um, Sir? Would you care for a cup of tea—?"

"I'm pretty crazy myself, aren't I? Bastian?" he said, looking at the clouds that had been parted into two sides.

"Well, you certainly are significantly unique in your ways. Sir."

"...mhm."

"However, it has time and time again, proven to be extremely effective and...*cough* charming *cough*...quirk of your personage."

Phillis folded his arms together, nodding in agreement.

"But Sir Nikolai is...well, I wouldn't have any description appropriate for his volatile nature."

"Mm. Mm! I know, right!? " he continued nodding.

"That guy, he's just...he's insane!!" pointing both his hands to the demolished cannon that was supposedly a relic from the Old War.

"Who in the right mind would ever think to suggest turning themselves into a cannonball for an artillery designed to defend against heavy infantry from both land and air. With the added possibility of getting eradicated from the face of the planet with not even dust remaining. Does anyone come to mind? I mean, now I feel sorry for the cannon instead!"

"Well, someone certainly does now." Bastian heartily chuckled to himself, halting when he noticed Phillis' glare.

"Where's the child?" called out Amira. She had fixed her hair into a loose bun with a blue ribbon, emphasizing her effortless beauty.

"I have taken her to rest in one of the best guest accommodations in the palace. She is currently asleep." answered Bastian, bowing and making way for the Empress.

Amira came to look at the cannon and the parted clouds as well, her eyes flickering with light. When Nikolai suggested such a course of action, she felt relieved somehow. In a way, she felt a.s.sured that he hadn't changed dramatically despite raising a child. Still the same fearless and reckless man she knew, willing to take unthinkable risks.

"Is she aware?" she asked.

"...strangely, yes. From what I recall, on our way to the to her room she stopped and looked at an odd direction, presumably where Sir Nikolai was at the time. The she uttered the words:

Papà wants to help those men. He's gonna use that cannon.

I found it quite unsettling. Personally, when I was informed of the the plan to launch him using the cannon, I was convinced that the young miss must have been gifted with an ability similar to yours, milady." Bastian explained.

Amira sighed, touching the emerald on her necklace. It lit up, detached itself and floated in front of them, projecting a hologram consisted of complicated equations and multiple other scenarios that the Lord herself predicted.

"Booting up that dusty relic took about an hour and a half, calculating the trajectory and the amount of explosive force required to generate the lift we needed took 15 minutes. The actual preparation for the launch took 2 hours due to some faulty mechanisms within the cannon that had to be fixed or replaced and Nicholas was a tight fit in the barrel, so it took some time." she explained as she manipulated the semi-transparent screen made of Light and s.p.a.ce Enchantments.

As she said the final line, Phillis couldn't help himself but laugh.

"I-I'm sorry, I can't help it.—"

"He will be airborne for nearly 15 minutes with the help of the Glide Spell that he's maintaining. He should—no, he will arrive at exactly dawn." her pride had been badly hurt from the previous faulty predictions she's made regarding the ghouls.

She sighed, again.

"Let's hope those soldiers last long enough till then."

.

Everything happened so suddenly.

From what they barely saw, a star had pa.s.sed by overhead and grabbed the Queen along with it.

The sheer force and speed at which it pa.s.sed blew away those who didn't have stable ground.

The city gates were destroyed following the impact's trajectory. A large crater was all that remained of it, with Nikolai dragging the Queen Ghoul by its crushed head. It was barely squirming and was half-dead. Its body was dilapidated by the crash and yet the man was unscathed.

He lifted her up, grasping her by the face with his hand so wide that it was enough to cover her head. Nikolai pitched it up high into the air and prepared to catch with a good old uppercut.

By this time the other ghouls had reached Nikolai and enveloped him like bees stabbing and stinging.

The queen smiled to herself.

She didn't know who this human is, where he came from, or if he is even human at all. She was in a daze due to all of that force tantamount to a metoer crash slamming on her head. If she hadn't moved her brain away in that moment, she'd be finished. Now she just has to recover her strength as much as possible with the help of her children.

WOMMM

The swarm was literally flattened to the ground as the gravity around Nikolai multiplied fifteen times over. The queen wasn't exempt to the effects of his spell, accelerating her fall to a stupefying degree.

"...Lifeburn—!"

WHACK