Chapter 180 - Conquest
Finally calm after creating his latest Class skill, Harvey managed to get a few hours of sleep before waking up to his father pounding on the door.
“Cash is here,” Steve explained. “He says we need to gear up and get to the line.”
His mother pushed through the door behind him, pulling Harvey out of bed.
“Has the attack already started?” Harvey asked.
“You guys can talk on the way. Go wake up Tyler. I’ll help him strap his armor on,” Cassandra urged.
Harvey strained to pull the heavily padded gambeson he wore under his plate armor over his head while his mom struggled to dissect the pile of silver that he’d dumped on the bed beside him. Outside his bedroom window, he saw the stone gargoyles sitting atop the belltower stirring, filling the air with their grating screeches as the cumbersome bells began to ring. The few humans roaming the streets all darted back into their houses, moving straight for the basement bunkers each family was instructed to hide inside until the alarms abated.
“Good morning,” Cash said, turning to jog down the driveway as three heavily-armored Thornes rushed out the front door.
“Hell couldn’t at least let us sleep in a little?” Tyler complained.
“Our scouts reported that their final batch of reinforcements for the week has already arrived, but we haven’t seen them leave the wall yet,” Cash explained.
“So you’re saying I had time to eat breakfast?” Tyler groaned.
“Better safe than sorry,” Harvey replied. “Hell’s got enough advantages as it is. I don’t see them giving us extra time to prepare.
With most of the other angels living near Elysium, the suburban streets leading to the front lines were a ghost town. It made the constant alarm sound even more ominous as they felt alone in responding to the demon threat. It wasn’t until they reached the gates where an army of angels was streaming out of the underground teleporters that hope began to return. They didn’t stop, running right out of the gates until they reached the line of Cathedral Beetles and Marblebacks that formed Heaven’s defensive wall.
“Cash! Harvey!” Celeste called out. Harvey scanned the area, following the sound of her voice until they spotted her standing atop one of the massive marble tortoises. Sturdy wooden ladders had been leaned against the back of their shells, with rifle-bearing angels clambering up to take defensive positions behind the many ridges atop the shell. The four of them ran over and scrambled up the ladder to meet Celeste.
“Where’s our backup?” Harvey asked as he took her outstretched hand and let himself be pulled up.
“On its way,” she replied.
“Why aren’t they here already?” he exclaimed.
“The floodtusks are a little slow,” she glared before her eyes moved to the gates behind them. “See for yourself.”
Harvey turned to see a massive, pearl-white elephant stomping onto the battlefield. Six golden tusks protruded from its maw, adding to the regal appearance of pristine silver armor covering its face and trunk. Glowing blue lines that reminded him of inscribed arrays covered their backs, resembling rivers of flowing water. Each step left a shallow hole in the grass, and he saw angels frantically moving out of their way as the elephants took their place behind the wall of cathedral beetles.
“Floodtusk? Like Noah’s Ark?” Steve asked.
“We couldn’t afford enough to drown Hell completely, but that’s the basic idea,” Celeste replied.
A blur of silver and blue shot out of the gate behind them, soaring high into the air and circling overhead. Harvey saw massive birds larger than any he’d ever seen, almost looking like small fighter jets that shot through the sky in impossible patterns. 3 sets of wings beat in obscure rhythms, causing lightning to dance across the feathers as they grazed against one another.
“Fulgur Phoenix,” Cash gasped.
“The heralds of the scouring storm,” Celeste whispered.
Harvey could barely make them out because of their extreme speed, but was mesmerized by the runic lightning patterns left in their wake.
Finally tearing his eyes away from the birds, he looked back at the gate to see the next wondrous creature Heaven conjured up. More angels continued to stream out of the gate, looking less like hardened soldiers and more like Sunday school teachers who’d been handed a gun. He kept waiting for a group of giants wielding flaming swords or a golden dragon that breathed smiting fire, but nothing ever came.
“This is it?” He asked incredulously.
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“This is the best we could do,” Celeste replied.
He wanted to complain, but knew that wasn’t going to help them now. At least he could see the plan the angels were going for, flooding the battlefield so the lightning bolts rained down by their limited number of phoenixes could roast large swaths all at once. Each of the Marblebacks, Cathedral Beetles, Floodtusks, and Fulgur Phoenixes had to be expensive, so all he could do was hope that the quality of Heaven’s forces could overcome the sheer quantity of demons heading their way.
“What did the scouts see? Any idea what we’re up against?” Cash asked.
Celeste’s shoulders slumped as they moved to take their place at the front of the shell. Harvey had taken out his guns, infusing his will into the revolver with Awakened Armament and letting it go to hover beside him while he made some last-minute checks on his shotgun. He hadn’t had time to inscribe it yet, leaving the three fully charged essence crystals embedded in the receiver serving as nothing more than decoration, but that wouldn’t stop him from firing his newly inscribed slugs.
“Yes. It looks like most of their essence was spent reinforcing the existing contingents of Helltaurs, Brimfiends, and Mortarhorns, along with a new batch of Hellhounds,” she began.
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Tyler said.
“They also saw one of the horsemen,” she sighed.
“What!” Adrian blurted, speaking for the first time since they arrived.
“Which one? They only saw one, right?” Cash asked.
“Conquest. The scout ran as soon as she saw it, but when there’s one, you can assume the rest aren’t far behind,” Celeste confirmed.
“Wait,” Harvey interjected. “Are you talking about THE horsemen? Like the four horsemen of the apocalypse?”
“Not the real ones,” Cash explained. “They were all A-Grade beings who were killed a long time ago, but each left behind a powerful path that many demons have chosen to follow since.”
“Here in the integration trials, Hell can spend most of a day’s essence to conjure centaurs that resonate with the paths of the original horsemen. My instructor told me about them, but said they’re almost never seen because they’re essentially useless on their own. They need an army…” Celeste trailed off as the bustling army of angels went still.
It was hard to feel the ground rumbling beneath their feet as they stood atop the marbleback's shell, but he could see the leaves hanging from the few still-standing trees begin to shake as thunder roared in the distance. Heaven’s army stood close to the silver gates, stretching across their former territory, which had been lost to the demon’s attacks. Thus, they couldn’t see the wall of gluthogs or the army pouring out from behind it far in the distance. The fact that they could hear them from this far away did not bode well.
“Weapons at the ready!” Celeste shouted, pulling a rifle from her slipsack instead of drawing the sword sheathed at her waist. This was going to be a long battle, so the more demons they could kill with money instead of essence, the better. Steve and Tyler both did the same, while Cash got to work buffing them with the dense, colored smoke pouring from his silver censer. Harvey loaded both his revolver and his shotgun with Heaven’s Wrath rounds before pulling out one of the normal rifles he’d looted from the sinners he killed that first day he arrived in Heaven.
[You need to build a sniper next. I know you’re sticking to bolt-action until we have time to iron out some semi-automatic guns, but we could really use the range.]
One thing at a time.
The roar of footsteps grew louder with each passing moment, soon joined by the exultant howls of a ravenous pack of hellhounds. They were the first creatures to pour past the rubble, barking as they finally laid eyes on their prey.
Booming explosions were met with gouts of golden fire rising from the ground, spraying earth and flesh into the air where the angels had apparently buried IEDs. Despite his experience with the practice back in Veils End, Harvey hadn’t taken part in setting up traps around the battlefield. He’d been too busy with his other projects, but was happy to see that the hosts of Heaven had taken his advice. The scattered explosions did little more than thin out the advanced attackers, but every demon life lost to yesterday’s essence was a win.
“Fire!” Celeste screamed as hundreds of rifles flashed simultaneously, sending silver screaming through the air. The sound startled Harvey enough to make him clamp down on the trigger, knocking his aim off target. Luckily, there was no shortage of bodies charging their way, making it harder to miss than to land a decent hit.
As they fired, Floodtusks sidled up to the Cathedral Beetle's backs, extending their trunks over the stained glass shells and unleashing a torrent of water. Most fell to the ground, sending a tidal wave of water out to meet the charge. The rest turned to mist that rose high in the sky, rapidly forming dark clouds that blocked out the perpetual daylight shining down from above. Flashes of lightning began to arc between the clouds as the Fulgur phoenixes fluttered through them, rapidly transforming the lazy mist into a roiling thunderstorm. Rain shot out of the clouds like bullets, each drop locking onto the closest demon and darting right for their heads.
The incessant wave of attacks flying from Heaven’s wall sent the loping hellhounds tumbling into the dirt only to be swept away by the torrent of water stained red with blood and rubble.
“What are they doing?” Harvey shouted over the cacophony of gunfire.
“Testing the waters,” Cash yelled back, pointing out a dense pack charging into view.
The hellhounds so far were scattered and ravenous, completely unheeding of the danger they were charging into. The pack Harvey saw approaching was coordinated, loping together in such perfect synch that his mind couldn’t comprehend it.
Charging in the center of the pack was a centaur. 10 feet tall, with white horse-hair covering his lower half and golden armor covering his human torso. Flowing black hair danced behind him as he charged forward, effortlessly drawing a titanic longbow back to his cheek. Harvey saw the manic glint in his eye as he released the bowstring.
Every squad fighting atop the marblebacks had a healthy mix of Templars, Sentinels, and other specialties. The arrow wasn’t flying towards their own tortoise, but Harvey watched in horror as the golden shield that rose to meet the projectile shattered, barely impeding its flight as it split the helmet of the sentinel who conjured it.
Conquest laughed with delight before drawing another arrow from the tall quiver on his back and nocking it onto his bow.
Harvey noticed Tyler turning to point his gun at the horseman and snatched the barrel away before he could pull the trigger. At first, he looked angry, but the grave nod Harvey gave him softened his gaze. Harvey pulled his head in close before whispering in his ear.
“Dad won’t survive one of those, but we both know he’ll try. Let’s avoid getting any sent our way.”