Chapter 37 - Dierac

Chaos had come to devour the small town of Dierac

The sound of homes burning crackled in the air.

The stench of blood permeated the surroundings.

And now balls of fire lit up the sky, unleashed by those bastards surely.

We didn't even see how they shot those!

The walls have fallen. What are we going to do?

Clara was panicking, she was tired, Dean had collapsed, she didn't even know how he was able to hold on for that long.

She didn't know what to do anymore.

Where was Silva?

Right, he had left earlier because of that report.

Why isn't he back yet? It's been two days!

She didn't want to believe that this was happening to them. Both of them would fight for the bitter end for their family. When the Warlock had come, he had brought a hundred of those monsters, the couple had accepted that they wouldn't get through this day without a scratch.

Where is my son?

The fort was their hail mary. The moment they got there they would hold their last stand. If they failed, the whole town would perish. They weren't sure if they were going to survive, the forces that the Warlock had were far stronger than their guards. The pair themselves were the only ones that we're able to stand up to them.

They came out of nowhere.

From the shadows, an army suddenly emerged.

Is my mother okay?

They slaughtered everything, from the animals they raised as pets, to the ones they eat, up to the people they call neighbors.

Dean was able to organize a response team pretty quickly. Without him cordoning off parts of the town with his walls. Everyone would have died then and there. And even after that, he had helped the townsfolk retreat to the fort. And even then, less than half had escaped.

Did my sister make it to the fort in time?

We wouldn't have made it to the fort if that silver armored guy didn't come and save us.

Who is he? He said his name was Red, well he does look the part. But why is he in front of me?

When did he get here?

Where was Dean?

What was happening again?

Where am I?

~~~

"Hey! Wake up, snap out of it, talk to me!"

Curtis didn't want to delay any longer. Sure, he had killed all the remaining enemies, the two Chaos leaders had retreated. But who knew when they were going to come back?

He had directly scaled the walls, the guards were too frozen in fear to react to him. I mean, who wouldn't be scared after flaming balls of fire had been launched at them. They had just fought for their life a minute ago, they had thought they were saved when Curtis arrived, and now the walls that protected them had come crumbling down to the ground.

All sense of security that they had recovered after taking shelter behind the walls had evaporated.

"Her brain's fried. Is there anyone here that I can talk to here?" Curtis shouted at the guards. Time was running out. They were safe here if the walls had held. But, now that they had fallen, they needed to move.

He was far too familiar with Chaos' tactics by now. Sally and Edna were drilling his head with knowledge about their enemy for years. It would have been strange if he didn't know what was going to happen next.

The party that he had just annihilated was a rank II attack party. It was meant to probe whatever defenses this town had. If it was weak they could just take over the town and be done with it. But, if the defenses were too much to handle, they would send the horde.

Now the horde was a problematic matter, it had roughly 3-5 thousand walking corpses. Bodies that were barely alive thanks to Chaos' influence. The number would depend on how serious of a threat they were to their cause.

And the horde would be the only thing that comes if he was lucky. Curtis didn't even want to think what might come if he was down on his luck today.

Curtis was combing the walls for any soldier that wasn't shitting his pants when the sky had suddenly lit up with streaks of lightning. It was an unnatural scene. Among the sky, a brighter, thicker strand of lightning had moved. It traveled from the far side of the sky up to outside the town.

Observing the scene, a bad feeling crept up his spine. That wasn't a normal bolt of lightning. That was an ability user!

The lightning had stretched out from outside the town up into the sky again, this time moving towards the fort.

The lightning had moved quickly and soon it came down onto the wall. Right, where Curtis had left the babbling woman. That was bad, if that bolt of lightning was an enemy, she was done for. She wouldn't have been able to defend herself in that state.

He needed to protect her. He had already come late to save the town, he must at least ensure that they are safe now that he is here.

Curtis rushed back to where he had left her, and right as the bolt of lightning had struck, he reached her position.

In front of him was a man, he had a tall but scrawny build, if the wind blew too hard he might fall kind of scrawny, sharp facial features, and wore a black tailcoat paired with black slacks. He was looking worse for wear, clothes tattered, his slacks were not even in length anymore, but his appearance didn't hide the aura he possessed. It was sharp and fine like a cutting knife.

He was holding up the archer that Curtis tried to talk to earlier. His expression looked serious. He was whispering something to her. Curtis couldn't hear what it was because he covered himself with his aura.

"Hey, who ar-"

Before Curtis could ask who he was, the man moved.

Out of pure reflex, Curtis held up his ax.

Metal hit metal.

Sparks flew in the air.

He's fast!

With a push from his weapon both parties retreated. Curtis's strength was no laughing matter. He even thought he heard a bone crack from that push.

Curtis' eyes turned red, he focused on getting his ability kickstarted, ready for its use at any moment. He shot a glare at the man who had attacked him. Blue eyes that surged with power met his gaze.

The tailcoat man put himself in between Curtis and the female archer, obviously, he didn't want Curtis anywhere near her. That much was obvious from his actions.

He didn't want to waste time.

Chaos doesn't wait for anyone.

It was going to be a tough fight. Curtis estimated the man to be just as strong as him. But, his ability was tricky. Lighting was a rare ability, in all his time in Candelabra, he had only met 2 other people who had that element.

Lightning was considered a speed ability. Like Wind, it boasted the power to enhance the user to move faster. Wind was useful in group fights as it can enhance other people, while lightning only enhanced the user, it could boost him to a ridiculous degree. But it lacked punch. Sure you could condense the ability to a single point and release it to create a bigger effect. But, it still wouldn't be as destructive as Fire that boasted the highest damaging ability.

In the span of 5 seconds since their disengagement. Curtis already made up his mind. He wouldn't go easy on him. He would knock him out now, and ask questions later.

The man was fast. But, even at his fastest right now, he wouldn't be as fast as Sally. That strike of his earlier had been proof of that. He must have thought of him as an enemy, hatred, and grief had fueled that attack, and it would have hit if Curtis wasn't used to that level of speed.

That should have been his peak attack speed. And he could have only done it because of his emotions. People do tend to reach their limits when faced with extreme circumstances.

Sure he was still faster than Curtis. But, with Curtis' experience in fighting fast opponents, he had the upper hand. Sally had always beat the shit out of him in training. With one move he would try to decide the victor. A prolonged fight benefited no one but Chaos

From what he looks like now, he must be exhausted. Curtis could almost say the same for himself, he had just released 2 of his most powerful attacks earlier. He was still feeling a bit winded, especially after cleaning up the rest of the enemies.

But, he can't pull any punches now, friend or foe, Curtis just hopes that he'll survive long enough to take a closer look at what was happening.

And so, Curtis charged.