Beaten and bruised, pushed past breaking point and maybe past death's threshold if their saving grace hadn't showed up.
All the casualties were helping themselves off the battleground with little will they had left. But just like before, a massive heat blast was shot out from a distance.
Those that were yet to take cover have braced themselves with hopes of surviving this attack at least, so they could take cover at a safe place.
The blast mowed everything in it path - from melting scrap, to viciously ploughing the ground beneath - so keen on hitting it target. However, before it could blow them to splinter, a shield from nowhere incorporated the attack.
The power expelled by the collision, cause an influx of shockwaves tinted in a spectrum to be discharge outward, instantly clearing the wreckage around.
The shield wielder however, skidded across the ground, screeching to a crouching halt an inch before the incapacitated cavaliers.
"Gustavus, with all due respect, we have cleaning to do. Please help your men out of our hairs, so we can do our jobs efficiently." The shielder warned in the voice of a bogeyman.
"Unless of course, you wonna be listed as part of collateral damage." With his last words and a powerful thud, he shot from his spot with his well conditioned legs, almost appearing inhumane as was the display of his feats moments ago.
That blast should have ripped anything in it path to splints, but a single soldier in armor had taken the blunt attack head on.
The ground beneath his feat barge in a little from the hop, however like a trampoline, it served as great support; For the knight in question had edged a great deal towards the demon who attack, from just one power jump.
The adjudicators are an elite, special ops division of the cavaliers with the single goal of eradicating monsters—anything above peak human potential that doesn't act in humanity's best interests. They're all rated 'S', however, even within that rank, there are three classes: the single S-rated, double S-rated and triple S-rated adjudicators. And it is a no brainer to think their level of capabilities varied greatly.
However, in general, adjudicators enjoy their pick of weapons, the best inventions and modifications borne by the advancement of the retro technology of this era, and a free hand in carrying out their ops. They cared no more for the locals than they do themselves, and with the way they ventured carelessly into danger spoke volumes of the fact that they were expendable, replaceable at any point in time.
They leave a mark of death and destruction everywhere they go, and all the losses are labeled as collateral damage and pushed under the desk. Therefore, they were only dispatched when there were no alternative in sight and sacrificing a few to keep safe the kingdom seemed like a the best option.
Speaking of locals, the hive was devoid of them. It seemed all of them had scurried into hiding: behind trees, under boulders, who knows.
Although it seemed like the attention of these demons were fixated on those dogfaces, they had an eerie feeling of being caught up in the onslaught, or much worse, the demons shifting their attention to them.
Gustavus and the more capable cavs helped their comrades out of harm's way.
The adjudicators where judges, with the will to instigate justice by sentencing their adversaries to death. Currently, there were seven of them and seven of Amon's spawns. They were evenly matched, yet there was little to no ounce of fear in these warriors, for they were monsters themselves.
A volley of huge molten rocks was blasted towards the incoming adjudicator. Noticing the approaching attack, he executed a barani - a frontal somersault with a half twist mid-air; pivoted and bounced off nothing but air. An undertone sonic boom come off his boots to change his trajectory.
With a loud clamp, he crouched inclined to the body frame of an adjacent telecom mast. His boots fastened to it walls due to it's magnetic properties.
However that meant little, because as sinuous as slithering serpents, the mountain-like demon stood dead in his face, having covered half a kilometer with a simple jump. With lava coursing through every contour of their being, a pool of it was left behind anywhere they've been.
As it landed, it drew back it arm in a full fist of despair with an abnormal twist in it body that made it look more nightmarish. Then with a graveyard cry it unleaded a devastating punch of explosive power that could be heard from a mile away.
But before the attack could connect, the magnetic boots detached and kaboom: a full frontside rotation from a front drop position was executed with both hands pivoting on the muscular arms of the demon. The quick reaction got the adjudicator out of the way and dropping fast.
Also, the momentum behind the demon's punch, kept it in the right position for a nasty drop kick from the adjudicator, as though it brainlessly flew into a claymore.
However, even though the adjudicator's quick evaluations had led him to evade the attack, he didn't account for the shockwave that followed.
The telecom mast was blown to oblivion together with everything in it's path. The aftermath sent the adjudicator tumbling across the barren floor.
Using this as an opening, the demon skittered over the wreckage, front-stepped a huge rock for support, leaped a good twenty feet over what lies between it and it's prey, and plummeted down on the adjudicator. Instead of an outburst of blood smudging all over the place, the impact caused the adjudicator to burst into a cloud of smoke.
In a distance, a similar battle unfolded. However, the adjudicator was more dominating. There was a smoke screen which had partially desipated. The head of the magma demon was seen emerging from a crater. It had a scar running down its face, with lava coursing through it. Apparently, if have been made by the silhouette of the warrior approaching in the haze.
The demon swung it arms outward, sending off lava, however, in a single blur the adjudicator vanished, reappearing from another angle. Like a phantom, the demon couldn't keep up with his ghostly shuffling.
So it decided to release a more broad attack... The debris and anything around it, began to evaporate. And after building up enough heat for one hellish heatwave, it's surroundings exploded in a scorching blaze.
Suddenly, there was an air whooshing sound drawing it's attention toward the sky, and there it witness a drawn out punch plummeting with great speed and precision, then into it's face, it was firmly planted - fair and square. How the adjudicator got so high, over all that was set ablaze was a mystery.
_____
"Hmm they are holding their own against those things quite well." Said Emerald, "I never knew a division like this existed... "
"That goes to show that there's a lot we don't know about the topside folks. " Vermillion commented.
"Honestly, for them to have such a force to match demons, is too good to be true..." said Emerald, "Either Balthazar had only enough fuel to summon these lowly minions, or the other group is really no joke. "
"Either ways, it's for the best that we didn't have to show our hands... " said Vermillion from a top the tower. "At this rate, it's but a matter of time before the demons are defeated. Besides, my hunch is that those guys have more to them, than they have displayed."
"Uh! You're such a buzz kill." Emerald lamented.
"Let's get going emy."
With that they both hopped off the tower and into the thick forest.
*****