March of The Dead (MotD)

A beacon of hope amid the chaos.

The banner of Onigas stood strong, its tattered edges doing nothing to taint the majesty of the emblem.

It served as symbol of hope and determination. The Humans began fighting to reach it, while the Demons fought to break it.

Evelyn stood tall against the sea of violence that she focused on herself.

Harper used her bow tirelessly until her arrows ran out. She fought with a dagger.

Ulex fought with his sword until the blade broke. He fought with the broken hilt.

Other Humans climbed onto the Hospital Roof, fighting off the Demons that crowded around them.

In the distance, only a fifty meters away, Evelyn spotted David. The distance that she could have traversed in only a matter of seconds, might as well have been a world away.

But it did not matter to the strange boy. At Evelyn's shout, he immediately headed for her.

His body constantly shifted, cracked, broke, and changed into parts of various creatures. Whatever was needed.

When the Demons blocked his path, his legs shifted into the furry and powerful hind legs of a Gnoll. Powered by his legs designed for a much heavier frame, he shot into the sky. His tattered shirt shredded and fell apart as two massive eagle wings sprouted from his back.

With a single flap of his wings, he shot over the battlefield. The gust from that one flap sent the unexpecting soldiers around him prone.

David nearly made it to the Hospital, but an Argalon reached up and caught one of the wings with a sickening crunch, yet the boy displayed no reaction.

Instead, the wings collapsed back into his back, melding back into his flesh, leaving behind a bloody gash on his back.

He grabbed the Argalons clenched fist, swinging around until he stood on the giant's shoulders. Four long spider legs sprouted from his back. Two shot down, stabbing through the shoulders, stabilizing the boy. The final two reached over the Argalon's head, and darted through its eyes and into its brain.

It dead without the chance to scream.

David crashed with the Argalon, his arms transforming into the razor sharp arms of a Giant Mantis. Rolling with the crash, David spun, severing the heads of two Devils while disarming a third.

The third didn't get a chance to recognize its lost arm before a Human soldier thrust his spear into its chest.

David's chest rippled and changed into the armored plates of an Armadilloite, deflecting three of the four arrows shot at him.

The fourth found a gap between the plates, remaining embedded in the flesh even after his chest reverted back to a Human.

His throat morphed, turning black with an angry red.

Breathing deeply before exhaling, David breathed a cone of fire, incinerating the four archers and several other Devils.

Finally, he finally reached the Hospital after turning his finger into a sharpened talon and cutting the throat of the last Devil standing in his way.

He stepped onto the raised platform, wounded and bleeding, but standing tall.

Evelyn hesitated.

David's flesh rolled and twisted. His face contorted, his jaw tight, yet his white eyes never left Evelyn's.

"David?"

His flesh exploded, expanding and changing rapidly. He fell to his knees, with one final act of control, his body slowed its transformation.

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He stared at Evelyn, even as the bones of his face cracked out of place, broke, and grew.

Evelyn stepped forward with worry.

"Stay!" David growled, more monster than man.

Evelyn froze.

Control slipped from him.

With a roar that shook the city, David changed.

The battlefield paused and stared as a Monster they had never seen before grew before their eyes.

Standing taller than even the Argalon. Its flesh a mess of feather, scale, fur, and hair. With a wild assortment of tentacle, claw, wing, and hand.

The head was the only part that remained a single piece, taking the form of a mighty lion with a mane of white hair.

The eyes of a predator washed over the battlefield, sending shivers down the spines of even the most battle-hardened soldier.

It roared once more, jumping into the thick of the battle. Its various natural weapons whipped into action, eviscerating, strangling, and crushing any Demon that got close and the occasional Human.

"To me!" Evelyn cried out once more, spurring the stunned Humans back into action.

Even with the out-of-control David, the Demons still outnumbered the Humans.

Evelyn saw Liam crush the skull of a Devil and climbed onto the roof. On the other side, Emma dove between a brawling pair and landed lightly on the roof.

They had a chance, but it would only be won through blood.

* * * * *

A knight cut down an Argalon with his blade and crushed the throat of a Devil with his free hand.

His armor was dented, cracked, and leaving behind pieces with each movement. The top foot of his once mighty greatsword lay imbedded in an Argalon's chest somewhere on the Outer Wall. Its edges were blunt and chipped.

Bloodless wounds dotted his body. Arrows riddled his back. His muscles burned, his breath fiery.

His body had long since reached its limit.

Yet still he fought.

Without the Mana from Alaster, Fenrir's body was mortal with all the physical limitations that came with.

Fenrir dropped the Devil and glanced around the Outer Wall.

Corpses crowded it, propped against each other and the stoneworks, limbs drapped over the battlements or edge of the wall. Many sections of the Outer Wall had already fallen to the Demons, their bridges to the Inner Wall destroyed.

Fenrir's Section was one of the last, with only a handful of Humans still standing, lonesome scarecrows protecting the field of the dead.

"To the Inner Wall." Fenrir gasped to the sergeant next to him.

The man nodded, "Lets go lads! To the Inner Wall."

Fenrir remained where he was in front of the bridge, a warning to the few remaining Demons in the section. He could hear the Demons attempting to breach into the section from the towers on either side, but the Demons here were just as exhausted as the Humans.

They stepped back and allowed the Humans to retreat without further bloodshed.

Once the last Human was across the bridge, Fenrir turned his back to the enemy and stepped foot on the wood.

Halfway across, he heard the Demons finally break through. The Demons previously in the Section stepped back to allow their fresher comrades to charge forward.

Fenrir stumbled as two more arrows slammed into his back. He ignored the pain, realizing that if his body had not been created through Necrotic Magic his organs would have long since given out.

Instead, the arrows only joined the rest.

He heard the Demons charge across the bridge behind him, but he did not turn around.

Instead, Fenrir reached the Inner Wall and turned, his broken greatsword dragging across the stone.

The Demons charged forward feverishly, eager to be the first to conquer the Inner Wall. Their desires would go unanswered.

With no Magic, this final bridge would remain, its explosive enchantments unused.

Fenrir reached the other side and grabbed his greatsword with both hands. He waited until he could feel their breath on the back of his neck before he spun around, slamming his blunt sword into the front two rows.

The wooden railing shattered, casting a dozen Devils to their death far below.

The Humans did not stand idle. They grabbed their bows and riddled either side of the bridge with arrows while others formed a spear wall on either side of Fenrir.

The Demons retreated, knowing that without Magic, they had no way to force their way through.

Instead, while under the constant barrage of arrows, they created cover from whatever debris they could on the Outer Wall, using their own dead when needed.

The battle between the Walls quickly became a battle of attrition between the archers who loosed their arrows at each other across the gap.

The melee fighters took cover, content to get as much rest as they could.

Fenrir also took cover, knowing that even his Undead Body could only take so many arrows. He walked into one of the towers on the Inner Wall. While the top of the Tower was inaccessible, the ground floor and even some of the Murder Holes on the stairs between the bottom and top of the tower remained available.

Here, the Humans were using the tower to house their own wounded. With the Hospital now surrounded by a grand melee.

Fenrir leaned his broken greatsword against the wall and sat down with a heavy thunk.

Without Ambient Mana, he was unable to communicate telepathically with Vivian. He could still feel her continued existence, so she was still alive, but he had no idea as to her status.

He did not even know if she could still fly without Magic.

A loud roar disrupted his thoughts, and he turned towards the source. Through an open gap in the tower's stone, meant to serve as a window and fresh air, Fenrir looked down into the city to see the massive battle grind to a halt to watch an abomination grow before it began its frenzy.

"At the moment, not by problem."