Mistaken for a Returnee

Aldritch sat inside a small smithy that was across the street from the former Hunters Guild building.

Though the building was old, it was in decent shape. Much better than most of the buildings he'd seen: the wooden doors and window frames were rotting from exposure to the humid air. The front door was busted from the inside out, as if someone or something was locked inside and broke out. And most of the tools were rusted almost beyond recognition.

Aside from that, the building was fine.

Neither too big nor too small.

The actual square footage was about the same as what he'd seen of The Fancy Dryad's first floor.

The arched wooden roof was somehow still solid, and the walls were dual layered consisting of a granite core overlaid with either soapstone or talcite- it was hard to tell with all the dirt and grime covering the walls.

There was the shop floor: which was a ruined mess filled with debris and smelling of rust and rotting wood. Behind the back wall of the store was the workshop, the spot where all the forging took place.

It had all the facilities a smith might need to forge his own gear, and he'd even found a few steel bars hidden inside a barrel in the corner of the room.

Though there was one minor issue he'd noticed.

He looked over the rack where all the tools must've been kept, except only faint outlines in the dust remained.

The tools were all missing: Tongs, chisels, hammers, even the vice was gone- and if the dust layer was any indication, they'd been taken fairly recently too.

Why? Or better yet, by whom?

"Aldritch, I think there's something going on with Sulika's group."

Aldritch stopped looked over the rack, picked up his shield from where he'd left it, and turned for the door.

He activated Eye of the Dragon while weaving his way through the rubble in the front room... "Which way?" He asked as he reached the door.

The problem with Eye of the Dragon was its inability to tell one source of mana from another. Aldritch might've been able to see the entire city at once, but that wasn't helpful for locating anything specific.

He might as well have been looking for hay in a pile of poisoned needles.

"East of us. They made it inside the city but appear to have run into some trouble while moving towards the guild hall.

Aldritch threw open what was left of the front door- and came face to face with a small horde of demons.

"Four Ogres, two Trolls, six Wolves, and one-two-three.... Sixteen imps. Wow: you must've really upset someone."

"Vrok'tal! Vrok'tal! (He's here! He's here!)" An imp cried.

A second imp pulled a long horn from his belt and blew into it: the demon made three long notes, followed by two short notes, then ended with a fourth long note- Aldritch grabbed the horn and roughly shoved it down the imp's throat before dashing towards the east.

"On the off chance something bad has happened... You aren't planning to use that spell, are you?"

"Only if I must-" He took an Ogre's hammerfist to the shield, but didn't slow down. Instead, the Ogre's arm shattered on impact and the giant demon was forced into a spin that caused it to fall over.

"Aldritch, I don't think- One of the demons is doing something strange. Rooftop on your left."

Aldritch glanced up in time to see a dark-haired succubus launch a fireball into the sky. And right after, he noticed a group of demons attempting to block his path. Nothing he couldn't handle: a few ogres carrying large wooden shields, some wolves behind them: also carrying large wooden shields, and a troll chanting a spell at the back of the pile.

As he was in a hurry, and didn't have the time to stop and ask what they were doing. He raised his shield slightly and lowered his head until it was safely behind the shield.

Then he really laid on the speed.

The sound of his boots breaking the road, combined with the sound of his shield tearing through the wind was already deafening. But both sounds only grew louder as Aldritch raced towards the wall of demons standing in his way.

The demonwolves legs were shaking in fear. They wanted nothing more than to cast aside their shields and get out of the way. But the troll wouldn't stand for it. He'd kill them just as surely as the giant would.

At least the giant would be quick about it.

So, they held their shoddy stances and waited for the right time... The Troll clicked its tongue against the roof of its mouth and the Ogres began to move. They lowered their shoulders and raised their shields to meet Aldritch's charge, while the wolves followed along.

Except they weren't there just to hold shields.

The four wolves dropped their shields at the same time and surprised Aldritch with four matching metal tools.

The Ogre's slowly dropped to their knees, putting their bodies completely behind their shields. With the Ogres forming a protective wall in front of them, the wolves lifted their boom staves and aimed them at the oncoming giant.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The wolves fired their weapons in rapid succession, each launching over an ounce of metal at a speed of nearly three-thousand feet per second- Each round hit the giant's shield exactly where the wolves had aimed.

But instead of piercing the shield, as they'd intended. The four rounds simply flattened against the massive hunk of gold and fell to the side.

The four demons quickly chambered the next round and fired again- to much the same result.

One of the wolves glanced at the demon to his right with a confused look in his eye.

Gold was supposed to be a soft metal: something their boom staves could easily pierce... Whatever that giant's shield was, it wasn't something their weapons could deal with.

But orders were orders.

The four wolves continued firing at the shield- and only the shield- until Aldritch was practically on top of them.

The impact was.

He slammed into the line of Ogre shields and-

Bang!

Sent the two hulking demons at the center of the line flying- their bodies crumbled and broken like a sheet of balled up parchment paper.

And just like that, the wall was broken.

Aldritch plowed through the wolves without even slowing down and sent the Troll flying off to one side as he raced by.

"Did you recognize which spell the Troll was maintaining?"

"No- Was it actually casting a spell or just pretending to cast one?"

"It was definitely using mana before."

"Then I have no idea. Maybe- Look out!"

Aldritch didn't know what Oakairo had sensed, only the direction.

He'd just entered a four-way intersection when he heard Oakairo's warning.

He twisted his body to the right and raised his shield as quickly as he could- something hit the top right corner of the shield. And the weight was unlike anything Aldritch had experienced before.

He used every ounce of strength in his arms and shoulders to deflect it away from center mass… But it wasn't enough.

A thirty-pound hunk of metal ripped through Aldritch's side four times faster than sound before separating from him and smashing through the wall of a building.

For the first time in recent memory, Aldritch felt the sting of pain race up his side as the momentum from the hit sent him flying.

He bounced off the road twice and crashed through the outer wall of a building before coming to a stop in a pile of rubble... All before the sound of the shot could reach his ears.

The impact had completely destroyed whatever stability the building had.

He could hear the walls creaking and actually see a few of them start to lean. The building was likely a few seconds from falling around him- yet he couldn't do much about it at the moment.

His right arm was a disabled mess, hanging uselessly at his side. He had multiple broken ribs, a fractured spine, and a gaping hole where his shoulder used to be.

"How're you feeling?"

Aldritch grinned and slowly climbed out of the rubble.

"Like I'm three hundred again."

"Not the answer I was expecting, but alright." He laughed while watching Aldritch march towards the hole he'd left in the wall.

Aldritch had already stopped losing blood and the bones in his hand were functional again.

"Your body's ability to withstand and repair damage never ceases to amaze. That hit would've killed anyone else."

"Would've killed me too- had I not deflected it away from my heart." He replied, stepping from the ruined building and looking around for his shield... He found it embedded in a wall a few feet away from the hole.

He could feel numerous pairs of eyes watching as he yanked his shield from the wall. Unfortunately, the shield had been supporting a large part of the building's weight on that corner and removing it-

Aldritch watched the building come crashing down in front of him.

Its impact on the road sent a wave of dust and debris flying in every direction, creating a smokescreen that swallowed everything for a hundred feet in every direction.

By the time the dust had cleared, Aldritch had already ducked into one of the many alleys that spanned the city.

He didn't know what hit him, but he knew where it'd come from... Now he just needed to find it before it found him.

The alley he'd chosen was narrow on both ends but opened into a large square space that was just as wide as it was deep.

Sadly, he wasn't the only one who'd chosen to catch his breath inside this particular alleyway. The place was already crawling with Demons whose eyes landed on his wounded body almost immediately.

"Three Ogres, twelve Imps, a Troll, and five Demonwolves. Charming lot we've got here."

Aldritch's face had remained blank until he registered the presence of the demons surrounding him, then he frowned.

This would be rather annoying to deal with, with only one arm.

An Ogre took a few lumbering steps towards Aldritch. It raised its meaty fist into the air and let out an angry roar as it sent it flying at the Giant's head- Aldritch raised his shield and twisted it slightly, throwing his hip behind it to achieve maximum efficiency.

The Ogre's fist split on contact with the shield's edge: dark blood sprayed over the Golden shield, covering both it and Aldritch with the black liquid.

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Aldritch twisted the shield again- using his body weight, along with the fact that it was stuck inside the Ogre's arm, to manipulate the beast.

He broke the Ogre's elbow in one swift movement and threw a headbutt aimed at the side of its face- His forehead connected, and the Ogre's head was blown aside.

Aldritch freed his shield as the Ogre dropped onto its back. Its neck was hanging at a weird angle, and its cheekbone had collapsed in on itself.

This let the other demons instantly realize it was probably dead before it hit the ground.

"Trel'vok ka'dan thorrak. (You should step aside.)" Aldritch said while stepping over the fallen Ogre.

He could feel the ground shaking and the distant sound of metal grinding against metal... Something big was moving, and he had neither the time nor the inclination to deal with these pests right now.

" Zha'kar ven Thraal!?(You speak our language?)" The Troll asked, surprised that a mortal would understand their tongue-

Aldritch took three quick steps forward while shifting his grip on the shield.

He drove the rear spike through its throat in the blink of an eye, the sheer weight of the shield causing the Troll to be driven back into a wall.

Aldritch gave a quick twist of his body that dragged the spike through the concrete wall and pushed the Troll off balance.

While the Troll was still alive, thanks in no small part to its natural regenerative abilities, it struggled to keep its footing in the face of Aldritch's overwhelming physical strength- but even that didn't last long, as the Giant swept its feet right out from under it with a well-placed kick.

The spike was forced from the wall while remaining lodged in the Troll's throat. Seconds later, the demon was driven onto its back and pinned beneath the weight of the shield.

All of this had happened so fast that it took the other demons a few moments to respond.

They'd never seen a Troll forced to move when it didn't want to and by the time they started moving, Aldritch was already kneeling over the pinned Troll.

The nineteen demons in the alley leapt towards Aldritch with their fangs and claws ready to tear him to shreds-

"Divine Fireball." Aldritch muttered, raising his fist into the air as divine mana gathered around it. Once he was satisfied with the amount, he drove his fist into the ground and released the built-up mana.

What followed was a massive explosion, followed by twelve pillars of golden flames erupting from the ground in a semicircle around Aldritch and the Troll.

Nineteen bodies worth of ash fell over Aldritch's back, and the Troll's face and legs… And during it all, the giant's expression never changed.

Aldritch pulled the shield up, removing the spike from the Troll's throat, before slamming it back down, just above the demon's head.

The Troll smirked and opened its mouth to speak- Aldritch silenced it before it could utter a single word: using his still smoking left hand to grab its spine through the hole in its neck.

The Troll's eyes widened as the giant gathered divine mana inside the hand wrapped around its spinal column.

Aldritch could still feel the ground trembling; He knew he didn't have much time before he'd need to move again.

"Vak'nar dor khaan? (What fired on me?)" Aldritch asked the Troll.

"Vaulkrin. (Machine.)" The Troll quickly spat: It could feel its soul burning from contact with divine mana.

"Vekkarn? (Weaknesses?)"

The Troll smiled in spite of the pain. It was no idiot; it knew it was as good as dead already. The fact that the ground had stopped trembling was evidence enough of that.

The Troll smirked, showing off its blood covered teeth, and spat a mouthful of black blood in Aldritch's face- Its body instantly ignited from the inside: brilliant blue flames spewing from every hole in its body, even as its healing factor tried desperately to heal any damage it sustained.

Aldritch yanked his hand free from its throat and retrieved his shield- he had to quickly leap off the burning corpse as a second missile blasted through the wall next to the burning body, passing just inches below Aldritch's feet.

He twisted his body in the air and jammed his shield into the wall to halt his descent- He grimaced as his weight struck his arm, sending a jolt of pain throughout his still recovering spin.

The combined weight of Aldritch and his shield caused a few bricks to come loose, but his fall was stopped… Even if only temporarily.

"The alleys aren't safe if it can shoot through the walls so easily."

"You need to get higher."

He glanced around his shield at the height of the buildings on either side of the alley. Both were well over three hundred feet tall, and he was far too heavy to wall jump that far right now.

"Oh well." He grunted as he pulled himself onto his shield and crouched low to get as much thrust as he could- He used the fact that the shield could move within the hole he'd created in the wall to springboard off the shield, launching himself up and away from the ground.

He flew up… and up… and up… Until he was about thirty feet from the roof and gravity regained its grip on him.

He reacted quickly and reached out with a foot- He accidentally broke a windowsill with his kick but still managed to get just enough speed to get a single hand on the edge of the roof.

He pulled himself up just enough to swing his foot over the edge. With that done, he could finally roll the rest of his body onto the roof- His head passed the edge and came face to face with a trio of Demonwolves.

"Of course. It's never that easy." He pushed off the ground with his left hand, throwing himself into the air just in time to miss the claws of one of the Demonwolves.

He landed in a crouch between the first demon wolf and the two behind it, then he turned at the same time as the Demon who'd attacked him.

The two warriors locked eyes in an instant and attacked simultaneously; Aldritch stepped into the taller Demonwolf's chest to eliminate the difference in range and blocked a wild swing aimed at the right side of his head.

Before the Demonwolf could retract its arm or attack again, Aldritch grabbed its wrist and pulled it down to his level.

"Summon Weapon." Aldritch muttered: he let go of the wolf's wrist and quickly repositioned his left hand behind the demon's head, his fingers wrapped around its neck.

Jammed into the wall far below, Aldritch's shield glowed with a brilliant silver light- then it lurched forward, breaking through the wall and landing inside the living room of a long-abandoned dwelling.

Once inside, it instantly righted itself, twisting to angle its head towards Aldritch's hand.

The shield shot into the ceiling like an arrow and kept going- building speed with every floor it broke through until it became nothing more than a golden blur flying through the building.

It finally broke through the floor between Aldritch and the wolf's feet less than a second after he cast the spell- debris exploded from the newly formed hole as the top of the shield returned to Aldritch's left hand... Unconcerned with the presence of the Demonwolf in its way.

Aldritch spun away from the wolf to face its friends, leaving its body to follow the pull of gravity unimpeded.

The head, and most of the left arm/shoulder, of the Demonwolf tumbled through the hole in the floor, tracing the flight of the shield back to its origin, while the rest of its body sank to its knees.

Aldritch quickly acted to determine the fastest path through the demons.

From this location, Aldritch could see for miles in every direction. So, it didn't take him long to spot a group of non-demons fighting for their lives on a rooftop less than a thousand feet away.

Most of the demons attacking them appeared to be Imps, Succubi, and Incubi- the main ranged attackers of this Devil's army. But Aldritch also spotted a few hooded trolls with their heads down and some kind of black spheres floating in the air above them.

He couldn't prove it, but he guessed it was their fault he'd gotten blown through a wall earlier.

Aldritch grit his teeth and closed his eyes. "O' mighty Oakairo; my king and guiding light, let my words reach you on dragon's wings. With my body as the vessel, bring your wrath down upon mine enemies: Aspect of the Dragon- Breath." He intoned, summoning an ocean's worth of divine mana from deep within his body.

"Permission granted. My breath is yours." Oakairo replied and moved to assist. However, as Oakairo wrestled with Aldritch's unnatural mana well, he realized Aldritch had poured a lot into this one spell.

Oakairo grinned with pride and pushed himself into Aldritch's mana. His gargantuan head appeared in the sky above Aldritch, his mouth already open and overflowing with divine mana.

What could only be described as the shriek of a million birds hit the ears of everyone in the city, forcing them all to look towards the sky.

Even through the haze of golden light created by Ralocan's Sanctuary spell, Faeyra immediately spotted the massive Dragon head looming over them.

A god had descended.

Oakairo threw his head forward and unleashed his breath upon the world: A beam of pure divine energy evaporated the demons closest to Aldritch before hitting the top of the next building and obliterating the demons there too, essentially deleting the roof and all of its demons from existence.

This continued to the second building, and the third, the fourth, the fifth, all the way to the end of the road.

Then Oakairo's head turned.

Still releasing a steady stream of his breath. Oakairo first aimed at the tops of the buildings across the street to his right, wiping them out one by one until he was satisfied. Then he turned his attention to the buildings on his right and did the same thing, while making sure to avoid the line of buildings Sulika and the others were near.

By the time Oakairo finished wiping out the forces on the last roof, Aldritch could feel his mana reserves reaching the limit of what they could do.

"Sorry. I may have gotten carried away with that one." Oakairo chuckled in embarrassment.

Aldritch nodded in agreement before slowly lifting his shield and moving over to the edge of the roof.

He peered over it to inspect the road below… It took him a second to find it, but he saw the 'machine' parked in the center of the road, in front of the alley he'd gone down earlier.

The crimson behemoth looked nothing like he'd expected it to- Then again, maybe that wasn't such an uncommon occurrence these days.

The demons inside the machine couldn't handle not being able to see what was going on outside. So, against their better judgement, one Imp threw open the latch on top of the machine's turret and looked out...

It stared slack-jawed at the destruction Aldritch wrought.

Seeing the opening in its armor, Aldritch couldn't help but smile.

So, it did have a weakness… How many more would he find if he took it apart?

The Imp at the latch spotted Aldritch looking down on them and began to panic.

He ducked back inside the machine and slammed the latch shut with a heavy clang!

Before, Aldritch had been wondering if this 'machine' would need to be destroyed via Dragon's Breath. But he didn't want to unless he had no other choice, think about how much he could learn from dissecting it.

How many lives would be saved in the future if he discovered its weaknesses?

But now Aldritch knew he could get inside without destroying it entirely. It was dangerous, sure… but there was a weakness in its armor, something he could exploit.

There was blood in the water and Aldritch felt compelled to sink his teeth into it.

Aldritch looked down at his right hand and rotated it slightly.

"Functional, for now." He stepped off the roof at the same time as the Imps inside the machine got it moving again.

Its treads spun surprisingly quickly for such a heavy looking thing, allowing it to dart out of the way before Aldritch could land on top of it.

The turret spun to face Aldritch and fired at almost the exact moment the shooter made visual contact.

Aldritch raised his shield between one step and the next and placed his body squarely behind it- The instant he registered the turret flash, Aldritch dove to the ground, getting beneath the missile and sliding across the asphalt on his shield.

The imps reloaded the turret as fast as they could- but by the time the next round was ready to be fired, Aldritch was already on top of them.

Not willing to go down without a fight; The Imp responsible for aiming the turret forced the barrel to aim as low as it could-

BOOM!

The missile slammed into the road a few feet behind Aldritch. The shockwave caused Aldritch to stumble into the front of the machine, almost making him lose his shield in the process.

He recovered from the shock after a second and went on the attack.

He shifted his grip on the shield and punched it into the front of the machine- the spike stopped on impact, without going so much as a centimeter into the machine's thick armor plating.

He dashed to the right, circling around the machine while the Imps tried to keep sight of him; Aldritch repeated slammed his shield into the side of the machine- with each hit he sought weakness, or something else to exploit.

His shield bounced off most of the machine's armor, failing to do more than scratch the crimson paint job- But one of those hits actually managed to drive the spike into an external vent on its left side.

Aldritch quickly slapped his right hand over the vent, "Sacred -" He was cut off by the turret spinning towards him. Aldritch pulled his hand away from the vent and lifted his shield-

Clang!

The turret stopped dead against the center of his shield.

The machine whined as it kept trying to turn until dark smoke billowed forth from inside the main body.

"To hells with shooting him. Run him over!" Oruul cried.

"Okay!" The pilot imp yelled, shoving against the accelerator and making the machine lurch into motion.

Aldritch's eyes widened as the body turned towards him and forced him to move back a few feet- it pushed forward bumping against the shield and forcing him back a few more feet.

Aldritch planted his feet into the ground and shoved his body weight against the shield. The treads cried against the asphalt road as they spun but failed to go anywhere.

Sadly, Aldritch wasn't able to resist the sheer mass of the machine for more than a few seconds before he had to move or risk losing his footing and getting pulled under.

Aldritch kicked off the ground and rolled on top of the machine.

He came up in front of the turret and quickly ducked out of the way as it swung towards him. From this angle, Aldritch had a good look at the base of the turret- specifically, at the hair-thin gap separating the turret from the body of the tank.

Aldritch smiled at the dark smoke drifting up from beneath.

He shifted his grip on the shield and drove the spike directly into the gap- the turret twisted, one side lifting into the air while the other smacked against the main body.

The machine made a horrendous sound as the Imps tried to turn the turret, only for it to be blocked by the shield.

Eventually, the machine ground to a halt as the Imps' panic turned to paralysis.

With the machine no longer moving, Aldritch didn't have any trouble maintaining his balance while he raised his foot-

Bang!

His boot slammed into the top of the shield, driving it deeper into the tank.

Bang!, Bang!, Bang!, BANG!

The shield completely embedded itself between the turret and the body.

The turret was now twisted into such a severe angle, Aldritch knew it wouldn't take much more to break it loose.

Aldritch walked over to the barrel of the turret and ducked his head under it, allowing it to rest on top of his right shoulder.

Aldritch sucked in a breath and slowly straightened his legs.

The machine wailed as the bits and pieces holding it together started snapping. Then, with a shout of exultation, Aldritch shoved against the base with all his might and pushed up on the turret-

Pang!

The two pieces of the tank broke apart in a pitiful cry for mercy.

The Imps watched, their bodies petrified with fear, as Aldritch twisted his body and tossed the turret away from the body.

With that done, Aldritch finally turned his baleful golden eyes on the demons responsible for destroying his robe.

"You- You human's like mercy, yes?" Oruul asked in a whiny, nervous voice.

Aldritch raised a brow at an Imp speaking Azuris' language.

He looked the imp up and down before squatting to look it in the eye...

"They do." His golden, reptilian eyes shone with power, and he looked down on the Imps from above. "But I don't."