Chapter 22: Enlightenment.
"The soft lips of a woman, the touch of cold steel kissing the skin of a dead man, or ahmm, is the cold coming from the heavy storm of ice descending from the sky. Anyway... A king sits upon his iron throne, his loyal vanguard standing tall to defend him... Well I don’t exactly have a throne, but oh well".
Boom
A ballista once more strikes deep into the ranks of the Eidolon formation, drawing the ire of the chief and interrupting Damien’s philosophical awakening.
The chief turns towards the goat head statue and growls angrily.
"Enough of that". It said with evil intent.
It sucked in a large amount of air, and prepared itself to roar at his army, it was going to order them to attack in full force and crush Chad and his little siege weapon. But Damien suddenly spoke again.
"I have come to a realization... would you like to hear it?".
The chief exhaled in annoyance.
"What?".
Damien smiled, almost helplessly.
"I can’t seem to come up with a plan to save myself, that doesn’t involve killing you... It’s so not like me, going around messing with the ecosystem, I would much rather leave that to those self absorbed, hidden diabolicals by the way, who claim to love all that is precious".
The chief’s expression gradually softened.
"What are you talking about?".
Damien sighed.
"You see chief, we humans are pretty horrible, it’s our nature. But at the same we are capable of great good, and that is what I am. Good, just good... now then. Back to the horrible part of we humans, do you know how skilled we are at killing... it’s basically an art where I’m from".
Hmm
"You’ve clearly gone delusional from the fear of impending death".
Damien shook his head, and chuckled softly.
"Another crazy thing about us, you see, when we find ourselves in a completely hopeless situation, we tend to see clearly, we become sane, even spiritual to a certain extent... we become enlightened".
The chief gripped its axe tighter and once more stepped forward, it decided not to listen to the rambles of a dying mad man, the greatest mercy it could grant Damien, was death.
Boom
The chief’s axe collided with Priesty’s staff, the force of the blow sending the undead flying sideways and nearly throwing him off the rooftop.
The other undead roared and attacked simultaneously, but the chief’s first swing shattered through some of their ribcages and split one in-two from the waist.
[Your undead has fallen]
[Your undead has fallen]
[Your undead has fallen]
One of the undead managed to reach the chief from behind, it acted differently than it would normally be able to, it ducked low and grabbed hold of the chief’s legs. Using all the force it could muster and the assistance of the other undead pushing from the side, they brought the massive chief close to the ground.
"Oh"
It exclaimed with one arm on the frozen rooftop.
The Eidolons weren’t moving savagely like before, they were clearly moving like a team, and the only one that could make them do that, was the wretched King himself.
The Eidolon chief’s razor sharp teeth clamped down on the shoulders of an undead, and bit off a large chunk, bones and all.
It roared aggressively but still held down the chief, but without a shoulder, it was being outmatched even with the combined strength of its fellow undead.
Priesty rejoined the fray, jumping and attacking from above, clearly intent on crushing the chief’s head with its staff, but just as it was about to make contact.
The chief twisted his body, pushing the undead Eidolons away, before swinging its giant axe upwards.
Sparks flew as both weapons made contact in midair, but the chief’s axe won again, slipping from the side and hacking off a section of the Priesty’s chest.
The chief grabbed an undead by its antlers and used it as a baseball bat, smashing away the undead priest.
Damien’s eyes were cold as he gazed at the ongoing battle, the undead weren’t moving on their own, he was controlling them using his dormant ability. He didn’t even realise he could do that until just now when he reached enlightenment.
Boom
[Your undead has fallen]
[Your undead has fallen]
The undead priest was once more pushed away using one of the undead.
It made Damien realise something.
"Why won’t you let Priesty’s staff touch you... Of course I get why, but why?".
Damien’s eyes shifted between the remaining undead and Priesty, his strategy initially was to swarm the chief, hold him down with sheer numbers, and keep him from swinging his big axe.
"Seriously though, that’s one big ass axe... I want one".
And then Priesty will deliver the finishing blow, so far. It hasn’t gone as imagined, of course Damien knew his plan wouldn’t actually work as planned. Not like they ever did.
But now he knew more, the swarming strategy will certainly keep him busy, but not long enough to actually do any damage whatsoever, he needed to do that again. Adapt.
The chief stepped back and suddenly turned before punching an undead squarely in the face, the creature felt the force of the impact and was sent flying, its face deformed beyond skin and bone.
[Your undead has fallen]
"Gosh I hate the sound of that".
Boom
The rooftop finally cracked as Priesty and the chief collided once again, this time. Priesty suddenly switched places with an undead.
The chief’s axe swept from the top, cleaving it in half.
Priesty, on the other hand, swept his staff from below, not giving the chief any time to lift his giant axe or even move his body; it was a perfect trap to test the waters of Damien’s scheme.
Damien smirked, it worked, or certainly looked like it did.
The chief’s split iris shot down, then surprisingly. It jumped into the air, using the weight of its axe and the force of its powerful arms to summersault forward, narrowly evading Damien and Priesty’s crafty move.
Damien grinned like a child tasting candy for the first time in their life.