Reborn: Demon's Heritage (9 page)

The fighting lasted for untold hours and the whole time Ash drank stamina recovery potions waiting for the call to arms, but it never came. Soon the light started to fade from the sky and the horn sounding retreat filled the air. Upon hearing the horn, Ash let out a deep breath and he suddenly felt weak as if he had been holding it in the entire battle. Ash got to his feet, though Allice quickly protested and tried to push him back into the bed.

“I am fine now,” Ash said letting his hand rest gently on her head. “I want to see how things are going for myself.”

Hearing his words, Allice’s face paled but she didn’t say anything. In truth what could she say? She knew that Ash treated her nicely, but in the end she was his slave.

As soon as Ash exited the tent, his heart felt as if a hand had reached out and took hold of it squeezing it till it nearly burst. A large area near the back of the fort had been cleared and upon it lay the bodies of countless soldiers ready to be burned at the pyre. Along the ground, numerous cots lay with even more soldiers waiting treatment.

Ash’s eyes quickly scanned the area until he found commander Jorin walking among the wounded, his own arm and right eye wrapped in bandages. Quickening his pace, Ash quickly approached the commander who smiled upon seeing him. “Good to see you back among the living,” Jorin said with a hearty laugh.

“So we made it another day,” Ash said, though there was no happiness in his voice.

“That we did,” Jorin agreed in a dark voice. “Walk with me for a bit lad.”

Jorin led Ash back to the command building and quickly ushered him inside and shut the door. The commander slumped in his chair and pulled out a bottle from one of the drawers and poured a glass, sliding it over to Ash before taking a long draw straight from the bottle.

“Bad day?” Ash asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

“Depends on how you look at it,” Jorin replied after taking another deep drink. “I am still alive so it could have been worse. You know Captain Matthew fell during the last battle. Saw it myself. The young fool rushed forward, pushing one of the large ladders that had been placed on the wall over the side taking him along with it. As soon as he hit the ground, he started unleashing every skill he had killing near a hundred soldiers by my guess, but he still fell to the sheer number of the bastards.”

“Well don’t count yourself too lucky, there is still tomorrow,” Ash said weakly.

“That the truth,” the commander agreed. “We won’t last through another battle. Those that are too injured to fight and the noncombatants are going to be moved to the large medical tent in the back. Anyone who can still fight will have to man the wall tomorrow even if they are missing a leg or two. Even then, I will be surprised if we last more than an hour. They know they have us beat. If the sun hadn’t set when it did, they would have won the field today. Thankfully the captain had the thought of mind to build those infernal ditches. Makes it far too easy to stumble and fall. No reason for them to risk more deaths than necessary. I got to hand it to them, they had good commanders on their side.”

“So do we,” Ash said, taking a drink of the harsh liquid.

“Bah...help me finish off this blasted bottle. No reason to let those bastards drink it after they take the fort. That would just be a waste of good liquor.”

8-10

The next morning Ash woke when Jorin lightly kicked him. Opening his eyes, Ash’s head was pounding but he pushed it aside when he remembered what the day would bring.

“It will be starting soon,” Jorin said grimly. “You should make yourself ready and send that little lass of yours to the medical tent.”

Ash quickly returned to his own tent to find Allice sitting on the bed with a worried look on her face. Ash tried to give her a warm smile but it didn’t seem to ease the tension in the air. Ash quickly strapped on his sword and walked over and grabbed Allice’s hand.

“I need you to go to the medical tent today,” Ash said as he pulled Allice to her feet. “Stay in there until the battle ends.”

“I don’t want to leave you master,” Alice said as tears steaked down her face.

A thousand things ran through Ash’s mind at that moment, but nothing seemed like the right thing to say. “I know,” was all Ash could get out before he pushed Allice away and exited the tent. His heart was beating rapidly but quickly calmed down as he ascended the stairs to the battlements.

As Ash looked over the long empty expanse between the fort and the enemy forces, he felt a calm come over him. He knew that today would be his last, but he didn’t feel the same fear that had griped him the day before. He might die but every one of the enemies that he took with him would be one less to threaten his wife and unborn child. When he thought of that, he saw it as a great bargain.

Not long after the sun had fully risen, it looked as if the entire enemy force charged at the fort. Over the past few days, they had used up almost all of their arrows and were now were forced to use what crossbows they had. The crossbows were stronger than the long bows and were even able to punch through the armor of the knights, but they took a long time to load and they had a much shorter distance. That meant that the enemy had less ground to cover before they reached the walls and even more time between strikes to reach the top.

There was slightly more than a thousand yards between the enemy and the fort. At first they only looked like small dots, but it didn’t take long before those dots to become a tide of soldiers rushing across the open ground. As soon as they were within range, Ash heard the twang of a few bows, but they were far less than before. As he used his own magic to strike at the enemy, the crossbows began to attack as well.

In moments, hundreds of enemies fell to the ground to be trampled by their comrades, but no matter how many fell, more took their place. Ash fired off his magic one after another until his MP had already been reduced by half. Seeing how quickly his MP was being reduced, Ash took out a recovery potion and quickly drank it down. Throwing the bottle aside, Ash pulled his sword from its scabbard and readied himself for those that were started to ascend the many ladders that had appeared upon the wall.

The first people to appear upon the battlements were simple soldiers that were easily cut down by Ash’s blade.

As soon as one enemy fell, they were quickly replaced by the next. Thankfully so far, none of the heavily armored knights had appeared yet. He was more than a passable fighter, but he had no skills and few abilities that allowed him to effectively deal with humans in heavy armor.

As the hours drug on, Ash’s sword arm began to slow and he could feel his stamina dropping fast. Even without using abilities, Ash knew that he couldn’t keep up for much longer and he wasn’t the only one. With every passing moment, more enemies appeared on the wall and there were less defenders to oppose them.

After striking down another enemy, Ash went down to a knee breathing hard. He had taken a number of small wounds. None of the wounds were deep, but added together they had started to sap his strength. His clothes were ripped in many places and in many places blood freely flowed from his body. Before Ash had a chance to catch his breath, a large man wearing half plate armor and wielding a large double handed sword appeared in front of him.

Sighing, Ash pushed himself to his feet using Pounce to launch himself at the new enemy. Despite the man’s size, the large sword moved quickly to intercept Ash. At the last moment, Ash was able to move his sword in place though the strength from the strike sent Ash tumbling hard into the stone wall of the battlements almost threating to send him over. As Ash hit the stone wall, the air was knocked from his lungs and he accidently bit the tip of his tongue filling his mouth with the taste of blood and copper.

Holding his side with his left hand, Ash forced himself to his feet using his sword to help him regain his footing. The large man smirked at Ash and lifted his sword again. Without much choice, Ash used Shadow Whip, his focus on the back of the soldier. Just before the dark vine like whip struck the soldier, the man turned and moved to block it with his sword, but the Shadow Whip passed through it like water, hitting the man square on his breastplate forcing him to take three steps to the side and one step forward.

The attack had not done a lot of physical damage, but it had given Ash enough time to regain his bearings. As the knight turned back toward Ash, his eyes narrowing, Ash put all of his strength into his legs and darted forward, bringing his sword up at the same time in a diagonal slash.

The soldier grunted and easily parried Ash’s attack. The force of the two blades hitting each other made Ash’s hands go numb. It was clear from the battle so far the soldier was easily as skilled as Ash or more likely even more skilled given how flawlessly he seemed to move with his bulky body.

Ash had already used up most of his MP and SP so he could not afford to use his abilities carelessly. The lower his SP got, the harder it was for him to move and recuperate after each strike. The lower his MP, the harder it was for him to think. In a fight, either of those things could easily cost him his life so he paid close attention to both values.

Ash found it odd that the decrease in the use of one’s strength, and agility were not determined by just the numerical value of one’s stamina, but the percentage of it that you had left. Once your stamina was less than 50% of the max amount the rest of your stats started to take a dive in efficiency. The lower the percentage, the more a person lost in stat efficiency. MP worked much the same way but it didn’t start to really effect a person until it was less than 25% of the total. Right now Ash’s SP was down to 30% so his overall stats had taken a great hit though he was not sure by how much as he was yet to figure out how they corresponded. His MP on the other hand was down to 15% making it hard for his mind to work quickly. It was almost as if he was trying to think after drinking a few shots of hard liquor.

Ash continued his attacks, but very few of them made it through the soldier’s guard. Ash was starting to think that he would soon find his end when an opening appeared. One of the other battling groups threw his opponent and it hit the back of the soldier in front of Ash hard in the back, forcing him to stumble forward. Seeing his chance, Ash lunged forward, his sword aimed at man’s unguarded throat. The soldier was not completely taken unaware and was able to get his sword up, but only enough so that Ash’s sword was deflected slightly.

Ash’s blade cut deeply into the side of the man’s neck. As the blood quickly flowed, Ash and the soldier both knew that his time was limited. With a feral roar, the soldier charged him and slammed into Ash’s tired and weary body, sending him toppling over the side, falling hard onto the ground below.

Ash felt his breath rush from his lungs as pain erupted from his entire body. Groaning, Ash forced himself into a leaning position. From where he was, Ash could see the battle on the battlements. It was clear they were losing and badly. The ground was littered with the dead and dying and Ash knew that it wouldn’t be much longer before the fort would be completely lost.

“Master,” Ash hear a loud shrill voice from behind him. Turning his head, Ash saw Allice running toward him. Seeing the fearful look on her face, Ash cursed himself for not giving her a specific order to stay in the medical tent.

Grunting Ash forced himself to his feet but was nearly knocked back to the ground when Allice rushed into him crying. Ash awkwardly patted her back as he stifled a groan that threatened to escape from his lips. “Allice, I thought I told you to stay in the medical tent?” Ash asked. He tried to make his voice stern, but he failed as he couldn’t help feeling a slight wave of warmth when he felt her arms tighten around him.

“I was master,” Allice said pulling back slightly. “But they needed people to help bring the injured to the tent and I volunteered.”

Before Ash could say anything, a slow clapping was issued behind him. Turning around, Ash found two knights casually walking toward him while three others killed anyone that approached their group. Ash quickly recognized the man at the front who was clapping it was the knight commander that he and Jorin had met a few days beforehand. “You have fought marvelously,” he said sincerely. “We have lost far more than I had thought we would, but not so much that it would cause us trouble. Still one must honor those who fight with such passion.”

“The fight isn’t over yet,” Ash growled.

“It is,” the man replied, shaking his head sadly. “Look around, almost all the defenders are dead or soon will be. I would advise you that it would be best if you simply surrender. You can save many more lives by doing so then continuing this foolishness.”

“Master,” Allice said, looking at him with pleading eyes.

Ash separated himself from Allice and pushed her behind him using all his strength to lift up his sword. “I will not allow you to use me as some pawn against the duchess.”

“So be it,” the knight said lifting his own sword.

When the knight attacked the others behind him just watched and only moved when other defenders dared to get close. Ash was so absorbed in the fight that he didn’t notice anything that was happening around him. The knight commander had earned his title. That was something Ash was sure of. No matter how hard he tried, the knight was easily able to block his attacks.

Three strikes had already broken through Ash’s guard, but only two of them had triggered his luck shield the last had left a deep wound on Ash’s left arm that almost reached the bone.

Ash found himself staggering and his eyes starting to lose focus. He knew that his MP had fallen far too low. Even if his luck shield could block the next attack, he doubted he had enough MP left to stop the entire force of the blow. Just as he was thinking this, the knight commander came with a vicious overhand blow. Ash was able to get his sword up in time, but the blow knocked him to his knees.

Ash moved his sword to block the next blow, but it didn’t come. Surprised he tried to look around, but his eyes had trouble focusing. He heard Allice scream from behind him and feared that something had happened to her. Mustering the last bit of his strength, Ash tried to move toward her but his legs would barely heed his call and ended with him crawling in the direction of the scream. “Allice,” Ash tried to yell but his voice came out weak and trembling.

“Master,” Allice said, as she wrapped her arms around him sobbing lightly.

Ash had taken a number of wounds throughout the day and he could not only feel his life draining away slowly, but could also see it in his status window. He still had the majority of his HP, but it was slowly disappearing as he currently not only had the bleed status, but the heavily wounded status as well. Ash leaned back, momentarily forgetting about the battle and felt his head rest softly on Allice’s lap. Forcing his eyes to focus, he noticed that she was looking at him with tear’s flowing freely from her eyes.

In the distance, Ash could hear numerous cries and he was sure that the attackers were celebrating their victory. It wasn’t until he heard Allice gasp and the feeling of something warm spray across his face that he turned his head to get a better look of the situation.

Large figures swooped down from the sky and large flames roared in from out of nowhere killing everything in their path. Ash was amazed at the sheer carnage that appeared before his eyes. He tried to stand, but found little strength left in his own body. Allice gently, yet firmly placed her head under his arm and helped him to his feet.

“Demons,” Ash said as he saw more than ten of the creatures fighting against the knight commander and his retinue.

Fear washed over Ash as he watched the battle. He had read about the demon wars of the past and seeing the large horde that had been gathered, he feared it was the second coming. The Hawkwing lands were on the border of the great mountains that separated the demon lands from the human lands. If the demons invaded, they would be the hardest hit and the first to fall.

While the demons fought, Allice pulled Ash toward the medical tent. He tried to resist, but his body was too weak. Before he reached half the distance, Allice tripped and both of them fell back hard onto the ground. One of the priests ran out from the medical tent and started to hurriedly cast spells on Ash. His wounds quickly closed and his HP quit its rapid decent. Once again, Allice helped Ash to his feet and with the priests help started to move him toward the tent.

Suddenly one of the demons landed in front of the three. Allice let out a gasp of fear and tightened her hold on Ash.

Ash still gripped his sword in his hand, but didn’t have the strength left in his body to strike at the demon in front of him. All he could do was calmly wait for death. Surprisingly, the final blow never descended and instead the demon went down to a knee and deeply bowed to Ash. “My Lord, we have come to find you.”