Cold Blooded

The guards around the fire did not last long. Noct wrapped his chain around one's neck, his brother quietly stabbed one and the third was silenced with an arrow from Tryst.

The party continued to move through the eerily silent camp towards the main tent. This time Spiren took out the guards. He walked towards them and before they could utter a word his sword had cleaved both of their heads off of their bodies in a single strike.

In the interior of the tent there was a canopied bed and another entreeway. Slithe slunk towards the bed and quickly ended the general with a well placed thrust. Everything was going swimmingly so of course something was bound to happen.

After Slithe pulled back his knife the general's body vanished and reappeared in front of the group. "Demons." The general bellowed and the alarm sounded. It appeared that the general had some sort of drive skill that allowed him to cheat death.

Before he could say another word Slithe once again slashed the general but this time the general blocked the strike with his sword. Noct then quickly lashed out with his chain pulling the sword towards him. Slithe used this opportunity to stab the general in the chest but once again the general disappeared and reappeared unharmed. This time he attacked letting go of the sword and slamming his fist into Slithe's face. The blow was unexpected and sent Slithe reeling.

Spiren was calm as ever, "Benthar, Azemo help them the rest of you get ready to fight our way out."

Benthar rushed forward and cut off the general's sword arm in a millisecond. The general vanished and reappeared arm intact. Pulling a shortsword from his belt he struck Benthar across the face. The blade snapped as it hit Benthar and Benthar swung again with his axe. At the same time Slithe lept towards the general fangs bared while Noct's chain moved towards the general's unprotected side.

"I am Sain Capren of the Holy Army do you think those pitiful attacks will do anything." With those words Sain swung his arm forward and the attacks were redirected by a gust of wind.

"Azemo!" Benthar shouted and Azemo joined in the scrap. Azemo knew the only skill that he had that might work against the Sain was Degrade but he needed to touch him to do that. 'It's too late for a handshake, better just punch him.' Azemo leapt forward at an incredible speed and Benthar swung his axe dispersing the wind.

As the wind dissipated Noct's chain found its mark biting into the generals chest, this time the Sain did not disappear, the wound was not severe enough for his Drive skill. Sain still managed to dodge Azemo's attack by using wind to move himself out of the way. The four demons paused to open their tomes, Benthar, Slithe and Noct all had a holster to hold their tomes open while Azemo used hover.

The rest of the demons had already left the tent and were cutting down half dressed soldiers. Sillis' scythe was creating trails of blood as it cut people into small pieces. Sillis had to hold aggro because the frontliners were all engaged with Sain. Spiren would cut down anyone who came near him and Augory and Tryst were working on lowering the enemies number before they reached Sillis.

The soldiers were getting slaughtered as they rushed towards the tents in small groups but eventually they began to form up. "Hurry up in there, we need to go." Augory's voice was not helpful to those still in the tent.

Azemo had still not managed to catch Sain but Noct and Slithe and managed to get a few hits in. Every wound from Slithe's weapon was bleeding profusely and had begun to darken. Sain had not been able to do any return damage because Benthar was soaking up all his attacks. Finally Azemo so an opening he teleported his knife into Sain's throat causing him to disappear. The second he came back Azemo was there grabbing his wrist and casting Degrade. With that the fight was over.

Sain could not do any real damage to Benthar and the four demons slowly wounded him over and over. As his mana dwindled Degrade sped up and suddenly Sain stopped moving and dropped to the ground. This time he was dead beyond a shadow of a doubt. Before they could celebrate their victory the entire tent was burnt to a crisp. The human magicians had made their way to the fight.

"We are done here." Noct shouted but then the four of them saw the full situation. They were surrounded by human soldiers with spears and by casters who were all chanting spells.

Sillis was fading in and out with her scythe spelling doom for any she swung at. She was like death itself and the humans had decided to go on the defensive and cover for their magicians. They kept Sillis at bay with their spears and used their shields to stop Tryst's arrows. As the magicians released another barrage of spells Augory threw down a scroll casting a barrier that stopped all the magic.

"Benthar lead the charge." Spiren's voice was soft but everyone could still hear it. Benthar, Slithe and Noct formed up and began rushing towards the spear men. The rest of the demons followed behind. Benthar and his axe cut a wide berth through the puny humans and Noct's chains dissuaded any who tried to sneak behind Benthar with this the demons quickly made it to the edge of camp.

Azemo had lost count of the amount he killed, as he constantly teleported his knife in and out of vitals. But strangely no feelings were coming up; he was as cold as ever. The demon side of him had taken over and the death and destruction felt trivial to him.

At the edge of camp Spiren and Augory launched a cooperative attack. Spiren's blade sent out a shockwave while Augory used a spell to create a wall of lightning. Soldiers were pushed back and found their path blocked with lightning. The pile of corpses behind them told them that pushing through alone would only spell death. And with that the stealth mission was flawlessly executed.

The party did not stop until they were back in the stronghold and Azemo's bed managed to make another star appearance.