A Dark Plot

While Damon and the council were discussing their future cooperation, a dark plot was brewing.

"AHHHHHHH!" A man, who was tied to a bloody chair, screamed.

Once again, the emotionless torturer asked the question.

"Where are the rebel hideouts?"

Archon had held on for what felt like centuries. Time flowed slowly and the pain never stopped.

'I'm sorry!' Archon cried as his will to fight left his body.

Between the ants currently eating him alive, the many rounds of dismemberment and healing he had gone through, and the room that grew ever bloodier, even the strongest men would crumble.

"I'll tell you where the hideouts are." Archon whimpered as he sentenced his friends to death.

—

Unaware of the impending danger, Damon and the council discussed their next steps. "So from what I understand, we are outnumbered in Saints by five to one and in Psykers by two to one." Damon frowned.

"Unfortunately, yes. We do have more Aspirants and Cultivators, but the new generation hasn't had the time needed to unearth every hidden talent. A few of our talents were also stolen or eliminated by those damned Old Guard." Cassandra confirmed.

"What are the specific strategies that this city's Old Guard division implements?" Damon asked.

Truthfully, Damon didn't know much of anything about the Old Guard. He only roughly knew that they were the strong arm of the government and were much more powerful than the rebels.

"Our city's government is very…methodical. They always completely probe and research threats before they engage them. This means that we don't have to deal with many attacks, but the attacks that they do launch are deadly. We were ambushed recently by the Old Guard…" A moment of silence followed Cassandra's dark words.

Ahem.

Ezekiel cleared his throat. "Archon hasn't returned, even after three days. We should know whether he is compromised or not by tonight, though. Our agents are very skilled at infiltration afterall."

Damon didn't care too much about Archon. He was, however, very worried about what would happen if Landon was indeed compromised.

"How much did he know?" Damon asked worriedly.

Cassandra smiled bleakly. "Pretty much everything. We are definitely going to have to change all of our hideouts once we get confirmation."

Damon's face paled. "What if we are already compromised? Why are we still sitting at a hideout that they will certainly know?"

Cassandra frowned. "It's impossible for them to have broken Archon so quickly. Every other member that they captured held out for at least a week. We trust in Archon's strength."

Just as those fateful words echoed through the forest canopy…

WHOOSH

Countless black shadows descended from the green canopy.

Damon, already being on edge, instantly deployed a golden barrier surrounding the platform.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

The barrier shook as countless elemental attacks barraged it from above. Bolts of flame, spikes of ice, and a massive black bolt of lightning had struck forth.

Many of the council members frowned as they saw such an impressive attack.

'Only a group of Psykers of just one Saint could create an attack of that magnitude.' They assessed.

Deciding to destroy the enemy's cover, Damon summoned a massive ball of flame. Although it cost a good bit of essence, it would give them the information and space they needed.

Up and up the fireball rose. But when it breached the barrier...

BOOM

WHOOSH

A wave of heat decimated the surroundings, destroying the nearest trees entirely, while setting the surviving trees aflame.

The survivors stood still in shock as flames covered the various personal barriers they had summoned.

The most conspicuous group among the survivors was entirely made up of men clad in silver and green armor. They flew high above and frowned as they looked towards the platform.

Damon quickly turned to Cassandra.

"Are those men the Old Guard?"

Cassandra nodded solemnly. "That armor belongs to the Psyker Division of the Old Guard. I don't know where their Saints are, but they should be here somewhere."

Damon sighed in relief. "I can handle those men with my knights by my side. Go collect your soldiers and prepare for a retreat. If a Saint attacks me, I should be able to escape."

Cassandra still looked worried but relented. "We'll prepare to withdraw, but we won't leave without you! You are and your knights are integral to our victory. Saints can make very powerful attacks due to their powerful soul and energy. Make sure to have some countermeasures ready."

As Cassandra and the Rebels withdrew, Damon summoned his knights and began flying towards the Psykers.

Damon was excited for another battle but he was still careful of his enemy's hidden cards. To make sure that he would survive, Damon created a very powerful golden shield around his divine spark. Afterall, he could regenerate as long as the divine spark stayed intact.

Still clad in their gold and white armor, Damon and his knights approached the Psykers clad in silver and green. The Psykers numbered eight and so Damon decided to split his forces up. Two knights would engage each Psyker and he would deal with three of them.

It would be an extremely dangerous fight, for the strongest being Damon had fought was a Monster. And he had barely won that fight. Now he would have to fight three Psykers off at once.

Shaking off his negative thoughts, Damon made a quick plan.

'I need to eliminate at least one of them in order to lessen the pressure.' He planned.

To satisfy such a condition, Damon was going to need to use a huge portion of his reserves.

Gathering energy within himself, Damon created two massive bolts of lightning within his chest.

Just as he finished his preparations, the knights and Psykers dashed towards each other. Damon picked the three nearest opponents and rocketed towards them.

Seeing the man decide to challenge them, the Psykers positioned themselves in a triangular formation to receive him. This way, he could be flanked and killed by two of them while the first one had kept him distracted.

Unfortunately for them, Damon had other plans.

BOOM

BOOM

The two lightning bolts struck out from his chest and sent two of the Psykers flying.

The last one frowned as he dashed forward to meet Damon's sword.

SHEEN

Both men rapidly exchanged blows as they prepared their next attacks. The dance of swords was a test of strength as both men wielded large and heavy greatswords.

The Psyker created a swarm of small knives while Damon created several massive golden shields with giant golden spears positioned behind them.

Seeing this, the Psyker frowned but focused back on the melee combat.

'He'll be forced to dodge my knives since they will slip through his shields. Then he'll be easy pickings for my allies.' The Psyker reassured himself.

With a final heavy blow, both men were pushed back.

The Psyker took advantage of this and quickly retreated while sending his swarm of knives forth.

But suddenly...

CRACK

The Psyker's view began continuously flipping as he fell into the abyss...

This time, without a head.