The Rivertown Incident II

The Gargoyle let out a loud screech, charging right through the dissipating smoke clouds and right at Lucian, sensing an unusual amount of Ether coming from him. 

Lucian jumped up in the air as the Gargoyle swung its halberd low at him, ripping the ground apart. 

"Hm." Lucian said as he swung his flame Greatsword at the gargoyle, firing a silver slice

The slice hit the Gargoyle, combusting in flames, causing it to stagger slightly and letting out a shriek. Lucian then landed atop of the Gargoyle's wing, using it a foothold to jump up again into the air and swinging his sword down at the Gargoyle's head, the blade colliding fiercely with the stone. 

But the monster was unfazed by this, only a slight crack visible on its stone head. 

"Tch!" Lucian as he kicked at the Gargoyle's face, jumping away 

The Gargoyle then slapped Lucian in midair with one of its hands, crashing against the ground hard, causing a shockwave on the dirt ground. It let out a loud shriek as it raised its halberd, preparing to bring it down. 

Lucian immediately recovered, launching himself away as the halberd swung down hard, hitting against the ground and shattering it, a massive shockwave erupting as the field was ripped apart. 

Brodin watched this, "Well, this isn't good." He said, "I have to make myself useful..." 

He felt a massive thud near him. 

He turned to see the two Onis staring right at him. 

"Well, shit." Brodin said with scowl

The green-mask Oni lunged at him, thrusting its bone lance right at where Brodin stood, but hit the ground instead, causing a shockwave. 

Brodin had jumped away, landing a few feet away and rolling away to straighten himself back up in a swift motion. He readied his combat knife as he narrowed his eyes at the monster that straightened up. 

"Alright..." He glanced at Lucian who was fighting that gargoyle, the ground shook and several shockwaves were felt, "He'll be alright.....I hope." 

Lucian was busy avoiding the halberd swings and returning swings of his own, hitting the Gargoyle with silver flame slices that erupted in flames, quickly combusting and dissipating immediately. 

Brodin then focused his gaze on the Onis that slowly stepped towards him. He knew that this would be tough, even for him. He was confident he could handle one of them with no problem, should he go all out, but two of them are incredibly tricky, considering they're high-level ones like the one Lucian just killed. 

"I'll have to approach this carefully..." Brodin thought to himself, "I can't bring out my big guns just yet....I can take one of them on with my Black-Powder Knife..." 

The blue mask walked past the green mask and raised its axe as it let out a rumble, the axe engulfed in a strange blue light. 

Brodin then charged towards it and rolled forward as the Oni swung the axe, firing off a massive energy slice, hitting the ground and exploding, the dirt and grass flying outwards into the air. He landed right under the monster's belly, who was surprised at the agility of the old man. 

As he straightened up, Brodin slashed at the Oni's belly, scratching its thick skin and drawing just a bit of blood. 

He then jumped back and watched as a spark detonated, resulting in a small explosion that rippled the Oni's stomach and ripped apart some of the fur armor it had on it's upper half. 

It howled in pain, staggering from the sudden attack, looking at Brodin who was flinging something at its feet. 

It watched as three grenades rolled right into its bare toes, detonating in three explosions that caused it to stumble into the ground hard. 

"Here I go...." Brodin said as he ran toward the Oni

He jumped over the monster, swinging his knife in the air and watched as another small stream of black powder was released into the face of the Oni. 

"Black Sparks" 

The powder detonated, a chain of explosions erupting all over the Oni's head and face as Brodin landed on the other side, with the sound of a pained howl. 

Brodin then looked toward the green-mask Oni, it was rearing its lance back as it gathered green flames on it's point. 

"Shit." He said as he ran to the side 

The Oni thrust its bone lance at him, hitting the ground where he stood, causing a massive explosion of green flames that spewed out into the air, a massive shockwave released. 

Brodin stumbled onto the ground due to the shockwave, rolling forward and standing back up on his feet. 

He then turned around and watched as the green-mask had pulled its lance back out and began to charge towards Brodin. 

Brodin covered his face as the Oni ran, massive explosion erupting from the ground out of nowhere, and causing the monster to collapse to the ground, its entire body charred and scorched as smoke and flames erupted around him. 

The Old Man patted his coat, "Hm." He said as he looked at the two Oni that were on the ground, satisfied with his results, "That was easy...." 

What just happened was that the Oni had activated several land mines on its way to Brodin, who had used his Sorcery to plant them while rolling. 

Brodin is a Graced One; wielding a Grace called The Soldier's Vow.

It allows him to conjure up and summon modern weaponry and to manipulate them as he sees hit. From firearms to explosives, Brodin can use these powerful weapons however his imagination desires. He can use the concept of gunpowder and magic, fusing them into one and creating a powerful arsenal. That is how he can easily throw grenades seemingly from out of nowhere and summon rifles and revolvers. 

Brodin is essentially a powerful Artificer granted with a powerful Grace. While by default, this Grace is unimpressive, compared to other powerful ones. As a Traversed, Brodin trained hard with it to get to a point where he could fight against enemies with little effort, including monsters like Onis. But even he knows that he has to add a little effort against two high-level Onis like the ones he's facing. 

The green-mask then slowly began to get up, letting out an angry growl as Brodin readied his knife forward. 

"Hm...come on, then." He said seriously, "I'll take you on." 

This weapon was Brodin's Black-Powder Knife, a powerful weapon that he worked hard to perfect. It's a simple combat knife, albeit a bit larger than a regular one. But what's so powerful about it is that it's imbued with nearly infinite reserves of black powder that's enhanced with ether. Every time he slices something, a bit of black powder is released, a delayed explosion detonates to add even more power to the attack. 

Brodin can also control the amount of powder released, allowing him to perform long-ranged attacks such as his Black Sparks attack, which is a trail of black powder clouds that ignite into a chain explosion. 

"These ones are tough....my biggest concern is the Gargoyle, can Lucian handle it before his power burns out?" He thought to himself

The blue-mask Oni stood up as well, its mask cracked and head emitting smoke as it let out a pained rumble. 

Brodin took a step to the side, placing his knife in front of him as he thought of a strategy, but it would require him to lower their defenses. The chances of him getting hit by their attacks is quite high, but that's a risk he was willing to take. 

"Alright...." Brodin said, 

"Get ready to die, maggots." 

*********************

[Somewhere in The Countryside, On The Way To Rivertown]

Lunaris was on her horse, her wings furling behind her as she and several other riders stampeded through the road. 

"Come on..." Lunaris said, "We have to get there before she does!" 

"All due respect, maam." One of the riders next to her, wearing a black coat, said, "Can't you just fly to Rivertown?" 

Lunaris scowled, "I need to get there with my squad and evacuate the town! It's protocol to do so!" She said, "I can't just fly out ahead by myself and deal with the threat!" 

"Well, wouldn't that be better, though?" He asked, "You'd save some pe-" 

"Shut up! Orders from the Arch-Magus, the last time I did that, we lost some of our men on the way to the battlefield! I am not having that again!" Lunaris said angrily, "We need to get there as quickly as we can, in one piece! Then we deal with the threat!" 

She was referring to an incident that happened in the past. Due to this, her Arch-Magus ordered all of his subordinates, the Paladin Knights, to always escort their squads when responding to a Demonic Threat. Lunaris, being the type of person she is, has obeyed that command ever since it was uttered. 

Some Paladin Knights typically ignore that, acting on their own and heading out by themselves. As her fellow Paladin Knight has done. 

"O-Okay..." the rider said, "As you command..." 

"If Astorias gets there before us, more destruction will take place." Lunaris continued, "Everything, including the demons....." 

"Will be Obliterated.."