The Initial Siege

As the Warriors cohort of the Holy Church launched their stealthy siege on the Ancient Monastery in the heart of the frozen land, Raian made a strategic decision to stay behind, choosing to wait until the initial onslaught subsided with his strength, he did not doubt that he will be slaughtered in the initial clash. 

After two of the warriors at the front summoned what seemed to be an unopened scroll of paper they opened the scroll and started reading out a spell which sounded like gibberish to Raian, while the two prepared a humongous blast aiming at the guarding locked giant gates the other one summoned a big glass full of gray substance and they threw a grey substance at the gate before the energy beam clashed, forming and exploding together the energies of the explosion synergizing with each other the two different explosions morphed into an even greater explosion, not only destroying the impenetrable Gate but further annihilating the walls around it and guards at the front and near the Monastery's front door. 

The cohort led by the three master's they divided into 3 squads and dashed their different ways. 'Looks like the frontal assault was a bait.' thinking to himself Raian waited until he could move his body as he wanted. The connection between his mind and body were muddled by the frequent use of vitality potion.

10 minutes after the echoes of the blast resonated through the icy air, Raian cautiously approached the now broken-down and desecrated sanctuary while laying low. The ground near the initial blast of the 3 warriors was brutal, the ground and the wall were painted red with blood it looked like a horror scene with all the blood limbs and intestines lying around. 

Raian wasn't afraid at all; these were body parts and organs belonging to dead demons it made no sense to fear them. 

Thinking to himself he quietly walked deeper and deeper towards the center of the Monastery with straight back and firm steps. He wasn't afraid of encountering any demons. The demons here had 1 objective and that was to protect the devil. The assault of Gemma and her cohort had already reached the inner castle, it made no logical sense to encounter a demon until he reached the inner wall.

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Before the siege even began

He had to first run for what seemed to be a day but in reality, it was close to 2 hours until they reached a giant castle worthy of being deemed one of the most majestic things Raian had gazed upon. After reaching the monastery and hiding in the woods while looking at the ominous-looking castle the three ascended didn't give any chance of rest to the warriors and quickly informed them of their plan. Hearing the plan Raian almost cussed the three masters. 

The plan was simple, but it was incredibly unreliable, he chose to wait for further explanation, and he got no further explanation. 

Seeming the understand the plan the warriors dismissed and summoned new sets of armor, ornament, and weapons. 

Healer of the team Emera summoned a bracelet that looked more like an emerald wristband with leather insides to Raian and started praying, after she activated the use of said bracelet her eyes glowed like a green galaxy with countless stars stored inside her minuscule eyes. One male warrior with a medium build and long hair stood near Emera as he laid his hand on Emera's head and his eyes glowed like Emera's. 

Blood began to pour out of Emera's nose followed by her eyes and their eyes stopped illuminating. Quickly deactivating and dismissing the bracelet Emera drew a short blade and stabbed herself on her thigh with a short gasp trying to keep herself awake.

She couldn't afford to pass out at such a critical time. Taking a few breaths while the others waited with bated breaths, Emera started mending the wounds by herself, the male warrior wiped the blood off his face with his left arm in a single motion he started creating little purple balls of energy inside his right palm. While his bleeding was less severe than Emera's it still looked like it took a toll on the warrior. 

On his right palm, there were dozens of blue balls of essence floating in harmony and the male warriors took deep breaths while star-like dots were created on the balls. 

"It's done." as he spoke every warrior of the cohort got to him and took the energy spheres one by one. 

Raian of course didn't get up to take one as he knew he was not worth an energy sphere. He wasn't bummed out about it either, he understood his worth with his logical mind. If he was in the position of the male warrior, he would choose to save energy and ignore the weakest member as he stood there worthless in the battle against multiple transcended. 

Seeing Raian motionless the male warriors walked towards Raian and offered him the last essence sphere left. "I didn't forget about you little guy, I already have the information, so I do not need to consume one." smiling like he saw a droopy child he extended his palm and gave the sphere to Raian. 

Receiving the sphere Raian tried to extend his kindness as well by summoning his red vial received from Geralt. 

Seeing the red vial the male warrior's face contorted in pain. The distant memory of pain flashing inside his mind the warrior looked at Geralt before looking at Raian again. Gently pushing back, the red vial "I think I will pass on that one, I already own my own after all." then he summoned a bag full of flower seeds and ate a mouthful.

Raian knew the pain of consuming the red vial well, it reinvigorated him full of strength and healed wounds but the drawback of sharp pain and burning sensation was not worth the trade. 

During the 2 hours of constant running, Raian took nearly twenty sips of the vial trying to keep pace with the warriors but as soon as he stopped running, he fell to the snow as if his body forgot where the ground was, and he couldn't move at all for the next few seconds. The constant stings of pain made the body stiffen like a newborn child. He had forgotten how to walk due to the constant pain assaulting his mind. 

Understanding the warrior's rejection, he dismissed his vial and watched the others consume the sphere. 

Masters Gemma just crushed it in her palm as Geralt ate it and Luciel gently pushed it into his chest. Watching the other warriors consume the sphere, Raian gathered information and decided to eat the sphere since he didn't know if he could crush the sphere or push it into his chest. Maybe Master Gemma and Luciel have a specific aspect. 

Consuming the sphere Raian's mind figuratively exploded, instantly he received the information of the castle from a bird's eye view. Like looking down from the sky he saw the castle layout and further penetrating the outer constructs he saw the insides of the castle and memorized the pathways to the center, going even further he saw the whole castle like he had heat vision but instead of red it showed the demons in blue light. The third vision was him seeing the aura of the demons residing in the core of the castle.

Finished digesting the information Raian panted as he took deep quiet breaths, he didn't want to be annoying being weak was enough for him. Looking towards the three masters Raian was shocked by their reactions.

While Geralt was calm and looked towards Luciel, Luciel was quiet, two hands clapping together touching his forehead, nose, and lips. He looked to be in deep thought but Captain Gemma she was different. 

Her face was disfigured by the abnormal grin destroying the image of the kind, stoic, and sharp leader right now she was smiling like a lunatic, Raian didn't know whether she was happy, scared, or just maddened by the information. 

While he was in the vision he saw two massive radiant auras in the core of the castle, the two-aura belonged to the two transcended guarding the said devil. Remembering how he was just mesmerized and breathless by their aura he couldn't imagine himself trying to fight that even if it was the aura alone. 

"Hahhahaha." All of a sudden Captain Gemma started laughing. 

As Geralt and Luciel looked towards Gemma, she composed herself. With a low cough, she went back to her stoic self and gazing at the warriors and starting to speak. 

"As you can see the castle is quite tough to do a frontal assault, but we are in luck. The two guarding saints are in the core. It seems like those two are only focused on guarding the devil instead of the whole fort and that is their first mistake. If we breach the outer wall and head towards the inner wall, I am sure one of them will move to intercept us or both of them will stand their ground and focus on protecting the devil." 

Luciel raised his hand to share his opinion. "Seems like we can't afford to be reckless with our essence since one of the saints or even two of them could move to attack us at any time, it will make our cleanup of their mobs harder." 

"Yes, you're right Luciel both saints' locations being in the center is good and bad for us, but we have the advantage as we control the pace of the battle, the plan of breaching stays the same after we breach in take your time and be on guard while slowly eliminating the guards, Emera will alert us if the saints move, even if they have transcended the shells of their body they cannot come instantly we will have the chance to escape if they move along." 

Standing tall demanding attention from the warriors she spoke up. "We are not alone, we may carry the burden of mankind on our shoulders but REMEMBER that we are not alone, our comrades are supporting us by keeping the frontline busy. Even if we take our time, they have no chance of getting more reinforcement higher-ups will intercept it. Time is on our side so let's move the distraction of the Fallen Titan won't last long. Most of the plan stays the same, the only change is the pace, be nimble, be lethal but be on guard." 

"Yes Ma'am." with a salute all the warriors got up and walked in formation, three of them moving at the front of the formation.

Raising the morale of her cohort they readied their assault, since most of it was discussed before Raian joined the fray what he understood was not enough to make a proper decision, so Raian stayed behind with the excuse of resting and his body not handling the [Potion of cursed vitality] he was able to stay behind. Promising Geralt of his hasty recovery and support from him. 

Geralt didn't mind whether Raian came after them to help out or stayed until the battle ended. Geralt had unwavering confidence in his warriors and Gemma to lead them into victory and that confidence was not based on feelings, each of them had one or more high-grade one-time-use memories. Saying farewells, Geralt went along with the others as Raian was left behind.

Clutching himself with his left arm in the snowy forest Raian was looking at the assault begin when 3 of the warriors in the front summoned their memory and started channeling essence to activate the memories. 

/// Author here, we are nearing the end of Raian's first nightmare i am planning to write the next few parts from Raian's perspective, so I won't write the full battle in detail, are you guys interested in me writing a battle between the cohort and 2 saints? ///