The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Chase them. We have the advantage. We’re finally in the city—we can kill them all,” Ulalas said.

  Suddenly several spell formations appeared in the sky and on the ground. Spells landed on the defenders as their strength, defenses and speed increased.

  “Buffing spell scrolls! Use everything that we have left!” Ulalas yelled, seeing another trump card come out as repairing spell scrolls were activated, the walls and the buildings around it starting to recover.

  “Just how many spell scrolls do they have!” A general asked with a trembling voice as spell scrolls were activated and used as a primary method of attack against the Blood Demon Sect.

  There was a yell from the rear of the formation. Ulalas looked over and her eyes widened as she saw an army of undead coming out of the darkness. There were no illumination rounds in the sky but the lights from the battle in Vuzgal was enough to flicker off their white bones.

  The mounted undead ran through the healers, cutting them down. There had to be thousands as they appeared through the city, cutting into the Blood Demon’s rear. They were impervious to pain and with every attack they reaped lives, undead that weren’t mounted followed behind them, cutting through the ranks.

  Undead were swraming through the city, hitting the rear of the forces that were up against the walls, the undead had them backed up against the wall as powerful spell scrolls were activated, falling on the Blood Demon Army, they lost hundreds in just minutes.

  Ulalas had her sword out as a mounted undead clashed with her, she defending against the blow and was sent glying back.

  They have to be Masters with the strength they are showing—undead Masters!

  “Use holy blessings and smite! Hit them with magical attacks and weapons!” Ulalas yelled. She knew how slim it would be for them to have any holy spells. They were called the Blood Demon Sect, after all—they were more aligned with chaos than with purity.

  “Recall the ten nearest Master and Elite units to fight the undead,” she grabbed an aide and said to them.

  “Yes, General!”

  Ulalas never looked at them once, her attention now focused on the undead chewing through her back ranks.

  She touched her bracer and pressed her thumb against the paper inside. Two different spell scrolls—one to create an illusion, the other to teleport—were her insurance. She needed to make this the biggest fight possible; then she needed to fake her death and escape.

  Only then would people never look for her, thinking that she had died on the battlefield.

  She had been promised a wedding with the man she had loved for years. He wasn’t a fighter but a powerful tailor who made strong armors and clothes.

  Then, months ago, she had been told by the sect that they were looking to increase their ties with another group and wanted to marry her off to that other sect. As if all of her previous achievements were worth nothing more than the fact that she was a woman. That her marriage agreement could be thrown away because the sect didn’t find it convenient anymore.

  She saw the Blood Demon Sect’s true face then. She had known it before, but she had been blinded to their coldness. She had had her own hopes and desires, to marry and to flee the Fourth Realm, to head to higher or lower in the realms—it didn’t matter to her as long as she was able to live a life without being away from the one she loved all the time.

  She had wanted to go and find him to run away, but the city he was in was attacked. They hid the matter well, but they sent the man she loved into the battle. They knew full well that he was a tailor and not a fighter. She knew it was an order from on high to get her to forget about him and to come back to the sect and do their bidding after her beloved died.

  She was nothing more than their dog to them. If she didn’t do what they wanted, then they would get rid of her and replace her with the other dogs that were trying to get their attention and her position.

  So she went to the people who were Blood Demon Sect’s biggest rivals and offered them an opportunity that few would be able to.

  She had the measures in her bracer to save her life but she didn’t really care; she didn’t have anything to live for anymore.

  Instead of charging forward to fake her death, she organized her army to try to hold back the undead army. She pulled Masters who were waiting to enter the city to deal with the undead army behind them.

  The undead cut a path through her lines to the mobile Mana barriers, breaking them down. The undead that were falling apart from damage charged forward and detonated the Mana within their bodies. They were all Master level enemies and the power that they could hold in their bodies was vast.

  No living person would so willingly detonate the Mana in their body. The undead weren’t people, and used detonating their body as if it was a calculation, like one would think about how they would aim their arrow, the spells to use—they thought of how to use their Mana detonations to the best effect.

  The undead killed the mobile Mana barrier formations one after another. Some others got new ones up, but others were focusing on the undead that were plowing through the back of their army.

  Untold Mana barrier formations were destroyed before the Masters and Elites called back by Ulalas showed up, charging into the fight.

  She heard a flapping noise above her. Undead flying beasts appeared out of the sky and landed among the army. They were the same beasts that the aerial mages had rode. They had been hiding on top of the main city pillar, but now they reappeared again.

  She was about to yell out when the winged undead beasts exploded. They had been level sixty and seventy mounts, but they caused the gigantic amount of Mana within their bodies to detonate.

  Four-hundred-meter areas were flattened as tens of people were killed in each blast.

  Ulalas’s blood ran cold as she was tossed through the air by one of the detonations. She rolled a few times and got to her feet.

  The undead army wasn’t deterred by their comrades explosions, the archers firing on the defenseless on the ground. The mages cast their spells as the skeletal mounts trampled people underfoot and their riders continued on their bloodbath, their armor was covered with the blood of their enemy.

  Ulalas was thankful that her army was spread out. If they had been all packed together, then the mounts suicide blasts could have destroyed most of her army in one shot.

  The undead continued to carve a path through her forces and then detonate once they were weakened. She had her people spread out so that as few as possible of them would die from the Mana detonations and it would also take the undead longer to move through them.

  The Blood Demon Masters ran into the fight, and although they were able to actually win against the undead instead of simply swarm them, if they didn’t kill the undead quickly enough then it would detonate and take the master down with it.

  She gritted her teeth and took the losses. She couldn’t help but acknowledge that the enemies leader, although he was a sadist, was a commander who never stopped scheming or making advantages where he could.

  Just how long had he buried the undead in the battlefield just so he could use them to attack our rear when we reached the inner city?

  Her expression became guarded as she looked at the walls of Vuzgal. Instead of looking defeated, they seemed to be mocking her as the unwanted next thoughts filled her mind.

  If he planned for them to come in while we were attacking the walls, did it also mean he planned for us entering the city? Just what are our casualties like?

  She snorted and laughed. Fitting end for them all. Her cold eyes moved over the rest of the army—puppets that played according to her whims. Puppets that had obeyed her, as she had obeyed the Blood Demon sect, their oaths binding them to her service and making it impossible for them to go against her orders.

  Suddenly the pain from before—the anger—turned into amusement. After all, wouldn’t this be the death knell for the Blood Demon Sect? With the Blue Lotus and Crafter’s Association leading the charge?
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  She thought that only if they got reinforcements would the people from Tareng have a chance of surviving this fight.

  Her blood ran cold. This was not a war like she had dealt with before. When taking the city, she had thought the battle was half over. Now she knew the truth: this was no simple city. This was a city of death.

  ***

  Erik looked at the fighting happening on the other side of the wall. The undead were pressing the Blood Demon Sect against the wall, the Titans and Blood Demons were falling as the attacking groups took them down. The rear of the army was in a mess.

  Erik took out a sound amplifying device.

  “Your leader is dead and you will be soon! The Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s association knows of your crimes they’re coming to hunt you down! We have the head of your General Ulalas!” Erik continued on. Glosil’s plan to yell at the enemy striking fear into their minds as they were sleeping resonated with Erik. He made sure that there was space for them to escape It happened slowly as word was passed and then suddenly the tide of the Blood Demon Sect Army changed.

  The Blood Demon Sect Army, hearing that their generals were dead, started to flee. They seemed to be relieved hearing Erik’s words.

  They were pitiful, having been used as nothing more than pawns as they ran in every direction, fleeing Vuzgal, heading to the East or West.

  If they had mounts they rode, if they couldn’t then they would run.

  Erik was surprised with their actions but it was only their oaths holding them there, once they thought that their oath wasn’t effective anymore than they ran.

  Chapter: Two Pillars’ Might

  Across the Fourth Realm, the neutral cities watched armored men and women marching out of the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association buildings, heading to the totems in their cities.

  Elder Lu stood at his window in the top of the Blue Lotus headquarters building. His eyes were on the totem and the blue and black armored legion that surrounded it, so thickly packed that one was unable to see the ground.

  Elder Lu got a message from Cui Chin.

  “We have confirmed that it is not a plague, but a concoction,” Cui Chin said.

  “Advance.” Elder Lu ordered as he cut the channel.

  The totems glowed in neutral cities across the Fourth Realm.

  Hundreds of warriors disappeared.

  The next groups marched forward as one and then turned to face outward, disappearing again.

  Thousands were moving, all of them ranked Master by the measure of the Fourth Realm.

  Across the Hang-Nim Alliance, they appeared in cities. People watched as they marched out of the totems and into the streets, advancing. They seemed to be exiting the city but waited as they got to the gates.

  Their forces continued to build up as time went on. The totems stopped sending people, but instead of leaving, the Blue Lotus and Crafter’s Association guards turned and faced the city. People looked on in confusion.

  “The Nezzar and Red Sword sects colluded together to attack the Crafter’s Association and Blue Lotus. Surrender or be put to the sword. Stay in your homes and do not venture out!”

  People were confused and outraged, but they knew that these two powerhouses wouldn’t lie about something such as this.

  The elders and people of these sects were struck by fear. Some sent their guards to fight off the two armies that were already inside their walls. Some simply gave up.

  Most of them had no idea what their sects had been thinking, but those who knew used whatever escape routes they had to try to get away.

  Others captured their friends, to use them as bartering chips to reduce their own sentence. In the Fourth Realm, one couldn’t simply survive by being a nice person.

  ***

  As soon as the order was given to advance, Lei Huo and her elite force of level sixty guards and departed through the totem.

  They all followed her lead, as they had arranged. The street out of the city was cleared. As they reached the empty land beyond, she looked at the three-hundred-strong fighting force.

  They didn’t have many numbers, but they were all old Masters who taught the Masters of the Fourth Realm. Most of them were level seventy and above.

  There were even five level eighties that Lei Huo didn’t know about.

  She used the scroll that Elder Lu had given her. A vast formation appeared on the ground and in the sky before they disappeared in a flash of light as if they had never been there in the first place.

  Sounds of fighting filled Lei Huo’s ears as they arrived in the dead land between the outer walls and the Blood Demon army’s temporary camp in the woods.

  There were people from the Blood Demon Sect Army that were fleeing in every direction, seeing the Blue Lotus and Crafter’s association forces, they turned and tried to flee in another direction.

  They paid these fleeing soliders no attention as they charged forward into the city, seeing the signs of battle. They followed the roads that the Blood Demon army had needed to fight through block by block.

  Lei Huo saw the signs of recent battle and increased her speed. The battle had not gone well. She had been getting reports but hearing and seeing what had happened were very different.

  The defenders Mana barrier over the inner city was still there but Lei Huo could see signs of close combat at their base. Dead were eveywhere, as well as undead that had been brought down. There were few Blood Demon Sect Army Soldiers that were unlucky to run into them, being cut down before they could surrender.

  She saw a massive snake wrap around one of the titans and sink its teeth into it.

  The titan struggled but it was unable to do anything before they both crashed to the ground, sending up a pillar of dust.

  The top soldiers of the Blue Lotus didn’t yell out as they charged forward. When they saw people from the Blood Demon army, they cut them down, without sparing any more effort than necessary. They passed enemy lines like the wind as they rushed forward.

  They slowed their pace as they saw that the fighting had msotly ceased with what remained of the Blood Demon Sect Army Fleeing.

  “Search for their commanders,” Lei Huo ordered, half of the force split up into groups and searched.

  The rest continued to follow her towards the inner city

  ***

  One of the titans had been able to make it to the inner walls, breaking inside, and was attacking the defenders.

  Rugrat had been sent forward with the reserve to assist as Masters and the Blood Demon army had poured in with it.

  They weren’t even able to hold in any place; they were just trying to pull back the wounded as fast as possible.

  The Blood Demon army had claimed this plot of land. Rugrat and the mounted forces had attacked those defending the titan but they’d been unable to hinder them greatly.

  The Crafter’s Association members continued to charge through from multiple directions, making the Blood Demon army clump together, which was great for the Alvan army fighters.

  Rugrat aimed out of a window with an M32 and fired rapidly at a group of soldiers packed in together. He finished firing and ran off, reloading his weapon as he went. Arrows slammed into the window he had fired from, followed by a spell that blew out a section of the wall.

  He jumped down into a courtyard and ran across a street. He made it to another house and jumped up to a good perch when he saw a two-man fireteam inside, calling in mortar fire.

  “Don’t miss!” he yelled and ran for another building. He could hear shooting off to the side as an army section had taken up residence in a large tower with its own Mana barrier and were hammering the new arrivals with repeaters and M32s as fast as they could reload.

  Marksmen were taking out the leaders that they could see in the mess around the titan.

  The Alvan fighting style was an odd idea for the other fighters. Seeing them kneel or lie down and still fighting.

  Rugrat had seen people die too many times when someone was standing and
sending out spells or firing a bow. It was hard to fire a bow from anything but standing; kneeling was possible but difficult.

  Though, with the repeaters and rifles, the Alvan army could lie down and make themselves small targets. They could do a lot of damage in a short time period before moving to a new firing position so they didn’t die from returning fire.

  The defense of the outer city was traps; the inner city was filled with firing positions that Rugrat had checked out and prepared. Each with enough ammunition and good cover that someone from the Alvan army could make the enemies life a living hell.

  George and the mounted beasts of the army were with the mounted forces of the Crafter’s Association. They appeared as a group, made it onto a street and mowed the enemy down. They smashed through on their powerful beasts that clawed and slashed at the Blood Demon army before they disappeared into the side streets once again.

  Rugrat pulled out his rifle and sighted on a leader ordering the army forward, pushing Elites and soldiers up front.

  “That’s not very nice.” Rugrat stroked the trigger. The commander dropped and fell backward.

  Rugrat changed aim onto a mage and was rewarded with a red bloom as he moved to his next target.

  He got three more before someone seemed to get wise to his position.

  Rugrat pulled out the M32 and fired into groups he’d spotted while shooting and ran. He pulled out the fired grenade casings as he heard spells, arrows, and anything launchable peppering the house he was just in.

  Then it started to go quiet and people started to yell. Rugrat moved to a new firing position as he saw that there was a commotion behind the Blood Demon army.

  Finally, he saw the source. The Blue Lotus reinforcements were here. They charged through the back of the Blood Demon forces, with their shields up and their blades ready.

  Arrows cut into the enemies backs as they marched forward, not fast or slow, maintaining pace as they met the thinned-out Blood Demon army. Their swords flashed as blood appeared and their shields created a steel wall. The Masters from the Blood Demon army even tried attacking the new threat but they were quickly dealt with.