The claws slashed at him, and the jaws took succulent bites out of his body. He was turned every which way like a rag doll or chew toy. And through it all he was still alive. From this distance and with how bloody he looked, I couldn't tell which race he belonged to, but at this point I don't think it really mattered. I was shaken by the sheer amount of destruction and death.
Sure if I fought with my soldiers, a similar level of destruction could occur, but not with the same beast like savagery I was seeing. Fighting monsters was a whole other ball game than fighting humanoids, they worked with a very different set of tactics, and they were relentless. This was a massacre, and one that was carried out without me even needing to swing a sword. There were flashes of sword light, spells and skill; as our opponents tried to mount some sort of resistance, but unless their friends from the other towers come to help, there was only one way this can end, and that's is death.
"Gus run a quick recon on the towers on the east side. Find out how they're reacting to the destruction of these three southern towers. White, Black, you two should march on ahead and canvass the battlefield. We've won this round. Send soldiers to explore the tower, check for survivors. If there's anyone alive willing to surrender, you have orders to arrest them. But if they're still fighting, kill them all!"
"YES SIR"
For now all I could do was sit back and watch what happens, at the very least I would only be able to make a move until Gus comes back with more news. It didn't take long for all three towers to be completely subdued. Of course many of the men left put up a fight, but in the end the were outnumbered and outgunned. With a mental order, I had all the monsters pull back, I couldn't send them back yet, because I wasn't sure I had enough energy to summon them again.
Corpses littered the ground, a lot of them were monsters from the dungeons, but the rest had to be people we just fought against. I was happy we won, but that was just three towers, and I was a little confused. There were two gang lords and a coven leader left for me to defeat, but I doubted all three combined had enough manpower to man all the towers.
[Master Kael a contingent of soldiers are approaching from the fortresses in the east. They're rapidly gaining and it doesn't look like they're coming for peace.]
[That's good Gus, hurry back. Well meet you there.] I replied to him.
I looked over the battlefield and saw that my soldiers were not yet ready. They had taken their guard down, and as if to mock me for my realization, the middle tower we just assaulted exploded.
BANG!
The shockwave threw me off my feet, and my ears were ringing. It was a trap! They knew that they wouldn't be able to defend the towers against an assault from us. The canons were only meant to be a distraction, this was their real plan. And true enough, I could hear screams coming from the east and from the west, we were caught with our pants down, and no body was in any position to mount up any resistance.
A lot of my vampires were injured, a lot of the monsters were dead. Of course the injuries would be healed in no time, but by then it would have been too late. We needed time, fast. I ran towards the battlefield my heart pounding in worry as I pulled my shield out. I raised it over my head, and held my breath as it expanded until was almost ten times it's normal size. Polymorphic shields were awesome; due to its ability to change shape and form based on my orders, it might give me a chance to save everyone.
Quite a few people have died, which meant there was soul energy flying around and saturating the atmosphere on battlefield. I took a deep breath and began to drag them into my body, I was like a black hole sucking all of those soul energy. Soul energy was invisible to the naked eye, it was only when I transform it into a state of matter, using my body that it could be seen. But this time, I was taking in so much soul energy, that a whirlwind started around me, dragging the attention of my injured soldiers and my enemies to me.
I planted my feet, and almost immediately, another explosion went off. I felt the pressure from the wind hit me, and it felt like a well placed punch to the gut. But this was not the end, as moments later, the third tower explosion went off, throwing me off my feet, and almost making me loose hold over my shield. I could taste blood in my mouth, my eardrums were ruptured, I was bleeding from my ears, and for some reason I was having difficulty seeing.
I could hear yells getting a lot closer to me, and I knew the fight had already arrived. But I had to go through with this, or everyone here would be dead. I raised the still enlarged shield, and continued to pull in soul energy. And in the process of doing so, I pushed soul energy into shield and for the first time ever, I weave a rune sentence, using two of my soul runes as a base.
[HEALING SHEILD OF THE SKY]
There was loud clang as I felt someone deflect something in front of me. I couldn't see, but I could recognize who that was based on feeling and perception alone; it was Gus. Then all of the soul energy I had hastily accumulated, drained out of me. And even then I kept pulling in more and sending it into the giant rune circle that was sure to appear over my head. I fell to my knees, and almost immediately I felt nature's backlash slam into my skull. I let out a yell as blood spurted out from my nose and ears. I also felt my eyes rupture, as the worst migraine in the history of migraines attempted to split my skull in two.
I was just part vampire now, and my other half, the nature spirit half, meant that I was a lot closer to nature than before. Which means the backslashes were not supposed to be as strong; but whatever it is I just did, Nature's beyond pissed at me. But there was nothing I could do but keep that shield raised until everything's okay. Soon enough the battle began in earnest, I could hear my soldiers fighting, harder and wilder. My left eye regenerated at that moment, and sharp burst of light from the battles and the blue district made me shut it again.
I opened my eyes and saw all of the soldiers on my side had golden green shields hanging off the surface of their body, like a cocoon of light. Even the monsters had those lights, and I could see every injury received, healed at ten times the normal speed. I even saw someone place his decapitated head back on his shoulder, and stab a dagger made of blood into the chest of the man who attacked him.
The Envoys who were a part of this army had formed a circle around me, and were currently trying to protect me from the endless wave of enemies who realized I was the reason why my vampires had truly become immortal and unkillable. But their advances were futile, as they all fell to the swords of my Envoys.
By this point my soul energy was already depleted, but I continued the infusion, by being a channel. I could not wait for my soul energy to regenerate, and I had to make sure my vampires remain in this state of invisibility until the battle is completely in our favor. So all of the soul energy around was just flowing through me, and into the shield. Raw and unrefined soul energy. We were winning, and Kuyait had taken to the sky's, her dragon form completely exposed as she rained down ice and death on our enemies, victory was right within grasp.