"G-Get 'im!" a handful of them shouted, swinging their weapons in an attempt to swarm me. In less time than it took to blink, I moved from one to the next, severing limbs, torsos, and cleaving heads from their shoulders.
A mist of blood began to thicken the air, as yet another group of them quickly mustered the courage to avenge their fallen friends. Switching from a blade to a spear, I created some distance as the spear's tip whirled in a flurry of strikes aimed at their cores.
However, each attack left a hole the size of a large apple upon entry, but the exit wound was roughly from their hips to the bottoms of their shoulder blades.
Blood began to turn the ashen ravine into a bog of body parts and intestines as I carved my way through them, switching to an axe, then a scythe as I made my way along the ravine. Hundreds fell before I noticed something was strange about their behavior, even though I could sense their fear beginning to grow.
It wasn't that fear that kept them from retreating; it was Bernar.
During a brief lull in the onslaught, I felt a sense of joy violently bleeding through our connection. It was at that moment that I remembered he had gone to the other end of the horde to block them in, while leaving me a collapsed portion of the ravine at my back to fully trap them in.
Meet you in the middle? I asked him as I carved my way through another score of them. Sounds good to me, but unless either of us needs help, we should keep communication to a minimum, he sent back quickly. Agreed. Have fun out there, I sent back, but didn't get much more than a mental nod in return.
Returning my focus to the battle at hand, I continued dashing back and forth in a zig-zag pattern to ensure none of them could get by me. Granted, even if they did manage to do so, it was because they were trying to flank me, not run away. However, the handful of times they tried to do that, I would make quick work of them using kataki arrows, leaving their corpses intact as a lesson for the others.
Needless to say, it worked well.
Although I will admit, I hadn't considered how hard it would be to fight that many. Not because I was getting tired, since I had all but infinite access to mana to replenish my energy with after Kanarin's training, but because of the sheer amount of blood and entrails that the ashen ground eventually stopped absorbing.
This, in turn, forced me to start using a handful of different methods to expedite their meetings with their creators, whom I'd hoped would be overjoyed to see so many of their children returned.
The two I initially employed were creating blades of Wraith mana that helped manage how much I had to run back and forth, and unleashing my own phantoms to keep me from being overrun. This worked quite well, even though my phantoms relied solely on my instincts, rather than my direct control.
By the end of the full cycle, I can confidently say I killed over a hundred and twenty-five thousand of them, though I did begin to lose count after that. To be entirely honest, it was a fantastic test for our upgraded abilities, but I already knew I didn't want to stay there fighting the same way for the next few cycles.
I need a more efficient way of doing this. How are you doing over there? I asked bernar after the first full cycle of fighting. Really? Are you trying to outdo me? Bernar snapped back with a hint of shock.
Nope, just starting to get bored with using the same tricks over and over again, I sent back, carving through another dozen of them with a single swing of my scythe that spread more blood and entrails around me.
Oh, I have an idea, Bernar sent with almost audible excitement in his voice that was immediately followed by a surge of Wraith mana from the other side of the ravine. What the fuck was that? I asked with widened eyes. Heh, I guess you haven't thought of everything after all, he sent back with a chuckle.
In the few heartbeats that followed, he sent me the general idea of what he'd just done. In essence, it consisted of forming an array of blades that constantly rotated around me, while leaving the Thran no room to flank me.
That's absolutely a genius idea, but I think I can make it better, I said, as a literal flood of information left my core. Ooooh, I like that, he replied with a wolfish tone. See you in a bit, then, I smirked, taking a leap backward to allow myself some room to focus.
First time for everything, right? I told myself as I took a deep, steadying breath atop a pile of disemboweled corpses.
The idea behind what I wanted to do was simple, though its execution, I quickly realized, was based solely upon how well I could focus on controlling multiple facets of Wraith mana at once. Reopening my eyes and seeing the horde growing increasingly hesitant of me meant that everything I'd done until that point had worked wonders for our plan.
Time to finish the job, I thought, allowing a malicious grin to spawn on my face as I created four curved blades of pure Wraith mana, causing the smell of the Thrans' fear to nearly overwhelm the smell of death around me.
I dashed forward into the fray, beginning to spin the blades around me in not only horizontal patterns, but diagonal ones as well, since the Thran loved to try to attack from above. From the outside, however, it might have looked like there was a fishing net of death extended above and around me.
I pushed more mana into the blades, extending or culling their reach as needed in conjunction with the ravine's features. However, the almost knee-deep river of blood forced me to create small platforms of mana on its surface to keep my momentum going, slaughtering the horde in front of me with less effort than I'd used so far. Corpse after corpse, limb after limb, I carved my way through their numbers like a mole to the earth.
It was a beautiful yet macabre display of power.
Although I had no real way to know how much further I had to go, I pressed onward for a decent amount of time until I finally saw the end in sight. I felt my eyes widen a little in surprise when I finally understood what he was doing, as Bernar had taken my idea and, quite literally, run with it toward me.
Almost done here, shit-bird. Let's pick up the pace! He shouted through our connection, likely after having noticed me at the other end of the remaining horde. Don't need to tell me twice, I sent back with a mild sigh of relief as I picked up my speed in all aspects.
We drew closer and closer to the end; the blood beneath our feet rising at an astounding rate as we hewed our way toward each other, but there was something we hadn't been able to address until then.
Do you think we should leave one of them alive to interrogate them? I asked, seeing there were only a few hundred meters left to go. Couldn't hurt to try, but I don't think we'll get much information out of them, Bernar mentally shrugged.
Still, I'd like to know who told them she'd come back. After all, it doesn't make sense for them to attack Tason'Gare now when they could have easily done this while we were in Narin, I noted with a sinking feeling in my gut. Fair enough. Let's see what we can do, he sent back, picking up his pace once more, which made me do the same.
Just make sure to keep at least three of them alive, I added. Three? Bernar asked. Trust me, I sent back, earning me little more than a grunt in response.
As the final score of Thran fell to our blades, I can honestly say that I felt a sense of relief wash over me, but with the final three of them that remained, there was no time to relax yet.
"Well, that was fun," Bernar said with an exasperated sigh, abhorrently soaked in blood and entrails. His hair was matted to his face with dark blood, almost making it look like he'd just crawled out of a lake. "Not sure I'd call it fun," I replied, wiping away a stream of blood from near my eyes and pushing my hair back over the top of my head.
The three remaining creatures could only stare at us in absolute horror. "D-Damn you! W-What are you two, anyway?" one of them managed to fumble-fuck his way through a question as he nearly tripped over a fallen Thran's thigh while he backed away from us.
"Ah, about that," Bernar began, quickly aiming his blade at the one who asked the question, flinging blood from its tip in the creature's direction.
Care to do the honors? I'm not good at interrogations, I asked him, earning me a subtle nod. Don't worry. I am. Just keep an eye on the other two, but if the one in the middle tries anything, you know what to do, he sent back, to which I nodded a response.
"It's not your turn to ask questions, but I do have a few for you," he continued, taking a handful of menacing steps forward, causing the Thran to shakily point his axe at him.
"B-Back away or I'll-..." The creature's words halted and were quickly replaced by an agonizing howl of fear and pain, as it watched its arm soar high into the air. "Excuse me, my brother is talking," I said coldly as I stared into its fearful eyes.
A bit much, don't you think? Bernar asked with a slightly curved brow. Of course, I didn't do that without a good reason, I began, flicking the blood from my blade.
Kalia once told me during our time in the dome that establishing dominance with them, primarily through actions rather than words, was the key to getting any information out of them, as it's the only way they'll cooperate, I continued, taking a few steps back as I watched the creature tightly grip its severed arm at the base of the wound.
To be fair, I was genuinely surprised to see that it even had the strength of will to challenge us after we'd basically slaughtered the entire population of multiple combined bourgs.
If you say so, Bernar shrugged, continuing to move forward, while the other two whimpered back and away from us, immediately sinking their weapons into the pool of blood beneath them.
"Well, then. I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I really need to bathe after all that," he gestured off to his left at the carnage he left behind. "What I really want to know is: Who told you The Annihilatorwas back in Tason'Gare?" he asked, slightly twisting the broadside of his blade toward them as if indicating what he would do if they didn't answer.
The two uninjured Thran glanced at each other with fear-ridden expressions. "I-I thought I heard it was a heavily wounded woman with bright, green eyes and scars all over its body that told our leaders to make their move," the smaller of the two began shakily, earning a quick nod of confirmation from the other. "I heard that, too, but none of us know the woman's name," the other replied.
I felt a sinking feeling beginning to grow deep in my gut as I digested their description.
We know who that is, don't we? Bernar asked, all but confirming my suspicions.