Chương 4: Chapter Four: Scion of the Tower

FOUR From the chaos strode a giant in white robes. The man had to be nearly seven feet tall with skin as black as ink. Sweat gleamed on his bald head and he waded into the chaos with bare fists, striking like a thunder storm. Hints of something swirled around the man, flashes of light that appeared right as he struck the skeletons. Skeletons became fragments as they were blasted apart, none of them lasting more than one exchange.

The big man moved lightly, dodging the clumsy attacks of the skeletons and destroying them with a casual punch, caving in skulls or simply blowing apart torsos. Where he stepped, order was reasserted. Men and women in matching uniforms or those of similar cut, formed disciplined lines. Roan recognized them for what they were. Sect members or college graduates of tower climbing academies. Well trained, well funded, and having the skill needed to hold against the horde. They just needed a figure to rally around.

Roan looked over the man, the titan made of flesh, and realized what he was. A scion of the towers and humanity. Someone who had one foot in the realm of mortals and another in the towers.

"Don't let them spread farther down the halls!" The big man didn't raise his voice, but the great basso of it carried with ease. Roan looked across the boulevard and saw that the halls continued onward, a never ending line of skeletal crypts. Roan saw the closest of the skeletons with his back turned, sword raised to hack at a woman's exposed side. He stepped forward and was glad he had taken the longsword as he slashed across the creature's neck, beheading it a single strike." The extra length is perfect."

Roan didn't slow, kicking the headless torso away and charging his next foe. On the wide boulevard with room to move, the inferior skeleton lived up to its name. They moved slowly, were clumsy, and attacked with the same wide sweeping attacks that were easy to avoid. There were just too many of them. Dozens to every fighter on the boulevard. More and more people were coming from the alleyways, some pursued by hordes of undead but most of them were alone as they got free of the alleys.

Roan was happy to see that a majority of the people who stumbled into the quagmire stayed, throwing their strength in with the defenders. A few ran though, saw the fight and just crossed the boulevard and went deeper into the crypts. Roan grimaced as he saw some of those skeletons that didn't join the fight continue walking. Down the alleys unmolested and looking to rally more of their kindred.

Even with the big scion fighting and holding the line, rallying together all those trained fighters, they couldn't stop the tide. Steel bit bone and he cut through another pair of skeletons, chopping them apart with brutal efficiency. The mass of osteoporosis between him and the rest of the defenders was thinning by the moment. He didn't relent, even as his body burned with strain. Using the longsword one handed was awkward, but he wouldn't drop his axe, not when the undead were packing the boulevard.

A trio of undead spun around to stare down at him, emerald fire in their sockets as they started to hack at him. Roan danced backward, allowing the enemy blades to hit stone as the skeletons overswung. The triangular tip of the longsword punched through the skeleton on the far right skull. Its flame guttered out as it collapsed in a heap, but Roan had already swung the axe at the skeleton to the left. He missed the skull and instead hit the shoulder, cracking bone and sending its arm to clatter to the ground.

The middle skeleton's sword rose, sweeping toward him in a disemboweling strike. Roan cursed as he was forced backward, the two skeletons closing in on him. A fist punched through the middle skeleton's sternum. A spinal cord was clutched in the man's fist as the skeleton collapsed. Roan reversed course, attacking with his axe again and this time he struck true. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Form a line, we must hold," the giant said as he shook his hand and dropped the spinal cord he'd just ripped out.

"We need to run. The skeletons move to awaken more of their own kind!" Roan said, using his sword to point toward a line of them were walking down the aisles. The big man looked toward them and frowned.

"DARREN! We need to retreat!" The big man roared toward the densest knot of defenders where another young man in a similar cut of robes stood directing people with calm precision. The other man turned and looked around, assessed the situation, and agreed instantly.

"Toaya, hold the rear. Jun, Michael, Kray will lead the push down this alley," Darren said instantly, pointing down the alley that Roan would have gone down if not for the battle. The big man nodded his head and turned to the others, raising his voice until the room shook.

"EVERYONE! FOLLOW DARREN! I SHALL HOLD THE LINE!" For a second there was silence as his words reverberated and then the exodus began. Those on the fringes of the fight never had a chance as the middle basically evaporated, rushing down the alley. Without the resistance offered by the defenders, the skeletons quickly overwhelmed them and blood flowed as the dead consumed the living.

"Will you hold the line with me?" Toaya asked. Roan nodded on instinct as the cluster of people trying to escape was causing a jam as the alley was only wide enough for a single person at a time.

"They save their lives, we shall collect the rewards," Roan said as he followed the rush of escapees, turning to slice apart a skeleton that came too close. Toaya laughed, the strange swirl of energy coalesced around his fist like violent eddies of air. The man punched a sword coming toward him, knocking it out of the way before kicking its owner in its chest, throwing it across the wide road to bowl over several more that came toward them.

Dozens and dozens of people were coming out of the alleys, only to find stabbing blades waiting for them. A few managed to push their way through, crossing the boulevard and into their respective alleys. Roan couldn't help but hope that they'd get through. A sword clipped by him, air hissing as Roan dropped into a crouch and cut horizontally across. The skeleton parted in half, not dead but crippled, and Roan backed up as more of them pushed closer.

Taoya continued to attack without hesitation, arriving next to Roan in a blink of an eye. A pulse of power washed over Roan's skin as the man's massive fist blew apart two skeletons in two blows.

"Be careful," Taoya warned with a wide smile. Rather than growing weaker, the man seemed to be growing stronger as the fight progressed and the odds mounted against him. Where earlier the energy around him seemed to be immaterial, there was now a corona of crackling blue-white light around him.

"Are you having fun yet?" Taoya asked as they backed up, shoulder to shoulder until they reached the alley way that Darren had led everyone down. Now all that stood in front of them was yellowing bones, leather skin, and red rusty steel. Taoya didn't seem to be bothered by the crushing weight of the odds against them. Roan stood firm as the crowd slowly forced their way through the narrow alley. Back and forth his blades danced, his earlier thoughts of collecting the points were quickly fading away.

He wasn't fast enough to kill them, just fast enough to keep their blades from finding his own skin.

"You are pure human?" Taoya asked as he blew apart another of the skeletons in a single punch. The energy radiating off of him was growing thicker by the moment as the massive man punched and kicked with increasing speed.

"Yes. You aren't." Roan spoke in short sentences, his breath coming in gasps as he fought harder.

"You are good for just a human," Taoya said. Sparks had begun to fly off of the man's body as he continued to attack.

"Thanks." Roan managed to counterattack and landed a powerful hit to kill another skeleton.

"When I tell you to, you need to run," Taoya said.

"I can do that," Roan gasped. Somehow in their fight he'd managed to pick up more wounds, cuts on the outer edges of his arms, legs, and one sword had managed to slice along his pectoral.

"Time to run then!" Taoya roared.