United Against Hate: Chapter 32

The Sanctum was overrun. The nil had torn through the streets, overrunning most of the guard posts and the homes. It wasn’t that the Sanctum was ill prepared in general, but that they were ill prepared for the sheer massive size of the army. Coming over the hills that served as the natural wall of the city, the nil attacked as a giant wave. A wave that could not be beaten back.

The ground shook from the steps of the demon as it entered the city. The low arches that designated streets shattered before its leg and the smaller nill rushed in the wake. Though to call them small was a misnomer, as these stood anywhere between ten to fifty feet tall. Its head almost brushed through the clouds but it stared down at the city.

The demon could see the soldiers gathered and hunters along with them erecting barriers to protect the populace. The tide of the nil slammed against those barriers but failed to break through them. That was the small glimmer of hope for the Sanctumites. But the giant demon paid them no mind.

It had a single goal in mind, the massive cathedral castle that stood in the center of the country. It didn’t rush. It didn’t slow down. It did every step as controlled as it could enjoying every life that it crushed under heel. It was from between the pillars of an adjacent building that Leo watched the demon’s approach.

“We’ve never fought something that big before,” Sagittarius shook her head. “How do we fight?”

“I’m working on that,” Leo mumbled.

“Well you’re going to have to work faster,” Capricorn said feeling the tremor beneath his feet.

“It’s going to beeline straight toward the Speaker,” Virgo closed her eyes and took a slow breath. “It’s not like the rest of them. I can feel it. It’s angry. Malicious. It’s enjoying the damage that it’s causing here.”

“I think it helps that Daze isn’t there right?” Gemini asked.

“It just means that one of the other groups is dealing with him,” Aquarius said grimly and Leo nodded.  “And just because he’s not here doesn’t mean this will be simple.”

“Maybe it is,” Aries said and when he got their attention he motioned toward the demon. “The Speaker called his people to defend this city. John. Issac. Mattheu. All of them. They’ve seen battles over their years. They can handle the nil. However, that large demon isn’t for the land of mortals. It’s for us to deal with.”

“Take the battle to it,” Taurus said and the ram nodded at him. “If it falls then the nil will scatter.”

“Is that in our favor?” Libra asked looking at her siblings and friends. “We’re not exactly at our strongest.”

“We won’t know until we try,” Leo said stepping out of the shade of the building. “And we’re running on limited options.”

“I think we should do it,” Gemini said looking at Aries and then his mother. “We’ve done it once. In the past.”

“One of the journal entries you read?” Leo asked raising her eyebrow.

Gemini nodded, “It was something that an Aries, a Gemini, and a Libra fought against. The thing they fought was some monster. None of them were good at describing it. But it was huge. And with their powers, they were able to out fight it and bring it down. This thing is the same situation. Just. Bigger. And needing all of us.”

“He’s got a point,” Capricorn smirked. “Beating things with godlike powers is definitely in our wheelhouse.”

“Any objections then?” Leo asked looking at her Zodiac.

There were no objections about whether or not they wanted to do this. They all recognized that they had to do this. This was their part to play in this battle. So one by one they nodded to Leo and after the last one she smiled and took a very slow deep breath.

“Alright everyone. Then let’s not hold back. We take it down, we take down the source of all our problems. You all know what to do.”

She conjured her sword and held it out to them. One by one they conjured their weapons: a bow, an axe, a gauntlet, a sword, a spear, a set of scales, a jug, an open outstretched hand, and a khopesh.

One by one their constellations began to appear around them until the stars were blinding. Their power exploded until it bathed and radiated off them. Taking a steady breath Leo looked at each of them with her glowing eyes and nodded slowly.

“Let’s go,” she said softly.

She leaped from the dome soaring through the air and landing on another nearby building, something with a square flat top. From there she kept moving, leap to leap clearing these buildings like they were nothing. A nil jumped from the crowd at her and she roared at it. The nil didn’t even get close to her before it was set aflame. Not even its ashes touched Leo as she jumped through it.

Grunting as she landed, she looked up and stared at the demon that was now much closer. And it looked down at her as well with its deep crimson eyes. It raised one hand and swung it down at her. Eyes narrowing, she jumped hard landing right on the arm and started running along it. It felt like she was walking through mud, her boots sticking occasionally in its skin.

It turned and tried to swipe its other arm over its shoulder but she jumped over it and dug her sword into its arm leaving a trail of fire in its skin. It hissed, the sound like wind whipping around and its skin jumped to life. Leo’s eyes widened as spikes jutted out beneath her feet.

She jumped off before she could get shish kebabbed. As she fell Aries and Capricorn ran past her racing along the demon’s arm. “Don’t fall behind sheep!” Capricorn shouted as he leaped forward.

Ignoring his gest, lightning wrapped around Aries’s body as he raced through the field of spikes to its head. When he arrived at the top, Capricorn appeared as well. Their constellations mixed as they swung together and hit the side of the demon’s head.

The impact boomed and the demon stumbled backward slowly. There was an uptick in screeches as nil were crushed under the demon’s foot. A crack appeared on the side of its head, leaking purple ichor. It turned its red eyes onto the two Zodiac floating in the air and suddenly one of its hands was swatting them out of the sky.

It was like getting hit by a section of the castle and they came down to the ground like meteors. Before they could crash into the ground they were caught by a cushion of air. Virgo hovered over and lowered them to the ground slowly.

“Okay it’s gotta be illegal for that thing to move that fast,” Capricorn said holding a hand to his head.

“It was surprising,” Aries got to his feet and nodded thanks to Virgo.

“Think you can throw us back up there?”

“I should be able to,” she replied confidently.

The three of them turned toward the streets though and saw the horde of nil that were suddenly eyeing them. Before the horde could approach, arrows rained down killing the curious and discouraging any others. Sagittarius stood atop the roof with her bow drawn and shook her head. “Don’t stay on the streets or else you’re dealing with those things up close.”

Sagittarius drew another arrow from her quiver and raced toward the big demon as she looked at the ground. They were in the thick of the horde, roving packs of the nil covering the streets. It wasn’t like when they attacked at the temple of their mother. These were wild animals, hunting. The only reason they had some interest in her or her family was because they were in line of sight. No more intelligence than that.

She saw a group of three racing from home as if they weren’t in a war zone. She saw why quickly. A man was thrown out and into the streets. Sliding across the ground and screaming he covered himself as the demons lunged. She fired taking down each demon with deadly precision.

He looked at her and she pointed behind her, “Run that way! There’s a safe zone in that dome!”

When she saw, he had started running again she turned and saw a flash of starlight near the big demon. With Leo, Capricorn, and Aries out of the way, the demon had begun its march toward the cathedral without sparing a second glance at any of them. But its attention wasn’t the only thing that she had to keep an eye out for. The other nil were starting to take notice of her up on the roof.

She came to a stop taking aim at the demon when she heard a crack. A massive chunk of stone flew at her and she was forced to pivot and shoot it out of the sky. The shards rained down around her but not before the nil that threw it towered over her.

Thirty feet tall, it held both its arms up, and hissing ready to squash her like a bug. Something heavy crashed into it with a loud thud, its weight shattering part of the roof as it fell. As it toppled down a black chain flashed and wrapped around its arm. Scorpio zoomed forward and dug her khopesh into its face, ending its life.

Sagittarius looked over the edge as Taurus and Scorpio both moved to join her on the rooftop. “Are you alright sister?” the giant of a man asked and she nodded quickly. “The closer we get to it the more aggressive the nil become.”

“I noticed. You think they’re defending it?” Taurus asked looking at Scorpio.

“No. I think they are it,” Scorpio said and pointed at the back of demon.

 As it passed them, they could see spines protruding from its skin that glowed at strange intervals. But when they looked closer, they could see blobs dropping from the spines after they glowed. When the blobs hit the ground, they wriggled before standing up fully as a fresh nil and running into the city.

“It’s creating them? Gross,” Sagittarius said making a face. “Guess that proves your theory. If that dies, this ends.”

“Yep,” Scorpio said grimly tossing her khopesh to her other hand. “If we can break the spines early we can at least slow down the nil.”

“Then let’s get to it,” Sagittarius turned her bow in hand. “We’re just going to need a distraction.”

Across the battlefield, a maelstrom of wind kicked up just beside the nil. As the tornado kicked up nil and debris alike, water raced around the base until it got toward the top. At the tip, Luce and Umbra danced on the edge of their creation and pointed with their swords.

The water hardened to ice and they started flinging chunks at the demon’s side. Most of it broke on contact but others shot deep into its skin. It didn’t take long before they went from a minor annoyance to pissing it off. It moved swinging its arm down on their tornado splitting the whirlwind down the middle.

The twins flew off in separate directions. The demon’s arms both darted forward trying to grab them out of the sky. But as its hands closed around them both disappeared from its grasp. Gemini landed on the ground a good distance away from the demon’s immediate grasp. He stumbled backward running into Libra and Aquarius.

“That was close,” Libra said looking down at him.

“Yeah, but we managed to do some damage,” Aquarius said taking his hand and pulling him to his feet. “Again?”

“Yeah. You ready Libra?”

“I think so,” she held her hands up and they both took them. Her eyes glowed and they felt the massive reservoir of power inside her open. “Balance Libra.”

Both Aquarius and Gemini shuddered as the power washed over them, but this wasn’t their first rodeo with it. Leaning forward they took deep breaths, remembering how to ride the peaks and valleys. When Libra let go of them, both of their constellations glowed even brighter.

Clasping her hands together, Aquarius pointed toward the demon, “Pour Aquarius!”

Gemini clapped his swords together right next to her as he shouted, “Gemini Tempest!”

Water jumped to her side, erupting into two vertical rivers going straight at the demon. The twins raced along the side of it, the wave icing over. They crashed into the demon’s chest this time. It stumbled backward under the impact. That’s where Gemini came in with thousands of blades, slicing into its beat and wounded chest.

This got a roar of anger from the demon and it swung shattering the ice in one swing. The other arm came up sweeping through the bladed whirlwind but this time it slammed into a barrier of air buffeting the arm back. Gemini was barely able to keep himself in the air, but now he had the demon’s entire attention.

It screeched and the sound made Gemini’s eyes go cross and his body solidify. The demon’s hand swept forward quickly and this time it caught Gemini. He squirmed in its grasp but it squeezed hard bringing him up to eye level.

“I know your kind. And I’ll enjoy eating you.”

 “Get your hand off my son!”

Racing along the demon’s arm Leo spun her great claymore over her head as flame ignited along the edge.  She roared swinging down and felt the blade eat through the skin of the demon. Felt it slice through sinew and bone like it was nothing. The scream the demon let out was primordial. A sound that had never been uttered on this side of the world.

The Zodiac all turned to look at the demon and it took a step back. Leo jumped off the stump that was its hand and cut through its hand. Gemini broke out of its grasp and immediately turned into the wind. He caught himself and his mother and they floated back down to the ground.

Leo looked at him quickly and put a hand on his shoulder, “You alright?”

“Yeah. Thanks mom.”

The demon stumbled backward, holding its hand as its eyes burned even brighter. It glared down at them. The ground rumbled as it took a heavy step forward and swept its arm out shattering buildings and without Gemini they would have been thrown off into the air.

It stared at its stump and watched as its hand began to regrow. “You miserable excuses for Gods! I’ll kill and devour you all! One by one and make you watch until the last!”

“I think we pissed it off,” Gemini mumbled looking at his mom.

“A little bit,” she said and readied her sword.

Slowly but surely the nil started to get agitated and converge on their location. Fighting them and the demon was going to be impossible. The ground shook as the demon stepped forward and brought down its fist. The fist was big enough to block out the sun and they were in its shadow.

The demon suddenly jerked forward as light exploded at its back. It tried to turn but took an awkward step forward. Taurus gripped its foot and took a step forward shoving the demon forward and off balance. Jumping off his broad shoulders, Scorpio raced up the demon’s back using her tail for balance.

An arrow whizzed by her head striking and embedding deep within one of the spines. When she crossed the spine, she swung her khopesh at the spot with the arrow. The weapon cut cleanly through it leaving a green residue. Whizzing past her head were more arrows and Scorpio continue to climb, cutting the spines as fast as she could.

The demon screeched as more and more of its spines were cut off. It tried to spawn more nil to intercept her but the scorpion was too fast for the newborn demons. Finally, it started to reach behind it with its new hand, sweeping it down to knock her off.

“Kick Capricorn!”

A flash of light at its hand and suddenly its arm was knocked away into the air. Capricorn hovered, for a second surrounded by his constellation’s glow and laughed, “You’re up sheep! Don’t waste your chance!”

“Shut up goat. I don’t miss. Run Aries!” In a blur of movement, he raced up the leg and chest of the demon. The demon’s body shifted as it tried to ready itself, but Aries got to its shoulder and leaped right in front of its face. Grabbing his spear tightly he spun around, electricity racing down his arms and concentrating around the head of the hammer tips. “Aries Bolt!”

Thunder rang out as he slammed the hammer into the side of the demon’s head where he and Capricorn had struck before. The blow tore chunks of skin and flesh out of its head and sent it spinning backward, the head cocked at an awkward angle. It stumbled backward barely able to keep itself upright.

“One more blow and we topple it,” Leo shouted looking back at them.

“I can help with that,” Libra said glancing toward Aquarius and holding her hand. “Aqua can you get me close?”

“Of course,” she replied taking her hand.

“Then let’s bring it down,” Virgo said running over to them her eyes aglow. Gemini and Leo exchanged glances and then nodded at her. “Repent Virgo.”

They were both gripped by her invisible hands and then thrown into the sky. Halfway into the air Gemini turned into a tornado of wind, propelling his mother even higher. Meanwhile Aquarius and Libra surfed over the heads of the nil until they were right over the leg of the demon.

Circling around it, Libra pressed her hands together and then slapped them both against its leg. “Balance Libra Judgement!”

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head the moment the command came out and Aquarius was quick to grab her sister. In that moment the power rushed through her as well and it was like a tsunami had suddenly manifested at the demon’s feet washing away the startled nil.

“Charge Taurus!” With the surge of his sisters’ power, the bull slammed into the demon’s leg as hard as he could. The demon crumpled under the combined force and sank down to one knee shaking the ground hard.

Leo now hovered above the demon’s head as Gemini materialized next to her. He took her hand and started to spin on the wind. After the third rotation, he let go flinging his mother at it. Flipping forward Leo grabbed her claymore and cried out, “Roar Leo Ignite!”

She drove her sword straight into the demon’s head and flames exploded through the demon’s eyes and mouth. But she didn’t stop pushing and roaring until she rode the demon to the ground. It crashed into the ground with such a heavy thud that literally everything around it shook and collapsed.

It took a long time for the dust to settle and they all stared at the head of the demon. Slowly in the thick of the dust, a flaming sword was lifted to the sky. Leo roared and scattered the dust away from the battlefield. Her constellation burned in the flames of her hair and the others shouted their own constellations doing the same.

Leo took a step forward off the demon when something tingled in the back of her head. A sixth sense that told her danger was here. She looked back and forth quickly at everyone but then turned and looked to the sky. There he was, standing on the air, looking down at them like ants.

Daze looked at the wreckage of the Sanctum capital but it was still standing. He saw the defenders working together against the remaining nil. He could see the assembled Zodiac standing over the demon they defeated together. But more than that he could see the judgmental gaze of the speaker.

Snarling he raised one single hand, black scales racing across his skin. Holding it to the sky, he smirked as a massive ball of black fire appeared. It was big enough to eclipse the sun on not just this side of the country but he was sure even Noria could see it. So surely the father of the Sanctum could see it as well.

“Perhaps this is overdoing things,” he chuckled softly. “Goodbye my old home. When I rebuild it from these ashes, I promise to never make the same mistakes.”

Daze flicked his hand forward and the ball of fire sank, leaving his palm and sinking to the ground. He watched the molten meteor of fire fall into the city. He watched it collide with the ground, explode, and expand to cover the entire city with his black flames.

The explosion was deafening, the flames were blinding, and the power immense. But Daze sneered under the heat of the fire below him. Turning on the air another black portal opened and he stepped through it. He had had his fun. He had another more important task to personally see to.