Black Stained Red

Another shot cracked through the air as they charged into the enemy's defenses, coming straight from Nikolas himself. Diego stumbled forward, following his group as they made their way inside. Their group moved to a building that sat in the middle section of the fort, slightly off to the side, hugging one of the walls, pointed to the forest.

It was a ways off, and they would have to fight their way to get there. But after this wave of combatants, there would be a gap, giving them ample room to slip into the structure to clear out any enemies inside, and maybe take any loot they could find in the process. Kae didn't aim for this, though, mostly believing the building to be good for cover. Both were true.

By following Kamila's movements, he could tell that she was aiming to enter herself whilst the others stuck close to the door in defensive positions.

Taking a building or structure like this was a good strategy. Plus, anyone within would have an advantage over anyone attempting to come in from the outside if the battle went on for too long. It was good to take an opportunity like this early rather than later.

Just before they reached the building, a group of deserters rushed over to Kae's platoon, immediately slamming against their line of defense, causing Kae to stumble. Kamila struggled against one of the men who began raining down a barrage of slams and kicks against her, pushing her back while Aspasia held herself strong, digging her axe into another man's neck, kicking the leg of another, causing them to cascade straight to their knees.

Nikolas remained at the very back of the group, laying down supporting fire.

The formation broke apart, though, when a man from behind the house sprinted straight toward the gunner, tackling him and bringing him to the ground.

Diego took out that blade, the Flyssa strapped on his back out of its sheath, and attempted to go and help Nikolas. One of the men slipped through their group's defenses, rushing to Diego, who jumped out of the way, harpoon in one hand, and his blade in the other.

Diego assessed the situation. Kamila was knocked down by one of the men while Aspasia was left to juggle multiple combatants at once, Kae struggling to keep up with the battle.

Diego spun the harpoon around, striking against the leg of his assailant, causing them to recoil. The tip of the spear hadn't pierced the amor protecting their calf, but Diego used this opportunity to rush to Nikolas's aid. Nikolas kicked away the deserter attacking him momentarily, but they quickly grabbed the stock of his rifle, using the pull to push themselves forward into a charge, knocking him back to the ground.

Diego jumped onto the back of the man assaulting Nikolas, piercing the thick padding they had around their neck. The man flailed helplessly as Diego stabbed at it repeatedly until it could pierce through their neck.

Diego's original combatant reeled back one arm, ready to cleave through his armor, but was swiftly interrupted by a loose swing of Kamila's mace, clocking them over the skull, sending them spiraling into the ground.

Diego finally pierced their defenses, neck sending out a river of crimson over his hand as they fell limply onto the Earth below.

He watched as Nikolas regathered his bearings, firing at another deserter who had strayed from the pack, sending them straight into the dirt below, gasping for air as it slapped against their thick leather armor.

Kamila pulled Diego up by the collar of his armor, avoiding direct touch. "How are you doing!?" Kamila asked, barely squeezing out the words from her exhausted body.

"Good!"

Before Diego could say anything else, he watched as the deserters suddenly began setting up a barricade within their fort, pushing their forces back momentarily.

From the Fort's wall, there was a building set on the side of the encampment, hugging a section that aimed more toward the forests that surrounded them. After the building seemed to be a sort of training area of the encampment, as it was more open compared to the entrance, along with hay dummies and boxes filled with weapons and shields, a dirt trail then led up to an area that could be seen at a higher elevation from the very back. It wouldn't be unusual to assume that, from what one could see from Diego's angle, the building up there would most likely be containing their leader, or some other important figure that they are intent on protecting.

As this was happening, Kamila, along with Diego, had turned their attention to the building, pushing their way inside.

Aspasia had begun to make way for the back of the building, shield at the ready, but all of them were interrupted suddenly by a deserter yelling up atop the haphazard barricade they had made. "I issue the right of challenge!"

This gave the Haflastus forces pause.

"I issue the right of challenge! Provide us with your strongest warrior!"

The Haflastus troops all chuckled to themselves, some platoons debating amongst one another. Diego sighed as their group got together to collect their bearings. Diego sat on a stump right beside the door of the building they were just about to enter.

The platoon stood at arms, pondering amongst themselves on what they should do next.

Diego averted his gaze from the corpse he had made that was now splayed onto the floor, face full of muddy Earth. At the moment, he didn't think about it. Just did what he needed to do for survival, but now that his thoughts had slowed down, he couldn't help but notice that he had snuffed out someone's life.

Another platoon made their way to Kae's cohort.

Their leader was a shorter man with dark-brown hair and silver eyes. "Why don't we send out that redhead there? They're strong, right?"

Kamila's and Nikolas's eyes widened, and Maria decided to retreat instead, distancing herself from the group. Kae looked over to the dark-haired man. "What are you saying?"

As they discussed, Diego let it go, choosing not to acknowledge it, knowing that his saying anything would just increase the chances of him going out there to risk his life.

Kae looked at Diego. "Not sure if he's even built for that, unlike other Carmesi, y'know?"

The man shrugged. "I dunno. It could be a good idea. Every time I've seen one of those Red Demons out on the field... well... the other side didn't come out in one-piece, y'know?"

"And you think that this redhead here, scrawny as he is, can do the same?"

"I dunno, you never know. But..." The man sighed. "Why not? Y'know? They're just gonna send more... plus... we're gonna put the belt against their asses anyhow?" He leaned in with Kae. "It'll be fun~! Watching them squirm and shit, y'know? The little shit got a bit of gall... y'know? Just sayin'."

Kamila looked astounded at how bold their rival platoon was, whispering to herself. "We're not doing that."

Nikolas glared at them, looking to his leader to gauge a reaction.

Aspasia couldn't give less of a shit while Maria kept herself at a distance as if it'd help the situation in anyway.

Kae shrugged, giving Diego a look.

Diego cursed under his breath. "You don't expect me..."

Kae shrugged again. "Look, you don't have to, y'know? But... you could get a good reputation if you did win. You could become revered, y'know?"

"I'm not gonna be revered for killin' some random deserter."

Diego noticed some men talking, mentioning that a platoon had flanked the fort, and somehow they hadn't returned. Some complained that if they had managed to, this whole situation could've been avoided.

Kae smirked. "You wanna be shown up by some random deserter?" Diego's attention was diverted by Kae's remark.

Kamila sighed, looking at Diego with a worried expression. "Don't do it, Oomeal."

Diego rolled his eyes. "Alright." He hated himself for agreeing, Kae encouraging him as he pushed forward.

The Deserters sat in awe whilst the one issuing the challenge chuckled. "You send... this!?"

Diego was about to speak up before he was interrupted by Kae. "He's our strongest!"

Diego grimaced, the man who seemed to be a more respected warrior amongst the deserters, coming down from their barricade, blade in hand. "Alright, you're strongest--"

Diego quickly threw his harpoon into the gap within this man's armor, causing them to audibly gasp. Everyone was alarmed by the sudden sneak attack, wide-eyed watching as Diego proceeded to violently pull the harpoon out from their stomach, intestines spilling out across the dirt, dragging him along the ground ever so slightly.

Immediately, a fight broke out in reaction to the demise of the deserter, the Haflastus forces rushing past the barricade whilst some platoons stayed behind.

Nikolas was dragged along to assist them as others were left stunned at Diego's display of brutality.

The rest of the platoon stayed behind, waiting to see if everything was ready to go for the next part of the plan.

Their platoon was specifically tasked beforehand to look for any remnants that may be hiding within the murk. Kae separated from the party, even as they led to check out other spaces within the encampment, as Kamila and Diego entered one of the buildings, as they had originally intended.

Kamila looked at Diego with a hesitant expression, who ironically enough looked more shaken up than she was. In the end, they swallowed their worries and made their way inside, Aspasia noticing and circling the building to assist them.

They cautiously entered the structure, Diego following closely behind Kamila's back as she held a shield up in front of her, scanning the room for any anomalies.

On the wall, directed to the more open section of the fort, sat a countertop-- most likely a bar of sorts, a table set in the middle of the room. On the right side of the building was a door, and right on the other side of the building was another entrance, which Aspasia had just entered from.

"You find anything?" Aspasia asked as she entered.

Diego looked over to Kamila, who was looking behind the counter to see if anything was hiding behind it, immediately being taken off guard by a crossbow bolt lodging itself into the woman's shoulder, causing her to stumble back.

Diego hopped over the bar, stabbing down with his harpoon. The man behind it instinctively raised an arm to protect themselves. The tip of Diego's weapon dug into the arm, but they managed to push him away through pure adrenaline alone, causing the young red-haired man to slip off the counter.

The harpoon dislodged itself from the man's arm, causing a massive gash. In a desperate attempt to save themselves, they struggled to place another bolt into the crossbow.

Aspasia attempted to run over to assist the two of them, but was interrupted by a man crashing through the door, ambushing her.

Kamila stumbled forward with labored breath, slamming her mace across the man's helmet, causing them to fall prone. The momentum cocked back another bolt and they fired it once again.

Aspasia was pushed back by her assailant, and she responded with pure violence in turn, slamming her head into their helmet, disorienting both of them.

Diego dug his harpoon in the deserter's leg the moment they were distracted, causing them to trip over themselves. Diego spun around, watching as Kamila fell back into the wall behind her, shield held up as hard as she could, bold poking out from it. Diego took out his flyssa, using it to finish off the crossbowman, slicing them right across the neck in one swift motion.

Kamila coughed, blood bubbling at the rim of her lips. A grunt could be heard from behind Diego as Aspasia finished off the ambusher with a swift cleave of her axe as they struggled to re-collect themselves.

They all stood in silence for a moment, Kamila struggling to breathe properly. She looked at the bolt in her arm, attempting to take it out on her own, but was stopped by Diego. "Don't do that, you need to keep it in or else you'll make it worse."

"But it hurts." Kamila could barely get the words out, hissing through gritted teeth.

Diego attempted to think of something to keep her stable, blood quickly staining the leather armor she wore. "Keep it in place." Diego rummaged through his bag, taking out some white cloth. "Put pressure on it, okay? If you jostle it, it'll cause more damage, remember that, okay? You need to keep it still."

"Hey." Aspasia interrupted Diego's thoughts, looking out the window. "They went up the hill, but they aren't returning."

"What do you mean?"

"The others in our platoon are coming this way."

Diego sighed, patting Kamila's uninjured shoulder. "We'll be back, stay here. Lay on your side, one arm up to help with breathing."

Kamila nodded. "O-Okay... w-will the pain stop?"

"No." Diego helped her down and then left to meet with the rest of their platoon.

Kae spoke immediately as he spotted Aspasia and Diego. "Change of plans, Captain has directed us to head up the hill. The ambush team disappeared, and now some others have disappeared as well. We'll have a few from the main infantry with us to assist, but..." 

"Let's go." Diego nodded to Kae, ready to leave.

The cohort makes its way up the hill, some shielded infantry leading the way. Bodies are scattered along the walls that protected this hill, but it wasn't so unusual so far. Dead on both sides. Diego kept his gaze away from the corpses.

One of the infantrymen spoke up. "Why can't we send that crazy demon ahead of us?"

"Shut the hell up! What if he guts you too!?"

"Then I take his ass to the ground, let's see how well he does then."

Nikolas opened his mouth to say something, but they were interrupted by a bizarre sight. An absolute slaughter. Some were normal kills, but that didn't surprise them. Soldiers kill each other all the time, but... evidence shows that their infantry, no... the ambush party was successful. It's just that the ambush party, how they died... fists could be found indented into the helmets. Chestplate concaved by what looked to be a kick.

Some bodies were tossed up upon roofs, some faces hanging loosely off from their heads. One would mistake that a bear had ran rampant through the camp if it weren't for the human-esque imprints found within parts of the armor.

"Did an Elioud do this?"

"That doesn't make any sense! What the hell?"

One of the more braver infantrymen observed a hanging door leading into the main building of the fort, attempting to get a better look inside. "I-It can't be, right?" They spoke up. "Messenger didn't come. We weren't briefed. If there was anyone who was of the Elioud, we would've been told."

"What if there was a mistake?"

"We should've gotten a message!" They sighed. "It could just be some Systema user who is abnormally strong, and even if they were Elioud, there's no way some deserter encampment would have someone strong enough to do this level of damage."

"From what I saw, they had a pretty vivid description for all of those who left... so..."

Diego kept himself to the back of the party with Nikolas, both of them observing the carnage before them.

An infantryman approached the door. "Well... if anything, it seems that they may have died? Beating this many people? For sure, they've bled out by--" Before the man could finish his sentence, two hands clasped their helmet and squeezed. The soldier wailed helplessly as the other infantrymen that were in front of the group readied their shields and spears.

A shot rang out from Nikolas, whizzing past what looked to be a man clad in black iron armor, now clutching the head of their comrade, lifting them into the air and squeezing hard enough to make their eyes pop out of their head. They could all hear an audible crack before the body let go, limply falling onto the floor.

Underneath the helmet, they could see the man's bloodshot eyes. Spears, arrows, and all sorts of weaponry stuck out from the gaps on their body. 

Nikolas's rifle made an audible click before it was fired once more into the man's shoulder, causing them to grunt from the impact. The two infantrymen rushed forward, attempting to prod them with spears.

The black iron warrior grabbed one of their spears, pulling them towards them and headbutting the soldier, sending them to the ground before stealing their shield.

Aspasia rushed in, crashing her axe down into the man's armor, being swiped away with one hand, and colliding against a wall.

A spear flew at them, hitting them within one of the gaps in their black iron protection, but was swiped away as well with the edge of their newly attained shield. Kae and Maria had no other choice but to rush in just as Aspasia regained her balance, all of them rushing the Elioud soldier all at once.

Diego attempted to throw the harpoon into one of the gaps, missing as the monster dodged out of the way. Diego pulled the harpoon back, the barbed edge being caught on one of the various blades that stuck out from the man's body.

The black iron warrior launched itself past the onslaught coming from the rest of Diego's cohort, knocking Nikolas out with a straight punch in the jaw, almost breaking it. Just as they were about to slam down onto Nikolas's body to finish him off, Diego pulled.

The Elioud warrior cried out, turning their attention to the red-haired soldier standing before them.

"Don't get distracted!" Aspasia cried out, her axe crashing into the deserter's side. So far, their attacks have not affected this beast. The infantrymen who were alive were trying their best as well to fend off their monstrous attacks.

Diego pulled once again on the weapon lodged into one of the openings in their armor, dislodging it and causing blood to spray out from the wound, returning the harpoon into his hands. In a rage, the warrior in front of them charged through, tackling one of the infantrymen and slamming them into the ground.

He kicked back Aspasia as she attempted to get them off the soldier before taking one fist and slamming it down onto their skull. Their head popped like a grape, and the savagery didn't end there as the black iron warrior grabbed the helmet of the infantryman, using it to clock Kae across the head, causing him to spiral across the ground, head bleeding.

Maria's spear attempted to slip through but was grabbed, the monster kicking the grip of the weapon, snapping it in two, the impact sending Maria straight onto her ass.

The warrior spun around on the balls of their feet, reeling one arm back just before he was about to throw it at Diego, ready to kill the young man with a single blow. Just as they reeled their arm back, a harpoon flew out and embedded itself into their shoulder. It hadn't pierced the chainmail that had lain underneath, but it latched onto their armor.

Diego hadn't noticed this himself, rolling to the side, inadvertently pulling the harpoon with him, redirecting the broken spear into a nearby wall, ripping off a chunk of armor in the process.

A massive bruise had already formed on Nikolas's face, but he dragged himself out from the dirt, leveling his rifle at the massive man and pulling the trigger. The bullet impacted the armor, and the black iron warrior grunted.

Aspasia took this opportunity, whilst the man was stunned, to slam her axe across their helmet, causing it to spiral off and onto the skin-colored dirt below.

A bald man with a wide and crazed expression looked onto the soldiers before them, an absurd number of scars running along their faces. A swift punch broke Aspasia's leg, sending her to the ground before he rushed to Diego.

Diego stumbled over himself, harpoon in hand. Just as the man approached, instinctively, Diego's legs pushed them over himself and back into the building. Diego stumbled to his feet, quickly tripping over himself and falling again as his foot got caught under a patch of dirt. Just as Diego fell, another shot from Nikolas's rifle rang out.

Diego looked back, still prone. The black iron warrior was rendered a corpse by Nikolas's last shot, face down onto the wooden flooring of this building, which they had seemingly holed themselves in.

Diego threw his head back, the adrenaline in his body living him all at once. He coughed, pulling himself off the ground after a moment had passed. "H-Holy shit, he would've almost killed me."

Nikolas groaned. "Shit... I think he broke my face. It hurts so bad..." Nikolas visibly teared up, lying on his side.

Aspasia coughed as well, taking in heavy breaths to keep herself awake. "M-My leg... oh..." She swallowed. "My leg..."

Diego licked his lips, observing the carnage left by one man. "Maria..." He looked to her, who had just regained their balance, checking themselves for any injuries. "Could you help me bring them down?"

They dragged everyone down from the hill, rescue platoons flooding in from the gates to provide immediate support for anyone who had been injured. Kae seemed fine, having a small gash on their head. At the very least, nothing was broken while Nikolas and Aspasia were worse for wear.

Eventually, Diego, with the help of Maria, brought out Kamila as well, who looked almost close to death, barely even able to breathe as she coughed up blood, which stained her lips. Diego took out his medkit, looking at the rag he had given her that was now painted crimson. "Hey, Kamila, you still there?"

"T-... It's getting blurry... I'm tired and cold..."

Two surgeons crossed over to help Diego. "We need to remove the crossbow bolt, and we need to stitch up the wound!"

One of the surgeons sighed, cutting open the leather cuirass with a serated knife, then ripped open the shirt that surrounded the wound to get a clearer look at the injury. It impaled her lung.