Chapter 586: Arrival of the Demonic Society

Xavier stepped forward, tracking the remaining targets as they scrambled for cover behind the scattered boulders.

“Flank them!” a demon captain barked, pointing a clawed finger at Xavier. “Tear the humans apart!”

Six shock troopers broke formation and rushed Xavier from the side. They raised their shock mauls and charged.

Xavier dropped the rifle and summoned the Serpent’s Fang into his palm. The weapon extended into a segmented chain covered in glowing runes.

He whipped the blade in a wide arc, slicing cleanly through the front three attackers. The metal segments retracted in a split second, reassembling into a solid sword just in time to block a downward strike from the fourth demon.

The impact drove Xavier’s boots into the dirt. He twisted his wrist, forcing the demon’s maul aside, and drove his knee into the creature’s armored stomach. The demon folded forward, coughing black bile.

Xavier brought the hilt of his sword down onto the back of the creature’s skull. Bone cracked under the blow.

More drop pods slammed into the earth nearby. The Demonic Society forces poured out of a massive fortified bunker embedded in the cliffside ahead of them. Heavily plated beasts carrying siege cannons marched onto the field.

“We need to clear that bunker,” Kylus yelled over the deafening blasts of plasma fire. “They have anti-air batteries powering up on the roof!”

Rin deflected a pulse round with his blade and slid behind a chunk of debris. “I can cut a path through the infantry. You two deal with the heavy artillery.”

Xavier unsealed a pouch on his tactical belt and retrieved a high-explosive charge. He tossed it to Kylus.

“Plant this on the main reinforced door,” Xavier ordered. “I will handle the covering fire.”

Kylus caught the charge and broke into a sprint toward the bunker. Xavier picked up the Grave Indexer again, dumping more credits into the ammunition feed.

He unleashed a barrage of continuous fire at the artillery demons, collapsing their shields and turning their armor into molten slag.

Crimson plasma bolts ripped through the anti-air cannons on the bunker roof and turned the artillery mounts into molten slag.

Kylus slapped his palm against the detonator trigger. The reinforced bunker doors exploded inward with an ear-splitting crash and sent twisted alloy raining across the dirt.

Rin carved through the last squad of reptilian shock troopers with a sweeping cross-slash. The final severed head hit the obsidian plains with a wet thud. He wiped his blades on a dead trooper’s uniform and sheathed them.

“Area clear,” Kylus called out, kicking a severed reptilian claw out of his path. “That takes care of their ground support.”

“Too easy,” Rin replied, glancing at the smoldering bunker entrance. “I expected more from a forward base.”

Xavier lowered the Grave Indexer and looked up at the boiling clouds.

The sky above them went completely pitch black. Hundreds of colossal dreadnoughts materialized through the cloud cover, blotting out the remaining light from the orbital battlefield. Massive weapon batteries on the bellies of the warships rotated downward and locked directly onto their exact coordinates.

A distorted voice boomed from the flagship’s external speakers and rattled the loose rocks around their boots.

“Drop your weapons immediately. We have enough plasma payloads aimed at your grid to turn this entire planet into a dead asteroid. You have exactly ten seconds to comply before we incinerate you.”

Kylus tightened his grip on his thermal cutter and glanced at the overwhelming armada hovering above them. “I can take out maybe one of those cruisers if I get a lucky shot at their engine core. The rest of them will turn us into ash.”

Rin crossed his arms and looked over at Xavier. “Looks like we are taking a break from fighting.”

Xavier dropped the Grave Indexer onto the rocky ground and raised his hands. He tapped his foot against the dirt while looking up at the flagship. “Go ahead and land. Let’s see what you want from us.”

Kylus powered down his cutter and threw it beside Xavier’s rifle. Rin unbuckled his scabbards and tossed his twin swords onto the pile of discarded weapons.

The flagship’s bay doors opened wide and launched a dozen transport pods toward the surface. The alloy containers slammed into the dirt around them and hissed open.

Elite Demonic Society enforcers poured out of the pods with their rifles raised and aimed at Xavier’s chest. The soldiers secured energy binders around Xavier’s wrists and forced him toward the transports.

Other enforcers shoved Rin and Kylus forward with the butts of their rifles.

Reva dragged her claws across the cracked viewport glass. Outside, heavily plated enforcers shoved Xavier toward the transport pods. She stepped back and kicked a broken console panel across the deck.

“We are letting them take him.” Reva drove her fist into the bulkhead. “I am going out there.”

Lyra ignited a ball of demonic fire over her palm. “I will melt their armor down to the bone.”

A burst of static erupted from the comms system before anyone could step toward the airlock. Xavier’s voice cut through the damaged speakers.

“Stay exactly where you are.”

Viola grabbed the edge of the navigation table and leaned toward the microphone. “They are loading you into a prisoner transport. We can intercept them before they break orbit.”

“You stay inside the ship.” Xavier’s voice carried absolute authority over the static. “They think the Strider is empty. Let them believe that. If you reveal yourselves now, they will blow the wreckage to pieces from orbit. In the meantime, find Bull’s mothership hidden somewhere on this planet.”

Xalvoria adjusted her crimson mantle and stepped up to the viewport. “The boy is making a tactical sacrifice. A rather pathetic display, considering he possesses the bloodline of Zephyros.”

Requiem pulled his daughter behind him and checked the charge on his rifle. “We follow his orders. We wait until they leave the sector.”

Luper wiped soot from his face and peeked through the shattered glass. “They are sealing the pods. He is gone.”