Chapter 74. A Darker Plot

Chapter 74: 74. A Darker Plot

The impact still hung in the air between them.

Mira stood with both hands locked on the axe, the pale blue glow along the blade steady and bright.

A devilish smile curved her lips as she looked at the demon general.

The short blue dress clung to her mature figure, thighs and the upper curves of her breasts clear under the fading light, yet nothing about her posture looked soft.

The general’s spiked club remained locked against the axe.

Grayish mana flickered around the metal as his arms trembled under the pressure.

His smirk had vanished.

Strain showed clearly in the set of his shoulders and the tight grip of his fingers.

’What kind of strength does this woman have?’

The thought cut through him while the ground between their two mounts stayed empty and tense, both fighters measuring the next move.

Mira’s smile did not fade, but her eyes narrowed slightly as she took in the fact that the general still stood firm after the full force of her strike.

The pressure in her arms told her the truth at once.

’It will not be easy to finish him in a short time.’

Her gaze lifted past the cambion and settled on the lesser dragon circling high above the field.

The black-haired girl seated on its back radiated a dense, quiet energy that sat heavier than anything Mira, Lily, Lina, or Amber currently showed.

Long black hair shifted with the wind.

Pale skin and sharp, resentful features remained calm as she watched the battle without moving to join it.

’She is stronger than all four of us, yet she refuses to engage.’

Below them the fighting continued without pause.

Human brawlers and the Red Horde slammed into each other in a constant grind of shields, clubs, and blades.

Blood soaked the packed earth in widening patches.

The wet sound of tearing flesh mixed with the sharp ring of metal and the raw panting of both sides.

On the left the Mindbreakers kept pressing their violet pressure against any ranker who stepped too close.

On the right the Heartseekers loosed another low volley of black-mana arrows that forced the human archers on the wall bases to duck and reset.

The three pairs of generals and Titans remained locked in their own separate struggles, the ground shaking each time the heavy mounts collided.

The cambion general broke the stalemate first.

He shoved the spiked club forward with sudden force, the gray mana flaring brighter.

Mira stepped back three clean paces, boots sliding across the packed dirt as the pressure of the swing forced her off the higher ground of her Titan.

She landed lightly, both hands still locked on the axe, the short blue dress settling around her thighs.

Menacing gray mana poured out of the general’s body in thick waves. The air around him grew heavier. His voice carried across the short distance between them, rough and cold.

"Well done, woman. You succeeded in making me angry. I will use my full strength in killing you for honoring your death."

He raised the spiked club high and spoke a short name.

Gray Hellish Blades

The club swung in a rapid series of arcs.

Each swing released a sharp gray blade of condensed mana that tore through the air toward Mira.

Five blades in total, each one thick enough to cut through plate and bone.

Mira spun the axe in both hands like a weighted spinner.

Pale blue light trailed the blade in tight circles.

Wind began to gather around the spinning edge, pulling dust and small stones into a low spiral at her feet.

She waited until the gray blades closed the last few meters, then swung the axe once in a wide horizontal cut.

Gale Spiral

Whoosh

The gathered wind exploded outward in a single clean wave.

Every gray blade vanished on contact, the mana dissolving into harmless sparks that scattered across the ground.

The residual force of her swing continued past the general and sliced through a cluster of Red Horde fighters who had been pressing the nearest human brawlers.

Three demons dropped in pieces.

Two more staggered back with deep cuts across their chests, giving the human line a brief opening to push forward.

The cambion general stared at the empty air where his blades had been.

The strain in his arms returned, heavier this time.

Mira reset her stance on the open ground, axe still glowing, the devilish smile still present on her face as the wind around her settled.

The general’s expression hardened.

He no longer waited on the Gloom-Stalker’s back.

With a sharp kick he left the mount and landed heavily on the packed earth, spiked club held low.

Gray mana poured from his body in thicker waves than before.

He charged straight at Mira, each step leaving shallow cracks in the dirt.

Mira met him head-on.

The axe rose to intercept the first heavy downward swing.

Steel and mana met with a deep ring.

She slid one foot back, redirected the force, and answered with a short horizontal cut aimed at his ribs.

The general twisted, the club knocking her blade aside, then drove a knee toward her midsection.

Mira stepped inside the reach, the flat of her axe slamming against his thigh hard enough to force him a half-step off balance.

They traded three more rapid exchanges.

Club and axe collided again and again, each impact sending sharp vibrations through the ground.

Gray mana flared along the spiked weapon.

Pale blue light answered along Mira’s blade.

Dust rose around their feet as they moved across the open space, neither giving ground for long.

The general feinted high and then swept the club low, aiming for her lead ankle.

Mira hopped back just enough for the spikes to scrape dirt instead of bone, then stepped forward again and brought the axe down in a tight diagonal.

The general caught the blow on the shaft of his club, but the force still drove him two full steps backward.

Wind gathered once more around Mira’s blade.

She did not release another named strike yet, instead using the pressure of the air itself to keep him from resetting his stance cleanly.

From the height of Amber’s Titan, Kael watched the exchange with tight focus.

The way the air itself seemed to answer Mira’s movements made the pattern clear.

’So her affinity is wind. This world’s rankers all carry an affinity that shapes how their mana behaves. Fire, earth, dark, wind, mind, and several others.

The affinity does not decide strength on its own, but it decides the shape of every technique. That is why her strikes feel so different from pure physical force.’

The general forced himself forward again, gray mana coating both arms as he brought the club down in a two-handed overhead smash.

Mira angled the axe and let the blow slide past her shoulder.

The club struck the ground hard enough to send a spray of dirt into the air.

Before the general could recover, she stepped in close and drove the butt of the axe into his ribs.

The impact forced a short grunt from him.

He answered with a backhanded swing that forced her to lean away, the spikes passing inches from her face.

They circled once more.

The short blue dress clung to Mira’s body with the motion of the fight, yet her footing stayed sure.

Every time the general tried to create space she closed it.

Every time he pressed forward she redirected the weight of his club rather than meeting it head-on.

The wind around her never fully settled.

Small currents kept tugging at the general’s balance, making each of his heavier swings land a fraction late.

High above, Envy’s dark eyes tracked the three separate fights.

Lily still pressed the horned general on the Hell-Boar.

Lina’s Titan kept the scarred warlord and the Brimstone Charger locked in a grinding struggle.

Mira continued to trade blows with the cambion on open ground.

Envy’s fingers tightened slightly on the lesser dragon’s reins.

’It seems I will need to step in soon.’

Lower on the left flank several lesser succubi from the Mindbreakers had already closed the distance to isolated human fighters.

Soft, wet sounds rose beneath the larger noise of battle.

"Nn...~ mmph~"

One after another the pale women dropped to their knees, taking the men into their mouths.

Sucking noises mixed with short, involuntary moans from the rankers who could no longer resist the violet pressure.

Within moments the drained men collapsed, skin turning gray and withered as their energy left them in thin, visible streams that the succubi swallowed without pause.

The red-skinned Oni moved through the chaos at a steady pace.

The remaining length of chain trailed behind him, occasionally snapping out to silence any human ranker who came too close.

His pure black eyes never left the Warforged Titan that carried Kael, Seraphine, Eira, and Brianna.

The distance between them closed with every step.

He was almost within reach of the Titan’s flank when his gaze settled on the small girl pressed against Kael’s chest.

A dark, lustful light entered those black eyes.

’I’ll show you bastard what it likes to lose a leg, or better, how it likes to see your daughter get defiled by an entire army.’