The All-Death is above the power of this relic.

The Titan is above the power of this relic.

No Marks will be applied to them

Well then… that may be the last big fuck you of the system. If you are high enough on the ladder, you can't be forced into participating in this war. I could be wrong, but I was pretty sure that by not having any marks, allied, enemy, or neutral, you could probably stomp the hell out of anyone, and they would have penalties for damage.

That wasn't a lot of point in speculating the fight was about to start, and that either would or wouldn't bite me in the ass.

War begins in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Time didn't so much as resume but crashed forward again. Compared to the impossible silence that came before, the din that erupted was explosive.

One of the weapons on the rings above fired on me instantly. It launched a metallic beam, like a structural girder that was red hot, in an arc at me. I could tell just by looking it was hot enough to burn but not enough to soften the metal, not much anyway. This was meant to kill, maim, and destroy.

Destruction Check… Successful!

Rod-not-from-God split in half

The projectile cleaved in two, and the halves just barely missed me. One slammed into the gourd patch. Whether they were pumpkins or squash didn't matter. They were squished now. The other caught a demon that was charging me in the leg. Now that may not sound instantly lethal, but it was several hundred pounds of metal traveling at a couple hundred miles per hour. That is a substantial amount of kinetic energy that was then transferred to the unfortunate demon's body. The girder slammed into its upper thigh. The demon then folded around the metal like a towel, and much like a towel being rung out, there was more than a little splatter. The extreme body trauma is what killed them

Fuck 'em.

I was more worried about what happened to the ground than the demon. That impact shook a lot of things loose, and the mud may dislodge and flow into the void. That would be bad for a lot of reasons. The least of which being I didn't want to have to climb out of the Deep Dark. There was also a real risk to the people we were trying to save that could be down there. Plus, that would alter the battlefield and mess with our plans.

Two more demons were… I am not entirely sure what their plan was. I mean their intent was to hurt me but…

Attack Successful! Dread-Stalker takes 92 damage.

Dread-Stalker is slain

Attack from Doom-Bringer Blocked.

Counter-attack Successful. Doom-Bringer takes 100 damage.

Doom-Bringer is slain.

It didn't go well for them. Before the first demon could crack me in the head with one of the clubs with a barbed hook, I decked the bastard. Between Claws of Darkness and Titanic Might, my fist crushed the bones of his face, and magical shadow gouged deeper, shredding it altogether. The alleged Dread-Stalker was dead before they even realized I had knocked them out. Doom-Bringer had more time to realize he was in trouble. He tried to impale me with a red-hot, jagged spear. I slapped the attack to the side, grabbed a horn on the top of his head, and slammed his shocked face into my knee. With a crunch of bone, a crack of horn snapping, and another ultraviolet ripple of darkness, the man with a stupid name was dead.

More on reflex than an explicable use of skill on my part, I then stepped back and dodged a second rod-not-from-god. Another Destruction Check, and instead of a devastating kinetic weapon slamming into the ground, an admittedly deadly spray of iron sand flensed more of the crops.

"Come on. Come on. Come on." I muttered, looking at the gate. Ideally, they would open up and send hordes of poorly named dumbasses to try and stop me. I wasn't afraid to cleave my way through dozens of Dark Age of Comics' X-Men rejects. Instead, a cloud of winged opposition descended from the nearest ring.

"Pricks," I sighed, destroying another artillery strike before it could hit me. The rings were beginning to rotate. Oh… that is actually pretty clever, tower defense. What a shock, the demons weren't going to help me.

Plan B then. I needed to construct a bridge and break the door down myself. Well, I did have a little time before the demons got closer. I could try one really bad idea before swinging back around to the bridge idea.

Attack from Flesh-Render Blocked.

Counter-attack Successful. Blood-Shot takes 192 damage.

Blood-Shot is slain.

So, the difference between a bad idea and well, I am not going to call it a good idea, is whether or not you succeed. Thankfully, I was a Titan Spawn. That meant that when I tried to block a couple of tons of burning hot metal with my hand instead of just getting crushed, the system rolled some dice, and it turned out I had a bigger number. What's more, when I further pressed my luck and grabbed the damn thing instead of ripping my arm out of its socket, I spun at the hip and then let it go. It flew back in a high arc and then smashed into someone who had both a dumb name and bad luck.

Fuck him in particular.

Although this was a starting point for what could be an ad hoc Plan C.

Attack from Flesh-Render Blocked.

Counter-attack Successful. Tower Gate takes 45 structural damage.

When the next rod-not-from-god hurtled at me. I blocked it because big number, and then angled it off to crash into the front gate. The halfton siege projectile bounced off the gate with an unholy Clang! Shame it didn't do much else. Those doors were built to last.

That was when the first wave of demons started bearing down on me. That was a lot of demonic soldiers. Most of them didn't look all that impressive. Just a lot of gangly red people with horns, wings, and tails in dark clothing, not armor, clothing. Most of them had snagle-toothed serrated swords that burned with screaming hellfire..

The bravest of them landed in front of me within arm's reach.

The rest form a large semicircle around me. They clearly planned to push me off the cliff.

You have activated Voice of the Titan

"Drop your weapons and surrender, and you will not be harmed," my voice thundered through the area. A lot of the demons staggered back a step from the noise.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The one directly in front of me had to hitch his wicked grin back up after slamming his hands over his ears. "Nah, I'll pass. We seem to have a numbers advantage anyways." This guy was putting out theater kid energy. He glanced around and looked surprised before asking, "Where is your army?"

That is when the lightning rained down.

Voice of the Titan deactivated.

That was probably for the best. Me shrieking - no shouting- in surprise didn't really fit the dignity that the Titan's voice commanded. Hear me out, though, lighting is blindingly bright, terrifyingly hot, violently turbulent, and explosively loud. Every bone in my body rattled as thunder shook the ground. I flinched as the noise caused a minor mud flow nearby. Blinking spots from my eyes, I saw that the demons had been fried to grisselly skeletons. Even though the bodies were all but destroyed, each was posed with their hands up like they had tried to ward off the damage from the lightning.

Fuck them in general.

A ringing that wouldn't quite stop but didn't drown out Zach's voice, "Dougie!" His shadow shoved the remains of the theater kid demon over and moved in to hug me.

I caught him and held him at arm's length. I looked at him. He was still an absolute black outline, a literal shadow that stood solid as my hands touched it. He was still wearing a skin tight shirt and pants, and a cape. I really don't know why he dressed like a superhero. I had a pretty good guess watching his cape and hair flap dramatically in the wind.

I shook my head, trying to stop the ringing, "Zach, what's going on? Why are you here?" That sounded more confrontational than I wanted. That said, I didn't exactly trust Zach either.

"I got your back, bro," Zach answered. He then flicked his arm out dramatically. Power surged through the air, and another bolt of lightning struck the nearest ring. With another flash of an explosion of thunder, a good thirty-degree arc fractured into rubble. This didn't cause anything to fall from the sky, but it did annihilate a significant portion of it.

That was the power of Zach's shadow. That was humbling. A Titan Spawn's shadow was significantly less than the Titan Spawn in power. It defaulted to Heroic Scale. That said, this was the single greatest feat of destruction I had witnessed. Sure, the Titan pummeling Grond had been sobering, but the real terror of that moment had been the obvious understanding that the Titan was being gentle. This though was big, loud, and clearly driving up the body count. Demons that had been advancing hung back. They were scattered around the sky like clouds of stinging insects. There was an obvious gap along the path Zach had through his lightning.

The scent of ozone and burnt meat hung heavy in the air. I frowned at that, "You could have done this at any time."

Zach held up a hand and shook his head, "Not true. First, Dewie is a bro, and it breaks my heart to act against him." He almost sounded sincere. After a calculated beat to see if I was buying his claim, he hurled a second lightning bolt at the next closest ring. When he continued, he didn't sound all that broken up, "Normally I would be all like live and let live, but Adam is clearly up to no good."

There was more than a little to unpack there. I could tell Dewie was Zach's nickname for Richard. It was certainly more wieldy than Enkidu. Not sure why that name was just hard to say for me.

"So this is about one-upping Adam?" I asked. I also quickly used Commune to send an image of what was happening to Toad. This was going to change our plans. Okay, his plans and the instructions he gave me to carry out.

"Dougie, bruh," Zach put his hand to his chest like my words had wounded him, then hucked another bolt of lightning, "I am a king. I am many things, but not petty. The Technacoast has been at war with my kingdom on and off again for sixty years. Millions have died as they build an empire of global trade. He is robbing the world for something, my dude."

"I'm still not convinced. What's your actual angle?" I pressed Zach. Seriously, this tower was nothing to him. In a matter of moments, he had devastated the defense with basically no effort. That meant he had chosen to leave this place alone until now. Something else was happening.

Zach considered me for a moment. Up until now, he had been trying to be playful and holding to that dude-bro affectation. I could tell when he dropped it. The subtle shifts in his posture were surprisingly menacing, and the charge that buzzed through the air was ominous. When he spoke, his voice had an undeniable authority to it, and a cold, hard edge to it. "You are only getting one more lightning bolt. "He tossed it contemptuously. An explosion of light and sound broke the fourth ring, "Fine, I'll level with you, Dougie. I am gonna merc that bitch Malphea. She has been a problem for too long, bro. The thing is, now she has tipped her hand. She can either fight me or run to the other side of the veil. I am going to close the gate in Sci Paulo either way. When you close the gate here, that is going to face fuck basically every demon, and lock any that die on the other side of the veil. No more battle of good and evil messin' shit up for the rest of us, at least on this continent."

"What about Angor Crux of Frausta?" I asked.

Zach shrugged he didn't care., "I really thought he was dead. Honestly the world would be better if he was. If he comes at you, hold on. I will circle around after dealing with Malphea. Otherwise have Celeste take a run at him." He gave me a pat on the shoulder and vanished.

"I really should have asked about Adam's combat capabilities." I realized as I blocked another rod-not-from-god. I had been splitting my focus between talking with Zach and manifesting a bridge. The gap was further Than I could manifest. So I was slowly willing the bridge taller straight up into the air next to me. It kinda looked like it was 3d printing up out of the ground. Once it was tall enough, I was going to tip it across the gap. Plan B always had a certain charm to it. The charm that only a last resort can possess. I was not going to jump the gap. I wasn't afraid of heights. That said, I had a healthy respect for the ground rising up quickly and striking me in the everywhere.

The demons seemed to be afraid of Zach. Fair, his shadow casually demonstrated apocalyptic capacity for destruction. Maybe I should mind my tone around him more. Nah, well, he was helping me. Okay he was helping himself and our goals aligned. Still though… it was hard not to feel inadequate. Anyway I was absolutely made the most of the time to build a bridge and get over it.

The gap, feelings still required processing.

The bridge tipped across the void and slammed into place. I backed my way across the bridge. The demons were coming at me from the top of the tower and the rings. That was a lot more than the thirty some that had surrounded me last time. They were raining down spears, arrows, and the occasion ball of hellfire. I was surprised to find that I could Block, Dodge, and Deflect that attack that actually could have hit me without issue. These weren't scary demons like the ones that attacked Angelica and the camp the other night. It also helped that maybe one in thirty was attacking at any given moment.

I put my back to the door as even more demons touched down around me. They weren't all spindly red people. One of them was purple. Another was like a winged snake woman. Woman top half, and a snake tail instead of legs. There was also a crab dude. Once they had me cornered, that barrage ceased.

I held my hands up as the crowd grew bigger.

"Are you seriously out of tricks already?" The snake woman asked. A bunch of the demons cackled.

"I never considered myself some great master of deceit," I admitted, still holding my hands in the air.

"Get him," Snake lady ordered some of the other demons forward. I read her name, Serpentia. That had to be the stupidest… nope, Blood-Shot was still worse.

Then I read the name of the closest demon, "Stab-Fingers?" I shook my head.

"Your mother sucks cocks in- ow! Stab-Fingers tried to snap back. But that was when Philip, who had been hiding under my cloak, hopped out and stabbed him in the eye. I decked the demon that tried to slash Philip. Grimset, who had also made the trip under my cloak, climbed up on my back and shot Serpentia in the snake part. She screamed in pain and rage.

"What's the word, Rob?" I shouted as I bludgeoned one demon with another demon. That may seem disrespectful, but the guy getting smacked had named himself Evisera-Tim, and the demon I was clobbering with was Helen Destroy. I think that was meant to be a reference to Helen of Troy. No clue what Tim was doing other than insulting the world's intelligence with his name.

Rob was my third and final passenger. He stood behind me, planting a bomb on the door, "No lock ta pick. I am gonna use ole Plan B."

Wonderful, we had multiple Plan B's. I shrugged and yanked our side of the bridge up. That caused the other side to fall. All the demons on it plunged into the pit.

"We can fly fuckass!" Serpentia shouted at me.

Grimset shot her in the humanoid stomach.

"Dick!" She hissed indignantly at Grimset.

That wasn't the point. I wasn't trying to drop demons down the hole. Instead, once the other end of the bridge dropped enough, I slammed it into the cliffside.The other end of the bridge hooked the side and wedged hard. That is when the cliffside crumpled and caved.

Brunhilda caught the other end. My drinking buddy had been following my path underground. I had shaped the tunnel as I trundled my way through the mud, and she had made it work with nothing but dwarven knowledge and vast power.

Between the two of us and several successful construction checks, the bridge elongated and secured the tunnel mouth to the base of the tower stairs.

Rob ducked past me and descended partway down the bridge. "Best get away from the door!"

Grimset smacked the back of my head and shouted, "Move!" Spine was a vastly superior shoulder gunner. I grabbed Philip as I hurried down the slope of the bridge. The demons had adopted a strategy of throwing fire at us. It was getting problematic mostly now because hundreds of them were attacking at once. The goblins had a novel solution for this, though. Dozens of the goblins were shooting at the demons with guns. I was being used as a wall of cover. It was a bold strategy and it was working for us.

I snatched another demon out of the air before she could stab Philip with her edgy sword. Philip stabbed her with his spear. Grimset shot her with his crossbow. I hardly had to

"When is the bomb going to go off?" I asked Rob who was hiding under my cloak again.

"Right… about… now!" Rob shouted back. Nothing happened. Okay that is not true. The violent gunfight between goblins and demons kept going… really hard. "Well damn! I must have-" the bomb exploded.

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