Forged Legacy

Chapter 144 - Finally Going Our Way

Flashes erupted from three barrels that joined him in the firing window. Cash, Tyler, and Steve didn’t have holy bullets like Harvey, but the light of the Ophanim washing over the tide of tortured souls made them just corporeal enough for their shots to work.

“Woohoo!” Tyler yelled, spraying into the crowd until the slide locked back. His fingers fumbled around for the mag release. When he couldn’t find it, he stumbled back and turned the gun over.

“Ahh! Uh…” Tyler stammered.

“Here!” Steve shouted, snatching the barrel and sending the empty mag clattering to the floor.

Hundreds of rounds soared through the air all around them, only pausing for the occasional reload. Brimfiends tried lobbing fireballs towards the flying wheels of unblinking eyes, but most were preoccupied with fending off the eagles clawing at their heads.

Finally, something is going our way, Harvey thought, pushing the cylinder to the side and tilting the gun upward so the steel casings could slide out. The first were already breaking down into essence, but the bunker floor was fast becoming a pool of hot brass and steel.

Hundreds of souls popped like water balloons, coating the asphalt in goopy red ectoplasm. Still, they couldn’t kill them all before they began pushing past the much smaller number of giants and lions. The second he could clearly see a pair of the ghastly, bloodshot eyes barreling towards him, Harvey infused the redoubt with his Guardian of the gilded return. The bunker shuddered as a half-dozen faces smushed against the window, and he stepped back to give the others room to swing their silver weapons out the thin windows.

He was content to let them reap as many souls as they could, knowing they were safe inside the bunker as long as he maintained the infusion. Part of him worried his father would have a hard time cutting them down once he saw their human faces. Cash had reminded them all that these weren’t really the disembodied souls of angels and the faithful, but creatures conjured from pure infernal essence just like their own army of lions and Nephilim. But seeing those eyes simultaneously begging for mercy and thirsting for your soul made even him freeze.

“Die! Die! Die!” Steve exclaimed, grunting with effort as his sword impaled one head after another.

[He’s fine.]

With the Ophanim and Harvey’s legacy suppressing the creatures, they became sitting ducks. Even with their higher levels, their bodies had almost no Vitality to speak of, and their madness drove them towards the closest living souls like moths to a flame. At the rate Tyler and Steve were killing the level 30 creatures, they’d blow through the G-Grade in a matter of days.

CRASH!

The ground lurched beneath their feet as the sound of gunshots was replaced with angels shouting orders. Harvey couldn’t see what was going on outside with the horde of tortured souls blocking the windows, but it wasn’t hard to guess what was going on. The golden light bleaching the scarlet souls was gone, and the increased drain on his mental energy infusing the bunker confirmed that the Ophanim protecting their part of the battlefield was dead.

“Stay here! And close the door behind me,” Harvey commanded, straining to turn the wheel holding the heavy metal door shut.

“What?” Tyler gasped, nearly getting his mace pulled from his hands when he turned to look at him. “Where are you going?”

“To make sure we don’t get overrun!” Harvey replied. “You saw how many creatures we sacrificed to conjure those eyes!”

Before anyone could argue, he heaved. It creaked open just wide enough for a tangle of scarlet arms to try and worm their way inside. Three deafening gunshots killed the creatures, giving Harvey just enough room to squeeze out before using his back to slam it shut. Inside, the latch closed, and Harvey took to the air.

As long as the redoubt stayed within his aura range, he could infuse the skill from afar. That left him a few hundred feet in every direction to rain down as much carnage as possible from above while Booster kept him out of harm's way.

Surveying the chaos below, he realized he’d spoken too soon earlier. 80% of the specters were dead, but Nephilim were toppling one after another. Hellhounds ravaged their lower halves while brimfiends threw fire at their heads. The silver shields they carried were massive, but the giants couldn’t decide whether to intercept the attacks from above or below. The lions and eagles ripped through the army, killing three for every one to fall. The problem was, Hell sent four. Heaven’s soldiers were stronger, but that didn’t matter when they could be drowned in a sea of Hell’s blood.

Bang! Bang!

Harvey fired the remaining two bullets before emptying the cylinder and conjuring a fresh set. All his shooting had drained another third of his essence, leaving him dangerously low after conjuring Legacy’s Redoubt. Uncorking an F-Grade essence potion helped restore most of it, but he could only take so many before his weave couldn’t take the strain.

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Bang! Bang! Bang!

[You need something bigger. Try Inkbound Ordnance,] Julius suggested.

The gun disappeared, replaced by a crystal clear orb and a squeeze bottle. Two drops of Heaven’s Wrath ink dripped inside, blossoming into a golden inferno. He was tempted to infuse the orb with the Architect of the Veil’s End, but didn’t want a repeat of his first fight with a demon, where splitting his aura in too many directions made him lose control.

Finding a clump of hellhounds far enough away that he wouldn’t burn his allies, he hurled the orb like a baseball. It caught the side of its head, cracking open and bathing 6 of them in holy flames. They whined in pain, desperately rolling on the ground trying to extinguish them, but his ink wouldn’t be denied.

You have slain Level 24 - Hellhound. Essence Gained. 2890 Merit Earned.

You have slain…

Kill notifications rolled in as he flew towards another pack and filled a second orb. Rearing back, it tumbled from his grasp, erupting directly beneath him where three hellhounds were tearing a lion limb from limb.

“Agh!” Harvey swore, turning to face the brimfiend that had just thrown one of its fireballs into his back. Ashen gray skin was pulled taut over its wiry frame, putting every bone of its ribcage on full display. Wings sprouted from its shoulders, one smaller than the other, forcing them to beat out of sync just to keep the thing aloft. Its eyes were fiery orbs, reminding him of Marcus, but unlike his full head of long white hair, the brimfiend’s scalp only had patches of charred stubble in between two onyx black stumps.

Rupture appeared in his hand, blowing a hole through its chest just as a second fireball began to materialize in its clawed hand. Four more were busy devouring the Ophanim lying on the ground below, ripping eyes from the wheel and popping them into their mouths like gumballs.

Seeing it almost made him lose his lunch, but something crashing into his back forced him to focus. Taloned feet wrapped around his torso, and clawed hands struggled to gouge out his eyes through the holes in his helmet. Hellish flames danced around the claws, breaking his concentration and sending him tumbling to the ground.

“Get off! Get off!” he screamed, trying to grab hold of the creature. It was latched on tight, like when his brother refused to let go after a piggyback ride. Seeing the commotion, the brimfiends devouring the Ophanim turned away from their meal and began charging their fireballs. The imp on his back finally tore off the helmet as they hit the ground. Bones crunched beneath him, sending a shiver through his spine. Luckily, he’d landed on top, but he was nowhere close to relieved when he saw a Nephilim stumbling back towards them. He couldn’t see the hellhounds, but he could hear them tearing flesh from the giant’s exposed feet.

[Roll!] Julius commanded, the words cutting through the panic as Harvey watched the towering body fall towards him. A burst from Booster sent him rolling away in the nick of time, avoiding being crushed while delivering himself into the brimfiends' midst.

Adrenaline raged as he gasped for air, his heart doing its best to beat its way out of his chest. The upside-down face of a brimfiend looming over him nearly made it stop altogether. All sensation was replaced by searing pain as two fireballs impacted his exposed head. He tried to scream, but the flames used the oxygen to travel down towards his lungs. His insides were being flash-fried.

A heavy shield appeared in his hands, conjured from his ring to intercept two more fireballs. Claws wrapped around the edges, but the creatures were too weak to rip it away. Gurgling croaks escaped his lips as he gasped for air. His connection to the bunker had been severed when panic overwhelmed him, and he had no idea if Cash or anyone else was close enough to heal him.

Harvey had a few methods to heal himself, but none that were readily available while using his shield as a turtle shell.

[Arcblade!] Julius commanded while his consciousness tried to forcefully stabilize Harvey’s aura.

What? Harvey asked, his mind muddled by the pain.

[Healing arrays!]

The sword appeared in his right hand, and he triggered all three runes inscribed on the handle. He’d almost forgotten about them. Vital essence flooded his body, pausing for a moment before making a beeline for his head. Flesh mended, and his lungs furiously replenished themselves. Harvey only spared a moment catching his breath before covering his shield with Fangburner infused by his Tempered Heart Imprint. Gouts of forgefire erupted where claws cut into the barrier, blasting the brimfiends back just long enough for Harvey to soar to his feet.

The sentinel’s arcblade screamed through the air, sending arcs of lightning coursing from bone to bone as it bisected the nearest beast. The steel sword cut through them like paper. He managed to kill three before the fourth flapped out of reach, but his spatial ring made trading the sword for his revolver effortless.

Bang!

Holy light cleansed the imp’s body as it fell lifeless to the floor. He’d used one of his cheaper judgment rounds, saving heaven’s wrath for something harder to kill. A hellhound tried to take advantage of his being turned to the sky, but Harvey repositioned his shield just in time to catch the leaping maw. Fangburner and his arrays blasted it with a mix of fire and lightning, leaving a smoking husk lying on the ground beside him.

Once more, Harvey took to the skies, quickly finding the redoubt and soaring towards it. A dozen orbs of Heaven’s Wrath ink rained down behind him, clearing a path to his family before he landed hard on the bunker’s roof. Hellhounds were trying desperately to climb in through the windows, but Harvey executed them all with holy headshots.

“You guys ok?” Harvey asked.

“We’re fine!” Steve assured, using the bunker wall to pull his blade out of the body.

Sliding down the back wall, they opened the door to let him back inside. Everyone froze when he walked through the door, gawking at him with their mouths open.

“What?” Harvey asked.

“What the hell happened to you?” Cash asked, reaching out hesitantly to touch the side of his head. Singed hair and charred flesh flaked off, raining onto his shoulders like the worst case of dandruff the world had ever seen.

“Your helmet,” Steve muttered.

It was buried under the Nephilim, and Harvey wasn’t going to bother retrieving it since finishing his silver armor was next up on the list.

“Your eyebrows,” Tyler laughed.

Harvey froze, tentatively lifting a hand to his face. Damn it! I didn’t think about that…