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Clang!
The first clash rang like a bell of death.
Shhk!
A kobol lunged, snapping its jaws at a guard’s throat. The guard twisted and stabbed downward, spear piercing the kobol’s chest.
Shhk!
The kobol screamed and fell, but two more replaced it instantly, climbing over the corpse like it was a stepping stone.
TapTap!
A guard’s sword cut one down.
Shhk!
Another kobol slammed into the guard’s side, claws raking armor.
Scrrrk!
The guard grunted, staggered, but held position.
Sekhmet moved.
He did not wait.
He stepped into the swarm with blood sword flashing, cutting low and fast to remove legs, to break momentum, to create space.
Shhk! Shhk!
Two kobols fell in seconds, blood spraying.
The smell hit Sekhmet’s senses like a hammer.
Warm blood.
Fresh blood.
The hunger surged again, delighted by the sudden feast.
Sekhmet clenched his jaw and forced it down.
Not now.
He could not lose himself now.
Bat Bat burst out of Sekhmet’s coat pocket, wings spreading wide.
Flap — Flap!
It hovered above the fight, eyes bright, voice loud.
"Bad dogs!" it shouted.
"Kobols!" Lily’s guard captain barked, correcting automatically even while fighting.
Bat Bat ignored him.
"Bad dogs!" it repeated.
Then it swooped down and bit a kobol’s ear.
Shhk!
The kobol screamed and swung wildly at Bat Bat.
Bat Bat dodged and, as if operating on a personal religion of disrespect, peed again.
Prrrrt.
Plip —Plip— Plip!
The kobol’s face twisted in horror.
"What!"
Sekhmet cut it down instantly.
Shhk!
The kobol fell.
Bat Bat cackled.
"Heh!"
The kobols did not slow.
Their numbers were too high.
They came from two directions, pouring through gaps in the stone hollow, trying to surround the guards’ formation. Some climbed the rocks, trying to drop down from above.
TapTapTap!
One guard shouted, "Above!"
A kobol leapt down with a jagged knife aimed for a guard’s neck.
Sekhmet flung blood needles upward without thinking, using Blood Control to rip blood from a dead kobol and shape it into spikes.
Shhhh— Whoosh!
The spikes pierced the airborne kobol mid-leap.
Shhk!
It slammed into the ground, dead.
Thud.
But three more replaced it.
Sekhmet’s breath quickened.
His chaos energy burned in his veins, fueling Blood Control and Blood Sword. Every skill use drained him. Every swing and block and dodge cost energy, even with training suppression balancing his output.
The kobols began to coordinate.
A group of four rushed one guard together, two feinting high while the other two went low for the legs.
The guard tried to adjust, but one kobol got past the spear point and sank its teeth into the guard’s calf.
CRUNCH!
The guard screamed.
"Aaa—!"
His stance broke.
Two kobols stabbed upward.
Shhk! Shhk!
The guard fell.
Thud.
Blood spread.
Sekhmet’s vision sharpened again.
The smell hit him.
He cut two kobols down, but the third kobol dragged the fallen guard’s body away, screaming triumph.
"Meat! Meat!"
The pack howled.
KRAAAH!
The sound made the night feel smaller.
The guards fought harder, but numbers always had their own cruelty. Ten guards were strong. Ten guards were disciplined. Ten guards could win against a smaller group easily.
But dozens of kobols did not fight fair.
They fought like hunger.
They fought like rabies.
They fought like a swarm of knives.
Another guard went down, stabbed from the side when he tried to protect his partner.
Shhk!
He collapsed with a grunt, blood bubbling at his lips.
Thud.
Lily’s eyes widened behind the guard shield.
"No," she whispered.
Sekhmet heard it anyway.
He moved faster.
He formed a longer blood sword, letting it drink more of his blood to increase reach.
Shhhh...
He carved through a cluster of kobols, blood flashing in arcs.
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
Three fell.
But five replaced them.
Bat Bat shrieked and dove, biting, distracting, leading small groups away.
Flapflap!
The minion bats were still in Void Land. Sekhmet could summon them, but it would cost more chaos energy. He hesitated, calculating.
Then another guard died.
This one was ripped down by two kobols who latched onto his arms while a third kobol stabbed upward into his stomach.
Shhk!
The guard’s eyes widened.
He tried to speak.
No sound came.
He collapsed.
Thud.
Sekhmet’s jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
He could feel Lily’s fear now, not just for herself, but for her people.
He had seen guards die before. He had watched strangers bleed in purgatory and moved on. But these guards were Slik city guards. They had names. They had families. They had followed Lily into purgatory because it was their duty.
And Sekhmet was watching them get eaten alive by a swarm.
He reached into the void connection with a sharp thought.
Whooomp!
"Come," he commanded.
He pulled out twenty minion bats at once.
PopPopPopPopPop!
The air filled with fluttering wings.
Flapflapflap!
The minions swarmed the kobols instantly, biting eyes, ears, and snouts, creating chaos inside chaos.
The kobols screamed and swung wildly.
"Sky rats!"
"Kill them!"
"Bite!"
The bats were weak individually, but they disrupted formation, broke coordination, and created openings.
Sekhmet exploited every opening.
He moved like a blade sliding between ribs, cutting and stepping, cutting and stepping, using Blood Control to trip kobols by dragging their own spilled blood into slick pools.
Splat!
A kobol slipped, fell.
Sekhmet’s blood sword took its head.
Shhk!
Another kobol leapt.
Sekhmet pivoted and stabbed it midair.
Shhk!
The fight became a storm of sound.
Clang!
Shhk!
KRAAAH!
Flapflap!
Screams from guards.
Screams from kobols.
The hollow filled with bodies.
Blood soaked into dirt and stone.
The smell thickened until Sekhmet’s hunger screamed again, clawing at his throat.
He felt himself starting to lose control. The bloodlust inside him loved this. It loved being surrounded by bleeding prey.
Sekhmet forced himself to stay focused on Lily.
If he lost control now, he might not only kill kobols.
He might kill guards.
He might bite Lily.
He might become the monster he feared.
He could not allow that.
The guard captain shouted, voice hoarse, "Too many! We cannot hold!"