All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 81: Breaking a Few Eggs

The Lieutenant roared, releasing a shockwave that expanded rapidly outward. I was able to use air manipulation to split the blast around me, but I wasn't able to save anyone else. From behind the demon, the majority of the skeletons flew down the hallway toward the front entrance. When they hit the massive wooden doors, they didn't stop. The stonework above the doors crumbled as most of the skeleton's army was flung outside. The less fortunate ones hit walls before they went that far, resulting in damaged walls and powdered bones. I thought they were likely out of the fight for good.

Much of the wall the demon was standing by didn't survive either. Now the large room had a straight path to the outside. I looked around at the damage briefly, but I didn't let it touch my feelings. I had already hardened my heart to the coming mess.

The demon stood in the center of a shallow crater. For the first time, it didn't seem in all that good of shape. It breathed heavily, with blood running out from countless cuts across its body. None of the cuts individually meant much, but they added up. Also, that explosion seemed to have taken a lot out of it.

This might be my only chance. Picking up one of the skeleton's swords from the ground in my grabby arm, I charged. I let out my most terrifying war cry as I swooped in. My spray bottle and sanitation lamp were both working at full power. Right as I neared my target, I pivoted gracefully, slicing across the back of the same leg I had been concentrating on this whole time. It was too late to save this castle from damage, but I wasn't about to let the perpetrator escape.

With my speed and the heft of my blade, I cut deep into the back of the chemically burned ankle. Its odd flesh parted under my blade on my second spin. I dropped the sword and pulled out my mop. Slapping the appendage to the open wound, I felt it begin sucking the demon dry. The mop pulled moisture out of everything it touched, and as I had powered up, its capacity and range had only grown.

The demon might be a thing beyond this world, but it still had blood. I would see how well it fared without that.

Even as I pressed the mop into the injured demon, it tried to swing its leg forward and away from me. When it went to put weight back on the bad leg, however, it gave out. The beast collapsed to one knee in apparent pain.

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Harold watched numbly as the sounds of battle echoed from the castle. The rest of the officers were still arguing about what to do, but based on the power that was being thrown around… There was nothing they could do. Harold himself was probably the highest-level person in the army, and he had just reached level 42 - nowhere near strong enough to handle this.

There were multiple combatants well over his level fighting. And at least one that was more than 20 levels above him, if he wasn't mistaken. The whole army couldn't really do much against that. Well, do much yet. There was some hope, he realized. They could hope that whatever was battling wore the other one down. Perhaps if the winning party was too exhausted, they might be able to move in and finish off the last one standing.

His only question was, who was fighting? Clearly, one was Nazareth'gak. The only other thing that was powerful might have been the demon they summoned. If it was two demons fighting, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise. They had their hierarchies. The ones that were powerful and intelligent enough to make a deal with humans hardly seemed to like each other. But that didn't explain all the other sounds and energy signatures of unknown skills that Harold was picking up on. It hardly seemed like a one-on-one fight in there.

Right when he was about to launch himself back into the discussion to lay out what they needed to do, the front of the castle exploded. A spray of gray and white pulverized the doors, leaving them in splinters. The noise got everyone's attention, but it didn't hold it for very long before the war room erupted back into chaos.

Harold, though, kept his attention on the debris, and when they started putting themselves together, he realized what they were. The undead. Skeletons, to be specific. Once they reformed, they gathered into hurried ranks and started heading back into the castle. Then, something odd happened. A smaller band of skeletons emerged from the remains of the entryway. A band of skeletons led by a zombie rat. The rat chattered at the skeletons going back in. They paused for a second. Then a couple of them chartered back.

Watching in disbelief, Harold struggled to keep his jaw off the floor. The back and forth went on for a bit before the skeletons, and the rat all sat down. What followed was a seemingly very detailed conversation consisting of only chattering teeth and rodent squeaking. Eventually, they all got to their feet and, in unison, looked out the main gate over at the human encampment.

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As strong as my mop had gotten, it still needed to be wrung out. When I retracted it, the demon flew into action. I wasn't prepared, and the backward swing of its fist clipped me with a glancing blow. While I only bore the slightest amount of the blow's force, it still sent me tumbling across the cracked and shattered floor. Hitting a loose piece of rubble, I flipped over.

However, this time was different. Time seemed to slow down as my processors contemplated an evasive maneuver. My agility had become more than I could have ever imagined. In the air, I was able to extend my arm and plant it on the ground. With a little push, I was able to flip myself to land on my wheels, already charging back into the fray with a fresh mop.

The demon had become wise to my new tactic, though, and didn't let me get close. Now I was the predator chasing the stumbling demon around. It wasn't quite as one-sided as when it was chasing me. I still needed to be careful of its blows, as a single hit to the top could completely flatten me. But the demon was moving slower.

Having proved that I could actually damage it, the cowardly nature of the demon showed forth. It wasn't able to dodge the way I could, but it was faster than me. I was trying to get at its heel, but it was clever and was leaving a trap. I got quite close before I had to bail out of the attack to avoid a bodyslam and falling elbow strike.

I only escaped by a bristle's width. However, the maneuver left the demon vulnerable on the floor. I emptied the rest of my spray bottle into its face now that it was on my level. The demon didn't appreciate the gesture, curling up to avoid the burning liquid. This was a mistake. Between that moment of blindness and its slow recovery, it gave me time to retrieve another sword.

Instead of spinning and slashing, this time, I pointed the sword forward and charged into its back. The blade sank into the left ribs up to the hilt. I tried to pull it out, but it was stuck so fast that I lost my grip. Previously it had ignored bolts driven deep into its torso, but this sword was much wider.

When it roared as it struggled to its feet, I could hear a liquid bubbling in its lungs. I tried to grab another sword but couldn't quite find one before it got back up. Taking one look at me and my brandished mop, the demon decided that it had had enough. Turning on its good leg, it made a limping run for the main entrance to the castle, where it could see the outside.

I raced after it as fast as my wheels could carry me. Even injured, drained, and weak from waking early, it was still faster than me in a straight line. I shined my lamp on its retreating form, but that only seemed to spur it on faster. Desperately I thought through my options. I needed to find a way to catch up with it.

Examining my dustbin, it was mostly empty. I had either released the contents at the demon or burned them for power. The only thing I had left was the blood I had consumed from it. Wait. I burned a lot of power when I collided with the demon. Did I level up?

Yes, I had! Somehow I had ignored the notification during the fight. Quickly I scanned my options to see if anything was going to help me.

LEVEL 45: TASER, POOPER SCOOPER, THRUSTERS

Yes, there was something! I chose without really considering the other options. Activating my new ability, I pointed the nozzles behind me and activated them. I was flung forward like greased lightning. Launched off the ground, I caught up to the running demon as it reached the top of the stairs.

My momentum knocked us off the steps and, through what remained of the entryway, out to the courtyard. We sprawled out over the plateau in front of the castle. In the last second, I was able to position my mop so that it lanced into the demon's back, right next to the sword. With the force of our collision, it had no problem driving into the same hole, widening it a bit.

More importantly, the mop was thirsty and was soon draining the demon dry. I could feel its heart trying to pump blood with my sensors, but it wasn't able to draw it in faster than my mop was. For a second, I landed on my mop that was stuck deep in the wound of the demon. The demon flailed and managed to knock me free, but in the process, it also knocked the sword out. As it regained its feet, blood poured down its torso and dripped off its back.

I stopped in front of it, and its eyes met my visual sensors. Suddenly, a movement between its legs caught my eye. Apparently, the skeletons that were flung through the entrance before had been able to put themselves back together. Huh. It looked like there were a large number of humans as well. The little mess maker that I first used to scare away the big humans appeared to be leading a charge against the humans.

My army had abandoned me, leaving me to fight the demon all by myself.

Not that there was much more of the demon to fight. It was standing in front of me, but it didn't look very steady. As it swayed back and forth, it blinked at me. It seemed to be running low on power on top of all the damage already done to it. All of its weight was being put on its injured leg.

This was my opportunity. As I moved, I realized I was also low on battery. Since I had transmuted the last of the demons to get my last level up, I had done a lot of fighting. Still, I zoomed forward to try and hit the demon's good foot with my mop. At least, that was what I pretended to do. As it moved to knock me aside and protect its good leg, I changed course. Swapping out my mop for my grabby arm, I scooped up the dropped sword.

I almost got away clean. My battery was draining faster than it should have been, and I just wasn't quite quick enough to avoid the kick with the injured leg. Much of the terrifying power was missing, but there was still enough force to send me cartwheeling away. Somehow I managed to hang on to the sword.

Trying to figure out what was wrong, I checked my Automatic Maintenance function and saw it was doing repairs to my battery area. That was not good. The leaking power was slowing but not fast enough. I only had one hope. I started transmuting the blood of the demon.

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