Chapter 28
I frantically scrambled to a rock to my right, all the while holding the trigger down on my gun. My shots were joined by two new streams of bullets as I hit the rock and reloaded. Slotting the old clip into a port in my armour, I took a new one out and slammed it in all the while being pinned down by fiery orbs of energy. Hearing a quiet whine come from my hands, telling me that it is ready to fire I poked out and loosed a few rounds.
Cloe and Tony appeared beside me, hitting the rock hard. They shot at the incoming swarm as I witnessed the dome over the town falter. I also noticed Luna staring at us, a worried expression on her face.
“Don’t let that shield fall!” I yelled over the sounds of fighting at Luna.
“Holy f-” I heard Cloe say, the rest drowned out in gunfire as she snatching fire out of the air and throwing it back.
“What do we do now?” Tony asked me.
I went through my knowledge of what’s happening in my mind in less than a second. “Well we need to take down the Mancubi before we can have any backup, then we kill that Baron.”
“What?” Come on, has no one played DooM™?
“Shoot the fat things on the hill!”
“Ok,” Tony and Cloe said in unison before jumping into action, standing up and shooting a constant barrage at the monsters. I took this opportunity to ditch cover and move up.
When I was in the open, the demon dogs reached me, forcing me to draw my sword and fight. I slashed at the large creatures, forcing a few to back up only to be replaced by the ones behind them. The only way for me to win this fight was to go on the offensive.
Bringing my rifle up with one hand, I sprayed round after round into the faces of the demon dogs, felling a few that charged before running out of ammo. Warnings went off as I was assaulted with fire but I disregarded it completely, waiting for a chance to acquire an advantage over the dogs. When one of them went in for the kill, I seized my chance.
As the creature lunged forward, its jaws wide open to crush whatever it grabs, the time dilation thing kicked in and I jumped forward. The sword was aimed precisely at its mouth, stabbing into the roof of its open maw easily and killing the beast instantly. Another one circled around his dead brethren and jumped at me as the demon on my sword began to turn to ash. I reacted instantly, yanking out the blade and bringing it down onto my new assailants head. It too died as the top half of its head fell to the ground.
The third one was lucky, clamping its mouth around my sword and ripping it out of my grasp. My suit was getting hot as the barrage of fireballs continued. I dashed back and whipped my shotgun out. The dog followed me, really wanting to take a piece of me away. Using one hand, I aimed carefully at the beast’s face and opened my mouth.
I pulled the trigger. The recoil threw my arm back and slammed the shotgun into my shoulder, which hurts a lot. At least the end result was the dogs front half of its body exploding into a fine, red mist.
I dropped my shotgun for a second, grunting as pain lanced through my arm. Ducking down to pick it back up, several projectiles flew over my head. The legions of fire throwing demons approached, bombarding the town continuously. Wow, ain’t I lucky.
The hill suddenly erupted with light, creating a resounding boom and blinding everyone in a flash of white. A shockwave of force knocked me to the ground, tossing me down as if I was nothing. As I slowly got back onto my feet my eyesight started returning to me. The ringing in my ears persisted as I stared at the hill. One half of said land mass was completely obliterated, the bloated abominations taken with it. The sight would inspire fear into any enemy, but the imps on the ground just got back up and kept coming.
I ran to the nearest rock, all the while firing down towards the incoming tide of demons. As I reached cover, my hearing started returning to me and the sound of constant gunfire overtook the ringing. The other two came running over but something was different.
“A rocket launcher!” I yelled at Tony. “Why do you have a rocket launcher?!”
“Cause I got to it first,” He said smugly. Cloe stopped midway and began shooting as Tony slung the massive weapon over his back.
I face palmed, or tried my best in this armour. “Whatever, just shoot them some more.”
“Can’t, out of ammo,” he told me.
“Great,” I groaned as I reloaded my guns and returned to fighting. With the major threat to the town gone, the shield spell was left as it is. Luna rushed our way with several ponies following her, including the guards I brought along with us. I covered them as Cloe ran towards a rock. I think now is a good time to go on the offensive again.
“Alright let’s do this,” I began, sword drawn and shotgun ready as I jumped cover and charged.
“LEROY JENKINS!”
I was halfway before I heard Tony on the radio. “You’re an idiot.”
The demon legion pressed on, numerous imps were cut down in a hail of bullets and magic. I was followed by a group of earth ponies and pegasi as I closed in on the creatures. Many wore makeshift armour consisting of a few slabs of wood. It proved to be very useful as it kept them alive from the waves of fire. When the distance was finally closed, I slashed at the closest head I could find as the pony defence force collided with the offending forces.
As the ponies around me began to fall I pressed forward, attempting to reach the head of this attach and cut it down. They can keep their own. The imps in my way proved to be a challenge but they died all the same, some before I could even hit them. As I reached the centre of the massed army, the baron entered my sight. Up close the demon looked grotesque. Several burns and holes were covering its muscular form, which towered over me at 2 metres in height. Before I could even make a move, it picked me up and roared into my face then proceeded to throw me out into the defending force.
I took the time in flight to study the battlefield. The Imps continued to flare brightly as they fell, being pushed back and cut down by my friends and Appleoosa’s residents. Many pretty lights flashed across the empty land between the attackers and defenders. Before I could continue, the feeling of falling came to me and the imps became bigger.
I slammed into the creature fast, crushing it underneath my weight as its body broke my fall. But even after all that, I crashed into the dirt hard. The pain was unbelievable, I felt myself bend in ways that I never knew were possible and my head start to swim as I barrelled across the land and slid to a complete stop. Breathless and hurting all over, I managed to lift my head up and watched on as the creatures surrounded me. I reflexively reached for a weapon but my right arm refused to move, instead sending an impossibly painful feeling from my shoulder to my brain. I frantically searched for a gun with my left hand and finally grasped my rifle as the imps screeched threateningly at me.
A golden beam of light interrupted them, turning the demon and his friends to ashes before they could do so naturally. The sky began to rain magical bolts of death as flying chariots descended upon us, casting an enormous shadow over us. The battle instantly became one-sided, the demonic legion being reduced to nothing in a matter of minutes. I laid where I had landed the whole time, too hurt to move and listened to the sounds around me.
As the Battle of Appleoosa came to an end, four people came into my view. Cloe, Celestia, Luna and Tony looked down at me.
“You alright there?” Cloe asked, a grin on her face.
“My ass hurts and my shoulders brokeded, but otherwise I’m fine,” I answer. I got a few laughs, which is good.
“Alright, can one of you help me up?”