Sam heard heavy footsteps approaching his workshop just as he finished positioning the slime container near the entrance. The Iron Vanguard soldiers were moving with purpose, their voices growing louder as they closed in on his makeshift laboratory.
He'd been preparing for this moment since the battle began, but time was running short. The hammer trap was already rigged—a simple rope and pulley system that would drop the heavy tool when someone stepped on the tripwire he'd stretched across the doorway.
The slime container sat ready beside the entrance, filled with the slippery substance AJ used for movement in his slime form. One quick pull on the cord would spill the contents across the floor, making it impossible to not slip over.
Sam grabbed his spear from where it leaned against the workbench and moved towards the window. The wooden shutter was already open, providing his planned escape route once the traps were triggered.
"What the hell is this place?" a gruff voice demanded from outside. "Looks like some kind of workshop."
"Orders are to clear all buildings," another voice replied. "Search it for weapons and supplies."
Sam positioned himself beside the window as the footsteps approached his door. He could hear at least three men, possibly more, their equipment clanking as they prepared to breach his sanctuary.
The door exploded inward with a thunderous crash.
The first soldier through the entrance stepped directly onto the tripwire. The hammer dropped with crushing force, catching him square on the head with a crunch that ended his life.
His companions froze for a moment, staring at their fallen comrade in shock. That hesitation gave Sam the opening he needed.
He yanked the cord connected to the slime container, spilling its contents around the workshop entrance.
The remaining soldiers tried to advance but immediately lost their footing, arms flailing about as they fought to maintain balance on the impossibly slippery surface.
Sam slipped through the window and dropped to the ground outside, leaving the Iron Vanguard soldiers struggling with his traps. He could hear them cursing and stumbling as they tried to navigate the slippery mess, as he was moving away from the workshop.
From his new position, Sam could hear fighting echoing from multiple directions throughout the settlement. The Iron Vanguard had spread everywhere, but Valentra's defenders were still resisting despite the overwhelming assault.
He needed to assess how the battle was progressing, but first he had to reach safety.
---
Walter moved through the residential area with deliberate care, his cane tapping softly against the ground as he guided a terrified family towards one of the designated safe houses. The parents clutched their young daughter between them as they attempted to reassure her.
"Stay close," Walter whispered, his eyes scanning the spaces between buildings for threats. "We're almost there."
The safe house was just ahead, it was a building that had been reinforced so that it could shelter people while the battle raged around them. But Iron Vanguard soldiers had spread throughout this section of the settlement, hunting for civilians to slaughter or defenders to eliminate.
Two mercenaries stepped out from behind a nearby building, their swords drawn as they spotted the fleeing family. Walter recognised the predatory gleam in their eyes—these men intended to kill everyone they found, regardless of age or threat level.
"Keep moving," Walter commanded the family as he stayed behind.
The first soldier approached confidently as he didn't expect much resistance from the old man. Walter's hidden blade emerged from his cane in a fluid motion, the blade catching the soldier across his arm before slashing at his torso.
The man stumbled backwards, surprise covering his face as blood flowed from the wounds.
Walter pressed his advantage, a thrust to the soldier's throat ended the encounter before the man had a chance to recover from his shock.
The second soldier quickly became more cautious, his sword held up defensively as he reassessed the threat. Walter read his movements easily, as the man relied on overwhelming his opponents rather than having superior technique.
Walter's cane tapped against the ground as he shifted position, drawing the soldier forward into a clumsy thrust. The blade swept past Walter's shoulder as he pivoted, his counter-attack opening the soldier's stomach in a spray of crimson.
"Go," Walter told the family, who had stopped to watch the brief but violent encounter. "Don't look back."
They disappeared into the safe house as Walter finished the man off. Walter cleaned his blade and silently continued his patrol. There were more people out there that hadn't made it to a shelter or safe location in time and needed his protection.
He found his next target threatening a woman who'd been caught in the open when the assault began. She'd taken shelter behind an overturned cart, but the Iron Vanguard soldier was smashing it with his war hammer, each blow sending splinters flying as he destroyed her cover.
Walter approached from the soldier's rear, his footsteps quiet and breath held. The soldier was so focused on destroying the cart that he never sensed danger approaching from behind.
Walter's blade slid between the man's ribs to pierce his heart. The soldier's hammer fell from his grasp as he collapsed forward.
The woman came out from her spot with grateful eyes as Walter helped her to her feet. "The safe house is that way," he told her, pointing towards the reinforced building. "Run fast."
As she fled, Walter spotted movement between the buildings ahead—two more Iron Vanguard soldiers working together to search houses for people who were hiding. They hadn't noticed him and they weren't going after someone in that moment.
Walter took the chance to leave, he didn't have the energy to fight everyone he saw and he knew it. Even if those two men caused problems for him later he had to try and conserve his energy right now.
---
Maria fought near the settlement's centre, her new Earth Realm strength making every movement unpredictable and dangerous. She'd already accidentally shattered one Iron Vanguard soldier's ribs with a punch.
Her mana circulation felt different since the breakthrough—stronger, more intense, but harder to control with precision. Energy flowed through her pathways in surges that made her movements more explosive than she intended.
Two more Iron Vanguard soldiers carefully approached her position, recognising her as a dangerous opponent. They spread out to attack from different angles.
The first soldier's opening thrust aimed to test Maria's defensive capabilities. She moved to dodge the attack, but she pulled back much further than intended. The excessive movement threw her off balance, leaving her exposed to the second soldier's flanking attack.
His blade opened a gash along her shoulder as she stumbled. Maria's counter-attack was powered by raw strength rather than technique, she grabbed a fallen sword and drove it towards the first attacker's midsection.
Despite his best effort to deflect the strike, the blade punched through his leather armour and into his stomach. She twisted the weapon as she withdrew it, opening the wound further.
As his partner bled out, the remaining soldier attacked with renewed determination. His blade targeted the openings created by Maria's unstable movements, each strike precisely placed to exploit her poor balance and control.
She took another cut along her side, then a shallow stab to her thigh as she struggled to adapt her fighting style to her new capabilities.
But raw power eventually overcame technique. Maria abandoned her attempts at refined movements or techniques. She simply hit her opponent as hard as she could.
When her weapon finally connected with the soldier's torso, it nearly severed him at the waist. The enhanced strength that made her clumsy in defense proved devastating in offense.
She stood among the fallen enemies, breathing hard from exertion and frustration. Blood seeped from multiple wounds. Her poor control had left her vulnerable and that was something she desperately wanted to work on.
But for now she'd survived the encounter.
The sounds of battle continued around her, screams and clashes of weapons creating a symphony of violence that filled the settlement. But underneath the noise, Maria thought she could hear something else—children's voices, crying in fear.
Isaac and Noah were supposed to be in a safe house, protected by Janet and the other adults assigned to guard the non-combatants. But the voices seemed to be coming from the wrong direction, closer to the agricultural area...
Maria took several steps towards the sound, her maternal instincts overriding any other considerations. Her children needed protection, and every moment she spent fighting here was time they remained vulnerable to Iron Vanguard soldiers who showed no mercy, even towards children and the elderly.
A scream cut through the air from somewhere behind her, it expressed the pure agony of someone dying horrifically. The sound snapped Maria back to awareness of her surroundings and responsibilities.
The settlement needed her here, fighting to keep Valentra from falling to the Iron Vanguard's assault. Isaac and Noah's future depended on this community surviving, not just on her immediate presence.
If she abandoned her position to chase phantom sounds, more people would die, and the collapse of their defenses would doom everyone including her children.
She forced herself to turn back, her sword ready for the next wave of attackers.
---
AJ moved through the settlement's streets with lethal purpose, his form shifting constantly as he cut a path towards the gate where Marcus would be.
He'd intended to intercept the mercenary leader from the beginning, but the battle had erupted faster than expected, leaving him out of position when the fighting began.
The destruction around him spoke to the Iron Vanguard's ruthless efficiency. Bodies lay scattered between buildings—defenders who'd died protecting their homes and civilians who'd been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Smoke rose from several buildings where fires had been set, while the sounds of distant fighting echoed from multiple directions.
The first Iron Vanguard soldier he encountered was attempting to break down the door of someone's house, probably searching for hiding civilians.
AJ's approach was silent, his hardened fist struck the man's spine with crushing force. The soldier collapsed instantly, his weapon clattering to the ground.
A second soldier appeared from around the corner of the same house, his sword already drawn as he spotted AJ standing over his fallen comrade. The man managed one desperate swing before AJ's extending arm caught him by the throat, his fingers hardening as they crushed his windpipe.
AJ continued moving in the direction of the destroyed gate without pausing for a beat.
Two more soldiers spotted AJ approaching and moved to flank him. But AJ's abilities made their tactics irrelevant. His form flowed like liquid around the first soldier's sword thrust, the blade passing through harmlessly.
At the same moment, his torso hardened into razor-sharp spikes that punctured the attacker's chest and stomach.
The second soldier's attempt to strike from behind met a wall of rear-facing spikes that erupted from AJ's back, impaling him before he could complete his attack. Both men had died within seconds of each other.
AJ pressed on, leaving the bodies behind as he sought his primary target.
The destroyed gate came into view ahead, smoke and debris marking where the Iron Vanguard had smashed through Valentra's defenses.
Splintered wood and twisted metal littered the ground, while bodies lay scattered among the wreckage.
AJ could see figures moving through the haze, soldiers finishing off wounded defenders, others looting the fallen, and somewhere among them, the man responsible for this slaughter.
AJ moved passed the ruins of the gate towards the central plaza, his axes materializing in his hands as he emerged from the smoke and debris.
Through the chaos and carnage, two figures stood apart from the general melee. Marcus, the Iron Vanguard leader, was surveying the battlefield with satisfaction.
Beside him, Richard smiled with vindictive pleasure at the destruction of the community that had rejected him.
Both men turned as AJ appeared through the smoke, and for a moment that stretched like eternity, their eyes locked across the blood-soaked ground.