He slowly and numbly made his way out to a place where he could see what was going on below. No one was around to see the state he was currently in; everyone had seemingly gone down to man the walls or go to their loved ones in hopes of rescuing them.
He made it to a parapet overlooking a different part of the city and, in his state of shock, forced himself to look up.
The entire lower city was in flames, and the large machines had destroyed most of the outer wall. It was clear that after doing so, the army had rushed into the city and ravaged the unlucky peasants who had dwelled there.
He kept walking without taking his eyes off the spectacle before him, and before he knew it, he reached the inner wall.
He felt someone brush past him. He turned and locked eyes with the man, a soldier holding a small bundle in his arms. His wide, terrified eyes didn't have a hint of recognition inside of them.
It seemed that high-pressure situations dulled the effect of the illusion that made him appear as Major Stout.
Now he was just a strange man dressed in bloody rags, wielding a sword.
A strange sight, yet to the people who had been to the lower city, they could not care in the slightest.
a tide of people, beggars, peasants, soldiers, nobles who had been visiting the lower city for one reason or another.
all of them came bursting through the gate; they all shared in their terror, fleeing all at once like a great horde.
Several soldiers stayed behind, the clamor grew quieter, and there was still clearly more refugees heading for the inner gate.
That being said, the soldiers didn't wait for them; they began closing the gates hurriedly, and the great black iron gates slid slowly on the earth, ominously sealing the safety of the inner city before the needful eyes of the approaching rabble.
A lucky few made it just as they were closed, falling down from exhaustion moments after, the iron bar slid into place, and aside from the soft thuds of the people's hands beating on the thick iron, all outside sound was sealed out.
for a moment.
Soon after, there were screams like nothing they had heard before, followed by abrupt silence; even the beating on the outside of the iron door had halted.
The soldiers and refugees, as well as Sacril himself, all stared at the door in mixes of horror and shock.
Then the beating on the door started again... however, it was more intense this time, like a massive ox was headbutting it at full power.
nevertheless, it was able to hold easily, but the crowd was too stunned to move in fear that any minute the door would fail, and after that would be only carnage once again.
until a voice rang out over the square, causing everyone to turn their heads.
To Sacrils amazement, General Gold Strong stood tall, drenched in strange black blood; his helmet was gone, but he still stood with the mantle of a General, and his unmistakable voice was all that was needed to break the trance everyone had been in.
"You Bastards think these things are Unkillable!? Stand your ground! I've taken the heads from a dozen of them already!"
The soldiers shakily formed a line in front of the gates; a few dozen of them were all that were present, and the general looked somewhat displeased.
He looked to the civilians, and his eyes locked on Sacril.
"Any able-bodied man caught fleeing will die by my hand!"
several civillians looked around, and Sacril sullenly took up his sword, although he did not join the line.
The General held out his hand, and a massive golden claymore materialized inside of his grip, a smile appeared on his face and he jumped down in front of the line.
"I swear it on my name, nay! my family name! Leonehart GOLD Strong! As the family that served this kingdom for the last century, I swear that none of you who stand behind me will be the first to die!"
Sacril actually managed to be surprised that the previously stuck-up officer was, in reality, a true hero.
however he was wrong.
The wall was blown apart in an instant. Sacril turned and ran at the very same time, but the force of the explosion caused a shockwave to send him flying at the same time.
His last view was a wall of a nearby house that was rapidly approaching his face.
.
.
.
He coughed up a lungful of dust, some blood came up along with it, and he found himself lying in the ruins of a building.
The scent of ash was strong in the air, and he could barely make out his surroundings. Taking a step outside, he spotted a strange shining object and limped his way over to it.
What lay in front of him was the bottom half of the general's great golden claymore.
The dust cleared a little bit, and he saw a great shadow looming above him.
He turned and looked up, his eyes focused on the strange shape. It looked like a massive ridge had appeared about 20 feet in the air, and on it was-
His eyes adjusted, and the whole scene came into view.
The great General Gold Strong was impaled and hung lifelessly in the air, suspended by a massive spike that was in turn attached to a massive spider-like creature. It had a dozen legs, each of which looked razor sharp and multi-jointed, allowing them to bend in strange ways.
Its entire attention was focused on the General's corpse, its head, which was a strange skull, possessing a great number of small bead-like black eyes, over a large mouth with gaping mandibles and rows of serrated and broken teeth.
Needless to say, Sacril wasted no time in fleeing to the keep from which he had came from.
Although this time the run seemed to last an eternity.
He cleared the smoke and saw groups of people on the same mad dash as him; several of them were being picked off as they ran, projectiles thrown from the dust storm behind hit them, and they simply went limp. About 100 meters after clearing the storm, he heard a faint but unmistakable sound behind him.
The sound of a fire igniting.
He did not turn but felt the sudden, enormous heat wash against his back.
He heard several whizzing sounds as attacks from the horrors behind him missed him by millimeters.
finally the wall was within sight.
On top of it were archers and what appeared to be spellcasters; they had about the same firepower and peppered the enemy forces.
To his utter horror, he saw that the doors were already closing.
Though he was now exhausted, the adrenaline and sheer fear pushed him to increase his speed.
Yet it was not enough.
The door shut before he was even 30 feet away.
The panicked crowd slammed into the door, forming a bunch of people that made a hill in front of the wall.
The wall in question was far smaller than the other walls, only around 15 meters high.
Just then, he had an insane idea.
His speed was still at an absolute maximum.
He felt... strange, and without even thinking, instantly decided that this idea was his only hope.
He jumped onto the back of the nearest person and ran on top of the group until he reached the optimal angle to make the jump up to the wall.
an impossible jump, despite his decreasing the overall height by climbing on top of the backs of those panicked citizens gathered at the gate.
And yet was he not someone who had come back from death? somehow being reborn despite dying during his first manifestation.
He flew off the back of the poor individual he was running on top of at that time.
He felt utterly weightless in that moment, soaring through the air, and the ledge of the wall came into view.
Yet that was as high as he went.
He reached his hand out but felt himself begin to fall once again.
And at that moment, an armored chainmail gauntlet grasped his hand and hauled him up.
He gasped and fell to his knees, the physical exertion overcoming him and forcing him to gasp for air as the background noise faded into a faint ringing sound.
If he had been listening, he could have faintly made out the questions from the guards about how he could have possibly jumped that high, but he did not and could not answer, not just due to his lack of air, or even the fact that he himself did not really know.
It was because all of his attention was focused on the Incandescent words that had once again appeared in front of his eyes, invisible to all but him.
[Physical Examination Complete]
[End the Conflict To End Scenario]