3.28: That thing is MASSIVE!

I’ve played games since I was a little girl. I got my love for video games from my dad. We would play all sorts of games together for hours on end. We both loved going to midnight launches for major titles and then spending the entire weekend together to play the hell out of whatever game we had just got. First person shooters, 3rd person shooters, Role playing games, 4x games, Turn-based strategy games, Real time strategy games, dungeon crawlers, hack-and-slash games, fighting games, and probably dozens more I can’t think of. We played them all. While he died well before the N-Vision hit the market, I like to think he would have fallen completely in love with everything about it. It took all the games we played together, and dialed them up to 11.

The reason I’m telling you all this is so you have a better idea of just how important games are in my life. While I may not be at the level of some pro-gamers, I definitely count myself a top-tier gamer. I hate all the cheesy, immature things some players stoop to doing that really take the fun out of the game. Chief among those things is spawn camping and noob hunting. There is nothing more frustrating during a game than trying to learn to play a new game and then encountering a high leveled player who is able to kill you with a single hit. Getting killed by someone who you have absolutely no chance of beating over and over is a surefire way of making someone rage quit a game.

I learned several things about Holy Damnation that day:

First, while within the bounds of the “starter area” players up to level 25 can't be dealt any damage by other players.

Second, should any of these lower leveled players attack anyone above level 24, they instantly lose their protection and can be damaged normally like any other player.

Third, even when facing the threat of a level 203 demon as a super low leveled player… People are fucking idiots.

A wave of attacks from all angles flew up at me and as they started to pelt my armor and skin I moved to dodge, until I realized that the pitiful attacks amounted to less than 1% of my total health. Unfortunately for my attackers, my demonic rage was in full swing. I laughed maniacally and launched both fireballs from each hand, completely incinerating dozens of players at once. I did what Ash had called “cheat codes activated” and carpet bombed the entire area around us. Blasts of electricity, fire and ice filled the air in brilliant colorful displays like deadly fireworks. Screams of pain and terror became my symphony of slaughter, the movements of my body to continue hurling spell after spell were my way to dance to the sweet music I was making.

And then, just as quickly as it had started, I stopped and allowed the surges of arcane power, the smoke, and the dust to clear from the area and looked around with a huge grin at my wanton destruction. Clusters of players who had made the smart choice and didn't attack me were surveying the cratered ground in complete terror and awe. I glanced down at my clan members and saw a mix of expressions on their faces. Ash and Kyra looked almost as shocked as the remaining Angelspawn players did. Tesrif and Judas both stared at me with admiration and pride. Jade, Tifa, Areandra, and Ghost seemed equal parts surprised and amused. Ikelos and Lucifer were outright bent over laughing hysterically. And my gorgeous, wonderful, beautiful, sexy, amazing future wife was looking up at me with resigned annoyance written all over her stunning face.

Without breaking eye contact with Emelia, I slowly descended to the ground and gave my fiancée a sheepish grin. I moved to wrap my arms around her and while she accepted the gesture her expression remained unchanged.

“In my defense… They attacked first.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, but I saw the corners of her mouth pulling up slightly in a smile she was trying to hide. She kissed my forehead and then turned to look out at the area surrounding us. After she let out another long sigh she let out a small chuckle.

“You are too much, Allie. It's a good thing I love you.”

“Awwww! I love you too babe!”

I moved to kiss her and she rolled her eyes again and pressed her lips against mine. After sending my brain to the clouds with a short but oh-so-sweet bout of kissing she moved back and looked towards the massive Heaven Gate. The rest of our party had recovered from their shock and we all started walking slowly towards our destination. Ash ran up beside me and gave me a still slightly awestruck grin.

“It's way more impressive watching that than being on the receiving end. Remind me not to piss you off.”

I shot her a smirk and stuck out my tongue.

“With that accent I don't think you'll be in any danger of that.”

She blushed and then smiled back at me. My killing spree had put me in a fantastic mood, so I continued to flirt shamelessly with the gorgeous olive-skinned woman and her redheaded girlfriend.

“I'm especially fond of girls with Irish accents. That one gets me going like nothing else. Especially when they're redheads.”

The much taller woman cocked an eyebrow and gave me a sly grin, but otherwise remained silent. She turned towards Ash who shrugged at her with a smile and then both of them looked back at me.

“If you keep that up, you’ll end up with two more full demons in your clan before the day is out.”

I gave Ash a look of surprise and smiled widely.

“I’m guessing Jade and Tifa filled you both in on how my corruption ability works?”

The tall brunette nodded and laughed softly.

“Yes. Jade was thrilled to show us all her new spells, and Tifa’s monstrous demon forms are truly terrifying. You have a very powerful clan, Allie. Kyra and I are really happy you let us join you. The fact that we could not only have sex with the great and powerful Allexus but also become full demons in the process? That’s just icing on the cake.”

My body did its best to blush briefly before it faded just as quickly. I was about to reply with a quick retort to her comment when the faint humming sound of the Heaven Gate filled my ears. I turned towards the massive golden ring with a swirling blue ethereal substance and then down at the 30 or so angels rushing towards us. They all wore golden armor and carried gleaming golden weapons, and I guessed they were some sort of gate guards. My eyes darted to each of them and I saw that they were all level 100.

Well… That would certainly make things interesting…

Without a second’s hesitation I issued orders to my clan mates to face off against the rapidly approaching enemies.

“Tesrif and Tifa, take the lead and brace yourselves to reduce the effectiveness of their charge. Emelia, do your best to impede their mobility and focus on defensive spells. Ghost and Jade, keep Tesrif and Tifa’s health around 60%, but conserve your MP for buffs and condition removal as much as possible. Ikelos, use your summons to attack the angels from both flanks. Use your steed to allow Ash and Judas and circle around so they hit them from the rear. Lucifer, use your shield to keep your master safe so he can focus on directing his summons without any distractions. Areandra, if you see an opening, don’t hesitate to fire. I want you to stay near Jade and Ghost, though. I want you to use that holy damage immunity to keep them safe from those types of attacks. Once they’re no longer charging at us I’m going to engage them in melee alongside Tesrif and Tifa. Any questions?”

I waited for a few seconds and when no one spoke, I motioned for them all to move. I summoned a suit of heavy armor, a one-handed warhammer, and a shield. I was about to move into position behind Tesrif when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned slightly and looked back at Kyra, who had a worried expression on her face.

“Allexus. Where would you like me to go?”

“Do you have any combat abilities?”

“Not traditional ones. But I can apply healing potions I’ve made as needed and throw some handmade explosives with a great deal of accuracy.”

I heard the word explosives and a wide grin spread across my face.

“That’s perfect. Once Emelia slows their advances, use your explosives to inflict as much damage as possible while their mobility is reduced.”

“And once everyone is in melee combat?”

I opened my minion menu and selected the icons for Pain and Panic. The two small pudgy black demons appeared in front of me and wrapped their arms around my legs excitedly when they saw me. I peeled them off my legs quickly as I heard the sounds of battle behind me.

“Pain, Panic… This is Kyra. She is going to hand you potions to bring to whoever she tells you to. I want you to run in, use the potion, and then run out… Do you both understand?”

“Yes, Mistress!”

I gave a final nod to Kyra and then turned back towards the sounds of combat. When I saw the lumbering form of Tifa’s Armor Demon, I had to do a double and triple take. She was now easily over 80 feet tall, and was smashing the oncoming angels with massive blows that made the ground tremble like an earthquake. To my utter shock most of the angels somehow survived her onslaught and had managed to dart around her giant kaiju-like form. As they dodged around her minivan sized fists, they were met with a hail of ice spikes pelting against them like hailstones. Everywhere the frozen shards struck, it bloomed like flowers of ice and began to spread out slightly. The second the angels stopped moving in an attempt to rid themselves of the chunks of ice that was causing their bodies to rapidly freeze, a series of explosions sounded and my vision was momentarily obscured. After the smoke and dust cleared I saw that at least 10 had been blown to bits from the attack. The rest seemed slightly dazed and had only seconds to spare before Tifa brought her enormous fists down on them again. The remaining five staggered forward on unsteady legs, before they were met by the savage jaws of Ikelos’s hounds and a swarm of bloodthirsty bats from both sides. I saw the last angel take two more steps towards Tesrif and I before she dropped dead in front of us with a knife sticking out of the back of her skull. I surveyed the battlefield in amazement and was about to let out a loud cheer when the portal made a whooshing sound and at least 75 more level 100 angels appeared in front of the Heaven Gate.

“Ikelos, get your summons back in position and have your steed move Ash and Judas out of sight until the angels are about 50 feet from the gate. This set up worked amazingly guys… and Tifa… After this we will definitely need to talk about how big you are now!”

“That’s what she said!”

I heard the sound of a hand smacking against the back of someone’s head and Ikelos let out a loud yelp. I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me and I turned back to see Jade walking up to me. I could see the hungry look in her eyes as she drew closer to me, and she forced herself to stop about 10 feet away.

“Allie, I’m feeling a bit supercharged after I fed on you earlier, and I didn’t use almost any MP in that first wave. Do you mind if I try out my new World Tier Spell?”

“Go for it. I’m curious to see what [*Sanguine Tidal Wave*] does.”

She nodded and walked in a wide circle around me until she was standing just behind the massive shapeshifter. I watched the dark-skinned vampire reach down to the angel with the knife embedded in their head and coat both of her hands in the slightly shimmery blood. She began to move her hands around in slow rhythmic motions and the blood flowed from her fingertips and formed into a swirling ball in the air between her hands. She swept her hand forward and the small red orb sailed through the air. It stopped above the majority of the corpses and as Jade began to motion with her hands again I watched the spell excitedly. Blood from the broken and torn bodies began to drift upwards like twisting red ribbons. The crimson sphere started to swell, and then continued to expand as more and more blood flowed into it. As the blood from all the Angelspawn I had killed earlier streamed towards it and mixed with the pulsating orb, it swelled to the size of a car. Jade spread both of her hands wide and the giant red globe stretched out until it was probably 50 feet long. She gestured with both hands like she was pushing something away from her to the front, and the mass of blood began to surge forward like a massive wave along the ground. It picked up speed as it drew closer to the approaching angels and then just before it struck them it shifted into hundreds of thousands of tiny spinning blades. The razor sharp weapons made of blood tore through the angels like a hot knife through butter and I watched in horror and amazement as the tidal wave of tiny razors swelled even bigger as the blood from the newly slain angels flowed into it. As another battalion appeared in front of the Heaven Gate, they had literally seconds before the gargantuan wave shredded them to pieces.

Jade motioned with her hand again, and the wave rose up like it had crashed against something solid and then began to flow back the other direction. Which was directly towards us. I watched and waited with rapidly growing concern as the massive red wave hurtled towards us without slowing in the slightest. I glanced over at Jade and saw a look of concentration on the ebony vampire’s face. The instant before it struck us, I saw the blood shift back into a liquid and then everything went completely red. I thought for a second I was going to have to struggle to maintain my footing, but instead I felt a rush of invigorating energy surround me like a warm cocoon. I felt the surge of blood flow back across the field towards the Blood Mage and into her open palm. It formed into the shape of a beating heart and we all stared at it in complete awe. Jade brought the mass of solidified blood to her lips and took a giant bite. Every single one of us watched in silence as the gorgeous dark-skinned woman finished eating every single bit of what used to be a deadly wave of razors.