Cursed Soul: Ch.14

“Approximately forty seconds ago, we received a distress call from one of the outposts under our jurisdiction. They had caught sight of an army of 6000 mages at the very least heading towards them from the east-north-east. We do not know whether or not Bosco's Magic Council know of this army moving through their kingdom, but we are to take it as they know.

In response to this, the commander has asked for help from the local guild on top of sending our battalion to help out, which is why we are to go there in three divisions so pay attention!” The General barked out and the entire room grew silent as three holographic screens appeared behind him

“Division One is to be the last line of defence, made up of our best support and healing mages. Lieutenant Danners, you will be leading this formation. Division Two is the next line of defence, made up of our trappers and jutsushiki user. Lieutenant Maverick, you shall be in charge of this formation. Finally, there is the first line of defence known as Division Three, consisting of purely the strongest and most powerful fighters of the battalion. Lieutenant Arreiks, you are in charge of this formation.

The battle formations and plans shall be left to the expertise of each lieutenant, but I want you all to make sure that not a single enemy makes it through to the rest of Fiore. Is that understood?!”

“Yes, sir!” We all barked out in unison with a salute, General Sparda nodding before taking a step back and letting Baul continue on as the Colonel cleared his throat.

“I understand that most of you have not been in a large-scale battle of this size so I will say this. Do not overextend and do not underestimate your foes. Make sure that each attack is done efficiently and without hesitation for overdoing it and/ or hesitating to finish off an enemy will lead to death. May the gods be with you all and good luck.”

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“Hello, boys and girls~! Can everyone hear me?!” The beautiful and curvaceous Lieutenant Leah Maverick asked with a smirk as she stood in front of us, her Scarlet Mantis cloak left open to show off her form-fitting dark red bodysuit that had armored sections on her vital spots while her dark brown hair was left to hang freely behind her.

“Yes, Lieutenant Maverick!”

“Ah, no need for the formalities, dears. Just call me Mistress and we'll get along great.”

“Yes, mistress!” Everyone gave me a surprised look as I replied without hesitation, Leah looking just as surprised before she smiled happily and pointed at me.

“Thank you, Sergeant Creed! For that, you are now my second-in-command! Step forward.”

'It's that easy.' I thought with a smirk as I quickly moved through the crowd of soldiers and walked over to stand on Leah's right side, the Lieutenant simply clearing her throat before looking back at the group of soldiers.

“Alright! Let's get to the details, people! Our formation is the second line of defence and we are basically the ones that are to ambush and stall the enemy to give the first line of defence time to make it back while also giving the last line enough time to get back and create more space between us. Therefore, while the enemies will be weaker when they get to us, they'll also be more ferocious and unforgiving.”

“So, no holding back and no hesitation.” I chimed in and Leah smiled as she looked at me and nodded.

“Yes, what Sergeant Creed says is correct. I want you all to use most heinous and most vile traps that you can think of and make sure that the enemy regrets ever getting to our section.”

“Speaking of Sergeant Creed, Lieutenant, I assume he has some jutsushiki formations for this?” One of the soldiers asked and I nodded as she looked at me.

“One that will render all of us impervious to the senses of the soldiers as long as we stay inside the boundaries of the jutsushiki circles and one that will not only lock the assailants inside the barrier, but also activated a delayed explosion to give anyone of us enough time to exit it before it goes of.”

“Those two sound wonderful.”

“Oh, those are the more tame ones I'll be using.” I answered with a smile and she blinked at that before raising an eyebrow.

“And pray tell, what are the others?”

“One that amplifies a person's pain sensors by a factor of fifty for a split second the moment they enter a barrier, a formation that turns the air inside the barrier into a toxic gas, a formation that slows down one's blood flow the moment they enter the barrier at the cost of them being allowed out and so many more.”

“Ooh~! Could you make one that amplifies someone's sense of pleasure as they enter it and force them to have orgasm after orgasm?” She asked with an excited smile and I smirked at that before nodding.

“Indeed, I can.”

“Looks like this will be the start of a valuable friendship then.”

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“Okay, people! Spread out and start booby-trapping this place to hell! Creed, I need you to start on those invisibility barriers! Make sure that only we are allowed to see each other whether we're in the barriers or not and make sure that you added a secondary, tertiary and even a quaternary trap to the primary patterns if you can.”

“I can only do two patterns at a time and maybe a third if I'm lucky enough to do so.”

“Then, I want a tertiary trap added to each pattern.”

'…Hah, sure. Guess this is a better time than ever to get to work.' I thought with a frown as I began walking to the far front of the group, taking a deep breath and gathering ethernano to my fingertip before I began dragging it across the ground while tracing patterns along the way.

“Ethernano of the world, I wish to call forth a cylindrical barrier that spans the height of 6 meters, the diameter of 5 meters and the depth of 1 meter. Allow those that bear the scarlet red cloak of the Scarlet Mantis to move in and out of the barrier as they please and force those that do not bear the scarlet red cloak of the Scarlet Mantis to stay within the width of the barrier itself.

The barrier, as well as all those who bear the scarlet red cloak of the Scarlet Mantis that are hiding inside the range of the barrier and their spells/ traps, is impervious and undetected to the six senses of anyone that does not bear the scarlet red cloak of the Scarlet Mantis.

This barrier is to be activated by any mage that wears the scarlet red cloak of the Scarlet Mantis with three bursts of their ethernano that will be undetectable by anyone who does not have said cloak in their possession.

This barrier is to be activated the moment I shout out a password. The password is: Set Spartan barrier.”

'Damn, that was a long one.' I thought with a deep breath as I stood up straight, looking at the small circle around me that contained an entire paragraph of commands inside if it.

I wasn't at the point where I could write out specific commands with single words like Lahar or the other jutsushiki wielders, but thanks to Lahar's journal, I was most definitely able to create shortened patterns that were still far stronger than the full sentences I had written when I started out to get specific actions.

Lifting my foot and bringing it down onto the centre of the circle, I watched as it rapidly expanded to the designated size before smirking as the jutsushiki markings faded away.

I would have added the patterns for the explosions or the poison gas as well, but we've decided to not go with those since the other mages will be trapping the inside of each barrier as well to make sure that the other aspects of the barrier is as strong as possible.

Adding the part about everyone of the Scarlet Mantis being able to activate the barriers and not me was also something that was proposed by Leah since there's no telling whether or not I be able to activate the barriers all at once.

“That's the first one? Looks good.” Leah spoke up as she walked towards me and I nodded as I looked at it, watching as each sigil and crest glowed with a dark red glow.

“What of the others? Are they all done?”

“Some are, but others are struggling to figure out just what trap to set. Guess you'll get to finish before some of them do.” She spoke with a smile as she patted my back and moved onto the others, making me sigh as I crouched and began drawing the second circle.

Oh, this is about to be a long one.

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“Mistress, we have a few squadrons with an average of fifteen mages a group making their way towards us!” One of the Sergeants at the front called out and Lt. Leah nodded as she shifted to a more serious look.

“Alright, everyone! Into the barriers! On Sergeant Creed's count, understood?!”

“Yes, Mistress!” This time, no one found it weird to call the Lieutenant Mistress as she giggled and walked backwards into the barrier that held not only me but also another two members.

“Alright, Creed. You're up.”

“Remember, everyone, on the count of three! One…two…three!”

“Set Spartan Barrier!” I chanted as I stomped down onto the ground and unleash a burst of ethernano throughout the barrier, the soldiers in the other barriers doing the exact same before I smiled as numerous iridescent barriers rose up from the ground.

“Looks like your barriers were a success considering we're lighting up the entire field and they haven't stopped.” Lt. Leah spoke with a smile while wrapping an arm around my shoulders, ignoring her ample chest pushing into my back as I nodded.

“It looks like it, but we can't drop our guard.”

“Right.” She agreed while lifting up three fingers, the soldiers in the other barriers nodding as we watched the men and women in dark cloaks with golden crescent moons slowly making their way towards us.

'Three…two…one…No-!'

“Dispel Magic.” The one at the front spoke and my eyes widened as I watched everyone rush in the moment their barriers shattered, the invading forces looking surprised even as they all quickly recovered and clashed with our army.

“Crap! They got a Dispel Magic user!” Leah shouted as we all dashed forward into the battle and I frowned as I took a few rapid steps back while letting them all fight it out.

'And like before, I'm on the backlines.' I thought with a wry smirk as I quickly stepped back, knowing that my skills would be utterly useless in the heat of battle right now.

However, it seemed the enemy thought I was part of the main fighting force as I watched three of the mages break away from the group and rush towards me, to which I took a deep breath and readied myself.

The first one to reach me had a gun out and my eyes widened as I rushed at him in a zigzag formation, ethernano flowing through my body before the first shot came and barely missed hitting the side of my neck.

Sliding under the second shot and jumping over the third, the man quickly leapt back as a second one slipped in front of him with his hands held out right as I stomped down onto them.

My eyes widened as I felt the force of my kick being mitigated somewhat while still sending the man skidding back and making him shake his hands lightly with a surprised look.

The third rushed past him with his arms and legs coated in some kind of blue fire and while the heat being exuded from it wasn't what I expected, it was still enough to make me wince as I leaned back when he swung at my face.

Ducking under his hand trying to grab the back of my head, I punched forward and hissed as I felt my hand being enveloped by the flames of the arm that he blocked with, quickly hopping back when the first one leapt up and shot a blast at my feet.

'Gun Magic, some kind of Shield Magic and Fire Magic, huh? Isn't this lovely?' I thought with a frown as I dashed in towards the Shield Magic user, who quickly raised a hand towards me right as I swung forward.

The moment my hand made contact with his hand, I frowned as I felt all force behind my punch vanishing, the man quickly grabbing my hand and swinging his own fist at my head.

Ducking under it right as his friend with the flames jumped at me from behind, I smirked as he hit him instead and kicked at the Shield man's leg, knocking him off-balance and rolling forward while pulling his arm along.

Forcing him to spin right as the Gun Magic man shot at us, the Shield Magic user gasped as the blasts impacted his back before wheezing as he got a kick to his jaw.

His grip around my fist weakened and I didn't waste any time to jump up and drop-kicked him in the chest, a gargling cough escaping his lips as he was sent rolling backwards before the Gun Magic user aimed at me.

A hiss escaped my lips as his first and second shot impacted my left shoulder and left knee respectively, gritting my teeth and stumbling out of the way as his next couple of shots missed.

The Flame Magic guy was not one to waste an opportunity as he rushed at me with a bruised jaw and I whipped my sore arm at him, making him duck before his eyes widened as I swung my uninjured leg with a growl.

The blow connected despite the flaming punch impacting my injured leg and I roared as I followed with the kick and stomped him skull first into the ground.

Lifting my leg as I saw the mage struggling to stand, I didn't let up as I stomped repeatedly down on his skull, roaring as I kept on stomping down until nothing but the sound of flesh squelching came from my stomps.

“Hah…hah…hah…” I couldn't help but feel disgusted at myself as I stared down at the skull that was caved in below me, but as I turned towards my other two foes, a growl escaped my lips as I saw both of them looking shocked and wary of me.

“You two want what we got?” Turning towards them, I ignored my wounds as I started walking towards them, the Shield Magic user looking hesitant while the Gun Magic user gritted his teeth before aiming at me and unloading with a roar.

The ground under me shattered as I shot forward, tanking each bullet to my limbs with a grunt and without stopping as I lunged forward and tackled the Gun Magic guy to the ground.

Rolling with my tackle and making sure I ended on top, I knocked the gun out of his hand before landing a hook to his jaw, making sure to pin his arms to the floor with my knees before picking up the gun and blasting bullet after bullet into his head.

“Get the fuck off him!” The Shield Magic user roared as he tackled me off, my arms raised as he punched repeatedly before I lifted my head and slammed our foreheads into each other.

His head snapped back and I saw the dazed look in his eyes as I reached upwards, grabbing his head with both hands before delivering another headbutt that made him fall backwards.

Standing up albeit with a stagger, I limped over to the gun and picked it up, turning back and placing a knee on his chest before aiming and shooting a bullet right through his eye.

Ignoring the blood splattering onto my cloak as I continued unloading, I didn't stop until I felt a hand touching my shoulder, quickly turning the gun only to be surprised by the sight of a very familiar face grabbing the gun with an impressed smirk.

“That was fucking wild.” Bacchus Groh, the drunk martial artist of Quatro Cerberus, spoke with a grin and I just gave a tired chuckle as I fell backwards.

“T-Thanks.”

“Your technique was atrocious, but your tenacity…there's not many with that type of wild energy especially when it's comes to puling the trigger. If you ever decide to leave the Rune Knights, there's always a spot for you at Quatro.”

“Oi! Stop trying to swipe my second-in-command!” I heard the lieutenant shout and I ignored Leah shouting at the cackling Bacchus as I closed my eyes and let myself fall asleep.

'I earned this.'

A/N: And the first segment of the war is over as the Scarlet Mantis fends off the first assault.

However, is this the only assault that took place or was there something else that happened?

Who knows? Guess we'll have to find out.

Also, I've decided to let go of trying to replicate the Sukuna skillset and have instead decided on focusing on jutsushiki as I have a new set of moves that I want him to use.

Hell Fire Dragon Slayer Magic is still something I'm going to get, but I have something in mind that I want to use alongside that.

Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!