Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 683: No Longer Innocent

Calypso's eyes blinked in surprise. "Ah. I didn't consider that properly."

"The axe, dear," Nyx pointed out.

"I'll retrieve it!"

"...No need," the Space Valkyrie sighed, drawing it back for her excessively lively companion.

Alice's beam descended last, crashing down like divine retribution. The golden radiance of Radiant Devastation pierced from the shadowy halo over Kaiden's head, slamming into the basin's heart and sweeping sideways in a precise curve that sliced through Slashers, debris, and the outer layer of Chinedu's reconstructed barrier. The S-tier spearman hurled himself aside just as the beam cleaved the spot where he'd stood moments before, golden flames searing the rock beneath his boots.

The arc caught one of his warriors who failed to react swiftly. The beam struck the man's damaged armor from Kaiden's prior strike and bored straight through. He collapsed and stayed down.

The initial fatality.

Numerous humans took hits, yet these were robust awakened combatants clad in superior armor. Their guilds had poured immense resources into them, ensuring they weren't sent out vulnerable.

Ash lifted his head with effort. Blood clouded his vision, blood filled his mouth, ribs scraping painfully with each inhale. His camera drone lingered nearby, transmitting the scene, and amid the agony and bewilderment, he gazed up at the ridge where Kaiden Grey loomed against the heavens.

"You..." Ash spat blood in a cough. "You maniac... this is... the Association won't..."

Chinedu's voice rang out across the basin, piercing and authoritative, all traces of casual friendliness erased. "Illegal combat! Intentional friendly fire against authorized fighters! You're breaching Association battle protocols!"

Kaiden ignored him completely. He was preparing the following barrage, symbols whirling into form around his arm, identical violet and black circles aligning with exacting accuracy.

"ALL UNITS, ADVANCE TO THE RIDGE!" Chinedu bellowed. "EXIT THE BASIN! ASCEND!"

The remaining warriors scattered. Ash clung to consciousness by the boulder. Brittany and Stacy rose unsteadily, supported by Trisha. They dashed toward the ridge's slope, toward the stones, toward any path leading up to Kaiden and his group in their secure position, far from the deadly ground.

The Slashers pursued them relentlessly.

Over twenty beasts remained in the basin, and as soon as the humans shattered their lines and fled, every hunting urge in those armored heads ignited simultaneously. Pack predators hunted escaping quarry. That was their law. Their sole law.

Chinedu's team clambered over the stones with the frantic energy of those who'd just discovered the terror of facing an organized onslaught. Fingers clutching rock, feet sliding, pulling one another higher as Slashers surged below. One warrior lagged. Two Slashers struck him at once, limbs slicing through his rear armor into the body underneath.

Another tumbled when a Slasher jumped and snagged his leg, yanking him from the cliff. He crashed to the basin bottom, and three others pounced before his team could react.

Two slain by beasts. One by Alice. Three severely injured. The grim calculus of slaughter, counted live by every spectator viewing through Kaiden Grey's perspective.

Chinedu gained the stones ahead, climbing with a single arm while his spear arm thrust down at a Slasher pursuing him. The monster plummeted. Two others followed in its wake.

"GREY!" Chinedu's shout echoed through the basin. "HALT THIS! IT'S BLATANT SLAUGHTER!"

Kaiden glanced down from the ridge.

His face showed utter composure, the emotionless observation of someone seeing an issue resolve on its own.

"Is it? But we're attempting to rescue you."

Chinedu's warriors ascended. Stones and urgency and wounded palms, hauling themselves to the ridge as monsters nipped at their trails and the figure they approached observed with the chill of a frosty dawn.

Then Nyx moved to the brink.

The Space Valkyrie was the sole one who hadn't unleashed during the opening assault. She'd lingered at the rear, arms folded under her bust, viewing the destruction with the casual curiosity of someone scanning a familiar catalog.

Now she peered at the roughly dozen warriors scrambling up the crag toward her, beasts on their tails, blood and dread etched on each visage.

"Oh dear." Her tone drifted down to them, melodic and charming yet utterly chilling. "So many beasts pursuing you! Allow me to assist as well!"

She lifted both palms.

A nearby boulder, positioned there by some means, rose from the earth. Spatial energy squeezed around it, and Nyx snapped her wrists.

The boulder plunged earthward.

The rock collided with the face hundreds of meters down, knocking two warriors and four Slashers from the wall in a tumble of forms. They dropped back to the basin, where the fighters' armor spells cushioned the impact enough to preserve life.

The Slashers crashing atop them cared little for survival.

Nyx hoisted the following boulder.

"So many beasts," she said again, truly concerned. "They won't stop appearing!"

The next boulder smashed into a group of three Slashers and one warrior who'd climbed partway. All four rolled back to the basin depths.

Chinedu saw two of his allies swept from the stones and plummet into the chasm, fury blazing in his features. He jammed his spear into the wall for leverage, yanking himself up quicker, stronger, sinews straining in the drive of someone who knew escape meant confrontation.

Kaiden observed everything.

He remained on the ridge, arms crossed, his companions arrayed nearby, and he regarded Chinedu's climb with the aloof fascination of one eyeing a persistent bug edging up a cup's edge.

He saw Chinedu evade Nyx's subsequent boulder, only for Luna and Aria to strike in unison, drawing a spine-chilling yell from the man as he dropped too, though he battled the monsters that accompanied his fall.

Kaiden took it all in, sensing a surge of intense pride in his heart.

These were the women who'd once avoided harming even the smallest creature just months prior.

Luna, formerly venting frustration at her screen but never injuring a soul, now channeling bolts through human forms with a smile and purple glow in her gaze.

Aria, lifelong embodiment of compassion, the effervescent young woman whose vast heart shamed those nearby, launching rays from on high that rent through bodies and earth, peaceful as an artwork.

Nyx, beloved by all after brief chats, the lady whose friendliness and light chuckles turned acquaintances into confidants, hurling stones at ascenders with a grin and a tone sugary enough to decay enamel.

They had transformed from their former selves.

Months back, they were pupils and visionaries and gentle spirits who recoiled from brutality and excused minor troubles. Young women who flushed and faltered and viewed existence with innocent gazes unacquainted with its edges, until reality schooled them harshly.

No longer.

They were the Sinsworn Valkyries serving the Paragon of Sin. Females who selected their partner and upheld it with the depth of every vow sworn.