Schneizel sat as another explosion rocked the trenches.
"They've become relentless." Angel remarked as she aimed down sight and fired.
A fireball shot from her gun like a laser, piercing through charging enemies.
"We should charge in, shouldn't we? We can't just wait here."
A whisper echoed from behind them, "Write that down, write that down."
Angel smirked as Schneizel sighed, he pointed at a man wearing glasses in a vr game, furiously writing into his notes. "Maybe I should get to know you guys first. You! What's your name."
"Me? This humble one's name is Gedis."
"Gedis? Why Gedis?"
Angel deadpanned "Gedis nuts in your mouth."
Gedis nodded somberly, "It is as she foretold, O Great Blood God."
Schneizel ran his hand over his face, "Ok forget about that, you what's your name?"
He pointed at a man currently sharpening his shovel, blood painted on his face.
"This one's name is RambZero, O Great Blood God."
"RambZero… that's just Ramb0, isn't it?" He massaged his forehead in annoyance. "Is that why you're shirtless? And why couldn't you just get Rambo?"
"Someone got it first, O Great Blood God."
"How about we tone down the Blood God? Maybe Ashborn?" He pointed at them, "That sounds mysterious right? Sounds a lot better than Blood God. And rolls off the tongue a lot better."
Gedis lowered his quill, "Ashborn feels a bit reductive."
Ramb0 raised his shovel. "Ashborn? Are those the titles given to you by those incapable of uttering your name?"
"I just thought it rolled off the tongue a lot better than O Great Blood God."
Angel shouted, "Even now, our Great Blood God thinks of us!"
"Amen!" The crowd chorused.
"Fine! Stick with Blood God just lower it down a bit."
"Amen." The crowd whispered, and yet somehow louder.
'Hello? Am I using this right? I'm Marshal Arc, overseeing Caldenheim defense. Just a quick update.' A pause then he continued as if reading, 'The Volgren Pact's have mobilized necromantic cores and have begun reanimating battlefield matter into hostile constructs. Expect waves of flesh-bound undead.'
A moment later, 'Also good luck.'
Schneizel blinked—then blinked harder as he turned to Angel reloading her gun.
"Did you hear that?"
"Oh, you mean the resurrection? It happens a lot, you better start sharpening your shovels."
"Will fire work?"
"Dunno." She sharpened her shovel as he passed it to him. "Silence! Let our God speak!"
The entire battalion turned to him as he held two shovels in his hand.
He sighed as he raised them both. "FOLLOWERS!" Our first test has arrived!" He slammed the two together as a clang echoed across the trenches. "I AM A GRACIOUS GOD! I demand nothing from you, no blood, no honor, no glory! ONLY DEATH! DEATH FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"
The clang rang out like a war bell.
Dozens of shovels slammed against the ground in rhythm.
"DEATH FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" the battalion roared as one.
Across the no-man's-land, groans emerged echoed from the smoke.
The smell of rotting flesh wafted in the air as hundreds of monsters limped into view.
Fused torsos. Half torn mouths. Burnt limbs. Twisted together into a mockery of battle.
Then the creature shrieked, its sound like scraping steel.
A terrifying sight for all that came upon it.
Angel locked in another magic stone into her gun, a shovel attached to her back.
"It's now or never, Death God."
"I really should figure this name out." He grunted as he jumped over the trench.
"CHARGE!"
Ramb0 charged first running right behind him as Gedis kept pace, scribbling notes as he sprinted.
"The Trial of the Apostles of Blood had begun."
Schneizel sprinted across no man's land, weaving between jagged barricades.
There were about a thousand monsters shuffling towards the trenches, massive, grotesque and relentless.
"Angel, does the necromancy core put its users inside the undead?"
Angel narrowed her eyes until a smirk replaced it, "They do."
"Gedis, Ramb0. I'm making you both lieutenants." He turned to the two running behind him.
'Marshal Arc here, who is the one charging across the trenches.'
'My name is Schneizel, you may know me as the Demon of Caldenheim. I have a plan.'
A pause then a question. 'What do you need?'
'Cover fire. A lot of noisy cover fire. We're piercing through this line, I'll carve a way in.'
'Got it.' The comms buzzed to an end as the sounds of guns erupted from behind them.
"You heard that! I need you all to stick close to me! We're killing these necromancers."
"Amen!" His men shouted.
"Silently."
"Amen." They whispered as fire erupted from behind them.
The sounds of gunfire consuming the land with noise.
Schneizel and his followers sprinted through fire and noise—until he reached the first monster.
Twenty feet tall. The stench was unbearable, its body a twisted monument to death.
The creature raised one massive arm and slammed it down. The ground caved from the force as Schneizel leapt aside.
He sprinted up its arm, drove his shovel into its skull, and raised his gun.
"Fire," he muttered.
Flames burst from the barrel. The monster's head ignited, its body crashing to the dirt in a burning heap. He looked around, surveying the situation.
Ramb0 roared and charged the next one, a shovel raised like a banner.
Angel calmly took aim—one shot. Headshot.
She scoffed, ejected the spent stone, and walked past the falling corpse.
Gedis scribbled notes on his scripture, muttering calculations. Behind him, the other followers whispered in awe.
He snapped at the sight, "C'mon now, you imbeciles! Don't just dilly dally—aim for the head! Channel all your mana into the gun! Copy Angel! And give cover fire to the flanks—we're punching through."
He raised his gun, took aim and fired to the rushing flanks.
"Did you see that?" Gedis grinned as his gun clicked empty, he shoved another stone in. "If you can't aim for the head, aim for the sides, avoid wasting mana."
Up ahead, Schneizel nodded at the sound of Gedis's voice, never slowing.
He yanked the shovel free from the burning corpse as he ran.
Ramb0 sprinted beside him. Schneizel dropped his hands low—Ramb0 jumped on his hand and vaulted off it.
Schneizel launched him upward—straight toward the next monster's skull.
A second creature raised its arm beside them—
Angel fired. One shot. Clean.
The monster staggered—Ramb0 came down like a hammer, shovel-first.
He struck, and the head came clean off in a spray of gore.
Schneizel dashed to the next, dodging a swinging arm as he slid low, gun raised.
One clean shot. The creature's head burst apart mid-motion, its body collapsing behind him as he sprinted forward—clear of the abomination line.
Behind him, the horde surged.
"DEATH FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"
A hundred voices roared as his followers broke through, shovels raised high—charging into the trench line like zealots unleashed.
Gedis held up his notes, fresh lines already scratched into his scripture.
Ramb0 screamed as he barreled ahead, shovel-first, a war cry tearing from his lungs.
"Nice shooting, there, Angel," Schneizel remarked mid-sprint.
"You're the one doing tricks," she deadpanned, ejecting a stone. "You seem really adept with a gun."
Schneizel grinned. "Now, that is a thought, isn't it?"
Behind them, Gedis nodded solemnly—and wrote it all down.