Mad God

"How many came back this time?" a stern, cold voice asked from the two men, arriving into a medium-sized leather tent. The insides of it were lit up by orange flames, burning atop multiple thick candles, letting the wax drop to the hard, cold floor. In the middle of it stood an old table with a map laid out on it, its corners pinned down by simple rocks picked up from the ground. It had a perfect topography image of the surrounding areas and the outline of the two small towns in the vicinity. They were already crossed off of it by now. Small pins were pushed into it, where they met with demons, alarmingly increasing in numbers day by day.

The voice's owner was a middle-aged man named Oxon, a 3rd stage Harmony cultivator from the Midnight's Shadow Sect. He was wearing the completely black uniform of the Sect, without any decorations. It was the veteran uniform of the Abyss Department. They were responsible for executing the orders of the Sect and being their hand of justice, acting as the group, focused strictly on battle spells and raising warriors. The two who came into the tent wore gray uniforms, still only disciples of the department and not fully-fledged part of it. Both young men looked like they were in their twenties, but in reality, they were way older and already 1st stage Harmony experts.

"Four. Not counting us. We lost another two." the dark brown-haired one, called Kiju, shook his head, answering. He was a squad leader, having an 8-men-group under him. The one with black hair standing next to him was Ziko, his second-in-command. "Their numbers are constantly rising; we were ambushed while doing recon. The moment we lost the lighthouse on the shore, and they dug in, they have been coming to shore in great numbers! This is a full-blown invasion!"

"When they adventured deeper and razed the nearby villages, they left none alive! We already pushed them back to the shoreline multiple times, but that is where our efforts were stopped." Ziko continued, "They replenish their numbers more quickly than we can kill them! Since then, we have been in a stalemate, but they will be the winner if this will not change!"

"Strengths?" Oxon asked, making new marks on the map, going by their reports.

"Varies. The strongest is a handful of demons, equivalent to 3rd stage experts. This information comes from Group Needle; they sacrificed themselves to deliver us the intel. We need to reinforce our lines, Commander! We need men straight from the main branch!"

"There is a demigod en route." he looked up at them, watching how their eyes quickly lit up at the mention of such force coming towards them.

"Is it Elder Nethraniel?" the two asked at the same time, as he was one of the stronger warriors in the Abyss Department. He was a warrior with kills nearing the four digits in numbers, all perfect assassinations of outlaws and dangerous individuals. Not to mention, he was one of the few demigods who already had two other demigod kills under his belt since reaching that stage.

"No. He is outside on a mission." Oxon shook his head, "The arriving reinforcement is not from our Sect."

"Oh… an outsider?" Kiju and Ziko looked at each other, seeing their excitement quickly vanish. "It is still better than nothing! With someone at that stage, we can raid their base and prevent them from digging in further! We may succeed even in halting them from creating a real foothold on the mainland!"

"Yes!" Oxon agreed with them immediately, "I am going to start to draw up a plan; for the meantime, let those in the Body Refinement realm start preparing for the assault! Call back the main fighting force so they can rest and start forming battle cells with the rest of the disciples!"

"Yes!" They saluted.

"When you are ready, come and see me, I'll make you two be the guide for our guest so she can go and see what is happening!" he ordered, and after the two left, he only listened to the rain strongly drumming on the tent of his. "I just hope a demigod's presence won't call out the demons' own..." he whispered under his breath.

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Flying above the land, the rain around Ren's body was pushed away automatically as if she was in her own bubble. The heavy curtain of rain that was washing the land, turning the visibility down to almost nothing, was entirely ignored by her. For someone of her strength, she did not need her eyes to see, not to mention the constant thunder and lightning were putting Ren in an excellent mood.

"Hm, what are they doing?" She murmured to herself, sensing what was happening dozens of kilometers away. The strip of land she was flying above was a barren patch of area, ruled by gray, hard rocks, without any vegetation. Here was where the rugged cliffside met with the sea. Farther away, weird, fleshy strands were stretching out of the water, forming an odd bridge, helping hundreds of small, crab-like creatures march upon them straight toward the surface.

Their destination was a sturdy, 70 meters tall lighthouse, standing atop a lone pillar of rock. Its light was snuffed out, and its base was covered with a thick, pinkish slime. It coiled around it completely, pulsating, and the fleshy strands attached to its body stretched out far into the ocean. Around the thing, more, smaller slimes were bubbling, connecting the separated pillar, which the lighthouse stood on, to the rest of the cliffside. In a half circle, towers and defensive buildings were already set up as almost a hundred demons were working on them constantly. They took up human forms, building sturdy defenses, traps, and warehouses for their supplies. Their resources from the sea were being brought up on their 'flesh bridge' by their crab demons, an armada of tireless workers.

"How weird…" Ren stopped in place, greatly amused by what she saw. "I can't tell what kind of demons these are; they are all… weird, even in human form. Seahorses? No…? Yes…? Hmmmm! Sharks? Mhm… ah?" She flinched as a deep, resounding 'whistle' came from the ocean. A 50 meters long, humongous whale emerged from the sea, spewing water high up to the air while, on its back, clearly rode a hundred different humanoid demons in full battle gear and armed to the teeth with swords, spears, and bows. "Eh… damn, that's cool!" None of them could discover her presence as one part, she was far away for someone of their strength to notice, and on the other hand, the constantly raging storm masked her affinity. Even if they had a demigod, they would miss her in this stormy weather if he or she was not actively scanning for Ren's presence. "I can see how they lost this part of the land… hm, let me see how Kazier's boys handle the situation!" She chuckled, flying in a different direction, where she felt weak, injured human presence.

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"You good?" asked Urami, gasping for air as she carried her comrade on her back. Her body was tiny, reaching only 140 centimeters in height, yet her body was curvy and well-adorned with nature's blessings. Now, her wavy, chestnut-colored hair was muddy and sticking together with blood, dripping, sticking onto her doll-like face. On her back lay a much bigger guy, almost twice her size, and it looked like she was dragging him along.

"I'm alive…." Adachi answered with a weak voice, barely audible. His eyes only open to a thin slit, seeing nothing more than vague shadows and blurry images. Even worse, he was missing his right arm from right above his elbow, same with his left leg; gone from the middle of his thigh, clearly chewed off, going by the pattern of the injury around the wound.

Both of them were freshly promoted disciples, only ascending into the Harmony stage five years ago. They joined the Sect at the same time, decades prior; they were rivals at the start but later became good friends through hardships. Applying to join the Abyss Department was a challenge for both of them. Yet neither could imagine what the future held for them. Their first real battle went horribly wrong, and they were overwhelmed when they were trying to fall back from the failed scouting of the demons' main base. In the end, she fell, hit by an exploding spell, going dizzy and unconscious for a few seconds. It was Adachi who came to her rescue, but in the end, he suffered heavy injuries. The rest of their squad deemed them lost and retreated, using the chance Adachi won for them with his actions.

What they did not know was that Adachi managed to kill their pursuers before falling, almost dying right there and then if not for Urami's water affinity. She somehow managed to keep the blood and his guts inside of him rather than flowing out. She was carrying him for hours by now, conserving all of her energy so she could keep him alive and reach back to their lines somehow.

"Just leave… I can barely feel the pain anymore… And you know what that… means..." Adachi murmured.

"You are going to feel my thumb up your ass if you keep talking like that! Don't worry about it! We are going to make it!"

"Sure…" He chuckled, but it came with blood drops falling from between his lips. "Should've asked you out sooner… I like your… ideas…”

"Heh, are you delirious or what?" Urami chuckled, "You did ask me out once, but I turned you down!"

"Oh… yeah… true… bummer…" Adachi whispered, gasping for air more heavily.

"Are you trying to seduce me by playing the wounded hero? You are a cheapskate, eh?" Urami joked, masking her desperation and also trying to keep him conscious by talking to him. "Forcing me to say I'll go on a date with you now?"

“Yeah… caught red… handed…”

"Tsk! You know what? Sure! Stay alive, and we can try it! For a week or so! Deal?"

"..."

"Adachi?" She asked, but no more answer came from him. "Hey!" she looked back over her shoulder but only saw his smiling face getting whiter and whiter, no longer breathing.

She hurriedly put him down from her back, checking his pulse. They were greatly exposed on the flatland they were crossing, and stopping made them an even easier target. The short grass barely reached above a few centimeters, but right now, Urami had no mind to think about anything else but Adachi. She quickly tried to transfer some of her energy into his body, ignoring the possibility of it backfiring because of their different affinities. Sadly, all of her efforts were without any success, and Adachi's heart has gone still.

"No, no, no, hey! Adachi! Wake the hell up!" She shook his body with a desperate voice, almost shouting. "Be a pain in the ass again! Hey! Damn you! Don't you dare die on me!"

"Let me!" came a sudden, foreign voice as Ren appeared, kneeling beside them. Urami flinched but seeing it was a human, she immediately calmed down. All of the demons, wearing their humanoid form, only looked human-like from afar. Plus, no demon would approach them like this.

"He is… dead…" Urami said with a quiet voice, trying to accept the undeniable, realizing the fact his heart had stopped beating.

"Still got time~" Ren smiled at her, somehow making her relax even more as she watched Ren place her hand on Adachi's chest. The next moment his body almost jumped as Ren's electricity blasted forward with a strong shock, making Urami flinch. Yet before she could scream at her, she saw how her unmoving friend took a breath as he started to gasp for it, once again coughing up some blood in the process.

“He… you… brought… back…" Urami mumbled, unable to form any correct sentence right now.

"Sure, but he will really die if he does not receive proper care!" Ren nodded, pushing down a pill on Adachi's still unconscious throat, letting it quickly dissolve. "This will replenish his lost blood a little, but he is still at 50-50!"

"At… what?" Urami blinked, looking at Ren's face, and while Urami's was drenched by a cocktail of nasty smudge that even the heavy rain failed to wash off, Ren looked immaculate.

"He either lives or dies! Come on, time to go!" she stood up, lifting both of them up by her powers, and teleported away dozens of kilometers in a blink.

"A demigod!" Urami gasped, not believing what she was seeing as she only saw other such cultivators when the Sect had some festivals going on. Yet now, such a being came and rescued them? Maybe she was also dead, and all of this was already a dream while going into reincarnation? This was her honest thought as fatigue washed over her. Now that she could relax, every energy simply evaporated from her body, making her fall unconscious right there and then.

"Heh!" Ren smiled, watching the two, remembering something that she really did not want to recall. "At least you two could have a different outcome…" she murmured as she flashed forward with all of her strength, aiming to reach their encampment as fast as possible.