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  Esstrey smashes another of the afflicted into the ground, breaking plenty of bones in the process. She certainly not harm them in the process, but doing so is difficult when there are many of them around. Krenkov's me as nice as Esstrey when it es to that department, they know that if they get holes torn in their coats they will join the mass of afflicted. However, as many problems the rain caused, Esstrey knows that overing this will strengthen Malencia. Sure enough, the rain begins to slowly subside.

  Esstrey holds her cw up, relishing the st bit of moisture invigorating her skin. Just as she's thinking about getting herself a mobile shower to permaly feel like this something other than a drop of blood falls on her cw. A small and bck fke, as if someoarted painting snow bck. The particles have pletely repced the rain, and the cheers of the subsiding rai repced with the realization that this nightmare hasn't ended yet.

  One of the people on the ground begins to shudder violently, before slowly getting back up. Esstrey loads up her crossbow, she was... is certain that that person is dead. A trait maybe? Perhaps an aftereffect of the blood rain? She loads her crossbow, things are never so o be that simple.

  *CA-K*

  The 'bolt' crashes through the womarey shot, pierg the lower abdomen and pinnio the floor. Despite missing the lower part of her spihe woman still tries to scrabble off her pinned position and rip apart the one who put her there. Other bodies begin to shudder violently as well, and notably none of the living ones shudder. Neancy.

  "Zombies! Clear them out!" At Esstrey's order, the men begin to fire everything they have now that their target is finally not human for once.

  It was supposed to be a simple information run, drop by some acquaintances and head back to the keep. Instead, Jake is now surrounded by the dead, weren't neancers on their side? What the hell was Kreif doing? Jake fires a javelin made of shadows behind him, and bsts the head of a zombie off. Despite the momentary euphoria of getting a kill, Jake's celebration is cut off by five more taking its pce. Deg to live for another day, he runs to a nearby alley, trying to cross into an area less poputed. Hearing shouts up ahead means that there are people there, living ones.

  Arriving at the se, Jake sees a group of liquidators trying their hardest to defend a group of barely scious wounded from a veritable horde. His arrival at the se is like cavalry running down the enemy, as the magic of the heir of Malencia cuts through flesh and boh ease. As the frontal assault of the horde lessens, the men begin to fan out to cover the fnks, one doesn't o see the faces behind their masks to know that they are filled with desperation, fear aermination.

  Unfortunately, it is all for naught, the heir battle made attracted the rampaging people that were killed nearby by this very squad. This time the horde es from all sides, the scream of one of the men acts as a signal for retreat. One of the liquidators was grabbed from behind while fag the ones in front, and quickly gets dragged to the ground aen alive. One of the wounded being defended had died due to poor treatment, and had joihe opposing side as a result. Some of the zombies that were previously taken down begin to shudder violently as well, turning their position from a stable defensive circle to a situation where everyone is surrounded and alone.

  Ier news, the sergeant of the group is still alive, and a rallying call is made for the soldiers to head to Jake. They don't know he's the heir, but a mage is their best on in this sario. More men fall trying to reach him, a singur walking corpse being enough to seriously slow someone down, and a sed one drag down those of lesser caution. As the men abandon their position in an attempt to survive, the wounded civilians injured as a result of the blood rain are left pletely undefended.

  The survivors are forced to watch from a more defensible alley as their colleagues and the ohey defended are swarmed by the dev swarm. They don't seem to care much for houses with properly closed windows and doors, even if Jake is certain there are still people in there. If it's this bad in one of the better parts of the lower district, how bad is it in the slums?

  Salvation from the gruesome dispy es in a stream of fire falling out of the sky engulfing the street, a group of winged demons indig that the paranormal division hasn't betrayed Malencia just yet. Despite the fire, the zombies don't scream in pain, and only begin falling to the ground oheir very bones get bed. One of the demons nds, and gives a piece of paper to the sergeant. After reading it, he nods aures for his men to follow him, but stops Jake.

  "Thanks for the help mage, but we o help some people trapped in a nearby building surrounded by the fucks. If we involve magic, the ce of colteral is too high, and we have relied on the help of a civilian enough so far." Jake thinks of ing with anyway, but refrains from speaking up. His informant is still at the location deep within the lower distriear the slums.

  Running through alleys and dodging the rger groups is surprisingly easy for Jake on his own, magic makes little noise pared to the guns of the liquidators, and he hasn't been falling ba his lessons. The political influehe paranormal division holds over Malencia is terrifying in his eyes, and now they have practically itted a coup. As Jake runs through Malencia he es across an odd sight, a group of undead soldiers shambling like the zombies around, in the middle is a neancer judging by how he's dressed, along with some liquidators. All of them dead, with the undead soldiers barely being damaged. The fkes falling from the sky must have hijacked the uroops from the neancer's trol, turning the military escort in a killbox.

  He had experienced something simir not too long ago with the wounded camp, individually the zombies are pathetid in a group only amount to a mild threat, but in a bat zohe dead are everywhere. Jake's staring at the undead is interrupted by a wretched snarling noise ing from nearby. A dog runs full force at Jake, and is instantly bsted by dark magic. Looking in the dire of where the dog came from, Jake sees... a kennel. More zombie-dogs stalk the area, and some have taken note of him. He looks around in panic, for ao help or routes to escape, only to notice as a nearby aerial squadron of demons seems to be getting harassed by undead birds.

  Running from the kennel is a hasty affair that doesn't go unnoticed, the former patrol notices Jake, and begin to shamble after him. Half snarled barks and biting noises are right behind his heels, as some of the dogs have already begun catg up. As he fires more bsts of magi his pursuers he has to stop, the short momeops proves fatal as anroup of zombies cuts off his escape route. The loud snarls of so many alerted dead attrag even more. Jake is forced to run into yet another dangerous alley, sure enough this time he gambled poorly, it's a dead end.

  Out of breath, out of mana, so dies the heir of Malencia. At the hands of his own people and soldiers, eaten alive. As should be the fate of those who collude with forces beyond their uanding.

  *THUD* *CH*

  Were it not for a singur figure standiween him and the approag horde right now, a t figure that came out of nowhere looking down on the zombies like ants, a silhouette that seems to inspire fear ihe zombies if only for a moment. Covered io-fin in blood, she wields her crossbow backwards. A zombie lunges as high as it for her, impressively just barely reag the bottom of her armor. It gets clubbed with the rear end of the massive metallic crossbow for its efforts, and down it goes. The horde tries to use its mass t down the mermaid, but her slippery scales pletely prevent it from finding purchase, and their teeth aren't strong enough to gh her scales.

  Every time Esstrey raises her crossbow, it es down on the skull of a zombie, every time a zombie gets close it gets grabbed at the head by her d gets crushed. Esstrey isn't even using her magic for bat, she just occasionally re-applies the blood c her by draining the zombies of theirs and dumping it over herself.

  *CH* *KRRK*

  *CH*

  *CH*

  *CH* *KRRK*

  With aionless efficy the horde begins to redu numbers, the armored pting of the undead soldiers fail to ge the titan's approach for dispatg them, and the undead dogs get swept aside when being faster thaarget is useless whearget wasn't pnning on moving anyway. As the noise of snarling dead begins to die dowrey turns to the exhausted Jake.

  "I didn't know you were that charismatic Jake, you accumuted quite the following. I would reeime you don't run into danger like this, it's not good for your heart to do stuff like this on a stant basis." She doesn't even bother to wipe the blood off her visor, and simply floats off toward sector D7.

  Prickly