KINETIC

[Drom]

Heath, still covered in full plate armour excluding his head, stood in the open area between the city walls and the forest surrounding them.

He had just defeated the fighter chosen by the cult and was waiting for an answer to the question he asked after the duel.

"Uhm... Hello? Are you surrendering or what?" He asked again with an annoyed tone of voice.

Heath was originally quite excited a few months back when he had heard of people with powers and realised he was one of them.

His excitement quickly died when he saw the abilities some of the other ability users had. Controlling things like fire or lightning, teleporting immense distances, healing the sick and injured with a touch.

But what did he get? The ability to summon a sword. In his eyes, his ability was all but completely useless.

'What need is there for an ability to summon a weapon when I could just carry a weapon with me...?' Heath would ask himself everytime he used his ability.

He did eventually come to realize that his ability did grant him other benefits besides just equipping him with a weapon.

He gained increased strength, speed, agility, defence and other physical improvements depending on the item he summoned.

A dagger would give him immense speed while a warhammer would give him increased strength.

His overall physical capabilities would rise regardless of what he summoned but the item would influence one capability more than the rest.

He started to grow in strength and ended up being one of the strongest ability users when it came to combat, allowing him to be a ranker at the academy.

He learned to summon more than just weapons, moving on to shields and even different types of armour.

The full plate armour he summoned on the duel was the best suit of armour he could create. It increased all of his attributes by large amounts, allowing him to become an immensely powerful person.

Even with that power, he still had his own limitations to overcome. The armour would use up a large amount of his energy when summoned and would use a constant amount of energy to be maintained.

The amount of energy used to maintain his armour was the same as it was to summon any of his weapons, making it very costly to use over long periods of time.

Though, once the armour was summoned, Heath knew it was pointless to put it away since he already used a large amount of energy to bring it out in the first place.

Because of the constant cost to maintain his armour, Heath was trying to rush the cult into acting. He didn't care if they would surrender or fight, he just needed to know so he could make use of his armour or drop it if it wasn't needed.

'I can only use it for around an hour if I don't summon other weapons in that time. I expect to summon many different weapons over the course of this fight so I probably only have around half that time.' Heath thought.

The Imperium leading the cultists had a shocked look on her face. She had considered the possibility of her fighter losing but to see it happen so effortlessly was both disturbing and shocking.

She composed herself as much as possible after Heath had asked for her intentions the second time. She pointed towards the city and shouted to her troops.

"No Surrender! Attack!"

One of the Imperiums in her army ran ahead of the others and went straight for Heath who was only around 20 meters away.

A different Imperium opened up a circular portal infront of himself and ran into it. The entire army followed after him excluding the woman who was in charge and the one that rushed towards Heath.

The portal closed as the last of the cultists passed through it and sounds of combat began to echo out from within the city.

The leader of the cultists followed after the other Imperium, joining them in trying to take down Heath.

'Two of them shouldn't be a problem but it doesn't make it any less boring. Why couldn't I have a more flashy ability like lightning or something... All these fights are so boring, even when I win.' Heath sighed and summoned a greatsword in each hand.

'I guess it is a bit fun when I see their heads flying through the air...' Heath thought with a slight smile as he charged towards the two Imperiums.

***

Up on the city walls, looking down on the cultist army, Clay and Captain Skutter watched the duel between Heath and the Imperium. They were both surprised at how effortless he was making the fight seem

'I knew that Heath was stronger than he seemed but I didn't know he was this strong.' Clay thought as he watched Heath decapitate the Imperium.

"Do you think they will actually surrender?" Captain Sutter asked.

"No, it would foolish to believe they'd actually adhere to their promise." Clay replied.

"I assumed as much. What are your orders now, Colonel?" Captain Sutter asked.

Clay turned to face the other soldiers and Infernai on the wall. "Everyone!" He shouted, getting their attention.

"The cult might attack at any time and will be unpredictable so stay alert!" As Clay shouted this, the Imperiums below rushed towards Heath while another opened a portal and led his allies through it.

On the end of the wall, around 30 meters away from Clay, the other end of the portal opened and the cultists poured out of it in groups.

After Heath had killed the Imperium in his duel, there was complete silence. Not a sound could be heard.

Clay delivered his orders and almost as if responding to it, the cult began their attack. The city was instantly home to the sounds of battle as abilities and weapons alike clashed atop the city walls.

Bright flashes of colour, loud explosions that shook the very city itself and the cries of death were instantly heard throughout.

The cultists pierced through the defensive line that the Royal Army created at the last second and charged towards Clay and Captain Skutter.

Captain Skutter stepped forward and unsheathed his sword. "I won't let them get to you, Colonel." He said with confidence.

"I appreciate your help but I'm not going to let you die to protect me." Clay said as he joined Captain Skutter.

"I thought you weren't a strong fighter? Isn't that why you sent Colonel Heath out instead of going to the duel yourself?" Captain Skutter asked.

"I'm not the strongest Infernai in this city, that position is held by Heath. But even so, I'm only a slightly behind him in power." Clay said.

His body started to swell and increase in size. His baggy uniform stretched to accommodate his new size and even tore in some places.

This wasn't the largest form that Clay could take and only brought him to a height just below 3 meters.

His muscles grew in size proportionally to his sudden height increase, giving him the look of a giant bodybuilder.

There were 5 cultists that were rushing towards Clay and Skutter but they slowed their approach when they saw Clay sudden grow in size.

They hesitated only for a moment, but it was enough time for Clay to make the first move against them.

He rushed towards the five cultists without worry since none were Imperiums or ability users.

His sudden burst of speed surprised them immensely as he crossed the distance between them in less than 3 seconds.

He grabbed onto one of the cultists by the arm and swung him around like a club. He swung the man into two of the his comrades, sending then flying off the wall and out of the city.

He lifted the cultist into the air above his head and slammed him down onto a different cultist, crushing both of them and creating a puddle of blood, flesh and bones below his feet.

The last of the 5 cultists tried to run away. The fear of what would happen to him had overcome his desire for glory and reward and forced him to turn and run.

He knew that he stood no chance against someone as powerful as Clay once he saw what happened to his comrades.

Clay's right arm suddenly jolted forwards and stretched over the several meters the cultist had managed to run.

The arm didn't grow in size, only length, allowing him to grab onto the cultists neck within just a few seconds.

His arm retracted to the size it was a few moments before, still matching his large size. Clay reached out and grabbed onto the cultists waist with one hand and his torso with the other.

The cultist was of course terrified, but mostly confused about what Clay was doing as his body was turned side ways in the air.

It was only when he felt the force of Clay's arms moving in opposite directions that the Cultist realized what was happening.

He didn't have a chance to beg for his life as his body was ripped in 2 by the behemoth of a man Clay now was.

Thw 2 halves of the man were tossed aside and Clay tuned back to Captain Skutter with blood all over his hands.

"Come on, Captain. It's time to end this war."