Stuffing them into the suitcase was an unusual quick solution but now Ares and I had our hands free. That freedom was used to quickly travel over the mountain into the next valley behind it. The demon army hadn't yet reached as far in as we were, but it was only a matter of time. Worse still, about a days travel from where we were, the valley merged with the one we just came from. Should any fallen get
past us, the refugees would be trapped between two demonic armies at worst. The best case scenario would however still lead to a confrontation from two sides such was the mountain range formed.
So, once we got into the valley, Ares and I began discussing our options. First Ares offered the idea of a frontal assult only to be informed of the probable number difference.
He didn't believe in his idea in the first place. Similarly guerillia warfare was also dismissed because we had a time limit and not enough options to disengage combat. Large scale offensive magic was my idea, but after five minutes of discussion we decided against it as to hide most of our magical powers until we were officially on the battlefield. Then Ares spoke of ritual magic, the very magic that allowed me to appear human. The one type of magic that would not be noticable until activation. The Idea stuck. Now we only needed a location but it was a given. With an entire army worth of targets, it
made no sense to make a ritual sized for only a few people.
Several hours later, we had set up everything needed. The ritual did not look like the one we made in the forest months ago. Instead we had used knifes and blood to carve out runes and patterns into our surroundings. Every rune and pattern was connected via small hair-thin channels. Naturally Ares and I had attempted to hide all those
from sight but the nature of the ritual prevented that. Harmful rituals like this could only ever be hidden by performing it in an underground chamber or other restricted access zones. It was a solid restriction magic itself imposed on its users, or maybe it simply empowered the effect.
Now hiding such a ritual from an advancing army would usually be extreamly difficult, but luckily the fallen weren't as observant as the demons themselves so they wouldn't be that hard to decieve and by the time the demon stepped into the ritual, every pattern and rune would be hidden behind the advancing bodies of the very army
he commanded. During the creation of the ritual, I had to consider both purpose and size and the size was the easiest to answer....
THE ENTIRE VALLEY
...it was the easiest sollution. Every enemy would automatically enter the circle and more importantly, the size would be able to compensate for the power generated. The purpose of the ritual was more difficult to determine. For one Ares and I just wanted them gone, for the other, it seemed like a waste. Then we brought up the
issue of equipment....the purpose became clear the very instant Ares thought about it.
What followed was me explaining that I had already a general idea of how to work this and asked him to not make it an issue once the dream enden. I was going to immitate the skill "Forge" and use it in a simmilar manner as I did in the dungeon. I suspected the result would be very similar, if not worse, than shriek metal. The one I had used to create Cinder Ash, the very dual glaive I had created that I used to slay Abraxas back then in the dungeon. Only this time, I knew in
advance how horrifying the process would be and the result was almost garantied to be worse than that.
And so the ritual was set up, runes of blood drain, soul drain and several different transmutation patterns were carved into every tree, rock, earth and even mountainsides. All of it would be activated with two simple drops of blood, Ares and mine. The resulting products would be enough to provide armor, weapons and even two entire wardrobes of cloth, all made out of the bodies, souls and
life energy of and entire demonic army. I made Ares promise never to ask for more than what he got today and never to tell any of the other gods about it because I did not doubt that, if Zeus were ever to learn of it, he would order me to make a weapon for him and if I were to reject him, he would order my death. Not to speak of the other gods. If Hades were to find out....I'd probably be grounded for the rest of existance.
During the set up of the rune patterns, I had recognized the possibility of the demon and his army trying to retreat or flee. So while the ritual would be active, it would passively pull entities similar to those already inside the circle towards it while those inside would be trapped in an illusionary maze much like the Daedalus Maze in our home world. Nothing was going to leave that ritual alive and there would only ever be two witnesses.
And so, Ares and I moved further down the valley and hid behind a large boulder slightly higher than the very ground the fallen would walk on. "HIGH GROUND!" sorry, I could simply not resist. Ares startled snort was all the reward I needed, although he stared at me like I was mentally unstable. Then the ground began to tremor. It was only a small one, resonance created by hundreds of feet hiting the ground simultaniously, marching toward the neck of the valley.
A deep bellow echoed towards us, hidden away from sight and on an instinctual level I understood its meaning. "FORWARD!" it meant. The voice sent shivers down Ares spine, if his sudden stiffness was anything to go by. Meanwhile I felt....nothing. Gaping emptyness and the absolute absence of fear.
The tremor grew more intense as time passed by and I risked a quick look toward the ritual center. Many of the fallen had already passed it but the demon had yet to even step over the outer edge of the entire circle. And yet, we did not need to wait long for him to step in. Only then did Ares and I pull out small sharp knifes and slit the palm of our hands.
Over the far distance, I could see the demon and his army react to the sudden smell of blood. Hounds the size of horses turned their heads toward our boulder, the heads of hundreds of fallen humans turned suddenly, looking directly at us andoff in the distance, I could see the demons nostrils twitch.
Our blood hit the pattern engraved on the rock right beneath us.