Jackson was trying to calm his heart. When he looked around him, all he saw were mages around his Rank dressed in bright yellow armor with a pair of large white wings on their backs. He was no different from them as he was dressed in the exact same armor.
Stretching his fingers, he was amazed at the flexibility of his defenses. As the son of a blacksmith, he knew quite a bit about metallurgy, though his father would surely reprimand him if he dared to boast about it.
Inspecting his own plated arms and legs, he knew the that basic weapons would easily destroy the brightly colored pieces of metal. 'Well, I suppose it's just meant to hold back the magic spells.'
Using his index finger, he tried to scratch an itch on his back, but due to the armor, he had quite a hard time reaching it. Trying to move the chain mail under the plated armor on his back to create some kind of friction, he enjoyed the pleasant feeling that came from that beautiful combination.
Forcing a sigh out, he tried to show others around him he wasn't nervous or frightened of what was to come. 'A crusade to purge Sabaoth of all Demons... Will we be with enough?'
Sure, the soldiers around him spanned as far as the eye could see, but they weren't going to just fight a war. Initially they were told this was all in preparation to face off against Frigus, a country that apparently let its mages practice Dark magic. Jackson didn't see the issue in that, it was a field of magic like any other.
'Fire is just as dangerous, I don't get why they bother with the distinction.'
Looking around, he found multiple people who were of a higher position than himself. He was a Rank 3 mage, respected by all, but he was just a normal foot soldier to these men. The leaders of the army had multiple wings on their back, while their local platoon leaders didn't have anything special, yet Jackson could almost instantly tell them apart.
The strong stance, the confidence to talk to Rank 4 mages as if they were on even ground, even just the way the others so obediently stood behind them. Taking note of each and every single one of them, Jackson would make sure to remember their looks and armor. For while they looked almost exactly the same, there was a single badge on the right side of their chest to differentiate them.
The armor itself was expensive yet cheaply made, annoying Jackson to some degree. It was only after receiving his armor and wings that they revealed their true target. They were up against an entire planet. Jackson didn't know too much about warfare, but this seemed like a large undertaking, perhaps a bit too large.
"Don't worry, the Goddess is here to support us!", the soldier next to him gave him a big smile as his eyes sparkled. "She has given us a divine mission to heal the lands, you should feel grateful!"
Jackson didn't know the man and had an inkling he'd like it to stay that way. "Thank you, I've calmed down thanks to you," he was never great with words. Even now, when there was a sense of unity and commitment, he still felt out of place.
'He's gone insane as well,' taking a slight step to the side, he almost bumped into another soldier. 'Can religion have such an impact?', he always proclaimed to believe in the Goddess, he had even seen her once, so it wasn't as if he didn't believe in her existence, it was just not fitting.
'She may have created humans in the past, but it's my parents that brought me here, cared for me and raised me. I don't understand why I should sacrifice my life for her stupid campaign.'
Being careful of which thoughts exited his mouth, he had plenty of opinions that would get him skewered in a matter of seconds by his so called compatriots. 'The only reason I'm even here is because I was conscripted, I bet half of the people here don't even want to be.'
Trying to trick himself into not being the sole disbeliever of the group, the ground beneath him suddenly shook as a massive portal opened up further ahead. The size of the portal was massive, thinking about the total amount of mana needed to keep something like that open made his throat dry.
"Men! It's time to show those disgusting demons that they won't be able to hide any longer from us! The time has come for us to purge the evil that has tainted our lands! With the Goddess by our side, we will return victorious!", a large mage with two pairs of wings flew above them shouting out his lungs.
The accompanying screams from the soldiers next to him almost made his ears blow out. Clearly, everyone was excited and fueled with adrenaline, except for one, who didn't feel like he was about to enact divine justice but a participate in a suicide mission.
All the mages around him started to activate their wings, letting them fly effortlessly in the sky. Jackson could only imagine the total costs for manufacturing all the armor and wings. If he had half a percentage, he could probably live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Activating the wings was extremely easy, just feeding it a bit of mana made them open up and lift him to the air. He had never flown before, so his balance was off. He tried to stabilize himself in order not to embarrass himself further or invite unneeded scrutiny, but the moment he looked around he felt a sense of relief.
Dozens of soldiers were having trouble staying upright, so his frantic movements didn't seem all that out of place. Two hands suddenly grabbed his waist tight to hold him steady, "Are you alright?", a sweet voice came from behind him.
Turning his head, he looked through the visor of his helmet to see two beautifully light purple eyes stare back. "Ah- yes, thank you, I've never flown before, so this is quite strange for me."
"Hihi, it's not a problem, we're all here to aid our Goddess, she will forgive our mistakes."
Jackson politely thanked her before facing the portal, 'Even the women have gone insane, is there no one normal left in this place?'
The leaders of the group started to shout commands, none of which Jackson understood as he was too focused on trying to keep his flight steady. The group slowly flew forward into the portal as they started to shout out their own victory before the battle even begun.
Being herded to the portal, Jackson felt less like a soldier and more like cannon fodder, ready to take the brunt of the attack. It didn't take long before he reached the portal himself. The immense size and the power radiating from it felt intoxicating. He wanted to stop and stare, but the fierce looks all around him gave him little wiggle room.
Going through the portal, he felt like his entire body was being taken apart and put together in an instant, he felt lightheaded, but the moment he arrived on the other side, he started to get serious.
The sky was as red as blood as the dark red planet in front of him came into view. There was a large city underneath him and following the herd as a good sheep, he was headed straight for it.
The battle-cries around him didn't give him any energy or faith, it only made him more nervous. Not that he wasn't willing to fight, he was a mage after all, he had seen his fair share of battles. No, Jackson was worried for an entirely different reason.
All his life, he was told a single rule to follow when engaging in a battle, to never go up against someone of a higher Rank. Not that it was impossible to beat someone on a higher station, but doing so required one to be a genius and immense luck, and Jackson was self aware enough to know he wasn't a chosen one or special in any kind of way.
The people around him ranged from Rank 1 to Rank 3, meaning the opponents would follow suit, but if he was unlucky and faced up against someone of higher Rank, what could he even do?
Running away meant desertion and the crazed looks he had been seeing around him meant there was no room for interpretation. Engaging in conversation was off the table since they were the ones invading their home.
'Just why the hell must we fight?'
Plunged into battle, Jackson flew down with his compatriots to fight against the demons. "Hahaha! Look at them, they're so tiny like ants! They don't stand a chance against the power of the Goddess!"
The shouts of praise and faith in themselves or something higher were all around him, shouting gospel. Jackson felt his heart getting lighter, 'Are they not going to fight back?'
As they approached the ground in a long line, Jackson only saw a few demons take to the sky to fight back. The amount was insignificant compared to their large forces. Just then, a large wave of willpower flashed over them before being pushed away by the higher ups. They were located in the back, guiding the stream of soldiers forward, but not joining them, which only made Jackson more afraid of what was to come.
Looking around him, nobody seemed to have noticed, but Jackson felt like swallowing his own saliva.
'That wasn't just willpower of a normal mage. I could feel... his emotions,' trying to detect a change in his fellow soldiers, they were all still high on battle. He could only see their eyes, but the almost unnatural way their eyes were open made him reconsider sharing what he felt.
'That wasn't the willpower of a mage willing to go down. Should we really go in headfirst? Aren't we just walking into their trap? Why not just send spells from afar?'
Not having the time or determination to share his ideas and thoughts, they continued to fly down. Staring ahead, he tried to scout a potential mage he could fight, not because he was high on battle and needed to see blood, but because if he played his cards well, he could let himself get away with minor injuries and retreat. 'If they allow retreat of course,' the way everyone around him seemed to not care about their own lives made him think twice of his idea.
As they approached the city, Jackson felt his stomach fight back, unwilling to participate in this grand ordeal. 'Not now goddammit.'
The stress got to his head, yet he didn't stop in his tracks, he just kept flying forward.
'Wait, is that... a human?', the flow of soldiers seemed to target the castle of the large city, but a single human stood in their way. A couple of demons were besides him, but the question remained the same. 'Why is a human here? Why is he... fighting back?'
To Jackson, he was unable to wrap his head around the man's actions, 'You're human, you can just blend in with us, why bother fighting back? Why take such a risk?'
As they got closer, Jackson kept his eye on the human brave enough to stand against their assault. He wondered if he would be able to do the same in his place, stand against a large enemy with no chances of winning.
'Stop it, he's going to use a strong spell!' Jackson didn't know that for certain, since magic vision didn't give him anything. Their armor and wings gave off mana, making anything he wanted to inspect blurred. He just knew it, out of gut instinct.
Taking a precaution, he flew slightly off course, making him arrive at the side of the troops. 'Then again, what's a strong spell going to do to thousands of soldiers? I'm panicking, get it together, me. Just try to find-'
Jackson didn't even have the time to finish his though as a massive dark red beam carved a path through the soldiers. A higher ranked officer quickly came to stop the beam, but the damage was done. Jackson's eyes widened as hundreds of mages were gone in an instant.
'What in the...'
An eerie silence followed as everyone stared at the place their fellow soldiers should've been. Some weren't fully swallowed by the attack, only losing limbs or half of their body. If they didn't faint, they died on the spot, falling down to the red earth below.
'He's... just a Rank 3, no?'
Jackson felt disbelief that someone on his Rank was capable of such an attack. He's lived a standard life, went to school, magical academy and got good grades. He fought a few times during his school period, but after that he just went to work.
Due to his Rank, he was often treated very well because of his power, but Jackson always felt that they were being too cordial. Now, he understood perfectly, 'It's not the power of a Rank they were scared of, but the potential power.'
But the spell wasn't even over yet, for as Jackson started to look for a way out, he noticed his fellow soldiers grabbing their head. Conjuring up a few defense spells, he backed up even more. He was already wary of them, now, he had enough reason to just run away.
The soldiers screamed out as they lashed out to any mage close to them.
"Kill all the infected mages!", orders came down to kill anyone infected. The fanatics instantly went to work, but Jackson stayed still for a single reason. 'Who is infected?'
A crazed mage killed someone, who was then killed by one of the fanatics, who was then perceived as a crazed one. Chaos descended as everyone just started to attack anyone that looked like fighting.
Shouts and cries rippled through the army, as the aura that tainted them started to diminish due to the work of their higher ups. Despite the massive losses and the damage to their formation, it didn't take long before orders were being shouted above them to close the gap and move forward once more. Jackson followed the masses like a good soldier would, even if his mind was preoccupied with something else.
"To the ones who can kill that traitor human! The Goddess will grant you a singular wish! Now move! Move! Move!"
Reinvigorated, the soldiers started to fly towards the city once more. They were starting to get close enough for most normal mages to start fighting. Fireballs from below appeared at a rapid pace, some were too small or weak for Jackson to worry about, others were a combination of earth and fire, making it an issue for every mage.
Gaps almost instantly formed in the river of men as they tried to avoid the attacks. They were already pulled thin due to internal combat, it didn't take much to separate them further. Some defended against the attacks with success or complete failure, dying on the spot. Jackson was lucky, his Rank was high enough to have a durable magic shield that protected him. Combined with the armor, he just had to avoid large attacks.
And he was certain that wouldn't happen as he had already found the dangerous mages in the city. Now he just needed to avoid them at all cost. A few mages from both sides took to the skies above them, 'The Rank 4's are starting, that means... chaos is about to form for us.'
The moment the higher ranks ascended, the battlefield lost what little structure it had left. The commanders, replaced by platoon leaders that never had any decent battle experience.
Above them, the sky seemed fractured as the powers of those above his station were put on full display. Light and darkness tore at one another in violent spirals as Rank 4 mages collided midair. Clean golden streaks that radiated light met violent arcs of deep violet flame that seemed to bend unnaturally, as if guided by rage rather than intent. The clash didn't sound like magic.
Seeing the flames, Jackson didn't know what they were, but instinctively felt fear from it. That wasn't a flame conjured with just magic. While the sky itself was breaking above them, below, the illusion of an organized descent shattered.
The river of angel-like soldiers that had once flowed in near-perfect formation devolved into splintering currents. Units broke apart under pressure, some diving too fast, others veering wildly to avoid incoming spells.
While Jackson had expected some demons to fight back, he expected most of them to just run away. This was part of his plan since he could chase after a demon for a long time, avoiding the fight, but his ideas were scrapped on the spot.
The demons didn't falter, didn't bother retreating or running away. From the city's walls and streets, purplish flames ignited, surrounding and engulfing every single demon. Even the human wasn't safe from it, yet it didn't hurt them.
It wrapped around weapons, limbs, entire bodies. The demons wielding it moved with a ferocity that bordered on madness, their silhouettes flickering between solid and flame. Some had no wings, yet leapt impossibly high, propelled by bursts of that same unnatural energy.
The first true collision came like a thunderclap. The clean, unified front dissolved into thousands of individual fights, each one desperate and immediate. Angels slammed into demons midair, steel against steel, spell against spell. Jackson barely had time to react as a figure rushed past him, a demon shot towards a mage behind him.
Colliding with the horned man whose body burned with violet fire, their impact sent a shockwave through the surrounding air, knocking nearby soldiers off balance.
A scream cut through everything, but Jackson couldn't even identify from which side it came. Voices overlapped as the forces started to blend together into a whirlpool of blood and madness.
Golden bursts of Light magic streaked downward, colliding with arcs of violet inferno rising from the city. Explosions ripped through the air, scattering bodies in every direction. Wings tore, armor shattered, he barely had the time to process what was going on.
He felt the reinforcements of the river of Light constantly fill the gaps in their troops, but the gaps kept on appearing. They clearly had the advantage, a massive one at that, but the demons didn't seem to care about surviving as they blew themselves up, overloading their core and taking a few hundred of angels with them.
Jackson turned just in time to see a fellow Rank 3 engulfed by the purple flame. The armor held for a second or two, then it cracked, glowing from within before bursting apart. The man didn't even fall. He simply… disintegrated midair, reduced to embers that scattered into the red sky.
'That flame… it's eating through everything. What the hell is that even supposed to be?'
He would never claim to be a scholar of the magic arts, far from it, but certain things stayed the same. A flame would hurt, no matter who touched it, yet here, it was like it had a mind of its own, deciding who to help and who to hurt.
The chaos in the air just kept causing people to panic and make stupid mistakes, which they paid for with their life. Panic was spreading among the angels as their proud righteousness was nothing against the brutal self-sacrifice of the demons.
Bodies fell. 'So many bodies.'
Jackson started to grow stuck in place as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
The streets of the jubilant capital weren't clean no more. Instead of cobblestone and neatly arranged sidewalks, all that was visible were bodies that slowly started to pile on top of each other.
Jackson's breathing grew shallow as he forced himself to stay airborne. Spells flew past him constantly now, some grazing his shields, others exploding nearby and sending violent ripples through the air. His formation was gone. The people he had stood beside moments ago were either scattered… or dead.
Trying to focus on what was ahead of him, he barely had the time to dodge an attack from a lunging demon. A silver sword covered in runes brushed past his shield, damaging it slightly.
Jackson raised his hand, releasing a burst of compressed fire. It struck the demon square in the chest, pushing him back, but not killing him. Inspecting the demon once more, he looked like him, a normal human being, only with red skin and horns. It was a moment of realization, but also one of confusion.
The demon was a Rank below him, yet his basic attack didn't kill it. Jackson didn't exactly fire off his strongest spell, but it was more than enough to knock a Rank 2 mage out, yet it came at him again, not bothered to use magic.
Jackson barely managed to erect a barrier before impact. The force rattled his entire body, sending vibrations through his arms and into his core. The demon's sword landed against the shield, the purple fire licking at its surface, eating away at it in visible strands.
'They don't need to use magic, those flames are their attacks, they just have to make it connect.'
He pushed back, releasing another spell at point-blank range. This time, the demon twisted midair, taking the hit along its side making it burst apart.
Being safe for a moment, Jackson felt like shouting what he had found out. The soldiers around him were already replaced by the reinforcements that kept coming out of the portal. The moment he looked for a superior, he was lost.
Around him, the battlefield had fully descended into chaos. Angels fell from the sky in burning trails of gold and white. Demons were struck down in equal measure, their bodies crashing into the city below or vanishing in bursts of suicidal attacks, taking plenty of angels with them.
The air was thick with mana, so dense it distorted vision, turning the entire battlefield into a shifting haze of light and shadow.
Above it all, the higher ranks continued their war. Each clash between them sent shockwaves downward, disrupting spells, knocking fighters off course, even altering the very flow of the battle beneath them. They weren't leading anymore.
They were tearing the battlefield apart.
And somewhere below all the blood and battle Jackson noticed a single anomaly, 'That human is still standing?!'