Horus's Birthday Banquet (4)

Konrad Curze drove the alloy longsword in his hand forward with savage force, piercing a demon through the chest.

The familiar sensation pulled a ferocious smile onto the Night Haunter's face. He twisted his wrist viciously, widening the wound, then gripped the sword with both hands and heaved, splitting the demon's entire upper body open.

That was the last one.

The towering demon wailed and collapsed to the ground, blood gushing out and forming an eerie sight like a River of Blood across the floor.

"Are you all right?!"

Someone shouted from far away.

Curze did not answer. He merely turned his head and began checking whether any of the Demons were playing dead. Only after he was completely certain they were all dead did he answer the man calling out to him in an impatient tone. "Quiet."

The soldier who had already run up near him gave an awkward smile, but his eyes still kept darting over Curze's unarmored body. "Could you at least wear an earpiece and join our comms channel?"

"I told you to be quiet!"

Curze flew into a rage, his eyes filled with deep darkness, with not a trace of white visible. The soldier suddenly understood and immediately clapped a hand over his mouth, nodding again and again. He knew this lord was using that special ability of his to search the area for demon portals.

After a while, Curze let out a breath, and his attitude softened as well. "Report casualties."

"Only one recruit shot through his own left foot because he was too nervous," the soldier said honestly. "Aside from him, none of us were injured."

Curze nodded in satisfaction, then began a fierce lecture. "I told you, if you want to join the Empire I am building and live in stability, you