The arrowhead was pointed toward the float. Cutlery blinked at it.
"Weren't we gonna, assassinate a gold?" Cutlery said.
"Yes," Jake said. He looked at her and added, "We still are." Cutlery tapped her foot and looked back at the float.
"So we're assassinating a gold with a giant bolt?" Cutlery asked. Jake nodded. An easy task then. A true assassination. The teachings on poison, the anatomy of different species, and sneaking were all rendered useless now. Whatever, big boom, bad guy dead.
"We are just backup," Jake said. "If a gold survives that's our target." The upper slivers will swarm them. Tool we are out of time." Jake said. He looked down to Tool who was still fiddling with the contraption.
"Yea yea, just making sure nothing jerks and snaps until AFTER you've shot it." Tool grumbled. Jake looked up to the Temple which was now reaching the bottom of the mountain. A wave of dust rushed outward from the ground below it as it leveled out.
The debris field lifted as one large cloud. The mess revealed the low part of the Temple where the golden beam stretched towards the stone and farms beneath it. The golden beam split apart and seemed to move across the ground like an arcane spider.
A static rumble came from the float. Haze stepped up onto a small bump in the middle of the platform. Raising his arms he spoke,
"People of Zurkonia! Those lucky enough to be in this square shall witness the Tower's power! Throughout history, mortals have scrambled to be heroes of the Temple! Hero of the people! Their deeds cause them to enter the Temple itself! Whether it be as a spirit, god, or aspect, many have brought themselves immortality!" Haze paused and the crowd murmured.
Slivered people were all around Cutlery. All of them were waiting. Listening to Haze speak.
"The stories we have all known since we were children! It's time to say goodbye to those stories! Goodbye to fantasy and tale! Time to say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!" Haze said. Waiting, Cutlery thought. Haze was also waiting for something.
Haze paused again. It went long. The Temple behind him loomed. The other golds sat in their chairs and watched. The platinum, Cutlery realized, was nowhere in sight. Where had such an important figure gone?
Haze turned towards the Temple. His arms spread wide.
"Oh, Temple! Accept the tower's prayers! Accept, a different kind of power!" Haze yelled. The ropes around the square stopped shaking. Then they caught fire.
An explosion of heat erupted into the square and people screamed. Cutlery watched with wides eyes as long tendrils of red erupted from the twisted ropes. The braided multicolored ropes were uncoiled into strands of three, four, and five long-reaching coils. They boiled and a red light shone from them. The light hit Cutlery's eyes and she felt a spell wash over her. Fear inserted into her brain. The tentacle braids were fully uncoiled from their hooks and they reached down toward the crowd.
The beast was back, again.
-
A literal wave of fear rushed over the square. Why would Haze use magic to make everyone panic more? As if the tentacles weren't enough.
"Raise the ballista NOW!" Jake yelled over the din. Even he had sweat breaking out onto his normally placid face. Tool was shaking. Metal tools vibrated in her hands as the final parts went into place. The ballista lurched. A wire slid back in spasms as Tool turned a crank.
The cloths above snapped as a tentacle whipped and grazed them. Oh, Cutlery thought, these are much faster. Cutlery's rapier sang from its sheath and met a tentacle as it plunged. Cutlery swung to slice through it. She was stopped cold instead.
A line of extra dark blood dripped along her blade as the tentacle shivered. Slipping back away, it left to look for easier prey. The ballista had already cranked halfway up. Jake was holding tapestries in the way of the stage's line of sight. If they saw the ballista early, they might get exploded.
Cutlery's pushed down rising panic The courtyard was fully surrounded by the tentacles, and everyone shoved inward towards the stage. The second slivers were shoved up against the edge of the float. With the thirds, they barely kept the sea of people back. That was the calmest area.
The now fast tentacles were whipping into the edges of the crowd. No longer did they wrap around people and drag them away. A gore firework show had begun. Sprays of limbs, blood, screams, and entire bodies, were launched into the air. There they were snatched up by smaller tentacles and dragged into nearby buildings where tentacles had begun to grow and writhe inside. Cutlery didn't know what Haze had done, but he had successfully snuck his favorite pet into the main square of Zurkonia during the festival of the Temple.
The tentacles were nowhere near the slivers. No one had a chance of fighting back. Even the mages and archers on stage just watched from afar.
Haze's arms were still raised and she saw a spell beginning to form in his hands. An illusion of something too blurred to make out was appearing above his float.
The arcane fear the tentacles projected was joined by the immense pressure of the Tempel's presence. It was almost religious. Cutlery's knee shook. It was like the barrel of a canon on a ship was pointing at her, and she was watching it be loaded with a chain shot.
Haze's illusion finished. It was a huge image of the platinum. They stood regal, powerful, and evil.
"People of Zurkonia, die," was Platinum's simple command. Then the screams spread outward from the square to the whole city.
-
"They are trying to scare the shit out of everyone," Jake said.
"Yea, no shit..." Tool said. They weren't just killing people here. They used a scary monster, big announcements, and The Temple coming, and they were purposely showing off how they were not helping.
A hundred civilians had died near the edges of the square. The group continued to press inward as the fast tentacles grabbed anyone near them. A few civilians had pulled swords or wielded planks of wood to fight with. Other less fortunate people held bodies in front of themselves to block the whipcrack of the tentacle's strikes. An intrusive thought in Cutlery's mind said, well at least we all will have the same trauma now.
The ballista snapped into place with a loud thud. The tool began to rapidly move about the mechanism and check every nook and cranny of it. Jake stepped towards the back end and grabbed onto a large lever. The string holding the huge bolt went into a hole where the lever could slide.
Cutlery moved behind Jake and looked up at the nearby tentacles. Most of them had gone around their stall. They reached towards the crowd in a sort of flowing meat river. A small group lurked around the edges of the stall, waiting for a chance. Cutlery wasn't sure if they could see a chance when it happened.
Near the float, a few civilians had gotten close enough to grab at it. The third slivers up above watched them. Haze walked over to the edge of his platform and barked something down to them. Cutlery couldn't hear what he had said.
The thirds started poking their weapons at the civilians. At first, the civilians cowered. Then one threw a chunk of wood up at a third and it hit their head. While the third was fine, the crowd quickly descended into a full riot. Debris and fists reigned upon whatever they could hit
The thirds raised shields and stepped back. Then civilians started to crawl up the spokes and each other to get onto the float. Cutlery was mesmerized by the scene. A loud click sounded behind her. Looking back she saw Jake had snapped the ballista up to face the golds.
"Aim check," Jake said. Tool got up and pulled out some tools Cutlery didn't recognize. She held them to the bolt and stage, then murmured some math-sounding sentences.
"Up two degrees. Good. Lock vertical. Lock horizontal." Tool said. Jake pulled some levers and the machine held in place. Clinking, the bolt rattled in its holster. "Magnets ready. Arcane capacitors were prepped. Fully charged. Arcane Raildragoon prepped. Cover your ears." Tool said.
"What have you made?" Cutlery asked. That was all Tool wanted to hear.
"A fucking rather quick ballista bolt." Tool said. "FIRE!" Tool yelped. Jake pulled the lever.
