Reviews:
mattblue:
Glad you liked the chapter.
getlostD91:
I've never played Starcraft, so I know absolutely nothing about the Zerg. Ergo, they're not going to be making an appearance.
Z2010Deadmeat:
If I understand the Pieces of Eden right (I haven't played AC in a while, so my memory's a little hazy), they're actually extremely advanced technology. The Overlord is going to be avoiding, tech more advanced than a flintlock pistol as much as possible due to some universes having the rule that magic messes with technology, causing it to either backfire, short circuit, or just explode.
Chapter 9:
Aggressive Negotiations
After Noir had conquered the Hold of Falkreath and "recruited" Alduin, he decided to continue his conquest in Skyrim. He had Alduin fill him in on some of the recent events. Alduin informed his new master that he'd already destroyed Helgen and that a dragon had been killed at the watchtower near Whiterun, all of which told Noir that the Dragonborn was already out and about. Taking this into consideration, Noir sent some of his Evolved to Daphne's inn, disguised as normal travelers, to wait for the dragon-blooded warrior to appear. After all, the dragonborn was the only one that could prove a threat to Noir's dragon army and he wanted to nip that in the bud, so he planned on capturing the warrior and would decide what to do with them then.
Meanwhile, Noir was beginning a plan that his new strategist/mistress, Rose, had come up with. It was decided, meaning Rose suggested and Noir agreed, that the eastern part of Skyrim would be captured first with Markarth being the next to go. The plan to capture Markarth was a good one, made even more impressive by the fact that its creator, Rose, had come up with the plan while Noir had her bent over the map table and was plowing into her. The plan involved Noir, like with the plan to invade D'Hara, getting arrested, so the Overlord, wearing only his regular clothes, walked into the city of Markarth, grabbed a town guard by the neck, and snapped it like a twig. A few seconds later, the guards completely surrounded the murdering overlord and demanded his surrender, which he gave easily. They took him to the local prison, which just so happened to be Cidhna Mine, the holding site of the leader of Forsworn and the so-called "King in Rags, Madanach.
After suffering through the whole "you'll never see the sunlight again" speech from the warden, Noir made his way to where the captive "king" stayed. As he expected, the massive orc bodyguard, Borkul the Beast, was blocking the steel door that led to Madanach's cell.
"Hold it right there, meat," the large orc said, holding his hand to stop the imprisoned Noir.
"I want to see Madanach," Noir said, already getting annoyed.
"Then, you'll have to go through me," Borkul said, smirking, clearly confident.
That confidence ended a second later with Borkul flying into a wall after being thrown by Noir. After that, he ripped to door off of its hinges. He walked in to find the Forsworn leader writing in his journal.
He didn't even look up when he started speaking to Noir, "Please come in. Mind explaining why you are here? I highly doubt that you would be brought here against your will, considering you obvious strength."
"I have a proposition for you," Noir said, "How would you like control of Markarth back?"
That got Madanach's attention. He set down his writing implement and turned to Noir, "Please continue."
"I can return Markarth back to you and the Forsworn. In return, you have to follow my rules. I will allow you to rule the hold however you see fit, but you'll need to send a stipend of silver, gold, and other resources every month. Also, you can't be sacrificing villagers, as I may need them myself. Finally, you will need to send your soldiers anytime I ask for them. Beyond these rules, you'll be allowed to rule as you see fit and I will come to your aid should you require it." Noir said.
"And why would I agree to these terms?" the king in rags asked.
"Because we both know that the people of Skyrim will never allow you gather the sort of numbers that you would need in order to reconquer the lands that you lost and because if you don't, I'll kill you, conquer it anyway, and find someone who will rule in your stead," Noir said, deciding he wasn't worth using the evil presence spell on.
Madanach contemplated his options for a few moments while Noir waited silently.
Eventually, the Forsworn leader said, "I agree, but there are some people I want dead, once we have conquered Markarth."
Noir smirked, "I assume you're referring to the Silver-bloods?" Madanach nodded, "Very well, I only really need their mines anyhow. So, shall we leave?"
"Yes, let's do so," the Forsworn leader said, leaving his cell before saying, "But we need to gather my people that are imprisoned here."
Noir shrugged and followed Madanach out. After he gathered up his people, Noir and Madanach opened the door to the back way out of the Cidhna mines. They came out in a dwemer ruin. Noir used his bare hands to smash the dwemer constructs that stood in their way. Once they were under the sunshine again, Noir told Madanach to gather his forces, while he dealt with another possible threat in the Overlord universe. Madanach agreed and headed out to do so, while Noir transported himself back to the Overlord world, specifically the so-called Golden Mountains, latest home of the dwarves.
Noir only took a paltry force with him when he headed out. As he guessed, the dwarves were already afraid when the rumors of a new Overlord's rise to power spread, especially given their history with the dark rulers. It probably didn't help that Noir and his platoon of browns, reds, hunters, juggernauts, shokan, and evolved all came out of a Netherworld portal inside the dwarves' defenses. Noir, for the most part, ignored them, but those that attempted to either attack him or block his path quickly suffered a bloody demise. The dwarves, even in their eternally drunken state, learned quickly to move out of the overlord's way as he made his way deeper into the dwarven fortress until he reached the palace gates. There, the dwarven king, as demonstrated by his golden crown, and what Noir guessed were his elite guards and his personal entourage waited. The guards showed now fear, the entourage looked like they were going to piss their collective pants, and the king was somewhere in the middle.
"What is it that you want here, Dark One?" the Dwarf King asked in a deep and surprisingly sober voice.
"I'm here to expand my dark domain. That can either be through force or you can willingly become a protectorate of mine, offering a stipend of your gold and military force when I say so, along with anything else that I may need at a later date. In return, you'll get my military protection," Noir said.
"And why would I do that when I could just have my men kill you now and save me the trouble," the dwarf king asked before gesturing for his men to do just that.
Before the guards managed to even take a step, Noir used his superhuman speed to get in close and kill the Dwarf king with a single hit from his mace, while the overlord's troops annihilated the dwarven guards and anyone else that was drunk enough to try and stop them. The entire fight, for lack of a better term, lasted only a few seconds. When the last of the fighters fell, Noir turned his attention back to the late king's entourage.
"So, who's next in line for the throne?" Noir asked.
One of the dwarves raised his trembling hand and said, "I-I am, D-Dark One. G-Garen Sootshield, b-brother of the late king."
The dwarf was trembling under the steely gaze of the overlord, now that he had the dark ruler's full attention.
"So, what do you think of my offer?" Noir asked, his mace still dripping with the former king's blood.
"I think…" Garen shot the dead king's bloody corpse a glance and gulped nervously, "I think it's very generous."
"Good answer," Noir replied, smirking under his helmet, "I'll be sending some of my mistresses to you with the details soon. Oh, and if you're planning on attempting some foolish scheme to betray me and take them hostage, you need to consider two things. First, each of my mistresses have the skills to kill at least a battalion of your men singlehandedly before you manage to take them down. Secondly, and most importantly, they won't be coming alone."
Garen stared at the overlord in horror for a few moments before stuttering, "B-b-but D-Dark-k-k O-One, I-I'd never!"
"We shall see," Noir said before turning to lead his forces back through the portal.
After he returned to Skyrim with his gathered army, Noir went to where he and Madanach were supposed to meet up. The Forsworn forces weren't nearly as numerous as Noir's. In fact, the Forsworn didn't even reach a 1:10 ratio with Noir's forces. The overlord figured that it would be difficult for the former king in rags to gather a sizeable force in such a short amount of time. At the same time, Noir had considered the possibility that Madanach might be holding his forces back in order in minimize his own losses so he'd be in a better position to stab Noir in the back.
The people in the Left Hand mine, which was well within shouting distance of the city, had "mysteriously disappeared" a few hours ago. Last Noir heard, they were working in some mines near Falkreath. When he got a look at the walls of the city, Noir saw that the Jarl must have correctly guessed that Madanach's escape would be a prelude to an attack because there were more troops on the tops of the walls than there were before. The tops of the walls were absolutely swarming with archers, but Noir had planned for that by bringing a whole squadron of infected flyers. He'd been tempted to bring the dragons, but he didn't want to have to waste resources on rebuilding the damages the massive dragons' firepower would cause.
Noir, with his forces, set up their battle lines with the Forsworn. Almost as soon as the overlord's forces were in position, the guards sounded the alarm and the archers started firing at the advancing army. The archers managed only to launch a single wave before being completely swarmed by flyers. The archers weren't used to having to deal with flying targets, so they were ripped to shreds in seconds. The high walls of Markarth did little to stop the Evolved and the brawlers since they both had the ability to climb straight up the walls. Once they were inside, the brawlers tore into the defenders, ripping them apart like they were paper. Meanwhile, the Evolved worked their way to the gatehouse to open the gate for the rest of the army.
The defenders of Markarth quickly found that their weapons were next to useless against them, since the Evolved just healed from any injuries that they suffered and the brawlers' muscles were so thick that the swords, hammers, maces, and arrows that the guards attempted to hurt them with barely even pierced the skin. The defenders, realizing how ineffective they were against the Blacklight creatures, decided to retreat back to Understone Keep and fortify there, but they were ambushed from the shokan and Forsworn forces that swarmed out of the Cidhna Mine. The defenders had attempted to seal the secret entrance into the town, but they hadn't anticipated Sub-Zero and his ability to freeze the barricades solid so that the shokan could smash through it like a rock through glass.
Once the main gates were open, Noir led his forces inside like he owned it, which he and everyone knew was now the case.
"Remember the plan!" Noir called to his forces, "Zatanna, Elizabeth, Madanach, and I will be going up the center. Wanda, Smoke, and Skarlet will take the right and Tundra will take the left to meet up with his brother and Sheeva."
The officers agreed to their overlord's orders and quickly moved to do so. Noir led his group through the center of the city, slaughtering any straggling defenders and rear guards. An arrow flew past Noir's helmeted head. He looked up to see an archer aiming at him, so he grabbed a brown minion and chucked it at the archer, knocking the defender down. The brown proceeded to bash the archer's face in with its club. Once the imperial soldier was dead, the minion took his helmet off and put it on its own head, yelling "For me!"
The retreating Markarth soldiers still took a large amount of casualties as they ran for Understone, due to the forces of the overlord being much faster than them. Noir's group reached the hall's massive doors first, followed soon by Sheeva's and Wanda's.
Noir walked up to the large bronze doors, pulled his fist back, and, with his Hulk-level strength, broke it down, fortifications and all, with a single punch. Taking some brawlers, juggernauts, browns, and reds, Noir left his other forces behind to scout into the hall. He'd made it about three feet inside when Noir remembered that he'd forgotten one important fact: the Thalmor "ambassadors" that had been in Markarth searching for Talos worshippers. How did he remember, you ask? By narrowly dodging a fireball aimed at his head!
When he looked up to see where the shot came from, he saw the leader of the high elves smirking arrogantly at him with two other high elves and the remaining Markarth defenders behind him.
"I will admit that your monsters and barbarians are impressive in terms of your destructive capability, but if you surrender now, you might be able to escape having the full might of the Aldmeri Dominion being brought down on your insignificant head. Who knows? Maybe if you swear your allegiance to us, you may even be allowed to keep the lands you conquered already and won't be killed along with the rest of the Stormcloaks," he said.
The last part was the one that really annoyed the Overlord, so he extended two fingers, "First, I'm not a Stormcloak, I've never been a Stormcloak, nor will I ever be. In fact, I'm planning on eventually wiping them off the map too. Secondly, has anyone ever told you that you talk way too much?"
With that, Elizabeth dropped from where she was hiding on the ceiling on top of the Thalmor leader and, using her claws, carved him open like a thanksgiving turkey. Noir and the rest of the scouting group charged into the defenders with the rest of the overlord's forces swarming in. Noir used his speed to kill the remaining Thalmor, while the remaining guards were slaughtered by the troops. Once the last of the guards were dead, Noir grabbed Elizabeth by her throat just hard enough to get her attention.
"I believe that I ordered you to stay back until I ordered otherwise," Noir whispered into her ear.
Elizabeth shivered at being dominated, at the feeling of his power washing over her. She loved every second of it.
"Sorry, my dearest darling, but I was worried that those mages would hurt you. Besides, I helped, didn't I?" she asked with a hopeful expression.
Noir sighed and whispered into her ear, "Which is the only reason I haven't put you over my knee right here. That'll come later when we're alone."
Elizabeth shivered with desire, "I can hardly wait."
With that, Noir led his troops into the small room where the Jarl was. The remaining guards, including the Jarl's personal housecarl, tried to defend him but Noir swatted them away as if they were flies. Five seconds later, Noir descended back down the stairs, carrying the Jarl's bloody, decapitated head.
His mistresses came to him and he began to lead them to the late Jarl's bedchambers, when Gnarl contacted him through the helmet's telepathic link, making him freeze in place. The women in his arms looked at him in confusion.
"Master, sorry to interrupt your personal time with your mistresses, but I thought that you would want to know that the warrior you had the Evolved watch for in that tavern," the minion master said.
"Alright, Gnarl, I'll head out now" Noir sighed before turning to his mistresses, "Sorry, girls, but it looks like our victory celebration is going to have to be put on hold for a while."
The mistresses all gave a groan of disappointment before Zatanna asked, "Would you like us to come along, darling?"
"No, that's alright," Noir said, "The only threats there are the dragonborn and a couple old warriors. With the Evolved that are already there, I should be able to take care of them relatively easily. I mean, how tough could they be?"
Twenty minutes later, Overlord Noir was sent through a wall to the sound of 'Fus Ro Dah!' As Noir sat up, his ears still ringing, from where he'd been sent sprawling, he looked at the hole that showed where on the wall he'd been sent through.
"'How tough could they be?' I asked," Noir muttered, exasperatedly, "You'd think I'd be smart enough to know better than to ask something like that!"
Jus then, the dragonborn came out of the hole, her face contorted with rage. Apparently, she was a little upset that Noir and his Evolved slaughtered everyone else in the inn. Noir had to admit that he hadn't been expecting a female dragonborn, much less a hot one. She was about 5'6", a common height for a Nord, and her body was thick with muscle, not enough to lose her feminine figure, but enough to tell people that she wasn't to be trifled with. She had straight blonde hair, green eye, a scar that went from the bridge of her nose across her right cheek to the base of her cheek.
Noir sighed. 'I wonder how Kahlan and the others are doing?' Noir thought as he stood to face the enraged dovahkiin.
Meanwhile, Kahlan and the mistresses and troops that didn't participate in the battle at Markarth were finishing a battle of their own. Before they left for Markarth, Noir heard news of an army coming to "liberate" New Spree, so he sent some of his forces to deal with it. The human forces numbered a little over five hundred, maybe a dozen or so less than the Overlord's forces, and they were about to break ranks and flee as soon as they arrived. The fact that the Mother Confessor-led forces brought a goliath and five dragons was a major cause of this. Once their forces were ready, Kahlan turned to Kitana.
"Good luck, sister," she said before pulling the Edenian mistress in for a deep kiss.
"And you as well, sister," Kitana breathed.
Kahlan repeated this with Rose, who also returned it with equal affection before also doing it with Jade. While Jade wasn't an official mistress due to her still being bound to serve Kitana, the mistresses still considered her a sort of pseudo-mistress due to her being their dark master's favorite slave girl/soldier. Kahlan continued to "wish the rest of her sisters luck," as did the rest of the mistresses. Kahlan didn't give the rest of her mistress-sisters the same affection in her kisses as she did with the first three, since she, like the rest of her sisters, had developed a…closeness with certain mistresses. They all respected their lord's wishes and were at least civil with one another, but some were just more close than others.
Anyhow, about the time Noir sent his troops at the walls of Markarth, the human would-be liberators managed to get their cavalry into formation and, with their horses baying nervously, charged the overlord forces with their archers giving them support. The brawlers charged at the cavalry, not really taking damage from the arrows unless they got hit in the eye of mouth. The goliath used its shield to protect the mistresses and the humanoid soldiers, like the Tarkatans and Mord-Sith from the arrows as they charged. As she ran, Kahlan remembered the infection bite that Elizabeth gave her, so she could control the Blacklight creatures. It was painful, but considering how well she could now serve her beloved dark lord, it was worth it.
The archers lasted only a few more rounds of firing before one of the dragons used its dragon breath to roast them alive. A majority of the melee fighters attempting to follow the cavalry were frozen by an ice dragon. The brawlers collided with the cavalry a second later. Due to the horses having more momentum than even the blacklight creatures, they pushed the brawlers back, even managing to kill a few before they recovered, which led to many riders being ripped off of their steeds or just torn apart with their horses. As Kahlan saw the issues the brawlers had with cavalry, she made a mental note to ask her darling master to find some. When the mistresses joined the fight, the remaining cavalrymen were killed even more quickly. Denna used her Ageil to brutally annihilate her opponents, while Mileena used her tarkatan teeth and sai to bathe in the humans' blood. Kahlan spread chaos amongst them by using her power to turn them against each other. Rose and Velvet used a combination of magic Zatanna brought from her universe and the Overlord-verse magic, with a little 'Avada Kedavra,' which they learned from Zatanna, mixed in for good measure to cause major destruction and chaos to the human forces. Some of the human troops managed to gather together in the hopes of launching a counterattack, but the goliath crushed them all with a single swing of its club, smashing them like bugs on a windshield.
The last dragon swooped down and picked up the leader, horse and all.
Kahlan, however, had another idea, so she called to the dragon, "Wait! Don't kill him! Bring him down here!"
The dragon immediately moved to do so and, after ripping the rider from his horse, dropped him in front of Kahlan, who smiled down at him before turning to her Mord Sith mistress-sister.
"Denna, you should take this pathetic man and give him to one of your Mord Sith. We'll need to find out everything he knows in case there are more weaklings like him that want to go against our Overlord."
Denna nodded, "Yes, sister. I can have my second-in-command, Cara, take him. She should be able to break him easily."
The leader's eyes widened in fear, "W-wait! I-I'll tell you everything! You don't have to torture me!"
Denna smiled at the man, "I know we don't, my pet," she said, stroking his hair like he was a literal pet, "But we want to and therefore we will. After all, you're the one that came to hurt our master, so you must be punished."
She gestured for a pair of Mord Sith to take him away and left with her mistress-sisters.
By this point, Noir was carrying the unconscious dragonborn, his newly corrupted mistress, in his arms bridal style from the inn that was currently burning to the ground. Once he'd returned to the Netherworld, Gnarl was waiting for him.
"Ah, Master, I'm glad that you have returned. Your mistresses defeated that human army easily and brought back the leader for…interrogation."
"Good, anything else?"
"Yes, I have even more good news, master," Gnarl said, "I found where the Green Minion hive is."
"And let me guess it's in a heavily wooded area filled with creatures that'll want to eat me and/or soldiers that'll want kill me on sight."
"Well, uh, yes, master."
Noir smiled brightly, "Awesome."
A/N: And there's Chapter 9! Thank you all for reading. Please review with any comments, questions, concerns, or constructive criticism. Oh, and I invite you all to read the prologue for the next batch of stories that I'm going to write. It's called 'The Choice.' Normally, I wouldn't advertise my stories, but there's a bit of a poll at the end of it and the number of people that has voted has been a little…disappointing, so I'd like to invite you all to read it and cast your votes! Thanks for your time!
