God Rising: The Cult of Ainz
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
Chapter 209: Thunder's March
...Southeast of Kami Miyako...
Thunder. Thunder. It was nothing but thunder, thunder not from the sky above, but from the ground. Over two hundred thousand soldiers marched in unison. Heavy halberds felt as light as feathers as the soldiers moved over a road of middle Spring while the dead of Winter froze the world mere feet beyond the wings of the massive army.
Thunder from the endless pounding of those halberds rising and falling as they struck the ground.
Thunder from the drums of war carried in the arms of those who set the beat for the march of the death bringing horde.
Thunder in the voices of the soldiers raised in cadences promising that the unbowed, unbent, unbroken, unbeaten of His Majesty's faithful... elf, vampire, human, and heteromorph alike, ate up the ground.
Cavalry on tireless undead horses added the beats of hooves from fearless mounts, in time to the voices of the fearless living riders.
And every step brought them closer to the last holdouts against His Majesty. Neia's sole unhappiness was that she could not smile as widely as she wanted to, due to the limits of her facial muscles. If she could have, the smile would have stretched from one wing of the army to the other and would have held that position all the way to the gates of the city.
"Any resistance today?" Neia asked the Half-Elf Queen who rode nearby, it was a perfunctory question. Nobody was left to resist. She asked it anyway, it was her job to ask.
Zesshi did not restrain her smile as she fiddled with her scythe. "None. Not even the smallest bit, every village has either been abandoned by its occupants due to Theocracy fear mongering, or it has fallen into our hands, General Baraja."
Neia let out a laugh that carried the power and spirit of her evangelist voice to the entirety of the ranks behind her. "As it should be. Though it is a shame about the villagers, nobody forced the Cardinals to make me out to be the 'Demon of the West'."
"No, that's on them, though it will probably be remembered differently in some quarters." Skana remarked at her wife's right hand.
"Not to worry, those of us who live through it, and long beyond, will always keep the record straight." General Oma remarked with conviction.
"Speaking of keeping the record straight, is 'he' still with you?" Lakyus asked from Queen Draudillon's side.
"Yes, I keep him at the head of my nation's contribution to the war effort, maybe if I'm lucky, Dominic will see the head of the messenger he killed, and know I'm coming for him." The Queen uttered in a voice of quiet rage.
"Just remember, Dominic's life belongs to me, sister." Queen Zesshi remarked calmly.
Queen Draudillon looked at her quizzically. "Sister?" She asked, "You've never called me that before."
Zesshi's face was serious, but carried with it the barest hint of a smile. "I know, I was thinking about it when we got up this morning. I'm a Queen now, hard as it is to believe still, it is so. The two of us share a common burden of responsibility, and a common 'father' in the person of His Majesty the Sorcerer King. As different as we may be in some ways, royalty, good royalty at least, I think, has enough in common that it is better to think of one another as a family. Even if we're not bound by blood from birth, we're bound by bloody burdens and bound by the blood we've shed in common on the field."
Queen Draudillon thought it over for a moment, "That's true. I have to admit, I like it. Very well, then if I can also call you the same... then let me add, 'may our family prosper' now and in the future, and not let history forget the truth of what happened out here."
"I would have it no other way." Zesshi remarked.
"Legends." Lakyus said with a relaxed and easy smile as they rode at the head of the long thunderous line. "We're living in an age of legends. What a time to be alive."
"That depends on what side of the legend you're on." Skana said with an air of amusement. "I don't think the ones we're coming to pay a visit to are seeing us all in quite the same way as we're seeing ourselves."
"I don't blame them." Neia said with a grim laugh that almost contradicted her joyful smile. "Think of the things I've either personally done, or ordered. True I wasn't as bad as Remedios or Suchala, but the reality is they didn't have to work hard to paint me as a demon. Though they wouldn't have had to work all that hard to keep it from coming to that, either... they tend to forget that last part." She shrugged.
The conversation might have gone on longer, but riders emerged over the low rising hills in front of the advancing mass. "Shit." Neia cursed, "CZ, Zesshi, you're with me. Skana, keep the army moving forward and protect Queen Draudillon with your life!"
She gave her wife no chance to object, but spurred her horse forward, followed closely by the two powerful fighters. The horsemen cresting the low hills slowed to a stop and held up their arms as they came near.
"What is it?! Is there a problem?!" Neia demanded immediately as she looked the scouts over.
They were a little tired looking, but with elven ears and Black Justice armor, they were clearly her people, ones from the Elf Liberation Force. They snapped salutes with fists over hearts and fell to their ease.
"Nothing dangerous, but an impediment. There are peasants, thousands of them, roaming all over the winterscape. A lot of them are freezing to death, we captured a few, they're being held by the rest of our squads, questioning revealed what happened." He said in a rapidfire voice that only their practiced ears could follow.
"OK, what?" Neia asked, rolling her hand at the wrist, quickly, indicating that they should spit it out.
"Ma'am, there was something that happened at Kami Miyako, the refugees, a lot of them started killing each other, the details are muddled, but some got into the city, more got thrown into the river, a lot were butchered, but the rest... the rest fled outright away from where they'd been, they went in all directions, mostly this way, and from what I gather, they're half mad and didn't really think that through. If they're left alone, they'll try to pilfer from us, and either be killed when they try, or just plain die out here before they get the chance. It might be safer to just ignore them and let the Winter have them... but we thought this should be brought to your attention." The scout finished his speed report, and awaited her decision.
"No... I have a better idea." Neia said, and looked to Queen Zesshi. "How many weather control scrolls do you have left, Queen Zesshi?"
She tapped the long pole of her scythe against the flanks of her mount a few times as she thought, "Probably twenty, why, General?"
"Give them to the scouts. Send them out to change the weather and rescue as many of these refugees as possible. Then have them captured and brought to camp. I have a debt to finish repaying, and this just might do it." Neia said with a certain degree of satisfaction.
"As you like." Zesshi said and snatched a scrap of paper out of her pouch, scrawled a quick requisition order for the scout, and jabbed her thumb over her shoulder toward the march. "You know where the supplies are kept, go get them, do as she says, and gather another two thousand cavalry, have them help you round up the refugees. Treat them lightly, but take no chances." Zesshi said firmly, and the scout, accepting the requisition, rode to the army's baggage train to begin to carry out their orders.
"Mercy won't hurt." CZ remarked to Neia in her customary monotone.
"Maybe not. But sometimes it hurts someone else. If I'd killed Remedios the first time we clashed, a lot of people wouldn't have suffered horribly. If Gustav had just not broken her out of prison to save her life, the same is true. In a way, he's lucky he's dead, he doesn't have to live with what he did." Neia remarked in a slightly envious tone, only to blink her eyes suddenly as CZ tugged her closer by grabbing her about the waist.
"Do not." CZ said bluntly. Feeling the powerful arm of the maid demon around her body, Neia did not have to ask just what CZ meant by what she'd said.
"Sorry, I... let's just go back, we've got a fight to finish." Neia's smile was restored to itself before she fell in beside her wife. "Skana, go ahead and send out an advance party to set up camp. If they want to come out and fight, well we're happy to oblige, but I doubt they'll do too much, and this should scare the hell out of them all night long, till we take the place tomorrow."
"Yes ma'am." Skana replied, and broke off from the column to set Blue Rose in command of the effort while the army beside her had its step adjusted to a slower, more even pace.
The thunder was comfortable, it pounded to the beat of Neia's heart, and the band of leaders did not ride in silence, but rather began to shout a cadence that was picked up miles down the line, and carried even by the cavalry that broke off to both rescue and capture the wayward peasants that had, somehow beyond Neia's knowledge, fallen afoul of their leaders so thoroughly that they'd been slaughtered and driven off.
At the back of the army's line were the wagons, and within one of those wagons, the Butler of Steel rode with his wife. "Don't worry, Tuare, I will keep you safe."
"I know, Husband." She said and looked up at him from her place in his lap, she took his jaw in hand and brought his face down, and brought herself up to taste his lips. Though dressed as servants of His Majesty, there was only one task to be performed, the accounting of justice for Tuare.
"Tell me, do you think she'll do it again? Not to me, I mean, but to someone else?" Tuare asked, rubbing her wrist as if it were still sore where Neia had snapped it like a dry twig.
"I do not know. I have spoken with Demiurge and his... assistant, about my conclusions regarding the nature of her 'unique attributes' and I believe this may offer some insight into ways she might learn to control herself better. But on the whole... it all depends on her choices. She's not evil, just... damaged."
"That doesn't make her less dangerous, and I'll be glad when I don't have to be around her anymore. But this... does tell me she's serious at least." Tuare remarked with even satisfaction as she pursed her lips.
"My Lord has promised that she will be able to get help when her work is finished, if she seeks it, that may be enough. Just bear with this for one more day, and then we can go home." Sebas said, and tightened his arms around her in an affectionate embrace, that on Tuare's own initiative, began to be much, much more.
...Kami Miyako...Hours later...
Dominic was at his desk when the servant burst into his private office without knocking. "What do you..." He stopped when he saw the man's face, it was sheet white, as if he'd seen a ghost.
"The drums, my lord! They're here!" He shouted in a cry akin to that of a young girl rather than a grown man.
"Where?!" Dominic demanded as he shot to his feet, his hands pounding on the desk hard enough that it cracked where he struck.
"Great Defender... they're... everywhere! Just advance parties establishing camps but..." He swallowed, "We've seen dark elves, orcs, goblins, humans, elves, and more. Estimates say the main forces will be here by nightfall!"
"Order the scorpions brought to bear! Hit their advance parties if you can, any one we kill outside is one more we don't have to fight inside! Order the mangonels loaded, order the militia called up, order the mages to start taking shifts on the walls. Do it! And take heart, though we must do our part, the gods will come, and set things right! This is but a test!" Dominic said confidently, and the messenger seemed to take heart from his leader's confidence, and he ran off to carry out his orders, with less panic in his wide eyes at least.
...Kami Miyako...Artisan District...Resistance Headquarters...
"We don't have a lot of time, do we have everyone?" Raymond asked those around the table.
"No. But we were never going to get everyone, we got most." Enlaith said clinically, Her beautiful face calculating and cold in her critique of their efforts.
"You can't make people save themselves." Solution said indifferently, "A lot made it in last night, but... if someone is too scared to save themselves, well we know what ends those usually come to. It's the difference between prey and not prey, some are just always going to be prey." Solution's voice bore her customary careless attitude, but she added, "All that said, you got more than I expected you would. There will be many more alive than not, when the last sword is put away."
"I suppose." Nua said calmly. "But still."
"Still, nothing. The Lady Solution is right about this." General Boabdil remarked, "Fighting a war means accepting some losses, it's unpleasant, but it's true no matter what side of it you're on. If you've done everything right, if you've made sure that you've guaranteed maximum survivability and not gone into a stupid, pointless fight that you can't win, then you should sleep easily at night."
"So I suppose you won't be sleeping well for the rest of your life then." Nua said with scathing sarcasm, only to find that his face reflected an unexpected well of sorrow in drooped cheeks and haunted eyes.
"You're right. I won't. My country has destroyed itself, all our potential was thrown away and we got into a stupid, pointless fight with a better ruler and with people we should have befriended. I'll never sleep well again, not for the rest of my life, you're absolutely right about that. So many of my soldiers are gone, all for nothing." Boabdil said in a small, agonized voice.
Nua had the good grace to appear chastened by his remark. "Oh... I'm... I'm sorry, sorry. That was out of line." She said as she looked away. He didn't answer.
"There's one more important thing." Raymond said as he sought to shift the subject.
"What's that?" Enlaith asked somewhat curtly herself.
"How will the armies of the Sorcerer King know to leave this part of the city 'safe'? Raymond asked pointedly.
"Oh. Right. Soldiers caught up in the heat of things well... they lose themselves, and we already know what happens when 'that one' loses herself. They need to know to avoid these areas for the safety of all those hiding here, or they might inadvertently wipe us all out and then it will have all been for nothing."
"Exactly." Raymond remarked without irony.
Any further conversation was aborted by the sound of an enormous horn bellowing over the city, followed quickly by screaming, tens of thousands of screaming voices in a panic.
Raymond and the rest of them shot to their feet and rushed out of the building and into the streets, "What's happening?" Raymond demanded as he grabbed a passing poorly dressed peasant.
The man was wild eyed and shaking, an unkempt beard and frail look, he shouted so much that spittle flew from his lips and fell into his own beard. "The Demon! The Demon and her armies! The city is surrounded! The undead monster's servants have come for us!" He wailed in misery and shook off Raymond's arm, and took off running, whether he had any real destination, was debatable. But as the light faded, he looked up and saw a scorpion arrow flying over the wall and straight into a tower, it collapsed partially. Others fired back from along the wall, followed quickly by the pull of mangonels sending enormous stones outward.
The whistling overhead was followed by the smell of death when a giant bolt came in and pierced the body of a soldier on the wall, who fell without even a scream, half of him on the wall, while his upper half, which was caught on the arrow by his intestines, was carried forward until he fell into the streets of the Artisan district with a sickening splat, not far from where they stood, and watched the arrow sail on without it's victim.
Boulders began to fly outward in retaliation again as Kami Miyako's brave defenders set themselves to their task with vigor and desperation in equal measure.
...Nazarick...
"So I don't think they plan to surrender." Ainz said sardonically as they watched through the Mirror of Remote Viewing that had been established in his throne room.
"No, it seems not, My Lord." Demiurge remarked, the guardians and their closer subordinates had, with permission from the Sorcerer King, brought out couches, and per his suggestion, gotten a special snack customary from First World for watching monumental events unfold in an entertaining fashion.
"C-Can I have some more butter, sister?" Mare asked as he held out his bag of popcorn to Aura.
"Alright, fine." Aura said, "This is a special occasion, but try not to overdo it." She said indulgently, "Last time you did that, you got butter all over the pages of your books and the librarian got mad at you."
Mare blushed, "Y-Yes, I-I remember, I-I'll be careful." He said, as Aura squirted more butter into the bag, which he shook to distribute the stuff thoroughly.
"Will we be able to test them ourselves?" Cocytus asked hopefully.
"No." Ainz replied, "They're not worthy of you, any of you, as opponents. Besides, our servants have 'earned' their moment of triumph, and their revenge. And moreover, I have something else in mind."
Albedo looked to her left, where Lord Ainz sat from his throne, "My Lord... may I ask... what?" A hint of eager anticipation as well as anxiety was mixed within her endless pools of gold that she had for eyes.
"I had Demiurge and Vanysa experimenting on some things, you may recall I mentioned some 'tests' around the time we took the Elf King's World Class Item?" Ainz asked pointedly.
"My Lord, I do but..." Albedo had a frustrated look on her face as she tried to work out his intent.
"Wait and see, I'll use it in the morning, this will be a busy night for all of them. Let Dominic raise their hopes, before we cast them down into the deepest pits of despair." Ainz replied with malice, and clenched his skeletal fist.
The guardians who were present, laughed with glee as a scorpion tore its way through another tower and lodged itself out the other end, stones came tumbling down on the interior of the wall, smashing into mere red stains, those unwary or unlucky, who failed to avoid the falling debris.