Undying Scarab

by greysongarr

After dying to Contessa, Taylor's soul is sent into the Twisting Nether. An individual takes notice of her, and offers her a deal.

7. Wraith 5-2

Reaching my 'army' took some time, as while Tzo'zi and his knights had the benefit of mounts, the Taunka had the advantage of starting ahead and being unable to feel fatigue. Thankfully, they hadn't reached the 'Alliance' yet. Instead, we caught up to them while they were still sprinting across the craggy plains, and I was able to bring them to a stop.

I didn't know how much further it was until this 'Alliance' landing point, but here enough was a good place to plan and try to figure out if Tzo'zi had any information that could help me deal with the suicide mission given to me. "Dis be ya Army, Wraith?" My thoughts were interrupted by the Death Knight, and I quickly focused back on him as he looked over the assembled corpses of Taunka, drawing my attention to them.

Looking at them like this, I could understand they didn't look imposing, aside from their species. Most of them were in leather or cloth - or what was left, while the rest were little more than skeletons and thus not even armored the slightest amount. Their weapons were just as unimpressive, crudely fashioned clubs, hewn totems bigger than myself, spears, and even some axes, made of rock and wood. Not a single piece of metal was seen, and for a fantasy army, that was a significant disadvantage a-

"Can't be sayin Tzo'zi has worked with an army dis big before outside Zul'Aman. Ya sure are full o' surprises." His armor clanked and clattered as he unhunched himself to get a better look, the few thousand being challenging to see the scope of.

… Huh.

I… honestly wasn't expecting that to be what he said, granted I didn't know what 'Zul'Aman' was, but it had to be impressive if he spoke highly of it. "Not da best Tzo'zi eva seen. But dat's expected." He continued, not wasting a moment as he led his horse forward at a trot, looking over the Taunka as they positioned themselves into something resembling a military formation I'd seen before. "Wat be da plan then, Wraith?"

Yes, plan…

Well, I didn't have access to anything, but my Undead, my Guards - who were far too few to do anything beyond protect me - and Tzo'zi's Knights were likely going to act like the Knights of the 1st Legion. Cavalry, especially the heavily armored ones, were good hammers, breaking through whatever defense was there, so obviously they would be held in reserve… which I had a feeling would take a bit to convince Tzo'zi to agree.

Flashy slaughter worked with the Left Hand, and Tzo'zi was already reminding me of a more… savage worldview. Placating him with a good show and letting him watch the Alliance morale shatter should be enough to satisfy any delay.

My Guards were unusable as they would stay next to me given I was a 'squishy necromancer'. I was vulnerable to being attacked in melee, and thus I needed them by me, or rather that is what I would like people to keep thinking. Which left the Taunka.

Those creatures were perfect for shock troops, the problem being they'd be mowed down as I sent them forward by magic or ranged weapons, which was unavoidable regardless. I could certainly try to raise them back up as they went down, but even then, if the field was too large, or if the 'Alliance' had too many ranged capabilities, I'd lose too much - both magic and troops. Unfortunately, with no siege weapons, I wouldn't be able to force them to come to me, and my ranged consisted of spears and the Taunka's brand of magic.

I hummed before dismounting the horse and walking towards the Taunka, unmoving and doll-like in a way as I passed by them, Tzo'zi placidly keeping pace with me. "I have not faced this 'Alliance' before Tzo'zi. What can I expect of them?" He looked down at me, and even under that helmet, I could feel the eye raised, but I kept my self-assured and calm disposition and hoped it would dissuade him from asking anything… incriminating.

Thankfully, he decided just to answer the question. "Dem Humans be worthless had de Elves not taught dem dere magics. Dey'ze weak, trustin' in perverted magicks and false Gods." I had the feeling that if he were able, Tzo'zi would spit to the side, which said enough on his opinion… which I hadn't asked. "But. Dey do be tenacious an' unrelentin', specially de Paladins."

That was what I was looking for, but I still didn't know their tech level or what kind of magics I would have to expect. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he continued, and I was treated to learning more about this 'Alliance'. "Dem stunty half-pints bring with 'em guns, siege weapons, an' gizmos whereva dey go. Compensatin' for dere size, but de'ze deadly. That be all Tzo'zi knows on de Alliance. So wa'chu thinkin'?"

Okay, that helped a lot more, as I now knew that they had guns, which meant they likely had cannons as well. Which... made this much more difficult. "Mmm…" I closed my eyes in thought for a few seconds before coming to a stop, "My Undead will have to charge forward and meet them in melee while I overlook the battle." I turned to Tzo'zi as he looked down at him, his gaze trying to drill a hole through my head, so I continued without delay.

"You and your Knights will be held in reserve, awaiting a signal to let you know you can reach the battle without being hindered by ranged fire, let the fodder soak the brunt of their defense." What went unspoken was that I hoped to rout the Alliance before the Death Knights turned it into a charnel house. I wisely decided to use 'hindered', just in case I offended Tzo'zi by saying he and his men would die to cannons and guns, regardless of how powerful said guns could be. "The ones with spears and magic will remain with me to provide support from afar."

I quickly realized something I had been putting off for quite some time… those magic-users that I had fought… I had no idea how many there were, nor did I know how their magic even worked. I'd have to figure that out quickly before I sent the Undead forward - since time was of the essence - as, with every second, it became much harder to break them, with mounting defenses and troops. We would have to set out once I factored in the elemental magic the Taunka used.

Tzo'zi made a noise that was hard to place, becoming silent as he seemingly thought before eventually speaking to me again. "Tzo'zi don't like not being part of de first ones to break dem." Yeah, I had the feeling he was going to say that. The bloodthirst I felt back at En'kilah was enough to tell me about his answer long before I even made the plan. "Dere betta be someone worthy of Tzo'zi's Collection down dere, else Tzo'zi not gonna be happy." Huh…

He was willing to rein his bloodthirst in for this first battle. That was… more than I was expecting, if I was honest. "I hope for their sake they have someone worthy of you. It wouldn't be fair otherwise." A low, echoing chuckle came out from his helm, swinging his steed around to go back to his Knights before trotting away. I had a thought, one which left a - bitter? - taste in my mouth. The idea of letting Tzo'zi carve his way through the defensive line and slaughtering the commander would be a quick way to rout them… or make them fight to a bloody end, ruining my plan.

It was tempting to take that chance.

But it was a careful balancing act I kept having to remind myself to play: being competent enough to win with minimal casualties but also making it look like I wasn't trying to minimize my foe's death count. And on top of all that, I knew nothing of their culture. With humans, I could make some guesses… but relying on fantasy tropes from Bet for the rest was ridiculous, and yet it was all I had.

Which left my entire gamble on the Taunka magic I had to clear up before moving on. I had no idea where a magic-user was in the mass of undead, and with the lack of actually identifiable markings or… anything letting me know who was a magic caster, I had to do it the unique way.

By making the magic caster come to me.

A few seconds after I sent a pulse of energy and the directions inlaid in it, I saw a… I would guess that was a smaller than normal male, Taunka padding over to me, dressed in tattered hide without a weapon in sight. I could see a few others shifting through the crowd, all their movements in thoughtless sync with each other. Now came the part of figuring out how they did their magic, or rather, how to make them use their magic. Elemental magic in fantasy stories tended to be tied to the planet, which made me doubt I could do it myself, being so flush with Death energy.

I still didn't know how my mages back at the Harbor did their magic, just another thing to do when I was done with everything. The memory of last night came to mind when I had magma come flying at me from one of the Taunka. That would be an easy thing to start with since I had seen it before.

So with a mental command, I had the Taunka try to cast that magma blast… and immediately things went wrong.

There was no magma to begin with, which I assumed was just due to the magic users' death. Which meant whatever they derived their magic from couldn't be used anymore. That made the most sense and fell in line with my theory about Elements being tied to the planet and possibly life. The other thing that happened, however? It was the fact that the weather decided to become insane the moment I tried it.

A storm thundered above, despite not even thirty seconds ago there wasn't even a single cloud in sight, and lightning struck right in front of me, followed by a whirling wind that sent my robes fluttering and me barely managing to hold myself to the ground. Next, the earth itself decided to erupt in two places. One just burst like a fount of water, sending chunks of rock flying everywhere and nailing a few of my undead, while the other was with the addition of lava. Thankfully, none of said lava landed on my undead, but it was close.

I looked on as the slight dust cloud blew away, leaving me staring at three, for lack of a better word, Elementals. While the name might seem a bit unoriginal- What else were you going to call three beings made entirely out of fire, rock, and… wind?

The 'Earth Elemental' was a massive rime-coated stone golem that loomed over me with two trunk-like legs leading up to its barrel-like chest. The arms were just as large as its legs, ending in round, jagged cudgels instead of hands, which I supposed for an 'Earth Elemental' was expected. As for the 'head', my best guess was the spiked point jutting from the chest or it could just be the chest for all I knew from the lack of features.

Did I mention the fact that I didn't even come up to its knee? Because my mind was quite insistent on reminding me that it seemed important.

Magma dripping and hissing drew my attention to the 'Fire Elemental', who was much smaller, thankfully, and a bit more human-like than the Earth one was. For one, it had a head, and I could actually feel a burning glare directed at me despite the lack of eyes, given that its head was half-magma half-rock. Its arms were the primary source of the dripping magma, but even deformed as they were, they looked like human hands. The same couldn't be said of its lack of legs, as the magma that made up its chest went all the way to the pool below it.

The last one I could barely make out as it didn't have a proper body per se, but from what I could make out, as its shape was outlined with whipping snow, it looked like a miniature tornado with six eyes staring down at me. And by miniature, I meant it was almost as big as the 'Earth Elemental'.

"Bindings… Lost… Who dares… call...?"

"The corruption… beckons… Not Shaman…"

I should have expected something like this, but... What the fuck was going on? The moment I thought that the 'Fire Elemental' leaned forward, staring down at me with its molten 'face'.

"Why does… thing… call us…?"

I had no idea how to handle this, as not even my light magic lessons in Naxxramas mentioned 'Shamans'. I understood the meaning of the word, but beyond being a tribal spiritual leader… I took a moment to steel myself before staring back at them in an attempt to hide the fact that I had no idea what was going on. "I require your power. You will grant it to me." Was threatening the elementals a good idea? Hell no. But, their tone grated against me. The dismissal made me a little angry and annoyed, more people declaring me 'corruption'. And in the end, I had no idea how I was supposed to juggle this. Maybe if I wasn't being watched, I could beg or cut a deal, if that even worked, or if I wasn't pressed for time, I could have done actual research.

The elementals… didn't take kindly to it.

"And why... should we... obey?" The Earth Elemental rumbled, raising one of its bludgeon arms in a threat.

They spoke of bindings, implying the Tanuka knew how to bind them. Indicating it was possible. And while I don't know their methods, the magic of this world has proven to yield to power and will. With that in mind, I let instinct guide me, raising my stump in response to the question and threat, imaging an ethereal hand outstretched. Chains of murky purple sprang from the ether, quickly wrapping themselves around all the elementals, even the insubstantial air. I gripped with my 'fist' and, with another jerk of my stump, brought them down to a kneeling position before me. Whatever resistance they showed was ineffective against the unmitigable manifestation of the Sword of Damocles that hangs above all that lives. Their mortality.

I spoke clearly, and calmly. "You exist because I allow it." I forced them lower to the ground. "You will obey because I demand it."

There was silence in the wake of my declaration, and then the Air Elemental spoke. "We yield... we will serve..." Nodding to myself, I let the Elementals go, my chains disentangling from my arm and wrapped around them fully instead, as they gave their 'blessing' before disappearing.

Satisfied, I turned towards the direction of where the 'Alliance' was and calmly strode forward, a horde of the dead following in my wake, silent aside from the low thunder of their collective stride. My first proper field battle upon arriving in this world, and I was against the beings with a technological advantage, likely some kind of artillery, and knew how to fight Undead.

Just another day as the villain. Just another thing I'd have to make up for later...

The real question occupying me now is: where did the chains come from?

---

My staff clicked against the rough rock beneath me while my robes rustled in the howling sea wind. I had come to start enjoying the simple things. Yet, behind me, my horde and Tzo'zi's Knights stood ready to charge forward at their respective signals. People were going to die today, good people, assumedly noble people. But the ends justified the means, I would try my best to minimize casualties but I couldn't possibly anticipate how people I've never heard of would react… Below me laid the Alliance landing area, figures milling about doing tasks and shouting to one another, completely unaware of my presence.

There were so many of them and yet…

My gaze lifted to the ships on the horizon, sides pointed to the shore as landing craft and rowboats ferried supplies and men between the ships and shore. Considering that there were black-powder weapons, it was a simple thing to assume that cannons were on board those ships. While they may not be accurate like the weaponry I was accustomed to… what they lacked in accuracy or speed the crude weapons more than made up for in power, they would reap a bloody toll on my fodder. It would be acceptable losses as long as enough of them reached the Alliance.

I turned back to the camp just in time to see a figure point towards me. Silently I watched as a few of them scrambled about, directing people and getting equipment, before moving towards me and the cliff edge. I could barely hear them over the wind, but without knowing their language, it was practically pointless to listen and so I hardly paid it any mind as I kept watching them.

Shortly before they approached the cliff-face, I tapped my staff against the rock twice before leveling it forward. Immediately the thundering of hooves sounded as the Undead Taunka behind me rumbled forward, wordless roars and baying accompanying them as they rushed past me and leapt to the sand below. Alarmed shouts echoed across the beach, and those few that came forward tried to run, only to be trampled and battered under the wave of Undead bull-men surging ahead.

Of course, I left a fair amount up near me, they would serve as the 'second wave' to help break their morale. Several squads of spear-wielders and what I assumed were shamans given their clothing, stood on the cliff's edge, watching the charge of their brethren with me. A click had the spear-wielders rear their weapons back just as the encampment rushed to the defense, a wave of the staff sending the primitive things soaring through the air. I was under no illusions that what I was doing was normal - as no matter how powerful a creature was - a piece of wood is a piece of wood and the amount of force it would take to puncture steel was immense.

And that was before the matter of actually hitting something came in. A good thing me and my Partner were cheating. A little necrotic energy strengthening their stiff muscles, Partner directing their bodies. And some minor stealing of the same magic that gave the Sky Darkener's their precision.

The result was a good fifty spears raining down on the Alliance forces. From my position, I couldn't see the full effect of the attack, but I still saw multiple figures go down amidst the forces arrayed against me. Explosions in the distance alerted me to the cannons firing on my horde. A few precious seconds spent getting closer before vast swathes of my undead were blown apart in plumes of sand and flying limbs.

It hardly made a dent in my horde, and I felt my lips twitch at the sight. It seems my worries were unfounded.

But as the Taunka grew ever closer, puffs of smoke rose from the Alliance, and I felt a few of my undead fall apart at the front. Shortly after that, flames erupted in the middle of the front, not that it did too much damage as my Taunka barreled straight through like the bulls they resembled. Less effective were the shadowy bolts and ice spikes that flew from the Alliance side into my Undead.

Yet, more and more were whittled away, and for a moment, I was worried I'd lose the momentum of the fodder before it even hit the Alliance…

It was the second barrage that spurred me to action. A memory of an old movie from Aleph and the battle that took place at its end - its name eluded me - rushed to my mind as I tapped my staff against the ground. The brackish energy poured from me to form a wall of necrotic energy in front of my Taunka, the incoming projectiles flying straight into the wall and were reduced to nothingness: fireballs, bolts of ice, cannonballs, and more slammed into the wall, and as they crossed through the barrier the magic ate at their existence. I could feel my power drain from the sheer size of the construct and its effect, so I let the wall drop shortly after the volley finished. I didn't need it anymore as my horde was almost there.

With all the force of a wrecking ball, my horde smashed into the semi-organized Alliance, totem-logs crushing any soul unlucky enough to be in the way while axes butchered people alive. The Taunka kept pushing, and pushing, until finally being brought to a standstill just before the 'battlements' haphazardly made from supply crates, barrels, and timbers from what little I could make out.

I took my eyes off the horde and looked back at the carnage left behind, broken corpses and pieces of bodies strewn across the sands. Another tap of my staff sent my magic snaking down the cliff and reaching for the bodies of the fallen, stitching them back together and lifting them back onto their feet to shamble forward to join the rest of the horde. For a short while, I kept watching as they moved forward, going from shambling to walking and walking to running within a few seconds of being reknit.

I sent the spear-wielders with me forward along with the rest as a showy 'second wave', leaving the 'shamans' beside me as I looked back at the battle. The Alliance's defense was holding against my fodder, if barely, though I could easily see the areas that needed reinforcing in their lines, undermanned and faltering under the relentless push. All it would take to make it falter would be focusing on it with a portion of my forces instead of attacking across the line.

I had no idea what the 'shamans' - or rather I - was capable of, the one thing I had seen them do when I had… the only thing I saw them do was sling globs of magma at me. I did not doubt that they could do other elemental related attacks, so I left them to Partner to direct and experiment as I focused on the areas that were so close to breaking. Crackling met my ears, piquing my interest as I turned to the side and found the sight of actual lightning arcing between the bullmen's hands shortly before they hurled the bolts forward.

I watched in morbid glee as the lightning lanced into one of the areas that were already strained, chaining between multiple bodies before expiring alongside their lives. With a wave of my staff, the Taunka surged into the gap, and in a panic, the Alliance's reserves and extras along the front met them… At which point, the next position broke under the fires of magma and the innumerable bodies of the dead.

Another series of shots from the ships rang out, cutting into the horde again like wheat as what looked like blizzards and meteor strikes desperately tried to hold off the numbers rushing them. It was… so simple a battle from up here, much different from the many times I was walking amongst the battlefields both here and back before my death. My forces' momentum was short-lived, in part thanks to the bombardment and magic being deployed so vigorously, and with the dwindling number of undead in whole shape.

I had to break their morale soon, lest they defeat my fodder and actually gain morale.

The main obstacle was the ships drifting in the freezing waters below. Chewing through my undead with their cannon fire, they simultaneously represented morale to their allies and destruction for my horde. There were so many of them, so even if I took down one another would replace it, and they had forty to burn through before they were out. I had no illusion of my rapidly dwindling mana pool being able to manage that. Regardless, I wanted to make them flee, not eradicate them.

In the end, I doubted they would remain until all of them were destroyed. Morale and supplies were factors that they needed to account for, and if they happened to lose too many ships… Well, there wouldn't be many soldiers retreating.

I needed something… flashy. Highly damaging, but also very showy.

At my disposal were Cosmic and Death magic to deal with that problem, as my 'shamans' were severely underpowered to deal with a fleet that side, and the idea of my other Taunka attempting to get close… it was a laughable thought. I would try and work my new elemental… servants, but that was both a card I wanted to keep underplayed until I knew more. I also lacked a water-based one.

I watched dispassionately as the Alliance line broke again, folding as the undead Taunka smashed humans and dwarves aside with echoing roars, trampled over things even smaller than dwarves, and made a beeline straight at the next line of defense underneath streaks of lava and lightning... Which had cannons of their own providing support. Those at least were easy to deal with. A spear-wielder here and there empowered with necrotic energy sent spears sailing through the air, impaling the cannon crews as they tried to get the artillery prepared.

Another round of cannon fire, and this time I blinked at the lack of losing my forces right before I heard whistling.

The earth erupted beneath me, explosions from the cannonballs making me stumble about in a thick dust cloud on the crumbling cliff face. I felt the ground crumble out from underneath me, sending me into the beginnings of a free-fall for the briefest moment, as I mentally and physically prepared myself for the coming fall… only to have my feet touch solid rock directly after. With the obscurement of the dust, I couldn't tell what I was on. Beyond that it was stable and not falling.

The air was thick with dust, so much so that I could barely see my staff in front of me.

An impulse had me take a step forward, my body falling for a split second before I hit the ground again. I continued making my way forward and down, through the dust, unable to see yet feeling how a section of the battle was going through the 'deaths' of the Taunka.

Eventually, the dust cleared, and I found myself in the middle of the air, staring over the battle below atop a floating piece of rock. Chunks of rock broke apart behind me as I took my step forward, twisting and binding together to make the next step possible. It was magic that I did not know, and yet I knew exactly where it was from. The impulse made sense now. It also made for an excellent image to the opposing forces. A magic-user ignoring cannon fire. Thanks, Partner.

Which left me getting back to the actual problem I was having, and the solution to it.

From this distance, and with the number of targets involved… I would only have one shot at this, simple idea, brutal execution. Stars gathered where a hand should have been, my advance unhindered by the exertion I put into the magic about to be unleashed. I could see seven of the largest ships bombarding my troops, and another thirteen behind them were in my line of sight in such a way that I could see the majority of the ship's hull.

I closed my eyes and took a breath, the magic besides me growing restless and chaotic in its desire to be unleashed as more energy was directed into what would be a spell of mass destruction. The Sun was a star, a mind-boggling massive fusion reactor, but it had flaws like all things. Flare-ups. Lashing bands of energy powerful enough to be felt on distant planets. My eyes snapped open, and the magic at my fingertips pulled at its leash as I raised my 'hand' up, the magic 'eager' and 'desperate' to fulfill its purpose. Fitting the concept I was pulling on for this.

With the key deterrence to the Death Knights gone, they could run rampant against the Alliance while I raised and directed my forces to put pressure elsewhere. And with that, the battle would be over, and what remained of the Alliance fleet would be forced to retreat to another area they were assaulting on the continent, leaving only one other individual army to face here. And then I could go back to the Harbor, relax and finally do research!

I slashed my hand down, and with it came a return Solar Bombardment.

From the heavens, pillars of light smashed into the ships, a thunderous crash that sent the whole battlefield into a stunned silence. To my mind, it was something similar to when Behemoth fell, and everyone that remained looked upon Scion as he dispassionately went on his way. Except, I was still here, and I would see this task done.

When the light cleared, seven of the forty ships were in various states of torn apart debris, sinking into the frozen depths, with another three in awful condition, yet still able to sail. Meanwhile… I was struggling to stand after the massive spell I had just used… I could feel energy trickling back to me, but it was slow-going, and I doubted I would have enough to cast another spell for a good while. At the very least, I wouldn't have to worry about ano-

… Was that mist? Please tell me tha-

A horn blew through the gathering mist, and my heart sank as memories of the battle for the Harbor came back to me, specifically of the force of nature that was Sigvaldr. The only thing that helped me in this situation was the lack of incoming bombardment due to the mist obscuring vision, but I wouldn't know how long that would last. For all I kn-

"TAZ'DINGO!"

The 'battlecry', because what else could that bloodthirsty, hate-filled scream be, filled the air as Tzo'zi and his Knights leapt off the broken cliff behind me into the mist below. Paying them no mind, I continued my journey down. I wanted to see the encampment and any salvageable equipment I could take with me, as well as raise whatever wasn't already part of my horde. The only reason I felt confident coming down here was the lack of laughter piercing through the mists.

Sure it was faulty, but given my first meeting with him, I thought I knew enough about the traits of Sigvaldr to know he wasn't here. Which just left the regular Kvaldir, who I was reasonably sure I could take with my horde as it was. They weren't that dangerous compared to my first time facing them. Against a regular human, I could imagine their size, strength, and durability would carry them to victory nine times out of ten, but against undead bull-men, or Tzo'zi's Knights?

Or me?

I doubted it would be fair to the Kvaldir, not that I cared.

My feet touched the sands at long last as shouts and screams reached my ears. Paying them no mind, I walked forward with a surety that I certainly didn't feel until my Guards showed up through the mist and formed a protective detail around me. The mist was… thicker than I thought it would be, but I had no trouble navigating to the encampment, mostly due to it being a straight line from where I had been. It certainly didn't block out the noise of combat happening around me, the laughing of Tzo'zi, the crash of steel on steel, and so many other sounds echoing over the battlefield.

I didn't want to stay long, so I quickly went around and looked at the various supplies and equipment left behind by the Alliance in the mad scramble of battle. Naturally… I understood none of the symbols or markings adorning the crates and barrels, which meant I had to search through everything to figure out what was worth taking and what was worth breaking.

I looked down at a slain corpse by my feet, human judging by the build and size, a regular soldier by the equipment and armor he wore, and the perfect thing for a 'test'. A quick feel for my mana put a stopper on that. I should also keep the testing to a minimum in a warzone, even if all my developments seem to happen there. I sighed before moving on, necrotic energy lashing out into the corpses I passed by, twitching to life after a few moments and getting up without issues.

With a tap of my staff, they got to work, taking whatever wasn't nailed down near them and retreating to the cliff face. I was certain the 'shamans' could make a ramp or lift of sorts up to the top when this entire thing was done. For the moment though, I kept walking, not even reacting to the stray Kvaldir that came rushing out of the mist, only to be turned into minced seaweed under the Onslaught's 'care'. I sighed, frustrated that even with all the advancement I made the Kvaldir were still out of my grasp and continued on with raising the dead.

From the echoes of combat still around me, I could tell this might continue on for some time. At least they were distracted by the horde of Undead and Tzo'zi.

---

Escaping the battlefield was… difficult. Not from any enemies impeding me and my forces, nor from the terrain being challenging to traverse. No, the issue was Tzo'zi and his Knights, who were in what could only be described as a berserker fury tearing Kvaldir and Alliance remnants apart with swings of their weapon or, in Tzo'zi's case, ripping some in half with only his bare hands.

Those took a while to raise, but eventually, Tzo'zi and his forces calmed down, and with everything else salvaged as best as possible - the rest broken to scrap - I led my troops out of the mist. I had permanently lost around five hundred or so of my Taunka in the assault, which was… surprising, but the raising of the slain swelled my ranks by double what I had lost. So, in the end, I had come out for the better in this situation. I had assumed my plan would result in a near-total loss of my original fodder. Something was off. Either my fodder was sturdier than I thought, or the Alliance was just that bad at defending. Which… Occam's Razor dictates wouldn't make sense as anyone mounting up a full legion to send into an Undead wasteland would likely be ready to fight said Undead.

I feel like my time here has been nothing but me being unready for everything. It was starting to get frustrating.

By the time everything was done and ready to move, the night began to fall. Though compared to my time at the Harbor, the sky was remarkably bright, with the two moons basking us with their light. It was a… rather beautiful sight, I had to admit, the smaller blue one hanging near the larger white one like a parent and child, and one that I would have taken more time to enjoy if I could have.. As it was, I merely looked at it for a while before getting on Tzo'zi's steed and marching my army towards where the Horde was supposed to be.

Somewhere along the way, I had realized something. I didn't have to race back to the city to find 'evidence' or create a justification for my bosses. He was scum, they were ambivalent, and even my loaned underlings wanted him dead. I can just… kill him. And as long as I repelled the Horde and Alliance, I doubt I'd get more than a metaphorical raised brow from Kel'Thuzad.

It was refreshing for things to be so simple for once.

Just like with the 1st Legion, the Knights were cheerfully talking to themselves, even Tzo'zi laughing 'merrily' as if one could be merry after butchering people and forcing an army into a retreat… Well, I guess more 'savage' fantasy races and creatures would as per the tropes. I wasn't interested, though Tzo'zi seemed determined to get me to join in for some reason.

"-ong for a Paladin. Nothing like de 'Adventuras' of de Horde and de Alliance, but compared to de old ones? He was strong." I could feel the grin in his voice as he held the gruesome sight of a man's severed head in his hands, working on it for some reason as we trotted along. "Ya troops were a bit too good though boss lady, couldn't 'ave let us have some fun?"

I shifted a bit to where I was riding with both legs off one side before leaning my staff against my shoulder, resisting the urge to sigh. "As much as you and your Order are strong, Tzo'zi, I doubt you all would have survived the charge until the cannons were silent." My first words of the conversation put a hold to the festive air, stilting it as the Death Knights churned my words, though Tzo'zi kept doing whatever it was he was doing.

Eventually, one of them, sounding a bit more feminine than Tzo'zi… which could've been a normal male, or a female for all I knew, spoke. "Dat's rich comin' from a Human. Ya don't know strength if ya were hit with it." I chuckled a bit at those words, causing Tzo'zi to stop what he was doing as his focus went entirely to me, with the rest of his Knights keeping their attention on me. "What's wit' da laughin', Human?"

"It's funny. You fought under me and still say that."

My chuckling slowly faded, leaving a smile on my face as I turned to the one who had been speaking, one of the smallest of the Death Knights cleaning an axe of gore and blood still. "This body was made for me, and my old one is long gone." I would hope anyway, maybe I had a gravestone for Lisa and some of the others to pay respects to, and hopefully it would crumble away and leave them with only a memory of Khepri saving them… and not the many sins that she committed.

I shook my head lightly, before returning to the prior subject, best leave the self-discovery for later. "So, tell me. What do you consider strength?"

The Death Knight snorted, brandishing her weapon to the sky without replying as if to inspect it, before bringing it back down with a click of annoyance, resuming the task of cleaning it. "Strength be simple. Ya crush ya foes. Don't matta wat kinda strength it be." That was… simple as she said, and not what I was expecting as an answer… Especially since I destroyed several ships with a single spell. "Ya don't have strength. Ya just anotha necromancer tinking ya betta since ya know some fancy hoodoo."

I gave the flattest look directly at the small knight as she continued to clean the weapon. "And destroying several ships with one spell doesn't count as 'Strength' to you?" It was an honest question, at this point I was more curious at why that wasn't worth anything to them. It was quite stressful to come up with on the spot, then work out the proper symbolism, guide the energy…

I sighed internally. Regardless, knowing what they valued was important to keeping them placated after all.

It shrugged its shoulders. "Tzo-"

"Enough. Ya voice be gratin' on Tzo'zi's ears."

He didn't turn around. Hell, he didn't even look over his shoulder or anything. But his voice alone carried weight to it, and silence followed in its wake. I turned away from the Knight, wisely keeping silent to avoid the wrath of a creature that ripped people in half, and just focused on the unspoken words that the other Knight had been about to say.

It sounds like Tzo'zi had a little bit more going on than your average monstrous strength.

We kept going, and eventually, the silence became comfortable, for me anyway. Ultimately, though, I had to ask about the 'Horde' we would be fighting against. Hopefully, there would be some level of useful information compared to my question on the Alliance. "The 'Horde'... what are they like?"

The air grew cold the moment I asked, an underlying bloodlust and noticeable rage emanating from the Death Knight riding with me that my smile dropped, and I prepared for him to lash out if he was angry enough. "Traitas. All of dem." His voice was colder than ice, as was the air, and I was very grateful that I didn't require warmth as I would probably be shaking from the cold or just straight-up frozen, seeing as frost was accumulating on my arm and clothes.

"De 'Horde' came to me Brudda afta burnin' the Southern Kingdoms. Dey said dey'd help us kill de Elves if we joined dem. We burned de Elves' forest and towns, and when it came time ta siege de Capital of dem…" He turned his head slightly, letting me see a single, glowing blue eye that held unspeakable amounts of hate, and for a moment, I faltered before I steeled myself. "De Horde, with all der proclamations of honor and loyalty, abandoned us."

So, his grudge is based on an act of betrayal. Good to know, I guess. "Since your people... 'worked' with them for a time, you must know of their capabilities, Tzo'zi?" I didn't have to wait long before he looked back at the road, hate still stewing before he started speaking again.

"De Orcs are savages. They charge ta cut foes with axes and bash with maces. Catapults were de best they had for technology, but de made up for it with bloodlust and savagery worse den de Berserkers and Dires." I had no idea what a 'Dire' was, but a Berserker was self-explanatory… and told me what to expect of 'Orcs' now and in the future. "Don't know much bout de others, except for dem 'Blood' Elves."

Wait, what?

Despite my mind screeching to a halt at the words that I didn't expect to be uttered given what he'd said at the beginning, Tzo'zi continued. "De Elves use dem strange magicks, summonin' fire and frost on dere foes, using arcane might to destroy whateva's in dere way. Dey used ta be strong. Den da Scourge came." I could feel the note of glee in his voice as he said those words. "Dere's barely any Highborn left nowadays."

He grew quiet, and I let the air fill with silence, semi-uncomfortable with the knowledge that one of my foes would be a people that barely survived a genocide. Unfortunately, I had no say in my opposition, and the only thing I could do was make sure I hit the Horde fast and hard enough that they wouldn't have a choice but to retreat… provided the gracious Prince didn't fuck it up before I got there. But his penchant for delay tactics, combined with the speed of his shambling army and the extra time the Horde has to set up made me doubt what I arrived at wouldn't be a clusterfuck.

Before returning my gaze to the twin moons above, I sighed, still basking in their radiance. I was tempted to do what I had seen in a few movies before and raise my hand out to reach for the moon before I thought better of it and looked back down at the ground. Too much magic, symbolism, and with my newfound connection to the more Cosmic side, I feel like I might call down a moonbeam onto us. However, something on the ground caught my eye, and I immediately raised an eye at the equipment barely seen through the sparse grass alongside our path.

Some predator, or perhaps evening a roaming squad of Undead prior to my arrival, might have killed whoever that was, just as possible as it was that they had left the armor there as a decoy or some other reason. The boring answer was that it was a long-dead scout, and as we left it in the literal dust, I paid it no more thought.

Another sigh escaped my lips before I closed my eyes. I wish I could've slept, but such things were beyond me now, so I had to suffer through the long march to the Horde front.

---

I heard the fighting long before I caught sight of it. The tell-tale echoing clang of steel. The distorted clamor of creatures exerting themselves. And, of course, explosions - the classic sign of advanced life.

As Tzo'zi's mount crested over the ridge, I finally got a look at the battle I had heard for about ten minutes or so while passing through the terrain of the tundra. It was… not awe-inspiring, but something close to it from the sheer scale and amount of creatures involved.

Fires raged on the beach, driving away the mist to the point, where approximately a mile away, I was able to see nearly the entire beachhead and everything in it, a welcome surprise to be sure as it let me get a proper look to plan. While I couldn't see the edge of the beach, nor the cliff's base, I could see both actual armies and the Kvaldir parties running amok. The number of people put the last battle to shame.

The Horde had seemingly more of their forces landed and rather spread out, but by the looks of it, successfully, pushing into Valanar's forces, even with the Kvaldir in their flanks and back. I could see - and oddly feel - magic being hurled about, and while I didn't hear the crack of rifles or booming of cannon fire, the existence of explosions meant that something was causing them - a large contraption in all likelihood considering the ruined state of Valanr's own siege equipment. Aside from that, the actual soldiers of the Horde were a motley of creatures from what little I could tell from this distance.

Distinctly green-skinned creatures stood next to creatures looking like the Taunka, while humanoids looking like Tzo'zi butchered Undead a short distance away. While I couldn't see it all from a distance, the sheer fact I could see so much skin and fur told me their 'standard' armor had very little actual armor. In essence, the standard affair for what you'd expect of a high-fantasy military, following the more classic 'savage' theme.

"CORRUPTED BLOOD! DEATH TO DA TRAITORS!"

The sudden shout caught me off guard, and before I realized it, Tzo'zi was urging his mount towards the cliff edge. I had the closest thing to a moment of panic as I saw the edge come closer before I hurled myself off the undead horse to the ground, mere moments before the Death Knight and his Knights leapt down the cliff.

My landing was not graceful in the slightest, and getting up with only one hand was far more complicated than I would have liked, but with my staff I managed to make it back to my feet. I had to hold back a growl of annoyance as I stared at where Tzo'zi had leaped off before shaking my head. A pulse of magic and tink tink of my staff sent my horde of Undead surging forward off the cliff behind them.

Was I mad that he just up and charged straight in? Not quite. Yet, I had no desire to be down in the middle of a bloody battle when I was better off looking over the battlefield and directing my forces from above. While I could 'ask' him to follow my orders, he wasn't beholden to them. So the only thing I could be annoyed with in this situation was him nearly taking me down into the middle of that mess below me.

With that out of the way, and with no real problem with just sending my forces in, since Prince Valanar, in his infinite wisdom, apparently thought mindless undead against skilled combatants in a frontal assault was a good idea when they had so many people on the ground. It wasn't like with my tactics with the Alliance earlier. That was when they were unprepared, with better troops at my beck and call. No, throwing regular undead against actual soldiers was a fool's play, even with a numbers advantage. Especially if following the savage trope, those massive bodies weren't just for show. A quick check proved they weren't, as from my vantage point I could see how much the Horde had ground down Valanar's army.

I was barely knowledgeable in army versus army battlefield tactics, and even I knew better than this shit plan Valanar put together. It's actively a waste of bodies and time, and he had just gone and done it out of spite. I shook my head. Who was worse? The fool or the people that follow him?

It was going to be very… cathartic to kill that smug asshole, and if it happened to put me in a position where people were looking at me with fear or good will, all the better. If it put me in a negative light, oh well. Nothing new there.

I only paid a small bit of attention to the battle below, it was a mess, and with how things were laid out, it was just going to continue being a meat grinder to push the Horde out, not even considering the Kvaldir running around. And since it was going to turn out like that, there was little point in paying any more attention or trying to resolve a swift and decisive rout. At this point, it was just a long-drawn-out wait for the Horde to, hopefully, finally, retreat, and then I could kill that asshole.

To be honest with myself, I wasn't scared of Valanar. His shows of 'competency' had made my opinion of his abilities gradually lower, his original plan failed utterly, and when he was forced to do the most straightforward plan known, he fucked it up. How do you fuck up 'Charge' of all things?

I wasn't scared of him or any ability he had hidden up his sleeve. I had already faced far worse than him here with less power than I had now, and if he tried to bring any back up into our… dispute, I could take care of them easily with my own Undead. And with that over with, I could finally have some time to do things that needed to be addressed when I got back to my Harbor.

Learning language, testing out magic, finding its limits, discovering the various bits and pieces this world had to offer, and planning out what I would do next. So many things I needed to do, and I was so close to starting on them. I just needed to get done with this and ki-

"WRAITH! YOU HAVE COME!"

… Of course he's here. Why wouldn't he be? And for that matter, how could he have possibly spotted me?

With a heavy heart, I looked down at the chaos from where the shout came from, finding the giant of a Kvaldir in the middle of the fighting. It was difficult not to see him with his skull helm and two swords towering over the crowd even at this distance. Shortly after finding him, he continued his bellow, uncaring of what was happening around him, and why would he? He was a Natural Disaster made manifest. " FACE ME ONCE MORE!"

With a sigh, I resolved my spirit as my guards spread out behind me, ready for the inevitable. Either I would go to him, or he would come to me, and while I didn't want to see what his idea of 'closing the distance' was while I was on a cliff face, it was better than wading into the bloody mosh pit below. Waving my staff in the air, I beckoned the force of nature to me, a howl of laughter reaching my ears before he began the trek forward through the mob of combatants.

If a person looked at what I was doing, they would question that decision. Purposefully inciting the creature three times my height - which I already knew was capable of carving apart pretty much anything I threw at him - and had withstood a Deathbolt powered to the point where it nearly killed me to fire it sounded like a terrible idea. Except, he was going to beeline straight to me, regardless of what I did, so there was nothing I did that would incite him worse beyond ignoring him.

Death gathered where a hand should have been, and a spear of Death formed before being sent hurtling straight at the Giant. It was doubtful it would do anything, but even a fraction of a second would help.

Maybe.

I continued to debate with myself. Going down had the benefit of having more people to throw in-between me consistently and Sigvaldr. Still, there was no guarantee a single one of them would even make him stutter, with the added disadvantage of getting in the way of anything I might attempt. Staying up here had the advantage of allowing me to throw magic at him, as well as being void of most anything, but it left me without any meatshields, sans my guards.

The Deathspear splashed harmlessly against the slabs of metal he called swords, telling me just enough to know my empowered version wasn't going to cut it either. Another test, before I tried something ludicrous, was necessary. Starlight gathered quickly, and with a slice of my now stary arm, I called a focused beam of reflected solar energy a… Lunar Strike. I hoped its association with a gentler purity - with reduced cost to me - could prove viable.

A deafening crash sounded as the pillar of light smashed straight into Sigvaldr, dissipating quickly to leave a cloud of sand kicked up from the impact. From which, Sigvaldr rocketed through without a scratch on his person, still laughing to his heart's content.

Well, that didn't work. Good to know it'd be a waste to use 'lower' Cosmic magic, at least.

Death coursed around me as I sent volleys of empowered bolts at the Champion, every single one cut in two or dodged with an ease that didn't belong to such a large individual. My magic would work on him then. He wouldn't avoid it otherwise, but those damn blades of his…

I clicked my tongue in irritation before stopping my casting entirely, he was getting too close, and I was just wasting time and energy since Sigvaldr was clearly experienced fighting magic users. With a sigh, I turned around and walked a ways away, my guards drawing their weapons in preparation for what was going to be a terrible time.

I racked my mind trying to come up with something to use against him. But, I didn't have to wait long before I heard rocks being crushed, and shortly after it started, the shadowed figure of Sigvaldr 'flew' into the air in front of the sun, crashing into the ground with all the weight of a Crawler-tier Brute. A hearty chuckle left him as he stood up, looking every bit the same as the last time I had seen him… weeks ago? Armor still barnacled and rusted, the bones on his head and shoulder still pristine, black cloak gently waving behind him.

The only thing that truly made no sense was that his swords were back in perfect condition. I could understand if he picked up something similar to those swords. But, this was just my mind running with what little I knew of fantasy 'artifacts' - since the weapons were obviously something rare - the unique swords can't be made that quickly. Of course, he could have a spare set, but given how he had said they'd never been broken before...

A lumbering footfall brought me out of my thoughts, the giant of a Kvaldir letting out a laugh as he readied his swords into what I assumed was a stance. Before anything else happened, I opened my mouth, putting the thoughts of those swords away for another time, and asked a question that I should have asked before he 'killed' himself the first time.

"Before we start, might I know who I am fighting? It's only fair, seeing as I told you mine the last time."

I knew his name, but anything to delay him for even a bit was worth it. Besides, he may say something that could help me later. Granted, most of it would be things I had no knowledge of, but eventually, it could be useful. Hopefully.

Whatever the case, the Champion stopped in his tracks, cocking his head to the side as if he was in thought, which… "Mmm…" Which meant he was giving it actual consideration. My focus was split between listening to him and running through a list of every scrap of fantasy I could remember concerning Death and Cosmic magic. "I suppose that is fair, Wraith. Too long have I been used against those who revered me.."

So he was famous… was I fighting a 'Living Legend' or something? The fact that he was Kvaldir now… did not make me very confident.

That explained so much.

With a flourish of his blades, Sigvaldr exited his stance into a more 'relaxed' form, one sword laid against his shoulder and the other planted against the ground. "I am Sigvaldr Dragonsbane! Champion of Voldrune and the King's Personal Slayer! I have only tasted defeat once in sixteen millennia and have finally found a new challenge worth facing!" … Sixteen Millennia!? I'm sorry, but what the actual fuck!?

As I had my rightly deserved 'panic attack' without showing anything on the outside, Sigvaldr shifted back to his combat stance, pointing one of his oversized swords at me and grinning as laughter spilled out. "Die well, Wraith! May the Gods have favor on your soul."

…

In response, I raised my staff at him, hiding the panic inside and uttering the first thing that came to mind. "I've filled my quota for dying, thanks." Pithy quotes aside, something nagged me. I had an idea. Another spell of laughter, amusement coloring it, came out before Sigvaldr pushed off the ground in a dead sprint straight at me.

Despite what I had just learned, I still intended not to die. All I had to do was ensure I lived. I didn't have to defeat him, just make him leave like last time.

Death surged through my arm before I shot the supercharged bolt straight at Sigvaldr, as four of my guards rushed forward to meet the Kvaldir while the other two took up positions just in front of me, ready to shield me from the inevitable. The Deathbolt smashed into one of Sigvaldr's swords, sending it recoiling in the impact, though not flying - I wasn't that lucky. Sigvaldr spun with the motion, twisting in place and swinging the mass of metal straight at the lead Onslaught.

I readied another bolt of the same power, even as I sent a rush of magic into my guards. Hopefully, Gothik's lessons on strengthening Undead would be valuable here. A shield was raised, pitifully small against the greatsword, and a resounding crash echoed before the guard was sent bodily flying through the air. Better than before, certainly, and it meant I was able to fight Sigvaldr… for the moment.

The second blade crashed down on the next of my Guards, the ground buckling underneath them as they took the quick strike straight to their shield, somehow not falling to the ground in the process. The two remaining Onslaught circled around and cleaved down with their own, reasonably-sized, greatswords. Metallic scraping screamed in the air as the Champion slid his sword off the shield, knocking aside the blade aiming to pierce his left thigh while nimbly dodging around the other.

A flick of my arm sent another bolt flying at Sigvaldr shortly after he started reacting to my two guards, the massive creature still in the process of turning from both when the bolt slammed straight into his chest and exploding. The blast sent my Onslaught skidding back, while Sigvaldr simply spun with the momentum again before looking in my direction. I could feel the grin directed at me as another laugh bellowed forth, sword lowered to the side before he pushed off the ground straight at me yet again.

A kick sent the spearman in front of him flying directly at me, and without a prompt from me, one of my two protectors sidestepped straight into the path of the human projectile, bracing himself and catching his comrade, sliding back from the force behind them. Stopping just before they slammed into me, the impromptu projectile got back to their feet and took a spot alongside the other two, ready to intercept whatever my foe had in store for me. Gathering more magic in my arm, I hesitated to send it flying at Sigvaldr, even as he raised his sword in preparation to cut through my guards.

Bolts were doing nothing in the grand scheme of this 'duel', and I needed something that would deal damage or lock him down... Cosmic magic was flat out. I only knew how to drop bombardments on people, and trying to figure out other parts of the magic now was a idiotic decision, especially as an extended windup time seemed to be a common trend. And just pouring everything into an attack like the first time was also out, I wasn't desperate enough. Not yet, at least.

Regardless of whatever I did, I was going to get in close-combat with Sigvaldr. I'd rather face three Lungs at once.

Wait… Lock him down. I just needed to live. And those chains from earlier… I could use those.

With a motion that I could barely follow, Sigvaldr seemed to twist on the spot, sword smashing aside my Onslaught with brutal ease before he reared his right blade up, ready to cleave me in half. A flick of my arm sent a chain hurtling between the Giant's legs, embedding itself in the earth behind him before retracting, pulling me as I skid along the ground, narrowly avoiding the death blow. "Oh?"

I paid no mind to the exclamation, charging a Deathbolt in my staff's head and unleashing it straight into Sigvaldr's leg as I passed, the ensuing explosion of Death sending me hurtling faster to the chain's end. As I tumbled across the earth, I saw my foe stumble a step before recovering with a turn, the simple joy I could see beneath that skull and smile unnerving.

Someone shouldn't be that happy fighting, I could understand if they were an insane individual like Crawler, interested in Pain and overcoming new inflictions. But… Sigvaldr? He just loved battle. He laughed, smiled, and radiated joy of all things in the midst of being struck and striking others.

Scrabbling to a stop and dispersing the chain back into the mass of Death fog coalescing around me, I quickly hopped further back as the slab of metal called a sword smashed right through where I had been. Bits of rock battered my body, one significant one managing to strike me hard enough to carve my cheek open. I ignored the superficial wound and came to a stop, getting back to my feet just in time to watch as one of my guards sprinted forward, sword raised and ready to try and pierce Sigvaldr's armor.

He was down a sword. If I could distract him somehow, my guard could do some damage to the Champion, nothing too game-changing, but death by a thousand cuts was a viable strategy.

Rearing my arm back, I whipped it forward with little pause, a set of chains manifesting around Sigvaldr before they shot at his sword, wrapping around it before pulling taut. He looked down in what I thought was surprise before letting out a laugh, letting go of the sword, and turning so fast that he looked like a blur for a split second. Easily avoiding the attempted backstab, I came to a rather obvious conclusion as the Kvaldir continued his motion and grabbed my guard in his hand.

Sigvaldr, without his swords, was only slightly less dangerous than he was with them.

And that was proven true as he pitched my guard straight at me.

Eyes widening, I had no time before the Onslaught slammed back-first into my chest, sending us tumbling across the rocky ground for a good few seconds before we finally came to a stop. Thankfully, I was on top and not crushed under a fully-grown man in armor. I rolled off my guard, letting him get up as well, just in time to see Sigvaldr reclaim both his swords, and see the rest of my guards warily circling hi-

"LOK'TAR OGAR!"

I blinked before looking to my left and found several of the Horde charging Sigvaldr and me. Mostly green-skinned creatures, I was intrigued by the inclusion of the brown-skinned one that was leading them, idly wondering if he was a sub-race of some sort before shaking my head and ignoring the thought. It wouldn't do to get distracted, especially with another side added to this 'duel' of ours.

Paying only a little attention to them as they split into two groups, I looked back to Sigvaldr, finding him with a slightly less bright smile as he regarded the unexpected combatants. "Interfering with a duel. Honorless Curs." Turning his head back to me, his smile brightened back to what it had been prior before letting out a laugh as he rushed my Onslaught nearest to the charging creatures. "Let us take care of the rabble first Wraith! Then we may continue our fun!"

I pointedly ignored his last words.

With him preoccupied for the moment, and that was all I expected from this interruption, I turned back to the group rushing straight at me. I counted somewhere around six or so of them, all armored in the exact same black iron-like armor with burnished gold embellishments, save for the brown-skinned one in dark armor, head fully exposed like an idiot and a red tabard flapping about as he yelled in some tongue. My guard ran to meet them as Death manifested again in my hand, my mind weighing pros and cons in order to deal with this.

Three of the six broke off to face my guard while the rest circled around and kept running. I didn't want to spend too much magic on these enemies, as I still had Sigvaldr after I got done with them, and utilizing the least amount of magic for the best value was what I needed to do. Which is why I sent a volley of normal Deathbolts careening straight at the group that weren't engaged with my guard.

Seeing the bolts of magic screaming towards them, the helmetless Horde soldier barked something out and dropped to the ground in one motion, sliding under the bolt as it tried to correct its course too late, his fellow soldiers were not so lucky as he was. Blasted straight on with the conception of Death made manifest, they crumpled and clattered as they hit the ground, lifeless and unmoving, leaving only the brown-skinned creature left to face me. Quickly getting up, he resumed his charge with an angry warcry, rushing me down in an attempt to stop me before I did something else.

Already I was in a better position. Three warriors against a necromancer in direct combat was a death sentence to the necromancer. One against one, well… the warrior still held an advantage, but that wasn't something I could really change, especially without more practice.

I collected Death in my arm again as I leveled my staff out. I could only hope that my guards would finish up the remaining warriors facing them. Until then, I would attempt to evade or deflect an angry, overly muscled creature with experience fighting casters, or at least necromancers. All while also not using any more magic than necessary for the actual fight. Actually… Why not attempt to apply Reinforcement to myself? It would be cheaper than Chains of Mortality and I was technically more familiar with it...

At the worst, I would have a future idea to work on if it went wrong. At best, it's something I could use to my immediate benefit, so I had nothing to lose in trying it.

The resulting 'feeling' I got as Death coursed through my flesh and into my bones was somewhat like when Amy messed with my Shard, though it felt wrong - like I tried to seal an active pressure cooker. Yet at the same time… I looked back at the charging warrior, the dual axes in his hands held to his right side in windup for the swings. With a howl, or maybe it was a warcry, he swung both axes straight at me, only to meet my staff in its path.

But… Death sufusing my being… It felt right.

Forcing my body forward, I pushed the creature back much to its apparent, but momentary, surprise and used that time to take a step back. I didn't want to use any more magic than necessary, and if he could dodge one of my projectiles from that close of a range and speed, then it would be a waste of magic to send bolt after bolt at him. Not to mention it would leave me open in CQC. Maybe it was a fluke, but I wasn't willing to take any chances, not when I just needed to wait a bit longer for my guards. Unfortunately, as strong as I now was - and as much previous training I had - I highly doubted any of it would be overly effective for me. Between my unknown amounts of new strength and the non-lethal nature of my former training I very much doubted I could subdue this Brute. Especially one wearing possibly magical armor, who has trained their whole life for mortal combat.

Sure, I could try a contest of strength and try to use point-blank raw Decay...

Another roar of challenge, and I was forced to stop thinking just to weather the onslaught of blows. He had immediately learned his lesson - which put him above near-mindless creatures that I associated with 'Hordes' from various literature - as he staggered his blows with alternating tempos and kept it at a pace where all I could do was play catch up. The first few were simple enough, as I used my staff to redirect the blows combined with a sidestep. But the swings increased in speed quickly. Leaving me to defend against them with an unbalanced staff meant to be used as a casting focus, with a single hand, forced to use more and more of the staff to tank what blows I couldn't redirect in time.

Metal sparked with each clash, but a glance at my staff made me alarmed, as I quickly realized my mistake from the beginning of this fight. While, I may have reinforced my body, successfully and without anything negative to show for it… I had not done the same to my staff. I hadn't even thought to do the same, or if it was even possible. An easy mistake to make, it was metal and had served me well so far, but now with chips and gouges becoming more numerous with each failed total deflection, it wouldn't last much longer.

The orc lifted both of his axes above his head and let out yet another shout, then cleaved down with all his strength. Hastily raising my staff in the way, I wasn't shocked when the impact cleaved through. With the staff's weighty head sheared off and my balance broken, my arm swung wide giving the creature all the opening he needed.

An opening that he seized with gusto if the nasty, snarling smirk he gave was of any indication. I could only watch as he smoothly transitioned the recoil of hitting my staff into a wide stance, each ax positioned horizontally. My magic reacted sluggishly compared to when the focus was in my hands, all thoughts of energy conservation absent, and it was only now I realized I had grown complacent with it. The axes were swung and bit into my neck… only to be stopped by the reinforced bone. But I could feel it. Those axes had bit deep, and if they had hit the same vertebrae...

The warrior wrenched his axes out of me was about to swing again when my guard bodily slammed into him from the side, sending the creature rolling across the ground as my guard positioned himself in a protective stance in front of me. Slowly struggling to get up, a heavy air settled on me even as my chest and neck began leaking Death to the ground.

"You."

My body froze at the single word from Sigvaldr, positively dripping with anger and determination. I slowly panned my head from the warrior to Sigvaldr - and the corpses surrounding him. My guards still on their feet despite being battered and on the verge of collapsing from the building list of injuries their bodies had taken. He looked straight at me, no, at my wound, taking a step forward that broke the ground under him from the sheer force he put into it.

… Shit, I have to up my estimation of his Brute strength.

"You dare strike my Foe?" His voice never rose above his normal volume. If anything, he was quieter than usual. "The only one to give me a challenge?" Rising to my feet, I stumbled a step back as Death gathered in my hand for what was to come. "Insignificant Gnat." He then summarily punted the orc back into the din of battle below. He took another cratering step and he turned to me. I fought against freezing in place at the sight of his normally jovial visage twisted into anger before it morphed back to his usual expression and the air dissipated.

"Forgive me, Wraith, for allowing this Gnat to make you bleed before I did." I blinked in surprise at his sincerely remorseful words, before shaking my head and keeping silent as he continued. "Let us continue our duel without the interference of that Gnat! I will by my hand alone that I will have your skull by the end of this day!" And there it was again, that single-minded drive to carve me to pieces. It could be worse, I had to admit.

The problem was… how could I actually beat Sigvaldr?

My mind raced again as Sigvaldr took a step forward, grinning madly as one of his swords reared back as if he was going to throw the thing at me, again. My Death spells were practically useless, Sigvaldr was too fast, and unless I threw everything into it, he would just barge through it like a Brute through a wall of cardboard. Cosmic was as well just as useless, seeing as the only spell I knew of were ones with too much windup…

I hadn't too many options, not with him bearing down at me with a demented grin and joyful glare. I had no staff anymore, Iwas leaking Death profusely still causing a significant drain, and none of my spells could scratch him. There was only one very stupid, possibly destructive thing that crossed my mind as I threw out everything that didn't work, and with it being the only thing with a chance of beating him, I prepared to do it, regardless of what could happen to me.

I was dead if I didn't do it, so no point in not trying the possibly suicidal attempt at killing him.

My ethereal arm began to sparkle with star points as I dodged out of the way of the flying sword intent on cleaving me in half.

Cosmic magic was the Sun, the Moon, the stars, t̢̡́͟h̨̨é̵̷́͞ ̸҉̀́͝V̷̧͘͢͠ò̵̕͡͡i̡͜͝͞d̶̶, and other phenomena.

The Kvaldir Champion bellowed a laugh as he rushed forward, remaining sword high in the air and ready to cleave as I calmly waited for him. I had only one chance.

Death magic was the End of Life, and it was Entropy itself.

He leaped into the air, ready to end this battle with one titanic blow.

A glare of raw Cosmic energy built in front of my arm as I reached forward towards Sigvaldr.

The ball or energy grew in size as rapidly as my reserves of magic drained from me, growing brighter and brighter. All who saw it would only describe it as if they were witnessing the birth of a new star.

He wouldn't be able to dodge this. Nor could I.

As the last scraps of energy fed into the newborn Sun, its size now larger than me - the surrounding stone melting under its emanations, I pulled on what little reserve I had left. The Death in my bones.

All I could think of, all I could focus on now, was what happens when a star… Dies.

The Death flowed out of me, winding up my arm in a serpentine fashion before it too was sucked up by the greedy star.

The two magics melded together.

The ball contracted.

The glow became something beyond blinding.

The sword bi-

PAIN

---

It was expected, given my Partner's course of action, that she was disabled in the aftermath of her 'spell'. I expected the raw data input would be a bit much for her. Current data suggests her [Self] or 'soul' as the biped named it l was spasming in [PAIN] from the 'spell' she had wrought, which was deserved. If not for me, she would have lost everything then and there.

But… As I turned calculated observation to the results...

Indeed, it was effective - if crude - given it blasted the different 'unliving' straight off the cliff and outright atomizing everything else. Still, considering that my Partner's physical interface was now a fascinating mass of energy, I had the right to admonish her when she was finished processing the new input data. Now though, with her busy for the foreseeable future, I had to pause my own calculations and take charge.

It was similar to the mess with Shaper and Broadcast three Cycles ago, and I still wasn't even sure how they had managed to send half of the Shards into standby.

First, I had to fix and re-solidify the body, or else nothing would get done. Simple enough, given it was similar in process to fixing one of those other constructs she kept around. Granted, I had to fabricate entirely new flesh and skeletal structure to serve as the base for her body since Partner had foolishly incinerated her entire body so thoroughly that there wasn't even ashes, but according to my calculations a magical facsimile would not be difficult

It wasn't like the body was even 'living' as Partner would have defined it in the first place. Merely solidified energy shaped into a simulacrum of life via symbolism and used to house my Partner and myself.

Fascinating concept, enforcement of desire upon reality via symbolism to make the world accept the changes you want. Many possibilities could bud from this, and I was eager to get back to it.

Taking that energy and molding it was bud's play, as it seemed ready to accept the Order I wanted to impose upon it. And quickly, a body started to form under my ministrations. However, it was straining my tenuous connection to that reality, an annoyance that we needed to rectify as soon as a method was available to us. Especially if this high-stress testing was to become a recurring pattern for future events.

False flesh modelled after her old body flowed together, first the chest, then the legs. Arms came next, finally her head, and like that, my Partner's form came into being. Aside from one specific part. I forced the body's head to look at the still missing forearm, and I raised an eyebrow at its lack of existence. I had assumed that the lack of an arm was just a lack of my Partner fixing it, but I was wrong for once. [Order] was actively rejecting my attempts at creating the component, similar in manner to other additions I had tried to append to Partner's body during creation. Fascinating.

"WRAITH! OUR DUEL IS NOT YET OVER!"

He still lived? Maybe Partner's allusion to the defense platforms had some inkling of truth. One doesn't merely walk away from being hit by a Supernova, minuscule as that one may have been.

Our new body moved smoothly, puppeted expertly by me, regally stepping to the cliff edge and letting her, and by extension myself, be seen by the unliving champion, and allowing me to properly observe him in turn. Compared to the first time, there was progress to actually damaging the creature. His left arm was completely gone, and the remainder of his left side was molten yet somehow still intact despite it. His armor, what was left of it, seemed to have fused into his 'skin', his skull helmet was gone, and his one sword was shattered once more.

I didn't look away from him, despite everything else going on below, he was the main threat to us both and given what he had consistently shown, anything less than our full attention at any given time was a mistake. Another of his kind sprinted up to him as the Champion took a step forward, only to be cut in half with a single stroke of that stunted sword. An air settled on the beach in the wake of that scene, foreboding and heavy as it seemed to trigger a reaction in all the mortals.

There were words said, too far away to be distinguishable and who exactly spoke them was lost in the sea of bodies and corpses, but the result of it, I saw and heard as the Champion looked back up at me, a smile reforming on his face after the incident. "WRAITH! ONCE MORE YOU HAVE BROKEN MY SWORD. WE SHALL HAVE OUR DUEL ANOTHER TIME!" I said nothing in response, staring passively as the Champion took his broken blade and rammed it through his chest, similar to the first time we had met him. Vaporizing once more mass non-equivalent seawater and sea plants

And with that, the main threat was gone. Now, there was cleaning up the mess that my Partner had gotten herself into.

The 'Kvaldir', as Partner named them, quickly withdrew in the wake of their Champion's 'demise', either perishing on the beach or sailing off on their seacraft, leaving only the normal 'unliving' and the 'Horde' around. And the latter were beginning to fall back as well, clearly judging that further conflict at the time was producing diminishing returns and slowly retreated to their boats to avoid getting swarmed in the mass of unliving. That however, was not what I needed to clean up, the 'Death Knight' and the other base constructs were capable enough to finish this.

No, it was fools behind me, that my Partner had antagonized and been antagonized by since arriving in this land.

"Arrogant of you to flee to me, Wraith. I admit, your display of magic prowess was beyond what I ever imagined to come of your kind." I didn't bother turning to look at the insignificant unliving. It wasn't worthy of my attention like the Champion or my Partner. "That said, you must be exhausted. Running from your failure at the Alliance beaching and unleashing that kind of magic must be terribly draining, for you. Then you go and remake your body from scratch without even a ritual? Are you trying to show off? You bluster will not work on me." He hummed. How strange, he was oddly misconstruing events and making illogical claims. "I still recall your words before you left. Something about 'settling this when we were finished'. Hrm?"

Still, I didn't react, outward displays of interaction have clearly failed to translate properly. Instead, my thoughts were content enough to comb through the data of my Partner's 'spell', alongside the knowledge that it was possible to combine different types of 'magic'. Certainly, it was more exciting than dealing with the thing behind my Partner's body, though given the growing impatience I was hearing, it didn't agree. "Are you just going to stand there, or are we going to settle this Lady Wraith? But, by all means, just stand there!"

Something smashed through my Partner's body, rupturing through the false flesh and out the front. I had to raise an eye at the lingering traces of the 'magic', it wasn't like the rest I had the pleasure of witnessing, more akin to the concept of force being turned into a projectile than the 'benevolent Light', the control and contract of element-based lifeforms, and such. The prospect of more data interested me greatly.

The fact that a non-Host had created it interested me all the more. While a pathetic showing, it implied that there were others,more creativer and intelligent that data could be derived from..

Turning my Partner's body to face it, I let my boredom be expressed through the puppetted body, tilting my head just so with a frown and eyes barely opened. It matched what Partner had previously defined. It certainly infuriated it, given the clenched hands and utterly furious expression it had, it reminded me of the powerless, arrogant fools that my Partner had dealt with through her time with me. And Broadcast. Mostly Broadcast. Deliberately I kept my Partner's body still as I fixed the hole letting out the energy making us up, keeping up my 'deadpan' stare at the unliving and resisting the urge to just ignore it again.

I learned much from Partner, and Broadcast, and chose my words carefully. "Query: Was that supposed to do something?"

My Partner's voice carried my words to it, having the desired effect as yellow-white energy gathered in its hands. "I was simply going to kill you. But, I think I'll turn you into one of your namesakes, Wraith. I refuse to be upstaged by one of your kind!" The delusional state the creature had entered was baffling. Whatever faulty data gathering it had performed gave it objectively false results, as it was comparing itself to us. Perhaps displaying new data would resolve the logic errors it was outputting..

Before anything else could occur, I pointed my partner's defunct arm at one of the unliving directly next to the arrogant one, a chain piercing through the air and directly into its chest. The chains coiled and writhed with a 'life' of their own until they pulled taut, and the fabricated hand of [Entropy] clutched the chain and pulled. A 'spectral' image of the unliving was wrenched out of its body, wrapped in chains and utterly helpless as it landed in my Partner's 'hand'. It made a sound like a scream and wail mixed together as I broke it, tore it apart, and consumed it as the Harvester had done days ago.

Fascinating. It was strange, I had to admit.

I wasn't expecting a 'taste' from the 'soul', and so was caught off-guard when something flooded my inputs. It didn't 'taste' in the way that my Partner's memories of actual food and drink tasted, being more… conceptual than physical. It tasted of [Death]… yet diluted somehow, more like a decaying corpse than a skeleton. There were other 'tastes' to it, but the rest were so minor that beyond noticing them, I couldn't make out what they were aside from an inkling of [Arrogance].

But…

A smile grew on my Partner's face as revelry grew in my being. A sound flitted through the air in the wake of my meal, and it took me a moment to realize it was my Partner's body responding to my mood. The unliving didn't particularly look too well after my display, shuffling and backing away, aside from the one that kept speaking. "Mmm…"

What I had done had awoken something in me. Old directives, mixed with new inputs. I knew what I felt.

I felt...

Chains clinked together, more of the soft sound escaping from my Partner's body as I forced it to take a step forward.

"I'm… Hungry…"

---

That… Hurt… So fucking much.

[Chastisement] [Amusement] [Interest]

Wha- You- Oh f-

My thoughts died as quickly as I processed my Partner's message. It was then I noticed that I was standing amidst a pile of corpses that I was sure I wasn't here when I blacked out. There was also a distinct lack of Sigvaldr and his shouting, which said enough that something occurred while I was apparently unconscious, and given my Partner's state… I had a feeling she was the cause of it.

[Satisfaction. Desire. Glee.]

I, huh. You… Yeah, she was the cause… and something was wrong with her. Our connection was also now far stronger. I elected to ignore that and focus on more important things at the moment. Like clothes. Thankfully there were a bunch of fresh corpses with no need for clothing anymore with them dead.

Was it wrong to pick their corpses clean for a piece of clothing? Probably, but they were dead, I wasn't, and they had tried to kill me while I was unconscious, sort of… and until Partner was done being high I don't think I was going to get a more precise explanation. And like hell I was going to walk around without clothing, even if it was this even more villainous-looking cloth than my last outfit since the plate armor was out of the question for somehow being an even worse offender in that regard.

Finding an outfit that was my size wasn't as difficult as I feared. It was actually rather easy and within a minute or so I was dressed and presentable. It wasn't my first choice, but I'd stick with it considering I had little to no other options, even back at the Harbor. That and dressing like some stereotyped Fantasy Crusade Priest rubbed me a weird way.

My new outfit was… well, it felt more like finery than what I was used to. Its black cloth felt soft to the touch, and the bronze-like filigree of intricate designs and sections across its surface were polished to a dull shine. The gems embedded in said finery were dull and lifeless, nearly grey chunks of crystal save for the bare hint of red denoting them as rubies. Unlike with my old clothing, the sleeves did not go all the way to my hands, instead not even reaching my elbow, while my forearm were covered in… something that tried to be a glove and failed.

And the green flames that had ignited rising from my new shoulder pads? Those were quickly going to get old, but it wasn't like I had any other choice when confronted with a slightly armored piece of clothing. I wasn't not going to go with a little bit more protection, even as gaudy as this was. Besides, it was obviously magical. Which was rather cool.

"Seems like ya had some fun, Wraith. Ya just couldn't wait for ol' Tzo'zi to get here to help hack dat coward into pieces?"

I turned around to look Tzo'zi straight in the eyes before quickly shifting to just look at him in general. His armor was practically repainted red with the amount of blood on him and was continually dripping on the ground, his axe was in no better condition, and I was quite glad that the sight didn't take much to disregard. The only things that actually caught my eye aside from the copious amount of blood was his near-beaming air around himself as if had just won the lottery or something, and the brown hand clutched in his own left hand.

Taking a moment to gather myself and hopefully not tip-off that I had no idea what happened, I calmly spoke to the Death Knight. "My apologies Tzo'zi, but you were… occupied, and I wasn't given the choice to come get you." He grunted in acknowledgment before turning his head to the hand clutched in his grip, giving off a small chuckle before returning his attention back to me.

"No problem boss lady. Tzo'zi had fun putting a Traitorous swine in his place, and ya seem ta have had it handled." Hefting the bloody axe onto his shoulder, Tzo'zi stretched with a satisfied sound before continuing. "Me bruddas and sistas are finishin' up down below. Afta that… we be followin' ya boss lady whereva."

I blinked at the statement before realizing the severity of what he just said. I had a group of Death Knights under my command now. Well… more like they were going to follow my directions for as long as I gave them what they wanted, or until I got powerful enough to actually be able to force them to obey. The latter wasn't going to happen any time soon, so I was stuck appeasing a group of bloodthirsty, inhuman warriors for as long as possible to ensure I kept them under my command. And want them under my command I did, they were clearly a valuable resource and not one to let go of easily.

Any progress on that front could wait until I understood more of the world around me. Just having them with me was enough for the moment.

"We'll be heading back to Onslaught Harbor once your brethren are finished. I have no wish to stay here any longer than necessary." This entire experience was largely just a waste of time, sure I'd learned how to utilize a bit of Cosmic magic, and gained Tzo'zi and his knights, but on the whole, this entire trip was an annoyance and worth absolutely nothing to me. So many other things I could have been doing… and I was stuck here. But there was something… clearer about my thoughts now, so I could add that to the silver linings.

"Whateva ya say boss lady. This be ya land though now that ya killed da coward responsible for it." … Oh fuck that. Like hell I was getting another place to manage, I already had one place and another two that were being built… which, I sighed, I'd need to check on whenever I finished settling in.

A fourth, the size of this territory? Forget it. "I have enough territory to take care of, give it to the former Prince's second in command." There was a pause, before Tzo'zi looked at the corpses surrounding us, and I got the distinct feeling that I had said something stupid given the response. "Just… just give it to the next in line that's still functioning."

That garnered a slow nod as Tzo'zi continued to look at the mass of corpses around me, seemingly trying to figure something out before looking back at me. "I'll find da Lich and be back. Me bruddas and sistas should be done by dat point." And with that said, Tzo'zi walked off, clasping the axe to his back, somehow, and beginning to mess with the severed hand as he walked down the cliff.

Which left me alone again… well, as alone as I could be with my Guards slowly making their way back to me. They had taken a beating from Sigvaldr, a given really, but the sheer resilience was astounding that they were still able to move, and their armor wasn't obliterated in the fight, granted they were dented and rent in some areas. I honestly was wanting a set of this armor for myself when I could get the chance, but given my own supposed role, it was better to just outfit my soldiers with it instead.

As I could apparently tank a miniaturized Supernova, what armor I was wearing would likely be unable to keep up with my own endurance.

It'd be nice to have, especially if it could shrug off damage from Sigvaldr, to a degree, maybe in the future. For now to try and figure out how to perform that 'Gate' spell. There was clear symbolism and restrictions tied into it.

Sometime after that and multiple musings on what to do, Tzo'zi came back with his knights in tow, all of them in a similar position of being caked in blood and having an air of satisfaction about them. I didn't rightly care too much at this point, seeing as I thought I understood how to do the 'Death Gate' spell.

The concept was similar to several mover powers that I had utilized, you take your starting point and you get an end position, power bullshit occurs and there's a way between the two that you can take. And like that, you have teleportation like Doormaker and others. The problem for me specifically was figuring out what was used to connect the two, as unlike with powers, I had to use an energy 'manually' or figure out what the pattern was so that my Partner could do so.

Even with going through one recently, the way that Death was used wasn't something that I was familiar with, and while I could try with my own, it had the possibility of going wrong. Claws, hook, chains dragging me down, holding me. That said, I wasn't about to ask Tzo'zi for help on the subject, I just had the feeling that he and his knights didn't understand it beyond 'I can do it', and that wasn't helpful. So I was going to have to wing it and hope that something didn't go wrong.

Hopefully Partner would be in a decent eno-

[Disorientation]

… What?

…

…

Okay, ignore the possibly drunk crystalline-superstructure turned conceptual soul and move on to the actually dealable things. Like getting back to the Harbor and all the actually important things I needed to do. And for that, I needed to pray and hope that something didn't go wrong with my spell.

Gathering Death into my hands like usual, I started envisioning the Harbor in my mind, a desolate rock filled with the dead, and of a pathway connecting the here and there, Death has no End, it has no Beginning. The memory of going through the 'Gate' with the 1st Legion came to mind, and I attempted to use that to 'reinforce' the image in my head, a hole in reality where space and time hold little sway, in blind hope that it would make my attempt work. After what I felt was an appropriate time, I cast the spell, and felt relief as an enlarged version of the 'Gate' appeared in front of me, compared to the one I had taken… yesterday?

Regardless of when, it looked the exact same, from the shadowy mist emanating from the 'Gate', to the skull leering down at those entering it. So, it was a resounding success in my eyes. The issue was simply ensuring it's other side was where I needed it to be.

With a mental prod, one of my battered Guards rose to the occasion and marched without hesitation through the Gate. I waited a few seconds, watching to see if the Gate destabilized and nodding promptly when it kept its shape and wasn't about to explode for some reason or another. The rest of my Guards were ushered through, because unfortunately, the Gate was one way only at the moment as far as I was aware, which would be something I needed to address later. Shortly after they disappeared Tzo'zi's Knights went through, chuckling to themselves as they went, and following after them Tzo'zi himself, the severed hand dangling on a chain from his waist.

And with no one else to wait on, I turned to my Undead army. It would be a waste to let them loose… I ordered them back to En'kilah loaded with the corpses and supplies left on the beach. It could be an apology to the Lich for leaving him like this, and I could always return later for the troops if I needed them.

With that set into motion, I turned to the Death Gate and went home.

The trip was less cold than my first foray, but instead of the feeling of being tugged, It felt like I was being watched from every direction in the dark corridor I stepped through. As much as the idea of teleportation would help me manage my three territories in the long-term, if this was going to be the norm, then I sure as hell was going to find another option.

Thankfully it was over quickly, and with another round of relief filling me, I stepped out into the frigid air of my Harbor… looking directly at a well-made wooden ship that shouldn't be here. I recalled saying for them to build a ship to get between here and the halfway point, but something of this size and make, in less than a week… ish?

There was magic yes, but I doubted highly that it could make a ship like that in a week, if anything, it would look more like a living, natural thing given the Dryads and their own magic. So… why was this here?

I sent the guards I had taken with me away for respite and repair, calling together others nearby to accompany me as I strode forward. I didn't know where Tzo'zi and his Knights went, which was cause for concern immediately after this was dealt with, but I was semi-glad that they weren't immediately moving towards the ship and fucking around with it. I didn't need another headache directly after I had just alleviated one…

As I approached, I noticed a few details telling me who this was. The first was obvious, the white sails with a red, messed up 'L' symbol proudly in the middle told me this was a Scarlet Onslaught group, which meant the rest would know about what had happened here should they return… or if they didn't make it back. I was fucked either way in this scenario, so I had to figure out on the fly, what option was going to be the best for me.

Second among the details… was the lack of personnel on the ship. Granted, there could be far more, and likely were, inside the ship, but with them docked with a plank lowered to the, still ruined, piers… Why weren't there more sailors or soldiers milling about above deck?

Last and most important… there was a human walking down said plank, flanked by what looked like clergymen… Dressed in plate, he made for a striking difference to the much more… 'humble' looking priests and priestesses, his features clear on display as he wore a content smile walking down. Like this wasn't a Harbor overrun with Undead, and they were just here to check up on the place.

Or that it didn't matter.

I wisely dismissed that paranoia spiral before continuing forward, the armored figure turning his attention to me, raising a hand in greeting, and calling out in the language I still didn't know as he smiled warmly. The smile dipped shortly as I didn't respond, and kept walking forward until we were mere feet apart, my guards at the ready to cut them down for any funny business they tried. His expression shifted from confusion to contemplation, before he started... clearing his throat for some reason?

"A… A... Ata... Do…"

My eyebrow slowly went up as I understood the syllables coming from his mouth. If I didn't have better control of myself, I probably would have displayed my shock at hearing a 'normal human' speak something that I could hear and understand. As it was, after a few more things of him working his voice, the man put his full attention back to me, and I had to stop the overwhelming urge to not react and send my guards to gut him.

His gaze felt a lot like Jack's.

"My apologies, My Lady, it has been many years since I have had to use this tongue, I had assumed you knew Common, but that is my mistake." So the primary language was called… 'Common'. Talk about originality. That said… I only spoke to Undead, and it was a rare living necromancer that could speak what I dubbed 'the Language of the Dead'. So how did this, presumably, holy priest, leading an order who wants to purge them and any trace of their existence...? "Perhaps we may retire to somewhere more… comfortable, Lady...?

"Wraith."

I could figure out what this guy was playing at later, for now I had to be cordial apparently since this wasn't just devolving into a straight brawl. And I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing in this instance. He gave a nod and kept his smile up, as the clergy all gave bows… this was weird. "Pardon me, Lady Wraith, where are my manners? My name is Barean Westwind, Grand Admiral of the Scarlet Crusade, and Lord of the Scarlet Onslaught."

… Fuck.

He smiled, but behind those eyes, I could tell there was something wrong, more like Jack than I thought. Turning on my heel with a flutter of cloth, I began walking away with my guards in step, stopping only to look behind me at Admiral Westwind, getting the glimpse of his semi-shocked visage before it schooled itself back to the, rather arrogant now that I thought about it, smile.

Cold rain and hail were miserable, regardless of the fact that it didn't bother me anymore. "Are you going to stand there all day Admiral? You were the one wishing to be out of this miserable weather."

---

An: On a completely unrelated note. Fuck Paladins.

Sneaky AN: Seconded, fuck paladins.