Chapter 52: Incursia, Part 3
Celia leaped out of the obsidian frame like a woman possessed, flames swirling around her blade and a fireball ignited in her free hand. She looked around for enemies, but was almost disappointed when she found nothing to take out her frustrations against. The portal she'd exited through was inside a stuffy room with smooth stone and granite floors and sandstone walls, a combination as slapdash as she'd come to expect of the Usurpation.
Two other young women, both blonde and wearing mixed iron and chainmail armor, were there as well, and they looked up in alarm when she emerged. The tensions died down, along with the flames she was wielding, as soon as they'd arisen when Celia recognized them. Evelyn was sitting against a wall by the iron door and holding a gash on her upper arm, while Ava- her younger sister as she recalled- was tending to the injury with a healing potion. Though still surprised to see her, they looked relieved to find they weren't being ambushed. With that in mind, Celia did feel the need to gesture at the portal frame and issue a warning.
"A Far Lander is about to come through here. She is in service to me, and she will not harm you."
That didn't appear to inspire much confidence in the two, but they at least didn't outwardly panic when Tara stepped out of the purple miasma with Melissa on her heels. It was getting cramped in there, but Celia wasn't planning to stick around. There was still a battle to win.
There was still justice to dispense.
"Weren't you with Gwen and Jason?" asked Ava, hesitantly going back to tending her sister's wound.
"We were delayed," she explained, "did they and the rest of my companions come through here?"
Evelyn groaned and straightened where she sat. "The only ones who've been through before you were other Usurpers, and they were dealt with already. Gave me a bad hit, too…"
"It's as I said, your allies must have been sent elsewhere in the city," Tara added. "If I had to guess, I would say they are nearer to the inner sector."
Celia's grip on the sword tightened. "And that's where we will find this 'Mouth of the Banished King' as well?"
"Most likely. I heard he is immensely powerful, and I cannot imagine he wouldn't join the battle himself."
Ava pointed at the door. "The fighting has moved on toward the center. I think the soldiers from Luxmouth, Spruce Roost, and Iron Garrison are converging there as well, they've signaled the north and west gates are secure. TOEC's forces should be nearly done at the southern gate."
Tara sighed. "It won't be over that easily. Even if the two Commandants in the city are defeated, there are still reinforcements from our third and final Division on the way. I wasn't told how many there would be, only enough to help defend Incursia."
Celia wasn't deterred, though. "Then as long as we can capture the city before they arrive, we will be able to establish our own defenses and outlast them. Our first order of business will be to find this 'Mouth' and defeat him."
Melissa stepped between her and the door. "Celia, wait. Think about this for a second, are we really going to fight him ourselves?"
"Of course not, we will find our friends and Gwendolyn, and then we will engage him." Truthfully, she wasn't sure her patience would extend that far.
Tara had explained quite a bit about their mysterious foe. The leader of the Ender Forge, the mastermind behind the plague, the reason she had only fleeting memories of her mother, the reason Felix had to be raised by his older sister… it appeared the 'Mouth' had been busy over the last few decades. That night, she would put a stop to it. She would avenge those whose lives had been cut short by him, at any cost.
But Melissa didn't seem so determined. She took a step back, with an almost frightened expression as she got out of the way. A treacherous thought crept into her head: "She doesn't understand what it's like. She's grown up knowing her mother."
Celia might have felt disgusted with herself were she not so motivated in that instant. There would be time for shame later, once the true villain of the Ender Forge War was taken care of. She stepped past the two Networkers and threw open the iron door, stepping once again into the cold desert night.
Sure enough, they were in a checkpoint building just a chunk away from the eastern gate of Incursia. The redstone mechanisms, pistons, reinforced metal blocks, and much of the walls adjoining them had been broken down when the attack began. Whatever fighting took place there was already over, attested to by the many crumpled forms of Usurpers and Overworlders alike scattered about. Most of the people still standing were from the assault force, standing guard over detained Usurpation soldiers or assisting residents of the conquered villages which made up the city outskirts. It didn't take long for allied troops to notice Tara, and Celia had to repeatedly vouch for her before anyone could attack. She still didn't trust her old enemy, especially not after the raid, but she was putting aside her animosity at least until she'd found her mother's killers.
"They are going to pay. Every. Last. One of them."
With Tara and Melissa not far behind, she stormed up the street between houses and shops, bodies and rubble. She barely paid it all any mind, her focus was entirely on the battle to come.
What did get Celia to snap out of it was a long, terrified yell. A dark shape flew into the air from behind one of the village buildings up ahead, and all she could do was look away as the most horrific snap she'd ever heard filled her ears. The soldier had died on impact, without question. She had to keep forcing herself not to look, even as she heard Melissa letting out wheezing gasps like she was too terrified to even scream.
"That was a TOEC security member," Tara said, apparently under the impression Celia wanted any sort of details about what had just happened less than a chunk away. "She must have been thrown by something."
They didn't need to wait long for the perpetrator to arrive. Someone was walking out from behind the house ahead, over a full block taller than Celia and even larger in stature than Crux had been. It was a person in pitch black armor with a few violet trimmings, and a helmet stylized after a dragon's head with the jaws around a face-concealing visor. He carried no weapons, yet his posture made him look anything but vulnerable.
"Is this him?" Celia asked, not taking her eyes off the person's faceless gaze.
Tara shuffled where she stood. "That's him, Countess…"
There he was. The one who, despite never having seen or heard of him previously, Celia hated more than anyone in the world.
"Find somewhere to hide, Melissa," she said. "Leave this to me."
"No! We need to run, you said we wouldn't fight him!"
Celia's grip on her sword tightened. "He has eluded justice for over thirty years. If he gets away now, we may not have another chance at this."
Tara came to her side, drawing her own blade. "I don't think this is wise, Countess… but if you wish to face him, I will fight with you."
"Please, Celia! Not like this! Don't get yourself killed!" Melissa's voice was breaking.
She didn't turn around. "Stay back. Stay safe."
A pause, then she heard a series of hurried footsteps behind her as Melissa got away from them. Celia took a deep breath and pointed her sword at the Mouth of the Banished King, who hadn't moved from where he was.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Should I, little girl?" His harsh, growling tone was almost as dismissive as Steve's.
She snarled. "I am Countess Celia Lumis. When you and your Ender Forge began your attack 36 years ago, the only survivors of the nobility were my parents. Countless others died in your war. Not long after I was born, my mother fell ill and died as well. I'm led to believe that was your doing as well. What is this nonsense I have heard about a 'Banished King,' or visions in your dreams?"
Tara had filled her in on what she'd learned from the Forge, and Celia didn't believe any of it for an instant. Historical records of the early Lux Kingdom were limited, but nothing suggested a succession crisis of any kind, let alone a coup against the rightful heir to the throne.
The Mouth took a step forward, crossing his arms. "Do you fancy yourself a hero, child? Was your family taken from you? Do you hope to correct this injustice?"
He lunged, and cleared the distance between them in seconds. Celia stared in shock as the Mouth towered over her, less than a block away.
"I do as well."
She didn't even have time to guard before he brought back a fist and drove it into her chestplate, launching her away from him. Celia landed on her back, the air rushing out of her. She struggled to sit up and reorient herself, just in time to see Tara getting swatted away when she tried to attack him up close.
The Mouth approached Celia while she was still down, coming to a stop just a few blocks away. "I am not interested in you, Countess. I care nothing for the nobility. There is much about my life's goal you do not understand."
He crouched in front of her, and she saw two bright purple spots glowing behind his visor. "And yet… I smell her on you. The one I truly seek is here as well."
Whimpering, Celia dragged herself back along the ground as he stared at her.
"If you wish to live," he continued, "you will tell me where the strongest huntress within your meager army is."
"W-what?"
"The Banished King demands justice. Not against you pitiful nobles, but against those who took everything from him."
She flinched when he leaned closer. "What are you saying? Who are you?!"
A deep, guttural laugh came from beneath his helmet. "I am beyond anything you could imagine, child. Tell me where the Huntress is, and you will not die here."
She swung up one of her hands and let out a burst of flames into his helmet, followed by a continuous stream that enveloped his head altogether. He'd let his guard down, and she took her chance. She could turn things around-
An enormous, armored boot raised and slammed down onto her. More than just her iron chestplate broke under the weight of it.
"So be it. The Banished King has decided justice can wait for another minute. Right now, he has declared… that you die, Countess Celia Lumis."
Agony.
AGONY.
Never in her life had she been in so much pain. Her chest felt like it had collapsed in, and it very well might have; the pressure didn't go away even as he picked his foot up off her. She couldn't breathe, couldn't let out the scream she needed to. When Melissa appeared before her eyes, grabbing Celia and teleporting again to get her out of the Banished King's reach, a fresh wave of torment shot through her.
Celia's perception of time appeared to slow down despite the danger they were still in. Danger that she'd gotten them into. They could have run, regrouped with the others before engaging him, but she had to confront the Mouth by herself. And just like with Felix entering danger for her sake time and time again, Melissa was attracting their enemy's ire to save her. If she was going to die, it would be Celia's fault.
"I wanted… to make a difference…"
But that hadn't been all she wanted, and she knew it. Gwendolyn had instructed her to avoid heroics, and Tara had also advised against the battle. Yet Celia hadn't listened, not when given the chance to face her enemy like some brave hero standing up to the villain even if they were outmatched. She'd been a fool to think the encounter would be anything like that, and she was paying the price for it now.
"Run, Melissa," she wanted to say, but couldn't find the breath to. "Don't get yourself killed, not like this!"
The irony was painfully clear, as was the revelation crushing down on her.
"I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready… to fight in the war, or to be a leader…"
And yet, another thought came to mind.
"...but that doesn't mean I can't improve."
She wasn't ready yet, that much was true, but couldn't she still become ready with enough time and effort? If she had the will, and the ability to self-reflect, couldn't she correct her past mistakes? That was what improving was all about, wasn't it?
"...what is this feeling… it doesn't hurt anymore…?"
Something was changing.
"My strength is coming back. My injuries… they're disappearing…"
Melissa wasn't going to die, and neither was she.
Celia didn't realize she'd gotten to her feet until she was fully upright again, pushing Melissa behind her as the Mouth of the Banished King lunged for them. He jumped, apparently intent on crushing the pair, but Celia was ready this time.
"Behind him!" she yelled.
Melissa got her meaning, and she teleported the pair of them to where the Mouth had been standing just as he hit the ground where they'd been. As he turned to face them, Celia thrust out both hands and released…
To call it a wave, or even a focused stream of flames, would have sold it short. She didn't even know if she would have called it fire, what Celia was emitting from her palms was more like a condensed beam of light as if all the power of the sun itself had found its way to her. The attack did more than catch the Mouth by surprise, it outright carried him away from them, straight through a wall of the broken eastern gate and out of Incursia altogether, only fading from sight after it had traveled quite a ways into the badlands beyond the city.
Her arms fell to her sides. She wasn't hurt, not anymore at least, but whatever she'd just done had been exhausting.
"What… how did you…" Melissa shakily asked.
All of the guilt Celia had pushed aside came rushing back to her, and she nearly dropped to her knees as she turned to face Melissa with her head bowed.
"I am so, so sorry. I put us all in danger, for my own selfish desire. You were right… this isn't something I can face alone."
"You look like you did a good enough job of it just now…"
Tara had gotten up as well, stumbling toward them with a hand on her shoulder. She looked ready to collapse, and there wasn't time to find other means of healing her, so Celia dug through her inventory for the golden apple Blake had found in the mansion and handed it over. Tara hesitated, but bit into it with a grateful nod and a sigh of relief as its enhanced healing powers took effect.
"I don't think that put him down for good. I can't quite explain it, but I could feel him resisting the blast… whatever it was."
It was strange. She felt wiped out, and her head was spinning, yet the Genesis Core in her chest was making her more energized than ever before, and to some degree she thought there was no challenge she couldn't overcome. But such thinking had nearly cost her already, and she wasn't going to let her overconfidence get the better of her again. Celia beckoned for the two of them to follow her deeper into the city.
"We're in over our heads," she announced. "We'd best find our friends and get somewhere safer."
"Oh no!"
Tara had stopped. Celia and Melissa came to a halt as well to find she'd pulled out a black book with a glowing sigil shaped like an 'X' on the cover, and was staring at one of the pages with wide eyes.
"We've gotten a message from outside the city," she said, and the worry was evident even in a voice as level as hers. "Commandant Blue's reinforcements are approaching!"
Felix didn't even have a moment to process the sudden allies he'd made in Jade Squad before one of the many mechanical arms on Pyxis' tower swung toward them with a long iron blade outstretched. There was no need for him or Cupa to dodge it; with just a shout from Esme, the terrifying black beast leaped in front of them and batted it aside with its bare hands. Before the arm could turn to try and strike it, the beast reached up and grabbed it by one of the joints, ripping the iron bar clean off.
"That's Ander!" Esme yelled, just before another blade swept toward her. "She's my friend, don't worry about her!"
Felix still wasn't confident he could trust any of them, let alone her hulking companion, but he had to begrudgingly admit he was short on allies. Cupa had backed up behind him and loosed an arrow, which harmlessly bounced off the tower's iron plating.
"The Reestablishment Division's advance forces will be arriving soon! Are you nervous?" Pyxis heckled. "You'd be wise to lay down and die now, what Commandant Blue will have in store is MUCH worse!"
The remaining bladed arms swung around to all bear down on Ander. She may have been powerful enough to destroy one easily, but against the half-dozen focused on her even she seemed overwhelmed. The blades swung and jabbed until she had no choice but to fall back out of their reach, with several shallow cuts in her black, scaly hide.
"Sharp! Sharp!" she snarled.
Esme and her five agents had come under attack as well: dispensers mounted on the rest of the tower's arms were swiveling around to rain down arrows on them. They assembled makeshift barricades using assorted stone blocks to cover their heads, but that left them pinned down and vulnerable. Felix spotted another modified dispenser, this one spewing flames, moving toward where Esme and one of her troops had taken cover.
"I really hope I don't regret this…"
Dispensers were built with stone, meaning they were controllable with his Genesis Core. He focused on the flamethrower and pulled it up to aim at the ceiling. The metal arm it was attached to resisted, and he tensed up as he tugged hard enough for the dispenser to tear free. Felix watched it fly across the room into a corner, no longer threatening to anyone. Unfortunately, his action hadn't gone unnoticed by Pyxis, and another pair of dispensers built into the tower itself rotated to face him and Cupa. Felix stacked a few wooden planks from the mansion in front of them as a storm of arrows followed. Forced to take cover, and without much practice with the Stone Core, he wasn't able to focus on them.
"It's too tough, my arrows aren't doing anything!" Cupa said.
The blades were still pointed at Ander, following her whenever she tried to move to either side. As they turned, Felix could finally see their connection to the tower from where he was crouched. Pistons, even complex networks of them, could only offer so much motion, yet the swiveling and rotating hinges of Pyxis' long metal arms were giving them much greater range. What he still didn't understand was how they were powered; he couldn't see any traces of redstone torches or dust along the arms or tower.
"Esme!" he shouted. "Do you know anything about this machine?"
She stared at him with wide eyes, but composed herself enough to yell back. "I'll bet there are redstone engines controlling the joints! Engines this large are fed redstone energy through wires that lead in a loop from the main power supply to a feedback unit, which refreshes the charge."
"Shut UP, traitor!" Pyxis roared.
A block of TNT was launched from one of the tower's dispensers, sailing through the air toward Esme's cover. Cupa was faster, and a quick shot of her bow detonated the block before it could reach her.
Felix thought back to his early days of redstone tinkering, when he'd made his very first simple trail of dust and a torch. Excited at the success, he had tried to expand the line all the way down the hall of his house, only to discover the power source wouldn't charge the dust that far. That was also when he'd learned the basics of redstone torch safety; attempting to place two in the same block's space to increase the charge had nearly caused the dust to ignite.
"These devices must carry an even stronger current than dust, so if we were to overcharge the line, then…"
"Where's the main supply?" he asked, only vaguely sure he knew what he was doing.
Esme glanced at the tower again before ducking behind cover as another few arrows were shot her way. "Engines at this scale have an effective radius of around three blocks… and if the tower is twelve blocks tall and five wide, then the charge needed to run through the engines would place the main supply…" Felix could practically see her running the calculation in her head. "Uh, two blocks beneath the lowest glass pane, center column!"
There was another explosion, as Cupa shot a second TNT block out of the air before it could land where two more of Esme's agents had taken cover. "Got a plan, Felix?"
He looked back at Ander, then at the metal arm she'd broken off the tower.
"I hope so. Esme, she's going to mark the spot you just pointed out, have your big friend hit it with that blade afterwards!"
"O-okay! Ander, do what the girl in green does!"
Cupa leaned around their wooden wall just long enough to loose an arrow. It struck the specified block, to no effect, but Ander seemed to have gotten the idea. She grabbed the blade off the floor and hurled it at the tower, and the impact tore open a gash in the iron plating. Sure enough, Felix could see a glowing red block encased in what resembled bulky redstone repeaters within. Pyxis' mounted dispensers all turned away from Esme's troops to focus on Ander, leaving the damaged spot exposed.
Felix pointed at the gash. "A bolt, Cupa! Right through there!"
He covered his ears and shut his eyes, neither of which did much to lessen the searing light or the deafening blast of the lightning bolt she released. When he could finally look again, Felix was struck dumb with awe.
The bolt hadn't disappeared, but was instead flowing in a continuous line between the smooth surface of her Genesis Core and into the tower. Sparks raced across the iron shell as small blasts traveled down it; the engines and dispensers appeared to be exploding from within due to the added energy. It took mere seconds for smoke to billow from the gash as the mechanical arms stopped moving. Even the glass shields around the control center at the top shattered, revealing Pyxis frantically trying to get his weapons operational again.
But while the tower's defenses stopped, the electric current didn't. The excess power appeared to have superseded the feedback mechanism Esme mentioned, because energy was surging from the tower back to the Core, and by extension its wielder. Dozens of blue and white sparks were flaring around Cupa, so many that Felix could feel their heat just by standing close to her. She looked rooted to the spot, and she was even beginning to twitch as her charged state intensified. When she spoke, it was through clenched teeth and with a frightened, pleading gaze.
"I c-can't… stop it…!"
"What's happening to her?!" one of Jade Squad's agents asked. "Everyone, stay back!"
Felix pointed at the tower, and at the redstone block she was siphoning energy from. "The power supply, destroy it!"
"Ander, smash the glowing block up there!" Esme ordered.
With the mechanical arms no longer in her way, Ander leaped high into the air and clung to the side of the tower. She punched straight through the iron armor and the redstone block in one strike, and the current finally stopped. Felix heard Pyxis let out a brief scream as Ander turned her sights to him, yet his focus was entirely on Cupa, who'd collapsed to the floor. The electricity arcing around her wasn't nearly as intense as it had been, but she was unconscious and her body was still twitching slightly.
"This is all my fault!" he gasped, too nervous to try and move her. "She's absorbed electricity before, but… was this too much for her? Why didn't I think of that, damn it?!"
Jade Squad had left their cover with Pyxis dealt with, and were gathering around the pair of them. Felix looked at Esme, worried she was about to pull something on him, but he couldn't see any malice in her bright, almost golden eyes.
"I don't really know what this is all about," she began, "but it still isn't safe here. If you'd like, we can help you move her somewhere else."
Even though she'd just helped them, the battle in Luxmouth was still fresh on his mind. She, and a few of her soldiers now that he thought about it, had been there in the garden when everything went wrong. "Can… can I really trust you?"
Esme pulled something out of her inventory: a brown leather book, one which Felix thought looked very familiar.
"We recovered this in the mines under Tenebyss. I've, um, been holding onto it since then, and I think the designs you've made are incredible." Then, she hastily added, "I haven't let our builders see it! Nothing in here has been used by the Usurpation."
He wordlessly took it from her, inspecting the cover and a few pages. His notebook was in exactly the same condition he'd last had it in, diagrams of redstone machines and architectural sketches and all. Did she really respect his work that much? He didn't know what to think about her anymore.
Even so, she was offering to help, and he wasn't in much of a position to refuse. He stowed the Lightning Core in his inventory and lifted Cupa up to carry her from under one arm, with Esme taking the other side. Fortunately, her charged state didn't seem to affect them beyond a tingling sensation.
"We need to find the rest of my companions," he said. "We all came together, but we were split up by the portals."
One of the Jade Squad agents was inspecting the portal frame they'd arrived through. She looked back at them with a shrug. "It won't reactivate! The gateways must still be being interfered with."
"If we can't get into the Nether, where else are we supposed to go?" asked another.
Ander- with noticeably redder claws- stomped her way over to them. "Smell person. Close. Coming. We go, or he find."
She'd barely finished getting the words out before another voice came from the broken door on the other side of the room. Not just any voice, but the very last one Felix could have possibly wanted to hear.
"What's all this? Have I missed the fun?"
Stepping into the chamber, with a bloody iron sword lazily resting on his shoulder and a glowing purple Genesis Core in hand, was the Legendary Hero himself.
Had Ray been asked if he would ever fight alongside his enemy a month prior, he would have vehemently refused. Had he been asked the same a week prior, he still might have declined, but only after some hesitation.
Had he been asked on that day, he would have refused once again, but only because his enemy was no longer the Inlander at his side. He and Blake dodged Fornax's second diamond blade as it spun toward them before retreating to her hand. They adopted new fighting stances, with their weapons ready and coils of plant (or fungal) matter in hand, staring up at the Usurpation Overseer as her spider-like contraption perched above them.
"So you're a traitor too, then. After everything I've done for you?" Fornax hissed. "After all the years I've kept you safe? You're a disgrace, just like-"
"Esme told me what happened," Ray interrupted. "She told me you tried to make her execute unarmed Inlanders. The two of us are going to put an end to all this! Once we defeat Green, we'll stop the fighting- stop the desperate wastelanders from dying for your sake!"
Fornax just started to laugh. "That's how you think this is gonna play out, hm? And then what, the Inlanders will thank you for your help? Forgive you? Would they welcome you to live among them?"
Ray noticed Blake was looking at him in the corner of his eye, but he didn't return the glance. "I don't care what happens to me afterwards. All that matters is stopping the war."
"You're not stopping anything while I have you here, you little turncoat," Fornax spat.
"Alright!" Blake said. "Then I guess we know what to do first. Let's take her down."
He swung up his equipped vine, grabbing another leg, but Fornax called back her second sword and cut it loose before Ray could pull back. Blake followed up with his own grass coil, but he wasn't aiming for her armored spider legs at all. The grass snagged around the line of wool she'd balanced on, and as he yanked down on it Fornax jolted and leaped onto another block.
Blake, to his surprise, pushed a block of TNT into his hands and muttered, "Going up. Hit her with that."
Before Ray could ask for clarification, he'd already thrown a green ball from his inventory toward the ceiling. Just as it reached the top, it vanished in a brief flash of purple and Blake appeared where it had been. As he fell, he cut through the wool line Fornax was retreating onto before catching himself with his grass rope on a different block. Fornax gasped and clung to the wool as it swung her down, slamming her into the wall. Ray saw Blake's meaning and used his fungal coil like a sling, whipping the TNT toward Fornax. It struck the wall just beneath her, and the explosion knocked her off the wool entirely. She dropped to the floor just as Blake was lowering himself back down with the rope.
"Nice moves," Ray told him, a bit in awe. "Did you just teleport?"
"Ender Pearl. They're rare, but they can help you get the jump on your enemy. Also, they kind of hurt to use…"
Fornax groaned, getting to her feet with a stagger. The spider-like contraption was in pieces after the explosion, and she'd withdrawn her light Diamond Core, replacing it with the dark Wool Core again.
"I hope you don't think you have me beaten," she growled. "You'd be surprised how much wool can hurt when it's moving fast enough."
The blocks all around the room, on the floor and attached to the walls, began to gather just above her in an enormous mass. It was easily large and heavy enough to crush both of them, but Ray stood his ground. Channeling the new strength he'd tapped into against the Wither, he assembled every vine of grass and fungus in the room into a dense cluster of his own. A quick flex of his fingers changed the shape, and it shifted from a ball into a long, narrow stick.
"That won't be strong enough to stop all that weight," Blake warned.
"I don't have to stop it. Stay behind me!"
He threw the stick as Fornax swung down her mass like a hammer. The vines struck it head on, then split up and weaved through the gaps between the wool. Ray clenched and released his fist, and the blocks scattered in every direction as the vines tied clumps of them together to be dragged apart. He could feel her struggling to wrench them free of his control, but the plants held steady. With a swing of his hand, one of the wool bundles shot down and hit Fornax directly. She was knocked to the ground again, dropping her Core extractor and slamming a fist onto the floor.
"How? How are you this strong? You've never shown this much power with the Grass Core!"
"I don't get it either," Ray said, not letting go of the bundles, "but my powers deepened after the Wither nearly killed me. And you know what? I killed it instead."
"The Wither? So… that was you…"
He flinched. Blake's tone was hard to identify, not accusatory or even suspicious, but almost… relieved. Yet that didn't make what Ray had done any less severe, and he felt guilty to look him in the eye.
"We'll talk about it later," Blake said. "Let's tie her up."
A pair of chimes resounded, one of which was from Ray's inventory. He opened his communications book to see a new message had come in, one directed to all of Incursia.
[Attention, Usurpation Army. This is CMD Blue, Reestablishment Division, approaching Incursia with reinforcements. Do not surrender under any circumstances.]
"Hey-!" he heard Blake exclaim.
The last Ray saw of Fornax, when he looked up from the page, was her downing a potion and becoming invisible. Her footsteps trailed out of the room and down another hall, leaving the two of them alone.
"I don't have time to hunt for her," Blake began, "I need to go find my friends. If you want to go after her, then… thank you for the help, Ray." He even smiled a little.
But the message hadn't left Ray's mind. "There's a problem. We're about to see a new wave of Usurpation soldiers entering the city, led by one of the three Commandants."
Blake gasped. "Our forces are all split up! We'll be overrun!"
"I know. We need to regroup with our allies." Ray pointed down the tunnel he'd followed through the walls. "There's someone here who helped me kill that Wither. Our plan was to defeat Commandant Green with Esme's help and send a message to everyone in the city, asking them to stand down. But if Blue just ordered the whole Army not to surrender…."
"There's no way you can pull that off now," Blake finished.
They both faced the hole in the wall again when they heard the clank of armored footsteps, but the newcomer was just Ulrich. His Netherite armor looked a bit worse for wear, covered in shallow scratches, and his sword was slick with blood- from whom or what, Ray couldn't tell.
"The Nether's secure," he announced, though he didn't sound very optimistic. "More Piglins showed up, and they have it under control now." Then, he looked at Blake. "Friend of yours, Ray?"
"He's not an enemy. We fended off my old boss together, but she got away."
"I think we should be moving on too," said Ulrich. "Any word from your other friends?"
Ray looked at his notebook again and flipped to his last correspondence with Esme. Just as he found it, the book's enchanted shimmer faded and the glowing sigil disappeared. One last message displayed at the bottom of the page.
[USURPATION ARMY RANK REVOKED. COMMUNICATIONS SEVERED.]
He tried to reach out to Esme, but everything he wrote appeared to evaporate off the page each time he put the quill to it. The stream of updates he'd been getting from across Incursia had abruptly stopped as well.
"I-I can't get in touch with her! With anyone! I'm cut off!"
"You said she'd be waiting for us, didn't you?"
"At the southern entrance to the Industrial Headquarters. If we're in Fornax's workshop, that puts us near the western entrance, but there's no telling how long she'll be safe waiting there."
Ray heard the sound of breaking crystal. Blake had dug through the cluster of diamond blocks in the middle of the room with the severed head of an iron pickaxe. He took the blocks for himself, uncovering a glass container beneath them which he also broke. Inside sat two Genesis Cores, yellow and purple, and Ray felt a familiar resonance from both.
"These are the Bonemeal Cores," Blake told him with a cautious stare. "I'm taking them back."
"...right. Right, you should."
He didn't watch as Blake retrieved them, he was too concerned over what to do next. There was still some hope: the Reestablishment Division wasn't nearly as battle-oriented as the Expansion, and even with Commandant Blue present their forces weren't likely to overrun the city by themselves. They could still regroup with Jade Squad and hunt down Green before it was too late… couldn't they?
One of the room's iron doors was blown open by an explosion, Ray whirled, raising his sword again as a squadron of Inlanders entered, but Blake stepped forward with his hands raised.
"Ember! Hey, it's all right!"
The soldiers paused, still giving Ray and Ulrich wary looks. The brown-haired young man at the front had a palm held out; had he used a Genesis Core to blast it open? Ray wasn't aware of an explosive Core, but he supposed it made sense for one to exist.
"They're… with me," Blake continued to Ember. "How's the attack going?"
Ember rubbed one of his temples with a grimace. "Things were fine at first, but more and more of us are being split up when we try to navigate with the Nether portals. Those of us who managed to regroup have stormed the city center, though it's still a close battle. If that wasn't bad enough, nobody seems to have any idea where Gwen is."
Blake flinched at the last report. "I… I don't know either. She was with me and Felix before, but… we got separated."
"The Usurpation has been developing a way to link Nether portals and change where they lead," Ray explained. "I only learned about this recently… if I'd just gotten here sooner, I could have warned you all."
Shortly after, another group of Inlanders entered through the broken door. They all wore iron armor in various battered states, sporting the emblem of a green crescent. When one of them spotted Blake, he stepped closer with a gasp. "You! Where's my sister?!"
"We all got split up by the portals, I've been trying to get back through to find her!"
"She'll have the sense not to run off into the middle of the battle without any support, Galen," Ember tried to reassure him. "The Nether and the city outskirts are secure."
He just threw up both of his hands in exasperation. "That's not the problem! There's even more troops coming from the north now, we're getting reports of hundreds of them!"
"How is that possible?" Ulrich asked. "Iron Garrison hasn't been able to fully stop their advance through the Lux Plains, but they wouldn't have let that many through, and they'd never have gotten a force that large across the Nether so quickly."
He and Ember looked at Ray for answers, but he could only shake his head in confusion. How so many reinforcements could have sprang upon Incursia in such a short time was beyond him.
"...mobs," Blake said, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "They must have brought mobs with them."
Ray wanted to be angry at the insinuation. The Usurpation Army was wrong to invade, yet he couldn't bring himself to believe any of his kin would be so low as to fight alongside monsters. He didn't have any other explanation for the sudden boost in reinforcements, however, so he just settled to ask a different question. "How would they do that? A new Genesis Core, perhaps?"
"I thought you Far Landers were the experts on those," Ember muttered.
"We don't know everything about them, but I've never heard of one which commands monsters. They can manipulate materials or elements, and in rare cases apply effects to things, but this? And on a scale of hundreds?"
All present went quiet, unsure of what to do next. What was apparent, and only growing more so by the second, was just how bleak their situation really was. Ray had no idea if he would even be able to find Esme, the Inland soldiers were scattered about the city and in danger of being overrun, and Commandant Green was likely under heavy guard by that point anyway. He was at an utter loss on what to do next.
"Guys?" Blake's shaky voice was almost a whisper. "Are we… about to lose?"
Tara knew she was in no position to argue with the Countess, but she was beginning to doubt they were really going to find her companions like she'd said.
They'd come across a squad's worth of undead, all garbed in shoddy leather armor and clutching dull stone blades, standing over the body of some poor Inland villager who'd attempted to slip away from the battle. Tara might have written off their presence as an unfortunate coincidence were it not for the lone human in their midst.
They were a Usurpation soldier, that much was obvious from the beige cloak tied like a sash around their torso and the Army's emblem engraved into their chestplate. But their armor was like none Tara had seen. It was dark blue instead of the usual dull red, an unusual enough sight that she wondered if they'd merged refined havenite and diamond into a single alloy. The X-shaped, cyan visor in their face-concealing helmet gave their identity away easily. This was no mere Reestablishment Division soldier, but an elite trooper from Blue Squad, one of the Commandant's personal enforcers much like those of Red Squad.
The trooper didn't say anything, not even when their faceless gaze landed on Tara beside the two Inlanders. They simply raised their curved blade- made of the same dark blue material as their armor- and pointed it toward the trio, directing their undead minions to attack.
"Stay behind me, you two," she said, keeping her own sword raised. "I'll handle this."
"There would be little point in you getting yourself killed right now," Celia replied. She stood ready to fight as well, while Melissa was close behind her. "Take this, and do not make me regret trusting you with it."
To Tara's astonishment, she was handed the light Ice Core. She bound it to herself, feeling the familiar rush of heightened senses and the cool tranquility she'd been used to. The badlands may have been dry, but she had a few tricks she could rely on.
The zombies didn't so much charge as creep toward them, and unlike the mindless shambling such monsters were known for, they approached with care and caution. Tara moved to stab at one, only to find her strike parried aside. She was forced to back up out of her target's reach; the zombies may still have been sluggish, but they'd clearly been trained just enough to become halfway credible threats.
Which was to say, halfway credible against anyone who didn't have Genesis Cores. When one of the undead lurched forward to attack Tara, she conjured a thin, sharp icicle from her palm which she thrust forward and into a seam of its armor. The shard pierced right through its chest, keeping it still long enough for her to lop its head off with her blade. The elite trooper just watched as the rest of their minions had similar luck, each falling victim in turn to Tara's deadly precision or Celia's flaming projectiles. They only reacted when the Countess defeated the last zombie with another concentrated beam of light, taking a step back.
"You've awakened your Core," they said, their voice muffled by the helmet. "You're too dangerous to let escape."
Tara wasn't sure what they meant, but they weren't elaborating. They sprang at Celia, dodging a fireball she threw with a quick spin to the left. Barely losing pace, they charged again before she could conjure another. Tara came to her aid by lunging for the trooper from the side and striking them with a wide slash. Her blade didn't break through their armor, but the collision did blow them away from Celia by quite a few blocks- loath as she was to admit it, Shade's Knockback enchantment had proven useful.
Yet not useful enough, for the trooper landed in a roll and was back on their feet in an instant, producing a short axe from their inventory which they threw at Tara as she moved to pursue them. She was just barely able to sidestep it, but the dodge left her open for the trooper to jump back up and bring up their blue sword for a slash.
Melissa was between them in the blink of an eye, having warped just in front of Tara to block the strike with her own blade. The collision's force caused Melissa to buckle and almost be knocked over, and the trooper drew back to stab their much less experienced target. Tara didn't give them the chance, quickly focusing her Core's energy on the spot just below their feet. The stone road was coated with a thin layer of ice in an instant, and Melissa was able to warp back out of the elite trooper's reach as they stumbled on the slippery terrain.
"This is my opening…"
Tara swung at the trooper's gauntleted arm, and the force of her enchanted blade knocked the sword right out of her foes' grasp. They responded by catching her wrist with one hand, grabbing the front of her cloak with the other, and using a foot to sweep her legs out from under her. She hit the ground in a daze, feeling her sword slip out of her hand as the trooper snatched it away to fend off Celia.
"Damn it… are they too skilled for us?"
She pushed herself back up to see the Countess in a duel of rapid, precise slashes and jabs where neither she nor the elite trooper could gain the upper hand. Melissa was circling around to attack from behind, but when she moved in the trooper suddenly disengaged from her exchange to drop and ignite a block of TNT right in the middle of all three of them. Tara scrambled away from it and covered her head as the block exploded, filling the air with soot and a deafening blast. She got back up and saw neither of her allies had been caught in it; Melissa had teleported herself and Celia out of the explosion's radius just before it went off. They weren't far enough to fully avoid the pressure of the blast, which knocked both of them to the ground as well.
Astoundingly, the elite trooper had teleported out of the way as well. They'd tossed a green, spherical crystal which brought them to a spot just in front of Tara's downed allies. Raising the stolen sword, they were ready to deliver a killing blow.
"No!"
Someone else had come to the Countess' rescue, charging at the elite trooper from behind and forcing them to go on the defensive. The soldier was almost too quick to even make out their movements as they viciously attacked with- of all things- a diamond pickaxe. There was a sickening crunch, then the trooper teetered and collapsed with the head of the pick broken through their visor.
Their savior turned. She was an Inlander, older than Tara or her allies by perhaps a decade, with a piercing emerald gaze to complement her orange, flame-like long hair. She was armored in a true mishmash of materials: an iron helmet, chaimail chestplate, refined havenite leggings, and diamond boots, all of which were in variable condition. Tara suspected she'd scavenged them from other scenes of battle in the city.
The woman looked her way and drew an iron sword with a glare.
"W-wait!" Celia exclaimed. "She's with me, don't hurt her!"
Tara had been under scrutiny by many people, either back in the wastes or during her time in the Usurpation, yet none of their gazes made her want to shrivel up and hide quite like she did at the moment. She let out a sigh of relief when the woman backed off to help Celia and Melissa get back up.
"Are you the Countess?" she asked, with an odd rasp to her voice which made her sound older than she looked.
"I am. Thank you for rescuing us, Miss…?"
The woman cleared her throat. "I'm with the Netherrack Network… my name is Kaitlin."
"Do you know where Dame Gwendolyn is? We were separated from her and our other companions." Melissa explained. "If we regroup, we could figure out what to do next."
Kaitlin flinched at the question. "I hate to tell you this, but we're not going to win the battle. Mobs are swarming toward the city, and our allied forces are beginning to pull out."
Tara saw all of the color leave Celia's face. "But… but we can't just give up! Not now! Where are Luxmouth's knights?!"
"They're covering for as many civilians as we can help escape," Kaitlin replied. "Many of them have already been captured; they've done all they can. The Network is setting up new Nether portals to get people out of here. There's one nearby, you should head that way."
"And leave my friends behind? Absolutely not!" Celia hissed.
Kaitlin looked like she was struggling to remain patient. "If you're referring to the three people you arrived at the base camp with, Gwen already sent them to the Nether. She told me that herself- in fact, she sent me to find you, Countess."
That seemed to placate Celia, at least enough for her not to protest. She just clenched her jaw and looked down, clearly frustrated yet recognizing there wasn't much she could do.
Melissa put a hand on her shoulder. "I think she's right. We've done what we can, but for now we should get away while we have the chance. We'll find the others and think of something else."
Tara hazarded a suggestion as well. "There could be other ways to battle the Army than direct combat, but we would have to survive long enough to find an alternative. It's as you said, Lady Celia, there would be little point in getting killed now."
That earned her an annoyed glance from the Countess, but she heaved a sigh and hung her head. "All our efforts, yet I have to retreat… mark my words, this is not over. We'll return, strong enough to defeat them."
Kaitlin nodded, then turned and pointed to a cobblestone building Tara recognized as an Expansion Division barracks. "I came from there, we've got a portal inside for you. Get in and run, find cover in the caves. I'll join you if I can; I need to round up more stragglers before the mobs overtake us."
With that, she broke away from them to head deeper into the city, only giving Tara a suspicious glare before she was out of sight. Melissa took Celia's hand to lead her toward the barracks, and Tara brought up the rear while keeping an eye out. As she followed them inside, she took one final look at the city streets, hoping her life as a Usurper would be left behind when she retreated.
Through the portal, they came to a sector of the Nether fortification which had seen considerable damage. Whatever bodies had been there were dragged off, and the Piglin soldiers were gone. A narrow corridor was dug straight through the walls, which they followed all the way back to the outer cave of the stronghold where the branching tunnels converged.
"Where are her friends-"
Something struck Tara from behind as she exited the compound, throwing her to the floor with a groan. Melissa and Celia both hit the ground beside her a moment later.
"Here's a good catch, gentlemen!"
She rolled over and looked up at the soldier leering at her. His battered chainmail armor and grayish cloak were not dissimilar to Usurpation garb, but he was much too tanned to have come from the wastes. He was an Inlander, and a smug-looking one at that. Other men dressed like him were surrounding Tara's two allies as they sat up.
"Who's this, Countess? A prisoner?"
Celia scowled at the leader. "What do you think you're doing, Armand?"
The man put his hands up in mock protest. "I'm just trying to make sure we don't have any trouble during the evacuation! Most of the Sandstone Fangs have pulled out already, but I don't think we've actually been compensated enough for our efforts today."
"If it's emeralds you want, we've given you all we have already," Melissa told him with a glare. "I guess I'm not surprised the Fangs are bailing at the earliest opportunity."
"It's just good business, Miss Beryl," Armand replied. "Now then, if you don't want to be tied up and left for the Usurpation to find, you'll hand over your valuables. Those magical crystals would be a good start."
Tara stared, wide-eyed, as Celia removed a strange white box from her inventory and set it on the ground in front of him. "Our most valuable items are in here."
A Sandstone Fang grunt opened the lid and looked inside. His face was illuminated by a golden light shining from within. "Some enchanting equipment, assorted tools and materials… yeah, boss, there's one of the crystals too."
"Time's short, so it will have to do," said Armand. "Thanks for the contribution, Countess. Best of luck to you."
He picked up the box and made a hasty getaway through one of the nearby tunnels, his cronies not far behind.
"We need to get that back," Celia mumbled.
"What about your companions?" asked Tara.
She covered her face, even softly whimpering. "I have to choose now? I have to choose between my friends and a Genesis Core that could win us the war? How many fragments of the Creators have we lost today?"
Tara paused. "So… you've figured out what they are as well…"
"It was Felix," explained Melissa, "he realized the truth about them. The one we just lost… was Notch's soul."
"And he didn't die in the mines, like you may have thought," Celia snapped. "He escaped with us."
All of that surprised Tara to hear, but she wasn't going to question it. The memory of holding him captive was gnawing at her from within, and she wanted to do anything to make things right. "If you wish to find him, I will do what I can to help you."
She and Melissa were quiet, watching the Countess mull over their options. Her answer, while not surprising from a logical standpoint, was disheartening nonetheless. "I will pursue Armand to the Needle Gardens… and take back Notch's soul."
"Then I'll come with you," Tara declared.
"I just wish I could see Galen one more time before we leave," lamented Melissa, sniffing a bit, "but I'm with you too. I'm sure Cupa, Blake, and Felix can get out of here… they're tough, and they're together."
Celia nodded with a small hiccup. "I trust our friends to escape… I… I t-trust them…"
By the time the three had made it to one of the nearby tunnels to slip away from Incursia, she was already weeping against Melissa. Tara felt her stoic guise return, resolving to help the Countess end the war even if it took until her dying breath.
But seeing for the first time in her life what real concern and support for one's friends looked like, she wanted to cry with Celia at the cruelty of it all.
Esme and her agents didn't move a muscle. The lone Inlander at the door wasn't wearing armor over his blue clothing, yet he didn't have a scratch on him and his sword had clearly seen plenty of use. She suspected if she were to examine her tracker, it would reveal the Genesis Core in his hand to be the dark Stone Core, which would make him the soldier who fought through over a dozen Usurpation troops by himself to get to it.
That also meant he was in possession of an unidentified dark Core. Esme wondered if it might have been the same as the one she'd detected in Luxmouth and later in Tenebyss, as they seemed to keep showing up in the same places. One glance at Felix made her suspect that was the case: whatever had happened in the mines, it obviously had something to do with the newcomer. His expression was one of sheer terror as he stared down the Inlander.
"Having trouble with the Far Landers, kid?" he said, with a nod to Felix. "Have you gotten in over your head again?" The man froze when he got a look at Ander. His face scrunched in bafflement, then his eyes widened. "What are you? Those scales…"
Esme, thinking he was alarmed by her appearance, tried to reassure him. "We're not enemies, sir. My friends and I have defected from the Usurpation Army, and we'd like to help you end the war."
"I think," said Felix, "that isn't going to help us here…"
A cruel grin spread over the man's face. "And I think you're right, kid. You and your friends got in my way, and now I find you getting cozy with the Usurpation… not to mention the monster they've tamed. As the hero, I don't like that one bit."
"We aren't your enemies, there's no need to fight!" Esme insisted. Her agents were giving each other nervous glances.
"Oh, I disagree," he snapped. He inspected the dark Genesis Core, holding it close to his face. "Now then, I believe you're supposed to…"
"NO!" Felix cried. "STEVE, DON'T!"
His plea fell on deaf ears. 'Steve' pressed the Core against his chest until it broke, and the gas seeped into him. The brickwork in the walls began to shudder and crack, shifting around to the point that they broke the redstone lamps built in the ceiling and plunged the chamber into darkness. Esme could only make out people by their silhouettes: her agents, Felix, his friend, and Steve were just black shapes in her vision. The only sources of light were the sparks being emitted from the hooded girl, and the violet glow of Ander's eyes.
"Wait, if he already has a dark Core…"
An instant later, another pair of eyes lit up in the dark: Steve's, no longer vibrant blue but stark, brilliant white, and entirely empty.
"Ahh… that does feel nice," he sighed, seemingly not losing control like Tara had. "Now then, goodbye."
Esme heard a cracking of stone from the wall to her left, followed by a hard collision of brick blocks against someone. Jade-5 only had time to let out a short scream before falling deathly silent.
"No!" Jade-3 shouted. "No, NO-"
"I can't see where it's coming from- AH!" Jade-6 was cut off.
Esme's legs felt weak. She listened to her agents being struck down, feeling utterly helpless to do anything about it.
"Get out of here! Go, before- ugh!" Jade-7 fell next.
She winced at the sound of more bricks crashing into the floor near Jade-5, but he must have somehow dodged them, because he drew his sword and made a dash for Steve. "Come here, you bastard!"
"That's the spirit," he cackled, "come at me!"
Esme didn't even have time to cry out a warning before she heard a gruesome slash. Jade-5 choked out something, then his silhouette collapsed in front of Steve's.
"RUN, DAME ESM-" Jade-8 couldn't even finish.
All five of her remaining agents had died in less than a minute. She was too shocked to scream, not even when Ander scooped her, Felix, and Cupa all up into her arms with a growl.
"Do you think you're going somewhere?" Steve asked. More stone bricks cracked off of the walls around them, and Esme braced herself for the impact.
"You stay still! We run!" Ander barked. Rather than stand against him, she tore off and barged shoulder-first right through one of the broken walls. Esme heard her grunt in pain as a few blocks were thrown into Ander's back, yet none of it slowed her down. She barreled through a few other, thinner walls in succession until she'd broken a path straight across the Industrial Headquarters and back outside to Incursia's inner sector.
Esme could finally see the extent of the fighting. Usurpers and Inlanders were everywhere, entire squads desperately battling for control over more territory. Those nearest to them paused to look at Ander in alarm, but otherwise the carnage was so intense that even someone as large as her didn't attract much attention. Worse still, despite being pushed so far back, Incursia's defenders had regained their morale at the news of Blue's approach, and were viciously holding their ground. The Inland forces, perhaps becoming aware of their enemies' inbound reinforcements, were steadily giving up the attack and retreating.
Ander kept moving, scaling to the top of a nearby building to bound across the rooftops where the foot soldiers wouldn't be able to reach her. Esme checked her notebook in the hopes Ray would have let her know where she was, but the most she found was a message that her connection had been cut off. The terrible realization began to sink in: she had no allies to turn to. Jade Squad had been wiped out, she had no idea where Ray was, to the rest of the Usurpation she'd been branded a traitor, and Commandant Green would be impossible to reach. Ander may have been loyal to her, but the two of them would never win by themselves.
"At this point, the only other person I could trust is…"
Felix was right next to her in Ander's arms, holding onto his unconscious friend. She wiped tears from her eyes- the horror of what had just happened was finally settling in- and asked, "What will you do now?"
He turned to look at her, and she could see him tearing up as well. "I… I d-don't know! I don't know where my friends are! We all got separated, and they could be anywhere, a-and if there are more Usurpers coming, then…" He gulped. "H-how many?"
"Ander, get higher up," Esme said. "We need to see what we're dealing with."
She and Felix held on as Ander changed her course to scale a nearby guard tower. A few Expansion Division archers at the top shakily took aim at her, but all it took to frighten them back down the stairs inside was a bare of her fangs and a growl. She perched on the roof, allowing them to see out over Incursia. The night was passing, and the very earliest rays of sunrise were hitting the city… at the same time as a vast, all-encompassing shadow.
From the north, a mass of dark shapes descended upon Incursia in a mad rush. The Usurpers in their path scurried out of the way, while the Inlanders who hadn't already fled were swept up by the wave of reinforcements. Esme couldn't make out any details at that distance, but Ander's reaction told her everything she needed to know.
"Meat," she grunted. "Too much meat."
"Undead? They brought undead with them?" Esme whispered.
Felix practically deflated. "That has to be over five hundred mobs… and it looks like there's even more coming through the gate. It's… it's over. Celia, Blake, Melissa… they're all somewhere down there…"
"If you want to find them, just say the word," Esme told him, trying to muster any courage she had left. "Ander and I will help you."
Felix stared at her, and she could see his entire world appear to crumble in his face. He looked down at the city again, then back to his friend. A long, long sigh came out of him.
"Cupa could be hurt, and if we go down there we'll just be in more danger. I think… if we get her out of here, we can figure out something else." He tried to put on a brave face. "I need to have faith in my friends. They'll get through this… they won't give up. And neither will I."
Esme nodded. "Where to?"
Felix, after some deliberation, pointed northeast into the distance. "There's a certain Genesis Core that I think can help us, and I know where it is. We need to get to the Range at World's Edge."
"That would take us right past the mobs! I-if you're sure about this, then… hang on!" Esme pointed northeast too, and declared, "Take us that way! GO!"
Ander leaped from roof to roof, bringing them across the city all the way to the outskirts, where she broke through the wall and sprinted off into the badlands beyond. When they were several chunks away, she paused to catch her breath. Esme and Felix climbed down from her; it would be easier for Ander to only carry Cupa so long as she was unconscious. The group turned around, taking one final look at Incursia, the smoke billowing into the sky, and the swarm of reinforcements from the Reestablishment Division.
"Ray… Jade Squad… it won't be for nothing. I promise, we're going to stop this one way or another."
Then they turned to keep going, a long journey ahead with every step full of uncertainty.
"Am Ander! You friend Esme, I keep you safe."
"Uh… y-yeah, good to meet you. I'm Felix. And, um, thank you for carrying Cupa."
"Smell funny. Different," Ander snorted.
It would take some getting used to their new companions, she figured. Perhaps more work on the Inlanders' end, but Esme would do her best to meet them halfway. It was the least she owed them.
"By the way, Felix," she asked as they kept running into the early sunrise, "what kind of Core are we looking for? Will just one really be enough to turn this around?"
"It's not just any Genesis Core, it could be an ally in its own right." He took a deep breath. "We're looking for the soul of Herobrine."
"Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic…"
It was hard for Blake not to panic. He didn't know where any of his friends had wound up, he had no idea what had just happened to Gwendolyn, and it sounded like the Usurpation was about to be reinforced at the worst time possible.
He wasn't the only one worrying: Galen was nearly hysterical, pacing about the room and clutching his forehead. "Melissa's still out there somewhere!"
A cacophony of guttural roars sounded from nearby. One of the TOEC fighters stole a glance outside the broken door, then jumped and barricaded it with a few blocks of stone. He turned to face them with a gulp. "Zombies, coming our way! They're all armed and armored!"
"They're here already?!" Ember exclaimed.
Ulrich was loading a crossbow. "It won't do us any good to hole up in here. We should get going."
The undead began to pound on their barricade, cracking the stone apart. But just as quickly as they'd come, the growls and grunts dwindled to nothing as a series of slashing noises came from outside. The stone blocks came apart shortly after, revealing a tall woman in damaged armor made of several materials. Her face was firm and authoritative, and when her emerald eyes landed on Ray she raised a brow.
"He's, uh, not an enemy," Blake said. "He just helped me out."
That actually made her look surprised. "That's the second time I've heard that tonight. Were you with the Countess of Luxmouth?"
"T-that's right! We got split up, do you know where she is?"
The woman pointed in the vague direction behind him. "I saw her not long ago, she was with Miss Beryl and a Far Lander in black."
Blake looked at Ray, who seemed something between shocked and thrilled. "There are others leaving the Usurpation? That's good…"
Galen heaved a sigh. "Oh, okay… Melissa's safe…"
"My name is Kaitlin," she continued. "Our forces are pulling out, and the Netherrack Network is setting up portals to get everyone away."
Ember straightened and stepped forward. "So you're Kaitlin! Gwen's mentioned you. I'm Jason, but everyone calls me Ember."
Kaitlin almost smirked. "I've heard otherwise. In any case, it's time for you all to be going, so find somewhere to set up a portal and get out of here. I've already sent the Countess along, she'll be safe there. I will catch up with you as soon as I can."
"Sounds good. Let's roll, everyone!"
Ember led the group down the tunnel Blake had broken his way through, while Kaitlin exited where she'd just come in to seek out other troops.
"Maybe Felix and Cupa got away too," Blake thought, with some hope returning. "And now that we have the Bonemeal Cores…"
The Bonemeal Cores. Both of them. The items which had put Luxmouth in so much danger, which the invaders had tried so desperately to get back.
"They could be so helpful for us, and if we keep them out of the Usurpation's hands it might slow down their forces. But… wherever I bring them, there'll definitely be people following me." Blake nearly felt sick at the thought creeping into his mind. "I'd just be putting Celia and the others in more danger if I went back with these."
"Then leave the Cores behind," some other part of himself suggested. "You can still be with your friends, just don't draw as much attention to yourselves by keeping these. Do you really think you'll be able to guard them by yourself while on the run?"
He wanted so very badly to convince himself of that logic, but he just couldn't. To make sure his friends could escape safely, he knew what had to be done.
"I can't go with them."
Galen hadn't left the room with the others. "What do you mean?"
"If I keep the Bonemeal Cores, that'll paint a target on my back. I don't want to get the rest of you in trouble."
The point seemed to click for him. Galen stared at Blake, concern in his eyes, but he didn't argue it. "I'll let Melissa and the others know. I promise, we'll find you again once things are looking up."
"Thanks. Good luck."
Galen left to catch up with the rest of his troops, while Ray turned to Blake again. "If you want to slip away with the Cores… then I'll come with you, if you'd allow me." His shoulders slumped. "There's not much of a chance I'll find Esme now, anyway…"
Blake was torn on whether he could trust his old enemy. Or, for that matter, the armored villager who'd accompanied him. Ulrich stepped toward the group with a sigh. "If you're going to run, you won't get very far just going anywhere. You need somewhere safe to bring those… and I know the perfect place for them."
With just the three of them left in the room, Ulrich removed his helmet. Blake's jaw dropped at the scarred Illager's face staring down at him, and he reflexively gripped his sword.
"You're… you're a…"
Ulrich just frowned. "You said you were here with Countess Celia. Does she trust you?"
With his mouth suddenly very dry, he nodded.
"Then does this mean anything for you? 'May the sun forever rise above a peaceful world.'"
Blake didn't put away the sword, but his grip loosened as confusion set in. "That means… who are you?"
"Ulrich Schwarz. My family was familiar with House Aurora of Frostcap before the Ender Forge War, and I still have allies there. If you're a friend of House Lumis, the spy networks of Frostcap will protect you and the Cores."
A heavier weight than Blake had ever felt crushed on him. He didn't know what else to do, what other way he could keep the people he'd journeyed with safe, but to leave.
"They'll all find each other… they'll escape together…"
"The Nether's no good, but I know the tunnels in the Great Badlands," Ulrich said. "I've cleared out mob dens before, and I know there's an old mine shaft far below us. We can escape through there before making our way northwest.
"If that's the plan, there's something I want to check first," said Ray. He was walking to pick up Fornax's dropped Core extractor.
"Hurry up, we don't have much time," remarked Ulrich.
"My Genesis Core feels different," Ray began. "I don't know how to explain it, but it's like I've been more in tune with its power ever since I fought the Wither."
He aimed Fornax's extractor at himself and activated it. When the process was finished, Blake and Ray simultaneously gasped at what the device held.
The Grass Core wasn't shaped any differently, still glassy and smooth, yet it was almost unrecognizable due to the light emanating from it. Blake had expected the familiar golden glow of one of Notch's lost abilities, but the Core was instead emitting a light as vibrant green as the Lux Plains. Blake slowly reached out and placed a hand on its surface, and when his perception blurred, the voice which came from the Core was neither of the Creators'.
"I am called Ray. And… thank you for giving me this chance for redemption."
Then he was back to the present, with Ray giving him a concerned look.
"I heard your voice from it. You were telling someone thanks for… getting to redeem yourself."
"That was what he told me the other night," Ulrich said.
Ray bound the Core to himself again. "If it's storing a memory of mine, then… I wonder… Blake, could I borrow the light Bonemeal Core?"
Knowing what had happened to Tara when she bound two of them, and having at least a theory of why it had happened, Blake could tell what Ray had in mind. Tentatively willing to trust him, he took out the golden Bonemeal Core and traded it with Ray for the extractor, just in case.
Ray bound the new Core with his eyes squeezed shut. All around them, the discarded plant matter they'd been fighting with shivered and rustled. Blake braced himself for the worst.
"I'm… okay?" The commotion settled down a moment later. Ray inspected himself, laughing nervously, before sighing in relief. "I'm okay! I can use two of them!"
"I should learn how to do that," Blake thought, the dark Bonemeal Core on his mind.
Ulrich cleared his throat and drew a pickaxe. "If you're done, then I'd say it's time for us to get moving. We have a long way to go before we're in the clear, and even longer to get to Frostcap."
They got to work, with Blake and Ulrich tunneling through the floor and beneath Incursia while Ray filled their spiraling stairway in behind them to prevent pursuit. When they were quite a ways below the surface, breaking through layers of stone and into a dark, abandoned mineshaft, Blake dropped to his knees as what he'd just done really sank in. All around him were cramped, pitch-black tunnels with no clear destination. And there he was, in the center of them all, without the friends he'd shared his journey with.
There he was, all alone in the wide world once again.
End of Part Seven
Thus did the Battle of Incursia come to an end. The assembled forces of the Overworld's Edge, despite their best efforts, could not break the Usurpation Army's foothold. As reinforcements from the mysterious Reestablishment Division descended upon Incursia, many Overworlders were killed and many more were captured. The Netherrack Network's scouts cleared the way for as many people to retreat as they could, yet Gwendolyn the Diamond Knight seemingly disappeared during the battle and was never found. Without her leadership, the escapees were unorganized and poorly equipped, with no contact with their allies.
Similarly, the trusted companions of the Inland Alliance were separated:
Celia Lumis and Melissa Beryl, joined by Tara of the Far Lands, set off eastward to reclaim the soul of Notch from the treacherous Sandstone Fangs.
Felix Silverhand departed to the northeast in search of the soul of Herobrine. Accompanying him were Cupa of Teras and Esme of the Far Lands, as well as Esme's hulking guardian, Ander.
Blake found new allies in Ray of the Far Lands and Ulrich Schwarz. His journey would bring him northwest, at Ulrich's urging, in the hopes that assistance could be found in the mountain city of Frostcap. Yet hope was not something he had much of anymore.
The future was uncertain for all ten individuals, and the Usurpation Army was closer than ever to conquering the Overworld's Edge.
END OF BOOK TWO
Note from the author:
This chapter holds the new record for the longest I have ever written, and I hope the ending of Book Two was worth the wait. A year and a half of work went into Rallying the Inlands, and I think it's paying off very nicely.
You may have noticed the new artwork used for the cover. I commissioned it and several other pieces from 8melii on Tumblr, along with quite a few more from another artist. If you are interested in seeing scenes from the plot brought to life, look no further than the crosspost of this story on Archive of Our Own, where the Usurpation War Compendium features a gallery of commissioned artwork!
We've reached roughly the halfway point! There's still a lot more to come, and our heroes will face much more on their journeys. However, the next entry will not be Book Three, but what I am tentatively calling "Book X: The Legendary Heroes." It will be a single arc centered around a brand new protagonist elsewhere in the Overworld, as they uncover the secrets of two crucial figures to this world's history. But even before Book X, there is one chapter to go before The Usurpation War goes back on hiatus for a while.
Please join me next time for Interlude 2, where a showdown greater than any thus far is in store! And thank you again for your time and attention!