Thunder sounded over the Eastern horizon, and Alexander Harris peered in that direction, scanning the sea and the cloudless sky. It could be a storm, even so, but he doubted it. The Skullstone fleet lay West of them, but if he were in the Silver Prince's place he'd be planning surprises for Luthe, and-
A black fleck appeared in the sky, followed by a whistling sound that built rapidly to a shriek. "Take cover!" he had time to yell. Then the shell hurtled down at the deck, almost faster than the eye could follow.
Not faster than Wavecleaver. The Dread Pirate Roberts had about half a second to worry about the explosion before the shell crashed onto the deck in two pieces, detonator sliced cleanly in two. Firedust spewed out in all directions, but failed to ignite. "That was close," he admitted to the gathered sailors and assorted delegates. But where'd it come from?
Whistles rose over the water again, hundreds of them, building to a howl as black specks blossomed in the Eastern sky. "Holy bombardment, Batman!" This time he bellowed it at the top of his lungs. "TAKE COVER!"
It had to be the Coral Archipelago. But Coral didn't have this kind of weapons, or the ships to fire them from. Coral's navy was huge, and utterly outdated.
Who was he kidding? They'd gotten help from a Deathknight, or a Green Sun Prince, or a Solar, or some rogue Dragon-Blooded circle...or whoever or whatever. What did it matter? They had their edge now.
A third volley began to rise as the second plummeted toward the city. At least most everyone was diving for cover as ordered.
Alexander splashed down into the sea. The patrols were out fighting Skullstone ships, as usual, but Luthe should be able to hold its own against firedust shells, and it was time he showed these medieval screwheads what it meant to have an enemy Solar on deck. It'd only take a little-
A mouth full of fangs rose out of the depths, attached to a creature like an immense worm, as long as a ship and big enough around to swallow him whole.
Which it promptly did.
Chapter 81-Fully Armed and Operational
Cynis Megara was thrown to the deck by the rolling explosions, but she managed to make the Victory Over Primordials mudra all the same. For an instant it suddenly occured to her to worry that Admiral Xander might be banished along with the Infernal worm, but a moment after it vanished his head broke the surface, and he gave her the thumbs-up gesture that he'd said was a compliment. Then he caught the dorsal fin of a siaka as it hurtled by and was carried off by it, presumably toward the enemy.
An Impervious Sphere of Water swelled up over the deck, and Megara slithered inside it on her belly before getting to her feet. Several more popped up here and there. Mnemon! By the Dragons, she was standing next to Mnemon! "My lady," she murmured hoarsely.
Mnemon ignored her. "All hands proceed to the Water Fleet! Make best speed toward the enemy, then engage as soon as you're in range! Send targeting information back to Luthe and House Gavrane!" The Anathema Buffy Summers-in spite of everything, it was hard not to think of the quasi-akuma as Anathema-whispered something in Mnemon's ear. "Of course, Despot," Mnemon said, scanning the horizon. Then she glanced briefly at Megara. "Good work," she said, glancing significantly in the direction of the foe. "Proceed to the rear and be on the lookout for a second fleet."
Megara nodded, but as she turned Buffy hacked up a copy of herself, and Megara was unable not to stare. "Are you still sure you're ready for this?" Buffy said to her double, eyes shifting nervously.
"We're the Slayer," the duplicate said unhelpfully, but Buffy nodded as if that were an answer.
Buffy lifted her left hand, palm up, and Megara struggled not to let her jaw drop as the double's shadow writhed and contorted. Then the copy followed suit, twisting and falling to all fours. In moments she had the body of a radeken, with cat paws, vulture wings, and a dragon's head. With a roar, the demon bounded into the sky and flapped its way off toward the source of the bombardment.
Megara let out a little "Eep!" and scurried to her place. That demon hadn't been summoned; she'd made it out of herself! Alexander might be Anathema, but at least he didn't make her feel like a terrified mortal.
"I am still human, aren't I?" Buffy asked.
Mnemon blinked at her. "Clearly," she said. The Anathema wasn't even showing her blasphemous caste marking yet, let alone signs of transformation. So why would she ask-? "You're not really asking about your humanity. You speak in regard to your moral worth." That left the Slayer speechless. "You are a blasphemy to the Immaculate Philosophy, Despot. But then, murder and theft are also blasphemous, and yet the Order does not balk at death or confiscation of goods. You act as you must to protect the world. I find no great fault in you. Though I must warn you, I've been told I'm not the best person to ask about morals."
"I just hacked a piece out of my soul and turned it into a demon," Buffy protested. "That's-"
"What you find necessary to defeat the allies of Skullstone," Mnemon said with utter calm. "There are far more terrible things I could do-such as annihilate a city, as you recall. This demon is under your near-absolute control, is it not? Call it unholy if you like. Even the unholy is sometimes sanctified by great need. And in any case, who is harmed by your action? Only the enemies of Creation."
Buffy nodded. "I don't guess I trust my own judgement right now. I...I'm relying on a magic oath to replace my conscience and I don't feel safe telling my other friends that yet. They've had to stage one intervention already."
Mnemon gestured to a pair of dragonlords that it was time to launch; they saluted and snapped into action. "Such oaths are often holy, Buffy. The Order would surely regard yours as unholy, as I presume they draw on Yozi power, but I prefer to judge them by their consequences. I submit that you are doing well. Now, I would be honored if you would join me and the Water Fleet."
"They won't like me," Buffy pointed out, but she turned and strode toward the flagship.
"Believe it or not, that rests on your actions. Many will resist working with you, but you may see from Cynis Megara's example that they can be won over." She slid her arm into Buffy's. "Here. This will help."
Naturally, the ship captains stared. Mnemon chose to tweak them further. She leaned down and kissed Buffy on the cheek. "You're one hell of a troll, Mnemon," the Despot giggled as the captains turned away, offended.
"Yes," Mnemon agreed.
The waters writhed with infernal worms. Megara shook her head. Had so many been summoned by the Coral fleet? Mortals usually had the sense to fear even First Circle demons, and any sorcerers Coral might have employed were unlikely to summon and bind an entire army of them.
On the horizon. There. A patch of fog that pwrithed and went untouched by the sun. That could be a deathly manifestation, true, but it could as easily be eristrufa. Which, along with the worms, strongly suggested Lintha pirates. The Lintha were supposed to be at odds with Skullstone, true-but what if they were not?
The fog was far away. Striking into it would be difficult, but not impossible. Megara signaled a messenger and relayed the target position back to Aramida and to Queen Winifred.
A few moments later, a large winged form descended from Luthe's highest tower. The huge silver-flecked gull landed in front of Megara and cocked its head. It stretched one wing out in the direction of the cloud, then pecked violently at the deck before launching itself into the air again and soaring off toward the mist. It took another moment for her to realize: Fred had informed her that she'd fixed Luthe's weapons on the fog's position. Now she was going to investigate. Personally.
Alexander bellowed out his war cry, "The Dread Pirate Roberts is here for your souls!" as he shot from the water astride the gigantic shark. He knew these things as "megs"; the locals called them siaka (so that was what that was!). Why he shouted the catch phrase he couldn't be sure; none of his crew was around to hear. Like Jack Nicholson's Joker, he just liked the sound of it. The siaka gulped down a pair of enemy sailors as he dropped onto the deck.
"I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum," he declared, "and evidently you folks haven't even invented bubblegum yet. Too bad for you." The sailors rushed him. Not smart. Xander had spent five hard years on the Hellmouth learning to fight vampires and demons with no superpowers. Now he was Superman, and he'd already had his boxing lessons.
Admiral Alexander brushed aside three cutlasses with one swing of Wavecleaver, backhanding a guy coming up behind him, then slashed forward to cut a throat or two. He wasn't a big fan of killing humans, he really wasn't, but if you came at him with a sword or Sith lightning, he couldn't see how that was much different from coming at him with fangs bared.
No Sith lightning so far. Just a bunch of guys- Ah. Flamepiece. He wasn't at all sure how to block that. Aaand his blade released a golden glow that screened him from the wave of fire. One kick and the little flamethrower went flying into the sea.
This was what it was like being Buffy. No, this was what it had been like. In another couple of years...well, he supposedly wouldn't get all the weird body alteration stuff. But what would he have in its place, then? Something fantastic, for sure.
Oh-oh. Essence fire. Friendly fire wasn't, especially when there was every chance some of the gunners might decide they should be shooting at the Anathema after all. Alexander hit the deck as energy shot over his head and splintered the mast. "Killstealers!" he yelled. Not that he was complaining or anything.
"What're you complaining about?" asked a voice beside him.
"Dawn? Dawnster, you're a lot less powerful out here. Why're you tagging along?" They'd left the major Wyld zones behind days ago.
"I'll be fine," Dawn insisted, and winked at the rigging, which caught fire.
"Dawn...we're kinda aboard this ship."
"I know. We're in the water, right?" She waved her arms around.
"That is not how shipboard fires work!" They could always dive into the water, he guessed, but that hadn't been his plan at all. "Dawn, this is a military operation. If you can't follow directions, you'll have to leave."
Dawn made a sulky face. This was gonna suck.
Buffy stood next to Mnemon and addressed the soldiers. "I don't expect you to love me," she said. "I don't expect you to follow my orders, or even to save my butt if I get in trouble. All I ask is that you let me fight beside you and hurt your enemies. I don't serve the demons, or the Deathlords, or the Fair Folk. I serve humanity. I protect humanity. It's what I was trained to do. Give me a chance to prove myself to you. Judge me by my actions. Let me help you save the world."
The assembled navy was eerily silent for a few moments. Finally Aramida quickly slapped an open palm to her center chest, followed by two other admirals out of five. The remaining soldiers followed their respective officers' examples. Not one of the Order members made a move, save for some who turned and left. Buffy looked to Mnemon, who explained, "That was a gesture of respect to a civilian. Even a House head would receive no more, unless she were an officer. You don't salute civilians." Mnemon made a fist-to-chest gesture, which all the admirals returned, stiffly in the case of the three who'd dissed Buffy and who then turned away.
"Three out of six," Buffy said, turning her head to watch the approaching Coral fleet. "Could be worse."
"In seven centuries, the Realm military has neverpublicly worked with any Anathema," Mnemon said softly. "Four instances of military necessity have been covered up, and in two of those key officers rebelled and were executed as traitors to Creation. I assure you, you're doing very well."
"I'm guessing that has something to do with your endorsement?" They'd be within firing range soon.
"A great deal of it, no question. But even I could not easily order them to follow a fool or a monster." Mnemon turned to stare out over the ocean. "Go do something heroic and terrifying."
Buffy burst into sudden laughter. "What?"
"Go on. I can't very well put you into my command structure. Besides, individual heroism is what the Anathema do. Go prove its validity in spite of the Thousand Correct Actions." Mnemon lifted an eyebrow and stared at her until she began laughing again. "Prove that Immaculate dogma is, at best, a partial truth?"
"Okay," Buffy said. "I get it. Something spectacular. Too bad demon-me isn't back yet. I didn't realize she'd begin all tapped out." She'd still have to burn a lot of energy to do something like grow into a giant.
Buffy flexed her arms, closed her eyes, and breathed in deep. Her body twisted, her muscles swelled, filling out her carefully-made stretchy outfit. Green tarnish spread over her body, then flaked off to leave shining brass. She heard a faint hiss as many of the nearby Terrestrials took sharp breaths. She still hadn't burned enough energy to flare the crossed-swords emblem on her brow, though she was getting close.
She leapt over the side and set off across the sea, loping towards the enemy fleet at what she'd have called a ground-eating pace if she were, y'know, on the ground. A sea-eating pace? Sea-drinking pace? That was getting silly. Spray flew as she darted across the ocean. Good enough description. Ahead of her, the self she'd turned into a radeken was savaging sailors with her teeth. And Xander was...trying to get Dawn to do something. Bleah.
Some days it didn't pay to get out of bed, and she didn't even sleep any more.
The Lintha were shooting at Fred. Didn't they know shooting seabirds was bad luck? She folded her wings and dropped like a stone into the sea, barely making a splash.
Release the kraken, she thought. You couldn't smirk with a beak. The gull body exploded into a mass of rubbery flesh and writhing tentacles. No sooner had she begun to reach for the ships, though, than a gigantic lamprey-thing set upon her, chewing at her arms. Rather than wrestle with it, she flung it out of the water and into a boat, where the barely-sentient monster began lashing out at its summoners.
Lintha leaned over the sides and began firing vitriol-based weapons at her. She ignored them. She'd have to hurt some people to get the job done, but she wasn't here to fight. With one tentacle, she lashed out at her still-invisible aura and fractured it into a shifting, blurring lattice. Her ten arms and tentacles became the illusion of dozens, shattering and recombining. One of these days she'd have to properly master this combat style.
Now the Lintha were confused, lashing out in all directions. Tentacles arced in and flung them into the water, or tossed more demons into the ships. Fred latched onto a mast, shrank back into human form, and vanished into the cabin before anyone noticed the squid was gone.
"Lintha," she said to an astonished glare, "I'm here to save your life."
Okay, now she had less than a minute before they-crash! The door burst open. "She's in the Elder's cabin! Defend Grandmother!"
"Yes," Fred said, her arm around the old woman's neck. "Defend her. Back off or I break her neck." The ancient waved them back, and they obeyed. "You have to know the Silver Prince means to betray you."
"As we mean to betray him, fool," the old Lintha rasped. "But not to you."
Fred thought like mad. Was there anything she could possibly offer this woman to work with her? "The Lintha want to rule the world before you die out. Right?" The ancient favored her with a nod and a derisive snort. "Let me tell you about an idea I like to call democracy."
Gavrane Tomazri wasn't at all sure he liked the woman who called herself Unconquerable Shadow. He knew enough now to recognize that title as a slap in the Sun's face. Nonetheless, she seemed competent, and usually more...human than her Infernal counterpart. "New ugly coming in from Skullstone way," she said. "Few degrees off from our fleet's pursuit course."
"Can you give me a visual?" he asked of her.
"Lessee," she muttered. "What the heck? Looks like a Wyld mutant in a rowboat."
Tomazri frowned at the screen. "Your scale is off," he said finally. "That craft is several stories high."
"Mecha-rowboat?" Shadow wondered. "Readings say...dead human tissue and soulsteel. Some kind of framework full of zombies? Icky."
"Extremely," Tomazri said. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Well, you're about to," Shadow said, turning to look at him. "It's coming straight for us."
"Can you get a firing solution?" Tomazri asked. The most efficient way to deal with the monstrosity would probably be Luthe's main guns.
"Not yet. I was thinking, though. As a Moonshadow, I'm supposed to have diplomatic immunity to anything short of another Abyssal or a Deathlord."
Tomazri tried not to sigh. "You think you can solo a beast like that?"
"I can at least sneak in and find its weak spots," Shadow insisted.
"You don't need my permission," Tomazri said. Celestials! They always thought they could do everything themselves. Well, usually they could. "I'll be sure to hold our fire till you come out, or till it's right on top of us. I doubt it will matter to that framework."
Dawn stepped back, one small step at a time as the radeken advanced on her. "Buffy? That is you, right?"
"It's me, raksha," the cat-thing snarled. "But you're not Dawn. There is no-"
"She's the only Dawn there is, Buffy." Xander put himself between the Summers girls. "It's complicated and weird and when are our lives ever anything else, but you were sisters-"
"We were never sisters, Xander. It was all a lie." The monster's draconic head swung toward him.
"You didn't feel that way until Kimbery messed up your head," Xander reminded her. "I have to wonder if being this...thing is affecting you, too, cause you seem like you're getting meaner."
Buffy trampled forward, crushing the chest of a maybe-dead Coral marine under one massive paw. "I'm just me," she growled. "If that thing is on our side, then let it follow orders. No burning ships Xander's on!"
Xander put the point of Wavecleaver on Buffy's throat. "I agree, Buffy, but I can take care of myself. Be nice."
"I'm not nice," Buffy grumbled, turning away. "I'm the Slayer. Remember that."
Dawn breathed a sigh of relief as Buffy launched herself into the air. "At least we've taken out some ships. She scares me a lot these days."
"I'll protect you from her if I need to," Xander said. "You know that, right?"
Dawn nodded as a last fleeing group of sailors raced by in front of them, headed for the lifeboats. She grabbed the last one by the head and sank her fingers in. Served him right. "Much better. I know you will, Xander. Thanks."
So far the Lintha elder seemed to have been considering what Fred had to say. She nodded at talk of choosing your own leaders, looked thoughtful over an explanation of secret ballots, and smiled at the idea of equal representation.
"And of course," the elder interjected, "an Exalt who isn't happy with what the people want can simply persuade them they want something else, no?"
Fred blinked and stopped babbling. "Well, yes, we can do that. It's kind of a dangerous problem, but I think I can figure out a workaround. I just have to-"
"-ensure that no one even thinks of voting for a Lintha cannibal no matter what we hold over them. Oh, dear, no, we're on to your tricks, ally to the accursed traitor to the Great Mother, Buffy Summers, who slew sacred Dukantha." The old woman showed teeth in an expression that bore only a superficial resemblance to a smile. "Guards, obey the will of the Great Mother. The Family is all; my life is nothing."
The guards bared their hooked blades and lunged forward. Fred shrugged-if her hostage was useless, there was no point hanging onto her. She shoved the old woman to the floor to trip up her adversaries and melted down into cockroach form before they could get a good slash in. She fought on her own terms.
Fred buzzed out of the room before anyone broke out the flyswats.
Shadow pulled the patrol skiff up to the juggernaut of a boat with the giant zombiemech sticking out of it. From the joints in the hull it was probably a transforming mecha, too, the better to climb up giant city-ships. It stank of rotten flesh, but Buffy had long since gotten used to that in her line of work, even before Shadow had been reborn as an Abyssal. The smell wasn't even worth noticing.
Now. If she understood how this worked... Shadow burned a little energy to flare her caste mark, and a bloody-ringed circle burst open on her forehead. Then she hoisted herself over the side.
Squeezing into the frame was another matter. The spikes were a pain in the ass to avoid, and then she had to squeeze through a mass of zombies pressed so tightly together that she could barely breathe. Even as an Abyssal, the sheer extent of the stench and the pressure of this much clammy, slimy flesh was...of some definite yuck. But it was bearable. Buffy climbed over loose-scalped heads and crawled through flailing arms. The soulsteel struts served as ladders from one level to the next, and finally she reached the giant pseudo-robot's head.
Her caste mark didn't open the hatch there for her, but that proved unnecessary; it wasn't locked. Inside sat a one-eyed pirate with a roguish smile and perfect porcelain flesh. "Unconquerable Shadow, I presume," the man said in a voice like crumbling rust. "I am the Predator Slithering Through Hadal Depths. Your friend once knew me as Moray Darktide, but you may tell her that-thanks to her-that man is dead. Presuming, that is, that even your ghost escapes me. I'll give you a sporting chance; best of luck."
Anya twiddled her thumbs. V'neef Tetra wasn't under anyone's command here. At most, she could put herself under the authority of the Immaculate forces here; the monks might well tell her to go peel potatoes while the Anathema brought destruction on their own heads. As Anya, she was kind of needed to hold down the fort, but seriously, no one was going to attack the gigantic naval base-ship-city-what have you. Being here was a formality.
WHOOM! Luthe shook as if a tsunami had just dropped it onto an island sideways.
"Warning," Towers of Azure intoned. "This station is under attack by submerged vessels. Number unknown. Classification unknown. Primary composition: soulsteel. Essence cannon and implosion bow fire detected."
Anya leapt to her feet. "Crap on a stick! Towers, repair bay status? What's the best available vehicle down there?"
"Repair bays are still full due to maintenance backlog. The best available equipment is a suit of Water Inurement-" WHOOM! "-Armor, which will function for another five hours before systems begin failing. Reagents for maintenance are unavailable."
"No ships?!" This was ridiculous!
"All functional craft are in pursuit of the Black Fleet."
"Gods damn it! Get me to the maintenance bay, Towers." This was going to suck.
The city tilted sideways under another barrage. "Indubitably."