Fluder slowly walked down a dimly lit corridor, behind him followed his best disciples. As they walked this long corridor he thought about the ancient tome that started it all. He had discovered it locked away in the Empire's archives, in special area that even the emperor was not aware of. It had multiple magic seals on it of which Fluder managed to break after much effort, it spoke of the power of the old gods. Within held arcane knowledge of old magics, primordial magic, when Fluder first discovered it he was overjoyed. It had always been his dream to learn everything there was to learn about magic. Then this book spoke of this thing known as the abyss, the abyss of magic, the source of all mana in creation, it is mana in its rawest most primal form. In it he learned of this place, it spoke of beings touched by the abyss, but it also came with a warning. The abyss is not something that could be mastered, it is the domain of the god Momonga the first of the 41, it is mana concentrated in such high amounts in destroys almost everything it touches. Fluder wanted to see it, he wanted to gaze into the abyss even if it cost him everything… just one glimpse was all he wanted…
As Fluder got closer and closer to the chamber known as the Mausoleum, amazingly such a place existed right under the palace of Arwinter. The structure was impervious to all types of damage, which is why the people of the past have merely built over it and vowed to bury it and its memory. At first he had cursed them for their foolishness, he resented them for burying such great knowledge. However once he entered the Mausoleum his resentment vanished and it was replaced with pity. Those poor weak minded fools, they quail in the face of true power.
At the door of the Mausoleum, he stopped and turned to look at his disciples. They were his best students, each a caster of the fourth tier, even one of them would be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He looked to their faces and he saw two sets of expressions, one was grim determination the other was fear. The fearful ones have been here before, the others well… Fluder will know how capable they are very soon. He looked to the youngest among his disciples and his favourite the young girl Arche Eeb Rile Furt, she possessed the same innate talent as him being able to see mana energy signatures. She had turned it off at his order because this place could very well shatter the minds of the uninitiated, it had almost shattered his. This accused place was the only thing that had ever even come close to killing him. He made it very clear to his pupils, his inner circle was reserved for those who could come down here with him. Most of his disciples don't last, after a few visits they opt out and leave his inner circle. All except Arche this is her seventh time down here and she is about to undertake another great test.
"Arche have you been doing your meditations?" Fluder asked
"Yes Fluder sama, I am ready." Arche said
"Very well begin your preparations." Fluder said with a nod
"[Lions Heart], [Lesser Mind Fortitude], [Lesser Insanity Resist], [Under Divine Flag]" Arche said as she activated the scrolls.
Fluder had given her scrolls for this as he didn't want to deplete her mana for she would need every drop of it for what was to come. Once Arche was done she closed her eyes and waited.
Arche stood there trying not to tremble, once she had activated her talent her face felt like it was burning. Like she was standing right in front of an inferno, she heard the doors open. Then the heat hit in earnest, it was like standing in front of the sun. She knew there was no actual heat, it was just her heightened senses interpreting the maelstrom of mana energy as heat.
"Open your eyes when your ready." Fluder said he watched as Arche take a deep breath and opened her eyes… then she threw up.
What Arche saw would haunt her for the rest of her days, usually mana looks colourful. There's many colours blues, greens, reds but this… Her entire vision was black, everything she saw was black she could see the outlines of the people around her but this power it felt different. It seemed more raw, older, more primitive. Immediately once she felt the full force of the mana in the room she emptied her stomach contents onto the floor. She had a light breakfast to reduce the chance of nausea, she had meditated diligently every day for three weeks, she went to the temple to pray to temper her soul but nothing could have prepared her for this.
"Turn it off." Fluder commanded
Arche deactivated her talent and knelt down panting.
"Are you alright? You can head back for now if you are unwell." Fluder said
"No I am fine, it was quite the experience." Arche replied softly
"Very well. As for the rest of you if at any time you feel you cannot withstand it any longer head back out. There is no shame in not having the strength to continue, not here at least, come back alive and return stronger." Fluder said
"Yes Fluder sama." his disciples replied
Fluder and the rest entered the Mausoleum after casting one of Fluder's custom spells on themselves. It was a simple tier 2 spell, most magic casters can use it, the issue is the skill and endurance of the user. The caster must be able to maintain the spell under the conditions inside the Mausoleum. The only requirement for casting the spell was mana, so the simple solution was mana potions. Very simple spell but quite effective for what it needed to do.
In the centre of the chamber stood a pedestal, it was made of an onyx black stone. Arrayed in the room were coffins, 100 to be exact, laid out in a circular pattern around the pedestal. From the lids of the coffins leaked white mist that filled the room, the entire floor was obscured by the mist. Fluder looked down at the device in his hand, it was a device of his own invention. It helped to detect negative energy in the area, the reading now was 800. At the Katsze Plains the reading was at around 700, at 200 undead beings start to spawn this was the common reading found in cemeteries. Anything above 500 starts to damage any unprotected living beings. As he got closer to the pedestal the reading started to rise, 800, 900, 1100, 1400, 1700, 2000, 2400… then he started hearing it. It has been observed that once the negative energy levels reached above 2000 those who managed to survive will start to hear voices, it has been theorized that high levels of energy in the area causes the barrier between life and death to weaken thus you are hearing the voices of the beyond. Anything above 2000 was instantly fatal to most unprotected living beings.
"The voices… I can't." whimpered one of the disciples
The others turned to see one of the new disciples clutching her head, eyes wide in terror. They could see the defensive spells around her start to unravel as she lost concentration. In order to survive here, Fluder's specialised spell requires a continuous cast to constantly replenish the barrier. However if the user loses concentration the barrier would quickly unravel exposing the user to the negative energy around them.
"Oi oi keep it together." one of the disciples said in panic
"Forget her she's done for." Fluder said calmly
The disciple suddenly froze as the spell unravel around her, then she collapsed gradually turning to ash. Nothing was left not even her robes, those gathered knew she wouldn't be turned into an undead at least. There was nothing left to raise from the grave, this was where even the dead would die.
"Those who wish to head back now's the time." Fluder said
The group of newer disciples immediately turned on their heels and started walking towards the door, leaving only four to remain by Fluder's side.
Fluder looked down again at the meter 2400, then he started walking he was only about 20 metres from the pedestal but he knew the last 5 metres was when the real challenge begins. 3000 at 18 metres, 3800 at 15 metres. At this point one of the disciples turned around and began walking out that left three remaining. 4400 at 13 metres another disciple left sprinting towards the door. 5800 at 8 metres a disciple succumbed and collapsed into a pile of ash, the other disciple seeing this turned around and ran for the door that only left Arche and Fluder. 7000 at 5 metres then Fluder stopped and turned to Arche.
"This is as far as you have ever gotten would you like to return?" Fluder asked
"No I wish to see." Arche replied as she drank a few mana potions
"We will only have about 30 seconds to look at the pedestal, would you risk your life and potential for a simple glimpse?" Fluder asked
"Yes, I wish to glimpse into the abyss of magic." Arche said
"Good." Fluder said with a smile and he turned back towards the pedestal and began walking
8000 at 4 metres, 10 000 at 3 metres, 14 000 at 2 metres, 19 000 at 1 metre, then 25 000…
Arche drank another two potions as she gazed at the pedestal up close. This close to the pedestal the air was heavy, it felt like she was swimming through it. Her mouth felt like there was sand in her throat and she tasted metal in her mouth. Dark spots danced before her eyes as she gazed at the intricate runes carved into the stone on the pedestal. She drank another potion and tried her best to observe the runes, but her mind was too preoccupied with maintaining the barrier, the strain was immense she felt her mana being drained away in torrents as she tried to keep the barrier up against the enormous pressure of the negative energy around her. She looked at the inscriptions and marveled at their complexity, she could spend years studying them but she had only less than a minute. Then her time was up.
"Times up, lets go." said Fluder as they both turned around and began walking towards the door.
Nazarick
Over the past few weeks Demiurge has been coordinating the special doppelgangers assigned to them by the supreme ones. They were rather few in number due to their high level of 80, but they were very difficult to detect once they had taken the forms they required. Of particular interest was the doppelganger who had taken the identity of a man known as Loune Vermillion. He was the secretary to the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire.
It was a dangerous choice for impersonation, Demiurge knew as someone of high position in court would have a higher chance of encountering Jaldaboath agents, if there were any. However Loune Vermillion was in a rather interesting position, he mostly handled the administrative duties and he mostly reported directly to the king. He had minimal contact with the court being delegated mostly to handle the Emperor's letters and his administrative workload. In addition due to the recent purge of the nobility within the Baharuth Empire the administrative load on Vermillion had increased significantly making him more reclusive as he was buried under the paperwork. This made him the perfect position for intelligence gathering as all information to the king flowed through him.
Demiurge had no doubt that the sudden gifts of the dopplegangers was to capitalise on this fact. Now the dopplegangers took the places of many administrative staff in the empire. "Vermillion" had discovered that the head mage of the empire Fluder had an obsession with magical knowledge, in particular an obsession with the abyss. Believing the abyss was the secret to unlocking the true potential for magic. If there is one thing Demiurge did know was that a man with an obsession is easily swayed if you offer what they desire and it just so happens Demiurge was in a position to offer such things.
Another advantage to this was that the Baharuth Empire had a very clear distinction between church and state. No religious rhetoric was allowed to influence government policy. This distancing from the religion of the so called six gods meant that the empire was a much safer option for using insurgents. The less contact their agents had with the members of the faith the better knowing what they know about the true face of the religion.
Demiurge walked over to the interrogation room where Neuronist was currently having some great fun with the guest. Although there was one issue the captain of the so called black scripture was not very receptive to their questioning. Demiurge walked over to the bound captain, he was looking every bit the worthless dog he was supposed to be. Pity this one doesn't like to bark, well no matter. He was coming today to give him one last chance to speak, if he didn't he would soon be journeying into Tabula Smaragdina sama's private domain. He had an appointment with Tabula Smaragdina sama's mind scryers, since he doesn't want to give up the information, the supreme ones have graciously offered to just rip the information out of him. Apparently Maeve had a similar skill but she wasn't available at the moment, also these mind scryers were much more skilled according to what Tabula Smaragdina sama said.
"Good evening." Demiurge said
The bound man didn't reply he merely stood there glaring at him.
"I understand you don't want to talk, it's an admirable sentiment, however misguided it may be." Demiurge said
"You won't get anything out of me you filthy monsters." the captain spat
"Oh but we will, you see I am here giving you one last chance to speak or else something very bad will happen." Demiurge said
"You can torture me all you want demon, I won't speak. You will just have to kill me." the captain retorted
"Admirable resolve but I am afraid your resolve won't matter for what comes next. I am sure you are aware of the 41… I see that look on your face you are going to tell me they are false gods and your gods are the only true ones. Well you know I realise that for mortals such as you seeing is believing so I if you don't tell me everything I want to know you will be brought into the realm of Tabula Smaragdina sama and his attendants will rip the information right out of your soul. Your soul will be irreversibly damaged of course so you won't get to see your gods or anyone after that. You will simply cease to exist." Demiurge said with a smile
"Fuck off." the captain spat
"Very well." Demiurge said as a portal opened behind him.
From the portal emerged an eldritch being, it was a giant eye sitting in a white bony eye socket with purple ethereal tentacles extending from the rear. It floated gently off the ground and observed the surrounding before locking onto the scripture captain
"Is this it?" the figure said
"Yes it is, please convey my apologies to Tabula sama for the trouble and also my thanks for aiding us in this endeavour." Demiurge said with a bow.
"There is no need for apologies, Tabula Smaragdina sama has mentioned that a will as strong as this has not been seen for quite awhile. He wishes to personally extract the information in a public lecture before the mind scryers." the figure replied
"Tabula Smaragdina sama will do this personally?" Demiurge said taken aback
"Yes he expresses interest in the potential learning opportunity, he also extends an invitation to yourself, Albedo and Neuronist to observe the lecture so you may better understand the intricacies of the sentient mind." the figure said
"It… It would be my honor, please let me inform Albedo." Demiurge said excitedly
Demiurge, Albedo and Neuronist sat among the various myriads of beings in the dark lecture hall. The chairs were made of an onyx wood with plush purple cushions and the walls were made of sleek black marble. The lecture hall was arrayed in a circular layout with the seats surrounding a table where the scripture captain was tied down. Above the captain attached to the ceiling was massive machine with multiple apprati on extendable limbs. The beings ranged from the eldritch to the seemingly mundane. There were humanoid and heteromorphs from humans to strange plant like life forms.
There was a great deal of excited conversation, it was not often the supreme ones came to personally showcase their skills. It gave those present a chance to glimpse at the peak, to see a true master at work. It was common knowledge that no one understood the intricacies of the sentient mind better than Tabula Smaragdina after all he was the one who wrote the first code for sentient life. All sentient minds owe their heritage to the first time Tabula Smaragdina sat down to write the first sentient mortal. So who better to teach on the subject than the being who invented sentience. Soon Tabula Smaragdina appeared through a portal and walked over to the table where the scripture captain was strapped down.
"You know who I am and yes this is reality. No I am not using a spell to read your thoughts. If you are wondering how I know this it's because I am the architect of what lies between your eyes, your thoughts are a book and I can flip it's pages at my leisure." Tabula said to a chorus of laughter ringing throughout the lecture hall.
"Now before I begin who can tell me what are the three components of the sentient mind?" Tabula asked
"Instinct, self, aspirations." an elf replied
"Good now who can tell me what those things mean." Tabula asked
"Instinct refers to the hard coding within the sentient mind, it handles basic functions and behaviours such as eating, breathing, maternal attachment, fight or flight and many others." a golem like creatures replied
"Good, next what is aspiration." Tabula asked
"Aspiration is the ideal form in the beings mind, it is what they hope to be their highest expectations of themselves." an avian feathered being said
"Now lastly and most importantly what is the self." Tabula asked
"It is the control and mediator between the chaotic instinct and the naive aspiration. It grounds these two in reality, allowing the being to function in the real world and adapt to their surroundings. " a naga replied
"Excellent, now the point of today's demonstration is to showcase something. I have noticed over the eons many aspiring mind scryers have always either used the instinct or aspiration to directly affect the self. In most circumstances that would be fine, however I will not show you a technique I call the Sentience Cascade." Tabula said.
At those words there was visible excitement among those gathered. The common technique was to dismantle the psyche piece by piece but the Sentience Cascade was a much more esoteric technique. The reason why this technique is useful is that stronger willed individuals will have a tendency to use other memories to block the scrying. This is because the scrying process was a deeply painful experience and a mind that resists will tend to bring out memories that the owner views as irrelevant in an attempt to screen the more important memories. The way these memories is removed is often done by removing the underlying foundation of the weaker memory so that the memory will no longer be able to sustain itself allowing a window of opportunity for the coveted information to be extracted. The downside to this was that the more this is done the more damaged the mind becomes and this can potentially warp the memories in addition this more mundane technique only allows for the memories to be extracted one at a time. The Sentience Cascade causes the mind to trick itself into using the desired memories as shields instead, thus allowing the scryer to browse at his leisure while they attacked useless memories. This means the foundations for the sought after primary memories are intact thus there is a reduced risk of warping the memories However in order to do this effectively a deep understanding of how the psyche works is essential.
Demiurge watched in awe as Tabula Smaragdina sama toyed with that fools mind. Tabula sama attacked his memories of his mother while also removing the foundation of his loyalty for the Slaine Theocracy and all his other personal bonds leaving his mother as the sole most important thing in his mind. He removed other seemingly less important memories putting the information that they wanted as the lowest priority. With his mother now being the most important thing in his mind, the fool started throwing what he felt was the least important memories as a shield. Allowing Tabula sama to calmly take what he needed as if he was watching a screenplay. At the end of it all, the fool might as well have just sent a letter to Tabula sama detailing all the information he wanted.
Capital of Re-Estize
Pandora looked on as his sister gave instructions to Brain and Gazef on how to improve their sword skills. He noticed these past weeks as they waited for the rebel forces to reach the capital his dear sister has started collaborating more with others in Nazarick and inhabitants of this realm. It appears the events of the night of the coup had humbled her, she seemed less aloof now. It appears the fact that she let the Prince slip away because she cut off those messages was a sore spot for her.
"Brain your field is good but it takes too long to activate, yes it does make your strikes accurate and deadly but that's pointless unless you actually hit them. Ok come at me again with that." Maeve said
As she said that she pulled out two strange looking blades, the tips were hooked and the arm guards were protected by serrated blades.
"These blades are called known as Hu Tou Gou, which means tiger head hook, this type of weapon were designed for both medium and close range engagements. Weakness is that it has poor armor penetration." Maeve explained
"How is that weapon useful in medium range engagements? The blades are so short it looks like it's better for brawling with those bladed arm guards." Gazef said perplexed
"You will see soon enough. Come Brain let see if you can make an opening to use that field of yours." Maeve said
Brain approached carefully, he had never seen a weapon like that, it seemed so odd with its strange hooked blade. He agreed with Gazef if he got too close those serrated arm guards would just come flying at his face. She was too nimble that he knew, but she had a smaller body and now a shorter blade so he should be able to out range her. However she had said it was good for medium range engagements… no matter no sense stressing about something he doesn't understand he would just have to be cautious.
He traded a few quick blows, she of course easily parried them. The blows weren't meant to be real attacks he just wanted to see how that strange weapon behaved in combat. As they traded strikes more than once Brains sword was almost hooked out of his hand, however when he thought he had escaped a strike only for the hook to snare his armor restricting his movement. Next thing he knew he found a blade at his throat. He didn't even get a chance to activate his field.
"You see what I mean, once your opponent realises that your field needs time to activate they just need to keep disrupting you and pressuring you and you will always be on the defensive." Maeve explained
Brain nodded realising that yes too often in the past he relied too heavily on his opponent being caught inside his field. So most of his victories were more of a matter of who messed up not who seized the advantage.
"Ok this time I'll show you how your field can be undone even if you do manage to get it off." Maeve said
Brain nodded as he channeled his field, when Maeve entered the zone she held the blade in her right hand in a reverse grip. Once he released his strike she calmly jumped following the direction of the swing while holding the blade in her right hand against her body, since the blade was in a reverse grip the blade covered a good portion of her body. Brains strike had nowhere to go but to strike the blade, usually when this happens his opponent would try to brace and block the blow. This was a mistake as due to field his cutting power would go up dramatically often cutting through the opponent's defenses and ending the fight right there. However Maeve had jumped along the direction of the swing, so when the blade hit it merely pushed her along it's path giving her a free ride into his unprotected flank. He turned to see her lock the blades at the tips linking them with the hooks, she then swung the now connected blades at him doubling her reach. He saw the serrated arm guard fly towards him and felt it cut off a few strands of hair off the top of his head.
"See? If you passively wait for your opponent to enter you give them the initiative, you allow them to dictate the flow of battle. Also it's not hard to predict what you are going to do it's obviously a horizontal draw cut based on the stance. The thing is your technique on its own isn't bad if it is part of a more complex technique. A good technique must have speed, strength, precision and mobility. If you can add mobility to that technique it would be an extremely formidable strike." Maeve said
"I see thank you for your guidance Maeve dono." Brain said
"Don't worry I'll teach you something that would fit your technique, it's called Shukuchi Kai. It looks something like this." Maeve said as she took a low stance and slid forward without moving her legs.
"This will help you keep your stance while being mobile, fixing the major issue with your technique." Maeve said
"Sorry to interrupt but Maeve dono your friends have arrived." a guard said
"Ah yes thank you, sorry Brain dono, Gazef dono should we stop here for today?" Maeve asked
"Yes that would be fine, I would like to meet these friends of yours." Gazef said
Aura sat in the guest room beside her sat Mare they were currently drinking tea with the Queen. Aura felt the tea tasted terrible but she remembers what Demiurge had told her. Be nice, get on the good side of the Queen. Having friends in high places… well relatively high places can be an asset. Apparently things are going well so far kinda… true the prince did get away but at least the Queen liked them. Demiurge, Albedo and Maeve has some plans in the works to deal with the Theocracy but she didn't really understand most of what they were talking about. Something about a holy war and the toppling of the six gods or something along those lines. Well at least her job here was simple, smash the siege that was coming, then hop on over to the nearby Empire and speak to this Fluder guy.
"So where do the two of you come from? Is it perhaps the same country that Maeve dono and Momon dono come from?" Renner asked
"Yea kind of." Aura replied
"I see, well you mentioned that your names were Solana and Quacey. I have never heard names like that before. Is it an elven name or… " Renner said
"Yes it's an elven name, my brother and I are high elves that's why our ears look longer than most other elves. My name Solanna means sunshine and my brother Quacey's name means moonlight." Aura replied
"Ah I see that must be why you have those necklaces." Renner said as she gestured to gold and silver necklaces that hung around the twins necks.
"Yea these are gift from our mother." Aura replied as she gently touched the golden solar necklace
"I have never seen such exquisite jewelry, may I ask where is this country that you came from I would love to visit to get myself some jewelry as well. Maeve dono wouldn't say so I'm not sure if you are allowed to talk about it." Renner said with a small smile
"Erm… we… aren't allowed to talk about it... Mom will be mad if we said anything." Mare said hesitantly
"Ah I see, nevermind then it's just good that you are here, I hear from Maeve dono that you are capable warriors." Renner said trying to change the subject
"Well technically I'm a ranger and Quacey's a druid so we aren't warriors, but yes we can fight quite well." Aura said
Then there was a knock on the door, Climb stepped out before letting Gazef, Brain and the two siblings in.
"Thank you for coming." Renner said
"It is nothing your grace, we are your loyal servants." replied Gazef
"Thank you for your words, now please have a seat." Renner said as the rest sat down
"Queeny here was just asking about where we came from." Aura said
"Queeny?" muttered Climb
"Sister you're being rude…" Mare said
"I… I did not mean to be rude or pry, I was just curious." Renner said hesitantly
"It's fine your majesty, I am sure you meant no harm." Momon said
"Yes, no offense taken your majesty. It is normal for you to be curious, I understand you are curious because of how powerful and well equipped we appear to be. But please also understand that the reasons we maintain such secrecy is because we don't wish to bring unnecessary troubles to our home. After all the more valuable something is the more people will covet it." Maeve replied
"Yes you are right, I apologise." Renner replied
"It's fine we get this alot trust me." Momon said kindly
"Yes don't worry about it too much your majesty." Maeve said
"Thank you. Now then Solanna dono, I have been informed that you are in possession of a guardian beast of some sort. May I know where it is?" Renner asked
"Oh it's here under the city." Solanna replied
"It's a creature than can burrow, it's a type of ambush predator." Maeve added
"Ah I see may I see it? Or would that be inconvenient." Renner asked
"Sure, you can see it, but we're gonna need a big space she's quite large." Solanna said
"Very well, we have an arena would that be fine?" Renner asked
"Yep that will do. You wanna see her now?" Solanna asked
"Yes please, also Climb could you fetch the Roses, Marquis Raevan and Nfirea I think they should see this" replied Renner
When Lakyus walked into the arena along with her sisters they saw everyone else gathered at one section of the podiums.
"I wonder what kind of creature it is." Evileye muttered
"It must be strong, Maeve dono was really confident that it could turn the tide in our favour." Lakyus replied
"The capital has a long wall though, it can't guard everywhere. Tia says there's about 100 000 troops coming and we have about 15 000 that's barely guard the walls since most of our troops are still staring down the Baharuth Empire." Evileye replied
"Yes and they will mostly be peasant levies most of the professional soldiers are either here or at the border." Lakyus replied
"Don't forget their house troops, they number about 10 000 according to the reports." Evileye said
"Hopefully we can make up the quantity with quality… you think that creature can kill 10 000 troops?" Lakyus said
"I hope not, every life we lose is ours, they just happen to be on the wrong side." Evileye said
Lakyus didn't have a reply for that instead they walked over to those gathered at the podiums. Lakyus looked down to see a small elf child standing in the arena. It must be quite large or very dangerous to warrant the use of the arena… or perhaps both.
"Ok it appears everyone is here. Solanna if you would please call your… friend." Renner said hesitantly
"Ok, Croxy come up and say hi." Solanna said
Then out from the ground erupted a spinning reddish yellow claw it was massive easily 5 metres long. The claw was spinning on the joint that connect it to the rest of the arm. Then another claw erupted out from the ground emerged the largest scorpion those present had ever seen.
"That's the size of a house… " Lakyus said
"Or a siege tower." replied Evileye
"Well I can see where Maeve get's her confidence from the sight of this bursting out of the ground alone will rout most armies." Lakyus said
"That's the idea Lakyus. There are limits to mortal courage, put enough shock into an attack and the entire army will cut and run." Maeve said as she walked over
"What is that thing?" Lakyus asked
"I think Solanna would be better at explaining that" Maeve said
"Solanna may we know what is your… friend?" Renner said with a slight shake in her voice
Lakyus could understand her fear, even as an adamantite adventurer she could feel the thrill of fear as she looked at the beady eyes of that monstrosity. There was something primal about this creature as if it did not belong in this world…
"This is Croxy she is a Croxilisk, as you can tell she can burrow. When burrowed she can outpace horses, her armour plates are about as hard as adamantite, she has venom that can melt steel she can inject it using her stinger…" as Solanna said this the scorpion stabbed the ground a few times with its stinger, melting holes into the sand.
"It's fast…" muttered Evileye as Solanna rattled off an explanation enthusiastically
"What do you fancy our chances if we run into a wild one." Gagaran said
"Not very good." Tia replied
"Yup." affirmed Tina
"She can also cloak as you can see here." Solanna said as the scorpion seemed to disappear before their eyes leaving behind what appeared to be a heat haze before reappearing.
"It's the perfect ambush predator, it's native to a desert far away from here. The natives call it the Sand Demon others call it the King of the Dunes, depends on who you ask." Maeve said with a shrug
"So a demon can become a king depending on who you ask." Lakyus said
"It's all on how you sell it." Maeve replied
Renner stood at the head of the table as the meeting commenced. Gathered were all the members of import within the city.
"Thanks to Tia and Tina's efforts we know the army of the rebels will be arriving in about a week. We estimate it will take a week for them to construct the required siege equipment to allow them to effectively scale the walls. We judge although they do have the manpower to surround the capital we suspect they will not do so." Lakyus said
"Why wouldn't they surround and starve us out." Marquis Raevan replied
"They would not dare spread themselves too thin, don't forget we have the martial houses with us now, they are excellent shock troops. In addition we have my sisters and I as well as Maeve dono and Momon dono. They probably have no idea about Solanna dono and Quacey dono as well as their friend… but if they do decide so surround us we can sally out and take them out in small groups." Lakyus replied
"They know we have powerful warriors on our side, so why do they choose to attack? Even with our great numerical disadvantage they could still very well lose knowing what they know." Marquis Raevan replied
"Yes that it what concerns me, this attack is reckless. Assuming they are not completely incompetent I fear they have a card to play that we arent aware of." Lakyus said
"On the plus side they aren't moving towards the front lines at the Katse Plains." Zanac said
"Well they can't be that incomeptent, if the front lines collapse the Baharuth Empire will just roll over the Kingdom." Marques Raevan replied
"Barbro won't have a kingdom to rule if that happens." Renner said with a sigh
"Well yes we should worry about any hidden troops they have, some potentially able to take the gates or scale the walls." Lakyus said
"Yes if they get into the city most of our troops will get cut off, the capital is too large. It would take too long to regroup in the chaos of a siege" Maeve said
"Yes why not we hold our elites in reserve inside the city and we send them to where they are needed most." suggested Momon
"What about the wall? All this is moot if they take the walls. Like you said the capital is large it will take time to respond." Maquis Raevan said
"Croxy can halt an advance by herself. They might just run at the sight of her." Solanna said smugly
"Yes Croxilisks are known to be able to burrow through granite, wooden siege towers won't be much of a resistance. It would be safe to say she can handle one side of the wall herself considering the speed by which Croxilisks can burrow." Maeve said
"We can put our slower elite troops near the other sides of the wall and we hold our faster troops further in." Lakyus said
"Yes I believe that can work." Lakyus said
Ok now onto the logistics…
Eight finger's hideout within the capital
"Are the preparations complete?" a hooded figure said
"Yes they are, we are prepared to take the gates at anytime. The guards that can be bribed have been bribed and those that can't… well there's not enough of them to matter." another figure said
"Good come the day of the siege, Renner's reign shall be the shortest in history." one figure said
"The empire will reward us handsomely for this, with Barbro at the helm the empire will roll over the Re-Estize kingdom like an avalanche." a woman laughed
By the year's end the Re-Estize Kingdom shall fall...
Author's Notes:
Hey everyone thanks so much for the reviews, I have seen your criticisms and I do agree with most of what is being said. But there is a reason behind some of them things I decide to go with.
Also just a quick answer to some of the major questions, the reason why Pandora seems subdued is because they are undercover and Jaldaboath is familiar with Pandora's behavior, the reason why Maeve can freely show her abilities is that Jaldaboath doesn't even know she exists. Also keep in mind that in this universe beings of great power are scattered all over the place. So being to strike down a Dominion Authority is not that surprising if you take into account the strength of an average guardian.
As for those that are saying Maeve personality and depth seems a bit flat, I do agree and I will try to remedy that in the future.
So once again thank you for reading, if you like it leave a review if not leave some criticism. Every bit of criticism helps to make this story better and helps me improve as a writer so I can not express how grateful I am to those who took the time to write those long reviews.
Thanks and see you guys in the next chapter.