...Outside Fortress Alaf...

"No..." That was the one word everyone could agree on, but no one would agree with it so much as those few scouts who had climbed the mountain to look down on the fortress and signal the attackers beyond the walls. They watched with wide eyes as the complex took on a bright orange glow from the flames. Orgrem watched, transfixed with horror from his position as the screams peaked and his ears picked up the pleas for the help of gods that did not answer prayers.

"Have the gods no mercy…?" Wilhelm said beside him, equally horrified, they could see the ranks of soldiers lined up outside the complex, it wasn't hard to work out why they were there, as a few scattered figures rushed out screaming, some glowing orange themselves as they fled with fire clinging to their flesh, hair, or clothing, only to be instantly shot or cut down by the forces of General Leinas Rockbruise.

"I don't know." Orgrem said without breaking his gaze as he watched and listened to the carnage unfolding before him, fire was racing throughout the building under the feet of thousands, roasting them alive. If there was any divine mercy to be found, it was that some at least would die quickly as they rushed the doors and were put down. The sound of feet trampling through fire and splashing what he quickly concluded was burning oil onto flesh, echoed like thunder, the high winds of the mountainside carried every desperate cry to those poor scouts who could already feel the scars forming in their brains.

The blazing night was etched into their unfortunate minds, but they could neither cover their ears nor look away, the thudding cacophony of their stomping feet told them that many were trampling their brothers in desperation, how many had their faces pressed into combusting oil by those they had laughed and trained and fought beside? None could say, even one was too many, but it was clearly more than one.

Silence finally began to replace the screams of the damned, as the last of their brothers and sisters died within.

"Let's get out of here, we have to report this." Wilhelm said with grim resolve.

"You do it." Orgrem said, and before Wilhelm could ask for explanation, Orgrem flung himself over the mountainside, and went down silently to his doom.

Wilhelm reached out to grab at his flying comrade, a split second too late, and his hand caught only empty air. His face was one of mute horror as the burning night claimed one more victim, and then he pulled his hand back and looked to the other scouts he'd come with, mourning etched upon his face. "I'm going to make my report, unless you plan on following him," he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to the edge Orgrem had lept from, "follow me." He said quietly, and began to walk back the way he'd come.

...Eastern Elf Kingdom…

Zesshi's scythe severed an elf in half, it was trivially easy for her, but she didn't enjoy it. The attack had come in the middle of the night, a hundred of her own had died in the first few minutes, five hundred of the attackers had died within the next few minutes after that. It was still a fierce struggle, or rather, a 'desperate' struggle for those who had made the mistake of attacking 'her' military command.

Desperation may make for strength of its own, but theirs was tainted by despair, it quickly became evident that these attackers did not 'want' to attack her or her column on their line of march. But it was not until she reached the town on the outskirts of the easternmost province that bordered the central lands that Zesshi found out the details of just 'why' they were risking themselves.

She reached the town of Highcrest on the third day after the last attack, there had been no survivors to question, and the town looked to have fortified itself in anticipation of her coming, as if they knew there was no chance that the resistance was going to be enough to stop her.

The walls she faced were unique, they weren't made of stone, they were made of polished wood, they had a beautiful sheen that reflected the light, it was beautiful to her eyes, and it was flanked by large forests on either side, it wasn't hard to determine that those forests made sieging the town from any other position all but impossible. It played to the traditional elven strength as archers and stealthy fighters.

Zesshi looked at Thirg and Tefl at her left and right sides, "What can you tell me about that?" She asked, pointing at the wall. "It clearly isn't stone, but who the hell would use simple ordinary wood and expect it to stop any damn thing?"

"Well it isn't ordinary wood, it's an unusual breed of ironwood. Strong stuff, it isn't quite as tough as 'actual' iron, but if there is a tougher wood out there, I don't know of it." Thirg said proudly, "Most of the trees in those woods are of that type, and the walls are treated to be flame resistant, you might break it down, but it won't be easy, towns like this have layered defenses, just beyond the hard wood is palmetto. Very soft stuff, it absorbs blows and cushions the impacts against the iron wood. It's a very good defense, all things considered." He said professionally.

Tefl scratched her head as her brother spoke, "True enough brother, but it's still not as good as stone."

"Well, it won't be a problem for me either way, but if we can take this town without violence, I'd like to. I don't much care for the notion of killing weaklings that aren't worth fighting." Zesshi said with annoyance.

"Fair enough." Thirg replied and the bannerman lowered his pole to have a white flag of truce attached. They rode forward to within fifty paces of the town, and a few minutes later a delegation rode out.

There were seven of them, large for a delegation, and Zesshi's eyes narrowed dangerously as they came near. They were dressed well enough, if not outfitted like nobles. They wore mottled green and brown clothing well suited to wilderness combat, with only golden broaches securing their green cloaks to their backs to show that they were anything more than common soldiers. All, Zesshi noticed, had their ears intact, but a few had minor scars on their faces indicating that they had not lived plush lives at the rear.

'Best not to waste time then.' Zesshi thought, and as soon as they were ten paces from her she said bluntly, "I demand that you surrender immediately."

That brought them up short. An older looking elf rode a few paces closer as the others stopped, he shook his head gravely, "I'm afraid I can't do that."

Zesshi cocked her head. "Can't?"

The old elf, the oldest Zesshi had ever seen, had white hair and a wrinkled face, his eyes still twinkled as if there was a young man within, but his body was past its prime. "You heard me. I said 'can't'. Not 'won't', I can't." He said firmly.

"Who can? Usually delegates have the authority to make such a call." She replied, already doubting her own words.

"None but the king. You see, we're a hostage town." He answered in a voice full of dejected misery.

"A what?" Zesshi asked, dumbfounded.

"You know not our ways then." The old elf sighed, "To keep a standing force willing to fight, the King takes hostages from among families, requiring them to fight for him, if they obey, the family member is allowed to live, if they don't, the family member is executed and fed to his hunting dogs. Entire armies are comprised of such units, nobody 'wants' to fight for that monster, but what choice is there?" He asked plaintively, holding his hands open as if to embrace a solution.

"To follow me so I can kill him." She answered curtly.

He looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "Word has reached me of how strong you are, General Zetsumei, but even if that were entirely true, even if you were a hundred times as strong as he, and could kill him with no greater difficulty than you have in lifting your scythe… the fact remains he has our people hostage, if you attack this place and we do not defend it to the death, our families will die long before you can go to kill the tyrant."

"I see. Are all the hostages kept in one place?" She asked curiously.

"Of course, everybody knows where they are, we're allowed to visit them." He said with some degree of sadness slipping through despite his stoic posture.

"If say… the hostages were to be released?" She asked, "Would I then face opposition to my advance?"

"None. One and all, we despise our king, he rules only because we haven't the power to kill him." The old elf's centuries of anger poured out, and he clenched the reins of his mount. "However, the hostage forces are plentiful here and will oppose you at every turn out of fear for the fates of their children, wives, husbands, parents, and more."

"Why didn't I encounter them on the outlands further east?" Zesshi asked dubiously.

"Simple, anyone that far away is going to be from the Theocracy, we already know what they'll do to us, this far into the interior, it is rebellion he wishes to prevent." The old elf shook his head, "As if we didn't know that we had no chance of defeating him."

"I see." Zesshi said and looked to her left and right.

"I don't have to be telepathic to read your mind right now." Thirg's red eyes met those of Zesshi, and his sister's face split in a grin that showed off her vampire fangs, the old elf looked deeply shocked as he realized that he was in the company of a pair of elven vampires, but he held his tongue.

"Here's the deal old man." Zesshi said abruptly, "We're going to 'besiege' your town, but we'll put no real effort into taking it, our archers will be just 'terrible shots' she raised her hands and created air quotes. "Yours will be similarly bad, in this way you can continue to keep your family safe from retribution, but while that is taking place, I and my companions will venture holding area, undertake a rescue, and get everyone out. After you've learned that they've escaped… then you can surrender and we can end all this madness. Or even better, I kill my scumbag father and then you surrender, either way works for me."

He looked at her, suspiciously, "What then?" He asked.

"Then I go north, take Kami Miyako, and give the head of Dominic to the Sorcerer King as a present, then buy the founder of Black Justice enough booze to keep her drinking every night for the rest of her life." Zesshi's voice was only mildly sarcastic, however she fully meant both statements, regardless of the amount of built in sarcasm.

"I won't argue the point, it is a bargain then, conduct your 'siege' a small number of you can slip through without being observed, you'll find the hostages are held in the capital city of Crescent Lake. There is a large underground sprawl only accessible from the palace itself, it's a city within a city. Impressive really, but…" He grimaced and clenched his fists, "We're not dwarves damn it! We were born for the green wood and the open sky, not cities of gray and a sky of stone!"

"There will be time enough to welcome them back to this world." Zesshi said solemnly.

"I hope you're right, but if you are killed, I will mourn your loss for the sake of your courage." The old man said sadly, already thinking he was speaking to a woman just waiting to die.

Zesshi's white and black hair bounced as she threw back her head and laughed. "When everything is done, we will celebrate, old man." She looked to her left and right, "Thirg, Tefl, do you want to go with me?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." The siblings said in unison. "Just give us enough time to pass the instructions to the rest of the army, and we'll be ready to go immediately." Thirg added.

"See to it then." Zesshi said, "I want to get going soon, this might be fun."

...Nazarick…

Ainz was pleased. As much so as his limiter allowed him to be anyway. He was looking down at a map of the conflict theater, and he was eating up ground left and right. Draudillon's plan for the controlled withdrawal and destruction of the eastern forces of the Theocracy were said by the guardians to have considerable merit, which meant that it was almost certain to work. In the west, Neia was marshalling her forces for a southern campaign to completely destroy the last remaining forces of the Slane Theocracy in the region of the Southern Holy Roble Kingdom. Her brief time in Nazarick had been well earned and she had achieved a unique place in the normally dismissive eyes of the guardians, Pandora's Actor had taken a rather unusual shine to her in particular, and had asked to help bring her campaign to a close.

That led to the only wrinkle. Queen Calca.

He sat back and looked at the document sitting at his right hand. The Southern Holy Roble Kingdom was declaring its independence. 'The South will not be ruled by the North!' That was the battle cry, and it was being taken up everywhere.

Queen Calca's note to him was filled with veritable heartbreak. So much so that she was due to meet with him shortly.

That was putting a damper on the pleasant mood, while he was pleased about everything, even this action of the Slane Theocracy was one of desperation, he got the sensation she was expecting he'd have some overwhelmingly brilliant solution to the problem as it stood in her eyes. 'I miss sighing for real.' he thought to himself.

A knock came at the door. "Enter." He said.

The door opened, and Solution walked ahead and said formally, "Announcing Queen Calca of the Roble Holy Kingdom."

Ainz waved her away, and Solution bowed before backing out of the room and closing the door.

Queen Calca approached and went to one knee with her eyes downcast. "My Lord." She said humbly.

"Raise your head." Ainz said sympathetically as he folded one skeletal hand over the other atop his desk.

When she did, he gestured to a chair opposite himself. "Please, be seated."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." She said in quiet frustration as she moved to the chair.

"I will be blunt, My Lord, I know what my response 'should be' to this, but I haven't the heart to bear giving the order." She said, somewhat shamefaced.

"What is it that you believe you 'should' do?" Ainz asked calmly.

She met his eyes and held within them the glistening of sadness, "I 'should' order a full invasion, back Pope Neia Baraja, exterminate every single lord who joins this rebellion, slaughter their armies, and burn my way all the way to the Southern coast. But to do that is just not in my nature." She folded her hands in front of her on the table in imitation of the posture of her lord.

"If I do that, I'll reunite my kingdom and then I can hand the whole of it over to you as a province as I promised." She had a hard edge to her voice, a bubbling resentment lay beneath the surface that was of one tired of being betrayed. "I promised Neia I would be stronger than I had been, that I would do what needed to be done, if I don't stop this, I will be breaking a promise to her, as well as to you. After having stood before her and beside you at her wedding, after having seen the unflappable nobility of your august self, I can't fall short of my aspirations to succeed in my role as a ruler." She had a conviction in her voice that Ainz was forced to acknowledge, though he had no idea what she meant in some of that, he chose to ignore the question he would have otherwise asked.

'Well, time to wing it again.' He thought, his mind rushing a mile a minute as to how to answer her.

"My good Governor Queen," he said proudly, "all of this is well within expectations, a few variations, true, I wasn't expecting them to go this route for a few more weeks, but I suppose Neia's awakening brought them to desperation faster than I thought. I believed them braver than that."

Her eyes went wide. "My Lord?" She asked. "Please explain."

"Tell me, Governor Queen, what will happen if the South is invaded? Give me your best estimation." He asked her patiently.

He could see her eyes drift away as she turned thoughtful, "They'll use a scorched earth policy to keep us at bay, throw tens of thousands of people into fights they can't win, hunger and destruction will sweep the south. The Slane Theocracy doesn't value their lives, so either they'll wreak havoc the whole time, or the Southerners will be so sick of it all that they'll fight the Theocracy themselves. If they were to win, the country would be a ruin for generations. If they were to lose, the province would be a ruin for generations, and it would cost the wealth of ten kingdoms to rebuild, and it would take at least fifty years if I'm being generous. The whole area would become a haven for bandits and lawlessness, and I'd have to ship most of my food south just to stave off starvation." She looked at him again and went silent, awaiting his response.

"Very good, almost my exact estimation." He said, impressed, as he had not in fact, considered most of that at all.

He turned his skeletal hands palms up, and did likewise with the question. "Now, suppose they are granted their independence?" He asked, and she looked at him with shock.

"Sire, you can't mean…" She started to ask, but he just looked at her.

"Go on, answer." He said encouragingly.

"Well, the province suffered heavy losses due to their northern ventures, so it will be weak for a long time, the destruction of Wenmark ruined their best exports for years, they'll be out of the war… but all the burden of rebuilding will be on them. The Theocracy won't be able to justify staying there, and will be forced to withdraw entirely. If they don't, or attempt to use the South as a place from which to raid the North, that will provide justification for us to invade if the south doesn't end the problem themselves. Either way, the southern independent kingdom will cut off all supplies to Slane Theocracy forces, and that is if they don't exterminate the Theocracy there themselves as part of an independence deal." She tapped her finger and her eyes went wider.

"The Southern state would be weak in every relevant way, and after the defeat of the Slane Theocracy when this war is over, they'll have no potential allies to turn to for a thousand miles in any direction. You can essentially dictate their policies in exchange for simply sending food shipments and keeping vital trade open. Their independence would be nominal in a generation or less, and barring some massive outside intervention, they're doomed to collapse from within or you can simply walk in and take over later at your convenience." She looked at him in shock as she finished her evaluation.

"And the casualties?" He asked.

"Except if they fight the Theocracy there, we can expect almost none." She replied.

"Exactly." He said knowingly.

"So… you'll grant them what they want?" She asked.

"I see no downside to doing so, I am undead, waiting twenty years for their complete collapse to take over means nothing to me, whether they kneel to me now, or whether they do so later in the span of a generation, is no more significant to me than whether they kneel today or tomorrow in the literal sense." Ainz explained, extremely grateful to Calca for coming up with such an excellent plan and handing him the credit.

"Truly you are the wisest of all kings." She said in breathless admiration.

He waved her praise aside, "I must strive to be so, to merit the loyalty of excellent subordinates." He answered, returning her praise in kind. "So think nothing of the matter, we'll grant them their independence on the condition that they expel foreign influences and withdraw from the war and turn over anyone within the country who partook in the burnings, the Slane Theocracy overplayed their hand, thinking that they would gain a new ally or at least retain what was left of one. Instead, they're handing us an expendable satellite state that we'll eventually take anyway, and throwing away their remaining forces in that region. If they want to work that hard for our victory, I say let them." He said calmly, in a tone that told her he'd calculated every possible eventuality.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, you have done much to set your servant's mind at ease, I pray I live long enough to see my kingdom reunited after their brief folly is 'entertained'." Calca said, but then added, "After this, how may my forces render aid to your cause?"

"By aiding in the invasion of the Slane Theocracy itself." He said, and he saw Calca's face take on a familiar look, as if she were imitating Neia's predatory grin.

AN: All caught up for now, doing a few more chapters this week and then I get started on my own original piece and the commissioned works.