God Rising: The Cult of Ainz
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
Chapter 163: Reap What You Sow
AN: And the end marches on. Only 37 chapters to the end.
...Mountains West of Feron...South of Fortress Alaf...
Aalon stood before the assembly of elves, elven vampires, and the handful of quagoa. "For centuries the Slane Theocracy has done a terrible wrong. Today we do our part to right that wrong and break their power forever. We will take Feron and cut off the survivors of the fight at Fortress Alaf from all retreat. They haven't but five thousand soldiers, militia, and city guards to stop you, you outnumber them two to one! You are stronger than they are! You are better armed they are! You are better trained by the order of over a century, many of you! You are ready to take your rightful revenge on those who have wronged you! Wronged your children! Wronged your fathers and mothers and siblings! Today is the beginning of the end! Who is ready to see it through?!" Aalon shouted, and his voice echoed off the stone as if the mountains themselves agreed with him. Swords and spears rose and fell as if to strike the sky itself.
"Then follow me! Follow me to the tomorrow you deserve!" Aalon shouted, and he headed through the tunnel. It was a long, long passage, so long and winding that it took the better part of four hours to make it through to the other side.
"Father, when we come out, what will happen then?" Tula asked, her bright red eyes flashing with anticipation.
"The quagoa will burn the timbers beneath the wall, and then we charge. Raymond's report to Dominic from the Thousand Mile Astrologer will have seen a chunk of the city's guard gone, leaving them much diminished, with complete surprise, the city should fall in an hour." Aalon said happily and took out his sword. The army of freed elves and Aalon's handful of human and vampire supporters waited in the shadows of the caves, ready to spring from a half a dozen abandoned mining paths along the western wall... all they needed was the collapse.
They waited, and waited... and waited. Aalon began to feel agitated, he looked over his shoulder as if for reassurance, they were anxious too, he smiled at them, as if to reassure them instead of gaining the reassurance he wanted for himself. He turned back and sighed deeply. 'Is there something wrong? Were the quagoa caught? If they're caught, this'll get a whole lot bloodier and we won't get another chance like this...' He thought, his heart, unbeating for well over a century, felt like it was about to leap through his throat.
Then he heard it, a rumbling, a shaking, and then... he saw what he was waiting for, most of the western wall completely collapsed. The sound rebounded off the mountain side, but even if it hadn't, there was nobody in the city who did not know what had just happened.
"GO!" Aalon shouted, and waved his sword forward in front of him, he ran, he didn't look back to see if anyone followed, he simply ran, his fists pumped and his legs pumped and he charged like a maniac out of the cave, down the slope and over open ground toward the city. How many died when the western wall collapsed was a guess at best, but possibly hundreds depending on how many were left there when part of the guard was moved away. The sky was bright blue and only a few clouds floated overhead, it was a beautiful day for bloodshed.
He heard the sound of roars behind him, the battlecries of a people who would be slaves no more, hit the city as if the mountain itself were shouting its rage out to the people. The collapse of the wall had been cause for surprise and dismay, but the sound of a charging horde was cause for terrified alarm.
By the thousands they came, a single wave of swords and gleaming armor, the cries of hate and longing for revenge echoed through the air and the sight of hate filled faces, a golden horde of elven hair flew behind ten thousand heads, such that a bird flying overhead could be forgiven for thinking a field of glorious wheat was on the move against those who had harvested it for generations. Mutilated ears and wrath filled gazes told the tale of an age of oppression ended in a single act and with the accompanying rising and falling of ten thousand swords held aloft.
The city guard struggled to respond as the alarm rang out, but they were scattered, few, and disorganized, prepared for petty crimes or to respond in the event of a siege. But there was no siege, they may as well have been on open ground.
'I haven't a prayer of controlling them...' Aalon thought to himself as his adoptive daughter ran beside him, she did not bear a sword, she chose to go with vampire claws. Tula shrieked like a demoness as they reached the first human and she leaped onto his body, feet first into his upper chest, bearing him down with a terrible thud to the ground. Her two hands went to his trachea, her fingers pierced, then tore out in opposite directions, ripping open his throat.
Aalon had no time to consider the barbarism as he met the first actual combatant, a terrified young guard barely old enough to hold a sword. He did not hold it long, Aalon grabbed the wrist and snapped it, the boy cried out and dropped his weapon, he did not cry out for long, Aalon shoved his sword through the boy's face and drew it out with a sickening crunch.
Elves were running rampant through the streets, those few who could use magic or who found a source of flame, started setting fires, the city was ablaze within minutes, desperate humans fled the tide, but it was just as useless as if they themselves were the sea flooding inland, and they swept all before them. Humans fell like raindrops to the ground, and just as unmourned as a drop of water by those who made them fall. Elves charged into homes and dragged people screaming outside to cut their throats, some did not even go that far, killing old and young alike as centuries of hate were given absolute freedom to indulge itself in revenge drawn by the deepest pits of hell itself.
A piece of Aalon hated what was happening, but bloodlust was drowning everything else. He tore his fangs into an unfortunate throat and ripped it open. His daughter's talons gutted those who came too close and she easily flung them through the brick buildings to be crushed or destroy their internal organs or to simply bleed to death by the open wounds. Casualties were mounting higher and higher with every passing second as guards and soldiers desperately struggled to hold on to some semblance of order. Heroes were born among the humans who fought a battle they could not win against an enemy that hated them to the bones.
Yet even the worst of slaughters must end, and determined last stands can buy time, seconds, minutes, something, anything, everything they could manage... clever and clear headed soldiers erected temporary barriers, nobody knew what was happening or why, where this horrible force from the underworld had come from, but it didn't matter, because they were 'there' among them in the present. So those with clearest minds created minor strongholds that could hold out against scattered and uncoordinated assaults for a short period, it bought vital time for defenders to organize themselves in the northeastern part of the city, and for some citizens to flee out the eastern gate and run or ride for their lives away from pursuit and toward the relative safety of C'teon or Kami Miyako, if they could make it.
The battle began with the rising dawn, before midday half the city had completely fallen, and within two hours of that, only the northeast quadrant of the city remained in human hands, and the bloodlust of the attacking army was finally and slowly being quenched, or at the very least their bodies were too tired to easily continue the butchery.
The desperate defenders had improvised impressively. The northeast quadrant was a warehouse district, as Aalon looked at it from atop a building, he could see that some intelligent and cunning soul had seized the goods therein, found some construction materials, and had many improvised barriers created, likewise he had stationed the best armored of his soldiers along the walls, many of them with arrows. From where Aalon stood, he could see that his elves had paid a steep price for underestimating the hopeless courage of the human defenders, and ignoring that humans too, knew how to use a bow. Tula approached behind him, her clothing, her hair, and her face were blood soaked, but she paid it no mind, and neither did he, Aalon was sure he looked no different.
"Father, what is it?" She asked.
He pointed out the place he was observing. "It's clear that we'll win, but we'll pay a nasty price for it, there are probably a few thousand humans left in that area, at a guess mostly civilians, and not all combat effective but... it'll be a terrible price if we try to take it."
"Can it be taken?" Tula asked, casually spitting some blood out of her mouth to splatter down on the rooftop where they stood.
"It can be, but I'd rather not trade more of our lives, we have the city, we'll let them surrender and leave, or surrender into chains, frankly I'd rather let them leave." Aalon answered, folding his hands behind the small of his back.
"Really? Sympathy, father, for the Theocracy?" She asked incredulously.
"No, none." He said calmly, "But whether they die here or die in Kami Miyako makes no difference to me, this city is ours, and that cuts off all hope for the north, the west belongs to our side now, and nothing can change that." He flashed a charming fang filled smile at his daughter, and she returned it as she understood.
"Yes, father. I'll go deliver the 'opportunity' to leave, myself. I'm sure they'll take it rather than perish pointlessly here and now." Tula replied happily, and then jumped from the building down the the blood soaked street. She practically skipped her way to the space between the two sides, fighting was stilled for the moment, she chose this, the moment of their greatest fear and the understanding of their doom, to make her approach, openly with hands up and empty, as if they themselves were not weapons.
Aalon watched from his position, his keen hearing caught the sounds of shouting from within the human lines when his daughter presented the offer. The sound of a struggle, clearly some wanted to take it, others did not. It was obvious fairly quickly who won the argument, as he saw his forces begin to part away, withdrawing to the west quadrant, and a long line of survivors, wailing women and children, hollow faced men, weeping men, shaking soldiers, blood soaked victims, wounded and hearty alike, all began to trudge toward the eastern gate. Where they were going, Aalon did not care.
He sat down on the edge of the building and watched them go, and when at last the eastern gate closed, indicating the last survivors had exited the city of Feron, he looked to the skies and laughed with unutterable glee. "Nua! I have begun to take vengeance for you, and for us! Your old life will never be lived again, not by anyone, I swear it!" He shouted to the blue above him, as if she could hear what he was saying. He laughed that way for quite some time before his daughter returned to him, and told Aalon that the soldiers were assembling in the central square and ready for him to give a formal address.
It was one duty he was more than happy to perform.
...Beneath the Elf King's Palace...
Ainz moved so quickly that the cries of the hostages were left far behind him in a matter of minutes as he proceeded deeper and deeper into the underground passages. Tuare was breathing hard as she tried desperately to keep up, it was several more minutes before he realized she was struggling, and stopped. She scurried up to him as fast as she could, leaning over and breathing hard, she put a hand over her chest as her breasts rose and fell with every gasp. "My lord, forgive your servant her weakness, you move so quickly... I... I have never moved like this before." She gasped out.
Ainz mentally cursed himself, 'It's a bad boss that does not take the limitations of his subordinates into account.' He let her breathe for a little while and then spoke to her. "Of course, we will move more slowly, I let my eagerness get the better of me. I will not forget again."
She blushed and looked deeply moved by his consideration, her eyes looked at him joyfully. "I'm ready again, My Lord. Please proceed as you see fit, your servant will do her best to keep up." She put as much force into her voice as she could, trying her best to hide her shortness of breath. 'Such a lord, who thinks of his smallest and most insignifcant servants' wellbeing... comes along once in a lifetime, no, once in a hundred, once in a thousand years... I must not fail him.' Tuare thought as she cursed her weakness, she privately resolved to ask Cocytus for some tips on improving her physical fitness.
Ainz did not answer, he didn't need to. He resumed his walk as he looked around, but this time his pace was much, much slower. "My Lord, may your servant beg a question?" She asked.
"Ask." He said succinctly, not really looking at her, focusing instead on the markings that could not be anything but that of a guild of Yggdrasil.
"Do you... know where you are going? You seem to have a destination in mind." She inquired as she matched her step to his as if she were a soldier keeping time with the rhythm of her lord's pace.
"I do. And I hope to find what I expect, the only question remaining to me is how the mechanics of this place will differ from the world that birthed this location." Ainz replied thoughtfully.
"My Lord... this comes from your world?" She asked, agog at the impossibility he seemed to be presenting.
"No, this comes from the second world, the world in which I and my companions created our children, including Sebas, as you recall. This place once belonged to beings... something like myself. Lesser ones, far, far weaker, but still they might as well have been gods by your reckoning." He replied in a tossed off sort of way as they came to a gate site.
As they stepped onto it, Tuare felt everything go dark for an instant, and then she opened her eyes and found herself in a large open space. Great walls and a red sky with black clouds moving overhead. "Garish, they had no taste." Ainz said dismissively.
"They, my lord?" Tuare asked, thinking she already knew the answer.
"You have seen the realm of my friends and I, this would have been designed by the lessers who ruled here in the same way, we are close now, so keep by me, when I tell you to touch something, do so, but then step away quickly." Ainz instructed her, and though she looked at him with a neutral expression, a very slight tremor told him she was afraid, but resolute in her willingness to obey.
"As you say, My Lord." She answered, and continued to follow him deeper into the realm of what she now thought of as 'lesser gods'.
Eventually they came to a great door carved with intricate designs of the most evil looking elves that Tuare had ever seen, they had sneers of smugness on their faces, they had cruel eyes painted purple and red, they had dangerous looking bows and weapons beyond any she'd seen outside of Nazarick's own productions. Even now, though they were but carvings engraved onto the enormous door, she felt them looking down on her with contempt.
"Now, touch the door, and repeat after me, "I, Tuareninya Veyron, challenge for the right to rule." Ainz said calmly as he began readying his skills 'just in case'.
She did not hesitate, she approached with greater boldness than she knew she had within her, touched the place where the doors met, and said proudly, "I, Tuareninya Veyron, challenge for the right to rule!"
She then stepped back, behind her master, and waited. The doors began to open slowly, very, very slowly, but open they did. "My Lord, why... did you need me to do this?" She asked fearfully, her body still shaking behind him.
"I am too powerful, it would have rejected me. In the second world, some places were reserved for... well, let us call them 'lesser gods' and it was considered unsporting for the more powerful to contend against them, therefore certain places could not be ruled by those who were too strong. If I am right, and I am now certain that I am, the one you call the Elf King, was the inner treasury guardian for this place. At a guess, the one Chindai Khan referred to as the founder of his people, once lived here, or perhaps he was trying to take this place as one final adventure before the second world ended. But whatever the reason, he left it. Perhaps the Elf King was too strong, perhaps he ruled and abandoned it, alone deciding to venture into the wide world."
Ainz laughed a little bit, "Had I not come to this world with the children of my dear friends, then I would have done the same, I think. This is a beautiful world, like no other I have ever seen, my friends... they would have loved it, I think. And had I come alone, I would have walked out of Nazarick to pursue the greatest adventure of my life... but duty bound me there, an obligation to the loved ones I lost, and the loved ones who still remained. Those treasures bind me to my course... but for the one who came here, who knows how many centuries ago, he was almost certainly alone. I do not gamble often, but I would wager the last coin of Nazarick that he arrived here from this place."
Tuare's mouth fell open and then closed, then fell open, then closed again, she'd never heard her master speak like this, and she decided it must be his excitement over discovering this place that made him relax so. She vowed in the quietness of her heart to never speak a word of it, but also to keep it close and never forget it. "My... lord..." Tuare began, and pointed to the door, drawing his attention back to the matter at hand as he seemed to lose focus and drift off in thought.
"Oh, yes. Wait here." Ainz said and resumed his walk forward, there in front of them was a large platform, the walls were decorated with various vines and trees that seemed to writhe, still living, and between the walls and the platform was a large open gap, Tuare remained where she was, but she peeked, and gasped, down within the pit were countless bodies impaled on impossibly terrifying thorns. And to her shock, the plants that writhed along the walls darted out their vines and thorns to strike at the Sorcerer King.
"Your Majesty!" She screamed and clutched her hands to her cheeks, but she didn't need to fear.
"[Radiant Death]." He said, and raised his finger, he pointed at each wall, and the plants withered and died, their vibrant greens turned brown, their healthy smoothness and thickness wrinkled and shrank, and fell away before their attempted attack could strike home, it spread from the point of impact, until each wall went brown as dirt with dead plant matter.
Tuare felt her heart sink back down into her chest from where it had leaped into her throat, and the Sorcerer King turned to face Tuare, he was about to call her over, but she didn't wait, she ran over to him as fast as she could and flung herself at his feet. "Majesty, please! Please don't do that." She whimpered and clutched at his robe.
"I thought... I felt such malice from that, such power... forgive me for doubting your own strength was equal but... but what if something had gone wrong, what if you had been hurt?! To lose a lord like you... please, please summon a guardian, or call up a summon, please don't do that, your servant would be lost if you had been taken away!" She cried out, half word by half word through her anxious tears.
Ainz touched the top of her head and she did not shrink away, she lowered her gaze, and as if realizing what she was doing, she dropped her grip on his robe, "F-Forgive this unworthy one for daring to touch your sacred robes... she lost sense of herself for a moment." Tuare said and wiped her nose, face, and eyes.
"It's alright, Tuare. You were moved by loyalty and fear for my wellbeing, any of the guardians would have done exactly the same in your place, they would be pleased by your loyalty, and so am I." He replied, "But you needn't fear, I know what lies within, and there is nothing here capable of threatening me. This would have been where the... late Elf King, would have been waiting to face you, as he is dead, all that remains is the treasury beyond. As Chindai did not speak of this treasure existing in the hands of their founder, it is unlikely that he ruled here, though... but I can't say so with absolute certainty, not until we venture within. Now go." He said, and pointed to the opposite wall, a bridge of stone extended out to the far wall, and another door shimmered into existence, this one white and carved like the first, but with elves who appeared far less malicious, far kinder, and they seemed to meet her with approving eyes, their arms open as if to embrace her.
She touched the door gingerly, the same as she had before. These doors opened far more quickly, and within lay more coins than she'd ever seen before, but for all that wealth of gold, her eyes fell to one object. A set of gauntlets, seemingly ordinary iron, yet with many intricate inlaid designs that covered them, Glowing with an eerie red light.
"Go, Tuare, pick those up, and then give them to me." Ainz said reassuringly.
She did as her master bade her, approaching the mount which held them. She reached out and touched them with her own two hands. To her surprise, they weighed almost nothing. She could feel the power coursing through them as she turned and brought them to her lord. "As you commanded, My Lord." She said, contented in her obedient fulfillment of his will.
"The Iron Gauntlets of Járnglófar. Another world item. Marvelous." Ainz remarked excitedly as he stored them in his pocket dimension. "Lesser... but... still. I can't wait to try them out." He said enthusiastically as Tuare looked at him with puzzlement.
"My Lord... what were those... if this humble servant may dare to ask?" She inquired as she started fidgeting anxiously.
"Those were an item of power from second world, great power, a reward to a being who captured this hall. The treasury is very... poor, compared to my own, so I believe I'll leave the coins for Zesshi to claim, that should pay for much of the rebuilding of her shattered country. But these... these are unique. It allows their bearer to double the strength of their subordinates for a day, with a twenty-four hour recharge time." Ainz answered with glee rising in his voice as the implications of that hit him.
'Wait... the maximum size of a guild was a few hundred people, these worked on 'all' subordinates of the bearer, usually a guildmaster. But it also worked on summoned servants, and 'hired' mercenaries and lower level allies. I'm... a king, so does that mean I could strengthen an entire army, my entire kingdom? Or will it only work on my specific guild members? I'll have to test this item out and see what happens. But if it works at its most extreme possibility... talk about game breaking.' He thought to himself as the dizzying possibility ran like wild horses through his mind.
"We need to get going, Tuare, I wish to see Zesshi to accept her oath of vassalage. But there is one more thing to do first. Go to where the gauntlets were resting, lay your hand upon that mount, and say 'Revive Guardian'." Ainz instructed, and went to the center of the room just beyond the treasury. "Close the door, and come out when I call you." He said, as she moved to obey.
When the door was closed, Ainz quietly uttered, [Perfect Warrior]. Within minutes, he saw the form of the one known as the Elf King start to take shape, it started to move, but Ainz did not give the figure time to react. Several swift hacks with his sword, and he was an armless, legless stump. After turning off his [Perfect Warrior] form, he took out a few simple treatment items and tourniqueted the stumps of limbs so that the NPC would not bleed to death, then as the Elf King swore vengeance and that he would make Ainz kneel and beg for death, the Sorcerer King opened a gate and tossed him through.
He then used a message spell to connect to Demiurge. 'I'm sending you a special prisoner, see what kind of scrolls his skin makes. Give no consideration for his pain, if anything, make it hurt as much as possible. Also, find out if his natural healing can allow for skinning to be done twice without making the first scroll disappear. Oh, and don't waste the limbs I just threw in there, give those to Entoma as a reward for so patiently minding Cardinal Berenice.'
'As you wish, My Lord, while we're speaking, I should inform you, Dominic has ordered the death of what he believes to be his former lover and his daughter, something might be made of this, thanks to the results of our corpse experiments. If you are interested, we might make a nice, loyal 'Thousand Mile Astrologer' as a result.' Demiurge replied, and Ainz's interest was piqued.
'Very well, I have one more task to accomplish here with Zesshi. In the meantime, ensure that Pestonya, Yuri, and the humans who may pass into Nazarick with them, have all the assistance they need with the rescued elven hostages.' Ainz replied.
'At once, My Lord.' Demiurge replied joyfully. Ainz canceled the message spell and waited for Tuare to emerge.
As the door opened and Tuare came into view, still looking somewhat nervous, "My lord…. I don't know what I did but… a lot of gold just… vanished. I swear I didn't…" She started to shiver uncontrollably wondering if she'd done something horribly wrong.
"No, that was what is supposed to happen, think nothing of it, Tuare." He said and then had a Gate opened for them both. "Come along, my subordinates can handle the wellbeing of the captives, we will go see Zesshi and I will accept her vassalage. She has probably finished 'explaining' things by now and I'm sure word has spread of the demise of the king. We will then be done here and... why don't you and Sebas take a day or two off together, as a show of appreciation on my part for the service you rendered down here, and for the loyalty and concern you showed for me."
Tuare went from nervous, to beaming. "My Lord, it is only natural to be loyal and worry for you... but... I would be overjoyed to take some time for Sebas and I."
"Then it is my pleasure to give it to you." Ainz replied, and then they stepped through the Gate, and left the room empty of people behind them, and Tuare barely even noticed the nasty bloodstains she passed through to follow her lord.