Hello little peeps, and welcome back to the o' glorious chapter 22! I know I should have updated on Sunday, but hey, it was my birthday on saturday, and my aunt took me out to do some really fun stuff on Sunday. I got home around 4, but I was absolutely wiped, both physically and mentally. So, cut me a break there, I mean who wants to work on their birthday? Not me! Though a wise man once said "If you love what you do, then you will never have to work a day in your life". I agree with this, and I love writing, but sometime you just need a break. I have also been having trouble coming up with ideas for this chapter. Every time I attempt to think up whats gonna happen, I only end up working it backwards, which means that I have the entire ending of the story planned out, as well as parts of the next 2 sequels. You heard me right, 2 sequels. I'll tell you al a little something, the story after this is called Gregor and the Kingslayer. It will be shorter then this story, and it may be a one-shot, a very long one at that. It is expected to be 10-30 thousand words. Now, for this chapter I still have no clue how most of it will go. It will most likely include the battle, though it is possible that it will end off right when the first drop of blood falls. The question from last chapter, well somebody got it, and didn't. They were really close, yet really really far off. He who goes by the name of machine, you sir, are very very close, yet oh so far off. I shall leave you all pondering these words. Well, we shall see how this all play out! See ya'll peeps after the chapter!

See ya'll later,

-Tytonic

Disclaimer: I do not own any of The Underland Chronicles, only the characters I make up and the plot itself.

Gregor and the War of the Myriapods

Chapter 22: Outrage

"I talked to Vikus about it, and he talked to the rest of the council about the age thing. They control Regalia, so when Vikus mentioned the rule, they said they had the power to break rules. In the case where the council breaks rules, it goes to a public trial with a jury, or, as of 4 years ago, to the grand council. The council denied that they broke any rules, as the marriage is not official yet. They have only told me that it will be during my coronation, and since they have not told anybody else, I cannot prove that I am being forced into this marriage. I just can't take all of the stress in my life." Whispered Luxa.

"You don't have to. I'll help you, just ask. Anything you need, I will help you with. You won't have to marry him, don't worry, I'll stop it." Whispered Gregor.

"How?" Asked Luxa, still barley audible.

"I have a plan. . ."

-O-

"Do you really think that it will work?" Asked Luxa, hope gleaming in her eyes.

"Do you truly want it to?" Asked Gregor.

"Yes. . ." Replied Luxa.

"Then it will work." Responded Gregor, kissing her on the head.

Before Luxa even had time to respond, the bells announcing battle rang. Gregor and Luxa exchanged nervous looks, and even through the silky darkness, they both knew what the other face read. Without a word, Gregor stood up, pulling Luxa up by her hand. He let out a loud whistle, and sprinted for the entrance of the cavern, Luxa hot on his heels. They both Jumped, and smoothly landed upon their fliers backs.

They double-timed it back over to the wall, where they could see frantic activity, the humans pushing themselves to complete the defenses in time for battle. They could also see the available soldiers moving into position in front of the wall.

Both Gregor and Luxa could hear cheers as they flew overhead many people, it seemed the people knew that without Gregor, the chances of holding Regalia dwindle. Luxa signaled for Chronos and Aurora to land on the wall, much to Gregor's confusion.

Gregor and Luxa remained on their fliers when they landed, and Gregor noticed as a large majority of the people before them went silent, and turned towards them. Gregor attempted to look casual, but that utterly failed as his warrior side took over, and he adopted a stern and deadly, yet protective look. Luxa had her queen-look on, the look which allowed her to look down on somebody a foot taller then her. She began to speak.

"People of Regalia! We are teetering on the edge of destruction this day! Today, we either survive and thrive, or fall into the deep, dark, abyss known as death! I ask you all to put the life of Regalia, of the underland, before that of your own! I call upon you, to defend everything we have fought for, everything we had died for! Today, we fight!" Yelled Luxa, loud enough for everybody to hear.

The entire cavern exploded into cheers and yells. It took a short while, but when the sounds died down, Luxa turned to Gregor expectantly, and every being shifted their gaze from the queen, to the warrior.

Gregor had not expected that at all. He was suppose to give a speech? In front of all these people? Gregor hesitated for a moment, and then remembered the hundreds of slashers approaching Regalia. He had no time to be nervous, battle was upon them, and it was his job to give the soldiers the inspiration they need to win this battle. Gregor decided he would give it his best shot.

"The world is not all sunshine and rainbows, it's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you down to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it! You, me, the slashers, nobody is gonna hit you as hard as life, but it isn't about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward, how much you can take, and keep moving forward, that's how winning is done! Now, if you know what you live for, then live for it, but you gotta be willing to take the hits, and keep going, you must be willing to endure! Never give up, cowards do that, and that's not you, you are all better then that! Courage, hope, and love. These are the things that make us strong! It's not overcoming our fears that will make us stronger, it's being willing to face them head-on, that will make us stronger! None of us fight for our own survival toady, no, we fight for what is right! Take this to heart, I believe in you all, and the underland is the best thing that has ever happened in my life, but until you start believing in yourselves, you will have no life! Now, as warrior of prophecy, call upon you all, call upon the strength of you all! When you get shot down, get back up, keep fighting! We will fight, we will survive, and most of all, we will endure!" Yelled Gregor, so the entire cavern could hear.

This earned cheers. A lot of cheers. If you were told that there were then thousand people in the cavern, cheering, you would never doubt it, despite the fact that there were only around a thousand that had heard the speech.

Gregor was panting for air by the time he finished the speech, due to it being such a mouthful. He was shocked. He had never been very good at public speaking; maybe this was the result of teetering on the edge of life and death. Gregor's train of thought was broken, as well as the ear-splitting cheers, the second a blood curtailing screech was heard from down the tunnel. Luxa Grabbed Gregor's hand, signaling for him and Chronos to stay for a moment. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"Be careful, I don't know what I would do if you died today." Pleaded Luxa.

Gregor gave a sharp nod, and Chronos instantly launched forward, taking Gregor with him. Chronos swooped low near the front line, and Gregor leapt off of his back, landing in a spot specifically for him, on the far right.

It took but mere seconds for Gregor to pick up the approaching slasher army with echolocation. There were a lot of the, hundreds. Gregor was afraid, not for himself, but for Regalia. He managed to tuck that fear down into his mind, replacing it with anger, only more fuel for his rager. He didn't bother to hold back, he just let the rager sensation take over.

Within moments, the wave of slashers collided into the Regalian forces. Gregor blocked hit after hit, and unleashed an attack whenever he got an opportunity, but it wouldn't do. He could 'see' Ripred already spinning in the distance, and he was making much more ground then Gregor. Gregor was beginning to get pushed back more and more, as were the others that had survived. Many, many humans had already fallen, and the Slashers were past the front line, only a few from the front line had survived, and even fewer from the next 2-3 lines. Most of the slashers were focusing on Gregor, Ripred, and Xano, due the them being the only thing that had prevented the slashers from already reaching the wall. It became to much for Gregor, and with his free hand, he whipped out his dagger, and began his rager spin. The result came instantly. Gregor began to make more footway, and he began to push forward, slowly, but surely. He could hear stuff crashing in the distance, most likely the crates.

Gregor kept his spinning going for a few minutes, before almost all of the slashers caught on. They focused 90% of their forces and Gregor, Ripred, and Xano. This allowed the rest of the humans to regroup slightly, and fight back, rather than hold defense. It was still difficult for the humans, but they managed to hold their ground.

It seemed like mere minutes to Gregor, but in reality it had been almost an hour by the time the slashers let up. When the final Slasher had finally been killed, the humans let their guard down, and began to cheer. Only around sixty humans remained alongside of Gregor, Ripred, and Xano. Gregor didn't let his guard down. He could sense something, and he knew Ripred and Xano could as well.

Gregor could 'see' Luxa hold her hand up, calling for silence, the second she realized that the three man army was still alert. She got silence instantly. All of the soldiers looked over at Luxa, but turned Gregor's way when he began to speak.

"Soldiers, hold your positions! This is not over, more are coming! That was but half of this onslaught." Called Gregor.

Every single soldier immediately tensed up, and put up their guard. Gregor had been standing the farthest ahead of everybody, just past the strip of oil coating the cavern. He Looked at it, and backed up to about ten feet behind it, alongside the remaining Humans.

Gregor turned to Luxa, who was on the wall a ways away, and he pointed at the oil. She nodded in understanding, and ordered something Gregor could not hear. Just as the blood-boiling screech announcing the second wave of slashers rung throughout the cavern, a flaming arrow connected with the oil, setting part of the cavern ablaze. Every soldier watched in horror as the slasher came into view, and stopped around ten feet shy of the fire.

Normally, everybody would be ready to face this challenge head on, but this seemed much worse. There was an eerie silence, and the soldiers kept guard while bodies were being cleared from the field. Xano broke that silence.

"The first attack was only to test our strength, those were far weaker slashers. These slashers are meant to destroy as much as possible, they are much stronger, and far deadlier. Prepare yourselves." Warned Xano.

The removal of bodies was going fairly fast, and around 70% of the cavern had been cleared of bodies by the time the fire began to dim down. The remaining soldiers were as ready as they would ever be, most of them had picked up a second sword from the ground, and replaced any armor that was damaged with armor from bodies.

When the fire finally died down enough for the slashers to pass, they charged as fast as possible. Unlike last time, the humans were more prepared. Despite their dwindling numbers, they managed to hold their ground against the slashers. Many humans went down in the first few minutes of this specific attack. The humans had had only around sixty men when the wave collided, but they now dwindled at nine, and this was including Gregor, Ripred, and Xano. They had all grouped up in a defensive circle around a single point, which was currently just clear ground. The circle was being pushed in, bit by bit, and soon they would all be back to back, were they would be slaughtered.

There were still many slashers left, and if they were as weak as the first wave, then they would be able to push back, and maybe even win, but they were far stronger. Gregor couldn't spin here, in risk of hurting his allies, same went for Ripred. Nobody could even tell what Xano was doing, he was just a blur with how fast he was moving.

When Gregor finally felt his back touch another human, he knew the circle had been compromised. He felt blood splatter, as the remaining humans fell. Only he, Ripred, and Xano still stood. The last thing Gregor saw before he began his rager spin, was the wall, as the wave of slashers finally reached it, but more importantly, he saw Auroras wing get caught by a slasher as she took off, attempting to retreat.

That set it off. Gregor went full outrage.

Ripred's Point of View

Ripred was being pushed back. He felt a final splatter of blood as the remaining soldiers fell. He no longer had the safety of the soldiers to worry about, so he began his rager spin. He was used to the rager spin, after so many years of fighting, and he could make out the land around him clearly, without getting dizzy. He 'saw' the wall get overrun by slashers, and he screamed inside his head.

What he saw next, he will never be able to forget.

He saw Aurora go down, with Luxa upon her back. He has seen worse, but what surprised him was what followed. He knew Gregor Loved Luxa, but he never knew love could do this to a rager. He noticed that Gregor had seen this as well, and he swears he saw something change in Gregor's eyes. Gregor stopped spinning completely. He began to move in a way that Ripred had never seen before. It was so unbelievably fast, and each strike precise. Whatever he was doing, it was far deadlier then the rager spin. Gregor seemed to crackle with power, as he didn't block a single attack, he only killed the targets before they had the chance to attack.

He was astonished, he had never seen anything fight like this in all of his years of fighting. He watched as Gregor pushed forward. You could almost feel the power dripping off of him. He saw as Gregor made his way over to the wall. He saw the ease in Gregor, as if this was simple, as if it was hardly a challenge. Gregor reached the wall, and Ripred watched as Gregor used the slashers, and the large broken parts of the wall, to reach the top. It looked like it had been nothing to him. He watched as Gregor fought the slashers, clearing the top of the wall. There were still far to many slashers for him to keep away, as he was only one person, and some slashers ignored him and went straight past the wall, to where Ripred assumed there was the final hundred of the soldiers fighting to keep the city.

His senses around the wall were blocked when Gregor grabbed a torch, and tossed it into the oil at the base of the wall, lighting the entire side of the wall on fire. This blast of fire caught many slashers, killing a few of them, and causing the rest of the to back away, thus cutting off the rest of the slashers from Regalia.

Gregor's Point of View

Gregor couldn't control himself, it was the arena fight all over again. He remembered Xano calling it outrage. He could only watch as he fought through the mass of slashers, and up the wall. He could only watch as he ended more lives then he could count. He could only watch as he set the wall on fire. When he saw Luxa, his heart jumped. She had a lot of cuts on her, and she was out cold, but nothing serious, maybe a minor concussion.

He wanted to get to her, to protect her, but he couldn't control himself at all. He watched as her whistled loudly, and pointed at Luxa. He watched as Chronos swooped down, picked up Luxa, and flew back to the palace. He finally could feel his control returning.

Once his control fully returned, he held off a few remaining slashers on the wall, and assumed a defensive position next to Aurora. They would need multiple fliers to get her unconscious body to the palace. She had a huge gash running down her entire wing, but nothing that wouldn't heal with time.

The final few slashers on the wall died by Gregor's blade. He could finally rest for a moment. He glanced over one side of the wall, and noticed that there were around fifty humans fighting off the final few slashers, and he noticed that on the other side of the wall, around two hundred slashers still remained, and Ripred and Xano were struggling badly.

He would have helped, but he was to tired to move, his legs were frozen in place. He watched as Ripred and Xano finally buckled, and he waited to see them get overtaken by slashers, but the moment never came. Instead, he watched as hundreds of gnawers flooded the cavern from behind the slashers, and began to tear through them. He watched for a few minutes as the rats tore through the slashers. He watched as the final slasher got it's head torn off by a large rat. He noticed that Ripred and Xano were very weak, but still going.

The last thing Gregor felt was the fur of a bat around him, as he was flown back to the palace, and then everything went black.

It seems that every chapter somebody is blacking out, and or getting severely injured, but hey, what else would happen? I need to keep the story interesting, and what better way then almost killing everybody? Well either way, I think I did good this chapter. The humans BARLEY survived this onslaught, and even the crawlers would be able to take out all of Regalia at this point. If it were not for the rats, the humans would have lost the battle. For those of you wondering, Luxa and Gregor are not gonna be out cold for the next week, probably only 1-3 hours for Luxa, and 8-10 hours for Gregor. So, this story is progressing fairly well, and I feel that it will turn out nicely. I am growing eager for the ending of this story, but they haven't even began their journey yet! I have no clue how long this will take to finish. It may go to 200k words for all I know, I knows its over 80k with this chapter. Give me any and all ideas, see ya'll later!

See you all next time.

-Tytonic

Question: How will Luxa and Gregor act when they talk again?

*CLICKCLICKCLICK*

*POOF*

Tytonic- So, how was the chapter?

*Both Gregor and Luxa are out cold*

Tytonic- Well ok then. . .

*CLICK*

*Gregor and Luxa both awaken instantly*

Tytonic- So, thoughts?

Luxa- All I remember is Gregor's speech, and falling off of Aurora. . .

Gregor- It's a horrible feeling, when I loose control like that. . .

Luxa- You lost control again?

Tytonic- Yes he lost control, and it was much worse then last time, but if he hadn't, you would be dead now, and Regalia would have been lost.

Luxa- Really?

Tytonic- Yes, now off you guys go, I don't feel like explaining the whole thing to you, so I'll let Gregor do that.

*CLICKCLICKCLICK*

*POOF*

See ya'll peeps later,

-Tytonic