[ - Author's Note - ]
Here we are, once more.
This chapter is something I've had in mind since I conceptualized the Garanian War. If you like the more action packed chapters... well, get ready for some total, non-stop action here!
Like lots.
Like aside from the end it's almost all action... Oh yeah...
Alright, let's start!
[ - Act III - Chapter VI: Heroes of the Front - ]
Northern Elddale
Battlefield
"Rally! Rally!" Valora Onglave shouted out. She and her knights had been chasing after Garanian cavalry with the aims of keeping their forces from being flanked only to end up flanked and surrounded themselves by opposing mounted units and infantry. There was a chance that the dark elves pulled it off by chance but it was much more likely that it was a planned trap... and she rode headlong into it...
Her group of thirty, horse mounted knights were cut down to thirteen, and going down more and more. One of her men was pulled off his steed by a polearm with a long hook on the back as she guided her steed about to better block a strike before putting her and her horse's weight into the follow up strike; she didn't break past the armor but hit hard enough to dislodge him from his saddle and to the ground hard on his arm. Even before he hit the ground she had to dodge a polearm reaching for her, swatting it aside with her sword as her steed backed up as she looked about for her next foe and to get an idea of her situation and what she could-
"It's best you surrender now." A cold voice said; calm with a deep undertone of anger. Valora turned her steed to look and see a female dark elf with a wavy bladed rapier and one, red, spell stone eye standing and looking at her... and most of her remaining knights, six female and three male, pinned down, helms off and blades to their neck by the opposing infantry. "After all it's the only way to save them." Valora grit her teeth but looked about as the last, four knights of her unit moved to gather around her. There were five of them...
And maybe thirty foes... At best she could kill one or two of them... and lose all of her knights and her own life... Surrounded as they were escape was unlikely, even if she knew her knights would offer their lives for her safety, painful as the thought was for her... Surrender would place them into the clutches of likely cruel captors... but there would be a chance to escape yet at least... "...Very well..." She let off, letting her blade go and clatter to the ground. "Everyone stand down... we surrender..."
Bronka hid a chuckle to herself as her fellow dark elves moved to direct the last of the knights, their leader and one more being female, off their horses before binding them in rope... fodder for the Aberrant's loins... As for the rest she was sure a mine somewhere would enjoy the slave labor.
She had wanted to go and kill the damned Noxdecus human, 'The Blue Terror' as he was now being called by the common solider, at least the dark elf ones; if the Aberrant knew, cared or had a name for him she didn't know. Frankly she didn't care. She knew where he was based on reports... but was stuck in this trap for other humans... Pf course that wasn't to say she couldn't hurt him in a fashion... after all while she couldn't stop to fight him the route back to their prison camp should take her by where he was... or had a convenient detour there she could use...
The look on his face would be priceless when he saw his allies taken away to suffer like humans should...
[-]
When it comes to the first Garanian Incursion a lot of attention is focused on one man; Hogan 'The Hero' Levantine and it's understandable why this is. While House Levantine had, traditionally, been a well regarded house of military leaders who would rise to the rank of minor nobles in Hogan's age this was no longer the case. Under his grandfather's leadership House Levantine had started to fall from grace but it was his father's and uncle's scandals that saw them stripped of their status of nobility.
This drove Hogan to train to become one of the strongest men in history and he went to the front lines of the war as it started. His ability to hold Stalwart Pass to protect several villages was the start of what would become a remarkable military career. He would take command at the Battle of Wallace City and turn the tides, slay the Matron of House Nightsong, likely saved High Queen Celestine by flanking the foe at the New Battle of Arndale and was the first to force Olga Discordia to retreat in single combat. The man is a legend and earned it and all of the accolades that came with his actions; The Dark Slayer, The Steel Clad Hope, Eostia's Champion, The Queen's Knight and Victory's Knight are some of the nicknames that came with his actions before marrying Geofu's then court mage, Candice Caren and restoring his house to a place of nobility.
At the same time, however, his legend unfortunately overshadowed others who deserved their own accolades to the point many tales and tomes of the war focused on him and his experiences to near exclusivity. This means other heroes of the war and their deeds are often under reported on or even forgotten; 'Mighty' Miach Sturmburg being one of the most notable despite saving Primus City, Victoria Oxen's sacrifice at Collond Fields, Paul Daphne's defense of Lodoss City, the guerrilla war in the Garanian back lines by Wendy Furst and the Rose Knights, Alexander von Blizthaus' harassment of enemy supply lines and prison camps... and that is merely scratching the surface of the number of people who helped save Eostia through bravery, sacrifice and at times the final price one can pay; almost all rarely or never heard of by the common man despite that they did much to save our Alliance.
It's important to remember that while one man can play a leading role in the defense of a kingdom, while he can be the shining example that all others should strive to emulate, that he can be the one to stand above all others we all must acknowledge that one man alone cannot save a kingdom and it's people, and that for all of Hogan Levantine's contributions, sacrifices and bravery he did none of them alone.
War may produce horrors and heartbreak but it also produces heroes by the dozen; too many for history to ever count.
~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia
[-]
It took about a couple hours but I had the first drone made, modified, adjusted and in the air. Once it was up I showed it off to Celestine and I was directed into making five dozen more. One enchanting box to help mass enchant spell stones later and thanks to a lot of volunteer carvers we had a fleet of drones up in the air. More of them were being readied, of course, and would be spread across the front... although Alicia, upon learning of them, dubbed them the 'Sky Eyes' and like the voxlux and Cloud Rider before it I couldn't shake the name. It was flown in same way as my toy wagon with Arcane Weapon forming the controls. The main differences was the controler projected the 'screen' over it. So long as the controller and the Sky Eye (Uggggh...) was within the range of a booster it would work.
Regardless, the Sky Eyes were fast; not as fast as the Cloud Riders but about the speed of a horse at a steady gallop. That let them keep up with the opposing army while we spied on them. Being painted pure black they were near invisible when under the Dark Mist and we found their new plan in action; splitting their forces into some two dozen units and charging them along the borders of Ur and Feoh. Apparently the idea was to attack along as wide a line as possible and get someone in the back of our lines and raise havoc. That meant we had to spread our own lines out to counter them. That said with the new addition of the Black Dogs we had the numbers to do just that. In addition we had new arrivals; Claudia with additional Dawn Templars who came as the Ur front was the most contested one currently and Maia because... well, I think she was a Vult fan girl...
Supposedly they had worked together before and she even ran with the Black Dogs for a time. Either way she brought some of the Ruby Roses along although notably absent was Terra, although as a half dark elf there might have been... friction if she had done so. That said Claudia opted to take the same front Gavrilla was to more directly counter her and took Maia as back up. Klaus stayed in Geofu to assist with operations there I imagined Terra was back in Rad.
(I'd later learn I was wrong; Terra moved to visit her mother in Mungale Manor. I was just glad the two were reconnecting.)
I ended up with the Lyrans once more as we moved to block a group trying to press between our lines; mostly goblins, supported by imps and a hand full of ogres with some dark elf knights and mages in support... and Rubin Drakepyre...
Guess who I was fighting?
You have three guesses and the first two don't count.
"This is wonderful!" She let off, holding a mana forged, single sided axe as I blocked with a mana forged shield from the spell stone in my glove. I had the Dragon's Claw out as I swung at her as she just formed a thick, mana bracer around her off hand and blocked my attack. I will say Rubin was a tough fighter; her use of Arcane Weapon was odd but it made her unpredictable as she could hit you with anything, up to and including the kitchen sink. It also made her frustrating to fight!
A close range Gale Burst from my hand knocked her back as I used my Armor's Physical Burst to rush in with a hard, heavy chop with my blade only for her to make two bracers with three, foot long claws on them ala Wolverine, crossing them and catching my sword strike as she grinned at me.
A wave of flame besides me showcased Myr was using a Flamethrower spell to handle goblins, forcing some back and roasting others. Myr was staying out of our fight but stayed close and made sure no one flanked me or tried to sneak up on me. Rubin simply ignored him save when he was knocked near her while blocking an ogre's attack; despite being in a position to stab him in the back then and there she just hopped away, signaled for me to move to the side and then carried on.
"NOXDECUS!" I winced (And Rubin did as well) as I hopped back and turned to the voice and saw... Bronka waving at me while having a shit eating grin while riding atop something being pulled by horses at the edge of the battlefield escorted by four knights on horseback.
Then I noticed that thing was a cage on a wagon that was horse drawn.
Then I noticed that it had people in it!
And then I noticed one of them was Valora Onglave, Heir of Greenwave and an acquaintance of mine!
"Valora!" I let off, moving to give chase... only for Rubin to slash at me with one of her claws forcing me to dodge back. I sent a point blank Havoc Rend at her as she ducked to the side; moving between me and Bronka on the slave wagon. I made a move to get past her only for her to stab at my side; my armor blocked most of it but it punched past a scale half way. "Move aside!"
"Your fight is with me!" Rubin let off as her one track mind seemed to demand her to fight me as I blocked one set of claws with my blade before punching her in the face. She tanked it, grinned and slashed with her other arm as I raised my shield up to block it. "I'm not sharing you this time!"
Fucking battle minded yandere!
"I'll save her!" I heard as Myr, of all people, ran after the horse pulled cage, taking off into the air with Levitate. Before I could do anything or call out to him Rubin booted me in the gut and swapped her weapons to a two handed sword that was wide enough to make Cloud Strife nod in respect as she swung at my neck; forcing me to block it with another shield.
I was stuck fighting Rubin meaning I couldn't help at all, leaving Myr to save her...
I wasn't sure how well he'd do, to be honest... Sure, he got up to level twenty now, but still...
[-]
"He knows one of them... perfect..." Bronka sneered as she stood up on the driver's bench as they started to turn from the battlefield and towards the prisoner camp, turning herself to look forwards. Knowing Rubin would prevent him from rushing to the rescue made it all the better for her.
"This seems like a pointless detour... Ahhh, but whatever." The driver let off with a chuckle as he looked to her. "Sticking it to the humans is worth it. ...So, that was the Blue Terror, huh?"
"Yeah... He's annoying... and dangerous..." Bronka admitted as she moved a finger to her spell stone eye, pushing on it as she winced. Despite everything it felt uncomfortable. "But in the end he's just a human... He'll die screaming like the rest."
"Gahhh!"
"Yeah, like that..." Bronka said as she heard someone die... then blinked and realized they shouldn't be fighting. "Wait, what!?" She let off, turning as she saw... a human, robed mage flying at them as he reached forwards, casting some wind spell out of the late Matron Vasilisa's weapon and pulling himself along... as one, riderless horse rode with them. The body of a fallen dark elf was behind them on the road as two of their knights moved to deal with the new nuisance. "Pesky little monsters..." She growled out.
On Myrddin's end he knew he was burning a lot of mana to get to the carriage via both Levitation and the vacuum effect of wind spells like Gale Burst (He recalled James talking about how he used it for extra speed before he mastered Levitation and while it cost a lot of mana it did work, even before considering the Arcane Arrow he used on the first knight which punched into his armor from the back... before the two of the remaining knights turned to charge him. The first and closest one roared loudly as Myrddin aimed his weapon up at a slight angle...
The next Gale Burst that came from it pulled him up and knocked the first knight off his horse... and into the path of the other's horse, tripping it and sending the knight off it's back with a scream before face planting into the dirt before the horse rolled over him. That was... unplanned, he just wanted to get out of their reach; taking them both out, at once, wasn't intended... but he wouldn't argue about it.
He cut his Levitation spell as he rocketed to the roof of the cage and grunted as he landed on it's flat, steel surface, hearing a female voice order 'faster' as the speed of the vehicle picked up before he could react. He stumbled backwards two steps as he flailed his arms to regain his balance.
"Look out! From the rear!" Someone below him let off as he gripped his weapon in both hands and slammed it's butt back, intending to slam it to the roof of the cage to push himself back up until he re-balanced-
"Gahhh!"
-only to hit the face of the last of the escort as he tried to climb onto the cage from the rear, hitting him in the eye as Myrddin pushed himself up, although he did regain his balance. "Whew! That was close..." He let off.
"You humans are so frustrating!" He heard as he saw a female dark elf (He was sure it was the one that hated James) finish climbing up to the cage's roof from the driver's bench as the whole thing slowed to a normal speed while she drew her sword while leaving her odd shield to her back. He drew mana but was forced to block with his weapon as she slashed at him, backing up a step as she transitioned into a thrust. He would use a small shield over his left hand to slap the blade aside before using it to throw a straight punch to her face; knocking her back before swinging his weapon down at her. She back stepped out of it's range... then stepped to the side with a spin to dodge his Gale Burst and thrust once more... and missing as he staggered himself back with the spell, failing to account for the mobile platform under him during his spell, dodging her by accident.
He got his balance back in turn to block a slash, trying to turn the blade aside as he side stepped only for her to turn and catch him with her off hand in a spinning back fist. His jaw stung hard he was knocked back, head turned... and he squealed as he saw how close the edge of the cage was to his feet; unsure if he had the mana to catch up with the wagon a second time if he fell off.
"Now... die!" Bronka let off, grabbing her weapon with both hands as she stepped in with a hard thrust. In desperation Myrddin slammed the butt of his weapon to the roof of the cage beside him and pushed, forcing himself to the side-
"Wahhhhhh!"
-as Bronka stopped herself short of the edge, arms held out as she moved to regain her balance, needing a moment to start to step back... only for her to feel Myrddin's boot on her rump before a Gale Burst came out of it, sending her off the cage as the whole thing turned and rocketing her off the cage-
SLAM!
-and face first into a tree, bouncing off of it, stunned before slamming hard into the ground with her head hitting a raised stone. While her armor's barrier protected her from broken bones or a fractured skull it did not protect her brain from rattling in her own skull as she was left groaning and suffering a minor concussion as she tried to regain her senses...
"...damn... ...hu...mans..."
By contrast Myrddin's spell also sent him staggering backwards, gripping his weapon hard as he turned, fell and hit the top of the cage hard on his front while feeling his weapon hit... something. Shaking his head out he looked ahead of him to see that his glaive had slammed into the top of the driver's head in a chop as it was turned to the side to likely look at what was going on behind him... and now he, the driver of the slave wagon, was dead...
Meaning no one was driving the wagon!
Yelping he pulled the weapon out, crawled forwards and shoved the body aside to sit down at the reigns... only for the whole thing to shudder as the horses, likely spooked, ran down a hill... and straight towards a river!
He pulled on the reigns as the horses started to stop but quickly guessed they'd end up in the water, likely falling down over the side. He had no idea how deep it was and depending on the answer to that question the captives could drown if that happened. "Damnit!" He let off, aiming his weapon up and forwards before channeling a spell; Scatter Bolt... Once the silver missiles fired off he focused as hard as he could to turn half in one direction and half in the other, arching them around and low towards the wagon cage; namely it's wheels. As the missiles turned in the air and curved under the wagon he braced...
To his luck his aim was true; his spell turned four wheels into splinters as the wagon's floor slammed to the earth; the impact was rough and everyone in the cage let off a grunt, cry or some other sort of shout but the wagon's bottom dragging on the ground and digging into it forced it to a quicker halt... and once it stopped the horses were three feet away from the edge as they seemed to settle down...
Now if only he could do the same... He was left panting, moving to cradle his weapon in his right arm as his shaky left hand moved to a small pouch to his side, fumbling with something for a moment before pulling a vial out, opening the mana potion and downing it... less to restore mana (Although that was needed) and more in an effort to calm his own nerves. "I can't believe I did that..." He let off before finally moving to step off the driver's bench to the ground and look closer to the cage housing the prisoners.
Over a dozen people were in there, men and women both with one woman in mana armor, all bound in rope. A flat, disc shaped spell stone was in the ceiling of it; likely to suppress the drawing of mana from within the cage. A heavy, wide trunk was in the back of it that was likely holding the captive's weapons; it was likely used as a platform for that one knight to try and climb up onto it. The opposite side bore the door which he moved to as everyone inside quickly realized what was happening.
"By the goddess! We're saved!"
"Thank you! By the goddess, thank you!"
"Oh thank Larentia! I thought I was breeding stock!"
"Away from the door!" Myrddin let off as he looked to the lock. Not knowing who had the key he jammed the stone of his weapon to the lock and used a Magic Missile (Making sure no one was in the line of fire) and blew the lock off. He would open the door once the lock was destroyed and people would start to move to it. He pulled his sword from his hip and once the first man came out he cut his binds off before passing the sword to him and telling him to cut the other's ropes.
Moving to the trunk he looked to see it bore a padlock as well. One more Magic Missile and another lock was gone as he pulled it open... and saw more equipment then the captives could use.
He winced once he realized why that might be.
"You..." He heard, turning to see the Mana Armored woman walk up to him. Before he could do anything he was grabbed and pulled into a hug. "Thank you, you saved us all! Bloody hells you were... impressive!" He resisted the urge to balk at that statement. Impressive!? HIM!?
He was half stumbling around like an idiot!
"Ahhh, p-please, M'Lady... Think nothing of it..." He said, waving his hands once she pulled off of him. "I am... I am hardly an impressive sort, I was just trying to help is all!"
"And help you did." She replied, smiling to him... with a blush he noted as reddish brown eyes looked to him and... that Mana Armor didn't cover much! Even by the low standards of Mana Armor!" "Ahhh... Forgive me, I should introduce myself to my savior, should I not?" She said, setting a hand to her chest. "I am Valora Onglave of House Onglave and Heiress of the Duchy of Greenwave."
He saved a lordling? And an heiress? From a Duchy!? That was... well over his social class! "P-pleasure, M'Lady." He said, rubbing the back of his head. "I am Myrddin. I'm a... w-well I am a fairly new member of the First Lyran Guard Mercenary Order."
"Myrddin..." She let off, as if his name held a flavor to it that she was savoring. "No family name?"
"I was, ahhh, an orphan, M'Lady." He told her, looking to his feet as he set both hands to his weapon, it's butt to the ground as he twisted it nervously.
"I see..." She let off as one of her knights came to her. She would take her sheathed sword back and moved it to her hip, then her shield to her back as soon, a moment later, his own sword was returned. "We needs return to the fight, Sir Myrddin." She said, smiling to him as he balked to the title given. "I trust we can rely on your magic?"
"Ahh, y-yes M'Lady but I am no knight so calling me sir is a tad much!" He replied... before she took hold of his left arm over the elbow and pulled softly as she giggled.
"I'm sure my father will be quite interested in bestowing the title upon you... Come, everyone!" Valora said as she led the mage back to the Eostian lines. "Let us rejoin the fight alongside Brave Sir Myddin!" A cheer came up from around him as he gulped loudly as a march back the way they came began.
What... what was happening here!?
[-]
I blocked Rubin's two handed hammer with my glove's shield (Round type) before unleashing a point blank Flamethrower at her. That 'Scale Weave', as she called it, protected her but she was still forced to dive to the side and was covered in flames for about two seconds before they finally went out as she turned to face me once more... and raised a mana formed shield to block as Makoto came in with a heavy, vertical slice of her own mana blade, grunting with the impact before planting her feet and shoving my bodyguard back as I followed up with a clustered, shotgun styled Scatter Bolt which forced her to leap away once more lest she be peppered.
The fight around me was winding down and it wasn't just Makoto coming to my aide; Akanji and one of the other Lyran's, Pierce, moved to flank Rubin as she looked at us and gave a long 'tsssk' before dispelling her mana made equipment and clasped her hands together before a Dark Mist spell spilled out, obscuring her position. Akanji was quick to nail it with a wind spell to try and find her and while the mist moved aside (Showing no more Rubin) it returned to it's position a moment later and would linger for moments more before it was clear she was gone and the mist finally faded. The rest of the opposing force was in retreat as well; the dark elves leaving first and pulling the remaining ogres with them. The goblins weren't called upon and most took a moment to realize what was going on before turning to flee as well.
I was frowning as I looked off to the distance where the wagon was pulled before sighing. "What is wrong? We won, did we not?" Makoto asked as she walked over; her blade deactivated but still in hand.
"We did... but I saw a cage wagon pulled away with prisoners, one of them Valora Onglave." I told her as she stiffened and turned her head aside with eyes shut. We met Valora on the Ur part of my Booster Tour of Eostia in her territory of Greenland and fought the Hog Queen and her bandits alongside of her... and I even spent a night with her. She was a good, honorable woman so it was natural her fate troubled me... Worse Myr chased after her and I didn't know what became of him either...
"Someone's coming this way... Our people?" I heard, looking up to see Aeris, standing on her staff and looking off to a distance. I looked in the same direction and, after a moment, saw Myr walking along and, more importantly, pulled along by a healthy, unharmed Valora which caused a great amount of relief in me. I sheathed my blade and moved to jog closer to them, Makoto and Akanji on my heels.
"Valora! Good to see you're okay." I let off as I got close enough as I looked to Myr. "And honestly Myr, you had me worried for a moment there? Had your own, little heroic moment, eh?" I let off and...
To my surprised he looked away and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ahhhhh, I-I wouldn't go that far..." He let off in a modest tone and clearly embarrassed... which made me want to tease the guy a little more.
"In all honesty I thought he was rather dashing." Valora let off as her eyes turned to look at him... and I could see a faint blush come to her cheeks; I was fairly sure it wasn't a trick of the light or due to exertion so...
Go Myr!
"Regardless, our job is done here and there's no point in staying..." I began, looking back to Myr. "Let's find Sulon, report in and then see if we're moving to assist another part of the field or heading back to camp. Come on." I let off, turning on my foot and leading everyone away to where Sulon should be...
It made me wonder what was going on across the front...
[Defeated List]
Garanian Forces=4000XP
Rubin Drakepyre=2000XP
+20% Rising Star of Eostia Bonus
Gain 7200XP Total
[-]
South Central Arafe, Close to the Elddale Border
Nixwell Pass, Near Nixwell River Bridge
"Watweet! Watweet!"
"Retreat! Retreat!"
"Daath ruut Ed teeatd!"
Things had not gone so well on the eastern most front of the current conflict with the Ur front beginning to spill in to Feoh's Arafe. Jason, his father Dempsey and eight hundred men and women at arms was there to block an opposing forces of mixed Garanian Knights and Legion from attacking the villages in the region... and found themselves facing a larger, fourteen hundred strong force bearing down on them.
Outnumbered over three to two they fought to use terrain and the pass' restrictions to limit their foes movement and how many angles they could attack from but found themselves still struggling; their number of archers and mages wasn't sufficient to really take full advantage of the bottleneck which itself was too wide to fully contain their foes as opposing mages used a combination of shield spells and basic attack spells to guard their lines and weaken the Eostian lines; by contrast they lacked mage numbers to do the same at the same level.
Jason pulled on his heavy long bow, one with a draw weight of over twice the standard as he sent a missile screaming out at an opposing ogre; the arrow punching past both sides of it's skull and into an orc's eye. Jason was walking backwards as they managed a fighting retreat as men held the line before falling back to let a new line hold for awhile before falling back to let a new line hold out. They started to cross the sturdy and well made, wooden Nixwell River Bridge as part of their retreat.
Jason was leading the archers to cover for them (Although with a close Draken aide providing translation for his orders) as he pulled back another arrow before firing at another ogre; it's head splitting apart before catching the throat of his taller brethren. A scream came as one of their men was struck hard enough to send a Gambeson armored man flying upwards several feet into the air and back into two other men of the next line... just before the front line began it's retreat. The effect would have been comedic if people didn't die as the men retreated and tripped over the downed men, falling to the ground themselves and leaving a hole open in the lines.
The Aberrant didn't wait a moment and pressed into the next line; clashing with the men standing and rushing over those fallen, trampling them and rushing to flank the lines from the gap to reach the those falling back and slay all humans before them. Jason grit his mismatched teeth painfully as he fired into the hole in the line in an effort to stem the tide of monsters making their way through but in spite of downing foe after foe they poured through and even widened the flow.
"Huuld dhem! Huuld dhem!" Jason's father let off as he rushed forwards before leaping to the air and landing atop of an ogre; driving the tip of a halberd into it's shoulder and into it's torso, back flipping and landing on his feet. Wearing mythril armor primarily made of chain mail with a breastplate, pauldron, gauntlets and armored boots. As soon as he landed he was swinging his weapon wide and beheading an orc, it's body falling at the same time as the ogre he had stabbed.
Jason grit his teeth harder; the men rushing up to reform the line but he was forced to sheathe his bow and draw his arming sword out as an orc rushed him. He would wait for it to swing before stepping in and reaching up with his off hand. To the ogre's surprise he was able to catch the axe's shaft and arrest it's movement before stabbing it in the throat. As he pushed it away he found himself newly engaged with an orc, pulling the axe away from the falling corpse's hand and using it to deflect the thing's spear and thrust his blade into it's eye. It howled and stepped back, letting him readjust his grip on the axe before swinging it down, slamming it through it's skull; ill trained with the heavy style of weapon he let it go, leaving it buried in it's head and stepped back as the dead orc fell over.
The next ogre rushed at him before feigning a strike with his axe and arresting his rush, pausing before he reached weapon's range with Jason to his confusion-
"Graahhhhahhhalll!"
-until a dagger was pressed through the side of his leather gambeson, above the hip where the leather plates weren't and rising upwards into his insides. He slammed the pommel of his weapon down onto the offending goblin's skull, feeling it crack and sending the beastling to the ground as the weapon was left in him, blood dripping from the wound-
-before the ogre spun his axe, showing a spiked back end before slamming that spike down hard to Jason's shoulder and into his both his armor and his body. Despite this and the pain he suffered his left hand gripped the ogre's arm at the elbow, pulled and stepped in before slamming his blade into it's chest. The ogre coughed blood up into his face before Jason felt the dagger pulled from him. Eyes wide he twisted the blade and forced it to the side, attempting to kill the Aberrant first...
"M'lord!" His family's aide let off... right before the dagger was driven into his chest with enough force to break into the leather plates and padding under layer. Jason staggered back; both weapons of his foe pulling free as the ogre fell over. The aide caught Jason before he toppled over as his sword was dropped, trying to lead him away from the fight.
His blood ran from him freely; as he was suffering from hemophilia he felt the life flow from him without anything halting it. The aide had hoped to get him to the bridge, or failing that a healer. He smiled in relief, seeing one of their mages he knew could heal holding up a shield and started to move to them-
-before a fireball broke her shield, sending her to the ground hard and knocked her out, someone moving to help drag her away. Letting off a silent curse he pulled Jason to the bridge to cross it... only for the Heir of Ironheart to collapse and become dead weight. He dragged him a few more steps but the heavy, large man was too much for him to carry and he dropped him, although as slowly and gently as he could as he saw how pale the man had become. "Oh no..." He let off as he laid the man on his back.
"Jaayceesuuun!" He head as he saw Dempsey rushed over, dropping his weapon before dropping to his knees and lifting his helm's visor. He tried to stay calm but the man words slurred as he spoke. "Meeii suun... Cun ouuu heeir me?" Dempsey let off... The aide had worked with House Draken to understood what was said.
'My son... Can you hear me?'
"Fe-fehdah..." Jason let off, panting as he looked up, eyes starting to tear up as he whimpered. "Gy... Gy fuul... cuulb..."
'Fa-father... I... I feel... cold...'
It would be the last thing he ever said as he went still.
Dempsey shivered for a long, long moment, moving his hand to shut his son's eyes as he took in a breath, forcing himself to speak without a lisp. "Goodbye... my son..." He said as he grabbed his weapon and moved to stand. "Take his body with you... See him home..."
"A-aye, M'lord..." The aide said, managing to flag two more men who were retreating. He and one of the men grabbed Jason's arms, the other his legs and together they moved to carry him over the bridge as Dempsey reached up and pulled his helm's visor down and slowly turned as his men retreated around him. He planted his weapon's bottom end down as he took several, long, calming breaths until he looked up. The last of his men moved to run over the wooden planks as he heard calls, begging him to retreat as he stepped back...
Before his weapon glowed brightly as he turned and slashed his weapon through the bridge to knock half of it into the river with a Combat Art, severing one side and letting it's own weight do the rest of the work to break it off the pillars and sent his end of it into the water. He turned to face the Aberrant, more then he dared count as he stood there. Deathly calm as his men went silent at his actions he spoke to the monsters who paused some distance from him, wondering what one man had planned. Finally, keeping his calm he spoke. "I am Dempsey Draken! Of House Draken! The Lords of Ironheart! Although I cannot claim it's power the blood of Dragonborne heroes run through me! Come and face death you swine!" He let off before banging his weapon to the ground as he used a powerful Combat Art; one kept secret in House Draken for centuries, one that required years of training to even consider using...
...because as powerful as it was the safe bet was that you would die if you ever used it... It was called Dragon's Rage and it forced the body to draw in triple the amount of mana from the air as usual and press it to every fiber of muscle, patch of skin, bit of bone and empowered it all. The user became thrice as strong, thrice as durable, thrice as hard to kill...
...while putting a strain on the body that was crippling to the untrained and could even leave one an invalid if used too long... leading to even death if overused in such a manner... It was the skill created by and passed down by his House's founder, the Dragonborne hero Stephan Draken... and it was what killed him in his fight against Verlangen as opposed to the Brazen Emperor's blade; an attempt to finally overcome the dark powers of the man that failed in the end...
From under his helm his eyes turned a glowing, bright red. Had they been able to see under his armor it would seem as if his skin had turned to an ash black as a scale pattern seemed to come to it before he breathed out a deep, purple mist from his mouth. "Now come... For taking my son from me, come and die..." He bid as the sea of Aberrant parted as a hobgoblin stepped out, the monster chuckling and spinning his sword twice-
-and screaming out as he was impaled; Dempsey clearing the distance between them before it could react. As he pulled the weapon free of it's heart he was turning and stepping in with a heavy, wide and powerful swing; cleaving several with the axe head and spike of the halberd. He would swing more and more and while to an outsider it would seem haphazard and careless he was minding his distance as he ended up surrounded as the Aberrant tried to pile onto him; a troll from the rear rushing forwards.
Good; it was easier to kill them all if he was surrounded. A few ogres seemed ready to tackle him but before they could he leapt upwards, nearing a hundred feet high before pushing off the air and slamming down to the troll with a heavy strike, cleaving it's head in two from top down. He would leap off once more and use another Combat Art before rocketing straight down and slamming the axe head of his weapon to the ground.
The massive shock wave generated by it, empowered by the Dragon's Rage technique, making it look like a bomb went off; a fifty foot wide crater, two feet deep in the center was formed as the force slammed Aberrant backwards. How many did he get in that attack? Dozens at least.
An orc would rush in, followed by others. He would hack and cleave at them with his weapon, fighting like a man possessed.
He felt the heat of a Fireball impact his back and he fought on, hacking and slashing about as he cut down Aberrant after Aberrant.
He felt a spear with an aggressive point slam into his side but he fought on, cutting the offender in two and before he leapt at three dark elf knights who charged him.
He felt one of them stab his side with a blade, the point coupled with a Combat Art cutting into his side yet he fought on, caving his breastplate in with a kick and slaying his comrades with a single strike each.
Another Fireball impacted him at the side and searing his skin with the heat as he fought on, turning about and rushing to the dark elven woman and impaling her before flinging the body into an orc's face.
His armor would be struck with heavy impacts but he fought on.
He bled from his wounds and dripped blood to the ground under him but he fought on.
His enemies roared and howled and flailed at him but he fought on.
There were opponents beyond count to fight but he fought on.
Some foes faltered in shock at the human monster facing them and tried to do anything they could to stop him but he fought on...
And fought on...
And on...
The site of Nixwell River Bridge would become known as the grounds of Dempsey Draken's Last Stand. Tales would be told of bravery and courage as he killed foe after foe.
The dark elves afterwards would call him the Bloodied Dragon.
The Eostians would call him Dempsey the Dragon Hearted.
History would call him a hero.
He would die on his feet that day in combat...
A count enraged...
A man in pain...
A father in sorrow...
[-]
Central Elddale
Battlefield
"Ohhhh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Finally! Things are going right now! We're on our way!" Yulia Choaxis let off happily as her horse trotted along. Her usual, armored, knightly escort was with her and her Aberrant army was marching ahead of her so she was truly enjoying her duty now! Sure, she was assigned a mere hundred Aberrant, half of which was goblins and nothing like a troll or greater ghoul, just ogres and orcs filling out the rest of the ranks, but with no human armies before them they would soon start to pillage humans for their food and use their women for Aberrant brood!
'Oh! That rhymes!' Yulia thought to herself with a giggle. She smirked for a moment and then looked up. "Hoooo!?"
Before her and her small army was two humans; one in well made mythril armor holding a heavy looking axe. The other in a red coat and wild beard as he fitted a pair of mythril knuckle dusters to his hands with a thick plate over each one and thick, wide, squat rounded protrusions on them. "Two humans!? They only sent two humans to stop us!? BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
The humans for the most part grinned.
"That's a lot of Aberrant there, Fredrick."
"Indeed it is, Gregory."
Gregory Hammersmith and Fredrick Bijoux let off matching, feral grins as the former tapped his axe's shaft to a pauldron and the latter started to bang his metal knuckle dusters together. "And they're all for us to share..." Gregory let off with a chuckle as he flexed an arm.
"Ahhhh, this'll be a good bit of fun then, eh?" Fredrick replied, flexing both of his.
"Indeed! It's time to show these whelps the power of true men!"
"Indeed! They will be broken by the sheer force of our manly auras!"
"They've no chance against the manly might of mighty men!"
"The manliest of the mighty men of might!"
"...the fuck are with these idiots..?" Yulia deadpanned as her whole army paused as the men flexed, posed and loudly boasted about their... manliness or something... Honestly, they sounded insane to her.
"Or'durs?" One of her ogre sergeants let off as he looked back at her as she sighed and waved her hand at the-
"The power of the manly knows no bounds!"
"It can pierce even the heavens itself!"
-two lunatics before huffing. "Kill them both. And be quick about it."
The ogre chuckled darkly as he walked forwards, the small army parting to let him pass. The ogre held a large, heavy double headed axe; twice the size and weight of the usual. He wore a simple, simple steel helm and sturdy breastplate with pauldrons. The two idiots finally stopped flexing as the ogre swaggered over to him, the beast chuckling and picking the unarmored target first as he lifted his axe...
Only for the man to punch his axe head with a left jab as it came down, breaking the head of it off the shaft and sending it off behind the Aberrant as another ogre screamed as the axe head slammed into it's chest, toppling it over. "Ehhh!?" The lead ogre let off, looking to his broken weapon's shaft and then up-
CRUNCH!
-before a right, mythril covered fist slammed into his face with enough force to cave it in and send him flying back into the ground with such force it's head buried into the ground as it was sent skidding backwards before stopping, it's body lifting up for a moment before flopping to the ground, dead.
"...what..." Yulia let off as the two men laughed in a loud, barking manner.
"I suppose the battle has started, Gregory!"
"Indeed! Let's go and enjoy it, Fredrick!"
And then the two men charged and Yulia's sense of what should be reality shifted as the two, lone humans crashed into her force's lines as Gregory's weapon came alight, glowing a golden hue with Blessed Weapon as he swung it before the goblins set before him could react; a half dozen cleaved in one hit and not all dying, although still wounded to the point of being immobilized. He transitioned into a vertical chop as an orc lifted up it's steel shield; both it and it's defense hacked in two. As foes leapt at him from all sides he spun with his axe out, spinning faster then any of his foe's expected; those too close being cleaved apart and the sheer force of the motion blowing others back.
"Celeri Ardeat!" Fredrick let off as his arms blurred with a Combat Art as he launched what seemed to be thousands of punches at once; or at least enough to make his arms blur, knocking goblins aside before an ogre rushed him only for him to end the art, translated as Rapid Burn, before it was uppercutted with a heavy, right fist with it's lower and upper jaws seemingly exploding as it flew backwards as it's fellows stepped aside. Goblins surrounded him and launched themselves at him, weapons drawn in an effort to slay the unarmored man. "Gurges Ictu!" The bearded man let off, spinning with both arms out at an inhuman speed with another Combat Art, translated as Vortex Blow, his metal covered fists crashing into the bodies of those leaping at him and breaking bones and in many cases internal organs as they were flung back.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" Yulia let off, gawking; how was two men fighting in such a manner!? Already they had lost a third of their goblins! "What are you idiots doing!? Kill them! Kill them!"
"When's the last time we had this much fun, Fredrick!?"
"I can't honestly recall! More! Send us more!"
A howling ogre was cleaved in two at the waist by an axe before it transitioned into a downward slash into the ground as an explosion spread out from it with a golden hued shock wave, knocking away the foes around him before the crusader laughed out loud as he grinned.
An orc had it's axe dodge before it's target slipped behind it, grabbed it by the waist and lifted it upwards before leaning back and slamming the orc's head down with enough force to explode it's head with the impact as the Monk flipped over the now corpse, grabbed it's leg and swung it, knocking foes away by the dead club.
More and more Yulia felt her jaw going lower and lower as Aberrant threw themselves at the two men as they all thought that one of them, at least one of them would slay them!
Before she knew it there was no Aberrant left; the last dozen or so clearly realized they were all that was left and seemed ready to flee only for the two men to pounce and slay the lot of them. The crusader flicked his axe several times to send blood coating it off it's blade as the monk brushed at his sleeved before adjusting his jacket and turned to face the knights and Yulia as they stared dumbfounded.
"Errrrr, Lady Yulia I think-"
"RAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" One of the knights who started to speak up was cut off as Yulia gripped her hair and screamed, shaking her head about. "I don't believe this! Rahhh! Knights! Kill them!" She let off pointing to the humans as she heard the sounds of hooves slamming to the ground... and growing softer as she looked behind her to see her escort in full retreat. "Hey!" She glanced back to the two men as one axe was shouldered and two knuckle dusters were clanged together. She whimpered softly before turning her horse about and fleeing. "Wait for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"Ahhhh, another battle won... shame, I was hoping they'd be a bit stronger." Gregory let off with a chuckle as he brushed his chin with a thumb.
"Nothing for it, it is what it is." Fredrick said with a shrug before turning on his heel. "Come now! Let us head back! I have a good whiskey I was saving for a battle like this."
"Hoooo!? Well now, that sounds like an invitation!"
"It is!"
"Then I accept!"
Walking away the two men would laugh and wrap an arm around the other's shoulders. It was a glorious day for the two of them.
[-]
Central Elddale
Forest on the Outskirts of a Battlefield
"What are we out here for?"
"To capture humans, what else?"
"Why?"
Avdotya Blackwhip sighed as she looked to her counterpart with half shut, annoyed eyes. Avdotya prided herself on being as beautiful a dark elf as one could become; short of only Queen Olga Discordia. Heavy, heavy I-Cup sized tits coupled with wide hips gave her a five foot five hourglass figure that her peers envied over. Bright, ruby colored eyes set into skin the tone of milk chocolate. Deep, deep, luscious brown hair cascading down to her waist in long, silken locks. Despite not bothering with make up of any sort her lips always seemed a tad moist. She took pride that every male (Dark elf and Aberrant alike) would have their heads turn to watch her walk past.
For clothing she wore a circlet made of gold chain with several, rounded rubies set to it with one being a spell stone. Around her neck was a wide, golden choker with a red spell stone set to it. A wide necklace with a plate on the front boasting a larger spell stone and with a point pointing to her massive cleavage with a shoulder blade length cloak about her shoulders; red and trimmed with gold. A golden band sat under her bust with a set of three rubies at the front in a vertical line that held angled cups over her breasts matching her mini-cloak's colors. Matching in tone was a set of cloth bracers were over her forearms and ear ear bore golden earrings fitted with rubies. A single, gold chain around her waist held up a red loincloth; showing no hint of anything under it existing. Her boots reached her knees in the same red and gold colors and bore three inches of heel.
In her hand was a staff made of golden mythril that was shaped like a five foot long cobra; it's body long, straight and smooth until reaching the head as it leaned back before looking forwards, mouth open with a baseball sized stone in it colored red, matching the smaller stones in it's eyes. "Because..." Avdotya let off as she began to explain. "The females are breeding fodder for the Aberrant. The more we give them the more they can breed; at least until their bodies give out. The males can be put to mines, quarries, farms... and that weird magician... Pffft..."
Her counterpart in question, Dessa Duskfield, pouted at her. By contrast Dessa was taller at five seven and bore similar, smooth skin and nearly as moist looking lips. Her hair was equally as long but some of it was tied above her head, adding a ponytail over the hair going down her back in waves of platinum white. Purple eyes matched Avdoyta's in tone and brightness but her bust was much, much smaller and more modest at mere A-Cups yet she bore wide hips of her own. She too bore gold earrings but with amethysts in them and a circlet with a purple spell stone over a hanging amethyst. Her choker also bore an amethyst, set in gold with feather like points going down the front on her chest. A gold band about her torso bore a purple spell stone to it and held gold trimmed, purple cups over her modest busy and her biceps had gold bands from which purple sleeves feel to her wrists. A golden belt was around her hips with amethysts set to the sides and back and a purple spell stone in the front with a similar loincloth as her counterparts. Her ankle high boots bore only an inch of heel, purple with gold trim.
In contrast her weapon was as long but bore a wooden shaft with a purple, cloth wrap going the full length of the shaft. A spell stone of equal size to the main one in Avdotya's but in the form of an oval was held with mythril caps from which a two foot long blade extended and a matching spike was on it's butt. She huffed softly with a frown. "Seems like a bit much work for what we're getting." She let off.
They were escorted by a group of a dozen knights, all of them on horseback as they were further escorted by some six dozen soldiers on foot; a mix of heavy infantry regulars in steel armor and conscripts in leather armor. They had no Aberrant with them as the commanders believed they would just rape all the women then and there; normally that would be fine but they were sneaking around Eostian lines as they rode to a modest sized village to capture as many humans as possible. To that end in the addition to their forces they had four slave wagons to cage them, each pulled by two horses, each with a driver and a guard each. Over ninety armed dark elves in total on the march along the forest path. That wasn't even mentioning the additional five light scouts ahead of them that they awaited the reports of.
"It's good, honest work!" Avdotya replied with a huff as she shouldered her stave. "We're off to get human slaves."
"Honestly, we should just be fighting them on the front, break their lines and then get the slaves." Dessa huffed. "Then it's easier and safer."
"They'll all run away if we do that!" Her red wearing counterpart replied with a huff.
"So we get less, big deal!" The white haired woman shot back. "The Eostians have been much stronger then usual this time! I mean the Blue Terror killed the Blood Bear! What if we run into him!?"
"Would the both of you tone it down." One of the knights let off in a hiss as he glared to them. "If any opposing forces are here they'll hear the bickering of you two."
"Do not speak to me with that tone, laborborne." Avdotya let off about to speak more as Dessa sighed.
"He's right though." The purple eyed woman let off. "We are supposed to be sneaking around, aren't we?"
"Oh please, there's so much fighting going on that there's no way we'll be spotted." The red eyed woman said with a snort. "They'll be too busy to know we're he-"
KABOOOOM!
A massive explosion sounded out from the ground under them with enough force to throw up several of the heavy infantry in the rear and the dirt under them while the shock wave either flung the knights off their horses or spooked them; the two elven mages were flung from their saddles as their horses rose up and both of them landed hard on their backs as the beasts turned and ran off into the woods.
"Owww..."
"Gahhhhh..."
The two women groaned and moved to stand, wondering what happened before a loud crack sounded; the driver in the rear most wagon being shot with a bullet breaking into his skull through his leather skull cap but lacking the force to break out, bouncing within the skull and reducing the brain within to a mush. The conscripts pointed weapons as they looked about, scared and confused as their ill-discipline compared to their regular counterparts showed before something bright appeared above them making them look up.
A Cluster Flare slammed into their ranks from above; slaying dozens at once with eight, blazing and powerful balls of flame as they exploded with force. Those not dead were flung to the ground by the force as their heads rang.
"Well done Channer!" Victor von Blitzhaus let off as he charged out. Along with him two and a half dozen Blitzhaus regulars charged out. Another loud crack was heard; Jaeger's rifle bellowing as it hurled another bullet into another driver as he tried to turn it's horses about; slaying him as the guard moved to take it's reigns.
"Well leaving a stone with an explosive spell with a trigger is easy enough." A voice came from somewhere above, in the trees. Using spell stones as mines was uncommon; mostly as setting any sort of condition beyond a mage controlled spell trigger risked the spells going off on the wrong target or be triggered by something else... in addition any spell stone able to use a spell that powerful was more useful in weapons or armor; it was better to use smaller stones with some form of explosive substance to make mines... but when you could trigger such a mine yourself and were in a position to recover the stone it made for an effective tactic.
"Less chatter." Jaeger's voice came from somewhere as his rifle barked with another shot; one of the guards trying to now drive a wagon slumping over. Avodotya groaned as she got to her feet, Dessa crawling away and standing up to her feet-
-in time to see a knight trying to guard them die as his helm caved in the middle with a hard strike to the top of it by a heavy and wide sword, dropping him and showcasing the armored form of Victor. She moved to cast a spell but before she could he rushed in and headbutted her with his helm. Avdotya moved to cast as well only to hear something land behind her before she was grabbed by the arm; lightning mana channeling into her for a moment to make her body quiver before she was clubbed in the back of the head with something solid, Channer grinning as she dropped before him.
"Idiot elves." Victor huffed, looking to his men as he smirked while he shouldered his weapon; the Garanian forces that were not dead were now fleeing; the conscripts even dropping their weapons. "Much as I hate Noxdecus and his toys they caught these fools rushing by our lines very well."
"We got a few women in their ranks!" One of the men let off. "I think most of'em are alive." Victor smirked as he tossed two sets of cuffs to Channer, taking another pair out as he set his weapon to his back thanks to it's enchantments before moving to bind the purple clad dark elf's wrists and ankles, Channer doing the same to the red clad one as they came to.
"Good; fresh meat for the slave markets!" He let off with a grin. "And we'll have our pick of fun when we get back!"
"And good fun we'll have." Jaeger let off as he came out of the bushes after hopping out of a perch in his tree. He wore a dark green leather gambeson with a brown under layer. He held a bolt action, single shot rifle. The whole thing from the end of the barrel to the back of the stock was made of mythril save a light layer of rubber at the stock and painted black save a deep, green spell stone set to the back of the stock. The only oddity compared to most rifles was the six inch long blade sticking out from the bottom of the barrel so it could be used as a short spear in a pinch. "These two are the best prizes." He said, looking to the two female mages who paled and started to struggle.
"Do you heathen swine think you'll get away with this!?" Avdotya let off, barking at her captor as she recovered enough to move to her knees. "Touching us is an affront to-" A slap to her cheek from a mailed hand would silence her.
"Be quiet, wench." Victor let off as she looked up to him in shock with a reddened cheek. "We're not doing what you weren't going to have done to ours."
"Honestly, I don't see why James doesn't understand things like that..." Channer said with a deep sigh as Victor grinned wider. "Anyway, dibs on red!"
His brothers' heads snapped to look at him. "What!?" They let off as one.
"I took her down." Channer insisted with a grin. "She's mine first."
"... He has a point." Jaeger sighed deeply as he shouldered his rifle.
"... Dice to see who gets the purple bitch first?" Victor offered his other brother.
"Aye." Jaeger said as the two women whimpered under them.
This was not what was supposed to happen to them...
[-]
Western Caul
Battlefield
"Hit the flanks, hit the flanks!"
"What's with the kid?"
"I dunno... Crack shot though."
First King Colt Roisage let off a sigh as he hung his head for a moment before moving to fire his weapon once more; a mythril, long rifle with a ten bullet chamber. We wore a nice, fitted blue jacket with gold trim and epaulettes with coat tails, black pants tucked into black, nearly knee high boots, black gloves and a orichalcum Mana Armor circlet with a plate on the front with his houses emblem on the front to go with the Armor Weave that was his outfit. "Dammit mother..."
A lifetime of potions to reduce his age to that of a small child was forced upon him by the former First Queen and while he loved his mother... she often felt too much like his smother; the effect of the constant potions kept him at the physical age of ten for years now and if the effect never wore off he could be a child for hundreds of years... if not longer.
It made finding a wife, even with his political position, hard to say the least. Of course his identity as First King had been hidden although for how long it would remain that way was hard to tell. Even so he had the noble's duty to lead from the front; to prove to the common man that, yes, your nobility would fight for you... even as they flung the bodies of you and yours into the fray with them. Or ahead of them. Even if the lords stayed back in camp.
What should be and what is could be different things, sadly.
He was, of course, well trained in military tactics and trained to fight but given his situation he relied on firearms; a gun was just as deadly in the hands of his child-like frame as they were in an adult body of the same skill. He was taking his pick of targets from the top of a watch tower as he acted as a sniper (And had even attached an expensively made scope to his weapon to assist in that means) and took aim to any unarmored head of an Aberrant he could see.
Giah stayed near him, using shielding magic as needed, but mostly supporting her king as he fired round after round into the enemy lines; only pausing his firing to reload. Thankfully the fight was going their way; it was rough but they were winning. Once he reloaded once more he took aim and quickly fired twice at a troll; striking both of it's eyes back to back.
"Hey kid! Nice shots!"
"Wish they'd stop calling me that..." Colt let off as he kept firing, other men firing bows or crossbows around him.
[-]
Northeastern Maros
Battlefield
"I think we're finally thinnin' the herd here!" Bolt Mignite let off as she unloaded both of her revolvers into targets before her. Each time her ammunition ran out she flicked her weapons chambers open, held them to her hips and used small spell stones set to them. Pouches with their own stones and enchantments would activate in turn; they would send spent casings ejecting away as new ones were guided in, letting her shut the weapons, aim and resume firing.
Indeed, the enemy forces were faltering as she grinned. Despite the issues, despite the bodies laying on the ground (Too many Eostian, as always...) things seemed about ready to end; the enemy were taking heavy casualties and had little to show for it. Halfling knights and soldiers were in the front along side dwarven ones as human units moved to flank. House Mignite forces, however, brought firepower. Riflemen mostly but also cannons. Indeed, this was why halflings and dwarves formed the defensive lines for them; they could fire over their heads and into the opposing lines and doubly so into the larger ogres and orcs. It was risky to be sure as the chances of friendly fire was increased due to this tactic and while the metallic armor could guard mostly against bullets guarding against cannons was another thing entirely; the tactic demanded highly accurate and careful aiming.
In that regards the new, revolving cannon (The troops had taken to naming it 'The Peacemaker') had made it's mark with a wicked rate of fire for a cannon of it's size and caliber coupled with high accuracy. It ruined the opposing line and was the best cannon they had. She grinned... before hearing a roar and looking off to the side and behind the foe's lines. "Ohhhh hell naw..." She let off.
Stomping forth was a greater ghoul. That wasn't an issue; greater ghouls were rare and powerful but not invincible and with their cannons they had been... not easy to deal with but they could be dealt with reliably.
This one bore steel armor. How thick it was she couldn't tell beyond 'thick'. A barbute style helm, a breastplate and codpeice, plating over all it's limbs and with chains covering the gaps... The only real gap was in the face. Standard cannons of multiple calibers opened fire at it as they fired shells and cannonballs that rocketed out and impacted the armor... to no effect. She let off a 'tsk' as she holstered her left weapon before pulling out a voxlux, calling to the Peacemaker's gunner. Once the answer came she started to speak. "We got us a fully armored greater ghoul here." She let off as more cannons fired. Some gunners moved to aim for the face but either missed or saw their ammo deflect off the heavy helm. "We need some real accuracy out here! How quick can you reposition?"
"We can't!" She was told as she blinked, looking to the man in the voxlux's projection. "We busted a wheel! We're fixing it but it'll take several minutes! We see the damn thing but it's out of our range!"
"Dammit..." Bolt let off as she grit her teeth. The monster bore in it's hand a massive, twenty foot long log carved into a club with steel straps along it's length to reinforce it. She knew she had to do something but even if she hit it's skin her bullets didn't have the punch to cause harm. "Well get ready; I'll see if I can lead it closer."
"What!?" She heard as she hung up and ran off to the side and closer to the lines as they started to falter. Once close enough she drew her left revolver once more and unloaded every bullet in both of her weapons at it's face; it howled as a bullet glanced off it's eye, causing only superficial damage as the rest struck it's helm or skin but some pain from that one bullet was clear to her as it roared out, turning it's head to look at her as she quickly reloaded.
"Hey you! You big piece of stupid! Wanna get some of this!?" She let off, holstering both her weapons before grabbing her top and yanking it up to flash her breasts. The greater ghoul bellowed out at her as she shook them side to side as it turned towards her and started to move; forcing itself into a jog as she fitted her top back to place before running. The giant was slow but it's huge stride meant it crossed a lot of distance with each step. "Well, got his attention!"
She glanced back to make sure it was still chasing... and yelped as a howling ogre was picked up by the ghoul's off hand and thrown at her, forcing her to dive to the side as the ogre impacted the ground; it's now broken body rolling away. She kept running but another glance told her an orc was picked up to be used as a projectile.
"I really got his attention!" She let off as she pushed herself to run harder; the orc impacted the ground behind her as she jumped up; it's body rolling under her after the impact. She would jump it like a hurdle as she kept running. "Ah know I'm popular with the boys but he's a bit too eager here!" She let off, hand moving to adjust her hat as she kept her feet moving before looking behind her once more... and gawked...
The ghoul had picked up a near dozen of goblins in it's hand and was pulling it's arm back. "You gotta be kiddin' me!" She let off as the goliath launched a scattershot of smaller Aberrant at her. She did her best to bob, ducking, weaving and jumping to avoid the bodies only to have the leg of one of the living projectiles clip her leg forcing her to stumble before collapsing down hard as pain flared up in that same leg's knee. She ended up rolling like a log to bleed momentum before finally being able to push up to her feet-
-and collapsed back down as her leg gave out, forcing her to her side. "Dang it!" She let off the now thunderous steps of the giant beast sounding closer as she grit her teeth, pushed up with her arms and worked to get her good leg under her as she limped forwards before turning herself and looking up... Soon, the massive thing was sneering over her as it slowed it's steps as she hopped back on her one good leg. She looked about then back... and then smirked as she looked up at the thing as it stopped short of her, smirking with it's odd mouth as it's overly tall head glared down to her. "Well now... looks like you got me..." She let off before grinning wider. "Well... save I got'ya right where I want'ya..."
"Mruhhhh?" The beast let off as it's look turned to a confused one, clearly hearing her and curious as to her words.
"Fire!"
"Mrugh?" It let off looking up... only to see an odd cannon with a rotating chamber at it's rear, a broken wheel propped up on a crate as it's barrel was aimed to it's face before fire spat from it's muzzle with a roar of burning powder and just noticing the shaped, bullet shaped projectile in the barest of moments before it impacted, slamming to it's face between the gaps of it's helm. The shell had the force and speed to crack through it's skull and into it's brain matter, cracking the skull on the other side only to be deflected by the other side of it's helm. Had it been a clean shot in and out there was a chance it would survive but with the projectile bouncing around in it's skull and through it's organ of thought there was no chance for it as it's head leaned back, stepping back three steps as it dropped it's weapon before finally toppling backwards towards now fleeing Aberrant.
The twenty foot monster hit the ground with an impact that rocked the earth as Bolt pulled her hat off with one hand and swung it over her head. "YEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAW!" The Garanians were faltering before but upon the toppling of the mighty goliath they turned to flee, their will to keep up the fight lost. "Now that's how we do it in Steel Lock!"
"You dumb girl!" She heard... just before she was slapped on the back of the head. She stumbled and hissed as she stepped on her wounded leg before getting her good one back under her, hissing and hopping to turn about.
"MAAAAAAAA!" She let off glaring off at her mother, Brandy Mignite, stood there with her hands on her hips. "What the hell was that for!?"
"For being an idiot!" Brandy let off as she glared back. "Do you know how fucking dangerous that was you dumb girl!?"
"Ma!" Bolt shot back as she hopped on her one good leg, pointing to the retreating Aberrant with her hat. "We're in the middle of a goddess damned war!" The daughter of the pair let off. "Everything we're doing out here is dangerous!"
"That's beside the point!"
"How in the name of fuck is it beside the point!?"
"I'm your mother, I decide if it's besides the point or not!"
"Now that's a load of bull and we both know it!"
"Ahh, M'ladies-" One of their commanders let off as he tried to end the argument and return their attention to the situation at hand.
"BUTT OUT!" The barked at him at once before turning back to one another.
"...yes m'ladies..." He let off as mother and daughter opted to scream at each other further as he sighed and left to take command himself.
Someone had to be the mature one here, anyway...
[-]
Northern Hol'canna
Battlefield
"Get her! Get the Matron Slayer!"
"She is to die! Honor to those who kill her!"
"Leave her corpse to the flies!"
"I seem to be popular today." Kaguya quipped as she blocked a bolt of dark magic with her physical shield although she used her magic to reinforce it. Her response was to slam her kanabo to the ground, it's spell stones glowing a deep, deep gold as she channeled a spell that her god had taught to her, Burrowed Light, a wave of mana coating the ground before her in a wide cone before the whole thing exploded upwards in a blast of light and force as her holy/earth hybrid spell slammed into a mix of Aberrants and dark elf conscripts; killing or crippling some of them and injuring many others. In addition those who survived the blast of magic but was still impacted would feel their armor or clothing stiffen up and making movement harder under the spell's mana along with another layer on their skin; although she was well aware that those wearing Armor Weave or Mana Armor were unaffected by that.
It occurred to her that she could teach the spell to her fiancee now and see what he could do with it... but that was something to consider later. She hopped back as she looked about to see what else was coming. The battle had devolved into a chaotic mess with small clashes pushing and pulling about her. She had been in the back lines before to use shield spells to guard her allies but moved up to heal closer on the front lines and found herself challenged by foes who recognized her and recalled her deed of slaying Evgeniya Drakepyre. She hadn't even known who she was fighting until just before the final blow, in truth.
She was prepared to fall back and start healing allies before someone stomped out from the enemy lines towards her. "YOU!" The speaker was a dark elf woman... a very tall, maybe six foot seven, dark elf woman. Her figure was initially covered by a cloak before a hand reached up from within and tore it off and tossing it aside. Her body was in Mana Armor; a steel colored one with gold trip over the cups containing her D-Cup breasts bearing a diamond shaped plate between them with a purple spell stone in it and a band going around her back to hold it to place. Black cloth was over her shoulders and the top of her chest like a heavily cropped shirt with a small, layered plate over it's center and a gold divider going up the cloth before trimming the collar. Steel gray pauldrons trimmed with gold matched her heavy bracers with black gloves over her hands.
Around her hips was a series of plated belt of the say gray/gold colors with purple spell stones set to each plate, a black loincloth in front of her groin and a wider one behind her. Armored boots were over her feet, shins and knees. Her hair was short and black and left in a messy cut as yellow eyes glared to her before she hefted her weapon to her shoulder; a single flanged mace with a three and a half long shaft with a purple spell stone set to it's butt that was turned into a rounded spike. The woman looked down to Kaguya as she stopped some fifteen feet away and the priestess was forced to admit she was intimidated a bit; aside from the sheer height of the woman was the visible muscles of her abs and biceps as well as overall physical tone that spoke of physical power. "I am Zinaida Drakepyre! You slew my elder sister, Evgeniya!"
"And while I apologize for that I must state she assaulted me on a battlefield." Kaguya replied calmly and evenly. "I will not regret protecting me and mine from her, even if it cost her life." The dark elf blinked at her before huffing and shaking her head.
"You misunderstand." The huge elf let off as Kaguya blinked now. "I am not bitter you slew her; it was fair combat. I am not like much of my kin; I respect what you humans can do; much of my house does. Nay! I speak to let you know who I am and to know this... I will surpass my sister... as I kill you."
"Ahh. I see." Kaguya said calmly. "I apologize once more, but I am in no position to die yet as I have a rather personal thing to fulfill."
"As if I care..." She said, moving to lift up her left hand up as she swung her mace down, catching the shaft in her off hand as she grinned. "This a battlefield. We will fight and only one of us will walk away in the end." She said before she grinned and leapt to the smaller woman with a swing; a woman she had a foot and a third of height over. For her part Kaguya hopped to the side to avoid the weapon before she used the end of her own weapon to fire a close range Hammer of Smite into her opponent's shoulder; a flash of purple blocking the impact although spinning the woman to the side. Zinaida spun on her foot to face her foe and attack only to feel a heavy impact on the side of her knee; hard enough to stagger her for a moment.
Zinaida gritted her teeth and swung blindly to where she thought Kaguya must have been... and while correct she didn't see the smaller Eastern woman's weapon glowing with a Combat Art as she swung the kanabo up wards and hitting her mace's head; the effect forcing it upwards into her own face and rocking her back. Her Mana Armor still held up but she staggered back and shook her head out before looking down to the woman with narrowed eyes. "Tsk. I knew you were able with spells but I did not know you were so able with a weapon."
"Thank you. But I regret to say while you seem stronger then your sister you are less skilled in combat." Kaguya replied politely.
"And what does that matter to you?" Zinaida growled out as the priestess looked up at her.
"Power without skill is a weak threat."
"You..." The towering dark elf let off to Kaguya's cool toned reply as she glared at her. She used a Combat Art to bum rush the small woman with a heavy, double handed, side swing; forcing Kaguya to use magic to reinforce her physical shield to block the attack but stepped back and shifted, allowing the mace to carry on to the side and allow Zinaida's swing to continue before swinging her own weapon upwards into her foe's face, rocking her head back before pointing the tip.
A crack sounded as a layer of Mana Armor shattered under another Hammer of Smite before the titanic elf swung with a back swing only for Kaguya to back step out of reach. She stepped in to give chase and pulled back for an overhead swing only for Kaguya to leap in, roll over her shoulder and aim her club behind her with another Hammer of Smite; this one striking the back of her knee.
She grunted at the impact and fell onto the same knee as she grit her teeth. Before she could rise the kanabo, under the effects of a Combat Art slammed the back of her skull, sending her to all fours before a second shattered her armor's second layer of protection and slammed her head to the ground. She tried to swing her weapon back only to see her foe's foot on the shaft before another impact rocked her skull followed by another and another until the third layer broke, her brain knocking about in her skull.
Kaguya, for her part, did not let up as she employed necessitated ruthlessness to beat her larger, stronger foe down as the fourth layer broke. The dark elf titan abandoned the grip on her weapon, pushing up to reach for her with both hands; Kaguya just stepped back and slammed the top of her skull with another Combat Art; the fifth layer break as her kanabo finally hit bare skull.
Zinaida saw stars as she tried to rise to her feet once more, getting a knee under her...
The last things she saw was her foe's weapon behind her shoulder before she was struck in the face, between the eyes.
[-]
Later
Northern Hol'canna
Eostian War Camp
By the time she came to Zinaida only felt a dull ache in her head. She tried to rise up to her feet but would find her arms bound behind her and her ankles together. Something shut as she blinked and took a moment to gather her surroundings... She was in some cage with other bound dark elves; many who looked to her in shock and surprise. She realized they were all captives and groaned as she forced herself to sit up. "You are awake."
She turned her head to look about more. They seemed to be in the enemy camp as she saw Kaguya standing outside of it; shield to her back and weapon at her hip. "I lost...?" She let off.
"Indeed. Don't fear; as prisoners of war you are under my protection and will be treated fairly." The Shield Princess of Thorn told her. "But you will be sent south to Thorn proper; I do not want to give the Hol'cannaians any ideas of collaring you."
"...Why did you not kill me..?" Zinaida said as she looked to the woman with a glare.
"You were defeated and unconscious." She replied as she sighed. "In spite of what most think I did not execute your sister. She was readying an attack spell; I felt it was kill or be killed. You were helpless; I had no need to do so."
"...Foolish..."
"I do not like killing." Kaguya said, a hint of firmness coming to her voice. "I further dislike killing the helpless without good reason. I only wish to protect me and mine. We have those who are happy to sin on both sides but that does not mean I will join such debauchery."
"...I at least acknowledge you are honorable..." Zinaida said with a sigh. "Do with me as you wish. I will not shirk from my fate regardless..."
Kaguya nodded once and stepped back before looking to the side and nodding once more. After a moment the cage would rock forwards and move as the horses began to pull them away.
Away to an unknown fate...
[-]
After the massive and wide attack two days ago across the whole front we seemed to have a bit of a break; the Garanian forces were falling back deep into the Dread Field. Supposedly they did this in most incursions; if they hit too much of a wall they would fall back to a safe spot to rest, train, resupply and readjust... although usually not this early. They could take a week, two weeks or even three weeks to do all of this. That meant we also had a break to train, bring up new supplies and rest; more over it gave a chance for Celestine to call an ad hoc Council of Lords to get updates from across the field. Normally this would be impossible in the middle of a war but the plan was to use a mix of voxluxs and small boosters to gather all the lords together in as few camps as possible and project the meeting; it wasn't ideal but it would work.
Reports were going about here and there; a lot of the Garanian forces had moved to sneak in behind the lines to hit villages and towns. We didn't prevent every attack but thanks to a combination of patrols and Sky Eyes we were able to prevent any of them from escaping with either supplies or captives. They still did some damage but at least it was minimized. Claudia and Gavrilla supposedly clashed and ended their fight in a draw; the Garanian general withdrawing once her forces around her faltered too much in part thanks to Maia.
In addition Olga hadn't been seen nor had anyone fitting Chloe's description been spotted; likely they had returned to the rear. Another Drakepyre fell in battle to Kaguya, this one captured and once I had a chance I called her up for a (Sadly) brief chat. That's not to say all the news was good; we were losing people of course but we lost some notable military and nobility members; such as both Dempsey and Jason Draken having fallen in combat covering their men's retreat.
That one... that one left me with mixed feelings as I had met both men on my Feoh tour and I didn't care for either; Dempsey seemed competent if a bit too prideful but Jason was kind of a dick. A dick who you couldn't make out what he was saying at all... Even so I couldn't deny both men died in brave manners so they deserved respect for that if nothing else.
I spent the time waiting for the Council by doing some work; one of the fallen dark elf knights we fought had armor with two, marble sized spell stones in them. I opted to take them from the armor, recolor them, removed their previous spells and then used them to replace the two on the inside of the Shining Gemini; they were more powerful so I was able to do a bit more with them; namely adding a controlled Vortex Tunnel spell to help propel the halves through the air when thrown but also a Gale Burst spell to use the vacuum effect to pull them back a little faster. It took some practice and adjustment, mostly to have it slow down before I caught it, but it was effective. I also adjusted the heads a bit more so I could, for lack of a better term, channel my mana into them and 'load' a spell and then have it go off upon impact once thrown. This way I could, as an example, throw it at an ally while loaded with a shield or healing spell or into a mass of foes with a Fireball or other explosive spell.
Honestly I think the Shining Gemini as a weapon was the perfect complement to the Dragon's Claw. As a weapon the Claw was better made, sharp as fuck and the stone in it was a perfect magical focus for me. All my previous lifetime's fencing experience coupled with my training and experience in this life made it a comfortable weapon that was fast, versatile and bore good thrusting and cutting power. In addition I could couple it with my parrying dagger, a Gemini half or my glove's shield as needed.
The Shining Gemini by contrast was a more flexible weapon; as a sword each half wasn't as sharp and lacked the striking and thrusting power of the Claw but being made of Mana meant it could do a few things a natural blade couldn't and being formed by an Arcane spell meant there wasn't any elemental protections that could really be used to help ward it off; even Flame Guard only helped block the heat. More over as a stave or a spear it gave me more range in a melee, I could use it as a magical focus as well on both ends and I had multiple forms for the weapon it could shape; long blade, short blade, parrying dagger/trident head and now a newly added halberd head.
That said I found that when using the halberd heads when only using one half they went from being under the classification of a spear/axe to just an axe... which I couldn't use well because of how RPG3X System worked. Yeah...
So I opted to grab the Axe Crazy trait for fifteen UTP; it let me use a two handed axe as a primary weapon and single handed ones as both a primary and secondary weapon. I still have forty five points left after that, so plenty to spend on what I needed down the line but for now I felt it was a good idea to expand my list of usable weapon forms for the Gemini.
While doing that I also dropped my Regular Stat Points into Agility bringing it up from seventy one to seventy seven and my six Sexual ones were split between Pleasure and Willpower evenly... better spend them now then forget later.
I opted to leave for the Council a bit early; it's always better to be fifteen minutes early then five minutes late, if you ask me (Although I was leaving even well early of that to help set up the voxlux and boosters if need be) but while I was walking over I heard my named called, pausing and turning to see Myr rush up to me, waving a hand as he panted a bit once he did as I blinked to him. "S'up Myr?" I said, moving to look over at him.
"I... I need your help!" He let off, looking around before grabbing my arm and yanking, hauling me off towards a tree just at the side of the camp, moving us around it. Clearly he wanted some privacy for what he had to ask, but I was confused as to what was on his mind. "It's about Valora!" He finally let off; hissing it out while keeping his voice down a bit.
"O... kay, what about her?" I asked as I blinked to him. "Are you trying to impress her or something?" Since Myr rescued her and her surviving knights she had been seen around the Lyran camp speaking with Myr (And his fellows teasing him a bit over it; as you do) and she even approached me to ask my opinions about him which I answered honestly; he was young, inexperienced and getting his feet wet but had the potential to be a real, able and possibly powerful mage if he put in the effort. I also told her about the battles we had together and that he was growing in strength. As someone who was, admittedly, not a romance expert (And yet somehow has two fiancees... yeah) it was plain as unflavored ice cream that Valora was interested in him... as in Prim levels of open and clear about it.
"N-no, it's not that." He said, waving his hands before him. "It's just... Ummm... She thinks I was... errr, more competent then I am."
"... I think you need to explain this more so I don't misunderstand the situation." I told him flatly as he sighed.
"L-look..." He began. "She thinks I just... went in, landing on the cage and just... knocked everyone around like I was Hogan the Hero, like I had everything under control but... I was just... bumbling around, trying to just not fall off... I... I didn't win because I was better then them; I was just... lucky..." I blinked and then asked him to go over what happened blow by blow; from blowing the knights off their horses more by chance then anything, knocking a third knight off by accident and then stumbling as he dodged Bronka while trying to keep his balance and even ending up killing the wagon's driver by chance and how he prevented it from dropping into a river. Once I had heard the full tale I nodded and thought for a moment before speaking.
"Look... Nothing ever goes right in a fight." I told him, speaking firmly. "You're going to stumble, you're going to get knocked around and you'll run into bad footing sooner or later. Regardless of all of that you adapted, adjusted and took advantage of your positioning. Maybe you were lucky but it wouldn't mean a damn thing if you didn't take full advantage of it." He sighed as I shook a finger at him. "Don't sell yourself short; you did good."
"D-didn't you hear the part where I was a bumbling idiot..." He hissed back as I sighed.
"Oh, I'm sure he did." He squeaked as my head turned, seeing my father, Merlin, walk around the tree as he stroked his beard. "There you are, m'boy. Sorry, I was looking for you and overheard the conversation. Honestly, this takes me back to how I met my wife..."
"You didn't bumble around though!" Myr shot back as Merlin chuckled... with a hint of nervousness there...
"Actually..."
[-]
Twenty Years Ago
Northeast Elddale
"Damnit! We're trapped!" A young Merlin gulped as he heard a woman cry out from inside of a pit in the ground of the forest. He wasn't sure of the whole situation or how they ended up trapped beyond the Garanians were led by a dark elf, had a handful of chuckling ogres and a single troll. He knew he had to do something to help but was unsure of what to do exactly as he moved closer to hide behind a tree as he worked out a plan he could pull off to save-
snap
"What was that?" The dark elf let off as Merlin gulped as he moved behind the tree before he was spotted; turning his head to glare at the stick that dared be where his foot would be. "You two. Go look." A pair of grunts followed as Merlin gulped as he moved around the tree slowly as he collected his mana as he thought quickly...
And tripped over a root, needing a moment to recover as he avoided spraining his ankle... "Ehhh..?" And then was spotted by two ogres as they peeked around the tree as he panicked and threw a hastily casted Fireball at them.
Which loudly exploded and, thus, ending any chance of stealth as an option.
"We're under attack!" The dark elf cried out as they rushed over as the dead bodies of the ogres flew backwards; him going around one side of the tree, shield up, the troll going around the other and the ogres splitting evenly to join both of them and saw-
-nothing.
The male, dark elven mage blinked and looked around then up. "The hell? Where did whoever that was go?"
For his part Merlin hugged the tree with his back under an Illusion that rendered him nearly invisible as he started to moved to one side as he tried to not make a sound as he finally started to tip toe away and towards a different tree. He lost most of the element of surprise, but maybe now he could-
snap
...
Stupid twigs...
"There!" The dark elf let off, Merlin's form blurring as he put all the mana he could into one spell; a powerful Solar Blaze spell that could be called 'Fireball with more Fireball' and threw it at the dark elf.
In hindsight it wasn't the best choice of action and only a combination of the magical resistances of his robes and a shield he raised after throwing the spell to counter an attack he expected from his opponents was what saved him from his own blast wave. He had ended up knocking himself backwards and onto his back, coughing out and groaning as he sat up only to see...
The same with all of his Garanian foes as he gulped; the dark elf had brought up his own shield meaning he and his ogres were merely knocked down and not killed and mostly unharmed and while the dark elf's shield didn't fully cover the troll and it was brutally injured with half it's face burned to the bone with it's arm blown off it was very much alive as they started to rise to their, likely to attack him as Merlin tried to swallow his fears and figure out what he'd do now-
crick... crick-crick-crack... Crack-crack-crack-CRACK!
All of them turned to see the tree and he finally noted the massive chunk of the trunk blown out of it's side as it started to lean over towards one direction-
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
-as the dark elf let off a girlish scream as the tree let off another loud crack before gravity finally fully noted it, shrugged and pulled it down hard... and onto the Garanian force below. Both the troll and elf was crushed as the tree landed with a thunderous, echoing crash along with many of the ogres. Two he could see, once the dust and debris settled, had their legs trapped, unable to move and one more with a broken branch impaled into it's back. He couldn't see the rest as he got to his feet but didn't hear them either.
"H-hey! Is someone up there!? What's going on!?" Gulping he looked to the pit where the voice came from and moved over to it and looked over the edge. He could see about a dozen women there; most in steel armor but one in Mana Armor. The one woman in Mana Armor blinked up at him as he looked over to them; the pit was about ten feet deep but filled up some two and a half feet with thick mud that likely kept any of them from using a leaping Combat Art to escape.
"I-It'll be okay, hold on..." Merlin let off as he looked about, trying to work out how to help them escape. Finally he saw something; a tree that was only about a foot wide. Two spells to break the top off and then the bottom near the base and he had a long log that he rolled to the pit (With more difficulty then he'd like to admit), panting with the effort. "Careful, I'm going to push it in!" He called out before moving to the end and trying to push it forwards. After it didn't move for awhile (A foot wide, fifteen foot long log was hard enough to roll let alone push as it turned out! He felt that was good to know...) before using a series of blunted, arcane spells to slide it forwards, growing in power to move it along more and more. Finally it tilted into the pit at an angle that was shallow enough to let the women use it to clamber out on. Panting he moved to the edge to see the beautiful, Mana Armored and mud covered woman crawling up the log and soon he was reaching out to help her up. "S-sorry that took so... long...?" He let off as she got her feet under her on the ground outside of the pit and looked him in the eyes, blushing deeply.
"Y-you... you saved us..." She let off as he chuckled nervously.
"W-what can I say... I... bumbled through it... somehow..." Merlin let off with his own blush with a nervous chuckle as he moved to step back to look over the pit to see how everyone else is doing.
"H-how... brave..."
[-]
I was left blinking at my father for a long moment. I had heard the story plenty of times before... from my mother. And when you hear it from her it was all about how he outwitted, outplayed and outsmarted them... and it was the story that most everyone had heard of it... but this..?
Merlin chuckled for a long, long moment as he scratched his cheek gently, a rueful smile to his face. "Indeed... I... tried telling everyone the truth of the situation but my dear wife always... retold the story as she recalled it. And while I told her how it really went... she dismissed it as me being modest... so I just stopped trying..."
"Well that's... a surprise..." I admitted after a moment as I shook my head and chuckled lightly.
"But... how... that's..." Myr let off as Merlin moved to set a hand to his shoulder.
"Listen... Myrddin..." He began. "Rare is it that someone does everything right, doubly so when they're young and working things out. And yes, sometimes we will all bumble, fumble and stumble... What matters is not if you do so or not, what matters is how you respond to it."
"Y-yeah, b-but still..." Myr said as he squirmed. "She's the daughter of a duke and I'm... just an orphan..." He said... before I bopped him on the head.
"In case you forgot, my mother was the daughter of a baron and my father was born 'just' an orphan." I told him as Merlin chuckled. "If she's not worried and her father doesn't throw a fit, and I doubt he will, then maybe try courting her for a bit." I let off as he did a double take at me as my father nodded. "If you don't think it'll work out then tell her so and move on... but on the other hand if you give it a chance then you're not waking up a decade or so from now wondering 'what if'."
I still recalled that night I spent with Jamaica and how she admitted she regretted not taking a chance on my old man; no sense to let him do the same. Myr seemed to be thinking it over as Merlin chuckled. "You think on that lad. For now we've a meeting of lords to address."
"Right... Sorry, Myr, but we do need to get going." I said as the mage in question nodded.
"R-right, sorry for keeping you..." He said as I smiled and walked away, my father walking besides me. Once we were away I spoke to him softly.
"You dropped a tree on a dark elf, some ogres, and a troll by chance?"
"Sometimes, my son, it's better to be lucky then good." He said with a long chuckle.
[-]
The main command tent was the largest in the camp and where the Council would be held. What chairs could be found was set up for people to sit on and at the sides of the room a collection of ten voxluxs and boosters were set up projecting likewise gatherings as Celestine sat at the front behind a table along with Maia, Claudia, Prim and Alicia with a voxlux set up to capture and project their actions as well. We weren't the last to arrive; Count Ellion Rongan was as he had been heavily injured and while mostly healed he still needed a crutch to arrive at the meeting.
"Are we all prepared?" Celestine said as she looked around; those gathered and those projected agreeing as she sighed. "First of all let us discuss some losses. As most of you know Dempsey and Jason Draken fell in combat recently but they are not the only ones; Versa Venus, Arnold Trademan and Carlos Caesarea. That said the Drakens are more notable as they were the ruling count and heir apparent of Ironheart. Luckily it seems Jason's wife is with child and their house has opted to name it as heir with the mother, Nimrah Draken, as regent until that child is of age."
Ohhh... Right... I kinda forgot about my... 'assistance' in her childless problem...
I hope my poker face held up and I didn't react...
"We've also lost an estimated eight thousand troops to the war so far; including Church and mercenary forces." She added as I winced. That was a lot. Sure; it was spread out across Eostia but I knew a hundred thousand was the usual strength of these conflicts, sometimes more or less. I imagined what we had was closer to a hundred and twenty to a hundred and thirty thousand strong so the amount we lost wasn't to scoff at. Of course it was hard to estimate the level of damage we were doing in return...
"In spite of new advances in communication and mobility we are still unable to bring this war to a decisive end." She carried on, looking about. "We must needs find a way to bring this war to a close once and for all."
There was muttering about, almost grumbling as I leaned back in my seat. "Well how we do that is easy enough to work out." I let off as people looked to me. "We need to put their cities to siege-" I drew a shocked look from Celestine but carried on speaking. "-and capture several major ones. They have never, throughout the last seven hundred years, had to face their homes being threatened." Celestine's look then softened, understanding what I meant. "We wouldn't need to put them to the torch; just occupy and hold them. The thought of being vulnerable to us should be enough to make them capitulate and come to the negotiating table eventually. Of course..." I sighed for a long moment. "There's a good reason we've been unable to do that over seven centuries."
"The Dread Field." Stark Angelus replied from one of the projected boosters. "Yes... so long as they can hide behind that we'll never see them at any peace talk..." Some grumbling came as she spoke.
"Peace? With Garan?" Someone (I didn't know who) let off.
"Peace talks!?" Alundra van Bludhorn barked out from another. "We shouldn't bother with talks! If we could defeat the Dread Field we should march on the Black Citadel and bring it down around Olga's ears!" A few of the lords clapped and cheered her a bit as Stark frowned in her image.
"Alundra..." Stark began as I saw her image adjust her glasses on her nose. "What you're suggesting is illogical."
"Are you becoming too weak hearted to see their end!?" Alundra let off... looking slightly to the right and not at Stark's image; although likely she was looking at her image from her position.
"No. But I'm not stupid enough to forget that while Garan is our most prominent enemy they are not our only one." Any grumbling or cheering ended at that. "Let us assume, for a moment, that we could defeat the Dread Field and could march north and set their cities to the torch and their people to the collar and chain. They will look at this and see themselves as vulnerable and their enemies coming to exterminate them and theirs to the last. In response do you not think they would fight tooth and claw to avoid death and destruction? Do you not think if their end was nigh they would go down fighting and causing as much harm as possible? To end them in such a manner we would likely expend half or more of our manpower to do so. How vulnerable would we be in such a case? Nyaru could well claim much of Thorn's southeast; in that case what could we do to repel them? Would Balanar follow to claim Ur's south? And Dominious is in a ceasefire now so perhaps one of their factions would try and attack or raid Feoh to bolster their supplies and might if they've reason to think we could not retaliate."
A lot of murmurs sounded at that. The reality was Eostia was so geared to fight Garan that the other threats around us were considered lesser by contrast, but they were still there. "In addition how often, in our history, have we ended a conflict with a new conquest?" Victoria Daphne, now Acting Countess of Xenera, spoke. "Once or twice at most? And even then it was to bring in a defecting territory."
"Subjecting a population can be expensive and manpower intensive." Arthur Leosol huffed with a frown. "It's one of the reasons that Verlangen's empire fell apart; he had to enforce his will upon rebelling people across his holdings and he had neither had the manpower or war chests to do it."
"Indeed." Arnold von Blitzhaus' voice boomed out in the tent as I looked to him as he sat cross armed. Jaeger was not present but both Victor and Channer sat with him. "Like Alundra I'd rather just set their cities to the torch, render them to ash and be done with it... but forcing them to negotiate would be for the best if it could be done. But the question is will they?"
"Yes, but it's a matter of breaking their pride." Merlin spoke as I turned my head to him. "We need to first break their pride and demonstrate to them that they can lose and that their nation can be put to threat. Then we offer them a way out and find something that either lets them save face or gives them a reason to accept peace."
"They say Nidavellir is past the Unknown Reaches, right?" I let off as I mused. "I imagine they'd want to protect the path towards the north then."
"Another could be that something could occur that their pride demands they agree to peace." Roshia Silverglade, the high elf Countess of Whitewell, let off from the same booster as Stark.
Someone from the same booster as Alundra spoke up next, I didn't know him but he sat with Nikita so I imagined he was her father. "Of course all this talk is utterly meaningless unless we can defeat the Dread Field somehow... which I should remind us all no one has done in seven hundred years!"
There was some muttering and hushed speak as I frowned and crossed my arms. "Aye, that is the rub of it, eh?" Jamaica let off as tapped a foot to the floor. "We're not making any headway speaking of hopes and wishes. Ach! What we need is a new approach..."
"I agree." Celestine said firmly as she injected herself back into the meeting. "To bring this war to an end the first step must to be to conquer the Dread Field. As such we need to employ a mind that has been proven to think in ways different and new to accomplish what has not been done before." I hummed and mentally nodded to myself... and it took two seconds to figure out exactly who she meant. "As such I shall charge James Noxdecus of Mungale with discovering a means to bypass, remove of defeat the Dread Field."
Dammit Cele!
Needless to say there was noise to follow... and lots of it! You could summarize it in two camps...
"Ahhhh, of course! Given what he's made thus far he is sure to find a means to defeat it! He is a most clever man!"
"Whaaaat!? This is favoritism, plain and simple! Just because he can build something doesn't mean he can over come the riddle no one else had!"
I felt a headache as, in the corner of my eye, I could see Channer sputter for... some reason as I held up a hand. "While I appreciate the vote of confidence, my Queen, this is a little more of a challenge then making something fly."
"Rest assured, James, I do not doubt that." She replied with a nod. "But your ability to consider new angles to solve problems is proven and I can think of none better to tackle the issue at hand. I am also well aware that you restored the enchantments in your bodyguard's weapon in addition to your well known accomplishments and when your Scrying devices were blocked by the Dark Mists you created the Sky Eyes to compensate. You are well educated and thoughtful. I have faith in you."
Well at least one of us does...
"H-hold on!" To my surprise Channer stood up with his hand raised. "Isn't sending just one person to find a means through the Field a little lacking?" There was a bit of murmuring at that as Celestine looked over to him with a hum.
"You are Channer, correct? Of House Blitzhaus." She asked as he nodded with a very serious face to him. "Very well. If your father can spare your services on the field then you may have leave to find a means as well. But who finds the means through doesn't matter in the end. We need a way through. Come the end of this meeting use a Cloud Rider to return to your homes as I imagine that's where you will have the tomes and materials needed to begin. Please... do your best."
That went without saying...
[-]
Most of the rest of the meeting that followed was uninteresting for the most part; the bulk of it being battle reports and supply requests for the most part. Once it was done I had to go and pack up and explain what was happening to the Lyrans. Myr in particular seemed to dislike my departure but they all understood why and wished me luck... as I wished Myr luck with Valora.
Fingers crossed!
My things were loaded onto the one, painted Cloud Rider in the back along with Channer's luggage, although a solider was the one to fly it as we waited for my fellow enchanter to finish setting things in order before he left. Supposedly he and his brothers had ambushed some dark elves moving to take slaves from behind our lines and put a stop to them... and captured and enslaved the survivors... with one of them, if not more, sent back to Walrien City...
Some people might point out that they were out to enslave and, thus, their fate was fitting and acceptable. To that I say no. Two wrongs do not make a right and it's hard to condone it; no one should be enslaved in such a manner in my opinion. If you ask me this will make a peace harder...
I opted to sit in the back on a bench as I leaned back and started to think on something a bit more productive and less frustrating. I would need to explore my options on how uncover what was going on with the Dread Field... and I had an idea to start with; spell paper.
Spell paper did not work in the Dread Field. Why? No one knew. Ideally you would want to load up some spell paper, send it off to the Dread Field and then recover it to figure out what happened to it... which is hard to do from foot when you have no idea how far it's going, if it's going off course and know it's likely going down in hostile territory. Using spell paper while in the field wouldn't work; they refused to even active within it and there was no changes to their mana once returned from it so it had to be something that happened while active and flying in.
If I could build a drone that could follow a sheet with arms to recover it, however, that could be another story...
"Let's go!" Channer let off as he boarded and hopped over the backrest for the driver to sit across from me as I gave a wave. The pilot nodded and started the Rider up and took us up and off; first to Walrien City for us. "Hell of a challenge before us, huh?"
"More then I was expecting." I said as the wagon turned and picked up speed. "Why did you opt to jump into it? You have a thought on the field?"
"Ahhh, no..." He let off as he blushed for a moment as he chuckled. "But... Ya know... Do your part and all..." He let off as he looked away from me for a moment.
"Channer..?"
"...And I feel like I'm falling behind at times, Grand Master..." He said as I blinked... then understood, if to a degree.
"Ahhh... I see." I said as I sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to upstage anyone... I just want do what's right. For Eostia, of course, but also my family, friends and state. I mean you're doing the same."
"Y-yeah, I know..." He said as he sighed. "But that doesn't change how things are." I sighed as I leaned back, unsure what to say.
We were friends. If I were to call him anything I'd say he was my Micah... and yet...
I was from an Abolitionist state and he a Slavist one... It was... a divide that could be hard to ignore... but ignore it we had... mostly... And yet I had to wonder...
Would that divide ever close or open wider?
Would he stay as a Micah... or become a Cain?
[-]
"Master, welcome home!" Riri let off as she leapt into my arms; I hadn't even gotten past the front gate before she was on me, arms wrapped around my neck as two maids moved in a jog towards us. I held her up like a child as her little tail wagged and wagged.
"Missed you to, Riri." I said, kissing her forehead as Sora followed the maids who moved to collect my luggage and at her flank was her daughter, Terra. "Sora, Terra. Good to see you guys too."
"Welcome home, M'lord. I am sure you wish to get to work quickly but may I suggest a rest first?" Sora said as I finally set Riri down.
"That's... not a bad idea..." The war had been stressful after all... I'd be lying if I said each night was restful... "I can start work tomorrow. That being said how are we on spell fiber?"
"We've nearly another hundred pounds ready." Riri answered, moving to my side to look up at me. "There should be enough in a day or two." I nodded; that would be good. I wanted to set aside some for my project down the line; I thought I'd need two and a half thousand pounds for it... but the Cloud Riders were needed now and could be produced faster then my as of yet untested large scale plan... For now my wants could wait for the sake of Eostia's needs.
"For now how about you catch me up on what's been going on in Argon." I said as I started to walk home as I smiled. I had a duty to do, yes, but for now I could afford a bit of rest and relaxation...
I would need it for the challenge set before me...
[ - Author's Note - ]
Whew... That's another longer chapter... I guess I want to get so much into these that it's hard to fit them all. My original intent when I came up with the idea of this chapter was James wouldn't pop up at all because he was already sent to Mungale by Celestine to work. That said I found it better to have him leave at the end and have his role minimized in the action but still have some impact.
Additionally when I came up with Myrddin I has always planned to have him look up to James but also be very similar to Merlin... after all Myrddin is the Welsh name for Merlin. Yup.
As for the Drakens their fate was planned since their inception; to be a pair of jerks James would meet along the way, showcase some of the worst traits of nobility... and in the end showcase some of the best, even if Dempsey's was done in sorrow. The Gregory/Fredrick scene was... more a case of 'throw it in'. It's definitely to be taken less seriously then most of the rest of the chapter. And then we have the Blitzhaus section...
This was a scene to set up two things; the first being to showcase what the brothers can do. The second was to showcase something; that both sides aren't so different as both the Garanians sent and the Elddale response to them were seeking to claim slaves. And yes, I know there will be a case of saying the dark elf girls got what the deserved; an eye for an eye...
Of course it's how the world goes blind...
Colt's section was another chuckle worthy section, if a short one, while Bolt's was more there to showcase the cannon shown in the Epilogue as well showcasing her bravery and quick thinking. And then we have Kaguya, showcasing what she can fully do in a fight; she didn't have that much time to showcase what she could do I felt and I wanted to do more to show off James' second bride a bit more seeing as Prim has had a lot more attention then her over the whole story. I kept Zinaida alive as well because I kinda liked her and wanted to use her down the line if the chance came up.
And we have the moment where the current, for lack of a better term, 'arc' ends and the bridge to the next one is to be laid. That said before we pick up with James I have an Interlude chapter I want to make to give some more... context on the other side of things.
I'm also making a new Straw Poll on the captured Avdotya; do you want to see Channer 'breaking her in' for a chapter in Questlines? You can go and vote at strawpoll (Dot Com) (Slash) NMnQ5mzVAn6 and let me know what you think.
So then, let me know what you thought of the chapter! What did you like, dislike and so on? How many of the people showcased did you remember from Act Two? And if you remember anyone else from that chapter who would you like to see? Until next time!
~~Eostian Scribe
