Novel Devil Princess Reincarnation

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by Silveus, Feb 20, 2018.

  1. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Appendix: Character Information.
    Character info.

    Pine Family

    The Pine family is one of the six ducal houses whose leader has the ability to inherit the throne of the Fredirin Kingdom. The family is headed by the Duchess Isabella Pine, and her husband, Franklin Pine. The Duchess and her husband have five children, ranging in age from 17 to 4.

    The Pine Family has unusual customs for a noble family of their rank, they focus on family bonds, respect, and being humble.

    The Pine Family has no ambitions towards the throne, according to the Duchess’s wishes, the family is attempting to maintain a low-key and neutral stance, while also trying to build up a foundation that they can rely on after the competition is over.

    Unfortunately, their plans are not showing results, the other family’s either do not trust them or see them as an easy target.

    Despite that, because the Pine Family is focused almost 100% internally, while the other pick at them and whittle them down, their power base within their own territory is powerful, powerful enough that the Pine Family is in a three-way tie for second place.

    The Pine Dukedom

    Located in the northeast of the Fredirin Kingdom, the Pine Domain is mostly mountainous terrain covered in forests. Due to the elevation, the domain is cold and snow is common.

    Further north are the God’s Wall Mountain ranges, an incredibly difficult to traverse mountain range that serves as the Fredirin Kingdom’s northern border, and beyond that is the Barbarian Lands, whose inhabitants are in an uneasy peace with the Fredirin Kingdom. Further to the west of the domain would be the Sea of Sorrows, a sparsely populated body of water that takes months to cross. There are few islands in it, and for the longest time the sea was considered a wasteland but the Pine Family has been investing in naval forces and marine production lately. To the east is the Quarry Domain, home of the Quarry Family, and to the south is the Steam-burst Domain, home to another ducal family.

    The pine domain only had three cities of note, the Citadel of the Pines located in the heart of the mountain range, that covered the one valley that connected north to the Barbarian Lands. The Port of Good Seas on the coast, and Arnbache which was the administrative seat of the domain.



    Duchess Isabella Pine Fredirin, age 38.

    The Duchess is a sweet and caring woman, the word “Motherly” would describe her well. She married her husband out of love, and she still acts as if she was a newlywed, much to the chagrin of her older children, and her husband who can be overwhelmed by her displays of affection. Especially when they happen in public.

    The Duchess has no aims towards the throne, and seemingly cares little for the management of her domain. She set broad policy directives, but she leaves the day to day affairs to others.

    She is a straightforward woman, and her primary objectives all revolve around her family.

    However, it should be noted, that the Duchess survived the last competition for the crown, helping to propel her father into becoming the next king. She is not a simple character.



    Franklin Pine, Age 32

    Franklin Pine was the 3rd son of a baron, low-ranking nobility if there ever was any. He was a competent military leader but was only slightly above average at best. He poses a magical eye called, The Fairy Eyes, that allows him to see mana with a great degree of clarity. These eyes were inherited from his family.

    Franklin is less of a fighter, mage, or strategist, and more of an administrator, which counterbalances his wife. He helps with the administration of the Family's domain and is also the driving force behind the Pine Family’s recently developed naval power.

    He, like his wife, is a devoted family man, however, he is awkward around his children, not knowing exactly how to respond to them, and this problem is made even more apparent when he interacts with the younger ones. Still, he tries.

    He is also a devoted husband, however, he finds public displays of affection to be embarrassing, and his wife always teases him. However, their relation is doing extremely well, and it is only a matter of time until the family receives another member.



    Benjamin Pine Fredirin, age 17.

    The eldest child of the Pine Family, Benjamin takes his responsibilities as an older brother very seriously, perhaps too seriously at times. While he pampers his siblings whenever he gets the chance, he finds it nearly impossible to be stern with them or discipline them.

    Benjamin could be called a Jack of All Trades, he is trained as a knight, can use all but light type magic, and is also a decently skilled archer, however, he isn’t good enough in any of these fields to really make a career out of it. He is also well learned in a strange assortment of fields, including agricultural, engineering, painting, piano, smithing, fishing, even logging.

    Since he graduated school two years prior, he has become his father’s assistant, helping him administer the domain.



    Timothy Pine Fredirin, age 14.

    The second oldest child, Timothy is still in school and is also still training to become a knight. While his training is still incomplete, Timothy is only slightly above the average, and his horsemanship is terrible. He specializes in Earth Magic but can use all elements to some degree. He unlocked his magic core early, and while he is talented, his overall magic capacity is on the lower end, limiting his potential as a mage.

    He has a straightforward personality, and he strives to act with honor and be just and fair whenever possible. He finds the family’s situation to be vexing in the extreme, but he is also obedient to a fault and a stickler for rules.

    Ironically, despite being somewhat self-righteous, thought random luck, Timothy has avoided any major problems during the competition, and his straightforward and upbeat personality has allowed him to be the only member of the Pine family with any real friends.

    Appearance wise, Timothy is on the shorter side, only slightly taller than Olivia, who is both 7 years his junior, and also rather small herself. He has light brown hair that he keeps cut short, except for a single braid he keeps at the back. His eyes are brown, and give anyone looking at them a comfortable feeling, in fact, all of his facial features are somewhat soft looking. Whether this is just his natural state, or because he has yet to hit his growth spurt, only time will tell.



    Pamela Pine Fredirin, age 13

    The third oldest child and the older girl, Pamela is one of the two children of the Pine Family to have inherited the Fairy Eyes from their father, although she only developed one of them. She was formerly considered somewhat of a prodigy, both in Arcane Magic and in painting. However, three years prior, due to a freak accident that was almost certainly not an accident, she lost almost all sight in her fairy eye, and the magical power in it was lost completely. This caused her to give up on magic entirely and severely stunted her abilities as an artist.

    Pamela still paints, although she can not complete a full work and even this required great effort on her part. The event that ruined her eye left her with mental scars that lead her to have panic attacks whenever she tried to paint, and this took her nearly a year to get over to the point she can paint, but she isn’t completely cured, she routinely has nightmares of that day.

    If there was something good that came from that event, it was the fact that Pamela studied natural medicine trying to cure herself, and also became a hidden expert into the studies of mental trauma and other mental illnesses.

    Pamela is tall, only a few inches away from six feet. Unlike Timothy, Pamela has hit her growth spurt, her face is still a bit round and young looking, but otherwise she is indistinguishable from an adult, a very womanly adult. She has silver hair that extends a bit past her shoulders that she usually keeps in a plain ponytail.

    Unlike most girls her age, Pamela does not enjoy dressing up, possibly due to the fact she would have nowhere to go after dressing up, and she instead prefers simple, comfortable and easy to move in clothes. She often is covered in paint smears.



    Olivia Pine Fredirin Age 7/???

    Olivia is the 4th oldest child and second oldest girl of the pine family, but she has a second identity, a powerful evil Outsider that once ruled an entire dominion consisting of three great cities.

    The human Olivia, before the Outsider took over, was a timid and small girl. She wasn’t particularly talented, nor was she particularly inept. She diligently listens in class, did what was asked of her, and then did nothing else. Lacking self-confidence, she was an easy target for harassment from her peers, and Olivia’s school was filled with bullying, bullying that left the young child with several mental traumas that are only just coming to light.

    The Outsider Olivia existed in another plane of existence, she spontaneously spawned from the ambient mana along with 47 of her siblings. She and her brothers and sisters lived a hard life, but she eventually raised herself to heights she never would have thought possible, but in the process, only five of her siblings remained. Even during her rule, those five were again reduced until only Olivia and one other survived.

    This form of Olivia was a shockingly powerful being, although how that strength stacks up in the new world she inhabits, is still unknown. One thing worth mentioning was that Olivia pursued an aggressive fighting style, one that left her consistently wounded. To increase her survival rate, and to also increase her ability to deal damage, Olivia mastered blood magic, which allowed her to rapidly heal and use her blood as a weapon.

    When the Outsider Olivia died, killed by her enemies, a magical amulet given to her by her one remaining family member activated, transporting her soul to another world, allowing her to reincarnate with her memories intact.

    The timid human Olivia was always the new body of the Outsider, but a mortal body could not hold Olivia’s soul, so a fake personality was made using a fraction of her soul, the fake personality lived as Olivia for 7 years while the main portion of her soul slumbered and waited for the body to grow stronger.

    However, what may have been an assassination attempt, or may have just been the regular harassment going too far, put Olivia’s life in danger and forced her to wake up.

    Olivia is now fully awake, and she is a cunning, brilliant, vicious, brutal creature. She knows little of mercy or human morals, she is driven by her desires and will do anything to see her wishes fulfilled. However, she is still naive in ways, she does not understand many human traits, the memories of the fake personality are hers, but they are clouded by her previous experiences. Concepts such as racial discrimination, the need for clothing, and things like pride, are confusing to her.

    And because she absorbed the fake’s memories, she has come to see the Pine Family as her own, and she is fiercely loyal and devoted to her family.

    While her power pales in comparison to what she had before, her body can still only withstand a fraction of her might, she is already an incredibly powerful mortal. She is immune to most poison and disease, her physical body is stronger than an ogre and more durable, and she also has flawless control of her mana, and she has a nearly inexhaustible amount of mana to her fingertips.

    She has stretched the truth a bit towards her family, claiming she had awakened a bloodline, which is the excuse for her soaring power, and her change in personality.

    For her appearance, Olivia, before she woke up, was a frail and timid child, short for her age too. She had dark brown hair and gray eyes. After having awakened her true soul, her hair turned pure black, her eyes lightened into a shimmering silver that was almost pure white, and while she maintained her size and shape, her body filled out, no longer appearing frail and weak, and her features gained a much sharper and more adult-like look.



    Vincent Pine Fredirin, age 4

    Vincent it the youngest child of the Pine Family and his young age has prevented him from doing much of anything in his life.

    He has inherited two Fairy Eyes from his father, and he is a thoughtful and quiet child, but he is also somewhat timid. If left alone, he will generally just stay in place, rarely crying unless he needs help.



    Pine Family Vassals.

    Ronald Clarace, Age 56

    Formerly a general of the royal army, his was a friend of Franklin Pine’s father. When he retired, he was recruited to serve as the steward of the Citadel of the Pines. He is a steward in name, but most of his duties are still military in nature.



    Patricia Clarace, age 38

    Ronald Claraces only daughter, his wife having died in childbirth. Patricia serves as the head maid in the Citadel of the Pines, but since so few people live there, the number of maids is limited and she doesn’t actually do a lot of work.

    Worth mentioning, Patricia is a widow, she was wed into an arranged marriage, but during the festivities, the groom tripped and fell, breaking his neck. Patricia had no real feelings towards the man, but felt it would be disrespectful if she were to remarry, and has remained single for over 20 years



    Hart Cedar, AKA Old Man Hart, age 36

    Hart Cedar is a half human, quarter dwarf, quarter elf. His racial traits make him appear much older than he is. He is the steward of the Pine Estate in the Capital Arvas.



    Eslan Tale, age 225

    A mix blood human and elf, his blood is ¾ elf and ¼ human. He a well known mercenary figure, but is extremely loyal once hired. The pine family hired him 18 years ago for a 25-year term.

    He is currently the commander of all pine forces in Arvas.



    Ava Spruce, Age 22

    One of Olivia’s personal Maids, she was an orphan raised by the Pine family.



    Lisa, Daughter of Ren, age 21.

    Another of Olivia’s personal Maids, Lisa’s entire family has worked for the Pine family for several years, her mother is a cook and her father died of an illness five years ago. Her brother was a freelance adventurer, but while exploring a dark cavern, he was eaten by a Grue.



    Spectres

    The Spectres of the Hemlock are the Pine Family’s elite covert forces. They focus less on direct confrontations, but all combat oriented Spectres are at least rank 4 warriors, and the more skill-oriented ones are usually rank 3. They operate in 10-12 man squads most of the time, but will often break up into smaller teams, rarely do they combine to form platoons.

    Some Spectre squads focus on intelligence gathering, some do counter espionage, and others are scouts and patrol teams. While they have never officially been given the orders, Spectre teams can easily function as guerrilla fighters, and assassination is also one of their strengths.

    However, since the pine family has not taken any aggressive stances towards the other houses, the Spectres have only been used for defensive purposes, or hunting down bandits and other criminals within Pine Territory.

    All Spectres are orphans raised from infancy by the Pine Family, they are fiercely loyal and highly skilled.

    Spectre Officers are always one rank higher than what their position would entail, normally a sergeant would lead a squad, but a Spectre squad is always lead by a lieutenant.



    Captain Nev Hemlock, age 22.

    Captain of Spectre squad 10-25, Nev focuses on command and control of his squad, he is a planner and a tactician, not exactly a fighter. He is still a rank 3 swordsman.

    Nev is a stickler for the rules and prefers proper etiquette.

    Nev is also a captain, which as a Spectre, allows him to command a platoon, but Squad 10-25 had no need for the extra members, and stayed as a squadron.




    Sergeant Penk Hemlock, age 25.

    The oldest Spectres are all 26 years old, and there are only 7 of them. The 2nd generation of Spectres are 25, and there are only 10 of those. Penk is not only one of those ten, he is also one of the two Spectres with druid training.

    Druid Spectres would have been really useful to the Pine family, but the devotion to nature conflicted with the devotion to the family, and of the 10 attempts, only three of them passed through their training, and one of those three have since died.

    Penk prefers to only use his druid spells for utility purposes and to heal, in combat he uses a wooden staff.

    Penk is also one of the two sergeants in Squad 10-25.



    Sergeant Lars Hemlock, age 24.

    Largs is the second sergeant from squad 10-25 and is also a battle mage, he focuses on earth and water magic.



    Lin Hemlock, age 18.

    Lin is a small girl, and she acts as the squad’s scout. She prefers ambushes with a short bow or her daggers. She is also the fastest runner from the squad, both long distance, and in short springs.



    Wen Hemlock, age 17.

    Wen’s weapon of choice is a battle ax that he wields with one hand, the other holding a shield. Wen was formerly in a different team of three that ended up getting attacked by two dire bears. He was the only survivor, and his body is covered in scars from that encounter.



    Jeb Hemlock, age 18.

    Jeb is one of the strongest fighters in squad 10-25, he is almost at rank five. His weapon of choice is a broadsword which he wields with a heavy shield. Spectres usually stick to studded leather armor, sometimes going as far as wearing chain mail, but Jeb is one of the few that wear a lightened set of scale mail.



    Ivan Hemlock, age 20.

    Along with Jeb and Naya, Ivan is one of the top fighters. Ivan isn’t even a citizen of the Fredirin Kingdom, but an orphan from the barbarian tribes. This shows in combat where he only wears the lightest leather armor and dual wields hand axes. He actually carries 4 of them, so that he can throw up to two of them at enemies.



    Ula Hemlock, age 23

    An older Spectre, Ula’s combat potential in a direct fight is limited. She wields a bow and a short spear, but her strengths are focused towards tracking, she can easily track both man and beast through almost any wilderness terrain. Sadly, that isn’t very useful within the capital Arvas.



    Oz Hemlock, age 24.

    Another older Spectre, Oz is a trained combat engineer. He is able to build field encampments, and also effectively dismantle any others he finds. Oz’s weapon of choice is a sling, but he can also use it as a deadly cudgel if need be.



    Bahn Hemlock, age 16.

    Like Ula, Bahn is a tracker and hunter, but unlike Ula, his strengths lie in setting traps. He wields a repeating hand crossbow and a short sword if forced to fight.



    Naya Hemlock, age 24.

    Naya is one of the best fighters in the squad, and is the most balanced of them. Her weapon of choice is a glaive.



    Carla Redwood, age 25

    Carla was one of Olivia Pine’s two Guardian Knights, her loyal protectors and bodyguards. Carla was born to ordinary parents who were moderately wealthy merchants, but Carla had little interest in running a business, instead preferring to play and fight. Her parents agreed and let her join a combat school.

    Carla is not a genius or a prodigy, but she makes up for it with earnest hard work. After she joined at the age of 8, within two years she had already moved from that school to another. Carla has been through several schools, learning several different techniques, until she was picked up by the Pine Family. Her accomplishments earned her the option to become a guardian knight for the newborn Olivia, and she jumped at the opportunity, getting adopted into the Redwood branch family of the Pines.

    As a Guardian Knight, Carla focuses on battlefield command and defense of her charge. Knights, especially guardian knights, have a reputation for using swords, So Carla does use a heavy broadsword as her primary weapon along with a large shield. But she is skilled with many different types of weapon, and her favorite is a massive heavy flail.

    Carla kept her hair cut very short, her red locks almost making her look like a man. This wasn’t a stylistic choice exactly, for whatever reason, Carla’s hair was unruly in the extreme unless she cut it short, she would look like a wild woman. She was tall, had an athletic build, and her bright blue eyes contrasted with her reddish freckles and her red hair.



    The Goldfield Family.

    The Goldfields are one of the six ducal houses of the Fredrin Kingdom, lead by Duke Zachary Goldfield, the eldest of the six dukes and duchesses. Despite being the oldest, the duke has a bad reputation and is generally considered somewhat incompetent. He was married twice, and divorced twice, and as such, is still single. His two marriages did grant him 16 children, aged 11 to 39.

    The Goldfield Family is tied for last place, and is generally assumed to have no hope of winning, they have always been in last place by themselves, it was only recently that another house fell alongside them.

    The family is also in internal disarray due to the duke's policies and behaviors.


    The Goldfield Domain.

    Located southeast of the kingdom’s capital the Goldfield domain is the kingdom’s breadbasket. Crisscrossed with small rivers, the entire domain is one sprawling expanse of open land with some small hills. It is named after the fields of golden wheat that blanket it during harvest season. The capital Arvas is actually surrounded by the Goldfield Domain, but it is located in the upper left corner while the domain spreads much farther to the south and to the east.

    The domain also borders the other five dukedoms, but it has no borders with foreign nations. Due to its abundance of food, and its central location, it is also the wealthiest dukedom out of the six.

    Duke Zachary Goldfield Fredirin, age 51.

    Duke Zachary Goldfield is actually a talented man, skilled in administration, the sword, and magic, he is even a natural socializer and negotiator. Unfortunately, his talents are paired with equally great flaws, this is lazy, lustful, hedonistic, arrogant, and incapable of taking personal responsibility. He is a raging alcoholic, and he even sired his first child when he was twelve, his first wife being his governess who was over twenty years his senior. Both of his wives divorced him to due his outrageous behavior, and his tendency to have affairs, with almost anything. Rumor has it that his last wife left him after finding him having an affair with two maids, one of his guards, a horse, and one of each of his daughters and sons, all at the same time, in the estate’s library.

    The Duke blames his failures on anyone but himself, which has created a very strained atmosphere within the family. The fact that he seemingly has taken some of his own children as his consorts has only made things worse.

    However, the Goldfield Family seems to hold an even darker secret. Unhappy with his older children’s progress, the Duke ordered questionable procedures to be done to his children, in the hopes of creating superior breeds. Many of his children now possess strange and powerful magic, but they also possess a burning hatred for their own family.



    Victoria Goldfield Fredrin, age 14

    Born to the Duke’s second wife and also one of the children that went through modifications when a baby, Victory is one of the more competent children of the Duke. Victoria's changes involved trying to bind charm magic into her magic core, the process was ultimately successful, but it prevented her from using any other type of magic, but she did gain the ability to use powerful mental magic with very little effort.

    Her childhood was a painful one, as she always accidentally charmed the people around her, and when magical defenses were used to prevent this, she learned she had no idea how to interact with other humans. To make matters worse, she was universally feared for her ability to effortlessly mess with people’s minds.

    When Victoria was 9, she ran away from her house, using her innate magic to facilitate her escape. She lived as a street urchin for a few days before utilizing her magic fully and living with generous people who she had charmed.

    Eventually, she began working as a serving girl in a tavern, something that opened her eyes, having worked for herself she radically changed as a person. By the age of ten, she was working as a street girl since no respectable brothel would hire such a young girl. However, by utilizing her charm, she eventually formed her own brothel, Madam Tilly’s House of Heavenly Delights. By the time she had reached 12 years old, she was a first-class courtesan and Madam Tilly’s was the Capital's, and the kingdom’s, finest brothel.

    After cementing Madam Tilly’s position, she returned to the Goldfield Family and serves as their intelligence gathering arm, however, she is actually moving behind the scenes to undermine her family which she still hates. She routinely leaks vital information to the other ducal houses and even provides fall information to her own family.

    She is a flirtatious being, highly seductive even without the use of her charm magic, something she rarely uses anymore.

    Despite her career choice, she is actually somewhat petite, looking a bit younger than she really is. She has blue eyes, but she never has the same hair color for more than a day, sometimes a few hours.



    The Canyon Family.

    One of the three families tied for 2nd place, although that is a somewhat misleading statement. The leading house is far in the lead, and the two trailing houses are far behind. The Canyons, Pines, and Lakesides are all relatively close to each other, but far from the others.

    The Canyon Family is a military family, they defend the southern borders against the Holy Uvalin Theocracy of the deserts. They are, for the most part, an honorable and upright family.

    They also have 13 children, ranging from 1 year old to 35 years old.



    The Canyon Domain.

    Located at the southern border, the Canyon Domain is named after the massive God’s Divide Canyon that runs east to west, acting as a bulwark that stopped the spread of the Brown Wastes, a massive desert that sits beyond the edges of the Fredrin Kingdom. It also acts as a stop gap to block the advances the Holy Theocracy.

    The river that carved the canyon had long since run dry, and only a massive scale civil engineering project that created hundreds of miles of aqueduct and canal brought enough water back to the canyon to allow people to live within.

    Only a slight portion of the Canyon Domain touches the Steam-burst domain and the Lakeside Domain, the vast majority of it borders both the desert and the Goldfield Domain.

    Most of the Canyon Domain is arid, and not suitable for much farming. There are a few spots where maize is grown, and areas around the larger aqueducts and canals see some light farming also, but the domain gets most of its food from ranching and cattle herding, and importing it. And because Duke Goldfield particularly dislikes Duke Canyon, imported food suffers a heavy tax. This has lead the Canyon Domain to be pioneers in some interesting foods, like snake, scorpion, ant, and some types of cactus.



    Duke Patrick Canyon Fredirin, age 49

    Duke Patrick is a knight, through and through. In fact, his devotion to honor and justice is strong enough that you might suspect he was a paladin instead. Of the six dukes, Patrick is probably the strongest, but his talents focus on defense, he is still a powerful warrior, but anyone fighting him will first note that he is basically unkillable. He fights slowly, methodically, and relentlessly, and he handles everything else in the same way.

    Duke Patrick has a good, if stiff, relationship with his family. He respects his children, and they respect him, but family bonds are somewhat lacking. Even his wife, who bore him those thirteen kids, looks at him as if he were a business partner and not a husband.



    Mitchell Canyon Fredrin, age 25.

    A straight-laced and stern man, Mitchell holds the rank of Colonel in the army. He currently has neither soldiers or a mission and is instead on standby in the royal capital.

    He has a rugged appearance and what could be called boyish good looks, if he ever smiled.

    His talents lay in administration and spiritualism.

    He was able to summon three fairies and contract with them, and his affinity was strong enough to permanently manifest all three of them.



    Cartivo, age ??? (Old)

    The oldest of Mitchell's three summoned fairies, and also possibly one of the oldest faries ever summoned.

    Cartivo is lazy, she spends all of her time lounging about, she rarely eats, she rarely does anything but lounge.

    Her body is pure black, her eyes, wings, teeth, tongue, nails, all black.

    She seems to be able to sense death auras and can tell when a person has given up on life.



    Ixall, age 100~

    Ixall is another of Mitchell’s contracted fairies, she is just slightly older than Zyaipa. She is just over six inches tall, her eyes glow orange, she has a majestic pair of butterfly wings, and she has as a single long braid of orange hair on her otherwise bald head.

    She is a fire spirit and is capable of fire magic, but she actually prefers to manifest an arm of fire-wielding a sword of fire and attack with that.



    Zyaipa, age 100~

    The youngest of Michell’s fairies, Zyaipa is also the smallest, despite the fact her body shows clear muscle mass, something very rare for the fey. She has simple brown hair and eyes, but unlike her sisters, she has two bony like horns on the side of her head, and she also has dragonfly wings instead of butterfly wings.

    Zyaipa uses earth magic.


    Gwyneth Canyon Fredirin, age 16.

    Gwyneth is a black sheep of sorts in the Canyon Family. Like most of the family, she is entirely focused on martial pursuits, but that is where the similarities end. Gwyneth calls herself a duelist, she fights not for the army or for a cause, but for herself, for fame, and for the cheers of the crowd. She is an entertainer at heart.

    Some people think she is a battle junkie, but to Gwyneth, the fight is secondary, all that matters is that she receives cheers.

    The Wild Bear, Raging Chimera, and Swift Wind Schools are all assets under her name.

    In combat, she uses a Jitte, a weapon from the Crystal Jade Empire that she recently acquired, along with magical scimitar called Dry Wind.

    She had an athletic build, but she was somewhat weathered by the elements which made her appear a bit older than she was. She had shoulder length dirty blond hair that she normally kept tucked into a headband, and she had a light scar on her forehead.



    Michael Canyon Fredrin, age 14.

    Michael was another black sheep of the Canyons, but not to the extent of his older sister. He had no real achievements in and martial or war-related field, instead focusing on accounting, administration, and diplomacy. However, he has done all of that for his family.

    In the past, Michael had bullied Olivia Pine Fredirin by burning her stuffed animal with a spell, leaving behind a very dangerous grudge. Michael, however, regretted his actions, and it was the pivot point that let him change his life for the better.

    He was engaged to his personal maid, Shannon, Daughter of Jerry, who he loved greatly. Michael wanted to support his family and improve their standing, so he could then step back and retire, being able to live happily with Shannon.

    Michael was killed by Olivia who was using her magic to puppeteer her stuffed sheep Gimmy. Michael was not only killed, but had his soul extracted.

    He later agreed to work fully with Olivia to protect Shannon, and his soul is now being reforged with Olivia's magic while hidden inside of her heart.



    Shannon, Daughter of Jerry (Fake last name)/ Shannon Canyon (As of 2/19/807), age 23

    Shannon was an orphan discovered in the Canyon Family’s domain, but she was originally from the Holy Uvalin Theocracy. The theocracy itself is made up of various clans that all follow the same religion, some of those clans are very powerful, appearing similar to the dukedoms of the fredirin kingdom, and others are much smaller, being no different from single villages with a chieftain. The harsh climate of the Brown Wastes means these smaller tribes are often destroyed.

    As far as anyone could tell, Shannon was from a smaller tribe that was destroyed, not by a raid or battle, but by a sandstorm. Shannon was picked up by a group of nomads who probably intended to take her as a slave, but they two were wiped out by another sandstorm. A dehydrated and nearly dead Shannon stumbled upon a Canyon Patrol that just so happened to have Michael Canyon within it.

    Shannon became a maid for the Canyons, eventually become Michael’s personal maid, and then his Executive Maid, after he invented that position.

    Shannon and Michael were a couple in form, if not exactly name. They were unofficially engaged, even if neither one of them admitted it. Shannon was against Michael’s plan to leave the family so they could elope, she wanted him to fully assist the family because she thought it would be the best for him.

    Following Michael’s murder at the hands of Olivia Pine, Shannon was the one who found his corpse the next day and suffered a severe shock. The day after, she agreed with Michael’s will, and became his wife, a fact that was officially recognized by Mitchell Canyon, Shannon then became Shannon Canyon.

    Shannon has a plain “Village girl” appearance, but she is also somewhat don-descript, easily overlooked. Her hair is black, her eyes gray, and she is small in stature.

    Previously, Shannon had some basic self-defense training, but nothing more. Following her marriage, she awoke a bloodline of unknown origin and gained some form of power.



    Roy Canyon Fredirin, age 12.

    Roy is Michael’s younger brother, but the two have little interaction. Roy is an Elementalist who focuses on fire magic, but he is an extremely skilled mage who learned to use all six elements. He never had any real conflict with his older brother, but Michael was threatened by his growth, and ashamed by his own lack of talent in magic for a while, which lead to a strained relationship between the two that never really recovered.



    The Lakeside Family.

    The Lakeside Family is one of the more unusually dukedoms, and they are in many ways, the counterpart to the Canyons. Both are tied for second place, but while the Canyons are upright and honorable, the Lakeside are cunning and treacherous. While the Canyons focus on military might, the Lakesides focus on magical research and development.

    Because most magical research centers are long established facilities, most of them are located in the capital, but many have been popping up within the Lakeside Domain in recent years.

    The lakeside family only has six children, ranging in ages from 11 to 19, a relatively low amount compared to the other families, even those headed by female leaders.



    The Lakeside Domain.

    The Lakeside Domain is a very apt name for Duke Henry’s dukedom. The southeastern edge of the Fredirin Kingdom, even running up to the eastern reaches towards the mountains, is the massive Big Blue Lake, a lake that is large enough to be considered a sea.

    The lake is shallow, only being 70 or so feet deep and the deepest, but most of it is a comfortable 30-40 feet deep. It is a freshwater lake, and it is also a very calm body of water, dotted with islands of varying size.

    The Lakeside Domain surrounds the lake on all sides, only extending about 50 miles away from it at the farthest parts. Most of the domain is situated on the small island. Due to this, the domain only has one major city, Lake-Gate City, situated on the mouth of the river that feeds into the lake, and one major fort, Lake-Guard Castle, on the far side of the lake.

    The far side of the lake is craggy worthless ground, and it has never been claimed by any nation, and is instead filled with goblins and wild orcs. Occasionally those creatures, or even the Theocracy or Empire will launch attacks, but the Fredirin Forces can just pull back to the coastlines and islands, neither of the opposing enemies has any level of naval force.

    The domain focuses on two things, fishing, and magic research, the isolated islands make for good experimental labs, and also reduce the collateral damage when things go wrong.


    Duke Henry Lakeside Fredirin, age 43.

    Duke Henry is one of the Kingdom’s greatest mages, his rank isn’t known, but he is estimated to be at least a rank 8 Arcanist. He isn’t a combat focused mage, instead, he prefers to focus on research and massive ritual magic, but with his rank, he is still an incredibly dangerous foe.

    The Duke is a man of strange contradictions, he’s cunning and ruthless and has few, if any, friends. He isn’t particularly rude or obnoxious, but he creates such an aura of distrust that no one wants to be around him. He is likewise a stranger to his children, making no effort to interact with them at all.

    On the other hand, he is a highly devoted husband, seemingly only able to trust his wife. His wife, however, is somewhat sickly, which explains the small amount of children.

    The Duke has had a long-running rivalry with his brother, Duke Patrick Canyon since they were children, although it is for the most part, a good-natured rivalry.


    Sebastian Lakeside Fredirin, age 15

    The third oldest child of the Lakesides, Sebastian is an interesting character. He is a natural diplomat and socializer, able to make friends with anyone within moments of meeting them. At the age of fifteen, he has already built several floating party houses that he positioned in the capital Arvas, and he often hosts parties in them.

    Sebastian has no interest in getting his father the throne, and in fact, he is envious of the Pine Family’s stance. Despite having nothing in common with his father, he is the child that gets along with him the most. He has a distaste for his younger brother, Bartholomew’s behavior, and he often moves to thwart his more wicked actions.

    Sebastian however, was assassinated by his brother in the chaotic opening made after Olivia killed Michael.


    Bartholomew Lakeside Fredirin, age 14.

    The 4th oldest son of the Lakesides. Bartholomew is a sociopath, but he isn’t overtly evil. He takes the most efficient path towards his goals, even if such a path would be morally reprehensible. He doesn’t view the sentient races as having much more value than livestock, and he treats them as such. He believes the worth of a person is based only off of their actions, a useless person is like a sick animal and should be put down. His views extend to himself also, he would have no complaints if he were killed to further someone else's goals.

    He also believes that only the most valuable of things should have names, so he calls all of his servants by numbers, he probably only knows the name of a handful of people.

    He is capable of actions of great cruelty if need be, but he gets no satisfaction from those actions.

    His older brother Sebastian often moved to stop Bartholomew's plans, which resulted in the younger brother assassinating the older.



    The Quarry Family.

    The Quarry Family is tied for last place with the Goldfields. They are technically, in a worse standing than the Goldfields, but unlike the other family who has effectively no hope of winning, the Quarrys might improve their position, and in fact, are trying to do that.

    Six years ago, the Quarry Family made a large gambit that if successful, would have put them well in the lead of the other six families. The Canyons, Lakesides, Goldfields, and Steam-bursts all united to stop them, and stop them they did. The Quarries were completely thwarted, everything they put into their attempt was lost, and in the ensuing chaos, the other four families picked them apart. Even the Duchess Analise Quarry Fredirin’s husband died in the failed move.

    Now, the Quarry Family has reorganized and focused on strengthening their defenses while biding their time to make another attempt.

    The Quarry Family has five children, ranging in age from 14 to 1.



    The Quarry Domain.

    Located in the far north of the Fredirin Kingdom, in the Spiky Mountains, is the Quarry Domain. The Spike Mountains are a bunch of sharp but short mountains, divided by steep ravines. To the west is the Pine Family Domain, to the south, the edges of the Goldfield domain borders it, and to the south-east is the only part of the domain that isn’t mountainous, before it reaches the Lakeside Domain.

    The Quarry Domain is the source of more than half of the Fredirin Kingdom’s mines, the rest being an even split between the Canyons Pines, and Steam-bursts. However, while the other families tend only to be able to mine one or two different types of ore, the Quarrys have a mine for just about everything.

    As their name implies, besides mines, they also provide the kingdom’s cut stone, providing large amounts of granite, and the more valuable marble.

    Very little food is produced within the Quarry Domain, small farming villages are set up, and there is a degree of goat herding, but the vast majority of the food comes from trade.

    Militarily, the Spiky Mountains are easier to traverse than the God’s Wall Mountains, so the Quarry domain is dotted with various fortresses that overlook the many pathways into the barbarian lands.



    Duchess Analise Quarry, age 34.

    An ambitious woman, Analise Quarry’s desire to become the next ruler of the Fredirin Kingdom is likely the strongest of the six dukes and duchesses. Her ambition manifests in a reckless outlook, which has been her own worst enemy. The Duchess is found of large, complex plans, and ones that risk a ton, but also potentially gain a ton. She is also generally rather lucky, even when she fails, she always survives, as does a stable foundation of her strength, so she always has an opportunity to rise again.

    In fact, long ago, many of her cousins met their ruin when the Duchess’s plan fell apart, and then they attempted to chase her down and give her the final blow. While others might move steadily, the Duchess moves haphazardly, and while most are surprised she hasn’t been destroyed yet, it is also worth mentioning that she had utterly destroyed more of her rivals than any of her siblings.

    The other five ducal houses view Analise Quarry as possibly the biggest threat.

    Outside of her own reckless ambition, the Duchess is actually a pleasant person to be around. She is learned in pretty much every field and topic, she is a decent mage, a decent administrator, a decent general, and a decent warrior. She is also, by far, the most charismatic of the six, no one really dislikes her, even those she has trampled over in the past.

    She is a surprisingly loving mother and wife too, although six years ago when her husband died in her failed gambit, she was left depressed for over a year, always wearing mourning dresses whenever she went out.

    Since then, three years ago she remained in a purely political sense. Her new husband holds none of her trust, and has almost no power, the Duchess rarely even bothers to tell him what her plans are, let alone consult him.



    The Steam-burst Family.

    The undisputed top dog of the competition to see who will be the next king of the Fredirin Kingdom. The Steam-burst Family’s lead is so massive, that no one really expects anyone else to stand a chance.

    The Steam-bursts have little interaction with the other families, instead focusing on their internal development, in this way they are like the Pine Family. However, unlike the Pines, the Steam-bursts will strike back, viciously, if they are messed with, and while uncommon, they do occasionally strike first.

    The Steam-burst family has 7 children, aged 18 to 13.


    The Steam-burst Domain.

    Before Duke Steam-burst took over this area, the Steam-burst Domain was not actually part of the Fredirin Kingdom, but part of a large stretch of unclaimed land that no one cared for.

    The original Steam-burst Domain was a small section of land between where God’s Divide Canyon flattened out before reaching the coastline, and the southern edge of the Pine Domain. This small area had two dilapidated forts before the Steam-burst took over. From that point, the coast continued down south-west, and if one were to go from there to the south-east, they would reach the deserts of the Brown Waste. However, the gap between the coast and the desert was a barren swamp marsh dotted with occasional volcanic vents that spewed steam and boiling water out.

    The land was inhospitable, being entirely marshland, the bodies of water were either too brackish to drink, or contained nearly lethal amounts of sulfur. The only wildlife was small and tended to be poisonous itself. Hostile lizardfolk made this area home, as did a few sahuagin tribes, and it was also one of the main avenues for the Crystal Jade Empire to attack through. Even the Theocracy, would occasionally try to send a flanking army through the swamps. And because the swamps were so inhospitable, many of those invasions would see numerous soldiers dying within, who to this day, rise as bloated undead corpses.

    The Steam-burst family aggressively reclaimed this area, pushing south along the coast, using a relay of boats from a port they built near those two forts. Once they reached where they wanted, they began transporting in tons and tons of stone, gravel, sand, and dirt. Building up mounts to hold towns and even cities. A massive, raised, roadway along with an aqueduct allows transportation through the swamps.

    However, all of these gains would have meant nothing had the Crystal Jade Empire invaded.

    The Steam-bursts used the volcanic vents to create a series of cannons, large towers were built over the vents, and inside of the towers were magically sealed tanks that held the pressure that spewed out. A large warhead could then be shoved into a hollowed out tube, and then the steam would be released, firing the shell out like a cannon. The power of these cannons allowed them to have a range many miles out, and the many vents allowed several towers to fire upon any army that advanced. Different types of magical stones allowed different types of attacks. Since they Steam-bursts took over this land, they repelled countless lizardfolk and sahuagin raids, two large-scale invasions from the Empire, and one from the Theocracy.



    Duke Jason Steam-burst, age 30.

    Jason Steam-burst took this name before he had reclaimed the salt marshes that would eventually become his domain, which indicates that he had a plan from the beginning and that he knew how to make the steam cannons well before he started building them.

    Which wasn’t unsurprising to anyone who knew him. Jason was a quiet, spindly man, lacking skill in any of the martial talents. He was shy, not particularly attractive, and not liked by anyone. He was, however, highly intelligent and studious. In fact, he spent nearly all of his time in libraries and classrooms.

    He married one of his maids, who was in her thirties at the time. No one knows exactly why they married, the fact that she was pregnant was one reason, but she was neither a person with political backing, a person with their own talents, or even a person who was particularly attractive.

    Their marriage is, however, harmonious, they act less like a noble couple, and more like a family of commoners. Since the Duke is absent-minded and socially awkward, and since his wife is nearing her sixties, they appear more like a couple of grandparents.

    The fact that their last child was born over 13 years ago lets some outsiders make verbal jabs that the Duke is no longer attracted to his wife, but in a rare moment for the Duke, during a banquet at the Royal Capital, he loudly announced that that wasn’t the case at all and that the Steam-burst Family Doctor had recommended against any more children due to her age. The fact that he hasn’t remarried seems to indicate that that was true.



    Martin Steam-burst Fredirin, age 17.

    The second oldest child of the Steam-bursts, Martin is a trained knight. Due to being on the frontier, the Steam-bursts have a strong need for military might, and Martin takes up the mantle of being one of the families strongest combatants. At the age of 16, he had already been considered as a rank 6 knight.

    He currently acts as a traveling liaison to the other families, he doesn’t actually negotiate much of anything, since that isn’t his skill set, but he keeps the others informed of the Steam-burst Family’s intentions.
     
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  2. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 16: Elemental Overflow.
    Friday, February 20th, N.E. 807, 22:55

    8th Camp, 2nd Defense Line, Bleeding Forest, 34 Miles South of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Sergeant Moric, Son of Stoor.




    “How are you boys doing?” I asked as I stepped out of the darkness and into the light of the bonfire, “James, that ain't boozes is it?”



    “Sir!”



    “Sir!”



    “Sir!”



    “That’s enough of that, sit down you fools.” I cut my men off before they could stand up and salute. “Too cold for that.”



    The three of them looked around sheepishly before sitting back down on the wooden stools they were issued. I did notice James tried to shove a bottle into the snow behind him, but I chose to ignore it for now.



    “What brings you around lieutenant?” Gorp asked.



    “Ain't a lieutenant anymore son, it’s sergeant now,” I said, my voice sounding more like a growl than I wanted it to.



    Nothing to do about that though, it was my age catching up with me, that and the time I took an arrow to the neck might have something to do with it.



    “Sir...That… I… We are sorry.” Wron said.



    “Don’t you worry bout that, ain't your fault,” I said, but then added, “At least no more than it is mine.”



    “Still…”



    “I can’t believe that bastard dropped your rank,” James spoke for the first time since he hid his ale.



    “That’s life, nobles like him, they do what they want, and us freemen get the short end. Nothing to be done bout it.” I shook my head as I said so. “But you boys, you still got a living to make, you need to learn to take that shit without making a mess of things. Me? I've got the last few years of pay saved up, and no wife or kids to spend it on, so I'll be retiring after this.”



    “You will?” Gorp sounded shocked.



    “Yah, time to rest these old bones of mine. I ain't as young as I used to be, mornings are rough anymore, and…” I drew my sword, a plain old thing that looked like standard issue goods, because it was. “The fingers don’t work like they should no more, I can barely hold this thing. Ain't gonna be no good in a fight like this.”



    “...” Gorp just watched as I put my sword back into the sheath.



    “Sir… I never did ask, but how long have you been a soldier?” Wron asked.



    “How long? Hmm… Since our General was just a brat, that is for sure… she grew up well.” I said as I lost myself in thought for a second, “Probably about thirty years now I guess. I was a patrolman before that, since I was about fourteen? Sounds bout right.”



    “Wow…”



    “That’s a long time…”



    “Yeah, Sir, how many fights have you been in?”



    “I never talked about this?” I asked.



    “No, sir. Well, I don’t think anyone asked?” Wron looked towards the other two who both shook their heads.



    “I heard from another guy that you fought against the Empire and the Theocracy, he said you are probably the only one left in the army who went against both,” James added.



    “Ain't no way that be the case son, lots o folks fought both of them, the Empire sent some troops into the swamps just a few months ago.”



    “But… that was just a small skirmish, I'm talking about a real fight.”



    “Last time what you call a ‘Real fight,’ happened, was a long time ago. Older than me for sure.”



    “Didn’t they attack twenty or so years ago? My Pops said he was levied to fight them then.” Gorp mentioned.



    “Yah, you be right, they attacked, but it ain't no fight. They sent three battalions, two of infantry and archers, about twelve hundred men, and then four hundred light cavalry. We met them with eight hundred trained soldiers and another thousand of conscripted civilians. And you know what we did?”



    “No sir.”



    “What happened?”



    “Haha… We stared at each other for two days. Every few hours their horsemen looked like they were gonna charge and moved around, their archers would let lose a few shots, and then they went back to their lines. When it was all done, they just upped and left.”



    “Er… Really?” Gorp asked.



    “Yah, there was no fighting at all.”



    “Pops said he saw a man die, said it really scared him. That’s what he said when he tried to talk me out of joining the army.”



    “He mighta been right, some guys got unlucky, an arrow slid past a shield, something like that. I don’t remember the commander's name, but I know he was a local, didn’t want the conscripted soldiers to get too hurt, so he put them in the back. Normally they’d be in the front to blunt a charge, then the regulars would move up and clean things up, but this guy did the opposite, so it was the regulars like us that got showed with arrows. Well, it wasn’t too bad, we all had shields. Your father woulda been in the back though, near a field hospital, probably saw some of the wounded moving back.”



    “Huh… I always thought he saw real combat.”



    “No one saw real combat son, no one crossed swords. Our archers weren’t good enough to shoot them either, so no one on our side did anything.” I said, but then added an afterthought. “Don’t mean he wasn’t brave, we didn’t know there would be no fighting. We had numbers, but they had the better army, plus, one horseman is worth a lot more than a foot soldier.”



    “Hey, Lieu- I mean, Sergeant, you mind if I ask you a question?” James asked.



    “Pass me that bottle you got buried there, and you can ask all you want.”



    “Er... yeah…” He said and then bent down to pull the bottle out before passing it to me. “I’ve been enlisted for two years now, but I've been at the Capital the whole time.”



    “Yeah? And?” I asked as I took the bottle from him.



    “You’ve been down south to the Canyon and Lakeside Domains, right? And I heard you served somewhere up north too, what’s the rest of the country like?”



    “The rest of the country, eh?” I said as I opened the bottle and took a whiff, “Good Gods is this strong, what is it?”



    “Ah… well…” James looked embarrassed. “My Ma makes it, she calls it Pig’s Piss. Said the color is right.”



    “Ha, Pig’s Piss? Sounds right. Your mother sounds like fun. Good woman I bet.”



    “She’s stronger than Pa, I saw her pick him up once and throw him out the door when he came home drunk one night.”



    “Haha, is that right?” I said and took a swig of the foul brew, Pig’s Piss was a good name for it, “Well, you’re right, I have been down south, course it wasn’t called the Canyon or Lakeside Domains back then. They ain’t much different from here, warmer for sure, especially on a night like tonight with all this blasted snow. The Canyon Domain is pretty dry, it don’t rain much, and there's dust everywhere, it gets in your mouth, your eyes, everywhere. The Lake though, that is a nice place, warm but not hot, cool breeze comes off the water, even smells nice.”



    “Yes!” Gorp clenched his fist triumphantly.



    “Damnit…” And James looked down sadly.



    “That where you two are going after this?” I guessed.



    “Yeah, Gorp is going to become a marine next month, and James is heading to a fort somewhere in the Canyon Domain.” Wron answered.



    “Where are you going son?”



    “Somewhere in the Pine Domain, I hear they are setting up a port on the coast.”



    “I don’t know much about the Pine Domain, I was at the border for a few weeks, but the soldiers over in the Quarry Domain needed help with some trolls, and I ended up with a broken leg from that. Got sent back home for a few months to get myself fixed up, and never went back.”



    “I see, so the north is pretty dangerous too…”



    “Not really,” I said as I finished James’s booze, “The Pine Domain is pretty safe, only the Barbarians to deal with, and they rarely come south. Now the Quarry Domain, that place is dangerous, the Barbarians are a lot more active there, though I haven’t heard much about them lately. The big problem there is the Danger Zone, most of those mountain ranges are still overflowing with rampant Mana, and all sorts of monsters. The Dark Crevices are probably one of the worst Danger Zones, them and the Forlorn Marsh down in the Steam-burst Domain.”



    “I heard the Blue Abyss was the most dangerous,” Gorp broke in to ask, “I hope they don’t send me there.”



    “They won't,” I said confidently. “You be right, the Blue Abyss is much scarier than the other four Danger Zones, but, it's underwater. No one goes in, and almost nothing comes out. And when they do, it’s a fish out of water.”



    “Oh…” Gorp looked relieved, “I hadn’t thought about that.”



    “Well, you think about that, but don’t let it stop you from keeping watch,” I said.



    “Are you heading back… to that bastard?” James asked.



    “He’s the commanding officer, bastard he may be, so don’t talk like that. Might not matter that I got demoted, but you boys still got your life in front of you, no use wasting it by picking a fight with some noble brat.” I said sternly.



    “Yes, Sir!”



    “But no I ain't, I'm going back to my tent to get some sleep. The cold made my joints stiff and it woke me up. I just came out to warm myself at the fire and check on you fools.”



    “Mmm, sleep well then sir.” Wron said.



    “You boys stay warm. And James,” I stood and then tossed the empty bottle back to him, “Tell your mother she named this vile brew well. I know it keeps you warm, but no drinking while on watch, you go-GAH!”



    I didn’t even see it, but something shot out of the dark. James’s head exploded, blood, bone, brain, it all splattered everywhere. Even as he fell, headless, another attack smashed into his shoulder, tearing his entire arm off and sending it flying through the air. Whatever hit him, then hit me, I felt a breeze near my neck and then I felt warmth spreading down my chest. One hit my hip and broke through my mail while digging into my bone and another one hit my left wrist, cleanly severing my hand.



    “Wha!”



    “At-attack!” I yelled, feeling faint.



    “JAMES!” Wron yelled as he jumped towards James’s corpse.



    Not a breath since he moved, something flew through the air. Wron was lucky, but Gorp, who had sat there shocked, suddenly pitched forward, a spear, six feet long, was sticking out of his chest, propping him up as he leaned forward. The spear… No… the shard of ice was thicker than my arm. Gorp tried to bring his hands towards the ice, but they fell away, the light from his eyes gone.



    “Blow-Blow the Ho-horn!” I yelled as I dropped to my knees, I no longer had the strength to stand.



    “The horn…” Wron was in shock, still trying to staunch the blood leaking from James’s mangled body.



    “Bl-blow it…” I could feel my voice weakening, I was losing too much blood.



    My hip was probably fine, my left hand would be a problem, but my neck wound was going to kill me much sooner. My scarf that I had been pushing into the cut was already soaked with blood.



    “Ye-yeah” he stuttered as he looked around, and then seeing the horn on a rack near the fire, stood and ran towards it.



    “NO! St-stay do-”



    As I watched, Wron’s body was shredded to pieces as he moved. Bits of him splattered about, his head rolled towards the rack, one of his arms landed in the fire, his two legs fell limply where he last stood.



    “...dammit…”



    I crawled, through the blood and guts of my men, leaking my own life as I went. Ten seconds to get to the rack, another three to knock it over, and another two to bring the horn to my lips, but it felt like an eternity.



    And it was too long. The horn was in my hand, the mouthpiece on my lips, but I had no strength to blow it.



    “...shit…”



    The fire was my only remaining chance.



    I crawled back to it, this time slower. I had no strength remaining, nowhere near enough to use magic, even if I could do that in the first place. And using snow to put out the fire would take far too long.



    But, since I was dying anyway…



    I slowly drug myself into the fire, trying to smother it with my own body.



    I could feel my face burn, my skin peeling back, my eyes that had already lost their sight began to boil. But even as I burnt, I felt no heat, my body just got colder and colder. I was halfway into the fire when my strength gave out and I fell into the burning ashes. As I choked on the ash, I couldn’t even cough.



    I only hoped it was enough.





    Friday, February 20th, N.E. 807, 23:07

    Pine Family Bathroom, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.




    Unlike humans, and most other mortal races, Outsiders do not typically bathe, nor do they need to.



    Humans sweat, because of stress, because of exertion, because the environment is hot. Their skin is fragile, requiring moisturization, so it produces oils. They also have no innate ability to clean themselves.



    Outsiders do not sweat because their bodies are not mortal. They do not secret oils or other fluids, unless that happens to be a method of attack or defense. And mana can easily be used to remove any dirt or grime that gets on their bodies.



    Thus, there is no need to bathe.



    This is something I have recently discovered to be a shame. A great shame.



    Bathing is wonderful.



    “It is not too hot, is it Olivia?” My sister asked.



    “It is fine.”



    Apparently, many cultures have different bathing habits. Most of the wealthier members of the Fredirin Kingdom rely on wooden tubs filled with heated water, while the poorer citizens instead just towel off and occasionally dump a bucket of water over their heads.



    In this case, we are a bit behind the nations to our south. The Theocracy lacks water since it is situated in a desert, they, therefore, rely on saunas. My brother Timothy finds these to be relaxing, having had one built, a small room with coal-filled braziers where water is splashed around and turned into steam.



    Pamela occasionally uses it, but I do not see the appeal.



    However, in the Crystal Jade Empire, that is even farther south than the Theocracy, they have a culture of communal bathing. Considering the Human need to be clothed whenever others are nearby, I find this habit or bathing together to be somewhat odd, but the large baths, filled with hot water, are absolutely wonderful.



    “Are you sure? If it is too hot you can get out and sit here.” Pamela said motioning towards the stone benches surrounding the pool.



    “Mmmm, I am fine,” I replied as I floated through the water.



    Our mother seemingly enjoyed the large baths of the Empire, and she had had this room built when the Pine Estate was constructed. The room was a rectangle about thirty feet long and fifteen across, the front was sectioned off so that people could enter and get changed without the steam wafting out, and also so that when people did enter, the cool air from the hallway wouldn’t bother those inside. The pool was an oval-shaped crescent, benches were carved into the sides so that people in the pool could sit down, the pool itself was too deep to sit at the bottom for even the tallest humans. In the center was a raised platform where a large basin was built, warm water bubbled up through a pipe that ran underneath it, and then flowed back into the pool creating ripples and waves.



    I was currently floating near that, letting the water splash over me.



    “You look like you are enjoying yourself,” Pamela said with a laugh.



    Unlike myself, Pamela had already stopped submerging herself in the water, and instead had pulled herself onto the lip of the pool, letting her legs dangle in the water.



    “Um… Why am I here?” The third person in the bath asked.



    “Because you smelled.”



    Carla, who was sitting in the far end of the bath, and who still had a towel wrapped around her even as she was under the water, still managed to look indignant at Pamela’s words.



    “Yes, because you smelled.” I followed up.



    “It wasn’t my fault,” Carla complained, “And everyone there would smell.”



    “Olivia did not.”



    “Right, I was fine.”



    “That’s… I don’t know how you managed to not smell, it was a sewer.” Carla said suspiciously.



    “You didn’t need to follow me, you could have stayed and avoided smelling,” I mentioned.



    “As your Guardian Knight, it is my duty to follow you.”



    With Carla there when I met with Lin, I knew she wouldn’t let me go out by myself. To preempt that debate, I had decided to bring her with me. I probably could have convinced her to stay behind, but it didn’t seem worth it, and time was also a concern.



    I did not, however, mention that the escape route that the Spectres were making connected to the sewers. Nor did I mention that said escape route was not finished, and that we would need to stay hidden within the sewers until it was done. And as it turned out, it took nearly two hours for the work to be completed.



    “And follow me you did, into a sewer, and now you smell, so you needed to take a bath.”



    “She brings up a point Olivia, how did you manage to avoid smelling like that?” Pamela asked me as she slipped back into the water. “Ah… that is nice.”



    “Magic,” I replied, truthfully.



    Odors are just residue stuck to an object, so all I had to do was, when no one was looking, cover myself in a thin layer of blood. That would capture anything that could leave behind a scent, and then my blood would break it down.



    As I found out with Ula, a faint trace of blood would stay in the air, but that was only detectable then because I had bled heavily, and it took place in a small, enclosed space. In this case, I had done it outside, so any traces of blood would be blown away by the wind.



    “Can… Can you tell me how to do that?” Carla asked hesitantly.



    “I could tell you, but you would need to be able to use the same type of magic as me.”



    “Knight Carla, you are looking somewhat red,” Pamela interrupted, “you should sit on the edge and cool down a bit.”



    “Ah, yes,” Carla said as she pulled herself up out of the water and onto the edge of the pool. She crossed her legs and tried to scrunch up her body to better allow the small towel to cover her.



    “You know, Knight Carla, you should grow out your hair a bit, it would match your figure.”



    “Ah, well…” Carla seemed to be even redder than when she was in the water, “My hair is really unruly, I can’t even tie it down. And as a knight, I shouldn’t do much more than that. Plus… My figure is…”



    There were, curiosities, in the memories I inherited from the original Olivia. There were things I “Knew” to be true. Whether or not they really were, I wasn’t sure, but I was confident in them for some reason. The thing was, I didn’t know why I was confident in them. They were things the original seemed to have picked up piecemeal through thousands of minor and insignificant observations.



    One of those things was the standard of beauty for the kingdom.



    My knight Carla did not have the ideal womanly figure, I could tell that even with the towel covering her, actually, the towel did little to hide her figure as it stuck to her body. Even then, she was just a bit too wide, her hips were small, there was almost no curve from her legs to her waist, her shoulders were just slightly too broad. Her limbs were not smooth and soft, but sturdy with muscle. She was just slightly off, however, and while she couldn’t ever pass as an elegant seductress, she did have the form of a beautiful lady knight. If anything, her only real problem was that she was just a little too short, she was shorter than Pamela, who was half her age.



    “Your figure is fine, have you considered braids?”



    “Er… No, I have not.”



    “You should try it.”



    “Maybe…” Carla said with a wry smile.



    Carla’s thoughts were pretty clear as she scrunched herself up even further. While she did that, Pamela was reclining on one of the submerged benches. My sister was still growing, I knew because she had been wearing pants earlier today that didn’t quite cover her ankles, she also complained about her favorite shirt being too tight. But even as she was still growing, her figure was already superior to Carla’s.



    My sister didn’t quite match the elegant seductress mental image I had inherited from the original Olivia, but she was very close. Really, the only difference was the demeanor, Pamela was just too easy going and almost… motherly, to pull off that look.



    “Also…” Pamela began while stretching out her back, “You always wear trousers, I know as a knight you have to wear something easy to move in, but you should try to wear something that suits you better.”



    “Er… th-that is… M-my Lady…” Carla stuttered unsure as to what she should do.



    “Okay Sister, leave my Guardian Knight alone, she isn’t your dress up doll,” I said, saving my knight.



    “Oh, alright, if you insist.”



    “Thank you, My Lady,” Carla said feeling relieved.



    “She is my Guardian Knight, and thus, my dress up doll. I will be the one to choose her outfits from now on.” I said smugly.



    “...wha…?”



    “Hahaha.”



    Carla just gaped at me while Pamela laughed.




    Friday, February 20th, N.E. 807, 23:12​

    Command Center, Eastern Keep, Bleeding Forest, 34 Miles South of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Frederica Canyon Fredirin.



    “We have no contact with the first two defense lines!”



    “Third defense line is confirmed overrun!”



    “The fourth line won't hold, they need reinforcements!”



    “Captain Vot’s company is moving in to reinforce.”



    “It won't be enough, Lieutenant Colonel Tina’s battalion should be sent forward!”



    “There is no time!”



    “We are going to lose the fourth line if we don’t move them now.”



    “It’s already lost! It has been breached in multiple spots, we need to fall back to the fifth!”



    “Are you crazy!? There are 300 men holding that line!”



    “And already half of them are dead you fool! If we send more there, we will only be sending them to their deaths.”



    Even before I opened the door, I could clearly hear my staff officers yelling from the hallway.



    Those idiots.



    “SILENCE!” I roared, slamming the door open.



    The noise and my appearance caused a temporary lull to fall over the six men and women in the room.



    “Report!” I demanded.



    “Yes Ma’am.”



    “Sir.”



    “Ma’am”



    “Yes General.”



    “Yes, Sir.”



    “General.”



    Six voices called out to me and six bodies went to salute.



    “Forget that. Report.” I said again as I waved them away with my stump of an arm.



    “Yes General!” Adjutant Kark began, “The attack started ten to fifteen minutes ago. There was no alert from the first defense line, and no alert from the second, but someone in the third must have noticed something and they raised the alarm.”



    “Camp seven of the third line blew the first horn,” Adjutant Vai continued, “that alerted the rest of the line to a problem, and then camps one, two, and five also immediately blew their horns. By that point, the entire line was engaged.”



    “We started mustering reinforcements, we assumed a fast breakthrough of the first two lines and that the third was where it was slowing down, we didn’t realize the first two were gone…” Urlis, another one of my adjutants stated with his tone devoid of any emotion.



    “Two minutes later, the first horn sounded from the fourth line, camp two. Camps three and eight followed.” Adjutant Wiln added.



    “At this point, the entire fourth line is under attack, we have confirmed that the third has been overrun, no one retreated from it.” Apz, my fifth adjutant said.



    “There may be pockets of men left, but the blizzard is hindering vision, we can’t tell.” My final adjutant, Porso added.



    “Five camps of ten men each on the first line, the second is just watch-posts, fifteen camps, three men each, the third has a company of one twenty, and the fourth has a battalion of three hundred. We’ve lost almost two hundred men in the first three, and more than double that are about to go with the fourth,” I spat out in disgust, my voice sounding worse due to my deformed lips, “Gods be damned. Alright. What are we dealing with, wyrms, drakes? Something else?”



    “We… we aren’t sure,” Wiln started, but then looked over at Vai who was normally in charge of communications.



    “General, the blizzard is preventing us from seeing them at this point, and we are getting… conflicting reports from the few survivors,” Vai said.



    “Are men falling back from the fourth line?” I asked.



    “No, as best we can tell, the line is holding its ground-”



    “For now.” Porso interrupted, earning an annoyed look from Vai.



    “But the fourth line sent men out to get reports, the enemy is capable of powerful ranged attacks, and most of the messengers and scouts never made it.” Vai finished.



    “Anyone not under cover is getting killed, even some in the fifth line who were moving forward have been hit. Shards of ice it seems...” Urlis added.



    “Shards of ice…” I said while thinking to myself.



    The Bleeding Forest is named for the fact that everything in it is large and sturdy, and also violent. Nearly every creature within gets mauled in some way, every day, so anyone who stumbles upon one of them, will find it to be bleeding.



    With the blizzard raging about, more monsters with an inclination towards ice and water magic would show up… but nothing that is capable of shooting shards of ice. Winter wolves have a cold breath that can leave a layer of ice on a man, and winter wyrms can freeze a man solid with their own breath. Up north there were supposedly spiked ice beetles, bugs about the size of a small horse and with a back covered in spikes of ice. They could launch those out, but they did not have that much range, took days to regrow, and could only be shot out at random, no real aiming was possible. And more importantly, they had never been spotted before here in the Bleeding Forrest.



    Unless…



    “Elementals…!?”



    My adjutants all looked like they wanted to say something, but their silence was enough.



    I spun around and rushed out of the room, my ruined leg making me limp, but hardly slowing me at all. I heard the six others follow me through the door, but I said nothing to them as I sped through the halls and up a staircase. Another hall, and finally I was at my goal, I pushed open a door only to have a blast of cold air and snow hit me in the face.



    I stomped across the roof of the keep, ice and snow crunching underfoot as I moved towards the edge where two sentries were standing near an open fire. They both saluted, but I ignored them as I went to the edge and peered out into the snow. I could see the fires of the sixth defense line and the fifth, and many smaller torches as men moved into position behind the sixth, but the fourth was blurred by the snow. However, I was pretty sure that there were far fewer fires than the nine there should have been.



    “Sunburst flare,” I ordered. "Now!"



    “Er… General, if we do that, it will wake up-”



    “Do it,” I ordered again, giving a death glare towards the man who didn’t immediately follow my orders, a sergeant I noticed by looking at his insignia.



    “Yes Ma’am!” He hurriedly saluted and ran to make it happen.



    I only had to wait for half a minute before one of the ballista mounted on the roof was angled towards the sky. A huge wooden shaft was fitted into it, but instead of a sharpened point that would let it fly smoother, and shred targets better, this one had a yellow ball fitted on the front. With a loud twang, the ballista fired, the projectile flew through the air, and into the blizzard where I quickly lost sight of it.



    One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven…



    When I counted to eight, the sky suddenly lit up. A golden glow illuminating the sky, even seeming to burn away the falling snow for a moment. The light faded in intensity, from the brightest sun at noon, to a golden glow.



    But it was enough.



    The first defense line was within the tree line, so I couldn’t see that, but the second, third, and now, almost all of the fourth, was gone. Red splatters and stains, mangled and ruined bodies were all that remained of the men who had guarded them.



    And then their killers, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of moving, walking, statues of ice. They had no consistent form, some walked on two legs, some on four, some crawled, others slithered.



    Elementals.



    Their first wave marched through the remains of the fourth line, their second was just passing the third line, the third wave was about to reach the second line, and the fourth wave was just exiting the tree line. Their vanguard, if the formation of these mindless things could even be called that, was going to hit the fifth defense line in about a minute.



    “All troops, this is General Canyon.” My voice echoed over the entire field thanks to the magic effect built into my necklace, “The fifth line is to fall back and regroup with the sixth. Both will fall back to the keep. All artillery squadrons are to fire at will. Grenadiers, fire at will, mage teams, fire at will. Concentrate all fire on the first group. Activate the keep’s wards, and raise the barrier.”



    It took the first troops a second to begin moving after I finished giving my orders. The men and women of the fifth defense line began falling back, it was less orderly than I would have liked, but it became a chaotic mess once the advancing elementals started unleashing barrages of ice shards. Some were little more than daggers, but others were the size of spears and javelins. Over the blizzard, I couldn’t hear them, but I knew that the cries of dying soldiers were resounding across the field.



    Before it could become a rout, the first ballista opened fire. Sharpened poles flew through the air, some even firing bundle shots, several smaller spears tied together that would spread in flight. Even one of the smaller catapults had let loose with a rock the size of a human torso.



    Most of the projectiles missed, the stone kicked up snow but rolled harmlessly past two elementals. The bundle shots rained down over a group, breaking off a few limbs, but not really affecting them in any way. One of the larger shots landed right next to an elemental, the shock blowing it off its feet, all three of them, and another scored a direct hit on one of the bigger ones that looked like a giant ball on two legs, which became only one leg, one foot, and a bunch of shards of cracked ice afterwards.




    The attack did not inflict the casualties I wanted it to, needed it to, but it did disrupt the elementals. And, it kicked up a lot of snow that obscured vision, providing cover to the retreating soldiers. The elemental’s ranged attacks sputtered down, only a few more men were hit before they finished crossing the two hundred feet to the sixth line.



    Still, nearly fifty bodies lay bleeding in the snow.



    More twangs reverberated around me as more artillery began firing, and as I watched, I saw a few bursts of light, bolts of lightning, fireballs, and hunks of rock begin being fired out from the final defenses. Only a few mages were capable of firing at targets at that range, but their aim was much better compared to the siege weapons.



    I turned to head back to the command center when the entire keep under my feet began to glow, faint symbols and characters appearing over the stones. The Keep, at a truly ridiculous cost, had been turned into a magical array, by burning through an absurd amount of crystallized mana, the stone could be reinforced, until simple stone and mortar would be just as durable as solid steel.



    And then, even as I stepped back through the door, I caught the sight of the barrier activating, a massive magical wall that surrounded the entire coastline. As long as that was powered, the only way in or out would be through this keep. It would keep the elementals from crossing the river, but it would also focus all of them right towards this location.



    “General, what do we do?” Vai asked.



    “...” This… was not an easy decision.



    The fort might be able to hold against what I just saw out there, if we did everything perfectly, but the odds were against us. And if there were even more elementals approaching, we would have no chance.



    We were caught off guard, we lost too many men too fast, and we had no time to set up formations and traps. We could rely on our defenses, but there was a very fundamental problem.



    The monsters that usually came out of the forest were large beasts. They were strong, durable, but they were living beasts. To fight them, we relied on several tactics, but for the most part, those tactics involved pelting them with arrows and javelins while keeping them at bay with spear walls. On anything really dangerous, we would use the siege weapons, or send out higher ranking warriors.



    But against elementals, ice elementals at that, arrows would have little effect, the same with spears. Really, what we needed were heavy blunt weapons, axes, or maybe double handed swords. Weapons used to crush and smash, not poke and let bleed.



    Moral was also likely ruined.



    No, this could not be won.



    And elementals would advance tirelessly and unceasingly, we would not be able to defend and stall, they would plow right into us.



    “We retreat,” I said resolutely.



    “B-but..” A shocked Wiln stuttered out.



    “We can’t hold here,” I said shaking my head. “We’ll be wiped out.”



    “But a retreat is…” Apz looked unsure.



    “Going to be a clusterfuck? I know.” I said with a sigh. “Elementals are going to be faster than our retreat, especially in this snow. We’ll need a rearguard to stall them.”



    “That… Will require a large rearguard…” Urlis said in his standard emotionless tone, but I could sense worry in it.



    “We are going to lose everyone outside soon, that will put our loses at eight to nine hundred. We’ll have about five thousand men left.” Kark said as he tried to calculate how many men we had to fight.



    “Let’s wait until we are in the command room, the others should have arrived by now.”



    It took us less than thirty seconds to return, and I was proven right, the formerly empty room now had several more figures.



    “General.”



    “Ma’am”



    “Gen-”



    “No time for that,” I said, “We need to retreat as soon as possible.”



    Most of the room looked shocked, a few appalled, and a few thoughtful.



    “You won't be able to escape, they’ll run you down.” Major Hervis Alarville, the commander of the garrison’s small cavalry company said.



    I noted that he had said, “You,” and not, “Us.”



    “I know. But we can not all fall here, we need to link up with the rest of the Capital’s forces. So, we’ll need to have people stay behind to stall them.”



    “Mmm…” Lieutenant Colonel Lores scratched his graying beard, “It will need to be at least two full battalions. That doesn’t leave us a lot to work with after.”



    “No,” I denied him, “I have… something like a plan.”



    “Haha, a plan?” He said quizzically.



    “First off, Major Korlean,” I said looking at the half-elf commander of the mage forces, “You need to have your people use everything they have right now, casting until they pass out. Major Alarville will have his men share their horses with them. But we need to do as much as we can now.”



    “Yes Ma’am.”



    Major Alarville showed nothing on his face, but I couldn’t help but notice that the horseman looked relieved. Well, not that I blamed him.



    “Lieutenant Colonels Jay and Zuu,” I said looking at the man and woman who commanded the sappers and grenadiers respectively, “I am sorry, but I need both of you and your men to stay. You are the only ones who are going to be able to really do anything.”



    “...I understand…” Lieutenant Colonel Jay replied hesitantly, fear clearly in his eyes.



    “Yes, Ma’am” Was the simple reply from the head of the grenadiers, anyone who used those handheld explosives was probably immune to fear.



    “Knight Commander Deo, I am sorry, but you’ll need to stay too.”



    “Yes…” He looked as if he were about to cry, but he still saluted resolutely.



    “Major Pirtsen, you’ll take two companies of our best foot soldiers, we’ll arm them with any axes and hammers we can find, even work tools, and we’ll use them to defend the keep.”



    “Got it. I was just thinking, it was about time for me to retire,” The grizzled old veteran said with a toothy smile.



    “Then, Colonel Issold,” I said turning to my second in command, “you’ll be in charge of the retreat. We have already sent word to the capital, so ideally they should set forth to meet with you.



    “Understood General…” she said, but then realized something, “Wait, where will you be general?”



    “Ha, I'll keep an eye on things here.”



    “No!.”



    “You can’t!”



    “That…”



    “General, let me stay instead.”



    “Silence,” I said as I banged my one good hand onto the table. “These are my orders, see to it. Issold, the first troops need to start crossing that bridge within minutes. We have no time.



    “Yes… General…”




    Friday, February 20th, N.E. 807, 23:37

    Pamela’s Auxiliary Bedroom, 3th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.



    “Can you not sleep, Olivia?” Pamela asked me from her bed.



    “Hmm… No… something is… bothering me.” I responded somewhat unsure.



    “Hmm… Really?” Pamela said, having woken herself up a little bit more.



    “Yes…”



    Something was bothering me, but I could not determine exactly what it was. It was just a slight sense of something being wrong, it pricked at my skin, floated just outside of my sight, it hummed beyond my hearing.



    “I won't say to come back to bed, but at the very least, you should stay away from the window, you will catch a chill.”



    “Mmmm… I am fine.” I said, still looking out the window into the snowy night.



    Pamela didn’t say anything, but I heard her shift and move about on the bed. A few seconds later, I felt her presence as she moved up beside me, and draped a blanket over my shoulders.



    “You are cold,” She said as she slipped under the wool blanket next to me.



    “I am?” I asked confused.



    “Of course you are, the room might be heated by the fireplace, but if you stand this close to the window, of course you will get cold.”



    Was I cold? I couldn’t really tell, temperature changes of this magnitude were barely noticeable to me, and would have no real effect on my body. I did not require food for energy, and since that was the case, I did not generate heat like a normal human would. The contraction of my muscles, the functioning of my organs, the flow of my blood, did produce some heat, but it was a far cry from what a human would normally create. However, being that cold would warrant concern if anyone touched me, so I normally forcibly circulated my blood to generate extra heat.



    I had only been looking out this window for a few minutes, but the fact that Pamela could feel that I was cooling down indicated just how much I had let my attention lapse.



    “I guess I am.”



    “Here,” Pamela shifted under the blanket, going from my side to my back where she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her soft embrace. “You can borrow some of my warmth.”



    I couldn’t actually borrow her warmth, at least as she meant it. If she held onto me like this, she would only waste her own heat as she tried to warm me. However, now that she was holding onto me, I began forcing extra blood through my veins, slowly warming myself up.



    “Thank you.”



    “Mmmm…” She said drowsily as she rocked back and forth, seemingly trying to lull me into sleep along with her.



    “Pamela,” I said suddenly.



    “What is it?”



    “...” I hesitated.



    “Olivia?” She said, sounding more awake now, and a little concerned.



    “You know… my bloodline that I awoke… there is more to it than just magic.” I said slowly, unsure if I should really be saying this.



    “I know,” Pamela responded, but she was probably referring to the inherited memories that come with almost all bloodlines.



    “Not just the memories…”



    “...What do you mean?”



    I am… not really sure…” I said, hesitating. “I know the cold is not something that bothers me any longer. I do not get hungry or thirsty as often, and I do not get tired either.”



    I wanted to say more, I wasn’t sure why, but I wanted to confide in my sister. The emotional part of me, the vestiges of the old Olivia wanted that, but the rational part of me knew I shouldn’t say too much too soon.



    “I see…” Pamela said slowly, “Is that why you were still awake now?”



    “No… well… maybe, something is bothering me, but it isn’t my own body. But I think my… changes… are what is causing this, at least, indirectly.”



    “Then, what is bothering you?”



    “I… I am not sure,” I said as I still looked out the window. “I think it… is the snow. Something… seems off with it.”



    “You were not bothered earlier today, did something change when you went out with the soldiers?” She asked.



    “...” I thought back to when exactly this sensation had begun. “I was fine earlier… I do not know, it is probably nothing.”



    I did say that to reassure my sister, but, it wasn’t as if it was completely impossible that this was nothing important, actually, it was quite likely it was nothing important. My heightened senses, and the way I used to perceive the world as an outsider, were now being filtered through a human body made of flesh and blood. That filter was altering and affecting how those senses were working. There probably was something I was sensing right now, but because it was being done with a mortal body, it was being skewed in one way or the other.



    There were also plenty of explanations for this to be happening in the first place. Snow tends to have strong elemental traces, and since I woke up, this would be the first time I had encountered anything with such traces. I could be sensing the snow itself, or the residue from the storm that produced the snow, or I could even be sensing the subtle changes in the Capital’s elemental balance as the snow fell. For all I knew, someone could be casting magic onto the snow, trying to melt it or collect it or do who knows what, and I was sensing their spells.



    “Are you sure Olivia?” Pamela asked, her voice both tired, and filled with concern.



    “Yes,” I said as I took my eyes away from the window. “Let us go to sleep.”
     
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  3. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 17: One Strike.
    Friday, February 20th, N.E. 807, 23:57

    Command Center, Eastern Keep, Bleeding Forest, 34 Miles South of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Frederica Canyon Fredirin.




    “Haah...Haah...Haah…” I panted, exhaustion already sinking into my body.



    I was only 31 years old this year, but already I felt like an old woman. By the Gods, if this was what growing old would be like, I would be happy to just die.



    “Haah… Well… that might be the case regardless.” I quietly said to myself as I straightened myself back up.



    Just in time as another elemental charged at me. This one’s body was simply a ball, and where its legs should have been, were a pair of arms that ended in stumpy hands, arms that were identical to the two on the upper half of its body. The thing looked as if it’s top and bottom were mirror images.



    A hand reached out towards my face as it shambled past me, what passed for fingers seemingly trying to grab at me, but I slightly shifted and the finger just brushed passed me. I pivoted and spun, my own strike, a horizontal slash at its back, landed clean, bisecting the elemental almost perfectly in half.



    Even before the top half could hit the snow-covered ground, my second attack hit the lower body, shattering it into hundreds of shards.



    “Haah… just need… haah… to take this nice and… haah… slow” I once again spoke to myself as I watched another soldier bring a large pickaxe down onto what remained of that elemental. It took three strikes, but it shattered and died.



    If elementals could even truly die.



    A long time ago I was called One Strike, because every opponent of mine fell in one strike. Or so the rumors went. In actuality, many of my opponents survived more than one strike, and many even went on to beat me. They never killed me, so there is that.



    There was some truth to the rumors, the style I learned, and then eventually altered into my own, was one based around putting everything into one powerful attack. It wasn’t the pure offense of a berserker, I defended, parried, dodged, looked for openings, feinted, probed, but when the time came to strike, I put everything into that one blow. I wasn’t merely trying to cut my opponent, but striving to cut through my opponent.



    And then one day, and one fateful encounter with an ancient salamander and everything changed.



    Everyone knows that salamanders spit fiery globs of oily goo that burn like oil, and at least everyone who lives in the Canyon Domain, knows how to tell when they are about to do so. They lift up their chests, they take a big breath, their throats swell up, they pull their heads back, and then they let loose. The key is the swelling of the throat, every year hundreds, if not more, would be adventurers from the rest of the kingdom end up dead or severely burnt because they don’t know what to look for. However for those of the Canyon Domain, it’s common knowledge, even trainee soldiers know how to defend those attacks.



    I could avoid those attacks without even thinking about it.



    But, ancient salamanders were something else entirely. Only the largest and oldest salamanders are considered ancient, and they are incredibly rare, in my entire life, I had ever only heard of that one. It really was massive, almost ten feet tall when it was still keeping all four feet on the ground, it was nearly thirty feet from head to tail, and it was pure muscle. Salamanders are usually lithe creatures, thin and nimble, but still strong. Unless you look closely, you can’t even tell they have scales. Not so for an ancient, it looked less like a salamander, and more like a dragon or wyrm.



    I knew how dangerous the creature was, I knew how much of a threat it’s burning spit would be, so I charged straight at it. My rush was fast and strong, I lept towards its face, and brought my sword down upon its head. I intended to cleave right through its face, its neck, and however much of its chest I could reach.



    And the ancient salamander was slow to react, it made no effort to dodge or defend, my blade effortlessly sliced through scale, flesh, and bone. As the salamander’s head split in two, I knew it was dead.



    But I immediately realized my mistake. The ancient salamander’s body was big and bulky, not at all like its younger version, and its throat did not swell up when it prepared to spew its fiery spit. As my slash continued down, slicing through its neck, the mass of burning goo exploded out.



    I barely survived, burns covered nearly half of my body. My face, never exactly what one would call pretty, was now a burnt mess, only one eye survived. My right arm was burnt badly, everything below the elbow was completely gone, my right foot was nearly destroyed, and the majority of the muscles on the right side of my torso were ruined too.



    With only one eye, one arm, and one working leg, everyone assumed my fate was to never wield a weapon again. But, my family has a strong belief that only an individual can make their own fate, so I proved everyone wrong, modifying my style so that I could still fight. However, my title of One Strike, slowly changed, it no longer told of how I could kill any enemy with one attack, but now it referenced the fact that I only had one arm, one leg, and one eye.



    “Haah… Not good… getting lost in the past like that…” I said shaking my head.



    The last few elementals around us were being destroyed, but I could see another group a bit away steadily making their way towards us. I had maybe thirty seconds to recover my strength and check on the situation.



    “Wiln… How are things looking?” I asked my adjutant who had stayed behind with me.



    “Not good General…” Wiln answered as he crawled out of the pile of snow he had been hiding in.



    Wiln wasn’t a warrior, not in any sense of the word. In fact, he had almost zero combat potential, he was instead trained as a spy and as a thief. Even from an ambush, he was only as skilled as a normal soldier. But, if he wanted to stay hidden, he would be extremely hard to find. I wasn’t sure how well that skill would fare against the elementals, but he was still alive.



    “Haah…. Not good… how?”



    “We’ve lost almost all of the knights for starters.”



    “How did… that happen?” I frowned as I asked. “What is Deo doing?”



    “Knight Commander Deo is dead Ma’am, and his second-in-command was... one of those, ‘Valorous’ types. That said, she died before she could cost us all of the remaining knights” Wiln said with disdain.



    “I’d order you to have the rest of the knights folded into Major Pirtsen’s command, but I am sure they are already there.”



    “Yes, Ma’am. As for the sappers and Grenadiers, Lieutenant Colonel Jay last reported that most of the heavy siege has been destroyed, they are using the smaller stuff, but it isn’t as effective and his people are suffering heavy casualties. And the last I heard from Lieutenant Colonel Zuu was that while her grenadiers were highly effective, they were running low on munitions. I don’t know how that has turned out.” Wiln reported.



    “You don’t know?” I asked sounding shocked, “find out.”



    “General…” Wiln hesitated for a second. “Vai is dead.”



    “Vai…? She is?” I said, truly shocked.



    I scanned over the battlefield looking for my adjutant. Vai, like Wiln, was not a warrior, and unlike my other adjutant, she was not a spy either, she instead specialized in various types of utility magic that she learned as an arcanist. Vai was my communication's officer, able to use telepathy to talk to distant people, and to use basic scrying spells to gain an understanding of the situation. Because we would need to rapidly adapt to changes in the situation, I had needed her to stay, and she, much like Wiln, had volunteered without me even needing to ask.



    “She was hit by a shard of ice,” Wiln’s voice brought an end to my search. “Someone brought her back into the keep, but it was… I am sorry.”



    “Haah…”



    Vai wasn’t just my adjutant, she was my friend. Since I was a child, Vai had always been by my side.



    But, I had to focus. I could grieve later, if I survived. Now, without Vai relaying my orders, defending would become even harder.



    “Wiln, tell...no, nevermind.” I said as I readied my weapon again, “there is no time. Hide yourself well.”



    I watched out of the corner of my eye as he shuffled back under the snow. He had probably said something, but I couldn’t hear it over the clangs as I used my sword to deflect the several shards of ice that had been launched my way.



    These attacks couldn’t kill me, not like this at least, but they sapped my strength, slowly wearing me down. And they prevented me from moving, a fact that would normally bother me, but since my encounter with that salamander, my style no longer relied on moving.



    The first elemental, a six-legged wolf with a pair of small angel like wings on it’s back, pounced right at me, even as the shards were still flying through the air. A few bounced off of its body as it flew towards me, but they did no harm to its equally hard body.



    The sword in my left hand was still dancing through the air, redirecting the shards away from me, and away from the soldiers behind me. My right arm had no hand, so I could not wield a weapon or a shield, but that didn’t mean I was helpless. As the wolf approached, I shifted and slid past it, my sword deflected two more shards, and my right elbow came down right on the wolf’s head, shattering it along with a large portion of it’s body.



    Touching an elemental was dangerous, especially these ice elementals. Even though I had a finely crafted steel elbow plate strapped to my arm, and a layer of chain mail under that, a chill permeated into my arm. If my right arm had been good for anything besides last-ditch attacks like that, this would have been a real problem.



    The rain of ice shards came to an end as the next elemental went my way. This one was much stranger than the last, it's body was nothing more than a log of ice, six to seven feet across. The only limbs were four horse like legs that ran the length of it as it charged at me.



    Against normal soldiers, the charge would have served as a plow, smashing through an entire line. Against me, a simple overhead slash easily cut it in two as it approached. The two halves stumbled and crashed past me where my soldiers would finish it off.



    “Haah… We can’t do… much more of this…”



    A humanoid elemental changed direction and headed my way, this one was similar to a human, except its legs were twice as long as those found on a normal human.



    This one would also be easy, it would obviously attack with its legs, and all I needed to do was sever the leg when it came near, and it would fall.



    However, when it was still ten feet away from me, the ground shook. That elemental, and some others, along with several of my soldiers, all tumbled to the ground.



    Whatever made the ground shake was going to be an issue, but right now, I needed to take advantage of this opening.



    Mustering what power I could in my ruined leg, I dashed forward. The shaking had no effect on me, and I reached the still airborne long legged elemental and cut it before it landed. I changed direction, shooting toward a worm-like elemental that lost it’s head as I passed, another pivot, and I killed the five-legged elemental that was about to kill two fallen soldiers. My left leg kicked out, sending one of those soldier’s discarded hammer flying. Even as that hammer shattered the chest of a hunched over elemental, I had sliced through two more, and then I ended my attack by stomping on and crushing an elemental that was a mix between a rat and a bird that had fallen due to the shaking.



    “Haah… Haah… Haah…”



    I was now completely exhausted, but almost all of the elementals in this group were now dead. My men would be able to finish whatever was left off.



    “Haah…” I breathed out heavily, but again, the ground shook.



    b...o...o...m



    b...o...o...m



    B...o...o...m



    B...o...O...m



    B...O...o...M



    B...O...O...M



    With each thundering crash, the ground shook, the intensity building with each crash.



    “Haah… Haah… I never… catch any… breaks…”



    Its ponderous footsteps brought it closer, one massive leg stepped through the veil of snow created from the blizzard. The leg was like a castle tower, over ten feet until the knee. There was no foot, only a flat bottom. From the knee, another ten feet of massively thick ice lead to the elemental’s body, all three of its legs connected to what I could only assume was its core, a vaguely humanoid-shaped torso that was twice the size of a normal human chest. A tiny, featureless head sat there, between two shoulders that were the size of boulders, at least twenty feet across, and covered with spear sized shards of pointed ice. The shoulders ended in tentacle-like arms that reached the ground, each one being drug behind the massive elemental. It was currently at least fifty feet tall, but it might be closer to sixty if it extended its legs fully.



    Elemental Overflows were caused when a fragment of dense elemental energy happened to find itself in an area where the boundaries between the magical, and real world, were thin. The fragment would tear an opening and burst forth, and other elementals would pour out through that opening. The fragment would always be in the form of a huge elemental.



    Exactly like the one in front of me.



    It’s presence here was both good and bad. Good, because once it emerged fully, the rift would seal, and no further elementals could make it through. With the fragment here, the overflow was at an end. Of course, only some of the elementals would have headed directly towards our keep, many would have tried going in different directions until we raised the barrier locking them in this island. The Bleeding Forest would still be crawling with elementals, and they would be heading here now, since it was the only way out of the island. But, at least an end was in sight.



    It was, however, bad, because we would not be able to fend off an elemental of that size at all.



    A large, unending, barrage of heavy siege weapon attacks might bring it down, but I had already lost almost all of my larger, heavier, siege weapons. Individual warriors would be hard pressed to handle something of that size, even I, in my prime, could only keep it at bay, I wouldn’t be able to destroy it. An army would just get turned into minced meat if they went against it. Really, the only decent option was to blast it with magic, but I had sent all of the mages away. Even though I knew this would show up sooner or later, the mages were too valuable to waste here.



    “Fall back!” I roared at my frozen men, “Into the keep!”



    We were already fighting right in front of the keep, they only had to fall back ten, maybe twenty feet.



    But, we were too slow.



    Elementals do not have voices, they do not naturally make noise. But the fragment elemental flailed it’s tentacle arms with such speed and force that the air cracked. They smashed through the few palisades still standing from the first and final defense line, scattering the logs through the sky. Even as they still fell back to the ground, the fragment elemental reared back, and with the sound of thousands of whistles, the spears growing from its shoulders were fired.



    I could just barely track the spears, and I was confident no one else among my forces could even do that. Ultimately, it wouldn’t matter, even if anyone could see the ice approaching, they would not be able to dodge, and nothing would be able to block an attack like this.



    Unluckily, my men who were just starting to retreat back to the keep were not the target, but the very keep they were falling back to was. Made from the most solid granite, reinforced with steel beams, and inscribed with powerful wards, the damage was kept to a minimum. The outer fortifications were scraped away, a few of the anterior rooms were crushed and collapsed, but the damage was largely superficial.



    However, almost all of my remaining siege weapons were destroyed, and my sappers and grenadiers would have suffered devastating casualties.



    “Leave this bastard to me, the rest of you focus on-”



    My sword intercepted a sharpened blade of ice an inch away from my neck. I stopped my head from flying, but the force was still transmitted to me. It was a testament of my years of practice that I held onto my blade even as I was launched backward. I smashed into the ground, bounced into the air as I spun, and then landed skidding further back on my two feet.



    “Fuck.” I cursed as I spit out the blood that welled up into my mouth.



    Idly I realized that the me from before would not have been able to stay on my feet after that, something positive did come from my experience with the salamander.



    The elemental that sent me flying was shorter than me, just under five feet tall. It was very similar to a human, but its lower legs and lower arms were blades made of ice. It slowly stood upright and then, while keeping its featureless face locked on me, began circling around me.



    “Ah… Fuck…”



    Elementals were mindless. They had some rudimentary instincts, they knew how to use their bodies, as strange as those bodies often were, and they were consumed by an overwhelming hatred of anything alive, the more intelligent that life was, the more they hated it.



    But, they were less than beasts in many ways. They could not learn, they could not adapt, they had no sense of self-preservation. All they could do was charge and attack. The big one, the fragment, would have a slight sense of self-preservation, but it would still be as mindless as the others.

    Elementals were strong, but if you had the right tools to face them, they were an easy opponent. They would charge right into what was clearly a trap and no matter how many before them were destroyed the rest would follow them in.



    Every being made of ice here, including the fragment elemental, would be classified as a lesser elemental.



    Except for the one that just tried to decapitate me.



    That was undoubtedly a greater elemental.



    And that was a huge fucking disaster.



    “All remaining siege weapons and grenadiers, target the big one. The rest of you, do what you can to stop the little ones. This fucker,” I said while pointing my sword at the greater elemental, “Is mine.”



    The greater elemental stopped as I spoke, and when I finished, it seemed to laugh, even though such an action was impossible for it. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was in front of me, jumping through the air while sending a roundhouse kick towards my ruined eye.



    This time I knew it was coming, my sword clashed with the leg, and both of us were blown back. Even as we stumbled, I spun and lunged out with one of its arms, but the pommel of my sword met that, and we were blown even further back.



    The greater elemental landed with both of its hands, rotating its legs, trying to use them as scythes to slice me in half, but I easily ducked under that and sent a slash towards its face. It pushed off and flung itself into the air, the shockwave from my slash blasting away the snow and gouging a ten-foot trench into the ground.



    The being of blades and ice landed twenty feet away and cautiously began circling me. It knew I wasn’t something it could kill easily, and it knew it had to change its tactics.



    The fragment elemental was a massive mindless creature, but due to its size, there was only so much I could do to it with a sword. But this greater elemental, it might be intelligent, and stronger, vastly stronger than a normal lesser elemental, but I could still cut it, could kill it.



    It charged, its body low to the ground as it skimmed past the fallen snow. Its two arms were thrust out, one aimed at each of my legs. If my right leg still worked, I could have jumped away, but that wasn’t an option for me.



    My sword gave me greater reach, so I met its dual thrusts with a thrust of my own, my sword aiming for its head as it approached.



    Realizing we weren't playing the same game, the elemental skidded to a halt, barely avoiding being run through, but still getting blown away as the force of my thrust blasted a crater into the ground.



    “Wow… how disappointing, “I said with a smirk while tapping the flat of my blade on the steel faulds that protected my hips.



    Provocation wouldn’t work on a lesser elemental, and I wasn’t sure if it would work on the greater elemental before me. I wasn’t even sure it could understand me, but at the very least, it would see that I was leaving an opening. Whether it could comprehend I was doing so intentionally, well, who knows?



    Unfortunately for me, my opponent decided to be cautious as it began circling me again. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t approach it, but that quickly depleted my stamina. It would be much better to let it come to me. On the other hand, I couldn’t dawdle forever with this greater elemental.



    “Well let’s try something else first,” I said as I raised my sword and got ready to attack.



    I swung, a powerful horizontal slash sent towards the greater elemental that was still over twenty feet away from me. The shockwave let loose by my slash only created a faint ripple in the air, but my enemy easily sensed it and ducked. And then dove to the side to dodge the second shockwave I fired off, and then jumped over the third.



    These shockwaves would never hit it at this rate, but they were also pretty easy for me to make, so there was no real loss.



    It sidestepped another shockwave that cut into the ground, throwing up chunks of frozen dirt, and then it dashed towards me in a zigzag pattern, first coming from my right, then left, then back to the right.



    “There we go,” I said with a smirk.



    It jumped at me from my right, one arm going towards my neck, another towards my heart, and even one of its legs was brought up and sent towards my stomach.



    But it had good instincts, it pulled out of its attack at the last second and curled up into a ball, just in time to receive my slash, the fastest slash I had unleashed so far.



    The edge of my blade met it’s two crossed over arms, and as little chunks of ice were scattered from the impact, the elemental was smashed into the ground and sent bouncing back towards me. My shoulder tackle caught it in the side, sending it tumbling through the air. Even as it bounced and skidded across the ground, I stepped after it. A rising slash caught it unaware, my blade easily severing one of its arms and the force leaving it spinning out of control in the air. The pommel of my sword descended, crashing into its back and leaving a web of cracks as it smashed down into the ground, blasting out dirt and making another crater.



    Before the weakened elemental could get back up, my steel boot crashed down onto its head, grinding it into the dirt.



    “Haah… this took a lot out of me, but it ended well at lea-”



    Once again, in too short of a window, my sword was raised just barely in time to intercept an incoming attack. First, it was a blade of ice, and now it was a spear of ice. Unlike last time, when both of us were blown away, this time it was only me.



    I was sent flying, smashing through a snowdrift and leaving a path of disturbed snow as I skidded along the ground. My sword acted as a shield, and I was able to protect myself, but I was still battered from the sheer impact that had knocked me away. Still, I instantly jumped out of the snow and took a ready stance with my sword prepared to block another attack.



    No attack was coming. In fact, the spear that had sent me flying was still in the air nearby, and as I watched, it slowly retracted the forty feet back to its owner.



    Standing next to the greater elemental that I had almost finished off, and that was now standing up and leaving the crater I had left it in, was another elemental. Almost twice as tall as the other, at around nine feet, this one looked as if it was a heavily armored knight sculpted of ice. The armor was rounded in most spots, what would have been the pauldrons were covered with small spikes, and the helmet had two horns coming out of the sides. In the left hand was a massive kite shield, and in the right was the lance that had just almost run me through, now back to a more normal size.



    “Haah… Two greater… Elementals… Just my… Luck…”



    Half of all elemental overflows end up producing a greater elemental. Two of them showing up was very bad luck.



    The knight slowly trod forward while the damaged one began circling me again.



    “Haah… This is rough…”



    I needed to be cautious of the knight’s extending spear trick, but I also couldn’t let them surround me. I'd need to take out the damaged one first, but I couldn’t make a move on it until I had a better idea of what the knight could do.



    “Haah… Damnit… two is going to be hard…” I said to myself as I regained some of my strength, “Well let’s get… aw… Fuck!”



    Before any of the three of us made a move, a ten-foot tall spider stepped out of the blizzard, its spindly legs effortlessly allowing it to glide across the snow. And before I could even acknowledge that, a long serpentine body burst out of the snow on the ground. Its tail was almost twenty feet long, and it had a humanoid torso, making it look like a lamia. However, it was headless, and instead of arms, it had two snake-like appendages that ended in fanged mouths.



    “Well… Fuck me, this is bad,” I said, unmoving, as the four greater elementals surrounded me.



    I didn’t need to see them in action, nor did I need to be a mage to sense their mana, they were clearly all extremely powerful, my instincts were screaming at me to run. I could fight one of them and win easily, two of them I could manage, maybe even three. But four, that was too many. Way too many.



    “It’s been a while, and I hope I can handle this…”



    Back when I was still One Strike, I had created a magical aspect to my style, having fused mana into my swordsmanship. After I was injured, I had continued refining that, hoping that it could compensate for what I had lost. In a way, I had succeeded, the complete form of my style, with magic fully integrated, was very powerful. Using it allowed me to reach heights that were well beyond what I was capable of before.



    But, there was a flaw, a major one.



    The foundation of my style was built before I was injured, was based upon the premise that I had my old body. With things as they were now, I could bring out a great degree of strength, but doing so would tear my body apart, I could easily kill myself if I went all out.



    Not that that mattered right now.



    All four of the greater elementals paused their approach as they felt my mana gush out, the muscles in my arms and legs bulged, the veins glowing read through my skin. The sweat dripping down my body evaporated, and then soon after the snow surrounding me did too, creating a sphere of steam that battled with the blizzard that still raged. Then, after I grew nearly half a foot, and after all of the snow near me was gone and the dirt had been baked dry, my sword ignited into a brilliant white flame.



    “Well then, you all are dead,” I announced as I charged into battle.






    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:10

    Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.



    The Royal Capital Arvas is the biggest city within the Fredirin Kingdom, in size, in population, in the degree of importance. The city was the heart of the nation. Despite that, when the sun sets the city would sleep. In the depths of night, only a fraction of the population would still be awake, some servants, some guards, a few merchants, and some people with more disreputable occupations.



    The fact was, most people would not waste resources to illuminate the night. And during the season of winter, not only were the nights longer, but they were colder. This not only required one to waste fuel on light but on heat too. The blizzard raging only made the situation worse, Arvas was shut down securely tonight.



    However…



    Bbbbbrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!



    A great horn, made from the bone of a dragon, let loose with it’s deep, thundering roar. The sound reverberated throughout the city, shocking the population into wakefulness. Most had no idea what the sound was, many even feared it was the call of some monster coming to attack the city.



    Before the groggy citizens could fully drag themselves out of their beds, the low roar was joined by another, less majestic sound, the call of a second horn.



    And then a third.



    And a fourth, and fifth, and sixth.



    And then more than anyone could count, their blaring sounds merging together into a cacophony of rumbling noise.



    Only seconds had passed since the extra horns had joined in when the first bells, great metal bells from the churches and clock towers began to ring. They added their clangs and chimes to the chaotic orchestra of sound that had at this point, roused every person from their slumber.



    The more astute and aware realized that many of these horns indicate the various alarms that could resound throughout the city, but never before had all of them bellowed their call at once. As some people began exiting their houses, coats and scarves wrapped around their bedclothes, the sky was suddenly lit up.



    The first Sunburst flare, fired from the castle at the heart of the city, burst in the air, illuminating a portion of the city. As that light faded from blinding flash to a simple glow, a multitude of additional flares were fired, from guard posts, from walls, from gateways, from military barracks, from supply depots, from stables, from the city hall, from all over the city.



    Suddenly, the darkness of midnight receded in an instant, just like the silence of the night had disappeared moments before.



    Arvas was awake.
     
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  4. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 18: Crisis Managment.
    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:10

    Pine Family Dining Room, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.



    “What is going on?” I asked as I entered the dining room that had been designated as our meeting spot for this.



    “It’s not good.” Commander Tale replied without even looking up from the document that sat in front of him.



    I could tell he too had been asleep. He was wearing simple cloth pants and his silky white shirt was only buttoned up halfway. Even his hair was left hanging loose, down upon his shoulders.



    Not that my entourage was much better. Pamela was with me, and both of us had enough time to put on proper clothing, pants and a shirt for me, and a simple dress for my sister. But, we only had time to do so, because we were prevented from leaving my sister’s room until our guards had come to meet us.



    Pamela’s Guardian Knights were the first to arrive. One was tall, dark-skinned woman wearing a pair of shorts, a tank top, a thick and heavy coat, and armed with a short spear and a wooden shield. The other was more average in shape and build, but her outfit was even stranger. She still had her night clothes on, but had thrown a shirt of chainmail on over them. She too was armed, a spiked morning star at her hip and a heavy metal shield strapped on her back. Pamela had introduced them as Lala and Pammy respectively.



    Soon after my own guardian knights arrived. Carla with her standard sword and shield, along with half of her armor, while Abby, my temporary protector, was wearing a robe and little else, but she was carrying a massive warhammer that was longer than I was tall, and the business end was larger than my head.



    Only when all four knights were there, were we able to leave and meet here, and on our way, we were joined by our maids.



    “Olivia, Pamela, are you okay?” Timothy, who had already arrived, asked as we both came in.



    “We’re fine, just a bit tired,” Pamela said with a smile while I looked over Timothy’s two guardian knights.



    To his left was a huge shirtless man, his body crisscrossed with scars. He had leather pants on, or I should say, he head leather armor on his legs, and two metal gauntlets with spikes over the knuckles. To his right was a man who was only as tall as my brother, who was currently sitting down. I recognized the knight as a dwarf, his bushy red beard was braided in the manner that only dwarves used. I couldn’t see any other parts of his face because he wore a full helmet. And like many dwarves, his weapon of choice was a one-handed battleax that he paired with a shield.



    “Commander, what is happening?” I asked again, and this time he did look up.



    “The forces at the Bleeding Forrest reported an Elemental Overflow. This report here,” he said motioning to the document he had in front of him, “Says that most of the soldiers are retreating here as we speak, but a rearguard action was organized to delay the elementals’ advance. In the meantime, the Crown itself has issued an emergency call to arms for all combat forces that can be spared.”



    There was a collective gasp around the table at his words, but I was momentarily at a loss.



    I quickly scanned through the Original Olivia’s memories, and only found a few, vague references to what Commander Tale had just mentioned, an Elemental Overflow. From what my original understood, occasionally an elemental fragment would tear an opening to an elemental plane, allowing large amounts of elementals, plus the fragment itself, to flood into the material plane.



    Elementals were inhuman, in the sense that they were intelligent, but their methods and manner of thought were completely alien to mortal races. Even to outsiders, of which elementals technically were, their behaviors and motivations were hard to grasp. They were, however, powerful and dangerous, but besides trying to create a more comfortable environment for themselves, they were rather passive in nature unless threatened. Water elementals, for instance, would simply seek out a place with large amounts of water, or try to create such a place, and then would just idle within there. Unless they were attacked, or the place containing the water was attacked, they would generally ignore anyone else. Of course, what constitutes an attack was somewhat hard to determine, so to play it safe, most people would avoid them.



    But according to my memories, here at least, they would burst out in great numbers, and such an event would be considered a great disaster. I could understand if it was fire elementals erupting out in a forest, or really any kind of elemental appearing in a city, but I didn’t understand why they would seemingly head here.



    “Do we have to heed that call to arms?” My brother was the first to break the silence.



    “Of course we do,” our steward, Old Man Hart, who I hadn’t even noticed had entered, answered, “That said, we have a lot of leeway to determine how many of our soldiers we send.”



    “We do?”



    “Hmm, yes we do. We still need to maintain our own defenses, and even if the summons called for every soldier we had, there would still be limits.”



    “So what should we do?” Timothy asked the important question.



    “A good question,” Commander Tale answered in the steward’s stead. “We do not maintain a large force here, just enough to defend this estate with some men to spare. If we were to send what we have without weakening our defenses, we could send maybe one to two platoons, no more than thirty men, maybe even less.”



    “What if we reduced our defenses to the bare minimum? How many could we send out then?” I asked.



    “Hmm…” The elven commander seemed to think for a second. “To actually maintain the security of the estate, fifty men. If we were to reduce our forces further, keeping only enough to ensure the people in this room’s safety, maybe a small company of eighty. But, I do not recommend that, if anything did happen, we would be forced to abandon the estate.”



    “I see,” I said.



    “What will we do?” Timothy asked.



    Both the commander and the steward exchanged looks before Old Man Hart answered.



    “We should try to send at least fifty men, even if we do compromise our defense here. Anything less, and it would reflect poorly on us here.”



    “I do not think we should do that,” Commander Tale disagreed, “Whatever we send will likely suffer casualties, possibly heavily. The more men we send, the more we will lose.”



    “Well, what about…”



    I let the conversation wash over me while I became lost in my own thoughts.



    Everyone in the room was debating on the best course of action, but their goals were to maintain the stance that the family previously had. And that was not my goal, not at all. This was a great chance to make a large move, but, I had reservations.



    I preferred to lay out my plans in advance, to take in the big picture, to clearly analyze it, and to make detailed moves. There is always a degree of last minute choices in any plan, because no plan will be followed to the letter. However, on-site decisions in regards to an actual plan are a completely different beast as compared to this. Right now, I had no plan, so making a move here would be risky. Very risky.



    But still, letting this slip by, was not what I wanted to do either.



    Thus, I was considering two different options.



    The first was to send no forces at all, or at least only a token amount. This would, as Old Man Hart mentioned, reflect poorly on our family. But that did not matter at all, already all of our actions were viewed unfavorably, the stock of the Pine Family in the public eye was already rock bottom, a further drop would be irrelevant. And if we sent no one, we would suffer no losses either, leaving us with more options after this crisis passed.



    This is what I would normally have done. If we had real allies here, I might have participated, but the other five ducal houses are enemies, letting them bleed amongst themselves while we continued to build up our own strength did seem to be the safe bet.



    However… I keep going back to the thought that I had tried those actions before, and I knew from first-hand experience, that they were flawed.



    Which brought me to my second option…



    “Everyone,” I said, drawing attention to myself and causing a halt to the existing conversation, “We should send all of our forces to assist.”



    “That, if we do that, we will not-” Commander Tale began, but I cut him off.



    “You misunderstand. I do not mean just our guards, I mean everyone. All mages, all knights, everyone.” I smiled as I stood up. “We shall send out everyone capable of fighting within this estate.”



    “That, is not an option.” Commander Tale denied me.



    “Sir Jop, Sir Silver Falcon, and Lady Peony are rank 7 mages,” I continued, ignoring the elf’s objection, “We have two more mages at rank 6 here, in addition, we have ten rank 6 warriors, and how many rank 5’s and 4’s? That is a considerable amount of military might.”



    “Hmm…” Old Man Hart rubbed his chin while thinking about my words.



    “And those people are vital to our defenses here. We can not deploy them.”



    “We can,” I said, my smile growing larger, “This estate holds one thing of value, the people within, and nothing else. We will leave behind half of the common soldiers to defend the estate and to prevent opportunist who might want to break in and steal the furniture, but the rest will escort the staff into the 1st Circle, we can find lodgings for them there easily enough if we ask.”



    “No.”



    “What do you think, Steward Hart?” I changed my target, “With all of our powerhouses together, our losses will be minimal, and we will be able to make a bold move and show off our might and devotion to the kingdom in one swift move.”



    “Hmm… well, it is a bold plan if I do say so myself, however… it is risky.”



    “It is,” I agreed, “but only to a degree. And you forget, if the army is defeated, then we risk an even worse outcome.”



    Not that I considered that a real possibility. I wasn’t sure how many elementals would be included in this Overflow, but I knew that the Capital’s garrison consisted of at least ten thousand men. If we included the conscripts currently being pressed into service, plus the regular guards, they could easily reach thirty thousand. Unless the quality of the soldiers were shockingly poor, which I was confident was not the case, or unless the general leading this was completely inept, we would be in no real danger.



    “Well… there is that…” The old steward seemed unsure.



    “What do you think, brother and sister?” I changed targets again. “Should we do the bare minimum? Or should we use everything we have to save as many people as possible?”



    “Of course we should!” Timothy said enthusiastically, which made me feel a bit guilty since I was sort of manipulating him with my words.



    “I…” Pamela hesitated, and then looked at me for a second. Her face shifted into a frown, but then changed to a more resigned expression. “I agree with Olivia, we should send everything we have.



    “Absolutely not!” The elf said.



    “Come now, Eslan, this is a losing fight for you. I myself, am inclined to agree with the young lady.” Old Man Hart said with a sigh.



    “You may agree, but I am in charge of the Pine Military forces here.”



    “Indeed you are, but I am in charge or everything else, and if I, and our Lord and Ladies, all think we should act, I believe you are outnumbered. And while you do have final say, that is only if you can in good faith, say this course of action is wrong and will lead to unacceptable losses to the family. Can you say that?”



    “...”



    “I will take that as a no.”



    “... I understand. I will make the arrangements for our soldiers. Steward Hart, I will ask you to coordinate the evacuation of the staff.” He said, frustration clear in his voice.



    The two began sending a flurry of orders, and I could finally relax.



    The first part of my plan was now being put into action.





    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:22

    Temporary Command Center, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    General Merrick Miller was a miserable man. Not in the sense that he was wretched or unpleasant to be around, but in the sense that his predominant state of mind could be described as unhappy and depressed. His parents had disowned him when young, his wife had left him, his children did not speak to him, most of his subordinates looked down upon him, as did his superiors and his contemporaries. He had no goals or objectives, and his life was effectively stagnating, he even lacked hobbies and pastimes.



    And yet, he carried on every day.



    The Fredirin Kingdom was a highly structured kingdom, and one way that manifested was in trying to rank everything. The best hunter, the best blacksmith, the best horse, the best painting, the best restaurant, and the best general. If a commoner was asked to name the top five ranking generals within the army, they would answer.



    General Jaz Portlo, a masterful strategist who plays with the entire nation’s army as if it were a game.



    General Kimberley Goldfield, whose use or calvary is the best even in the surrounding kingdoms.



    General Horin Copper-Spade, a dwarven siege specialist who could bring down any castle or fort.



    General Red Hog, a descendant of the northern barbarians who leads his men from the front.



    And if asked for which general would take the final slot out of the top, they would fall into a debate.



    However, and what really bothered General Merrick Miller, was the fact that the top five generals were in fact, already clearly ranked.



    And that he was one of them.



    Rank 1, Jaz Portlo.



    Rank 2, Kimberly Goldfield.



    Rank 3, Merrick Miller.



    Rank 4, Horin Copper-Spade.



    Rank 5, Red Hog.



    Not only was he in the top five himself, he was ranked third. And yet, no one knew that.



    Of course, there was a reason for that. The other four generals were all noteworthy people, having great deeds connected with their names. General Goldfield was the only general originating from one of the ducal houses to be allowed to be stationed with a permanent army, General Red Hog personally crushed enemies while leading his men. General Copper-Spade once brought down an entire castle filled with theocracy forces in one night, and General Portlo could easily recall where every single unit was stationed within the kingdom. As for himself, General Merrick Miller had none of their talents, nothing flashy or noteworthy like that. Instead, he was a master administrator and an expert in logistics. Even the first rank General Portlo would enquire with him when he needed to move forces.



    And his talent, boring and unassuming as it was, did happen to be incredibly valuable right now, as the Royal Capital’s defense forces needed to rapidly muster their forces and integrated the numerous conscripts.



    “General, the Royal army is leaving their positions within the inner city, they should be reaching the rally point within minutes.”



    “We have requisitioned as many wagons and carriages as possible to move supplies. We will only need enough food for one day, but it is still an enormous amount of food.”



    “The merchants were not happy about the order, however. We even appropriated a large amount of their supplies.”



    “A necessity,” The general spoke, “The roads are going to be clog as civilians flee north and as the soldiers begin moving south towards us. If we begin emptying our depots in the northern half of the city, the traffic will slow to a crawl, and we don’t have time. So we will commandeer anything we need from the south half.”



    “I understand, and the emergency orders give us leeway to do whatever we need to make the army combat ready in thirty minutes, although I think that might be pushing it.”



    “It is fine, at least for the royal army, I will get us ready in half that time. It is the guards, the noble’s forces, and the civilians that concern me.”



    “About that general, Guard Commander Genkly says he can only spare two to three thousand men, the rest need to protect the civilians. Already there has been more panic that we expected.”



    “That is about what I expected, less than I wanted, however. Still…” The general scanned over his adjutants for a second, “What of the civilians and the nobles?”



    “The civilians are moving well, all of the major combat schools have begun moving, and numerous individuals are already moving into our set up rally points. We are well on our way to making the numbers you estimated. We might even exceed them.”



    “The nobles are, however… not as promising. We are getting soldiers, but their quality…”



    “And they are coming with an awful lot of complaints.”



    “I bet those nobles will think twice when their estates get overrun.”



    “Doubtful. They’ll just blame us and then ask the Crown for reimbursement.”



    “Ignore their complaints. If they interfere, arrest them. And as for how their troops will be used, that isn’t my job, I do not know who will command this venture, but it won’t be me, and I thank the Gods for small favors like that,” General Merrick said as he shook his head. “What of the ducal estates? What have they sent us?”



    “So far, only the Steam-Bursts have sent forces, one hundred heavy infantry and eleven mages with an average rank of four.”



    “The Canyons and the Lakesides have sent messengers pledging their forces, however. The Canyons regret only being able to send fifty men, but five of them are rank four knights. The Lakesides can’t send any soldiers, but they are sending a group of mages and twenty iron golems.”



    “Charles Goldfield is personally coming and leading a force of fifteen high-rank warriors.”



    “That leaves the Pines and the Quarrys. The latter likely has nothing to spare, their estate is almost abandoned.”



    “Um… A messenger from the Pines just arrived with a letter outlining the forces they are sending… but…” one of the junior adjutants hesitated to speak up.



    “But what?”



    “Are they sending no one?”



    “Er… No… that isn’t it.” He still looked unsure.



    “What are they sending then?” The general asked.



    “A rank 7 elementalist, a rank 7 arcanist, a rank 7 druid, thirteen rank 6 warriors, eight rank 6 mages, two rank 6 priests, and… nearly forty other warriors and knights of rank five and four. Also… another thirty mages and priests of those ranks too…”



    “...Huh…?”



    “...Wha…?”



    “...That…”



    Shocked expressions covered his adjutant’s faces, and even the general himself, could not prevent his mouth from falling open.






    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:26

    Blue Sky Street, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.




    Our carriage slowly proceeded along the road that would have normally been almost empty during the day, let alone at night. However, during this night, the road, normally a wide, scenic one, was packed with people. Men and women wearing the uniform armor of the Royal army marched southward in great groups. Smaller groups of civilian warriors, of guards, of mercenaries, of even temple priests and holy warriors, they too headed south. And then there was the multitude of normal civilians, now little more than refugees, fleeing to the north. Under normal circumstances, commoners would not be allowed within the 3rd Circle without good reason, but either those rules were allowed to fall lax tonight, or the guards who would normally man the gates and prevent their entry had been recalled.



    With the road being packed, our group of travelers should have been slow. However, the opposite was the case, we were able to proceed even faster than normal. That effect was courtesy of the fact that we were not simply a carriage with a few guards, but a large military convoy. The commoners, even panicked as they were, could see the resplendent robes that covered our magicians and priests, the ornate armors of our knights. Magical effects were also clearly visible, glowing rings, twinkling necklaces, shields that made the air around them shimmer, weapons that literally burnt with golden fire or that crackled with blue energy.And the fact that the leader of our convoy was sitting upon a massive black skinned animal with a serpentine neck and a head that was not only covered in spikes, but that dripped saliva that seemed to burn and sizzle as it fell onto the slush that covered the ground, made sure that no one approached or got in our way.



    “My Lords and Ladies, it is almost time.” Pamela’s guardian knight, Lala, spoke up breaking the silence.



    This carriage was much larger than the ones we had used previously, easily able to sit four or five people side by side, and it had four benches instead of two. My siblings and I occupied one, one guardian from each of us occupied another, and the other two were filled with our personal servants.



    “Lala, Be safe,” Pamela said with concern.



    “Send those elementals back Foriv,” My brother said to his Dwarven knight.



    “Good luck,” I said as I nodded to Carla.



    Slowly our carriage, along with the entire convoy, came to a stop. The Blue Sky Street that we had been traveling eastbound on had come to an end, we could either turn left and head north, or turn right and head south.



    Or, there was the third option that we were currently taking, to split our convoy into two.



    The three knights were exiting the carriage, and they would combine with the rest of the high ranking warriors and head south, while the fifty some regular soldiers were going to escort us into the 1st Circle where we would take refuge in the Royal Castle.



    “Carla, wait,” I said suddenly.



    “Hmm?” Carla, who was the last to leave, but she was already stepping down from the carriage into the snow, paused at my words.



    “Carla, you are my knight,” I said.



    “Yes! I am your knight,” She said, looking up at me who stood in the doorway.



    “You know Carla…” I hesitated for only a fraction of a second before I continued, “Things are going to change for the Pine Family.”



    “Okay…?” She looked confused.



    “Did you know? I draw a strong distinction between things in the world.”



    “Um, My Lady… we do not really have time…”



    “Just listen,” I said with a sigh, “Carla, everything in this world can be split into two camps, things that are mine, and things that are not. And I will not allow anyone or anything to take or harm my possessions. Do you understand?”



    “Uh…”



    “You are my Knight, Carla.”



    “Yes!”



    “Then take this,” I said as I handed her a small crystal set into a chain. “If you put mana into that crystal, it will keep you safe. Only use it in an emergency.”



    “This… thank you My Lady.” gratitude covered her face as she placed the chain around her neck.



    “Then get going,” I said as I returned to the carriage.



    Carla said nothing else, and no one within the carriage spoke as we slowly began moving again. But, I could see the worry in everyone else’s eyes.



    “Do not worry, it will be fine. You will be safe in the Castle.” I spoke up as I reached into one of the overhead racks and pulled down a long and thin package.



    “Hmm, yes, we will be safe there.” My brother said.



    “...” Pamela was lost in thought, but she suddenly froze and then looked up at me.



    My sister knew me too well.



    “Olivia…” She was about to say more but stopped when I opened the packaged and revealed a long machete-like sword.



    And then, before she could say anything else, I removed the coat I was wearing, revealing my leather armor.



    “Olivia?! What are you wearing?” Timothy yelled, looking shocked.



    But I didn’t answer him right away, instead, I focused on putting my gloves and mask on. But, I could tell that he wasn’t the only one shocked, everyone was. Pamela at least seemed to understand something, but everyone else was just baffled.



    “Well, it is about time for me to depart,” I announced as I looked out the window.



    “Depart? Where are you going? What are you doing? Wait, you can not leave.”



    “Brother,” Pamela said to him, “Calm down. You are panicking.”



    “Ah, right,” He said as he sat back down, “Wait, what are you saying Pamela? What is she doing?”



    “Pamela,” I addressed my sister, “I leave it to you.”



    Before anyone else could speak, I opened the door and snuck from the carriage. We were currently crossing a wooden bridge, and our carriage took up all of the space on it. Without anyone noticing, I was able to slide out and descent past the railing of the bridge. Before the carriage had passed me, I was already under the bridge and slipping into the icy water.
     
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  5. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 19: Getting Ready.
    The Fredirin Kingdom had a history dating back over four hundred and fifty years, and the one thing that stood out amongst its neighbors was the competence of its rulers. Thanks to the method in which the new king or queen was selected, the Fredirin Kingdom had no useless rulers, no puppet leaders, no idiots, no fools, and no incompetents. Some ruled for decades, King Leon ruled during an uneventful era that lasted for fifty-three years, while others ruled for only short periods of time, Queen Elisa took over after her father was slain in battle, and she too fell only a few days later. But even then, each king and queen continued an unbroken chain of strong leaders that existed for thirty-four generations.



    Which isn’t to say that every leader was a perfect specimen of mankind, talented in every field, in fact, the Kingdom’s rulers generally fell into three main categories. One group consisted of those whose claim to fame was their own personal power. Those who were strong warriors and knights, or who were mages capable of bringing down devastating magical effects. These men and women usually lead from the front, however, there were always outliers. Queen Liddy disdained a direct fight, instead preferring to slip a dagger into the opponent's back, preferably in the dark, and King Jacob was a deadly archer, able to hit targets almost a mile away. Despite their differing talents, these kings and queens often served the nation well when it was in a precarious situation.



    The second type of ruler were those who lacked personal power, but were able administrators, strategists, economists, diplomats, and bureaucrats. Able to wield the might of the Kingdom’s armies, of the Kingdom’s finances, of the Kingdom’s allies, of the Kingdom’s people, of the Kingdom’s laws, this group served the nation better when it was at peace, able to focus on internal issues and build the kingdom up.



    And the final group, the rarest of the three, were those who had neither personal power or skills that could control the kingdom. These rulers, Like Queen Ophelia, who was a master blacksmith, or King Hadrik, who was a savant in the arts, oversaw the kingdom in some of its oddest moments. When the nation was at peace and stable, they helped advance the nation in the long run, but when the kingdom was threatened, they were poor rulers who often resigned to allow one of their more able children to take over.



    As for the current ruler, King Erwin, he oddly enough, fell into neither of the three categories. He of course, as a benefit from being the highest ranking nobility in the kingdom, was an able warrior and mage, but he was only at around rank 4 or 5. He was a competent ruler, but he could only be considered competent, not excellent. He embarked on no great reforms, he did not come up with new ideas, he did not revolutionize anything within the Kingdom. And as for other talents, despite being somewhat talented with the piano, and enjoying gardening, there was nothing noteworthy about him.



    However, the Fredirin Kingdom has never had a useless leader, and King Erwin’s brothers and sisters who he competed with for the throne were not fools either. In fact, they were all very powerful competitors in their own right. And yet, they did not win, it was King Erwin who emerged victorious, and as such, no one doubted his victory in the slightest.



    King Erwin’s power wasn’t his own, but it stemmed from the loyalty he earned from others, specifically, the loyalty of seven of the kingdom’s most important people, who all swore their allegiance to the young Erwin.



    The Kingdom’s most valuable strategist and the first ranked general, Jaz Portlo.



    The only mage to reach rank 9 as an Elementalist, Arcanist, and as one of the rarer magical disciplines, a Summoner, the Elven mage Ilvisar Caranith.



    The genius administrator who served as the prime minister, Roy Gonds.



    The woman said to know everything everywhere, and the leader of the kingdom’s intelligence service, Tina Wanev.



    The man reputed as being the strongest mercenary of all time, Xavier.



    The famed enchanter, able to mass produce magic items of shocking quality, the halfling Betty Begonia.



    And the mysterious and beautiful queen of the kingdom, Lynn Fredirin.



    Each of these men and women possessed talents and skills that would allow them to compare to the greatest of the past rulers of the Kingdom, and King Erwin held the loyalty of all seven of them.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:39

    Olivia’s Warehouse, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.



    As I had said to my sister earlier tonight, the cold did not bother me. In fact, as the reforging of my body progressed, I was quickly reaching the point where even the coldest reaches of the planet would have no effect on me.



    That fact allowed me to consider jumping into the icy water as a viable way to sneak away. It did work, the cold was not a problem, and I was able to slip away without anyone noticing.



    But, my lack of familiarity with clothing seemingly reared its head. I was not prepared for my leather armor to begin freezing once I left the water, and it made my second trip to the warehouse where my Spectres were staying at largely uncomfortable.



    “Is everything going according to plan?” I asked Captain Nev who had just entered the room.



    “Yes My Lady,” He said, while avoiding my gaze, “Everyone has begun moving out. Sergeant Penk, along with Lin and Wen will be staying behind to defend this location along with the soldiers you lent us.”



    My understanding of human body language and mannerisms were rapidly advancing, but I still considered myself a novice at best. Even then, I understood that refusing to meet another person’s gaze tended to indicate guilt or dishonesty, which is what I would have assumed Captain Nev was feeling, if not for the other more obvious reason.



    Captain Nev wouldn’t look at me because of my attire, or mostly due to my lack thereof. My leather armor was drying as close to the fire as possible without it risking igniting itself, and I was simply wrapped up in a blanket.



    “So, everyone is on their way?”



    “Sergeant Lars just left with Ivan, the rest of his team, Oz and Bahn had already left. Of my team, Naya and Jeb already went towards their targets, and Ula will leave with me…”



    “What is it Captain?” I asked having sensed his hesitation.



    “I… I want to ask about our targets. We are avoiding the Canyon and Lakeside Families, and I wanted to ask why.”



    “Hmmm…” I looked at the captain, and I could tell he had something else on his mind, but I decided to answer this first. “Simple, the thing I want to avoid the most is causing one of the family’s standing to fall too far.”



    “I do not understand. If the other five households stand in our way, do we not need to defeat each of them?”



    “And when facing multiple enemies, it is best to focus on one and remove them entirely, that is what you mean?”



    “Yes,” He nodded his agreement, “We’ve already hurt the Canyons pretty badly, should we not continue the attack?”



    “If I felt we could decisively defeat the Canyon Family, I would have considered it. But, my Aunt and Uncles are not easily defeated. Right now, the Canyon Family must be locked down tight, preparing to dig in and defend until they can figure out what happened. Make no mistake, we did hurt them badly, but we also caught them off guard and hit them in their soft underbelly. Now that they are aware, it won't be as easy. And as we slice off more and more of their flesh, what remains will only become harder and harder to damage.”



    “I… I see, I am sorry for doubting you.”



    “It is fine.”



    Not everyone can excel in every category, in fact, almost no one can. Captain Nev ran his squad well, extremely well, to the point where I had nothing to complain about. But the bigger picture, understanding how all of the moves being made on the micro level affected the macro level, he did not understand at all.



    And that was perfectly fine because he was a captain and not a general.



    “If we could completely suppress the Canyon Family, and devour their power base, then I would consider such a move, but we cannot do so. And in that case, if we weaken them too much, they will become prey for the other families, who are all more able to take advantage of a weakened Canyon Family than we are.” I added.



    “So… we do not want to harm the Canyons anymore?”



    “That is the idea.” I responded, before adding on, “Captain, what do you know of the current situation between the six ducal families?”



    “The situation?” He asked as he thought about it.



    “Yes, explain what you know.”



    “Well then… forgive me if I am wrong. The Steam-burst Family holds a dominating lead. They heavily expanded the kingdom’s borders and reclaimed the marshes of their domain, even fending off invasions from the Empire and the Theocracy. Behind the Steam-bursts is a three-way tie, with our Pine Family tied with the Canyons and Lakesides, and then the Quarry Family and the Goldfield Family are tied in last place. The Goldfield family has always been in last, but the Quarry Family fell from their old position of being a top contender when they failed to invade the Barbarian Lands to the north.”



    “Is that all?”



    “I know of the basic situation surrounding each family, but I…” He trailed off looking almost ashamed that he couldn’t answer the question properly.



    “Our Pine is in a similar situation with two of the families, can you tell me which ones?” I asked.



    “Um… The Canyon and Lakeside Family’s?”



    “No, although those two are similar to each other.” I denied him.



    “Then…” He trailed off again.



    “The Goldfields and the Steam-bursts,” I said plainly.



    For a second Captain Nev seemed lost in thought as he tried to figure out what I mean, but he eventually gave up and looked at me expectantly.



    “Our Pine Family has very little interaction with the other families. We have little offensive power in the competition for the throne, but we are still tied for second place,” I lectured while checking to see that my armor was still damp. “Our strength comes from our powerful foundation and base. We have few weaknesses, although that is due to the fact that the other’s have already chipped away at whatever weaknesses we did have.”



    “I understand that.” He said.



    I did not doubt that he understood that, he was a Spectre, one of the finest forces that could be found within the kingdom. His job specifically, was to patrol and secure the Pine Family Domain, so he knew exactly how strong our defenses were, how powerful our domain was.



    “The Steam-bursts are the same, they interact little with the other houses, and their strength comes from their powerful domain. They might have come to that point differently than us, where we built up what we had, they expanded and claimed more, but the net result is the same. The Steam-bursts have a powerful foundation.”



    “And the Goldfields?” Captain Nev asked.



    “My uncle, Duke Goldfield, might not be a great leader, but the Goldfield Domain is by far the wealthiest and most populous domain within the kingdom. Because the Duke soured relations with the other’s, they too have little interaction, but they have a powerful foundation, possibly even better than ours.”



    “I see,” he said, understanding having dawned on him. “But then, why is the Goldfield Family in last place?”



    “The competition only looks at what we managed to do for the kingdom, the actual final numbers are not relevant,” I explained. “If we started with a score of 100, then we built that up to 200. The Steam-bursts started with 100 too, and they conquered their way to 500. But the Goldfields started with a score of 1000, and did nothing with it. They might have a very powerful foundation, but the competition looks at the difference between what we started with, and what we ended with. We had a gain of 100, the Steam-bursts 400, and the Goldfields 0. That is why they are losing.”



    “This… does everyone know that?” He asked, shocked.



    “I doubt it. That was, after all, a very simplified version of how the next king or queen will be selected. The actual process is described in a book that is four hundred and twelve pages long. It is likely that most people only know the specifics, and it really isn’t in anyone’s interests to spread the more exact information around.”



    “So everyone has been wrong about how this works the entire time?” Captain Nev seemed heavily shocked by this realization, but then he seemed to come out of it. “And you read the book?”



    “It’s that one over there,” I said as I pointed towards a thick, leather-bound book on the shelves in the room, “And you speak as if the general idea is wrong, but it is not. Only some details are off. And even if most people did not understand exactly why, the end result was still correct, everyone still understood the ranking of each family.”



    “I… I see…”



    “I did, however, bring this up for a reason,” I said, bringing the discussion back on track. “Should the Canyon Family be destroyed, the majority of their assets will still exist, and the remaining families will be able to claim them as their own. The ideal scenario would be that each family takes an even portion, and the status quo would get maintained.”



    “Would it not be better for our family to take the majority of the Canyon’s assets?”



    “No, not at all. And even before that, we likely couldn’t. Our focus on defense and building up our internals serves us well, but it leaves us wholly unable to consume that much of the Canyon Family that quickly. But let us assume that we could.”



    “Okay.”



    “We acquire more than half of the Canyon Family’s assets, that would put us in a comparable position to the Steam-bursts, at least rank wise. However, we would not be able to maintain that at all. Our defenses are sufficient to protect ourselves right now, but those defenses are located within the Pine Domain, whatever we acquire from the Canyons would not be protected, and we would quickly lose control of them. We’d even run the risk of overextending and leaving openings elsewhere. But that is not the biggest problem we would face”



    “What is?” he asked.



    “Once we make a big move like that, we transform from the easily ignored Pine Family to the now an actual threat Pine Family. Our defenses, as I said already, are sufficient right now, but no one is really, seriously, attacking us. And you can be assured, that if we suddenly rise to prominence like that, we would come under much stronger attacks.”



    “Then… What are we to do?”



    “That is simple. At the current rate, we can not win. The Steam-bursts have too heavy of a lead, it is just too difficult for us to build up our own score fast enough to overtake them. We also lack the means to effectively weaken any party in an effort to lower their score. But, by sowing discord and chaos, we can let the other’s fight each other earnestly. They will weaken each other, and we can use that time to build up the capacities to attack the others.”



    “So…” Finally, it seemed as if Captain Nev understood my intentions, “We attack the other houses, and then they will assume it was each other, and then start fighting amongst themselves. With their attention diverted, we’ll have free reign to do what we want.”



    “You understand,” I said with a smile, “The worst thing that could happen to us, however, would be for one side to suffer too heavily, so we need to act as mediators, to never allow one side to fall, or another to grow too strong. The Steam-bursts are already a problem, we can not handle two dominant players like that. Since we already hurt the Canyons, and since someone took advantage of our moves already and had Sebastian Lakeside assassinated, we won't go after those two. They’ve probably already heavily raised their guards too.”



    “I see… but…”



    “What is it?” I prompted him to continue as I stood and checked on my armor again, this time finding it mostly dry.



    “Most of the moves we are making tonight are focused on the Goldfields and the Quarrys. I understand why you want to avoid the Lakesides and Canyons, but why did you only send two people after the Steam-bursts?”



    “That too, is simple,” I responded as I took my armor back to the chair I had been using. “The Canyon’s and Lakesides needed to be knocked down a bit, but nothing more, and we’ve already accomplished that goal. The Steam-bursts are powerful enough that these little moves will not make much of a difference. But as for the other two, the Goldfields and Quarries are actually the biggest threats.”



    “They are?”



    “The other families need to be cautious because they stand to lose if they make a bad move. Not so with the other two, they are already at rock bottom, so nothing is holding them back.”



    “Is that the case? Even if they do something, it can’t make that much of a difference.”



    “And that is where you are wrong. Both of them have different situations, but let us look at the Goldfields first. As I mentioned, they have an incredibly powerful foundation. Using that vast amount of wealth, my uncle can simply try over and over again. Even if he fails ten times, twenty times, fifty times, a hundred times, he can always try again. And all he needs is to get lucky one of those times. And in fact, most of my uncle’s moves, have been attacks that have been mutually destructive. I am pretty sure his motivation stems more from wanting to crush the other houses, than any real desire to be the king, which is why he finds it acceptable to bleed out both sides. Even though he hurts himself more with each attempt, he can recover quickly due to his foundation.”



    “And then the Quarrys?”



    “They are, in a way, even worse. My Aunt does not have a good reputation at the moment, her stunning loss, when she invaded the north, is still fresh in everyone’s mind, but if you look through her history, she has always favored risky gambits that had massive payoffs when they worked. She has come dangerously close to complete ruin several times, but she always rebuilds, and then does something no one thought was possible. If we let her, the Quarry Family will recover, and then try something drastic again. She could easily reverse the entire situation in one move. Or she could fail spectacularly again, and in that even more weakened state, the Quarry Family could be devoured by someone else. We face the same problem as before.”



    “So we need to keep the Canyon’s and Lakesides weakened, prevent the risky moves from the Goldfields and Quarrys, and also drag down the Steam-bursts? That seems…” He said, dejected.



    “Difficult? Yes. But we do not need to do it ourselves, the other five families will help us along.” I said with a grin, “Now all that being said, I need to put my armor back on.”



    I would have put it on in front of him, but I knew that that bothered him. And most people, come to think of it. The human obsession with clothing and nudity still baffled me.



    “Yes My Lady,” He turned and quickly left, before stopping at the door. “One thing My Lady.”



    “What is it?”



    “You assigned Ula to vandalize two stores belonging to the Steam-bursts.”



    “Yes?” I asked, bewildered.



    “Those shops aren’t particularly important, and you just mentioned that focusing on the Steam-burst Family is not important right now.”



    “Just speak your mind Captain,” I said exasperatedly.



    I had gotten more familiar with Human social customs, but sometimes their refusal to just speak their intentions still got on my nerves.



    “Not only are those shops low priority targets, but they are near where my team is going to be operating, so if I took over her responsibilities, Ula could be reassigned somewhere else.”



    “And where would that be?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.



    “I think… It would be best if you had an escort. Ula should follow you. I would do it myself, but I need to keep my team together.”



    Frankly speaking, while I did enjoy Ula’s company, having her follow me around would be nothing but a hindrance. Ula was a tracker, her Sharkfolk blood gave her an oddly specific sense of smell, which allowed her to easily follow animals or people through the mountains of the Pine Domain. But in a city, she wasn’t of much use. She was an acceptable fighter, but she focused more on ambushing than straight up fighting, which would not really help me.



    Plus, I hadn’t told Captain Nev exactly what my target was, and I didn’t intend for him to find out, but having Ula along with me would mean he would find out once we got back. And… having Ula would prevent me from using some degree of my power. I had no intention of going all out, but just in case things did go poorly, I wanted to keep my options open, and needing to avoid using all of my magic would be an extra obstacle.



    On the other hand, fighting the Captain over this seemed like it would waste time, and it wasn’t really all that important. Captain Nev would likely discover what I had done eventually, it would just be sooner in this case. And in the worst case scenario, if I really did need to reveal a portion of my power, as much as I wouldn’t want to, I could always kill and silence Ula.



    “Fine, do as you want. Ula can escort me,” I said with a sigh.



    “Thank you, My Lady.”



    “Tell her to be ready, once I get my armor on, we will be leaving. And get to your own mission too,” I ordered.



    “Yes!”



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:47

    Temporary Command Center, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    Word of the Pine Family’s reinforcements had already spread, and it had brought mostly positive effects to the army. For one, morale had increased greatly.



    Rank 6 and below were considered the Realm of Mortals. The name had two meanings, one being that mere mortals were generally limited to rank 6. Only with nearly divine talent, divine luck, and divine levels of effort, could one break through into rank 7. When a warrior strives for the peak, if they are looking at it realistically, they are aiming for rank 6. The second meaning was that once someone broke through and became a rank 7, they were something beyond a normal mortal.



    Their lifespan would increase greatly, their tolerance to pain, to poison, to illness, to hot and cold, would all drastically increase. Under rank 7, a warrior's strength still existed within the bounds of common sense. A rank 6 knight might be able to withstand a catapult’s shot, a rank 6 warrior might be able to uproot a tree and use it as a club, but the knight cannot deflect the fired boulder with their hand, and the warrior cannot lift up a house.



    Neither are due to lacking strength or resilience, but due to simple physics. The knight might have the power to deflect the rock, but unless the knight is anchored to the ground, the momentum of the flying stone will knock them away. The warrior might be able to lift something that weighed the same as a house, but houses are designed to rest entirely upon the ground. If someone was to lift one, all of the pressure would fall on the area where they were holding it, and the house would crumble.



    But, a rank 7 could deflect a thrown boulder and could lift a house. The power wielded by a rank 7 wasn’t the same as a rank 6, it was something completely different. A rank five could give a decent fight to a rank 6, the lower rank would only rarely win, but they could hurt the higher rank before they fell, and they could delay them for quite some time if that were the goal. But a rank 6 could do almost nothing to a rank 7, they were in different dimensions.



    Obviously, due to the great power that ranks 7 and above held, they were also incredibly rare, and also valuable. The entire Capital Defense Force only had six rank 7s within it, and with the Pine Family sending out three, let alone the fact that almost no one even knew the Pine Family had that many high ranking warriors, it was a huge boon to the defenders.



    Morale increasing was only to be expected.



    The other great benefit was that the Pine Family’s absurdly generous move had galvanized some other noble families to send out additional forces. Since many families, not only the other ducal houses, looked down upon the Pines, they couldn’t stand being one-upped that badly by someone they viewed as their lessers.



    However, the one negative to all of this, was that the additional soldiers being sent were making the mustering of the forces take longer, and they were now missing several of their timelines.



    “General, the Smith’s Guild has sent additional men.”



    “House Weey has sent some extra mages.”



    “The Temple of the Sky has deployed additional acolytes.”



    “Both the Carpenter’s Guild and the Shipbuilder’s Guild sent another group of foot soldiers.”



    “The Crushing Hammer School has sent out their leader along with their grandmaster, both are rank 5 warriors.”



    “The Canyon Family deployed another squad of ten knights.



    “Good,” General Merrick nodded at the reports, “Are the various merchants still balking at lending us supplies?”



    “No, not at all.”



    “Their ilk are good at seeing which way the wind blows, with the noble families now providing more earnest support, they know that even if we were to fail if they held back anything, they wouldn’t be able to escape unscathed”



    “Hmph, Merchants may be scummy opportunists, but they have their own code,” The general spoke, “We are soldiers, and we have our own code, but we should not look down on anyone else's, otherwise we will suffer for it. Always know to respect your enemy, and if you do that, you can learn from them, make their strengths your own, and you can utilize their weaknesses.”



    “Yes Sir,”



    “Yes Sir,”



    “Yes Sir,”



    Merrick Miller looked up from another document to see all of his adjutants offering him salutes and he realized that he had misspoken somewhat just then.



    “At ease,” He said slowly, “It isn’t as if I do not understand your opinion, after all, both of my parents are still merchants, and I did get to see first hand how wicked they could be. But from my position as their child, I was able to see both their strengths, and what was wrong with how they did everything. And as you know, I must have done something right, otherwise, I would be a simple clerk somewhere, probably fleeing to the north like everyone else tonight. Instead, I am standing here, with the word, ‘General,’ in front of my name.”



    His men all looked thoughtful before nodding their agreement. The fact that his parents were simple merchants was somewhat well known.



    “That being said, I would probably be a lot safer, and warmer, if I had been running north instead of standing in this tent.” He said, reducing some of the tension with his joke. “Now then, once we know who our commanding officer will be, we can get this show started. The castle did say that…”



    As he trailed off mid-sentence, his men looked at him confused, but he barely noticed.



    This army was a hodgepodge of various forces, mercenaries, simple guards, martial practitioners from the various schools, and household forces from the different noble families made up more than half of their numbers. They were a group lacking cohesion and any kind of uniform structure. In the last several minutes, worn down mercenaries that looked like little more than bandits, priests and paladins wearing shimmering golden robes and armor, gaudily dressed nobles, and plain looking practitioners had all arrived to announce that they would join their forces.



    The man approaching now, looked as if he was a slightly better mercenary. His armor was a dark gray and made of mismatched parts lacking any kind of symmetry. His helmet that hid his face entirely, was adorned with a single chipped horn in the center, his left pauldron was spiked, his right had double layers and was shaped like a box, part of his arm was bare under that one and ended in a simple metal gauntlet, while his left was completely covered in heavy metal and ended in an evil spiked gauntlet that seemed darker than the rest of his armor. His breastplate was scuffed and scratched, lacking any insignia or crest, his leg armor was a mix of metal and leather. His whole outfit looked as if it was made piecemeal as he picked it up from various battlefields, not from merchants, because every piece appeared worn and tattered.



    At a glance, he was a competent, if irrelevant, mercenary.



    But Merrick Miller had an item that he considered to be his prized possession, the glasses he currently wore. They were made of several smaller lenses, giving his eye’s the appearance of a bug’s, but each individual lens had a different magical effect enchanted upon it. The one on the bottom left of his right lens was particularly noteworthy, because while it did not actually detect magic, that was the domain of a different one, it could instead see the ambient effect created from magic. Unlike the other lens that could see actual magic, this one had a much more limited scope, it could see if a powerful magic was used in an area previously, or, and largely more importantly, it could still spot the effects of some spells, even if those spells were intentionally being obscured in some way.



    This particular effect was somewhat rare, and also rather difficult to utilize correctly, even his prized glasses could only show such an effect as something like a vortex, similar to when water flows down a drain.



    And around the approaching mercenary was a vortex-like nothing Merrick had ever seen before. It hugged his armor like a second skin, the effect would have been nearly impossible to spot, if not for the fact that the vortex was the most powerful he had ever seen. It was so strong that he feared it would have a tangible effect in the real world, that if he were to touch it, it would rip his hand apart.



    Of course, Merrick Miller was a smart man, and he not only knew to not do that, but he also was able to guess the identity of the man before him.



    “My Lord!” he said, offering a formal military salute, “General Merrick Miller cedes all authority to Lord Xavier. If your lordship wills it, I will serve you as your second in command.”



    The armored man casually walked all the way into the tent while ignoring everyone in it.



    “...Yes…” a grave voice hissed from under his helmet.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:58

    Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.


    Ruby Pawnbrokers was a business under the umbrella of the Quarry Family. Despite the name, they did not deal in gemstones or precious metals, but in weapons and armor. While they did buy and sell used equipment, their main business was in loans, with said equipment serving as collateral.



    At least, that is how it appeared on the surface. It was a well-known secret that Ruby Pawnbrokers were a form of recruitment for the Quarry Family. The Pawnbrokers would offer loans to aspiring adventurers and mercenaries so that they could buy equipment, but the terms of the loan would stipulate where they were allowed to spend the money, the Pawnbrokers would direct them to a few merchant houses and craftsman that were themselves, under the umbrella of the Quarry Family. Because the Quarry Domain was the kingdom’s biggest producer of both raw ores and finished metal products, they were able to produce enormous amounts of equipment at a low price.



    With their loans, the hopeful youth would then be able to buy equipment at very reasonable prices, all of which built up some loyalty. The Pawnbroker would follow their clients as they progressed through their career, offering better loans, and sometimes referrals to mercenary companies or combat schools that were also under the Quarry Family.



    Despite essentially being a system to recruit for the family, the Ruby Pawnbrokers still managed to turn a small profit. One of the benefits of controlling the entire supply line, from the mines, to the forges, to the caravans, to the shops, to the loan company, to the mercenary companies that hired the clients.



    Ruby Pawnbrokers had several offices through the kingdom, and even had three separate buildings that served as pawnshops and loan offices within the capital. They also owned one massive warehouse where they kept the items used for collateral when they weren’t being showcased in one of the three stores.



    Two of those stores were being damaged tonight, the third was located too close to a large guard garrison which made attacking it too risky. The warehouse would have been a nice target, but it would be guarded to some degree by private mercenaries, and there was also a logistical problem. Breaking into the warehouse would do little, I would need to either destroy the items stored within, or steal them. Stealing them was impossible for two people, and burning down the warehouse was a degree of escalation I was not willing to make.



    At least this soon.



    However, in addition to the three stores and the warehouse, there was also a central office that stored all of their important documents, including all of their records on their clients.



    Because that building had nothing of value to steal, and because they very well couldn’t leave guards in a visible location during the current crisis, there were only two mercenary guards within the building. Both of which were now dead.



    “Too bad we can’t just burn the building down,” Ula said as she continued throwing scrolls and books into the fireplace.



    “It is too close to the adjacent buildings, we can not risk a major fire, especially right now.”



    “I know… but…”



    I did not need to try hard to understand the Spectre’s annoyance, the Ruby Pawnbrokers had two entire floors devoted to storing documents, and only had two fireplaces, two small fireplaces.



    We had already begun using some unorthodox methods to destroy their records. We opened all of the windows, allowing snow to begin entering the rooms, where it melted on the floor. Single documents and scrolls could be thrown into the water where the ink would run, that freed up the fireplaces for the larger books. But there were a lot of books, and the fire was already flooding the room with smoke. Further, the floor had already been layered with pages, and the water was not building up fast enough.



    “Can’t you use magic or something?” She asked me while she was using her teeth to tear apart a thicker book, her shark teeth easily slicing through the parchment.



    “Blood magic is not really applicable in this situation.”



    I could make blades of blood and hack apart the shelves, or even spears of blood and punch through them, but the actual destruction to the documents would not be all that great. We could also do something similar with our actual weapons, so there was no need to waste my magic on it.



    If I were able to call on all of my magic, I could encase the shelves entirely in blood, and then rip it apart, but that would require a degree of blood and magic that I couldn’t expend right now, not as long as my cousin’s soul was still being nourished within my heart. As long as he was there, I was severely limited in what kind of large, sweeping effects I could create.



    “Hey… My Lady…” Ula said suddenly as she went over to the window to get a few breaths of smoke-free air.



    “What is it?”



    “There are three people standing in the road watching the building.”



    “Guards?” I asked sharply as I dropped the book I was tearing apart and drew my machete.



    “Not sure. They aren’t guards, but two of them are armed. The third is a kid? Maybe a halfling?” She said as she drew her own weapon, a short bow she kept on her back.



    “Let me see,” I said and then went towards a different window.



    Considering the smoke coming out of this building, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable to assume someone would come to investigate, but it seemed a bit too soon for armed soldiers to show up.



    But Ula was right, two armed soldiers, both of which held themselves with a degree of poise that clearly showed they weren’t rank and file guards, stood there in the street. Between the two of them, stood a small child.



    And I recognized two of them, one of the guards, and also the child.



    The same child who walked out in front of my cart as I was returning to the warehouse on Wednesday. The one who had a strange air about her.
     
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  6. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 20: Strange Meetings.
    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:03

    Temporary Command Center, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    “All forces…” General Merrick began, before giving a quick look towards the commander of the army to be sure, “Begin moving out.”



    His adjutants began issuing orders. With Lord Xavier here, the command structured was greatly simplified, the general’s words were Lord Xavier’s words, and no one dared to dispute the strongest mercenary’s words. No one argued, but this army was a mishmash of various forces, and not only that, but the general rarely commanded forces in the first place. The army moved, but it was sluggish and awkward, a recently roused behemoth, still drowsy and stumbling.



    But, it did not matter any longer.



    General Merrick had no desire to command this army, and unless forced, he would have refused. The capital held several potential commanders that would have been a better fit, some that had a better grasp of strategy than him, some that had a better sense of politics and would have eased the relationship issues, and some that were even more charismatic.



    If the general was in charge, he was honest enough to realize that there was a good chance that the worst could come to pass, that they would be eradicated to the last man, and that the Royal Capital would be destroyed.



    With Lord Xavier, such concerns were now unfounded.



    Ranks 6 and below were often called the Realm of Mortals, but there was another name for them. The Ranks of the Ordinary. Rank 7 and above were then the Ranks of the Extraordinary.



    Why the two different names? Most people who were not as knowledgeable used the latter, Ordinary and Extraordinary. They drew a clear line between Rank 6 and 7. Those that used the former knew that not only was there a line between 6 and 7, but another between 10 and what would be called rank 11. Ranks 7, 8, 9, and 10 were known as the Realm of Transcendence, and the common people simply called this the Ranks of the Extraordinary. But they did not realize that rank 11 brought a change from rank 10 that was even greater than rank 7’s change from 6.



    No one really knew for sure, since rank 11s were figures from the myths and legends, but rumors said that Lord Xavier was rank 11.



    General Portlo had once mentioned to General Merrick that even at rank 10, a person could not be considered a mere warrior, or even an army unto themselves. A rank 10 was a disaster in human form.



    And General Merrick agreed, he had once seen Lord Ilvisar Caranith, who was a rank 9 Elementalist and summoner, but also rumored to be of rank 11 as an arcanist, test a spell. The spell was small, its effect only the size of a single room, and yet, that small space was still crackling with arcane energies that would reduce anyone who approached to dust. Lord Ilvisar had called it a failure, because the spell spread too easily, he had required considerable effort to contain it only to that small space. He had even mentioned that if left unchecked, it could have covered a city in seconds.



    Magic might be able to wreak havoc on a greater scale, but with Lord Xavier, they could not loose.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:05

    Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.



    “What should we do?” Ula asked.



    “Hmm…” That was a good question.



    From the way the girl stood between the two guards, it was clear she was their charge. Whether or not she was their master, or someone else had sent them to protect her, I couldn’t tell for sure. The fact that they allowed her to come here during the night, during such an event, indicated that she had some degree of control over them at the very least.



    So who were they?



    There were no identifying crests on their clothing, or what little of their armor I could see under their cloaks. And I did not recognize them from anywhere either. Granted, neither of those facts really mattered, the number of people who I wouldn’t recognize was massive, and anyone looking to do something questionable tonight would likely forgo anything that could reveal their identity.



    I had seemingly met them by coincidence a few days ago, but was that really just a coincidence?



    If it was not, and I was being tracked and followed, why would they allow themselves to be spotted, and in such an amateurish way? To confuse me and allow me to let my guard down? No… that is too much of a roundabout approach, too illogical, and too prone to failure, all for very little gain. If that was a temporary failure, a mistake on their part, then there was no reason for this particular group to continue following me, someone else should have taken over.



    That at least, indicates that it might truly have been a coincidence.



    So they stumbled upon me, and then chose to track me down for some reason, why?



    Their lack of uniform equipment, not to mention the small girl, means that they are unlikely to be soldiers. The girl herself is wearing a few magic items, more than she was when we first encountered each other, but those were the only notable magical signatures emanating from her body. She was clearly not a mage herself, nor did she use magic to augment her physical powers, so at best, she would be around rank 2 or 3. She could be a halfling, but she was even too small for that, most likely she was just a child, maybe around five or six years of age. She wasn’t part of their military might, nor was she an officer.



    The other two were then clearly her guards.



    Was she from one of the combat schools? That seemed likely at a glance, I met her soon after my raids, but that would also indicate that our meeting was intentional, and I already discarded that idea. Further, the information I had received on each of the schools made no mention of a young girl who would require guards being affiliated with any of the schools.



    Another seemingly likely option, was that this too was a coincidence. They were not particularly following me tonight, and we just happened to stumble upon each other again. But this was also nonsense. Ruby Pawnbrokers might be a viable target for someone looking to rob, but not this office. The only people who would break into this building were those looking to damage the company, not profit themselves.



    I suppose they could have just noticed something odd and were trying to investigate, but if that were the case, they would not just be standing out in the open on the side of the road. They would have either entered, or stayed hidden while watching.



    No, one coincidence I can accept, but not two. I am clearly the target here.



    But are they after Olivia Pine Fredirin, or the halfling warrior Cat?



    One thing I was confident of, was that they were from one of my aunts or uncle’s houses.



    “We will invite them in,” Concluding my thoughts instantly, I responded to Ula.



    “We will?”



    “Yes,” I said before removing one of my gloves.



    I drew my machete across my palm, leaving a decent cut that welled with blood. As it dripped onto the floor I saw Ula spin to face me, for a second an image of hunger flitted over her eyes before she scrunched up her nose and stepped back.



    My blood did not pool onto the soggy parchments that were underfoot, but instead seeped through, away from sight. As the wound on my hand closed up, and as I put my glove back on, the blood had filtered through the floorboards, then slid across the roof of the 1st story towards the door. Before it reached, I split it into four parts, one spread onto the hinges of the door, and another part went to the doorknob. The other two took up seemingly random positions, one moved to the far wall and the other stayed on the ceiling a few feet away from the door.



    Satisfied, I used my blood to unlock the door and turn the knob, and with the door now free, the hinges swung inward. To anyone looking in from the outside, such as the girl and her two guards, it would appear as if the door opened without anyone’s assistance.



    Before I could consider if they would take the bait, and even before the door had fully opened, the girl had started walking forward, her two guards hurrying to follow.





    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:05

    Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    ?????????????



    Once I saw the door open, and heard that I should come in, I did not hesitate.



    I wanted to run, excitement coursed through me, but I also wanted to make a good impression. I was schooled in etiquette when I was young, and while I no longer went to my lessons, I still remembered. I knew that my Destined One had also received the same education, so I did not want to disappoint her.



    My two guards followed me after a second of delay, their hesitation rousing my ire. I knew they did not understand, could not understand, even if I had tried to explain. I did not need to hear them to know that.



    The building, whatever it was for, was not in a good state. The interior was dark, I could see that even when I was still on the road, but entering it allowed me to see that it was also wet and damp. Puddles had formed on the floor, and cold water was dripping from the ceiling.



    When I was younger, I feared things like ghosts and spirits, and this building looked as if it should be haunted. The misunderstandings of youth, what I thought were spirits, were just people, and the undead no longer scared me. I was able to hear most of them, the undead. The more intelligent they were, the easier it was. Less intelligent ones were more like animals, only able to say simple ideas. The completely mindless ones such as skeletons or zombies did not speak at all, but they emitted a low humming sound.



    There was only one thing that I could not hear, and that was my Destined One who was above on the 2nd floor, along with one of her guards.



    Spectres, they called themselves. Not an accurate name, her guards sounded no different than other humans, while specters, when they did anything other than wail incoherently, would still scream and cry.



    I wondered why they called themselves that.



    “My Lady…” One of my guards, his presence surrounded with the sound of scratching, scraping, grinding, and tearing, tried to dissuade me from entering, but I ignored him.



    Entering with my two guards in tow, I realized the building wasn’t as bad as it at first appeared. It was dark, but one of my guards had a light emitting magic device that lit up the surroundings. The building seemed to be an office, a counter was in front of us, some chairs and small tables made a waiting area, and then the back was sectioned off by some doors, one of which was opened and revealed a staircase going up.



    Water was everywhere, but it seemed like a recent development, everything looked to be in good order aside from the dripping.



    “Wait!” My guard called out suddenly, his hand already on his sword.



    I looked at him confused, he was dividing his stare between a section of wall between two of the doors, and a bit of the roof right over our heads.



    “...what is it…?” I whispered.



    “No… I thought…” He mumbled, but then shook his head and put his weapon away. “I thought I sensed magic, but it must be nothing. Still, we should be careful. Let Forik go first.”



    I looked at my other guard, Forik if the first was to be believed, I never trusted them in the first place, I couldn’t hear them due to the awful sound they made, but I did not think they would lie about their names, there was no need to. He was also looking around, and hadn’t drawn his sword, but I could tell he was larger than the first. I did not know who was stronger, but the large one would probably delay any enemies longer with his body, allowing the first to escape with me.



    “... It is fine…” I said and walked towards the stairs.



    Neither guard said anything else, but they both followed me.



    Each step up the staircase was excruciating. My Destined One was there, just up these stairs. I so badly wanted to run, to sprint to her, to hear nothing. But I must restrain myself, I must present myself well. I need her to be pleased with me.



    She is my Destined One, the only person I can stand to be around, but I know that to her, I am nobody. No, even worse, from hearing her guards these few days I knew I was an enemy.



    Ah… how difficult is this? My entire life, I cursed the fact I could hear, but now, in front of this one person, this one person I desperately wanted to understand, I could hear nothing. The irony, because if I could hear her, I would have no desire to do so in the first place.



    I could hear her guard, the Spectre, she must be equipped with a bow of some form, she was standing back, but ready to shoot if something happened. I would never do anything to upset my Destined One, but my guards…



    I hadn’t told them who my Destined One, that she was my cousin, Olivia Pine Fredirin, so they should have no desire to harm her. But, I know that in my efforts to meet her, they had realized that she was a figure of some power, and dangerous. How many times, if not for my ability to hear, would we have been caught trying to find out about that warehouse? Still, to my guards, my own safety was the most important, so as long as I wasn’t in danger, they will stand down.



    Now at the landing, I stopped to take a couple of breaths.



    “...do not… do anything…” I whispered to my guards, “...No matter what…”



    I stepped into the room and froze.



    My eyes locked onto the adjacent pair, two silver orbs barely peeking out of her black face mask, they were two shimmering stars in the night sky. Nothing else mattered, only those eyes.



    “...how beautiful…” My absent-minded words were heard, and the silver eyes suddenly narrowed.



    Panic wracked me, I needed to make a good first impression.



    My former etiquette teacher told me to smile when meeting new people, and I tried to do so. But it had been so long, too long, since I last smiled. My facial muscles were stiff, I could only put a cramped and crooked smile onto my face.



    I must look awful.



    “Li-Lillian Qu-Quarry Fre-Fredirin,” I stammered out, “gr-greets y-you.”



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:07

    Royal Army Mounted Command Center, outside the southern wall, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    Located safely in the middle of the now nearly forty thousand man army, we advanced into the cold night. The army was still a mishmash of various groups, Royal Guardsmen, the Capital Defense Force, the Kingdom’s army, mercenaries, various noble household troops, adventurers, members of combat schools, apprentice mages, priests from the different churches, even the Crystal Jade Empire had dispatched fifty soldiers from their embassy.



    A motley assortment of forces, but a powerful one still. Morale was high, supplies were abundant, the cause was just, and while the elementals were a powerful foe, they were a stupid foe. As long as we had the numbers and strength to not break apart at first contact, we could easily defeat them. With the numbers we currently had, not only would we win easily, but most likely casualties would be low.



    Lord Xavier being given command was a great boon to the army, but it overshadowed the contribution made by the Pine Family, and the forces that they sent were arguably more important. If they hadn’t sent out such a powerful group, which itself not only provided a powerful boost to morale, but also shamed the other nobles into participating earnestly, the army would be much smaller and weaker. In a way, with Lord Xavier, a less powerful army wouldn’t matter much, but injuries and deaths would be much higher.



    The Pines would receive some kind of commendation for this afterward, but he would have little to do with that, outside of sending in the initial petition. Everything beyond that would be politics, and outside of his pay grade. However, since he knew the army’s current state was owed to them, he had extended an invitation to the commander of the Pine forces, the half-elf Eslan Tale, who was now currently seated atop his horse following around with the rest of his adjutants.

    “Once again, I need to offer my thanks to you, Commander Tale,” The general addressed the Elf, “If not for your family’s reinforcements, things would not have gone as smoothly.”



    “Think nothing of it General Miller,” The elf calmly shook his head, “And regardless, your thanks are misplaced.”



    “Oh, how so?” He asked with interest.



    “The Pine Family has few forces within the Capital, and standard protocol would dictate we only send out what we could spare after securing our own territory.”



    “...” The general frowned lightly to himself, The commander’s words did ring true, but still…



    “Come now, Commander,” One of his adjutants said, “Few forces? With what you sent, I fear for what you consider to be a large force.”



    “Haha,” Another spoke, “Yes, if three rank 7s is small, then this army must be considered as only medium sized.”



    “Surely you jest,” Commander Tale said without laughing, “These forces we sent, consist of all of our available forces.”



    “Haha… Wait, really?”



    General Merrick was likewise surprised, he couldn’t stop himself from turning to look back at the elf, along the way noticing that several of his adjutants appeared shocked.



    “You surely left defenses at your estate and other holdings?” Another one of his adjutants asked.



    “We left a skeleton crew at the estate, but we evacuated all of our staff into the Royal Castle. We’ve deployed all of our available forces here.”



    “...” His frown deepened.



    That was not good military strategy, even a half-baked strategist like him could tell that. All of the Pine Family holdings, save for their main estate, would be undefended, and even that estate would be barely defended. And should the worst happen, if the General remembered correctly, three of the Pine Family’s five children were in the Capital, they would be without any protection. Even if the Elementals were beaten back with no danger befalling the city, which is how it should work out, but if their forces suffered heavy casualties, they would be in an incredibly precarious situation.



    If this was a grab for glory by Commander Tale, he would have to rethink things.



    But then, he remembered something.



    “Commander,” He said, “You said my thanks were misplaced? If not to you, who should I send them to?”



    “Mmm…” The Commander seemed to think as he rubbed his chin with one hand, “To be honest, this idea was not mine, but my Young Lady’s.”



    Very quickly, General Merrick recalled everything he knew about the two young ladies of the Pine Family.



    Pamela Pine Fredirin, the eldest daughter, was relatively unknown. In the past, she seemingly had some talent as an artist and as a mage, but she had fallen off of the stage into obscurity. As far as he knew, she wasn’t skilled in management or military affairs either.



    Olivia Pine Fredirin, the youngest daughter, had almost no reputation to speak of. She was too young to make any waves since she wasn’t a heavens defying genius, but he did recall hearing that her carriage had crashed into a river early in the month. In fact, last he heard, she was recovering back in the Pine Domain, he wasn’t even sure if she had returned or not.



    “Which young lady,” He asked, “If you do not mind telling me.”



    “It was Lady Olivia Pine Fredirin’s idea, General.”



    “I see,” Is what he said, but he really did not.



    Some of his adjutants had strange looks on their faces, looks that they quickly hid before the elven commander could see them. He’d have to ask them about it, later on, there was something he wasn’t understanding here, but it wasn’t important right now.



    “If you do not mind me asking a question myself, General?” The Commander asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.



    “What is it?”



    “What exactly is our plan? The information sent to our house was not detailed.”



    Of course it wasn’t, detailed information, what little they had, would not get sent out to anyone. In fact, only the upper ranking generals within the capital, of which he was one of three, were informed. That information was restricted not only to prevent a panic, but to stop any opportunistic individuals or groups from getting any funny ideas.



    Plus, it contained matters of great importance in the succession competition, after all, Frederica Canyon Fredirin, one of the Canyon Family’s new pillars of support, had likely fallen in battle. Sending that out, especially to the other ducal houses, was completely unacceptable.



    With that being said, Commander Tale was now a major contributor to the entire army, and since he had sent the Commander an invitation to the command group, he couldn’t refuse to tell him what had happened. And regardless, that information would come to light after this situation was resolved, so the Commander would hear of it sooner or later.



    “About that…” He said as he glanced at Lord Xavier, the mercenary had remained silent atop his horse this entire time, and remained so even now, “The fortress at the Bleeding Forrest has likely been overrun by now, the general in charge lead a rearguard action to stall the Elementals, but we lost all contact about an hour ago. The last report indicated contact with the Fragment that started the overflow, so based on the time frame, we are looking at around ten thousand to fifteen thousand elementals.”



    “I see, so the general sacrificed himself to buy time for the rest to retreat, then are we meeting up with them? How many are there?”



    “Three thousand, approximately. And we will not be meeting with them.” He let out a breath as he said that.



    As he knew it would, almost everyone within earshot sported looks of disbelief on their faces.



    “We can’t,” He spoke before anyone else could, “The rear guard only managed to buy, at best, thirty minutes of time for the rest to retreat, and that thirty minutes ended almost an hour ago. In snow like this, how far could the retreating forces get?”



    “If we rushed…” An adjutant spoke up, but even as she did, she knew it was pointless.



    “If we rushed, we might be able to rendezvous with them in time, but we might not. Even if we make it, we’ll have an exhausted army meeting up with an equally exhausted army that was being chased. We might even lose the entire battle in that case.” He spoke his words firmly, even if they pained him.



    The loss of three thousand men was a terrible thing, from a purely numerical standpoint, and from the perspective of a man who leads others into battle, who takes their fate into their own hands.



    But what really pained him, was to disregard General Canyon’s intentions. She had likely sacrificed her own life to save as many of her men as possible, but now, her sacrifice would be wasted, those men and women she saved, would be forsaken anyway.



    “Plus, we have another problem. The Elementals will go straight towards the largest and nearest concentration of living things.”



    “Which is the capital,” A different adjutant said.



    “No, it is not. Besides the retreating forces, the other large congregations of living things would be Riversdale and Morristown. Most likely, the elementals were split and some will go after each group. To make matters worse, Riversdale is to the east of the road we’ll be using, and Morristown is to the west. If we rush south on the road, the other two groups of Elementals could end up flanking us, or even hitting us from behind.”



    “Actually, there is an even worse outcome than that,” The only adjutant he had shared these plans with suddenly spoke up.



    “He’s right. If the flanking groups outpace us too heavily, they might end up closer to the Capital than to us, if they decide to go towards Arvas, the city lacks the strength to defend. I do not need to tell you what that would mean.”



    Arvas sent out almost everything it had, the remaining guards and household troops would be nowhere near sufficient to defend against even one flanking group. The walls would be breached instantly, and what would follow would be a chaotic urban fight that would be less fight and more slaughter. The Royal Castle itself had magical defenses that would keep it safe, but the rest of the city would end up wrecked and scoured of life. And the Castle was only so large, they could easily lose nearly all of the Capital’s people.



    “That is why we are going to only advance five miles to the Berzin Hills. We’ll set up formations within the basin, build fortifications, and load whatever siege weapons we have up onto the hills themselves. We’ll spend whatever time we have digging pitfalls and burying mines, we need to do whatever we can to preserve our forces. Gods forgive us, but we just can’t save those soldiers.”



    Saturday, February 20th, N.E. 807, 01:12

    Bleeding Forest, 34 Miles South of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    ??????????????



    The Bleeding Forest was young, no tree went more than a few years before being uprooted by some rampaging beast. It was a land of constant death and rebirth, the rampant mana running through it saw to that. The mana nourished the ground, making it extra fertile, and any seeds that took root would grow rapidly. Their forms would be twisted, corrupt, but they still grew. Even the area near the keep, which was culled daily, still saw shrubs and other plants bursting into existence in only a moment.



    However, right now, an oddity had appeared.



    The blizzard was not enough to slow the growth, even the Elementals, as they cut through the woods and froze everything else in their path, only hampered the Forest. Already, the dead trees were breaking down, new ones spouting in the now vacated areas. Molds and vines used the corpses of plant and beast as fuel for their own rampant growth.



    But not here.



    An area nearly a hundred feet across was scoured of all life, the very ground was baked, the dirt and mud turned to glass.



    Only two entities existed within the crater, a pile of ice, and the battered body of a human. The ice was slowly melting, the water trickling towards the center of the burnt basin. The human too, was leaking, as it struggled to draw breath, blood oozed from its body and made its own journey towards the center where it mixed with the water.



    Snow fell onto the two of them, at first it melted as it touched either the human, or the ground around it, but as more fell, the ground, and the human began to cool. A fine layer of white began coated the blackened ground, and after a while, the human too. A cold wind blew, further stealing the human’s warmth, and making the breaths even more laborious. Seconds ticked by, and soon all that showed of the human was a red layer of snow. But still, it struggled to breathe, to live.



    The human’s hand held a sword, but slowly its strength waned, the hand relaxed, and the sword slid from its grip. The weapon resembled nothing like the form it held an hour ago, the hilt crushed, the blade cracked, but even then, its quality was clear.



    As it slipped farther away from its owner, it left a small trail in the snow. And seemingly having noticed that the sword had left it, the human attempt to grope through the snow and reclaim its weapon. Inch by inch, fingers crawled towards it.



    But with each additional labored breath, the movement slowed, until finally, it stilled. The hand stopped, and then a moment later, the breathing came to a stop.



    There was no warmth in the clearing any longer, no movement, no life. It grew colder and colder. The ice stopped melting, the water froze, even the blood turned thicker until it too froze.



    And still, the temperature dropped, the body of the dead human froze, the nearby trees, destroyed from the battle, froze solid. The air became so cold that little droplets of clear liquid began forming on the ground. As the droplets appeared, the wind picked up, howling with a fury almost never seen. Snow blew from all over the forest, all of it drawn to this small clearing. The droplets kept forming, the wind kept blowing, and the temperature kept dropping. The human’s body began to crack apart right as the first blue drops of liquid began forming. The blue mixed with the clear, and all of them converged onto the corpse. They moved independent of the wind, seemingly having a mind of their own. They crawled onto the body, slithered across it, through clothing, through armor, through frozen blood and flesh, and then they seeped into the openings, the eyes, mouth, nose, ears, even the wounds, nothing was spared.



    Suddenly, the dropping temperatures let up, the wind returned to what could be called normal within a blizzard, and only the snow continued to move as it drifted down from above. It was as if the violence from moments ago had never happened, the scene was no different from when the body had drawn its last breath, from when Frederica Canyon Fredirin had died.



    The small droplets had displaced the snow that had fallen on her body, and the flakes that continued to fall suspiciously avoided it. It was only the snow that rested on the ground that was disturbed as her body sat up without warning, and then stood. Her movements were halting, jerky, but she moved yet still.



    She flexed her one good hand, while at the same time a layer of ice formed over her ruined arm, even forming a crystal clear elbow, then a forearm, and then even a hand. Partially covered in a layer of ice, with one of her limbs now made of that same ice, Frederica looked around emotionlessly, before she locked her gaze towards the north.



    She said nothing, but as if she were an afterimage made by the snow, Frederica disappeared into the night.
     
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  7. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 21: Lillian Quarry Fredirin.
    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:14

    Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.



    I am not an expert in human mannerisms by any means. My past experiences were rich and plentiful, but they were in regards to something other than humans. The prior Olivia’s memories can be recalled with crystal clear clarity, but they are too few, too sparse. I have a general idea, but there are subtle nuances that I miss. While many of my past life’s experiences are applicable, not all of them are. And to figure out which ones do and do not fit my current existence, that is the difficult part.



    Negotiations can be handled in thousands of different ways, there are different approaches, different methods, different techniques, and they all show different results in different situations.



    They have different strengths and weaknesses.



    I chose to remain silent, to stare down the other side. By not saying anything, I showed that I was not rushed, that I was firm in my own position. I had no need to ask for anything, no need to make demands, no need to gleam my opponent's motives. I was confident, confident enough to say and do nothing.



    Much then, could be seen from how my opponent reacts, If she is aggressive, if she hesitates, if she gets upset. I had my expectations.



    But, they were all betrayed.



    My opponent did not get angry, get nervous, become panicked. No, my opponent sat there in silence along with me. However, she did not radiate confidence like I did, she was not firm in her own position like I was. No, she had a big smile on her face as she stared at my own expressionless one. As the seconds turned to minutes, she only became happier, her smile growing.



    The fact was, my silence, my visage of confidence, was just that, a fakery, a deception. I had no idea what my opponent wanted or why she was here. I had gambled that she would reveal something, and all I received was wasted time and a stupid smile as Lillian Quarry Fredirin looked back at me.



    At last count, I had forty-four cousins, forty-six before Michael was killed by my own hand, and someone else made use of the chaos to kill Sebastian Lakeside Fredirin. Of those remaining forty-four, five of them were from the Quarry Family. Lillian was the middle child, she had an older brother and an older sister that were one and two years older than her respectively. She likewise had two younger siblings, the girl was three and the boy was one year old.



    Lillian was only a few months younger than my own sister Pamela, she should be twelve for a few more months. Her age should mean she went to school, but for some reason, she did not. A few of my cousins stayed out of the limelight for various reasons, Morgan Goldfield, for instance, was reportedly deformed and handicapped, and as such, never left her home. A few others seemingly lacked the required skills and mentality to stand on this stage and were not active in the competition. As far as I knew, Lillian was one of those. The only rumors that the thieves guild could discover about her was that she wandered around capital all day, and she did little else.



    It was always possible that she was a hidden asset, a trump card to be used only at the most pivotal moments, with my understanding of her mom, my aunt, that is what I had assumed to be the case. However, now that I met her in person, I was not so sure.



    “So, what brings my cousin out this…” I spoke to break the silence, but seeing the giddy expression that came over her face, I paused.



    “Ahhh….” She sighed contentedly. “I can hear you… At last, I can hear you…”



    It only took me a moment to understand what she was saying. After she greeted me, she asked to speak in private, and immediately sent her guards out of the room. I had simply nodded to let Ula know she should exit too. Even as my cousin used a magic item to make a sound barrier I spoke not a single word. Thus, this would be the first time I spoke in front of her.



    But understanding her words did not make me any less confused by the entire situation.



    “What do you want?”



    “Want? I want? What do I…?” She spoke as if she was unfocused, and she looked that way too. “Oh! What I want? I wanted to meet you.”



    “Why? For what reason? Do you even know who I am?” I asked sternly.



    “Yes! You are my cousin, Olivia Pine Fredirin.” She answered my last question.



    But it was not an answer I wanted to hear.



    I suspected as much, it really was only a matter of time until my haphazard disguise as Cat was seen through. Still, being found by one of the Quarry Family, while inside one of their businesses, was not the ideal scenario to be discovered.



    “So you know who I am, and I imagine you came to find me? For what reason?”



    “I wanted to meet you, I want to… I want…” She suddenly stopped as she struggled with her words. “I want… to follow you, to be with you, always.”



    “You are not answering,” I said.



    “Sorry!” She suddenly panicked and apologized. “So sorry!”



    “Just answer me,” I said exasperatedly.



    “I am sorry. I can not… describe it better… I just want to be around you.”



    Something was wrong here.



    I scanned her body again, even going so far as to make my scan detectable. But the results were the same. Her mana core was unsealed, but its capacity was low and the purity of her mana was also low. The meridians in her body were undeveloped, indicating she wasn’t a warrior, even her muscles appeared to be average, she would be at best Rank 2. She did have more magical items on her person as compared to the last time we met. I could sense a few enchanted items, and several different scrolls, even a few wands, two of which seemed to hold powerful spells. If I really focused, I could discover what each of the items did, but I could tell by the amount of mana that they held that they were no threat to me.




    Her sound barrier was still surrounding the room we were in, but I could still tell where the others were by sensing their mana, and none of the three had moved since we began sitting in silence. Her guards were likewise equipped with magic items, but neither of the two had activated any of them.



    What was I missing?



    “I am… Sorry Oliv- no, my cousin.” She said suddenly. “It is just, I have heard so much about you. And… And I am not very good at… talking with others.”



    “You heard so much about me?” I said while frowning, nothing she heard could have been good.



    “Oh, yes!” She exclaimed, her excitement taking over. “Your brother and sister are both very proud of you, they love you very much. Even the servants of your house, they all want the best for you.”



    “Do they now?” I asked, suspicion rising up in me.



    “Yes. Yes, they do.” She nodded vigorously. “And your guards, they all trust you. They all are excited to no longer have to suffer. The one called Nev says you might be a bit too rash, but he is willing to protect you with his life. Ula only wants to be of use to you, Lin says you are the cutest child she has seen and wants to hug you, Jeb respects your strength, They are all in awe of you.”



    “It seems as if you’ve spoken to them?”



    “Spoke? Me to them? No, not at all.” She denied it. “I… find it difficult to talk to others. I just listened.”



    “You listened? How is that possible?”



    Yes… something was very wrong here.



    “I… I heard from your knight, Carla, that you have awoken a bloodline. I have too.”



    I frowned again, Lillian should have had no contact with any of the people she had named, but not only did she seemingly know them, she managed to overhear their conversations, their conversations in regards to topics they should definitely not be speaking of.



    “What kind of bloodline?”



    “It… is not a good one, not like yours. Mine is from a race called the Penuka”



    “Penuka?” I asked as I searched my memories, but came up blank.



    “Yes,” She nodded. “A race that died out a long time ago. The Penuka were a small, secretive race. Smaller than humans, but taller than halflings, they looked as if they were just tiny humans.”



    “I’ve never heard of them,” I said.



    “Most people… I do not think have.” She looked sad as she spoke. “There were never many Penuka, and they lived hidden amongst the humans. They had to.”



    “And why is that?”



    “Well… Penuka were… well, they were born with natural telepathy. They could read the thoughts of any nearby humans. They did this to stay alive, but also to eat, Penuka require the thoughts of living things to survive.”



    “I see…”



    If my cousin inherited the ability of telepathy, that would explain why she knew so much about me, she was listening to the thoughts of those around me.



    However, something seemed off.



    “Penuka cannot feed off of one person for long, that person will experience headaches and mental fatigue, so they were forced to live in places with many other humanoids. But with no other skills, the Penuka struggled to live in those place. No one knows why, but the Penuka’s abilities decreased with each generation until the entire race faded away.”



    “But you inherited their bloodline,” I stated as I temporarily shelved my concern.



    “Yes. I did.” She agreed, “You probably have too.”



    “That is the first I am hearing about it.”



    “The Fredirin Royal line is… filled with many different bloodlines. Everyone that marries in is usually a great person to some degree, and bloodlines are often the source of that, even if it doesn’t awaken. The Penuka blood may have come from my father, but it most likely came from my mother, and then from our grandfather. So you should have some in you too.”



    “Mmmm… That does make sense.”



    “I say that, but the amount of Penuka blood should be incredibly small.”



    “And yet you managed to awaken the bloodline.”



    “That… that was my mother’s doing.” her face looked pained as she said that.



    “How so?” I asked while ignoring her discomfort.



    “Mother knew… That to become queen, it would depend on her children, but as a woman, she could not afford to have many of us, so she decided to make each of us as useful as possible.”



    “That also makes sense.”



    “She knew that her children would likely carry the traces of some kind of bloodline, so all she had to do was awaken them. You may not know, but many different substances can trigger a bloodline to at least awaken partially. But, you would need to know what bloodline you are trying to awaken, and then find the corresponding substance.”



    “Right.”



    “Besides matching the right ingredient with the right bloodline, there are a few things that work on nearly any bloodline, even if it is less likely to work and awaken it fully. One of those is liquified Mana Crystals.”



    “That would work, but…” I frowned again as I thought of how that would play out. “The person consuming that would need to be able to channel their own mana, at the very least, they would need to have their mana core unsealed.”



    “Normally, that would be true. But, my mother found another way.” My cousin said with a grimace. “If she took the substance herself while she was still carrying the child, she could channel it herself.”



    “I see, that is an option.” I nodded in agreement. “However, it would be very difficult, and very taxing on both the mother and the child regardless of its success or failure. At the very least, splitting off your mana and giving it to another should be incredibly painful.”



    “It is,” She looked solemn as she spoke. “Three of my brothers and sisters were never born because my mother failed. And each time she would try, her screams would wake up the entire castle. It was so loud…”



    “Let us table this discussion for now,” I said as I switched topics, “You’ve read the minds of my followers and subordinates, and presumably mine too, so-”



    “NO!” She interrupted with a yell.



    Suddenly she stood up from the chair and rushed around the table that was between us before dropping down to her knees in front of me. My cousin was nearly twice my age, but she was only a few inches taller than me, and now that she was kneeling, her legs sinking into the layer of damp paper, her head only came up to my chest.



    “I have never heard your thoughts!” She stated firmly.



    “Is that so? But I have no way of knowing that, I am not you, I can not read minds myself, so how can I trust you?” I asked while giving her a vicious look, “You know all my secrets, you are a huge risk to me, and you expect me to believe you?”



    “It is true! I swear. Please, you have to believe me!” She practically groveled at my feet as she spoke. “I can not hear your thoughts at all, you are the only person who is silent.”



    “I see,” I said, and for the first time, I smiled.



    Purely mental powers are difficult for people to understand, even outsiders such as myself find them confusing. There is no visible effect, no cause, just a result. But just like with anything else, a result derived through a mental power can come to be through various means. Telepathy isn't one single thing, there are many different types.



    “Can you read the mind of animals?” I asked.



    “Yes! I can,” She hurriedly replied, “But all I can hear from them are vague impulses.”



    “So not actual thoughts then? What about other races, elves, goblins, orcs?”



    “Yes! They all sound different, but I can hear them just fine.”



    “I understand.”



    So, my cousin could read the surface thoughts, but likely nothing deeper. She couldn’t actually pick through their mind, she could not read through their memories, unless they target was reliving their memories. Animals did not think in the way humanoids do, so she could only feel the animalistic urges, and she could likely feel those from humans too, they were just less prominent, and somewhat masked by the actual thoughts. If what I suspect was true, she should be able to understand the thoughts of the undead too.



    “Cousin, you are the only thing I can not hear, please, believe me.” She begged, still kneeling in front of me.



    “What of the undead, can you hear them too? And what about plants?” I asked while ignoring her pleading.



    “Yes! Yes! I can not hear mindless undead, but the other kinds, I can hear just fine. Even undead without bodies, I can hear. But… I can not hear plants.”



    “I understand,” I said as my smile grew even bigger.



    Souls are made from mana, but they do not reside in the mana core. The core simply generates mana, pulling it from the surrounding environment while creating a small bit itself, normal people use this and it dissipates, and they draw more as they go. Mages can store the mana, initially in the core, but with additional training, mana can be stored anywhere within the body. Still, the soul doesn’t stay there, but in the brain.



    The brain thinks, it stores memories, it processes information, makes decisions, it is a vital part of a person. But the soul guides the brain, without a soul, a body would be an automaton, little more than a golem or puppet. Magic could make it move, but it would do nothing on its own and would waste away. And a soul without a brain would normally not be able to exist. Undead use negative energy to fuse with the soul and create a facsimile of a brain, but it isn’t the same. Undead can create new memories, but they struggle heavily to change their existing views and opinions. Even something like a lich, one of the most powerful undead, if it believes something to be a fact, it will find having its mind change to be nearly impossible.



    Since the two, brains and souls, are two separate entities, then for them to work in tandem, some form of communication must be taking place. The soul conveys its intent to the brain, and the brain conveys the information it perceives back to the soul.



    My cousin’s form of telepathy was picking up on that communication.



    She can not hear the thoughts of a plant, because there is no brain, but she can hear undead because most undead have brains, and those that don’t, use negative energy to create something similar.



    As for why she can not hear me, it is because I am an outsider. Currently, my body is flesh and blood, but my soul is linked to every part of it, my brain is my soul. There is no communication between the two, and with no communication, there was nothing for her to intercept.



    “Does… that mean, you believe me?” She asked expectantly.



    “Mmmm, Yes, I will believe you,” I answered, but then added, “For now.”



    My cousin had likely never met an outsider before, which isn’t uncommon. Outsiders do not naturally live on any of the material planes, and while crossing over is not exactly difficult, it is a hassle. Even if it weren't, there are few benefits to doing so. Most outsiders will find themselves weakened when out of their home planes, and a different plane would have little value for an outsider. Any that do cross over, are usually summoned by someone on the plane, or they do so on a whim.



    The offspring of an outsider will maintain most of the outsider’s traits, but within two or three generations, those traits will devolve until the children are little more than outstanding mortal children.



    Thus, my cousin having never met an outsider before would be the standard state of affairs.



    “I understand you can not hear my thoughts, but that does not explain why you have sought me out.” I said to my cousin, who was now almost shedding tears of joy at my acceptance, “You know what I am doing through the thoughts of my family and subordinates, so you know that you pose a massive risk to me. What is it that you want?”



    Suddenly, she stood back up and reclaimed her seat opposite of me, her joyful face was replaced with one of bitterness and sadness.



    “I was born with my Penuka Bloodline awakened, it has always been with me. I am a bit smaller than average, and I do not eat as much either, my fingernails are a light pink, I have four extra teeth, and my sense of smell and hearing are less developed than a human's, but otherwise, I am the same. So much so, that it was at first thought that I had no bloodline.”



    “And…?”



    “But I did have a bloodline, and I could hear the thoughts of others. I always could, from as early as I could remember, I was always able to hear what others were thinking. When I was still very young, it wasn’t a problem, but as I grew, I realized something was wrong. People had two different voices that they spoke with, and I could not differentiate them. I now know that what people think, is not the same as what they say and do, but back then…”



    “...”



    Humans are weak, extremely so. To survive, they had to form groups, communities, societies. Outsiders tend to be more solitary, relationships are built on the benefits both sides bring. As I was before, I would not have understood my cousin's problems, but with the child Olivia’s memories, I could understand some of her hardships.



    “I… had difficulties ever since. Some people learned to not speak to me, and to only think at me. That helped, but a person can not control their thoughts… My tutors all hated me, I could hear what they wanted, what the answer was, but I never really understood why. When I was given books to work from, I could not figure out anything. My behavior was strange too, people would think I was odd, so I would panic and act even stranger.”



    “Eventually the fact you had a bloodline was discovered, right?”



    “Yes… when I was six. But that only made things worse for me. Before that, with my strange behavior and lacking academic results, my family expected little from me. Now that they knew I had a bloodline, I was suddenly valuable. My mother wanted to train me as a spy, but since I could not act normally…”



    “I see… And you would be a security risk to your family also.”



    “Yes… My mother was the first, but eventually, everyone in our estate started wearing magical items that blocked their thoughts, for the first time I couldn’t hear them. But, those items do not prevent me from hearing, they just create so much sound that it blocks out the thoughts, they are awful to hear. And soon after, we discovered that I needed to hear the thoughts of others for sustenance, I fell ill and almost died before my family provided slaves for me to feed off of. But, only being able to hear the thoughts of those who are miserable like that… was just as bad as starving.”



    “So you wander around the city? Picking up the thoughts of those random passer-bys?”



    “It is better for me to lightly feed on as many people as possible. If I only hear a few thoughts, it is easier on me too.”



    “And then you met me, a person whose mind is silent… I see…”



    “All I want… Is to be around you, to talk to you like a normal person. I can not feed off of your thoughts, but you are the only person I have encountered that I can be at ease around. You are my...” she trailed off.



    “Well… be that as it may, we have a pressing concern to deal with now.”



    “We do?”



    “Yes, see, I am pretty sure I need to kill you now,” I said frankly.



    “...Why?” she said, looking shocked.



    “What else am I to do?” I asked rhetorically. “I could reject you, tell you to never seek me out again, but would you listen? You must have realized quickly who I really was, and you can not be so far out of the loop in regards to your family to know that the Pines and the Quarrys are not friends. Despite that, you still sought me out. Even if you could avoid meeting me again, I could never trust that, too much is riding on this for me to simply accept your assurances.”



    “I… would…”



    “It is fine,” I said while waving my hand dismissively. “I can not reject you. So what if I agree to associate with you? Your guards probably do not know who I am at this moment, since I assume you haven’t told them?”



    “I would never tell them!” She replied.



    “But they will figure out sooner or later.”



    “...”



    “Even if you have no intentions, someone from your family might make a move. In fact, even if we exclude your own family, there is a chance that you are under surveillance from another house, and you could end up leading them to me.”



    “That… is… well…” She was at a loss for words.



    “So then, if I can not reject you, nor can I agree to meet with you occasionally, my only option would be to take you into my custody. In other words, kidnap you.”



    “That… That is fine…” she said, a blush spreading on her face.



    “Sadly, it is not fine for me. I would need to make sure that you are not being tracked in any way, if I failed at that I could be discovered, and kidnapping you for any reason would be a huge problem. But, let us suppose that I can kill your guards and take you away without leaving any evidence for your family to follow. You would still become a huge liability to me. If I kept you hidden somewhere, having you rarely encounter anyone, an existence that would be similar to being a prisoner, the fact that I had captured you would be somewhat unlikely to leak out. But, you would also provide nothing of use to me, I would be taking a risk, a small one, but still a risk, for no gain. If on the other hand, I utilized your ability, then the risk you bring would grow.” I explained.



    “I… Then…” She mumbled.



    “The safest option for me would be to kill you now,” I stated matter of factly. “Granted, there is some risk to that too, your guards have probably left behind reports indicating you were acting strangely lately. Someone could follow that trail back to me, but, consider the current situation. The capital is in disorder, your death here will go unnoticed for a while. Even when discovered, you having been killed within your family's own business will provide plenty of distraction. Did you notice something happening here, and then tried to defend the building only to die in the process? Perhaps you had gone here seeking shelter, and then just stumbled upon a robbery. There will be enough confusion for me to erase my own traces.”



    “I… I just wanted… to be… friends…” My cousin said as tears began to well up in her eyes.



    “Friends…”



    That was a concept that was somewhat foreign to me. Friendship, that did not exist in my past life. Partnerships based on benefits, the relationship between subordinates and leaders, debts owed, the feeling of superiority when the strong lord their strength over the weak, those existed. But friendship, that was unknown.



    Even to the previous Olivia, friendship was largely unknown. She loved, and was loved by her family, she was treated well by the servants of the Pine Family, but as for friends, she had none.



    She longed for them, however, for friends, for companions, for someone she could be herself with, to have fun with. She had read in books about friends, she had heard about it from stories, and she wanted a friend more than anything else. But, unable to make any, she was forced to rely on her stuffed animals.



    “Friends… Huh…”



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:22

    Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Lillian Quarry Fredirin.




    After my cousin, Olivia spoke, she had fallen silent, lost in thought.



    A part of me acknowledged that she was the only person I knew where being lost in thought equaled silence, but an even larger part of me was simply sad.



    As a child, I read books. Many books. Because only when I saw written words, could I not hear another’s thoughts. I could live those stories myself, the characters within, I did not know what they were thinking, only within things like that, could I pretend to be a normal person.



    I liked the stories of heroic princes, who would fight evil, who would fight injustice, who wanted to make the world a better place. And who would save the princess, and the two would live happily ever after.



    By knowing the thoughts of everyone around me, I realized since a long time ago that the world was not so simple. There was no pure good and pure evil, no one was wholly unjust and wicked, or righteous and upright. Those stories were simply fiction.



    And yet still, I wanted a prince. Someone who would sweep down, and save me. Whose thoughts were pure, who would care for me without any other motives. I wanted to be saved, to be rescued.



    I spent my days wandering the city streets, sampling the thoughts of every person I met, in the hopes that one of them, might in some way, be my prince. My destined one.



    And then I found Olivia.



    She was a girl.



    I could tell from the thoughts of those around her that she was not a righteous person.



    She was younger than me.



    Smaller than me too.



    Cuter even.



    And yet, she was my prince. The only person I could be comfortable around, the only person who I wanted to be near.



    My destined one.



    But, her words rang true. How could we be together?



    I knew I was not really clever, I could only read the wants of the person in front of me. If I was unable to do that, I was useless. I couldn’t see how to overcome the problems facing us, but I knew there was a way.



    There was always a way.



    And by overcoming those obstacles, it would cement our friendship, our bond. Book after book proved it to be true. We might need to sacrifice, but we could do it.



    I would sacrifice my family and my name without any hesitation. But I was unsure if that would be enough.



    I didn’t know what to do.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:23

    Ruby Pawnbrokers’ Office, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.



    Suddenly, I was broken out of my thoughts. I had sensed Ula and Lillian’s two guards making moves.



    “Eh...? A Horn?” My cousin said looking confused.



    “The sound barrier!” I shouted suddenly. “Cancel it!”



    My cousin fiddled with the magic item, a small chime, that had created the sound barrier. Even as she did, I could sense that the three we had told to wait downstairs were rushing up to meet us.



    Right as they reached the top of the stairs, my cousin had turned off the sound barrier.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    The sound of a horn echoed throughout the night.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    Each blaring sound seemed to shake the very building.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “What… What is going on?” My cousin asked.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “My La, Cat, it is the attack horn!” Before I could answer, it was Ula who burst in and shouted.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “My Lady.” One of Lillian’s guards said as he rushed up to her, “We need to leave. Something has happened.”



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “What… Is this…?” I said to no one in particular as I was almost shocked speechless.



    I could sense, a wave of wrongness approaching. It wasn’t evil, but it was corrupted so heavily that it appeared utterly alien to my senses. The very world was being tortured by this existence, the barriers between this world and the rest were quaking. The rejection between the two sides was so intense that soon reality would begin warping, trying to push out the invader.



    “My Lady? What is wrong?” Ula tried to speak quietly, but she still had to nearly scream over the horn.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    But I did not answer her, instead, I rushed to the window and looked out.



    We were on the second floor of the Ruby Pawnbroker’s office, nowhere near one of the highest vantage points in the city, not even in the 7th circle. But, the location was good, and from my window, I could easily see the great wall that circled the city.



    The wall was seemingly devoid of humans, but not devoid of figures. I could see some humanoid shapes, some bestial, and some even more unnatural than that. Their bodies were made of ice, a crystal clear ice, nearly transparent with only hints of blue and white mixed in.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “Elementals! Here! How?” A shocked Ula, who had followed me to the window, blurted out.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    Even with my back turned to them and my attention elsewhere, I could sense that my cousin and her guards had all become shocked at Ula’s words.



    “Elementals?” I asked incredulously, “those... are elementals?”



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “Yes My Lady.”



    “How…”



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    How could those… things… those wretched things, be elementals?!



    I had encountered elementals many times in my past life, they were neither good nor evil. The strongest could be a real problem, the weakest were little more than pests. They had no society, no culture, they were little more than the raw elements given form.



    What was before me now, was not the elementals I had know.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    They were an abomination. An affront to everything that would normally exist. I couldn’t even grasp what exactly these things were.



    “We need to leave. Now!” One of Lillian’s guards shouted.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “Too late for that,” I said.



    The elementals had already overrun the outer wall, I could sense at least twenty of them already within the 7th Circle, and more were coming in. In fact, several were heading straight towards us.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “Oli- I mean, um, Cat, what should we do?” My cousin asked.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “We need to destroy them,” I answered unhesitatingly.



    These things could not be allowed to exist.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “Okay, uh, Cat, we will help.”



    “My Lady! You cannot!”



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    I spared a glance at my cousin’s two guards, Guardian Knight’s clearly. They should both be around rank 4 or 5, no, considering how valuable Lillian was to her family, they should both be around Rank 6. If the Quarry Family was known to have any Rank 7s stationed in the capital, I would have even thought they might have been of that rank, but the Quarrys had the smallest garrison in the capital out of the six families.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    I was unsure how strong these elementals were, but at rank 6, her Guardian Knights should be more than a match for them. Even if I was wrong and they were lower ranked, they should still be able to fight and survive.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “You have no choice, they are already here.”



    My words were punctuated by a spear of ice that punched through the wall and smashed through two bookshelves before coming to a rest in the wood of a third.



    Before anyone could gather their wits, the remainder of the wall was torn away. A ball of ice the size of a horse crawled in, its three massive ape-like arms pulled the body that still had two other spears of ice sticking out of it.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    Lillian’s guards moved, shields appearing in both of their hands and they moved in front of my cousin to protect her. However, their actions were somewhat pointless.

    Before the two Guardian Knights had finished their move, my machete had already left its sheath and was brought down on the center of the elemental. Halfway through the opening in the wall, it made no effort to dodge or defend, and my blade sliced through its body. The two halves fell back down into the road where they shattered upon the hard ground.



    Bbbbrrrooooooommm!



    “Easy,” I said as I glanced at my now slightly chipped sword.
     
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  8. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 22: Sneak Attack.
    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:25

    Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    “General…” One of the generals adjutants ran up to him, a pained look on his face, “The snow owls sent to Morristown and Riversdale have reports.”



    “Hah,” The general sighed. “How is it?”



    “It is bad. The owl sent to Riversdale reached the town, but it was already…”



    “Understood. And Morristown?”



    “There is a host of elementals, about two to three thousand strong advancing north-west towards the town, they are only minutes away. The owl has a warning for the garrison, but…”



    But Morristown’s garrison was at best one hundred men, and they were barely trained. Even if they were elites, the best of the best, with minutes to prepare, and outnumbered twenty to one, they would still stand no chance.



    “The host that hit Riversdale, where is it now?”



    “It is heading towards us now, it will probably be the first group to make contact.”



    “And the retreating forces from the Forest?”



    “They… They split off another group to try and hold the main elemental host off, but…”



    “But they were destroyed.”



    “Yes, Sir. The rest of their forces are still retreating north, but a force of about two hundred cavalries broke off, they might make it to us before the elementals catch up, but the remaining infantry…”



    “I understand.” The general said solemnly. “Still, it is good that the Temple of Nature decided to help us out, Wodof is one of the few gods that utilize druids, and the snow owl familiars are greatly helping right now.”



    “Yes, Sir!”



    The adjutant saluted and then backed up before turning to resume his duties, leaving General Merrick to continue watching over the preparations.

    The Berzin Hills were a series of eight hills that were clustered next to the main road that ran north to the Capital. Considering that the surrounding land was relatively flat, and that the hills were rather unusually shaped, it was thought that they might have been artificially built in the past, however, no records indicated anything of the sort, and no research into the hills turned up anything either. They were simply an oddity.



    Still, people believed there was some greater meaning to them. The hills formed almost a perfect circle, with only a small opening to the south. There was enough space between the hills to allow easy access as long as the hills were not defended, but the road was still diverted around, even if it was a somewhat large detour. The earth around the Hills was very soft and loose, prone to becoming a muddy mess with even the lightest of rain showers, and the basin in the middle of the hills held water like a bowl.



    Right now the ground was frozen, so the army in the middle of their preparations did not need to worry about that particular problem.



    Palisades were being built surrounding the northern four hills. Normally, all eight would be used while the central basin would be where the main army rested. Or, the defenses would be hidden with the intent to lure an enemy into the basin itself, and then attack them from all sides. However, the Elementals were not a normal opponent. They could sense life from miles away, so a hidden ambush would be impossible. And if they had fortified all eight hills, the elementals would just mindlessly charge the first they encountered, leaving the others with nothing to do.



    Instead, only the northern four were defended, and the bulk of the army was left behind those four. The elementals would charge those, and would, to some extent enter the basin, allowing the mages and the limited siege weapons they brought to catch them in a crossfire. While the elementals focused there, the rest of the army would move around on both sides to flank the elementals.



    Still, while the flanking maneuver was a huge aspect of their battle plan, their methods were primarily defensive. The forces flanking would only move into a range that allowed them to bombard with ranged attacks, and then would take a defensive stance themselves. No one would charge into the elementals.



    Still, the fighting would be intense, and the flanking forces would be lacking the palisades that the defenders on the hills would have. So to help them out, pitfalls and trenches were being dug where the flanking forces were to move to, and even magical mines were being buried in the frozen ground.



    Still, there was one huge gamble they were taking.



    “Commander Tale.”



    “Yes, sir?” The half-elf responded immediately.



    “We brought five of the Capitals Light Throwers to face off against the Fragment. We can whittle it down with normal attacks, but we can only rely on something like the Throwers to finish it off. And since the Fragment is just as mindless as a normal elemental, we figure it will come straight down the middle.”



    “Of course.”



    “There is a chance it will hit somewhere else, but we have plans in place in that event, the Light Throwers are being pulled by mountain oxen, so we can move them easily if we need to.”



    “I understand, what is it that you need our Pine Family to do then?”



    “Based on the size of this Overflow, we think there is a good chance that a Greater Elemental will show up. They are considered to be around Rank 8, as strong as the Fragment, just smaller. They are also a bit smarter, so they could attack us anywhere. Your Pine Family sent us the largest group of high ranking combatants, so i want to ask you to stay near the front, but away from the actual battle. If a Greater Elemental shows up, you will need to rush there and engage it. I will give you the authority to command any soldiers in the area to assist.”



    “What if there is no Greater Elemental?”



    “Then you get to sit the fight out, unless the worst comes to pass, but I do not think that will be the case. I know all of your forces are high ranking, so it’s unlikely you would suffer losses regardless, but you never know what can happen in a battle like this. Fend off a Greater Elemental, and as payment, you can rest easy during everything else.”



    “I understand General. In that case, I should head back to my forces.”



    “Thank you, Commander. You’ve already done us a great service just with your show of force, I do not like pushing this task on you. With luck, there will be no Greater Elemental for you to face, and you will be able to spend the battle idle.”



    “No, Thank you General for being so accommodating.” The Half Elf offered a crisp salute before turning to leave the command center.



    “Hopefully, things go well.” General Merrick muttered as he watched him leave.




    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:29

    Bleeding Forrest Garrison Retreat, North-South Main Road, 12 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Colonel Issold Redia.



    “Ma’am, do you think… that Lieutenant Colonel Lores will be able to hold them back?”



    “No. He will not.” Colonel Issold Redia replied without even looking at Captain Mike.



    Issold was not normally such a taciturn person, she was friendly and easy to get along with, unlike her superior, General Frederica Canyon Fredirin. Her General was brusque and a somewhat difficult person to be around, she was hot-blooded and fiery, and Issold acted as cool water to compliment her fire. But tonight, she was not the smooth water she normally was, instead, she was frozen like ice.



    Major Korlean’s mages all at least dabbled with scrying magic, it was simply too valuable when maintaining the Bleeding Forrest for every mage to not use it. Even exhausted as they were, a few of her mages were able to scry behind them to see what was happening.



    Issold had, despite the difficulties of this retreat, maintained her normal calm demeanor, but fifteen minutes ago when a mage reported that the elementals were chasing after them, her calm expression had begun to freeze.



    If the elementals were behind them, then the fortress had been overrun. If General Frederica had been in good shape, if she hadn't nearly lost her leg years ago, she might have been able to flee on foot. But she did nearly lose her leg, and she would have been fighting there on the front line herself, so she would have been exhausted and wounded. There were no horses left at the keep, no way for anyone to flee.



    General Frederica, one of the only people that Issold Redia looked up to, had died, and so her smile had faded.



    As she realized that they couldn’t outrun the elementals, she became colder.



    When she ordered Lieutenant Colonel Lores to take a third of their forces to stall the elementals, she had begun to freeze.



    When she asked Major Alarville to take Korlean and nearly all of the remaining mages, she had frozen over.



    In her heart, she knew that only the one hundred and fifty horsemen and the similar number of mages stood any hope of survival. The rest of them, they were dead.



    An hour ago, she would have expected the Capital’s forces to rescue them, but with her frozen heart, she no longer had any hope. She moved forward not because she planned to live, but because she had no choice. Her general told her do whatever she could to protect her men, and she would obey that order to the best of her abilities.



    Even if it were impossible.



    Even if she was only staving off the inevitable.



    Even if all she wanted to do was follow her general into death.



    “What should we do then?” Captain Mike asked.



    “Keep moving Captain.” It was Apz, one of General Frederica’s adjutants who spoke up in Issold’s stead.



    Two of her adjutants had stayed behind, Vai and Wiln, and both were presumed dead. Apz, Porso, Kark and Urlis were now with her, serving her since she was their commander’s second in command.



    She knew without even needing to look, that the four each had a face caked with ice, their tears froze from the cold as they fell down their cheeks.



    The same as her own.



    “Colonel…” A voice called out to her.



    The speaker was a man mounted on a donkey, one of the few beasts of burden from the keep, the donkeys were now being used to carry the remaining mages that were all too tired to stand let alone walk. In fact, the mage on the back of the donkey was so pale that he was pure white, cold sweat was dripping from his head, and his eyes were barely focused.



    Sure signs of mana exhaustion.



    “What is it…” Issold glanced at him to see his rank insignia, “Sergeant?”



    “I scried… behind us… Elementals… two thousand feet… away…”



    Issold heard the hiss of sharp breaths being let out as the news was heard by those around her.



    “What do we do?” Captain Mike asked again, “Should we… scatter?”



    “Won't work,” Urlis answered this time.



    “Elementals can sense life force, we won't be able to escape.” It was Porso who continued. “If we split up, it might delay them for a minute or so, but we’ll all end up dead.”



    “Then, what should we-”



    “All forces!” Colonel Issold interrupted him, “About face! Battle Formations!”



    The two thousand remaining soldiers stalled in their march, sluggishly coming to a stop. But while they paused, they did not begin moving into formations.



    Colonel Issold could see it in their eyes, they were tired, they were scared, they were battered and beaten. Even if they had not seen combat against the elementals themselves, they had watched their friends get slaughtered just hours ago. They had been forced to flee with their tails between their legs, to abandon their comrades. They had to suffer the guilt as they left the others behind, the guilt as they realized, deep down, that they were relieved to flee, to not need to fight and die. As they rushed through the blizzard, their strength being sapped by the snow and the cold, they had realized that their friends who stayed behind were dead, they were forced to split again, and those left behind had again, fallen.



    And now, it was their turn.



    “The Elementals are behind us. Minutes away.” Issold called out to the forlorn troops around her. “We can not escape, we will not be rescued. We can only die here tonight. If anyone wants, you may run. The Elementals will chase you down, they will catch you, and they will kill you wherever you hide. You might get lucky, they might overlook you, but i would not bet on it.”



    She looked around, seeing the resignation in the soldier’s eyes.



    “We are all dead. Not now, not yet, but soon. We are all dead.” She said solemnly. “But, so what?”



    The men and women around her shifted nervously.



    “It is said, that it is a sin for a child to die before their parents. Well, it is also a sin for a general to die before their soldiers. Our General stayed behind, she stayed so that we could have a hope of survival. She died. Died so that we could live.”



    No one in the surroundings spoke, everyone was focused on Issold.



    “Well, I say, FUCK THAT!” She roared. “Our General ordered us to retreat, but we are all dead. And the dead do not follow orders. The military says to put the group ahead of the individual, to not allow our emotions to take charge. But we are dead!”



    Issold drew her sword, a thin rapier, and pointed it towards the south.



    “They killed our general, those fuckers killed her. Regulations tell me to follow orders, to not seek revenge, but fuck that! Fuck the regulations! Fuck orders! And Fuck those ice bastards! I will kill them, each of those fuckers i murder will be an offering for our general. Run if you want, hide if you want, but I. Will. Fucking. Kill. Them!” She bellowed, her yell even seeming to cower the wind.



    Issold ripped her rank insignia off of her chest, the piece of metal falling to the snow as she stormed backward towards the elementals.



    “Fucking Kill Them!” “Die!” For our General!” “Those Bastards!” “Kill all of them!” “Fuck!” “Damn them!”



    Two thousand voices roared, in anger, in resignation, in pain, in sorrow, in hatred.



    In agreement.



    The men around her drew weapons and marched back to face the elementals. They tore their own ranks off, creating a mixed blur that combined officer and soldier, subordinate and leader. Everyone was united in their hatred of the Elementals.



    As they roared their resentment to the heavens, they marched forth. And in the distance, through the snow, silhouettes of ice could be seen.



    For a second, all was quiet.



    “Charge! Kill!” Issold roared.



    Her roar was echoed by her side, but met with silence from the other. They charged, steel and flesh crashed into ice.



    Hot blood splashed onto the ground, where it cooled and began to freeze.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:35

    Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.




    “We have little time before the enemy is upon us, so I want to take this time to go over the plan.” General Merrick Miller’s voice easily encompassed the entire tent that made up the temporary command center.



    “I will be candid,” he spoke as he looked at his various aids and adjutants, along with his lieutenant generals who he was nominally in charge of. “As you all no doubt know, direct battle plans are not my strong suit, while ultimate authority lies with Lord Xavier, I am his instrument in all of this. Since his Lordship has sat out during the planning stage, it has fallen to me. Now, our plan is simple, but I want everyone to feel free to speak up and add anything or point out any flaws.”



    Seeing everyone nod affirmatively, the General walked to the table in the center of the tent, upon which sat a crude, but mostly accurate representation of the Berzin Hills and the hasty defenses built around it.



    “The bulk of the enemy force is heading due north, directly towards us. They will enter the battlefield from the south. Two enemy detachments will enter a matter of minutes behind the main force, one from the south-west, and the other from the south-east. Since the battle lines will have already formed at that point, we do not expect there to be any issues with the detachments’ arrival.”



    The General paused, giving enough time for someone to poke holes in his plan, but there were only a few affirmative nods at his words. A good sign for sure, but this was only elementary strategy at this point, the problems would come later on.



    “This battle will primarily be a defensive one, the enemy will strike us, and we will hold. However, the unique aspects of this enemy should be well known, even if few of us have ever personally encountered them.”



    “Elementals…” High Priest Brent, a paladin from the Temple of Defense spoke with a haunted look on his face, “Do not tire, do not rest, do not stop. Their hatred of all that is living overwhelms even the undead. They are mindless, they will advance without end. They have no morale, they will not panic, this will not be a normal fight.”



    The High Priest’s words were taken seriously by everyone in the meeting, he was the only one here who had ever stood against an Elemental Overflow. The middle-aged man lived in a village of nearly one thousand that was destroyed by a small Overflow of Earth Elementals, he was one of only four people who survived.



    “If this humble one may speak a word?”



    “Of course, Ambassador Zhou An, feel free to speak.”



    “Many thanks,” The ambassador from the Crystal Jade Empire said as he gave a deep bow. “This humble one has never directly seen an elemental, however, this humble one had inspected the aftermath of an Overflow that occurred near Green Vine City.”



    General Merrick shot a glance at the adjutant who was nearest, but the man only lightly shook his head in denial.



    “Ambassador, I do not recall having heard of an Overflow occurring within the Empire recently. I haven’t heard of Green Vine City either,” General Merrick stated.



    “This humble one knows that your Excellency. The Overflow happened sixteen years ago, only a year after I entered officialdom as a eunuch, inspecting the aftermath was one of my first major duties, and it had stuck with me ever since.”



    As the bald man spoke, General Merrick was able to hold himself back, but a few others in the tent cringed or otherwise drew back at the mention of his status as a eunuch. While not everyone knew what that entailed, enough did, and they struggled to hide their revulsion at the Empire’s methods of ensuring loyalty in their bureaucrats.



    “As for Green Vine City,” The aged, not-quite-a-man continued on, “the city was located far to the south of our mighty empire, but during the Overflow, it was destroyed, the entire population of sixty thousand was lost.”



    “...I see…”



    General Merrick was not exactly happy with the ambassador right now, truth be told, he found the man to be similar to a snake, his nature as a eunuch only made his distaste for him stronger. The General had wanted to remind the men under him that should they fail, the Royal Capital would be in danger, but the ambassador had preempted him.



    “That day a relatively small Overflow happened to occur, but the Elementals that came forth were Fire Elementals, and they burnt the city and its inhabitants to ash.” He spoke solemnly as he twirled his thin, white beard with his fingers. “The nearby garrison forces, in an effort to stop the fire, destroyed the local dam, flooding the city and surrounding area with water. It was due to this that the small garrison was able to defeat the Elementals”



    “Unfortunately ambassador, we have no nearby dams to break.” High Priest Brent said sourly.



    “Of course, this Humble One knows that. However, this Humble One just wanted to point out a simple fact. Elementals do not breath, they are not alive. While some were undoubtedly destroyed by the force of the water, most were left almost perfectly fine. The reason why the garrison could defeat them wasn’t due to the damage inflicted by the water but was due to the fact that the flood greatly upended the elemental balance of the area. Fire and water are opposed, when the area was infused with the elemental power of water, the Fire Elementals were then severely weakened. Even the powerful Fragment, was easily destroyed by a group of rank 4 soldiers. This Humble One just wanted to suggest that we use fire as much as possible in the upcoming battle.”



    “The… ambassador brings up a valid point,” Brigadier General Tino spoke suddenly, “However, we lack oil or tar to create a large fire, and with the blizzard raging, finding a fuel source is…”



    “A natural fire is out of the question, which leaves us with a magical one, however, the strong influence of cold and water brought about from the Elementals themselves will hinder the casting and use of most fire spells.” Colonel Dexter followed up.



    “This humble one, of course, knows these facts. This Humble One just wanted to inform you illustrious gentleman of what this Humble One knew. However, if this Humble One were to be presumptuous, this Humble One has noticed a fuel source that was overlooked.”



    “And that source is?” General Merrick asked.



    “Are there not nearly forty thousand men and women in this army? This Humble One suspects that some are most likely of noble blood, but many of them will be peasants. The human body can serve as a fuel source if need be.”



    “You…” Cardinal Drei from the Temple of Mercy looked appalled, “You want us to burn our own people?”



    “This Humble One only suggests it as a last resort, better to suffer self-made losses here, than to get destroyed and let the city suffer damage.”



    “Enough!” General Merrick shut down that discussion. “Ambassador, I thank you for your suggestion, but we will not sacrifice our own citizens like that.”



    General Merrick realized what Zhou An was trying to do.



    Defending the Capital was of the utmost importance, but preventing heavy casualties within their own forces was also extremely important. If everything went well, they would be able to easily handle the Elemental host and suffer only light casualties. Even if things were to go wrong, while they would suffer for it, they would still triumph.



    But, it could still be said that their backs were to the wall. If something were to go wrong, before they could calmly respond, there was now a chance that someone would pointlessly ignite their own troops.



    Unlike everyone else here, the ambassador served a different nation, one that was sometimes at odds with the Kingdom. From his perspective, any loses the kingdom suffered, would be a boon to his own nation.



    “No, this Humble One apologizes for his words, they were lacking in thought.”



    No one said anything, but most of the people glared or otherwise sent looks of disdain towards the balding eunuch. Some of them probably realized what he was trying to do, but they could not voice those concerns to his face.



    “Then moving on,” General Merrick brought that topic to a close before continuing, “Our basic strategy will be a simple one, we will focus on defense while wearing the enemy down with ranged attacks. Archers will have limited effectiveness, so we will be relying on heavy crossbows, slingers, magical attacks, and siege weapons. On the topic of siege weapons, we have brought all of the lighter ones from the capital, so we will have an abundance of those.”



    Everyone around the table nodded in agreement, the fact that they would be able to batter the elementals down with the heavy weapons was a great relief for everyone there.



    “The plan for our actual defense is a bit more involved, so I will ask Brigadier General Tac to go over it, it is after all his plan.”



    “Thank you General,” Brigadier General Tac, a dwarf, said as he moved up towards the center of the room. “If we face the Elementals head on, we can expect catastrophic casualties. This is why we are taking a defensive stance, however, just that alone will not be enough. If we focus on making a sturdy wall, the Elementals will just break through it. If a hard defense will not work, we will use a soft one.”



    The dwarf let his words sink in for a moment before he continued.



    “The fortifications we managed to build are not designed to block the Elementals, but to break them up and funnel them to certain areas. We do not want them crashing into us in one mass, but in small streams. Our regular soldiers will focus on defense using shield walls, but they will form platoon sized clusters with mage and ranged support mixed in. These clusters will be durable enough to weather an Elemental assault for a short while, but nothing more. Meanwhile, the area between each cluster will be filled with our warriors who are of at least Rank 3. They will make up the kill team, while the others act as distractions.”



    “If I may General?” High Priest Brent interrupted.



    “Go ahead.”



    “While this does seem as an effective way to destroy the Elementals, it does put the greatest burden on those high Rankers. If they get worn out, the other defenders will crumble rather quickly.”



    “Yes, that is a valid concern, but it brings me to the next point.” Brigadier General Tac nodded in thanks to the Paladin before he continued, “Each defense sector will be handled by a regiment of two thousand troops. Each sector will be split into two parts, a left and a right. Nearly all of our ranged support will at first focus fire upon the left part, this will greatly reduce the Elementals that get through that part, but at the same time, the other part will face their full fury. After a while, we will change targets to the right, the positions of the regiment will be swapped. While the left part takes over the bulk of the fighting, we will cycle out the tired and injured. We will repeat this as we go, the focus fire will buy us time to reorganize.”



    “I understand, thank you.”



    “There is one last thing I need to mention,” General Merrick took back the reins of the meeting, “We have a plan for dealing with the fragment, the Light Thrower’s we brought from the capital should be sufficient to destroy the Fragment with a single volley, assuming all Throwers score hits. That is, however, probably not going to happen. Still, we should damage it enough that we can either finish it off with concentrated attacks, or at least keep it at bay with concentrated spellfire long enough for the cannons to recharge. However, that is only one problem.”



    The General looked around the tent, meeting the eyes of everyone within.



    “Based off of the size of this Overflow, we are confident that there will be a Greater Elemental mixed in. There is even a decent chance that a second Greater Elemental slipped through before the tear closed.”



    “One… I would expect, but two…” Cardinal Drei mumbled to herself while everyone else expressed basically the same idea.



    “Thanks to the assistance from the Temple to Wodof, we have been able to view the aftermath of the battle at the Forest, there is a large destroyed area within the trees. Most of you might not know this, but General Frederica is… was, a Rank 8 warrior. We suspect she did battle with one of the Greater Elementals, and even if she didn’t destroy it, she likely damaged it heavily. Rank 5 and Rank 6 warriors will be able to keep it at bay while our mages finish it off.”



    “That will be enough for an injured one, but what about an uninjured one? Granted, there may not have been two in the first place, and General Frederica may have killed the second, so all of this might be a moot point, but still.”



    “And that, is where the Pine Family comes in,” General Merrick said, for the first time this night, he felt at ease. “Commander Tale will utilize the Pine Family's forces as a detached group that will hunt down the Greater Elemental when it shows up. Even if two appear, the Pines will be able to assist with the second.”



    “Then, everything sounds good.” Cardinal Drei stated.



    “Yes, this is a good plan, it will allow us to defend the Capital, and nothing else matters.”



    “Do not forget everyone,” General Merrick said, “We are the protectors of the Capital’s citizens, we cannot fail.”



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:46

    Bender Street, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Olivia Pine Fredirin.




    “Two more, heading down the alley to the east!” Ula yelled from her vantage point atop a nearby roof.



    My machete was currently cleaving through the body of an Elemental, two of its four heads, the laughing one, and the crying one, were already severed and on the floor. The angry face and the expressionless face were still attached to its bloated body, but the top half of that body was now breaking apart as my blade cut through it. Two short stubby arms flailed about, trying to stop me, but coming nowhere close to reaching me or my blade, and they then ultimately failed, the fat, four-headed Elemental was cut in two.



    I could sense the wretched elemental powers that gave it life fading even as it fell, soon it would shatter and begin to melt.



    “I’m on it!” Yelled one of my cousin’s two Guardian Knights, so far only that one had moved more than two feet from the young girl, the other had stayed to protect her.



    Elementals were beings of pure elemental power, pure fire, pure water, pure cold, pure earth, pure darkness, pure whatever.



    These… things, these Elementals were not pure at all. They were tainted in some way, some inexplicable way that corrupted them so deeply that I had never seen anything remotely similar. Whatever happened that caused this, certainly left an impact on the Elementals’ behavior, turning them hateful, insane, and unable to think.



    Lillian’s knight charged through one of the houses, knocking the door apart as he did, and then lept through the backdoor into the alleyway. He was swift and came from an unexpected direction, but he was spotted by the two Elementals well before he got close, they could sense his approach with ease. Whether they were sensing magic, heat, or something else, I did not know, but the result was the same. His sword clashed with a tentacle-like appendage sent to block him from one of the Elementals, but it was then cut through.



    My cousin’s Guardian Knights were Rank 6 as I suspected, but they were also outfitted with high-quality equipment. That knight’s sword was magically enchanted to increase the weight of the blade when it made contact with an object, so despite being a normal longsword, it hit with the force of a great ax. He would easily handle just two Elementals.



    Which was good, because I was still occupied.



    An Elemental with an upper body of an hourglass and a mass of tentacles for legs charged at me and attacked by swinging its head at me like a club. Due to the difference in size between us, I was not even four feet tall, and the Elemental was closer to ten, the only attacks it could send my way were a low sweep, or a headbutt smash directly into the ground.



    It chose the sweep.



    Which I was easily able to duck under and step into, the point where the top and bottom halves connected was thin, I didn’t even need my sword for this, a well-placed punch shattered that point and the upper half went flying before smashing into a wooden house.



    Elementals only die when more than half of their body is destroyed, this one was unharmed before I hit it, and while the top part was a large portion of its body, the bottom part had the addition of the tentacles, losing the top was only losing about 40% of the body. Elementals, at least these Elementals, do not feel pain, nor do they even notice the damage to their bodies, as such, even as the top part of its body was crushing through someone’s house, the tentacles shot up at me.



    I jumped back, my machete swinging as a few of the tentacles of ice that tired to entangle me fell to the ground. But even as I landed, the Elemental charged forward, the part where I broke of the top had now become a point for which it tried to impale me.



    “Too easy,” I said, stepping a bit to the side and catching the charging point under my left arm. Having locked it in place, I slammed my blade into its body. Even as its tentacles lashed at me, I pulled the machete back, leaving a trench upon the formerly flawless ice.



    The Elemental began to crack and shatter, the mana animating it began to fade, so I dropped it to the ground and moved on.



    The first of Lillian’s Guardian Knights was still in the alley, but he should be done soon, and of the three Elementals that I was dealing with, one changed targets and went towards my cousin, only to be smashed down by her remaining defender.



    “How is it, Ula?”



    “There is a group of civilians three blocks north, but there are Elementals on their trail.”



    “Will we make it in time?” I asked.



    “...No.”



    “Well, too bad. Still, we should go and finish them off.”



    “No need, Cat, there are only two Elementals, and a group of mercenaries is closing in on them.”



    “Then we will keep heading west towards the wall, we need to reclaim that first.”



    The great wall that surrounded Arvas was fifty feet tall, and while the buildings surrounding us partially obscured the view, from what I could see, Elementals were still jumping down from it.



    The city had issued a mandatory evacuation order to the southern sections of the 7th and 6th Circles. The Elementals were advancing due north, but they would be intercepted by the forty thousand strong army that the Capital had sent out. There was no real chance the army would be defeated, and if it were, the Capital would suffer severe damage regardless of any evacuation orders. But, there was a chance that some Elementals might slip through, in fact, the odds were good that the Elementals would split up, some heading north-west towards Morristown and some heading northeast towards Riversdale.



    Riversdale was only slightly out of the way, so while the Elementals might have been able to hit that and then rush towards the Capital, the Army would be right in their way. Commander Tale assured me that Elementals were mindless, so something like diverting around the army to sneak attack the Capital would be impossible. But even if they did, they would have hit the south side of the city.



    Likewise, if the group that went after Morristown decided to go towards the capital after finishing with the small town, they would likely hit from the South too. However, Morristown was further away and required a larger detour for the Elementals to reach, based on the reports, they should just now be reaching the town, they would still need to destroy it before moving on. Simply put, there was no way for the group that went to Morristown to already be at the Royal Capital.



    The south of the city was evacuated, and the majority of the remaining guards that were not helping with the evacuation were stationed on the southern walls. The western, eastern, and northern walls had even less than a skeleton crew, and that crew, lacking as it was, was made up of new recruits and the elderly.



    To make matters worse, the primary method of noticing enemies was through detect life, detect magic, and detect heat spells. All three of which would not work on Elementals. With the blizzard reducing visibility, the defenders on the northwestern section of the wall didn’t even raise an alarm until after the wall was covered in Elementals.



    “We will follow you wherever you go,” My cousin spoke up, even as her two guards, including the one who had just come back, frowned, but said nothing.



    Her guards were not at all happy right now. They wanted to retreat to safety, bringing my cousin with them. The fact that I had revealed strength at the peak of Rank 6, while they had just stepped into the Rank had also left them concerned, after all, my identity was still unknown. Still, while they were nervous around me, they also realized I was a valuable partner who could help protect their charge, and while they did want to retreat to safety, they also were not willing to abandon the thousands of people who were currently being slaughtered in the 7th Circle.



    “If we can retake even a section of the wall, we will be able to get a better idea of what is happening,” I said, more to the two knights than to my cousin or Ula, “And we can also act as a rallying point. Right now the few defenders left are being bogged down in this chaotic melee in the streets. Not to mention the fact that the Elemental’s have an advantage in detecting our allies.”



    Neither of the two knights said anything, their frowns remained on their faces, but the fact that they did not object was an agreement in its own way.



    “Okay, Ula, keep an eye out as we adva-” I stopped mid-sentence and swiveled my head to the north.



    Bender Street was not a major road, nor a notable one. Like all of the roads running parallel to the city’s walls, Bender Street had a slight curve to it, which limited how far a person could see down it, although the blizzard that still raged made that a moot point at the moment.



    I could not see anything, but I could feel it.



    Approaching through the snow and ice, was something so corrupted, so wrong, that I could feel the very fabric of the planes begin to groan. Different from my own kind, different from the chaotic demons, different from even the creatures from beyond the void, what was approaching now was so wretched that existence itself cried out, refusing to bear its burden.



    “Ula,” I spoke without turning my eyes from the end of the road, “I need your sword.”



    “Yes?” She hesitated, before unsheathing her dirk and then tossing it to me.



    Ula’s sword was about as good as mine, but thinner and agiler than my machete, it would be a particularly poor weapon to use against these Ice Elementals. However, Ula had not used her sword, instead, she had used her short bow to harass the Elementals. Her sword was undamaged, unlike my own which was chipped and cracked.




    “It is here”



    Through the snow it stepped, its large and powerful form slowly revealed. An evil looking knight, it’s armor studded with spikes, it’s helmet sporting two horns that curve upward. It held a shield that was easily large enough to cover my entire body, and in the other hand was a spear of crystal clear ice.



    Unlike the other Elementals that had charged straight at me even before we could see each other, this one slowly walked forth, its gait was leisurely, but it held great power.



    “That… That is a Greater Elemental.” One of Lillian’s knights muttered.



    “I see…”



    A Greater Elementals. A being of at least Rank 7, but most likely higher. A very powerful opponent, and with Michael’s soul still within my heart, I would not be able to use even the limited powers I had available to me.



    Still, I could not allow such a thing to continue to exist.



    “Defend yourselves, and if you see an opportunity, strike,” I said as a gust of icy wind blew down the road.



    The Greater Elemental bent it knees and rested it’s lance upon its shield as it prepared to charge.



    The veins on my body bulged, the blood within flowing faster and faster, stronger and stronger.



    The knight launch itself at me, its feet sliding across the frozen ground.



    My blood vessels ruptured, blood flowing from my body. My arms, my legs, they all dripped with my tar-like blood.



    The knight covered the hundreds of feet between the two of us in only a second, its lance thrust towards the center of my body.



    My blood formed a bubble in front of me, catching the lance within and slowing it. It still pierced through, the ice sizzling as it was corroded by my blood, but it was too slow. I sidestepped the thrust and my machete flew towards the wall of ice that was the Elemental’s shield.



    The blade shattered, shards of ice were scattered, and blood sprayed.
     
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  9. Silveus

    Silveus Never Drinks Mana Pots

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    Chapter 23: The Battle of Berzin Hills Commences.
    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:52

    Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    “General, I've got a few… reports…” One of General Merricks aids came up and said with a frown.



    “What is it?” The General asked with concern, not having missed the atmosphere around the man.



    “The two hundred riders that were carrying the mages from the garrison force have made it to us, they’re under command of Major Alarville and Major Korlean. They are healthy, but exhausted, the two hundred mages especially so.”



    “So General Frederica managed to save the fort’s mages…” General Merrick sighed in appreciation. “She was a good commander.”



    “Yes… However…” The aid hesitated.



    “Something else?”



    “Yes, Sir. The Druids of Wodof have reported that the rest of the garrison… they turned back and made a last stand. They were…”



    “I see…”



    General Merrick Miller was not a normal soldier or officer. He worked his way up through the ranks, starting as a clerk in the logistics department. In many ways, his success in the military, even if he lacked the fame and recognition he deserved, was a story that was almost a fairy tale. But, he was never a soldier, never a man who fought and bled. Unlike other generals who waged war alongside their men, who braved danger with the soldiers under them, General Merrick worked his way to his current rank while sitting behind a desk. Worse, the logistics department was never really held in high esteem by the rank and file in the first place, when things were going well, no one took note, but when things went poorly and deliveries of supplies were delayed, the logistics department would be cursed all the way from the lowest ranks to the highest. When things got really bad, the soldiers would view the logistics staff with the same hatred and animosity that they viewed their enemies with.



    In many ways, he lacked the sense of comradery with the men and women who really laid their lives on the line to fight.



    But, even he, who was so far removed from the struggles of the normal soldiers, he who had such an analytical mind who saw everything as if it were on a balance sheet, still mourned in his own way for the valiant lives that were lost.



    “Then, is that all?” He asked as he pulled himself out of his morose thoughts.



    “Unfortunately, no.” The aid shook his head sadly, “The last report from the snow owls indicated that Morristown has been destroyed, the Elementals were last seen turning northeast towards us. As for the host that destroyed Riversdale, we lost track of it when it entered the tip of the southern woods.”



    “I understand…” But after a moment of thought, General Merrick’s face frowned slightly. “Why would they enter the forests? Is that not slightly out of the direct path towards us?”



    “Umm,” The aid stopped and tried to think about it also. “I am not sure?”



    The fact that both the supreme commander of the army and one of his aids could not recall the exact lay of the land would appear to be a pretty big failing, but in actuality, it was not. Detailed maps were a military secret, the manufacture and possession of them were highly regulated, even more so for the area around the capital. That being said, it was still the area around the capital, the area that saw the largest amount of traffic, most commoners could draw a rough map of the surroundings by memory, at least assuming they routinely traveled through those areas. Further, while the maps were regulated, General Merrick and his adjutants were all allowed to view the most detailed maps the kingdom had. Their problem wasn’t a lack of familiarity with the maps, but the maps themselves.



    The maps focused on the major geographic features and the major man-made features. The towns were all accurately portrayed, the river, the Berzin Hills, and the roads. And that was the problem, the maps were based around the roads, those were the most accurate aspects. The main highway that leads north to the capital went right around the Berzin Hills, but it did not connect to Riversdale, a smaller side road branched out through the surrounding farmland and connected to the smaller town. If one wanted to go from Riversdale directly to the Hills, there would, of course, be smaller paths and roads, but they were not displayed on the maps, and even if they were, said roads would still follow the natural contours of the land, they would not be a direct, straight line.



    And direct, straight lines, were how Elementals would travel.



    General Merrick walked to one of the side tables and found a smaller map that covered the areas around the river, his frown deepening as it confirmed what he thought. The southern edge of the tree line was not in a direct path from Riversdale to the Berzin Hills.



    “Hmm… You are right General,” The aid, who could now see the map for himself, said.



    “High Priest Brent, a moment of your time please,” General Merrick asked the holy man from the Temple of Defense who was seating to the side in prayer.



    “Hmm? General?” The high priest opened his eyes and placed the shield-shaped holy symbol of Avior, the God of Defense back around his neck and walked over. “What can I help you with?”



    “You are the one with the most experience with Elementals here, and we have an issue,” the General said as he pointed to the smaller map, “The host that sacked Riversdale curved slightly to the north, eventually reaching the tree line where the druid’s snow owls lost sight of them. What is your take on this?”



    “Hmm…” The old man hummed to himself in thought as he ran a calloused hand through his gray beard. “I am not an expert on these things in any way, but, if they diverted from the direct path, that would mean there was a group of living beings there. Or, I suppose a fire, being Ice Elementals, they would hate that as much as a group of the living, but I suspect the druids would have noticed a forest fire”



    “Oh, I see.”



    Elementals would charge endlessly towards the biggest concentration of living beings that they could sense. That much was common knowledge. If there was a group of five hundred and a group of one thousand, the Elementals would ignore the smaller group and go towards the larger, this too was common knowledge.



    But, it wasn’t completely accurate. Yes, the Elementals will head to the largest group, but only if both groups are roughly an equal distance away. Few experiments were done considering the nature of Elemental Overflows, but it was generally assumed that if the number of living beings in the second group was half that of the first, but it was also half the distance, the Elementals would be just as inclined to head towards the smaller group.



    While their army was forty thousand strong, it was still a decent distance from Riversdale, if there was a small group of people in the woods, the Elementals could have easily changed direction temporarily.



    “However, why would people be within the forest now?” High Priest Brent mumbled to himself.



    “Could it not be animals?” The General asked.



    “Unlikely,” Was the response as the holy man shook his head, “Elementals do hate and seek to destroy all life, they won't leave a horse, cow, dog, or even a rat alive when they attack, but they focus much more intently on sapient beings. Unless there was a huge group of animals, or something particularly large, I do not think they would have gone north. And considering these woods are so close to the capital, I doubt a large beast would be walking around.”



    “Perhaps a shepherd had left their flock there?” The adjutant who had almost been forgotten spoke up.



    “Perhaps, but… Ah!” General Merrick looked surprised as he had a moment of insight.



    “What is it?”



    “The Spring Welcoming Festival is less than a month away.”



    “The Festival? Why does that…”



    “Oh, I see, that makes sense.”



    The high priest did not understand, but the general’s aid did.



    “This weather is unexpected, but normally there would be many caravans of goods heading to the capital in anticipation of the Festival. With the snow, they would have been trapped on the roads, and they would not only need to seek out wood for warmth, but the trees would provide some shelter too. There is… was… probably a caravan holed up in the woods there.”



    “I see, those poor souls,” The high priest spoke with grief and anger.



    “But, General…” The adjutant hesitated to speak.



    “What is it?”



    “If that is the case, there are probably several groups of travelers, including other caravans, taking shelter within the forest.”



    “Yes, there are likely going to be heavy casualties there now,” the General said with a frown.



    “No, that isn’t it General,” High Priest Brent interjected, “The Elementals will bounce from one group to another, they are all likely in close proximity, there is no telling how soon they will head our way. In fact, they might not even come our way.”



    “...shit.”



    This was a problem.



    General Merrick was now at a loss as to how to proceed. The host that attacked Riversdale was around two to three thousand strong, just like the host that just finished off Morristown. Human forces would be hard pressed to fight Elementals on even footing unless they outnumbered them ten to one, or consisted of many high ranking combatants. Even then, they would suffer heavy casualties in the process. General Merrick could not break off a group of high ranking warriors to search for that host, and if he broke off a small section of a few thousand soldiers, those soldiers would end up annihilated if they actually encountered the Elementals without the benefits of the defenses they built at the Berzin Hills. To safely track them down and defeat them, he would need to split off nearly half of his army, which was not a real option, the remaining half of twenty thousand would need to face off against about ten thousand Elementals. With all of the high rankers supported by the defenses they built, they would probably win, but they could expect to lose at least half of their numbers. And that was assuming that once they started suffering heavy losses, the army didn’t just break and run. The people under him knew that that would lead to a disaster, but in the heat of the moment, no one really knew what would happen.



    “Tell the druids to keep an eye out for that host, we can’t let them get lost in the forest. Luckily, we do not need to worry about them attacking the capital right away, with the evacuation of the southern zones, and with the magical barriers built into the walls, the Elementals should not be able to sense much from that area, so they probably won't head too far north. Still, send a message to the capital, tell them to tighten their guard.”



    “Yes, sir!” His aid saluted and then left to follow his orders.



    “It should… be fine…” The old high priest said as he still pondered the situation.



    “General!”



    But before General Merrick could ask him for more insights, another of his adjutants ran gasping for air.



    “Report.” The general ordered.



    “Enemy vanguard has been spotted! Numbers unknown, five minutes out. They are following the projected course.” Was the out of breath response.



    “Okay,” General Merrick too a deep breath himself, steadying the slight tremor in his hand as he reached for a mug of warm water that was on the table.



    The water was tasteless and lukewarm, but it returned the moisture back to his suddenly dry mouth.



    “Alert the army, have everyone prepare for combat.”



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:57

    Royal Army Center, 14th command post, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Guardian Knight Carla Redwood.



    Carla Redwood was sitting on a stool a few feet outside of the tent that acted as the center army’s 14th command post. The family that she swore loyalty to, the family that she was a part of, had deployed just over sixty of their best men and women, and they were all congregated around this tent. Carla was among friends and family, but she was still alone, a solitary island amongst the seas.



    Few spoke, few moved, few did anything. Carla suspected that like herself, many of them should be checking their equipment, making sure their armor was one firmly, their weapons were well maintained and sharp, that their scrolls and potions were easily grasped but not easily knocked loose, but few were doing that. Like Carla herself, they sat in silence.



    The Pine Family had built up an impressive military force of a few Elites, Carla knew this. She also knew that her family had deployed a huge amount of might here tonight, more than practically any other house. But she also knew, that her friends and family sitting around the tent along with her were untested, untempered in battle. A few were mercenaries or knights who had fought before, but most of them were products of the strict training and laborious study regimens. Technically, they were strong, on paper, they were strong, but would it really turn out like that?



    Carla’s left hand, surrounded by a shimmering steel gauntlet shook, she remembered the times in the past when she had fought. When she had killed goblins for training, the time when she had killed some orc raiders, the two times she had killed another man. She remembered the looks on their faces, the pain, the fear, the despair.



    She understood that she had no reason to feel guilt, and she did not regret those actions. But she was always able to place her own face over the faces of those she had slain. Tonight, they would fight Elementals, beings that would show neither pain nor fear nor despair. They would relentlessly charge forth, to kill and take lives. Carla could not help but see herself and her fellows falling beneath their icy limbs, their own faces twisted into grimaces of pain, fear, and despair.



    Carla’s right hand was covered by the same shimmering steel as her left. It connected to the same vambrace, which connected to the same couter, which connected the same rerebrace, which connected to the same pauldron, just as it did on the left. They had the same chain mail connecting the pieces, the same leather armor acting as a final line of defense, and as an insulator to keep her warm in this snow.



    But her right hand did not shake, did not tremble, it was steady.



    In her right hand, sitting upon her palm, was a small red crystal. Calling it red was incorrect, it was a deep, dark crimson, and it was set into a simple iron chain.



    Carla did not know exactly what it was, she could sense a faint trace of mana from it, a familiar mana that she knew came from her Lady. She did not know what it does, but her Lady told her it would protect her, and that was enough.



    Carla suddenly came to a conclusion.



    Her Lady, Olivia Pine Fredirin, had told her that she was her Lady’s knight, her possession. That she would not allow anything to harm or take away her possessions. Then it was simple.



    Carla placed the chain around her neck, the red crystal falling beneath her cuirass. She slipped the visor on her helmet shut, she strapped her heater shield to her left arm, and with her right, she drew her sword.



    She would not die. She would return. She would not let her Lady suffer a loss.



    Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!!



    Suddenly, the deep boom of war drums rang out in the camp, a series of horns let loose adding to the sound. Several Sunburst Flares were shot into the sky, the snowy night was illuminated as if it were the brightest of days.



    Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!!



    The battle had begun.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:02

    Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    Some generals lead their troops from the front, cleaving through the enemy lines. Others sought out and dueled the enemy leaders. And still, others sat back in a command center and moved their troops as if they were pieces on a board game.



    General Merrick did none of those.



    His role in this fight has effectively been paused. His task was the work that lead up to the start of the battle. Maybe if things started to go wrong, he would act as the ultimate authority figure and make the final pick from his subordinate's differing ideas, but he would have little say in the formation of those ideas. When the battle ended, his work would resume, he would need to see to the wounded, wrap things up, and return the army back to the capital in an orderly manner. And, should the worst come to pass, should the army suffer catastrophic losses, he would then be the one who takes responsibility for the failure.



    His only job right now was to watch and wait.



    The Elemental vanguard, if a proper military term could be applied to the hoard of enemies, came directly from the south, exactly as planned. While they were still five hundred feet out, they were met with a withering barrage of incoming fire.



    The heavy ballista were the first to fire, their massive projectiles little more than sharpened tree trunks, soared through the air and crashed into the advancing Elementals. Brigadier General Elise had been in charge of setting up the siege weapons, and she had deployed two each of the heavier weapons on the left and right hills, three at the center hills, and two more in each of the small gaps between the center and sides. Because the Elementals did not use formations, the effectiveness of the heavier weapons were reduced, but the spread of fire from different directions helped address that concern. Still, only a small amount of Elementals were damaged in the first attack.



    The second to fire, were the catapults, both the heavy and the lighter ones had held their fire until this point. The catapults had ranges longer than the ballista, but only when using large solid projectiles. Like their ballista counterparts, only a few of the heavy catapults were able to be brought from the capital in time, and Brigadier General Elise had deployed all six of them at the center hill. Meanwhile, of the twenty-seven smaller ones, nineteen were at the center and the remaining eight were split evenly between the two small gaps on each side.



    The heavy catapults fired clay pots filled with tar and oil, that were then ignited with a torch before being fired. They lacked the time and the supplies to clear the snow from the entire valley between the hills, and then set up pools of oil, but they had done their best, and the six clay projectiles had splashed liquid flames over the Elementals and ignited sections of the valley.



    The smaller catapults fired bundles of smaller stones, each the size of a human head, which tore apart the icy figures in the lead.



    With their front line destroyed, and with the middle scattered from the fire and ballista, the remaining Elementals were even more disorganized when they entered the range of the cheiroballistra. The army was equipped with several hundreds of these smaller weapons, and a rain of spears fell into the Elementals. Individually they did little damage, even direct hits mostly just bounced off while leaving behind some cracks, but the sheer amount of falling spears were enough to destroy many of the Elementals. Even for those that survived, the force of the attacks were able to knock the Elementals off balance, and sometimes even off of their feet, further blunting the momentum of their charge.



    At one hundred and fifty feet out, the mages added their arcane might to the mix. Pellets of hardened earth, bursts of fire, arcs of lightning, icicles, rays of light, smoking balls of shadow, globs of acid, crackling masses of chaotic energy, bolts of force, pressurized spouts of water, even blades of wind, all crashed into the Elementals as arcanists, elementalists, and priests, all attacked at once. Some of those attacks, the shadow balls, the water spouts, the icicles, amongst others, would be less effective than normal considering the anatomy, or lack thereof, that Elemental's possessed. Shadow magic inflicted less damage, but it turn drained the strength and stamina of the target, an effect that would do little to the Elementals, likewise, water and wind attacks were designed to cut the enemy, and without easily cut skin and without blood to leak from wounds, they too, would do less harm than normal. Still, it was often better to let mages use their best spells, even when that type of magic was less than ideal, and with the sheer amount of magic being fired into an already weakened enemy, it simply didn’t matter.



    At seventy-five feet out, that was when the mages would have opened fire again, using the already planned for system of alternating fire while allowing half of the enemy to meet their line, but no enemy reached that point.



    The vanguard had been stopped entirely, two hundred Elementals were torn apart and shattered upon the valley.



    A low cheer went up amongst the men, but it was muffled by the sound of the eleven heavy ballista firing again. The projectiles shot through the night sky, arcing over the heads of the cheering soldiers before crashing into the second wave of Elementals.



    Through the smoke and snow, the second wave of Elementals were already advancing, as was the third, and fourth, and behind them, more silhouettes making up the fifth could just barely be seen.



    The catapults fired, stones smashed into ice, six more patches of fire spread onto the ground, and yet still the Elementals advanced under fire. Again the smaller cheiroballistra fired, and again the mages fired, but this time, six injured and half-destroyed elementals crossed the seventy-five-foot line where they were easily blown apart under more mage fire.



    They died instantly. Still, while they arrived in small numbers and weakened, they had still reached that point.



    Thirty seconds later, eleven Elementals broke through the seventy-five-foot line, and soon after that, nineteen from the fourth wave were likewise destroyed at the same point. The fifth wave saw twenty-seven reaching it, and the sixth wave saw thirty-nine.



    Nearly five minutes into the battle, the seventh wave managed to survive long enough for eight ragged Elementals to reach the army’s front line and engage in melee combat with the defenders.



    From the command post, General Merrick and his fellows were able to see that the battle had finally started in earnest.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:11

    Royal Army eastern line, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Dan, son Reil.



    HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!



    “Switching targets in ten seconds!” The lieutenant yelled.



    No one responded to his yell, the five mages and five men holding the largest crossbows he had ever seen before continued firing directly into the front.



    HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!



    “Five seconds. Hold fire.”



    The crossbowmen continued to reload, but the two that were already ready held back. The mages too, stopped casting as they mustered their strength.



    HOOOOT!!!



    “Here they come! Stand ready you fools!”



    As the lieutenant spoke, the rain of stones, magic, and spears that had been falling directly in front of their platoon came to a stop as it shifted thirty feet to their right. The Elementals that were charging there were suddenly torn apart, their bodies shattering into smaller shards.



    But, Dan, son of Reil had no time to watch, with the ranged fire having shifted, they only had a few seconds until Elementals currently charging would reach their platoon.



    “BRACE!!!” The lieutenant’s loud yell was heard by the entire platoon.



    Without thinking, Dan grabbed both handles of his massive tower shield, he placed his shoulder against the interior, and he even double checked that the wooden post that had been driven into the muddy ground was still sturdy and flush against his shield.



    Even as he did this, from the corner of his eye he saw the five mages and three of the crossbowmen firing forward.



    CLANG!!!



    “Uhgg…”



    The sound of something heavy smashing into metal echoed out as their shield wall shook.



    Before Dan could do anything, not that he was able to do anything even if her were able, more bangs were heard and the shield wall buckled with each one. Something hit the surface of his shield, but it was a light hit and the shield barely shifted.



    The seconds passed, the clangs and pained groans of his fellows would ring out, occasionally his own shield would suffer additional light hits, the mages would cast, the crossbows would reload and fire, but Dan hardly noticed any of it, his attention, his very being, was focused on holding his shield up.



    But suddenly, a heavy mass smashed into the small gap where his shield and his neighbor’s met. The two heavy steel plates shifted just enough that a gap was formed, and before he or the other man could do anything, a crystal clear hand of ice reached through the opening. The hand had eight fingers, each ending in a hooked talon, and it began groping around blindly.



    Luckily for Dan, the clawed hand went towards the other man, who like Dan, had his right shoulder pressed upon the shield. The man did not even see the hand approach, he made no effort to dodge as the claws were raked across his back, the leather armor he wore, leather armor identical to Dan’s own, was torn like paper as the talons sliced right through it.



    Dan thought he heard the man cry out in pain as the eight bloody lines were drawn on his back, but the crackle of lightning drowned out the sound. A bolt of electricity was fired by one of the mages, the attack hitting the arm in the elbow, blowing it apart and showering Dan and the injured man with shards of ice.



    The leather armor that did nothing to stop the claw, did provide protection against the small splinters, but since the arm was only inches away from Dan’s head, he still felt the skin on his face being sliced open. His skin, numb from the cold, suddenly felt warm as something dripped down his chin.



    Before he could do anything, even check his own injured face, something heavy hit his shield, and the top started tilting back. He could do nothing to stop it, even the wooden post was being forced deeper into the ground. He looked up at the top of his tiling shield, and almost lost himself in fear.



    A horse made of ice was climbing over his shield. Two hooves were already over the tip as the being flailed about silently, trying to push the shield down. Then, as if sensing it was being looked at, the horse plunged its head down, it’s entire muzzle, it’s entire face, was dominated by a single, large, mouth covered in fangs. But unlike a normal horse, this one’s mouth ran vertically, from the chin to above where the ears were. The entire thing split open like a flower blooming, and then snapped shut with a loud crack, just inches from Dan’s own head.



    “Look out!” Someone yelled.



    A heavy mallet on a staff, a lucerne hammer, Dan recalled it was called, swung and smashed into the side of the horse’s head. It did little, if any, damage, but it did succeed in knocking the thing off of his shield.



    “Get up! Back to your shield!” The person, the woman, with the hammer said as she pulled Dan up from the ground.



    “Y-yes!” He stammered, wiping mud, snow, and blood, from his face as he repositioned his shoulder back to the shield.



    “Good. Sixty more seconds.” She reassured him as she patted him on the shoulder and then turned to Dan’s neighbor, “Harry, you okay?”



    “Swell. Just a scratch on my back though.”



    “Good, keep stea-”



    One second Dan had his body pressed against the shield, and the next he was on his back, his shield instead pressed onto his chest as he gasped for breath.



    Something heavy and large had smashed into the shield wall, and the wall gave without any real resistance. Dan was knocked back along with his shield, his shoulder was numb and every breath he took sent pangs of pain through his ribs.



    But, he was better off than some of the others.



    The woman with the hammer had been sent flying, smacking into one of the crossbowmen as he was reloading for another shot. His weapon snapped, and the string which had already been pulled tight, had lashed his face, almost peeling off his skin to the bone. The woman herself was lying motionlessly in the snow, her neck bent at an odd angle. Dan's neighbor to his left, the one with the wound on his back, was also blown away, partially covered by his own shield. And to Dan's right was another of his fellow soldiers, his shield was still somewhat up, but the man behind it had been knocked into the wooden post that helped hold the shield. The post had splintered, and the man had fallen into it, a sharp shard of wood was sticking through his thigh, but the man ignored it as he tried crawling backward.



    Dan noticed all of this, but paid it little heed as his attention was wholly focused on the source of the damage. An ape-like Elemental, it’s front arms twice as big as Dan’s torso, and its back covered in jagged shards of ice, stood just where the opening in the shield line had appeared.



    Worse yet still, two other Elementals were standing right next to it, one of which was the horse from before.



    HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!



    A horn sounded at the same time that a gray ball of energy smashed into the ape, blowing off a chunk of its shoulder and knocking it off balance. A ray of light then reached into its center, blasting a crater into its chest. The lieutenant then dove into the Elemental as it was reeling, his smaller shield smacking into its side and knocking it prone. As he rolled away, a halberd came crashing down from the side into the ape’s flank, and then one of the crossbowmen had discarded his weapon and picked up the dead woman’s hammer and brought it down along with the halberd.



    As the two continued beating and hacking upon the ape, there was a sudden gust of wind, and then the horse fell to the ground, all four of its legs severed at the knees. Dan saw one of the mages, a man in his fifties with a salt and pepper beard, fall back into the mud, his eyes, ears, and nose were all leaking blood as he fell.



    HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!



    From outside of their little circle of shields, two men, heavily armored and armed, rushed in. The third Elemental that had done nothing so far was quickly dispatched as one of the men cleaved it nearly in half with a greataxe, the other used his short spear to skewer the flailing horse even as he stomped down and shattered the head of the ape.



    HOOOOT!!!



    “Everyone, fall back!” the lieutenant called out, tension still filling his voice.



    At the man’s command, their battered and nearly broken shield wall collapse inward in an orderly manner. Someone helped Dan to his feet, and shoved his shield back into his hands, and then moved to help his neighbor up. The man with the gash on his back was woozy, but able to stand by himself. However, Dan’s other neighbor needed help to walk. As another man helped the injured crossbowman who was still holding his face in shock, and two others lifted up the body of the woman, a barrage of spears and magic tore apart the ground that was only ten feet in front of their collapsing shield wall.



    Explosion after explosion blew the mud apart, the Elementals caught within were likewise torn asunder. Without the barrier made by the shield wall, the shockwaves almost sent Dan and a few others tumbling back to the ground, but they held strong and began retreating.



    Two minutes they stood there with their shields up, two minutes they weathered the Elementals. There were thirty one of them, five mages, five crossbowmen, fifteen shieldbearers, and five men with polearms plus the lieutenant. Two crossbowmen were injured, one seriously, two mages were down, one with injuries and the other with mana exhaustion, two shield bearers were dead and the rest had some degree of injury, and of the remaining five, one was dead and three were injured.



    Just a minute longer, no, maybe even thirty seconds longer, and they would have been wiped out. Even then, in just two minutes, they were effectively forced to retire from the fight, few if any of the people in his platoon would fight again tonight.



    And Dan, son of Reil, knew, with his shoulder dislocated and some of his ribs cracked, he was one of those that would be forced to sit the rest of the fight out.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:13

    Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    General Merrick Miller.



    “Things seem to be going well,” The dwarven officer, Brigadier General Tac, said.



    “Yes, just ten minutes in and we’ve destroyed a tenth of the enemy.” High Priest Brent responded.



    “Still, we’ll need to keep this up for close to two hours,” General Merrick said with a frown, “What are our casualties looking like?”



    “Sir!” One of his adjutants ran up with a report, “Fatalities are low, beating projections. Injuries are as expected, but we are seeing a lot more minor injuries than we expected. We are healing most of them to the point where they can reenter the fight, but they are being held back for now to rest.”



    “I see,” The general replied.



    “If this humble one may be so bold, but is that not bad?” A voice belonging to a foreigner spoke up.



    “Feel free to speak, ambassador.”



    “Then this humble one shall speak his mind,” Ambassador Zhou An spoke as he walked to the front of the room. “This humble one is but a simple official, not a general, but, this humble one thinks that having a large portion of the soldiers being wounded, would be a bad turn of events.”



    “Yes well, not having wounded would always be better,” General Merrick responded, “But, most of the ill effects due to having wounded within the army fall on the supply train and the logistical department, problems we will not need to deal with.”



    “This humble one see…” The man from the Empire looked at General Merrick for a moment before continuing. “This Humble one forgot that the General’s expertise does not lay in traditional combat, but in clerical work.”



    The temperature of the tent, already cold due to the weather, dropped even lower.



    “My apologies General Merrick Miller, this humble one’s words were not meant as an insult, after all, this humble one also shares an expertise with the illustrious general,” The ambassador’s words did little to turn the tent’s opinion around, but it was an apology, if in name only, and it wasn’t the time to cause internal discord.



    “What is it you want to say?” The general asked.



    “Only that, an army with a large amount of wounded would be… in my tongue, it would be Sho ti li san yunsho, fan yi odo, but in your language, perhaps it is.. Brittle? Empty, no... hollow, yes, Hollow, that is the word.”



    “Hollow?” The General asked.



    “Oh, I see,” Brigadier General Tac suddenly spoke up, “with many injured, it is hard for us to tell how strong the army actually is, since we would normally just use the pure numbers to determine that. Injuries sap morale, they breed fatigue too, an injured army could collapse upon itself rather easy, hence, it is hollow.”



    “Then, Brigadier General, how do you suggest we address this?” General Merrick asked.



    “There’s no real solution, we can only take small baby steps,” The brigadier general said with a shrug, “We keep an eye on it as best we can, if we have the leeway, we keep the injured resting as possible, and those with the heavier injuries, even if they are healed fully, we try to avoid sending them back in. But right now, we do not have the ability to sit on our haunches and play it safe.”



    General Merrick sank into thought, but before he could even marshal his thoughts, there was a ruckus as a harried men rushed into the tent.



    “G-General, U-urgent news,” He panted, sweat beading his forehead.



    “What is it?” General Merrick asked louder than normal in an effort to silence the others who started murmuring.



    “T-the Capital, it has fallen under attack. E-elementals.”



    The tent was thrown into an uproar at the man’s words, but again, the General silenced the others.



    “Details!” He yelled over the din in the tent.



    “The o-outer wall has been o-overrun. Elementals are within the 7th and 6th circles. Major General Warren has f-fallen in battle, and Brigadier G-general Abe is m-missing in action. A-and… and we have c-confirmed the presence of a G-greater E-elemental along with a h-host of at least o-one thousand.”



    The uproar from before had changed to shocked silence as the tent digested this news.



    “The host that hit Riversdale…” Someone mumbled.



    “What… What do we do?”



    Slowly, all eyes turned to General Merrick, but the General barely noticed, lost in thought as he was.



    They could not disengage the army, not without leaving a sizeable rearguard to die, and then whatever was left would need to rush to the capital, engage the Elementals there, and then prepared to fight the main host, with fewer numbers and without the benefit of their defensive plans. No… that would only lead to the annihilation of the entire army, it wasn’t an option.



    Then, do they stay here and finish with the main host before turning back? But that would take at least an hour, closer to two, what state would the capital be in after two hours? If only the messenger brought information about the current defenses of the capital, but without that, they could only assume the worse, that the defenders were in disarray and were being overwhelmed.



    Which left only one remaining option.



    “Brigadier General Tac, take ten thousand men from our reserve forces and head back to reinforce the capital. High Priest Brent, if it isn’t too much, but I would like you to go with him.” General Merrick spoke as if exhausted.



    “That… Well… Yes, Sir!” The dwarven general said.



    “Do not worry, General, we will protect the capital.” The holy man added.



    The two then swiftly turned and left to follow their orders.



    “At the very least, we now know that we do not need to deal with that Greater Elemental,” One of the many adjutants in the tent spoke up.



    HHHWWWAAAaaaaaaaaaaaAAARMMMM!!!!



    But as his words ended, a horn blared throughout the entire army.



    A horn that signified the presence of a Greater Elemental.



    Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:16

    Royal Army Center, 14th command post, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

    Guardian Knight Carla Redwood.



    For a quarter of an hour, the battle had been raging. Stationed on the side of one of the northern hills, the Pine Family forces were able to overlook only a portion of the battle, only a small section of the valley. But what a brutal battle it was.



    The ranged attacks ripped the Elementals apart, along with the ground, but many still got through. The brawl taking place on the slopes was messy and brutal, ice smashed into steel, men and women were tossed about as if they were simply dolls. But they were winning, the Elementals were being killed, the defenders were being cycled out smoothly, the injured and tired falling back while the fresh were coming in to take their place.



    But just a moment ago, the situation changed.



    An Elemental, larger than the others, charged through the hail of stone, spear, and magic. Its body was a snake, over twenty feet long, it had no head, but its body was that of a woman, a woman whose arms themselves were snakes.



    It smashed into one of the shield platoons, it simply overran them, it’s massive serpentine body crushing the platoon into a paste of red that mixed into the snow and mud. The two adjacent platoons directed their ranged attacks, a few crossbow bolts and spells rained down upon its body, but they were shrugged off. The nearest high ranking warriors that made up the kill-zones between the platoons rushed up to engage, but within seconds, the Elemental whipped its arms around, and the ten soldiers who were rushing forward were torn apart. Before anyone could act, the tail was swung, sending the second platoon flying as their shield wall did absolutely nothing to protect the men behind it. And at the same time, one of its arms were pointed at the other platoon, a burst of razor-sharp ice shards exploded out of the mouth, they punched through shields and armor with ease, leaving behind a small area of dead soldiers.



    “Warriors of the Pines,” Commander Tale’s voice suddenly echoed over the hill, “That there, is a Greater Elemental.”



    The sixty of them stopped watching the massacre being played out by the snake-like Elemental, and instead turned to see their commander.



    “Some of you have the name of the Pines, some of you, do not. Some of you have sworn your loyalty to the Pine Family, some of you instead have a contract. None of that matters right now. That,” The commander then pointed towards the Elemental with his sword, “needs to die. Fortune is with us, however, because if there is one thing the warriors of the Pine Family know how to do, it is to hunt. This is not a fight. This is but a simple hunt. We will hunt down our target, take its head, and be done with it. Simple. So let us go.”



    And without another word, Commander Tale began walking down the hill towards the Greater Elemental. Behind him, were the sixty warriors, mages, knights, archers, and priests of the Pine Family.
     
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