Two weeks went by, and there were no days where no new refugees appeared on the horizon. Along with the stream of civilians, two armies also managed to reach the capital city, and by now, there were around 200,000 mages ready for the enemy.
"We will have to close the gates for good!" Rinzen sighed, standing on the main wall, looking towards the snowy horizon.
"Mhm." Lia agreed, even if it was a hard thing to do. In the past two days, anybody who appeared, Rinzen could feel the Undead taint in their minds, and, before they got close, all of them were obliterated by Ceiline's giant peashooters. "Anybody who could escape has already arrived; the rest are gone as far as we are concerned."
As the two were talking, Lia's head suddenly snapped upwards, watching the grey clouds high above. It didn't escape Rinzen's eyes, and she followed suit, bolstering her perception with the glacier's power under their feet. She could peer through the clouds and notice two giant birds, each with a wingspan of at least eight meters, circling around the city. There was no question about it; they were Undead abominations.
"Let me deal with them." Lia waved her hand, summoning her sword, and with a puff, she was gone.
While traveling No-Space, she could not see any Undead but could feel their overwhelming presence permeating from all directions. Even if they were on the other side, their unrestrained aura had an effect on both realities. Reappearing at the perfect spot, she stepped onto the back of one of the birds, stabbing her sword into her back, letting deep, crimson fire burst forth and consume it in a flash, turning the Undead into ash. Its partner quickly changed course, flapping its giant wing, sending wind blades towards Lia, who only smirked, taking a deep breath and spitting out similar attacks, letting them cancel each other.
"Want to run? Not so fast!" She snorted, seeing how the thing tried to flee.
With a shout, she slashed down, and a fiery tornado emerged from the tip of her sword. With the mixing of fire and air, it became excessively fierce, and the Undead had no chance to run anywhere, being blown to shreds, shredded by the strong winds, and burnt away by the fire, a deadly combo of elements. When finished, Lia gently floated downwards as if she had an invisible parachute, landing gracefully back on the wall.
"Should I raise the shield?" Rinzen asked, coming up to her while many soldiers were rushing forth, hearing the explosions in the sky and seeing the clouds be parted by Lia's attacks.
"No. Maintaining it would bring you not just immobile, but it will also place you under great pressure. We should only use it as a last resort!"
"I can withstand it." She argued, but Lia gently took her hand, patting it.
"I know, and you will have to! But I want to make the most out of it! If we start with turtling up, the moment they arrive, they will have their full force to bombard it!" While speaking, she raised her voice to let everyone around them hear her, "We will fight! We will whittle their numbers down as much as possible and only raise the shield when we have no other option!"
"And we are not powerless!" Chimed in Simbad, who was coming up to them. "We finished the inventory of everything we have. This includes more than 120,000 artifacts, so we can equip the majority of our low-tiered mages! That way, they can cast stronger spells than usual!"
"How many 6th-tier wizards do we have?" Lia asked, hoping for a good answer.
"3999 on the dot. I counted. Twice."
"Not much, but… it is good enough. What about the Three Ri's?"
"7, including Rinzen." Simbad sighed, "Most of the Three Ri mages of the Berisons were not here. They were either outside or away, working with others in different parts of the continent. Honestly speaking... nobody thought a capital city would be attacked..."
"Haaah…" Shrugged both Lia and Rinzen at the same time, "Oh well!" After a brief silence, Lia clapped, recovering her happy mood, "Defending is easier than attacking! We will move the civilians into the inner city while we set up layers so that even if we get breached, it won't spill Undead into the city! Everyone who is at least a Magi and has an artifact will be on the walls! Those who are below that will be our busy bees! They will go where they need to and do what they are ordered! If we got injuries, they bring away them, distribute potions, and help with healing!"
"We are already splitting the groups up and also building conventional weapons like ballistae and canons!" Simbad continued to report, "The city's artificers are working day and night to produce enough bolts and explosives. Also… we have six warships present… but we can't decide what to do with them."
"Mother already asked for my opinion!" Rinzen sighed, rubbing her head, "I also have no idea! We could use them in the battle, but the Undead will surely come in great numbers. They would be picked down from the sky!"
"We need them... At least three..." Lia murmured, biting her lower lip, "If, and I say IF!" She looked at Rinzen before continuing, "If the Undead wins, we will use them to escape. Board it with those who are strong and still alive and get away. It is cruel, but we must save those who can fight another day right now... Or, well, at least try to get them away... But! We can dismantle their canons!"
"Oh?" Rinzen raised an eyebrow, already recognizing her idea.
"You can raise towers, and we can install them up on top! They are our most powerful weapons, and we can use them against the Undead!"
"Raufon also had an idea," Simbad spoke up, unsure how to tell her. "He said we should load one up with explosives and send it out, crashing into their lines. He got the idea from your brother."
"Ahaha!" Lia laughed, letting her voice be carried by the wind, showing the people around them she was fearless as the morale in the city was like a rollercoaster in the past days. "Good! I can teleport, so I will drive one out!"
"You will?" The others exclaimed, surprised and not really keen on the idea.
"Duh! Of course! I am optimistic about this! We have strength, and we will defend this city! Tell the Three Ri mages they should not fall for provocation or ploys… They will move and act as one; if they break through at one point, they can unleash their powers while Rinzen plugs the hole back up! I want the wretched Soul Bound motherfuckers to bleed for every centimeter!"
"Undead, don't bleed," Rinzen added reflexively, but Lia just grinned.
"Oh, they will… They will even cry this time!"
…
….
……
"Are we ready?" Killieth asked, meeting with the other Supreme Elders after days of constant battles, harvesting the occupied territories' population.
"We are close to 800,000 bodies. But we can't go above that. We massacred around 2 to 3 million useless ones to finally find a few that can withstand souls put into them! We are exhausted!" Seith moaned, rubbing his neck.
"You are making it sound like it was hard!" Yuya scoffed after hearing him, "I saw you snacking on a handful of souls instead of sending them back to the Sect Master!"
"Pot calling the kettle black." Io joined in, sneering at Yuya, "You should have used the souls you gobbled up to create backup energy for your troops!"
"Don't start the same thing once again, please…" Feira groaned, already fed up with the constant bickering between the other Supreme Elders. She was starting to feel like she was the only sane one here.
"Agreed!" Killieth raised a hand, stopping his sister from speaking. "How many weapon-grade bodies did we make?"
"We should have around 1000 of them." Io reported, "But with the number of our people, we can control only half of that at once."
"That's fine! Io, you will lead the assault on their city! After taking it, we started consolidating our foothold and assimilating all the surviving citizens! We barely started!" He chuckled, licking his lips. "Take Yuya with you!"
"What?! Fuck no!" His sister protested at once but was shot down by Killieth's gaze.
"And what will YOU do?" Io questioned, finding it alarming that he was making him the leader of the assault.
"I stay back with the rest. We will give you most of our subordinates too! We only keep the essentials back and set up fast mobile strike forces! I know what the fleshbound leaders are thinking about... Wanting to copy our plans, hah! We will use hit-and-run tactics and harass them at the border regions. We won't let them arrange their forces and start marching, so you have time sieging the capital city!"
"Don't screw this up!" Seith snorted, looking at Io with one eye, "You always parade around as someone experienced… time to show it!"
"It is not me who has to be careful not to screw up."
"What do you mean by that?" Yuya asked in an aggressive tone, but before it could once again devolve into nonsense, Killieth interrupted the two.
"Their capital city is dangerous! If you go there and they sense your powers, they will activate the ice below it! What I learned from consuming four of their Three Ri warriors clearly told me that it can be deadly for even us!"
"I highly doubt that…" Yuya mumbled, but her brother simply slapped the back of her head.
"It is not a game! They can use it to erect such a defense that would require all five of us to bombard it to get through! Then, we will allow the others to backstab us! Which of you wants to return home and tell the Sect Master that we failed? Again?"
"..."
"Thought so! I am telling you this so you can conquer it with the least effort!"
"How considerate…" Io smiled, but it was not enough to trouble Killieth.
"Go in hidden. Assault their defenses, breakthrough, and get in with a bunch of your people! Once in, you can reveal your true strength! If you are in, they can no longer activate it, or they risk sealing themselves in with you!"
"What makes you think they won't start with that the moment they discover us?" Io asked, continuing to keep up his unfriendly smirk.
"Because they for sure work together with the other fleshbound leaders! Do you know how I got to my position, Io? I always knew what my enemies were thinking and could counter them. I know precisely that they want to buy time for themselves!"
"That's what I'm saying!" He laughed, looking at Killieth like he was speaking with an idiot. "The moment we arrive, they will activate it!"
"If they do," Came his answer, slowly, as if he was explaining it to a child, further incensing Io, "then you call us, tell us, and we will come at once to break through! If they start with that, with all of us there and with our armies, we can bombard it continuously… then we will try and break through before their reinforcement arrives! That would be the second worst outcome."
"What's the first?" Feira asked, surprised to hear him say that.
"The first would be that Io and Yuya can't break through, lose many of our army, and they still activate it. If they start with their shield, we can try and unleash all our powers on it to break it… It would be a rush against time before their reinforcement arrives… But if they fail to get in, lose our precious manpower and time… AND they manage to activate it? We would risk being wiped out!"
"Just make sure the midget follows orders!" Io snorted, and if not for Killieth holding Yuya's scruff, she would have thrown herself at Io.
"She will." He assured his fellow Supreme Elder, "You just make sure to make it smooth. Breakthrough, get in, and explode! The moment you send the message, we will retreat and join up with you! If we manage to take over the ice, we could use our own spells to reinforce it in such a way that the so-called Six Houses would be hard-pressed to break through! I know how our prey thinks... That is why I was named to lead the armies. Follow the plan, and we all will benefit from it!"
After their meeting, Killieth took his sister to the side, communicating with her through the connection in their souls.
"Try to work with him for the time being."
"Fuck him." She retorted, but her brother simply rubbed her head with a gentle smile.
"It will be chaos; if you do it well, you could eat his soul... It is up to you! But... I have some other good news!"
"Oh? What?" Yuya asked, licking her lips with excitement.
"The girl you wanted is in there... if you can sneak in as I told you, you can ambush her and get yourself a nice body!"
"Really?!"
"Really~! So gulp down your attitude a little and work for Io... then at the right moment, you can gobble up his soul and get yourself a new body~! How's that sound?"
"I am already feeling... excited!"
Corty Continuing our journey in the '90s,
Running in the nineties, is a new way I like to be
I'm just running in the nineties, come on baby run to me
We are running in the nineties, is a new way to set me free
I'm just running in the nineties-
Khm. Sorry. I started drifting here. What I wanted to say, here comes Koadriana:
Spoiler [collapse]
Two weeks went by, and there were no days where no new refugees appeared on the horizon. Along with the stream of civilians, two armies also managed to reach the capital city, and by now, there were around 200,000 mages ready for the enemy.
"We will have to close the gates for good!" Rinzen sighed, standing on the main wall, looking towards the snowy horizon.
"Mhm." Lia agreed, even if it was a hard thing to do. In the past two days, anybody who appeared, Rinzen could feel the Undead taint in their minds, and, before they got close, all of them were obliterated by Ceiline's giant peashooters. "Anybody who could escape has already arrived; the rest are gone as far as we are concerned."
As the two were talking, Lia's head suddenly snapped upwards, watching the grey clouds high above. It didn't escape Rinzen's eyes, and she followed suit, bolstering her perception with the glacier's power under their feet. She could peer through the clouds and notice two giant birds, each with a wingspan of at least eight meters, circling around the city. There was no question about it; they were Undead abominations.
"Let me deal with them." Lia waved her hand, summoning her sword, and with a puff, she was gone.
While traveling No-Space, she could not see any Undead but could feel their overwhelming presence permeating from all directions. Even if they were on the other side, their unrestrained aura had an effect on both realities. Reappearing at the perfect spot, she stepped onto the back of one of the birds, stabbing her sword into her back, letting deep, crimson fire burst forth and consume it in a flash, turning the Undead into ash. Its partner quickly changed course, flapping its giant wing, sending wind blades towards Lia, who only smirked, taking a deep breath and spitting out similar attacks, letting them cancel each other.
"Want to run? Not so fast!" She snorted, seeing how the thing tried to flee.
With a shout, she slashed down, and a fiery tornado emerged from the tip of her sword. With the mixing of fire and air, it became excessively fierce, and the Undead had no chance to run anywhere, being blown to shreds, shredded by the strong winds, and burnt away by the fire, a deadly combo of elements. When finished, Lia gently floated downwards as if she had an invisible parachute, landing gracefully back on the wall.
"Should I raise the shield?" Rinzen asked, coming up to her while many soldiers were rushing forth, hearing the explosions in the sky and seeing the clouds be parted by Lia's attacks.
"No. Maintaining it would bring you not just immobile, but it will also place you under great pressure. We should only use it as a last resort!"
"I can withstand it." She argued, but Lia gently took her hand, patting it.
"I know, and you will have to! But I want to make the most out of it! If we start with turtling up, the moment they arrive, they will have their full force to bombard it!" While speaking, she raised her voice to let everyone around them hear her, "We will fight! We will whittle their numbers down as much as possible and only raise the shield when we have no other option!"
"And we are not powerless!" Chimed in Simbad, who was coming up to them. "We finished the inventory of everything we have. This includes more than 120,000 artifacts, so we can equip the majority of our low-tiered mages! That way, they can cast stronger spells than usual!"
"How many 6th-tier wizards do we have?" Lia asked, hoping for a good answer.
"3999 on the dot. I counted. Twice."
"Not much, but… it is good enough. What about the Three Ri's?"
"7, including Rinzen." Simbad sighed, "Most of the Three Ri mages of the Berisons were not here. They were either outside or away, working with others in different parts of the continent. Honestly speaking... nobody thought a capital city would be attacked..."
"Haaah…" Shrugged both Lia and Rinzen at the same time, "Oh well!" After a brief silence, Lia clapped, recovering her happy mood, "Defending is easier than attacking! We will move the civilians into the inner city while we set up layers so that even if we get breached, it won't spill Undead into the city! Everyone who is at least a Magi and has an artifact will be on the walls! Those who are below that will be our busy bees! They will go where they need to and do what they are ordered! If we got injuries, they bring away them, distribute potions, and help with healing!"
"We are already splitting the groups up and also building conventional weapons like ballistae and canons!" Simbad continued to report, "The city's artificers are working day and night to produce enough bolts and explosives. Also… we have six warships present… but we can't decide what to do with them."
"Mother already asked for my opinion!" Rinzen sighed, rubbing her head, "I also have no idea! We could use them in the battle, but the Undead will surely come in great numbers. They would be picked down from the sky!"
"We need them... At least three..." Lia murmured, biting her lower lip, "If, and I say IF!" She looked at Rinzen before continuing, "If the Undead wins, we will use them to escape. Board it with those who are strong and still alive and get away. It is cruel, but we must save those who can fight another day right now... Or, well, at least try to get them away... But! We can dismantle their canons!"
"Oh?" Rinzen raised an eyebrow, already recognizing her idea.
"You can raise towers, and we can install them up on top! They are our most powerful weapons, and we can use them against the Undead!"
"Raufon also had an idea," Simbad spoke up, unsure how to tell her. "He said we should load one up with explosives and send it out, crashing into their lines. He got the idea from your brother."
"Ahaha!" Lia laughed, letting her voice be carried by the wind, showing the people around them she was fearless as the morale in the city was like a rollercoaster in the past days. "Good! I can teleport, so I will drive one out!"
"You will?" The others exclaimed, surprised and not really keen on the idea.
"Duh! Of course! I am optimistic about this! We have strength, and we will defend this city! Tell the Three Ri mages they should not fall for provocation or ploys… They will move and act as one; if they break through at one point, they can unleash their powers while Rinzen plugs the hole back up! I want the wretched Soul Bound motherfuckers to bleed for every centimeter!"
"Undead, don't bleed," Rinzen added reflexively, but Lia just grinned.
"Oh, they will… They will even cry this time!"
…
….
……
"Are we ready?" Killieth asked, meeting with the other Supreme Elders after days of constant battles, harvesting the occupied territories' population.
"We are close to 800,000 bodies. But we can't go above that. We massacred around 2 to 3 million useless ones to finally find a few that can withstand souls put into them! We are exhausted!" Seith moaned, rubbing his neck.
"You are making it sound like it was hard!" Yuya scoffed after hearing him, "I saw you snacking on a handful of souls instead of sending them back to the Sect Master!"
"Pot calling the kettle black." Io joined in, sneering at Yuya, "You should have used the souls you gobbled up to create backup energy for your troops!"
"Don't start the same thing once again, please…" Feira groaned, already fed up with the constant bickering between the other Supreme Elders. She was starting to feel like she was the only sane one here.
"Agreed!" Killieth raised a hand, stopping his sister from speaking. "How many weapon-grade bodies did we make?"
"We should have around 1000 of them." Io reported, "But with the number of our people, we can control only half of that at once."
"That's fine! Io, you will lead the assault on their city! After taking it, we started consolidating our foothold and assimilating all the surviving citizens! We barely started!" He chuckled, licking his lips. "Take Yuya with you!"
"What?! Fuck no!" His sister protested at once but was shot down by Killieth's gaze.
"And what will YOU do?" Io questioned, finding it alarming that he was making him the leader of the assault.
"I stay back with the rest. We will give you most of our subordinates too! We only keep the essentials back and set up fast mobile strike forces! I know what the fleshbound leaders are thinking about... Wanting to copy our plans, hah! We will use hit-and-run tactics and harass them at the border regions. We won't let them arrange their forces and start marching, so you have time sieging the capital city!"
"Don't screw this up!" Seith snorted, looking at Io with one eye, "You always parade around as someone experienced… time to show it!"
"It is not me who has to be careful not to screw up."
"What do you mean by that?" Yuya asked in an aggressive tone, but before it could once again devolve into nonsense, Killieth interrupted the two.
"Their capital city is dangerous! If you go there and they sense your powers, they will activate the ice below it! What I learned from consuming four of their Three Ri warriors clearly told me that it can be deadly for even us!"
"I highly doubt that…" Yuya mumbled, but her brother simply slapped the back of her head.
"It is not a game! They can use it to erect such a defense that would require all five of us to bombard it to get through! Then, we will allow the others to backstab us! Which of you wants to return home and tell the Sect Master that we failed? Again?"
"..."
"Thought so! I am telling you this so you can conquer it with the least effort!"
"How considerate…" Io smiled, but it was not enough to trouble Killieth.
"Go in hidden. Assault their defenses, breakthrough, and get in with a bunch of your people! Once in, you can reveal your true strength! If you are in, they can no longer activate it, or they risk sealing themselves in with you!"
"What makes you think they won't start with that the moment they discover us?" Io asked, continuing to keep up his unfriendly smirk.
"Because they for sure work together with the other fleshbound leaders! Do you know how I got to my position, Io? I always knew what my enemies were thinking and could counter them. I know precisely that they want to buy time for themselves!"
"That's what I'm saying!" He laughed, looking at Killieth like he was speaking with an idiot. "The moment we arrive, they will activate it!"
"If they do," Came his answer, slowly, as if he was explaining it to a child, further incensing Io, "then you call us, tell us, and we will come at once to break through! If they start with that, with all of us there and with our armies, we can bombard it continuously… then we will try and break through before their reinforcement arrives! That would be the second worst outcome."
"What's the first?" Feira asked, surprised to hear him say that.
"The first would be that Io and Yuya can't break through, lose many of our army, and they still activate it. If they start with their shield, we can try and unleash all our powers on it to break it… It would be a rush against time before their reinforcement arrives… But if they fail to get in, lose our precious manpower and time… AND they manage to activate it? We would risk being wiped out!"
"Just make sure the midget follows orders!" Io snorted, and if not for Killieth holding Yuya's scruff, she would have thrown herself at Io.
"She will." He assured his fellow Supreme Elder, "You just make sure to make it smooth. Breakthrough, get in, and explode! The moment you send the message, we will retreat and join up with you! If we manage to take over the ice, we could use our own spells to reinforce it in such a way that the so-called Six Houses would be hard-pressed to break through! I know how our prey thinks... That is why I was named to lead the armies. Follow the plan, and we all will benefit from it!"
After their meeting, Killieth took his sister to the side, communicating with her through the connection in their souls.
"Try to work with him for the time being."
"Fuck him." She retorted, but her brother simply rubbed her head with a gentle smile.
"It will be chaos; if you do it well, you could eat his soul... It is up to you! But... I have some other good news!"
"Oh? What?" Yuya asked, licking her lips with excitement.
"The girl you wanted is in there... if you can sneak in as I told you, you can ambush her and get yourself a nice body!"
"Really?!"
"Really~! So gulp down your attitude a little and work for Io... then at the right moment, you can gobble up his soul and get yourself a new body~! How's that sound?"
"I am already feeling... excited!"
Corty Continuing our journey in the '90s,
Running in the nineties, is a new way I like to be
I'm just running in the nineties, come on baby run to me
We are running in the nineties, is a new way to set me free
I'm just running in the nineties-
Khm. Sorry. I started drifting here. What I wanted to say, here comes Koadriana:
Spoiler [collapse]