Ogre Tyrant

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 80 – Wolves among sheep – Part One

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 80 - Wolves among sheep - Part One

Assisting Yi Gim to the ground, I began gathering my MP in preparation to Summon Wraithe to tend to his wounds. Perhaps guessing at my intentions, Yi Gim began shaking his head in refusal. However, we both abruptly lost interest in one another as an urgent horn call peeled through the smoke.

“No...” Already pale from blood loss, Yi Gim’s face grew ashen with dread.

Before I could ask what the horn call meant, a deep rhythmic rumbling came in reply from a different area of the city. Growing louder, layers began to take shape as more drums throughout the city joined the first.

The horn sounded again but was abruptly cut off.

“Is the enemy still loose in the city?!” I demanded, already sending a mental command to Kwan to cease feasting and return to my side. “What do the drums mean?!”

If they were intended as a warning or signal that the city was under attack, why hadn’t they been sounded earlier?

“The city is under attack...” Yi Gim replied grimly, withdrawing more items from his Storage Ring.

Scrolls, herbs, prayer beads and more began to orbit around him as he forced his wounded arm into a meditative pose before his chest.

“The Northern wall is breached...A Beast Tide has descended upon the city...” Yi Gim’s voice was barely more than a whisper, his face filled with despair and inconsolable rage.

Saboteurs and assassins. Yi Gim’s earlier transmission echoed in my mind. Combined with how badly Yi Gim was taking the news, I could only assume that the city’s more advanced defences were compromised.

I had a choice to make.

I could leave, very likely damning Yi Gim in the process.

I could seek out the defensive Arrays intended to protect the city and try to fix them. Assuming they could be fixed.

Or, I could intervene more directly and face the Beast Tide.

It was a day for making bad decisions.

Without saying a word, I began rising into the air.

Screams and desperate shouts began drifting through the smoke and a deep rumbling like distant thunder now fought against the steady implacable beating of the drums.

Launching myself forward through the smoke, I mentally took stock of my options.

My limited experience with the Cultivation System’s Beasts had left me largely unimpressed with their individual combat capabilities. However, the most powerful Beasts I had seen were something to be wary of. Not for their might but their intelligence and ability to control weaker Beasts. But that intelligence could also be considered a weakness.

A gap in the smoke revealed a towering wall close to a hundred feet tall up ahead. A section of the wall, approximately forty or fifty feet wide, had collapsed.

A ragged line of defenders stood atop the rubble desperately trying to hold back the unrelenting assault of Beasts converging on their position from the rolling foothills beyond. Bodies of the fallen defenders lay strewn amongst the rubble, savaged and mangled to the brink of barely being recognisable.

Beasts had already begun forcing their way through the gaps in the defenders' formations and had begun targeting the fleeing civilians.

Withdrawing a large flagpole from my Storage Ring, I took a firm hold on either side of the midsection and twisted the flag-bearing side in a clockwise motion. Sensing the Spell activate beneath my fingers, I hurled the flagpole at the collapsed section of the wall and used my Chi to anchor it deep into the broken masonry.

Propelling myself forward beyond the wall, I stripped my armour back into my Storage Ring and activated my tattoo, assuming my true form as I plummeted toward the ground. Gathering my MP, I reshaped the breach, forming the rubble into a bristling redoubt of pikes and spears.

Closing the breach would have stopped the Beasts' advance, but only momentarily. The breach provided easier access, drawing more of the Beasts than the surrounding walls, but not all of them. If I sealed the breach, the entire length of the wall would come under siege. Armed with claws as hard as steel, the Beasts showed no difficulties in scaling the wall. Which made funnelling them into a dedicated kill zone the preferable option.

Crashing into the ground, it took me a few moments to regain my wits.

Claws and fangs scraped and dragged across my bare skin but failed to penetrate.

Thrashing my arms I crushed a pair of horned wolves into the ground and drove myself to my feet.

A six-horned bull charged into my right thigh, sending a dull surge of pain racing up my leg.

The bull’s neck snapped from the impact, sending its body tumbling into a spike-maned boar that was charging from my flank.

Drawing my stone machete from my Storage Ring, I cleaved the head from an elephant-sized bear bearing down from my right and then severed the spine of a giant lizard with bright ruby and sapphire scales.

<FIGHT!> Kwan came leaping over the ramparts and barrelled headfirst into the oncoming beasts, tackling a lion and ripping its head free in one savage motion before leaping toward his next target.

Relying on momentum and brute strength rather than skill, I hacked and slashed at anything and everything that came within reach. Sparing no time to finish off the wounded and crippled, I kept pressing forward, driving a wedge into the seemingly endless tide.

Overcome by bloodlust, the Beasts ignored their fallen, trampling them underfoot in their desire to bring their horns, tusks, fangs and claws to bear.

My size didn’t appear to intimidate them in the slightest. Beasts, big and small alike, threw themselves at me with equal ferocity and disregard for their own lives.

Forced to close my second set of eyelids to stop blood from blinding my eyes, my vision was restricted to my immediate surroundings. Not that it made much of a difference.

“THE TYRANT CALLS!!!” Lurr’s familiar voice boomed from the direction of the breach and a bolt of lightning arced from the sky, striking several Beasts to my left and right. Leaving them charred beyond recognition.

“WE ANSWER!” Came a rumbling chorus of Orcish voices.

Thunderous explosions erupted from the ramparts accompanied by the savage war cries of my Orc Bodyguards.

“For the Tyrant!” A trio of human voices called.

“FOR TYRANT!” A guttural voice roared. Trask’s hunched and heavily muscled form appeared in my periphery moments later, scales slick with blood, flesh and fur hanging from his massive jaws.

Arrows began striking the flying Beasts from the sky, sending them into mouth-frothing seizures and convulsions as they ploughed into the dirt. “For the Tyrant!” A feminine voice hissed from beyond my field of view and low to the ground.

“Protect the city!” I ordered, waving my champions back toward the breach and the impromptu ramparts. “Protect the civilians!”

Trask, already engaged in battling a six-legged elephant, tore at its eyes with his claws and then ran back toward the ramparts.

Half blind, the elephant howled in pain and prepared to give chase.

Remotely forming the stone at its feet into a spear, I drove the head of the spear through its chest and into its heart, felling it on the spot.

Hacking my way through several more Beasts, I spied an isle of immobile flesh amongst the hordes stampeding over the distant hills. Briefly retracting my secondary eyelids, I discovered I was still too far away to make them out clearly. Enhancing my sight with the Keen Senses Spell, I released my machete and invested it with Chi, sending it whirling around my body to ward off attack while I was otherwise preoccupied.

Looking to the hills with enhanced vision, I was momentarily taken aback to find an organised army staring back at me. Armed and armoured in a similar style to the Cultivators of Yi Gim’s realm, it took me a few moments to realise that they weren’t human. They were monkeys.

Standing upright and at a distance, they were nearly indistinguishable from the human defenders atop the walls.

The largest of the monkeys stared back at me with cold calculating eyes, Raising one hand, he pointed to me with his spear and released a whooping shriek.

Three large monkeys pushed past their smaller kin and began charging down the hill.

Storing my machete and withdrawing my club from my Storage Ring, I began laying into the nearby Beasts in earnest, preparing the field for what I assumed was going to be a more intense engagement.

As the trio of giant monkeys drew closer, the other Beasts began giving me a wide berth, as if flowing around a barrier only they could see.

The lead monkey had bright red fur and carried a large two-handed cleaver-like blade. His bloodshot eyes locked onto my club and I felt a foreign energy source attempt to worm its way into the stone. The monkey slowed its approach and glared with almost comical intensity.

Rebuffing the intrusion with a momentary surge of will, I formed a trio of spears in the monkey’s path and drove them toward his guts.

Confirming my suspicions, the spears shattered as the monkey radiated a pulse of energy bearing the Earth Affinity. Shrieking in aggravation, the monkey sent the broken shards racing back in my direction.

Seizing control of the shards with my Earth Affinity, I redirected their trajectory into the Beasts passing by on either side.

Despite his evident anger, the red-furred monkey slowed its approach so the two other monkeys could catch up.

The smallest of the three monkeys, carrying a large ornately decorated bow, came up short and began loosing stone-headed arrows. Exercising his Earth Affinity, the arrows raced and circled through the air in an attempt to strike me from behind.

Confident that I possessed a stronger Earth Affinity, I could have redirected or struck down the arrows. However, I wanted to gauge the strength of the enemy, so I allowed five of the arrows to strike my back.

The arrows failed to penetrate but I felt a mild stinging pain on the level of a paper cut, suggesting I had likely received a handful of shallow cuts. Having failed to deal even a single point of damage collectively, I closed my second set of eyelids and made the archer a low priority. If the archer were the only thing I had to deal with, my passive healing would easily outpace their damage.

The second largest monkey had red fur just like the first but carried a long-hafted bladed spear. After joining up with the other monkey, the pair charged. The monkey with the cleaver banked to my left while the monkey with the spear approached to my right.

While I had been willing to take the arrows as a test of resilience, I was not willing to do the same with the cleaver or spear.

Again I felt a foreign influence attempt to gain purchase on my club, and again, I rebuffed it without effort.

Energy gathered around both of the monkeys' weapons and I could only assume it was in preparation for some kind of special attack. Perhaps even a Technique.

Sure enough, the largest monkey, still twenty feet shy of closing into melee proper, swung his cleaver in a vicious vertical arc, sending a crescent of pure energy racing toward me.

At the same moment, the second-largest monkey leapt forward and thrust his spear towards my chest. Dozens of phantasmal copies of the bladed spearhead appeared in orbit around the original, disappearing and reappearing again in rapid succession.

Aggressively leaping away from the crescent of energy and striking at the shaft of the spear, my club briefly made contact with one of the phantom blades and I was shocked to discover that it possessed a physical presence. If the attack hand landed, there was no telling how much damage I may have taken.

With the largest monkey at my back, I grabbed at the other monkey’s spear in a gamble to reduce his combat effectiveness. If I could wrest it free of his grip, I could remove it from the battle by depositing it in my Storage Ring.

Unfortunately, despite the advantages of my height and reach, the monkey was quick in identifying what I intended and just as swiftly committed to a vicious counterattack. Cancelling his Technique, the monkey adjusted his grip and smashed the butt end of his spear against my knee and sent a jolt of pain up my leg.

Momentarily losing my balance, I was in a poor position to deflect the larger monkey’s cleaver and lost my club parrying the cleaver away from my chest.

In recognition of the danger, I used my Storage Ring to don my stone plate armour instantly and used my Earth Affinity to pull my club back into my right hand.

The pair of monkeys' initial confidence was gone and they exchanged wary looks with one another. Eleven feet tall, the monkeys were nearly twice as tall as their smaller kin and the human defenders on the wall. But they were less than an eighth of my total mass and half my height.

Unarmoured, I was an obstacle that could be overcome through teamwork. Now, I was a threat on an entirely different scale.

Blocking the cleaver with my outer forearm, I backhanded the larger monkey and sent him tumbling backward from the force of the blow.

At the same time, the monkey with the spear attempted to drive his spear up through the plates protecting my back. He succeeded but the blade of his spear failed to deal any damage, stalled out against a fine mesh of stone chain-mail.

A gift from the Dwergi Earth Mages, empowered by my blood. The chain hauberk was equally as strong as the plates that served as my outermost defences.

Rounding on the other monkey, I ignored his spear and delivered a heavy blow to his left shoulder, shattering his pauldron and breaking the bones beneath. Spun about by the force of the blow, the monkey raised his spear to try and fend off my next strike, losing his spear and receiving an opportunistic kick to the guts as I leveraged the opening for an advantage.

Arrows pelted against my armour like rain, skittering over the immaculate crimson surface without so much as leaving a mark.

Snatching up the spear, I claimed it as my own and made it disappear.

Having lost his spear, the monkey began limping away while clutching at its left arm.

Following my gaze, the smallest monkey quintupled its efforts, loosing arrows with blinding speed to cover the other ape’s retreat.

No more effective than they had been before, I seized the injured monkey with my free hand and took a blow from the largest monkey’s cleaver with the back of my breastplate. Squeezing just hard enough to make it clear I could crush him to death if I wanted, I turned to face the larger monkey, taking another blow against my thigh.

Rather than becoming intimidated by the sight of his immobilised companion, the larger monkey bared its fangs and snarled. Eyes bloodshot with rage, the monkey leapt into the air and brought its cleaver down on my head.

Or tried to.

Accelerating the momentum of my club with Earth Affinity, I hammered home a blow to his right hip with a meaty crunch that sent the monkey barrelling off course and tumbling into the path of the stampeding Beast Tide.

“Brother! No!” The words caught me by surprise, as did the feminine inflection. Looking for the owner of the voice, my gaze settled on the archer who was now furiously loosing arrows into the Beasts trampling over the larger monkey.

While I had suspected the monkeys were intelligent, I hadn’t anticipated being able to understand them.

Crippled and half trampled to death, the larger monkey drew upon its Earth Affinity to form a tortoise shell of stones to protect itself.

Ignoring the danger it was in, the monkey already trapped within my grasp began clawing and biting at the plates protecting my hand and forearm. Just like the other monkey, its eyes had turned red with rage.

Unwilling to kill the Beast, I cast it aside. Taking care to send it in the same direction as its wounded companion.

I turned my helmet to give the appearance of staring at the archer and then waited for the giant monkey still waiting on the hill to make its move.

Sure enough, making a show of broadcasting my next target appeared to be all the push the giant monkey needed.

Leaping into the air, the giant monkey drew a pair of crescent-bladed axes. Spinning in the air to build and capitalise on the momentum, the giant monkey hurled the axes with supernaturally enhanced force.

Batting the first axe away with my club, the shock of the impact stung my hand and disrupted the nerves, allowing the second axe to knock the club from my grasp entirely.

Despite appearing to have disarmed himself, a large ornate wooden stave capped and winged with carved jade materialised in the giant monkey’s hands just in time to deliver a hammer blow against my right pauldron.

Most of the impact was absorbed and dissipated by my armour, but a small portion managed to pass through into my neck and the meat of my shoulder.

Using the staff for leverage, the giant monkey flipped over my shoulder and delivered a second blow to the back of my right knee.

Ignoring the pain, I withdrew a staff of my own from the Storage Ring and intercepted a strike directed toward my head. For a moment, our weapons remained locked in a stalemate with neither side able to secure an advantage. However, as the giant monkey lost its established momentum, I gained the upper hand and was able to cast him backwards and put distance between us.

Larger than the monkeys that had come before him, he looked closer to fifteen feet tall but shared their same lanky build. Unlike the other monkeys, this one bore a multitude of scars and wore a horned crown upon his brow made of jade.

I could see the complex thoughts taking place behind his amber-coloured eyes. Feel his anger and frustration.

“Surrender,” I demanded flatly, making no effort to argue my case or otherwise convince him to comply. I could tell that he wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say. The only way I was going to convince him to surrender was through violence. However, I still deemed it important to make my position known in advance. That I was willing to end the conflict without resorting to killing them all.

Just as I expected, the giant monkey bared its fangs in anger and snarled. “Kang no surrender!” He thumped his breastplate hard, leaving knuckle dents on its surface. “Kang kill furless-thing!” Resting his stave over one shoulder, the giant monkey, Kang, hunched his back and broke into a three-limbed charge.

Content with remaining on the defensive, at least for the time being, I did my best to anticipate Kang’s intended avenue of attack. Sweeping low, my staff caught nothing but air as Kang leapt into the air and jabbed the butt end of his staff into my visor.

Mildly disoriented, I was struck twice more before I managed to raise my arm and deflect the next attack, throwing the enemy off his rhythm and forcing him to retreat.

Pressing forward, I weathered several more strikes before successfully jabbing the giant monkey in the chest. Denting his breastplate and knocking the wind out of him long enough for me to close the gap and slam my left fist into his face.

Reeling from the blow, the monkey was too stunned to defend himself and I managed to land four more punches before he struck me with a glancing blow to the side of the head and scrambled away. Howling with rage, the monkey drew back his staff and began gathering his energy for an attack.

A piercing scream from further up the hill brought us both to an immediate halt.

Looking toward the source, I was surprised to find Kwan had skirted the battle and pinned the female monkey. Binding and constricting her arms and legs as he prepared to bite her head off.

“Wait!” I ordered, shouting the words aloud for the giant monkey’s benefit. I hadn’t intended to take hostages to get what I wanted, but I wasn’t going to surrender the advantage that had presented itself either. <Threaten, but do not kill!>

Kwan released a low dangerous hiss positioning his jaws over the female monkey’s head with deliberate and exaggerated care. All the while staring the giant monkey down. <Dominance!>

“NO!” Kang howled with rage and an undercurrent of concern I recognised all too well. Taking two steps up the hill, he came to an abrupt halt as Kwan’s fangs pressed hard enough to draw thin trails of blood. Eyes burning with rage, the giant monkey bared his fangs and pointed a clawed finger back toward Kwan and his hostage. “Release Soomin! Release Soomin NOW!!!” Kang roared, striking at his chest and the ground in a display of intimidation.

“Surrender,” I countered calmly. I wasn’t certain of the exact relationship between Kang and the female ape he had identified as Soomin, but it was obvious that he cared for her a great deal. Letting go of that leverage when there were so many more lives at stake would be beyond reckless.

Kang howled and indulged in another fit of rage, dropping his staff and clawing at his head. “NO! KANG WON’T!” Blood ran down his clawed fingers. “RELEASE!” Kang repeated desperately. “RELEASE!!!” As thick tears of blood began running down his cheeks, I became aware of a dozen other signs I had been too preoccupied to notice sooner. I became aware of the malign intelligence staring back at me from behind Kang’s bloodshot eyes.

Before Kang or his hidden passenger could react, I seized his head in the palm of my right hand, incidentally making contact with Kang’s crown.

The assault on my mind came just as I feared it would, striking hard and as deep as it could manage.

Enduring the pain I mentally locked in on the enemy’s presence and began to retaliate, bearing down on it with all the will I could muster.

I felt it baulk at my touch, writhing and contorting in an attempt to free itself from the pain I carried with me, that I shared through my very presence.

The attempts by the presence to free itself intensified a hundredfold and then collapsed entirely. The fragments of its remaining will disintegrating in the endless burning pit of pain contained within the Artefact lodged in my brain.

No longer empowered by the enchantments that had contained the malign presence, the jade crown cracked and crumbled under my palm.

Releasing Kang’s head, I took a step back to allow him the opportunity to recover. However, I did not lower my guard and I made a point of stowing my staff away and claiming his.

Just because a third party was pushing him toward certain actions, did not mean he was an innocent pawn or bystander. The eagerness of Kang’s subordinates had all but confirmed as much already.

Sparing a glance back toward the city, I was relieved to see that my champions and Bodyguards had the breach well in hand. More defenders had taken to the walls and were holding their ground.

A flying ship approaching from the east gave me cause for concern. Unfamiliar with the symbols representing the local clans and Factions, I had no way of knowing if they were friends or foes. Or worse, opportunists who would take stock of events before choosing a side.

A sudden movement drew my full attention back toward my enemy.

Kang had collapsed to his knees and remained upright through the support of his long lanky arms. “Furless?” He croaked uncertainly, bloody drool dribbling down his chin. “Furless free Kang?...” he stared up at me with unabashed and almost childlike confusion.

“I did,” I confirmed bluntly.

Kang’s thick features expressed a flurry of shifting emotions before achieving a state of relative calm. “Furless release Soomin?” Kang asked, pointing back toward Kwan and his hostage.

“After you surrender,” I replied firmly.

Kang scowled and his brow furrowed with dissatisfaction.

“You have nothing to gain and everything to lose by choosing to fight me,” I warned coldly, making a point of looking over at Kwan and then the two wounded monkeys still desperately leveraging their Earth Affinity to avoid being trampled.

It was subtle. Far more subtle than I would have given a savage anthropomorphic monkey credit for. However, my armour was infused with my own blood and bent to my will above all others. So Kang’s attempts to leverage his Earth Affinity to seize control over my armour and take me hostage failed before they had even begun.

Backhanding Kang’s jaw, I removed a length of stone chains from my Storage Ring and used my Earth Affinity to snake the chains around Kang’s arms and bind them behind his back. “I wouldn’t try that again,” I warned with a growl. “I have given you a choice, and to make things perfectly clear, the alternative is death. I don’t take Slaves...”

Surprised and no doubt confused by his failed gambit, Kang tried breaking the chains with brute strength and then his Earth Affinity, failing on both accounts.

“Surrender, become my subordinate, and I will take you and your people away from this place,” I promised. “I will give you land to call your own and rule over as you see fit. A land where your people can live in peace. If that is what they desire.”

Kang stopped struggling and stared at me distrustfully. “Furless promises,” he sneered with disgust. “Fish swim. Bird flies. Furless lies!”

I decided to take a calculated risk and removed my helmet.

Kang’s eyes widened in shock.

“Furless? I won’t argue against that,” I shrugged and conceded the point. “But I am not human.” I looked back toward the breach and raised my right arm. “LURR! TO ME!” I commanded.

There was a clap of thunder, an explosion of airborne debris and then Lurr’s crimson armour could be seen streaking across the open ground at impossible speeds.

“My Tyrant!” Lurr roared and held his bloody axe at the ready.

“Remove your helmet,” I commanded.

Lurr immediately moved to obey.

“He is not human either, and neither are they. For the most part,” I argued, motioning to my forces holding the breach. “They all live beneath my aegis and serve because they choose to do so.” I donned my helmet and had Lurr do the same.

Kang’s features writhed in response to another internal conflict. However, before he could arrive at an answer, a horn aboard the approaching airship released a decidedly aggressive call.

Despite my misgivings, the ship did not target the city and instead altered course toward Kang's army.

Following the path of the ship with his own eyes, Kang appeared to have made his decision. “Kang...Kang chooses life...” His shoulders slumped in defeat for a handful of seconds before looking to his people, who had themselves begun to panic.

Unsure what would cause such a large host to become so quickly unsettled, I received an answer as beams of superheated plasma lanced from the ship and left smouldering trails of burnt flesh and bones through the Beast Tide.

Understanding that I would need to make an exception if I wanted Kang’s loyalty and not his enmity, I began gathering my MP and mentally segregating a territory to serve as a holding ground. Outside of my realm, what would have normally taken a fraction of a second and a passing thought now took me the better part of a minute and my full undivided attention. By the time I was ready, Kang was on the verge of outright panic himself.

“Tell your people to enter the portal!” I commanded and tore open a fifty-foot-wide Breach on the far side of their formation, farthest from the approaching airship and its death lasers.

Confused, Kang hesitated for just a moment, long enough for another laser to strafe through the Beast Tide. “FLEE! HIDE IN CAVE! FLEE!!!” Kang howled, spurring his people into near-immediate motion.

Already panicked, they didn’t need to be told twice and broke ranks the instant they were given the excuse. Not that I could blame them for it. I wasn’t particularly thrilled at the prospect of standing in the open either.

By the time the last of the monkeys had passed through the Breach, my primary mana reserves had been all but depleted. Cycling my Chi helped me recover a portion of it, but I was too distracted to perform the cycling optimally.

“Fetch those two there!” I ordered, directing Lurr toward the two large monkeys sheltering from the Beast Tide. <Release her and return to me!> I mentally commanded, willing Kwan to return to my side. I didn't want him to be mistaken for one of the Beasts, or for someone aboard the airship to have that excuse. “Tell them to cooperate. I can’t protect them if you don’t,” I insisted while looking toward Kwan and the female monkey. “I need more time before I can send you all to safety,” I explained tersely when Kang failed to act immediately.

“Soomin! Jii! Jung! Come! No attack!” Kang barked in a commanding yet strangely pleading tone. Confirming that they were almost certainly more than just his subordinates.

Kwan obediently released the female monkey, Soomin, reluctantly sliding his way back down the hill and away from the Beasts that were not surging through the space the monkeys’ army had recently abandoned.

After hesitating and appearing to evaluate her chances of breaking through the Beast Tide, Soomin slung her box over her chest and broke into a loping run on fours down the hill while trying to keep her distance from Kwan.

Lurr returned with the others and I began draping them in more lengths of chain. Intended more for appearances than restricting their actions, I was surprised Kang appeared to understand the difference, snarling and staring down the two males when they made signs of resisting. However, when it came time for Soomin’s turn, he appeared far more conflicted.

As a concession for his assistance, I dipped into a portion of my recently recovered MP and formed a pair of stone shackles to bind her wrists. With all four of the monkeys possessing a high Earth Affinity, the shackles were practically worthless as a restraining measure. As an added precaution, I left a scattering of arcane markings on the surface of the cuffs to serve as misdirection.

Sensing no energy within the manacles, the three smaller monkeys exchanged confused glances while Kang gave me a small nod of thanks or perhaps approval.

Leading the monkeys back toward the breach, I sent Kwan on ahead, eager to see him out of immediate danger from friendly fire.

Lurr dutifully trailed behind, covering our retreat and hacking down any Beasts that strayed too near.

Traversing the mounds of corpses preceding the ramparts, I made a point of acknowledging each of my Bodyguards and champions as I passed. Except for Lurr and a small handful of my Bodyguards, everyone else had accepted the call of the beacon in a suboptimal state. Given the lack of warning I had provided, it came as no surprise that many were missing portions of their armour, secondary weapons and other combat supplies. Which made me appreciate their willingness to answer on such short notice.

Faine, Jayne and Randle were no exception, missing the lion's share of their plate armour, save for breastplates and helmets worn over padded gambesons. To their credit, they had not presumed to take positions on the front line and appeared to have reshaped the breach and ramparts to better serve as a kill zone while casting offensive Spells from the rear.

Trask and Itzal had both gone without armour altogether, wearing nothing but their everyday clothes. In Trask’s case, his scales were thick enough to serve as armour on their own, so I wasn’t as concerned. However, Itzal’s scales, as a Naga, were flexible but not particularly resilient, and her long thick tail was a large target. If she didn’t have the benefit of our combined Synergies, I would have taken her aside then and there and given her a stern warning regarding her earlier foray into the open ground beyond the walls.

As it stood, Itzal appeared to be enjoying herself immensely, loosing streams of ‘borrowed’ arrows into the approaching Beasts.

After cresting the rubble of the breach, I discovered a small contingent of what I assumed to be city guards and militia positioned on the street on the other side. Open crates of arrows stowed against the nearby buildings matched those Itzal had stashed atop the ramparts.

Archers nervously raised their bows at my appearance but were just as quickly commanded to lower them by what I assumed was an officer amongst the guards.

Receiving an anxious but respectful nod from the man I assumed to be an officer, I led Kang and the monkeys down the rubble and settled them down with their backs to the wall. “They are my prisoners, and are not to be touched!” I commanded. “To be clear, I am a representative of your Monarch’s ally and speak with my Monarch’s full authority! So unless your Monarch commands you otherwise, NO ONE is permitted to act in defiance of this order! Understood?!”

The officer was first to act, standing at attention. “Understood!” He barked and was quickly followed by the professional guards in unison and a staggered echo from the militia.

Probably a low-ranking officer, he probably couldn’t muster enough clout to serve as more than a political speedbump, but it was better to make the effort and have some warning than not. Besides, the threat of crossing a Monarch would probably give most people pause on their own, regardless of who was delivering the threat.

Turning my attention back toward the monkeys, I was forced to consider what I should do with the pair of injured males. Just because Kang had surrendered, did not mean his subordinates would do the same. Especially after taking a beating and being left to stew in their pain. Another gesture of goodwill wouldn’t go amiss, but there were complications to consider.

Summoning Wraithe was out of the question. I had no way of knowing for certain how many of the locals knew of her existence or how they would react to her appearance. The exotic composition of my relief force was no doubt already pushing the limits to breaking point.

With Wraithe disqualified, my mind defaulted to the next best option and I Summoned a projection of Nadine instead.

Already generally aware of the situation, Nadine acted contrary to my expectations. She hesitated.

Drawing a crate of basic medical supplies from my Storage Ring, I knelt on one knee to bring us closer to eye level so I could ask what was wrong. Then I noticed the abdominal bulge beneath her tunic.

Nadine was pregnant.

Extending my senses, I felt a brief pang of panic after discovering what felt like an empty cavity. Only to realise that I had never Summoned a projection of a pregnant person before and that the Spell wouldn’t also just Summon a projection of the egg as well.

“I uh, I mean, we-” Nadine looked expectantly to her right and then turned in a full circle with mounting embarrassment before realising she was alone.

“You’re pregnant,” I interjected, ending her protracted source of embarrassment.

Blushing self-consciously but smiling all the same, Nadine nodded. “We were going to tell you but we just thought you would already know...And you were busy...”

“I get it,” I replied, understanding how easy it was to lose track of things and have everything begin revolving around the pregnancy and how easy it was for everything else to fall away. “And I had kind of assumed after I was petitioned so it could all happen...”

“Right...” Nadine chuckled awkwardly.

“Congratulations by the way,” I commented sincerely. “You’re going to be a great mum.”

Nadine looked surprised for a moment and then smiled with gratitude. “You really think so?” She asked nervously, still smiling despite herself.

“Definitely,” I reassured her and allowed myself an indulgent chuckle at Fesk’s expense. “I’ll bet Fesk is freaking out.”

“How did you know?” Nadine demanded, evidently stunned by my predictive insight. “Oh...Duh!” She slapped her forehead and grinned while shaking her head self-deprecatingly.

Our little reunion was cut short by another near-deafening chorus of horns sounding from the airship.

“We can talk more when I return,” I apologised and prepared to terminate the Spell.

“Wait!” Nadine called out just in time to stay my hand. “What’s going on here? You needed my help to patch some people up, didn’t you?” She looked pointedly toward the monkeys and grew somewhat uncertain of herself.

“Only if you are feeling up to it,” I qualified, uncertain of how the transferred stress of the memories would affect her pregnancy.

Nadine held up one hand, signalling for patience as she swivelled her hips and cautiously bent at the waist. Appearing to be pleased with the results, Nadine grinned. “Oh, I’m definitely up for it! And don’t be surprised if I make you Summon me again later! I could use a good night’s sleep!”

“That...Hrm...That’s an interesting use for the Spell...” I admitted after taking a moment to consider things. “I’ll remember that for later.”

With a spring in her step, Nadine began gathering supplies from the crate. All the while groaning appreciatively whenever she had to bend over or pivot her hips.

Leaving Nadine to her work, I gave the monkeys a silent warning. If she came to any harm, I would visit it upon them a hundredfold in return.

***** Yi Gim ~ Yi Gim’s Interdimensional Plane ~ Bay of Tranquility *****

Yi Gim watched the patrolling Hong clan airship with unreserved suspicion. It was difficult not to in the current circumstances. Deploying an airship and fueling such powerful destructive Formations was a profound expense. An expense Yi Gim’s closest allies within his realm had not appeared capable of justifying.

Still healing the wounds he had received from the assassins, he nonetheless could not afford to show weakness before a clan whose political allegiance was so uncertain.

Consuming as many Elixirs as he dared, Yi Gim spared one last look toward his family sanctuary to confirm that the defensive Arrays were still holding true and then set out to meet the Hong clan’s relief force.

With the surviving retainers watching over his family within the sanctuary and the city guards deployed on the walls, Yi Gim had little choice but to proceed alone. He took a certain measure of pride in witnessing several of the minor clans and sect branches had mobilised alongside the city guard and made a mental note to reward them once the crisis was over.

Just because protecting the city was also in their best interests didn’t mean he should take it for granted. Yi Gim had learned that lesson the hard way in his youth and was loath to repeat it.

With the citadel in ruins, the city was crippled to the point that Yi Gim wasn’t certain it would be able to recover within his lifetime. The defensive Arrays and scouting Formations had taken generations to establish, such was their ruinous expense.

Yet, without them, the city would slowly wither and die.

Mass migrations would strain political alliances and shift the balance of power, breeding resentment and sowing potential seeds of rebellion.

Yi Gim looked up at the Hong airship again and scowled.

That was assuming rebellion had not taken root already.

Contingency contracts were by no means uncommon, and Yi Gim had survived such a contract before. However, the assassins and saboteurs had acted too quickly for their actions to be motivated by retaliation for the Demon of the Fog’s demise. Furthermore, the assassins had not declared whom they were engaged in avenging. Another oddity that fed into Yi Gim’s mounting paranoia.

Several high-ranking Cultivators descended from the airship of flying swords. However, instead of flying toward Yi Gim to pay their respects or at least offer formal greetings, they were headed toward the collapsed section of the wall.

Headed toward the Tyrant and what Yi Gim believed to be a relief force composed of his elite subordinates.

The uneasy feeling in Yi Gim’s gut grew worse.

What if this had all been the Tyrant’s plan from the beginning?

Yi Gim felt a deep wave of shame for entertaining such a thought and not casting out the moment it raised its ugly head.

The Tyrant had saved his life not even an hour earlier that same day. What’s more, he had Yi Gim in the palm of his hand and had made no hostile actions whatsoever. Even going so far as to defend Yi Gim’s city at the risk of his own life...

Gathering his Chi, Yi Gim withdrew a small one-man boat from his Storage Ring and deftly leapt inside. As he began circulating his Chi to power the Formation, the boat leapt up into the sky and began racing after the Hong Cultivators.

Although more Chi intensive to sustain than a Movement Technique, the enchanted boat was considerably faster and wouldn’t strain his already damaged channels unless he depleted his Chi entirely and attempted to power the Formation through internal energy.

The Hong Cultivators had a head start and arrived first.

As Yi Gim feared, they showed the Tyrant no respect at all and remained upon their flying swords. Making matters worse, they had drawn weapons and appeared to be making threats.

“-care not which Monarch you claim to serve!” A Hong elder in mustard yellow robes sneered contemptuously. “You will grovel in the dirt and BEG for my mercy! I am a Hong elder! A being so far beyond your feeble comprehension that you should rightfully call me god!”

The other Hong Cultivators snickered and jeered in agreement, seemingly convinced that the Tyrant, and indeed his entire relief force, would throw themselves to the ground at any moment and begin pleading for their lives.

“NO,” the Tyrant replied darkly.

The jeering stopped and the self-identified Hong elder began shaking with rage. However, before he could say a word, the prayer beads hanging over his chest constricted around his throat. His concentration broken, the elder toppled from his flying sword and landed face-first in the dirt.

Face hidden behind his helm, the Tyrant’s face was unreadable. However, Yi Gim couldn’t help but notice that the Tyrant's Familiar appeared particularly pleased with itself.