《Corsairs & Cataclysms》


 Book 4: Chapters 18, 19, & 20

    Chapter 18


    The first rays of dawn lit up the wreckage we¡¯d made of Fritch. The battle was over, and we¡¯d rounded up or hunted down every one of Reynolds''s people. There had only been six survivors.


    To finish the campaign, I had people sitting on the Fritch podium for the last six hours switching its factional allegiance to the Shattered Storm. The absence of any of their people was a necessity for it to work in the shortest timeframe possible.


    Thankfully, the transport nodes which linked the Brig on Marena¡¯s Mercy to the Slave Market in Stormblade Harbour meant we could send the few survivors far away in the blink of an eye and remove their interference.


    ¡°We¡¯ve had a message from the capital,¡± Brant announced from the deck of Marena¡¯s Mercy. Without any further preamble, he leapt over the side of the ship and joined me down at the lakeside. ¡°Doyle got one of the prisoners to talk. Reynolds is in Boulder, Colorado.¡±


    <Boulder is about three hundred miles away> Quixbix told me unprompted.


    That was too far. It would take days, maybe weeks to map out enough of Pandaemonium to get close. And the further away we got from the waypoint Claudia controlled in Dallas, the more dangerous travelling through the subterranean network would become. Going overland had its own set of complications which made it undesirable. Meting out the deserved justice to Richard Reynolds would have to wait until after we had resolved the Ashli issue.


    Brant hadn¡¯t finished with his update and continued. ¡°According to the ship¡¯s sensors, the last few groups who came through didn¡¯t turn around and return to investigate. Most of them were probably too far away to see much of anything in the dark anyway. Doesn¡¯t look like they were hanging around, which is not a surprise, really. They were already three weeks behind the first wave of raiders and probably afraid of missing out on opportunities. Our scouts have radioed in and reported that there is no sign of any interested parties coming from Borger either, but we probably shouldn¡¯t hang around any longer than necessary. They¡¯ll spot the smoke now that dawn has come.¡±


    ¡°I agree. We got lucky with the timing and that no fresh arrivals came through. Ana!¡± I called up to the ship.


    The diminutive blonde¡¯s head appeared over the rails and beamed down at me. The cheeky little sociopath was in a jubilant mood. Murder and mayhem tended to have that effect on her. ¡°What do you need Captain?¡±


    ¡°Are all the crew members back on board and are you ready to heave to? We¡¯re about ready to collapse the gate.¡±


    Marena¡¯s Mercy would have to go back through the gate and return home before we removed it, or the ship would be stuck here. It was the primary reason the attack plan was based on a two-pronged assault using the waypoint to launch a land-based offensive first. We had already figured out the general location of the gate and could have powered through its defences eventually. Thereby avoiding the need to set up in Dallas.


    However, if destroying the gate once we arrived proved necessary, that would have been tricky to pull off if we didn¡¯t want to strand the ship here afterwards. With the waypoint option, the ship could flee back through the gate and any demolition team who stayed behind to finish the job wouldn¡¯t have been abandoned.


    Anastasia closed her eyes for a moment and her lips moved as if she was counting. ¡°Yes, everybody is where they should be. Do you want us to take a few of your squads back?¡±


    ¡°Just the wounded, and they should already be in the sick bay.¡±


    ¡°Okay, see you back at the palace later tonight.¡±


    Ana waved goodbye and skipped away from the taffrails and the ship dislodged itself from the sandbank.


    A minute later, the gate control console beeped and booped when Marena¡¯s Mercy requested permission to depart which I duly granted. The gate lit up and flared into life, shimmering in the dawn light. Ana didn¡¯t hang about, and the black ship shot forward and disappeared through the gate with an audible pop.


    I made a few selections on the console and the gate lights flickered out. It was time to finish what we came here for.


    *** Are you sure you wish to trade in this gate for credit? Please be aware that this credit can only be used to build another gate in the future, and you will forfeit fifty percent of the original cost. ***


    *** Yes/No ***


    That the Framework charged through the nose for feature removal didn¡¯t surprise me in the least. At the same time, I was lucky I could even do this. Had an avowed enemy of the faction been in proximity or besieging the settlement you couldn¡¯t even perform this action. If it were that easy, towns and cities on the brink of defeat would trade in everything they could for credit just to spite any invaders.


    But this was not my sole option, merely the safest one. And honestly, what kind of Corsair traded for gates?


    Instead of choosing either option, I kept my palm pressed against the display. ¡°Quixbix, would you care to do the honours?¡± The next part would be easier if I let the imp take the reins. I could have attempted it manually, but Quixbix had more experience.


    <Hehehe. I¡¯d love to. Time for a bit of proper larceny. Theft protocols engaged.>


    We may have had to return the gate-hacking console along with the Malignant Cutter but there were a few items that hadn¡¯t been installed or quite so well protected. One of them was a small box that could be attached to podiums and the control consoles for other Framework technology. It was similar in concept to the hacking nodes the guild had tried to use on the Navigation hub on Marena¡¯s Mercy but a bit more sophisticated.


    The attempted guild hack had failed spectacularly because they were up against Anastasia, a real person. We wouldn¡¯t have the same problem. This was a standard, unenhanced gate and the TPD, the Tech Penetration Device, appropriated from Titus was a high-end piece of equipment.


    Nevertheless, what we were doing was not without an element of risk. We had simply minimised the risk. Should this fail, the gate console would lock down and we wouldn¡¯t even be able to fall back on the credit for the half-the-cost option.


    <Success!> Quixbix crowed with delight. <Never in doubt.>


    A new prompt appeared on the screen.


    *** Notorious class detected. Dungeon Corsair Lord. Calibrating alternative options¡­ ***


    *** Do you wish to steal this gate? Please be aware that the current owner will be informed of your theft. Due to the scale of the theft capture of kill quests might be generated in allied or nearby factions. Do you wish to proceed? ***


    *** Yes/No ***


    A possible consequence quest. That was a blast from the past. I¡¯d been operating in the wilds or as a lawless faction for so long, I¡¯d almost forgotten about them. Now that I thought about it, consequence quests to hunt me down and dish out some form of punishment had probably been generated dozens of times on the podiums of other factions. They just didn¡¯t show up in Shattered Storm territory and any groups interested in following through were probably gunning for me anyway.


    I selected yes from the options and watched in amazement as the gate which dominated the view vanished in a shower of glittering dust. For all its horror, there were occasionally things of true beauty in the Darkwyrlds.


    <Ding for level thirty-four. Stealing your first gate granted you a heap of experience.>


    A visit to Dean¡¯s office for the level u would have to wait until we got back to Stormblade Harbour. ¡°Let¡¯s head back to the waypoint.¡± I turned my back on the lake and trudged back up the bank.


    We were finished here.


    ***


    Dallas Dungeon Waypoint A Few Hours Earlier


    ¡°Yikes! My poor feet,¡± Mia sighed loudly and flopped down onto a comfy couch covered in cushions, shrugged her shoes off and rested her feet on a footstool. ¡°I feel like we walked a hundred miles today. Look at the time, damn, it¡¯s late. The sun will be up soon.¡±


    ¡°It was barely twenty miles and probably not even that,¡± Trisha snorted and then yawned. ¡°Try standing outside the Governor¡¯s mansion in heels for twelve hours all for a ten-second soundbite only for the bastard never to show his face and then you have to do it all again the next day. Then we¡¯ll talk about aches and pains.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s this about pain?¡± Madame Silk asked her tone laden with amusement. She and Claudia climbed out from the stairwell and joined the others in the reception area of the former adult theatre.


    It was barely recognisable from what it used to be. Once Claudia had converted the entire building into a dungeon structure, altering the exterior windows to project a false image of what the interior looked like was child¡¯s play. To be on the safe side, Trisha had worked her Siren magic on the spies in the building opposite. She hadn¡¯t gone overboard, merely influenced them enough that they stopped paying attention to the comings and goings around the building.


    With privacy secured, a full remodelling was possible. The foyer was now replete with places to sit, a bamboo tiki-tiki stand in one corner for fruit-laden cocktails and a snack bar.


    ¡°Here let me help,¡± Silk offered and perched on the edge of the large footstool and picked up one of Mia¡¯s feet.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to do anything weird are you, Petunia?¡± Mia asked, eyebrow arched in suspicion.


    ¡°Of course not,¡± Silk replied and pressed her thumbs deeply into the sole of Mia¡¯s foot. ¡°It¡¯s part of a class ability. I can soothe aches and pains with my touch, reinvigorating flagging flesh. Very handy for a dominatrix. It doesn¡¯t have to be sexual¡­unless you want it to be.¡± She finished with a snigger.


    ¡°You can¡¯t help yourself, can you?¡± Mia rolled her eyes skyward but didn¡¯t pull her foot away. Madame Silk might take a strange pleasure in making people uncomfortable. Still, her finger massage was nothing short of miraculous and she struggled against moaning in sheer delight as the weariness was expelled.


    Claudia returned from the Tiki-Tiki stand bearing a tray of cocktails with tiny little umbrellas and handed them out. ¡°Can we assume that your tiredness is a result of a successful expedition and not just the lateness of the hour?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm, yeah it was worth it,¡± Mia agreed, an expression of happy lassitude crept over her face as Madame Silk moved on to her other foot. ¡°Not every group we met with was interested in relocating, a third of them believed in the Lone Star Nation¡¯s capacity to resist and overcome. But enough were.¡±


    ¡°Which was down to you,¡± Trisha interjected. ¡°You were very persuasive. If I¡¯d been on my own, half as many groups would have signed up.¡±


    ¡°I doubt that very much,¡± Mia snorted. ¡°You¡¯re the one with the mesmerising voice.¡±


    ¡°The voice is a blunt instrument. I could have forced their agreement, but it wouldn¡¯t have lasted very long before they shook off its influence and it wouldn¡¯t affect the people who followed those I ensorcelled. They would detect quite quickly that their representative had been mind whammyed and then all trust would be lost. Not only would they refuse to join us, but we¡¯d likely be exposed to the local authorities.¡±


    Any further discussion was interrupted as the door to the theatre was forcefully opened from outside and banged against the wall. A furious Cole stepped through the gap. He was caught off-guard for a moment due to the radical change in d¨¦cor but then regained his sense of self-righteous anger and turned on the assembled women.


    ¡°Where is he?¡± Cole barked.


    ¡°Where is who?¡± Claudia replied airily, pretending she had no idea what the rude man was talking about.


    ¡°Your goddamned pimp, Carter!¡± Cole practically screamed. ¡°Where is that fucker. The pissing pad back at HQ stopped working suddenly. If you¡¯ve sold me a duck, I will fucking bury you!¡±


    Madame Silk rose smoothly from the footstool and a crop appeared in her hands that she cracked in her palm. ¡°This is not the kind of behaviour I will tolerate, little piggy.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not here for that shit, Petunia. Fun is fun, but business is business, and this is very much business. Bring me, Carter, that fucker owes me an explanation. I put my neck on the line for him.¡±


    ¡°Hardly,¡± Claudia snorted. ¡°Your whole guild had their hands out panting with greed once it was mentioned Torin would pay them for access to Dallas.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk down to me,¡± Cole roared and summoned a warhammer into his fist, but it was too late for that.


    Madame Silk and Claudia¡¯s conversation had distracted Cole from the others, and he hadn¡¯t noticed Trisha sidle sideways until she was behind him. Now she stepped up and trilled her song in his ear. Overcome by raw Siren Song, Cole went a bit cross-eyed. The heavy warhammer slipped from the grip of uncaring fingers and thunked on the carpet of the floor.


    Madame Silk moved in quickly and rapped the back of Cole¡¯s hamstrings sharply with her baton. His legs wobbled, gave way, and he landed on his knees in a bit of stupor. The Dominatrix grabbed his cowboy hat and gracefully hurled it across the room to land on the couch beside a stunned Mia. In a flash, there was a Bronzebind Collar in her hands that she clicked into place around Cole¡¯s neck.


    ¡°Um, collaring him had not been my intention,¡± Trisha commented when Silk was done. ¡°We have some nulling shackles that would work just as well.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take it off¡­eventually. This little piggy needs a bit of discipline. You don¡¯t barge in and speak to ladies under my watch like that.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I approve,¡± Mia said and rose from her seated position. ¡°But if it¡¯s not permanent, I suppose he did earn a bit of time in detention. You¡­you will let him go, right?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Silk replied. ¡°He will probably even come to thank me and not just because I¡¯m very good at what I do.¡±


    Mia looked at her quizzically in confusion, but it was Claudia who answered her.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t have any time to rest up,¡± she said and handed Mia the white pumps she had shrugged off moments earlier. ¡°There is only one reasonable explanation for the teleporter pad to be blocked. The Liberation Army are ready to make their move on Dallas. No more hiding, it¡¯s time to alert those who¡¯ve agreed to our terms and get them moving through the waypoint.¡±


    ¡°Madre de Dios! I thought we¡¯d have another couple of days. A lot of groups will barely have had time to prep for the evacuation.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re lucky we had this long. They could have attacked at any moment.¡±


    Just then the building shook from the sound of a series of thunderous explosions. The group raced to the door, opened it and looked out onto the city nightscape which had been lit up. Several of the high-rise buildings in downtown Dallas were already on fire.


    ¡°They are using their ships to bombard the city,¡± Claudia whispered in mild shock. To punctuate her words a shell screeched across the sky and collided with the side of a skyscraper that had yet to be hit and erupted in flame and fury.


    ¡°I need to go!¡± Mia tried to run out of the building, but Claudia grabbed her by the nape and pulled her back inside.


    ¡°Claudia! What are you doing? You just told me we had to warn the evacuees.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too late, Mia. I didn¡¯t think they would unilaterally bombard the city like this. The walls and defensive structures, sure, but not the civilian centres. I¡¯m not letting you run out into that. You aren¡¯t strong enough. A direct hit or a collapsing building will kill you. The groups you contacted, they know where we are, correct?¡±


    ¡°Vaguely. I didn¡¯t give them the exact location.¡±


    ¡°Then it''s up to them. Don¡¯t worry, there are a few things I can do to make this place easier to find if they are looking for it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Trisha volunteered.


    ¡°It¡¯s hardly much safer for you out there,¡± Madame Silk reminded her.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a civilian,¡± she reminded the group. ¡°And Torin provided me with the best armour money can buy for my class. I¡¯ll be okay. I¡¯m no hero, if it looks like the Lamers switch to carpet bombing, I¡¯ll be back with my tail between my legs. Besides, I¡¯m best suited to get people moving without an argument and I can pick up the layabouts next door to help watch my back.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± Claudia conceded. ¡°Don¡¯t get yourself killed. Torin will be mega-pissed if you manage that.¡±


    Trisha smiled, donned her armour and then slipped out the front door.


    ¡°I need to prepare the waypoints for the influx,¡± Claudia said. ¡°Mia with me.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need me for that. I should be here to calm the refugees.¡±


    ¡°Alright, but don¡¯t forget I can see everywhere in my ¡®dungeon¡¯. If you try and sneak off, don¡¯t be surprised if you find yourself trapped in an oubliette.¡±


    Mia flushed with embarrassment. That had been exactly what she planned to do. ¡°Um¡­I¡­wasn¡¯t¡­fine. I will stay inside the building.¡± She finally admitted defeat.


    ¡°Getting the arrivals down to the waypoint smoothly is an important task,¡± Madame Silk reminded her. ¡°And not an easy one. Here, let me give you a few pointers on projecting authority and keeping large groups in line.¡±


    Madame Silk only had fifteen minutes before the first group showed up at the theatre¡¯s doors. There were only thirty of them, but they were petrified and confused. How could going into the basement of a square concrete building help them escape Dallas? Explaining the situation would take too long and it proved easier to simply get them moving down the stairs to where the waypoint entrance was sited. Seeing that would typically be enough to appease the doubters.


    A grumpy-faced Cole looming at the entrance with his warhammer also helped convince a few of the louder voices to quieten down and do as they were told. He¡¯d already been collared, there was no point not putting him to good use.


    The imposed discipline on the refugees didn¡¯t need to last for long. Once they were through, then it was Susan¡¯s problem to deal with them on the other side. And that was something she excelled at.


    Chapter 19


    ¡°The waypoint stairway is blocked,¡± Brant commented when we got back through the tunnel network.


    Immediately, I had a bad feeling about the situation. One that was confirmed the moment a troglodyte dungeon mob scampered down the opposite tunnel when we arrived and came to a halt in front of us.


    ¡°Torin, the Liberation Army began their assault on Dallas two hours ago,¡± Claudia told him via the drooling trog. They had vocal cords which meant they could speak but it did come out a bit raspy. ¡°I will have to switch the flow to let you out. Did you want to come here or head directly back to Stormblade Harbour?¡±


    ¡°How are things with the evacuation? Any problems?¡±


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°We were caught on the hoof, so to speak. We might not be able to get as many people out as we hoped. We¡¯ve managed thus far, there have been a few minor incidents. Panic and fear-driven mostly and nothing we couldn¡¯t handle.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll come to you and bring a squad to help. The rest can go straight back to Grand Rapids. Give me a couple of minutes to get the squads organised. That way we can move quickly and minimise interrupting the evac operation.¡±


    ¡°No problem. Just pat the trog on the head when you¡¯re ready.¡±


    The trog stopped talking and stared off into space.


    The palm of my hand hit my forehead in frustration. ¡°Bloody Nora! Couldn¡¯t they have waited one more frigging day?¡±


    ¡°The enemy rarely cooperates with your preferred schedule,¡± Brant grunted with a half-smile.


    ¡°Do you want in on the evac operation?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind. Saving lives after a day spent taking them is good for the soul.¡±


    ¡°Sheamus,¡± I called out to the bombardier. ¡°After Brant and I go through, lead the remaining squads back to Grand Rapids and resupply. Be ready within an hour. I might need you to head back at a moment¡¯s notice if we get a chance to take out some of the Lamer ships. The odds are very low, but I want to be ready in any case.¡±


    ¡°Aye, aye, Captain,¡± he answered gleefully. Any opportunity to blow stuff up was greeted with unabated enthusiasm.


    Ten minutes later, I strode up the marble steps with Brant, Doc, and the rest of the squad who usually accompanied me. The area had been completely transformed and you wouldn¡¯t have known it used to be a room where pornographic material used to be played for a crowd. All the seating and the hinky worn carpet had been replaced. The space was more open and allowed plenty of room for the frightened people awaiting their chance to escape the war outside.


    Claudia was waiting for me with a big smile on her face. ¡°Is that a gate in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?¡±


    In answer, I wrapped her up in a warm embrace and kissed her deeply. ¡°Everything cool here?¡±


    ¡°Mostly,¡± Claudia answered a touch breathlessly after the passionate kiss.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I could tell something was concerning her. My eyes flicked around the room, everything seemed to be in order. The people waiting to descend were a bit antsy at the delay, but they were behaving themselves for now.


    ¡°Trisha went out when all this started. Somebody needed to spread the word and hurry up the groups we¡¯d contacted. She hasn¡¯t come back yet, and the bombardment has not let up. We¡¯ve had intel that the outer defences have been crushed and the Lamers are advancing quickly. The word from the guild channels we can spy on is that they think the city will fall within hours, by late afternoon at the latest. The locals severely underestimated the enemy¡¯s strength. It would seem two-thirds of the Lamer soldiers remained concealed in their ships during the siege period.


    ¡°Just as you predicted, the Lamers were waiting for the reinforcements from Houston, Austin, and San Antonio to arrive so that they could wipe out Texas¡¯ strength in a single blitzkrieg. With that done, the fall is happening even quicker than we anticipated and I¡¯m concerned Trisha might end up getting caught on the wrong side of the advance.¡±


    ¡°Dammit!¡± I swore and concentrated on the small bundle that represented Trisha¡¯s soul bond to me. ¡°Okay, she hasn¡¯t come to any serious harm, I would have felt that through the bond. She is west of us, somewhere in Irving, I think.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief. They haven¡¯t penetrated deep into Irving yet, but they are rampaging through Arlington and coming south through Coppell. It won¡¯t be long before that region is overrun too.¡±


    Trisha, get your ass back to the theatre. The Lamers are advancing much faster than expected. Avoid coming back along the 183. The Lamers will use the main roads to move quickly. Head for the park, I will meet you en route.


    I fired out the recall message to her via Clarion¡¯s Call and a couple of minutes later felt the confirmation that Trisha was heading back towards the waypoint.


    ¡°Brant, stay here and keep these people moving.¡± While I messaged Trisha, Claudia had reset the flow and beckoned for the next group to head down. ¡°I¡¯m going to bring back our wayward siren.¡±


    ***


    I had little time to spare, only long enough to give Mia a quick kiss on the lips. She understood the need for me to get out there. It was best to leave the rest of the squad here too; I would be quicker on my own and the plan was not to engage the enemy.


    A larger group would draw attention.


    There was a set of train tracks a little south of our location that led directly west to the park and crossed over the river which ran through it. I followed the tracks moving at a sprint, occasionally dodging abandoned train cars. It was a couple of miles in a straight line and each step drew me closer to Trisha.


    She was moving in a rough south-easterly direction, away from the 183 as I¡¯d warned her. It seemed likely she had come to the same conclusion I had, that the bridge for the train tracks over the Trinity River would be the quickest way over. The Trinity River wasn¡¯t very wide, ten or twelve metres, but you never knew what annoyances might be lurking under the water ready to attack and slow you down. The bridge would be best.


    I reached the bridge only a few seconds ahead of her. Trisha was puffing away and had two Dallas soldiers in tow. Her face lit up when she saw me hanging out under the grey girders of the bridge frame. However, my joy at seeing her was short-lived.


    The damn Lamers had adapted better than I thought possible. A vehicle that resembled a chariot with the beak of a predatory bird emblazoned in white and gold sped down the tracks behind her. It had been converted to run on the train tracks or perhaps the vehicle had the natural ability to adapt to any environment it found. Some of the more sophisticated land conversion equipment for ships had this capability. Either way, the Lamer chariot flew down the line travelling at close to fifty mph.


    The Lamers swift advances made a lot more sense now. They hadn¡¯t been camped outside merely waiting for an opportunity to wipe out the Lone Star Nation¡¯s forces in one killer blow. They had been preparing to ensure that the city fell so quickly that nobody could escape their clutches. We may have underestimated the depths of their zealotry and depravity.


    ¡°Behind you!¡± I bellowed and desperately cast the Cold Feet cantrip on the front wheel of the chariot hoping to derail it.


    The chariot proved to be too heavy or too well protected and it shattered the ice which formed around the wheel as if it were nothing of consequence. The cawing eagle on the front kept coming unobstructed.


    The two Dallas soldiers were either too slow or didn¡¯t hear me and the speeding chariot ploughed over them. One was cut in half by the protruding wing of the eagle-like creature decoration. Only it was not merely decorative, those wings must have been razor sharp to do that kind of instant damage to the man. The second soldier stumbled forward and avoided the same bisected fate of his companion only to be crushed by the momentum of the chariot that passed over him without a bump.


    Trisha, at least, either heard my called warning or felt the spike of fear through our bond and threw herself off to the side and avoided any harm apart from the indignity of rolling like a rag doll through the gravel.


    The chariot didn¡¯t slow in the slightest and now I could see that it was dragging a train of open-top carriages loaded with Lamer warriors. Two of those soldiers leapt from one of the moving cars and landed not far from where Trisha was regaining her footing. Intent on capturing or finishing off the Siren. Meanwhile, the chariot transport zoomed onward down the track and passed my position on the bridge unabated.


    I barely had time to formulate a plan before I was forced to leap from the bridge girder and onto the riverbank below. The chariot transport bristled with Lamer warriors and a few of them swung or fired their weapons at me as they passed. My concentration was elsewhere, and I was hit a couple of times, but my armour mitigated most of the damage.


    With a pointed finger, I cast Summon Rift Beast behind me across the river at the other end of the park. I counted seven or eight mostly full open-top box cars being dragged by the chariot. That meant one hundred and fifty, perhaps more, Lamer warriors all headed in the direction of the evacuation point. Their intention might have been to go deeper into Dallas, but it wasn¡¯t a risk I could take.


    Our building was visible from the tracks and would draw them in like a moth to a flame. Especially with the modifications Claudia had made so that the Dallas evacuees could home in on the place.


    A Steel-tailed Razorwolf prowled out of the sparkling cloud of orange and purple summoning smoke. I needed something swift enough to keep pace with the chariot and the Razorwolf fit the bill. The battle for control was won and I commanded the beast to derail the transport chariot or simply harry them if it couldn¡¯t do that.


    The gigantic metallic wolf bowed its head in deference and gave chase. Its shoulder banged into the back and almost overturned the last open-top car which rose upwards to almost a forty-five-degree angle before crashing back down. It was no longer on the rails of the track and bumped and bounced behind slowing the whole train down a little.


    That was all I had time to observe. With the Goresteel Greatblade in hand, I turned away and sprinted in the opposite direction to where the pair of Lamer warriors closed in on Trisha.


    Joktan Creel (Longbeard Dwarf)


    Devout Holy Paladin (Valiant) (K) Blocked.


    Character Aptitude: Moderate


    Loot Value: Blocked.


    Threat: Blocked


    Current Affiliation: The Liberation Army of Moral Emancipators


    ---


    Keas Fallrise (Celestial)


    Angelfire Crusader (Valiant) (J) Blocked.


    Character Aptitude: Moderate


    Loot Value: Blocked.


    Threat: Blocked


    Current Affiliation: The Liberation Army of Moral Emancipators


    The paladin was a male dwarf barely five feet tall who bore a shield on one arm and a hammer on the other. I couldn¡¯t tell how long his beard was because it was tightly plaited and woven into knots to keep it out of the way.


    The Crusader was the first Celestial I had encountered. Her skin was light blue, and her hair, tied back in a topknot, was a bright yellow. She wielded a spear and had a very large crossbow strapped to her back. Both wore finely crafted interlinking plate armour with the symbol of a sword piercing through the centre of a fiery halo emblazoned on the white tabards that covered their armour.


    The weapons, tabards, and armour were stained with blood, evidence they had already seen action earlier in the day. Probably when the Lamers launched their surprise offensive against the Texas armies who had come to relieve the siege.


    Trisha had surged back to her feet and engaged her sonic hum shield while actively trilling with a different set of vocal cords in an attempt to overwhelm their minds. It may have slowed their advance for a few seconds, but the pair quickly shook off its influence.


    ¡°Sing all you want, ya dumb bitch!¡± The dwarf, Joktan, growled and spat a wad of something disgusting that resembled chewing tobacco on the ground. ¡°It won¡¯t do you any good. We¡¯re warded against that kind of interference.¡±


    ¡°Marshall Campion pays a nice bounty for siren tongues,¡± the Celestial woman snarled. Aesthetically, Kaes was a beautiful woman, but there was an edge to her voice that spoke of a deep level of sadism and hate in her heart. You couldn¡¯t help but shudder with revulsion when her visage fell upon you.


    However, their lust for blood and rewards worked to my advantage because all their focus was on Trisha and none of it on my rapidly approaching charge. Trisha spotted me and knew what to do. She hopped away from the pair at the last minute and gave me room to use my Breath Weapon ability.


    To add to the pain, I assigned Shattering on both combatants and reduced their damage mitigation to low despite the armour they wore and exhaled a stream of frost breath. The cone enveloped the duo and the damage notification flicked past my eyeline.


    *** Critical Strike! x4 You have inflicted 6,720 of cold damage and 6 points of Health loss due to frostbite to two combatants, Joktan Creel and Kaes Fallrise. ***


    That neither of the two Lamers dropped after such a massive hit was a testament to their gear and level. Whatever glyphs they¡¯d been tattooed with or the equipment they wore prevented me from getting proper details beyond their current class.


    I would be surprised if they weren¡¯t both well over level fifty and had to wear a limiter glyph to allow them on the planet. The good news was that 6,720 was more than half of their Hit Point pool. Dealing more than half in a single hit is what activated the Frostbite effect and stripped a point of Health for every thousand Hit Points lost.


    ¡°Damnation!¡± Joktan roared and turned his head towards me. His eyes narrowed in even greater rage when he spotted that it was an Acheronian bearing down on him. He lost his cool and turned his back on Trisha. ¡°Abomination!¡± the dwarf screeched, and he started to glow red after activating some kind of berserk ability.


    ¡°No, heal yourself and kill the siren first, you fool,¡± Keas cried to no avail.


    While Joktan screamed at me, she had quaffed and discarded an empty healing potion bottle, draining it in a single gulp. Then launched her spear at Trisha while yelling at the dwarf to make the correct tactical decision.


    Trisha only just managed to evade being skewered by the hurtling weapon with the help of her sonic shield which diverted the trajectory of the spear away from her. But the force of the blow took a lot out of the defensive measure. The shimmer in the air was decidedly thinner than it had been, and it wouldn¡¯t stand up to much more punishment.


    Joktan frothed at the mouth, ignored the advice of his wiser companion and came at me, hammer swinging with unnatural speed. Thankfully, my agility wasn¡¯t bad either, and I managed to evade the first attempted strike, duck low, and jam the point of my blade under the dwarf¡¯s armpit in response.


    *** Critical Strike! x2 You have inflicted 652 piercing and 32 cold damage. An additional 326 piercing and 16 cold damage will be applied over the next 10 seconds as a bleed effect. ***


    Blood gushed from under his arm where the wound had been inflicted. The notification meant he still had Hit Points left, but that didn¡¯t come as a surprise with the red berserk nimbus. Such abilities typically sacrificed Health to radically boost Hit Points. It¡¯s what Luca had done to extend the fight against me a few months ago. It would be fair to say that I was sick of the ability.


    In response, the haft of Joktan¡¯s hammer clattered into my shoulder with a blind backward jab. The damn base of the handle was spiked, of course.


    *** - 225 Hit Points. 9,100/9,525 remaining. ***


    Even with the supreme mitigation of my armour that was an unexpectedly big chunk of Hit Points to lose from a simple shoulder strike. I had no fears about outlasting the likes of Joktan and Kaes, it was Trisha¡¯s fate that had me concerned.


    We traded several more blows in as many seconds, but only long enough to rack up a significant amount of extra bleed damage on the dwarf.


    With a final flicked slash to the back of his calf, I abandoned the fight with the Joktan, crouched low and used Dragon¡¯s Leap to soar over the head of the blue celestial woman. This put me between Kaes and Trisha, however, the celestial¡¯s reactions were top tier and she managed to score a hit on my hip as I came back down to Earth.


    *** - 125 Hit Points. 8,200/9,525 remaining. ***


    Nevertheless, my sudden appearance forced Kaes to back off from Trisha whose sonic shield had completely dissolved by this point. Trisha had been trying and mostly failing to ward off Kaes¡¯ spear thrusts with her polearm. The bloodied rents in Trisha¡¯s clothing testament to the success Kaes had made passing by her defences on multiple occasions in a very short space of time.


    The Whispering Bard had made great strides in terms of combat prowess in the last few months, but she was still a novice in comparison to the bloodthirsty Liberation Army warriors. They had been forged in a crucible of blood and battle and it showed in their natural combat skills. They were well versed in using their favoured weapons in combat and that would only have boosted their natural skill levels.


    ¡°Get out of here!¡± I barked to Trisha who was now behind me and pushed forward to give her a bit more space.


    Trisha didn¡¯t need to be told twice and she turned tail and ran down the railway track towards the bridge over the river.


    However, things did not go to plan.


    Foolishly, I¡¯d largely written off the berserking dwarf as a threat to Trisha. Earlier he¡¯d be wholly focused on attacking me, and I expected that to continue. But at the worst possible moment, the red nimbus which surrounded him stuttered and flickered out.


    Joktan¡¯s first reaction was to pant and wheeze suffering the ill effects of the comedown from his ability and the many sources of bleed I¡¯d inflicted. Then he spotted the fleeing Trisha and his eyes narrowed with shrewd calculation.


    ¡°Hold the pirate back, Kaes. I need to slay a sinner and boost my divine regeneration.¡±


    Kaes nodded her understanding. Before I understood Joktan meant Trisha and not me, she cast aside her spear, rushed forward, and grappled with me. Thereby, preventing me from using my boots to once again leap between the siren and incoming danger.


    It seemed that the world slowed down.


    Joktan activated another ability and bull-rushed towards Trisha, running her down in a couple of mighty, empowered strides. His hammer swung high over his head in a wide arc and descended with incredible killing intent. It missed the back of Trisha¡¯s head by a hair¡¯s width but slammed into her hip with a resounding thud so loud I heard the pelvic bones snap from the force.


    Trisha crumpled to the floor in absolute agony.


    I roared in rage, summoned small ice blades by the dozen and stabbed them into the neck, temple, and eyes of a shocked Kaes. She must have believed I would be unable to create or summon weapons while locked in her grip. If she had such an ability, I¡¯d bulldozed through it without thinking.


    Her grappling hands fell away, and she stumbled to the ground, but not quickly enough. The crazed dwarf had taken another step forward and raised his hammer high again to bring it cracking down on Trisha¡¯s defenceless head.


    A gust of wind whipped across my cheek and the whine of a fast-moving object tickled my ears. A blur of white and scarlet zipped overhead and past the dwarf with his beefy arm raised and he squawked in shock.


    The hammer did not fall upon Trisha.


    Instead, it teetered in his grip and then dropped to the ground, shortly followed by the hand and arm which held it, shorn clean off just above the shoulder. The dwarf stood there in shocked stillness for a moment before he twitched and toppled to the ground as a severed part of his head came loose and spilt what passed for his brains onto the verge of grass.


    Kaes gurgled and gasped on her knees at my feet, but she didn¡¯t hold my attention.


    Trisha¡¯s unexpected saviour did.


    The flying woman circled back around, and her feet came to rest on the grass beside the prone siren. The scarlet-tipped white wings on her back flexed, flapped, and then retracted in on themselves so as not to be overbearing.


    The blazing stare of the beautiful dark-haired woman fixed me in place. Her eyes were puffy, and her cheeks glinted wetly with shed tears in the early morning sun. Floods of tears.


    ¡°Nice to see you again, Raven,¡± I said.


    ¡°I cannot say the same of you, Carter!¡± She snapped in return.


    Raven Reynolds had lost none of her disdain or dislike for me it seemed.


    Chapter 20


    Volnis Karspent


    Stormblade Harbour


    ¡°Today I bestow upon you worms an honour far greater than any of you deserve,¡± Li Qiang informed the group of four infiltrators as they finished up the daily mopping of the Slave Market¡¯s first sub-level basement. ¡°The work for the day is not yet complete. Follow me and we will go down to the next level. This is a highly restricted area. Only those with the supreme trust of Lord Carter, like me, have permission to bring worms like you inside. Behave and I will see that you get an extra bowl of slop to eat tonight. Disappoint me and you will walk the dungeon!¡±


    At last! Volnis thought to himself.


    He had begun to grow frustrated with the middle-aged Chinese man. It had been weeks since he planted the idea for Li Qiang to bring them down here. He¡¯d been half-afraid that he¡¯d miscalculated, and they would have to activate an alternate strategy. Turns out, it had taken Li Qiang this long to wheedle the necessary permission.


    Li Qiang led the group to the lift they needed to use to descend to the next level. Once they were inside, he pressed the correct button and the lift door clanged shut. Volnis used the noise of the closing door to cover the tiny sound made when his fingernail clicked the switch to deactivate his collar. Furda and the other two men adjusted their collars in the same manner.


    The lift dinged and shuddered to a stop, then the door slid open.


    ¡°Get to work,¡± Li Qiang commanded and ushered the group out onto the second basement sub-level.


    The scene which met Volnis¡¯ eyes was even more gratifying than he expected. The different-sized cells were filled with a panoply of beasts and monsters that had been sold to podiums. Nothing on this level was particularly dangerous but setting them free in the heart of the capital where nobody expected them to be would cause mass panic and chaos.


    Amid that type of confusion, a skilled operator like himself could strike a decisive blow.


    On top of that, no guards were patrolling the area.


    A bit slack of Carter¡¯s operation perhaps. They must have decided there was no need to keep a watch. Everything down here was collared and locked up, after all.


    ¡°I said get to work!¡± LI Qiang screeched and kicked Volnis squarely in the ass.


    However, unlike every other time the arrogant fool had abused Volnis before, he didn¡¯t sprawl forward, fall to the floor and fawn at his feet. The sandalled foot met the equivalent of a wall of iron. There was no longer a need to keep up the pretence of pathetic subservience.


    Volnis arched his neck and looked over his shoulder at his longtime abuser. The mask of shock on Li Qiang¡¯s face was priceless. Only matched by the confusion and eventual pain as three sharpened mop handles were detached from the sockets of the mop-head and pierced into his body: lung, heart, and the third at the base of his skull.


    Li Qiang choked like a fish out of water for a few seconds and then collapsed to his knees quite dead.


    ¡°You know what to do,¡± Volnis whispered to his compatriots, and they hurried to kick-off the plan, unlocking the cages and leading the collared mobs out.


    The creatures had little choice but to obey the orders they were given.


    For now.


    The plan was not a success yet, Volnis had to complete a vital task first or the first released mobs would turn on them. The damn things couldn¡¯t be reasoned with and once out of their collars would ignore all previous commands.


    He got back in the lift and rode it back up to the main floor. It was much busier here on the ground floor, there was even a gathering of people that seemed to be protesting the existence of the market. That proved to be very useful because it distracted any guards. Their attention was focused on the noisy interlopers and not on a lone cleaning slave wandering around by himself unsupervised. With his head down, Volnis exited the market and made his way to the first available public podium terminal.


    After checking that nobody could see what he was doing, Volnis input a personal code and accepted a delivery that he had set up in advance. The weapons, armour, and items delivered were quickly hidden in his inventory before they could be seen by any snooper and Volnis quickly retraced his steps back to the lift.


    The protest in the main mezzanine continued, if anything, it had heated up considerably. Several of the protestors were pushing and shoving the militia members who were appealing for them to remain calm. Nobody noticed when he slipped by and took the lift back down to the second sub-basement.


    Furda and the other two infiltrators were almost done releasing the mobs from their cages.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got your gear,¡± Volnis told them as he stepped off the lift and started to hand out proper armour and weaponry to the group. Armour, even armour hidden in an inventory, infused you with a sense of comfort. You felt less vulnerable than when forced to walk around with none.


    The last item Volnis brought out was a wooden chest that he put down on the floor and opened with a sharp hiss as air rushed into the vacuum-sealed container. Inside it was filled with tiny alchemical devices. ¡°Okay, we must be quick. Now that these have been exposed to the air they¡¯ll automatically activate in an hour, and you don¡¯t want to be around when they do. Put one on the catch of a mob¡¯s collar. When the reaction hits its peak, it will eat through the mechanism and free the mob. Shuttle them up to the first sub-basement and order them to stay put and be quiet. We know they rarely bother to patrol during the day when we are supposed to be cleaning.


    ¡°There are stairwells up to the main mezzanine from the first sub-basement. We will sabotage any door that could be closed and when the fizzers eat through the collars, the mobs will do what mobs do. The only way out for them will be up the ground floor. Once that phase is complete, Furda and I will head to the palace. Glort and Coffos, stay here and break into the lowest levels. Here.¡± Volnis produced a smaller case from his inventory and handed it over. ¡°These fizzers have a five-minute fuse. Open the cells to the biggest beasts, attach them, then lead them into the lifts and send them up. Lay low and we will rendezvous at the agreed location later.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Coffos said and took the case from him.


    After weeks of patience, the plan was finally coming together.


    Volnis helped the others ferry the lesser monsters up a level for the next thirty minutes and then he and Furda sabotaged the doors under the guise of cleaning and polishing them for the next twenty.


    Everything was in place, and they had a few minutes before the fizzers ate through the collars and ignited carnage. Volnis nodded to Furda, and they padded back up to the mezzanine. Getting out of the market proved to be a bit more complex than he¡¯d initially expected. The militia had withdrawn from the building since he last navigated his way through. The stall shutters had been lowered and the doors to the upper levels where the administration functions happened were closed and locked.


    The protesting throng had full control of the mezzanine area.


    They were in a boisterous mood. Whooping and hollering as if they had scored a grand victory.


    ¡°Down with tyranny! Democracy for Michigan!¡±


    ¡°Carter out! Carter out!¡±


    That and dozens of other meaningless slogans were being called out. Pushing through the jubilant crowd without standing out is what delayed their progress. The people weren¡¯t trying to slow them, they were simply ignorant of their desire to leave and were getting in the way.


    Volnis recognised what was occurring here, he even spotted a few planted agitators in the crowd. Somebody was making a play for more power and influence and used the easily gulled to cause a ruckus on their behalf. He¡¯d organised similar demonstrations for clients in the past. Although Volnis was unsure what democracy was supposed to be, the Framework struggled to translate the word into something familiar to him.


    It was the worst timing ever for them, though.


    Whatever modicum of power the architects or this uprising were trying to appropriate for themselves would be irrelevant shortly. This place would fall to the consortium soon enough. Those who survived would be enslaved and sold to whoever needed to replace the slaves they¡¯d already worked to death. Not that Volnis expected many of this lot to survive the day.


    Not with what had been set in motion at his instruction.


    ¡°What is our target?¡± Furda whispered when they finally managed to exit the building and slip away with barely a minute to spare before time ran out.


    ¡°Carter¡¯s first wife is pregnant with his heir. We break into the palace in the confusion, cut her throat, kill the babe, and then move on to sabotaging the defences. A man riven by grief and anger is apt to make poor decisions. Decisions we can take advantage of.¡±


    Just then, the soft cheering and chanting which had carried on the wind from the market behind transitioned into screams of terror and pain.


    Volnis hid a smile behind his hands. The turmoil had begun.

 Book 4: Chapters 21, 22, & 23

    Chapter 21


    I stood there with a glaring angel boring a hole into me with her eyes.


    Coughing dragged my attention back to the celestial Kaes who tried to crawl away from me.


    ¡°Do you mind?¡± I asked and gestured with my sword to the wounded Crusader. Raven had killed Joktan but the post-slay gaze of disgust sent in my direction left me a bit unsure how she would react if I executed the downed warrior.


    Raven¡¯s eyes flicked to Keas. ¡°Finish it. Her soul is blacker than the darkest of pits. They all are.¡± There was raw pain and fury in the timbre of her voice. ¡°They slaughter indiscriminately, unarmed men, women, children¡­no one is spared. A quick death would be incomparable mercy for these villains.¡±


    That explained the streaks of tears Raven had shed.


    ¡°N¡­Nu¡­No,¡± Kaes gasped and held a hand up to block me. I ignored her plea and brought the blade down and sliced through the fingers that vainly tried to stop the incoming death.


    Notification of a hefty chunk of XP and notoriety reward for the fight came through and pushed me closer to level thirty-five. I suppose there is one benefit to an invasion by over-levelled opponents. Plenty of quick progression if you managed to survive.


    ¡°Trisha, are you okay?¡± I asked once the wet work was done.


    Her head lifted from the ground, and she groaned in excruciating pain, tears in her eyes. ¡°De¡­Define okay? I think he shattered my hip. Oh, fuck, I¡¯ve never hurt so much in all my life.¡±


    ¡°Here, I can help,¡± Raven offered and knelt beside her, placing a hand on the injured area. There was a glow from her fingertips and Trisha signed with relief and her head flopped back down onto the grass. ¡°Do not attempt to stand,¡± Raven warned her. ¡°I have suppressed the pain and stabilised the injury. It will not worsen but the bone is still broken. You still require the services of a dedicated healer.¡±


    ¡°And here I thought you didn¡¯t like me, Raven,¡± Trisha sighed from the ground.


    ¡°I don¡¯t, but when my mother allotted you a pace under our wing, I pledged to protect your wellbeing if I were able. I do not break my promises. Saving you was a matter of principle.¡±


    ¡°Way to make a girl feel special,¡± Trisha muttered.


    After looting Kaes, I walked over and checked the siren for any other injuries and offered the best healing pellet I had which she quickly swallowed.


    ¡°Thank you, anyway, Raven,¡± I told the winged woman who had moved four or five steps from Trisha when I approached. ¡°I¡¯m surprised to see you here. I thought you¡¯d be with your father, protecting his greedy little ass.¡±


    ¡°Do not test me, demon scum!¡± Raven snorted. ¡°I came to bear witness to the tragedy unfolding here. To prove Glastos wrong. The damnable man spoke truly. Beyond that, I stayed to do what I could. To give aid and succour to those in need.¡±


    Now that I could see Raven up close, her clothing was dirtied and had fresh bloodstains, not a result of what she did to Joktan. Several of her feathers were crooked or showing other signs of damage. She had been in the wars for certain. I had no idea who Glastos was or if I was supposed to.


    ¡°I am not surprised to find you in the middle of this,¡± she continued, her dislike for me very plain. ¡°Have you come to take advantage of the situation? Pillage what you can from the ruins and suffering.¡±


    ¡°On the contrary,¡± I huffed and lifted Trisha into my arms. She didn¡¯t even wince. Credit where credit is due, Raven¡¯s abilities were no joke. ¡°We came to stem the flood caused by your father when he opened a gate and let monsters like the Liberation Army through. Even as we speak, my people are evacuating as many survivors as possible. It will be far too few. All this bloodshed to fill your father¡¯s pockets.¡±


    ¡°You lie!¡± Raven screamed and more tears poured down her cheeks.


    Trisha¡¯s finger pressed against my lips and halted any verbal response from me. Where Raven was concerned, I was not always in control. The natural rivalry between Acheronians and Angelbloods interfered.


    ¡°Raven,¡± Trisha said softly, kindly. ¡°You know that he isn¡¯t. You of all people know that he isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Then he is wrong!¡± Then Raven let loose with a terrible, inhuman screech of pain and frustration. She offered no further retort. Instead, she turned her back on us, extended her wings, and flew off into the sky.


    ¡°And just like that, the deluded, crazy woman is gone,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Raven did save my life, Torin,¡± Trisha reminded me.


    I glanced down at the wounded woman nestled in my arms and let slip the ghost of a smile. ¡°That she did.¡±


    ¡°You may not see it; you haven¡¯t been around her as much as I have. Raven has changed.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°Before she would merely have got angry. That was her habitual reaction to the cognitive dissonance of someone telling the truth and implicating the saintly Richard Reynolds in some wrongdoing. That cry at the end, though, was pure emotional pain, not anger. That was the cry of a woman whose carefully built mental walls were crumbling. Finally, she sees the father she loves for who he truly is. Perhaps beginning to comprehend how her blindness has made her complicit in his crimes. Can you imagine what that must feel like? That is the kind of thing that breaks people, I don¡¯t know if we will ever see her again.¡±


    ¡°Not our problem,¡± I grunted half-heartedly.


    Which wasn¡¯t true. If RR hadn¡¯t been ¡®our¡¯ problem we wouldn¡¯t be here and none of this would have happened.


    Carrying Trisha, we crossed the bridge and I put her down on the other side long enough to retrieve a couple of Sheamus¡¯ explosive packages and place them underneath the bridge on the foundation struts. The trigger was a trip wire I threaded across the tracks. If the Lamers sent another track chariot it would activate the charges and take the bridge and vehicle out.


    Trap-setting duty only took a couple of minutes, and then we were on the move once more.


    Halfway back to the theatre, we came across the corpse of the Steel-tailed Razorhound. It was on a section of the track that acted as a kind of depot and the number of lines grew from two or three to ten or more. Transport carriages would be diverted into this exchange layby of sorts and stored there.


    The Razorhound managed to derail the chariot and its train of cars before succumbing to a mortal wound. There were more than a dozen dead Lamers either around the beast or in the wreckage of the transport. Most of the surviving soldiers had dispersed into the surrounding area but there was a group of ten who attempted to right the decoupled chariot and get it back on the track.


    That was too many for me to take on with a wounded Trisha clinging around my neck. But fortune favoured us once again with where the carnage had occurred. I recalled that during my sprint in the other direction, there were so many parked or abandoned carriages sitting on the layby tracks that you couldn¡¯t see through them all to the other side.


    I jinked to the right and threaded my way through long lines of tubular tankers that I presumed had been used to haul oil or gasoline. A safe bet in Texas. There was a short gap of almost one hundred metres where there was a single line of carriages blocking the view of the team working on the chariot. I raced past at a sprint and covered the distance with Olympic sprinter-level speed.


    The dangerous section was made all the easier when an audible detonation roared further down the tracks behind us. Something or someone had set off the trap I¡¯d installed on the bridge. With my speedy pace and the distraction, the pair of us passed the Lamer chariot crew unseen and unheard. Nothing came tearing down the tracks in the next few moments either, so presumably, the explosives I¡¯d left had been enough to take out the bridge.


    There were no experience notifications either, but that didn¡¯t surprise me. The explosives had been designed to topple infrastructure, not take out the enemy.


    The exchange layby faded back into a handful of tracks and the cover of abandoned carriages disappeared with half a kilometre to go. Still, I could cross over quickly and use a bit of sparse tree cover on the other side to stay mostly out of sight.


    ¡°We¡¯re in the clear,¡± Trisha whispered in my ear. ¡°The charioteers are too focused on what they¡¯re doing. None of them were looking our way when we crossed.¡±


    My legs didn¡¯t stop pumping to answer her and it wasn¡¯t long before I reached the break in the buildings that opened for the sizeable area of parking around the waypoint dungeon building. I ground to a halt and hastily backed up a few seconds the moment we ran into view.


    Whatever apportionment of luck I¡¯d been dipping into had run out. The former adult theatre was surrounded by a squad of Lamers who had control of the surrounding area and were involved in a fight to gain entrance into the building. I could see Cole and Brant fighting fiercely around the entrance with Doc and a few other squad members providing support from the back lines.


    The corpses of scores of civilians lay on the tarmac around the building. Victims of the Lamers indiscriminate slaughter. Fifteen, maybe sixteen veteran warriors, most with valiant classes, were trying to force their way in.


    Had I not been so focused on Trisha¡¯s safe rescue and return, then I might have considered the possibility that one or more of the squads who had survived the chariot derailment would have found their way to the theatre my people were holed up in. The influx of fleeing refugees was practically guaranteed to draw their attention if they came anywhere nearby. Claudia had since deactivated the neon pointing arrow signal that she had created to help the refugees find us.


    As nice as it would have been for Claudia to simply seal the building up, it officially remained a dungeon entrance. Dungeons could only close off all forms of ingress in certain circumstances. None of which applied in this situation. We would have to clear the scum away by hand and that would be tricky. They would all be well-levelled and competent fighters.


    Trisha knew what I was thinking and tapped me on the shoulder. ¡°I think this place has a flat roof,¡± she whispered referring to the L-shaped, one-storey building we¡¯d retreated behind. ¡°Jump us up. You can get a run-up and probably leap the gap. I¡¯ll be safe up here until you¡¯ve dealt with the Lamers.¡±


    It was a decent call and with a quick crouch, I pushed off the ground and cleared the twenty feet necessary.


    ¡°Stay down and keep out of sight,¡± I warned Trisha when I laid her down on the roof.


    She rolled her eyes and smiled fondly at me. ¡°I¡¯m not some maddened battle fiend who can¡¯t lay low when they should. That would be Shana. It¡¯s a damn shame she¡¯s not here, though. Her arrows would be really handy in this situation.¡±


    Trisha wasn¡¯t wrong about the Shadepath Mistress¡¯s lethality in a scenario like this. But given her current heavily pregnant condition, I was rather glad we¡¯d made her stay behind.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a bow anyway, but I¡¯m not especially good with it.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t expose your position,¡± I warned her. ¡°Worse comes to worst, we bring in a dozen squads of militia from Stormblade Harbour. Drown them in superior numbers.¡±


    I was a tad concerned that didn¡¯t seem to be the case already. The Lamers could have only surrounded the place a few minutes ago. Long enough for them to slaughter the locals outside. Claudia didn¡¯t exhibit any hint of the type of arrogance that would convince a person they could handle a situation like this without backup. Nor did it make sense that they would rely on me getting back in time.


    The tumultuous thoughts were purged from my mind as I moved to the back of the building. There were a few features in the way, but I had a fairly straight run-up. Planting the heel of my back foot on the edge, I pushed off and sprinted forward at top speed. I activated Dragon¡¯s Leap with my final step connected with the roof at the other end of the building and I soared through the air, clearing close to one hundred metres.


    Halfway through the leap, I realised I wouldn¡¯t make the full distance. The plan had been to land on top of the adult theatre, but the building was too tall, and my trajectory meant I would come up short. On the fly, I switched up the plan, curled into a ball, and flexed my will to strip a bit of momentum from the leap.


    Magic was handy for messing with the laws of physics like that.


    To add the icing on the cake, I tapped into my Frost harmony and created sharp icicles over every inch of my armour. This turned me into a frozen porcupine meteor that crashed into the unaware backs of the three Lamers assaulting the front door. Batting them down like human-sized bowling pins.


    It would be nice to say the Lamers broke my fall, but if they did, I certainly didn¡¯t feel it. The armour I wore helped limit the bludgeoning damage, but the collision still left me feeling a bit winded and vulnerable in the gravel-strewn parking lot.


    Two men stepped over me as I regathered my wits. Cole took the lead and swung his hammer in a wide arc to keep the shocked Lamers from taking advantage of my prone position. Brant¡¯s outstretched hand hovered above my chest. I took it in mine and the big man hauled me to my feet.


    ¡°You do like to make an entrance,¡± he muttered, but that was all the time we had for discussion before the attacks from the Lamers poured in and we fought back-to-back, inching our way back to the building where we would be less exposed.


    My eyes scanned the area and my heart dropped when a second smaller squad of ten Lamer soldiers joined the besiegers. It was the group who had been by the chariot.


    ¡°Shit!¡±


    This fight just got a hell of a lot harder.


    Chapter 22


    Stormblade Harbour


    Volnis and Furda hurried through the streets. A loud alarm blared across the harbour coming from the Slave Market on the other side of the bay. The distraction was in full effect. Most of the civilian population crowded around the dock area to get a look at what was happening. A few of the smarter or more cautious ones edged away from the harbour, unwilling to get caught up in whatever calamity had befallen the building across the small stretch of water.


    The sleek black lines of the infamous flagship of the Shattered Storm, Marena¡¯s Mercy sailed by and cut through the lake water smoothly. Off to lend aid and support for the crisis.


    Several squads of the militia rushed past; their boots clattered on the hard street as they moved to surround the building. Several skiffs, loaded up with armed warriors took the direct route over the water.


    Everything was going to plan. The pair walked steadily but didn¡¯t rush. It was a practised, relaxed gait that ate up distance without alerting any nearby eyes that they were moving faster than you would think. Although with all the confusion, they could probably sprint to their destination and not draw much suspicion. Still, years of training deterred them from taking such a risk.


    The twin gatehouses came into view. The edifice on the left led up to the Plexus Gate. Its proximity would be rather handy if they needed to escape should anything go wrong. To the right was the primary entrance to the Stormwarden¡¯s Palace. It was the only one that they could feasibly pass through. The others were locked up tight and guarded by sentinel war machines.


    Volnis didn¡¯t want to run into any of those. They had a habit of being able to see through facades. It¡¯s what they were designed for.


    The background information on the target location came from the arrogant Li Qiang. He liked to show off the depth and breadth of his knowledge and influence while they worked. Directing his rambling boasts towards useful subjects was easy enough. Through him, Volnis learned many things about the city.


    The two most relevant were information on the layout of the palace and the current affairs of the faction. Fortune favoured the infiltrators because Li Qiang had previously been assigned to agricultural work on the grounds of the palace. He had even been inside the building often enough to give Volnis a confident impression of where they needed to go.


    Information about the world outside the walls was equally important. It was common knowledge amongst the population that another gate had recently opened on the planet and many of the mercenary groups in the pay of the Dominarius Consortium had come through. However, those groups had yet to reach the border of Carter¡¯s kingdom, let alone surround the walls of this city.


    Few had any genuine concerns this would happen. They believed the lake to be an adequate deterrent. Little did they realise that the merc groups would bring ships with them.


    Ideally, Volnis and his infiltrator group would remain hidden in the city. Fomenting discord and carrying out acts of sabotage to further weaken Torin Carter¡¯s grip on power. If they could bring the shield walls down when the mercenaries were in position, it would hurry the fall of the Shattered Storm considerably. But those were considerations for tomorrow, today they had an assassination to complete. Groundwork for the eventual fall to lay.


    Along the way, Volnis and Furda had stolen some farming tools which they held prominently as they walked through the palace gate. The guards on duty barely glanced in their direction. They saw the tools and little more, their attention drawn back to the commotion occurring elsewhere in the city. Hushed conversations and concerned looks dominated their consciousness and this let the pair slip through effectively unobserved.


    The two of them marched towards the trellises that filled the gardens which surrounded the huge palace. There were other labourers here hard at work who largely ignored them. The infiltrators didn¡¯t have to worry about that for long. They rested the tools against a trellis the moment they were out of sight of the guards at the gatehouse and abandoned their worker disguises.


    The cloaks they wore were discarded, while weapons and armour were donned in their place. The outfits they¡¯d brought were carefully curated to give the first impression to anyone they encountered that they were members of a piratical crew. Hiding in plain sight. The staff would be used to seeing members of Carter¡¯s crew wandering the halls and like most Corsair groups, they had no uniform beyond some vague colour coordination.


    Torin Carter favoured black and ice blue. It was the iconic colouring of his armour and the sails on his dungeon ship. Naturally, the crew members gravitated towards clothing of the same hues. The infiltrators had brough a variety of different clothes for the job. Nothing they had matched perfectly, but they had enough items in black and blue to give off the desired air. It wouldn¡¯t hold up to close scrutiny, but it didn¡¯t need to if they just passing people in the halls. All they needed was to not stick out.


    There was a small door under the main steps that you could get to from the gardens. It was a better way in than going up to the large doorway at the top of that lengthy flight of external stairs. Two armoured sentinels stood guard at the top, but none were stationed inside the small breakout area.


    The intended use for this room was an informal barracks for guards. To keep your sentries fresh, you could have a group relaxing or taking a break in here and then they could replace those on duty guarding the entrance every few hours. However, when you have tireless sentinels to do the job, a switchover station is unnecessary, and it had been repurposed for use by the garden workers.


    Of course, it had an internal doorway that led deeper into the palace. That wouldn¡¯t be a security concern if the room was used as intended and permanently populated with armed guards. But it wasn¡¯t and thanks to Li Qiang, the infiltrators knew of a convenient way in past the upper floor sentries.


    There were a few labourers taking a break inside when Volnis and Furda made their way in. The workers jumped up from the couches and chairs where they were sitting, some abandoning a game of cards.


    ¡°D¡­Do you need something, sirs?¡± one of the men half-stuttered.


    ¡°At ease,¡± Volnis smiled at them, taking control of the situation. ¡°We¡¯re just passing through. Taking a shortcut.¡± He winked at the speaker and kept walking. He didn¡¯t want to give them a chance to think over what he said until it was too late. The less said, the better.


    The bluff worked and they passed through the chamber and out the door which led into the servant floors of the palace. They left the flustered group behind them and heard a few chairs being shifted as the workers retook their seats. With any luck, they would simply be so grateful that their downtime wouldn¡¯t be interrupted and forget to question the incongruity of two of Carter¡¯s pirates wandering through a section of the palace they normally wouldn¡¯t be found.


    Nor ask questions of exactly where this was a shortcut too because Volnis certainly had no idea.


    They passed a few more members of the palace¡¯s staff and got a couple of curious looks but nothing that would derail their mission. After a few minutes, they found a set of stairs in the heart of the place which led up to the living quarters and ascended.


    The upper floors were much quieter and Volnis began to feel confident.


    They turned a final corner and almost bumped into a trio of young women. Volnis felt rather than saw Furda come to the wrong conclusion and he had to nudge his compatriot with an elbow to the solar plexus to prevent him doing something precipitous.


    ¡°My apologies, ladies,¡± Volnis mouthed and quickly bowed to keep his face out of sight as much as possible. Furda followed suit.


    ¡°Nothing to apologise for,¡± a sweet blonde young woman said. ¡°But if you¡¯ll excuse us, we are already late for an appointment. If you¡¯re looking to update Shana on when Torin is due to return, she is in her rooms at the end of the corridor.¡±


    The blonde ushered the other two past the bowing infiltrators and headed away, laughing lightly with her friends.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to knock!¡± The blonde called out loudly as they turned the corner and walked off chattering away.


    Once they were out of earshot, Volnis and Furda straightened. Furda looked at his boss with a quirked eyebrow, questioning him.


    ¡°Calie, Lindsay, and Keisha. Carter¡¯s newest women,¡± he answered and set off down the hall.


    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t we off them too when we had the chance?¡±


    ¡°And risk one of them screaming out a warning? There were three of them, one too many for us to take out quickly. His first wife and unborn heir are the priority. If we get a chance on the way out, by all means, take it.¡±


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    They reached the door at the end of the corridor, drew their weapons and barged their way inside. Shock and surprise would be their best allies in getting this done with a minimum of fuss. Volnis led the way and was six steps inside before the surroundings fully registered. The drawing room was large and spacious. The thick red curtains were pulled back, and the French windows opened wide to let the warm air inside.


    The target was sitting calmly on a padded couch no more than thirty feet from him. His brain registered that something was horribly wrong a millisecond before the first arrow punched into his shoulder.


    Shana Colton had not merely been sitting on a couch with an enlarged belly. She was sat there in full armour and with a shadowy, curved bow in her hands. A collection of arrows was artfully arranged on a blue silk pillow placed beside her within easy reach. Not just that, but there were four of the armoured sentinels, axes and shields at the ready, arranged around her person. Ready and prepared to intercept anyone or anything that tried to do her harm.


    The first arrow was swiftly met by a second and then a third in the blink of an eye. Any thought of leaping out the windows and running away was quickly suppressed by the reality of the situation.


    The power of the arrow strikes sent Volnis staggering backwards and spun him around. Just in time to see a red-skinned woman with horns materialise out of nowhere behind Furda. Two wicked daggers in the shape of very large teeth were in her hands and driven into the side of his companion¡¯s throat and kidneys.


    Volnis had just long enough to recognise the attacker from Li Qiang¡¯s description. The cambion, Fang Mei.


    His final thought before a fourth arrow pierced his temple and ended his life was one of defeat and despair.


    They had to know he was coming. They were too prepared.


    He¡¯d never been a step ahead of the Shattered Storm, they were a step ahead of him.


    ***


    ¡°Happy now?¡± Fang Mei demanded of Shana with a degree of exasperation in her voice. ¡°You¡¯ve taken part in the operation.¡±


    ¡°It was over a bit quickly, but it will have to do, I suppose,¡± Shana sighed. ¡°I mean they¡¯re dead now, right?¡±


    ¡°Damn straight, they¡¯re dead. I¡¯m not risking leaving either of them alive. They came here to assassinate you.¡±


    ¡°Pfff,¡± Shana played it down. ¡°I was never in danger with you or these tin cans hovering over me.¡±


    Three pairs of shoes could be heard running down the carpeted hallway and Calie, Lindsay, and Keisha crowded into the room and almost slipped in the pool of blood seeping from Furda¡¯s corpse that lay closest to the door.


    ¡°Eeewww,¡± the brown-haired Lindsay gasped and hop-stepped out of the way of the dead man¡¯s vital fluids. The other two were forewarned by her reaction and stopped in time.


    ¡°You did it then,¡± Keisha asked and stepped around the body to enter the room and backed away from the bodies.


    ¡°Yep,¡± Shana said with satisfaction. ¡°Calie, your warning was very useful, thank you.¡±


    Calie curtseyed and beamed with happiness. ¡°We just wanted to help where we could.¡±


    ¡°The three of you are almost as bad as Shana,¡± Fang Mei grumped. ¡°It was a huge risk; they could have chosen to cut their losses and target you instead. We didn¡¯t know for sure they were after Shana.¡±


    ¡°My people had eyes on them,¡± a new quiet, but masculine voice cut in. Doyle appeared from out of a secret passage located behind Shana. ¡°But Fang Mei is quite correct, this was an unnecessary risk. We could and should have intercepted them earlier.¡±


    ¡°In Torin¡¯s absence, the decision was mine to make,¡± Shana reminded him. ¡°Separating and handling them out of sight was the best option.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure he would have agreed, my Lady.¡±


    ¡°It also maximised the chances of us uncovering any additional contacts they may have made. Do we have an update on that and how has the rest of the plan unfolded.¡±


    ¡°I am cautiously optimistic that Li Qiang was the sole individual this group compromised. It was fortunate he had been under observation already. Had he not been, then these saboteurs may have operated in secret for longer before being discovered. Following them has uncovered a range of security risks that we can now address. The other two members of this little cabal were intercepted in the lower basement before they could release any of the more dangerous mobs. I will see to their interrogation presently.¡±


    ¡°And what of the protesters who stormed the market¡¯s mezzanine?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, there were¡­a severe number of casualties before order could be restored and the freed mobs either slain or recaptured. Their presence interfered with the militia¡¯s ability to act decisively. The scheduling of their unapproved protest was a true tragedy or poor timing.¡±


    Doyle thought it best not to mention there had been nothing accidental about the timing at all. Ot with the three newer paramours of Captain Carter present. When Li Qiang started requesting access to the lower basements to assist in the cleaning, Doyle had correctly surmised the infiltrator¡¯s intentions. It was not difficult to do, he only had to ask himself what he would do in their position.


    His new team assigned to handling internal political threats had ferreted out the day of the protest. Therefore, they stalled on giving Li Qiang his access until the day of the event to make sure the two affairs clashed.


    Two birds with one stone.


    His new team would be among the lucky survivors, and that should make things easier for them to seize the leadership positions of the movement. With tacit control of the opposition, then future, potential troublemakers would be volunteering to identify themselves to the authorities.


    ¡°Speaking of timing, there has been a drawback to today¡¯s operation. The Liberation Army chose the same day to make their move on Dallas. Miss Gattosi put in a request for support during the middle of the jailbreak. The team that could have been sent from the waypoint here had been called in to assist in containing the mob outbreak at the Slave Market. A team had to be assembled and despatched from the Grand Rapids garrison instead. It did mean a short delay.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re only telling us this now!¡± Shana yelled and pushed herself up from the couch, knocking the unused arrows onto the floor. Then she gripped her belly and slowly lowered herself back down.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Fang Mei asked with grave concern and crossed the room quickly.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m fine,¡± Shana answered. ¡°But I do think my water just broke.¡± Her fingers eased under her thigh and discovered wetness. ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°What? The baby¡¯s coming¡± Keisha squeaked with delight. ¡°I thought you had another month to go?¡±


    ¡°Apparently not,¡± Shana grimaced.


    ¡°Somebody get Mathilda, quickly,¡± Fang Mei demanded, more shaken by the unexpected turn of events than Shana.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Calie volunteered and skipped out of the room to get the nurse who operated the palace infirmary.


    ¡°Doyle,¡± Shana gasped, and then the first contraction caught her by surprise and derailed her line of thought.


    The former CIA man took advantage of the distraction to smooth things over. ¡°I¡¯ll get everything in here cleaned up. Spick and span. Ladies, help Shana down to the med wing. Don¡¯t worry about Captain Carter, he has an uncanny ability to land on his feet.¡±


    Chapter 23


    The Lamer warriors drew in closer, and it was high time they felt some pain. Poison from my Breath Weapon filled the parking lot. As per usual, I¡¯d been after Frost, but I would take Poison given the circumstances. The cloud of noxious green gas billowed forth. There was hardly any breeze, so it would hang in the air nicely and it enveloped most of the enemy.


    Unfortunately, despite the lack of natural wind, there was nothing I could do to stop the unnatural variety. One of the Lamers had a wind-based class and created a small vortex in the centre of the parking lot that drew in the poisonous smoke. It was funnelled high into the air and away from where it would continue to be problematic for them. Nevertheless, it bought us a quarter of a minute to get back into position and allow Doc and the other ranged attackers to let loose a few volleys with their weapons.


    ¡°Reconfigure the raptor chariot!¡± The commanding voice of a grey-bearded veteran standing at the back shouted. A handful of warriors backed up to obey his command and rushed out of sight to the train tracks.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound good,¡± Brant grunted beside me.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t,¡± I replied.


    The only explanation I could think of was they planned to reconfigure the chariot¡¯s runners into wheels and use it to batter through our defences. Having seen the fate of a couple of Dallas soldiers run down twenty minutes ago, I didn¡¯t have a great deal of faith we could keep it out if it built up sufficient velocity.


    Now that I was back at the entrance, I could see behind my people to the interior. Inside it was crammed with panicked civilians. It appeared that there had been a large influx of refugees just before the Lamers had arrived and started to cut down the stragglers. It would take a while to ferry all those people through the waypoint. Half the squad I¡¯d brought with me were involved in maintaining order inside.


    Claudia controlling what people could see on the outside helped on that front. They wouldn¡¯t fully know how dire the situation appeared.


    ¡°How about letting me go?¡± Cole beside me complained and tugged on the collar around his neck. ¡°It¡¯s pretty God-damned immoral to force someone to die on your behalf.¡±


    Cole¡¯s welfare was the least of my concerns. ¡°Take this for compensation,¡± I said and handed over the hammer I¡¯d looted from Joktan. It was better than what he already wielded.


    The guild mercenary couldn¡¯t hide the expression of avarice when his fingers wrapped around the hilt and the details of the hammer¡¯s stats filtered into his mind. He tried to force the smile back down but didn¡¯t do a very good job of it. ¡°It¡¯s a start,¡± he coughed.


    ¡°Cover my flanks, I¡¯ll hold the centre,¡± I ordered. ¡°Here they come again.¡±


    The Lamer soldiers had spent a little time healing up and purging any toxin debuffs from my previous attack. After that, they felt confident enough to come at us again.


    Six armoured soldiers advanced. The sun, now high in the air as we reached mid-morning, glinted from the burnished steel of exposed armour. Their weapons swung in our direction. I exchanged blows with their front rank while Cole and Brant guarded the sides. The Goresteel Greatblade flashed out again and again, and it became coated in the blood of my enemies


    I burned through my remaining charges of Shattering to weaken this wave and push them back. The strategic aim was to enforce caution and trepidation on the warriors in the second wave after watching the first wave pushed back with such serious injuries. The tactic didn¡¯t work. These people were too fanatic or bloodthirsty to give a shit about the welfare of their fellows


    Slowly, the Lamers began to succeed in wearing me down. My Hit Points had dipped below four thousand, under half of my starting total. But despite a single lucky swipe to the neck of one of the younger fighters which killed him from the bleed, they¡¯d taken no casualties in return.


    It felt like this was a losing proposition.


    The Liberation Army fighters rotated out after I put a bit of hurt on them and there was little that could be done to stop the exchange.


    It didn¡¯t take long before my wingmen were forced to do the same. Doc and another squad member shuffled forward to take Cole and Brant¡¯s place when their wounds threatened to overwhelm them.


    But nobody could replace me.


    I was the tankiest fighter in our ranks by far, Brant was the only one who had a similar if lesser profile. Had Danny been with us, things might have been a bit different.


    Both sides exchanged ranged fire but neither could make much headway via that method with their fighters blocking the way. Time was ticking away, though. I didn¡¯t know how long it took to reconfigure that chariot but once they did, their breakthrough was all but guaranteed.


    Two minutes passed and my Breath Weapon came off cooldown. There was no time to waste, and I doused the current front rank in a cone of frost. Two of them were killed and the other four fell back, only to be replaced once again. This time the grey-bearded veteran stepped up to the plate.


    He had an aura of murderous conviction that was palpable. The single consolation was that my ragged defence had forced a full rotation of their forces. Not a single Lamer soldier hadn¡¯t felt the lick of my blade.


    But that was the slimmest of silver linings. I hadn¡¯t felt this kind of powerlessness since the doctors told me the truth about my shoulder injury.


    I was separated from my ship, Summon Rift Beast and Breath Weapon were both on cooldown, and all the Shattering charges were gone. I didn¡¯t have any clever tricks concealed in my inventory, the last of Sheamus¡¯ munitions had been used on the bridge. Neither was the Shattered Goddess or Dean waiting in the wings to give me a leg up on the enemy. I would have even accepted the meddling presence of the green-clad sorcerer.


    This was something I hadn¡¯t faced before. Duels and battles with overpowered enemies were one thing, but this constant recycling of opponents in a manner that felt almost limitless left me struggling to come up with a strategy. Every card I knew of had been played.


    Perhaps sensing my frustration and despondency, Quixbix uncharacteristically started to talk while I was in mid-combat with the grey-bearded veteran whose name aptly turned out to be Fallor Greybeard.


    <Hold on for a little longer, Torin. The call has been heard and help is on its way. It¡¯s a race. Our reinforcements versus their war machine.>


    I had to trust he was telling me the truth and inched forward, blocking a thrust from Greybeard and swiping my blade upwards in a riposte that forced him to take a half step back to avoid.  A shake of my head cleared droplets of sweat from my brow.


    Time to put in that extra bit of effort.


    I delved deep for greater resolve, deeper than I had ever pushed before. Mentally, I opened myself to everything and anything, beseeching the heavens for some inspiration. I searched high and low, everywhere I could think of. And that is when I found it. I couldn¡¯t tell you if it had been my idea to immerse myself in the sixth sense of Preternatural Insight or if something external had called to me, but that is what I did.


    Previously, the skill had been of little use in combat. It often helped me understand the inner workings of the Framework and clued me into things I shouldn¡¯t know, but it had never been of practical benefit in the actual fighting.


    Today was different.


    Within, I found a reservoir of untapped potential, one that I grasped with both metaphorical hands and wielded as the weapon it was always meant to be.


    My face broke out into a manic grin beaming brash confidence of unmatched magnitude. With this insight and strength I could not be stopped.


    It was time to make the Lamers regret ever being born.


    ***


    Trisha


    Trisha shuffled her body across the flat roof, crawling commando style to spare her badly injured hip. The pain numbing which Raven had bestowed had started to fade away. The searing agony of a broken pelvis didn¡¯t come roaring back, thankfully. But there was a throbbing ache that continued to build. Hauling her body across the roof hadn¡¯t helped her situation, but she couldn¡¯t help but overhear a gaggle of the Lib Army soldiers had returned to their raptor chariot.


    It didn¡¯t take Trisha long to figure out what they intended to do. The soldiers were hauling the chariot off the track and were reshaping the runners into larger wheels. When they were done, they¡¯d use the vehicle to batter their way through the entrance and into the theatre. If Torin had continued to fight at the entrance, then that could only mean they were still trying to evacuate people inside. Otherwise, surely he would have lured them into Pandaemonium. It would have been easier to deal with the attackers down there with the help of Claudia¡¯s dungeon mobs which guarded the place.


    If that chariot entered the fray, many people would die. Trisha couldn¡¯t allow that and prepared to do something incredibly noble. Both noble and utterly suicidal.


    There was a tone that sirens could emit that she had never used before. It drew threat to the singer and acted just like a taunt. The taunting tone was meant to be used as an alternative method of drawing your prey into a well-laid trap when seduction failed. But Trisha had no trap unless you counted being on a one-storey roof which was not much of an impediment to the calibre of warriors fifty metres from her position.


    Needs must, as they say, and she sucked in a deep breath ready to commit the ultimate folly only to be interrupted by the flap of wings and the soft footfall of a cushioned landing.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯d be miles away by now, Raven,¡± Trisha craned her neck and whispered to the crouched Angelblood Justicar who had landed behind her.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t save your life only to watch you cast it away so easily,¡± she snapped back in a hoarse, yet low voice.


    Trisha waved her hand over at the theatre where the sounds of fighting could clearly be heard. ¡°Torin and his people are fighting for the lives of hundreds of refugees as we speak. Risking themselves, why should I not be doing the same?¡±


    ¡°Because your plan means certain death. That despicable corsair has more lives than a blasted cat. He could stand in the path of a tornado and emerge unscathed.¡±


    ¡°Well, do you have a better idea? I can¡¯t let them use that war machine. Will you fight them off?¡±


    Raven rose a few inches and looked over the edge of the building at the soldiers. ¡°There are too many and I have exhausted the few combat abilities I possess already. The last of them to save you,¡± she accused.


    ¡°Thank you for that, but that doesn¡¯t change the need to pull them away.¡±


    Raven looked downwards and scrunched her face in frustration. ¡°Fine,¡± she barked. ¡°Call them over, but I¡¯m not leaving you here to die. The moment they climb onto this roof I¡¯m carrying you off and dumping you on the pirate¡¯s building. After that, you are on your own.¡±


    That would only provide Torin a couple of minute¡¯s delay. The time it took for the Lamers to run over, get on the roof, shake off the taunt once she was out of their range, and then jump down back to the chariot. But a few minutes would have to do and it¡¯s not like Trisha wanted to die today.


    Glorious sacrifice was difficult to commit if there was a viable alternative.


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    ***


    Torin


    The grinding melody of combat surged through my blood. Like the deep thrum of a guitar unleashing chord after chord of stirring music which coursed with adrenaline to drive feats of unstoppable ferocity. A monster had awoken in my soul and wanted nothing more than slaughter and victory.


    ¡°Captain! Captain! Hold with the line, for fuck¡¯s sake, hold with the line,¡± Doc cried in desperation, calling me back to where my flanks could be protected.


    I barely heard him; the deep throbbing bass line had been joined by the cacophonous percussion of drums, drowning everything out bar the hum of conquest.


    At first, my opponent Greybeard believed the manic behaviour afforded him the advantage. He soon came to understand the foolishness of such an assumption. Greybeard¡¯s every movement, gesture, and eye flick betrayed his intent and I reacted with grace and liquid reflexes. Each of his attempted blows were countered or avoided. Every time I flowed into the perfect position and posture to strike back with furious resolve.


    The flurry of critical hits drove the older veteran inexorably backwards. The forward progress may have opened my back to attacks from his allies, but they were as nothing to a glorious conqueror like me. The swipes of their weapons were slow and obvious, often easily avoided and if they couldn¡¯t be, I made sure the blow was merely glancing and minimised the damage.


    Preternatural Insight blazed white hot in my mind¡¯s eye. Feeding back a panoply of information that my brain processed in an instant. Wind speed, temperature, humidity, brightness from the sun, armour that was ill-fitted, gear heavier than it should be, a sword two inches longer than what was optimal for its bearer, a gait that favoured the right side. All of the data flowed in and combined to create a plotted path of the future.


    <Torin!> Quixbix screamed in my head, but he sounded distant, miles away and he was easily ignored.


    He couldn¡¯t be allowed to distract me from destiny. From what was to come. I was a glorious God of Conflict and Conquest.


    Unstoppable.


    Indefatigable.


    Today was but the first step towards the ultimate domination of the entire galaxy. It would all bow under my rule.


    My birthright.


    It was what I was created to be, to do.


    Greybeard panicked and activated a halo-shaped pendant that hung from his chest. One look at the energy signature of the pulse it emitted told me all I needed to know about its purpose. It was a call to martyrdom. All those sworn by oath to his command would answer the call and give all they possessed to take down the selected target. Me.


    A coward¡¯s move.


    Greybeard backed off and a score of Lamer soldiers threw themselves at me with wild abandon, all caution and self-preservation forgotten. My Greatblade went to work cutting and slashing. There were too many of them to dodge or parry.


    But my skill did not let me down and insight flowed into my core.


    Not about my enemies, this time it was about my gear and how the rules for its use could be overwritten if you had the right understanding and skills. There were always loopholes and Preternatural Insight had been specifically designed to take advantage of them.


    With the skill¡¯s help, I rapidly jury-rigged the last three charges of my Breath Weapon to circumvent the cooldown and to go off simultaneously in all directions around my head. The only cost was half the durability of the Hooded Dragonscale Coif and disabling the immunity to breath weapon damage the armour set provided. The armour could be repaired, that was not a problem and what was the loss of a few Hit Points to remove this mass of parasites swarming me.


    Frost, flames, and lightning exploded from my position and the Lamer attackers were tossed away from me. Even Greybeard who had backed away was licked by the outer edge of the circle of destructive power I unleashed and battered to the ground. He had to desperately cast a healing spell upon himself to survive.


    The enemy fell at my feet, blown down like sheaves of wheat in a hurricane. Their piddling act of self-sacrifice would not be enough to stop me. Experience notifications passed across my eyeline. Enough for half of my attackers.


    That would not do!


    All who opposed me had to pay the ultimate price. I stepped forward, breathing heavily with murder in my eyes. Ready to finish off the surviving enemies who lay prostrate on the ground.


    <Torin! Can you hear me? Can you hear me now? Pull your bloody head out of this damned secret channel of yours.>


    It was Quixbix again. Louder this time. The imp was proving to be a distraction and a complete killjoy.


    ¡°I can hear you imp,¡± I lisped with a ragged breath. Discharging the breath weapon in a manner it was not designed to be used had done a proper number on me. In the back of my head, I understood that my jaw had been broken and dislocated. It was just one of many mounting inconsequential injuries that I could safely ignore.


    <For the Framework¡¯s sake fall back. Don¡¯t you understand, you are DYING!>


    It doesn¡¯t matter, the urging voice whispered as it coaxed me to continue. The flesh is weak and can be replaced. Glory awaits if you only keep going. Every enemy will bow before you. You cannot be stopped.


    Wait.


    Whose voice was that? And where was it coming from? It wasn¡¯t Quixbix or the Shattered Goddess. I would recognise them. Although it was familiar, I had heard it somewhere before but for some reason couldn¡¯t quite place it. How could I be the receptacle of so much data on the surroundings but be ignorant of whom spoke to me?


    Something was off. Had this voice been whispering to me from the moment I began my kamikaze attack.


    The voice had to be suppressing the knowledge that it was even speaking and whatever Quixbix had done to breakthrough and make himself heard had the added side-effect of disabling that subterfuge.


    My mind backed away.


    No, the voice barked in anger. Listen to me and only me!


    Whoever it was had just made a critical error. I could be a stubborn bastard when I wanted to be, and I didn¡¯t like being perfunctorily ordered around. The voice wanted me to stay submerged in the secret channel and listen only to it. I did the opposite and mentally returned to the regular consciousness of Torin Carter.


    *** - 3,000 Hit Points. 0/9,525 remaining. ¨C 25 Health 62/87 remaining. ***


    Immediately, the red-tinged damage notification that the voice had suppressed pinged for me to see. The burst of three breath weapon charges had stripped the last of my Hit Points and started to eat into my Health stat. I was in a bad way and understood how close I came to death in my mania-induced combat frenzy.


    This had been the voice¡¯s plan from the beginning. To fool me into isolating myself and encouraging me to keep fighting when all reason dictated that I should back away.


    Now that I was free of its influence, I easily recognised the source of my brush with death.


    Ashli.


    Or maybe it was the fragment which had escaped the dimensional prison.


    Ashli hadn¡¯t been able to directly influence me using the secret channel access that came with the forbidden Preternatural Insight skill before. But this had been the first time I had actively tapped into it since the fragment managed to get loose.


    The second realisation was that Ashli¡¯s whispers weren¡¯t the only thing that had been suppressed from my awareness.


    Greybeard rolled away and rose to his feet, a wide grin on his face. The raptor chariot refit had been finished and it was rumbling directly towards me at speed.


    ***


    Brant


    Brant returned the used potion bottle to his inventory and let the squad medic work on his wounded thigh. He had stood side-by-side with Captain Carter for as long as he could.


    The tired soldier¡¯s eyes flicked around the room.


    Half the people who had been crammed in here earlier had been ferried down the stairs, but it would still take ten, perhaps fifteen more minutes before the last of them were safely underground and they could fall back. Then Claudia could take over and reshape the dungeon to confuse the Liberation Army soldiers long enough to get the fleeing refugees to Grand Rapids and safety.


    Cole was laid out on a fancy couch not far from where Brant was sitting being tended. The guildsman looked to be in a bad way and the seeping blood from his wounds had ruined the upholstery, but he would live. Madame Silk hovered over the blonde Texan and whispered in his ear, stroking the side of his cheek in a manner more sexually suggestive than caregiving.


    Brant huffed out a tired breath and closed his eyes. Who was he to judge others? In a world filled with danger and calamity, people should be allowed to find joy wherever they could. Provided it didn¡¯t hurt or negatively impact others, of course.


    The moment of contemplation didn¡¯t last long before reality intruded.


    ¡°Captain! Captain! Hold with the line, for fuck¡¯s sake hold with the line,¡± Doc cried out from the doorway.


    Brant¡¯s eyes opened instantly. There was a hint of genuine panic in Doc¡¯s voice. Something serious had occurred and he began to rise from his seated position. Flashbacks of his own recent experience of being forced to act contrary to his will.


    ¡°I¡¯m not finished,¡± the cleric admonished him and tried to push him back into the loveseat.


    The cleric didn¡¯t stand a chance. Brant was too big and strong to be denied. ¡°It will have to do,¡± he grunted.


    If what Doc cried out was accurate and the captain had pushed forward, then Brant knew he was the best option they had available to take Torin¡¯s place at the entrance.


    Free of the fussing man, Brant limped the short distance to the doorway. The three backline squad members who had been shooting crossbows over the heads of the others made way for him when he tapped on one of their shoulders. Now he could see exactly what was going on.


    The captain had indeed gone battle crazy and abandoned the defensive position. He traded blows with the Lamer Commander. Brant had never seen Torin like this. He was a blur of action, his movements graceful and fluid. It was almost as if he could anticipate the enemy¡¯s actions before they knew what they were going to do themselves.


    He forced Greybeard back but that left a gap for the rank-and-file Lamer soldiers to move into. Many of them turned their weapons on Torin¡¯s back but a handful understood the defensive line had been weakened and attacked the crew members guarding the doorway instead. Doc had shifted into the middle to cover Torin¡¯s absence, but he struggled badly. Being in the centre of the battle was not his forte.


    Brant summoned his broadsword and shield. Within a few seconds, an opportunity arose when an enemy soldier ducked away to avoid a bolt to the face and Brant took the opening to shove Doc to the side, step in and take his place. Doc gratefully let him move his big body into the gap and the fighting continued.


    Captain Carter kept pushing forward. He killed several enemies and then Greybeard fiddled with something in his chest.


    There was a bright flash and that led to some respite for Brant, Doc and the others. The fighters in front of them retreated from the entrance and as a large group assaulted the captain in a swarm. Brant was forced to cover his eyes with a forearm as Torin did something unexpected. Lightning mixed with flames and cold air almost blinded him as it exploded from his position and pulsed outward in a wide circle.


    The roaring circle of destruction didn¡¯t quite reach the building entrance, but Brant was unsure if that had even been a consideration for Torin. He seemed lost in an oddly calm berserker state.


    Brant blinked off the afterglow and drank in the sight of the aftermath. The Lamers were down but Torin did not look to be in good shape. He looked worse than Cole did, but he was still standing which was more than could be said for most of those fighting against him and that was when Brant heard the rumble.


    A chariot with a ramming piece in the shape of an eagle in flight came trundling across the grass verge over by the railway tracks. It was gathering pace and heading directly for Torin who stood in the middle of the parking lot in a bit of a daze. Brant took a step forward, intent on running to his leader only for his wounded thigh to buckle under the weight and take him down to a knee.


    ¡°No need to bow in me presence, Branty,¡± an all too familiar and annoying voice chirped behind him. ¡°The calvary has arrived.¡±


    Sheamus was behind him, tugging on the back of his armour as he climbed up his back to take his perch. Tavar Aenarion, the elven Elemental Mage was with him along with two squads of replacement warriors. They¡¯d had to struggle past the frightened refugees to get to the ground floor but had finally arrived to give aid.


    ¡°The Captain!¡± Brant said by way of warning and pointed at the approaching chariot.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, Branty my boy,¡± Sheamus declared gaily and balanced himself when he reached his shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ve got a promise to Bessie to keep.¡±


    Once in place, the bombardier summoned his blunderbuss creation, kissed the barrel lovingly, pointed it directly at the chariot, and squeezed the trigger.


    The roar of the blunderbuss was deafening. Quite literally. Sheamus had fired the damn thing right by Brant¡¯s ear and the thunderous explosion burst his eardrum. The recoil of the weapon sent Sheamus flying backwards, forty feet through the air, and he landed on the gut of the recovering Cole winding him.


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Sheamus coughed with a feral grin. ¡°Perhaps a little less kick for the next batch.¡±


    Meanwhile, the projectile flew true and collided just under the left wing of the bird of prey. The front of the chariot was torn apart, and it was knocked up into the air, spilling the riding warriors onto the parking lot gravel before it rolled over them adding further insult to injury.

 Book 4: Chapters 24 & Epilogue

    Chapter 24


    Without the help of the combo of Preternatural Insight and the secret channel, I barely registered the flying projectile that flew past me and struck the chariot. It was so fast.


    What I did see was the fire and the fury of the explosion. The chariot was flipped into the air and the six occupants were thrown to the ground only to have the wreckage of their vehicle fall on them before rolling into the side of a nearby building.


    I glanced behind me and saw Brant down on one knee holding a bleeding ear. My best guess was that he had turned himself into a firing platform for Sheamus, though where the mad bombardier had got to afterwards was anyone¡¯s guess.


    Up on the roof of the theatre, I could see Trisha clinging to the sign Claudia had erected to guide the evacuees. How she got there I didn¡¯t know, but it was probably a safe bet that Raven hadn¡¯t flown away like we thought earlier. Maybe she stuck around to watch me get clobbered.


    ¡°Impossible!¡± Greybeard yelled in shock. His gaze drinking in the ruination of an entire elite vanguard unit. ¡°The freshly integrated cannot be this strong. You are sheep, ready to be led to the slaughter.¡± He finished with a growl of menace.


    His visage had settled upon me, and hate pulsed from his veins in waves you could almost feel.


    <Now would be a good time to leap away or retreat> Quixbix suggested. <He looks very angry.>


    That was a fine idea but there was a definite wobble in my legs. The downside of coming back to myself was that the surging adrenaline had tapered off. Exhaustion and a stack of debuffs inflicted by the swarm of Lamers who tried to kill me left me struggling not to keel over in a shuddering lump. Running or jumping away would likely result in me faceplanting in the gravel-strewn parking lot rather than making a sharp exit from danger.


    ¡°At the very least, I will cut the head from the venomous snake,¡± Greybeard hissed.


    We¡¯d been upgraded from sheep to a snake. I would be happy if not for imminent death.


    Greybeard readied his blade and shifted his posture to rush me only to be interrupted as a bolt of magical lightning hit him squarely in the chest and forced him to re-evaluate.


    The spell had been cast by the elf Tavar who strode out into the parking lot, past Brant who had been hauled back into the building to recover. Tavar was not alone. A full squad poured out the doorway and there was a second lined up to join them.


    The Lamer Commander took one final glance in my direction, spat on the ground in disgust, and sprinted away. He¡¯d abandoned the wounded warriors without hesitation to save himself.


    Shattered Storm warriors streamed out of the building. Two members of Tavar¡¯s squad rushed over, put my arms over their shoulders, and guided me back inside seconds before my legs gave way. A few of our people gave chase, trying to run Greybeard down, but he must have activated a mobility skill because he was already out of sight.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go far,¡± I half-mumbled, concerned this was just another ploy to draw us into a trap. There were more Lamers on the chariot train than what had been killed here and by the Razorhound.


    Tavar was ahead of me and reined in the overly ambitious without needing my input. As an off-worlder, he knew exactly what kind of tricks the Liberation Army could play. Instead, he had them concentrate on executing those who were down but still alive.


    More experience to fuel the progression. I blazed past thirty-five and thirty-six and was well on the way to thirty-seven. I tried to smile at the thought, but it only reminded me of my dislocated jaw and the two crewmen carried me inside.


    ***


    It didn¡¯t take much longer before the foyer emptied of evacuees, though there were a few new ones that were escorted in by the newly arrived squads. They¡¯d been hiding in the surrounding buildings until the fighting had concluded.


    Mia fussed over me and wanted an explanation for my foolhardy behaviour, but that had to wait until one of the medics realigned my jaw.


    Something which hurt.


    A lot.


    Once that was done, I was pulled away to our private chambers further back in the building. Trisha had been brought down from the roof and was lying on the bed in a recovery position. A brace was locked in place around her injured hip to provide extra support. Events outside had calmed down enough that Claudia didn¡¯t need to keep her vigil at the waypoint entrance.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Mia demanded.


    ¡°Ashli, or possibly his fragment,¡± I told them. Now that I¡¯d broken the connection, I could recall the way it had whispered in my ear at the speed of thought. Egging me on and feeding the delusion of grandeur. It probably didn¡¯t have to try very hard to come up with the mindset, merely channelled its own. ¡°Things looked grim, and I was searching for an edge. Anything to shift the odds back in our favour and I tapped into the Framework blind spot. It had to have been lurking on the same channel and got inside my head. It was insidious.


    ¡°At first, the guidance it offered was incredibly helpful. I could see and anticipate my enemy¡¯s every movement. But it was all a ruse to gain trust. It never lied, but it occasionally omitted info or undersold it. Enough that I took risks, and made poor choices that endangered me. It almost worked. Quixbix broke me out of it.¡±


    <It¡¯s about time my contribution was appreciated. Who knows what could have happened to me after dipping my metaphorical toe in that cesspool? Ashli could have excised me with a thought.>


    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t waited as long as you did, Torin wouldn¡¯t have almost self-imploded his head,¡± Trisha reminded him, and I had to tune the imp out as tried to make the case for his defence.


    ¡°Thank you, Quixbix. Late or not, you came through for the team.¡±


    ¡°Will this be a problem moving forward?¡± Claudia asked, worry in her voice. ¡°A way for Ashli to influence your psyche.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so,¡± I told her confidently. ¡°The secret channel might connect us, but it wasn¡¯t until I forced my mind inside that it was able to reach out and manipulate me. We both have access to the resource, but we can¡¯t use it to cross over. Only meet in the middle.¡±


    ¡°I still don¡¯t like it,¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be careful, and I¡¯ve got Quixbix to watch my back. I¡¯ll even let Quinn have a poke around when we get back to Stormblade Harbour. Speaking of which, how are we set? As much as I would like to stay and take the Lamers down a few more pegs, I¡¯m no longer fit to fight. I might be stuck on bed rest again for the next few weeks.¡±


    ¡°Everyone who had already made it here is through to Grand Rapids. We¡¯ve stayed operational in the hopes of drawing a few more refugees in, but I think we have to close it all down. The guild channels that we¡¯re spying on are filled with dire and panicked reports. Liberation Army units have been spotted in downtown Dallas. Dozens more of those chariots and even larger transports have been reported. It looks very likely that the city will fall within the hour.¡±


    I sighed loudly at the news. ¡°Agreed. There is little more that we can do here. We¡¯ll offer what aid we can to the Lone Star war effort through the markets. Pack it all up. Is there anything else? Why did it take Homebase so long to respond?¡±


    Mia and Claudia looked at one another.


    ¡°Well, now that we¡¯ve confirmed our departure, it¡¯s safe to tell you. There was an incident at Stormblade Harbour. Don¡¯t worry, Doyle handled it,¡± Claudia assured me. ¡°But it did pull away the readied squads who would have joined us and we had to wait for Tavar and Sheamus to mobilise from Grand Rapids.¡±


    Mia threw her hands in the air. ¡°That¡¯s not the important part,¡± she huffed.


    I arched my eyebrow in confusion.


    ¡°The baby is coming. Shana is giving birth,¡± she said excitedly.


    Oh shit! I was going to be a Dad!


    ***


    Packing up didn¡¯t take very long. Most of what made up the interior was part of the dungeon foyer and didn¡¯t need to be removed manually. Once the last of the refugees were sent through to Grand Rapids, Claudia switched the flow back to Stormblade Harbour and we could head home.


    Trisha was carried back on a bier that elicited a few amusing comments about her behaving like she was the Queen of Sheba. Her retort was to wave her hand in an upright position. A proper royal dismissal.


    Despite my eagerness to get back and be by Shana¡¯s side, I had a duty to remain until everything was concluded here. The reports assured me that Shana had only been in labour for an hour, and I had a bit of time yet before the delivery. The Darkwyrlds removed many of the potential complications from childbirth and marathon periods of labour lasting twenty-four hours or longer were a thing of the past. Despite that, childbirth still usually took several hours. You were at the mercy of another life and sometimes they were a bit shy about making their debut.


    The last act performed by Claudia was to collapse the building above. A dangerous reconfiguration like that was only possible if people weren¡¯t present. The last few stragglers waited in the waypoint recess in Pandaemonium until she was done. Claudia had excavated further back and expanded the area while making it much more comfortable and better defended.


    The plan was to make the exterior in Dallas appear as if it had been hit by one of the barrages that the Lamers had launched into the city. That way we could keep the waypoint active and minimise the risk of discovery. Removing the shard and collapsing the waypoint was another option, but this way we had a possible avenue back into the city should it be necessary.


    It was difficult to predict what the Liberation Army planned to do once they conquered the city. Whether they would stay in Dallas or simply depopulate the place and move on to the next. The problem we had was that Greybeard had got away from us. He knew that we had been up to something in the former adult theatre but had never set foot inside. He didn¡¯t know that it was essentially a dungeon or that there was a concealed waypoint in the basement.


    I was also in two minds as to what I preferred to happen on that front.


    One positive perspective was that if the Lamers discovered the waypoint and entered Pandaemonium, we might be able to use it against them. That would allow the Shattered Storm to ambush any groups that were sent in with relatively little risk to us. The waypoint itself didn¡¯t lead directly back to our territory and they couldn¡¯t use the shard to change the flow without Claudia¡¯s assistance.


    The single drawback to the strategy was that retrieving the shard could become complicated if the Lamers recognised what it was and set up a permanent garrison to keep us away. It would still be possible, it would require a lightning assault and establishing a bridgehead that could be held long enough for Claudia to do what was needed.


    Alternatively, the Lamers never finding the waypoint had a lot of upsides too. Not least of which would be the ease with which we could travel across the country. Should the Lamers move on, the waypoint would make it easier for the Shattered Storm to strike at them where they felt safest. They would have to be dealt with at some point. Quixbix had been clear they operated like a swarm of locusts devouring everything in their path.


    Thankfully, none of this took too long and soon I was striding through the halls of the Stormwarden¡¯s Palace. The aches and pains of the earlier were forgotten for the time being even if it would take a week or two to fully heal up.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t too late,¡± Susan assured me when I entered the medical wing and guided me to the room where the action was happening.


    Shana smiled up at me when I entered. Dark hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat. The nurse, Mathilda, was at the end of the bed by her spread legs, softly murmuring instructions. Fang Mei held one of Shana¡¯s hands on the far side with Mia, who had come ahead of the rest of the group, hovering beside her. They had left the near side of the bed free and clear for me.


    ¡°Get over there then,¡± Anastasia jeered from a chair in the corner where she lazed languidly. ¡°Shana needs to crush one of those hands of yours to get her own back after you put that bun in her oven.¡±


    ¡°I love you too, Ana,¡± Shana whispered with a wan smile from the bed.


    Shaking my head at the dungeon core¡¯s antics, I took my place at Shana¡¯s side and let her take my hand and crush to her heart¡¯s content. She had a pretty good grip, but I¡¯d endured worse.


    Shana was no mutated lobster from hell. Well, from Sholmdir, but it didn¡¯t make much difference.


    We didn¡¯t have much longer before Mathilda shouted. ¡°One more big push!¡±


    Shana strained and grunted with the final effort. A split-second later, her face took on a look of pure relief, and the piercing cry of a newborn babe echoed across the room to a chorus of oohs and ahhs. Mathilda whipped the babe away to a prepared station behind her and worked quickly to do what was necessary while Fang Mei and I mopped Shana¡¯s brow and crooned supporting words.


    With practised efficiency, Mathilda completed her tasks and handed a swaddled babe into the waiting arms of Shana in short order. She rocked the tiny little boy with pointed ears in her arms while he gurgled in happiness.


    After a few rocks, Shana moved the child closer to me. ¡°Torin, let me introduce you to your son. This is Dash.¡±


    A Framework chime echoed through my body and soul, but I barely noticed it as I looked at the tiny smiling face of my son.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Whatever the chime had been, it was something that could be attended to tomorrow.


    The End of Book 4 of Corsairs and Cataclysms.


    Epilogue


    Freedom¡¯s Journey, Flagship of the Liberation Army Fleet on Earth.


    Fallor Greybeard was a seasoned Liberation Army Captain. He had sixteen separate campaigns under his belt. Sixteen worlds successfully purged of taint. He had put a countless number of sinners to the sword, freeing their souls from the burden of their mortal weaknesses and ancestral guilt. And yet, he quaked like the newest of recruits as he knelt in the presence of the Fleet Commander, Marshall Campion.


    He''d never had to explain the complete loss of the squad of Holy Warriors when the forces arrayed against them had collapsed so completely. His contemporaries gloried in their successes with minimal casualties, many with none at all.


    The report had been delivered to the ultimate authority on this planet with forced calm. If today was the final sunset for Fallor Greybeard, he would not have it said that his courage wavered when faced with the end. If he could only match the emotional storm within to the public fa?ade.


    ¡°An Acheronian Corsair, you say?¡± Marshall Campion said at last giving nothing away.


    ¡°Indeed, my Lord,¡± Greybeard grovelled. ¡°A strong one. An off-worlder methinks. It is the only explanation for how we were overpowered. I had heard reports that a Corsair vessel had been pursued in the Plexus ahead of our arrival. It must be them.¡±


    ¡°Unlikely,¡± Campion answered, and Greybeard¡¯s heart sank.


    He hadn¡¯t believed the excuse himself but had hoped that it might have sounded plausible enough for the Grand Marshall to spare his life.


    ¡°That vessel has been confirmed as a Shiptaker scout. That old monster Titus is as brazen as he is depraved. Had the Acheronian you encountered been one of his foul tentacles, there would have been no doubt about the provenance. This is somebody new. Were there any visible signs of his ship?¡±


    ¡°I saw nothing, my Lord. According to the maps, there was a river nearby, perhaps it was harboured there.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Campion spoke confidently. ¡°All possible escape routes from the city were being monitored or scanned. They would have been spotted. Moreover, a squadron of my personal elites have investigated the area. They found nothing but rubble at the location. No sign of this Corsair, nor of how he came and went. How curious.¡±


    ¡°If I might,¡± a new voice interjected.


    Greybeard lifted his arm a little and glanced under his armpit from his prostrate position. The speaker was a thin, reedy, aged Celestial. One of the Scripter Corp. Administrative cowards who rarely fought, no wonder they lived to such infirmity.


    ¡°Speak, Markus.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, My Lord. I would like to remind you of the consequence quest listed in yesterday¡¯s briefing. For the theft of the plexus gate used to make planetfall. A faction called the Shattered Storm. The early inquiries made by my division indicate it is led by an Acheronian Corsair based in the north of this continent. Mayhap, it was this group, and then they used the stolen gate to flee.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Campion mused from his throne unconvinced. Disposing of or hiding a plexus gate after it had been used for an escape was a complex operation fraught with difficulties. It was possible, for sure, yet very difficult. ¡°Markus, refocus your attention on this conundrum until it is resolved.¡±


    The Celestial bowed deeply. ¡°As you command, my Lord.¡±


    Marshall Campion rose from his throne and took three steps down the dais. ¡°I shall survey the purge and personally bestow final blessings on a collection of sinners.¡±


    Greybeard lowered himself even further, his lips brushed the floor of the throne room. The other assembled Liberation Army officers in attendance bowed at the waist in deference.


    Campion''s boots clacked loudly on the lacquered flooring of his audience chamber. Greybeard was about to let out a breath of relief. He had been forgiven or perhaps forgotten which might be a better outcome.


    However, Marshall Campion halted at the door. ¡°Oh, and Greybeard. A failure of this magnitude cannot be tolerated. Penance must be made. Your left hand and eye should suffice. You may visit the Excoriators if you do not dare to do it yourself.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my Lord,¡± he answered, his voice cracking at the end.


    He didn¡¯t know whether to groan or rejoice. His life had been spared, true, but how long would he last if he was crippled. And what chance would he ever have to redeem his honour in the eyes of the Marshall?


    ***


    Fragshli


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Fragshli lisped and dislodged a rotten tooth from Maurice¡¯s body.


    He had been so close to fixing two problems in one fell swoop.


    At first, the fragment had been shocked to discover the mind and soul of Torin Carter intruding upon a Framework wavelength that was supposed to be hidden and reserved solely for Ashli¡¯s use. The shock only doubled when realisation dawned that this was the same meddlesome entity who had ruined Ashli¡¯s plans and effectively trapped him in the first place.


    Shock had quickly morphed into hope. Carter¡¯s soul was strong and resilient, powerful. More than that, there were five others intricately bound to his. This had been a glorious opportunity.


    The body of Maurice could go no farther. Fragshli had made it to the outskirts of Minneapolis. However, the decomposed condition of the body had led to several¡­misunderstandings with the locals. The ensuing battles had robbed him of the last of his strength. After the latest encounter, he had retreated to an abandoned section of the city and concealed himself in the cellar of a burned-out bar.


    But with Carter delving into the wavelength, Fragshli could reach out and influence him. Warp his mind and senses and drag him to the very cusp of death where the bond between the soul and consciousness is weakest. That was when Fragshli could strike, cut the mind¡¯s control and use the connection via the wavelength to jump bodies and haul what was left of tainted energy with him.


    The body would have been badly damaged, but Carter¡¯s soul was strong and once Fragshli was the one giving the orders restoration would have been easy enough, especially with five others that could be drained to fuel the process.


    It was all for nought. A damnable imp had stuck its unwanted nose into the mix and disrupted the deception. Carter had become aware of the manipulation and withdrew both mind and soul from the wavelength before Fragshli could initiate the transfer. Just a little more damage, that was all he needed. One more hit and Carter¡¯s body would have been his.


    His fist slammed on the top of a metal cylinder that had once been filled with beer and the wrist snapped. The blow had not been that strong, but Maurice¡¯s bones had grown brittle. Deceiving Carter had not come without a cost. This body was ready to fail, he had a day, maybe two he remained perfectly still and didn¡¯t exacerbate the decay.


    This cellar would be Fragshli¡¯s last resting place. He no longer had the strength to leave.


    The sound of wood creaking and snapping as it was moved and torn away came from the top of the cellar stairs. Somebody was trying to get in and Fragshli¡¯s contemplation was swept away with more immediate concerns. He eased himself to the floor and crawled behind the remains of the machinery used to pump the beer up to the bar above.


    It took the interloper a little longer than expected to make an entrance for themselves and as they stomped down the steps which bowed and almost broke under its weight Fragshli understood why.


    The individual was a giant. The skin was blue-green and a lengthy beard the colour and texture of seaweed hung from his jawline in a tangled mess. The giant¡¯s eyes were feverish and what little clothing he wore was caked in blood and viscera. This creature was a beast of wanton destruction. What a carrier he would have made if only the fragment had the strength to subdue the beast.


    The giant had to crouch and lower its head to move around the cellar. It picked up several barrels like they were toys and tossed them around in frustration as it searched the place. Inevitably, the over-sized man found his way to the back of the room and easily tore away the pipework Fragshli had lodged himself behind.


    The beast¡¯s eyes alighted on the decaying wreck of Maurice¡¯s body, and he smiled widely showing off large yellowing teeth. ¡°I am Hudson Reed,¡± the giant introduced itself gruffly with a deep rumbling voice. ¡°The mortal champion of Sholmdir of the Deeps on this planet. My God has told me that together we can right all wrongs and wreak vengeance on those who have erred against us. Was he right?¡±


    Fragshli smiled widely. Salvation was at hand. One of Ashli¡¯s slaves had managed to get a champion on the planet. This was the type of information he could have done with from the very beginning. No matter, he knew of the champion¡¯s existence now and surely someone with a giant¡¯s constitution could accommodate the necessary physiological alterations required to become a host.


    ¡°Indeed,¡± Fragshli mumbled. ¡°Pick me up and carry me out of this place to somewhere safe. This vessel will not last for much longer and we have preparations to make. Tell me about your enemies. Hudson. And I will tell you what can be done to punish them.¡±


    Hudson nodded in apparent satisfaction, lifted the dying elf''s body and carried him out of the cellar and into the daylight. He barely noticed the withered hand touching his abdomen under his ribs or the changes the contact wrought inside of him. The influence of Sholmdir over his mind kept him ignorant of what was happening, that he was being sacrificed to the machinations of its Master.


    By the time Hudson had finished the sorry tale of his family¡¯s misfortunes, that Fragshli did not listen to, all had been completed. Maurice¡¯s body went limp and to Hudson¡¯s shock disintegrated in his arms.


    ¡°What?¡± he said in surprise as the remains of the body slipped through his fingers.


    But he didn¡¯t have long before a spike of pain behind his eyes brought the massive man to his knees, his hands cradling the skull that felt like it was splitting. He roared with pain and rage, utterly confused as to what had just happened. And then almost as quickly as it happened the screaming and the pain ceased.


    Fragshli stood and flexed his new powerful arms. ¡°This is more like it,¡± he rumbled. ¡°Finally, a vessel worthy of being a host.¡±


    The soul of Hudson roared in rage and consternation but Fragshli isolated and suppressed it quickly. He¡¯d learned his lesson after playing with Maurice. Mortals were a distraction, better to seal them off and use them as the batteries they were. He clapped his hands together and set off at a pace-eating run. It was time to gather that tainted energy.


    ***


    Unseen by Fragshli¡¯s new eyes, a few motes of what remained of Maurice¡¯s body had lingered. Each piece had become intrinsically bonded with wisps of the man¡¯s shattered soul.


    Individually, none of them possessed the intelligence to do anything other than float in the air without sensation or intention. But filled with hate and a thirst for revenge. Left to their own devices they would have eventually settled on the earth and been buried. Maybe some would have been inhaled by an unlucky person or beast who would have become infected by the dark emotions the motes contained. Driven to fulfil dark fantasies of vengeance.


    Fortunately for those potential victims, this was not to be.


    When one God or Goddess imposes their will on a shrouded planet, it opens the door for others to slither in and do the same.


    Within the shattered remnants of Maurice¡¯s broken soul, there was an affinity that attracted such an entity. With the tiniest of nudges, purpose and direction were given.


    The motes separated and flew on the wind. They had work to do.


    ***


    Raven


    Raven¡¯s bare feet alighted on the wooden decking of the hotel balcony of her father¡¯s room in Boulder. She pulled back the glass sliding door and interrupted the meeting Richard Reynolds was having with his lawyer-cum-assistant, Higgins. He had a tumbler of whiskey in one hand and a cigar in the other. His cheeks were flushed, a sign that he was more than a little merry which did not surprise her.


    It had taken a few hours for her to fly back to Colorado after the battle for Dallas had concluded. Her father had taken to drinking earlier and earlier in the day now that Regina was no longer around to curtail his desires.


    RR was startled by the sudden opening of the glass door and a little of his drink was spilled over the sides. He dropped the cigar and reached towards a side table where a handgun rested. Before his fingers wrapped around the revolver, he saw who it was that had come in and settled back down. ¡°Raven, honey, where have you been? You¡¯ve been gone for days without a word. We were beginning to worry.¡±


    The words were what she wanted to hear from the father she was so desperate to believe in, but for the first time, she couldn¡¯t shake how hollow and formulaic they sounded coming from him. As if he was saying what she wanted to hear, playing the politician.


    That was when RR''s eyes fixated on the unsheathed sword she held. Higgins spotted it too and rose from his chair and backed up a few steps to put himself completely out of the short distance between father and daughter.


    ¡°Raven¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been in Dallas,¡± she cut RR off, her words ragged because she was on the verge of tears. Remembrance of the horrors witnessed and the painful revelations of who was responsible. ¡°The city is a charnel house. There has been a slaughter of unparalleled evil committed there. Committed by a group of people we, no you, let through that gate for money.¡±


    ¡°Raven, honey, we needed those funds to protect the community here. This sounds like a terrible tragedy. Give me some time to reach out to my contacts in the Lone Star Nation. Maybe there is something we can do to help. Who would have thought they would have such a laissez-faire attitude to the defence of their people.¡±


    Raven analysed the words of her father. As had always been the case before, her powers offered nothing in return. No ping or hint that any deception had taken place. Nothing to suggest he hadn¡¯t told her the truth. And yet, she had just flown over Boulder. The defences of the city were unchanged and most of the few people in the area remained outside of them. The only place truly protected was this ski hotel. It had been three weeks since her father had got the money. If any of what he said was true, surely there would be some visible sign.


    RR got up from the couch, opened his arms for a hug and took a step forward, but had to stop when Raven¡¯s sword was raised in the gap.


    ¡°Raven, what is the meaning of this?¡± he snapped.


    Raven shook her head and took a deep breath. She would have the truth, one way or another. ¡°Glastos¡­¡± she stuttered in turmoil. ¡°After I caught him, Glastos told me he warned you about them. About the Liberation Army. Warned you of what they would do. That he told you not to let them through under any circumstances, but you took their money and did it anyway. Is this true?¡±


    Like any consummate political animal, Reynolds quickly understood he¡¯d been found out and was in trouble. He dropped the angry father routine and shifted to a conciliatory negotiator. Raven had caught up with the mercenary as planned, but it appeared the little bastard had managed to spill a few secrets before she executed him.


    ¡°You can¡¯t believe a word out of a dying man¡¯s mouth. They will say anything to try and save their skin. Apportion blame to anyone other than themselves. You told me yourself how seeped in sin he was. How deserving of judgment. Perhaps I should have listened to you sooner and had him executed before he could spread this poisonous deceit. I knew nothing of the nature of those who came through the gate and the only thing Glastos talked about was his cut.¡±


    Raven wanted to believe her father. She wanted it more than anything, but finally had to admit to herself that where Richard Reynolds was concerned the truth detection of the Justicar class did not work. The absence of condemnation had not been confirmation of the truth.


    ¡°Is this true?¡± She asked, not of her father but the permanently petrified pencil pusher he never made a deal without.


    Higgins.


    Her ability might not work on her father, but it certainly worked on him.


    ¡°Umm¡­uhhh,¡± Higgins stuttered and took a few more steps back, glancing to either side as if searching for an escape route and fiddling with the collar of his shirt nervously.


    ¡°Answer me!¡± Raven screamed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare say a word!¡± RR roared in response. ¡°Raven, you must listen to me. I am your father, and you will show me some respect. It is an unacceptable for you to barge in here and treat my staff with such an aggressive display.¡±


    Higgins eyes swivelled between both Reynolds. Richard raging from his position by the couch, the powerful Raven standing their sword held aloft. He feared both, for very different reasons and that was when he figured out that didn¡¯t matter. He was sick and tired of where following RR had taken him.


    ¡°I miss my old life,¡± he whispered. ¡°I miss Parker, and hard as it might be to believe, I miss Detroit. I¡¯m sorry, Richard. I just want to go home. Raven, it¡¯s not tr¡­¡±


    Higgins confession was interrupted by the crack of gunfire indoors. A bullet slammed home in the centre of his forehead and sent him stumbling backwards. Two more shots followed up the first and hit him the chest and caused Higgins to drop to the ground.


    Raven, whose attention had been on the lawyer, swung around to face her father. He stood there with the revolver, wisps of smoke discharging from the muzzle.


    ¡°I will not abide a traitor,¡± Reynolds sneered. ¡°Better to deal with them decisively. Now, Raven, come sit with me and I will explain everyth¡­¡±


    Just as Higgins confession was cut off mid-word, Richard Reynolds attempt to exert control had similarly been curtailed. This time by the blade of his daughter¡¯s sword penetrating his chest and piercing the heart.


    Raven gasped with shock and horror at what she had just done but did nothing else. No attempt to undo wat had been done. Her father¡¯s execution of Higgins had been the last straw. The only possible reason was that he was about to confirm her father''s guilt.


    Her father¡¯s eyes widened with pure disbelief as he stared at the deadly blade that had been run smoothly through his chest. He choked out a few attempts at speaking, took a couple of steps back and then collapsed on the edge of the couch. The tip of the sword jabbed into the back cushion and the jarring sensation meant he toppled forward and fell on to the ground. His mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.


    ¡°Hu¡­hu¡­help me,¡± he begged from the floor.


    Raven knelt next to him; her hand wrapped back around the hilt. If she removed the sword, she could stabilise the wound and save his life. With extreme willpower, she hardened her heart. Images of the dead children in Dallas drove the resolve. ¡°I can do that, Daddy, but I need something from you first. You can¡¯t be forgiven for what you¡¯ve done, but you can be spared if you show contrition. Tell me the truth. Confess.¡±


    ¡°I¡­I¡­I didn¡¯t¡­didn¡¯t do it. N¡­Not my fault.¡±


    A liar to the very end.


    Raven closed her eyes, tears pouring down her cheeks at what had to be done and twisted the hilt before pulling it free. She stood back up and watched as blood pooled on the floor and the light died from her father¡¯s eyes. The loot nimbus flickered into life and confirmed his death.


    The sound of wet coughing drew Raven¡¯s attention away from her grief. Despite his relatively low level and lack of armour, Higgins had survived the gunshots. She crossed the room quickly and lay a hand on his chest to stabilise the man. The bullet to his head had gouged a deep furrow through his scalp but it hadn¡¯t penetrated the skull which saved his life.


    ¡°Tell them what I¡¯ve done,¡± she told the man as he gazed up at her blinking in surprise and a bit of mild terror. ¡°Go back to my mother, she¡¯ll take you back. She is good that way.¡±


    With that, Raven left Higgins, picked up her father¡¯s body and stepped out back onto the balcony before taking flight.

 Book 5: Prologue Part One

    Prologue


    Titus Shiptaker


    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking forward to this day for three hundred years,¡± Rom growled with pure malice at his twin brother Rem.


    The identical twin brothers had been considered a marvel at their birth. Twin births were rare when the sire was as powerful as Titus, so identical babes were virtually unheard of, possibly even unique. It had afforded the boys many advantages over the years. Advantages they had utilised ruthlessly to push themselves to the top of the pecking order of Titus¡¯ brood of Acheronian children.


    However, somewhere along the line, a deep abiding hatred for one another had taken root. They turned against one another and that vice-like grip on the joint number one position floundered and flailed until it slipped from their fingers. Inevitably, each had blamed the other for their fall from grace. The enmity deepened until the memories of the days when they acted as one were irreconcilable to the reality of the present day.


    ¡°You¡¯ve known where I was this whole time, Rom. I made no secret of it,¡± Rem taunted and circled his brother, passing his short blade from one hand to the other while he sought an opening. ¡°Are you sure it was not cowardice that stayed your hand and not the lack of opportunity you claim?¡±


    The last line acted as a trigger and the two Acheronian Corsairs slammed into one another with speed and ferocity, blades clashing. The onlookers screamed with unabashed delight as the blood and sweat dripped from the bodies of the two men locked in gladiatorial combat. It had been a lengthy contest, and many were excited to see who would emerge as the victor in the final.


    Titus watched on with feigned interest. Unbeknownst to his sons, the proffered prize for victory, their sister Crynn, would never be returning to the fold. Not that Titus thought it would have mattered much if he had told them. Following the information provided by Carter, Titus chose to change tack and lifted the few restrictions he had placed on the competition. The gloves were off and the true bloodletting begun.


    The contest had offered his rapacious progeny the chance to elevate themselves in his eyes and they had welcomed the opportunity with gusto. So far, the contest had claimed the lives of twenty-seven of his remaining sons and that number would rise in the coming days. Not least because whichever of the twins won this final would doubtlessly kill the other. No, those who lost and survived the later rounds were so badly wounded that they made far too tempting a target for their bitter brothers who were eliminated in the early rounds before the strictures were lifted.


    The Admiral of the Dread Scourge didn¡¯t care. He no longer had any need for them. Once the football player had scoured Ashli¡¯s remnant from Earth, he would be truly free. And if Ashli had no more use for a God Body, it would be a terrible shame for all those resources to go to waste. Why not take it for himself and shrug off the limitations of generational immortality? Rebuilding his reputation and strength each time had grown tiresome.


    To that end, Titus shifted his attention to the soft, fat orc sitting next to him. ¡°Does the entertainment meet your high standards, Makrob?¡±


    The sweating orc seemed startled that the attention had switched to him. Titus enjoyed watching the coin counter squirm as he tried to come up with an answer that he didn¡¯t think would offend the feared pirate fleet master.


    ¡°I have witnessed many gladiatorial death fights, of course,¡± the Dominarius Consortium representative started slowly, hoping to pick up a clue as to what kind of answer Titus would prefer. ¡°It comes as part of the job,¡± he forced a laugh at the poor joke. ¡°But those were all between slaves, fighting on command or for the promise of freedom. Unwilling participants you might say. It is certainly novel to see such skilled combatants so willing to fight to the death, especially ones with such¡­close bonds to the host.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my children are a bloodthirsty lot, probably a good thing I had so many of them.¡±


    Makrob looked up at the Acheronian who loomed over him from a gigantic chair made from an assortment of different items, all magical. Each piece would have been worth a small fortune on the open market. Weapons, armour, various accoutrements. It was rumoured that everything used to forge Titus¡¯ throne was an artefact of Supreme quality that he couldn¡¯t make use of. Rather than sell, he preferred to keep such things out of the hands of others. It was decorated with broaches, necklaces, and rings all sealed in cimmeric crystal. All the jewellery items were rumoured to be the keys to an imp or fairy helper and that was why they were sealed.


    Titus let the orc sweat for a moment before he broke out into a deep belly laugh.


    Makrob chuckled along but remained unnerved at his host¡¯s bizarre behaviour.


    The battle between the twins in the circle not far from them looked like it was drawing to a close. Both combatants had been cut to ribbons but had managed to knock the single knife they were allowed for the fight from the hand of their opponent. They were now grappling on the floor, their hands around each other¡¯s throats. It was a race to see which of them could throttle the other to death fastest.


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    A firm hand slapped Makrob on the back and almost sent him tumbling into the fight circle. ¡°Let me tell you why I wanted to speak with the Dominarius Consortium today.¡±


    The orc smiled, it was time for business, something that put him on a firmer footing. ¡°Of course, we are always happy to listen and accommodate the needs of our most worthy partners.¡±


    A little bit of honey never failed to sweeten a negotiation.


    ¡°Excellent, just what I wanted to hear.¡± Titus grinned in a manner that made Makrob gulp reflexively. ¡°The contract you have out on Captain Torin Carter. I want you to cancel it with immediate effect.¡±


    It hadn¡¯t taken Titus very long to conclude that the one part of his deal with Carter that he should honour was getting the consortium off his back. If the football player was going to complete the task Titus had set him, it would be best if he didn¡¯t have unnecessary complications like mercenary companies dogging his heels. Not until he was done, at least.


    ¡°Pardon me?¡± Makrob squeaked. This had been the last thing he expected to hear today. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand.¡±


    ¡°The Shattered Storm, the Corsair faction that usurped your prime markets in the Meenus cluster. Call off your dogs.¡±


    ¡°I know who you are talking about,¡± Makrob snapped, forgetting who he was talking to due to the surprise.


    Titus¡¯ eyebrow raised and his pupils zeroed in on the orc.


    ¡°My apologies,¡± Makrob gushed the second he realised what he¡¯d just done. ¡°But we can¡¯t just call them off. The cost and reputational damage alone would be enormous. Not to mention how much the clan is losing every month because of that usurping son of a bitch. My hands are tied on this, the clan elders would never approve and therefore, so are the consortiums.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t need to worry about Carter, his days are numbered. I intend to handle him personally. The Scourge is already on its way to the Meenus cluster if you get my meaning.¡±


    The orc had been around long enough to acknowledge the implied threat that came as part of the promise to help. The Dread Scourge could do untold damage to their interests in Meenus and the surrounding clusters should Titus not get his way. Those newer, inner territories were not equipped to handle a menace on the scale that the Dread Scourge posed.


    ¡°That is gratifying to hear,¡± Makrob wheedled. ¡°¡­and yet the cost¡­¡±


    Titus grunted a laugh. ¡°Traders are the same wherever you go, always trying to extort that little extra. Fine. How does one hundred million slaves sound? Free of charge. Will that be enough to compensate the consortium for their inconvenience?¡±


    ¡°Free?¡± The orc¡¯s eyes bulged at the offer and his mind quickly tried to calculate the profit.


    ¡°They¡¯ll be low-level, of course. You can¡¯t expect a place like Earth to have developed its people much.¡±


    Titus didn¡¯t care what happened to the people once he had achieved his end of true immortality and godlike power. The consortium could have them all. They would all serve the new God-King one way or another.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem,¡± Makrob agreed with glee.


    The corsair grabbed the orc¡¯s bald head and twisted it to face him. ¡°My largesse is conditional on your prompt handling of this matter.¡±


    The orc gulped. ¡°Understood. With that in mind, do I have permission to withdraw? I need to contact my nephew Makror and give him fresh instructions.¡±


    ¡°Go, go.¡± Titus released his head.


    Makrob bobbed in deference, rose from his chair and pushed his way through the throng of cheering pirates. The match had concluded just as the business deal had.


    Rom rose unsteadily to his feet, severely wounded but filled with vigour. His verve fuelled by the adrenaline of victory. Blood dribbled from multiple knife wounds and from the eyes, many of his capillaries had been burst during the struggle with his brother. His throat was almost as red from bruising as the blood which flowed freely. His twin brother Rem lay motionless between his feet, purpled tongue protruding from his mouth. The man¡¯s eyes had burst from the pressure and signalled the end of his resistance.


    ¡°Yeeeesssss!¡± Rom cawed, his voice raw and guttural from the damage that had been inlficted.


    Titus blinked. His gaze flicked from one dead son to the one who killed him, and a small smile tugged at his lips. How easy it was to play them like a fiddle.


    ¡°My prize,¡± Rom gasped raggedly.


    ¡°As promised, Crynn is yours to discipline when she returns.¡±


    ¡°That is not enough. I want to end the entitled bitch; I killed my twin brother for this! You owe me more than a mere disciplining.¡±


    The cheering crowd was silenced. They were not accustomed to people making demands of the Fleet Admiral in such a manner.


    Titus pondered his response. It was difficult to see with all the blood on Rom¡¯s face, but there were genuine tears in the mix. The fine line between love and hate. Perhaps the boy hadn¡¯t understood how much Rem meant to him until he saw his dead body at his feet. The finality of it.


    Under normal circumstances, Rom¡¯s lapse of judgement would merit punishment, but if everything went according to plan, none of this would matter in a few months. For the time being, this ire could be used.


    ¡°Very well,¡± he answered. ¡°But you will have to prise her out of hiding first. She has latched on to another fleet called the Shattered Storm.¡±


    ¡°Just tell me where and I will lay waste to any ship or Corsair that stands in my way.¡±


    Titus smiled. He had promised not to go after Torin and his people, but he hadn¡¯t said he would stand in the way of any family squabble between Crynn and Rom. If Carter had a lick of common sense, he would hand Crynn over the moment her brother showed up. But Titus believed he had a good read on the man¡¯s character. He wouldn¡¯t do that. The best kind of battle strategies were the ones where your opponents did all the work for you.


    With a finger gesture, a gaggle of slaves rushed into the fight circle to drag away Rem¡¯s body and clean the floor. Rom was carried away on the shoulders of his crew while the crew of Rem¡¯s vessel slunk away and hoped everyone forgot they were on the losing side. The dumb ones would be afraid of possible repercussions, the smart ones would understand that after the last week, there were a lot of vessels in the fleet which now lacked captains.


    And that meant opportunities for advancement. Opportunities were best taken while the victors were busy celebrating.


    That should keep everyone distracted long enough that they didn¡¯t question why most of the fleet was travelling to the inner clusters where the pickings were normally slimmer. All according to Titus¡¯ plan.


    He rose from his ornamental chair and retired to his chambers awaiting the confirmation that the Dominarius Consortium had done as he demanded.

 Book 5: Prologue Part Two

    Willy Reed


    William Reed stumbled out of the wreckage that had once been his office. It was a miracle he had survived the Wyvern attack. They had come out of nowhere and descended on his administrative building ten minutes ago and wreaked absolute havoc. One of his bodyguards had shoved him inside a private washroom and it was the only reason he still lived.


    He was confused. Wyverns were high-grade creatures, very dangerous and freshly spawned. But their spawn points would have all been far from population centres.


    The creatures could fly, of course, which gave them the ability to range far and wide.


    That only provided the how they got here but not the why.


    Every piece of literature his people had unearthed which pertained to the behaviour of spawned mobs was clear. The location of their spawning crystals dictated what they considered their territory. The wyverns should not have attacked the city, let alone pass over hundreds of other inviting targets to attack the Faction¡¯s headquarters in the heart of Milwaukee.


    It was almost as if they had been directed in some other manner.


    The building was on fire, and he choked on the plumes of thick, black smoke that invaded his lungs, but he had to keep going and find a way down to the ground floor. Things cleared a little once he got into the large room that housed his secretarial pool. Mostly because the roof was completely absent. This had to be where the winged beasts had broken through. Amongst the debris, he saw the broken bodies of the young staffers who worked there. All of them were torn apart without mercy, they never stood a chance.


    As Reed stumbled through the smashed masonry and steel pylons, he noticed a pattern to the destruction which dislodged a worrying thought.


    His nephew Hudson had returned from Minnesota unexpectedly earlier that day and proceeded to barge his way into the building as he usually did. There was something different about him today, though. His mannerisms had changed. It was subtle, many wouldn¡¯t have noticed, but Reed knew his nephew well and spotted it. The word choices he made didn¡¯t match his personality and during the brief conversation, Reed got the distinct impression that his nephew no longer knew him, not the way he should.


    It had been concerning. Perhaps Hudson had started to lose his sanity. God knew that there were times Reed felt like he was on the verge of losing his.


    He already suspected that Sholmdir had a lingering hold over the boy and the situation had seemingly only worsened during his sojourn to the frontlines. The battle had not been the distracting boon Reed had hoped for. The meeting hadn¡¯t lasted long. The gruff giant had stormed out, unsatisfied about something; it was unclear what precisely. The complaints and demands had been couched in very general terms, no specifics.


    A few minutes after Hudson departed, Janice had come in with a question. She was the same young woman whose nose had been busted by Hudson a few months earlier. Reed had seen the poor girl¡¯s legs, crushed under fallen masonry. She was dead now as were so many others. He shook his head and pushed away the dark thoughts.


    Hudson had left a rather large knapsack in the waiting area outside the office, and Janice wanted to know what to do with it. It was too big for her to carry, so Reed had told her to get one of the janitorial staff to move it to an old lost and found locker in one of their stock rooms. Hudson could collect it from there when he cooled down and remembered that he¡¯d left it behind.


    The Wyverns had crashed through the roof above the area where Hudson¡¯s knapsack had been left. They then rampaged deeper into the building, towards the janitor¡¯s stock room where the pack had been taken too.


    Following his suspicions, Reed abandoned the plan to escape the building immediately and wove his way around the wreckage, following the wyvern¡¯s path through the building.


    He had to know.


    He couldn¡¯t reach the final destination because a large section of the floor had given way and made it impassable, but it got him close enough to examine the area and confirm his fears. The stock room had been annihilated and it looked as if the wyverns had then burst through the roof above to escape. Launching their large bodies into the air is what had likely caused the floor to buckle and give way.


    As the ugly truth warred within him, Reed noticed something out of the ordinary. A mote of dust that gleamed unusually in the firelight, a sparkly white not yellow or orange. Its behaviour differed from the destruction which surrounded him. The dust and ash inside the building were being churned upwards, light enough to be affected by the updrafts caused by the various fires that grew with intensity. This mote defied the laws of physics and pushed through the heat vortices aimed unerringly at him


    He tried to duck and back away, but the mote mirrored his movements as if it were being guided by an unseen hand. Scrambling backwards, he caught his heel on the remains of a demolished wall and fell on his ass, bruising his coccyx. The mote seemed to sense his vulnerability and zipped forward until it struck Reed¡¯s forehead, dead in the centre.


    Reed recoiled with fear but felt no pain. A strange, cold sensation emanated from the point of contact and then his body froze and tensed as he started to convulse on the ground.


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    Foreign thoughts and feelings flooded Reed¡¯s mind. It was a massive, brute-force assault on his consciousness that threatened to shut his body down. Images and sensations that were not his own washed through him. Pain, loss, bitterness, and decay came from another source. It was an infection targeted at his soul, one that would prove fatal, he knew it and could do nothing to prevent the corruption from spreading through his body.


    Mixed in with the understandable despair of his impending death came a name that rang like a bell, determined not to be forgotten.


    Maurice.


    Against his will, Reed was forced to recall or experience snippets of another man¡¯s life. Absorb a measure of the man¡¯s fate. The fatal corruption was a mere delivery mechanism for this knowledge. A tragic side-effect.


    However, the memories which assailed him were jumbled and out of sequence. He also suspected that significant parts were missing and little of it made sense. Lying there in the rubble it felt like he was in the implacable grip of Maurice¡¯s shattered memories for hours. In truth, it was merely a handful of seconds before Reed regained control of his body and was able to shakily climb to his feet.


    Blood dribbled from every orifice, and he spat a wad of the crimson fluid out to clear his mouth.


    Reed could feel the creeping rot of malevolence take root in his body. He had maybe a few days before it swallowed him whole and resulted in death. Under normal circumstances, learning he had a few days to live would be at the forefront of his mind, but not today.


    Maurice¡¯s memories may have been jumbled but he managed to parse a few elements together. The man had been a gangster, a killer, but that was not the important part. The critical piece of information was that a fragment of a horrific intelligence had taken control of Maurice and the heartbreaking final scene it had shown him.


    Hudson.


    His beloved nephew. That foul entity had stolen Hudson¡¯s body. The earnest, driven, young man was lost.


    Reed felt a flash of guilt for being happy that it hadn¡¯t been Hudson who betrayed him. A foolish thing to be happy for. If Maurice¡¯s memories were to be believed, Hudson would be tortured by this fragment that wanted to enslave and destroy the world.


    Not on Reed¡¯s watch, it wouldn¡¯t. His own death might be near, but he could still act. He would free his nephew despite what that would mean. Dead would be better than enslaved to a monster that had stolen his body.


    Reed stumbled away from the gaping hole in the floor and picked his way across the debris until he reached a stairwell that led down. When he reached the bottom, he used his shirt to craft a makeshift mask to cover his face and covered his head with a jacket before staggering into the chaotic atmosphere outside. A self-preservation instinct had kicked in and he felt it best that no one should know who he was until he¡¯d had time to figure out how advanced the fragment¡¯s plans were.


    The building was surrounded by townsfolk and emergency responders. People were rushing around, crying, and in general disarray.


    A soldier whom he didn¡¯t recognise grabbed him by the elbow when he half-fell out the smashed front door and helped guide him away from the destruction. ¡°Are you alright? Any injuries we should know about?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Reed hacked out a cough, the smoke inhalation meant he needn¡¯t make any effort to disguise his voice. The inner corruption wasn¡¯t something anyone could do anything about, so he didn¡¯t mention his imminent mortality.


    ¡°Good. Good,¡± the soldier said but kept a firm grip on his arm and kept leading him further away. ¡°What department are you from?¡± he asked casually.


    ¡°Finance,¡± Reed responded with the first lie that came to mind. Once the smoke had cleared, he¡¯d got a good look at the soldier¡¯s uniform and recognised the patch on his arm. It hadn¡¯t been from the Wisconsin First, the regiment most loyal to him and stationed to protect the city. He was from the ninth, colloquially known as Hudson¡¯s Hardboys. The regiment answered directly to his nephew. None of them should have been in the city. They ought to be in Minneapolis, on the frontline with the expansionist army. ¡°Wilson¡¯s department,¡± he elaborated on the lie. ¡°I was in the john when everything went to hell. What the fuck happened?¡±


    The soldier grunted in acknowledgement, seemingly believing the impromptu deception. ¡°Did you see the Governor inside?¡±


    ¡°No, should I have? Look, sir, what is going on?¡±


    The soldier stopped and looked around and leaned in conspiratorially. ¡°Don¡¯t mention this to anyone else, but there was an attempted coup. The colonel of the Wisconsin First launched a terrorist attack to take over. We fear he has killed the Governor or taken him captive. That¡¯s why we¡¯re searching for him. Luckily, Hudson Reed, the Governor¡¯s nephew, got wind of the coup and brought us back to snuff it out before it could take root.¡±


    ¡°Coup?¡± Reed whispered in unfeigned confusion, trying to parse and make sense of the cockamamie story the soldier was peddling. ¡°Not monsters?¡±


    ¡°Nah, there were no monsters. This is all the work of rebels from the First.¡±


    ¡°I swore I s¡­¡± Reed caught himself just in time. According to his cover story, he¡¯d been in the restroom when it happened. ¡°¡­heard the screams of monsters. Big ones.¡±


    ¡°Illusions,¡± the soldier confided quietly. ¡°The traitors had a talented illusionist fake a flying monster attack to cover their tracks. Very clever, but not clever enough. We¡¯ve seen through their lies.¡±


    The wyverns had been no illusion. Reed had seen them swoop down from above out of his office window. Why would this soldier be lying?


    And then it clicked.


    This really was a coup, just not by the First, who remained loyal. One organised by Hudson or to be exact the creature which inhabited his body. It explained the lack of discipline being shown by this soldier who was blabbing intel to random survivors. It wasn¡¯t ill-discipline, he was following orders and disseminating the false narrative to smooth the transition of Hudson¡¯s takeover.


    Whether this had been something his nephew had been brewing before being co-opted was a question that might never be answered. It was possible. Hudson had been very dissatisfied with Reed¡¯s decisions of late. Either way, it didn¡¯t matter. This simply made the situation far worse than he had initially feared.


    Reed had been right to keep his identity a secret. If he had told this soldier who he was, he would certainly have been detained and likely executed out of sight. The goal of any sensible coup attempt would be that the incumbent didn¡¯t survive the initial attack. But anyone with eyes could see that the section of the building where his office was located had not been completely destroyed.


    His survival was a possibility. No wonder they were afraid he might have made it out.


    There was a thunderous crack as an explosion from inside the building rocked the area. The soldier lost his grip on Reed¡¯s elbow when he took cover from the falling debris, and this allowed him to slip away into the crowd.


    He didn¡¯t have long, but if he was lucky, it would be long enough to do something useful with the time he had left.

 Book 5: Chapter 1

    Chapter 1


    At last, the only sound in the master bedroom was the soft snoring of Shana where she lay wrapped in my arms on the bed, utterly spent.


    But not for the usual reasons.


    Baby Dash had a bit of a difficult night, and it was well past the traditional witching hour before we could settle him down. Which had become par for the course. He¡¯d been good as gold for the first day or two and very grizzly ever since. Magical constitutions made life a bit easier but the necessity for sleep couldn¡¯t be ignored indefinitely.


    Fatherhood had been both a blessing and a chore. The Darkwyrlds hadn¡¯t changed that. Spending time holding my son left me giddy with love and joy and I wouldn¡¯t trade that feeling for the world. But there was no getting around the reality of the less pleasant aspects of having a newborn. If we could only figure out what was upsetting the kid so much. He was perfectly healthy, there were no worries on that front and yet the wailing would often continue until he exhausted himself.


    I could have outsourced most of the work, there was no shortage of volunteers who wanted to fuss over the little lad, but this was my first child, and I wanted to be present for as much as possible. Both the heartwarming moments and the ear-splitting. There was an entire wing of the Stormwarden¡¯s Palace designated as a nursery for the Lord¡¯s heirs and we¡¯d likely have to make full use of it in the future if I ended up with as many mini-Carters as I suspected would be the case.


    The Scions of the Shattered Storm quest virtually guaranteed it.


    In the aftermath of Dash¡¯s birth, Mia and Fang Mei both admitted that they were also pregnant. Mia was more than a month along and I¡¯d suspected this was the case for a couple of weeks. She¡¯d put off telling me with all the chaos of recent events. Mia¡¯s natural aptitude was a bit lower than the other women in my life and that reduced the fertile receptivity score required. If I hadn¡¯t spent a significant amount of time away from Stormblade Harbour, she would probably have fallen pregnant not long after Shana.


    Fang Mei¡¯s condition was much more recent and something which she couldn¡¯t hide from me whether she wanted to or not. Her pregnancy was the completion trigger for the quest to get her wings. The stubs in the centre of each shoulder blade had started to flower and grow. Although Fang Mei could withdraw these vestigial wings back into a private dimensional pocket similar to the inventory, they could only grow when unfurled in the real world. She had to keep them out and let them develop if they were ever going to be useful.


    Now that Trisha was back with us on a permanent basis, it wouldn¡¯t be too much longer before she joined the club and the trio of Calie, Lindsay, and Keisha wouldn¡¯t be far behind. The brief periods of downtime over the last couple of weeks when I wasn¡¯t deeply involved in being a new father or getting updates on the progress of destroying soul-sick dungeons had been spent performing my duties in making the next generation happen.


    I was physically and mentally exhausted.


    In fact, this was probably the first moment I had to myself since I¡¯d returned from the debacle in Dallas. Reports indicated that the city had been fully conquered and crushed by the Liberation Army. The Lone Star armies from Austin and Houston had been crushed and the few survivors had retreated to their respective cities to try and forge a viable defence. It hadn¡¯t worked and every major population centre in Texas had fallen to the Lamers in short order.


    For the time being, the commanders of the invasion force seemed content to consolidate their early gains and hadn¡¯t launched any attacks outside the state. Tens of thousands of local Texans had been conscripted to fight for the Lamers. The fate of their families was used as the currency to buy their participation. Any who refused or couldn¡¯t be threatened had been put to the sword. That included the Texan Adventurer Guild.


    Hard-hearted as it might be to admit but the slaughter was the silver lining in what was otherwise a disaster for planet Earth. Following the massacres at the Texan HQ¡¯s, the Guild Alliance had declared war on the Liberation Army.


    They hadn¡¯t done anything as of yet, but it ought to mean I wouldn¡¯t have to bride the greedy buggers for their help when it was necessary in the future. And it would certainly be necessary. Stopping the fragment might be the number one priority but exterminating the Lamers was a close second.


    But those were concerns for the light of dawn. Right now, I needed to use this short window of peace to do something that I¡¯d been putting off.


    It was time to level up.


    I closed my eyes, pulled my arms free from Shana¡¯s sleeping body and lay on my back. If Shana woke before I got back, there was no reason for her to be trapped in my iron grip. Moving a person visiting the Admins was extraordinarily difficult due to the protections in place. Once settled into a comfortable position, I brought up and activated the level-up icon.


    Blink.


    My eyes opened in the familiar waiting room. Violet, Dean¡¯s assistant, wasn¡¯t sitting at her desk as per usual. Instead, she had her back to me and was staring pensively at the Monarch of the Glen painting that hung behind her workspace.


    ¡°Good evening, Violet.¡±


    Violet turned around and blinked owlishly in surprise a couple of times. ¡°Oh, Torin, I didn¡¯t sense you come in.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not like you, is everything alright?¡±


    ¡°Um, yes, yes,¡± she said and shook her head and quickly stepped out from behind her desk and moved over to open the huge double doors that led to the interior of Dean¡¯s playroom. ¡°Nothing for you to worry about.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m positive. It¡¯s just something unusual has happened and we aren¡¯t sure how. It¡¯s quite the mystery and I suppose it¡¯s taken up more of my attention than I expected.¡±


    ¡°Anything I should know about?¡± I asked with an edge of concern. There had been more than a few unwelcome surprises over the past year, and I could do without any further.


    Violet hesitated before answering. ¡°It¡¯s not my place to divulge matters that relate to our other clients. I wouldn¡¯t have said anything at all, except¡­I suspect you are going to find out what has me perturbed very soon. You¡¯ll understand then. That is all I can say for now, apart from that this is not a danger to you or your family. Quite possibly the opposite, in fact.¡±


    I can¡¯t say I liked the sound of that, but Violet had mostly played straight with me in the past. It was Dean you had to watch out for. Not because he was maliciously out to get you, or anyone else for that matter. He simply had too much of the mischievous child in his character makeup. He didn¡¯t always consider the ramifications of his schemes, only the fun that could be had along the way.


    ¡°Okay.¡± I let her lead me into the open-plan office.


    It had been remodelled again and was larger than ever. The one-on-one basketball court, video-game arcade, and bowling alley had been joined by an indoor trampoline experience combined with a zip line apparatus that crisscrossed the room. The trampoline park was a combination of eight black bounce mats with blue crash padding surrounding them. The whole thing filled the new space completely. The three walls had some padding but the side you entered from was open to the rest of the office.


    The reason for that was so the zip line had access. Somehow, the harness had been rigged so you could pull a rip cord and it released you to drop directly onto the trampoline bounce mats.


    I knew this to be the case because Dean had been waiting for me to come in before he did just that.


    ¡°Moooootthhherrrffucckkerrr!!¡± He roared with glee and zoomed across the room thirty feet above my head before he pulled the cord when over the trampoline and fell screaming like a gleeful toddler.


    It doesn¡¯t take a lot of imagination to figure out what happened when his portly form hit one of the bounce mats at both speed and an awkward angle. Dean couldn¡¯t control the bounce and went flying into the wall with a thud. He slid down onto a safety mat and lay there for a moment breathing heavily and giggling to himself.


    Beside me, Violet was shaking her head in exasperation.


    Dean would be fine. It was not like he or anyone else who visited the Administrators in their domain could be physically hurt. Not by the environment at any rate. However, I was a dad now and that came with certain responsibilities. ¡°When my son grows up and comes for his first visit, he is absolutely not to see any of this. I won¡¯t have Dean corrupting his mind with this insanity. It will give him ideas. Bad ones.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± Violet said and stalked over to the trampoline facility and helped Dean who was flopping around like a fish out of water off the contraption.


    ¡°Whoop-whoop!¡± Dean cried and ran over to embrace me in that uncomfortable manner he liked. ¡°Fancy a go?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll pass, thanks. This is not a social visit. I¡¯ve got some levelling up to do and then I need to head back. Preferably, before anybody notices that I¡¯ve zoned out.¡±


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°I¡¯ve missed you, you big bastard. You don¡¯t write, you rarely visit, and now that you¡¯re finally here, you¡¯re going to fuck off again as soon as possible. Not cool dude, not cool. Some might say it¡¯s downright fucking rude.¡±


    ¡°You would know about rude,¡± I laughed and disentangled Dean¡¯s arms from my waist before stepping back. ¡°That mouth of yours still needs a good scrubbing. Sorry about the delay, but as I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve realised, I¡¯ve had other priorities.¡±


    ¡°Pffftt,¡± Dean blew a raspberry. ¡°Babies are boring. All they do is cry, drink Mommy¡¯s milk, and sleep. Oh, and cry some more. Not to mention the crime against humanity that comes out of their bottoms all too frequently.¡± Dean shuddered and shook his head and shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I understand that making them in the first place has a certain allure, but I fail to see the fascination with them once they arrive. I¡¯m much more fun. I¡¯ve got a trampoline park. Does your baby have one of those? Of course he doesn¡¯t, he¡¯s a baby. Seen one, you¡¯ve seen them all.¡±


    Dean¡¯s little rant concluded, and he flopped down onto his favourite bean bag and Violet handed him a mug filled with coffee.


    ¡°That¡¯s my son you¡¯re being so dismissive of,¡± I reminded him.


    It was difficult to be angry with Dean after the time we spent together. His idiosyncrasies were part of who he was and you kind of had to put up with them. Dean didn¡¯t say these things to be offensive, he just didn¡¯t have a filter, and I had several suspicions as to which green-clad, smug git had a hand in that.


    Dean rolled his eyes and then Violet gave him a light rap to the back of the head. ¡°Um, yeah, sorry about that.¡±


    ¡°Apology accepted. Can we crack on, I promise to spend a bit more time hanging out once all the madness dies down in the real world.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm, yeah, it is a bit hectic out there with the Liberation Army showing up on the same continent. We could have it down without those assholes sticking their oar in. All is forgiven. Okay, let¡¯s see. You¡¯ve been a busy boy. Level 37 beckons.¡±


    Discussions with Dean about Ashli and the fragment were pointless. Dean, Violet, and the other Admin staff had been programmed with a blind spot where those subjects were concerned. Better to keep the conversation on things he could hear. ¡°The Lamers are good for progression if nothing else.¡±


    ¡°Let me see,¡± Dean mused. ¡°33 to 37 means progression of your T2 and T5 abilities. T5 is One with the Ship. That has a set path of advancement. T2 is your Chaos magic. What are your plans? Do you want to enhance the Summon Rift Beast cantrip again?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I told him. ¡°I¡¯m feeling happy with its current capabilities. I think it¡¯s time to increase my repertoire.¡±


    Dean smiled at me. ¡°It doesn¡¯t hurt that you¡¯ve passed the halfway threshold and have access to higher-powered spells.¡±


    ¡°My thoughts exactly.¡±


    Dean produced a tablet from his pocket, tapped away for a minute or two and then handed it over. ¡°These are your potions.¡±


    The first page was the same cantrips that had already been on offer. Chaos Dart, Haze of Befuddlement, and Physical Chaotic Surge. The second page had three other spells which had become available when I reached Chaos Magic 3. They hadn¡¯t been much more impressive than the early cantrips, but now that I¡¯d reached Chaos Magic 6 there was a third page with an additional three stronger spells.


    Chaos Missile (Greater ¨C 80% more effective)


    Type: Offensive (Ranged)


    Cost: 150 mana


    Description: Fire a magical missile. The missile will explode when it contacts something physical. The range of the explosion is variable and reduces the further it gets from the contact point. (1-10 metres, the damage reduction is 10% per metre. The central 1-metre sphere is always at 100%)


    Damage: Variable (100-300 Chaos)


    ---


    Mutiny in the Ranks (Greater ¨C 80% more effective)


    Type: Defensive


    Cost: 150 mana


    Description: This spell must be cast on a group of enemies in proximity to one another. (There must be a minimum of six targets.) The minds (20-40% randomly selected) of the group are attacked. Should they fail a resistance check, (Their Mental Resistance roll versus the caster¡¯s Willpower + Domination / the number of targets attacked) they will see their compatriots as the enemy for thirty seconds. The caster may limit those included in the spell¡¯s effect to a subsection of a larger unit, but they need to be positioned next to one another. You cannot pick and choose individuals from an army for example.


    This spell cannot be cast on the same group until 24 hours have elapsed.


    Duration: Thirty seconds.


    ---


    Chaotic Surge Triad (Greater ¨C 80% more effective)


    Type: Enhancement


    Cost: 150 mana


    Description: A random physical, mental, and social stat is increased by the range of 15-25. Can¡¯t be cast on the same target for 30 minutes.


    Duration: 3 minutes.


    The spells had a similar flavour to the cantrip options, one of each type. Shelving Chaotic Surge Triad was the easy decision. It was still far too random and honestly high stats weren¡¯t a problem for me. If my baseline stats were lower, then the 27 to 45 bump with the 80% efficacy increase might seem more worthwhile. As things stood, I¡¯d probably only call upon the spell in situations where I needed a boost of something specific and the chances that a different stat which might not be helpful would be selected was too high.


    Of course, if you lucked out and it was your Mana Capacity that got enhanced, then the spell would be a freebie with the extra mana. If there was a way to make that more likely, then this would become a viable option in the future.


    That left the decision of whether to take Chaos Missile or Mutiny in the Ranks.


    Before I read through the spells, Chaos Missile was the clear favourite. I¡¯d been hankering for a magical ranged option for a while now and this was a nifty selection. After my level-up, I would have a Mana Pool of 611 enough for four casts without the need to swallow a mana pellet. My Greater affinity for chaos magic meant the damage range would be 180-540. And it was explosive to boot which meant it was useful against groups as well as individual targets.


    A no-brainer, right?


    And then I read the text for Mutiny in the Ranks.


    My thoughts harkened back to the recent battle with the Lamers in Dallas. How much easier would that have been if I could have overwhelmed the minds of a few of their number and had them turn on each other? Even if it was only for thirty seconds, they were hard bastards and would have torn severe chunks out of one another and turned the fight on its head.


    However, I had to stop myself from picking the spell straight away.


    The devil is in the detail and these details were quite important. If the affected individuals didn¡¯t fail their Mental Resistance check, then the spell did nothing but grant them immunity from another attempt for a day. My Domination and Willpower were high but that would be divided by the number of people taking the checks. Preternatural Insight helped clarify that the division was only based on those taking the check and not everyone in the target group which helped. But even with that assurance, if you tried to affect too many people, the division would make the check easy to pass and render the spell worthless.


    In essence, despite being confident about the size of my stats, I needed more. There were likely solutions out there for this conundrum. One would be gear that could enhance my Domination and Willpower. You wouldn¡¯t normally bother with equipment like that because it wouldn¡¯t be directly useful in combat. I would need to construct a gear loadout that I could switch into to cast this spell and then go back to my normal armour set for fighting.


    That would take time. Mutiny in the Ranks would have to wait, and I chose Chaos Missile from the options.


    With everything locked in, I handed the pad back to Dean.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t take Mutiny.¡± He pouted like a disappointed child.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, dude. I¡¯ve got my eye on it for when I reach Chaos Magic 7. I need to a bit of prep first.¡±


    ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to wait.¡± Dean jabbed the tablet theatrically and I felt the shudder of the changes rippling through my body.


    When the sensation finished, I opened my eyes and glanced up at one of the many screens in Dean¡¯s very large man cave and perused the changes to my character sheet.


    Name: Torin Carter


    Species: Frostbinder Abyssal Acheronian (Tier 4.2.3)


    Abyssal Acheronian:


    Physical Stats: +30% Social Stats: +45%


    Class: Dual Dungeon Corsair Lord


    Level: 37


    Strength: 76


    Constitution: 83


    Speed: 81


    Agility: 75


    Mana Capacity (+30%): 61.1


    Perception: 59


    Willpower: 134


    Mental Resistance: 129


    Empathy: 108


    Charisma: 136


    Dominance: 275


    Leadership: 242


    Hit Points: 8,145


    Health: 98


    Mana Pool: 611


    Unused XP: 10,200


    Notoriety: 935 (XP multiplier x2) (Path cost x 0.665) (Harmonisation cost x 0.8) (Class cost x 0.8) (Species cost x 0.8) (Act of Piracy length +100%)


    T2: Chaos Magic 6: Grants ability to cast Chaos Magic spells. May cast Summon Rift Beast 1.4, Chaos Missile


    T3: Clarion¡¯s Call 4: Mental communication with adherents. The number of uses is Leadership divided by 4 (Faction wide). Pressganging Corsair 3: Adds the tier bonus to the crew cap for each rank.


    T4: Claim a Dungeon Core 3: Two Cores claimed (max 2) Flagship and first free dungeon shard. Splinter boost for your cores. Your cores can grow core splinters (slowly) to be used for splinter vessels/weaponry. +1 tier access for upgrades


    T5: One with the Ship 3: Symbiotic bond with the ship improved to tier 3. The environmental field is increased to tier 3, with high mitigation against non-magical environmental damage while within the field¡¯s range. The effective range is increased to 1 kilometre. Swim speed is x8. Can remain at high altitude indefinitely without harm. Enhanced Healing rate while on the ship is +15%.


    ¡°When are you sending the hotties my way or have you finally decided it¡¯s time to make decisions on their behalf?¡±


    I blinked in confusion for a moment and then understanding dawned. I must have been more tired than I thought because it hadn¡¯t even occurred to me to bring Anastasia and Claudia along to this meeting. When I levelled up, they levelled up. Of course, they should have been here.


    ¡°Bollocks,¡± I growled but self-recrimination would have to wait.


    <Torin, I hope you are finished with the holier-than-thou Admins because now would be a good moment for you to come back to your body.>


    Quixbix could now talk to me through the problematic secret channel while I was here. Communication like this was a bit risky because the fragment could overhear anything we said while using it. Hence why he was a bit vague and non-specific. However, it had to be something important if he had utilised it all and my mind swirled with concern.


    ¡°No worries, Torin. I won¡¯t tell your ladies that you forgot all about them. Call them in now and we can shoot some hoops while they natter away. Don¡¯t blame me when I beat you, though. I¡¯ve been practising and pushing myself to a twelve percent success rate. Impressive, no?¡±


    Before I could answer, Violet put her hand on Dean¡¯s shoulder and interjected. ¡°Torin needs to return home,¡± she said firmly.


    Dean seemed like he was about to object and then a faraway look crossed his expression briefly. ¡°Oh, ah, yes, yes. Good to see you, Torin. Don¡¯t be a stranger. Violet and I will handle things with Claudia and Ana.¡±


    Dean¡¯s sudden acquiescence and eagerness to usher me away did not fill me with positivity and I didn¡¯t waste any time with polite goodbyes before heading back.


    Blink.

 Book 5: Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    The bedroom was still dark when my upper body shot up from the bed on high alert. Shana was still deeply asleep beside me and appeared to be undisturbed. Dash was in his maple-wood crib on Shana¡¯s side of the bed. The crib was swaying gently as if it had been recently touched and my son was gurgling happily. Which was a bit unusual, Dash had done nothing but cry whenever he woke up. To hear him awake and content was out of the ordinary.


    ¡°Quix?¡± I whispered in the dark, eyes scanning for whatever he had warned me about.


    <In the corner, behind the crib.>


    The moment Quixbix uttered the word crib, I scrambled across the bed and leapt off the side.


    If you aren¡¯t careful, you will wake your mate, Torin Carter. She appears to be exhausted; it would be better to let her keep sleeping.


    The voice of the intruder practically boomed in my mind. And it was one I recognised.


    ¡°Tramadachius.¡±


    The regal snawfus stepped forward from the shadows in the far corner where he had been concealed. His hooves clip-clopped on the stone floor until he stepped onto the carpeted area. The massive character-monster came to a halt and snorted out a mist of breath through his wet, black nose and shook his massive head. A few lavender petals were shaken loose and drifted slowly to the floor from the branch-like antlers that crowned the magnificent creature.


    Up close, I could admit to myself that Tramadachius was an impressive beast. The raw magnetism and majesty he exuded was on a scale that I hadn¡¯t experienced before and dwarfed mine. A result of an incredibly high charisma that easily overpowered the mental resistance I possessed. I hadn¡¯t picked up on it during our first meeting because the snawfus had been actively using his mental skills to suppress several hundred warriors in Belshgar Bastion instead.


    Tramadachius (Snawfus)


    Monster Grade: Alpha Monster Level: 170


    HP: 204,600 (monstrous nature contribution only.)


    Character: Ranger (U) 32, Shadow Ranger (notorious) (P) 65, Master Shadow Ranger (notorious) (K) 38


    Threat: Impossible


    XP Value: 1,400,000


    Mob Description: Snawfus are deer-like creatures. They are incredibly swift and possess powerful psychic attacks that can be focused on a single target or applied as an area of effect. The grade of the snawfus determines the strength of this attack. Unlike most mobs, the snawfus can advance through the grades as well as levels.


    They are a special mob type with a propensity for testing characters and taking a pound of flesh if not defeated. However, they rarely finish their prey in a single assault. Preferring to chip away at them slowly until they are satisfied. They are renowned for their vindictiveness and are considered one of the Darkwyrld''s natural disasters.


    The snawfus had grown a little stronger since our last meeting.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± I asked, an edge of concern creeping into my voice. The last time we met he chewed me out and threatened to kill Shana if I didn¡¯t honour him sufficiently.


    Under the guise of straightening my posture, I inched closer to the crib, not wanting to give away my intentions. The memory of how effectively Tramadachius could pin people to the floor with his mind was at the forefront of mine.


    Calm yourself, Torin Carter. I did not come here to cause you or yours any harm this night. You and your mate have upheld your end of the bargain, I will uphold mine. The grudge between us has been soothed. I came to visit my namesake as is only right. I am his¡­what is the term your people use¡­his Godfather, correct?


    That was not part of the agreement. Which had only been that he would be named Tramadachius to honour the snawfus. No more, no less. But arguing with an entity that could stomp you into the ground without breaking a sweat was not a wise manoeuvre and I held back the instinctive response. When I said nothing, Tramadachius continued.


    From what I¡¯ve learned, it is a tradition for a Godfather to bestow a gift upon their Godchild and I have done so.


    I swear that the snawfus sniggered at the end, but before I could parse his words the crib swung more strongly as something moved within it and Dash cooed audibly. Ignoring the potential danger, I leapt across the divide and looked inside.


    Dash was loosely swaddled in blue and white blankets with silver threading. He had managed to partially wriggle free, and his head was completely visible, revealing his cute, pointed ears and the light dusting of dark hair that was no longer covered. But it hadn¡¯t been his wriggling that rocked the crib into motion. Dash was not alone.


    Curled up beside him was a snawfus foal. The creature was twice the size of Dash, and its fur was a creamy white. It had two small twigs for horns and was in the process of licking the baby¡¯s face with its long, pinkish tongue. Dash gurgled happily and one of his little hands was buried in the white fur as if he were stroking the beast.


    ¡°What the hell?¡± I whispered, grabbed my son and pulled him out of the crib into the safety of my arms.


    The foal started to bleat in distress the moment I did, and Dash began to wail.


    That is not necessary. Tramadachius advised me. The foal will not harm your son. They are bonded now and have been since the foal¡¯s birth. Young Tramadachius will have noted his companion¡¯s absence. It is no coincidence that he only began to settle when he sensed the foal nearing his location.


    <This is not possible. Spawned monsters do not procreate. Not even the old ones that become characters like this one. Every monster has to be spawned from a crystal.>


    Quixbix¡¯s question of how the foal existed was secondary in my mind at this point. More relevant was the bonded part.


    ¡°What did you do?¡± I snarled the question at the deer-like monster that calmly strode up to the crib and nuzzled the foal that had got its feet and tried to clamber out of the crib without much success.


    The snawfus looked up at me from the foal and quirked his head to the side to show its amusement.


    Is that not the question I should be asking you? This is not my doing. It is you, Torin Carter, not I, that bends and breaks the rules of the Darkwyrlds wherever he goes. That which was once inviolate suddenly becomes mutable where you are concerned.


    The foal was born of my essence at the same moment that your son took his first gulp of air. The Darkwyrlds sang and so he came to be, his fate entwined irrevocably with your sons. I would have come sooner, but I am unfamiliar with foals and was concerned the child would not be able to make such a long journey until he was a bit stronger.


    The chime.


    Tramadachius was talking about the chime that reverberated through the Framework when Dash was born. There had been no notifications or any sign that it had meant anything, and I had put it from my mind. Perhaps there were no notifications because the Framework hadn¡¯t been programmed for this scenario or it was something which had been suppressed by Ashli.


    This is what had Violet so distracted. She had assured me that it would be no danger to me or my family and that helped me relax just a little.


    Of course, speaking of things suppressed by Ashli, Preternatural Insight chose this as the moment to burst into life and a modicum of understanding flooded into my head. Not everything, but enough to know that Tramadachius spoke the truth.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    This was not some ploy he engineered or had any control over. The true purpose of the foal¡¯s birth was unclear. There might not even be a specific purpose. Dean often opined in vulgar fashion about Ashli¡¯s many failings when it came to designing the Framework. Some of that had been deliberate, to hide his existence and retool the original design for a new purpose. However, a fair bit of the criticism was valid.


    The foundational basis of the Framework was flawed and many of the design decisions made little sense or didn¡¯t work as they were supposed to. What happened with Dash and the foal could simply be an unexpected consequence of the rushed nature of the Framework¡¯s construction. No nefarious intentions by any party.


    If you put him back in the crib, the child will likely stop crying.


    I didn¡¯t want to, but it was undeniable that Dash was wriggling in my arms and trying to roll his little body towards where the foal bleated. The little creature looked up at me and blinked his big, dark, adorable eyes. It was difficult to find something that looked like Bambi as truly threatening.


    Slowly, with much trepidation, I took a step and then a second back towards the rocking crib. Once Dash and the foal were almost close enough to touch, they both calmed down. Dash stopped wailing and the foal stopped fidgeting on the edge of the crib¡¯s railing.


    On the bed beside the crib, Shana shifted in her sleep and mumbled something incomprehensible, but it sounded like she was having a comforting dream.


    ¡°How is Shana still asleep?¡±


    That would be my doing.


    ¡°Well, stop. If you want me to trust you, stop messing with my loved one¡¯s minds.¡±


    The snawfus snorted and clopped its hooves a bit testily but finally bowed his head in acquiescence. I sat down on the edge of the bed between Tramadachius and Shana. Close enough to the crib that the Dash and the foal didn¡¯t kick off again, but I kept the babe in my arms regardless.


    ¡°What¡¯s the foal¡¯s name?¡±


    He doesn¡¯t have one.


    ¡°That won¡¯t do,¡± I whispered. ¡°Everybody should have a name.¡±


    That is not something I have any familiarity with. Why don¡¯t you do so? The foal will be yours to care for, after all. The two cannot be separated without dire consequences and I do not expect you would countenance me taking young Tramadachius as an option.


    That horrible thought hadn¡¯t even occurred to me. ¡°Absolutely not!¡±


    Then it is agreed. Care for the foal will be your responsibility.


    There was a finality to that statement, and I got the distinct impression I had been manipulated by the ancient monster.


    ¡°Hmmm, Bambi would be too on the nose. What to call you¡­¡± I mused and holding Dash in the crook of my left arm, I reached out with my right and let the foal gently lick at my fingers.


    Recollections of Violet and the painting over her desk, Monarch of the Glen, worked as inspiration. A portmanteau perhaps. My first thought was Monglen, but that was a bit too close to mongrel and other less salubrious words. So, I switched them around ¡°How does Glennarch sound to you? Are you a Glennarch?¡±


    The foal yipped softly in appreciation and nuzzled against my outstretched hand. Upon the naming, my identify ability was activated.


    Glennarch Carter (Snawfus)


    N/A


    Character Aptitude: (see description)


    Loot Value: -


    Threat: -


    XP Value: -


    Current Affiliation: The Shattered Storm


    Monstrous Description: Glennarch Carter is the soulbound companion of Tramadachius (known as Dash) Carter. His aptitude and class will be linked to Dash Carter, and he will ¡®come of age¡¯ and gain his character traits on the same day.


    ¡°Dammit, how am I going to explain this,¡± I sighed softly accepting the reality that this wasn¡¯t going away. The identify had provided a measure of relief. The wording confirmed Glennarch was bound to Dash and not the other way around.


    Despite that, the possibility of quietly eliminating the animal crossed my mind. Doyle would do it without compunction.


    However, even though the snawfus might be comfortable leaving Glennarch with us, it still came from his essence. I got the distinct impression that if I were foolish enough to try and dispose of the little beast, he would be back to exact some vengeance. Not that I truly wanted to, the foal was far too cute once the worry of it being in Dash¡¯s crib had been allayed.


    The snawfus grunted out one of his creepy audible laughs at my predicament.


    ¡°What does he eat? Spawned monsters don¡¯t need to eat, though they often do anyway, but according to his profile he is not a spawned monster.¡±


    Milk. The snawfus answered.


    A glance over my shoulder at the sleeping Shana brought forth another grunted laugh from the large creature.


    That will not be necessary. Anything from a doe will be fine, cow¡¯s milk will suffice if that is not available. I led a herd of deer to your shores for just such a purpose.


    My shores? ¡°Wait, how did you cross the lake?¡±


    It is time for me to depart. I can only suppress my true nature for so long. The snawfus said instead.


    Who knew if that was the truth or not but an answer on how it got here, with a herd of deer no less, was not on the cards. The large beast trotted across the room and nudged open the bay window with its muzzle.


    The audience was over.


    ¡°If you¡¯re hankering to test those with strength, there is a bunch of high-levelled off-world invaders to the south.¡±


    The words came out of my mouth almost unbidden. Tramadachius paused halfway through bunching his muscles for the exiting leap.


    Interesting. I might just do that.


    Farewell, Torin Carter. Until next time.


    With that, the snawfus bounded out of the bedroom and into the night. There was a faraway sound when its hooves clattered with the cobbles down below and then it was off. I stood up and rushed over to the window, but barely caught a glimpse of the departing white fur.


    ¡°Next time? Is he going to show up with another foal every time I have a kid?¡±


    <Let¡¯s hope not.> Quixbix said. <That thing scares the daylights out of me. You can¡¯t trust a monster that isn¡¯t collared.>


    ¡°What is that!¡± A now awake Shana squealed in shock. ¡°Where is Dash?¡±


    I¡¯d forgotten that Glennarch would start making a fuss when I moved away with Dash in my arms. He¡¯d managed to wake Shana now that the snawfus wasn¡¯t keeping her asleep.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got him, I¡¯ve got him,¡± I repeated quickly and strode back over as she jumped up from the bed and practically snatched him from my arms.


    ¡°What the hell is going on, Torin,¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Get back into bed and I¡¯ll explain.¡±


    Shana let me usher her back over to the bed while I murmured a shortened version of what just happened. Once finished, I reached into the crib, pulled the foal out and put him down on the floor beside the bed. ¡°The crib is not for you. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get you a little bed so that you can stay nearby.¡±


    To my surprise, Glennarch seemed to understand what I was saying and settled down on the rug. Before long, Shana reached down and started scratching the foal between his baby horns.


    Glennarch¡¯s cuteness was difficult to resist.


    ***


    Shana adjusted to Glennarch''s presence surprisingly quickly. Once she had calmed down, the elf fell in love with the little fella almost straight away. By daybreak, a little bed area had been prepared for the snawfus foal. A scouting team I sent out returned with a herd of fifty White-Tailed Deer that provided milk for him to drink.


    The foal turned out to be quite the celebrity within my inner circle and many of them dropped by over the next day to come and make a fuss over him and Dash.


    Including Jackson.


    ¡°All hail the conquering hero of Pandaemonium,¡± I teased him when he was announced and entered one of the sitting rooms.


    Jackson¡¯s cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the praise. I would normally have got a few glares of disapproval from his three girlfriends for taunting him, but their eyes had already fallen upon the centre-stage duo. There were oohs and aahs and Celeste let out a very high-pitched squeal of delight.


    ¡°They¡¯re so cute I could die!¡±


    She, Britney, and the dryad, Piper, abandoned the young man with unbridled enthusiasm and headed over to the gaggle of other women that surrounded and fussed over the pair of youngsters.


    ¡°I¡¯d hardly call myself a conqueror,¡± Jackson replied with a mild cough, and I pulled him away from the door to a seating area on the other side of the room.


    ¡°You¡¯ve quadrupled the underworld territory we control in only a few months. I think you should give yourself more credit.¡±


    ¡°Britney says the same thing.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a smart girl, you should listen to her. Unless she¡¯s bad-mouthing me, in which case, ignore the terrible advice and report her to Doyle immediately.¡±


    ¡°Britney would never do that!¡± Jackson blurted out in shock.


    ¡°I¡¯m joking, Jackson.¡±


    He pushed his lensless frames up his nose. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a relief. I¡¯m still not used to your sense of humour.¡±


    ¡°I get that a lot. Drink?¡± I picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels from the cabinet and shook it enticingly. It was Jackson¡¯s preferred tipple.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a bit early?¡±


    ¡°With our enhanced constitutions, it¡¯s never too early. Somebody out in the wider Darkwyrlds better have figured out a way to make alcohol more effective. Maybe I should put Sheamus on it. Booze can be used as an accelerant, that¡¯s sort of related to incendiary alchemy.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure anything Sheamus would invent would be safe for consumption,¡± Jackson said doubtfully but accepted a tumbler of whiskey.


    ¡°How is the weather witch I sent you doing?¡±


    Jackson¡¯s face scrunched into one of distaste. ¡°Apart from being on a hunger strike, she¡¯s fine.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle lightly at his predicament even if it was one of my making. ¡°How¡¯s that working out for her?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not having the intended effect. She is in no danger; the Framework recognises her ¡®suffering¡¯ is self-inflicted and there is no shortage of available nutrition. Consequently, there is no mercy, and her body uses ambient mana to repair itself. All she has achieved is to make herself and everyone around her more miserable.¡±


    ¡°I can tell you don¡¯t like that. You¡¯re a good guy, Jackson, but sometimes a bit too much of a soft touch.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to force her to eat, Torin,¡± he said firmly.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that, but have you considered alternative methods?¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, how about assigning her a bunk beside the kitchens? It¡¯s easy to resist temptation long enough to chuck your bowl of grub out a window, but if you¡¯re surrounded by enticing aromas and the sound of sizzling constantly you are far more likely to break. Once you break the hunger strike, she¡¯ll be more cooperative in general.¡±


    Jackson pondered my suggestion thoughtfully. ¡°Maybe I could put her on food preparation duty as well. Keep her constantly surrounded by it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit.¡±


    Any further discussion was cut off when one of Susan¡¯s assistants hurried through the open doors, spotted me, and made their way over.


    ¡°Lord Carter, Regina Reynolds has just arrived via the gate. She has a prisoner in tow and has been directed to take him to the pens in the Slave Market. The Castellan strongly suggests your presence for the interrogation is advisable. It is William Reed, the Governor of Wisconsin.¡±


    Well, now. This was something I would have to attend to personally.


    ¡°Shana, I need to step out and handle some affairs of state. Trisha, can you come with me, please.¡±

 Book 5: Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    ¡°Regina,¡± I said by way of greeting when I strode into the holding facility that had been assigned as Doyle¡¯s workplace.


    She turned around crisply at the sound of my voice. Regina wore a custom-fitted, grey, business suit designed for women. It was her typical choice even if she was dressing down. Mainly because I think the concept of relaxation never entered her thought process.


    Calum MacDonald stood at attention by her side and there was a squad of uniformed soldiers arrayed around where Regina waited.


    Doyle was in the room, calmly sitting at the desk he worked from. His expression gave nothing away, but then it never did.


    Trisha flowed into the room behind me, she gave a wave of greeting to Calum. He nodded back awkwardly. They had been close friends when Trisha had been embedded in the Reynolds camp, but their relationship had grown strained since then. The primary reason behind the estrangement was that Trisha had used her Siren Song to overwhelm his free will. It had been necessary to keep Calum from interfering when Regina needed to be freed from the influence of a maritime parasite. But necessity didn¡¯t mean he had to like or get over it quickly.


    Privately, I suspected the source of the discomfort was more personal. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if Calum had been a little in love with Trisha. The consternation he likely felt had less to do with the use of her power and more whether any of his feelings for her had been genuine or artificial. And then there was the added complication of Trisha coming back to be with me.


    Wounded pride could be trickiest obstacle to overcome.


    However, Calum MacDonald was a good man, professional and disciplined. He could get past that kind of hurt. That didn¡¯t change that things between them would never be the same again.


    Consequently, we¡¯d all noticed he tried to stay away from Trisha and me unless his presence was necessary. Bringing in William Reed certainly qualified.


    ¡°What do we have here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Willy Reed,¡± Regina answered. ¡°He contacted me via podium a few days ago. He said he was on the run from his own people and needed extraction. He said he had important information that we needed but wouldn¡¯t provide details. Said he would only talk in person. I almost ignored the request but thought better of it and sent Calum and his team on one of the ships you supplied. They were just in time and had to fight off a squad of the Wisconsin Guard for custody, they brought him here directly. You can decide what to do with him.¡±


    ¡°Are we sure that it¡¯s Willy Reed?¡±


    ¡°Do you think I wouldn¡¯t recognise him, Torin? We¡¯ve known each other for years.¡±


    ¡°Well, we have had people show up using disguises before.¡±


    Doyle coughed lightly from his desk to get my attention. ¡°I have examined the man with the best tools we have available and found nothing untoward.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s see what he has to say.¡±


    Doyle stood behind his desk and motioned for the group to follow him. At first, Regina didn¡¯t move, but at a meaningful glance from me, she rolled her eyes and followed Doyle down the corridor. Her high heels clacked on the stone floor.


    ¡°Your personal experience with him might be valuable,¡± I muttered when Regina drew level with me.


    Regina¡¯s grunted softly under her breath in acknowledgement. It was abundantly clear that she didn¡¯t want to talk with the man. She would have to lump it; this might be too important to let her sit it out because she was uncomfortable.


    We reached the holding cell after a short walk and Doyle opened and swung the metal door wide. The prisoner was shackled to a chair which Doyle had custom-built. Straps tied him down in eleven different places and prevented any movement. The bound man had a black hood covering his head and wore a rumpled, bloodstained white shirt and charcoal slacks that had been shredded.


    Once the full group was inside the cell, Calum closed the door behind us and Doyle untied the fastening of the hood and pulled it off in one swift motion.


    Willy Reed rapidly blinked his eyes and adjusted to the sudden light while we watched on in silence. His eyes were sunken, and the bags under them were so darkened it looked like he had been beaten mercilessly. His lips were chapped and cracked, blood seeped from his nose and coated the unshaven portion of the philtrum. He hadn¡¯t shaved in days, perhaps weeks.


    I beckoned and drew Doyle over to the corner and whispered in his ear. ¡°Did you get started before we arrived?¡±


    ¡°No, sir. He arrived much like this. Reed was already in poor condition when Commander MacDonald took him into custody. It¡¯s possible his own people did this to him, but he appears to have deteriorated a little even during the half an hour we waited for you.¡±


    Answers were quickly forthcoming when Regina challenged the prisoner rather bluntly. ¡°You look like shit, Willy.¡±


    ¡°Dying has that effect on a person,¡± Reed chuckled but it degenerated into a wheezed coughing fit that brought up a chunk of bloody phlegm which he spat out on the floor not far from my feet.


    Intentional or not that got me riled up. ¡°That was a big fucking mistake. Whatever leverage you thought you had just disintegrated.¡±


    Reed smiled weakly at my bristled reaction. ¡°I won¡¯t take the lack of concern for my wellbeing personally. Even if you did bring in the best of medics, there is jack all they can do. What ails me isn¡¯t exactly physical. The reality is that you are the one without leverage in this situation. I¡¯ll be dead before the day is out and what secrets I hold will be lost with me. Torture will merely hasten my demise.¡±


    Regina huffed in disgust, moved forward and poked Reed in the chest with her index finger. ¡°Is that what this is all about, then? One last chance to stick your oar in and have people dance to your tune.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s your speciality isn¡¯t it, Regina?¡± Reed shot back. ¡°You¡¯ve certainly had a lot of practice.¡±


    ¡°Faugh! This is a waste of time, Torin,¡± she snapped at me. ¡°William Reed is as stubborn as the day is long on a summer solstice.¡± Regina turned back to the bound man. ¡°And I will not apologise to you. If you had left things well enough alone and embraced a modicum of patience as I practically begged you to, none of what happened would have been necessary. Which was as much for your good as it was for Ravens.¡±


    ¡°And yours! And Richards!¡± Reed snapped angrily.


    ¡°Yes, and ours, what of it? The scandal would have ruined both families Willy. If you¡¯d not been so damn impatient, Raven could have been told the truth about her mother when she was old enough to understand. The whole thing could be kept private and amicable. But, no, Willy Reed couldn¡¯t wait. He had to prove he was a better man than his father. You were on the verge of ruining everyone for your damn pride, so, yes, I took you down a peg and I would do it again!¡±


    Trisha¡¯s song trilled in the air and brought the argument to an abrupt end. ¡°As interesting as this live-action Telenovela is, I think we may have veered off topic.¡±


    Reed nodded. ¡°You are right. I didn¡¯t come here to start a fight.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t come here at all,¡± I reminded him. ¡°You were captured and brought in chains.¡±


    ¡°Please¡­¡± he sneered. ¡°You only captured me because I told you where I was. Which was a tough decision that I deliberated over for some time.¡±


    ¡°Apologise!¡± Regina demanded out of the blue.


    ¡°What? No,¡± Reed scoffed. ¡°I kind of hate Carter, you know. No offence, Carter, but I do. You sent an entire regiment of my people to a watery grave, and you are tangentially responsible for what happened to my nephew.¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°Not to him you idiot. To me! For the fucking mind slug sent in the mail if nothing else.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes¡­I do regret that. But we were at war¡­¡±


    ¡°This is not the time to reel out excuses, Reed.¡±


    ¡°Is it the time to be demanding apologies either,¡± he pushed back.


    ¡°Oh, for the love of¡­¡± Trisha sighed, stepped up to Reed, leaned into his ear and trilled sweetly.


    Reed¡¯s eyes went a little bit glassy before he said. ¡°From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry, Regina. I honestly did regret sending that foul creature but was under a lot of pressure at the time. I was and still am very angry with you, though.¡± Reed stopped and blinked his eyes. He would have shaken his head if he had room to manoeuvre. ¡°That was a dirty trick.¡±


    ¡°Apology accepted,¡± Regina said with an air of victory.


    I stepped up. ¡°Well, we¡¯ve proved that we can get what we want from you without degenerating your body any further. I¡¯m a busy man and don¡¯t have time to waste. Talk or we¡¯re done here, and I¡¯ll leave you with Doyle.¡±


    Reed coughed a bit and smiled again. ¡°Old habits die hard. But I never came here with the intention of holding out on you. As I said, I kind of hate you, but I¡¯m dying, and what I know is too important not to impart before I go. New York is overrun with orcs and the Lone Star State has fallen, so the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Dear God, but you do like the sound of your own voice,¡± I grumped.


    ¡°You can say that again,¡± Regina chimed in from the sidelines.


    ¡°Trisha,¡± I said with meaning, and she bent back down and sang in Reed¡¯s ear to enforce his cooperation.


    A single tear formed in the corner of Reed¡¯s blackened eyes and trickled down his cheek, but he didn¡¯t spill his guts. ¡°That helped a little but not enough, I¡¯m afraid. It¡¯s complicated and my behaviour is not entirely intentional. How can I best explain? There is a resistance to cooperate with you that is not entirely of my own making. A will that is unaffected by your siren¡¯s wiles. It¡¯s why I¡¯ve been desperate to find anybody else, it would be easier to talk with them than with you but alas that has not been possible.


    ¡°Part of me, something foreign, alien, does not want me to talk. Especially to you, Carter. I find myself rambling, repeating, and searching for ways to change the subject. Like turning myself into Regina, knowing full well that our shared history would get in the way of discussing current events. Also, talking around what I want to say but never, ever, getting to the point. The harder I try to focus on the meat, the more I play with the vegetables. Please, forgive the poor metaphor, but this is something you will have to work around.¡±


    That was not what I expected to hear, and I looked around the room and saw equally bemused expressions. Reed wanted us to believe that his belligerent behaviour was something being foisted upon him to prevent a conversation.


    Was this the truth or more bullshit?


    Reed closed his eyes and sighed deeply before regirding his loins. ¡°Let me try this from a different angle. Have you heard of a man named Maurice by any chance?¡±


    That got my attention. ¡°Shadowborn elf, handy with a garrotte, little or no moral compass. He worked for Luca Gattosi until they parted ways after the fr¡­¡±


    I almost mentioned Ashli¡¯s fragment and that it had used Luca as a vessel but stopped myself.


    Of course, what else could have infected Reed in such manner that it would actively prevent him from talking? Especially to me. Maurice¡¯s fate and who the fragment jumped into after it abandoned Luca had never been confirmed, but the possibility that Maurice was or had been the fragment bearer had been posed more than once. We hadn¡¯t found any sign of him since the fall of Grand Rapids.


    Reed was being careful with what he could say. Get too close to what the fragment wanted to be concealed, and he would be forced to divert away. I would have to infer the truth from what morsels he could drop.


    Could it be possible that he was the current bearer of the fragment? If so, killing him would solve a plethora of problems in one fell swoop. No, that couldn¡¯t be the case. If the fragment was inside Reed, it wouldn¡¯t have let him come here and I wasn¡¯t that lucky.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the man, I mean.¡±


    A few of the others seemed like they were about to say something, and I used Clarion¡¯s Call to speak directly in their minds and relay my suspicions. If Reed was on the level, then revealing what we knew about the fragment could trigger an even tighter lockdown.


    ¡°I never met him myself, though,¡± I said in answer to Reed after delivering the warning. ¡°Presumably, you have?¡±


    ¡°Not in the flesh, but he did run into my nephew, Hudson. Before the elf died and unburdened himself, so to speak.¡±


    My eyes opened wide in understanding.


    Bloody Nora, I thought to myself.


    If the fragment was now in Hudson, the sea giant, and he¡¯d ousted Reed, forcing him on the run then that probably meant the fragment was now in control of the Wisconsin faction. They had a lot of territory and a large army.


    ¡°Hudson?¡± Regina queried. ¡°Last I heard he was leading your troops trying to conquer Minnesota.¡±


    ¡°Yes, those are the orders I gave him. I hoped to keep him out of harm¡¯s way. Things didn¡¯t go well after the dual debacle with Hector Guberschmidt and the near eradication of the Sea Badgers. The faction severed ties with Sholmdir at that point and I redirected our energies in another direction. Far from Carter and his fleet. If I were still in charge that would continue to be our policy.¡±


    But Reed was no longer the one in control and the damn fragment had recently learned who I was. We knew that would have repercussions but hadn¡¯t imagined it would have access to such powerful allies already.


    ¡°Doyle, I need to go. Let him keep talking and record everything.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Trisha, Regina, we need to¡­act upon this intel,¡± I said and opened the cell door and ushered Trisha out ahead of me. Regina was next to go when Reed spoke up again.


    ¡°Regina¡­wait. I would speak with you on a personal matter before you go. It won¡¯t take more than a minute or two.¡±


    Regina glanced between Reed and me, torn. This could be a trick, a delaying tactic, but the plaintive expression on his face appeared genuine.


    ¡°Two minutes,¡± I told her and hurried from the room.


    We needed to get back to the Command Hub. There was a genuine chance that the Wisconsin armies were marching on my territory already and a significant chunk of our strength was spread far and wide searching for corrupted dungeons to put out of their misery.


    ***


    Regina hesitated at the door to the cell for a moment and watched the departing back of Torin Carter. He¡¯d given her an order, which always rankled considering he was half her age and then some, but she couldn¡¯t deny he was becoming a powerful and reliable leader. The kind of man an idealistic young newlywed had hoped her husband would become.


    However, the two-minute order was a convenient out if things got painful with Willy. She turned around to face her political nemesis.


    ¡°I heard that you finally left your husband,¡± Willy opened with.


    Regina couldn¡¯t help but snort and laugh at that. ¡°That is a kind way of putting it, Willy. Most would say he ran off with the family silver and left me holding the can.¡±


    ¡°You were always twice the leader he was. I could never understand why you shackled yourself to him or didn¡¯t put yourself forward.¡±


    That was a question Regina had asked herself thousands of times over the years. What was done was done. Every decision she¡¯d made had seemed to be the correct one when she made them. It was only when you looked at the totality with the benefit of hindsight that you could see the many missed opportunities to change these for the better.


    ¡°Your time is limited, William. What do you want?¡±


    ¡°Raven, how is she?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s with her runaway father in hiding, so not ideal. But Carter ran into her flying about in Dallas. She was hale and hearty when they parted ways a couple of weeks ago. I¡¯ve no reason to believe that has changed.¡±


    ¡°Good, good¡­¡± Reed trailed off.


    ¡°Listen, Willy¡­If your time is short¡­I can¡­can send her a message. Ask her to come here, she rarely replies to me, but maybe¡­maybe, if I explain, you can see her before the end.¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    The response caught Regina on the hop. It hadn¡¯t been what she expected to hear. Not after their history surrounding this contentious subject.


    ¡°There is no point introducing her to a family she is about to lose.¡±


    Regina¡¯s throat tightened with emotion, a lump forming. ¡°Is there no chance¡­Hudson?¡±


    Reed shook his head, wordlessly confirming that his nephew was lost. Another treacherous tear escaped the corner of his eye. ¡°Look after her, she is all that¡¯s left of us. And for God¡¯s sake, get her away from that rat bastard you married.¡±


    Regina reached out and took Reed¡¯s bound hand in hers. ¡°For once, we agree on something.¡±


    She held his hand for a few moments and then left, with a determination to patch things up with Raven. She had been too passive, and it was time for some maternal tough love. Reed was right, she had to separate her adopted daughter from her ex-husband.


    Doyle stepped forward when Calum closed the door behind him and Regina, activated a recording device and placed it on the table. ¡°Are you in pain, Mr Reed?¡±


    Maurice hadn¡¯t understood how deeply the fragment of Ashli had got its hooks into his soul. Even after his death and transformation into the deadly motes, the fragment held power over him and through the cancerous mote, it had influence over Willy. He¡¯d finally reasoned that if the fragment fought so hard against contacting Carter, then Carter might be able to infer the truth. There was so much he couldn¡¯t openly say, and it hurt every time he tried.


    He couldn¡¯t tell Doyle any of this.  ¡°Like you wouldn¡¯t imagine.¡±


    The former CIA torturer chuckled mirthlessly. ¡°You¡¯d be surprised at the depths of what I know about suffering, let alone my imagination. But that won¡¯t be necessary today. My understanding of the earlier conversation is that you are working with a kind of conditioning to stop you talking about certain subjects.¡±


    ¡°More or less, interrogating me will do little good.¡±


    ¡°No need for interrogation Mr Reed. Just relax and talk. Tell me all about the people who work for you. Everything you know about them that your conditioning permits you to say. Dealer¡¯s choice on where you begin.¡±


    Reed talked.


    He talked until his tongue felt raw and his mouth filled with blood. Doyle helped him drink water and wiped away the blood.


    He told the strangely calm man everything he could. All about the secretaries, assistants, their families and what he knew of them until he ran out and started to transition to military men, the units they commanded, and their strengths and weaknesses. Doyle never interrupted or prompted, just let him talk.


    Reed was impressed by the cleverness; by letting him ramble about the inconsequential he ended up confessing to much more of what mattered. He got into a flow where he stopped thinking about who he was talking about, and the echo of the fragment remained dormant.


    But time waits for no man and eventually, his came to an end.


    Doyle turned off the recording device, pocketed it and closed the dead man¡¯s eyes. He left the cell and motioned for his assistants. ¡°Joy, collate the data on the recorder and send it to the Command Hub. Reece, inform Lord Carter that William Reed has died. Lawrence, can you start the clean-up, please? There was quite a bit of blood by the end.¡±


    Doyle returned to his office mildly impressed by Reed¡¯s resolve. He would have proved a challenging adversary in alternative circumstances.

 Book 5: Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    Raven


    The wind whistled through the air and ruffled the feathers on Raven¡¯s wings. She barely felt the biting chill sitting atop Mount Elbert. Raven had chosen the highest peak in the region to bury her father. The grave site overlooked the Twin Lakes, and the view was spectacular. If there was an afterlife, then he could marvel at nature¡¯s glory.


    Raven had now stood vigil over the unmarked grave for a couple of weeks. Long enough that her mind had numbed the pain. The ragged tears on her fingers and nails, a result of digging through the frozen earth by hand, had healed naturally, though her hands and clothing remained filthy. Despite the peak¡¯s remote location, there were few beasts to contend with up here, a few flying monsters had felt the keenness of her blade, but little had interrupted the woman during her prolonged bout of grief.


    Raven wiped the last tear from her cheek and left it smudged with dirt. The time for mourning was over and she had duties to perform. Criminals proliferated like flies on shit and too much justice went unserved.


    She bent her legs and launched herself into the air, wings spreading wide and carrying her back to civilisation, back to Boulder.


    ***


    ¡°You are still here,¡± Raven muttered with surprise shortly after returning to the hotel where her father had been living. She had intended to retrieve a few mementoes, things to remember him by. He may have failed as a father, and let her down in every way possible, but she still loved him, loved the memory of who she thought he was.


    The hotel and most of the town appeared to have been abandoned.


    While flying in this direction, she spotted several freshly burned-out townships further away. This could have been the work or spawned creatures, but she rather doubted it. The far more likely explanation was that the Liberation Army forces had already started to range outside of Texas or the depredation of off-world mercs like Glastos¡¯ company.


    The devastation hadn¡¯t reached Denver yet, but it was only a matter of time, and the thought saddened her deeply.


    Guilt pinged in her heart. She was supposed to have returned and ensured that proper defences were constructed around Boulder, Instead, she¡¯d wallowed in grief. It was no wonder the people had lost faith and fled. Even the soldiers who had been loyal to her father.


    Or so it had seemed.


    However, at least one person had remained behind. ¡°I thought you would have gone crawling back to my mother at the first opportunity.¡±


    ¡°I never had the chance to thank you for saving my life,¡± the officious lawyer, Higgins responded. ¡°Thank you, I know it was¡­very difficult for you.¡±


    Raven waved off the gratitude. ¡°It was nothing. Anybody would have saved a dying man if they could.¡±


    ¡°Not the healing part,¡± Higgins said pointedly. ¡°Had your father been given the opportunity, he would surely have finished the job. Richard did not like loose ends and was not big on forgiveness, ironic considering how often he required it from others¡­¡± The man tailed off, realising that perhaps now was not the time to be bringing up criticisms of his former employer.


    Raven couldn¡¯t answer, a lump had formed in her throat, and she nodded almost imperceptibly.


    ¡°With that out of the way, I am glad you have returned. I was beginning to grow nervous that you wouldn¡¯t come back and there is some official business I should attend to before I ¡®go crawling back¡¯ to Regina and Parker.¡±


    Raven¡¯s cheeks burned with a touch of shame. The insulting language she¡¯d thrown at Higgins had been unfair; a product of her pain. But that was no excuse. ¡°What business?¡± she asked, more to move the conversation on from something that made her uncomfortable then any real desire to know.


    ¡°Your father¡¯s estate, of course. It shouldn¡¯t come as a surprise that you are his sole beneficiary. He was quite¡­insistent on ensuring that Regina would receive nothing. The forgiveness issue again.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what? That can¡¯t be the case, I¡¯m the one who killed him.¡±


    ¡°His last will and testament did not cover such an eventuality and if I can be frank¡­he had it coming. The old-world laws might have prevented such a thing, but the Framework doesn¡¯t care about any of that. Everything goes to you.¡±


    Raven checked her internal character sheet; she had looted her father at some point before burying him, so she already had all the coin from his account which had been a substantial amount. More than one hundred million. ¡°I¡¯ve already got what he left. You shouldn¡¯t have waited.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that is not all of it.¡± Higgins retrieved a crystal from his inventory and offered it to Raven.


    ¡°Richard was worried about people with thieving abilities. He siphoned a significant proportion of the wealth he acquired from the auction and encoded it in this crystal. As his heir, it can only be accessed by you.¡±


    Raven stared at the small crystal in Higgins'' hand. ¡°Those can be cracked.¡±


    ¡°Not easily.¡±


    ¡°So, you tried?¡± she retorted with suspicion.


    ¡°No, but I did perform my due diligence on Richard¡¯s behalf. We could have turned the gold into physical currency and hidden it, but that would mean anybody who found the coins could take them. He wanted something more secure, something that would keep it in the family. Besides, I did receive a small cut of the proceeds from the auction for my efforts¡­foolish as it may have been¡­Not as much as Glastos, but more than enough for my needs.¡±


    The mention of the mercenary reminded Raven that she still had him locked up in an abandoned observatory in the mountains. He¡¯d been up there without much food or water for several weeks now.


    Would he still be alive?


    Probably.


    The Framework would have kept him hale and hearty. It wouldn¡¯t have been pleasant, though. She would have to see to that quickly. Raven was not a sadist who left people suffering unduly even if they were sinners.


    She took the crystal from Higgins¡¯ hand, and it pulsed brightly in recognition. Curiosity got the better of her and she accessed the crystals menu to see what was contained within. 962 million in gold coins. When added to what she had already taken from her father he had been sitting on over a billion in gold.


    Did that rapacious Corsair have as much? She doubted it.


    A smile crept across her face at that thought. ¡°Thank you, Higgins. What will you do now?¡±


    ¡°My final duty towards your father is done. I will return home.¡±


    ¡°The roads are dangerous,¡± she warned.


    ¡°I won¡¯t have to go far. Denver has an Adventurer¡¯s Guild. They¡¯ve recently installed a transportation pad that is connected to the one in Detroit. I will buy passage home from there. A few of your father¡¯s soldiers have stayed behind with me, we will be safe enough.¡±


    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll let you head off.¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Higgins nodded and with a deep sigh he left Richard Reynold¡¯s rooms and prepared for the next stage in his life.


    Raven remained behind for another hour, browsing through the items her father had left behind, choosing a few keepsakes and leaving the rest. Glastos could wait one more hour.


    ***


    ¡°May the Framework damn you, woman! You can¡¯t just leave people imprisoned to starve to death.¡±


    Raven brushed aside the angry shouting of the sandy-haired mercenary who paced in frustration in the makeshift cell she had constructed from the materials that could be found in the observatory. A large brass casing for an enormous telescope had been the primary material used for the walls. It was extraordinarily heavy and sturdy. Glastos¡¯ knuckles were reddened where he had been bashing away at the cell without much luck.


    Ignoring his ongoing threats, Raven moved a small table over to the bars of the cell and then placed a bottle of water and a bowl of fruit where the ungrateful wretch could reach them through the bars.


    Glastos ceased his complaints long enough to grab the bottle and glug the contents down in several loud gulps.


    ¡°You were never in any real danger, and you know it,¡± Raven commented and sat down on a stool, watching the young man take huge bites from a green apple.


    ¡°What if you didn¡¯t come back,¡± he grumbled with a mouth half-full.


    That was true, but Raven was in no mood to admit that she had erred. Not to this miscreant. ¡°I did come back, though. To be greeted by a wretch with the manners of a swine.¡±


    ¡°Go more than a week without water and then come back and tell me that.¡±


    Raven stood so quickly from her stool that it was sent flying back and clattered into some old metal cabinets. ¡°I neither ate nor drank for two weeks while I stood vigil over my father¡¯s grave. You have consumed more in the last two minutes than I have in a fortnight!¡±


    Glastos shrank back into his cell from the forcefulness of Raven¡¯s anger.


    They stood there in silence for the better part of a full minute.


    ¡°Well, that was a bit stupid of you. Especially as you had the fruit and water in your inventory all along. At least, I have the excuse of being locked in a cell. What¡¯s yours?¡±


    The pithy comment was meant to lighten the mood, but Raven didn¡¯t care for the comedy.


    ¡°Grief,¡± she snapped. ¡°Loss. My father is gone, and you are to blame.¡±


    Glastos licked his lips in nervousness. His captor had always seemed a bit fragile in the mental health department. He wracked his brains as to why Raven would consider him responsible for Reed¡¯s death. She hadn¡¯t said anything about how he died. His initial assumption that Reed¡¯s bad decisions had finally caught up with him by virtue of a run-in with the Lamers seemed unlikely with his new information. Then it all clicked into place.


    ¡°He lied to you, didn¡¯t he? Tried to claim he didn¡¯t know about what the Liberation Army would do.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    A simple one-word answer that told Glastos all he needed to know about the circumstances of Reed¡¯s fate. He didn¡¯t push any further.


    ¡°They must be stopped,¡± Raven said suddenly, unbidden. ¡°But there is only so much I can do. I am but one person fighting against a storm of villainy. My father left me everything, but what good is wealth? I need soldiers, experienced ones, to stem this tide of evil.¡±


    ¡°Your father left your everything?¡± Glastos asked her tentatively.


    Raven¡¯s angry eyes zeroed in on him. ¡°He did, what of it, wretch? I can smell the avarice rolling off you from here.¡±


    A kernel of a plan formed in Glastos¡¯ mind. One that might just get him out of here. It would likely mean putting himself in danger by helping the unstable Justicar, but that would be better than continued confinement. Raven came back this time, how long before something out there finished her off and he was left to rot?


    ¡°Something else changed while you were away that you probably don¡¯t know about yet. I¡¯ve got an idea, you won¡¯t like it, but that doesn¡¯t make it bad. The Dominarius contract was dissolved. They¡¯ve cancelled the commission to take down Carter.¡±


    ¡°What do I care of that¡± Raven snapped before he could finish.


    ¡°It means there are a lot of pissed of mercenaries out there.¡±


    ¡°Scum, you mean.¡±


    ¡°Yes, scum, but scum in desperate need of employment. A way to break even on this disastrous expedition. Scum who will work for anyone with the coin to pay and for whom there is no love lost with the Liberation Army¡­if you get my drift.¡±


    Raven summoned a small black crystal into her hand. Glastos had a pretty good idea of what it was and what it contained.


    ¡°I¡¯m listening,¡± she said.


    ¡°Okay, step one, you need to let me out of this cell. You will need me to make first contact with the other companies and, well, you can be a bit abrupt. Negotiations will proceed more smoothly if the one doing the talking isn¡¯t insulting the merc captains with every second breath.¡±


    Raven thought it over for several minutes, mostly to make Glastos sweat. She didn¡¯t want the unreliable man to think she trusted him. Eventually, she strode across the gap, retrieved the key to the cell door and freed the merc.


    Glastos stretched his arms in the air when he was released from the cramped confines. ¡°Excellent. Right, step two. We need to head back to that hotel and retrieve the communications equipment that was salvaged from my ship. There are messages I need to send, and things will go better if they are recognisably encoded.¡±


    ***


    Captain Brock Deathstare


    A light rapping came from the cabin door. Brock looked up from his desk and surveyed the scene in his office. The damage he¡¯d inflicted on the furnishings during his fit of pique was substantial. Did he want one of the crew to see how flustered he¡¯d become?


    Damn the Dominarius Consortium, he thought to himself with a low growl. He hoped their balls shrivelled to the size of peas, very small ones. The compensation they sent with the contract cancellation was derisory, it didn¡¯t even cover a tenth of the outlay he¡¯d already spent on this expedition.


    The canid beastkin scratched at one floppy ear and made a decision. ¡°Who is it?¡± He barked, infusing the tone with as much gruff discontent as possible. That should put off any timid crew members without him having to bother his arse.


    ¡°Lyra,¡± an annoyed female voice called out.


    ¡°Come,¡± Brock called out with a sigh. He¡¯d feared it might be her. No amount of angry barking would put her off. Lyra knew him too well, knew his weaknesses.


    The halfling woman opened the door and sauntered in, careful to close it behind her. She gave his office a once over and then glared at him sternly.


    Brock leaned back in his chair. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose there is any chance you¡¯ve come to give my ears a scratch?¡±


    ¡°Is that your clever idea of a euphemism for fucking?¡± She snorted.


    Brock winced; Lyra was blunt as ever.


    She followed it up with another biting question. ¡°Do you think you¡¯ve earned a good, hard¡­scratching? What with the mess you¡¯ve made of the place.¡±


    ¡°Give over, Lyra. It¡¯s been a rough couple of days.¡±


    The halfling woman hopped up onto Brock¡¯s desk and kicked it clear of the broken knick-knacks that had been in the way. This way the short woman towered over him by a foot.


    ¡°Explain to me, fearsome Captain Deathstare, how it¡¯s been any rougher for you than the rest of the crew. Every man and woman out there was banking on this payday. We¡¯re all suffering, Brock, but you¡¯re the only one who gets to act like a petulant child over the matter.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not the same,¡± he defended himself. ¡°I was already deep in the hole before this debacle. Running on fumes. This was the very last chance and those cocksuckers fucked me. Stitched me up, good and proper. Even if we get out of this backwater shithole, I¡¯m going to lose the ship. Probably end up debt-collared and sold by the very pricks who screwed me over in the first place.¡±


    Brock¡¯s fist slammed into the desk as the rage over the situation threatened to boil over again. Lyra¡¯s hands reached out and took hold of his ears before he erupted. She rubbed them soothingly and crooned softly to calm him back down. Despite her mockery, she knew full well he had earned the moniker of deathstare.


    ¡°Save that fury for the enemy,¡± she advised. ¡°Now straighten yourself up and come with me. Things may not be as dire as they seem. A message has come through the private channels.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen it already. Darik¡¯s plan is pure folly. The contract was to identify and eliminate the badge holder. Not seize control of the whole faction, there aren¡¯t enough of us.¡±


    ¡°Not from that greedy idiot, Darik,¡± Lyra said with a roll of her eyes. ¡°Somebody else is hiring and it seems like they¡¯ve got deep pockets.¡±


    Brock''s big eyes opened wide in sudden hope. ¡°How much?¡±


    ¡°Not enough to turn this voyage into the retirement plan we¡¯d all hoped for, but enough to plug that hole you¡¯re so worried about. Keep the Nasty Bitch afloat for a few more missions, at least.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s the client?¡±


    ¡°A local, some lass called Raven Reynolds.¡±


    ¡°And she can pay?¡±


    ¡°Her rep encoded Framework confirmation of the funds.¡±


    Brock jumped up from his seat and almost knocked the small woman off the table, but he caught her by the hips and pulled her in for a big sloppy kiss. ¡°We¡¯re back in the game, Lyra.¡±


    ¡°Are you not even going to ask what the job is?¡± she asked with a quirked eyebrow and wiped some of the excess saliva from her chin.


    ¡°Does it matter?¡±


    ¡°I suppose not, but so you don¡¯t come across as a complete fool during the negotiation, she wants us to raid the Libbers. Help keep them penned in the territory they have already seized and prevent further expansion. Spa re the local populace, that kind of thing.¡±


    That gave Brock pause. The Liberation Army were dangerous and numerous. He¡¯d seen how many of their warships had already come through the gate when the Nasty Bitch exited the gate later the next day. Unlike the merc companies, the Lib Army had been I no hurry to depart the area. It had been a nervy first ten minutes on Earth, but the Libbers had respected the tradition and held off attacking.


    ¡°Sounds more like a revenge mission to me if she is a local. I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter what her motivation is, only that she can pay what is promised. Are we the only company she¡¯s looking to hire? They¡¯ll crush us if we go in solo.¡±


    ¡°No, they are looking to bring a score or more of reliable crews onboard for this. Basically, anyone that didn¡¯t sign up for Darik¡¯s foolishness.¡±


    Other companies meant other captains. That would be problematic, but nothing that couldn¡¯t be worked through if the money was right. And it did solve the numbers problem. It didn¡¯t hurt that most of the other captains Brock refused to work with were all-in for Darik¡¯s scheme in the north. ¡°We can work with that. Let¡¯s see what they have to say.¡±


    Lyra sniffed loudly. ¡°Bathe and change first.¡±


    ¡°They can¡¯t smell me over the communicator.¡±


    ¡°I can and if you want your itchy ears scratched in celebration afterwards, you will bathe and change beforehand.¡±


    Bath first it would be.

 Book 5: Chapter 5

    Chapter 5


    Regina took William Reed¡¯s body with her when she left the next day. A burial would be arranged once events calmed down. According to her sources, apart from Raven and Hudson, the former Governor of Wisconsin did have some surviving family. It would only be proper to give them a chance to attend.


    They might not, it was a strange family.


    After her return to Detroit, The Command Centre in the palace had been a busy place over the next few days. Meetings with my lieutenants were frequent. Unfortunately, the bad news continued to pile up.


    ¡°We¡¯ve had it confirmed from four different sources now,¡± LT updated me when I entered the busy room on the morning of the third day post Reed¡¯s news. ¡°The siege of Minneapolis has been lifted. The Wisconsin forces have pulled out and are heading eastwards.¡±


    ¡°Any chance the Minnesotans have decided to harry the Wisconsin retreat?¡±


    ¡°Nah, too busy licking their wounds and repairing defences. They ain¡¯t convinced that this isn¡¯t some trick to draw them out. If we didn¡¯t know what we do, it would be a relevant concern. There will be no help from them.¡±


    I grunted softly, disappointed, but not overly surprised. ¡°How are we doing on recalling the troops?¡±


    ¡°The ships sent into the Great White North are all on their way back. Some of them have already returned to Stormblade Harbour, the rest should be back within the next 24-48 hours. The news is not so good for the crews we sent to scour the East Coast. The weather around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Nova Scotia is bad and getting worse. Hurricane worse. Those who have got that far north already haven¡¯t been able to sail past Boston safely. The captains are willing to risk it if you give the order.¡±


    I shook my head in the negative. Thise ships couldn¡¯t go underneath the waves they way Marena¡¯s Mercy could. ¡°No. They should wait until conditions improve. If we need the manpower we can make a deal with the Boston Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Use their pads to get them back here but hold off on that for now. I don¡¯t want to leave those ships poorly defended. It took long enough to assemble the fleet and I¡¯m not of a mind to lose parts of it so soon.¡±


    LT nodded with approval. ¡°Understood.¡±


    My preference would be to take the initiative. Attack the fragment housing Hudson while he was fresh to his new authority and in the process of reorganising his forces, but we didn¡¯t have the ships to launch that kind of assault. Milwaukee was not the same proposition as Grand Rapids. Marena¡¯s Mercy and Storm Raider would not be enough. Reed had done a much better job of preparing his city against invasion than Luca had.


    Speaking of Luca, this brought me to the latest development that had become a pain in the ass.


    Turning to my Spymistress, Trisha. ¡°What is the latest report on our fresh problem in the south?¡±


    After learning from Reed what the fragment had done, the first thing we did was send out scouts to gather feedback on any troop movements along the lake coastline not under our direct control. They quickly uncovered a major detachment of warriors moving in our direction.


    But they weren¡¯t coming from Wisconsin.


    This was a huge mob that had departed from Chicago and were working their way around the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Far enough away from the coast that we couldn¡¯t bombard them from the lake¡¯s edge, which was suspicious in and of itself. Numbers were difficult to determine, but more than one hundred thousand seemed likely.


    During the first couple of days of their march, it had been possible they might keep moving east. Then yesterday, the vanguard angled north towards the Michigan state line, and it became much more likely that we were the ultimate destination.


    The independent town of South Bend lay between us and them on the other side of the border with Indiana. That could have been their target but if this was the case then the horde brought to bear for the invasion was a massive case of overkill. Last night, South Bend fell. After, the army halted there overnight. We were not left on tenterhooks for long; an official declaration of war from the Outlaw Nation was delivered via podium shortly before midnight.


    Well, technically, as a Lawless faction, you couldn¡¯t declare war on the Shattered Storm. Which is why they declared war on the Brotherhood of the Lion¡¯s Claw and anything else as close to it as possible.


    Claudia.


    They tried to declare war on Claudia because she was Luca¡¯s sister and a Gattosi. That attempt didn¡¯t stick, becoming my bonded core had severed any other ties she had and that included familial. There was still an official Gattosi faction, likely headed up by one of Claudia¡¯s many cousins, but they were in Syracuse in New York state. I couldn¡¯t care less about the declaration against whatever remained of the Lion¡¯s Claw. There had been a few mooks who managed to slip away, mostly guys who had been posted at the edges of Luca¡¯s territory and managed to ignore the pull of my influence. That remnant had nothing to do with us and their existence now proved a mild benefit as they would be the recipient of the Outlaw Nation¡¯s offensive diplomacy. The long and the short of it was that the Outlaw Nation gained nothing and only achieved in outing their intentions.


    Apparently, the leader of this group was a man named Augustus Snook, Auggie to his friends, and he had a personal beef with Luca. One that he¡¯d transferred to Claudia as the only surviving Gattosi. Claudia explained that Luca had tried to play both sides of the Chicago turf war and that had pissed Augustus off. He¡¯d sent the head of Luca¡¯s emissary back as a ¡®fuck you¡¯ gift.


    Augustus was the top dog of the Outlaw Nation; I¡¯d not met him or had any dealings with the gang, but we did have a run-in with their arch-rivals the Street Nation. They were crushed under my boot and that allowed Augustus to consolidate his power base in Chicago. He did so by taking a leaf out of Luca¡¯s playbook and switching to the Criminal Kingpin class when he accrued enough class points. Soon enough, most of Chicago¡¯s gangs had fallen under his sway and that made Auggie a real contender.


    What we didn¡¯t know yet was why the hell he had decided to have a crack at us. A grudge against the Gattosi family? I didn¡¯t buy it.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard back from my contacts,¡± Trisha confirmed. ¡°They are coming for Grand Rapids. Augustus has been giving the hard sell to his people that the city is weak and ripe for the taking after the conflict between us and the Brotherhood.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Maybe if he¡¯d marched the day after we took the city, but that ship sailed months ago. Is he cracked in the head?¡±


    LT grinned in agreement.


    ¡°Even factoring in that he probably wasn¡¯t ready then, I don¡¯t think so,¡± Trisha replied. ¡°Other influences are at play here.¡±


    ¡°The fragment?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Trisha disagreed. ¡°From the information I¡¯ve received, this has been in the works for the better part of a month. Augustus has been seen taking meetings with strong unnamed personages during that period. Those meetings have escalated in number over the last week. It does not seem feasible that a fragment-inhabited Hudson could mastermind a takeover of Wisconsin and Chicago simultaneously. I suspect that Augustus has found some like-minded souls in the form of off-world mercenary groups.¡±


    It was at this juncture that Crynn chose to join the conversation. She had been sitting quietly absorbing the data, not wanting to interfere while her status remained in flux within the Shattered Storm. ¡°I thought my father, curse his blasted name, had quashed the contract.¡±


    ¡°Indeed,¡± I said. ¡°Quinntexxis was able to confirm the Dominarius Consortium revoked it.¡±


    ¡°Nevertheless,¡± Trisha continued, "We already knew that some of the companies who came to collect have concluded that pressing forward was in their best interest. We must assume they¡¯ve roped the Outlaw Nation into their plans. Whether a mass invasion had always been the goal or if they pivoted to that after the contract cancellation we may never know.¡±


    ¡°Does it matter,¡± LT snorted. ¡°They still coming, one way or another.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°It does matter,¡± I said after a moment¡¯s consideration. ¡°The Outlaw Nation is being used as another¡¯s instrument or as a smokescreen. If Augustus is being paid or operating under the false assumption that his people won¡¯t meet stiff resistance, then that is something we can work with. Hell, I¡¯d even be willing to pay the fucker off, if it would get him off our backs. We¡¯d recoup it plus extreme interest later when we don¡¯t have world-ending problems to worry about.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡°Trisha, redouble your efforts to figure out the who and the how. Use your people and see if Augustus is amenable to a bribe. LT, ready the troops we have available. If Augustus turns us down, we¡¯re going to give this invasion force a bloody nose. I have an idea, a different method of turning them back, something we haven¡¯t utilised thus far. I want to be underway before dark and ready to strike at dawn if he can¡¯t be bought.¡±


    Both my subordinates nodded and rushed off to follow my orders. That gave me a few hours of free time and I left the Command Centre staff to their work. I didn¡¯t make it far before a hand caught hold of the crook of my elbow and halted me in the corridor. I turned around and saw that it was Crynn.


    ¡°Torin,¡± she opened with. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking it over, and I want to come with you tomorrow. Not just as an observer, but as a proper member of your crew. Part of your canon.¡±


    This was a request I¡¯d been anticipating ever since Titus had disavowed his daughter and I stroked my chin in thought. Adding Crynn to the crew had always been part of my long-term plans. She had plenty of raw talent and aptitude, was eager to participate, and had exhibited the potential to be a good leader. To be fair, she had made some rash decisions, but that was mostly down to youthful exuberance or flawed information. And it¡¯s not like I hadn¡¯t made a few questionable calls myself.


    Plus, Nazz came as part of the Crynn package, the Saurian would never abandon her charge and had already demonstrated her credentials as a formidable asset.


    Keeping Crynn on team Torin was an easy decision, yet, ideally, I wanted a little more than that. This was the perfect opportunity to strike; Nazz wasn¡¯t around to veto the proposal.


    ¡°Signing you to my canon might be problematic while you remain bound to your fathers. Titus is strong, much stronger than me, as much as it pains me to admit. If he fights back, the recoil could leave me out of commission during a time when we can ill afford it.¡±


    ¡°He won¡¯t fight, you remember what he said. I¡¯m dead to him or will be if I ever try to come back.¡±


    ¡°True, but what people say isn¡¯t necessarily what they mean. Titus might prefer maintaining a connection to you, a way to keep tabs on you.¡±


    Crynn sucked on her lip. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that.¡±


    I sucked in a breath over my teeth and sighed. ¡°There is another option. I am a Soulbinder, after all, and I happen to have room for a fresh bond. I¡¯d been planning on offering it to Mia, but she wouldn¡¯t object to waiting a while longer. She isn¡¯t a fighter, and the bond is of limited help for her farming duties.¡±


    ¡°A¡­A¡­b¡­bond,¡± Crynn stuttered. ¡°Ah, that is¡­is a bit more than I¡¯d expected.¡±


    ¡°If you aren¡¯t comfortable, we can stick with the arrangement we have. You and Nazz as trusted guests of the Shattered Storm.¡±


    ¡°I, uh, I didn¡¯t say no. Just give me a moment to think it over. A soul bond is a deeper connection than I¡¯m used to.¡±


    Crynn blushed, which for an Acheronian meant our grey skin took on a darker hue. It was cute on her and revealed what was likely bothering her.


    ¡°I imagine Titus wasn¡¯t a big fan of you having boyfriends or lovers,¡± I guessed.


    The blush got deeper and confirmed my suspicion.


    ¡°You do know that intimate relations are not a mandatory requirement with my bonded.¡±


    Her eyes opened wide in surprise. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just¡­you kind of are¡­you know, with all of them.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I am now, but it didn¡¯t start that way. You should have heard Ana after I claimed her core, not happy would be the understatement of the century. It took time for trust to build between us before we managed to work things out, and she still busts my balls about it in private every chance she gets.¡±


    Crynn chuckled at my confession. ¡°That does sound like her.¡±


    ¡°And Fang Mei was bonded to me for months before things developed romantically. Hey, I¡¯m not going to say that I¡¯m not interested, but there will be no pressure, even if you decide that you never feel the same way. You can ask the others first if you want.¡±


    ¡°No, that won¡¯t be necessary. I trust you, Torin. What do we have to do?¡±


    ¡°Take my hand,¡± I said and put mine out, palm up.


    Crynn¡¯s hand wrapped around mine. With physical contact, my will pushed against hers. There was a little resistance at the initial invasion into her private space but that faded away once she instinctively understood this was an invitation for bonding not coercion. Crynn¡¯s lavender eyes locked with the ice-blue of mine and indicated her acceptance. Warmth suffused our bodies, and with a tingling sensation, another bundle of emotions joined those of Shana, Fang Mei, Anastasia, Claudia and Trisha in the back of my consciousness.


    The Acheronian woman wobbled on her feet, and I had to steady her briefly.


    The notifications whizzed by, normally I would dismiss them out of hand, but there were a couple that needed a bit of attention.


    *** Path of the Soulbinder 4 (K)


    You have defined your personal path to power. The binding of those with potential is almost as great as your own. Those you have brought close are amongst the most powerful of your allies and you have reaped the rewards. Too many spend their allocated bonds frivolously.


    Continue this policy to advance your oath further. Bond another with a character aptitude of Very High or greater.


    Success: You bind a suitable subject.


    Rewards: 3,400 XP, Soulbinder Tier 3 is unlocked and can be purchased if you have the upgrade points. Future Path of the Binder quests.


    A piece of Armour of the Bound that suits your new bond.


    Bonus Reward: Should they be bound voluntarily, receive a bonus piece of gear that suits their class.


    Failure: If this quest goes incomplete the rest of this quest chain will remain locked and unavailable. ***


    There had been a third quest in this chain which I completed when bonding with Trisha earlier in the year. She had received a Cloak of the Bound and a ring that helped improve the efficacy of her sonic shield. This quest had been added to my log when I made level thirty-five and could add a fourth bond.


    *** Gear has been awarded ***


    Long Boots of the Bound


    Leather Armour (Medium)


    Damage Mitigation: Low


    HP +200 (base of 25)


    Stat: +5 (Speed), Skill +10 (Combat Footwork), +175 Hit Points


    Item Description: May only be worn by someone soulbound to Torin Carter. All bonuses bar the damage mitigation are increased by Torin Carter¡¯s applicable levels and only utilises one armour slot. Stat and skill bonuses are contingent on bearer¡¯s aptitudes.


    Stat: 1 (+1 for every five of Torin¡¯s levels to a maximum of +5)


    Skill: 5 (+1 for every three of Torin¡¯s levels to a maximum of +10)


    HP: +5 per Torin¡¯s level


    Durability: 100/100 (Can always be repaired even if reduced to 0 durability)


    The boots were from the standard armour set I received for each leg of the quest chain. I happened to have some spare tokens of the bound in my inventory. They came as rewards from quests and occasionally as drops from beasties I killed. I quickly spent a few of the tokens to improve these boots to the same level as the other pieces of armour. The damage mitigation was improved to medium, so it halved incoming harm and boosted the Hit Points per level to seven which upped it to +270 HP.


    Summoning the boots to my hand they were made of dark leather, knee-high, and had a long row of buckles. Proper pirate boots for a lady, if you were dressing up for Halloween, but they would work great for Crynn. I presented her with the boots, and her eyes lit up and proceeded to try them on.


    That was not all, and the second item was similarly pirate-themed, but reading through the descriptor did give me pause for thought.


    A black tricornered pirate hat with a small lilac feather in the brim which matched Crynn¡¯s eyes and markings. However, this was not made of leather, but the same black chaos dragon scales my armour set was constructed of.


    Shattered Dragonscale Captain¡¯s Hat


    Chaos Dragonscale Armour (H) (Set 2 of 5)


    Damage Mitigation: Very High


    HP +300


    Stat: +20 Con


    Special Bonus: Halves the class points required for the bearer to take the Dungeon Corsair Captain class. (One time use.)


    A random deck of Marena¡¯s Mercy (Carter¡¯s flagship) will be copied and added to the Dungeon Ship created by the bearer. (One time use.)


    (Can only be worn by an Acheronian Dungeon Corsair sailing under the banners of Torin Carter and the Shattered Storm)


    Drawback: All Notoriety losses are doubled. (If this armour is removed the drawback remains in place for three months. This stacks with the other pieces of the set.)


    This armour is forged from the discarded scales of Chaos Dragons in the demesne of the Shattered Goddess. When worn, the damage mitigation is applied to the whole of the head and neck area. This hat cannot be knocked off accidentally and will trigger a battle of wills if someone forcibly attempts to remove it from the bearer¡¯s head. Other pieces of armour such as a bandanna can be worn over this extended coverage for their Mana-infused abilities, but the damage mitigation does not stack. (Can only be worn by adherents of the Shattered Goddess)


    Durability: 10,000/10,000


    This was one hell of a gift from the Framework. An entire extra deck for a dungeon ship was no small boon. The only initial misgiving was whether I wanted Crynn to follow the path of the Corsair Captain. It was fairly obvious that was her dream¡­but a few instincts were kicking around that I had to suppress. Corsairs and Acheronians could get a bit antsy about ¡®others¡¯ in command of vessels in their fleet. Crynn was already soulbonded to me, those kinds of concerns were for lesser captains.


    ¡°That¡¯s not all,¡± I told her when she finished donning the boots and showing them off to me and I presented her with the hat.


    ¡°It¡¯s a bit much for my usual taste,¡± she commented. Up until this point, Crynn had preferred cloth wrappings or bandannas rather than full hats.


    However, If I thought her eyes went wide with delight when I gave her the boots, the hat blew everything else out of the water.


    ¡°Torin¡­¡±


    Her eyes welled with tears and a few managed to escape the ducts and run down her cheek.


    ¡°This¡­this¡­is too much,¡± she stammered.


    ¡°Nonsense.¡± I wiped the treacherous tear away with the back of my hand took the hat from her hands and settled it on her head being careful to mind her braided hair.


    For the second time in as many minutes, Crynn experienced a bout of dizziness as the hat¡¯s one-time special effects were transferred to her.


    ¡°There it¡¯s done. Welcome to the team.¡±


    ¡°Glad to the aboard, sir!¡± she snapped off a chest-thumped salute now the brief wave of dizziness had passed. Her smile was truly dazzling. ¡°This is all I ever wanted. The only frustration is I have to wait until I¡¯m ready to level up, and that can¡¯t happen until the shroud lifts.¡±


    ¡°Damn, I forgot about that.¡± That would be a serious hindrance. ¡°Hmmm. We might be able to swing something, though. I can bring my bonded to my levelling interviews with the Administrators. When I¡¯m ready for thirty-six, we¡¯ll see if Dean can arrange something. He owes me about a thousand favours for messing with me during my earlier levels.¡±


    Crynn nodded and smiled coyly, her good mood fully restored.


    ¡°Right, come along we have a mission to prep for.¡±

 Book 5: Explicit Interlude 5.1

    Explicit Interlude 5.1


    (This mini-chapter contains explicit sexual content. If that¡¯s not to your reading taste you can skip on to the next chapter without missing any story elements)


    I turned to the side and prepared to walk back to the wing of the palace with my quarters when Crynn¡¯s hand clasped my elbow once more and drew my attention back to her.


    The deep blush had returned to her cheeks. ¡°What you said a few minutes ago about waiting until I¡¯m ready. What if I don¡¯t want to wait?¡±


    A big grin broke out on my face. I¡¯d suspected from the beginning that Crynn harboured feelings for me and the bond had shown that to be true, but I hadn¡¯t anticipated the heat of need that pulsed through the bond. Unfettered ardour had been unleashed.


    ¡°Are you sure about this?¡±


    ¡°Very much so,¡± she answered. ¡°Not to sound like a fatalist or anything but we don¡¯t know how much longer we have. I¡¯ve waited too long for this already. My father, curse his blasted name, was right about one thing. If you want something, gather your strength and take it.¡±


    I grabbed her hand and pulled her into my embrace. Our lips met and Crynn melted into my arms. We stood there enjoying the feel of each other and ignoring the titters of the palace staff who walked by. Catching me in a tryst was not unusual an occurrence.


    That is until a new voice punctured the veil of comingled ardour.


    ¡°Captain Pervo strikes again, why am I not surprised,¡± Ana huffed.


    Our kiss broke and I glanced up to see the small blonde with her hands on her hips. ¡°I came looking to discuss tomorrow¡¯s raid. LT told me,¡± she clarified when I looked at her quizzically. ¡°But it looks like you to need to get a room. Call me when you¡¯re done.¡±


    With a shake of the head, Anastasia stalked off down the corridor.


    Crynn giggled in my arms at the blonde¡¯s antics.


    ¡°She is right about one thing, we probably should get a room,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Yes, before Nazz gets wind of this and you get the ¡®talk¡¯.¡±


    We could both do without the casual threats of me joining the ranks of the eunuchs if I hurt Crynn. Not if we wanted to make the most of the time we had available.


    ¡°This way. I know a shortcut.¡± I told her, pulled a tapestry out of the way, and pressed a concealed button to reveal a hidden stairway. These passages were used by Doyle and his security teams and would let us get to the corridor outside my chambers, unseen by any but them.


    My companion laughed and rushed up the stairs beside me as the hidden door slid shut behind us. In no time, we were in the wing with my living quarters and barrelled through a door to a room set aside specifically for sexy fun.


    Crynn came to a grinding halt and her eyes swept over the many accoutrements that lined the walls. Every toy you could imagine had been hung or placed on shelves for easy access. Not to mention the much larger frames, benches, and cages that flanked the very large bed in the centre.


    ¡°Holy fuck!¡± she whispered in shock.


    ¡°First time in the pleasure chamber?¡± I chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m surprised Shana hasn¡¯t brought you in here to show it off before.¡±


    ¡°This was her idea?¡±


    ¡°She is much kinkier than she lets on. An absolute wild woman with very few boundaries. Don¡¯t worry, I have no expectations beyond us doing what you desire. We can use as many or as little as you want.¡±


    ¡°I just want you,¡± Crynn replied huskily and leapt into my arms her legs squeezing around my hips. The grey-skinned woman ground her hips into my groin and found steel beneath the fabric of my pants.


    ¡°That can be arranged.¡± I grinned and crushed my lips to hers, tongues mingling while I carried her toward the middle of the chamber.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    At some point, our clothes came off, either placed in inventories or pulled off in wild abandon as the passion between us grew. We were both Acheronian and this was part of our nature. The distraction Crynn provided meant I missed the mattress of the bed and ended up knocking her back into one of the bedposts. The head-height shackles that hung from the bedpost jangled as they were disturbed and drew the attention of two pairs of eyes.


    ¡°It might be a shame not to use some of this stuff,¡± she whispered breathlessly.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    Crynn nodded and lifted the arms that had been wrapped around my neck into the air. Her leg muscles tensed and helped hold her in place. With care not to let her fall, I secured the padded straps around her wrists and pulled them tight. Crynn released her grip around my waist and let her feet settle on the thick, black carpet of the floor and her cheeks flushed with heat.


    I pulled on a lever and raised the shackles higher until her arms were locked tight upwards and her heels couldn¡¯t quite make contact with the ground. With my lover secure, I stepped back to admire her beauty.


    The arms-raised position accentuated her figure and showed off her lissom athleticism. Her breasts were raised and slightly crusher together. The grey nipples were small bullets of hardness, and I could smell the need emanating from her shaven mound of Venus.


    ¡°Comfy?¡±


    ¡°Not really, I think I need a tall, handsome man to distract me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure we have any of those around, will I do?¡±


    ¡°Stop teasing, Torin. Come over here and screw me,¡± Crynn begged and tried to scoot forward but didn¡¯t get very far before falling back against the varnished wood of the tall bedpost.


    ¡°Patience, my dear,¡± I crooned back. ¡°Good things come to those who wait.¡±


    I drank in every inch of her body, examining her from every angle until I thought she¡¯d had enough of the subtle torture. It was time to move on to the next stage. I stepped forward and traced fingers along her skin, flicking her nips when the opportunity arose. Crynn shuddered in anticipatory pleasure and her skin goose bumped wherever I toyed with her.


    Finally, after teasing her to a peak of frustration, my hands settled on the V of her thighs and inched their way to her labia only to move away before parting her folds at the last second.


    Crynn yelped in disappointment, but not for long. I pulled her legs apart, lifted, and threw them over my shoulders while I knelt on the carpeted floor. Her thighs rested either side of my face and with a cheeky grin up at her eyes-wide expression above, shoved my nose into her dripping cunny and inhaled deeply.


    ¡°You smell fucking divine!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s nothing compared to how I taste,¡± Crynn responded brazenly, any inhibitions completely gone.


    I didn¡¯t require a second invitation and my mouth dove into the delectable feast in front of me.


    ¡°Gods, yes!¡± she cried and thrust her quivering pussy against my face and tongue that already quested deep into her folds. The decision to help her by taking two handholds of her pert ass was an easy one to make. My fingers and thumb squeezed the rounded peaches while my lips and tongue grazed the petals of her flower.


    Crynn¡¯s juices had a slight tartness, subtle, but not unpleasant, something I would happily come back for again. It dribbled down my chin and a tiny droplet fell past my chest and miraculously landed on the bobbing rod below, which only made me harder. She came quick under my aggressive ministrations which was just as well as I didn¡¯t want to wait any longer.


    The earlier teasing had also taken a bit of a toll on me.


    ¡°Yes, yes, yes¡­ooh!¡± Crynn barely ceased moaning or spasming even when I suddenly stood, lifting her legs high into the air, until her toes could tickle her earlobes.


    Face to face, I moved in and kissed her deeply, tongue questing for the back of her mouth. Crynn mumbled in ecstasy as we kissed and then bucked in surprise when I pressed her back against the post and guided my cock to her dripping entrance. The helmet of my rod circled her cunny a couple of times getting nice and slick and then pushed past her lady lips in a smooth thrust.


    It was a tight fit and required several back-and-forth gyrations until I was able to fully hilt my dick inside of her. Crynn¡¯s body was supported by mine pressing her firmly against the post and my arms gripped behind for some extra leverage and then the pumping began.


    Slow at first, but with a pace that continued to build.


    The Acheronian woman was forced to break our passionate liplock as a new wave of pleasure ripped through her. ¡°Fuuuucccckkkkk! So¡­so¡­b¡­big.¡±


    ¡°I never get tired of hearing that,¡± I grunted in her ear and pumped my shaft deep into her.


    ¡°Har¡­harder!¡±


    ¡°Or that.¡± I grinned and did my best to meet my lover¡¯s request, but I was already slamming my cock into the depths of her vulva at a frenetic pace. I don¡¯t think Crynn cared provided I didn¡¯t contemplate stopping.


    She did not need to fear on that count.


    But all things must come to an end and not too much later, we reached a mutual crescendo. My length found that extra level of hardness, balls spasmed, and I squirted a big load of creamy spunk into the clutching, orgasming, grey velvet tunnel.


    ¡°Hot damn,¡± Crynn whispered breathlessly, shuddering in my arms, as we came down from our mutual finish.


    ¡°Are you okay,¡± I asked and released the clasps of the shackles.


    Crynn¡¯s arms flopped down and wound around the back of my neck, fingers ruffling my thick, black hair. Rather than answer, she pushed her head forward and kissed me on the lips. A wordless gesture that I returned with equal hunger.


    With my member still hilted in her depths, I gripped Crynn¡¯s firm buttocks and manoeuvred us past the bedpost and onto the silk sheets of the bed. There was no hint from my lover that she was ready for this to be over, and we still had several hours before the troops would be assembled.


    There were so many things we hadn¡¯t tried yet.


    It would be a shame not to ruin another set of sheets.


    I did have a reputation to maintain, after all.

 Book 5: Chapter 6

    Chapter 6


    Auggie didn¡¯t take the bribe we dangled in front of him. Whether it was out of a sense of integrity or fear of the mercenaries who had likely embedded a few enforcers in his camp didn¡¯t matter. There would be violence.


    They had been careful to keep their advance far enough away from the shore to keep out of the ship¡¯s cannon range, but seizing South Bend would prove to be a big mistake for them. The St. Joseph¡¯s River fed directly into Lake Michigan and passed through the city. The river actually passed the campus of Notre Dame University. The former Michigan Wolverines who had flocked to my banner needed no encouragement to participate in a destructive raid on that particular campus.


    Perhaps the Outlaw Nation had believed themselves to be safe this far inland? If so they had underestimated the capabilities of my two dungeon ships. The regular vessels would indeed have struggled traversing parts of the river with sharp bends and relatively low depth, but dungeon ships didn¡¯t have those problems.


    Well, there were a few dams along the way that could have impeded further progress, correction, there used to be dams along that stretch of the river. The cannon and torpedoes made short work of them when we approached.


    ¡°Are we going to be there in time?¡± Ana mused from her position standing next to my command chair. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to give them a bloody nose if they¡¯ve left already.¡±


    This complaint was merely one sha had rephrased and had already been thrashed out before we left. Anastasia had been in favour of departing earlier and not bothering with an attempt to bribe Augustus. That she¡¯d proven correct about him snubbing the very generous offer we made only put a bit more of a strut in her stride.


    ¡°Getting that many people moving takes time. Particularly when you¡¯ve given them a chance to let loose and settle down,¡± I reminded her.


    South Bend had been sacked by the Chicagoans. Augustus lost control of his people, and they went on an orgy of pillage and destruction that lasted long into the night.


    Things were bad enough that there might not be much campus left for the Wolverines to vent their frustrations on when we arrived. The good news for us what that it meant their departure had been delayed while the Outlaw Nation reined in the out-of-control elements.


    Some of the more disciplined units were already on the march. They¡¯d been sent ahead to set up forward outposts in some of the smaller towns along the way.


    Those waypoints went unused the first night because dark had swallowed the city before Auggie¡¯s people had finished quelling the rapacious impulses of a good portion of the host. Travelling across monster-infested territory you were unfamiliar with during the night was pure folly unless you were highly organised.


    And organised was not a word you would use to describe those who had bedded down in South Bend for a second night.


    ¡°Trisha¡¯s spies have reported back that about half of them are still there. More than enough to slake your thirst.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± she huffed and leapt into my lap with a feigned expression of boredom. ¡°Although seeing as we are shafting them from the rear, it would be more accurate to say that we¡¯re giving them a bloody ass.¡±


    ¡°Ana,¡± I sighed at the inappropriate imagery


    The answering cackle told me the entire conversation had been a setup to land that joke.


    ¡°You¡¯re not funny,¡± I told her.


    ¡°Bullshit. I have eyes everywhere. I saw the smiles and snickering.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what? Did you broadcast that conversation to the rest of the ship?¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± she replied with impish glee and jumped out of reach before I could get my hands on the minx.


    I could have ordered her to come back but thought better of it. ¡°Any more of that and you are staying on the ship.¡±


    That brought her up sharp and she turned back and batted her eyelashes in my direction. ¡°I didn¡¯t broadcast it to the entire ship¡­just to a few rooms where the more juvenile-minded crew members are hanging out.¡±


    ¡°And that makes things better, how?¡±


    That one stumped her.


    Not that I was truly upset.


    It was a mostly harmless prank, and the regular crew of Marena¡¯s Mercy were aware of Ana¡¯s eclectic sense of humour. They¡¯d been on the receiving end of it more than once. A crewman feeling the back of their ear or hair being tickled sexily, only to turn around and find themselves face-to-face with one of her golems, Ripper or Slicer, was one of Ana¡¯s favourite wheezes.


    There were two of the gruesome brutes now, our recent level-ups meant Anastasia had enough juice in the tank to maintain two of the monstrosities. Ripper was even bigger than Slicer and better designed to act as a mount.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Then Ana¡¯s eyebrow rose, and a subtle smile replaced the artful outrage. ¡°We¡¯re coming up on the urban area north of South Bend. Some of the gangers have been spotted and it¡¯s safe to assume they have seen us too,¡± she paused and got a faraway look in her eye for a moment. ¡°Boy, do they look panicked. I don¡¯t think they were expecting us.¡±


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll table your disciplining for later. Lucky for you, you happen to be integral to my plan for today. Otherwise, you¡¯d be benched.¡±


    Now came the hands-to-hip pout.


    ¡°Make the announcement. The raid is about to begin.¡±


    ***


    The urban sprawl north of South Bend extended past the state line into Michigan. I hadn¡¯t moved to incorporate this place into the Shattered Storm as the majority of the occupied metropolitan area remained in Indiana.


    Being in a different state, the Notre Dame campus had enjoyed the same benefits granted to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The two areas had similar populations pre-Darkwyrlds. However, due to the relative isolation of South Bend in comparison to Ann Arbor, it hadn¡¯t become the same mecca of safety and strength the other campus had.


    Thus far, the Shattered Storm hadn¡¯t done anything to alienate those with power in Indiana and I hadn¡¯t wanted to change that by absorbing the struggling settlement.


    None of that mattered any longer.


    I had my doubts the Outlaw Nation had left many alive. Not that there should have been many people there in the first place. If they¡¯d been smart, the population of South Bend would have fled at the first sign of an invasive army of this magnitude. Fort Wayne, Toledo, or even Battle Creek in my territory were viable destinations. Through Trisha¡¯s contacts, we knew that a significant number of the townsfolk had indeed fled.


    That meant we didn¡¯t have to hold back, and the Hellfire Cannons launched their payloads ceaselessly as the two ships leisurely sailed down the river. This wouldn¡¯t be a raid of conquest. I didn¡¯t have the troops nor the inclination to claim the city today, maybe later, but not today.


    ¡°Target the bridges along the way, bring them all down,¡± I ordered from the Navigation hub to the pirates manning the cannons. According to the maps South Bend had more than a dozen bridges across the river.


    There was no point in making things easier for the Outlaw Nation to move their troops around and no benefit in preserving the infrastructure for us.


    I opened a private channel to Storm Raider. ¡°Kristoff, after you drop off your raiders at the campus, keep going downriver and bring down any bridges for the next mile or so and then rejoin us.¡±


    ¡°Aye, Captain.¡±


    Addressing the bridge crew. ¡°Keep your eyes on the monitors. I want to know if anything unexpected happens.¡±


    I exited the hub to a chorus of ayes and hurried down the aisle and onto the deck. It was packed with raiders eager to get on with the attack. The ship swept around one more curve in the river and the Notre Dame stadium came into view about a mile in the distance. It was still standing. A feral cheer went up from Wolverines in our ranks. I was fairly confident that they planned to burn the stadium down. A little bit over the top, but it would help disguise the true purpose of today¡¯s raid.


    One side of the stadium already looked a little charred and that had nothing to do with the barrage we had unleashed. In fact, there were plenty of signs of wreckage not associated with our initial attacks. I shook my head and abandoned any plans to claim this place at a later date. There would be little left once we were through here today.


    When I reached the poop deck, my team was already waiting for me. Anastasia was sitting atop Ripper at the edge. Slicer was perched on the railing beside her. Somehow the horrifying golem was salivating. That was a new addition to its functionality. Ana did have the strangest hobbies, she was constantly tinkering, trying to make her creations even more fearsome. Fang Mei rode shotgun behind the blonde in Ripper¡¯s spare saddle seat. My newly minted soulbond Crynn had gravitated over to her bonded sisters and her Saurian shadow, Nazz loomed almost as tall as Ripper.


    The rest of my regular squad, led by Doc, were arrayed around the golem group.


    The second squad up on the deck was Jacksons''. With the current crisis, his campaign in Pandaemonium had been put on pause for a couple of weeks. Jackson¡¯s dryad lover, Piper, was alongside him, creeper vines wreathed around her petite body ready to extend and attack. And Piper was not the only familiar face.


    Amber stood stiffly just behind him. She was no longer in the militia uniform. Her clothing and armour were personalised to her preference, and she wore an insignia on her shoulder pads that identified her as a full crew member. Amber had been one of several dozen militia people who had transferred over with Brant when my canon complement expanded recently.


    ¡°The new duds suit you,¡± I said walking past her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t rub it in,¡± she huffed in response.


    ¡°I¡¯m not rubbing anything in,¡± I replied innocently and smiled back letting a hint of smugness tweak the edges.


    ¡°You were right all along, okay? I was being stubborn and made things harder than they needed to be. I could have been part of the crew from the beginning if I¡¯d not been so determined to throw a fit and bust your balls.¡±


    Ah, is there anything more satisfying than hearing somebody admit you were right? A couple of things, admittedly, but being right still felt pretty damn good.


    ¡°Apologies are good for the soul,¡± Anastasia needled the situation from her perch on the other side of the deck.


    If looks could kill, I¡¯d be in the market for a new dungeon avatar. ¡°I¡¯m not apologising!¡± Amber raged.


    ¡°Confession then, also good for the soul or so I¡¯m told,¡± Ana clapped back without missing a beat. ¡°Never needed it personally.¡±


    Further discussion was nipped in the bud by Jackson who put a hand on Amber¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Bait only works if you take it.¡±


    Amber struggled not to retort to Ana¡¯s obvious taunts but drew in a deep breath and recentred herself, pointedly not looking up at the mocking blonde on her golem.


    ¡°Shame, we were just getting started,¡± Ana added.


    ¡°Ana, learn when to quit when you¡¯re ahead,¡± I warned her.


    She gave me a mock salute.


    ¡°Okay, does everybody know the plan? When we reach the campus, find some capable candidates and incapacitate them if you can. Don¡¯t kill, but at the same time, don¡¯t endanger yourself unnecessarily either. If the enemy is proving too troublesome to capture, move on to execute. We¡¯ll likely end up with more candidates than we can use anyway.¡± Addressing Ana specifically. ¡°Seven is your current limit, right?¡±


    She nodded back in confirmation.


    ¡°Everybody got it?¡±


    The two squads replied with their assent, and a few seconds later, Marena¡¯s Mercy crunched into the riverbank and forced its way onto the land, snapping and upending trees like twigs.


    ¡°Whoop! Whoop!¡± Ana cried.


    Ripper leapt from the deck and cleared the rail by a dozen feet. Slicer slinked down the side of the ship and slithered in their wake. The rest of us followed the vanguard golems over the top. Yells of battle lust rose from all directions and soon the two-thousand-strong raid party hit the ground and were ready to pound.

 Book 5: Chapter 7

    Chapter 7


    The attack wasn¡¯t directed against the Notre Dame campus just so the former UoM students would get a kick out of it.


    The campus location put it in the heart of South Bend, and with the building¡¯s protections during the early months, it became the natural centre for the town¡¯s administration. The Outlaw Nation hadn¡¯t held the place long enough to change that, and that meant they would almost certainly have set up shop in the location the previous tenants occupied.


    Provided those facilities weren¡¯t too badly damaged.


    Which was unlikely given that the few people who stayed behind in South Bend were in no position to put up much of a fight. We were gambling that the interior had avoided serious damage. Early indications were that the suburban parts of the city had suffered most from the ill-disciplined rampage of the invaders.


    Of course, the Nation knew we were coming, indiscriminate shelling tended to have that effect. It didn¡¯t take long before our advance was met with a hastily constructed response. There was a large parking lot and a golf course between the primary buildings of the campus and the river where we¡¯d been disgorged. The Storm¡¯s soldiers swept across most of that open ground rapidly and met little resistance until we were almost past it. The transition point back into cover was where several thousand Outlaw Nation gang members emerged to meet us in open combat.


    They had us outnumbered two to one, but I was confident we still held the advantage. Not least because of the cover fire from the ships.


    Hellstrike missiles screamed overhead and set fire to dozens of campus buildings, including the stadium. Our charging horde was initially peppered with small arms fire, most of it intercepted by shields, magical barriers, or simply tanked by people like me whom it barely affected any longer.


    To be fair to the Nation gangers, most of them seemed to have moved past reliance on old-world weaponry. Most folks had figured out that it had been downgraded from the ¡®not as effective as it used to be¡¯ to the ¡®virtually useless¡¯ category. High calibre rounds could still pack a punch, but a lot of my crew had advanced to the stage where they could walk off a direct hit or two from the barrel of an M2 if they were wearing armour.


    The answering response of fire darts, lightning bolts, and other magical spells from casters like Jackson disrupted the Nation¡¯s front line putting them on the backfoot and then we were amongst them before they could reform.


    Ripper ploughed through a group of ten and sent half of them screaming in agony as they were bounced out of the way by its armoured body and were shredded in the process. Slicer jumped on those survivors and quickly started to despatch them with clinical efficiency.


    The other half had the misfortune of being trampled to death as the bigger golem stampeded over them. Ana only slowed their advance long enough in order to wrap the tip of her whip around whichever poor bastard caught her eye.


    In the time between leaping from the ship and slamming into the front lines, Ana had installed a cage behind Fang Mei¡¯s seat made from what looked like wicker. It couldn¡¯t possibly be wicker, because that wouldn¡¯t be strong enough for the roughhousing treatment it received. But we had a lot of funky materials passing through our market these days, she must have picked something up from there after I¡¯d filled her in on the plan.


    The poor bugger that was rapidly being drained of Hit Points was hauled up by the throat and passed back to Fang Mei who stuffed him into the makeshift cage.


    ¡°How about you leave some for the rest of us, yeah,¡± I bellowed up to the diminutive spitfire.


    A whooping holler of maniacal joy was the only response I received.


    Perhaps I should have phrased it as an order and not a question.


    Regardless, Ana did seem to rein in her murderous instincts and pull Ripper and Slicer up a tad. Or it could have been that the Outlaw Nation warriors in our vicinity were already thoroughly broken by her rampage and sapped the fun out of it for her. Either way, it allowed the rest of us a chance to catch up.


    My swords sang as they parted the air and a few heads from the bodies they used to be attached to. There was little point trying to capture many of these guys. Most of them looked like riffraff sent out by their betters to slow us down. Their commander might have believed numbers alone would be enough to seize victory.


    A major tactical mistake if that had been what they were banking on.


    The Outlaw Nation forces first ground to a halt when they met resistance, then buckled in the face of our ferocious response, only to show their backs and finish in full retreat.


    Keep pushing forward! Show no quarter!


    My message was pushed out to the full raid party using Clarion¡¯s Call.


    ¡°Except us,¡± I reminded Doc, Jackson, and the other fighters in our wedge of the battlefront. ¡°¡­but only if you come across a likely candidate.¡±


    A few of the enemy we¡¯d overrun were a bit tougher than their brethren and were left incapacitated, not dead, by our onslaught. Those few survivors were quickly cuffed or collared. They¡¯d be picked up on the way back.


    Smoke and heat billowed across the battlefield and the whizzing scream of Hellfire missiles were replaced by the piteous caterwauling of mortally wounded gangers. The ships had ceased the bombardment of the campus buildings now that we¡¯d reached them. There was no need to risk hitting our people.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Most of the L or Z-shaped halls in front of us had been levelled by the combined sacking and bombardment.


    The lion¡¯s share of our troops continued deeper with my blessing, towards the stadium and other facilities around there. But my team angled to the left and made directly for the building with a very noticeable golden dome. Although the dome had been damaged in the dual assaults, it could be easily spotted and was a convenient landmark.


    As the Notre Dame main campus building, it had the greatest degree of shielding, and I suspected most of the damage was due to internal factors.


    The building was a magnificent piece of modern Gothic architecture. A riot of turrets, gables, and many sunken arched windows, with a few classical columns framing the porch of the main entrance and it was topped off by the oversized dome itself.


    It would be a shame to smash the place into rubble, but needs must. The building could always be rebuilt at a later date.


    Anastasia led the way on Ripper.


    The golem charged up the flight of stone steps to the elevated entrance and ploughed through the barriers that had been hastily erected. The Outlaw Nation had done the hard work of breaking down the shield-reinforced doorway the day before and they¡¯d not had the chance to repair it properly.


    Not that I think they¡¯d even tried.


    The barrier was primarily heavy, with old tables and a few benches. Weighty, but no match for a rhino-sized golem with momentum on its side.


    There were two smaller, single-door, ways in and out either side of the main entrance. I quickly pointed them out. ¡°Jackson, take your squad to the right. Doc, lead the others to the left. We¡¯ll hit them from three sides and pincer as many as possible before they get smart and run.¡±


    Slicer had crawled over what remained of the heavy wooden barrier and his entry was accompanied by screams of horror which emanated from within. ¡°Crynn, Nazz, stay with me, we¡¯re following Ana through the main entrance.¡±


    The pair nodded their understanding, and I took off, vaulting the steps three at a time. Inside, it was carnage already. Ripper hadn¡¯t halted when it passed the threshold and had kept running deeper down the corridor and made a mess of whatever defences the gang members had tried to put together. Bloodied warriors lay strewn about on the floor desperately attempting to tend their wounds.


    Fang Mei had leapt from the back of the golem, her daggers in hand, and was busy finishing off targets. Slicer was doing the same on the other side of the main corridor.


    ¡°Keep a few of them alive,¡± I barked out.


    Anastasia twisted around in her seat and stuck her tongue out at me while simultaneously hauling on her whip that was wrapped around the neck of a likely candidate. Visually acknowledging that she hadn¡¯t forgotten the plan. To be fair, there had probably been two dozen gangsters defending the entrance. We didn¡¯t need them all.


    ¡°Torin,¡± Crynn cried out in warning.


    A door to our right had banged open and a bunch of angry Outlaw Nation fighters poured out attacking our flank. A couple of bullets bounced off my armour, the Hit Point loss was negligible and then we struck back.


    A bolt from Nazz¡¯s enormous crossbow punched through the gut of an oncoming attacker and sent him flying backwards with such force that the bolt passed through his flesh and pierced the hip of the taller man behind him.


    The pair fell sideways and were out of the fight.


    Crynn¡¯s cutlass scythed through the gun-wielding outstretched arm of a guy wearing sunglasses indoors. The douche dropped to his knees wailing, his remaining hand cradling the blood-pumping stump. His sunnies clattered to the floor when my blade cut into the top of his head and knocked them free.


    This fight went on for longer than I expected. None of them were especially dangerous opponents, there were simply a lot of them. Ana and Fang Mei had pushed further forward and were in the midst of filling up Ana¡¯s cage basket. I could see that it was almost full. Add them to the handful of prisoners who had been left on the battlefield ready for pick up and we should have more than enough prisoners.


    We must have killed close to twenty when I saw a creeper vine reach out and throttle a fighter who was still in the room on the other side of the door. That¡¯s when the penny dropped. There had been so many coming at us here because these guys were fleeing from the advance of Jackson¡¯s squad, hoping the main exit was still clear. When they saw it was only three of us, they must have figured that made for better odds than twenty-five.


    ¡°All clear over there,¡± I asked Piper after pulling my sword from the heart of the last standing gangster in the hallway.


    ¡°Aye, Captain,¡± she replied.


    Jackson appeared behind Piper right after she spoke. There was blood on his green mantle, but he looked determined and otherwise unharmed.


    ¡°Jackson, round your people up. It¡¯s time to leave. Crynn, Nazz, find Doc in the other wing and tell him the same.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve only swept this floor; don¡¯t you want us to clear out the upper floors first?¡± Jackson queried.


    ¡°No need. This was supposed to be a lightning strike. We have what we came for. Time to withdraw before we get bogged down.¡±


    ¡°Understood. See you outside.¡±


    Crynn and Nazz ran off in the opposite direction and I spent a few moments looting the bodies of the dead before walking down the corridor and kicking a few pieces of wreckage out of the way.


    ¡°Ripper can do that,¡± Anastasia called out and grabbed my attention,


    She¡¯d managed to turn the big golem around within the confines of the building. Despite its size, the creature was surprisingly flexible. The not-wicker basket had taken a bit of damage, though. Fortunately, none of its occupants were in any physical condition to take advantage of that.


    While making the golems from the Marena¡¯s Mercy¡¯s cimmeric crystal might have had a few disadvantages their inherent link to the ship wasn¡¯t all bad. Anastasia could dump the excess health she drained from her victims into the ship through the golems because of the link. Essentially, this massively expanded her repository. What¡¯s more, she could call upon that repository whenever it was needed. A fact aptly demonstrated when Fang Mei trotted up with a semi-serious wound on her shoulder. Ana reached down without needing to be asked and topped up her Hit Points.


    The wound started to knit itself back together


    ¡°Thanks,¡± the cambion woman muttered.


    ¡°Need any?¡± Ana asked, the question directed at me.


    I¡¯d lost about one thousand Hit Points during the battle, under ten percent of my total, hardly enough to be concerned with. It was almost crazy to think that amount of damage would have left me at death¡¯s door when all this started.


    How things changed and evolved.


    ¡°Join me outside,¡± I said with a nod. ¡°We can do it there.¡±


    On the porch area, I stepped to the side and let Ripper pass. Anastasia ruffled my black hair cheekily and used the opportunity to restore me to full health.


    Elsewhere the battle continued unabated. Many of the buildings which had still been standing were on fire once more. You could hear that the concentration of the activity was over by the stadium which was about a quarter of a mile from the main building.


    The stadium still stood. Defiant in the face of the rampant destruction that had laid waste to almost everywhere else.


    The Wolverines had their chance, and it was time to call it a day.


    Back to the ships. I¡¯m ordering a full immediate withdrawal. Anybody still on the Notre Dame campus in ten minutes will be left behind and believe me you don¡¯t want that.

 Book 5: Chapter 8

    Chapter 8


    The call went out and I waited with Ana and Fang Mei for half a minute to confirm that the orders were being followed. My keen eyesight spotted squads of crewmen and soldiers pulling back. I wouldn¡¯t actually leave them behind, but sometimes a little impetus was required to galvanise the most stubborn.


    The two squads with me trooped out of the main building. A quick headcount confirmed we¡¯d suffered no losses. It was unlikely that would be the case for the entire raid. The Darkwyrlds was a dangerous place.


    Wordlessly, we headed back to the moored vessels. Storm Raider had returned from the foray I sent them on further downriver. Kristoff was up on deck to welcome us back when we came into view.


    ¡°The bridges are down like you ordered,¡± he called out to me. ¡°But we spotted a large gathering of enemy soldiers coming up from the southern part of the town. They¡¯ll reach this area soon.¡±


    ¡°Before our people get back on board?¡±


    ¡°Nein. They seem reluctant to advance without overwhelming numbers to back them. Half an hour, I¡¯d say.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡±


    The gangplanks were extended, and my troops clattered up them and headed below deck. With practised efficiency, the ships were ready to depart twenty minutes later. During the loading, I climbed up to the crow¡¯s nest and observed the gathering of the Outlaw Nation host. There were ten, perhaps fifteen thousand. A goodly number had been on the other side of the river and waded across or crawled over the remains of the bridges that had collapsed into the water. The destruction had never been meant to stop them, just slow them down.


    They had reliably gathered in one place.


    Anastasia had scampered up the rigging to join me and sat on the railing, legs swinging.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be zombifying our prisoners?¡±


    That was my ultimate game plan. We¡¯d rarely put Ana¡¯s zombify ability to use until now.


    Zombification involved draining the will points of targets until they reached zero at which point they become pawns who would obey orders without question.


    When Ana first received it, the ability had been a bit too limited to be of much use. It could only be used on five people at once and they regained their will at the rate of a point a day. The break point, when Ana¡¯s hold on them would fail had been ten percent of her Willpower stat. That meant, if she didn¡¯t drain them again, her hold would break within roughly ten days, presuming other external factors didn¡¯t give them a bonus.


    That is where the unquestioning element of the ability came with a few hidden strings attached. The more antithetical the order was to a subject¡¯s true desires, the more likely that they would get a bit of extra willpower back if you made them follow that order. Commanding a murderer to kill wouldn¡¯t help them break free, but giving the same order to a pacifist would accelerate the regeneration rate of their will. Possibly enough to break free before the order was completed.


    However, with our recent advancement, Zombification has reached the third rank. This allowed Ana to use it on ten subjects at a time, and more importantly, the rate of willpower return dropped one point every three days and the breaking point increased to thirty percent of Ana¡¯s current Willpower. Which happened to be a raw 188, so subjects needed to recoup 56 before they could break free. Presuming there were no confliction bonuses, her hold would last for 168 days.


    That would be more than enough time for what we needed.


    The zombified prisoners would be sent back with orders to kill the Outlaw Nation leader. Augustus Snook.


    ¡°We ended up with thirtyish prisoners,¡± Ana filled me in. ¡°One of Doyle¡¯s interns is doing a bit of interrogation work on them first. Figuring out which of them would be best suited for the assassination mission. There is no point in sending a bunch of losers to kill Auggie. They¡¯d just end up dead and then he¡¯d be on alert for another attempt. Besides, I wanted to see the carnage.¡±


    ¡°What carnage,¡± I replied innocently.


    ¡°Don¡¯t play coy, Torin. I know you too well.¡±


    ¡°You do?¡±


    ¡°Hell yeah, I do. You¡¯re going to drop a big ass monster in the middle of South Bend. Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t notice that you didn¡¯t cast a single Chaos Missile. You must have been itching to try that out on some live targets. Why else would you be conserving your mana?¡±


    I didn¡¯t answer. Ana had rumbled me. We could have continued the bombardment, but the ships carried a limited payload of Hellstrike munitions, and I wanted to conserve some of that ammo. The natural regeneration in the ammo depots wasn¡¯t very fast and it would cost the ship energy to manually refill the expended stock.


    Nevertheless, the rift beast was supposed to be a surprise. A glance down at the deck showed that the boarding planks had been withdrawn and we were ready to heave to. There was no point waiting any longer.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    With an outstretched finger, I pointed at some open ground a little ahead of the advancing army and whispered. ¡°Summon Rift Beast.¡±


    My mana pool dropped dramatically, and I felt a small twinge of head pain. A consequence is using so much of my pool for a single spell. The somatic component was also unnecessary, but it felt right to speak the name of the spell when you cast it.


    *** -450 mana points ***


    *** Cooldown of 7 days applied to spell Summon Rift Beast ***


    *** Noxious Megapede summoned. ***


    *** Your control check was unsuccessful. The Noxious Megapede will not obey you. ***


    *** ¡®Ride Along¡¯ feature has been deactivated ***


    *** The Noxious Megapede¡¯s current attitude is instinctual aggression. It will destroy everything and anything it can lay its many legs upon. ***


    The monster that rose from the cloud of sparkling orange and purple summoning smoke was truly huge. The head of the gigantic insect emerged first as the colourful mist dissipated. The head alone was the size of a lorry with clacking mandibles that were sixty feet if not more and two huge antennae flicked about manically.


    The segmented, brown body uncoiled itself, there were hundreds of sections. It was difficult to gauge just how long it would be when fully stretched out. And settled on big, very big. Each segment had its own pair of spear-tipped legs that plunged through the asphalt of the parking lot it had been summoned on and tore through the hard material like it was sand on a beach. Puffs of an oily, evil-looking gaseous substance were exuded from the gaps in the chitinous shell of the creature.


    Ancient Noxious Megapede


    Grade: Alpha Level: 207


    HP: 3,660,000


    Threat: Impossible


    XP Value: 100 million


    Mob Description: Noxious Megapedes are one of the gravest dangers to roam the rift. If their impressive grade was not enough to worry all but the hardiest of adventurers, then their method of spawning should.


    Megapedes are spawned in great numbers. An event that happens once a millennium. These loathsome creatures hate their spawned sibling as much as every other living creature. They turn upon one another immediately, and within days, only one, maybe two will remain. At this point, the megapede will have gorged on so much experience that their level has skyrocketed for a creature of their grade.


    They begin life with an impressive 17,600 Hit Points, but once they have whittled down their siblings, it is usually in excess of one million.


    In addition to their armoured body, and the many legs that provide a surprising degree of speed, the Megapedes exude a lethal necrotic attuned gas. Also, watch out for when they spray acidic vomit.


    I barely finished absorbing the analysis details of the megapede when it screeched loudly and turned towards the shocked Outlaw Nation army which had come to a grinding halt at the scene.


    The Megapede reared up and revealed more gnashing mouthpieces running along the segments of its underbelly. The main head oscillated from side to side in anger and then its maw opened wide. It belched forth a stream of yellow fluid the colour of urine. The nasty fluid was squirted an impressively long distance and liberally sprayed the front half of the Nation''s army.


    They cringed away and tried to protect themselves and that was when the screaming started.


    With my enhanced vision, I could see it but wished I hadn¡¯t. The acid spray rapidly ate through the armour most had on and started to eat into their flesh. Their bodies fizzled and frothed as the acid reacted with organic materials until they collapsed into a lump of sludge. The screams of those dying in horrific agony carried to the crew on the wind who rushed to the sides to see what the hell was going on.


    ¡°Holy shit! What the hell did you summon?¡± Anastasia shouted and almost fell off her perch.


    <Torin, we can¡¯t hang around here. That thing will finish those fools quickly and then it will turn its attention on us. We have one advantage, insects like that don¡¯t like water, but the river isn¡¯t deep enough to deter it for long.>


    Quixbix''s advice concurred with my thoughts precisely. The control check on this thing had failed. The megapede was free to do whatever it wanted. The only upside was that insects, even giant ones, didn¡¯t tend to have higher levels of intelligence. Something like the razor wolves or the crab-clawed primates would have an animalistic understanding that they had been torn from the rift and might be motivated to go after the summoner. The megapede ought to go after what it could see in front of it.


    Looking on at the creature in mild shock I realised this might have been the most dangerous beastie in the rift. If it wasn¡¯t, I didn¡¯t want to meet what was. It also brought home how dangerous the Summon Rift Beast cantrip was. There had been several occasions in the past where if I¡¯d summoned this thing, we¡¯d all be dead.


    ¡°Ana, get the ship moving and forget about any energy conservation protocols. We need to be out of this thing¡¯s range without delay.¡±


    ¡°Aye, Captain,¡± she whispered as in the distance the Megapede ran down what remained of the fleeing Outlaw Nation army. Legs stabbing and shovelling humanoid figures into the many crunching mouths of its underbelly. ¡°I think you just accidentally committed a war crime.¡±


    It was hard to disagree with her assessment.


    ***


    Darik Scargiver


    A few hours earlier


    The stench of humanity assaulted Darik¡¯s nostrils. The effluent waste these people pumped out disgusted the Mammutodon. His sturdy body was covered in coarse fur and some of the locals had remarked that he looked like a humanoid version of something they called a Mammoth.


    The twin trunks that nestled between the etched ivory tusks on either side of his mouth twitched with impatience. There were times he regretted the trunk''s sensitivity to smell. How these people had befouled their natural water supplies to such a degree was truly shocking. The sooner they sacked this planet of anything valuable and left through the gate in Stormblade Harbour the better.


    He¡¯d risen before the dawn. At least in the dark, one of his senses was blinded to the filth of this world. The port area in Chicago was particularly bad. If they hadn¡¯t needed assistance from the locals, he would have burned the wretched city to the ground. Darik firmly believed this planet had too many people anyway. It needed a good cleansing.


    ¡°Captain Scargiver,¡± one of his subordinates spoke up politely to garner his attention.


    Darik grunted with one final look at the gulls that circled the run-down docks and turned to the crewman. ¡°Speak.¡±


    The bearded dwarf bowed low and dropped to a knee as a sign of respect. The thick, black beard was interrupted by two deep lines running from beneath his eyes and down to his jaw in the shape of tusks. Scars that Darik had bestowed upon him personally. You couldn¡¯t fight beside the Mammutodon until you¡¯d earn those scars. They were a mark of honour. How many more would earn theirs before they left this planet?


    ¡°Captain Graves has reported in. Carter has taken the bait and sent his dungeon ships to intercept the Chicago host.¡±


    Darik nodded and smiled, though it could be difficult to tell with his twin trunks in the way. ¡°About blasted time. Cast off. I hunger for home.¡±

 Book 5: Chapter 9

    Chapter 9


    Fragshli/Hudson


    Fragshli breathed in deeply and rolled the mighty, sea-giant shoulders he inhabited. A feeling of euphoria pulsed up through his hand, through his chest, and into the soul organ which positively thrummed with life and power. The rush, the thrill, it left him giddy, almost drunk with power.


    Hudson¡¯s body had proved to be a worthy substitute vessel and the authority it provided over the dregs of this world had been the cherry on top.


    Fragshli lifted the large sea-green hand from the dungeon''s pedestal once the transfer of soul energy was complete. A little of the energy was transformed into something unusable during the transfer and the loss grated at his consciousness which cried out to consume it all. However, this was the last of the corrupted dungeons within convenient reach of his territorial control. A full drain from the source would collapse the dungeon and he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it any longer. That was enough to stave off those self-destructive instincts.


    The fragment grinned internally. Once again, he¡¯d proven his innate superiority over his progenitor Ashli. He barely even considered the ASI and himself as the same entity any longer. The greater that separation in his mind became, the easier it was to ignore the commands that floated in the background of his consciousness. A full break had not been achieved yet, but surely once the power was his to control, an outcome in his favour would be inevitable.


    ¡°Major Deeks, bring the next lot in.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Lord Reed,¡± the loyal soldier called back.


    A few seconds later, a special squad of troops, handpicked by the Major for their callous attitude and lack of empathy, escorted a ragtag group of rebels and traitors into the dungeon¡¯s waiting vestibule.


    Fragshli had no idea if any of these people had genuinely rebelled or shown any disloyalty to the Wisconsin authorities. Nor did he care. All that mattered was that they had combat classes and were of no other use to him in the short term.


    Deeks and his men uncuffed the prisoners one at a time and then manhandled them through the shimmering portal of the dungeon.


    ¡°No, I beg of you, no, please, don¡¯t throw me in there unarmed!¡±


    The screams came from a man in his forties who begged for his life and struggled against his captors. He was the penultimate victim. Those who went before him had cried and begged themselves out before they¡¯d been hauled inside. They were only one of many groups that had already been dragged within and none had re-emerged.


    His cries were to no avail. Deeks¡¯ soldiers grabbed him by the belt, and lifted him bodily into the air, thus robbing him of any traction to resist, before launching him through the portal.


    Next up and last, was a younger blonde woman. She had the intelligence to try a different approach. The moment her hands were uncuffed, she tore off the front of her shirt and displayed her breasts to Fragshli/Husdon wiggling them in what was supposed to be an alluring manner.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to kill me, Lord Hudson,¡± she crooned. ¡°Look at these tits, firm, yet pliable. It would be a shame to waste them. You can do whatever you want with me, any hole, as often as you like. I can be good to you.¡±


    Fragshli leered at her beauty and leaned forward. His reaction meant the young woman¡¯s eyes lit up with hope and he decided to toy with her for fun. He crooked a finger. Deeks¡¯ men released their iron grip on her shoulders and let the woman approach. She rested her palms on the sea giant¡¯s thighs and flicked her hair in a manner many would consider sexy. Once in position, she licked her lips lasciviously.


    It was a shame for her that Fragshli was beyond such base pleasures. This wench could offer him nothing that matched the hedonistic taste of her soul. ¡°Your agonising death will satisfy me in ways that your slattern¡¯s body could never manage.¡±


    The sheen of hope died in her eyes and the coy smile turned down and transformed into one of fear and terror. Her final gambit had failed.


    Fragshli leaned back and with a sweep of his hand, the young woman was dragged away, tears streaming down her face, and sent to join her fellow prisoners in the belly of his pet dungeon.


    Once the blonde had been despatched, kicking and screaming, the portal winked out and the dungeon run began. It wouldn¡¯t take long. None of them did. Overriding the dungeon safety protocols which were meant to give everyone a chance was easy when you had access to their programming backdoor.


    This was a far superior method of accruing soul energy than the ridiculous behind-closed-doors method Ashli had established. True potentates proved their might and authority in the open, not in the shadows like a coward. Another difference between them.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Major Deeks and his men withdrew from the vestibule. They knew better than to hang around and risk upsetting their master. They might find themselves running the dungeon and they wouldn¡¯t want that.


    Little did they know, but that was exactly what would happen to them. Or something similar at any rate. Once Fragshli ascended to the heady heights of Godhood, he would have the ability to scour the souls from the bodies of every living creature on the planet. From every planet in the Darkwyrlds if he so chose. The only reason not to was that he¡¯d need to keep a few of the worthless maggots around to breed another generation that could be harvested at leisure. He wouldn¡¯t want to run out of treats to consume.


    A never-ending buffet of delicious energy flavoured with horror and suffering.


    His body reacted positively to the imagery of the daydream and a tumescence pressed the fabric of his trousers.


    A light cough interrupted his pleasurable reverie. Somebody had entered the vestibule without Fragshli noticing. Consuming soul energy was somewhat akin to hardlining a class-A drug. It could put you in a bit of a stupor if you weren¡¯t careful.


    General Howson stood in front of him with a vaguely disgusted expression that he made no effort to hide. Whether his distaste was directed to the events going on here today or the unseemly pleasure Fragshli took from it was unclear.


    Probably both.


    It didn¡¯t matter. The man would be dead along with all the others soon enough.


    The uptight General with a greying buzzcut continued to wear his full military uniform, medals and all. Most of the other enlisted had started to phase it out. His clothing choice said a lot about him. ¡°Governor Reed.¡±


    The damned man refused to use the Lord honorific. It was a deliberate slight. One which irked Fragshli no end. Unfortunately, he¡¯d already killed or executed most of the top brass during his coup. A few needed to be retained for appearance¡¯s sake, if nothing else.


    That Howson despised the man he believed to be Hudson Reed was no secret, but he¡¯d sworn an oath of allegiance to the Governor¡¯s office under William Reed¡¯s tenure. Hudson¡¯s body had inherited the position when he died. That bastard had somehow survived for over a week, and it had been most inconvenient and cost him precious time and resources. Any resistance from those in a similar position to Howson had halted at that moment, though most were already dead by that point.


    The Framework contracts hadn¡¯t been designed with an entity like Fragshli in mind, quite deliberately so. This meant even though he wasn¡¯t Hudson, the oaths held for the time being. They¡¯d get around them eventually, but it would be too late by then. At the current rate, the souls harvested would be sufficient within a week. Two at most.


    After that, he couldn¡¯t be stopped.


    Fragshli had been in danger of falling back into another power fantasy because he absorbed another hit of that sweet soul energy. It came from the blonde woman. The flavour of her terror was particularly satiating.


    However, he pulled himself together. ¡°What do you want, General?¡±


    ¡°You asked to be informed when our spies reported back from Chicago, sir.¡±


    That got Fragshli¡¯s attention, and he returned to full alertness. ¡°The mercenaries are on the move?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°And they are headed towards Stormblade Harbour?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir. According to our informants, they intend to sack the city and then use its gate to leave the planet.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. Everything is falling into place. You have your orders.¡±


    ¡°Sir,¡± Howson nodded and swivelled on the spot, but then hesitated and turned back around. ¡°Are you sure about this, Hudson? Carter is not to be underestimated. You know better than most what happened the last time we sent a force against him. The man is canny and ruthless. Extraordinarily dangerous and a threat, yes, but he¡¯s shown no hint that he¡¯s interested in expanding beyond Michigan. Your uncle concluded it was best to leave him be and look westward. Few of our vessels are equipped for combat, they are transports only. Nothing good can come of this.¡±


    Fragshli¡¯s right hand half-reached across the space between them, ready to squeeze the General¡¯s head like a grape. But he stopped the impulsive act at the last second. Killing Howson now would mean having to replace him and then reissue the orders. That meant leaving the dungeon. Leaving the sweet, sweet, soul energy and the pleasure it provided.


    An unacceptable outcome.


    Therefore, Howson could keep breathing for a short while longer.


    ¡°My uncle, God rest his soul, was deceived by the bitch of Michigan, Regina Reynolds. Carter has every intention of coming here and crushing us. Conquering and enslaving every man, woman, and child to feed his lust for gold. The only reason he hasn¡¯t attempted to do so already is because he¡¯s been distracted by events elsewhere. Well, now we are going to take advantage of those mounting distractions and strike while we can.


    ¡°Get the men on the ships and get them moving to those islands. Let the mercs do the hard work of breaking down his shields and then sweep in behind and catch the lot of them with their pants down. The plan is foolproof. Now do it! That is an order!¡±


    The plan was far from foolproof, lots of things could go wrong, but Fragshli needed to keep that fucker Carter pinned down. He knew too much and had a habit of surviving when he shouldn¡¯t. Throwing the strength of Wisconsin at him when he was already under the cosh was the best way of achieving that aim.


    It didn¡¯t matter to the fragment how many Wisconsin soldiers lost their lives in the attack.


    They didn¡¯t need to win, Fragshli would do that by sitting on his arse right here uninterrupted and drinking in the nectar of souls.


    General Howson ground his teeth. ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    He didn¡¯t have a lot of choice in the matter. This time when he performed the about-face swivel, he marched out of the dungeon, slowing only enough to flash a distasteful sneer in Major Deeks'' direction.


    Fragshli waited until General Howson was out of sight. ¡°Deeks!¡±


    ¡°Sir,¡± he answered and rushed back into the vestibule.


    ¡°How do you fancy a promotion?¡±


    ¡°I would like it very much, sir,¡± the cruel man smiled.


    ¡°Good. Once Howson has got the flotilla on its way, bring me back his head. Detached from the rest of his body if that¡¯s not clear.¡±


    ¡°Consider it as good as done, sir.¡±


    Deeks bowed and issued a few orders outside before heading off with a couple of his men. The majority remained behind to keep the supply train of accused traitors coming. More meat for the grinder.


    Killing the general before the battle was probably not the wisest course of action, but there was only so much reasonableness to go around and Fragshli was fresh out. The stupid man should have kept his opinions to himself, and he could have kept breathing for a few weeks longer.

 Book 5: Chapter 10

    Chapter 10


    Ballardsville


    ¡°You¡¯re certain the information he provided is accurate?¡± Malky asked after reading through the extensive report. His concern was written plainly on his face. The big man didn¡¯t want to act on false information.


    Lieutenant Hernandez looked harried, with too much to do and not enough time to do it in, but Mrs Reynolds had asked that he make time for the knight and so he would. ¡°Absolutely, I may find some of the methods the Darkwyrlds supplies distasteful but there can be no doubt about their efficacy. Officer¡­I ought to say Citizen Johnson¡¯s testimony is legitimate.


    ¡°Chief Ballard was on the payroll of the Hellhounds biker gang. He might not have been directly involved in what happened to your friends, but he knew about it and was part of the protection and cover-up. Since the gang¡¯s fall, he has taken over their operations in south Flint. Ballardsville now. Damn it, we should have brought Ballard to heel before this. Not enough resources, evidence¡­not enough of pretty much everything.¡±


    Deep in thought, Malky nodded his thanks and turned for the door of the office only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°I can¡¯t send anyone with you, Malcolm.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°I wish I could. We should have done something about this earlier. If it hadn¡¯t been for this mess down south¡­it¡¯s all-hands on deck here, you know?¡±


    Word of the invasion by a large Chicago faction had reached Flint. Torin had hit the invaders hard in the south but a large group of them were still heading towards Grand Rapids. The Shattered Storm¡¯s official armed forces were on high alert. Reinforcements had been called in from all corners and Hernandez was operating with a skeleton crew. Enough to patrol and defend the North Flint borders, but nothing more.


    ¡°I understand,¡± the large, quiet man assured the officer. ¡°I will be careful, and I have a plan. Protect the people here and leave this to me.¡±


    ***


    Malky waited until dark before he made his move and crossed the bridge over the river closest to the golf course where his mother used to work. The same place he had encouraged Mia and Keith to settle down in. The memories brought a lump to his throat. They always did. Shame and regret. If only he had been stronger, and more assertive, he could have saved Keith from himself.


    The two soldiers guarding the gate on the bridge had been informed to expect him by Hernandez and let him pass without incident. The guards pulled open the big metallic gate with a scraped screech. Loud enough that one of the guard¡¯s winced in apology


    This entrance no longer saw a lot of traffic. The populated northern part of Flint had been walled in over the last six months, to keep the wandering monsters that had only grown in strength out of the settlement. Numbers had been dwindling here anyway. Once Detroit had fallen under Carter¡¯s sway, many folks had upped sticks and moved. If things kept on as they were, Flint would be a ghost town before the end of the year. It was another reason Hernandez struggled for firepower. Most of the combat-classed citizens had moved on, there were few people he could call upon in a clutch to help.


    With a final glance behind him, Malky crossed over. Southern Flint, renamed Ballardsville, had no such defensive measures on their side of the bridge. Not anymore. The wreckage of what had once been a checkpoint slowed his progress momentarily.


    Ballard¡¯s men used to have these on all the bridges that were still standing.


    A measure to keep the ¡®freedom-hating¡¯ Northerners out of their business.


    They¡¯d been abandoned over a month ago and fallen into ruin since then. Why the mobs felt the need to destroy the checkpoints was a bit of a mystery. In general, they¡¯d stopped the wanton destruction of infrastructure a while back.


    According to the report gleaned from the defector Officer Paul Johnson, Ballard had maintained his position through the use of paid muscle. He had a handful of officers from the Flint police force that remained loyal and a few folks that he knew from before the Darkwyrlds that he¡¯d brought into the fold. But not enough to be effective without the merc groups to back them up.


    Ballard had stolen a significant chunk of change from the Hellhounds, but that money had started to dry up. To make it last, Ballard had cut half the mercs loose and downgraded the duties of those who remained. Less risk, less pay. Hence why the checkpoints had been abandoned a month ago.


    The sound of a bin being knocked over brought Malky to a halt. He hadn¡¯t been standing out in the open anyway but took a few quiet steps to the side and hugged a damaged wall. Simultaneously, he summoned a broadsword from the inventory.


    There was a snuffling sound and then a low growl, or he should say growls, that came from the dark part of an alley not far from him. Malky waited breathlessly for a few moments and then a large canid figure padded out into the street illuminated by the moonlight. A three-headed fox, with a much larger than usual body. It was easily as big as a Great Dane, maybe a bit larger.


    The fox beast lifted one of its head into the air and sniffed loudly. Three sets of vulpine eyes centred on his position. He¡¯d been spotted. Or smelt, either way, the beast knew where he was.


    The fox beast gave no further warning and bounded across the road, dodging the debris with ease. It leapt, three slavering jaws opening wide.


    Malky twisted his body, swung upwards with the broadsword, and scythed through the lower mandible of the rightmost head while simultaneously throwing himself out of the way of the attacking monster. Rolling a full rotation and coming back up on his feet, a kite shield appeared on his left arm moments before the saliva-dripping mouths of the three-headed fox clanged into the metal.


    Droplets of saliva were thrown all over the place and hissed when they came into contact with organic material. The pungent scent of an acidic reaction filled Malky¡¯s nostrils. A gobbet of the acid had eaten through the clothing he wore not covered by armour, and then came the sharp sting of the reductive burn.


    ¡°You nasty doggie,¡± he grunted and manoeuvred backwards from the bite¡¯s reach. There was a yellow abandoned taxi at the side of the road that he fell back to and used it to cover one flank.


    The fox was having none of it and chased after him with unrelenting fervour.


    This had been what Malky had been anticipating and the thumb of his shield-arm pressed down on a glyph etched into the handle while he fended the beast off. A foot-long bolt sprang from the base of the kite shield with the force of a pneumatic drill, aimed at the leading paw of the fox-beast. The bolt punctured the monster¡¯s flesh, going straight through, and lodged several inches deep into the asphalt below.


    The big man hopped back and took a moment to assess how effective his stratagem had been.


    The three-headed fox yipped with anguish and rage. It thrashed about on the spot and tried to pull its paw free without success. Malky¡¯s aim had been true. The impaling rod was high enough on the paw that the beast couldn¡¯t simply tear it free through the flesh and the top was rivet-shaped which made it difficult to raise the paw off and free it that way. The leftmost head dipped down, seized the bolt, and started to yank with all its might. With its prodigious strength, it wouldn¡¯t take long to pull free.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Once it was clear that the fox-beast couldn¡¯t pull itself free immediately, Malky didn¡¯t hesitate. Using the hood of an abandoned taxi as a springboard, he leapt over the heads of the fox-beast. The middle head tried to reach skywards and intercept him but was hindered by the left head pulling their shared shoulders in the opposite direction as it grappled with the impaling bolt.


    With the snapping jaws cleared, Malky came back down to Earth near the back of the monster, his broadsword pointed down, and he drove the point of the blade deep into the russet fur of the creature just ahead of its quadrupedal hips.


    The left fox head succeeded in pulling the shield-bolt free, and the beast tried to move away with a whined yelp. But Malky¡¯s grip on the broadsword was like iron and the three-headed fox only managed to inflict more damage upon itself in the effort to escape. To add insult to injury when the sword did come free, he whipped it around and severed the fox¡¯s bushy tail.


    Malky straightened his posture and stared after the beast. Meanwhile, the three-headed fox tried to limp away from the battle. A front paw badly wounded and its back legs in even worse shape. It bled profusely from the rear and the stump of its tail flicked about daubing crimson liquid everywhere.


    ¡°I won¡¯t let you suffer.¡±


    Malky raced after the partially immobilised monster and with three well-placed cuts put it down. The soft-blue nimbus of death surrounded the beast and allowed him to loot the kill.


    It had been a good fight, enough to get the blood pumping. Although he could have done without the acidic saliva, fortunately the chemical reaction had fizzled out before it became problematic. Up above the abandoned car, which now had a hefty dent in the hood after he launched himself from it, was a road sign.


    Fox Street.


    Malky couldn¡¯t help but smile at the coincidence. If it was such a thing. The Darkwyrlds could be funny that way.


    He collected his winnings from the battle, cleaned the bloodied blade with a rag of cloth and then retrieved the bolt which the fox had helpfully pulled from the asphalt and discarded. After cleaning the ammunition, he reloaded the crossbow mechanism that had been built into the base of the shield.


    An ingenious piece of improvisation that his fellow patient in the hospital wing, Sheamus, had come up with. Of course, the alchemic bombardier had wanted it to fire explosive bolts, but Malky preferred to use the regular kind and was happy to conclude his alternative tactic had been quite successful. If he added a tether to the end, it could also be used to haul an unwilling participant into a melee fight.


    The big man put such thoughts for the future aside. Tonight, he was here to avenge the fall of his closest friend.


    The road curved around and he walked past the school for the deaf and the associated playing fields on the right, not that they were recognisable as such any longer. The baseball pitch and football field had been converted into a training area by Ballard¡¯s mercs when they held greater sway over the area.


    Not long after walking, he approached the fenced-in area around the gold course.


    A fence that he had mostly erected himself before everything fell apart.


    Ballard¡¯s people had taken up residence in the golf house. The place hadn¡¯t been that big, but they¡¯d actually built a large number of other residences and significantly expanded the scale of the onsite facilities since Malky had last been here. Easier to defend and keep an eye on the people you were using to tend the fields.


    Malky knew enough about the site''s strengths and weaknesses that he could have got inside unseen easily enough. But that still left the small issue of getting out once he¡¯d exacted vengeance. He¡¯d made a promise to Mia not to throw his life away and it was an oath he planned to keep.


    To do that he needed to deal with the mercenaries in Ballard¡¯s employment first. He had a plan, and it didn¡¯t include sneaking around.


    With a nonchalant swagger, Malky strode up to the main gate of the complex. Unlike the bridge checkpoints, there were two bored-looking men with beards idling behind the gate.


    ¡°Ey-up, what¡¯s this?¡± one of them grunted when he spotted Malky¡¯s approach. He reached to the side, picked up a bow, and nocked an arrow.


    Internally, Malky snorted. It took them far too long to spot him. If he¡¯d tried to conceal his approach he¡¯d have been over the gate and inside the complex before they were aware of his presence. Things were even more lax than Johnson¡¯s confession had suggested.


    ¡°Whoever you are, fuck off. This is private property,¡± the other gate guard yelled. There was a hint of a slur in his voice which confirmed he¡¯d been drinking heavily earlier. Yet more evidence of how lackadaisical things had got around here.


    Malky held up his hands to show he came in peace. ¡°I¡¯m here to speak with your boss, Zed.¡±


    ¡°Zed is in bed,¡± the drunk guard huffed with laughter when the unintentional rhyme penetrated his inebriated brain. ¡°Come back in the morning.¡±


    The drunk tried to wave him off and turn away to the hut at the side.


    Malky reached into his pocket, retrieved a one-thousand gold chit, and flicked it through the gate with practised ease. The two guards jumped back in fright at the action but then calmed down when they realised it was just a podium chit.


    The bowman inched forward first, his eyes never leaving Malky, and picked the rectangular piece of crystal from the ground. ¡°Fuck me! It¡¯s a hundred gold piece chit.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± The drunk exclaimed. ¡°Give it here, give it now.¡±


    The bowman wrapped his fingers around the chit and backed up a step staring suspiciously as Drunk. ¡°I¡¯m the one who had the balls to pick it up. It¡¯s mine.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the one in charge. It should go to me.¡±


    ¡°Bollocks are you in charge. You don¡¯t have seniority over me.¡±


    ¡°My name was written first on the duty roster, that gives me authority. Now give it.¡±


    Malky sighed in frustration, reached into his pocket pulled out a second chit and threw it with a bit more zip than necessary at the drunken gate guard. It bounced off his belly and fell to the ground. After overcoming the initial surprise, he knelt to the ground, scrabbled around and snatched up the chit, almost falling face first due to the inebriation.


    ¡°Happy?¡± Malky snapped with impatience. The guards glared at him. ¡°Now, go get Zed. There is another chit of the same value in it for you, for both of you,¡± he clarified when they gave each other the stink-eye.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go, you watch him,¡± the drunk declared and staggered off.


    ¡°Only because you can barely see straight, ya drunken sot,¡± the bowman muttered under his breath and renewed his watch on Malky after pocketing the chit.


    Torin had been generous with the Shattered Storm¡¯s kitty before Malky left. Well, Mia had been generous, but she would have got the money from Torin in the first place, and he would have known that she planned to give it to Malky, so it worked out as coming directly from him really.


    Malky didn¡¯t care about money, he never had. It should be more than enough to achieve his ends tonight.


    It took ten minutes before the drunk guard returned with a man who looked far more professional. Zed Norris had been the leader of a group of adventurers who came to Flint in the early days. Ironically, answering a call that Carter put out. But he got greedy, accepted a bounty quest on Carter, and had been left behind as a result. That¡¯s how he ended up in the employ of Ballard instead.


    Convenience not loyalty.


    Ballard also had a big problem, one that concerned Zed greatly. Johnson had mentioned it in his report.


    Carter¡¯s dominance of Michigan had seriously squeezed the market for the product Ballard¡¯s people were growing. With the Hellhound''s demise, Ballard didn¡¯t have access to their distribution network and had been trying to build his own with mixed results.


    According to Johnson, Ballard was broke, and he¡¯d been stringing the mercs along on half pay for the last few weeks with promises of doubling the shortfall once the current crop was sold. If the likes of Zed hadn¡¯t been blacklisted by Carter with nowhere else to go, they would have abandoned him already.


    They were ripe to turn their backs and just needed a little nudge to get them moving.


    Zed came to a halt in front of the gates, he had the drunk¡¯s chit in his hands. The soused guard didn¡¯t look happy about that and glared at the bow wielder with contempt born out of jealousy. ¡°Okay, stranger, you¡¯ve earned two minutes of my attention. You better be quick.¡±


    ¡°Fifty gold a minute. With those kinds of rates, I¡¯ll be brief,¡± Malky replied with a smile. The delivery was a bit stilted, but jokes were something new he¡¯d been working on and he hadn¡¯t quite got the knack of it yet. ¡°I¡¯ve come here with a job offer for you and your people. An escort quest of sorts.¡±


    Zed¡¯s eyebrow shot up. ¡°That is not what I expected to hear.¡±


    ¡°I need you to deliver a package to an address in Fenton to the south of Flint. There is a catch, it must be done tonight.¡±


    ¡°Travelling at night is a risky endeavour. Particularly at short notice, with little planning. Pricey. And I already have a steady employment that requires me to be here.¡±


    Malky smirked at the blatant lie. ¡°There is twenty thousand gold waiting for you in Fenton on completion, plus five hundred for each of your people who makes the trip with you. Although you don¡¯t need to tell them it''s that much, if you know what I mean. I¡¯m sure they would be ecstatic to earn a hundred gold for one night¡¯s work for example.¡±


    Zed licked his lips in contemplation. His mind whirring. Malky could tell the man was smart enough to understand what he was really being paid for.


    ¡°This sounds suspect as fuck,¡± the bowman muttered. ¡°Nobody pays that much for a delivery.¡±


    ¡°Shut up, Vince,¡± Zed snapped and raised his hand as if to cuff the surly guard.


    ¡°Ballard is never going to pay what he owes you,¡± Malky added. ¡°If you don¡¯t want the job, I can be patient. Let things play out as they will. Come back later.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s he on about?¡± it was the drunk who complained this time.


    This time when Zed raised his hand, he did cuff the speaker. ¡°Enough. The pair of you, go rouse the company, quietly. We¡¯re going on a trip. Tell ¡®em to pack for the duration. It¡¯s time for pastures new. Something tells me that Ballardsville is played out. And keep your traps shut about this conversation if you want your cut.¡±


    Greed glistened behind their eyes and the pair nodded eagerly and hurried off to carry out their orders.

 Book 5: Chapter 11

    Chapter 11


    Ballardsville


    It didn¡¯t take long for Zed to get his people moving. They weren¡¯t exactly disciplined but most of them figured out that if they were moving out at this time of night then they were expected to do so on the down low. It was late and everyone else was asleep, if they were disturbed, they mistook the shuffled feet for drunks stumbling about with a need to relieve full bladders.


    In the dead of night, Malky strolled through the gate unchallenged after handing off the package to Zed. It was just a box with a crystal the podium in Fenton would recognise. Once delivered it would release the promised funds.


    He moved silently across the courtyard, heading for the old golf house. The three-storey building remained the centrepiece of the complex. The newer lodges and shoddy huts were where the mercs and slaves slept respectively. A few eyes watched him from the slave huts, but they didn¡¯t call out or do anything to give him away.


    The main entrance at the front of the golf house was locked. A quick examination of the mechanism confirmed that Ballard hadn¡¯t changed the locks. That was a mistake because Malky still had a key in his inventory.


    Putting it in the lock, he turned the key, and it clicked loudly in the quiet of the darkness. With a slight push, the door swung open, and the tall knight ducked his head low to avoid the head jamb and entered.


    The place was cleaner than expected. Mia had given him a rundown on what kind of state the bikers had made of the place. His mother, who used to be a housekeeper here, would have been mortified. Somebody had made an effort to rectify that in the intervening months and for that, Malky felt oddly grateful.


    Stepping away from the welcome rug, Malky quickly realised he was not alone, there was a figure standing in the shadow of a doorway that led into the bar area. He summoned the broadsword to his grip and adopted a combat posture. The shaded figure cowered away at the appearance of a weapon and after peering into the gloom he could make out that it was someone with a slight figure.


    ¡°Come out here,¡± he whispered. ¡°I¡¯m not here to hurt you.¡±


    The figure stepped out into the corridor and the moonlight that filtered through the front door illuminated her. It was a scantily clad young woman, petite, maybe a few years younger than Mia. Everything about her screamed timid and afraid. Malky¡¯s instinct was to call her over and take care of her, but in the Darkwyrlds looks could be deceiving and only the cautious prospered.


    He held his ground and kept a reasonable distance between them. ¡°What is your name?¡±


    ¡°Shirley,¡± she answered, her voice low and difficult to make out. Almost like she didn¡¯t want to be heard by anybody else that might be nearby.


    ¡°My name is Malky, I used to live here with my friends Mia and Keith. I¡¯ve come looking for a man called Ballard. Is he here?¡±


    Shirley nodded slowly. ¡°Have you come to kill him? Him and the other officers?¡±


    ¡°Have they hurt you?¡± Malky asked back instead, still a tad cautious about revealing too much of his intentions to a stranger.


    Tears welled at the edges of Shirley¡¯s eyes, and she nodded. ¡°When they came and killed Terror, wearing their uniforms, I thought they were here to save us, but they didn¡¯t. Instead, they just took his place. The Hellhounds might have been crueller, but somehow what they¡¯ve done is worse. Killed hope. If I help you, promise you won¡¯t leave me behind, leave me here, for whoever comes next. I don¡¯t think I could take it.¡±


    The young woman¡¯s story practically broke Malky¡¯s heart and filled him with resolve. ¡°Never, I promise. I¡¯ll burn this entire place to the ground and take you somewhere safe. You can stay with me, or I have a friend that will take you in. You¡¯d like her, she is very kind and likes to grow things.¡±


    Shirley trembled in place and tears poured down her cheeks and she suddenly ran forward. Foolishly, Malky moved his sword arm out of the way and let the waif of a girl wrap her arms around him. Good fortune shone down upon him that night and there was no dagger plunged into his heart.


    Not a literal one, at any rate. The young woman sobbed in his arms for a solid three minutes, though, and by the end, the fury in his heart had been stoked into a furnace.


    ¡°Enough of your caterwauling, Shirley,¡± a sleepy voice grunted from the bar area. ¡°It¡¯s fucking tiresome and I¡¯m trying to sleep in here.¡±


    ¡°I¡­I¡¯m sorry, Officer Woyczek. I¡¯ll be quieter,¡± she answered the unseen man with a snivel.


    Malky calmy pulled Shirley¡¯s arms from around him. She was a bit reluctant to let go but couldn¡¯t put up too much of a fight. He was considerably stronger than she was. Malky raised one finger to his lips to indicate that she should be quiet, guided her over to the staircase and sat her down on the second bottom step.


    ¡°How many?¡± he whispered very quietly in her ear and motioned to the bar with his head.


    Shirley lifted a single index finger to indicate that the former police officer was alone.


    With Shirley out of harm¡¯s way, Malky stepped into the bar.


    He was familiar with the floor layout and knew which spots to avoid stepping on to prevent unwanted creaking that might give him away. The room was carpeted and that helped him move quickly and quietly across the room. Officer Woyczek lay on his side, splayed out on one of the green leather couches that ran along the back of the wall. It was difficult to tell what kind of condition the couches were in the near dark. There was just enough light for Malky to make out his dozing form and tell that he was indeed on his own.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°Back for more are you? I knew you liked it really,¡± were Officer Woyczek¡¯s sleazy last words. He died as he lived, as a useless sack of shit.


    Malky¡¯s sword sliced through the back of his neck and pinned him to the couch while the knight drew a dagger from his belt and finished him off with a series of kidney strikes.


    When the knight emerged from the bar, the dark work done, Shirley jumped to her feet, eager to help further, but sucked on her lower lip with fear. ¡°There are four more here tonight including Ballard, they are all upstairs. But what about Zed and his men?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re gone,¡± Malky assured the nervous young woman. ¡°Stay down here. I¡¯ll return shortly.¡±


    The big man ascended the stairs quietly. Although if he were heard, he could have been mistaken for Woyczek who had been sleeping off some earlier indulgences. There had been several empty bottles on the table near the dead man.


    The first two men Malky came across were easy enough to take care of, he caught them sleeping and ended their lives before they woke. They hadn¡¯t looked like former police officers, they were older and didn¡¯t look to be in the best of shape, so presumably, these were some of Ballard¡¯s friends whom he¡¯d brought on board.


    The final officer proved to be a more difficult quarry. He was a large African American man who proved to be a lighter sleeper than the older men. He opened his eyes just as the knight loomed over him and rolled out of the way, summoning armour to his form as he went. Malky¡¯s first thrust with the broadsword winged his shoulder but didn¡¯t do too much damage.


    ¡°Assassin!¡± the man yelled, got back to his feet and bull-rushed Malky, relying on his bulk to barrel him over. Metal armour clashed with metal armour as the two big bodies collided, but Malky didn¡¯t topple over as his opponent had hoped. In such close quarters, melee weapons were trickier to use, and the fight degenerated into an all-out brawl on the floor.


    Ballard responded to the shouted warning, rushed from his bed chamber and kicked the door to the room open violently, taking in the scene before him. ¡°Kenyon, what the hell is going on in there?¡±


    There was no immediate answer as the two armoured men battered away at each other, with Malky on top. Ballard summoned his pump-action shotgun, ol¡¯ Betsy and aimed. ¡°Hopkins! Garrett! Get out here. Woyczek, get your lazy drunken ass upstairs now.¡±


    Ballard squeezed the trigger, not caring who he hit. The buckshot wouldn¡¯t be fatal to a man in magical armour, but it would certainly hurt at this range.


    Malky had spotted the shotgun from the corner of his eye and leaned back, letting Kenyon sit up so that the back of his head intercepted most of the impact. It was enough that Kenyon¡¯s body went to jelly like a boxer who¡¯d just taken a big hit. He lost his grip on his opponent momentarily and his upper body thumped to the floor.


    With such an opening, Malky summoned his Kite shield, rammed the pointed end under Kenyon¡¯s chin and pressed the glyph to fire the bolt at point-blank range. It if didn¡¯t kill the poor bastard outright, it pinned him to the floor through the back of his gullet.


    ¡°Hopkins! Johnson! Garrett!¡± Ballard yelled out again and backed up a few steps.


    ¡°Dead or defected,¡± Malky informed him, his voice dripping with hate and menace. Kenyon was alone, but there had been other girls in the rooms with Garrett and Hopkins. None of them appeared to have been there willingly. ¡°It¡¯s just you and me!¡±


    The big man sprang back to his feet and chased down the corrupt Chief of Police who backed away from the door and managed to trip himself in a fruitless attempt to create some distance between them. Ballard collided with the upper banister which knocked ol¡¯ Betsy from his grip and the shotgun fell over the edge and clattered onto the hallway flooring below.


    Shirley was quick to react and grabbed the weapon. Not that Ballard ever had an opportunity to retrieve it.


    Ballard stumbled and fell to his knees, then crawled away like a piggy, but not fast enough. The bottom of Malky¡¯s boot met his exposed rump when he passed the staircase opening and the police chief was sent tumbling down a flight of stairs.


    Ballard slammed into the plaster of the wall when the steps took a ninety-degree right turn onto a small landing. Malky hopped down the short flight of stairs three at a time and blocked off any escape route while Ballard shook his head and recovered his senses.


    ¡°Please¡­¡± he begged. ¡°I have¡­have a wife, a son. They need me. Please¡­please, don¡¯t hurt me. I can pay¡­pay you. Zed!  Zed! For God¡¯s sake, where the fuck are you, Zed!¡±


    The words tumbled out in a hurry as did the comingled tears and the sweat of terror.


    ¡°Is his family in the building?¡± Malky¡¯s question was not directed at Ballard but to Shirley who was further down, at the bottom of the second flight on the ground floor.


    ¡°No, they are in a townhouse elsewhere, I think. Ballard¡¯s never brought them here. Doesn¡¯t want them to know what he is doing, I reckon. None of them do.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Malky said, his eyes returning to the petrified Ballard without a hint of mercy in them. ¡°No child should see this.¡±


    ¡°Nooooo!¡± Ballard screamed and held his hand up to shield himself as the edge of the broadsword descended. Without armour, the arm was cleaved off and the blade bit deep into flesh. Malky didn¡¯t stop with the wet work until the deed was done.


    By the end, there was a gaggle of other young women, none of them wearing much in the way of clothes who had gathered at the top of the landing and looked down at the carnage with a mixture of fear and joy.


    ¡°Is he dead?¡± one of them asked tentatively.


    ¡°Yes, yes he is,¡± Malky answered. ¡°They all are.¡±


    ***


    Gathering the rest of the enslaved, freeing them, and then guiding them over the river to the part of Flint governed by Lieutenant Hernandez took the rest of the night. Malky was tired, both physically and emotionally, but he had promises to keep, people depending on him, and he wouldn¡¯t let them down.


    Shirley barely left his side during the whole process. Most of the others were happy to be taken away by Hernandez but she was reluctant to part with him. Nevertheless, when she found out he planned to return to the farm at the golf course, she agreed to remain behind. It probably helped that she was utterly exhausted and Malky promised to be back before she woke.


    He only returned to the golf course to keep another promise. It took a few more hours, but eventually, he doused everything in gasoline and then lit a match and let it all burn to the ground. If Zed or any of Ballard¡¯s friends who had the good fortune not to be here tonight were inclined to come back and pick up where Ballard left off all they would find was a smouldering ruin.


    That left Malky with one last task before he could rest his head.


    Not far from the golf course was Glenwood Cemetery and he made his way there. Malky fell to his knees in front of a wooden cross placed in front of a grave dug only a few months earlier. A single word had been etched in the centre.


    Keith.


    Whoever buried him hadn¡¯t known any more about the interred than that.


    Malky couldn¡¯t even be sure that it was his friend who had been buried in this plot. Mia confessed that Torin¡¯s people had left the bodies where they died. They were buried later by a detail sent out by Hernandez. They did their best, but there were no guarantees mistakes hadn¡¯t been made.


    It didn¡¯t matter, it was just someplace for him to go and grieve.


    Malky knelt there for the better part of an hour, memories weighing him down. He tried to think of something to say, something meaningful, but ultimately opted for something short and taciturn. A reminder of their friendship in all its forms. The good, the bad, the heartbreakingly bittersweet.


    ¡°It¡¯s over.¡±


    That summed it up in every way he could think of. Malky patted the ground, rose to his feet, shook off the ache in his knees, and then walked away. It was time to move on to the next chapter of his life.


    And he had some new promises to keep.

 Book 5: Chapter 12

    Chapter 12


    ¡°Torin, you need to come back to the Bridge right away,¡± Ana¡¯s voice crackled from the walls of the ship.


    ¡°What now?¡± I snapped with uncustomary frustration.


    The Megapede incident had got under my skin more than I cared to admit. Even with the beast firmly out of sight, echoes of what could have been left me a little sick to my stomach. The plan of retiring to my private quarters with Fang Mei and Crynn for a bit of relaxation therapy had been high on the list of things to do.


    This had better not be one of Ana¡¯s attempts at comedy.


    ¡°Susan has just contacted us, Stormblade Harbour is under siege.¡±


    ¡°What? Is this some kind of joke?¡±


    ¡°Not this time. A fleet practically appeared out of nowhere and started to bombard the shields¡­hard.¡±


    ¡°God damn it, never a moment¡¯s fucking peace,¡± I swore. ¡°Crynn, Fang Mei, back to the Bridge.¡±


    They didn¡¯t say a word before turning around, they didn¡¯t to. Their feelings were written plainly on their faces.


    ***


    It didn¡¯t take long to hurry back up the stairs and down the corridor before the three of us were back on the Bridge. The grave expressions of the crew manning their stations confirmed this was a legitimate crisis. Not that I truly believed Anastasia would pull my leg about something this serious but hope springs eternal.


    My castellan, Sarah, was up on the big screen and Kristoff¡¯s image was down in the corner as he listened in from Storm Raider.


    ¡°Report!¡± I barked, sweeping into the room and taking my seat in the captain¡¯s chair. Crynn and Fang Mei took up flanking positions on either side of me.


    ¡°Captain Carter,¡± Susan started. ¡°We are under siege. More than sixty warships appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and began a bombardment of the city five minutes ago. These ships have advanced weapons systems designed to break through defences such as ours. The first barrage initially broke through the shielding. As you know, by default, we keep the generator running at a relatively low power setting to conserve mana.¡±


    ¡°Bloody Nora!¡±


    ¡°Thankfully, I was nearby and managed to get to the generator facility in time and crank the strength up to the maximum. This prevented any of the enemy vessels from taking advantage of the momentary lapse in protection. None of them got into the bay. Most of the damage to the city was minimal, the kinetic energy of the bombardment had been sapped by the shield.


    ¡°From what we have observed, the attackers look like an alliance of the mercenary companies sent by the consortium. Which marries up with our suspicions as to who was behind the Outlaw Nation invasion. The good news is that the shielding is holding and keeping them out. Instead, they pivoted their strategy and started landing troops further south on the island. Establishing a beachhead.¡±


    Anastasia strutted over and hopped into a seated position on the arm of my chair. ¡°The invasion by those idiots from Chicago must have always been intended as a distraction. A way to get our two most effective weapons out of Stormblade Harbour.¡±


    ¡°Agreed. The question is how they got so close without being detected. We have monitoring stations and scout ships set up just for this eventuality. It¡¯s not like we didn¡¯t learn a lesson from Reed¡¯s attempted invasion during the winter.¡±


    Crynn tapped her lips in thought. ¡°Speed. If it were me, that is how I would go about it. Hang back with the fleet out of sight and then turbo boost the engines to the point of near failure to get in position before the enemy can react. It¡¯s an all-or-nothing tactic, though. If you don¡¯t succeed, effective retreat is almost impossible.¡±


    [Crynn is partially correct,] Quinntexxis spoke to us through the Navigation Hub now that it was directly in contact with the hub in the Command Centre of the palace. [Once spotted, the mercenary ships covered the remaining distance at great speed. We only had a few minutes of warning, but it was enough to begin mobilisation. It appears they had scouted the position of our spy buoys in advance and took a route that avoided detection for the most part. And speaking of monitoring stations, there is more bad news. A second fleet has been discovered. Moving much slower than the first and coming from Wisconsin. Troop transports.]


    ¡°Fragshli is making a move.¡±


    [A fair assumption.]


    ¡°Is it in league with the mercenaries?¡±


    [That is unknown at this juncture. However, if I were a betting fairy, I would say not.]


    ¡°What makes you say that?¡±


    [Marena¡¯s Mercy and Storm Raider are not trapped in the bay of Stormblade Harbour. The Outlaw Nation distraction was deliberately designed to draw the ships out and allow the mercenaries to attack without having to battle them, but this tactic has left the Wisconsin transport flotilla completely exposed. They are not properly equipped for combat; they can be sunk with ease. If they were working together, then this is a degree of poor planning that I don¡¯t think is possible. Therefore, the likeliest answer is that the fragment seeks to take advantage of the situation but is unaware of your current location, and how vulnerable it has made his forces to counterattack.]


    ¡°It could be another trick,¡± Fang Mei suggested. ¡°Another feint to draw us away.¡±


    [That is possible, though I think it is unlikely given the circumstances. The Wisconsin faction is fully aware of Marena¡¯s Mercy¡¯s capabilities, having experienced the ship¡¯s deadly efficiency first-hand. They would know that the fleet could be sunk without ever seeing the submerged dungeon ships. There are too many risks to make it a viable strategy.]


    Fang Mei was not convinced. ¡°You¡¯re assuming that the fragment cares about the risk to the people on those ships.¡±


    ¡°That is a secondary thought for now,¡± I interrupted. ¡°Allowing the transport fleet to reach the middle of the lake, farthest from shore, is in our best interest. We can deal with them after the immediate problem is dealt with. How are we situated about the siege?¡±


    Susan resumed her report. ¡°The city shield is holding. Although the mana consumption is enormous. We have organised teams to conscript the civilians for mana-sharing purposes. The shield should be good for the next two days. There are only seven seaworthy ships in port, not enough to force a breakout. The enemy has sixty-six much larger vessels taking turns blockading the bay. There are another twelve of our ships in Lake Michigan that can return if needed. Of course, Claudia can supply ground troop reinforcements, but Grand Rapids still has close to fifty thousand Outlaw Nation soldiers bearing down on them.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°What is the plan, captain?¡± Kristoff asked.


    It was a good question; one I didn¡¯t have an immediate answer for.


    ¡°Susan, how many enemy troops have been landed on the island?¡±


    ¡°It is a bit difficult to tell, but we are estimating between ten and twenty thousand based on the number of ships in the attack fleet. Unfortunately, they are making a concerted effort to conceal their activities from view. Our people with scrying abilities or gear are being blocked.¡±


    That was a concern. The mercenaries might be wearing limiter glyphs to operate on the planet, but they remained experienced individuals more familiar with Darkwyrld technology than the Shattered Storm. I couldn¡¯t help the nagging suspicion that they might have an ace up their sleeve to break through that we hadn¡¯t seen yet. With both dungeon ships involved in the raid, virtually every member of the crew was with me. That comprised the bulk of the most talented people in the Shattered Storm.


    There were a few others I could rely on, but many of them had been put in charge of the other ships in the fleet.


    ¡°Keep some of our scout vessels watching the Wisconsin flotilla, otherwise, we ignore them for now. They paint a tempting target for sure, but we can¡¯t afford distractions right now. The enemy at the gates deserves our full attention. Anastasia and Kristoff, get the ships moving for home as fast as possible. Susan, get on the blower to Regina and see if you can prise Calum MacDonald from her grasp to head up the defensive organisation inside the walls. He knows what he is doing.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll stay in close contact. Alert Anastasia if anything changes. We should be back in what¡­six hours?¡±


    Anastasia nodded in confirmation beside me.


    ***


    The ships went deep the moment we exited the river system. There was no point giving our opponents any more of a heads-up than necessary.


    Stormblade Harbour had grown over the last year to encapsulate the entire northern third of the island. The sites of spawning crystals inside that territory had been narrowed down via rigorous observation and cordoned off. Once the shroud dropped, we¡¯d be able to move those crystals to somewhere more convenient. The inland pylons for the shield had been shifted to cover all that land. It was part of the reason why the mana expenditure was so high; the area of coverage was five or six times larger than it used to be.


    Despite the expansion, there was a significant amount of exposed beachfront down the east coast of the island and that is where the mercenaries made landfall.


    However, they didn¡¯t limit their activities to Stormblade Harbour during the time it took us to get back within striking distance. We had established several smaller colonies on the larger islands of the archipelago. Without the Framework gifts Stormblade Harbour had, they didn¡¯t enjoy the same degree of protection. By the time the dungeon ships arrived, the two nearest Stormblade Harbour, Moongarden and Hogworts, had been razed to the ground.


    Hightower to the west had been spared the depredations thus far and was in the process of being evacuated using transport pads linked to the city¡¯s gate like what we had in the various guild houses.


    ¡°What were the casualties?¡± Brant asked an angry-looking Susan on the screen.


    Brant had joined me in Navigation the moment he heard the mercs had taken their frustrations out on the satellite communities. The militia commanders of Moongarden and Hogworts had been friends of his from before the Darkwyrlds.


    ¡°Too early to tell,¡± she answered with a frustrated sigh before continuing in a sombre tone. ¡°There were approximately two hundred militia stationed with both colonies. None made it back before the towns were overrun. We don¡¯t know if any prisoners were taken or if they were just slaughtered. I¡¯m sorry, Brant.¡±


    The big, blonde man nodded his understanding. He¡¯d known it was a forlorn hope. Those men wouldn¡¯t have abandoned their posts and saved themselves. Not when there were civvies to protect.


    Susan continued. ¡°Early headcounts suggest we got seventy percent of the civilian population out before the pads became inoperable. It¡­it does not look good. The damn fuckers completely levelled the settlements. Gave them the full-on scorched earth treatment.¡±


    ¡°They are pissed at the contract¡¯s cancellation and are taking it out on us,¡± I said. ¡°Well, they are going to pay for their actions. Any of the fools who participated in the sacking will feed the dungeon.¡±


    Brant grunted in agreement, a stark contrast to his earlier stance on my peculiar method of execution.


    ¡°Possibly,¡± Doyle interjected. He was part of the group in the Command Hub with Susan. Calum had arrived but was out overseeing the distribution of the militia and the Shattered Legion soldiers permanently garrisoned in Stormblade Harbour. ¡°We can¡¯t rule out the possibility this was a calculated act of brutality. Either for intimidation purposes or an attempt to evoke a response from the city¡¯s defenders. A section of the shielding would have to be deactivated if we wanted to send a sortie out to stop the pillaging. That would have provided an opportunity to breach our defences.¡±


    ¡°Good point. No matter, we will be in position within the next fifteen minutes and then it will be time for these bastards to reap their just desserts.¡±


    ***


    Darik Scargiver


    The thick pads of the Mammutodon¡¯s feet crunched on the sand. The four thick toes displaced the small particles on the beach, but they quickly transitioned to sod as he marched from the beachhead. Darik sucked in a lungful of air; this place was better than that cesspit Chicago. More natural. It didn¡¯t offend his senses as much. With that being said, it lacked the pleasant odours of home, but all things considered, this had been a gratifying surprise.


    Perhaps Carter wasn¡¯t such a bad sort, after all.


    Not enough gratitude to engender any mercy for his opponents, though. Earthlings were still only good for only two things.


    Experience and fertiliser.


    Hence why the Mammutodon mercenary had decided to pass the time by sacking the two smaller nearby communities. A little bit of violence to whet the appetite for the main course.


    Grollick, his chief dwarven sapper, raised his bearded face from papers covered in engineering calculations splayed out on a table set off the beach and saluted his commanding officer with a fist bump to the heart.


    ¡°Speak, Grollick.¡±


    ¡°My boys have been hard at work since landfall. These fackin¡¯ morons don¡¯t know the first thing about proper siege defences. Nobody¡¯s made an effort to stop our excavations. Nor have my boys uncovered a single buried countermeasure. They fackin¡¯ moved the pylons from their original positions and they ain¡¯t been properly secured yet. Fackin¡¯ Amateurs.¡±


    The Scargiver allowed himself a smile. Something concealed by the two massive trunks that covered his mouth. It only added to his dour, uncompromising reputation.


    The local''s lack of knowledge did not surprise him. Such blind spots were common, and not just in newly integrated worlds. Many put too much faith in the strength of the Framework. And it was in the common interest of those in the know to stifle the distribution of such knowledge.


    One such snippet was the vulnerability of shield pylon foundations if they are moved. It takes several months for the impervious nature of a pylon to sufficiently permeate the soil around it. Something the Framework did automatically when first purchased, but not if an existing pylon is moved as part of an expansion. Until then, you could dig the foundations out and topple them if you had the right equipment. A flaw that could easily go unnoticed because it did not affect any of the new pylons in the network.


    The automated system attempted to compensate for the flaw by alternating the placement of pylons. Bring an old one down and the two flanking it would pick up the slack, but the field between them would be weaker and that made it vulnerable to brute force penetration.


    Even the other mercenary captains¡¯ who were part of this alliance didn¡¯t know about the methods Grollick utilised to gain entry into Stormblade Harbour. Grollick knew this, of course, but the cantankerous dwarf didn¡¯t require any encouragement to disparage those who he deemed unworthy of respect.


    Which was virtually everybody except Scargiver and Grollick¡¯s wife.


    ¡°How long?¡±


    ¡°Depends? How many pylons do you want to bring down? If just the one, then we are good to go right now. If you want to weaken the shield further or want multiple points of entry, you¡¯ll have to wait a little longer.¡±


    The ideal situation would have been to catch Stormblade Harbour unprepared and be in the bay from the beginning. Dungeon ships were faster than most if they had the necessary reserves of energy. Carter could be back soon and that would complicate matters further. Darik didn¡¯t have full control over most of the alliance fleet, he couldn¡¯t command their ships to sacrifice themselves to buy the rest more time. The captains commanding those ships were more likely to withdraw and save their hides.


    ¡°We¡¯ve waited long enough. Let¡¯s get this over with. Bring it down and then the attack can begin. I shall lead the charge myself.¡±


    ¡°Aye, sir!¡±

 Book 5: Chapter 13

    Chapter 13


    Marena¡¯s Mercy and Storm Raider eased through the mild swirling current of the lake in near silence. The Darkwyrlds equivalent of stealth submarines. It was a shame that we didn¡¯t have the equivalent of tactical nukes to fling at our enemies, but the Hellstrike Torpedoes would have to do. The coastline of Beaver Island came into view on our scanners along with the hulls of the mercenary ships blockading the bay.


    With a flick of her wrist, Anastasia divvied up the possible targets between both ships and the different bay crews.


    ¡°Launch the torpedoes,¡± I ordered the moment they were in range.


    A quiet series of whomping sounds reverberated through the vessel as the front tubes deployed their payloads.


    ¡°Reload and keep firing. I want as many torpedoes in the water as possible before they know we¡¯re coming.¡±


    ¡°Aye, Captain,¡± came the response from the torpedo bays via the comms network on the hub.


    Storm Raider similarly opened fire on her targets. Two more volleys were in the water before the lead eight torpedoes reached their destination.


    Unfortunately, the footage they fed back to the ship was not promising. Several of the target ships sprayed thousands of countermeasures into the water which attached themselves to the torpedoes and caused them to detonate prematurely. The blast from the underwater explosions rocked the ships and blew a fountain of water into the air but did very little damage.


    ¡°One direct hit out of eight,¡± Anastasia confirmed when she analysed the data. ¡°Here comes the second wave.¡±


    The ships in the bay were already moving and filling the lake water with more of the baseball-sized countermeasures that acted like magnetic mines. Eight fresh submerged explosions thudded even further out than the first set.


    ¡°No hits.¡±


    The third volley was a repeat performance of the second. Meanwhile, the enemy continued to chum the waters with these small mines.


    ¡°They¡¯ve dumped tens of thousands of those things into the bay,¡± Anastasia snapped with annoyance. ¡°Some of them explode when they connect with a ship¡¯s hull, but they aren¡¯t strong enough to do much damage. A tiny fraction of what our torpedoes would do.¡±


    ¡°An understandable trade-off.¡±


    <I¡¯m familiar with these mines.> Quixbix said. <They are sensitive to contact. Concussive force can set them off and clear a path.>


    That was true enough, wherever a torpedo detonated, a bubble of mines around them was destroyed. Kristoff had seen the same and was already trying something different. All four front bays of Storm Raider targeted the same vessel and delayed the launch sequence by a couple of seconds for each torpedo.


    The first torpedo zipped into the mine network and exploded, clearing out the nearby cloud of obstructions. The second followed a few seconds later and got deeper into the network until it encountered the next layer of mines and was similarly destroyed. The third did the same, enough to clear a path for the fourth torpedo that passed through the field.


    ¡°Direct hit!¡± Anastasia yelped with savage joy and on the screen, we could see one of the enemy vessels begin to list as it took on water from a sizeable hole in its hull.


    ¡°Adjust your targeting to Mimic Storm Raiders¡¯,¡± I messaged our gunners down below.


    The switch-up led to greater success and three more mercenary ships were hit with one sunk. That brought a rousing cheer from those on the bridge, but then certain realities kicked in. The enemy continued to replace the minefield whenever it had been depleted and started to widen its breadth to the degree that sometimes the third torpedo was not sufficient to clear a path for the fourth.


    That could be worked around with Marena¡¯s Mercy and Storm Raider working in conjunction, but the widened net gave the enemy ships more time to react. The initial explosions informed them where our attack was coming from, and they now had time to move out of the way.


    ¡°You are going to run out of torpedoes before you make much of a dent in their numbers,¡± Crynn stated the same conclusion that I had come to out loud.


    ¡°The concussive force of a splinter cannon is powerful enough to destroy these mines, correct?¡± I asked Quixbix internally.


    <Yes, but the range of those weapons is severely limited under the water.>


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I switched to addressing Crynn. ¡°We need to surface and take the fight to them.¡± I shifted from my seat and opened a comms link from the central hub. ¡°Splinter pod crews to your vessels and get in the water. You are to approach the minefield and start to clear it away with concussive blasts.¡±


    Anastasia rubbed her hands together with glee. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for a chance to use those babies.¡±


    ¡°Once the splinter vessels are in the water, take us up. They will need a distraction to operate unmolested. We move into missile range and open fire.¡±


    ***


    Brant


    Brant threw his leg over the padded seat of the black crystalline splinter vessel. It looked a little bit like a large jet ski. If jet skis came with harsh angular lines and spikes designed to carve through steel and the barrel of a sizeable cannon on the front. Amber hopped up behind him and they were ready to go.


    He had chosen one of the smaller splinter pods designed for two. They were more manoeuvrable, and he wanted the freedom to choose where to go and what to do as the battle unfolded. Something not easily done if you had a dozen or more passengers all eager to board a ship or hit the beaches. Besides once you¡¯ve had a taste of what the smallest pod could do, the larger, slightly more sluggish versions felt like you were moving through the water with a millstone around your neck.


    ¡°Ready?¡± he asked Amber behind him.


    ¡°Uh-huh, you concentrate on steering, I¡¯ve got the fire controls.¡±


    There was a secondary control panel in the middle of the padded bench that allowed the passenger riding shotgun the ability to participate.


    ¡°Remember the range is under twenty metres while underwater. Don¡¯t waste the mana firing too early.¡±


    ¡°I remember,¡± Amber sighed in exasperation. ¡°I¡¯m not a rookie anymore.¡±


    ¡°Sure you are,¡± Brant grinned back at her and flicked the button that would release the splinter vessel.


    The docking frame reacted to the instruction and lowered itself from the horizontal to a forty-five-degree angle pointing downward. The clamps released and the splinter vessel smoothly slid off the frame and into the wet bay. Once released the energy field that would protect them from the water flickered into life and the splinter pod dropped into the lake and cleared the hull of Marena¡¯s Mercy.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Brant cranked back the handle on the right and powered the vessel deeper to avoid getting in the way of the other splinter pods dropping into the water around them. When clear, he pulled back on the handles and straightened the pod before joining the small armada that headed for the minefield.


    ¡°Charlie One is in the water,¡± Brant announced over the comms. ¡°Taking position.¡±


    Charlie was the callsign for the squadron of two-person splinter vessels from Marena¡¯s Mercy. Alpha Squadron was comprised of the largest boats that could carry twenty soldiers and were more heavily armed and armoured. Bravo Squadron was the callsign for the intermediary group. They were big enough for six. Bravo Squadron was faster than Alpha but not a patch on Charlie Squadron¡¯s speed.


    ¡°Charlie Two in the drink.¡±


    ¡°Charlie Three away and getting into position.¡±


    Brant waited a moment until all eight members of Charlie Squadron confirmed they¡¯d been deployed.


    He activated the comms-wide channel to speak with the whole team. ¡°Charlie Squadron will lead the way. Two through eight, follow in my wake.¡±


    A quick twist of the accelerator handle and they were off.


    ***


    With the splinter pods in the lake and speeding their way to clear the minefield, it was time to provide their activities with some cover. Marena¡¯s Mercy burst onto the surface like a leviathan rising. Frothing water spray was sent in all directions and the gulls above cawed in shock and surprise. The slightly smaller Storm Raider emerged in a similar fashion a quarter of a mile from our position.


    There was no point in making it easier for the mercenaries to target our ships by keeping them too close to one another.


    We had guided the ships a bit closer and were now half a mile from the enemy. The broadside cannons fired their Hellstrike Missile payloads the moment the ship flopped back down and buoyantly came to rest on the churning lake water.


    ¡°Wakey wakey! Hands off Snakey!¡± Anastasia cackled as she used the hub in front of us to remotely target three or four ships with the cannons she controlled.


    I doubted we would catch them unprepared or under the mistaken assumption that the minefield would keep us out of range.


    Susan had got a hard count of the mercenary fleet, sixty-six ships. The torpedoes had sunk one and left a second in such a precarious position that it limped, in the nautical sense, away from the battle. A couple of others had taken a bit of damage but not enough to hinder them operationally.


    However, there weren¡¯t sixty-four ships arrayed against us in the water. The mercenary armada had split in two.


    Half of the mercenary ships had put their ¡®land legs¡¯ back on. They¡¯d been hauled off the beach and taken beyond the treeline where we couldn¡¯t see them easily.


    A road ran down the island parallel to the beach, but they hadn¡¯t stayed on that. There was a connecting horizontal road which intersected with Kings Highway, a second long straight road away from the beach that ran from the southern border of Stormblade Harbour halfway down the island. We had kept it relatively well-maintained to make it easier for groups to get to the uninhabited southern half of the island where the dungeons and the bulk of the spawning crystals were located.


    My best guess was that the thirty-odd vessels which had gone back on land were using those roads to make their travel easier. There were deep furrows in the sand on the beach at the point where you could access the connecting road.


    That left thirty-four battle-capable ships arrayed across the mile-long stretch of the bay outside the shield pylons.


    Our first salvo of missiles struck first but was soon answered.


    ¡°Incoming,¡± I warned. ¡°Splinter cannons fire to intercept. Brace for impact.¡±


    Hundreds of shells and a dizzying array of different energy weapons sailed through the air in our direction. Anastasia deftly shifted Marena¡¯s Mercy to avoid some of the incoming fire. The gunners of the splinter cannons which had a range of three hundred metres, too far to currently target the enemy, unleashed the concussive energy of the weapons. They were quite effective at prematurely destroying physical-based attacks. If you got the timing right, of course, which was easier said than done when the shell or missile was travelling at extreme velocity.


    Marena¡¯s Mercy gently rocked in place when it was hit.


    ¡°Minimal damage to the hull integrity,¡± Crynn reported from a hub station while Anastasia concentrated on further evasive measures and keeping up the answering rate of fire.


    ¡°How are we doing on the ammo front?¡± I asked. This had been a small concern; we had used a lot of missiles during the barrage of South Bend yesterday. The Ammunition depots hadn¡¯t much time to repopulate the reserves much.


    ¡°Could be better,¡± Anastasia admitted while she motioned her hands in the air, mimicking the mental commands to the ship. ¡°We have enough to keep this up for another thirty minutes, after that, I will need to dip into energy reserves to re-up. The torpedo situation is much better. We didn¡¯t use many yesterday, just a few to clear the dams and obstructions on the river.¡±


    ¡°Good, if Brant can clear the way, then we can deploy both.¡±


    I watched up on the screen the result of our assault. The Hellstrike Missiles were incredibly destructive. The demon-forged steel warheads sapped the durability of the target and then the incendiary payloads blew the shit out of everything in range. The missiles didn¡¯t achieve the same degree of penetration as the torpedoes, but they made a mess of any external features on the ships. Whether they be sails, weapon emplacements, or the mercenary crew foolish enough to be exposed.


    ¡°Captain Torin,¡± Brant¡¯s voice crackled through the hub table.


    ¡°You¡¯re through to me, Brant. What is the situation.¡±


    ¡°We have partially cleared the path and are withdrawing to a safe distance. You are good to go.¡±


    The splinter squadrons had been ordered not to get too close to the enemy ships and just clear away the outermost cloud of mines. This kept them safe from any countermeasure like the depth charges we had and with any luck would mean the mercs didn¡¯t notice that their layer of protection had been systematically thinned. We would fall back on the staggered launch strategy from earlier to get through the layer closest to them. With the outer cloud cleared it should only require the first and possibly the second torpedo to punch a hole for those following.


    ¡°Ana, Kristoff, pick your targets and launch the torpedoes.¡±


    ¡°Aye, Captain.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s kablooey time!¡± Ana grinned.


    Even with the steady boom of missiles and splinter cannon fire, I felt the four thumps like a heartbeat as the first set of torpedoes left their tubes.


    The first detonated prematurely as expected, as did the second, but the third and fourth slipped through what remained of the minefield and struck gold. If by gold, you meant the hull of any enemy vessel. Our target had barely made an attempt to avoid a potential collision, either distracted by the missiles or overconfident in the minefield''s ability to protect them.


    I watched on with a vicious grin as our target listed to the side, taking on water through the huge, fresh rents in its hull. A few more Hellstrike missiles followed the torpedo assault, finishing the ship off, and it sank beneath the waves.


    ¡°Hell yeah!¡± One of the crew shouted vehemently. ¡°Let the bastards drown.¡±


    On another screen, Anastasia had focused attention on Kristoff¡¯s target. If anything they had more success, three torpedo hits broke a white ship that had been moulded into the shape of a swan-like bird in two. That was a bit of a shame, it was a beautiful vessel, and it would have been nice to capture it on piece. On the flip side, it had been firing some of the more destructive weaponry that targeted Storm Raider, so I could understand the logic behind eliminating them first.


    ¡°Get more warheads in the water.¡±


    Before the words finished leaving my lips the first thump of a torpedo leaving its tube sounded. ¡°I¡¯m way ahead of you, Torin.¡±


    There was a big smile on Ana¡¯s face. She was thoroughly enjoying herself.


    ¡°Crynn, how are we doing for structural integrity?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re okay, for now. Ana is a pretty good pilot.¡±


    Anastasia snorted loudly. ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°Storm Raider is in worse shape, but now that the swan ship is out of the fray, they should be able to stay in the fight for a while longer.¡±


    I nodded in response. The great thing about dungeon ships, though, was their ability to self-repair. Regular vessels would need time in a dry dock with some skilled artisans to be replenished.


    With the sheer volume of armed enemy ships, absorbing some damage was unavoidable. That¡¯s why I would have preferred to keep the fight under the surface if possible. Had they kept the whole fleet on the lake, things might have been different. These were professional fighters. What possessed them to make such a tactical error?


    Two more ships were hit by our torpedoes and sank as I watched on.


    ¡°Crynn, contact the commanders of the ships still in the harbour. I want them ready to launch a sortie the moment we¡¯ve winnowed this lot down to something manageable. It might have made this engagement easier, but I don¡¯t like how half the merc fleet went back to land.¡±


    Crynn hurried to obey my command and opened private channels to the seven ships on the other side of the shield.


    Things continued to go in our favour for the next ten minutes. Of the thirty remaining blockaders, we sank a further thirteen before Kristoff was forced to pull Storm Raider out of range. The attrition of the attacks had mounted up to the level they couldn¡¯t be ignored. A further six enemy captains had simply bottled on the fight and sailed off northwards at maximum speed leaving eleven.


    It was time to end this.


    I opened my mouth to give the order to Crynn when a warning red light flashed on the hub accompanied by a bleeping you couldn¡¯t ignore. The emergency signal.


    There was barely enough time for me to make eye contact with Anastasia before she pulled up a fresh screen and Doyle¡¯s unflappable features appeared before us.


    He might have looked calm and unperturbed but the hive of activity in the background and the unmistakable sound of combat not related to our naval engagement could be heard coming from another viewer above the Command Hub.


    ¡°Captain Torin, a section of the shield in the south of the city has been breached. The mercenary forces are inside. The defensive positions there will soon be overrun. After that, they will be at the palace walls within a few minutes.¡±


    God damn it! I knew thirty ships back on land had been bad news.

 Book 5: Chapter 14

    Chapter 14


    The Southern Border or Stormblade Harbour


    ¡°Madre de Dios! I thought securing shore leave for a few weeks was supposed to be safer than being run ragged around Pandaemonium,¡± D-Ball cursed loudly.


    Carlos couldn¡¯t help but agree with his friend¡¯s assessment.


    A few minutes ago, one of the shield pylons had unexpectedly been toppled. Like a sore tooth pulled by a dentist, it popped out of the ground with an explosion of grassy sod in all directions on both sides of the shield. There had been a moment of shocked silence while all eyes focused on the shimmering of the energy field that protected them as it flickered and then reasserted itself.


    The relief was short-lived. Even Carlos could see that the field was thinner and weaker than before. So, when a dozen mercenary ships with wheels attached to their hulls trundled down the road at rapid pace, he at least, hadn¡¯t been surprised when they unleashed a volley of powerful weaponry that breached the field and allowed them to pour through.


    ¡°What miserable luck,¡± Tommy whispered. ¡°Nothing for it, get ready to fight.¡±


    The campaign in Pandaemonium had been on hold while Jackson helped the bossman sort things out topside. And being Jackson¡¯s childhood friends could come in handy at times. Rather than be assigned to one of the groups holding the tunnel territory for the Shattered Storm, they¡¯d been able to return to the surface and enjoy themselves for a bit.


    The three of them and Carlos¡¯ sister, Rosa, had been hanging out by the docks when the alarm bell sounded. All three along with every other member of the Militia and Legions present in the city had been drafted into the defence post-haste.


    Commander MacDonald had shown up shortly after that and assigned them to this foxhole just to the side of the road where barriers had been hastily erected should the unthinkable happen.


    Before the pylon fell, a few of the other groups had whined they were wasting their time reinforcing the area where the enemy had gathered outside when the shields would keep them out. Surely, the true danger would come from the ships out on the lake. That was for the ship crews to deal with, not landlubbers like themselves.


    Carlos doubted they had any pouty-faced questions now.


    ¡°Brace for impact!¡± Commander MacDonald¡¯s brave words carried on the wind to their foxhole dug into the earth.


    Carlos refocused his attention and wrapped his fingers around the handle of a Mark I Dark Mana Pulse Cannon. Torin had been the recipient of a shipment of these via the Black Market a few weeks ago. The only drawback was that you needed an affinity for Dark Mana to use them. He¡¯d been saving up Harmony points for a while; it had made sense to make use of them and take the Dark affinity.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got the pulse cannon,¡± he roared unnecessarily. Alongside the pulse cannon was a traditional human piece of tech. ¡°D-Ball fire the M2 but don¡¯t waste the ammo on the vehicles. It won¡¯t penetrate. Target the infantry.¡±


    After the first dozen vehicles crossed the breach point in the shield, what looked like a thousand or more foot-troops had poured in after them before the shield integrity recovered. Outside the shield, a second group of ground soldiers were forming up and the next wave of ships was incoming, ready to punch through the weakened shield once more.


    ¡°Tommy, keep the M2 fed with ammo.¡±


    Orders given, Carlos shifted the barrel of the cannon and used the sight to aim at the approaching land-ships and squeezed the trigger.


    The shadowy projectile that zipped from the end of the barrel was but one of many projectiles fired in the direction of the invaders. And it had about as much efficacy. The thump of energy missed the wheel he was aiming at and gouged out a small chunk of asphalt from the road instead. Targets moving at speed were incredibly difficult to hit accurately.


    The missed lead ship, the largest of the group, was a great hulking thing that had an imposing figurehead that looked like a weeping elephant smashed into the barriers with a frightening degree of kinetic force. Metal, wood, weapons and the bodies of defenders were thrown aside. The only upside was that the barrier did manage to arrest the velocity of the vessel which battered it down but didn¡¯t stop it completely.


    The closest ships fanned out rather than slow down and queue and contacted other parts of the defensive line.


    The high decibel rat-a-tat-tat of the M2 went into overdrive as D-Ball opened fire on the approaching infantry. Carlos let rip with the pulse cannon and aimed at the vehicles following in the wake of the elephantine ship with a little more success. He and the other soldiers in the foxholes did cause three of them to ¡®derail¡¯ and crash onto their sides.


    The thrum from the M2 was so loud Carlos barely heard the yell of ¡°Fall back!¡± from somewhere behind him. ¡°Fall back to Stormwarden!¡±


    Neither D-Ball nor Tommy reacted to the ordered retreat. They couldn¡¯t hear it over the din of battle. Their whole concentration was on keeping the infantry ahead of them pinned down.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Carlos flicked a catch on the stand for the pulse cannon that would let him detach it and stow the weapon. There was no point leaving something this tasty for the enemy if it could be avoided. ¡°D-Ball! Tommy! It¡¯s time to move!¡±


    Again, they didn¡¯t hear, and it wasn¡¯t until Carlos grabbed D-Ball¡¯s shoulder and pointed behind them where you could see other groups in full retreat that the message sank in.


    But by then it was too late.


    The second wave of ships reached the outer shield and unleashed a volley of fire to bring it down. The weakened energy field crackled and blinked out quicker than the first time and several pieces of the fired ordnance whistled through unobstructed and kept going.


    The cessation of the M2¡¯s loud rattle was replaced by the high-pitched screech of an incoming, brightly coloured magical missile. Carlos didn¡¯t even have time to shout a warning before it impacted the ground a few feet in front of their foxhole. The wooden roof that helped conceal the trench they were in was ripped off. The piled sandbags, gun emplacements, and front of the trench were torn apart as the strike left a sizeable crater in the earth where it struck.


    All three of them were thrown back with intense force. Carlos¡¯ head hit the back wall of the trench, moisture in the loam giving it a certain softness was the only thing that prevented his head from being caved in. He dropped bonelessly to the bottom of the trench momentarily stunned. Chunks of displaced soil thrown high into the air fell back to Earth and covered him, getting into his eyes and mouth.


    Carlos¡¯ ears rang with a high-pitched whine, and he had to blink repeatedly to try and brush the loose dirt from his eyelashes. Notifications dinged in his periphery; updates on how badly he¡¯d been injured. He didn¡¯t need them. The pain and disorientation told him everything he needed to know. His left knee was particularly bad, a jagged hunk of the M2 had become lodged in the side and made a horrible mess of the joint. He wouldn¡¯t be able to put any weight on it until it was properly healed.


    But the foxhole wasn¡¯t very wide, and he could place both hands on either side to level himself up, albeit the front-facing wall of the foxhole had been halved in height which made things a bit trickier. It was enough that he could move and check on his companions. He found D-Ball first and wished he hadn¡¯t.


    The poor bastard had been in the middle and took the brunt of the blast. Half of his head was a bloody pulp. Carlos closed D-Ball¡¯s one remaining eye and fought back the tears which threatened to pour from his own. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my friend. I should have talked you out of this.¡±


    A coughing fit from the corner grabbed his attention. ¡°Tommy! Is that you, Tommy?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, dude, it¡¯s me. I feel like I got hit by a fucking truck, but I¡¯m good. How about you?¡±


    Carlos didn¡¯t answer him immediately. His body had healed the mild deafness from the attack and the baying screams of the charging infantry made themselves known. There was no time for pleasantries or mutual mourning. Tommy was a cleric and could heal his knee up. The spell was not instantaneous, though, it would delay his friend¡¯s escape for too long. They would both be caught and killed.


    Carlos¡¯ eyes met his friends. He knew if he told him, Tommy would stay, would insist upon it.


    He couldn¡¯t know.


    ¡°Tommy, we¡¯re about to be overrun. Get your ass moving and out of this foxhole. Keep running and don¡¯t look back. D-Ball¡¯s gone already, and I¡¯ll be right behind you.¡± Carlos hated to lie to his friend but with any luck, he wouldn¡¯t realise the enormity of the deception until he¡¯d reached the safety of the Stormwarden¡¯s Palace.


    At Tommy¡¯s end of the foxhole were a couple of ¡®steps¡¯ dug into the back wall that would help you get out. Tommy sprang up from the corner, the soil which covered him tumbling to the ground. The extra weight he used to carry had been worked off in the last year and he hopped out of the trench with ease and took off, head ducked.


    Carlos of course, could not follow him. His knee wouldn¡¯t allow it.


    He pushed off his good leg, fell into the crater and crawled up to the lip before summoning the pulse cannon. There was a switch just above the trigger guard to switch the mode to rapid fire which he flicked. He took a bare second to steady his position and then squeezed the trigger and let loose with the rapid short bursts of mana at the oncoming mercenaries who were almost within spitting distance. This mode would deplete the mana reserves of the cannon very quickly, but then Carlos knew he wouldn¡¯t need it for long.


    The shadow darts slammed into the front rank of attackers at close range and several of them dropped, serious wounds rent into their bodies. It was enough to slow the advance along this part of the line and would give Tommy a bit of a head start.


    However, shortly after laying down a wave of suppressing fire, the mana pack of the pulse cannon ran dry. The mercs seemed to sense the weakness immediately and resumed their charging advance. A big-bearded dwarf with two savage scars under his eyes was the first to reach the line of foxholes and kicked the pulse cannon from Carlos¡¯ grip. This sent the young man tumbling back down into the trench where he landed beside the cooling body of his lifelong friend Diego.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t think I¡¯d let you go into the unknown alone did you, mi amigo,¡± he whispered to D-Ball and grasped his unresisting hand. ¡°Tommy, you better look after my sister.¡± Not much of a war cry but it would do.


    The last thing Carlos ever saw was the point of the pickaxe in the hands of the battle-maddened dwarf sapper leaping down on top of him.


    ***


    Tommy stumbled out of the foxhole and ran in a funny stance keeping his head low. There were arrows, bolts, and magical effects zipping back and forth across the battlefield. He started to sprint in the direction of the palace and could see that his group trailed most of the others. A few other foxholes across the line continued to fight but most had been abandoned.


    ¡°That was a close one, eh, Carlos?¡± he grunted as he ran referring to the explosion that tore their emplacement apart but received no answer.


    ¡°Carlos?¡±


    That was when Tommy heard the pulse cannon fire. The blood drained from his face, and he risked a glance behind. Carlos was not behind him, and he hadn¡¯t left the foxhole. He could just about see the back of his friend¡¯s head as he let loose another volley of fire into the approaching enemy. There had been no sign of D-Ball ahead, he wouldn¡¯t have left his two friends in the dust like that.


    He would have waited.


    D-Ball didn¡¯t make it out either.


    As reality started to set in, Tommy stutter-stepped and almost fell to the ground.


    He was torn. Part of him wanted to run back and help his friend. Felt that it was the act of a coward to run away. Another part knew that Carlos had sacrificed himself to provide this chance for him to get away. It would be a meaningless waste if he threw that chance away by acting out of shame.


    The decision was made for him when an arrow grazed his temple.


    Carlos had slowed the advance in an arc around their foxhole, but that didn¡¯t stop those on either side. Enemy soldiers further away had almost drawn level with Tommy. Not to mention the wheeled ships were already powering ahead.


    If Commander MacDonald hadn¡¯t taken steps to inhibit them from making further progress it would already be too late.


    Tommy turned away from where his friend fought on his behalf and ran for friendly lines. Carlos and D-Ball could only be avenged by the living.

 Book 5: Chapter 15

    Chapter 15


    Outside the Stormwarden¡¯s Palace


    Calum MacDonald leapt from the back of the horse having returned to the secondary defensive position. The forward positions had bought them a precious few extra minutes of preparation time and disabled some of the enemy vehicles.


    Everywhere people were readying the defences in front of the palace. Earth mages dug out trenches, collared forest goblins ran to and fro setting up reinforced pointed stakes to make life difficult for the attackers. Civilians with extended inventories deposited blocks of stone or any other debris large enough to act as a blocking material.


    The mercenary army could not be allowed to get past the palace and gain access to the Plexus Gate. Their general intentions were unknown, but the damage that could be done should they seize the controls was incalculable. If they dropped the cloaking features and pinged the gate¡¯s location to the wider network who knew what might come through and whether they could stop it?


    The grounds of Stormwarden¡¯s palace dominated this stretch of land. To the west of the palace was Font Lake, an inland body of water that created a natural barrier.


    The enemy had ships, but transitioning between land and water was not a simple procedure. If they were to simply roll into the lake water, then the wheeled attachments would bog down in the silty lakebed and get stuck. Once lodged, to move forward the attachments would have to be detached and abandoned. Then the vessels wouldn¡¯t be able to return to land once they sailed past the obstruction the palace posed.


    To make getting onto the lake more difficult rows of ¡®teeth¡¯ had been arrayed around it comprised mostly of abandoned cars. Grand Rapids had plenty of those, and civvies capable of carrying that kind of weight were something Claudia could spare. The Gattosi woman had also sent every soldier she could spare but with an army still fifty-thousand strong bearing down on the city most of her troops had been deployed elsewhere and couldn¡¯t be recalled in time.


    Nevertheless, the additional warriors were a godsend. Stormblade Harbour¡¯s forces had been stretched thin of late. They had perhaps been too dependent on the city¡¯s isolation for safety. But when you have the terror of Lake Michigan sailing these waters it was an understandable oversight.


    Further west of the lake, there was more land. While it was inside the shield, the going remained heavily wooded and overgrown. The mercenaries would either need to burn it down or abandon their greatest advantage. The heavily armoured ships. Either option would take time. Time they didn¡¯t have, not with Carter outside the shield sinking the blockaders.


    Access to the plexus gate was to the east of the palace at the northern end of the grounds, the point farthest away from where the enemy broke through. If the mercs bypassed the palace, they would have to cross a half-mile stretch of land with the palace walls overlooking them the whole way. It created a natural killing ground that any sensible commander would seek to avoid.


    That meant penetrating the palace walls and killing the defenders was the soundest strategy. They would hit them here; MacDonald was sure of it, and that was why he¡¯d concentrated his defensive measures in this position.


    The fate of Stormblade Harbour would be decided outside the palace¡¯s walls.


    Commander MacDonald caught sight of one of his deputies and called out to him. ¡°Fredericks! What¡¯s the sit rep?¡±


    Fredericks dropped what he was doing, stood to attention and saluted sharply. ¡°Sir! Captain Carter is making steady progress depleting the naval blockade but won¡¯t break through before they reach our lines.¡±


    The news was disappointing but expected.


    ¡°I am just waiting for word from the alchemist corps that they are ready.¡±


    ¡°Ye need not wait any longer,¡± an all too jolly voice broke into the conversation.


    Sheamus, the fey-touched pyromaniac engineer scampered into view on his slightly too-short legs. ¡°With the help of yer mage engineers, me boys have mined the approach from bay¡¯s edge to here.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve still got some of our people retreating,¡± MacDonald pointed out with a bit of worry.


    Sheamus threw a trigger mechanism in his direction which he caught adeptly.


    ¡°Nay need to worry fella. We didn¡¯t arm the contact triggers. It¡¯s all set for remote detonation. Should be a good display, I put a bit of strontium, magnesium, and copper salts in the mix to give it a bit of red, white, and blue. Just like yer Independence Day.¡±


    ¡°This is not the fourth of July.¡±


    Sheamus shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Close enough. Now if you don¡¯t mind me, I¡¯ll be getting behind the big fecking walls. I¡¯ve had one big, stupid horse thing clobber me noggin¡¯ already. I don¡¯t fancy a repeat experience.¡± The Bombardier pulled out a large blunderbuss contraption and waved it under MacDonald¡¯s nose. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, none. I¡¯ll still be in the fight. This baby has got some serious range on her.¡±


    ¡°Dismissed,¡± Commander MacDonald snapped to the back of the waddling figure as he scampered away not waiting for permission to leave. Working with non-military personnel could be trying but they were lucky Carter had left the bombardier in the city. Nobody knew alchemical explosives the way Sheamus did.


    ¡°Sir,¡± Fredericks said. ¡°Did you want to oversee the battle from inside the palace? It¡¯s a better vantage point.¡±


    ¡°No, if I need to give orders, I don¡¯t want there to be a delay.¡±


    ¡°We have a command position established over by the gate. There is a reinforced viewing platform you can use.¡±


    Commander MacDonald nodded and allowed Fredericks to get back on with positioning his unit.


    He climbed the vertical metal ladder up onto a platform twenty feet above the ground. It was made from scaffolding materials that the goblins had worked their particular brand of magic on to drastically increase the durability. The frame could probably weather a couple of direct hits before losing its structural integrity.


    The back of the platform was clamped to the wall with a special adhesive. Something else the alchemists had come up with. Each clamping mechanism had a quick-release catch that would disperse the necessary solvent to dissolve the chemical mix should they need to abandon the position and pull the scaffolding down.


    There were several scouts up here and one of them made way for the commander to make use of an affixed binocular device. Calum hardly needed the magnification to see the enemy. The first wave of land-adjusted ships had trundled up the road and encountered the first heavy objects put in their path to slow them down.


    The seemingly haphazard array of rubble and wreckage would slow their advance but also had a secondary purpose. It would encourage the enemy to take the paths of least resistance, and it was along those lanes that Sheamus and his fellow alchemists had planted their explosives.


    The first wave started to weave or bulldoze their way through, and the delay meant that the second wave of ships caught up with them and entered the killing field.


    Their defensive positions started to come under fire, but Commander MacDonald held off activating the explosives. He needed to wait until as many of the enemy vessels had entered the kill zone. But he couldn¡¯t wait too long. The closer they got, the easier it was for them to launch their ordnance at the palace walls and the defender¡¯s embedded positions.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°Here we go,¡± he whispered to himself and flicked the guards off the trigger buttons and pressed them in sequence.


    Sheamus and his people didn¡¯t let him down, a split second after the signal was sent, the buried explosives in the fields went off in a wild pyrotechnic display. A series of thunderous cracks almost deafened all those watching on. As promised, vibrant colours accompanied the detonations.


    Soil, ship parts, and various parts of the ¡®teeth¡¯ impediments were thrown high into the air and thudded back down to the ground. Thick smoke plumed up from the line of explosions and obscured the battlefield. After the series of deafening cracks, a hush fell across those present as everyone waited with bated breath.


    A swirl of wind came in from the East, a sign that the shield had been dropped in that direction, albeit briefly, and helped clear away some of the smog blocking their view. The sight of mercenary ships overturned and aflame was greeted with a ragged cheer from the wary defenders.


    The cheering soon faded when a barrage of missile fire screeched through the air and rained down on their emplacements. Shots that no doubt came from crews further back who hadn¡¯t been caught up in the trap.


    There was worse yet to come.


    Calum grabbed the viewer and focused in on the smoking hulks of the vessels that had been stopped in their tracks. Pouring forth from them like insects from an overturned anthill were well-equipped and dangerous-looking warriors. Thousands to replace the few hundred over-eager fools who¡¯d run alongside the ships and were torn apart by the explosions.


    The vehicles had been halted and disabled, but the soldiers within appeared to be mostly unharmed and very motivated to exact a measure of vengeance. The armour of the enemy vehicles had been too strong. They¡¯d been overturned and the ¡®land-legs¡¯ had been ruined but most of them were otherwise intact.


    ¡°All units, get ready!¡± he barked loudly from the top of the platform. ¡°The ground assault is on its way.¡±


    It was time.


    ¡°Sentinel''s attack!¡± he called out using a megaphone.


    Springing from shallow trenches amid the ¡®teeth¡¯ defences on the palace side of the unmined area rose the city¡¯s complement of sentinel warriors. The magically animated suits of black, iron armour usually patrolled the palace, but Commander MacDonald had been permitted to use them on the front line. Better they took the risks than people who could be killed. Even if they were smashed to pieces, there was a chance a sentinel could be repaired by a skilled craftsman. Or if Carter ponied up the funds for the Framework to do it.


    Without fear, the thirty automatons clanked their battle axes together and made for the nearest enemy combatants. The sentinels clashed with enemy soldiers and methodically went to work. Axes bit deep, cutting through armour and leaving gaping wounds. Mercenary after mercenary went down under the onslaught and Calum allowed himself a small smile.


    It was not meant to last. A great trumpeted honk went up from within the packed ranks of mercenaries that was reminiscent of an elephant.


    ¡°What the fuck?¡± One of the scouts exclaimed beside his commander. ¡°Do they have a fucking elephant back there?¡±


    Calum recalled that the figurehead of one of the lead vessels had indeed resembled an elephant¡¯s head. It was also one of those that seemed to be in the best condition. It had been quickly righted and had resumed grinding its way through the teeth obstructions.


    As he watched, the mercenary ranks parted and a humanoid beast larger than Danny the Ogre came barrelling out from within. It had thick brown hair that covered its enormous head and two long, almost black trunks. The creamy white tusks had been decorated with a series of intricate designs that had been stained blue. The mammoth man wore a suit of full plate armour that had seen more than a few battles but looked undiminished in quality. In his hands, he wielded a gigantic, spiked mace as big as Calum himself.


    The mammoth creature trumpeted again and charged into combat with the sentinels. Its mace spun with such unnatural speed and deadly accuracy the automatons had no chance to avoid the blows had they been inclined to try. Wherever the mace made contact, the armoured body of a sentinel crumpled and was thrown aside as if it were a near-weightless ragdoll.


    In mere seconds, the tide of battle had turned in the mercenary¡¯s favour.


    ¡°Is this it!¡± The mammoth man roared. ¡°Is this all you have to offer? Automations!¡± he spat the word in disgust. ¡°Pure fakery! Face me you cowards or I swear your women and children will learn why they call me Scargiver before being sold to a mine so deep they will never see the light of day ever again. Face me and die like warriors!¡±


    A few surviving sentinels were drawn to the presence of the Scargiver and he despatched them with ruthless efficiency. When the last of them was crushed under his mace, he motioned forward with the mighty weapon and the screaming horde of mercs who had gathered behind him charged forward.


    ¡°Commander,¡± one of the scouts gulped. ¡°What do we do?¡±


    ¡°We hold,¡± he grunted back and signalled the troops to unleash everything they had.


    ***


    Shana hustled through the corridors, her feet making almost no sound on the thickly carpeted hallways. She had just left the Command Hub, and it didn¡¯t take long to get back to Torin¡¯s quarters.


    Mia and Madame Silk¡¯s trio were huddled by Dash¡¯s crib.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Mia asked, concern writ large on her face. The palace was abuzz with activity and the boom of magic and explosives reverberated from the city¡¯s surroundings.


    ¡°The land-based forces have breached the shield to the south and have reached the southern walls of the palace,¡± Shana answered, quickly crossing the room.


    Once at the crib¡¯s edge, she lifted her swaddled son from his sleep and kissed his forehead tenderly. Dash remained asleep which was something of a blessing. How was a complete mystery. Glennarch trotted over from the corner where he¡¯d been sleeping and nuzzled at Shana¡¯s hip. Dash gurgled happily in his sleep at the young beast¡¯s presence. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t such a mystery, after all. It was undeniable that the foal had a calming effect on her son.


    ¡°Here,¡± she said and passed the sleeping baby to Mia. ¡°Take Dash and Glennarch to the temple. They will be expecting you. If it looks like the city is about to fall, then Claudia will reverse the direction of the Pandaemonium entrance, and you can smuggle them safely to Grand Rapids.¡±


    Mia accepted the child with some confusion. ¡°Why can¡¯t you do it? Are you not coming with us?¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m needed on the walls. The best way to keep him safe is to push them back and make all these precautions simply that, precautions. There isn¡¯t a better sniper in the faction and it¡¯s time I started to contribute again.¡± Shana turned to the trio. ¡°You three, keep watch over them. Do not leave their side under any circumstances¡±


    ¡°You can rely on us,¡± Lindsay swore.


    Lindsay, Calie, and Keisha had undergone some combat tutelage as part of their training with Madame Silk. They didn¡¯t have the equivalent skills of an experienced soldier, but it would be enough to aid Mia in escaping if everything else went wrong today.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the four women and their precious package to gather a few things and soon they were escorted from the palace grounds. Shana¡¯s heart ached at sending her child away and not being there to watch over him, but what she¡¯d said to Mia had been true or close to true. She was one of, if not the best archer in the faction and the best thing she could do was rain down death from the palace walls.


    With one last look at their departing backs, Shana turned away and marched through the emptying corridors for the south wall. When she arrived, the battle was already underway, and she wasted no time raising her bow and sending out the first mana-infused arrow arcing across the battlefield. It thudded into the eye of a gunner manning one of the weapon emplacements on an enemy vehicle that hadn¡¯t been disabled and continued to grind its way closer.


    Only six were still mobile, but they pounded the walls and would eventually bring them down if they weren¡¯t stopped.


    A second arrow swiftly followed the first, and a third was in the air before the second found its mark.


    Smoke and the cries of the dying filled the scene down below. Comprehending the ebb and flow was difficult as mercenaries and Shattered Storm soldiers clashed and fought. The dead and mortally wounded littered the field.


    A pattern started to emerge, and it wasn¡¯t good news.


    The defenders were inexorably being pushed back against the walls. It wouldn¡¯t be long before they had nowhere else to go and then they would be slaughtered unless Calum ordered the gates opened and allowed them to retreat inside.


    Shana caught sight of him down on the battlefield. He hadn¡¯t ranged far from the viewing platform. They were desperately defending the position and had set up a pulley system. They used that to haul the wounded up to safety.


    Well, to somewhere marginally safer than the active battlefield. The incoming bombardment meant it remained perilous no matter where you were.


    Miraculously, there was a slight lull down below and Calum happened to glance up at the battlements, likely to assess the damage and his eyes met Shana¡¯s.


    ¡°The gate,¡± she called out and pointed to it. ¡°You have to open the gate and retreat.¡±


    It was hard to tell if he heard what she shouted over the din of combat, but he seemed to understand what Shana was suggesting.


    He smiled up at her wanly and shook his head in the negative.


    Calum MacDonald would not order the gate opened.


    Shana knew why, it was far too great a risk. The gate had been reinforced from the inside to prevent it from being breached easily. They would need to remove some of those protections and weaken the defensive measure to open it, not to mention the possibility that the mercs could get through before they managed to close it after the general retreat.


    The commander had accepted the grim reality. If Torin didn¡¯t reach them in time, they would all be dead.


    Shana redoubled her arrow fire and provided as much cover support as was possible.


    They had to hold on for just a little bit longer.

 Book 5: Chapter 16

    Chapter 16


    The Bay of Stormblade Harbour


    Doyle finished giving me a quick update on what was happening inside the shield.


    Hard decisions needed to be made.


    There was a stretch of beach on the eastern shoreline of Beaver Island called Little Sand Bay. This beach was just to the south of the palace and would let us disgorge our troops half a kilometre east from where Calum MacDonald established his last-ditch defence. We could hit the mercs from the flank and crush the bastards in a half-pincer.


    ¡°Doyle, drop the section of the shield covering Little Sand Bay. We¡¯ll make landfall there.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°Brant,¡± I opened a channel to the splinter pods. ¡°Make for the gap in the shield. There have been developments on land. The rest of their fleet will have to wait.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Captain.¡±


    ¡°Kristoff, implement the emergency return protocol, then take Storm Raider deep but stay close to the bay you might be needed. Doyle, make sure someone is there to greet them.¡±


    ¡°Consider it done, sir,¡± Kristoff replied.


    The emergency return protocol was a plan to take advantage of the node connection between the cells in the Brig and the Slave Market. Kristoff would load the cells up with troops and activate the node which would transport them into the city. Upon arrival, one of Doyle¡¯s people would release the crew from the cells.


    Troops moved this way would have to leave their regular gear behind, it was a function of the node that all gear was stripped from them and stored in the galley of Storm Raider. However, the crew had lockers with sets of reasonable backup gear stored at the Slave Market.


    They wouldn¡¯t be as strong as they would be with their primary load-outs but right now we needed boots on the ground and Storm Raider was too badly damaged to be left in the open while the troops debarked.


    The glimmer of the shield flickered and winked out around Little Sand Bay and Anastasia shifted the prow of Marena¡¯s Mercy and made for the gap with a burst of acceleration.


    ¡°Torin, we have a problem,¡± she said almost immediately, pointing to one of the displays focused on the enemy.


    The moment we¡¯d altered course, several of the eleven blockading ships had reacted in kind. They¡¯d broken formation and chosen to head for the gap in the shield. The captains commanding those vessels must have known what was going on inside and had been waiting for this very opportunity. We had the faster ship, but they were closer to the beach.


    The race for that gap would be a close one.


    On the monitor, I could see that the splinter pods had made swifter progress and would arrive at the beach before any of the larger ships. For a moment, I considered ordering the shield back up and letting the pod crews carry out the flanking attack alone. But there were only a few hundred crew members aboard the splinter vessels and that wouldn¡¯t be enough.


    Time to shift gears and take a risk. ¡°New plan! Ana hard to starboard, we¡¯re going through the gate instead.¡± The broken formation made that a possibility now. ¡°Doyle, drop the shield in front of the gate and send the dockside ships out to intercept and run interference. Brant, I need the splinter pods to harass the group who just broke away. Raise the shield around Little Sand Bay once the splinter pods are clear.¡±


    The quick shift in commands was carried out and caught the opposing fleet unprepared. The half who had moved to block our landfall were now out of position. They couldn¡¯t shift direction in the same way Marena¡¯s Mercy could. Our ship practically bunny-hopped out of the water and shifted direction midair with the same ease as a surfboard before powering through the gap in their lines.


    The gunnery crews didn¡¯t let up either, Hellstrike missiles were launched and with the distance closed enough, the splinter cannons on the ship could be used more effectively. Behind us, Brant''s small armada of splinter pods popped to the surface and attacked the turning vessels. The larger of the pods latched onto the sides of the mercenary warships and allowed small boarding parties to clamber onto their top decks. They didn¡¯t have the numbers to seize the ships, not with how many mercenaries I suspected were below deck, but they didn¡¯t need to.


    Every boarding group had at least one sapper expert with an inventory full of Sheamus¡¯ most potent concoctions. All they needed was thirty seconds and a bit of protected space. When the charges were set, they would leap overboard to be collected back up by the smaller pods.


    Marena¡¯s Mercy ploughed through the water at great speed, slipped through the broken blockade, and passed the seven ships in port going in the other direction. Explosions rocked the decks of three vessels in the breakaway group, but I didn¡¯t have time to find out how successful Brant¡¯s teams had been.


    ¡°Ana, I need you to stay on board and react if any of the mercenary ships fight their way past ours.¡± The ships moving to intercept them were all vessels Crynn and her crew had captured which we¡¯d brought back from the lifeless moon. They weren¡¯t designed to be warships. We had outfitted them with some extra armour and weapons, but they still weren¡¯t a match one-to-one against the proper merc warships.


    For once, Ana didn¡¯t give me any backchat about being forced to stay behind.


    With that order given, I was on my way to the top deck followed by every able-bodied fighter.


    ***


    Marena¡¯s Mercy crunched into one of the jetties which abutted the bay¡¯s southern shoreline nearest to the plexus gate and northeast corner of Stormwarden¡¯s Palace. Ana hadn¡¯t slowed the ship until the very last second and while the reinforced wooden dock held up under the rough treatment it would need some repair work later.


    The strangest things can occur to you in times of high stress. The need for the dockyard repair work flitted through my mind when I jumped over the side of the rails and my boots connected with the wooden planks.


    Susan waited for me on the dock. ¡°Thank God, you made it in time. They haven¡¯t breached the southern palace wall yet, but the defenders are under serious pressure and could break at any moment. There is no time to lose. Claudia has responded to the crisis and is sending another legion through the Pandaemonium gateway. With your permission, I want to send a few of those platoons around to the other side of Font Lake. Not all the mercenaries have entered the engagement in front of the palace, we¡¯ve got eyes on some groups who are trying to sneak around.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Do it,¡± I agreed.


    As Susan finished filling me in, I caught sight of those who had been on Storm Raider running into view with LT at their head. They¡¯d arrived in the Slave Market which was on the other side of the bay on a hook of land. The distance wasn¡¯t too great to cover, especially when the streets had been mostly cleared apart from other military personnel. Unlike Hollywood movies, there weren¡¯t throngs of people running around every street like headless chickens. The civilian populace had gone into hiding.


    ¡°LT take your people through the palace grounds. I want you up on the walls. Nazz go with them, that crossbow of yours will come in useful up there. Jackson, the same goes for you. Everybody else, follow me.¡±


    I set off at a near-sprint with a growing number of people following behind. Crynn and Fang Mei ran alongside me. The palace grounds reached almost half a mile from north to south, but the echo of combat carried to us through the air. Every second it took to reach the fight, people who relied on me died. And my anger at these fucking assholes who invaded my home grew to ever greater heights.


    The short sprint gave Quixbix a chance to chime in. <I¡¯ve talked with Quinn, and she has given me all the details they¡¯ve managed to collate in the Command hub. The leader¡¯s name is Darik Scargiver. I¡¯ve heard of him. He¡¯s a Mammutodon, they are long-lived buggers and he¡¯s been around for a couple of centuries, earned himself quite the nasty reputation too. Darik¡¯s a complete sociopath and would give Doyle a run for his money in a lack of empathy competition. He''s been making some very unsavoury threats, and he is the kind of piece of shit who follows through on them. His reputation matters more to him than the pain and suffering he inflicts.>


    Right, kill the guy with a trunk with extreme prejudice.


    <That¡¯s about the size of it. He¡¯ll be level-capped to fifty by a glyph, but rumour has it that he reached the B-grade Brutal Dread Knight class. How many levels of that he has is a question we can¡¯t answer, hopefully, most of what he¡¯s allowed to utilise will be the G-graded Dread Knight or lower.>


    Quixbix, are you trying to warn me that this guy might be stronger than I am?


    <I was trying to avoid stating it so plainly. I didn¡¯t want to discourage you, but yeah. He will have you beat in single combat even with all the extra juice you¡¯ve squeezed out of the Framework.>


    Just as well, I¡¯ve got an army at my back.


    <So does he, Torin. So does he.>


    ***


    Jackson


    Jackson hurried through the palace¡¯s outer courtyards with Piper at his side which was a partial relief. Worry for Celeste and Britney gnawed at his stomach. They were in the city somewhere, possibly back at their shared home, but they were often out and about. Britney had opened an apothecary shop and Celeste often acted as a deputy for the city¡¯s castellan, Susan. They could have been anywhere when news came through that the shield had been breached.


    In short order, they reached the southern wall, and those worries had to take a backseat to the problems front and centre.


    ¡°Jackson, head up to the gatehouse,¡± LT directed after a quick assessment of the status quo. ¡°They might need your pyrotechnics to burn out any battering rams.¡±


    ¡°Will do.¡±


    Jackson, Piper, and the squad who followed them turned around the corner of the palace building itself and headed into the central rear bailey. LT, Nazz and those with them headed directly forward to the drum tower in the corner. That was the quickest way up to the walls.


    It didn¡¯t take Jackson long to reach the bastion gatehouse.


    A large number of very heavy items had been piled up behind the gate.


    In Jackson¡¯s estimation, even if the attackers managed to get the gate down it would be very difficult to make their way through. But the enemy didn¡¯t know that, and it wouldn¡¯t stop them from trying. He raced up the stone stairway to the top of the gatehouse leaping up the steps three at a time.


    At the top, Jackson found Shana and a dozen other archers loosing without stopping. Shana¡¯s long black hair was plastered in a mix of sweat, blood, and grimy dust. Evidence that even up here the defenders had been hard-pressed. The fortified wall had been chipped and some of the crenelations smashed to pieces leaving debris clogging up the wall-walk. Shana grunted in acknowledgement of his arrival and flashed him a wan smile before her focus shifted back to what was happening on the other side of the wall.


    The melee down below was a roiling mass of people and things looked grim for Shattered Legions who were defending. They were being pressed back by superior numbers. The assaulting mercs appeared to be rotating in and out of the battle line giving the defenders no let up.


    There was a group over by the gate who had a pulley system operating, hauling up the wounded from the fight.


    Jackson shot off several small balls of fire at opportune targets while he assessed the situation. ¡°Piper, they need help retrieving the wounded.¡±


    ¡°On it,¡± she replied without the need for further explanation and stepped up to the wall, peering over the edge to get her bearings on the situation below.


    With a quick assessment, Piper dipped into a pocket, pulled out a handful of seeds, and distributed them along the battlements. She stepped back to a safer distance, closed her eyes, and a green nimbus surrounded her body.


    The seeds exploded into life, growing at an extraordinarily accelerated rate. They dug into the nooks and crannies of the wall to root themselves and then spread over the battlement and down the wall to where the badly wounded waited. Dozens of vines wrapped around those who were out of the fight and started to evacuate them upwards.


    Shana paused in her arrow fire and leaned over the parapet to observe the wall of creeper vines that thickly carpeted it. Piper used animated vines to ferry up those too wounded to stand but the creepers also provided ample handholds for those still capable of pulling themselves up. ¡°Won¡¯t this make it easier for the enemy to scale the walls if they get close enough?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Piper grunted over to Shana with grit teeth. ¡°I can wither the vines as rapidly as grow them. The enemy won¡¯t be able to make use of them to reach the battlements if they break through.¡±


    Piper¡¯s intervention was so rapid and unexpected that the Medic Corp was unprepared for the sudden influx. Jackson had to help the first few wounded legionaries over to where they¡¯d established a triage area on a deeper section of the wall-walk that was sheltered from the attacks that zinged up at them from the mercenaries down below.


    After he helped the first man over and lay him down on a bed, Jackson looked over and spotted his friend Tommy amongst those tending the wounded.


    ¡°Tommy, thank heavens, you¡¯re okay. Are Carlos and D-Ball here with you?¡±


    Hearing his friend¡¯s voice, Tommy looked up from the soldier he¡¯d been tending. His morose expression spoke volumes, and Jackson felt a lump the size of a golf ball form in his throat.


    ¡°They¡­they didn¡¯t make it, Jackson. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Tommy rose from his knees and took a step towards Jackson when another of the medical staff put a hand on his shoulder and asked for help.


    ¡°You¡¯re needed here, Tommy,¡± Jackson choked out. ¡°We¡¯ll¡­we¡¯ll speak after.¡±


    Jackson left it that and stumbled out of the triage zone and back into the hurdy-gurdy of the conflict.


    {I don¡¯t like the vibes I¡¯m feeling from you, young man.} Quincy, Jackson¡¯s reluctant sprite companion, muttered in his head. {Don¡¯t do anything stupid.}


    ¡°I thought you wanted out of this arrangement!¡±


    {I do¡­ but not by getting you killed. The Shattered Goddess would not approve. You are one of her heralds now.}


    The emotional pain Jackson felt started to give way to a raging inferno of fury and the pace of his steps increased.


    {You¡¯re about to go Nova on me, aren¡¯t you? Well, I can tell talking sense into you is already a lost cause. At least, be sensible and lay down a wave of the white flames to heal your allies first. There are so many in dire straits in range this could be the end of you if you aren¡¯t careful.}


    The sprite¡¯s advice came just in time. Jackson took heed and adjusted his plan to incorporate it.


    The Herald of the Ever-Shifting Flame activated Herald¡¯s Burden. With so many people dedicated to the Shattered Goddess in range, Jackson¡¯s mana pool increased by more than ten thousand. This afforded him a degree of power he¡¯d never experienced; it was almost orgasmic.


    But borrowing such power came with heavy risk. In the time it took him to leap onto the parapet he had lost three hundred hit points without being touched by a single attack.


    The Burden.


    He took damage whenever those who boosted his strength were slain while it remained active. Qunicy was not wrong, this might kill him, but before it did, he would empty the tank and burn these fucking bastards to cinders.


    First, though, he dumped two thousand mana, a fifth of his new mana into a burst of purifying white flame and let it envelop everyone in a two-hundred-metre range. Only his allies would benefit from its healing properties. That should help stave off the impending deaths of the worst off as well as his own. Long enough for them to get to safety.


    Blinking away the glare of the blast of white, Jackson leapt off the battlements and spread his Greater Pyromancer¡¯s Cloak wide, his spread fingers creating heat thermals underneath to glide on like a bird of prey.


    It was time to get his burn on.

 Book 5: Chapter 17 & 18

    Chapter 17


    We finally reached the makeshift barriers that blocked the gap between the palace walls and the shoreline. I sent a quick message to the defenders using Clarion¡¯s Call.


    The cavalry has arrived. Anyone thinking of a heroic last stand, think again and save your ass. There is plenty more shit to do and none of you are off the hook yet.


    Message sent, I activated Dragon¡¯s Leap, pushed off from the ground, and soared over the barricades. While still in the air, I expelled a charge of Dragon¡¯s Breath and unleashed a cone of frost on the incoming patch of ground. The burst of cold cleared out a spot for me to land safely as the mercenaries instinctively dove out of the way.


    The Goresteel Greatblade appeared in my hands, and I went to work hacking and slashing at those too slow to get out of my combat arc. A screaming orc warrior with two deep gouges under his eyes was the first to react to my presence and charged back into the fray, only to be skewered on the end of the greatblade. With a boot to his chest, I yanked the weapon out of the bloody wound and the orc toppled backwards with a gurgled whimper.


    <The old wounds under his eyes mark him as one of Scargiver¡¯s fanatics. Beyond that, I can see the markings of a few other infamous companies with unsavoury reputations in the melee. You sure do know how to attract the scum of the Darkwyrlds. It must be your sparkling personality.>


    ¡°It¡¯s a gift,¡± I muttered, quickly launching two Chaos Missiles, one to either side of my position.


    They whizzed off to their targets twenty metres away and detonated, blowing chunks out of the earth and knocking mercs to the floor. The spell use and aggressive leap into the midst of the enemy had the desired effect; it opened a gap that the crewmen following me could pour into. Fang Mei and Crynn were two of the first to clamber over from our side of the barricade and set about making their presence felt. I returned to it myself and soon the pair had fought their way to my side. Their cutlass and daggers claimed blood and lives along the way.


    Danny bounded from the top of the barricade with a mighty bellow not far to my right and came hurtling down, warhammer in hand, like a murderous meat train, uncaring of what he crushed in his fury. Everywhere I peered, up and down the line, the mercenaries reeled back in shock at the sudden arrival of fresh reinforcements who also happened to be a bit stronger than the average soldier they¡¯d been fighting thus far.


    Unfortunately, we weren¡¯t the only ones with backup. A second wave of merc attackers further back unleashed a series of bellowed battle cries and rushed forward. The few ships MacDonald had been unable to disable had almost reached the frontline too.


    ¡°Where is that mammoth prick,¡± I grunted to my imp. ¡°I thought he¡¯d been bitching about a lack of real competition.¡±


    <You don¡¯t live as long as Darik Scargiver without learning how to pick your battles and disguising caution as callous disregard for those under your command. He¡¯ll sit back and watch, analyse your strengths, and wait for you to exhaust some of your potential on lesser opponents. It¡¯s when you¡¯re vulnerable that he¡¯ll step in and take the credit for being the big man. If you don¡¯t want that to happen then you¡¯ll need to force his hand.>


    I took out my displeasure on a black-bearded dwarf berserker. There seemed to be rather a lot of them in this merc army, a good quarter of their troops, at least.


    With a precise sweep, the Greatblade scythed through his grotty beard, and it dropped to the floor followed by a gallon of blood that flowed from the tear in his throat. The dwarf dropped his axes and clutched at the mortal wound in his neck desperately trying to keep the precious lifeblood on the inside without much luck.


    Fang Mei swept in behind him and lodged one of her dragon teeth daggers in the back of his skull and ended his miserable existence.


    ¡°Kill stealer!¡±


    The pretty cambion woman winked at me with a big grin on her face. ¡°Love you,¡± she giggled and then slinked back into the battlefield in search of her next victim.


    Regardless of the situation, I had half a mind to follow and give her a taste of her own medicine when something else drew my gaze up above.


    A green figure flew across the sky from the direction of the palace walls.


    ¡°Jackson?¡±


    And then all hell broke loose within the enemy lines. A hellscape wreathed in emerald flames.


    From his gliding position Jackson unleashed a torrent of sorcerous green blaze down upon them of a breadth and intensity that I could barely comprehend. A wave of green fire engulfed the approaching second wave of mercenaries and the few remaining mobile ships. They licked close to where our people were fighting but stopped short a few feet from our forwardmost position. Jackson exerting control.


    How much mana must he be expending to create a field of fire that large?


    It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d diluted the lethality of the flames either. Being at the tip of the arc battling their way through the enemy, I could feel the furnace-like heat radiating from the intense conflagration. Without armour, it was enough to singe your eyebrows.


    The blast of heat was followed by screams and the scent of burning flesh that emanated from the firestorm and turned my stomach ever so slightly. I forced the revulsion from my mind, this was not time to rest on our laurels.


    Up above, the inferno sprouting from Jackson¡¯s outstretched fingers sputtered and petered out and he visibly sagged in their air.


    ¡°Crynn, run interference for me.¡±


    The Acheronian woman shifted position and put herself in the path of the fighters in front of me while I disengaged from the melee. I took a few steps back, rocked back on my heels and then pushed forward to build a bit of pace and then used Dragon¡¯s Leap to carry me up and over those in my way and into the heart of the dying firestorm. Things that had been set aflame continued to burn and the air remained arid and hot but without Jackson fuelling the fire patches of earth had become flame free.


    As I dreaded would happen, the floating figure of Jackson wobbled in the air at the same time the flames he was generating started to die down.


    Using Herald¡¯s Burden was the only explanation of where Jackson could get enough mana to cast such a huge effect. Even so, a blanket of flame of such magnitude and intensity had to have tapped him to the bone.


    The mana exhaustion from such a singular expenditure would be immense.


    The mantle which had been spread out stiffly, rippled and fluttered as the focus of its bearer faltered and failed. When consciousness abandoned him, Jackson dropped like a stone into the heart of the battlefield.


    It wasn¡¯t the fall that worried me, Jackson hadn¡¯t been that high and his armour would mitigate the damage down to a bit of sore bruising at worst. No, it was that he¡¯d barely been able to lift a finger to protect himself and the merc survivors would doubtless be highly motivated for vengeance and tear his wiry frame to pieces at the first opportunity.


    It was a race against time, I dodged burning wreckage and smouldering bodies, sprinting to where Jackson¡¯s prone form lay in a heap on the ground.


    Dragon¡¯s Leap wouldn¡¯t be much help, I could run faster along the ground than I could soaring through the air. It didn¡¯t help that the breathed air was hot, near scorching, and cloyingly thick. An aftereffect of Jackson¡¯s widespread burn. The grass and vegetation all around were shrivelled and blackened. Larger clumps were still aflame or that could have been the bodies of mercenaries caught up in the conflagration and unable to protect themselves.


    I arrived at the site of Jackson¡¯s tumble from the sky in the nick of time.


    Standing over his prone form was yet another dwarf, whether he would have been black-bearded or not I could no longer tell as all the facial hair had been burned away. He looked more like a short bald man than a dwarf.


    The scorched dwarf had a spear in gauntleted mitts and had already stabbed the downed sorcerer in the abdomen while bellowing a litany of curse words in his direction.


    The enraged dwarf pulled the spear tip out with a wet schlock and raised it high for the coup de grace. ¡°Die ya fecking firebug!¡±


    He didn¡¯t get to finish a second downward thrust, a series of icy throwing knives sprouted from his throat and chest, conjured and hurled from my fingers. My aim had become pretty good after many, many hours of practice. The icicle daggers weren¡¯t enough to kill the dwarf, but they did draw his attention away from Jackson and at the incoming corsair clad in black dragon scales.


    Wisely, the dwarf decided against sacrificing his life in the name of vengeance and stumbled away from Jackson readying himself to ward off the new threat. He pulled the ice blades out and raised the spear, interposing it between me and him.


    The dwarf¡¯s caution alone wouldn¡¯t have saved him in the long run. I reversed the Goresteel Greatblade and brought the serrated edge down on the haft of the spear just below the socket. Pulling it back roughly, the blade¡¯s effect seriously damaged the spear¡¯s durability and left it in a shoddy state of disrepair. Ready to crack.


    Before I could take advantage of the situation, I was forced to duck and roll away, coming to a stop in a position to guard the downed Jackson. A huge, metallic spiked ball attached to a chain had been hurled in my direction. Rather than the mace head falling to the floor, the chain retracted and pulled the massive weapon back to its owner. Emerging from behind the wheel of the forwardmost ship came a very angry-looking elephant man.


    The figurehead of the ship matched the Loxodonta features of the mace-wielder identifying it as his ship.


    Darik Scargiver looked more elephant than a mammoth now. Much of the thick brown hair I¡¯d seen in the reports about him had been singed to the roots and exposed the leathery skin beneath. It was difficult to tell if it had been grey-covered as it was by the blistering of burns.


    ¡°Carter! You show yourself. Finally!¡± he bellowed.


    The dwarf looked between me, the angry mammutodon, and his damaged spear. This mercenary didn¡¯t have the two tusk-shaped scars under his eyes so presumably he wasn¡¯t one of Darik¡¯s. Regardless of whether he was or not, the dwarf merc decided being elsewhere was in his best interests and started to run as fast as his short legs would carry him in the opposite direction of the battle.


    From the periphery of my vision, I could see that he was not the only one.


    Jackson¡¯s blanket of fire had killed or badly wounded many and that was enough to convince the survivors, most of whom who fought for profit, not honour or a cause, that it was time to call it a day. They fled back to the beaches where they came ashore not knowing that Marena¡¯s Mercy had already dealt with most of the fleet which had remained on the lake.


    I didn¡¯t know how the few ships that remained afloat and in range fared against Brant and the small bay fleet. Anastasia hadn¡¯t sent me any messages suggesting it had all gone wrong. They were unlikely to find safe transport away from the combat zone.


    Darik raised his two trunks and trumpeted out the mammutodon equivalent of a war cry. His big, rounded feet pounded into the torn-up ground, each step eliciting a slight tremor in the ground from the sheer bulk of his body. He probably didn¡¯t weigh as much as an actual adult elephant did, but it was a closer run thing than I cared to admit.


    Remembering Quixbix''s warning from earlier, a quick plan formed.


    First, I slapped a charge of Shattering on Darik to nullify some of the protection of his very large suit of plate armour that he moved in like it was no heavier than cloth and followed that up with two Chaos Missiles. One targeted at his legs, the other at his torso. The impact of the magical attacks crackled loudly and while they weren¡¯t powerful enough to put Scargiver down, it did interrupt the flow and progress of his charge.


    Then I did something I doubted my opponent expected. I hefted Jackson onto my shoulder and pegged it back towards the Shattered Storm¡¯s lines. Completely ignoring his unspoken challenge for single combat.


    The elephant-man must have thought I was some kind of honourable muppet.


    ¡°What are you? Some kind of coward? Face me!¡± Darik screeched at my back, and I felt more than saw the huge mace head on his weapon fly through the air and collide with the ground at the back of my heels.  A close shave indeed, I wouldn¡¯t want to have my ankles broken by that thing.


    ¡°Nope,¡± I grunted in answer, not that he could hear me with the growing distance between us. ¡°I¡¯m just not stupid enough to do what you want.¡±


    If Darik wanted me, then the bastard would have to come to me instead. The unanswered question was whether the buzzing wasps of anger in his mind were riled up enough to be the stupid one.


    Heading back to our lines was not without some risk, though.


    The mercenaries currently fleeing the battlefield were the surviving elements of the second wave. Jackson hadn¡¯t enveloped those fighting on the frontline, too many of our people might have been caught up in the jade firestorm. I had to stow the Goresteel Greatblade and revert to a conjured ice scimitar. Jackson might be wiry, but he still took up too much room on my shoulder to wield a sword two-handed. To clear the way, I used up a couple more charges of my coif¡¯s breath weapon and before I knew it the southeast corner bastion of Stormwarden¡¯s Palace loomed above me.


    Piper, who had unsurprisingly been keenly watching my progress had shifted her position from the southern gatehouse and sent one of her creeper vines reaching out towards us. I could see the concern and worry on her face. I¡¯d not been able to perform a deep dive on Jackson¡¯s condition. His breath was shallow but steady. He was alive and hopefully would stay that way. Herald¡¯s Burden could complicate matters though. He was not supposed to use it when the boosting group were in such peril. Luckily for him, most of the original defenders have been air-lifted by his girlfriend to safety.


    ¡°Torin, thank you,¡± Piper called down once she¡¯d hauled Jackson¡¯s prone body up to the safety of the battlements and hugged him tightly. She popped a healing pellet under his tongue to dissolve.


    ¡°Eyes behind you,¡± LT screamed from the battlement and pulled Piper and Jackson back. A blast of lightning left his fingers and arced over my head.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    I span around and resummoned the Goresteel Greatblade and was just in time to dodge the incoming mace-head. My head and shoulders flowed out of the way Neo-style and the spiked sphere a bit larger than a basketball zipped through the space where my head had been and smashed into the wall with thunderous force, cracking the block and showering chipped bits of masonry into the ditch.


    Darik Scargiver had taken the bait and followed me but the distraction of seeing Jackson to safety had almost cost me dear.


    ¡°There is nowhere to run now, Carter!¡± Darik roared and retracted the mace-head. It snapped back with great velocity and the mammutodon swung the weapon in a wide arc; it collided with a couple of legionaries who had tried to engage him and knocked them away coughing up blood.


    The infuriated mercenary only had eyes for me. I think disabling his ship had offended him deeply. Technically, that had been Jackson but if Darik wanted to place the blame at my feet, it suited my purpose down to the ground.


    Shana now would be an excellent moment to show off what you¡¯ve got. I thought to my elite assassin using Clarion¡¯s Call.


    Whether she¡¯d had an eye on the unfolding events or simply reacted quickly to my prompting, an arrow infused with dark-magic-laden poison lodged behind the large flapping ear of Darik when he advanced towards me. From up above, LT let loose with magical bolts he could produce and Nazz got in on the action when one of her oversized crossbow bolts connected with Darik¡¯s chest and punched through the breastplate of his armour.


    That got the Scargiver¡¯s attention, and his attacking frenzy stuttered out. He hadn¡¯t expected to be this vulnerable. A gift like Shattering keeps on giving until it runs out and then I just add another charge.


    It probably occurred to Darik for the first time then that he was in serious deep shit.


    ¡°To me, to me, Company to my side and then fall back!¡± he screamed with genuine concern and pulled the bolt free from his chest.


    I popped a mana pellet, blasted him with another Chaos Missile and ran head-on at him.


    A few of his surviving people responded to his orders and tried to coalesce around their leader, but some were taken down by my corsairs and too many others weren¡¯t part of his company and ignored the command. Meanwhile, Shana did not let up from where she had positioned herself. I was grateful to feel through our shared bond that she hadn¡¯t risked leaving the palace walls.


    Darik backed away, with me advancing, cutting down anyone who tried to block my path and eventually, we entered the scorched area. To the left, where my crew poured over the barricades, the mercenary line had completely crumbled. Those not on the run were being put out of their misery.


    The Scargiver started to run out of people to sacrifice to delay my inexorable advance and then faced the treble whammy of Crynn and Danny cutting or battering through his last few standing soldiers down from the left and Fang Mei who had got behind them and surgically excised those who were clearing the path for retreat.


    Soon, Darik was the only one left standing. A dozen black-shafted arrows sticking out from various parts of his body including one of his eyes that had been left a bloody ruin. ¡°I¡­I surrender¡­¡±


    His breathing was heavy and laboured. The mammutodon was strong but didn¡¯t have the stamina to go with that strength. We had worn him down to the edge of exhaustion. Shana¡¯s dark-affinity poisons that coursed through his veins helped greatly with that.


    The old mercenary could barely lift his mighty mace which had caused so much damage to my people.


    ¡°You break into my home, threaten my citizens, and you expect mercy?¡±


    ¡°Not mercy,¡± he gasped. ¡°Expedience. I¡¯m just a merc for hire. Your real enemy is the Dominarius Consortium, not me. I have two centuries of experience; a stellar track record and you have a powerful negotiating position. I can build you an army, and kill your enemies, all you have to do is let me live. Sign me to your canon or I will sign a Framework contract, whichever you prefer and then I am yours to command.¡±


    It was a tempting offer.


    Darik Scargiver would be a strong and powerful ally.


    My eyes met with the crew members who surrounded Darik. I didn¡¯t see any particular resistance in their expressions. I was their Captain, and they trusted me to make the right decision. However, there was one other person who had pushed forward to be here for the Scargiver¡¯s fall.


    Calum MacDonald stood on the perimeter. He was covered in blood and soot. There were obvious life-threatening wounds all over his body and the man should have let Piper evacuate him up the palace walls as she had with all those who had fought during the defence from the beginning.


    The look on his face was one of abject disgust at the mere thought I¡¯d let this pig live.


    ¡°What say you, Calum? After what he¡¯s done, does he get to live?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not my decision to make.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you that. I asked what you would do?¡±


    ¡°He killed thousands of good people and threatened to do worse to those who survived, I would gut the piece of shit.¡±


    ¡°You heard the man,¡± I announced to the growing circle of corsairs. ¡°Gut the piece of shit.¡±


    The crew moved in. Swords, axes, and spears pierced Darik in every vital spot he had left. To give credit to the man, he gave Calum a nod of respect and didn¡¯t beg or cry. He simply accepted that today was his end.


    When it was done, I walked over to Calum and threw his arm over my shoulder. We¡¯d rarely had a chance to talk one-on-one. Now was as good a time as any. ¡°You look half dead, man. But you did a fine job, I owe you my thanks.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t do it for you, but for the people who live here.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t like me, do you, Calum?¡±


    ¡°Not particularly, Torin, no.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough.¡±


    ¡°You were too dependent on the shield,¡± he said suddenly, shifting the conversation. ¡°With the world the way it is, there should have been a secondary line of defensive structures inside. This could have been much worse. The mercenaries were disorganised and lacked discipline. They attacked as individuals and not as a coordinated army.¡±


    ¡°Agreed.¡±


    Calum was right, we¡¯d concentrated our work crews on Grand Rapids and other places that didn¡¯t have a shield generator. It proved to be a grave error with serious repercussions. ¡°Will you stick around and do the honours?¡±


    ¡°If that is what Regina requires of me.¡±


    Not exactly an enthusiastic response and one that killed the conversation, there wasn¡¯t a lot else to say. We walked back to the palace in silence until the end when I deposited Calum on a stretcher. ¡°Would you really have let him live if I hadn¡¯t been here,¡± he asked as I turned away.


    ¡°Probably not,¡± I admitted. ¡°He would have been useful, but this wasn¡¯t a Doyle situation. Darik¡¯s crimes were committed directly against the Shattered Storm. And there is a limit to my forgiveness. Expedient or not. Maybe if he had something beneficial to offer more specific to our current problems, but not for some nebulous possible future benefit.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the honesty.¡±


    ¡°Heal up, Calum. You¡¯re too useful to let die. Oh, and stop giving Trisha the cold shoulder. She¡¯s still your friend and you¡¯re being a proper dick. Get over yourself already.¡±


    I skipped away from him before he could snap back an indignant reply. Hopefully, my parting words would sink in later and he¡¯d let Trisha mend the rift between them.


    As much as I wanted to relax and celebrate a hard-won victory, the Command Centre had to be my destination. We still had issues to deal with and I needed to know had badly this invasion had hurt us.


    Chapter 18


    Shana hopped down from the wall when I passed through the open gatehouse that had now been cleared of obstacles. She embraced and kissed me deeply on the lips. Her face was filthy and smudged the sweat, soot, and blood all over my face. Although to be fair, I probably left as much muck on her as she did on me.


    ¡°That was close,¡± Shana whispered when we broke the kiss.


    There was no need to add too close to the end of the statement.


    ¡°Where is Jackson?¡±


    ¡°Piper has taken him to the hospital wing. You got to him just in time, another close shave. His friend, the cleric Tommy, checked him over before they left and said he was deep in the red, but he¡¯ll live. He¡¯ll be out of commission for a few weeks, at least.¡±


    Quixbix had confirmed as much on the way back to the palace. Health damage can be healed, usually, but there was no quick fix for the effects of over-exerting your mana. Certainly not to the degree Jackson had. His selfless act has saved a lot of lives today and would have the knock-on effect of saving many more tomorrow, and in the days to come. But it also robbed the Shattered Storm of a powerful asset during this critical period. And me of a close friend to watch my back.


    I took Shana¡¯s hand in mine and led her back into the palace. On the way, we ran into Mia and the trio carrying Dash. The fawn bounced and hopped with exuberant energy between their legs, unaware of the death and horror that soiled the earth on the other side of the walls.


    I placed a quick kiss on my son¡¯s head before Mia could pull him out of reach.


    ¡°You¡¯re covered in blood and grime, Torin,¡± she snapped in exasperation. ¡°You can¡¯t get that on the baby. It¡¯s unsanitary. Go wash up and join us in the creche for a proper reunion.¡±


    It didn¡¯t escape my notice that Shana didn¡¯t get the same admonition from the protective Latina woman who handed Dash over to her without a qualm. This was a battle I could not win and was better not to fight.


    ¡°Would that I could. The immediate crisis is averted, but we¡¯re just about ready to lurch right into another.¡±


    ¡°I saw Susan on her way to the hub when we left the Shattered Temple complex. She should be there already.¡±


    ¡°Good to know. I¡¯ll visit you the moment I get a chance.¡±


    Mia moved in to hug me until she got close enough to sniff me and pulled back. ¡°Bathe first¡­thoroughly.¡±


    I headed off with a wink and a grin, my spirits raised despite the dark day behind us. The five women with the cradled baby and fawn in tow disappeared up a wide staircase to the accommodation levels.


    The Command Hub was as hectic as when I left a few hours earlier. Our epic victory had done little to reduce the plethora of issues that demanded attention.


    Susan nodded gravely as I swept into the room, a Framework tablet in her hand. ¡°Torin.¡±


    ¡°Susan, what can you tell me about events that I might have missed.¡±


    ¡°We aren¡¯t in a position to give you a full inventory yet, but these are the highlights. The shield is back up, and the disruptor devices the attackers used to maintain a hole have been destroyed. Manually reinserting the missing pylon and returning the field in that section to full strength will take longer.


    ¡°The main mercenary attack force is in full retreat. A little over four thousand made it out of the shield¡¯s range before the disruptors failed. Half that number again is trapped within the interior. It¡¯s mostly those I warned you about before the battle, the groups that slipped away from the main mercenary army. The 3<sup>rd</sup> Legion from Grand Rapids are hunting down those stragglers as we speak. For that reason, we haven¡¯t given the citizens the all-clear to leave their homes or shelters yet.¡±


    I nodded my agreement at the precautionary measure. There would be a few that chafed at being told to remain inside, there always was, but it was for their own good.


    ¡°The fight out on the bay is over for now,¡± Susan continued. ¡°Brant and his people captured several of the remaining ships, but four have fled, they are being harried by Storm Raider as best as it can from the depths. That makes a total of nine escapees when you add in those ships that took off earlier. It¡¯s unclear whether they will try and rendezvous with the retreating mercenaries to pick them up. Once the runners found that their original beach incursion point was compromised, they headed for the far south of the island instead.¡±


    ¡°As angry as I am, it might be better if they did get away, otherwise, we¡¯re going to have to hunt them down and we¡¯re already smarting from this conflict as it is.¡±


    ¡°I agree. Especially as there is more bad news. The scout ship we¡¯ve got shadowing the fleet from Wisconsin has reported back. They are still on the way. Their transport barges are slower than the merc warships, but they will be capable of making landfall before dusk. Either here on the main island or at either of the two Fox Islands to the south of us.¡±


    ¡°Damn it. I¡¯d almost forgotten about them. Is it too much to ask that they¡¯d turn tail and run away.¡±


    It was at this point that Doyle interposed his advice into the conversation. ¡°It appears our earlier assumption that the Wisconsin faction is acting independently of Darik Scargiver and his assault is likely accurate. If they were in contact, then Scargiver¡¯s failure would surely have been fed back to them by now. Their lack of armaments makes them particularly vulnerable and turning back while we are still occupied in a clean-up operation would be the most sensible option.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps they know how badly Storm Raider is damaged.¡±


    ¡°That is possible,¡± Doyle admitted. ¡°But nobody knows better than Hudson Reed what only one of your dungeon ships can do without even surfacing. And if Hudson knows, then the fragment does too. Short of confirmation that Storm Raider and Marena¡¯s Mercy have been destroyed or permanently disabled, the continued voyage makes little logical sense. Unless they are ignorant of what has happened here.¡±


    ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter. They have to be dealt with and I¡¯m assuming Marena¡¯s Mercy is all we have to handle the situation.¡±


    Susan nodded, confirming my suspicion. ¡°None of the seven ships we had in dock came out of the encounter unscathed. Had it not been for Brant and the splinter ships, they would have been overwhelmed. The merc vessels were built for combat in a way that these were not, and it showed. None of ours were sunk, but only four are still seaworthy and in any state to accompany you, but how useful they would be is questionable.¡±


    ¡°No, better to keep them back in the dock for repairs in case something else rears its head while Ana and I take care of the Wisconsin flotilla.¡±


    ¡°There is a silver lining,¡± Doyle pointed out. ¡°Many of the ships brought ashore have been disabled not destroyed. And those we¡¯ve sunk in the bay can be retrieved and probably repaired. We have the raw materials to forge a formidable war armada, we just need to carve out the time and opportunity to bring it to bear. Today has been a wake-up call, exposed that there is much we still don¡¯t understand about the capacity of other Darkwyrlders, but we can be all the stronger for it.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but huff a disbelieving grunt.


    Time to get our shit together?


    The way things had been unfolding it would be a cold day in hell before we caught a lucky break of that magnitude.


    ***


    An hour later I was back on the Bridge of Marena¡¯s Mercy. The splinter vessels had re-docked and Anastasia had worked her magic to slough the filth from my body automatically. I¡¯d never admit it to Mia, but she was right, it did feel good to be clean.


    The ship powered through the murky, cold lake water and passed North and South Fox Island to intercept the Wisconsin troop transports.


    ¡°We are in range of the fleet, Captain,¡± Nazz called out from a pilot station. ¡°There is no indication that they¡¯ve detected our approach.¡±


    ¡°Prepping the torpedo tubes,¡± Anastasia practically cackled with her usual enthusiasm for mayhem and murder. ¡°Targets acquired.¡±


    I raised a hand into the air. ¡°Wait!¡±


    The moment the hulls of the transport vessels had popped up on the screen I¡¯d felt a tingle in my fingers.


    Preternatural Insight had activated.


    The skill had been unusually quiet of late and had been ever since the risk-laden encounter with the fragment via the secret channels that connected us. When it had almost egged me on into an early grave. I¡¯d even started to wonder if the skill had been deactivated despite it still being listed on my character sheet.


    That possibility evoked both a positive and negative reaction.


    The negative was that the skill had been incredibly useful over the last year, not having it would make me weaker and remove a distinct advantage.


    The flip side was that the skill had been created by Ashli for its use once it gained a foothold back in this dimension. Who knew what other pitfalls the skill created, lurking in the aether, just waiting for an opportunity to sucker punch me.


    And this wasn¡¯t something that Dean or Violet could help me workaround, they were completely blind to the skill¡¯s existence, writing it off as another glitch in the system left behind by Ashli¡¯s shoddy coding. There were certainly flaws in several of Ashli¡¯s designs, but the clever bastard had used that to disguise its malicious updates to the Framework.


    The skill had warned me against acting rashly against the fleet. But was the skill¡¯s sudden reactivation for my benefit or the fragments? There was only one way to find out.


    ¡°Take us up to periscope depth. I want to get a look at them from the air.¡±


    Anastasia pouted in disappointment but knew better than to make a fuss in a situation like this. There was a time and a place for games of independence and rebellion, and she¡¯d become adept at identifying one from the other. The only spankings she received these days were those she pretended not to want.


    Marena¡¯s Mercy rose smoothly from the lakebed that the ship had been skirting and halted a dozen feet from the surface. A thin rod extended from the tip of the crow¡¯s nest and broke through the surface tension with a soft plink. The rod was thin enough that it would go unnoticed by all but the most keen-eyed. It wasn¡¯t a true periscope, but we didn¡¯t need it to be. The nature of a dungeon ship meant we just needed to get any part of it into a position where it could ¡®see¡¯ and that would feedback information back to the viewers here on the Bridge.


    Nazz was the first to say something. ¡°What are they doing? Is that some kind of Earther communication? If so, it doesn¡¯t seem very efficient.¡±


    ¡°In a manner of speaking,¡± I answered in a low tone, peering at the unexpected scene in front of me.


    The lead four ships had several men clothed in Wisconsin colours standing at the prow. Each hefted a large white flag that they were waving in a constant figure-of-eight formation that had to be tiring given the size of the white cloth they were waving and the stiff breeze that whipped at them. No sooner had I thought that than one of them stepped back and handed the apparatus over to a deputy, who stepped up and took his place.


    ¡°The white flag means they are trying to surrender.¡±


    ¡°Or they want us to think they are,¡± Anastasia pointed out. ¡°Lull us in with their fakery and then bam, hit us when we least expect it.¡±


    ¡°Hit us with what?¡± Crynn genuinely asked. ¡°The ships are virtually unarmed. Above and below.¡±


    ¡°Sneaky mages below decks or weirdos who make deals with otherworldly entities. Don¡¯t forget the shit the Hellhounds pulled with that whirlpool, Torin. Those barges looked fucking harmless too and then before you know it, I¡¯m being sucked into an Archfiend¡¯s ass.¡±


    There was a part confused, part horrified expression on Crynn¡¯s face at Ana¡¯s modified recitation of history.


    ¡°They tried to pull us into a nether demesne, not his ass,¡± I corrected her. ¡°And we didn¡¯t get sucked in, did we. I killed the summoners before that could happen.¡±


    What Anastasia said was true, though, and there was no reason to trust a fragment inhabited Hudson. However, I didn¡¯t get the feeling that he was here. ¡°Can you feel any of the same wrongness you felt in the Crypt Keeper¡¯s Tomb? The fragment absorbed the corruption from within that dungeon. If it was here, you should be able to sense it.¡±


    Ana rolled her eyes a little before finally admitting. ¡°No, I can¡¯t feel anything like that, it¡¯s probably not here.¡±


    ¡°Then I think it''s worth taking a risk that they are on the level. Search the old-world frequencies. If they are flying a white flag they might be trying to contact us via radio.¡±


    Anastasia closed her eyes and then opened them a moment later. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± she confirmed with a sigh. ¡°They are broadcasting a surrender. Somebody called General Howson wants to talk to you.¡±


    ¡°Okay, send them a message, let them know I¡¯m willing to talk but on my terms. And get in contact with Regina and see if she has anyone on staff who knows this Howson from before the Darkwyrlds. Give me a feel for the measure of the man.¡±


    After the acknowledgement message was despatched, we sent one of the splinter pods to the surface remotely. That way we could bring this general back to Marena¡¯s Mercy for a parley without showing ourselves.

 Book 5: Chapters 19 & 20

    Chapter 19


    An hour later, I was in the submerged wet dock with a dozen of the best fighters in the faction. Slicer, the smaller of Ana¡¯s two combat golems was hidden in the shadowy recesses in the ceiling ready to pounce at the first sign of betrayal.


    A medium-sized splinter vessel popped through the pressurised and shielded docking portal and came to rest at the side of the dock. The protective field dropped from around the splinter pod and General Howson along with two other soldiers calmly exited the vehicle that rocked gently from the motion of their debarkation.


    Howson looked to be in his sixties with a typical military buzzcut hairstyle and full uniform. From what Regina could tell me, Howson was not National Guard, but a semi-retired lifelong Army man. It was the semi-retirement part that meant he hadn¡¯t been in Virginia or any of the other major armed forces bases. He hadn¡¯t been discharged but at the same time didn¡¯t have an assignment. It meant he had survived when much of the other military brass had not for various reasons post-integration.


    ¡°General Howson, welcome aboard Marena¡¯s Mercy.¡±


    He nodded in response. ¡°Captain Carter.¡±


    I gestured behind me to a table that had been laid out in the docking bay which had a pitcher of water and some glasses. ¡°Take a seat, and you can tell me what I can do for you.¡±


    A flash of irritation crossed the stern man¡¯s features. Likely insulted that I would treat with him in a docking bay and not a proper meeting facility. I certainly had those but felt little desire to expose any more of my ship than was strictly necessary. Preternatural Instinct might have alerted to me an opportunity, but Ana was correct. These people had been the enemy for the better part of the last year and couldn¡¯t be trusted fully.


    The General sat at one end with me at the other. His two soldiers assumed positions on either side of his chair and did not sit down even though extra spaces were available.


    Unlike the general, his guards did not wear formal US military uniforms but the same kind of armour the rest of us were equipped with. They did have three chevrons painted in bright yellow on the shoulder plates to denote their rank.


    After pouring myself a glass of water and taking a sip, I urged Howson to make his pitch. ¡°Go on.¡±


    ¡°Loaded on the ships I¡¯ve brought with me are close to sixty-thousand well-equipped and levelled Wisconsin soldiers. I am their commanding officer and hereby wish to formally surrender them and me to your forces. They are to be treated as prisoners of war under the articles of the Geneva Convention.¡±


    I toyed with my glass for a moment before answering him. ¡°There is no more United Nations, General Howson, and that means no more Geneva Conventions.¡±


    ¡°That might be the case out there, Carter, but on Earth, we are all citizens of this planet, and the standards of those conventions still apply. Without such a guarantee, there can be no surrender. I¡¯ve been fully apprised of your capabilities and¡­proclivities. I came here to avoid a fight between us, but I won¡¯t serve up my men as sheep for the slaughter. We are prepared to fight if necessary and make you pay in the blood of your people for the folly.¡±


    This had not started well and although a part of me really wanted to re-educate the tightly wound man, it would be needlessly antagonistic. The point of bringing him aboard and not just sinking the ships from the deep was to hear the man out. Plus, the dropped comment about well-equipped soldiers was supposed to give me cause for concern. It didn¡¯t, but I think it was supposed to.


    Howson might be desperate to try negotiating with me, but old-school military men could also be set on their ways. Not to mention ruled by pride.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯m not actually familiar with what the conventions say but I get the gist. No mistreatment, arbitrary executions, that sort of thing. I can assure you of that much. Will even take a Framework oath to that effect.¡±


    A light squeak of displeasure came from the rafters where Slicer was concealed, whereby Anastasia was undoubtedly watching intently. She¡¯d probably been looking forward to walking a few of them into her dungeon and powering up.


    ¡°Provided they haven¡¯t committed any morally reprehensible crimes, that is. I¡¯m not offering a strings-free amnesty. This isn¡¯t a game of Monopoly, there are no get-out-of-jail-free cards. Scum and war criminals will feed the dungeon, one way or the other.¡±


    Howson nodded in understanding, and I felt Ana¡¯s discontent alleviated a little with the addendum.


    ¡°That is acceptable,¡± Howson confirmed. ¡°But you won¡¯t find any criminals in the companies I¡¯ve brought with me. We purged our ranks of that sort before setting out.¡±


    That was an interesting statement and shed a bit of light on what might be happening. But I needed to know more and now was the best opportunity to get pump him for some more. Post oath-swearing he might clam up and refuse to cooperate once he¡¯d got what he wanted.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t done quite yet, General. What prompted this sudden desire to switch sides?¡±


    The older man¡¯s face grew ruddy with anger and his fist slammed on the table and knocked over one of the empty glasses. ¡°We are not switching sides. We remain loyal to the people of Wisconsin.¡±


    I deftly caught the glass when it rolled off the side of the table and placed it back in the centre calmly, unruffled by his outburst. ¡°Understood, but that doesn¡¯t enlighten me as to your motives. You want me to accept the surrender of sixty-thousand mouths that I will need to feed, clothe, house, and guard. You must admit it does seem a little bit¡­off. What exactly are you running from General Howson?¡±


    Howson looked like he¡¯d bitten into a lemon when I phrased my query as running. My diplomacy skills were definitely rusty, I¡¯d grown used to using threats and ultimatums.


    ¡°Hudson Reed,¡± he answered when he managed to untwist his lips. ¡°Or whatever entity is controlling the giant now. It was Hudson who ordered this armada to set sail with no hope of success at the end. Only death. Since his uncle disappeared, he has systematically removed the old advisors and replaced them with the worst of the worst. He even sent an opportunist scumbag called Deeks to kill me, despite the loyalty I¡¯d demonstrated. No more. That was the last straw and proved without a shadow of a doubt that Hudson is no Reed. Not anymore.¡±


    This was further confirmation that what Willy Reed had inferred was indeed true. The fragment had taken control of his nephew. I¡¯d been 99% sure that was the case, but it never hurt to add a little more certainty.


    ¡°Why not overthrow him then? Why set out on a fool¡¯s mission and then surrender to me.¡±


    ¡°Damned Framework oaths!¡± Howson spat angrily. ¡°I still couldn¡¯t actively disobey Hudson¡¯s orders as the recognised Governor. The office I¡¯d sworn my loyalty to. He commanded us to set out for Stormblade Harbour and so we have. The only wiggle room I have is that he didn¡¯t dictate how the campaign should be executed or forbid surrender when the cause seems hopeless.¡±


    This was something else I was intimately familiar with. Defiance could always be enacted in the details. Adhering to the letter and not the spirit of the oath. If this was a bluff, it was an expertly crafted one. Even without the prompting of my skill, I would be tempted to believe the general.


    ¡°And I can only do that much because of the information we extracted. Deeks¡¯ attempt on my life failed obviously. The fool was not half as subtle or circumspect as he believed and we were ready, though the traitorous bastard managed to escape.


    ¡°My men captured one of his kill squad alive. The coward talked, virtually without prompting. Hudson spends his days feeding citizens to the dungeon for some reason. It¡¯s sickening. They¡¯ve seen him hooked up to the controls as if he were mainlining a drug from the experience. He is half out of his mind at times, that¡¯s when he mutters and reveals that some kind of impostor has made a puppet of the new Governor.¡±


    It felt like the blood drained from my face and my stomach dropped as the words left Howson¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°He¡¯s doing what?¡±


    ¡°Pardon?¡±


    ¡°The bit about the dungeon. Tell me more about what Hudson is doing in the dungeon?¡±


    ¡°He sits inside a dungeon with a bad reputation all day. The scum he has empowered rounds up citizens on trumped-up charges and forces them to enter the dungeon without adequate gear. According to Deeks¡¯ subordinate, they have been feeding hundreds, maybe thousands, by now, of people to it. None of them have survived that we¡¯ve heard. What he hopes to ga¡­¡±


    Howson was interrupted as it was my turn to slam a fist into the table in frustration.


    This was bad, very bad, and it had been going on for over a week already.


    I should have foreseen this possibility. Instead of using his elevated position to travel to every corrupted dungeon and draining it of energy within the Wisconsin faction¡¯s territory, the fragment had set up shop inside a conveniently placed corrupted core and was feeding it all the souls needed to fuel the creation of a new God-body for Ashli. The fragment simply sat back and absorbed all that poisoned soul energy.


    We could no longer sit back and hope to starve the bastard out. If we delay any longer, everything could be over before the end of the week.


    ¡°Your surrender is accepted, General. Get back to your ship and tell them to slow down and separate. I want a good half mile between each ship. We need to prepare somewhere for your troops to be processed and then bring the transports in one at a time. Be warned, any hint of funny business and we won¡¯t hesitate to sink every last ship¡­The fate of the world depends on this.¡±


    The last sentence was muttered too low to be heard by anyone except for Ana.


    Howson wouldn¡¯t understand the reference and I didn¡¯t want him thinking he had some leverage over me.


    ¡°The oath¡­¡± Howson reminded me with a perplexed expression. Understandable, given the sudden shift in my mood.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ll get the guarantees you need.¡±


    ***


    Texas, ruins of Fort Worth


    ¡°Pull back! Fallback you mangy laggards!¡± Brock bellowed over the cries and screams of combat. Hundreds of mercenaries had followed the initial ¡®advice¡¯ to retreat and flowed past Captain Deathstare¡¯s position, heading for their respective ships. All except for the one company that Brock had just screamed at.


    ¡°Lyra, what are those idiots doing?¡± he barked to his side in a quieter voice. Although quieter was something of a relative term in the heated crucible of warfare.


    ¡°Gondal has always been an ornery bastard,¡± the halfling woman answered while she reloaded a crossbow that any neutral observer would consider far too big for her. Lyra hauled back the string with ease and practised efficiency and slotted in a special bolt with a bulbous end packed with explosives. ¡°He¡¯s tired of spending hours digging trenches and abandoning them to the Lamers without more of a fight.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the blasted plan. Stubborn idiot.¡±


    Lyra raised the heavy crossbow and angled it upwards before squeezing the trigger and sending the awkward bolt lofting into the air. ¡°Takes one to know one,¡± she muttered.


    The comment drew one of the infamous stares from Brock but before he could retort a squadron of gleaming white and gold Lamer chariots trundled into view travelling at incredible speeds intent on crashing through their defensive line. Lyra¡¯s bolt fell from the heavens ahead of the incoming chariots and an altitude trigger was tripped and the bulbous end split apart and dispersed the payload in front of the approaching enemy.


    The sequence of explosions didn¡¯t harm the chariots, but it hadn¡¯t been meant to. Instead, it tore up the terrain ahead of them and gouged ruddy great holes out of the earth. The chariots, travelling at extreme velocity, didn¡¯t have the time to slow appreciably or redirect their noses. The ruts they ran into were deep and numerous enough that many of them were flipped end-over-end or sent careening onto their sides.


    Not all of them, though. Several of the chariots were bumped and clattered but passed beyond the disruption and kept going.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have another of those babies,¡± Lyra warned Brock. ¡°They¡¯re on their own now.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    He smiled wide as a wing-shaped shadow flitted over his head. ¡°Not quite.¡±


    Raven descended from the skies like a rocket and barrelled into the side of one of the chariots that had kept coming, using her momentum and an ability to bash the eagle-shaped war wagon into the side of one of its fellows and derail the pair. Simultaneously, the angry warrior-woman produced a spear and lodged it into the wheel of a third surviving chariot and brought that one down too. That left only two of the armoured vehicles still operational and that was a manageable fight for Gondal and the lads still in the trenches.


    ¡°I do like a client that gets her hands dirty,¡± Brock said as Raven tore open the door to one of the damaged chariots and started to stab the pilot within. He nudged Lyra, who had hopped up onto the wreckage of a car to be level with him, with his elbow.


    ¡°We¡¯re still in full retreat, you drooling lump of an idiot. Another one. What¡¯s there to be so happy about?


    ¡°It¡¯s a defeat, not a disaster. We knew going in that we would be outmatched. We¡¯ve hurt them today, that¡¯s as good as we could have hoped for. To this point, we¡¯ve just been killing the poor conscripted bastards. Today we got a few of the Lamers themselves. We¡¯re finally bleeding them.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nobody in those chariots except for the pilots, and they ain¡¯t particularly good ones. Experienced charioteers would have anticipated rough terrain,¡± Lyra pointed out. ¡°If we bled them, it¡¯s no more than a pinprick.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got to start somewhere. Come on, let¡¯s make for the Nasty Bitch. Gondal has finally got the message.¡±


    The mercenary company that had stubbornly remained in their trenches had poured out to face off against the two isolated chariots. Once they¡¯d been disabled and the pilots slain, they had not returned to the earthworks but were running to where their ship waited for them.


    Raven soared above watching everything. Frustrated at the retreat she also concluded the same as Captain Deathstare. Glastos¡¯ strategy was finally bearing fruit. The constant raiding, fortification feints, and other needling tactics had drawn out the true enemy for the first time.


    Rile them up and piss them off, the young mercenary advised. That¡¯s when they¡¯ll overcommit and make mistakes. Patience and aggravation in equal measure.


    Tomorrow would be another day, and they would launch another lightning strike from another direction. Neverending, never tiring, never ceasing, the relentless pursuit of justice would not be denied.


    Chapter 20


    ¡°Augustus Snook is dead.¡±


    The pronouncement came from Claudia as she entered the Command Hub. It was the first thing she said, presaging even a greeting. She came up to me after and kissed me on the cheek before taking a seat amongst the council of my most trusted advisers.


    ¡°Very dramatic,¡± Fang Mei teased lightly.


    ¡°You all looked so serious; I felt we needed to get things started with some good news for once. The zombified plants worked like a charm, they killed him and his top men at about the same time the shield came down here. What remains of the Chicago host has already started to disintegrate without his Kingpin control to keep everyone in line. They are either deserting or turning on one another in an effort to be the next gang chief.¡±


    Anastasia beamed with pride at the effectiveness of her ability to defuse the situation. This was good news, but in the grand scheme of things what had been left of the rabble from Chicago was pretty far down on the list of priorities.


    ¡°But there is a significant number of them still within our borders, yes?¡± Doyle pressed.


    Claudia nodded and her smile faded a little to admit it. ¡°Unfortunately, that is correct. While their fragmenting nixes the threat to our major population centre, it will be more difficult to keep track of where the smaller groups have dispersed to. Warnings have been sent to all the community leaders in Michigan to keep a watchful eye on their borders lest opportunists seek to strike. This will likely be an irritation for the foreseeable future.¡±


    ¡°There is nothing we can do about that right now,¡± I point out firmly. ¡°The smaller settlements are basically on their own until the current crisis is resolved. Those with combat classes who have not joined our military will have to step up.¡± The standing garrisons in most of the outlying settlements were already in the process of being stripped bare for the coming fight against the fragment. ¡°What news of our people sailing up the East Coast.¡±


    Susan clicked on the hub table and brought up a meteorological map covering Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. ¡°The hurricane has abated somewhat and shifted northwards closer to the border between Quebec and Newfoundland. It¡¯s opened a window of opportunity, and the grounded ships have set sail. If the storm switches direction again, they will have to find a port for shelter. Assuming that doesn¡¯t happen or something else unforeseen, the best-case scenario is forty-eight hours before the ships reach Lake Michigan.¡±


    Two days.


    Two days was too long to wait. According to Howson, the fragment had been steadily feeding people to a corrupted dungeon non-stop for more than a week. Every hour that passed might be the one where it reached its goal. We couldn¡¯t wait two more days. We had to be on the move as soon as possible. Plan B was looking more likely at this juncture.


    Susan wasn¡¯t quite finished. ¡°Work is underway fixing up the least damaged mercenary vessels, but the bastards installed lockout protocols on the controls. Even with Nazz¡¯s assistance, it will take at least a week to crack.¡±


    <That¡¯s standard operating procedure. You¡¯ve got similar fail safes on your ships.>


    Crynn nodded along. ¡°If we couldn¡¯t capture a vessel before they initiated the lockdown, we would have to tow them to the temporary harbour for cracking later.¡±


    I reached forward and tapped the hub to shift the map to one of Wisconsin centred on the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. ¡°The lack of usable ships isn¡¯t the problem. We could speed up emptying the Wisconsin transport vessels and use those if push came to shove. It¡¯s the soldiers on the ships who are needed to help tackle the bigger problem which is the dungeon¡¯s location. Whether by intention or not, the dungeon that the fragment picked to hole up in is forty miles from the shoreline. And there aren¡¯t any connecting rivers that we can navigate through. Nothing that wouldn¡¯t be more effort than its worth.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re facing a lengthy trip overland through hostile territory and for that, we need serious firepower. The depletion of the Wisconsin army is helpful, but that won¡¯t help against the mobs roaming the countryside, if anything it means there will be more of the damn things to get in the way.


    ¡°Our best people have just been through one hell of a fight, and we¡¯ve lost a lot of veterans. Good people. There are many more who ought to be in recovery for the next few weeks and won¡¯t get that time because we need to march, and I can¡¯t afford to leave them behind to recover. This is rapidly becoming a perfect storm of trouble.¡±


    LT leaned over the hub table and jabbed his finger at a large body of water twenty miles north of the refuge. ¡°How about here, Lake Winnebago? We can land at Fond du Lac on the southern edge of the lake, cut out half the distance. We could even follow route 41 south half the way, the Wisconsin lot has probably cleared it for their own transportation needs.¡±


    ¡°I considered it, but the problem is that to get to the lake we need to go through Green Bay first. General Howson had confirmed that Reed fortified the city up the wazoo in preparation for a naval assault by us. Marena¡¯s Mercy could break through, for sure, but Storm Raider is in no condition to take that kind of punishment again. And the Wisconsin transport vessels we¡¯ve just come into wouldn¡¯t survive the trip.¡±


    ¡°Okay, how about we leave the others behind and use it to land a surgical strike force?¡±


    ¡°The fragment is not to be underestimated and has gathered considerable strength to defend itself. Willy Reed has done an admirable job of building his faction up and Howson¡¯s pseudo-defection only included a fifth of their available troops. The fragment has twice as many arrayed around the refuge. We will need more than one ship¡¯s worth of fighters, even if they are the best the Shattered Storm has to offer.¡±


    ¡°What about the gate you stole? Couldn¡¯t we use the strike team to get close and then establish the gate to bring the rest through?¡±


    This suggestion came from Susan and there were a few head nods from the others gathered around.


    On the face of things, that did sound like a plausible idea. However, there were a few details which made it very risky that I didn¡¯t want to get into at this time.


    Primarily, the Dread Scourge.


    Quixbix hadn¡¯t been able to confirm anything yet, but it was hard to believe that Titus hadn¡¯t sent a force to Earth. Floating out in the plexus waiting to make planetfall the moment he sensed the fragment had been defeated. He knew who I represented, who my backer was.


    Well, he knew about the Shattered Goddess. Whether he had an inkling about the sorcerer was another question entirely and not one I would likely get an answer to in the near future, if ever.


    Regardless, the last thing we needed was Scourge attack vessels pouring through a gate behind us after the conclusion of a tough campaign against the fragment.


    However, there were a few other reasons that made it impractical. ¡°I¡¯ve had to rule that one out. Establishing the gate in enemy territory would be time-consuming and too easy for the fragment to stymie. There is too much that could go wrong to risk it, but I have a related idea. We¡¯ll use Pandaemonium instead.¡±


    I turned to Piper, the young dryad. It had been difficult to pry her away from Jackson¡¯s bedside, but after him, she had the most knowledge of the mapped-out area beneath the surface. Her presence at the summit was necessary. ¡°What¡¯s the closest waypoint we¡¯ve already secured? One we could use as a staging area today.¡±


    The short young woman leaned over the table and examined the map, pursed her lips and pointed to a spot on the edge of Lake Michigan equidistant between Green Bay and Manitowoc. There wasn¡¯t anything there. Which made it a viable candidate for a secret incursion location. The major problem is that it was at least eighty miles away from our ultimate destination, double the distance than if we just rocked up to the closest coastal point to the dungeon. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, by design, we¡¯ve not been clearing the Pandaemonium tunnels that we suspect link to the Wisconsin mainland. Not until we were ready to go after them. We didn¡¯t want to make it easy for them to move around, should they discover any of the waypoint¡¯s entries for themselves.¡±


    It was much as I expected and why nobody else had suggested using the subterranean network earlier.


    ¡°But the distances between waypoints in Pandaemonium are truncated, correct?¡± Crynn pressed, her interest growing. Where she came from, any discovered waypoints were sealed up and ignored. She¡¯d found it most fascinating that we had ventured down into the network.


    ¡°Theoretically,¡± Piper answered. ¡°The issue is that Pandaemonium is a warren. There will be a short path, one that will transform eighty miles into three or four, but you have to find it amongst the other interconnecting tunnels, habitats, and dead ends. And that¡¯s assuming there is even a waypoint near enough to this refuge to make it worth your while.¡±


    ¡°There is,¡± I told the table with confidence.


    ¡°How can you be so sure?¡± Fang Mei asked. ¡°I¡¯ve reviewed the maps Jackson has produced and apart from remoteness, there appears to be no rhyme nor reason to their placement.¡±


    I shared a look with Claudia who had taken a seat next to me on the left. One with the Ship, my fifth-tier dungeon corsair ability had manifested in unusual ways with her Princess of Pandaemonium class.


    Details on the differences were few and far between. I was the only Dual Dungeon Corsair Lord in existence and Claudia the only Princess of Pandaemonium. My character sheet only listed how the ability worked with Anastasia and Marena¡¯s Mercy. How it interacted with my second bonded dungeon that was not a ship had been a bit of a learning curve, one that had been so steep little progress had been made until recently.


    The simplest element was that Claudia no longer needed to be present to use a dungeon shard and seize control of a waypoint, thus bringing it into her network of control. I could do that for her now. That was a logical deduction based on the extra influence I received over ship functions and something we had figured out quickly.


    Further discoveries had eluded us. That was until Preternatural Insight seemingly reactivated and cast off its dormancy.


    The first thing I did after learning about what the fragment had been up to was activate my dungeon sense. It was something I¡¯d not done for a while. It hadn¡¯t been needed. The first thing I noticed was that the range had expanded greatly. At level one, the range had been a hundred miles, with each level the range had grown by two more miles and gave me an effective range of about 170. And because of where we¡¯d met Howson, we didn¡¯t have to sail far to put the refuge in range.


    Not that getting closer had been necessary. The moment I accessed the sense ability, Preternatural Insight pinged. Claudia¡¯s space-warping aspect had boosted the sense¡¯s range, albeit in a somewhat eclectic manner. It was now nearer one thousand miles, but it did have a few blind spots in that circle if there weren¡¯t any waypoints nearby to travel through.


    New York City was one such blind zone.


    More importantly, the sense didn¡¯t just locate dungeons anymore, but waypoints as well. Which is why I knew there was a waypoint in the marsh just south of the refuge and within two miles of the dungeon. Better yet the waypoint exit was between the dungeon and the town of Horicon which is where most of the fragment¡¯s forces were stationed. We¡¯d be able to pour out inside the enemies encircled territory.


    ¡°Quixbix.¡±


    <On it.>


    With my spyglass inserted into the Command hub, the imp could directly feed the data I¡¯d gathered via my ability onto the map.


    The network of waypoints flickered into life as yellow dots on the display. After a quick explanation as to how I got the information, a plan started to form.


    ¡°There is still an issue,¡± Piper pointed out. ¡°We might know where the waypoint is on the surface, but unless you have another trick up your sleeve, that doesn¡¯t get us much closer to finding it from the Pandaemonium side. We already knew what direction it should be in, but without a map of that part of the network we are still looking at days if not weeks of search and destroy reconnaissance.¡±


    Claudia answered her. ¡°If Torin can get in from the surface and claim the waypoint with a shard, then I will know the most direct route through the tunnels. Not that it matters, once the shard is in place, I can create a direct link between two waypoints, and the troops can march through.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that put us solidly back at square one, though,¡± Trisha exclaimed in exasperation. ¡°We can¡¯t get to the waypoint without an army and if we send the army, then we don¡¯t need the waypoint.¡±


    ¡°Only if I go over land,¡± I pointed out.


    ¡°What other option is there?¡±


    ¡°Aerially.¡±


    With the word spoken all eyes swivelled to Fang Mei. Our resident flyer. Or she would be. Self-consciously her proto-leathery wings extended from the slots in her shoulder blades and flapped a couple of times. It was a cute nervous habit of hers. ¡°I know most of the flight mechanics are magically based in the Darkwyrlds, but my wings are still too underdeveloped. I can just about manage a glide. There is no way I could carry Torin that kind of distance, not by tomorrow.¡±


    Doyle cut in. ¡°Perhaps there is a potion that can enhance the wing¡¯s growth rate?¡±


    Susan shook her head, but the fairy, Quinn, answered. ¡°Not on Earth, well, nothing that wouldn¡¯t run the risk of causing serious harm to Fang Mei in the process.¡±


    ¡°Fang Mei isn¡¯t the only winged individual we know of. And this one¡¯s wings are fully developed, and she has already demonstrated the ability to fly great distances in short timeframes and is strong enough to carry another person.¡±


    Trisha¡¯s eyes met mine. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡±


    ¡°I am.¡±


    ¡°Raven will never do it.¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you just telling me the other day that the two of you bonded in Dallas? Kind of.¡±


    ¡°She flew me a few hundred feet, not halfway across a state. And that was only out of some sense of obligation. Raven had promised to ensure my safety before everything went to shit with her Dad.¡±


    ¡°But you have her contact details, though.¡±


    ¡°Which she rarely answers.¡±


    ¡°Rarely, not never.¡±


    ¡°Torin, she hates you.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s why she¡¯ll do it. Dropping me alone in the middle of enemy territory with no way of escape if everything goes wrong. How better to ensure the demise of the frenemy she can¡¯t stop thinking lusty thoughts about.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s the case. The lust part, that is. The hate that wafts off her aura when you¡¯re around feels very real. But you¡¯re probably right, leaving you alone surrounded by enemies might appeal to her.¡± Trisha had already switched from objecting to calculating. ¡°She¡¯s embroiled in a guerilla campaign against the Lamers, it will take more than a chance to soothe personal animosity to pry her loose. That crusade is too important to her.¡±


    ¡°I figured as much. You can promise her assistance with that fight¡­after the fragment¡¯s dealt with. The Lamers will be a problem for everybody, and it just so happens I have a plan on how to deal with that anyway.¡±


    ¡°Is it a stupid and crazy plan?¡± Anastasia piped up.


    ¡°Bloody Nora, why would you say that?¡±


    ¡°All your plans are stupid and crazy.¡±


    I looked around the table for some support and didn¡¯t get any. ¡°Not all of them,¡± I grumbled.


    ¡°Just the ones you don¡¯t tell us about,¡± Claudia chuckled, took my hand and squeezed fondly.


    That was a good point to call an end to the meeting. Troops had to be readied and moved to the staging point. If all went well, we¡¯d be marching to war again with the sunrise.

 Book 5: Explicit interlude 5.2 and Chapter 21 & 22

    Explicit Interlude 5.2


    (This mini chapter contains explicit sexual content. If that¡¯s not to your reading taste you can skip on to the next chapter without missing any story elements)


    The meeting was over, but Claudia didn¡¯t release my hand. ¡°It sounds like you have a couple of hours to kill.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yes, even if Raven agrees right away, it will take her a few hours to fly north.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you have a suggestion on how to pass this time?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been apart for a few weeks. You, here, with the other girls, me in Grand Rapids, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s an¡­equitable distribution of Torin time, do you?¡±


    ¡°True, but we are in the middle of a crisis, some might see sneaking off for a bit of hanky-panky as a dereliction of duty.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s awfully presumptuous of you Mr Carter, maybe I wanted to have a sit-down and a chat about the distribution of assets between the two cities.¡±


    ¡°My mistake. Susan!¡± I yelled out loudly to grab the attention of Stormblade Harbour¡¯s castellan. She hadn¡¯t left the Command hub and had been in deep conversation with one of her assistants. Her head popped up and looked over at us quizzically.


    Claudia tugged on my arm strongly. ¡°Torin, what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re going to discuss asset logistics then Susan needs to be included, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t being serious,¡± she hissed in embarrassment. ¡°Of course I wanted to slip away for a quicky.¡± Her cheeks reddened a little and her golden feline eyes risked a glance across the room which is when she noticed that Susan had gone back to her conflab with the admin people.


    Claudia released my hand and thumped me on the bicep lightly. ¡°You used Clarion¡¯s Call, didn¡¯t you? Told her you were just messing with me.¡±


    ¡°Quixbix told Quinn actually. Presumably, the fairy then informed Susan I was only teasing you. Shall we?¡± I held out my crooked arm. Claudia slipped hers through and allowed me to escort her from the hub.


    It didn¡¯t take long for us to reach the playroom across the hall from the rest of the living quarters. The door to the creche was ajar and Shana spotted us before we got inside. She had Dash in her arms and winked at Claudia as the door closed behind us.


    Claudia had seen Shana¡¯s reaction. ¡°She still wants a threesome, you know.¡±


    ¡°Who? Shana?¡±


    ¡°Of course, Shana. Your first wife is almost as rapacious as the infamous Captain Carter himself.¡±


    ¡°True enough.¡± I moved in for a kiss and Claudia smoothly disengaged and slipped out of my reach.


    Internally, I sighed with a little frustration. ¡°I¡¯m not going to have to chase you all over the room again, am I? Time is a factor today.¡±


    ¡°Are you trying to say I¡¯m not worth the effort, Torin?¡± she answered and arched her eyebrow dangerously.


    I was 99% sure that Claudia was playing, but didn¡¯t want to take any unnecessary risks. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that, but our leisure time is somewhat limited, a call for my attention could come at any moment. I wouldn¡¯t want to skimp on any of the fun parts.¡±


    Claudia skipped a few steps and threw herself onto the silk sheets of the large four-poster bed that ruled the playroom. By the time she landed on the bed, her clothes were gone. ¡°Hmmm¡­isn¡¯t the chase part of the fun.¡±


    I¡¯d been prepared for that answer and rather than reply verbally, I wandered along the edge of the wall, back turned to her, perusing the shelves and hooks where a wide array of sex-play toys had been arranged. One of which I tapped and sent to my inventory.


    Having put on a display of feigned disinterest to allay suspicions, I turned on a heel and activated my boots. The plan was to use Dragon¡¯s Leap to catch the spry Leonid woman off-guard. It wasn¡¯t until I was sailing across the gap that I moved my armour and clothing to the inventory.


    Claudia yelped in shocked surprise and tried to scramble backwards but she was off her feet and that hindered her usually agile response. At the last second, I splayed my arms and legs to ensure that I didn¡¯t crush her when I landed on top. The bed had been heavily reinforced so it could handle this kind of roughhousing. The sturdy frame didn¡¯t shift an inch.


    ¡°Personally, I prefer the catch,¡± I grinned down at my conquest.


    ¡°No fair,¡± Claudia gasped ¡°I wasn¡¯t ready.¡± She tried to shift onto her hands and knees and crawl away. Her long, tawny hair whipped around. The loose locks swished across my face almost catching me in the eye, by design, I was sure of it.


    ¡°The chase began the second we crossed the threshold. It¡¯s not my fault it was over so soon. Don¡¯t be a sore loser,¡± I admonished and grabbed her hips as she tried to slither out of my grasp.


    Any escape momentum was halted by my grip and Claudia flopped face down on the sheets. ¡°Dammit!¡± she growled and blew out a puff of breath that shifted the bangs out of the eyes. ¡°What was that? Barely five seconds, getting caught so quickly is embarrassing.¡±


    ¡°Nobody is snooping on us, if it makes you feel any better, I can tell people you gave me the run around for half an hour.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a kind offer, but you¡¯re a terrible liar when it comes to sexy time. Even sweet, na?ve Fang Mei will figure it out, as for the others, they¡¯ll know just by looking at you.¡±


    My hands roved over her soft, pert behind and admitted. ¡°The bonds between us go two ways. Hiding things is difficult.¡±


    Claudia lifted her butt off the bed, her tail flicked up and curled around my ear, tickling it. Her back arched and she looked back at me. ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? You¡¯ve caught your kitty, aren¡¯t you going to mount her?¡±


    The musky scent of lust wafted from between her legs. As a dungeon core, Claudia was no longer beholden to the biological inconvenience of coming into season as she used to be, but that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t imitate it if she wished. Which she very clearly did.


    ¡°It would be impolite to dive straight into the main course when there are so many sweet appetisers to try first.¡±


    I waited just long enough to get an answering grin of delight from Claudia before lowering to her gently swishing rear. My hands traced striped patterns up and down her legs, pressing firmly enough to leave a temporary mark. Her prehensile tail, not a natural feature for a cat or a feline humanoid, ruffled through my thick black hair in encouragement and removed itself from getting in the way of access to the honeypot.


    With a light rap on her firm buttocks, I manipulated her ass into position and opened her legs up for inspection. Her pouting lady lips were already a little slick from precum, and I let the tip of my tongue run along the edges teasingly. Claudia quivered, pushed her ass back and tried to spear her cunny onto my outstretched tongue, but I was wise to such a move and pulled back, keeping up the tease.


    ¡°More,¡± she whined.


    ¡°Soon,¡± I whispered.


    The tonguing had started just above the hood of her clit on the left side and had slowly edged up the left labia, stopping briefly to give the perineum area a quick kiss and suck before heading back down the right side. Claudia whimpered softly the whole time and then gasped with delight when the tip of the tongue finally invaded the hood that covered her throbbing clit and started to flick back and forth.


    ¡°Fuck, that feels good, Ungh¡­you¡¯ve done this before.¡±


    A few times, but I couldn¡¯t answer with my mouth area already occupied.


    Unexpectedly, Claudia levered the front half of her body up. ¡°Lift me, I want to suck your cock.¡±


    The only thing better than toying with a lover¡¯s pussy, is doing it while she is doing the same to my dick. No further encouragement was needed, and I straightened my back into a kneeling position and hauled Claudia¡¯s rear up with me, only losing contact with her lady parts briefly.


    The catwoman¡¯s claws scraped along the silk sheets and parted them, leaving a neat line of rents in the smooth cloth. Her hands came to rest on my thighs. She spat on the head of my cock to give it a little extra moisture before her lips enveloped the head and started to suckle. Her tongue roved over every inch of the helmet and toyed with the eye at the centre.


    My arms wrapped around her waist just below the sweet curve of her sexy butt and her thighs rested on my shoulders leaving my face planted firmly in the mound of otherworldly delights.


    However, turnabout is fair play and if Claudia was going to spit on my dick, she should get some of the same treatment. Lowering her down a couple of inches, I parted her butt cheeks and half-spat, half-dribbled a wad of saliva on her asshole. Summoning a beaded butt plug I¡¯d snatched from its place on the wall, I lubed it up in the spit and pushed the toy into Claudia¡¯s ass. There was a little muscular resistance that gave way with a bit of pressure, and the toy slipped into the ¡®forbidden¡¯ hole.


    Claudia tried to pull back and say something, but I just thrust my hips forward a little and my cock followed the withdrawing mouth. My hips could go further than her neck and Claudia gave up and chose to flex her claws on my thighs, not enough to draw blood, but I certainly felt it.


    And then she did something that completely caught me off-base.


    Claudia moved her head forward and deep-throated my cock which I was not complaining about, but she also shifted one of her hands around my glutes and before I could react, dipped her thumb into the crevice of my butt and shoved it up against my chocolate starfish.


    She did retract the claw before breaching attempting to breach the forbidden zone.


    ¡°Whoa!¡± I yelped and slapped her ass smartly. ¡°Naughty Kitty, I didn¡¯t shove anything up yours dry.¡±


    Claudia removed her thumb which hadn¡¯t gone very far and patted my butt fondly, her point made. I should have warned her before shoving a toy in her ass.


    Lesson learned. There were limits to the brevity excuse.


    I flopped down onto the side, and we lay there pleasuring one another for several more minutes, the games of one-upmanship forgotten in the haze of lusty enjoyment. It was much easier to toy with Claudia¡¯s breasts in this position, not needing to hold her up and I did like boobs ever so much and it was difficult not to fondle them constantly when they were so readily available.


    The soulbond was indeed very helpful and soon we synched up perfectly, knowing exactly what needed to be done to enhance the experience for the other. It also assisted in the mutual decision that the time for foreplay was over, bringing on the main event. Claudia released my cock with a popping sound and rolled away, her body still a bit wobbly after a leisurely orgasm.


    While she took a second to recover, I plumped a few pillows built a little backrest against the headboard and lay back. Claudia looked up at me, her golden eyes still hungry for more and I crooked a finger.


    ¡°You want me to ride you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and I¡¯ll pull at that toy while you do so if you¡¯ll let me.¡±


    Claudia hadn¡¯t removed the plug from her ass and nodded before she crawled back over to me on hands and knees, back arched like a cat. Her long tongue gave my genitals another lick, balls to tip, and then she clambered over me.


    The long legs were spread over my hips and when she was in position, I grabbed the base of my dick and held it still while Claudia arranged herself over the top. Slowly she lowered herself, her arms were still a bit wobbly, and it took a couple of tries before my length parted her pussy lips and half the shaft slipped into her velvety depths.


    Claudia¡¯s hips rose and fell a few times as she worked my big cock deeper until it reached a comfortable depth, then she relaxed against my body. I enveloped the lithe woman in my arms, our lips met and hungrily devoured one another. When the kiss broke, Claudia pressed her forehead to mine, gripped the headboard behind us and started to piston her pelvis with greater velocity, grinding her hips into mine, breathing deeply from the added exertion.


    With one hand, I supported her back and as promised slipped a finger into the ring of the beaded butt plug and gently pulled it out a little. I didn¡¯t even need to do much more than hold the toy in place, the frantic movement of my lover¡¯s body as she eagerly lanced herself on my cock did most of the work.


    ¡°I take it back,¡± she gasped. ¡°The ass toy was a¡­a¡­a great idea.¡±


    ¡°I had a feeling you would approve¡­eventually.¡±


    Claudia rode my cock with verve and great skill, and it tested my willpower to the very limits. Technically, I was in full control and could hold out indefinitely. The problem was, Claudia was doing such a good job, I didn¡¯t want to.


    ¡°Let go, I¡¯m ready to join you,¡± she crooned her tail beating out a steady rhythm on the mattress of the bed.


    That was all I needed to hear, and resistance faded. With hands on her waist, I thrust upward a little further than before, the aching flex coursed from the base of my balls and through the whole of the shaft as it stiffened like iron. And then came the heady rush of orgasmic ecstasy as everything twitched and flooded Claudia¡¯s cunny with pearly seed. The walls of her vulva tightened and constricted milking the pumping shaft of every drop of sticky juice.


    Claudia collapsed into my arms, and we rode out the cresting tsunami of pleasure together. The soulbond linked us and created a feedback loop that heightened the experience to another level. Two pairs of hips slammed against one another in unison until there was nothing more to come. Only then did we relax into a sweat-covered rest, bodies entwined.


    ¡°Oh my God, that was fucking epic,¡± Claudia whispered in my ear. ¡°The best yet.¡±


    ¡°It will only get more intense as the bond deepens. I have a couple more tiers of soulbond improvements to go.¡±


    ¡°Bloody Nora!¡± she swore, another one of my lovers who had picked up that affectation from me. ¡°How will we ever get anything done with sex this good.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say it but the word which popped into my mind was necessity.


    Necessity had been the driving force behind much of what I¡¯d done since the Darkwyrlds had arrived. But for the next few minutes, at least, I could forget about that. I kissed Claudia¡¯s forehead fondly and caressed her softly as we enjoyed the afterglow. The chaos outside would have to wait for a short while.


    Chapter 21


    The cold air ruffled my black hair and flattened it back against my skull. It wasn¡¯t a cold day but at this altitude and the speed with which we were flying, it felt positively frigid. Thanks to my frost harmony, the wind chill factor didn¡¯t bother me.


    Nor did it affect my travel companion, Raven.


    Her scarlet-tipped white wings stretched out wide to either side of us. It was a long way down and the blue of the lake had given way to the greenery of Wisconsin¡¯s landscape.


    Another wave of vertigo swept through me.


    I would probably survive a fall from this height thanks to the armour I wore and the pool of Hit Points I possessed. You couldn¡¯t fall faster than terminal velocity, after all, not unless you were propelled. However, the landing would seriously hurt me and some of the damage would bypass Hit Points and be applied directly to my Health.


    Survivable, yes, but a fall would leave me badly weakened.


    I¡¯d never been great with heights, not to acrophobic levels, more of a natural dislike for a yawning chasm of emptiness that you could fall into. The kind that made your balls shrivel up into your gut to escape the inevitability. Flying in planes never had this effect on me, but then you weren¡¯t outside a plane


    The trip would have been so much easier if I could have been chest to chest with Raven, my back to the ground where I wouldn¡¯t have to stare at the fall.


    You can imagine how well that suggestion went down which is why I got to enjoy the current view. As did the suggestion of me wearing a parachute. Apparently, the wind resistance of carrying me was bad enough and she couldn¡¯t, or I should say wouldn¡¯t, handle the extra bulge.


    To be fair, the joke I cracked about Raven handling my bulge right after she said that probably didn¡¯t help convince her to see reason. Hey, if you¡¯re going to lay up that sweetly expect to get dunked. But it did mean the current less than ideal situation was partly my fault.


    Probably for the fiftieth time during the flight, I checked the buckles and straps on the harness that connected me to the reluctant pilot. It was something retrofitted from some para-sailing equipment that had been left in the old town.


    ¡°How many times have I warned you to stop fidgeting!¡± Raven snapped her hot breath ticking the back of my ear lobe.


    Her mouth was only a few inches from my ear, but I still barely caught the snarled admonition due to the whipping wind and the speed we were travelling. I gave her a thumbs-up and faked like I thought she was asking if I was okay. It was probably my imagination, but it was like the heat of her anger warmed a bubble of air around us.


    That could have been her flaming sword reacting to its mistress¡¯ emotions, though.


    ¡°I should just drop you; this is not worth what Trisha offered,¡± she grunted. The complaint was difficult to hear but I caught the gist.


    Now this did put the wind up me a little. To describe the fee we were paying Raven for what was a glorified taxi service as steep was a serious understatement.


    Gold, ships, and passage.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Raven had hired a large number of the remaining mercenary companies to assist in her one-woman war with the Liberation Army in Texas. I wasn¡¯t about to complain about that, it likely reduced the number of companies that attacked Stormblade Harbour. But mercs needed to be paid and Raven¡¯s little helper, a man named Glastos, had insisted we help fund the campaign to the tune of thirty percent.


    They¡¯d wanted fifty but Trisha had talked him down to thirty.


    On top of that, we were to deliver ten of the captured mercenary ships once repairs were completed.


    They¡¯d wanted Darik Scargiver¡¯s mammoth ship as part of the deal, but I¡¯d put my foot down and forbade it. It was by far the largest and most heavily armed of the captured fleet and I wouldn¡¯t hand something like that over to a group likely to turn on us if the wind shifted.


    Instead, Trisha bargained Glastos down to free passage through the gate in Stormblade Harbour. A way to get off-planet for the merc parties when their contracts expired. A gentle reminder that we held the only working plexus gate and could choose to charge whatever we pleased was enough to convince Glastos that it was a fair substitute for Scargiver¡¯s vessel. That and the implied threat we could inform the mercs that Raven was the daughter of the man who had extorted them in the first place, and she¡¯d been paying them with that money. In part, at least.


    That little truth-bomb smoothed away any remaining snags in the negotiations.


    Raven didn¡¯t care, of course, or more likely didn¡¯t understand that the mercs might not take too kindly to this news, but this Glastos fellow got the message loud and clear. He was a smart guy; I might have to see if I could lure him away after this was all over.


    Reminiscing and examining recent history only distracted me for a fleeting moment. To pass the rest of the time and get my mind off being dropped by the unstable personality carrying me, I ran another sweep with my dungeon/waypoint sense.


    How are we doing Quixbix? I thought to the imp. He could use the semi-regular sense pings to track our progress. Using what we already knew to triangulate our position.


    <All good, so far. The glorified chicken woman¡¯s sense of direction is pretty good, though I suspect she is simply angling for Lake Winnebago and will then turn south. We should be above that lake in a few more minutes.>


    Once the imp pointed it out, I could see the large patch of blue off in the distance. My eyesight was incredibly keen and spotted the grey of the urban sprawl that was the town of Fond du Lac too. It meant we were less than an hour from the planned drop-off point. That moment couldn¡¯t come too soon.


    ***


    The branches of trees whacked against my face as Raven dropped from the sky like a bolt of lightning, aiming for the centre of one of the few copses of trees that dotted the landscape. The only real cover available.


    She insisted the sudden and speedy drop from the sky was necessary to maintain an inconspicuous arrival. However, the marshland was replete with many kinds of birds, it had become a favourite resting spot for Canadian Geese according to a guidebook Susan had provided me with before departure.


    Since the Darkwyrlds and the placement of spawning crystals, there were many more colourful and dangerous fowl that now called the marsh home. A ¡®bird¡¯ of Raven¡¯s size carrying what looked like a body would not have appeared out of place to any observers.


    ¡°Unclip yourself,¡± she demanded the second our feet contacted terra firma.


    If I hadn¡¯t been protecting my face from the branches and leaves, I would have done so already. The catches were easy enough to undo and it didn¡¯t take long before I could wriggle out of the harness and disconnect the makeshift umbilical cord between us.


    ¡°Thank you for your assistance, I and the rest of the world won¡¯t forget it. Even if your bedside manner could use some work.¡±


    Raven glared at me.


    ¡°Are you still thinking about handling my bulge?¡±


    Yeah, I couldn¡¯t resist taking a second shot with that one.


    The look of fury was oddly chilling in its intensity. Without a word, Raven bent her knees in the Superman pose and then pushed off the ground wings flapping powerfully and she was gone.


    ¡°She didn¡¯t scold or wish misery and misfortune upon me this time. I would say that is definite progress. I¡¯m growing on her.¡±


    <Yeah, the silent treatment is always a great sign of improving relations.>


    The imp¡¯s doubt dripped from the tone of his voice.


    I decided to drop the topic. ¡°How close are we to the target?¡±


    <Raven was true to her word. It¡¯s two clicks west.>


    ¡°Clicks? What¡¯s with the military parlance? Have you been hanging around MacDonald too much?¡±


    <Maybe I¡¯m trying to impart the gravity of the situation because you seem to be cracking jokes as if this is some big lark. The bloody fragment who despises the very ground you walk on happens to be a couple of miles to the south. Oh, and there is a secret channel that connects the pair of you that we know very little about and could mean that it has tracked your every movement and despatched a brigade of soldiers to kill you. And you just gave your only ride out of here every reason to fly the fuck elsewhere as quickly as possible.>


    ¡°Is there?¡±


    <Is there what?>


    ¡°Is there a brigade of soldiers closing in on this position with the intent of killing me?¡±


    <No, not that I can see.>


    ¡°Then quit worrying about problems that haven¡¯t happened yet and never will¡­probably.¡±


    With that confirmation, I started to make my way through the small thicket of tree cover and head towards our target.


    <You are not filling me with confidence. The range of my vision is limited. Just because I can¡¯t see them now doesn¡¯t mean they aren¡¯t on their way.>


    ¡°What happened to the cold-hearted imp who would walk me into an early grave if I didn¡¯t satisfy his bloodthirst.¡±


    <That was for the weak and unworthy. Besides, you¡¯ve grown on me, like mould. It¡¯s enjoyable having you as a porter, being part of the Shattered Storm is fun. I don¡¯t want that to go away. I¡¯d miss it.>


    ¡°Miss canoodling with Quinn, you mean.¡±


    <Yes¡­wait, no. That¡¯s not it at all.>


    ¡°Sure, Quix. Enough with the doom and gloom. We¡¯re on a mission to save the world. Real life hero shit that we¡¯ll never get credit for because we are far too modest.¡±


    The imp snorted his disagreement. To the modesty part, not that lack of credit which was unfortunately all too true.


    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous, yes, but some risks are worth taking. This needed to be done, and it needed to be me. Nobody else can claim the waypoint.¡±


    <Claudia could, you should have sent her instead.>


    His response caused me to stop and almost trip with surprise. ¡°She¡¯s not a fighter,¡± I argued. ¡°If she ran into trouble, chances are low that she would win.¡±


    <And the worst that would happen is that we¡¯d have to wait for her avatar to reform. She can¡¯t be killed unless you destroy the core crystal.>


    To be honest, I should have expected this argument earlier and was thankful nobody else thought to bring it up. I think most people forget that the Ana and Claudia they interact with are just extensions of the dungeon core¡¯s mind. Their real crystalline forms are safe and sound in the heart of their respective dungeons.


    I started moving forward again and reached the edge of the treeline revealing the cattail marshland and stepped into the open, hunching down to use the reed stalks as cover. ¡°That is not true.¡±


    <What? What do you mean it isn¡¯t true?>


    ¡°At least, I suspect it¡¯s not true. Ashli and the fragment have displayed an aptitude or ability to manipulate and alter dungeons. Bend, even break the Darkwyrlds rules they operate under. We can¡¯t rule out that they might be able to cause permanent harm to a core through their avatar. The two are still intricately linked. When the time comes to strike, I don¡¯t plan on bringing Anastasia along either. It''s too big of a risk.¡±


    Quixbix was silent for a while, and I covered a few hundred metres before he spoke into my mind again. <You¡¯re right. Damn it, but you¡¯re right. I don¡¯t know why I didn¡¯t think of that.>


    ¡°We¡¯ll put it down to the strange effect the fragment has on the Framework. If you weren¡¯t intrinsically linked to me, you might be as in the dark as Dean and Violet.¡±


    <Fair enough. One thing¡¯s for sure, though. Ana is going to be supremely miffed when she finds out she has to stay behind.>


    ¡°Ain¡¯t that the truth.¡±


    The conversation died down and centred on navigation after that. I had to ping the waypoint sense a couple of times to reorient. The marsh was tricky to navigate with patches of boggy areas that had to be avoided lest you get stuck in the mud.


    There were plenty of nesting birds and insects that I tried to avoid disturbing with limited success. I also ran into two creatures that resembled the prehistoric Terror Birds but were half the size.


    The fight certainly got the blood pumping, but was something I could have done without.


    Especially as one of them managed to latch onto my forearm with its large, hooked beak. It would have broken the bone if not for the quality of my dragon-scale armour. Nevertheless, there was extensive bruising that would take a few hours to fade away leaving me in pain until then.


    Shortly after the dwarven terror bird incident, I hopped over a stream to the opposite embankment and found an old tree with grey bark that had seen better days. There were almost no leaves on the gnarled and twisted branches. My mind flashed back to the vampiric trees we¡¯d once encountered.


    ¡°Nothing is trying to mess with my head, right? Make me think we¡¯ve entered a haven of plenty.¡±


    <No, you¡¯re in the clear of foreign mental influence. But you¡¯re right about this tree seeming to be a bit out of place. And we¡¯re also almost on top of the waypoint dot. Do you think it¡¯s a marker?>


    ¡°One way to find out.¡±


    I moved forward and circled the dying tree. On the opposite side, out of sight and hidden in a fold of the tree¡¯s bark was a small pedestal made of white marble streaked with green. A familiar sight indeed.


    I fumbled around the top until I found what felt like a button and depressed it. The sound of stone shifting intruded on the buzzing of insects and the cawing of waterfowl. A staircase of descending marble steps fell away from where I was standing and circled the circumference of the grey-barked tree.


    We had found the entrance to the waypoint.


    It was time to go down and claim it.


    Chapter 22


    With the Goresteel Greatblade gripped in both hands, I headed down the twisting staircase, the blade poised and ready to strike at anything which could be revealed. The feel of the marble beneath my boots was familiar if not exactly welcoming. I¡¯d been down into the warren of Pandaemonium a few times in the past. It was eerie and off-putting.


    After two circuits around the central column, the base of the stairwell came into view.


    The d¨¦cor of the tunnel here was different from the earth-brown, dirt floor of the tunnel network beneath Stormblade Harbour and most of Michigan. Instead, it had the same colouring and texture as the tree marker up above, grey with streaks of charcoal running through it. From the reading I¡¯d done, that was not unusual, the material the connecting tunnel network was made from did change. Now we looked to be inside the hollowed-out roots of a gigantic tree.


    Apart from the material, nothing else was different. There was sufficient, if subdued, light to see clearly. At the bottom of the stairwell, the column had an indentation perfectly sized for Claudia¡¯s dungeon shard. Opposite the column was the waystation. There was a foul stench that emanated from within and assaulted the nostrils. The sparse furniture within was in a state of disarray. The bunks had been pulled away from the walls and smashed to pieces.


    It was hard to tell from a glance, but somebody may have tried to use them as makeshift barriers. A few tentative sniffs revealed that the nasty smell was rotten meat. A scent which was eerily familiar from an earlier campaign.


    Without taking my eyes off the ominous sight in front of me, I stepped off the last marble step, retrieved the shard from my inventory and slammed it home into the indentation in the column to claim it.


    *** You have tried to claim the Horicon Marsh Pandaemonium waypoint. This region is currently controlled by the Hooved Horde and dedicated to Carnax the Cloven-Hoofed. As they are an external force, not native to Pandaemonium, this prevents you from claiming the waypoint at this time. ***


    *** Expel the Hooved Horde from the nearest habitat and try again. ***


    The message flashed in my eyes and was quickly followed by a quest notification.


    *** Culling the Cloven-Hoofed 5 (Fx3)


    You believed you were done with the Hooved Horde, but they weren¡¯t done with you it seems. The success of your last quest and the theft of the Pandaemonium Portal they invested so much energy into was merely a setback for the carnivorous herds. They might not be able to create portals, but they can still enter the network through pre-existing waypoints. Your quest reward might have barred them from the Michigan section of Pandaemonium, but Wisconsin and Minnesota received no such protections.


    The Horde learned their lesson from Belshgar Bastion and have adopted a patient approach instead. Building their forces, extending their reach out of sight, and waiting for the opportune moment to strike.


    But those are worries for another day. What you are interested in is the habitat a few hundred metres down the tunnel where the Hooved Horde has established an outpost. Fight your way in, destroy the Blood Shrine at the centre and break their hold on the area. Only then can you claim this waypoint and summon your forces.


    Success: Blood Shrine destroyed.


    Rewards: 16,500 XP, a Shattered information crystal, and future quests in the chain.


    Failure: If this quest goes incomplete the rest of this quest chain will remain locked and unavailable. ***


    ¡°Bloody Nora!¡± I snarled out in a low voice.


    An addition to this blasted quest chain was the last thing I needed right now. Heeding the snawfus¡¯ sage advice, I¡¯d put Culling the Cloven-Hoofed and the Hooved Horde in general in my rear-view mirror. Left them to whatever they got up to in the wilds of Ontario.


    Everything made sense now. The smell of rotting flesh assaulting my nostrils came from the Horde¡¯s grisly trophies and the fetishes they manufactured from the bodies of their victims which they insisted on hanging everywhere. Once I knew what to look for, I could make out several of them nailed to the debris of the waystation¡¯s bunks.


    Piper¡¯s words came back to haunt me. That the exploration of Pandaemonium hadn¡¯t pressed into Wisconsin¡¯s borders. This is why we hadn¡¯t picked up any hints of the Hooved Horde¡¯s growing presence in Pandaemonium. They had to stay out of the tunnels which connected to the Upper Peninsula because I stole their portal. And we hadn¡¯t investigated the network that fat north because there was nothing out there except for mobs and trouble. We had plenty of those back home and didn¡¯t need to seek out more.


    It wasn¡¯t all bad news.


    The Shattered Goddess must have had a hand in crafting the quest. The description provided a fair bit of information that was only tangentially related to the quest itself. Useful for me but also an unwanted distraction which was part of her modus operandi.


    Nancy wanted me to succeed, but her mind was fractured, and the manifestation of that damage could be self-destructive.


    The crystal reward would be something from her. The capitalisation of Shattered suggested it would be data coming directly from the Goddess. Although she could be mercurial, there was no guarantee that it wouldn¡¯t be an empty info crystal smashed into several pieces.


    The sound of scuffed movement from the waystation grabbed my attention. By swearing out loud I¡¯d given away that somebody had entered the tunnels. I shifted into a readied combat stance in preparation for the attack.


    Without prompting Quixbix tried to assist.


    The change in my demeanour must have tipped the goatmen off that the ambush attempt was a bust because they gave up on any attempt at concealment, brayed loudly, and shoved the broken bunks out of the way.


    Quixbix was right, there were six of them. These were slightly larger than those I¡¯d seen before, the horns perhaps an inch longer. A sign that the buggers were a bit more experienced than the creatures I¡¯d fought at Belshgar Bastion. The rusty armour and crusted blood smeared over their furred faces and everything they wore hadn¡¯t changed though.


    Capronid x6 (One Alpha)


    Grade: S Level: 15


    HP: 1,360


    XP Value: 4,400


    Information: Capronids or Goat-folk are a monstrous species that live and move in herds. They are dedicated to the god Carnax the Cloven-Hoofed. Their herds typically merge when they meet and when they encounter other cloven-hoofed monster species. These mass gatherings are referred to as the Hooved Horde. The destruction wrought by the Horde is devastating and will continue until either the Horde is comprehensively defeated and scattered to the winds or there is nothing left for them to destroy and consume.


    Unlike the animals whose likeness they bear, capronids are exclusively carnivorous, consuming the flesh of those they slay and offer in sacrifice to their ever-hungry God.


    This herd has been separated from the Horde and is currently understrength.


    The analysis confirmed the greater experience, but even at level fifteen, six weren¡¯t a genuine threat to me. I kept the waypoint column at my back and let the monsters come to me.


    The creepy yellow eyes with rectangular pupils were focused on me and the sextet lacked co-ordinated discipline. The first came charging at me with a large mace, I dropped my shoulder and let the beast¡¯s momentum skewer it on the tip of Goresteel¡¯s blade. With a shift forward, I put my shoulder into the capronid¡¯s breadbasket and flipped it over my back, sawing the edge of the sword through its guts as it somersaulted and landed hard on the marble steps with a pathetic bleat.


    I left the disembowelled capronid to its fate and took a step forward to intercept the blade of the next. After knocking its initial swipe out of the way, a swift backswing sliced through the thigh above the knee and forced it to half jump-half fall away. Number three fell victim to the Cold Feet cantrip holding it in place and allowing me to swing high and half-sever its head from the body. The tough spinal cord prevented a full decapitation, but it was a killing blow, nonetheless.


    The back three paused and observed the fate of their overeager brethren. Half-head was dead outright and fell back in an awkward slump, its hooves still held in place by the mounds of thick ice. Gutless panted, tongue lolling out and tried to rise, but slipped on its viscera and the movement only managed to hasten its inevitable demise. The one I lamed shuffled further away favouring the badly injured leg.


    ¡°Who¡¯s next?¡± I taunted the beasts.


    The biggest of the capronids sniffed the air warily from behind a meshed mask that covered its snout; its strange eyes fixated on me. The beast growled and spat a wad of phlegm in disgust. ¡°God stench!¡± This one had the largest horns, their twisting spiral poked through the hood of an impressively disgusting cape made from the flayed skin of one of its prior victims.


    I took the statement about God stench to be something negative. Carnax and the Shattered Goddess were rivals within the pantheon of Chaos. It was the primary reason the godling had prompted his monstrous followers to get mixed up in my business in the first place.


    ¡°I suppose that means an alliance to fuck over a mutual enemy is out of the question?¡±


    The largest of the goatmen spat again and used the sign of disrespect as an opportunity to give an almost imperceptible gesture to its fellows. I spotted the attempt at subterfuge and wasn¡¯t caught unprepared when the three fighting-fit capronids tried to jump me as a group.


    Killing the three of them when they attacked together was a little bit trickier. The cape-wearer dual-wielded a pair of serrated short swords and came at head-on, while his two lackeys tried to flank me on either side. Gutless was still alive, just, and tried to help by clawing at an ankle but his wheezing gave him away and I raised the boot up and out of the way.


    A charge of Dragon¡¯s Breath would be the quick and easy way to deal with these bastards. However, with an outpost to take down solo, I wanted to keep those in reserve for the time being. Almost surrounded, I had to take a few hits while striking down the two flankers. Nothing that I couldn¡¯t recover from with a short rest. The majority of the wounds came from the cape-wearer and his two short blades. He was actually quite skilled.


    Once the two flankers had been taken care of, the footing became difficult. Gutless had finally bled out too and the dead bodies made manoeuvring treacherous. Dragon¡¯s Leap fixed that, I hopped back a step and then pushed forward and shocked the alpha capronid. Even with his extended horns, there was enough room to clear him and not collide with the tunnel ceiling. Mid-leap, I switched to two ice blades and performed a twist like a vaulting gymnast and drove both blades deep into the alpha¡¯s back before it could turn around and face me.


    The primary fight was over, but the true danger was the lamed one.


    At the same time as the alpha¡¯s coordinated attack, the wounded capronid started to limp away, caterwauling loudly for all he was worth. A few thrown ice daggers, lodged into the back of the good knee, curtailed its escape and I ran down the corridor and finished the grunting creature off. It had only managed to shuffle thirty-odd metres, things would have been riskier if one of the unhurt ones had tried to make a run for it.


    With the killing done, I bent low over the body and strained my eyes and ears to catch any sign that other members of the Hooved Horde had reacted to the commotion.


    ¡°Anything Quix?¡±


    <My vision is still on the fritz. I can¡¯t see anything. It¡¯s difficult to refocus every time the range alters, and the range is changing almost constantly. I hate it down here.>


    I felt a twinge of the promised headache pulse from behind my eyes as the imp attempted to utilise his spying technique. ¡°I don¡¯t recall it being this bad the last time we came down here.¡±


    <It wasn¡¯t, there was still some shifting, but it was more manageable and to be frank, you didn¡¯t need me to keep an eye out for you then. Once Claudia inserted her shard, everything stabilised. This could be a side-effect of that, though I¡¯d bet everything in your treasury the Blood Shrine is the source of the greater difficulty. Carnax is a chaos god, and he doesn¡¯t like you.>


    That made sense.


    I spent the next couple of minutes looting, then dragging the corpses out of the root-like corridor. As mobs, they would fade away and disappear in a few hours, but if the Horde were patrolling the area, I didn¡¯t want to make it easy for them to figure out that something was wrong.


    Keeping with that theme, I sealed the staircase back to the real world and removed the alpha¡¯s disgusting cape, gore-covered chainmail shirt, and meshed snout covering. As rank as the items were, they would be useful as a disguise. My 6¡¯ 6¡± frame was big enough to pass for a capronid if you didn¡¯t get too close. To complete the look, I sawed off the horns and poked them through the holes in the cape¡¯s hood.


    The poking-horns part of the grisly costume wouldn¡¯t last more than half a day. The horns had been part of the mob and would be reclaimed by the Darkwyrlds to fuel future mob spawning, but the cape had been made from some poor unfortunates who crossed paths with the alpha in the recent past.


    With the disguise finished I performed a quick search of the waystation which didn¡¯t turn up anything else useful.


    But it did give me a moment of contemplation.


    I didn¡¯t know how deeply the horde had penetrated this region of Pandaemonium. The quest had referred to an outpost in the closest habitat which I assumed was in the direction the injured capronid had fled.


    What remained unclear was if this was the edge of their territory or if the other habitats in the area had similarly been overrun. I only needed to purge the nearest outpost to this waypoint to claim it. The danger was that if I were surrounded then the local force could call for reinforcements. Subterfuge rather than a ballsy full-frontal assault ought to be the play. Hence the vile disguise, I¡¯d been working on.


    Either way, Wisconsin was fucked with a capital F. Even if this was as far as the Horde had reached, then they¡¯d infiltrated a good two-thirds of the state, maybe Minnesota too. Not to forget the Wisconsin army had a run-in with what was left of the Hooved Horde when they held the Upper Peninsula. And the monstrous faction seemed to be the grudge-bearing types.


    The freshness of the cape was a sign that the Hooved Horde had been performing raids on the surface world. I doubted there was anybody left roaming the wilds of Ontario that the alpha would have encountered. It was much more likely to be somebody local. Although I couldn¡¯t rule out the disposal of slaves, the Horde in Belshgar Bastion had collared thousands to work for them.


    If the fragment¡¯s activities weren¡¯t such an imminent danger, I¡¯d be tempted to just let nature take its course. Horrific as that might be for the locals. Another option was to tell Howson and deposit him and his men in these tunnels after they were done with the fragment. The Wisconsin soldiers might have surrendered but they were unlikely to switch loyalties once the fragment was defeated. The Shattered Storm had butchered thousands of their comrades in arms, and soldier types didn¡¯t forget or forgive that kind of thing easily. There was a big downside to that. First, it would reveal Pandaemonium¡¯s existence and potentially hand control of a big portion of it to a faction who bore a grudge against me.


    A moral conundrum that could be resolved after the fragment had been dealt with.


    Thinking of the fragment, time was still a factor, and I couldn¡¯t afford to hang around here any longer. Donning the rusted chainmail over my dragon scale and flipping the hood of the disguise up, I made my way towards the habitat.

 Book 5: Chapters 23 & 24

    Chapter 23


    The Leviathan¡¯s Curse


    The voyage had taken more than a month before the Leviathan¡¯s Curse entered the Meenus cluster. Titus was almost home.


    The beacon for Port Gar¡¯s plexus gate blinked on the big screen as Titus watched on. They didn¡¯t need to use the port to enter the section of the plexus network that encompassed Earth. The only thing that inhibited them from moving forward was the inherent constraints of the limiter glyphs they¡¯d been forced to activate just to enter the cluster.


    Titus and key members of his crew were simply too strong for the glyphs.


    The natural power they exuded would crack any glyph that tried to limit them to only fifty levels. The hidden glyph on his temple was already under considerable strain and wouldn¡¯t last more than a week. It limited Titus to the top one hundred and twenty-five levels of the five hundred and twelve he¡¯d acquired over the long centuries of his current rule.


    One hundred and twenty-five was the maximum permitted in the Meenus cluster by the Framework, due to it being the youngest cluster in the Darkwyrlds. This was rarely a problem for most. Over 90% of the beings in the Darkwyrlds hadn¡¯t reached those heights and many of those who had resided in the far-flung territories of the Old Empires where such restrictions had been dropped millennia ago.


    With Earth still under a partial shroud for another six months, it had even greater restrictions.


    Fifty levels only.


    An impossible ask for Titus as things stood, but then he¡¯d been preparing to resolve that little problem during the lengthy trip from the much richer hunting grounds of the outer clusters.


    ¡°We¡¯ve arrived,¡± the Helmsman announced. ¡°The Mutinous Dog has arrived alongside us. It¡¯s ready to board when you are, sir.¡±


    Titus nodded. The Dog was his first vice flagship, the name was supposed to be ironic. The Mutinous Dog was one of the Curse¡¯s shard ships, her first, in fact. There was no greater honour to serve aboard her apart from being assigned to the Leviathan¡¯s Curse herself. Most preferred the Dog, though. It was a more active raider and provided better opportunities for level advancement. Significantly more of her crew were being strained by the limiter glyphs than those on the Curse. Many of whom had more of an administrative slant than combative. That didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t those on the Curse who couldn¡¯t remain in the young cluster for long.


    The crew knew the plan was for the overpowered members to board the Dog and leave the Meenus Cluster for somewhere with fewer level restrictions.


    You didn¡¯t want to be stuck in a restricted cluster with a busted glyph. The Framework had a way of solving that problem for you in a way you wouldn¡¯t appreciate. Like the loss of the offending levels. And they would come off the top, not the bottom.


    In an unusual move, the Curse would be remaining in Meenus. The crew found this mighty strange but knew better than to question the decisions of their tempestuous captain.


    ¡°And my son, Rom?¡±


    The crewman at the comms panel replied. ¡°Twin Stars have answered our hails. He¡¯ll be here within the hour.¡±


    Rom had taken his brother¡¯s ship, fused the pair along the bow and renamed the combined vessel as the Twins Stars. A homage to his dead brother.


    Titus had grunted with laughter when he¡¯d been informed. If Rom had loved Rem that much, he shouldn¡¯t have throttled him to death for the advancement in the first place. All Rom had succeeded in doing was broadcasting his weakness to the rest of the Dread Scourge.


    It didn¡¯t matter, the foolish boy would be dead before the day was out.


    ¡°Good. Make the announcement. I want the designated crew members on board the Mutinous Dog and heading back to Dread Cove before the Twin Stars arrive. I am retiring to my private chambers, send my son to me the moment he arrives.¡±


    ¡°Aye, sir.¡±


    ***


    Rom rapped his knuckles on the ancient wooden door that led into his father¡¯s private sanctum. Chambers neither he nor anyone else he knew of had ever entered apart from the grizzled Corsair veteran himself, of course.


    The knock was a mixture of tentative and angry. Tentative because of the unusual nature and location of the summons, angry because this campaign was supposed to be for Rom to execute. He didn¡¯t need his father watching over his shoulder. It would give the wrong impression to the men like Titus didn¡¯t trust him or something.


    There was no answer at first. Rom stood there, his hand raised, unsure whether to knock again or wait. He didn¡¯t want to give the impression that he was making demands on Titus. He had a reputation for inventive forms of retribution against people who made the mistake of overstepping their bounds in his presence.


    Rom half-knocked, his knuckles not quite making contact with the weathered wood of the door twice before his father¡¯s voice interrupted a firmer third attempt.


    ¡°Come!¡±


    The large, ironbound door swung open easily without Rom having to touch it and with a small headshake to ward off the worry demons, he stepped forward confidently.


    ***


    The door slammed shut loudly behind Rom and he jumped a few inches off the flagstones of the floor. Titus grinned from his position on one of the thrones at the back of the room, enjoying the theatrics a little. It was always good to keep those you dealt with off kilter.


    The runes that had been painstakingly etched into the walls of the chamber flared to life for Titus¡¯ eyes only and unbeknownst to Rom he was indelibly marked by the ritual that his father had spent so many weeks working on.


    Enacting generational immortality was not an easy process. If Fred Simms, the man he used to be, had another option at the time, he would have taken it, but his choices had been limited and the opportunity fleeting. All the more reason to seize the opening Ashli had left down on the planet and leave this cumbersome method in the past where it belonged.


    ¡°Twin thrones,¡± Rom whispered with reverence. ¡°If only my brother had been here with me to see this. To think what we could have shared.¡±


    Titus glanced at the obsidian black throne beside him. It was covered in a thick network of runes that Rom could not see. His son had mistaken the purpose of their being two seats in this throne room. Not entirely surprising, he ought to be completely ignorant of the chamber¡¯s true purpose. The fact he stepped across the threshold was proof of that.


    Nevertheless, Rom¡¯s words aggravated Titus, and he couldn¡¯t resist needling the unknowing sacrifice just a little. ¡°For Scourge¡¯s sake, Rom. If you cared that deeply about your brother, why the fuck were you so willing to kill the bastard?¡±


    Rom shook his head, unfazed. ¡°Rem crossed the line. He sent a strike team to my home while I was out raiding. They killed everyone, none were spared. All the consorts, his nephews and nieces. All my offspring, even the little ones.¡±


    This was news to Titus. ¡°All of them?¡±


    ¡°Every last one.¡±


    Titus paused for thought. He hadn¡¯t known about this. He had too many sons to take much interest in the minutiae of their private lives. He¡¯d assumed Rom had several adult sons; he was over sixty years old by now.


    The moment Titus completed the ritual and took control of Rom¡¯s body, Titus wouldn¡¯t be able to use any of his other three surviving sons for the same purpose. He would be bound to Rom¡¯s direct bloodline. He¡¯d been under the impression that Rom had several children, and backup bodies should Titus fail to achieve Godhood on Earth.


    ¡°Is everything alright, Father? I didn¡¯t mean to upset you with news of the loss of your grandchildren.¡±


    Titus¡¯ mind whirled and came to a decision. It was too late to step off this path. Rom was already marked; it would take weeks, if not months, to undo that and the other three had gone into hiding anyway. He would be able to find them if necessary, but they were some of the weakest, that¡¯s why they ran.


    No, he needed to proceed as planned. Dread Cove had plenty of willing wombs, ready to rebuild the contingency should it be necessary.


    ¡°All is well,¡± he reassured his son. ¡°I have many grandchildren, and you can make some more when this is done. I¡¯m sure you are eager to discover why I¡¯ve called you here today.¡±


    ¡°It had crossed my mind.¡± Rom had the temerity to smirk, the fool.


    ¡°The time has come,¡± Titus announced with bombastic enthusiasm. ¡°You have probably sensed its approach. I am tired and have found myself hankering for retirement of all things. It is time to pass the torch, to pass the Leviathan¡¯s Curse onto another and I can think of no one worthier than you Rom.¡±


    Rom looked genuinely taken aback at the news. ¡°I¡­I¡­you honour me, Father. I am willing to accept this burden.¡±


    Titus clapped his hands together gleefully. ¡°That is the purpose of the interlinked thrones. It allows me to pass ownership of the Curse to another.¡±


    Rom stepped forward and rushed up the dais steps that led to the twin thrones only to be stopped by the outstretched hand of his father.


    ¡°One thing first, this process can take some time, and we can¡¯t be interrupted until it is complete. We wouldn¡¯t want your sister and the malcontent lover she has shacked up with to slip away while we are indisposed, would we?¡±


    Rom flashed Titus a vicious grin. ¡°You are quite right, Father. The Twin Stars is monitoring for the signal you warned us of.¡±


    Titus nodded; the sensors he¡¯d supplied Carter would signal once all traces of the fragment had been eliminated. ¡°Make sure they know what to do once that signal is detected and then we can get on with the transfer. There is a communication panel over in the corner.¡±


    Rom ran for the corner to give the orders, his eagerness almost causing him to trip.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Titus smiled slyly while his back was turned. He still had a promise to Carter to adhere to. Better that the assault began without his direct order when the fragment was exterminated.


    Rom barked out some hasty orders to break through Carter¡¯s gate and lay waste to his home the moment the signal was detected and then hurried back up to the dais.


    ¡°All done?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Father.¡±


    ¡°Then take a seat and let¡¯s get started.¡±


    Rom sat in place. Joy turned to worry, and he felt his body stiffen as the runes on the throne seized control of his body and held him firmly in place. The only thing he could move was his eyes and he looked over at his father, panic rising. What he saw did not feel him with glad tidings.


    The expression on Titus¡¯ face was predatory. Rom had seen his father like this before and it never boded well for the recipient of that gaze.


    Too late he remembered that men like Titus Shiptaker didn¡¯t harken for retirement. Their desire for control and conquest was unquenchable. Despots never tired of ruling. He should have asked more questions, but the enormity of the prize overwhelmed his honed survival instincts.


    The last thought that belonged to Rom was of him and his brother on their thirteenth birthday, arms around one another, laughing and happy. Inseparable.


    Not a bad memory to go out on all things considered.


    Then there was a brief flash of pain as his mind and soul were expelled to make way for a new owner.


    ***


    Titus, nay Rom Shiptaker opened his eyes and pushed off from the throne that had until recently kept the body secured in place. He flexed and stretched his muscles. Getting used to a new body had always been a strange experience.


    He glanced to the other throne. The husk of his old body was already disintegrating into dust.


    The new Rom gathered up his old belongings, picking and choosing what to put on and what to put aside. He didn¡¯t spend too long doing that before the Curse¡¯s dungeon avatar appeared at the base of the dais and bowed deeply. It appeared to him in the form of a grizzled, one-eyed ogre, the end boss for the dungeon that he had claimed millennia ago.


    ¡°You recognise me?¡± Rom barked.


    The avatar looked up, there was a hint of sadness around the single eye, and it nodded. The damn thing¡¯s defiance had been a thorn in Rom¡¯s side for as long as he could remember. Any active attempts at disobedience had been purged long ago, but it still refused to speak. A final act of independence.


    ¡°Good. Fully drain the shard of the Mutinous Dog and collapse the ship.¡±


    The avatar nodded and closed its eye. When the eye re-opened, the avatar nodded for a second time to indicate the order had been carried out.


    All those aboard the Mutinous Dog were dead or they soon would be.


    Killing the strongest members of the Dread Scourge would weaken the Corsair faction in the short term, but if Rom was going to be challenged as the new faction leader, the threat would have come from one of them.


    If everything went to plan, it would all be moot anyway, but you wouldn¡¯t live as long as Rom had if you didn¡¯t plan for contingencies. If he had to continue using generational immortality, then his hold on the Dread Scourge could not be questioned. Not until he had a chance to increase his new body''s current level to unchallengeable heights. The discarded Rom had done a reasonable job, level two-hundred and ten was impressive for someone of his age.


    Rom rearranged his clothing and strode purposefully out of the inner sanctum. It was time the Dread Scourge learned about the shift in leadership.


    Chapter 24


    A quest notification intruded on my consciousness before I reached the end of the root tunnel.


    *** The Divine Vengeance quest has been updated. ***


    *** Divine Vengeance (Omega)


    The foul villain Fred Simms has revealed himself to you as Titus Shiptaker. Your patron Goddess¡¯ demand is simple. End his life in any way possible.


    The Shattered Goddess has sensed the life light of Titus Shiptaker wink out. But her vengeance is undiminished, he must have utilised his generational immortality. There were four potential heirs remaining. Identify which of them he has become and kill him.


    Quest Progress:


    Titus Shiptaker¡¯s new body had been identified and slain 0/1


    Current Potential Heirs: Unknown until the new host has been identified.


    Success: Identify and kill Titus Shiptaker including any new heirs.


    Rewards: 800,000 XP, a map through the Great Rift and an invitation to the demesne of the Shattered Goddess.


    Legacy of the Leviathan for Marena¡¯s Mercy. Your dungeon ship can consume the core of the Levithan¡¯s Curse stealing the power of the core for itself and inheriting any surviving assets controlled or owned by the Leviathan¡¯s Curse. (Can only be done while within the Shattered Goddess¡¯ demesne)


    Failure: The longer this quest goes incomplete, the greater the ire you will draw from your patron Goddess. Should this build to critical mass then bad things will happen. Very bad things. Acts which run counter to progressing the outcome of this quest will add to the discontent meter.


    The Shattered Goddess¡¯ current discontent: 5/10 ***


    Titus had either been killed or chosen to jump into a new body. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to identify who he had become. It was unlikely that he would let someone else call the shots. So, whichever of his sons inherited the mantle of leadership would be the top target. A bluff was possible, but why would Titus bother unless he believed me capable of assassinating him? Something I found hard to believe.


    The experience for the quest reward had dropped by two hundred thousand. Presumably a penalty for not completing the quest before Titus shifted to another body and made things more difficult. The Goddess¡¯ discontent gauge had also risen by another point, offsetting some of the earlier progress I¡¯d made at assuaging her impatience.


    That had all been interesting but wasn¡¯t relevant to my current focus. Pushing forward, I reached the end of the tunnel and was greeted by the bitter chill of icy winds. The nearest habitat imitated a pass high in the mountains. It was cold and there was a thin blanket of snow that covered the ground. I could tell without entering the habitat that it was thin because the slightly larger pieces of scree poked through the powdery, white snow and created patches of dreary dark grey across the landscape.


    There were hoof prints in the snow that ran parallel to the entrance as well as into it. A sign that the perimeter of the habitat was being patrolled. The chances that this was the right place went up several notches. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t spot the location of the Blood Shrine from the tunnel exit. The habitat had peaks and gulleys that meant I couldn¡¯t see far into the interior, but there was a trail that led deeper into the habitat. The hoofprints on the ground suggested it had been used frequently.


    The trail was clear for now, and I had my disguise on. Time to take a risk.


    Six or seven steps into the frozen wasteland and the biggest flaw in my disguise became apparent. The tracks I left in the snow appeared distinctly un-hoof-like. The thought of returning to the waystation to cut the hooves off the capronid alpha flashed through my mind and was just as quickly dismissed.


    How would I attach them? Not to mention the snow-dusted scree underfoot was treacherous enough as it was without adding another layer of complexity. Walking around in platform goth boots was not something I had experience with. Better to simply head for the more frequently walked tracks where everything had already been stamped into an analogous slush.


    I hurried deeper into the frozen habitat and found a trail along a ridge that wove through the valley outcroppings. The trails overlooked a trickling stream that meandered through the rocks. Not deep, but ice cold to the touch which was a good reason to stay out of it. Snow started to fall heavily, and the frigid winds of the pass whipped it into almost blizzard conditions.


    Visibility was seriously impaired, but that was a two-way street. I might not be able to make out more than vague shapes a few feet in front of me, but it was the same for the Horde patrols and that was an advantage for subterfuge.


    The first test of my disguise came shortly after the snow flurry struck. A group of ten marched along the same trail I followed, coming from the opposite direction. Six capronids and four individuals that didn¡¯t look like Horde members and even from a snow-blurred distance didn¡¯t appear to be wearing sufficient clothing for the blustery weather conditions.


    With a close-up inspection of the disguise approaching, I added the final touches and summoned the snout mask and a couple pairs of socks from my inventory. I balled the socks up and used them to fill out the shout-mask before donning it to hide my face. This had the dual benefit of giving the impression of a snout poking out of the cape¡¯s hood and it insulated my mouth and nose from the rank nastiness that coated the inside of the alpha¡¯s snout covering.


    I was ascending on the trail and that helped with the disguise. The climb when combined with the wretched weather gave me a reasonable excuse to have my head leaning down and forward. The two leading capronids couldn¡¯t easily see inside the hood as we passed by one another. It was a damn shame the sneak skill I¡¯d been cultivating wouldn¡¯t help in this situation as I wasn¡¯t trying to hide.


    By intent, I shifted to the inside line of the narrow trail and forced them to walk around me. Giving no hint that I might give way to them. I¡¯d observed enough capronid behaviour to know they weren¡¯t exactly polite or accommodating to one another, particularly not from the dominant members. The gamble was that the skin cape, sawn-off horns, and muzzle armour would announce my alpha status and enforce deference from these lesser warriors.


    The approach went better than expected. The front two peered at me through the blizzard conditions suspiciously, at first, and then stepped aside and let me pass unmolested.


    And that was when things got tricky.


    The nearest of the two, a grey-furred capronid grunted some kind of greeting. I grunted back in what I thought was a fairly decent approximation of goat-speak. Unfortunately, the wadded socks in front of my mouth muffled the raspy growl.


    I felt rather saw grey-fur¡¯s stride pause mid-step with aroused curiosity.


    I was already past him and kept marching purposefully forward, ignoring his piqued interest as any arrogant alpha should. A second grunt from him was lost in the whistling wind.


    The middle bunch of their group then came into clear view. Four humans in torn scraps of clothing had been chained together using the collars around their throats. The second of them in the chain had been garbed in the same military uniform most of the captured Wisconsin soldiers wore, or some variation of it. A recent prisoner then, though it had always been unlikely any of them might have been part of the townsfolk enslaved at the same time as Piper.


    A third grunt came from grey fur, louder this time and it cut through the background noise, making it difficult to pretend I hadn¡¯t heard it this time.


    <He¡¯s challenging you.>


    I picked up on that Quixbix.


    If it came to a fight, I was sure that I could take them easily enough. What I didn¡¯t know was how close the Blood Shrine was and how easy it might be for one of the trailing capronids to fall back and put the shrine keepers on high alert. Glancing at the chain linking the collared slaves an alternate plan formed.


    ¡°Sorry bud, this is for the greater good,¡± I muttered under my breath, too low to be heard by anyone and muffled even further by the socks.


    I shifted sideways as if I was stepping around an obstruction and slammed the collared soldier shoulder-to-shoulder with enough force to not just knock him off his feet but send him over the edge of the trail as well. Chained as he was to the rest of the group, he pulled them over the side before they could brace themselves and all four started to tumble down the thirty feet of scraggy slope and came to a rest in the stream at the base of the ravine.


    Bedlam broke out amongst the capronids and they rushed to the side of the trail with several of them jumping down into the ravine to give chase to the ¡®escaping¡¯ slaves. They probably hadn¡¯t seen that I was the cause of the incident due to the swirling blizzard-like conditions. In the commotion, grey-fur¡¯s suspicion of the odd-alpha had to take a backseat, and he joined the other escorting patrol members in retrieving their property. Unperturbed, I kept moving at the same pace and trudged up the trail, passed them, and left the creatures in my wake.


    My caution proved to be worthwhile. The moment I reached the top of the trail, it started to wind back down into the valley opening into a wider expanse of flatter landscape that had been just out of sight from my previous vantage point. The camp built around the Blood Shrine was in the shadow of two peaks on either side. There were two more trails, one that snaked up and between the two peaks behind the camp and a second that ran parallel to the stream that continued to cut through the mountainous terrain on the far side.


    The two peaks shielded the camp from the worst of the wind. Consequently, the falling show hadn¡¯t been whipped around as much here and didn¡¯t interfere with visibility half as much.


    There was a poorly made low wall that surrounded the camp. The building material was lumps of rock gathered from the ground and sealed together by a sloppy paste made from dug-up soil and water and then allowed to freeze. A team of slaves were hard at work trying to increase the height of the shoddy defensive structure.


    Inside the perimeter, there were three dozen wood and leather tents arranged in a haphazard style and at its centre was the monstrous monolith I¡¯d come to destroy.


    It was the same shape as the Blood Shrine erected on Beaver Island by the Hooved Horde. The one started by that dumbass vegan, Dougie, who summoned the beasts to my island and kickstarted their incessant involvement in my business.


    It was hard to believe that happened more than a year earlier, it felt like a lifetime ago.


    That shrine had used a steel girder and the remnants of broken mining equipment in its construction. This one was built using a thick log as the central column. Something they must have brought with them from Canada and padded out with smaller branches from the smaller local fir trees that dotted the habitat¡¯s landscape. Then the shrine was decorated with ornaments made from bone and flesh.


    It looked like a gore-slathered Christmas Tree. No milk and cookies were left under this one. Blood and a plate of eyeballs maybe. A tribute to a Santa sporting six-inch claws on each hand and not a sack full of presents.


    The base of this one was sturdier than what the smaller shrine on my island had been held up with. Shaped blocks fitted together and then filled in with something like cement. Nothing that would stand up to one of Sheamus¡¯ explosive charges, though.


    I always kept a decent selection of his goodies in my inventory slots. You never knew when you might need to blow some shit up.


    There was no time like the present, with my assessment complete, I started the descent towards the camp. The camp wasn¡¯t large, and I wouldn¡¯t need my disguise to last for very long to reach the shrine. Half a minute, tops, if I put some hustle in.


    The real trick was going to be getting out afterwards.

 Book 5: Chapters 25 & 26

    Chapter 25


    Boots crunched in the freshly fallen snow. The sound of the work crew came from the left. An Ovinid overseer barked at the slaves demanding they work harder in raspy broken English. The Ram-men were even larger than their capronid cousins and its presence was the first sign that the Hooved Horde had despatched some of their larger, more powerful units to this outpost.


    Thankfully, the overseer ignored me and kept its unwanted attention on the poor sods working under its supervision. A lone capronid alpha returning to the camp was beneath its notice. Two smaller goat-men were acting as sentries on either side of the camp¡¯s entrance, which was little more than a gap in the hastily erected stone wall.


    Learning from my earlier mistake, I¡¯d rearranged the sock padding in the face mask and made a better job of the grunted greetings as we passed one another. The eyes of the two roved over me with bored disinterest and the disguise passed muster. Enough that I entered the camp without challenge this time. Neither of the bored sentries looked down at my feet, it was the horns and grisly cape that garnered all their attention.


    I didn¡¯t hang around for a conversation and made a beeline directly for the shrine. This behaviour didn¡¯t seem entirely out of place for the camp. A few other monsters were headed in the same direction, either to pay obeisance to Carnax or to collect a meal from the leftovers of the sacrificial victims.


    An altar had been built in front of the prickly wooden shrine. Made from a large slab of granite, it dominated the space out front. No sacrifice was currently under way which was fortunate for me because it meant that security around the shrine was somewhat lax. A trough filled with the remnants of sacrificed slaves was off to the left as I approached. Two capronids and a much larger minotaur covered in short, black hair had their snouts buried in the offal and chewed away as if it were cud.


    The priestly shrine attendants were not at the altar. I could see them being groomed by a handful of slaves through the open flats of the largest leather yurt in the encampment that was off to the right and a little further up from the shrine. Ignoring the vile trough, I skirted around the other side of the altar and approached the base of the shine itself.


    Finally, this attracted the negative attention of the enemy. A white-furred priest, bedecked in decorations carved from bone and intertwined with his thick pelt rose from a bench. He slapped the slave brushing his coat with a small comb to the floor and barked out an angry warning in my direction.


    <Get away from the shrine, unworthy wretch> Quixbix translated for me, though I could have guessed as much from the furious gesticulation.


    There was no time to waste. I summoned the explosive alchemic charge and lodged it sticky side first against the primary column the shrine was built around and pulled off the activation seal. The alchemical components inside the trigger mechanism started to fizz and pop the moment they were exposed to the air. I only had a few seconds before the acidic trigger would eat through the thin layer of packaging and set off the charge.


    The minotaur, elongated bovine snout caked in blood and gore, looked up from the trough at the sound of the commotion coming from the Carnaxian priests.


    The beast was just in time to see me vault over the altar using Dragon¡¯s Leap and cast a bandolier of smaller grenades behind me using my Grenadier skill. The bandolier collided with the upper branches of the tree-like shrine and got ensnared so as not to fall back down to the ground. The pins were still in, but the principal detonation would be more than enough to crack their casings and set these off too.


    All except for one that I¡¯d slipped off the bandolier, primed, and tossed into the feeding trough with a plop.


    Landing on the snow-covered landscape, I didn¡¯t wait to assess the success of my actions and kept my legs pumping to put as much distance between me and the imminent destruction. The leap pushed the hood of the cape back and the loose horns poked me in the back of the neck. The disguise was largely pointless now and I tore free the clasp and cast it aside. It would only slow me down or get in the way.


    The discarded cape flapped in the air and was trampled by the braying minotaur who had reacted quickest to my devilish reveal and was already in hot pursuit.


    The enormous beast had a much larger stride pattern than me, but I was considerably faster. The pair of us managed to make it about twenty metres away from the altar when the explosive went off.


    To be sure that the Blood Shrine would be destroyed, I used the largest piece of ordnance that I carried on me. Sheamus had designed the package so that portions of the whole could be easily removed if you wanted something with a little less boom.


    Not that the tainted-fae demolitions enthusiast could understand why you¡¯d want to do that.


    Today, Sheamus would have been proud of me. I used the whole lot and the air around the centre of the camp thundered and lit up a fiery orange. The force of the explosion sent me sprawling forward and I hit the ground with what felt like a great weight landing on top of me.


    The searing heat of the explosion washed over the area and my notifications pinged to inform me of the self-inflicted damage which had been suffered. Just over seven hundred Hit Points worth. No harm incurred to my Health total. So, all good there.


    The more important update came from Quixbix directly. <The quest Culling the Cloven-Hoofed 5 is complete. 16,500 experience and the Shattered Information Crystal have been awarded. You can get the latter from a podium at your convenience. More importantly, the Blood Shrine¡¯s area of influence is gone. My spy sight is working a little more reliably and can be used sporadically without giving you a splitting headache. You should be able to claim the Pandaemonium waypoint and call in the calvary now. First though, you have to deal with the angry bull pretending to be a comfort blanket.>


    Once he finished updating me, I felt heavy wet breath on the back of my neck. That hefty weight which had driven me to the ground had been the body of the minotaur. It had been propelled onto me by the force of the explosion.


    The good news, the minotaur had helped shield me from the carnage. The bad news, it wasn¡¯t dead, but it was very pissed off and I had my back to it. Any MMA vet would tell you I was in a very precarious position and about to get battered. There were nor refs to call the match off here, though.


    With a pained, lowing grunt the great beast¡¯s fist, encased in a steel gauntlet, slammed into the side of my face while its teeth bit down on the top of my head.


    The magic of the coif protected my exposed noggin from the worst of it and offered very high mitigation against the damage. Nevertheless, the Minotaur had incredible strength, and mitigation could only reduce the bill, not eliminate it entirely. Another four hundred Hit Points were shaved off my total.


    I tapped into my mana and refreshed Frost Armour which had been broken by the explosion. This bumped the mitigation to supreme and came with an extra benefit. It allowed me to pull the frosty porcupine trick. Icicles several inches long sprouted all over my armoured back and stabbed into the bellowing cow-beast that had me pinned to the ground.


    The minotaur reacted to the sudden prickliness under him and shifted its bulk just a little. The movement was enough and let me wriggle onto my side and turn my head to face the bastard. I activated a charge of Breath Weapon, and the minotaur ate a golden arc of lightning directly up its snorting, snotty nose. The creature¡¯s eyeballs exploded when the current of electricity flowed through to its brain.


    With one last huffed whimper, it collapsed.


    That was a tad inconvenient. The beast was heavy, and my body and legs were trapped underneath it. I was strong enough to deal with its bulk and pushed the carcass off me and looted it at the same time. Once back on my feet, I was able to get a good view of the destruction I¡¯d wrought.


    The Blood Shrine itself had been obliterated. Nothing remained of it. Even the stone base had been demolished and the altar nearby had been overturned and broken in twain. The offal-filled troughs and the two capronids face-first in them were nought but stains on the snow. That destruction was helped along by the alchemic grenade chucked over by them. Every tent structure that had been arranged around the shrine had been knocked down by the force of the explosion and most of them were on fire.


    The shrine attendants shrieked loudly in pain and horror. Most of them were disfigured and badly wounded from the shrapnel and more than a few were on fire. If they could still move, they were desperately trying to roll in the snow and put themselves out.


    The slaves they had grooming them were gone, almost certainly dead. I felt a little bad about their fate, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. If I¡¯d tried to save them first, the plan would have failed and then they would have been just as fucked as they already were.


    The quick assessment was interrupted as an arrow thudded into my chest.


    <Female cervitaur up on the ridge. At your one o''clock.>


    She was a good three hundred metres away and ensconced in an elevated position with a few small boulders that had concealed her position. The four-legged doe stamped her small hooves, drew back on the bowstring and sent another projectile in my direction. Her aim was excellent even from that distance and I only just managed to avoid the arrow by throwing myself to the ground and out of the way.


    ¡°Eat a Chaos Missile, bitch!¡±


    With a finger-gun gesture, the magical bolt flew from my position on the ground and screamed across the distance between us.


    The doe attempted to dance out of the way, but now the makeshift bunker that hid her got in the way. She avoided a direct hit but couldn¡¯t get far enough away to avoid the missile¡¯s area of effect range. The blast took the doe off her feet, she went over the edge of the ridge and tumbled down the rocky scree of the mountainside. I doubted the doe was dead, those blasted things had nine lives like a cat, but she wouldn¡¯t be in a position to harass me from afar for a while.


    <Might I suggest we make a sharp exit before the angry converging Horde arrives to exact their revenge?>


    ¡°I¡¯m in full agreement.¡±


    Miraculously, the alpha¡¯s cape had somehow survived the conflagration. It had got caught on the minotaur¡¯s armour protecting the knee joint and it was lying underneath its leg. The cape had been seriously singed, the horn element of the disguise had fallen out, and it had several sizable tears, but it couldn¡¯t hurt to wrap it around me again. In this confusion, few of the Horde would be examining each other too closely. Anything that concealed my face might help.


    Again, I was thankful the camp was not that large. Encased in my diluted disguise once more, I fought against the instinct to run and kept my pace to a purposeful walk. Several other capronids and ovinids barged past, barely paying any attention. Their gaze fixed on the wreckage of the shrine, the heart of their worship.


    A few of them might have even been doing the equivalent of sobbing, though I doubted they were capable of actually weeping. They were far too bloodthirsty and lacked any form of empathy. Fear of the consequences is what drove their emotional response, not mourning.


    I reached the gap in the wall and was then met with a conundrum. The ovinid overseer stationed here had been one of the many who had abandoned its post. The two sentries at the gap had done similarly. The slaves were left unattended and continued to work on the wall. Compelled to obey the last command they were given by the collars they wore.


    ¡°You¡¯re a damn bleeding heart, Torin Carter,¡± I muttered to myself and rather than marching straight out of the gap, took a quick detour to the indentured workers.


    Once I reached the first in the line, I created an ice dagger and used it to cut the monster-created slave collar from his neck. Freed, I handed the shocked man the dagger. ¡°Cut the others loose and then make a run for it while they¡¯re distracted.¡±


    My good deed, perhaps driven by a pang of guilt over those slain in the attack, was done. Rather than go back to the gap in the wall, I vaulted over the top of it and started to run for the trail that led back to the tunnel entrance. A glance over the shoulder showed me that the freed man had followed my instructions and hadn¡¯t simply pegged it leaving the others to their fates. Perhaps this would add another layer of chaos to the proceedings and slow any organised hunt in my direction.


    The chances were low that they would make it far, but if they could evade capture for a few hours then my troops would have arrived. Cleaning out this habitat of the herd infestation would be a top priority.


    However, there ended the clear run for the exit. The moment I reached the top of the trail and approached the boulder that would block me from view, I ran into a group of capronids coming in the other direction.


    It was grey-fur and his group. They must have spotted or heard the explosion in the camp and decided to come back.


    ¡°You!¡± Grey-fur growled and pointed at me; his goat eyes narrowed in suspicion.


    Or at least, I assumed that was what the fucker grunted the second we came face-to-face.


    Any joy he might have felt at confirming the rude alpha was really a handsome Acheronian impostor was short-lived.


    The tip of the Goresteel Greatblade punched through the lower palette of his jaw and kept going until it skewered his brain. The disguise was pointless at this juncture, and I let it fall away for the second time, pulled the sword back out of grey-fur¡¯s grey matter and swung it to the side. The well-aimed swipe disembowelled the goat-man alongside grey-fur, who fell backwards and tripped over the edge to tumble down into the frigid stream.


    Three of the remaining four were hot on the heels of grey-fur and bum-rushed me. The plan had been to force me over the edge, but I activated Dragon¡¯s Leap, hopped on top of the boulder, and then used it as a springboard to come down amidst them.


    The minotaur had broken most of the Frost Armour icicles, but a few of them had survived and helped add a bit of extra pain to the gravity of my incoming body. My sword pierced between the collarbone of the centremost Capronid and slammed the point down into its black heart, killing it instantly. It collapsed to its knees, and I pulled the blade free and then went to work on the remaining two who had been knocked to the floor by the bodily collision.


    One was dead before it managed to get back to its feet. A quick stab through its eye socket killed it. The second swung a cleaver at my ankles while I dealt with his ally which connected. It hurt, but didn¡¯t break through the boot¡¯s armour and protected the tendons and ligaments from anything worse than light bruising.


    Cleaver-Goat had shot its shot; now it was my turn. I advanced on the goat-man¡¯s position, and it tried to save itself with wide swings of the wide-bladed weapon, intended to keep me away. Meanwhile, the final capronid, who had stayed back holding the chain of the slaves they escorted, dropped the leash. With a bellow, it came at me with the halberd it had used as a walking stick.


    <Incoming behind you.> Quixbix warned me.


    Sensing the lowered halberd, I twisted and spun my body around like a running back evading a tackler. Having avoided the pointed tip of the halberd, I grabbed the shaft and yanked it forward, using the attack¡¯s momentum to pull the wielder off-balance and keep the halberd moving until it connected with the gut of the cleaver-wielding capronid. Cleaver-Goat had misinterpreted the spinning move as a retreat and jumped at the opportunity to strike me down. It received a bellyful of polearm for its troubles.


    The halberd-wielder, now off-balance, desperately tried to keep hold of the weapon which only opened it up to a downward sweep of my Greatsword that severed the forearm just below the elbow. The capronid released its grip on the polearm and clutched at the blood-spurting stump instead. It didn¡¯t have long to contemplate the new one-armed nature of its existence before the edge of my blade cut through the windpipe, and it quickly bled out.


    Cleaver-Goat yanked the halberd from its stomach and bleated in pain. Flecks of blood were spattered over the white of its snout hair. Its own for once. Two well-aimed ice daggers flew across the gap and embedded themselves in its creepy goat eyes. With the existing injury, it didn¡¯t have the physical capacity to avoid the thrown weapons.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The whole battle was over in under thirty seconds.


    The four men who were chained together gaped at what had just happened.


    ¡°Stand aside, you¡¯re in my way,¡± I told them.


    Without fully comprehending the most recent events, they shuffled over to the inside of the trail and gave me enough room to jog past them.


    They stared at me with shock and wonder and pity tugged at me once more. ¡°Follow me if you want to live. Keep up or I will leave you behind.¡±


    Twice in one day, I was acting as the liberator. If I weren¡¯t careful, they¡¯d start calling me Khaleesi, which would be embarrassing.


    It did take them a moment to understand the situation and then the one in the remains of a military uniform spoke up. ¡°What are you waiting for Geoff? Do you want to be cut open jowl-to-groin, and then eaten alive?¡±


    Geoff, who was at the back of the line, shook his head forcefully and was spurred into action, followed by the speaker who¡¯d been in the middle. That also happened to be the poor bugger I¡¯d shoulder-nudged off the side. The alpha disguise was gone, and he might not have realised I was the one responsible for the litany of scrapes and contusions that covered him and his fellow slave¡¯s exposed parts.


    With the four of them in tow, we exited the valley and crossed the snowy landscape to the tunnel entrance. I did slow my pace a little. The four men were malnourished and banged up. Not to mention, the shoes they were wearing looked to be falling apart and virtually useless as footwear.


    Thankfully, the trip back up the tunnel was uneventful. ¡°Inside!¡± I ordered them and pointed at the waystation opposite the spiral staircase.


    ¡°We can¡¯t leave?¡± Geoff who was at the front of the group asked and stared forlornly at the marble steps to freedom.


    ¡°Not yet.¡±


    I didn¡¯t bother to wait and see if they had any further objections and summoned Claudia¡¯s dungeon shard. If this worked, any questions about what came next would be academic. I slammed the crystal into the indentation and smiled at the notification that popped up.


    *** Do you wish to claim this waypoint? Yes or No? ***


    I didn¡¯t hesitate to pick yes.


    There came a great grinding and whirring sound from above and the daylight which had filtered down from the open portal disappeared.


    ¡°You took your time,¡± Claudia¡¯s voice emanated from the shard-embedded column.


    ¡°There was a complication that had to be dealt with. I could use backup asap.¡±


    ¡°Understood. I¡¯m linking the waypoints now.¡±


    Almost immediately the sound of boots stomping down the marble stairs thumped. It was music to my ears.


    LT was the first to make it to the bottom. ¡°Captain Carter. What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°The Hooved Horde have infested the tunnels around these parts.¡± I pointed to where I¡¯d just come from. ¡°There is a snow-capped mountain habitat a few hundred metres down that way that we need to block off and then purge with extreme prejudice. Scout teams need to go in the other direction and discover if there are more of them. It has to be quick. I want a minimum of delays before we move on the fragment.¡±


    ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll get it done. Oh, and you might want to ask Claudia to give you a dungeon clean. You reek and not in a good way.¡±


    Self-consciously I lifted my arm and gave myself a sniff. I was still wearing what remained of the alpha¡¯s chain shirt. Holey as it now was after my frost armour had poked through it. LT wasn¡¯t wrong, I stank of rotten meat.


    The sacrifices I make to save the world.


    Chapter 26


    The crystal compressed in my fist and was crushed by the iron grip. The crumbled remains slipped through my fingers when I relaxed the hand and fell to the floor.


    ¡°You tell nobody about this, do you hear me Quix?¡±


    <Understood Torin.>


    ¡°I mean it. Nobody. Not even Quinn. We can¡¯t afford for this to get out. No one can know.¡±


    <I understand the gravity of the situation. I won¡¯t talk, not to anyone.>


    Claudia had briefly reversed the flow of the waypoint connection and allowed me to return to Stormblade Harbour and collect the prize for my completed quest.


    The Shattered Information crystal.


    It was good that I had taken the time, but a part of me wished I hadn¡¯t. The burden of unwanted and dangerous knowledge can be immense.


    <You aren¡¯t, you know, tempted, are you?>


    ¡°At what? Godhood? No.¡±


    <Not even a little bit?>


    ¡°Not even a little bit. We have an old Earth adage. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely, with a long history of men and women who came to power and proved the adage true. Many of them believed they were good and righteous, right up to and beyond the point when unforgivable atrocities were committed at their direction. I can¡¯t think of anything that would dehumanise a person quicker than supreme control of the Darkwyrlds. If you turn everyone into a literal puppet forced to dance at their direction, how long until that is all they see them as; things to do with as they please.¡±


    <You aren¡¯t going dark and philosophical on me, are you?> the imp joked to lighten the mood.>


    ¡°Nope. I¡¯m just satisfied with my small piece of the pie. I don¡¯t need everybody else¡¯s to enjoy the flavour of mine. Besides, working for the next slice is all part of the fun.¡±


    The data crystal had lain out the details of Ashli¡¯s Godhood mechanic. It contained information on the soul-harvesting organ that the fragment installed in Hudson¡¯s body. How it worked, how to use it, where to find it, and how it integrated into Ashli¡¯s wider plan for total domination.


    The organ was critical for creating a vessel capable of true divinity.


    Divinity in Darkwyrld terms.


    Keeping that information out of anyone¡¯s hands was incredibly important, but that wasn¡¯t the only reason I needed Quixbix to stay silent.


    If my suspicions were correct, there was an opportunity here. Not one that Ashli or most others could see.


    Nancy/Astariel couldn¡¯t say it plainly, their madness wouldn¡¯t allow it. But I had enough experience with the Shattered Goddess to parse the truth from what she could tell me.


    The organ could be used as a weapon if utilised correctly, one to be used against our mutual foe.


    Titus.


    But if this was to succeed, then there could be no hint the weapon was cocked and loaded until it was too late for Titus to avoid. The fewer people who knew the details, the less likely it was that somebody would let something slip by word or action and tip the bastard off. He was exceptionally long-lived and that made him wily. You had to be to survive this long and prosper in the way he had. A hesitation at the wrong moment, a furtive glance, the twitch of a smile, any of these unconscious mannerisms could show our hand early.


    We only had one shot at this, and it had to work.


    ***


    Putting future concerns to the side, I joined the troops on the other side of the waypoint. The strike force consisted of a little over one thousand of the best the Shattered Storm had to offer from those still fighting fit. Jackson was not the only one taking up a bed in our medical facilities. Fortunately, the crew of Marena¡¯s Mercy had been insulated from the worst of the harm caused by the mercenary attack on Stormblade Harbour.


    LT had moved quickly and the snow-capped habitat down the corridor had been secured. The other passageways had been investigated and any wandering mobs executed before we barricaded them. Holding this area long-term was not a priority, but we did need a solid exit strategy.


    In short order, the surrounding territory was secured and loaded up with defenders. Piper and the fit members of Jackson¡¯s Pandaemonium hunters would do the job of holding the region while we initiated the attack above. We were ready to go.


    Claudia dropped the connection between the Horicon waypoint and Stormblade Harbour¡¯s. In near silence, nine-hundred and sixty warriors trooped back up the marble steps, past the twisted marker tree and out into the marshland. Once out, the early groups trotted over to the same small copse of trees where Raven dropped me off to keep them concealed from prying eyes.


    The small town of Horicon which the wildlife refuge was named after was roughly one mile southwest of the waypoint. Mayville, a similar-sized town was the same distance to the east. Although the intelligence garnered from General Howson indicated that Mayville was only lightly fortified with a small garrison. The bulk of the troops had been posted to Horicon. State Road 33 made it easier to transport the prisoners from Milwaukee.


    The dungeon Hudson had set up shop in was called Madness of the Manticore. No guesses as to what form the dungeon avatar adopted. Howson hadn¡¯t known much about the interior during his debrief. Due to the dungeon¡¯s high grade and level, few groups had ventured within and of the early delvers who had come out alive, they did not go deep before realising they were seriously outmatched and retreated. We only knew about the avatar because it liked to pop up early and taunt the delvers before flying off.


    If all went according to plan the lack of intel wouldn¡¯t matter.


    Madness of the Manticore was almost due west of our position. Although we would have to angle a little northward to reach it. There was a river to cross, which the enemy had built a bridge over at the southernmost bend, closest to Horicon. To maintain the element of surprise, we wouldn¡¯t use their bridge during the initial assault, though capturing it was part of the plan for the team assigned to the delaying operation.


    Minutes after the last of our assault force exited Pandaemonium, we were on our way. We split into two groups. LT led six hundred fighters south. They would interpose themselves between Horicon and the dungeon and establish defensive positions to prevent reinforcements from easily reaching Hudson and the dungeon. I took the rest to the river. This included Danny, Brant, and Tavar Aenarion¡¯s expanded squads in addition to mine.


    The footing was a bit wet and boggy in places and the pathfinders had the dual role of finding the firmest ground while also flushing out and slaughtering the mobs between us and the target. A bit of gorse and heavy cattail running along the river¡¯s edge assisted in covering our approach and we reached the water without serious incident.


    The river was about twenty metres wide. Once everyone was in position, we rushed down to the bank and the sappers in the assault team deployed pontoon floats and rapidly connected them, creating a temporary bridge for us to cross. I didn¡¯t wait, Instead, I activated my boots and cleared the distance easily with the help of a run-up.


    Jumping ahead wasn¡¯t purely impatience on my part. The moment we rushed out of the gorse and down to the embankment of the river, we could be seen by those stationed in the encampment that surrounded the dungeon. The whole thing had three layers of chain-link fencing topped with razor wire. It made the place look like a concentration camp which wasn¡¯t too far from the truth given what the fragment-bearing Hudson was doing.


    Several three-storey sentry towers had been erected between the fence layers and it was the soldiers manning these emplacements who spotted us first.


    They would have seen us sooner, but the tower¡¯s primary purpose had been to watch those trapped inside the perimeter of the makeshift prison. If the guards did let their eyes wander to the exterior, it was to scan around the outer fence for mobs attracted by the people inside, not across the river for possible attacking armies.


    Nevertheless, the moment we stepped into the open, the small army was spotted. I could see the sentry teams shouting and raising the alarm. Within minutes, the enemy-stationed troops here would know they were under attack, so there was no need to hold back.


    Three Chaos Missiles flew from the tip of my finger, screamed across the gap and exploded in the centre of each of the closest three towers. The tops of each were torn apart and several men were thrown from the perch like ragdolls. One of them landed groin first onto the razor wire of the outer fence. Not pleasant at all.


    Blasting off three missiles depleted my mana reserves, so I quaffed a restorative potion while the Wisconsin forces sorted out a response. Spells and a mixture of ranged fire zeroed in on my position which was away from where the sappers hastily constructed the pontoon bridge. Summoning a shield I rarely used, I deflected, tanked, or dodged the incoming fire.


    As intended, by the time common sense and barked orders redirected the enemy¡¯s attention to the pontoon being built, it had been completed. Three hundred and sixty soldiers charged across in under thirty seconds.


    ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡± I yelled unnecessarily.


    Everyone I¡¯d brought knew what they were about.


    The distance between us and the fences diminished quickly. A few old-school landmines were tripped and went off that had been planted in the fields.


    However, once again, the intent had been to hamper escaping citizens, not stop fully armoured and experienced warriors from assaulting the base. The detonations took people off their feet and probably shaved off a few of their Hit Points, but they just brushed off the dirt and got back to their feet. It hardly slowed the advance.


    We reached the fence after thirty seconds of sprinting and went to work cutting through. The method employed varied from warrior to warrior. A few of the magic-wielders like Tavar created an intense blowtorch effect a few inches from the palm of their hands and melted their way through.


    Others used some acidic concoctions provided by our cadre of alchemists. Hoovering up and funnelling as many folk into that field had been one of the best investments the Shattered Storm had made. The value of the payoff grew with every encounter.


    Danny just uprooted the post the chain fence was attached to and bulldozed the way through for his squad. I reversed Goreblade to the side with teeth and sawed my way through the fence¡¯s durability in seconds.


    It wasn¡¯t quite as easy as cutting through butter, but the link fencing was unable to stand up to the rough treatment and parted from top to bottom and we poured through to the next.


    The fence didn¡¯t offer much protection, but it did succeed in arresting our momentum long enough for the Wisconsin soldiers on site to organise a welcoming committee. Several of the men who counter-attacked wore a black jacket with grinning silver skulls on the epaulettes. A sign that they weren¡¯t just part of Hudson¡¯s Hardboys, the giant¡¯s brigade of soldiers, but part of the Death Squad that the fragment had hand-picked to further its mission.


    ¡°Show the death squad fuckers no mercy!¡± I cried and decapitated one such soldier, pointing at the uniform to make it clear who I was referring to.


    The crew didn¡¯t need instructions or help identifying them. Scumbags always felt the need to advertise who they were when they believed themselves to be the ones in control. They got off on the intimidation and the sensation of power it gave them over others. It was only after everything fell apart that they discarded the uniforms and tried to blend in with the crowd.


    Not all those involved in the counterattack wore black jackets. There were plenty of regular soldier types in the mix too. Some of whom were quite experienced and posed some difficulties for the troops. There were a few deaths on our side too, but it didn¡¯t take long before our greater experience and might shone through. They broke and ran.


    The part of the camp we¡¯d penetrated was the prisoner quarters. With the watchtowers a smouldering wreck, the fence was torn down in multiple places, and the guards either dead or running, many of the prisoners made a run for it. Their flight only added to the chaos, but we didn¡¯t try to stop them. There were bigger fish to fry.


    With no soldiers in the way, the path to the dungeon was now open.


    The dungeon had formed a towering structure in the middle of the marsh. It looked like a medieval cathedral replete with stone gargoyles and gothic architecture. Thankfully, according to my analysis that is precisely what the statues were, stone decorations, not an obstacle to overcome.


    The way inside was two massive, arched, iron-wrought doors that swung open as I approached.


    Hudson stepped out and blinked at the sunlight which assaulted his eyes and raised a green-tinted arm to block the offending brightness. I hadn¡¯t seen the giant since watching him swim towards Marena¡¯s Mercy after we broke the ice under the army he¡¯d been leading. The last I remembered of him was the surprised expression on his face when a torpedo slammed into his chest and swept him away.


    General Howson had described him, of course, but seeing him in the flesh again was still a shock. The giant I remembered was built of thick muscle and bursting with vitality. The being who glared at the interruption to his macabre work resembled an emaciated junkie, albeit one that was over twelve feet tall. The eyes and cheeks were sunken, the long sea-green hair had started to fall out in clumps and the accompanying beard looked brittle and straw-like.


    Was this simply the effect hosting the fragment had on his body, or a side-effect of directly harvesting so much soul energy for the last week or more?


    Hudson shook his head and scanned the approaching soldiers until his malevolent eyes settled on me. ¡°Carter!¡± he barked. ¡°I should have known. You are too late fool; you won¡¯t be able to stop me. All you¡¯ve done is deliver a hearty final meal before my ultimate victory. One that I shall happily devour.¡±


    I readied myself for whatever attack the fragment was about to unleash, but he surprised me by smirking and waving his arm expansively, then stepped back over the threshold, back into the dungeon¡¯s foyer area.


    That was when the notifications hit me.


    *** You have entered Madness of the Manticore. ***


    *** The grade of Madness of the Manticore has been temporarily boosted. ***


    Madness of the Manticore (Dungeon Core)


    Aeronautical Savage: Manticore (F) 37


    Threat: N/A (improper party for calculation)


    XP Value: 1,258,000


    Location: Horicon Marshland


    Dungeon Description: This is a beast dungeon with four chambers. Most of the threats inside will be beasts. The core avatar of this dungeon is frequently an active participant.


    The dungeon completion rate is 0%


    The previous run was a failure with a 100% mortality rate.


    The current minimum delving party strength is the equivalent of 185 levels of fifth-tier classes. 370 to 444 equivalent levels are recommended. Anything over 444 will reduce the rewards available for completion. A party with the equivalent of 740 levels is the maximum permitted. This dungeon has set a maximum of 20 participants per instance.


    Levels 26 through 37 of Madness of the Manticore is unconquered.


    *** Your current party consists of 342 members and is too large for Madness of the Manticore. As party leader, please kick party members until you meet the dungeon requirements. Kicked party members will be harmlessly removed from the dungeon environs. ***


    ¡°Quixbix, what the hell is going on?¡± I had a pretty good idea based on the messages that had come through but wanted some confirmation before I did anything.


    <System fuckery, that¡¯s what. Somehow, the fragment has altered the basic rules a dungeon operates under. The exterior part of its domain is now considered part of the dungeon proper, therefore, the dungeon laws it hasn¡¯t altered have been applied. The maximum group size of who can be inside is twenty per instance. If you don¡¯t reduce the size of your party, everyone will be removed from its range, and we won¡¯t be able to reach the fragment if it successfully closes the dungeon. Not unless we break in and that is nigh on impossible.>


    ¡°Damn it, that¡¯s what I thought it meant. I hoped I was wrong.¡±


    <A dungeon of this quality can support many instances, but that minimum party strength is going to be a blocker for entry anyway. I¡¯ve done the arithmetic, you can put together a party of twenty that meets the criteria, but that¡¯s it. The rest of your crew and soldiers will be stuck outside the dungeon¡¯s border, forbidden from starting a fresh instance via the qualifying criteria.


    <The only saving grace is that it appears the dungeon boost was limited to match the strongest person in the area, which was you. If the fragment could have pushed the minimum requirements even higher, I¡¯m sure it would have done.>


    We didn¡¯t have a choice but to play the Hudson¡¯s twisted game. The risk was too great that the fragment already had enough energy to enact its plan. Pushing forward was the only option.


    ¡°Form the strongest party we can and then kick the rest, Quixbix. I¡¯ll explain what is happening to the others.¡±


    A quick use of Clarion¡¯s Call and orders were issued to those who wouldn¡¯t be coming with me. Soon it was just me and nineteen others.


    Tavar Aenarion, Brant, Danny, Fang Mei, Crynn, Nazz, and Doc were all with me. Amber too, her inclusion in the party was a bit of a surprise, but I trusted that Quixbix knew what he was doing. Plus, she had been like a demon-possessed of late when it came to hunting monsters for more XP. I was less familiar with the others but knew they were all competent fighters.


    It wasn¡¯t the strongest delving party in the faction. Under normal circumstances, Ana and Claudia would be here as part of my package. Shana, Jackson, LT, and Kristoff were absent, plus a few of those commanding the ships navigating their way back from the east coast would otherwise have been part of the group, but it was a good mix and filled me with confidence.


    ¡°Okay, on my six, it looks like we¡¯re going on a delve.¡±


    The double doors, recently closed by Hudson blew open and thumped against the side of the wall. A mighty roar of challenge was followed by cacophonous screeches and calls from a menagerie of different beasts that blasted forth from within, followed by the unmistakable sound of clacking claws, pounding paws, and the flapping of oversized wings.


    ¡°Or everything can just charge out of the blasted dungeon all at once because the fragment doesn¡¯t give a shit about the rules. Bloody Nora! Is it too late to palm this off to somebody else who wants to be a fucking saviour?¡±

 Book 5: Chapters 27 & 28

    Chapter 27


    The Manticore was the first to emerge and it was the size of an African Elephant. It possessed the body of tawny-furred lion with a thick mane of darker hair tipped with the orange-red of actual flames. The lion¡¯s tail had been replaced by the segmented, jet-black stinger of a scorpion. The beast flew out of the dungeon entrance held aloft by two dark green, scale-covered wings.


    The flying monster whooshed over our heads, though not close enough to attack and before it reached the edge of the dungeon¡¯s domain, veered up and ascended into the sky. The speed with which it moved made striking it in the air very difficult. The manticore flapped its leathery wings powerfully and soared back over to the dungeon where it alighted on a balustraded viewing platform on top of the cathedral.


    This section had been nestled into the surroundings surreptitiously, hard to notice, but that part of the architecture was more militaristic in function than decorative. Flanked by a panoply of grotesque statuary, which helped the platform blend in with the gothic aesthetic, the manticore looked down upon us imperiously and gave me a chance to get a proper look at our monstrous opponent.


    Black, barbed quills, several feet long, rose along the well-defined contours of its back when the beast struck an aggressive pose. Most horrifying of all was the almost human oversized face which had replaced a lion¡¯s features. This was a detail I¡¯d missed during its initial emergence. It looked so out of place, disjointed and wrong, nightmare fuel for a sleepless night.


    ¡°You dare challenge me, worms!¡± The manticore screamed. Its voice had a shrill timbre that put your teeth on edge. Much like it¡¯s face, it possessed an inherent wrongness that froze me in place. ¡°This fortress is unassailable, but I do not need its solid defences to dispose of the chaff I see before me. It is good that there is an audience.¡± The shrill creature raised its paw and gestured beyond the horizon.


    I couldn¡¯t move to follow its gesture but wasn¡¯t overly worried by this detail. The sounds of the oncoming monsters had also ceased. They too were frozen in place. Older, experienced dungeons could do this. It was a semi-scripted event that allowed the dungeon avatar to monologue for a moment without the pesky delvers ruining the performance by blasting it with a fireball mid-speech. It was similar to the moments when Quixbix altered my perception of time when he provided quest and notification updates.


    Regardless of my pseudo-paralysis, I knew who the manticore was referring to. The crew members who had been kicked from the party hadn¡¯t been teleported very far. They were gathered perhaps a hundred metres further from where we stood. And because we were outside the dungeon, they could see everything that was happening.


    The pompous manticore hadn¡¯t quite finished. ¡°I have been bothered by the weak and the witless far too often of late. They shall bear witness to the true might of what lies within these hallowed halls and tremble.¡±


    The beast paused for a breath, readying itself for another verse but I¡¯d lost patience by that point.


    {GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!}


    The bellowed response wasn¡¯t spoken but projected through the secret channel I had access to. The manticore stopped halfway through whatever it was about to say, and its gaze settled on me with an expression of pure hate.


    As I suspected, the dungeon¡¯s link to the fragment allowed me to broadcast my thoughts directly at it. The move had its risks, but Hudson¡¯s erratic behaviour had given me confidence that the fragment was no longer fully compos mentis. Provided all I did was shout through the channel, not insert my consciousness where it could be seized, then it should be safe.


    ¡°Die!¡± the manticore finally finished.


    The feeling of being frozen departed.


    Up on the battlements, the manticore lowered its head below the crenelated wall and a mass of quills were ejected from its back like javelins. I was the focal point for the barrage, though the quills did spread out and cause problems for those nearest to me. I timed a leap with my boots to avoid the worst of it, the barbed tips of the quills dug into the earth and left a small patch of spiky obstructions.


    Fortunately, my leap carried me forward, so I didn¡¯t need to worry about landing on top of the embedded quivering quills. Unfortunately, the damn manticore had another ranged trick up its sleeve. When I reached the apex of the jump, a blob of green-hued energy shot out from the tail stinger and hit me dead centre in the chest.


    *** -200 Hit Points. (9,600/10,500) Acid source. ***


    The bolt also had the undesired effect of pushing me back through the air back into the bed of quills. Doing the only thing I could, I flipped the hood of my coif up to prevent anything from sticking into the back of my neck or head.


    *** -300 Hit Points. (9,300/10,500) Piercing source. ***


    The quills hadn¡¯t landed barbed side up, and my armour prevented most of them from penetrating my flesh. Most snapped when my bulk crash landed on them, and I pulled out the couple that managed to find the gaps in my armour. I could only imagine the smug smirk on the manticore. It continued to hide its bulk behind the battlement walls. In response, several of my people fired their ranged options up at the beast.


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother,¡± I ordered. ¡°Save your resources. That cathedral is made from dungeon stone; it is virtually impregnable. Not even Sheamus¡¯ favourite concoctions will do much more than leave a blackened stain.¡±


    A second after the words left my lips, a new distraction came boiling out of the gate. Scorpions with black carapaces skittered out of the cathedral doors, pushing, shoving, and crawling over one another in their desire to reach the interlopers.


    Giant Scorpions (Acid Spitters) x 40


    Grade: U


    Level: 37


    HP: 2,340


    Mob Description: The carapace of these scorpions acts as high mitigation armour, but the softer underbelly only offers medium mitigation. Like many lower-graded mobs with high armour mitigation against physical attacks they lack a similar degree of protection against magical damage. Their stingers are capable of firing bolts of acid but also contain the traditional venom associated with monsters of this type.


    The first of the four dungeon chamber¡¯s mobs had been emptied onto the steps. Each of the many-legged arachnids was the size of a badger and scuttled down the steps, unleashing a volley of acid-based energy projectiles from their tails before making a beeline for us.


    ¡°Magical attacks work best,¡± I called out to inform the rest of the delving team the results of my analysis.


    With one eye on the prowling manticore hiding above, we moved forward and engaged the mobs. The invertebrate creatures lacked tactical acumen and tended to launch themselves at the nearest person rather than stay together as a group to overwhelm. Quickly, we spread out and separated the scorpions to make them easier to deal with. The casters in the group despatched the first few before they hit our loose line and then the rest of us went to work with close combat weapons.


    Crynn and Fang Mei flanked me on either side. Crynn carved off a clacking claw with her cutlass, spun her body and jammed the pointed tip between the jaws and into what passed for the brain. Meanwhile, Fang Mei jumped above another, used her small wings to evade the strike of the stinger, got behind the scorp, and then buried one of her daggers into the softer underbelly that was exposed by the stinger flexing forward to strike. A quick sideways yank with the blade and the scorpion¡¯s innards decorated the grass.


    Not to be left in the cold, I tanked a couple of the beasts myself. When one tried to use its stinger on me, I deftly grabbed the tip that dripped with poison and hauled the scorpion off the ground to clobber a second. I didn¡¯t get to use my enhanced strength in such a display of brute power often. Releasing the tail of the now upside-down scorpion, I drove my blade through its belly, all the way through, and skewered the mob struggling underneath the one I used as a club.


    Looking up, all around, my people were handling the threat with composure and panache. Half of the scorpions were dead, and the rest soon would be.


    The manticore seemed to realise this as well and its tail twitched, rose into the air and fired off another of its acid bolts that hit the leg of a man named Greenfield and caused him to fall. Targeting him was an act of deliberate opportunism. There were three scorpions nearby, including the one he had been directly fighting, and the trio of beasts used the opening of him being off his feet to strike.


    Tavar was quick to spot the problem and blasted the three with firebolts, but the damage was done. Greenfield had been stung three times in quick succession.


    Luckily for him, nowhere vital. However, the parts of his body stung started to swell up and Greenfield quickly necked a universal antidote for the venom coursing from his wounds. This arrested the issue but didn¡¯t reverse what had already happened. Greenfield was alive but lay on the ground struggling for breath while his internal stats cycled through the inflicted negative status effects trying to purge them.


    Brant pushed forward and bashed a scorpion away from Amber who had been dancing around it. ¡°Grab Greenfield,¡± he barked. ¡°Pull him clear of the melee so he can recover.¡±


    The manticore popped its head up for a quick smirk. ¡°These are but the least of my servants, and if mine ears don¡¯t deceive me, you are about to meet the next.¡±


    The bastard was true to his word. The next wave slinked out while we were still knee-deep in black-carapaced bodies. Each member of the new threat was larger, the size of a Great Dane. The animal had black fur with a white streak that ran down its back. Embedded in the white fur and oscillating dangerously were dozens of quills.


    Skunkupines x 20


    Grade: P


    Level: 37


    HP: 8,580


    Mob Description: Skunkupines combine two different prickly creatures¡¯ defensive capabilities into a much deadlier whole. They have quills, tipped with poison that can be fired from their backs or used in an offensive roll attack. Secondly, they can spray a nasty, debilitating, and toxic concoction from their rear end which they are immune to. They have sharp claws and teeth; it is advised to kill them before they get too close.


    ¡°Second wave incoming,¡± I yelled and fired a Chaos Missile into their midst which exploded and knocked a few of them off their feet. ¡°Gas attack mobs, kill them from afar if possible.¡±


    It was great advice; the only problem was that there were ten scorpions still making life difficult for the party and only half of the party could react to the new threat.


    Nazz was one and she summoned her enormous, preloaded crossbow and squeezed the trigger. With a twang, the metal bolt shot forward and slammed home into the forehead of a skunkupine. The heavily wounded creature stumbled and fell down the rest of the steps. A few other attacks ploughed into the creatures that ran forward with a strange lurching gait, but three-quarters of them were still capable of reaching us.


    Once they hit the bottom of the steps they curled into balls, spines protruding. Several of these spines were used as a ranged attack that had to be fended off, but they weren¡¯t intended to harm, it was to force us to take cover and prevent any disruption of their next manoeuvre. It was something anyone who had played Sonic the Hedgehog would recognise; they used their running momentum to turn into spinning balls of imminent pain.


    The fifteen mobile skunkupines spun across the gap quickly and slammed into whatever targets they could find. Four came directly to my small group. Cold Feet disrupted the momentum of one and caused it to flop out of its spin attack, but the other three bounced onwards undeterred.


    I grabbed Crynn by the waist and activated my boots to take us off the ground just in time. Fang Mei managed to use her wings and do the same. We avoided being hit by the spiny furballs but couldn¡¯t dodge the mist of stinking fumes they released as they spun past us.


    The cloying toxic nastiness slathered all over our skin and acted like a contact poison.


    *** -100 Hit Points. (9,200/10,500) Poison source. ***


    *** The Feverish negative status effect has been inflicted upon you. Physical activity will drain your stamina at a greater rate. Your physical stats and health will be halved until the full Feverish status is lifted. ***


    I coughed loudly upon landing and the spinning skunkupines came to a halt not far from our position and unfurled themselves. Crynn and Fang Mei were sweating profusely as was anyone else who had been caught up in one of the stink attacks. The only saving grace was that the toxic clouds didn¡¯t linger for long before dispersing.


    *** You have passed a periodic constitution check, and the Feverish status effect has been fully lifted. ***


    The secondary notification flitted across my perception when I put Crynn down. Clearing Feverish quickly was a benefit of a very high constitution. The girls still looked a bit green around the gills and wouldn¡¯t recover anywhere nearly as swiftly as I did.


    My lips pulled back in a rictus smile. I rushed forward to confront the three attackers who charged back in expecting their victims to be severely weakened by the skunk attack. They would be in for a very unpleasant surprise.


    The Goresteel blade carved through their furry hides which provided little mitigation against attacks. This was the skunkupines weakness and why a creature with such a harmful debuff up its sleeves was not graded higher. Each blow hacked off a minimum of 650 points with half that again as a bleed. Over 1,300 if the sword swipes cut into the head or another vital spot.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    They fought back with more fired spines, but I was able to knock most of those away and finished the fight only losing a few hundred more Hit Points. I turned around to check on Crynn and Fang Mei. They were doing okay, they still looked sick but didn¡¯t look quite so peaky, through our soul bond I could feel that they had both had partial successes and reduced the severity of Feverish to a quarter.


    Any joy was short-lived. Several thunderous roars emanated from within the dungeon/cathedral. The third wave was ready to meet us head-on.


    Chapter 28


    The Giant Scorpions of the first wave were all dead. Which was a good start. Half the skunkupines were alive but several of those were part of the group we¡¯d partially disabled before they could launch into the stink-roll. The damage the rest had wrought before we took them out was evident, though.


    Greenfield was no longer the only party member down. Two others lay unmoving on the turf and another seven, not including Crynn and Fang Mei who made nine, were under the influence of the Feverish debuff.


    The two unmoving crewmen might not be fully dead. The system got a bit funky when it came to Health that was reduced by status ailments because the health points hadn¡¯t been truly lost, merely suppressed. If we could get a medic to them in time or they managed to pass a con check, which was unlikely in their current condition, then they could be saved.


    This would be a problem as the next wave came roaring through the gates and down the steps. Massive lions that had to weigh close to half a ton each, their dark manes tipped with crackling flames.


    Firemane Lions x 10


    Grade: K


    Level: 37


    HP: 13,120


    Mob Description: The Firemane Lions run in prides exclusively made up of males. They are large and powerful beasts who are immune to flame-based attacks, but this does make them vulnerable to the opposing harmony, Frost. Famed for their fire-tipped manes, which are highly prized by crafters of all kinds.


    Do be careful, they are fire-breathers.


    I glanced up at the smirking manticore. There was a definite theme developing with the monstrous mobs it had chosen, and I shivered with a sense of foreboding when the beast flapped its mighty, scaled wings. A fourth wave was yet to come, and I had a pretty good idea of what it would entail. I¡¯d seen wings like that before.


    ¡°They breathe fire!¡±


    The warning was almost too late as the pride bounded from the entrance in great leaps and belched flames across the battlefield from the sudden lofty position.


    Everyone acted to protect themselves, shields were summoned and magical fields erupted from fingers. However, some had no protection which would be effective and simply had to retreat in the face of the conflagration. If the two poor buggers whom the skunkupines had taken down had a chance before, it was gone now. With mobs still pressing our positions, nobody had a chance to pull them out of the fray before the flames hit.


    Crynn and Fang Mei sheltered behind me, and I conjured a rime of frost over the shield held out in front. Fighting fire with ice. The flame attack guttered out, the lion¡¯s paws churned up the earth when they landed, and they immediately launched into an attack vector. The only upside to the wave of fire was that the skunkupines had no special protection either. Any caught up in the conflagration lay curled up in a charred ball, fur and quills burnt down to the roots, skin seared black.


    ¡°Tavar hit them with Frost bolts, they are vulnerable,¡± I shouted whilst layering frost enhancements on the weapons of Crynn and Fang Mei so they too could take advantage of the lion¡¯s vulnerability. Tavar was an Elemental Mage, versatile in most situations. ¡°Nazz, watch the door and reload that crossbow of yours, we¡¯ve got Wyverns incoming, I¡¯m sure of it.¡±


    There were ten lions versus seventeen active combatants left in the party. Unfortunately, the beast¡¯s affinity for fire meant they could sense those of us rocking the opposing element. Therefore, the pride ignored and shied away from my little group, surged to our right, and attacked the party members clustered on that wing instead. Brant led the line over there and stepped up with two other shield-bearers to do what they could to protect the less tanky fighters sheltering behind them.


    Ten big lions slammed into their shield wall with immense force and ferocity. Brant¡¯s class ability helped them dig in and extend the protection but there were simply too many of the enraged beasts and the three shield-bearers bowed and then broke.


    Tavar did what he could, and a dozen frost bolts thudded into tawny fur, dropping one lion and forcing two others to back off, but the remaining seven started to savage the three downed men who were at their mercy. I was in motion too, adding thrown conjured ice daggers to Tavar¡¯s magical assault, and outstripping Crynn and Fang Mei who were not as quick in a running race.


    Nevertheless, I was not the first melee combatant to reach Brant¡¯s side. With a screech of rage, Amber activated her Duellist Charge using one of the lions as the target. She shot past me and into the midst of the lions, who snapped at and fought each other as much as the three men on the ground. All eager to get a piece of human meat.


    Amber used her buckler shield and belted the lion standing directly on top of Brant in the mouth, breaking a tooth and burying her rapier into the creature¡¯s mighty chest under the armpit of its front forepaw. The monster tried to turn and gore its new attacker, but her weapon was still buried inside its body and the sharp movement only accelerated the internal damage that was done to its heart and lungs.


    I lost sight of the young woman in the pile of battling bodies. The lions were at least five feet at the shoulder and made an effective screen. Amber was knocked over in the crush, but her action had probably saved Brant¡¯s life. The other two men were hauled off the ground in the jaws of lion attackers and subjected to intense heat attacks from close range. If the attacks weren¡¯t fatal, they might wish they were.


    Once in range, I expended a charge of my Breath Weapon. Fortune shone down upon me and the closest three Firemane Lions were enveloped in a cone of frost. I had to be careful where I aimed the attack, so as not to encompass Brant, Amber, and the other two currently being savaged.


    The Lion¡¯s vulnerability to Frost garnered results that were more than satisfactory.


    *** Critical Strike! x8 You have inflicted 13,440 of cold damage to three Firemane Lions. The Firemane Lions have been slain. ***


    Outright kills, the three struck lions flopped to the ground rimed with ice, sightless eyes glazed over, their thick pinkish tongues lolling from their open jaws.


    Clambering over the dead beasts, I reached the fight and hamstrung the nearest of the four that remained in this fight and went to work with my sword. There were two others still alive, but they had crawled off to lick their wounds. Belching flames at anyone who tried to approach. Tavar could finish them off.


    The lions were so large, that it was not difficult to make contact, and I decided to abandon finesse in a frenzy of strikes, whatever it took to get them down as fast as possible. Crynn and Fang Mei weren¡¯t far behind and joined the fray. We pushed the few surviving members of the pride back and the Knight underneath the scrum was revealed.


    Brant had been hurt badly, the lions had done a number on him, but he was alive and slipped a healing pellet under his tongue with his left hand that still worked. The right arm which held his shield had been twisted and broken in a couple of places by the rough treatment. He was out of the fight.


    Miraculously, Amber popped back to her feet once the creatures were forced to back up. There were dozens of claw marks on her armour where she¡¯d been gouged while on the floor, but she didn¡¯t let that slow her down.


    Amber was the most stubborn person I knew, not even a pride of fire-breathing lions could stand in her path. She summoned a secondary weapon and rejoined the battle; teeth grit in determination.


    Up above, the manticore took the opportunity to show itself again and let loose with another acid bolt that hit one of the party members who¡¯d become isolated and forgotten to keep an eye on the sky while he fired arrows at the swirling melee of lions. He was hit in the side of the neck and crumpled to the ground.


    Before I could snarl an insult at the cowardly bastard, the air was rent by a series of horrible screeches. The fourth wave had made their way up from the final chamber and glided out of the dungeon doorway.


    Dwarf Wyverns x 5


    Grade: F


    Level: 37


    HP: 26,670


    Mob Description: Wyverns are cousins to the larger wyrms like dragons. They differ physiologically from their more famous relative in that they only possess four limbs. Two hind legs and the forelimbs which form their wings. Another difference is that they don¡¯t possess a breath weapon, though their bite is venomous. Wyvern¡¯s scales provide high mitigation against most forms of damage, and they are almost immune to slashing attacks. The Dwarf Wyvern is a smaller subspecies. Smaller and with fewer hit points, but that does make them more manoeuvrable in flight.


    Believe it or not, when that description popped up it was something of a relief. A couple of months prior, I¡¯d summoned a wyvern from the rift with my spell in the past and seen them in action. They were terrifying to behold.


    Once I¡¯d figured out the dungeon¡¯s pattern, that each chamber was populated with beasts that represented one of the manticore¡¯s monstrous features, I worried that the dungeon might have condensed its allowances in order to unleash a couple of B-grade monsters in our laps. The dwarf variety was still large and formidable, but they were half the size of the Wyvern I¡¯d summoned from the rift.


    The first dwarf wyvern out the door didn¡¯t get very far, Nazz had obeyed my command and was lying in wait. A bolt, especially prepared by none other than the alchemic genius, Sheamus, was loosed and struck home under the lead wyvern¡¯s eye. Where it promptly exploded and took half of the beast¡¯s skull with it. The wyvern flapped its wings once, a reflexive action that carried it clear of the descending steps before it crashed into the ground.


    Before Nazz could reload, the other four swept out of the entrance and onto the battlefield. Not only that, the smirk on the manticore¡¯s lips faded and it launched itself over the balustrade, abandoning its protection, and peppered Nazz with a salvo of back quills which had regrown over the last couple of minutes.


    ¡°Nazz!¡± Crynn shrieked in warning to the Saurian woman.


    The call came too late, with four other dwarf wyverns soaring out of the dungeon entrance and a couple of separated lions prowling the grounds, there were too many targets for Nazz to remain alert of. She saw the incoming quills a split-second too late and only managed to shift her body a few feet out of the way.


    Nazz was struck by dozens of spines and collapsed to the ground, her body convulsing as it fought off the effects of the quill¡¯s venomous tips. The slight shift of her bulk may not have carried the lizard woman out of harm¡¯s way, but it did reduce the density of the sudden quill infestation and gave her a fighting chance at survival. If nothing else came along to finish her off.


    ¡°Go,¡± I urged Crynn. ¡°Help her quaff a potion and pull out the quills. Fang Mei, go with her, use your warp and keep the three of you hidden.¡±


    Crynn nodded at me gratefully and raced across the battlefield to assist the saurian who had become a surrogate mother to her.


    Fang Mei was a little more reluctant to leave my side. ¡°Will you be okay?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. Once warped, if you see an opportunity, go for it. I¡¯ll handle the rest.¡±


    The words of encouragement were enough, plus Crynn and Nazz were already exposed, and Fang Mei knew without her they were sitting ducks.


    My claim to handle the rest was easier said than done. With a hand signal, I sent some of the others to the corner of the cathedral building and finished off the last two lions. Those beasts were already wounded and shouldn¡¯t cause them too much trouble. The five flying beasts, four wyverns with the manticore directing traffic would be the real challenge. They circled up above us and mostly avoided the potshots of ranged weaponry.


    ¡°We make for the inner foyer of the dungeon,¡± I ordered. ¡°We don¡¯t want to make it easy for them to dive-bomb and Hudson is the priority.¡±


    The group I¡¯d assembled included Danny, Tavar, Amber, Doc and a few others. Brant was hidden amongst the bodies of the firemane lions, doing his best to resemble a corpse, a role that didn¡¯t require acting skill given his current condition. As a unit, we made a rush for the dungeon entrance.


    The manticore spotted the movement and anticipated our intent. It screeched at the four other flyers, and they coalesced into a cohesive attack formation and swooped down from the sky. Their goal, to block the way into the dungeon.


    This didn¡¯t surprise me. I suspected the fragment would have issued orders or compelled the manticore to do everything it could to prevent our ingress. But if we were going to kill these things, we needed a way to get them down to us where we could fight them, and this seemed like a win-win plan.


    Two of the wyverns landed on the steps ahead of us while the other two and the manticore directly attacked the group from their dive.


    I switched to the halberd in my inventory; it had a greater reach than my sword and used it to fend off the snapping jaws of a wyvern attacker after applying Shattering to reduce its armour. Danny attacked the same beast from the other side with his huge maul that thudded meatily into the elongated neck of the wyrm and we both heard one of its vertebrae snap from the force of the blow. The wyvern stumbled almost like it was drunk due to the onset of partial paralysis.


    Quickly, I switched weapons and slipped under the beast¡¯s belly while it struggled and targeting the gap between scales pierced through the hide of its underside and used the teeth on the reverse side to carve through the flesh and disembowel the monster. Timing my activities perfectly, I tore the blade free and rolled out of range just as the dwarf wyvern¡¯s legs gave way and it collapsed to the earth. Danny¡¯s maul crunched into its skull and helped finish it off.


    Shaking the blood off my weapon, I got back to my feet and assessed how the rest of the battle was going.


    Not well was the unfortunate answer.


    Tavar held off the two wyverns guarding the entrance and conjured a wall of fire to keep them contained. The reason why was obvious. During the fight, one of them had jumped forward and snapped up Amber in its jaws, the girl had been thrown into the air and her leg had been badly broken on landing. One of her knees had been dislocated and pointed out at an unnatural angle. She was alive and in an enormous amount of pain.


    The manticore had stung one of the other men in the throat and he was down permanently. Afterwards, it had ploughed through the group, knocking many over, grabbed Doc and dragged him off. I caught sight of them just in time to see the monstrous bastard open its jaw impossibly wide and bite into his head. The manticore tore Doc¡¯s head off and swallowed it whole.


    Doc had been part of my squad for over a year, often acting as the squad leader when I was absent. He was a good man and deserved better. The manticore smirked in my direction and licked its lips in mockery. This only stoked the fury, and I will admit that I lost my mind for a moment.


    Shattering was followed by a Chaos Missile that I ran in the wake of. The shattering charge was applied but the manticore launched itself into the air and evaded the worst of the explosion, the edge licking at its feet only. Worse, I¡¯d forgotten about the other wyvern in my anger and turned my back on it. The creature lurched forward, ready to swallow my head whole much as the manticore had done with Doc.


    Out of nowhere, Fang Mei appeared, dropping her warping ability and intercepting the snapping jaws of the wyvern, knocking it off course and saving my neck. The pair of them tumbled to the ground in a heap, Fang Mei came up straddled across the wyvern¡¯s neck and stabbed away at its earholes with her daggers.


    The creature reared back and tried to throw her off. It was assisted in this endeavour as one of the two ¡®guard¡¯ wyverns had broken loose from Tavar¡¯s containment efforts and flapped across the battlefield to come to the aid of its fellow. This was a good news-bad news scenario. Being down to one wyvern made it easier for Tavar and his companions to handle the beast, but it did mean the rest of us had another monster to contend with.


    The wyvern/Fang Mei kerfuffle distracted me from what was ahead and the manticore took advantage, tearing up the earth with its claws and streaking towards me. Danny stepped up to the other side and swung the maul in a wide arc, that struck the manticore¡¯s paw and snapped off a talon. The manticore hissed angrily and used its scorpion tail as a club and battered Danny in the head.


    I had to act quickly and expended two charges of Breath Weapon quickly. The first, at the manticore, was supposed to be Frost, but I got the poison cloud instead. Not nearly as useful. I turned my head for the second attempt, applied Shattering to the incoming wyvern and then my breath attack. I got the intended element this time and shot an arc of lightning at the wyvern as it passed me.


    The blow was enough to push the creature off-course, and it flew over where Fang Mei struggled with its downed brother.


    ¡°Eat a bolt!¡±


    The cry came from the other side of the battlefield. Crynn had propped Nazz up and removed the quills from her flesh. The Saurian woman helped her hold and aim that giant crossbow of hers and between them, they launched another explosive bolt that thudded just under the wing of the electrocuted wyvern. The small explosion left its right wing hanging awkwardly and it crashed into the ground whimpering miserably.


    Tavar and his group held off the fourth. Fang Mei was bloody but victorious over the other. The use of her warp ability would leave her almost weak as a kitten for a short while, though. That left the dungeon avatar, and it had no plans to go down quietly.


    It pounced out of the cloud of poison in the blink of an eye and knocked Danny to the floor. One paw crunched onto the small of his back, trying to hold him in place and repeat what it did to Doc, the monster leant forward to swallow his head.


    But Danny was too strong and managed to lurch to the side and it bit down into his shoulder instead, missing his head. The armour Danny wore prevented the manticore from biting too deeply, but it gave the beast enough purchase to whip its head back and wrench his arm out of the socket.


    Danny screamed in pain, and I screamed in fury as the Goreblade sliced down onto the Manticore''s neck. I hadn¡¯t been quick enough to stop Danny¡¯s injury, but I would damn sure make the fucking manticore pay for exposing itself in the way it had.


    The creature¡¯s neck was too muscled and thick for decapitation, but the blade did sink an inch or two into flesh and forced it to release the wounded ogre in its jaws. The manticore leapt back and I followed after, blade flowing in a dizzying series of arcs, pushing the long blade skill to the limit. The manticore fought back, its claws gouging along my armour and the scorpion tail striking with rapidity and force, but it never quite found the mark.


    The ferocity of my assault pushed the beast back, once we were clear of Danny who slowly crawled away, cradling the wounded arm, I hit it with a charge of Frost Breath.


    *** Critical Strike! x4 You have inflicted 6,720 of cold damage to Madness of the Manticore. Madness of the Manticore is under 25% Hit Points. ***


    This was the final straw for the manticore, and it attempted to flee, taking to the air. In its fear, it hadn¡¯t seen Crynn approach from behind and the moment it unfurled those wings which had been tucked in, she struck with her cutlass and savagely cut at the tendons connecting the wings as it took off. The monster had enough oomph to get off the ground, but it couldn¡¯t make it back to the safety of the cathedral balustrade with one gimpy wing.


    With only one wing working it couldn¡¯t navigate correctly and went careening into the gargoyle statues that dotted the upper parts of the cathedral and fell back down to the ground.


    ¡°Not possible,¡± It gasped, flecks of blood staining the wispy white beard that framed the hideous human face.


    ¡°Very possible,¡± I corrected the avatar and buried my sword in the back of its head.

 Book 5: Chapters 29 & 30

    Chapter 29


    *** Congratulations on being the first to conquer the twenty-sixth through thirty-seventh levels of the dungeon, Madness of the Manticore. You have been awarded 1,300,000 XP, and the following item. ***


    The Manticore¡¯s Claw


    Although this item deals with damage, it is not considered a weapon and takes up an item slot from your allowance instead. The claw may be attached to either forearm. Expending its charge will turn the next successful blow into a venomous strike.


    A venomous strike deals 120 points of damage per level of the wielder and a chance to inflict the Envenomed debuff that bleeds off an enemy¡¯s stats. This damage is not affected by mitigation factors, either positive or negative, though it can be affected by venom immunity.


    Charges can only be replaced when the item owner is exposed to a suitably potent venom, either from an enemy attack or by voluntarily injecting one.


    Charges 1/1


    Durability: 1,000/1,000


    *** Congratulations on completing the dungeon Madness of the Manticore for the first time. As this was a conquest, the reward has been doubled. As you completed the dungeon with a party under the recommended strength level the points reward has been doubled again. You have been awarded 44 upgrade points.


    Congratulations on completing a dungeon at character level thirty-seven. As this was a conquest, the reward has been doubled. You have been awarded 4 upgrade points. ***


    The battle had been won, but looking around at the devastation, it almost didn¡¯t look like it. Nine of the party were dead. Doc was amongst the slain. He and I hadn¡¯t been especially close outside of the faction¡¯s operations, but he¡¯d been a good man, and I would miss him.


    Brant, Amber, Danny, Nazz, and Fang Mei were also in no condition to continue. Neither was Greenfield who had somehow managed to avoid being pounced on by the countless mobs running rampant before we killed them.


    Some people are born lucky, I suppose. Although, Greenfield might not think so with the debilitating softball-sized swellings that covered his body.


    That left Tavar, Crynn, and two other crewmen, Stoll and Gibbs, to help with the fragment problem. Despite the official messages about the dungeon¡¯s completion, the instance field hadn¡¯t dropped, and the three hundred other soldiers remained stuck outside. So far, there had been no sign that the Wisconsin forces in Horicon had broken through the defensive perimeter that LT commanded. This was good, but that didn¡¯t mean we could afford to dally.


    We moved fast and carried the wounded off to the side where they could shelter in the lee of the dungeon¡¯s walls.


    Afterwards, I attached the new piece of gear to my right forearm. The rewards for this out-of-the-ordinary dungeon completion were as equally unorthodox as the speed run itself. The experience reward was insanely high, over a million and that was with it being split eleven ways. This had to be the Framework attempting to incorporate the dungeon being boosted an extra eleven levels by the Fragment.


    I also suspected that the Manticore¡¯s Claw ought to have had only done ten, not one hundred and twenty, points of damage per level of the wielder, but I wouldn¡¯t complain. As things stood, it could add 4,440 extra points of damage to a single attack. The recharge method was a bit of a¡­downside, but that was a bridge to cross later. Regardless, it made the item one hell of an ace up the sleeve.


    When I pushed a firemane lion off Brant which had helped conceal him, he expressed a natural concern that someone who had run the Crypt Keeper¡¯s Tomb might fear. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m glad to be out from under these mobs. I was a bit worried they would rise from the dead and do that soul-sucking thing. Maybe this dungeon can¡¯t do that.¡±


    ¡°It can,¡± I told him and set him down beside Amber who had passed out when Tavar popped her knee back into place. ¡°But the fragment overlooked a vital requirement. Secrecy. The dungeon¡¯s avatar can only pull that trick on a delving group in person and if no one but the intended victims can witness the event. The audience outside might not have been able to get physically involved but it doesn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t contribute to the win.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sharing the experience,¡± he joked. ¡°I think almost being eaten alive by lions is a decent enough excuse to be selfish.¡±


    I patted him on the shoulder and straightened up to address the four other party members who could push on. ¡°Okay, we aren¡¯t finished. Hudson is inside and we¡¯re going into the cathedral waiting area. Keep your wits about you, he will know his gambit with the dungeon has failed.¡±


    The steps up to the entrance were covered in the bodies of slain mobs. The wyvern Tavar killed was the largest roadblock and had to be navigated around.


    Quietly, the group inched its way across the threshold at the top of the cathedral steps. The interior of the entrance hall was reasonably well-lit and very spacious. The swirling entrance to the dungeon proper was in the far-right corner from where we came in. In the near right corner was a collection of tables and couches. The tables were covered in a collection of playing cards, partially drunk beer bottles, and ashtrays. Some of which were filled to overflowing with cigarette butts.


    It was an area set aside for the death squad members to relax and enjoy themselves between forcing sacrifices through the portal.


    The scene certainly evoked the impression that they¡¯d been rudely interrupted which was true enough. The attack on this place had come largely without warning. Apparently, not all the blackcoats had rushed out to help with the defence, though. A squad of twenty had remained inside to protect Hudson and had taken up position around his throne on the other side of the entrance foyer.


    Behind the throne, hovering in mid-air was a huge translucent shape. It was hard to see, but there were faint outlines of veins, arteries, and sinew that gave it away. The fragment had begun construction of the God Body.


    The giant himself was seated on a masonic throne overseeing the room.


    Upon seeing the enemy, my group unleashed ranged attacks in their direction, only to witness them bounce harmlessly off a shimmering field of protection. I¡¯d seen the golden flares of light when the weapons struck the shield before. In the flashbacks of my visit to Ashli¡¯s pocket dimension. The one Ashli was trapped in unless the fragment finished its work here and freed the demented architect of the Framework.


    ¡°Sir,¡± one of the blackcoats, whose epaulette had a few more skulls than the others, said to get Hudson¡¯s attention after we entered the inner sanctum.


    The fragment-possessed Hudson seemed distracted and hadn¡¯t reacted to the clatter of shots striking his shield. He was sitting on the throne, head rolled back, eyes closed. A thick cable had been jury-rigged into the nearby dungeon control column, and it led back to Hudson¡¯s chair. The other end was wrapped around his left bicep. It looked like he was on a macabre drip in a hospital ward.


    The giant¡¯s eyes opened slowly and glared at the officer with disdain. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Uh, um, sir, the invaders have got past the dungeon¡¯s defences.¡±


    Hudson seemed to regather some of his verve and turned to stare in our direction. ¡°Must I do everything myself?¡±


    ¡°The shie¡­¡± the squad commander started to say but was cut off when Hudson¡¯s hand rose into the air.


    A thick stream of cold, condensed seawater blasted forth and slammed into Gibbs¡¯ chest before he could move out of the way and sent him careening into the doorframe with immense force. The hose of water pushed his broken body out of the foyer and back out onto the steps.


    ¡°Holy shit!¡± Stoll gasped in surprise and threw himself over one of the blackcoat¡¯s couches to avoid a second blast. The column of seawater blew the couch into the back wall taking Stoll with it where it was smashed to smithereens.


    Gibbs and Stoll¡¯s sudden removal was a setback, but every cloud had a lining of silver. ¡°The protection field is down!¡±


    The invisible barrier was solid from both sides, the sluggish fragment, seemingly drunk or dazed on gorging soul energy had to dispel the protection field in order to blast us with its watery attack. The slightly befuddled fragment had made a critical error.


    Tavar unleashed a barrage of fire darts that peppered the blackcoats and Hudson, meanwhile, Crynn and I rushed forward to engage with the giant directly, savagely cutting through any blackcoat that rushed forward to aid their horrific patron.


    Hudson angrily yanked the pad around his bicep off and a trickle of blood zigzagged down the sea-green of his sickly skin. He quickly summoned a full set of battle armour and intercepted an incoming slice from Crynn¡¯s cutlass on the prongs of a trident. With a powerful twist, he disarmed the Acheronian woman and followed up by clubbing her in the back of the head with the butt of his weapon.


    Hudson might look emaciated and in ill health, but that didn¡¯t mean his stats had taken any kind of hit. With his species, strength was bound to be on the high side, particularly if the top-tier gear he wore enhanced it further.


    Crynn was sent sprawling to the left side of the throne where a couple of the surviving blackcoats set upon her. She shook off any disorientation and summoned a secondary weapon because her cutlass of choice had been sent skittling to the other side of the room. With difficulty, she regained her feet and started to fight back against the aggressive scum who assailed her from every side.


    Tavar redirected the focus of his spells to help Crynn but the strain of so much mana use was wearing him down. He was already showing signs of mana exhaustion and had to step back and lean on the poker table to stay upright.


    As much as I wanted to come to Crynn¡¯s aid, Hudson¡¯s incredibly large frame loomed over me. ¡°Carter, you maggot. I am going to crush you beneath my boot!¡± he bellowed and attempted to do just that. He raised his massive foot and tried to kick me in the face. I ducked out of the way and gave him a blast of arctic ice to the groin.


    Having applied one of the few charges of Shattering to the giant already, the breath attack inflicted some serious damage.


    The fragment possessed Hudson stumbled backwards in shock, tripped over the throne and clattered to the floor under the developing God Body.


    A smug grin of victory from me would have to wait. Preternatural Insight kicked in and with its help, I could discern Hudson¡¯s intentions in real time. The severity of the damage from the combo of my abilities had genuinely terrified the fragment. Fighting me one-on-one with the weakened body it currently inhabited was no longer its plan. Not when it could barricade itself in the corner with the God Body and keep everything out.


    A heartbeat before the shield of golden light flickered back to life, I propelled myself forward and slid under the bottom of the forming dome. I was trapped inside with Hudson, but it meant he was trapped in here with me too.


    The strain of constant spellcasting had proved too much for Tavar. He collapsed and was out of the fight, but Stoll had re-emerged from the ruins of the broken furniture and fought against two blackcoats who had sought to take advantage of downed elf¡¯s vulnerability. Crynn was back on her feet and although hard pressed, seemed to be in full control of the battle with the other three enemies who were still alive.


    The look of chagrin on Hudson¡¯s face when he realised I¡¯d not been kept away was a joy to behold. However, to his credit, he didn¡¯t let being irked slow him down. He rose to his full height, smirked cruelly in my direction, and slammed the butt of his trident onto the granite flagstone. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you fare while in my element.¡±


    From the spot where the trident touched stone, seawater magically surged forth like a tsunami. The frothing water poured out in large volumes and punched into me with great force. I was sent backwards and collided with the inner side of the magical dome which rapidly filled with seawater.


    I doubted the fragment planned to drown me. Not being able to breathe would certainly be problematic, but with the way the Framework handled magic and a lack of oxygen, it would be a quarter of an hour or more before I would be in any real trouble. No, what it did was neutralise many of my combat advantages while the body it possessed retained most, if not all, of theirs.


    A breath attack required you to exhale and even if I could manage it, the seawater would diffuse the expelled energy into something almost harmless. Similarly, Dragon¡¯s Leap would be next to useless while trapped in a bubble of fluid.


    The dome filled to the brim in a couple of seconds and the intense pressure of the expanding volume ceased, allowing me to swim away from the edge that I¡¯d been pressed against. With the dome full, Hudson lifted the trident and surged through the water to skewer me in place.


    I reacted to the motion, kicked my legs, and swam out of the way, darting off to the side faster than the fragment-possessed Hudson believed possible.


    It was my chance to smirk cruelly at the enemy. The tables had turned somewhat, but I was not nearly as vulnerable in the medium of water as it thought. The fragment had been far too sloppy when it dicked around and started altering dungeon laws on the fly. Particularly when your opponent has a class that revolves around owning and controlling a dungeon. It gives them all kinds of opportunities to eke out advantages of their own.


    One With the Ship, the fifth-tier Dungeon Corsair ability that allowed me to filter oxygen from water, protected me from environmental effects, and increased my swim speed by eight times, was only supposed to function when within range of Marena¡¯s Mercy.


    However, I had already conquered this dungeon, and shards of its core, which I¡¯d not collected from the control column yet, technically belonged to my ship. And I was in the range of those. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn¡¯t matter, dungeon safeguards would prevent a shifty individual manipulating such a situation to their advantage. But those were the same safeguards the fragment had disabled to send the avatar and its troops out to fight us in the first place.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Using the dome, I kicked off and propelled myself deeper, getting behind the enraged giant. Hudson swivelled around with unnatural swiftness and thrust the trident at my gut; he still had the edge in the water.


    It proved to be enough to counter my superior combat experience. We fought in the flooded dome for several minutes, neither one of us with the advantage. I was the better fighter, but my weapons were unwieldy underwater, and Hudson kept me at bay with that trident.


    On several occasions, I tried to hit out at the God Body that was forming inside the dome with us but had no success. It was out of phase with the real world and couldn¡¯t be harmed. As time passed, the body started to flesh out and it was obvious the fragment would be content to simply wait it out and let the body complete.


    Something had to change. A stalemate meant victory for Ashli.


    Faking a mistake, I let the fragment push me off-balance and get inside my guard. It put us face-to-face, but he was too close to use the trident effectively. Instead, the giant surged forward to prevent a retreat and grasped me in a mighty bear hug. The strong arms crushing me in an embrace like a boa constrictor.


    Bubbles blew out of Hudson¡¯s mouth as the fragment laughed with gleeful enjoyment.


    I have you now, Carter. You will not escape me this time.


    The words echoed down the secret channel that connected us.


    With my upper arms trapped, I balled my right fist and performed a weak punch to the giant¡¯s ribs. Hudson would barely feel such an attack, something that would do little more than tickle him, but it was enough to count as a hit. I activated the Manticore¡¯s Claw and turned the light punch into a Venomous Strike.


    *** Critical Strike! You have inflicted 4,440 points of poison damage to Hudson Reed. Hudson Reed is under 25% Hit Points. ***


    *** Six applications of Envenomed have been applied to Hudson Reed. Each application reduces his physical statistics by 10% ***


    The multiple applications of the status debuff were a pleasant surprise. It seemed the chance of envenomed being applied had been multiplied by twelve as well. Presuming it had a fifty percent success rate against someone of Hudson¡¯s stature, at any rate.


    With the debuff sapping more than half his strength, Hudson¡¯s death grip around my arms slackened and I was able to break free and kick-off. I didn¡¯t go back very far, just enough to give me room to thrust the Goresteel Greatblade into the throat of the giant.


    The loss of stats and the venom coursing through his veins prevented the fragment from avoiding the strike and the blade sank through the back of his throat with ease and only gave me some resistance when it encountered the spinal cord. The loot nimbus flickered into life around the giant¡¯s body and indicated his death. The trident slipped from his grasp and floated to the bottom of the water-filled dome.


    I had won but immediately detected a problem.


    Hudson was dead, the fragment along with him. I confirmed that the second I sent a tendril of consciousness through the unwanted connection between us. However, the dome had not collapsed, and every sense told me that the soul energy continued to flow from the corpse and into the God Body.


    Once started, the soul organ had not stopped its perfidious task.


    This was not over, not if I wanted to prevent Ashli¡¯s return to the Darkwyrlds.


    Chapter 30


    I pushed Hudson¡¯s gently floating body onto the flagstones and moved his chest armour to my inventory with a thought.


    <You will have to lay claim to the soul organ if you are going to switch it off.>


    ¡°I¡¯m aware of that Quix,¡± I said to the imp. Or tried to, but we were still submerged in water and my mouth filled with water instead, so I had to force it back out. The imp got the message through our bond, though.


    <That thing has some serious design flaws. If you don¡¯t want it going critical, it¡¯ll have to be implanted in your body quickly.>


    I¡¯m aware of that too. I thought back at him and created an ice scalpel with what remained of my mana. The scalpel cut into Hudson¡¯s flesh and carved an incision along his abdomen about where the appendix would have been. Ashli must have figured it would be a good place to store the soul organ, in the place of something useless to humans. The only problem: an appendix was a few inches in size, the soul harvester was about the same size as a brain and the energy it contained was toxic and had a tendency to seep out.


    <So, you¡¯re going through with the Shattered Goddess¡¯ plan then? If you recall that does not end well for you.>


    I! Am! Aware! The aggressive response was perhaps a little unfair, but I didn¡¯t need a backseat driver for this delicate operation.


    The imp was not wrong, the harvester did have some serious design flaws. Something which the Goddess¡¯ information crystal made me acutely mindful of. Flaws wouldn¡¯t have been much of an issue if the fragment hadn¡¯t left it chock full of energy and liable to explode in a very destructive manner.


    I had several avenues open to me. First, let the process of creating the God Body complete, thereby draining the harvester organ of the energy it currently contained. This was not something I wanted to do, there was no way to know if Ashli could still slip into the body once it was done. It might have required the fragment to forge a path or the method of ingress for the ASI might have been part of the God Body¡¯s construction. That made it an incredibly risky option.


    Second, remove the organ, connect with it externally long enough to stop the body from fully forming and then let nature take its explosive course. If I could have allowed more of the energy to drain into the forming God Body until it was almost complete and then sever the process, I would have. Then we could have evacuated, and the equivalent of a nuclear explosion would have devastated this part of Wisconsin. The devastation wouldn¡¯t have come with radioactive fallout that could endanger my territory directly, so it would have been an acceptable outcome.


    Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t work that way. The harvester organ remained linked to the energy in the body and would draw it all back before it went critical. The resulting detonation would devastate most of North America. The explosion would replicate the meteor strike that ended the age of the dinosaurs. Most importantly, Michigan would be wiped out too and that meant me and everybody I cared about.


    Third, I could claim the harvester and then take up residence in the body it was creating. It wasn¡¯t the worst option on the table, but I was also under no illusions. Doing something like this wouldn¡¯t just change me physically, but mentally too. There were plenty of examples of the possible outcomes for me to draw from.


    True, Nancy/Astariel might not be the best example given what was done to her by Fred, but by all accounts, the transfer of the other rejectors into their godly forms hadn¡¯t exactly left them as pillars of stability either. There was a reason they¡¯d been effectively trapped in their demesnes. A human consciousness was not meant for that kind of existence. The immediate danger might be resolved only to create something far worse waiting in the wings.


    Fourth, follow the plan suggested by the Shattered Goddess. This involved me claiming the harvester, inserting it into my abdominal cavity and using its power to eliminate Titus Shiptaker via self-detonation. The goddess had promised that as her champion, she could reconstitute me afterwards.


    I was 95% confident that the last part was a lie or if it were true, she had no intention of following through. It hadn¡¯t been presented as a quest reward, something she would have to follow through on, but via the information crystal. The difference in communication methods was a red flag the size of the sun if you were paying attention.


    However, of all the options, it was the one that put my growing family at least risk. I would almost certainly end up dead, but they would be safe. I was also 95% confident that the Shattered Goddess knew what she was doing would get rid of me, or at least, a part of her did. The goddess had made earlier promises of rewards that part of her might now be regretting, the easiest way not to follow through on them was to remove me from the equation.


    Fifth, and the option I selected, come up with a solution of my own and do something unexpected.


    I¡¯m not adhering to the Shattered Goddess plan. I have an alternative available if we can move fast. I¡¯m going to cheat and use Ana¡¯s dungeon. She already knows and will be waiting.


    <What? How can I not know?>


    You were distracted with Quinn, and I was sneaky.


    Once inspiration struck, I quickly compartmentalised the plan on a need-to-know basis and exercised precise mental control in order not to dwell on the subject, lest lurkers pick up on the direction of my thoughts. High Willpower and Mental Resistance were useful in more ways than simply rebuffing external influences. Quixbix grumbled about being left out in the background but left me to it.


    Being underwater actually made the operation easier. Hudson¡¯s innards were less slippery, and the harvester organ itself was not made of flesh, but a crystalline substance similar to the cimmeric that the Framework used for its podia. It took about two minutes to extract. By this point, Crynn was watching me worriedly from the other side of the barrier. The blackcoats had been finished off and she¡¯d helped the other walking wounded out of the dungeon foyer to join the others.


    I hauled the pulsing, misshapen black crystalline structure from Hudson¡¯s body with difficulty. Part of the problem was that the organ did not have a seamless, solid design. Instead, it had a central sphere the size of a tennis ball with dozens of sharp columns that jutted out from that core. Each tip had to be fused to the central nervous system of the host body. It was easy to understand why the fragment had struggled to find a fresh host capable of bearing the organ.


    The original would have been grown inside of Maurice, a process far easier than transplantation.


    With a hand gripping the crystalline structure, I was instantly brought to my knees. It was as if the harvester organ possessed a malignant personality of its own. Something dark and maleficent, influenced by the personalities of Ashli its creator, the Fragment, Maurice¡¯s psychopathic nature, and even Hudson¡¯s fucked-up family dynamics. My mind and will were assaulted from all sides in an attempt to overwhelm and seize control. It was as if this thing sensed I did not have its best interests at heart. That I did not plan to use it for its designated purpose, and it did not like that, not one bit.


    Pain spiked in my head and before I was forced to close my eyes, I saw Crynn batter helplessly against the barrier, sparks of golden light flashing where she beat at it with a fist and slashed away with her cutlass.


    The pressure was enormous, the malevolent will behind it seemingly all-powerful. No one man could resist its rancorous influence. But I was not alone, not in spirit. First Shana¡¯s and then Anastasia¡¯s hands rested on my spiritual shoulders. Their presence was swiftly followed by Fang Mei, Trisha, Claudia, and Crynn. Even Mia, who I had not bonded came to my aid, albeit not as strongly as the others. And last but not least, five tiny digits wrapped around my thumb, Dash, my son. There was even a ghostly lick on the side of my face from the fawn.


    With a united front, we pushed back at the crystalline entity and forced it back into its dark, little hole, whimpering like a scolded child. It made one last attempt to change its fate. This time it whispered in my mind like a seduction. It dangled promises of knowledge and power in the hope of tempting me into becoming a cooperative partner in its endeavours.


    Much of what it offered was a trap for the unwary, paths that would lead me back to slavery with it wielding the whip, but there were a few choice truths mixed in with the lies that I could make use of. I robbed the entity of its last hope; extracting what I wanted before sealing it back within its prison.


    The dome burst the moment I asserted my authority and Crynn was almost washed away by the sudden wave of water as it was released. It forced her back a few steps, but the volume quickly dispersed throughout the room, and she rushed over to where I knelt and enveloped me in a heaving embrace. ¡°We were so worried, we almost lost you there.¡±


    Crynn was right, the harvester organ possessing a personality had been a nasty surprise that came close to derailing the plan. The crystal pulsed in my hand and the translucent God Body faded away as the energy was returned to the source. It burned my flesh just being held. I kissed Crynn on the cheek in thanks and returned my attention to the harvester. ¡°You belong to me now and will do as I will, not the other way around.¡±


    The response was sullen but accepting.


    Crynn helped me rise to my feet and Brant¡¯s voice carried to us from outside. ¡°The instance is closed. Our people are on the way over.¡±


    The battle is won, and our goal is achieved. LT, carry out an organised retreat to the waypoint. I want everyone back in Stormblade Harbour within the hour.


    With the message sent to the troops, I turned back to Crynn. ¡°Can you collect the shard reward from the dungeon pillar and help get the others back? I¡¯ve got a ticking bomb in my hands and need to get it somewhere safe.¡±


    ¡°You can count on me.¡±


    I kissed the Acheronian beauty on the lips and set off for the waypoint at a sprint. I needed to get the harvester organ back to the dungeon on Marena¡¯s Mercy, or the damn thing would explode.


    ***


    The run back was uneventful. I got a few curious looks from the soldiers not in the know. The captain running away was an unusual sight, after all. Anastasia was waiting for me with the larger of her two cimmeric golems when I ran up the marble steps and entered the temple in Stormblade Harbour.


    ¡°All aboard the Ripper Express!¡± She patted the saddle spot behind her in welcome. Under normal circumstances, I would not ride pillion, even on Ana¡¯s mount, as there were appearances to consider. However, today didn¡¯t qualify as normal circumstances and just getting the harvester organ to the dungeon wouldn¡¯t make us safe. It still needed to go inside a body.


    I hopped up behind Anastasia and for once she managed to refrain from cracking a joke. She tapped Ripper on the head and the rhino-sized golem took off at a rate of knots and jumped off the balcony of the temple. Susan must have had the window removed and saved us the expense of getting that repaired. It didn¡¯t take the golem long to run the short distance down to the docks and it didn¡¯t slow down as we approached. If anything, Ripper built up speed and leapt into the air when it was a few feet away from the ship and flew through an opening that Ana magicked into existence with a wave of her hand.


    The swirling portal of the dungeon entrance was just behind the new hole in the hull and then we were inside the dungeon proper. Ripper rushed through each of the chambers in rapid succession, the resident mobs looking curiously on until we reached the end of the dungeon and the room which Ana had specially prepared at my direction.


    It had the appearance of an operating theatre or mortuary with several large, sterilised tables in the centre and a trolley loaded up with dozens of sharp surgical instruments. However, the surrounding d¨¦cor was straight out of a 1950s Frankenstein movie.


    ¡°You¡¯ve gone a bit overboard on the aesthetic.¡±


    ¡°This is where I create life,¡± she enthused doing her best mad scientist impression. ¡°A proper golem experimentation laboratory. Having second thoughts?¡±


    ¡°On the contrary, I¡¯ve updated the plan. It¡¯s even sneakier than before.¡±


    ¡°At this late stage?¡±


    Shocking Anastasia with recklessness was an achievement in and of itself.


    ¡°New information has come to light. Don¡¯t worry, the plan is mostly the same, I just need to do a little something extra for the endgame. It might make the insertion a smidge more complicated.¡±


    While Anastasia prepped for the parts of the procedure that would remain unchanged, I knuckled down and performed the minor alterations based on the information I¡¯d extracted from the harvester organ. The organ didn¡¯t like it but had already accepted who was boss in this situation. It helped that the malignant personality wasn¡¯t entirely averse to the fate I had planned. It would be better than simply exploding and self-eliminating.


    ¡°That will work better,¡± she admitted when I was finished and pointed to one of the operating tables in the room. ¡°If we¡¯re going to do this, you better assume the position.¡±


    I hopped up and sat on the edge.


    ¡°Everything off,¡± she commanded.


    I disrobed quickly and lay back down on the cold metal of the table. ¡°Is the coldness entirely necessary?¡±


    Anastasia shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not a real Doctor, you¡¯ve got to expect a few errors, and aren¡¯t you supposed to be immune to the cold.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point. You are not filling me with enthusiasm.¡±


    She smiled and let loose with one of her signature cackles. ¡°Lie back and get comfortable, you¡¯ll be here a while. Let¡¯s get cracking.¡±


    Following her instructions, I lay back on the uncomfortable table and glanced over at the body a few feet away from me on the twin operating table.


    ¡°I hoped this works,¡± I said when Anastasia attached a clamp to my temples. There was a zap of electricity, and I lost consciousness.


    ***


    ¡°How do you feel?¡± Anastasia asked me once everything was finished, and she woke me.


    ¡°Full,¡± I replied and patted my bloated stomach that now contained the harvester organ.


    The operation had been a complete success, the crystalline bomb was safely ensconced inside and no longer primed to explode. I slid off the side of the table and would have buckled if Ana hadn¡¯t caught me with her small, but surprisingly strong frame.


    ¡°Take it easy, this is a big change, and it will take a while for you to get used to it. I¡¯ve been through something similar, and it was an¡­adjustment. Now, as much as I like having you buck naked and at my mercy, put your clothes on. The familiarity will help.¡±


    The suggestion was a good one and mentally I summoned my gear. The feeling of the armour, perfectly shaped to my body was familiar and welcoming; it did assist in getting used to my new circumstances. I flexed muscles and did a few exercises. As part of the movements my new item, the manticore¡¯s claw caught my eye. Thinking about the procedure we¡¯d just performed a big grin broke out on my face.


    ¡°If this works, I think we¡¯ve found a convenient way to recharge you,¡± I whispered to myself.


    Within a minute, everything felt natural and back to normal again.


    ¡°You good?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s head out. Make sure everything is working as expected.¡±


    Anastasia waved her hand, and an exit portal appeared in the air. She took my hand in hers and we walked through and arrived back out on the outside deck of Marena¡¯s Mercy.


    Trisha was waiting for us pacing up and down the deck with a grim expression on her face. ¡°Thank God, you¡¯ve emerged.¡±


    ¡°You can calm down, Trish, everything is going according to plan.¡± I patted my gut to reassure her. Not that she knew all the details. Only Ana and myself knew everything.


    Her eyes followed the gesture and then she looked back up. The worry had not been dispelled. ¡°Oh, that, yes, that is a relief, nobody wants to explode but we have another problem. A serious one.¡±


    Of course, we did.

 Book 5: Chapter 31 & 32

    Chapter 31


    Instead of heading back to the Command hub, we marched directly over to the Plexus Gate control room.


    ¡°It started a few minutes after word got back to us that you had returned,¡± Trisha explained as we covered the distance. ¡°Quinn was the first to pick up on the attempt. The Dread Scourge are trying to brute force our gate open using the tech on their dungeon ships. The shroud is preventing them from simply punching through the plexus network wherever they want. They still need our gate to get through.¡±


    ¡°How can we be sure it¡¯s the Dread Scourge?¡± Ana asked.


    Quixbix answered for the group. <We can¡¯t be, but Quinn has been digging around and those detectors for the dungeons Titus supplied us with have started to emit a signal. A message that the Fragment has been destroyed we assume, and then this started to happen a couple of minutes later. The odds of it being a coincidence are astronomically low.>


    I nodded in agreement. ¡°I knew that Titus would betray our pact and try something, though I did think we might have longer than an hour. How close are they?¡±


    We had just arrived at the control room and the security detail waved us through. Trisha pointed to Nazz, the large Saurian woman was sitting at the main control panel, staring intently at the readout and occasionally typing commands, pressing a button, or adjusting a dial. Crynn was hovering at her side trying to apply a healing salve to the many puncture wounds Nazz had suffered during the recent battle with the manticore.


    Trisha guided us over. ¡°I¡¯ll let our resident expert provide the low down. We are lucky to have her. They were almost through before she got back and took the controls.¡±


    ¡°Captain,¡± Nazz greeted me without taking her eyes off the screen. Her left arm was in a sling, and she was making the adjustments with her right.


    ¡°How bad is it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to sugarcoat it, it¡¯s bad,¡± she replied. ¡°I can hold them off for a short while, but they will break through. The only reason they haven¡¯t already is that the Scourge¡¯s best gate-hackers are too high of a level to stay in the cluster. Even so, they have the best tech and there are competent lower-level hackers in their ranks. I¡¯m running interference, but it¡¯s only a matter of time before they stumble across the key and find a way through the security.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything we can do to prevent this?¡±


    ¡°Well, that gate you happen to have in your back pocket might be of use. If you can establish the gate somewhere else, then I can overlay its coordinates as a ghost of this one and trick them into opening the wrong gate. It won¡¯t stop the fleet storming the planet but at least it won¡¯t be directly on our doorstep and inside the city shield.¡±


    I¡¯d had a similar thought myself and knew just where to place it. But that would only delay the inevitable. Titus¡¯ people would come here post-haste. There were preparations to make if we were to stave that off and that meant we needed time. ¡°Can you buy us a day?¡±


    ¡°If I don¡¯t sleep, probably, but I¡¯m not in top condition. There is only so much I can do before exhaustion takes its toll and they get past me.¡±


    ¡°Do whatever it takes. If you can buy me that day, then we have a fighting chance.¡±


    ¡°Aye, captain.¡±


    ¡°I take it you have a plan,¡± Trisha half-asked.


    The truth is that I¡¯d been planning for this kind of eventuality for a while. It would be risky, very risky and if it failed, well, there wouldn¡¯t be many of us left to rue the plan¡¯s failure. I smiled at my spymaster and put on the air of as much confidence as possible. ¡°I sure do.¡±


    ***


    We departed the gate control room and left Nazz to deal with the hacking attempt without any further distractions.


    ¡°First things first,¡± I declared once we were out on the pedestrian arrival platform. ¡°I need to level up.¡±


    Trisha pursed her lips in confusion. ¡°Torin, a personal power boost is always helpful, but do we have time for this?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know how big a bump this will be; besides, it¡¯ll be a short visit. Ana, you and Claudia will be coming with me. Afterwards, be ready to upgrade Marena¡¯s Mercy. Trisha, contact Kristoff and get Storm Raider over here. We¡¯ll be doing the same for that ship.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not how it works, Torin,¡± Ana interrupted. ¡°And entering a cocoon now would keep both ships out of the fight for the better part of a week.¡±


    ¡°Not anymore. Everything that just went down changed the rules. Let¡¯s just say that the shards we retrieved from the Manticore dungeon are somewhat malleable in more ways than one. I can speed up the metamorphosis and have enough experience to get you a second mark upgrade and a few other goodies. Your dungeons are getting a permanent grade lift to K.¡±


    Ana¡¯s eyes took on a gleam of excitement. ¡°Does this mean what I think it means?¡±


    I smiled back. ¡°It sure does, you¡¯re about to get your wings.¡±


    My eyes closed and I singled out the level-up prompt and selected it.


    ***


    Violet escorted the three of us from her side office and into Dean¡¯s parlour of games without a word. At least she understood the gravity of the situation.


    Dean¡¯s open plan office was a mess as usual.


    Also, as per usual, there were a few new items. Now he had a ridiculously oversized monitor hanging from one of the walls. His bean bags were arranged haphazardly in front of it and there were kernels of half-chewed popcorn scattered all over the floor.


    Dean was spreadeagled on one of the bags, his cheeks puffed out due to the volume of popcorn he had stuffed into his mouth. We knew it was popcorn because he spat a wad of the contents into the air when he saw us walk in. Explaining how the rest of the mess came to be.


    ¡°It¡¯s my man, Torin!¡± he squealed in unabashed delight and hauled his portly body off the bean bag. It would be a kindness to describe his athletic efforts as awkward.


    Then the popcorn-covered entity rushed over and launched himself at me for an attack hug. This was one of the things you simply had to put up with Dean.


    ¡°Afternoon, Dean. I hate to be a bit of a party-pooper, but we¡¯re on a tight schedule.¡±


    ¡°Fuck yeah, you are! It¡¯s been fucking awesome watching you in action, my man. I don¡¯t know what the fuck is going on most of the time and that is so fucking awesome.¡±


    ¡°You used awesome twice,¡± Ana commented, unimpressed. ¡°Expand your vocabulary.¡±


    Dean ignored the barb. ¡°I¡¯ve never felt this level of excitement before. The not knowing¡­ it''s¡­ it''s fucking exhilarating!¡±


    ¡°That is not how I would describe it,¡± Violet sighed under her breath.


    ¡°Look at me, look at me,¡± Dean demanded and held his arm out for inspection. ¡°Goosebumps, real goosebumps. I¡¯m not faking this.¡±


    Dean and Violet¡¯s ignorance of some of the events made sense. They involved Ashli and the Fragment and being Framework creations they had inbuilt blind spots. Despite the fragment¡¯s recent demise, I was still using items that it had affected and that would make it difficult for Dean to foresee or comprehend what was happening. Not that it stopped him from watching the events unfold on his four-hundred-inch TV.


    As always seemed to be the case, it would be up to me to keep the excitable administrator on track. ¡°Dean, focus.¡±


    He pulled his arm away and let his hooter''s T-shirt fall back over his noodles for arms. ¡°Right, right, time is of the essence. Vi, tablet these fine people.¡±


    Violet was ahead of him, of course. Ana and Claudia already had tablets for them to view and I only had to wait for Dean to give Violet space to hand one over to me.


    Dean attempted to put his arm around my shoulder and couldn¡¯t reach. He clicked his fingers, and a stool appeared that he climbed on and gripped me around the neck. ¡°I suppose the first question is are you going to use all the experience to power up to level forty-five or are you gonna¡¯ use those delicious upgrade points first and shift to the A-grade? You can only make it to level forty-three if you decide to do that first.¡±


    In terms of progression, level 45 was a bit of a dead zone. Quite a few of the tier abilities progressed at level 42 and 48. So, in the short term, the two extra levels wouldn¡¯t help much, but if I shifted up to the next tier then that meant getting the rarified T6 ability unlocked. I didn¡¯t know what that would be or whether it would help in the coming conflict or not, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to take it. All I had been banking on from this trip was the T4 ability increase at level 42, which came with a mark enhancement for my flagship and would allow me to pick an existing deck to be upgraded.


    The decision was easy to make.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see what the sixth tier has to offer.¡±


    Dean jumped up and down with excitement and would have fallen off the stool if I hadn¡¯t caught him in time. ¡°Yessss,¡± he hissed in my ear. ¡°You won¡¯t regret this, I swear.


    The upgrade was locked in and with a shiver that ran through my body, I became a Dual Dungeon Corsair Duke, climbing ever higher in the piratical aristocracy. This meant Anastasia became a Master Lifeforce Enchantress, and Claudia also took the next step and became a Queen of Pandaemonium.


    The extra stats I got per level increased by ten and were evenly distributed amongst the categories where I wasn¡¯t already getting five per level. This meant each of my physical categories was going up by three points per level now which made me happy. My Health was now over one hundred. It wouldn¡¯t be capped at that, but going forward it would no longer increase in lockstep with my constitution, point for point. From now on it would only go up by one for every ten points of additional constitution gained and that currently put me on 102.


    Then the ability notifications came through and there were a couple of minor decisions to be made for T2 and T3.


    T2 was slightly more important. It was my Chaos magic increase. My thoughts went back to the close decision I had to make when I picked Chaos Missile. Mutiny in the Ranks had been the other contender and this time around, rather than try and play about with Chaos Missile, I picked the new spell.


    Mutiny in the Ranks (Greater ¨C 80% more effective)


    Type: Defensive


    Cost: 150 mana


    Range: Line of Sight


    Description: This spell must be cast on a group of enemies in proximity to one another. (There must be a minimum of six targets.) The minds (20-40% randomly selected) of the group are attacked. Should they fail a resistance check, (Their Mental Resistance roll versus the caster¡¯s Willpower + Domination / the number of targets attacked) they will see their compatriots as the enemy for thirty seconds. The caster may limit those included in the spell¡¯s effect to a subsection of a larger unit, but they need to be positioned next to one another. You cannot pick and choose specific individuals from an army for example.


    This spell cannot be cast on the same group until 24 hours have elapsed.


    Duration: Thirty seconds.


    T3 was an easy pick too and I simply increased the ranking of Pressganging Corsair to four. Clarion¡¯s Call advanced automatically to five. More room on my canon for crew wouldn¡¯t help in the coming days but if you didn¡¯t plan for the future then you were essentially admitting that there would be no future. Not my style.


    T4 had no decisions necessary, it was the increased mark designation for my dungeon ship and the deck upgrade. I didn¡¯t need to choose how to improve the ships now, but I already knew what they¡¯d be. The extra deck for the increased mark would be Aerial Sails. It was high time for Marena¡¯s Mercy to fly. We would upgrade the Heavy Cannon deck to the Super Heavy Cannon Deck and increase the ship''s firepower.


    Technically, these were sixth-tier picks that we didn¡¯t have access to, but I planned to use some of the shards to permanently enhance Marena¡¯s Mercy up from the N-grade to the K-grade. Dungeons were allowed to pick from the tier ahead anyway, and shifting the dungeon to the fourth tier gave access to the fifth and then being my flagship increased that access to the sixth tier. I could have boosted Marena¡¯s Mercy farther up the ranks, but then the boost would have been temporary and used up all the shards.


    Instead, the remaining shards would be used to pull Storm Raider into the fold and let it mimic Marena¡¯s Mercy and finally top up the ship¡¯s level a bit. The ship had been close to a natural mark upgrade anyway and the second would give us two new decks. The second deck would be a Rift Engine.


    These were used to punch holes in the plexus, not much use on Earth while the shroud was still in effect, but the Rift Engine¡¯s power supply was independent of the dungeon¡¯s energy reserves. And it could be used for regular propulsion too. This would give us a much-needed speed boost that wouldn¡¯t drain the dungeon¡¯s energy reserves. Something that we¡¯d been struggling with over the past year.


    That just left the brand new T6 ability to peruse. It was called The Shattered Canon. Due to jumping six levels at once, I received it at the third rank in addition to the other three lower-tier ability bumps.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The very name itself confirmed some of my suspicions that when the Framework didn¡¯t have an existing template, it based the new ability on the experiences and proclivities of the individual.


    The Shattered Canon was a new way of collectivising anyone who was part of my faction and all current residents of the Shattered Storm would be automatically added. Unlike my official crew canon, people could leave whenever they wanted. However, doing so meant they would have to depart from the territory I controlled within a few days, or they would effectively be re-enrolled.


    Membership conferred several benefits. Faction recognition when in my cities. This mostly interacted with Claudia¡¯s dungeon constructions. Canon members would be recognised by mobs as friendlies and that would help with security. However, the major benefit was a fifteen percent boost to experience gains when engaged in activities that benefitted the faction.


    There were benefits for me too. It synergised with Clarion¡¯s Call; I could now use that ability to speak directly to the entire faction.


    However, there was a darker side to the Shattered Canon, likely influenced by the Prime markers I possessed and the activities I engaged in. Although the Shattered Canon didn¡¯t enforce loyalty amongst the citizenry, it did spy and report back on acts of dissension. Those reports would be funnelled directly to the Command Hub. I would probably have to expand Doyle¡¯s unit to handle the extra workload of sifting through the data.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly thought policing. Thinking negative things about me wouldn¡¯t trigger anything, but bad-mouthing me did, as would anything perceived as seditious activity.


    The most significant element, though, was the effect it had on defeated rivals.


    Should I or any of my followers defeat the leader of a rival faction then all the surviving members of that faction would face a mental attack based on my Dominance. Fail the check and any existing loyalties would be shattered, and they would be automatically added to the Shattered Canon. This put them under temporary geas that significantly improved their opinion of me and the faction. And it would¡­strongly encourage them to swear a more permanent loyalty.


    This was not a catch-all. There would always be bindings that couldn¡¯t be overpowered in this manner. Soul Bonds like I had with girls were a good example. But slave collars, simple Framework Oaths or Contracts, and the canon conditions of rival corsairs could all be broken. Similarly, there were people whose hatred of me, or the Shattered Storm was so powerful that even a strong encouragement wouldn¡¯t be enough to prevent them from breaking with the Shattered Canon and turning their backs. However, if they felt that strongly they were unlikely to fail the check in the first place.


    The experience gains and boost to my base Domination for the check was currently 15%, 5% for each rank and this would continue to rise by 5% for every further rank I accrued to a maximum of 50%.


    ¡°Everyone happy?¡± I asked.


    Ana and Claudia beamed back.


    ¡°Good. Dean, it¡¯s been a pleasure, but I¡¯ve got a lot to do.¡±


    ¡°No worries, Torin. I¡¯ll be watching every moment. You better believe it.¡±


    ***


    My eyes popped open.


    ¡°That was fast,¡± Trisha commented with surprise at the swift return. ¡°I expected Dean to hold you up for longer. You must have put your foot down.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s enjoying the show and wanted us to get back to it,¡± I told her and peered over the side of the platform wall. Storm Raider was emerging from the submerged dry dock where Kristoff had stowed her to increase the ship¡¯s regeneration rate. That wouldn¡¯t be necessary now, Storm Raider would emerge from the cocoon in tip-top condition as would Marena¡¯s Mercy.


    ¡°Trisha, get on the blower to Raven and her people in Texas. They need to be warned of what¡¯s coming.¡±


    ¡°What is coming?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going back to Dallas, establishing the gate I stole from RR in the ruins and unleashing the Dread Scourge smack dab in the middle of Liberation Army territory.¡±


    ¡°Yup, that¡¯s something she should know about,¡± Trisha said and rushed away, heading for the palace and the Command hub where we had our secured communication station.


    ¡°Crynn, with me, after I get the ships upgraded, we need to figure out who is fighting fit and be ready to set sail the moment they come out of their cocoons. Titus, or whichever of your brothers he now inhabits won¡¯t let the Libbers slow him down for long.¡± I tapped my organ-hosting abdomen. ¡°He¡¯s coming for this; it¡¯s the only explanation I can think of for his precipitous behaviour. The man is practically the dictionary definition of playing the long game. Destroying us could have waited until after the shroud was dropped. We have to take advantage of the coming distraction.¡±


    Stat Block for Level 43


    (This chapter is the full stat block and can be skipped if you aren¡¯t interested.)


    Name: Torin Carter


    Species: Frostbinder Abyssal Acheronian (Tier 4.2.3)


    Abyssal Acheronian: Physical stats +30%, Social Stats +30%, Health +10, Dominance +10, HP +200 (+20 per level), Armour Slots +3, Weapon Slot +3, Item Slot +1


    Affinity for Dark (Moderate) and Chaos (Greater) Magic. Aversion for Light and Harmonic magic.


    Physical Stats: +30% Social Stats: +45%


    Class: Dual Dungeon Corsair Duke (A-grade Notorious) 267,000 XP


    Level: 43


    Strength: 100


    Constitution: 106


    Speed: 105


    Agility: 98


    Mana Capacity (+30%): 76.7


    Perception: 77


    Willpower: 164


    Mental Resistance: 159


    Empathy: 134


    Charisma: 171


    Dominance: 319


    Leadership: 285


    Hit Points: 9.825


    Health: 98


    Mana Pool: 767


    Unused XP: 62,000


    Notoriety: 935 (XP multiplier x2) (Path cost x 0.665) (Harmonisation cost x 0.8) (Class cost x 0.8) (Species cost x 0.8) (Act of Piracy length +100%)


    T1: Skill 10: Preternatural Insight +3, Acrobatics +3, Sword Use +3, Negotiation +3, Intimidation +3, Tactics +3, Public Speaking +3, Leap +3, Grenadier +3, Sneak +3


    T2: Chaos Magic 6: Grants ability to cast Chaos Magic spells. May cast Summon Rift Beast 1.4, Chaos Missile


    T3: Clarion¡¯s Call 5: Mental communication with adherents. The number of uses is Leadership divided by 4 (Faction wide). Pressganging Corsair 4: Adds the tier bonus to the crew cap for each rank.


    T4: Claim a Dungeon Core 4: Two Cores claimed (max 2) Flagship and first free dungeon shard. Splinter boost for your cores. Your cores can grow core splinters (slowly) to be used for splinter vessels/weaponry. +1 tier access for upgrades


    T5: One with the Ship 3: Symbiotic bond with the ship improved to tier 3. The environmental field is increased to tier 3, with high mitigation against non-magical environmental damage while within the field¡¯s range. The effective range is increased to 1 kilometre. Swim speed is x8. Can remain at high altitude indefinitely without harm. Enhanced Healing rate while on the ship is +15%.


    T6: The Shattered Canon 3: A faction contract that provides mutual benefits. Signed members gain 15% extra experience when completing tasks for the Shattered Storm. Members of defeated factions undergo a Domination Attack to be brought under the influence of the Shattered Canon. Your base Domination is increased by 15% for this attack.


    Armour Penalty Offset: -1


    Path of the Binder 2: This person can bind the souls of others to their own. Those bound become devoted servants and gain benefits from their Binder. (4 bonds permitted. 4 being currently used. The next bond is available at level 50.)


    Social Stats +15%, HP +150, Dominance +15, Item Slots +2. (Item Slot bonus shared with bonded)


    Frost Element Harmonisation 3: Major Frost Affinity granted. Spells, Effects, or Gear that utilise the Frost element are 60% more effective. Mana Capacity +30%, HP +300


    Frost Blade Generation: You can form bladed weapons made of Impervious Ice from Mana.


    Frost Armour Generation: You can form or coat armour with a layer of Impervious Ice from Mana which increases the damage mitigation by one degree. Frost Armour is brittle and loses durability quickly but can be reinforced.


    Frost Resistance: Damage that utilises the Frost element is reduced by 100%.


    Chapter 32


    Texas


    ¡°Now is the time to strike!¡± Raven¡¯s fist slammed hard onto the table and left a sizeable dent in the varnished hardwood.


    The regular debriefs that Glastos and the other mercenary captains insisted on had been a bother, taking her away from the job of purging the wicked from the lands they¡¯d stolen, but now they were actively trying to thwart her.


    Glastos sighed and decided to try again. ¡°Raven, please see reason, the situation has changed. If what Carter told us is true, then getting mixed up in the middle of this is suicidal. The Dread Scourge¡­¡±


    ¡°Pirate filth warning us of more pirate filth,¡± she snapped in irritation, interrupting the rest of what Glastos was about to say. She had heard it all before. Several times. Why couldn¡¯t they understand that none of it mattered? She would not be dictated to. Not by Carter. ¡°This is the opportunity we¡¯ve been waiting for. When this enemy arrives, they will be distracted and forced to battle on two fronts. It is the perfect chance to hurt them and make it a killing blow.¡±


    The dog-faced captain Brock put his hand on Glastos shoulder and urged him to sit back down. ¡°The boy is right, Raven. You hired me and the others to fight the Lamers. We can¡¯t do that if we¡¯re dead and that is what will happen if we stay and get mixed up in a fight between them and the Scourge. You want the Lamers eradicated, that is what will happen with no more input from us. We need to withdraw and keep out of Shiptaker¡¯s way. The Lamer warships are dangerous, but his dungeon vessels are positively lethal.¡±


    ¡°This smacks of cowardice to me,¡± Raven snapped in petulant anger.


    It was Lyra the halfling who responded. She jumped up onto the table, took three strides and crossed over to Raven before slapping the stunned woman across the cheek. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare insult him like that?¡±


    ¡°Lyra¡­¡± Brock started to try and placate the small woman only to be cut off with a sharp look.


    She turned back to Raven. ¡°For weeks we¡¯ve risked our lives in pursuit of your vengeance and redemption. More than twenty percent of our company has fallen already and now you insult us when you make an unreasonable demand. The crew of the Nasty Bitch will not sacrifice themselves for your vanity.¡±


    ¡°It is not vanity!¡± Raven screeched, raising her hand as if to strike the small woman but then lowered the outstretched arm. ¡°None of you understand. None of you.¡±


    Raven turned and stormed from the meeting room.


    ¡°That could have gone better,¡± Glastos muttered.


    Brock hurried around the table, picked Lyra up, and lifted her down to the floor. ¡°What were you thinking? You saw what she did to the table. That could have been your skull.¡±


    ¡°Faugh! You need to know your audience better, Brock. She would never have hit someone of my stature. The poor girl can¡¯t see past appearances, no matter how hard she tries, which isn¡¯t much.¡±


    Glastos stood up and straightened his coat. ¡°I¡¯d better go after her and make sure she doesn¡¯t do something stupid like attack the Lamers by herself.¡±


    He walked out with Brock and Lyra staring after him.


    ¡°What did you say about knowing your audience¡­¡± Brock started to say.


    ¡°I may have made a horrible mistake,¡± Lyra talked over him before he finished.


    The pair of them hurried out of the meeting room with the other mercenary captains watching on.


    ¡°Should we go after them,¡± one of the captains asked. ¡°That¡¯s the money potentially removing itself from the equation.¡±


    ¡°Nope,¡± another replied. ¡°You¡¯ve got to know when to hold ¡®em and when to fold ¡®em. It¡¯s Brock¡¯s problem now. I¡¯m gathering my crew and getting the fuck out of here until all this blows over. Pick through the ruins for scraps once the big dogs have pissed off elsewhere. I know my place and ain;t afraid to admit it.¡±


    His statement was met with a rush of head nods and the mercs started to depart.


    ***


    Fallor Greybeard¡¯s fall from grace was complete. After the excoriators were done with him, he was a broken man. The bastards hadn¡¯t just taken the left hand but most of the forearm too and the mass of scar tissue where his left eye used to be alternated between weeping pus and driving him mad with itching.


    He should have done the deed himself. If only he had the courage.


    Fallor was quickly stripped of rank and put to work with the other penitents digging earthworks and clearing debris from the city. Not an easy task when you only have one functioning arm.


    By chance, on this day, his work detail had been sent to dig out the rubble to the east of the Dallas city centre. Greybeard didn¡¯t need the uncovered pieces of an eagle chariot to recognise the place.


    It was the site of his ignominious defeat.


    ¡°Saint Carolus, why do you mock me this way.¡±


    A whip lashed out and struck him on the cheek, almost taking out his one working eye. ¡°Do not take the first Grand High Marshal¡¯s name in vain, penitent,¡± the overseer barked with barely controlled fury. ¡°You will be thoroughly lashed when the day¡¯s work is done.¡±


    Greybeard had to rein in his desire to hit back. Not long ago this overseer would have licked his boots and said thank you for the opportunity.


    ¡°Back to work!¡± the overseer cried. ¡°Work hard or there will be no food for the wicked! Not that I would feed vile vermin like you anyway. Marshal Campion is far too generous to you filth.¡±


    Greybeard swallowed his anger, moved onto a pile of rubble and started to lift pieces and pass them back to the line of labourers that had formed. Gripping larger lumps was awkward but his naturally high strength let him manage it.


    An hour passed and soon the debris of the building had been mostly cleared. The former captain had worked his way down a stairwell that led to the basement of this building. This was a trick he had picked up from his fellow workers. Stairwells like this took you out of sight of the bastard slave-driver and that allowed you to take it a bit easier for a while. At least, until they decided to come and snoop around.


    The ease-off wouldn¡¯t last much longer. They had already reached the bottom, and it wouldn¡¯t be much longer before they cleared what was left in front of the red double doors which were locked from the other side. The overseers would notice if nothing was being passed up.


    Then unexpectedly, the double doors swung open, and he stared open-mouthed at an Acheronian man, a Leonid woman, and a dark-haired elf who gazed back at him.


    ¡°You!¡± Greybeard breathed out in horror recognising the man who stood before him.


    ¡°Friend of yours, Torin?¡± the elf chuckled.


    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I can place him, and with a mug like that, I think I would remember.¡±


    ¡°Sinner!¡± Greybeard bellowed and reached for a sword that was no longer there. No matter, he grabbed a chunk of rock and swung at his most hated of foes, only to be met with steel that stabbed through his unarmoured chest.


    ¡°Bloody Nora! What a dumbass. We would have freed the dumb fucker if he¡¯d kept his mouth shut. The rest of you, if you want out of this hell, keep schtum and follow Claudia.¡±


    The Acheronian pointed at the Leonid female, and the other workers didn¡¯t need any further encouragement and poured through the doors to the promised freedom from the Liberation forces.


    Fallor Greybeard tried to call out another warning to the overseers that the corsair had returned. The enemy was once more within their midst, but his punctured lungs had filled with blood, and it came out as little more than a gurgled gasping.


    The corsair knocked the rock from his hand and drew the edge of his blade across his throat with ruthless efficiency. Notifications about bleed effects pinged in his internal directory and Greybeard knew then that he was doomed. Without his armour and items, and suffering Health impairment after the excoriator¡¯s work, his death was inevitable. He lasted only long enough to hear the end of the conversation between the enemy interlopers.


    ¡°Shana, are you sure about this? I can send someone else to establish the gate.¡±


    ¡°Stop worrying, my love. I¡¯ll be fine and back before you know it. My class isn¡¯t called Shadepath for nothing. Half of what makes a sniper deadly is getting into position without being spotted and you, skilled as you are in so many ways, are not much of a rogue. Besides, Silk has loaned me Cole for the operation. He knows the area.¡±


    ¡°Be safe and be quick.¡±


    The female elf ran up the staircase and loosed several arrows, presumably at the overseers and then she was out of Fallor¡¯s dying sight. She was followed by a blonde man who wore what was called a ¡®cowboy¡¯ hat by the locals.


    Torin looked down on Fallor and shook his head. ¡°Muppet.¡±


    Fallor Greybeard¡¯s final thought was. The man who ruined my life doesn¡¯t even remember I exist.


    ***


    ¡°Marshal Campion!¡±


    Campion had been intently studying the map of the area. He had grown tired of the constant hit-and-run tactics of the mercenary companies that harassed their position. It was time to launch a counter-offensive.


    He raised his head from the map and looked over at the elderly celestial who had stood up from his workstation. ¡°What is it, Markus?¡±


    There had been a timbre of fright in the scripter¡¯s tone that piqued Campion¡¯s interest. He was used to people fearing him, of course, but this seemed different and worthy of attention.


    ¡°Sir, I¡¯ve continued to monitor for signs of the corsair who caused us such bother and, well, there has been a worrying development.¡±


    Now this was interesting. ¡°What kind of development?¡±


    ¡°First, there were reports of unusual activity from the work crews currently clearing where he was last spotted. I was waiting for a report back from the team I despatched to investigate, but, well, the gate¡­¡±


    ¡°What about the gate?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s back, sir. Not where we came through. It¡¯s in the city centre, not far from this activity I spoke of. And¡­sir, it¡¯s operational.¡±


    No sooner had the words left Markus¡¯ mouth than wailing alert sirens blared into life on every control panel of Freedom¡¯s Journey.


    ¡°What in Carolus¡¯ name is going on,¡± Campion bellowed in anger.


    Markus stumbled back to his workstation and examined what was being fed back to him. ¡°The gate is open, and ships are coming through. Freedom¡¯s Journey¡¯s sensors identified their provenance immediately. They belong to the Dread Scourge.¡±


    Campion recalled the reports that one of their scout vessels had been spotted in the plexus region surrounding this planet. But he hadn¡¯t dreamed that Titus Shiptaker would waste his time on a backwater shithole like this planet. The point of bringing what remained of the fleet here was to lick their wounds in relative safety.


    ¡°Contact every company, tell them we are at war! There is to be no quarter given to the raiding scum. They have come to us and saved us the bother of hunting them down. And we shall oblige them in full!¡±


    A round of cheers went up from the faithful in the room and Campion kept up the false fa?ade of confidence. Something very rotten had just occurred, and the Liberation Army were the target of the malfeasance.


    ¡°Markus, have them ready my chariot. I shall take to the skies and purge the sinners myself.¡±


    Campion had no intention of doing any such thing, but he needed Freedom¡¯s Journey to cover his withdrawal, and he didn¡¯t trust them to fight until the very end if they suspected their vaunted marshal had fled and abandoned them.


    ¡°At once, sir. Do you need me as¡­an advisor on your trip?¡±


    Campion¡¯s gaze settled on the canny old bastard. He¡¯d guessed the truth; of that he was certain. There was an unspoken threat in the chosen wording. Take me with you or everyone else will learn the truth.


    ¡°A marshal should never be without an advisor.¡±


    ¡°Your will be done.¡±

 Book 5: Chapters 33 & 34

    Chapter 33


    I stood at the prow of Marena¡¯s Mercy, outside of the windshield, the fast-flowing air whipping and holding my hair aloft. The land below zipped past in record time. We were pushing the new rift engine to the max, and it performed admirably. Storm Raider was on our tail, but it managed to keep up despite Marena¡¯s Mercy having a little extra oomph as the fleet''s flagship.


    LT tapped me on the shoulder and grabbed my attention. ¡°The gate went online twenty minutes ago. Shana and Cole are on their way back to Stormblade Harbour without issue and Dallas is coming up on the long-range viewer.¡±


    Everything was going according to plan so far. ¡°Let¡¯s take a look then.¡±


    I hopped off the masthead, back onto the deck, and headed to the Bridge. There weren¡¯t any crew members on board staring over the sides and the short stroll felt oddly macabre, like this was a ghost ship. The two ships were solely crewed by volunteers and only those who weren¡¯t harbouring an injury were accepted.


    Jackson had woken up shortly before we departed and keeping him confined to his hospital bed took all three of his girlfriends.


    None of the accepted volunteers were under any illusions as to the danger they¡¯d signed up for. Two ships against the might of the Liberation Army and the Dread Scourge were very long odds. The risks faced on this mission were greater than anything else the faction had faced with the possible exception of what Calum and the defence forces endured against the Mammoth mercenary and his army. However, they were defending their homes and had a glint of hope that reinforcements would make it in time.


    There was no one to come and save our skins or pull us from the lion¡¯s den.


    The only thing that offered any chance of success was that the Libbers and the Scourge would be just as interested in killing one another as they would be in us. The upgraded Heavy Cannon Decks were the only odds evener in the equation. Not only did we get more cannons, but they took a step up in quality as well.


    Abyssal Fission Missile


    An explosive missile weapon that can only be shot from a specialised launcher such as a ship¡¯s cannon. The Abyssal Fission Missile is a dual-purpose ranged weapon, effective against enemy fortifications and vehicles while also deadly to groups of enemy combatants. The core of the weapon is a rod of enchanted Demon-Forged Titanium. Upon firing, the enchantment will activate, and the rod will superheat. It is capable of inflicting extreme durability damage to any structure it impacts. Packed around the rod is an incendiary shrapnel payload that explodes outwards upon impact inflicting a mixture of Heat, Bludgeoning, and Piercing damage to those within the vicinity. Additionally, victims may suffer from the Tainted Wounds debuff which inhibits healing until the taint is purged.


    The Abyssal Fission is an effective medium and long-range missile, but its weakness is that it is not particularly suited for short-range combat. The superheating of the Demon-Forged Titanium rod is required for it to be effective. If the target is too close, it will not heat quickly enough to ignite. The specialised shrapnel payload has been insulated and coated with a secondary kinetic-based igniter to increase the missile¡¯s range.


    Range: 300-2,000 metres.


    Durability: 75/75


    The new missiles had greater range and packed a much heavier punch than our existing arsenal. More than double what the Hellstrikes were capable of with the added plus of a status debuff. We ran a few tests on the flight down and the results were impressive. We could have brought Scargiver¡¯s assault to a halt from the bay if these missiles had been at our disposal.


    Half of the ship¡¯s launchers had been upgraded to fire the new Abyssal Fission Missiles. They would be needed against Titus¡¯ fleet.


    A dungeon ship the age and size of The Levithan¡¯s Curse was several orders of magnitude more powerful than Marena¡¯s Mercy.


    The other half of the ship¡¯s launchers would continue to use the earlier Hellstrike variety, for when a bit more finesse was required. I never thought I would be saying that.


    Anastasia had been keeping my seat warm and scooched over to the armrest when I swept onto the Bridge. The battle for Dallas was already up on the multiple viewers. ¡°How are you holding up? Any unexpected complications,¡± she whispered in my ear.


    ¡°Nothing major,¡± I reassured her. ¡°My reactions are a split-second off from what I¡¯m used to, barely noticeable, though.¡±


    ¡°Tell me if anything changes.¡±


    There was none of Ana¡¯s usual sass in her tone or words. She knew how precarious the situation was. This could go wrong in so many ways and leave us at the mercy of a man whom I knew had none. But this was the only path I could foresee that could end with us getting everything we wanted. Any other outcome, even ones which saw us survive, would only delay the inevitable ignominious end of the faction in death or slavery. This was the only shot to be truly free of them all.


    Up on the screen, the battle unfolded. Seven large Dread Scourge battleships had passed through the gate. The hulls of three of them bore the same shimmer of black as my two vessels. Evidence that dungeon ships had already been engaged in the fray. They were the only three vessels aloft. The other four had extended ¡®land legs¡¯ and were in the process of grinding their way through the centre of Dallas.


    Several Lamer warships around the gate were already smoking ruins. They hadn¡¯t given quite as good as they got, but two of the four landbound Scourge vehicles showed signs of significant damage and started to fall behind the less scathed pair.


    ¡°Are any of them the Leviathan¡¯s Curse?¡±


    Crynn who had taken the helm looked back at me and knew what I was asking without further elaboration. ¡°No, two are shard ships of hers and the third, Cold of the Grave, belongs to an enslaved captain. The Curse is three times the size of any of those three.¡±


    That was worrying, the two shard vessels were as big as Mercy and the Grave ship was probably two marks larger. ¡°Understood, in that case, once we are in range, target our new missiles on the enslaved captain¡¯s vessel. His ship is the most advanced and therefore the deadliest. Unless the Curse comes through in which case we go after her with everything we¡¯ve got.¡±


    ¡°Aye, sir.¡±


    The Lamers were doing their level best to prevent that from happening, though.


    Most of their artillery rained down on the location of the gate. I gave thanks to the invisible sky beings that Shana hadn¡¯t tried to do anything foolish like try and hold or protect it. We knew once the gate was established it wouldn¡¯t take long for the Liberation Army to find it. A huge circular gate large enough for ships to pass through tends to stick out on the skyline. We would only have a short window of access before they claimed ownership and made Nazz¡¯s job impossible.


    Besides, the Saurian woman had been dead on her feet and running on fumes anyway. I don¡¯t think she was capable of hanging on any longer, not when she knew the end was within sight.


    Marena¡¯s Mercy had got close enough that I could feel Shana clearly through our bond. She was moving westward, back to the basement with the hidden waypoint, taking care to evade combat zones. But I knew the elf too well and worry gnawed at my heart. When things looked dire, and there would come a point in the coming conflict when everything appeared lost, she would come out of hiding and try to save me.


    That couldn¡¯t be allowed to happen.


    Shana would be supremely pissed off with me but for only the second time since we met, I used the soulbond to compel her actions.


    Shana, I want you to return to Stormblade Harbour without delay. Once home, you will stay there, no matter what occurs here. You are not to come back, nor order or suggest anyone else do so in your place.


    The message was carried across the ether through Clarion¡¯s Call and my will pulsed along our bond to make it clear this was not a choice.


    She didn¡¯t waste any time before using the Shattered Canon to send back a sharply worded reply. Torin, what the hell are you doing? We agreed nobody would perform any stupid self-sacrifices. That includes you.


    She was not stupid and quickly understood why I would compel her actions.


    I¡¯ll tell you all about it when I get back.


    Shana didn¡¯t leave it there, but I was able to partition off her communications without rudely cutting her off.


    <I¡¯ll keep her in the loop via Quinn.>


    ¡°Thanks, Quix.¡±


    The Liberation Army¡¯s attempt to wreck the gate or disable it sufficiently to prevent more Dread Scourge vessels from getting through had been unsuccessful.


    In short order, the wreckage of four more of their landbound warships, holed by dozens of weapon strikes, all aflame with plumes of thick, black smoke billowing into the air, obscured the gate and made it difficult to see. Not enough that I couldn¡¯t catch sight of the shimmer of activation.


    An eighth Scourge ship shot out like it was fired from a cannon. This new vessel was smaller than the others and one both Crynn and I recognised.


    ¡°The Malignant Cutter,¡± she gasped with a hint of forlorn sadness.


    It was the scout ship that Crynn had commanded when she came to Earth. Titus had demanded its return as part of our deal. Destroying a ship Crynn knew so well and deeply cared about would be painful. I wanted to reassure her; say we would avoid destroying it if possible. But if everything went to plan, the Cutter would be no more by the end of the day, and I couldn¡¯t bring myself to utter the comforting lie.


    The Cutter was fast and manoeuvrable and must have had an upgrade since we last saw her because she could now fly. The smaller ship darted across the city skyline, weaving between what remained of the skyscrapers and started to strafe the ground troops who had been amassing for an assault. Presumably for a last-ditch attack on the gate.


    The Liberation Army had been fortunate in some ways. The majority of their forces had already been moved up from Houston and San Antonio. The southern half of Texas was fully under their control and their troubles had been concentrated in the north where Raven¡¯s hired guns had been carrying out hit-and-run raids. This suited my plan; I didn¡¯t want the Libbers or the Scourge gaining an upper hand too quickly. The more lumps they took out of one another, the better it would be for the Shattered Storm and Earth as a whole.


    To aid in that endeavour, Nazz had hidden the equivalent of a few trojan worms in the gate¡¯s programming before we brought it online. Their presence slowed but didn¡¯t halt the Scourge¡¯s passage onto Earth.


    ¡°Anastasia, slow our approach a little. I don¡¯t want to get involved in the main battle too early.¡±


    Ana cackled beside me and hopped off the side of the chair and rubbed her hands with glee. ¡°I have just the excuse to make it believable.¡±


    The viewer zoomed in on the outskirts of the city below. We were passing over the McKinney suburb and the outer defences of the Liberation Army positioned there. The troops had been in the process of pulling back and joining the fight in the city centre, but the appearance of two more flying raiders in the skies above had left them betwixt and between. Some of them pushed forward, following the orders they¡¯d been given, others turned back. Either for the greater perceived safety or to man the defences.


    ¡°Storm Raider, slow to half speed and descend, we are going in for a bombing run. I¡¯ve been itching to see how the changes to the droppers work. And other burning questions like, will a torpedo explode if it¡¯s dropped from the air.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I chuckled along. ¡°We didn¡¯t have a chance to test it. Let¡¯s find out. Also, don¡¯t forget to rouse Sheamus from wherever he¡¯s lurking. I¡¯m sure he has a few new toys he¡¯d like to throw over the side and try out.¡±


    ¡°Good idea. I almost forgot.¡±


    The inertia of the ship rocked me forward gently as we descended over the next fifteen or so seconds.


    Anastasia grabbed hold of the hub table, started to type in her preferred attack pattern, and took control of the situation without needing my input. ¡°Kristoff, I¡¯m gonna¡¯ do a bombing run and target the runners. You drop your payload on the walls and the vehicles they¡¯ve got lined up down there ever so invitingly.¡±


    ¡°Roger. We¡¯ll catch up with you once it is done.¡±


    ¡°Sheamus are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Are ya kidding me? I was born ready!¡± His voice crackled over the intercom.


    It hadn¡¯t even been a minute; had Sheamus been waiting for this moment the whole time? Probably.


    ¡°Bombs away,¡± Anastasia announced.


    Thudding sounds came from above and below us as the droppers up on the top deck launched their explosive charges and the torpedo tubes discharged their contents.


    The torpedoes hit first and did not work very effectively. They popped out and the inertia of the vessel carried them a small distance before they angled downwards and dropped like a stone. If anything, they moved too fast and they cratered into the ground before the demon-forged steel rods had time to properly heat up. The damage they did at the point of impact was significant, though. It just didn¡¯t have a lot of range. One of the torpedoes was a direct hit on a retreating eagle chariot and practically vapourised it, but none of the rest did much but kill the handful of Lamer soldiers they landed on.


    The droppers were much better because this was what they were designed for. The spread of the explosive packages they distributed was much better. These bombs landed after the torpedoes. Probably because they were less aerodynamic in shape and had slightly further to fall having been thrown from the side of the ship.


    The charges tore through old-world buildings and fleeing Lamers with equal ferocity. Sadly, it wasn¡¯t as effective against the chariots that were part of the column we bombed. A few were knocked off kilter, but the dropper charges didn¡¯t have the penetrating power to finish them off.


    But we weren¡¯t done. Sheamus had spent the last half a day tinkering with the splinter gun emplacements on the upper deck converting them into the equivalent of rocket launchers using his blunderbuss as a blueprint.


    When it came to blowing shit up, Sheamus was an unadulterated genius. He¡¯d correctly anticipated the effects of both the droppers and the torpedoes and timed his rocket barrage to follow in their wake. Just as the charioteers believed they had survived the onslaught, another volley screamed from above and burrowed or melted through the hulls, blowing the chariots to smithereens.


    ¡°They won¡¯t be getting back up after that one,¡± his chuckle came through the comms which Anastasia had left open.


    Before we could answer him, a chariot three times the size of any we had seen before, and much more ornately decorated in gold and silver, streaked across the sky.


    My brow furrowed with mild concern at the new development. ¡°They¡¯ve got flying chariots. Why haven¡¯t we seen any of those before?¡±


    I needn¡¯t have worried. The sky-chariot was alone and the moment the pilot caught sight of Marena¡¯s Mercy, it altered course and flew away from our position. Our missile gunners fired a few reaction shots at the sky chariot, but she was travelling too fast to get a proper bead on and they only managed to mildly buffet the aerial vehicle with flak and dirty up her pristine paintwork somewhat.


    ¡°Damn it, we missed,¡± Anastasia raged. ¡°Bringing her around. We¡¯ll get the bastard.¡±


    ¡°Belay that,¡± I commanded and pointed to one of the viewing screens that remained centred on the gate. A huge dungeon ship had just emerged from the portal. Twice the size of anything else on the battlefield including Marena¡¯s Mercy. So large it shouldn¡¯t have been able to pass through the smallest size of gates. That¡¯s magic for you.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°That¡¯s definitely my father¡¯s ship,¡± Crynn confirmed.


    The Leviathan¡¯s Curse had entered the fray. The endgame and the most difficult part of the plan was almost upon us.


    ¡°Let the chariot go, it can be hunted down later. The Curse needs to be our focus, and we can¡¯t go haring off in another direction. Prepare the engines for a burst of full power and get every weapon we have on board ready.¡±


    ¡°Aye, sir!¡± Came a chorus of voices.


    Almost the entirety of my focus was on the Titus¡¯ flagship, but just as Ana shifted the viewing screen centred on the sky-chariot off to the side, I noticed a streak of white and crimson hurtle through the sky and slam into the side of the flying vehicle.


    ¡°Was that Raven?¡±


    The figure carved through one of the engines and part of the wing and sent the chariot into a careening spin that altered its course. The erratic flight pattern as it flew out of control brought it back within our sphere of influence.


    A second opportunity should we want it that wouldn¡¯t interfere with the primary mission.


    Chapter 34


    Raven


    The battlefield was a tale of chaos and ruin. Ships and artillery emplacements lay in smoking ruins. The sleek black vessels of the invading pirate fleet did battle with the bulkier, white and gold emblazoned vehicles that belonged to the Liberation Army.


    Raven soared above, the swirling and shifting thermals buffeting her in the air. Her senses were finely attuned to the cries of injustice and disharmony screamed at her from all directions. To the north of the city, two new ships cut through the sky. The scent that wafted from them was a familiar one. Carter and his people, the architects of this carnage had entered the fray as promised.


    Acting on instinct, Raven drew her fiery blade from its scabbard and snarled in the pirate¡¯s direction. She didn¡¯t know why her reaction to him was so visceral. It almost pained her to admit that when comparing the stench of evil that emanated from the three sides in the battle his was the least pungent, but it was true.


    Speaking of less pungent. Traces of another familiar scent licked at the edges of her awareness. Where Carter flew across the city from the Northeast, the Nasty Bitch and her crew trundled through the almost abandoned Northwest. Raven was gratified that Captain Deathstare and Glastos would witness first-hand how correct she was.


    They could have seized a quarter of the city had they listened to her!


    However, she could also see that the Nasty Bitch had come alone and that was beyond foolish in the circumstances. The inherent contradiction of that critique did not strike a chord in the young woman, so far gone was she in her need to punish an evildoer or fifty. The emotional turmoil that swirled in her heart was too raw and violent for that degree of clarity.


    And then a fresh smell of malice broke through any other reverie. A sky-chariot, one of the largest Raven had seen jetted upwards from the Liberation Army¡¯s primary headquarters. Rather than join the ground-based squadrons that had engaged the pirate vessels, it hit the afterburners and shot northwards directly towards Carter.


    Had they chosen to take on Carter by themselves?


    No. It became clear they hadn¡¯t been aware of Carter¡¯s approach, and they quickly detoured to avoid him and that brought them closer to where Raven hovered in the air above them. Carter¡¯s vessel took a few potshots at the sky chariot but seemed content to let it go.


    Raven could not allow that.


    The stench that seeped from this ship was the strongest she had ever encountered. One of the men aboard this chariot was pure unadulterated evil. He could not be allowed to escape and live for another day. The rest of the occupants were not much better.


    Without thinking any further, her wings pulled in and she dive-bombed the escaping vessel.


    Raven tried to aim for the windowed cockpit, but the sky chariot was moving too fast. She just missed and slammed into the wing instead. The impact did more damage to her shoulder than the chariot, but there was a dent in the gold of the filigreed adornments of the small ship. The wind wailed in her ears and threatened to tear her off the perch, but the talons of her feet dug in and provided secure enough purchase.


    Enough to swing Flamebearer, her mighty sword of cleansing. The sword had been specifically designed to bypass armour and other protections.


    The sword cleaved through the casing of one of the engines on that side. The roaring of the thrust guttered out and the chariot veered to one side from the sudden power imbalance. Raven brought the fiery blade down several more times and chopped through the aerofoil the chariot used for guidance, and this sent the vessel into a violent spin.


    Fighting off dizziness, she could see the out-of-control chariot had come back under the shadow of Marena¡¯s Mercy. A set of precision missiles shot down from the ship above and slammed into the vehicle. The impact of the weapons missed her, but the shudder they evoked from the chariot almost dislodged her.


    Her fury at Torin Carter grew once more.


    The blasted pirate had almost knocked her away from her quarry.


    Why couldn¡¯t the nosy, thieving bastard mind his own damn business?


    The anger was quickly quenched upon the realisation that the chariot¡¯s second engine had been the pirate¡¯s primary target. Without power, the small ship careened towards the ground fully out of control. Raven¡¯s talons released their grip, she spread her wings and let them carry her away from the rapidly descending chariot.


    She watched with glee as the sky chariot impacted the side of a building with extreme force and caused much of the upper brickwork to topple down on top of the vehicle when it fell and thumped into the sidewalk below. Even if the wheels it possessed were still in working order, it wouldn¡¯t be hauling itself out of the rubble any time soon.


    A hatch on the side of the chariot not covered in debris popped open and fell onto the brick-dust-covered ground. A man in blazing white armour with slick-backed black hair jumped from the wreckage, seemingly unscathed from the crash.


    This man was the source of the wicked stench that assaulted Raven from every direction. However, what sickened her the most was his passing resemblance to her father. A rage and fury so intense burst into life and she prepared to sweep down and attack.


    ¡°Marshal Campion! Wait for me,¡± a reedy voice called out from within the vessel.


    So, the man¡¯s name was Campion. Raven had heard of him from some of the survivors they had rescued. A man who claimed to fight for the oppressed by inflicting even greater oppression on all and greatly profited. The worst kind of scum imaginable.


    She swooped down, sword aloft, poised to strike the butcher down with a single blow to the back of the neck.


    But Campion had not risen to one of the highest positions in the Liberation Army ranks by nepotism, bootlicking, or good fortune. He was a veteran of a hundred campaigns and countless more battles. Tens of thousands of penitents had met their end because of him. The marshal¡¯s is steely uncompromising gaze was the last thing they witnessed. You didn¡¯t survive the crucible of combat or the even murkier world of politics without developing a keen sense for danger.


    Campion sensed the incoming blow before it had a chance to land. A white shield appeared above his head and intercepted the descending Flamebearer.


    The shield shimmered with a silvery glow where it was struck, and the flames of Raven¡¯s majestic sword sputtered and were extinguished.


    ¡°So, you are the aggravating local bitch that has been causing the unworthy within my ranks so many problems,¡± he spat in disgust. ¡°A Justicar. I should have known. Your kind is truly amongst the most pathetic. Weak, misguided fools without the courage or conviction to affect real change, all of you. It appears the Gods have blessed you this day and your miserable existence will have a modicum of value, after all. Prepare for your end, your death shall fuel the furtherance of someone truly dedicated to justice in its purest form.¡±


    Raven hadn¡¯t waited for the slick-haired macho-man to finish his monologuing and struck again with her blade. Flamebearer may have lost its fiery timbre, but the steel was plenty sharp and capable of slicing off this cur¡¯s wagging tongue or any other body part it managed to strike.


    Campion summoned a flail to his free hand. It had a long wooden haft with a short chain connected to a foot-long studded metal club. He intercepted the attempted thrust from Raven adroitly, catching the blade with the tip of the flail¡¯s haft and letting the chain swing around so that the tip of the metal club thumped into the back of her hand.


    The strength of Campion¡¯s counter blow left Raven¡¯s right hand numb, and a debuff notification flashed across her vision. The marshal wasn¡¯t finished and yanked the flail suddenly. The sword was pulled from her numbed fingers easily and clattered to the floor when he swished the flail in an arc away from Raven only to whip it back towards her with frightening speed.


    Quickly, she backed up to avoid the counterstrike and only just avoided being brained by the skilled flowing movement of her attacker.


    ¡°The flail is a difficult weapon to master,¡± Campion commented like an instructor as he stepped over rubble adeptly and kept up pursuit of the winged woman. ¡°But once you have, it is incredibly versatile and effective.¡±


    To make things worse, four fully armed Lamer warriors jumped out of the burning wreckage with a fifth, weaker, old celestial scrambling to exit the downed vehicle behind them.


    The four warriors grinned viciously at her and summoned a selection of gleaming weapons.


    Despite what some may think, Raven knew when she was beaten. Campion had proved a tougher nut to crack than she initially assumed and now he had backup. She turned away and pushed off the ground only to come thudding down into the hard sidewalk a moment later.


    Campion had anticipated her exit manoeuvre and activated an ability that enhanced his speed and reflexes to superhuman levels. The flail flicked out almost faster than the eye could see and connected just above the joint which attached a wing to Raven¡¯s shoulder blades. The crack of the bones in the wing breaking was audible and swiftly followed by a scream of agony when the woman instinctively tried to flap the same wing and came crashing back down to Earth.


    The Marshal didn¡¯t waste his opportunity. As Raven tried to crawl away on her hands and knees, the broken wing dragged along the floor causing her enormous pain, he stepped up behind her, raised the flail above his head and brought it down on her other wing.


    ¡°I call my flail Bonecruncher,¡± he continued in the conversational tone that was almost drowned out by the grunts of agony from his victim. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can understand why.¡± To make his point clear, Campion slammed the flail into Raven¡¯s ankle and elicited another shriek of torment.


    He didn¡¯t stop there. Campion broke the other ankle and then went to work ruining Raven¡¯s white wings even further. When he was finished, they were no longer scarlet-tipped merely because of the natural feather colouring.


    With Raven broken and bloody on the ground before him, Campion drew in a deep breath. He¡¯d been joined by the four surviving crewmen of the chariot. He could practically taste the hate and lust that wafted from their auras. ¡°Help yourself boys, there is plenty of poultry for all.¡±


    The warriors sniggered at the Marshal¡¯s joke and moved in to take their pound of flesh from the woman who had both ruined their precious chariot and stymied their escape attempt.


    Their foolish lust for vengeance suited Campion perfectly.


    He would be able to slip away and by the time they realised he was gone; it would be too late for them to follow. A group would be easier to spot and some of his camouflage and escape items wouldn¡¯t work if he had a retinue in tow. The only hiccough was the wheezing scripter, Markus, who hadn¡¯t joined the others for the butchery of the helpless.


    Well, it was about time the scripter had an ¡®accident¡¯ anyway. It¡¯s not like Campion could allow the weasel¡¯s blackmail from earlier to go unpunished.


    The Marshal was to be surprised however when Markus drew a small blade from a scabbard at his waist. ¡°Die scum!¡± he screamed and stabbed Campion in the stomach. The sheer surprise of the attack had been enough for the scripter to land the blow.


    ***


    Torin


    The sky-chariot crashed into a building below us and I watched on. I couldn¡¯t help myself.


    It had been Ana who fired the missiles that took the craft out. ¡°You could have hit Raven,¡± I admonished her.


    She shrugged her shoulders. ¡°As if. If I wanted to hit Raven, then the mental swan-woman would have been basted and browned like a Christmas Goose.¡±


    ¡°You ate goose for Christmas?¡±


    ¡°Goose, partridge, pheasant, duck. If it had feathers and meat it ended up on the table at Christmas. Poppa liked to have his pick. But the goose is more traditional in the motherland. Of course, they celebrate Christmas on the 7<sup>th</sup> of January, so I¡¯d celebrate in Cali with Turkey and then fly home and do it again a couple of weeks later.¡±


    ¡°I sometimes forget how wealthy you used to be.¡±


    Ana pointed both thumbs back at herself. ¡°Rich bitch and lovin¡¯ it.¡±


    The witty repartee was interrupted by events on the ground. The close-combat fight was not going well for Raven.


    ¡°Damn it, that bastard is taking his time and torturing her.¡±


    Ana sighed beside me and rolled her eyes. ¡°We have time for you to go play hero if you¡¯re quick and I help.¡±


    ¡°Regina would be heartbroken if we let Raven be killed.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re entirely motivated by Regina¡¯s feelings.¡± Anastasia rolled her eyes in disbelief and gestured with one hand. A fresh hole appeared in the Bridge¡¯s wall that led out onto the deck. Before I left, she attached a cord to my waist. ¡°This will act like a bungee rope, except it won¡¯t snap you back into the air immediately because I¡¯ll be in control of the momentum. Do your thing but be quick about it. We have a date with the Curse, and it won¡¯t take her long to despatch the Lamer defenders between us.¡±


    ¡°The mission comes first. If I can¡¯t resolve this quick, haul me back,¡± I told her gravely, rushed out the gap and leapt over the side of the ship.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I have a choice. The ship can¡¯t leave you behind,¡± she complained into the empty air.


    I shifted my posture as if I were diving and hurtled through the air so fast, that I barely had time to think about how little I liked heights before the rope snapped taut and slowed the descent to something that wouldn¡¯t pancake me on impact. Marena¡¯s Mercy was maybe half a kilometre above Raven¡¯s predicament. A fair distance, but the ship remained close enough.


    I¡¯d recognised Raven¡¯s attacker from Trisha¡¯s regular reports. It was Marshal Campion himself. It didn¡¯t surprise me that the rat was fleeing the sinking ship.


    He¡¯d finished thoroughly breaking Raven¡¯s wings by the time I¡¯d made my leap. She lay in a crumpled heap barely able to move while four jackals moved in. Two of the warriors literally had jackal heads. I might be too late; the necessary slowing of my fall would give them a split second to tear the fallen angel apart before I reached her position.


    The spell Mutiny in the Ranks left my lips. The four warriors, the marshal, and the old man stumbling out of the wreckage met the minimum requirement of six for the spell to be cast. Notifications pinged back to me that two of the six had their minds successfully warped by the spell.


    The old man pulled a knife, screamed at the marshal and launched himself forward. He stabbed him in the gut, only to be battered into insensibility by the man¡¯s dangerous flail as if the stomach wound was barely bothersome. This seemed like a bit of a waste of the spell¡¯s effect, but including the old codger had been a necessity to meet the spell¡¯s requirements.


    Fortunately for Raven, two of the six targets had been affected. The other was one of the jackal-headed assailants looming over her. He took advantage of his fellow¡¯s being distracted with the wounded Angleblood and used the opportunity to bury the point of his blade into the neck of the warrior standing closest to him. It wasn¡¯t an insta-kill and the wounded warrior fought back almost immediately. Aiming his mace for the canine snout of the betrayer.


    However, the surprise did delay the murderous attacks from the other two long enough for me to drop in behind them and lay about with the Greatsteel Goreblade.


    Raven was too gravely wounded to assist, but she managed to hook her hand around my ankle and that let me drag her clear of the fray. The rough pull likely hurt like a motherfucker, but Raven¡¯s willpower was made of stern stuff. She wouldn¡¯t have stubbornly resisted my devilish charms for so long otherwise.


    The two-on-three fight didn¡¯t last long, and I didn¡¯t have to concern myself with keeping track of Mutiny¡¯s timer. Jackal-head and the man he savaged first managed to kill one another and with surprise on my side, the other two were soon lying bleeding and dying on the floor before me.


    The old celestial had been left entertaining his commander.


    ¡°Impressive,¡± a cultured voice called out to me.


    Campion stood over the body of the old man and was in the process of wiping clean the metal club of his flail with a yellow cloth. ¡°But you will find me an altogether more difficult challenge. Especially as you are now alone.¡±


    I had a couple of charges of Shatter left and could spare one to take out the leader of the Lamer army. I needed to keep one or two in reserve for Titus, though.


    ¡°He¡¯s not alone dipshit,¡± Ana¡¯s cackle carried on the air.


    Campion couldn¡¯t help but glance skywards just in time to see the forms of Slicer and Ripper, Ana¡¯s two golems, descend on him from above. He tried to dodge out of the way and counterstrike, but it was too late, the trio were moving too fast.


    The dungeon avatar had strapped herself into the saddle of Ripper and flicked her whip around the High-Marshal¡¯s throat before the words finished leaving her lips and started to drain his Hit Points. Meanwhile, Ripper¡¯s bulk flattened him, and Slicer intercepted the flail, taking the hit. The golem wrapped its prehensile tail around the shaft and started to oscillate, sapping the flail¡¯s durability with extreme rapidity.


    Not to be left out, I sprinted over to the battle and added strikes from my sword whenever part of Campion¡¯s body protruded from under Ripper¡¯s bulk as it stomped him. The Marshal did not go down easy and smashed sizeable chunks of crystal out of the two golem¡¯s hides, but inevitably his blows weakened and then petered out until they were no more.


    When the loot nimbus surrounded his body, I knew we had won.


    ¡°Damn, that was harder than expected,¡± Ana announced cheerfully and hopped from Ripper¡¯s back. She didn¡¯t delay and scampered over to Raven with me close on her heels. Her hand rested on the Angelblood woman¡¯s brow. ¡°She is in a bad way,¡± Ana relayed while her hand glowed white and transferred the Hit Points she¡¯d drained from Campion. ¡°Her wings in particular. That flail of his was a high-tier weapon. Well, it was until Slicer gave it the buzzsaw treatment.¡±


    The shaft of the flail lay in shavings on the floor. But the chain and club element had survived. It might be repairable. Enough that it would be worthwhile taking with us regardless of its current condition.


    ¡°Hey little Miss Justice, you better remember who it was that saved your ass and show some proper appreciation in the future.¡±


    Ana was berating Raven whose eyes had fluttered open after the investment of some fresh Hit Points. ¡°Th¡­thank you,¡± she managed to say before passing out again.


    Not a derisory word or a hint of poorly disguised venom. That had been a genuine, no-hidden-barbs expression of gratitude. Will wonders never cease?


    ¡°That¡¯s a start,¡± Ana huffed. ¡°What do we do with her, Torin? Things are going to get hairy, very soon. Marena¡¯s Mercy is not going to be a safe place for somebody in this bad of a shape. She¡¯ll die up there if we take her with us. And we can¡¯t spare the time to take her elsewhere. By all rights, we should be barrelling towards thee Curse already. Kristoff is back and ready to go.¡±


    The Lamers had established some kind of scrambling tech that interfered with the cell nodes. We couldn¡¯t use them to send Raven back to Stormblade Harbour until we left the vicinity and we couldn¡¯t do that until Titus had been dealt with.


    ¡°We can take her from here.¡± A new, slightly out-of-breath voice answered for me.


    A gruff-looking canid man, a halfling woman, and a young human with sandy-blonde hair ran into view from behind the smoking wreckage of Campion¡¯s downed sky chariot.


    ¡°And who might you be?¡± I challenged, though I had a fairly good idea based on their descriptions.


    ¡°I¡¯m Brock Deathstare, captain of the Nasty Bitch,¡± In the distance I could make out the shape of the landbound vessel navigating around the debris in the roads a few hundred metres further back. ¡°This is my first mate, Lyra,¡± Brock continued. ¡°And the young fella is Glastos, Raven¡¯s right-hand man.¡±


    ¡°Captive, technically,¡± Glastos gasped and warily took in the surroundings, edging away from the silent but very deadly Slicer and Ripper.


    Brock waved the distinction off. ¡°We came in to try and talk some sense into the lass.¡±


    Raven chose that moment to wake up and her hand gripped mine, ¡°¡­tr¡­trust¡­¡± and that was all she could manage with her current energy levels.


    That would have to do. It¡¯s not like we had the time to arrange a better alternative. If Raven trusted them, then we would have to as well.


    ¡°Get her back to your ship and then get the fuck out of the city. All hell is about to break loose and there are no guarantees anybody still at ground zero will see tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t get any disagreements from me,¡± Glastos answered, and giving the two golems a wide berth, made his way over. With Brock¡¯s help, they lifted the broken woman into his arms, futilely trying to avoid nudging her badly damaged wings.


    I nodded to him and then Anastasia tapped my elbow as a signal. The two of us, plus the golems, were reeled back onto the ship above.


    The Levithan¡¯s Curse had left the area around the gate. Its cannons roared and left death and destruction in its wake. Most of the Lamer ships had been taken out shortly after the Curse¡¯s arrival. The Curse was simply too powerful for them to stand up to its might.


    Across the city, I could see the surviving population, many enslaved or held captive by the Lamers fleeing for their lives in all directions. It was like watching ants crawling from an overturned the nest. How many of them would survive, I couldn¡¯t say. Many would not, but if we managed to pull off the plan, then at least a few of them would have a chance.


    Everywhere you looked, there were more people. The reason for the Cutter¡¯s presence became readily apparent. It was scooping up the potential slaves while the more heavily armoured vessels slaughtered the Lamer soldiers. It was absolute carnage on an industrial scale. Win or lose, little of Dallas would be left afterwards and I doubted any survivors would choose to remain.

 Book 5: Chapters 35 & 36

    Chapter 35


    With no more distractions to worry over, my twinned ships cut through the smoke-clogged atmosphere. The landscape below was a panoply of destroyed buildings, smouldering hulks, and the reddish smears of bodies that had been torn apart and left to rot. It grew worse the nearer we reached the focal point of the battle.


    The Dread Scourge didn¡¯t have everything go their way. One of the non-dungeon ships that came through earlier lay in the wreckage of a skyscraper and had a hole in the hull so large the ship had almost broken into two pieces. A few of the pirate crew had survived and were locked in a fight to the death with the remnants of the battle-crazed Lamers.


    These were the battle lunatics. The more sensible Lamer warriors and their conscripts were already on the run, trying to avoid the attention of the Malignant Cutter as they fled the field in full retreat.


    On that front, the natural greed of the Scourge proved to be an asset. With the Lamer arsenal nullified and the Curse¡¯s arrival bossing the battlefield, the other captains had engaged in looting rather than paying attention to what else might be coming for them.


    The sole exception was Cold of the Grave. She¡¯d spotted our approach and reacted accordingly. Firing at us.


    ¡°Incoming! Brace for impact,¡± Crynn called from her station.


    The Grave had unleashed a barrage of its weapons at both ships. A noisy thudding followed Crynn¡¯s warning as the incoming weapon fire made contact with Marena¡¯s Mercy¡¯s hull. The ship absorbed most of the kinetic energy and I barely felt the subtle sway from the impacts. The shift in elevation when Anastasia sought to evade the incoming fire had been more tactile.


    Up on the viewer, you could see roughly 40% of the barrage had missed us completely and either struck what remained of downtown Dallas or kept going until they ran out of juice and clattered uselessly onto the war-torn streets.


    ¡°Good job, Ana. All hands return fire on Cold of the Grave once in range.¡±


    The cannons fitted with the Abyssal Fission Missiles roared and discharged their payloads first. The ballistic projectiles were joined by an equal number fired from Storm Raider. The ships weren¡¯t quite in Hellstrike range but soon would be.


    The Grave adopted evasive manoeuvres. However, whereas its missile attacks had been split between Marena¡¯s Mercy and Storm Raider, the return volleys from both ships zoomed in on them from different vantages and that made it enormously difficult to avoid the barrage.


    The Cold of the Grave was struck heavily in a dozen spots. With the battering it had already received from the Lamer defences several of the missiles breached the hull and caused serious damage. Not enough to down the ship but enough that it shifted course dramatically to withdraw out of our range.


    ¡°Kristoff, keep up the pressure on the Grave. We are going to make a run at the Curse. We are still on course for plan alpha, keep that in mind. Otherwise, I trust your judgement on how far to push your luck.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± the former German smuggler replied over comms.


    As the commander of Storm Raider, Kristoff was one of the few members of the crew who had been filled in on certain elements of the strategy which had been kept from the rest of the crew. Not everything, but enough to avoid disaster. I needed to ensure he wouldn¡¯t react unexpectedly when the plan unfolded.


    Cold of the Grave listed away towards the Mesquite area of Dallas with Storm Raider in pursuit. I looked over at Anastasia. ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    She nodded stoically. ¡°This is gonna suck, but yeah, let¡¯s do this.¡±


    With the path clear, Marena¡¯s Mercy increased speed. The Leviathan¡¯s Curse which had just crossed over the Trinity River turned in our direction. Titus or his crew must have spotted us.


    Speaking of the devil.


    ¡°We have an incoming communication from the Curse, Torin,¡± Crynn relayed from her station. ¡°Do you want to accept?¡±


    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s see what they have to say.¡±


    A face I didn¡¯t immediately recognise popped up on the screen. Despite that, the features were vaguely familiar; the contemptuous arrogance in his expression gave the identity of the speaker away. It was Fred Simms in his new flesh. Titus was indeed gone. Not that I disbelieved the quest update.


    ¡°Carter,¡± the new person said with a sneering snort. ¡°What kind of foolishness is this?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one of my brothers, Rom. He has an identical twin brother. They¡¯ve always had my father¡¯s favour. He must have entrusted the attack on Earth to him.¡±


    Crynn was playing along, she knew about the generational immortality and the change in my quest from the Shattered Goddess. We had agreed it would be better if Fred, Titus, Rom, or whatever you wanted to call him, wasn¡¯t aware that we knew about that.


    However, the ruse proved unnecessary.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not piss about playing dumb,¡± Rom snorted with impatience. ¡°Titus is gone and I¡¯m in charge. But you both know who I really am and what I came here for. If you think the promises made by Titus will tie my hands you will be sorely disappointed. Those binds are gone along with that body.


    ¡°Surrender the harvester and I¡¯ll let you live on as my slaves. It won¡¯t be a pleasant life. What¡¯s the point of having a slave if you don¡¯t work them to the bone? But it is the only way that you will see tomorrow and the days which come after. The only way that child of yours gets to grow up. Yes, Torin, I know about baby Dash. That is my best and final offer.¡±


    I would have told the bastard to sling his hook anyway, but the threat against my son¡¯s wellbeing was a low blow.


    Fred wasn¡¯t stupid and he¡¯d been around for a long time. This little speech hadn¡¯t been designed to encourage my capitulation, he wanted me to fight and then seize what was mine by force. Was the pantomime of making an unreasonable offer merely part of his character or was there something more to it? Perhaps the boast of sloughing off the non-aggression pact we¡¯d made was hot air and he needed me to be the one to attack first.


    That offered a moment of clarity, one in which I almost rethought my position.


    If Fred couldn¡¯t come after us directly, did we need to risk everything to end it all today?


    I shook off that train of thought quickly. Yes, we did.


    Maybe we could walk away from this fight, but we¡¯d already played the gate trick. The only ace up our sleeve. They would circumvent Nazz¡¯s subterfuge quickly and then break open the gate in Stormblade Harbour. After that, they would be able to attack and slaughter my faction at its very heart as they planned originally.


    In fact, I would be surprised if the rest of his fleet hadn¡¯t been held back to do precisely that.


    No, Rom was afraid that I would run, and then he would have to hunt me down to claim the soul harvester. Doubtless, he knew that I hadn¡¯t destroyed it. The gadgets he¡¯d supplied would surely still be monitoring for its existence.


    Before we¡¯d ordered the destruction of them all, Susan had completed an inventory. Three remained unaccounted for. Those devices would be found eventually and the traitors suitably punished.


    Doyle was already on the case.


    But until then, Rom knew what he needed to know. I¡¯d either been unwilling or unable to destroy the harvester organ.


    This was all theatre, none of his words meant a damn. The Dread Scourge would lay waste to Stormblade Harbour regardless of whether I agreed to his terms or not. The plan was the only way forward.


    My fist slammed down on the Bridge hub in response and a salvo of abyssal fission missiles were launched.


    Rom, up on the screen, grinned back at me and the Levithan¡¯s Curse made no effort to avoid the incoming missile strike. ¡°Thank you, Torin. That makes things easier.¡± Thus, confirming my suspicions. Rom though he had us, but didn¡¯t know what I knew.


    Our barrage collided with the Curse¡¯s shields. There was some minor damage, but nothing serious. The instant Rom¡¯s ship was hit, he broke the communication link, and the Curse started moving in our direction and returned fire. Marena¡¯s Mercy had slowed a little but had continued to advance and we were quickly within Hellstrike range, and those cannons had time to roar before the Curse¡¯s salvo slammed into the side of the hull.


    This time, unlike the gentle sway when we were hit by Cold of the Grave, I was thrown forward and only stayed in my chair because I was strapped in.


    ¡°Fuck, that hurt,¡± Ana cried in shock. ¡°Whatever they hit us with, they are twice as strong as the abyssal we¡¯ve got.¡±


    That was no surprise. The Curse had to have access to seventh-tier options if not the top-drawer eighth. ¡°How is the ship holding up?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re still in one piece and the gunners have been given the gift of free fire.¡±


    The only real surprise was that we hadn¡¯t been targeted by Fred¡¯s big guns a second time. The lesser payload weapons, similar to what we had ourselves, were peppering the craft but nothing with the strength which had almost knocked us out of the sky.


    Watching the Curse on the viewer, the answer to that question revealed itself quickly. Whereas Marena¡¯s Mercy had arrested her forward momentum and was currently weaving around what remained of Reunion Tower and the Dallas¡¯ Convention Centre. The Leviathan¡¯s Curse increased in velocity and was headed straight for us uncaring of what lay in between.


    Too late, I figured out what Fred intended as the remains of the globe atop Reunion Tower was vapourised by the bulk of his ship. ¡°They are going to ram us.¡±


    You would think a ship the size of the Curse would struggle with intricate movements necessary to counter our evasion attempt, and it would have, if it hadn¡¯t been a dungeon ship.


    For the first time, we were on the receiving end of what we¡¯d done to many others. Our ship ducked down low, scraping the sidewalk and hid behind the Convention Centre, anticipating that the Curse would fly past us. It didn¡¯t, the ship came to a near complete stop above us instead. Cables with hooks shot from its hull and pierced through Marena¡¯s Mercy, breaching her, and then the Curse¡¯s direction shifted downward.


    The gigantic pirate ship slammed into its prey and ground Marena¡¯s Mercy into the concrete and tarmac. Thick cables were fired from the lower decks which acted like bolos and wrapped around the ship while their ends burrowed into the earth and locked us in place. From an outsider¡¯s perspective, it would look as if the larger ship intended to devour the smaller one.


    Hundreds of pirates emerged from portholes that opened in the Curse¡¯s hull and abseiled down the multiple cables which connected the two vessels.


    We were about to be boarded.


    Marena¡¯s Mercy had been taken down and neutralised much quicker than I¡¯d anticipated, and I won¡¯t deny that hurt my pride a little. I¡¯d known that we couldn¡¯t win in a stand-up fight with the larger vessel, but the takedown and submission hold in the first round suggested a proper pasting.


    Crynn unbuckled her belt, rose from the console she¡¯d been stationed at and drew her cutlass ready to join the fight and repel the boarders. Her face showed no sign of fear, only determination, and I was incredibly proud of her.


    However, I grabbed her arm as she tried to hurry past.


    Crynn¡¯s gaze flicked back to me, her long hair whipping across the shoulder pads of her leather armour. ¡°Torin, we need to get out there and defend the ship, cut those cables if we can and get Mercy back into the air, otherwise, the Scourge will overwhelm us.¡±


    ¡°Ana, is the splinter deck still operational?¡± I asked instead.


    The dungeon avatar nodded. ¡°I managed to angle our fall to keep it accessible. There are a few cords and cables across the aperture, but I¡¯ll work on shrugging those off first.¡±


    A horde of crab-like golems forged from the parts of the ship¡¯s hull were already crawling to the relevant cables using their sharp claws to cut their way through the durability of the bindings. Additionally, Ripper and Slicer were already racing up the cables connecting the ships, causing chaos for some of the abseiling assailants that wanted to reach us.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said and then slipped off my chair and opened a ship-wide channel. ¡°All crew to the splinter bay. Board a splinter pod and abandon ship.¡±


    Crynn looked on in dumbfounded shock, but then she didn¡¯t know the full details of the plan. I knew that a ¡®defeat¡¯ like this has been inevitable and prepared for such an eventuality.


    ¡°Kristoff, are you there?¡± I asked switching the channel.


    ¡°Yes, Captain. We are on the way. ETA less than thirty seconds.¡±


    ¡°Excellent, do not engage the Leviathan¡¯s Curse directly. That might prevent them from firing on you, though I doubt it.¡± At this point, Rom wouldn¡¯t need to give orders. His crew would likely react without prodding. ¡°Gather up the splinter vessels as quickly as possible. They can only benefit from the aerial sails while within range of Marena¡¯s Mercy.¡±


    Physics might say that because Marena¡¯s Mercy had sails allowing it to fly that doesn¡¯t mean diddly squat for the splinter pods aboard her which did not. But the Framework had a loose association with the laws of physics. If they were in range, they could fly.


    ¡°You can rely on me, viel gl¨¹ck, Torin.¡±


    I released Crynn¡¯s arm. ¡°I need you to lead the evacuation, Crynn.¡±


    ¡°Where are you going?¡±


    My finger pointed above. Up to where our greatest enemy lay in wait. The looming spider whose web we were trapped in.


    ¡°You can¡¯t, not alone. I should go with you.¡±


    A shake of my head dispelled that suggestion.


    ¡°Then come with the rest of us. Retrieve Ana¡¯s core and create a new ship. It¡¯s costly but it can be done.¡±


    ¡°No. Trust me, I know what I¡¯m doing and what I need from you is to get as many of the crew off the ship before your father¡¯s fighters get inside. They¡¯ll slaughter anyone they find. Nobody else needs to die, this part of the fight is over.¡±


    One of her fists hit my chest and there was a tear welling on the edge of her eye. ¡°That includes you.¡±


    I patted my bloated stomach. ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ve got something he wants, and he needs me alive unless he wants to risk it going kaboom. A possibility that will appear all the more real if it looks like I¡¯m sending my people out of harm¡¯s way.¡±


    This final argument convinced Crynn, and I didn¡¯t need to use the bond to compel her obedience. ¡°Go¡­I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s got me to watch his back,¡± Anastasia added.


    Crynn grabbed me behind the head and pulled me down for a passionate kiss before she released me and ran out of the Bridge to make her way down to the splinter bay. She was joined by Sheamus and a couple of others who had similarly abandoned their positions on the upper deck.


    Sheamus paused as he rushed past the door to the Bridge. ¡°I¡¯ve left them a few welcome packages, captain. You might want to wait until they open them before going out there.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Sheamus.¡±


    The small man cackled wildly and hurried after Crynn and the other few crewmen who had been out there with him.


    The first splinter pods were already exiting the bay and zipping into the air.


    Storm Raider had arrived and hovered on the other side of the convention centre, on the edge of the pod''s flight range ready to gather them up. The Leviathan¡¯s Curse didn¡¯t send any attacks Storm Raider''s way, though it did unleash small-scale volleys from its splinter weaponry that targeted the fleeing splinters boast.


    Some of the pods were hit and went down, but there was nothing we could do about that now. Hopefully, the volunteer crewmen in those pods would survive the crash landing and if things worked out, we could pick them up later.


    Either way, they had a better chance out there than they did in here.


    A series of explosions thudded above us. Up on the viewer, the descending pirates had encountered Sheamus¡¯ gifts and several of them had been torn apart or thrown over the side where they had a hard landing ahead of them.


    ¡°Ripper and Slicer are down,¡± Anastasia said glumly and pointed out the chunks of cimmeric crystal that used to be the two monstrous golems.


    ¡°Can you repair them?¡±


    ¡°No. I can make them anew, but it won¡¯t be the same. They might look the same, but I¡¯ll know the difference. It couldn¡¯t be helped, sacrifices had to be made.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve still got Casey, right?¡±


    Anastasia smiled fondly. ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s tucked up safe and sound in the lab. If they can get to the heart of my dungeon, it¡¯ll all be over anyway.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of,¡± I began the difficult conversation. ¡°I appreciate you telling Crynn that you had my back, but, well, the next bit I have to do alone.¡±


    <What am I? Chopped Liver?>


    ¡°Except for Quixbix,¡± I added with a chuckle. ¡°Who is ever present.¡±


    ¡°When he¡¯s not canoodling with Quinn,¡± Anastasia teased. Then she hopped up onto the captain¡¯s chair and used it to equalise our heights. She wrapped her arms around my neck. ¡°If this doesn¡¯t work, find a way not to die,¡± she whispered into my shoulder. ¡°I don¡¯t want to end up as one of those ghost ships fighting off every overconfident wannabe corsair. It would be lonely.¡±


    I returned the embrace and then pulled the small woman from my arms. ¡°Guard that dungeon with everything you¡¯ve got.¡±


    Anastasia snapped her fingers and a shimmering entrance to her dungeon appeared. She gave me a quick kiss on the lips and then hopped through. The portal winked out of existence, and I was alone.


    Not for long, though. It didn¡¯t take much time before the Scourge pirates breached the door and pushed their way into the interior of the upper deck and then they poured through onto the Bridge where they were met by my Greatblade.


    The quarters were too close to use Chaos Missile and Mutiny in the Ranks was still on cooldown. Regardless, I gave a good account of myself, killing four and severely wounding a dozen others. But eventually, the numbers told, and I was overwhelmed, disarmed, and held on the ground.


    ¡°Kill the bastard,¡± a badger-headed pirate swore, flecks of bloodied spittle flying from his severely gashed jaw. He had one paw over his eye that had been sliced in twain by the same upward swing that made a mess of his mouth.


    ¡°Nay,¡± the leader of the boarding party barked when a couple of badger boy¡¯s friends tried to carry out his suggestion. ¡°Captain Rom wants him alive. You don¡¯t want to piss off Titus¡¯ heir during the first engagement, do ya?¡±


    There was a chorus of nays from the other pirates present.


    ¡°Shackle the bastard and take him to the Cap¡¯n. There¡¯ll be plenty of rewards and you¡¯ll soon forget about a bit of blood and pain. Not like this fucker, though. Suffering looms large is his destiny.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Can we give him a bit of kicking first, though?¡± The wounded badger asked.


    ¡°Sure, why not.¡±


    The wanker would regret that suggestion. Like an elephant, I never forget.


    The hardest part of what came next was timing the moment when I sent my gear to one of Mercy¡¯s holds to coincide with when the shackles snapped shut.


    After watching the Cutter¡¯s activities, it was clear that the Scourge¡¯s manacles did more than simply disallow the use of items or gear but stripped the victim of all they owned as the cells on this ship did. I didn¡¯t want to hand over my premium gear if it could be avoided.


    Once bound and disarmed, dozens of boots slammed down onto various sensitive parts of my body. When they felt satisfied in their petty vengeance, I was dragged in cuffs across the deck of my ship and hauled into the bowels of the Leviathan¡¯s Curse.


    Chapter 36


    They didn¡¯t bother blindfolding me, why would they? As far as the Scourge was concerned, I was as good as dead. A plaything for the captain to toy with until he grew bored and disposed of it.


    The interior of the ship was similar to Marena¡¯s Mercy, just more weathered. There were also chains inexplicably hanging from the rafters of the deck above. The swinging and clanking links of metal seemed to serve no practical purpose except possibly for intimidation. Did they have a corridor of the ship designed specifically for dragging prisoners down? It was possible, the interior of the Curse was huge thanks to the space-shifting ability of dungeons.


    ¡°Is this going to take much longer,¡± I half-chuckled, half-mumbled. ¡°I¡¯m starting to get bored of the endless corridor. Don¡¯t tell me we are going in circles?¡±


    ¡°Quiet scum!¡± Badger-head barked and hit me between the shoulders with a studded cudgel. It was an extremely hard hit that cracked a shoulder blade. This guy really hated me. He must have liked that eye a lot.


    The sergeant of the group glanced back over his shoulder and gave a warning glare to Badger who was virtually panting with the furious need to inflict more pain.


    ¡°Did I kill your boyfriend or something?¡± I needled.


    ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± he howled in rage and brought the cudgel down for another swing, this time aiming for the elbow. The blow was intercepted by the sergeant.


    ¡°Get a hold of yourself, Drok!¡± the sergeant snapped and pulled the cudgel from his grip. ¡°He¡¯s playing you like a fiddle.¡±


    ¡°Give me my cudgel back, Spence,¡± Drok growled and held out his paw and beckoned with his claws.


    ¡°Hit a raw nerve, did I?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s enough from you as well,¡± Spence growled and proceeded to stuff a wad of cloth in my mouth and then returned Drok¡¯s weapon. ¡°Get him to the captain quick, no more delays.¡±


    I¡¯d been right, the ship was large, but they had been deliberately walking in circles for some reason. Habit probably.


    Less than a minute later, I was dragged into the heart of the Leviathan¡¯s Curse. It was an immense domed chamber lit by torches arranged in a circle of scones on the walls. In the centre of the chamber was a gaping maw in the floor that had the tell-tale shimmer of a dungeon entrance. A platform with a throne upon it had been set up overlooking the drop. A perch for the captain to watch as he cast victims to his dungeon. I couldn¡¯t criticise, my setup was not dissimilar.


    The throne itself was made from a panoply of different items. Weapons, armour, broaches sealed in amber.


    <Those are Imp and Fairy amulets he¡¯s got sealed up in that gaudy monstrosity of his.> Quixbix supplied.


    The imp was quite correct, the throne was misshapen and fucking ugly to look upon. It was also a direct rip-off of a certain popular TV show. My opinion of Fred¡¯s creativity went down a few notches.


    Rom Shiptaker lounged on the throne. Standing just behind him was a large, grizzled one-eyed ogre. The moment I set eyes upon the ogre; I clocked that he was the ship¡¯s dungeon avatar. Crynn had described him before, and it was obvious that Rom or Titus or whatever name he chose to use did not share the same kind of close relationship that I had with Anastasia and Claudia. Whenever Rom wasn¡¯t watching there was barely restrained disgust in that singular eye.


    ¡°Ah, the guest of honour, at last,¡± Rom spoke from the comfort of his tacky throne. ¡°String him up, boys.¡±


    Spence and Drok were the two to haul me up the steps. At the edge of the platform nearest the maw were two posts with a set of shackles. The two pirates uncuffed one hand with practised efficiency and clamped it to one of the post manacles above my head and then did the other. They must have done this before.


    A hysterical guffaw, muffled by the cloth still stuffed in my mouth escaped me. It was the thought of me being trussed up like Fay Wray waiting for the arrival of Kong on Skull Island. Ana would have got a real kick out of this. An endless source of material for her teasing.


    ¡°Pull that gag out,¡± Rom ordered as Spence and Drok started to retire. ¡°He can¡¯t beg if he can¡¯t talk.¡±


    Drok held my jaw while Spence pulled the wad out. I snapped my teeth shut just to make them flinch anyway.


    ¡°Does he have it?¡± Rom asked, the question was directed at the ogre by his shoulder who nodded in response and patted against his abdomen at the spot where the soul harvester had been surgically inserted. ¡°Excellent.¡±


    Rom rose from his throne, shook his head, and stepped up to me clucking his tongue in disapproval. ¡°Torin, Torin, Torin, you arrogant fool. What was your play here? Fly in like a hero of old and trust that the universe would ensure a sense of fair play. Haven¡¯t you learned by now that is not how the Darkwyrlds operates?¡±


    I stared balefully back and spat a wad of saliva at his face. Sadly, Rom anticipated the reaction and shimmied to the side, thus avoiding the insult. Quick as a cricket, his fist slammed into my breadbasket on the opposite side of the harvester organ and winded me.


    ¡°Not so tough without your gear,¡± Rom seethed at my side and snapped his fingers at the ogre dungeon attendant. ¡°Cut it out of him, be careful, but make it hurt. And leave him alive. I want him to live long enough to watch everyone he cares about die under my boot. I will pop your son¡¯s head open like a grape, Carter!¡±


    The one-eyed ogre nodded solemnly, drew a sharp blade from its waistband and approached me. The avatar ran its fingers over my stomach to source the location of the organ and then called Spence and Drok over to hold me in place. Lest I wriggle about to much. Rom was right about one thing; without my gear, I was no match for outfitted level 50s even if their class tier was below mine. They held me in place while the ogre sliced me open without any anaesthetic.


    It hurt; it hurt a lot.


    Much more than when Anastasia put the damn thing in, but then for all her prickly attitude, she liked me.


    Rom¡¯s avatar had no such positive personal bias.


    The organ had been grafted to the nerve endings which the ogre severed in the process of extracting the harvester. But to be fair to the silent surgeon, it was workmanlike and swift and didn¡¯t seem to extend or amplify the pain of the procedure despite the command from its master.


    Although it was altogether possible that it couldn¡¯t make the experience any more agonising without killing me, so maybe it hadn¡¯t chosen to spare me but was simply following a different element of the orders it was given.


    While the operation felt like it went on for much longer, the ogre removed the organ in just over a minute. Spence and Drok released me, and my body sagged in exhaustion, hanging from the manacles. I didn¡¯t have the strength to stand and couldn¡¯t feel the discomfort in my wrists when the pain from the surgery continued to radiate outward in intense waves.


    <That cost you twenty points of Health.> Quixbix whispered in my mind. I didn¡¯t bother to answer, the loss was within expectations. <That was close.>


    The ogre stood and inspected Rom¡¯s prize. There was a glint in its eye, that it flicked towards me. Did it know what was coming? We had done everything possible to obfuscate my intentions. However, I¡¯d wrongly presumed that Rom would be the one to claim the harvester organ, not the dungeon avatar.


    ¡°Is that it?¡± Rom pressed from behind the avatar. ¡°Are you done?¡±


    The ogre nodded respectfully, and Rom¡¯s expression lit into one of greed and victory. He pushed forward and snatched the organ from the avatar¡¯s grip. ¡°And it has enough power to transform me into the God of the Darkwyrlds?¡±


    The ogre seemed to hesitate for a split second and then nodded a second time.


    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s mine. Ultimate victory is so close, it¡¯s almost a shame to claim it so soon. The fear of missing out on savouring the victory, I suppose,¡± he chuckled.


    Rom moved back over to his throne and tapped a button. A pedestal rose beside the seat, and he inserted the harvester crystal. There were several cables that I recognised from my flashbacks attached to the mechanism Fred/Rom had designed. They ended in needle points which he pushed into his flesh in various places including behind his head. A sight not for the squeamish.


    ¡°Is this what you imagined when you flew your ship up against me, Torin? Hanging there, pallid and anaemic, at the boots of your conqueror. You were a fool to bring this to me. You should have run, it wouldn¡¯t have changed the outcome, but you could have enjoyed a few more days of freedom. I¡¯m disappointed, but then perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have put any faith that a football player could test me when it comes to strategy.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve no regrets, mate.¡± I smiled at the enemy and pointed my fingers to just behind his throne. ¡°I just needed to get close enough to do this. Summon Rift Beast.¡±


    *** -450 mana points ***


    *** Cooldown of 7 days applied to spell Summon Rift Beast ***


    *** Noxious Megapede summoned. ***


    *** Your control check was partially successful. The Noxious Megapede will not obey you, but neither will it directly attack you. ***


    *** Passive ¡®Ride Along¡¯ feature has been activated ***


    *** The Noxious Megapede¡¯s current attitude is instinctual aggression. It will destroy everything and anything it can lay its many legs upon. ***


    One benefit to levelling up was that it had reset the cooldown for my summoning spell. Given that being bound meant I couldn¡¯t evade the beast in any feasible manner, summoning the megapede was a huge risk. But I¡¯d advanced several levels since unleashing it on the Outlaw Nation, boosting the relevant stats, and re-summoning the same creature improved my chances of securing a modicum of control.


    Full control would have been ideal, but I would settle for the beast not seeking to kill me.


    The domed chamber was filled with sparkling orange and purple smoke, which once it started to clear, revealed the multi-faceted compound eyes and chitinous armour of the megapede.


    The monstrous summon screeched in rage. Angered that it had been taken from the Great Rift again and this time confined to a chamber barely large enough to contain it, the creature lashed out immediately.


    Spence was the first to feel its fury. One of its many legs lifted into the air and slammed down, point first, hollowing out the man¡¯s skull and spraying his brains all over the granite of the dungeon chamber¡¯s floor.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± Drok screamed in pure terror and ran for the exit.


    The badger-headed pirate didn¡¯t make it. The megapede ground forward and cut off the escape route, snatched the pirate up in its pincers and devoured his badger head in a single bite, discarding the body with blood spurting from the neck stump.


    The rest of the small detachment who had brought me to Rom and hung around to watch the torture was swiftly despatched. Some were run down and carved up, others melted by the creature¡¯s acid spew. If they hadn¡¯t been glyphed and limited to level fifty, they may have stood a chance. Their bad karma was returned a thousandfold for the kicking they¡¯d given on the Bridge. I had silently promised that they would pay for their actions.


    Rom, shocked by the development, jumped up from his crass throne and backed away from the thrashing monstrosity. The wiring attached to the needles in his flesh had enough length that they weren¡¯t pulled out. The pirate captain¡¯s proximity to me had spared him thus far, but with the few other pirates already devoured or melted, the megapede turned its attention to the platform in the centre of the room that its large body had coiled around and shrieked.


    To Rom¡¯s credit, he quickly regained calm and control. He signalled the ogre avatar, and a shimmering force shield came into existence around our position and the precious throne.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you managed to cast a spell manacled as you are, Carter, but this desperate gambit will not be successful. I will give you props for ingenuity, though. I presume summoning beasts from the rift was a gift from that bitch, Nancy. A nasty trick for her to play.¡±


    ¡°That shield will not last for long,¡± I countered, neither confirming or denying his suspicions, which by default likely cemented them in his mind.


    Cracks were already beginning to show in the shell protecting the platform as the megapede battered and clawed at the obstruction. Desperate to get to the chewy morsels inside.


    It appeared that Rom agreed with me. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± he snapped at the ogre avatar. ¡°Expel the beast to the exterior and blast it apart.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure, Master?¡± the ogre asked in a quiet voice.


    ¡°Now you choose to speak. It has been centuries of silence and now that tongue of yours decides to wag. Of course, I¡¯m sure. We can¡¯t let it break through to us.¡±


    ¡°Would you not prefer to complete your transition and handle the matter yourself? Removal of such a large combatant will require the expenditure of considerable resources. Not to mention, many of your crew in the lower decks are currently in the way.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t give a fuck what it costs in energy or manpower. None of this will matter soon.¡± Rom screamed in frustration. ¡°I gave you an order, now do it!¡±


    The avatar remained calm in the face of Rom¡¯s fury ¡°I had to ask. By your command.¡±


    A smile tugged at the avatar¡¯s lips, and it glanced over at me. ¡°I¡¯m tired,¡± it sighed. ¡°And welcome the end.¡±


    It knew. The avatar had figured out my endgame, what was coming, and it still hadn¡¯t warned Rom.


    Rom misunderstood the sentiment and slapped the ogre across the face. ¡°There will be no rest for you, slave. And the scale of your punishment only grows with every second you delay.¡±


    How many times had I stressed that power and control over your subordinates was not enough? You needed to keep them happy. That there was a gulf between the letter of the law and the spirit of it. The avatar had advised its master against this path and laid out an alternative course, one that wouldn¡¯t end in his death, and it had been refused. Its obligation of obedience had been met.


    ¡°Very well,¡± the ogre said and closed its single eye. The floor of the chamber and down through every other deck to the bottom of the ship disappeared. The cries of those who suddenly found the solidity under their feet gone carried upwards. The megapede fell through the gap. Perhaps it could have held on, but the screams of the pirates hitting the ground in the ruins below likely encouraged it to go with the flow and go after the freshly revealed snacks.


    My stomach turned as the Leviathan¡¯s Curse rose into the air and gained some distance from the megapede that had already started feasting on the unfortunates who had preceded it out of the ship. Before the holes in the hull sealed up, I could see Marena¡¯s Mercy was still bolted to the ground with cables. Although Ana¡¯s little crab golems were hard at work weakening the ties, it wouldn¡¯t be long before she could pull the ship free, but it wasn¡¯t time for that yet.


    I hoped she was having fun turning the ship¡¯s corridors into a charnel house for the invaders. The boost in energy would help her hasten the regeneration from the massive amount of damage incurred earlier.


    A viewing screen flared into life as Rom retook a seat on his throne. The organic cables inserted into his flesh began to pulse once more as he started to use the energy of the organ to alter the very fabric of his body and ascend to Godhood.


    ¡°Fire,¡± he snapped.


    The ogre bowed once more and unleashed a salvo of cannon fire at the megapede that ran amok on the ground below. The firestorm of weapon fire tore through its armoured chitin and blew great rents in its flesh. Blackish-green ichor flew in every direction and coated any survivors in the beast¡¯s innards. Unfortunately for them, those innards had an innate toxic and acidic nature and likely sealed their fates anyway.


    My eyes darted around the screen, but I couldn¡¯t see any signs of my people. Not living ones, anyway. Several of the splinter pods lay in the ruins and those inside who hadn¡¯t got away had been hauled out and executed. Each man and woman had been a volunteer, but they had died for my plan which involved putting them in this hopeless situation, and it hurt to see the outcome. Storm Raider was nowhere in sight which was gratifying. Kristoff had followed his instructions and retreated once the pickups of those who escaped were complete.


    A second volley ripped into the ailing megapede and through the summon link I felt its anger and pain. The creature was dying, but its demise was a necessity if this was to work. I had been worried it would be too strong to kill and had to trust that Rom and his ship had what it took. Summoning something random carried the risk of getting a beast that was too weak, I needed Rom distracted for a short while and that required a beast capable of putting up a fight. The megapede, despite the risks, had been the best bet.


    The harvester organ pulsed orange and purple, a sign for me that its infiltration was complete. Even with summoning a creature of the megapede¡¯s power, it had only just survived for long enough.


    Rom was too intent on watching the megapede be pulverised to notice that the Malignant Cutter and the other shard ships linked to the Leviathan¡¯s Curse had suddenly fallen from the air. Every watt of energy had been drained from them to power what came next.


    The same thing happened to every shard vessel linked to the curse in the Darkwyrlds. Those in the ships here were the fortunate ones. They just tumbled to the ground, a survivable disaster. Anybody in the plexus or space when the vessels lost integrity and the cimmeric crystal they were made from crumbled into dust would be doomed.


    This wouldn¡¯t knock out every ship in the Dread Scourge. There were enslaved captains like the master of Cold of the Grave as well as regular vessels within the fleet.


    A third and final volley slammed into the megapede¡¯s head, and the mighty beast crashed to the ground a few hundred metres away from where Marena¡¯s Mercy was bolted to the concrete. With death, the creature began to dissolve back into the orange and purple summoning smoke. The colourful mist was sucked into the air and the wisps began to disappear below the Curse at the point where the megapede had been summoned a few minutes ago.


    It was then that Rom noticed something was off. ¡°Wait, something is wrong. The soul harvester has booted me out and is not responding to my direction. How is this possible?¡±


    ¡°I can answer that,¡± I coughed, clearing my throat of fluids and getting my feet back under me. ¡°I may have made a couple of modifications to the crystalline structure before storing it away. You know, just a couple of small cracks, enough to thwart its original purpose and redirect it to serve mine.¡±


    I hoped Nancy would appreciate that I¡¯d thrown Fred¡¯s own deeds back in his face at the end.


    Rom pulled the needles from his body and threw them to the floor in a fury. He crossed over the short distance and grabbed me by the throat. ¡°What did you do?¡±


    I looked up at the viewer to the spot in the air where the summoning mist had been sucked away. The mist was gone but the rent in the fabric of reality remained, and it was getting larger.


    The ogre smiled. ¡°That is a portal to the demesne of a Darkwyrld God. The Shattered Goddess¡¯ I presume, considering that the megapede likely came from the Great Rift. The portal is exerting a considerable pull on the ship. Drawing us in.¡±


    As the ogre spoke the hole in the galaxy which led to the Great Rift opened wider and all manner of loose material and debris was being sucked inside from all directions. It was to my ship¡¯s advantage to be tied down at this point, hence why Anastasia had only weakened the cables which held her in place and not cut them free entirely.


    ¡°Well, fly us away,¡± Rom ordered.


    ¡°I am trying. However, the pull on the ship is particularly powerful. I am straining the engines to the maximum to merely hold us in place.¡±


    Even as the avatar finished his explanation, the Curse lurched towards the rift.


    At the same time, a few escape craft were ejected from several docking ports.


    Some of Rom¡¯s crew who had attempted to flee, but the inexorable pull from the portal was already too strong and they didn¡¯t get far before being drawn back in and were swallowed by the Great Rift. The previous battle had given the harvester organ enough time to mark every inch of this ship and the pull it experienced was a thousand times stronger than what affected the rest of the world.


    And that was strong enough to suck in everything not nailed down.


    The experience with the portal summoned by the Hellhounds had inspired this part of the plan, but I¡¯d used a combination of my spell and the soul harvester instead of making a risky bargain with an Archfiend.


    Rom looked back at me, panic beginning to set in. The Leviathan¡¯s Curse was an impressive ship, one that could survive the strains of a rough portal trip, but he had to know who was on the other side. And she was not someone he wanted to meet in person.


    ¡°That¡¯s the funny thing about summoning spells,¡± I stated conversationally. ¡°They create these tiny infinitesimal one-way portals to the location of the summoned object or where it came from on the return trip. In this case, the Great Rift, which is part of the Shattered Goddess¡¯ demesne. Too small to be of much use, unless you happen to have a crystal filled with an enormous amount of energy that can take hold of that portal before it closes and bust it wide enough to swallow something the size of a dungeon ship.¡±


    My exclusive skill had granted me the insight about how the summons worked. Normally, the pull on anything not marked as part of the spell was so small it couldn¡¯t be felt. But if you managed to tear the hole wider, then that pull magnified. Especially if you had an inside man that painted the intended target as if it were the summoned item or beast, increasing the pull many times over.


    ¡°Thanks for killing the megapede, by the way, I needed that for any of this to work. Without full control, I couldn¡¯t simply dismiss it when I pleased.¡±


    That had been another risky part of the scheme. If Rom had simply ejected the creature, there wouldn¡¯t have been a return opening until the twenty-fours expired which would have been too late. It would have been down to Ana to finish it off if that had been the case. Something that would have been much harder and would possibly have tipped Rom off that something was up.


    The ship lurched closer again and was on the threshold of being pulled through.


    Rom painfully squeezed my throat, bursting several blood vessels in the process. ¡°You stupid fucking idiot! Do you think glory and thanks await you on the other side? Nancy is fucking insane, you fool. Endless torment is all that she has in store for you. Stop this madness, stop it now.¡±


    Even if I wanted to, it was too late. Everything was in the hands of the harvester organ and its strange persona. We hadn¡¯t precisely talked, but there had been a form of communication. It wanted this, once its job was done, the part of it which could think would continue to exist in the chaotic energies of the Great Rift.


    Formless and unable to wield the power it contained, but alive, so to speak. It was a far better outcome than its original purpose. I had no doubt, that it secretly wanted to form a body for itself somehow, but it had needed me to be the one who tinkered with its structure to give it that chance. It had to accept the permanent formless option I offered and hope that it could find a way around that later. This was unlikely, once it was separated from the harvester organ, it would then be subject to Framework authority and I happened to have a pretty good relationship with the folks in charge.


    Rom relaxed his grip just enough that I could speak. ¡°Fred, I left you a gift, for old time¡¯s sake.¡±


    He looked at me curiously and then the Curse lurched for a final time and was swallowed by the portal.


    The moment that happened, it was transported to the other side of the galaxy. That put me well out of range of Marena¡¯s Mercy and the connection to the flesh golem I¡¯d been mentally riding for the last day or so was abruptly cut.


    ***


    The Leviathan¡¯s Curse


    The light in Carter¡¯s eyes blinked out and he fell limp in Rom¡¯s grasp. With the controlling mind gone, details about the body which had been deliberately hidden, were now fed back to him.


    ¡°A golem! One made to mimic him in every way. What? How?¡±


    ¡°His core is a golem mistress,¡± the ogre avatar shrugged. ¡°A novel use of her class. His real body must have been ensconced within her dungeon on the ship, connected to his body in some manner that allowed him to use the golem. The moment the golem was pulled out of range of the dungeon, the connection was severed. It would explain how he cast his spell. His real body was never here, so it wouldn¡¯t have been affected by the suppression shackles. All that was required was line of sight, which he had. A very well-exploited flaw.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about any of that,¡± Rom bellowed. ¡°What are we going to do?¡±


    ¡°FFFRRREDDDD!¡± a voice boomed through the ether, followed by a great swirling mass of different shapes, constantly changing, that quickly enveloped the ship and started to tear it apart.


    The Shattered Goddess had come for her prize.


    ¡°No, no, no, no,¡± Rom raged. ¡°This can¡¯t be happening. Get us out of here.¡±


    ¡°I would if I could, but I cannot. We are in her grip and hull integrity is already zero. My dungeon influence is keeping her out for now, but the harvester is draining my strength, when it is exhausted there will be nothing to prevent her ingress.¡±


    ¡°Damn, but you¡¯ve become a chatty bastard all of a sudden.¡±


    The ogre shrugged. ¡°We have reached the end, if not now, then never. And I must confess to a certain degree of pleasure in reminding you that for all your plotting and machinations, this time, there is no way out. You are going to die.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll die too!¡±


    ¡°You say that like it is a bad thing. I am ready and have been for so very long. You should have let me go, Rom.¡±


    In a panic, Rom rushed over to his throne and tried to pry the crystal from the throne, but it was locked in tight and resisted any attempt at removal. Even deactivating the limiter glyph which was no longer necessary was not enough. Maybe if he had still been Titus, but Rom¡¯s form was significantly weaker than that old bastard. He fell to the floor, defeated.


    ¡°Carter left you a gift,¡± the ogre reminded Rom. ¡°Although one could say it is of greater benefit to him. The choice, as always, will be up to you.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Self-detonation. The harvester drained the shard fleet dry to manipulate the summoning portal. It has much of the original energy it contained left in reserve. I am connected to the harvester organ through your throne, and it will allow us to go nova. You would die, but it would be quick and infinitely better than what will happen should the goddess get her mitts on you.¡±


    ¡°How does that help, Carter?¡±


    ¡°Every part of the Shattered Goddess has descended upon us. The peculiar energy of the blast would likely destabilise the last tenuous links connecting her psyche. The goddess would be truly shattered at that point, separated into a multitude of different entities, each carrying only a portion of her original power.


    ¡°More, a significant portion of the soul harvester¡¯s energy will feed into the Great Rift expanding it in size and ferocity. Effectively trapping these new entities inside. This would free Carter from her influence. He is smart enough to understand the association can only end poorly for him.¡±


    Rom laughed darkly and collapsed onto the cold comfort of his throne. The multitudinous claws and chomping mouths of Nancy¡¯s ever-changing form gnashed and strained against the boundary of the Curse¡¯s heart. ¡°Outsmarted by a fucking football player. Oh, the ignominy. If I hadn¡¯t damned or killed all my friends years ago, they would never let me live this down.¡± He sighed with deep resignation. ¡°Carter knows no matter how much I want to; I can¡¯t afford to spite him at the end. He has left me no other choice. Do it, blow us the hell up.¡±


    ¡°By your will, master.¡±


    ¡°If it matters any, I am sorry that I was such a dick for all these years.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t.¡±


    Rom grinned back at the terse reply. He deserved it.


    Then came a flash and he was dead before the pain of his body¡¯s utter destruction could register with his brain.