-War Campaign: Axio, Part 6-

The void magick barrier protecting Renault's palace had been shattered by my divine GLORIA magick. In its destruction, a significant amount of damage had been inflicted on the district surrounding it.

Where fortified walls once would have held our forces back, now there was nothing but white dust.

In the aftermath of GLORIA, our scouting divisions revealed that the Renaultians were disoriented from the loss of many senior officers—knowledge gained from some expertly applied persuasion techniques.

Only a few disarrayed gendarmes and whatever nasty tricks Renault had employed within his home were all that stood in our way from achieving victory in Axio.

My war council had come up with three major directions for their plans.

I was considering two of them.

The one with the most promise, given by Hanna and Aisling, was to mobilize en masse into the Renaultian district and push all the way north through their outer gate to secure the coast and northern pass.

We had no way of know if some sort of escape tunnels had been built into Renault's palace—I vaguely knew of some that were built into the Vanixian High Command and our family home. This would give us the best coverage in case Renault turned tail, but it also applied the most risk to our troops.

Dogs bite when cornered, after all.

Option two, suggested by Luke, was more covert. While using a few divisions as diversions, making it seem as if we were trying to push north, we'd sneak a vanguard into the palace and attempt to take Renault by surprise before he has a chance to flee.

This plan reduced risk overall for the many, but could very well be a death sentence for the people entering the palace before we have a chance to carefully scout and investigate.

Both plans were operating on the assumption Renault hadn't already managed to hide himself away.

The third plan was vetoed as it was presented to me. Julius suggested we use the newly tower-mounted ballistae and runestones to bombard the Renaultian district and palace to smithereens.

Considering we hadn't accounted for all of the city's citizens, including my mother and those employed in my family home, there was a high chance the Renaultians were keeping hostages.

We couldn't save everyone. I knew that. But not even trying was too far removed from our goals.

In addition, a cursory report from one of the more specialized Specter teams, one with SI-Minervia agents from Hanna's Crimson Seekers, alerted us to the recent installation of a strange purple crystal cluster in the center of the Renaultian district.

It was outputting some kind of magickal interference and almost certainly void-related.

After reading the reports, Lady Sara was inclined to believe it was defensive in nature and could possibly intercept a runestrike.

If it had the power of the previous barriers and could deflect an attack back at us, it was too dangerous to strike recklessly.

After considering our options and the recommendations of the people I trusted the most, I decided to opt in for an amended version of the full on assault plan with an emphasis on taking control over, and destroying, the void crystal.

The way I saw it was if Renault had one strange crystal in plain sight, he likely had a handful more hidden out of view.

Any attempt to enter his home turf without knowing if another barrier could be conjured was a losing plan.

I didn't have total understanding on my new divine power, but I did have an instinctual feeling I wasn't going to be able to call on GLORIA anytime soon.

When I tried accessing the magick, it felt distant.

So, with our plan of action decided, my forces began to enact my will.

"Hey, Airis," Julius turned toward me, "I really don't like the feel of that thing. Are you sure we can't just blast it apart with a few volleys from the ballistae?"

"Yes. I'm sure. What're you gonna do if we launch an attack and it redirects the bolts straight at us?"

"Me? I'll do what I've done from the start of this whole shitty mess. Use the ardent powers my Goddess gives me and block it with SILVER BULWARK."

"Haah," I sighed, "I still can't believe that ability is from me. I thought you got that shield from Dori."

"I did get it from Dori," he replied, "but the spell was something that just popped into my status that night or the next day, I can't remember. Either way, I just figured it had to do with the shield but when you told me I'd been registered as your paladin, it clicked."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"How does that even make sense? It's not like you pray to me, right?"

He went silent and turned away.

"Julius? You don't pray to me, right?"

"…"

"Julius!"

"I don't know! It's not like I kneel down and chant about your greatness, but I also can't say there isn't some sort of reverence going on…"

Julius pulled at the faded strands of red-dyed hair that covered his face.

"Oh no…" I groaned.

"I imagine the other officers from First Division may qualify as paladins too. Ikuye and Tomin will be liberating the last of the internment camps today while we deal with this thing." he pointed at the eerie cluster of dark purple crystals.

"There's a good chance," he continued, "that your count of 'devout followers' increases when they're told the news their old commander is actually a demigoddess."

"That depends on who all survived," I said grimly, "Vice-Commander Taylor's reports didn't leave us with much hope."

"Eh," Julius shrugged, "It was mostly the lowercore guys that fawned over you anyway. The old fogies in First Division that never left Command all the ones who got axed by Renault. Honestly, in that specific case, he did us a favor."

I pursed my lips and kept quiet, not wanting any of the people nearby to judge me for agreeing with Julius.

After a considerable pause, I changed the topic.

"Let's keep our attention on the important stuff. We're not shooting whatever that crystal construct is. Have all our divisions reported in yet?"

"The Specter teams are all set," he replied, "We've got spotters on the inner walls and towers to watch for anything weird. Assault teams are good to go. I think we're just waiting for Light-One and Seeker-Two."

Hailey and Luke's call-signs.

"Did they run into problems?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Nothing significant. Something to do with the Maarin representatives. They requested to be included in our operations against Renault. I don't trust any of them. Neither does Luke. But your girlfriend wanted to hear them out."

"Ah."

Julius gave me one of his trademark looks—one with a heavily raised brow.

"She's still your boss, you know." I mentioned offhandedly.

"I am aware. If she wasn't, we would've never entertained the Maarins today."

I smirked.

"As long as you're aware."

Julius abruptly placed his hand over his ear and held a finger out to me.

"Go for Assault-One." he said, walking a few paces away from me.

His conversation carried on for a few minutes. When he returned, he told me that everyone was ready and in position.

On my command, we pressed forward into the Renaultian district.

We encountered minimal resistance from any military force, but ran across quite a large number of civilians—and a few altercations got close to escalating to the use of force.

The purple crystals loomed over us by the time we reached the center of the district.

My attention was captivated by the massive size of them, "How in the Aether did they move these things? They're almost as tall as one of the inner towers."

"They weren't here yesterday." A small voice responded to my musings from right next to me.

I flinched, moving backward in a jerking motion, on instinct. Tatsuko had sneaked up on me at some point and was looking at the crystal cluster, same as me.

"That sounds right," I replied, quietly regaining my composure, "Otherwise they should've been affected by the spell that wiped the gatehouse and the palace barrier away. So the Renaultians moved these here overnight?"

"From what we've seen with the Void, I think it's more likely these were just conjured here, rather than moved from elsewhere."

"Hmm," I mulled her logic over, "Makes sense to me. Well, not that I understand void magick or anything, but the conclusion seems plausible."

A flicker of motion caught my eye, and I turned towards it.

Black armor atop a flowing blue battle-dress materialized before me, as Hikita stepped out of a tear in space the led to the Void. Threads of empurpled magick spilled out of the space towards the crystal cluster nearby.

A loud crack thundered overhead as the cluster began to glow. The world seemed to shift—the sky darkened and everything was dyed a purple hue.

"In shadows deep, where darkness breeds, I herald whispers of fiendish deeds. The crystal hums, its power seethes, a storm to choke all who breathe."

Her melodic voice spoke in eerie rhyme as thick Aethermist settled in all around us, empowered by whatever this crystal construct was.

I quickly willed an inspection of her status up in the corner of my vision and confirmed that the corrupted looking interface readout was gone—Hikita was back to having just a single curse afflicting her.

- - - - - -TARGET- - - - - -

[HIKITA] <The Azure Rose> HEALTH: (122 / 165) STAMINA: (220 / 220) MAGICKA: (800 / 800)

» TARGET SUFFERS FROM NEGATIVE EFFECTS: » CURSE OF THE FALLEN

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Weird. She's already injured?

"When we met in Tolin," I called out to her, "You were fighting against this curse. You helped us find Renault's spies in the city. I know that you're being controlled somehow. If you can fight against this curse and help us, we can take down Renault for good."

Hikita's glowing eyes pierced through the mist, her expression obscured by the dense fog. The steady tap of her steel greaves never faltered.

Her response came in the same creepy sing-song, "You seek the crown, a throne so high. Yet whispers linger, in this dark sky."

"I don't care about Renault's throne. You probably know that. This is the curse talking. Fight it, Hikita! You sought me out before. I know you're desperate for freedom."

She drew both of her blades and brought them to bear down at me.

"Your light shall wane in the void's embrace where all is lain."

As if beckoned by her words, the void energy in the crystals erupted.

A massive vortex raged above us.

Thunder rumbled in harmony with a pulsing hum from within the cluster.

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