V12: Chapter 2

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Interlude: Riegert

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I never expected a messenger to arrive with news from back home, especially as we were making our way back from instigating a conflict between the Stymphalians and Ascendant.

Thankfully, we never found the Guardian's expedition, as we would have had to engage them if we did.

"Well, that's a political mess that we've managed to avoid." Oswald read the message detailing news of our alliance with the Guardians, the taking of the Merchant Citadel, and the recent repulsion of the Demons. Months of roaming the wilderness gave him a disheveled mane along with many other Descendants. The Conquerors were the most well-kept of our troops, and surprisingly many were quick to offer their services as barbers and shavers when time permitted. "Wait, the Guardian's are joined with us. That means that our Citadels are improved, right?"

"Correct. If it goes as expected, their outputs will be improved by a fifth now." The estimated numbers that we required came to mind. Sheer industrial output of military supplies by tonnage that boggled the mind. I had seen the vast warehouses beneath cities that Jack wanted filled with ammunition, guns, dried food, medical supplies, and uniforms before the war even began. With an increase of twenty percent from our Citadels, they would undoubtably be filled within the timeframe that he wished, even with our participation in wars against the other half of the Continent. "We have a chance at victory now."

Oswald almost missed a step at my words.

"A chance at victory, captain? Not victory?" At his question, I just nodded. I'll have him promoted after this expedition and get the requisite clearance to know the whole truth. He practically operated half the expedition while I took the other. The flexibility it gave us had been key to hitting as many positions between our two enemies as possible. I struck Ascendant lands, he struck Harpies days later, and we killed those who could report on the truth while hiding our tracks. Most of our deaths came from exhaustion and we carried their ashes with us. Our pace was so strenuous that even the greatly-enhanced new generation of soldiers were dying from overexertion alone. "How is that possible?"

"You'll know after I get you promoted. Just know that what we did here was worth not finding the final Divine Engine." Finding another wonderous gift from the Ancients had been a secondary objective. Our goal was to incite a devastating conflict between two of our future foes. We succeeded in that. Our rear-guard sent constant reports to us from a day away. Their reports were of conflict breaking out in the lands that we had passed. The more blood spilled in our wake the less that would need to be spilled at the homefront. "Enjoy a few weeks of easy sleeping, before you know the truth."

"…You know, I think I may consider leaving the military after this."

"I know you. Once the danger rears its head, you'll be one of the first to throw yourself at it. Stay and make better use of your strength."

Oswald opened his mouth to speak when a soft whistle resounded from the back of our scattered formation.

"Something happening, captain?"

"Yes, get ready." I offered Oswald my arm and he grimaced before taking it and bracing himself. In a moment, I took off as quickly as I could towards the back of our formation. Oswald shuddered and his legs shook for a moment, but he was clear of mind within moments. The whistleblower gave me a small nod before directing my attention towards one of the rear guard a day behind. "Report."

"The Guardian expedition has been sighted. They're being pursued and harried by Ascendant forces." I almost cursed. We were in plains with tall grass and it had little cover. Not only that, but because of our primary task we expended much of our munitions already by destroying defensive positions between the Ascendant and the Stymphalians. A decisive engagement. Perhaps two. That was all we had supplies for. "Your orders?"

Honor demanded we come to aid our new allies, but I valued the lives of my men more than the Guardian's expedition. But I would expend their lives for another blessing from the Ancients.

"Any news on what they found?" I prayed to any ancestor who was listening that the answer would be nothing. I did not want to spend the lives of my soldiers. No, with our ammunition almost all expended, I couldn't ask them that. However, if it meant preventing one of our foes from taking control of a powerful artifact thought lost to time, I would have to make another call. "How many Guardians are there?"

"It's a large force, commander. We believe that two expeditions were sent and they joined together. At least three thousand." I cursed. Such large numbers were sure to be spotted. Our expedition barely reached a hundred and we would have less if we didn't have weapons to test. Even then, after the munitions for those weapons were used, they were melted down and the slag buried to reduce weight. In these lands, traveling lightly, quickly, and unnoticed was key. "But, sir, we believe they found the third Divine Engine. It leads them now and its strength is the only thing ensuring their survival."

"But it's not strong enough, is it?" The Goddess of Life received prayer for years before being roused. The Goddess of Death arose in a land steeped in death. A Goddess of War, sealed away for countless millennia, just roused from slumber? I was sure that she would be strong, but there are limits to budding potential. This is it, then. "Oswald, get a Conqueror and head to the front. I'll be sending the rear guard to you soon."

Oswald understood what I aimed to do in just a moment.

"Captain, no! You can't do this. We need you!" He was right, I was needed, but not as much as another Divine Engine. I looked my old friend in the eyes and shook my head. Instead, I took off my pack and began to put on the armor packed tightly in cloth within. I hadn't worn it once in during our expedition, and I lamented its weight many times, but I put it on and felt its assuring weight. "At least let us fight with you. We can set up an ambush, use our munitions, and get you and the Divine Engine out. You'll both be faster without us."

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I decided it was time to give my friend a field promotion.

"The Guardians of the Moon need a Divine Engine. If they found it, we were to offer them assistance in getting it. They need it to hold their fronts. All simulations showed they fail and we fall with them if they don't." If we could just take the Divine Engine for ourselves, we could let the Guardian expeditions die and seize it before leaving. Oswald probably considered that idea first, discarding saving the Guardians entirely, but he hadn't said it with our alliance in mind. Now, with the truth I shared with him, that plan was undone even further. "Get to the mountains. Send the Conquerors out to reach our outpost. Give me all the supplies you can spare."

I gestured to my emptied pack and Oswald scowled as he filled it with rations. He barked out orders and those close by also came to do the same.

The Conquerors who came to listen all pooled the remains of their munitions and gave them to me along with one of their large rifles without a word.

Their glares at me were fierce, but they didn't say a word, while I finished putting on my armor and undid the wrapping around my axe.

Its handle settled into my hand like an old friend.

Oswald stood silent before me for a moment, as I pulled on my pack in full armor. A gleaming Champion ready to do battle stood before him, but I knew that he saw only a friend.

"Tell Ilych to train hard and do everything she can to survive, and that I love her with all my heart." As a young man, I had been obsessed with creating a successor. An Ancient reborn by finding the most compatible woman, arcane rituals, and potions that changed my body as much I was able to withstand. I intended to raise a Champion amongst Champions who would fear nothing and revitalize the peoples of the continent. Instead, from the moment I held her first in my hands, I gained a child I knew that I'd do anything to protect. "And, tell Jack that if he fails, I'll find him in Paradise and kill him again."

Oswald scoffed but raised his head and gave me a small smile.

"Your last order is for me to insult the king, captain? You're as cruel as taskmasters come."

I just gave him a nod and a tilt of my helm, before raising my axe his way in salute.

He placed his fist over his heart and with his free hand drew his blade and saluted in turn.

As did the rest of my troops.

After that farewell, I moved onward to ensure the continent's future.

Ilych's future.

My daughter's future.

…

I reached the combined Guardian expedition and found them in a desperate struggle.

Their entire right flank was engaged by Ascendant war machines leading hordes of their chattel.

The chattel was strapped with crude augments and their backs were studded with vials of green fluid. Every time they were struck with a bullet to their flesh, the vials injected the fluid into them, and their wounds healed over with tumors. They felt no pain and charged forward, their helmets and visors embedded into their skulls, and focusing their attention on the Guardians.

The neat lines of skeletons armed with muzzle-loading rifles were engulfed by the horde, while the Ascendant themselves acted as ranged firepower and artillery.

We classified the Ascendant based on the size of the chassis that they inhabited.

Five of those present were knights. They had agile chassis with four legs and were armed to deal with singular threats. One arm was a melee weapon crackling with lighting while the other was a rapid-firing cannon designed to chip at armor or kill swathes of normal troops. They engaged the elites of the Guardian force, young Vampire knights who rode on spectral steeds, and took the attention of over two hundred Undead horse riders as a result. Swathes lay dead or were being carried away, but if they broke the five knights would rampage across their lines and shatter the whole formation.

Three more Ascendant were of the lord class. Their focus was ranged assaults and blended the role of artillery and divisions of archers. They had six legs and a stocky central unit, which had six arms and a back that launched flying bombs. The six arms alternated with ancient patterns of machine guns with multiple barrels that spat devastating amounts of fire and large cannons that lobbed slow-moving shells. The mages of the Guardians were dueling with them, desperately on the backfoot, as they were focused on shielding the caravan. When the mages managed to launch an attack, the lords distributed the attacks between one another, taking hits on their armor for each other, before returning to formation and firing back. If the barriers of the mages failed, then the whole expedition will be destroyed by withering firepower from those three alone.

But my gaze was on the tyrant that led them, which was engaged by a Champion and the Divine Engine of War.

The tyrant was almost two stories tall. It wielded the weapons of the knights on mounts on its legs, which rotated and fired at both the Guardian Champion and the Divine Engine ceaselessly. Despite its size and the amount of armor it carried, it was as fast as a horse at full gallop, circling around the two and peppering them with fire. Instead of arms it had three mechanical tendrils each with a baleful, brightly-glowing 'eye' that spat out rays of heat that turned the ground to glass upon hitting, and set grass alight from merely firing. It had another, larger, and brighter central aperture at its torso, and both its opponents did their utmost to avoid its sight.

I examined the battle and I knew that Guardians can endure, but only for a few more days. Their morale was not wavering, they were reviving more skeletons and throwing them into the fray, and their elites were harrying the main force sent by the Ascendant. However, the greatest Vampires and their students were sealed away and awaiting the next age, thus the elites of this force were too inexperienced and weak to overcome this challenge.

Thankfully, I had experience in spades.

But I did not have the strength that the next generation had.

Perhaps, if I was born into this new age, rather than my own I would be able to sally forth and return.

But I was not.

However, what better end is there for a warrior of the previous age than to show his worth one last time to the new?

"Hold fast for a moment more, old friend." I spoke to my axe almost idly, while I laid down on the small hill overlooking the battle. The Conqueror who gave me their rifle had cleaned and maintained it scrupulously and sighted it for me. I had no doubt of its ability as I lay prone and placed its stock on my shoulder. There was only one target to consider. The tyrant. Its legs and main torso were all too strong for even the Ancient rifle to pierce, but the tendrils had to be less armored to move as they did. "I'll have you in a moment."

I pulled the trigger and the booming sound of thunder pierced the din of battle. The grass before my scope parted and blew apart as the sliver of armor-piercing Citadel alloy sped across from me and the tyrant. I was within two hundred paces of the Ascendant, thus the shot had no chance to drop. It struck one of the tendrils at the mid-section and it flailed, firing its deadly blue beam up into the sky.

The other two tendrils turned my way, but the Divine Engine and the armored Guardian Champion beset it immediately. A burst of flame engulfed it, while the armor came apart and flew, before reforming atop the beast and beginning to hack at its top. A possessed suit of armor. It was most likely Catherine, Celia's advisor, and she proceeded to let loose a ghastly, empowered wail that shook my ears despite how distant she was.

But it wasn't enough.

I sighted the tendrils and kept firing to disable its weapons.

Once the chassis was destroyed, the real battle will begin against its occupant, and I knew that this is the day I would give my life.

Every Tyrant, after all, contained within them a Champion of the Ascendant.

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