CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE.

The bloated, mutant corpse of Telm An’kaa hurled itself at the glowing sigil ceaselessly for minutes on end while Adeline hovered overhead, her unrealistically perfect features held in a placid, patronizing smile. The monster screeched in an impotent, psychotic rage, blackened blood spraying out with every impact from its myriad wounds— to which the Archwitch replied with a casual yawn, covering her mouth daintily with one hand before retrieving a pocket watch from a floating handbag that materialized next to her.

“Hmm… you know,” she began, with a tone like she was addressing a child having a tantrum. “If you continue with this course of action, I’m afraid it will invalidate your agreement with the Confederation. You wouldn’t be going back on your word now, would you?”

Telm An’Kaa’s only response was another hate-filled scream as it hurled itself against the sigil again.

Adeline looked down with exaggerated hurt, shaking her head almost tearfully.

“Well, in that case, I’m afraid I have no choice.”

She reached into the same handbag from earlier, pulling out a single sheet of golden paper.

“Telm An’Kaa, by your actions in repeatedly attempting to cross the ancestral border of the sovereign nation of Terland, you have violated your Oath. You have provided no cause, made no attempt at amicable resolution of grievance, and ignored multiple overtures of peaceful intent. This contract is now void.”

The golden paper shredded itself as the Archwitch snapped her fingers, and shortly afterward the giant sigil in the air shattered like glass before dissipating. Telm An’Kaa lunged through the now-open space, but somehow completely missed the floating witch without her seeming to move at all. She wiggled happily, clapping her hands with girlish excitement despite the apparent danger.

“Ah, isn’t that just delightful? Simply marvelous to have such a long-term investment finally pay out. Now to wrap things up… oh bo~oys!'' she said with a sing-song lilt. “I think the poor old dog’s gotten sick.”

The Archwitch’s smile became a thing of cold malice that made me shiver.

“Time to put it down.”

With that, she vanished; leaving me staring uneasily at the approaching horde of monsters and the still-raging kaiju. Telm An’Kaa continued to screech mindlessly, head flopping around on his still-broken neck as he hunted fruitlessly for the missing witch. A strobing flash of light came from over the ridgeline behind us, but before I could turn my head to see what it was, Telm An’Kaa exploded.

A thunderous shockwave rolled over us, rocking the whole caravan with the force of it. The Couatl was blasted back into the horde of monsters, crushing thousands with its bulk and wailing piteously.

“What the hell was that??” I blurted.

“That, kid, is the Terland… Home…” he trailed off, frowning as above us an immense shadow cut through the clouds, descending into view like an executioner's blade. It had an elongated diamond shape, overall slightly larger than the Duchess but with the back half looking mostly like some kind of scaffold. Fin-like protrusions extended from the sides and the back, reminding me of the wings on the ‘skips and making it look almost like a shark in the sky. Judging from the bristling gun turrets mounted all over the front, this shark had teeth. More shadows broke through the clouds, trailing bits of mist as they cut down into view until there were dozens of airships formed up in the air above us, and the longer we watched, the more ships came into view.

From the ridgeline behind us came a sound like enormous drums, drawing my attention just in time to see something the size of a small town cresting over the horizon. It looked like someone had taken two aircraft carriers and mounted them in a cross shape on the back of a giant mecha-crab. Gun turrets of ridiculous size were mounted along the forward sections, many of them still smoking from the barrage that had just effortlessly smacked down Telm An'kaa.

“Ok that, is the border guard,” Leigh said, gesturing lamely at the colossal machine walking towards us.

A hum started to fill the air, and smaller shapes started breaking off from the vessels overhead. I quickly recognized more of the flying transport skips, but they each were accompanied by delta-shaped formations of smaller craft.

Fighters?

In the distance, the smoking bulk of Telm An'kaa heaved itself back up, shrieking even more as the horde of infected beasts swarmed around it, pouring towards us in a wave of corrupted flesh. Infected fliers hurled themselves forward, their collective shrieks and roars blending into a deafening cacophony.

The Terland navy was unimpressed.

First to respond was the land-based colossus, which vanished behind a wall of smoke— sending out a second barrage of shells that flattened the frontlines of the horde and pummeled the kaiju back again. The behemoth machine rumbled forward, each of its eight legs hitting the ground with a steady beat that thundered to match its cannons.

Not to be outdone, the airships launched volleys of rockets in staggered volleys. It was like a meteor shower, the cloudy sky suddenly obscured by the exhaust trails of thousands of rockets as they screamed overhead. They hit the airborne elements of the swarm like a sledgehammer, air bursting in rolling waves that pulped masses of flying horrors with brutal precision.

The airships lunged forward like the sharks they resembled at the reeling swarms of airborne beasts, their fin-like wings thrumming with power as cannons and spells joined the symphony of destruction began by the rocket volleys. Delta wings of fighters followed the ships, some circling protectively and preventing the scattered monsters from getting close enough to do damage, others stabbing like knives into the swarm’s flanks and launching their own array of rockets. Aerial dogfights filled the sky above us and explosions rocked the swamp below as the Terlanders fought the [Blighted] horde with ruthless skill and efficiency.

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This isn't a battle, this is an extermination.

Magic sparked in the air, and I felt a surge rapidly approaching with all the spells being used. The sensation tickled a memory from all the way back in Delmoth.

“Dude, you guys weren't kidding about the border guard… and I thought you couldn't fly airships right now with the surge?” I mumbled with alarm tinged slightly by awe at the destruction we were watching.

“You can't, it's supposed to be suicidal to try… and that's not just the border guard, Ray,” Leigh said with a growing look of concern. He pointed at the first ship that had come down, currently blasting its way through a smaller flock of infested. “You see those colors? That's the CNS Invincible, flagship of the First Fleet, and if they're here then that means—”

He was cut off as the surge finally erupted around us, magic flooding the air in a cascade of sparks… until it vanished, draining away like water in a tub. Arcs of lightning shot through the air, flowing in lines that wrapped around each of the flying vessels before jumping to the mecha-crab below. Three towers extended from the machine’s back that seemed to suck up all the ambient magical energy, power flowing around its frame until it reached a single triangular protrusion on the mecha’s head. Then, in a burst of retina-searing brightness, it erased the horizon.

A single beam of white-hot energy lanced out, burning absolutely everything as the titanic machine swept it methodically across the horde of [Blight]. The colossus itself hadn’t even slowed, thundering slowly forward as it swept the destructive beam back and forth like a laser cleaner. It only paused once; a single enormous leg slammed into the smoking body of Telm An’Kaa, pinning it in place while the machine scorched the kaiju’s corpse to ash. Job done, it simply… moved on. There were more monsters to kill.

Leigh and I looked out at the burned landscape slack-jawed until a buzzing crackle of static followed by a sound like blasting trumpets resounded through the swamp.

—Hear ye, hear ye! By the authority of High Lady Adelaine Haethram and the Great Houses, the Confederation of Terland does now declare the formal annexation of the Great River Plains, and all of its constituent territories, unto its border with the Calamity zone of the Silent Kingdoms.

Representatives of the Confederation shall make themselves known to ease this transition of power. All resistance will be crushed. Order will be maintained.

Terland Unconquered!—

We stared quietly at the looming fleet, the destruction already petering off as they finished their bloody work.

“Oh shit.”

It seemed wholly inadequate, but what exactly are you supposed to say when you watch a country just outright dibs a whole area like this, especially after that absurd display of power?

“Ray!” Leigh shouted, dragging me out of my shock. “Get to the flotilla, now!”

“Wha—” I began,

“This just became a military annexation! That is a large group of people and there’s no way the fleet didn’t see them. You need to get over there now before the fleet sends someone and their first impression of the villagers is Nezzick. Stress your connection to the Haethrams, that’ll buy some time. I need to… shit, I need to do a lot. Go.”

Understanding hit me with a side dose of panic, and I pushed my tired body into the air and shot out to the flotilla as fast as I could. I hit the deck of the old galleon with a fresh burst of shattered timber and collapsed, barely managing to shift back into my human form and summon my coat so I wasn’t completely naked as a smaller airship peeled off from the fleet overhead.

It was smaller than our cobbled-together ‘flagship’, but the sleek lines of the airship’s angular hull radiated pure lethality in a way we couldn’t come close to matching. The ship descended towards us until it was looming over the deck and casting an ominous shadow over everyone— stopping just high enough to be a blatantly obvious power move.

“Attention vessel! Heave to and prepare to be boarded!” came a shout from the Terland ship.

I looked around at the exhausted villagers slumped everywhere, most having just dropped to the deck and passed out as soon as we came to a halt.

Yeah, don't think that's gonna be a problem.

Several grappling hooks were launched over, drawing the floating airship in closer so they could deploy several boarding ramps down to our deck. I barely had time to blink before a swarm of marines in dark grey armor stormed down, short rifles covering every angle, even if it was completely unnecessary.

“Easy guys,” I said, keeping my voice calm and raising my hands placatingly. “No threats here, just tired people.”

“A necessary precaution, during these… adventurous times.”

The voice came from a tall figure wearing a black overcoat that trod steadily down the ramp after the marines had ‘secured’ the area. He looked around with a calculating gleam in his eye before settling on me.

“I am Bastian Reed. I have been appointed as a sort of… liaison between the new provincial government and the local population. It is my duty to ease the transition of power and ensure that all present are welcomed as new citizens of the Confederation. I am given to understand your people are usually under the protection of a Beast Lord? If you would kindly direct me to them, I have been authorized to—” an explosion illuminated him from behind as a wing of Terland fighters cut down an infested couatl with a barrage of rockets, “—negotiate.”

Well, that totally wasn't ominous or anything.

Lowering my hands, I tried to keep my posture as non-threatening as possible. I could probably win if this came down to a fight, but then the rest of the Navy would slaughter the villagers.

“That’d be me,” I said. “My name is Kosimar, I'm a friend of Lord Haethram. I was on my way to see him when all… this, happened.”

Reed looked at me curiously.

“Are you now… well, I suppose that's all easy enough to verify.” He gave one last look around the deck. “A refugee camp and processing facility being established to the north. We will escort you there, and I will be in contact with my superiors. So long as your story checks out, you will have nothing to fear. Do not deviate from our course.”

With that, he left, the marines quickly following him back onto the airship as they pulled up and moved to the head of the flotilla.

“Great One?” I heard Nezzick’s questioning voice come from behind me.

“Do what he says,” I told him. “I’ll talk to Veris, and we’ll figure things out. Just… keep things low-key for once, dude. Now, are there any other emergencies, situations, problems, or concerns that need to be handled right this second?”

The old shaman hesitated before shrugging helplessly. “No, Great One?”

“Fantastic. Then can someone please get me some freaking pants!?”