The battle progressed as Captain Esha Tavalik expected. The Verdanian Chaos ship Ebon Horizon had been damaged in its entry into the Pure Lands and they were unable to complete their repairs.

Still, destroying the ship completely hadn’t been advisable, not if they wanted to recover that artefact that the Holy Yabranth wanted. Ah, and the Plasma Carronades were too deadly. Shuddered at the blow that knocked down the Bloody Dragon. The glacier ship was tough, but even Chaos reinforced ice wasn’t enough to protect against superheated plasma injected with vitriolic Animus.

Sending the Lignoculi had been the only real choice and then, it was a battle of attrition. The hybrid puppets had no mind of their own and took direction from the captains. Esha could conceivably take control of each individual Lignoculus but why should she? The puppets weren’t all that powerful, at least not without joining together to create Grand Lignus.

Hmmm, which would probably be necessary today. The Horizon’s plasma balls burned through a good number of the Lignoculi, and if she let it be, they’d run out quickly.

The Storm’s Deceit slung a boulder but not towards the rampart. Esha frowned and queried the Deceit’s Core.

Reinforcements.

“Where?”

Port. Five hundred paces.

“Defeated?”

No.

“Keep at it then, but do not neglect the Ebon Horizon.”

Understood.

Esha sighed as she leaned back on her throne. Commanding the Lignoculi was difficult and she cannot split her attention more than twice. She needed one part to keep command of the Deceit, any less and the Chaos ship could crash, or the runescript converters could over saturate, leading to a build-up of denatured Animus. Or the Animus storage could become corrupted, especially by the vile ambient Chaos currently in the air.

The Blood Moon brought about the darker side of the Pure Lands, and that side would stop at nothing to regain what it had lost. Holy Yabranth keeps it contained.

Esha shook her head to refocus her thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for her mind to wander. Acquiring that artefact would give her both riches and power. If she was lucky, perhaps it would allow her to bond to it.

Ah, but most pre-Shattering artefacts were notoriously fickle. It would take decades, perhaps centuries to wear away their animating spirits. On the other hand, more modern artefacts were less finicky, if also less powerful. Though the term modern, she used rather incorrectly, in that no artefacts were created after the Shattering.

The period itself spanned several hundred years and only stopped near three thousand years ago. Artefacts made during that time period were more…utilitarian, while the ones in the before times were personal items meant for the sole use of the owner.

Either way, whatever she retrieved, she would be rewarded. She could taste it now. Ambrosia to strengthen her and allow her Geist to grow. The blue-veined tundra flower was a finicky plant. After growing to this state, it needed rarified reagents. But Ambrosia would be accepted by anything. The Holy Yabranth only produced a few droplets every year, and every drop was more precious than a bar of jade. Her Geist was barely at the Elder level, and only the Storm’s Deceit makes her a force to be reckoned with. She’d probably be rewarded with a bottle, tiny to be sure, but a bottle nonetheless. And that should propel her beyond the Elder and straight into the Matriarch Realm.

The blue-veined tundra flower would evolve from a single vine into a forest. Her personal power would grow so vast that what she was now would be but a minor reflection.

“Captain Tavalik, I’ve found my quarry,” Captain Gallus Messor said through the Core’s mindlink.

“Huh? Where.”

The reinforcements. The Deceit’s Core responded.

Esha frowned and focused, closed her body’s senses and opened those of the Lignoculi connected to the Deceit. The bridge faded away and was replaced by the gritty surface of the plateau. She turned the Lignoculi’s head, feeling the stiffness of its neck.

All around her were the other hybrid puppets marching towards the rampart, or fighting against the Kathari that emerged from the ground. These Kathari were seeds, remnants of remnants whose minds had long been worn away. They fought and devoured mindlessly, but if enough of them were combined into a singular form, if a single Kathari seed won enough times against its fellows, then a new consciousness would be born. Such frightening creatures were hunted down at once, lest they devour the very fabric of the planes and return everything to the nothingness before Chaos.

Still, the chances of that happening were as likely to happen as a coin-flipping sigil a million times in a row.

It seemed that Messor’s quarry wasn’t where she focused her consciousness at. She closed her eyes, the Lignoculi’s eyes actually, and jumped to another body. She continued to do so until she saw them. And her host was beheaded at the next moment, leaving her with both pain and disorientation.

Her mind returned to her body in the Storm’s Deceit and she roused with a vile curse on her lips.

“Meld your Lignoculi.”

Messor’s message came a bit too late. On her viewports, she could see his, and the other captain’s puppets already beginning the melding process. She activated hers and felt the Deceit’s Animus reserves drop precipitously. It couldn’t be helped. One doesn’t send swarm fodder to fight Knights.

The melding process took roughly a minute each, and by the end of it, they sent the combined Lignoculi, Grand Lignus, which were the size with Koinos Colossi though definitely much weaker. She sent half of her current complement towards the rampart to draw the Ebon Horizon’s, and its defenders’ attention then sent a fourth, roughly six grand Lignus, towards where she saw Messor’s quarry at.

Apparently, also where her quarry was at.

“Is that an artefact?” There was a hitch in Messor’s voice.

“Yes, that’s my quarry,” Esha said in a smug tone. “If you help, I’ll mention you in my report.”

“Help nothing! I lay claim to it!”

“Fool, the Holy Yabranth knows. Or do your loyalties lie with the Coalition instead?”

“...I bow to the Holy Yabranth’s will,” Messor’s voice was a flat monotone, “but you will help me with the exiled prince.”

“Why? Do you want him dead or captured?”

“My patron prefers a live body to display.”

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“Very well.”

“Oh, will you look at that? The bearer wiped out three Lignus.”

“Tsk. Controlling the rest of these things is a pain.” Esha grumbled. “Have your men focus on the Horizon.”

“Captain Neil Ester would like to grind the prince’s face in the stone,” Messor laughed. “Apparently, that brat ran his ship ragged.”

“Do what he will, but I don’t think we can capture them if we’re too scattered. I can barely command the Lignos and without direction, they’re nothing but lumbering beasts.”

“Well, prepare to descend then,” Messor laughed. “We’ll show these Verdanians what it's like fighting something that doesn’t feel pain.”

And so they shall. Esha Tavalik looked forward to it.

She commanded her surviving Lignus to halt, then focused on one to be her vessel. The Lignus were huge. Too big and clumsy to fight agile foes. Thankfully, they had one more trick up their sleeve.

The Lignus she inhabited with her mind started to condense and shrink. What once took up nearly sixteen square paces, shrank down to two. Human-sized, but with the same mass as a Koinos.

While she was fully invested into the Lignus, her real body, and even the Storm’s Deceit had entered a hibernation state. The ship’s Core barely had enough control and energy to keep the Protective Sphere up, but it should last long enough for her to jump her mind back if they were attacked. As for the denatured Animus reserves, well, much of it was used to power the hungry Lignus and this condensed form took the lion’s share. Every other Lignus had ceased moving and were in a special state to preserve the little reserve they had left.

That opened them up to a powerful counterattack from the Horizon, but this was far more important.

After threats were levied and the demand for surrender, Captain Messor couldn’t wait any longer and launched himself at the artefact bearer. Esha held in a smile and waited with eager anticipation. From her angle, she could barely see the impact point, but that was fine.

Boom!

“Eh?” Messor’s gasp was clearly audible.

Esha blinked. The Lignus’ fist had clearly been headed towards the woman’s face, but other than the dust, nothing seems to have changed.

Messor’s body moved to the side, and Esha goggled at the sight. The woman had caught Messor’s punch with her hand, and with her fingers wrapped around his fist, she twisted it sharply, then rammed the heel of her other palm straight at Messor’s faceplate.

The head snapped back, and it would have probably broken if it were a lesser body. The artefact sword materialized in the woman’s hand, even as she kept hold of his fist. Then, with a savage slash, the blade bit into his torso and cleft him in twain.

“Hah!” Esha barked a laugh. “That’s what you get for being arrogant!”

“Shut it! Hold her attention while I form another connection!” Messor’s furious voice drowned the mindlink with fury. And shame.

Whoosh!

Esha ducked. A bolt of blue superheated plasma careened just above her head. Then she sidestepped as it curved back and attempted to pierce her back. The shot came from a sandy-haired man bearing a Verdanian Plasma Caster. Another Verdanian man, another Knight, and with similar features to the first, rushed at her. No, at Ester’s Lignus. Plasma balls hovered above his palms, and from the amount of Animus invested in it, it would be enough to blow a hole through their armour.

Esha flung her hand and threw an ice shard at the man with the caster. He blasted her projectile apart but she had a follow-up blow. That she had to abort as she dodged and rolled away when the bearer smashed the space she was in with her artefact.

Streaks of gold circled around the bearer and shot towards her. Esha barely managed to raise her hand, before she remembered that she had no vitals to protect. Instead, she pushed her body towards the woman, dodging the bare minimum to keep her joints from harm.

When she closed, she reached out into a grab, but the bearer leaned back then kicked her Lignos at the centre of mass.

For a moment, Esha lost control of the body and she found herself flying back. Then, some kind of hard metal shards slammed into her torso, but they couldn’t penetrate even a quarter of an inch in.

She ignored the shards and focused on the bearer, though her perception couldn’t help but note the assailant. It was a young man, more boy really, and was undoubtedly the exiled prince Messor sought. Come to think of it, the bearer looked awfully young. Now that she got a closer look. Huh, wasn’t she a child? A particularly tall and strong one, but a child, nonetheless. What were the Verdanians playing at?

But no, that child whose delicate features tugged at her heartstrings, wielded her weapon with murderous intent. Granted, she was here to take the artefact for the Belrath Xylarchy, but still.

Esha ducked under the swing, but that was a mistake. As if the thing weighed less than a feather, the girl arrested the blade’s sideways momentum and transitioned the slash into a chop. Esha felt her connection to the Lignus snap and she found herself disoriented and nauseated back in the Deceit’s bridge.

“Seedless fruit!”

She growled in disgust at her own negligence. She gave the command for another Lignus to condense, even as she watched them from above. The bearer made short work of Captain Ester’s Lignus, and once they were clear, they ran towards the ramparts, unhampered now by the unmoving troops.

Well, there were dozens more of the Lignus, and they would eventually wear away at them. The bearer’s Animus reserves would run dry. Eventually.

It took nearly all of that dozen. She came back to the fight. Exchanged several blows and was eventually vanquished, only for her to return a minute later. The bearer and her companions almost reached the rampart, but unfortunately for them, it looked like they ran dry.

Esha looked down in satisfaction. Her current body lacked an arm, and there was a large gaping wound across the torso, but the bearer had her weapon stabbed into the ground. Her face was pale and the Animus glow of her eyes was fading, returning from gold to blue. Sweat dripped down the woman’s chin and her gaze was starting to lose focus.

“You see?” Messor said triumphantly. “There was never a chance for you.”

Arrogant words for someone whose vessel was but half the man it used to be. As for Captain Ester, all of his Lignus has been destroyed.

All three Verdanian Knights were nearly on their knees. As for the exiled prince’s bodyguard, one was dead, and the remaining two women were in bad shape. They had apparently been carrying someone, and that boy was the one in the best shape.

The bearer staggered to her feet and Esha could practically hear her teeth grinding. The golden flames that usually surrounded her flared to life, spreading nearly a pace from her.

Esha’s Lignus took a step back and balled its fist. She had another Lignus a few dozen paces away, and but a thought away from condensing to human size. Even if the bearer defeated this one, there would be another. All while her body was safe in her Chaos ship. There was no way they would lose.

The bearer’s light shrank down into her skin, then condensed just above her palm. All of her light. Esha blinked in wonder at the difference. Golden light had always emanated from the girl’s skin, giving her a dazzling appearance, but with the light moving out, it showed off her alabaster complexion. Quite beautiful. The light flowed towards the artefact and it looked as if she was about to do something drastic. Well, better head that off then.

Esha stepped forward.

Crack!

“Huh?”

All of them, the Lignus holding Messor’s consciousness, the bearer, the other two Verdanian Knights, the prince and his two attendants, all looked at the sky, where the crimson light of the Blood Moon shattered.

A hole in the sky appeared and it showed the colourful hues of Chaos outside. The hole appeared for a moment, just long enough…for a Chaos ship to enter.

And what a ship it was.

It was long and sleek. Silvery metal with jade green highlights. The shape was much like the Ebon Horizon but was longer and narrower, with wide backswept wings. It rocketed into the Pure Lands, radiating such powerful light that it practically pushed away the crimson-hued ambient Chaos.

Then, something flew out of the ship. A being with wings of silvery light. Esha’s full attention was drawn to that figure and for some reason, she couldn’t muster the will to move. Couldn’t even force herself to think of finishing the job with the bearer.

The figure descended until she was a hundred paces above the centre of the plateau. Esha’s eyes got used to the soft glow it emitted until she could see the figure’s features. It was a woman. Long golden hair that drifted enticingly in the wind. Blue eyes. Elfin features, slender body, and a modest bosom. She was clad in flowing robes made of gossamer silk.

Those eyes! Oh, those eyes. They seemed to stare into her very Anima, every secret laid bare, every sin and ambition in the open. Esha thought there was disappointment in those eyes, and she desperately hoped against everything else, that that beautiful goddess would not find her wanting.

Holy Yabranth forgive her, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the awesome figure. Superlatives rolled into her mind. This was the most beautiful, most heavenly, most divine being she’d ever laid eyes on and she would do anything for her!

She could hear Messor, Ester, and Captain Artha Tenril of the Bloody Dragon, murmuring those words. She competed in finding a description for how divine the woman was and competed in finding an oath that would bind them to her. Anything. Anything!

“Good evening.”

The goddess spoke. Her voice was pure Ambrosia, and Esha could feel her Anima stirring in delight. What did she want? What could she do for her?

“Please…”

No, there was no need for that word! But her Anima cried out in delight and exultation! What could she do for her?

“Die.”

Yes! By your will, oh great goddess!

Then Esha’s heart stopped, and she knew nothing else.