Bursts of fire erupted overhead, bathing the city streets in an orange glow. The world rumbled as other skills tore between the enemies and through the alleys, eviscerating anyone who found themselves in their way.
Most were slaves, but there were a few normal citizens of the Imperium who’d not made it into the shelters. They never would, because their own soldiers were indiscriminate in their defense of the city. Anyone left outside was fair game. It was just one more reminder of just how cruel the Radiant Host could be, though it had been quite some time since Zeke had needed one. He knew who they were. More importantly, he’d seen their patron, the Sun Goddess, and felt her influence. They were evil because, at her core, she was rotten.
And his crusade wouldn’t end with her minions. One day, he would face her down and force her to pay for everything that had been done in her name.
For now, though, he shouldered through a giant fireball, feeling its intense heat stripping away layer after layer of his metallic skin away. It was painful – even with his natural tolerance – but he didn’t let it distract him. Largely, that was because he knew it would never be enough to do appreciable damage.
And if it did past that threshold, he always had [Hand of Divinity].
When he rushed through the ball of fire, Zeke saw the mage’s self-satisfied expression of superiority fade only a second before he crushed the man with his hammer. Voromir descended with such power that the robed mage burst into a gelatinous slurry, unidentifiable and disgusting. The head of the hammer smashed into the street a fraction of an instant later, and the force of the blow sent a shockwave of destruction arcing out in every direction.
The kobolds leaped over him, leveling their shields and erecting a powerful barrier the second their feet hit the ground. It was just in time, because a thousand arrows fell upon it a moment later, sending ripples of power across its entire length. Each one of those attacks could have killed Zeke only a few years before, but he knew that he could easily endure everything all at once and come through it.
Maybe not entirely unscathed, and certainly not without significant pain, but he could take anything the city’s defenders could dish out.
The kobolds could not, though. They were still quite vulnerable, and that meant they needed to take the threats seriously. As such, the line of powerful kobolds pushed forward cautiously, keeping their interlocking shield skill running at full power even as the defenders’ ranged attacks rained down upon them.
The army’s advance was slow, but it was also steady. Even as the fury of those attacks increased – probably due to panic – the kobolds’ march continued unabated.
In the distance, Zeke saw the enemy’s lines falter, and if he was honest, he couldn’t blame them. The kobolds were each at least ten feet tall, and they were packed with enough muscle that they cut an intimidating presence. But for the Radiant Host, who’d been raised and trained on the idea that they were superior, the sight of the hulking monsters and their inevitable advance was assuredly horrifying.
For some, their fear meant an increased instance of skill-use. Mages hurled one radiant fireball after another in the hopes that eventually, they could punch through the powerful shield. Archers mimicked that action, but instead of using fireball, they summoned arrows of gleaming light that were more than capable of killing any individual kobold.
But together, the army was unstoppable. Together, their defenses were unassailable.
It was a beautiful thing to witness, and Zeke stood at the rear of the army, admiring the force he’d helped build. For his part, he was ready to leap in and help if necessary, but he knew just how valuable – for their levels as well as their psyche – such a battle would be.
Even now, at the precipice of winning a war, he was cognizant of his kobolds’ progress. They needed to get stronger, and not just to combat the trials ahead. It was also their best way to ease their way into sapience, at least as far as he could see. There were other steps, but he had no control over those at the moment. For now, he could only help them grow more powerful.
And the Radiant Host was the grindstone upon which they would sharpen themselves.
The Knights charged down the wide street – it was the main avenue through the city, so it was at least a fifty yards across – but when they hit the kobold’s front lines, they were stopped cold. That’s when the legionnaires lashed out with their spears, piercing their enemies’ chests and sending them reeling in retreat.
Zeke saw their intention immediately, but fortunately, so did the kobolds. Instead of giving chase, they continued their inexorable advance, thwarting the Radiant Host’s attempt at baiting them into a trap.
The furious barrage of skills increased in intensity, and the shield began to waver. The moment before it collapsed in on itself, the second line of kobold stepped forward even as the first row backed away. As they did so, the shield winked out, but before even a single skill made it through, the second row erected their own barrier, completing the switch.
The bombardment continued, but the kobolds were entirely unfazed.
Not long after, one of the Inashi appeared beside Zeke.
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“We have found them, master,” he hissed, flicking in and out of Zeke’s vision like a shadow.
“Show me,” Zeke ordered. At one point, he’d objected to them calling him master, but he now knew he couldn’t stop them from labeling him as such. He didn’t care about that, now. Instead, the entirety of his attention was on the task at hand. So, as much as he wanted to remain with the bulk of the army, he had another objective.
He could have killed the opposing army himself, but so could his kobolds. The same could not be said of the leaders of the Radiant Host. He – with the help of his closest companions – was the only one who could take care of them – at least without significant casualties.
So, he resolved to trust that the kobold army could finish off their counterparts, and in the meantime, he followed the Inashi through the city. He barely noticed the architecture, expect to acknowledge that Eldoria was a beautiful city. That fit. It was the capitol of the Imperium and one of the richest cities in the world. Of course it would be beautiful.
But Zeke knew the ugliness that underlay the buildings’ carved facades and the sculptures that decorated every intersection. It had all been built on slavery and oppression, which everything he saw.
That made it abhorrent, regardless of how it had been dressed up.
Zeke continued to follow the Inashi, and he was struck by just how large the city was. Of course, it had to be, considering the numbers at play. Housing millions of people was no mean feat, and it required quite a lot of space. That was especially true when the city’s layout made no attempt at utilizing the area efficiently. There were no high-rises. No communal housing. Just one palace after another.
“Where do they put their poor people?” he wondered as he trotted along behind the shadowy Inashi.
Eveline answered, “They went over this in one of the meetings. Much of the city is underground. The further down, the worse it gets. The slaves are kept ten levels down, and they are reportedly packed into unhealthy conditions. There are whole communities down there that have never seen the light of day. They toil away in mines, manufacturing operations, and underground farms. Tens of millions of them.”
“Wait – the population of the city –”
“Those numbers never included the slaves or those who lacked citizenship. The true numbers are close to fifty or sixty million.”
“Damn,” Zeke breathed.
“Indeed. Most won’t survive this war.”
“What? Why?”
“The Imperium will burn this city down to the ground – literally and metaphorically – before it lets you take it intact,” Eveline answered. “That includes slaughtering every slave they have. That’s one of the reasons the plan was built the way it was. The armies will sweep in and rescue as many slaves as possible while you and the others deal with the elites of the Radiant Host.”
Zeke recalled something about that, but he’d only listened to his part of the battleplan. He was no strategies, and so, he’d never considered knowing what everyone else was supposed to do to be a high priority. Perhaps he needed to adjust his thinking, especially if the next realm proved to be as contentious as he expected it to be.
“That’s why you have me, right?” Eveline asked. “You can focus on the smashing things part while I’m the brains of the operation.”
“I don’t know if I – ”
Zeke didn’t finish the thought, because something rammed into him, cutting him off. The figure – it was a person, he was sure – hit him with so much force that the resulting momentum sent him through the first four walls in a nearby palace. He didn’t come to a stop until he’d skipped across a large garden and into a massive statue of some heroic warrior.
Zeke picked himself up just in time to see that he was surrounded by a series of ten-foot-tall Knights. He could feel enough mana to know that each one was under the effects of identical skills that gave them their increased size. It was much like [Titan], though he was far larger.
“Fifteen?” he asked aloud. “Is this all you brought?”
“Fiend,” said one, stepping forward and leveling his sword in Zeke’s direction. “You have sullied our very streets with your foul presence and –”
Zeke didn’t care about what he had to say, so he didn’t hesitate before throwing himself forward. Just before his hammer was going to tear through the Knight’s helmeted head, his momentum petered out and he came to a sudden halt. It was only then that he saw that a globe of bright light had surrounded him.
“A skill,” he said inwardly. It was the obvious answer, considering he couldn’t sense any runes nearby. However, that didn’t make it any easier to combat. Suspended in mid-air, he had no leverage. On top of that, he felt like he was entirely paralyzed. His muscles wouldn’t respond to his commands.
“Take him,” the Knight commanded, and the other fourteen figures advanced. Four carried thick shackles, and Zeke didn’t need a great imagination to figure out what they were meant to constrain. One for each limb, and another for his neck.
“If you let them shackle you, this will end extremely poorly,” Eveline stated.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” he muttered, trying to figure out how to move.
Just then, the Inashi appeared on the lead Knight’s shoulder. A black dagger flashed a half-dozen times in quick succession before the Inashi disappeared. The Knight howled in pain, swinging his sword around, but he found nothing but air.
Zeke didn’t pay attention to that. The Inashi had given him a few extra seconds, and he intended to use it properly. Normally, he would have lashed out with his destructive Will, but with that having been transformed into divine energy and locked away, he didn’t have that option available. What he did have was a level of strength that should not have been possible in the Eternal Realm.
As Eveline was fond of reminding him, it wasn’t just physical might. He held at his beck and call the very concept of strength, and, for the first time, he felt the restraints on his mind lift away so he could use it.
The air all around him shimmered, and reality flexed. He pushed harder, his every muscle flexing with every pulse of his mind. He couldn’t feel his body. He couldn’t move. But in that moment, none of that mattered.
The globe of light shattered.
So did the ground beneath him. And everything within fifty feet. Even the Knights, all of whom were just out of sight, were thrown backward hundreds of feet.
Zeke dropped to the ground with a thud, then took a deep breath.
He’d taken upon himself the responsibility for killing the Radiant Host’s elites, and it seemed to him that fifteen of them had been kind enough to save him the trouble of having to search them out. Now, he intended to return that favor with quite a lot of aggression.
He pushed himself to his feet, then rolled his shoulders as he looked around. The Knights did the same, and even though Zeke couldn’t see their faces, he knew that they were shocked to find that he was free.
“How?” muttered the leader.
Zeke glanced in his direction, and he was happy to see strands of corruption spreading across his golden armor.
Whatever the case, Zeke had no intention of holding a conversation. So, he stepped forward, ready to get started on his mission.