Witnessing a battle between armies was strange for Zae Zin Nim. In her experience, most conflicts had been decided by duels between cultivators, which struck her as tidier. Maybe formations would be used at times, but not pitched battles like this. She had to admit that most sects on Cloudspire wouldn't have a counter for such an assault, aside from overwhelming power, she just didn't approve of it.

But this army was hers, in a strange sense, so she hovered over it and watched as the battle began. Flying on a smaller crystal so that she wouldn't risk the crystal ship. She felt irrationally protective of the acid cultivators, who were trying to construct a new path with very limited resources.

This time they had proper protection, a formation of a different sort. The front lines were composed of mine workers and soldiers from New Laeneria, who had less Physique but carried crystal shields that could repel small amounts of qi. Their opponents were much less organized, just a jumble of soldiers who had failed to become crystalliers. With no organized protection against the acid, they quickly fell back toward the walls of the city.

Slaerta itself was a squat, bland little city, even by the standards of Deadwaste. Not as militarized as Goralian cities, not as elegant as somewhere like Yulthens. Even its walls struck her as the color of urine, not improved by the crystal gilding along the edges. She wouldn't mourn it.

When their ramshackle army had appeared on the horizon, Slaerta had sent out an army to meet it on the field, confident they would end it then. They'd even brought chains, as if they expected to bring back captives. The initial exchanges had gone poorly for them and they'd begun retreating, which meant it was only a matter of time until the crystalliers came out.

She spotted the first of them atop the city wall. The woman thumped her chest, crystal ringing against crystal, and then jumped down into the battle below. She wasn't a concern: Kai was fighting at the vanguard and swiped her out of the air with one of his claws. The armor survived the blow, but Kai leapt after her and could handle things.

A greater concern was a man who slipped over the wall. He was summoning crystals, but not as weapons or armor, more like the floating crystals that Iroaki had used. By her judgment he was a bit stronger than Iroaki, but Zae Zin Nim was far stronger than she had been back then.

The crystals all began to glow at once, preparing to fire beams of qi into her army. Zae Zin Nim acted first, unleashing a storm of qi bolts that tracked to his position. She struck every one of his crystals, knocking many to the ground, but new crystal plates flickered into being to intercept the others. No direct hits, and now he was looking at her.

With a single qi-powered leap the crystallier took to the air, then he began controlling crystals in his clothes to fly. It was a reasonably good technique, but misguided. Focusing on her treated this as another duel between crystalliers when it fact it was a broader battle.

While she dueled with her opponent, Zae Zin Nim was able to continue monitoring the battle below. Gundle was of course not with them, but Yurwa was at risk on occasion and Zae Zin Nim released a qi technique or two to keep pressure off her. Eventually the remaining crystalliers tried to form a wall, holding off the enemy to allow the army to retreat within the walls. It was perhaps a wise strategy under other circumstances and Kai seemed to be holding back, letting them burn resources to defend the retreat.

Then, just after the great gates slammed closed, Kai leapt forward and struck them. She wasn't sure if he couldn't penetrate the qi-reinforced gates in one blow or if he held back, but his technique left them cracked and swinging. Instead of striking again, Kai leapt to the walls and fought crystalliers and defenders there, forcing them to defend themselves instead of focusing on the attackers.

Below, acid and qi pummeled the gates, widening the cracks. When the gates finally fell, the peasant army let out a great cheer and began charging in after the horrified retreating army.

A crystal whizzed just beside her waist, drawing a line of blood and tearing her robe.

Zae Zin Nim frowned down, less concerned by the minor injury than the fact that her robe had been ruined. There weren't many Krysali clothes she liked, since they favored wraps over robes, and even if this one was repaired it would never be the same.

Still, she had underestimated her opponent. Zae Zin Nim located the flying crystallier, who was building up yet more flying crystals, and gave him a slight bow. This was more her domain anyway.

.

..

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The nobles of Slaerta met in their highest chambers, nervously wincing as they listened to the crashes and shouting growing outside. Unlike most cities, the leaders styled themselves as crystalliers, all bearing weapons or crystal crowns. Some even had false scars to complete the look. That lie was made clear by the fact that they weren't on the battlefield now.

At first, much of their discussion had been about whether or not it was unreasonable to send away their own guard to the front lines. They had been more worried about the potential of assassination attempts by enemy crystalliers, or maybe even one another. As the battle worsened, and especially when the gate went down, they grew desperate.

"Enough!" One of the highest nobles rose to his feet and slammed both fists down on the table to quiet the arguments. "This isn't about profit anymore, this is a battle for the soul of Slaerta. We bring out everything. Give our guards all the gathered qi, flood the streets, and bring out the great crystal."

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"The great crystal?" Many murmured, but only one voiced the objection. "It's too late, most of their army is inside the walls. At best we would damage our own defenses, at worst we'd damage our own property."

"Better to cut the rot out than let the body die with weak half measures! We should fire the great crystal directly on the lower districts. Some peasants will die along with the enemy army, but we can afford to lose some of them. If we don't act now, we may lose them all."

Many of the nobles argued, but more were agreeing, and they began telling their servants to give the orders. None of them seemed to notice the mist floating through the room, and one woman who coughed must have thought it was normal smoke from the city. Omilaena continued reclining on one of the rafters, blowing a thin stream of poison from her mouth.

"I refuse!"

The cry caught her attention more than the squabbling. She looked over in time to see a servant throw down his platter and stab one of the nobles with a serving knife. His body trembled, but his eyes looked focused as he stared at them.

"You've kept us down for long enough!" he shouted. "I won't turn a weapon on our own people!"

It was brave and extraordinarily stupid. The nobles might be playing at being real warriors, but with their crystal cultivation and weaponry, they could crush an untrained man like a bug. He drew all their attention as they saw a problem they could handle with their own hands.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Omilaena flipped off her rafter and landed in a plume of blue smoke. Suddenly they began to realize just how dark the room had grown, but there was no escape. "You've been lovely hosts, but I think our evening is at an end."

While they began to keel over, Omilaena whisked the servants out of the room. The one who had tried to stab his oppressors had gotten massive lungfuls of the poison, so she pricked his neck with an antidote needle that should keep him alive. Instead of just pushing him to safety, she dragged him to one of the windows to look out over the city.

"Looks like you aren't the only one," she said as they watched the chaos spread below.

"They're... they're rising up?" His vision wasn't as good as hers, but even he could see that some of the mobs carrying crystal torches were coming from inside the city.

"That or they saw the way the battle was going. Are your people going to have a problem working with people from the crystal mines and acid pits?"

"That's who's saving us? The... the uprising from New Laeneria?" The servant's eyes shifted anxiously, wondering if they were just under new leadership. "We... when the nobles turned on us, we realized we were wrong. They sent anyone to the mines for no reason. They... they..."

"Take heart." Omilaena patted him on the shoulder. "Things are going to change."

Exactly how, she left unsaid. No doubt they were going to have a serious problem with the higher classes of the city trying to pass themselves off as workers, which would lead to sabotage. Not to mention the wave of violent retribution that would come as the result of their victory. There would be a lot of work to do in the shadows while Kai played the hero and handled the bright cheerful side of everything.

But for now, Omilaena watched their triumph spread through the city.

.

..

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Even though Kai told himself that what mattered was the victory, protecting the army that trusted in him, he was a little bit disappointed. The strongest crystalliers in Slaerta weren't that strong, not by the standards of Yulthens. Technically that was the point, since they'd chosen this target in part to harden their army for more dangerous opponents.

There was still a hunger deep within him that was dissatisfied. It had wanted a fight.

To keep himself focused he treated it as a tactical problem, leading the army without fighting the battle for them. Sometimes, even when he was in the middle of a brawl with an opponent, he worried about that. Was it his right to decide who lived and died like this?

The most efficient way to take the city would definitely have been for him to go alone, handling everything himself with his strongest allies. There were many benefits to a more restrained approach, from giving their army combat experience to rallying the workers within the city. In theory, this was the prudent path that would lead to fewer deaths in the end.

And yet... he was strong enough to turn the tide, but not to protect everyone in such a chaotic battle. He saw people he recognized from the mines and pits die, and that was ultimately because of his decision. All he could do was pray it was the right choice and keep fighting.

As a purely cynical strategy, he needed to make sure that their strongest warriors stayed alive. He kept an eye on Nirka, Cragrila, and Maggle, but to his surprise they didn't need much help. With Zae Zin Nim handling the air, they were free to focus on smaller battles. Having multiple workers supporting one another meant that crystalliers couldn't gang up on them, which meant their underlying strength shone through.

Kraetius was in fine form, truly fighting for the first time since Kai had originally met him. The old man apparently had some kind of vendetta against Slaerta, not as serious as his problems with Yulthens but enough that he threw himself into the battle. He alone could probably have carried much of the battle, so it was a rout.

As the shouting and screaming gave way to cheers, Kai was more stunned by the victory than he had been by the battle. They had won... and the people were celebrating? He saw workers dancing in the streets, not from the pits or mines, just locals from Slaerta. While he was trying to gather their army back together to avoid losses in street fighting, there were local women throwing crystal dust out of windows to celebrate.

Kai didn't let himself get pulled in, focusing on finishing the battle. He struggled with a lurking fear that something would go horribly wrong, that he would lose someone in the fight. But it looked as though they had made it through: Maggle had received a wound that didn't stop him from complaining loudly, Nirka was being treated for a qi burn, and Cragrila appeared to have made it through with no serious injuries.

When the locals rose up, most of the remaining army surrendered. Kraetius was eliminating remaining pockets of resistance and there was still scattered fighting on a few streets, but it was over. Fearing ugly deaths in a revolution, the nobles were surrendering to whoever they could.

They'd certainly make enemies by taking Slaerta, but the vast majority of people he saw were overjoyed. Of course, that had been the plan, the very reason Krainuun had sent them here. It still felt wrong.

A group of men had begun dancing, a wild celebration that expanded almost as fast as the battle. Some women spun along the dance, occasionally planting exuberant kisses on the triumphant army. They seemed to kiss everyone as liberators, male or female, but when they saw Kai he was mobbed by the entire group, ambushed by kisses on all sides.

Abruptly he realized what felt wrong: this was what he had never received from Monskon City. He had wanted to dedicate his life to defending his people, and thanks to his exile, he had never received any recognition. Even the battle at Monskon City, which should have been a triumph by any standard, had been marred by the revelation of his monstrous nature.

But here, no one knew his history. They only knew him as a liberator. As Kai accepted the battle was actually over, he let himself smile.