When reviewing his gains, Duke first noticed that he had gained five levels, bringing him to 116 and leaving him with 90 Characteristic Points to spend. He put them into Reason and Psyche, bringing Reason up to 1,000 even. Duke held his breath waiting for some announcement for a new title at having reached 1,000 in all his Characteristics. There was no such message. Fucking books making me think that would get me something. Let’s see how my Abilities have advanced.
Duke delved into his Abilities list to see what had changed. It seemed mostly small increments in various Abilities, except UMBRAL REAPER which had gained 8 levels to Adept 70. It was still a long cry from ranking up, but it was his new favorite paradoxical Ability. He loved the Ability for its potency but equally feared it for what it showed about the shadows of his mind. He wondered if using the Ability helped soothe his own darkness by giving him a release point, or if it only compounded and strengthened the darkness within himself. As with most things, he just put the deeper philosophical musings aside with a “fuck it” and carried on with his day.
He headed downstairs to check in with Calen and Sam. He hadn’t taken more than two steps into the room before a Legionnaire messenger ran up to him. “Your Majesty, you are needed in Cloudspire as soon as possible.” Duke thanked the man and TELEPORTED to his Throne Room. Madrigal was pacing the floor, waiting for him.
“Madrigal, what is going on?”
The man snapped out his pacing and hurried up to Duke. “Pahst forces are gathering at our border. They can only mean to invade.”
“Are you sure they are not just responding to our increased presence at the border?”
“They have brought near a hundred siege engines with them.”
“Right. That’s not a defensive emplacement. Excuse me for a moment.” Duke did not wait for a response before TELEPORTING back to his room at the Inn. He gently shook Aurelia awake.
“How did I wind up here? Not that I mind. This is my favorite room in the Inn.” She reached for him to pull him down to the bed.
He kissed her, barely holding himself in check. “Stormstride needs her general.”
Aurelia froze, flipping into a much more serious tone. “What’s happening?”
Duke filled her in on what he knew, which admittedly was not all that much. She was up and moving before he could say much more, her eyes alight with energy and purpose. “I need you to set up a Portal from the LFD Inn to the Garrison so I can move Legionnaires into place.”
Duke nodded. “Sure. The Portal already exists, we just need to open it in the Hall of Possibilities. I could also just smack their army down myself.”
She glared at him. “Oh, no you won’t Stormstride is not going to rely on any single individual for its defense. We have the Legions for a reason. Besides, you have your own battles to fight. You’re still being hunted, remember? This is MY fight. Let me fight it.”
“Oh, I haven’t forgotten about the hunters coming for me but given how ineffective they have been, I’m not all that concerned.”
She smacked him on the shoulder. “You overconfident bastard. Don’t take this lightly. Just because you have been able to deal with the first few doesn’t mean that stronger ones are not coming for you. Now be careful and open up the portals, I’ve got a war to win!”
Duke had not seen Aurelia with this much energy in quite a while and came to the realization that he had really been relegating her to the background for the most part. She knew her purpose and was more than excited to be fulfilling it. He quickly opened the Portals as she had asked and followed her out the door with a CLEANSE and RESTORE.
As Aurelia strode into the common room, Duke could see from her demeanor that she was enjoying herself. Her COMMAND VOICE echoed throughout the room as she spoke. “Sam, please carry this throughout the training dungeon. Legionnaires, gather yourselves and pass through the Portals to the garrison. We have a neighbor who seems to think they can threaten us. Let’s go show everyone just how bad an idea that is. Legionnaires, to war!”
The excited shouts and flurry of activity that followed surprised Duke with its order and precision. Each Legionnaire seemed to know their place and they fell into ranks enthusiastically headed for the Portal room quickly. In less than an hour, the Inn was empty of Legionnaires including the training dungeons. And Duke was alone.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Duke briefly returned to the Dusty Trail Inn before stepping outside again with his DUNGEON SENSE running to make sure he could see anything coming. There was a single figure standing outside waiting for him. He stood taller than Duke and had an athletic build that spoke of strength and flexibility. Instead of hair, his head was covered in a comb of long, brilliant feathers that ran from his forehead to the back of his head. A pair of feathered wings spread out behind him as he spoke, drawing a slightly curved sword.
“I am Kalimashu, Senior Disciple of the Saint of Swords and I have come for your head.” He followed up his statement with an intricate pattern of demonstrated sword slashes. Duke thought it might be part of a kata but wasn’t sure. He just knew that he didn’t want to deal with a swordfight right now.
“I am Duke and I don’t do swords.” With a flex of his enormous willpower and his Granmaster-ranked TELEPORTATION, Duke removed the sword from the man’s grasp and into his own. “I’m giving you a choice here. Either take your sword and go home to your master or die right here and now.” Duke held the man’s sword back out to him hilt-first.
The man’s entire countenance collapsed. He had been disarmed by a foe so quickly that he did not even see him move. Not even the Sanit of Swords moved that quickly. He stepped forward and accepted his sword back with a bowed head. “I have made a terrible mistake threatening a foe of your strength. Your mercy will not go unheralded.” He then turned and walked away, his stride shaken and uneven.
“Why did you let him go?” The voice came from the roof of the Inn behind Duke. He had spotted the speaker with his DUNGEON SENSE but had not focused on her with the swordsman threatening him.
“He was just a kid. Cocky and overconfident, but really not worth gaining another enemy in his master. How about you? You come to try and kill me too?”
“Honestly? Yeah, that’s what brought me here, but after watching that display of skill, I’m not quite as interested in the bounty as I was on the way here. Name’s Lya, by the way.” She hopped off the roof, flipping in the air to land on her feet next to Duke. She shook out her raven hair and met his gaze with her piercing almond-shaped green eyes
“I’m Duke, but you already know that. What’s your next play if it’s not to try and join the pile of bodies who have already failed to collect the bounty?”
“Well, if you put it that way, maybe head inside this Inn sitting in the middle of nowhere and buy you a drink. We’ll see where it goes from there?”
“I’ll say yes to the drink but it’s not going to go any further than that.”
“How do you know? You’ve only just met me.” She gestured to herself, directing Duke’s eyes down her athletic body.”
“I’m not going to deny that you’re attractive, but since I just sent my girlfriend to fight a war for me, I sure as hell am not going to cheat on her. Wait, that didn’t come out right. Circumstance doesn’t matter. I sure as hell am not cheating on my girlfriend.”
“Loyalty. I like it.”
“It’s pretty important to me and it goes both ways. Oh, excuse me for a moment.” Duke TELEPORTED to the top of one of the abandoned ships surrounding the Inn and grabbed the barrel of the rifle that had been aimed at him. When he grabbed it, Duke realized that he couldn’t fit his hand around the barrel of the weapon as it was as wide as his head.
The creature holding the other end of the rifle appeared to be some sort of malformed giant. It’s exclaim of surprise was followed by it pushing up to its feet and attempting to wrench the rifle from Duke’s grasp. Duke held on, using all the force of his FLIGHT Ability to keep him rooted to the spot. The creature was immensely strong, but Duke’s stats were fully boosted and in the test of strength, the rifle’s barrel warped, bent, and eventually broke free. Duke let it fall to the roof of the ship as the creature threw a fist the size of Duke’s head at, well, his head.
Duke slipped under the fist and delivered a punch of his own to the creature’s extended arm, shattering its elbow. It bellowed in pain, bringing its other arm down in a crushing blow that Duke easily sidestepped to deliver another lightning-fast punch of his own, shattering bones in the other arm.
The creature stumbled back, pain and panic in its eyes. It furtively looked to either side for an escape route before the finishing blow, an open palm strike hit it square in the chest, shattering bones and organs alike. With a stumbling step backwards, it tumbled off the back of the ship lifelessly. Duke quickly put the body in his INVENTORY and returned to Lya.
“Sorry about that. Some folks are so rude they can’t tell when other folks are having a conversation. Now where were we? Oh yes, you were going to buy me a drink and fail to seduce me. Right?”
Lya stared at Duke for a moment before responding. “You just killed a Frangu Giant. With, what? Three punches?”
“Is that what it was? I didn’t take the time to figure it out since it was trying to snipe me. And, yes, it was three punches. Well, technically two punches and a palm strike, but I don’t know how technical we are being right now.”
“And you stood toe-to-toe with it in a test of strength. Their strength stats are in the thousands at least. How did you do that?”
“Here’s a better question. Why would someone put up that large a prize on someone’s head in a place like this? How much of a threat must I be to them?”
“I am starting to wonder exactly that.”
“Aren’t you glad that sword-boy announced himself before you tried to catch me by surprise?”
“Um, yeah. Just who the hells are you?”
“Buy me that drink and maybe I’ll tell you.”