[KATHORIC_LICHBAE] Wait, yo. @SamIAm… WTF.
[SamIAm] Why?
[KATHORIC_LICHBAE] Let me claim your bodies. After the zone finishes hunting you… at least I’ll have some good material.
[SamIAm] …
[KATHORIC_LICHBAE] Everyone knows you took him. The cervid, not @ZephyrDeity… *feelsbadman*
[ZephyrDeity] I’m being kidnapped. I didn’t know we were going into the warfront…
[SamIAm] We are the warfront.
[DarknessDarkMaster] In times of chaos, hide within danger.
[KATHORIC_LICHBAE] I have no idea what you mean @DarknessDarkMaster… but I like it! @SamIAm, I can get you through the lizards, but you’ll have to do something for me.
– The Immortal Record of The Heavenly Chakra Dragon Fighter Polity
Chapter 28 – Theater of War
Toki had spent the entire night studying and practicing the shadowflame enchanting process. In between spurts of experimentation, she would use her manadraw to power [Chronicle Cascade] to create the [Path of Swarms] Dao-Seed. At this point, it was not the fear of the monkeys that drove her to stay awake. It was obsession.
While she worked, the monkeys watched on, forgetting their need for sleep, instead focusing their attention on Toki’s every movement. Soon, even the Alpha joined and sat outside her dwelling, meditating on her discoveries.
Before Toki had realized it, sunlight had lanced back through the cracks in the sky and illuminated the amphitheater. The Alpha entered the cave, approaching her with a measured tread. He had come at an opportune moment not disturbing her progress, just as Toki had just finished her last burst of inspired research.
"I thank thee once more for thy generosity. It was always a privilege to behold mother’s magic," he began, his voice a deep rumble. "Yet thy magic beareth a strange visage, unlike the cruel touch of mother’s."
Toki lifted her eyes to meet his. "Mother?" she echoed.
Alpha affirmed, sorrow briefly shadowing his expression. "My brethren were often sacrificed for her insatiable hunger. Thy heart wouldst break as mine did, witnessing such horrors. Sacrifice for sustenance."
"It’s not magic. It’s enchanting. And that’s horrible."
“This is the way. Blood is life.”
“It doesn’t have to be. Why not eat her flesh now that she’s dead?”
“At first, we tried. Could thou dine on thy mother’s flesh?”
Toki's expression hardened. She rose, “You can’t continue like this. What she did to you…"
"She created us. She was our maker. I do not revel in such grim tasks, yet my tribe is hungry without a mother to feed us. It is my shame to continue in mother’s way. The glassbreaker hath freed us, yet this new path is filled with blood, all the same. We now belong to but a larger cage.”
“This glassbreaker…”
“The glassbreaker hath done what we could not. We cannot ask for more, yet I feel we are now without purpose. So, we shall continue. We shall also break the glass."
“Isn’t the glass already broken?”
The alpha looked at Toki in confusion. “Is there not always glass?” He paused, then continued, “Wilt thou partake in first blood ere we depart?”
“No. Actually… I've got an idea. It's risky, but it might just keep your tribe fed. Something less... heartbreaking. But… there will be blood… and some may die." Toki said, her tone serious now.
“Blood begets blood?”
Toki nodded, but she was unsure if it made sense. If the Alpha thinks it makes sense, that’s okay with me.
The Alpha considered her words. After a moment that stretched like an eternity, he gave a curt nod. “Lead us. I wish to see this blood begets blood.”
“Before we go. The reason I came here is to try to find something that belonged to the dragon… er… your mother.”
“She holds no claim over the belongings of her last life.”
Toki nodded, confused. “I’m looking for something like this.” She pulled out the ice monkey’s beast core.
The Alpha nodded and thought for a moment, then walked out of her cavern and beckoned her over. He crossed the amphitheater and moved towards the largest cavern, positioned centrally behind the stage.
Toki followed the Alpha into the shadowy expanse, her flame casting a flickering light that danced across a wealth of manasmithing materials. Toki was floored. There were boxes of adamant bars and barrels of aeso lined against the wall. Not counting the many exotic materials strewn across the area, the wealth in this cave was staggering. I could spend days cataloguing everything here.
"Thou hast inquired about what was once inside mother?" Alpha's voice echoed, shaking Toki out of her greed.
"That’s right," Toki replied, her eyes scanning the materials once more before reminding herself that Edgar needed the beast core.
The Alpha paced forward, his gait silent on the stone floor, and halted before a pile of red stones upon which rested a round object. Toki sighed in relief and reached out. With a sweep of her hand, she pulled the orb into her hand.
Where there should be the strong energy of a pulsing dragon core…
She instead found a lifeless dragon egg. Its surface was a blend of swirling colors that seemed to shift and churn with life, yet for some reason, Toki knew the egg was dead. Soulless.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
"Is this that which thou seekest?"
"No," she murmured. "It’s not." The realization settled upon her – deception. She remembered Kristina’s line, ‘You ask an arachnid to not spin a web.’ Fucking spiders.
"Then you are lost, too?"
"Lost? Hardly," Toki scoffed, her humor a brittle veneer over her concern. "We're simply... improvising." She put the egg in her bag, her mind already churning, searching for a way to get back at Kristina.
"Come," she beckoned, motioning for the Alpha to sit next to her. "Let’s figure out our plan."
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Toki’s fire illuminated a small portion of the battleground, but what she could see was flat. She led the charge as their beacon, but the howler monkeys seemed quite comfortable in the darkness even without her guiding light. Behind her, their fervent hollers were a herald of impending doom. The ground beneath her feet trembled, not from fear, but in eager anticipation of the battle to come.
> There are hundreds of them… maybe thousands. We need to set up a pitched battle in the rats' tunnel. We can’t let them run. A squadron of us will be enough to serve as bait. Say… me and twenty of you.
Toki's [Lessons] were ready. 20% manadraw each. Her gaze was sharp, locked onto the seething mass of rats that lay ahead. She could see their countless eyes, reminding her of the first time she saw them.
"Forward!" she commanded. With the grace of a monkey army, they advanced chaotically. Toki’s white hair billowed like a banner. The monkeys, fierce in their trust, surged behind her.
As if sensing their fate within the encroaching darkness, the rats bunched together, an undulating carpet of hunger. They knew there was nowhere to flee; they too were fighting for sustenance. Toki was uncaring. Her army descended upon the rodents with animalistic ferocity.
> You must instruct them to hold their hunger. They will be swarmed if they get distracted trying to feast.
"Wait until later!" Toki's shout cut through the mayhem. "Eat after victory!" Her words were a leash on the ravenous instincts of her companions. Barely. Monkeys clashed with rats, sometimes pausing in their frenzy to tear at the flesh of the fallen enemies, before plunging back into the fray with renewed vigor. Their chimeric implants filled the cavern with color and the thrum of mana as flashes of different elemental guideweaves created swathes of destruction.
Everywhere she looked, Toki saw death play out in gruesome detail. So, this is war. A monkey would dispatch a rat with a swift, crushing blow, only to be swarmed by more of the vermin in a desperate counterattack. Claws flashed, teeth snapped, and all the while, Toki moved amongst them, her shadow claws reaping souls with cold efficiency. They no longer give me fragments. Maybe I need to face stronger ones?
[[Cascade] x20]
Her heart beat in the rhythm of combat. The chaos of such a war was not what she expected, but it filled her with excitement. Or perhaps Adrenaline. Most probably adrenaline.
The battle's tide turned as Toki discerned an unsettling pattern in the enemy ranks. Amongst the relentless tide of vermin, there lurked behemoths—stage one rats? They had incisors gleaming like daggers, and they pulsed with electricity.
> They will have hidden aces. I do not know what they will be, but this will be our chance. When they appear, the remaining sixty of us will enter the battle, in response.
These monstrosities were no match for the surge of chimera howler monkeys. Even the rats' preternatural agility was rendered useless against the clash of Dutch Eternal’s manufactured pseudo-Dao-Bound abilities. The power rendered them grim reapers amongst the rodent horde. The death cries rang through the cavernous battlefield.
Amidst the decimation, Toki's gaze landed upon an anomaly—a strange rat, if it could still be called such, skirting the periphery of the fray. It stood erect on two legs. Smaller than the stage-ones. Its stance was eerily humanoid but hunched over. Its fingers were like a puppeteer’s, seemingly marionetting the lesser rats into formation. Its fur was a sickly gray and slick with an unnatural sheen. As it directed its minions, its beady eyes remained locked on Toki, filled with a cunning that signified its desire to flee. To seal the fate of its army and survive another day.
Not on my watch. A grim smile tugged at the corners of Toki’s mouth. Her hammer was suddenly alive in her grasp like a thing possessed. With purpose in her step, she advanced toward the rat 'king', her [Lessons] protecting her flanks, while several monkeys followed her lead defending her back.
The scratches and bites that accumulated ripped at her monochrome silks, but her skin recovered. The plethora of [Requests] made her a juggernaut within any battlefield.
The rat 'king' paused, his head tilting in a mimicry of curiosity before he charged with alarming speed. The creature was fast. Faster than its slouched form suggested.
Toki swung her hammer with brute force, air splitting as it cleaved where the rat 'king' had been a heartbeat before. The rat king suddenly appeared behind her and swiped viciously at the back of her neck.
The chimera monkey defending her blocked with its own golden claws, barely parrying the blow in time for Toki to dodge to the side. Close.
She parried another vicious swipe aimed at her throat, immediately after, as the rat king appeared in front of her. This time, Toki used [Lessons] to deflect the incoming claws, narrowly avoiding being eviscerated. How is he blinking around?
The monkeys behind her had retreated and challenged their own enemies, leaving Toki room to challenge the leader.
Encircling her, many rats lay in heaps from her wide swing, their blood seeping into the earth, yet the 'king' persisted. He darted forward, feinting left then striking right. Then disappearing and appearing behind her. He tested Toki's mettle, and more so, her reflexes. A single clash of hammer against claw would yield the advantage to Toki, but as of yet, only [Lessons] could come close to matching the speed of the rat king. Even still, the king's claws found flesh.
Their struggle was a microcosm of the greater conflict. A singular duel between a sneaky king and a false god, fighting for supremacy while both armies hungered for sustenance.
Toki stood undaunted.
As the rat 'king' rallied for another assault, its eyes glimmered as he pulled mana towards himself. The rat 'king' mirrored her stance, its elongated limbs poised to strike with lethal precision. Its beady eyes gleamed with an intelligence that belied its bestial nature, and for a moment, the air between them was thick with the promise of finality. This would be the blow to end it all, the decisive moment where only one would emerge from the fray.
> When the arrow sings, let it.
A single arrow shot through the darkness, unavoided, piercing straight through Toki’s shoulder. Same spot. A challenge and perhaps a boast.
A sudden warcry, primal and fierce, disrupted the battlefield, echoing across the cavern like a proper call to battle. Toki's focus shattered as she broke the shaft of the arrow and whipped her head around, taking in the sight of a dozen robed warriors descending upon the scene with the ferocity of a tempest. Their robes billowed like the dark wings of ravens, the fabric adorned with sigils that pulsated with an ethereal glow.
Toki pulled out the now-broken arrow, allowing the wound to start healing with the help of [Requests].
Flanking the robed figures were their allies, expected and unmistakable—Partridge and Three. Amongst them moved four more unrobed warriors, their appearances rough-hewn like brigands fresh from lawlessness.
The tide of battle shifted and the newcomers carved swathes through the ranks of lesser rats and attempted to sandwich the monkeys between two forces.
The monkeys' howls crescendoed as they rallied together.
This was the moment she had been orchestrating, the confluence of events she had dared to hope for amidst the chaos. Her lips curled into a feral grin.
"NOW!" Her voice cut through the din. It was the long-awaited signal, the cue for which they had all been primed.