Captain Harker couldn't decide if he was in despair or just simply offended. The enemy army, which had proclaimed themselves as the Fifth Legion of Avalon, Legio V Praecones Mortis, demanded free passage through the city of Fravia, which was under his protection, just because they were in a hurry. According to them, and since Harker wasn't stupid, the city did not have enough soldiers to face the Legion as well as they didn't have any supplies to repair the city gates once they forced the Legion to fight them. As frustrating as it was, Harker didn't have much choice. However, a sudden thought made him pause and shout back to the imposing soldier sitting on a huge war beast.
"What's the reason you are in such a hurry?" He shouted and scratched behind his feline ear.
"We were tasked with protecting the border against the Holy Kingdom’s forces. According to our intel, their army is ready to invade what’s left of Cridia and then wage war against Avalon," the deep voice proclaimed.
Harker's eyes went wide in fear. As Nekomi, he was less than filth in the eyes of Bernans. The orders he received from the capital had informed him about the expected reinforcement from the Holy Kingdom, but Queen Josla had to be desperate or the orders were fabricated. Not so long ago, the Holy Kingdom had threatened Cridia, so it was hard to believe their intentions. But this army was heading North, and given the terrain near Farvia, it was only natural to try to negotiate the passage.
"We don't have much time! Decide now, Captain!" the soldier below shouted and pulled out his lance from the ground.
"We will let you go..." Harker lowered his head and looked at his son. "Go to the North gate and inform them to let this army pass."
The soldier below lowered his head and blew a war horn. Its rumbling sound shook the Nekomi commander as he ordered the gates to be opened. He watched as the entire legion started forming a column that moved rapidly toward the city. The people hid themselves in their homes and he felt his tears falling. He was at the mercy of the enemy from the very beginning. With just one thousand soldiers, his forces were laughably inadequate to face that many enemies.
"Captain, we can still attack them..." One of the archers looked at the first ranks of enemy soldiers entering the city.
"And then what? We could probably kill a few of them, and then we would all die. They are going to head north, so I don't believe they would even bother with leaving a few of them behind. This city would be at the mercy of wild beasts and monsters." Harker looked in shock as the column swiftly moved across the main road towards the North gate. "Are they running?"
"They really must be in a hurry, then," another soldier said with an amused voice.
"I can't appraise them, sir," the third one complained.
Now all ten of them focused on the column with surprised expressions on their faces. After five minutes of intense trying to identify the enemy army, they looked at each other in confusion.
"How is that possible?"
"I heard that you can't appraise anything or anyone if there is a big level difference." Harker scratched the back of his head.
"Then maybe it was a good call to not fight them?" The wolfkin bared his tooth in a grin.
"Sanka... I would seriously consider joining their effort if not for the fact of how understaffed we are! Those damned supremacists from Berna would skin you and turn into the rug, you moron." Captain Harker smacked the head of his old friend.
•••
After crossing Fravia, the Legion has to double its efforts to reach the border as quickly as possible. They used the fastest way possible, since for some reason they couldn't access the Shadow Realm. There was no time to look for reasons why; the Legion needed to move as fast as it was possible, using the ancient roads and pathways travelled by local inhabitants. The Cavalry spearheaded the way, securing the path for the infantry, disregarding their own safety, but they rarely found any enemy that could face them. The Storm Eagles of Avalon followed them in great numbers, casting the occasional Lightning Bolt towards the tougher opponents they spotted. They still had one week of harsh marching until they would reach their destiny and that was why the Legion was moving relentlessly.
•••
The lonely Praetorian was holding vigil in the darkness of the offering chamber of the Void temple. His eyes shone with the blue fire as he heard the rumbling of stones from the pile that had sealed him and Lord Re'kari in the surrounding chamber. The Elf was lying on a small platform made of stone, both hands gripping his sword. The sword rested on his chest, as if Re'kari was awaiting the next order from his Lord. His shield, dented in many places, leaned upright above his head, perfectly balanced on its edge. The Praetorian, who had cleaned the body as much as he could with the last remaining arm, turned to face the rubble. He activated all of his remaining runes and raised his gladius in a very aggressive battle stance. With one hand, he readied his full offensive capabilities, just in case. He was almost sure that the noises of digging and moving stones were made by allied forces, but he was a Praetorian; there was no place for guesses in his mind. Once the path opened, he relaxed after he saw the insignia of Legio Infernus Ignis carried by the standard bearer, standing in a neutral stance with his sword still at the ready. There was nothing said between them as the Praetorian observed how the honour guard raised the body of the fallen and all his belongings in silence.
•••
After Re-kari was brought back to Avalon, his party and friends had time for personal farewells. Hestia spent a long time with me near Re-kari's body that was, for now, preserved by magic. She wept continuously, apologising over and over to the young Elf who sacrificed himself so she could live. Amber was miserable as well, and couldn't forgive herself for the half-baked orders she had prepared back then. While I regretted the loss of this brave man, deep down, I and my other Queens were grateful for his sacrifice. The following day, his body was buried in the cemetery with full honours, where I told the story of his glorious last stand as my prepared speech. We put him to rest near Hero Marcus, in the place that soon after started being called the Alley of Heroes. We buried him according to the Wood Elves' tradition in the soil before we planted a willow tree just behind his grave. In addition to the Elven tradition, a gilded statue of Re-kari was erected, standing proudly in a heroic combat position with a cape waving behind him. His statue held the dented shield and chipped sword wielded during his last fight when he vanquished the Mad God. The defiance in his eyes and his usual smirk were carved masterfully into the statue made of pristine white marble. A huge crowd attended the ceremony, thanking the Hero who saved the life of their Goddess and Queen.
The passing days bled slowly into a week. Two of the three newly discovered dungeons pledged themselves to me: the Kobold Dungeon and the Wild Beast Dungeon. The Necropolis chose to reject my offer, and I was forced to destroy its core. I plundered it thoroughly, but even the medium-yield Orichalcum and Tungsten nodes, as well as two new spawners with new upgrades, were of little comfort in the face of losing the full potential of the entire dungeon city. My only hope was that a newborn dungeon would soon manifest somewhere nearby. As for the two other dungeons, they had to wait for now. All of my available mana had to be spent on the quickest ways to secure Cridia. However, even without building dungeon cities, the people living in the nearby settlements could enter them relatively safely. That would greatly improve the quality of life of the local population and undoubtedly help to sustain the war effort.
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I sighed again and reviewed another report. If everything goes according to plan, in the next week I should be finally able to finish building the Wyvern spawner. Since its upgrade required many materials, it took a bit longer than anticipated and kept the spawner inactive. I placed new ore nodes in the caves and I noticed Ragnar had prepared me a short note about orichalcum and tungsten. I scratched my head and decided to take a closer look at the new spawners available after destroying the Necropolis. Both of them were highly interesting, but in the same way as the Wyvern spawner, they would be resource-consuming to get what I wanted. The first of them was the Living Armour spawner. It was quite a self-explanatory spawner featuring a few interesting choices in its build. The impressive defence and sheer power of the Living Armour put everything to shame besides the Wyverns. However, there are no roses without thorns, so these formidable dreadnoughts had woefully low intelligence. Nevertheless, I decided to build this spawner and test its features.
The first armour, which was spawned from a spawner that looked like a dark portal, surprised me. The big and masterfully crafted armour was simply impressive. Its sharp edges and smooth lines gave it an aggressive, somehow futuristic look. Its jet-black carapace was finished with gold on its rims, giving it a similar colour pattern to my Praetorians’ armours. He wore a black tabard that partly covered his legs, inscribed with runic inscriptions that were brimming with the power of various effects. The great helmet he was wearing was very similar to the Crusaders' helmets, and he was wielding a fierce-looking long and wide sentinel spear.
"Hmmm... Yes. You shall be named Sentinel," I said aloud and shrugged. This would be his name as much as the function.
Until I figured out how to efficiently use the destructive power of Living Armours without endangering my own forces, they would aid the defence of the Upper Castle and the Palace itself.
The second spawner was a bit more interesting. The Vampire spawner might be the answer to my small problem that could very soon turn into a disaster. The current Legion Legates, Tribunes, and officers were fairly good, but they were not the perfect commanders for my armies. They lacked the ingenuity of Mortals and did not possess the mana capacity of Faés or Lamias. While their intelligence was relatively high, they were not, by any means, unique denizens. The Vampires, after many fairly costly upgrades to their spawner, could fill the roles of my Legion commanders. The Vampire Lords looked especially formidable enough to fit that particular bill; strong, intelligent and possessing mana capacity that surpassed the Lamias and even the Fairies. With little to no weaknesses, the Vampire Lords had a laughable issue with their spawner, namely, like the Wyverns, their spawner could only produce a limited amount of denizens before hitting the hard cap limit. But in both cases, I could overcome this problem by pumping exorbitant amounts of mana to upgrade that limit.
Of course, in the case of both new spawners, I was forced to pay with not only mana but also with precious resources like gold, silver, the highest grade of steel, and even gemstones. In the case of the Vampire Lords, I had to use the blood of living beings. That took me aback a bit, since Vampire Lords aren't required to drink blood to live. I looked questioningly at the System Window, then I shrugged and asked Bob to save some chicken blood from disposal and used it to see if it was fine. Since the Wyvern spawner accepted the leftover and low-quality material, I figured it would work for this one as well. It kind of worked, however it used far more blood to fill the requirement, but that was fine by me. To feed the population of my kingdom, the Chicken Spawners farms in the depths of the Goblin Dungeon worked all around the clock, processing meat and collecting eggs. It would take just a few hours to gather the required amount.
During the last few days, my legions have moved painfully, slowly but surely, towards their destinations, rarely meeting any serious resistance. My eyes turned to the north often these days and my thoughts were occupied with the contents of the newest reports about the Holy Kingdom of Berna. Sebastian was personally involved in Berna and, thanks to this, the Noble Slimes were operating at peak efficiency. He was there, however, carrying out another order he received from me earlier. His investigation of those involved in hunting for Amber's life brought him very quickly to Berna. It was clear now that most assassins who hunted for Amber's life were somehow connected with Berna's leaders. So far, Sebastian left behind a trail of dead bodies and irrevocably destroyed records. His reports revealed that in the last year all assassins' and headhunters' goals changed from killing any Na'laars to capturing them and bringing them to the Patriarch himself. The reason for this was unclear for now, but the large amount of Balantica magitech discovered by my spies could have meant that the Holy Church had something that requires royal blood to unlock.
I never liked extremists, and it seemed that Berna, and especially its nobles and upper echelons that wielded power, were full of them. The excessive cruelty towards all other races who were not Humans was horrifying. At first, I had even suspected that the Cridian Slavers, who mostly belonged to the Church of New Order, were tied to the Holy Kingdom. That would simplify many things. Unfortunately, they were not only unrelated, but Berna was actively fighting them. At least I didn't have to worry about the influx of Void Borns or Void Touched individuals who would inevitably force me to deal with them somehow. Yet, the Holy Kingdom posed a very hard-to-assess threat. Its military strength, downplayed by Luna a little too much, was still formidable. While it was true that the peasants in their pikemen and spearmen regiments were conscripts, most of them felt the need to fight for their gods. With enough training, they could be more than a simple obstacle for my legions, given the sheer population of the Holy Kingdom. They even used combat slaves, mainly beastkins, whose loyalty was guaranteed by brainwashing, slavery crests and curses, as well as gaesa and fear.
My Slime spies had to find out the extent of the military power of my newest enemies. The unknown potential of ancient Baltanica's weapons and magitech engines were the greatest mysteries and most immediate threats. For these reasons, I was trying to resolve the Cridian war as fast as possible, but it wouldn't be over in a few weeks. I needed allies. I would try to send my envoys to the Empire of Metaka. In the meantime, my spies were going to sabotage Berna in every way possible. Unfortunately, I didn't see any obvious leverage points which could help me stage a rebellion in the Holy Kingdom. The rebellion of slaves would be crushed mercilessly, and the other social groups had no real benefit in overthrowing their current leaders. Contrary to Cridia, the common people lived in relative safety and comfort provided by the State and poverty was not common. Even peasants could afford to buy a few slaves who mostly worked in their fields. The women of Berna could potentially help the slaves, but centuries of indoctrination made them apathetic to their roles in society that put them just above the slaves themselves. The Holy Kingdom society was fairly resistant to external interference and was now preparing to war with my kingdom.
The Patriarch's declaration of the Holy War was a little bit surprising, given how unprepared for full scale war the Holy Kingdom was. My Edict of Obliteration followed by the order of Exterminatus, however, was not an empty threat. While I was going to give them only one chance to take back their words, I couldn't allow myself the risk posed by such an unpredictable neighbour. Still, I had to consider that their idea of a Holy War was more of an ideological clash where they would try to send missionaries of their faith to convert the people who lived in my current and future lands. While I didn't believe their 'Wololo' would work particularly well on the people who had seen genuine Gods in person, like Hestia, Zeus, Hera, Zephyr and the newest addition, Verka, along with even those who had experienced hearing Eriar, I still had to prepare proper countermeasures. Politics, I sighed heavily. My declaration would reach the Patriarch in a far subtler way. He would learn that my response to his Holy War was escalation to the Edict of Obliteration and Exterminatus. Still, he wanted to send an envoy, so I would do the same. Under the guise of building friendly relationships, our countries were going to prepare for war.
I took a short break and stood up from behind my desk. The spring sun had been pleasantly warming my face through the window, so I used that opportunity to cool my head and went on a stroll. After suppressing my aura, I walked down the lively streets of Avalon for the first time in a long while. A lot of people were busy with their lives, but their faces brightened with smiles and happy gleams in their eyes. When most of them came or were quite literally dragged here, their eyes were empty, as if they were resigned to a cruel fate. In a very short time, however, their lives changed and, just by listening to their conversations, I was sure they were happy now. I smiled gently as I crossed the street and entered one of the parks. The first leaves and fresh grass had recently refreshed the scenery, almost promising a warm summer to come. As I sat under the oak tree, I started wondering if I had the right to do what I had done. The question, however, still remained:
Would I stay human or become a true monster?