Chapter 314

Eris Empire, Capital City of Starcore

Imperial Palace, First Empress Wing

Monsters roared as they rushed the line, and died in droves, sandwhiched between the tanks and the infantry, pummelled under unending field gun fire.

The Empress paused the video with a wave of her hand.

"Quite the battle, wasn't it?" Said Oris Lumière, sister of Cassissa Lumière and Empress of the Eris Empire.

"It was." Answered Katarak, the commander of the Black Hand, her Imperial Majesty's will in the dark.

"Many were watching this. Every detail is being analyzed in half of the capitals of the world." The Empress turned around to face the commander, who was seated at a table in her private study. "Including some details like this, for example."

The hologram zoomed in on some of the golems, and Katarak had to hold back a wince.

"I was told." Grated out the Empress. "That Crystal's level of technology was equivalent to the Tarkians."

"Evidently that is no longer the case, your imperial majesty." Answered the spymaster.

"Quite. What I would dearly like to know however, is where those weapons came from. Especially those shiny grenade machineguns and assault rifles that, last was I aware, we were the only nation on the planet capable of manufacturing such hardware. Am I wrong?"

"You are not, your imperial majesty."

"Meaning, that the only people she could have gotten them from, is us."

"There are exports..."

"Wayward exports aren't crew served fucking grenade machineguns! They aren't ballistic missiles or naval shield generators!" Screamed out the Empress, as she stalked towards her commander, until they were almost nose to nose. "I, am having to deal with very pointed questions from a great deal many people within, and without, our Empire. I want you to find that leak, plug it, and cauterize the entire damned wound!"

"And if I cannot?"

The Empress smiled.

"Then find whoever's on the list we can pin it on and make an example of them."

The commander nodded. There was an extensive list of bad actors in the Empire that were...dangerous. A corrupt bureaucrat or back dealing corporate executive could be excused if they were loyal, but many had begun dealing with the wrong people, slowly eroding the foundations of the Empire, thinking the small chip would not cause much issue...and utterly unaware of all the others doing the same, threatening to bring the entire edifice down

"Yes, your imperial majesty."

"Good. Now, your report on Cassissa if you please?"

"We have interrogated the mage she spends a lot of time with." He hesitated. "We were...unsuccessful."

The Empress blinked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"My people are very, very good. They know he's holding things back. But without more...direct measures, I fear we will not be able to learn everything."

"We cannot antagonize his house. Or the World Mage Court. Very well. What did you learn?"

"Your sister is expressing some interest in him, and he seems to believe he genuinely has a chance. Furthermore, they have been studying spells, enchantments and artifacts together. He becomes extremely tight lipped as to the specifics, thus my agents think at least one of his secrets is related to this."

"Interesting. Cassissa has requested a lot of enchanting supplies. And complained about the tightened guard."

"If I may, your majesty, I suggest that we make use of her. Confined, she is of use to nobody, and it will only breed resentment. This...should be avoided in a time of crisis."

"Having someone so close to the throne make a fool of themselves, again, is even more to be avoided." The Empress snorted. "And make use of her? My sister is an hormone addled imbecile that got the two most promising nobles of her generation, and her greatest mariage prospects, exiled or killed. And given current events I'm not even sure which was the most damaging. I am not enthused with the idea of using her."

"Your imperial majesty..."

"Shut it. Was Allya any less competent Rebirth would have fallen and we wouldn't be looking down the barrel of another world super power and be suffering through a fucking dungeon civil war. A war which her dungeon appears to be winning, against all expectations. That's not even mentionning that with her dead the archduke wouldn't be at house Aubétoile's throat?"

"Are you...are you suggesting we should remove her?"

The Empress laughed.

"Your assassins haven't exactly covered themselves in glory lately now, have they?" Katarak winced at the oblique reminder of his recent failure. The Empress shook her head. "Besides, when I give my word, I keep it. And eliminating her would only get the archduke off our backs to put the entirety of house Aubétoile on it. Their land and military power may be lesser, but their prestige is substantial, and they are a cornerstone of our power bloc in the Imperial Assembly. We lose them, we lose the budget and we cannot afford that kind of bickering right now. No, Allya stays where she is. I'd be half a mind to order our good Admiral to go and protect her if possible, if she hadn't gotten her hand firmly stuck in this mess." The Empress shook her head as the commander opened his mouth. "No need to defend her, I understand the circumstances. She failed in her gambit to slow down the UDC's collapse, but it was a good try. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose." She chuckled. "Not that this new dungeon needed the assistance, it seems."

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"The UDC will be back."

"No. They'll head North. Go to lick the duchess' boots, while trying to remain imperious and presenting it as a favor they're doing her. As egoistical that slaver bitch is, she'll swallow it. It's not like she has a chance if she doesn't. And so the isolationists will get involved in the very surface wars they refused to get into."

"They won't need to, if they can concentrate their forces."

"Which is precisely why we will not let them do so. Because if they manage it, so will the other side. This isn't a quick and dirty 'take out the problematic core' any more. And if the dungeons kill each other we're all going to die."

"Yes, your imperial majesty."

"Now, Eriksen..." The Empress sighed. "Your commandos failed."

"They came close."

"Close doesn't cut it with someone that powerful."

"Shall I send a second wave?"

"No. They'll be ready. And your men won't get through the Relic Guard. What interests me is why he didn't follow up on the assassins. What possibly preoccupied him so that being almost killed was not even worth following up on?"

"I will endeavor to find out."

"Good. Dismissed."

*****

"I wonder what this battle will be called..." Mused Alexandra as she looked at the remnants of the battlefield, displayed on the bridge's holographic projector.

"Probably something like 'the great clash of the Ytakan plains', knowing historians." Answered Manson Estogan, duke of Sarth, as he sat down by the table, looking at the hologram, before giving the dungeon core a wry smile. "Scholars tend to be like that, embellishing everything."

"Yeah. I suppose they are." She nodded slowly. After all, she was dating one. She turned towards the duke. They had assembled a sort of miniature war council, with him, his Desert Ranger commander, colonel Rim, and a couple of other officers, including the CO of the Kaidani Free Companies. Plus the AIs, of course, Subtlety, Glitch and Ghost. Only Philia was absent, but she was busy down below. "I appreciate your men's help, by the way."

"Couldn't really leave the bodies there. Machines or no, they fought by our side and died for us."

Alexandra nodded.

"Speaking of. Subtlety, could you see him in?"

The AI nodded, and a few seconds later the doors swung open, admitting a towering centaur. He was wearing torn and half destroyed gambeson, the kind you wore under full plate armor.

The Cataphract was trying to put on a brave face, but Alexandra could see his knees on the verge of buckling. Resurrection weakness didn't discriminate, and it was an impressive effort of will and resilience to be even walking this quickly.

"Greetings, general." Said the dungeon core, and the centaur bowed.

"Hail, lady Crystal of the Dungeon Factory." Answered the officer, his voice a gravely whisper, and Alexandra had to stop herself from wincing. He had been killed early on, during the preliminary howitzer bombardment, his throat so shredded by shrapnel he'd been effectively decapitated, his body then being trampled by his own troops. "I wished to thank you, for my men."

"Well, it's not like we had anybody else to resurrect."

"Perhaps. Still, not many would take the time and energy to bring back fallen foes." He bowed again.

"I'm hardly most people." Alexandra smiled. "We are still gathering bodies, but I'm happy to tell you that we are on track to saving two thirds of the dead."

The centaur nodded silently in thanks, before turning as Manson cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, but I fear I we have not been introduced?"

"Oh, that's-"

"Rimar Oklan." Said the general, cutting off Alexandra with an apologetic look. "General of the thirtieth United Dungeon Council volunteer regiment."

"You seem a little...high ranking for such a force." Said the duke.

The general shrugged.

"When one of my units was selected for this, I elected to take command." He coughed as Alexandra gave him a sidelong look. "The colonel of the thirtieth was my nephew."

"Ah." Manson and Alexandra exchanged a look. Got him out of the line of fire and took the dishonor of this attack, all in one.

"Nevertheless. I came here to offer my formal surrender, and that of my forces." He slowly, carefully pulled open what would have been a saddlebag on a horse but just seemed the equivalent of a backpack for him, and pulled out a half destroyed helmet, and a sword, still resting in its scabbard. He stepped forward, and lowered himself to the ground, laying them at Alexandra's feet. "Lady Crystal, I, General Rimar Oklan, of clan Oklan, commanding officer of the thirtieth United Dungeon Council volunteer regiment, surrender my troops to you. We ask for mercy, and promise our obedience in exchange for fair treatment."

"I accept." Said Alexandra, as she grabbed both items, finishing the ritual. "I have to admit, I though the UDC's auxiliaries were strictly defensive units, permanently stationned at bases."

"We were. But we were called upon to serve in another, more active capacity, after the...unfortunate losses of many, more regular units."

"So I see." Getting dungeon monsters to be useful outside of a core's influence was a challenge, one she was shameless cheating in thanks to her tech and knowledge, but it still applied to other cores. Since those forces had taken a beating in the initial stages of the civil war, they'd resorted to the auxiliaries. Besides which....they were less watched. As had been the theme with that entire force, it was what they could sneak in, and her allies would have never dreamt of the isolationists, of all cores, using surface auxiliary troops. A blindspot they'd have to correct. "Very well then. I won't pressure you for information, general. You and your men will be debriefed of course, but you won't interrogated."

"Thank you." He bowed again, this time very deeply, despite his shaky legs. "You are most generous."

"It is partially born out of pragmatism, not altruism."

"Nevertheless." The centaur smiled. "Besides, your cause is altruistic enough."

"Is it?"

"We have flown over some of the handiwork of those of Sunrise. I pray that one day the stain this scum represent upon our world is wiped out with Divine fire."

"On that, we are agreed." Except that she hoped she'd be the one wielding the 'divine fire' then. "You may go, general. Good day."

"Good day, lady Crystal, and fear no darkness." He gave her a warrior's salute, before withdrawing.

Alexandra waited for the door to close and the room's security system to fully snap back on to talk once again.

"Interesting, isn't he?"

The duke of Sarth grunted.

"He's not what I'd expect those maniacs to have put in command."

"Exactly." Alexandra smiled. Just like Glarvirstar, the dungeon core that had 'negotiated' with her. "It seems our foe has some unseen cracks."

"Everyone does. Do you intend to exploit them?"

"We already have, haven't we? Just winning this battle and being so generous with the vanquished will ensure they spread."

"Let's hope. If they seek an alliance with Sunrise, as you fear...We will need all the help we can get."

Alexandra nodded.

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Quite litterally, in fact." She sighed. "We should prepare to move out. I fear we have lingered here too long as it is."

"Are you certain? This was a...sizeable battle."

"My golems do not need time to recuperate, and our supply convoys are already loaded with the salvage." Which was headed straight for Sarth, since Alexandra couldn't recycle her own equipment, or rather, it simply wasn't worth shipping it all the way back to Rebirth to do so, and the duchy could use the equipment anyway, now that all of its modern gear had been drained by the army. "We continue our march north."

"What about reinforcements?"

Alexandra winced.

"They'll catch up. But another infantry force...I haven't been building a lot of new infantry, I'm afraid. The losses we took? We're not replacing. Not as they were, anyway."

The duke of Sarth smiled, and she raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged.

"It's simply...reasurring to see you abiding by some of the limits of us mere mortals."

Alexandra laughed.

"I suppose so. But even my resources have their limits. Still, when the next wave arrives..."

"We're all looking forward to seeing your 'Mackie' in action."

"So am I. So am I."