I sat on the throne of bones. Green fire was barely visible as it flowed between the cracks of femurs, skeletal hands, and skulls. I could feel the flames as they flowed down into not just the castle but the city beyond as well. Every bone and scale buried during the construction of my capital acted like a power cable, transmitting my power further and further.
Charly’s eyes went wide with shock as my hint about the true defense of the city was revealed. “Nebula tower was nearly half the height of your palace. If it was just a single fang… How big was the sea serpent you took it from?”
“Now, that is the right question!” I replied with a delighted smile, “But first, let’s get rid of all the little flees infecting my city.”
As I spoke, I tapped my finger on one of the bones of the throne. In response, the bone began vibrating and emitting a low chime-like hum. The vibrations traveled from bone to bone, spreading down the castle walls and through the city streets.
The few Demonkin manning the remaining splinter cannons on the city walls were the first to notice something was wrong. The sound of the chime grew louder as it approached the bipedal creatures. They uttered a warning cry as they prepared to face the unknown enemy emitting the sound. However, before they could gather into a defensive formation, spears of bone sprouted from the city walls. Like blades of grass, countless sharp bones stabbed upwards with enough force to pierce a metal plate. The weaker Demonkin were skewered before they even realized what was happening. The mature Demonkin fared slightly better. The spears could not kill them in a single hit, but ultimately, they too would die. There was nowhere they could run to escape. No matter where they stepped, more bones would erupt from the ground. It was only a matter of time before they joined my ever-growing army of undead.
The sight of the bone spears spread from the walls to the city streets until the entire city was like a hedgehog. The bones were infused with my green flames, and every Demonkin that died would soon rise up again under my command. Only the Alphas and other flying Demonkin had any hope of surviving once they entered my territory.
I giggled with pure maniacal joy as I watched the slaughter. It had been a long, long time since I had felt so ecstatic. At my peak, I had controlled millions of undead. These dozen thousand or so were a drop in the ocean compared to what I once had, but it was a start. I would rebuild my army step by step, and when Envy arrived, he would find himself face-to-face with an endless sea of his former subordinates.
“Wren, are you ok? You’re acting… weird.” Charly asked with concern.
“I’m excellent. Don’t worry about it,” I replied with a dismissive wave of my hand, “I have waited over three hundred years to use that defense, but up until now, no enemy army has ever been brave or foolish enough to fight me in my own city.”
Sebastion also watched me with narrowed eyes as I wiped the streets clean of any Demonkin. He reached out to hold Lucia’s hand as the woman stood, stone-faced and unresponsive as always. “Even if you have regained most of your former power, it is not smart to waste so much energy. General Arthur and his army could have handled the smaller Demonkin. We need to focus on the Alphas and Leviathans.”
I rolled my eyes at Sebastion. I had just become powerful again after so long being weak. Couldn’t he just let me enjoy this moment?
The annoying part was, though, he was right. The two grandiose stunts I pulled had drained nearly half my energy. Now that I had my core back, it would recover in a few hours, but wasting energy like that in a battle wasn't smart. Overconfidence had been my downfall many times in the past. I shouldn’t repeat that mistake here and pull defeat from the jaws of victory.
Leaning back in my throne with a sigh, I closed my eyes. Searching through the flickering green flames now populating the city, I took direct command of one of my undead on the ground. A nearby General Arthur led his troops to sweep the capital for any potential surviving Demonkin while the battle overhead was becoming more and more fierce. The General and his men looked utterly disheveled. The bags under their eyes were a sure sign of a forced march through the night. Blood coated their torn and tattered armor, matching their chipped and blunted weapons.
I felt a bit of guilt at the sight. While I was sneaking through the city, these men had been through hell. I couldn’t even begin to speculate the losses they must have endured just getting past the splinter cannons.
Still, General Arthur expressed relief as he saw my undead approach him. “That ye Wren? Ye scared us half to death with those spikes. A little warnin’ would have been nice. That said, I’m grateful. Not sure how much longer my men would have lasted if the ground battle dragged on. These beasties seem to be gettin’ stronger and stronger every time we fight them.”
“That is because we were just fighting babies before. Now that the path between realms is becoming more stable, the real Demonkin are able to pass through. Honestly, I'm amazed your army even managed to make it into the city.”
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General Arthur straightened his torn and tattered coat with a grin. “The luck of the heavens must have been guidin’ us. I don’t know why but just as I was preparin’ for a drawn-out siege, every Demonkin here suddenly rushed to the other side of the city. With no army to defend, that big floatin’ island of yours blew a big hold in the side of the wall, and we simply ran through the breach as fast as we could. Took some casualties from the cannons but far less than I was anticipatin’ if we had gone through with the siege.”
Realization dawned on me, and I laughed. My little trick with the splinter cannons had enraged Andras enough to send his entire army after the source of the attack. It not only allowed me access into the palace but also helped General Arthur take the city. These series of coincidences worked together better than months of planning ever could.
“Wait! You put a hole in my wall!” I shouted furiously. “Do you have any idea how long it took to… I am going to strangle Mare the next time I see her!” I stamped my foot on the ground before slumping my shoulders in resignation. Regardless of the damage, at least it helped them get into the city. “But this fight is still far from over. If we play our cards right, we might be able to kill every single Demon here.”
“What do ye need me to do?”
“I have cleared all the Demonkin on the ground and walls. The city and its defenses are ours. Now, I just need your men to operate the splinter cannons.”
“Time for some payback,” General Arthur said with a delighted grin and a salute.
“A word of warning, though. I also want to deal with the leviathans, and the ground is about to get a bit… shaky. Have your men strap themselves down and avoid any unstable buildings.”
General Arthur looked a bit confused but quickly started issuing the command to his soldiers. Seeing that everything would proceed without my help, my consciousness returned to my own body.
I glanced over at Sebastion, still standing nearby. “Shouldn’t you be up there, helping?”
“I am not leaving Lucia’s side,” Sebastion replied resolutely.
I frowned at his response. Even with my power restored, Sebastion was stronger than me when it came to raw attack power. I could probably beat him if I had my army of undead to wear him down, but that did not change his impact on the battlefield. It would only give the Demons the upper hand if he wasted time here. The battle in the sky did not look like it was going well. The four leviathans alone were enough to overwhelm our forces. Our domain warriors would not last long with three Demons and several dozen alphas added to the battle.
Thinking for a moment, I pointed at Lucia standing nearby. My domain condensed around her, forming into a thin layer of armor. “You have been cooped up long enough. Go. Kill any Demon you find.”
Lucia’s eyes glowed bright green as I gave her permission to act. Without hesitation, she dashed onto the balcony and leapt into the open air. My domain cooperated with her as if Lucia were an extension of my own body. In a blur, she rose into the sky and rushed to where the Alphas and humans were fighting.
“You—” Sebastion shouted in frustration, but he didn’t have time to finish what he wanted to say before deciding to chase after Lucia.
In the distance, I saw a beam of light fire from the walls and strike one of the leviathans. The giant creature let out a mournful wail as the golden light began to sear its skin. Seconds later, several dozen more beams joined the first. The leviathans were so big that the rays were not doing much damage, but their size also made them easy targets for the soldiers to hit.
I sat up on my throne as I saw the battle begin to even out slightly. “Good, it looks like it's about time I joined in on the fun,” I said. My finger tapped another bone on the throne, and this time it responded with a deep hum.
“Wren, what exactly are you going to do?” Charly asked nervously.
“Are you ready to see how big that sea serpent was?” I replied with a grin.
The low hum from my throne gradually faded as it sunk deep into the castle. I fidgeted excitedly as I felt the green flames intensify in response. Seconds later, the ground began to shake. In the city below, damaged houses began to collapse. Roads and streets cracked and splintered. Unprepared soldiers stumbled and fell. The earthquake was strong enough to cause upheavals in the ground, but it wasn’t just the city itself that was affected.
The land beyond the city was in upheaval as well. Corrupted trees were uprooted as the soil began to churn. What had once been rolling hills for as far as the eye could see transformed into steep cliff faces as something massive began to rise up. Showers of rock and dirt rained down as the entire valley surrounding the city seemed to come alive.
Even the battle in the sky was affected as both sides paused to look at the turmoil below. While everyone was frozen, I finally spotted the figure I had been searching for. The Demon, Andras, was standing atop the leviathan that looked like a squirming mass of vines. Anyone who tried to approach the leviathan had been blocked by the vines and could not even get close to the creature.
With a grin, I tapped on one of the bones again. Another signal was sent into the ground beneath the palace. The earthquake suddenly stopped, and a deathly silence fell over the city. It was only the calm before the storm, however. A second later, the plains beyond the city erupted. Dirt, trees, and landslides of rock plumed into the sky. The mushroom cloud it created would have been breathtaking if not for what came next.
Even visible through the blood mist was the piercing green of two orbs that glowed like suns in the sky. Each one was massive, easily as big as my palace itself. They illuminated the shrouded plains and the entirety of the city with a sickly green light. Even the crimson haze of the blood mist almost seemed to burn away as it was bathed in the green glow.
Reflecting off the light was the sight of glittering pure white scales. If someone had the chance to look closely, they would see that it was the same pure white material that the palace had been crafted from. Four scales were all the materials required to construct the palace complex, and only two rib bones were all that was needed to create the entire outer wall of the city.
The young leviathans were enormous creatures. Each one shrouded the sky in darkness when they passed overhead, but this new arrival was even bigger. Just its head alone was as big as the leviathans. If each of the young leviathans were comparable to a mountain, then this serpent was the entire mountain range.