Chapter 10 ( Survival of the Fittest)
So I have been dealing with a lot of thoughts and have had a bit of a hard time sleeping so here I go. If the chapter is subpar please let me know. Thanks for your patience and support.
Znomad
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Erich POV
We had been pushing for some time and our arrival in the city state of Venetiae. The road had not been unpleasant and we had been able to successfully resupply about three times a week for supplies at various forts along the border. Reports of increased border patrols by the elves had been confirmed by all of the forts on the way. Something had happened in the Kingdom of the Elves or we would not have seen an increase of troops like this. I pondered what could be causing the tensions.
I knew that even if we as humans were allies it was tentative at best. The Elven Kingdom had allied with the human kingdom in the far past for the dragon wars and more recently against the Demon Kingdom and the Darklands of the orc and other irritating non human like races. The elves particularly disliked the demon race. I had once heard from one of the demon kind prisoners that they preferred to be referred to as mara not as demon but why call someone what they are not.
“General Erich I have a question for you, Sir” Asked one of my attendants named David.
“Yes Captain David what is your question?” I replied turning my head to look at him.
“How do you plan to use us land soldiers to stop a Kracken? Sir” David asked with a questioning look as the horse he was riding snorted and shook its head.
“Well Captain what is one of the primary strengths of the first?” I asked well guiding my horse a little closer to him so we could have a easier conversation.
“The training and unity of the legion. Sir” David answered promptly in a rote fashion.
“Very true Captain David. There is one other hidden strength of the first legion and it is the fact that we use the knowledge that all people can use some magic and refine the soldiers of the first legion into simple mages.” I said to his surprised look.
“You teach simple soldiers magic?” He asked with an incredulous tone of voice.
“Well of course. I understand as a new officer of the first you have been assigned to be my command assistant so you have yet to experience any of our deployments until now.” I said.
“I just am surprised you would teach lowly soldiers and peasants magic especially if they are unskilled in it and have no potential to become mages or wizards.” David said with the obviously haughty tone and opinion of a bred noble.
“Young man let me tell you something.” I said as I looked him over critically. “You would not last five minutes in a fight with a single one of those lowly peasants as you called them.” I said with conviction.
“Pardon me Sir but with all respect I would think that with my high education I would easily best any common soldier.” David said with a false sound of humility in his voice.
“Well Captain it matters not to me what trainers you family may have brought in to tutor you or how prestigious your pedigree and magic.” I said in a blunt tone. “I know men and you young Captain have never experienced battle nor have you trained to the extent and that you could have.” I finished saying.
“Sir please allow me to show you the training I have as a battle mage of the David family.” He said with conviction in his voice.
“Very well.” I said and with a nod of my head one of the lieutenants raised a flag and with a magically boosted voice called out for the troops to stop and dismount.
“Well young Captain David your wish shall be granted here shortly.” I said well chuckling to his shocked face at me stopping the entire legion in the middle of the day on the march.
Nemi POV
I had called Roza up to the medical lab because of a question of mine. She still did not believe me when I said I knew of a way to remove the slave mark on her. I think her biggest problem was the nanites that I would need to put over the mark and would absorb into her skin. She seemed very weary of nanites and I had a hard time trying to explain what they are in her language as they really had no idea on such microscopic things or machines like this in any form.
“No,” Roza said with a disgruntled expression on her face.
“But why Roza? They are perfectly harmless to you and you should not even feel anything.” I said.
“That just makes it worse you are putting some form of foreign magic or goo or whatever you call it into my body to stop the magic seal and I will not even know what it is doing.” She said well shaking her head in exasperation.
“Well I could program them so you could faintly feel them.” I muttered “But I can definitely take care of the image problem.” I said with confidence.
“Okay and how are you planning on doing that?” Roza asked with a hand on her hip looking at me.
“Here let me show you.” I said and telepathically placed a holo projector in front of my body.
“I’m waiting oh great mage” Roza said sarcastically.
“Here you go oh great one.” I responded with a overdramatic formal bow to her chuckling and bearly contained laughter.
Roza POV
I was having fun even if the idea of using his strange magic or what he called science would allow him to remove the slave curse spell. I mean and he wanted to place what was basically a strange living being inside of me to remove the curse. I was not willing to risk the possibility of me being under his control because of this. I mean Nemi had been nice and courteous if a little strange at times but he was still a man and more importantly a human even if he said that he was something different. I wondered what Nemi would try and show me this time.
A few small circles seemed to float in the air around his body as he stood still in the center of the room. Then one of the strange viewing screens as I had started to call them formed next to Nemi starting at the floor and going to his head. A vague shape of his body formed on the screen and it almost seemed to be a perfect clone of himself if lacking a few details.
“Alright this is it.” Nemi said as the strange display suddenly cleared into perfect clarity.
“Wow! There are two of you.” I exclaimed well looking back and form between the two and seeing no differences at all.
“Of course!” Nemi responded with a patient look that was mirrored perfectly on his twin.
“Enough of that please. I mean really one of you is enough.” I said while rubbing my temples without conscious thought.
“Sure it was meant to show you what was inside anyway.” Nemi said well shrugging. The display suddenly showed the inside of his body in perfect detail.
“You have two hearts.” I said in surprise as it was the first thing that I noticed. Suddenly I stopped as I recognized just how potent this machine was. “You can see the perfect detail of anyone can’t you?” I asked.
“Well of course.” He said not sure where I was going with this.
“You analysed me when I came in didn’t you?” I asked with a grimace on my face.
“Yes I needed to see if their was any problems with bringing with you onto the island.” Nemi asked with a perplexed look on his face.
I turned and walked out of the room and aimlessly wandered the countless halls eventually ending up in a park outside with a beautiful view of the ocean. A bridge was located towards the edge and stretched to an beautiful and imposing island that seemed to be glowing and on fire as a vibrant orange and red swirled wall looked like an artist took a brush to it. Behind the wall of molten rock trapped in what Nemi called a stasis field was mesmerizing but what was truly amazing was the bridge connecting the islands. I again stared at it and the incredible feat that it was. The bridge was a single fused diamond from the ornate base on this island to the defended gate at the other end.
I walked onto the bridge and sat down on a padded a soft padded seat that was cushioning the hard diamond bench. I looked at the birds flying around and watched as they all flew around the bridge or gently got pushed away from it by some strange force. I shook my head Nemi still did not believe in or grasp the concept of true magic spells but was a more terrifying magician in every right than any I had ever heard of before. I saw potted plants blooming with flowers and fountains decorating the bridge with imposing yet stunning individuals in blue diamond as water gracefully flowed around them and shot up into pretty and synchronized jets. The breeze made it almost cold on the bridge and I sighed as I turned to head back into hidden underground fortress that was this surface paradise.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Nemi POV
“Ugh” I fought against countless soldier and training drones. The AI tried to find a way to take me down. Numerous medical vats adorned the recessed sides of the arena and medical drones stood tethered to them. A loud explosion shook the air in the giant area.
I fought without my armour only with my bare chest and upper torso exposed with barely a hint of sweat on my body. Numerous drones laid in various stages of full destruction unable to function in any capacity. Four fully functional AI’s controlled the drones in perfectly synchronized attacks with weapons set on kill. Five hundred millennia of battles and war spoke for themselves. Even four AI’s that would be considered to be on the edge of sentience could not even land a damaging hit on me.
The gravity suddenly reversed and we had to fight on the ceiling of the arena. I laughed at the simple tactic of reversed gravity and finished the nearest two drones while the reversal was happening. I jumped at a cluster of drones when the gravity suddenly disappeared and we all went into freefall. The drones all started to fire various plasma and railgun slivers at me in rapid fire. I impossibly spun in the air as miniature gravity wells appeared under my feet and I shot back towards the original ground. I tried something that I had learned about in this world and thought was stupid I released my killing intent fully. The drones seemed to malfunction and melt before my very eyes. The arena corroded and collapsed showing the sky above. A dark and cold cloud fully obscured me and a wave of it seemed to shoot out from me. I stood in the center of what had bassically become a giant crater and a shocked look covered my face before I repressed my killer intent fully.
God’s POV
The Elfin god stood in her beauty and was addressing the dark god of the underworld when suddenly they froze and shook in fear the other gods all froze and stopped in shock at the feeling of death that had passed over them. Many of the lower gods had fallen to their knees and quickly rose with a angry look on their face or hiding away in shame.
“Who or what did that?” The god of the underworld said in shock as he looked around the plain. For surely some high god had done the unforgivable and released their pressure.
“It came from the our planet below.” The quiet and kind looking god of healing said as she released some of her healing power to restore the many unconscious creatures that radiated out from a small point in the large eastern sea. I will have to see what caused this she thought to herself as the god of nature and forest rubbed his green hair and thought the same thing as he released a little of his own restorative power as well.
“No way have I missed a warrior of this quality on the planet.” The god of war said with a cold glint in his blood red eyes.
“Nor would I have missed an instrument of death in this magnitude.” Death for this universe suddenly said startling everyone with his quiet voice as he stood in his dark black robes with a large scythe in his hands.
“I apologize for not recognizing you.” The gods of the planet said with a quick bow of acknowledgement to this higher being.
“It is fine.” Death said with a shrug. “Still the killing intent of whoever that was, is greater than if a being had killed all of those in war or struggle in the entirety of this universe and I would know” Death finished with a dramatic silence spreading across the god's realm and the gods all paled in shock at the impossible announcement that Death had just made.
Asena POV
I felt it my Colonel was calling me. My alpha was in a fight and he needed me. I tried to roar out and felt my body was trapped and contained I fought against it and felt a surge go through my body and disrupt what was holding me down. I sat up and saw that I was in a medical center it was all properly coded and seemed to be correct I stood up and raced out of the room. The irritating doors seemed to take forever to open so I tore right through them with my hands. The hallways behind me were littered in doors and unlucky drones that had gotten in my way. I raced outside of the complex and through the jungle to a large crater where Nemi kneeled on the ground surrounded by pure destruction with a blank look in his eyes. Tears streamed down his face creating muddy trails in the ash that coated him from head to toe.
“My Nemi it will be ok.” I said as I ran in holding him tight to my chest.
“So many dead innocents.” Nemi said in a shaken tone. “I am covered in their blood the countless quintillions that I have ended.” He said in a shaky voice for the first time somehow removed fully from his programing and training he no longer blindly followed the orders of his masters and superiors he was his own and it made me so very happy inside. His first break in programming had caused him to save me from those cursed scientists and engineers back in the day who just wanted to dispose of me because of my strange and possibly dangerous mutations. Nemi had for the first time requested something and as the primer soldier and deadliest person in the room he got what he was asking for.
“You followed your programing and orders Nemi it will never be all your fault.” I said even as I realized just how hollow and pointless that would be as he had personally been the one to end the lives of every being in numerous solar systems throughout the universe.
Nemi turned and looked at me and I suddenly saw his face go red and blush. “Ugh um…” Was all that came out of his mouth as he looked a little like a fish out of water. His red face was so cute but what was causing my generally stoic Colonel to be so flustered.
I looked down and finally realized in shock what had happened I looked like a human with a fluffy white tail. My breasts stood in proud defiance to gravity in a loud and proud way. I was basically a human in every way. My two wolf like ears twitched in surprise at what I saw. Nemi could see everything as I was not wearing a shred of clothing. One hand covered my privates while the other tried to cover my newly found large bust but I seemed to be failing in that endeavour.
I started to blush and turned a little pink that perfectly kissed my pale face. Looking at the reaction of Nemi’s body to mine I saw that he appreciated it at least at a subconscious level. Still this was just too much and I instinctively responded with a sharp punch to Nemi’s head that sent him flying into the horizon I sprinted all the way back into the base still trying to cover myself with my hands and grabbed some clothing before ruthlessly destroying the security and house AIs and all their backup files and recording for the last few days with a maniacal grin on my face.
Roza POV
I was just about to enter the underground base when I feel to my knees as a cold dark feeling overwhelmed me. The sky seemed to darken in response and it sounded like thunder echoed in the sky. Almost as quickly as it happened it stopped the birds animals slowly started to make noise again and I got off the ground wondering what had happened. I looked around with a curious expression and tried to see if any local animal or fauna had caused this to happen to me I saw a strange bush that had all of its leaves bunched closed and watched as they slowly started to open again. I reached forward and touched one only to jerk my hand back as it quickly closed and seemed to almost try and hide. It was an interesting discovery that was interrupted by the view of an object sailing through the sky before crashing into a few trees knocking them to the ground.
I cautiously approached and saw in shock that it was Nemi laying there on the ground holding his head with a strange look across his face that gave me a pause. I stayed hiding in the foliage close the clearing that his crash landing had made. He got up off the ground shook his head and rubbed his jaw before calmly walking heading towards the bridge and walking starting walk across it. After he left I again turned and headed back towards the underground base. I shook my head what strange things happened here on this island as was shocked as I walked in to see serious destruction all down the hallways. Doors look like some large animal had charged through and tore them off their frames. Drones seemed to be scattered about and some were ripped in shreds. I shuddered slightly as I wondered just what terrible creature could have done this.
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Thank you all for your patience with me as I get my chapters done.. Really thanks even as a fellow reader I know the waiting kills… I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let me know how descriptive I should be on the nudity or physical scenes in the story. Also if you see any problems in the story grammar plot or lack there of let me know please in the comments.
Thanks,
Znomad