Ren

The man in dark blue armor and golden dragons on it was dangerous. The dragons were the symbol of the Dragon Empire, but they were slightly different in design. I had no idea how high his stats were, but they were higher than the Envoy’s stats. This was it. We were all going to die. I spared a glance at Fuyuka who was staring at the new person resolutely.

“Well? You want to fight?” Danian called out. I kept silent. It was his job to put his life on the line. If he moved into combat, the rest of us had to escape no matter what. But it would be the end.

“You? It wouldn’t even be a fight with how weak you are.” The man approached Danian slowly. I noticed there was some large, cloaked figure pulling another cloaked figure sitting in the cart.

“I am Danian. What is your name?” There was a reason I was letting Danian speak beyond drawing attention to himself. He was a very straight forward person. That was why I was the leader and he was our fighter, when in the past the roles had been combined.

It didn’t help when we lost our leader and it lead to issues. Now the positions were sperate to try and have more stability. It was also good that he spoke so directly. No lying or saying something that would create drama if the person wasn’t hostile.

“I am Champion Michael of Purgatory,” he said. My heart lifted. That was most likely a city to the East.

“Rising Sun Alliance,” Danian declared proudly. “So, you sneak by the front lines? Lots of soldiers moving in that direction.” The man smiled. It was a scary smile, and I felt a cold chill pass through me.

“I just killed them all since they were in my way.” Oh shit. He was like the Divine Empress. Someone who could not be stopped. Was he the reason there were rumors about her disappearance. Still, anyone would be better than the Divine Empress.

“Well, that sounds like a lot of work. Want to come back and chat with us?” Danian asked. I wanted to strangle the man. That was the downside of letting him speak.

“Very well, I won’t act against any of you as long as you don’t act against or talk to my two companions.”

“Who…oh,” Danian saw the cloaked figure pulling a cart and another cloaked figure sitting in the back of the cart. “Ren, is that okay?” Danian turned towards me. I swear he lost brain cells every time he got into a fight. But it would be better if I took the lead now that hostilities were averted.

“Yes. I am Ren, leader of the Rising Sun Alliance,” I bowed towards Champion Michael. Not deeply, but enough to show respect. I could tell Fuyuka was giving me a surprised look. We all swore never to bow ever again and to die on our feet.

It was good to see he inclined his head. That was a billion times better than the Divine Empress. Who would have killed me instantly for not cutting out my eyeballs and skinning myself while kowtowing to her.

“So, Tung Chung Fort, is completely done?” I asked as the tension decreased a bit.

“Yes, I killed everyone there,” Champion Michael said.

“One moment please. Everyone, please see to the supplies, and treat our guests with the utmost respect. Do not disturb the people with the cart.” I made sure to give very clear instructions as everyone got to work on collecting supplies from our raid. I noticed Champion Michael observing but he appeared disinterested.

There were two tribute carts. He didn’t give them a glance. That was all the confirmation I needed that his strength was no illusion. Anyone without strength, and even those with it would lust after the millions of points those crystals represented.

I approached Champion Michael a short distance away. “The East? Does the United City States still stand?” I asked hopefully. We could use some more resources and support.

“You don’t know of the calamity?” Champion Michael asked me.

“We do, but we haven’t heard anything from the East since it happened. We weren’t sure. Rumors said it was wiped out, but that the Divine Empress was repelled. We weren’t sure what happened. And we were much further from the boarder back then,” I replied.

“It was completely wiped out. The Astrologer managed to stall the Divine Empress for a short time. He even tried to kill her. But it seems it just vanished her instead. Unless you have heard differently?” he asked me. I would happily exchange information. Knowing about the larger picture would help me steer my group in the right direction and hopefully live to fight another day.

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“Nothing. There are rumors about her going missing and the war going poorly in the East. But the Lord General is dead and there are rumors that the Lords might rebel.” I noticed the figure in the cart stir slightly at that.

“Well, the Astrologer did everything he could to kill the old hag. The fact she isn’t dead, means she won’t die easily.” I began coughing as I swallowed my spit down the wrong passage. This Champion Michael had no fear to call the Divine Empress an old hag. Even us rebels cowered in the wake she left behind in her passage.

“That is very brave of you to say. I won’t repeat it,” I replied.

“Don’t worry. I said it to her face.” Oh gods. Oh gods. My breathing picked up a bit. This man was insane. How was he still alive?!

“That is very brave of you. It looks like my people are done. We are going off road if that is okay with you?” I asked.

“That is fine. As long as you don’t talk to my two companions or attack me,” he replied, reiterating his earlier demands. I nodded at this.

“That is fine. You don’t want a share of the loot?” I asked to see where he stood on this to confirm my earlier suspicions, make us seem nice, and to draw him into the conversation a bit more.

“Keep it, you earned it. I didn’t do any of the work.” The fact he didn’t make a fuss and wasn’t willing to fight us, meant he didn’t see us at his level. Was he a peer opponent of the Divine Empress? Probably not, but he was probably stronger than the Envoy. “Any word on the Envoy’s movements?” he asked as we set off back towards our camp.

“No. He was chasing us, but then rushed East once the hostilities began. After that we haven’t heard anything.” Champion Michael frowned at this.

“Any spies or knowledge of the Forbidden City you would be willing to trade for?” I considered the question.

“Only the layout based on soldiers we have captured that were delivering tribute. But the Black Talons would rather commit suicide than speak. And no civilians leave or enter the Forbidden City. It is called that for a reason,” I replied.

“Then it is worthless. I was hoping for information on the Master Fleshcrafter or the Inquisitor,” he said. His questions showed he had a good understanding of the inner workings of the Dragon Empire. I couldn’t afford to underestimate him or lie, even just an exaggeration. He would exploit the first and take the second poorly.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t had a run in with them. The Lords interact with the Inquisitor and only the cursed interact with the Master Fleshcrafter.” The Rising Sun Alliance was far from the height of its power with spies in multiple cities. A constant flow of crystals and supplies to keep the rebellion alive.

“A shame. Any knowledge on crafting crystals and types?” he asked.

“That was all the United City States. They just provided devices.”

“What kind of devices? Describe them,” he demanded.

“And what will you offer in return?” I asked.

“I plan to shatter the Dragon Empire. Once I am done, you will have breathing room. I expect you to keep that first bit to yourself,” Champion Michael said. My mind spun at his words.

“Yes, of course,” I replied. Who would I even tell. Shatter the Dragon Empire. Oh gods. He was going to attack the Forbidden City. A direct assault to burn the capital down. The Divine Empress would explode. We needed to get as far away as quickly as possible and lay very low.

This man had a death wish and I didn’t want to get caught up in it. “The devices?” he asked again.

“There were two main ones. The first is an astrolabe. Several-“

“I know of that one. Describe the other one,” he cut me off and I quickly switched tracks.

“Bombs. About the size of a shoebox. Wipes out anything nearby. Very simple to set up. Just a single pull of a wire and it would detonate. We had great success with them in the past.”

“When was the last time you had one?” he asked me.

“Not for years,” I replied wondering why he was interested. But I figured it was the precursor state of this Purgatory. The technology and knowledge of energy was something of a marvel.

“Did the Dragon Empire ever get one of these bombs and use them?” he asked.

“No. They always prefer to attack head on. Which is good for us, since it makes them predictable.”

“I see. Thank you for sharing that.”

“Ah, not a problem,” I replied.

“Any knowledge of crystal types or anything else useful?” he asked.

“Partial map, monster types, dungeons, skills, but nothing much beyond level 2 and the level 3 knowledge is spotty.” He just waved a hand indicating he didn’t care. I wouldn’t have mentioned it, but he asked. “Other than our lives. That is it.” Also, bitter memories, but he probably wouldn’t appreciate that macabre joke.

“Any plans to strike at the cities?” he asked.

“We don’t have the people. We are slowly trying to recover, but we don’t have the strength or numbers for something like that. Also it was tried in the past, it just creates an easy target to focus on. We often raid in force, but it has been hard with all our losses.”

“The tribes. They don’t give you problems?”

“No. Not with Danian, our fighter. He outclasses all of them easily. But there is a reason we hide out in level 3 zones. It makes us hard to detect.”

“And you probably use an astrolabe to hide from the Chief Diviner. Right?”

“Yes. But he and the other Diviners aren’t that great at the best of times. Just have to avoid piling up too many crystals, since they can zero in on that as we found out. Also, why we don’t try and make bombs.” Champion Michael was silent for a bit after that and I wasn’t sure what to say.

Someone like this. They operated on a different league than the rest of us. If we managed to surrive his passing I would count it as a win. But we were getting far, far away. The fallout from whatever he was planning would be massive.

It would be a hike, a very long hike. But we could strike at First Seoul to the far North to cash in all our crystals. I hadn’t been lying about having too many. We were at the bottom of what I thought of as the yellow zone in terms of risk.