...Daredrick's PoV...
Things are going unbelievably well.
The last contract I signed now cements the Stonecrusher Family as one of the most significant and most influential power in the area. Keeping all of this under wraps was a good move on my part since the Wolfheart would have stepped in if they knew what we were doing.
But now they are a shadow of their former selves, and the empire they aren't even aware that they lost will turn against them.
My military reform went well, and assimilating new Families into my army was never easier than now. The commanding structure is now experienced in dealing with the sometimes arrogant Families who think that their way of doing things is the best, while it's evident that my unique understanding always leads to the best results.
Nevertheless, the Stonecrusher Family has now become something more than a mere Family: It's the consolidation of years of planning and hard work, an amalgamation of united people under one banner in a way that has never been done before, at least from what I know.
We are more than all those petty, infighting morons of the Council, and as much as I loathe them, I'll steal a concept from the Outsiders.
From today on, we are the rulers of a nation. An actual empire that will rise above the thousands of years of ancient traditions and customs that have bogged us down for too long.
And this nation will be named the Stonecrusher Empire. It will remind the future generations who their absolute ruler is.
But this project is still in its infancy, and I have to wrench all decision making power from the head of the other Families in a way that will not piss them off, or my new Empire will crumble before it has the chance to rise.
However, the centralization of military power is the first step to achieve that. Sending armies that were from different Families to pacify the territories of other Families will work wonders, people are a lot less hesitant to strike those who are not their own.
But a new nation needs funds to be prosperous, and there happens to be a pile of wealth sitting right under my nose. The Scalebound fortune, due to their Patriarch's disregard for Rules and backroom deals, is incredibly vast.
Due to our overwhelming power, we are pretty much guaranteed to take everything for ourselves if we so wish. And we will do just that in the next round of negotiations, which is scheduled in a few minutes.
This is something that I thought would never happen.
The Incident and the way it unfolded was like a divine grace for us. And in a way, it's all thanks to John Thomson. His actions plunged the Wolfheart's reputation into the ground, and the battle that was seen by a good portion of the population only helped to cement that fact.
I stifle a laugh, being thankful to that shitty Outsider is just too much!
It's true that he was the one who started this chain of events, but I'm the one who exploited it properly. So what if he got a lucky shot on that demon? Our combined strike weakened it beyond measure, and it was just a question of time before the creature fell.
It's true that he displayed an unusual amount of might for an Outsider, but it's far from being anything to be worried about. Furthermore, what can a single man do? A single flick of my wrist is enough to turn him into a paste, so I'll deal with this thorn in my side at a later date.
For now, I have important things to attend to.
One of my secretaries arrives just on time, and she informs me that it's time to go to the negotiations. I already gave my orders to the assimilated Families; it's time to reveal my might to the Council. They should already be there, so I leave my office, and my escorts made of handpicked elite soldiers are already waiting for me. I nod in satisfaction. The fact that we barely lost any strong people was another blessing that the Incident brought us.
Some Families were not so lucky, and they were almost wiped out during the Incident.
I chase the thoughts away. Our success has nothing to do with luck. It's all because we made the correct decisions.
The soldiers get closer to me, and I raise my hand in the air. A massive cyclone of mana crystallize in front of me, and an ethereal pickax appears in my hand. I cast a combination of strength enhancing and shock absorbing spells on my arm before I smash the floating construct as hard as I can. A burst of blue light shines over our retinas, and our surroundings instantly shift to the Council meeting room.
This way of teleporting isn't the fastest that I know, but it's ideal to transport a large number of people in one trip. I will never get the obsession that certain Families have with sticking to a single method, like the Wolfheart and their Shadow Walking.
I'll have to admit that they perfected the technique to the point where it's the fastest method of moving around that I know of, but it has its limits. First, it needs shadows to work correctly and transporting more than one person takes it's toll on the user, the spell isn't that efficient and doesn't scale well. For this reason, the Wolfheart have relied on rituals to move large amounts of troops around, but it has always seemed like a waste of resources to me.
Our way of doing things, while it doesn't allow us to perfect a spell like the Wolfheart, gives us better versatility and permits us not to be too dependent on sometimes rare reagents.
Ideally, I would like to gather all the research data from other Families and use them to create the ultimate teleportation technique. Something that is fast, efficient and that can be used on multiple people and has a great range would make us pretty much unstoppable.
And it should be doable once I get things going, I'm not asking for something crazy like off-world reagent-less teleportation.
But enough rambling, I need to focus on the task at hand. I walk out on my platform and survey the area. I smirk when I see all the soldiers of the assimilated wearing the same uniforms as our own, form the expression of the other attendants it seems like they figured out what I was doing.
Too bad for you, it's too late to stop it now.
"Welcome to another round of negotiation following the aftermath of the Beelzebub Incident. As usual, we are discussing the partitioning of the resources of the now-defunct Scalebound Family. " Alice, who is glaring at me from her platform, begins the new meeting.
I return her glare. This was a long time coming and, as usual, she has done nothing.
Now is the time to reveal my intentions, so I stand up and clear my throat. Of course, I slightly enhance the sound of my voice with a quick spell to make sure that everyone hears me properly.
"I, Daredrick Stonecrusher, would like to make an announcement!" I shout before scanning the large room. How many times have I been there, how many times have I had to argue for hours with these sycophants?
But this ends here. The Council will finally have a proper leader, someone who can handle any situation and who's not afraid to act when needed.
I stomp my foot on the ground. This is the signal we agreed on, so my troops all stand up and regroup in the middle of the arena in the middle of the room. This causes murmurs and surprised gasps to spread in the audience.
Some soldiers of the more alert Families are already moving to protect their leaders, but harming them isn't in my plans.
Stolen novel; please report.
At least for now, I'm not opposed to testing my newly unified army against one of those so-called powerful Families.
"For too long, the Families have been fighting each other over petty disputes!" I begin my speech. "The Incident revealed the limits of our ways of doing things! We were lucky with Beelzebub, but who can tell what the future will hold? Are we supposed to rely on rebellious Outsiders to do our job?"
This gets a rise out of some people, shouts and jeers fly freely.
"This is why I've decided to change things!" I say after slamming my foot to silence the rowdy crowd. "And I've decided to disband the Stonecrusher Family, as well as all our vassal Families. Instead, we will be united under one banner! Under the banner of the Stonecrusher Empire!"
The crowd goes into a frenzy, but I ignore them and smirk. "Remember this day, for from today onward I'm no longer a mere Patriarch, but the first Emperor of a prosperous nation! I invite the Council to join us, or to face the consequences of opposing us! The days of Families are over; it's now the era of nation-states!"
I think I've never heard so much shouting and insults at once before, and some look like they can barely restrain themselves from attacking me. "As the only nation in this Council, I think nobody will have any objection if we seize the Scalebound fortune for our Empire!"
This causes even more shouts, but I know that I've won the negotiations. Families hate each other too much to band together, so a potential coalition isn't something I have to worry about.
And no one is strong enough to oppose my military might, so the untold riches of the Scalebound are as good as mine.
...John's PoV...
My heart pounds in my chest, everyone is waiting for my final order.
I take a deep breath and slam my hand on the table, "Begin the operation!"
The information reaches the ears of all the squads hidden in the Shard, and machine guns roar as they gun down any groups of gang members unfortunate enough to pass into their line of fire. The live feeds, coming from drones all around the battlefields, are displayed in real time all over the Tunnels, and in select locations in the Shard.
The regular spells used for visualizing something aren't working correctly in the Shard, this is why we were forced to use this rather primitive method to get a good view of the battlefields.
From the cheers and shouts of encouragement coming from the areas where we set up giant screens to display our prowess, the campaign was a success.
The natives hate the gangs with a passion, and they have good reasons to feel that way. So it's no wonder that they cheer each time an unaware gang member gets turned into a fine paste by the inescapable power of the machine guns.
"Prometheus, there are signs of activity near the terminal!" Terrence shouts, and the images on the screen switch to the building in question. Alarms echoes in the area and the people are almost thrown to the side as heavy reinforced shutters cover every window. The armored guards are speaking to each other and rushing to defend the perimeter. The drones we are using to survey the area are noticed soon after, and a bolt of blazing magma shoots them.
"It looks like we riled them up!" Terrence smirks as another batch of drones is launched. The gangs went all out, and a thick barrier now surrounds the building while mounted troops flow out of the building at an impressive pace.
"There's quite a lot..." I mutter. If we had known, we would've prepared bombs for this situation, but it's too late for that. Putting bombs in production and distributing them would take more than twenty-four hours, so I can't Rewind to undo that mistake.
But we should be fine with the M2s and the MH Shells.
I pay close attention to the mounts that the enemy soldiers are riding: They look like a cross between a lion and a wolf and are covered in scales.
The leeches that those bears used were scarier than these things.
The soldier mounted on the creatures are better equipped than the standard rat-faced grunt, and their full-body armor looks like they might be able to stop something.
However, I doubt their armor will be able to stop the super-sonic bullets that the M2s spit.
The drones are shot down before I can get a good look at their equipment, but from what I saw I can say that they were about two hundred soldiers getting deployed around the perimeter.
"We only have one batch of drones left, so if we want to show how we can strike the gangs, then it's now or never," Terrence says.
"We won't have time to redeploy the Legionaries, so I'll handle it," I say before racking the shotgun on my back. These soldiers don't look like they'll be a real threat, and I doubt they will be worse than Beelzebub.
It'S TiMe tO sHoW wHaT We cAn Do!
I grin and sink into the ground before appearing in front of the enemy lines. My shield groans and multiple empty casings hit the ground when a large number of spells hit me as soon as I step through the portal.
Now it's My tUrN!
An MH Shell detonates and a stream of pure mana smash against the mounted soldiers, who are obliterated before they can even react. I grin under my armor when I imagine the reaction of the people in the Tunnels. If that doesn't convince them that I'm awesome, then nothing will.
The drones are buzzing near the top of the Shard's upper ceiling, and the soldiers are now too busy with me to bother shooting them down. I use the confusion to unleash the might of another MH Shell, and about twenty soldiers die in the resulting blast.
Orders are barked, and they form a line to defend the building while raising barriers. But the Shells tear through them like a hot knife through butter.
I empty my magazine and calmly reload fresh Shells into the weapon while a barrage of spells hits me. My shield allows me to resist them, and I activate my robes for good measure before unleashing another volley into the crowd.
This time, they were expecting it, and some jumped out of harm's way.
Or at least they tried to.
The previously impassible soldiers are disorganized and terrified, some of their comrades are clutching their missing limbs while they are bleeding out on the muddy ground.
"Charge! Give this bastard everything we got!" a soldier with a red armband shout. The armored humanoids try to control their mounts, but my aura terrifies them, and they are hesitant to push forward.
YeS, CoMe tO uS!
I take a step forward and at the same time the squad led by the one wearing the red armband charges towards me. I grin and holster my shotgun before balling my hand into a fist.
If my theory is correct, then this move will work.
...Or I will be trampled to death.
Either way, it Doesn'T mAtTer! We ArE InVinCibLe!
My shield groans as I receive the full brunt of the charging beast. I'm a bit pushed back, but the force of the newly created barrier is enough to send the surprised creature barreling into its charging comrades, who cannot react in time and trample the mount and its rider.
I don't let the pleasant sight distract me and slap the ten or so creatures away with the power of my shield before reloading the device with a fresh magazine.
"I-Impossible!" their leader shouts and unsheathes a blue sword that seems to distort the air around it before covering himself with a red aura.
I raise an eyebrow, is this guy seriously charging me with a sword?
If he was able to teleport around, then I could somewhat understand, but right now he's turned himself into an ideal target. My Field Pistol tears through the soldier's armor, and he's soon exploding from the inside, thus showering his terrified comrades with a mix of blood, guts, and pieces of metal.
Well, it looks like the plan of leading them around was meaningless after all.
The hundred remaining soldiers are all attempting to run away while their commanding officers try to calm them and keep them together via creative use of barriers.
"Don't worry, the boss and his entourage will come to our aid soon! Hold the line!" one of the officers shout while I tear through his ranks. This new information changes things; his leader might be someone I can't beat, so I have to take care of the building before he arrives!
Switching to my Portal Gun makes me click my tongue, it looks like their barrier can somehow interfere with the Gun. So I guess I'll have to enter the old-fashioned way!
I go back to my shotgun and carve a path through the helpless gang members, the power of the Shell hits the building behind them at full force!
However, the barrier surrounding the locked building still holds, so I fire another round.
And another!
Cracks finally start to appear on its surface, and a broad grin creeps on my face. The beam of ultimate destruction obliterates the enemies who try to stop me so I'm not bothered by them in the slightest as I casually walk towards my objective while reloading the weapon.
I shoot two other Shells to take care of the stragglers that try to stop me, and I reach the barrier.
Let's see how it handles MH Shells at point blank range!
The blast of mana hits the magical construct, and I can feel a shockwave under my feet as the barrier gets covered in cracks. Another Shell is all it takes for the barrier to crumble into nothingness, the blast doors protecting the building take more effort and I have to use four Shells before they give out under my assault.
A blaring alarm greets me as I take a step into the ostentatious interior, and some drones follow me inside to get a good view of the action. My eyes wander over the rows of Gates, it's a shame to destroy those since they could be useful, but leaving them intact is too dangerous.
An MH Shell is more than enough to destroy the precious construct, and the rest fall as quickly as the first one.
Now my attention is focused on the most massive gate, which is also the last remaining one. It must be important since its own barrier protects it, and this barrier is as strong as the one defending the building.
My heart skips a beat when the Gate comes to life and the intricate runes engraved in its metal surface light up with mana.
This must be this gang's boss. I don't want to fight him!
I rack my brain to figure out a way to disable the Gate before he arrives. From my experience with Gates, he will show up in a few seconds, and this isn't enough time for me to blast the Gate.
And that's if I had a full magazine, right now I only have two Shells loaded.
I take a deep breath and holster the shotgun before aiming my Portal Gun towards the Gate.
Something interesting is bound to happen if I create two portals in the Gate, so I press the trigger two times. Huge arcs of wild mana emerge out of the Gate just as it finalizes its activation sequence.