Xavier Doomcry was lying in wait for the Frostgard of Deagoth. Being of the Doomcry clan he was of the Deagoth Kingdom, but this was the kingdom overstepping their bounds.
He and his family's personal army were waiting for the Frostgard to walk into their hands. Hands that would crush them. Thinking back to what the Grimnight clan told him, he felt that the Witch King was losing his mind. It had always been that the Glowstone mines were taxed, yes, but anything else found in the mines belonged to the clans.
As the local representative of the Doomcry clan, Xav, as he liked to be called, was contacted by Clan Head Grimnight. He spoke of a rare Cultivation resource found in the depths of the mine, after the collapse of a mining vein, a Voidstone gem. According to Clan Head Grimnight, it was the size of an egg. This Voidstone gem was an amazing resource for Unholy cultivators. It could allow low ranking Cultivators to immediately break through to the next rank, or for high-level Cultivators could loosen the bottleneck to breakthrough. One the size of an egg also called a mid-level Voidstone gem, could promote six low-level Cultivators or with enough time produce one King rank Cultivator from Knight Rank... This... This is what Xav Doomcry wanted.
The Clan Head of the Grimnights told him that the Holy Witch King found out about the discovery of this mid-level Voidstone gem. He had sent his Warmarshal and a company to capture it. Xav Doomcry was at a loss of what the Holy Witch King was going to do with a Voidstone gem with his Holy Cultivation. The Holy Witch King must have wanted to use the Gem to one of his Warmarshals. Yes, The Holy Kingdom of Deagoth had one Warmarshal that Cultivated an Unholy art. The Faith of Holy Deagoth spoke that all undead are accepted, even those that practiced the darker arts, at least on the surface.
Xav had brought with him his entire army his clan stationed in Sosuhalf. Three hundred and thirty-three Ebon Berserkers. His Doomcry clan was known for their Unholy Cultivation, but unlike the Cultivation of the Grimnights that was focused on stealth, assassination, and intel, his clan focused on power and brute force.
They cultivated the Call of the Mad Titan. With this Cultivation, each Berserker would yell a battle cry that would send them into a raving mad rage that would last depending on their cultivation level and increasing their physical strength to one rank higher than their own. If the battle cry was heard by another Cultivator of the same art it would increase incite them into a rage furthering their strength. It could be imagined that a group, let alone an entire army of Cultivators of the Mad Titan's Berserker's Rage going into a frenzy was a frightening ordeal. All the Ebon Berserker's would battle cry each compounding the power of the next.
The drawbacks of this Cultivation art was that it was very difficult to breakthrough ranks without cultivation resources, and when the cultivator or cultivators were in a blind rage it was very difficult to follow reason, logic, or orders. In fact, ranking up in the Cultivation art did not increase their power by much, but it would allow the Cultivator to be in more control of their rage.
Mad Titan's Berserker's Rage Disciple ranks would lose full control, not even knowing what they were doing or even who the enemy was to fight. Master Ranks could discern who the enemy was, Grandmasters Ranks could prioritize the enemy if more than one appeared, Knight rank could end their rage early by choice, and had some limited ability to direct lesser Cultivators of the same art, while King rank would gain full control over their art. They could berserker and be in full capacity of their mental state. It wasn't known if an Emperor rank existed in reality, but the family test spoke of one in myths and that an Emperor rank could double berserk. Increasing their power from Emperor Rank pass the Ancestor rank and stand firmly in the mythical Saint rank. According to history, no King rank Cultivators had ever made it to Emperor Rank.
The Doomcry clan was named after the Cultivation art. For when they let loose their battle cry it would doom those that heard it.
Xav was very confident that he could wipe the Frostgard off the map. He had with him two hundred and seventy-eight master rank soldiers and fifty-five grandmaster rank solders. Xav was a Knight rank. With his men all berserking they would have the power of hundred and eighty Knight rank cultivators! Using an Unholy art, he and his men were hiding in the shadows of the mining yard surrounding the entrance of the Little Gloom mine.
Xav knew it was high treason for the clans to impede the military of Deagoth under orders of the Kingdom. If an issue arose, they were to submit this to their local Archbishop or Bishop to forward to the Archbishop if they were in the capital. At which point it would be brought before the court for judgment, if the Holy Witch King presided, then he would make the decision. Xav didn't just plan to impede them, he planned to silence them. No evidence; No crime.
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If this was a military move by the Frostgard clan alone, then this would be a clan conflict, but this was a military move by the Kingdom.
He watched with greed filled eyes as the Frostgard Company slowly rode down from their hill perch. Once he slaughtered them, he would get rid of all traces, and excavate the collapsed mine shaft. Then the Voidstone gem would be his!
*******
Warmarshal Frostgard led her men to the bottom of the valley from her previous hilltop view. Little Gloom Mine was set at the bottom of a valley in-between two large mountains, Glooming Peak and Black Top Mountain respectively. The base of the valley was shaped with a rocky gear like-suggestion, with the mine opening up against the base of Glooming Peak.
She brought her men to halt just as they were approaching the middle of the valley.
"I know you're there. Either come out and face us like real warriors, or be flushed out of the shadows and slaughtered like discount pigs. The choice is yours." Warmarshal Frostgard shouted to the seemingly vacant valley.
A few moments passed when a shadow trampled and turned into a gooey mass. It expanded and rose, as it finally took the shape of an undead. With a soft pop sound, the form of Xavier Doomcry could be seen. Soon after his form was revealed many popping sounds were heard as his troops reveal itself.
Xav wasn't happy that he was found out by this Warmarshal. Just a few more meters and her whole company would be in the middle of them.
Warmarshal Frostgard completed her once over the would-be leader of these revealed miscreants. From their wear, she knew immediately identified them as being form the Doomcry clan.
Xavier Doomcry was best described as a lanky geist undead. he wore a brawlers harness. Leather straps crisscross his chest and over his shoulders to crisscross his back, attached to a leather belt. His pants, if you could call them that, were black tatters that were barely able to keep what he might still have intact. His whole troop had a similar appearance. Xavier stood out, however, because of his left ear was made of gold.
It was a custom of the Doomcry clan's warriors to ceremonially cut off one of their ears to be replaced by a replica made of precious metal. These would come in colors of Bronze, Silver, and Gold, as these corresponded to their cultivation level of Master Bronze, Grandmaster Silver, and Gold Knight.
As Frostgard looked over the other Doomcry troops she saw many Bronze ears and only a few Silver ears.
"It seems that we are only worth one Gold ear?" Frostgard spoke coldly. Calling the warriors of Doomcry by their ear color only was a slur that many clans picked up on. The Doomcry had two sides. Their brutal warriors and their political rats. Being politics, how could the other clans not mud sling an obvious insult. If the Doomcry warriors didn't take being called by their ear color, it would have never become an insult in the first place.
"What did you call me, Frostbitch?" Xav took an aggressive stance, as he stepped forward.
"I merely called you by what you look like, or are you telling me you're not a gold ear?" Frostgard pointed to her left ear. "If this ear was gold, then I'd be called one too... Right?" a rare smile etched across her face.
Behind her atop his horse, Gerald Frostgard had been overhearing the talk. He facepalmed. [Oh by his Grace, she thinks she's being funny.]
Taking a deep breath, Xav calmed himself ever so slightly. "You know. I am going to enjoy ripping you apart. Before your body gives up your soul, I am going to bind it to your skull, so I can use it as my chamber pot." He grimly said.
Frostgard looked at her Frost Knights on the left, and then on the right. She looked back to Xav, "Why do you have to bind my soul to my skull. You could just use it as a chamber put if you were so lucky."
"What?" Xav asked, caught slightly off guard.
"I'm saying if, by some stroke of luck, you manage to defeat me. Why do you need my soul to be bound to my skull? Either way of having my soul attached or not doesn't restrict you from using my skull as your chamber pot... Or anyone's chamber pot, really." Frostgard went on.
There was laughing being issued from her Frost Knights. They were loyal to her, and to the family, but why... Why did their Warmarshal and family military leader have to dissect everything? How could this be the same Warmarshal that would blindly follow orders to the death, but still over analyze an insult? The Frostgard were dry and mostly humorless, but their family scion, Sara Frostgard, Warmarshal of the Holy Kingdom of Deagoth was the funniest undead they knew. Only the Frostgard would laugh at this.
Thinking of his cousin's earlier "do or die" conversation, Gerald shook his head as he chuckled.
Xav was getting pissed, as he thought they were laughing at him. The Frostgard were all laughing at their Warmarshal, not Xav, but he didn't know this.
"SO WHEN YOU'RE FULL OF MY WASTE, I'LL KNOW WHEN YOU COUGH ON MY SHIT!" Xav shouted his profanity in anger.
"If you bound my soul to my skull, I wouldn't have to breathe, so-"
"ENOUGH!" Xav interrupted her.
"We both want what's in the mine. We fight to the death for it."
Before Frostgard could ask, Xav roared loudly. His geist body turned from its shade of grey to a sickly red and began to bloat. Many wormy looking muscle fibers were wiggling under the surface of his skin, as he began to bulk up. As Xav issued his battle cry, his warriors also issued their battle cries, each influencing the other.
In front of Frostgard, the three hundred and thirty-four Doomcry warriors were entering their Berserker state. She called to her warriors, "CAVALRY CHARGE! ICE BRIDGE!"