Eternal Dominion Book 23: Strife, page 20
“Fine, each side can field 100,000 and if your force is victorious, we will occupy the area surrounding the capital area and not attack again for six months. That should give you plenty of time to try and break the encirclement and begin a counter offensive.”
“Why should I give up my advantage in number?”
“Why should I give up my advantage on the average strength of my force?”
As Xeal said that, he could tell that he and King Tybalt Tannenbay were locked in a staring contest as Tenbris spoke.
“Can we just get this tragedy out of the way so that I can learn my fate? Sorry, but you two are essentially trying to make the other be the one history remembers as unreasonable while you both are being so. Xeal, just stand on the side lines and let it be 12,000 from Paidhia’s side against 10,000 from Nium’s side, but only players allowed to participate. That gives you the slight quality advantage and Paidhia keeps a slight numbers advantage, or do you want to be responsible for millions of NPCs dying today?”
Xeal had to hold back his smile as Tenbris spoke. It was a reasonable solution that King Tybalt Tannenbay had to at least consider as it had been suggested from his side. Though he seemed content to hear Xeal’s thoughts on it before sharing his own. So, frowning, Xeal replied.
“It seems that King Tybalt Tannenbay isn’t willing to agree to such terms. Tell me, is it due to the plan to rely on the demonic weapons that have been popping up in the last month or so of this war?”
“I am not sure just what you are implying by that,” grumbled King Tybalt Tannenbay. “I would certainly hope that you aren’t accusing me of allying myself with demons!”
“I can only say that several weapons that seem to be of such origins have been seen!”
“This is war and some may take matters in their own hands in an attempt to gain victory at times. Though they may be misguided in their actions, I honor their willingness to do everything they can to deliver victory to us.”
“This is going nowhere,” retorted Xeal. “Do you accept Tenbris’s suggestion, or do we need to find a new compromise to consider.”
“I like it, but I believe that my nation shouldn’t place its fate solely in your kind’s hands,” stated King Tybalt Tannenbay. “As such I believe it will be best if each side also has at least 1,000 of those native to this world fight-”
“Bastard!” shouted Princess Lorena. “I didn’t want to believe that you would actually go so low as to collude with demons!”
“I have done no such thing!”
“Why else would you wish for 1,000 of our kind to participate? Xeal’s kind won’t use any such weapons as they are naturally resistant to them and therefore can’t bring out their full potential. Plus, despite the fact that they wouldn’t die forever, none who would be effective with them will want to deal with the penalties from dying due to using them.”
“Believe it or not, there is something called honor, though judging by the path you have started to walk, I would say that you should be careful about the accusations you level at me!”
“I-” started Princess Lorena as Xeal held up his hand and spoke instead.
“While your daughter has integrated with a shadow elemental, they are not demon, devil, or any other manner of creature who seeks to consume all. Especially after having its instincts removed as hers has been. Rather she knows far better than most the possible costs of the base nature of those who allow such dark desires to rule them. That said, if you can guarantee that none of those who fight will use a demonic item, or anything beyond their skills, abilities and conventional gear, I believe that we can agree to allowing up to 1,000 of those native to participate. Though I would still like to keep the numbers where Tenbris suggested and if a single demonic weapon is used, I am allowed to enter the fray with 2,000 more of my kind.”
Xeal could see the hesitation in King Tybalt Tannenbay’s eyes as he tried to think of a way to shift things that wouldn’t cause issue before responding.
“The extra 2,000 is fine, but the moment you charge in, all deals are off and I will order a full charge of my forces.”
Xeal looked over at Casmir, who he would be leaving the command if this force to as he nodded and Xeal just sighed as he hoped that he wouldn’t be needed as he responded.
“Fine, it seems that we will both have to hope that your men don’t use demonic weapons, as I doubt that I will stand by at that point and it will be your head that I come for first.”
King Tybalt Tannenbay swallowed, before glancing at what Xeal could tell was his hidden guard, before hesitating as Xeal looked right at his guard and waved. Though he still managed to consent as they signed a contract that dictated the terms of engagement. While it was still likely that things would escalate to a full conflict, it at least created a chance to avoid it. With that over, both groups went their separate ways as Xeal used the opportunity to speak with Casmir before it would be time for him to lead the charge.
“Casmir, you are going to want to focus on killing the 1,000 NPCs first.”
“Wait, you aren’t going to try and get them to run?” asked Princess Lorena in surprise. “Xeal, I thought the whole point of my act was to avoid deaths of my kind, yet you are saying to target the 1,000 that are sent forward?”
“He wants to send the message to the 3,000,000 plus that have no business here, that they will not be spared,” answers Casmir. “If they think they will be targeted less, they will gain a false sense of security when they are ordered to charge. While letting them have that would help set them up for a rout the first time Xeal attacks them directly, this will ensure that they are more likely to survive as a whole as they will guard their lives better.”
“Doing good versus feeling good,” added Xeal. “Plus, if we are lucky, we will kill the ones with demonic weapons before they can use them.”
“Xeal, you know that they are all going to have one, right,” stated Casmir. “Have we learned anything about where they are coming from?”
“No, beyond that it is a player who is selling them to Abysses End,” replied Xeal. “If I had to bet, there is one of those who prefers to play the bad guy and sees fueling a demon as a fun diversion. That said, I would be surprised if there were more than ten here today. Even if the demon is giving them to the player freely, they still have to craft and curse them, and that takes time and power beyond what you would think. In fact, I would say that the demon is irate right now as it hasn’t even been getting the power it invested in each weapon back, from what Lucida can tell from looking over the broken weapons. I just wish she could have been here today, but she is needed elsewhere.”
“Does that mean we won’t have to deal with them in Habia?” asked Casmir, sounding hopeful.
“Possibly, but I expect our war in the subterranean realm will be plagued by them.”
“Great and just when I was thinking that would be a nice change of pace.”
“Casmir, you’re not part of the subterranean realm assault force,” replied Xeal. “You get to deal with all the fun that will be post-war unification work. Particularly since it looks like Paidhia is going to not even have half of its upper nobility intact and the ones that are, well most will find that their daughters are married and their husband is the new lord.”
“Tell me why you get to dump all of the work on us while exploring the unknown?” grumbled Casmir. “I was looking forward to finally getting to do some adventuring again.”
“Oh, you will, just more of raid dungeons and reaching the mountain in the center of the continent.”
“What, in three years?”
“Casmir, if you get your ten subordinates in order and get them doing their job, you will only need to handle things directly one out of three days and weeklong excursions should be easy to plan.”
“Sure. Now, is there anything else you want to say about this fight?”
“Yeah, let them know that there is more than Takeshi, Amser and I that other guilds should fear in FAE.”
“Wait, how much do you want to display?”
“All of it. This is a final battle to capture a country. We can worry about how Habia will counter it later.”
Casmir just smiled as they arrived back at the front line of Nium’s force and the word of the agreement started to spread. An hour later, Casmir was leading the 10,000 from Nium’s side to battle. At the same time, the 2,000 that were set to charge in at the first sign of the use of a demonic weapon stood about 100 feet in front of the army. Across the way, Xeal could see Tenbris leading Paidhia’s 12,000 and it was clear that he wasn’t happy about the situation. If Xeal had to bet, he had been forced to take command for suggesting the idea and was hoping to die early in the conflict. Still, Xeal figured he should thank him later as he debated what would be the best way to reward the old enemy who had at least learned what he was capable of. However, that thought was driven from Xeal’s mind as the two forces engaged each other as spells flew and melee fighters charged.
Sitting on the sidelines was frustrating to Xeal as he watched Nium’s forces, that included the 1,000 peak tier-7 NPCs that Xeal had begrudgingly allowed, due to the disadvantage they would have been in by not doing so. Sadly, players just hadn’t reached that point and so individuals like Eira’s mother, Noriko, the eagle-woman Sceca, the snake-woman Ianira and the orc Zlog had been included. Each of them led a small group of the 1,000 NPCs on Nium’s side and had been given an order to survive by Xeal before they left. Still, Xeal had to watch as they charged in and risked everything, particularly Noriko who was dancing around the battlefield like a true berserker. She fought with nothing but her bare hands and Xeal was constantly seeing a player being tossed 50 feet or more in the air by her. The spellcasters on Nium’s side loved this as it gave them easy targets to hit as the airborne players were almost helpless.
While Nium’s NPCs and half of their player forces focused on the players from Paidhia’s side, Casmir was leading the rest of the players to go directly at the 1,000 NPCs who had formed separate ranks. These ranks were formed in a completely defensive way as if they had known Xeal would order them to be targeted and he sighed as Casmir, Leaena, Asa and Saima opened the assault. The four vice guild leaders each unleashed their best skills as Leaena and Casmir charged the first rank of shields, as Asa and Saima slipped through the opening this created and attacked mercilessly. Like an egg once cracked, this created more openings as the four pushed deeper in and the players behind them opened the holes wider.
Casmir
This is insane, was the only thought that Casmir had as he attacked the level 279 NPC shield warrior who stood in front of him. He was over 30 levels below his foe and his stats weren’t like Xeal’s or the other top players in FAE. Nor did he have the level of skill that Takeshi had that would allow him to overcome such a gap in levels. Even after activating his strongest skill as far as knockback was concerned, slash of the mountain, all he did was push his opponent back a single step, but that was all he had needed. At the same moment Leaena had landed her blow on the NPC next to Casmir’s, and the opening had been enough for Asa and Saima to both slip in and attack. Though Casmir had no time to care about that as he pushed into the second rank of the 20-rank formation they were attacking.
Finally, as they reached the fifth rank, Casmir was already down by a quarter of his health and couldn’t create an opening due to the loss of momentum. However, he didn’t need to as the player directly behind him moved past him as he let them take care of the next rank and the player behind them took care of the sixth rank. Like that they penetrated all the way to the back of the formation as pure chaos took over the battlefield. Rather than attacking one target, the entire group that Casmir was leading would attack any NPC that showed an opening and since there were over four players for each NPC, they were able to slowly start to overwhelm them despite the large gap in levels.
Things had been going great before everything had suddenly become a real mess, as Casmir felt a dark energy try and grab hold of him. Thankfully it had been overcome easily enough as he ripped a dagger out of his side that had been thrown there and realized that it was a demonic weapon. Though it was far weaker than the ones that had been seen on the battlefield before then and he was about to shrug it off when two of the NPCs near him suddenly found similar daggers in their sides. That was when Casmir saw the tier-7 mage holding a demonic staff and chanting, as it seemed every single combatant in the mass of bodies that this portion of the battle had become, reacted.
A moment later the dagger in Casmir’s hand dissolved into smoke and the veins of most of the NPCs bulged as their eyes shifted to black. To make matters worse, around a tenth of the players that had charged in looked like they had failed to resist the daggers, as they suddenly started to attack the nearest noninfected person to them, and it became clear that the NPC with the staff was getting ready to cast again as the NPCs near him all pulled out demonic weapons of their own. All Casmir was sure of was that they needed to keep that staff away from the other group fighting as NPCs were seemingly highly susceptible, from the looks of the roughly 800 who had failed to resist out of the 900 or so who had been targeted. Had they gone for an NPC-on-NPC fight, Casmir expected that things would be far worse after that spell, but it was clear that the mage’s next target would be the NPCs that Nium had sent into battle. It was with the thought of disrupting this that Casmir charged right into what was clearly the most dangerous section of the battle.
Noriko
Noriko was truly enjoying her role in this fight as she focused on simply attacking wildly and sending her opponents into the air. While this did little damage, it was perfect for creating chaos and that was what they needed the enemy to be in as until Casmir completed his mission they were outnumbered two to one. Even if their side had the stronger members, having to keep track of two opponents at once wasn’t a skill most had developed well. Yet, fighting larger groups was something Noriko had always enjoyed, as one of the spear points when fighting against the monsters who were constantly trying to cross the river if they weren’t culled.
Though that had been before Xeal had arrived as since he had come, forts had been built and his kind was happy to deal with the monsters across the river for them. Many beast-men, who had almost lived while fighting the incursions since they had reached tier-7, were still coming home now. Though now most of those found themselves entangled in this war and had yet to truly know peace, as they were neither leaders nor ones who were still developing. As such they were expected to pull their weight at all times, especially since Xeal had become their lord.
While Noriko wouldn’t say that she was the best of leaders when it came to commanding attacks and retreats, she had always been great at leading from the front as she was now. However, even she shivered and paused when she felt the wave of energy that came from where Casmir was attacking Paidhia’s force of natives of her world. As Noriko saw the scene, she didn’t even think as she took off at a sprint right at the mage who held the staff that was the root cause, taking note of Sceca overhead headed right at the same target.
When they were about halfway there, Noriko saw Casmir charging at what had become a group of demonic weapon users, who were surrounded by those who seemed to be populated by the same energy. Yet, as Casmir was pushed back and Noriko could tell that neither she nor Sceca would reach them in time, a dagger sprouted from the mage’s chest as just for a moment Ianira was visible before vanishing. Noriko just smiled as she increased her pace, as she saw the other 2,000 that had stayed on standby for this exact scenario charging in. Yet Noriko knew that it wouldn’t be enough as the 4,500 who had been sent to attack the 1,000 were being completely overwhelmed, as she arrived to push back against the dark energy.
For this she even activated one of the skills unique to her bloodline that she hated to use, and her skin and fur became metal and her MP and SP began to drain rapidly. Yet nothing made of metal could harm her and a simple touch would shatter most items made of metal if she wished it. At the same time, she let out a roar that caused a gust of wind to swirl around her as if she was in the center of an F2 tornado, and just approaching her became difficult. Clicking her tongue, Sceca avoided this vortex of wind and soon her body was covered in red flames as she dove right at the group of demonic weapon users.
Tenbris
Tenbris watched as what had been an even fight turned against Nium’s side as the demonic weapons were brought out. It was at that point he saw the three beast-men leaders take action, as two of them displayed just why their bloodline was special. Still, Tenbris could tell that without Xeal stepping forward and intervening, that the 2,000 who were charging in would do little more than delay the inevitable. Sighing, as he was in command of the force that was allowing this to happen, he questioned if there was anything that he could do to avoid what was sure to be a slaughter. Then it hit him as he sent out the order for a retreat and started to run away from the battle with around a quarter of his force listening.
Not quite what he would have hoped for, but it was still enough to ease the pressure on Nium’s forces and he already had a plan of how he was going to spin things. After all, he was just taking a stance against the use of demonic weapons in such a brazen manner. Especially that staff which could infect others through its use, as it was taking another step as it forced NPCs to become corrupted rather than them choosing to. Tenbris expected that unless destroying the staff freed the ones inflicted by the curse, that all of the NPCs under its sway were as good as dead already. Still, deep down Tenbris knew that his actions were too little too late as the crack of thunder could be heard above.
Xeal
To say Xeal was incensed was too gentle a term for what he was, as he saw the scene before him playing out. Yet rather than rush to destroy the demonic weapon, he decided it was time to make an example out of Paidhia. As such, after sending Ihyi an order to have the fleet begin its assault and another telling King Victor to launch the airships, he shifted to his lightning form and flash stepped to King Tybalt Tannenbay’s side and plunged his arm into the man.
