Chapter 205: Warfronts and Nostalgia.
—Arx PoV—
I marched with my inhex brethren, who had chosen to fight by my side. We marched alongside people of so many other species, who were here to take a stand and help us claw our freedom back. We marched for the Edengarian City of Sidarin, to liberate that which had been conquered under the weight of our unwilling mandible.
My thoughts spun, amidst this silent rhythm, and my not-so-silent fellows. I felt guilty for how long I took to do this. I’d long recovered from our fight against Evel. It was frivolous to loiter and give the dwarves and harpies a visit while the others warred in my stead. I didn’t know why I did it.
No, that wasn’t true. I did know. It was because my friends invited me over. I let my curiosity get the better of me. I wanted to go to a place where I wouldn’t be judged.
Even that wasn’t entirely true. People would always judge outsiders, especially a duarchy that still wasn’t nearly as diverse as New Grandera. But at least there weren’t any other inhex there to ask me questions… and wasn’t that a terrible thought? After the terrible position I’d put them in. I fucking ran away and hid and had a fun vacation while they suffered!
But no more. The time for rest was done. I would not let my own weakness overwhelm me again. I would make up for all the time I wasted feeling sorry for myself. I’d endured solitude for decades, so now it was time for me to endure a decade of war.
~~~
“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!” I screamed the moment we met the first set of Edengar forces. I leapt for the scouting party, and half their number was pulverized by the sheer mass of my speeding body alone. The rest either froze in terror, or fled in panic, but… I did not let a single one escape. By my claws they were impaled. Through my mandibles, they were crushed and sheared. These are the weapons of the inhex. These are the weapons of my people. And now we wield them instead of you!
I continued to smear them into finer paste well after they were dead, until I finally returned to my senses and realized what I was doing. I stopped, and finally noticed the stares and the wide berth everyone had given of me.
“Sorry…” I tried.
“Uh… Yeah.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I think you got ‘em.” Someone actually joked, and I couldn’t help but snort. It reminded me of Haell and the rest of my silly friends that I actually managed to make.
“What are you talking about, that was awesome!”
“Yeah! So this is what a Level 80 inhex is capable of, huh?”
“Can I do that someday too?”
Those of my people were more supportive of what I did. They understood. We would make them pay.
“Work hard, and maybe someday,” I answered the eager inhex adventurer.
I would love nothing more than for my people to rise. I would love to not be our greatest hope. To not be the only one.
~~~
A sharp ring echoed around me as my mandible ground against each other. Most of my allies couldn’t see it yet, but beyond the trees was the city we were here to take back for their people who had been trampled like we the inhex had been. Before it was the army that sought to continue this oppression… and my brethren whom they had put on the front lines.
I stalked forward at a brisker pace and pulled ahead of the march. Sorrow and anger warred inside me as I understood what needed to be done. I grieved for how nothing had fucking changed. They still used us as meatshields. They screamed at those who broke formation. They ‘disciplined’ my people through violence. Shepherds fucking wormed into our minds. Those were inhexes who might’ve chosen otherwise were we just given an actual fucking choice.
I almost rushed ahead by myself, but I barely held myself back. I was better than that. I shouldn’t just start killing them. Not when there was something far more important for me to do.
I remained patient, until finally, our two armies faced each other. I walked to the very forefront, to the startlement of our commander, but she’d understand.
I took a deep breath, and let it out in one powerful scream.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
It was sorrow. It was rage. It was louder than I’d ever screamed before. It was a language someone here might yet understand. It was a curse, the legacy of Cursifix, and it did its job of stopping my enemies in their tracks before they could prematurely start the war.
It did its job too well, in fact, as I did not realize how these many inhex gathered in one place might affect the power of my Soul Feat. They cowered and trembled, backed away and outright collapsed, as that outburst approached the potency of Haell’s own aura. My enemy inhexes were not spared of this either, as they still counted as part of Angelore or Edengar, and a Soul Feat would forever have its limitations when compared to the cursed magic Haell could wield.
It would have to be enough.
“My people, the inhex! The lost children of Hivania! I am Arx, the angelslayer! Someone just like you! Shipped here as an egg. Mistreated and abused! Enslaved! While our souls cry out for a queen we could never meet, because she is bound in chains tighter than any of us! WELL NO MORE! I say we finally take action! This is no way to live! Angelore is finally breaking, but do you think they would actually free Queen Iz in their final hour? Would you rather help them keep winning, so that we may continue to eke out this sad and tortured existence? Because I do not want that! IT IS NO WAY TO LIVE! And it is no way to die either. So, I have taken the very unfortunate but necessary liberty, to begin our final gamble. WE SHALL TRAMPLE THEM ALL, EVEN IF WE ALL DIE IN THE PROCESS!”
I clacked my mandibles and breathed. I paused for a moment, to give them time to think. The Edengarians unfortunately recovered first, and they began shouting orders. Some of my own people leapt at me, mandibles open and claws ready for violence, but I just executed them with great sadness. I was happier to see that at least half of the remaining inhex had answered my call, and were now fighting off the Edengarians and the inhexes who had chosen differently. Others yet at least got out of the way, as they decided to just flee, and I would protect that choice too. I needed to protect it. To protect them.
I leapt into battle at the same time that my allies did. I took on the pain of executing some of my own people, until I was past them. The melancholy gave way to a consuming rage once I was finally in front of the humans, shepherds, and other peoples of Angelore who marched atop the corpses of my people.
My claw swept in an arc that disemboweled all who stood before me. I did not stop for a second as my other claw impaled a dozen more. Mandibles crushed the enemies who charged for my head. Every moment they focused on me, gave my newest inhex allies a greater chance to regroup. My New Granderan allies soon arrived to help them, and they were finally able to be pulled back.
This was the moment, and I screeched. Some inhexes were still affected by it, but that’s why I wanted them out of the way first. Our enemies froze in terror again, and this time that momentary pause proved fatal. They were unable to defend themselves just as the greater mass of our army crashed into their frontlines!
They crumbled like the cowards that they were. They panicked, like their entire civilization had been enslaved. I bit off the heads of their shepherd masters, to snuff out whatever false hope that they had. Many chose to run, but I did not give them the escape they had denied us. I leapt from one formation to the next, as they were so weak that my sheer momentum could crush them.
A hundred weapons smashed against my carapace in turn, but I endured. Arrows and spells drew blood, yet I kept going. Just one more kill, one more of our tormentors cut short from salvation. I fought like Haell: without regard for my own safety.
It was a foolish indulgence I wouldn’t repeat. I was our greatest hope. I was the one who chose to start our final bid for survival. I would be their King. I should never forget that.
~~~
—Back to Haell PoV—
[Resentment has Reached Level 72!]
[Curse Heart has Reached Level 74!]
[Demon Brain has Reached Level 73!]
I strolled with marching soldiers towards my ‘home.’ I was so much weaker the last time I’d been here, but now I’d come back stronger. The death of those angels had given me Levels, in the immediate aftermath, and then the intervening time beyond. This was the kind of leveling speed I’d not enjoyed since I was but a small imp. It was not shared by the friends who fought with me, but then again, I was the lowest-leveled among us all.
Latarus, my hometown, my childhood, and the place I was reared, finally came into view.
More specifically, I saw the familiar Tree Wall that surrounded the whole city and was taller than most buildings. I remembered how I loved the community that lived along its branches. It looked different now, the people maintaining the trees clearly didn’t care like Baston did. It didn’t look as pretty. It had to be regrown a few times over to account for the city’s expansion. It was here to serve the true purpose why it was built. Not to give the belfegors a proper home like they claimed, but to put them in harm’s way.
A large number of soldiers had gathered in front of this Tree Wall to meet us. Many more waited in the battlements atop the branches to rain fire from above. This was the sort of force I’d only seen arrayed in front of my city once. I fought for Latarus back then, against an unending goblin horde.
Now I’d unleashed that same nightmare upon so many unsuspecting settlements. How times had changed.
“TURN BACK NOW AND WE’LL LET YOU LIVE!!” Someone from the other side shouted. That was far more humble that they’d usually be.
“NO!” Northern New Grandera’s own belfegor commander shouted. “THESE ARE OUR LANDS! WE’RE HERE TO TAKE THEM BACK!”
This exchange didn’t continue for long. They weren’t even speaking the same language. There was never any genuine attempt at a diplomatic solution.
The inevitable war began. I flew above them all and cursed the people of my hometown. I burned them, I killed them, like all that had come before. I looked at their faces as the life left from their eyes, and I didn’t recognize a single one.
I stopped. It was only a check with my memory Core that confirmed there were indeed at least some vaguely familiar faces in the crowd of dead bodies. Even their appearance had changed, after decades had passed, which made total sense.
Most of the survivors had fled into the tree wall by now, hence why I even bothered to stop. I didn’t want to burn the place down. So I rushed after the greatest mass of them that picked the safest path inside, and just reaped through the soldiers like a farmer that really loved his corn.
The harvest of blood was soon completed, and I stood at the bloody remains of it. Arrows and spells still rained down on me from above, as the tree wall had proven a lot more difficult to conquer. It was a jungle full of various poisonous plants. The trees were tougher than normal. My allies were already trying to burn it down, forcing the denizens of this place to choose between helping to defend their home, or fleeing the warzone it had become.
I ascended. I flew. I looked at the soldiers with fury, and the regular people who could only live here with regret. They wouldn’t listen to me, but that was no reason not to try.
“People of Latarus! I am Haell Zharignan, the daughter of who you once knew as Golex the Hero!”
“Fuck you!”
“TRAITOR!”
“DIE!”
“This is all your fault!”
“You’re not one of us!”
“ANGELKILLER!”
They interrupted me right when I was saying something important and I boiled with rage. I allowed it to seep past my tight control, and expand as an aura. My eyes bore into them and they finally shut up. Most of the protestations came from the soldiers and adventurers actively fighting against me, who I didn’t intend to let live anyway.
“I have been to this place. I loved the tree wall, and I hate how it’s been used to force you, the people who live here, into battle. So please, leave and evacuate now. Do not fear reprisal, your soldiers and nobles will soon be dead. I will kill them all. You have seen the result of my fury, and I am angry. But not at you. So just leave and you will be fine. Your homes will be rebuilt after this war good as new–Nay, even better than before! Recall how it was three, four, five decades ago! Back when I also still lived here, a human then, not a demon. We will restore the tree wall back to its former glory! We will make it even better!”
My shouts rang with absolute conviction, when I had not talked about any of these plans at all with anyone. I was fucking improvising. But I was sure they would do it if I asked.
The promise I gave was thankfully enough. People were already hiding or beginning to flee earlier, not wishing to be involved. Now, they truly began to run away in earnest.
“W-what?”
“GET BACK HERE!”
“STOP!”
“This is treason!”
“They’re traitors! Do you all want to be traitors too!?”
My enemies shouted, but I silenced them in an arrow to the head or a sword to the guts. I didn’t burn everything down, but I still used my curse, for the trees could always be regrown. They rotted along with the swine that occupied them. I traveled through the canopy and killed as many as I could. I dove down into the more dangerous parts, unafraid of the poison, like I might have been as a child. I had blood magic now. It could cure toxins better than any other element. The rangers and others who took advantage of the deadly and complex terrain swiftly found their advantage stripped away, and shortly after, their very lives.
The remaining enemy forces broke and ran for the more regular city. I flew after them, as did my allies rush warily through the safe pathway I’d paved in blood.
I stopped again once I had a clear view of the city beyond the trees. The same river bisected it, and separated the wealthy from the poor. It was different from the town I remembered, but I still recognized a lot of the rooftops I saw from up here. The streets I walked and played. The best stores to eat or get whatever it was I wanted. The home I lived in… now unrecognizable, remodeled, refurbished, remade. It was gone.
That was fine. Everyone important made it back to me.
This city descended into predictable chaos. Few of the enemy soldiers came here to continue resisting, as most aimed to run away. Latarus had all but fallen, as Northern New Grandera’s forces rushed in to finish their conquest. They had the discipline to at least not cross the line, although I knew they would be far more slack had I not been present.
Right now, I didn’t care.
There was one place I wanted to visit.
I flew far above, to the center of the city.
I saw the manor I had long avoided in my youth.
I landed in front of the church, decorated with the likeness of the angels. I hated every moment that I’d been forced to come in here as a baby. All those shepherds trying to slither and crawl into my mind. The way they stacked the different species atop each other, so they could crush those below them, and be crushed in turn. How it… resembled some of the things I hated the most in my past life.
I sighed and stood there for one long moment, as if deliberating. I felt my loathing, and in a common yet often suppressed moment of rage, I tore it all down and burned everything to ashes. Just like I’d done for the angels in reality, I also killed the monuments made for them. I had mixed feelings about how New Grandera did this same thing, but today I didn’t stop. I kept going until I reached the fountain where I once almost got baptized. The last time I actually went to church. The day before I finally revealed my true nature to my family, and was accepted for it.
It burned and melted all the same.
“You…!” Someone suddenly shouted in a familiar voice. I looked, and was mildly surprised he was still here. I never actually checked.
“Yes. Me,” I let out a heavy breath, and smiled brightly. “Good to see you, Baron Priest Lathary.”
“You…” the much older-looking man looked between me, and the burning parts of his manor. “YOU!”
“You, you, you,” I mocked. “Is that all you know how to say? Ah, but you might not recognize me. The name is Haell Zharignan, and I once lived in this city.”
“I know who you are! What you are. What have you done!? This… How dare you burn the image of the angels!?”
I raised a brow from beneath my helmet. “Really? Their images are what you’re worried about?”
He actually paused.
“You killed them! Both of them!”
My smile returned brighter, and I nodded in turn. “Yep! It was a tough fight, but I pulled through. You were right that they’re strong.
“Of course they are! But you… you can’t do that!!”
“Really?” I tilted my head again. “When have ‘cans’ and ‘cannots’ even stopped me?”
Lathary took another breath. He glared at me, but his paltry anger washed off like morning dew.
“You are… a monster. I always knew there was something wrong with you. But this…”
“Right back at you. You’ve always been a monster in my life, at least during periods of it. But now I have returned. To slay you, since you’re here. It’s been a long time coming.”
“No. No, no, no, NO! You will leave my presence, demon! I banish you from this place! I am its baron! I am a priest! You are not welcome here! You have never been! I always knew there was something wrong with you! And your parents… that traitor hero… they refused to have you be fixed!”
My smile disappeared. That pissed me off, but I was already angry. It’s nothing new.
No, more than that, I thought this would be more fun. Instead, it was just tiresome. Like I was beating a long dead horse. I hadn’t cared about this shit for years. Why did I even dig them back up?
I should really just finish this.
Devilcalibur sliced through Lathary and his guards before they could even process that I’d moved.
And with that, there was no one here left to kill, for the rest of the city’s leadership had already fled.
So was this him actually showing some courage? I looked at the bisected corpse of this city’s previous ruler, and then shrugged and walked away.