Chapter 113. Rally
“You’re certain of this?”
“I am. It tried to possess me. Nearly even succeeded.”
The darkness in the cave seemed to grow even darker, an icy chill piercing through the stale air. Two men stared at each other, their faces cast in shadows, the only light coming from the dim luminescent stones lining the walls.
“So the Emperor’s sudden shift seven years ago…”
Terminus’s expression could’ve been carved from solid stone, emotionless and unreadable as it was. Though his tone was calm, something lurked beneath the surface that had the man across from him standing very, very still.
“Yes,” said Phantasm. His blank white mask obscured any expression he might’ve made. “I assume so.”
“I see.”
A long silence descended upon the cave. Neither man moved. Neither man even breathed. Overhead, a spider hurriedly skittered into a rocky crevice in the cavern ceiling.
Then, Terminus roared.
Space shimmered and distorted as a terrible sound filled the cavern, like the muffled underwater explosion of a volcano. His hand snapped up and radiant magic gathered at his palm, straining to be unleashed. For a second, it seemed like he was going to blast a hole straight through the cavern wall and sink the entire island. Then he paused, thought better of it, and shifted his palm downward.
Phantasm didn’t flinch as the ground between them flickered slightly before dematerializing into nothingness, hollowed out into a perfect circle. He met Terminus’s gaze evenly as magic continued pouring out from the other man’s hand, boring into the earth.
And then, just as abruptly as it began, the magic cut off.
Terminus breathed heavily, rage etched on his face. “So then, this means…”
Phantasm nodded. “Indeed.”
Slowly, the rage was overwritten with sorrow. “It’s not my…”
Phantasm shook his head. “It’s not.”
In that moment, Phantasm’s voice could’ve been described as soft. His single remaining hand twitched, as though to clasp Terminus’s shoulder, but he aborted the motion a moment later.
Another silence fell over the two men, this one heavier than the last.
Between them, a circular hole about a meter in diameter extended down.
And down…
And down…
Until it reached the red-hot molten core of the world itself.
“He must be mad.”
“You’ll get no objections from me on that. But only mad men can defeat madmen, and the Emperor is anything but sane.”
“Perhaps. But trusting complete strangers who claim to be from Luminarche?” Yuki let out a frustrated huff, brushing strands of dark hair out of her face as she strode forward. Green leaves formed a thick canopy overhead, blotting out the morning sun and casting the forest around them into shadows. “What is Terminus thinking? What if Maplewood and his companions turn out to be spies? Or sleeper agents? We’ve put far too much into this plan to risk it failing like this.”
“I’m certain Terminus knows what he’s doing,” Makoto said, trailing a little ways behind her. “He hasn’t let us down before. Besides, judging by the intel we received, Maplewood is most likely telling the truth. Otherwise, the imperial government wouldn’t have reacted so strongly.”
Yuki let out a long exhale. That was true. Three days ago, the Huntsmen stationed at the Luminarche-Yukihasa border failed to make their weekly report back to headquarters. A quick investigation revealed a scarred battlefield and the residuals of one of the Huntsmen’s suicide techniques.
Immediately, the imperial government declared a state of emergency. Despite the Curtain not having detected any intrusions, the government assumed the worst and significantly increased security around critical infrastructure. Furthermore, they recalled large numbers of Huntsmen from the eastern battlefront and redeployed them to track down and eliminate any potential infiltrators. Clearly, they weren’t taking any chances; Yukihasa had suffered one too many foreign incursions in the past to risk another.
Ordinarily, the Resistance would be thrilled about this, as they could then take advantage of the reduced manpower to reclaim more territory in the east. However, their current objective was the Dragon’s Leyline, which lay firmly within imperial territory. As such, the heightened security was a tremendous hindrance, though thankfully not enough to cripple their plans altogether.
At the very least, the government’s response more or less confirmed that Veli Maplewood and his companions were probably telling the truth. Luminarche already released an official statement denying all involvement, but that was to be expected.
However…
“You sent out feelers about Veli Maplewood, Ana, and Lene, correct?” Yuki said. “Have your sources returned any information?”
Makoto hesitated. “None.”
As the leader of the Resistance’s Second Shinobi Unit, Makoto controlled one of the most extensive intelligence networks in the entire nation. He had set up multiple foreign lines of communication that bypassed even the Curtain, allowing him to exchange information beyond Yukihasa’s borders. This alone made him utterly indispensable to the Resistance. Consequently, for his network to not have heard anything about those three…
“Fake names, I imagine,” Makoto said. “My source in Luminarche is still asking around, but I haven’t received any definitive intel yet. As soon as I do, though, you’ll be the first to know.”
Yuki nodded, though not without some hesitance. “The others won’t like this, you know.”
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“Yeah, well… They’ll listen to you.”
“Perhaps…”
A silence fell over them as they continued making their way through the forest, chirping birdsong sounding from all sides. Yuki shivered slightly as they passed through an invisible barrier, feeling the telltale privacy wards settling into place.
“You ready?” Makoto suddenly asked.
Yuki let out a long breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Makoto cast her an assessing gaze. Then, his eyes softened. “You’ve come far,” he murmured. “Whatever happens… I’m proud of you.”
Yuki inhaled sharply before a small smile spread across her face. “Thank you, Makoto.”
“Of course. Now, go get them.”
They emerged from the thick mass of trees into a wide clearing located at the edge of the island. Numerous sets of eyes swiveled over to look at them as they approached. Yuki swallowed her nervousness and kept her head high, meeting their gazes in turn. Resistance generals, Shinobi Unit leaders, elite Resistance soldiers, Terminus…
Right now, this small clearing on a distant island out in the middle of nowhere was filled with some of the most important people involved in the revolution. And they were all looking at her.
Yuki drew in a deep breath. Counted to five. Exhaled.
And her eyes burned.
“Men and women of the Resistance!” Yuki shouted. The entire clearing quieted, everyone hanging onto her every word. “Allies, friends, comrades! I thank you all for coming here today. For ten long years, Yukihasa has suffered. The Emperor and his rotten court have done terrible things to this land. They’ve murdered our friends, they’ve executed our families, they’ve massacred our neighbors and thrown what was once a great country into a bleak mire of torment and despair.” Her hands clenched into fists. “They’ve killed enough people to make our seas run red with blood – but you know what they failed to kill?”
She slammed her fist against her raging heart. “They failed to kill our hope! They failed to kill our spirits and they failed to kill our capacity to dream! For ten long years, Yukihasa has suffered, and for ten long years, we the Resistance have fought! We refused to back down, we refused to give up. Because no matter how long it takes, no matter how much sweat, blood, and tears we shed, we will reclaim our country!”
A resounding roar went up at her words.
“So I say to you all! Today, we are gathered here on this tiny island because we believe in a common purpose. No, not only that. We believe in a common dream. A dream for a country where the children don’t have to starve. Where the people can laugh joyfully and freely and live out their lives without the ever-constant figure of Death looming over their shoulders.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Yuki saw an unfamiliar young man jerk at her words. She glanced over, but he’d already regained his composure, a placid expression settling back over his face, albeit with a slight twitch to his left eye. Who was he…? Oh, right. She recalled Makoto’s description. So this must be Veli Maplewood… No, she was getting distracted. Focus.
“But of course, that is not an easy dream to achieve. The very opposite. The Emperor is unfathomably strong and even harder to kill.” Here, she faltered slightly, but she recovered a moment later. “However, we persevered. For the past ten years we toiled and worked, waiting for the perfect opportunity. And that opportunity is finally here. We will disable the Dragon’s Leyline, storm the imperial capital, cut down the Emperor, and set Yukihasa free!”
Another roar went up, stronger and louder than the last.
“This I promise you!” Yuki shouted. “You all have chosen to place your faith in me – and your faith I will not let down. I, Yuki Samura, second leader of the Resistance, will ensure a new dawn rises for this country!”
And as her people cheered, a fierce pride bloomed within her chest. She knew everyone in this clearing; they were men and women she’d commanded for nearly a decade. They stared back at her, determination smoldering in their eyes–
One single word scraped through the entire clearing like a knife through ice.
“How?”
The clearing quieted down as they all looked over to the man who’d just spoken. Shiba, one of the generals, stepped forward, the crowd clearing around him. He was one of the Resistance’s strongest members, a grizzled ex-adventurer covered in scars. He glared at Yuki, uncaring of the spotlight on him.
“The Dragon’s Leyline is protected by a barrier so strong that our most powerful attacks can’t even scratch it,” Shiba said. “It is, without a doubt, completely and utterly impenetrable. We cannot even hope to pierce it.”
Yuki nodded. “That is true. However, our good friend Terminus has a way to get around that.”
Terminus nodded, stepping up to join her. “You are correct, General Shiba. Piercing the barrier is an impossibility, not without alerting the entire country and bringing a battalion down on our heads. The runes that sustain it are foreign to even me; the barrier is downright otherworldly. However, that’s the beauty of the plan. We don’t necessarily need to break it. We just need to get past it.”
Shiba narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Terminus smiled genially. “Allow me to introduce Veli Maplewood.”
Maplewood blinked as the crowd parted around him and his two companions. He gave a half-hearted wave.
“As some of you may know, Veli Maplewood is an adventurer from Luminarche who agreed to support our cause. He possesses spatial manipulation abilities that rival even my own. Abilities that allowed him to bypass the Curtain, and abilities that will allow him to bypass the barrier protecting the Dragon’s Leyline.”
Furious muttering exploded amongst the crowd as they looked at Maplewood in a new light.
“With Veli Maplewood on our side, we don’t need to break the barrier,” Terminus continued. “He can puncture and expand the very space it’s painted on to create an opening for us to get through while leaving the barrier entirely undisturbed. Once inside, we can then use the special ‘shipment’ to freely disable the Dragon’s Leyline.”
“Bullshit!” Shiba spat. “You expect me to believe that this kid can do all that?”
“Oi,” Maplewood muttered under his breath, but he was ignored.
“I do,” Terminus said. “You must’ve heard about the Huntsmen who were discovered dead at the border, or the Huntsman that the Resistance took captive on this very island a week ago. We know for an indisputable fact that Veli Maplewood and his companions were able to bypass the Curtain.”
“Maybe,” Shiba said. “Or maybe, they were let past the Curtain on purpose.”
A tense silence filled the clearing.
“What do you mean by that?” Terminus asked, his voice soft.
“Imagine you’re the Emperor,” Shiba said. “Imagine you want to infiltrate the Resistance, but you know they’re composed of a bunch of paranoid bastards like myself. So imagine you decide to sacrifice a few of your Huntsmen and intentionally disable the Curtain to sell the story of the border being successfully infiltrated by foreign agents. Once inside, well, the Resistance would have no way to confirm whether those foreign agents are the real deal. Unless, of course, a certain Shinobi Unit leader has spies abroad.”
He looked at Makoto. “Isn’t that right, old friend? Your source in Luminarche has never heard of a ‘Veli Maplewood’, have they?”
“Oi,” Maplewood said again, a little louder this time, but everyone ignored him.
Makoto hesitated. “That’s classified…” With all the eyes on him, he sagged. “But yes, that’s right.”
“There you have it,” Shiba said. In one fluid motion, he summoned a curved blade to his hand and leveled it at Maplewood. “You know what I think, Veli Maplewood? I think that you’re a fake. I think that you never actually bypassed the Curtain, that you’re an agent sent by the Emperor to sabotage and ruin–”
“Oi!” Maplewood shouted, cutting Shiba off. “Dear Goddess, can you just let me speak? Look, I promise you, I hate the Emperor just as much as any of you. I am not working for him. I…” He sighed, his exasperation clear. “Oh, you know what, forget it.” He turned to the woman standing next to him. “Anastasia, can you do the honors?”
Yuki blinked. Anastasia… She recognized that name. But from where?
Wait…
Her eyes widened.
There’s no way–!