Chapter 124. Eyes Full of Vengeance
Rhys charged at the nearest guards, and they charged down at him. He narrowed his eyes, then flicked his fingers at one of the further guards, who hung back, murmuring words to himself as he gathered mana for a spell. A rat crawled over the man’s shoulder, and he startled and batted at it, only for a second rat to appear, and a third, and a fourth, until the tiny beasts swarmed him, chittering as they gnawed at his flesh. He screamed, batting at them, but his blows did little. The rats consumed him, leaving nothing behind, then consumed themselves, vanishing once more.
This was the technique Rhys had learned in the mines. This was the ultimate form of his rat-summoning.
The newly-consumed guard’s sword drifted in the wind, wandering toward them. Lira kicked off the back of Rhys’s sword and flew through the air. She landed on a guard’s shoulder, jumped again, and flipped around to land feet-first on the abandoned sword, her slender sword outstretched. Suddenly flanked, the guards floundered, not certain whether to attack Lira or Rhys first.
Lira and Rhys met one another’s eyes, then nodded. Rhys jumped left, while Lira took the right half. The guards swiftly fell, and Rhys absorbed them just as quickly. He stored their energy separate from their bodies, as usual, letting their bodies become trash, while their energy he stored around the exterior of the trash star, to be absorbed later, if he didn’t find any mages who wanted to take on the responsibility of being reinstated. He leaned forward, flying toward the abandoned flying swords, and pulled out two pieces of wood trash. Using the two like chopsticks, he fished the flying swords out of the air and stored them in his storage ring. He could use those later, either here or back at the base with his potato-chip-makers. Given how the merchants didn’t ride flying swords, he assumed sword-flying was restricted to the military and the aristocracy in the Empire, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use flying swords when he attacked the Empire, just that he shouldn’t when he was going around as an innocent junk food salesman.
He and Lira landed. The farm workers looked up, their eyes big and empty, shellshocked more than anything. Rhys stepped forward. “You are all freed. If anyone wants the danger and responsibility of a restored core, follow me. I can’t guarantee anything, except that you walk into death; I cannot, and will not, keep you safe. You might follow me and die for no benefit. Even if you receive a benefit, you must continue to follow me until the end of your lives, or the end of the Empire.
“If you are not prepared for that commitment, if you want to simply be free and safe, then go now. Scatter to the four winds and make for the nearest borders. We will fight here, and distract the Empire for as long as we can, to give you as much time to get away as possible.”
The prisoners looked amongst themselves. A few of them turned and ran without hesitation, vanishing into the forest around them. There was no barrier around the farm; Rhys didn’t know why, but he suspected it had to do with how the herbs grew. It was possible that a barrier would interfere with the flow of mana and prevent them from growing properly. They were absorbing mana passively from the soil and air, at a low rate; he was close enough to be able to sense the motion of mana in the air, flowing into the plants. It wasn’t infeasible that a barrier would alter their growth. In any case, he was grateful for the lack of a barrier, since it made it easier to handle the escapees.
A few of them stepped forward. Their eyes were hardened, without a single scrap of hope left. These men and women marched to their death, but they marched with their eyes wide open, hoping to take down one guard on their way to hell. Rhys nodded. He glanced over them, then chose the one who looked the most committed, the most willing to fight until they or the Empire were dust, and put a hand on their shoulder. Power flowed from him into the young man, and he focused, coursing it into a core.
The young man startled. He looked down at himself, then raised his hands, marveling at the return of mana. “I’m… whole again?”
“Come. We have work to do,” Rhys said. He turned and marched off, further into the farm, toward the buildings and barracks in the near distance. As he walked, he absorbed the impurities from the plants and soil around him, sucking all the trash and filth into himself. The plants behind him sparkled, brightening under his influence.