Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

  He picked out familiar faces among the ranks. “I heard that some bastards want to take what’s ours,” Domonos said. “I think that it's time we educated them on what happens when they attack our lands, our homes, and our people.” He felt his anger in each word, and saw it reflected in his soldiers as they stood taller, set their shoulders, and gripped their weapons tighter.

  “Let's rejoin the rest of the regiment. To Vuzgal! Turn to the right!”

  They moved as one, drill turned instinct.

  “March!”

  Those at the front led, not needing any guidance as they headed out of the Alva training center.

  The gates opened for them and Domonos saw Commander Glosil outside, waiting for them to pass.

  “Dragon Regiment, eyes right!” Domonos and the other officers saluted Commander Glosil, who held the salute as they passed through the gates.

  “First Battalion, Alpha Company, eyes forward!” The group through the gates snapped their eyes forward. Their feet fell at the same time, born of ingrained training and a deep desire to not trip up the person ahead or behind.

  “First Battalion, Bravo Company, eyes forward!” The second group passed through.

  Domonos caught Glosil's eyes and nodded. I'll do my duty. I'll bring back as many as I can. Alive or dead, I will leave none of them on the field.

  He passed the gate and looked forward. Two thousand members of the Dragon Regiment snaked through to the totem.

  Domonos felt a deep sense of pride, of anticipation mixed with fear and determination. It was his regiment and his city. He had been entrusted with both. Any bastard who thought they could take Vuzgal would have to walk over the entire Dragon Regiment to do so. Bring it on, motherfuckers.

  25

  Handover

  Domonos blinked as the light of the totem dissipated. He marched forward with the rest of his people. The gates opened, allowing the Dragon Regiment to return home. Family members and other Alvans cheered. The totem flashed again as another part of the regiment arrived.

  Domonos saw a familiar face in the crowd. His brother's armor stood out among everyone else.

  Father and sister as well. Domonos held his smile and nodded in their direction.

  The regiment separated into battalions, each heading to their own training grounds. The whole city was quieter, subdued. Carriages were infrequent and only heading in one direction: out of the city. People had gathered their belongings and fled to safer areas. His face hardened. Soon, this would become another battleground, and they would fight for every damn inch of it.

  This was their city; they had spent blood to gain and hold it. They had poured out resources and time, turning it into a city that filled him with pride.

  They marched through the gates into one of the military compounds. Several units stood off to the side, waiting for them.

  “Halt!” Domonos called out, and everyone snapped their feet down. “Left turn!”

  They all turned to face him as he faced them.

  “Dragon Regiment, Second Battalion, Fourth Company, you are released until fifteen hundred this afternoon. Dis-missed!” Domonos signaled their release.

  They all turned to the right, walking three paces before they dispersed, meeting up with their friends and heading out to see families they hadn't seen in weeks or months.

  How the hell…?

  Elan and Domonos’ siblings walked out of the depths of the training center. Domonos smiled. Qin grinned and hugged him, moving aside. His father patted him on the back. Yui stretched out a hand and Domonos took it. The two brothers pulled one another into a big hug.

  “Good to have you back! Don't worry. I think I only annoyed them a little with all the drills,” Yui said as they released one another.

  “Well, we can either go to the command center to do our debrief, or I hear that the Sky Reaching Restaurant has a new Peking Duck recipe,” Elan said.

  “Uhh.” Domonos turned, as if to ask if it was really a question.

  “Sky Reaching Restaurant, of course. You go there so much, you’re going to need to watch your waistline, Dad.” Qin poked him.

  “Hey,” he muttered, drawing himself up straight, smiling and rubbing where she’d poked him.

  “Not the normal family greeting,” Yui said.

  “We're not exactly a normal family,” Qin shot back.

  “What she said,” Domonos agreed. “Though seriously, Yui, how have things been?”

  “I've had the recruits completing full readiness checks, including all of the pre-set locations in the forests. They were using teleportation formations, so there shouldn't be any way for the Institute or the Elsi Clan to get any information.”

  “How did they do?”

  “Four set-ups and take-downs at two locations a day for each platoon. They got quick, taking five minutes on set-up and three on tear-down. Room for improvement, for sure. With the readiness tests in the bunkers, full readiness in two minutes.”

  “Now that we don't have anyone around, we'll get them to set new firing positions. Do we know what routes the enemy intends to use? Father?”

  “Nothing yet, our spies have got several clues but no specifics, we do know they are using local guides.”

  “Have their numbers increased?”

  “Yes, another fifty thousand have joined them, bringing their numbers up to around three hundred thousand. Their leader is Marco Tolentino, cousin to Nico. He is a powerful cultivator and fighter in his own right. Marco excels not just at training but in tactical fighting. He has captured five cities. Three as a fighter, two as a commander. He learned how to fight as a child and went to war when he became a teenager.”

  “He’s not the only one, Father,” Yui said.

  Domonos nodded in thanks. “It’s good to know your enemy. He's dedicated and has experience. He also has backing and a lot of people. In assaulting a city, you have a few things you can use to tilt things in your favor. Have more people, have more long-range weapons, have more food and water. If you can, get better people, better weapons, and better food.”

  “Why's that?” Qin asked.

  “With more people, you can charge into the enemy, absorbing the deaths to reach them. With more weapons, you can cover the enemy's barriers, stopping them from seeing or breaking their mana barrier. If you crack the enemy's mana barriers, they’re naked before your weapons. If you have more food and water, you hole up and wait, starving the enemy out. Let them get desperate. If you have better items, you can speed things up.”

  “Can't you use tactics?” Qin asked.

  “Yes, you can use combinations of all three to tilt the situation to your advantage, though tactics are about positioning, timing and information.”

  “Come on, let's get something to eat and we can talk about something not so grim,” Yui said. He led them into the city and to the largest Sky Reaching Restaurant in Vuzgal.

  “A lot of people have gone into hiding, but there's enough staff to keep the restaurants open. For today, all meals are free for military members.” Yui grinned.

  “I taught you well.” Elan laughed.

  Domonos and Qin smiled as they were guided to a table.

  “When do you head back to Alva?” Domonos asked Qin.

  “Why would I do that? You need crafters, metal workers, and formation masters here.”

  “Qin,” Domonos started, looking to his brother and father for support.

  “Brother.” She stopped him with a fierce light in her eyes. “I might be your younger sister, but I am no less an Alvan than you. I know what will happen. You’ll need formation masters to create bombs and mortar shells, to repair damaged formations if needed. Vuzgal has nearly as many formations as Alva. I helped design many of them, or my students did. You need me here, and that is it. If there are any signs of trouble, I will take a teleportation formation out of the city to one of our backup locations. This I swear.”

  Qin went back to eating the snacks that had been brought out.

  Dom
onos choked out a laugh, sharing a look with his father and brother.

  “Once Qin Silaz has a goal in mind, there’s nothing we can do to stop her.” Domonos’ voice softened.

  “It really has been a long time since then,” Yui recalled.

  “Maybe to you all,” Elan reprimanded, mock serious. “It has been the best years of my life, for sure. You have all grown up so quickly in your different areas. Some of them closer than others.”

  He looked at Domonos and Yui with an amused smile and drank from his cup, letting out a refreshing breath.

  “You have truly soared.” Domonos rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling awkward.

  “Dad,” Qin said, and hugged him from the side.

  Elan laughed and stroked her head.

  “My daughter healed! My son returned to me! My family given great opportunities in a land that doesn't wish to enslave, but supports us. Wren has expanded the trading company across three realms. Erik and Rugrat would have gained my loyalty for any of these things, though they have done all of this and more without asking for any kind of compensation other than to defend the land we created together.”

  Elan's eyes grew wet as he looked out at Vuzgal. “If only your mother could see you now.”

  He stared at Yui and Domonos with tears brimming in his eyes; the fierce intelligence director of Alva’s lips trembled with bittersweet loss and pride.

  He pulled himself under control and patted Qin's head once again. “She would be so proud of you all.”

  His shaky whisper created heat deep within Domonos’ chest as his nose flared and he swallowed to hold in the tears.

  Yui looked over his people from the Tiger Regiment. Now that the Dragon Regiment had returned, he and most of his Tiger Regiment would move to Alva to support the work-up training for the reservists and others that would be supporting them in the coming fighting.

  He spotted Domonos walking toward him.

  “Came to say goodbye?” Yui asked with a smile.

  “To apologize. Commander Glosil sent me to fight alongside the Adventurer's Guild and now I’m taking command away from you again.”

  “Domonos, I'm not angry, nor do I think that you're trying to steal being on the front lines from me. It doesn't matter who leads the fight. What matters is that they are the best person for the job. You know Vuzgal like the back of your hand. If you hadn’t fought the Willful Institute with the Adventurer's Guild, it would have been a big hit to your confidence. Alva needs confident commanders. You needed to fight them to prove to yourself that you could. You gained firsthand knowledge of the enemy, their tactics; it bloodied our troops. Now going into battle is no longer a worry. You are focused on the job, not on just the enemy.”

  “Shit, when did you get so mature?”

  “You're my brother. I know how you think. After you got nearly killed by them and healed up, you've been holding a grudge. Fighting them got your confidence back and you’re a better leader for it. You are the best person for this fight. If you need support from me and the Tiger Regiment, we’ll be there.”

  “And my Dragon Regiment will be there for you.”

  They hugged and patted one another's backs.

  “You've got some good people! I think you poached them all from my regiment!” Yui grinned and walked out in front of his regiment. “All right, you lazy bastards! I hope you enjoy training because it’s up to us to get the reserves into fighting condition! Atten-tion!”

  Soldiers snapped to attention, rank upon rank.

  “Forward, March!”

  Tiger Regiment headed out from different bases and training centers, heading through the totem back to Alva, unseen by scrying spells, tamed beasts and even the association’s eyes hidden under the city itself.

  Good luck, brother, Yui thought as the light of the totem swallowed him.

  26

  Starting Positions

  “What the hell are we doing out here?” one of the artillery corporals complained.

  “What we’re doing, Corporal—” Acosta’s tone dropped. “—is checking and sighting our guns along the southern artillery positions. You see, the Silaz family are a paranoid bunch no matter what branch they’re in. There are pre-set artillery positions through the forests and we’re going to check they haven’t been messed with, and that they’re free of debris and ready for us to use.”

  There was a whistle up ahead.

  “Not everything we do is just for fun, Corporal,” she finished off and headed up to the front on her mount.

  “What you got, Jakovac?”

  “Found it. Just up ahead.”

  “Lead on.”

  They rode ahead of the main group. The ground kept rising, reaching a grassy knoll covered in weeds, bushes, and trees. In the middle, nearly hidden in the thick bushes, a boulder peeked out.

  Acosta checked her map again and reached out her hand. “Let's clear it up, shall we? Plant Command.”

  Bushes and vines pulled back, revealing pre-made mortar pits and bunkers underneath.

  “Bring it in!” Acosta said as the new artillery personnel and mages looked around the forest.

  “These locations have been covered in different ways to hide them from passersby.” Acosta got off her mount and dropped into a mortar pit. Her people fanned out, clearing out the brush and debris that had fallen in the hardened dirt pits.

  Acosta squinted, spotting rocks out away from the knoll to site the mortars off of. With that done, they just needed to consult the pre-made range cards. They would be ready to fire just as soon as they had set everything up.

  She climbed out of the pit and walked to the central boulder that reached her hip. “Clean.”

  Her spell removed the mud and dirt off the stone, revealing markings.

  “Your squad leaders all have range cards. We’re going to go through setting up and tearing down. Back up to the entrance. You’ve all trained in this. It is a core skill. You must move in, ready your mortar, and be ready to fire within minutes or less. These tactics held back the Blood Demon Sect and we will use it constantly to fight the Willful Institute and the sect bastards they brought with them!”

  Acosta checked they were at the entrance of the opening.

  She glanced at her watch. “Go!”

  The first squad went around counterclockwise to the position at nine o’clock, with the other squads filling into the positions behind, from the nine o’clock to twelve o’clock, three, six, and linking up to nine o’clock.

  Mortars were pointed forward and checked with sights against the different markers as Acosta moved her mount around, watching them all and taking mental notes.

  “Everyone’s here,” Lieutenant Colonel Zukal said into Domonos’ ear as Major Kanoa walked into the Vuzgal command center.

  Colonel Domonos looked up from the map showing the terrain around Vuzgal. He nodded to Kanoa and cleared his throat. “All right, gather around.”

  The officers quietened, ringing around him and the map.

  “The enemy is coming for us from every direction. We have them moving up the roads in the east and west.” He used a map pointer to circle the markers that were updating, crawling forward at the edge of the map on either side. “Everything in Vuzgal Valley is covered by sensing formations, and we’re getting real-time information on their movements. In the north,—”Domonos circled the mountain range “—the south, east, and west.”

  He circled either side of Vuzgal and looked at the officers around the table. “That's where we're expecting the enemy to appear, and it’s a blind spot. Once the enemy enters the valley, they have a four-day march to Vuzgal. Lieutenant Lei, what do the mana barriers need to have the greatest effect?” he asked, testing the newly minted officer.

  “Heat dissipation, access to mana stones, centrally located, even, clear terrain.”

  Domonos nodded. “Very good, Lieutenant. Key part for us is even, clear terrain.” He circled the lines of advance. “None of those mountain passes offers even and clear te
rrain. They'll be pressed together in close quarters. Hell, once they get into the valley, they’ll have to cross through the damn forest. Even if they have mana barriers, there are going to be openings. What do mortars need to know when hitting the enemy? First Lieutenant Cardoso?”

  “Where the enemy is.”

  “Bingo! Without the formations to reveal their position, we're going to have to go old school. Maps and the Mark One eyeball. The recon flights will spot the enemy, find out which passes they're using. Sharpshooter squads, dropped off by Kestrel flights, will observe the enemy and call-in mortar fire. We’ll create a network of eyes watching every pass coming into the valley, extending the ground we control and observe. Now, there are going to be locations where we can't get our mortars into position to hit a target. Those targets will be yours, Major Kanoa.”

  “Sir.” Kanoa tilted his head to the side. “The sparrows and kestrels are fitted for close air support and bombing runs. We might not be able to hit the enemy with mortars, but they can't escape the skies. I want them to come in dumb and happy. We get our people into position and hit the enemy all in one go. We use the element of surprise and hit them with mortars and bombs before they raise their mana barriers.”

  “Sir.” First Lieutenant Cardoso raised a hand. Domonos nodded to him. “We're going to be spread thin.”

  “Yes, we’re putting our strength in the essential places. All medics, engineers and CPD units have mortar and mage training, and we can borrow mortars from Alva. Scout squads will be broken down into teams of two. Rifle squads will act as support for the artillery platoons unless we need more scouts. Then they'll get a crash course on spotting and be pushed out as well.”

  The Alvan's dedication to cross training meant they could quickly switch from one role to another with minimal issues.

  Kanoa held up a fist.

  “Major?” Domonos asked.

  “To cover that much ground and have downtime for the birds, I'll have to move my sparrow fighters in pairs. Then group them together again into their complete eight person wings before they can strike. I only have twelve Sparrow wings and twelve Kestrel Wings under my command here.”