“It’s been a while since we’ve done something like this together,” Luna smiled.
“I never thought you would be the army type,” Raven remarked.
“I’m not, but they helped me a lot and well… it’s not so bad.”
“What do you like about it?”
“It makes me feel useful, powerful… like I have a part in something big, something that actually matters. It’s addictive as hell, actually,” Luna mused.
“It makes you realize how little you can do alone and, in contrast, how much you can do as a part of something larger,” Raven added.
“Yeah… wait, where did that come from? I thought you traveled as two to three people.”
“We did… or at least, so it seemed. But Lucas disappears for a few weeks once every year, so I figured I might check what happens behind us. What I found was that the villages get reconstructed, bridges built, returning demons purged. Everyone said they were unmarked men that looked like the military. So yes, we travel as two and now three people, but we have at least a few hundred Palai soldiers sweeping behind us. That’s a part of why we didn’t get caught in all this time,” Raven revealed.
“Aha… now that sounds a lot more like the Palai Order I know,” Luna smirked.
“I take it that the navy isn’t too open about the overall plan either,” Raven remarked.
“James always said all warfare is based on deception. The feeling I get from the navy is that its entire existence is centered around this line. It’s like nobody knows anything. The legion commanders have a general idea, but they give the feeling that they know the details only a bit ahead. The admiral is no exception. He knows perfectly well what will happen in the next week, but he never even mentions anything beyond that point,” Luna described.
“That’s an accurate description of what it feels like to work with Lucas,” Raven smiled, “who do you think has the detailed picture?”
I thought it was Lucas. This is interesting… as far as I understand from Miranda, the top leadership decides on the general course of action. Who the hell makes the actual plans? Because the battles are fought by very meticulous plans and the entire campaign feels perfectly planned as well.
“I don’t know… but when I think about it, the commanders and leaders are warriors, magicians or generally people who run into the battle face first. They aren’t the types who would spend nights making detailed plans,” Luna evaluated.
“Showtime,” sounded from the forest behind them.
“I will take the front, you improvise,” Raven commanded.
“You really didn’t get better at discussing your plans with others, did you?” Luna shook her head.
“Alright, I suppose I can work on that. I plan to walk to the front gate, kick it open and waltz into the village square. There and on the way, I will kill everything I meet. I know the plan is for us to run, but I will see if I can’t simply kill the target straight,” Raven laid out.
“It doesn’t sound like you have a role for me,” Luna gave Raven an awkward face.
“I do, in fact. What I expect is couple hundreds of pirates, out of whom about one quarter are elites and about six of whom are actually skilled. The general idea is that I gain the attention of these elites and the general crowd, while you sneak around by the side and attack the target. I shall need about six minutes and twenty to forty seconds to hack through the elites and reach the captain as well, then we sever his head and go back home, victorious. Nonetheless, it is vital that you keep the captain in the battlefield close to the elites, and attack from where he doesn’t expect it. That should achieve it, because he will be unsure where the enemies are coming from and therefore, not run since he doesn’t know where to,” Raven laid out.
Luna nodded. “Let’s roll!”
Alright, let’s see how Raven fights.
Raven walked to the gate and kicked it open. One of the wings detached from the gate and flew a hundred feet away.
Show off!
Raven calmly walked forward into the village square. Men around the village started shouting. Others started walking out of the buildings. All drew their weapons; some started shooting at Raven. The arrows shattered like if they were made of glass.
Really now…
Raven calmly walked to the center of the village. About thirty men made a rough formation to block his path.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” one of them shouted.
“Death.”
Raven drew his blade, covered the distance to the first line of enemies in a second and ran his blade through the first one’s stomach.
In terms of massacres, this one is definitely above average.
Luna prowled forward over the roofs. The pirates were swarming across the city, while what looked like the pirates elites concentrated around a man. Medium armored, well arranged middle-aged man.
It looks like that’s the target. Let’s take a closer look. Raven has thirty more men to cut through, which will keep him busy for a while.
Raven was slowly killing the pirates. One by one, they died by his blade.
“Stop,” Samuel Sachwell ordered. The pirates stepped back.
“Tired of losing underlings?” Raven asked as he stepped forward into the village square.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” he shot at Raven.
“I get that a lot. It’s a little repetitive,” Raven remarked, “you will die here today, so what difference does it make whether I tell you anything about myself or not?”
“Your overconfidence shall be your downfall, kill him!”
This guy is either stupidly overconfident or has something up his sleeve. It’s true that swarming Raven with opponents until he runs out of strength is a viable strategy, but he doesn’t have enough men to pull it off. The pirate captain has only one ship docked in this village. He has ten more ships docked around the coast, but the fastest messenger can get to the nearest one and back is ten minutes. We leave in eight.
The pirate captain’s elite guard attacked Raven. These lasted longer as Raven had to actually fight to fend them off while slowly chipping them away. Luna continued scouting.
A luxuriously decorated room with a woman inside… I guess this is why the pirate captain ended up being here. Why can’t I shake the feeling that this isn’t a coincidence? I guess Lucas knows way, way, way more than he is admitting to be hiding.
Waaaaait a second… why is there a wooden platform in the middle of the town?
Luna crept up from behind and peeked in.
“Raven, dodge!” she shouted as she saw the insides. Raven instantly leaped to the side, just enough to dodge the man charging from under the platform. He was huge, wrapped in heavy steel and wielded shield and mace. Luna leaped up the platform and faced the captain.
“Hi!” she smiled, extended her fingers into vicious claws and charged him.
He drew a stylishly decorated cutlass and parried her strike. She slid to the side and cut at his legs. Her claws swept over them, cutting through the pants but stopping at his skin.
Huh? Luna exchanged another set of blows with him, but her claws slid off his skin once more.
Scales. His body is covered by scales, ones that are tough enough to not be cut by me. I need to get in some stabs. She ducked under his blade, kicked at his legs and lunged her claws at his throat. Samuel narrowly evaded the strike and kicked her in the stomach. It shot the air out of Luna and threw her backward. Pirates swarmed around her. She stabbed, slashed and kicked. She ripped the men around her to shreds.
There is too many of them.
“FOCUS ON TARGET!” Raven thundered from somewhere nearby.
No shit, genius. Luna threw aside a man and leaped through a window. She ran up the stairs and clawed up to the roof. The city was swarming with pirates. There were hundreds of them.
Seems our intelligence was wrong. He’s got a small army in here.
Luna dove into the fray. She slashed her way to where Raven was fighting.<
br />
“There is too many of them, we need to run now else we won’t make it,” Luna shouted when she got close.
“Just kill the target, I will hand the escape,” Raven exclaimed as he ran his blade through another man.
I love how he NEVER tells me what the actual plan is… NOT!
“Fine,” Luna sneered and punched her way into the crowd. She skillfully weaved through the fray and made it to a house. She sank her claws into the wood and climbed up. A few arrows hit her back, but it wasn’t anything she would stop for. She disemboweled the man on the roof. Luna ran across the roofs until she got into a good position.
“ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!”
Her roar made the crowd panic. Luna leaped off the roof. Samuel whirled to meet her claws with his blade. Luna withdrew the feint, caught his arm and wrapped around it like a snake. She stretched her muscles to use her body weight as leverage. Samuel screamed as she dislocated his shoulder. Her world went black for a second. The large man with shield had hit her with the mace in the face. She could hear her skull crack as it threw her away.
“GRRRRRRRRRRR!” Luna growled and leaped up to her feet. Time to go full werewolf, Wolfie!
‘...’
Wolfie?
‘I’m trying!’
Start succeeding! We are surrounded and running out of strength, so stop making excuses and shift into me.
‘I can’t! I don’t know why, but I can’t.’
This is the perfect setting: Hundreds of soft targets and two tougher ones. We slaughter everyone in style and have a feast. So, let’s shift already!
‘I CAN’T!’
FUCK!
She launched herself at the shielded man. Luna slid under his swing, checked his kick and dashed behind him. Samuel held the cutlass with his left hand. Luna sidestepped and lunged at his wounded side. He whirled to parry. Luna ducked and ran her claws through his knee. She spun to swing at his throat. Her mind went blank as the heavy mace hit her in the head again. The impact lifted her off her feet. She flew through the wooden wall of the house behind her. Only the third wall stopped her flight. She crumbled to the ground and started vomiting blood. The armored man was walking toward her. Luna refocused her senses and leaped out through the window, dodging the falling mace. She started slashing her way through the crowd. Her ears were ringing; her vision was getting dim, her body felt like it was made of lead. She felt the blades cut into her as she was no longer fast enough to cut her way through the crowd without getting hit. Luna paid it no heed and kept forcing her way through the men. It felt endless. Samuel stood in front of her. Her vision was red and blurry from the blood flowing down her forehead, but she did recognize him. She turned her mouth into the nightmare of teeth and charged. He met her with a quick slash. Luna slid under it and rammed her claws into his stomach. Luna whirled, releasing his intestines out of their bounds. She caught a glimpse of the armored man. She ducked under the swing. He kicked her in the knee. It knocked her down. He swung his shield at her head. Luna blocked with her hand. The impact shattered it and flung her head sideways. The mace was coming down. Luna couldn’t dodge. It stopped.
Everything stopped. Her movement, the armored man, the pirates, the rain, everything. Luna looked around. Mid-air next to her was the falling head of captain Samuel. Behind her stopped Raven, holding her by the shoulder.
“Mission accomplished, let’s go,” he said as if nothing was happening.
“What the fuck is going on?” she breathed.
“I stopped time,” Raven replied, “don’t lose touch of me else you will freeze as well.”
Luna stared in amazement. She reached with her hand toward a drop of water. She couldn’t move it.
“You can’t move things frozen in time,” Raven revealed.
“I think I’ve taken too much damage to the head,” Luna breathed.
“Yea, that too,” Raven smirked and threw her over his shoulder.
“The blood’s mostly theirs; I can walk by myself,” Luna exhaled. She was barely conscious, but her pride was more important.
“Sure.” Raven didn’t let go of her.
Raven climbed on top of the nearest man and carefully walked over the crowd. The drops splashed on him as he walked through them.
“How are you doing this?” Luna pried.
“I unfreeze their time so they can splash,” Raven revealed, “it’s draining as hell though, I hate fighting in the rain.”
Well… that explains a lot. Child of God, the idiots in Illysaeas called him that as a nickname in the arena. Sometimes even a fool hits the bull’s eye, for time is the domain of the God of Death and no one else.
Raven walked them out of the village, then up by the edge of the cliff.
“For how long can you keep this up?” Luna marveled.
“Few minutes tops, I can split it into smaller segments but then the total time goes down by a lot,” Raven revealed. “Ha, there they are,” he pointed down. Sergeant Red and a dozen of his men were carrying the pirate treasure by the edge of the sea.
“Guess we will have to climb down,” Luna sighed.
“Nah,” Raven refused and jumped.
“This is way too high for that!”
When they were almost at the ground, Raven unfroze the time. Sound, wind, rain, all resumed as if nothing happened. Except for their fall. The motion of the fall stopped and they landed from the one foot above the ground where they were.
“Sergeant,” Luna breathed, “mission accomplished.”
“Nigh’? How the hell did you get in here?” Sgt. Red blurted before he regained his composure, “anyway, let’s move!”
Raven put Luna down to the ground. They returned to their camp, victorious.
36
Lucas
“You seem to be in a surprisingly good mood,” Zoey observed.
This is the first time Zerae isn’t having nightmares when I come. The request to see me every night is troublesome, but I suppose I could work a bit less and enjoy life a bit more. Plus, I do need practice with the sword. I haven’t used one for too long. After all, I had to use a sword against Collward, who was the weakest of the demonic princes when it came to individual fighting strength. Worse, I did almost die in the fight even though I knew almost all of his abilities beforehand. Come to think of it; my reflexes are a mere shadow of what they used to be… I might have to detox.
“I had a good night,” Lucas smiled.
“I guess… all thirteen hours of it. What are you doing in Dream World that you sleep so long now? You used to sleep for at most four hours; now it’s more than triple of it,” she contested.
“Never satisfied, are you?” Lucas tossed up before he grabbed her head for a kiss.
“Suspiciously nice… what are you planning, Lucas?”
“Raven will be off for a few days, so we shall be taking something like a small vacation,” Lucas revealed.
“How do we hide from Kayleanne? She doesn’t seem to be the type to just let us take a break,” Zoey pried.
“Kayleanne has more than enough of other problems right now; we shall be fine.”
“Now I’m really curious what this is about,” Zoey remarked.
“I will show you.”
Couple of hours later, they walked up on a small but steep hill close to Spalding. The area around the city was swarming with people. It was a wild mixture of young and old people; some had carts, others carried whatever they could on their backs.
“Where the hell did all these people pop out of?” Zoey breathed.
“North-east. The war between the Order and Nallach’s followers has made more than a few refugees. These are some of them,” Lucas revealed.
“Nallach is another of the demonic princes, I suppose.”
“Yes.”
“There is no way these people can even fit into the city,” Zoey observed.
“Yes. They will continue along the path to other cities in the general region. When they do, it shall become ex
cessively difficult to move around even smaller armies. We just need to wait for it to happen… therefore we literally have nothing better to do than to take a small vacation,” Lucas explained.
“I hope you do have a place in mind.”
“Hot springs hidden in the mountains? I’m surprised,” Zoey marveled as they reached the cottage.
“What’s so surprising about it?” Lucas pried.
“That you know how to actually relax. You might not be as much of a hopeless workaholic as I thought,” Zoey smiled.
“The usual?” the man at the reception asked as they entered.
“Yes,” Lucas confirmed. He tossed him a pair of keys.
“The usual? It seems like I can add an extra line to the list of things that don’t fit your image but I know are true about you,” Zoey smirked.
“That’s going to be a really long list,” Lucas smiled.
“Well, how about we shorten it?” Zoey tossed up.
“How do you suppose we go about that?” Lucas tried.
“We play a game. I say things about you. You tell me if I got it right or not. If yes, nothing happens. If I get it wrong, you get a point…. let’s call it mercy point,” Zoey proposed.
“Mercy point? What is it good for?” Lucas inquired.
“Nothing now, but you will really need it later in the relationship, should we develop one,” Zoey revealed.
“What makes you think I want that?”
“This,” Zoey spread her arms as they stood in their room, “you like me more than you are willing to admit.”
“I admit this game is a nice trap,” Lucas smiled, “if I refuse, it will be a strong signal that I have no interest in anything serious and if I accept, I give up potentially a lot of information to prove that I mean it seriously.”
“I like that you always see the trap as I lay it out,” Zoey smiled viciously, “it makes it all that much more fun when you walk into it anyway.”
“Remind me, why do I hang out with you, again?” Lucas sighed.
“You tell me. Getting some emotional response out of you is harder than drawing blood from a stone,” Zoey replied.
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