Devourer

I watched as the gate raised and I could hear an uproar coming from the wall. Then I saw three figures walk out from the gate. At the head of the formation was a young kid in what looked to be a set of very fancy armor. Behind him marched a pair of guards holding the banners of House Marina. Why does this give me the idea of a final march? Like the kind of walk one takes to the gallows…

“Is he a royal? He walks like one.” I asked as I looked at Cecilia. 

We were standing a little ahead of the army in the contested ground. We weren’t exactly in the middle, we were only at about 25% the distance. This was to make them walk to us, and help set the power dynamic early in the negotiations. Humans sure had many weird things going on with them, every little thing seems to have some weird deeper meaning…

“Yes he is and what do you mean walk like one? You mean the regal bearing?” Cecilia asked curiously.

“Ah you humans walk like any creature. The weak walk like prey, skittish afraid of every shadow, head bowed and submissive. While the rich and powerful walk like predators, slow and proud. As for royals, well… they walk like they own the ground beneath their feet, it’s the kind of walk one uses in their home.” I replied.

“Well I do technically own the ground on which I walk. Or at least I will soon own it, so why quibble with such small details…” Cecilia said with a smirk as she took a proud step forward and turned to face me.

“I guess that’s true.” I replied with a chuckle.

“So who is that little fool?” I asked as I turned to look at the approaching boy.

“If I am correct he is Prince Edrin Marina, the Crown Prince of Marina.” Cecilia mused as she turned to look at the incoming party.

“He is uneasy, like he is walking to his death. I wonder if it’s just naive uncertainty… or something else… something much more interesting…” I said with a grin as I bared my teeth.

“Oh I think it’s the last one, the guard complement is too small. I smell the blackest of treasons…” Cecilia replied with a small laugh.

When the poor boy finally arrived in front of us, I saw him gulp as he looked up at me. His gaze shifted to Azatharine who was standing next to me leering down at him. Then to Legiana who was standing to my right giving him a fanged smile. After that to Cecilia who was on my left, then to the Lord Warden and Istland’s Lord Knight Enchanter, the best spellblade in Istland.

“Greetings Empress Cecilia, I am Crown Prince Edrin. I come to you with cordial intent.” Prince Edrin said with a small bow.

“Ah yes I met you in Averlon, how is your lord father?” Cecilia asked cordially as if there wasn’t an army standing behind her.

“He is… hiding in his room…” Prince Edrin replied with a weary sigh as his posture slouched. It looked like he was being crushed by the weight on his shoulders.

“Ah I see… so then why are you here… my lord…” Cecilia said using the honorific of Lord and not a royal, speaking as if the battle had already been won and his house had been demoted.

“I wish to invoke the Law of the Ring of Fire.” Prince Edrin said, as he called upon an old Elysian tradition. 

“Oh you’re going to do that?” I asked with a laugh.

I’ve been reading up about old Elysia and apparently there was this duel system. It was called the Ring of Fire, it was basically a duel to settle battles. This was a system to prevent unnecessary deaths and losses. Basically two equivalent individuals can agree to duel and it can only be ended by death or concession. As for the meaning of equivalent, well it’s quite simple. A Royal can only duel a Royal, a Lord can only duel a Lord, a Commander can only duel a commander, etc cetera…

“So who would you like to challenge? You cannot duel me or my dear friend.” Cecilia as she gestured to me.

“I am aware, the terms are, if I win, the new Empire will recognise Marina’s independence, if you win, then Marina will surrender sovereignty.” Prince Edrin said.

“You could just surrender and save yourself, you know.” I deadpanned as I looked at the shaking Prince, this was a farce any idiot with a pair of eyes could see that.

“What are you worried about…” Cecilia said as she narrowed her eyes.

“Are you perhaps worried that your father will countermand your order to surrender and so you decided to sell your life to demoralise your own army?” Cecilia asked.

Prince Edrin was silent but I saw the tell tale sign in his vitals that Cecilia was right on the mark.

“You know I could just order my two assassins that are standing outside your father’s door to kill him.” I stated calmly and Prince Edrin looked up in shock.

“How do you want it done, I can cut his throat, cut off his head, bite his head off or maybe throw him off a tall tower… or I could cut out his tongue so he can’t say anything…” I suggested calmly as Prince Edrin continued to gape at me.

“What? Do you want an open coffin funeral? Well I guess I could stab him in the chest and take out his heart, that way you can just cover him up.” I added.

“So what say you Prince Edrin, is that agreeable?” Cecilia said, trying to expedite matters.

“I… but there still might be an uproar if the king dies through assasination.” Prince Edrin replied shakily.

“Very well… how about this… We do the Ring of Fire, you will lose obviously but we won’t kill you. You just get brutalised until you concede, then you surrender. If your father decides to countermand your surrender order, then it would be a breach of the Law of the Ring of Fire, a law as ancient and venerated as Elysia itself.

Then my friend’s assassins can do their work, with your word against the act and the law clear… well the uproar should be minimal no? You don’t need to inform anyone of the Ring of Fire, afterall the whole city is watching.

As for your guards…” Cecilia said as she looked up at the pair of Royal Guards who were listening in.

“As warriors I am sure you two understand the situation and as Royal Guards I am sure you understand the rigours of politics. It is honourable for your prince to use such an ancient tradition to decide the fate of your city with the goal of protecting the people, no? After all, the sovereign is the protector of the realm…” Cecilia said as she implied when this is over she plans to make Prince Edrin sit on the throne of Marina.

“Do you truly mean what you imply?” Prince Edrin asked softly.

“You are here because of people you wish to protect, no? Secession is a heavy crime, usually demanding the execution of the entire house. If I recall you have a pair of twin sisters and of course there is your mother as well as your dearly beloved Lady Elise.

Of course most of all the people will suffer, if a Hive of beasts storms into a city filled with a citizen militia the damage will be catastrophic. The adventurers might step in too and by the end of all that Marina may end up as a blasted ruin. With phoenixes raining death from the sky and monsters bursting out of the ground, think of the damages… think of all the deaths that would cause…” Cecilia said calmly.

“Yes that future cannot come to pass, Marina did not stand for so long to be destroyed today.” Prince Edrin said with a nod.

“Besides, a boy of 16 who is willing to sell his life for his realm and his loved ones is one who has the making of a worthy ruler no?” Cecilia said as she shifted her gaze to the Royal Guards who paused for a moment before nodding slightly.

“Unfortunately the mantle of youngest ruler is a boy of 14 so you won’t be given that title.” Cecilia said with a chuckle.

“It is slightly disappointing.” Prince Edrin joked lightly.

“Very well then… who shall we choose to be our champion?” Cecilia asked as she turned to look at me. 

“Well preferably someone who can make it quite dramatic without actually killing him… so I guess Azatharine is off the table.” I said as I looked at the white phoenix.

“I am not confident I won’t accidentally kill him. Humans are far too fragile.” Azatharine replied calmly.

“The Lord Warden and Lord Enchanter would be rather boring, just a far superior man beating their prince half to death.” Cecilia said calmly.

“That leaves Legiana… yeah that sounds like the best choice… now that I think about it… I can make this more fun…” I said with a grin.

“Oh? Then do enjoy yourself then…” Cecilia said with a smile of her own.

As I watched Legiana and the Prince face each other I decided to try out my little trick out in the field. 

I sent a command out into the Hive Mind to Legiana

Assuming direct control…

I felt a portion of my mind break off and take over Legiana’s mind. It was still a weird trick, I wasn’t exactly inside her body. I could still control my original body so it was like inhabiting two bodies at once. This took quite a bit of practice for me to get used to, I was practising it with Legiana on and off for a while. This was quite a complicated adaptation to build in so thus far I have only put it into Legiana and Nafas. I don’t plan to use it much since honestly it gives me a little bit of a headache afterwards. Kind of like my brain is overheated.

I put this in just in case I needed to handle anything important like a conversation without having to play telephone with Legiana. The range on this is pretty good although the further the range the more taxing for me. So it’s an emergency only thing, the Eternal Mother could apparently do this as well but since the existing queens were as she nicely put it “Put together by brutes who prefer to club through all their problems”. This meant the trait wasn’t able to be put into the queens by her captors…

For something like this I think a little subtly would be good, Legiana has never fought before, I’m honestly afraid she’ll accidentally break his neck or something. This Prince is silver rank… maybe bronze rank? Legiana would need at least a Mithril team to stand a chance of surviving an encounter with her. She is afterall the first amongst my children, a commander must be competent and also powerful. Though her design focuses on command and control she’s no push over in a fight. Azatharine will easily destroy her but in the world of monsters, human adventurer ranks mean very little.

I looked through her senses and I saw the Prince standing shakily. He held a shield in one hand and one handed sword in the other. His stance was stiff, like all he had ever fought was sparring partners and training dummies. I suspect his experience is severely lacking behind his power.

“Not coming?” I asked through Legiana’s voice and he flinched slightly.

I saw his gaze harden as he raised his shield and approached. His stance was good, the shield covered most of his body and his sword was resting on his shoulder, conserving his stamina while allowing him to bring the sword down in a swing easily. The shield was also held at an angle to allow the shield to easily parry blows.

Don’t know what he’s thinking… This stance is for sword fighting, or at least that’s what I read in the books. The adventurers I fought never used a stance like this, they used a lower stance that allowed them to move more rapidly. You can’t parry a breath of fire after all…

The weapon when hunting monsters was mostly for offence, defence relied on evasion, tower shields and spells. You can’t parry shit when you fight monsters, or perhaps he was using this stance because Legiana is roughly human shaped.

I calmly watched as he approached, then he lunged forward, sword raised in a downward slash.

I calmly channelled my spell [Shockwave] and fired it out at him. The spell released a wave of kinetic force and it blew him back sending him rolling into the grass tumbling head over heels. I saw the sword fly free of his grip as he flew back, rookie error there. Unarmed human, dead human. Adventurers rarely get disarmed, I can send them flying into a tree with enough force to break bones and even then some manage to hold onto their weapons. 

I split the tentacles on the back of her head and I used them to walk over to the prince. I could sense the panic from those on the wall as the Prince looked up at Legiana in shock. He scrambled to his feet and ran for his sword. To his credit he was still fighting to the best of his meagre ability. Good at least this little piece of theatre would be convincing.

Right before he reached his sword I swung one of Legiana’s tentacles and hit him right in the chest. I felt the metal bend as he was thrown back away from the sword. 

[Kinesis] I said mentally and I lifted him off the ground before slamming him back into the ground like a rag doll. Then I lifted him up and tossed him next to his sword.

I watched as Prince Edrin gasped for breath as he clutched his chest and gasped for breath. That little combo must have knocked the wind out of him. 

Let’s speed things up a little…

I shot out one of Legiana’s tentacles and stabbed the sharp bone blade at it’s tip an inch from the Prince’s head. He yelped as he rolled away and grabbed his sword. He took a swing at the tentacle but I easily withdrew it. I used the four tentacles to launch myself towards him, I saw him panic as he turned and ran. 

I landed heavily right where he was standing and I bought a pair of tentacles down in a hard bash. He raised his shield to catch the blow and I felt the shield splinter and dent. I saw his arm break from the blow as he fell back screaming in pain. 

[Kinesis] I intoned mentally as I lifted him up and tossed him around like a rag doll occasionally slamming his body into the ground. At last I slammed him down one final time.

I leisurely walked over to him and saw him groaning in pain on the floor.

“Get up Prince of Marina…” I said as I stopped in front of him.

I saw him look up wearily, his shield arm hanging limply at his side. His helmet was off now, it had fallen off when I was tossing him around. He struggled to his feet and I blasted him back with a [Shockwave] as he landed badly on one leg. I saw his foot bend just a little too far. He groaned as he lay there in pain.

“Is that it?” I asked as I reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him off the ground. 

Legiana was just over two metres tall which meant it was high enough that he was dangling off the ground. He just hung there limply, probably in more pain than he had ever experienced in his life. I could tell he was barely conscious, I could see his arm was broken, his right foot dislocated and he had a few broken ribs.

“Helloooo?” I said as I shook him slightly, jolting him back to reality.

His eyes were lidded, his vision was probably flashing white from the pain.

“Elise…” he muttered through his bloody lips, probably delirious from pain.

As if on cue I heard the gate open at first I thought they were going to surrender but instead I saw this blonde girl come running out the gate. I saw a pair of maids follow after her frantically and grab her, trying to drag her back into the city. I saw her channel magic and blew them back with a weak wave of force. The maid’s staggered back and the girl took off running towards me again.

When she got closer I saw her raise a hand and ether flowed into her hand. It wasn’t much ether honestly I could probably take it with Legiana’s body but since I’m borrowing this body I guess I should be a little more considerate.

[Magic Missile] the girl cried and this weak blue bolt flew at me, I raised my hand and calmly conjured a barrier blocking the weak strike.

“RELEASE HIM!” I heard the girl scream in desperation.

“As you wish…” I said as I caught on to who this girl was, this was probably his girlfriend or something. So I tossed Prince Edrin towards her and he landed hard onto the grass. I saw him cough out a mouthful of blood as he let out a groan. 

The girl knelt down tears streaming down her cheeks as she cradled Prince Edrin. Her tears dripped down her face as they fell on his face.

“Elise…” Prince Edrin said weakly as his opened his eyes weakly to look up at his weeping lover.

“Do you yield Prince of Marina?” I asked as I brandished my tentacles, their sharp points pointed right at the pair.

“Yes I yield… the city is yours…” Prince Edrin said weakly.

“Excellent.” I said as I relinquished control and flew over with my original body. I landed in front of him and I saw the girl’s face pale as she got a good look at me. Legiana was a little intimidating to look at but I was a completely different matter.

“[MAGIC MISSILE]” Elise shrieked in panic and I just stood there as the spell bounced off my face, not even leaving a scratch.

[Astral Rejuvenation] I said mentally and the Prince was bathed in a sparkling blue light. I watched as his body healed and he coughed out another mouthful of blood. He gasped as he looked at me, his parlour improving as the pain faded.

“Now then…” I said with a smile. As I leaned down until my face was right in front of the pair of trembling teenagers. 

Get back in there and open that gate…

Before I kick it down and kill you all…