Devourer

Chapter 59: Eve of Empire

I stood facing the walls of Marina and as I looked at those white walls, the troops stationed above, the banners flying proudly in the wind…

All I could think about was how easily I could knock it all down…

The walls weren’t even enchanted, it was just stone. Well I could see some faded runes on the wall but from what I can tell the wards are almost gone. I guess Sarana’s intelligence was right, military budget cuts and an unwillingness to spend gold on maintaining the old wards has led to probably irreversible damage to the wards on their walls.

This was honestly, such a stupid decision. They couldn’t exactly make new wards, the knowledge was lost or at least confiscated. But either way they couldn’t make new ones, so if the existing ones faded then that’s it, you’re just left with bare stone. A few good hits from a spell will knock those walls down like a sand castle.

Sarana also mentioned the Elysian Gate was in a sorry state as well, if I hadn’t turned up things would be looking really bad for Elysia. Tralis would probably form a new empire and start expanding. They would then let this get to their heads, because their house didn’t exist at the time of great fall. They wouldn’t know what happens when an Empire gets too aggressive, Heaven starts to take issue with stuff like that…

Of course if an Empire was doing a lot of good, like protecting the people, improving their lives and only intervening to liberate people from oppressive regimes. Maybe then the Seraphim might let it slide. Afterall the Divonia Empire did exist, it was an empire built on a people’s revolution and they were good rulers as far as I had heard.

The rot hadn’t set in… yet…

I couldn’t say the same for the other nations however, the older nations have gone rotten. Just take a look at Elysia, the only nation before Cecilia and I showed up that was still semi functional was Cathay. That was only because Cathay rolled well on the dice of leadership, the former Queen and now Duchess Yatheria, was a very capable statesman. Or stateswoman I guess…

Anyway, she was probably the only thing staving off the rot from digging it’s tendrils into her nation. Honestly, if Cecilia wasn’t around she would have been the best choice for an ally. She didn’t have Cecilia’s mind for schemes and grand strategy but she was very good at foreign relations and internal affairs.

Cecilia had asked me for an opinion on what I thought of the other rulers and honestly after reading the letters and speaking with them a little I had a bit of an opinion. Duchess Yatheria was capable and competent, definitely a candidate for Cecilia’s inner circle. The king of Arune however… well he can just rule his territory and just die at some point. Not much to work with there.

Marina was a lost cause, like a complete lost cause. My opinion coincided with her in that it would be best to defang Marina after the reunification. Take pieces of their territory to make them toothless and demote them to a lower rank. Arune would technically be in the same boat but with their role being primarily an agricultural province I suppose we could just let them do their own thing as long as the food continued to flow. If they pulled anything well… I mean Celene could always use her own holding. She may be a little meek but she had a good head on her shoulders and a nice safe territory next to Cecilia’s capital would be a good fit. Besides she liked food and sweets so an agriculture province was a perfect fit, you know what I might just do it anyway. I just need an excuse, just wait for the King of Arune to screw up and boom a new ruler. Easy…

“They don’t seem that eager…” Cecilia remarked as she gazed at the walls.

“Well could you blame them?” I replied as I looked at the army behind me.

Honestly I was hoping they would just surrender from the sight of the army. Yes there was the bet but I’m not THAT petty. I’m not going to damage a city and kill perfectly good workers and citizens for a bunch of roasted cows. Besides I already won one, Beatrice is knocked up, I saw a little life in her belly last time I saw her. I’m just going to tell Cecilia about it after this Marina business is settled, it just seemed more convenient to settle the tab all at once, we are both quite busy after all.

“I mean just look at all that.” I said as I cast my gaze to the massive army behind me.

All my phonexies were flapping their wings and hovering above the army and the combined armies of Warden’s Vigil, Istland, Arune, Cathay and Averlon were standing in neat formation. All that was only half the army, yes they were powerful and could give my Hive a run for their money… that is if I decided to line up as well in neat rows and charge them. If I played to my strengths and just made them erupt from the ground under their feet oh… that would be a very different fight.

I cast my gaze to the 40 000 Hive soldiers snarling and hissing at the walls. I have been refining them into a well oiled murder machines. Their lethality and speed have been significantly increased since they were no longer restricted to the crude construction of the Queens. The Praetorians were especially terrifying, with their hulking bodies, razor sharp claws and jaws that could snap a fully armoured man in half. Combining that with their ability to burst out the ground and barrel into tight formations made them devastating against humanoids.

On the note of burrowing… I could have just sent all of them under the walls and just you know… burst out of the ground and start killing everything. But that would be counter intuitive…

The strategy this time was scare tactics!

That’s where the star of the show came in. The Walking Battering Ram version 0.1, still in beta!

It wasn’t ready honestly, it had a lot of problems that still needed to be fixed. It wasn’t durable or fast enough, still needed to work on the balancing. The only thing this four legged, 5 metre tall goliath was good at doing was being big and scary. Well it could knock down that shitty gate over there in one charge but against a better reinforced gate it would take a little more than one ram, and I was doubtful it could survive a concerted magic barrage. At least it was good at drawing fire, I made it as scary as possible so that the enemies would focus their fire on this armoured beast.

I could have made it stronger but I just didn’t have the ether to do it…

“Still though I wonder if they are actually considering parley or surrender.” Cecilia said as she cupped her chin.

“Well we just formed up, maybe give them a while or perhaps we could start…” I suggested.

“Perhaps we could, this would be the first result of the bet.” Cecilia replied with a smirk.

“Oh I already won one, the Beatrice one.” I replied coyly and I sensed Cecilia freeze.

“She what?” Cecilia asked in shock.

“What? Is it that surprising?” I asked in slight confusion.

“I am going to have words with her…” Cecilia replied slightly annoyed.

“Come on, don’t be a sore loser.” I said with a smirk.

“It’s not about the bet, she isn’t married. With her high position that can cause some problems.” Cecilia replied with a grimace as she lowered her voice. “Ah so it’s a human thing.” I said as I lowered my voice too.

“Yes, a human thing.” Cecilia replied, it was a good thing I was trying to be coy when I brought that up. I didn’t think getting pregnant outside of marriage was a big deal here. Close one I guess…

“Well that is an issue for when we return, for now perhaps we should signal that we wish to parley…” Cecilia said as she channelled power into her hands.

“Yeah let’s speed this up, who knows defection might be on the table as well.” I replied.

“My thoughts exactly.” Cecilia said as she raised her hand and fired a yellow flare into the sky…

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Prince Edrin of Marina stood pale faced on the wall as he observed the host arrayed against his home. The armies of men were bad enough, they outnumbered the defenders four to one. Not only that with wards on the walls were so weak, their fortifications would do little against their mages.

They couldn’t win a shoot out either, the enemy had far more mages, and not only that the Istland Mages were famously good at Magic Artillery shoot outs. So it was only a matter of time before the walls collapsed under the weight of a concerted magical barrage.

Then once the army was in they had to contend with the Wardens in close combat. Prince Edrin knew for a fact that his soldiers could not stand against the Wardens. His lord father had pressed citizens into service as a militia. They were barely trained and honestly against the Wardens they were no different from stalks of wheat.

So just the humans already presented an almost unwinnable battle… and the humans were the smaller issue…

Prince Edrin cast his gaze to the phoenixes and the giant creature standing at the head of the formation. He took one look at the large beast and knew it could take down his gate with one charge. Yes the gate was mithirl but it was just mithril that was plated onto wood…

The phoenixes would obliterate the wall with a single barrage and those smaller creatures would burrow, seeing as they emerged from the ground. This meant they could just go under the walls and emerge in the middle of the city. Defence was simply untenable, if it came to violence his house would end right here…

His dear sisters, the little twins were only ten years old, he couldn’t let them get hanged for treason…

Marina used to be a naval port; it was never designed to resist a concerted land-based assault…

“My Prince what do we do?” Prince Edrin heard the commander of the Royal Guard ask shakily. The Lord Commander of the Royal Guard, Sir Levan was a loyal and chivalrous man. Sadly he will most likely not survive the day…

Prince… yes Prince Edrin was the Crown Prince… for whatever that title was worth…

He had begged his father to bend the knee, begging on his knees for his father to cease this madness. This would bring ruin to their city, if the might of Elysia was truly turned on their city the only thing left would be rubble. They would be branded secessionists, his family slaughtered for treason. His betrothed and childhood sweetheart would probably be forced to marry another and he knew that would break her…

He was only 16 years old and honestly woefully unprepared to be standing here on the wall. But his father had sent his decrees then holed himself in his bedchamber and isolated himself in despair. His stubbornness would doom them all. Prince Edrin couldn’t possibly allow his soldiers to stand alone against such a foe alone. He had a duty to his nation but he felt so helpless…

He could ask his men to surrender…

His father wasn’t exactly in a position to countermand his orders until it was too late…

But he could countermand it at some point… he needed the soldiers to disobey his father and truly stand down…

If fighting truly broke out then the charges against his family would not be light, but there was no way to guarantee that the soldiers would disobey his father…

Unless… they see the power of their opponents first hand…

They need to see a sight that would utterly break their will to fight…

“My Prince?” Lord Commander Levan asked again.

“We need to surrender…” Prince Edrin replied softly.

“But the king commanded us…” Lord Commander Levan sputtered.

“I know what my father commanded…” Prince Edrin said bitterly.

“I will not watch as our house falls and our nation burns due to stubbornness and stupidity. There are easier ways to end oneself…” Prince Edrin said as he shut his eyes, his hands shaking.

“But my Prince, if the king commands us to take up arms again…” Lord Commander Levan said, guessing Edrin’s meaning.

“Then we need to show them something that will break their will to fight… I am going to request a duel…” Prince Edrin said softly. This was stupid he knew, there was no guarentee this would work. But if he did nothing they were dead for sure…

“A duel? With respect my Prince, you don’t stand a chance…” Lord Commander Levan began but paused as realisation hit him.

“Absolutely not! You cannot my Prince, please reconsider!” Lord Commander Levan pleaded.

“What other solution do you have?” Prince Edrin asked softly.

“Then let me go in your stead. I swore an oath to protect the royal family, I cannot sit idly by as I watch the Crown Prince martyrs himself.” Lord Commander Levan begged.

“No, it would be more impactful for the troops if I did so. If you did so, the troops may call me a coward and end up lynching me anyway. It makes sense honestly, lynch a royal and present his head to the enemy in exchange for their lives.

Then your men would be bound by their oaths to defend me, costing them their lives. No, my life for this city, it’s people, my family and my beloved… all of this for my single life. An easy trade…” Prince Edrin muttered.

At that moment Prince Edrin saw a yellow flare fire up high into the sky.

“So they wish to parley.” Prince Edrin muttered.

“My Prince.” Lord Commander Levan said again, his voice pleading.

“This is my final command, Lord Commander. When I depart this world, tell the soldiers my intentions and then surrender the city. Also…

Give my regards to Lady Elise…” Prince Edrin said numbly as he felt the cold caress of death wrap around his heart.

“I’m sorry Elise… I’m afraid I won’t be able to meet you at the altar…” Prince Edrin muttered as turned around to look back at the enemy army and he felt his eyes water.

“I will complete your will, my Prince, to my dying breath.” Lord Commander Levan said as he bowed.

“You have the wall Lord Commander… take care of Elise and my sisters if you survive…” Prince Edrin said as he fired a yellow flare of his own into the sky.

As he turned to head down the wall, he heard Lord Commander Levan’s armour clink as he bowed and he heard what were perhaps the last words he would ever hear from him.

On my honour, I shall my Prince…

I shall…