Chapter 163: A line
So many tight ropes.
"My lord, what are you willing to gain from this war?" Harkon asked.
"First, we will use the war to officially form the Regional Army, and since the Warbines won't have time to fight fully, we will strengthen ourselves with the Trolls. Then finally, the Warbines will be forced to ally with us just so they can protect their backs for the time being."
Harkon and Kagerou bowed.
"It was a plan formed by me, the Dragon Lord, and the General Commander. It is a plan to get the Western Region on its feet."
Captain Mera shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Don't tell me we are going to the Warbine territory again?"
Vacuse narrowed his eyes. "No. The Warbines already put a bounty on my head and on the Unifier Sword. They are to take both immediately.
"We are not going to them. We are going to start the war from right here!"
Confusion showed on their faces, but before they could say anything else, Vacuse raised his hand and a sword appeared. It was none other than the Unifier Sword.
Immediately, it thrummed with rippling energy that made everyone around him take hurried steps back.
Their eyes widened.
"But... the sword, you are not supposed to be able to use it again! For now, it should be unusable since the power already drained from your blood..." Kagerou's eyes widened. "It was a lie!"
Vacuse could not help the satisfied smile that curled his lips. "It was not a lie."
And it was not.
The reason he was able to use the sword once again was because of the deal he made with Jellyfish. The mask Numbered Accord gave him an artifact just like the one before, but of lesser quality and made solely for a single use.
Also, Vacuse used his blood that carried the Warbines' blood, which made it diluted.
The deal also included him using assassins to attack Vacuse, which made him fall into a weak state to see if Drenvar would take advantage. But in the end, the Dragon Lord realized he still needed Vacuse.
If Drenvar had dared to attack,
Vacuse would have used the War Artifact Unifier Sword to fight back and seek his destruction.
The two of them, Dragon Lord and Dragon Heir, were balancing on a sharp sword.
Vacuse wanted to use the Dragon Lord a little more to stabilize the Western Region while he built up more of his power, and at the same time, the Dragon Lord wanted to use Vacuse for the same thing.
But the question now is, who will reach their goal first and kill the other?
Vacuse could not deny that he felt a thrill from something like that.
He raised the sword higher in the air and his eyes gleamed. "Time to make the Vorrakyn's name on everyone's lips again!"
He activated it and a red glow spread in a shockwave that covered the castle. Howling energy sprang up and a pulsing beam ripped free, shocking everyone in the castle and miles around.
They all felt the intense wave of dangerous pressure and looked towards the castle and to the person standing at the top.
"What is happening?"
They got their answers soon.
Vibrations filled the air so hard that it shook everyone to their bones, and in the next instant a beam of condensed red light shot forward, cutting through the air and disappearing over the horizon.
It traveled faster than most eyes could track, and in a few seconds it was already at Standpoint and over it. Blasting across the wilderness with its still strong intense pressure, everything beneath, both monsters and all, ran for cover, hiding for their lives as quickly as they could.
Then it crossed into the Warbines' territory.
They saw it coming. In fact, they could even intercept it with their own, but their two War Artifacts could not be moved from their positions, and so the attack struck the First General's fortress.
Boom!
An impossibly large sword came down from the sky with a pressure that tore the roofing from the buildings before it changed into a sea of storm that laid waste to the fortress, wiping out everything on the ground.
Both Orcs and buildings.
The only thing that remained standing was one building where the second War Artifact, not with the First General, was housed.
The Trolls that came for visiting and high-level Orc Commanders were all killed.
It did not take long for the shocking news to spread throughout the Empire.
Two things spread like a dungeon break.
The first was the fact that the Vorrakyn were hiding their power and they could, in fact, still use the Unifier Sword.
The second was the fact that the Vorrakyn, the crazy Vorrakyns, actually made a turn and attacked the Warbines. It was a situation that left everyone shocked and surprised.
Are the Warbines that crazy or that stupid? They just attacked someone with two War Artifacts.
Everyone waited with anticipation for the Warbines' reaction, and it did not take long.
The unexpected attack had shocked them and came at such a critical stage that they lost the third small clan they had just taken from the Mogthrak High Clan.
It was said that the Warbines' High Chief howled in rage and was screaming only one name. "Vacuse!"
But at the same time, the Mogthrak High Clan were screaming his name in praise.
All in all, before evening of that same day, the Warbines declared war on the Vorrakyn. They made it clear. On the Vorrakyn, and not the Empire.
And the ones to spearhead it were no other race than the Trolls.
Almost as if they were waiting, the Vorrakyns also declared war on "anything coming towards the Standpoint fortress" and called for all the Dukes and the Lords of the Region to answer the summons of war and to immediately head toward the wilderness under the command of the Dragon Lord and the General Commander.
In just a day, the situation in the Western Region had changed. A line had been drawn. Now they wait to see who will cross it as they go to war.