Waterstrider

Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fifthmonth, 1634 PTS

Karie gritted her teeth. It had been over twenty-four hours since they had arrived outside the Celan base, and it still had yet to fall. She had thought that the explosives that they had been using would be enough to handle the issue, but the Celans had simply moved themselves to the lower floor whenever the barrier dropped, and constructed fortifications from scrap to deflect them away from the core generators and power cores.

They had even begun to leave the barrier off for longer and longer, waiting for the very last moment, sometimes just letting one or two soldiers in before activating it, so long as none of those martial artists were Karie herself. It was as if they were taunting her, and she felt enraged. Still, she couldn’t help but play into their hands. To wait right outside the barrier would simply let the Celans make preparations inside. They had multiple enforcers, and even she wouldn’t be able to do much if they fired at point blank range during a moment of inattention.

Ultimately, the problem was that the barriers allowed the Celans total control of the initiative. They decided when to drop the barrier, and when to engage in combat. There was nothing she could do about this, short of blasting the stack on a lower layer to slay the lot of them in one blow. If she was being honest, Karie would have to admit that she had considered taking such action multiple times by this point. The problem was that doing so would incite the government, and Karie would not be able to handle the pressure. It would create too large of a weak point, and her enemies would undoubtedly take advantage.

She felt trapped, with no possibility of success unless she was blessed with luck. It was only a matter of time until they succeeded, but Karie needed to be done already. She simply lacked the time to wait until they finally ran out of energy to maintain the barrier. It was turning into a matter of questioning her capability.

While it was difficult to keep track of politics within the headquarters, Karie was aware that some of the forces backing Juen were already trying to suppress her and have her position of First Commander stripped away. It had been less than a week since she had acquired the position, but her backing was simply weaker than his. In theory, her mother should have been the strongest pillar of support imaginable, but the famed matriarch Sirena Hadal had refused to openly support any of the candidates, leaving Karie left in the lurch. All of her other children had long given up because of this.

She found herself fidgeting as she waited for the next engagement, tying several thin strands of string into complex formations. The string was tied to her belt, and she thought it would look quite nice when it was completed. It was a good match for her look.

Karie sensed the approach of a martial artist’s soul, and turned to see Pakas briskly walking towards her, a terminal in one hand.

“First Commander, a shipment of supplies has arrived from headquarters,” said Pakas, inspecting his terminal as he updated her.

“Containing?” she asked.

“...Food,” he said.

Karie sighed. She had requested additional explosives, but her requests had been consistently met with no response. Her soldiers had only managed two volleys of explosives into the barrier before running low on supplies. She had been keeping the remaining ones in store for a potential shift in the situation, waiting for more explosives to arrive so that she could make another attempt. In the past few days, however, even though they had been reinforced by more martial artists, all the supplies they had brought were their personal weapons and food. The food was useful, as they did still need to eat, but it would not help her succeed more quickly.

“Distribute it,” she ordered, but Pakas didn’t move, and for a moment she saw a conflicted expression on his face.

“Is there anything else?” she asked.

For a moment it looked like he was about to say something, but he shook his head.

“It’s nothing, Commander.”

She frowned, but turned back to the barrier, waiting for it to drop. The opportunity was slipping through her grasp, and she felt like her last opportunity was soon to be gone. She had been appointed by her mother, and she knew that the Jade Empress was not one to give chance after chance. Not when others were unsupportive.

The barrier suddenly wavered, and Karie’s face lit up. She slid the small woven string under her belt, calling for a charge. She had reservations, but could not risk losing this opportunity. She charged along with them.

Every time they tried to invade the base, some of the bridges were blown, killing a number of her soldiers. Rather than blow them all from the start, they had left the bridges, waiting for the right time to blow them. Every time Karie herself stepped on one, it would immediately blow, but the same was not true for her lower level forces. In addition, she had purchased a number of portable bridges designed to be used in building renovation to open up more opportunities.

Karie ran along one of these construction bridges with a group of soldiers who had been nearby. They were halfway across the bridge when it finished dropping, one of the convenient larger gaps right within a few steps of the end of the bridge.

It seemed that this was not a result of a purposeful dropping of the shield, she realized, but rather some sort of technical error. As she ran, Karie could not help but smile. Her luck had finally arrived. The barrier was already flickering back into being as it was reactivated, but it was too late.

This time, perhaps due to the suddenness of the problem, the fusillade sent forth by the Celans was not quite enough to hold the martial artists back. Karie quickly reached the lip at the edge of the stack, but right as she triumphantly crossed beyond the location where the shield resided, she felt a great force pulling her backwards, behind the soldiers beside her.

She was shoved backwards, caught by surprise by one of her own soldiers, and almost instantaneously, the barrier closed once again, with Karie once again caught on the exterior. She glared inwards, trying to determine just who and why she had been pushed back out, but her gaze caught on one individual.

Karie paused as she saw the face of one of the men, and her blood ran cold. He had sharp cheekbones, and a wide smile, his hair cut close, and his demeanor extremely confident and self assured. It was a face she deeply reviled, and his presence, she had to admit, scared her.

Because she knew that Juen would be able to kill all of the Celans. He would take the honor of accomplishing the task, one she had not been able to. Karie had a clear vision in her mind, understanding perfectly that she would now become her competitor’s stepping stone.

All she could hope for was for Juen to make a mistake and die today.

Incensed, Karie turned around, glancing across the army to look at Pakas and Sulno. Both were looking over, and neither had particularly surprised looks on their face. Sulno was one thing, there was no way he wouldn’t have known, but… Karie stormed over to where Pakas was standing, and hoisted him aloft by the neck, her face set into a deep scowl.

“You knew!” she hissed.

Her second attempted to speak, but all that emerged from his obstructed throat were a series of gurgles. Karie relaxed her grip, not having lost full control of herself. Not yet. With her grip released, he tumbled to the ground, skidding along the stone floor. Pakas coughed, clearly almost as angry as she was, but what emerged from his mouth next was a snorted laugh.

“And what was I supposed to do?” he asked. “You tell me, young miss. You’re the favored daughter of the matriarch, and you can’t even defend yourself properly. Why under the heavens would I have sided with you? Would that be wise? Do you know who had your cousin hide inside the force?”

Karie was silent, the anger still bubbling inside her. She wanted to stick her sword straight through his heart, but her self-discipline remained stronger than her instincts. Pakas laughed again.

“It was the Matriarch’s foremost Aide himself, Elder Wei. Do you see now how pitiful you are? Who do you even have supporting you? Is there anything except your identity and your level? Your delusion is severe,” he sneered.

Karie breathed in, her eyes glancing back to the barrier, behind which she could see Juen and a few other practitioners fighting with the remaining enforcers. She glanced back to Pakas, who was beginning to stand up.

“Whatever,” she said. “Even if all I have is my identity, yours is lower, so you’ll need to follow my fucking orders, or I’ll kill you myself. Gather the remaining explosives and blow the stack.”

Pakas paused midway through rising back to his feet. His eyes widened with horror.

“You’re insane,” he said.

Karie grinned widely.

“Maybe you’re right, maybe it's a delusion. But if I can’t make my name as a hero, why can’t I be a demon? Juen is gone, and Sulno is weak. The others aren’t here. There is nobody who can stop me, so if you don’t follow my orders… who do you think can save you?”

Pakas trembled, but he reached into his robe, pulling out his terminal, and quickly communicating the orders to the squad leader.

“I’m not sure what you think this will achieve,” he said carefully.

Karie continued to give him that empty stare and wide grin.

“It’ll make me famous, won’t it?”

Canvasian Demons: [Many races have the concept of demons, a sort of evil being that exists in mythology. Similar concepts and terms have been ascribed to tumors, Cthonians, evil ascendants, certain races, or in the case of the Canvasian mythology, demons are simply people. In their traditional worldview, each person has two halves, the righteous and demonic aspects. Normally, everyone has a bit of both, but their righteous side remains in control, allowing them to operate normally in society. However, it is said that a demon is someone who has allowed their darker half to take control, turning them into a murderous monster. A demon.]