As we make our way back towards the fortress, I shift back to my humanoid form and the bear decides to take his leave, claiming that his job is done.
"You sure you can't keep helping me out?" Aurelia asks.
"Perhaps if they had stayed here, but they have returned to which they came. I have no intention to leave the mountain and I have finished my end of the deal I made with your mother. I will be returning to my abode."
In no hurry at all, Gaoh begins to walk back to the mountain. As we get closer to the fortress, I check my haul for the battle. I ended up picking up just over 200 souls, bringing my Soul Furnace up from 11,791 to 11,998. The experience I go from all the small fry didn't amount to much, but since Flavius died in my grasp, it counted as a kill for me, granting me 42,280 experience and together with my current and the rest I obtained from the battle, I'm a bit over halfway to reaching level 14. Although, Aurelia still got the best rewards since she not only snuck away with eating several hundreds of souls without me noticing at first, she also got Flavius's soul. She could have at least left some of the others for me.
Returning to the fortress, Aurelia meets up with her doppelganger as it turns back into a golden light, entering Aurelia's body. And only a few moments later soon she gives the order to pursue the enemy forces, leaving no one anytime to rest but it's not like anyone within the fortress did much so they don't have any reason to complain, but that's never stopped people before.
Aurelia decides that leaving this fortress here doesn't have too much value and keeping people around to defend it is risky due to the location near the Mountain of Storms. While most of our forces are sent out to chase down the fleeing enemy soldiers, me, Lia, Aurelia, Vorenia, and a few others stay behind to take tear down the fortress. The process is actually incredibly simple as it's just a matter of using my Wood and Metal manipulation to take things down, but thinking they might be useful later, I chose to store them away in my stomach storage instead of just disposing of them.
Having only spent a little over an hour dealing with the fortress, we head out to regroup with the initial group sent to chase down the remains of the Archidux's forces. After around six hours we finally manage to regroup, but to our surprise, they were all just standing around. But our surprise doesn't last long after seeing the situation.
To continue forward we need to cross a river that's not only wide but deep as well, with strong currents that most people wouldn't be able to swim through. And of course, all the bridges that would allow passage have been destroyed. This would normally be a problem, but both Aurelia and I can solve this issue in a matter of seconds. Using my Elemental creation, I craft some metal platforms for every to cross and we soon continue to chase down the enemy.
---
After a few days of catching stragglers, we manage to finally corner the last bit of the Archidux's army to their base of operations at the southern border. Although they still outnumber us, their morale has fallen significantly. As we lay siege to their fort, the faces of the soldier on the walls say it all. Dark and sullen faces, practically on the verge of surrender. Within a couple of hours of siege, we get past the walls of the military base and enter the complex. As soon as I step past the gates, I return to my true form and begin wreaking havoc, destroying the various buildings with the base and blasting every element I can wherever there is an enemy soldier.
Not even five minutes later, the enemy soldiers collectively lay down their weapons, putting their hands up as a sign of surrender, despite the clear anger and fear in the voices of the higher-ups and nobles who sided with the Archidux. And despite their outburst, as soon as I approach them they all do everything they can to appease me, pleading for their lives.
"You can do whatever you like to them, I don't even want their souls, but leave the common soldiers who surrendered alive. They will be punished, but they will be able to return to service after a small prison sentence," Aurelia says from atop my head.
"So what are you going to do? Leave them alive or kill them, I personally don't care either way," Lia says.
"There is only one thing to do since they're begging for their lives," hearing me say this, their expressions rise with feelings of joy and hope, but it's all instantly shatter as they hear my next words, "of course I'll be claiming their souls for myself."
Since Aurelia doesn't want them, I naturally jump at the chance for more souls and end the life of the various nobles and military higher-ups, gaining a total of 61 new souls. Just as we finish the clean up here, from one of the far buildings emerges Nonus. We prepare ourselves for a fight, but rather than the difficult fight we were all expecting, he throws the decapitated body of the Archidux along with his head in front of us.
"This was your goal, this enough to make peace?" Nonus asks.
"What's the meaning of this?" Aurelia asks in response.
"It's just as I said, I intend to make peace. After seeing you bring in the Ursine Lord I was already hesitant to continue and you sitting on the head of this troublesome lizard is enough to not want to keep this up, I'd rather just cut my losses here than continue. This overgrown snake is a bad matchup for me. I don't doubt my ability to kill it, the backlash will probably leave me dead so its not worth the trouble. Moreover, you hide your strength very well, you Majesty."
Hearing his insulting words, I shift back to my humanoid form, yelling, "I'm not a lizard nor a snake, I'm a Dragon! A Spirit Dragon!"
"So you were the rumoured feathered Dragonoid? I didn't know that a Dragonoid could turn into that."
"I'm not a Dragonoid! Have you not been listening, I am a Spirit Dragon! Getting into technicalities, you could consider Dragonoids to be descendant from me."
"Oh, so you're an old hag. Seems I've treated my elder poorly!"
"Can I please eat him? He's really annoying!"
"Cordelia can you just be quiet for now, he's stronger than you anyway so you couldn't eat him even if you tried. Moving back to the topic at hand, I shall accept your surrender. Naturally, as one of the Empires Legendary Masters, I can't execute you at this point, but for participating in this rebellion you will face some responsibilities for your actions. You will be stripped of your position as one of the assistants to the various Prorex for the next five years and will continue your duties of dealing with the criminal underworld. Is this fine with you?"
"Yes, this is an acceptable punishment for my actions. I give my thanks to your Majesty for your lenience."
"Good and since your here, assist my troops with the cleanup here. Cordelia, Vorenia, Lia to I guess, follow me, I want to discuss our plans moving forward."
We follow Aurelia off towards our encampment outside of the military base, but turning my head back I see Nonus giving me a mocking grin, only angering me further. I try to go back to pick a fight but both Lia and Aurelia hold me back and drag me off to the encampment. But I make sure to remember his name and face as I make a mental note, adding him to my list.