An hour before they left, Zane and Avery had a final training session.
It happened like this—
Reina had just briefed him on the plan. He stood there waiting for her to gather the rest of the army. Then Avery came out of nowhere and punched him on the shoulder.
"Yo yo yo."
"Hello."
"I've been napping. What've you been up to?"
"Studying Laws."
"You make any progress?"
Zane shrugged. "I have two more than I did at the start of the day."
"You have what now?"
Zane repeated himself.
"Wait," said Avery, frowning. "So you have eight Laws?"
"That's right."
"What the fuck. That's how many I have!" She made a face. "Levels are one thing, but how are you getting Laws faster than me? Aren't you meant to be like... Rawrr..."
She did a flex, and he winced. "You said you wouldn't do that."
"... Sorry," she said, grinning sheepishly. "Well, guess what, buddy. I've got some new tricks up my sleeve too. Want to see 'em? Fight me, you won't."
"…Sure."
***
Avery brought him out into the middle of a wide, empty field. They had to go quite a long ways to get out of the way of drilling troops.
When they did, Avery snapped her fingers. The world went black. They stood on nothing, an empty void swirled around them, dotted with stars.
"Looks like a pocket mirage, right?" said Avery. "Think again! This one's a field mirage—brand-spanking-new, Level III. I had to condense a Major Law of Light to get this bad boy. Turns out some Skill Levels have Law prerequisites. Who knew?"
"What's the difference?" said Zane.
"I can make them much bigger," she said. She snapped her fingers, and they stood in a desert. Pyramids popped up in the distance. Hot winds gusted over them, swirling with sand. He saw a sphinx, shaggy-maned, rippling with gold feathers, swoop overhead. It roared. "We could drop an army here, and all they'd see is desert."
Zane blinked. "Neat."
"And you can't break out of this by hitting it either. Can't touch it directly. It's superimposed on reality," said Avery. "The only way to get out of it is by running out of its range. And I could set this bad boy to go for a square mile."
She puffed out a cheek. "Granted—I could probably only hold that for like… ten minutes? But still! Pretty cool, right?"
Zane nodded. "Mind if I try something?"
"Sure."
He got out an Axe and coated his new Law of Ethereal Slicing on the edge.
Then, carefully, he set it against the mirage. It was made of little modes of light essence so subtle, so small, there was no way you could catch it unless you were really looking for it, up close.
"Hey, I told you," said Avery. "You can't break through it by just—"
Zane let the Axe loose. It drew a wide arc from sand dune to the sky. After it passed, it left a gaping crack. The rolling hills of the outside world poured in. Through the crack, you could hear Warriors drilling in the distance, the flick-flick-flicking of bow shots.
Avery stared at him. Her cheek twitched a little.
"Well," she said. "You weren't supposed to be able to break through it like that. What the fuck."
"It's my new Law," said Zane. "Ethereal Slicing. Cuts through essence." It was his first field test. He was pleased to see it worked.
Avery dropped the illusion, looking put out.
"You suck, you know that?"
"Thanks."
***
Reina called everyone back from all the nearby Safe Zones. She'd been rotating as many units as she could through Mount Saint Helens's essence geysers—she'd gotten a good chunk of them up to the 30s. Some were even in the 40s, including her.
Before they left, she came up to him. "How are you?"
"I'll get the job done," he told her. The plan Reina had pitched him was a good one. She had an eye for strategy.
But it all rested on him—it was built around him. If he screwed up at three or four separate points, they were done. Thousands were counting on him. Including her. It invigorated him.
"I know you will," she said, and she meant it—he could tell by the look on her face. He was always a little surprised how much faith she had in him. "You never let me down. I meant—how are you feeling?"
"Ready."
She nodded, letting out a tight breath. "Okay. Then... let's do this."
***
Before the hour was up the Highland Plains were spilling over with Warriors, just a sea of bobbing heads, mostly in the 20s and 30s, a few in the 40s. Thousands of people of dozens of sub-Factions.
And Reina and Zane stood at the head of them all.
Mostly, the faces he saw were determined, resolute. Some buzzed with either nervousness or excitement, he couldn't tell. A few seemed straight-up frightened. Zane figured that was to be expected.
With as little time as she had, Reina had done a miracle with this ragtag army. There was no time to drill any sophisticated tactics into them. But they got most of the basics down, which was all you could ask for in three days.
Reina cleared her throat.
"Most of you had only just found your new homes when Marcus Blackwell drove you from them. So you marched here, to us. You came to us tired and bedraggled and lost. But here you found people willing to fight for you. To fight with you. People like you—people who weren't ready to just lie down and take it. People who'd take the fight to the asshole who did this to you! Tonight is about revenge. Tonight's about showing that bastard he got a lot more than he bargained for when he messed with us. Let's give him hell!"
Short and to the point—very like Reina, but it still drew enthusiastic roars. An electric energy rolled over the army. They were raring to go. Zane cleared his throat. "Forward march!"
With the help of the Harbourmasters and a few scouts they'd set along the sides of Puget Sound, they had a pretty good estimate for where Marcus planned to land. It was the same place he landed Stroud's army when they first invaded. A strand of beaches near Olympia.
They marched for it.
***
Hours later, they arrived. And there they waited, standing on the sands, watching the moonlight rippling off the inky waters.
Zane stood there silently, watching the blank horizon, waiting…
And soon, he saw what he was looking for. Five spots of white drifting closer, growing quickly. One for each general left, plus the Soldier himself. Soon, they were huge, pale prows slicing out of the murk. It seemed impossible that ships so huge could glide so silently in the night.
They drew closer. Close enough to inspect.
𝔹𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝔾𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕠𝕟 (ℂ)
ℂ𝕣𝕖𝕨𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕪 𝕘𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕥𝕤 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℕ𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕕𝕠𝕞, 𝔹𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝔾𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕨𝕒𝕣. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕠𝕟𝕓𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕤, 𝕞𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕚𝕖𝕤, 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕓𝕪𝕡𝕒𝕤𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕙𝕪𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕦𝕔𝕜 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖-𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕧𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕟𝕠 𝕞𝕠𝕠𝕟.
The Bone Galleons could have been made only of the rib bones of some giant extinct dinosaur. Every inch of them was smooth, bleached white. White cannons hung out from their hulls.
And their giant decks were swarming with warriors, packed to the brim. Maybe they couldn't fit all of Marcus's army on board, but this had to be a huge chunk of his strength. There must've been thousands.
Soon, they were close enough for them to see the army waiting for them on shore. Shouts came up from the decks.
Zane calmly got out his Chains.
The cannons swiveled to face them, ghostly white light burning inside. They flared bright, aimed straight at where Zane and the bulk of his army stood, and blasted.
Zane threw.
Precision Slicing guided the arc. Ethereal Slicing let his Axes touch those ghostly blasts. And his Fire Laws brought the power.
A string of explosions rocked the air—dozens of feet from where they stood, clumps of red light shining over white. They faded, and the air was clear again.
Gasps burst out from the Galleons. Zane heard shouts of— "It's him!"
"The Savage Sage!"
More shouting. Silver uniforms, hundreds of them, burst out onto the massive decks. Their weapons were at the ready. They seemed ready to leap over and charge them. They were bristling, just waiting to dock. Then, the sea of uniforms on the deck of the biggest of the Galleons—the Galleon closest to Zane—parted way.
A man at least two heads taller than all the rest, and twice as thick too, was fording his way through.
Flowing locks of blonde hair, a great shining white smile, and Zane could feel the intensity of his expression even from out here.
In his hands, he wielded a great sword that shone pure white, like a block of otherworldly marble. Its edge shone cruelly in the moonlight.
They locked eyes.
𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕝 (ℂ𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖)
𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕝𝕖: 𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝔾𝕠𝕕
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝: 𝟟𝟟
ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤: 𝔻𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕖 ℙ𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟
𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤:
𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕪 ℂ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕒𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕕)
𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝)
𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕖𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝)
𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:
𝕎𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕤 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖]: 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕕𝕣𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕚𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕤, 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕖. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕦𝕟𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕪 𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕕𝕖𝕧𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙, 𝕚𝕟𝕗𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕕𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕛𝕦𝕕𝕘𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟'𝕤 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕤.
𝔹𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝔾𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕌𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕠𝕟]: 𝔸𝕟 𝕒𝕦𝕣𝕒 𝕠𝕗 𝕕𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕜 𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕙𝕪𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖. 𝔸𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕟𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕓𝕪 𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕒 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘.
𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕠𝕗 ℝ𝕖𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖]: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕤𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕡𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕒 𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕟𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕔𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕦𝕤.
𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕠𝕗 ℙ𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕌𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕠𝕟]: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕤𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕡𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕒 𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕔𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕦𝕤.
For the most part his weaknesses were like any man's, except his broad chest lit up unusually red. Good to know.
Marcus seemed surprised to find him there. For all of a second. Then—
"Savage Sage. At long last!" He roared, grinning broadly. He thrust his sword straight out at Zane's head. "You're MINE!"
The Galleons drew nearer. They were just a few hundred feet out from docking—
Phase one. Zane threw his Chains straight up, exactly as he'd done with the Mad Dogs.
A few cries went up—until they saw the Chains' trajectories. He'd thrown them far too late. The Galleons were sailing too fast. They'd miss each other. Marcus laughed.
Then, almost all at once, a strained grinding sound flowed out from under them.
They teetered and bucked. A few dozen soldiers lurched overboard. Shocked cries filled the air.
The Galleons were thrown forward by their own momentum but they slowed fast. The grinding grew louder; sparks showered the air down by their hulls. It was like they weren't sailing on sea anymore.
Because they weren't.
They lurched to shuddering halts. The men on board, the ones still on their feet, clutching to railings and ropes, looked baffled.
Then the illusion of a sea melted away, showing five Bone Galleons stranded on rocky stretches of beach.
Beside him, Avery gasped, pale-faced and sweating. But she still grinned. "Gotcha."
There was a moment of panic. The fighters on deck looked up.
They had all of three seconds to get out of the way before his Chains, loaded with six Laws—one of them, an extremely explosive Major Law—touched down.
Skills shot up to intercept. The Soldier of God roared in defiance, and swept an immense line of light through the sky.
It connected with the Chains… and passed right through.
The illusion dropped to show the real Chains dropping in parallel, just a few feet away.
And by then it was too late.
Five enormous explosions rocked the world.
𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟞𝟠 -> 𝟞𝟡
When the smoke cleared, five ships were split in two, listing on their sides. Burning. The survivors scrambled out like ants fleeing a flooded nest. He'd only taken out a good chunk of them—most still survived.
By sheer numbers they might still be ahead.
Most were still ready for war, especially the Lieutenants, who looked furious. Then they saw who waited on either side of them.
Rows upon rows of Warriors and Rogues and Healers.
And behind them were rows and rows and rows of Rangers, Bows notched tight. Just a second before, they'd been hidden under fake waves.
The Luminous Faction had the Galleons stranded. Surrounded.
Nobody had time to react before the first wave of arrows struck them. The Warriors rushed the Galleons, roaring battle cries; the Rogues followed, the Healers did too.
Zane had weakened them all he could. All around them, his fighters pincered the enemy. Avery dashed off to join them. He'd have to trust them to deal with the rest—he could only hope it'd be enough. He couldn't afford to think on it.
He had his own battle to fight.
One man rose above the mess—the Soldier of God had leapt on the prow of his broken ship, eyes red streaks and bulging. "ZANE WALKER!" He screamed. The veins on his neck stuck out purple.
And Zane made sure to twirl his Axes high above, flaming, shrieking in the air. A clear challenge.
Their eyes met.
The Soldier of God barreled toward him. And smiling, Zane ran to meet him.