Chapter 417 - Beyond Mere Rage

Fitzwallace, (The Admiral)

New Norfolk

“What, exactly, did he say again?” Fitzwallace asked, assuming he’d heard his friend wrong the first time.

“ 'All trade, agreements, alliances, or deals made with the Faction New Canada be revoked. All materials, gold, skill shards, or the sale of dungeon access to its Faction members be denied. Any Merchant Company associated with his Faction and has its headquarters inside New Canada’s borders be refused all trade. Any appointed member of his Faction higher than Guard Captain be barred from entering any City or Pylon Outpost owned, controlled, or administered by your Faction.” Robert restated. “That wasn’t all, either. He also added specifically for us that we ‘turn away every ship seeking our harbor, restrict them from crossing into our Faction’s waters, and deny any attempt they make to get around or through our land.’ ”

“So, basically, a complete and total embargo?” Fitzwallace asked, already feeling the urge to sigh in frustration.

“Yes, with a picket line as well, to keep them from going further down the coast,” Robert answered.

Fitzwallace pinched the bridge of his nose, even though it did nothing for the oncoming headache. He knew the next question he needed to ask, but he really didn’t want to know the answer. He asked all the same.

“And how did you respond?”

Robert shuffled his feet and looked up at the ceiling, acting like a child who’d been caught stealing sweets.

Oh, dear.

“Please tell me you didn’t respond with a provocation?” Fitzwallace hoped.

“Well, you see, we had just gotten done fighting, and I wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind. He’d been wailing on me with that giant ass hammer of his, and it didn’t exactly feel pleasant. My bones still feel fractured, and the fight was months ago,” Robert quickly defended himself, which only made Fitzwallace’s hopes die further.

If Robert felt the need to preface his answer, it was bad.

“What did you say.” He asked again through clenched teeth.

“‘And if we don’t?’” Robert muttered just loud enough to be heard.

His face fell into his hands as he tried to imagine that the words he’d just heard weren’t real. “So not only did you answer with a provocation, it wasn’t even a veiled one. It was a direct and blatantly obvious one?”

“Yes,” Robert said.

“You’ve read the Diplomat’s evaluation of him, correct? The behavioral analysis and best practices when dealing with Frostheim?” Fitz didn’t wait for Robert to respond, “You know that direct provocations will go poorly with someone like him, yes? I know you do, yet you did so anyway?”

“As I said, after getting pummeled, I wasn’t exactly thinking of what the pencil pushers put in their report about his attitude and behavior.” Robert defended himself.

“No, you were hot-headed and did the exact opposite of what was recommended.” Fitzwallace admonished before sighing once more.

“The entire reason I sent you up there was to prevent exactly this. We have no idea what test we might face, and keeping the bloodshed and casualties to a minimum was our best chance of improving our odds. Especially those of powerful people like Nobles.” Fitzwallace said, “Yet not only did you fail to de-escalate things, but you accomplished the exact opposite, causing a brawl between every significant Faction in the Northeast.”

“The war ended,” Robert stated, as if it made up for what happened.

“But a new one was declared not seconds later!” The Admiral shouted, failing to control his volume for the first time since hearing of this nightmare.

Honestly, the Admiral was a bit surprised that Frostheim hadn’t moved out already, but he also hadn’t known that Christopher had been so severely injured until now. In that line, he asked, “How soon do you think he will be healed?”

Robert considered the question for a moment, “Fully? I’m not sure. You and I both know Spirit injuries last longer than physical ones. It took you months to recover from overstraining your spirit after the last test, and his injury was more than just overstraining. I felt it burn and tear. I’m surprised he’s not dead.”

At being mentioned, the Admiral thought back to the mess his Spirit had been after the test. He’d called on way too much power to elevate his power high enough. It had lasting effects that had persisted for way longer than he thought they would.

If this injury was similar, he couldn’t even predict when it would be completely mended.

“At least something good came out of this,” Fitz clung to that harder than he should have, “More information is always a good thing, even if it did come about the way it did.”

General Classes had skills that were deeply reliant on information, his own included, both your own and your enemies. That wasn’t to say Frostheim would soon be an enemy, but the possibility wasn’t zero.

[Battle Plan], [Tactical Advantage], [Battlefield Awareness] were just some of the most common that required knowledge of both what you could do, but also what could also be done to you. Various [Simulation] skills required it even more to be useful.

He looked at the sheets of paper in front of him, the written report Robert had given him detailing skills, power sets, threat evaluations, and other useful bits of information.

“Is there anything not in here you feel worth mentioning?” He asked.

“Other than the fact that his Spirit is absurdly strong? It’s not only the fact that he survived whatever the sword did, but it was strong even before that. I used my Anchor generously during the fight, and it had little to no effect. He warded it off easily with his own Anchor like it was nothing. The only other person to shrug it off so easily is you, but that’s when you have your Army around you.” He answered.

“You think he’s close to taking the next Step?” Fitz immediately asked. Spirit Advancement was notoriously difficult, but it came with a level of power equal to the difficulty.

If an advancement was made, and Christopher managed to create his First Authority…

“Probably,” Robert shrugged. “But I don’t know how the wound will impact things. It could delay things while it heals, or it could complicate things.”

The Admiral was of the opposite opinion, “Or it could make things easier. Injuries and wounds don’t work like they used to. Recovery itself could be what he needs to take the next step. Spirits are odd, you know that.”

“Maybe.” Robert said noncommittally, before focusing back on the original question, “Other than that, his level increased a lot since our last known report. I wasn’t able to get an exact number, but it’s above 120.”

“Any guess on what Skill he picked?”

“He has some kind of Forced Duel skill, but I don’t know if that came from his Class or if he chose it specifically. Other than that, it wasn’t obvious if any were new or more powerful than the rest. He also has a skill that floods the area with Arctic mana, but he had that before his evolution. A few nasty weapon Skills. An Armor skill that covers his body in thick plates of ice that are stronger than they have any right to be. He also had a Skill that felt like my mana responded slower and cost more to use, but that could have been something else.” Robert listed off, “Outside of getting hit with the hammer, the ice creation skill is definitely the most deadly. Even touching it burned my skin, and that was with my Bloodline and defensive Skills going.”

“Anything else?” Fitz asked, taking note of everything mentioned. The dossier had some of it, but it would also need to be updated.

“Not that I can think of. His Body is still only Stone, his Mana is still at its First Step, and his Laws are still Tier 2.”

The Admiral’s lips curled ever so slightly as he pulled open a drawer of previous reports and picked one out of the stack, “Your information is outdated.”

The words on the report were few, but they were enough.

~~
January 30th, 6 A.C.
Lord of Frost has returned, along with his troops.

February 7th, 6 A.C.
Lord of Frost, Head Builder, and a large crew left the city. Major construction taking place in the North. Can’t get close without discovery. Suspect at the location of the Ice Treasure.

March 19th, 6 A.C
Crew returned, along with Head Builder, but Lord of Frost remains in the North.

March 31st, 6 A.C.
Lord of Frost returned, bloody and haggard. [Identify] blocked, but level remains similar. Suspect Body Level improvement.

~~

The reports coming from the North were sparse and rather shallow, but they kept him abreast of large movements. The expense hurt, but it was better than no information at all. If any attempt were made to peer deeper, reports stopped coming altogether. It didn’t take a genius to guess what happened.

Robert’s eyebrows rose as he continued to read, “He did it even with the wound?”

“It appears so.”

Robert shook his head, “Crazy bastard…”

“What of Zuri, Vanessa, and Ryan? From what I read, Brienne didn’t do much other than use [Mist Shield]s and swing her swords.” Fitzwallace asked.

"Vanessa and Zuri were pretty evenly matched from what I was able to catch of the duel. If it had continued, I’m not sure which would have won. If I had to pick, I’d wager on Vanessa. Her eyes are that of a killer, whereas Zuri is just now getting to that point. Power-wise, it’s a toss-up. Closer to Flame Falls were fire mana is abundant, Vanessa would win easily. At night, under the stars without a nearby source of fire, Zuri would win.

“Both have Second Circle Mana Cores, both have powerful Bloodlines, and both have high-grade spells they can throw around with enough variance to cover most weaknesses. Most notably, Zuri uses her speed to her advantage, and if she were ever caught or contained, she would struggle. Vanessa, though, is slower, but not in a way easily contained. Any attempts to catch her or trap her would just end with an explosion of fire to the face.” Robert said.

“And Ryan?”

Robert sighed, “A Healer/Support Mage mix, from what I could tell. He didn’t sling around many offensive spells, choosing to instead disorient and disrupt. When pressured, he relied on Bri and his hidden guard to cover for him, instead of fighting himself. His self-healing ability is tremendous, but without a team around him, easily beaten if he can’t flee. Not that it matters all that much.”

“Why wouldn’t it matter?” The Admiral asked.

“You didn’t see his eyes, Fitz,” Robert said seriously, talking about Christopher. “They went beyond mere rage at the end of the fight. With a man like that after him, I doubt he lasts long, even with that sword of his. You’ll be moving that dossier to the deceased pile before the year is up.”

As if fate wanted to drive the point home, a rushed knock sounded from the door, only to be repeated seconds later before a chance to answer was given.

“Enter,” He said loud enough to carry through the room’s enchantments against eavesdropping.

A runner quickly entered with a rushed salute before presenting a piece of paper for him to grab. He did so and dismissed the man before reading the message.

~~
April 7th, 6 A.C
Lord of Frost and army march out of Frostheim, headed for Fort Hope. Number over 2,000 strong. ETA, two weeks.
~~

After reading it, the Admiral offered the sheet to Robert.

“It seems you’re right.” He said, “Even wounded, he’s out for blood.”

--AN--

We return to our normal Christopher smash and pummel in the next one.