Amazon Apocalypse 7: Chapter 12

I sent the scouts out before we even left New Kyoto. Sure enough, the forces of Camlaan were standing around as they waited for their Oni allies to arrive. This strike was planned to be quick, so their army hadn't even brought camping supplies. From the communications I'd intercepted, they were supposed to be storming the gates of Crownhill before nightfall.

Instead, the Sages, a thousand knights and several thousand trained peasants were all standing scratching their asses with their own spears.

Between the two forces, they likely thought they'd have an overwhelming advantage against Crownhill, and admittedly an army ten thousand strong was an impressive thing. Overcoming them would be roughly as tedious as dealing with the Void Monster attacks, assuming they could bring in one of the Chaos Gods to help.

I would have hoped for the Chaos Wolf, but I was pretty sure if someone like that was going to show up they would have done so before I destroyed half of their forces. But there could always be some other trick they had in mind for me.

"They can't expect to take the city with just a dozen B-Grades. Look again, they must have some sort of secret weapon in their army," I insisted.

Legate Asimi's eyebrows twitched when I mentioned a dozen B-Grades not being enough to take a city. B-Grades were a rare thing across the Arcadia Multiverse, especially in newly integrated worlds. Only true powerhouse worlds like Glacia could claim an army with multiple B-Grades couldn't do whatever they damn well pleased. But as fate would have it our newly integrated world was built different.

"I will order the scouts to check again," Legate Asimi bowed her head and departed to make my will known.

Sure enough, the scouts discovered a few bloody and diseased-looking figures among the B-Grades. There weren't just the Sages of Camlaan fighting on Camlaan's side. Who were the strangers?

"Do you think they are Chaos God cultists?" I asked Legate Asimi.

"Truthfully, the descriptions from the scouts sound like the results from your spells. I've seen the festering wounds a survivor from a fight with you bears," Asimi said.

I frowned. "The Rogue Sorcerers, then? From the Order of Sorcery? But they are bitter enemies with the Sages of Camlaan. Their whole organization was intent on battling the sages to the death."

Legate Asimi shrugged. "I can only report what the scouts told me."

I found it hard to believe they could have united for fear of me. They were inconvenient for me, but we weren't mortal enemies. Sure, I'd killed that fire sorcerer guy, but only after he'd torched a settlement of innocent survivors. Even if they found out it was me, they should have known attacking innocent villages wouldn't come without retaliation. It couldn't have been anything the Sages of Camlaan hadn't done to them before.

Despite all my efforts trying to figure out what was going on, I'd missed something. Unfortunately figuring out exactly what I'd missed before this opportunity passed would be impossible. I could only hope that I could finish stabilizing the shard before it bit me in the ass.

Being emperor sure was a pain. But my thoughts drifted back to Adrian. When I was his age, my dad made sure I had a house to live, a yard to play in, and food to eat. I had a duty to do the same for my son. This was on a bit of a larger scale, but with Adrian's potential, he needed something bigger than a normal backyard. Hopefully an empire would do.

***

As the light began to fade, the Sages of Camlaan seemed to realize they had no choice but to attack Crownhill alone. The Nineteenth Legion would soon be in position and we could attack in mere minutes.

But no good general would interrupt their enemy while they were making a mistake, so I waited for them to assault the walls of Crownhill. Every besieging army's worst nightmare was to be trapped between the walls of an enemy stronghold and a greater force attacking them from behind.

So we waited until they committed. Legate Asimi contacted the troops we had within the walls. They had experience working with ill-trained local militias, and my people were far from that. As a result, the barrier activated immediately, and the defenders within the walls put up a sudden and powerful defense.

Thanks to communicating beforehand and letting the forces in Crownhill know we were ready to intercede, they took the riskier approach of letting the forces of Camlaan approach the walls. They were well within firing distance of our defensive structures and ranged combatants.

There were downsides to using guns and magitech cannons instead of more traditional weapons like bows after the integration, but range certainly wasn't one of them. The forces of Camlaan had no idea just how far our killing field extended.

"Hold just a bit longer..." I muttered, though I had the button on my radio pressed down to communicate with Kyle, Marcus, and the officers on the other side of the shields.

The Sages of Camlaan attempted to breach the city's magical defenses. One of the sages raised a hand and fired a magical projectile. It looked like a wave of wind and carried a significant force with it, though it compared poorly with something like my Void Cannon spell.

The Sages seemed to realize it would take more than that to crack open the walls of Crownhill, three of them followed up the attack with that same spell. When that still did nothing, the rest of the Sages joined, including Grand Sage Balencia herself.

The shield was finally at least noticing their attacks, though compared to what we'd faced before this was nothing. Those shields had protected the city during an A-Grade battle with the Pale Moonlight Scholar from the void. It was powered by ancient technology from the creators of the System and optimized to take the best of every barrier enchantment I'd ever seen.

Compared to something like that, the Sages of Camlaan were starkly lacking.

Eventually, they decided to try their luck with more traditional siege tactics. Luckily, they'd brought ladders and battering rams. Seeing no retaliation on Crownhill's side had bolstered their confidence and they rushed forward while the Sages continued to hammer on the walls.

I waited until they were fully committed.

"Activate the defenses and open fire."

Instantly, magitech turrets buzzed to life. These were the same Mana Turrets I'd once constructed to guard the shield to the Torchdragon's Shard. They weren't necessary there now that the Torchdragon was dead, so now they protected Crownhill and my other cities.

Magical projectiles that looked a lot like my mana bolts flew from the walls, followed by a combination of bullets and spells from my legionnaires on the walls.

The screaming medieval battlecry of the knights, sages, and soldiers of Camlaan was immediately overwhelmed by the sound of magical and mundane artillery. At such a close range, the magical Rods of Annihilation were particularly effective as they shot out blasts of shrapnel like magical shotguns.

Though, perhaps these bigger versions were more like cannons. Back on Themyscira we'd need to transport the things, whereas here they were fixed weaponry.

In seconds, the enemy's formation collapsed. By the time someone blew a horn to sound a retreat, a third of their entire army was either dead or wounded enough to no longer be capable of such a thing. Even the Sages themselves hadn't been spared as several people with control over the magitech turrets I'd built swept them over the Sages.

I scanned the area for the sorcerers, and sure enough they were there too. They weren't standing close to the Sages of Camlaan, but the fact that they were there at all confused me. But that was a mystery to unravel later.

"Asimi, are those the people the scout spotted?" I asked, pointing to the sorcerers.

"I think so."

"Then take Cyra, Myrina, Reluna, and any B-Grades you can muster and take them out. They should be wounded already," I said.

"But we're supposed to take on the Sages of Camlaan."

I shook my head. "I'll deal with the sages myself."

"Eleven B-Grades?" Legate Asimi glanced at me worriedly.

"Tell the girls I'll be holding them off until they finish their fights and come help me." I grinned.

"Okay." Asimi bit her lip as we watched the first stage of the battle unfold before us.

It looked like the forces of Camlaan had been routed during their initial assault. At best, they'd be able to camp outside the city and engage in some sort of lengthy siege. That wouldn't be nearly as effective against us as it would against other factions, since we had so many teleportation arrays off world and to other cities. Not that it was going to come to that.

"The city did their part. Now it's our turn. Let's hit 'em where it hurts!" I raised my dragonbone rapier and was met with a ferocious battlecry from the Nineteenth Legion.

All of a sudden, a volley of spellfire struck the retreating forces of Camlaan head-on, followed by several more. They'd been running as fast as they could away from the walls, and those with shields had them guarding their backs. That first wave of spellfire was completely devastating.

Then our melee fighters arrived, and the enemy was pinched between us and the walls.

What followed was a slaughter as the Nineteenth Legion made short work of a harried and disorganized force that had been trying to flee the field of battle before I even attacked them. Now their fighting was truly desperate as individual soldiers began to realize how absolutely screwed they were.

Under most circumstances, it would be better to leave the enemy at least one avenue to escape. People could be quite ferocious when they realized they were going to die. I'd give them their way out eventually, but before that happened I needed to take out the problem I'd left festering when I signed the treaty.

The Sages of Camlaan were the greatest power on the shard besides myself and my immediate circle of women and friends. If Lydwyn got better, perhaps I could turn her to my side as I had Sorcerer Mourningstar and Liliana, but I had little hope of winning the others over. They had to go.

I rushed ahead of my men and darted through the sky on my own. When I reached them, I fell upon them like a grim reaper.

One Sages turned on me and fired the same spell he'd tried to break the walls of Crownhill with. Aegis of the Void sent the spell hurtling off into nowhere, and my Sunlight Spear I fired off in reply pierced straight through his magical armor, his robes, and his stomach to pin him to the ground.

Another summoned a huge lightning bolt. I dodged and breathed fire on him until his robes lit up in flames. I trapped a third in Voidling's Embrace. Two more conjured spears of water and balls of fire, but I vanished into the shadow realm to reappear behind one of them. With a flick of my Dragonbone Rapier, a head went tumbling into the mud.

Three remaining Sages grouped up. Their eyes were wild and bloodshot as they tried to track my movements.

"There he is! Trap him, blast him! Do something!" a man shouted in frantic fear.

I cast Eldritch Blight, and a rift into the void opened up beside me. Corrosive energy poured over the three, and their skin blistered and bubbled with the effects of Corrupting Marks.

Another tried to respond with spellfire, but Unspeakable Word stunned her for just long enough for me to dart in and bisect her with my rapier.

By now, most of the Sages of Camlaan were wounded, and growing moreso as the effects of Hemorrhage and Destined Death spread. The Corrupting Marks had made themselves known as well, dealing slow damage but building to the moment I could snap my fingers and end the entire fight.

Two of the sages were dead, three more would die as soon as my Corrupting Marks caught up to them. My attention turned to Grand Sage Balencia, who was the strongest of the Sages. She was organizing the five other healthy Sages that remained into the greatest threat to me.

"Spells of binding and entrapment, now!" Balencia yelled. The five sages all worked together. It looked like their plan was to hold me in place while Grand Sage Balencia charged her most powerful spell. It was probably the only tactic they had to deal with someone like me.

If they'd been able to pull it off a few seconds ago, maybe they'd have stood a chance. Confronting so many B-Grades at once had been a risk, and I probably wouldn't have taken it against skilled and coordinated B-Grades. But the Sages of Camlaan were slow and entirely unaccustomed to fighting people who could battle at the same speeds they could.

Sharky struck the group of five sages from behind. Grand Sage Balencia barely managed to jump clear, but two of her fellow Sages were too slow and were gobbled up in one bite. From there, the fight was as good as over.

I'd taken the risk of rushing ahead and engaging the Sages of Camlaan so that way they'd be too busy staying alive to deal with me. These eleven individuals and the sorcerers my companions were dealing with were the only ones on the whole battlefield who were a serious threat to my guys. With them pinned down fighting me, there was no one would could match the veterans of the Nineteenth Legion.

I used Sharky's entrance to activate Mana Arsenal and come up with a few hundred more magical projectiles. I threw about half against the remaining Sages, while the other half took out key members of Camlaan's army.

The death of the remaining high-ranking officers and the death of these Sages would be the final nails in the coffin for any organized rebellion from Camlaan. After this, all that would be left of their faction were the provincial warlords, many of whom I'd already won to my cause before this battle even started.

I knew the fight with the rogue sorcerers was over when Cyra waded through the ranks of enemies and pounced on the vulnerable Sages, I let her take out one while I slew another. I thought I'd get to take them all out myself, but Cyra must have been feeling particularly ready for a fight to have finished and rushed to my aid so soon.

Despite the carnage around us, the remaining fighting felt more like cleanup than a battle. I snapped my fingers as soon as I felt the three Sages afflicted with Corrupting Marks from Eldritch Blight close to death, and all three of them exploded and died.

I looked at Grand Sage Balencia. She was the one that I really needed to deal with. With the death of the other Sages, she'd been permanently defanged, but it would be best to kill her off completely.

She must have sensed the killing intent in my gaze, because she raised an open palm toward me and said what was probably the only words that could save her life.

"Wait! Don't kill me. I know who is after your son!" Grand Sage Balencia said.

I held the half-conjured Sunlight Spear in my hand, debating whether or not I should kill her anyway. But in the end, I let it fade away.

"Order your soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender. Then we can talk." Grand Sage Balencia, let out a short huff. She was clearly displeased with the situation, but the fear in her eyes told me she also knew she'd been outplayed.

"Soldiers of Camlaan! Lay down your arms!" she yelled, voice projected high over the battlefield.

"Nineteenth Legion, fall back!" I yelled, and the two forces disengaged. My people did so rapidly. Hers did so clumsily.

"Good..." Grand Sage Balencia regained some of her composure as the the fighting stopped. She straightened her robes. "Now that we're negotiating--"

I cut her off and raised my sword to point it at her.

"There's no negotiation here. Drop your staff and speak fast if you want to live."

<Note>

Most of the Sages of Camlaan are dead. There are maybe three that could be saved with urgent medical care. I'm not sure if Carter will bring them back or not. Potentially they could make decent subordinates if they were sent to to other regions where they couldn't plot rebellion or cause trouble. Grand Sage Balencia, less so, since she's a schemer. But Carter doesn't know her beyond surface level yet.