Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 63

I relayed my message to Sakura and her father, Nakano. I would be meeting with them soon.

I used the teleportation array we'd placed near their base earlier to make my way close to them, then raced as fast as I could to their city.

Their walls were impressive and well built. They were probably thicker than the walls of Crownhill, in all honesty. However, they completely lacked any magical defenses, or a shield projected over the top of the city. The result was that flying monsters had no trouble at all bypassing the walls completely and wreaking havoc on the civilians there.

Considering the hundreds of thousands of low-leveled humans in the city, the void raptors I considered nothing more than flies were deadly threats.

I appeared overhead, then bypassed the walls as easily as the void raptors. A few oni guarding the walls tried to stop me. I dodged a few arrows and thrown javelins, but they were primitive attacks far beneath me.

I didn't bother retaliating, since those warriors were needed on the walls, and when I didn't attack any of them they started ignoring me just like all the Void Raptors and other flying monsters roaming the city uncontested as they picked off random civilians here and there.

I conjured another arsenal of magical projectiles, which I kept up in a continuous stream of power. I made no show of hiding my abilities or my face as I did so, either.

These people had been fooled into thinking humans were naturally low-leveled. I was living proof of the opposite.

"Get to shelter!" I yelled at the locals as some of them gaped at me in awe after slaughtering a small army's worth of void raptors. I ended up having to repeat myself several times to keep them from gawking any longer.

A few tried to speak with me, but most realized I was in a rush. No doubt rumors that the city's Oni overlords lied about humanity's upper limit were already spreading. I'd done quite a bit to make sure those rumors took root, as had people like Frank and his adventurers.

I followed where they ran and pretty soon I knew where most of the human survivors in the city were fleeing to. The city had earthquake shelters even before the integration, and those underground bunkers provided shelter, and those sturdy buildings could keep the void raptors out.

This was the one city where I paid little attention to the walls. By the time I was done here, most of the Oni warriors fighting there would either join the city truly or return home. No longer would they be able to reign over the humans here under false pretenses. But for now, keeping them busy defending the walls while I dealt with their leaders might make what was coming easier.

I had to circle the city a few times before I heard from Sakura again. The radio chatter in New Kyoto was fairly busy, and I suspected the locals had been using the technology to get around their Oni overlords for a while. Eventually, I found the house Sakura had been given the last time she was here, and there was a note on the table directing me to the castle in the center of town.

I'd been here once already while tailing Sakura, but it had seen significant improvements since then, though most were cosmetic. The Oni really liked their decorative artwork and gardens, though neither survived very long in their presence.

Proof of that was plain to see, especially now. A fight had broken out at some point, and it was still going on in the castle. I wasn't sure who was fighting whom, but I was pretty sure Sakura and Nakano were on one side of things. I needed to track them down so I could figure out who needed killing.

I entered the castle quietly. Several rooms had been barricaded shut, though that was no hindrance to me. Most of the barricaded rooms contained low-leveled women and children, some Oni, some human.

Unfortunately, none of them had the slightest idea what was happening, nor could they point me in the right direction.

I searched the castle more and found what had previously been the teleportation array leading to Onibushi. It was destroyed now and rendered completely unusable. I suspected all the other teleportation arrays within reach were the same.

That had to be Sakura and Nakano's work. They wouldn't want the oni faction here trying to run the city to be able to call for foreign reinforcements. From the damage to the interior of the castle, it was clear that Nakano's diplomatic work had turned violent.

That had always been a risk, but with both Sakura and Kogai, he should have held the monopoly on power short of one of the major powers on Onibushi taking direct action. Destroying the teleportation arrays made that kind of action impossible.

Because of that, when I finally came to Sakura, Kogai, and Nakano, I was surprised to find their side engaged in an even conflict. The reason why was apparent after a quick look at the area. Nakano's side was dressed in casual robes, while their enemies wore full armor and wielded weapons of war.

Signed and inked papers blew across the ground like so much trash. Nakano must have come here to sign some sort of formal agreement between the Onibushi faction and the local faction he'd assembled to overthrow them.

But instead of settling their differences with debate and contracts, the opposing Oni had decided to fight it out instead, and Nakano's side had been caught unprepared. Thankfully, Sakura was never unarmed. I'd given her quite a few bags of holding, and I knew she'd sewn many of them into her pockets as I had.

No doubt she had enough extra stock from Doomblade's Armory to outfit her father and the rest of the delegates, if only she had enough time to pull the weapons free. To buy time to arm themselves, Nakano's side had staged a fighting retreat out of the courtyard and into the surrounding chambers and hallways. But paper walls meant there were no choke points to guard, only obstacles that took a moment to cut through and could provide a brief ambush opportunity.

Sakura and Nakano might have won eventually, or maybe they'd have retreated out into the city and be pinched between the monsters and the enemy Oni. It was tough to say how things would have ended without me here. But I was here now, and I would not allow for anything besides total victory.

I eyed the most vicious rank-and-file of the opposing group of oni, conjured a cloud of spells, then descended with the full might of a peak B-Grade.

Voidling's Embrace halted a group of Oni in their tracks. A rain of spellfire crippled them. My Dragon Bone sword, Corrupting Marks, and a lungful of dragonfire did the rest. I flitted around the battlefield like a ghost, one moment there and one moment not.

I wasn't sure how long the battle had been going on, but within a minute my arrival and sudden flanking attack had decisively changed things.

Naturally, Sakura was the first to notice my arrival.

"Carter! Keep those ones alive!" She pointed to an isolated group of enemies that had been holding their own. Their armor and weapons were all of local make, which meant lower quality than the others. Some of them weren't even wearing armor at all and instead had regular modern clothes.

These were probably the local loyalists, and the only faction on the enemy side that could be negotiated with. They were probably caught just as off-guard by the sudden outbreak of violence as Nakano's side.

I saved them for last as I circled around and took out several more Oni groups, most of them C or D-Grades. The two B-Grades on the enemy side were both locked in battle against Sakura and Kogai, and when Sakura defeated her foe, she helped Kogai do the same.

Pretty soon, it was just us and the people Sakura wanted left alive. As we circled them, they realized the battle was over and they'd lost.

"Now, lay down your weapons and help me pick up the papers, and we'll get back to signing things," Nakano said.

At my questioning gaze, Sakura took me aside.

"We were in the middle of signing an agreement that the leaders of the city would admit they lied to the people about a human level cap and apologize for exploiting them. The rest of the documents would institute a series of reforms and allow for the establishment of a new government. They would also legally define New Kyoto as a protectorate of Crownhill, which would cleanly solve the conflict we had with them and give us a lever to pull if we wanted additional reforms," Sakura explained.

"And it would end the conflict with them before it really began, saving who knows how many tens of thousands of civilian lives." I was satisfied with the solution Nakano and Sakura had come up with, though I grimaced as I looked at the sky. Unfortunately, a lot of the casualties I'd been hoping to avoid through diplomacy had happened anyway thanks to this sudden void monster attack.

I remained alongside Sakura and Nakano a while longer to point out the large civilian shelters. Nakano guided the people I'd spared, who were the local crime lords the Oni had elevated to the position of high-ranking administrators and city lords.

Each of them was a recognizable face, and when they were forced to bow their heads to admit to their web of lies, they would be quickly believed. Rumors of my presence had probably helped make things obvious by now, so having the former head of the local government plainly admit to their trickery was merely confirmation.

I followed them to one of the largest shelters, where more than ten thousand people were gathered hiding from the monsters outside. It was enough of an audience to make sure this message stuck. One of the former administrators for the Oni overlords spoke with head bowed.

"We have deceived you all. The upper limit for humans is easily solved by selecting a higher-ranked race upon evolution. The idea that humanity is a weaker race was a lie to better control you all. There is no level twenty five bottleneck, as our new allies from the human city of Crownhill can so clearly prove. The previous heads of the government will atone for this trickery with their lives."

Once the words were spoken, they couldn't be unspoken. Change was certain to come for New Kyoto now. Even if they reneged on their promise to me, they would never be able to pull the same trick again.

I ended up leaving the details to Sakura and Nakano while I went to reinforce the walls. The defenders were either low-ranking Oni or humans who'd transitioned to becoming Oni when they were told it was the only way they could keep leveling.

I wasn't sure what was going to happen to them, but for now I lent them a hand and finally cleared out the monsters coming for the walls. I arrived just in time too, since another Void City Eater was on its way, though this one was a bit weaker than the one surrounding Crownhill.

I was already making my way back to Crownhill when I got the notification I'd been hoping for.

Congratulations! You have defeated the ruling faction of New Kyoto.

Their leadership has sworn loyalty to you. You have entered into a protectorate agreement with them. Your powers and duties are defined in the terms you or your agent have signed.

Your factions are now in a state of long-term truce so long as both sides abide by the terms of the agreement.

You currently control three of five shards.

The notification was a little different this time, likely thanks to the nature of the agreement. The protectorate status afforded to New Kyoto seemed a bit more tenuous than the outright conquest status I was often used to, but that was alright.

So long as we kept the doors to Onibushi shut, there shouldn't be any big issues with New Kyoto. I'd worry about integrating them more thoroughly later.

***

I made a quick circuit back to Crownhill. There were a few big monsters waiting there, though nothing on the scale of the Void City Eater. I was impressed by Sharky once again, though. He'd done an admirable job repelling the enemy, and he was still feasting with as much energy as he had when I first summoned him.

Now that Crownhill was fully organized, things were faring well for us, though now that I had returned, I noticed the sporadic flow of time again. It had gone away when I'd left sight of the city, but looking at it now it was stronger than ever. Only Sharky and I seemed unaffected, thanks to my recent practice with Jade at controlling Kindling Dimension energy.

Overhead, there was still a total eclipse, and the shrouded sun now had six perfect circles of stars around it, illuminating the ground around us. After visiting New Kyoto and finding more light there, I realized whatever was blocking the sun was a lot closer than the moon, and it was only Crownhill stuck in total eclipse.

I landed in the center of the city to see things from ground level and found both adventurers and civilians were seeing to their duties. I had many criticisms about how the Architects had structured the System and their societies, but the quest interface wasn't one of them.

Being able to instantly hand out a huge number of specific tasks and jobs to an entire city's population and then let them select the jobs they wanted to take from what I needed done proved amazingly efficient, especially in times like this.

Those who knew they were best at fighting made their way straight to the walls. Crafters started repairing weapons in a hurry. Builders and laborers cleared paths and managed supplies. Those best with people were gathering up non-combatants and directing them to safety, which for most meant the pocket realm where we were keeping the city's children.

I modified several quests and issued a dozen more based on what we needed and where, and I watched from afar as people switched from one task to another as their abilities allowed.

This was how I preferred to manage things. The lengthy series of interviews and people management was more Sakura's thing. All I wanted was to put opportunity and danger hand in hand and let those willing to brave one for the other take what jobs they wished.

I went to the clinic, where I checked in with Bridget. Mimiko was still there, which I was thankful for. Though her abilities could be put to use elsewhere, she didn't have access to the System and couldn't receive or fulfill my quests and might even be listed as hostile through some System interfaces. Besides, I didn't want Bridget alone at a time like this.

"How are you holding up?" I asked Bridget, though it was Doctor Roswell who responded.

"It's just one thing after another. None of my needles were strong enough to inject her with the drugs to induce the birth. We figured something out eventually, but then the machine started acting up. The good news is the baby looks like he's ready to go. He's been holding position like a kid waiting for permission to go down a water slide." Doctor Roswell shrugged.

Meanwhile, Bridget grabbed my hand. "Carter, there's something you should know. All the monsters outside? I think they have something to do with Adrian."

"How so?" I asked, dropping to one knee as I leaned close to her. I had guessed as much already, but I suspected Bridget had more insight than I did.

"It's like they want to stop him. There's something dangerous and deadly out there that hates our boy. Whatever happens, you have to help me keep him safe." Bridget's fingers wound tight around mine.

"I will. I promise. I'll cut down every enemy on this shard if that's what it takes to make it safe."

I held her hand a long moment. Then my radio buzzed to life again.

"Carter? It's Margaret again. We just got an urgent message by flying bird. It's from the Sages of Camlaan. They say they are in dire straits and need Frank the Hero to help save them. Should we send Frank over?" Margaret asked.

I frowned. I was about to tell her to let Frank go if he wanted to and not if he didn't, but that was too casual a play. There was an opportunity here. Nakano had ended the war with New Kyoto through swift and clever diplomacy. Maybe I could do so once more with the Sages of Camlaan. Forcing them to sign any sort of treaty the System recognized would bring an end to this stage of the integration and at least get us out of this death match we were otherwise locked into.

But that wasn't the sort of thing I could do through radio calls. The Sages of Camlaan had called for Frank because they remembered him being at early B-Grade, which was strong but not beyond their ability to contend with, since they were B-Grades themselves, albeit seemingly on the weak side thanks to gaining levels from a more primitive version of the System before the integration.

The same wasn't true for me. But could I really leave?

I glanced down at Bridget, and she saw the indecision in my eyes.

"Go, Carter. I'll be alright. Make this world a safer place for our son," Bridget squeezed my hands one last time, and I hastily departed.

<Note>

Just so you guys don't think I'm hastily wrapping everything up right now, if this were a physical book there'd probably be about 100 pages left or so.