Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 20

The Black Knights and I had a little staring contest. More of them accumulated, but all of them were at least a head shorter than me. They were in ordinary regular armor, whereas I was in my prototype power armor.

I felt multiple uses of examine rattle my chest plate, no doubt presenting to them the estimate of my level in armor that the System gave. From my own tests with Bridget and Sakura, it should read somewhere in the mid B-Grade, which put me on the same level as the Sorcerers and as far above these Black Knights in power as I was in height.

“Father! I’m back,” Liliana said, waving her arms as an older man in black robes approached. She rushed up to him and embraced him, despite her earlier complaints.

“Daughter, dearest. You’ve returned safely. When some of your knights returned with tales of a new hero the Sages of Camlaan had recruited, I feared the worst. I thought at best I’d have to ransom you back.”

Liliana’s father, who could only be Sorcerer Mourningstar, had a firm but soothing voice. Between his gray-streaked beard, unstooped back, and keen look in his eyes, he was likely the kind of figure that inspired confidence, even without wielding powerful magic. That was likely why the order had chosen him as a marshal for their unruly knights.

“It would take more than some up-jumped hero to do me in! I admittedly took a few wounds, and my cultivation is temporarily diminished, but after a bold and daring escape, I freed myself from captivity and secured enough resources in my break-out to recover my powers and then some!” Liliana explained proudly, hands on her hips.

Her father flashed her a skeptical look, and Liliana wove a tale of bravery, cunning, wit, and boldness that saw her outwitting all of Crownhill as she made a daring escape through the forest in the middle of the night. Through it all, Sorcerer Mourningstar nodded his head thoughtfully. When his daughter was finished, he turned to me.

“Thank you for rescuing my daughter. I’ll need the actual story from you later, but I promise you will be well rewarded.” Sorcerer Mourningstar stroked his beard.

“Dad! I told you I escaped with wit, cunning, and bravery!” Liliana pouted, arms crossed.

“Of course you did, darling.” Sorcerer Mourningstar stroked his daughter’s head with the sort of doting fondness that made Liliana look like the little girl he no doubt saw in her, instead of the grown woman she was. “And what did I tell you about wearing such low-cut clothes?”

Liliana pouted and began rehashing what was no doubt an age old argument between her and her father. Having it seemed to set both of them at ease after Liliana’s ordeal, and I let them talk. The knights arrayed before me were of greater personal interest. The Sorcerers may be more powerful, but these knights were the backbone of the Order of Sorcery’s forces.

“I hear you knights know a thing or two about swords and fighting.” I started the group down.

“Aye, but we ain’t knights. We don’t do pretty rehearsed dances for duels. We fight for real,” one of them answered.

I turned to him and took him as the leader of this bunch, or at least something close to it.

“So you speak with your swords, do you? Then how about you and I have a vigorous debate?” I turned to them, showing off my own sword, which was as tall as I was.

There were a few chuckles and noises of interest, and soon I found myself in the practice yard within the walls of the Order of Sorcery’s citadel. I’d guessed these guys would be eager for a scrap, as they all seemed a rough and tumble sort, even from my first impression. Besides, I’d learned from my time with Myrina’s family that a bit of roughhousing could loosen tongues as easily as alcohol, and I’d come here for answers.

If I’d asked for a tour of the citadel, the best I’d get is a look at the gardens. But asking for a duel brought me through the outer walls and past the well-guarded towers defending them. The defenses were strong, even by multiversal standards. Only Glacia’s city sported more defenses. Despite falling far from their former heights, these descendants of the Architects never quite hit rock-bottom, or at least if they did, there was still a wealth enough of knowledge to draw upon that their magical traditions remained strong even without the System to help them.

“Who’s first?” I asked, taking to the ring with confidence. The black knights chuckled among themselves, then eventually sent out one of their smaller and lower-leveled knights.

“Rules?” I asked.

“Don’t tell me you’re about to dance for us? There are no rules in a fight,” the knight spat, then shoved on his helmet. I could tell he was hiding a handful of sand in his shield hand, not that it would do him any good. My helmet’s ventilation system was completely sealed within this dimension. The actual air intakes simply didn’t exist in a dimension where someone could throw a handful of dirt into them and blind me.

What followed was hardly even a fight. It was no wonder Frank had driven off a hundred of them with what little support that city we’d met could muster. I didn’t even bother drawing my sword as he rushed me and threw his handful of sand.

I sidestepped his charge and slapped him on the back of the head, sending him sprawling in the dirt. Far from undeterred, he picked up another handful of sand and tried to hurl it at me again, but if the trick didn’t work before, it wouldn’t do him much good the second time. I planted a boot on his back and shoved his head into the arena floor.

“You’ll have to do better than that. How about two of you come at me? That seems more fair.” I gave them a taunting look, and soon three black knights filled the arena, all C-Grade.

“Come on, boys, get him!” one of the spectators shouted. The three of them rushed me as one.

Sir Sandon would have taken them apart one at a time with well-rehearsed swordwork. What I did was considerably cruder.

I struck one with an uppercut to the jaw, crumpling steel and sending him flying from the arena. I caught another one’s sword in my gauntlet, bringing it to a dead stop despite the blade before twisting it from his grasp and bashing the pommel against his helmet. Then I reached down, picked him up by the leg, and slapped the remaining knight with his body. That move tossed both of them out of the ring, winning me yet another duel.

“Three isn’t enough. Make it four. You haven’t even made me draw my sword.”

Pretty soon I was fighting all of them, fifty against one. It was good practice for me. If diplomacy went poorly and I was unable to get one or more of these factions to bend the knee to Crownhill and end this stage of the integration, the fighting that followed might look something like this, except with the added difficulty of the Sages or Sorcerers flinging spells at me while I smashed through castle walls.

But I had to save that solution for later. As with New Kyoto, the Sages of Camlaan, and now these people, a mass slaughter of weaklings in search of victory would be both gruesome and time-consuming. Worse, if I couldn’t get at least one of these factions to bend the knee, Crownhill would be seriously under-manned when it came to the next stage of the integration.

When everyone was good and tired of being beaten by me, I let them have a break by telling me all about the Order of Sorcery.

“So, how’d the early stages of the integration go for you lot?” I asked.

“Well enough,” the Black Knight from earlier replied. “We were already at war with the Sages of Camlaan when this System thing arrived and changed everything. To be honest, we’d been losing, and it was just a matter of time until we were rooted out and hung like common bandits. But the System changed that. Good fighters gained levels fast. The cultivation stuff the Sorcerers tried to teach us took ages to make anything happen, but these levels? They’re much more our style. All we have to do is kill, and the System makes us more powerful. Once we came across this citadel, we wiped out everyone in it, from guards to militia to random peasants. That was a good one, right boys?”

The other Black Knights chuckled, sounding very much like common bandits at the moment. Some had sadistic gleams in their eyes, others seemed slightly uncomfortable. All in all, it was a mixed lot. But if these guys had been back in Crownhill, I’d have long since thrown the lot of them in our penal legion. If not that, then the morgue.

“The only tough decision was to figure out if we wanted to keep some of the pretty ladies or turn them all into levels!” another chortled, and a few others joined suit.

“A few tried for the former, but they all ended up as the latter eventually. Where’s Maciah? He’s the one who couldn’t stop cutting throats to hear that little ding noise every new level?” the first bandit laughed.

“Alright, you’ve all caught your breath, and none of you could beat me before. Let’s go for another round.” I slammed a gauntleted fist into my open palm, not bothering to conceal the tinge of righteous anger in my voice.

The following beating was much more severe than any before it, and all those who had been laughing at slaughtering unarmed townsfolk wound up with broken jaws or arms by the end of it. I needed to single out the guys I definitely didn’t want around somehow, and that was the best way that came to mind.

Iwas focused enough on my task that I didn’t notice time passing. Or that I had an observer.

“Impressively deadly work, good sir,” said the man I’d heard before. I turned to find Sorcerer Mourningstar, Liliana’s father, standing and stroking his beard as he watched me make short work of his knights.

“Aren’t these your subordinates?” I asked, tossing a knight aside.

“They are, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be biased in their favor. Far from it. Please, walk with me,” Sorcerer Mourningstar turned, and I followed.

We traveled in silence through the citadel until we were out of hearing range of the knights. Then, Sorcerer Mourningstar spoke again.

“My daughter speaks highly of you. Apparently, you are a capable fighter, a man of virtue, and yet also unafraid of our sorcery. That is a rare combination where we’re from,” Sorcerer Mourningstar said.

“I’m not from where you’re from. I’ve had plenty of dealings with cultivators and magic users both. Some good, some bad. I don’t hold it against magic,” I replied.

Sorcerer Mourningstar stroked his beard a little faster. It was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure he was smiling. “Indeed, you are correct. There is nothing inherently good or evil about using magic. The Sages of Camlaan use magic, after all. We wise few who split from the Sages saw a path forward beyond binding our souls to our ever-decaying ark and found another path for all our people thanks to cultivation. We had intended to freely share our knowledge so all could grow in power alongside us. Alas, we were branded heretics and traitors for our discovery, and only bandits, murderers, thieves, and other lowlives would dare take part in our dark sacraments.”

“Some of your people live up to their reputation as servants to dark powers. I expect some of you Sorcerers do too.” I gave him a hard look.

“Yes, well, hard times make hard men. You seem very hard indeed, Doomblade. I trust you will not hold too many of our compromises against us. Not when we want to move forward in a new direction.” Sorcerer Mourningstar eyed me sidelong. I sensed something in his coat and suspected he might attack me if I answered wrongly.

“I understand the need to compromise, yes. Your daughter mentioned something similar to me, which is the only reason why I’m still here. You want to change your ways and your reputation.” I crossed my arms, both showing I wasn’t going to fight and helping with giving the older man a harsh stare.

“You’re right. This integration has presented me with an unforeseen opportunity. Did you know this citadel was once a bastion of knights who hated us? Now it’s ours, and for several stages of the integration was the seat of our power,” Sorcerer Mourningstar said.

“Your Black Knights mentioned slaughtering all the previous inhabitants.”

Sorcerer Mourningstar waved his hand in the distance, where people could be seen chopping wood, repairing fortifications, or simply going about their daily affairs.

“And yet the citadel is not empty. The integration brought with it many terrible monsters. Monsters that were within our power to slay, thanks to the levels we began with early on. I personally saved a dozen minor villages.”

“So what’s your plan? You’re going to change your image from a bandits and murderers to protectors of the realm, just like the title the Sages of Camlaan currently hold?” I asked.

“More than that. Some of the villages I saved were not kin to me and mine. See those folks in the distance? It might be hard to tell from here, but their ears are those of cats, heir fingers end in claws, and their eyes are distinctly feline. I saved them from extermination at the hands of the Knights of Camlaan. They would never accept such deviation from the sacred form of our ancestors, but us in the Order of Sorcery know that intelligent life comes in many forms. Admittedly, we made a few mistakes early on, but that’s all in the past.”

I looked into the distance and saw the cat-folk Sorcerer Mourningstar pointed to. Just looking at them, it was clear they were neither human nor architect descendent.

Between the Sages of Camlaam and the Order of Sorcery, I had the choice of benevolent but authoritarian religious zealots and welcoming xenophile empire builders with an extensive history of mass murder and eager genocide.

I was beginning to realize that if Crownhill didn’t come out on top, everyone on this shard would be in for a bad time. I was silent for a long moment, and Sorcerer Mourningstar let me think awhile before speaking again. Eventually, he tapped me on the shoulder and made the offer I’d been waiting for.

“Normally, you would start at the bottom of our recruits. But given your power and a glowing recommendation from my daughter, I can make an exception. Doomblade, I’m offering you the position of Knight Commander of the Black Knights. Here in the citadel, only the orders of a Sorcerer like myself would supersede yours. And out in the field you alone would have full command of whatever knights were with you. When all this is said and done, I will ensure you can carve out a hefty chunk of territory for yourself on the promise you and your children will be among the highest-ranking lords of this land. What say you, Doomblade?”

I eyed him, arms still crossed. “If you and your sorcerers expect me to charge the Sages of Camlaan headfirst, I’m going to refuse.”

Sorcerer Mourningstar smiled and stroked his beard. “As a B-Grade, your power is peer to our own. No other would have the power to refuse a sorcerer, but you can. I will tell the others not to push things.”

“And if I only have full command of my forces when in the field, expect me to be in the field often,” I said.

“Oh yes. I suspect most of your time will be spent occupying small towns and villages as you liberate them from monsters. Or the Sages of Camlaan. Whatever works best,” Sorcerer Mourningstar said with a thin-lipped smile.

In the end, I held out my hand and shook. Taking control of their army seemed like the perfect way to pacify the Black Knights and the Order of Sorcery without them ever knowing what happened.

<Note>

I'm curious who of the Camlaan factions you guys would support, if you had to choose. The Order of Sorcery or the Sages of Camlaan?