V12: Chapter 10

  …

  The Forgers died with a whimper, overwhelming force winning the day, and with three Citadels, the Guardians moved against the remainder of the Wardens.

  The Wardens couldn’t break the road that I built, even before the output of three Citadels bore down upon them, despite the fact that they could call upon their armies again and again.

  They were going to be smashed apart, their temples burned, and the threat they posed to the nation destroyed.

  It sucked that I couldn’t get Ninth under my control and that all the Citadels weren’t going to be under my command, but the outcome was acceptable.

  Every Citadel under myself and Celia was going to be at max level.

  They were going to be large enough to not rely on geothermal taps but instead start automatically launching solar collectors at their very tops. They’ll clean up what scraps remained in orbit and eventually even create harvesters that’ll bring in resources across the entire system. Nothing high energy. Slow-moving drones with solar sails that’ll drag in materials for the Citadel to use.

  Presumably to fulfill their endgame goal.

  Capturing all the Citadels was a military victory available to all factions, but lore suggested that they were more. Power collectors for a massive project, probably to create the second generation of Divine Engines, after abandoning the first. It made sense, since even with the full output of all the Citadels cranking out Citadel Guardians, there was no way that we’d defeat all the crises.

  I went over the numbers with Ayah.

  We could smash through them, but they’ll find strongholds and natural chokepoints and hold out until their industry comes online. A unifying threat would have them ignore one another and focus on us. Their population was in the billions, and they were close to industrializing. Flooding their lands with parts of automated machinery and Citadel Alloys and galvanizing them against a common threat would have them advance swiftly and decisively. They’ll build infrastructure on faraway colonies and safeguard it with their fleets, while the Sahuagin keep us from building our own fleet.

  They had the entire world at their disposal.

  In five years, they’ll have the industry to leverage it, and their industrial output will increase at an exponential rate. Losses will decrease, lines will hold, and they’ll entrench.

  In ten years they’ll start pushing back against the Citadel Guardian tides, using artillery, armored vehicles, and veteran troops.

  Twelve, and they’ll be at our doors with an army we can’t match with our own industrial output and population.

  Killing them all using conventional warfare, or just straight up unleashing tidal waves of Citadel Guardians, was a simple but incorrect solution. There was no way to defeat them without spreading Red Mist or resorting to nuclear weapons.

  That’s why I was going to fill their societies with Iterant infiltrators that’ll conduct espionage operations on a massive scale.

  That’s why I was killing off their slave populations and goading them to fight against one another.

  That’s why I didn’t intend to make Citadel Guardians in massive numbers but instead improve my industry and technological lead even more and have them continue to send expeditions against us. Instead of having to confront the full might of four superpowers that had claws all over the planet, I would have them fight against one another, or at least keep troops on each other’s borders. If I could have them kill each other in full-blown wars, that would be ideal, but I doubted that was possible unless the Iterants displayed some serious espionage skills.

  Finally, with the DLC I never played came new endings, more technology, Champions, and… probably a DLC crisis.

  One that’ll oppose whatever victory could be gained from having all the Citadels under one’s command.

  I had my suspicions that they were going to come from above.

  The ones that wipe out the planet if we use too many nukes, since so many players went ‘nah, I’d win’ with those endings in the forums.

  The devs made a fucked-up, super-op crisis faction to make them eat their words.

  Wouldn’t doubt them doing that for a second, since they’re the best.

  Anyway, though the Wardens were going to be brought down, there was still a lot of work to do.

  Hopefully, though, I’d get a year to pad out my army, finish up fortresses, and set up a quick-reaction force to help the Guardians. They weren’t going to rebuild fast enough, their current army was bloodied and needed time to recover, and finally, they were taking in the Merchant, Forger, and Warden populations at the same time.

  Alas, as always, the reward for survival in this world was the chance to survive and struggle against more threats.

  …

  Interlude: Celia

  …

  I expected the path to the Wardens to be a difficult one.

  Their miracles were immensely effective against the lesser undead that we called upon to make up our numbers. The Ancients had made it affect us due to the rebellion on the moon, which was one of the first calamities that struck them. Before they managed to quash the rebellion, they had to deal with the dead rising across the world incessantly; thus, the miracles that they left to aid us in our march to the future were devastating against our lesser forces.

  Stolen story; please report.

  I was prepared to replace our frontline with Citadel Guardians, to dig and wait while relieving the forces that Jack had sent to keep them from flanking us while we took on the Forgers, but that plan unraveled because of his foresight.

  Where there was once nothing, there was now a fortified road that led halfway through the territories of the Wardens.

  Bought with his own people’s lives.

  A sacrifice that I could not ignore.

  “Be wary, master. What honor demands of you may be too steep.” Zenith counselled me, and Catherine nodded alongside her. We rode on horseback with the vanguard. Our overwhelming superiority in troops supplied by the Citadel was expected, but the road allowed us to concentrate it further. We decided where the battle was waged; therefore, we could leverage our overwhelming numerical superiority. The ambushes and partisan tactics I expected to slow us were nowhere to be found. “The King of Wisdom has made this road to show his goodwill in your current alliance to all your troops. The viral attack on the Forgers showed it to your generals and elites. This shows it to your troops.”

  Mallory and Christine followed closely on their own spectral steeds.

  Both my Champions grimaced at Zenith’s words.

  “It is not helped that the same road is filled with their supplies and their own papers. The troops walk on a road bought by blood, eat food provided by the King of Wisdom, and receive news of the continent when they’ve been starved for it for months.” Christine had the right of it. The pace of our campaign had been breakneck. Barely a year to take the Merchants and Forgers in succession, and now barely two seasons to take the Wardens. That took its toll. Our soldiers marched with light packs. We had to forage and take from the supplies of those we defeated. Equipment broke down, and some waited too long for replacements. They were given time to recuperate recently, but even then, some were prioritized over others. The Merchant’s vehicles needed the lion’s share of our captured Citadel manufacturing to be brought to full strength. “If there are any doubts regarding the King of Wisdom, they will be waylaid by their aid here alone.”

  “It is his way. It always has been. He shapes the battlefield long before he steps onto it. This is a stage he has prepared upon which we can only play our part.” Mallory grunted and did not hide her scowl as she looked upward. Three of his flying fortresses were with us now, looming overhead, like bastions of otherworldly might. Our own efforts to create one were stymied by our lack of resources, while he was said to be making lighter, cheaper versions that would only move cargo, along with newer flying machines. “Whatever lies at the end of this alliance, we must be mindful that we will be facing someone who will have prepared for our eventual conflict.”

  I appreciated their caution against Jack.

  After the revelation of what happened to the Forgers, they took the threat he posed more seriously.

  Or, perhaps, it was because we fought beside his forces, felt the direct effects of his efforts, and now had him as our sole opponent to claiming the entire continent.

  Perhaps they feared him now, as I did, because he was the only ‘threat’ left to us.

  I reined in my concerns with a shake of my head.

  “Focus on the Wardens and the coming threats from beyond first. We will keep our eyes open for any threats he makes as we fight together, but for now we have no reason to doubt his word.” The pact we made with one another, that we would be in alliance until all threats were dealt with, lingered in my mind. Though I feared the day we would face one another in combat, as I could barely imagine being victorious in that final confrontation, I had no reason to doubt his adherence to our pact. “We will be cautious, but I will not allow paranoia to force us to see an enemy where we might find an ally.”

  The threats from beyond the continent were bearing down upon us. He was actively building up to defeat them. The masses of troops he was now recruiting could not move as swiftly as his original armies, as they were stuck to his train lines and could not be lifted into the air. They were a defensive force meant to oppose our oncoming foes. Not only that, but with our territories joined, our Citadel Guardians could enter his lands.

  We both now had a knife at one another’s necks, ready to cut vital lines needed for victory against the coming threats.

  Mutual leverage against betrayal.

  That knowledge calmed me greatly.

  It also allowed me to focus on leading my nation through the coming crises, as well as the present.

  “Catherine, make sure that our supplies arrive with haste. Zenith, I want you with the troops and providing counsel to our officers. Carouse and bring up morale.” Catherine gave a quick nod, while Zenith gave a sharp-teethed grin and a thumbs up. Then, I turned to Mallory and Christine. “Keep an eye on Ninth and his company in the vanguard. If they need supplies, make sure it is known and addressed as swiftly as possible. I do not want them to rely on the King of Wisdom’s support after they have chosen us.”

  Both my loyal knights nodded at her words and left me with my guards, but it did not take long for one of my specters to take note of a faint disturbance.

  My gaze turned her way, and Morgan gave me a spine-shaking shine as she shimmered into view.

  Not by artifact, but through magic alone.

  She was now a warrior, a general, and an archmage as a champion.

  How long before she was an assassin as well?

  “Been a while, your majesty.” She crooned and walked closer to me, ignoring the invisible blades of my spectral guards pointed her way. Once she was a length away from my horse, she gave a flourishing bow. Beneath the archaic and heavy hooded cloak, she wore armor of ancient design. An armored bodysuit upon which she layered more plates, as well as webbing-like straps upon which many pouches and weapons hung. A veritable armory, yet the woman wielding it would be just as deadly without them. “I see that you’re sleeping better now that you don’t have to worry about His Majesty being your opponent.”

  As always, her perceptiveness and sharp tongue struck home.

  “State your business here, General Morgan, and stop testing my patience.” I did not rise to her goading words. She made a mocking look of surprise at my insistent words before raising her hands up in false surrender. The smile on her face was much like that of a cat playing with her prey. “What are your intentions?”

  “My intentions? Hm. I came here to congratulate you on the new alliance, and I hoped to let old grudges die. It wouldn’t do for soldiers who share the same battlefield to be at odds. So, here I am, ready to offer my apologies.” Morgan gave another bow and allowed the smile to fall off her face. I wondered if she was ordered to do this. A pang of fear bubbled up in my heart. Her soldiers died here to cement our alliance. Men and women who she fought alongside for years. This was a way to assure me that she held no ill will. But was it her decision or Jack’s? “So, for all my wrongdoings in the past, I offer my most sincere apologies.”

  She kept her head bowed in my presence, and I realized that if I did not want any passing troops on the road to see, I would have to act.

  “I accept your apology.” I inclined my own head her way. When she raised her head, the usual smile was not present, and I felt a sense of deferment from her that was never there before. It was like a mask that concealed her true intentions. Again, I wondered if she did this of her own volition or if she was ordered to. Was this stoic mask a showcase of genuine respect for my new position as co-leader of the alliance, or did it conceal other intentions? No answer was forthcoming, and I almost felt unnerved that I did not see her wicked smile. “Is that all, general?”

  “It is. Farewell, Lady Celia.” Morgan bowed and conceded ground in a manner most unlike her that frayed at my nerves.

  It was nothing compared to how I felt when Jack loomed over me like a titan whose fist was ready to smash through all that I built and worked for. However, it was still a faint sensation in the back of my head to be wary. Jack had control over his generals, but they still held his ear. Not only that, but if they survived the coming crises, then they were to be my foes in the final clash.

  Jack was willing to concede his nation to our rule if we won, but would his generals and officers do as he bid after years of constant fighting and dying for their nation against the crises?