Shadowbane

... Hmm.

I continued to stare out at my surroundings, expecting to see signs of movement, or maybe find someone hiding in the grass. But no matter how long I scanned my surroundings, all I saw was an empty cemetery that was hit by brief flashes of a spotlight shining through the trees.

I don't get it... There's no way in hell that man I accosted didn't tell them where I was going. I was one hundred percent positive I'd meet resistance here. Hell, I only came here so I could confirm that they were guarding the graveyards, which would mean I'd have to plan a more direct approach. Instead, this place is completely empty.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me. One that really pissed me off.

... That scheming piece of shit. He wants me to do this. I have several memories of him using his enemies inside Xelba to further his own plans. I'm sure even he knows that allowing me to form an army is a complete gamble. There's a chance I'll win. So if my death was his end goal, he would never allow me to do this. That leaves me with one other conclusion; he wants me to kill the people here.

Does he need justification for something that his nation's citizens don't want to do? Viktor can always force his plans onto them, but he vastly prefers keeping his people happy, as that makes everything much easier for him.

Ahh shit, I'm just now realizing something else too... It seemed strange at the time when he said it, but it makes much more sense now. Taking everything I just realized into account, it's painfully obvious why he's calling me a terrorist.

God damnit all... I hate him so fucking much.

Now that I knew there wasn't anyone waiting for me, I ran through the cemetery until I reached one of the doors leading to a crypt. I ripped the lock off the door and descended the stairs beyond, quickly finding myself inside a large hallway full of coffins embedded into the wall. I was expecting a small room but it looks like all of the crypt entrances lead to the same area. That'll make this even easier then.

I walked to the center of the hallway and pulled off the lid of the closest coffin. I then put one hand on the skeleton inside, and the other hand on the artifact dangling from my neck. ... I really don't want to do this. Even if the creatures of the abyss' souls were disappearing, the artifact was still siphoning off parts of their souls before they vanished. Putting that together with all of the people's souls I fed it in Kellog, the artifact is damn near close to evolving, meaning it'd block way more damage, which is something I desperately need.

I closed my eyes and focused on the chest area of the corpse. A deep black goo formed around its ribs, spreading out like a contagion, spreading from one bone to the next. And I'm about to throw all of that away to summon a Lich. The only other option is Shana and I confronting Viktor and whatever guards he has with him, but that obviously has a much higher chance of failing. Especially when I still don't know how he's able to warp around freely.

The energy from the artifact drained at an alarming rate as a hard black cube formed inside the skeleton's chest. The artifact tapped out just as the Lich finished forming. I could feel my mana begin to drain as a thin veil of black cloth formed around it. I quickly told the Lich to turn a dozen of the nearby corpses into ether carriers. I should've created those first damnit, but I thought the artifact had more than enough energy stored up to power a Lich for a little while. God damn these things cost way too much... But there's no denying that he's more than worth the hefty cost.

One by one the nearby coffins rupture as the ether carriers massive bodies expand past the small confines they were currently inside. They slowly rolled to the side and fell to the ground.

Hmm... I still feel a little drain even with twelve carriers. I'll do thirty then and regular skeletons for the rest. They're not going to survive for very long, since Viktor will be hunting them, but that will be after my skeletons are already draining the citizen's souls for fuel. Even if he does want me to assault the city, he'll still kill the carriers. He has no choice. If he doesn't, I'm guaranteed to win. Hell, I'd have enough energy to fully armor and weaponize them. They could even start casting spells if I had unlimited access to ether with an army of carriers backing them. Obviously, he can't allow that, as I'd decimate this place and even bring down that airship of his which I imagine is a priceless asset for his nation.

Over the next thirty minutes I raised every corpse in the graveyard until there was nothing left to do except assault the city. I could have them slowly armor themselves, but if they don't have a steady stream of mana it's pointless. The armor is heavy, and I need them to be fast. Very fast. I'm not creating a powerful army here, I just need them to act like a fast-moving plague. One of the mistakes I made in Xelba was fitting them all in armor, which made the assault take way longer than it should have. I'm not going to make that mistake again.

I scanned the city from the branch I sat upon. A normal person wouldn't be able to tell, but I could see the signs that a defensive force was being built about a mile into the city, and they were all conveniently aiming this way. Not that I doubted it, but there's the proof that the fucker is using me. He's going to let me rip through this part of the city and then hope he has enough to stop me at the defensive point he's setting up. He wasn't around long enough to see what I did in Xelba though, so I get the distinct feeling he's really underestimating me. All of his knowledge of my skeletons is from the few tests we ran when I had first come to Xelba.

I looked up at the airship that was hovering above the same part of the city Viktor was fortifying.

That's my biggest worry... It's possible he's not underestimating me because that airship is going to rip me apart. I don't have any spells that reach far enough to hit it. So there are no spells I can make my skeletons cast to bring it down from over here. Not unless they're standing on a building underneath it, then maybe they could reach, but by then if the airship is going to be a problem, there won't be anything I can do about it. So all I can do is push forward and pray it won't completely devastate me.

I fan the skeletons out, placing them in groups that each have their own orders to attack different buildings. Hmm, I doubt there's anyone in that mall, but might as well hit that too. Can't leave anything untouched. Civilians aside, there might be people from the military waiting to flank me. Or straight up attack me since Viktor knows how vulnerable I'm going to be with all these skeletons running about.

The Lich began to cast his speed buff. It only took five seconds for him to complete the cast, but it might as well have been a minute for me as I stared at the city in front of me. The distant sounds of the city washed over me as I thought about just how monumental this moment was going to be in my life. Depending on who wins, it's going to change a lot for me and the other denizens living in Mother's little area of the universe.

The Lich's speed buff washed over the army. All but a few of the skeleton warriors sprinted toward the buildings in the distance. Shana's clone is waiting at the chemical plant for the assault to begin, so it should be moving toward the prison soon. Or wherever the hell Viktor has everyone locked up. I assume it's a prison of some sort? Unless there's other buildings that would have cells like those...?

The Lich lifted me up and floated forward. As I watched the army advance I told the warriors who remained behind to lay down and hide at specific points I marked with my mind. One by one they laid down at those spots and covered themselves with dirt. There's no point in me going over there and giving them camouflaged mesh. They're going to be found and killed either way. All this is doing is keeping my supply line to the carriers in the crypt connected a little bit longer when the enemy assaults this place, which I bet is going to happen in the next couple of minutes.

The skeletons finally reached the city just as the Lich finished casting another spell. Even I didn't know what he was casting, so it came as a huge surprise when the feather buff washed over half of the force. I watched as the units that were buffed with lightness jumped up onto their respective buildings, landing in different locations right before they punched the glass out and dove inside. I looked at the Lich, stunned. I didn't tell him to do that... Even now these things are a complete mystery to me.

Screams erupted from every nearby building. And soon after that a constant stream of souls filtered to me and the Lich through my summons. Suddenly I was reminded of Aresa and Alicia's horrified responses after they heard about my past. They're not wrong though, are they? This is definitely fucked up... I'll never be able to deny that.

Far off to my right I could hear the revving of engines. I looked over there and saw a dozen armored vehicles veer off the road. They began to drive over the grass, all heading for one specific place. The cemetery. Right on time. The Lich increased his speed, carrying me into the hotel through the demolished wall I fled through earlier today. Once inside, he carried me into the hallway and turned right. There were skeletal remains here and there, victims of rampaging skeletons who were now on the floor above us. As we passed by the remains, a blackness immediately spread throughout their skeletal frames. They all began to stand up just as the Lich carried me down a flight of stairs nearby. Another skeleton ran past us as we descended. Ahh, so that's how he knew this was here...

It led to a door that had already been destroyed by the skeleton we passed. The Lich ran through the door and kept going down a dark tunnel for almost half a mile until we reached a room that looked like a large R&R room designed for the richest people imaginable. It had several monitors on the wall showing only the important cameras and a few TV broadcasts. The cameras showed the entrance to the hotel, and both entrances to this room. The Lich drew my attention by pointing at the other door in the room.

"I know. That's the back way out, right? I can see it on the monitor, it's the chemical plant Shana is hiding in, I recognize the room that camera is aimed at." I looked around the room one last time, "Truly, you brought me to a fantastic spot to oversee the assault from."

The Lich sat me down on the couch and went back to close the door. I heard an automatic lock apply as the door closed. I don't know why it was open, but that's convenient for us. I can see a barrier over both of the doors, so there won't be any surprise attacks.

I laid down on the couch and prepared to enter my soul realm. "See if you can exit that door without destroying it. But if necessary, destroy it and bring Shana down here."

I entered my soul realm as the Lich floated over toward the back door. Once inside, I brought up the vision of skeletons in different groups and placed them in the world around me. Everything looks fine so far, but that's what I expected since Viktor pulled back his forces. The really tough part is going to be what happens after I reach that defensive formation...

Suddenly a large explosion occurred, one that rocked my real body and the vision of every skeleton I was seeing through. The ones who could see what happened all looked in that direction, and that's when I saw both the mall and a few nearby apartments crumbling. It was clear that explosions had taken out the supports holding up all of the structures. I felt dozens of skeletons vanish as the buildings crumbled down on top of them.

... Terrorist. That name resounded in my head yet again. He blew up his own buildings so he could blame that on me too. But what's the point? I'm already killing everyone anyway... Maybe some explosions add enough flair to move the hearts of his people?

I could sense the Lich return with Shana, so I immediately commanded him to place her next to me. She must have realized why I did that as I could feel her soul connect to mine. I pulled her into my soul realm and pointed at the dust cloud a couple of my skeletons were looking at.

"Viktor the cunt did that, it wasn't me. This is why he was calling us terrorists."

I could feel my soul rejecting something Shana was trying to do, so I prevented it from stopping her. Once that was done, two more sets of vision appeared next to the skeleton's eyes I had been looking through.

"Is this how you control your clones?"

Shana shook her head, "No, I just close my eyes and I can see through both of their eyes at the same time. It sounds weird, but you get used to it." She then motioned toward the dust cloud, "Terrorists... He's using us?"

She picked up on that quick.

"Sadly, but we had to do this. Any plans we came up with that were stealth-related were almost guaranteed to fail. He may not know about your clones, but one of them is already locked up, and he knows almost everything about my abilities."

"Yeah... I know." Shana continued, "And speaking of Viktor, he left the cell area soon after you left for the cemetery. He never came back."

So Viktor is MIA... But he knows I'm only doing this to get my friends back, so he's probably waiting around that building to ambush me. There's also a chance he's personally looking for me. Nothing would be more devastating than him warping into this VIP area while the two of us are in my soul realm. I severely doubt that will happen but if it does, I hope the Lich is able to buy us a few seconds so we can wake up.

"Where is your other clone right now? A warehouse?" I asked as I looked at the room her clone was in.

"No, this is the storage area of the building Ishar and the others are in. It's underground." Shana said.

"You made it into the building already?! How'd you gain access?"

Shana gave me a peace sign, "I'm good, aren't I? And I got in through a 'Dropbox' attached to the side of the building."

Dropbox...? Is that a hole where they can just toss boxes in for deliveries? Never heard of that before, but it does sound convenient... Albeit risky, as Shana just proved.

"Looks like you're hiding behind some boxes. Are you waiting for me to reach that area before you ascend?"

Shana nodded.

Alright then. I should be reaching the defensive line in the next twenty minutes. So we'll---

An orange beam descended from the sky, piercing straight into the street a large group of my skeletons were running through. The beam was quickly replaced by a massive explosion that took out the street, some nearby buildings, and obviously all of my skeletons. So that's the 'Railgun'...

"My worst fears have come true. That fucking thing is going to be a much larger problem to deal with than I had hoped it would be."

"What are you going to do...?" Shana asked.

Good question... To take it out I would need to get some skeletons on a building below the airship, but won't it just hit them with another railgun if I did that? And now the damned thing is firing large bullets at another group of skeletons. I say 'Large bullets' because I don't actually know what kind of massive gun would be required to fire rounds like those that are causing my skeletons to literally explode from the impact.

"I was planning on having them pick up guns from anyone they killed after reaching the defensive line, but I don't know if the bullets will reach the airship. I'm not that knowledgeable about guns. Each gun has its own range to them, but hell if I know what any of their ranges are."

I guess I'll just tell a few of them to take some potshots at the airship. If it works, it works. If not... I think I'll just have to take the losses. I assume it won't fire the railgun when I'm near the city center where everyone is gathered. That 'Evil terrorist' scenario he's using me for won't hold much water if he's obliterating his own people with the railgun.

Wait... Lich, how high can the skeletons jump with your feather spell?

Images appeared in my head of the skeletons jumping about one hundred and fifty feet. Yeah, that's nowhere near enough...

Sadly, the skeletons can't be enhanced, or I'd just pump a few sacrificial lambs full of mana and have them leap up there. Just making sure, but that image you sent me of them jumping is also taking the speed boost into account.

An affirmation was sent back to me.

Alright, fuck it. We're just going to plow ahead under the assumption they won't blow up their own men with the airship. The problem is leaving this city after Ishar and the others are free. The airship becomes a much larger issue then, but we'll deal with that when the time comes.

How fast can you move?

The Lich shows me an image of him moving around at the same speed I can run while fully enhanced.

Our supplies are sky-high after the skeletons drained all the citizens around here. I lost my carriers a few minutes ago but that's not a big deal at this point. Fortunately for me, they missed one of the skeletons hiding back there, so I can both see and hear the group back at the cemetery. No Viktor in sight. It's just a bunch of grunts who are stupidly standing around talking outside of their vehicles. Thanks to that, I can hear all of the communications taking place over their radios.

"What's a 'Firebomb' in this world? In Urza it's a deadly alchemical bomb, but nothing we'd need to worry about." Shana asked as she also listened in on the radios.

"I'm not sure, but I assume we're about to find out."

Get out there and raise as many soldiers as you can. When you're ready, have them fan out and attack the defensive line. Once they're in range, I'll send the rest of the soldiers in.

The Lich opened the door leading toward the hotel and closed it behind him. I placed his vision up in front of me so I could keep track of him.

If I lose the Lich, this is going to become a damn near impossible battle. That'll require me to raise another Lich or go out there and personally handle the summons. The first option isn't even possible. I can't handle all of the energy the skeletons took from those souls, but the Lich can, so that's exactly what he's doing. In other words, if I lose him, I also lose all of that stored energy. There's no other choice though, he has to go out there. It's even riskier if I go with how weak I am right now. My soul is split off in every which direction; I'm practically a regular civilian at this point.

After the Lich reached the ground level I finally realized what was missing. There was an obelisk forming near the chemical plant but it disappeared, along with four other ones past the defensive line. I also haven't seen a single Xerath or skeleton---No, I need a different name for the skeletons that Viktor's Xerath create.

"Shana, do you know any other names for skeletons? It's confusing to call both theirs and mine the same name."

Shana thought on it for a second and then smiled, "Draugr. I saw that word in a book Aresa owned. One she bought from your family."

Draugr huh? I've never heard that term before, but it sounds like a good name for them.

Suddenly I heard a sound coming from all of the skeletons and the Lich. It was like a low whistle that was growing in strength with each passing second.

"What the hell is that noise...?"

Shana didn't answer as she worriedly watched the Lich's vision with me. The sound not only got louder, but it seemed to increase in number almost a hundredfold. That's when the Lich looked up and I saw where that noise was coming from. There was an untold number of cylinder-shaped metal objects falling from the sky. They were spread out over the entire area past the defensive line, and I didn't need to wait for long to find out what kind of damage they were going to do.

There were no loud explosions nor bright flashes of light. The metal cylinders merely broke apart moments before hitting the ground, revealing a shiny orange liquid encased in glass. Once the glass hit the ground, a deep orange fire spread out everywhere. Before I could even fully grasp what this meant for me going forward, the fire turned blue, and I could immediately hear the buildings in this region cracking. Plasma... I think that's what Keith called it.

For his part, the Lich had finished channeling the feather spell on himself just before the firebombs landed. He leaped over the fire and climbed into a nearby apartment. He was doing a good job of turning all of the bodies in the apartment into more soldiers, but the building's foundations were crumbling. The chemical plant was already falling apart, as it was made of metal, but the hotel wasn't affected at all. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for over half of the buildings in the area. The fire had already turned back to orange and even began to disappear completely, but the damage was already done.

Fortunately, they dropped the bombs after all of my remaining skeletons were already hidden on the upper floors of buildings that weren't falling over. Excluding my Lich and newly formed summons of course. But they're already leaping over to other buildings even now, so they'll be fine. The problem is that there are now massive open areas between me and the defensive line. I can already see them unloading on the buildings where my skeletons are hiding, as there are no longer any buildings between the two forces.

"Alright, I see no other options outside of either retreating and attacking from another area, or just making a mad dash for the defensive line while the Lich continues to raise more warriors through the buildings that didn't fall over."

"I say the latter," Shana replied.

"Agreed... That's really the only option after all. Retreating gives the airship another chance to railgun or firebomb us."

I commanded the Lich to continue summoning more warriors, while I told the rest of the army to fan out and make a mad dash for the defensive line. All of the skeletons jumped out of their prospective buildings and began to run wildly for the city center. A hail of bullets ripped into them, but the amount of skeletons dying was rather minimal for the time being. The real issues began when the airship restarted its assault from earlier. The large bullets killed one skeleton after another, and there was nothing they could do about it. Despite the bullet's trajectories being visible, only someone truly powerful would have the speed and foresight to be able to dodge them. My smart yet sometimes really dumb skeletons definitely didn't have the reflexes required for the situation.

I was about to tell the Lich to have all the new summons run far to the left in the hopes that the current assault would give us a chance to enter the city from another direction, when a barrage of bright purple arrows streaked through the sky and hit the airships barrier. Despite the barrier stopping them, the barrage didn't stop. One magic arrow after another slammed into the barrier as I looked for the source through the Lich's eyes, and that's when I saw the Tengu standing near the western part of the city.

I could see a bright orange glow emanating from the airship, which I immediately recognized as the railgun charging up, but it didn't matter, as the airship's barrier had given out before it was ready to fire. A final barrage of magic arrows tore through the airship, cutting it into several pieces that proceeded to fall onto the city below it.

Both Shana and I cheered loudly as we watched the people at the defensive line run away from the falling debris. We continued watching as a few of the defenders were completely crushed, which made Shana laugh quite hard.

I never in a million years expected him to come to our aid again. How he even knows what is happening here in the city is beyond me, but I'm so damned happy to see him here backing us up...

I watched as the first wave of my skeletons approached the defensive line. There were still plenty of soldiers shooting at them, but the disarray from the falling debris was disrupting their forces more than enough for my summons to reach both the soldiers and the buildings full of civilians. Most of them attacked the soldiers, while a few leaped through nearby windows and began to kill one person after another. The Lich used this opportunity to cross the open field, and fortunately for me, nobody was paying attention to him. Mostly thanks to the skeletons now biting and tearing into the throats of the soldiers.

Now then, Viktor... What is your next move going to be?