[Be Gone] Ch 19 – Honor Cuts

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Once the shell made it to shore, ropes and many hands were happy to help pull it onto the dark and lifeless sands of the beach there, and (completely disregarding normal caste restrictions, Korbald informed me as we watched) the upper and lower halves were hacked apart, a bunch of Disks took the hefty things, and with one hell of a trophy for their work, the elites of the House of the Tiger marched back to Little Teakettle Fortress.

            There was also another force waiting on the banks there, part of the show the Tigers had put on. They were grimly amused at playing their part successfully, fooling the demons into thinking that ‘help was right over there and I couldn’t reach it in time’. The Tigers greeted them with shouts of glee and thanks for all their banner-waving and shield-pounding and grim ready lines, and the short and very broad bald mountain korobokru laughed along with them.

            Normally there would be nothing for this but to have a big ol’ feast to celebrate such a resounding thrashing of the Shadowlands, but I saw the messengers arrive urgently, passing word to the Iron Bear commander, Xiong Hiesetie, a general who reported only to the Iron Bear Daimyo himself, and his scarred face darkened as he turned to regard me.

            “Aelryinth-san,” he directed at me gruffly, a careful consideration that I was an equal, not an inferior, after seeing how I spoke so casually with the Daimyo of the Tigers, “you seem to have brought us some trouble.”

            “Ah!” My smile grew wider. “Shall I guess? The whole demon army has changed course and is coming here?”

            The raucous celebration that had been about to erupt quieted suddenly, my Voice carrying everywhere quite clearly.

            “That is correct.” He eyed me strangely. “Why are they doing such a thing?” he asked directly.

            “Oblivion!” I answered smartly, and vivic flames roared up on Mortus Dius, limning the Eldritch Blade in the form of a glaive I snapped up to help the show. “Death forever! When Soulborn of the realms beyond death die to vivic fire, they are fed to the Land and nourish it, gone for good! They do not return home, they are not reborn, and cannot come back here to bedevil you all once again!

            “In short, they no longer have endless numbers to wage war upon you! With vivus upon this world, they now face death, just like all mortal creatures do!”

            A murmur of wonder and expectation flew across the host in gray and brown armor, stylized bears on their helms, the elite among them wearing necklaces of carefully polished bear talons. There was even a force of a score of them riding some mighty old silverbacks, armored and ready for the fight.

            “But their fear of death is not the most important point to you. Aye, you can kill them forever, a fine thing. But the most important thing is that vivic fire feeds upon the Sin that spreads from the realms beyond, and sends it to the Land, strengthening it!

            “Look there, upon the water, where the clarity has returned! Look upon the far shore, gleaming white with the death of demons!

            “Where that white grows today, tomorrow green will bloom!

            “With the death of the demons, the Land is stronger! It has pushed back the border of the Shadowlands! Perhaps not far, not far, for the Shadowlands are large, the power that intrudes upon this world is mighty, and what were those oni we killed, but a paltry handful to their teeming hordes?

            “But it PUSHED THE BOUNDARY BACK.” I let the weight of that fall upon them.

            “We can take back our lands...”

            “Our homelands...”

            “Reclaim our lands...”

            The whispers spread fast as the korobokru realized the implications of this, and the silence that settled over them then was filled with something far more dangerous than grim resolve and fatalism.

            It was the terrible light of Hope, born again from the depths of grim despair!

            “What proof have we of those, but your words alone?” a musical voice spoke up mockingly, timed artfully to spoil the mood.

            All eyes turned on the tall and slender form in the coil-pattern armor of the House of the Snakes, helm doffed to reveal the jet skin, pointed ears, and pale gray hair of the Cobra Clan commander who had come to see this folly play out.

            Ah, a political challenge! I recognized the moment, and debated several things.

            “You may see for yourself.”

            Mortus Dius flashed out. There was a Stillflight still in effect, so Telekinesis off the ground wasn’t working, but ki to hurry it along was just fine, and it was still basically a +X Weapon against Evil.

            Find the Flaw also worked just fine.

            The shocked dark elf snapped his head around as the blazing Glaive head of my Staff drove into the chest of the lovely samurai at his side, rocking her back a step as it punched clean through her armor, and then all the Wrath vented into her.

            Her skin burned away almost instantly, flawless jet-black drying up, splitting, and revealing rotting green wrinkled flesh below.

            The Cobra’s amber eyes grew very wide as he saw that. Then the Hag that had been wearing the skin of his lieutenant screamed in a manner that no elven voice could emulate, a screeching wail full of hate and fear and outright horror as unwhite fires riding electrum blazed up under her ravaged skin, eating it away from beneath, rising and conveying more terror of what was coming than anyone watching could have imagined.

            With a quiet fwoosh, her body collapsed in place, misty white flames rolling out in every direction as the ground turned white, and her dark armor dropped into a pile over her misting dust remains.

            “That is the scream of the End to an Eternity! An Evil Spirit that thought it was going to live forever stared into oblivion coming for it as True Death took it, and it was Fed to the Land! 

“Tomorrow, flowers will be growing there!

            “Do any of the Shugenja watching this doubt my words?!”

            There were quite a few of them. None of them had the nerve to speak up, staring at those misting remains.

            Mortus Dius rose from the pile, and conveyed Wrath ignited an Eldritch Blade once again. Slowly, Mortus turned to face the Cobra commander, who took a step back before the burning image of the unwielded yet moving Weapon.

            “You had sexual relations with the Hag?” I asked, hands clasped behind my back, and the sheer enormity of what had happened finally sank into the dark elf. He saw the misty white tendrils of vivus that were staining the ground were snaking towards him, and had started winding up his boots before he hastily backed away.

            They were not doing that to everyone else...

            “A test of Taint? Now that the Hag is dead, she cannot suppress it for you.” I waved an idle hand.

            Mother Bea stepped forward, a Holy white light materializing between her hands, her eyes a dangerous mix of sympathy and resolve.

            “No...” the Cobra whispered, as dark shadows played above his skin, revealed by the Holy light. He stared at the mark of Taint in open horror, knowing what was to follow.

            I walked over, picked up Mortus Dius, and raised it high over my head. Wrath blazed with Holy purity, and vivus fell heavy and white from it!

            “You can die pure, or die Tainted. Which do you choose? Which... do you believe?!” I asked simply.

            He looked at his hands, then at the pile of dust and fallen armor with unwhite flames playing at it, also starting to crumble and fall apart. It was clearly also Tainted.

            He looked up at the raised Blade of magical flames blazing Pure and bright there, and spread his arms, eyes open and embracing his fate.

            I brought my Staff down with Find the Flaw, a perfect arc of death, crystalline and sublime in its perfection. Steel protested mildly, the Wrath discharged, but there was no resistance to what was happening.

            His eyes were open as he blew into vivus, his breastplate falling, cloven in two. In an instant his body was gone, but for a second, those who could See could witness his soul, free and clear of Taint, being sent away to where it was meant to go.

            Yes, I could have simply declared Truth, and just crushed him before the eyes of all. But those who did not hear Truth would simply declare it a magical trick.

            By his own deeds and actions, my detractor had instantly reversed his position, showing to all that he believed, and his death had sealed that statement in an irrefutable way!

            Political games. ‘Honor’. I looked away, feeling a sour mix of emotions.

            Axiomatic and Evil corruptions of codes of honor were pastimes for a whole bunch of Powers... and not a few mortals who purported to follow them.

            Just another avenue of competition among the Alignments.

            “Flowers will grow where he stood, as well. Perhaps you might want to choose something suitable to plant there.” His small entourage, deprived of their leaders, shuffled uneasily under my eyeless stare.

            I turned my empty eyes to the Iron Bear general, who flushed despite himself. “Now, my lord, I imagine that there are a great many things that need to get done very quickly. I have need to take counsel with some old friends. If I could call upon you later?” I requested of him.

            He looked at me, and the terrifying humans of the House of the Tiger waiting there behind me. They didn’t look particularly patient.

            It was already absolutely incredible that the central fighting force of the whole House of the Tiger was already here at the Fortress. The fact that they had all turned out to greet this stranger of their people had some impressive implications that did not escape him.

            “I will receive you later, Aelryinth-dono,” he agreed slowly, bowing. I returned the bow in equal measure.

-------

            We took the quick road to someplace private. In other words, I made Ward Wall steps up the side of the Great Wall for us, instead of going back through the main Fortress gates. From there, descending to the other side was a matter of jumping down, and following Korbald to a guest hall reserved for our use by the Tigers.

            Everyone gaped when Feature coiled up and around and swept into my clothing, shrinking down to lines and patterns of ink and art. His head came down atop my own (actually bald, but the Favor of Sylune normally made it look like I had white hair), stole down my face underneath my Mask of Clarity, and settled into place.

            His slitted silver eyes were still open, just above my own, letting me see normally if I so desired.

            It took them a moment for the Tigers to adjust to the fact a dragon had just reduced himself to a Tattoo and I was wearing him...

            I had noted that there were members of multiple species in the colors and stripes of the Tigers. Some of them were half-human, and more than a few had karmic and genetic ties to these five people who led them.

            It had been fifty years. I wasn’t going to judge.

            “Hungry?” Korbald asked shortly as we sat down around the main table off the conference room. This one was circular, and although there were seats reserved for them, there was no real status by position. I simply sat where I could see all of them easily, and they did the same.

            “I am Sustained by Ring. I can nibble on some fruit while you eat, don’t worry about it.”

            Their eyes all fell on my Rings. Given I was wearing four of them and they were all magical, that wasn’t surprising.

            “Sustained by Ring.” Korbald had a complicated expression as he regarded me. “That was what gave you the Ringlord Title in the game, wasn’t it?”

            “It was,” I confirmed. “The Archmage confirmed that it wasn’t supposed to happen. It appears I may have had some Profound help getting it.”

            “You... spoke to the Archmage?” Korbald seized on that, his eyes growing intense. “We... saw him die, Aelryinth...”

            “I saw that, too. Div Spec, tapped into the Seals as magic awoke. I Saw it all...” My hands twitched in a way they were all too familiar with, as was the hiccup in my voice. “No, he left Caches behind for us, including for me. There was a psychic holo-Clone left behind in each of them, and if you were smart you had some good questions for him.

            “I had good questions.”

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