WIEDERGEBURT: Act VI: Chapter 28

“That is a whole lot of ugly,” Kari murmured before biting her lower lip.

Drachen Pass was not very large. Set between two precipitous cliffs, it was about half a kilometer from one side to the other. The wall of Lindwurm extended from one cliff to the other and was about six hundred meters in height.

Back on Miðgarðr, a wall that high would have meant nothing could ascend past it save flying Demon Beasts. Even the largest Demon Beast was only one hundred meters long, and those were the serpentine S-Rank Demon Beasts. There was also the Leviathan, but that particular monster lived in the sea, which was why it had grown to be bigger than the average S-Rank.

In Vindenket, having a six hundred meter tall all did not mean much. Several Sekbeists were flying in on winged Demon Beasts they had tamed. They would not be a huge problem since the Drakvar were also capable of flight, but on top of them, there were also massive siege towers. Each one was at least as tall as the wall. Made from a dark obsidian material that absorbed Spiritual Power and covered in evil-looking runes, they were nearly impossible to break.

“Do you think… we will be able to beat them back?” asked Siv.

Kari took a deep breath. “Even if we cannot, I will not allow either of us to die here.” She smiled at the drakvar woman next to her. “I will protect you.”

“And I’ll protect you,” Siv confirmed.

They locked pinkies, sealing the promise they made when they were forcefully transported to this world. It was this promise that had cemented their newfound closeness. Kari would definitely make sure to protect Siv with all her strength, and Siv would have her back no matter what happened.

“It looks like they are back for more.” Captain Nidhogg flapped his wings and landed several meters from Kari and Siv to look at the other Drakvar. “Men and women of Lindwurm! The enemy has arrived on our doorstep once again! We must stop their advance here! To let these beasts past us is the same as killing our families back home! Your wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters are relying on you to hold back this horde of vicious beasts!”

As Captain Nidhogg spoke, the Drakvar still capable of battling released violent roars that shook the very wall they stood on. There were several thousand Drakvar either standing on the wall itself or situated down below. Most of them were in their human forms because it was easier, but a few stayed in their original dragon forms. They would be fighting the Sekbeists riding flying mounts.

Kari was impressed by the tenacity and determination of these people. They were outnumbered by at least ten thousand to one, but despite this, not a single one of them was willing to give up. None of them even had the thought of surrender on their mind. Most humans did not have this kind of courage.

“That Nidhog has charisma if nothing else,” Kari said.

Siv nodded. “I still don’t like him.”

Kari cracked a grin. “Neither do I.”

“Flyers! You’re up! Be wary of attacks from below! Long-range fighters, support the flyers! Ignore the siege towers and focus on the ballista and trebuchet!”

On Captain Nidhogg’s command, the Drakvar moved into position. The Drakvar in their dragon forms flapped their wings and took to the skies; the ones in human form stood on the wall and prepared to unleash long-distance attacks. Spiritual Power erupted from everyone. Kari was standing next to one man whose hand was coated in black flames, which appeared different from the Sekbeist’s void attacks. Kari could sense the death energy that made it up.

The army of Sekbeist was close now, at least a kilometer out, but the ones on flying mounts had already reached the walls. Shrieks, roars, and cries of pain erupted from the skies above. Kari had long grown used to the sounds.

A Drakvar close by roared as it bit into the soft neck of a bird-shaped flying mount known as a Giant Horned Lightning Eagle. On Miðgarðr, this creature was an S-Rank Demon Beast, a lord among lords. Here it was trash being used as a mount for several Sekbeist.

Dark blood flowed from between the Drakvar’s teeth. The Giant Horned Lightning Eagle thrashed in its grip, but the Drakvar had no intention of letting go. Several Sekbeist were knocked off and fell through the sky, screaming before they were turned into splats on the ground. However, while quite a few fell, several must have remained on. The dragon released an ungodly scream of agony as dark flames slammed into it.

The flames of the void.

The Concept of Negation.

As a concept that negated other concepts, these black flames acted in accordance to such laws and consumed the Drakvar’s scales. Kari knew how tough a Drakvar’s scales were. Siv’s own beautiful scales could not be broken through with anything short of a Spiritual Technique that would be considered SSS-Rank. However, the Concept of Negation was just that fearsome. It mattered not what substance something was made of. Everything was erased in the face of this terrifying concept.

Kari was a member of the defenders. Her job was not to attack from a distance or fight in the air. She took several deep breaths and began channeling the light element through her body. While she could not use every element, it was still her primary attack element and the one she was the most familiar with.

As her body began glowing, Siv’s body changed. The scales on her arms shifted to cover her entire arm. Her legs became more draconic, the scales growing thicker and harder. Bright silver Spiritual Power surrounded her body as a stiff wind picked up and buffeted her hair. She flapped her wings and ascended just a few centimeters off the stone floor.

No words were said between them. No words were needed.

The massive siege towers loomed closer, stopping just a few meters from the wall, and the large drawbridge gates lowered to reveal hundreds if not thousands of Sekbeists. There were no lords among them. Kari’s understanding was that only a couple thousand of Lords existed, and they were commanders who stood near the back. That did not stop this threat from being any less powerful.

First among the Sekbeist to descend were the Warlords and the Beasts. They stomped forward with their powerful bodies. Legs like trees flexed as they ran, arms bigger than two Karis combine swept forward as massive weapons made from darkness coalesced in their hands.

It had been a long time since Kari ran afoul one of these beasts. They had given her and Eryk no end of trouble in their past lives. She still remembered the Warlords they fought during the reclaiming of Vahn, the attack on Hovebrann, and all throughout the war back on Miðgarðr. Back then, these creatures had been terrifying foes to face.

And now?

Kari created a light spear ten times her size and sent it hurtling at a Sekbeist Warlord, striking him in the chest and blowing a hole clean through his body. The spear did not stop with just one. Two. Three. Four Sekbeist Warlords were struck and killed instantly. As the bodies dropped to the ground, Kari directed her spear away from the seige tower and sent it hurtling toward the ground, where it exploded into several hundred spears that stabbed a Sekbeist Grunt and burned them from the inside out.

While Kari was attacking from the ground, Siv soared just a little behind her and swung her arms wide. The white energy that erupted from her hands looked like a crescent moon. It struck a Sekbeist Warlord, severed his head, and then struck another, another, and another. Ten Sekbeist Warlords had their heads removed from their shoulders in less than a tent of a second. Their headless bodies continued moving as if they had yet to realize they were dead. Then they tumbled to the ground and rolled over several smaller Sekbeists.

Kari and Siv were not the only ones battling. There was fighting everywhere she looked. Sekbeists against Drakvar. The two races clashed in a vicious dance of blood and death.

To Kari’s left, a Drakvar woman was spatial attacks similar to Siv’s but less powerful, severing the limbs of Sekbeist that came too close. On her right, a Drakvar man went down as he was attacked with an overwhelming number of Sekbeists. They stabbed into his armored body with their weapons. His roars of agony soon tapered off as he was killed.

Kari would have helped him, but she and Siv already swamped with enemies.

There were at least two thousand surrounding them.

Kari didn’t stop channeling light, but she did adjust her Spiritual Power to create time energy, which she gathered into her right hand. Siv spun around and unleashed spatial severing attacks from her tail. The 360 degree attack slaughtered several hundred Sekbeists. This gave Kari a little bit of breathing room, and she finished shaping her technique.

Slamming her hand into the ground, Kari unleashed a wave of time energy that swept over her enemies. Everyone the ripple touched stopped. Their bodies had become completely frozen in time.

Once her enemies became sealed within her time lock, Kari created two powerful whips with light energy and spun in a circle. She extended the whips with Spiritual Power. They increased in length until every enemy within a one hundred meter radius was sliced open. Sekbeist Grunts and Elites were bisected from the waist, while Warlords and Beasts had their legs removed at the knees.

“Haaahhhh…”

Kari released a deep breath as her hold on time ceased. She did not have the understanding to use time for long periods and only had a few techniques, but it was better than even most of the Drakvar. Only a few Drakvar could use a high level concept like that. The majority only understand the Concept of Life or Death.

Siv landed on the stone floor beside her, and Kari pointed at the nearest siege tower. The Drakvar nodded. She understood exactly what Kari wanted.

The two of them raced toward the siege tower, still gushing Sekbeists, and the two transformed into the fire element. Their bodies were now like flaming comets as they slammed into the Sekbeist army. They burned their way through everyone, then disappeared inside of the siege tower itself.

Stopping, the two transformed back into flesh and blood. There were still hundreds of Sekbeist, but the two stood back to back and unleashed simultaneous wind blades that cut through flesh, blood, and bone with ease. Both attacks only stopped after hitting the tower walls. Kari clicked her tongue as a rune array glowed along the wall and forcefully absorbed their attacks.

“Which way?” asked Siv.

Kari didn’t respond at first. She glanced around, her eyes glowing vibrantly as she channeled Spiritual Power into them. The world around her changed. Runes that were invisible now glowed like they had power running through them. Lines appeared to connect them. She followed those lines as they went…

“Down,” Kari said. “The core is at the very bottom this time.”

“I guess they learned from last time,” Siv muttered.

Several dozen Sekbeist were emerging from a stairwell off to the side. Kari recreated her ranseur from the light element, compressing it to the point where she only had to touch something to slice through it like a knife through butter. She spun the weapon in elegant arcs and carved through the Sekbeist as she made her way down with Siv.

Being a six hundred and fifty meter large tower, there were several dozen floors, and each one had at least several hundred Sekbeist inside. Kari and Siv moved quickly through the floors, clearing them out before continuing on. It didn’t matter if they were up against a Grunt or a Warlord. All died to their attacks.

A scream of anguish escaped a Sekbeist as Kari sliced off its arm at the shoulder. It was silenced on her return swing when she carved through its head.

Beside her, Siv slammed her draconic fist into a Sekbeist. Her attack was so powerful the creature exploded into blood and gore. Siv rembled a little, but she did not stop as she spun on her heel and launched a kick with her now clawed feet. Her sharp nails dug into a Sekbeist’s jaw and tore straight through the bone.

While the sounds of their clash resounded through every floor, Kari and Siv fought in grim silence. The scent of blood hung heavily in the air. The sight of decimated corpses filled their vision. If they weren’t already used to this, Kari was sure they would have thrown up.

Finally, they reached the bottom, where a massive black orb hovered in the air. The orb was made from Spirit Ore and had glowing runes carved into its surface. These runes were what powered the array that made Spiritual Techniques worthless. So long as this was still operating, the siege tower would continue to absorb techniques and use it to empower the rune array.

“Hold them off for me!” Kari shouted as she turned to the orb. She’d taken to calling it a control module since it controlled the rune array covering this siege tower.

“Kay!”

Siv turned toward the entrance, where she could see a large chunk of the enemy army. Even just this small, narrow view showed what must have been several million Sekbeists, many of which were swarming toward this siege tower.

As the first group appeared, Siv unleashed a tower and fired several spheres of fire and wind. The white hot projectiles slammed into a Sekbeist and exploded. Each attack took out dozens of Sekbeists unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast, their bodies incinerated.

Kari trusted Siv to watch her back and studied the control module. The runes used in this one contained slight variations from the previous ones she had seen, which meant she couldn’t destroy it the same way. She needed to be careful. One wrong move and she and Siv could find themselves being the ones incinerated.

Activating the Rune Writing ability, Kari’s finger glowed a brilliant gold as she began drawing counter runes over the ones used by the Sekbeist. She formed a net made of runes that surrounded the control module. Sweat trickled down her face. Maybe it was her imagination, but these runes seemed a lot more complex than the last set. Several of them were even fake runes meant to lead her astray.

“Who made this?” she muttered out loud.

Siv was still fighting, but the Sekbeist had now entered the interior, and the Drakvar was forced to create a flame barrier that kept them from going further. Then she tore into them with claws covered in spatial energy. Each attack severed the space around her foes, cutting through them like wheat threashed by a scythe.

Kari bit her lip as she connected the last line of runes together, then channeled Spiritual Power through it. Her counter array spun around and encased the control module. Barely a second passed before the module ceased functioning. Kari stored the control module into her storage ring for future study, turned around, and shouted at Siv.

“We’re getting out of here!”

The fire wall disappeared and Siv leapt back. Now standing back to the back, Kari stomped on the ground and created a wave of time energy that stomped everything in place. Siv roared as she unleashed a beam of condensed spatial energy. It slammed into the ceiling, tore through every ceiling, and blasted a hole clean out of the tower.

That was their exit.

Siv and Kari flew through the holes they had made, until they were floating just above the tower. They raised their hands as one. Kari created a powerful ball of flame that grew until it was the size of a Sekbeist Warlord. Siv fed the flames with wind, increasing its potency, making it so hot even the two forming the technique began sweating.

Acting in tandem, Kari and Siv tossed the fireball at the tower. It flew through the hole they had made, struck the bottom, and exploded.

Kari and Siv were pushed back as the force winds from the detonation slammed into them. It was such a powerful detonation that everyone within a hundred meters was sent away. Flying beasts in the sky spun into uncontrolled flights and a few even slammed into the ground. Those are the ground were even more unfortunate. Anyone caught in the blast range who wasn’t outright turned to ash was sent sailing like leaves in a storm. When the explosion dissipated, what remained was a massive crater that had been glassed by the intense heat.

“Siv, let’s destroy as many of these siege towers as we can,” Kari said.

“I’m right behind you, Sister.”

The two of them flew toward another siege tower and repeated the process. They did this three times before the Sekbeists wised up and began retreating. The pulled back their drawbridges, making it impossible for Kari and Siv to enter and remove the control modules. While Kari was disappointed, she was more relieved that the Sekbeist were retreating for now. It meant they had won this battle.

“You did an excellent job,” Captain Nidhogg said as Kari and Siv landed on the ground. He wore what Kari guessed he thought was a charming smile, but she thought it looked predatory. “Your contribution during this time has been in valuable. Tonight, we will hold a feast in your honor.”

Kari wanted to tell this man she’d rather he didn’t, but her etiquette training as a princess was still deeply embedded within her. She knew refusing in front of all these people could lower moral. That said, she promised herself, even as she agreed with a smile, that she would remain as far from this man as physically possible during the feast.

***

“We were beaten again. Even though we changed the control cores’ array within each siege tower to make it harder, they still managed to destroy several of them.”

“It seems they have a rune master among them. Maybe even a grandmaster. I did not think the Drakvar had such a complete understanding of runes.”

“It is not a Drakvar. According to the report, the person who was destroying the control modules is a human woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.”

“A human?!”

Durmuz stood alongside Zugarod and Shulong. Their tent was neither large nor small. They were the only three Sekbeist Lords leading this assault. The others were busy on other fronts across the realms.

Shulong was a thick-chested man with a bald head, thick brow ridges, and horns jutting from his elbows and knees. He was taller than Durmuz and Zugarod by at least several heads. Among the Sekbeist Lords, he was one of the more imposing. Only the Sekbeist overlord had been bigger and more domineering than this man. He was also their leader for this assault.

“How did a human arrive on Vindenket?” asked Durmuz with a frown. “I was under the assumption that humans could not travel between realms.”

“They can, but only under very specific conditions.” Shulong crossed his arms. “They must either be in the company of the Great Overlord of the First Realm, or a member of a higher race. The Great Overlord of the First Realm was sealed with our lord’s hand on Miðgarðr, which means there was a Drakvar on Miðgarðr who traveled back here at some point. Come to think of it, I remember during an assault on the old capital that one of the Drakvar traveled through a Warp Gate and destroyed it. That one must have led to Miðgarðr. It explains why they destroyed it.”

Durmuz nodded. Meanwhile, Zugarod scowled at them.

“Who cares about this shit? All we need to do is kill the human woman during our next assault, right?”

“This woman is incredibly powerful,” Shulong said. “She has apparently comprehend the Concept of Time to some degree.”

“So our regular troops won’t cut it,” Durmuz said with a sigh.

None of the Sekbeist Slaves had any understanding of higher level concepts. They could use the void to some degree, but it was instinct and not understanding, which was why they couldn’t do anything with it except make basic weapons like swords.

“I’ll go,” Zugarod said.

“You?” Shulong raised a brow ridge. “Why would I let someone as reckless as you assault that fortress.”

“Because I’m strong,” Zugarod muttered with a scowl. “You two might have comprehended two concepts, but I have the best understanding of the Concept of Negation.”

Silence descended upon them for a moment. Durmuz looked at Shulong. He personally thought sending Zugarod might be reckless, but he also couldn’t deny that what he said was true. Among the three of them, the one with the greatest understanding of the Concept of Negation was him, and that was hands down the most powerful attack concept among all seven concepts.

“Fine,” Shulong said after a long moment. “However, you will not be going alone. We did not expect a human woman to suddenly show up and disrupt our plans, which means there may be more unexpected surprises. You and Durmuz will go together.”

“That’s… acceptable.”

Zugarod looked like he was going to tell Shulong he could do with this himself, but when his eyes met Shulong’s, he paused before reluctantly accepting the orders. He knew what would happen if he said no. The last person who denied Shulong was brutally murdered. Even Zugarod wasn’t willing to risk this man’s wrath.

Shulong nodded once. “Okay then. We will renew our assault in two days. I need to have Hreidmar remake the control cores so they are even harder to counter. Once he is done, we will begin our attack anew.”

***

I blasted across the sky at top speeds. The world passed beneath me in streaks of brown interspersed with some blue and green.

Vindeket was a world composed mostly of mountainous regions with only a few valleys and lakes. Despite how inhospital it was, the Drakvar seemed to have tamed this land and were able to grow plenty of crops. I had passed several farmlands.

“Hey! Slow down!”

The wind blew in my face and buffeted my hair as I flew. It would have made my eyes tear up, but I was channeling the wind element to create a funnel around my body. By doing this, I could cut through the atmosphere and increase my speed several fold.

“Damn it, Eryk! Slow the fuck down!”

The shout from behind made me realize my companions were not doing as well. Neither Chloe nor Tora were able to cut through the wind like I was. Grimacing, I slowed down enough that they were able to catch up. Tora glared at me when she did.

“The fuck are you speeding off like that for? You think one person is going to make a difference in a battle like this? Did you not fucking listen to Lady Schnee? She said the army is likely to be several million strong. Even if you were a Great Overlord, you would still have trouble fighting against a force that large on your own.”

The three of us were part of an advanced squad being sent to reinforce Lindwurm until the main force could arrive. There were a dozen other people with us, all Drakvar, but I had left them in the dust. None of them had the raw power that I did.

“I am perfectly aware of that, which is why I’m traveling so fast,” I countered. “There is no telling what Siv and Kari are facing right now. I need to be there. The sooner I can arrive and concern their safety, the better.”

“There really is no arguing with you, is there?” asked Chloe.

“Not where my wives are concerned,” I agreed in my own roundabout way.

“Fuck it. Fine. Let’s hurry the fuck up, but at least make sure you are going slow enough that we can keep up.”

“That is fine. Now less talking and more flying.”

“You really are a fucking worrywort when it comes to your wives,” Tora muttered with a sigh, then said something under her breath that I couldn’t hear because it was lost to the wind.