Iron Lung writes

FG, Ch 106

---Southern Arasaka Coastline---

---Former Clan Hitogi ‘Fujiwara’ Plantation---

Marcus stretched his hands across the weathered map that sat upon his bamboo command table, his eyes tracing the new etchings his scouts had given him before he looked up to acknowledge that his commanders had just filed into the room.

It was time to get down to business.

“Numbers,” he said.

“430 Yokun ranged support units, including two uni...

CC, Ch. 93

The celebration feast in the wake of his victory was more lavish than XJ-V felt he deserved. The entire edifice of the Spearclaw Colosseum was brought down and the Regulators organized rows of tables to be filled with the most seasoned meats and sweet treats that existed in the storerooms of Ramor-Tai. Baijiu, Mantou, and roasted Gonji that looked as though it had only just been wandering the Wastes yesterday lined the entire monastery banquet. The Brothers ate together, each toasting XJ-V wi...

FG, Ch. 105

---Two weeks later---

---Hokiyama, City of Scarlet Knives---

---North Arasaka Prefecture---

 Patriarch Kanade Jung calmly placed another pale stone disc on his Moji board, sitting back with some small satisfaction as he waited for his opponent to make his move.

“Father, you are holding back on me.”

&nb...

FG, Ch. 104

Fury.

The Overseers of the Kaita Southern Plantation felt the air charge with this single emotion, sweeping through the slaves in a psychic wave that came crashing down on Lord Yakuma and then came for them.

Those who dropped their weapons and fled had the right of it – they were the ones who managed to make it to the palisades and alert the marksmen there of the coming storm.

Those who stayed behind to stem the tide of fur and blood and anger were rendered helpless – ...

CC,Ch.92

Victory…

In the wake of the duel that had had XJ-V stare into the flames of his past, the Colosseum of Aun’El was repurposed. Without having time for nary a breath, the Cog was whisked away to prepare for the ceremony of his triumph, and the celebration that was to come.

Several attendants prepped him with a set of embroidered robes bearing the icons of both the Tiger and the Dragon. The cuffs were long, and flowed right down to his ...

FG, Ch, 103

Marcus sat in his tent, pouring over a small etching of the Clan Kaita plantation done by a few of his Oshu scouts. Luckily, the Overseers and guards didn’t watch the horizon closely enough to pick out their camouflaged forms. This, Marcus thought with no small level of excitement, could be the beginning of a genuine scout regiment that would work in this environment. He wouldn’t be caught with his pants down ever again thanks to these sneaky lizards.

Thinking of his fa...

FG, Ch 102

The next morning, Marcus knew they weren’t alone.

He woke to the sounds of screaming as the sun split the trees, and both he and Mari ran outside to find the army surrounded on all flanks by a group of thin, almost skeletal beings hanging from the trees.

“Oshu…” Mari murmured.

As Marcus was about to give the go-ahead to assume battle formations, she stayed his hand.

“Believe me, Marc,” she said, staring at the little lizards with statue-like stillness. “I...

CC: Ch. 91

In Aun’El’s Grove, something was happening.

Far from the chaos of the Colosseum duels, the Huli and water-spirits around the great Qi pool watched in wonder as the waters began to ripple and bubble with life. A sheen of lambent gold then shone from the very depths of the pool, shimmering up to the surface and bathing the entire grove in a pillar of light that the creatures of the spirit-forest had never beheld.

They had never beheld anything like this...

FG, Chapter 101

The next few mornings stretched on, the heat of Thea’s crimson sun bearing down with more intensity than the claustrophobic darkness of the Underkingdom ever did. The lush plant life of the jungle more than made up for this issue, however. Marcus had never been much of an outdoorsman (it was always Mari who’d spurned him on to take a Highland hike or camp in the wilderness back on earth) but he had to admit the jungles of Arasaka had some charms to it.

The ...

FG, Ch 100

Mari stared at the Yokun tied up before her.

She didn’t really know why she’d lied to Marc when she said she wanted to hit the hay. She was tired—that much was true. But a more…primitive compulsion had forced her to come here, into the tent they were using to hold their special little captive.

She fingered the stiletto she kept concealed under her shirt. But when he began to rouse, murmuring nothing of import, she hesitated.

No. I want to be the first thing he sees w...

CC: Chapter 90

Mah-Jung felt his Qi reserves deplete, pouring into his relentless assault on the XJ-V’s melting body. Then, with a spark of searing light, the machine-man rose like a steelclad phoenix.

“Impossible…”

It was the only word the awestruck Mah-Jung could mutter as the Cog fixed his glowing eyes on him, walking steadily through the infernal, killing heat of a Level 9 Temperer’sAun’El Rebuke. Within those eyes was nothi...

FG, Chapter 99!

Quick note: thanks to all Patrons for your support! To celebrate Fantasy General's 100th chapter, there'll be a bonus chapter tomorrow!

The rising of a new dawn over the South Arasaka jungles brought with it a new sense of purpose for the Pipers. There was business to be conducted before their great exodus to Marxon’s Empire was to begin.

Chief among them was the funeral of old Jin’an, Mari’s predecessor. Stern and fiercely rebellious, the woman was still a Yokun at h...

FG, Ch 98

Prince Nagoya was not a Yokun to allow surprise to overcome his battle-fervor.

He struck out at the deceptive Tigran with force, his katana cutting into the thick carapace of Yokun armor she dared to desecrate with her fleabitten flesh. She buckled beneath him as soon as the blade made impact, and the Prince brought his sword up in a mercy stroke that would end her miserable life.

One life for a life…this wretched fiend for Canjung.

 ...

FG, Ch 97

Marcus wasn’t sure exactly what would happen when his burning hand touched the Hakka carts at the back of the Prince’scamp. Indeed, as the Tigran Pipers stalked forward and slit the throats of the half-asleep men who had been stationed to guard them, he gulped down a sense of palpable anxiety.

Now was not the time for doubt. Mari and Hialjia’s lives were both at stake.

So as the last guard fell he and a detachment of the Pipers hurried across the Yo...

CC, Ch. 88

XJ-V had expected an Aun’El’s Rebuke right off the bat, but Mah-Jung surprised him with five consecutive Dragon Tooth’s that sailed towards him as though personally intent on his destruction.

Two Dragon Swipes sent the firebolts flying wide, but XJ-V had no time to recover.

His Brother flew towards him with lightning speed, creating a dust-cloud that licked at the flames of Hensha burning all around them, and XJ-V’s quick Flame-Whip only just mana...

FG, Ch. 96

Marcus tried to stifle the spluttering, whooping coughs that racked his throat.

Marvin, he telepathed. How close to the surface are we?

The bulky human replied as his pickaxe bashed through clods of dirt and soil above them, while the rest of their troops waited behind. Two hundred of them – for now. The others were helping with the ongoing evacuation.

“Just two – more – hits!”

Marcus spare...

CC, Ch. 87

“Let the clarions of Aun’El ring out for our final contenders! The prize: the glory of joining the illustrious order of Planeswalkers! The combatants: Mah-Jung and XJ-V of the Eternal Dragon!”

Ori’un’s call reverberated through the crowd like a divine wind, sweeping them up off their feet and forcing them into premature cheers and applause. Looking up into the rafters, XJ-V saw his friends waving to him, coupled with Arha and even the Gui...

FG, Ch 95

“Lord Nagoya, the Zhurkin have failed to report.”

The Yokun who delivered this message said nothing more to his Prince before bowing swiftly and returning to his post, dread hounding his every step.

“Like a den of wolves,” the Prince remarked to himself as he sipped from a flask of carefully brewed Gogi tea. “They have devoured my men and made a mockery of our banner.”

He allowed his fury to bub...

FG, Chapter 94

The main assembly chamber of Piper’s Hill was brimming with wounded and the battle-ready. Tigran, Yokun, and human beings jostled about this way and that, attending to eachother with the meagre supplies they still had. Yet others were busy ensuring the last of the evacuations took place – they had led the families through the Southern Tunnels and were ready to join them after they’d licked their wounds.

But all of them stopped when they s...

CC, Chapter 86

[Anima Cores: 158]

Concentrate…

Concentrate, and…

His next fight – the final fight – was on the horizon.

The fight that would determine his future, and perhaps the future of the Wasteland itself.

But he pushed such thoughts from his mind as he entered the Dao. Now was not the time for his Ego to get in the way of his Animus. This time, he ...

FG, Chapter 93

“Soul of Rakhash…” Hialjia murmured as she saw the brilliant green light spark in Marcus’s palm. “He is…truly Gloomraava.”

“Jump, Hialjia!” Mari shouted while everyone else was blindsided by the sight—and the YokunZhurkin began to back off.

As Hialjia jumped back onto the lip of the Civilian plaza’s Southern Tunnel, Marcus barked one last telepathic command to the forces that were still covering the retreat of their comrades:

Stand back! Close your eyes...

FG, Ch 92

The civilian plaza of the Piper’s Hill commune was awash with shades of purple-crimson splashed on onyx—the armor of the Hitogi Zhurkin buckling under the pressure of the coordinated slaves. Their flanks began to push their frontline spearmen forward, desperately attempting to avoid the hail of arrows fired from the center of the Piper’s defensive knot.

But the equilibrium of the battle was brief. The warriors of Hitogi were known for their relentless pursuit of rebels. Their prin...

CC: Chapter 85

“I’ll tell you what I saw on that first day we met,” a rather drunk Feng-Lung told XJ-V as they sat on the roof of the Ramor-Tai library.

“Gracious,” Kai-Thai yawned. “Should we leave you two alone for this?”

“Kai,” Fai-Deng grunted. “If you make another joke, I will place my hand so far down your throat that you will wish Brother Jung finished you off.”

Feng continued as though his Brothers weren’t falling apart around him, practically at each others...

FG, Ch 91

The entrance to Piper’s Hill was engulfed in chaos.

Mari was stationed at the residential quarters just past the first corridor, relying on the ragtag troops she had left to keep the invaders occupied.

“Move, move!” she was shouting over the din of combat, watching the former slaves toss their Hakkatovs at any warrior of Nagoya that dared to breach their perimeter.

She saw them from the center of the square, each man edging cautiously towards the fire-throwers led by M...

FG, Ch. 90

Sounds of combat reverberated throughout the underground vaults of Piper’s Hill. Marcus heard them as a veteran who never believed he’d have to hear them ever again did – with a crippling, knowing trepidation.

“Marcus Graham,” Jin’an said. “I thought you a man of greater ambition.”

He looked up at the Yokun with hate-filled eyes as her scaled hands traced his palm and clenched round his crackling fingers. He felt the energy of...

CC: Chapter 84

Defeat…

XJ-V sat cross-legged in his small crook of the Eternal Dragon quarters, the flickering light of a single candle casting elongated shadows on the walls. The air was thick with the incense he had burned to facilitate his meditation, but despite his best efforts, the tranquility of the scene belied the turmoil within him. His metallic hands rested on his knees, fingers gently tapping out a rhythm of frustration.

For it was only now that he was considering just how...

FG, Ch 89

“Matriarch…”

Marcus traced the curvature of the Yokun’s robes and ended on her sharp reptile eyes.

“That makes you the female leader of Mari’s House, right?”

“The former leader,” the Matriarch whispered. “I vouched to train the Pale Lady in the way of Whispers in preparation for her taking my place. Little did my Brothers and Sisters know how far resentment of the Old Ways went.”

Be...

FG, Ch 88

Mari led him by the hand back through the shanty town that was Piper’s Hill. The place had become a hub of activity since last night – the former slaves were swiftly packing their things and making ready to move. Marcus saw Yokun and humans both swaddling their younglings and carrying as much as they could from their ramshackle houses as they converged in the town center.

Those that passed Mari on their way looked up at her as though staring at their living salvation. Some of them ...

FG, Ch 87

Prince Nagoya Hitogi looked upon the leveled plain of desolation he’d carved into the earth.

What had once been a dense patch of the jungle had been reduced to smoking cinders, the trees whittled away to dark skeletons of their former selves, not even a hint of vegetation remaining on their broken boughs. His snake-eyes picked out no movement within the remains of the jungle. Not even a worm could have survived their last barrage.

The smell of expended Hakka filled the air – ...

CC: Chapter 83

“As you wish, Brother,” Mah-Jung told the goading Feng-Lung.

The tension in the arena was palpable as the two Dragon Sect Disciples faced off once more. Feng-Lung’s confident smirk mirrored the determination in Mah-Jung’s eyes. The ethereal winds continued to howl through the arena, setting the stage for a battle that would be remembered for generations.

Mah-Jung's aura flared, his Qi radiating a fierce intensity that caused the very ground to tremble. He spread his arms ...