Chapter 267: War

Another day, another cracking of the hammer to steel. Yula loved the sound.

It was the only thing that calmed her, the hammer in her hand striking the anvil. The craft was close to her heart. The skill her father taught her and her mother once praised her for.

Forging was the one thing she was good at. Not speaking to others, conveying feelings, fighting. Just the striking of metal, the sound of the hammer.

She lost herself in the sound and today was no different.

At least that was until she heard a thud behind her.

"F-Fath..er!" she yelled, dropping her tools and rushing to him.

Her father, Horrib, had collapsed.

Yula shook him, trying to rouse his weakened body. If the guards saw him like this she could only shake in horror as to what they would do.

"F-Father, please! G-Get… up!"

But it was too late.

The sound of the front door creaked, and Yula could hear the metal boots on the hardened dirt as someone entered the building.

Yula's face paled as she scrambled to help her father up, but it was of no help. She slipped her arm under his shoulder only to have him pulled away, herself slipping and falling face-first to the ground.

"Old man finally kicked it huh?" the guard said, holding up Horrib like some kind of dirty rag.

"P-please, he is j-just… tired!" Yula pleaded, "I-if you could give h-him s..some time t-to rest!"

The guard scoffed, turning around, kicking the door back open, and stepping out into the drizzling rain.

Yula panicked, stumbling over herself as she ran for the door, the fatigue in her body making it feel as if buckets of wrought iron were tied to her feet.

Running after the man dragging her father, she gasped for breath, pleading as much as she could.

The guard threw his foot forward, hitting the girl square in the chest and sending her backward into the slosh of snow and mud.

"Get back in that forge damn it! Do you want to die?!"

Yula slid across the ground coughing furiously as she tried to catch her breath, suddenly hearing the sound of metal being pulled from a scabbard.

She looked upward and forced her eyes to focus long enough to see the blade falling on her. Closing her eyes she braced for the end that she had no power to stop.

But the pain of the strike never came.

"What the hell?!"

"Do you want this to end?" a second voice asked.

Yula's eyes slowly opened, seeing a man in brilliant armor she had never seen the likes of before, shackled with the same mana-restricting equipment she had. The man was being held by four different men and she felt her body freeze as she saw the sword sticking out of his upper shoulder.

The same one that would have killed her.

"W-what..?" she muttered.

The man looked down at her and asked again, "I'm asking if you want to live. If you want this all to end."

Yula's mind went blank. She didn't know what to say. She had no idea who this man was or what he was doing here.

Is he another slave brought in and being punished? Has his mind broken like the others? He's wounded. She thought, then saw his armor, golden chains draped from his arms and chest.

With her smithing class, she could tell just how high quality they were. With another glance at his arms, she could see how defined they were and the inert tattoos below the skin.

"I-i…" Yula started, but spotted the guard behind the man, his eyes furious and telling her exactly what would happen if she did or said anything stupid, "N...No…I-I'm fine…"

The man's face frowned, the guard struggling to pull his blade from the man's shoulder, and the other men and women desperately trying to yank the man back into the line with the others.

The man bent down, getting to eye level with Yula. All the while pulling the others down with him.

"Is that really true? I know what is being done in this city… Are you okay with what is happening here? Or would you like me to save you?" his words were confident and there were no lies in his blue eyes, "I have the power to do it."

"What is this lunatic saying?!"

"How is he so strong! He has four pieces of Mana Shackles on him! Someone hurry and get reinforcements!"

Yula's mouth parted slightly to answer but closed, unsure of what to do.

Is…Is he really able to do that? Am I allowed to ask…? Can I ask this stranger to end this… nightmare…? She thought.

"Drake!" another man shouted from the line of prisoners behind the man, pointing with his shackled hands.

Coming in from another partition was a group of guards much larger than the ones currently surrounding them.

Yula's face paled again, thinking of her father, the rest of the people in the mines and city. Of her dear friend, Tanya.

"I-I…" she croaked the words catching in her throat, but she caught the man's gaze, his eyes still filled with die-hard conviction, "Stop them! Save us! I want this to end! I want to live!"

Snap.

Yula's mouth hung open as she saw the mana shackles that covered the man shattered and crumbled as if he was tearing paper, rolling his wrists as he stood.

The man smiled down, his silhouette illuminated by a massive magic circle at his feet in green.

"You heard her," the man said, a torrential gust ripping through the area, the sound of metal snapping and thudding against the ground, "Soldiers of ReUnite! Take the city, free everyone!"

[Drake Wallen has challenged for control over town: Sandal]

—--------------

Drake pulled the sword from his shoulder, switching his endowment to water, his open wound mending before he had finished turning to the guard that held the old man.

Switching his endowment again, his hair turning white, he produced blades of wind above his shoulders severing the arms of the guards that held him.

"W-what?! How?!"

"Seems like you cheaped out on those items. They couldn't even withstand half of my mana pool," Drake smirked, waving his hand and beheading the guard.

Swiping away the notifications, he looked around. Sah Ul' and the teens had already dispatched the reinforcements after he had removed their shackles with his wind magic.

"I wanted to see for myself if what was happening here was true… But it's worse than I expected. I really wanted to hold out hope that these people hadn't fallen this far," Drake said, the sight of the surroundings leaving a vile taste in his mouth.

The teens had finally killed humans, not undead, and on his orders. But that was the reality of the world now.

"We've secured the immediate surroundings, but the noise and the notification will surely cause a ruckus, Drake," Charlotte said, reporting to him.

Drake turned looking down at the dwarven girl who was now helping her father.

"We'll take this block first, gather up all the slaves and protect them for now, restrain the guards if you can. I don't want to kill anyone we don't have to yet. We're going to have to use this as the field base for now. Yula, is it?" Drake said, addressing the woman.

She looked up still in shock, "Y-yes…?"

"Do you know where the Anchoring Crystal is located?"

"I d-don't… know the e-exact location. O-only… that it's in t-the mine," she answered, pointing towards the west.

Drake nodded, "It's a start. They'll probably fortify that position so we will either need to blitz it or…"

He looked around, the teens quickly bringing in groups of slaves, their weeping and cries beginning to fill the area as they thanked the teens, praying to whatever they could for the miracle.

"No, we'll sweep the city first, freeing everyone. Then I'll take the mines myself," Drake said aloud, then taking a red vial from his inventory, and whatever rations he had on his person, laying food down under tents that he still had from the tutorial making a recovery area for the freed people, handing the vial to Yula, "Here for your dad."

"Landin!" Drake shouted, stopping the teen from going back out.

"Yeah?" Landin asked, his face slightly pale.

"I need you to do what you can to heal and distribute food, water, whatever these people need. You're the only one who can heal right now," Drake instructed.

Landin nodded, not arguing the point, Anima manifesting next to him in a flash of blue light.

"T-thank you…" Yula managed to get out, gently pouring the vial into her father's mouth.

"Thank me when it's over," Drake answered.

Drake stepped out of the tent area, the teens and Sah Ul' rushing back and forth with more and more people.

"There's just so many of them," he muttered, his aura sense spreading out, making him realize just how large this partition was, "We'll have to speed this up."

Letting out a breath, Drake's endowment shifted, his hair turning a bright yellow, sparks of electricity arcing off his shoulders as he pushed off the ground.

In record time and speed, Drake pushed forward, meticulously entering buildings and workshops. Finally ending a few minutes later and standing back in place, his arms covered in burnt blood, the rain evaporating on his shoulders.

"Everyone!" Drake shouted, getting the teen's attention, "I've taken care of the guards in the area, there's only recovery left to do. Clotho and Atropos, take care of gathering and protecting the people in this area, you're both familiar with the people here, more than us at least. Everyone else with me, we're going to sweep the other areas."

Drake turned to Hudson, Mr. Hogue, and the soldiers, "Mr. Hogue, stay here, you'll be safer with the twins. The rest of you are coming with me to help these poor people. Is that understood?"

The soldiers nodded and Mr. Hogue ran off immediately, not wanting to be near the current Drake any longer.

"Pup, your face is mighty unsettling…" Hudson said, his face more fearful than concerned.

"Patriarch?" Sah Ul' asked putting her hand on his shoulder.

Drake's face was cold and apathetic. And it had startled everyone around him when he reappeared.

He touched his cheek, the crusted blood on his hand beginning to dissolve from the rain leaving a small stain on it. Realization that he had killed more than a hundred people in the past minute, the notifications piling up.

"It's fine. There's no getting around it, and I'm done pretending that these people are worth the air they breathe… Gather the guards if you can as I instructed, but don't put yourself in danger to do so. Your priority is saving as many people as possible and your own safety. Let's go!"

But Drake was stopped by a shout from the tents.

"W-wait!" Yula pleaded, "P-Please go to the city Lord's m-manor. T-there is an i-important guest there… I overheard from the g-guards…"

"An important guest?"

"I-I heard his name… was A-Adam, f-from the Count's estate…"

Drake felt his blood run cold.

"Where is it?"

"I-it's in the east-most… part of t-the city."

Drake's voice was steady and frigid, laced with ice, "I see."

Without another word the group moved through the partition gate they had been led through, Drake crashing through the metal gate in a laughable fashion, kicking up debris.

"Fire!" someone shouted right as Drake broke the gate, a hail of mana-infused bullets raining down on him.

Drake raised his hand, conjuring a tempest of wind as he had with the Amalgamation, stopping the bullets in their tracks.

Sah Ul' and Charlotte rushed past him the moment the bullets were halted, their weapons moving in a blur as the guards were bisected and disposed of in seconds.

More spells and the sound of guns firing were heard from the buildings they had passed when entering the city. Guards shouting and shooting from the cover of buildings. 

Drake shot forward, getting in front of the two women, his arms glowing gold as his hands moved to deflect the spells and bullets, the projectiles and spells sparking off his tattoos.

From the gate, Kalik Tu' burst forward, his arms painted in red light as he crashed into the line of mages and rangers behind the buildings. Men and women being flung in all directions as he threw them like rag dolls from cover.

Cleaning up the initial resistance, Drake looked upwards seeing Quetz pointing in the direction that Yula had indicated earlier.

"This is strange," Drake muttered, looking around.

"What might that be?" Mordred asked.

"There are no undead," Drake said, pointing with his foot to one of the guards, "All the guards so far have been human. This place is being used to convert massive amounts of people, so where are all the undead?"

"Maybe they are in the other direction where the guards were leading us? The pits they called it?" Charlotte proposed.

"Maybe…" Drake mused, "Clear this partition. I want to get to that manor as soon as possible, but we can't neglect the people that need to be freed. Send any of the freed slaves to Landin and the twins."

The teens and Sarah nodded, rushing off towards the buildings where Kalik was still fighting, Quetz's arial support sending a crack from her rifle every so often.

While they cleared the rest of the partition, Drake moved to the next gate, this one much thicker than the last, but similar in that it had large rolls of barbed wire at the top instead of guards.

He glanced at his status, his health at full. His mana and stamina quickly recovering thanks to his monstrous recovery.

"Don't rush, stay calm. You can't lose yourself to the fight like before, this city is large and we don't know how many enemies are here yet," Drake muttered to himself.

He breathed out trying to focus, trying to push down the roaring thing inside of him that was shouting in his ear to fight, to keep going, to not stop until the threat was eliminated.

Turning from the gate he made his way back to the crowd of people quickly gathering.

Kalik Tu' threw a man to the ground, grinding his teeth as he did.

"What's this?" Drake asked.

"An excuse for a warrior. Even a Gak'thar will fight without a limb, yet this poor little man gives up the moment he saw me!" Kalik answered, getting close to the man's face and growling.

"I'm surprised you brought him back."

Kalik motioned his head behind him, Charlotte dragging several other men with an indifferent face but the way her spear bobbed letting each of the men that were tied to it in a line, trip and fall scraping and tumbling into mud and stone. It was easy to tell she was not happy.

"If the girl did not keep me from caving in his face, he would be nothing but mush on the floor," Kalik sneered, spitting on the man, "But it is not our place to decide…" he said reluctantly.

"Don't worry once this is over, they will get theirs," Drake said coldly, snapping his fingers to shackle the man in earthen cuffs, "I told you all I wouldn't burden you with becoming monsters like me and I intend to keep that promise. His fate will be on my shoulders, just like the other guards. You did well restraining him."

Kalik scoffed, "I need no thanks from you. And I do not need to be sheltered. These people are scum worse than muddied dirt, removing them from this world would be nothing but a blessing."

Drake didn't say it, but he couldn't agree more. Seeing the freed prisoners, slaves, even the dwarf girl, Yula, and what had almost happened to her father gave more than enough reason to burn this place to the ground.

It took several more minutes for them to clear this partition, but what surprised Drake was the lack of resistance and reinforcements that they had encountered prior.

Something was going on, although Drake was not sure what.

We'll just have to move quickly and carefully, there's no going back now. He thought.

Waving his hand, he gathered the teens and Sarah.

"Quetz, take them to the temporary rescue station and come find us after, you're the most mobile, and seems like they don't have anything that can reach you in the sky. Take the soldiers with you and have them return with you after. If they try anything, don't hesitate to remove them. I won't have you hurt, understand?"

"Quetz understands! Drake really really likes Quetz, so she'll be careful!" she beamed, and stepped off the ground into the air, waving for the people to follow her.

Turning back to the thick gate he had found earlier he motioned for the rest to come as well, "Let's get going then."

Moving across the span of the partition, Drake's arms flared to life with golden light as he poured mana into his tattoos.

Rearing back a fist he easily tore the gate from its hinges, flinging it forward into the next area.

Preparing another wind spell in his other hand he braced for spells, projectiles, and anything else that might fly there way, but nothing came.

The dust from destroying the gate settled, and silence fell over the group.

Drake tried to feel out the area with his aura and was startled by the number of signatures he felt.

"M-mother…?"

Drake looked to the side, Kalik Tu' paled faced and mouth quivering as it hung open.

"Batkh Tu'..."

On his other side, he heard Sah Ul' mumble someone's name.

Kalik ran forward ahead of the group his steps uncoordinated and clumsy as if they suddenly were unable to support his weight.

"Stop!" Drake shouted, but Kalik wasn't listening.

Forced to rush forward, Drake sprinted ahead of Kalik, grabbing the teen by the shoulders.

"Stop Kalik! We're in the middle of a fight!"

"Let me go! Release me, Deceiver! T-that is my... THAT IS MY MOTHER!!!" Kalik cried, trying to rip himself from Drake's grip.

Drake ground his teeth staring up at the wall. There hung countless bodies of all races. Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and many more. Their bodies were abused and unsightly as if they had been left out in the elements for weeks.

And looming over that same wall was someone Drake had been looking for.

"Hey there bastard. You know this chick?" Adam sneered, thumbing to Kalik's mother, "She was no fun, I'm hoping those women you brought will be more entertaining!"