CHAPTER 461: VICTORIES AND DEFEATS

Vir watched Saunak’s automaton trundle out of the forest, crushing trees beneath the enormous white sphere it used as a leg.

This was the largest of his Automaton arsenal, chosen specifically for its enormous size. They’d had to lay it flat in the forest to hide it, and even then, Vir was worried the enemy might’ve spotted it.

While that particular worry had not come to pass, Vir did wonder if he had just made a terrible mistake.

He’d discussed leveraging the automaton at length with Cirayus and the others, but the idea always seemed better in theory than in execution. For one, this was a weapon designed to operate alone in a wide open field of battle.

In any situation where allies were present, its devastating energy beams and swipes with its colossal hands were as likely to harm friends as they were foes, even assuming a rational, cautious demon in control. With Saunak at the helm—a demon notorious for his lack of concern for life or collateral damage—Vir had serious qualms about whether he’d exercise any form of caution.

Even still, there was no one better suited than Saunak, with nearly a century of experience, to operate it.

As bad as all that sounded, it was only the first in a long list of issues plaguing the ancient machine.

Prana was foremost among them. Until recently, Vir had been unable to bring his Automatons into the demon realm unless he was the one piloting them. Neither Saunak nor anyone else had the capacity to funnel enough prana into the hungry device, but that problem had been neatly solved by having Ashani create an Ash Gate connected to deep within the Mahādi Realm, mounted on the automaton’s back.

The torrent of prana not only ensured the Automaton would have all the fuel it would ever need, that same prana kept the Gate open indefinitely, without any maintenance on Vir’s part.

In fact, the Automaton had so much energy now that it had become even stronger and faster than before.

However, the convenience of Ashani’s Gate was its weakness—the Gate was strapped to the automaton’s back and protected only by steel armor, even if it was the finest Seric.

If discovered, the enemy could easily attack and disable the Gate, rendering the Automaton powerless. Worse still was Saunak, riding on the machine’s shoulder, exposed for the world to attack.

Perhaps, with time and Ashani’s help, they might design a compartment within the Automaton to protect the operator, but for now, a single Chakra attack could kill the mad Thaumaturge in an instant. He had no defense whatsoever.

The Thaumaturge might very well have been the most precious, irreplaceable demon in the realm, and Vir included himself in that assessment. Saunak’s inventions might very well change the face of the demon realm forever in the coming years, himself included, but Vir was out of options.

There would be no tomorrow if Vir didn’t win this battle today.

And despite all of its disadvantages, the true value of the Automaton wasn’t in its lethality—it was the threat of it. Like having Cirayus on the battlefield, its mere presence shattered enemy morale and broke formations.

As it rolled closer, growing ever larger, the effect grew so pronounced that even the Aindri Raja stopped to stare at the Automaton, uneasiness written all over his face.

“I had heard the rumors,” Jagath said, wrenching his eyes off the white guardian of the gods to glance at Vir. “But I had thought—hoped—that only you could control such a thing.”

Vir shrugged. “I have a goddess on my side and the smartest Thaumaturge this realm has ever seen. Such feats are nothing for them. You should see what else we have in store. Under my rule, the demon realm will be unrecognizable in a few years, flourishing in ways you couldn’t have dreamed possible. Will you be a part of that? Or would you rather seal your fate with these traitorous monkeys?”

“A strong attempt,” Jagath said. “But the Aindri are not ones to break our oaths. I shall fulfill mine—no more, no less. As for what comes after, I suppose time will tell.”

“I suppose it will,” Vir said, as the machine neared. “You’ve been to the Deep Ash, Jagath. You know exactly what these things can do. Do you want me to unleash the full might of this Imperium automaton? Or can we be reasonable? Hasn’t there been enough death today?”

Jagath opened his mouth, but then closed it. Vir could see his dilemma—for Vir would’ve had the same reaction in his situation. Duty to his people warred with his oath to the Chitran.

In the end, he remained silent, and so Vir was forced to play his final card.

“Open fire,” he said into the orb.

“With pleasure,” Saunak replied, cackling madly.

The fact that Saunak’s voice caused Jagath to flinch spoke volumes about the demon’s infamy, and yet the blast that followed had an even more profound effect. 𝐑𝖆ɴȰβÈȘ

The Asura, having been briefed on this contingency plan, all flocked to the Automaton’s spherical base, forming a perimeter that kept the Aindri from getting too close. The retreat was instantaneous and unexpected, preventing the Aindri from reacting in time to avoid the devastating beams from the Automaton’s eyes.

Not that they’d have been able to, regardless.

The red beams cut through dirt and soldier alike, paying no heed to such mundane concerns as armor or arts. Vir knew from experience that the Automatons were vulnerable to Chakra-based magic, but only at close range. The few attacks that reached the Colossus petered out well before connecting, proving that its massive stature was a defense in and of itself.

Chitran and Aindri screamed, galloping away on their mounts to flee the devastation—but to no avail. No creature in this realm could hope to outrun those beams of light. Wherever they shone, Vir’s enemies died by the dozens.

Even more devastating was that the beams, powered by prana from the Ashen Realm, never stopped.

They carved unceasing lines of death and destruction from demon to demon, leaving mangled corpses and severed bodies in their wake.

“Enough!” Jagath said after barely a few seconds had passed.

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Vir immediately called for Saunak to stop, which, surprisingly, he did, and without much grumbling at that.

“Enough of this,” Jagath said, looking extremely distraught at the Automaton. “No demon should wield that kind of power. Not even you.”

Vir shrugged. “I would agree, but I don’t believe you’re in any position to make demands. Will you retreat?”

“Yes,” Jagath said slowly. “I believe I have more than fulfilled my duty here. The rest is up to the Chitran.”

He turned, already preparing to move away. “I hope we meet again, Raja Jagath Aindri,” Vir said, using the enemy king’s full name. “And I hope that you’ll be an ally in our new world order.”

The Raja, however, was already gone.

Cirayus placed a hand on Vir’s shoulder, a conflicted look on his face.

“Well, it worked,” Vir said, “but I have no desire to say ‘I told you.’ In fact, I don’t think I will ever use Saunak in battle again. The stress is just too much to bear.”

“It pleases me to hear you say that, lad,” Cirayus said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But our work here is not yet over. I will have Balagra and Ayan have our troops follow the Aindri to ensure they don’t get any ideas about returning.

“As for us, I believe Samar Patag calls.”

Vir nodded.

The battle might have been won, but what of the war?

Vir looked to the city walls, where fires still smoldered in the distance—the dying embers and dissipating smoke evidence of the carnage that had been wrought.

He only hoped his allies had succeeded in his absence.

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Maiya had quite the situation on her hands, having been given the responsibility of breaching Samar Patag’s castle to get to the Chitran forces reported to be holed up inside.

Though one of the smallest castles Maiya had encountered in either realm, its walls were tall, ramparts wide, and it seemed the designers had installed murderholes and pitfalls wherever they could. The castle offered its defenders excellent protection and innumerable spots from which to attack an invading force.

Sonam it was not, though neither did Maiya have an army of tens of thousands.

Ashani, meanwhile, was still putting out fires, which meant Maiya had to rely on the resources she did have on hand. Which was, quite frankly, quite the arsenal, albeit an unconventional one.

Along with a hundred of the Pagan Order demons she’d recruited, she had a handful of Asuras and a dozen of Ekat’ma’s Iksana spies, all of whom possessed Vir’s Dance of the Shadow Demon art that allowed them to move between shadows—and, more importantly, carry others with them.

“Let’s focus on what we know,” she told the remaining troops arrayed before her. They’d taken over a larger building a few streets from the castle’s walls, which they used as a makeshift command center.

“The enemy has both stronger demons as well as a fortified position,” she said to her attentive crowd, thankful that this included the Asuras. Despite being a stranger and a human, they listened to her with as much respect as they did Vir. Something Maiya actually found somewhat intimidating, considering each and every one of them far outstripped even the strongest Talent Wielders in the Human Realm. Maiya tried not to concentrate on that.

“As such, we need to be smart about this. Our Iksana will ferry our Asuras and Order demons to unoccupied rooms within the castle. Closets, storerooms—whatever. Just pick the closest rooms to the main audience chamber.”

Thankfully, her Iksana intelligence far outstripped anything the Chitran had. So long as they were cautious, detection was a non-issue. And Maiya was nothing if not cautious.

There would be no repeat of her disastrous Sonam operation today. She’d make amply sure of that.

“When everyone’s in place, I’ll give the signal, and we storm the audience chamber. Is there anyone in there we care about?”

“A few,” an Iksana said. “The orphan mother, the old seer, and a handful of others.”

“Less than a dozen?” Maiya asked.

The Iksana nodded.

“Good. Then when I give the word, I want you all to rise from the shadows and snatch them out of the room. It’ll be a bloodbath in there, so I want them out and safe. Understood?”

Everyone nodded.

“Then let’s begin. Find an Iksana and begin preparing. The final fight is upon us. Let us not disappoint the Akh Nara.”

In the Human Realm, Maiya would have expected shouts and cheers, but these demons just gave her solemn nods before shuffling off.

Given their larger and ganglier frames, the Iksana cast shadows long enough to let them transport all but the largest demons, though with only a dozen, the process would take some time. Maiya only hoped they wouldn’t arrive too late to save those in need.

At the same time, she had no desire to fight in the narrow castle hallways where her superior numbers would be negated against the Chitran arts. In the audience chamber, they could at least bring the full force of their numbers to bear, and Maiya had a nasty surprise planned.

“Ashani,” Maiya asked when the goddess rejoined her minutes later. “I assume your Gates within the castle are still active?”

Ashani shook her head. “I’m afraid not. They’ve all been disabled somehow. I suspect the Chitran found a way to disrupt the stability of my Ash Gates. Not terribly difficult, I’m afraid.”

“I see. But there’s nothing stopping you from making another one, yes?”

“Of course,” Ashani said. “Once established, however, they will be subject to the same weaknesses as the others.”

“That’s all right,” Maiya replied, dismissing her concern. “We won’t need to ferry troops through them. I’ve already taken care of that.”

Annas devising a solution against Ashani’s Gates came as a surprise, but she guessed he’d have stationed a heavy guard around them, at the very least. Anyone passing through would be extremely vulnerable to counterattack, and even if Ashani had created a half dozen Gates, their troop deployment would have still faced bottlenecks.

“No,” she said. “I just need you to make one Gate. A very special Gate for our special enemies,” Maiya said, an evil smile curling on her lips.

With the final piece of the puzzle in place, Maiya joined her troops in a storeroom. All twelve Iksana were present and ready, and after confirming that all was in order, she gave the order.

“Get them out to safety. Return here after.”

There was no reply from the elite spies as they sunk into their shadows, disappearing in an instant.

It took a mere handful of seconds before they all resurfaced, one after another.

“No problems?”

“It is done, Rajni,” their leader, Ekat’Ma, said.

Maiya nodded her thanks, and only then lifted her communications orb and whispered into it. “Ashani? If you will. Let me know once you’ve collapsed the Gate,” Maiya said.

“Creating the Mahādi Gate now,” Ashani confirmed.

Maiya waited with bated breath. Ashani’s follow-up didn’t take long.

“The Gate has been collapsed, but please be wary of residual prana. I do not think it should be lethal, as the Gate was only open for a short time, but the prana in that realm is quite dense.”

That’s an understatement, Maiya thought, considering it was dense enough to explode human bodies in less than a second.

She could only hope her Order demons could withstand whatever lingered in that hall. The experience wouldn’t be comfortable for any of them, but Maiya had faith they’d power through.

“All forces, move out!” Maiya commanded into her orb.

Demons burst from nearly every door, flooding the hallways adjacent to the audience chamber and taking it by storm.

As Maiya had hoped, all they found were bodies—Chitran and Aindri soldiers—as well as Annas, who sat calmly upon the throne.

Vir’s throne.

He was the only survivor.

“Impressive entrance,” Annas said in a casual demeanor, though the blood dripping from his nose betrayed the act. “Quite the neat trick you have there. I admit, I did not expect that.”

“Nor did you expect to lose this foolish offensive,” Ashani said, stepping through a freshly created Gate behind Maiya. “You are trespassing on the lands of my friend. Your forces have been destroyed and now, you are surrounded. Do you surrender?”

Annas’s casual demeanor cracked, and though he didn’t grovel as most did, he did bow his head respectfully.

He was either a convincing actor, or the action was genuine. Maiya honestly couldn’t tell which.

“Goddess Ashani,” he said, “it grieves me to find us on opposite sides of this war.”

“You are in full control of that situation,” Ashani said.

“As much as it pains me to refuse, I’m afraid I cannot. For the sake of my people—the Chitran—I cannot back down.”

“Vir is trying to help your people, Annas,” Maiya said. “You know this.”

Though she had a tough time reading the monkey race’s expressions, the look on Annas’ face told her all she needed to know.

Whether because she was human or a woman, he clearly looked down on her. Regardless of which, Maiya was repulsed by this demon. She’d seen his kind before and knew his words to be hollow.

Annas would never bear a single thought for the welfare of his people. People like him fought for glory, for rulership—for power.

“I’m afraid I will not be surrendering today,” Annas said. “Nor is there anything you can do to harm me.”

“Oh?” Maiya asked, growing irritated by his haughty demeanor. Couldn’t he see he’d lost? “And why is that?”

“It’s quite simple,” Annas said. “You see, I’ve outfitted fifty children with explosive collars, as well as those demons you whisked away just now. Should anything untoward happen to me, they will all die.”