BOOK 5: CHAPTER 48

I arrived on the deck of the corvette to a hero’s welcome, but there was more than just Captain Teng and his men there to welcome me. Vice Admiral Tau Lai was onboard as well, along with what had to be his entire officer’s cadre and two platoons of soldiers dressed in ceremonial robes to serve as an honor guard.

“Listen in, men!” the admiral shouted, and his troops braced at attention. “The company shall perform an Imperial Salute! A high honor reserved for royalty. Although it be premature, let us be the first to welcome the Imperial Marshal home, as the liberator of the cursed planet of Dokumu and the soon to be crowned Duke of the Imperial Realm! All Hail the Iron Marshal!”

“To the Iron Marshal!” the troops shouted, and then they repeated in a chant.

“The Iron Marshal!”

“The Iron Marshal!”

It was an echo of Mal’Kira’s toast earlier, but this came with far more pomp and fanfare. Horns blew and swords were raised high along with the chanting, and then they began singing the Imperial Anthem as well. I was developing a real love-hate relationship with the empire now. I had no love for how they went about doing things most times, especially the upper echelons of society, but I couldn’t help but get a little choked up at stuff like this.

Or maybe it was just the military aspect that I connected with.

Either way, it forced me to give a salute of my own to the hundreds of soldiers now honoring me for having accomplished something that no one thought possible. But here I was. A living legend in their midst.

The Vice Admiral said a few more words of congratulations before dismissing his men and then all hell broke loose for the second time that day. Only instead of hordes of revenants swarming at me, it was soldiers clamoring for my attention.

“Iron Marshal, look here!”

“Sign this for me please!”

“What was it like down there?”

“Yes, what happened? Tell us, Iron Marshal!”

The questions came fast and furiously and thankfully my bodyguard, Mal’Kira, formed a physical barrier between me and them with a swift raise of her hand.

“One at a time, soldiers,” she said in her booming voice. “And it wasn’t just him down there, you know? You can ask me and Captain Teng’s men as well. We all fought the undead horrors of Dokumu.”

That was like throwing several pieces of bait into the water and the crowd disbursed to circle the individual soldiers along with Blue Rose. I gave Mal’Kira an appreciative smile and she winked at me in return.

I was able to hide behind her, dodging most of the questions while Teng’s men retold their war stories and kept their fellow soldiers enthralled. But eventually the questions all turned to the elephant in the room. Battling zombie skeletons on a beach was one thing, but there was an even bigger mystery to unfold.

“So how did you lift the curse?”

The question came from Vice Admiral Tau Lai, but as soon as he said it a familiar voice echoed him.

“Yes, how did you manage to do it, Marshal?” Zin Tai stepped from behind me, eager to learn of the hidden truths of the dark world.

Shit…this was the moment I’d been dreading.

He was way too smart to be bullshitted, but on the other hand, he had only my word to go on as to what really happened down there. And I had been piecing together my own version of events the entire ride up from the surface. ṘÄɴöΒĚŠ

I pulled out the busted shackle and chain I’d recovered from the Chainmainden’s corpse and showed it to him. “Looks like the tales in that story book turned out to be somewhat true.”

The crowd hushed with suspense as Zin Tai slowly took hold of the shackle.

His eyes then widened as he examined it. “This is radiating with Dark Qi. Is this what I think it is?”

“The shackles of Lysandra herself,” I said. “The entire curse was the result of a failed ascension just like the story said. She became a revenant and her powers to regenerate and prolong life became corrupted. Instead of restoring life, she created undeath and it spread across the entire planet. But as soon as I destroyed her, the natural world came back immediately.”

“It’s true,” Sergeant Xu said. “Those sharks attacked us as soon as the undead curse was lifted.”

I was thankful for Xu backing me up on that point. Even though it had nothing to do with the lie I just told, it added authenticity to the whole story. Not that it was a lie exactly. It was the truth minus the whole god of Dark Frenzy part.

“How did you manage to defeat her?” Tau Lai asked. “Or even survive for that matter. So many others, even Lesser Deity Realm cultivators have gone and never returned.”

I cracked a grin and shrugged with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “Same reason most don’t survive the Hell Worlds, I guess. You need more than just strength to endure the horrors of the unnatural. Mental and spiritual fortitude is what got me through where others perhaps failed.”

That part wasn’t bullshit.

Any normal cultivator would have been driven mad and torn to pieces by the revenants long before they ever reached I’xol’ukz. It was only through the strength of my [Sacred Soul Shield] that I was able to even reach the epicenter.

“Oh,” Zin Tai said, sounding disappointed. “So that was it then? Just a revenant?”

“Yeah. Well. An army of revenants, but who’s counting?”

That got a bunch of laughs from the men.

Zin Tai smiled. “So no evidence of the demon in the story? The one the Soul Emperor was supposed to have sealed? Ai Zhul Ugh, was it?”

Shit...

It wasn’t the name exactly, but the sound was close enough to the real deal to make me flinch. It came from that small piece of text Xi Xha had originally found back in the library on Earth. They’d gotten the spelling wrong, so to speak, but they were referring to the right thing.

And Zin Tai noticed it too.

He raised a brow at me questioningly, waiting for an answer.

I piled on as much [Indifference] and [Struggler’s Resolve] as I could muster. “Nah. Nothing like that. Maybe she became the demon, just like in the book.”

Zin Tai nodded slowly, but the look in his eye said he wasn’t completely buying it.

I’d revealed a glimpse into the unknown and he’d spotted it.

Still, we were out in the open and it was nothing he could say against it.

“Yes,” Zin Tai said, matching my level of bullshitting. “Perhaps.”

“Alright, enough storytelling,” Tau Lai said. “Marshal, I understand you have a trial to get to, back on the core worlds.” He then laughed. “Honestly, I feel sorry for the poor bastard that’s about to face you.”

“Bitch,” I corrected.

His eyes widened. “What?”

“It’s a girl. Literally.” Images of that freaky little twelve-year-old sprung to my mind. “Well, she looks like a girl anyway, even though she’s close to a hundred or something.”

“He is referring to the Lady Rhe Su Long of the Twin River Clan,” Zin Tai said. “A prodigy in her own right, having reached the Sacred Soul Realm at only ten or so. Rumor has it she has ascended to the Lesser Deity Realm in preparation for this match with the Iron Marshal.”

Tau Lai merely laughed. “Well, she’ll damn well need to be a god, going up against a bastard as tough as this!”

He slugged me on the shoulder and that netted me more laughs and a shit load of lemonade.

“I’ll send word of your success via Qi Stone,” Tau Lau said. “My princess will be thrilled to hear the news. Probably grant us a holiday for it. So you’d better not lose your match or she’ll be vexed you won’t be part of the parade.”

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He laughed again but he probably wasn’t joking.

I didn’t know who his princess was. Valerina or something he had mentioned earlier, but she was high up in the rankings. Single digits when it came to being heir to the throne if I recalled. Having favor from someone like that, would fall well above the petty squabble that was happening between Lunalah and her half-sister.

But whatever the deal, none of it would matter if I wound up dead.

“No worries,” I said. “Defeat is not an option.”

Tau Lai smiled. “That’s the spirit that liberated Dokumu. Good luck to you, Iron Marshal. I look forward to seeing you on my home world someday.”

He gave me a deep bow and I returned it with a handshake.

“A custom from my home world,” I said. “Thanks Admiral. See you soon, I hope.”

As we made way to depart, I immediately set about cultivating to replenish my depleted Dantian. I had three days to heal naturally to bank the physical and spiritual gains from my fight with I’xol’ukz and get back to peak condition again.

I’d saved my son and now it was time to save my marriage.

And I couldn’t waste a second doing so.

* * *

Princess Lunalah folded her arms with disgust as she overlooked the frozen barren waste that was the surface of the planet Luxor. She was upon one of the many observation platforms floating hundreds of feet above the snow-covered ground, granting a full view of the arena that was technically the entire surface of the planet.

The platforms would move with the battle, or so the arena officials had explained.

But still it did not serve her purposes any.

“I still don’t see why an exception can’t be made,” she said. “This is the announcement of my engagement to a true hero of the realm. It’s the most significant thing to happen to the empire in centuries. It shouldn’t be upon a dreary world such as this.” She looked to her mother, Empress Revenah, who had joined her on the excursion to survey the stadium in advance. “Please mother, you must beseech them to hold the trial on Scalia or Yee Guo at the very least.”

“Are you mad, girl?”

The answer came not from her mother, but her worthless concubine, Jin Yoo Sai.

“I was not asking you.”

His salt and pepper brows lowered into a scowl. “Your willful ignorance knows no bounds. Do you know how much it took for me to arrange this much already? You should be thanking the heavens that your Iron Marshal was successful. He truly has earned a hero’s reprieve, but this is the official arena.”

Empress Revenah chuckled and patted Lunalah lightly on the cheek. “There there, child. I know its disappointing, but the councilman speaks the truth. As droll as this world may be, it is the seat of the empire. Or it shall become so, once these theatres are filled. The entirety of civil society will be gathered for your trial and will be eagerly awaiting its outcome. Trust me dear, your announcement will have the audience it deserves.”

Lunalah frowned, looking out at the city sized skiffs hovering over the surface. One of them housed the Omni Gate which had just transported them from the Golden City of Yee Guo to the barren, frozen world below. There were five more platforms which held seating for hundreds of thousands and the full infrastructure of a town to service them. Today they were all barren of course, but with the trial to take place in only two days, the platforms were abuzz with laborers erecting stalls and stocking supplies. Below them was a smaller platform, barely bigger than a normal sized stadium itself, but its importance was far above all the others. There the trial proper would take place, complete with barristers and court officials, right before the martial defense would begin. It housed the entire High Council and the three members that would form the tribunal that would decide her fate.

But she could care little about that.

Her fate was already destined.

Her Iron Bull was victorious just like she knew he would be.

And now he was returning a Duke fit to marry her.

“I also don’t understand why they would not grant him his title before the trial,” Lunalah said. “It’s ridiculous! He fulfilled his end of the bargain and the High Council needs to do the same!”

“Careful with that tongue,” Jin Yoo Sai snapped. “If any of the other councilmen were to hear you say that, they might vote against the motion completely.”

“That still doesn’t make it fair.”

“No, it makes it more than fair,” he said. “And in your favor, you daft child.”

“Mother you see how he speaks to me?”

“Hush Lunalah. I trust the councilman Jin Yoo Sai’s judgment on this. He would not have suggested it, if it did not make sense.”

Lunalah’s mouth fell open. “You suggested it?”

“Of course I did.”

Anger swelled within her. “Why?! Why would you do such a thing?”

“Because it would have affected the match making of your trial otherwise,” he said.

“What?” She looked to her mother for answers. “I don’t understand. What has he done?”

“Darling, your betrothed to be is already up against a Lesser Deity Realm Cultivator due to his status as an Imperial Marshal. If he were to be made a Duke before the match, they would have the right to adjust yet again.”

“Exactly,” Jin Yoo Sai said. “He already faces the Lady Rhe Su Long, but would you rather him face the likes of Lady Silph, or King Theos?”

Lunalah knew those names well. The fabled heroes of the empire that liberated the native worlds from the curse of the Bloodmoons. Even her own. Despite what she felt, she knew that what Jin Yoo Sai said was true.

“And besides,” Revenah said. “It would do you well to hold a little insurance, in this whole matter, dear.”

“Insurance? What do you mean, mother?”

Revenah smirked. “Meaning the Iron Bull will need to successfully defend you in the ring to receive his title. Else he could simply refuse to be your proxy and you’d have to defend yourself.”

“No,” Lunalah said. “He couldn’t do that… He wouldn’t do that!”

“I would,” Jin Yoo Sai muttered with a grin, and they both shared a quick laugh.

“Mother!”

“Hush darling,” Revenah said. “It’s just a jest. I’m sure your Iron Bull is quite madly in love with you and this will cause him to fight even harder for you. But Jin Yoo Sai is right. As a Duke he would no longer be your subject. He could rightly reject your commands and he would nearly match you in royal title, especially as you are only a Third Princess.”

The words stabbed her like a knife.

Only a Third Princess.

The phrase had haunted her, her entire life.

Anger burned within her.

Her own mother even saw her as such a lowly disgrace.

“That will change once we are married,” Lunalah said. “You will see. You will all see.”

“Bold words, if not somewhat premature,” someone said.

Lunalah stiffened at the sudden intrusion.

She glanced over her shoulder and her breath caught.

Approaching her were two women accompanied by an entourage of imperial guards and other personnel. She recognized them immediately, only because she had seen them briefly perhaps a century before, but she knew them now by their words far better than their faces. But to see them here and now, in the flesh, sent a river a fear fluttering through her soul and she instinctively stepped closer to her mother, as if for protection.

“If it isn’t little Lunalah,” Princess Rheutera said with a leering grin.

She stood almost a head shorter than her, a girl barely out of her teens, yet her presence caused Lunalah to cower inside. Next to her was a much older woman, crone-like with a stooped neck, but just as threatening when it came to presence.

Her older half-sister, Ul’Vera.

Suddenly all the spiteful letters she had written to them came flooding back and she feared they might attack her at any moment. Her heart thundered in her chest. Lunalah tried to find some reply, but fear dried her mouth leaving it ajar.

“Well, if it isn’t two of my most favorite Stepdaughters,” Empress Revenah said with a practiced smile and bow.

Ul’Vera and Rheutera did likewise, with small curtsies suitable for their station when addressing an Empress.

“Greetings Empress Revenah,” Rheutera said. “I bring greetings in the name of my Mother Empress Lai Wan.”

“I pray she is doing well,” Revenah said and then she looked to Ul’Vera. “And Princess Ul’vera… so good to see you. I trust your mother is still…?”

She let the words hang and the look of disgust on Ul’vera’s face said it all.

“Yes, still crippled,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“Oh…” Revenah said. “I was going to say recovering. But good on you to not sugar coat the truth. It’s perhaps better for her to accept it after all this time.”

Lunalah smiled inwardly. Her mother knew just how to handle these wenches.

“It’s so sad when an ascension does not go as planned,” Revenah said. “But I pray the heavens are still merciful to her.”

“As I pray the heavens will be merciful to your own daughter during her trial,” Ul’vera said and then looked to Lunalah. “At a loss for words, little sister? Does your tongue fail you?”

“Perhaps we need fetch her a quill,” Rheutera said.

The two of them burst into laughter and Lunalah’s heart fell through the ground.

Panic gripped her mind as she tried to formulate a retort.

But nothing came.

Like always…nothing came!

“Greetings to you both,” Jin Yoo Sai said, acting as a distraction. “I see you have wisely come to inspect the grounds as we have. I trust you will claim good seats.”

“None as good as yours shall be, councilman,” Rheutera said with a head nod. “But I look forward to appearing in the plaintiff’s box.”

“Yes,” Revenah said. “And let us hope, after that day, we can put all this messy business behind us.”

“Indeed stepmother,” Rheutera said. “Let us hope for Lunalah’s sake that her proxy is able to vindicate her from what some would consider quite damning evidence of treason against your own husband.”

Revenah’s jaw flexed in a thinly veiled grimace, but she quickly turned it into a broad toothed smile. “I suppose we shall see who has selected the better proxy.”

“I have!” Lunalah blurted.

She regretted it almost as soon as she’d said it.

The jeering laughter that followed placed her right back in the lower courts again, being ridiculed by half-sisters far more powerful and influential than she was. Despite it all, she always managed to not say the right things.

“Are you certain?” Rheuter said and then she barked a sharp command over her shoulder.

A petite little girl stepped forward, younger even than Rheutera looked.

Not even a teen.

Lunalah had heard the stories, but to see the blue-haired Lady Rhe Su Long in the flesh was more than unnerving. The swell of her Dantian was palpable and she immediately understood why Rheutera could speak with such confidence.

Although she was but a girl, the cold stare in her sapphire eyes spoke of a power far greater than her own. Perhaps far greater than any of them on this platform with her. This was not a little girl.

This was a little god.

A lesser Deity on the same standing as King Theos or Lady Sylph.

Just the thought caused her heart to pound further and she was thankful for the laws of power that still gave someone like Princess Rheutera, a cultivator not even half as powerful, the divine right to command her like a dog.

“Greetings Third Princess,” Lady Rhe Su Long said, her adolescent voice laced with a power that rumbled deep within her soul. “I hear that your proxy has accomplished something remarkable, but don’t let that be any measure of what shall transpire in two days time. Clumsy luck is no replacement for true skill.”

Her words hung like a threat and then she smiled as if to confirm it.

“See you in two days, sister,” Rheutera said and then she bowed to both her and her mother.

As they departed, a sense of anxiety and dread filled Lunalah’s soul.

She looked to her mother for comfort, but the empress merely rolled her eyes.

“Shameless little bitches,” she said. “I hope your Iron Bull is up to the task. I do not want to be beholden to those two if he fails.”

Fails?

It was the first time such a thought had ever occurred to her.

In her mind there was no way he could lose.

He had accomplished so much already.

But to feel that power, just now.

She was not so sure.

“He was close to ascending, wasn’t he?” she asked Jin Yoo Sai. “Did they not say?”

“The communication spoke only of the lifting of the curse,” Jin Yoo Sai said. “Nothing more.”

The words left her as hollow as the gnawing desperation in her soul.

Dreams of marriage evaporated as the trial loomed before her like a guillotine.

Surely, he would fight for her and win.

Surely…