With the retreat of the invading forces, we all released a long sigh, but… the tension wasn’t released. If anything, it hung in the air and ratcheted with every passing second. The revelation of a gold rank, the hideous stag monster, and the usage of our flaming eye weapon put a damper on the mood.

  Still, with grim determination, we worked to clear the field. Terra moved earth like a dozer, shoving bodies into the pit. Together, we managed to pull even the giant stags remains into the pit, though, it had been mostly reduced to ash.

  Dinner was a quiet affair, and when we finished, the plates cleaned, we all silently convened for the after-action report. Nobody seemed to want to speak up first. Each of us were still processing what happened.

  “Well, that went better than I thought it would.” Ruth said, breaking the ice.

  “Yeah, even if we have to wait for the eye to replenish. Speaking of, how long will that take?” I agreed and questioned Faust.

  “A week… and sorry. I jumped the gun.”

  “I don’t really mind that you blew your load on that disgusting thing, hell, if I were in your position, I would have done the same.” Terra replied and we all agreed.

  “It had to die, of that I’m certain.” I agreed, as did the others.

  Our words helped to ease the pressure on Faust’s shoulders.

  Taking stock of everything, the losses were minimal. We did a good amount of damage to the enemy and as we tallied our gains, we found them to be fruitful. Consciously, we pulled out our event coins and counted the stacks. We all had roughly the same amount of coins.

  “One coin for every ten normal, looks like its shared between us all, about ten coins for the big ugly thing, and… about fifty for the weird shaman guys?” Terra mumbled, repeating what we had all learned after accounting for our kills.

  The math was odd, we recounted our kills once again, and it made the most sense.

  “The stag was bronze then?” I questioned, but that didn’t seem quite right. If silvers were worth a raw fifty, why was the stag worth ten? Back when we fought the heart… No, back in the first event, empowered zombies had been worth a raw coin, and the creatures in the depths had been worth ten coins a pop. Was there a correlation?

  “Aren’t there tiers among the ranks? Surely that’s the reason for the different value, right? Clearly, the stag was well beyond a normal bronze.” Faust posited and we all had to agree. The sheer aura and menace that stag gave off felt similar to those creatures in the depths, only… Mm… I couldn’t quite place it. For the price, those things in the depths weren’t nearly as menacing as the wicker beast had been… But what if, they weren’t at full power? Hell, the heart seemed a bit underwhelming for a supposed gold rank, especially when compared to the alraune.

  No… perhaps I was just overthinking things…

  “Either way, I think we have another issue… We fought mostly normal types, but where were the bronze ranks? The stag was probably one, but I highly doubt they have just one bronze. The casters at the back, that looked like shamans were clearly silver, and the leader gold, so where were the other bronze?”

  My question went unanswered, none of us knew.

  “So, what are we facing exactly?” Terra asks. “Weird tribals?”

  “No…” I refute almost immediately. All eyes focus on me, but I shut them out and think. Remembering passages in the book and the knowledge crammed into my brain.

  “I think… I think the storm may have been a side effect of a ritual, not a directed attack.”

  I started slowly, tasting the words on my tongue. Making sure they felt right and sounded right.

  “We’re probably dealing with demons of a sort.”

  “Demons?” Faust asked with clear curiosity.

  “Yeah… Based on how the vines react, likely the vines are part of a greater demon or something, but…”

  I sighed.

  “I really don’t know too much. Just that some of the knowledge crammed into my head allowed for substitutions. Instead of using my own soul as a base, I can make pacts or bind demons to operate bodies, inanimate, living, or dead.”

  “Oh, that sounds interesting, why haven’t you done that?” Faust asks, pressing in.

  “Cost, for one. Demons demand a price and even binding a demon can be costly. Not to mention the issue of loyalty. Demons are similar to mercenaries in a way, and I’d much rather have loyal, die-hard followers then a mercenary watching my back.”

  None of them argued with my position.

  “So, their demons, what do we do with that knowledge?”

  I shrug. “I have no idea, they might not even be demons, but the ritual they did was likely a sacrificial rite to summon the stag we saw.”

  “Sacrifice, as in they killed their own for it?” Faust asks, slightly hopeful.

  “About. So, if they do, their numbers will decrease quite a bit.” I didn’t need to say that if that happened, we’d be fighting more stags. Fighting normal enemies was better for morale, but their numbers alone could cause us issue.

  We were only five, they were hundreds, perhaps thousands… None of us had uniforms, which supposedly had defensive properties to them, based on what I saw from Grim. I wasn’t too sure about éclair, but it was possible she always wore her uniform, which was a bit strange. Then there was Black Hawk, Roman…

  Having seen four people wearing uniforms, I knew for a fact that they did something to enhance the durability of their wearer and possibly enhance their magic in some way. As we were now, a single bad hit could do serious damage, and a few lethal strikes could actually kill us, despite our hardy constitutions.

  “Were there more people in the bamboo?” I asked. Both Terra and Diva nodded. Neither had an exact number, but I doubt we did much damage to the overall group.

  How many shamans were left? Bronze ranks? Regulars? What was the gold ranks specialty?

  As we discussed, we came to a few conclusions.

  It was unlikely the gold rank could kill us on his lonesome. They could blitz through our defenses, but together and with my soldiers and my oni, we could hem him in and kill him. If he were to use his time to try and strike covert blows against us, he would likely lose more than he gained. He’d have a better chance doing so with support from wicker beasts and men.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Conversely, the missing bronze ranks put us in an awkward position. With them unaccounted for, we couldn’t even begin to plan around them. The shamans also presented a problem, mainly because we weren’t sure what they could do, beyond possibly reviving their fellows.

  The other, greatest issue was in terms of numbers and our time limit. We had a month’s worth of supply, and we had worked through half of it. Was our time truly limited? Were there other options? If a month passed, would we win automatically?

  “Hey… are we doing this right?” Terra spoke up, to all our confusion. “I mean, I don’t think we did anything wrong, but I’m wondering…” She pulled out the map we had of the surroundings. “Based on the smoke, where we are.” She began to mark the map with a marker she had brought, she even grabbed a second paper. “I know she mentioned it already, but maybe we should have focused on taking out the anchor point??”

  We all blinked.

  “I mean, supposedly, invaders have one. Couldn’t we have broken it? Or, even if it only appeared after the first twenty-four hours, could we have located it and destroyed it? Why did we take so long, and simply wait for them to appear?”

  Nobody had any arguments to that. None of us had bothered to explore very far. At best, Faust had mentioned that, while cutting the bamboo, he had tried to see how far he could go.

  I don’t much remember what he said at the time, and neither did he.

  “Do you think you could locate where the smoke had come from?” I had to ask.

  “Probably, I have a good eye for distances and such, working construction and what not, mining, and blah, blah, blah… But it’s at least a day’s trek, by my estimate.”

  A full day? We couldn’t afford it… at least, not now. We would be bogged down by numbers and even if I brought my soldiers, they were made of stone. They were slow and somewhat ponderous. It would take them far longer than a day to reach the destination, which I told the group after they asked if it were possible.

  “I don’t think we did anything wrong…” I finally said. “We did the best we could with what we knew, and had we known at the time… I don’t think we would have done anything different. And yes, we were warned, but… could we have actually found it? And also dealt with the?”

  Terra looked annoyed, but, “You’re probably right…” She did agree, as did everyone else. But…I couldn’t help but think that wasn’t the only mistake we were making...

  The meeting ended without a conclusive plan, nothing beyond what we were already doing. Night passed without much issue, and by morning I was staring up at the sky.

  None of us had been knocked out of commission yet. Faust was still going strong as well. I wanted to blame it on the full moon, which made me wonder…

  Was this normal? Or was it because we were in an event?

  In a normal invasion, would time flow as normal, and would we have to worry about losing our powers for a day? Would Faust have to worry about being at a quarter of his potential?

  It felt similar enough to when the first event happened, which meant some time shenanigans were definitely at work. However, for half a month to pass like this? A few days had put me off slightly, but half of a month?

  I didn’t even know where to begin to process that…

  I let out another sigh. My eyes, inevitably drawn to my oni, and the soldiers practicing their drills. Inevitably, I attracted attention as I sat on the front steps, not doing much.

  “I noticed you’ve been looking at your big soldier there.” It was Faust. Looking at him, I couldn’t imagine how difficult this must be for him. Surrounded by women as the sole man in the group. I’d thought nothing of it, but…

  There was a reason why he took the last bath period and the first watch. Unfortunately for him, since becoming a woman, my ability to keep my bladder under control has… diminished. Normally, after a night of good drinking, I’ll wake up at the darkest hours of the night and need to sleep.

  I never much had that issue before, nor did I think it would be an issue here, since we had no alcohol. Nor had I the foresight to bring any. Still, somehow, nature called, and I had stumbled downstairs at possibly the worst time.

  Nothing was said. I merely went on with my business and left him too it. The fact that he was even speaking to me had me thinking we had struck an accord… That or he was desperately trying to see if I would say anything.

  Terra wore conservative clothing for the most part, but she didn’t understand personal space so much. Which meant she often moved around, giving tantalizing peeks of her dusky skin, skin that clearly had seen less sun than other parts of her body. Diva was like a cute animal, even had animal print pajamas, which evoked a desire to protect her. Ruth was, she had a wild beauty to her. Her hair was surprisingly voluminous, like a lion’s mane. She was also somewhat muscular and fit her clothing well.

  Then, there was me… Objectively, I’d like to think I wasn’t a contributing factor, but thinking back on my actions, I knew that wasn’t the case. I tend to wear tracksuits through the day and sneakers, but after a nice hot bath I would wear shorts and a white shirt.

  I wasn’t blind to my own looks, or those of my fellow women as it were. I could hardly blame Faust for being who he is, a man. Simply ignoring what I saw and pretending to not have seen it was about the least I could do… As a courtesy.

  He wasn’t exactly a bad looking man either. The stubble on his face looked meticulously groomed. His hair as well looked well taken care of. With it pulled back into a ponytail, it surprisingly fit him. Almost like a scholarly warrior, or a more rugged Viking look if I wanted to be generous.

  “Uh… you okay there?” Faust asks, waving at me.

  “Hm? Ah, yeah, just thinking.” I reply back. “What were you asking?”

  He gives me a look. A long searching look. “You alright there? Anything you want to talk about?”

  Was he hinting towards that? I didn’t think so. “I’m not really sure, but it might be related to my oni over there.”

  “Oh? Is that why you’re looking at them?”

  “In part…” I pause. “It would be better to show you.” With a gesture and a command, my oni approaches.

  “Kneel.” I command and it falls to a knee, “Hand.” I command once more, with my hand extended. My oni extends their hand and places it atop my own.

  Turning to Faust, I speak to him. “Look at this? What do you see?”

  I pulse my magic into my oni’s arm. Lines pulse just under the surface, making themselves clear.

  “Er… magic channels?”

  “Yes, but what about them specifically?”

  “They look… off?”

  “They are jagged. Wrong. Not just that, but the channels didn’t properly marry with the stone. Do you understand what that means?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “I’m afraid I don’t.”

  “It means… this child, is crippled.”

  “Crippled?”

  “Yes, these lines were hastily made. I didn’t realize it at first, but… he is destined to never fully grow into his power. Not just that, but I had brute forced a delicate process, then the last issue, my lacking soul.”

  Faust stayed quiet, listening.

  “When I made this child, it had overdrawn me. Taken far too much from me. Draining all of my energy and even taking a chunk out of my soul. Not enough to be dangerous, but enough that I could feel it.”

  “Oh… is that why you’ve been oddly spacey lately?”

  “A little, though, I wasn’t aware it was that obvious.”

  “It can be, at times. I don’t know if the others picked up on it yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

  An uncomfortable thought… “No matter. I don’t believe it will affect me in a fight too much. What worries me though, is that I failed this child. If that makes any sense.”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure if I understand. Yes, you’re using your soul for them, but does that really matter? Can you even bring them out of this event? Would you be allowed too?”

  They were all good questions. Valid questions. Not that it made it feel any better.

  “Perhaps you’re right Faust, but… I can’t help but feel like I’ve failed this child. That by bringing them into this world a cripple, that I’ve done them a disservice.”

  Faust didn’t get to answer. Instead, it was my oni that did. It leaned further down and brought its arm around me, in what felt like a hug. A pulse of emotion, care, assurance.

  As if it were saying to me, that I did well enough. That it would serve well, that it was glad for the chance to live and serve as it did, no matter how short its life would be. Even as a cripple, it only knew joy at being alive, at having a purpose.

  “I suppose I don’t need to say anything…” Faust muttered. “I’ll just leave you to it then.”

  “Right…” I muttered back. My heart ached. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest, like a prisoner grasping at their prison cell bars. Crying, trying to let its voice be heard. Unfortunately, the ice was a bit too thick.

  With an ugly smile, I looked up at my oni. “Thank you.” I spoke, accepting its feelings, even when they felt like a hot brand, searing into my tired soul.

  With that, my oni stopped its embrace and went back to watching over the drills with newfound vigor. If anything, every soldier seemed newly alive. Pushing themselves ever further.

  My eyes drifted to the as of yet born soldiers. It wouldn’t be today, but definitely tomorrow based on how the energy was slowly gathering. Above, the flaming eye flickered, slowly siphoning energy from the ley line.

  Taking it all in, I let out a sigh.

  That evening, smoke once more bled into the sky. Bloody rain fell, crimson lightning lit up the darkness, and thunder boomed and cracked. It didn’t stop after a single day. It bled into the next day and the day after. The clouds grew thicker, the rain more torrential, the wind howled, carrying with it cries and screams. The very foundation we stood upon shook and quaked when lightning hit the ground. The land surrounding the castle was rent and torn.

  Then… On the start of the third week… They attacked.