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Readers who enjoy the premise of a strong main character like Ei will definitely like my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
South of Qohor
Chiyo looked down at the ravenous horde. They were charging forward with a frenzy you would not see in the living. All humans in various states of decay, the horde seemed to be buzzing with the nefarious magic they had encountered all over the empire so far.
The swarm was not that far off from the position the army had taken.
"This is nothing more than a delaying tactic," Kage said, standing next to her on the dragon's head.
"Then we deal with them swiftly and push forward. It won't take Ei and Sasayuri long to clear Freedom's Bay and join us."
"Provided there is anything left to clear," Kage said. So far, the number of people they saved was abysmal compared to the Empire's population.
Chiyo's lips tightened. "Let's go back and get ready."
—
"General Chiyo. All units are in position."
"Fire as soon as the enemy is in range. We have to reach Qohor without losing any more time," she ordered. This battle would be challenging, but victory was in sight.
"Understood."
—
The chaotic but clustered structure of the swarm was disrupted with violent falling stars. The artillery fired at maximum range to destroy as much of the enemy as possible before the horde reached the lines created by the warmachines.
The mindless undead made for easy targets, but the constant need for corrections prevented a steady rate of fire.
Chiyo and Kage knew the artillery alone wouldn't be able to stop the enemy. The dragon would be used once it had more time to recharge. Fighting a god had depleted much of its energy.
She watched the purple spots leave holes in the grey and black mass, only for them to be quickly filled. She tilted her head, lowering the binoculars to rub her eyes. Artillery wiped out dozens, but the size of the horde did not seem to shrink.
"You noticed it too," Kage said.
"Something else is at play."
"We need another reconnaissance flight."
Chiyo nodded. "I'll get the dragon ready."
—
Artillery encampments fell silent as the Thunder Dragon took off.
Chiyo peered down at the undead, searching for anything more out of the ordinary. Something was replenishing the numbers of the horde. Without destroying the source, the army would be overrun.
Scanning such a large number was time-consuming. Time, which they did not have.
"I don't see anything." Kage, even with her advanced body, had a difficult time finding any clues.
"Damn it."
"Maybe we can redirect the undead. Give them something else to chase."
Chiyo nodded, patting the dragon on the head. It descended, still above the horde but close enough for them to attack. She drew her sword and swung. Waves of electro energy cut through the walking dead, splitting the corpses in half. Kage joined with Engulfing Lightning, firing a concentrated beam, turning flesh to ash.
She stopped, lowering her naginata. She squinted, focusing on the ground.
"Wait, stop." She laid a hand on Chiyo's shoulder.
"Did you see something?"
"I think so." She spread her feet apart and swung the naginata with all her strength. The force of the attack sent the corpses flying away. She spun with the attack and jumped.
Her eyes glowed with power.
Landing in the middle of the clearing, she twirled the naginata, creating a purple, deadly umbrella to widen the clearing. An electric lash leaped from the blade of her weapon, pulling a corpse to her.
She bisected it in the air, letting the parts of the corpse hit the ground.
It melted into the earth, confirming what she had seen. She leaped up, creating a shockwave in her wake, and landed on the dragon.
"Whatever the source is, it's underground," she screamed to her horned friend.
She leaned down, looking straight at the dragon's eye. "Launch me up," she said and ran to the end of the tail.
The dragon's body curled upwards. When she was at the last segment, decorated with wood shaped like intertwined lightning bolts, the body snapped down. The segments came down as a wave. The force sent her soaring through the sky.
Before she could start to fall, she flipped in the air, facing the ground.
Spinning with electro energy gathered at the tip of her naginata pointing down, she didn't know how deep the source of the undead was. It was not the time to take chances.
The world turned into a blur. She didn't even feel the impact on the ground. The only indication was the spiraling blur taking a dark color.
When her momentum died and she looked around inside the crater, a dark-purple orb of light zipped away. She leaped after it in pursuit.
The orb was not only fast but somehow intelligent enough to take unpredictable turns. She cut through the swarm, each step propelling her forward at untraceable speeds.
Chiyo joined the chase, letting herself free-fall. Seeing the oni in her peripheral vision, Kage fired small electro bolts, pushing the orb towards her.
She waited with her sword drawn, ready to strike.
The orb suddenly dove to the ground, trying to burrow again. Chiyo struck the ground and pulled her sword forward. Her enhanced strength tore the ground up in warmachine-sized chunks.
Using the dirt as cover, Kage danced between each one and brought the naginata down. The orb was perfectly split in half vertically, spasming in the air.
It detonated, expelling black clouds high up in the sky.
The swarm of undead stalled but did not stop. They were walking in different directions, bumping into one another. Then the cloud let out a mind-numbing shriek. The undead groaned as if in pain, which concerned the oni and the puppet.
What was this creature to cause pain to the dead?
The cloud condensed, taking the shape of a humanoid skeleton. Its hands were large enough to hold either of them as toys, connected to an upper body with a third eye, a dark orb in a purple field.
It did not have a lower body, though, and seemed to have no need for it. It was preparing to attack, but Kage and Chiyo acted first. They darted in from opposite directions, crossing paths in front of the creature, striking in a zigzag pattern. The ribs, the neck, and, finally, the third eye were cut in a crisscrossing pattern. Landing on the sides where they started, the two leaped up and forward again. When the sword met the naginata, the force disintegrated the entity sliced apart.
They each twirled their weapons once, waiting.
The undead were not neutralized with the death of the creature. As the closest living beings, they became the target. Leaping on the dragon's back at the same time, Chiyo ordered it to return.
—
She landed near the artillery command, giving them the command to fire. The creatures were charging forward again, though this time without the ability to replenish their numbers.
Weaponized lightning struck the enemy once more. Purple domes created gaps in the horde that were filled slowly this time. With the time they lost on hunting the source, the undead were collapsing on the army quickly.
Men took their places behind the warmachines, guns at the ready. Chiyo and Kage stood in front of the metal line, waiting to greet the horde at close range.
The warmachine operators were ordered to fire once the enemy was in range, and the artillery barrels barely warmed up before they joined the chorus.
Each shot killed dozens, but the sheer numbers would be upon them soon. The oni and the god creation lashed out with purple waves from their weapons simultaneously with the infantry.
Every second that passed, the horde swarmed closer. The two were ready to dive into the fray and draw attention to give the army more time.
The dragon lumbered out of the camp. It did not have the time to charge properly but still had enough to buy more time for the army. Electro beams smaller than what it usually fired pushed the line back, cutting down the horde like a harvester going over grass.
The battle became one of attrition.
Line after line, the dead fell in droves. The nonstop fighting tired the men out first. The supplies were plenty, but without the soldiers to use them, they were useless. As the sun began to set, aim faltered, and the uniform fire broke down. The barrels heated gradually, but they could not afford to silence the guns.
The support corps rushed to the field, taking away the soldiers who fainted from exhaustion. The ones who could continue were fed with their own hands even as they continued to fire.
The Thunder Dragon eventually ran out of energy, but not before one last daring move. Rather than being before the soldiers and blocking their line of fire, it rose as high as possible. The massive body blocked the clear moonlight for a moment. Then it fell on the horde, crushing hundreds and sending hundreds more flying away.
It lay there, dividing the horde into two. The decrease in the enemy's speed gave the royal army room to breathe.
Until the morning, the battle continued.
—
Chiyo screamed, bringing down her blade on the final undead in sight.
Its head rolled to the side, its rotten body finally embracing death. She fell on her knees, sword stabbed into the ground, and took deep breaths. Saiguu might have improved her body beyond what even the toughest oni would be capable of, but even she had a limit. Fighting against a horde over a million and a half strong seemed to be it.
The only one who could still stand up was Kage. Her robust constitution as a puppet kept her going beyond what anyone else could.
"Are you alright?" Kage asked, laying a hand on her shoulder.
She nodded, pushing herself up with a groan. "I will be. As soon as I sleep for two weeks."
The sun was rising from the east, but a small shadow fell on her. She raised her head, seeing Ei come down.
"You are late to the party."
"I wouldn't call this a party."
"Can I leave the cleanup to you? I really need to rest."
"Do so, you and everyone else," she ordered, turning to the dragon. Her creation was buried under a hill of corpses, covered in decaying flesh and blood turned putrid. The clear skies darkened with clouds. Divine lightning struck the Thunder Dragon, recharging it in an instant. Organic material stuck to the dragon turned to ash, allowing it to rise relatively clean.
"Burn the bodies," she ordered.
The dragon turned around to carry out its orders.
She helped Chiyo to her feet, guiding her inside to rest. Men were asleep wherever they had fallen—inside and over the warmachines, on the ground, and every place with a flat surface.
"They were awake since yesterday morning, preparing."
"Let them rest. They have more than earned it."
She found Chiyo's tent, decorated with more blades than any person would use. She helped her to the bedroll, wishing her a good sleep. As everyone else was in the same state and she loathed the idea of waking men and women who had fought so hard, Ei chose to help the dragon clear the corpses.
The army would need a day or two to be ready to march again. The sheer amount of rotting bodies would wipe any army out with sickness. She also wanted to show these poor people at least a sliver of respect in death by burning the corpses.
There was nothing else she could do for them for now.
Quietly, she released a sphere of lightning around herself. The heat turned the organic matter to ash the moment it came in contact. She floated throughout the half of the field closer to the army camp while the dragon burned the other half.
Thus, the Field of Ash came to be known.
—
Once the mess was cleared and the air no longer stank of decay, Ei returned to the camp. The soldiers were still tired, with the support corps running around the clock to see to their needs. She kept out of the way on purpose. The men would tire themselves out at her presence, trying to appear as if they had not fought for hours.
The situation was urgent, but forcing the soldiers beyond what was reasonable would not help. When Chiyo woke up, she would get a full report and move forward accordingly.
Sasayuri was marching to catch up to them after leaving a portion of the army to protect the ships. Time constraints meant they could not wait, but the path to Qohor seemed open. They just had to find and kill R'hllor permanently this time, and they could return home.
—
"Report," she ordered, serious as she had to be.
"The enemy used another artifact, most likely taken from Kandac. An army of undead, a million and a half strong, was detected a day away from our position. We dug in and prepared to annihilate the horde. However, no matter how many we destroyed, they seemed to easily replenish. We discovered an artifact underground and destroyed it, and the creature inside," Chiyo reported.
"Which makes three now," Ei commented. Kandac would have to be dealt with after this.
"The rest was a matter of destroying the horde before they overran our position," Kage supplied.
The Electro Archon nodded. "Your actions were exemplary. Each and every single member of this army has proven why they were a part of the greatest army in this world. Let this be a monument to your victory and granting salvation to the dead."
The command staff, except Chiyo and Kage, stood at attention, invigorated by the small speech. "For the Kingdom, for Her Excellency."
"No," she raised a hand, stopping the cheering, "for all of us."
"For all of us." They echoed her words in earnest.
—
The army marched two days after the Battle of the Field of Ash. Their target was Qohor, to finally and hopefully put an end to this madness. Maegor Targaryen had not been sighted for the entire duration of the war. He had nowhere left to hide except the City of Grain.
It was also where she would find R'hllor.
Capturing the High Archon would go a long way in avenging the dead, though she could not help but wonder if he was simply a puppet. R'hllor was certainly mighty by this world's standards. It could have easily subverted Maegor without resorting to strength.
The Unified Kingdom was aware of the rumors only spoken in hushed tones in the darkest corners of the empire. One included the fact that Maegor and his mother had died once. R'hllor's vile sorcery resurrected them in return for a great cost. Maegor's mental health problems were known, no matter the lengths he had gone to hide them.
Nothing would be certain until the man was captured and questioned, if he were not just another casualty in R'hllor's scheme.
—
In the next chapter:
Qohor's sky was burning.
A pillar rose to the clouds, trying to burn the heavens. Ei could recognize when space was being manipulated, and this felt like the enemy was trying to hammer its way through. She didn't know where the tear would lead to.
She also didn't wish to learn.
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