Chương 531: BECMI Chapter 530 – Forsaken Even More!

I turned my gaze on their archcasters, who flushed beneath it as the Valences in their skulls pulsed under my attention.

"There are over five hundred Overmagi working for the Empire to protect the people here, and over six hundred Archpriests supporting them and their communities. They do not get to relax. They do not get to waste time. They do not get to fritter fortunes and magic away on impulse projects.

"This is not Delpha. We are at war with a force that has only one ambition, and that is to eat all of us alive, then go looking for more.

"Archcasters defend everyone else because the enemy archcasters are looking to kill all of us. Unlike them, we do not have the luxury of running away and leaving our lessers to die, abandoning our territory and setting up shop somewhere else. Our people are not grown in vats, artificially programmed with brainwashed memories, and instantly at Eighteen without requiring years of training and experience.

"You will be using more magic than you ever thought you would in your life, and you will be doing it repeatedly every single day. You have already seen what happens when you lapse your alertness, or you are not prepared for the enemy who is waiting. If you gaff off your duties, your people will die, we WILL know who to blame, and if you are dead weight who gets people killed, you will be sent alone to the front lines to die against creatures who do not gaff off their appetites."

The pressure was making them sweat, until I raised my gaze to the rest of the audience and allowed their leaders to gasp and shake in relief.

"This world is not Meandral. Meandral is unique for the amount of fire and air-based mana that flows through it. Because of that, fully half the children born there are capable of learning to use magic. It is an ideal area to settle if you wish to have children who can become spellcasters.

"Nown is more like the rest of the universe. Your Casters already know the magic feels thin here in strength, but the taste of it is far richer and more subtle than Meandral. There are far more forces and sources of magic here than exist upon your homeworld, and because of that, you can learn magicks here which simply don't exist and cannot be learned on Meandral and its skylands.

"The chance to learn those magicks will be available to those who earn the privilege. The Masters of the Seven Schools are the most respected magi on the planet, and even the most arrogant of the Carnifex step carefully around them. They have been trying to duplicate the powers of the Schools for two millennia, and they have failed.

"The emperor has no intention of settling you here, near a Blue-level conflict zone. That would be suicide, as we suspect you'd all be dead within a decade." The map of the world above me spun, focusing on an area of Oslo's northwest that was brighter than most of the map.

"Our intention is to settle your non-combatants there, in Erto. The land is yet to be reclaimed, as we are still in the process of restoring it and only have so many people. The main threat will be random attacks by Charmed monsters unleashed by the Carnifex, and their attempts at infiltration and subversion from within. Your archcasters are going to be kept busy protecting you as you all are trained in what you have to do, how you can contribute, and learn what is needed to protect your own and win this war."

I let them all consider that somberly. They didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Lastly, the non-Casters among you. Rise, if you are not a spellcaster and have been tested and cannot become one." My voice was level, not judgmental, and Sif had come up on stage and was standing right next to me. Slowly, hesitantly, fearing the scorn and disdain of the spellcasters, the minority of people, virtually all of them civilian workers or craftsmen, rose to their feet.

"Excellent!" Sif spoke up in turn, stepping forth, her green eyes agleam, and her smile ferocious.

"Delpha's finest resource in this fight is NOT its spellcasters. There are too few of them, and less will be born as the years pass. It is you, the world's reaction against spellcasters, the Forsaken, who are the very best weapon against the likes of the Carnifex!" I flicked up an orb of light in my left hand, passed it over to my right, and held it next to the Empress. It was snuffed out like a candle.

The archcasters who had already experienced that effect drew very long faces indeed, while the non-Casters out there suddenly looked very interested, even excited!

"Forsaken are not anti-magical, they are defiant to magic, becoming more and moreso as they get stronger. The Empress here is beyond the reach of any normal Carnifex's magic or influence, and there are thousands of warriors who no Carnifex can touch with magic," I informed them all.

"The Forsaken, those with no magic, are our strongest weapon against the Carnifex as individuals. While we spellcasters are destroying the armies and minions and cleansing the land, the Forsaken have been hunting the Carnifex for two thousand years. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"The reason we are growing and winning this fight is because of the Forsaken, not because of spellcasters!" Sif declared with grim conviction and frank disdain for the spellcasters there.

"The Carnifex have nothing to stop us with, and they have tried many, many times!" Her smile was absolutely ferocious.

"You were probably brought along as servants and minions and free labor… but you are in Brightmoor now, and in Brightmoor, Forsaken protect the spellcasters, not vice versa!

"You will all be coming with me, and you will learn to become something all spellcasters will need to be wary of!" She had all of their loyalty to the bone right in that moment. I didn't bother to smile, as that was entirely expected of an Eternal, just as I had the utmost respect from all the spellcasters here, which was basically everyone else.

They would have questions, and answers would be forthcoming, but for now, the main thing was to digest the fact that they would have to fight, and do so right until the end of their lives. Our enemies did not relent, did not change course, did not get tired, did not reconsider. The only whispers of diplomacy from their end were attempts to soften our will to fight, urging the desperate and the lazy to lead movements for those who were tired of the war.

Those folk got to see the front lines and prattle about peace from creatures whose existence was to eat all before them. Not even Iatro the Healer spoke of peace with the enemy, because there could be none. Peace was death. The Hand of Peace instead moved among our own, ameliorating the crushing weight of duty and struggle that burned out so many soldiers, giving them the strength to continue, to fight to preserve the lives of those they cared for, and to survive another day. Two thousand years of war.

Those retired from the front lines were yet laboring behind the lines to support the soldiers, to defend the civilians, and very importantly, attempting to turn back the clock on the land, restore it to its former vitality and fecundity, while there was precious little to no Immortal help with the task. I hadn't lied when I said no Immortals were worshiped here anymore. Doro the Explorer and the Master Shef and Postal Guy were considered servants of Heaven now, not Immortals.

So many races had fallen completely, while the survivors had watched Immortals abandon the world and not interfere with the scale of the slaughter. They knew they were abandoned in truth, only the final benefit of Clerical spells from the earnest was answered, and little else. The Church of Heaven made it very plain that the gods intervening here would win the war, and the Immortals would likely destroy the planet if they did so.

They were unstintingly supportive, giving advice, guidance, visions, omens, allowing their servants to support us fully, keeping the faithful on track… and not letting the Immortals get away with supporting the Carnifex. Those instances were all documented, as were the Immortals doing it and the prices they'd paid. The gods were backing us, and we were fighting alongside them! The only pure races that still survived were in Brightmoor now.

The garls who were Wish-boosted out of savage ignorance, and now formed the bodyguards of important wizards, as well as occasional honor guards for the Imperial family. The dakon, chased from their jungle homes, serving the emperor and his sons with their ease with the apefolk. Morlocks who'd overcome their savagery and were returning slowly to human roots under the sunlight, if never to be the same race.

The young race of gnolls, intended to be slaves to the Sythians, had found a home here and been culled of their savagery, forming hunting teams widely admired in the Empire. Orcs had finally broken some of their savagery upon escape from the Carnifex, and now served alongside the hobgoblins. Jotuns, released from enthrallment, formed land-clearing teams and reclamation forces, most working far from the front lines… unless they wished to come back and take vengeance for what was done to their ancestors.

They worked and mined and smithed as part of the Empire, and the efforts of everyone to fight back. Dragons were also working on reclamations and fighting, but only doing the latter with support, and they truly were not suited for helping the land regrow. The Carnifex preferred dragon slaves and meat above all others, and dragons who left my Ringlands knew they were targets.

The only way to fight that was to have mortal friends who would guard them, fight for them, prevent them from being enslaved magically and make it difficult for the Carnifex to kill them. They followed the Storm Dragon Queen, who had brought Sorcery back to them, and with it made the dragons far, far more dangerous than they had once been!

Going from maybe having a scattering of spells to every dragon having the key spells of their choice, as well as those buried in their Bloodlines, was a massive change in the power of dragons that had taken the Carnifex quite by surprise, especially with their sudden defenses against magical enslavement and enhanced combat prowess. Having devoted dragon-bonded riders helped tons, too.

The anti-social, violent, overly proud, arrogant, cruel, and malicious dragons had been weeded out by simple survival: if people didn't like them, nobody worked much with them, and they died fighting alone and unloved. Dragons who worked with humanoids were supported, kept alive, puffed up, and lived to have kids who were also looked after and protected from Carnifex raids and appetites. As a result, the number of Evil dragons that still lived was less than the fingers of my two hands.

Most of those were older dragons able to control their impulses, appetites, and grab hold of the opportunity to build their own group of followers, acting like kings or nobles instead of marauders or tyrants. They'd seen what happened to dragons enslaved by the Carnifex, whole broods kidnapped and devoured by their raiders, and knew they had no hope of winning alone. The gods had given them back at least some of the power Immortals had taken from them, and dragons didn't forget that, much as they might want to.

The Ruling Dragons could watch over their people and ward off Immortal interference, but that was all. Dragons weren't allowed to work for any of the Immortals who had abandoned the world by their own Rulers' edicts, which worked out fine for just about all concerned…