Chương 164: Statement

"If any of you take another step, I swear I'll put this spear through your chest." I pointed my spear at the first ranks of Jaruwain's seerservers, those holding the raft.

"Drop it and listen to me."

"Ignore him!" Tunmod called.

"Guards, arrest this man! He is a Dupe! Clearly, he is losing his mind! Perhaps he is about to lose his soul and become a vessel for an otherworldly drifter!" So that was Tunmod's play? To call me a potential soulstealer, then say I was just pretending to be a thegn. He was clearly trying to win the public's opinion. Tunmod's guards circled around the back of the raft and the procession of Jaruwain's seerservers. I raised my shield and took a fighting stance.

"I am a royal thegn, appointed by Princess Aelfwen, and you are in no position to question my claim. My squad's healer currently holds my deeds to this land, and I carry my papers of thegnage on me." By now, heads were lifting, and voices seeped out from the crowd. The nearest onlookers pushed back, moving away from the chaos.

"I may be a Dupe, but I am also a thegn, and Tunmod is in no position to question my authority." The mercenary guards paused, hesitating. They didn't take a formation. At the same time, the Dupes of the 294th and my own squad pointed their weapons, preparing to attack. Tunmod looked at me, then my squad, then his own men, then the crowd. His eyes drifted to Jaruwain, as if begging for help, but the pretend seer didn't move. Finally, Tunmod tightened his fists and shouted, "I told you to arrest him!

Do it, you fools! He's not well!"

"And what will you do then?" I asked.

"You gutted the courts. Or do you plan on having your cultists enforce your will? Will you kill me for upholding the law?" I pointed my spear at the guards.

"He says I'm insane. How could I be losing my mind when I'm already an Atoning?" Well, I didn't want to say it just slipped out. But it felt like a necessary rebuttal.

"Just surrender," said the old Dupe who had first met us a few days ago, upon our arrival.

"We can sort this out later."

"No, we can't," I replied.

"We'll do this publicly. People need to see this. And I'm not letting another innocent die."

"I have my orders," the Dupe whispered, inching closer.

"I was bred to obey them. You wouldn't understand that, soulstealer."

"You'll die," I warned.

"If you stand in my way, I won't spare you."

"So be it." He raised a short sword and lunged forward, aiming at my chest, but the blow never fell. I knew it wouldn't. He tumbled to the ground, skidding to a halt in front of me, an arrow sprouting out the back of his neck. I nodded at Anchor, then held my shield up to block another swing from a different Dupe. Shouting, the crowd scrambled back, trying to get away from the fighting. I couldn't let this take too long, or too many people would run away before my grand finale.

Sure, I was probably being a bit too theatrical about this. But I wanted to make a statement. If no one was around to witness it, it wouldn't mean anything. I charged, lunging at the crowd of guards and mercenaries, stabbing with my spear and bashing with my shield. An axe bit into the rim, and a spear tried to rip through. I locked eyes with Romance, who led his squad around the back, encircling our enemies. Once I had his attention, I shouted, "Don't let Tunmod escape! Pull him from the crowd if you can!"

Romance nodded. I lost sight of him in the fray, but it didn't take long. Our army enclosed the local guards from the side. Mortal mercenaries and a bunch of Iron- and Steel-tier Dupes didn't put up much of a fight against us, especially once I regrouped with my squad and fell into our usual formation—me at the front, skirmishing with Brawl, and Sage and Anchor hanging back, sheltered behind our defenses. Within half a minute, more than half the local guards had died.

One pierced my shield with a resonance Skill, and their archers got lucky—I took an arrow to the gut, which I snapped off. Sage could deal with the damage later. Right now, my Vitality was holding me together. They had needed a resonance Skill to even pierce my skin, and the arrowhead hadn't damaged anything vital. But Tunmod's guards, although they had clumped up around their portreeve and Jaruwain, had led us away from the edge of the water, and we were no longer blocking the raft from entering the river.

It left an opening. Jaruwain's seerservers all rushed to the water, bearing the raft, eyes wide. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it"Anchor!" I shouted.

"Take them down!" He launched an arrow, piercing through two of them, and I used my gravity Art, angling it in two directions and slamming two swathes of seerservers into each other. There had to be at least twenty of them, though. More than enough to carry the raft.

"Sage, how strong are they?" I asked.

"All Path-walkers, and all around Steel—" She cut herself off, then hissed, "Levi, I sense something. From there!" I followed her finger as she pointed into the skirmish. Near the center of the guards' cluster. Jaruwain.

"He's using an Art!" she shouted.

"His maegen is moving in a steady pattern, like he's about to transform."

"How strong is he?" Anchor provided, "Silver!" Still, I wasn't letting that raft hit the water.

"Brawl, Sage, split off. Brawl, you can handle a crowd of Steels. Don't let them send that raft out." There had to be ten Seerservers left carrying the raft, and even if he got injured, I knew Sage would support him.

"Anchor, with me." We only made it a few steps before I felt a pressure. A massive void pulled from in front of me—the same way the cultists had when he'd tried to steal my vital energy, but far stronger. Jaruwain pulled off his headdress and deactivated an illusion pendant hidden in his robes. The shape of his face didn't change, but like the other cultists, he had a bald head with carvings on his scalp, streaks down his eyes, and angular carvings in his cheeks, which left behind holes into his mouth.

"Get back!" I yelled to anyone who could listen.

"Move away!" I wasn't sure how broad of a range the cultists could draw from, and I didn't want to find out. Before we retreated, Romance's squad penetrated the mercenaries' lines and snatched Tunmod. They pulled him back with them. With a roar, Jaruwain's carvings lit up with crimson light, and the nearest mercenaries and Dupes dissolved. They collapsed into puddles of pink flesh, clothes, and armour, and wisps of orange energy surged through the air toward Jaruwain.

The mercenaries more than three paces away still died. Up to six paces away, the rest froze in place, then collapsed, their bodies still intact, but energy still rushing out of them nonetheless. It glowed orange, like raw maegen. It may very well have been. Most living things had a touch of maegen in them, didn't they? Beyond six paces, everyone survived. A few guards lost hands, and one of the 294th's Dupes lost an arm—it had been outstretched at the time, and it turned gray and dead after Jaruwain's draw.

Jaruwain used the rush of maegen to transform. Flesh appeared out of thin air. Strands of muscle wrapped overtop heaps of bone, followed by coal-black flesh and fur. Black smoke wreathed his limps, and bat-like wings sprouted out his back. When the smoke faded, a massive bat loomed in front of us. It used its wings to support its upper body and its legs to support its lower body, like it was crawling on all fours. Even then, it was three heads taller than me. Three crimson horns angled out the front of its head.

"It's high-up in Silver!" Sage called.

"A bit stronger than Hinfic was!" I scowled, then looked back at the crowd. Terrified shouts screamed behind me. People trampled each other, trying to get away. As for the raft? Brawl had killed most of the Seerservers, and Jaruwain's attack had caught those who survived. The raft wasn't going anywhere Brawl and Sage rushed back to join us, and we reformed our earlier formation. Jaruwain's bat opened its mouth and snarled at us.

I held out my shield, and the rest of the squads formed up around us, encircling the bat.

"You could have played along," Jaruwain hissed through the bat's mouth in a high-pitched voice.

"You didn't have to do this."

"Yes, we did," I countered.

"But you wouldn't understand that. Some people can't stand by and let innocents suffer if there's something we can do about it. I suppose you would've known if you could've actually seen my soul, though."

"You don't understand." The bat stepped forward, slinking like a cat. Our squads adjusted, moving to keep the bat encircled.

"How could you? You have only been here a few days. You think you could pick sides? It's more complicated than you could ever know."

"Well, let's hear your excuse for this, then? What's your excuse for a festival that doesn't work, that bleeds this town dry, huh? It seems pretty damn simple to me."

"Fools, the lot of them!" Jaruwain swept his wing toward the crowd.

"They don't know what they want. Perhaps this is a lie, but it's for their own good!" So, unlike Tunmod, Jaruwain actually believed in what he was doing?

"How does this help anyone?"

"You call us cultists, but we only believe in peace. In a world without pain. Once we're in charge, we shall ensure the world remains peaceful! You stand in the way." I blinked.

"Given your way, you'll hand everything to the orcs. I'm good." I glanced to the side. Romance's archers were ready.

"Now!" They drew their bows back, then fired, every one of them using a resonance Skill. The arrows blasted holes in the bat's wing. It wouldn't kill the creature, but it would stop him from escaping. I lunged forward, aiming my spear at his throat. Howling, Jaruwain swept his wing the other way, catching me in the chest with his claw and knocking me onto my back. I skidded back along the ground, steadying myself. The other soldiers rushed in, working together to attack.

Their resonance Skills may have been enough to pierce the thin membranes of the wing, but it did nothing against the flesh of the bat's body. They barely scratched it.

"Anchor, do you see any weaknesses? Anything obvious?"

"Its flesh is weaker around the back of its neck," he said.

"Bring it low, and we should be able to damage the back of its neck." That was a job for my Art. I targeted the beast's head, creating a single well directly below it, then pulled down on it. It slammed into the dirt. That was easy. Would it be that easy? Without hesitation, the bat wrenched its head out of the gravity well, far faster than anything I'd seen before. Its movement blurred, except its horns and eyes. It wasn't going to be that easy, then.

"Back up!" I yelled.

"Give it room! I have a plan!"