The Lone Wanderer

Nobody had any idea how much life the Ruby Empress still had in her: not even the enormous wasp herself.

She’d claimed to have been alive for several centuries already: possibly even millennia: though she hadn’t had any reason to keep track of the passage of time until recently. Before Machaon’s infiltration, the gods and mortals living above her underground kingdom had left her and her descendants largely unbothered.

So long as the smaller bugs kept spilling over to the surface and providing humanity with enough nectar, the nobles didn’t care about the rest of the creatures, nor about the succession from one Starry Queen to the next.

A few thousand years weren’t much to a Violet, but she was clearly old enough to have approached her promotion despite having intentionally and regularly starved herself to delay it. Bugs generally didn’t live as long as other animals either, and she had cut what was left of her lifespan even shorter while experimenting with the creation of a second heir.

That was all to say that it was lucky that she had survived the past decade, though she might still die of old age in a year, or a century: hell, she might even drop dead in the middle of this very battle.

But until then, she was arguably Percy and Micky’s most powerful ally.

Her recent evolution into the first White beast in Remior’s history had turned her into a force to be reckoned with. It had also tripled what little time she had left, as had the first-generation tea that Percy had given her. She would probably never become a quasi-divine beast, but she might live long enough for her second core to advance once or twice more, stretching her time a little further still.

More pressingly, she had entered the battlefield with her boosting art already active.

While Percy had taught her the Dance, the Masterful version of the spell for the beast affinity relied on the consumption of other mana types. Since her second core was still at Green, she wouldn’t be able to draw much power from it, so she was functionally just another White with Circulation, like the enemy patriarchs.

The good news was that advancing her primary core had allowed her to develop the same mutations as Nephthys: or at least the ones that had come from the familiar’s acid, water, and lightning affinities, though not those she owed to her divine soul, internal world, or connection to Percy. Between her advancement and the more efficient conversion of mana, her royal jelly output had also increased greatly, though that was a story for another day.

The reinforced carapace that she had obtained back when her exoskeleton had only been a fraction of its current size ensured that the Lone Wonderer wouldn’t have to worry too much about her safety.

Especially since she hadn’t come here alone.

Over thirty humans leapt off the creature’s back, flying out of a spacious bubble of willpower that they had jointly erected to shield themselves from their mount’s acidic coat. They landed between Percy and one of the Empress’ colossal limbs, ready to assist.

Four were Violets: Flamel, Paracelsus, Anqi and Eleazar, with Ostanes being the only Violet among the Guild’s six elders who had stayed behind to guard the settlement. Orin hadn’t come here either, as Percy didn’t think an additional, relatively-inexperienced Blue combatant would have made enough of a difference in the war to be worth risking his mentor’s life.

The other twenty-eight mages were among the Guild’s strongest Blues: typically those who had spent decades hunting atop the giant mushrooms before their promotions. Everyone in the group had been taught Circulation after signing a non-disclosure agreement with Percy sometime in the past year.

Without Archibald around to help with their physical conditioning, and with Percy and Micky too busy to brew Blue healing potions for them, the alchemists had had to guzzle down enormous quantities of Yellow potions that they had compressed themselves. It had been the only way to exercise their bodies several times per day and meet the requirements of the Refined spell in so little time. Thankfully, their hard work had paid off in the end.

Percy and his reinforcements had left the Fungal Spire at the same time, but he had flown on ahead to get to his family sooner, since he was much faster than the giant creature or her passengers. This was also why the Empress hadn’t brought any of her subjects with her. The smaller wasps simply couldn’t keep up with their ruler, nor could the rest of the Guild’s Blues.

Meeting Micky: who had flown all the way from Twilight City: just outside the Camelot province, Percy had arrived at the Whistling Woods alongside his fellow aspect.

The first wave of allies had finally caught up, but would it be enough?

Percy and Micky weren’t sure. Neither the Ruby Empress nor the old alchemists could be considered elite fighters, but it wasn’t like their opponents had had many opportunities to get their hands dirty in the last millennium or so. Theseus and Morpheus might not even recall the last time they’d fought a battle to the death.

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The White beast’s bulky frame would make it difficult for her to catch a nimble human, but putting a dent on her body wouldn’t be easy either, and her domain wasn’t any weaker than the patriarchs’.

Assuming that she could handle one of them, the four Violets and dozens of Blues would probably be able to hold the other at bay. Percy and Micky couldn’t help them much, because they were currently rooted to the ground, barely standing on one leg and keeping their cores from degrading.

If anything, the arrival of the newcomers had only made it harder for the Lone Wanderer to participate in the battle, because it took a lot of attention to prevent his rampaging domain from harming his allies.

Thus, nobody attacked.

The two sides merely put some distance between them, staring each other down in hatred. The Empress and alchemists wanted Machaon to pay for his crimes against the hive, while the three patriarchs needed Percy dead to ensure their survival.

Dozens of domains collided with enough force to split the ground, forming a ravine so deep that Percy and Micky struggled to see the bottom in their current state. It was over fifty metres wide, and long enough that the approaching armies would be able to comfortably stand behind it.

The enemy Whites didn’t appear very concerned, more than happy to wait for their underlings. The two of them might not be powerful enough to beat Percy, the giant wasp, and the alchemists by themselves, but it would be trivial to do so with the addition of several Violets and Blues in their ranks.

Scanning the approaching mages, Percy and Micky estimated that the Divine Root and House Ypnos had each sent about as many people as House Asclepius. Unfortunately, their own relatives were too busy fighting against Machaon’s to come to their aid.

Aware of how grim the situation was, they anxiously looked behind them, heaving out a relieved sigh upon spotting a few smaller forces heading their way. Of course, their relief only lasted until they counted the approaching families and realized that there weren’t nearly as many as they had expected.

Over fifty smaller Houses had cozied up to House Avalon over the past decade, trying to ingratiate themselves to Archibald and Percy, while providing all sorts of gifts and pledges of an alliance. Evidently, only four of those families had meant their words.

‘It’s possible that some were simply too far away to reach us in time, but the end result is the same…’

Alas, they would have to make do with the people they had.

The good news was that a fifth, larger force was also marching to Percy’s aid. It was House Etna, the only Great House to have openly sided with his family. Considering how few friends he and Micky had managed to gather, the runecrafting House’s help might just make all the difference.

Over the next few minutes, the encroaching armies steadily advanced through the ravaged battleground, converging toward the ravine. The four smaller Houses that had come to the Lone Wanderer’s aid had brought fewer combatants in total than even one of the Great Houses. Thankfully, it seemed like Theseus and Morpheus had only had enough time to teach their Violets Circulation, much like Machaon had.

Percy and Micky regretted not spreading their boosting art to more of their allies. The irony of their enemies knowing it while those on their side didn’t wasn’t lost on them, but they had been too busy with their artificial advancements over the past year to fly around Remior forming contracts and teaching spells. Before learning that Machaon and his comrades had reverse-engineered the boosting art, Percy hadn’t wanted to risk it leaking.

‘We’ll make it up to them after the battle,’ they decided, carving the faces of the families who had chosen to help them into their memory. Each would be given enough Aurora Dew to drown in and be taught the complete Dance: assuming that they survived.

At the helm of the nearest friendly army was a giant man: a proper giant, over thirteen metres tall: not just a burly person. Dozens of slightly shorter men and women rallied behind him, the Blues ranging between ten and eleven metres tall, while the Greens were typically between eight and nine.

The giants all had ruby-coloured teeth and fingernails that gleamed ominously under the soft glow of the surrounding magma. Their thunderous steps shook the battlefield as the normal-sized mages among them used various tricks to keep the ground under the giants’ feet solid enough to support their weight.

Percy recognized them as House Talos, led by Fyn, their newly-promoted patriarch. Percy and Nesha had tried to sell them Aurora Dew during their time in the Guild, though the operation had only lasted a few months before Fyn and his father, Bronn, were forced to reveal the existence of the miraculous elixirs to the Divine Root to buy protection from a rival family.

Feeling guilty over her “mistake” of approaching an unreliable trading partner, Nesha had used her influence with the Black and White Syndicate to look into the matter a few years ago, only to uncover that it was Machaon who had subtly aided House Antaeus: the enemies of House Talos: for no other reason but to paint a target on her and Percy’s backs.

After being provided with evidence of the disgraced patriarch’s duplicity, Fyn had been among the first to apologize to Percy and join the alliance. His family’s Gigantification bloodline might not be the most powerful out there, but it paired quite well with the red powder that Percy and Micky had brought back from Ruby Heart.

Not everyone had the same motivations for joining, however.

House Yeepas, for example, had only agreed to assist House Avalon due to the close proximity of their provinces. The two families hadn’t always been on the best terms, as House Yeepas had even tried to annex part of Archibald’s land during his imprisonment in the Fungal Spire.

The neighbouring nobles could have just as easily chosen to side with the Great Houses. The problem was that stabbing Archibald and Percy in the back a second time came with huge risks. Considering that they had already been on thin ice with House Avalon, the last thing they had wanted had been to keep provoking the monsters living next door.

Other families had come here to improve their standing with the Alchemists’ Guild and ingratiate themselves to the rising eighth Great House, or simply because they condemned Machaon’s actions.

More and more mages gathered on either side of the rift, with everyone at Blue or higher adding a domain to those already clashing. The enormous ravine kept deepening, widening, and stretching, as rivers of artificially-produced lava poured into the chasm from the surrounding battlefield, mixing with an ocean of naturally-formed magma bubbling up from the depths.

Thousands of cautious nobles stood silently, gauging the numbers and fighting strength of their opponents while trying to determine which side held the upper hand.