Disc 2: Land of Castles and the Lion. Ch. 5: Faint

Finally the day to execute Common Day’s plan arrived. Under his direction, everyone waited for the night, though they already knew they couldn’t rely solely on that. He tried to reach Valley Work with the Left Eye, to no avail. Since she can summon stuff too, it was safe to assume she had similar powers as him.

It's not that I don’t have more tricks under my sleeve.

Over one of the towers in the center of Stone’s Water four flags billowed in the wind, one for each faction involved: the tree-like-cross over green for the Arianism Order, the apple and rose over green for the Traders-Workers Guild, the seahorse and towers over sky blue for Stone’s Water and the red crown over over yellow for the Valley of Waters Kingdom representatives. The last one was the fifth force present at the Sober Gathering, sent by the Dark Lady months ago to strengthen ties with Stone’s Water.

But their main weapon couldn’t appear in public.

Using colorful clothes with representative symbols of each faction was Pretty Anarchy Emerald. According to her, long ago each territory was divided and used ‘flags’ and other physical instruments to identify themselves. This would place a crucial role against the Lion army.

At the designated hour, Common Day mounted over Western Land Slave and they started leaping over the buildings. With the electricity pile visible in his back.

“Rowdy Deer and I found this while we escaped from the earthquakes in Many Streams. For some reason, those madmen are obsessed with it” he informed their new allies.

Only Black Tongue recognized what it was.

“Holy shit…! My dears, I never imagined I would see something like that again. That is a B.E.P., we used one at my former workplace. Not sure if it currently could give any energy at all, but back in the day it was enough to kill a god.”

The one Common Day carried that night was a fake prepared by the Guild. Satis would secure the real.

She may be silly, but we are in this together.

When they reached the southern section, the Man in the Center caught a glimpse at him and shouted madly. All his forces finally moved. The self defense forces Stone’s Water self defense forces slowly gave in slowly, so as not to arouse suspicion of the trap. Since they were the least rational force, the priority was to keep them away from the southern section.

His mount wasn’t tired at all. They crossed the entire community until they were found out by the Lion’s force, this time even stronger. What they hadn't accounted for was that, suddenly, it began to snow that night, and the moon was not visible.

From different builds started to rain the different faction flags. This was a strong bait that not even The Commentator could refuse to take. As the right hand of the Lion, and de facto commander of Strenght’s forces in that section, he knew it was important to keep appearances in front of his people.

“We have been dealing with the Golden Shogun and his armies for many months already. We know how they think. The Commenter may be one of the smartest philosophers in the peninsula, but at the end he is no king. He will take the bait. The Dark Lady will watch over us all.” said one of the Valley of Water Kingdom representatives. The diplomats were the best source of information available. Stone’s Water Council was too focused on economics that their military and intel were weak.

We can do this. We have to.

The Rose Horde and the Lion’s army clashed inevitably. The rich madmen weren’t going to stop for any reason, and the golden soldiers only reacted instinctively to the wave coming toward them. When Common Day sent the signal, the team underground activated the explosives so blocks and blocks of buildings sank several meters.

While the Arianism Order helped in people’s evacuation, as well as collecting donations of electronic and nuclear devices, both the Guild and the Cane Harvesters mafia prepared the explosives with it. The principle was simple: they didn’t have the technology to prepare explosives, but only trying to use any of those devices made them go boom.

He already knew that the Rose Horde were resistant to falls, but he didn’t expect the resiliency of the golden army. But his plan also accounted for that: he had trained to drown everyone beneath the force of the underground rivers.

Western Land Slave left him at the top of one the buildings.

“This part is important,” he explained to everyone “when the floor goes down, the underground rivers will spiral out of control on their own. My brother was an architeutic, so I know how this works”.

Not a total lie. My brother is an architeutic. Not that I ever listened to him.

In the solitude and cold of the night, the woman of the purple dress appeared once more behind him.

Common Day had already sent some rivers over both armies underground. He knew that Valley Work probably had a way to find him, and she wouldn't make her move with Western Land Slave present.

But she hadn’t accounted for Black Tongue—or for her ultimate stealth ability.

The former soldier hurled twelve knives in rapid succession. But it was worthless.

His entire plan fell apart from that moment on.

Within moments, ram's horns sprouted from the woman’s head. The knives passed through her as if she were made of clay—but she didn’t bleed. Black Tongue drew a larger dagger, but soon came under a hail of arrows from black-golden soldiers in the distance.

Taking advantage of the ex-soldier’s focus on deflecting the arrows, Valley Work shattered his legs with a single blow and hurled him off the building. She followed with a leap.

A deep voice resonated from within the once delicate woman:

“You thought you had anticipated this, but you’re mistaken. You don’t deserve that eye.”

The ram-woman removed his Left Eye with nothing but the fingers of her hand. He screamed in a way he hadn’t before, feeling his regeneration slow down.

"All this time, we’ve despised you. You are repulsive. You represent the lowest of humanity—a humanity without a god.

You’ve always been pathetic, believing yourself superior to the rest, but in the end, you’re nothing but a failure who never leaved his house out of fear of people.

That’s why we chose you. You’re weak and easily manipulated. Like today.”

The creature smiled gracefully.

“Here and now, we assure you three things: you haven’t saved anyone, you’ve achieved nothing, and you will never see your family again.

Oh, yes, we know everything about you, everything you have ever desired. One magical eye, and you think you're above the rest? Did you never think there might be others like you, but nobler and more competent?

Nothing escapes the sight of the Sun, and no heart escapes the sight of the Right Eye.”

Common Day was stunned. At that moment, I thought how magnificent and imposing those horns were.

“The demon you mocked so much is now under our control, just like the energy source that will restore order to this Black Land once more.

Bring evil across the world? We demons are evil by nature. Someone as intellectually poor as you will never compare.”

The entity that spoke before him made a pause. It was about time to finish him off, but distant screams were heard. Western Land Slave had returned on his own, not wanting to miss out on the fun.

This time, Valley Work was more clever and fled quickly. Western Land Slave almost chased her, but for some reason, decided to carry Common Day instead.

The last thing he heard before losing consciousness were cannon shots in the distance. That, and his own fading cries.