Pacifying the East Borders

Wilhelm marched his men to the cathedral. This marks the 3rd time he’s marched down this road within the past few days. Each time with drastic changes in his life. One day he wishes to travel down this road without life changing experience at the end of it.

His bodyguards had no trouble with the march despite their plate armor, but the new recruits were already starting to lag behind. The land to the east was mountainous and varied in height, which made it exhausting for untrained recruits to traverse. Their lack of horses, now ash in the wind, exacerbated the situation. They also could not carry many supplies as a supply cart would slow them down and they needed to get the Cathedral quickly. The more time they waste the closer the Qin get.

They arrived at the Cathedral within a couple day’s march. His experienced guards, officers in their own right, were given the task of assigning watches to the men.

As Wilhelm approached the entrance to the ruins in the Cathedral, he felt a slight tremble, almost imperceptible tremble in the ground. Without his body’s enhanced senses no one else would have noticed it. It was the familiar rumble of advancing cavalry.

What was a five minute walk turned into a 30 second sprint back to camp. Wilhelm shouted. “Form up! Prepare to receive cavalry!”

The guard quickly shouted orders to form ranks on the narrow road and present their spears, which took frightfully long with the recruit’s inexperience and lack of training.

Wilhelm briefly considered if he had enough time to run back and get the undead army but quickly perished the thought. The enemy was too close, he could feel it. Doubtless his men could feel the trembling now.

The raw recruits were tired, wavering and muttering among themselves. If what he read about how the Centauri fight is true, then these recruits do not stand a chance. He needed to bolster their resolve and even the odds. He had an idea.

“Men, form up in the brush to the sides of the path quickly!”

His guards immediately understood Wilhelm’s plan, followed his orders and roughly guided the recruits to each side of the forest path. Each side had 1000 soldiers. Wilhelm stood alone on the center of the path. He beckoned bones from his legs and back to extend and root themselves into the ground.

He then shouted. “Men, this is your first battle under the command of your prince and as your goddess’ army. Do not fear death, for if we perish then we will simply meet again in the halls of Valhalla! Do not forget what we are! We are the sons and daughters of Ragna, those who defended our land from invaders long before our goddess descended. Will we allow our goddess to say that she has made us soft!?”

The men yelled out “No!” The recruits stood firmer.

The rumbling became louder as the Centauri came into view down the mountain path. Most were shirtless and wore only furs but a few wore proper armor, but all of it was mismatched as if they wore whatever they took. Wilhelm recognized a few of the symbols on the clothing they wore as heraldry from the various local lords, apparently some had already fallen to the invaders.

They shouted and whooped as they advanced toward Wilhelm faster, driven onward by bloodlust and perceived weakness. Wilhelm stared at approaching Centauri dead in the eye, waiting for the perfect moment to set his trap.

As the enemy lances were about a yard away from stabbing him, Wilhelm unleashed his trap. Bone spikes erupted from the ground towards the Centaurs. Too close and their momentum too great to step, they impaled themselves upon the spikes in great spurts of blood. Those who were stabbed crashed into their comrades in front of them, falling to the floor. A majority stayed on their feet but their momentum was spent and their ranks were thrown into confusion.

“Deus lo vult!”

Wilhelm’s men erupted from the trees with a loud ‘Deus lo Vult’ and charged straight into the centaurs. Packed together with no room to maneuver, their strong equine bodies proved to be their downfall as they struggled to defend themselves from enemy attack. Wilhelm himself unrooted himself from the bones and extended long bone spikes through his makeshift barricade, stabbing helpless centaurs.

Surprised by unexpected heavy resistance, they were slow in sounding the horn to retreat. That was when Wilhelm channeled power into his legs and jumped over immobile horde to cut off their escape.

“You will regret coming to Ragna!”

Between Wilhelm’s strength, the terrain, the tenacity of his men, and their escape routes cut off. The result was certain. They tried to charge through Wilhelm to escape but to his fast body, the mass of centaurs were just a hunk of meat ready to be cut.

One of the centaurs then shouted. “We surrender!”

Wilhelm pulled his massive arm blade out of a centaur’s chest. He had neither the time, resources, or inclination to keep prisoners, especially those who came specifically to pillage. They were nothing more than bandits. “No prisoners!”

The men ferociously continued their attack. The centaurs fought until the end but they were cut down to the last man.

The men breathed hard, some horrified by the mass of blood and meat on the road. Others let out a ragged cheer. A vast majority of the men cheered their first victory.

After the looting was done, where the guards found a map marked with what estates they have already pillaged and the location of their main camp, Wilhelm decided to fix his cavalry problem.

As if sensing his will, his body made gestures and spoke the words to cast the mass revival spell as if he always knew it by heart. The complex visualization and thoughts flowed into his head with no input from him. It almost felt like he was a puppet. He channeled necromantic energy into his body and controlled his body with it, but he never casted a real spell before.

The spell goes off, and Wilhelm now has 500 Centauri Cavalry under his command. Men quaked in fear as the enemies they just defeated rose up again.

“Fear not men, the goddess Synthara has blessed me with knowledge of her secret arts only Godi can access. These men belong to us now.”

More than a few found that statement unsettling.

-

Wilhelm returned to the cathedral immediately, allowing the men to rest and settle themselves. The Goblin and Kobold guards let him in with a grunt.

He walked into the catacombs and executed the spell as instructed by Morgan. The mana from his body, colored by necromantic energy, permeated through the cavern through channels set up by Morgan and he could hear the undead rise up from their sleep, armed with the new weapons and uniforms he was told about. He was briefed on their use from Morgan and why they were essential but to him they merely were slower bows.

He then went over to Titania’s room where she was said to be unconscious. According to Morgan Titania’s origin as an Ougonite Paladin made her somewhat incompatible with necromancy and takes longer to revive her because of that. He was told that she should awaken by the time he arrives back.

Wilhelm nudged Titania “Titania, are you awake?”

She slowly opened her eyes, until they widened and she threw off the covers in a panic.

“Bring it on Umbra!” She looked around and realized she was not fighting off assassins anymore.

“Will, I'm glad you’re safe!” She practically lifted him off the ground and crushed him.

“I missed you as well my bodyguard, now can you let me go before I suffocate.” After a struggle involving separating his face from Titania’s bosom, Wilhelm freed himself and realized Titania was not wearing anything more than her panties. He immediately looked away to cover his blush.

Titania rolled her eyes. “Come on, you’ve practically seen me naked a hundred times every time we sparred. What difference does a little more breast make?”

“It makes all the difference.” Wilhelm muttered.

“Oh so you’re a boob guy, noted.” Titania said teasingly as she went to her clothes laid out neatly for her on a table. “Anyway, what happened? You look different.”

Wilhelm raised his eyebrow. He was sure that his new body looked exactly the same. “How so?”

Titania’s expression grew more serious as she put on her pants. “Will, I've been with you for years, call it woman’s intuition. How long have I been out?”

Wilhelm explained everything that happened up until now, leaving out his dreams and the kiss. Titania’s expression remained blank the whole time. After he explained everything she slowly walked up to Wilhelm, and took him by the shoulders with a serious expression.

“Will, you’re a smart kid. You’ve always been so careful and thoughtful, yet when it comes to this goddess you always seem to throw your head out of the window! Arent you the least bit suspicious with how Morgan and Synthara are acting? Why did they leave me out of the whole Julius business?”

It did occur to Wilhelm before but he pushed it to the back of his mind, he found Morgan’s explanation strange given that Titania has not been a paladin in years. “I would never question my goddess’ commands.”

“Maybe you should! Take it from me, these gods always have an angle to whatever they give you.”

“What else was I supposed to do? Let Julius and father have their way? Ragnarok has finally come, Titania! The time for schemes and plots is over! Now is the time for action!”

“Gods you’re s-” Titania sighed. “Im not saying you made the right or wrong decision. Maybe I'm wrong and there really wasn't a better way this could have turned out. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't trust those two so easily. If what you’ve been telling me is true, then they have been colluding for a long time and they’re not telling us everything. I gave the Ultimatum everything I had and got thrown in the trash. I don't want the same thing happening to you Will.”

Wilhelm took a moment. “I have always had this Kingdom’s best interests in mind, and right now Synthara’s best interests are aligned with ours. She is viewed as a heretic god by all the other three realms, she needs us. I cannot see a world where she would discard us.”

“Maybe that's because they’re not of this world to begin with.”

Wilhelm snapped. “Enough Titania. We are going to continue our current plans and that is final.”

Titania sighed. “Im your bodyguard, my job is to protect you. You can keep calling the shots and will answer, but will always prioritize you over the goddess or Morgan no matter what.”

Titania and Wilhelm stared at each other for a long moment until Wilhelm relented and walked out.