Siege of the Black Gates 1

After spending 3 days to recover her mana and bolster her undead army, now numbering 300,000, Synthara began to load up as much undead and powder and shot aboard the two Ventorums. It was a troublesome balance she had to play between manpower and ammunition. She had many talents though logistics were not among them. Thankfully one of her new Dark Paladins, Murat, provided tremendous help in that regard being a military officer in his former life. In the end she packed 9,000 men per Ventorum and enough powder and shot to last a week. She also began packing 5,000 men as well as some of the cannons onto each transport ship in the town’s harbor, totalling to 10. They will attack the harbor town of Teplyy in the swamp side of the cradle and provide another safe avenue for reinforcements.

Given that she will be stuck in the middle of enemy territory for however long it takes for Wilhelm to pacify the east, she needed to take only her finest men. Luckily, the skeleton musketeers were rather equal in terms of strength so it was an easy decision to take all of her 20 vampire officers, and her Dark Paladins, formerly known as the three former Ougonite Paladins who attacked Reido. The vampire commanders were the undead of nobles or other strong individuals. They retain their former intelligence, memories, and skills with an increase to their physical attributes. However, the increase only works if they are not in direct sunlight. Notably they also cannot use miracles or any ability associated with the Ultimatum.

The Dark Paladins flew in the face of this rule. Created with her Unholy Defilement spell, a necromancy spell that only she can use as it required the caster be a divine. They are formed by the inversion of their former faith and power, the more zealous their faith to the Ultimatum in real life, the stronger they are in Synthara’s service. They grew stronger than they were in life. They were far above the vampires, retain their godspeed technique, and gain many more abilities. The downside being that it was useless on most targets unless the target was a zealous believer in life. It was tied with a fireball for her favorite spell.

Aside from making material preparations, she had also studied the map of Fort Lynch she had acquired from Morgan upon request. She had a plan to not only make holding the Black Gates easier but also cause more damage on the Ougonite supply line.

Instead of heading straight to the Black Gates, she’ll infiltrate Fort Lynch with a small force, capture Lord Schneizel and force him to defect back to the kingdom. He and his men will not last long isolated in Ougonite territory but it will buy more time to hold the Black Gates as it will divert Ougonite forces. With this much havoc on their supply lines, Jupiter might even be forced to lift the siege on Ort to try and retake the Black Gates, leaving him open to being crushed between Synthara’s forces and the orcs.

At nightfall, she quietly sent her forces on the move. The Ventorum’s white design with the Ougon crest was painted over with grey, allowing it to blend in with the ash clouds better. They flew as high as they could, with Synthara being the only one who could see through them. After several hours of flying, as she looked out the window while controlling her airship with her strings, she saw Fort Lynch straight below them.

“Men, begin the mission.” Synthara said to her small squad of four vampires dressed in non-descript hoods.

Synthara and her vampires jumped off the deck of the Ventorum which was now on its way to begin their attack on the Black Gates.

Synthara enjoyed the breeze of the falling wind in her face, knowing that the ash will not stick to her. She and the vampires all had invisibility spells on so they would not be seen as they fell.

As the castle courtyard came into view, she knew that the courtyard was crawling with Schneizel and Ougonite soldiers, instead she used her string abilities to form a parachute to slow her fall. The vampires simply turned into bats to slow their descent. Once Synthara’s momentum in the air had slowed enough, she took the strings from her parachute and formed them into steps in the air that she could stand on.

She then silently descended to where the balcony of Schneizel’s bedroom lay, that bats at her back, as if she were descending a flight of stairs.

She stepped onto the balcony and saw Lord Schneizel, a surprisingly young man with flowing blonde hair, enjoying a cup of wine and reading a book, blissfully unaware of what horrors awaited him tonight.

According to Morgan, Lord Schneizel and his clan used to be a stalwart Syntharans, doggedly loyal even in the face of increasing hostility to his faith. It was the same for the denizens of his land as well. He had not once shown anything but hostility to the Ultimatum. Behind his impregnible defenses and his land’s important position, not even Julius could force him to yield his faith. He has kept his motivations a secret. But it will not be for long.

Synthara and her vampires dispelled their invisibility, waiting for Schneizel to look up. It was a long awkward silence until Schneizel looked up from his book with surprise, but not terror on his face.

Rather it was excitement?

As he moved to speak, the vampires covered his mouth while Synthara launched a string from her finger into his forehead.

‘Speak in your mind, lest I render you unable to speak at all.’

‘My lady! You have returned at long last!’

‘You betrayed your kingdom for the Ultimatum. You’re oddly pleased for someone who is about to be tortured.’

‘I am, you’re finally here, just as planned!’

Synthara sensed no malice, her vampires had searched the room for traps or ambushes while she was speaking telepathically, but they found none.

‘I know the prophecy said that your presence on our world will signal the start of Ragnarok. This world until now has been stuck in an untenable stalemate with the Ougonites slowly rotting your holy kingdom from within. I and the rest of my clan felt that as things stood, the Ultimatum would destroy the kingdom. So I had been preparing to defect to the Ultimatum in order to accelerate the start of Ragnarok. If your worshippers fell low, then surely you would come down and save us.’

Synthara could not believe what she was hearing, this man gambled his livelihood, family, and his country in order to essentially force his god to come down and save him? Faith was really scary in its ability to have people make insane logical leaps.

Being directly in his mind, Synthara is certain that this man was not lying. Synthara could literally feel the tension in her deflating like a balloon.

‘...you know what, I'll take it. Are you willing to pledge yourself to me once again?’

The man nodded vigorously. ‘YES!’

Synthara flinched at how loud this man…thought? Spoke? ‘Prove your faith, order your men to kill the Ougonites immediately.’

‘Of course my lady!’

‘How long will it take?’

‘Only an hour, milady.’

The man got up and had his guards gather his family in his room where they all discussed their plan. Synthara and her vampires awkwardly shook hands with them as they entered. They then left the room to spread their orders to the men who promptly took the Ougonites by surprise and killed every last one in the castle. They wasted no time in taking down the Ougonite flag and flying their own banner once again.

‘That was disappointingly easy, not to mention unsettling.’ Synthara had an evil witch speech prepared where she was going to threaten the man with doing unspeakable things to him and his family if he didn't comply with her wishes now. All those hours spent talking to the mirror wasted.