Death came to Middenheim, and the roads ran red with Chaos Blood. Word spread by way of screams, but all they could do was cower in fear of what was coming. Middenheim was a maze, and frantically running through the streets would just lead you into a dead-end and make you easy prey for the creature that stalked the city. Though some managed to escape the city, it was not due to their own skill, but rather because Estaria let them go. She wanted every warrior in The Empire to come to her, so she might butcher them. But it was not to be, and she sat on the ruins of the gate waiting for enemies to come until the sun set, and the sun rose again. She thought about going into an S-rank dungeon and farming some exp, but didn’t want to be late for Filnon appearing. So she just hung around, staring out into the world until there was a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, that was an experience” Filnon exclaimed, taking a seat next to Estaria. “The fire was...hot. But not scalding hot, just really uncomfortable hot. It was certainly interesting” she continued, and then looked to Estaria, who looked wistful and somewhat saddened by the state of her country, staring at some sort of system-born map in front of her. **“I also came to a realization in the flame” Filnon looked to Estaria, and kissed her gently. “I am going to have to go back to Naggaroth. Once they are done killing themselves to establish the new order, they will turn to the rest of the world, and The Empire has lost...I don’t know how much”**

Filnon was interrupted at this point by Estaria, who had finished with her map.

“About 55% of The Empire, along with Altdorf. Marienburg and Talabheim are besieged. With Middenhiem destroyed, Talabheim is the greatest Fortress in The Empire now” Estaria explained, a morose voice as she looked at the near-death of what had been her home most of her life.

“And so you don’t need Druchii raiders on every shore taking advantage of that. So I need to return to Naggaroth and take control. Become the Witch-Queen and get everyone into a semblance of order. But, I would never ask you to leave your home in a time like this. **And second but, it’ll take them a few weeks to get the killing over and done with. So, just forewarning**” Filnon then snuggled into Estaria, trying to warm her up and drive away the morose feelings she had, looking at the map.

“It’s been a long time since I was alone. But don’t worry, this place has a lot to do. I shall probably have no time to think about your leaving” Estaria gave a smile to Filnon, and then they kissed. But a flame lit so carelessly can only grow, and so they did a lot more than kiss, which they took into one of the more sturdy houses. **Having been drained by the Ascension, Filnon slept in beyond Estaria. Who, after dressing, left to explore the city and see the damage, letting Filnon slumber.

The place was damaged, but not beyond anything that hardworking Empire Labourers could repair. And when she got to the Gatehouse, she saw that someone had arrived, and was just sat there with such deep confidence they did nothing but wait. The woman….man….person? At the front moved like quicksilver, their movements flowing from point to point with an inhuman grace as they rose a wine glass to drink, or plucked a grape from the makeshift Pavalion that had been constructed.** And their beauty was unparalleled, though Estaria did get a popup while looking.

Hex resisted by High Wisdom

The androgynous Slaaneshi still looked absolutely beautiful, but apparently there was some sort of hex on their appearance. As Chaos had a want to do. Only Khorne could fight fair, everyone else needed some kind of bullshit to make up for their limp-wristed ineptitude.

“What a most delectable being~ I can almost forgive you of your transgressions against my men. Come to me, dear” the person’s voice was soft like silk and so easy to lose yourself in, were you an average human. Though, Estaria was bored and still kinda horny, so she got off her gate and walked over to the Slaaneshi. It reached out a hand and stroked across Estaria’s face, so smooth and enarmouring. The kiss that followed was a little drab compared to what Filnon could give, but wasn’t terrible either.

Poison resisted by High Constitution

The second pop-up spurred Estaria to action, and she got a faceful of blood coughed from the woman as she drove one of her flails into the Slaaneshi’s kidney.

“Ohh. That’s a bit more than foreplay” The Slaaneshi groaned, before Estaria split her body in half with her blades. Why she didn’t just shoot them in the head was a question lost on Estaria. Maybe she wanted to be more theatrical and engaging with her killing, an ingrained habit for so long as a Gladiator-Witch.

Forces weakened sufficiently, Boss Location revealed

That...was a new popup. Did she miss some sort of tutorial about something or something? Something something, maybe? Estaria had never looked at the message log because she knew what she was doing, but she opened it up now and scrolled through it. Sure enough, there was something she had missed. When that came through she was not sure, but got to reading it anyway.

Territory Mode: A game mode activated when your home territory is occupied by an enemy force. The Map is given an overlay with colour-based threat levels and the state of every Province Capital, Standing, Besieged, or Destroyed. A Green province indicates that it is stable and functioning. A Yellow province indicates it is in danger, it’s production is hampered and enemy presence is common. A Red province indicates that it is ruined, production and stability have been crippled and the enemy is present in large numbers. If a Province Capital falls, the Province is instantly turned Red. Losing the Kingdom Capital will reduce all Provinces to Yellow. Provinces may be reverted to Yellow or Green by taking action against the enemy. Inspiring the remaining populace, killing enemy troops, securing resources, rebuilding and reinforcing castles and redoubts, and improving the Rally Point.

A Red Territory is considered ‘Owned’ by the enemy, and must be reclaimed by reducing the threat level to Yellow, at which point the Boss of the Province will be revealed. Killing the Boss will return the Province to the ownership of the natives. Clearing enemies out of the Province Capital and surrounding area will allow using the Province Capital as a Rallying Point, and rebuilding if it has been destroyed.

A Rallying point gets a spawn of units every day, which may be increased through upgrading the Rally Point. If a neighbouring Province or is Red, you may suffer attacks from this Province.

A Province Boss possesses a great deal of fortifications, and many minions. Attacking their location immediately is ill-advised. Additional activity against the Province Boss will weaken their hold on the region and make a final assault more tenable.

Well, that was a bigg’un. Though, if there was a chance to use this System to aid her country, then Estaria would take it. Elated and reinvigorated by the idea that she could save this place by her own hand, that it was not too late for them. First thing she did was find the new Territory Mode menu and select Middenhiem. It being the Capital, it took a fair bit of gold to rebuild, and several days to complete. There were some other items that were required for it to be built, but lacking them just increased the gold cost. And as she had a metric ton of gold, that didn’t bother her, so she started that. As soon as it was bought, scaffolding, raw stone and other building materials appeared, along with the sounds of sawing and hammering. She wondered how the system-spawned soldiers would interact with the real soldiers, but that was a problem for later. Right now, she needed to go kill the Boss. Sure, it said he had a lot of people and she should wait, but Estaria was not that kind of girl, and so rushed off to his location.

Winter’s Bulwark was probably why they didn’t set up shop in Middenheim, but they were set up in the next best place, Dietershafen. Right on the coast of the Sea Of Claws, it was a perfect place to get reinforcements from Norsca, and was a strong fortress in it’s own right. Arriving outside the gate, there was a shining pillar of light outside Dietershafen, and standing on it gave her a popup box.

Start Siege?

Hitting yes, she got a new screen.

Siege of Dietershafen: Mozz The Mighty vs Estaria Nightfury. 2,600 vs 1

Estaria missed the first half because seeing her name made her heartbeat quicken. Before, it was all just a dream and words, but seeing it in her system made it feel so...immutably official. The Hellcannon bombardment that was coming out of the sky was also immutably official, and so Estaria took off towards the walls at a sprint, leaping up as she reached the walls and wrapping her blades around the battlements to give her a boost and landing on the walls. Though, the tight compact nature of the walls and the thick throng of the enemy troops prevented her from truly using her Wrathflails to their full extent, she could still kill with the blades in close quarters. Snapping off her summons, the Sunmaker Rocket Battery lit up the walls with an inferno, her Greatswords came with blades swinging, and a roar of power and passion empowered them further. Too close quarters for her Handgunners right now, but she would sort that out in short order.

Men fell by the dozens, blood soaking the walls as she carved through them. Backed by Greatswords, the bodies covered the walls. And then, the Greatswords popped out of existence, the summon time up. Her luck was down, her health slowly chipping away with every strike, and there was still a horde of them. Clambering over their dead, axe and sword cut at her, and though she regenerated every second, she was taking more damage than she could regenerate, and it was slowly dipping towards a dangerous level. A quick glance to the troop counter told her she had killed some three hundred and eighty men on the walls. Which, was barely anything compared to nearly three thousand. Bloody system was not lying when it said that it was ill-advised to just charge in. She had spent so long just carving through people with impunity, she had gotten a feeling of invincible divinity. But, even though she could kill these in a single shot, she didn’t have the sustained AOE to hold up against mass combat. Last time she was supported by Filnon, and didn’t face numbers even remotely like these.

With a vicious curse, Estaria flipped backwards, off the walls and out of combat. Retreating some, she summoned her Handgunners to give some covering fire, and fled from the battle. Seemed like she was going to have to do this the proper way. No system-assisted cheating for her this time.

Siege of Dietershafen failed. Casualties - Mozz The Mighty 600/Estaria Nightfury 0 (52 summons)