We wait until the next morning to strike. That night, we explain the plans for the attack to my remaining generals and the bugbear. I remember that his name is Bugger after a few moments of awkwardness, the plan is that we will wait until he speaks with them. The plan is that they are going to invade anyways, so if he can get as many as possible outside of the village so there isn't as much collateral damage to the bugbear's.

He will tell them that he has my corpse hidden somewhere close by and they have to leave the village as there order before. Hopefully some will continue the ruse and leave, at least to the outskirts then he will wheel me forwards… I feel less prepared than I should for this… It is because I am missing a large portion of my army right now. With the lack of generals, many of the troops are rolled into other groups. It is far less coordinated than it was before. I doubt we will have many casualties. But more generals wouldn't add to the amount of deaths, only remove from it. The next day comes… We all prepare, slowly my army comes through the portal scrolls. Estimates of the army size are around 400… We're double their numbers, better equipped, more prepared for this fight than the enemy is… I have no doubt this will be a one sided fight. The goal is to stop any from escaping, if they do we will be forced to chase them down and kill them. If any get away, they can warn the enemy of what we are doing… I want this to be a backdoor for my troops once the war starts. Attacking them from three different angles. They will have to spend more effort on defending towns than they would if I didn't plan for the future. I have learned my lesson… If none choose to surrender… They will have no quarter in this fight. I will kill all 400 troops if it comes down to it… That sounds like Wrath speaking but… I think it is me… It is becoming harder and harder to tell. Bugger comes back from his discussion… I can see the fear in his eyes… I load myself onto the wagon that he starts to pull… I'm in dragon form, my eyes are closed but I can still see somewhat with my sensory map. I can feel several hundred men on the outskirts of the village now… We pass through the enemy base where the majority of the enemy troops are… The plan somewhat succeeded, asking beforehand, it seems like many are not wearing armor. Most likely to keep up the ruse that they aren't going to kill every bugbear after they verify my corpse. I feel some fruit hit me, I almost instinctively react but managed to stop myself. We pass by 2 guard posts, each as 2-3 guards in them. I feel an arrow sink into my leg… I take it, no movement, no pain or wincing, I just take it. Then another arrow into my back, this one bounces off my scales. I hear one of the men say. “So, how did you kill him?” “I bought a poison with the money the village gave me. I pretended to get captured, then once it became nighttime I stealthily entered his chamber's while he was sleeping. He didn't even see the attack coming.” “Alright, take the corpse to the middle of the village and we'll call for the commander to come view it. If it is indeed to corpse of the dragon you will have won the freedom of your village.” Detect lies starts going off by what he just said... I already knew but this only confirmed my suspicion. He continues to wheel me towards the center of the village… I can feel the life force of several people around me… I can tell that some of the men who are stationed here are waiting in the houses to ambush the villagers once they know for sure that it isn't a fake dragon. The leader comes walking out… I hear him speak to Bugger. “Ah, it seems that our little bugbear mercenary is back from his trip to the south. Me and my men had made a bet on weather you would come back alive or not... I guess I owe them some coin later. Now, let me see this creature.” He starts to get close… The closer I get the more I feel like he is going to stab me once he gets close enough. I think this farce has gone on long enough. Without giving myself away, I stop the commander dead in his tracks. I use control blood to stiffen his body up and clamp his mouth shut. Removing the air in the area he is in is difficult but I've been practicing spacial air manipulation the past few months. Soon enough the standing captain is no more than a corpse now. I puppet him closer to me and reanimate undead on him… He is now a walking corpse. We wait now… Wait for our troops to attack, the second I hear the sound of fighting I will know it is time to strike. We wait… And wait, and wait… Where is the sound of fighting? It should have happ-. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The mana cannons we moved into range of the base go off. There it is, I go to jump up but before I do I give a little tap on the void satchel beside me. A dozen of my men come rushing out. Sock being the leader of this group, I fly close to one of the huts that is housing a number of the enemies. I crush a vial and add three scrolls to this attack. KILL, DESTROY! MAIM! FIGHT! Calm down! I need to calm down I think as I light the building on fire. Burning through the wood quick enough to kill everyone inside. I look at the battlefield now. Bugbear's rush around, not understanding what is going on. Some rush for cover, I see a few ready to fight but without a knowledge on the new enemies. I doubt they will be willing to help us. The door to the other building with enemies in it flies open. I can see now fully armored men come rushing out. At least a dozen if not more are hiding inside. They had about 100 troops hidden inside the village, I killed the other main building but more continue to flood into the middle of the village. Even more try getting into the village from their huts outside as my army pounds them with cannon fire. I can't let them take hostages. I need to kill them before they try too. “Let me take over. I promise I'll kill them all!” “No! I can't, you are too dangerous.” “Dangerous to who? I'm only dangerous to your enemies!” I can feel his anger building… Then he stops, I feel something different. “I just want to help you Kite, just… Give me an arm, give me the dead arm to use. You can even watch me fight.” I… Do I trust him? I give in… I can't trust him yet but if he can help me… “I swear, if you kill any bugbear's I will cut my damn arm off!” “Fine! We'll do it your way!” I activate partial lich form… A surge of extra power pours into me. FUCKING AMAZING! This feeling is amazing! I hear in my head again. “Well don't just stand there, we have some people to protect.” I change back into human form, flying at the enemies as the come out of the building, WHAM! I slam into 4 as they exit with enough force to knock them off their feet. I go to reach for my heirloom sword but it is already gone. My other hand moves almost like it isn't even part of my body and cleaves all 4 of their heads off. The two coming out see this, I can see fear in their faces now. They aren't afraid for very long, my sword is thrown at them. SLAM! Cutting into the wood of the building as the two are cut to pieces, he pulls it back out with an air ball. I hear him speak. “A fire breath inside should finish the rest off. Just hurry up, we're going to have to defend the entrance to the village or men will start rushing in.” I quickly pull a single scroll out of my mouth. Looking into the entrance of the hut still in human form, I cast a flame breath attack. I hear the sounds of people being burned alive this time. The burst wasn't enough to instantly vaporize their bodies… They died painfully… Fuck, that is what I was trying to prevent. I hear his voice again. “They knew what they were getting into when they had taken over this village. Each of these men deserve to die. Remember that you don't have to put them down that cleanly if it will save your allies lives.” “I… We need to stay focused.” I take in a deep breath. This battle is almost over already. The few cannon fire shots were all keenly placed. Hundreds were killed before they even realized we were here. The wave of troops had struck the enemy so precisely that they couldn't counter or even prepare. Most of their deaths were those attempting to put on armor or get into formation before being overrun… If the battle with the pirates was one-sided in our favor… I would call this the mass slaughter of our enemies. The ones inside ready to fight and kill the villagers once the agreement was done all take a single look at Sock and attempt to run away… They don't make it very far before they get cut in half. In mere minutes the number of enemy occupants of this village went from 400 to somewhere under 50… The strike was so precise it was almost surgical… A clean, overwhelming victory for us. It happened so fast some of the bugbear's still don't understand what has happened… Even I'm amazed at the speed in which we killed them… 50 men all sit in a row tied up, I call out of them now. “Of those who are living. Who is the highest ranking one of you.” ...No response… Some of the men start crying now, audibly weeping at what has just happened. I see that some of the men have pissed themselves in the attack. Some so scared and denying the reality of what happened they might have gone insane. Others puking at the sight of gore, of their comrades being blown to pieces... Not a single one isn't shaken up by what had just happened. No response… Before I realize it, Wrath responds for me. “I SAID WHO IS THE HIGHEST RANKING ONE IN THE LIVING!?” Some more of the men who hadn't yet proceed to piss themselves… Damn it Wrath, that isn't how you ask. “Sorry… I meant, who is representing you. The ones who are still alive.” A sniveling man begins to speak. “I… I think I am… You killed the commander… All of his generals… The leader of the archers… And the leader of the frontal assault group… I'm the support officer of the army. Please don't kill us.” “Alright, your men will be taken in as prisoners until this upcoming war is over. Until then… Please don't do anything to make me regret keeping you alive. I'm sorry for the show of force but it helps you realize what kind of situation you are in right now. If you try anything until the war is over you will not live to see tomorrow.” ...I felt that Wrath had controlled some of what I had said… How? I've always had to give permission to the trait in order for them to speak. This trait is just different… He can do whatever he wants if he fights against me hard enough… If I let my anger get the best of me, he will win. Wrath speaks to me inside my head. “That isn't how it is Kite. I only want what is best for you. If a single one of those troops would have taken a hostage you would have just let him waltz out of the base just for them to kill the hostage as we chase them. Killing them quickly was the only way to stop it.” “How… How can you possibly know that?” “I know that because that is what I would have done to survive. I would have killed this whole village if it guaranteed my safety… If it meant Leaf's safety… I'd abandon your entire army to protect her.” “… I… I know I should be upset with that… I know I should tell you that isn't the right thing to do… But in all honesty… I'd burn a thousand villages to the ground to protect her.” “Then why didn't you take the Greater god's treasures?” “He doesn't care about Leaf, he never has, he only cares for me. I think… If I picked one of those chests… It just feels if I keep relying on him for favors they will come back to haunt me later… Owing a favor to a god is far worse than anything he could have given me.” “You really think he would take that much of a detour around screwing you over?” “Yes… I don't think he has my interest at heart… He wants me to be interesting to watch, something like that means he will try and lead me down paths of tragedy… I think it is the same situation as the castle mimic and time tree… In the end, that time tree could have ruined my life… I could have gotten so caught up in getting stronger that I would just spend a huge portion of my life inside it… I think he gave it to me as a test.” “What a roundabout way to screw you over. I don't know… The time tree just seems too helpful to be anything but that… I'll leave the thinking to you but if I don't agree with it, you're going to hear from me.” “Wait… Who are you exactly?” “You haven't figured it out yet? Think back… To all those times when you needed to be more ruthless than your mind would let you… Olaf, the goblin king, the criminal that tried to steal Pokodo, the bandit king… You suddenly became far better at killing at least for brief periods of time… I am you, this trait is the one you removed from this body when Kindness had taken over. I couldn't fight against you until recently. Until something happened to make you so mad I was reactivated completely.” Not a single death happened on our side or the bugbear's. We had about a dozen injured but it is far better than any deaths. Hero 78 to 79 Archer 77 to 80 Master of learning 56 to 59 ...I expected to gain more from that fight. There commander must have been a completely useless and inept leader to not have a single secret skill. Perhaps he had one I already have. What a letdown… I hear Wrath speak in my head. “You should take parts of their corpses to absorb later.” “...I wont even dignify that with a response.” “Why not? It isn't like you're going to become a cannibal, it's a skill.” “It just feels wrong. That is as close to being a cannibal you can get besides eating people.” “Fine… You need to stop putting limits on what you can do, we would be much stronger if you could break your own rules.” “They are my rules for a reason, we need to be an example to everyone around us. If we start eating people it will obviously set a bad example.” The next few days we spend making sure that no more soldiers come to attack them while they move locations to my fortress. I'll have to continue expanding the fortress… We keep getting bigger, thankfully I was prepared this time but I expect that more will show up if I keep fighting. Bugger comes to speak with me… He will become a general in the future and I need one of the bugbear's to lead their own people… Out of all the bugbears who moved to the fortress. Most are non combatant's, about 50 are trained for fighting. Some don't have any classes… I'll spend the next few days teaching them. After that, I will just do things I enjoy or need to be done until the next war starts... I've known about this upcoming war for years... Compared to the fight with the pirates this is going to be far more messy... My army will only be a small force in a much larger group of men fighting soon. Enemy aghas' point of view I am sitting in my forward tent near the border to the south. Our armies are slowly working its way here. Within the year, we will make our assault towards the capital. Best case scenario is we kill their king and place a figurehead to lead while our country holds the actual leadership. We will most likely push a peace agreement on them in our favor. The main reason we are going to war is because they had broken our other agreement where they pay tribute to our country. The king is a fool who will be crushed under the might of a stronger army. A man comes rushing in to my tent. “Aghas! We've received word from the forces to the west! They haven't heard back from the pirates in over a month. It seems they might be conspiring against us!” “Thank you messenger. Here is a silver for your troubles. Make sure you take this message back to the sultan, you can take one of our horses to make it back more quickly!” “S-sir, I am but a humble scout. I do not wish to burden you with-.” “Get off it, take the horse and be on your way scout. This is a matter of importance and I expect you to be back within a month with news from the sultan. I'm giving you that horse to ensure your swift travels.”

The scout scampers out of the room… What are the pirates thinking? At a time like this they drop the contact… That shifty pirate leader must be planning something… I think she might be playing both sides now. I doubt we will get any help from her, at least not directly during the war… This battle might be harder but I still think we can win this. We still outnumber them. I have no doubt the war will be starting sooner because the pirates have stopped responding. If there is no reason to coordinate attacks, there is no reason to wait.