Taya smiled with glee as violet energy rushed in a vortex around her and the Dragon. He tried to let go, but she held onto him.

“Hear my kin, enemies of man!” Taya roared in unison with her Shedim, “Humans shall once again be their own salvation! Darkness, through its deceit, will no longer capture the hearts of the lost! The search for light will once again be worthwhile! The skies shall clear as men regain their sight once again! Steel will embolden men to take up arms against fate!”

Taya continued on her own, swearing a promise to herself.

“Justice has been absent! Rescue will never come! So I, myself, will step in to lead us! My strong arm of steel and my own justice to fuel me, I will don willpower as my armor, determination, my helm! I will clothe myself in the robe of vengeance and wrap myself in a cloak of passion!”

The Dragon senselessly beat on her arm, but to no avail.

“I will leave an eternity of nothingness to enter a temporary existence of glory! I will abandon the will of the gods to surround myself with true humanity! I will never again know peace and instead, embrace pain! I will betray this world! This fate! This universe! And all who stand in my way, will know the love I feel for my fellow man when they suffer the wrath of my hatred!”

Taya’s surge of power left her. She pushed the Dragon away and fell without fear.

The cobblestones crumbled beneath her as her soles hit the ground. The other Shedim Masters stared at her in awe from their knees.

“Warriors of mankind! Get up! Up on your feet! They will steal our futures from us unless we take them by force! The gods seek our demise, out of jealousy and pride,” Taya shouted. “So get up and earn your future! Fight for your right to a tomorrow!”

She pulled Shedim Masters and Legionnaires alike to their feet.

“Our mission today lies before us! Wake the damned! Let freedom’s song rage! Warriors of mankind! Arise! And destroy all the Weakness that lies in your path!”

Once they were all on their feet where they belonged, Taya turned to face the Dragon. He stood on top of a roof, cradling the arm that Taya had grasped.

“So this is the challenger to the Dragon I’ve heard so much about.” he hissed. “You want a fight? Fine.”

The Dragon gestured with his hand, causing all the city’s Bane Knights and soldiers to come flooding out of the allies and roads around them.

“No mercy for the tyrants!” Taya roared. “Into the abyss, my brothers and sisters! Into the abyss, for life, liberty, and glory!”

She was the first to unleash a hoarse scream of fury as the Legionnaires rushed toward the enemy..

“Queen of the Night and Taker of Souls, bond with my bone and let us become two beings as one!” Taya chanted.

Her Shedim Bonemerged with her, causing her skin to turn a pale grey and her plaid tunic to be replaced by wicked black plate armor. A decorated Claymore appeared in her hands as she charged.

Normally, the immense power that came with Bonemerging made it so the bearer could only hold it for a few minutes before needing to rest. But right now, Taya felt as though her well of power was infinite.

She wrapped herself in ropes of violet energy, carving through the wall of Bane Knights before her like a fire consuming a piece of parchment.

Each of her movements felt lighter than air. Her strikes had the force of a writhing ocean behind them. The armor that emerged from her Bonemerging was tougher than a mountain.

That is, until the weight of a hundred horses slammed into her from the side.

Taya tumbled a few times, but landed on her feet.

A Nikan woman dressed in expensive armor and holding a giant round shield glared at her.

If Taya had to take a guess, she would say this new opponent was one of the Twelve. Which meant the others were somewhere nearby.

“Shedim Masters!” she shouted, “Find the Twelve! Show them our power! Show them the strength of humanity!”

_____________________________________________________________________

The Koini victory was a bittersweet one, Ruhak thought.

With no time for funerals or even proper burials, they had left the army with no time to grieve for their brothers in arms and the many leaders they’d lost.

Among the dead were Sergia, a few other Legates and the Grand Marshal, all of whom died in combat with Bane Knights. They were buried in mass graves with all the other soldiers of the battle.

After the last bits of dirt were piled onto the graves, Iustinianus had found a rather large rock to stand atop of.

“Legions of Koini. I know we have lost many in this fight for our homeland.” Iustinianus said, “I know we have earned a great victory here. But the war is not yet over! The capital is still under siege by the Twelve and their Nikan Bane Knights. And the army we have defeated today may still rally.”

Murmurs spread across the camp, some of worry, some of dread, to march again.

“We cannot rest while Nikan is still within our borders.” Iustinianus said, “As such, I will divide the army. One third of the Legions will accompany Ru….no, Tribune Ruhak to Koinelia and help the Shedim Masters free our capital and protect our emperor. I will take the rest of you and we will ensure that the Nikan army never comes past the Khongirat border again. You may rest tonight, as you’ve all fought hard and need time to mourn the loss of your brothers. But tomorrow we set out at dawn. Dismissed!”

Ruhak strode up to Iustinianus, “Tribune?”

“After what you did on the field today and given your previous rank of Camp Perfect, I thought it fit to bestow you with the title.”

“For real?”

“Only if you want it.” Iustinianus said, “The military isn’t exactly where the happy lives are made. I understand you and your Shedim Masters are stateless. But...we could really use you.”

Ruhak considered for a moment. Then he nodded, “I accept. I’m a tactician and a strategist. There aren’t exactly many places where I belong. But so long as I find one, I think I’ll be just fine in terms of happiness.”

Iustinianus gave an out of character genuine smile that broke up his usually serious and intense expression, “My thanks.”

_____________________________________________________________________

Najeem’s heart pounded as the surrounding battle raged.

Though it wasn’t the fighting that made coldness wash over his body.

He locked his eyes with the monstrous, towering form of the Ox, Gongsun Huan. His arm still bore a scar from their last bout where Najeem had been utterly defeated at the hands of what he had thought a brutish fool.

Well, he would not underestimate his opponent again.

Legionnaire and Bane Knight alike parted ways to let Najeem and the Ox meet.

“You wish for another bout with me, Qahtanad?” the Ox asked, his massive spherical mace covered in red stains, “I will crush your craven skull this time.”

Najeem drew his scimitar, “I welcome you to try, Ox.”

Najeem recited the incantation to allow his Shedim to merge with his blade and lowered into a fighting stance.

If he recalled correctly, the Ox’s skin was completely invulnerable on the front half of his body. It was an easy enough power to work around with the knowledge.

No, Najeem reminded himself, the ox is crafty. He may have been lying to you. Probe him and confirm for yourself first.

Najeem launched off the balls of his feet, keeping light on the ground as he sank into the shadow of a nearby building and emerged from a soldier’s shadow. Now behind the Ox, Najeem let a full powered strike hit his enemy’s back.

In the areas where he wasn’t armored, the Ox’s blood spilled.

“So you remember,” the Ox turned to face him, “Very well. I’ll have to change up my fighting style.”

The ox raised his mace over his head, So Najeem dashed to the side and aimed at a chink in Gongsun Huan’s armor. Only to have twenty pounds of metal smash into his side.

Najeem slid across the street from the sheer force of the blow, but could get back on his feet. He’d allowed himself to be carried by the Ox’s mace to soften the blow.

Still, his ribs ached with unbelievable pain.

“Polearms are useful weapons. One little directional change in your backhand and your overhead strike becomes a horizontal swing.” the ox grinned.

Najeem was unlikely to outwit the Ox in sheer battle prowess. With the weakness of his Banebending, Najeem’s movements would be predictable. Any time he would vanish into the Shadows, the Ox would know where he was going.

No. There was a way to succeed. Najeem just had to find it. He needed more eyes.

The Asasiyun focused his will and his power through his body. Seven copies of himself, crafted from shadow, split off from his body, their sight becoming his.

The phantoms did battle with the Ox, who made some comment about learning new tricks. Instead, Najeem was focused intently on probing the Ox.

As was expected, the Ox was very focused on protecting his back. He could afford to be hit from the front. In fact, he just ignored those phantoms who attacked his front side.

But as far as Najeem knew, it was only his skin that was invulnerable.

Najeem himself rushed in, blade poised for a thrust. He leapt up and shoved the blade into the Ox’s half-open mouth.

Then teeth clamped down on the blade. Najeem tried to pull the sword out, but the Ox had his weapon in a vice grip. The Ox’s mace nearly took his head off, had he not let go of the sword and moved back.

The sword returned to its normal form as a scimitar.

Then, just for show, the Ox bit into the blade, shattering the metal.

I think it would be fair to say that the Ox has his invulnerability in more places than just his skin, his Shedim said.

The Ox had gone back to fighting off and killing his phantoms.

“Alright. Let’s do things the old-fashioned way.” Najeem said.

The old-fashioned way?

Najeem drew a dagger from his belt. It was an armor piercing Rondel dagger designed to punch through armor. “There’s...well, I don’t know the chances of this working. I just know they’re too low for comfort. Can you physically pull me out of the Shadow World?”

To a degree.

“The next time I enter, tear me outta there as fast as you can. I’m not fast enough on my own to do this.” Najeem muttered.

He rushed in again, dismissing his shadows, so Huan’s focus turned solely to him. Najeem sank into the shadows before him.

In the Shadow World, he was allowed to fall in as two hands grabbed his underarms and pulled him back out.

Najeem landed on the cobblestones and shot his body towards the Ox, his back now turned. He was expecting Najeem to come out the other side.

This was it.

The Asasiyun shoved the dagger with all his might into the center of the Ox’s back. The dagger tore through his lamellar and punched through his lower spine.

The Ox dropped like a bag of rocks.

____________________________________________________________________

Lokapele cast her feather lined cape off as she selected her opponent from the Twelve.

He was a lean, agile looking man with a feline face and a permanent smirk. He was dressed in the same red silk, black lamellar and gold accents as his brothers and sisters and carried a one handed, single-edged sword.

“I get an Islander? Intriguing. Show me how you fight, girl!” The prince shouted, “I am the Tiger of the East, Gongsun Yijun, Sixth Imperial Prince!”

Lokapele drew a long, thin wooden fighting staff with feathers and a pointed tip called a taiaha from her belt and whispered the incantation for Blademerging, changing its material into molten rock, along with the skin of her hands and wrists.

“I haven’t the patience for whatever your stupid little gimmick is to differentiate yourself to your distant father.” Lokapele growled.

She rushed in with her taiaha and started with a flurry of strikes, probing the Tiger’s fighting style while concealing her own.

The Tiger blocked so quickly that she almost failed to dodge a counter attack thrown between the defensive motions.

Lokapele backed off and stomped her heel into the ground, raising a chunk of molten earth from the street. She smacked the ball of magma with her taiaha, causing it to shatter into a hundred little molten flecks that shot at the Tiger.

The prince danced his way with a cartwheel out of range of the attack.

“Come on, show me something interesting.” the Tiger said, “I don’t care about your powers. How do you wield your weap-”

“Shut up!” Lokapele kicked a glob of lava up from the street like a ball and nearly melted the prince’s face off.

“Oh, come on. Give me something. You know what it’s like to have a hobby, right?”

Lokapele lunged at the Tiger and slammed the end of her club into his nose. He grunted in pain, clutching her face. She swept his legs out from under him and raised her taiaha overhead for a killing blow.

Quick as lightning, the Tiger smacked the club away with the flat of his blade and gave her a cut down her cheek. She backed off, touching the wound. It was deeper than she would’ve expected.

“See? Now that was more like it!” the Tiger grinned with mad glee.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I’m just passionate, my dearest enemy. Can you really blame me, given how large the world is and how many fighting styles there are?”

Lokapele spat. ‘Passion’. She’d heard that word too many times at this point.

Who the hell had time for passions in war?

Lokapele’s taiaha clashed with the Tiger’s sword. The weapons ground against each other.

“What’s the deal with the hatred on your face?” the Tiger asked. “We’ve only just met and you already have it out for me personally?”

“Shut up!” Lokapele roared, shoving the Tiger back and slamming her taiaha into his side with a lunge.

The Tiger recovered and rushed in towards Lokapele. She tried to stave him off by throwing chunks of molten road at him, but he weaved around them through the air as though he was flying.

She swung her taiaha, but the Tiger caught the weapon, the molten rock burning his flesh, and carved a gash into her side.

She staggered backwards, clutching the wound while the Tiger shook off his blistering hand as though he’d just touched a burning pot and not a taiaha made of molten stone.

Lokapele cringed as she cauterized the gash with her own weapon. While her hands and feet were immune to its heat, the rest of her body burned just the same. She glared at the Tiger, who returned her visual promise of destruction.

“See, there’s that malice again.” the Tiger said, “It’s as though you’re thinking ‘what right does he have to enjoy himself?’”

Lokapele’s grip tightened on her weapon.

“Was there something you used to enjoy doing that you can’t anymore? So many people look at those like me and think us mad. But those of us who revel in the blood, in the suffering, in the glory of combat, we’re the ones having the time of our lives out here.”

“You are mad.” Lokapele growled. But...she didn’t really believe it.”

“Like I care. You’re just a miserable little girl who refuses to let herself find any enjoyment in war.” The Tiger slammed his boot into Lokapele’s guard, pushing her to the ground, “And now you’ll die like a miserable little girl.”

Lokapele punched her fist through the air, causing a chunk of glowing rock to smash into the Tiger’s chest and send him flying.

She scrambled to her feet.

What do you gain from this fight if you remain miserable the whole time? Just as miserable as you would be under the Nikan. Does it have to be that way?

She knew the answer once she had a moment to think. Nothing had to be the way it was. That was the whole point in fighting this war. Whatever she was unhappy with, she could change. The war didn’t have to be miserable.

Yes, lives were lost and her people were displaced, but that didn’t mean she had to mourn the whole time. Rather, she could pick herself up and instead of trying to honor them by being miserable, she could push forward and live her own life.

She fought for those still living, not to remember the dead. As for the dead...she could still sing for them.

The Tiger staggered back to the site of their battle as she lowered herself into a fighting stance.

“Kikiki Kakaka!” She roared in her native tongue, “Let thy valor rise!

“Let thy valor rage!

“For thee I defy, thunderous bolts from Hell!

“I may die, I may die!

“I may live, I may live!

“But I will be the one who summons the Sun!” A change from the original lyrics of this war song.

“A step upward, another step upward!

“A step upward, another...It is over the horizon that the Sun shines! And it is there I shall go!” Lokapele chanted.

“So you’re a poet then?” the Tiger asked in Koini.

Lokapele nodded. “It’s what I enjoy. Maybe we’re both mad. But I don’t care. True Weakness is forcing myself to be miserable.”

The ground cracked open as Lokapele spoke those words. Her Scars burned as her Shedim manifested itself to announce to the world her induction into the Companies.

But Lokapele’s eyes remained on the Tiger, who took a step back. But a wave of magmatic walls rose around them, keeping both of them in an arena of Lokapele’s own making. Just for right now, the limiters of her power appeared to be missing.

So she drowned her enemy in a sea of molten rock.