Chapter 36 Construct of War

Arthur, Crow, and Snow all watched as Lussuria hopped into the fountain. The gargoyle statue that served as the head of the noble’s center fountain was apparently more than just elaborate décor.

“That old thing? Are you sure?” Snow dubiously questioned her sister.

Lussuria treaded through the pool of water up to the statue. Her hands glided across the statue as she examined it from various angles. Lussuria stopped once she reached its backside.

“There, you see it?” Lussuria pointed towards the statue’s head. A circle indentation was on the back of its neck. The indent was so old that it was barely visible. “That’s a rune, I could control it from there.”

“This statue must have been used in the last war. It’s ancient. The Lotus must have missed it.” Arthur noted.

“I guess Augnem’s attempt to embarrass me wasn’t a waste after all.” Lussuria said as she began to climb the statue. When Lussuria got to the top, she placed her hand on the rune. “Okay so, since this thing is ancient, it probably uses touch controls. Here I go.” Lussuria’s palm flashed before she chanted. “Activate!- control!”

A small rune appeared floating above the indentation momentarily before fading away. The statue had no response.

“What's wrong?” Snow called up to her.

“This rune has some sort of lock on it. That must explain why it’s still here.” Lussuria tried to think.

“So, It needs a keyword.” Arthur said.

“Yeah, any ideas?”

“Try ‘Daiga’ as your second term, that’s the name of the old monarchy.” Arthur instructed.

“Activate!- Daiga!- Control!” Lussuria pressed her hand against the statue. The rune appeared again and disappeared.

“Any other ideas?” Lussuria shrugged.

Little Crow landed on the statue’s head, looking at the rune indentation with curiosity.

Crow turned to Arthur. “Arthur, do you know of any other passwords the diaga mage guild could have used?”

“Typically they all just used ‘Diaga’. If this is a special construct then its keyword would be something the magi mage guild would not be able to guess.”

“What about ‘password’?” Snow scratched her head.

“... Really, Snow?” Lussuria’s face dropped into a stupefied form.

“You got any better ideas?!”

“This thing might lock if we get it wrong too many times!”

“Well, nobody else has any ideas! Just do it!”

“Okay, whatever you say… Activate!- Password!- Control!-” As soon as Lussuria said that, the floating rune appeared and flashed bright yellow. The statue activated and began to shake. “That worked!? Are you kidding me?!” Lussuria yelled before nearly being thrown off. The old stone plating over the statue crumbled, falling off like an old shell into the fountain water. The statue’s real form consisted of pristine white stone and large flexible wings.

Everyone backed up as the gargoyle statue moved its wings and stretched from its base.

“Wow Lussuria, that's amazing!” Snow shouted.

“I know right! This thing... Wooooah!” Lussuria held on tight as the statue fell off the base into the fountain pool. The fountain was destroyed and water began flooding into the noble’s center.

“Lussuria don’t crush us!” Snow yelled.

“This thing is not that easy to control! It's like it has a mind of its own! In theory this seemed a lot easier! Just give me… a second!” Lussuria began frantically tweaking the small rune that was hovering in front of her. The statue rose and swung its clawed arms, almost swiping the group. It appeared to view Snow, Arthur and Crow as hostile.

“Lussuria, get that thing under control!” Snow yelled again as they had to dodge back to avoid its swipes. Little Crow was flying in the statue’s face, trying to distract it.

“I'm trying!... The orientation of my fingers matters too? Interesting…” Lussuria was turning her wrist while opening and closing certain fingers. With each movement, the gargoyle's anger became more pronounced. The rage of the construct was unrelenting, imitating a bull taunted by crimson drapes. Little Crow could only buy them so much time until the construct refocused on the group.

“Lussuria!?” They all ran as the war construct gave chase.

“Almost got it!” The gargoyle jumped ahead of them a couple of yards, blocking their path. It raised its arms in the air, motioning to slam them. Lussuria made one final twist, squeezing all her fingers together, causing the gargoyle to pause.

“Okay! If that works then… how about this?” Lussuria eased a few fingers.

The gargoyle opened its wings and got on all fours like a dog. Its aggression was soothed.

“Alright, I understand the controls now.” Lussuria smiled. She tamed the war construct.

Lussuria lowered the gargoyle to the ground.

“Hop on!”

As the gargoyle stomped up the main road on all fours, each step shook the street. Lussuria had her legs wrapped around the gargoyle's neck while she operated the control rune. Arthur, Crow and Snow were sprawled out on its back, barely holding on and bracing themselves wherever they could get a grip.

“Do I have permission to, you know, crush these guys?” Lussuria asked while they were charging towards the first checkpoint.

“If you can help it, try not to.” Arthur was the acting voice of reason.

“Aww, no fun. I was hoping for some payback.”

The band of mercenaries saw them oncoming and readied bottles of fire. The knocking of arrows were also readied.

“Crow, help me intercept the projectiles!” Arthur said, he snapped a flame in his right hand while holding on with the left.

“Yeah!” Crow shouted as he summoned a few birds.

“I got most of them, don't worry!” Lussuria shouted, she pushed into the rune as the gargoyle opened its wings around them like a shield. Fire bottles smashed against the wings as they passed by. Everyone braced as they stomped right through the first checkpoint, crushing wagons and wooden pikes.

The first barricade was cleared.

“Watch out!” One of the fire bottles flew in from above their winged shield. Arthur got ready to fire at it but he was beaten by Little crow. Little Crow flew into the bottle, knocking it away.

“Nice job Little Crow!” Snow yelled over the pounding stomps.

Little Crow cawed happily before resuming its glide above them.

The next barrier was lit aflame, probably in an effort to deter them.

“Brace yourselves I’m going to jump over the next barricade!” Lussuria warned.

Everyone braced themselves. Snow felt her stomach drop as they jumped into the air, right over the checkpoint. The gargoyle landed with a smash on the other side of the barrier.

They had cleared the second barricade. Three more remaining.

“Frederick is almost at the regal district stairs!” Snow spotted him. Frederick looked back at them. The white gargoyle, headed by: two princesses, two lotus agents, and a sassy small crow was enough to change Frederick's pace from a calm stroll into a full blown sprint.

“We're not going to make it. Lussuria, can you speed this thing up?!” Snow pleaded.

Mercenaries and knights began to bolster at the remaining three barricades. Another wave of fire and flint flew their way. Lussuria put up the wings to protect them.

“It’s hard when I’m trying not to step on these guys!” Lussuria eyed the buildings on the side of the road. “Alright, fine, hold on!” The gargoyle turned right and pounded right up to the side of a house. It began clawing through the wood and stone, climbing and pulling itself up on the rooftop. They began jumping roof to roof. The construct was too heavy to fly, but the wings helped them glide slightly.

“I will give them one thing; Mountaineer housing infrastructure sure is strong.” Lussuria muttered.

They were able to easily skip two of the barricades, but then they didn't have any more rooftop to skip the last one, since it was the barricade blocking the regal stairs.

Frederick reached the top of the regal stairs and went out of sight.

“I can’t see him anymore!”

“Hang on tight!” Lussuria yelled, everyone did as she said. The final barrier was the one at the bottom of the regal district stairs. The gargoyle dove off the rooftop. Its wings closed in around them like an arrow as they crashed into the final checkpoint. The mercenaries dispersed like ants trying not to be crushed.

“go go go!” Snow rushed Lussuria to go faster.

“Would you like to drive this thing!?“ Lussuria said in frustration. The gargoyle began scratching its way up the stairs to the Regal district.

Once they reached the top of the grand stairs and passed through the gate framed by the famously ginormous twin statues, they arrived in the regal district. The regal district was made with pearly white stone and fully gold buildings. The road had the mountain symbol lightly inscribed on it, leading straight up to the castle. This district was the king’s personal estate. The castle itself was half embedded in the mountain, surrounded by superior architecture similar to the council hall. It didn't take long until they saw Frederick again. Frederick was sprinting towards the castle doors, easily spotted because the district was void of both guards and people.

“Crow, Arthur, get off so you don’t get in range of the ring!” Snow told them.

“Gotcha!” Both lotus agents jumped off simultaneously.

Lussuria leaned forward as they picked up speed. Snow could see the hairs on the back of Frederick’s head.

“You can’t get away Frederick!” Snow yelled out as Frederick kept glancing over his shoulder.

“I'm going to grab him!” Lussuria clasped her hand on the rune as the gargoyle lunged out to grab him.

“Princess, watch out!” They heard Arthur yell. Lussuria saw something flying in from the right and quickly yanked the arm back. A large stone slammed down in front of them, separating them from Frederick. Frederick ran inside as the castle doors shut behind him.

“What in the hells is that?!” Snow and Lussuria turned their heads to the right.

The enormous statue framing the gate to the regal district was no longer in its position. It was right next to them. The rock in front of them was the end of the great axe it wielded.

“That thing is a construct?!” Lussuria was astonished. The gargoyle spun to face this towering threat. The gate guardian. It was an active construct.

“Do you think we can take it on?” Snow questioned, not long before another shadow loomed over them.

“If…that one is alive then…” Snow and Lussuria slowly turned their heads in the other direction. The other twin guardian had its weapon held high in the air, just above them.

“Move!” Arthur yelled at them.

Lussuria pulled back and the gargoyle hopped backwards. The huge weapon slammed into the ground, cratoring it. The gargoyle ran back to both lotus agents.

“You girl’s okay!?” Arthur called out to them.

“We need to deal with those giant constructs.” Lussuria noted while getting ready to react to the next attack.

“Stop them!” The mercenaries were all heard coming just up the stairs to the regal district.

“We can’t deal with both at once.” Arthur ran up to the Regal district gate before he erected a flaming barrier stopping their pursuers from entering.

“Arthur, keep that barrier up.” Crow then turned his attention to Lussuria. “I’ll handle the left one. Princess Lussuria, can you two handle the one on the right?” Crow questioned.

“Yes, we can!” Lussuria shouted back. Crow ran towards the left statue grabbing its attention. Lussuria turned to face the right statue that was targeting them.

“Be careful!” Arthur pleaded.

“Yeah don't worry Arthur.” Lussuria assured him.

“How are we going to beat that thing Lussuria?” Snow questioned as this construct was three times bigger than theirs. The gate guardian was staring them down, preparing to attack.

“You know what they say; the bigger they are…” The gargoyle clawed the floor before rushing into the statue. The gargoyle latched its front claws onto the guardian as it began to push with its hind legs. The guardian tilted a few inches back before regaining its balance against their struggle. “Drat, nevermind.. This thing is too heavy!”

The guardian riposted, kneeing the gargoyle back, sending them flying away. The gargoyle dug its claws into the ground as they slid to a halt.

“Snow you good?” Lussuria looked to her older sister, who was hanging on tightly.

“Yeah…” Snow scooted up closer to Lussuria.

“Looks like I can't wrestle this thing to the ground. Ok, new plan. You see how our construct has a rune?”

“Yeah?”

“That one has a control rune too, we just need to find it and destroy it!”

“Alright, try to go fully around it. Let's see if we can find it.”

Lussuria twisted her fingers as the gargoyle became enraged and charged right at the gate guardian again. Before they would have collided, Lussuria dramatically turned her hand as the gargoyle's wing extended out, causing them to swerve around the guardian’s leg.

“See anything Snow?!” Lussuria shouted.

Snow scanned the whole backside of the guardian looking for any glowing runes or unusual inscriptions, nothing.

“No!”

The rune was not on its back, nor was it on its front.

“Damn, that means it must be on top of its head!”

“I guess we are going to climb it. Right after this attack!” The guardian swung down vertically. Lussuria waved her fingers as the gargoyle danced around the strike. After dodging the attack the gargoyle pounced on the guardian. They began to climb up its chest. When they got near the guardian’s chin, the statue grabbed the gargoyle’s left wing. The wing tore as they were swung to the ground like a sack, ending in another explosion. Snow could feel her bones rattle as both her and Lussuria were dazed. The left wing was ripped clean off. Snow shook off the rattling daze and looked back up at the guardian. It began to hover its massive foot above them.

“Lussuria, wake up! It's going to crush us!”

Lussuria got a hold of herself and quickly locked her fingers together on the gargoyle's control rune. The gargoyle raised its arms, catching the descending foot. The gargoyle's arms began to crack from the extreme force. The guardian was trying to crush them with all its weight.

“Damn this thing is strong!” Lussuria gritted as she tried to fight against the push with all her might. The overlooming foot pushed down on them harder and harder. The ground cracked as they began sinking into the road.

“Lussuria we need to bail!”

The gargoyle’s arms began to crack louder and louder from the excess weight.

“No! I got it!” Lussuria took one hand off the control rune and aimed it right at the foot above them. “Cover your head!”

Snow lowered her head as Lussuria started to chant.

“Rune-power-ignite-”

The rune formed just above them, aimed directly at the foot.

“FIRE!” Lussuria shot a blast of magic at the bottom of the statue's foot, causing the foot to recoil upwards. In that moment they dashed out before the foot resumed its descent back into the earth, following with another craterous explosion.

“Ok, can't wrestle it, can't climb it. What do we do?” Lussuria was out of ideas.

“How about you get me up there. I'll disable it.” Snow suggested.

“That sounds like a mad idea but... I am down for it.”

“Would the dagger work?” Snow pulled out Gravis’s dagger.

“Yeah, it would. Etch it right across the center and the rune will break.”

“Gotcha.”

Lussuria poised the gargoyle to challenge their ginormous opponent again. The gargoyle charged into the statue again and went into a standing wrestle with it. The gargoyle’s weakened arms were barely holding onto the guardian’s forearms.

“Go now Snow!”

Snow was holding onto the right wing while they shook back and forth. Snow tried her best to keep balance, while aiming her jump. Once they stabilized she leaped onto the guardian’s arm and began to climb it.

The guardian noticed Snow’s ascent and tried to fight her off. Lussuria responded to the aggression by having the gargoyle slam one of its hind legs into the ground, anchoring it against the resistance.

Snow got up to the shoulder and looked down. She wasn't afraid of heights but that didn't mean she wasn't afraid of death. She was about six floors high. A fall here would no doubt be deadly. Snow tried her best to ignore it while she maneuvered to the head. When Snow stood up on the shoulder blade she could see the glowing rune on the guardian's head. The rune was glowing brown.

“I see the rune!” Snow shouted.

Snow took out Gravis’s dagger and stabbed downward into the center of the rune. The rune flashed in response but didn’t break. Snow began grinding the dagger across the circle and the statue immediately jolted in aggression. The guardian ripped itself free from Lussuria’s grasp and shook its upper body rapidly, in efforts to throw Snow off. Snow held onto the collar as tight as she could. After Snow stabilized herself, she resumed etching. Once she got halfway, the guardian became desperate and ran itself into the regal district wall. Snow was almost flung off with the sudden jolt. Snow held on but the dagger flew out of her hand.

“No! The dagger!”

The dagger glistened in the air as it spun towards the ground.

Little Crow was heard flapping towards them, or rather, the glistening weapon. Their small companion grabbed the falling weapon with his talons and flew up to the top of the statue. Snow raised her right hand and Little Crow dropped the weapon into her hand.

“You're the best, Little Crow!”

“Caaw!”

Little Crow flew to the front of the guardian and began flying in circles. The guardian’s attention shifted to bird’s patterns. Snow used the opportunity to jump right on top of the statue’s head. She stared down at the rune.

“Break already!” Snow didn't stab the rune, she began to slice it, repeatedly. Strike after strike, with each blow causing the rune to flash, until finally, the rune shattered. The guardian began to power down. The giant statue started lowering its head in a mechanical fashion.

“Yes!” Snow began to celebrate, but it would not last long. She started to lose her footing. Snow’s feet shuffled in a dance as she started slipping off of the tilted head.

“Woah, woah!”

“Snow!” Lussuria shouted from below.

Snow threw herself to the side, taking the dagger and slamming it into the chest of the statue, sparks grinded out as she slid down the chest and onto Lussuria’s gargoyle.

“Okay, now that… was cool.” Lussuria praised her.

“Yeah, let’s not do that again.” Snow dropped her head back with a deep breath.

The earth shook as the other guardian fell. Crow proceeded back to the center, while wiping his hands.

“Finished mine as well.”

With one guardian deactivated and the other ‘decommissioned’, Lussuria led the way up to the throne room doors. The throne room was the first chamber of the castle, serving as the entrance hall. Which made getting to the King convenient. The thick stone doors, that were locked, stood in their way. Snow got off and joined Crow as Lussuria shifted the war construct into a breaching position. Once the gargoyle was poised to ram into the doors, Lussuria looked back towards them.

“I'm going to ram it now.”

“Do it.” Crow gave her the go.

Lussuria twisted the rune back and forth as the gargoyle charged right into the stone doors, ramming it hard. The doors cracked and partially opened. They could see the splintered wood of a drawbar through the slit of the door. Lussuria backed up and got in position again.

“And again...”

Lussuria twisted the rune back and forth with more aggression as the gargoyle rammed the door again with more force than the last. This time the drawbar of the door cracked loudly.

“And now, for the finale.”

Lussuria repeated the motion one final time, this time cranking the rune all the way. The gargoyle rammed the doors with its full might, the drawbar broke as the doors blew open. Lussuria’s control rune began to fade as the gargoyle began powering down, the pristine white stone that was put through hell looked just about ready to fall apart now. The gargoyle collapsed to the ground as Lussuria slid off.

“This construct is finished, although I would say the quality of those war relics are impressive.” Lussuria gave her assent to their vehicle of destruction up to this point.

“It served us well.” Crow agreed before looking back at the regal entrance. Arthur’s flame barrier had begun to fade, a small army of mercenaries were standing in wait on the other side. “I’ll be on standby out here, to stay out of range of Frederick. If anything happens, I’ll rush in.”

Little Crow flew into the castle and perched up on the edge of one of the hollow windows.

“Sounds good.” Snow nodded and motioned to Lussuria. “Lussuria, lets go!”

“Right!”

Snow and Lussuria ran into the throne room, where a line of royal guard stood between them and the throne.