Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 100- Beginner Necromancy

[Keeno POV]

The two-week march was surprisingly void of any trouble.  This lead most of us to be on edge as we progressed toward the mountain city we were supposed to conquer.  Said mountain came into view a few days ago, and it was an impressive sight, as much as I hated to admit.  The mountain was also surrounded by a forest full of trees with leaves that ranged in color from yellow, to brown, to red in a lovely display of the current season.

“Sigurd, we should be careful walking through here.  I may be an amateur when it comes to warfare, but even I know this place is perfect ambush terrain.” (Keeno)

“Yes, I’m getting an unsettling feeling about this, but we still need to push on.” (Sigurd)

He then turned to the rest of the company.

“Once we enter the forest, be prepared for anything.” (Sigurd)

At those words, the entire vibe of the company changed.  Honestly, it was quite interesting just how quickly everyone raised their guard.  Nothing happened as soon as we entered the forest, though, speaking in a non-serious way, the forest was even more beautiful in the tree line.

‘Almost a shame this place is going to go up in flames if a fight does happen.’ (Keeno)

{That’s the price of war for you.  It’s honestly a bit saddening.}

‘That’s the goddess of Life for you.’ (Pram)

‘You know, now that I think of it, I’m surprised you’re so unopposed to killing people and animals for the goddess of Life.’ (Freya)

{Why would I be?  Aside from certain exceptions, it’s all a part of Life for things to die.  Sure, I might not like the reason some things die early, but in the end, it still happens. And I know for a fact that even if I could step in to stop it, things would find ways to die that I didn’t consider.}

‘What are those exceptions?’ (Pram)

{True immortals like us gods, our Apostles, spirits, things whose natural lifespans are basically immortal but still killable like dragons.}

‘…Now that I think about it, how did my ancestor die and make a Spirit Realm if she should have been immortal, lifespan wise?’ (Keeno)

{Not sure, you should ask her next time you see her.}

‘I will, and maybe I’ll try some of that stuff written in that book that just randomly appeared in my ring.  If she want to of course.’ (Keeno)

‘I feel you should probably do some of that before then.’ (Freya)

‘I agree with Freya, Keeno.  I don’t know anything about necromancy, but I feel like it’s something that should at least have the bare minimum experience in before trying to raise a dragon.’ (Pram)

‘That’s fair…hmm.’ (Keeno)

{Keeno, you’re making that face again.}

‘Just got an idea, I’ll run it by you later, for now, we’re about to be busy.’ (Keeno)

Up ahead, I could see a smallish clearing with several black orbs hiding.

“Sigurd.” (Keeno)

“Up ahead?” (Sigurd)

“Yeah, I can only see a few souls near the entrance to the clearing, but there is most definitely more than just that small number. Unless they are completely underestimating us.” (Keeno)

“Can you tell the strength of the enemy?” (Sigurd)

“No, I just know they are there.” (Keeno)

While Sigurd fell silent in thought, I decided that I would like to try something.

“Sigurd, send me and Freya in while the rest of you hold back here. There is something I want to try, and the two of us should be enough to handle this many. Just be prepared to jump in or run if things go south.” (Keeno)

“Are you sure, my Lady?” (Sigurd)

“Yeah.  Though, if things do work out, the city will definitely end up learning we’re here if they didn’t already know.” (Keeno)

“I’ll have any that know water magic get ready to put out any fires as fast as possible.” (Sigurd)

I nodded and looked at Freya.

“I don’t think this is what Pram meant by getting some experience.” (Freya)

“People learn faster under pressure like this, Freya.” (Keeno)

“*sigh*” (Freya)

Sigurd have the signal to halt and Freya and I continued into the clearing.  The souls showed that the ambushes noticed us and they started to move.  Aside from the place we entered from, people wearing light armor appeared from every other direction, quickly surrounding us.  Once they were all in position, shimmering weapons of varying types appeared in their hands. Looking around, a lot of these people had a vacant look in their eyes, while a few others had a sadistic cruelty in theirs.

“I hope you at least know a little of what you’re doing.” (Freya)

“I have the theory down, just need the practical. Once I start, things’ll get easier. Though they’ll be cannon fodder at most.” (Keeno)

“And if it doesn’t work out?” (Freya)

“Then we’ll both be fighting.” (Keeno)

Any words Freya was going to retort with were lost to time as one of the ambushes ran at us. Freya immediately summoned her swords and defended against the attack with one while stabbing the assailant with the other.  As soon as the body fell to the floor, I got to work.

Raising my hand over the body, I started to channel my mana into it.  I imagined a set of chains keeping the soul in place and then making sure there was a tether of mana connecting me to the chains. Once this process was over, the corpse started to rise unsteadily.

‘Ugh.  This is harder than I thought it would be.’ (Keeno)

‘Maybe so, but at least it was unexpected for the enemy. They haven’t moved and some are clearly scared.’ (Freya)

‘Then let’s put the fear of us in them more.’ (Keeno)

I sent a signal through the mana tether and the newly raised undead started to shamble towards one of its previous companions.  Said previous companion started to shake and turned to run, only to end up being cut down by another.

“WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING!?  WE ARE THE ELITE OF FALHEIM, DON’T LET SOME…WITCHCRAFT LIKE THIS SCARE YOU!  KILL THE WITCH AND HER PET, THEN RAZE THE ARMY BEHIND THEM. LET THE RIGHTFUL KING BE DECIDED WITH THIS!”

One of the enemies whose eyes weren’t dead rallied his Allie’s and this started a charge of several more while others stayed back to ensure we wouldn’t escape.  Tapping. Foot on the ground, I sent a wave of fire behind me until it reached behind our enemies. The fire then spread in a ring around the clearing, helped greatly by all of the fallen leaves.

“Isn’t it cute, Freya?  They think we’re trapped here with them.” (Keeno)

“Heh.” (Freya)

The enemies were surprised for a second, which gave Freya the opportunity to take out several of them by doing her usual move of speeding herself up to great speeds. I also did my best to do my work as fast as possible. We soon were about even in numbers with the ambushers.

‘This is as many as I can manage at the moment.’ (Keeno)

‘Got it.’ (Freya)

I commanded my undead to attack or distract the enemies while Freya started to once again go on the offensive.  There were a few times when one enemy nearly broke through the line to get to me, but they got burnt to a crisp the second they got too close.  Near the end of the battle, my undead managed to finish off the few enemies left near me. When I was sure that no one was left around me, I cut the mana tether and all the undead fell to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut. The souls started to float out of the bodies, and I summoned one of my swords and purified them. I looked over to Freya to see she was in the middle of a clash with the final enemy.

“Pet of the witch, I will slay you here and bring you and your master’s head to my lord.  My comrades may have fallen into your hands, but I will be victorious. Falheim will be victorious.”

Freya then kicked the man in the stomach, pushing him back before bursting forward, impaling him through the chest and head. When his soul began leaving his body, I purified it.

“Well, that went quite well.” (Keeno)

{From my point of view, that was sloppy.  You could have done much better, Keeno.  Your mana control was all over the place and so much was wasted on unnecessary actions.}

“It was my first time doing necromancy, so let me celebrate that much.” (Keeno)

{Fine, but you are working on this the next time you get a chance.  I am unwilling to let you be subpar in anything related to magic that you can use.}

‘I understand, Ama.” (Keeno)

I canceled the magic on the fire that surrounded the clearing, though that didn’t do anything to the fire that spread from it.  Thankfully mages that could use water magic were already putting any of the fires out that they could before running through the clearing to try and put out the others they weren’t near.  After surveying the clearing, Sigurd walked up to us.

“My Lady, Lady Freya…these were elites, and you managed to finish them off so quickly…this is amazing.” (Sigurd)

“They weren’t that hard to fight.” (Freya)

“…If we were left to our own devices, a good chunk of our forces would have been killed.” (Sigurd)

“…” (Freya)

“There’ll be time for reflection on these things later, Sigurd.  We have more pressing matters to attend to.  I hope everyone got adequate rest during this time, because now that this has happened, we need to move.  The city would have seen the fire, so it’s time to charge.” (Keeno)

“I know, my Lady, we are ready.” (Sigurd)

Sigurd then turned to the forces we had and went to make a rallying speech.

“…” (Keeno)

{What’s wrong, Keeno?}

“Is the reason I know all of this warfare stuff due to the blessing of war?” (Keeno)

{Most likely.}

“It’s weird knowing things that I never really learned.” (Keeno)

{Just imagine if all my Divine Protections worked, then you’d be even more powerful than you currently are.}

“You still haven’t let that go?” (Keeno)

{I probably never will.}

“That’s fair.” (Keeno)

“I’m going to find Pram; I’m feeling weird just listening to the two of you right now.  It doesn’t fit with what’s about to happen.” (Freya)

“She says as she goes to find her girlfriend to flirt.” (Keeno)

Freya’s ear twitches, showing her embarrassment at being easily found out but still walks away to find Pram.

“Oh, and Ama, how about a forest like this for the new scenery?  I always did like forests and their look in this season, even back then.” (Keeno)

{Noted.  It’s shall be done shortly.}

I spent the rest of the time before the major battle like this so my own nerves didn’t get the best of me for what was about to happen.  By the start of late afternoon, our forces arrived at the entrance to the mountain city.

Chaos Realm:

Order: That was a horrible display, Keeno.  Such bad puppeteering skill.

Oh yeah, one of your other Authorities was Puppeteering.

Order: Yeah.  I don’t use it much now…I wonder if Astraea would like a puppet show one of these days.

I bet she would.

Order: Guess I’ll shake off the rust then.  Care to be my spectator?

Gladly.