July 12th, 626

“Nothing. But. A. Damn. Rat!”

Blackblood yelled in frustration as Feiden zipped away. I chuckled a bit, Umara lying against my chest and smoking my cigar. 

We were watching two sparring sessions. One was between Blackblood and Feiden, while the other was between Ponteck and Shadowbane. 

Blackblood was having a grand time trying to land hits on Feiden, who rapidly warped space to flicker around Blackblood like he couldn’t feel the strain at all. 

Feiden’s new Crown, received some months ago, had been sourced from an Authority 10 King Blood of Anarchy and supplemented with the cerebral fluid of an Owlykat. I had gotten the King Blood from Nonnen’s military spatial storage. He had apparently killed one during our retreat, and I had noticed the corpse inside after cracking it alongside the wedding band. 

I took it and sent Feiden to the Holy See for the operation because they could also give him an Invocation. The Invocation he got gave him another large boost to his resilience on top of the Crown. 

He was now the toughest son of a bitch on our team, with skin that couldn’t be pierced by blades nor bones that could be broken even if he took a normal hit from Blackblood’s mace. As for the Owlykat cerebral fluid, that gave him a boost to cognitive and reflexive speed, giving him a greater ability to operate at the insane speeds he usually did. It was similar to my own Crown, just not as good since it was only supplemental. 

He was fast, he was tough, and after some training with Ponteck over the last several days, the master of technique, he was getting smarter. Now someone like Blackblood had an extremely difficult time even hitting him. If Feiden went all out, he could kill Blackblood. 

That didn’t mean Blackblood was subpar. It just meant that he wasn’t as extreme as Feiden, who leaned into his most potent power wholly. 

Now, Feiden’s only downside was ironically his own lack of power. He was still Authority 8, and now that he had gone through such extreme changes, he was far from hitting Authority 9, let alone 10. Umara had a similar setback, and Tana would likely have one if and when we got her a Crown. She had yet to decide on the matter. 

I looked over at the battle between Shadowbane and Ponteck. Shadowbane was struggling a bit after having forced herself to slow down. Ponteck didn’t just have an amazing technique, but his battle genius was on a level above even hers. He was extremely good at pulling someone into his flow, and once that happened, he was good at keeping them from escaping. He was drowning Shadowbane in attacks and feints. 

Of course, she could compensate with speed, which she did occasionally to keep herself from being defeated, but as this was a spar she was learning just how far away she was from a true battle genius. 

Technique by itself wasn’t what made Ponteck excel, however. He had developed his Aura heavily during his time away even though it had already been excellent at the Magisterium. He had yet to find his Auric Path back then but it was clear that he had been talented, precisely why his family’s hopes rode on his shoulders. 

Now, Ponteck had found his Path, and it seemed to lie in deceit. Not the kind of deceit that allowed me my illusions, nor the imperceptibility of Tana, but just plain deception. 

Shadowbane, in an attempt to read Ponteck’s next move, would anticipate and then be rudely taken advantage of when she realized she anticipated wrong. Ponteck’s Aura was broadcast, almost painfully obvious to all observers, but the signals that everyone read from it were lies. 

I didn’t know what Ponteck had to do to develop his Path like that. Aura was, in a sense, a reflection of the soul. Perhaps he deceived himself to deceive others. Perhaps he simply found a trick. Whatever it was, if I didn’t sift through his lies with great scrutiny, then even I found myself falling for them. 

Mental games and gaslighting were his forte, it seemed. I hadn’t expected it from someone like him but so long as it worked, I wasn’t complaining about the results. Not everyone could drive someone like Shadowbane into a corner easily. 

I tapped into my Aerial once more, checking on the status of a plane making its way toward the Glass Desert. 

We were getting some reinforcements, except there were two others that I hadn’t expected to be coming. One of them I recognized. The other I had been spoken to about by Anderson. 

That was on top of the addition that we had received a few days ago. 

I looked to the side, seeing Aria Gorvatch recovering from a recent spar and speaking with Jaya. 

Who I had once known as a small emaciated girl at Authority 5 that I saved from a trafficking operation had transformed drastically during her time at the Tavera Family, turning into a little Authority 7 monster. 

She had been working with their teams in order to clear out remnants of the Clockwork Association, but as I had recently discovered, just because the association collapsed didn’t mean that the operations stopped. In fact, with the scattering of various powerful groups, things had never been so hectic, especially since a Sovereign was backing them. 

But the Tavera’s had only continued to solidify their control over the Founder’s Market and after hearing about the creation of Iron Legion, Aria cashed in on the bullet I gave her and asked me to bring her in. 

She also tried to get me to accept her pledge of fealty once more. It was one of the first things she did when we met again, dropping down to a knee and offering her family’s heirloom, that dreadful axe, Bloodsworn. 

I could only tell her that I’d think about it. It wasn’t like I was a noble. I didn’t need nor want vassals, but perhaps more importantly, Aria needed to prove her value to me. I wanted both loyalty and power. 

I was sure she knew that. From her words, I easily guessed that the main reason she wanted to be near me at Iron Legion was because she wanted to both prove herself as well as understand what it meant to be in a team of truly powerful people. 

I didn’t have an issue with that, because as she had recently shown me, her time with the Tavera’s had not been wasted. 

As I recalled those scenes of her Aura melding with her axe to produce particularly devastating results, I checked my aerial once more before patting Umara on the hip. 

“They’re here.”

“Hm.”

She hummed as I stood, bringing her up with me. After sending a quick message and opening my mouth so Umara could put the cigar back in it, I looked to the others who had come to a stop. 

“Ready to greet the newcomers?”

“From the Church? Remind me why we’re bringing on Church people again.”

Blackblood grumbled while putting away his mace, Feiden sweating a bit while doing the same with his spear. 

I smiled a bit. 

“Because they’re, hopefully, powerful additions to our team. Anything else is need-to-know.”

“You know, despite you owning Iron Legion and us being in Sector 4, you keep a lot of secrets from us.”

“Indeed. But unlike everyone else, you at least know that.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to maybe keep us in the loop, given that we’re supposed to be a team.”

He commented with a scoff as we all walked out of the training building. 

I sighed.

“It would, actually. Information kills.”

“Are you saying you’d have to kill us if we found out your secrets?”

“Not necessarily. But the sheer amount of deaths you could cause by mishandling that information is far beyond my tolerance for risk. I find it better to simply refrain from giving you that ability.”

“In other words, you don’t trust me.”

“You said it, not me.”

“…Asshole.”

He muttered under his breath as we boarded an APC and drove to the airfield. After a quick ID check at a gate we were speeding across square miles of dirt and concrete. 

I found one of the transport planes still spinning down, its hatch open and a few people walking down. 

I drove over and parked near the plane, everyone stepping out. My face was neutral as I walked over to the group of four. 

I had talked to Aki prior, and I knew that those twins we were going to get were from Earth like us. Still, it was a bit jarring seeing them. 

I recognized the Korean writing on one immediately. That one should be Song. The other was Kwon, then. 

Then there was Aki herself. I didn’t think she’d ever want to get back into the fight. Maybe she got bored at the Church since she wasn’t making masks anymore. Either way, from what I saw, her Aura was as deep as I figured it was. Even now, I could still barely see the edges of it passively. 

Then there was the fourth, a most unexpected addition. 

Katta Korpela, daughter of the Icon of Victory Valdemar Korpela, Sovereign General of the Templars. She was effectively royalty, but one look at her brought on a myriad of questions. 

I had only been told about her identity as well as her combat power, which sat at Authority 9. I had not been told that she wasn’t a Magi at all. 

But I wasn’t judging quite yet. There was definitely more to her story. I just needed to find out before I started bringing her into the field. 

I walked up to Aki, smiling. 

“Good to see you, Aki.”

“You too, John!”

We exchanged a hug, her smile bright when she separated to greet Umara. 

“Hello Umara! I like the white hair!”

“Hehe, the Crown was quite effective.”

They hugged as I turned to Katta, who walked over with Aki. We looked at each other, and I put my hand out. 

“You must be Miss Korpela.”

“And you must be John Cooper! You’re taller than I thought you would be.”

I hummed and looked into her heterochromatic eyes, one red and one blue, as she eagerly shook my hand. 

She certainly looked like quite the oddball. The white hair didn’t look dyed, nor inherent. And based on scattered patches of exposed and discolored skin, as well as the bandages located over certain areas of her body, I immediately guessed that she was loaded with some kind of Crown. 

I also guessed that she utilized injectors frequently. For what, I didn’t know, but I intended to find out. I also wanted to know about the cargo I glimpsed in the plane. 

I thanked Katta for the compliment and turned to Song and Kwon, shaking both their hands. 

“Welcome, gentlemen. Good to have you here.”

“We appreciate the accommodation.”

“Of course. Every army needs its special forces, its scalpel. I’m happy that you all will be a part of it, because our work is only mounting. Now, if I may ask about that cargo…”

“Oh, that’s mine.”

Katta waved, my gaze finding her. 

“What is it?”

“Materials for my Serums. I need to talk to you about them.”

“Very well. I’ll have someone find storage for them.”

“Will it be safely guarded?”

“Everything on this base is safely guarded, Miss Korpela. Everything is accurately cataloged and tracked no matter where it goes, down to each shell that is fired from every tank. Your cargo will be accounted for and placed in a secure facility, and nobody will touch it without my express permission.”

Katta chuckled at my seriousness. 

“Wow, how reassuring. And please call me Katta. We’re about the same age.”

“If you wish. Now, allow me to introduce Sector 4’s Desert Eagle Platoon.”

I motioned, my hand settling on Umara’s shoulder. 

“This is my fiance, Umara Talerria. She is team lead.”

“Pleasure to meet you all.”

She moved forward to shake Katta and the twin’s hands. 

I waved to the others. 

“This is Feiden Desmus.”

“Hello.”

“This is Ponteck Gulliard.”

“Greetings.”

“Ilinca Talerria.”

“Jaya Scolesi.”

“Blackblood.”

“And Shadowbane.”

I ended at her. That’s when I saw Aki and the twins move their gaze farther over to the girl standing at everyone’s flank. 

Aki asked. 

“Is she…”

“Yes. She is Tana Choron.”

I chuckled and moved over to Tana, putting my hand on her shoulder. She sulked and whispered. 

“You earthlings are ridiculous. I had to die for this power, you know.”

“So did we.”

Tana rolled her eyes, Katta flinching in surprise when she finally saw Tana. That just about confirmed my suspicions. Those of us from Earth could see Tana just fine, while nobody from this world could, at least not naturally. As I had informed my closest friends, such as Tana and Feiden, about my origins as I did with Umara, they were now in the loop and Tana had a better understanding of her power. 

Not that she liked it when I so easily picked her out. Now there would be three others just like me. 

After letting everyone exchange greetings, I waved to the APC. 

“We have accommodations ready. Over the next week or so we’ll get everyone sorted out with the armorer. Since there are twelve of us, I’m planning on creating a second Strike Force. I’ll spare the details for now but in the coming weeks we’ll all be training as a unit in order to get comfortable with the arrangements. You four from the Church will also need to be educated on doctrine here at Iron Legion. For the time being, don’t expect to drop into the field.”

“We appreciate it,” Aki nodded, “We didn’t want to be thrown into the deep end without knowing how things work. It’s not like this is normal infantry. Everything is mechanized.”

“Indeed. If anybody ever has any concerns, please ask questions. I didn’t get my troops this far by just tossing them into a metal can and expecting them to know what to do.”

We all boarded the APC. I cranked the key to start it, hearing the low rumble of the Mana Engine. 

Aki noticed it while sitting down in the back hold, speaking up.

“Doesn’t this thing have an engine in it?”

“No, just magic. It would normally be silent but I’ve since opted for audible running in all machines. The setting can be toggled but I’d prefer if troops running around base weren’t suddenly run over every time a truck silently turned a corner.”

“That’s true. How many people did that happen to for you to suddenly implement that?”

“A few dozen.”

“Hehe.”

I pushed the pedal on the floor, the APC lurching forward and charging across the airfield. The faster I went, the louder the Engine got. Of course, it was just the low noise of a sound enchantment, but it made me feel nice. I could give these wheeled monsters some life since I wasn’t allowed to have the beautiful coal spewers from back home. 

What was automotion without some pollution? I just had to opt for noise instead of some healthy carbon and cancer.

Sooner rather than later, everyone was sorted in the building made just for Sector 4’s Strike Platoon. 1st Strike Force was normally all there was, but now it had just expanded. Thankfully there was more than enough room for everyone. I knew there would be more teams in the future so I made a building for an entire Company. 

It was large, it was nice, it was comfy. After getting everyone a room, I also made sure to handle clearances. Katta, Aki, and the twins would need badges in order to get anywhere outside the building. If they got caught, there would be a lot of unnecessary trouble, not that Sector 4 didn’t know about their arrival. 

But since I was handling it personally, it all moved quickly. After that, it was just a matter of teaching them everything that they needed to know and then training them to be a part of the Strike Team. Eventually, I would move people around and form the 2nd Strike Force. 

I hoped everything would work out well, especially with Katta. The others I could trust in regard to their power. Those from Earth clearly had talent a cut above the norm, and those before me had been through their share of battles. 

But Katta was the wildcard, having power beyond Crowns and a Crest but not based on Invocations either. If Anderson told me that she had Authority 9 combat power then I’d believe him, but she clearly sourced that power from somewhere other than what we knew. Serums, she called them. I doubt it was similar to Earth’s definition. 

Regardless, I’d have my team, with or without Katta. An elite group of precision fighters, not obscenely heavy in top end combat power, but making up for it with evasive abilities and stealth. We wouldn’t be assassinating Authority 11 King Bloods, but we also shouldn’t be getting into fights with them anyway. With enough intelligence and caution, we could conduct unconventional warfare even against the Scourge. 

But my plans went beyond that. With the infrastructure I’ve built at the Glass Desert, as well as the freedom to conduct any operation I wanted, I’ve been able to discover more about this world even outside of all the many noble affairs and secretly brewing rebellions. 

…

The day passed after some light introductions to the education I’d be distributing to the newcomers, and Umara and I retreated to our room at the top of the Company’s building. It was much larger than all others but it was also filled with some tools and equipment Umara and I could use for enchanting, as well as plenty of Nodenet systems I used for scouring the global database I’ve been curating. 

I leaned over a large table with a projector over its surface. It was displaying a large map, the display itself utilizing some new Psyka enchantments I devised. It looked more like a hologram, sharper, with more clarity and ease of use. It fulfilled a part of my engineering fantasy. All I needed now was a global AI. A Jarvis of my own. 

Not that it would happen anytime soon. 

Putting that fantasy away, I took in some of the updated parts of the map while petting Pup, who sat next to me grooming his long white-blue fur. The vast majority of the display was ocean, but in the midst of all that water was a small island cluster that seemed to be generated from a merging of continental plates resulting in a volcanic island. There didn’t seem to be a chain around it, at least not within the few hundred mile perimeter that the recon plane could make out. 

What was important about this island was the man made structures atop of it. They were of sizeable proportion, and close snapshots and video pointed to an advanced technological level. However, they definitely weren’t built by the Pillars of Creation, despite my little knowledge on them. 

I did know that there were a plethora of enchanted structures and devices across the lone city on the island. There were also signs of catastrophic battle, clearly waged by the Scourge based on the piles of desiccated corpses everywhere. However, whatever peoples that had been on that island had not been entirely defeated. Scanners showed some Scourge presence but not much, and most importantly, there were still moving and operational devices on the island, primarily around what seemed to be a massive dark citadel in the center. Its exterior veneer was almost entirely collapsed, but the main structural elements were still in place and holding up the bulk. 

And it was being guarded, to this day, by automated robots. There were only a few, the ones that seemed to be the most powerful based on images of broken or collapsed automatons around the city. 

That was extremely important. Not just because devices were still operational, but because it was new tech. Automated guardians made of unliving metal, driven entirely by enchantments. Those were magic robots, and I was extremely interested in the knowledge that made such things possible. 

I was also concerned because the civilization that was capable of making them also seemed to have collapsed. There was no other reason why a bastion like this would be both forgotten about and ruined. 

I heard Umara shift off of the bed and walk over to me, hugging my arm and looking over the table at the map. I had naturally shown her all of this. This was the second batch of compiled information and media, the first batch having arrived two days ago. The only reason it took so long to get the second batch was because I had to lock down the information and the people who knew about it. That plane was originally only manned by those from Sector 4, but this information was of monumental importance now. 

I didn’t know how much others knew about this civilization, but based on the tech, neither the Church nor the Kingdom knew anything about it. That gave both answers and questions. 

“When will we leave?”

Umara asked, making me sigh. 

“Not sure. I want to bring our team there, just us, but I need to get those from the Church trained. That’ll take a month at least.”

“Why a month? You could have them battle ready in a week.”

“Well, I want both competence and trust. I need to get a proper information lock on them before we do anything with such incredible importance. This is a brand new civilization, with tech beyond even what we’ve developed. I certainly can’t build robots yet. But they did, and I want that tech. We’ll be unearthing a treasure trove, and I don’t want even the Church to have anything before I can understand all of it.”

“Hm.”

She hummed and continued staring at the map and clusters of images, scrolling through some that interested her. 

I didn’t have to explain the importance to her that much, but this was new for both of us. 

“Not to mention, the place could be extremely dangerous. I don’t know how many years have gone by since it was last touched, but I’m betting on the fact that only the most powerful devices are still up and running based on White Crystal disintegration rates. That means most doors are open, and the most important doors are both locked and guarded by powerful robots. I’ll need to develop countermeasures, weapons, and get all of us trained for both cohesive combat and what’s to come. Although I don’t understand the tech, I’m willing to bet that my knowledge will afford me more advantages than even that civilization could think of. But I need time to act on that.”

“And it’ll take a month to do that?”

“Maybe two. I’m going to have to build some things by myself. Regardless, nothing is happening anytime soon. That island has been sitting for only God knows how long. It can wait a little longer while I prepare to take control of it.”

Umara nodded, the two of us silent for a bit as Pup stopped grooming himself and looked up at us with beady eyes begging for attention, pushing his muzzle into our hands. 

She smiled and ruffled some of his fur before looking back at the map. 

“What do you think we’ll find?”

“Hopefully, weapons.”

“I know we’re fighting a war of extinction and all, but is that all you care about?”

“Of course not. But weapons development is the catalyst to all other advanced technologies, the trunk of the tech tree. Find it, and you can find all the branches. Everything else can either be derived or is relatively inconsequential.”

“I guess…”

“Besides, I’m not actually thinking we’ll find much. This isn’t the heart of this civilization, just a remote island that they probably wanted to use as a transport hub to reach the mainland, us. Who knows what happened to kill that reality, or if it entirely failed. Regardless, what’s there isn’t going to answer all my questions. It’ll probably be the pointer though. One that probably leads to the other continent.”

I shifted the map, showing a large obscure landmass far beyond the island covered in the fog of war, absolutely no intelligence on it to speak of. That would change soon enough but that didn’t change the reality of what was there. 

Umara muttered. 

“The continent that the Scourge controls.”

“Yup. Hell itself. Who knows if there are even ruins of that civilization still standing. And if there are, how dangerous must they be to have fended off the Scourge for this long?”

“Not that it matters. You’re going to go look anyway, and then take us there to go digging.”

“You know me so well.”

I smiled and gave her a kiss, which she reluctantly accepted. 

 After that I closed down the map and carried Umara to bed. My mind was filled with the possibilities of what could be hiding on that island, but I wasn’t going to dive in headfirst and then get my team killed. 

It was as dangerous as it was valuable, and I had every intention of acquiring the greatest net positive I could from that place. 

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep