Liberi Reader

You're back. How are things up top?

Same as ever. Maybe worse.

I used to be scared of those devil mercenaries who ask you for a smoke. The worst you'll get is a slap on the face if they feel like it.

But now? It's all monsters you can't even describe that'll turn you into a puddle of blood without so much as blinking.

You know what? I've been sleeping better. Because I know there's nothing but death if I run into one of them.

Are the Sarkaz still grabbing workers off the streets?

Didn't see anything. We didn't dare go too far. Doesn't seem like the Sarkaz are interested in running the city anymore. There's no one maintaining public order.

They couldn't fully occupy Londinium, could they? What use is it to them? Are they really planning to drive the Victorian capital all the way back to Kazdel?

Who knows? Honestly, I haven't a clue what they're trying to do. Why go through so much trouble if they just want to kill everyone?

How sad. Those who betrayed their friends for a better future are soon betrayed by the better future.

...

No one expected things to turn out like this. You know we didn't mean to...

Let me guess—you mean us no harm but handed us to the Defense Forces out of fear. How kind and gentle. You all deserve a medal.

Catherine, we...

Save it. I don't have time to dig up old grudges, not that it would help anything anyway. At least you didn't gift wrap my head and Feist's and give them to the Sarkaz.

The question is, what do we do now?

We can hide here. We know the underground passages better than the Sarkaz—

That's your plan, Tommy? Live underground for the rest of your life like a talpibeast? Why don't you just go hide in a coffin, then?

I don't blame you for what you did. Given a choice, no one wants to go to war. But war is here now, right here in our homes.

There's nowhere to run.

I ran into a few fellows who said they could get us some decent weapons. I reckon—

Is that thunder?

Rain would be really nice right now.

Why is it shaking? Is Londinium on the move?

But the mobility level is—

Something's not right.

Let's head up and see what's happening. Be careful.

...

What is it, Catherine? You're blocking the window.

Wait... What's that on top of the Shard?

Take all our supplies and contact everyone we can. We need to move deeper underground now!

Hurry!

We're approaching Silverrock Bluffs... That means the attacks will start soon.

When I first heard Wellington's plan a few days ago...

Do you know what my initial reaction was?

You thought it was too ambitious, your Grace?

Ambitious? I think you mean crazy.

Yes... crazy. He wants the entire allied forces committed to the front lines — thirteen dreadnoughts, forty-five assault ships, one hundred seventy-two gunboats...

Eighty-six transports, ten support ships, all our artillery, and one hundred eighty thousand infantry, including the entire reserves.

It wasn't an inquiry or request. It was a notice, almost an order.

The Duke of Wellington has also abandoned the traditional Gaulish formation of multiple battle lines, instead having all fleets form single files to penetrate the Nachzehrer line all at once.

Gododdin and our forces are to be responsible for fire support and clearing out casters in the Sarkaz rear, while Wellington's vanguard charges at the center of the Nachzehrer formation.

The Silverrock Bluffs, currently under Sarkaz control, is a key pass between the Redmane Mountains and the Duskglow River, and a highly defensible position.

The enemy can easily retreat towards Londinium, even if we win the battle.

I would have staunchly opposed the plan, if it was not Wellington who proposed it.

But you and the rest of the high commanders eventually consented to it.

We've seen similar tactics in the military academies. They were the same tactics used in that legendary battle of the War of the Four Nations, in which Duke Wellington fought.

The Victoria and Leithanien alliance split the Gaulish lines into three and quashed their resistance.

That battle put Victorian on a new course for the next several decades.

Glorious as it may be, the past is no place to find refuge in.

Do you also think the Iron Duke has grown old?

Wellington is a military genius.

He commands battleships with the same ease and grace as a Leithanian virtuoso. I have never seen anyone quite like him.

He is not one of those fools blindly chasing the glory of the past.

The Sarkaz is not the end, but merely the beginning of the end of the real battle.

As for here and now...

It's not just Wellington who needs a decisive victory.

The Sarkaz have the Shard, and they have successfully fired it before. They could attack us or anywhere in Victoria at any moment.

However, our war scholars deem any losses from Sarkaz Catastrophe attacks to be within acceptable limits.

Those losses will not compromise our ability to achieve our strategic objective.

The Sarkaz have not refueled Londinium since it deviated from course. The city is immobile as of now.

Once we take the pass at Silverrock Bluffs, the Sarkaz will no longer have a terrain advantage, and the allied fleets will have a clear path to Londinium.

Indeed, if everything goes well–

We will be able to end this meaningless stalemate as quickly as possible.

Yet the word 'stalemate' isn't an apt description for the Sarkaz and Victoria.

Telegrams from the Caster hold are increasingly impatient. One cannot fault our backers for it. War is far too expensive.

A promise fulfilled too late is a promise unfulfilled.

Are those the cannons of Gastrell going off?

The Duke of Wellington's attack has begun? But it's not time yet.

Your Grace, what's that red light coming from the distance?

That light! It's coming from the top of the Shard!

Hail Wellington right now! We must—

Doctor! Are you okay?

The Doctor will be fine. Mon3tr absorbed the brunt of the impact.

The good news is that we fell into a canyon. Our precise location is uncertain, but we're at least a distance from the worst of the fighting.

Closure, Horn, and Siege have gone out to scout our surroundings. You should be briefed on the specifics soon.

We're still assessing our personnel and equipment losses. Preliminary reports indicate that pre-impact measures were effective and losses are acceptable. Medical and engineering units are already at work.

I'm afraid there's been some troubling development.

Watch your step and keep up with us, Doctor.

...

Duq'arael, Regent's Crimson, Prince of Blood.

We were never close.

But the contribution that you and your blood made to the war is undeniable.

I bear witness to your glory and shame.

Slayer of the Feranmut in the Mist, Jailer of Time.

Usurper of the Royal Court, Executioner of Kings.

You denied the path that we now walk, as you've denied the meaning of the Black Crown—

But you gave your first and final drop of blood to the Sarkaz.

Your power shall not fade away, nor shall your anger, your hatred, your ambition.

...This is the Blood of Teekaz.

It evoked the call of Amnannam, but was lost in the battle's Arts Circles. The Confessarii searched seventy of them without finding it.

But Nezzsalem, Your Highness, you have found it for the Regent.

Keep it safe, Confessarius.

Of course. I vow to protect it with all the strength of my bloodline... my life.

The Vampiric Arts Circles are still active...

What of the Sanguinarch of Vampires? The purest bloodline, the cruelest of the sovereigns, the pride of the Sarkaz.

Did he really die so easily? At the hands of the young Banshee and the rabbit?

He has not joined the myriad souls, but away has he drifted.

What a shame to waste so much blood.

Meddler of bloodlines. Do not desecrate war and death with your flippant insolence.

Um...

Apologies, your Highness, I was merely lamenting the loss of the Sanguinarch.

Then keep his legacy safe.

His blood will continue the fight with us.

Of that, I have no doubt, Sovereign of the Withered Court.

The Blood of Teekaz will fulfill its duty. If a mere tremble of Amnannam is enough to burn the heaven red and bring upheaval to the earth...

Then its final descent shall free our fate from the manipulation of Originium, as the myriad souls have so longed for.

Fate?

War will crush all obstacles beneath its heel, even fate.

We will advance before the storm.

Both the living and the dead—

This war belongs to all Sarkaz.

...

A new beginning.

Another quote from one of the sovereigns, general?

...No.

I was simply reminded of the furnace at the center of Kazdel.

Oh, the big one. I witnessed many feedings before I came to Londinium.

It is an honor for a fallen warrior to be fed into it, becoming the fire that propels our progress.

But it never seems to be sated. Small wonder. The flames of a revenant's rage only burn stronger.

Nadine... would you call the nomadic city by the name of Kazdel your home?

What is the meaning behind the question, sir, when the final battle has already begun?

I was raised on the battlefields outside Kazdel. The black rocks and the bones of my fellow Nachzehrer are the only things buried beneath the city's walls and wheels.

Where is home, if not Kazdel?

Yes... What other answer could there be?

The future is lined with uncertainties, but this much we know: this war ends where a new beginning emerges.

Have you made contact with Ulšulah?

No. They were very thorough in mopping up Brentwood.

Just as you predicted, our casters have picked up the trail of the Feranmut skeleton's movement. They considered attacking Londinium... attacking The Shard directly.

I gave them a chance... far too many chances.

There is no question that Major Ulšulah has been negligent in her duty. She had better have a good explanation... if she lives to explain.

Have you located the skeleton?

We have a rough idea of its location, but it will take time to find it on this vast battlefield. Should I take a squad there personally?

No. I will.

We will retake the Feranmut's spine, or destroy it. It must not fall into the wrong hands again.

You're going yourself?

Those mercenaries have interfered too much. They must be eliminated.

Before that, though... we will finish the ritual.

Our Nachzehrer ritual? I didn't think you cared much for tradition.

Cyclops, Lich, Wendigo, Banshee... more and more have left.

You've never seen these Royal Courts in Kazdel, have you, young Nachzehrer?

I suppose not. Other than the Nachzehrer, it's mostly been Vampires. Not the best neighbors, but you start to miss their smell when you spend enough time in Londinium.

The blood of the fallen has returned to the earth.

There will be no new Prince of the Crimson Court.

How many sovereigns do the Sarkaz have left?

None of these messages made it out.

The entire communications system is scrap. To think that so many have died to protect this little metal box...

...I salute you.

Phew... that bow hurt. I shouldn't take my hat off...

Our foe is unpredictable, aren't they? There's enough intel about The Shard to fill an entire building.

But you and I must take the blame for our present circumstances.

Intel retrieved.

Communications are still being jammed by severe interference.

A little progress is better than nothing, I suppose.

No good news.

Are those... troops?

The ID code is—

My, my... what a miracle. I am a lucky man indeed.

Hm?