– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 219, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 41 –

Terry had to be careful while navigating the streets within the city of the Lich Kingdoms for many reasons. Avoiding detection was the obvious one, but their concealment also made it difficult for him and Ying to coordinate.

Terry could always feel where Ying was, but his companion had no such means of piercing their own concealment magic. Even the vampire's enhanced sense of smell was useless, because with so many hostile vampires around, they naturally had to protect themselves against that as well. Hence, it fell on Terry to ensure that Ying did not bump into him by accident.

As the sensor of the infiltration team, it was also Terry's job to decide the direction, which he had to communicate to his companion.

They had the communication talismans, but they reserved those for emergencies or important discussions more complex than a choice of direction. The Lich Kingdoms knew about martialist-style communication talismans, and they were wary of related mana activity being more closely monitored.

They had a paired set of fresh signal cubes. Fresh, because Terry still remembered the battle over Syn City when the Preacher had issued a misleading mission to eradicate the city of deathfolks. Back then, someone at Guardian management must have allowed Guildheads to copy the signals of their Guardian cards to locate the city.

The signal cubes were less conspicuous than the communication talismans, because their functionality was more passive, and even though there was no Guardian presence in the Lich Kingdoms, the Guild maintained a presence even in this Empire.

Unfortunately, signaling cubes only showed them each other's current location. They didn't allow Terry to guide Ying's attention to a specific location he wasn't already in. Hence, they had come up with another solution.

A solution so eccentric that no one in the Lich Kingdoms could possibly suspect it.

Terry circulated his mana into the plane drift tattoo. The inscription activation was perfectly cloaked by his armor.

Inside Ying's hand, there was a small ball of septimum coated with mana-osmotic material. The osmotic layer permitted mana to travel inside, but not outside. Enough for mana touch to target it, but without leaking a single trace of active magic.

The ball had transfixed a second ago to tell Ying to halt. Now the ball pressed ever so slightly towards a specific direction.

Terry never allowed his mana to drop for long. The drift was costly, but fortunately, a slight pressure was enough to guide Ying's attention. It certainly wasn't nothing, but Terry's excellent mana regeneration could handle that much without losing his balance.

Terry wanted Ying to wait and look, because he expected a commotion on the street in 3… 2… 1…

"Waste off, loser!" Two human men hurled a dwarf out of a bar.

"Shut it, you bastards!" The dwarf stumbled to his feet, clearly intoxicated somehow. "Come and get it!" He raised his fists.

Terry furrowed his brow. He could sense many Lich Kingdom forces around, but none of them appeared to care at all for the fight. He continued observing the situation while he scouted underground with his mana touch.

Terry saw the dwarf land a good punch while more people poured out from the bar.

"Whoa, doofus!" One human guffawed while pointing at his friend, who was bent over from the punch. "You can't dodge for shit!" He spoke with slurred speech.

"You want more, you bunch of asswipes?" The dwarf taunted.

"The pipsqueak has spunk," coughed the second human, and he broke out in laughter. "Go get a round of drinks!"

Terry stared at the group, who had been fighting one moment, and now suddenly returned to the bar as if they were best friends.

When the group had disappeared back into the building, Terry's gaze wandered over the people hanging out in front and on the streets. Many of them were passed out, and Terry could feel some of the familiar Lich Kingdom magic drug signatures from them.

Terry saw one passerby stop and quickly rummage through the pockets of the unconscious people on the bar's porch.

Terry felt people all around the city simply step over or even on the unconscious people scattered around the streets and porches.

Loud laughter from the bar accompanied the scene of daylight thievery and all around apathy.

***

A close-combat elementalist dodged an incoming blade formed of blood while leaving a white after-image. The spell that created the after-image instantly froze both blood and limb of the attacking soldier on contact.

Another vampiric soldier attacked the elementalist. The vampiress shrunk back when the after-image appeared, only to discover that this time, the after-image was just an illusion created through differently heated air-pockets. The hidden elementalist pounced on her and his spell boiled her blood.

"Hold the line!" The close-combat elementalist shouted loudly. The Lich Kingdom army was pressing them hard, but his reinforcements were already on the way.

Further in front, the Elemental Tower Master raged all over the battlefield while leading an enormous dragon of lightning, together with many high-level, human-shaped elementals that rained destruction wherever their tower master decided to drop from the sky.

The close-combat elementalist had held his reservations about the demon that was their new Elemental Tower Master, but Matteo's willingness to step right into the center of the danger to take pressure away from their frontline was something to behold. The longer the battle continued, the more he felt his respect for the Elemental Fury grow.

"Forward!" An elemental summoner shouted from behind.

A new army of elementals rushed forward and past the close-combat elementalists while the summoners continued casting spells to further empower their summons.

The close-combat elementalist could already see the Elemental Tower Master taking flight again to support whatever new location needed him most. The elementalist almost panicked when he saw a group of vampire commanders soar forward to intercept their tower master.

Before any of the vampire commanders could get close, the blinding resonance of a powerful azure phoenix manifested in the air and forced the enemies to scatter.

Before the enemies had a chance to gain a foothold, the Martial Tower Master arrived with her elders in tow.

The close-combat elementalist shook his head. It had been a long time since the Lands of the Four Towers had deployed for war, but he still remembered those days.

They were doing much better than any deployment he could remember, and he could see why.

In past battles, the tower masters had tried to let the martialists move together with the close-combat elementalists, which had always ended in absolute disaster. Once again, his respect for the Elemental Tower Master rose.

Before the battle, Matteo had gone over his plan with Apex, but only to inform her. He had not tried to give her any order or base his plans on her. Instead, the Elemental Tower Master had only left the Martial Tower Master with two words: 'Let loose.'

"Spread out!" shouted the close-combat elementalist. The martialists did whatever they wanted, but he and those from his school in the Elemental Tower had a structure to follow. Their job was to cover the summoners and ranged ritualists. For this, they always had to stay between the other two schools and the enemy while also staying behind the summons and the impacts of the long-range attacks.

The elementals tore into the enemy army with the intensity of natural disasters.

From behind, long-range spells were slowly giving way to the empowered destruction from ranged rituals.

The close-combat elementalist followed the trajectory of a gigantic lava ball and he frowned. It looked like unarmed civilians were rushing towards the area while the soldiers were retreating. The Lich Kingdom counter to their ranged rituals turned out to be living shields. "Deplorable!"

He glared at one figure floating above the enemy army. An elven woman with a completely twisted expression. Eyes unblinking. A perpetual grin forced so wide it looked painful. Constantly cackling while rivers of blood flowed from the battlefield.

The Twisted Duchess proved her title with actions and demeanor.

"Focus!" An elemental summoner shouted with a strained expression. "Resist the assault! Guard your minds! Focus! Stay—" The summoner's expression suddenly eased.

"Thank mana," muttered the close-combat elementalist. He looked at another elven woman floating above the battlefield, but this one on their own side. A person with skin as white as porcelain and covered in lines of purple markings.

An army of mana-corrupted husks arrived from behind enemy lines. The husks attacked while the Spirited Duchess used her abilities to strengthen the souls of her allies until they could shake off the mind-influence. She did the same for the civilians forced into the battlefield by the Twisted Duchess, but only after focusing on the summoners.

The Twisted Duchess took a hold of the husks' minds to break the soul influence.

There was no clear winner in the struggle between mind and soul, but the Spirited Duchess had two advantages.

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The beasts she led to the battlefield as husks were hostile towards anyone. They would attack the Lich Kingdom army when both soul influence and mind influence were broken.

This was not the case for the civilians the Lich Kingdoms used as their shields to dissuade the allied army from attacking with powerful spells or rituals. In a crowd control stalemate, these unwilling flesh shields would flee or even turn on the side that had forced them into the battlefield.

The enemy commanders aiming for Siyu were being intercepted by one defensive layer after the other. Martialists, if they felt like it. Elementalists with spells or close up in the air.

Whoever made it past all these allied defenders still had to face the close guards that never left Siyu's side.

An elven woman channeling the powers of a banshee.

A death knight with cyan flames dancing in his eye sockets.

An aspect archer equipped with one of the best bows the Crafting Tower could provide.

A mage from Arcana wielding obscure spellwork and the strangest fire the elementalist had ever seen.

And if those four failed, then there was still the Magebane close-by.

Like royal guards, they lashed out at any enemy that got too close to Siyu, buying time for others to arrive or eliminating the threat outright.

The close-combat elementalist saw the Spirited Duchess unleash a complex soul ability. He scowled when thinking of the civilians that remained caught under the Twisted Duchess's mind influence. He wondered what the Soul Incarnate prioritized over liberating the civilians.

A moment later, his question was answered. The purple lightning dragon commanded by the Elemental Fury grew to an unprecedented size. The dragon soul was being empowered by Siyu's abilities and tore through the Lich Kingdom with unstoppable ferocity.

The close-combat elementalist grit his teeth, but nodded. He hated that it had to be like this. He hated how their own morals were used against them.

He hated the Lich Kingdoms for deploying living shields.

He hated that the rivers of blood only served as fuel for the vampiric spells and feeding.

He hated that he had to agree with the Spirited Duchess's call.

They couldn't save everyone. If they wanted to save any of the victims dragged into this battle as shields and blood supplies, then they had to eliminate the enemy soldiers first.

Unfortunately, they couldn't rely on the Magebane to keep the frontline free of mind control, because the Magebane's nullification mana would harm their own mana users.

The Magebane would frequently spearhead a charge, but after their forces moved behind enemy lines, the nullification mana was too broad and too costly to use for lifting the enemies' mind control, especially because nullification didn't provide any lasting protection.

***

Terry stuck close to a wall and looked around. He didn't need his eyes to scout the area, but it was hard to shake the habit.

He saw people walking the streets, walking to work, carrying groceries, or simply window-shopping. All the mundane things Terry knew from regular life, but mixed with sights that were hard to get used to.

A human man walked along the streets with an elven woman in each arm. All three of them gave off the mana signature of magic drugs.

"Whom are you looking at?!" The man demanded from a nearby elven man, who was much shorter than him.

"What?" The elven man was at a loss. He had minded his own business and hadn't even been aware of the other people before. He certainly hadn't looked remotely in the other's direction.

"What's your problem?!" The human man let go of his elven escorts. While he fixed the weaker man in his sights, he stomped forward and accidentally bumped into another passerby, who had remained beneath his notice.

The dwarven woman turned around and, with a burst of mana, she attacked the side of the manaless man. She caught the human when he fell unconscious from her liver punch. Her vampiric fangs elongated, and she drained a mouthful of blood. Before she was done with the unconscious human, the elves had already left without looking back.

The dwarven vampire released the unconscious human, spat on him, and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

On the other side of the street, Terry saw city guards dragging a human woman out of a building by the hair. "Scram! This isn't a charity. If you want more, make yourself useful! If you don't have any blood to spare, go and volunteer for the experiments!"

"Or join the army as fodder!" Another city guard sneered.

When the woman spotted the unconscious man on the streets, she immediately darted over and rummaged through the man's pockets. She stole his remaining magic drugs, his money, and even his shoes, which she slipped into a bag.

Mixed among the misery, there were folks and deathfolks alike, who were laughing and enjoying themselves. Even the human woman quickly changed her demeanor once she had the drugs and money in hand. With a grin on her lips and a swing in her step, she left the scene.

When Terry felt the woman join what appeared to be her friends – or whatever counted as such in this place – he didn't know what to think anymore. The group entered one of the many places reverberating with loud music and laughter.

This place was so foreign to his understanding, it might as well be another realm.

Terry had traveled to other empires and countries that still appeared foreign to him, but even the martialists had a certain logic to them, even if that logic was insane. They had been wearing many faces, but even they had not been flipping through personalities as quickly as some of the people Terry observed here in the Lich Kingdoms.

To Terry's eyes, the folks in the Lich Kingdoms appeared to exist entirely in the present. They flipped from gleeful to devastated to angry and back within minutes. The past was already forgotten, and the future remained beyond concern. As if every emotional state was simply transient to the extreme, just like their connections with others.

Focus.

Terry shook his head. He was done scouting the area, and he didn't have time to dwell on what he was seeing. He let his signaling sphere point upward before walking up into the air himself.

As soon as they were high enough, Terry and Ying removed the concealment rings.

Terry retrieved a map and crossed off another sector on it. It was the ninth sector they had checked according to the specific search pattern they had agreed on beforehand.

A pattern that mages like Amelia or Silver-Eyes Jee would follow when trying to sweep a large area for a specific mana signature.

A systematic approach that ensured locating a stationary target.

An approach that would serve them well in the average case of a randomly positioned target.

Too slow…

Terry looked over the map with an unsatisfied expression. "Hold on a second, Ying." He stopped his companion before the impatient vampire prepared the next spatial transfer.

Checking for perfectly cloaked signatures underground is just too slow…

Terry bit his lip while moving his eyes over the horizon. They had one or two days at most to free Siyu once and for all. Continuing like this meant they had at most a fifty-fifty chance of covering enough ground, and that ignored whatever resistance they might face at the location itself. Unless they were willing to gamble with such odds, they had to find another approach.

"I can try to speed up our transfers," suggested Ying with a tremble in his voice. His thoughts were following similar paths as Terry's.

"No." Terry shook his head.

Ying is a skilled dimensional mage, but stretching anchored transfers would be too much to ask and half-assing unanchored transfers would leave the space too unstable and easily noticeable. The Lich Kingdoms might have their own dimensional mages. Powerful spatial transfers wouldn't go unnoticed for long.

"We'll have to do better," muttered Terry. He took a deep breath.

What do we know? Besides looking for a stationary target with presumably perfect cloaking?

Terry's mind quickly went through the obvious points like the ritual involving a construction like the Heart of Syn.

We don't have time to follow the approach that would find a randomly positioned target. What do we know about the location?

"They chose the lynchpin position to let Siyu join the invasion." Terry spoke his thoughts out loud. "The closer they put it to the frontline, the speedier the invasion could proceed. Would the Lich Kingdoms be cautious or aggressive? Further towards the front or towards the back?"

"The mid-levels of the Lich Kingdom aristocracy are always under pressure to perform, so I would expect them to act aggressively," said Ying. "But the decision to move the lynchpin would have come from above. Siyu held the title of duchess, so the decision would have been made by the prince in charge of the Unholy Duchesses.

"Her abilities are valuable for the Lich Kingdoms, even behind the frontline. Her ability to empower souls would have tremendous value when training soldiers, researching dangerous magic, or even for pressing more blood from their livestock. If it wasn't for her husks and soul-possession, I doubt they would have allowed her to directly take part in the invasion."

Which doesn't answer the question…

Terry frowned while his mind was racing. "What do we know?"

They consider Siyu valuable.

They allowed her at the frontline.

They don't trust her, or they wouldn't have created a binding ritual for her.

"They would protect the lynchpin," said Terry pensively. "And if they're including Siyu among those they are protecting the lynchpin from, then they would need someone of comparable strength."

Someone higher up? Another group of dukes or duchesses?

"Would the nobles in the Lich Kingdoms ask another for help?" asked Terry.

"Extremely unlikely, unless there was a pre-existing alliance," said Ying.

"Isn't it strange that we haven't heard about the Tainted Duchess?" Terry wondered out loud. "The battles have been going on for hours."

Their allies would have sent them a message with a communication talisman if the Tainted Duchess had made an appearance.

What do we know?

"We know there was a spy," mumbled Terry.

Which explains why the Twisted Duchess changed locations to the elementalist battlefield, but what was the reason behind moving the Tainted Duchess?

Terry's eyes moved to Ying.

What do we know?

They knew about Ying.

They knew about Ying's relationship with Siyu.

"They weren't worried about Siyu coming for the lynchpin, but about you doing so," said Terry.

None of the Five Unholy Duchesses can counter Ying's space magic, but if it came to defending a specific location, that wouldn't matter much, as long as they could block him teleporting them out of the way.

The Spirited Duchess would have been the perfect match, but she has already defected.

The Bloody Duchess would have been a good match, but she's already dead.

The Risen Duchess is a necromancer, but since Ying is the same, it would be outright stupid to put her against him.

The Twisted Duchess is an expert in mind magic, but as a vampire, Ying is resistant and his expertise in soul and spirit magic would further downplay her advantage.

The Tainted Duchess might have been their best remaining option?

A plan was forming in Terry's mind. The Tainted Duchess might have been the Lich Kingdoms' best option for defending the ritual site that bound Siyu's soul, but surely, the Duchess of Flesh would have a body unlike any other.

A body that would more easily reveal itself to mana touch than a perfectly cloaked ritual, and as long as the Tainted Duchess wasn't soulless, he could use his soulsight as a first filter on all the present mana signatures.

"What do you know about the Tainted Duchess?" asked Terry, while he was looking at the map with a new perspective.

If the lynchpin was located more safely in the back, then why would they be so cautious as to keep the Tainted Duchess out of the fight? They obviously have a dimensional mage moving her, so why?

If the lynchpin was located closer to the frontline or allied activity, then why wouldn't they let the Tainted Duchess act in the battle already?

Terry ruled out the sectors too close to the frontline, too far from the frontline, and those that would have already been covered by the roaming groups of allies that liberated settlements and attacked enemy supply lines.

If any of them had gotten close, the Tainted Duchess would have made a move already. Probably…

Terry mentally applied the mage hunter pattern to the remaining area and pointed at a sector. "Let's go there next…"

While Ying prepared a cloaked transfer spell, Terry listened to his descriptions of the Tainted Duchess.

***

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