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The Simulacrum - Chapter 93 - Part 1
🕑 Added 2022-06-21 19:33:58 +0000 UTCIt was an especially cold night. Snow fell in fat, fluffy flakes, yet not a single one landed on me; the effect of another superfluous enchantment on my armor, but one I didn't mind. For the moment, I was doing my best echo-locating-mammal-man impression, though only in moderation. My armor was mostly covered by the customary back long coat, but I made sure to stay a few steps away from the edge of the roof anyway. The last thing I needed was a stray reflection to alert my targets inside the outwardly abandoned warehouse across the street.
At the moment, I was accompanied by two Kage ninjas on the flat rooftop of an unremarkable antique shop. They were the generic kind, and remained completely motionless like ice statues. Their uniforms weren't exactly winter ready, unlike my insulated armor, yet they didn't utter a single complaint. Maybe they had some fancy ninja-technique for staying warm? In any case, I made a small mental note about looking into their dress code. Later though. Right now, we had bigger fishes to fry.
Seconds slowly piled into minutes, but there was no movement inside of the warehouse. The only sign of occupation came in the form of the pale fluorescent light barely shining through the windows, and if the scout team didn't already testify about Mr. Raven entering the building a while ago, I would've never guessed it was their hideout. Though again, being inconspicuous was kind of the point of a hiding spot, I supposed.
Just when I was about to start getting impatient, my ears picked up the characteristic sound of crunching snow coming from behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes met with Rinne's gaze, and she came to a halt right behind me. Based on her tracks, she probably scaled the back of the shop to approach me. She already had Onikiri on the ready, the sword's shroud unnaturally billowing behind her like a cape in a cheesy superhero movie.
"What's the situation?"
She gave me a curt salute, and told me, "Brang-san and his men are in position and waiting for your signal. The warriors of the clan have set up a net around the perimeter, as instructed."
"Good. What about the inside?"
"Minor movements. They don't seem to be aware of our presence yet."
"So far so good," I whispered under my breath. Looking back at the building, I added, this time in a stronger voice, "Since everyone's in position, let's hit them before they could wise up to our presence."
"As you command," Rinne responded, but my gaze remained on the warehouse.
Truth be told, I was a little anxious. While this wasn't the first time I took part in an 'operation', this was the first time I did so with the explicit intent to fight. During the school incident, things happened too fast and I didn't know what to expect, while at the time of our joint attack on Fred's backup base, my goal was to sneak Mike out of captivity. This time, I was here to cause havoc on my own, and I could feel the difference.
However, that didn't mean I hesitated. I couldn't exactly afford it either. I was about to raid the hideout of people who tried to kidnap Judy. Sure, they failed, but only because we made multiple contingency plans to avert such a scenario. That wasn't something worth patting myself on the shoulder over; it was the bare minimum I had to do. This? It was a bit more than that, but I'd be bloody damned if I'd let them to their devices after what they'd done.
Feeling as ready as I could, I gestured for Mountain Girl to follow me, and after doing a few short hand-seals, she disappeared into my shadow. I've long since stopped caring about the mechanics of their ninjutsu, but seeing her use it even while I could barely make out the shade I cast on the ground was still a bit of a mind-bender, and let's not even get into the fact that Ichiko somehow figured out how to do it without the hand-seals. Or hands, if we were at that. It was one of those things that really made me wonder just how soft the metaphysics of this world were, but this was neither the time nor the place to ponder such things. Shortly, I focused on Brang's mark and reappeared right next to him.
The ex-general, decked out in his armor and surrounded by the rest of the Fauns, swiveled his ears and turned to me. He had a pensive expression on his face, visible even under the translucent layer of the cloaking sigil, nothing like the gentle grandpa vibes he gave off while in the base. He gave me a salute, and the rest obediently followed suit.
"[Be at ease, general,]" I growled in a low voice, and looked over the group of armed ram-men (plus Pip) in front of me. They didn't seem especially eager, but they were disciplined, which was better. "[Is the state of your readiness at a satisfactory height?]"
"[Aye. We're ready at which hour thou art.]" His voice was solemn and he tightened his grip on his spear, the spitting image of a veteran warrior ready for battle. Needless to say, he immediately ruined it by letting out a small sigh and absentmindedly stroking his beard. [But bid me, Blackcloak; art thou certain about this?]"
I was fairly sure he didn't mean the attack itself, so I made an educated guess.
"[Are you enquiring about the lack of Region of Purpleness?]" Brang nodded, and I shook my head in return. "[We possess not the advantage of foresight, so we shall employ the leverage of shock and wonder. Deploying a Land of Violet Colors upon our foes would foretell our coming.]"
The old Faun grunted in what I presumed was acceptance, so I faced the warehouse again.
While on the surface this might've seemed the same as when I had everyone assault the Knights' base during the Arbitration, it was actually radically different situation. For one, this was a reactionary raid, so we had zero prep time. I had no Far Sight access to anyone inside either, so we had no intel on their numbers or equipment. Didn't have any floor plans or guard post locations either, and last but not least, our forces were considerably less powerful, lacking Sahi, Pascal, Abram, and Sebastian. In exchange, I was here, but that wasn't exactly a fair trade.
Under normal circumstances, I would've taken it slow, infiltrating the place with the Kage ninjas and maybe planting a few disguised mini-shoggoths to keep an eye on the grounds, but considering they've just failed a kidnapping attempt, it was likely they would move bases soon. At least that's how they operated under Arnwald's guidance, and while I was sure the scout team could keep them under surveillance, it was best to hit the iron while it was still hot and capitalize on the element of surprise.
Not to mention, I still had a long night ahead of me, as I had to sit down and explain the situation to Judy's parents, which would also necessitate telling them about the supernatural elements of the world, so I wanted to get things done pronto. In other words…
"[Fornicate with subtle bearing.]"
"[… Pardon?]" Brang blurted out in surprise, but I quickly dismissed him with a wave of my hand.
"[Cease attending to my stray words and heed my words instead.]" I could practically see the comment about being redundant on Karukk's tongue, so I barreled on before he had the chance to say it. "[I shall enter the lair of our foes through the gates and dazzle their senses with my presence. The warriors of shadow shall ensure that none shall escape our snare, so focus your attention on the unnamed men-at-arms.]"
"[Is thy plan to shoulder the battle against the entitled ones by thine lonesome?]"
"[Such matters are entirely dependent on the resistance they inflict on us. Should your assignment be fulfilled with unforeseen swiftness, I shall warmly welcome your assistance.]"
Brang nodded, and since there were no more questions, I turned my attention to the warehouse again. It was made of bricks, big enough to fit my house twice over, and with the island's track record, it probably had a basement as well. That was a lot of ground to cover, so to make the Fauns' job a little easier, I planned to break right through the main entrance and draw everyone's attention to me. With some luck, they would all gather to deal with the intruder, and it would allow us to catch them in one fell swoop.
I spared another glance at the ex-general, then began walking.
The sound of crunching snow under my feet and the subtle scraping of the plate covering my body both sounded deafening in the quiet of the night, and while I took every step cautiously, I didn't receive a single warning from my sixth sense. It was a little anti-climactic, but I made my way over to the main entrance of the building without anything out of the ordinary, and I stopped in front of the huge metal door. It was a tilting one by the look of the hinges, designed for trucks and heavy machinery. On the other hand, it didn't look especially thick, and on closer observation, I found that there was a human-sized door built into it as well, with a doorknob and everything.
Listening closely, I could make out a few stray noises coming from inside. Fragments of spoken words. The sound of metal against metal. Subtle things, nothing that would indicate they were even aware of my presence.
My first instinct told me that I could simply Phase to the other side of the door and hit them with a surprise attack. Or maybe check the smaller door to see if it's unlocked, and enter that way? Maybe throw in a jolly 'Why, hello there!' as I walked in like it was completely natural?
"… Fuck that," I whispered under my breath, and carefully unhooked the swords hanging from my belt.
In my left, I tightened my grip on the unnamed sword that came with the Lion Knight set, while in my right, Cal's blade began to silently shine as I slowly ramped up the speed of the mana circulating within my body. Feeling a sense of clarity, I raised both swords and held them out vertically in front of me, and inhaled the cold winter air until my chest hurt.
Step one: get into the right mind-space. Right now, I wasn't Leonard S. Dunning, high school student. That wasn't the role I was playing. At this moment, I was Leonard Blackcloak, Chimera Slayer, son-in-law of the Dracis clan, and King of Knights… and on the other side of this door, were the bastards who tried to kidnap my girlfriend.
It was at this point that I realized, much to my surprise, that I was still angry. I almost expected that spending nearly half an hour out in the cold would cool my head a little, yet the embers in my stomach burst into flames like they were never out, to begin with. It was a visceral kind of anger, not quite cold fury, but not exactly bursting rage either. I didn't like it, but if there was ever a time when it was appropriate, this was it.
Exhaling slowly, I raised the blades humming with power over my head and struck down with a single, forceful stroke. The sound was nothing I've ever heard, and considering I've experienced my fair share of strange noises, that said something. The corrugated metal panels split and crumbled like wet tissue paper, and the metal frame underneath didn't fare much better either, snapping like dry wigs under a sledgehammer.
I didn't stop there, and flourished my weapons before cutting upwards, slicing an 'X' shape into the already torn gate. This time the sound of groaning metal was accentuated by heavy thuds as pieces of the gate dropped to the ground. Keeping up the momentum, I swung my blades again and again, both horizontally and vertically, and in just the span of a few short seconds, I've successfully carved a hole large enough for me to walk across without lowering my head.
Stepping inside, I beheld a group of about ten people gathered around the middle of the spacious warehouse floor. The space was empty, save for a few concrete columns, and the armored men and women who hit up camp in the middle. As in, literally, with tents, camping stoves, and everything.
That… was slightly unexpected, but I was confident to say I was nowhere near as baffled as my opponents. Taking measured steps, I carefully observed the situation.
Seven Squires wearing generic armors. Less than expected, but no matter how I strained my eyes, I couldn't see anyone else in the back. They posed little threat by themselves, but could be troublesome if they all attacked at the same time. For now, they remained still and only stared at me without even reaching for their weapons.
Moving on. Two obviously important people in the middle. One, I was familiar with; Morgana was wearing her armor and looking exactly the same as when I encountered her during her meeting with the grand elder. She was hunched over a young man and held an unrolled bandage in one hand.
The patient wore a felt-covered black brigandine with matching spaulders and vambraces over a gambeson, and he was lying on his side on a foldable field bed, with his greaves on the ground. He didn't have his helmet on either, and I was surprised to see that he was quite young, potentially younger than even Penny. He had dark olive skin and short black hair, and while he was fairly handsome in a delicate, androgynous way, it was hard to see behind the shocked grimace he had on his face at the moment.
Nobody moved a muscle until I came right up to their little indoor campsite, but the moment I halted, the woman in the purple armor stood tall and all the squires backed away simultaneously.
"What is the meaning of—?"
"Silence." By no means did I shout, yet she shuddered like I just hit her over the head. "I'm not here to parlay."
"Parlay? What?" Confounded, she glanced between the boy rising to his feet with a pained hiss and me, and uttered, "Leonard, put your weapons down and—"
"Did I stutter?" I asked, and for emphasis, I swung the blade in my left hand. Since I was running my armor at full throttle, its edge was already surrounded in a haze of vague 'cutting power', and the motion made a thin wave of mana lash out from the tip, resulting in a crackling sound and a visible mark on the concrete floor. "I told you I'm not here to talk. I've let you roam around on my island long enough. You've overstepped your boundaries, so I'm here to put you in your place."
I could feel the Gorgon Knight's incredulous eyes on me even through her visor, but then she mechanically turned to her head towards the boy gripping a parrying dagger he took out from his bag of holding and spoke in a voice colder than the winter night outside.
"What have you done?"
Raven Boy trembled in surprise, but didn't answer, so I used my bluntest, flattest voice to tell her, "He sneaked into my girlfriend's room and attempted to kidnap her." I paused for a moment, mostly for theatrics, then added, "Did he forget to tell you how he got shot?"
"Is that true?" she asked, and somehow her voice ended up even icier than before.
"It was a sound strategic decision," the boy answered defiantly, though I could hear just the faintest tinge of panic under his bravado. "I only planned to interrogate her and then return her before sunrise, with her memories erased."
"Was that supposed to be an excuse? Because if it was, I'm afraid you suck. If anything, you just convinced me to definitely beat you to within an inch of your life."
Saying so, I took another step forward.
"Wait, Leonard! This is—!"
Once again, she was cut short, though this time it wasn't me. Without any prior indication, Raven Boy was suddenly covered from head to toe in black, almost as if all the bright colors on him got inverted. At least, that was the impression I got, but it didn't last long, as a heartbeat later he completely disappeared from sight.
Invisibility? No, I would see through that, so it was something else. That meant it was either a speed buff that would let him overcome my mana-enhanced dynamic vision, or a teleport skill. The former was unlikely, while the latter was conventionally impossible. Either way, my danger sense was giving me a surprisingly anemic warning, so I followed its tug and twisted my upper body, barely avoiding a stab aimed at the gap between the plates on my side.
Shifting my posture, I swung my sword, and it met with another sword Raven Boy produced from the convenient inventory-style enchanted item on his side. The impact on my hand was close to nothing, much to my surprise, though it was quickly explained by the blade in my opponent's hand snapping right above the cross guard. Not an enchanted weapon, a detached part of my brain noted while I shifted my feet again and swung Cal at his shoulder.
Shockingly, he didn't even attempt to guard or evade, but it all made sense when he suddenly flashed black again and disappeared, at which point my blade sailed right through the space he occupied a split-second ago.
Huh. Was this how Brang felt when he was dueling me in Domination, I wondered? Before I could ponder too much, my opponent appeared again, this time wielding a buckler in his off-hand, and taking a more cautious approach.
I was just about to engage him again, when the armored woman roared loud enough to fill the whole warehouse with her voice
"Stop this at once!"
Barely managing to keep the startled gasp trapped in my mouth, I gritted my teeth as my whole body froze mid-motion. Luckily, this wasn't my first time experiencing this situation, and it only took my phantom limbs half a second to sever the connection between us.
Of course, Raven Boy had no idea about any this, and he rushed in to capitalize on my moment of motionlessness. Unfortunately for him, he tried to do so by switching his parrying dagger to a reverse grip and aiming for my neck. Welp, that was a lethal attack. There went my last bit of reservation, and so I stepped right into his incoming strike.
Since he fully committed to this one stab, it left his torso wide open, even though he had a shield in the other hand. Now, I had no idea whether I could stab through his brigandine, but in any case, that wasn't the plan. Instead, I also switched Cal into a reverse grip, and as our bodies collided, I planted my feet and focused all my enhanced strength into my arms. With a swift motion, I hit his abdomen with both pommels at once in a clean, unobstructed strike. The results were a deafening boom, followed by a frankly comical yelp and Raven Boy flying off like his namesake, at least if ravens were ever shot out from cannons.
I would've loved to watch his impact, but there was fighting to be done, and as Mrs. Applebottom had drilled into our heads during physics lessons, every action had an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, launching Raven Boy naturally resulted in the counter-force pushing me in the opposite direction. Never to let good momentum go to waste, I used it to give me a boost towards the still unarmed Gorgon Knight.
She noticed my intention, but by the time she was about to take up a proper stance, I'd already channeled all the extra power into my legs and propelled myself towards her, with Cal back in a standard grip and extended out as I closed in on her.
A blink of an eye later, I came to a halt, in front of my second opponent, so close I could clearly make out her eyes shaking behind the visor. As for my sword, I aimed it right over her left shoulder, close enough to her head where it almost touched the owl ears of her helmet.
I waited for a long beat, to let the situation sink in, as well as to plunge my phantom limb into her armor, and once finished, I calmly told her, "That's not how you stop someone. Let me show you." Before she could react, I twisted a few metaphorical knobs on the enchantments of her gear, and added, "Don't move. It's an order."
Just to be sure I didn't mess up, I pulled back Cal and, using my other hand, I gave a stiff shove to her breastplate, and just as expected, she toppled over with a panicked cry. The metallic impact of her helmet hitting the ground was a little disconcerting, but I left the defensive enchantments intact, so I wasn't too worried about her health. I had to admit though, watching her rock back and forth on her heel and the back of her head, stiff as a statue, was oddly satisfying.
"Auntie!"
My sixth sense came before the voice, and my right weapon already moved to intercept the incoming strike even before Raven Boy appeared out of thin air, this time with a spiked war hammer in place of his dagger. Needless to say, upon meeting Cal, the head of the weapon practically disintegrated on impact, staggering my attacker. I was just about to follow my parry up with a horizontal slash, but then he flashed black and disappeared again.
Okay, this was getting annoying. What the heck was this power? And furthermore, why did it look so familiar? I meant the flashing part, in particular. I could swear I'd seen it somewhere else, but without taking a closer look…
"Aargh!"
Speak of the devil, Raven Boy reappeared again, this time right in the middle of my blind spot. Too bad for him, I didn't actually have one, so I easily avoided the running stab with a fancy half-pike coming my way, and this time I paid closer attention to the moment he disappeared. Then, it finally clicked.
Itching to see if my guess was correct, I waited for my foe's next appearance, and the moment my danger sense gave me a hint, I faced him and asked, "For the record, are you maybe slipping in and out of a tiny little Purple Zone?"
Instead of an answer, I got another angry shout and a short sword aimed at my neck, which I casually parried without breaking a sweat. Since he didn't have his full gear, he didn't pose much of a threat beyond his faux-teleportation ability. Unfortunately for him, my guess was spot on, as he backed away, only to freeze in his tracks and nearly stumble, still perfectly visible to the naked eye.
I admit, I momentarily considered giving him a headman's haircut, or at the very least taking one of his arms, but my better self reminded me that I had to be mindful of the ever-present threat of grimdarkness sneaking into our world as a result of my actions, so after considerable internal debate, I flicked my wrist and threw the weapon in my left hand high into the air.
Raven Boy reflexively followed it with his eyes, giving him little time to react to the iron-gloved backhand coming right at his face, and my strike landed on his cheek with an immensely satisfying smack that honest to goodness echoed in the hall. Then, just as planned, I used my weapon-catching skill to casually grab the falling sword out of the air.
For the next couple of seconds, the only sound in the warehouse came from the guy groaning on the floor in a fetal position, slightly accentuated by the scraping sounds the Gorgon Knight made as her struggles to move kept her rocking left and right. At last, I let out a pent-up breath, placed Cal onto my shoulder, and looked over the Squires still motionlessly surrounding the campsite.
"Does anyone else want to join? Don't be shy, the water's fine."
The men shared a couple of uncertain looks between each other, then, as if they rehearsed ahead of time, they all raised their hands in unison.
"Wow, look at that. People with working survival instincts. I'll be damned."
It was around this time that the Raven Knight unsteadily rose to his feet again, holding his head in one palm and glaring through his parted fingers.
"You bastard! What did you do?"
"Do you mean about your trick?" I reached down to my waist and pulled the flap of my coat aside to reveal a long, cylindrical artifact wrapped in a thick burlap pouch fastened to my belt. "I borrowed this from my sister. I brought it along just in case some of you tried to make a run for it in a Purple Zone, but it came in handy in an unexpected way. Oh, speaking of which…" I raised my hand again and pointed at the guy, "Before you get any funny ideas and try to run, I order you to stay perfectly still."
"What are you—?" his outraged voice instantly shifted into a startled one when he realized he couldn't move anymore. Or rather, he could barely move, unlike the armored woman still lying on the ground over there in grudging silence. It was probably because he was only partially equipped, yet by the looks of it, he had to use all his strength to move a single finger.
First things first, I put Cal into the hoop on my sword belt to free up my right hand, then I walked over to Raven Boy's side, and after inspecting his equipment, I quickly found a small, silver-plated flat bag attacked to his belt. It wasn't too hard to notice, considering that it was gloving extra-brightly with magic, and I helped myself to it without paying any heed to its current owner's protests.
"Inventory, get," I whispered under my breath, and after pocketing the spoils, I raised my voice. "Gather up everyone, and carry these two out of here. Afterwards, dismantle the camp and erase any evidence of our presence."
The Squires were visibly confounded by my words, apparently thinking I was talking to them, but it only lasted until Hrul undid his cloaking sigil, soon followed by the rest. Then the Kage ninjas emerged from their shadows, and in a couple of seconds, we outnumbered the armored men three-to-one. Not that it mattered, as after the first shock passed, they obediently surrendered.
"What is this!? Unhand me at once!"
"[Easy does it…]" Pip grumbled as he unceremoniously lifted the stiff Raven Boy onto his shoulder and headed outside. Hrul did the same to Morgana, and things became really busy around us once the ninjas began disassembling the tents while the Fauns herded the Squires into a single line.
"That went smoother than expected," I admitted under my breath, and I found someone agreeing with me once Rinne exited my shadow.
"Indeed. It was a marvelous display of power, Leonard-dono."
"That wasn't my original intention, and… where exactly were you? Weren't you supposed to back me up?"
"Rinne saw that Leonard-dono required no help, so Rinne took the opportunity to marvel at Leonard-dono's masterful swordsmanship from up close!"
"… Are you pulling my leg?"
Before she could respond, a certain jovially chuckling Faun general arrived at my side.
"[Thine display was truly spectacular. Not since serving under the venerated second lord of House Inanna had I seen such ruthlessly domineering bearing.]"
"How is that supposed to be a good thing, and… Wait. Are you wiping your eyes?"
"[Please do forgive this old heart, Blackcloak. Sentimentality has gotten the better of me.]"
"Okay, at this point I'm about ninety percent sure you two are just making fun of me, so cut it out."
"[I assure you, Blackloak, I would not dare to do so.]"
I had a reply on the tip of my tongue, but then I noticed Karukk waving at me, so I gestured for him to speak.
"[Say, boss? Where should we take the captives again?]"
That… was a good question. Taking them to the base was the most obvious answer, but letting them meet with the rest of the Knights right away might not have been the best idea. Not to mention, I still had to figure out what they were planning with the grand elder, and why they tried to kidnap Judy. Depending on their answers regarding the last topic, I might've even had to reconsider integrating them into the group at all.
"Hm. Last I checked, Fred's backup base in the docks was still vacant, and it has an emergency exit we can use as a sneaky backdoor to get in without the Magi noticing. Nobody should look for them there or hear their pleas for mercy, so it should be an adequate location for interrogations."
"[Understood!]"
Karukk nodded and turned on his heel, and only when he joined the rest of the Fauns did I realize that they didn't know about the entrance of the hidden tunnel I was talking about. However, before I could go after him, I noticed Brang giving me an inquisitive look that bothered me for some reason.
"Is there something on my helmet?"
"[Nothing of the sort. This old one was simply wondering… art thou completely certain thou art not a forgotten descendant of one of the Abyssal Great Lords of old? Or maybe of a lost bloodline?]"
"… Still not funny."
And with that, I left the furtive old man and the dazed monster huntress behind in favor of directing the mass capture and kidnapping of a bunch of knights in more-or-less shining armor by a task force of scary growling ram-people and slightly less scary ninjas, so that I could squeeze every drop of information out of them in a secluded location. Nothing nefarious to see here, please move along.
Comments
Enrico Snipes
I was initially agreeing with Leo when he was saying that his presence didn't make up for the whole group of op guys, but then it occurred to me that while Leo suffers from a lack of plot armor, he also negates other characters plot armor. So while he might not be as powerful as sebastian and sahi, in all likelyhood, in important fights they could be stalled and escaped from. But Leo ain't takin any of that BS, he got you in his sights then you ain't gettin away
Rac
Very nice chapter!
