[MLV] 41. I'll End This (Patreon)

Placed on the war table was a map of the Rhonne Exclusion Zone alongside pieces representing military units deployed around it. 

Today, the officers of the newly organized Army of the South, under General Pierre Ney, were meeting at Fort Orleans—twenty miles south of Florimont.

A junior officer, when given the order to update the war table based on the last round of reports, began removing pieces off the table. Amongst the demon brigades, the 52nd, 17th, 39th, 40th, and the 33rd were removed, as their command elements were now presumed dead and the rest of their units routed. This left only three demon brigades operational on the field, all of them holding five towers on the northern sector of the exclusion zone.

Then, the first wave of reinforcements from the imperial army, the Army of the Meuse—composed of eight brigades, four infantry, two cavalry, and two artillery—was also removed from the table. They were under General Davout, a new noble human who was now presumed dead, including his command staff, after they were routed by the black dungeon’s distortions.

Once the junior officer finished removing the pieces off the table, everyone surrounding the war table was stunned silent.

“So…” Pierre stroked his outrageously thick mustache. “It appears that we just lost approximately fifty thousand soldiers in the span of seven days.”

The War Minister, Marc-Antoine Courbet, who was present here today, looked down at the map gravely.

Unlike Pierre, who was fully elven, hailing from the prestigious House of Ney, Marc was half-elf, half-human, a bastard child from the emperor’s only mistress.

Marc-Antoine was the most important figure of the Alsatian empire today. Known to be an overly serious man, he preferred to wear his military uniform even when he was now a civilian minister. With his greatcoat and an old-fashioned bicorne that he preferred to wear sideways, his silhouette was rather iconic, allowing him to stand out on the battlefield even in the darkness. This was the man who conquered entire kingdoms in colonial adventures with ease, earning him unmatched prestige in the Alsatian military establishment.

A statesman or a warlord, an unruly upstart or the perfect emperor, it was a great wonder to Alsatia’s higher circles as to what kind of man Marc truly was. He rose through the ranks of the military rapidly, then he was appointed as war minister, right when the emperor’s mind began deteriorating, turning him into the de facto leader of the empire in lieu of the incapacitated monarch.

For nearly a decade, Pierre worked closely with Marc, even when he started out as a man widely considered an uncouth, halfling, upstart. In that time, Marc and his clique reversed the useless reforms and concessions given by the emperor to his commoner subjects, restored the old privileges of the nobility, strengthened the power of the seigneurs over their demesnes, and kneecapped the political power of the obnoxious Estates General, the home of greedy human merchants, new nobles, and every other kind of overly ambitious villains who routinely clashed with the established families of the empire.

This allowed Alsatia to better isolate itself from the destabilizing ideas coming out of Hesse and other corners of the world, restoring stability to the nation. They also revitalized the imperial army, which had begun to rot during the more hands-off reign of the emperor in the last few decades. They bolstered the army’s numbers, its armaments improved, and they even managed to gain proper combat experience as Marc’s government restored Alsatia’s expansionist foreign policy overseas.

It was for this reason that Pierre and many of the old guard managed to work well with Marc even when he was half human. They didn’t just tolerate him; they respected him, allowing for fruitful collaboration. He was the perfect man to lead the empire—a man of tradition and strength, exactly the combination that Pierre and the old guard believed was best for Alsatia.

A part of Pierre even strongly preferred this arrangement over the concerning scenario that the crown princess—who was rumored to entertain fringe, degenerate ideas like treating demons ‘better’—might become the next empress. It wasn’t ideal that the emperor was essentially a vegetable at this point, but at least they had the correct man positioned to rule for the empire for him.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Pierre was now watching first-hand the first true crisis of Marc’s government. He didn’t like this scenario one bit.

Not only had they lost many soldiers, they also lost two cities: Florimont and Bellefort.

Both cities, alongside their surrounding villages and towns, had, in total, three hundred thousand citizens. Now that communication and command lines broke down, containment was essentially out of the question. Worst of all, this was a true mass casualty event. 

Alsatia hadn’t suffered a disaster of this scale in centuries.

He wondered how exactly Marc was going to dig them out of this hole.

“It doesn’t look good,” Marc said, leaning close to the map, analyzing it deeply. Then, he straightened himself. “But we have options.”

“We don’t even have enough demons left,” Pierre added.

“I know. But we still have cards available.”

“So what shall we do?”

“We need to end this as swiftly as possible. Not only is the nation at risk, but the longer we take, the worse it looks for us. Even if we save the nation, our influence would be crippled. Everything we’ve built up could crumble at once, and we’d have to answer to the Estates General.”

The officers around the war table shuddered. Being forced to listen to the endless complaints of human merchants and their ilk, and worse, being legally required to answer them… it was a humiliating position for any self-respecting nobleman.

“General Ney, the main part of the plan will, of course, be the task of your army. You will be the one in charge of ending this crisis. To do that, I want you to deploy the bulk of your forces near Florimont.”

Marc began expertly moving pieces on the map.

“It appears that the devils are concentrating the most over there. Now that the city is lost, they will definitely advance through this road. I want you to stop them on their tracks and pin them there. General Valliere, you will lead your cavalry corps east of Florimont and flank the enemy.”

“Leave it to us, sir!” The other elven general beside Marc nodded enthusiastically. “We’ll crush them with ease.”

“I expect great things from you, Valliere. While General Ney’s formation is fighting the main force, you will attack the monsters from the rear. The enemy are mindless creatures, so they won’t see this coming, allowing us to eliminate the majority of distortions on the field in one battle.”

All the officers nodded in agreement.

“Once that is done,” Marc turned back to Pierre. “The Army of the South must conduct a rapid campaign around the exclusion zone. I want our towers back within four weeks, before the black dungeon’s miasma spreads too much.”

“Four weeks. That’s a bit of a tall order, sir,” Pierre said.

“There is no other choice. We, the ministers of the empire, can only hold back the uppity masses for so long. This crisis must be ended swiftly. I cannot have your army waiting for more reinforcements to arrive before moving out.”

“Alright, we’ll do our best. But what shall we do with the people escaping this region?”

Marc paused for a bit, in deep thought.

“Since we’re now pivoting from our earlier total containment policy, we shall make do with alternative methods to control the narrative,” Marc said. “Let the refugees and deserters pass, and order the troops to treat them well. But… arrest all of the demons you find fleeing from the battlefield. This disaster will be their fault. I need you to supply me with people that we can charge on a military tribunal with mutiny.”

“A mutiny? But the demons didn’t mutiny.”

“As I’ve said, this disaster will be their fault, not ours. During the heat of battle, they decided to mutiny by abandoning the suppression towers they were ordered to defend. Now, thousands of our valuable citizens are dead. The masses will be hungry for justice once this is all over. I intend to serve them that justice in a satisfying manner.”

“I see…” Pierre laughed a bit, amused by this arrangement, knowing that if there was one thing the Alsatian people united behind, it was treating demons as the filthy demons they were. Of course, this was all their fault! So, why must the Virtuous Races infight and point fingers at each other when there was a perfectly suitable group for them to blame instead?

No reason, none at all.

Pierre’s confidence about their prospects soared. It seemed that Marc’s government might just survive this disaster without a hitch.

 “A very clever scheme, war minister. You have my full support.”

“Wonderful. Glad I can count on you, general. Now, as for the rest…”

Marc, Pierre, and the rest of the command staff hammered down the finer details of the imperial army’s counterattack, and within an hour, all of them shared fine wine to bid themselves good luck in the upcoming battle.

By midday, the Army of the South finally marched out of Fort Orleans to Florimont, set to arrive next morning ready for battle.

Lucille landed near a group of soldiers.

For hours since their arrival, Lucille and her spirits managed to save many fragmented units available in the city and reorganize them. While Alicia focused her efforts on evacuating civilians and wounded soldiers to her estate, Lucille and Lorraine both coordinated and led the remaining defenders of Florimont to kick the blasted devils out.

So far, however, there was a severe lack of proper officers on the field, since most of them either died, if they were Vaelrin, or fled, if they were of the Virtous Races. It was for this reason that she placed Antonio as her second in command, directing all reorganized troops while she focused her mind on controlling thousands of artificial spirits on the field.

Still, she wanted an update from him.

There, on the streets near Florimont’s cathedral, were Antonio and his men, shouting orders at lines of battered troops. Upon seeing Lucille, Antonio turned to her.

“Your Highness,” Antonio bowed slightly.

“How are we holding up?” Lucille asked. “How many soldiers have we reorganized?”

“Currently about six hundred. Most of them are from my unit, the 33rd.” A tired smile formed in Antonio’s face. “But we also have people from the 39th Demon Brigade, the city’s garrison, and a few folks from General Davout’s army.”

“I see. That’s not a lot of survivors,” Lucille murmured.

She eyed the soldiers being gathered up under Antonio’s command.

All of them looked back at Lucille too. Since her artificial spirits were the main factor that turned the tide of battle at the moment, the soldiers probably thought that she was their only hope on this battlefield. Still, that was definitely not enough to restore their morale. She hardened her gaze and turned back to Antonio.

“How have you reorganized them?”

“They’re formed up into three battalions, roughly two hundred men each, and they’re all mixed formations. I designated them as A, B, and C Battalions. Sorry, I’m not trained to organize this many men, so I’m just winging it…”

“Don’t put yourself down. You’re doing well for a junior officer.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”“Alright, I want all three battalions to support me and my artificial spirits at the northern district of the city. We need to retake the wall and then regain control of the field artillery. Can your men do that?”

Antonio turned back to the columns of troops. He didn’t look very confident of their prospects.

“We’ll try our best, Your Highness,” he said, unsure.

“...That’s not enough. You all need to actually believe in yourselves.”

Lucille walked away from Antonio, walking in the middle of the street, right between the lines of assembled soldiers. Their curious gazes were locked on her as she tried to keep her composure together. When she reached the end of the line, she looked back at everyone and raised her voice.

“Attention, everyone!’’ Lucille shouted. “I wish to have a few words with you!”

Lucille waited for a few seconds, using the silence to steady herself.

“I will be brief. Right now, our situation is awful. Many of your comrades are dead, our defenses broken, and you’ve seen the citizens of this city massacred in cold blood. It’s very hard for me to give you any kind of comforting words about this, and I wouldn’t.”

She felt like that just caused her soldier’s morale to dip further.

But she pressed on.

“Even so, you were the soldiers I found fighting to the bitter end anyway. When I asked you earlier if you wanted to escape like civilians, you refused. That’s why you’re still here.”

Finally, many soldiers began to raise their heads and look at Lucille straight.

A small smile appeared on her face.

“That’s why, even if you all look broken from the outside, I know your spirit is still alive. Soldiers, I want you to know that I believe in you! You chose to fight because you knew someone had to do it. You stepped up to take this duty, even when you saw firsthand how hard it is. That right there is the character of a proper soldier.”

Her words finally began to break through their minds as they looked at Lucille with more determination.

“With your help, I fully believe that we can take back the wall and strike a decisive blow against the black dungeon’s corruption! So on your feet, soldiers! Don’t let the world beat you down when you know you can still fight. Let’s show the world what you valiant defenders of Florimont are capable of!”

At last, the soldiers, with their morale restored, raised their weapons high and began shouting ‘Long live Princess Lucille,’ each one of them seemingly eager to fight. Lucille didn’t expect that she would be capable of this, considering how flimsy her little speech was, but then again, she did study public speaking.

She looked back at Antonio.

It seemed that even he was eager to fight.

With that done, she turned back to look at the north side of the city’s wall. Then, she reconnected her mind to her artificial spirits, giving her a near bird’s-eye view of the battlefield as she closed her eyes.

Alright. Let’s do this.

At last, with Lucille at the front, the reorganized units of Florimont’s defenders rushed back into the battlefield. For hours, the city became the site of intense fighting, her artificial spirits finding themselves at the thick of it.

As of this moment, she had four artificial spirit models available on the battlefield. Most of them were her Ember model artificial spirits, which was her first design back then, based on D-grade monster cores. She had around a thousand of them in total, and each of them scoured the skies, using intermediate fire magic to clear out swathes of humanoid-type distortions.

Then, there were the Goliaths. Based on B-grade monster cores, the Goliath model was a four-legged automaton with a magical siege turret on top. Heavily armored, with limited barrier spell protection, Lucille created them as a direct counter to so-called ‘Red-Black Scorpions’ present in black dungeon disaster zones. They were her siege weapons, capable of blasting holes on enemy lines at ease and moving at a comfortable speed.

Spawning, controlling, and organizing them was something Lucille was new to, however, so she only had three dozen of them deployed on the battlefield at the same time. She sent them straight against the scorpions her Ember model spirits identified from the skies, as they were capable of tanking shots from scorpions and brawling with them.

Her Spectre model artificial spirits, based on C-grade monster cores, were also deployed on the field for the first time. They appeared like armored swordsmen with bodies made of bluish fire, each of them hovering from the ground. They were much easier to control and manage, so she had hundreds of them, and they made up her main ground force against humanoid-type distortions.

Finally, there were her two ‘named’ artificial spirits that had true intelligence, all of them based on A-grade cores. The first was Ashkar, a powerful fire spirit that took the form of a lion. Then, there was Rhea, a powerful water spirit that took the form of a flying bluish orca. Both of them were sent to the thickest of the fighting, where their overwhelming strength, both physical and magical, was most useful.

On the sky too was her dragon familiar, Remarque, though he wasn’t assigned to combat. Instead, he largely helped Alice at hauling surviving civilians to her warp gate to expedite evacuations. This ensured that every time they recaptured territory, Alicia and Remarque could easily move them out of danger.

While it was difficult, with so many people on her side, Lucille found herself able to push onwards.

While her spirits took the brunt of the fighting, the soldiers under Antonio at the rear liquidated remaining distortions with surprising efficiency. With improved morale and coordination, what was once mere pockets of resistance were now fully active combatants, killing hundreds of humanoid-type distortions and even a few of the powerful scorpions.

By afternoon, the city’s wall was captured, allowing them to use its field artillery to begin bombarding the remnants of the black dungeon’s monsters outside. By the time the sun began to set, Florimont and its surroundings were cleared of the black dungeon’s distortions, and it was all because of the crown princess’s intervention.

Alicia, who had been hauling civilians and wounded soldiers to the princess’ estate all day long, returned to regroup with Lucille and Lorraine an hour after sunset. Both of them were standing on one of the bastions of the city’s wall, observing the now empty fields ahead of them.

“Alice!” Lucille waved at Alicia from afar, calling at her. “We did it! The battle is over!”

“I can tell,” Alicia smiled, running toward Lucille. “Congratulations. I didn’t know you had it in you to command this many forces on your own.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible without the monster cores you gave me,” Lucille said, smiling. “Anyway, now that this city is retaken, I think it’s time we move on to the next phase of our plan.”

Lorraine, who was standing on the side, unfurled a map. Both Alicia and Lucille turned to look at it.

“Our main problem right now is that the black dungeon’s contaminated areas are expanding rapidly,” Lorraine explained. “Even if we stopped their main push here, we still have to retake the suppression towers and restore defenses there.”

Lucille spoke to Alicia.

“I’ve also received word that my cursed brother is now on the move. While I have doubts about their ability to actually combat distortions like us, their numbers mean that they’ll be able to capture and hold territory, including the towers. But someone has to pave the path for them first so they can do this quickly.”

“I see…” Alicia placed her hand on her chin as she analyzed the map. “So that’s your plan? We’ll do the fighting for them?”

“Precisely. While I’m worried that my brother might steal the credit for our efforts, my priority is containing the black dungeon’s expansion first before anything. If we can open a path for my brother’s army so they can reestablish control of the exclusion zone, this crisis should end.”

“Alright.”

Alicia smiled.

“If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s fighting monsters. Let’s do this.”

“Thank you. I wasn’t sure about this plan, but hearing you say that fills me with confidence.”

Lorraine folded the map. On the other hand, Alicia turned back to the city to look at the soldiers gathered below. Most of them were currently resting, eating whatever food they managed to scrounge up from the ruined city.

“What about them, though?” Alicia asked, pointing at them, especially at the Vaelrin soldiers. “Are we leaving them here?”

“That, I am not sure of,” Lucille answered, frowning a bit.

“It will be best to leave them here so they can rest and garrison the city until reinforcements from your brother’s army arrive,” Lorraine suggested. “That way, we can move much faster at eliminating distortions in the countryside.”

Lucille considered Lorraine’s proposal for a bit, but she shook her head in the end.

“No. Not the Vaelrin soldiers. I can’t leave them here,” Lucille said. “I don’t trust my brother. There’s no telling what he’s going to do to them if I’m not around.”

There she is again. She’s showing so much concern about Vaelrin troops.

This was something that was bothering Alicia a bit since they arrived here. Unlike other Alsatians, Lucille genuinely seemed like she cared a lot about the Vaelrin soldiers here. Last night, when Alicia asked her to not endanger the group of soldiers they saved, Lucille kept her word. Somehow, through all that fighting, everyone from that small group, led by a man named Antonio Matteotti, was still alive. She could see them all from here, sharing a meal below.

Why? Why does she care this much about my kind? I really need to ask her about this… Damn it, I should have asked her about this back then. She might really be the ally I need in Alsatia.

Alicia listened further to the conversation between Lorraine and Lucille.

“I think the best solution is to bring the Vaelrin soldiers with us and leave the human soldiers here to protect the city,” Lucille said to Lorraine. “That way, my brother won’t have any chance of punishing them for not fighting harder.”

“But those soldiers fought hard enough,” Alicia spoke up, curious about Lucille’s reasoning. “I understand what you’re saying, but do they truly need to go with us just to prove themselves?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Lucille said. “I don’t like it, but it is what it is. I’ll just try my best to protect them while they’re with us. They can help us at securing our rear anyway or at picking off the stragglers.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Lorraine smiled. “I suppose we’ll go with this then?”

Lucille turned to Alicia, seemingly wondering if she would agree.

For a few seconds, Alicia ran her mind through this idea. She didn’t like that those poor Vaelrin soldiers would have to march hard again to a difficult fight, but Lucille did have a point.

“Alright,” Alicia nodded. “But we’ll ask them first. All of them.”

Both Lucille and Lorraine agreed to this.

To Alicia’s surprise, when the Vaelrin soldiers were assembled later outside of Florimont, all of them volunteered to come with the trio.

“What…?” Alicia was bewildered. None of these soldiers seemed ready for a fight at all! They were all in bad condition.

Lucille, who stood beside Alicia, clearly pitied these soldiers.

Lorraine didn’t have much of a reaction.

On the other hand, the leader of the Vaelrin soldiers, Antonio, spoke up from the middle of their formation.

“Your Highness, unlike the imperials over there, we are here fighting for the rights of our families,” Antonio explained. “We have no choice but to fight as hard as we can. Besides, as I’ve said before, our brothers in arms out there must be doing the same too.”

He gave them a tired smile.

“We can’t run away.”

Even if Alicia couldn’t accept this, she had no choice in the matter. Unless she overthrew the Alsatian government, which she wouldn’t, she had no right to interfere with the decision of her fellow Vaelrin, who simply wanted to protect their families by following the system they lived under.

And so, without any further protests, they embarked on a journey to the north, marching miles through hostile territory to eliminate the black dungeon’s monsters.

To protect her kin, Alicia used her magic intensively and placed herself at the front of each skirmish. While Lucille was responsible for keeping her large formations of artificial spirits advancing at a wider front, Alicia focused on the most dangerous enemies, ensuring that everyone else wouldn’t have to deal with threats beyond their capabilities.

As night passed, they pushed deeper and deeper to abandoned territory. It was a bit of a slog, as finding distortions and dispatching them efficiently was difficult. For some reason, the enemy was getting tougher and tougher. They also became more organized.

Groups of humanoid-type distortions began hiding themselves in the terrain well to launch ambushes on Lucille’s artificial spirits. The number of scorpions rapidly increased in the high hundreds, further hampering their efforts since Alicia was forced to reposition herself many times to eliminate them.

Four hours into their counterattack, and they were forced to stop temporarily.

Alicia flew straight to Lucille, who told Alicia to come to her after she gave the halt order. Upon seeing the princess, Alicia became worried, as she noticed that Lucille was starting to look pale and strained. Controlling this many artificial spirits, and having to summon more and more as her spirit army suffered losses, meant that Lucille was stretching her magic to its limits.

But, before Alicia could point that out and offer some help, Lucille spoke.

“Alice, I think I understand why we’re having difficulties,” Lucille said, her eyes trembling a bit. “Have you noticed? The mindless monsters are unreasonably well-organized.”

Alicia frowned.

Indeed, the monsters here act differently from the distortions I saw at the royal capital.

Lucille then pointed her finger at something in the horizon.

“The reason is over there,” Lucille said.

“What?”

Alicia turned in the direction Lucille was pointing at. She narrowed her eyes.

Something was moving over there. It was massive and dreadful, and Alicia’s trained eyes could easily tell that it was beyond powerful. While the night’s darkness was already all-omnipresent, this one brought with it a new form of darkness, its shadow resembling that of a massive, pitch-black blanket.

Soon, a reddish orb appeared from the shadows.

There, a walking corpse of what looked like a fallen, armored soldier advanced. Unlike all the other distortions Alicia saw, this one was beyond deformed and corrupted.

“That, Alice, is the strongest distortion of the Rhonne Exclusion Zone. A former soldier, now corrupted into becoming a distortion,” Lucille explained. “The Nameless.”

As the Nameless stopped, the red glowing eye underneath its rusty helmet locked straight at Alicia and Lucille. He was not alone, surrounded by hundreds of phantom-like apparitions, all of them seemingly glitching in and out of reality.

“I’ll end this. I’ll end this. I’ll end this.”

A sickly, monotone voice began repeating itself, heard from miles away.

“I’ll end this. I’ll end this. I’ll end this.”

Alicia looked to her side, at Lucille.

She was tearing up all of a sudden. Noticing that Alicia was looking at her, Lucille quickly wiped her tears.

“This is all my fault,” Lucille said. “That thing… I’m the reason why he exists.”

“Whatever do you mean by that?” Alicia asked. “You turned that soldier into a distortion?”

“Back when I was a little girl, trapped in this exclusion zone, that former Vaelrin soldier saved me. Since he was unfairly forced to fight in this hell by my people, he had no reason to help an elf like me out, yet he did so anyway.”

Lucille summoned something different this time. Instead of throwing more of her artificial spirit orbs, she summoned her wand. She probably already ran out of spirits to throw in the field anyway.

“I could have used my position as princess to give him exemption from the unfair duties my nation forced on him because he saved my life, but the truth is, I’m no different from other Alsatians, so I didn’t. Because of my ignorance, I left him behind in this hell, where the black dungeon’s corruption eventually claimed him.”

Lucille gritted her teeth as the glowing eye of the monster before them intensified.

“I’ll end this. I’ll end this. I’ll end this.”

As Alicia stared at the Nameless, she finally realized why Lucille cared so much about Vaelrin soldiers forced to fight here.

“So yes, I created that monster, Alice,” Lucille continued. “That’s why it’s my responsibility to stop him. I'll end this.”

Before Alicia could warn Lucille to not do something reckless, the crown princess suddenly zoomed forward. Alicia shouted at Lucille to come back, but her words fell on deaf ears.

Lucille was determined to finish this fight herself.

+++

A/N

Whew... That's a rather long chapter. Actually the longest so far, almost 5,000 words in total.

But it had to be done.

We're now at the most pivotal point for Lucille's character arc, where she would have to confront her past guilt about whether or not she's any different from other Alsatians. I know it's a bit of an overused trope to do this by making a character fight someone from their backstory, but hey, I really love this plot device, so I'm going to give it my best shot!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Have a good week :D