RD 8 Ch 2 (Patreon)

I stared out the window of the Citadel of Blood, watching everyone work with a faint smile touching my face. This was why I fought so hard. It was why, after five hundred years and two lifetimes, I still fought the demons.

Bran Day had caused quite a bit of celebration, and somehow the energy of that celebration had managed to linger and even grow after I came back with my second victory over the Demon Lord. While I wasn't exactly planning to give the general citizens an update on the war, the Mul Branova were part of the community and oftentimes eager to share stories, especially when they involved praising my actions. I should have known better than to think they would ever hold them secret for long.

But the end result was the same. People were excited. When the demons had come to Earth, they had made so many fear for their lives while destroying everything they had ever known. Now there was hope that the situation could change. The world might be able to build back into something that wasn’t simply survival.

I knew much of that was a pipe dream. The presence of the initiated would always change the world. It would create imbalances of strength that would seep into every interaction. But perhaps we could have something more civilized: instances, cities, and organizations that might tame some of the wildness brought upon us by the chaos of demons.

At least, that was the hope that kept me moving.

"Lord Bran, you have a visitor, and he—" She didn't get the rest of the words out before Ozzy stormed into the room, eyes wide and with an urgency to his gait that made me put down all other thoughts and pay attention.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Ozzy was panting, and I wasn't sure exactly how he'd gotten here, but he'd done so in a hurry. Then again, if I remembered correctly, there was supposed to be a portal between his clan and the Citadel. I supposed it was done now, if I was seeing him here in my office today.

"It's the Kailash Clan," Ozzy said, barely pausing to catch his breath.

"What about them?" I asked, leaning forward.

"They're—" He struggled with the words and shook his head. "They're gone."

"Gone?" I asked, standing up at my desk, placing my hands on its surface and staring at him, now understanding why he was having such a reaction. "That can't be. I know Shiva had stopped coddling them, but there's no way he would let someone attack his clan and get away with it."

"Rumors reached me, and I thought they were just that. However, I've had my people scout the area, and where the clan used to be is just a massive crater now."

I shook my head. "Sorry, it's not that I don't believe you, but this is something I need to see for myself." Shiva was considered the strongest human on Earth. For the Kailash to fall… well that would crush the spirit of humanity.

Even if somehow Shiva hadn’t been there, it was a dire message that he couldn’t protect the rest of the world.

Ozzy paused and then nodded in understanding. "I suppose I had to go check for myself to believe it, too. I can't blame you for that. I don't know what you're going to do. However, we are doing our best to get more information from the region, but it's difficult, given the Heavenly Fist Sect sits between us and them. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the Heavenly Fist Sect is actively disrupting communications from the region."

"Well, of course he is," I said. "After all, the Demon Lord is the one running the place."

"Camden," Ozzy said, nodding. I'd shared what we'd known thus far. "'I saw him ‘perish'," he air-quoted, "at your tournament, and my people have confirmed that he's alive and well. At this point, I don't think there's any good in continuing to interact with the Heavenly Fist Sect, especially if something has happened to the Kailash Clan and they've not so much as twitched, much less notified any of the sects or clans."

I sighed and went to pick up a rockie-talkie as Simone danced through the doorway.

"Oh, Bran," she said, in her normal illusion of a very scantily clad nun. She paused in the doorway. "Oh, am I interrupting something?" She was holding a bottle of wine and two glasses.

Ozzy coughed into his hand and backed away from my desk. "No, I apologize if I interrupted something." He looked away from Simone, a faint embarrassment dusting his cheeks.

Simone looked at the wine, the glasses, and then down at herself. "Oh, this is just what I normally wear," she said, chipper as ever. "Though I usually can't get Bran to drink, I assumed we were still feeling celebratory from defeating the most recent Demon Lord's shard." The wine and glasses disappeared into her spatial ring without much care.

"Oh, good. For a moment, it seemed like I had interrupted marital affairs," Ozzy said, still having trouble facing Simone.

"Well, he does have a few women to keep happy. If you couldn't come by anytime you were worried about interrupting those, I'm afraid to say visits would be quite hard." Simone offered.

Ozzy cast me a curious glance, and I held my hands up. "She's joking."

"I am," Simone said. "We've only done it on that chair a few dozen times. I'm sure it's still sanitary."

Ozzy practically jumped from the chair he'd been leaning on as Simone laughed. "Ozzy, I didn't realize you were so conservative.”

"It's not that I'm conservative—" He hesitated, stared at the chair, and then up at Simone with a faint squint before he shrugged it off. Either way, he focused back on me. "I look forward to hearing from you after you visit."

Simone perked up. "Where are we going?"

"Well, Ozzy has information and has gone to see for himself. It seems the Kailash Clan, and possibly Shiva, have gone missing." I hesitated to say that they had been destroyed. That felt like something I wasn't quite ready to put out into the world.

Yet Simone picked up on it. "Oh," she said, with wide eyes. "Well then, I'll get Merlin immediately."

She danced out of the room, and Ozzy turned to me, a wicked grin on his face. "Bran, you are a very lucky man."

"Oh, I know," I said, draining my cup of water and getting to my feet. "Will you come with us?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't have the stamina to keep up with you." Ozzy grinned. "I look forward to your visit. The portal's almost done."

I tilted my head. "How did you get here, then?"

"Do you really think the five clans can't get around the world as fast as you and Merlin now?" he asked with a wink. "Especially when I just need someone who was once alive who had such an ability. Heck, it doesn't even need to be half as good as Merlin. It can have severe limitations, and it's still worthwhile," Ozzy explained.

I grinned. "Don't even think about Merlin. She's mine," I gave him a playful ferocity reserved for friends.

"Oh, I think no sane human would think it's a good idea to touch your women, Bran Heros. You didn't hear it from me, but I've heard from elites amongst the sects and clans that a memo went out with all of your women’s faces on it, telling people to ensure they did not cross them. Now that I think about it, it might have originated from the Heros Clan. Word has it that Zeus is absolutely terrified of you these days. You wouldn't happen to know why that's come about, now, would you?" Ozzy asked the question playfully, however, it did put a small point on how good his network was more broadly.

"I might have flexed my stats in front of him," I said, before holding a finger to my lips. "But don't let anyone know about that."

"Of course not," Ozzy said and straightened his clothes. "Well, your lack of concern even if Shiva is dead, puts me at some level of ease. Most people might consider him humanity's strongest." Ozzy gave me a knowing look. "But I think he might have lost that title by now, if we're honest." His eyes looked at me and then lingered on the door that Simone had left through, “perhaps multiple times over.”

I wasn’t wrong, but still Shiva was a long engrained icon of being the strongest among the clans and thus for all of humanity. His loss would be felt like an earthquake.

"Simone is quite impressive," I agreed with a smile that hopefully reassured him. "Now, since I think this is your first time visiting the Citadel, I hope you don't mind if I offload the tour onto someone else. Perhaps by the time you're done with it, I'll be back with a better idea of what's happened at the Kailash Clan."

Ozzy nodded and plopped himself down in a different chair in the corner of the room. "I don’t blame your priorities, I did place a bomb in your lap. Just send someone to fetch me," he said with a smirk.

While I wanted to be polite, I simply nodded and headed off, any humor dying on my face as I turned away, since I knew what I was about to do was going to be anything but amusing.

We’d need to put on a brave face and perhaps even increase our standing in people’s minds before we let this information loose. The loss of the Kailash would need to be softened.