On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Twenty – End of Arc One

The black-furred weasels I commanded bounded over the rooftops, staves in hand. The Seelie weaselkin turned from where they were bombarding us to react to this new threat but they were too late, as wood slammed into them with bone-crushing force. The squeals of the dying weasels rang out, shortly before they burst into ether, which I absorbed and converted to aether to make sure I was prepared for anything.

“Right, now for the hard bit…” I muttered to myself as my black-furred elites clambered down from the buildings they had just cleared of foes. “…time to attack the park.”

Gathering my weaselkin around me I looked at the open gap before the park. It wasn’t long, but charging without cover against a Kamaitachi… there would certainly be casualties. I just have to really hope there is only one of them. If there are several we are going to be shredded by their wind blasts before we can even reach them…

For a brief moment I considered calling off the assault and waiting until I had built up stronger forces and more defences in my Territory, but I quickly discarded that idea. It was a mistake to assume that the ‘princess’ the other weaselkin had referred to would be stupid enough to attack before she had made adequate preparations herself, thus it would just turn into an arms race, one I wasn’t sure I could win. No, it was best to try and end it here, while I had momentum.

“All forces, attack!” I ordered, brandishing my spear. As they raced forwards, the lesser weaselkin in front, me in the centre and my elites on the flank, attacks started flying towards us. The front two weaselkin were shredded apart in an instant, billowing blades of wind effortlessly slicing them down. Another staggered and fell, struck by slung rocks.

As expected. They are here…

The sickle-weasel was standing on top of a climbing frame, grinning menacingly, long fangs exposed. Around it were gathered a dozen lesser weaselkin, armed with what looked like slings. As I raced forwards and crossed into the park they unleashed more rocks, felling another of my weasels and wounding another. As it turned into ether I tried to absorb it, but only managed to take a portion, as the rest evaporated into the air. I suddenly felt sluggish, my aether slowly leaking from me.

Damn, invading other Territories is hard! It was no wonder I managed to fight off the Seelie weaselkin before, support from a Territory was definitely powerful.

More of my weasels exploded into ether as the wind flensed them. If I didn’t do something now the attack would fail. If the weaselkin weren’t degraded versions they might have already turned to flee. As yet another fell, slain by the slinging weaselkin, I concentrated aether and surged forwards, moving at alarming speed, or at least that was what I tried to do…

I felt aether flow from me, more than it would normally have required, but the speed I achieved, while fast, was barely half of what I had intended. I had leapt free from the pack of my weasels, but instead of reaching my foe and stabbing the spear in I was left exposed a half dozen metres in front of the Kamaitachi. Oh shit. That didn’t go as planned.

The sickle-weasel snickered, fangs glinting in the dark light of the lower Astral. “You were foolish to believe you could defeat me, first servant of our-our princess.”

With that it lashed out with its sickles and wind flew at me, glowing a baleful green. I hurled myself to the side, using some aether to give me a boost, but it was too slow, and the wind sliced into me. I raised the shaft of my spear to block, and it diverted some of the impact, but cold pain flared through me, silvery blood flashing into the air, only to be blown away by the rushing wind.

“Die-die, you vermin!” the sickle-weasel chanted, lashing out with one leg. Scythes of wind rushed at me as I staggered to my feet. The impact shook me, and I coughed blood. However the impact that should have split me in half was endurable, and I used the momentum to throw myself towards the foe. Behind me my other weaselkin had rushed in and were engaging the slingers.

Rolling to my feet I thrust with my spear, driving the sickle-weasel back. It hopped away with a look of anger on its face. “You should be dead-dead. How did… wait, the wind…” It glared at me in shock. I followed its gaze and saw that the wind energy I had absorbed from the previous Kamaitachi I had slain was circling around me. It must have diffused the blow. I guess my Fortune stat kicked in on that one, lucky… I felt sick at just how close I’d come to serious injury, or even death…

“You won’t be so lucky as to escape again-again.” It hissed, preparing to lash out.

“Oh yeah?” I retorted, spear leaving my hand, hurled at short range, guided by aether. It buried itself deep into the arm of the sickle-weasel, causing it to miss with its wind scythes, the blast shredding one of my weasels, as well as the allied weaselkin it was fighting. As it reared back in pain I leapt forwards, unsheathing a club I had tied at my waist that we had gathered from the previous battles. It whistled down, striking the Kamaitachi on its other arm which it used to hastily block. I felt the impact spread through my own arms, and it squawked in surprise, spittle drenching me.

It lashed out with a foot claw, but I saw it coming and swung away, dodging the blast that tore up the ground, sending earth flying everywhere. Another blow lashed into it as it hopped away.

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“I’ll kill-kill you!” it raged, causing me to smile.

“No you won’t.” I merely said, as suddenly a pair of my black-furred Elites broke through and hammered it with their long staves. The sound of crunching bone could be heard as it fell limp to the ground, silver and red blood pooling underneath it.

Sorry, but my plan to buy time for my weaselkin to mop up the enemy and reinforce me was a success. Around me I could see that the other enemies had been defeated. All that was left was for me to finish this foe. I strode over and yanked my spear out, ignoring its glare as I thrust downwards and dispersed it into a glowing host of ether, of which I collected all I could to replenish myself. In addition more green wind energy swirled around me, drawn from the fallen Kamaitachi.

Looking around I had lost a dozen of my lesser weaselkin, about half of my numbers, but all of the Elites were still there. As time passed my Spawning Spire would top up the numbers, but I couldn’t count on getting more than one or two more before the battle was over. I would have to deploy my forces more carefully. Still, I had now entered the park and defeated the biggest obstacle so far, so there was a chance of victory.

“Gather the slings and suitable rocks.” I ordered some of my troops. The extra ranged attacks would be useful. Against a Kamaitachi we would just be slaughtered, but against ordinary weaselkin every foe we could drop at range was a huge help.

Ordering a couple of weaselkin to take point, we advanced in formation, me just behind the front-runners, a cluster of black-furred Elites around me. As we approached the climbing frame I could see what looked like a tunnel heading into the ground, the entrance dark and foreboding, the edges shimmering with a green glow that somehow shed no light on the interior. As I approached it I could feel the rate of drain of my aether slowly increasing. I guess this is where their princess lurks. If she is stronger than a sickle-weasel this will be one hell of a fight…

Swallowing down my fears I followed my weasels into the darkness. There was a strange sensation in the base of my stomach, near where my White Cord and Chakra node was, a weird hollow wrench, and then I was in a long earthen corridor, the walls lit by faintly glowing orbs of green and purple. As I passed the green orbs faint flickers of light pulled off them, joining the green swirls around me, dimming the orbs slightly. I had little time to ponder what this meant however, as from up ahead a mob of weaselkin armed with crude spears and rusted knives had appeared, led by a huge black-furred weasel carrying a heavy looking axe, the crescent moon of the blade glinting menacingly.

“Kill-kill all who invades the home of our princess!” it bellowed, brandishing the axe with a flourish. Before it could charge I gestured, and my weaselkin began slinging with their stones, and the couple that had bows loosed a few arrows. They weren’t skilled, the arrows missing the lead weaselkin, though one did strike down one behind him, piercing its throat, but luckily the cave was narrow, so many of the rocks did strike home. One hit him right in the skull, staggering him, and I used that opportunity to lead the charge. I barrelled into the huge foe before he could regain his senses, my spear gouging deep, and he burst apart in a short-lived flurry of ether, which was absorbed into the air. My spear swung, and it bit into another weaselkin, causing it to stagger, before one of my own slew it with a blow from its stave.

“Damn…” I said in between gasps for breath as the weight of our charge pushed back the enemy, our larger black-furred Elites overpowering the smaller, weaker enemies that barred our path. “I should be playing this like an RTS, but all I do is run around like an action RPG…” It was frightening yet exhilarating, and I now understood why people enjoyed theme parks, what with their scary rollercoasters and stuff. Maybe I’ll take my sis to a park when I go home over the summer, though that would probably mean going to the city… oh wait, no time for getting distracted. Besides, I’ve thought stuff like this before… Claws raked at my face and I barely swung back to avoid it, knowing I’d have been stabbed if I hadn’t trained my body hard these last few days. I lashed out with a kick and felt bone give under the blow. Damn, being strong is addictive. It’s like levelling up and grinding stats, just with real life progress to show for it. Damn, is this how normies feel when they go to the gym or do sports? I was getting distracted again by silly thoughts and barely avoided a biting mouth. Cracking down with the shaft of my spear I dropped the foe, stepping over it as my other weasels finished it.

The battle was soon over, with our overwhelming victory. I was feeling exhausted so had to convert more of my ether stock to aether. Unfortunately I had barely gained any from the battle, despite crushing the weaselkin in front of me. Unfortunately, the bigger problem was that my mind kept wandering in battle. Sooner or later that was going to cost me. I guess I don’t have the warrior instinct. Maybe doing some sort of martial art in a proper dojo would help me with that…? Damn, getting distracted again. I need to focus…

Clutching my spear tightly, I martialled my troops and continued my exploration. There were several more skirmishes fought against enemy weaselkin, but all ended in our victory. The last skirmish cost us a few of my weaselkin as well as one of my Elites, as it was an ambush where they had dug some pits and lined them with wooden stakes, as well as hiding in a hollow wall, but luckily with my aid and our superior numbers we prevailed. After this we advanced more cautiously, and fortunately were bolstered by the arrival of another couple of weaselkin who had made it here after being spawned by my spawning spire. It took some time, but eventually we came across a wide open cavern, brightly lit by green and purple orbs, in the centre of which was a small, blond-furred weasel, surrounded by swirls of green energy and dozens of faintly glowing balls of rippling, nearly invisible transparent light, seated on a large wooden chair, somewhat reminiscent of a plain throne. Beside her was a pair of large black-furred weasels, and another Kamaitachi.

I guess this is the princess then? The blond weaselkin looked more feminine than the others, with a leaner body and a softer face.

As if to answer me the weasel lifted a glass from the small table beside her chair and took a long swig from the contents. As she placed the glass back down she glared at me and spat out bitter words.

“Welcome, uninvited guests. You must-must forgive me for not-not being happy to see you.” she scowled, her pale amber eyes hard. “You have killed many-many of my kin, proud members of the Seelie Court, servants of me of noble blood. I must-must applaud your bravery, even as I lament your deeds. But this ends now-now, you and all the abominations, soulless husks-husks you have brought with you shall perish here and now-now, and my kin shall return reborn, knowing we have slain-slain you vile interlopers.”

“Well, I’m sorry for your losses.” I said, feeling a twinge of sadness at the obvious pain she was feeling. “However you started it by attacking my Territory first. But I don’t see why this has to end with one side dying. Couldn’t we come to some sort of alliance, or even just a ceasefire? We could respect each other’s Territories?”

“Insolence!” roared the Kamaitachi, but he was stopped by a raised paw from the princess.

“You would expect me, a daughter of the most-most noble Prince Shaetanao of the Seelie Court, to accept an alliance with someone so base-base? Your madness astounds even-even me. Were it not-not for the fight against that oaf Grulgor and his Trolls, plus-plus the stalemate against the Raven Knight, we would have swept-swept your Territory to ashes and dealt with you long-long ago.”

“I see.” Looks like there won’t be an easy outcome here, unlike with the kobolds. “So, we have no recourse but to fight then?”

“Indeed, my royal blood will not-not accept deals with weaklings and soulless monsters. Let death decide it.”

At her words both sides leapt into action. Blades of wind flew at us from the Kamaitachi, and several of my troops fell, blown apart. A hail of sling-stones and arrows flew at the princess, but with a gesture of her paw she deflected them with a swirling green tornado of wind that surrounded her. Her two black-furred guards rushed out to meet my charging weasels, and a clash occurred. One of them fell, head cloven in two by the wicked axe my own weasel was wielding now, but the other pushed through, rusted blade slaying one of my Elites in return. I engaged, and the foe was quickly slain. Wind whipped past me, the blade not only sharp but seeming to vibrate in the air, generating a low hum that made my bones itch, and the weaselkin holding the axe parted, sheared clean in half, falling to dissipate into ether. Pain flared through me, and silvery blood welled out from numerous small wounds across my arm and flank, as though it had been poked full of numerous small holes.

The last Kamaitachi was being swarmed by what remained of my non-elite weaselkin, slings abandoned as no projectiles could penetrate the vortex of wind the princess was casting. It was cutting them down one after the other, and as I watched the princess unleashed her vortex, using it as a weapon, ripping three apart in an instant.

Damn, she’s good. If only I could use the wind like that… I could try and simulate it with aether, but I wasn’t confident I could maintain the image or the concentration, especially in someone else’s Territory, with the constant drain on my resources. However, if I didn’t do something soon it was going to be just me against the two of them, and then I would only have the choice of retreating, or staying to die…

Time to do or die then… I converted my remaining ether into aether, energy flowing through me, overcoming the drain, and decided on my next move. The princess was supporting her sickle-weasel, wind branching out into what looked like snarling weasel-heads of green energy, rending into my remaining forces. Several branches of this swept out towards me, devouring one of the weasels behind me as I leapt out of the way.

Time to throw the dice. If it doesn’t work I’ll run as fast as I can back to my Territory and hunker down there. With only the two of them left they won’t be able to break my defences… probably… The princess had an impressively fine control of the wind, to say the least, so I couldn’t be sure she couldn’t outrange my sniper turret.

With all my strength I flung my spear desperately at the weasel princess, using aether to keep it level, flying forwards towards her heart with accelerated force. Aether is leaving me fast, but if I can land a hit then I could still turn this around... at the sudden look of triumph in her eyes my heart clenched.

“Foolish-foolish mortal male. You think I was not-not waiting for you to abandon your weapon? Without its potent edge you will have no-no defence against my wrath.” With that her whirlwind armour formed again, stronger than before, jade weasel-heads swirling as if to devour my oncoming attack. The wind whips that were attacking us also multiplied, a dozen racing towards me.

“Shit…” I cursed, but I had expected some sort of counter, though this was more ferocious than I anticipated. One of my remaining Elites stepped in front of me, taking the brunt of the shredding winds, blasted apart to fragments, but even so I was mauled, my leg dragging and my left arm useless. Oh shit, there goes my plan to run away. I’d have thought that one blocker would be enough…

As the sickle-weasel, who was covered in blood from several injuries, was dispatching the last of my ordinary degraded weaselkin, he smirked. “Death to all-all who defy the princess.”

My spear was reaching the edge of the cyclone, and would no doubt be blocked or thrown off course. I only had two remaining Elites, one of which was charging the Kamaitachi, weeping gore from one missing arm, the other standing guard beside me with the axe it had retrieved from its slain brethren. It looked as though I was about to lose, the situation grim…

Just as planned… I thought with a wry grin. It wasn’t quite as I planned, the stakes were higher and the risk obscene, but I still had my chance. As the spear reached the edge of the wind barrier, the tip starting to deflect, I channelled my remaining aether all in one go, willing the image in my mind to become reality. I could feel my Chakra nodes freezing, my White Cord humming painfully, as I struggled to pull in what I could from this hostile Territory. It was then the spear vanished.

Form the thought. Hold the thought. Will the thought. The thought is… reality! As the dregs of my aether were consumed I felt a great weakness spread through me, my consciousness starting to fade. If I dropped out of the Astral here it was over, so I steeled my will and drew in what little aether I could through my straining cord and nodes.

The princess opened her eyes shockingly wide as the spear disappeared, and she turned to her Kamaitachi, her mouth going equally wide to speak, confused. Time seemed to slow down, everything moving for me in slow motion, and I willed the spear to reappear, which it did, inside the whirling wall of wind, having somehow moved through the intervening space.

One strike to the heart and she’ll fall. As the Kamaitachi turned to throw wind out to defend his princess the dying black weaselkin who was fighting him grabbed on with his one arm and bit down on his shoulder, halting him. As the spear flashed towards her heart my remaining weasel moved forwards, axe raised, ready to kill the immobilised sickle-weasel.

I win. The thought flashed through my dull mind. Yet a twinge of guilt was flickering. Killing a woman, even one such as the princess, didn’t sit well with me. Damn, I’m one of those beta Japanese protagonists that everyone hates… With an act of will I changed the trajectory of the spear slightly, so instead of piercing the heart it slammed into her side. Or was it even going to hit her heart anyway? It seemed a little off-target. No, that doesn't matter. It was going to be a strike that could quite easily have been fatal... She went flying backwards, a bark of pain leaving her, and she landed on her back, blood staining the floor, spear sticking up from her like a mast.

“No-no, princess!” the Kamaitachi screamed. At that moment my other weasel caught up to him, axe raised, pointed at his head.

“You shall surely die-die for this.” The princess snarled, blood foaming on her lips and dyeing the amber fur of her face crimson, trying to lever up her bleeding body but failing, her limbs without strength. “My father is a Prince of the Seelie; he will not-not rest until my killer-killer is slain.”

“I dare say that’s true.” I muttered weakly. The green energy around me was being slowly drawn into me by my White Cord. I was unable to use it, but it seemed to be staving off my return to the Material. I walked over to the struggling princess and grasped the spear. The Kamaitachi tensed, ready to attack, even knowing the moment it did my black weaselkin would decapitate it. Despite that I made no move to strike further.

“On the other hand, I’ve proved I’m not weak, have I not? Why not join hands with me, and we can walk away from this bad ending?”

“Bah.” The princess scowled. “I, the daughter of the noble Seelie Prince Shaetanao would rather accept death than slavery. I can join my kin-kin and know that you will be tormented by my father until the end-end of your days.”

“I’m not offering slavery. We can work together. You did say you had enemies, such as that Troll… Grue, or whatever you said his name was? We could claim this whole area as our own.” The more I suggested it the more I warmed to the idea. If I had an alliance with her I could create real weaselkin from a Barracks, and she and her Kamaitachi would be a devastating asset in both defending our Territory and in offence. Besides, killing her didn’t sit well with me, beta hypocrite that it made me.

The princess turned her gaze to her Kamaitachi, who was trembling in rage, but with the cold edge of the axe against his neck could do nothing. He opened his mouth and spoke a few words, beads of blood trickling down his neck where the axe nicked it. “If… if princess can survive without shame, we would wish-wish you to live on, and one day take your place at the top-top of the Seelie Court, as is your right.”

The princess sighed, arms and legs limp. Blood was still leaking from her, though the flow was slowing. For a long moment she was silent, and I feared she had died, but then she spoke quietly.

“Defeated by my own arrogance once-once again it seems. I am a very slow learner. I looked down-down on you and I was bested, shaming my father and our proud Seelie kin. Very well-well. I will serve under you, should you meet-meet my conditions.”

I was thinking a partnership, but serving under me is even better. “All right then. I can do that. What are your requests?”

“I have three, as three is the sacred number of the Seelie. Firstly you shall-shall rid yourself of those soulless copies of my kin-kin. Even looking upon them turns my stomach. Secondly, you shall help me regain my fallen kin. And third-third, if you do not-not treat me or my kin with respect, I shall rise-rise against you and you will feel my wrath.”

“I’m not sure how to help you regain your kin, but if you can tell me how I’ll do my best. The other two are easy; I’ll dismiss the degraded weaselkin when we are done here. As for the third, it goes without saying. I’ll never mistreat my friends, and together we can be greater than we were apart!” Time to roll out all the anime clichés about the power of friendship and defeat equals friendship.

“Your path to the top of the Seelie world doesn’t end here, no, this will launch you onwards to greater heights, you will see!”

The princess closed her eyes and let out a long breath. With that she dragged her paw through the gore spreading beneath her and reached out. I offered her my hand and she took it, her blood staining me.

“I am Shaeula, daughter of Shaetanao, princess in direct line of Seelie royalty. On this day I make three pledges. I pledge I shall serve you as long as my three boons remain unbroken. I pledge I shall support you in your endeavours, so long as they do not-not go against my Seelie will, and I pledge that one day I shall use your aid to reach the throne of the Seelie.”

At that warmth flared through me, starting from where her gore-stained hand touched mine, and soon it spread through me, driving away the pull of the Material plane.

You have gained in strength. Your Level has increased from Seven to Eight.

You have joined in compact with a Noble Fae from the Seelie Court. Your Fortune, Majesty and Charm have increased.

You have gained a Class. You are now a Fae-Bonded.

Shaeula has conceded her Territory and its Ether to you. You have gained…

As silver letters scrolled across my vision several things stood out, but the most interesting thing was… a Class?