[KoJ] Chapter 90: Ceph's Choice

“Shit. Already? I hoped we had more time.” turning away from Ceph, Albin shouts across the hall to the volan messenger. “What are we dealing with? Any of their top division elites?” before he gets his answer, he turns to the other sapients around him. “Organise the mercenaries. Figure out their counters and sortie.”

“Commander, sir.” The volan landed on the table before him. “There were five squads of Luis-equivalent pushing through our ranks at the Tansol hold. If there are any stronger, they’re waiting for our response.”

“We just got word from three more strongpoints. They are making a push along the entirety of the northern sector. Initial estimates at four battalions and double the typical enhanced compliment.” The speaker turns as someone whispers in his ear. “Make that five now.”

“Shall I send a volan to the central sector?”

“Request reinforcements. To amass such a force, they would have taken from the other sectors.” Albin turns back to the volan. “Inform HQ. See if they can send over any áed. I don’t want to lose any more of our Inner Circle to the Titan-killers.”

As Albin hobbles around, intent on coordinating the response to the attack I saw many minutes in advance, Ceph follows close. “That won’t be enough, and you know it. How can I get them to use the Titan-killer?”

Albin grit his teeth and turned on her. “Are you sure this is the best idea? This could blow up in our faces more than what we already face with the Henosis. At least they have shown they are unwilling to use the Titan-killers on cities. Can you assure me that the same won’t happen?”

“I am confident.” From what I’ve learnt of body language, she certainly doesn’t sound it. “This is the only way we survive.”

“Fine.” Albin sighs. “After weeding out the traitors that fed the Empire mission info, we believe they have taken to using seismic data in conjunction with visual reports to determine the Inner Circle mercenaries’ positions. This is speculation, but those who are careful not to destroy the earth in their movement around the battlefield have found the attacks have been less frequent.”

The injured mercenary leads her to a table with a long piece of paper stretched across it. He points to a part, and it takes me a moment to pick out the ever so slight inclines of ink. This isn’t my first time seeing paper. Many sapients love to inscribe with written language. Unfortunately, it is impossibly difficult to decipher their words after they dry.

Another annoying strength their light-vision has over true-sight.

“If you head out this way, I believe would be your best chance. They don’t enjoy firing on their own army, so by going around and avoiding their offence is far more likely to work. I’m sure you can figure out the rest.”

Ceph nods, eyes flitting around the page that I’m still trying to figure out. The very slight incline of ink seems to travel much further across the page than any other letter I’ve seen before. Even straining my eyes and shifting the direction I look at it doesn’t help. It’s just a bunch of random lines.

“Well then, I hope you don’t mind if I take some explosives.”

“The armoury is open.” Albin slumps into a chair. “Ceph… don’t get killed.”

“I wouldn’t dare. I still have some apologies I need to make.”

Ceph leaves, and I return my focus to my immediate surroundings. I have so many questions. I thought I had enough context, but trying to understand their conversation was difficult. What exactly is it she’s planning? She wants to take part in the war now? After avoiding it so long, why now? What is a Titan-killer? Its name can’t be true.

If these sapients had some way to fell Titans, then they would have never had problems with me. I saw their reaction to some of the creatures I brought back. They’ve never had to face down a Titan. If they had… well, the landscape would be ruined for one. Mostly, they would be far too terrified to label anything as a Titan-killer.

The only thing that can kill a Titan, is another Titan.

That, or the Beyond. But no sapient I’ve met has shown any knowledge of the Beyond. Though it is just as unlikely they have a Titan bothering itself with their lesser territorial dispute. The only answer that makes sense is that the name is a lie. So why call it that?

When Ceph finally leaves the building with an oversized bag slung over her spherical body, I slip down and land on her head. “What is a Titan-killer?”

Ceph freezes, but it’s hardly a deviation from her normal attitude. I know to wait until she gets her thoughts straight. It takes a bit longer than normal — and I question if a little of my presence unintentionally entered my voice — but she eventually answers.

“It’s… it’s one of Henosis’ weapons. Like guns or artillery. We call it that because it causes agony as great as the fear of a Titan.”

Is that right? I guess it makes more sense than something able to kill a Titan.

“Orm… you said you wanted to keep people from unneeded suffering, right?” She waits for my nod before continuing. “Henosis are cruel. They want to use their weapons to make people submit and inflict them with a lifetime of agony. I know I promised to show you the nations, but I am needed here. I intend to distract the attacking army so our soldiers can retreat.”

Ceph adjusts the bag strap so it is tight around herself. “You don’t have to join me in the heart of the warzone, but I would appreciate it.”

“I will.” There’s no reason not to. I doubt I could settle myself with a small warrior-caste ridden town when there was such a large battle happening so close. There’s still so much I need to learn. “Of course.”

I honestly never thought she’d ask. As much as I’ve enjoyed the tour of her homeland, eventually I need to expand my knowledge on how to fight. It’s the entire reason I’m up here. If things had gone on much longer, I might have left her to find the battlefield myself. After Ceph has been so welcoming, doing such a thing would be rude.

Even if Ceph has mostly been a bundle of nerves in the time I’ve known her, it has been enjoyable. I’m certain that without her, nothing would have gone so smoothly. Her presence helped the other sapience become accustomed to me very quickly, despite how… intimidating I can be.

I settle into the comfort of her squishy head, and Ceph dashes off. When, after a minute, I realise we aren’t heading towards the attacking army, but rather to an area almost devoid of life, I ask, “I thought we were trying to distract them?”

Ceph grabs a small brick laden with inscriptions from her bag and throws it behind her. “We are.” An explosion interrupts her as a shockwave kicks up dirt around us. “These,” she gestures the bag, “will let the enemy know that we are here. Henosis won’t be able to send in their strongest nor the Titan-killers with possible threats at the periphery. We don’t have to engage. Just make our presence known.”

I tilt my head at her. The idea seems strange. If she wanted to distract her enemies so that her kin could escape, wouldn’t it be better to use these explosives to nip at the invading force’s flanks? Like that first group of sapients took on a much stronger foe, by striking and fleeing. Then striking again whenever they turned their backs. 

Well, I’m not the expert on sapient fighting, so I just enjoy the ride as she continues to toss exploding bricks every ten seconds.

After a while longer and a quarter of Ceph’s bag emptied, I notice how she grows increasingly nervous. She is unsettled. And that’s for Ceph standards.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

She jumps. It breaks her concentration and she almost trips over herself before she can throw herself forward another hundred metres.

“There’s been no reaction yet. I’m worried that they are ignoring us.” Ceph stops to look around, but I’ve already done that for us.

A dozen more kilometres and we’ll reach the front line. The Henosis there aren’t moving quickly — shifting only a section of their wall forward at a time — while to our north, the we’ve only just passed their attacking line.

“I hate to ask this of you, but to stop them from sending the Titan-killer on thousands of people, we need to make them think there’s more of a threat out this way. Can you revert to your larger form and slam your tail around a bit while continuing the path? I’ll continue as I have, and together, we’ll bring enough attention away from the weak so that they don’t suffer.”

Instead of answering, I slip off her and shift into my much larger size. Not as big as I can get, but enough so that a slam of my tail causes the ground to shake just as much as her explosions.

Something about the way she looks up at me makes me… unsettled. There are emotions in her eyes I’m not entirely familiar with. Something is strange, but I know too little of their culture and how they fight their battles to sink my fangs into what.

“Thank you,” Ceph says, then runs off in her own direction, tossing bombs as she goes.

She is long gone before I start moving myself. It’s been a while since this much of myself has been allowed outside of my personal fabric, so I take a few seconds to stretch before I thump my tail against the ground. Such an act seems pointless. Anyone who would see me would know I’m a threat without needing to make slight tremors to prove it.

Wouldn’t it be better to show them?

If one side is trying to flee, and Henosis is only playing with them — has an ability that intentionally causes pain but not death — then I’m all for playing a part. But, again, I don’t know enough about how these wars are fought to try anything myself. Yet. For now, I’ll do as Ceph said, and continue along our path. Even if I have to stupidly shunt my tail into the earth every now and then.

Slithering forward, I quickly surpass Ceph’s speed. At two metres thick and fifty long, I’m half the size I was when I fought that ice mage, but it is far more than enough to outpace the dohrni even without my distortions. And that’s nothing on my true size.

Nobody can say I fulfilled my guide’s first request to anything but perfection. Instead of those slight crackles Ceph threw behind her, I crash my tail into the earth. Each impact hits harder than the last. As I peal over the land, I leave cracking trail of connected craters in my wake. If Ceph’s enemies don’t feel the quakes in their feet, or hear the cracks through the air, then they won’t miss the cloud of dust rising behind me.

And if even that fails to get their attention… they must be a corpse.

Eventually, I come upon Henosis’ earthen wall. Ceph said to gain their attention, but not whether or not I should move into their territory. Though, with only a thought I come to the answer. What would gain their attention more than invading their land and declaring myself the new apex?

I spring from the earth, and whip my tail down to shatter a section of their wall before continuing on. Anywhere else along the front line, the pact nations might have used the opening to push forward. But here? There were hardly any people at all. Well, compared to the northern part of the front I’d recently been watching. Every now and then, I spot another Henosis’ eyes go wide at me and dive back behind cover.

A few seconds after breaching their wall, I consider if this is far enough. Surely the sight of myself would have been enough of a distraction for whatever they are doing to the north. Hopefully it stops the weak from being trampled as Ceph said.

While I slow to make up my mind, an artillery shell enters my sphere of sight. I would have ignored it, if not for a few oddities. The first, is that it had a trail of fire pushing it forward ever faster. Second, it almost moves quicker than I can. Even at my largest. But the strangest thing of all: Henosis fired on the land they control.

Why?

My question is answered with pain. The shell explodes a hundred metres ahead of me and my senses are overwhelmed. Sound no longer exists. All I can hear is loud, indistinct ringing. My eyes can see, but only with difficulty. The fabric is dense with ripples and destabilised space, but everything that should be there isn’t. The dirt and rock and people have all disappeared. The world has been ripped out from under me.

But none of that matters. All I notice is my scales peeling and insides burning. Agony, like I’ve never felt.

A deep, thunderous hiss thrums through my blistered throat and splits the land. Every fibre of my presence announces my pain and fury.

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