(II) Minions

121 (II) Minions "And this is me accommodating you," Shiv said, glaring down at Wall. The orc then looked at Uva again, and Shiv cast his Vitae into him on impulse. A stream of red and white plunged into the orc's face, and the large orc let out a cry as the strands of Vitae tore his right cheek open. But then a loud blast of magical hues filled the air as Shiv felt his Vitae drill against the orc’s Magical Resistance. That didn’t stop the Deathless. He channeled more. He struck the orc with a laceration spell as well, and Wall’s magical protections burst apart.

But then Shiv pushed deeper than the orc's flesh. He reached into the orc, just as he'd reached into Can Hu earlier. Shiv began to conduct an act of brutal surgery. He pulled at the orc's insides, ripping at his soul and draining his vitality at the same time.

Vitaemancy 56 > 57

Then Shiv launched another stream, connecting Can Hu to the network as well. Vitality flowed from the orc into Shiv, and some of it passed on back to Can Hu. Shiv reached into one of those sections of absence within the Penitent, and he filled them. The orc began to shake and spasm. For the first time, Shiv felt a pulse run through his Dread Aura.

The other orcs looked on in rapt fascination, trying to understand what he was doing. Even so, they didn't intervene. In fact, Mortar seemed delighted that Wall was suffering. The pocket inside Can Hu filled, and Shiv took in a final drink of vitality from Wall. But before he extracted his Vitae stream, he pulled at the fabric of the orc's inner existence, ripping as hard as he could. The effort he spent was immense. He felt like a child trying to break a rope in half, but as he flexed his gravitic field a final time, something finally split.

A cut burst open on the orc's chest, and the orc’s armor shattered as well. A river of blood sprayed out. The orc let out a roar of pain and spasmed on the ground. As he did, Shiv hit him with a Woundeater. It didn't do anything. It returned to Shiv's arm, seeming confused. Shiv hit Wall again and again, but the orc never healed.

"Alright, now that I got your attention, what I just did to your friend here," Shiv said as he kicked Wall with his heel, "is tear his vitality open. That and some other stuff. I really don't know how this power works yet, I'll be honest. You might think that's a good thing. Probably not. Just because I don't know what it does exactly doesn't mean I can't use it to hurt you someplace deep. Now, I managed to cycle a few soul-wounds out of myself earlier, and I thought to myself just now, what if I could make my own soul wounds? Well. Wall," Shiv called out. The orc blinked and stared up at him, seeming intimidated for the first time. "I'm going to stomp your head in in a few seconds. It's not even because you challenged me; it's mostly because I needed to make an example of one of you anyway. And when you do come back, when you wake up, and whatever shithole you reincarnate in, I want you to look down, and I want you to understand the reason why you're still bleeding everywhere is because you couldn't keep yourself under control. Previously, death was just losing all your skills and starting over. Well, you're going to start over as a bit of a cripple. With me, there are consequences, there are consequences you don't walk away from."

Dread Aura 91 > 93

Shiv ripped Wall off the ground using his Biomancy. And as he grabbed the orc by the neck, he pressed down with his other hand, and he pushed with his gravitic field, spiking the roof of the orc's head downward. A loud, sickening squelch followed. The orc's face submerged through his neck, and his entire skull vanished into his torso.

Wall didn't even have a chance to say anything, to declare an apology, or beg for his life. He couldn't even move his limbs. One second he was alive, the next, well, the next he was busy staring at his own lungs. Shiv chucked the massive orc aside as he made eye contact with each of the others.

And he had a feeling that that might not have been the wisest thing to do when he saw just how wide their grins were. No longer were they eyeing him up as easy prey or a potential adversary they could take down now. There was a hint of adoration.

Shiv remembered seeing that in 811's eyes. he thought to himself,

"Well," Tequila said, folding his arms, "I suppose Wall will have a very interesting story to tell when he rises again. But the Tutorial may not be so kind to him now that he always bleeds. It will provoke a feeding frenzy from more than a few of our more cannibalistic brethren."

"Feeding frenzy," Mortar echoed with a chuckle. "Maybe if he gets eaten a couple of times, the dumbass will finally figure out how to slow down and think first before just rushing in." He gave Shiv a brief nod. “Well done, Deathless, that was nice and properly brutal of you." Now the automata-wearing orc clapped his hands together, and the air shook. "Now, where are your siege cannons?"

"My what?" Shiv asked.

"Your siege cannons?" Mortar asked again. "Where are they? I see buildings around us. Where are the cannons? Where is the artillery? There is no fortress without artillery."

"What bloody artillery?" Adam muttered off by the side. "We're barely starting to rebuild this place. And it's a gate. A separate dimension. What are we firing at?"

"Anything we want," Mortar declared.

Whisper shook his head, and he looked upon Wall's corpse with indifference. "Once again, before we were so rudely interrupted, I am Whisper. The big one here is Mortar. Our mage here is Tequila. And our bard is Band. You may use these, or you may call us by our corresponding numbers. 991 for me, 3000 for Mortar, 304 for Tequila, and 111 for Band."

"I'm going to stick with the actual names," Shiv replied. “So…” He looked at the four of them and scoffed. "I guess this makes you a team now. No more bloat.”

Whisper closed his eyes and snorted. Mortar laughed. Both Tequila and Band chuckled. On one hand, Shiv was glad he was such a hit with the orcs. But to be honest, he wasn't sure how he felt about them sharing his fucked up sense of humor. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel_fіre.net

"We are here to assist you in any way you can make us," Whisper said, "and in any way we are willing. Right now, we are yours to...."

"Wonderful. So having you guys is like getting a colony of cats as support rather than a pack of dogs."

"That's not exactly an apt description," Whisper said. "Cats—as you know them in your world—are still too social."

"You assholes do a great job selling yourselves, don't you?"

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"With other humans, I might work to make my words more appropriate and appeal to their tribal psychology. With you, there is no point. You know what we are, and I can see what you are."

"All right, the first thing you can do for me, Whisper, is you can stop insinuating that you understand exactly what I am. One of your brothers thought he got me a few hours ago. He didn't. I had him. And I'm going to repeat this one more time. You touch any one of mine, and I will cripple you. I will cripple you at the soul. I won't kill you. I won't break you for good. No, death is a mercy for some. It might just be nothing. It might be an eternal paradise or hell or whatever, but I can make life an eternal purgatory. I will find a way to break you so bad that you come back without sight, without senses, without limbs. Maybe just you screaming inside of yourself. How is that for an eternity? Sound boring enough to you?”

And with every passing word, his Dread Aura felt more and more feedback from the orcs. It did unnerve them to some extent, but it also amused them.

Shiv whined mentally.

"And that's if Uva doesn't get to you first," Shiv continued. He briefly looked at her, and he caught sight of something in her eyes, a hint of . Well. He had something else to look forward to later. Shiv looked away quickly, however. He didn't want the orcs to pay too much attention to the affection between them. They knew enough already.

"All right," Shiv said, "since you're at my disposal…" His words trailed off as he considered what he could do with four orcs. “What the hell even are your Tiers, anyway?”

“They are all Masters,” Whisper said.

“And ?” Shiv asked, raising an eyebrow.

Whisper just smirked.

Before he could make up his mind, a loud cry came from behind.

"What is ?"

Null Mont's voice was shrill. She skittered over the battlements, and he could feel her fear vibrating within his spirit. "Exalted Guest Shiv," Null Mont said as she climbed down Can Hu’s walls. "Explain yourself. Are those orcs?"

"Yeah," Shiv called back without a hint of embarrassment. "They're not orcs I decided to recruit. They kind of just got given to me. I'm dealing with it right now."

"You are supposed to warn me if..."

Shiv immediately pulled himself over to Null Mont. He got by her side, and he leaned down to speak with her. She flinched away from him as she realized how big he was. Weaveresses were generally a lot taller than pretty much any human, so it had to be especially unnerving for her.

"Exalted guest," Null Mont stammered. "Why are you so large?"

"Basilisk venom," Shiv explained.

“I… What?”

He ignored her confusion.

“Very, very simply, the Challenger decided to give me this group because they're supposed to help me on our missions. Anyway. I'm going to make use of them, but you cannot trust them. Do you understand?"

Null Mont's fangs twitched in confusion.

"Your reaction right now? It's appropriate. I would have the same reaction. But you need to stop being nervous in front of these orcs. I want you to take a look at them."

She did. They were all staring at her. Mortar lifted a massive paw and wiggled the fingers in a taunting wave. “Hmm. Weaveress. Burns pretty good too when hit by incendiaries.”

Shiv stepped between them. "If you give them any chance, any opening, they're going to kill you. They're going to torture you to death and kill you very, very slowly. I have threatened and killed one as an example to the others."

She noticed Wall's dead body, and her eight eyes swiveled between Shiv and the pile of gore.

“Yes. I'm doing what I can, so you need to do what you can right now as well. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she said. "But I—"

"I know, I would have liked to have warned you. I would have liked to be warned myself, but it's not up to us anymore. I need you to help me right now," Shiv said. "I need you to be strong, and I need you to be my eyes too. That's the only way we're making it out of this."

He hooked a hand behind Null Mont's back as he slowly guided her toward the orcs. Her clawed feet started to drag, but she followed along anyway. "I'm thinking about using them against the First Blood."

And slowly, Null Mont looked at him. "You are?"

Shiv nodded. "Cherished Sister Uva and I were about to take an expedition out into the Umbral Wilderness."

She turned to face Uva. "Sister Uva, you will need to clear your actions and whereabouts—”

Shiv gripped Null Mont. "Null Mont. I know. Again, it's very understandable. But things are happening. We're doing our best to protect you. You gotta help us. Don’t make your own life hard.”

Silver Tongue 23 > 24

Psychology 8 > 9

"I—I…" Her voice trailed off.

"Just think about how pleased the Composer will be with you, helping us spearhead this mission to corrupt and damage the First Blood's neighboring patrols and bases. Just think of them as… expendable soldiers." Shiv gestured at the orcs.

"Ah, vampires." Mortar sighed with satisfaction. "I do like bombing vampires. They burn pretty good, and they keep burning, unless you get them in the heart."

Null Mont let out a hesitant squeak, and Shiv continued, exploiting her discomfort. "In fact, I was even planning to invite you along as well. Was just about to do that when the orcs arrived.”

Deception 12 > 13

"Me? Me?" Null Mont stammered. “But—I—”

"Yeah, you, me, Uva, and," he gestured at the orcs, "our new minions are gonna go out into the Umbral Wilderness, do a little hunting, do a little scouting, and I think we're gonna cause a little chaos for the First Blood, and maybe bring back a few prisoners as well to figure out how best to protect ourselves against them."

Null Mont began to make a series of incoherent noises, and Shiv soothingly patted the back of her head. "Don't worry, I have full faith in your bravery. I need to have faith in your bravery, because I can't trust these orcs."

Uva said,blinking.

"Very wise," Whisper replied, a flat smile pulling at his features. “You should heed the Deathless’s words, Weaveress. He has not lied at all about us. Be thankful we’re only interested in him.”

"Shiv," Adam ground out, "can we have a word?"

Shiv regarded Adam and went slightly stiff. "Look, I didn't agree to anything yet."

"It's not about them," Adam said. Then he stared at the orcs as his features contorted in worry. "Though we should talk about that later as well. No, my mother wants to speak to you."

"What?" Shiv asked. This wasn’t what he was expecting at all.

"Yes. I was surprised too. But—”

“No,” Shiv hissed. “We’re not talking about this in front of .”

Adam froze, and he saw the orcs looking in the direction he came from.

"Mother?" Tequila asked. He stared at Adam and sniffed slightly. “Hm. Medical cleaning supplies? Is she sick? Wounded? How unfortunate. Send her my condolences. Or maybe I can greet her myself at some point?”

“Yeah, do that and I’ll be using you as a Vitaemancy sock puppet until the end of time,” Shiv growled. “Adam. Infirmary. Uva. Watch them—break them if they do anything.” Shiv glared at the orcs. “Behave. I’m going to handle some shit.”

“Don’t worry,” Whisper said, his eyes twinkling with delight. “We came here to have a very specific experience. We won’t betray grand delights for lesser pleasures.”