(II) Monstrosity

134 (II)Monstrosity

Uva glared alongside Shiv until the last part. Then her expression turned into one of unease. “Shiv, why—Don’t tell the god to strike us down inside his own domain.”

“He won’t,” Shiv said with a slight sneer. “For the same reason I didn’t kill Whisper earlier. Because it would show a lack of power over him in some way. Perhaps that would hurt you more than an actual wound, wouldn’t it, Challenger? To betray yourself by doing what someone else wanted you to do.”

Psychology 24 > 25

And with a final hum of amusement, the thundering presence of the Challenger receded and faded from the sky, leaving Shiv alone. Alone in the Tutorial. Alone with the orcs.

“Bloody hells,” Adam breathed as his eyes gleamed bright with mana. His Righteous Dawn Prevails burned bright behind him, shrouding him in light. Between that, his bow, and his diamond wings, he looked like a divine avenger. Unfortunately, his expression was that of a terrified rookie. “Shiv, do you think—”

“The asshole’s talking about Lord Scorn,” Shiv said without hesitation. “Because of course he is. Because all this is just a thing of amusement for him. You’re going to be dealing with the Vultegs again, Adam. And probably soon.”

Adam nodded uneasily. Then he froze. “What do you mean am?”

“The Challenger hasn’t told Scorn my name. He just knows me as the Corpse Shedder. That could be anyone. It’s probably a rogue Necrotech or something, from the looks of it. But you, the illustrious Adam Arrow—”

“Oh, that big godsdamned bastard,” Adam snarled. “Why? Why would he do this?”

“Well,” Shiv said. “If I was a completely amoral bastard, I would probably do it for entertainment alone. But also, he probably finds it funny, wants me to focus on him and his orcs, and maybe if you get killed fighting the Vultegs, I’ll end up leading an orcish army into Vulketh in another war or something. The opportunities for strife are countless, and the Challenger’s just the kind of clever, cruel shit to capitalize on each and every opportunity.”

The Gate Lord blinked. “Oh, Ascendants.”

“Yeah,” Shiv agreed.

Psychology 25 > 26

Uva took all that in and frowned. Her eyes went from Shiv to the few million orcs all around them as she sighed. “What are we going to do with them?”

Shiv watched the orcs, and they watched him back. He studied the curiosity in their eyes, their breaths misting the air, and the weapons and mana that lit their bodies. He also noted how he was the only one they were looking at. No one else from his group was of any consequence to the orcs. They came here because he committed a massacre on the Vultegs and was about to lead them into another.

Awareness 20 > 21

“I don’t think you guys are supposed to do anything with the orcs,” Shiv said. “That’s going to be me. I’ll interface with them. I’ll talk to them. I’ll handle everything about them. You guys focus on designating objectives, keeping the gate stable, and ensuring everything is fine on the other side. I’m moving Courtney here and setting up beside the gateway.”

“What?” Adam said. “Are you—”

“It’s his best way of protecting the rest of you,” Whisper said, grinning at Adam. “He will serve as gatekeeper and Insul. And so long as he is here, we will not wander overmuch to your space, threatening your people or ruining your lives.”

A shudder of worry came from Uva. Shiv looked at her—and winced as he noticed a fear-chain connecting her to him as well. He didn’t like seeing that. She was afraid of him too. Everyone was.

Shiv thought.

“I believe this to be a wise, if unfortunate, choice,” Valor said. “We have confronted the Challenger, and I do not think he will attempt to betray us directly. But the gate is still in danger. Everyone is when there is an orc nearby.”

Mortar studied Valor. “Hey. Bones. You’re a Legend, right? How much fight do you reckon you can put up right now—”

Shiv seized the tendril of fear connecting him to Mortar. He pulled hard with his gravitic field. The orc was ripped off his feet. But halfway through, the tendril snapped—and immediately began to reform. In the same moment, Shiv brought Mortar down as a blunt weapon on Band. The larger orc slammed hard against the violinist. Band’s already ruined body let out a series of ear-piercing crunches. Mortar groaned as he was brought down time and time again.

Laughter and cheers erupted from the orcs below. But with that came something else—. Fear that made Shiv stronger, faster, more magically potent. As he dropped Mortar on Band a final time, he flung the massive orc off into the distance as he looked down at the bloody smear that was Band. The dying orc gurgled and wheezed. Shiv cast his Psychomancy into the orc’s mind.

Philosophy 9 > 10

And across the link, Band managed a final, disbelieving laugh.

Shiv’s right eye twitched. He brought his boot down on Band’s skull. A resounding crack was accompanied by a burst of force. Adam looked away. Uva used her shield to ward off the shockwave. Both Valor and Can Hu were driven back, but Shiv didn’t care. His insides burned with ice-cold fire.

Around his right foot was a smear of blood and pasted flesh. “Alright,” Shiv said, turning to face the orcs again. He drew in a breath and wondered what he was going to say. He stopped wondering a second later as honesty took hold and his instincts sharpened. They came to fight a war, and he was going to sell it to them. “You’re here for blood, aren’t you?”

the orcs below raved with joy and shared glee. They weren’t like a human army driven to passionate fervor, trying to amp themselves up. No. They were like patrons at a bar, preparing to break into song.

“Good. I got a war for you. A one. I don’t know what you usually do at Lone Star, but I bet you won’t get to kill a Necrotech Legend there.”

Several orcs began to salivate outright.

“Vicar Sullain!” Shiv shouted. “That’s who we’re gonna kill by the end of this. That’s whose skull I want. And you’re going to help me get him. Him. His Necrotechs. Compact. The First Blood. And the rogue Republic Inquisitors who are coming to our gate.” Shiv let out a breath as he gave the orcs a moment to digest the words. “But they don’t know about you. And they don’t know they’re coming to !”

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A joyous chorus of cheers rose across the land and beyond the horizon. Orcs slammed their weapons together. He wasn’t sure how they all heard him. Probably a courtesy of the Challenger.

Skill Gained: Rhetoric 1 (Common)

Leadership 1 > 4

“Where the hells did this come from?” Adam whispered. He looked at Shiv with undisguised astonishment.

“The gut,” Shiv grunted in reply. He raised his voice again. “And it’s the truth. We got problems on all sides! But I think that’s going to need to change. I don’t want to have problems. I want to . We’ve been reacting and trying to keep up. Well. We’re done with that. No more keeping up now that you violent shits are here. I need firestarters. I need butchers. I need monsters. Because we’re going to be fighting monsters. And—and—”

Shiv’s mind went blank as he turned to Adam and Uva for advice.

The Psychomancer winced and made a sideways cutting motion with her hand. “I don’t know—public speaking unnerves me.”

“” Adam suggested. “Wait, no. ”

Shiv turned back to the orcs. “And I want to show them who the real monsters are!”

“Almost fucked it up,” an orc at the very front heckled.

Shiv snorted, found the orc’s fear-chain, and pulled him off his feet. As the orc sailed through the air, Shiv flung Band’s remains at him. The corpse and the offending orc both burst apart in mid-air as they struck each other.

Shiv snorted.

“Feedback received,” Shiv declared. “Anyone else got advice for me?”

Roaring laughter washed through the orcs. But a few looked at him with expressions of careful consideration. Shiv regarded those orcs. And then he went a step further.

“First. I wanna get a feel for what you can do. I’m guessing you’re all blooded warriors. You know how this war shit works?”

A unified roar of agreement and rattling of weapons came from the orcs. Magical fireworks went off at a few places. Shiv let out a breath. “Alright. That’s good at least. Then, I want you sorted across the Tiers. And I want to see the Heroes right here. On this here mountain. Masters, get yourselves together behind them. Adepts, Initiates, Commons, make yourselves neat and tidy.”

Some of the orcs booed and gave him a thumbs down. “He needs help sorting us. Bah! Insul’s human after all. Always organizing this and arranging that.”

“Yeah,” Shiv shouted back. “I’m trying to figure out which of you I intend to send at the vampires, which of you to use on the Inquisition, and which of you I’ll unleash on the Necrotechs. But congratulations, dumbshit, you just volunteered for guard duty here while you’re friends have fun.”

The complaining orc let out a loud cry of dismay as the other brutes around them jeered and pushed him around for his stupidity.

“Shiv,” Adam asked, his body extremely still. “What are you planning?”

“I'll sort them into groups first. Maybe try to figure out a command structure. You know more about that than I do. Hells, probably know a lot more about that than I do. But we got an opportunity now. To open a way to Blackedge. To sabotage and raid the First Blood. To intercept the Inquisition’s coming forces. We have the manpower now. I just… I need to have them focused on someone or something that isn’t us. And we’re going to spend them. Spend their lives. Spend their skills.”

Shiv stared hard at the Gate Lord. “And I need you to figure something out with Null Mont. Maybe move the obsidian tower too. You’re going to need constant patrols around this place. More defenses. We’re going to need a way to connect the Tutorial Gateway to the surface directly or something. Something that won’t let the orcs interact with the people there. I don’t want them having direct access to the gate, or the Umbral wilderness, for that matter. I’ll entertain them for now. But there’s a lot of shit we need to figure out.”

“Would you like a suggestion?” Whisper asked.

“No!” Adam cried.

“Silence,” Uva hissed.

“Sure,” Shiv replied.

His companions stared at him.

“We’re not wasting the orcs,” Shiv said. “They’re here, so I’m going to use them. I’m just not going to trust them. The deaths in the gate were my fault. I needed to watch the orcs closer. I should have always kept them close to me. So I’ll learn from that. But we don’t waste them. We use them. Because they’re going to use us otherwise.”

“You’re getting smart, Deathless,” Mortar coughed. Shiv looked down the mountain, and he saw the orc clambering back up. Half his face was a bruise, Band’s gore painted his torso, and one of his mechanical legs was missing. Even so, he had the largest grin on his face. His expression was that of a boy who had just leaped from his swing. “Getting real good at understanding who we are. What we are.”

“I’m learning,” Shiv muttered in response. “Whisper?”

“We can now do many things at once,” Whisper said. “The First Blood can be raided. Constantly. But understand that any orcs you unleash as marauders will find amusement in whoever they encounter. That means your precious non-combatants will be at constant risk. So. Be mindful. The same goes for the surface.”

As Adam frowned at the orc, Shiv just nodded. “Yeah. I know. Adam. I need a set of objectives. I need maps. I need to give these orcs shit to do.” He paused, then raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I’ve got something to do myself.” He looked down at the orcs. “Hey. Assholes! I need a kitchen!”

For the first time, the orcs just looked up at him, dumbfounded.

Nearby, Tequila started cackling like a hyena.

“You heard me,” Shiv continued. “Kitchen. Skillet big enough to cook a dragon. Cauldrons. Stove. The works. Get to making one. You’re godsdamned monsters, but I’m not letting you kill shit on an empty stomach. You’re going to taste some leviathan tentacle soup.” He huffed. “I’m going to need to bring Courtney over too.” And then something else occurred to him as he noticed the sheer number of orc Biomancers present. Psychomancers as well. “Wait, I might be able to pilot the damned Court Leviathan—Fuck that, I got Practical Metabiology tutors too.”

And suddenly, parts of this whole orc army thing didn’t seem so bad anymore. He still needed to keep the large, gray monsters away from the gate, though.

Uva just stared at Shiv with her jaw slightly open. Can Hu shared her incredulity with a narrowing of its optics. “Pathbearer,” the Penitent began. “Is your solution to all issues just cooking or violence?”

“They’ve worked for me perfectly so far.” He looked to the orcs again. “Also, who here knows how to pilot a Court Leviathan?” A few thousand fists went up. Shiv laughed. “Fuck yeah. Wait! Biomancers! Sort yourselves out into another group. I got some questions for you later. A lot of questions. Have any of you read the

“Everyone’s read that!” one of the orcs called out. “Basic reading material.”

“Pretty funny book,” another orc said.

“I don’t like how much time Ekkihurst spends eating and torturing people,” an orc complained. “It’s pointless. Just kill and get it done.”

Other orcs heckled the speaker, defending Ekkihurst. He cursed back at them. And rather than fighting, what seemed to be a civil forum on the merits of brutal cruelty versus effective inflictions of pain and murder took hold.

Adam shivered. “Shiv. Are you… seriously considering learning Biomancy from them?”

“Why not? It’s going to be a while till I can get back to Cradle. Got no one but the book. And now I got a lot of people. Listen, can you get someone to fly Courtney over? And bring some of the basilisks too? Teleport them across. There’s stuff I want to do.”

The Gate Lord slowly turned to Uva. “Uva. Say something. Say something before he turns into more of a monster.”

“Shiv,” Uva said. “They’re teaching you any Psychomancy. That’s solely my domain.”

Shiv regarded the iron in her eyes and nodded slowly.

An orc laughed. “Afraid we’re gonna steal your nice lay from you, Umb—” One of Uva’s Psychomancy strands whipped out and straightened. The orc let out a loud cry. More laughter followed.

“Look at the dumb bastard twitch,” Shiv yelled. “Everyone, loot his stuff and hide it. See how long it takes for him to find it once he recovers.”

A collective cheer rose at that suggestion.

Adam sighed. “Shiv. Promise me you won’t develop a terminal case ofif you’re going to be spending time with them.”

“Is that a real thing?” Shiv asked.

“No. But since you’re here, it might just become real soon.”