“Form up, Belphegora. As soon as the Fighters begin coming to our aid, we’re going to put all out effort into Linking Jill Yemonto,” I instructed. Easier said than done.
Jill Yemonto was possibly one of, if not the most dangerous, human in Yiwi at the moment. Her leadership qualities which even now empowered the mercenaries was one thing, but did she also have to posses a crazy Ability too? All she had to do was thrust her hand out like some psychic knife and people’s dang limbs got chopped off!
But that was a hurdle we needed to overcome. Because according to Yoho’s memory, she knew where the City Lord was. Toh and the gang had been searching high and low since the fighting began, and there was no sign of the City Lord anywhere.
It was honestly a bit impressive.
Linking someone who knew the City Lord’s whereabouts wasn’t some sort of genius revelation. I had already tried capturing one of his guards for that exact reason, but the results were disappointing, to say the least. The annoying man was so paranoid that only some of his guards apparently knew his hiding spot, and not a single one of those juicy little Minds was apart from him at all.
Hence, the importance of Jill Yemonto’s knowledge. The battle raged on, my swarm continuing to be weakened, little by little. If I were a regular bee with expendable troops, this could already be considered a great victory. What were a few soldiers in exchange for dozens of powerful enemies? Well, unfortunately or fortunately, I was no regular bee.
I could see it. Victory within our grasp. I watched as civilians began to crest the Rotor’s shaft, lifted by a few people using their Minds. The mercenaries paid them no heed, completely distracted by my swarm. If there was one thing a swarm was good at, it was freaking people the fuck out.
Of course, not every mercenary was a complete dunderhead.
Jill Yemonto herself was the first to notice the militia slowly coming to this side of Rotor, and she smiled. Oh, yeah! She still thinks they’re coming to help her! Ha!
I jumped for joy as I saw other mercs react similarly. Yelah looked relieved, and most of them seemed either happy or haughty, depending on what they thought of their former enemies. They fully expected their fellow humans to be coming to their aid, finally seeing sense and joining the side of humanity.
Boy, were they in for a surprise.
“We will Fight!” the civilians shouted in unison, charging at the befuddled mercenaries as soon as they landed on the ground. If things were chaotic before, then this was an absolute clusterfuck.
“Now, troops! Our target: Jill Yemonto!”
The tide of battle turned again, this time even more sharply. The mercenaries, who had been fully focused on beating back the swarm of bees, found themselves being assaulted on their weaker underbelly. Mercs who fought in the rear, sniping or supporting, were unprepared to be up close and personal with enemy blades. The distraction affected the front lines too, who had to pivot and react to a storm of stingers and bullets.
The civilians ended up being a catalyst of doom. With the pressure relieved, Belial turned his focus fully towards the white-clad mercenary who had an explosion Ability. In an instant, he descended on the momentarily distracted man, using his oft neglected stinger to blast a hole through the merc’s stomach.
I had somehow forgotten how physically strong Belial actually was, thinking back to that little scuffle he had with the monstrous Beelzebub. Well, here was the proof. The explodey man groaned and collapsed, bleeding profusely. With that out of the way, Belial’s attention once again returned to raining hell on the enemy, subtly clearing a path towards our target.
Speaking of our target, Jill Yemonto was not looking happy. She wasn’t using her Ability on the civilians, instead trying to shout at them with a voice amplified by Mind. I couldn’t help but snort at the effort. She may be a convincing talker, but try reasoning with a pack of angry, desperate wolves. Scratch that, try reasoning with an angry, desperate human. Pretty dang tough.
Well, there was also the matter of the civilians having their emotions toyed with, but that was beside the point. Eventually, the Fighters and the swarm had the mercs entirely on the defensive. There was only the matter of the four enemies standing alone in the swarm’s path.
Yelah, Grehn, Vlugh and Dip stood tall and proud, firmly planted between the main forces of the mercenaries and the buzzing swarm. Nobody really paid much them attention, considering everyone’s lives were currently in very much danger, but the four blocked the way valiantly, staring my swarm in the face as a final act of defiance.
How cute.
“You know,” I said, speaking through the mouth of the half dead explodey man. I had Linked him just in case, and Belial had thrown him ‘gently,’ down to the open space. “You guys are a thorn in my side. I was really expecting my next big bad to be something really scary, considering the Vulch. But no. Just you guys. Couldn’t you at least give the City Lord a chance to villainously twirl his mustache at me or something?”
“I’m fine with being your ‘big bad’, as you call it. If that means I’m thwarting your plans even a little, then great. People deserve to be free. If fighting you is what it takes to maintain that freedom, I’ll gladly give my life.”
“Rich. You see who you’re talking to? Maybe not the best example, but this guy sure is more dead than you. How many civilians have you killed, by the way? I haven’t exactly kept count of the number of people dying against your little mercenary army.”
Yelah grimaced. “It wouldn’t be this bad if you weren’t involved. Nothing would. I’ve thought about it long and hard, and I finally realized something.”
As Yelah spoke, she looked at the swarm with pure rage, tears forming in her eyes. “It was because of you. The King sent his stupid knights and caused the Burning because of you. It all makes sense. Why was the City Lord so desperate to investigate the forest? What were they so scared of? How dangerous is something that could destroy the Shroud? It’s always been you, queen bee. Always.”
I paused for a second. Was she right? Maybe. Lots of things lined up. There was just one problem.
“Lots of assumptions there, but there’s something you’re not considering. I don’t goddamn care. Some of that stuff happened before I even got here, not that you would know. And as for the present, well, all I’m trying to do is expand and protect the hive and my bees. It’s not really my fault that the City Lord is some paranoid goofball who sent you guys down to mess with me.”
“Now who’s rich?” Yelah spat. “If you’re forgetting, Beryl attacked us first. We just defended ourselves. And if you’re going to try and justify stealing our freedom, then I just don’t know what to say. A monster like you could never understand humans.”
Oh, pish posh. I understood humans just fine. Hell, I understood them enough to know that their favorite thing to do is talk. In fact, they love it so much that they wouldn’t notice at all when their emotions became inflamed. Inflamed to such a degree that they also didn’t notice a swarm of bees flying over their heads and beginning to rip apart their own allies.
“Justify? Why? Being part of the hive is great for so many reasons. Lots of company, boundless information, and you know someone’s always got your back. Speaking of, I have to go. Nice chatting with you guys again, but you might want to turn around.”
When I finished, I let go of the direct control of the explodey man, leaving him moaning on the ground. At the same time, Yelah’s group spun around, realizing with dread that they had been played. I sat back and watched the path to Jill Yemonto get fully carved away, and there she stood, facing the swarm with a look of indignation. She raised her arm, and I alerted the swarm, but they were already moving with practiced ease.
A thrust of her arm, and Jill Yemonto’s Ability activated, splitting Belphegora in half. Except instead of Belphegora, the victim was one of the warriors.
What the fuck?! I didn’t approve of that strategy. But it was too late. Effective as it was, I couldn’t help but sob at the sight of the brave, nameless warrior slowly fall, killed in an instant. The mercenaries tried to stop the swarm, but even with their reduced numbers, my bees still managed to wade through the sea of mercs to come in direct contact with Jill. She thrust her hand forward a few more times, the result being bees dropping like a different sort of insect until she began to tire, and Bend barreled into her, knocking her down.
The burly bee held on tight as the older woman struggled, straining Bend’s muscular bee arms to the point of bursting. The Linker bee Belphegora was holding shot towards the woman like a bullet of its own, but of course nothing could just be easy.
Jill was a freak. Her Ability was strong, but that came from a powerful Mind. She burst out of Bend’s stranglehold and swiped at the Linker, knocking it away despite its speed and tiny size. It was still alive, but not in perfect condition anymore.
All of that happened in the middle of the mercenary army, which was being held off by nothing more than Belial’s bullets and the brave efforts of the swarm. And maybe a few civilian distractions, too. As for Jill, nothing seemed to get past her. She weakly thrust her hand towards Bend and I screamed. But all that happened was a ghastly gash appearing on his abdomen. He was alive, but probably wouldn’t be able to keep fighting so hard. When Jill launched that attack, Belphegora tried tossing the Linker again, but Jill once again swept the tiny bee aside.
Well. She batted away one of the Linkers.
In her weakened state, Jill hadn’t noticed the second Linker slowly moving towards her with its own power. Without the help of anyone else’s Mind, the Linker gently placed itself upon her nape and stung, finally bringing the monster woman under my control.
And with Jill Yemonto assimilated into the hive, I knew. The end of the battle was in sight.
_________
Toh sprinted through the streets of Yiwi, ignoring the surrounding people. Currently, he and his team were moving around the west side, closer to the slums. Even here they had searched, and yet they hadn’t achieved their goal.
Outside of the city center, the fighting had all but stopped already. Even here, on the side of the city opposite of where the Rotor had fallen, the people were just too shocked, simply too surprised to do anything but rest. Mercenaries and militia alike just sat, crying or staring. Some resilient souls went around helping people, encouraging them and helping the wounded. He made a note of them; those were the types of strong people the city would need when the fighting officially ended.
He and his team had been scouring the city in search of the Lord, but found no trace of the man. Had he left the city? Perhaps, but it was still somewhat unlikely. The gates of the city were completely sealed, and the scouts had said nothing about them opening.
Of course, not believing that the paranoid City Lord of Yiwi had some escape route that didn’t involve the gates was simply wishful thinking.
“Boss, where are we even going? We’ve been looking for hours. Maybe-“
Before his teammate could continue, the whole group of twenty paused. Out of nowhere, they received an exact location. The City Lord’s hiding place. Those motherfucking bees found him somehow. Wild!
Toh pondered as he signaled, moving with his team towards the hiding place. Towards a location that was surprisingly close by.
Once they arrived, they stared. What sort of hiding place was this? A house similar to the ones surrounding it sat unassuming in the middle of the industrial zone of the city. The northwest was a place of factories and condensed housing, so Toh supposed it made sense as an unexpected location. But kicking down the door revealed that it was a house no different from the rest, besides being entirely empty and abandoned. And even that wasn’t unusual here.
Toh and team spread out, searching the house diligently. They called it a simple house, but the whole building was furnished in a way that clearly indicated closely packed, shared living. Finding no sign of the City Lord, Toh consulted his Queen.
“We’re not finding anything here, boss Queen. You sure the info’s good?”
“Hold tight, Toh. A pro is on the way.”
Not long after that declaration, a small bee shot in through the window, shouting and making loops in the air.
“Hey ho, Toh! Ben here, looker pro! I’ll find that City… uh… Loh? No problemo!”
Toh sighed but waved at the bee. Ben was quite the character, but he couldn’t discount the bee’s skills. His eyesight was insane, and when Ben had once tried sharing it with him, the images had overwhelmed Toh’s senses. He had no idea how the bee managed it all.
Well, the ultra-powerful mental processing of a 10th Degree Mind directly supporting him probably helped.
With Ben’s help, the mercenaries once again searched the house. This time, they found something strange. One of the padded sleeping cots on the ground floor, in Ben’s words, ‘looks like when momalolo pukes eggs.’ Inspecting it more closely, Toh felt the faintest trace of Mind. Either the cot itself had been created with an Ability, or an Ability had been used on it. With some fiddling from Toh and his most adept Mind-users, eventually, something gave.
The cot twitched, bending and twisting until it sank into the ground and slowly became flush with the stone. A metal door appeared in place of the cot, and the group knew they had hit a jackpot. Jackcot? Not wasting a moment, they opened the heavy metallic hatch and heard a voice inside. A voice that was very welcome to their ears.
The voice of the City Lord shouting at someone.
“Form up, Belphegora. As soon as the Fighters begin coming to our aid, we’re going to put all out effort into Linking Jill Yemonto,” I instructed. Easier said than done.
Jill Yemonto was possibly one of, if not the most dangerous, human in Yiwi at the moment. Her leadership qualities which even now empowered the mercenaries was one thing, but did she also have to posses a crazy Ability too? All she had to do was thrust her hand out like some psychic knife and people’s dang limbs got chopped off!
But that was a hurdle we needed to overcome. Because according to Yoho’s memory, she knew where the City Lord was. Toh and the gang had been searching high and low since the fighting began, and there was no sign of the City Lord anywhere.
It was honestly a bit impressive.
Linking someone who knew the City Lord’s whereabouts wasn’t some sort of genius revelation. I had already tried capturing one of his guards for that exact reason, but the results were disappointing, to say the least. The annoying man was so paranoid that only some of his guards apparently knew his hiding spot, and not a single one of those juicy little Minds was apart from him at all.
Hence, the importance of Jill Yemonto’s knowledge. The battle raged on, my swarm continuing to be weakened, little by little. If I were a regular bee with expendable troops, this could already be considered a great victory. What were a few soldiers in exchange for dozens of powerful enemies? Well, unfortunately or fortunately, I was no regular bee.
I could see it. Victory within our grasp. I watched as civilians began to crest the Rotor’s shaft, lifted by a few people using their Minds. The mercenaries paid them no heed, completely distracted by my swarm. If there was one thing a swarm was good at, it was freaking people the fuck out.
Of course, not every mercenary was a complete dunderhead.
Jill Yemonto herself was the first to notice the militia slowly coming to this side of Rotor, and she smiled. Oh, yeah! She still thinks they’re coming to help her! Ha!
I jumped for joy as I saw other mercs react similarly. Yelah looked relieved, and most of them seemed either happy or haughty, depending on what they thought of their former enemies. They fully expected their fellow humans to be coming to their aid, finally seeing sense and joining the side of humanity.
Boy, were they in for a surprise.
“We will Fight!” the civilians shouted in unison, charging at the befuddled mercenaries as soon as they landed on the ground. If things were chaotic before, then this was an absolute clusterfuck.
“Now, troops! Our target: Jill Yemonto!”
The tide of battle turned again, this time even more sharply. The mercenaries, who had been fully focused on beating back the swarm of bees, found themselves being assaulted on their weaker underbelly. Mercs who fought in the rear, sniping or supporting, were unprepared to be up close and personal with enemy blades. The distraction affected the front lines too, who had to pivot and react to a storm of stingers and bullets.
The civilians ended up being a catalyst of doom. With the pressure relieved, Belial turned his focus fully towards the white-clad mercenary who had an explosion Ability. In an instant, he descended on the momentarily distracted man, using his oft neglected stinger to blast a hole through the merc’s stomach.
I had somehow forgotten how physically strong Belial actually was, thinking back to that little scuffle he had with the monstrous Beelzebub. Well, here was the proof. The explodey man groaned and collapsed, bleeding profusely. With that out of the way, Belial’s attention once again returned to raining hell on the enemy, subtly clearing a path towards our target.
Speaking of our target, Jill Yemonto was not looking happy. She wasn’t using her Ability on the civilians, instead trying to shout at them with a voice amplified by Mind. I couldn’t help but snort at the effort. She may be a convincing talker, but try reasoning with a pack of angry, desperate wolves. Scratch that, try reasoning with an angry, desperate human. Pretty dang tough.
Well, there was also the matter of the civilians having their emotions toyed with, but that was beside the point. Eventually, the Fighters and the swarm had the mercs entirely on the defensive. There was only the matter of the four enemies standing alone in the swarm’s path.
Yelah, Grehn, Vlugh and Dip stood tall and proud, firmly planted between the main forces of the mercenaries and the buzzing swarm. Nobody really paid much them attention, considering everyone’s lives were currently in very much danger, but the four blocked the way valiantly, staring my swarm in the face as a final act of defiance.
How cute.
“You know,” I said, speaking through the mouth of the half dead explodey man. I had Linked him just in case, and Belial had thrown him ‘gently,’ down to the open space. “You guys are a thorn in my side. I was really expecting my next big bad to be something really scary, considering the Vulch. But no. Just you guys. Couldn’t you at least give the City Lord a chance to villainously twirl his mustache at me or something?”
“I’m fine with being your ‘big bad’, as you call it. If that means I’m thwarting your plans even a little, then great. People deserve to be free. If fighting you is what it takes to maintain that freedom, I’ll gladly give my life.”
“Rich. You see who you’re talking to? Maybe not the best example, but this guy sure is more dead than you. How many civilians have you killed, by the way? I haven’t exactly kept count of the number of people dying against your little mercenary army.”
Yelah grimaced. “It wouldn’t be this bad if you weren’t involved. Nothing would. I’ve thought about it long and hard, and I finally realized something.”
As Yelah spoke, she looked at the swarm with pure rage, tears forming in her eyes. “It was because of you. The King sent his stupid knights and caused the Burning because of you. It all makes sense. Why was the City Lord so desperate to investigate the forest? What were they so scared of? How dangerous is something that could destroy the Shroud? It’s always been you, queen bee. Always.”
I paused for a second. Was she right? Maybe. Lots of things lined up. There was just one problem.
“Lots of assumptions there, but there’s something you’re not considering. I don’t goddamn care. Some of that stuff happened before I even got here, not that you would know. And as for the present, well, all I’m trying to do is expand and protect the hive and my bees. It’s not really my fault that the City Lord is some paranoid goofball who sent you guys down to mess with me.”
“Now who’s rich?” Yelah spat. “If you’re forgetting, Beryl attacked us first. We just defended ourselves. And if you’re going to try and justify stealing our freedom, then I just don’t know what to say. A monster like you could never understand humans.”
Oh, pish posh. I understood humans just fine. Hell, I understood them enough to know that their favorite thing to do is talk. In fact, they love it so much that they wouldn’t notice at all when their emotions became inflamed. Inflamed to such a degree that they also didn’t notice a swarm of bees flying over their heads and beginning to rip apart their own allies.
“Justify? Why? Being part of the hive is great for so many reasons. Lots of company, boundless information, and you know someone’s always got your back. Speaking of, I have to go. Nice chatting with you guys again, but you might want to turn around.”
When I finished, I let go of the direct control of the explodey man, leaving him moaning on the ground. At the same time, Yelah’s group spun around, realizing with dread that they had been played. I sat back and watched the path to Jill Yemonto get fully carved away, and there she stood, facing the swarm with a look of indignation. She raised her arm, and I alerted the swarm, but they were already moving with practiced ease.
A thrust of her arm, and Jill Yemonto’s Ability activated, splitting Belphegora in half. Except instead of Belphegora, the victim was one of the warriors.
What the fuck?! I didn’t approve of that strategy. But it was too late. Effective as it was, I couldn’t help but sob at the sight of the brave, nameless warrior slowly fall, killed in an instant. The mercenaries tried to stop the swarm, but even with their reduced numbers, my bees still managed to wade through the sea of mercs to come in direct contact with Jill. She thrust her hand forward a few more times, the result being bees dropping like a different sort of insect until she began to tire, and Bend barreled into her, knocking her down.
The burly bee held on tight as the older woman struggled, straining Bend’s muscular bee arms to the point of bursting. The Linker bee Belphegora was holding shot towards the woman like a bullet of its own, but of course nothing could just be easy.
Jill was a freak. Her Ability was strong, but that came from a powerful Mind. She burst out of Bend’s stranglehold and swiped at the Linker, knocking it away despite its speed and tiny size. It was still alive, but not in perfect condition anymore.
All of that happened in the middle of the mercenary army, which was being held off by nothing more than Belial’s bullets and the brave efforts of the swarm. And maybe a few civilian distractions, too. As for Jill, nothing seemed to get past her. She weakly thrust her hand towards Bend and I screamed. But all that happened was a ghastly gash appearing on his abdomen. He was alive, but probably wouldn’t be able to keep fighting so hard. When Jill launched that attack, Belphegora tried tossing the Linker again, but Jill once again swept the tiny bee aside.
Well. She batted away one of the Linkers.
In her weakened state, Jill hadn’t noticed the second Linker slowly moving towards her with its own power. Without the help of anyone else’s Mind, the Linker gently placed itself upon her nape and stung, finally bringing the monster woman under my control.
And with Jill Yemonto assimilated into the hive, I knew. The end of the battle was in sight.
_________
Toh sprinted through the streets of Yiwi, ignoring the surrounding people. Currently, he and his team were moving around the west side, closer to the slums. Even here they had searched, and yet they hadn’t achieved their goal.
Outside of the city center, the fighting had all but stopped already. Even here, on the side of the city opposite of where the Rotor had fallen, the people were just too shocked, simply too surprised to do anything but rest. Mercenaries and militia alike just sat, crying or staring. Some resilient souls went around helping people, encouraging them and helping the wounded. He made a note of them; those were the types of strong people the city would need when the fighting officially ended.
He and his team had been scouring the city in search of the Lord, but found no trace of the man. Had he left the city? Perhaps, but it was still somewhat unlikely. The gates of the city were completely sealed, and the scouts had said nothing about them opening.
Of course, not believing that the paranoid City Lord of Yiwi had some escape route that didn’t involve the gates was simply wishful thinking.
“Boss, where are we even going? We’ve been looking for hours. Maybe-“
Before his teammate could continue, the whole group of twenty paused. Out of nowhere, they received an exact location. The City Lord’s hiding place. Those motherfucking bees found him somehow. Wild!
Toh pondered as he signaled, moving with his team towards the hiding place. Towards a location that was surprisingly close by.
Once they arrived, they stared. What sort of hiding place was this? A house similar to the ones surrounding it sat unassuming in the middle of the industrial zone of the city. The northwest was a place of factories and condensed housing, so Toh supposed it made sense as an unexpected location. But kicking down the door revealed that it was a house no different from the rest, besides being entirely empty and abandoned. And even that wasn’t unusual here.
Toh and team spread out, searching the house diligently. They called it a simple house, but the whole building was furnished in a way that clearly indicated closely packed, shared living. Finding no sign of the City Lord, Toh consulted his Queen.
“We’re not finding anything here, boss Queen. You sure the info’s good?”
“Hold tight, Toh. A pro is on the way.”
Not long after that declaration, a small bee shot in through the window, shouting and making loops in the air.
“Hey ho, Toh! Ben here, looker pro! I’ll find that City… uh… Loh? No problemo!”
Toh sighed but waved at the bee. Ben was quite the character, but he couldn’t discount the bee’s skills. His eyesight was insane, and when Ben had once tried sharing it with him, the images had overwhelmed Toh’s senses. He had no idea how the bee managed it all.
Well, the ultra-powerful mental processing of a 10th Degree Mind directly supporting him probably helped.
With Ben’s help, the mercenaries once again searched the house. This time, they found something strange. One of the padded sleeping cots on the ground floor, in Ben’s words, ‘looks like when momalolo pukes eggs.’ Inspecting it more closely, Toh felt the faintest trace of Mind. Either the cot itself had been created with an Ability, or an Ability had been used on it. With some fiddling from Toh and his most adept Mind-users, eventually, something gave.
The cot twitched, bending and twisting until it sank into the ground and slowly became flush with the stone. A metal door appeared in place of the cot, and the group knew they had hit a jackpot. Jackcot? Not wasting a moment, they opened the heavy metallic hatch and heard a voice inside. A voice that was very welcome to their ears.
The voice of the City Lord shouting at someone.
