Paulus 5 (Part 2) - A Change of Perspective
My salvation came on horseback. Rosetta's 8th squad charged up from the back of the procession on their mounts, already decoupled from the heavy Beast Pillars they had been pulling. Her gaze landed on me and she gracefully turned her mount, navigating through the panicking crowd without even needing to slow on her way to my side.
"Paulus! What is going on up here? Why is everything in chaos?" She shouted as soon as she drew close enough to be heard over the sound of the crowd and hissing serpents. I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out, leaving me staring at her dumbly. Absently I thought that I was handling this situation worse than I'd expected myself to.
"Uhh, Captain Paulus is deep in thought, Captain Rosetta." Marcus jumped in, "I have just delivered news of the situation at the front. 5th squad is encircled outside the range of the Beast Repelling Array. Last I saw they were being forced away by the snakes."
She glanced between us and frowned sharply.
"Hmph. This is why Oman is just a fifth, and you are a third. Pull yourself together Paulus! Eighth Squad, to me! Form
Kataphrakoti!"
Her mounted squad formed up around her at her cry, each of them weaving through the panicked crowd without so much as needing to slow their mounts. She gestured with her spear towards the head of the procession and as one they moved off, the shadows of
Kataphrakoti already building around them.
"Wait! They'll get torn to bits!"
I was too late to stop her. By the time the words had left my lips the increased speed of
Kataphrakoti had already taken them outside the array and into fray. I swallowed a curse and made to run after them, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me dead.
"Wait captain, look!" Marcus shouted. A look of bewilderment on his face.
Shadowy flesh enveloped the 8th, but it was different than I knew. Instead of ballooning outwards and lifting them it twisted inwards and layered itself over their bodies and that of their...
"Mounts!"
"They're using it as a spell?" I was no stranger to this method of using the clan's formations, I'd done it myself just minutes ago with the
Hoplite but I could never figure out how to do it with
Kataphrakoti and I'd never really considered a mount myself.
The formation built around them, turning their spears to lances and layering each of them in spiritual bronze armour. The horses turned into dark things of roiling shadows, becoming light as air and growing twice as strong. Lines of shadowy qi snapped into existence between mount and rider and between every member of the 8th, reinforcing the weak and sending strength to the front of the formation and as one, they moved.
The cavalry surged across the sands like the shadow of a distant eagle, completely unimpeded by everything between them and their destination. Blazing bronze auras from the tips of their spears-turned-lances parted the tide of snakes like a curtain and what was not immediately destroyed was trampled under shadowy hooves for good measure. Blood and gore followed their every motion and Rosetta led them on a long, winding route around Oman's pinned squadron and in seconds they cut a bloody swathe through the snakes, buying Oman some room to maneuver.
"前进!"
A fresh rain of snakes followed the distant howl and the remaining ones on the ground surged forward as a wall of unified flesh, all pretenses of operating like normal snakes dispensed with. Hundreds of snakes curled together into a fist, raising up in Rosetta's path and striking out in a truly mind bending fashion.
She broke through it.
The
Kataphrakoti kept moving completely unhindered and I could see the 8th squad riders flicking their lances this way and that like children playing with branches. I realized with a start that they were knocking snakes out of the air before they could ride into them, trusting in speed to leave the ones directly above them behind.
More snakey fists rose up ahead of them, grabbing, punching, chopping, even throwing parts of themselves or boulders if there were any handy. The 8th broke through or wove around every attack without losing stride or breaking formation. The shadowy bands tensed and relaxed, letting the members communicate far faster than a shout and react to threats some of them couldn't see as a cohesive unit.
She was strong. The whole squad was strong. It was a level of skill I wouldn't have expected from someone below Foundation and though they weren't perfect, far from it, but they were enough. Even as I had that thought some traitorous part of my mind silently wondered how long they could keep it up.
But you have no respect for strength.
I growed and turned away from the display only to find myself standing with more than just Marcus. Everyone but Titus had found themselves next to me, watching the 8th tear a path through the snakes. Said path quickly closed up behind them, but every pass they made let Oman's 5th retreat a little bit further. This was no time for gawking.
"Report." I bit out, surprising myself with how frustrated I sounded.
Cassius stepped forward, tearing his eyes away from the charging 8th to face me. A flicker of light in his pupils told me he had been using a technique.
"The hidden snakes seem to be dealt with, Captain, but the mortals are panicking. A few ran out of the array in the confusion and were swept away by the tide of snakes. Status unknown, suspected dead. With the 8th no longer carrying the Beast Pillars the procession has halted. Titus is tending to the wounded."
I nodded in acknowledgement and racked my brains for some way forward. Even if the 8th could cut through this it didn't mean much if the mortals couldn't handle their pace, and I doubted they could manage this while carrying the Beast Pillars besides. Moving forward would only let more hidden snakes into the barrier and retreating to the city would just put us back where we started, and probably worse off for it since the city wasn't being protected while we were out here. I couldn't think of a solution. So it was time to stop looking to myself.
"Alright gang, any ideas?" I asked with some reluctance. That everyone looked surprised that I was asking made me feel like a different kind of heel, but I squashed that under years of self confidence mantras.
They looked between each other with some hesitance but after a beat Phillip spoke up. The man was the only one of us not even carrying a spear anymore, instead bearing a multi stringed slab of wood on his back. The instrument allowed him to use the techniques of the Tunists and if all else failed he could hit someone with it so I didn't give him any trouble over the weapon.
"The 8th's method seems to be working, Captain. If they can sustain that formation for a while then perhaps they can ride ahead and clear out any more dug in snakes while we travel. I would tease them out myself but the Blasphemer Beast has me soundly beat in the noise department." Phillip said with a shrug.
A distant roar punctuated his statement.
"哄骗!"
"I could see them as well if we went to the front." Cassius chimed in, his pupils still flickering with a dull golden glow, "My Eye of the Archimedean can be maintained for extended periods. Without the mortals in the way I could spot any buried tricks as soon as they slipped under the barrier."
"Does it matter who takes the front?" Atria questioned, "Don't get me wrong I'm not looking forward to hauling those Beast Pillars around but these snakes are surprisingly weak once you know they're there to deal with. Not even you got bit in that scramble, Captain."
"Say that again Atria?"
"Uhh, no offense Captain but-"
I raised a hand to pause her as my thoughts started shifting from the molasses like slowness of my confusion to something a bit more active. "No, not that. You said the snakes were weak?"
"Well...yea. If it wasn't for the mortals we could just blow through this place without stopping." Atria admitted, looking nonplussed. "Not that I'm suggesting we leave them behind." she added hastily.
"We could, couldn't we..." My mind whirled. There was something there in the pieces that I had missed before. Something so obvious that I could already feel myself getting annoyed at the past me for not figuring it out even as present me wrestled with the concept on the edge of comprehension.
The snakes were weak. Even caught off guard by the effect and with only a patrol group we were able to escape it and charge through. The numbers, the churning sky full of flesh, and the grotesque beast gave them a lot more presence in my mind than they probably should have had, but they were
weak. Titus was already treating the mortals that got injured in the ambush, injured but not killed. Oman was caught out with his squad but based on what Cassius was saying they weren't being killed either, just held in place. I knew we were being played here, but why? What reason could an almost core formation enemy have to be doing all of this.
My gaze shifted back to the front of the column where the 8th were tearing their way through another wave of snakes sent to kill them, and the pieces started coming together. The snakes kept pulling themselves together in an unnatural fashion until they resembled giant reptilian limbs. Rosetta led her squad through them fearlessly and by her efforts carved a relatively snake free zone around Oman's 5th and the man himself was focused on anticipating Rosetta's movements and making his way back towards the array with her help. They were crushing dozens of snakes with impunity between them but that treacherous thought from earlier blossomed into certainty as I took in what was happening around them.
Rosetta crushed the snakes and scattered them but new bundles would come together in seconds, fed by the constant effect in the sky. The unnatural fists threatened her flanks, forcing her to meet them head on or lose the benefit of the
Kataphroki when they struck at her in turn and each diversion lengthened the time it took for her to loop around by a tiny sliver, altogether the interruptions were adding precious seconds to her circuit and bleeding the formation's duration bit by bit. Already the massive gains in ground Oman was making were being shaved off by a renewed snake offensive. At this rate they would make it back, but it would cost them dearly in time and energy.
It was a strategy I knew. It was one I recognized from my own use of it on the streets and most recently in games of Ludus. The strategy of the weak. A plan started forming in my mind.
"We've been looking at this the wrong way. Escape, escape, escape. It's the obvious move here and because of it we fell into a trap. If we keep trying to creep along like this we'll just get bogged down and waste all our strength. We need to attack."
Marcus nodded firmly. "Just so, Captain. With our help the 8th should be able to rescue the 5th much more quickly, then we can cut through these snakes and have the mortals follow."
"No we aren't attacking the snakes, forget the snakes. No more wasting time we have to go after the source." I said pointing at the distant Beast that was steadily growing close enough for my near mortal sight to see clearly.
My squadmates turned to look at what I was pointing at and then shared a look between themselves like they were debating how to tell their superior officer that he was an idiot without breaking protocol. Eventually they came to some kind of decision and Atria looked at me with a gentle smile. Yea I didn't have time for that.
"Stop. I'm not crazy. Doing something unexpected is the only way we can break this net." I interrupted.
"Captain! It's fifty times stronger than us! At least!" Atria shouted in bewilderment
"We have eighteen cultivators here, more if we include the Techs."
"You're counting the nerd squad? Wait- no it doesn't work like that anyway. The power just doesn't add up Captain."
"If it's power we need we've got some extra around the back."
Atria looked at me in confusion before visibly recalling the shipment of spirit stones we were already pilfering from to keep the array powered while moving it. They weren't the best things to work with for quick power, but it wasn't impossible either.
"...That still can't bridge the gap." She said with conviction after a moment's consideration and she was right too. If we had the entire century here, or even just the Centurion we could make a solid go at it but I didn't think we could reasonably fight something like that at this point. Oh we could hurt it, but at our level we would run out of strength long before we could kill it and it would have no such limitations in our case.
"We don't have to. All we need to do is keep its focus away from the mortals. Make it pull back all these snakes into dealing with us" I said pointing to the sky. "If we can manage that then the mortals get out without needing babysitting."
"And what about us?" Julia broke in, her visage as stern and sober as ever.
I looked away from Atria to face her and shrugged, giving my best smile. "We'll catch up after they get out of range."
She studied me for a moment in silence before turning back to the rest of the squad. They had another silent debate (that made me realize I really didn't know them as well as they knew each other since I was always off on missions) and seemingly decided that was good enough.
"Very well," Julia said with a nod, "Not quite as glorious as I'd hoped but, you are the Captain." That statement was heavily loaded but I didn't have time to dig into that right now. This would have to be enough. Legionnaire discipline wasn't infallible. They wouldn't throw away their lives for nothing, but they would spend it for something. Fortunately for all of us I had no intention of doing either.
---------------------------
My fellow captains were easier to convince than I had expected, far easier than the rest of my squad. Once the 5th and 8th came back looking sweaty and battle worn I approached the two captains with my idea and received instant agreement.
"Don't look so surprised Paulus, I was thinking the same." Rosetta scoffed, "We will accomplish nothing by retreating and remaining in place only delays our death, so why not attack?"
Oman spat on the ground, his face thunderous beneath a coat of snake blood. "That blasted Serpent played us for fools. Every time we tried the
Hoplite the snakes surged forward to disrupt us. These are no mindless beasts!"
So immediate was their agreement that I felt the urge to stop and reassess things, but if this was supposed to go the way I wanted it to then we had no time to waste. The Blasphemer Beast was slowly approaching but it wasn't so slow that we could have another war council in here. We quickly hashed out the details and regrouped at the back of the column with the Array Operators to let them know that they could stop feverishly doing advanced calculus on the fly and instead feverishly set up a new stable array and get ready to head out into the field with us.
There was arguing and pleading but the three captains stood firm. That and the hopelessness of the situation should we fail eventually brought them around. There was no choice, we needed them for this and not just because they were extra bodies to hold a spear. Legionaries were good at fighting, but if you really wanted to mess with formations you needed brains. And we had a lot to mess with and not much time to do it.
After an hour of hasty work we ended up splitting the Operators evenly between the squads and shuffled our members around as needed to best do our jobs. Leto came around and dumped a pair of ominously glowing bundles of stones in my hands. Enough stones were in each bundle to support a Legionnaire's cultivation for an entire month and each one was covered in sloppy array script and leaking qi like a bad technique. I raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Use them if you're going to get blocked. Just shove a signal jade inside to activate them and stand back. They won't last more than a day so don't worry about holding on to them." she said with a pained sigh. "I really wish you three had decided to fight back before we left the city. The repelling array is stable now but the nodes are all misaligned and it will probably burn out in a week without maintenance."
"Shouldn't be a problem. If we bite it then the barrier won't keep out the Serpent anyway. They'd be dead within the day." I shrugged and secured the bundles around my waist. "You're going with Rosetta right?"
She frowned in reply and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I really hate you right now. Yea, she'll need me for this stupid plan you've all cooked up. Take care of my Operators, okay?"
"Duh."
Leto glared at me and stomped forward and wrapped me in a surprise hug, making the bundles of stones rattle against our armour.
"Take care of yourself too, okay?"
"...Yea."
We stood there for a second longer and then she broke the hug and jogged over to where Rosetta's 8th was preparing to head out. I watched her go for a moment and then turned and trotted over to my own squad and the two extra Array Operators left for me, hefting an entire crate of spirit stones on my shoulders. They greeted me with stoic silence, no sign of the ribbing such a display might have caused in more peaceful times.
"They have cool horses, we don't, so this is probably going to suck more for us than for them. With any luck it'll suck for the Serpent even more than for us." I shoved a glowing green spirit stone into each pair of hands and nodded at the rest of my squad. "Atria, you're driving. Form
Kataphrakoti."
A moment later shadows began bubbling up around us just as it had hours before, but there were some important changes that made me more confident. Tendrils of qi reached out not to each other or to the leader but to our twin Techs who skillfully and quickly wove it into an eye watering design and separated the flow into countless tiny strands all pulsing at the same pace. Twenty thin strands reached out to Atria and wrapped around her and another five reached out to each other member of the squad, all except me. Being so much weaker than everyone else meant that including me was particularly pointless with all the stones we were throwing around, and besides that I had a much more important job.
The shadows of
Kataphrakoti sprang up much faster and much more solidly than before, bearing all of us up in its dark depths. To our right I saw Oman leading his own group in the same.
"Lets go stab some tail!"
And then we were off. We charged out of the once again stationary array and plunged into the tide of flesh, trampling snakes under shadowy hooves.
"哄骗!"
My mouth filled with a rotten taste mere seconds after we got underway and the snakes ahead of us slithered into piles, forming walls and pillars of undulating flesh.
"Get out of the way, weaklings!" Atria roared.
Snakes exploded outwards or simply exploded, their weak bodies unable to feasibly stop us or even slow us, but the walls kept rising up. The shimmering bronze lance rippled as the Tech's struggled to stop it from wasting its payload early and snakes slipped in through the gaps in their concentration.
Slithering bodies plunged into the shadowy flesh of the construct and swam unerringly towards the Techs maintaining the whole thing, fangs bared to strike and obviously not expecting the four feet of enchanted bronze that met them.
"Bet you thought you were smart!"
I swam through the formation with my shield and spear meeting any stray snakes and batting them away or impaling them if I could pull it off. The snakes quickly adapted and shifted towards the legionnaires sharing their qi and focus but with the majority of the formation's burden handled by the Techs each Legionnaire could at least stop the snakes from biting them until I got there. More and more of the leftover snakes dipped into the formation and found themselves swept away, and I knew there would be someone else doing this for Oman's side. Our charge continued for a full minute and just before I started getting (more) worried about our course the tide of snakes fell away and we broke through the edge of the encirclement.
A distant, wordless howl of rage brought a grin to my lips and a new set of snakeclouds to the sky between us and the Blasphemer Serpent. I swam through the formation and doled out spirit stones to everyone to keep them topped up, giving a double share to the Techs at the center who were starting to flag.
Kataphrakoti was never meant for long stretches, but slowing down here meant death.
We continued charging across the sands in the straightest line we could manage. The next rain of snakes barely did anything to us and I ended up not having to do anything but get pulled along. Without the sheer numbers they just couldn't threaten
Kataphrokoti and it seemed like the Beast realized it because after a second wave where we just outsped the rain entirely the clouds stopped forming over our position and started forming above the snake instead.
Minutes passed in silence as we approached and the Blasphemer Beast didn't waste that time. As we came close enough to feel the physical force of its shouts rippling through the formation I could see a thick mat of snakes all around the Beast undulating like the surface of a stormy sea. The towering Blasphemer Beast contorted in agony in the center of the effect, its motions still taking it slowly but surely towards the mines and its roars blasting snakes into the sky only for them to rain down around it.
"远离!"
Walls and pillars of woven snakes rose up from the seething mass at its order, taller than ever before. They loomed with an unsubtle menace that only grew as we drew closer and I knew that they would fall on us and tear us to pieces even at our current speeds. I could see what it wanted us to do, what I would have wanted in its place. We would turn away from the obvious trap and waste our time circling, no doubt falling into a hidden trap later. Maybe a hidden pit, an unseen boulder, or just dragging out the timer until we ran out of strength. Even with my suspicions I still wanted to shout to Atria to adjust our heading just a tiny bit to slip around the worst of it.
What does it mean to be strong?
…
Screw it.
"We're punching straight through! Don't stop until we get to stab that ugly git!" Time to steal some moves from the meathead style of combat. Maybe they would even work.
"Now that's what I like to hear!" Atria roared and pulled harder on the weave of qi. Legionnaires groaned as their burden increased and I swam around handing them spirit stones to top them up. The shadowy flesh grew rough and disturbed as barely refined qi from the stones joined the flow, but it would hold long enough. It had to hold.
"Lets see if this works." I pulled out a signal jade and slotted it into one of Leto's extremely expensive bundles. The entire thing flashed with golden light and then rocketed out of my hands straight ahead, almost clipping Julia on the way ahead. I watched curiously as the signal flare spiralled drunkenly as it flew and even plowed through some sand before it suddenly curved upwards and the signal light intensified growing brighter and brighter before it finally detonated.
"Gah!"
"▃▃▅▅▇▇▇!!"
A new sun was briefly born in the sky and the pillars of snakes fell away from it in agony, the Blasphemer Serpent's contortions taking on a fresh urgency as it tried to look away. The shadowy flesh around us protected us from the worst of it, but I was still left blinking stars out of my eyes when the light finally winked out.
"Captain! Another one!" Cassius yelled through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing with barely contained light.
We were already in the tide of snakes, Atria hadn't paused a bit even if she couldn't see. I squinted through the formation to see more walls already being built up ahead of us. I scrambled for another Disco Ball (hastily named) and slotted in another signal jade, aiming as best I could before it flew out of my hands. I turned my eyes away just in time for another sun to bloom and an agonized scream from the Blasphemer Serpent to rock the formation.
Blinded and confused snakes rained to the ground, failing utterly to block our path.
Kataphrakoti ate up the ground in large strides and in seconds we had crossed half the remaining distance to the Serpent. The ground shook as it tumbled about, hands the size of horses covering its eyes as it screamed. Its tail whipped about, crushing more of its own snakes than we ever could. As I watched it turned one bloodshot eye to glare at us through a gap in its fingers. I flipped it off.
"I sense another pulse building." Titus shouted from behind me.
"Do we have any more of those?" Marcus yelled.
"Fresh out! Oman's group should have so-"
I turned to the side, suddenly remembering that we weren't charging alone in here. Oman's 5th weren't beside us at all. When did that change?
"Uhh."
"Do we turn?" Phillip asked.
"No. This is our only chance!"
The Blasphemer Serpent raised itself up on its hands and turned to face us, tail still lashing uncontrollably behind it. A visible pulse of curdled qi swept up from the tip of its tail all the way to its mouth where it twisted and formed into countless snakes, building to the point where even the Beast itself would drown if it did not release them.
"去死!"
Snakes exploded from its mouth towards us, riding a wave of black qi. All the numbers of a full rain instead directed at our path ahead. This wasn't something we could beat with speed and even if I'd had another Disco Ball the chance to use it had passed. An order built up in my chest for us to change course and slip around the attack. Instead I swam to the center of the formation and threw the rest of the stones in the crate into the weave there.
The weave bulged and twisted and the thickness of the threads instantly quadrupled as the Operators wrestled with the sudden influx of raw, untamed qi. The entire projection rippled and ballooned outwards in an unstable manner and a violent green light began leaking out between the bronze plates.
Atria whooped as the threads wrapped around her multiplied and green light started pouring out of her pores. It engulfed her like a flame and spread through the rest of the construct in the space between seconds, shadowy flesh becoming thicker and realer for just a moment. The lance expanded dramatically and shattered when the existing metal could no longer keep up with the growth, becoming a cloud of bronze shards that was only barely held together by the forceful grip of violent raw qi trying and failing to manifest more of itself.
After that, I lost a bit of time. One moment we were surrounded blazing green flesh and in the next I was tumbling through the air like a human ballista bolt. I tumbled uncontrollably head over heels, unable to tell which way was up until I felt arms like steel bars wrap around me seconds before I collided into, and utterly destroyed the peak of a sand dune.
"▃▃▅▅▇▇▇!!"
The ground shook and my ears rung, my mouth filled with a combination of blood and rotten qi. Pain flowed through me from head to toe and a pained groan forced itself from my lips. I couldn't see or tell which way was up, my attempts to move my arms were inconclusive. I lay there for a few fear filled minutes until my eyes cleared up enough to work again and the pulsing of a translucent blue barrier around me told me why I was still alive.
"A-atria!"
I rolled my head to the side until I could see the older woman. Her eyes were rolled back in their sockets and unrefined qi glowed dangerously under her bronzed flesh. A chain with a small shield pendant on it pulsed with blue light around her neck, powering the defensive bubble that encased us. Her arms were wrapped around me in a grip I had no chance of budging, making any attempt to move my arms a pipe dream.
I rolled my head to the other side and gazed through the barrier, trying to see through the cloud of sand we'd kicked up on landing. Oman's
Kataphrakoti rode around the Beast, shooing giant arrows made of bronze that plunked harmlessly off its flesh. The Beast struggled to hold itself up on one arm. Tattered flesh hung where its other arm would have been and black blood that formed into snakes mid air fell from the remnants of its limb, but that was all. It was still alive.
The beast reared back and gathered snakes in its mouth once again only to be interrupted by a Disco Ball detonating right in front of its face that left it choking and spluttering as it tried to protect its eyes and finish its attack at the same time. But it was still alive.
Dammit...I thought…
I blinked and when I opened my eyes the Blasphemer Serpent was further away, still being harassed by Oman, but now it was focusing on advancing and ignoring the useless attacks from
Kataprakoti's second mode.
I blinked and when I saw again the sun was lower in the sky and Atria and I were surrounded by shouting Legionnaires stabbing snakes. Cassius roared and twin beams of searing light shone from his eyes, cutting through everything in their path. Titus was slowly forcing his way through the barrier to get to us.
I blinked and the ground rumbled and the sky turned green from erupting spiritual energy. I couldn't feel Atria anymore. A loud hum filled the air.
I hope that's Leto and Rosetta blowing the mine and not that thing ascending.
Titus loomed over me, his armour covered in scrapes and gore but his hands sparkling clean and surrounded by qi. "Back to sleep, Captain." He tapped me on the head and I was gone.
---------------------------------
When I opened my eyes again I wasn't laying on the sand surrounded by dead snakes, but on a bed inside a tent. The sound of a quill on parchment drew my eyes over to a table where the instantly recognizable Singing Fang Nabu was working his way through a pile of something. Probably reports.
He looked up as I shifted and broke into a wide, bronze toothed smile.
"Ah. Paulus, I see you are finally awake. That is good, I am just about finished writing these evaluations. No, no, do not attempt to sit up. Your
medico tells me you were thrown from your formation when it became too unstable to hold mere passengers in its grip. You are fortunate to be alive."
"A-atria." I managed to mutter, my tongue strangely heavy in my mouth.
"Loyal squadmates are part of one's good fortune, of course." He said with a smile. He rose from his seat and walked around the low table to the bed where I rested. " Or did you mean to inquire after her health and not assign her credit for your survival? She is quite fine, better than you in fact due to her higher cultivation. Which brings me to my purpose here."
"You are hereby relieved of your command." He said with a soft smile on his face, like a grandparent speaking to a favored grandchild. "Until your cultivation improves you will not be allowed command of or membership in any squad. Go and be weak elsewhere."
He tapped me on the shoulder fondly and turned away, sweeping up the desk and papers together with a gesture of his hand.
"The spiritual energy here will be quite rich for a while with what you three did to the mines so I would suggest recuperating here for as long as possible before you vacate the premises, we will not turn out an injured man after all. Good fortune on your advancement, young Legionnaire."
And then he left me there. Alone.
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Count: 5662 words
Somehow ended up longer than part 1 despite my attempts to shorten things. I guess that's what happens when you try and hint at 20 years of character development in one big scene. This is still talking about the events of Turn 7 where Paulus failed to advance his cultivation at all and remained at First Heavenstage.
His advancement potentially skyrockets after this but I'm still waiting on some clarification on that.
We shall see!
I don't think I'll get to put out anything for his turn 8 activities given how long this took, but that is a bit more easily handled I think. I dunno how to feel about this one at all but here it is.
Requesting threadmark and spreadsheet addition from a collaborator we're told to.
@TehChron
