Gaius Antonius Omake #55: Tyrrany
The Scorpion Road was widely considered one of the greatest feats of engineering in the Virtuous Flipper Region. This was not because of any singular piece of architecture, but rather the sheer scale. Cutting across the desert like a bold like of ink, this road improved the shipment and trade of goods immeasurably.
Of course, with such heavy use came the necessity of heavy patrol's. The vast majority of of the Organ Meat Desert's trade shipments to other parts of the region went via the Scorpion Road, after all, and that also meant the majority of smugglers.
Oh, there were always some small-timers who hoofed it aross the sand and over the mountains far away from the road, but it was far harder to track such people given how desolate some parts of the desert could be. Most of those types didn't carry anything too valuable either, and so checkpoints in cities along the border of Clan territory were used to keep an eye out for those tenacious pack-rats.
No, if one seriously wished to smuggle goods, it had to be on the Scorpion Road. And the Golden Devils, who controlled the majority of the road and heavily taxed any goods which went on it in either direction, were devoted to stopping any and all fraud with ruthless efficiency. Hundreds of checkpoints lined the road, every hundred miles or so; a hefty expense, but very effective as an opressive, omnipresent message to all who used the road: 'We are watching. Behave yourself.'
Not only did they seek to induce submission, but also paranoia: one in ten checkpoints were staffed by several centurions and conducted extremely thoruogh searches, including deep scanning techniques which even checked the insides of merchants' bodies. The Devils would do this at every checkpoint if possible, but it just wasn't economically feasible. So instead, they changed which checkpoints would be 'super-checkpoints' every year, randomizing them so that a pattern could not be established.
In one particular checkpoint, notable only for being one of the closest to the border with the Sorrowful Blacksmith Sect's lands, a caravan of middling size arrived. The carriage drivers looked tired, but it was the kind of fatigue which came from the anticipation of strain rather than the aftermath; they would be crossing the mountains soon, after all.
The cargo was nothing special: spirit stones of low and mid grade, rare parts from exotic spirit beasts, strange minerals which were difficult to find outside the desert. All of it was valuable, but none was out of the ordinary. In accordance with the value of this cargo was the strength of the guards: several dozen Qi Condensation hired from the Saber Palace, plus one mid-Foundation Building leader. Some of the merchants were also Qi Condensation Cultivators.
The Legionnaire whose turn it was to search, Isadora, was an unassuming sort. On the small side for a Devil, she didn't quite fill out her armor, and the nervous energy she projected at all times didn't help her. Nonetheless, her instincts were sharp. She went over the contents of every cart and wagon, checking them with reports from the previous checkpoint, and made sure to check in all the extra places as well. The roofs, the undersides of the carriages, carts and beasts, in the pockets of the merchants, she looked at everything.
It all seemed to check out until she did an inventory of the traders themselves. No doubt about it, there should have been thirty-four of them, but only thirty-three were here. Slamming her hand down on an alarm array, Isadora caused stone walls to burst out of the sand all around the caravan and the guardhouse, and ran back to get the others.
"We've got a runner!" Isadora declared as she slammed open the door, getting the other guards to attention.
"Where, here?" Asked Phyllis, the Centurion supervising this post. While a Centurion was a bit too high-ranked for a job like this, she had a mere one pillar and was injured besides as anyone could see from the thick iron bands binding her arm, so in the aftermath of the Trial, an easy job like this was a good place to recover.
"E-er, no, sorry. A ways back. There's one less person than at the last checkpoint." Isadora clarified, flushed in embarassment.
"Are we really sure someone ran off with supplies, then?" Asked Titus, a stout, bearded Legionnaire with one eye. "They could have just quit the job."
"No, this is the perfect place to run off with stolen merchandise." Phyllis declared, hauling out a large bowl and several small bags of strange and sickening ingredients. "The next checkpoint after this one is at the border, and that's always a super-checkpoint. A discrepancy between this checkpoint and that one would be harshly punished. I doubt this is a coincidence."
From there, Phyllis began casting techniques to track the deserter, based on everything they knew. She even called in the other people in the caravan and plucked the memories of that man right out of their heads. Evidently, based on what the Centurion saw they weren't accomplices.
"How much could he be carrying, though?" Titus asked, taking a calm swig of black tea. "Doesn't seem worth the pursuit."
"It's not about worth." Phyllis corrected, continuing her scrying without missing a beat. "It's about displaying strength. The more smugglers get through, the more weakness we show, which begets more smugglers. We need to show uncompromising strength and keep those opportunists cowed."
After several minutes, the destination became clear to her. "Sorrowful Blacksmith Sect. He'll be entering the mountains near the Devil Bee border. How bold of him."
"I'll track him down." A man in the back of the office declared, exhaling a small cloud of smoke. He stood up to his considerable height, blocking out the bright sunlight from the window and casting a dark shadow over the room. "That's why I'm here, isn't it?"
"As eager for hard work as ever, Legionnaire Gaius. If only the same could be said for everyone around here." Phyllis gave Titus a brief stink-eye, which he blanched at. "Go over the border if you have to; this rat needs to learn what it means to cross a Devil." She commanded.
"Yes, Ma'am." Gaius saluted, before taking off his hat and ducking his head a bit to get through the door. "I'll Seek him out, you have my word."
----
Cao Liuxian cursed as he felt a thin wisp of qi wrap around him, and tore it away immediately. Unfortunately, it was too late; someone had been scrying him. Bracing his hat against the wind, he pushed his horse harder, hoping to reach the mountains by dawn.
His red scarf flapped in the wind as he rode faster and faster, his only concession to personal expression. The rest of his clothes were simple and spartan, the kind of relatively snug-fitting robes that made you fit in in a variety of settings. Indeed, Liuxian's ability to look casual or formal, high society or streetwise, just by changing his inflection and body language had bought him success multiple times in the past.
And now, he had thrown it all away, angering the notoriously stingy Golden Devils for a big lump sum. He'd had no choice - there was no time to accumulate the stones he needed to pay that damn soul artist normally, and the tiny cut he'd have gotten as a small part of the operation wouldn't have been enough either. He was a nobody anyway, so he didn't mind giving up his life for this if he had to. Even if he was dragged into oblivion, he would save everyone.
Just a little bit longer and Liuxian would be in the mountains, where his own expertise would hold an advantage over a desert-dweller's. From there, he could make his way to Fool's Valley without much trouble. He really had guessed right; that was a regular checkpoint!
----
"That really smarts..." Gaius muttered to himself as he rubbed at his eye, attempting to disperse that annoying ache burning on the inside of his skull. "Scylla, can you get that for me?"
With a soft white light and an immediate soothing sensation, Gaius' headache was once again numbed with the help of his new partner, who rode in a large barrel on Gaius' back. From the outside, it looked like opaque wood, but on the inside it was transparent glass through which the adolescent carp could view the world.
After much deliberation, Gaius had decided to bring the tank. Enchanted to never spill as it might be, this was still a somewhat dangerous move to make, even if his target was a mere Ninth Heavenstage, according to his compatriots. Still, Scylla had much to learn if she was to be his companion. The subject of today's lesson was ruthlessness: to defeat the enemy and complete the mission at any cost.
"Ahh, you really are a miracle worker, you know that?" Gaius praised the carp, reaching back to stroke the glass. Near his head, a few bubbles came to the surface as she babbled a happy response.
"Now, let's see here. Northwest, probably a few hundred miles west of the border..." Gaius muttered, submerging his feet and surging forward through the sand. "Shouldn't be too hard to catch him; I've already got his scent."
----
Liuxian cursed as he caught sight of a Golden Devil cultivator , bearing down on him and slowly gaining ground. For a moment he feared it was a Foundation Building expert from how fast they were moving, but corrected himself. Someone in Foundation Building would be running more efficiently, not blasting up such obnoxious plumes of sand. No, that was merely a Qi Condensation Cultivator using an extraordinary movement technique.
The thief snarled, pushing his horse harder. The mountains were in sight, so this wasn't so bad. If he could just stay ahead for a little longer, or fight that son of a bitch off, then he could escape amongst the bluffs.
Throwing several jade slips behind him, Liuxian waited for the pursuer to approach that ground and then made an abridged hand gesture, setting them off and coating the sand in ice. Without missing a beat, the Devil sunk beneath the ground and emerged on the other side, totally unbothered.
Damnit, what kind of movement technique was that!? Qi Condensation wasn't supposed to have techniques that potent! Throwing a dozen jade slips at once, Liuxian summoned a huge cloud of mist, riding into it to escape his opponent.
A knife grazed his head in that moment, thrown off ever so slightly by the haze, cutting the skin of his scalp by just a little. Eyes growing wide with panix, he stood up on his horse and turned fully to face the enemy, whose eyes seemed to pierce rigt through the mist with no trouble. A terrifying sight, he was: tall, imposing, clad in black with a big hat which hid his face, this man fit the image of a desert-dwelling Devil perfectly.
Okay. Okay, this was fine: Liuxian still had one trump card left. Calling upon an obscene amount of qi, he summoned a freezing wave which passed through the mist in chaotic patterns, filling it with icy shrapnel which stabbed the Devil all over from unpredictable angles. Finally, Liuxian's enemy seemed bothered.
Before the distracted Devil could burrow underground again, he struck the ground, freezing the sand all around the man's feet. Finally, he conjured rings of ice to constrict the Devil's body... and kept fleeing.
No, he would not clash directly with that pursuer. Maybe he would win, but with the huge amount of qi he had just used up merely to restrain that man, he would need to kill him in one blow. Otherwise, that movement technique would utterly trounce him. No, better to escape.
As he sped off and began to climb the first of countless rocky slopes, Liuxian felt a uneasiness, an inhumanly focused presense boring into his back. He soon began to wonder if perhaps he had made the wrong call.
----
Liuxian had made the wrong call. No matter how many hundreds of miles he rode, that fucking Devil still followed; how was this even worth the trouble anymore?
Contrary to expected, the chase had not in fact ended when Liuxian had reached the mountains, and now he been fleeing for hours. His poor horse was already dead, beheaded by that bronze motherfucker nearly two hundred miles back.
Up and over the mountain and into the nearest valley he had run, with the Devil in hot pursuit. His breath came out hard and strong as he pushed his endurance farther and farther; just a little bit longer, and the advantage would be his.
Just a mile behind, that black-clad Devil continued to inexoribly follow Liuxian, showing no signs of fatigue at all. As their feet pounded the grass beneath them, something else began to pummel the ground as well: rain. First a few drops, then a drizzle, and soon a deluge. The water came down hard and heavy, turning the ground to slippery mud and soaking through Liuxian's clothes.
Just a little farther...
There! Up ahead, a town, abandoned due to the recent floods(this storm was far from the only one this past month, or even the only one of such intensity). That would be the thief's salvation. As if sensing his relief, the Devil picked up his pace, beginning to close the distance between the two of them. A mile became four-fifths of a mile as the town, Squall's End, grew closer. By the time Liuxian reached the gates, it had shrunk to three-fifths.
Running up the wall normally wouldn't be too hard - the stone was a tad rough, providing just enough grip to make it twenty feet - but, slick with water as it now was, such things were not possible. At least, not possible for most. Rather than hinder him, the droplets clung to Liuxian's feet, aiding in his ascent. He then vaulted over the edge and gestured at a large rainbarrel atop a building. With the recent rain, it was so full it was ready to burst.
The barrel groaned, metal straining as it slowly gave way to the unrelenting force of Liuxian's technique. Just as his pursuer leapt over the gates, he brought down his hand and the rainbarrel burst from within, releasing its contents. An impressively large torrent of water unerringly surged through the air at their target.
The torrent of floodwater smashed into the Devil, sending him crashing through a house. Strangely, the man seemed more concerned with protecting his barrel than his own safety. Not that that mattered, as the house collapsed on him. Two huge hits; surely he was out now!
No dice; with a wave of thunderous force, bricks, tiles and beams were flung away by a gold-colored dome, revealing the man in black, still up and raring to go.
Damnit, how was this possible!? How was this man still alive? A blast like that should have at least injured him more. What was the point of chasing him down over something like this? Surely the reward couldn't be so good as to warrant this much trouble!
Blood dripped down the man's shoulder and onto the ground as he moved the limp appendage out of the way and drew a sword at his hip. "I've got to take you in now, give up."
This was a bluff, it had to be. With wounds that severe, he wouldn't be able to fight well at all. This man couldn't be higher than Ninth Heavenstage; his toughness was extraordinary, sure, but with enough damage that bastard would die!
"You won't get this cargo. No matter what, there's something I have to protect. I can't do it without these stones!"
The man in black didn't respond - in just a moment, he was already there, swinging his sword with amazing force. Liuxian jumped over his slash, landing on a rooftop and running away. The pounding rain made the tiles slippery, but the thief was used to such terrain.
DANGER!
A century of life experience lit a fire in Liuxian's brain in that moment, prompting him to jump to another rooftop. Right where he had stood, the man in black slashed a sizeable rift in the tiles and immediately turned to pursue.
The gate: he had to get to the gate, no matter what. Turning to intercept the Devil's next attack, Liuxian stilled a hundred drops of rainwater in place with a wave of his hand before firing them off at his enemy. The black-clad bastard deflected most of the projectiles with a twirl of his sword but took small, deep wounds all over his body, causing him to fall off the roof.
Only, instead of painfully impacting the ground, that infuriating man sank straight into it, hiding somewhere beneath the ground. Cursing, Liuxian continued to run, using only the rooftops and not touching the ground. Soon enough the gate was in sight, only for the Devil to burst from the ground, appearing right in front of him in a single leap.
"Why won't you die!?" The thief yelled, once more firing off a hail of raindrops. This time, the Devil was ready, summoning a large golden shield which blocked them all, then throwing them all back with a sweep of his hand. Liuxian curled up to guard himself as he was struck over and over by his own attack, but this turned out to be in his favor.
Propelled faster in the direction of his destination, Liuxian collided painfully with the top of the gate. Stubbornly, he reached over to one of the large wooden pillars to which the gate was attached. There, a complex and powerful array was carved.
Liuxian had chosen Squall's End for a reason: he'd been here many times before. It was abandoned now due to the river overflowing and causing so many floods, but it was normally a small trade hub, with a Foundation Building Cultivator and many Qi Condensation subordinates guarding it from beast attacks.
He also knew of the last resort they had installed in case the Golden Devils ever invaded, to deny them any spoils. It was the same as in many other towns and cities.
The pursuer leapt into the air, rearing back to strike Liuxian again, but it was already too late. Scratching a line into the array, he changed one character to another, setting off a reaction which released a huge amount of stored Fire Qi all at once.
The thief leapt off the gate, orienting himself away from Squall's End, as his enemy found himself hurtling straight toward the epicenter of that self-destruct array. He smirked, allowing himself some satisfaction in this checkmate - simple, but effective.
With a deafening boom, Liuxian was blown away, far into the distance. He tumbled painfully down the mountain, but through creative use of several arrays, he somehow found himself alive. Dazed and in pain, he turned back to the peak, finding only a huge pillar of smoke; Squall's End would take a lot of work to repair after that, he thought guiltily.
Good, maybe that would rid him of that Devil. Steeling himself for yes more running, Liuxian took off toward the nearest settlement.
----
As the storm raged outside, Liuxian could do nothing but wait in agonizing anticipation. At the bottom of an empty grain silo, he breathed as quietly as he could, hoping that he'd created enough distance and hurt that bastard enough to finally make him give up on the chase.
No such luck - with a crash of thunder, a horrific specter emerged into the silo. His right sleeve torn off entirely, displaying an arm broken in multiple places. Even aside from that, the man was bleeding from a dozen wounds, yet he seemed unbothered by all of this. Onward he walked, intent only on bringing down his target.
"Even after all that you still won't leave me be? You're insane!" Luxian yelled, swallowing back his fear.
"You don't know the half of it. I take it you're not going to give up, then?" The Devil asked, face bathed in shadow beneath the wide brim of his hat.
"I can't!" Liuxian shouted, spreading his feet and preparing to fight once more. "Listen to me, I need these stones right away! There's a village, it's dying of curses! I can't hire the help I need without these stones!"
"I see, so that's how it is. You're a valiant man, Cao Liuxian." The mysterious pursuer continued, face still hidden. He sheathed his swords, making the smuggler let out a sigh of relief, only for that air to be sucked back in as he raised his hands and began to advance.
"Then listen to me, damnit! If you do care, then work with me!" Liuxian cried out fruitlessly.
"Scylla, watch." The man in black gently said to the barrel on his back, which he removed and placed next to him. "I know it's scary, but you musn't be afraid. You're going to be the partner of a King, and sometimes a King must be a tyrant."
His swords sheathed, the man unerringly advanced on Liuxian. His long hair, soaked by the rain, clung to his shoulders and chest like grasping tendrils, and a profound coldness filled his eyes. "Arrogantly destroying people's dreams, cowing them with our power to do what must be done."
With a blur of motion, Liuxian shot forward, throwing a kick, then several punches, all of which the towering man dodged or brushed aside. With fluid movements, he smashed his elbow into the thief's face, breaking his nose and making him stumble back. He followed up with a middle punch which felt like a blasting array went off at point blank. Bile spewed forth from Liuxian's mouth as his ribs gave way. "We are not representatives of the people's will. We are sinners who sieze authority from the hands of heaven."
The beating continued unabated, as the long-haired man held back enough strength to not kill the thief, and Liuxian kept getting up out of desperation to win. Liuxian understood what was going on in that moment. This man was in the Twelfth Heavenstage, and had been held back by that barrel of water on his back. Free of his burden, he could maul Liuxian even with one arm.
But finally, the chance to turn things around came: the pursuer's boot slipped on a puddle, and he fell backwards. Liuxian surged forward to tackle him to the ground-
-only to be struck on the chin with a powerful uppercut that broke his teeth and made his brain shake like a leaf in a hurricane. Slipping around him, the man in black siezed his neck in a submission chokehold and squeezed.
As the light left Liuxian's eyes, the taller man turned his face toward the barrel. "Look, Scylla. Look and understand: I am robbing this man of his freedom. Close your heart to his desperation; when it's all on the line, victory is absolute."
Everything went black.
----
When Liuxian came to, he found his pursuer, hat now removed, having a tense but peaceful talk with what appeared to be a Sorrowful Blacksmith Cultivator. "I promise, I'll be heading right back over the border. As I said, I only crossed to catch this man, who stole goods meant for trade and violated our tarrif laws."
He tried to escape, only to find himself straining against qi-draining manacles on his wrists and ankles. His frantic wriggling prompted his captor to drop him from the shoulder upon which he had been carried, instead holding fast to a chain attached to his wrist-manacles.
"Please, don't do this!" Liuxian begged, staggering to his feet. "I have to get these stones to the soul artist in Fool's Valley! Do whatever you want after that, kill me, eat me, work me to death!"
"Pipe down, will you? I'm trying to negotiate!" Gaius yelled, striking the panicking man in the throat with a hand chop that made him fall to his knees, gasping.
"From what I can tell, your story's all true." Said the blacksmith, a sullen-eyed man with three deep scars across his face. "No harm done, then. Go ahead and take this thief back to your side of the border."
Gaius held up a hand. "One more moment of your time, please. As long as I'm here, I want to do this while he's watching." The long-haired Devil turned to speak to his prisoner. "This soul artist, where did you say he lived? And what's the name of that village?"
"T-the artist lives in Fool's Valley. The village is Oakheart."
He turned back to the Blacksmith. "There's a soul artist who lives in Fool's Valley. This man's hometown, Oakheart, is afflicted by curses. Please hire that man with these fifteen low-grade spirit stones." He retrieved a bag of stones and handed it to the blacksmith, before fishing out another, smaller bag. "And to make it worth your while, here's five more for the service."
Liuxian sputtered in disbelief, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "T-those stones... those are..."
"They're out of my pocket, of course." The man in black said nonchalantly. "My name's Gaius Antonius, by the way."
The blacksmith confirmed his intention to hire the soul artist, and even agreed to let Liuxian craft a geass, which he then signed. Once that was all taken care off, Gaius shackled the thief once again and hauled him away.
----
Gaius breathed deeply with a smile on his face. "One mile above sea level, that's the best air, don't you agree?" Gaius asked Liuxiang. "Not too thin, but high up enough that most of the heavy elements are gone. Clean and crisp.
"Y-yes, I suppose it is nice..." The prisoner replied nervously, not entirely sure what was going on. "Gaius, er, what was that back there?"
"I'm afraid I manipulated you a bit back when I was catching you. My apologies." Gaius stated simply with a tip of his hat. "Your reaction needed to be genuine."
"I don't get any of this at all!" Liuxian shook his head in confusion, chains rattling slightly with the movement. "I could have paid the man off myself if you let me go. There's no way they'll pay you nearly as much for catching me as the number of stones I took, so you just lost wealth for no reason!"
"It's not about the money, it's about getting the job done by the book and still doing the right thing." Gaius smirked confidently. "I've got contribution points to spare right now, so a good deed or two is within this year's budget. That's all there is to it."
"Okay, but even then, why decieve me? What did you mean by my reaction?"
"Yeah, your reaction. I needed to teach a charge of mine about the importance of duty, even when it feels wrong. Even when you have to hurt people who are trying to do the right thing."
Gaius tapped the barrel on his back. "Kid, come out and say hello for a second. I know you're mad at him for making me get dirt in your water, do it anyway." He attempted to coax whatever was in there out. "Scylla, come on, be nice."
The blobby white head of a Sacred Carp poked out of the water, looking at the bearded man and blinking out a silent greeting before returning back to her tank.
"Was that... what I thought it was?" Liuxian asked, thoroughly worn down.
Gaius chuckled. "Sure is. Scylla here is a Sacred Carp, otherwise known as a Proto-Dragon. I've gotta teach her properly early - she's a bit of a brat now, but she's gonna be a serious handful when she ascends further." He explained as he led the prisoner back down the mountain. "Now, Cao Liuxian, here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna get ourselves a couple of horses, and I'm gonna take you in and return the stolen merchandise, and then you're gonna go on trial. I'll vouch for you and try to get you a sentence that's not too bad, but you've gotta behave, alright?"
Liuxian bowed as deeply as he could without falling over, what with how his feet were bound. "I'll do whatever you ask, Gaius! I was already prepared to die! I couldn't bear to see those people suffering so terribly anymore!" He exclaimed, weeping in a massive release of emotion.
"Now now, no brown-nosing." Gaius laughed, patting the man on the shoulder. "That's good; it looks like we all stand to get a pretty good deal out of this."
With that, The Seeker went on his way, another job successfully completed.
----
I'm surprised at how quickly I managed to write this omake. I suppose you could call it a manifestation of a few different ideas I had been wanting to explore for a while.
I wanted to explore a darker side of Gaius' character in this story, with him chasing down and crushing a sympathetic character, heedless of the consequences of his actions. The problem was that... well, as a Good Seed in the Twelfth Heavenstage with(very limited) access to the fabulously wealthy Quintia family's coffers, there's no Qi Condensation-scale problem he lacks the resources to solve.
So, since I ultimately failed to conceive of a situation where it made sense for Gaius to, say, stop a man from saving a village, I split the difference and used another character's PoV and Gaius teaching Scylla the ropes to pull off a fun little twist.
