Eric exchanged a fierce grin with his familiar. “We’re fucking doing it, Bun! Raising high level locusts just like those fucking orcs of last year! Has it been a year? Just weeks? Fuck if I know. Fuck if I care! How you feelin’ Bunbun?”

  “Incredible, fearless leader!” Bunbun hooted, crimson lightning crackling from her ears to fork between a half dozen locusts actually stupid enough to fly right for them. “The Spicy air is so fucking sweet! Shivering through my cute little soul! And the necromantic energy is like fucking honeyed wine! It’s EVERYWHERE! So rich and dark and chocolaty, this deep into wild territory!”

  Eric’s eyes danced with heady glee as he gazed upon the thousand plus mantises that now tore through their mortal brethen at his command. “I know, right? Fucking awesome! To bad our violet-eyed friends really can’t handle the sweetness! I mean… not at all.”

  Yet even in the throws of furious glee, tired of holding back, eager to forge an army that would send the world’s bureaucratic administrators scurrying away on their hands and knees like the cockroaches they were, he kept a very, very careful eye on his less than healthy looking friends. Even with him now having the entirety of his Mantises and a good third of his locusts focusing on protecting his friends in an ever growing circle of denial to his foes, all six of them were hunched over, and he knew it wasn’t from the smoke as his fiery arts sent half the nearby forest ablaze, accepting that he’d most likely be burning the entire territory down or a good portion of it, to fully enact this purge.

  Elly and everyone else were hunched over and clearly suffering, even though their arcane power armor had rebreathers and the temperature control was top-notch.

  Of course, Eric already knew what was wrong. His heart twinged with guilt, sensing so much with the renewed connection he shared with Elly… who had, in a moment of delicious impulse, given herself to him like the sweetest of blossoms. A hunger he had yearned to sate every bit as much as she had. Both of them so easily succumbing to pheromones and desire, fiery passion and adoration clearly striking their kind far harder than most humans, outside of a good romance or vampire novel, he thought with a winsome smile. Yet clearly there were vast differences between them as well.

  What he feel such sweet dark kinship to, was utter anathema to the girl who had savored his most passionate kisses, less than an hour ago.

  To most elves and all the purple-eyed invaders who were clearly just another branch of mankind… Eric’s necromantic arts were a poison. So different from most natives who might find it horrifying, but it would hardly send Bronze-Tier Terrans, or even White-tier classers or mortals, to their knees.

  Eric winced at the sight of his wretching friends below, trading looks with his familiar.

  “It’s hitting them a fuck ton harder here than it had in the desert.”

  Bunbun snorted. “Are you surprised? A handful of widely spaced raptor revenants with the howling winds whipping free necromantic energies combining like sediment with all those spicy mana crystals is a hell of a lot different than a thousand revenant bugs crammed around them in a tightly packed humid jungle, fearless leader. And Wormy II, serving as our mount after eating those delicious goblins, administrators, and mercs, was a super grounded Underlord. Practically alive, even before he was your mount! You think he was going to waste any of his almost living energies radiating it at the plebs? Fuck no. He was getting ready for friendly, high charisma headmaster status long before his soul fused with an ancient Silver-Tier elven archmage!”

  Lilly sighed, gazing down at the writhing swarm below. “And those are a thousand monstrous insects. And sure, you fused them with actually sentient souls absolutely desperate for life… but in their present near-brainless shapes… yeah, there’s a lot of counter-resonances going on as souls madly force themselves into those alien shapes… desperate for life under the warm summer sun, even as a bug, because it sure as fuck beats a thousand years of howling winds in cold purgatory.”

  Eric winced. “Yeah… that’s actually a really, really good point.”

  Bunbun winked. “I know, because I made it. So, for the sake of your boo and her crew, what do you want to do?”

  Eric frowned, thoughts racing in all sorts of unexpected directions as the implications of Lilly’s words, truths he had already known intuitively, invited all sorts of interesting possibilities.”

  Eric flashed a toothy grin. “The soul doesn’t match the shape. So why shouldn’t the shape fit the soul?”

  Bunbun blinked, before hooting with delight. “Ooh! I think I know where our saved up perk point is going to go!”

  Eric chuckled. “Damn right! But not here in this lush, prehistoric jungle of ferns. Here, their shape is pretty much perfect.”

  “Agreed. So, we’re going to move out?”

  Eric nodded. “Damn right we are,” he said as the last of the local flaring red lights on his DI Map dimmed when his revenant swarm decapitated the last of the locusts before Eric belted out the words that filled him with such an indescribably sweet rush… even as his half-dozen friends collapsed with groans.

  “Surge Centuria! Imperator Imperat Tibi!” Eric roared to the heavens, delighting in the sweet, sweet rush of power swelling in his soul as his Dominion reigned absolute. A howling swarm of wild spiritual energies shivered through his meridians and the hundreds of ruptured bodies below.

  In that moment, he sensed so many profound connections between his most sacred art and its profane counterpart, Necromancy and Cultivation two utterly incompatible paths, yet Soul and Spiritual Energy were in play for both. Cultivation was about channeling those energies, most especially Spirit, since he didn’t yet know the anything about Soul Cultivation, to perfect his corporeal shell… while Necromancy used the storm of potent wild energy released with so many deaths to bind countless souls to his chosen shells like puppets.

  Puppets even now swearing loyalty to him for all time as they embraced the ritual of struggling for dominance for but moments before Eric’s Dominion-infused will and Master Class instantly put them in their place, squeezing countless spirits exactly where they wanted to be, inhabiting their shells as they slammed forelimbs to thoraxes, and the air rang with the skittering creak shrieking like violin strings against granite that could only have one meaning to Eric’s laughter-filled ears.

  “Ave Praefectus Abedimus!”

  “Damn right you do,” Eric roared. “Now head out, men! Time to meet up with all your sister locusts and grow our fucking army!”

  With those words, the entire milling swarm of swarming and recently reassembled revenant insectoid soldiers stilled in uncanny unison, saluting Eric with their forelimbs before racing for the northeast corner of the ravaged clearing as Eric focused his will on extinguishing the dozens of wildly blazing hell vines that had served their purpose.

  Eric then turned to the stunned-looking mercenaries, wincing as Unified Perception sensed the blood leaking from their eyes and ears, even through their helms.

  “I’m heading out, Captain,” He solemnly said, racing through the air as if it were a ramp.

  He held back his dismay as the man popped open his face plate, took a gasp of air still smelling of soot, ash, and fried locust and immediately began retching.

  Eric swallowed, now lowering his gaze. “I’m sorry I… yeah. I guess… I guess there are things I hadn’t considered.”

  Bennett forced a chuckle. “You have nothing to apologize for, Ernest. If those things had swarmed over us… had we not ran into you and made the smart choice…”

  “Those things would have fuckin’ eaten us alive,” Myl said with a horrified grimace, gazing down at his now healing but still clearly pained hand. “They would have torn into our armor’s weak points… and all armor has weak points… forcing themselves through our palms, or the gaps between our legs or something… and they would have devoured us while we writhed and screamed and died.”

  Elly whimpered.

  “Myl!” Lone snapped.

  “It’s true, and you know it,” Myl glared right back.

  A horrified looking Svena popped open her face plate, grimaced but kept from heaving, and bowed her head. “Because every class, every path… has its place. Even the darkest and most twisted…” She swallowed before the glares this earned. “Even such arts have their worth, should they be used to stem tides of death that could have washed over us all.”

  “And it wouldn’t have stopped here,” Elly said with wide-eyed dismay, locking gazes with Eric, both of them instantly understanding the threat implied.

  Eric felt chills of horror and fury in equal measure. “Those Black-Tier locusts would have swarmed over New Arcadia… devouring millions of tons of ripe crops… and millions of fragile souls as well.”

  “Because this was a fucking setup!” Bunbun hissed. “This entire territory, ascending to black, here and now. That Contender being right where she needed to be to intercept you. And had she killed you, had that swarm flooded over your sister’s sanctuary and literally eaten everyone alive before multiplying so outrageously that the entire continent was swarmed…”

  Eric clenched his jaw, shutting his eyes tight against the twisted countenance of Malificent, cackling with malicious glee an impossible distance away as his twisted laughter continued sending starships plummeting into his dying moon, piloted by screaming captains tearing out their own eyes in sprays of blood and gibbering madness as they raced to their own deaths.

  Yet before the rotting living corpse attached to countless dozens of blackened tubes pumping vile liquids in his dessicated shell could turn his decrepit head to glare Eric’s way, Eric snapped himself free of that awful vision with a gasp.

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  “Yeah, I know. But we saw that twisted fucker’s gambit just in time, and we handled our business, just like we always do.”

  Bunbun nodded. “And now we still have a swarm of locusts we gotta put down before things go from bad to truly fucked up!”

  Elly was the first to nod at that. “Yes you do, hero.” She swallowed the bile in her throat, and didn’t hesitate to claim the flask of mead Eric solemnly handed her, drinking deep and handing it to a quietly retching Naje. Her captivating eyes then claimed Eric’s own. “We’re trusting you to take care of the threat and save that precious sanctuary you forged, Ernest Slaughter.”

  Eric forced a cocky smile. “You know I won’t let you down, beautiful.”

  She smiled at that, before solemnly nodding. “I do.” She sighed. “I think, for now…”

  Eric swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “I get it.”

  “Do you, Ernest?”

  Eric forced a nod. “I do! Every blacksmith needs a forge to hammer his masterwork. But the smart smith keeps his far enough from the village center that embers don’t burn the whole place down. And let’s be honest, I got a masterwork to forge, and I’m giving off way too many hot embers, being so near my friends.”

  Elly flashed a relieved smile. “And we are your friends, Ernest Slaughter. Don’t you forget it.”

  Eric knew he was being an idiot when he bent down to kiss her. But instead of pulling away, her lips met his own with a wild hunger that both elf and halfblood felt after surviving near certain peril. The sweet, fierce affirmation of life itself.

  When they broke it off, both their hearts were racing.

  Bunbun snorted. “Pheromones beat icky smells every time.”

  Elly blushed when Svena chuckled.

  “If I wasn’t in this battlesuit right now...”

  Eric winked. “See you in Freetown, beautiful.” With that, he spun around and raced to the top of the treeline, his now two thousand revenants matching his stride perfectly. In less than a minute, the entire field of devastation was utterly bare of everything save trampled ground, smoldering giant ferns… and ash.

  *

  Svena gazed at Elly for a long moment before wrapping her in a hug. “You okay?”

  Elly flashed a tear-filled smile. “There’s no way in hell it could ever work.”

  Svena sighed. “I know. He’s an absolute monster that would have had my Inquisitor master turning in his grave, blasphemous as it sounds to even say that. But his heart’s actually in the right place.”

  Bennett sighed. “If your suspicions of a locust swarm are accurate… even the two inch long mundane versions of those things can devastate entire territories. Hundredth level monstrous versions would wreck an entire nation.. maybe an entire world.”

  Elly glared at the devastation. “And if his familiar’s right… it was deliberate.”

  “A chilling thought.”

  Elly nodded, slamming her face plate back in place. “Alright, let’s meet up with our rendezvous point.”

  Bennett frowned. “Elly…”

  Elly snorted, arm jutting in a direction that had the rest shaking their heads in consternation.

  “Trust me, it’s that way.”

  Bennett blinked. “And how do you know that?”

  She cleared her throat. “I… got a good sense of where we were in relations to where we wanted to be when I wasn’t wearing this armor.”

  Lone snorted. “When you were making love to pretty boy, you mean.”

  Elly glared but didn’t deny it. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Bennett nodded. “You heard the lady. Sooner we meet up with our employer and square our contract, the better.”

  It was only a short time later while making surprisingly good time that their Captain bit back a curse, glaring Elly’s way.

  “You knew.”

  Elly’s intent expression turned to an impish smile. “Knew what, Captain?”

  “Knew how to get out of here! You only held back because you didn’t want us to break away from Ernest the way we had. And you were more panicked than any of us, having to retreat carrying your armor when your lover erupted like a living torch.”

  Elly smiled. “And that pristine flame made my nodes tingle with happiness. He was just a bit too hot to be so close to. It’s a good thing we came to an understanding, isn’t it?”

  Bennett glared for only a moment, almost tripping over rough terrain before conceding the point with a rueful chuckle. “I don’t think I ever felt sicker than when that boy’s tainted words were crawling through my soul.”

  “But without him doing exactly what he had to…”

  “I know, Elly. Those monstrous abominations would have eaten us alive.”

  Elly dipped her head. “Us, and countless millions of innocent farmers in New Arcadia. Freetown as well. Though the survivors there might have hidden in those Alutopaz buildings for a time… the best they could have hoped was for an orderly retreat through an off-world gate.”

  Svena cursed through the comms. “What fucking monster could have seeded this poor world with such a vile crop of death?”

  Lone sighed, though he kept his blaster rifle sighted firmly on the foliage overhead. “You know there are some questions we’re better off not knowing the answer to, right?”

  ****

  Eric bit back a sweet, delicious howl as the power and potency of another 750 swarming locusts flooded his soul. He clenched his fist with the exultation of absolute dominance as each and every shelled sentinel below bowed their chitin-covered limbs before his absolute mastery over their bodies and souls.

  Yet still, as gloriously sweet as the shiver of power and potency coursing through his soul was, Soul Reserves, Spiritual Energy, and Mana all singing with the sweet afterglow of slaughter, none of that could distract him from the growing sense of worry gnawing at his guts.

  And Lilly was nothing if not perceptive.

  “You okay, fearless leader? You should be celebrating! You’re so close to Level 41 in the best class of all that even I can taste it! One more Call to Battle, and we are set!”

  Eric pulled his racing thoughts and his ever growing sense of panic into careful reign. He then forced himself to face what he had been putting off, rightfully so, in the glorious moments he had been focused on simply mastering this latest swarm.

  He was making a difference. He knew he was! He had arrived at this territory by hunch and a contrary desire just to SMASH any possible obstacle, assuming that the worst would always be coming for him.

  He hadn’t been an overconfident idiot thinking he could actually escape into slice-of-life happiness without earning it. Hell, he had been ahead of the fucking game!

  But when he pulled up his map… it didn’t even matter how noble his intention or blazingly sharp his insights. Because he was still being forced to dance with a thousand year old monster who had gotten the best of his mother for centuries, who had a hideous degree of experience at hatching twisted plots and spite-filled schemes and the situation was just as bad as Eric had feared.

  He had suspected he’d see two, maybe three clusters of locusts that he’d need to clear before he could get back to claiming the entire ten thousand square miles worth of territory.

  He wasn’t expecting over a hundred hot spots. Any one of which could presage the world’s end.

  “FUCK! This is insane! The swarms are springing up from nowhere, Bunbun. A hell of a lot faster than I can cleanse them!”

  His familiar winced. “Oh. Yeah. That.”

  And that was when his Dominion Interface IM pinged with one of the very, very few souls that he would let contact him under any circumstances.

  C – Ernest. We have reports of rapidly rising mana levels throughout the entire region you are in! Our seismometers are all spiking along multiple electromana wavelengths! Monster surge is imminent!

  EE – No shit! We got major problems, Calibro! We are HOT! I got a HUNDRED fucking hot blinking lights on my DI Map indicating massive swarms of Half-step Bronze Locusts! The three swarms I already took out are roughly three thousand!

  EE – Do you understand what I’m saying, Caliban? WE have A HUNDRED THOUSAND BRONZE TIER LOCUSTS that are about to swarm!

  For long moments, there was no message. Just Eric racing as fast as he had ever before in his life, pushing aside the mounting burn in his quadriceps as he gasped for air that whipped in his face despite massively lowered air resistance and inertia being exactly what he needed to be to race across the treetops that flew by in a flickering blur as he pushed his speed to Mach 1.6. Then 1.7 and beyond.

  “Living for the thrill of it!” Bunbun thought with a mental squeal as her eyes squeezed shut, ears vibrating as they flapped behind her.

  Eric’s lips stretched in a desperate grimace. As much as he wanted to howl with exhilaration, what he felt was a growing sense of dread as he gasped for breath, knowing that he shouldn’t be sprinting like a fool, that he could keep Mach 1 forever, but there could be no mistaking the slowly ascending flare of one crimson hot spot after another. All of them heading north, all of the honing in on the agrarian capital of the world.

  “Fucking hell I’ll let you, motherfuckers!” Eric cursed under his breath, before his interface pinged with a new message.

  C – Your observations have been verified. As you know, you are presently in a State of War with the Terran Council. In light of the current threat, with an Archmagister pleading our case, the Global Council has offered a temporary armistice for the sake of society as a whole.

  “Like I give a fuck. Those assholes are living on borrowed time,” Eric snarled, though kept the thought between himself and a furiously nodding Bunbun.

  C – The temporary armistice will turn to a permanent truce, should you manage to, or at least play a significant role in, eliminating what could well become a global threat to humanity, if left unchecked.

  EE – No shit.

  C – Ernest, we’re moving our men into position. Freetown’s nearest neighbor, New Arcadia, is also mobilizing its forces. They will be limited to archers and lightly armed spearmen. Though their numbers will be significant with a morale bonus that’s nothing short of legendary… we both understand the worst case scenario in this case, do we not?”

  Eric cursed under his breath. “Fuck. Those goddamned locusts will devour those desperate reborn elves promised a happy slice-of-life farming isekai after years of torment only for the fucking mastermind behind all the goblins’ fuckery to pull out one last fuck you joker. FUCK!”

  C – Blue Federation has access to highly trained mercenaries of Bronze Tier… but our troop number of actual Bronze-Tier power-armored soldiers is less than fifty. We can summon an additional 5000 White-Tier auxiliaries, but only a modest fraction will have access to ranged weaponry actually capable of penetrating the carapaces of Bronze-Tier Locusts.

  Eric winced. The situation was definitely not looking good.

  C – Ernest, is there any chance that you can mitigate this monster surge?

  EE – Well, I guess we’re about to find out! Ernest out.