Chapter 17: XCVI — Bone and Fire

  The first volley of arrows tore the levy apart. Men dropped screaming. Others tripped over the dead, over the dying. And just as quickly as it had been summoned, the borrowed bravery of the levied men cracked and bled into panic.

  Frost Guard.

  Kayode’s shield flared into existence, catching two arrows before shattering into harmless shards of ice.

  Men collided. Some tried to flee, shoving backward through the press, only to be forced forward again by the weight of bodies behind them.

  It was Chaos. But Kayode knew worse was coming.

  True pandemonium would begin when the levies hit the approaching enemy line, once that happened, there would be no chance to impose order.

  So he acted now.

  Sovereign’s Presence.

  “I have a way out of this!” Kayode shouted, the Skill threading command and certainty through his voice. Not fear, fear would only lead men to make stupid mistakes. And every mistake made here could be its maker’s last.

  Four heads turned toward him. Pokes, the Adventurer, the terrified man, and the boy next to him.

  Just four—but in a sea of screaming men, it was more than he could have hoped for. He imagined that his demonstration with the Frost Guard must have helped.

  He could have reached more by revealing who he truly was. By invoking his name. He didn’t. That was how to earn a mana shard in the back the moment he survived the charge.

  “Everyone, tell me your names!” Kayode ordered.

  “Pokes!”

  “Lilia,” the Adventurer said.

  “Jonathan,” the scared man blurted.

  “Kiv,” the boy told him.

  Kayode’s eyes cut through the chaos, locking onto a banner still standing amid the churn. A goat, stitched in black against a field of dull white. Not the Baron’s colors—that banner was deep behind the enemy line, far beyond reach. But this one was close. Too close. Likely the mark of one of Arthur Veyne’s lesser nobles, pressed forward to hold the line. It would do. A captured banner was a captured banner. Proof. It was Recognition. It was something officers noticed. Something recorded. Something distinguishing.

  “Pokes. Lilia. Jonathan. Kiv.” Kayode pointed. “We’re taking that.”

  Pokes understood immediately. Lilia did too, though her jaw tightened as she weighed the cost. The boy—Kiv—nodded without hesitation, empty eyes fixed on Kayode. He didn’t fully grasp why this mattered, only that Kayode looked like someone worth following.

  Jonathan did not.

  “Are you bloody mad?” he hissed. “We’ll be cut to pieces before we’re halfway there!”

  “If you don’t die today, you’ll die tomorrow,” Kayode snapped—not in panic, but with urgency. The enemy line was closing fast. “Because the Grand Duke will always need someone new to make an example of. Getting recognition is our only shot out of here! Now would you like to try to do something distinguishing today, or tomorrow when you’re bruised and battered from this fight.”

  Jonathan nodded stiffly, Lilia nodded with a begrudging agreement, Kiv nodded blindly, and Pokes just grinned.

  There was another rain of arrows. More Levies fell, and then the enemy was upon them.

  At first there was nothing but the shuffling of bodies and the sound of fighting men up ahead. Then there was a shove, and the Levy line broke.

  “Stay close!” Kayode roared.

  The first man stabbed at him.

  Kayode dodged, cracked him across the jaw with the length of his spear, and drove the tip down at his side.

  Edge-Spark.

  And the weapon dug deep.

  Kayode was already pulling the blade out when another came for him.

  Edge-Spark!

  His spear flared to life for half an instant—then flickered and died before it met its target.

  The faulty thing managed only a shallow cut instead of the gash he’d intended, blood spilling, but not enough.

  The man drove his own spear toward Kayode, its tip—far better made—crackling with hungry light, questing for his eye. Kayode, too committed to his strike, had no time to pull back.

  Another spear found the man first. Pokes drove the weapon deep into the enemy’s shoulder, and Kiv’s blade found his neck a heartbeat later.

  [You have slain a Warrior of the 2nd Awakening.]

  Kayode turned and found Lilia standing over Jonathan, a downed enemy sprawled at her feet.

  “Where to?!” she barked at him.

  He looked over the sea of bodies and spotted the banner—closer now. The space between them had shrunk, the ranks that once separated them reduced to dead men. “We go deep,” Kayode said. “Make an opening and push for the banner while the chaos holds.” He grabbed a spear from a dead Ohorin soldier’s fingers and turned back to them. “Are you ready?”

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  “I—I just killed a man,” Kiv whispered, eyes wide, staring at the blood slicking his weapon. “I—”

  Lilia slapped him hard, then seized his shoulders. “We don’t have time for that. Are you ready?” she growled.

  Kiv looked to Kayode, swallowed, and nodded. “Yes. Yes, sir.”

  Pokes and Jonathan nodded as well.

  “With me!” And Kayode got to work.

  He charged forwards, dodged a slash and stabbed a man in the eye.

  [You have slain a Fighter of the 1st Awakening.]

  A stab caught his shoulder before he could react, and harmlessly slid off.

  Storm writ!

  His fist slammed into his attacker’s face, caving the man's skull in in a gory display.

  [You have slain a Fighter of the 2nd Awakening.]

  Instantly, Kayode was onto the next, fighting, cutting, slashing.

  Kayode became momentum made flesh. Spears broke. Shields shattered. Frost bloomed and vanished in the space of breaths. Men died screaming or silent, and he did not slow.

  The air tasted of blood, sweat, and misery. Kayode did not slow.

  He tore a hole through the enemy line and drove deeper, the fighting behind him surging forward in his wake. These weren’t soldiers he was fighting, surely. Just more levies on the enemy’s side, barely more than amateurs. Not even an obstacle.

  His allies pressed on with renewed ferocity, bolstered by Sovereign’s Presence and by the simple, brutal sight of watching Kayode kill his way ahead. Allies of the Crown made his vessel thrum softly with every life they took—nothing compared to the feeling of his own victories, but a welcome sensation nonetheless.

  He saw others join in as well, the bravery infectious.

  The banner was close now, just three rows ahead.

  [You have slain a Fighter of the 1st Awakening.]

  [You have slain a Warrior of the 2nd Awakening.]

  [You have slain a Fighter of the 2nd Awakening.]

  Kayode dropped the last man and sprinted for the banner.

  And then the killing got hard.

  A foot caught his chest, driving him backwards, rolling, and springing up to his feet.

  He stabbed his spear and his opponent lashed their sword out, catching the length and cleaving right through.

  The Bannerman pulled back her sword and drove the flag down into the dirt. She was a woman, covered in decorated lamellar, a helm, and a deep scowl, almost as if she was insulted by the sight of Kayode. “A Levy thinks they can take the Banner of House Bonefire,” she spat.

  A man charged straight for the banner only to have his head cloven in two with one slash. Then she was coming for Kayode.

  He dodged back, once, twice, five times—lashed out with Winter’s Teeth only to see her catch it with her shield, swung with Storm Writ and saw her slip underneath his blow, swing past Frost Guard and drag her sword across his belly, cutting him something nasty.

  He wasn’t disembowelled though and Surprise flashed in her eyes.

  Kayode activated Storm Writ and punched her in the face.

  The helm dented, teeth bloodied, and she went stumbling back, blade and shield dropping.

  Winter’s Teeth!

  The blade cut through the air, and missed as she recovered almost instantly.

  Kayode raced for the sword. She did too.

  They caught each other midway and the fight turned into one of fists.

  And she packed a harder punch.

  A blow sank into his belly, an uppercut into his jaw.

  The world rocked. She swung a kick, Kayode caught it with Frost Guard. The shield exploded and the fragments broke against her armor. The next kick came, and that one clocked him in the jaw.

  She closed, he forced her back with a wild jab.

  She came again, and the fists kept flying. Kayode met her with a fury of his own. Both combatants turning the other into a canvas of bruises.

  He just needed a good hit, a good strike, something to turn the tide and—

  Storm Writ!

  It was a textbook connection, clean across her jaw, snapping her head back, and whitening the woman’s eyes.

  She stumbled away, stunned, body spasming with static.

  Open.

  Winter’s Teeth!

  Kayode whipped his hand out and the shard tore through the air to bury itself in the woman’s throat. She came to with wide eyes, blood pooling, fell to her knees, coughed wetly, and met the mud.

  [You have slain a Warrior of the 2nd Awakening.]

  Must have been fucking high second.

  Power flooded Kayode’s veins. All but confirming that.

  [—Level 14—]

  [—Skill(s) Acquired—]

  [Class Skill ? Allies of the Crown — II — Passive: A King does not let his side down. Close Allies within your immediate presence gain a moderate, sustained boost to all stats while fighting alongside you. For every enemy they slay, you recover health.]

  Sweating, heaving, and bleeding, Kayode stumbled forwards, grabbed the flag, and hoisted it into the air.

  Men erupted in cheers at that, and Kayode turned to see a ring of Levies around him, keeping the enemy at bay.

  Kiv was amongst the cheering.

  Jonathan just looked relieved.

  Lilia smiled through bloodied teeth.

  Pokes laughed. “Never in my seventy years have I seen something so mad!”

  Kayode grinned, then turned. “We’re not done yet. We still need to get this thing all the way to the other side—”

  The world flashed white.

  The air detonated.

  Kayode went flying. He hit the ground, vanished into it, burst free again, bounced, rolled, and finally came to a stop in a world made of pain.

  He turned and felt his ribs stabbing his insides. Gasped. Spasmed. Then, more carefully, he forced himself onto his knees.

  Bodies lay everywhere—Ohorin and Etentra levy alike. He scanned wildly. No Lilia. No Kiv. No Jonathan.

  Only Pokes.

  Kayode dragged himself towards him, each motion a knife in his side.

  Pokes was alive. Barely. Half his body was burned black, his one working eye bloodshot and drifting. He would not last long.

  Still, he smiled.

  Pokes lifted a trembling hand and rested it against Kayode’s shoulder. “Justin… is that you… my boy…” His smile widened, fragile. “I’m finally here. I’ve finally come to get you. Justin… can you hear me?”

  Kayode’s throat tightened. “I… I can,” he said.

  Pokes frowned, worried. Crushed. “I can’t… I can’t hear you… please don’t ignore me, my boy.” His voice broke, panic flooding in. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I tried, I tried, I tr—”

  His words cut off. His hand slackened and fell.

  Kayode tore his gaze away, heart hammering, got to his feet and began searching for the others. He knew he wouldn’t find them. He knew there was no way they could have survived that. He braced himself for the sight of their corpses. He found something worse.

  “It’s the Baron! The Baron is here!” men screamed as they fled.

  Ahead of them stood a man clad head to toe in glowing armor. In one hand, he held a blade. In the other, a ball of fire that grew and grew until it resembled a funeral pyre.

  He hurled it into the crowd.

  The explosion tore men apart. Those unfortunate enough not to be killed on impact were flung screaming through the air.

  He swung his weapon, and a silver arc tore forward, each swing cleaving into formations, some getting three ranks deep. Men were cut like slabs of meat, screaming, wailing, crying.

  The Baron pulled his blade back and swung it in Kayode’s direction.

  The arc cut apart men as it raced closer, and closer, and closer.

  Kayode couldn’t run, much less dodge.

  Petrify…

  The world went dark.

  ###

  And Kayode awoke in the woods of Asoburgh.

  [Loopforged: You have 95 Loops remaining.]

  ###

  Kayode slid the shells over the counter.

  “Nine silver shells to have your letter fast tracked?” the Postal clerk said, stunned as she took the shells. “You must have something really important to say.”

  “Yes, I do,” Kayode told the woman, then held his hand out. “Quill?”

  She handed it to him, and Kayode got to writing.

  ‘From: Nathan Bal

  To: Lami Fatima Gimba

  I am the Kingdom Maker.

  Come get me if you want to be Queen.’

  If the powers that be could not create a nation that would let him be, then Kayode would rule their Kingdom for them.

  No matter how many Loops it took, he would wear the Crown of Velúndé.

  Hello everyone, A. C. Erinle here.

  I hope you’re enjoying Crown of Velúndé.

  The next loop is going to be a long ride—so strap in. I truly hope you enjoy what’s coming.

  If you’re liking the story so far, a rating or review goes a long way and is always appreciated.

  Thanks for reading.

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