Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 2

Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 2

…

I walked amidst hundreds of dead.

Many of them dead by my hand.

I should’ve felt bad, but most of them would’ve killed me in my sleep given the chance.

Intimidation and tradition only go so far, when literal wealth beyond measure is taken into account.

“Clean this up.” I ordered the nearest Citadel Guardian, and it obeyed. It tapped the floor of the Citadel beneath each corpse and they disappeared to be processed for anything useful and then discarded. Fertilizer for the bodies, and the weapons and clothes would be broken down. After seeing the creature do it, I gestured and the rest of the bodies and blood went off to the Citadel’s processing areas. The one I ordered paused as all the bodies disappeared and point its triangular face composed of Citadel material my way. “Bring the wounded who fought beside me to the clinics. The rest of you come with me.”

I addressed the warriors who chose to side with me, which earned them a modicum of trust, and the remaining Citadel Guardians.

The Revolt for the Ring event, which explained why you didn’t start with an army after taking a Citadel, was a lot bloodier than I expected. Over half of my troops tried to kill me, resulting in them all dying, and a lot of my loyal troops incapacitated.

I looked over them and picked the one that looked the toughest and biggest.

“Hey, you. What’s your name?”

“… Master called me, Doll.” Augh. Guess it was one of the tribes that kept serf/slave warriors. Seems like she took the opportunity to kill her master during the fighting. That earned her the respect of the few others who sided with me, with more than a few eyeing her up. She glared at them. Red eyes, red hair, and highly toned… but with sullen cheeks and eyes telling of malnutrition and possible stunted growth. “I will not be a serf again.”

“You keep what you kill.” I rattled off the line and got a grumbling assent from the party, while I walked over. They all killed plenty and I was centralizing power anyway. That made things easier. “I’ll hire you as a guard, though. My last one is now… incapable.”

My ‘father’ had that role, but now he was being processed after trying to tear my head off my shoulders.

Saw it coming from a mile away, so it was pretty easy to get the jump on him.

“I will be of honored to do protecting.” Right. I’ll need to teach her how to speak.

“Pick another name for yourself. If the rest of you want to do the same, go ahead. You’ll be taking control of all the clans without heads anymore.” Time to establish a pseudo-aristocracy from the most loyal of the barbarians under my control. I went ahead and took a good look at them all… and they all pretty much took steps back. Yep, time to dispel the waiting fireballs over my shoulders and flick the blood off my weapons. Things are under control “Call upon your people, and piece out the land fairly amongst you all within the new walls. If you don’t, I’ll do it myself.”

There was a smattering of agreements from them all, then I looked over at the former warrior-serf.

“You pick a name yet?” Please, pick one that isn’t garbage and that I can stand. I need a new bodyguard.

“…Red? Like the color of my hair. I like my hair.”

“That’ll do, I suppose.” Good reasoning as any, especially from a feral barbarian of a woman wearing mostly scraps of leather and fur. The whole look would be pretty great, but she’s bordering on emaciated. More lanky than slender, too. Hopefully, the clinics can help out with that and she can train to be actually decent at fighting. I’ll have my hands full coordinating battles. “C’mon, Red, let’s get the prisoners to work.”

Time to make use of all the people that I’ve abducted from the surrounding area.

…

I picked three of the dozen or so town leaders and had them take command of the couple thousand people that we pulled from dozens of small towns. There were less than five thousand people, but more than three thousand. The exact numbers were iffy, but a headcount was the least of my worries.

I’d thought they’d try an uprising and escape when the revolt started, but it looked like I put it down quickly enough that they didn’t get the chance.

Anyway, I addressed the bald, wrinkled old man with a full beard that was the head of the triumvirate I’d appointed.

“All the traitors to my cause are dead. I now command the greatest weapon left behind by the ancients. If there are any fools amongst your people who still think of rebellion, bring them forward and I will remove them and their foolishness.” I sat at the head of the table, covered a bit in blood, and they were all trembling in my presence. I leaned back in my chair and nestled my cheek against my closed, bloody fist. The scent of iron filled my nose. It was a bit disturbing how familiar I was with it. “I have need of you and all your people. I stole you all away through right of arms, and now you will do as I wish. You will be the citizens of my new kingdom, which will mount the world entire.”

They nodded at my words, but there were questions in their eyes, but I recognized them.

“I know of the strength of your people and you know the strength of mine. You will do your duty and they will do theirs. All will be equal under my rule. Accept my offer, and I shall grant you all wealth to rebuild your homes under my protection and control against all others. Refuse and perish.” I laid it on thick. These guys had staff at their back. Clerks and other people that they needed to organize and keep thousands alive. In essence, I was constructing a civilian government that would be subordinate to me, while I transformed the barbarians into a military branch of society. Also subordinate to me. “I have kept my word. Those who have surrendered have been fed, cared for, and what they brought remained theirs. Now, you will live the same, static, and slow lives you once had under my service and protection.”

The oldest of the triumvirate looked to his co-leaders and found his voice.

“W-we understand. You have been good to us, your lordship. All who tried to take from us, lie dead and we are whole.” I stole them off their lands and took everything that wasn’t nailed down for the ride. Now, I was making them citizens. In this land, with all the wars, I was actually being decent. These guys are usually just herded around and taken from without much thought. “We submit to your rule and will do as you ask.”

“Good. Begin rebuilding beyond the outer walls. I will have palisades erected. I want your finest craftsmen with me. I will equip them with the finest tools from the forges of the Ancients, and all will eat the food that the Ancients provided.”

They bowed to me, each in turn, while I turned my attention back to the idiots that were going to be my main fighting force for the foreseeable future.

At the very least, they’ll get taken through attrition over time.

…

Interlude: Khanrow.

…

I walked in the shadow of the great Citadel of the Ancients and found myself disturbed.

We had discerned that the one who took the Citadel was of the tribal peoples. A group of nomads that found themselves gifted with a great and charismatic leader who managed to unite multiple tribes. That was the only way to explain the thousands of dead monsters being burned in massive funeral pyres downwind of the budding city.

So, I expected the immense structure to be manned by discordant peoples, if better armed and equipped through their raids throughout the region. I believed that I would lay the seeds of dissent, fomenting a rebellion which we could take advantage, and seize the Citadel.

Then, as I followed the train of hopefuls who came forth to accept the barbarian king’s invasion, I found those ideas of mine dying.

“Keep moving.” The one that addressed me was a barbarian warrior on horseback, covered in leather armor and forged iron, but with weapons forged by the Ancient’s gift. A cavalry saber of pure white lay at his hip, and at his lap was a short bow with strange curves that he handled with utmost ease. These were no doubt the horseback archers that ransacked the region. “You can stare at the living corpses further along. There’s plenty of criminals.”

The bandit king was establishing his authority through the only method he knew: violence.

The main road, ever dozen or so meters, had heavy posts upon which criminals were being subject to death by exposure. Their crimes were written on signs beneath them. Naked beneath the sun, bereft of water and clothing and shelter, they were to die slow deaths. Carrion birds were already flying above them. Some were already being eaten.

The criminals were of every mortal race and of every creed.

The message was simple: all under my rule obey my laws, or perish.

Those of the Academy lands would recoil at the sight of it all, but more than a few people who have suffered beneath the yoke of warlords looked at the punishments with relief. To them, the punishments were a promise that crime will not be tolerated and that the leader of the town could enforce his will upon those who broke his laws.

These people sought strength and stability, even if it meant the loss of their previous lives.

Perhaps, if the lives they now gained were to be as slaves, I could have found some purchase.

Yet, at the threshold of the first budding district, I knew such wouldn’t be the case.

“Blacksmiths over here!”

“Glassmakers! We need glassmakers!”

“If you need an apprenticeship, we have plenty here!”

“Tailors, weavers, and textile workers all come here!”

These people were being given jobs already. Beyond the main entrance set sturdy palisades from hewn tree trunks, were buildings rapidly being erected. Tall structures meant to house multiple families on the upper stories, with stores and workshops at the bottom. Divots were being carved on the streetside where water flowed to carry refuse out onto ditches leading into a shallow moat.

I could see that much of it was temporary, and to the sides of the budding town beyond the main gate of the Citadel were clearings with land being cleared, deep tunnels dug, and stone foundations being laid.

These barbarians were not near-feral creatures, but a force all their own.

A civilization bent on making the most of the Ancient’s gifts—

I stopped, as I felt the edge of a knife against my throat, and I looked down to see a young boy with dark tanned skin and scarlet eyes peering up at me.

“You hide your gait well, warrior, but not well enough. Come along.” Where had he come from? My eye darted to and fro, until I realized that the buildings close to the entrance of the temporary town cast a shadow between themselves and the wall. He had been there. Watching the procession. “You’re the first to try and gain information rather than wield a sword against me and my Citadel. So, I shall give you the honor of speaking your piece, rather than dying an ignoble death.”

For a moment, I considered trying to fight against him, but the slightest glance at his knife… made it flash before my vision.

I saw the lashes from my remaining eye fall before me.

And, then, the edge returned.

This boy was a Champion, someway and somehow, and I had no chance against him.

I grunted my assent, and a smile stretched across his face.

His unscarred face, while so many of those I encountered of the barbarians sported so many over their whole bodies.

Could Riegert even hope to kill this prodigy?

…

I was escorted to the base of the Citadel and after passing through its massive gates, I found myself looking upon a large tent between two grand staircases and a single, massive lift that climbed skyward within the tower’s hollow center.

No slaves came scampering forth, as was common amongst barbarians, and neither were there any guards.

Why would there be?

The young man controlled the constructs composed by the Citadel.

They walked on slender, skittering legs with edges and points like a sword. More than any living creature, the construct of pure white resembled a living sword with only a singular purpose: to kill. Yet, it took my coat gingerly and escorted me to a desk where the war chief of the massive conglomerate of tribes stayed.

After passing the Citadel’s walls, I looked upon the young man’s military and felt any hope of making this place my own fade. They had thousands of horses, hundreds and hundreds of tents, and many, many lifelong warriors and soldiers all wielding the same weapons as the guards I saw at the front entrance. Not only that, but many of them had chest plates and greaves of the same material. They looked less like barbarians and more like unshaven knights clad in furs and full plate.

If all cardinal gates were opened, the cleared lands around the Citadel will be filled with innumerable, well-armored light cavalry.

And, I saw more than a few mages amongst them as I neared the Citadel, each one practices and pouring over stolen knowledge to further their own training.

I knew, without a semblance of a doubt, that I looked upon a young man out of myth and legend.

Perhaps, an Ancient born true, as Riegert hypothesized was possible.

“I am the lord and ruler of this land, and three decades time, I shall rule over the continent entire. All the treasured spires of the Ancients will become mine. Many will scour the lands for them, but all they do is search in my stead.” It was a declaration that I should’ve considered madness, yet the he said it with such certainty and clarity that I nearly felt overwhelmed. “I have need of fine generals and strong soldiers. Your warband is cautious and careful. I like that, so I shall give you an offer: become my subordinate and be true to me, and I shall have you govern a Citadel of your own.”

He offered me wealth, power, and riches beyond compare within an hour of us meeting.

I almost called him a fool, yet I knew that he wasn’t.

Though, still, I needed to ask the question to make sure that I was not wrong.

“And, if I refuse?”

Without hesitation, and with eyes like steel, he answered.

“Then, I kill you and all that resist within your warband hidden in the hills southeast of here, and subjugate the rest.”

I played into his hand the moment I decided to investigate his land.

I could only laugh… and draw steel while falling to one knee.

I offered my sword to him.

“Fealty, then. In exchange for power and peace.”

“Power I can promise, but not peace. Never peace.”