CHAPTER 220: THE CITADEL'S GUARD

Having completed the transformation of the Obsidian Order, Caius turned his sights toward the heavy martial forces stationed within Castle Precipice.

Accompanied by Old Bones, Caius strode past the subterranean parade grounds where the active Orc Legions stood in rigid, disciplined squares. Among the fifteen thousand subjugated greenskins, a distinct subset of warriors had evolved beyond raw, mindless savagery. Through prolonged exposure to Caius's dark-spatial aura, a quiet, calculated focus had taken root within them.

Stopping before the front ranks, Caius raised his gauntleted hand. His violet-gold gaze swept over ten elite orc captains, monstrous, broad-shouldered hulks whose eyes burned not with wild bloodlust, but with a terrifying, religious fanaticism.

Unlike the human knights of the Solarian Guard, there was no need to offer choices, explain risks, or ask for volunteers. The moment Caius's dark gaze landed upon them, all ten orc commanders dropped heavily to both knees, slamming their thick, green fists against their chests. Their gargantuan frames trembled with eagerness, their tusks bared in guttural, reverent snarls.

"Make us... sovereign’s steel!" the lead captain growled, his voice a low, gravelly rumble. "Take flesh! Give master’s mark!"

Caius offered a cold, satisfied smirk. "At least you brutes do not waste my time with speeches."

Working with swift, mechanical efficiency, Caius extended black Arachne threads to suspend the ten orcs in mid-air above the floor. He activated Calamity Forge, melting refined obsidian alloy and embedding high-density kinetic beads directly into their chest meridians. He reshaped their bulky muscle fibers with Obsidian Lattice sinews, purging their individual desires and hardwiring their minds into absolute puppet matrices.

When the forge extinguished, the ten transformed orcs dropped to the floor. They were re-engineered as heavy Orc Knights, formidable juggernauts clad in thick, dark-forged plate armor, wielding massive steel-shod warhammers and heavy, round obsidian shields etched with kinetic-dampening runes. Though a full tier lower in absolute power compared to Caius's personal Chieftain Guardian Puppets, these ten new puppets possessed stable, high-tier meridians capable of continuous growth through combat and ambient cultivation.

Satisfied with his work, Caius retrieved a single, heavy spatial ring from his coat, hardwiring the ten newly forged Orc Knights into its internal pocket realm.

"Come, Old Bones," Caius spoke flatly. "Let us deliver the Citadel's new tether."

Caius raised his right hand and slashed two fingers through the air. Space groaned violently as a jagged, pitch-black spatial rift tore open, revealing the dry, dust-laden skies of the Shattered Steppes.

Stolen story; please report.

Stepping through the portal, Caius and Old Bones materialized directly inside the central hall of the Obsidian Citadel, the central seat of power governing the ancestral orc homeland.

Inside the grand basalt hall, Head Shaman Vrak and his four peer elders instantly dropped flat onto their faces, their ragged robes spreading across the stone floor as they trembled before their lord's sudden arrival.

"Sovereign!" Vrak gasped, his withered voice echoing in the hall. "Your humble stewards bow!"

Caius walked past them without stopping, tossing the single black spatial ring through the air. Vrak caught it in his trembling, clawed hands, looking up in confusion.

"Inside that ring rest ten newly forged Orc Knight Puppets," Caius stated smoothly, his voice cold and absolute. "I am retrieving the five Chieftain Guardian Puppets from your deployment authority. From this day forth, these ten Orc Knights shall serve as the primary defensive wall of the Citadel."

Vrak's jaw dropped, but he quickly pressed his forehead back against the stone. "As... as the Sovereign decrees! But my Lord, how shall they be deployed?"

"They are bonded strictly to this fortress," Caius instructed, his eyes narrowing with a sharp, warning glare. "Their activation array is tied directly to the Citadel's boundaries. Should rogue clans or foreign invaders march upon this stronghold, you may unleash them to crush the threat. But they cannot be deployed outward to wage conquest against neighboring tribes."

Caius harbored no illusions about the warlike nature of the orcs. Granting the five shamans unchecked access to mobile, high-tier slaughter constructs would inevitably tempt them to overreach, disrupting the delicate political equilibrium he had meticulously engineered across the plains. He gave them enough strength to secure his authority, but never enough to foster independent ambition.

Leaving the shamans to process their new instructions, Caius turned and descended into the vast subterranean chambers beneath the Citadel, the former breeding grounds of the Arachne broods before their relocation to Castle Precipice.

The massive basalt caverns were cold, cavernous, and empty.

Caius stepped into the center of the subterranean vault. Raising both hands, he channeled his dark-spatial mana, weaving complex spatial threads that shot out in every direction, embedding themselves deep into the stone walls and ceiling.

From his spatial inventory, Caius drew several high-purity Ambient Obsidian Crystals, raw, concentrated mana nodes harvested from the deepest rifts. With a flick of his wrist, he shattered the crystals into glowing dust, using his Arachne threads to thread the energy directly into the cave's stone architecture, constructing a permanent Ambient Energy Resonance Array.

The moment the array locked into place, a soft, deep violet luminescence flared across the subterranean cavern. A dense, soothing wave of ambient dark mana began to cycle continuously through the air, transforming the abandoned cavern into a high-density cultivation sanctuary.

"This chamber will serve as a continuous charging cradle for the ten Orc Knights," Caius announced, stepping back toward the spatial rift where Old Bones waited. "And for you shamans as well. Meditate within these halls, and your dark spellcraft will refine at twice the speed."

Head Shaman Vrak and the four elders fell to their knees at the cavern's entrance, weeping in awe as they felt the rich, intoxicating energy washing over their withered bodies.

"Praise the Sovereign!" Vrak cried out, clutching the spatial ring tightly against his chest. "The Shattered Steppes shall forever remain your immovable shield!"

Caius didn't bother listening to their praise. With a quiet flick of his mantle, he stepped back through the spatial tear alongside Old Bones, leaving the portal to snap shut behind them.