Chapter 180: Into the Depths, Death March.

Mercifully, after their rant, the snake, rather, the viper decided to swallow their meal and went right to sleep. Ophelia seemed unconcerned by that, if anything she was happy to see it. Given time the viper would heal and recover, and I wouldn’t need to feed it for a few weeks.

That aside, I was seriously considering if the bond was really worth it. Ophelia mentioned it was possible that the viper had awakened when we made the bond. I wasn’t so sure. What was good news, was with it having intelligence, its growth would be better.

The benefits of a bond were multifaceted, though, nowhere near as impressive as what Ophelia would get out of her own bonds. The main benefit was that would improve my own ice affinity. Granted, I already had nigh perfect affinity due to my magic type, and being a magical girl, but there was such a thing as over-affinity, rather, having an affinity beyond the limit.

All it really did was further boost the potency and efficiency of my magic, but every little bit helps. Other benefits were being able to pull on the bonds magic, allowing me to use their energy as my own. Further upgrades would apparently let me gain certain benefits or traits that the viper had for small periods of time.

Not that the viper would be ready for any of that anytime soon, but… mainly, it was a chance to bolster my own might even if by a little. Ophelia mentioned anyone could benefit from a bond, but unless I got a perk for it, I’d probably only ever be able to bond with one, or possibly even two. Whereas Ophelia, she isn’t limited by that, mainly due to her magic type.

In a way, it made me think of other, similar types. Rather, they seemed to have similarities to what Ophelia was doing. The police chief apparently used oaths to grow her own power, as well as her subordinates. Amanda, a magical girl I had teamed up with during the first event and had met on occasion at the place she worked at, could grow and empower plants.

I wasn’t sure, but it was entirely possible she could take time to breed and create unique plants. I had no idea if she was doing that, but if I were in her shoes, I probably would.

Either way, the bond wasn’t that important. If anything, it was an investment for the future. And with that done with, I went to the next task.

With Talia’s help, I was able to slowly work and animate my newest knight. Having been made out of the enchanted ice that had been suffused with magic, the knight proved a challenge to animate. It took nearly the whole of the day to get him operational. Even then, it left me drained afterwards.,

Luckily, I’d taken the time to gather goods, but it wasn’t like we were in a hurry to get out of the door. If anything, I was going into the depths Monday morning, during the early hours before anyone was up.

That way, we’d all get some rest, Ophelia could make some initial progress with her bond, and then we could begin what was a true-blue death march.

After all, we’d keep plumbing the depths until a gold coin revealed itself. That was the plan at least, and since it wasn’t a full moon yet, it shouldn’t be too expansive.

I imagine, we might even get quite far into the depths, although, Talia seemed uncertain about that and made sure we were packed with a whole week’s worth of supplies. Not that I minded, if anything, I made sure to follow her advice. Especially when, knowing my luck, we’d probably get caught up in something.

As the final preparations were made, it came time to properly greet and name my newest knight.

He was of a different sort. That much I could tell immediately. Both in form, and mind. He looked more like an older gladiator. The heavy helmet on his head obscured his face, and the plume sticking out, carefully dug out only added to the flair.

Below the helmet, was a bare body. There was no armor, instead, a muscular chest that I’d taken an absurd amount of time to detail and get quite right so that it was anatomically on point. Barrel chested would be a word, with thick arms, and big hands. His lower body was obscured by a tasset belt. A set of what looked like metal plates molded to almost look like a skirt that added to his frames, with his feet clad in heavy metal boots.

When the animation completed, he didn’t jolt to a start. No, his body simply gained life. It almost rippled under my hand, as the magic flowed through its veins, as its core began to pump magic into it. As the cycle began, the knight began to shiver under my grasp.

Miniscule shavings of ice, little imperfections were worn away as the knight fluidly came to life. Every muscle flexed and moved as if true flesh, and not ice. Every twitch, every movement felt far too alive for what was an animated sculpture of ice.

The moment the knight beheld me, that was when his personality came to the fore. Unlike Cobalt, Fathom, Luna, and Estrella, he did not kneel. Nor did he bow. He merely regarded me, his head tilting ever so slightly as if asking, are you my master?

Even then, there was no real respect. Merely a grudging understanding of its purpose.

I didn’t much care, so long as they followed my orders. So long as they did not overstep. Eyeing them, I considered a name. Their purpose was a simple one. To act as a bruiser, but also as a ranged attacker. The idea being, that the knight before me could assist in the front, or target weaker targets, all too fill in the gap in our formation.

He felt different from all the other knights. Like the calm before a blizzard. That even standing before me, he was coiled and ready to strike. To snap out and unleash havoc upon any and all.

He was a hunter, clearly. A stalker by nature, yet he was not afraid of confrontation. If anything, he craved it.

The more I felt him out, the more sure I was of his name.

“Shi… give him a spear and do mind the floor.” At my command, ice began to build up from the ground. Slowly, but surely forming into a replica of Shi’s own weapon. Only, sized up to fit the larger figure before me.

The knight beheld the spear for a moment, and before I could speak, he took it in hand. The moment it was in hand, it glowed, the ice glimmered and shook, crackling as magic suffused it, changing it.

There was no roar of power, no bright flash of light. Only a final snap as the magic settled in, as the spear changed and became fully his.

Once more, of his own initiative, the knight grasped the spear and slammed the butt of it into the ground. And out of the ground, new spears were birthed, jutting into the air. Confirming something I already suspected was possible.

After all, after copying my rifle, those copies could mimic my own rifles capabilities. It was a fraction of its true capabilities, but that hardly mattered. What with the weapons being considered silver rank equipment.

Now, my knight, of his own volition had proved my guesses true, only…

I glanced at the ruined ground around the knight. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but… do consider your surroundings.”

At my words, the knight looked at the ground, noting the damage, only to shrug as if it weren’t its concern. On the other side, Shi was, of all things, pouting. As if to say, I tried so hard not to cause damage, and he does this?

“Good work Shi.” I say, as a means to mollify her. The ever-silent animated corpse smiled at my praise.

It was interesting to note that she was now showing signs of emotion after consuming all those blood pills. That, and more independent thought. Talia encouraged her to read books and other such things to help hasten her development. Meanwhile, I’d taken the time on occasion to teach her myself.

As for the knight in question, there were other options I had considered. A bow would have been nice, but making one out of ice would have been difficult. Just the body would have been an issue, not to mention the string. Even if I had a clue in the form of my piercing grenade, which used a special material made of ice that mimicked cloth or silk.

That and numerous other discoveries and research from Talia, including looking into Shi, Fathom, and my other knights for other clues were slowly bearing fruit. Whether or not any of those fruits would be valuable in the here and now, well, that was still up in the air.

As I took in my knight one last time however, I finally said the name on the tip of my tongue.

“Orion.” I announced. “That will be your name from here on out.”

Orion considered the name, tilting their head before nodding, as if to say, that is acceptable. Our link pulsed, though, I only now noted how distant it felt compared to my other knights.

Given time, I’m sure that link would deepen, but for now, it is what it is.

With all that done, everything secured, we rested the night and first thing in the morning we packed up.

Which was when I realized a sobering fact. My truck was only just big enough to fit us all inside. Jamming all my soldiers, and knights including my newest knight pushed it to the brim, forcing me to almost jam them in there. Not to mention how crowded the cabin was. With me in the driver seat, Talia in the middle with Shi on her lap, and with Ophelia in the far seat, with her beast on her lap, snoozing away.

“Are you sure you want to bring it?” I asked once more.

“Yes, right now is a critical time, and I promise, she won’t get in the way. Also, her name is Kanbaru.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, but… “Alright.” Was my answer. After all, I wasn’t going to argue about it. Not so long as she proves her worth.

With the cabin of the truck packed as it was, I was glad the drive wasn’t very long. Especially with Shi messing with the central console, and Talia having to keep her from causing trouble. To the little ape bawling after the radio blared out, startling them awake.

Really… what was this, a circus?

Eventually we did make it without any serious incident, the first morning light was just making itself known as we piled out and headed for the entrance into the sewers. The lot was empty of cars, but it wasn’t calm. In the distance, I could hear the low rumble of thunder, the wind picking up. I could almost smell the coming rain.

A portent? Good or bad, did it matter?

A loud crack of thunder announced the coming storm as we finished bringing our stuff in. The rain fell as a curtain, soaking the earth as we piled in. The thunder chased us into the sewers until the door was shut. We stood there, soaked, but that wouldn’t be an issue for much longer.

Each of us transformed, with each of us being sure we could maintain our transformation indefinitely. With even Shi having gained enough control over the past few months to maintain her transformed state as well.

With that done, we took one last stock of our supplies. Despite the pouch on my belt, the size of the space was finite. I couldn’t place a large pack, or sizeable suitcase and hope to get that much space in the bag. At most, it was the size of a backpack, or a bag.

Anything larger than that, failed to carry through during the transformation, meaning a number of our packs had to be collected. As it was, the regular ice soldiers were tasked with holding some of the bags, and command of them was relegated to the silver captain. Not that there were many of them, after all the patrols, a handful at best were left.

As for my knights… they hadn’t been idling either. With me having made my newest knight Orion out of the newer, stronger ice, Blue Ice, perhaps? Or Sapphire Ice, due to its Sapphire-like appearance and clarity. Because Orion was made with this new ice, I made a point to have Talia make more of it and have my knights assimilate it.

Now, each of them were fully upgraded with the new ice, but unfortunately, I did not have the time to do the same with the regular soldiers. Still, their new bodies radiated strength.

Taking them in, I noted another oddity. Something I’d never really thought of. Orion was looking at Fathom strangely. Fathom regarded Orion with a measure of caution. Estrella and Luna were wary of him as well.

Despite this, nothing came of it, well, not yet anyway, but it felt a bit too much like a powder keg waiting for a spark. And I had a feeling, that Orion was just itching to light that keg.

Pursing my lips, I looked over everyone, and with one last, final check, we continued. Our goal, a gold coin.

Thus, started the death march.

The initial sewers were not much. At least on the surface. The air was oddly heavy. This was despite the fact that it wasn’t currently a full moon. That, and as we went further in, we found the area teeming with shades.

Before I could even give the command to engage, Orion acted. With a heave, he threw his spear into the midst of the mass, impaling a number of them with the thrown spear. Those unharmed, immediately noticed us and ran forward.

A crystal song followed, punching into the leading monster’s head, blasting it to pieces as I calmly ejected the spent casing. The sound of the casing clattering on the ground was drowned out by Fathom making his move, surging forward he swept his cleaver of a blade and smashed through the frontrunners of the pack, and slammed his shield forward, pushing the rest back.

Following up, was Ophelia. With a wrenching of a mechanism, she aimed her ballista of a crossbow and loosed. Launching a javelin sized bolt right into the midst of the pack. It punched through any flesh or bone in its path, leaving an open corridor as she calmly reloaded, pulling from one of the bolts she’d placed on her belt.

The rest were finished off by a series of spears jutting out of the earth, impaling them.

Without much fanfare, the fight was finished, but…

I wasn’t satisfied. I glanced at Orion whose gaze was firmly on Fathom. The two looked at each other. It felt like a storm facing off with a mountain.

Orion was taking far too many liberties. I knew what was going to happen if I let this continue. This wasn’t something I could simply pass off and ignore. This was a problem that needed to be nipped in the bud. Only, I knew that if I were to tighten the leash, Orion would only act out more.

The question is, how do I put a stop to this behavior?

The answer was surprisingly brutal and yet… Spare the rod, I suppose…

“Orion. Come here.” I gestured, the knight looked away from Fathom and looked at me. he considered, I felt him weighing whether or not he should obey before shrugging and doing so. He moved with a notable swagger, a kind of devil may care attitude. Which only convinced me more that I was right to do what I was going to do, even if I hated it.

With him before me, I spoke. “Orion.” I said, tasting the words. “I admire agency, a will to get things done of their own volition, but what you did crossed the line.”

He regarded me, uncaring, almost mockingly, as if to ask, what will you do about it?

So, I gave him my answer, in the only way he could understand.

Violence.

Before he could even react, I moved. With a crack, my fist found its home in his chiseled abs, abs I had carved. I felt the ice crackle, break under the blow. I followed through with the strike and he went flying into the far wall. He smashed into it with notable force and caused some of the stone to crack.

For a moment there was silence. Nobody spoke, as everyone processed what had just happened. Eventually, Orion pulled himself up and I continued.

“Next time, I won’t show mercy.” I said, and for the first time, Orion kneeled. Yet, I knew, it was only a show. That eventually he’d act up again, and when that happens again, I’d have to show him his place, yet again…

At least, until I truly earn his respect…

If that will ever happen.