Chapter 121: Clearing the Marches

Others kept their heads.

[Black Banner Lord: If we all go there and Cassian seals the Region, how do we get out?]

Calm thinking could not close the gap in strength and authority.

[Black Banner Lord: Then give us a better answer. If we don’t help, he can use his Commander permissions to destroy us one Region at a time. We might as well leave now.]

[Black Banner Lord: He’s told us exactly what he’s doing, and we still have to walk into it.]

More than ten minutes passed. Cassian estimated that several thousand War Lords had arrived to reinforce Bellwood—perhaps close to ten thousand.

"How helpful."

Scattered enemies would have been much more troublesome. Ordinary Lords might find killing other Lords profitable. For Cassian, hunting at Crystal Bastion or out at sea was far more efficient.

At least this lot had gathered themselves in one place.

Cassian called Sigrid and her Stormlance away from the daily hunt and into position for the assault. Then he opened the Exchange.

He paid for a batch of Epic Regional Spatial Lock Scrolls and a single Epic Communication Seal Scroll. The purchased scrolls entered his Inventory.

He took out one of the regional seals and tore it open.

[Regional Spatial Lock activated.]

Spatial passage throughout Bellwood was sealed.

[Black Banner Lord: He’s really sealed—]

Cassian tore the Communication Seal open as well. The warning stopped there.

"Sigrid, take your Stormlance and hold the transit point. Aurelia, take the Dawnwings in. Rhea, lead the Eclipse force."

His voice turned cold.

"Leave no enemy alive."

"Yes, Lord!"

The assault forces moved into Bellwood.

Celia stood with her sword in her arms.

"And me?"

"You stay with me."

Cassian remained outside the sealed area, ready to respond if anything unexpected happened.

The other Alliance forces were making good progress as well.

Cassian had only one small complaint.

After the favor he had done Seraphine, he had thought she might send some Aether to thank him. A hundred million would have been welcome. Even ten million would have been fine.

Instead, she had said, "We’ll be family soon enough."

"Even a Valcrest can be all talk," he muttered.

——

"Moonlit Dominion!"

Seraphine drove her fist forward. More than a dozen enemy warriors burst into clouds of blood.

She laughed.

"That feels good!"

Dozens of Epic Valcrest Guards were sweeping through the Domain around her. She emptied the vial in her hand, feeling her Aether recover rapidly.

"Cassian’s Clearwake Tonic is excellent. Restores Aether and clears the head."

The diluted Life Water had begun as Celia’s idea for treating the dark circles under her eyes. Cassian had given the resulting tonic a name to match.

Before long, the guard captain returned.

"My lady, every enemy here is dead."

Seraphine selected Destroy on the captured Domain.

"Next target. The Black Banner Domain thirty kilometers southeast."

"Vein Sense no longer detects it, my lady. It appears to have relocated out of the Marches."

She gave a cold laugh.

"They had to wait until we were at their door."

——

Before taking the field, Nessa had paid to recruit more than a hundred Epic Eclipse Legionnaires from her Chapterhouse. She had then spent the Battle Essence to raise the force to Level 20.

Now she was watching what that investment could do.

"Aegis Fold!"

The Legionnaires closed their formation. The enemy’s charge struck their defenses and failed to break through.

"Mistveil March!"

The formation advanced. Blades struck together, and the enemy line collapsed before it.

Nessa pushed her glasses up, unable to keep the excitement from her voice.

"They’re so strong together!"

More than a dozen Lords had joined their armies against her. The Eclipse force had crushed them without a single injury.

They were only ordinary Lords, but her Legionnaires were only Level 20. They had not even needed Wings of the Windlord.

"That’s settled. From now on, I’m only recruiting Cassian’s Eclipse troops. I wouldn’t trade them for any other Epic line!"

——

Across the Marches, the same scenes played out again and again.

Reinforce a threatened Region, and Cassian came with another of the scrolls he had bought, consuming a fresh seal each time. The Lords trapped inside disappeared from the Registry.

Refuse to reinforce it, and they could only watch it fall.

Some wanted to retaliate against a friendly Region. Their armies might spend hours on the road. Friendly reinforcements could step through a Gate in a second.

[Black Banner Lord: We can’t fight like this!]

The campaign had barely begun, and their resolve was already breaking.

[Black Banner Lord: I’m leaving.]

[Black Banner Lord: If we wait any longer, we won’t get out.]

[Black Banner Lord: What are you afraid of? There are so many of us that it would take him a month to kill everyone.]

[Black Banner Lord: Good. You can go first.]

[Black Banner Lord: Well...]

Cassian checked the Registry as he replied.

[Cassian Vale: Ashgrove, is it? I’ll be there in a minute.]

More than three hundred Lords had been registered in Ashgrove. Within that minute, every one of them had fled.

The remaining Black Banner population fell to three hundred and thirty thousand. Then a hundred and eighty thousand. Then fifty thousand.

A few hours later, fewer than a thousand remained. These were the ones who truly intended to stay until they died.

Cassian gave the order to finish them.

By nightfall, he was looking at a Registry clear of hostile Black Banner Lords. Satisfied, he issued an announcement.

[Cassian Vale: Black Banner has been cleared from the Marches. We’ve won.]

Cheers filled the Channel.

Cassian opened another video conference.

"Does anyone want to be Civil Deputy?"

The post carried considerable authority, including access to the Registry and Directed Relocation. It also meant a great deal of work. He had no desire to tie Elara, his source of good fortune, to a desk full of Marches administration.

Darian raised his hand at once.

"I want Military Deputy."

Cassian glared at him.

"I said Civil Deputy."

The Military Deputy’s main benefits were bonuses to Heroes and troops. At least Darian had not tried to buy command from him this time.

[Darian Frost has been appointed Military Deputy of the Riftward Marches.]

Mira spoke up.

"If you trust me with it, Cassian, I’d like to try the civil post."

"Of course I trust you. It’ll be a lot of work. Let me give you something for your pay."

Over the past several days, the Eclipse line had accumulated tens of thousands of Muster Fortune. Cassian opened the Hall’s existing Blueprint production function, spent ten thousand, and made another complete Chapterhouse Blueprint.

He sent it to Mira.

If nobody had volunteered, he would have had to hire a professional administrator at a generous salary. This was much better.

Mira had been about to refuse the gift. Then she saw it.

"Damn."

Cassian smiled. More Chapterhouses were exactly what he wanted.

That growing reserve of Muster Fortune could also go into Veyra’s training. Put it all into her, and her strength could overtake Aurelia’s. There was plenty of value in expanding the line.

[Mira Calder has been appointed Civil Deputy of the Riftward Marches.]

"More than nine hundred empty Regions need someone to take them over," Darian said. "You’ll be busy."

"A few dozen Lords could have an entire Region to themselves," Gareth said. "Think of the resources each person would get."

"Greater risk, greater reward." Cassian smiled. "We did just beat ten times our number."

——

That evening, Cassian enjoyed a generous dinner in the Lord’s Hall. Rhea was working oil into his shoulders afterward when a notification caught his attention.

[Lord Marin Holt has forced entry into the Riftward Marches.]

[Lord Marin Holt has forced entry into Riftward Region.]

Cassian sat up.

"Who the hell is this?"

An ordinary Relocation Writ sent a Domain to a random Region that permitted new arrivals. Forcing entry required an Advanced Relocation Writ.

The cost was severe. The Domain’s Buildings would lose at least one Level, and its units would suffer substantial attribute penalties.

And getting in was only the beginning. A Commander could not simply expel the intruder, but he could destroy him.

"Is he here for me?"

He was.

Marin contacted him at once.

"Lord Cassian, greetings. My name is Marin Holt. I’ve come on behalf of House Frost, concerning Lord Darian."

Cassian’s interest sharpened.

So Darian’s family had become involved.

But what did "concerning Darian" mean?

Had House Frost decided he was drawing Darian into too many expensive deals and bets?

Cassian’s eyes brightened.

A wealthy family might pay him simply to stay out of Darian’s business.

Money for keeping his distance. That would be a gift.