Manifest War: The Weapons Within

The Lumen and Arista militaries stopped their advance and began sending reinforcements to the rear. Even though the group's goal was achieved, the number of soldiers was a bit too much for them.

“I’ve killed well over a thousand of these bastards, but there is just no end to them.” Zalthia stressfully thought to herself, beginning to feel exhausted from such a long battle. As she expended the last bit of her Core Energy, her clone numbers dwindled to three and were considerably weaker than before.

Zalthia glared at the approaching soldiers with great irritation, wanting desperately for Azhane to give the signal. Carmen, in a similar situation, ended her gravity field and the sky turned back to normal. She panted heavily and backed up into Caleb as they were surrounded by more soldiers.

“Caleb, I’m almost out of Core Energy. I can’t keep my field up anymore…” Carmen remarked, struggling to catch her breath. As she gripped her Manifest, Carmen noticed she couldn't feel the handle anymore. Her entire right arm had gone completely numb.

“Yeah, same.. I was hoping this wouldn’t be a battle of attrition, but we have to keep going.” Caleb nodded and exhaustedly replied, matching her tired demeanor.

“Gah, hurry up Azhane! We can’t keep this up for much longer!” Carmen thought to herself, fearing that her sister might’ve failed and lost her fight against Von & Varric. Just as the thought left her mind, a large black ball of energy flew into the sky, breaking the clouds above in extravagant fashion. Azhane had done it, giving everyone the signal they’d been waiting for.

Sarah noticed the orb and immediately charged another shot of concentrated wind energy from her bow. With tremendous force, she fired it just ahead of Zalthia, Carmen, and Caleb. It split in the air as it approached and rained down wind arrows upon the soldiers below. The group used this opportunity to flee from the camp, getting to safety.

“Whew that was close, you guys alright?” Sarah asked as everyone got back together, moving to their next rendezvous point.

“Yeah, I’m just exhausted.. What about you Zalthia-” Carmen looked over and saw Zalthia slightly slumped over, right hand gripping her forehead tightly. She was clearly in some kind of great pain, but she made no remark about it.

“Zalthia! What’s wrong?” Carmen asked with great concern.

“It’s.. Nothing.. Keep walking.” She said with a stern and annoyed tone, having no desire to talk about it. Carmen hesitated before Caleb nudged her along, understanding that whatever Zalthia was dealing with wasn’t anything new or cause for concern. The group continued their trek, now ready to move on to phase two of the plan.

Earlier at the basecamp for the Lumen and Arista forces, multiple guards rushed to the central tent with worried expressions. They entered and immediately bowed to the Arista Empress and the High Priest.

“Your Excellency, we’ve received confirmation that Azhane Belouis has fallen. The operation was a success.” One of the guards said with a hurried breath. Gabriella Ramos and Leo Vaux’hallah heard this news and smiled deviously.

“Well done! Direct our men to continue their advance and wipe out the rest of their forces. Victory is within our grasp now that Azhane Belouis is no longer in the picture.” Leo said, breathing a sigh of relief and leaning back.

"What about Von Melrose and Varric Clover? What are their conditions? Will they be able to continue?" The Empress asked as she crossed her arms, her lilac colored eyes brimming with curiosity.

"We've retrieved them from the battlefield, however their bodies were incredibly beaten, Your Excellency. According to the medical examiner, Captain Melrose's right arm is completely crushed and will need to be amputated. As for Sir Varric, he sustained a chest injury that caused significant damage to his Strand. Unfortunately, I don't think we can rely on their strength for the remainder of this war." Another soldier added, bowing his head after giving his debrief.

“Hmph, it’s a shame that Von Melrose and Varric Clover were defeated, but their purpose was served. Continue giving them whatever medical assistance they need. Ensure that their sacrifices weren’t for nothing.” Gabriella demanded, her tone sounding surprisingly regretful. The soldier quickly nodded and gave her the Arista Imperial salute in response.

“Once the backline gets fortified again, we’ll be able to break further through their forces. I will inform our generals right away!” One of the guards chimed in before taking his leave from the room, followed closely by other soldiers.

As the room emptied, Gabriella stretched in her chair and let out a light chuckle.

“So, what shall we call this new nation? The Empire of Lumen? The Arista Theocracy? Neo-Arista Lumen?” She said with a hearty laugh, making light of the gargantuan situation taking place before their eyes. Leo joined in the laughter as well, finding great joy in their all but assured victory.

“No longer will we need to deal with Volaire’s tariffs, expensive trade routes, and we’ll have all the lumber we could possibly ask for. Taking Volaire out of the equation will make us more money than we can count. No other nation would dare defy us as we would now be the center of the world!!” Leo stated with his fist gripped tightly, showing an evil grin.

Just as he finished his sinister moment, he looked out the window and saw a massive black orb shoot into the sky. It expanded and dissipated within seconds, darkening the heavens above.

“What was that!?” Gabriella asked, quickly standing from her seat.

“I’m not sure, but it didn’t seem to do anything. Probably some fake scare tactics, nothing to raise an alarm to I bet.” Leo replied, not worried in the slightest about what just occurred.

Back at Volaire's base camp, upon seeing the signal in the sky, Priscilla and the other four members of Six headed outside.

“Seems Queen Azhane has accomplished her part of the plan, it’s time we get started. Are you ready to do this kid?” Jordan of Five said, looking over at Priscilla with a hopeful expression, wondering if she could actually do what she said she could.

Priscilla quietly nodded as she slowly stepped forward to the front of the group.

“Um, I think we'll need more room than this..” She said, looking around at the surrounding area filled with tents and soldiers.

Felicity of Six pointed off to the distance and directed everyone to an open field slightly outside of their base. Once they arrived, Priscilla walked a few feet away from the group and pulled out the large silver amulet from under her dress. She gripped it tightly as she slowly exhaled, causing everyone to look on with baited breath.

A brief moment passed and Priscilla began to glow a dark purple color while the air around the group became incredibly cool and stagnant. The sky got darker, looking as though a storm were about to roll in and everyone started to sense a massive surge of Core Energy permeating from Priscilla.

The energy built to unfathomable levels and moments later, Priscilla’s shadow grew and spread like fire engulfing the grass below. The members of Six and the general jumped back to get clear of Priscilla’s ever increasing power.

“What the hell man, how old was she again? This kind of strength is ridiculous!” Felicity of Six remarked, feeling beyond impressed by what she saw.

However, this first impression was only a precursor to what was to come. As the shadow continued to increase in size, purple colored soldiers of various sizes emerged from the dark depths below. Their shadowy limbs broke through the surface, pulling themselves upwards in quick fashion.

Some of the soldiers were tall and lanky with light armor, some were short and stout with heavy armors, and many were a mix of the two. They held weapons of all types as their numbers quickly increased into the thousands upon thousands. Even though this amount of soldiers would’ve been enough, Priscilla’s Manifest went even further, summoning forth a multitude of creatures not from this world.

Five massive shadow golems burst out of the darkness and got to their feet, towering over the camp while letting out an unsettling roar. Hundreds of large shadowy wolves donning armor spawned as well and they were being ridden by soldiers, eager to sprint into battle. Lastly, multiple dark purple shadow wyverns took flight and screeched loudly as they circled above the spawning soldiers below.

This new army that Priscilla conjured up was simply incomprehensible to those that looked on in absolute shock.

“J-Just.. What??” Kaleel of Four stuttered as he tried to wrap his brain around what they just witnessed.

“This level of summoning power is beyond dangerous. Had the Boundless truly known what this little girl was capable of, I fear that Alaira would’ve been ruined.” Jordan replied, terrified at the thought of having to handle a force like this.

After a few more minutes, Priscilla stopped glowing and her summoning was complete. The eyes of the skull etched on her Manifest glowed brightly and suddenly, everything that was summoned turned to face Priscilla in perfect unison. They all bowed down to her and patiently awaited a command to be given to them. As they knelt, it looked like a wave skating across a sea of dark purple and black. Priscilla looked over to the group as they approached her from the rear.

“Uh, um.. So, what do you want them to do?” She nervously asked, not making much of a big deal about the incredible feat she just pulled off. Everyone looked in astonishment at the sheer number of troops in front of them, standing at a number easily over a hundred thousand. The general walked up to Priscilla and struggled to gather any words to say.

“Um, just, uh, tell me what to say and I’ll tell them.” She said, trying to help him out. The general collected himself as he quickly nodded.

“Ah, uh, right. Ahem, we need half of these units to take on the right flank and the other half to take on the left. They will need to follow the members of Six into battle.”

Priscilla nodded as she stepped forward, giving the command to her legion. The soldiers stood while letting out a visceral battle cry and the sea of purple split perfectly into two halves. After coordinating who goes with which half, they began to march towards the Lumen and Arista militaries.

The Lumen and Arista forces were continuing to sweep through Volaire, laying waste to any stragglers and the surrounding lands. Nothing was safe with them around and their assault was effortless as they faced very little resistance. However, as they moved to their next destination, eagle eyed soldiers noticed two individuals walking just above the horizon.

Felicity of Six’s long, dark blue ponytail swayed as she stepped down the hill. She gripped the hilt of the top katana blade sheathed on her hip, leaving her second katana untouched. Next to her was Jordan of Five.

He stroked his long white beard as he walked forward with a hunched over posture. He used his Manifest, a staff made of brown vines, as a walking stick to help steady himself.

“You ready to do this old man? I don’t want to have to carry you off the field if you trip and fall.” Felicity cheekily asked, shooting him a friendly grin.

“Oh please, I may be old, but I’ll be damned if I have to be carried by a youngling like you. Watch your own back.” He replied with an annoyed smile, irritated that she reminded him of his age. The two stopped their banter as they quickened their pace towards the forces below.

“Sir, there are people approaching from the north!!” Yelled a guard, being overly cautious.

“So, keep walking! It’s only two of th-” The commander replied before ending his sentence prematurely. His eyes went wide as he now noticed the sea of soldiers and shadowy creatures approaching behind the two individuals, infantry as far as the eye could see.

“What is this!?!?! How do they have reinforcements!? This wasn’t in the report!” The commander yelled, wondering if his men could handle a force of this size. He quickly commanded his soldiers to get ready and they rushed to arm themselves, summoning forth their Manifests with impressive coordination. A massive battle was about to take place, a battle that would turn the tides of this war.