Whispers of a Dead Empire

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My daughter was strong. Not to mention that she was quickly adapting on the fly, which was the scariest part. I could have ended the fight early, but I wanted to see what she was made of. So, I held back quite a bit.

But I was floored, to say the least. She was strong, but she still had a long way to go if she wanted to beat me. But that damn gravity magic will be a hassle when she gets better at it. Especially now that she's using it to root me in place.

Gravity gripped my legs and pulled me down into the earth. It wasn't unbearable yet, but with ki, it was easy, yet I wanted to give her a chance. She had the potential to one day be stronger than me. Hell, I'm pretty sure at the rate she's moving, she has the potential to be the strongest person inside of this domain.

But a little humility goes a long way in teaching somebody like her.

I watched her as she jumped into the sky with her dual axes held high. The gravity surged around me, and the ki pulsed through her veins like a light show. It was an intelligent move to immobilize me and try to take me out. But, this was child's play to me. Usually, I would just catch the blades to prove a point, but I used orichalcum to make the edges of her blade, and I wasn't about to risk my hands for that. So instead, I would just go for hers.

She fell like a bullet as she dived toward me. Her axes were bared straight for me, and her eyes were alight with a sense of joy that made my heart melt. I counted the seconds as she fell and shifted my aims to her hands, and the second she was in range, I reached out and redirected her hands.

She slammed into me like a bulldozer, and I could feel the earth crack around me as she slammed into me. Not that I was budged by it, in fact. This was probably the first thing I felt hit me since I took this class change.

I held Nyx for a few seconds and heard her axes hit the ground with a clatter as gravity released its hold on me. "Are you alright?" I asked as I held her there, cherishing this moment.

"My head hurts a little bit. I almost used too much mana." She replied as she nestled against me. I could feel tears soaking through my cloak, so I held her close and ran my hands through her hair. I think I scared her earlier when I activated my auras.

"That's alright. If you want, we can go home, and you can rest for a bit." I suggested as I stood there and looked around me to take stock of the damage done. She did scorch a few trees with the superheated steam attack, and the wind slash cut through a few more with no problem. Her potential was monstrous, and honestly, it scared me. I told her that when she beats the palatines, I would give her more freedom, but at this rate, I didn't know how long I had to keep doting on her.

"Mama.." She spoke up and pushed her head further into me. "I tried so hard to win." The wetness from her tears soaked into my chest, and her breathing increased.

It broke my heart feeling her cry. So I reached up and ran my fingers through her hair. "I know you did. I'm proud of you, Nyx. If I was anyone else, then I know for a fact that you would have won."

She cried harder as she laced her arms around me. But I was really at a loss for words. So instead, I just sat there and ran my fingers through her hair until she stopped crying. But when she didn't move, I knew she had fallen asleep, so instead, I sat there with her, held her under the dying light of the sun, and just cherished the time that I spent with her.

After a few hours, I teleported back to my office, set her gently on the bed, and tucked her in. I ran my hand across her face and wiped away some tears on her cheek before I walked over to my desk.

I felt a little bad, but she needed to learn some humility. I loved that she was ambitious and confident, but too much of either of those traits could get you killed, and that was something that I didn't want. But I was proud that she took the time to train and prepare for our fight. I was proud of her more than anything.

I wandered through my bedroom, entered my office, and sat down at my desk. A sigh escaped from my lips as I nestled into the chair and stared up at the ceiling. It's been close to a week, and I had no idea when Alessia was supposed to return. I missed her so much. It's been really lonely here without her. Granted, I had Nyx, but still.

I pushed the intrusive thoughts away and instead focused on happier thoughts. A few days ago, Nyx told me she loved me, which touched my heart in a way that very few people achieved. It chased away a lot of the depression that lurked in the corners of my mind and filled me with a sense of bliss and warmth. I just hoped that I was good enough in her eyes.

I sat up, turned my focus towards the domain, and quickly scanned it. The stronghold had recovered and was operating back at full strength. The roads that lead further into the domain were expanded by an army of undead, while another team was working on the railways. Honestly, the sheer amount of progression was staggering, and a large part of it had to do with Octavian. He was pushing forward an army, and with each location he captured, he converted quickly into use.

Roads would be repaved, wagons would be drawn up, and resources quickly distributed. He was a large part of why I didn't need to micromanage the domain anymore. Once the railways were completed, I would find myself busier trying to expand the domain as fast as they were, simply because they were inexorable in their missions. The undead was already working day and night, toiling to improve their living conditions.

I sighed as I opened up the map, quickly expanded the domain by another few dozen kilometers, and quickly placed down pre-constructed buildings. I hate spending this much essence, especially since I don't have an income, but I needed to ensure they had room to operate.

I dropped in a few more cohorts of what could be considered traitor forces around the outskirts of the town I had in mind and spread them out a bit. I placed traps around the area to make the start of urban warfare a slog. But I was getting a little more creative with using the traps. For example, I was using the fire explosion trap as a makeshift landmine or to simulate an artillery strike.

Mostly since that was the way of war that I grew up with. No one on earth clashed with swords and spears anymore. There, you could get killed halfway across the world with a pinpoint strike. Not that I wanted to bring something of that magnitude here. But, it was challenging to switch gears to something I've never truly experienced.

At least I have mages. If anything, I can write off the long-range attacks as artillery mages. It would be simple enough to do at any rate. But I don't mind experimenting. That's the fun side of things. I hummed quietly as I switched back to the area I made and looked it over.

It was like a suburb. Enough houses and land to keep Octavian tied up while I was out of the domain for a bit since urban warfare was a monster in and of itself. If the undead had guns, then there was no telling how much of an endeavor it could have been. I could have even created some bunker complexes for them to clear, but I think that would have been a tad too much for anyone to handle right now. But maybe when I have more manpower to spread, I can get a bit more creative in the future.

I dismissed the screen and glanced at my domain stats. I still had room for another two bosses, so perhaps I could get to work creating them. One can be a loyalist, while the other can be a traitor. But the question was, what was I in the mood to create? The traitor should probably be a general of some sort to act as a counter to Octavian. The loyalist I wanted to create would have to be someone who could lead the forces from the northern city, but I wasn't sure who that would be.

I stared at my boss's creation screen for a bit before settling on the traitor. Let's see what type of undead I could use. Let's do something ethereal, so I would experiment with a dark wraith. I found an area on the map that was far away from everything and spawned one in, and selected it. I still had a fair bit of essence left, so I could, in theory, just pump it full of essence. But, I had an idea. How about I use the whispers trait to craft something unique to the area? It could be akin to a zone boss and would be a powerful monster if done correctly.

I focused the entirety of my attention on the dark wraith and sent every ounce of will to it. "If you can hear me, wave your arm," I whispered and observed. The wraith hesitated before a single hand waved. Good, good, now, let's see what kind of back story I wanted.

How about the wraith was once a governor of the city and fell to the whispers and promises of power? He took it in a moment of weakness, and lost his body. His soul rotted, and his sanity left him. Now he was just a man left without a mind, doomed to forever wander the ruins of a once beautiful city.

Carefully, I whispered his history into its mind as I ushered essence into it. I described to it what it was, who it was, and the power that now coursed through its veins. I went even further and whispered of its ritualistic sacrifice of all the citizens in the town and how the power it imbued within him was now akin to death itself.

As I spoke and imbued him with essence, the darkness that covered him slowly changed and became a sickly green. Its hood tightened, revealing a fractured skull and leaking trails of green energy like morbid tears. The cloak it wore slowly altered and changed into something akin to a suit from earth, but it was left in decayed tatters.

Energy swirled around and pulsed outwards in a steady stream, and reached up towards the sky before it vanished in the wind. All that was left was to give him his name. I considered it as the wraith slowly changed into something I didn't expect.

I carefully ran a few names through my mind until I finally settled on one. His name will be Viator ducas, The fallen governor. I sent the final piece of information over to him, and his body pulsed once more.

A piercing scream left its lips as it grew in size, and the putrid green energy that flooded from its body reached an apex before it dimmed down a bit, leaving a strange conglomeration of living and dead.

I released a pent-up breath as I studied the being, and a notification appeared on the corner of my eye.

I stared at it for a moment as I tried to work through what I had just done. So, I can use the whispers trait to influence evolution. That's good. Perhaps it would allow me to create more unique bosses. Now I just needed to make a weapon and set its parameters.