Though Zane didn't know it, his movents were being watched for quite so ti now. Not by Bartholow, or Maya, or even the mysterious and absent mother of death. No, his movents around the Reno/Tahoe area were being watched by Gwen.
Despite being a re Tier I Horde King, Gwen's strength was on par with that of the lowest level Tier II Horde Kings, she had decisively beaten Zane's Ghoulish Ashigaru, and sent both Lily and the man himself running with their tails between their legs.
She was a fearso enemy to be sure, especially with Zane and his party's current level of strength. But the crazed Horde King was more interested in Zane in ways that should not normally be expressed between the living and the dead, than she was in eating his brains.
And because of this, she had been sending scouts to keep an eye on the man. Though her horde was small, it was far from undeveloped. Among the Tier I Horde Kings in this world, Gwen had so of the highest ranking undead. Only a small fraction for her forces were Walkers.
The rest consisted of Tier III, III, IV, and even a handful of Tier V undead. Though Zane and Lily had only encountered what few Tier I Undead Gwen had in her Horde. The reason for this was simple. Gwen was a rarity among her siblings, in she focused on quality over quantity.
Not only was her personal strength abnormal among her peers, but so too was the strength of her horde. The cost of having higher level undead among her ranks was the fact that her horde had to be much smaller than they otherwise would be.
Currently, Gwen was sitting in the ruins of the town, which she maintained sovereignty over. Applying lipstick to her flawless thick lips, while listening to one of her scouts, a spectral undead which specialized in espionage, speak to her about the things it had witnessed.
Zane had battled the forces of Elysium for control over Darren's forr domain. aning he was more than willing to kill thousands of his own kind to advance his power. This was to be expected, at least from Gwen's perspective, as she and her siblings all believed Zane to be one of their siblings, a covert agent hiding among the living for reasons that only their mother knew.
In addition to this, Zane had t with the leader of Elysium, the so called Goddess Valeria, and negotiated at cease fire. Valeria quickly returned to Elysium with her host afterward. All the while, Zane continued over the course of the next week to replace the forces he lost in battle with the living.
This was rather mundane news, and Gwen quickly stopped what she was doing, and instead stared at the Phantasm with glowing red eyes. Her eyes were normally not such a color, but when provoked, they could display such an intimidating sight.
The phantasm's form vanished, almost as if the blinding light had banished it to the shadow realm. And once it was gone, she sighed heavily and returned to the mirror where she applied her makeup once more, all while comnting to herself about her minion and their uselessness.
"Unlike my siblings, I don't give a damn what big brother is up to in regards to fulfilling mother's task. I want to know what the hell he is doing with those filthy living sluts! They better not be trying to seduce my big brother, or else I will show them no rcy when the ti cos to flay the flesh from their bones!"
After saying this, Gwen felt a probing thought enter her mind. This was the sign that one of her siblings wanted to communicate with her. And because of this, she let out an exasperated sigh, before putting on the act of a doting little sister.
"Big brother Bart! It's been so long since you contacted ! And here I thought you had forgotten all about your darling little sister!"
There was an audible trace of disgust in Bartholow's voice as his voice entered Gwen's mind and communicated to her telepathically.
"Cut the crap, Gwen… This is important. You know that Darren has fallen, right? After Eliza's passing, he was isolated from the rest of us, and with Zander also gone. That ans that nearly half of you have been wiped out by the living.
I'm calling upon you and your peers in the area to et in my domain. We will be combining our forces in an attempt to bolster our defenses against this mysterious brother of ours, and his attempts to kill us off one by one!"
Gwen sounded annoyed when she heard this comnt. With Eliza, Zander, and Darren gone, all that left in the small towns and cities surrounding the Reno/Sparks tropolitan area were the Horde Kings in charge of the towns of Incline Village, Truckee, Virginia city, and herself.
However, with Tahoe city seized by Zane, it would only be a matter of ti before two out of three of her peers were taken out as well. In the end, it would just be Bartholow and her. After all, her siblings were easy enough for Zane and the girls to take out, but she and Bartholow were at least one step above their paygrade.
Because of this, Gwen was not the least bit worried about the future, or the fate of her siblings. She knew that Zane would co for her after he had taken out the others, and not before. And since this was the case, she outright rejected Bartholow's demands.
"Not thanks Bart, I'm sure the others will need your protection, but I'm fine here. I have accurately gauged my mysterious big brother's strength. And he will not be a threat to for so ti. Good luck on protecting the others though, they are going to need it."
Being so blatantly rejected by Gwen was not exactly sothing that Bartholow was willing to tolerate. And because of this, the Horde King which took the form of a high school cheerleader felt like her head was splitting open the next mont.
Bartholow had applied an intense amount of ntal pressure to the girl via their telepathic leak, causing her to wince in pain, and drop the lipstick in her hands. She clutched onto her head, while trying her best not to suffer ntal damage from the sudden attack, all while Bartholow's shouting voice reverberated through her skull.
"You will do as you are told, you worthless fucking wretch! I am not the sa man I was just a month ago. My current power is well beyond your understanding, and if I have to drag you out of that Podunk town you call a domain by force, then I certainly will!"
It was a testant to Gwen's strength that she didn't imdiately submit to the pressure of a Tier III Horde King when applied directly to her mind. Instead, she grit her teeth and endured long enough to recover where she climbed to her feet with a painful expression on her otherwise pretty face.
It was then that she shouted, both physically and ntally, in response to Bartholow's demands. Denying him once more, while reminding him just who was backing her and her sovereignty, with a single snide remark.
"You can go fuck yourself if you think you can command , little Barty boy!"
The mont Gwen responded to Bartholow, she felt the imnse pressure her brain was suffering from vanishing, as if it had never existed to begin with. Allowing the Tier I Horde King to sigh in relief and regain her composure, all the while Bartholow responded to her in a reserved, albeit belligerent manner.
"You! This isn't over Gwen! Don't think that just because Lilith adores you that I will be so willing to back down the next ti I make a demand!'
After this, the telepathic link between Gwen and Bartholow was forcefully severed on the part of the latter. Causing Gwen to smirk as she made a snide comnt aloud about Bartholow's lack of guts.
"Keep chirping, little bird. Despite rising to Tier III, you are still the sa frightened little boy that you have always been!"
Naturally, Gwen would go on to report this encounter to Lilith. Who was busy enough with her own machinations? Nevertheless, Lilith made ti for Gwen, who was one of the few of her siblings which she actually had so form of a bond with.
And because of this, Bartholow would co under a lot of pressure from Lilith, so much so that his plans to pool resources with the Tier I Horde Kings who surrounded him had completely and utterly fallen apart.
Leaving them ripe for the taking, for Zane and his girls to slay and conquer. Which the group would begin their plans to do exactly this shortly after Zane fully recovered his strength. But that is a story for another ti.
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