Rose caught Priscilla’s cocoon before it fell, happily putting it away in her storage. “I was hoping for sothing like this to happen, but I can’t say I was expecting it.” She said. “I can’t wait to catch up with her and see what she’s been up to since I died.”
“Well, I think we’ll have ti for that soon.” Alia replied, teleporting the two of them back into the Scourge of the Skies. “If what happened to Gallus is any indicator, I think most of this army will surrender.”
“I think so.” Rose said. “I have to admit, it’s kind of humbling to see the effect that knowing I’m… has had on these people.”
“They built their entire nation’s identity on following in your footsteps.” Alia said. “It’s only natural that it would backfire when you’re the one working against them. And, when you consider the rest of everything in that ssage, of course many of them are disillusioned. They’re realizing how much better it’ll be with us.”
Rose wasn’t sure if she’d go quite that far, but Alia made a good point; from everything Rose had heard, the Sapphire Empire had not been kind to its troops, especially the lower-ranked ones. Conscripts made up large portions of this army in particular, the swarm having been deed a threat worthy of instituting a draft, and they were no more than fodder in the eyes of the leadership.
“So…are we not going to be fighting, then?” Simona asked.
“There will probably be a few pockets of people who will fight anyway, but the thirteen of us can handle those ourselves.” Rose said. “The biggest issue at this point is dealing with the logistics of getting everyone cocooned and transported elsewhere. The army is large, but between the size of the Scourge, and the storages of Alia and myself, I think we’ll be able to transport everyone here.
“With so much of the army surrendering, we’re going to need to separate those who’ve resisted from those who haven’t. We don’t have the ti or resources to go through what each individual person wants to be converted into right this second, so we’re going to have to do it pieceal at one of the forts.
“Miki, will you do a favor and let the captains know?” Rose asked. “And, Alia, I know the five minutes we gave aren’t up yet, but will you transmit my voice outside? I’d like to update the army on how this is going to work.”
“At once, Mistress!” Miki said, giving a salute before vanishing, her life signature reappearing monts later on the bridge.
“Got it.” Alia said. “Are you ready to speak or do you need a second?”
“I’m ready.” Rose confird.
“You’re transmitting now.” Alia replied.
“Hello again, everyone.” Rose said. “Your five minutes haven’t elapsed yet, but I’m pleased to say that the overwhelming majority of you have already seed to have made up their minds to surrender. With the numbers being higher than anticipated, we’re going to have to change things ever so slightly.
“Simply speaking, we don’t have the ti or infrastructure to go through what each one of you wants at this second. Instead, we will be cocooning you for transport back to one of our forts, where we will be undoing the cocoons in chunks so we can better deal with what each one of you wants.
“This should prove to be a more comfortable experience for you; when you get cocooned, you will be rendered unconscious, and it will feel like only a mont until you wake up again when the cocoon is undone. Our latest intel, taken from Astrea, indicates that the Sapphire Empire is withdrawing to their inner fortresses, and leaving the villages between here and there for us to take.
“If you or your family live in one of these villages, please let the person cocooning you know so we can put you on a high-priority list, so you can help be there for them when we reach their villages. And, for those of you who are still intending to resist, let say this; you are few in number, and as such, each group of you will be receiving the personal attentions of myself, Alia, and every max level person in the swarm.
“You will not last, and I would plead for you to give up so we don’t have to hurt you more than we have to. For the rest of you, please form up in an orderly fashion; we’ll have people co through to cocoon you as quickly as possible so we can all get out of this rain. And, with that, I believe you have one minute left to decide. When that minute ends, myself, Alia, and the max level people will begin dealing with the pockets of resistance while the rest of the swarm will deal with cocooning you.”
She motioned for Alia to cut the transmission, and a mont later Alia nodded. “Done.” Alia said. “I’m going to get ready to teleport us down the mont it’s ti.”
Rose turned to the eleven people behind her. “We’re going to move as a unit.” She instructed. “Between the thirteen of us, we should be able to deal with these groups without killing anyone. I’m going to be focusing on debuffing them to the best of my ability, Eris, will you provide with support?”
Eris, the Synergist, nodded. “Of course.”
Rose gave her a smile. “Excellent. This should be a quick and easy operation, then.”
And it was. When the minute had ended, Alia teleported them to the first group of resistors, a pocket of three hundred or so seemingly high-ranking soldiers that looked a lot less sure of themselves than they likely had a few monts before. Rose led with the Stairway to Heaven, Eris’s buffs amplifying the effect of the Skill to a large degree and leaving the soldiers below Rose reduced to half of their power.
That alone was likely more than enough to make the process effortless for Rose’s strike team, but Rose followed it up with a few other debuffs for good asure, and they were able to take the group within three minutes. The other groups were both smaller and made of lesser soldiers, and by the ti Rose’s strike team had finished with them, the rest of the swarm had only just begun.
Rose had Alia teleport each mber of the strike team to different parts of the wave washing over the unresisting army so they could better offer aid in the case of individuals who resisted, then set to work herself, walking through the ranks and beginning to cocoon the soldiers.
She received almost reverent looks as she moved, the kind she hadn’t received since she was the Ruby Emperor. mbers of the swarm looked at her with a great deal of respect, yes, but these types of looks were reserved for Lia.
Rose was glad for that, in a guilty sort of way. She was happy that she was able to take on a lesser role, as much as that was possible as the wife to the Queen of the swarm, but she felt bad that Lia had to deal with these looks, and Rose couldn’t really do anything about that. It was baked into the swarm itself to give that sort of respect to Lia, and few people offered it to anyone else.
These gazes were different even from the similar kind she got from mbers of the swarm, though; they made her feel itchy and uncomfortable, whereas the others just made her feel awkward. In a way, it wasn’t her that these people were looking at, it was the Urge. Even now, she still wasn’t totally sure how many of her prior actions had been her choice and how many had been made for her. She wasn’t exactly the sa person, not like Hearth had implied, and, to her, there was no question that it was for the best that she wasn’t, but would others see it that way?
After they were part of the swarm they would likely be inclined to agree, but as they were now? She didn’t know. These people in particular had heard that Rose considered herself better not acting out the role of the Ruby Emperor, but they didn’t know how thorough that “acting” had been. That being said, she had no intentions of correcting them; the misunderstanding, if it could even be called that, served to keep both armies safer by avoiding conflict.
She couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly at the irony. As much as she hated the Urge and her old persona, here she was, using it to her benefit for the exact sa reason that persona had been imposed on her in the first place.
Those thoughts kept her occupied as she oversaw the cocooning of the soldiers. It, fortunately, only took about half an hour, and most of that ti was spent just moving people and cocoons around. When they had finished, they had three distinct groups of cocoons; the smallest, made of those who had resisted, a slightly larger group, made of those who lived in the villages near there, and the one that was by far the largest, that held the rest of the cocoons.
When everything had finally been loaded onto the Scourge of the Skies, Rose settled into a seat and began to relax. All that remained was to go about distributing the cocoons to various forts so that no individual fort was overwheld, and then, finally, Rose would have a week or two of downti. With the others retreating and the swarm processing its new acquisitions, she didn’t have a need to be personally leading raids or the like, so she was looking forward to having sothing of a break for the first ti since the war began in earnest.
Of course, sothing would probably co up that would require her presence, but that’s just how things were. She’d deal with it when the ti ca, but for now, she would live with the hope that she’d get at least so rest.
Marcus, the Sapphire Emperor, tensed as the door to Odria opened. He and the rest of the monarchs were in the eting space, waiting for Emily’s arrival. All of them had agreed to undergo extensive identification to prove that they weren’t part of the swarm…all of them except for Emily. And only now had she agreed to finally et with the rest of them.
A pit ford in Marcus’s stomach as he saw that Emily carried a white flag in with her. “Let’s not beat around the bush here.” She said, taking her seat. “Yes, I’m part of the swarm. I have been for months now, ever since Alisha cornered after one of these etings and converted . I’m only telling you this now because I’m announcing Odria’s full conversion as well. Otherwise, I’d be happy to take your little tests and forge my results; with Alia’s help, such a thing is trivial.
“Really, I’m surprised you even tried. These results don’t actually an anything, if we wanted to keep a traitor in your midst, then we’d make sure that traitor could escape notice. And, honestly, more of you should be thinking about surrendering. It’s Rose’s opinion that, at this point, she doesn’t need soone like to feed her information, and that she’d rather have Odria safe and converted than my information.
“Everyone here knows that, after the debacle with the research lab, your defeat is inevitable. As of yesterday, you are outnumbered at the highest levels, and the size of the swarm’s armies is approaching that of your own. Just lay down your arms, and we can get this over with without more unnecessary death.”
“Hold on, we’re not –” Marcus began, but Emily cut him off.
“Yesterday, your army that you had set to retreat from the swarm’s territory was defeated without so much as an injury on the swarm’s side.” Emily said flatly. “They were shown the broadcast, and, faced with fighting down thirteen of the most powerful people in existence, a superweapon the likes of which the world has never seen, the rest of the swarm’s army that was inside said superweapon, and then watching as Priscilla willingly defected, the vast majority of them surrendered.
“You haven’t heard about this because Alia blocked all outgoing communication at the ti. You can go ahead and check if you’d like, but I’m afraid you won’t be getting any responses. That gear has been appropriated for the swarm’s use.”
“What do you an Priscilla defected?” Isaac, King of Misthaven, said guardedly.
Emily rolled her eyes. “Please, try to use your brain.” She said tauntingly. “Priscilla was one of Rose’s old students, and holds a great deal of respect for Rose. She got godly confirmation that Rose is the Ruby Emperor, with all the mories of that life, and disappeared the mont she heard that. She managed to make it just in ti to witness what was happening, and chose to make a show of her defection.”
Emily stood, giving the rulers disinterested glances. “I’d advise thinking very carefully about your next moves. You are going to lose, and your actions now will determine whether or not you will be able to retain so semblance of your positions.” She paused, looking at Marcus. “All of you except for Marcus, that is. Rose holds a rather dim view of you, and you were the driving force behind the research lab. Your ti as a ruler is over.”
Emily turned her back on the rest of the monarchs, walking back towards the door leading to Odria. “Next ti we et, I pray it’s because you’ve chosen to defect. Otherwise, it’ll likely be as enemies. Farewell.”
She left a heavy silence in her wake. “This is why you should have paid more attention to us ‘minor’ rulers.” Cedric, King of Larios, hissed. “We might have been able to catch this much earlier if we had.”
“Cedric, I understand your frustration, but do you really believe that?” Isaac asked. “She was fairly active in these discussions, and none of us sensed a hint of anything being wrong. Her suggestions were sound, her acting was impeccable, and it’s not like she could have even leaked much information; she didn’t know where the lab was, or the locations of any troops save her own.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that we’ve been played for fools for a long ti; first Alisha, then Astrea, and now Emily.” Cedric said indignantly. “And Emily’s right; those identifications we did are worthless. Alia is easily capable of forging a status that we can’t see through. I’m officially withdrawing my armies from the alliance, and I’ll be reassigning them to defending Larios.
“I share a border with Odria, and it’s clear that at least so of your cabinets are compromised. I know I’m not, and I can ensure my own house is clean. The assistance of your armies is welco, but I won’t be taking orders from you, and I won’t be sharing any more of my strategy than I think necessary. The risk is just too high.”
“I understand.” Isaac said. “I may not agree, but that is a reasonable position to take. I’ll spare what I can to help, simply let know what I can do.”
“And that’s it?” Marcus said. “You’re not going to push back any further on that? You’re just going to donate troops without any further assurance that he’s not luring us into a trap himself?”
Isaac gave Marcus a glare. “Of course that’s it. This is bigger than all of us, and may I remind you that he was doing much the sa for you until his own border beca a warzone? Stop talking, Marcus; you’re only making your own position worse.”
“And what am I supposed to do, then?!” Marcus yelled. “I’ve been the one taking the brunt of the casualties this war, your armies have yet to even reach the front lines! And yet, you all sit on your high horses, criticizing from afar!”
“Tempers are running high.” Zara, Queen of Ilex, said. “Why don’t we take a short recess and return in an hour with cooler heads? Our unity is our only strength at the mont, and we cannot afford to have it fractured.”
Marcus took a deep breath, calming himself. “Yes.” He said. “Let’s do that. I’ll be back in an hour.” Not waiting for a response, he stood up and left the room. He didn’t need their permission to leave, and he wasn’t going to sit around and let himself be disrespected further. So, he walked into one of the side rooms and sat, thinking hard. He needed to wrest control of the situation back from the others, but…how?
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