TS6 - Chapter 5

"You grabbed a dragonkin?"

Realizing that he was missing a piece of context, Thorn sent a quick query to Eve and got a surprising result.

[Dragonkin. Progeny of dragons. They're known for being nearly twice as strong as anyone else in their same stage.]

According to the aura coming off of the unconscious dragonkin's body, he was likely in the tenth tier, just like Thorn, but that hadn't stopped Thorn from manhandling him with ease.

Taking a deep breath, Thorn suddenly felt rather foolish. Even though he had accepted Lyssia's words when she had told him that he was wasting his abilities, he was only now realizing just how right she was. Before being reprimanded and trained by his grandfather, Thorn would have approached that fight completely differently, trying to talk it out with his opponent before ever engaging in blows, and always secretly hoping in the back of his mind that they might be able to work something out. When he had simply moved with purpose, what would have previously been a tense fight had been transformed into next to nothing. Scratching the back of his head, he could only shrug, unsure how to answer Rorah's question.

"Regardless of how you captured him, it is impressive that you did. The fact that there is a dragonkin this far behind the front lines is worrisome, and we'll need to speak to army command about this. Adherents are always a problem, and the fact that there's a dragonkin adherent here means that the city has likely already been infiltrated and will need to be purged."

This time, it was Thorn's turn to ask a question. "What do you mean by infiltrated?"

"Dragons are always trying to undermine us," Governor Kerman said, "and they have a distressingly high success rate in corrupting people to their cause. The problem is, it's almost impossible to know who is an adherent and who is not," Governor continued, "which makes rooting them out nearly impossible."

After thinking for a moment, Thorn tapped himself on the chest. "You know, I might actually have a way to help with that."

Sharing a glance, Governor Kerman and Winrid were both clearly interested.

"If you have ideas, we'd love to hear them," said Winrid.

"I can be bait," Thorn replied. "I have a particular way of drawing aggro when it comes to dragons and their adherents."

"Drawing aggro? What does that mean?" Rorah asked.

"It means drawing their aggression. No adherent is going to spare the opportunity to kill me. So, if we have some sort of public event in the city, maybe to celebrate the fact that we captured this guy," Thorn nudged the bound dragonkin with his foot, "I'm pretty sure that all the adherents in the city will attack me. So long as the rest of you think your forces will be strong enough to stop them, you might be able to clean them all up in one go."

"If you do indeed have a way to draw aggro, as you were saying, then such an action could be incredibly dangerous, as adherents are often granted special powers by the dragon they serve."

"As long as they're not above tier 10, I'm sure I'll be fine," Thorn said with an easy smile. "After all, if a dragon can't kill me, I doubt their followers will be able to either."

It was unquestionable that Thorn's suggestion was tempting for the governor. He was responsible for the safety of the city, as well as the production of the cloud-treading ore that the city produced. Winrid, on the other hand, was not quite so certain. His main concern was that something might happen to Ascendant Thorn, an up-and-coming prodigy in the Temple of Man. Word had already been put out that many of the most powerful families in the Temple had placed considerable importance on Thorn, and if something were to happen to him here, it would be Winrid's head on the chopping block. Before he could protest, however, Governor Kerman patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll put both of our forces on this and ensure that nothing bad happens to Ascendant Thorn. Just imagine what an accomplishment like this could do for your career."

Taking a deep breath, Winrid nodded.

"Fine, but we have to plan this properly first."

After returning to the city, Governor Kerman and Winrid took the Dragonkin prisoner and began to make their plan. Thorn and Mina were sent, along with Rorah, to relax while the two older men organized their forces and decided how to carry out the plan.

Thorn's part was simple. He just needed to stand there, acting as a magnet for the ire of the spies who had infiltrated the city. Word got around quickly that the worms had been dealt with, and a general air of relief filled the city. When Governor Kerman announced that they had caught the perpetrator and were going to hold a public execution, along with a medal-giving ceremony to celebrate the heroic saint who had made the capture, the city grew excited. That excitement reached a fever pitch when Governor Kerman ordered a half-day holiday and instructed everyone to gather.

Realizing something big was happening, the people of the city quickly came together, forming a crowd almost 200,000 strong in the center of the city, around the Temple of Man. A large platform had been placed in the center of the square outside the Temple of Man, and it was here where the Dragonkin prisoner was held, the governor's best soldiers guarding him.

According to Eve's report, Dragonkin were notoriously tight-lipped when it came to anything regarding their patrons, and in many cases were under magical compulsions that would kill them before they could spill any secrets. The result was that Governor Kerman didn't even bother trying to torture the Dragonkin for information, as he knew he wouldn't get anything worthwhile. Instead, he ordered a summary execution, and that afternoon, under the watchful eye of the entire city, the Dragonkin's identity was unveiled.

Immediately, an uproar broke out as the citizens shouted in surprise and fear. Thorn found it curious, as the people of this city truly seemed to be afraid. Though he didn't understand how the appearance of the Dragonkin would frighten them so badly, he figured it had something to do with the being behind the prisoner, rather than the prisoner himself. After all, he knew just how dangerous dragons could be. In Angoril, their power had largely been sealed, but in the Endless Worlds, that seal wouldn't exist, and instead, their power would be magnified by the abundant mana that filled the upper worlds. Mix that power with an immortal soul and the endless capacity for malevolence and evil, and Thorn could imagine that dragons didn't have a great reputation in the Endless Worlds. Calling for quiet, Governor Kerman addressed the people.

"For the last week, we have struggled against the strange monsters who continually appeared in the mine. Despite that, you have done your duty faithfully, continuing to work in the face of danger. I have been tremendously heartened by how well you have handled this crisis. However, we could not tolerate such a thing, and so, in conjunction with the Temple of Man, the city government made it their priority to hunt down the cause of the monsters. As you can see, we have successfully captured the perpetrator, and today, as a warning to all of those who would attempt to sow discord in our city, he will be executed immediately."

On the platform, apart from Governor Kerman and the prisoner, was Thorn and a large man with a hood and a big axe. It was the executioner's job to carry out the deed, but Thorn could tell from the way he trembled just how nervous he was. The crowd fell silent as the executioner approached the prisoner who was kneeling on the platform. Under the gleaming sun, his axe raised high, but just before he could bring it down, there was a loud shout, and half a dozen auras suddenly erupted from various spots in the crowd.

With a snap of his fingers, Thorn created a shield around the executioner, blocking the projectiles flying towards him. At the same time, he turned, catching sight of a figure launching itself from the crowd. It was a woman, about thirty-five years of age, with the markings of a water Qatari. Draconic-looking wings made from blood erupted from her back, propelling her powerfully through the air as she swooped down on the platform to try and grab the dragonkin. Instead, she met Thorn, who appeared in front of her, slapping down at her head. Tucking her wings, she rolled to the side, trying to slip past him, before going off course when his palm crushed one of the two wings on her back.

Yet even as he saw her tumble away, Thorn felt the void behind him shake, and his awareness captured a shadowy figure appearing next to the dragonkin. Nearly instantaneously, he traced the shadow, which stretched far across the crowd, to one of the buildings on the edge of the square. Standing on the roof was a masked figure, who was grasping with his hands. As the dragonkin prisoner appeared in the figure's hand, but before they could retreat, Thorn pulled out his halberd and made a short chopping motion.

An intense feeling of crisis shrouded both the figure and the prisoner, but though they wanted to try and escape, both of them froze in place, their bodies hit by an indescribable chill that froze their thoughts. Before they could recover, the void blade had arrived, tearing through both of them. Two heads, one Qatari and one Draconic, tumbled to the roof before bouncing down to the ground, and the two bodies collapsed.

Even as he killed the prisoner and the would-be rescuer, Thorn released his aura, unveiling the mark left on his soul after he had killed Cherserroth in Angoril. It had taken him a considerable amount of time to understand how his dragonslayer identity worked, but now it spread over the crowd, and almost immediately, close to a hundred different individuals went mad, swarming towards Thorn to try and kill him.

As they moved, Governor Kerman and Winrid both gave orders, and the soldiers advanced in force. To Thorn, who was standing on the stage, in full view of everyone, it felt as if his entire world had transformed into deadly attacks. Rather than try and defeat them, however, he simply took a step back, vanishing from the stage and reappearing on the steps of the Temple of Man.

Having lost sight of him, it took all of his attackers a moment to reorient themselves. But by that time, squads of soldiers had pounced on them, quickly bringing them to the ground. Rather than let his aura fade, Thorn boosted it even more as he stepped back onto the platform in the middle of the city.

A furious roar rang out as a figure in the crowd, who had barely managed to keep hold of himself, was unable to withstand the provocation. He launched an attack that crushed the space between him and Thorn. Soldiers who had been in the way were blasted back, many of them killed outright, by the sheer force of the power that the man's fist unleashed.

Rather than defend, Thorn threw himself forward, hacking down with his halberd to split the wave of power apart as he raced towards the man in the crowd. Realizing that he had given himself away, the middle-aged man let out a shout that caused everyone nearby to quail. Scales began to erupt on his body, and a pair of wings burst out of his back, extending behind him. Yet even as he tried to fly up into the air, a massive wolf made of stone opened up beneath him, biting down on his legs to keep him in place.

Thorn's fist arrived a moment later, and with a sneer, the man lifted his hands to block. Though it had only taken a fraction of a second for Thorn to move from the stage to in front of his opponent, it had been enough time for him to condense a strand of unified force into his fist. Now, as it crashed down, he could feel everything in front of him compressing.

Confident in his ability to block, the middle-aged man felt a wave of horror as Thorn's fist slammed into his arms, crushing his bones and continuing on through, until it landed in his sternum. For the briefest of moments, everything froze, and then Thorn's opponent simply exploded.

It was as if a wave of silence spread over the entire crowd before a mad rush to get away from him cleared out the space within a hundred feet, save for a few people who had been trampled in the crowd's haste. Even they dragged themselves away as Thorn stood in front of what remained of his opponent.

"Well, that was brutal," Mina said, appearing next to him.

Thorn, who was staring at his fist in some confusion, just nodded. He hadn't intended to blow the man up. He had just wanted to subdue him. But the power of the unified force he wielded was simply beyond his imagination, and had ended the man's life instantly, killing him even before his body had exploded.

Realizing that he still had a lot of learning to do, Thorn swept the city with his awareness, relaxing when he saw that all of the adherents had either been killed or subdued. Governor Kerman quickly got back onto the platform to take control of the situation, and began dispersing the crowd with the help of the soldiers. After saying a few perfunctory words, he had the crowd go back home, informing them that due to the incident, their day off would be extended until the following day.

That eased many of the citizens' spirits, and slowly the city began to return to normal. Governor Kerman and Winrid were both ecstatic with how the trap had played out, and spent considerable time on their joint report to their various commanding forces.

While they were busy with that, Thorn and Mina talked with Rorah, learning more about the structure of the Allied forces in the Endless Battlefield. Roughly speaking, there were three main factions in the Endless Battlefield. The God Beasts, who ruled the majority of the land nearest to the Council of the Gods, and the Temple of Man, who likewise owned the majority of the land near the Temple. In between them, in a much smaller triangle cut out from the other two factions' territory, was the Dragon Empire.

Their forces were a constant nuisance, attacking both the God Beasts and the Temple of Man in an effort to destabilize the whole situation, so they could absorb more territory. There were also hundreds of smaller factions and groups who had a presence in the Endless Battlefield, in order to take advantage of the endless number of resources the battlefield contained.