The Archon in Sanguine

—

...Hoederer, W, look alive!

Do it!

W, where are the bombs you buried? Hit your detonator, now!

Don't have to tell me twice!

No guesses, Hoederer! We only take on opponents we know we can handle!

...I know.

W's bombs tore through the defensive line. We've got a breakthrough. Tangled with them way too long.

Amiya and Logos went on ahead of us. They'll deal with the worst of our troubles.

As for the others... follow the path they cleared and climb the Feranmut's bones with those gangways!

Dammit, these guys—

Don't let them get any further! Commander Ulšulah is pulling up the gangways!

The traitors die here!

We'll take their corpses to the tent of the Nachzehrer King, to nourish our next victory!

Huh?

Buried mines under the bones. Feels pretty good.

Hoederer, Ines, get ready—Shockwave incoming!

W, three grenades, downward diagonal.

Ugh.

Good idea.

This is the last time I play along with your explosive shenanigans.

This way to the core of the skeleton.

Our target is Ulšulah. Find her, and we get control of this thing we're walking on.

Are you two sure we can 'get' this skeleton? Sounds a little reckless, almost like robbing a caravan.

We have to. Otherwise,, Amiya and Logos are fighting for nothing.

So we open the car door, toss the driver out, grab the keys—'Bam, my car now'?

Did you see the illusions this thing made, moving between its bones, you still haven't figured anything out?

This isn't some obscure story.

Should I have figured something out?

I forgot, you don't care to learn history.

A few hundred years ago, the Sarkaz killed a Feranmut that almost destroyed Kazdel.

After it fell, there were various claims as to where it ended up, and one of those was—

That its consciousness didn't die with it, that it was split up, sealed into a bunch of different items.

Now it seems that claim was probably at least partly true. As for the unconscious shell... it was carefully collected before this war.

They spent a lot of effort to modify it, and sure enough, it's playing a big role in the war for the Military Commission.

'Different items', huh? Ulšulah never carried a pocket watch before. Not like she was ever on time in the Scar Market.

But if her watch is holding the Feranmut's consciousness... it's probably already very fragmented.

The skeleton we're standing on isn't exactly dead, but it doesn't have much more than basic nerve reflexes. Ulšulah can only guide those basic reactions.

We just need to pay more attention to them—

Take cover!

Sure, just avoid the nerve bundles that can strike at you, and watch out for sudden bone spear thrusts, nothing to worry about.

After all, this fella's been stripped down to nothing but bleached bones.

But there's still you, Ulšulah.

You're more dangerous than this half-dead Feranmut.

Done with your important work?

I might be, if you weren't here to bother me.

Is this bitch the commander here? She's pretty rough on her own skeleton.

Those bolts are all stuck in the bones now.

Want me to help pull 'em out? I've got a pretty handy method.

*cough* *cough*—It's that psycho!

Trying to kill my men right in front of me?

Hoederer, you think too little of me.

Ugh.

You've gotten rusty, Ulšulah.

I guess you've been doing well for yourself in the Scar Market.

You're a bunch of survivors, I'll give you that.

Back in Kazdel, I made quiet bets with the old timers on how many of you would actually collect on those jobs you were taking.

As long as I bet on Hoederer, Ines, and later the psycho W, I always made money.

Sounds to me like you owe us a big cut.

That's the famous sharp tongue on this W. Haven't you learned anything from Ines?

This time, though, you took a wrong turn.

Two kings of the Royal Court are here, going all out, not to mention the 'King of Sarkaz'.

......

This place is never gonna be a safe haven where you can escape the war, not the kind of place you can survive.

What about you?

You heard about Theresis's trump card in Londinium?

Assuming... the consequences out there are way beyond anything anyone's ever seen before, you still think it's a fair price to pay for the Sarkaz to rebuild Kazdel?

......

...That's enough chit-chat.

Soldiers, end them here, while there's still time.

Major, look.

On the bones there...

It's the Sanguinarch.

Looks like he's ready.

So much blood...

Ulšulah, where did all this blood come from?

As if you need to ask. It's courtesy of that homicidal Sanguinarch. He slaughtered the place clean.

No, their wrists...

'I offer Your Highness my blood, Prince of the Crimson Court.'

'May you hunt unimpeded.'

'Let our blood form for you a swift chariot.'

Ulšulah, stop! Have you lost your marbles?!

The Feranmut... it's about to move again!

The currents of history might be about to sweep this place away!

That bitch wants to go down with us—

I am not controlling it.

—

Blood has replaced muscle, tendons, and marrow.

Isn't that enough to control it?

It's been an honor and a privilege, men, you stood with me to the end. We will meet again among the myriad souls.

I told you, this skeleton isn't a place to escape, it isn't a place to survive anymore.

Hurry! We need to take cover in the cabin!

The illusions are already manifesting, we don't know where they might go!

—It's creating waves! Look out!

Ugh, where does the Vampire want to take us?

Hoederer?

I'm here, with her.

She's lost too much blood. Whether or not she lives is all up to her now.

You might as well leave me outside, Hoederer. I'd rather die with my men.

You've killed so many 'old friends', there's no way you suddenly grew a heart today.

We can use you.

I told you, the skeleton's out of my control now.

You also said you're loyal to the Commission.

If you think the Military Commission is the hope for Kazdel to become a nation... then why is that guy calling himself a regent?

Why does he need Theresa? Why does he think winning this war will secure a future for Kazdel?

What is Theresis thinking?

......

Whatever, we'll talk after we take down this Feranmut.

What... are you going to do?

Our goal hasn't changed.

We're going home.

Heh... home.

That was supposed to be the skeleton's last mission.

What...?

It has a name. We codenamed it Lifebone.

Nobody uses it much, but when General Manfred named it... he was talking just like you.

Just like me? Manfred...

We're enemies, so I'm done with questions. I'm just gonna wait to die.

Well, heh, I guess making it to today is a kind of an answer.

You really think General Manfred is blind? That he doesn't know what you're up to?

......

I mean, you can only talk about going home if you manage to survive your run-in with the Sanguinarch.

You're right.

It really is... louder than I imagined.

Feranmut who wanders this land, you are not dead, you've decided to continue your existence in a different way.

You're still here, aren't you?

Stop, Feranmut.

You are about to step into Kazdel, our city. The people here refuse your visit.

Choose another path.

Or else, the Sarkaz will slaughter you.

This is your only warning.

......

Very well.

My brother directed us to forbid its advance, to obey the will of the King of Sarkaz.

Sanguine Court, to me.

After those illusory visions and memories of the past, you've indeed brought me a more... valuable scene.

Why don't the two of you, in the face of such a scene, fizzle those frankly laughable Arts in your hands?

Have a look around, take some time to admire it all—

This... is the tomb I have chosen for you.

It was daytime just a moment ago, but here...

A dark night, and an endless sea.

The stars are changing.

I've never heard of any place like this, not in any records, not in any legends.

So, this must be...

Distant enough, yes.

I do wonder how far we are from Kazdel now.

This land they all call Terra, is it too vast, or is it too small?

Amiya, be careful.

His blood... it's sublimating.

He awakened his blood with that witchcraft.

Don't talk like an outblood, Banshee.

You know, I treat purebloods as equals.

Perhaps, when compared to the Crimson Court, which has spent eons seeking purity, you have been more deeply influenced by Originium.

But, well, among the Sarkaz, you are indeed quite... formidable.

Come, let's not be stingy with my blessing, you cannot reject my gift. Now that I've awakened your power, you are finally worthy of facing me.

Let me hear the screech of your knell, if it can still darken the moonlight.

—

'I write, therefore, I command.'

'The night conceals me from death.'

Another incantation...

Another of your shallow incantations.

You have talent, no doubt about that. The flapping of your lips and the doodles of your bone pen are enough to humiliate the so-called Originium 'Arts' of common people.

And yet, why do you resist your heritage so?

Show me your true self, King of the Court, Banshee!

Duq'arael, Sanguinarch of Vampires, Prince of all Blood, demands you show your true self!

Enough, Vampire!

Hold on, Logos—

Oh, King of Sarkaz. I nearly forgot you were here.

Cautus, King.

Look at you, you didn't receive even a scrap of my boon.

Cautus blood, tedious and ordinary. No matter how hard I try to scrape something together, I can't find a shred of talent or power.

I can't even say that your blood is mixed or impure, as those adjectives still imply an expectation of return to purity.

But you...

Heh.

There are chaotic bloodlines I approve of, but they are without a doubt all 'formidable' or 'magnificent'.

But what do you have? A laughable motivation? A shallow conviction?

I don't have to answer you.

I just have to defeat you.

Is this our King of Sarkaz? Just stealing a bit of attainment from another, chaotic, and disorderly.

Nothing even on the level of the Banshee's little tricks born of his rebellious mind.

—Even less than that pair of siblings.

Amiya.

Don't let him provoke you. As it stands, his power is still growing.

We need to end this fast.

I know.

We need to get back under clear skies.

In the past...

I once slew a so-called 'King of Sarkaz', and it wasn't particularly difficult.

And I suspect your end will be the same, this time.

You question me with black blades.

I answer you with the gift of death.