Blood Shaper - Book 4: Chapter 50

Kay slammed into the ground, momentarily restraining himself from making a superhero landing while he did, and started striding forward after his army of simulacra. Technically, they were made with the Create Blood Army Skill and not Create Simulacra (Blood), but he was going to keep calling them that as a whole to save time and effort. The red soldiers pushed the invading army back step by step, winning through absolutely atrocious suicidal tactics that would never work with real people. Soldiers could throw themselves on an enemy’s weapon or deep into their lines, sacrificing themselves to create an opening that their allies could follow up on, but that required having enemies around to take advantage of the opening. Kay’s simulacra could drag an enemy’s weapon down to the ground using their own bodies, and a majority of the time, they’d get back up and start hitting people. The simulacra didn’t need limbs or organs to keep moving; they just needed to have above a certain mass of the blood that made up their bodies to be connected. Most of the enemies weren’t able to cut or smash enough of them apart, especially when the simulacra were actively swarming them.

Across most of the battlefield, Avalon’s temporary army’s rampage was lacking in overall lethality. The simulacra working at the edges of Avalon’s living army moved with ruthless efficiency, tearing down anyone that drew close to killing one of Avalon’s living, breathing soldiers. Elsewhere along the line of battle, the simulacra just jumped on people, pinning them to the ground and stopping them from getting up. In more than one place, a blood soldier just walked along the edge of a weapon, grabbed an enemy soldier, and body-slammed them into the ground. Casualties still occurred here and there; this was a battle no matter how merciful Kay felt like being; death was going to happen, but overall, the number of deaths was far lower than one would originally expect.

That wasn’t entirely the case in the section of the battle that Kay was marching toward. Any random Nelamian citizen one was likely to meet was probably just some person stuck in a shitty country because they were born there or were a citizen of a nation or polity that got conquered by Nelam. They didn’t have the power to overturn the domineering slavery-back government that ruled their lives; they just had to deal with it as best they could. Some of them probably hated slavery as much as Kay did, some probably didn’t really care, and some most likely thought it was fine because they grew up in a culture that supported it. There was a mixture of people in every society, and just being a citizen of an enemy country didn’t mean they deserved to die. Kay generally felt pity for the people who had to live in Nelam. Elite soldiers specifically brought into his country to wreak havoc and potentially kidnap his citizens to be slaves, led directly by their king, were an entirely different story, though. Kay didn’t have any pity for them. Or much mercy.

Soldiers who ignored what should have been grievous or deadly wounds marched on, slamming into the line of Nelamian troops with brutal efficiency. Lines of halberds cut down from above, and as the fight got closer in, the weapons transformed into swords that turned liquid long enough to pass around attempts to block before becoming solid again and cutting deep into enemy flesh. Here and there, powerful attacks blew apart the simulacra, but in many cases, the partially mangled bodies simply stood up and began fighting again without pause. Kay reached out and grabbed several of his blood soldiers with his Blood Manipulation and tossed them into the back lines of the enemy. The rear elements of the Nelamian force didn’t have conventional weapons; they had massive nets and mancatchers, obviously a force dedicated to capturing people. With no real way to fight back against the simulacra, who simply stepped out of nets and through the mancatchers, the Nelamians began to flee. Some were able to run away from the battle, but others were pinned between their own front line that was trying to fight their way back without getting overrun and the enemies that were literally falling out of the sky to block them off.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, enemy soldiers began to retreat, some making orderly withdrawals from the fight, others just turning and running as fast as their legs could carry them. Kay could make out more than one clump of enemy soldiers dropping their weapons and surrendering as the uncoordinated groups started getting surrounded, unwilling or unable to support their allies from the campaign against Kay. Curcius began leading Avalon’s troops in encircling the Clan’s legion, forcing them back into the unfinished fortifications the legion had started constructing at the beginning of the battle.

Kay glanced up into the air; his magical senses to detect blood, which were vastly increased in range by his Lord’s Bloody Domain Skill, let him notice his champion copy of himself hidden inside one of his champion dragons get shredded by a lucky attack from the red dragon. Moments later, the blood dragon detonated, destroyed by whatever undetectable attack the dragon and rider pair used. Whether through luck or some means of detecting Kay’s hidden copy, they’d managed to completely remove one of the champion pairs attacking them by destroying them thoroughly enough that Kay would have to re-use the Create Blood Champion Skill to bring them back. But that wasn’t necessary.

With the range he could use his Skills massively expanded; Kay reached out with his magic and grabbed the blood raining down after the champions’ destruction. He formed it into a gigantic sheet and tossed it at the enemy dragon. His remaining champions moved in time with his will and dove in to distract the red dragon and his rider long enough that by the time they noticed the trap coming from below them, it was too late. The sheet wrapped around them and started to tighten, wrapping around them so they couldn’t move, their heads just above the surface of the mass of blood that entangled them. Streamers reached out and wrapped around the dragon’s jaw, holding his mouth closed so he couldn’t breathe fire. They struggled to escape, reminding Kay of the pteradons that Eleniah had helped kill with the scales and the thrashing wings.

The blood dragon champions landed on the bulging and flexing mass of blood that floated in the air under Kay’s control and began to melt into it, adding the blood that made them up into the total volume as Kay released the Skill that had made them. Two red copies of Kay stepped out of the vanishing draconic copies and walked over to the struggling body of the dragon rider. Kay couldn’t actually see her, and the Skill that let him create the blood champions didn’t share their sense with him, but he could feel the outline of her shape with the blood he was controlling. The two remaining champions joined in with their weaker copies of Kay’s Skills, helping to suppress the enemy combatants.

The rider stopped struggling all of a sudden, and one of the two champions exploded from the inside. Kay whipped the blood the champion had been made of into her face and wrapped it around her head, leaving just enough space for her to keep breathing. The last champion left dove forward into the blood and popped up at her side, a blade held to her neck. She and the dragon both froze in place. As the blood around them continued tightening and solidifying into restraints that locked their every limb in place, Kay detached a piece of the mass restraining them and did something he’d only practiced a little bit.

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“Murunel asked me to spare the two of you,” A harsh, discordant voice rang out from the pulsating blood that floated near the rider’s face. Kay couldn’t speak through any of his simulacra, but noise was just vibrations, and Kay could do a lot with blood, including making it vibrate. Making noises that sounded like words wasn’t easy, but he’d managed it. It didn’t sound like real speech, but the words were understandable. “But you are enemies that attacked my people. Stop struggling and surrender, or I’ll have to be harsher than I have been so far. Behave, and I’ll let you speak with her after the fighting stops.”

The dragon had stiffened at the mention of Murunel’s name, but the wrapping around his mouth kept him from replying. The rider said something; Kay could feel her mouth moving through the covering he had around her face, but he wasn’t actually there.

“I can’t hear anything you’re saying; I’m not actually near you; I’m just replicating speech through a Skill; nod; if you surrender, I’ll give you thirty seconds. If you won’t, as I’ve said, I’ll have to be more forceful.”

Neither of them said anything, and Kay was preparing to drag them under the blood until they were unconscious when the rider nodded.

“Good. I’m going to set you down inside the walls. I’m going to accept your word since Murunel told me that you’re her relatives, but you’ll still be watched. Behave, or the people watching you won’t be holding back.” Kay started floating the trapped pair over toward the section of the walls Cindy’s people were on. Cindy wasn’t their most powerful fighter, but with the help of her own Class Line Progenitor title, she was shooting up the tiers quickly, plus the other strong fighters they had were down on the battlefield with a few exceptions. The champion copy of Kay helped guide the prisoners’ transportation to the ground, where Kay lost line of sight, using its weaker version of Blood Manipulation to guide the floating bundle of blood, dragon, and rider in the direction it needed to go. The copy grabbed the blood Kay had been speaking through and got it to someone, where Kay quickly relayed the situation and gave orders.

Turning back to the battlefield, Kay saw his blood army pushing the enemy farther and farther back along the lines, with even more groups of disparate troops surrounded and fighting desperately or surrendering. He gave a quick nod of thanks to his Blood Guard detail, who’d been watching over him while he paid attention to the battle in the sky, then looked over to the Nelamian lines. Enemy officers had begun rallying their troops, laying waste to blood soldiers with powerful Skills and removing the rampaging simulacra in their back lines. Without Kay lobbing more reinforcements behind them, they’d been able to clear up their rear and start fighting back in earnest. Many of Kay’s simulacra soldiers had been destroyed, leaving behind pools of blood that drenched the ground. With their officers leading them and Kay temporarily distracted, the Nelamians had managed to push back Kay’s troops and begin advancing back toward Avalon.

In response, Kay decided to be dramatic. He didn’t just want to beat this army; he wanted to beat it into their very hearts and souls that attacking Avalon was a bad idea. Twin rivers of blood burst out of Kay’s back, fueled by the previously impossible amounts of blood stored in Kay’s spatially expanded veins. They spread out and formed dripping liquid wings bigger than semi-trucks, with massive droplets falling from them and splashing against the ground. As each drop landed, Kay invoked his Create Simulacra (Blood) Skill, creating copies of himself that jumped into the fray. These simulacra were made with a higher level Skill than Create Blood Army and were immensely harder to kill. Even as the newest simulacra began to charge the enemy, Kay held out his hand and lifted it upward as if commanding his soldiers to rise up from their destruction. “[Create Blood Army].”

Fresh blood soldiers rose from the remains of the previously defeated ones, and the Nelamian troops found fresh enemies within their ranks as they marched over the pools of blood. Kay’s true simulacra started using the new blood soldiers as weapons even as the blood soldiers began attacking. Some copied Kay’s original actions and threw the blood soldiers behind enemy lines; others just tossed them as actual weapons directly at Nelamian soldiers. Blood soldiers burst into red mist that blinded enemies; they grew restraints and manacles that pinned soldiers down, and some just exploded into shrapnel that tore through scores of soldiers. The battle looked to be firmly turning in Kay and Avalon’s direction.

Of course, any time a thought such as that occurs, something goes wrong. A shimmering sandstorm rose up from behind Nelam’s lines and pushed through the fighting troops. Living soldiers ducked away and covered themselves as the storm abraded uncovered skin, leaving tiny gashes that added more blood for Kay to use to the field. Before he could actually do anything with it, the storm began assaulting his simulacra and blood soldiers, ripping into their bodies with enough force to scatter the blood that made them up, tiny particulates spinning through the air acting like a thousand flying saw blades and throwing blood all over.

A few pieces drifted in Kay’s direction, broken free from the swirling storm, and Kay grabbed one of the glittering specks. He held it out in the light to see. “Gold. Prepare for a real fight,” He told the Blood Guard, “Look’s like Glowl is coming.”

Thundering footsteps announced the new arrival before he could be seen as the large form of some reptilian beast covered in golden armor plates burst out of the goldstorm that shielded the Nelamian soldiers from view. On its back on a gold-plated saddle in similarly golden armor was a large-bodied human man, his face partially covered by the heavy helmet over his head. A golden warhammer was slung over his shoulder. His voice came out as a deep growl as he shouted loud enough to be heard over the roaring winds kicked up by the goldstorm. “Well, then the little boy ruler of-“

Kay didn’t let him get through his pointless taunting and launched a high-pressure blast at him before he’d even started talking. It slammed into his armor, cutting partially into it before the breastplate suddenly changed shape, a wedge forming in it that directed the liquid spray to the side. Kay grabbed at the blood-covering Glowl and started to jam it into the gaps in his armor, but the gold in it fought back, tiny hands forming along the edges that grabbed at and wrested with the streams of blood under Kay’s control. Kay tried to just let the blood seep through the gaps, but the gold became liquid on its own without any change in temperature and pushed back against the blood.

“So it wasn’t a lie!” Glowl shouted, “You are the real Class Line Progenitor of Blood Manipulation. Too bad blood isn’t as awesome as gold is!” He spurred his mount forward, the vaguely Komodo dragon-like creature the size of a van charging directly at Kay as the gold hammer stretched out into a pointed lance as the spinning storm made up of tiny flakes of gold flying through the air at high speeds wrapped around the area, cutting Kay off from the rest of the battle.