12 Miles Below-12MB - Book 7 - Epilogue

Lionheart woke up. The first thing he noticed in the small room was a set of clothing. Simple items that would fit most body sizes, as the people here never knew what kind of Deathless would return to life next.

Five minutes later, he walked out into the artificial sunlight of this undersider city. He recognized the glass shimmering dome of Nedriska, a city rather far off from his final resting site prior.

This city had to be far away enough for the surface knights to at least have difficulty reaching.

And of course, as he had gotten used to seeing these days, the locals of this city had already stepped out to intercept him.

Although he suspected it would be like this just about everywhere. If the city guard didn’t have full command over this public area, they might appear weak to the rest of the city. The last pillar heart had been that way.

The world was changing harshly with the current generation of Deathless aimlessly out there. People with questionable morals, immortality and powers do not mix well. Cities had to adapt.

“Halt, Deathless.” One of the guards said, looking to have a different uniform than the others. “State your name and identification,”

“Teneric the Lionheart.” He said, waiting to see if this city would do enforced drafting, or would allow him to operate as normal.

“Right, and I’m a golden imperator sent straight by the goddess.” The man said, scoffing. “Maybe pick a lesser known name if you’re going to try to bluff your way out of an arrest. Turn around, hands on your head. We’ll figure out who you actually are shortly at the station, don’t try to resist.”

He sighed, already calculating how to handle this situation. He could certainly defeat these ten soldiers with only his occult powers, it was the follow-up that would be difficult. The rest of his wards would appear perhaps in three or four days at this pillar heart, and they weren’t trained enough to fight without a relic armor. The city guard would make the same attempt to draft them into their order, and likely not let them leave.

He could also willingly go with them, see how far the farce would go. But if the surface knights did chase after him, he’d be putting the city guard’s lives at risk.

Rather, not at risk. He’d just be sentencing them to straight death. Those clan knights would cut and kill through every living body standing between them and him.

So it would be better to fight the guard off here, and keep himself distanced from the city if the worst would come to pass.

Well. He was immortal after all. He had time to make a few different attempts until he found the optimal solution. Today, he’d beat these ten, take their armors and then wait here for the rest of his new trainees to appear. He’d be able to equip them immediately, which would give them a chance. So long as he remained in public, it’s likely the citizens would correctly assume he was an older Deathless and thus to be trusted. Newer generation Deathless couldn’t be combat veterans just yet, none of them could defeat ten undersider knights without a weapon or armor.

“I warn you gentleman,” He said, deciding he would at least give these guards a chance. They were only doing their jobs. “I have business to attend to and no time for these games.”

“All bite and no bark.” The commander of the squad said as the other soldiers advanced on him. “All Deathless are ordered to report to the knight-commander for drafting and training. Letting you lot loose in the world is just asking for trouble out here. Cuff him boys.”

It was understandable many of them would fall to the darker side of humanity, and become a threat to the city. This result was inevitable when people of ill repute obtained the powers of a Deathless.

Lionheart had centuries of experience, combat was second nature to him. Outright instincts even. He took a step forward and got to work on the guards.

Duck under the grab, occult punch forward, grapple the stunned target, occult throw, duck the next grab, forward step into an occult powered knee then kick, reverse spin the next target to block a hit for him, and then he found a chance to disarm. The pilfered occult blade flared to life in his hand, and Lionheart truly began the fight in earnest now.

He made sure not to kill them, after all these men were trying their best to keep public order. Many of the latest generation had been aimless, lacking in that conviction and clarity all his peers had. He’d seen that restlessness in his own wards.

He defeated four relic knights before the rest of the guards all took several large steps back. Most had their knees stabbed into, a wound that would require some months to heal up, but wouldn’t be fatal.

Lionheart planted a foot on one of the groaning soldiers under him. “I will let you recover your commerads for medical attention. I will be taking your armors as payment for the blind aggression. I understand your situation and your caution, however there are threats in the distance I must be prepared for.”

As in the surface knights. The ones that had not only chased him and his team out of their second encampment, but also chased them all the way to Yellena in order to repeatedly kill them at the pillar heart itself. It was not a situation he’d ever encountered, being killed outright the moment he returned to life.

Surface knights truly were as ruthless as the last time he’d met them several decades prior. The city guard at Yellena couldn’t do anything but watch from a distance as the knights all stormed in, eradicated everything in their path, and sat by the pillar heart to wait for him and his team to return. After that, it was utterly easy pickings.

Nedriska was at least seventy miles out from there. The knights would need to first realize the group planned to return to another pillar heart instead of Yellena as part of their emergency plans, and then get their hands on an airspeeder in order to get here at any speed.

And yet, as Lionheart equipped the man’s armor while the rest of the knights raced off to warn their superiors a real Deathless had appeared in their city, Lionheart didn’t feel quite surprised at what he heard next.

Screaming. Shouts. Crashes. One of the guards that had attempted the earlier ambush was sprinting back into the clearing, head constantly turning behind him, before catching Lionheart.

The man seemed to stop, trapped between the Deathless and whatever was approaching through the city. “Go that way.” Lionheart said, pointing down to the perpendicular street with his head.

The man gave a short stammer of thanks, tripped on the grass in his haste but rapidly raced out. Lionheart simply completed the armoring steps, checking the seals and everything was correct. Shields were still down since the beating he’d given the prior owner, and there were some sections of the armor’s own integrity that were compromised. But it would change very little against who’d been chasing after them.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“You’re quite persistent.” He commented, finalizing his checks then looking up at the approaching clan knight.

At least it wasn’t a group of them. No only a single one. But that didn’t matter, as this was the surface knight. He’d thought this city was far away enough that his team could replenish themselves, reset and then make another attempt.

Clearly, Tenisent Winterscar wouldn’t allow them even that chance.

“Admit the terms of surrender.” The man said, no nonsense. Even his footfalls seemed heavier than any relic armor should be, leaving behind deep imprints into the grass as he walked forward. An undersider knight was held in his hand, half struggling, before a sword tip sliced out both power cells from the leggings, then cut off the nanoswarm command heart. A moment later, the man was chucked out of the way, crashing into an empty stall with a groan. The surface knight pocketed the nanoswarm command heart into his side bag as he walked forward, likely filled now with undersider armors and power cells, taken by the traditional clan’s right of victory.

Surface knights were double edged swords. Amoral mercenaries that focused on the job and nothing more than the job. Because they didn’t fight to line their own pockets, their payment was in armor that would be brought back to their isolated clan. Anything that got between them and their target was eliminated, and if that obstacle happened to wear armor, that’d be taken as well. Didn’t matter if that impediment was technically on their team or not. As ruthless as it sounded, it gave their people a certain reputation, and even city governments would stay out of the way if a fireteam of clan knights had been smuggled into their city. After all, once the job was done, they would leave without further conflict.

Things must be far more simple when everyone knows to get out of the way as soon as they see the tribal armors. Their rules were irontight, understood by all, and obeyed without question.

And unfortunately, the job Tenisent Winterscar had was to extract either a surrender from Lionheart, or to keep killing him until he did. But traveling seventy miles in under a day just to catch up and kill him out here felt… excessive.

“I am honorbound as well.” Lionheart said, turning on his guard’s occult longsword, giving the man a quick salute. “My wards came to me asking for help in setting their mortal affairs in order before traveling underground. I will continue until they change their request.”

As in surrender wasn’t up to Lionheart to decide. He’d given his word to his young students, and he would follow through with that, no matter how many times this surface knight killed him.

“So be it.” The clan knight said, returning the salute. The implication was obvious. He'd remain here and kill him and his wards until they asked him to surrender.

Frankly, that was equally acceptable. The little machine-human city would now require a full imperial chapter to campaign against. A quick strike team of Deathless would no longer be able to pin them down, not with a surface clan filled with Deathless clan knights already setting home there.

And especially not these clan knights.

They weren’t his real enemy. That was further underground, and Lionheart always kept his ultimate goal in mind. If his students told him they no longer wished for vengeance, then that was their choice. He had followed through on his word to the best of his abilities.

He took his standard imperial stance, learned from master after master among the many fortresses he’d rested at in his life.

Then, he charged forward, occult pulsing around him, power crackling out of his fingers and eyes as he put everything he had, all at once.

The fight between him and Tenisent Winterscar was complete within two seconds, with the majority of those two seconds spent in Lionheart’s forward charge.

Prior fights, Tenisent had tested his defenses and combat techniques. Those lasted longer as the enemy Deathless was learning. Now, Tenisent already knew how Lionheart fought. And there was no need to probe for further weaknesses.

There wasn’t a feint. No attempt to trick Lionheart’s own sword movements, or to slip past his guard from a tricky angle. He’d simply slashed forward with such speed and accuracy at the exact angle Lionheart hadn't properly prepared against.

As Lionheart fell on the ground, his body rolling over himself from his doomed charge, he contemplated his next move. Possibly three more attempts before the rookies would start to return to life at this pillar heart. And since it was only Tenisent here, Lionheart guessed the rest of the clan’s deathless knights remained at Yellena, in case any of his students tried to return to life there instead of regrouping here.

Before his vision faded to full darkness, he could see Tenisent himself simply sitting down on the bloody grass, taking a position of meditation. Undersiders had started to crowd around the edges of the grassy park here, with soldiers nervously hoping their superiors didn’t order them to do anything stupid.

The man really would wait a full day for Lionheart to return to life here, only to kill him again and again. If the city was smart, they would stay out this and wait for the business between Deathless to come to an end. Any guards attempting to arrest or break up the fight here would have their armors claimed as a victory prize at the absolute least. And they’d be supremely lucky to not be outright killed. After all, what could anyone in this city do to a clan knight that could kill him so effortlessly?

Lionheart woke up. The same room, with one less rack of clothing. He got up, got dressed and then walked outside into the park.

Tenisent waited for him, legs crossed in meditation as kids ran around him, or in one case, over him. A game of tag if Lionheart had to guess. Around the perimeter, he saw fencing and guards had been stationed, likely trying to prevent exactly what was currently happening. But none of the guards had the courage to come out on the grass and pull the kids out of here.

Something the kids seemed to instinctively understand and abuse.

He saw a girl jump on his back, wrap two hands around his helmet as if to blind him, while the other kids all made an attempt to grab one single occult blade left embedded into the ground next to the knight. Despite being blinded by the little girl, Tenisent's hand shot out, wrapping around the trigger portion of the blade's hilt. faster than any of the kids could. Like so, it became an unmovable object. They pulled and yanked, but it didn't move an inch. He'd done this without even so much as a twitch of motion on his head. Helmet still burning a hole in the home Lionheart had walked out of.

The kids saw him now, screamed and scrambled out of the way.

The rest of the undersider knight blades that Lionheart had collected in his prior battle were shattered, their hilts crushed. Only this one blade remained active.

The surface knight’s helmet turned up to meet his gaze.

“I see you really are going to sit here and wait each time for me.” Lionheart said, mostly as idle conversation. Of course the surface knight would. "Are you not going to run out of power cells to run your armor at this rate?"

The clan knight remained silent. Waiting.

Lionheart was fairly certain the clan knight's backpack contained more backup power cells already prepared. No, he didn't think this fight would ever end with both of them armorless, fighting each other with occult and fist.

Lionheart reached down and grabbed the clothing leftover from his prior death, folded it up, and tossed it behind him, back through the doorway of the little room under the pillar heart. He didn’t want to run out of clothing, fighting naked was hardly dignified.

The surface knight rose from his seated position only after Lionheart had put his clothing back into the shed. The kids around him fully scattered away now that Tenisent was moving, screaming in either terror or delight. Lionheart had no idea, but he did notice the moment the kids got too close to the parameter defense, undersider knights jabbed forward as fast as they could and yanked the screaming menaces out.

Lionheart didn’t feel much more fear besides that. Even if the kids remained out on the field between them, Lionheart had more worries he would be the one to accidentally hit or harm any of them. His opponent’s command over the blade was so precise, the old Deathless truly believed Tenisent could cut his head off with ten kids jumping and diving between them, all without slicing a single hair off their heads.

Tenisent, for all his killing potential, didn’t attack or harm people without reason. And somehow, he had a feeling that personality trait was tripled when it came to children. The world was indeed a strange one, when the new generation Deathless were less trustworthy than a surface knight.

Tenisent didn’t nod his head or acknowledge him. All he did was turn his gaze to a discarded occult blade, pull it out of the ground, and toss it in his direction. The blade zipped through the air and embedded itself right in front of his path.

Finally the clan knight spoke for the first time, and only to say three words: “Pick it up.”

End of Book 7