Oathtaker | Chapter 7 - The Firstborn

  Mark has had his share of grave robbing, exploring various ruins from the Empire just five years ago that he knows a thing or two about exploring ruins, spending his first 13 years after being born as Marcus Noxsolis Orthros to study the history of Vestige before he could even enter mandatory education also helped.

  “This predates whatever the Empire is,” Mark said, crossing his arms as he looked at the markings on the walls as he and Shizuki explored deeper, keeping their hands on the right side of the wall in the dim lighting of the place.

  “How so?” She asked, looking around, trying to study as well.

  “The architecture structure is different from Imperial architecture for starters.” Mark said, looking at the groves and designs of the walls. He has studied the eras of various Architecture within the Empire and none of them match, if he was to draw comparisons to Earth one could say that Imperial Architecture seems to be a cross of Classical Roman Architecture and Byzantine Architecture, rather fitting given the Mark can't help but contrast the Noxsolis Empire to the Roman Empire though it's a bit of a very broad assumption to anyone who is familiar with the history.

  As for the architecture of these ruins? Well if the Noxsolis Empire is similar to Roman Architecture then these ruins would lean more on Mesopotamian or even Meso American architecture.

  And if Vestige is very much like Earth in how they handle their Empires, and with how buried these ruins are, they are quite literally under the nose of the strongest nation in the continent. Then the gap between this and Noxsolis is massive.

  “I think we just made a discovery,” Shizuki said with awe as they looked around as she noticed a series of what appears to be torches but the moment she projected Mana into it to ignite the other Torches did as well as though it detected it.

  “This place has Mana Lanterns,” She said in a low voice. “But the designs are very different from the ones we use.”

  “This meant that the civilization that built this reached the same technological advancements we did,” Mark observed as he picked up the Mana Lantern. They seem to operate like the modern ones, inject some Mana into it and it lights up until the caster is no longer near the proximity. If they are connected with others, then it does that also.

  A sort of Proximity Light with Mana serving as the energy source and circuit rather than solar panels.

  The difference is that the designs are very different. Modern Mana Lanterns look like an actual lantern, but these look almost alien like a torch with a sphere attached at the top that when Mark pried it from the torch it could be detachable like some kind of orb of light powered by Mana. Makes it look more like a Mana Torch than a Lantern if you think about it.

  “It's pretty chilling to be honest,” Mark said as he grabbed more Mana Lanterns and grabbed the spheres. “Whoever built this clearly predates the Empire for a long time but also meant they reached or even surpassed our level of tech.”

  “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” He heard Shizuki whisper, causing Mark to subtly glance at her who was still fixated on the Architectures above them.

  ‘Clarke’s third law? The fact she says it word for word…no I could be overthinking maybe this world has their own version of Clarke and the Third Law.’ Mark thought as he pretended to not hear the entire thing, he had one problem to deal with and he's glad that there's only one problem to deal with.

  “So how's the landing?” She said jokingly as Mark gave her a confused look.

  “Oh don't act innocent, I know for a fact you landed here.” She said her tone was dripping with a teasing tone as she pointed at her chest.

  “I don't think we should be having this conversation,” Mark said as he immediately looked away hoping that his face wasn't red like before.

  “No need to be shy, I'll have you know I'm fairly confident in them and they're quite an impressive size.” She said moving closer clearly trying to tease him.

  ‘Yeah but there's no way in hell I'll say that or the teasing won't end.’ Mark said, quickening his pace hoping he can avoid the obvious teasing look as evident with the smirk as her mask exposed the other half of her face. ‘Plus if I admit that I'm basically outing myself as some creep and I do not want to commit crime.’

  “We should focus on getting out of here,” Mark said as he heard her footsteps quicken as she got closer with each step but as he got closer he could hear footsteps as heard something from the distance as he hid behind the wall.

  “I know I'm just lightening–” She said but Mark quickly covered her mouth as he placed a finger on his lips.

  “We’re not alone, someone or something is down here.” Mark whispered as she nodded in silence as she immediately turned off all of the Mana Lanterns they had.

  “Should we use a Concealment spell to hide?” She asked worriedly.

  “Don't save your Mana for something important,” Mark said as he closed his eyes and tried to listen closely, he could hear footsteps that resembled that of a Humanoid being. One that is still aware that they are alone, Mark peeked in the corner as he tried and spotted a handful of men and women exploring as well and appears to be arguing implying that they're lost.

  Be even in the dim lighting of the cave illuminated by the devices of the other group. He can faintly see the outfits they were wearing.

  They were Imperial Army Uniforms, more specifically of the Eastern Imperial Army as evident with emblems on their uniforms. They are the last of the list of people that Mark would rather not spend time with.

  “You think if you ask for directions they'll help?” Shizuki asked as she peeked next to him.

  “Doubt that, they'll likely turn us into slaves or something.” Mark whispered in a low voice, pretending he knew little about them. Though knowing what he knows of the Eastern Imperial Army, her fate would be far worse.

  Especially since he spent time with them.

  “Hello there,” He felt his spine grow cold as he felt a dagger in his neck as he raised his hand in surrender as he glanced at Shizuki who also froze and raised her hands while dropping her staff.

  “Turn around slowly,” Mark heard the same cold spine chilling voice, he recognised that voice very well as he turned around the older man smirked as he recognised his face. Of course he would, he knows that face all too well.

  “Well shit,” He said, almost too happy to see him as he raised his hands in amusement. “You've grown up! I kind of missed you!”

  “I sure as hell didn't.” Mark hissed in a low voice, his voice was dripping with venom as he glared at the man before him. He had a clean shaven head and emblazoned over his face was the Noxsolisian Numeral 17 like he had just branded his face with it. “Kain Merick”

  “Oh why the hostilities,” He said as he whistled aloud as a few other Imperial Soldiers marched towards them and grabbed Mark, he glanced to his side and found them putting Shizuki in chains while one of them grabbed her staff. “I took care of you and your little guardian pretty well.”

  “You violated and killed her is what you did,” Mark said as the Soldiers dragged them off.

  “I'm sure you enjoyed the sight,” Kain chuckled as the soldiers handed Kain his sword and revolver. “Well how about that, you got us a gift.”

  “Let me go!” He turned to the side as he found Shizuki being carried off.

  “Lay one hand on her–!” Mark shouted as one of the soldiers punched him in the face.

  “Oh we won't, we’ll make sure you get a good view like last time.” Kain chuckled sadistically as he nodded at the Soldier. “Take him to the Captain, I'm sure she'll be glad to see the Prodigal Son is home.”

  The Soldiers carded him off while he heard the faint screaming of Shizuki struggling from them as they did so. Mark felt his heart quicken as panic slowly began to creep inside him. Of all the Armies that they had to run into they had to go with the most insane all the while the sense of dread still plagues him as he knows they are perhaps the most dangerous for the wrong things.

  The soldiers took him to the main forward camp, it turns out this underground tunnel network was established months ago and have been digging based on the number of fortifications and structures around the underground base. This scares Mark, as right above was no doubt the outskirts of Revalante and if these maniacs were to dig up, they would raze the city to the ground.

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  There would be no survivors.

  ‘I will need to bring this place down, who knows what they could do.’ Mark thought as he glanced at a few of the Soldiers gathered around massive generators powered by massive Mana Quartz. If he managed to escape alongside Shizuki, he may need to sneak down here and sabotage these generators because if he overloads those machines he’ll likely be able to bring the entire cave network down on them and–no he cannot afford the time.

  If he and Shizuki escape, the Eastern Imperial Army will likely pack up and bury their tracks as if nothing happened.

  He NEEDS to take them out here and now.

  Mark was shoved inside the tent as he fell to the ground to find a lone figure towering before him in full Imperial Uniform, more specifically for the Officer Corps given to Imperial Battlemages. The Officer turned to him and had a rather surprised look on her face, as though she never expected him to be alive after so many years.

  Despite everything, he can't help but understand the sentiment.

  “Well, if it isn't the Prodigal Prince.” The Imperial Battlemage said aloud as she took off her hood, revealing a human female with pale blonde hair and cold purple eyes. “We've missed you.”

  “Selenike,” Mark whispered as he sat up.

  “Are you here to come home?” She said as she sat down while she grabbed her staff-spear and aimed the spearhead by his chin.

  “No, it's pure bad luck.” He responded with a shrug as she giggled as she waved a hand he felt his breathing began to constrict.

  “Even now you still carry pride, impressive. Then again you're the only one of Ioshua's spawn that we found alive.” She said she flicked her wrist and for a brief moment something flashed before his eyes as his neck began to glow gold as a series of blood red threads bounced off his neck.

  “I see your Gestalt is a nuisance as always,” She said with a click of her tongue as Mark smirked as for a brief moment he allowed himself to reveal he had wrapped a handful of golden chains forming some crude neck guard for him, years of being on the road always fighting had led him to modify his use of his Gestalt which is a series of ever expanding Golden Chains made of pure sunlight.

  A common trait within the Noxsolis bloodline was Gestalts powered by the sun itself, alongside like Silver hair, which Mark suspected to be an after effect of that.

  “I see you're a sadist as always,” Mark replied dryly. “I'm assuming you won't answer nor am I in any position but why the sudden change of profession to Miners? Lord-Commander Dorn looked down on Sappers so turning into trenchers seems to be hypocritical of him.”

  “Spare me the sarcasm Marcus, though I will humor you by answering your question.” She said with a sneer as the threads reeled back to her fingertips. “We had a change of management, we are now under the orders of The Firstborn who promised us a seat in the New Empire once we do his bidding.”

  ‘Of course they would,’ Mark scoffed as he remembered overhearing them complaining how she and a few other Officers were denied better positions in favor of people like Freia or Cromwell.

  They think it was nepotism as they were longtime friends of Ioshua but they were corrupt to the bone and while Crom and Freia were friends with Ioshua, they were chosen for their skills not connections.

  “Alright this one is a longshot, but who's the Firstborn?” Mark asked as he glanced at the war map before them as it showed various pieces of the Eastern Imperial Army, positioned in a way that shows they already had the city of Revalante surrounded.

  Meanwhile, pieces of the Western Imperial Army, under Crom’s command as evident with Crom’s iconic Black Sheep Emblem, is on the other half of the continent handling the containment of the Bloodlands but also observing the Nightfall Expanse.

  Whether this is the current is up in the air but it fills Mark with dread with how surrounded the City-State was all the while it was under Crom’s nose.

  “Why the sudden curiosity?” Selenike asked as she pulled the spear-staff away as she showed him a strange badge. It contained a Black Sword emblazoned over a Silver Moon, it was the first time he had seen, almost like an inversion to the emblem off the Noxsolis Royal Family which is a White Shield over a Golden Sun and written in Imperial Language were the words of ‘May the Moon forever watch over us’ a line he had heard for the first time.

  “I'm assuming he must be some ambitious warlord trying to make a name?” Mark said with a frown as Selenik pocketed the badge once more.

  “Perhaps, he is a man of mysteries that much is certain. Well I doubt he'll matter to you, since you'll be dead soon.” She said as she reached for a sacrificial dagger. Mark noticed the runic markings, bearing the symbol of a quadrupedal dragon, almost similar to the Black Dragon that assaulted the Citadel years ago.

  “He gave me strange instructions though, telling me that if I were to find any of you four I'll need to stab you with this.” She said, pressing the dagger against his neck, the blade itself strangely caused some reaction against his Gestalt as the chains around it caused it to flicker and spark as though it was designed to cut through it. “Fortunately he never specified if the stab was fatal or not so I can take my time.”

  “That's unfortunate,” Mark commented as upon instinct proceeded to headbutt her knocking her unconscious, was it impulsive and reckless? Yes, but it was the best shot he could have if he needed to get himself and Shizuki out of the camp alive with their sanity intact. Fortunately his neck wasn't the only thing wrapped in his Golden Sunlight chains.

  The pair of Soldiers behind him immediately rushed to his aid, but he channeled his chains around the same one tied around his hands as he slammed it against one of the Soldiers sending him back and then wrapped it around their neck as it heated up, slicing his head clean off as the heated chains instantly cauterized the slice

  He walked to the other soldier who was still reeling from the superheated chains as Mark slammed the chains at him, killing him for good.

  ‘In hindsight, giving chains to someone who has some form of skill with it was a bad idea.’ Mark has turned to now recovering Selenike as he grabbed the Dagger in his hands, grabbed her by the collar and slammed her against the wall as he wrapped his chains around her.

  “You will tell me everything I need to know about the Firstborn,” He said as the chains began to slowly glow as it began to burn her flesh. “And I will kill you.”

  [The Reluctant Reincarnation]

  Using the stolen uniform that he found from killing the two Soldiers, he hurried his way to the next tent where he last saw Shizuki being carried away.

  “Man, what's taking that Mage so long? I want to bring that Bastard here so we can start already!” He heard the voice of Kain from a distance as he entered the Tent, in his mind the first thing he was thinking was to kill them all as quickly as possible knowing how much of a danger they are to Shizuki especially since he knows what they are capable of.

  But he will not be charging in blind, his time in the Bloodlands before ending up in Last Light taught him patience. Mainly on how to hunt and eliminate his targets before they realized it until it was too late. Given the fact that the Camp is not on high alert means that they haven’t found the corpses of their comrades, so he should be fine but he is still on the clock and will need to speed up.

  His eyes landed on the first Soldier on guard who was letting out yawn as Kain stepped out grumbling to himself. His eyes landed on Mark and scowled.

  “Hey where’s your–!” He didn’t finish his sentence as Mark immediately threw the Sacrificial Dagger at him landing between the narrow part of his helmet where his eyes are exposed as Mark sprinted towards him covered his mouth and yanked the Dagger off his eyes as he did a second stab on the neck as he hid his corpse near some crates for the time being.

  Mark picked up his Battle-Rifle and unfolded the Bayonet as he entered inside, he wasn’t going to fire it just yet but the Battle-Rifle made a good substitute for a spear. As he entered the Tent though he heard two of the soldiers talking.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for Kain to bring the Royal Runt here?” He heard one of the Soldiers discuss who was taking turns keeping an eye on Shizuki.

  “It’s not like he’s going to find out, let’s just have a sample of her but he gets the main course.” He heard the second soldier giggle clearly excited about whatever plans she had for Shizuki.

  “And he’ll have your head on a pike afterwards.” Mark said as he silently closed the gap between him and the Male Soldier as he immediately impaled him from behind with the Battle-Rifle, taking the female Soldier by surprise as he stole the tomahawk on his belt and threw it at the Female soldier’s neck before she could even alert the rest of the Soldiers as she began to choke on her blood as Mark walked towards her, pulled the Tomahawk off her neck and drove deeper in her neck.

  ‘And they wonder why the Crom’s Army outperforms them,’ Mark wondered aloud. They were good in a fight but it was clear that they lacked the experience to prepare for these situations and at best work as Attrition Warfare soldiers. Had he been facing off Crom’s army, he would have been captured the moment he killed Selenike given Crom’s foresight in strategic planning.

  Making his way into the tent he found Shizuki chained to a post with her eyes and mouth gagged, her clothes were still intact albeit ruffled as he hurried to her side as he feared the worse had already happened and her mask was nowhere to be found while her hair was a holy mess.

  “Miss Shizuki, it’s me, Mark.” he whispered as he knelt next to her for a moment he noticed her shoulders relaxing implying that she recognized his voice. “We’re breaking out, please be quiet but I need you to keep the blindfold on for a bit.”

  She nodded as she removed the gag around her mouth and turned his attention to the chains as he removed it with a key he grabbed off the corpses.

  “What did you do?” She said rubbing her wrists that were already scratched from struggling from the chains.

  “I killed them,” Mark said as he spotted her staff and handed it back to her as she did so and began to lean on it as some makeshift cane, this caused her eyes to furrow as they sneaked out of the tent crouching between the hiding spots of the crates around them.

  “But they were Imperial Soldiers.” She asked in confusion as she took her blindfold and looked behind to her shock as she found the corpses of several soldiers that Mark killed not just from the command tent but to get to her.

  “How??” She asked in utter confusion, clearly looking like she was moments away from vomiting her breakfast.

  “You pick up a thing or two in the Bloodlands.” Mark commented as the two looked around and spotted the Mana Quartz Generators, looking further he could see various support beams.

  “Do you have a plan,” Shizuki peeking out of the crates.

  “Yeah, blow up those generators and bring down those support beams,” Mark whispered as they moved from the other crate and to one of the generators.

  “We’ll need to do it as quickly as possible to deal with that.” Shizuki said as she glanced at the generators. “I can take them out but how do we deal with the support beams?”

  “Leave that to me,” Mark responded as his chains manifested on his hands, seeing that Shizuki scoffed for a moment as he looked at her face. For a brief moment, he can't help but find her face oddly familiar though given it was the first time meeting her, Mark was unsure and he had more important things to deal with.

  “I knew you had a Gestalt.” She said with a small smile.

  “I prefer to keep it hidden, the more people know the more they are able to find a counter.” Mark said, looking past them. From the farther end, he can see there's a tunnel and if they were lucky that's their ticket to escaping.

  “See that tunnel? I need you to overload those generators and bolt as fast as you can to that. I'll catch up.” Mark said as he readied his sword as Shizuki's red eyes lingered on his sword.

  “How do you know these people,” She asked with a low voice.

  “Sometimes you do things for survival…” Mark said in a low voice and nodded to her. “Let's go.”