Xion CH42: Killing An Ambassadorial Party

Steam crackled in the air with the **** of hundreds of beetles. A mass of silver metal hovered among the coals, hot and malleable inside the forge. A pair of iron tongs gripped the mass of molten steel, slowly lifted it from the coals, and placed it on an anvil. It didn’t rest long before Samael ponded it with a hammer. With every hammer bang, the mass of metal looked less like a pile of bugs and more like a lump of steel. I watched her shape and bend the metal before reheating it.

Numerous training videos, thousands of SP for equipment, and time for training took Samael from a tribal to a competent blacksmith. Finally, after thousands of failures, a few halfway decent spear tips, and some good knives, she worked on what could be my god-slaying weapon.

She slowly worked runes into the metal as she beat the metal into the shape of a sword. It lengthened with every fold as she thinned the metal. When the weapon was set, it would channel qi better than any normal metal weapon.

“You really know how to make me work; you know I expect you to rub my back after this. I’m not talking about a little rub either you’re going to use the oil you bought me and rub me for hours. Just the thought of getting rubbed down makes me want to hurry up.”

I glared at her.

“Of course, I won’t; this can’t be rushed.”

“Did you hear about the ambassador party?” I asked.

“Mother asked them to come to dinner. I think the ministers plan to jump ship and sell the rest of us into slavery. The warrior minister won’t be found until tomorrow; well, pieces of her will be.”

“So, no one wants to give in to the great Khan’s mercy,” I said.

“We’ve heard tales from the dolphin girls about what kind of badass the Dao Khan is said to be. She’s the type of bitch who would kill us all for betraying my mother. Because who could trust women who sold out their leader. If we all decided to join them, that would be a different story.”

“So, what’s the plan? Are we going to offer tribute to the Great Khan and hope they don’t decide to just take us over? With the number of gods they have under their control, surrender may be the only option for this tribe.” I said.

“You’re defective; they would kill you. Then, Elorael and I would be fucked and castrated,” Samael said.

“What does that involve?” I asked.

“The great Khan would have us castrated to ensure we wouldn’t impregnate any of her other flowers. Then, she would breed us like a moose in the rut until we were pregnant. After that, our children would become the equivalent of governors in this territory.” Samael said.

I nodded my head. “That’s what I thought, so it's best to remove the temptation from their hands then. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this. Please have my sword ready in the next few days. I’m going to **** the great Khan to attack me with her full strength.” I said.

…

There weren’t many actions more disrespectful to an ancient society than killing their ambassadors. But, of course, how I killed them would also matter. Even if they had a whole pantheon of gods chained to themselves, they were still a primitive race. Their weapons were tipped with rock or bone, and their sentries were just as drunk as the others. A few forest elves gave the rough riding elves of the plains some company. The sounds of lovemaking were in full swing when I made my way to their camp.

I grabbed the sentry's face, and for a second, she froze before I snapped her neck. My wet work continued with knives over throats drawing red rivers, and my steel blade cut clean. Samael had lovingly strapped my leather-wrapped handle to make it tight with no slippage. As a result, I could cut hundreds of throats and never slip once on my weapon. A few runes drawn into the blade made the blood drip off the weapon.

While I was busy, I hobbled the horses and planned to use them for breeding my own calvary horse. An arrow impacted my back but failed to pierce my Kevlar vest. I turned to see a tipsy Plains Tribesman fumbling to draw another arrow.

I crossed the distance instantly and delivered a gut-wrenching blow to her stomach. She puked and choked on her vomit. Someone ran out of the tent, and I threw a knife catching them in the side. I heard something shatter and knew my target wore ceramic armor. I watched her run for a horse and throw another blade. Just as she climbed up the saddle, my knife buried itself to the hilt in the horse’s neck.

At a glance, my visor read her PL at 10. The one who shot the arrow had a PL of 13. While that was powerful, it still wasn’t a threat. I kicked the elf’s legs out from under her and watched her fall. She glared up at me.

“The Great Khan won’t be fooled by the treachery of the skull tribe. She will see this for what it is, a sad attempt to stop the inevitable and end your rebellion against the ruler of this world.” The elf said.

The ambassador gave up taking a horse and ran bowlegged for her life.

I flicked another knife and watched the blade hit just a little wide of the ambassador’s head. A click from my tongue was all the frustration I allowed myself to show. I had one more knife, but it wasn’t for throwing. So instead, I pulled my bow from my inventory and fired.

The arrow flew true and hit just where I wanted it. While it missed anything vital, it would still slow the ambassador down. Once I was sure she was gone, I continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.

“That would also work in my favor. Really the only thing I don’t want is peace. It would be great if I can make the Great Khan mad enough to charge.” I said.

“What are you, a degenerate mutant. Your ears aren’t pointed, and I don’t see any scarring.” The elf said.

I slit her throat and moved on to double-check the survivors to make sure I didn’t miss anyone and collected my steel knives. After blabbing my plan, the worst thing I could do was not do a thorough job of making sure everyone was dead. Some people might say my actions make me a monster. But if everything falls apart and I don’t get a single kill, it's my ass on the line. Besides, getting the Great Khan to charge down my throat was the easiest way to ensure the pantheon joined in the attack.

Once I was sure everyone was dead, I stacked their heads into a pyramid. While that was monstrous, it would drive my message home. The forest tribe would see it and realize there was no going back, and without someone to blame, we would legitimately go to war. So now all I had to do was make sure the skull god died. The last thing I wanted to do was let the thing slink away.