The Storm King
Chapter 1208: End of the Eunuchs

On the morning of the fourth day of the siege of the Imperial City, Leon’s army prepared for their assault. They had promises that at least one gate would open, but Leon prepared for the worst, anyway. Giants, Ulta suits, MALLs, loose formations of infantry interspersed with war beasts commanded by transformed Tribal officers, and all supported by batteries of enormous Raven-built Flame Lances and fleets of arks overhead.

In those four days, the Lances along the walls of the Imperial City remained silent, leaving the siege uncontested. Leon had expected some kind of response from the regents, but so far, the only word he’d received from behind the walls had been from the nobles that Clear had convinced to surrender.

Leon himself had taken to the field in his Ulta suit, while Yun and Zhang rode behind the frontlines in the most heavily-armored MALL variant in Leon’s army. Zhang hadn’t been happy about that, but both Leon and Yun had insisted. His duty was to protect his Lord, not to join the battle.

Meanwhile, Leon’s comrades who’d accompanied him to this planar cluster were also joining the battle. Marcus had left his bureaucratic army behind to join Leon in the air in an Ulta suit; Red and Anzu had eschewed that option, choosing instead to partake in any fighting in their bestial forms; Clear had perched on Leon’s Ulta suit’s shoulder, keen on being present and watching but seemingly not interested in directly participating; Daryun flew behind Leon’s Ulta suit, lacking one of his own; and Leon’s Tempest Knights surrounded all of them, numbering more than two thousand with more than a hundred of them in Ulta suits of their own, and with a hundred giants joining them.

Ten thousand auxiliaries had taken up position on each flank, while the remaining ten thousand regulars and one thousand noble retainers formed up behind Yun’s MALL. All waited with bated breath, staring at the gates of the city, watching to see if the signal would be given.

They hadn’t surrounded the city in its entirety—it was simply too big for that. The plains to the south were more conducive to large-scale maneuvers, so that’s where they stood. The northern side of the city that opened into forests and hills was monitored but unguarded, allowing the forces within to flee if they so chose. Many within had chosen that path, and throughout the past four days, a steady stream of nobles and commoners alike had fled the city, leaving it almost ten percent smaller than it had been less than a week before.

And yet, many on the walls stayed—Leon could see them, forming up on every layer of wall, while teams swiveled the Lances on their walls to track his army and some of his arks. If the nobles within didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, then the day would end with blood-choked streets and ash-filled air…

But just as that thought crossed Leon’s mind, one of the three gates on the south side swung open, and a signal of blue and white smoke appeared over it.

“Let’s begin,” Leon ordered, the comm lotus in his Ulta suit carrying his voice to the commanders of every element on the field. With iron discipline, his army began to march forward. They moved slowly, methodically, with their armor advancing just a little faster than the infantry to ensure the squishier elements remained protected and to bait out any nervous fire from the wall’s defenders.

The opening of the gate caught those on the walls by surprise, starting with those closest to the gate and spreading like wildfire from there. Instead of maintaining their positions on the walls with grit and professionalism, chaos erupted amongst the ranks of the defenders. Suddenly, it seemed like the defending commanders lost control of many of their soldiers, the walls almost turning into kicked anthills of activity.

And then the gates on the right flank opened, momentarily followed by another blue and white smoke signal. Leon smirked; his forces only needed one gate, but having more was always nice. He breathed an order for the right flank to deploy further to the east and take that gatehouse.

Minutes later, the gatehouse on the left opened, though no smoke signal went up. Instead, what looked like a struggle had broken out in the gatehouse, with many of the defenders fighting each other to reach or defend the fortified structure. Given those fortifications, however, it seemed that whoever had opened the gate remained in control as Leon’s forces advanced unopposed. So chaotic were the walls that not even Lances on the towers fired.

Still, Leon knew it only took one to set a precedent, and as he slowly accelerated into the lead of his army, he remained on high alert for signs of true resistance among the defenders.

His approach to the southernmost gatehouse, however, was marked by the defenders either leaping off the walls to disappear into the city, or whole squads and companies throwing down their weapons and descending the walls to surrender.

With a grin, Leon flicked a few runes on his comm slate and ordered, “Prince Yun, move up. Once we’re through the first gate, ride atop your MALL. I want your people to see you.”

“Will do,” came Yun’s clipped reply.

“Zhang,” Leon added, “you make sure he doesn’t take a stray arrow or anything worse.”

“No need to even say it,” Zhang’s voice sounded from the comm slate.

Leon then proceeded to order the noble retainers and the auxiliary forces with Yun to accelerate past the front line. Leon himself would be the first man past the gates, but Yun would ride at ground level, his presence hopefully encouraging the defenders to halt any resistance and to keep the population settled. After all, Leon was only aiding his new vassal, he wasn’t conquering their city…

The final push through the deserted suburbs was nerve-wracking, but to his surprise, not a single Lance opened up on them, though a few intrepid defenders tried to loose explosive arrows and stones into Leon’s ranks. The mages leading his forces and his armored vehicles blocked or weathered those attacks easily, leaving the only effect they had to be a display of power that only accelerated the number of defenders choosing to surrender or flee.

Leon flew over the southernmost gatehouse without issue, as did the forces beside him. Minutes later Yun’s MALL followed, with the gap between curtain walls having filled with the ranks of the surrendering soldiers. Thousands of eyes watched as the hatch of Yun’s MALL opened, and the young man himself appeared dressed in his Imperial finery—long black robes over richer gold robes, red serpentine dragons with five-fingered claws embroidered into the black robes. He didn’t wear his Imperial headdress, but it was obvious who he was by the rest of his dress.

For the slower onlookers, however, Zhang dispelled all doubts; he climbed out of the MALL after Yun, his white armor polished and glittering in the morning light, Mountain Cleaver in his hand, his luminous tenth-tier aura suppressing everyone who beheld him. He didn’t look happy about following Yun out of the MALL in such a dangerous environment, but he made up for that blatant disregard for the safety of his charge by roaring so loudly that Leon was sure the whole city could hear him.

“REJOICE, PEOPLE OF THE IMPERIAL CITY! YUN, SON OF YUNCHANG, SON OF HEAVEN, HAS RETURNED! THE CORRUPT REGENTS AND VILE EUNUCHS OF THE PALACE ARE DECLARED ENEMIES OF THE STATE! YOU ARE NOT IN DANGER! DO NOT RESIST US AS WE DEAL WITH THE TREASONOUS EUNUCHS AND REGENTS IN THE PALACE! STAY IN YOUR HOMES!”

He continued in such a manner, repeating himself often as Yun’s MALL passed the next few gatehouses along the inner walls and entered the city proper. With his voice ringing out over the city, many wavering defenders were pushed into surrendering, and Leon’s forces remained largely uncontested as they began filing through the gatehouses.

Yun’s MALL was met on the other side of the last gatehouse he passed through by those few nobles who had sworn to him and Leon the night before and had returned to the city. They hailed him as he passed, and the noble retainers and auxiliaries behind him began to sing in their tongue as their boots met the city streets. They sang of victory and restoration, of honor and justice, of an end to traitors and the triumph of the righteous. As they marched, the people, watching behind doors and windows, began to hesitantly open them to gawk and even join in.

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Yun’s forces kept order fairly well, though they didn’t go so far as to hurry the civilians back into their homes, and soon enough, songs and cheering echoed throughout the city. By the time Yun had made it halfway back to the palace, he was smiling from ear to ear, waving to his people as they—literally in some cases—showered him with flowers and praise.

Leon’s forces moving behind the auxiliaries were treated amicably enough, though Leon could tell that such obviously foreign troops entering their city put quite a damper on some of the more enthusiastic celebrations. Still, it seemed that his strategy of sending Yun and the local forces in first had accomplished its goal.

The southern gatehouses were connected to the Imperial Palace’s southern gatehouse by a long street, wide enough for four MALLs to pass side-by-side with effective spacing, and straight as an arrow. As Yun’s group passed through an enormous forum in the center of the city and drew to within a couple miles of the palace’s walls, the defenders there showed that they were not as glad to see him as those on the walls had been; Lances began to fire, beams of bright white light targeted Yun and the front ranks of the auxiliaries.

Zhang sprang into action immediately, leaping forward and projecting a great white shield in front of Yun’s forces which kept them from harm. Strain carved its way through Zhang’s face as the beams slammed into his shield, but he didn’t have to wait long; Leon’s air power moved a split second after Zhang did.

Arks above bellowed in their response, and the flying Ulta suits, giants, and war beasts swarmed toward the palace complex. Fire bloomed over the walls, shattering defensive towers and turning the southern gatehouse into a smoking crater. Resistance continued for several more minutes, but in such a dominant position, Leon’s forces achieved victory less than ten minutes after the ‘battle’ began.

This had the side-effect of disquieting many of the civilians who had been singing and celebrating Yun’s return, and as Zhang returned to Yun’s MALL, he again roared, “STAY INSIDE! DO NOT LEAVE SHELTER UNTIL THE TRAITORS HAVE BEEN DEALT WITH! STAY INSIDE!”

His words were heeded more closely this time, and soon enough, Yun’s MALL approached the crater where the palace’s enormous southern gatehouse had once stood. Rubble was all that filled the bottom, all signs of the defenders having vanished in the wrath of Leon’s war machine. Several giants flew down on Leon’s orders and conjured a bridge from the crater, allowing the armies to pass over the crater without issue and proceed.

On the other side of the gatehouse was a courtyard large enough for twenty thousand to assemble within. Opposite the gatehouse was the main building in the palace complex, built around another, smaller courtyard. Leon knew from planning with Yun and Zhang that on the south side were lower-level offices and barracks for the Imperial Guard, while higher offices and the throne room lay on the north side of the inner courtyard. The constellation of buildings radiating from the main building were residences or bureau headquarters. Though resistance could be shown anywhere, it seemed clear that the main building was going to be where it was concentrated since that was where the barracks were located.

This assumption was proven true as Yun’s MALL accelerated over the crater and entered the courtyard. As the auxiliaries followed him and spread out to start securing the palace, the Imperial Guard poured from the main palace building and took up defensive positions on the stairs. In total, about a thousand of such warriors appeared, their armor shining, their weapons at the ready, their auras strong and radiant.

Leon, however, was unimpressed, and so it seemed was Yun, who stood proudly atop his steadily advancing MALL.

“THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!” the former Emperor shouted. “UNLESS YOU WISH TO BE THE ONE WHO ENDS MY DYNASTY AND BE CURSED BY HEAVEN FOR ALL TIME! IF ANY AMONG YOU WISH TO KILL YOUR EMPEROR, THEN PRESENT YOURSELVES NOW! EVERYONE ELSE, THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!”

Zhang stood behind him as a silent threat, and though it looked at first like they were going to resist, the sounds of weapons clattering to the stairs soon echoed throughout the courtyard. The auxiliaries then rushed forward, taking the Imperial Guard into custody—and none too gently, Leon noticed, though they at least didn’t go so far as to execute any of them on the spot.

Yun’s MALL came to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, and Leon descended with his followers and landed beside the MALL. The chest of his enormous Ulta suit opened and nimbly leaped from it, and it sealed up behind him and returned to the sky under the control of the suit’s assistant giant. Marcus followed suit, and Anzu and Red returned to their human forms and landed beside him. Daryun’s descent was the least dramatic, and as he landed, so too did three hundred Tempest Knights, thirty of whom were giants.

“Ready for this?” Leon asked Yun and Zhang as they dismounted their MALL.

“I am,” Yun stoically stated as a thousand of his auxiliaries and their officers rushed to join them.

“The regents will see their end today,” Zhang added for them both. “May they be cursed for all time.”

“Indeed.” Leon nodded and led the way up the stairs, past Imperial Guards and other auxiliaries handling them. Yun walked at his left shoulder just a step behind, their followers tailing them closely.

The halls of the palace were grand and spacious, allowing sixteen men to march abreast. With giants and caution, however, Leon’s group walked only eight across. Their caution seemed undeserved since their advance through the palace halls was easy and quick, those few bureaucrats and palace servants encountered surrendering immediately and being taken away by Yun’s auxiliaries.

Soon, Leon came face-to-face with the throne room’s doors. They were large and sturdy, enchanted heavily to serve as the last line of defense for an Emperor in the palace. With a single kick, Leon tore them from the walls and sent them flying into the large throne room beyond.

Five hundred people awaited them within, half of them armed and standing between Leon’s group and the unarmed men surrounding the ornate throne.

Leon’s group surged through the door, led by Leon himself with Yun at his side.

“Throw down your weapons!” Yun immediately demanded.

Some of the high-ranking men behind the guards shrieked in fear, but one disgustingly high-pitched voice was raised above them all.

“There will be no rabble-rousing in this sacred place!” A corpulent man richly adorned in silk and jewelry pushed his way to the front of the men by the throne, though still hid behind the guards. “Oh! My Emperor! You have returned! And in such style!”

Leon twitched in distaste with every word this man spoke, his voice hitting Leon’s eardrums like ground glass. He was fine with Yun taking the lead in addressing his people, but he still frowned lightly and let his aura spill forth. The guards collapsed as the weight of his magic settled around them, and the eunuch behind them flinched.

“My gratitude, and from all of us, we thank you!” the high-pitched squeaking continued. “We have been held captive here for so long, but now that our rightful—”

“Cut it,” Yun growled as he strode forward, Zhang hurriedly matching pace while Leon simply took flight and hovered over the suppressed guards. The Tempest Knights and auxiliaries moved forward to secure the room, while the men by the throne began to kneel of their own accord. “Wang Jujun, of all the traitors that have infested this palace, you are the worst of them all! You, a lowly eunuch, have usurped power far beyond your station, instigated a civil war, and weakened this Empire so much that all men born upon Jiaxing for the rest of time will curse your name.”

“My Emperor, I am your humble servant, I have done no such thing,” Wang Jujun continued desperately. He fell to his knees and prostrated himself before Yun as Yun closed to within ten feet. “You are my Emperor! I could never act against you!”

The eunuch began to crawl forward on his rotund belly, and Zhang stepped forward and lowered Mountain Cleaver to protect his Lord. Yun, however, waved him off. “There’s little need to defend me from such a defeated creature,” Yun stated.

“Elevated One…” Zhang whispered in protest, but any further words died in his throat as Yun stared him down. Leon guessed the young, newly-made Prince wanted to relish this moment, and he didn’t blame him. All around them, the Tempest Knights, auxiliaries, and the surrendering great men of Jiaxing watched as the eunuch continued crawling until he lay at Yun’s feet.

“My Lord, my master,” Wang Jujun blubbered as he pressed his lips to Yun’s ornate shoes. “You would make your father proud—exemplars of the dynasty you both are…” The eunuch paused and turned his gaze upward, his head practically between Yun’s feet. “You share both his arrogance and his foolishness, brat…”

A flash of light in his hand and a spike of killing intent in his aura; Zhang roared and brought Mountain Cleaver down; Leon’s heart skipped a beat and he fell upon the eunuch like a lightning bolt, Iron Pride flashing with silver-blue lightning.

Glass cracked in Wang Jujun’s hand and a cloud of acrid dark green smoke exploded outward, consuming Yun for a moment. Mountain Cleaver and Iron Pride cut through a second later, sinking into fatty flesh; Wang Jujun didn’t even scream as his life ended.

Others, however, did. The cloud of dark green smoke burst outward, filling the throne room and coating everyone within. The weak and the unarmored began to scream and choke as blood immediately began pouring from their eyes and mouths. Leon paid them little heed for his Tempest Knights and even the auxiliaries were well-armored and fortified against this attack.

Yun, however, was only fifth-tier and dressed in only his Imperial regalia, which were replicas hastily made for this occasion since he’d had to abandon most of his wardrobe during his flight from the palace. The robes had been enchanted to protect him from conventional threats, but from the moment the smoke touched him, he began hacking and coughing, and he fell backward, clawing at his throat and face.

“Yun!” Zhang screamed as Clear and several other healers raced forward.

Yun didn’t respond as he thrashed about on the floor of his throne room, his skin turning ashen gray as his tears of blood ran in rivers down his cheeks. He sputtered unintelligibly, blood wetting his lips, as Zhang fell to his knees beside him and held him still. Clear slid into a crouch beside the former Emperor, light magic already flowing from his fingers.

There was little Leon could do but watch as hundreds of others in the room thrashed and screamed in pain for several seconds more.

And then the throne room fell silent, all those affected by the smoke falling still. The stench of death settled around the palace, and what would come next, no one knew.