Night, Prize Harbour, the cemetery on the outskirts.
Those who had perished in the earlier naval bombardment had been carried here; the pastors and bishops of the three great churches were busy soothing souls and warding off mutations.
In that brief span of a single day, many wives had lost their husbands, many children their mothers; many families had been reduced to a single lonely soul. They wandered about the cemetery — some silent, some shedding tears, some weeping into faints again and again.
Klein, wearing an ordinary face, stood among them, beholding it all without a word, as though casting back to funerals he had once attended.
He had only just taken advantage of the darkness and, in several hospitals of
He knew that once such tales spread widely, Tsalatu — present in Backlund — would at once understand what was afoot and dispatch secret puppets to keep watch upon the corresponding sites. So, before word could spread, Klein, relying on «Teleportation», had run through every hospital in Backlund and Prize Harbour, leaving terrifying stories behind even as he treated the gravely ill.
Once these matters were noised abroad, he was sure he would reap a great quantity of feedback, taking a firm and considerable step toward the complete digestion of the potion.
Yet Klein did not halt at that. The intrigues possibly afoot through the «Crimson Angel» evil spirit, and the fact of Tsalatu's presence in Backlund, hung above his head like a drawn blade, urging him to keep seeking opportunities.
And so he had come here, to witness with his own eyes the grief of the common folk.
After standing in silence a while, Klein withdrew his gaze, turned, and left the cemetery.
Having come to a deserted spot, the glove on his left palm swiftly turned a deep blue and sprouted slick, oily fish-scales one after another.
A whistling wind swept up, carrying Klein into the air, bearing him toward the harbour.
Out beyond it, upon the sea, the Sonia Sea fleet of the
Klein soon reached the air above the ruined harbour, gazing into the deep night at the firelight that glimmered faintly within it.
At the same moment, his two secret puppets, using «Flame Jump», had hastened across from the ground, each taking up a different hidden position.
What he had just seen and heard left Klein no further hesitation nor compunction about what was to be done, and yet he remained much at a loss.
To take vengeance upon the aggressor was a just thing; but if doing so were to deal a heavy blow to the Feysac fleet, then the one most delighted might well be Loen's King George III — that true mastermind behind the scenes, one of the chief instigators of war!
There are too many maxims in this world; only by truly going through it does one find that, sometimes, no matter what one does it is not quite right, and one's heart is filled with contradiction… Klein let out a long breath and turned his attention to the intelligence obtained from «Hanged Man»: The commander of the Feysac Empire's Sonia Sea fleet was Admiral Yegor
Tying this intelligence to the contents of the «Red Priest» tarot card, more crucial points arose in Klein's mind: «'Blood Knight' — capable of turning women into men, possessed of a courage as strong as steel; they not only command many manners of flame, being masters in that domain, but they may also flame-form or steel-form their own bodies…»
……
Aboard the flagship of the Feysac Empire's Sonia Sea fleet, the «Nipos».
Burly Yegor Einhorn, over two metres tall, a thick moustache upon his upper lip, sat behind a writing-desk on which a map was spread; he drank Sonia blood-wine while considering the next arrangements: «Once day breaks, Loen's airship squadron will surely come to attack; their ironclad 'Prize' and the corresponding fleet are returning fast. To linger here would put us in a very passive position.
«Though I am a 'Blood Knight' and can concentrate the fleet's strength upon my person and disperse the damage I take, the commander of that ironclad fleet is most likely a demigod of the 'Arbiter' pathway, or has the corresponding '1'-grade sealed artefact at his disposal — he is not easy to deal with. A single careless step, and they will press home their advantages of speed and gunnery…
«Retreat is the best choice; afterwards, while the Loen navy is wounded and momentarily under-strength, we keep harrying their coastal harbours…
«Heh, a war of this sort is indeed a fine opportunity for digesting potions.
«Pity, then, that I did not become a 'War Bishop' beforehand: had I been one, I might well have had a chance, after the war, to ascend to angel rank. Hmph — only a 'War Bishop' can truly bring out the advantages of an army, not be reduced, as I am, to concentrating power only upon himself…»
While Yegor Einhorn's thoughts roved, he was about, by means of the «Blood Knight's» latent connection with his troops, to summon his adjutant and order that they retreat under cover of night.
Suddenly, he looked up toward the door.
Knock!
From that very spot a knocking sound issued, ringing for an instant within the silent chamber.
An announced attack… The thought flashed at once through Yegor's mind, and his spirit was strung up at maximum alert.
In a battle of demigods or half-mortals, ambushed terrain, surprise attack and the unexpected are all sound means of seizing the initiative — indispensable elements for effectively defeating, or even slaying, an enemy of one's own tier; without them, success is hard-won. So to announce an attack beforehand is either a warning with no follow-through, or it means that the attacker's tier, position and strength are vastly above the target's.
And as a veteran «Blood Knight», Yegor by instinct considered the situation in its worst form, and at once roused every sailor and every soldier upon the «Nipos» with whom he had forged his bond.
Just at that moment the sound rang out a second time: «Boom!»
This knock at the door issued a sound matching the roar of a great cannon, leaving Yegor with the sensation that a bomb of vast yield had detonated by his ear.
In his state of utmost mental alertness, attentive to the slightest stirring, it was no less than the bellow of a «Disaster Officiant»!
For an instant a buzzing droned within Yegor's ears, and a giddiness arose in his head.