Whether they were entities who originally inspired those names or simply took them later for their own was moot, although I was sure some of the Great Beasts knew the truth of it.

It didn’t matter. Their little pantheon of Ahaws and servants had been taking sacrifices from humanity for uncounted generations, bolstering their power and reaping the benefits of souls chained and drawn helplessly into the Netherworld.

That was all going to change now. Whether they would find the courage to challenge me was basically immaterial now, I actually didn’t care. What we needed were more lower-Level mages committed to a course of action that wouldn’t prompt the Interlopers to intercede, like me showing off just might.

I was just here to see that no Archmages or Sages got involved and tried wiping out a bunch of lower-Level mages with some grand effort or Ritual.

Yes, I could probably have done all of this myself now. But that would have involved flexing at a level that would have been Noticed, and that would be bad.

My job was to shut down the two Conduits here, cap them, and add them to the Formation keeping the Netherlords off of this world... and by resonance and vivic reinforcement of all that happy death energy going unwhite, the Nirvanans, too! Supplying some overwatch was just biding time until my end of this whole arrangement was needed... and to send those mummified bones back where they belonged, maybe a little ahead of time.

There was a shifting in space as Sama slid back into position, looking north to where undead forces were chasing the panicked main Mexican army back towards the Wards. Unlike our people, they had no stomach for fighting undead who hadn’t been weakened by passing through the Wards.

The fact that their fleeing opened up a long hole through which the undead could and were looping around and trying to get behind us didn’t concern them at all, of course.

It was fine. The Jaguar Knights riding shriveled, hairless undead giant cats as they raced to cut off our withdrawal route were rounding a corner right now around one of the many lesser shrines, and the Gunners were drawing beads on them, starting at four hundred yards.

Streaks of black and white punched downrange, a timely Blessing of Arrowflight doubling the missile attack damage, while the mages, artificers, and wizards brought up their own True Seeking spells, plus Distance and Accuracy on their Rifles. They could have been shooting at point-blank range, given the accuracy of their fusillade.

Elite mummified undead knights in their preserved pelts of the very undead mounts they rode were pitched out of their saddles as skulls exploded, arms went flying, and undead Jaguars went tumbling as their own heads blew apart.

The mounted cavalry was very fast, but the rate of fire of those Carbines was considerably better than any spells out there and the Gunners were dead shots, spending a point of Mana at a time and sending out lines of multi-Element accompaniment to their enhanced ammunition that was turning that charge into a Light Brigade moment.

Sama half-smiled in satisfaction as the charging Jaguar Knights found that guns and steel in a proper concave arc were indeed a solution to them. They were heaped up in Burning piles as the sharpshooters took them out rapidly, basically not letting any of the Jaguar Knights get close enough to really unleash any magic.

Those few who did get spells off got to taste the fun of their protective magicks blowing up in their faces from conveyed Dispels, and then follow-up volleys blasting them out of their rope saddles.

The vanguard would link up with the Gunners within two minutes, fending off pressing zombies, mummies, and skeletal forces of various sorts as they pulled back to a more secure area.

Of course, at that time they’d shock the undead by digging in and starting wholescale massacres once again, only close enough to the Wards that they couldn’t be cut off!

“I would like to point out that the Colonel overseeing the left flank there overextended badly, and then was the first to flee when the undead pincered his men,” I informed Sama.

She looked in that direction tellingly. “Oh, we’re definitely keeping that rat bastard around a while. For such a fine showing he deserves front-row duty in the main attack line.”

“Make sure he gets a fine medal for such bravery,” I agreed coldly. “Such excellent survival instincts deserve a reward.” The men he was commanding were largely scum, as we’d been sure to stuff the Mexican companies here with soldiers bearing Evil Auras. Dying for their country was something they didn’t want to do, but they were proving to be remarkably apt at it.

Give him a medal for his ‘courage’, and let him clutch it in the front lines. Mexico didn’t need officers like him, Mage or not.

------

I opened my eyes calmly, looking out into the night.

It was midnight, my Renewal moment, the start of my magical day, and being fully pumped up, literally my most powerful magical time... or my longest period until I could be Renewed again, making it my most vulnerable.

Not that the twats out there in the darkness knew that.

I swept my Awareness across them blatantly, although not at full force. It let the four in the air know I knew they were there, hidden in shadows and the void as two of them were, and the extra two taking cover in shrines below didn’t escape me, either, although I didn’t let on that I knew they were there.

More pointedly, I turned my head halfway around, then back forwards.

-Sama, there are interested parties behind me,- I /pointed out to her in great mock cheer.

Ding, ting!

The two notes echoed across the area, and certain knowing figures who recognized them smiled slightly. A few could feel the snarl on Sama’s face as she shifted away to go hunting.

My eyes returned to the undead twats sitting out there on their oversized bats, or waiting concealed within Shrines, thinking I wouldn’t see them.

The Wards were between us, and I was sitting on the Earthworks tossed up to help contain the undead. The basic stone wouldn’t actually last against any kind of concerted undead assault, but it wasn’t meant to. It was meant to slow them down, allow troops to be mobilized, and Formations to be gathered to bombard the undead who, if they passed the Wards, would be weakened significantly in body and magic. Coming over the simple walls we’d thrown up just made better targets of them.

For us, it was a barrier to retreat behind when it was time to rest, nothing more. Rotating guards served with me, but basically, I was sitting right out there in the middle of it, ensconced in a pentagrammic Magical Circle and working on some Imbuing.

Very obvious, very showy. Very tempting to try and sneak attack. Come, come and try it...

-Commander Briggs, there is an unscheduled group coming in to ‘monitor the sanctity’ of the Wards. Official Church robes and everything,- /murmured Captain Pedro Ulverriz, who happened to be assigned to the security detail around the Formation that powered the Wards against the Undead.

-Is that so,- Briggs /rumbled back in that slow, genial way of his that indicated someone was about to die. -I imagine they are prevailing upon you to lower the Wards about the chamber. Politely tell them to fuck off. There is no chance that they don’t have the wherewithal to bring them down themselves, probably with copies of your own command keys. Force them to do so, and then report them for attempting to sabotage the Formation. They will move to silence you. How confident are you in your men?-

-They are blind patriots and believers in the Church. They will not want to believe what the Church is willing to do, and won’t react in time if they are attacked,- Captain Pedro /admitted in between some sort of heated discussion and waving of paperwork in front of him he just scorned. He hadn’t been informed of a coming inspection, so they could just come back in the morning with the General himself present to authorize such a thing!

I could hear a beat rise from a building a hundred yards away as a massive figure stepped outside. -Inform me the instant they start spellcasting. Defend yourself and the men you can.-

-Yes, sir!-

I smiled icily. Wow, that was cold-blooded, indeed.

I tossed my Awareness over thataway, and saw that tens of thousands of undead were gathered up at all four cardinal points under cover of Shadow, ready to charge out.

The hapless guards at the Formation would be accused of being the traitors, the sabotage team the valiant heroes who had stopped the vile Black Curia traitors from destroying the Formation, and I would be suddenly attacked from ahead and behind at the same time as the Ward went down.

The undead would use the moment to swarm the walls at speed, and unweakened, run right over the mortal forces behind them! The slaughter would be horrific!

---

-Fae?- Briggs /asked calmly, while we both listened to the confrontation at the Formation Chamber escalate quickly, heated words flying as the false inspection tried to browbeat the Captain and intimidate him, and he wasn’t having any of it.

Captain Ulverriz pre-empted them by ordering his men to take up defensive formations and bring up their magic. That basically ignited the whole thing, as the suddenly-desperate intruders sprang into action with lethal magic aimed at all the guards!

Briggs took a step, and was miles away and suddenly right behind that team of Church mages bombarding the Formation guards with ruthless determination.

Endure lifted, and then was suddenly on the other side of Briggs’ chest as he took a step. The man in front of him was, however, suddenly missing a head, whose contents splattered vivic all over the backs of those in front of him.

The two men in the back looked back at one, and had just enough time to drop their jaws in astonishment and sudden overwhelming terror at the blazing pale violet eyes of the towering brute behind them.

There was another heartbeat, and Endure was back to his original position, only those two men didn’t have their heads anymore, either.

Half the guards were already dead, and the Priest in charge had proved to be carrying a spare set of the Ward Keys and was trying to bring the protective field down hastily as Captain Ulverriz desperately tried to stay alive while two Archmages bombarded him with overwhelming force... and were extremely irritated that they hadn’t pounded through his defenses already!

Damn those silly Tier-5 Stars reinforcing the Saltseed boosting his Earth Magic...

Five to go. Briggs stepped forward again. His long arm swept out, grabbed a man by the head, and expeditiously swung him into the man next to him, spoiling his attack spell. Said man was bashed forward just as Captain Ulverriz flung out his hands and the crystalline Wall in front of him shot out a score of yard-long spikes, aimed with the skill and precision of a man who’d fought in over three hundred hours of littoral engagements.

That Archmage jerked in shock as the gleaming tips punched into his Armor, found the seams of the magic and sliced right through them with Enchanted efficacy. Perhaps he saw the stick in the Captain’s other hand and recognized the Rod for what it was, perhaps not.

Endure came down, and yet another skull played anvil to his Hammer, flattening that man to the ground. The man windmilling in his grip helplessly was thrown forward, and jerked to a stop abruptly as Saltstone spikes drove into his eyes and popped out the back of his skull.