Two days into the journey south, Kai was starting to hate his own cabin. He'd been trying to figure out his shadow powers for hours, and all he had to show for it was a headache and growing frustration.
Come on, work with me here. You showed up when I was pissed off at that envoy.
He held out his hand, focusing on his shadow on the cabin wall. During the confrontation, it moved like it was alive. Now it just sat there looking completely normal.
Fantastic. I can terrify people when I'm angry, but I can't do anything useful when I'm actually trying to learn.
Kai clenched his fist, and for a split second, his shadow seemed to flicker. Then nothing.
How do you train something that only works when you're not trying?
A knock at his door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in," he called out, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt.
Darek entered carrying a stack of papers, his face grim. "Your Highness, we've received intelligence reports from the south. You need to see these."
Kai gestured to the chair across from his desk. "How bad is it?"
"Worse than we thought." Darek spread out several messages. "Three more cities have gone silent since we left Midory."
Of course they have. Because this situation wasn't complicated enough already.
"Which cities?" Kai asked.
"Merthen, Colrisa, and Helverton. That brings the total to eleven fallen cities." Darek's expression was troubled. "But it's not just that they've fallen, Your Highness. It's how they fell."
Before Kai could ask what that meant, Althea and Yeldvi entered the cabin. Althea looked worried, while Yeldvi seemed angry, which was pretty normal for him.
"Perfect timing," Kai said. "Darek was just telling me how much deeper in trouble we are."
Althea sat down and immediately started organizing the intelligence reports. "I've been analyzing the patterns, Your Highness. This isn't random conquest. The Death Panel is being very strategic about which cities they target."
"Strategic how?" Kai leaned forward.
"Look at this." Althea pointed to a rough map. "All eleven cities form a circle around Atunmbra. They're not trying to expand territory, they're creating a protective barrier."
A barrier around what? What are they hiding in there?
Yeldvi crossed his arms. "My contacts in the merchant guilds say the trade routes are completely cut off. No goods, no messages, nothing getting through. It's like that whole region just... disappeared."
"And the refugees?" Kai asked. "What are they saying?"
Darek pulled out another report. "That's the really disturbing part. The refugees all tell similar stories. People being taken in the middle of the night, screams coming from the city centers, and..." He hesitated.
"And what?" Kai demanded.
"And some of the people who were taken came back. But they weren't the same anymore."
Right. The demon hybrid transformation Althea mentioned. Just what we needed.
Althea's hands trembled slightly as she opened another message. "This report is from a refugee who escaped Helverton just two days ago. She says she saw her own brother after his transformation. He had claws instead of fingers, his eyes glowed red, and he moved faster than any human should be able to."
Claws and glowing eyes. Sounds like something out of a horror story.
"How strong are these things?" Kai asked.
Yeldvi's expression darkened. "I talked to a knight who barely escaped Colrisa. According to him, these transformed people fight like 2nd Star Magician Knights."
The cabin went silent. Kai felt his stomach drop.
2nd Star level? That's Iron Tempered rank. Each one of those could kill a dozen regular soldiers.
"Are you sure about that assessment?" Althea asked quietly.
"The knight I spoke to is a 1st Star himself," Yeldvi said. "He watched one of these hybrids tear through a squad of ten soldiers in less than a minute. Said his own sword barely scratched the thing's claws."
This changes everything. We're not fighting rebels with weapons. We're fighting magical monsters.
Kai stood up and started pacing. "What about our troop situation? How many actual Magician Knights do we have?"
Darek shuffled through his papers. "That's... another problem. Of the sixty thousand troops your brother promised, maybe three thousand are actual Magician Knights. Most of those are 1st Star level."
Three thousand magic users against an unknown number of 2nd Star demons. The math on that is terrifying.
"So fifty-seven thousand regular soldiers," Kai said slowly, "against enemies that each have the power of a 2nd Star Magician Knight."
"That's about right," Althea confirmed grimly.
We're not planning a military campaign. We're planning a massacre. And we're going to be the ones getting slaughtered.
"How are regular soldiers supposed to fight 2nd Star level enemies?" Kai asked.
"In large groups, with specialized weapons, and a lot of luck," Darek said. "The standard tactic is at least twenty regular soldiers per Magician Knight, working in coordinated formations."
"And against 2nd Star demons?"
"The manuals don't cover that," Darek admitted. "We'd be making it up as we go."
Great. No established tactics, outnumbered by magical monsters, and I still can't control my own abilities.
Yeldvi snorted. "Better start praying to whatever gods are listening, because we're going to need divine intervention."
"What about our Magician Knight distribution?" Kai asked. "Are they at least high-ranking?"
Althea consulted her notes. "Most are 1st Star - Spark Awakened level. We have maybe two hundred 2nd Star Iron Tempered, and perhaps twenty 3rd Star Soul Ascendant knights."
Twenty 3rd Star knights. Against thousands of 2nd Star demons. The empire is really setting us up for success here.
"Supply situation?" Kai asked, trying to focus on things they might be able to control.
"Complicated," Althea said. "Reiva is good for coastal supplies, but once we move inland toward the fallen cities, we'll be on our own. The Death Panel has destroyed most of the supply depots."
So we'll be fighting magical monsters while running out of food and ammunition.
Kai walked to the small window, looking out at the ocean. In the distance, he could see the coastline getting closer. Soon they'd be at Reiva, and all these problems would become very real very quickly.
I wanted a quiet life training and reading books. Instead, I'm about to lead the most hopeless military campaign in imperial history.
"Your Highness," Darek said carefully, "there's one more thing. Some of the garrison commanders are... questioning whether anyone has enough experience for a campaign against 2nd Star level threats."
Kai turned around sharply. "Questioning how?"
"They're asking if there are any generals with experience fighting Magician Knight level enemies," Darek said. "Most military campaigns are against regular human armies."
So not only do I have to prove myself as a leader, I have to do it while fighting enemies none of us understand.
"They'll learn on the job," Kai said. "We all will. Anything else I should know before we reach Reiva?"
Althea and Darek exchanged a look. "Well," Althea said slowly, "there have been reports about how these hybrids coordinate."
Please don't tell me they're organized on top of being magically powerful.
"Coordinate how?"
"Some refugees claim they've seen the transformed people working together in ways that don't make sense. Like they're being controlled by a single mind, or at least following very sophisticated battle plans."
Organized 2nd Star demons with tactical intelligence. Could this get any worse?
Before Kai could respond, shouts came from the deck above. Through the window, he could see the port city of Reiva coming into view.
Time to see just how impossible this situation really is.
The port of Reiva was chaotic.
As their ship approached the harbor, Kai could see dozens of smaller boats packed with refugees fleeing the inland areas. The docks were crowded with people carrying everything they owned, and imperial soldiers were trying to maintain some kind of order.
This looks like the aftermath of a war we haven't even started fighting yet.
"Jesus," Yeldvi muttered, looking over the rail. "How many people are down there?"
"Too many," Althea said quietly.
As soon as they docked, a local commander hurried aboard. He was a middle-aged man with graying hair and worry lines around his eyes.
"Your Highness," he said, saluting quickly. "Commander Marcus Thorne, Reiva garrison. Thank the gods you're here."
He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks. This is definitely going to be bad news.
"Commander," Kai said. "What's the situation?"
"Overwhelming, sir. We've got over fifteen thousand refugees in a city built for eight thousand. Our supplies are running low, and more people arrive every day."
Kai followed the commander off the ship, his officers close behind. The docks were even more chaotic up close. Families huddled together with their possessions, children crying, adults looking lost and terrified.
These are the people I'm supposed to save. With an army that's completely unprepared for what we're facing.
"Have any of the refugees seen the transformed people directly?" Kai asked as they walked through the crowds.
Commander Thorne's face darkened. "A few. We've got them in separate quarters, they're too traumatized to be around the others. But what they describe matches your intelligence reports. These aren't just stronger humans, Your Highness. They're operating at Magician Knight levels."
At least the field reports are consistent. Consistently terrifying, but consistent.
They reached the garrison command center, a stone building that looked like it had been quickly converted to handle the crisis. Inside, maps covered every wall, and tired-looking officers moved between tables covered in reports.
This looks like barely controlled panic. At least they're trying to stay organized.
"How many troops do we have ready right now?" Kai asked.
"Eight thousand here in Reiva, sir. Another twelve thousand scattered between Cordell and Vestrim, about two days' march inland." Commander Thorne paused. "But sir, most of these are regular infantry. We have maybe forty Magician Knights total in the immediate area."
Forty Magician Knights. Forty. Against thousands of 2nd Star demons.
"What star levels are our Magician Knights?"
"Mostly 1st Star Spark Awakened, sir. Three 2nd Star Iron Tempered, and one 3rd Star Soul Ascendant - myself."
One 3rd Star knight in the entire local garrison. This keeps getting better.
"And how long to gather the rest of our forces?"
"Full sixty thousand? At least a week, Your Highness. But..." Commander Thorne hesitated.
"But what?"
"Some of the northern garrisons haven't responded to our messages. We're not sure if they're still operational or if they've been overrun."
So part of my army might already be dead or transformed into enemies.
Kai was still processing this information when a mud-covered scout stumbled into the command center, gasping for breath.
"Commander!" the scout wheezed. "Urgent intelligence from our spies in Atunmbra."
Commander Thorne handed the man water. "What did you learn?"
The scout's hands shook as he pulled out a crumpled message. "The Death Panel... they're planning something big. Our contact overheard their leaders talking about a 'Great Awakening.'"
That sounds ominous as hell.
"What kind of awakening?" Kai asked, dreading the answer.
"They're gathering all the people they've captured thousands of them for a mass transformation ritual. Not just making more 2nd Star hybrids, but something worse." The scout's voice dropped to a whisper. "They called it 'The Final Evolution.'"
Althea went pale. "When?"
"Seven days, Your Highness. At the new moon. They said after that, they won't need to hide in cities anymore. They'll have enough power to 'reclaim the empire.'"
Kai felt the weight of the situation crash down on him. Seven days to organize a mostly non-magical army, march into hostile territory, and stop thousands of people from being turned into 2nd Star demons or worse.
Seven days. To prevent the empire from being overrun by magical monsters.
"How many people do they have?" Darek asked.
The scout's answer made everyone in the room freeze: "Every person from all eleven fallen cities, sir. Men, women, children. Over a hundred thousand civilians."
A hundred thousand people. If they transform even half of them into 2nd Star hybrids...
Kai stared at the map of the southern territories, calculating distances and troop movements. If the Death Panel succeeded, they'd have an army of fifty thousand 2nd Star demons concentrated in one region.
The empire has four hundred thousand magician knights total, but they're spread across the entire continent. Most are stationed at distant borders, protecting other regions, or tied up in garrison duties.
The real problem wasn't the empire's total magical strength, it was time and logistics. Even if the Emperor ordered a full mobilization, it would take months to gather enough magician knights to counter fifty thousand concentrated 2nd Star demons.
And by then, the Death Panel could use their demon army to overrun more cities, transform more people, and grow even stronger.
Commander Thorne looked at him expectantly. "Your orders, Your Highness?"
Kai took a deep breath. The empire might have four hundred thousand magician knights, but I've got maybe three thousand available in the next week. And that has to be enough.
"Send word to every available garrison. I don't care if they're not fully equipped or organized. We march in three days with whatever forces we can gather." He turned to face the room full of officers. "And get me every Magician Knight within two days' travel. We're going to need every single one."
Three days to prepare for a battle that could decide the fate of the empire. Against enemies that could slaughter regular soldiers without breaking a sweat.
I really hope my shadow powers decide to cooperate when we need them most.