Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Gwen did not know what had happened to herself.

Clearly she had already been so exhausted that even standing had become difficult. Clearly she had already fallen into despair and wanted to give up. Clearly blood and tears had already filled her eyes. Yet she still could not let go of the longsword in her hand.

There was a fire burning in her heart, and she wanted to douse it with the enemy’s blood.

“Lady Nora, I understand.”

Gwen raised her longsword, her expression resolute, as if she were cutting away her own weakness.

She imagined reinforcements arriving at the last moment. She imagined a heavy suit of armor shielding her frailty. She imagined some greater being descending to save her.

Nora shattered her fantasies with a swing of her flail.

At some point, the battlefield seemed to dim slightly.

“Only yourself can save you. Only resistance can buy survival. Only battle can allow you to keep moving forward.”

The longsword in her hand shone, and her white eyes shone as well.

Time seemed to stop at that very instant.

Even Nora halted her flail. She leaned slightly to the side—her headless body seeming capable of seeing that radiant light.

A moment later, she stepped back and stood behind Gwen.

The longsword fell.

The shining longsword cut into the ground, and its light faded.

In the next instant, countless cracks split open across the ground, and dazzling white light leaked from within the fissures.

The Dragonfang Troops densely packed before Gwen were swallowed by that white radiance.

On a low mound a little farther away, a white-haired little girl silently watched.

Beside her, the ethereal silhouette of a tall girl stood with her sword planted on the ground. That was the little girl’s “friend”, Little Gwen.

“Why help her?”

“I don’t know either. She’s nothing like me. She’s so tall, her hair is too long, she seems to have many friends, and she’s even the leader of the Resistance Army.” Gwen shook her head and whispered.

“Do you envy her? Do you want to become her? Or do you hate her?”

Little Gwen crouched down, meeting Gwen’s eyes.

“After all…I’m the grown-up version of yourself that you imagined. She and I…are somewhat alike.”

Gwen looked at her “friend” and slowly shook her head.

“I’m not her, and I’m not you. Gwen is Gwen. She is her Gwen, and I am my Gwen.”

The girl blinked, the corner of her lips lifting in a barely visible curve, before she turned again toward the battlefield.

On the battlefield, Gwen had wiped out an entire cluster of enemies with a single strike, yet countless more enemies followed behind, like the endless sea, filling the gap in an instant.

“There are still many enemies. Should we go help her?” The unicorn beside her spoke with rare gentleness.

“No need.”

Gwen turned around and looked toward the other side of the mound. There stretched a long formation: heavy Gatling guns loaded on iron-forged pushcarts, and above the sky two massive airships revealed their snarling shark-tooth paintwork.

“I also brought the Expeditionary Army with me.”

In the Northlands, farther north than the Resistance Army’s battlefield, near the Canary Mountains, within the Resistance Army’s former camp.

It was as if the world had forgotten this place. The attention of the entire Northlands had been drawn to the Resistance Army. This desolate land had been left unattended.

Yet at this moment, a single boot stepped onto the open ground.

Copper-rimmed calfskin leather, high-topped shafts embroidered with delicate patterns.

Such exquisite boots were carelessly stepped into the mire, the embroidery instantly smothered by muddy water.

“Hahahaha, I found it, I found it!!!”

A hysterical laugh pierced the forest’s silence. Bazel’s originally refined face twisted with manic delight.

“They were all wrong, all of them! It wasn’t Nora who hid the relic—she didn’t even know it existed! Candlelight Emblem? Investigators? They could search for a hundred years and still never find it!”

Bazel laughed madly, holding up a small clay jar smeared with fresh earth.

“Lina, do you know what this is? Do you know what a miraculous creation this is?”

“This is the White-Bone Sanctum, my lord.”

“Yes, the White-Bone Sanctum—the past that the Silent Sanctum most wished to bury and never dared mention. I knew their fallout with Nora wasn’t so simple. As expected, they secretly buried the relic here. I suspected it the moment I learned Nora wasn’t dead!”

“The White-Bone Sanctum! The miracle of the Bone-White Raven! And now it has fallen into my hands! Forget the Northlands—now the entire continent will serve me! As soon as I open its lid, white mist will engulf the continent, and the Bone-White Raven’s remains within the fog will obey only my command!”

Lina lifted her head, quietly watching Bazel’s hysterical celebration.

After a while, Bazel finally noticed her gaze. He turned with a cheerful smile: “Don’t worry, Lina. Our agreement will not change. In my kingdom of the dead, the Moths Chasing Fire will be the only church. As the chief of the Moths Chasing Fire, you will be the Pope of the state religion!”

“That is truly an honor—may you not forget your promise.”

“Rest easy, rest easy! Candlelight Emblem? I don’t even need to lift a finger. Aside from those Keepers, no one will survive the White Calamity!!”

With trembling hands, Bazel grasped the jar’s lid. Taking a deep breath, he prepared to open it.

“Wait.”

Bazel jolted, turning to glare at Lina. “What!?”

“I wanted to ask—what about the soldiers you brought?”

“They will be the first White-Bone Army I command. They have pledged loyalty to me—though I never said whether that loyalty required them to remain alive.”

“I see. Then what about the transcendent in your army?”

“What transcendent? You’re the only transcendent in my army. What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing. I remembered incorrectly. Please open the White-Bone Sanctum.” Lina lowered her head.

Bazel frowned, reached again toward the lid, yet hesitated. He did not open it immediately.

A strange sense of dread welled up in his chest.

“What’s wrong, my lord?”

“No…no, Lina. You should know that as Moths Chasing Fire, you will have no other power to rely on, yes? My kingdom of the dead is the only force that will shelter you, allowing your faction to research freely.”

Lina sighed, saying nothing. She merely lifted her head, her red eyes locking onto Bazel.

Seeing those crimson eyes, an inexplicable fear rose in Bazel’s heart. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt his fingers twitch.

“Wha—”

In the next moment, his hand moved on its own and lifted the lid.

Countless gray-white particles burst from the jar, drifting like fireflies—beautiful at a glance.

But the instant they touched Bazel, his flesh melted like running blood. Under his horrified expression, in only a moment, he became a skeleton.

The white ash spread. The army he had brought with him, at terrifying speed, became bare bone as well. And standing beside them, Lina did not escape either. She lowered her head to watch her own flesh vanish, yet the corner of her lips curved into a strange smile.