Duke Gregori, ruler of Gabion, leapt out of his bed the moment he felt that all-too familiar earthquake. He stormed out his spartan lodging, passing by stumbling servants and guards, some of whom swiftly recovered and knew already where to go. But too many didn't, being the first time they experienced this phenomenon ever since moving to the city. To them, he shouted a single answer to explain everything.

  "The tide is rising!"

  Their faces paled when that looming sword over their head descended just a bit. They had known the risks, they had weighed them against the lucrative pay offered to those willing to immigrate to Gabion. But at that time, without ever knowing what awaited, they judged it a fair bargain.

  Now they were faced with finally paying that price.

  Gregori passed those who broke and ran, terrified. He took note of them- they would be banished later. He marched past those who stood still in place, paralyzed by fear. He took note of them- they would be reprimanded later. Then he greeted those who gripped their weapons shakily, but determinedly, just needing orders.

  Those, he noted, would be awarded later with further duty.

  The castle armory was already bustling with activity when the veteran commander reached the room, filled with soldiers hastily donning their gambeson and brigandine layers. Veteran officers were afforded the additional privilege of rare mail for their service. But only those of House Cordis were honored enough to bear the critically valuable plate protection.

  And even then, there were too few suits of those. Many made do with only one or two pieces. Gregori, being blessed and cursed with leading them all, had the honor of wearing his lineage's beloved treasure into battle: a full set of plate. So valued it was that even when his father before him was struck down in the suit, those surviving bodyguards fought fiercely to recover the body and suit both. Repairing it had been no small expense so that it could fight once again.

  The duke hoped he would not perish while wearing it.

  "Father." His second son- his heir- came over and offered the helmet to complete the set. He took it with a single nod, marveling at how well his firstborn's armor now fit on Teodor's own form. Unsurprising it had likely been adjusted in the time since, with hopefully better protections that would save the warrior this time. "The garrison is roused."

  "The reserves?'

  "Ready at a moment's notice. They are prepared to help plug any breaches."

  "Good, good." The young man was developing a fine aptitude for command. Something that he would sorely need when time came to pass the mantle. "And our...ally?"

  His face twisted up. "I've sent the raven. I will not know how long it will take for it to reach her, or if she will even be roused. It is winter-"

  "And she will come to honor our agreement," Gregori insisted calmly, holding up a hand to forestall his son's thoughts. "Come sun, darkness, or snow, she has always come in our time of need."

  "Just not fast enough sometimes," Teodor softly said. It was not in malice or ill-will, just in frankness which grounded expectations from experience. "I've also written to our neighbors, but you know how they are."

  "Stubbornly dragging their feet to raise soldiers until the emperor's edict is passed down," grumbled the duke. "But our Heart will stand alone, if need be. We will not break."

  "It needn't be that way should we improve our relations with the others," his son argued, bringing back that old argument. "Should we turn our gaze inwards to improve our standing in the imperial courts, then surely we can secure aid-"

  Before Gregori to cut him off severely, pointing out that now was not such a time for the father and son to bicker about it again, there was a shout from the armory's entrance that drew heads. "Let me through! I demand to join the defense too!" Ah, here came his other troublesome, beloved child. "It's unfair that my father and brother risk their lives out there while I sit back-!"

  "Your duty," the duke called out as he advanced onto the source of the commotion, his soldiers making way for him, "Is to hold the castle, should the worst occur. You are the last line of defense that must hold out until empire marches to our aid."

  Petula growled but could not gainsay against that argument, as it did make sense to all watching. But he and she knew that he could not voice the real reason, that he could not lose the last of his line too if they failed to hold the walls. She clearly wrestled with the command, torn between that ever burning need to prove herself the woman her mother died to give birth to and obedience to her father.

  The later finally won out and her shoulders slumped. "Fine. I will be observing with Aunt Vio."

  "Lady Vio," corrected the duke with a slight twitch of the lips. His sister would probably have had less restraint and broken out into light giggles. "Fret not. We will return."

  "You better," she told with a quiet huff and turned, about to leave until her brother called out something.

  "You best grab your sword." The mood darkened slightly at the reminder when the young woman reluctantly took the weapon from her sibling and fastened it to her belt. "Petula, if we lose and they break through-"

  "I. Will. Not. Give," hissed the irate youngest and strode off without listening. Gregori winced at how that had gone, a few too many whispering at the heated interaction. Some might mistake it for a rivalry between his children, a sort of struggle over the succession. When in reality, Teodor had only the best intentions for his sister.

  Too bad that it also touched on something that Petula was quite sore about, her need for a sword. It was unlike the two men of the family, who would go into battle with no weapon but their bared hands due to how they would fight. Their line's greatest ability, that which gave them the ability to fight where even iron broke and shattered.

  Something that the woman unfortunately lacked proficiency in and thus weighed herself down with.

  The man caught his much younger son when he returned and gave him an eyeful. "You pushed too hard," he chastised, not harshly but firmly enough. "On the eve of battle, of all things."

  Teodor accepted the rebuttal with a slight nod of the head, though clearly possessed enough spirit to explain his purpose. "Only because we must also consider what will happen after the battle."

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  That, the Gregori had no response to and felt a faint surge of pride at his child. To accept fault but hold true to a cause. To understand sacrifice but uphold duty. It was what Petula demonstrated too, willing to put the good of all above her own personal desire. Whenever the duke passed, either in battle or bed, he trusted the two to be just fine.

  That was the way of House Cordis. That was the way of their great ancestor.

  That was the oath sworn by the stalwart guardians of the Kerezim Empire.

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  Kuch and Frie stood on guard duty in front of the manor's front doors, but still inside the outer wall. That way they shouldn't draw unnecessary aggro that could lead to them being swarmed unnecessarily. But first, I really needed to figure out what was going on!

  The earthquake had finally stopped rattling my walls, the only casualties being a few loose pots and glasses of little importance. I could easily repair or remake those. I had no doubt that there was more to this and tried to look through eyes of all my bird scouts, trying to find the source of this all. It took a little until I spotted it through the trees from the west- movement.

  I wasted no time and ordered the bird doll to descend a bit lower to risk itself and try understanding the source. In the meantime, I went up to my empty master bedroom and closed the door shut, very thankful that Frie had installed a new door with a tough lock. A dose of [Foundation] ensured that I would be alerted if anything tried to force its way through and should hopefully also hold itself long enough for me to dart into my player vault for an extreme emergency, should things get really bad.

  There was no replacement bed yet, just a simple wooden chair for me to sit down in. Now it was time for me to run an experiment. Was this really the best time to do so? Probably not, because it was mostly the product of naught but theory crafting in my head. But if I managed to pull this off, then I would possibly be gaining an additional dimension of battle capability that could very well make a difference.

  I was going to try and copy something I had seen Kai of the Ten Lights do before. In some fights, Kai had sometimes summoned monsters to fight for them. It wasn't tso unusual for their specialization or even rare in FLOW, usually balanced out by their summon being quite temporary, weak, and fleeting. But then they had gone an extra step, something that only a member of Lighthouse would break the game.

  They took conscious control of their summon, in a way as if the monster created was actually their very own form

  I recalled seeing how their body slumped and became still, requiring somebody to cover them while engaged in this method. It usually had been any of the party's martial experts, something that ordinarily was a bad idea because it meant taking two members out of the fight briefly. But they would make the trade-off worth it when, with full control assumed over their summon, they could dive in recklessly and make use of their form to do unusual things that I'm pretty sure the game's developers had never planned for. Exploit using their summon as a second character, in the closest thing to actually multi-boxing in a cerebral reality game.

  Oh, the game masters must've been really foaming and wishing that technical interaction was a bannable offense.

  Whenever I had asked about details, they responded playfully coy but had mentioned it being a curious interaction via their puppet body. Meaning that I could potentially do it too, and I even had a skill supposedly tailored for it. My body became still as I concentrated my focus entirely into my connections from [Doll Maker], taking direct control of all my creations. I could feel my crystal brain humming, doing some process that made it so that my conscious and subconscious abruptly swapped.

  I was just not Noel.

  I was Kuch, and I was Frie.

  Experimentally, I turned my head. It was Kuch who did so. Then I raised my hand. It was Frie who did so instead. I could now just not see and direct through them: I was them. They were me as much as Noel was. The bird scouts felt faint and on the periphery compared to them, likely because they were lesser constructs. But these two dolls, in which I had invested a rare crystal into, they were more.

  It was like the first time I awoke in this new era of Shin.

  I tried to speak instinctively, maybe to make a little quip, only to realize that neither Kuch or Frie had mouths. Ah, I definitely wanted to fix that, it felt awkward. In fact, being them was, their bodies didn't feel right compared to my new real form. I guess if I wanted to obtain greater and much more finer control, I'd have to carry out on my plan of creating puppet-grade porcelain.

  Curiously, I could actually also feel and direct Noel now in the same way I had the others. I could tell Noel to get up and walk around, even change their clothes while I was like this. Controlling them felt a lot more natural, likely because it was my main body. I told them to return to their seat and wait in place, feeling just how fragile they really were compared to the others. I was more sure than ever now.

  They would shatter in a single fleeting instance compared to the others, no matter how crude or fine these other forms were.

  Satisfied, I turned the crystal back around in my mind. Things flipped once more and I found myself back in Noel's- my body. I flexed my fingers and spoke aloud, just to be sure. "I daresay this experiment is a success." Good, everything worked and I was still myself. Never thought I'd have an out of body experience like that, now on demand. But anything that could help boost Kuch's and Frie's combat ability was welcomed.

  Especially as a former top player who could probably do something with that feature.

  I checked on my scout now, it should be close enough to make out the details. It was and my eyes narrowed at what I saw. Now I understood why there was such a big wall at the city to the east.

  An army of monsters was emerging from the deep woods and spreading out, likely looking to destroy everything. And I think I was going to be caught up in it now.

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