Chapter 276: One Name Left

[72nd — Starhaven | Spiritfolk]

[51st — Garnet Reach | Crystalfolk]

[33rd — Ironhold | Machinefolk]

Each new entry set the Channels talking. These were no obscure peoples scraping into the rankings. Every Legion among the top hundred belonged to a power that could dominate its own part of the battlefields.

Many would meet again. Legions assigned to the same War Realm were usually neighbors on a much larger scale, close enough for their paths to cross once the newcomer period ended.

Around Cassian, the Crown Champions watched the golden scroll with clenched hands. Their names still had not appeared. That had been a comfort at first. Now every new announcement made it harder to stand still.

Then Mount Celestia appeared.

[11th — Mount Celestia | Angels]

[Provincial rewards: Map area +150%; Resource Index +150%; Aether concentration +150%; wild creature resources +150%; chance of wild Buildings appearing +150%.]

Gideon’s shout reached the public Channel almost at once.

[Gideon: Blood Throne! This is your doing!]

[Gideon: And the Homeworld. We wasted hours there and lost so many fighters. Without that, first place would have been ours!]

Three days earlier, he had announced his intention to win the contest. Now he had missed even the top ten.

Mount Celestia had begun the fighting, but Gideon showed no sign of remembering that. Angels had little patience for arguments from weaker races. Anyone watching could tell that he would carry this grievance beyond Fivefold Heaven.

The First Legion’s cheers nearly drowned out his complaints.

“Top ten!”

“Even tenth gives us two hundred percent extra. Three times the land, three times the resources, three times the Aether!”

“Then save some breath. We haven’t come tenth yet.”

They laughed, scarcely believing what they were saying. Tenth was now the worst result they could receive.

Lady Vaust chose that moment to speak again.

[Nerissa Vaust: Where’s the man who was boasting at us? Ten places left. Surely you don’t imagine one of them belongs to you?]

Corven Talcrest followed her into the Channel, sounding as though he were extending a favor.

[Corven Talcrest: The Jade Court warned you. You could have obeyed the Council and joined the sanctions against Divine Province. Instead, you chose to stand beside rebels.]

[Corven Talcrest: Even now, we are prepared to be generous. Plain Yellow Province will receive those who abandon that cause. Lords from Divine Province itself are, of course, excluded.]

They were some of the strongest young Lords the Crown had produced. Bringing them under the Court would be a fine prize. Corven could already imagine turning those same fighters against Cassian.

Rowan’s answer spoiled the pleasant picture.

[Rowan Ashford: What a gathering of idiots.]

He did not trouble himself with Corven’s royal connections. Not today.

[Corven Talcrest: Watch your mouth, Cassian’s little servant. The Crown Lords in your Legion must be furious with him. He controls the posting rights, doesn’t he? Is that why none of them can say what they really think?]

In their private Channel, Harrowmere’s Governor gave up trying to understand him.

“Where does he get this confidence?”

——

The announcements slowed once the top ten began. Each entry filled the entire kilometer-wide scroll, remaining for roughly a minute before the next replaced it.

[10th — Vorthan Hell | Demons]

[Provincial rewards: Map area +200%; Resource Index +200%; Aether concentration +200%; wild creature resources +200%; chance of wild Buildings appearing +200%.]

[Zareth: Not the result I wanted. Still, looking down one place and finding Mount Celestia there does improve it.]

Gideon offered no reply. He must have been furious. Had the rules allowed it, he might have left rather than listen to the Demon Lord enjoying himself.

[9th — Graveward | Undead]

At first, the Crown Champions greeted every name with another burst of excitement. They wanted to see their own entry, yet every name that was not theirs lifted their possible reward higher.

Soon the cheering faded. People leaned forward or shifted from foot to foot, too tense to make much noise. Even Darian had stopped laughing.

Cassian watched calmly beside them.

[4th — Theorem Nebula | Logicians]

Nessa’s face was flushed.

“There are only three left!”

Seraphine stared at the Temple overhead, then back at the scroll.

“They do count a reduced version, don’t they? They wouldn’t leave it out altogether?”

“Of course they count it.” Darian’s eyes never left the rankings. “And I don’t think we’re waiting for third.”

He let the words settle before he said it.

“We’re waiting for first.”

No one laughed.

An hour ago, the idea of a thousand Homeworld Lords winning this contest would have sounded absurd. Now everyone around him was trying to believe it without quite daring to.

The Western Alliance and Black Banner Lords had fallen quiet for a different reason. The highest places had their attention. Whatever joke they might make about Cassian would seem childish beside the question of who had actually won.

Across the other Legions, the answer seemed obvious enough. Brahma, Blood Throne, and the Void Insects would take the three remaining positions. Only the order remained uncertain.

Zareth was generous in his assessment.

[Zareth: Blood Throne’s formation was made for this contest. A River of Blood around your Temple is a fine advantage. Nothing to be done about that.]

The next entry put that advantage at third.

[3rd — Blood Throne | Bloodkin]

[Provincial rewards: Map area +300%; Resource Index +300%; Aether concentration +300%; wild creature resources +300%; chance of wild Buildings appearing +300%.]

[Additional reward: National Fortune ×3.]

Vespera stared.

“Third? I could understand losing to the Insects. But the Divines aren’t better defenders than we are. What has Brahma been hiding?”

The same question ran through the other Legions. Everyone had expected more from the River of Blood.

Mordane frowned beside her. Second place had seemed secure; first had been within reach. Something had gone wrong with that calculation.

He remembered the distant beam of five-colored light. Someone had completed a World Wonder. He had seen the sign himself.

Before he could settle his suspicions, the scroll changed again.

[2nd — Vextris | Void Insects]

[Provincial rewards: Map area +400%; Resource Index +400%; Aether concentration +400%; wild creature resources +400%; chance of wild Buildings appearing +400%.]

[Additional reward: National Fortune ×5.]

That brought the public Channel to life.

[Brahma won?]

[I thought the Insects had it. We know they plundered at least four Legions.]

[Congratulations to the Divines. Lord Azrak, you kept that quiet!]

A name that had not spoken once during the Legion Contest cut through the congratulations.

[Kharrix: Brahma. Enemy. Die.]

The Void Insect commander had finally broken its silence.

For three days, its race had seemed incapable of anything beyond cold, relentless war. Losing first place had found something under that indifference. Even so few words were enough to make the other Lords uneasy.

The Insects had decided who had robbed them, and they did not sound inclined to forgive it.

Gideon, at least, found something to enjoy.

[Gideon: Don’t take it too hard, Lord Azrak. Your races have always been enemies. What’s one more grudge? I look forward to seeing the two of you settle it in the outer battlefields.]

Azrak could not answer him. He had already been removed from this Channel along with his defeated Legion.

Cassian read the exchange with mixed feelings.

The Individual Contest had put him at odds with the Bloodkin, the Undead, and the Divines. The Legion Contest had added the Angels. In another moment, the Void Insects would discover whom they actually wanted to kill.

He had managed to offend nearly every powerful race that had entered the competition.

Winning meant standing where everyone could see him. He understood that. Understanding it did not make the list of enemies any shorter.

At last, the golden scroll changed for the final time.

The first-place entry appeared.

Across Fivefold Heaven, the watching Champions stared with their mouths open. Even Kharrix’s vicious mandibles hung apart, unable to close.