Chapter Eighty-One: Battle The Second

The battle for the border didn't last long, if it could even be called a battle.

With them possessing the ability to transport Tim away whenever a message was sent out, he was forced to implement tactics. In the middle of night, he hovered high over the forest, none of the soldiers at the enemy camp able to see him against the night sky. Using his enhanced eyesight, he scanned the ground, looking for the man he had seen before, or anyone similarly waiting with a transport circle at their feet.

Seeing no-one, he maneuvered in the air using small magic circles provided by Thomas, which projected air outwards, until he was directly above the enemy's command tent.

Then he dropped.

By the time the army arrived on the other side of the forest the next day, it had long been over. The army of Athene hadn't been particularly large, as they were hoping to use the environment's natural choke point to their advantage, but that just meant it took less time for Tim to get to the one who would've sent him away. After that, it was simply a matter of counting down.

Tim himself was not happy about any of this. He didn't like the idea of sneak attacks to begin with, and it certainly took some of the fun out of it for him. But after being reminded that they had launched a sneak attack first, not to mention the fact that a frontal assault would almost certainly end with him being on the other side of the world again, he acquiesced.

With the border taken, the army split into two. One section was to head South, and took Thomas with them, who had a transportation circle. It was linked to another circle in the possession of the other section, which was heading East. As Meg was still refusing to help, and sequestered herself away from the rest by surrounding herself with her small entourage of the living dead, the only person who could use the thing was Tim. This meant that Tim would have to be present whenever the top brass decided they wanted to sent a message, and so Tim was determined to be done with the war as soon as possible.

Another conflict came a few days later, as they approached a city positioned on a river that flowed down from the mountains. Tim stood at the front of the army as they positioned themselves for a conflict. The enemy army had collected themselves just outside the city, and awaited their assault.

"Ooh, is that a catapult?" He said, peering into the distance at their stationary foe. "Been a while since I've seen one of them."

"Focus please." Edgar said, hoping to get some useful information from him. He was praying it wouldn't come to it, but they had to be prepared in case Tim started vanishing again, and couldn't find an effective way of preventing it.

"Right, right." Tim said, and tried to see what he could glean from what he could see. "Hmm, that's odd..."

"What?"

"There's a surprising lack of large stones next to that catapult, just some big pots."

"Why would they launch pots at us?"

"Who knows..." Tim said, thinking. Suddenly, memories of hacking up a lung thanks to a present left at the library came to his mind.

"Oh fuck that." He said, and pulled out the war-hammer he had received from Hino, essentially a giant block of spiked iron on a rod. He weighed it in his hand, bobbing the end up and down, and measured out the distance between him and the catapult.

"What are you doing?"

"Shush." Tim said, and after a moment's preparation, launched the hammer into the air.

Everyone present watched the hammer to the best of their ability as it arced in the sky, before slamming down into the enemy ranks.

"Bullseye!" Tim yelled, throwing his hands in the air as the hammer smashed through the catapults arm. "We're not dealing with that shit today!"

"We could've used that catapult." Edgar said, a little annoyed. "Not many people know how to make them anymore."

"Trust me, you want none of what they've got anywhere near you. The second we're over there I'm confiscating the lot."

"...What do they have that distresses you so much?"

"I'm not telling you, don't want you getting any ideas."

Tim looked again at the army, and furrowed his brow. "More of those things huh?"

"More of what?"

"These." Tim waved his hand, and with a thud, a metal barrel dropped to the ground.

"Whoa!.. What is this thing?" Edgar said, jumping back out of surprise.

"Not a clue, they have a bunch though. Comes with this stuff too." Tim dropped some of the bags and metal balls he had picked up alongside the barrel.

"That's great and all, but what does it do?"

"Well I'm assuming... This goes in here..." Tim picked up a ball. "And so does this, in some capacity." He held up one of the bags.

"Well I'd like to know what we're up against before we go over there."

"Well so would I, not like they'll tell us thou-"

Edgar leant back in shock as Tim blinked out of existence. Sighing, he crossed his arms, and waited. A few minutes later, there was a flash of light from a cart at the back of the army, and Tim walked back over to where he was before.

"To be fair to Thomas, that took way more energy than I was expecting it would." He said, squatting back down next to the metal barrel.

"Why did it take you so long to get back?"

"Well I wanted to make sure I can find it quickly the next time it happens, so I made a landmark."

"So back to this thing..."

"Yeah. Well, the only way this really makes sense, is if this thing goes in first..." Tim picked up the bag, and pushed it into the barrel.

"Hmm..." Tim said, and pulled out a long stick.

"What?"

"It got stuck." Tim began to prod the bag, forcing it deeper into the barrel.

"Why do you have a stick anyway?"

"For pokin' stuff."

Edgar sighed. "Of course it i-"

A loud blast cut Edgar off, and he jumped back, screaming out of shock. Blood and gore shot away from the barrel's opening, and the barrel itself rolled backwards, prompting the people behind it to rapidly shift.

Tim's headless body stayed where it was, arm torn off at the shoulder, whilst it reconstructed itself. After rebuilding, Tim stayed still for a moment with an unamused expression.

"Well I guess now we know what it does." He said unhappily, pulling out a replacement set of clothes for his upper half. "Waste of a good stick that."

"What the hell was that?" Came a woman's voice, and the soldiers moved out of the way as Meg came through to see what had happened.

"Explosion." Tim said as she approached. "Apparently you put these in here, and they explode, presumably launching these at people." Tim pointed to the bags, the barrel, and the balls respectively.

Meg was about to ask for one of the bags, but stopped since Tim was no longer there. She walked over to the small pile of bags he had put out, grabbed one, and proceeded to walk back.

"Don't blow yourself up." He said, passing her as he went back to the front from the transport circle.

"Don't worry, I'm not as stupid as you."

"Hm."

Tim rejoined Edgar at the front. "So, how are we dealing with this?" Edgar asked. Tim picked up on of the metal balls, threw it up, caught it, measured its weight in his hand, then launched it across to the other side.

He then proceeded to do the same with all the other balls in quick succession, before he popped out of existence once more. Returning only a few seconds later, he grabbed a hold of the metal barrel, and spinning around to gain speed, launched it at the enemy.

"You know..." Edgar said, watching this all unfold. "This may be the best way to win with the least amount of casualties on our end, but it isn't really how I expected this to go."

"Well what do you want from me?" Tim said, annoyed. "It's the middle of the day, the second I head over there they'll just-"

Edgar looked at where Tim had been just a second ago. Waiting, he turned to face Tim as he strode back. "Do that." Tim said, with a face like a smacked arse.

"I'm not walking my men in front of those things." Edgar said.

"Then we're gonna be here a while." Tim pulled out a sword and launched it at the enemy. "Unless..." He murmured, bringing his hand to his chin as he thought.

"Unless what?"

"...Give me a minute."

A short while later, Tim returned, holding in his hand the slab they were using as the return point for his trips across the world.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Well, I had Meg put a circle on it that'll protect it from damage. As much as it can anyway, should be enough for this."

"I'm surprised you convinced her to help."

"Don't think I didn't have to beg."

"Ah."

"Anyway, if I put this..." Tim threw the slab, and it spun like a frisbee in the air, landing amongst the enemy. "Over there. And then..."

Tim put up his finger, and waited.

After a moment, he disappeared again. Reappearing in a place he was very unhappy to be acquainted with, he made his way over to the small slab he'd taken through with him previously, and set it off.

Reappearing in the daylight once more, he looked around him at the shocked expressions of his enemies.

"Hello." He said with a grin, and all hell broke loose.

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His grisly business of reducing scores of men into piles of flesh concluded for now, Tim hung about as he waited for the army to catch up with him. He mosied around, collecting weapons and any items of interest for later use, and felt a pang of nostalgia for the old days where this was his entire life. A small smile came to his lips as he did, and he allowed his mind to wander for a while.

"You look horrifying." Edgar said, riding up to him.

"Nice going Tim, you did great out there."

"You look like an agent of death, picking the souls from the corpses of the damned."

"Well, if she offered me the job, I wouldn't say no. Don't fancy getting my arse handed to me that easily ever again."

"...What?"

"Sir!" One of the soldiers came up to the prince in a hurry.. "There's an enemy group approaching on horseback, what should we do?"

"Where are they?" Edgar asked, and at the soldiers gesture, he saw the horsemen heading towards them from the side. Archers rushed to that side and prepared to fire. Seeing this, the horsemen stopped, dismounted, and threw down their weapons.

"Looks like they're surrendering." Tim remarked, looking over at the group.

"Smart." Edgar said. "Now to work out what to do with them."

"Just let them go home, they aren't hurting anyone."

"What? No. They're prisoners of war, we can use them as bargaining tools or examples if there are any dissenters in the future."

Tim stared at Edgar for a second with a frown. He then picked up a sword, and ever so slowly moved it to point the tip at Edgar's throat.

"Let 'em go."

"...But-"

"E-HEM."

"...Fine."

"Good boy, you know your place."

In the end, they took the soldier's weapons, put them back on their horses, and sent them on their way with a stern warning not to cause any trouble. Meg heard about it, and though she'd never admit it, she felt a little happy, and decided she'd go easier on Tim if he wanted something in the future.

Maybe.