United(?) We Stand Book 5: Black Blasphemy

By The Sloth of Bangkok

Things didn’t work out.
With Eleanor aflame, the Unity Lord has to fight a three-way war. Soon, the Lord of Mechanical Magic will mount an assault on the Papal White State of Montgomery.
It was a literal no-win scenario where the Eastern Continent will be doomed no matter who snatches the victory.
But good strategists have a goal in mind, and Ciel has an answer for this conundrum.
He only needs to make them both lose.
Luckily, the expert on doing that is about to enlist on the ship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Sloth of Bangkok
• Release date: Jul 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215601525

The Sloth of Bangkok

I picked writing as a hobby when I was sixteen. I admit starting out to improve my creative and English skills. Hence, I started writing original novels. Some of them end in disaster (youthful mistakes of a kid who was never that good at grammar). Right now, I’m operating from an author equivalent of a shack, with free spell-checking software programs and no editor.Then I discover I have become a Sloth.Sloth as an animal is a low energy NEET. Their greatest claim of flame is the ability to blend in the background. They fail at life, and the only thing they are good at is one thing they never mean to do (swimming).And thus I embrace my new status. I have failed to launch my official career and now attempt to make a headway into a subject my BEng and MSc degree never meant to do — write.I have become The Sloth of Bangkok.

Book preview

United(?) We Stand

Book 5: Black Blasphemy

By The Sloth of Bangkok

Copyright 2022 Sloth of Bangkok

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Table of Content

Characters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Epilogue

Author

Characters

Residence of Lords

Ciel

Unity Lord Authority: [Caislean], [Amy Ramiro Seyfert], [Xiahana La Louve], [Elizabeth La Louve], [Hikari]

LV: 35

Skill: [Elemental Resistance], [Calculative]. [Construction], [White Allegiance], [Divine Awakening], [Blade Mastery]

Detail: The Unity Lord with Authority of symbiotic contract. With 5 women on the wedding lists so far, the man is currently torn between the incoming domestic Armageddon and a war against an imperialistic Lords.

…

Caislean

Ability: Residence of Lord

LV: 34

Potential: ***** (SSR)

Skill: [Hall], [Workshop], [Training Room], [Garden], [Library]

Detail: The bonus which came with Unity Lord Authority. A blackheart assistant with nightmarish imagination who managed the Residence of Lord.

..

Amy Ramiro Seyfert

LV: 29

Potential: *** (R)

Ability: Lord’s Hospitality

Skill: [Heart of the Hearth], [Instinct], *LOCK*

Detail: The first contractor, red-head adopted daughter of Gordon Ramiro Seyfert (Admiral of the Five Oceans), arguably the best chef in Acceltra with two flavors: apologizing mess or an unstoppable force. Dress like a red-riding hood with a height to match one.

…

Xiahana La Louve

LV: 39

Potential: ***** (SSR)

Ability: Princess of White

Skill: [White Blessing], [Strategist], [Deific Wing], *LOCK*, *LOCK*

Detail: The second contractor, former mayor of the charcoal which was Springsong. The current General Manager (aka head-wife) in charge of the Residence. the supreme master of White Magic and skilled swordswoman.

…

Elizabeth La Louve (Betty)

LV: 38

Potential: ***** (SSR)

Ability: Sorceress of Athenaeum

Skill: [Witch Heart], [Analysis], *LOCK*, *LOCK* *LOCK*

Detail: The third contractor, former Dark Witch of the capital. After losing the entire country, she now serve as the Unity Lord’s librarian

…

Hikari

LV: 32

Potential: **** (SR)

Ability: Reaper

Skill [Radar Sense], [Multi-wielding], *REPAIRING*, *LOCK*

Detail: The newly recruit enforcer of the Unity Lord. Former high-ranking official of Curtis. Your servant by days, lethal assassins by the night

Advanced Research Empire Intelligentsia

Etaceh

Detail: Lord of Mechanical Magic. The Lord who successfully conquered the Magic Kingdom of Curtis and renamed it Advanced Research Empire Intelligentsia. She now ruled as the Empress, the Prime Intelligentsia, with her Authority over mystic artifacts. She possessed the ability to use all five colors of Mana and the telepathic control of mystical artifacts in her vicinity. With her army of golems and other secret project, she now set to conquer the continent. 

Other

Carolina

Detail: A vampire-pale brunette with a cute, childlike beret hat and penchant for making diabolical schemes. Recently became unemployed.

…

Hunter Westerna

Detail: Former Commissioner of Curtis’s Military Police. A newly minted one-armed man who lost his position and status as a national hero from Etaceh’s takeover. Obsessive with maintaining the continuity of Curtis, anything else be damned.

…

Dios Apolline Sfolgorante

Detail: The Red Archangel of Montgomery. Nice to orphan, woman, and every unfortunate soul from all walk of life. Her hero halo is unrivaled.

Chapter 1

For the sixth time this month, a squad of golems crashed into the poorly organized defenders.

The steel giant hammered onto the calvary of Aura-users, decimating the unit. High above, swarms of aerial golems dropped napalms on the settlement, pouring more oil into the roaring fire and scattering the fighters screaming in panic and fear. Some tried to resist, climbing on the back of the giant to fell it. They came short in the end, smashed and broken by the fury and fire of the battle.

Some routing troops fled the carnage. Those people never got far. The animalistic automatons quickly hunted them down in the celebration of silence and blood.

The final knight standing raised the standard in defiance before being stomped like an ant by a humanoid war-machine — a mocking statement of the short resistance.

From her throne, Etaceh — Empress of Prime Intelligentsia — surveyed the war-soaked battlefield. With this victory, she finally cemented her triumph over Eleanor. Yes, she had crushed the Lord of Commerce and the Mercenary Port, but she still had to do the clean-up. Random pockets of resistance rose from the ashen remains of Eleanor. 

Once upon the time, these cities answered to Eleanor which stood as the major trading-hub of the Eastern Continent. With the fall and sacking of the Mercenary Port, the grip on power loosened. The hopeful city-states then declared their independence from both the defeated Borbonsi and their new conqueror.

Knowing where the trend went, Etaceh did what every routine conqueror had done. She crushed the ambition short with well-placed strategic skirmishes, annihilating all resistance.

Today, the final thread of the Eleanorian rebels had been extinguished.

Etaceh paused her thoughts.

No. Not quite. Most of the surviving ‘rebels’ had moved to the only place in the Eastern Continent still mounting anything resembling a resistance against the Lord of Mechanical Magic. That place was Etaceh’s final conquer target to achieve her desire as the sole overlord of the Eastern Continent.

Papal White State Montgomery.

Etaceh knew she shouldn’t waste energy caring about the well-fare of her enemies, but part of her was sorry for those poor bastards who pooled their chips on Montgomery for the dim chance of beating her.

If those fools knew what kind of power Maximus had, they would be joining her against him, not the other way around.

…

In contrast to the Etaceh who was gearing for an epic continental conquest, her opposition’s enthusiasm left much to be desired.

Elizabeth La Louve was crushed.

The spa in the Residence of Lord helped a little. Caislean tried to cheer her up, and Amy was a heart-warming ball of support without the influence of alcohol. However, they still failed to solve the fundamental rock Betty was hitting.

Etaceh was nowhere to be defeated despite their best effort.

The Lord of Mechanical Magic had magnificently swept Curtis up as her new property and turned the Magic Kingdom into her personal playground. Then she flew over to Eleanor and destroyed it in a single night. Betty was at the front row for both events, and the reality of her nonexistent progress was more transparent than the fantasy of Leprechaun’s gold.

Maybe that wasn’t exactly true. They made progress and made Etaceh more vulnerable. That once almighty barrier over Hecate wasn’t so invulnerable anymore. Pruina Von Ozean still left them plenty of options to dismantle Etaceh’s main advantage.

Sadly, Betty could tell herself anything she wanted, but it didn’t change the fact she was nowhere close to defeating her nemesis since the day she contracted with Ciel.

Now she was staring into the face of weakness.

Etaceh’s conquest of the city-states once aligned with Eleanor had created refugees in its wake. Fear and uncertainty were in the air. People were traveling to Montgomery, following the scent of salvation.

Betty didn’t know what she could have done here by mingling among them in a disguise. The hooded woman watched the groaning displaced youth, middle-age men in despair, and crying children. She understood full well she helped make this happen.

Ciel and Xia would agree, but they would insist she gained nothing from focusing so hard on her failure. Betty wanted to share their optimism, but those two weren’t the one who helped jumpstart the crisis and lost everything to it. They were the heroes who opposed Etaceh in the beginning, not an overconfident idiot who believed they could control the monster.

They wouldn’t understand how Elizabeth La Louve felt.

Thankfully, there was someone who did.

Betty couldn’t believe her eyes when she discovered who she had stumbled into.

A pale, short-hair brunette wearing a Beret hat hung by the street corner behind a makeshift table with a popcorn-maker cobbled together from pieces of metal and runes. People were gathering around her, trading commodities with a bag of popcorn. Normally, such a road-side transaction would be done in Accel, but after what Etaceh had done in the Mercenary Port, people went back to bartering.

Fortunately, Ciel had stored most of their wealth as precious metal. Betty wasn’t exactly affected by the immense devaluation of the Acceltra’s currency, but the looming economic crisis still weighed heavily on her conscience.

Unperturbed by the recent economic turmoil, the temporary popcorn stand was selling well enough. Betty expected that was the case. Those emergency popcorns were delicious back when Curtis was still a country.

Attracted to the past, Betty approached the stall of her nemesis.

Hello, Carolina, Betty greeted.

Hello, Elizabeth, said Carolina. Bring something to trade for some grub?

Betty didn’t know how to respond. This one woman in front of her went from the Deputy Commissioner of the Curtis’ Military Police to an unemployed refugee. Somehow she unseated Hikari, rose to the highest rung of Eleanor’s management ladder, and became the Golden Hand’s Gold Leader, directly responsible for Eleanor’s black-op squad. Now, after losing everything again, she was selling popcorn in the street to her old political rival. Carolina Ex-Westerna didn’t even bat an eyelid at her circumstance. Instead, she took her life in stride with barely a raised eyebrow.

Elizabeth looked at the woman who suffered way worse than her and remained pluckier than she ever was. She forked out a piece of silver for a popcorn, and maybe, an answer to her life.

If someone could share the secret of bouncing back from defeat, it would be the villain who always lost, but never beaten.

…

Agent of Black

The Harem’s resident Black Magic guru. The woman was widely accepted as the planet’s chief expert on Necromancy. The only person alive who could give the Reaper a run in espionage and assassination. Amongst the wives of the Unity Lord, this one lady was the worst cheater. Most cheaters cheated the card, the good one targeted the player, but Agent of Black, at her peak, cheated the game.

Despite her checkered reputation in the family, this one lady proved herself a necessity. The Avatar of Green and the Princess of White might have a hate-boner for her, but they couldn’t live without her either. Time after time, Agent of Black came in clutches when all else failed. The tenacity she displayed was the stuff of legend. She was utterly shameless for her ability at refusing to quit, returning and surviving with the luck to make the devil envious.

Many heroes could slay dragons, but how many successfully seduce the evil sorceress. Most fairy-tales demonized evilness, but let’s be real. There was no chance the Unity Lord could triumph by playing fair hundred percent of the time.

Sometimes a villain was needed to save the day.

…

Carolina, the evil sorceress, handed her nemesis a bag of popcorn, And here you go.

Betty, trusting in Carolina enough to know she won’t poison the food, grabbed the snacks. She slumped down on the improvised chair beside Carolina’s popcorn stall.

The Black mage continued the conversation. I doubt you are here for only popcorn, she said.

No, Betty said. I heard you ran into Xia during Eleanor.

Yep, Carolina said, grimacing. She is way stronger than I expected. She changed the subject. We haven’t seen each other since Curtis fell, haven’t we?

Yeah, Betty confessed, chewing her popcorn. Etaceh beat us.

No argument, Carolina said.

That’s it? Betty couldn’t believe how easily Carolina could take that setback. No yelling. No regret. Nothing.

Are you expecting me to mope? Carolina said. Then a realization struck her. Holy hell. Please tell me you aren’t spending all this time bemoaning the tragedy of Curtis?

Betty’s following rant answered Carolina’s question perfectly.

How can you be so flippant about it? Betty said, gesturing to the lethargic refugees and depression surrounding them. This is our fault, Carolina. Etaceh ran away with Curtis, and she used our country as a trampoline to attack Eleanor. Betty then struck another point. Hell, you should be even more depressed than me. You helped destroy not one but two countries!

You can put it that way, Carolina said, accepting the fact with nary a change in her expression.

How can you be this irresponsible? Betty yelled. Xia and Hikari are convinced you are a bitch, and I agree wholeheartedly. We have been nothing but each other’s worst enemy the entire time.

Carolina nodded, confirming the mutual relationship, It is a mutually colorful career.

Once upon a time, these two women stood on the opposite side. One was a princess of the dynasty who aimed to preserve her heritage and authority. Another was a cut-throat official who built her career on ambition and undermining said authority. For both, that life was a past, but only one of them moved on without a problem, leaving another in a limbo of regret.

Despite all common-sense dictating the tale of mutual hatred, the only thing that could be found was a strange friendship.

We should hate each other, Betty said.

I hate you, if that makes you feel better, Carolina said.

What we have is more like a pet hate, Betty said. You never loath me like you loath Xia.

Can’t argue with that, Carolina replied. Life without you would have been boring.

Betty hoarsely laughed, Now that I think about it. You are the only one who treats me like a bitch.

Because you are a bitch, Carolina said.

Yeah, I feel so much better already, Betty said, slumping in her seat. How did you do it?

Do what? Carolina asked.

Live with being a bitch, Betty voiced her fear. I tried; you know. Etaceh pretty much beat me with that fact, and I had no answer. She paused before continuing. How can you just continue so shamelessly without bothering to change? How can you be so fine with being the bad guy?

Carolina thought about it for a second and shared her secret.

Chapter 2

Carolina didn’t understand the reason she answered honestly. The relationship between her and Elizabeth La Louve was built on twenty-percent schadenfreude, seventy-percent rivalry, and the remaining ten-percent being meager respect.

Maybe it was because of one pure selfish reason: having her biggest rival keeled over like a weakling would reflect badly on her. Carolina grimaced at the thought of suffering such humiliation.

It was why she gave a helpful answer.

Life is already hard enough before you assign labels on it, Carolina said. What is good and evil, anyway? Can it be measured? Can they fill stomachs? She shrugged. I’m just doing what I need to survive and thrive. Why should I feel shameful about it?

That’s it? Betty said, hardly believing the sheer audacity of her rival. Are you really saying this after causing two nation-destroying catastrophes?

Two? Carolina retorted. You and Hunter are the main party responsible for Etaceh’s rise in Curtis. I’m just trying to live my life. I won’t argue that my involvement screwed Eleanor, but knowing the hellhole it was, do you think that is a bad thing?

Honestly, Betty believed Carolina had a point about Eleanor.

That is why you are fine with everything you are? Betty said. Don’t you feel you are letting people down.

Carolina found herself laughing at the suggestion.

Letting people down? Carolina repeated the question. You think the people are upset about me letting them down? Really? Betty, You are upset over fixing what can’t be fixed or even want to be fixed. Why don’t you go back to Curtis and look at how the people there are doing?

Betty didn’t know how to respond.

After a few minutes of silence, Betty asked Carolina one last question.

Where are you going now? Betty said.

Montgomery, Carolina said. I can’t afford to stay still, Elizabeth.

…

Betty went to the Residence’s [Workshop] for a shortcut back home.

I want to go back to Curtis, Betty said.

Want me to come with you? Ciel replied, trying to understand her conflict, but couldn’t because he wasn’t built that way.

Betty was expecting more possessive replies, but Ciel wasn’t that type. 

The Unity Lord was making another weapon to add to the endless number of tools he created as a hobby. Ever since Eleanor fell, Ceil had been amassing ideas and equipment for the eventual showdown with Etaceh. Caislean was there too, helping him with the weapon manufacturing.

Xia and Hikari were commandeering the Residence with Amy, stocking supplies and investigating where to invest their cash-flows. War was bad for cookies and their brand had suffered from Etaceh’s campaign across the Eastern Continent.

For Betty, it was like a world of eggshells. Amy kept mostly to herself. Hikari remained ever so professional and Caislean shrank like an introvert in the showroom. Xia expertly ran the joint, but she was never the life