Chapter 15-400: Shadows at Sea (2/2)

I could certainly do something similar by spending Valences, but there was no need. The waters were now thrumming with Legion’s Elemental control and a Wavebound Pact, which was actually part-challenge, part-acknowledgement, and part-really-attractive flag-waving for attention. After all, we had basically just removed this section of the waters from their control and domain instantly, and without much effort.

“<THE LADY TRAVELER, MONARCH OF THE JET AND SILVER, GREETS THE DRAGON KING OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC!>” I Said calmly in Aquan.

The waters chimed. Magic hummed. The Sublime Chord pulsed through the deeps, and the waters shimmered at its touch for a mile around. The oncoming school of merfolk wobbled for a moment as the sound and power swept through them... and it continued to chime and hum subliminally in the background.

Any spellcaster there, and there were several present, would know that they had best be very respectful right about now, because that was a BIG Caster Level check.

Mutual respect was always the best way to start a beneficial diplomatic event on... although being in the superior position certainly didn’t hurt my position. After all, I wasn’t doing this for me.

I got off Sleipner and stood there above the surface of the bubble in the water as the merfolk came closer.

They were all tauroids, half-fish with humanoid upper bodies. While their eyes were somewhat different with a second membrane, they still had thick hair, noses, and normal jaws, not streamlined for water movement. Skin tones tended to be on the pale side, accented with scales on the upper bodies here and there, and many of them wore little other than gold or coral jewelry.

I studied the way the water got out of their way, easing their passage and allowing them to swim with less effort than a fish. Useful for speed and conserving energy, and they likely actually broke down the water when extracting oxygen, and released it back far more efficiently than mere gills, like a continuous paramagical Water Breathing spell.

They varied in sizes, often related to their lower halves, which were all fish.

There were no fish-men here, anthropomorphic aquatics. Those were the likes of locathah, Deep Ones, Sahaug, Eel-men, Crab-men, and the like. The merfolk warred with all of them for whatever reason; religion and resources were probably both equally responsible, or maybe they just found the sight of one another horrifically ugly.

It probably didn’t help that many of those races were demon or devil worshippers, and so treated their undersea neighbors as meals and sacrifices.

There were different bloodlines among the merfolk, and their fish halves made it plain. The incoming armor was dominated by bigger fish who were powerful swimmers, their lower halves resembling swordfish, groupers, tuna, sturgeon, and various types of sharks dominating the group. Larger fish made larger merfolk, too, which made the leaders and officers stand out.

No dolphinoids, though, just fish and... what had to be the king.

Sea serpent...

Legion nodded, able to feel the presence of a pseudo-draconic bloodline. The Serpent, Lizard, Crocodilian, and Dragon Bloodlines were all related to some extent, with all of the former able to evolve into some form of the latter with sufficient time and magic.

The King was the size of a Jotun with his upper body, with long streaming dark golden hair, pale greenish skin, and a fifty-foot lower body of a jade-and-golden sea serpent. Some of the merfolk were scaled, but he had a partial frill around his hair, almost shell-like horns that displayed his lineage, wound about with chains bearing plaques adorned with gems and pearls that radiated magic, and the symbolism of a King.

A true and proper King of the Sea. I could feel the waves of his Prestige reaching out to press against my own. I was still in his territory, so he had Kingly dominance to back him... but I had numbers and Levels at this point, i.e., Quantity AND Quality.

I also noted that he very amusingly was having trouble deciding which of us to look at. That couldn’t be by design, could it?

Legion in full glory was demon, dragon, and nereid all wrapped up in a-duh drool-worthiness, and could have walked right through this entire army, neither the males nor females able to do anything to stop them except get Consumed.

Yes, Legion was that dangerous. Humanoidish living enemies were not dangerous to them. Unless you had an Astral Ward that could screen out that Nereid Aura effect, you were literally harmless to them. Even if you did have one, like the one worked into his Crown there, you still had to deal with that fact that Legion just looked unbearably, incredibly hot-hot-hot.

He noticed his troops were starting to stare and get a little slack-jawed. The great golden trident in his hand swirled, and I watched with interest as bubbles materialized all around, interrupting the view of his lessers and shaking them out of their staring.

He was also wise enough to realize that this grand escort of his was not a threat to us. “Withdraw to a safe distance,” he told his people in a firm voice, brooking no refusal. His escort, a bit ashamed at how easily they’d been ensorcelled, stopped their forward advance, and retreated in the wash of bubbles to a distance where they couldn’t make out Legion, the perfect curve of their horns, the gleaming of their dark silver-edged scales, the way the sun danced off their skin with all sorts of promises, the bewitching Tat-Mask on their face, the slow and seductive motion of nine draconic tails tipped with ruby light behind her...

Nope, couldn’t see any of that, although they definitely wanted to.

Legion did not, however, broadcast any of the Prestige of a Ruler. What people had Sworn under Master Fred were Heavenbound sworn to a higher Cause, and they were merely a conduit in the path, First Among Equals, not a true Monarch, because the Pacts had first claim.

However, it was no exaggeration to say that below their Pacts, Legion could command their everything with very little effort, bearing a level of Duty that was absolutely crushing to anyone who could feel it. Warlocks, and anyone else, swearing in under Legion had almost ridiculous levels of Loyalty spikes.

It probably didn’t hurt that Legion was literally thousands of people, and always had time for everyone. Sure, serious intellectual business had an Intelligence cap, as they were all using the same brain, but simple conversation? Legion was literally their own Allegiance at this point... or the operating bureaucracy for one, with active connections that spanned the whole Allegiance. Just the number of families of the Cohort souls rescued from other Consuming Warlocks was in the dozens, after all...

Of course, that same relationship existed with Shvaughn among other families, most of whom were not innocent, common-born, or weak. Shvaughn had been Consuming their ancestors, whether they knew it or not, for a good two centuries, after all, and was plenty willing to continue doing so into the future, giving her blood ties to a whole lot of powerful people.

But, I digress. Legion didn’t radiate Prestige, because they were subsidiary to me here, and the Prestige I emitted took all of theirs and added it to my own.