Ravensdagger_The_Isekai_Will_be_Livestreamed

Twinge Chat!

Underscored says: Dark Lord needs to chill out

Phantom says: he’s very serious

Smuggles999 says: that city looks minuscule

Kotekj says: if mom can control the weather, can she make it cold?

Ganduro says: send NEWT in!

Gabriel minoru says: the dark lord is not pog

Corvid_with_a_sword says: Dark lord is cringe

Ella1ea says: SOMEONE BUY HER A COAT!

Valheru says: Mommers

Gryphonflyt says: AGREED!

Qmills88 says: mommers1

“Boys...” Anne started. “I mean... chat people? Please? I could use some advice. You know this... strategy stuff better than I do. You play games, right?”The chat slowed, then burst with dozens of replies. A lot of people were arguing about... green screens? How everything was part of some really advanced program with drag-and-drop models and fast modellers. Anne didn’t understand that part. She focused on what others were saying.“Anything good?” Elain’e asked.“A few things. But I think they’re thinking too much of me. I’m just a single mom, I can’t take on a whole army on my own, and some of these ideas are very silly.” She glared at the chat. “I’m not going to seduce the dark lord.”Anne blinked as a card appeared before her. The chat went even more wild for a moment, and she noticed that one of the names was highlighted. Someone had made a one-hundred dollar purchase.She glanced at the card.Wall of Duty: was written at the top of the card. A slate-black card that somehow looked just as impressive as the card with the weather controlling device. The image was a painting, one taken from above. An ancient but beautiful city in mid-day, with a grand wall all around it of white stone with towers every hundred metres or so.“Thank you, Tarumath,” Anne said as she hugged the card close. “I... just thank you. You might have saved a lot of people tonight.”“A wall?” Elain’e asked as she stood on tip-toes and looked at the card. “That could help. An entire wall in a card.”Anne nodded. “How do I cast this?”Elain’e looked around, then pointed to the far end of the hill, where it dipped down a little. “Over there. If the wall creates an additional barrier between the city and the army, then that’ll save us a lot of time. They’ll think twice when a wall appears out of nowhere and blocks their path. Even if they can likely fly over it. That’ll mean retreated back to their ships and risking a close-range retaliation against their vessels.”“Right,” Anne said. Half of that flew over her head, but she tried her best to keep up.They walked across the hill, hurried, but not so much so that they wanted to slip on the muddy grass.“Mistress,” Newt said. “I’m detecting several heat signatures from the forest, three hundred and fifty meters to the west.”Anne turned and stared into the woods. She couldn’t see anything, not until a single figure stepped out of the forest. A man, in black clothes with white plate over it. It was hard to make out any features through the rain and in the dark.Another followed, then another and another. Soon she could hear shouts as the men pouring out of the woods started to form up in neat lines.“They are entirely too close for comfort,” Elain’e said. “Quick, the wall, then we rush to the city.”“Right,” Anne said.She placed the card down, then, while biting her lower lips hard enough it hurt, she cast.The wall appeared with a single bang, displaces air pushing out of the place where it now stood. It wasn’t some little wall, or a stoney barrier. It was a massive structure, thirty, maybe forty meters tall, with gleaming white towers that towered even above that. Anne gulped as she strained her neck to look up to the top.Her gaze followed along the wall as she took a step back. It was long. Extraordinary so, turning towards Not Evilia on the ends to properly wrap around the side of the city they were on.“That’ll do,” Elain’e said.

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The audience has: 109 Points!

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen “Hang on,” Newt said.Anne turned towards Newt, but the robotic girl grabbed her in a princess carry. “Hang on? To whaaaa-” Anne said before her voice trailed off into a high-pitched scream as they took off and flew straight up and over the wall.“Brace,” Newt said as they hit the apex of their flight, then started to come back down.Anne’s scream changed in pitch a moment before they landed with a hard thump atop the wall. She stood up as Newt let go of her, then, with shaky hands, she grabbed onto one of the wall’s crenellations and took a moment just to let her heart still itself.“I’m going to retrieve Elain’e now. One moment please,” Newt said before she stepped up onto the edge of the wall, then over it.Anne sighed, then straightened up and looked down the length of the wall. It was fairly wide at the top, at least a metre or two thick, with a tunnel that cut through the towers along its length, and staircases leading down to the bottom on the inner side.She followed the wall with her gaze, all around the city and back around to where she was. It surrounded all of Not Evilia, an unmistakable white barrier that enclosed all of the city’s farmland and homes. It made the little city seem even smaller.People were awake, the appearance of the wall probably serving as a pretty good sign that something was going on. Torch-light moved around inside the city, and Anne saw a few groups of what she thought might be guards running towards the wall, though few of them were heading in the right direction.“We have returned!” Newt announced as she carried Elain’e up the wall.The young woman landed with a huff, her dress now wet and her haid bedraggled by the short flight. She wiggled her umbrella, then moved it back over her head. Anne had to hold back a giggle. She looked like a wet cat.“That was deeply unpleasant,” Elain’e said. But I suppose this makes us safer than remaining down there.”“Your carriage,” Anne said.“It's just a carriage. It is entirely replaceable. And I doubt the Dark Lord’s army will truly bother with it. They have greater concerns. This wall will likely cause them a great deal of consternation.”“It won’t be enough to stop them though,” Anne said.“No, of course not,” Elain’e replied. “They’re incredibly far from home, and I imagine that whatever information they had on Not Evilia, it was somewhat dated and they were aware that it might not be accurate. They will have come prepared for the unexpected. At least, if they’re not fools.”“So what do we do?” Anne asked. She glanced back at where the lights from what she assumed were guards were poking at parts of the wall that were nearest the city. “The people in the city don’t know yet, do they?”“They don’t,” Elain’e said. “The necromancers haven’t arrived yet. I suspect it’ll take them another little while. And the wall might stall there. There seems to be a gatehouse over there, but it’s likely unmanned.”“I can assist,” Newt said.Elain’e frowned, then nodded. “You can,” she said. She tugged off one of her dainty gloves, then pulled a large ring off of her middle-finger. “Here. This is my signet ring. You’ll want to give it to the captain of the guard. Explain what’s going on to him. We need that gate over there opened for the necromancer’s guild to enter, and we need this section of the wall here manned. Tell him to bring rocks.”Newt took the ring carefully, then turned to Anne. “Oh,” Anne said. “Yes, that’s fine.”“Wait,” Elain’e said. “Once you’ve told the guard captain what he needs to know, go find the necromancers. You should be able to see them from above with relative ease.”Newt saluted, then with a starting jog, she took off and ran off the edge of the wall a moment before taking off with a rush of flames and smoke trailing after her.“That just leaves the two of us to take care of all of that,” Elain’e said. She placed a hand on her hip and glared out into the darkness beyond the wall. It wasn’t entirely dark, not really. There was light around the army forming in the distance.Anne swallowed as she took in the growing mass of soldiers, all of them running around until they were in neat rows. She imagined there were two or three hundred of them already, men in plate and mail, with square shields and short swords. Those on the back lines were making spears appear out of cards, and others were testing bowstrings against the effects of the rain.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.“That’s a lot of men,” Anne said.“They have ladders,” Elain’e said. She pointed to a group of them who did, indeed, have ladders. They were tying the bottoms and ends of ladders together, making them into single, longer ladders. “I guess they were prepared for the smaller walls that Not Evilia has. They’ll still be able to scale this one.”“What do we do?” Anne asked.“We summon our own army,” Elain’e said. “You still have that one card?”Anne swallowed. “The Army of Jake Maia?” she asked.“It’s an army.”“It’s an army of my little boy,” Anne said.Elain’e worked her jaw. “I think your little boy is still back home, Anne. It won’t really be him. And besides.” She gestured to the city. “How many little boys and girls are just resting peacefully over there?”Anne chewed on her lip. “Fine,” she said.There wasn’t any time for moralizing, for questioning herself on what was the right thing to do.And honestly, she wanted to see her little Jake-i-poo some more.“We should do it on the ground, come on,” Elain’e said. She grabbed Anne by the hand, and together they climbed down the stairs at the back of the wall to the grassy hillside below.Anne fished out the card in question, then hugged it close for a moment. “Same as the wall?” she asked.“That’s right,” Elain’e said.Anne stepped up, knelt down, then placed the card down a moment before summoning it.Between one blink and the next, the field around them filled with young men. Her son, but a hundred times over.They weren’t in the best of shape. The entire army was dirty and looked banged up. They had old armour on, metal plates over rough gambesons, and their weapons seemed dulled and often broken. They looked tired.“Oh, no,” Anne gasped. She bolted to the nearest Jake, then hugged him close. “Oh you poor sweetie, what happened to you? Are you alright?”“Mom?” the Jake she was hugging said. “No, mom, don’t hug me, I’m all dirty.”“Shh, shh,” she shhed him before she started to rock him back and forth. “It’s okay, I’m here.”“Mom, you’re embarrassing me in front of myself,” Jake whined. “A-and who’s that cute girl behind you?”“She’s far too young for you, mister Maia. Now, if you want your mom to help you find a girl, you only need to ask. I know all the ladies in town, and quite a few of them have-”“No, no mom. Don’t.”“So this is your son?” Elain’e asked. She had one eyebrow perked as she looked over all the Jakes. They were mostly starting to sit down in the grass, despite the rain still falling atop them.Anne nodded. “Yes, this is definitely my Jake-i-poo. Though, I usually insist that he dresses a little better, and that he showers more often.”“Mom,” the Jake she was still holding onto said. There wasn’t much strength in the complaint. He was tired, bags under his eyes, and he moved as if his limbs were heavy.“Well, get on the wall,” Elain’e said. “We have an army to defend against. I can’t imagine they’ll sit around for all that long.”“I... I don’t think we can,” Jake said. “We’re tired. Burnt out. Our gear’s wrecked and... look, we just can’t.”Anne bit her lip. Could she really order her son to go and fight a battle that wasn’t his? Was he even her son, really?A flash dragged her attention down, and she only-just managed to catch a card that appeared out of nowhere before her. She stepped to the side, and ducked down to be under the cover of Elain’e’s umbrella.“A new card?” Elain’e asked.“Yes,” Anne said. She squinted at the card. It had a nice, clean border, and an image of Jake on it. A very handsome jake, with a bit more of a chin than he actually had and just a pinch of stubble. He was also wearing a black uniform, with a cap on that had a skull on the front. He looked like an officer out of some strange war movie.“Commissar Jake?” Elain’e read the card’s name.“Um,” Anne said. She wasn’t sure what to think of that. “Should we use this?”“I suppose there’s no harm,” Elain’e said.Anne nodded, then cast the card.

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The audience has: 32 Points!

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen “Boys!”The shout rang across the field, loud and clear and ringing.Commissar Jake adjusted his hat, then brushed some imaginary dust off the lapels of his coat. “Boys! Sons of Anne. Look at you. Pitiful wretches! Stand the hell up and pay attention, ladies!”The army laid out on the field looked to each other, then glanced back at the commissar.“I said stand up!” Commissar Jake screamed so hard it sounded as though he was tearing up his own throat. “You piles of degenerate filth, it’s not time for you to be laying your asses down on the ground to contemplate the worthlessness of your miserable lives! This is a time to fight, mom-damn it! Now get those boots planted on the ground or I’m going to plant mine right up your asses! On the double, boys!”Anne gasped, a hand pressed up over her mouth. Those were some very strong things that this Jake was saying.“That’s more like it. Now form a line. You do know what a line is? You might have spent all of math class staring at Mrs Cindy’s perfectly round bottom but I expect at least that much to have sunk into that thick skull of yours! That’s right. Side by side.”The Jakes, still tired, and still confused, formed an somewhat orderly line under the cruel glare of Commissar Jake.“Do you maggots have any idea what we’re up against? A whole damned army of blood-thirsty maniacs. Worshippers of a being so vile the mere sight of him will have you wanting to run back to hug your damned body pillows. They are hardened killers. They are freaks of nature.” Commissar Jake swept around and balled his hands into fists. “They want to harm our momma.”A collective gulp sounded out across the field.“Will you let them do that?”There was a long stretch of silence, broken only by some mutters.“Have you been listening to shit music too loud for too long? You aren’t deaf, are you? I asked you if you were going to let those ingrates hurt our momma?!”“No,” came a few calls.“What kind of unenthusiastic response is that? That was weaker than that time you asked Sally White out for prom and she rejected your sorry asses.”Anne gasped again. Jake had asked that nice girl out? And she’d rejected him? Oh, the poor baby, no wonder he had been so upset that week.“I want you to sound off loud and clear. This isn’t a game, this isn’t some bullshit. This is a war! Do you understand?”“Yes!”“That’s ‘yes sir,’ to you, you lower lifeforms! Do you understand that?”“Sir, yes sir.”“Say it like you damned well mean it!”“Sir yes sir!” the Jake’s cried out.“If it was up to me I’d have to all lynched for incompetence. Look at yourselves. Does mom not give you clean clothes? Does she not feed you? Does she not give you the love and attention you so obviously failed to earn?”Commissar Jake stomped over to one Jake in particular.“Why are you slouched?”“Sir?”“I asked you why you were slouching, boy. Are you looking for your pecker past that gut of yours? You’re going to need to bend over a whole lot more than that and find yourself a magnifying glass, you lump of shit. Stand taller, dammit!”The commissar stomped over to another.“Where is your weapon?”“Uh, sir, its, uh.”“Uh? What in the mom-damn does uh mean? Raise your fists. Come on, are you too lazy to do that much? I’m not asking you to clean out the toilets, I’m telling you to raise your fists!”The wide-eyed Jake did as he was told, raising his fists before his face.“That stance is pitiful! Punch me.”“What?”“Did I stutter?” the commissar slapped himself on the chest. “Punch me!”Jake punched him.The commissar barely budged. Then he slapped Jake across the face. “Weak! Punch me like that man you wish you were, you overgrown mistake! And if you can’t do that much, then find a weapon, because if that’s all the punching you can do then by mom you’d best hope that the freaks on the other side of that wall are just as pathetic as the rest of you, because they will have you for a midnight snack.”Commissar Jake moved on to the next Jake in line, one who was holding a sword by his side.“What is your name?”“Sir, Jake Mia-”“Wrong!” the commissar interrupted. “From now on your name is Swordy McStabby. Is that your weapon, Swrdy?”Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.“Sir, yes sir.”“And what will do with it?” the commissar asked.Swordy McStabby gulped. “I’m going to stab the enemy, sir!”“Well mom-damn, you must have been given some of the brain cells the rest of this sorry lot are missing. You’re right, McStabby, that’s exactly what you will do. You will stand side-by-side with yourself on the top of that wall and everytime one of those twinkle-toed dipshits pokes his ugly mug over the edge of that mom-blessed wall, you will take that rusty bit of iron and you will ram it into their eyeholes. Is that right?”“Sir, yes sir!”“Exactly! Because I am always right. Only one person knows better than me, and that’s our glorious momma. Isn’t that right, boys?”“Sir, yes, sir!”“You will go up that wall, and you will shout, and you will scream, and you’re going to bleed and die for Momma, because she’d do the same for you even if you clearly don’t deserve it! And you will hate every last minute of it! Do you know why?”“Sir, no, sir!”“Because they don’t have milkshakes and anime on top of that wall! You will not be served a fresh helping of chicken tendies and some girl-on-girl porn up there. You will be given death and dismemberment, and by mom, you will hate every last second of it. But you will do it anyway. Because mom has had to endure your worthless, whining presence for your entire damned life and she deserves every ounce of pain you’ll suffer tonight. Am I understood?”“Sir, yes, sir!”“Bullshit! I didn’t hear you!”“Sir, yes, sir!”“That’s right! Now pick up your weapons and get up on that wall. Those bastards won’t gut themselves.”The Jakes screamed, raising spears and swords above their heads, a hundred voices joining together in a call to feral and wild that Anne didn’t recognize her own son’s voice for a moment. Then they charged up the wall, a few stragglers rushing back to grab some equipment left on the field before they too ran up the wall.At the top, the army spread out, momentarily disorganized before they started to form a long line, a Jake at every gap between crenellations.“Well,” Elain’e said. She was a little flushed under her umbrella. “That was certainly something.”“Um, yes,” Anne said.“Don’t worry mom,” Commissar Jake said as he approached her. “I’ll keep an eye on myself. Make sure we give those heathens a reason to think twice about messing with you.”“Thanks?” Anne said.The commissar saluted her smartly, then with one hand tucked into his uniform pocket, he walked with a straight back up the steps. Anne heard him shouting obscenities a moment later, telling the other Jakes to stand taller and insulting the manhood of their adversaries in the same breath.“I feel like I should wash his mouth off with soap,” Anne said.“That’s... somehow a very intimidating thing to say, Anne,” Elain’e said.Anne considered it for just a moment before a giggle escaped her. “Maybe. What do we do now?”“Now we wait,” Elain’e said. “The necromancers will be coming soon, and with them a lot more troops, of the more disposable sort. And I think those lights approaching us over there are some guardsmen. My grand-patriarch won’t fail to rally the werewolves either, so we can expect supplies eventually.”“Won’t those only be useful if this goes on for a while?” Anne asked.“Yes, and thanks to you, the wall, that army up there, there’s a good chance that this invasion will turn from a sacking to a siege. If we can endure until sun-up, then we’ll have every able-bodied person in Not Evilia here helping us. Even just flinging rocks over the wall should make them think twice. And I think that their goal was to hit the city in the dead of night, entirely unaware. It’s a lot different to come against a city that’s expecting the attack and is preparing for it.”“I suppose so,” Anne said.She glanced back up the wall while fiddling with the edge of her apron. Her Jakes were up there, cursing and flinging enthusiastic insults at the army just on the other side.She hoped things would go well.Her more pragmatic side told her optimistic side not to expect the best. But... still. It was never wrong to hope.

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The audience has: 70 Points!