Escalating War
Several decades pass by since Dakka fell into a deep slumber, and the war with the Ants proceed much as it had for the past few centuries.
Well, for the first couple of years, the Ants had a really hard time against the Arkin, as most of their tunnels had been destroyed. Their losses were so heavy that Haalfrin's Death Aura reserve made significant progress in catching up to the Queen's level of power. Instead of her being 20 times more powerful than him, she's merely 10 times more powerful now (as far as Haalfrin's estimates go, anyway).
However, the Ants did eventually build up their tunnels again, and the war, once again, entered an equilibrium.
And so, after all this time, Fisco's next message to Haalfrin comes as a surprise. "Haalfrin," he says, "I think you need to pay attention to your other Wills. There's something going on with them."
Haalfrin raises an eyebrow at this. "What could it be? I've already tried getting them to join in the fight, but none of them wanted any part of it."
To this, Fisco replies, "Well, I've been speaking to them, and their souls in the Death Realm seem to have learned that you can help them advance their power. Your Arkin HAVE been getting stronger."
Getting stronger once you're dead is, under normal circumstances, impossible. A 3rd gate mage is forever stuck as a 3rd mage when he dies. Understandably, some of the previously uncooperative souls and Wills are slowly changing their minds when they hear news of the mysterious war these Arkin keep going back to in the living realm.
"Yeah," Haalfrin nods his head, "The Death Realm is a cruel place from what I've heard, and it makes sense for a lot of them are wanting to join up – at least for the training experience."
Haalfrin thought for another moment, then says, "You're pretty good at vetting out stout-hearted soldiers. Can I send the souls to you?"
"Sure. I'll whip them into shape then send them right over."
Haalfrin adds, "Most of those extra souls are bandits, prisoners, and common guards and soldiers. Don't place too much faith in them."
"We'll see."
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And just like that, over the years, many thousands of new Wills became willing to fight in the war. With the Wills becoming willing to be his soldiers, their attached spirits become Arkin.
With this, Haalfrin's Arkin army is bolstered significantly over time as his ranks slowly grow.
Of course, the souls of the Rehkin clansmen who had died to Haalfrin and the Threshold over the years are still stubbornly crossing their arms at Haalfrin and keeping their spirit whisps – their Wills – off in a corner of his soul.
Haalfrin had long grown accustomed to them never answering his call. Those people have such strong wills and fierce loyalty to their clans that Haalfrin had long accepted that there was no way they would ever help fight for the very humans who slew them in the past.
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After all this time fighting, Haalfrin can confidently put the Arkin into 2 categories – bloodthirsty crazies, and the slightly less bloodthirsty crazies.
Naturally, the humans who had been brutally mutilated and eaten alive by the Ants transitioned into Arkin with the worst temperaments, while the humans who had died less dramatically or quickly are a little saner.
At first, the crazy Arkin only distinguished themselves by arguing extra hard at War Councils and advocating for aggressive tactics. This much Haalfrin could tolerate. However, as the centuries tick by, their behavior begins getting out of hand…
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As the years go by, the Ant Queen begins to tactically change how she revives her children. All this time, she had been sure to revive them all with their memories wiped, since soldiers having individuality is bad for her agenda.
However, she starts experimenting, and she finds out how to preserve SOME memories in her children. Specifically, she lets her children remember the arcane knowledge they've learned.
Her children being mages was impossible before, since magic takes time to practice and learn.
Now, though, this problem is fixed.
Spells like telekinesis and body strengthening are the easiest to learn for the Swarm, and just those spells bring about immediate effects.
With the Captain Ants suddenly becoming as physically strong as dragons, their combat becomes so viable in close quarters that the Arkin are no longer able to engage them in tight tunnels without being completely slaughtered. The only realm that is left for the Arkin to dominate is the skies.
Luckily, despite the Ants learning flight magic, they're unable to fly up to the imperial palace and directly invade from there. This is because flight becomes more and more taxing the higher up from the ground you are.
Plus, the only Ants with enough mana to reach the top are the Captain Ants, and the Captain Ants only have more mana because they're close to their sisters; this means that the moment the Captains fly up on their own, they'll leave their sisters behind and suddenly run out of mana.
You'd think the Queen would be able to fly up herself, but there's a big problem with that. Because the Queen has a damaged soul, she's only able to use 1 spell at a time. If she uses a flight spell, she'll be unable to put up a mana barrier; she'd be shot down in seconds!
With this in mind, the Arkin become increasingly unable to invade the Ants, and the Ants constantly think of new ways to try making it up to the palace.
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Haalfrin and all his generals know very well that a purely defensive strategy is a losing strategy. If you only know how to be a turtle and hide in your shell, then clever predators can poke at you forever until they find a way to break you. (For example, birds have gotten smart; they grab turtles, carry them high into the sky, and drop them. They do this until the turtle's shell cracks.)
Thus, the Arkin all know that they MUST find a way to keep on the attack… but how? The Ants are getting stronger and stronger – not with mana, but with techniques. According to the latest scouts, the Ants are even starting to crack the enchantments on the Threshold and learning to enchant for themselves.
And so, they start making good use of the palace's expansive dungeons. First, they make frequent raids to the surface and kidnap as mana Ants as they can – all without killing them or letting them commit suicide.
Then, the Arkin bind the bugs in prisons worthy of mages – all in hopes of depriving the Queen of her army.
If the Ants don't die, then the Queen can't revive them at her side, right?
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Pretty soon, the palace gets so full of captured Ants that the dungeons are conventionally unable to hold them. So, to save on room, the Arkin start piling unconscious Ants in cells and filling them with concrete. With the Ants' heads at least sticking out, they're able to breathe, yet they're unable to move at all.
Once the dungeons are full, many of the spare rooms are converted into similar cells.
The Queen, of course, knows exactly what the Arkin are doing. Despite trying her best to keep her forces around, and no matter how much she makes the pointy ears pay for each raid, they still slowly bleed her armies of numbers.
To make matters worse, the Arkin start casting complex spells on the Ants to make them enter a suspended state of living, where they age much slower and are mostly put to sleep. Otherwise, with how long this war is taking, the Queen could just wait for her children to age to death before getting them all back.
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Everything seems to be going well for Haalfrin and his forces. Still afraid of the Queen coming up with some new abilities, he secludes himself again and begins to diligently train his soul. Only occasionally does he come out of his room to check on the war, as well as resummon the Arkin who had perished to the Ants again.
One day, Haalfrin makes a routine check to the basement. As he's walking down the long, spiral stairs, he hears loud, merry whooping and shouting. "Are they having a party?" Haalfrin muses. "A prison is a weird place to have a party."
However, it quickly becomes apparent the moment he opens the dungeon door that the Arkin are NOT having a party.
There, strapped to a wooden board leaning against a wall with mana-sealing cuffs, is one of the Ants in her humanoid form. All of her clothes lay in tatters on the floor, and there are dozens of knives embedded in the board around her, with several blades piercing her bleeding flesh.
"Haha!" an Arkin with long red hair jokes to his friends, "Do you think I can make it from 30 yards?" He pulls out a throwing knife and starts flipping it in his hands.
"Go back to the training field, Jaldi!" one of the other Arkin. "I won last time, remember? I got this!" Without hesitation, he expertly tosses his knife up, snatches it between two fingers at the time of the blade, and he throws it.
The knife flies through the air, and a second later, a woman's agonized screams echo through the hall. The knife had sliced through the air with such force that when it hits the captive Ant's leg, everything below her knee is nearly severed.
"Ahh….," the Jaldi scolds, "You hit it too hard. Look! It's bleeding everywhere now. General Kaalhyme DID say that we're not allowed to kill them."
"Well, whatever," one of the other Arkin shrugs, "Take that one to get the bleeding stopped."
He then cocks his thumb to one of the other rooms. "There's plenty more of the bugs in there. Do whatever you want. It's fine so long as we don't cause any fatal harm anyway."
"And WHAT is it you're all planning to do?!" comes a deep, frosty voice from the dungeon's front door.