The clacking of bone and steel echoed through the barren landscape.
Augustus now led the army, guiding them toward the junkyard.
Zero, still unconscious, lay slumped across the back of Arceus.
Forty-five minutes passed.
As they approached the junkyard's entrance, Arceus neighed to signal their arrival
The sudden jolt woke Zero.
He groaned groggily, rubbing his eyes. "Wha... what's going on?"
"We have arrived, sire," Augustus said coldly.
"Where?" Zero muttered, still dazed.
He tried to turn his head and look around but ended up falling off the horse face-first into the dirt.
Alana zipped out immediately. "Feel free to let me know how that dirt tastes down there, hoho~!" she cackled.
Zero just groaned in annoyance.
Augustus raised his hand, speaking with eerie command: "Halt."
A wave of authority swept through the skeletal army, stopping them just outside the junkyard.
Augustus sighed, dismounted, and walked in with Arceus, leaving the other two to their antics.
Zero glanced at him from the ground. "He got a problem?"
"Don't think so," Alana shrugged with her ghostly arms.
Zero stared into the distance, still lying in the dirt. "What knocked me out?" His tone was flat, almost bored.
"You ran out of mana," Alana replied. "Mana deprivation. You didn't recover after using too much."
"Figured it was that Tier 2 spell." Zero remarked
"To be fair," she said, floating lazily, "That wasn't your average Tier 2. It needed serious mana reserves and output. Most mages can't handle that, even with a focus."
"What happened after I blacked out?" zero continued
"Augustus threw you on his horse and took charge of the army. Led them out."
"Then?"
Flashback
"Where are we going?" Alana had asked
"Junkyard," Augustus replied.
"Why?"
"Magic pollution concentration's high there," he said. "Undead thrive in it. Some even restore over time. Good place to stay and plan while we wait for Zero to wake up."
Alana raised a brow, impressed. "Huh. Nice insight. I'll leave it to you, then."
Augustus turned quickly, hiding his blush.
Back to present.
"Then he read his grimoire the whole walk," Alana finished.
Zero stood, brushing muck off his cloak and face. "Let's head inside."
They walked through the junkyard's gate.
Inside, Augustus sat leaning against Arceus, silent, contemplative.
Zero scanned the area.
It felt familiar, but... he couldn't place why.
Alana darted off to scout the area. From above, she observed the layout:
0.7 acres of twisted metal corridors, veins of rust and scrap sprawling outward like a mechanical graveyard.
"Damn, Augustus," she muttered. "Good call. Not even 300 skeletons would make a dent here."
Having seen enough she zipped back.
Augustus's voice broke the quiet: "What's our plan from here?"
Zero blinked, as if snapped back from miles away. He sat cross-legged and inhaled.
Then exhaled.
"All right… let's get started," he said, a determined smile forming.
Augustus straightened slightly, stroking Arceus's mane.
Alana hovered closer.
They formed a loose circle around Zero, who began drawing diagrams in the ashy ground.
"Augustus, how many settlements are in this province"
"Ten villages, five towns, three cities, and one provincial capital" he answered crisply
Zero rubbed a line out of the ash and retraced it.
"So... two villages per town, two towns per city, all three cities feed into the capital."
"Correct."
"Okay, so here's the plan."
He picked up a slightly bent pipe and pointed to his rough map.
"We attack all ten villages."
Alana rolled her eyes. "Obvious. How are we doing it?"
Zero tapped the pipe on the drawing. "Since the villages are close to the junkyard, we'll hit them in pairs. For the first one, just us three go in. Keep it quiet. Raise the population afterward, but leave one survivor, for check-in. Then we take the new undead army to the next village, repeat the process."
"After that?" Augustus asked, leaning in.
"We stash that army in the local junkyard. Keep them hidden. Then move on to the next two villages. Do it all again. Quiet. Efficient."
Alana nodded slowly. "And the towns?"
"For the towns," Zero continued, "we'll bring out the stashed armies from the nearby villages. Each town gets swarmed. One army per town."
"Sounds risky," Alana pointed out.
"Which is why…" Zero grinned. "We hit all five towns simultaneously.""
"what?!"
"Yup. Five armies. Five leaders. Augustus leads one. I lead one. Then Alana and... Skull Lord."
"ME?! With that buffoon?!"
Zero nodded calmly. "He's not ready for command. You'll handle oversight. He'll follow your lead."
Alana grumbled in defeat.
Augustus asked, "What about the armies with no direct commander?"
Zero smirked. "They'll be fine. I'll take precautions. By then, they'll have learned enough from the raids anyway."
He continued. "Same for the cities, except more intense. Then the capital gets hit with a full-force assault."
"So that's the plan?" Alana asked
"But..." he paused, brushing part of the ash map away, "there's one major flaw."
Augustus looks with curiosity
"I need scouts," Zero muttered. "Real ones. To survey each settlement, gather data, deal with stragglers. Right now, too many uncertainties."
"Boneheads are too clumsy," Alana said.
"I could try" she started.
"I figured you'd offer," Zero said, "but I need a constant stream of information. Every minute. Populations, visitor patterns, magical activity. You'd be overwhelmed."
"True," Augustus nodded. "Unexpected visitors could ruin everything."
Zero sighed. "Exactly. Dead end."
Suddenly..
Clang.
Metal drums echoed in the distance.
Then clicks; sharp, rhythmic and surrounding them.
Scrap began to shift. Whole mounds trembled. The junkyard... was moving.
Alana flew behind Zero.
Augustus scanned wildly, trying to locate the source, but it was everywhere.
Zero didn't move. Unbothered. Just watched.
SCREEEECH.
A high-pitched, metallic rasp silenced everything.
Zero's eyes darted forward.
"Come out," he said calmly.
From the mound, it emerged.
No struggle, like it walked through air.
With its Long, wiry limbs. Lizard-like head. Scaled skin. Prehensile tail.
Only 18 inches tall, walking on all fours like a wingless dragon.
Zero squinted.
"A… Drogger?" mutters Augustus
Alana gasped. "No way... what the hell is it doing here?!"
zero looks to his side "you know what this thing is?"
"Oh, I remember," Alana said, scowling. "Back in the day, they were a pain in my side. Magic-sensitive little pests. Could detect necromancy from a mile away ruined so many of my traps."
Zero watched it creep forward, tongue flicking at the air. It didn't seem hostile.
"They strong?"
"For the chaos no! they are Bottom-tier monsters in strength," she replied. "What made them so infuriating was how well they synced with people. Smart little vermin, too smart. In fact they could learn, adapt, and even use simple strategies. It made setting up ambushes and traps around them a nightmare!
Augustus spoke up. "They were purged over time. Due to how much they Overbred and ultimately lost value. Now treated like vermin. But... they adapted. Evolved. Junkyards became their refuge. Full of necrotic residue, Safe and Nostalgic for them."
"And due to that I can count on, there being a large amount here and that's being there leader"
Zero pets the drogger and then he lifts it up by its arm pits.
Alana interjected "wouldn't make sense drogger only follow the oldest and elders are usually way bigger than that, this is more to be likely a juvenile"
As zero lifted it up he sees a faint green rune that glowed in old script on its belly.
"What's this"
Alana gasped. "It's a rune! From back then!"
"explain?" zero queried
"People back then thought Drogger's were more useful small, so they put runes on their bellies to stop them growing. Everything else; learning, mana sense, instinct and the perks of age, all kept developing just fine. They also can live up to a thousand years… just rarely get the chance"
Zero stared into its eyes. Let his necrotic energy seep out.
"You want to work for me, little Drogger?"
The creature blinked rapidly. Head tilted. Tongue flicked.
Then in a scratchy mimicry
"Yes."
Alana and Augustus stood in stunned silence.
Zero deeply chuckled.
Then burst out
"PERFECT," he declared, raising the Drogger into the air, laughing.
"Haha! MY PLAN! IT'S COMPLETE!"
He hugged it tightly, cackling.
Alana rolled her eyes. "Still got to figure out how we use them."
Augustus agreed. "Yeah, how…"
"Isn't it obvious?" Zero asked, placing the Drogger in his lap. He redrew the map. "They're more than scouts. They're a message chain."
"But how will you communicate across far villages?" Alana questioned. "They'll be hours apart. And you're no beast-handler so how you will teach them to understand you."
"well you said they can learn things, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Then I'll teach them. Codes. Numbers. Gestures. Expressions…" zero grin widens "It doesn't matter. They'll learn.
He tilted his head toward Augustus "and for communication... Augustus, you're up."
Augustus straightened, caught off-guard.
Zero didn't wait. "We'll use your black tethers. Coils."
A pause.
A black tether...?
Augustus froze, mind racing.
He knew this whole time?
His eyes flickered faintly, a shade lighter. But his voice was cold. Controlled.
"Yes, sir."
He extended his hand. From his fingers, shadowy, snakelike tethers slithered out, writhing with unnatural grace.
Zero holding his hand out, "Your master coil. Give it to me."
Augustus hesitated just long enough to reveal the impact.
He knows how it works, too?
Still, without question, he handed it over.
Zero took it, the grin never leaving his face. The Drogger, now curled at on his lap, barely flinched as the coil wrapped around it like a comforting thread.
Augustus watched. Quiet. Calculating.
Then spoke, tone crisp:
"What's your plan, sir?"
Zero beamed. "Simple. I'll send groups of Drogger's to every village, town, city, and the capital. Each one pairs with a group leader and gets a Coil. That way, they can send info back through the master coil"
He patted the small Drogger. "This one stays with me. Anything they learn, it relays to me directly."
Both Alana and Augustus nodded.
"Perfect," Zero said, standing. "You guys stay here. I've got work to do."
He looked at the Drogger with a grin. "From now on, you're mine. I'll even give you a name… but first, we've got work to do"
He dashed off deeper into the junkyard, the Drogger clinging to his cloak.