Impassable Liege Caelus Lutatius Tanicus walked through the final bronze doors of the Gate quarter. One of the first things the Republic had done after finally breaking the Parthians was to secure the Gate in Ctesiphon. Walls had been constructed, then more walls around those. In modern times, the walls were festooned with Crystal-Powered lights, rather than braziers and torches, but today of all days, the old braziers had been brought and lighted with perfumed oil.

The eagle banners were unfurled everywhere around the plaza, alighted by the fires in the waning daylight as the sun fell on the old Parthian capital.

The large expanse in front of the Great Gate of the Overworld was filled with youngsters from all over the Republic. All had volunteered. Many were third or fourth sons, doomed to poverty and obscurity unless they came from a major gens. Almost forty pressed themselves near the Gate.

Caelus turned to the crews, checking. All of them had the Crystals ready to be loaded into the focusers, who would bring the aether energies stored to bear on the Great Gate. Doing so against the Gate at the Palatine Hill in Rome was out of the question. On the captured gates of fallen kingdoms? Who cared if the Gate never repaired itself. But it always did so far.

The effort of the war against the Serica, far in the east at the end of the land, and their titanic Professionals teams required sacrifices. The Empire of Hàncháo could not afford the risk of losing their Gate when moving in and out of the Overworld depended on it. The Roman Republic could.

“Citizens of Rome, hear me. Today, you risk it all. You know what to do. When the Gate begins to destabilize, you have to be fully immersed in it. If you have any limb or part outside when its meniscus flexes, you will be torn apart and lose your life. Few of you will make it, but for those who do, you will earn power beyond the likes of me will ever obtain. The rest… your families will get the stipend.”

Caelus turned to the Gate and got ready to give the order to fire the focusers when a Professional stumbled out of the Gate. The tier eight veteran Professional frowned. Everyone on the other side was ordered to stay clear. All of them were already Professionals, the best they could do was being resurrected after being sliced by the Gate. They would never become Paradoxa, just like himself could not.

The Professional fell on the ground, smoke and fire rising out of his back.

The figure that followed him out of the Gate was… not a Roman Professional. It was a nightmare in human form.

Twice as tall as a man, it was a red-bearded figure that could have looked like a northern barbarian from the unwanted provinces. Wearing armour that was as black as night itself, with stars and nebulae showing as if the armour was an opening into the sky. His face was half-covered by a mask that hid his left eye but left a point of bright light that tracked the figure looking across the plaza. In his right hand, he clutched a spear covered in Labyrinthine lights, topped by a blade that seemed carved in the folded wings of a bird that seemingly breathed.

Following him came an equally tall woman. She wore a robe that seemed full of the sand whipped by the storm, swirling in whirlpools. Her elaborate headdress seemed to move, evoking snakes, serpents, worms or even the tentacles of the water beasts. But what made her stand out was that she seemed to float a pace above the ground, without touching it. In her hands shone great blue and green lights.

Three other figures appeared out of the Gate, all impossibly tall, all impossibly attired. The Octavius could recognize the signs of Artefacts from the Labyrinth, but who could wear matching sets of Artefact equipment???

Then the Presence of the newcomers made itself felt, and even with his eight tiers and over a dozen Professions, the Liege nearly backed away. The candidates screamed, falling on the ground, running away, prostrating themselves as they reacted to the impossible intrusion on their perception of the world.

The armoured Norseman spoke, and his voice was like thunder. Even if his Latin was badly accented.

“Who is responsible for this pigsty? Who commands this farce?”

Caelus steeled himself. Whoever this was, the power they showed was worthy of respect at least. He had no idea where they came from, all of the Gates had fallen save the eastern one…

“I am. I’m Caelus Lutatius…”

Proud Spear of the Donghalla Corvid burns you for 21982 damage (4110 defence rating)

The Liege fell on his knees, over half of his health gone in a single stroke without even a skill used. The one-eyed Norseman hand rose, white light dancing and a status informed him that he was losing more than 5000 health per second.

“We will talk later,” he heard before the world ended and darkness fell over the Roman.

Hrosskell Guthrumsson contemplated the mess of the gate piazza. The poor hapless mundanes trying to crawl out and press themselves against walls to avoid notice from his team were the obvious “candidates” intelligence had suggested.

He turned toward Ahati-waqrat, but the Babylonian woman had already moved, burning and melting the Crystal holders. Judging by the scene… they’d barely made it. A few more minutes, and they might have found a closed and half-burned out Gate instead.

“Trust Romans to muck with Gates. Twice you get some Romans involved, and it turns into a massive clusterfuck,” Johann Haussegger said in Sabir, joining his team leader next to the corpse of the Roman officer.

“Those are an old divergence. The Byzantines were… civilized. But I do not know, and I do not care,” replied the Icelander in the same tongue. “All I care is that we stopped this, at least for now. The diplomats will handle the… treaties and the rest of the stuff. But the Gate itself is now secure, they won’t be mucking with the Labyrinth’s integrity, and that’s what matters.”

He turned back toward the Gate, checking it.

Transit: Earth 410 - Asprenas

Integrity: 100%

Active

(2 months, 11 days)

Stability: 100%

“Two months restarted, and they were already trying to burn it, just to force more poor boys into Adjustment.”

He shook his head. Romans, indeed.

Impassable Liege

(tier 8)

Required: 432 CON, 432 WIS, 292 PRE, 292 STR

Provides:

+114 health/+24 endurance/+60 mind/+36 aether per level

+1 Milestone/9 levels

Impassable Liege Milestone: +22 CON, +14 FOC, +9 FOR, 1% team health

Skill set: Team / Defence