The plan was a success, in a sense we managed to extract the Queen's body out of the situation she was in. However, that was only half of my plan.
After all, we're still stuck here, unable to get out, and we need a way to leave the Bastion.
With the Queen's body inside the Lord of Lords pagoda, we had already won half the battle, and now it's time to execute the second part.
Since we teleported into the prairies of the Lord of Lords pagoda, which was something I already planned, that means that I have already set up a few traps in waiting.
The portal which I had opened to lead everyone inside has yet to close. And that was on purpose.
I wasn't going to give up my more than a thousand puppets outside, so I ordered them all to withdraw slowly back into the portal.
Around the portal leading to the prairies, tens of thousands of other puppets were waiting with weapons at the ready.
They had already been ordered to stand on high alert and ready up for incoming enemies.
The allied puppets that secured our escape route had begun withdrawing, by the dozen they dropped into the portal.
Hundreds of them had come out before their numbers began dwindling. I didn't need to have eyes outside to understand what was going on.
The Rakshasas began to have the upper hand, especially with the reduction in number of puppets holding the escape route.
And soon, the first Rakshasa entered the portal.
It didn't live to touch the ground as it was falling down. When aimed at by tens of thousands of puppets, its body turned into a sieve from the number of bullets that went through it.
More white Rakshasas went in and they all suffered the same.
Then came a brute that seemed to have a missing limb.
"Capture that one," I ordered.
The puppets led by Y immediately jumped on the brute, overwhelming it with sheer numbers they tore and broke every limb it had and stabbed rods of Tungsten into its limbs. They then wrapped it with chains and dragged its bleeding body across the prairies.
Y had remained standing waiting for more prey to capture. And more Brutes came down that suffered the same. They got pulverized, limbs torn and broken, then captured soon and sent to the White Room.
Sadly, I couldn't retrieve all of the puppets outside, so I sent in the order for them to be deactivated. Without Qi, they're nothing but metallic tools that the Rakshasas can't use or care to fight against.
The portal closed down when one of the Silver Rakshasas entered it.
"We invited the wolf into the house," the Fire Lord said.
"Nah," I said. "I already laid traps for the wolf."
"I'm not only a poison practitioner, I also dabble in the art of healing. However, your condition is difficult," I said.
"The time that my body spent inside the ice is far beyond what a body should tolerate without Qi," she said.
"Indeed, every cell has frozen over, and the ice itself penetrated and ruptured the cells, destroying them. If I were to remove the ice, your body would instantly turn to mush." I said.
"I guess there is no hope," she said.
"Not necessarily," I said. "It is difficult but not impossible."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Restoring your body, I can do it, the problem is, recovering your soul will be far more difficult," I said.
"I have a sutra that can help me recover my soul energy, but I need a proper body to use it," she said.
"Hmm, this makes things easier," I said as I placed my palm on the ice.
Slowly my Qi began penetrating into the ice, like a needle through dough, until it touched the skin layer of her body.
I can't remove the ice, doing so will destroy the cells that are being held up by the ice. So, I need to fix the cells and revive them while at the same time protecting them from the ice.
So, I began, cell by bloody cell. Injecting the first one with my own poison Qi, and allowing it to nourish itself.
The cell's core was damaged some was completely destroyed, but with the Qi supplemented by me, the first cell began recovering. It regained its outer film, and the plasma inside it began budging, the core which was shattered by the ice particles was slowly fused with the nourishment of my own Qi.
And the first cell returned to life. That was a good step forward, as it would allow the cell to resume function.
My own Qi was full of poison, and some of the poisons I own have an effect that can accelerate cell mitosis.
I can't revive the cells that are fully destroyed, but I can easily force the ones that have hope to split and duplicate themselves. Though the process usually would cost an immense amount of energy, life energy which the body of the queen currently does not possess, I can easily bypass that by supplementing my own in doses of Qi.
The process was absurdly long and tedious, enough to make you wonder how creation had begun and how such an intricate and fundamental process for life had come to be.
Slowly, bit by bit, cell by cell, I aided in duplication. As for the ones that were hopeless, I melted their content and used it to supplement other cells.
Months went by inside the white room, and though the time difference was thirty to one, it was still a long time.
In these months I worked tirelessly, to aid in the rejuvenation process of the corpse. As for the wisp of the soul of the Queen, it already fell unconscious to save as much energy as possible while I was working on this process.
In the ninth month, I had already fully revitalized the entirety of the Queen's body. From a corpse-like frozen body to something that was actually worth using. The Body was now ready for possession.
Though it was skinny and almost bone on skin due to having removed a great deal of cells, it was still usable. As long as the soul is able to retake its place in this body, she should be able to take a new breath of life.