Authors Note: This is my take on Zero no Tsukaima where the protagonist "Saito" will be replaced by one of my Original Characters named "Darmond." Unlike Saito, Darmond is a mage who has years of experience, dealing with fellow mages, as his entire world is made up of them i.e. the world has only people and beings who can use magic in some form or another. There are a diverse number Magicks present in his world thus mages who use the same type of magic formed villages, cities and even countries.
I will be staying fairly close to canon progression using the light novels, more, for reference than the anime and manga. But there will be deviations from canon along the way as Darmond is BADASS who shall remain as such along the way. But do not worry he will not one-shot everybody… just those persons I do not like *coughs out Guiche and Sheffield*…
Anyways Hope You like this work when you read and review it but know I answers all complaints with "I REGRET NOTHING." Enough idle chatting, Let The Madness Commence, HAVVAAT THEE!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Zero no Tsukaima but Darmond and his world is totally mine so back off :P
"Talking" - Talking
Thinking - Thinking
*Action* - an action done while talking
"Spell chanting" - Spell chanting
"ATTACK NAME" - Attack name
Chapter 0- The Portal
Earthsphere 40- Luminescent Forest, Akaida Province,
Just outside of border of newly formed Magei XXX Kingdom.
How could it be so hard?
How could we fall so easily?
It is just one mage, thought Zerxes, the Fox, the leader of the most infamous band of bounty hunters in the entire world.
When they had been tailing their target, there was over 15 members in his squad. Zerxes had seen the boy in one of the recon routes and thought, well this should be easy.
He should have known better.
People hired them because they were the best at what they do.
They use whatever means to bring back the person they hunted dead or alive, so at times they were ruthless. It also helped that they were all mostly Gold Level Mages. Even Zerxes and his wife Zarina together had a Platinum Level Status between them which accorded them the right to be called Mage Dreadlords.
So when they saw that they were hunting a boy, who was clearly an Underlord i.e. a bronze status mage which is lowest adult class of mages, they were insulted.
Why would the nobles of Zepher, their country of origin send this elite group to hunt an Underlord?
They got their answer the moment they had tried to ambush him.
He had wiped out half of them in almost an instant with blades of gold and silver which appeared out of nowhere.
He had seen them coming.
He had known where they were going to ambush him.
He had anticipated their mode of attack and had chosen the exact method to counter them.
This was a person who was used to being hunted and bared his fangs at his pursuers with obvious delight.
After their initial failure, the second wave of attacks was again repelled despite the use of magic.
Zerxes, an expert in Geomancy, meaning that any terrain was his to control had set traps almost everywhere on the piece of terrain for their ambush. In tandem, his wife Zarina, an expert in summoning magic used her summoned familiar, Ventus, to utilise a slew of long-ranged Air-based attacks, to act as a distraction for their prey to fall into Zerxes' traps.
This combo had always made them exceptionally dangerous. However the boy had somehow seen through this combo.
He had realised that Zerxes was a geomancer, so avoided land based combat, instead using what could only be described as 'walking on air' magic.
No it was not an exaggeration; the boy was literally walking and running as if the very air was his ground. Impossible, thought Zerxes when he first witnessed the magic.
Even worse, his wife's air spells were being batted away, as if they were mere annoyances to the boy. It was as if he could see the flow of the wind magic, and knew just where to strike, so as to batter them into nothing but a simple breeze.
Who was this boy?
Clearly someone had made a mistake.
How could anyone this dangerous, who could take on a team of Dreadlords, without even batting an eye be an Underlord?
His troupe had been routed one by one. The boy had meticulously seen to that.
Furthermore there seemed to be a change happening over the boy. His face had started out grim and without any real emotion but with each kill his eyes grew more wild and a sinister smile began to grow wider and wider.
And then as if this was nothing more than entertainment for the boy he began to whistle.
It was a sinister tune, one which bespoke of a terrible sadistic death which would become those who faced him. His kills had become more gruesome then.
And so he killed, until finally all who were left were Zerxes, his wife Zarina and their 1st lieutenant Jayce, who was absolutely broken at this point, his will to fight gone.
They had escape from the boy with only minor injuries
But Jayce having witnessed the death of his wife Jen and losing an arm was in a panic.
"CAPTAIN, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON THAT BOY IS NOT AN UNDERLORD. HE KILLED JEN, HE KILLED MAURY AND KIM, AND HE DID IT WHILE WHISTLING. WHAT KIND OF MONSTER IS HE?" shouted Jayce hysterically.
"Calm down Jayce, you will give away our position, do you want him to find us?" warned Zerxes.
"CALM DOWN, FUCK YOU! YOU TOLD US THIS WAS GOING TO BE EASY, YOU TOLD US WE WERE PREPARED TO TAKE HIM, NOW LOOK WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED YOU MOTHERFOCKER, JEN IS DEAD, SHE IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU MOTHERF…."
His wife Zarina had then chosen that moment to behead Jayce silencing him for good with her wind blade.
"Thanks," he said in relief
"He was right Zerxes, it's our fault they are dead, we underestimated him."
"Yep, we must be getting old and arrogant," he said with a self-depreciating smile
"Tch! that is all you honey" she chided.
He guffawed in response.
"Glad to know in this kind of situation you can keep your sense of humour."
"Glad to know you can still be quite the charmer in this situation" she countered
He then heard the whistling which bespoke of death coming closer to their position.
"Well it seems we've been discovered," he said jokingly.
"Well of course you twit, with that asshole Jayce screaming like that, I wouldn't be surprised if he found us in a crowd."
"Zarina…." he began
"No! don't you dare, we are going to escape, and then take a vacation down the Eastern Shores."
"So I don't want to hear what ever sappy thing you are going to say."
"And I also don't want to hear anything about me escaping alone."
"We either escape together or die together" she ended her tone speaking of stubborn finality.
Zarina was always that kind of woman; brave, calm, and strong even in the face of tragedy or her mortality. How he managed to get her to marry him was a joke. After all he was a coward to his core, and while the prospect of escape was ideal to him after witnessing the skill of the boy, he couldn't help but feel that these were to be his last moments.
"I will not allow you to be a hero now."
"You are a two faced coward with the self-preservation of a mongoose."
"And that's why I love you."
"A strange reason to marry someone, well you never told me why you married me or even why you love me," he countered.
"Fine, I'll tell you when you're massaging my back on a beach on the Eastern Shores."
"Then I'll prove my love to you all night long every night until you stop questioning it," she declared with a sultry wink
"Well… that would be something to live for," he said in passing while listening for the whistle, which bespoke the approaching doom.
Good, he is still a good 200 metres away.
Zerxes could sense the boy using his geomancy. The boy was actually walking to their position without a care.
It was surreal being the hunted instead of the hunter.
But the boy was clearly not 'hunting' them. He was not trying to conceal his position. Between the whistling and the fact that he was walking boldly without any stealth, it was as if the boy didn't care if Zerxes could see him coming.
"Well?" his wife enquired.
"He is about 200m south of our position walking towards us."
"Yep that is what the wind is telling me as well."
"How peculiar," she mumbled
"What is?"
"This boy seems to know what he is doing, yet both you and I can pick him up on our sensors, isn't that strange?"
Zerxes agreed with her.
Something was not right; this boy was blatantly setting off their respective "sensors" allowing them to know his position.
Why?
Suddenly, the same self-preservation his wife talked about sent a warning throughout his body, causing it to react to an unseen threat. If he was a split second later, he and his wife, would have been caught in whatever caused the spontaneous appearance of a crater, where they had just been crouching previously.
Unbelievable, the boy had snuck up on them a feat that should be impossible.
Between his geomancy and his wife air sensory spell they had the widest range of sensing spells between them yet this boy had surpassed them all.
Zarina, as usual, was the first to action. She sent a flurry of wind blades at the boy, who didn't pause after punching the crater, to run towards them.
He skilfully dodged them all and was closing in on them.
Zerxes was frozen solid, as the boy had begun to whistle again, and for some reason it struck deep within his mind.
He was afraid;
He had never felt such fear before.
He could see his death in the boy's eyes,
Those cold merciless eyes.
He couldn't escape him.
He couldn't run.
Why had he accepted this job?
If he had known this was where he was going to die he would have charged more.
Zerxes snap out of it screamed his wife hysterically as she slapped him back to reality.
"Wait…what?"
Zerxes recovered to realise that he was in his wife's arms and flying on one of her summons, Ariel, which she used for escapes.
He then noticed that he was feeling wet and warm. He looked down and saw that his wife's stomach had been cut open.
"Oh fuck!.. Zarina!"
"Don't worry you asshole, I managed to stop the bleeding."
"Thanks for leaving me to fight him on my own, you idiot."
"I am so sorry Zarina I don't know what came over me….." he said with utter dejection.
*BONK*
"Stop your self-pitying…. his whistle was laced with a Fear spell," she replied as she hit him on the head
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah I didn't pick up on it until I started to feel afraid, irrationally so."
"I've never been afraid of a fight, yet I felt afraid to battle him."
"It was irrational."
"That was when I realised it."
"Tch, that was why our guys began to act so stupidly when he began to whistle."
"I should've realised it sooner."
"Unbelievable, how could an Underlord use such incredible magic."
"It was so subtle, yet it was effective, even on me!" she exclaimed.
"I guess everyone has a little cowardice in them," he said jokingly.
"This is not the time to be joking you asshole, I've used up most of my mana."
"I'm running on empty here."
"Even if I wanted to I can't summon higher than a Megumi right now" she ended with despair.
Damn! he thought as he remembered, that each summoned spirit is a part of a caste system, of which there are nine.
The caste is not, as its name suggests, only a meaning for authority, but also a literal measure for power.
A summoner does not need to use any significant mana to summon a spirit, thus they can summon a spirit from any of the castes, but their mana is constantly fed to the spirit in order to keep its existence in their plain.
In return, the spirit lends its power by allowing the summoner to perform immense magical spells with almost no cost. It accomplishes this by first providing the mana to facilitate the spell, then acting as an agonist towards the successful weaving of the spell, all whilst the summoner provides the will required to shape the spell.
However, because the spirits possess a will of their own, a summoner needs to have an immense pool of mana, in order for the spirit to obey them. The summon spirits only respect those, whose magical power is high enough to compel their obedience and possess the ability to feed them constant mana to exist in this plain.
As such since Megumi, is the lowest caste of the spirits, Zarina was clearly not in any state to fight off a mage as powerful as this boy.
"Ahh Ah, unbelievable, I never thought I'd see you looking so vulnerable… got to say it's quite appealing."
"Idiot," she retorted "we have no time for you to be charming we have to…." was all she got out before Zerxes kissed her passionately.
At first she resisted, but eventually she was swept in his passion.
She could never resist his passion.
Despite being a coward her husband's passion was second to none.
It was this passion that made him become a Dreadlord Geomancer,
It was this passion that made him the greatest bounty hunter in all of Zepher,
And it was this passion that made her marry him,
And it was with this passion,
That he distracted her long enough to open a hole in the ground, where, after he broke off their kiss, he threw her in.
"What are you doing Zerxes?!" she screamed hysterically, feeling actual fear for the first time in her life.
She looked up at him and he down at her then he smiled a smile laced with regret and anguish as he answered
"Playing hero"
After which he closed the hole, then using a subterrain transport spell, sent her far away through an underground passage that he had been carving since the beginning of this attack.
It was an ingenious spell one which he used several times to escape trouble.
Basically, every step he makes creates a terrain seal, which when activated, causes a chain reaction, as the seals instantly create a passage, allowing a person to flow through said passage at increasing speeds whilst collapsing the tunnel behind them, leaving no evidence of the passage and thus allowing the person to escape.
Unfortunately, due to the speed of the transition, only one person can go through the tunnel when the spell is activated. Zerxes maybe in fact, a coward, but he would never leave his wife behind to be slaughtered.
That was why this tunnel was never intended for him but for her, his precious Zarina.
"Ahh ah no time to feel guilty," he said to himself before looking up and seeing the boy stand before him.
To be honest the boy didn't need a Fear spell to make him afraid, and he knew if he fought against him with Zarina, he would have frozen up again.
But, within him a fire burned; He had to live long enough, so that Zarina could make it to the end of the passage leading her out of the forest.
No matter what, she had to live.
He would not allow her to die.
Not after all she did to make him happy.
So, he stood up and for the first time in his life… he was empty of fear and doubt,
And thought only of fighting, and living for 10 minutes, so that his wife, soon to be widow, could escape and live.
This was all he thought about as he looked into the eyes of the boy then spoke to him directly for the first time.
"Well got to say never thought when I got up this morning that it was going to end like this."
The boy smiled his wicked smile then answered
"Yep, sometimes things do not go according to plan."
"I think it's the gods' way of messing with us, just because we possess willpower, to have us see our wills crushed before our very eyes."
"You're quite wise for a young Underlord," said Zerxes
"And your quite annoyingly weak for an 'all powerful' Dreadlord" said the boy with obvious disappointment.
"Indeed, sorry to disappoint so far but I plan to redeem myself"
"Hoho well good to see you have some fire left," the boy responds then continues with a sadistic smile
"I'll enjoy seeing that flame snuff out"
After which he lunges at Zerxes, trying to immediately behead him.
As she went through the passage Zarina was furious.
That fucking asshole forced her to escape.
Her, the great bounty hunter, Dreadlord Summoner, Zarina Undrmalch Scrim…..at her husband's title she froze.
How could he be so selfish?
She was never afraid of death.
She had been a bounty hunter all of her adult life, and she was of the belief that there was no greater death, than in battle and even better if you die beside your true love.
She was prepared to die with him.
She would feel no regrets,
As to die beside him would have been her honor as an Undrmalch.
Just as her mother had died beside her father,
And her grandmother had beside her grandfather,
And so on and so forth,
It was her duty as an Undrmalch woman to have died beside her husband in battle,
But he took that away from her.
She was going to be the first widow in all of the Undrmalch women, in all 3000 years of their lineage
….And that cut at her pride deeper than any blade could to her flesh.
"No! No! No! No! Nooooo!"
She screamed at the passage as she gathered, what remained of her mana and wove what would be the most powerful spell a summoner can make, without a spirit, the Life Wane Chain.
The Life Wane Chain is a summoning spell, that summons the very chain of life, that all mortal beings possess; It is the metaphysical representation of a person's ties to the land of mortality made into a physical 'chain.'
If this chain is broken, a person can achieve a state of pseudo-immortality, allowing a person to achieve feats of magic that is beyond their mortal bounds, within reason.
What this means for a summoner, is the ability to summon a spirit that they could never dream of summoning, without being instantly killed.
Which was exactly what she was doing as she spoke the Aria
"By the commandment of the contract,"
"Heralded upon thy name,"
"I beseech thee O' great one,"
"Whom by thy blessing,"
"Did grant us Undrmalch boon,"
"To answer the summons of one,"
"Whom is unworthy and full of hubris,"
"To one as glorious as thine,"
"As beautiful as thine,"
"As powerful as thine,"
"To serve forthwith, as mine vassal,"
"For this mere moment, of mine existence,"
"As is stated in thy contract,"
"I call thou now,"
"O' precious zephyr, O' powerful wind,"
"I call thou now,"
"O' raging typhoon, O' wild gale,"
"I CALL THOU NOW,"
"AS I SPEAK THY NAME,"
"O' DIVINE LORD OF THE TEMPESTUOUS SKYS,
SYLPHA DER ALDER!"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Zerxes screamed in frustration, as he tried to land a hit on the boy, with his machete blade.
He normally doesn't depend on the blade as his main source of offence, but as he found his magic failing to even faze the boy he began to concentrate, on what little Combat Magic he knew.
That was his first mistake.
He soon realised that compared to this boy, his Combat Magic was a joke.
The way the boy moved on the battlefield,
Using every obstacle as an extension of himself,
Incredible reflexes, speed and awesome strength.
Zerxes was no fool, he knew a master when he saw one
And the way the boy utilised his Combat Magic bordered on godlike.
He had only seen Divine Beasts fight with Combat Magic of this level of skill and power.
The more he fought the boy the more he accepted his inevitable loss.
The boy was just too good.
Who was this boy?
A boy this skilled wouldn't be some random unknown, he had to be famous.
In a world of Mages, Wizards and Sorcerers, this boy was a uniquely skilled individual.
And what was more the way the boy was acting as someone who fought in the Great Magei War.
Zerxes could feel the bloodlust,
The cold certainty of death,
The palpable fear that was building up,
The longer the battle went on,
The overwhelming confidence of a hunter,
As he stalked his prey.
That last one he was familiar with, as it was one he was more used to.
But now he understood what it felt like to be the prey in that relationship and he had to admit…
…It was quite a humbling experience.
But he held on nonetheless.
He just had to hold for 5 more minutes.
He dodged a particularly deadly blow the boy swung at him, with the swords that he now wielded.
He had to admire the craftsmanship of the blades. Zepher was a kingdom which boasted the best magically crafted blade making spells in the world.
The blades were twins of each other. One was gold while the other silver. The blades were curved in a somewhat broadsword style almost like the scimitars that pirates use.
The grips were a single hand length with a wrist guard to protect the wielders hand from injury when crossing blades.
The pommels were unique. They were beautifully crafted dragon heads with holes where the eyes should be that allowed the wielder to rotate the blades freely via this hole.
He had almost gotten beheaded by that trick.
The blades themselves were ornately decorated, with draconic images which possessed countless tiny jewels, which seemed to glow with each cut the blade made.
In all honestly, if the blades had not decimated his entire team and was currently cutting him up to shreds, he would think that these blades were decorative, made by 'blacksmiths' from 'metal' that they enchanted to be lustrous and beautiful forever.
But those blades could not hold a candle to Magic Blades which are crafted by Blade Masters, who use their knowledge of blade making magicks to craft incredibly powerful Magic Blades with unique powers.
His blade was one such blade.
It was made to be used in conjunction with his geomancy.
The blade allowed him to enchant it with geomancy spells that can be cast, with a simple swing of the blade, giving him the ability to change the terrain to his liking.
For example, to dodge a deadly blow the boy sent his way, he swung his sword upward instantly creating stalagmite from the ground in front of him.
To which the boy answered, by leaping on it and pushing backwards toward an earth wall Zerxes created earlier, and then run up this wall, so he can leap over the stalagmite, as it came towards him and continue his previous attack at Zerxes.
When Zerxes learned how to make this blade, he was given his Gold level status.
When he had mastered using it in conjunction with his high level geomancy spells he earned his Platinum status.
It was the proudest day of his life.
He had literally created a mold for other geomancers to follow.
To be able to activate geomancy spells by simply swinging a blade without the use of either a Geomancy Terrain Seal or as much magic power as it takes to enchant the blade with the spell beforehand.
Furthermore to be able to enchant the blade with a nearly infinite number of geo-spells given enough time…..was there really any wonder why he was a Dreadlord.
But even with this setup he could not stand against the boy
The boy, for all his skill, was playing with him.
He was slowly whittling at his defences.
And the worst part was the hungry look in his eyes as he slowly killed Zerxes.
Stop thinking that way Zerxes
Only 3 more minutes and then Zarina would be….
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the forest.
…Well, at least the sound of an explosion.
About 10 km away from their battle, the forest was cleared by a violent tornado forming in the middle of which was a giant light which had began to form a humanoid bird shape.
"Sylpha, she actually summoned … that stubborn woman!"
Exclaimed Zerxes in both derision and awe.
"Wow, what a scary woman you married!"
"You have no idea!" answered Zerxes in exasperation.
Then, catching on to the fact that he just answered the boy, he turned to him.
And what he saw disturbed him.
The boy was smiling a smile of arrogant victory, which turned into a bone chilling laugh.
"Too bad she's dead now," the boy exclaimed with glee.
"What are you talking about?" responded Zerxes with a note of panic.
"Well if she had let go of her pride and escaped she would have lived."
"Not even I would have been able to catch her with that escape spell you used, which I must say is incredibly useful" said the boy with a touch of admiration on the last part.
Wait… how did he know…
No…. that is not important right now, why is he so confident?
"The way you talk, is as if you have won, even though she summoned a Divine Beast."
"Yep," answered the boy arrogantly.
"How ludicrous!"
There would be words later, but now his wife would be coming to re-join the fight, with a Divine Beast in tow.
They might yet collect the bounty on this boy and then go on vacation down the Eastern Shores.
"If you surrender now we will not have to kill you," said Zerxes his hunter spirit returning.
The boy responded by looking at him with a blank expression then laughing hysterically.
"He actually hahahahaha thinks haha that he's won hahaha"
The boy breathed out between his hysterical laughter.
"You fucking child don't you realise that is a Divine Beast, the highest level of summoned beast that can be summoned."
"Even with your considerable skill you can't fight against it and win."
"Don't be an idiot and throw your life away, surrender now."
"Let me ask you a question," said the boy nonchalantly.
"Your wife is a Dreadlord summoner, as is evident by the fact that she can summon a Divine Beast but I imagine it is quite difficult to control them yes?"
"Well of course," answered Zerxes without a second thought.
"But she can because she can use the Life Wane Chain spell, isn't that so?"
At that question Zerxes hesitated but answered in the affirmative.
"Yeah, so what?"
"That means she broke her chain of mortality and attached it to a Divine Beast so that it would obey her without question."
"Normally, a Divine Beast requires the life of one to be summoned, but if one uses the life wane chain, they may cut their life short, but they will not die so long as they do not completely destroy the chain."
"Isn't that so?" the boy asked with his sadistic smile.
At that question Zerxes paled.
This boy not only knew of an incredibly difficult magick to accomplish but all of the intricacies involved in it. Zerxes decided to see what else the boy was going to say confident that his wife was near enough to them to see them now.
"Yeah so what?"
"So tell me, what would happen if I placed a Blood Rune enchantment in a tiny jewel and made your precious wife swallow it and she then activated an incredible magick such as a Life Wane Chain?" The boy asked with glee.
"Blood Rune Enchantment?" Zerxes repeated unknowingly.
"Oh, let me explain the blood rune enchantment is a forbidden enchantment that is used by daemons."
"It involves enchanting an item with a rune written in their blood, which empowers the item."
"When the item is fully empowered, it begins to drink of the life force of everything, within a mile or more depending on the level of mana used to empower it, even the one whose blood was used to write the rune."
"However since most of the time the ones using it are immortal, blood runes are extremely dangerous to use."
"Now what do you think would happen to a mortal who has a tiny ruby enchanted with a modified form of this blood rune enchantment within them slowly absorbing their life force,"
"And they activate a crazy spell like the Life Wane Chain, which transforms their very life force into mana to be used in a contract to feed a Divine Beast to stay summoned in this plain?"
The boy asked with a sadistic smile.
No No No thought Zerxes as he realised with horror that his wife had just killed herself
"ZZZZAAAAAAARRRRRIIIIINNNNNAAAAAA!"
As Zarina rode on the shoulder of her summon Slypha, she felt an immense surge of satisfaction and superiority when she stared down at the small forms of her husband Zerxes, and that wretched boy.
She didn't care that there may not be anything left of the boy as she began to weave her most powerful spell to rip him to shreds.
She thought she heard her husband screaming her name but she ignored it as she concentrated on the complex weaving of the spell.
That was when she felt that something was wrong.
Her chain was being eaten away too quickly, way too quickly.
She turned and demanded "Sylpha I thought we already had an agreement on how much you were going to take?"
"Lowly mortal this one has not taken more than what was agreed upon," answered Sylpha.
Then why is the chain disappearing so fast? she thought as panic began to set in.
"Sylpha, I wish to break the contract!"
She exclaimed realising that her life was being drained too quickly to be normal.
"Foolish mortal thou have dragged this one, unceremoniously from mine home,"
"To honor a contract this one finds displeasing"
"Making this one promise to assist thou to eradicate thy enemies"
"And forcing this one to absorb thy life force sparingly"
"And thou wish to break the contract before this one fulfils mine promise."
"THOU INSULT THIS ONE MORTAL!"
"I apologise O' great one please forgive my presumptuousness," said Zarina immediately.
She suddenly felt a lot weaker and began to see herself age before her very eyes.
Her skin was beginning to wrinkle, her hair was growing whiter, and her muscles were deteriorating.
She was growing older and she could not stop it.
She saw Zerxes looking up at her with an aggrieved expression, while the boy looked at her with perverse pleasure.
Then she knew.
The boy had planned for her as a Dreadlord Summoner, in case she summoned a Divine Beast like Sylpha.
And what was more it seemed that he counted on the fact that she would use the Life Wane Chain.
He had killed her.
That fucking bastard had killed her.
And he made sure she died separately from her husband, the worst insult to injury to an Undrmalch.
She saw her life that she lived with her love Zerxes, play before her eyes, before said life, was forcibly snuffed out by some unknown curse.
Then she was no more
Zerxes watched as his wife became nothing but skin and bones before Sylpha, losing its source of mana disappeared into the ether, leaving behind the desiccated corpse of his precious Zarina.
The body fell to the ground some hundred feet away from the position of the boy and him.
When she died Zerxes felt it, the moment of her death he had felt it.
He felt a piece of himself go with her.
He thought he would feel sad but instead he felt angry.
Angry at himself for his misjudgement,
If he had not underestimated their quarry everyone would be alive.
For his cowardice,
If he possessed even a quarter of his wife's gall, they may have made it out alive together.
For his wife's family wretched tradition,
If not for that, his wife would not have felt the need to come back to fight beside him.
For the bastards who paid them a poor sum, to capture such a dangerous target alive,
If they could have killed the boy from the get go,
Things may have gone differently.
And finally to this wretched bastard boy,
Who had killed all of his comrades,
And now his precious Zarina.
But what pissed him of the most,
Was the fucking satisfied and sadistic smile the boy was now wearing as he laughed,
Yes laughed, as his wife fell to earth.
Within Zerxes something snapped
And he gathered all of his magic to bear on the boy with every intention of ripping him to shreds.
The boy felt his magic rise and instantly lost his good humour.
"Ah so you have finally decided to destroy my very existence," the boy said mockingly
"Finally decided to take me down with you,"
"You should have done that from the beginning, but as it stands now you have already lost."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU BASTARD,"
Zerxes retorted releasing his built up magic creating a gigantic maw that surrounded them for over 200ft in any direction around them, then as suddenly as the maw appeared it snapped shut enclosing them in a sphere of earth.
The minute he had retorted the boy was upon him slashing at him but he did not care once the trap was shut it was too late for either of them.
When he fell to the ground he began to laugh with hysterical victory.
"You fucking bitch you are dead now ahahahahahahahahahaha!"
This was his greatest achievement in geomancy the Perfect Sphere Prison spell.
It was a spell that used his life force as a conduit until it achieved completion. But once it did it was the perfect prison. It was resistant to destruction as it healed itself of any damage and it did it by absorbing the mana of all who are within the sphere. It would continuously drain their mana until there is none left, and then it would drain their very life force till there was none left.
Magic attacks within the sphere are ineffective as the mana within the spells would be drained instantly upon the materialisation of the spell. Furthermore he could still use his geomancy within the sphere if he wanted to so anyone who like this boy used combat magic effectively would find themselves unable to do anything but fight as a normal person without the help of their magical empowerment.
"Wow! got to say this is pretty impressive."
"I knew you had to have another awesome spell on you other than that blade but this is so ….so…..amazing," the boy exclaimed with glee.
"Got to say you're taking your eminent death pretty well you asshole," spoke Zerxes arrogantly
"Oh I have no intention of dying here besides I already told you," he said lifting his dual blades which were shining with an ethereal light, "it was too late," he finished cryptically
The boy ran towards the edge of the barrier.
"You fool, you can't destroy this prison with magically crafted blades and any magic done within this prison is meaningless except for geomancy, just accept your death!"
Zerxes shouted condescendingly while chasing him utilising his geomancy to slow him down
"First of all," the boy began with a calm voice, "these are not magically crafted blades they are very much real."
He reached the edge of the barrier despite Zerxes' interference
"Second of all what made you think that I was going to use a magical attack on this prison?"
He said as he pierced the wall of the sphere behind him with both blades.
"Hahaha you can't cut your way out of this prison because any physical damage is healed instantly…" began Zerxes arrogantly, until he saw the boy cut a hole out of the sphere big enough for him to walk out
Which he did.
That's impossible was the first thought that crossed his mind as Zerxes watched the boy walk out of the hole he carved.
Zerxes followed him out, but could only stare at him in silent despair, as the boy walked a little way further then turned to face him.
"Phew, glad the final enchantment on my blades activated before you used that spell."
"I would have been in real trouble if not for that," said the boy in mock despair.
"What are you talking about?"
Zerxes enquired, his curiosity as to how this boy just did what he did, getting the better of his returning despair.
"Well since you're dead any way I suppose I could tell you," the boy said more to himself than to Zerxes.
"Well as I just told you these blades are the real deals."
"They were crafted by the blacksmith, Pierro La Found."
"They were made like every other physically crafted blade… to be decoration."
"But Pierro believed in making weapons, which were both works of art and deadly weapons."
"Thus when he made these blades he used a little Magicite, here and there empowering the physical properties of the blades."
"Furthermore he crafted the blades with eight enchantment gems so that its wielder could enchant the blade."
"But not just any ordinary enchantment gems either; he used soul enchantment gems."
"Soul Enchantment Gems are gems which can only be enchanted once, as they retain their enchantment permanently so long as the one who enchanted them is alive."
"Thus the name Soul Enchantment gems."
"Anyway, each of the blades has the same eight enchantments on them."
"The first is a transfiguration enchantment which transforms the blades into a stylish piercing that I wear on each ear," he said lifting his white hair, which covered his ears to reveal two stud piercings on his ear with a third hole, which spoke of the absence of a third piercing.
"The second is basically an 'activation' enchantment, which allows the blades to remain in their earring form unless I activate them with a set amount of my mana, and so long as I provide mana to the enchantment, it will prevent them from returning to their earring form."
"The third enchantment is a 'blood agreement' enchantment which is activated the moment I draw blood from my opponent."
"The moment the blade has tasted the blood of another, it activates the fourth enchantment which begins to absorb the ambient mana that the one whose blood was tasted gives off."
Zerxes paled at the implications of that.
"Yeah so basically so long as the one who the blade drew blood from is within 50m of the blades they would continuously drink of that person's ambient mana that they give of naturally to the environment."
"It then uses this mana it absorbs, to sustain the Second Enchantment and every other enchantment that follows."
"Furthermore, due to the fact that I connected it to the blood agreement enchantment, the more blood that I draw from my opponent the stronger the absorption becomes."
"The next two enchantments are 'resistance' enchantments which are activated by the second enchantment and fed first with my mana then by the mana absorbed by the 4th enchantment."
"The 5th is a physical resistance enchantment which increases the blade's resistance to physical stress and it is cumulative to the amount of mana absorbed by the enchantment."
"The 6th is a magical resistance enchantment which protects the blade from magical stressors and like the fifth is cumulative to the amount of mana absorbed by the enchantment."
"The last two enchantments are special as they are a bit more complex."
"The seventh is a twofold enchantment."
First is a 'limit breaker' enchantment which basically works to 'break' the inevitable upper limits that the previous 5th and 6th enchantments would achieve, due to the limitations of the blades physical nature."
"This works in tandem with a second 'transfiguration' enchantment which transfigures the blades into a pseudo magical blade form, allowing the surpassing of the upper limits of the 5th and 6th enchantments."
He then showed the blades, which were shining their respective colours with an ethereal light, so as to drive the point home.
"It is only when the blade has ascended to this higher state of being that the eighth and final enchantment is activated."
"And it is one of my proudest enchantments though it nearly killed me when I developed it."
"I call it the Nullify Magic Enchantment."
The implications of the name caused Zerxes to stare at him dumbly.
"It is incredibly difficult to activate, as it has specific requirements which I will not go into but what I will tell you is that it requires me to have almost universal knowledge of all Laws of Magic."
"But that should be impossible for any mage!" exclaimed Zerxes in disbelief.
"Most scholars acknowledge that not even all the laws have even been discovered, nor are some of the ones discovered even fully understood."
"Indeed, that is why making this enchantment almost killed me, because I developed it with an incomplete knowledge of the Laws."
"How?" Zerxes asked his curiosity as a mage in full swing.
"That is not important, because no one can activate it without having a complete knowledge of the Laws."
"Then how did you…"
"I was just getting to that"
"The eighth enchantment is a quadfold enchantment."
"The first three effects all work towards the activation of the final Nullify Magic enchantment. The First is activated by the 7th enchantment and is a Forbidden Promise Enchantment, which forces me to promise my life to the blades, in the event of my defeat against an opponent once the blades are in the higher state."
"Thus the blades come alive becoming a growth type magic blade"
Zerxes looked at him in shock when he said that
"This is all for the activation of the Second Forbidden Promise Enchantment, which forces me to give up my force of will to the blades should I be defeated in battle."
"Thus the blades gains self-awareness"
No one would ever do something that crazy thought Zerxes.
"And these two enchantments bring about the activation of the Third Forbidden Promise Enchantment, which forces me to give up my eternal soul to the blades should I face defeat in battle."
"Thus the blade gains complete sentience"
Zerxes didn't know what to think at that point.
"In return for these three forbidden promises, the activation of the final enchantment, the Nullify Magic Enchantment can be activated even though I do not possess universal knowledge of the Laws of Magic."
"And as its name suggests it can nullify magic of any form or the other without cause or reason."
"Transforming the blades into the only true Anti-Magic weapons in existence… when fully awakened."
Zerxes was speechless.
This boy had done the impossible. He had created an Anti-magic weapon, a perfect anti-magic weapon.
He never stood a chance.
After a while Zerxes whispered reverently, "How are you still an Underlord, even though you can perform such dangerous magic?"
"Well that is because I can't use any Higher Magicks."
"What?" Zerxes demanded.
"Yep, as you know all mages are given a Bronze level status, when they reach adulthood."
"But in order to gain the title of 'Lord,' they must first gain Silver level Status, by mastering a Higher Magick.
Zerxes listened to his answer feeling the truth in them.
But that should not be right he thought not after seeing what the boy could do.
"Let me clarify, I may not be able to use any Higher Magicks, but I can use Lower Magicks better than any mage, wizard or even sorcerer alive."
"You should have realised that when you saw my combat and enchantment magic, which coincidently is the only Magicks I've been using so far."
Zerxes eyes widen at the implications.
All of his skills that he has used so far were nothing more than a combination of Combat and Enchantment magicks and yet he defeated 13 Overlords (Gold Level Status Mages) and two Dreadlords with the slightest of ease.
What kind of monster was he?
"Still, I got to say you were one of the best teams of bounty hunters that have come after me."
"If I didn't have previous knowledge of all of your abilities and plans you might have succeeded in catching me."
"What are you talking about?"
To that the boy answered by whistling, which caused an owl to land on his outstretched hand. But there was a something unique about the owl; it gave off no magical presence.
"Meet Corth, an owl-like golem created artificially through alchemy, in much the same way a homunculus is created."
"He has been spying on your group at my behest, allowing me to hear your conversations and giving me a general feel for your ambient Magic Auras, which I can interpret like a master, allowing me to know that you were a geomancer and your wife a summoner."
Again Zerxes was struck speechless.
"This allowed me to know when and where your ambush was coming and allowed me to plan the perfect counter for it."
"It also allowed me to feed you all tiny enchantment gems which possessed Fear Enchantments that would be activated by my whistling and the Blood Rune Enchantment that I placed in your wife."
"He also acted as my second pair of eyes during the battle, allowing me to see your positions from an overhead vantage point."
"It was how I was able to always have the advantage of position despite being outnumbered."
"But even with all that, fighting against the two of you for an extended period of time would have been suicide."
"So I used the fact that according to your wife you were a coward, and used a particularly strong Fear Enchantment, to cause you to freeze so I could use my blades against your wife, as despite how powerful they are, they are most effective in one and one fights."
"I was hoping to finish her off, but she was quite persistent and I only managed to just about drain her to empty."
"But all I needed was for her to make the mistake of activating the Life Wane Chain, so as far as I was concerned she was no longer a threat so I moved on to my next target, you."
"I was thinking of how to separate you, when you went ahead and did it for me with that wonderful spell of yours.
"After that, it was just a matter of drawing blood, and well the rest, is history now" the boy said with a note of finality.
Unbelievable this boy was truly just an Underlord but he had made up for his lack of potential in Higher Magick by concentrating on his Lower Magic so as to use them on the same level as a Higher Magick. He also understood intimately his weaknesses and was not disillusioned by pride but instead used his opponents' greatest weakness against them, their arrogance.
He thought he had underestimated the boy.
But he had underestimated his underestimation.
With the amount of despair he felt, Zerxes could no longer stand, so he fell to his knees.
He stared blankly into space when he realised, that if he had not been a coward, Zarina and he, may have made it out of this alive.
But it was not to be.
And with that Zerxes' will to fight was gone and he surrendered to the inevitable.
"And with that we come to the end of this fight."
"It was exciting to say the least, but it seems you have nothing more to show me so…" the boy said drawing up his blades as he walked towards him.
"How disappointing!" the boy said as he loomed above Zerxes' kneeling form.
"It seems the fire has been snuffed out," he continued,
"Goodbye Zerxes Scrimbor, The Fox, the greatest Bounty Hunter to have lived" and with one swing of the blade it was over.
The Boy surveyed the surrounding forest with great interest before saying to himself, "Well this will hopefully give pause to any other bounty hunter who comes for me."
Impossibly he receives an answer "Hehe you wish, they'll keep sending more after you."
"You know what I could really not use your negativity right now," answered the boy to the voice he had grown accustomed to.
"No need to be so snippy I was simply stating a fact, Darmond" the voice responded.
The boy named, Darmond then said, "Why did you have to go as far as to snuff out his will to live, Zavier?"
"Because it was fun to see him realise that he wasn't such a good hunter after all, isn't that what all prey should feel?" answered the voice Zavier with satisfaction.
"Only you gain enjoyment from such things," answered Darmond to the voice which belongs to no one.
"Stop lying Darmond you enjoyed that as much as I did," said Zavier slyly
"I am not lying, I wanted to end the plan as cleanly and efficiently as possible but you took over and made it a mess."
"Oh I'm sorry I guess I was a little selfish with the fun, how about next time we do it your way," said Zavier.
"Pshh we always end up doing it your way anyway," answered Darmond in exasperation.
"Well maybe if you hadn't supressed me, for so long I wouldn't have gotten so overexcited."
"After all we are one and the same Darmond, to deny me is to deny yourself."
"I am nothing like you, Zavier!"
"Oh but you are Darmond, after all, you're talking to no one else, but yourself"
"Shut up and leave me alone, Zavier"
"And there you go asking for the impossible,"
"How can I leave you alone Darmond have you forgotten, that I'm not real."
"You made me and so long as you need me I can't leave." said the voice named Zavier before finally falling silent.
"Indeed," said Darmond aloud to the voice that was no longer there.
He was losing control of himself more and more. The longer he was away from her, the stronger Zavier was becoming. It won't be long before Zavier would once again stop being just the voice in his head.
He continued south to exit the forest so that he would be in the Far Lands, the Ancient Desert which has existed for a millennium. At least there he would be far from people then his 'need' would not strike him as often. That would mean a lesser chance of losing control to Zavier.
Suddenly, he felt Corth die, which was not that alarming because Corth was temporarily alive any way.
It was the fact that he died before his time was over and furthermore whatever killed Corth could not be perceived by him.
That is what gave Darmond pause.
There were many possibilities but only one came to mind.
Shit how did 'it' catch up to me so quickly.
Then with realisation dawning, he knew who hired the bounty hunters.
It seemed his sister was serious about capturing him and bringing him back.
He felt a warm fuzzy feeling build up inside as he thought about his precious little sister. She was quite furious when he left. But he could not go back to her. Not after what he had done.
But the bounty hunters had weakened him greatly and he was in no way in proper form to face that 'thing'.
Shit he thought as he face palmed himself for being late to the uptake after he realised the bounty hunters wanted him alive. His sister was probably counting on his 'need' to cause him to face the bounty hunters, so that he would not notice 'it' coming towards him with all haste, and to weaken him enough that he would not be in any shape to resist.
He could not help but burn with pride at his precious sister's impressive intellect at cornering him like this.
Just as he set his mind to come up with a way to escape his current predicament the impossible happened.
A green portal appeared in front of him.
Hmm this is not just any portal; it's a summoning portal by the looks of it.
Could his sister be trying to use a familiar summoning ritual to summon him to her side?
The last time she did it, was because he made sure he would be the one she would summon.
But he stopped being her familiar for a while now.
And she already had another familiar. So it should be impossible for her to summon him.
He took a closer look at the portal then realised that despite being similar to the summoning circles he knows, it was different on a fundamental level.
The magick felt different.
The runes around the portal were unknown to him. Furthermore, the pull he was feeling was away from this plain, not towards it elsewhere.
No he was being summoned elsewhere not on this world but to another.
How curious!
Then with the sudden realisation that this could be a good thing, Darmond decided he would see where this portal would take him.
Because on top of everything he felt, he felt the will of the person who was calling to him.
He was curious to see the kind of person who would summon a 'broken' fist like him.
So without further delay he activated another pair of his piercings, which transfigured into his armor and cape. Then produced his dual blades again, as he had no idea if he was going to be in battle, when he touched down wherever he did.
But even so, a little peacocking to his future master would not be a bad idea either
And with that he jumped into the portal that would take him to a new future.
******CHAPTER END******
A/N Now I am actually posting this as a test for me on how to post stories but as I get more time I will revisit this story. Honestly I have been writing mostly original stuff for a while now and to make matters worse I am a shy writer as in very few people have ever read my stories. But the ones who have, have told me they like them. But even so I am still hesitant, that was when one of my friends an avid fanfiction reader and writer introduced me to the concept of fanfiction. His stories really drew me in even though they borrowed from the work of another. As I read more and more I felt myself wanting to write a fanfiction and so I finally decided to bite the proverbial bullet and show you all my writing. Hopefully as I write more and more fanfiction then maybe I can finally let the world see my original works. Thus most of my fanfictions will be inserts, inserting one or more of my original characters from my own stories into other worlds. I hope this receives a positive reception as it is one of the many ideas I have in my head.