Fiore
Kingsley Port
The sea hit the bottom of the ship where Magnus and an entire squad of Rune Knights and wizards of seven guilds, were patiently waiting to reach the island; near the waters of Caelum; where they will resupply the ship and continue patrolling the western waters of Fiore. This has been an uneventful week and Magnus was slowly getting more and more feed on with this ridiculous hunt. Not a day, after Mavis and the rest told him about D´mongo, Magnus was called by the Council member, present in the Camp of the Rune Knights; the Council Wizard was projecting his image from Era, passing orders from the Council to all the wizards presents in the encampment.
When Magnus reached the tent, the Council man, inform him, that the Council offered him twenty million jewels, if he managed to kill D´mongo, as side benefit, he would be offered a permission to travel all around Fiore as a recognized wizard form the council. Magnus accepted the job, he was going to hunt the bastard anyway, but the reward and the documents were a nice plus. However, he would have to travel with a squad of Rune Knights with the same mission and a dozen or so, wizards form different Guilds that had offered to hunt down the demon; not that Magnus cared, but he prefer to work alone, that with those that he had never shared a battlefield with. Frankly, he would prefer to have Mavis and the rest of his crew for this battle, or Ikaruga and his men, however, he would give the benefit of the doubt to those that he had to share job with; after all, they could surprise him and earn his respect.
So far, it has not been the case.
When Magnus pick up his little camp and say goodbye to his friends; he joined the caravan in the direction of the Kingsley port, reuniting with some of the wizards that will hunt D´mongo with him, and the first impression was that none of them were going to survive. Magnus was not as sensitive to Magic power as Mavis or Warrod were, but as soon as he saw the wizards and half of the squad, he noticed that none of them had precisely an overwhelming quantity of magical power. He could admit, that few could compare to him in that department, but even then, none of the wizards in the carriage he rode with, had even a quarter of the magic that people like Warrod or Precht had.
They could be hiding their power, Magnus could very well understood that, after all, the powerful eagle hid his claws before the attack; but he had the nagging sensation that it was not the case. And the squad of Rune Knights weren't even wizards, they just posses magical items, and were very competent with them. Magnus could respect that, after all, if it weren't form his [Jotunblut], he would be in a very similar situation, but against a monster like D´mongo, something tells him that depending on a one-trick-pony magical item will not be the greatest of ideas.
Again, he was not the most qualified to judge about the usefulness of the magical items or how effective they could be, his own experience said that a good magical item was a battle changer; he has only to grab his cleaver to became a juggernaut in the battlefield; but only, if those items, support or complement the skills of their handlers. Ikaruga, for example, was a Sword Magic user, with a magic sword that could absorb her magic and transform its edge into whatever she need, from a fire sword to a thunder ax, only limited by her magical power and imagination.
He suspected that this Rune Knights were something of the sorts, but none of them give him the same power and confident impression that Ikaruga did when they meet. The travel to the port was boring, and he was the only one to blame for that; once he killed ERN, he turn into disarray one of the divisions of the demon army, temporary securing a good portion of Fiore, until another Etherious could fill the hole left by ERNs death. And that means, that the only thing he should worry about during all the travel was to combat the boredom, a task that was became almost insurmountable, at the first five hours of traveling; he resorted to read some of the books that Mavis has borrowed him, so he could start to pick up a branch of magic that suit him.
Although, it was mostly boring basic stuff. Not that he disrespect it, the stronger the foundations, the strongest the building will be, and with magic something very similar happens. There was of course, cases, on where magic was something far more attuned with instincts than logic and calculations, not to mention how he has meet a Celestial Spirit wizard, that claimed that her powers come from the unconditional love she had for her spirits. He has saw enough world, to knew that she was completely right, Love was a powerful emotion, one of the most powerful and dangerous that exist, that can either save you or destroy you, in equal measure. Magnus read the books, most out of boredom than anything, discovering that all the wizards were either scared or frightened of him, and the Rune Knights tend to see him as the monster that has been able to survive a night with their commander.
Cursing his own bad luck, Magnus resigned to a very boring travel, reading his book and form time to time, eying the weapons of the wizards and the Rune Knights. At the end of the first day of traveling, he has already made to the idea, that if half of them survived, it was going to be complete miracle; he didn't understand what the hell, the council and the Rune Knights were thinking, but this loot was sorely unarmed and unprepared to face and Etherious; much less one as dangerous as D´mongo seems to be. He really expected them to have some kind of ace under their sleeve or they were domed. As a side note to this mussings, he was really surprised about how this world, seems to favor the unexpected tricks, how everyone had a secret spell or two, that granted them a sudden power up or became suddenly useful when you most need it.
As the first day of traveling ended, Magnus took a place at the fire of the camp the caravan has set near the road, and just waited for his share of the dinner; a stew of some sort, cooked quickly and without any care, just food to quell the hunger of the travel. In any other circumstance, he would gladly cook, so he could eat some real food, the stew was exactly that all of them needed but it tastes like crap, not that they could do nothing about it, as they were more worried about possible ambushes that the cooking they were doing.
It was a very common fear this days, how the Zeref army had a battalion of some kind of shades that specialized in hunting down supply caravans and merchant caravans, attacking from the shadows and disappearing, leaving nothing but corpses and broken carriages. Magnus has already kill a dozen of those things, they were not alive, they were just magic given shape and an objective, a branch of Zeref Living magic, that created soldiers by the dozen, easily disposable but capable of a lot of damage until they were destroyed.
The secret was to burn or destroy the magic that holds them together, once you done that, they will vanish like a bad dream in the morning; being honest, Magnus would be delighted if they attacked him during the travel, the ambush would be a welcoming change, it would ease his boredom and would allow him to see, if those around him were hiding his true potential or are as domed as he suspected they were. Magnus had already encountered a dozen of strong beings that hide their powers under different layers; one like to act goofy and innocent, other simply keep themselves in the shadows; in any case, Magnus really hoped; for the safety of his companions; that this was the case with the Rune Knights around him.
He sleep near the fire, bored out of his mind, and mentally mussing about what kind of magic should he ask Mavis to taught him, once he became a part of her little funny Guild.
The morning came soon, and with the less words possible, all the caravan get on route; with a hasty pace that did surprise Magnus a little; so they could reach Kingsley port during the night, the port was one of the safest heaves Magnus remembered they were. There was a strong Guild of wizards in the port and a lot of the armada of Fiore, was stationed there, waiting for the reinforcements of Caelum, a country that had already dispatched their share of the Zeref Army, as none of the Etherious had appeared on the country. Fiore was the unlucky kingdom that has the honor of have three or four Etherious roaming around his countryside; from the deceased ERN to the hidden head of all of them, that Mard Gerd Warrod told him about; and as soon as one falls, another took his place.
Magnus loved the war precisely for that; he could find worthy rivals, almost everyday, it was like being young again, when he didn't have none of the responsibilities of King or Campione to deal with, although the loss of power was something that worries him deeply. Not that he expect a [Heretic God] to appear soon, this world was a notable absence of divine powers, he had sensed divine energy but in a scale that could barely be compared with the one of the divine beasts; it was something more akin to a Völva; a priestess that channel the powers of the divine through her body and soul; like those Celestial Spirits wizards or the few healers he saw around the encampment in Mount Barnaby.
It does seems that healing magic, is considered sacred, a manifestation of divine blessing of some sorts, almost Lost magic. Magnus laughed his ass off on this; instead of focusing in the useful healing arts, all wizards had turn their heads to more violent and war oriented magics, ignoring those that could really change the things around for good.
As King of his people, Magnus would have gladly sacrifice an arm for a dozen of those healers, even with the [Golden Apples], his healing Authority of the past, he was never been a healer, and in the harsh lands of Scandinavia, it was a gift that has to be cherished and nurtured. Any cretin could destroy; creation and healing, those are the real challenges. Anyhow, Magnus was pretty much convinced that he would have to look for some Lost Magic, specially that Slayer type of magic that Mavis told him about; he was a Campione, even if he was in another universe entirely, he was a God Slayer, and considering how this world has a magic, supposedly created to slay gods, one could say it would be fitting.
He will keep his judgment about how truly capable of slaying a god that making was; something tells him that he was going to be sorely disappointed, after all, it was magic created by humans to slay beings that they do not comprehend at all, the divine powers in Fiore were a tricky business. It could be a good start, all Slayer kind of magic seems to be both feared and respected among the wizard community, if Magnus recalled correctly, the Dragon Slaying magic comes from the dragons that taught their secrets to humans, so they could defend themselves against the Dragons that wanted to obliterated humankind.
However, it backfired spectacularly, when a bastard called Acnologia, abused of his powers and became as dangerous as the dragons he hunted; becoming a menace even in this day and age; speaking about the dragon, it has not been seen in the war, at last not in Fiore, but yes in Iceberg, Pergrande and Seda; simply flying around, destroying whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Magnus wanted a shot at the black monster, he wanted to see how powerful this dragons of Earthland were, to see if they are the levels of [Divine Beasts]. Something highly improbable, but still, Magnus hoped they could be a challenge, even after he gain his own brand of magic, it would be good to have a worthy rival around, so his skills would not rust. At the back of Magnus mind, his more sensitive part, was trying to smash into his brain that he was not a Campione, not any more, and even if he had the body of a Jotun; a giant of the primeval times; he could be killed as easily as any other mortal, if he was stupid enough to became overconfident in his own abilities.
The travel until Kingsley port was as boring as the previous day, even if the tried to engage in light talk with the wizards and Rune Knights with him; the former considered him almost another enemy for the bounty, and the latter were still scared of him; the man who has the balls to seduce Commander Lawson and survive. In general, Magnus cursed his own rotten luck and mentally resigned to a boring and awkward travel, at last, he hoped that in Kingsley Port, he would be able to found a good tavern, where he could pass the night, before they embarked into the ship the Rune Knights had prepared for them, in order to hunt down D´mongo and whatever demon or cultist he could have around.
For what Mavis and Warrod told Magnus, D´mongo was not one to have escorts or followers of any kind, if anyone was unfortunate enough to call his attention, the poor sod, will soon became part of the collection of the demon. In truth, Magnus was eager to face the demon, he had already collected a lot of souls, souls that belonged to capable and powerful warriors and wizards; this means that this battle could the ultimate test to his new body and his skills as warrior.
That is, if he did not put his own magic revolver to his own head and pull the trigger, to get rid of this boredom.
When the carriage, finally reach the hill that marks the entrance into Kingsley borders, Magnus was about to erupt in cheers, he could finally get some supplies and a lot, and he means a loooot of drinks to forgot this travel. More than once he has been pondered about starting a fight, just to alleviate the boredom, but if he did that, it was more than sure, that all the members of the hunting party will hate and fear him even more, and at this rate, they would put a dagger in his back, as soon as they could. Fortunately, he was accustom to work alone; only with Fairy Tail had show a remarkable teamwork, specially with Mavis, Warrod and Yury, perhaps that's why they called him, the Juggernaut, an unstoppable mass of raw force that cleaves a path among the enemy.
Together with Fairy Tail wizards and under the strategies of Mavis, they were an unstoppable team.
And now, more than ever, he just missed the crazy Guild, the only ones that really seem understand him. Warrod had already told them, that most of the Guild members, are people with a shady past; mostly traumatic and sad histories, that had finally find a place where they can found what they were looking for; a place they could call home.
And Magnus found that statement, quite of his liking; after all, he was Campione, and his quirk was bonds; family, brotherhood, no matter; he looks forward to establish strong bonds, as he did, when he was the King of a little kingdom, back in Scandinavia. But for that, he will have to endure this mission; more the company than the mission; and get rid of that little D´mongo as soon as he could, ready to obliterate the bastard into pieces and destroy the book that gave origin to him, so he could never be used again. Nor by his cursed master, nor by any other dark wizard with their own ideas about what and how must things be done.
Enough fools like that had Fiore already, to deal with another one.
As soon as the carriage, reach Kingsley, Magnus jump out of the dammed thing and run to the nearest tavern, ready to drown the memories of the travel in all the booze he could find; fortunately enough, there were other Rune Knights in the zone that were partying too, and they didn't matter another veteran to join the party. Specially when some of the knights, recognized Magnus from the front lines, and respected the powerful wizard; in all, Magnus enjoy some food and booze, along another warriors and as the night advanced, the company of some of the finest ladies of the night.
Live hard, party hard, was a motto that all of the knights seems to take to the heart, specially in this day, and age, where they could die at the drop of a hat, each time they are deployed to the battlefield. Not really a surprise, considering how dangerous this war against Zeref was. Still, Magnus really enjoyed the night, and at the morning he was the first that climb the plank of the ship. It was a good ship, sturdy and reinforced with magic, it was one of the best ship the Fiore fleet had, between the dozen magical canons it carries and the enhanced wood of the structure, Magnus has to admit that the Mikazuchi was one of the finest ship he has ever saw.
Still, he would have gladly give his left arm for his Authority, [Dvergar Forge], and start the hunt aboard the Skidbladnir, the best ship on the bloody world. But, he would have to endure the sailing with the Mikazuchi, at last the soldiers and the sailors, were more open to conversation that his previous traveling companions. As the orders of the Rune Knights follows, the ship will be patrolling, both the waters of Fiore and Caelum; even deploying expeditions to the numerous; supposedly abandon islands between both countries; to check if those islands are used by the demons to increase their numbers or by the cultist to have a base were resupply.
Leaving apart, that those same islands are a very well know refugee for pirates and other sea maladies; like sea serpents; and marine beasts, that would consider the ship a bigger, more harder snack that the usual whales and tunas. Magnus enjoyed being on a boat again; his people were exceptional sailors after all and the call of the sea was deep in his blood, no matter how changed, bless, cursed or enhanced it could be after his crash landing in Ishgar. It was good to feel the waves and the currents move the ship, even if they were on an important mission. Inside the boat, everyone was tense as hell, and Magnus tried to advise them to chill out a little; being like the strings of a lute all the time, would only come to bite in their asses when the enemy really appears. Some did pay attention to his advise, and others simply continued their vigilance of the sea like it holds the secrets of the existence.
D´mongo will attack them, that was a fact, such worry about the when and the how, was a little futile, as they were as prepared as they could be, Magnus did not low his guard, but he was far form twitch like a scared rat at the slightest splash of the waves. Those are wild waters, full of monsters; completely indifferent to the war of the humans; and other miracles that Magnus had only saw in Ishgar, he would love to explore the world a little more, but as soon as he reached the main land; Fiore; he was drag into the conflict, so his wandering ambitions became a little impossible after that. For the first two days, Magnus contemplated the possibility of fish some of the most notorious specimens of the waters; namely Hornsharks and Sarcosuches, one an inhabitant of deep waters and the other a hunter of the coastal sides of Caelum.
But as soon as he finished to fabricate a big harpoon, the captain of the Rune Knights and the Captain of the ship at the same time, denied him the possibility, his argumentation was that a furious sea beast was the last thing they need before they engage in battle with D´mongo. Well, Magnus concede the point that if he was after a sea serpent, the damages the ship could sustain, will be dangerous for the good going of the mission, but fishing a Hornshark was something that would do nothing to the ship; the animal was not strong enough to harm the enhanced and reinforced hull of the ship.
Unfortunately, Magnus knew that it was a fruitless effort to try to convince the stubborn Captain to revoke the order.
As the fishing idea was out of the question, Magnus took his time to sharp the harpoon, and add it to his collection of weapons, after all, it was a weapon designated to even pierce the hard flesh of a hornshark or, if the thrower was strong enough; the scales of a sea serpent, but for the latter, it would be needed a couple of runes to be added to the handle and the metal of the edge, just to add the extra punch to the already more than enough piercing weapon.
When you hunt monsters, there is nothing like overkill and overcautious. Between enchanting the weapon further with some extra runes, and the few times they had to explore and check the islands in their way, Magnus bind his time, waiting for the chance to fought the dammed Etherious. At the seven day of nothing to do but watch the sea, Magnus was seriously contemplating the idea of jump overboard and swim back to Kingsley; in the port at last, he could do a lot more than simply be like a flowerpot in the ship, waiting for the appearance of the Demon.
As if their pray were answered, from the nothingness, a storm cloud surrounded the ship, shutting down the visibility beyond the ship to almost zero.
When something thuds on the surface of the ship, Magnus smiled widely and pick up his weapons from his Re-quip; the falling sounds, were nothing but dozens of skulls falling from the cloudy sky, not a second after they found a place where to rest in the ship; dark bolts started to rain from the sky into the skulls, infusing them with new life and manifesting a dozen warriors on the wide deck of the Mikazuchi. The sounds of battle soon filled the deck, as some of the summoned were beast, and others warriors of different eras and talents. Magnus did not give a shit about that; moving his cleaver and double headed ax in wide arcs, he simply brutalized through the defenses of the trio of summonings that had come his way; he was far more interested in D´mongo.
Noticing how he was a threat bigger than the rest of the wizards, who has already started to unleash a dozen of spells to their enemies, a lot of the summonings tried to overwhelm Magnus, in an avalanche of steel, fangs and claws.
Magnus feel honored, receiving the attack with a smile and a war cry, that echoed in the ship; not much different from he roar of a beast like the ones he was fighting with; the sound reverberated on the wood and materials of the vessel. The weapons of his little but powerful collection continued with the carnage, as Magnus opened a path among the ones assaulting him.
His cleaver cut in half a man that was dress like some kind of samurai; as a side note, it was time Magnus gives a name to his cleaver, the weapon has earned that gift after all they battles they had together; at the same time, as the samurai fall to the deck in two halves, he shot his revolver in the mouth of a scale covered wolf; making the head of the beast disappeared in a red mist and shattered flesh and bone pieces.
As he walked to the carnage in process, he crushed the chest of another knight of some kind.
The carnage was totally one-sided; at last in Magnus case; despite the skill of his enemies and his natural superior abilities as predators, in the case of the beast; Magnus was simply a category on their own, ripping them apart by pure brute force. Their weapons could not endure the pressure of the cleaver, their armors could not stop the powerful bullets of the revolver, Magnus strength was the one of the giants of the ancient times, the beings that could stand his ground against deities and wage war against the Gods of the old realms of myth and legends.
In resume, their enemies were fucked.
Until the big guns of D´mongo, jump into the fray.
Magnus cleaver beheaded another samurai; his fifteen one or so, he was pretty much sure, he has been killing the same beings all over again for the last ten minutes; but when he was about to shot a rain of bullets, a spear came out of nowhere and almost pierce his hand, still, the edge of the spear managed to pierce the cannon and part of the drum of the revolver, rendering it useless.
Cursing for the sudden attack, Magnus buried the sparkling weapon in the chest of one of the scaly wolves and kick it against another trio of the same kind. The explosion vaporized all four of them, and Magnus felt really sad at the lost of his gun, it was a good weapon, that has been with him, almost since he landed in Ishgar; he was going to miss the weapon.
Focusing his mind back into the battle around him, Magnus bury one of his daggers in the head of another knight and using him as a living shield from the spear attacks, he look out of the origin of the barrage. When he found out, where the strikes were coming, he almost let the hollered corpse fall, it was impossible!, has D´mongo managed to slave a deity?!, that was preposterous but then he realized that her powers; although big; were nothing but a candle to the real power of the deity she emulated.
"Yggdrasil protect us, what are you doing here Phantom Queen?" asked loudly Magnus, to make himself ear over the scandalous battlefield around them.
In front of him was none other than Morrigan; the Tuatha deity of the underworld; in her aspect of Queen of the crows. Morrigan could appear as an ugly hag or a wet dream made reality; fortunately, she was on her most gorgeous aspect, a black skintight bodysuit with leather straps hugged her curvaceous body, she had a feather cape over her shoulders, reaching her ankles, and a helmet that imitates the upper part of the beak and head of a crow.
Her long and silky dark purple; almost black; hair fall in cascade on her shoulders and breasts; her eyes were as black as Magnus remembered and her soft pale heart shaped face was one of strength and beauty all in one. She carried a black spear; the same weapon that has been trying to gut him all this time; and a solid broadsword that hummed in resonance with her black aura. Odd, Magnus knew she was powerful but she was not holding back, and she was nothing like the Morrigan from his memories.
"My name Morrigan, not Phantom Queen; I am sorry human, but I have to kill you" despite his attacks being flawless, they did carry sadness and sorrow; specially on her voice, the voice of one that is trapped and could do nothing to scape.
"Ha!" barked Magnus tossing the corpse at her and in the second of distraction; the time she needed to split in half the body of the knight with her humming sword; Magnus pick up his double headed ax and attack from both sides with the cleaver and the ax. Morrigan eyes widened and instead of blocking the attacks, she transform into a flock of ravens and scape to the mast of the ship. Magnus attack seems to have failed, at last from Morrigan point of view; however, as the attack continue the path on where she has been just until a second ago, the sudden burst of wind and pressure the weapons created with his swing, was more than enough to send everything on his path stumbling or directly flying.
For a few seconds, none dared to say a thing, after they just witness the inhumane, monstrous strength of Magnus, and the man just put the weapons on his shoulders and laugh with predatory frenzy hidden in his mirth.
"Come D´mongo!" howled Magnus, shacking the deck and the sea by the force of his lungs.
"Do not hide behind your puppets, come and claim your prize if you are worthy, I challenge thee, I am Magnus The Juggernaut, the killer of ERN, He who defies you to a battle, with our souls in the line!".
The gauntlet has been thrown, however, Magnus was pretty much sure, D´mongo will not take it; so far, the demon seems to be confident in his more than tested strategy of send wave after wave of his thralled minions, some of them are the level of S-class wizards. Morrigan herself could be an S-class, only judging for the amount of magical power she had; Magnus was convinced she was not human, neither the deity she impersonated so well, so the only option was that she was a Spirit.
Mavis already told him about the Zodiac and the Celestial Spirit Magic, perhaps she was a Silver Key?, those could be immensely powerful and rival the gold keys some times, if their masters are capable of providing them with enough magical energy to go toe to toe with the highest ranked Spirits of the Celestial Realm. Still, and despite his eagerness to combat; Magnus was far from being an idiot, and he knows that in the long run, he was going to be overwhelmed without a doubt, so the sooner he could get the head of D´mongo, the better. As if he has been summoned, a massive presence appeared over the ship, D´mongo made his entrance, and Magnus had to concede that the demon was good.
D´mongo itself was not precisely the most physical intimidating of the demons of Zeref, he was slender and about five feet and half tall, his body was composed of a black solid substance of sort, that extended into a long cape that hug his entire frame, ending in a spikes of sorts on the shoulders. What did really called attention about his appearance was the amount of skulls that he has glued to his chest, like they were a jacket or armor of some sorts and how his skull was devoid of any flesh, and instead in floated in a balloon sized tear shaped containment of blue liquid that seems to boil and send fizzles of blue flames at every second.
In all; and combined with the massive magical power that he exuded; Magnus has to admit that D´mongo was a terrible as one could expect from an Etherious, although Magnus found ERN sick like aura, much more terrifying, but that was his opinion, as one of the few that had survived things that could made even Zeref cringe in fear.
"So, it appears that you have a sliver of honor in you demon" chuckled Magnus with his weapons, comfortably hanging on his shoulders.
"Oh, you are sorely mistaken" the sharp and derogatory voice of D´mongo was like some scratched his nails over a blackboard "I have come to take the measures of your skull, after all, it has been centuries since someone actually was stupid enough to challenge me".
"Arrogant, cocky and nasty piece of work aren't you, lad?" laughed Magnus at the evident arrogance of the demon, he has been on the top of the chain for so long, that he had forgotten anything else.
"Silence human" snarled D´mongo, flaring his magical powers "I do not allow, inferior species like yourselves, to talk back to your betters".
The presence of D´mongo was doing numbers on the Rune knights and wizards on board, as Magnus feared, none of them were actually ready to face and Etherious, and despite the good job they were doing to hold the hordes of magical slaves apart, at the end of the day, they will fall. They lack the amount of fire power it was needed to take down a beast like D´mongo.
Magnus flared his own magical power, easily overpowering the dark and wretched presence of D´mongo with a golden aura of pure strength; even Morrigan had to steel her will to withstand the sudden and overwhelming impact on her mind.
"Shut your muzzle, dog" growl Magnus and D´mongo, for the first time in...forever, felt like he was in the presence of some of his brothers and sisters of the Library of Zeref, in the presence of those that even him had to double think against mock them in any way of shape
Magnus give a step ahead and D´mongo take out two of his skulls; one in each hand; standing in combat position.
Magnus give a second step and D´mongos skulls lightened with black flames.
Then they moved.
In the blink of an eye, a shock wave shacked the entire ship, making it sinking a meter on the waters below, before the enhancements of the ship could overcompensate the sudden explosion of force, but not before it has already devastated a goof chunk of the deck. A thousand of splinters and other debris from the deck floated in the air, as the magic auras of both Magnus and D´mongo clashed for dominance. The ax of Magnus was buried till the upper jaw of one of the skulls, much to the amazement of D´mongo; even if he couldn't express it; as D´mongo tried to curse Magnus with one of his skulls; effectively making him another slave for his collection.
Magnus was eroding the curse with his ax and a ton of magical power, poured directly at the container of the curse.
The standoff continued until the ax pierce deeper and broke the skull in half, cutting part of the hand of D´mongo, who let it go and flied over the board, getting some distance between him and Magnus, now that the ax had no obstacle, it shattered the skull into tiny pieces and buried one of his blades; up to the hilt; into the wood of the deck. The eruption of magical energy, throw everything and everyone around flying over the deck. Magnus growled and taking the handle of his shotgun, he pointed it to D´mongo.
"Skull Barrier" said D´mongo, creating a wall of skulls that floated in front of him, and barely endured the impact from the repeated fire of the shotgun.
Before Magnus could continue, Morrigan appeared at his back, in the form of a flock of crows, creating a dozen spears that look out for this vital points, Magnus jumped to the side, dodging the attack that hollered the already damaged deck. It was good thing that this ship had a magic that allows him to float even if its hull was devastated...otherwise they will be already swimming in the cold and dangerous waters.
The flock of crows, relentlessly hunted Magnus through the deck, and Magnus had to take care that he get himself far from the thick of the battle, if Morrigan used that spear rain trick, he doubted that more than a dozen of the wizards or Rune Knights will be able to defect or withstand the attack.
He was having a tough time, trying to keep himself not skewered by that spear, as soon as it pierced through his revolver, he knew that it was bad news; it was a weapon capable of piercing his resilient flesh, better than most of the spells out there.
The flock solidified in the form of Morrigan, who proceed to attack with both sword and spear, in a mesmerizing display of martial skills and agility; she was almost dancing with him, but at each step, the blade or the spear came out out of nowhere and tried to kill him.
Magnus had lost one dagger, his ax and his revolver; but his cleaver and the other dagger, along the shotgun and the recently added harpoon, would be suffice to deal with the demon and his thralled goddess alike. Well, not goddess, if Morrigan was really, the same Morrigan, Magnus knew, the entire ship would have been obliterated with nothing but a frown from her. It was hard to get accustom to do not posses any Authorities, once you had taste the power of the gods, its almost impossible to do not crave them, hunting down more [Heretic gods] until you gain more and more power. When Magnus did not sense the presence of any divinity out there, he suspected that the deities of this realm had long abandon them or instead do not involve themselves in the day to day of the humankind; but when Morrigan appeared before him, it was quite the shock.
Alas, she was not the goddess, despite her having all her spectacular beauty and awe inspiring fighting skills, along some sort of similar domain over the crows. Being completely honest, this lass in front of him was exactly the type of woman he found extremely attractive, not only for her curvaceous body, but for skills as warrior and the strong mind behind those black eyes, the strong will that had allow her; the unique so far; to be the one capable of talk among all the other slaves of D´mongo.
Even if Magnus was butchered them, all of them had been silent, completely devoted to the will of the demon, Morrigan instead, had planned an ambush and had managed to answer his question and to read his intentions when the swung his weapons in a devastating arc, that almost slip her in half.
D´mongo took another couple of skulls from his chest and toss them at the ship, laughing when both skulls were hit by a dark bolt of him, and transformed into a tall giant of eight arms and a wyvern. Magnus saw the newcomers and immediately knew that they will be far more than none of the rest of the Rune Knights and wizards would be able to handle. Unfortunately, in order to do something about the newcomers, he would have to made a sacrifice.
Channeling a lot of magical power into his cleaver, Magnus suddenly stop, and with a powerful swing , his cleaver extend several meters, cutting in half all the enemies in his path; and barely missing some of his own allies; before the wyvern fly over the blade; the animal has instantaneously sensed how dangerous that cleaver really was and dodged the attack; however his eight arms companion, opted for block the incoming blow with his arms.
That was the worst mistake he could have made.
The cleaver cut trough metal, flesh and bones, like it was nothing, and with the strength the swing carried, the body of the eight armed giant, exploded in a shower of gore and viscera, covering a good six meters of the deck with his battered remains. Still, the stunt has cost Magnus dearly, as he barely could raise his dagger; the only one he had left; and deflect the incoming spear trust to his heart, both weapon screamed when their edges meet, but Magnus was in a difficult position to exert any of his immense strength on the deflective parry, Morrigan instead, could exert full force to the trust.
Fortunately, he could deflect the spear enough, so instead of piercing through his heart, the spear left a deep gash in his torso, and nicked the side of his biceps, a very painful wound, that would bleed a lot. Magnus cursed and keeping the movement of the cleaver, he made it a full circle, slamming the side of the cleaver against the flock of crows, as soon as it touched the flock, they solidified into the woman form, blocking the edge of the massive cleaver with her sword, an action that it was clear it was costing her a lot more of effort than she expected.
Magnus toss the nicked dagger, with its blade almost broken by the collision with the spear, at the face of Morrigan, she blocked with the handle of the spear, but that action; guided by instinct; distracted her from the sudden increase in pressure from the cleaver. The humming sword broke, but as the cleaver made contact with her skin tight suit, the cleaver stop its advance, the strong runic weapon couldn't pierce the bodysuit; mute testimony of how sturdy her armor or clothes were. But even if the cleaver was not strong enough to rend the cloth, it was more than enough to crush and smash all her left side, broking her ribs and shattering her organs upon impact.
There was no time to celebrate, as the green breath of the wyvern hit Magnus at full force on his back, slamming him against the deck. The green beam keep pushing him down, and Magnus roared in both pain and annoyance for being pin down. Emitting raw magical power, Magnus raise a golden rune barrier, a facsimil of the [Divine protection] he used a lot when he was a Campione. Inside the dome of golden runes, Magnus leaned over his cleaver and eyed the situation.
The ship was a wreck, so far only the magic that allow him to be a float that was kept it together, and the Rune Knights and the wizards weren't in better shape, they have hold the line pretty well against the infinity hordes of slaves of D´mongo; speaking of which, he would throw another giant eight armed man and Morrigan back against him soon.
However, something caught Magnus attention, from the place where the fallen slaves where, a black smoke of sorts flow, deep into the skies and directly into the laughing form of D´mongo.
Souls.
So that was how he was doing it.
He created false bodies and feed them with their souls, so he could recover the souls back, anytime he wanted, perhaps that's why Morrigan was so weak, that was not her original body but a fake one, created by D´mongos Curse, and no way that would ever equal divine power. Magnus raise from his kneeling position and breathed a pair of times, between the deep cut in his chest and the burns on his back, he was not precisely in the best of shapes, not to mention he could sense how his body was repelling the toxins in the breath attack of the wyvern. There was a chance that he could pull out of his hat a crazy stunt, one that would no doubt made Pandora proud for his boldness and Irrationality.
But he need a fresh victim for that, Morrigan body was already decomposed and so was the body of the giant; the only being strong enough around him was the floating lesser cousin of the dragon kin; he would have to use the wyvern then. Said lesser dragon was smashing the protection with his jaws and claws, if he had a lot of time, there was no doubt that he could finally able to pierce trough it; this was not [Divine Protection], just a convenient facsimile made of Magnus magical power.
Soon another set of slaves joined the wyvern in their attacks to the barrier, as the knights and wizard were obviously down for the count, after all D´mongo wanted his slaves corpses in the best state possible, it would no good if he brings back the charred and mangled form of a powerful warrior, even his Curse had its limits.
If they smashed their skulls or tear them apart into pieces, they would be of not use for D´mongo, to increase both his collection and the pool that would finally allow Zeref to reach his dream. Magnus put his hand over the wound of his chest, that has been too close for his comfort zone, just an inch deeper or the parry a second latter and he would had his heart skewered by that lance; his respect for the Morrigan doppelganger get up to a notch, up to a notch one.
It was a deep and dangerous wound, he would have to treat it as soon as he could, however, he has another worries to deal with first; after all, you can only cure yourself, when you were alive, and not when you are a magical thrall to a demon. Taking his shotgun, he checked that it was enough charge left in the bullets for what he was about to do, and picking up the harpoon from his Re-quip, he put the cleaver back into his Re-quip with hastiness, as he could sense the barrier finally weakening, Magnus bandage his chest as good as he could, and made another makeshift bandage for his wounded arm.
He prepared for the battle and smiled, this was going to be interesting.
As he drop the barrier, the time seems to slow down for him, as his muscles and reflexes increased ten folds.
This was one of his ace under his sleeves.
He didn't have learned any magic yet, but he has learn enough theory form Mavis to knew how to channel magic into his body and strengthen it even more, increasing his speed and strength a lot; this was the way on where a lot of powerful wizards could endure attacks and spells that would have obliterate any lesser being. Reinforcing their bodies with the same energy; Ethernano was it called, if Magnus remember correctly; that allow them to cast and hold all kind of magics.
Not really wanting to pull any punch here, Magnus just moved, before the slaves has even reacted to the absence of the barrier; covering the space between him and the next bunch of slaves in a blink, raising his shotgun and pulling the trigger. He didn't even really care about who was shooting, it didn't matter if he was one of the samurai, a big vulkan, a gladiator, whatever, he only needed them as a distraction.
When he shot all the bullets of the shotgun at once, the weapon went into overload but that was secondary, the sudden discharge of power, managed to torn to shreds practically all the slaves in front of him, creating a very nice and convenient cloud of smoke, blood, flesh and debris form the already more than wrecked ship deck. He really fell sorry for the Mikazuchi, it was a good vessel, it was sad, that such a fine ship had to end like this, in fact, they had just shoot the cannons twice against D´mongo and his flying mascots, before they were practically overwhelmed by the slaves of the demon, and had to abandon any artillery in fear of cause more harm to the ship and the crew than to the enemies around him.
At his augmented senses, he could pick up, how the few survivors tried to hold one of the cabins against a lot of the remaining summoned thralls aboard, even if Magnus has just decimated a good chunk of them with his shotgun, they were accounted by the hundreds already. Under the cover of the smoke screen, Magnus tied together the whining shotgun; as it was about to overload and blow itself up; and the harpoon he had picked up a couple of days before, bulging his arm muscles with an extra infusion of power, he throw the harpoon directly to the flying wyvern.
For the senses of the wyvern, the presence of the shotgun was more than audible, specially now, that the weapon was whining in advise for his imminent overload, but for the beast, it was the harpoon what he feared, so he simply dodge the incoming harpoon, and when the weapon exploded at his side; it torn to shreds one of his wings.
Even a resilient beast like him would be concussed after such a lacryma explosion at such short range and with the sudden lost of a limb, his flying became wyvern tried to recover his balance, before he crash landed on the surface of the ship or the already more than infested with sharks waters below him.
But before the wyvern could do anything, Magnus has already jumped into the sky, after recovering his ax from the place where he has buried in the wooden deck in the previous skirmish with D´mongo. With a mighty swing, Magnus behead the lesser dragon in a devastating arc, from left to right. As Magnus suspected, as soon as the wyvern was dead, his body erupted into a dark mist, energy or whatever the curse of the Etherious used to fuel his magical constructs.
What happened next, was something that cut short the laughter of D´mongo and left him stunned and speechless, floating in the air, with disbelief painted in his body language.
Magnus grab the tendril of dark smoke, firmly grabbing the soul of the wyvern and let himself be drag into the skulls of D´mongo; dragged by the same curse that the demon was using; being drag into the demon soul warehouse, inside the strange body of the dark devil.
"I-Im-possible" muttered D´mongo before both Magnus and the wyvern soul, disappeared inside the chest of the demon, absorbed by the same skulls that hold and keep the souls he trapped and imprisoned inside of him.
As soon as Magnus stepped into the inner space of the demon, he flared his own magical power, creating an aura of sort; in order to protect himself from the dangers and poisonous miasma that seems to be the very core of this wretched thing called D´mongo.
Magnus let the soul of the wyvern go, taking a good sight of his surroundings.
He could see, hundreds of magical circles; inside each one of them, a prisoner of some sort was laying in evident pain; one of them was being filled with the soul of the same wyvern he has just defeated.
"Warrior, heed my call" echoed a feminine voice in his head and Magnus, look out for the source of the calling, he soon found Morrigan, knelt inside one of those things, with her beautiful features marrow by an expression of pain.
Magnus got close to the circle and tried to touch the woman, only to be repelled by the magic that bound her inside and torture her existence.
"We are trapped, warrior" explained Morrigan, communicating with her mind, as there was no other way to spoke in this twisted inner world of D´mongo "D´mongo stole our souls or trapped us inside him, transforming his body into an eternal prison".
To say that Magnus was pissed would be the understatement of the century, he could tolerate slavery up to a point, if the system was similar the one that he used on his kingdom, but this was the worst kind of slavery; one that caught souls into an eternal torment and denies him the glory of the Valhalla or whatever the paradise they believe in.
Magnus extend his hand, his face frowning in barely contained rage, and with a powerful grip, grab one of the layers of the circle that detained Morrigan.
The Spirit; although Magnus could not know that she was the youngster daughter of Corvus, the constellation of the crow; was astonished by the power of the tall human, not only he has managed to beat her in combat; even if she was not as full power, as D´mongo could not recreate her full powers as Spirit; but the human wizard called Magnus had kill a lot of slaves of D´mongo, a Wyvern, an Eight arm Asura golem and forced D´mongo to retreat or he would have been cleaved in half by the ax.
Magnus grab the layer of the circle with both hands and with a mute roar torn apart the magic, by sheer raw strength; a feat supposedly impossible. As Morrigan was free, she immediately, start to return to the Celestial realm, for the first time in a decade...her joy was only surpassed by her amazement. Magnus smiled to the disappearing woman, before put his cleaver on his shoulder and wink at her; Morrigan was to stunned to even blush; this tall man was a handsome devil she would admit that.
"Thanks warrior..." said Morrigan before went back to the Celestial realm.
In the outside world, D´mongo was seriously worried, he bent in pain, as one of his slaves has broke free by force, tearing apart the curse that bounded her soul to him, and in the process, it cause D´mongo, not only tremendous pain, but started to erode and destroy a bit of his core essence too.
D´mongo didn't expect that; it was preposterous; no one could broke free from his slavery, it was perfect and the circle drain them of all their powers, unless...the breaking was done from the outside, like it could have done a crazy human who has managed to hitch a ride in the soul of one of his slaves and slip inside his inner world.
Magnus stretched his muscles and raise his cleaver over his head, charging it with all the magic he could muster; and it was quite the amount; the cleaver got bigger, wider and start to glow like a golden sun, Magnus hold his stance and prepared for a vertical slash with all he got. All of the slaves, no matter how far or pained, could sense the massive presence of the golden cleaver, a presence that filled each of the corners of the dark dimension were they had been trapped for what look an eternity for all of them, the pain became secondary as the golden sword overshadow all of them in a golden blaze.
The sword fall, and the inner world of D´mongo exploded in light.
For the survivors of the battle, it was a sight to behold.
D´mongo and the unnatural storm that followed him, started to collapse.
First the sky cleared, and then D´mongo started to convulse in pain, from the eyes and mouth of all the skulls in his chest, a golden light erupted in a shower of energy and golden beams. The golden light was bright and glorious, carrying a sensation of freedom, power and warmness. One by one, golden phantoms of those D´mongo managed to enslave during centuries, torn a hole in his chest, skull, neck, limbs...; hundreds of ghosts roared for their freedom, as they were free after centuries of forced and demonic slavery.
In contrast with the exhilaration of the ghost, the frame of D´mongo start to crack and tear apart, as the demon roared and scream in pain for the damages he was suffering in his essence; this was beyond physical pain for him, this was complete and utterly annihilation. He couldn't understand how the hell, has the dammed human managed to do it, but he was destroying his bare essence, he would not be able to survive, he will be torn apart, he would not even reform as one of the books of Zeref.
Beam after beam, erupted from the body of D´mongo, until with a thunderous explosion that filled the sky; along the dying scream of the demon; followed by a golden wave, vaporized all remains of the demon and the few slaves that were still fighting on the wreckage. Wizards and Rune knights alike behold the miracle, as the specters of those that has been battling with not a second ago, dispersed in a golden mist, some crying in release and other saluting to the heavens, to the one that had free them for the torment of D´mongo.
After the survivors calm enough and could deal with the wounded, they noticed that no one has ever saw the mercenary form Iceberg; assuming that he would have die and become one of the ghost of D´mongo; even if some of the most sensitive wizards and Knights called that idea the worst possible royal bullshit; the captain of the ship just order them to sail back into the nearest port available.
The mission was a success, and the lost of a mercenary was nothing to worry about, he knew the risk of the job, it was simply bad luck. Some of the Rune Knights and wizards tried to protest such decision. It was more than obvious from them, that the golden explosion was the making of the mercenary, the magic energies were identical; he saved their lives and the captain and the Rune knights just want to abandon him in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sea predators?, he was not among the ghosts, so he could be alive, and they were about to abandon him in such hostile waters?.
Unmovable from his decision, the captain just sailed back to Kingsley.
At the image of the ruined ship, soon all the port moved to receive the incoming and wrecked ship.
At the report of the Captain, the Rune Knights report about how they had managed to defeat D´mongo at a great cost. That earned quite the reward for the magical squad of Knights, however, as soon as Mavis got ear of the disappearance of his friend, she personally interview the captain; in order to reveal the truth of what happened; after that interview, the Captain retired due mental trauma.
Mavis and the rest of her guild, truly missed the giant young man, however, they had a war to won, and it was something they were going to do, at any cost.
It was impossible for them to know, but at the same time, all those events took place in the human realm, a very pained Magnus; with one of the biggest migraines of all his life; was slowly awakening, in a place where he should not being.
Magnus groaned and his senses pick bits of a conversation around him, it was clear that they were speaking about him, but he didn't understood why such a ruckus; not to mention his migraine didn't help either.
"Father, we own him, he free us..." that was Morrigan voice, he could recognize it.
"Morrigan, as much as I am grateful to him for what he has done, he is a human" there is a voice, that he didn't recognize but it carries a strong tone, this was the voice of a leader and a powerful warrior "he had no place here".
"Still, I am impressed, moo" moo?, that was an odd verbal thick, if Magnus has ever ear one, it was like one of the Minotaurs of Creta "he defeated both Morrigan and an Etherious" at the end of the phrase, the sound of a bell, like the ones that hanged form the neck of a cow echoed.
This was getting curiously ridiculous.
"Tch, ok, he is a powerful wizard, and what with it?" the harsh voice of a woman intervened in the conversation "he is a human, nothing more".
"Ooooh, worst hangover ever" said Magnus, freaking out everyone of the presents as he stood up and stretch his body, making all the joints pop and creak.
"How?...moo" said out loud a white and black spotted minotaur in an speedo and boots, with a massive ax hanging on his back.
Near him was a mermaid of blue scales and hair, sporting an annoyed expression that turned into amazement as how was he alive and moving.
Near the mermaid, stood a handsome man in an elegant suit, with a golden ring, sun glasses and a pair of cat ears on the soft brown mane that he sported on his head.
Morrigan, and what can only be described as a male, older, counterpart of her, stood speechless in front of him.
"Greetings" said Magnus, noticing how he has lost his cleaver, and frowning from the lost, he clenched his fist a couple of times, he really loved that weapon, and he didn't even named it yet.
"Pity, I liked that weapon" mussed out loud, before turning to the Spirits that keep staring at him, and his battered state, as he had only a tattered red and blue tunic, a shredded pants and almost torn to pieces boots.
"I apologize but, where I am?" ask Magnus raising an eyebrow at the stunned silence of the Spirits, that keep looking at him, like he was some kind of Chinese mystery box.
Although, he could assure that with his mere presence, he has broken Morrigan, and her...father?, older brother?, not sure about who he was.
And speaking of which, had he managed to kill D´mongo and free the souls of all the slaves?, he would have to ask Morrigan latter, when she would be out of the shock he was showing on her face right now.
Well, new lands, new people, new adventures, pity he couldn't say goodbye to Mavis and the rest.
Now, if only he could get some magic of his own and some new clothes and weapons, that would made his day...
And mead, Yggdrasil protect him, he really wanted a good tankard of mead right now...his migraine was killing him.
