Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other references made in this fanfic.
Chapter 11
Jack stared at his plate, not feeling that hungry, instead he wondered about the strange man that was his boss. It had only been a few days since he was brought back to life, and in that short time he got to know a little more about Arthur King.
One of the first things he found out was that Arthur was a shapeshifter, being able to change into other people or even animals at will, something that he had never heard of being possible. The next was that his real form was that of Neville Longbottom, the missing kid that had disappeared a few months back, although if he was the same kid or just using his form was still unclear. These appearances however were rare.
The next was that he was constantly eating something, every few hours Jack would see him eat another meal, almost like clockwork, and he would get fidgety if he felt he was going to miss one.
He had yet to be given an order, but every day he was beginning to regain his strength thanks to the potions that Neville was giving him. He didn't have much to do, usually because Neville would spend much of his time in his study, pouring over texts and charts, writing complex equations on a separate wall. Jack had gotten an E in Arithmancy but every time he tried to make heads or tails of the math, it would only leave him with a headache.
Neville spoke for the first time in the morning, breaking Jack from his thoughts, "Jack, get ready, a goblin representative will be dropping off the rest of the slaves today, you and they will be tested, to see what you are capable of. A uniform has already been placed in your room, once you are done getting dressed, meet me out in front of the house."
Jack nodded as he stood up from the long dinning table, he only shivered a little as he felt what his new boss called an unseen servant begin to pick up his plate. He didn't know what those creatures were, but they gave him a strange feeling when they were around.
Arriving back to his room, he saw a black military uniform on his bed, there was a hard breastplate, metal knee and elbow pads, a pair of gloves with metal knuckles, and military boots. He didn't know what Neville was going to test them on, but by the looks of things, it was not going to be easy.
Putting on the equipment took some doing but once he was finished he inspected himself in a nearby mirror. He had cut his long unkept hair back into a buzzcut and shaved everything but a small goatee. His skin was also clear of any dirt, and his teeth were once again white.
'Wish me luck,' he gave a silent prayer to his deceased wife.
(Scene change)
Neville stood in front of the line of slaves in front of him, behind him were multiple tables with items hidden by white cloths.
As he waited for Jack to get down, he walked down the line, using [Observe] on each of them. There were 11 women and 24 men, their ages ranged from 16 to 48 but they all had some type of black collar around their necks with runes inscribed around them.
The women looked guarded against the men, perhaps some unpleasant experience judging by the way they all gathered around the tallest woman.
He looked at her through his game window, and what he found was interesting. She was tall, standing at 5'10", she had a shaved head, and had serious expression. She wore loose ragged clothes like the rest if them, but from the small amount of skin that was visible, he could see that she was quite muscular, and variety of scars tissue that littered her body and face showed that she was not one to be pushed around. Over all she was not what many would call beautiful, in fact she could almost pass for a feminine man, her large breast the only things giving her away. Looks however was not what he was looking for today.
He decided to inspect the rest while he was at it.
Looking at some of the information provided by the game, he knew that some of them deserved a second chance, while others would need to be dealt with fast. His [Eyes of Worth], showed him exactly who to trust and how to watch out for.
It was then that Neville saw Jack jog towards him in his military style uniform.
Neville called him over to his side and finally addressed the group of slaves, some of which were glaring at him with hate.
"Listen up! As of today, you are all under my command. You will address me as Sir, Master, or if I am feeling generous, Mr. King. Do I make myself clear!" He shouted at them, channeling his past drill Sargent, may his old bones rest in hell.
"Why should we listen to you," an older man with grimy hands and missing teeth declared, not wanting to go back to taking orders from anybody.
They all turned to Neville to see what he would do, at this show of rebellion.
"I see. That is a good question-"he mentioned before letting the hidden gun in his sleeve fall down into his awaiting hand and shot the man in the head once, "however, I don't remember asking for your opinion."
As the man that spoke out crumpled to the ground, the people around him looked on in horror, even Jack looked a little unnerved by the casual display of death, although seeing as Neville could just bring him back later, the effect was lessoned to some degree.
He then pointed the gun at the rest of the 34 assembled people, "Any one else feel like asking a question?" As he casually pointed his gun to each of them, all flinched back when the barrel of the gun was aimed at them, only the woman from before refused to show weakness and kept her back straight. "Good. Now I want you all to line up single-file line, facing me!" he shouted, shooting up at the sky to emphasize his point.
"Now then! As of this point forward, your only job is to do what I tell you to, when I tell you to, where ever I tell you to! And may God have mercy on you if you don't, because I will not! AM I CLEAR!"
"Yes," they said reluctantly.
Neville didn't like that however and fired another shot into the line, killing another man. Not that it mattered to him, from what the information about him said, he was the worst kind of scum. "That's, Yes Sir! AM I CLEAR!"
"YES SIR!" this time they said it as one and with much more force.
"Good! Now ladies, I am going to explain something to you. I am Arthur King, your new master. To my side is Jack Harrison, a former slave just like yourselves. I don't know what you did while you were in the Goblin Kingdom, and I sure as hell don't care. What I want is not a group of miners or farmers, what I want is a team of well trained soldiers! And by God, I will get them, even if I have to kill some of you to achieve that!" he yelled at them making sure to glare at all of them, to show how serious he was.
You have created [Intimidate]
Intimidate (Lvl 1)
(Passive): You are able to inspire fear into others and can freeze mentally weak opponents.
Ignoring the message, the young wizard looked to Jack and gestured for him to join the lineup, which he did immediately. Turning his attention back to the slaves he continued, "As you can tell, I am not a nice person. This however does not mean that I do not reward those that please me. Do what you are told with efficiency and dedication and I will make sure that you are well taken care of. Prove otherwise, and I will not hesitate to make an example out of you. This is not a game, and I will make sure that you don't treat it as such."
Intimidate raises by 1 level!
"Now then, the first thing on the agenda will be testing your physical abilities. We will start off small, look behind you, and you will see a yellow flag placed 1000 meters away from here. Your task: touch the flag and make it back here in the shortest time possible. You only have one chance at this, those who I think are not putting their all will be shot, and their bodies will be fed to the trolls that live in the forest." Raising his gun back in the air he watched them get into positions to run. "On may mark. Ready. Set. GO! (Bang!")
As he watched them sprint away, he put his gun away. "I need to get them ready and in tip top condition as soon as possible. Thankfully I have time dilation dungeons and plenty of performance enhancement potions ready, although I still need to get rid of some of them." The time dilation dungeons were actually the key reason for his success.
There was so much to do that Neville, hardly slept anymore. His main focus right now was making the wizard version of a broadcasting network. Although wizards already had radios and newspapers, he needed to further develop their media as much as possible. As someone from the modern world, he knew just how powerful media outlets could become.
His plan was simple, if he could somehow create a wizard only television or internet network, then he could effectively control what the populace saw, effectively swaying their opinion in any way he wished.
After a straight week in a dungeon where time moved 10 times faster than normal, he was finally able to make the first ever working prototype of a television. It had actually been a lot simpler than he had originally thought, once he remembered that he had actually seen similar objects in the books and movies. For example, he was able to acquire a pair of Omnioculars and a set of two-way mirrors, which he then spent days taking apart and reworking the enchantments, before making a special lenses that could record anything it saw for long periods of time and transfer the image to a special glass mirror the size of a flat screen tv. That had been the easy part, just the transferring of images, then he needed to apply the protean charm, the same spell that Hermione had added to the fake galleons, which linked objects to one another. This was much harder to do but once he was finished he was able to send the images on the master TV to any number of other TVs no matter the distance. His final problem was getting the TVs to have more than more channel, the solution was to inscribing a rune network behind the TVs so that one could switch the screen to a different master TV when needed.
Although what he listed seemed simple, he first needed to learn and, in some instances, invent different magical formulas. The first thing he had needed to do was make the magical version of binary code, however instead of it having only two components like 1 and 0, it had needed to have a base of 6 numbers such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. That wasn't all, he needed new symbols to represent them so he decided to use geometric shapes:
0= circle
1= dot
2= line
3= triangle
4= square
5= pentagon
Next came the programing, thankfully he already had experience in the non-magical world, but he needed to make it so that his new virtual language could not only be compatible to muggle technology but would also have a backdoor access for him. This meant that he could access all pieces of his technology whenever he wanted, no one would be able to hide from him. He had made sure to make it as complicated and lengthy as possible so that no one would be able to crack it without knowing the code, and even then, the chances were slim.
Arthur KIng would be known as the father of modern magic, and the creator of the magical internet once he had finished his creation. He was then going to sell the TVs and computers at ridiculously low prices so that everyone could afford one. Finally he would give out free all access internet connections to keep them as mindless zombies that wouldn't question his ideas.
As a side note he had finally gotten to coming up with a name for himself if he ever truly wanted to take over the world, which in a way he was. He would be known as the Grey Overlord.
Neville was also doing the same thing in the non-magical world as a way to keep them out of the loop as well, and thanks to being a Gringotts Elder, he was able to start up many different companies. Apple could suck it, because his own company Excalibur would have the market cornered in only a matter of months thanks to there advanced and cheap products.
He had also figured out the reason why electronic objects seemed to not work around magical environments. Magic apparently forcefully stole the energy inside the objects and added it to its own reserves, in simple terms, magical and electrical energies did not play nice together. With his new binary code done, he was sure that he could some how fix this but he had not had enough time to test this yet.
Unlike those that would use force and fear to control others, he would use technology and the economy to do it, and by the time anyone figured it out, it would be too late.
As he broke from his thoughts he saw them start to come back, all panting like dogs, while others where crawling to make it to the finish line. At the very front was the woman that he had seen before, panting slightly and drenched in sweat, she was carrying a young woman that couldn't be more than sixteen in a fireman position.
'She's the one alright,' Neville thought.
As she crossed the imaginary finish line she gently placed down the woman and with great effort stood back up as straight as possible, trying to stop her legs from shaking. One by one they came back, collapsing on the ground, only Jack didn't, although he too was breathing heavier than normal.
"Congratulations Maggots! You have proven that you can at least run! Now back in line!" he shouted at them, not showing any mercy. His acting was getting better, in fact he wondered why he hadn't gotten a skill for it yet, but the Game was fickle like that.
They groaned as they stood back up, leaning against each other to keep from falling.
Neville nodded to them and then pointed to the woman that had come in first. "You Maggot, what is your name!?" he said, despite knowing it already.
Standing like a solider she stood straight and proud, "My name is Isabella Valentine! Sir!"
Name: Isabella Valentine (Lvl 22)
Title: Slave
HP: 1500
MP: 100
STR: 22
VIT: 30
DEX: 25
INT: 18
WIZ: 16
LUK: 23
Summary: Isabella Valentine was taken into slavery at the early age of four to pay for the large dept that her family had accumulated. She was put under Elder Greentounge's clan where she has spent the last 24 years observing and secretly learning from the goblin warriors. She is one of the leaders of an all-female gang back in the mines, taking care of those weaker than her and protecting them from the more troublesome males.
Desires: She wishes to be free and become someone great. She wants to do be a warrior and do something great with her life. She also wants to help her fellow female slaves back in the mines.
Investments: 98% chance of her becoming Neville Longbottom's most trusted general.
"Good. Now then 'beautiful' why don't you walk over to one of those tables and remove the white sheet over it," he said as he continued to glare at the rest of the slaves.
Isabella did as she was told, not taking the comment about her looks to heart. Walking to the closest table she flung the sheet aside and revealed a wide variety of fire arms similar to the ones that Neville had used to kill those two other people.
Neville turned around and walked beside the confused woman, then he picked up two identical pistols and four ammo magazines, and gestured for her to follow him back to the others.
"Now then Maggots! For those of you who have been raised in the magical world, you might be wondering what the strange device in my hand is. This is a gun, they come in a wide variety, and are the main weapon used in the non-magical world. These simple looking objects are able to send small pieces of metal at speeds faster than the speed of sound. They can easily rip through someone's body with easy and destroy entire body parts. In a fight between a wizard and a muggle with one of these, unless the wizard has some type of magical armor or makes the first move, chances are that he will be dead in the first second."
Many looked disturbed by the explanation they received, especially those of magical background but then they remember those two that were killed by the pistols, and just how fast it had been.
Neville looked pleased by their reactions, they needed to fear them before he could start teaching them, "Under my supervision you will learn how to handle such weapons. Valentine! Come here!"
"Sir!" she said as she stood up straight.
He said nothing before handing her one of the pistols that was already fully loaded, safety on. Then he walked a bit further away with her walking behind him.
Finally stopping, he made a simple gesture with his hand and a human shaped stone target appeared 100 feet away.
"Listen up Maggots! Cadet Valentine here will now demonstrate the use of a gun! For your sakes I hope you pay attention." Turning to the person in question he spoke in a softer voice, that couldn't be heard by the others. "It's alright Valentine, I will walk you through it."
He walked her through the process of taking off the safety and putting it on, then changing the magazine once there were no more bullets in the gun, the proper way to hold it and aiming.
Finally it was time for her to begin shooting, he stood behind her and gently guided her hands, "Remember Valentine, breath. Gently press down on the trigger as you are exhaling and be prepare for the recoil."
She did as she was told, trying to not let the close contact distract her, and took a deep breath. She lined her shot and as she was exhaling she squeezed the trigger.
Bang!
The stone dummy now sported a bullet wound on its left shoulder.
Whispering in her ear Neville continued, "Good job, Valentine. Knew you had it in you. Now empty the rest of your ammo, change the magazine and do it again."
[Isabelle Valentine: +50 Influence gained]
Neville silently glared at the box, the influence aspect of the game was his least favorite part, it somehow cheapened the value of actual relationships, so he rarely used it.
Stepping away from her, he let her continue her task, only interrupting to correct her when needed.
Certain actions have created a new skill:
[Teaching] has been created.
Teaching (Lvl1)
(Passive): The student has become the master. You are now able to teach skills that you have learn to others. Those taught by you now learn 10% faster than normal.
'Finally. This will make teaching them faster.'
He saw how her shots were starting to stick closer together, and her arms where no longer shaking.
'Now then the final test.' Neville spoke in a low whisper, "You are doing great. Now then Valentine listen up. I see potential in you, under my care, I can raise you to be a great warrior. Prove your loyalty to me and I will make sure that all your wishes come true. Understood."
"Yes Sir. How shall I show my loyalty," she said calmly, never stopping her shooting, although the warming feeling of hope in her chest refused to go away.
"Your test begins now," the young wizard said as he constructed magical chains from his back and sent then to capture 13 slaves from the line. He then proceeded to drag them next to the stone dummy, where they floated a little bit over the ground suspended by the chains.
"Valentine! It would seem that we have too many Maggots! What say you about thinning the heard! Show me what you have learned, I order you to exterminate these Maggots!" he shouted for all to hear, horrifying everyone.
Intimidate raises by 1 level!
Intimidate raises by 1 level!
Isabelle had nerves of steels, and showed exactly that, as instead of asking questions, she washed her face of all emotions and began to shoot at the immobile slaves. She was careful to aim at points that would make their deaths as quick as possible.
Neville mentally nodded, all of those that had been killed had a high probability of betraying him. He knew that many in the crowed were guilty of one crime or another and he was willing to give them a second chance but there were just some things that couldn't be forgiven. Rape and cannibalism where just some of the crimes that those men and that one woman were guilty of. Isabella apparently knew this too, since she had no qualm in ridding the world of such scum.
Once all the targets were dead, she turned to him, "All targets have been eliminated. Sir."
"Good job Valentine! Return back to the line!" he said as he took back the empty pistol.
Once they were all assembled back together he continued, "Now then, seeing as all the trash has been taken care of, we shall finish the rest of your physical testing. After that we will break for lunch, and each one of you will be given a health exam."
He took out a clipboard from his inventory and the testing truly began.
By the time that dinner was ready in the evening, everyone was exhausted, even Jack was not spared. They were all seated around a long dinning table, with Neville seating at the head of the table, looking at all of them groan and mumble about testing.
They had all been given a bath and received a set of forest green pants, green t-shirts, and black boots, even the woman. He was momentarily reminded about his time in the army and all of the friends that he had lost.
None had to wait much longer as food was being brought in by a set of [Invisible Servant]s. There was a wide variety of food, almost like what one would expect a Hogwarts banquet to be, and the soldiers in training were quick to dig in, many having spent years eating the same gruel that the goblins would provide.
The young wizard looked at the slaves once more. He now had an even number of 20, half men and half woman. They all looked happy and carefree, talking to each other as if they had known each other their whole lives, he even saw some that were crying tears of joy. His heart melted a little seeing, them act so much like small children, and he almost felt a small amount of guilt knowing that he would soon be training them into ruthless killing machines.
Finishing his meal quickly he stood up to address them, "Good work out there cadets, I expect to see the same effort every day. Once you are all finished Mr. Harrison will take you to your sleeping quarters, men and women will obviously be separated, I see any shenanigans and I will have you running laps until you are half dead. Valentine! Once you are done, go to my study room, Mr. Harrison will show you the way."
(Scene change)
Sitting in his study, he was inspecting some documents that were for his many of his companies.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in," he responded without looking.
Nervously Isabella walked inside, closing the door as softly as possible, and then walked to the front of his desk.
Looking around the large study room, she saw a large amount of books and charts, with many complex pieces of writing. She never learned how to read or write so it was all confusing to her, but she new that her new master must be really smart for him to write something like that.
Finally taking his eyes off the papers, he put them away in a drawer and looked at the woman that was looking at everything in wonder, like a curious child.
"Valentine, please take a seat," he said breaking her from her curious inspecting. She then sat in the only seat in front of his desk. "As I said before Valentine you have impressed me greatly."
Neville then took out a piece of paper from his desk, her slavery contract, and showed it to her. She then looked shocked as he proceeded to rip it in half. Her slave collar crumbled to the floor a second later.
Looking genuinely shocked she looked at him, "W-Why?"
Neville knew that he need to do this gently, "Let me tell you Isabella Valentine. I am not a nice person, at one point I was, but life has beaten that out of me. That however does not mean that I can't be when needed. I can tell that you are worth more than others are willing to see. You might have been a slave for most of your life, but that does not mean that you will spend the rest of it as such, you have much to experience in life. Fate has placed you in my life for a reason, stick with me and I will ensure that you will live a life full of adventure and happiness, one that you can proudly tell your children, and your children's children for generations to come." He paused to let her digest his words.
Isabella had always lived a hard life, always having to watch her back to make sure that no one would take advantage of her. She was used to hard labor, to be worked to the bone. As a slave growing up, she was taught to never dream of being free, the only way being death. With a shaking hand she reached for her neck, and for the first time since she could remember, they touched flesh. It was futile to hold back the tears that threatened to spring from her eyes.
Neville sighed to himself and stood from his seat, he blamed the small amount of humanity still inside himself, and circled around the desk until he stood in front of the crying woman. With a blank face he kneeled down and hugged her.
Isabella was unable to control herself and wrapped her arms around the young wizard, crying into his shoulder, not holding anything back. Her strong facade was completely destroyed as she let all the anguish and pain she had suffered be released , she was finally free.
They stayed in that position until she could no longer cry, Neville suppressed a shudder as he felt his suit become wet with tears and snot. Standing back up he handed her a handkerchief and then removed the wet article of clothing, leaving him in a white long sleeve shirt and black vest.
He walked back to his chair, not bothering to comment as the woman tried to get herself back under control.
"Please tell no one of that, I have a reputation to up hold," he said seriously, as she just nodded her head unable to form the words. Just yesterday she had gone to sleep with the rest of the slaves and now she was a free woman.
"Now then Miss Valentine, I will explain certain details about your new job in life. I'll start off by saying that as of this moment we, as in me and the rest of humanity, are currently at war. The enemy however is not something that we have ever seen before."
She looked surprised, but Neville ignored it as he took out a large world map with red dots marking key locations. "All around the world, dimensional portals are appearing, they are being made as we speak. Each one of these portals have an entirely new world on the other side, what they contain I do not know, but we can not take the chance that it won't be hostile. As a whole, the world is largely unprepared, and if left on their own, they will destroy the entire planet in a matter of months. I am the only one who knows of all of them currently, and as such I have seen fit to make a task force to deal with such a threat."
Isabella looked shocked at the revelation but was now looking more attentive.
"You and the rest of your group will be the first of such warriors. Your job will be to deal with anything that comes out of these portals. I will train you to the best of my abilities and give you the best resources available but must warn you, it will not be easy. Do you understand?"
"I-I understand Sir," she said, although not as confidently as before.
"I know it is a lot to take in, but know that it must be done. This however does not mean that I will just through you to the wolves, I will make sure that each one of you will be fully trained before you are allowed to face them. Now that I have explained a small amount of what is expected, here comes the easy part. What do you want Isabella Valentine?"
"What do I want Sir?" she asked confused by the question.
"Yes, Miss Valentine. What. Do. You. Want? Is it money, power, land, something else? Tell me what you desire, and I will make sure to grant it to the best of my abilities," Neville said as he prepared magic in his hand to form another pact.
Isabelle was not quite sure what she wanted, never having be in such a position before. It took her a couple of minutes to think of an answer and she was grateful to her new boss for giving her the time to think. "Back when I was a slave in the Goblin Kingdom, I used to be part of a group of women slaves. We would take in those that couldn't protect themselves and help each other almost like a f-family. Can you help them too?" she said with eyes full of hope.
"I suppose I can buy their contracts as well, although if I do you will be in charge of them, those that are unsuited for combat life will be tasked with less dangerous jobs, understand," he told her.
"T-thank you?" she said as she lowered her head in thanks.
"Don't thank me yet, we still need to finish this deal. In exchange for helping your little group of slaves do you agree to do everything that you are told, to hold my best interests at heart, to keep all that you see and hear a secret and serve me as the General of my army."
Without hesitation she agreed, "I do."
Once more his hand was ingulfed in blue flames and he held it out to her, "Then take my hand Isabella, and we have a deal."
She looked at him with eyes of steal and held back the grunt of pain as a pentagram was branded on the back of her skin.
Neville let go of her hand and she inspected the brand mark, seeing it disappear just like Jack. "Now my dear, I suggest that you head back to your quarters, you will have a long day ahead of you tomorrow and I recommend a good night of rest."
Seeing the dismissal, she stood up and prepared to leave but not before showing her gratitude, "Thank you sir."
Just as she opened the door Neville spoke up without looking at her, going back to reading some documents, "Welcome to the family Cadent. You will always have a place here. And I know you will make me proud."
She couldn't help the small smile that wormed its place on her face, she left without a second thought.
Sighing, Neville looked at the windows that he had ignored.
[Isabella Valentine: +50 Influence gained]
[Isabella Valentine: +60 Influence gained]
[Isabella Valentine: +20 Influence gained]
[Isabella Valentine: +50 Influence gained]
[Isabella Valentine: 230/ fond]
He looked at his ID create:
ID Create (Lvl 29)
Active: Allows you the ability to make a small dimension parallel to yours.
Cost: 200 per use
- Zombie Dungeon available
-Ghost Dungeon available
-Ogre Dungeon available
-Goblin Dungeon available
-Beast Dungeon available
-Giant Dungeon available
-Elemental Dungeon available
-Empty Dungeon available
-Time Freeze Dungeon available
-Time Dilation (2x, 5x, 10x) available
-Custom Dungeon available
He cast his strongest time dilation dungeon around the room and got back to work.
(Scene change)
Neville spent the next couple of weeks training his new recruits into the ground.
He would wake them up before dawn for an early morning run, a pack of hungry wolves would nip at their heels to motivate them further. Once they finished their run, he would instruct them in exercise drills until they collapsed. After a short rest he would begin hand-to-hand combat training where he would spar against each of them and beat them until they were bloody. He would then heal then and make them go on another run, this time with a bear chasing them. They would have a quick lunch break before going back to doing drills. Weapons combat would follow as he showed them how to use different fire arms and melee weapons, anyone caught fooling around would be shoot in the foot before being healed again. The afternoon all the way to lunch was reserved for general education, something that none of these people knew. Besides teaching them the basics such as math, science, history, English, and reading, he also taught them army tactics, survival skills, and politics.
This was their everyday schedule, although the animals that he let loose on them varied. Isabella was the only one that he took aside for some extra lessons, seeing as he needed to make sure she could read and write first.
At the beginning many of the slaves complained about all the work that they had to do, only Isabella didn't and when ever she heard someone speak bad about her new boss she would make sure to put them back in their place. Others quickly learned to keep such opinions to themselves or at least curse Neville while she was out of earshot.
Although the training was brutal, Neville made sure to, heal everyone after each training session. This method helped in speeding up their growth by healing the destroyed muscle fibers and making them stronger each time. He also began to steadily feed them strength and health potions, slowly turning them into super soldiers.
The young wizard also made ample use of the time dilation dungeons to practice.
Slowly he was getting his elite soldiers. They hardly complained now and every single one of there stats except for LUK were now over 50. Their bodies where covered in lean muscles, and they could all bench press 500 lb easily, even the women. They were lean, mean, killing machines and it had warmed his cold heart, the first time they had finally stopped running from the packs of wolves and instead charged into them, killing them with their bare hands. He was so happy that he gave them the rest of the day off.
They were all outside on the field, finishing their drills. Each one of them were pieces of a well-oiled machine.
"Line up!" he shouted at them and they did so like it was second nature, "You Cadets, have proven that even maggots can make capable warriors! Congratulations!"
"Thank You Sir!" they spoke as one.
"Today will mark your final days as Cadets. Today is your graduation."
"Thank You Sir!"
"However, before you can fully graduate and call yourselves soldiers, you must undergo one final test. Complete this and I will release each one of your that survives from your slave contract. You have 30 minutes to pack for a three-day mission. Any questions?"
"NO SIR!"
"Good, you may begin preparations. Harrison and Valentine, you stay back" he told them as the rest march back to the mansion.
Looking them over he saw them stand ready for attention, both of them had become the leaders of the group, helping maintain order and discipline when needed.
"Harrison you will be in charge of this mission, your job will be to make it to the final destination without losing anyone, am I clear."
"Yes, Sir!" the blonde wizard responded, having grown to respect the man in front of him in the short time under him.
Taking a pack from his inventory he handed it to the man, "Inside you will find health and stamina potions, as well as magical scrolls. They will prove useful if you are to be overrun by the enemy or any number of problems. Make sure to not tell them and use them until absolutely necessary, I don't want them to get sloppy just because they have a fail save."
"It will be done Sir."
"Now then Valentine, your job will be to help Harrison in leading the troops. I am placing you in charge of strategy and team formation. If you catch anyone fooling around what will you do?"
"Shoot them in the shin and break their legs before healing them again," Isabella said seriously to him.
"Good, how is your sword play?" he said as he opened up his inventory page and began to select the right weapons.
"It is at an acceptable level Sir," she responded, she was his best sword-woman after all.
Finally, he took out two large guns and a red short sword. He gave the guns to Harrison and the sword to Isabella.
"Harrison, I give to you a pair of Desert Eagles, make sure that you treat them with the respect they deserve. Valentine I give you this enchanted sword, anything that the blade touches will burn. Now then, pack up and don't die!" he ordered them.
"YES SIR!" as one they saluted and began to make their way toward their rooms as well.
"Oh, and Valentine, make sure to come back you hear. The girls have been asking about you and I would hate to disappoint them," Neville said.
"I will sir," she said seriously.
(Scene change)
As she began to fold clothes into her pack, she kept over hearing the chattering of the other women as they talked about the upcoming test.
"What do you think we will do this time?"
"Don't know but it can't be worse than when he threw us out of a flying plane and then expected us to hit the target on the ground."
"As if, escaping the room that was slowly being filled with water was the worst. We almost lost Rachel."
"Yeah, but I got to admit that learning how to drive a tank was the best."
"Don't say that! I still get shivers thinking of you being behind any vehicles."
"Oh, come one I wasn't that bad. Hey Brenda, let me borrow your gun cleaning kit, I need to polish my baby."
"You have your own, I'm not sharing."
She drowned most of the conversation, as she disassembled her own guns and began cleaning every part.
It was then that someone decided to sit on her bed, glancing to her side she saw Pamela, the youngest of the women, only 16. She was short for her age and had bright red hair, a coupe of freckles dotted her face, and she sported a warm smile.
"Hey Bella, excited for the exam?" she said in a chipper voice.
"Hello Pam, are you finished packing?" Isabella responded with a smile, always amused by the younger girl.
"Yep," Pamela answered, making sure to pop the 'p', "Do you know what it's going to be about?"
Shaking her head, she continued to clean her guns, "No. It apparently going to be a surprise."
"Aww, too bad. But can you believe it, once this test is over, we will all be free. I mean, you won't seeing as you aren't a slave anymore, but now everyone else won't be either."
Assembling back her machine gun, Isabella couldn't hide the small smile that she felt at knowing that all of her comrades would no longer be slaves.
Looking at the clock she stood up, "All right ladies! Line up! Let's head out, the Master hates being kept waiting, and I doubt any one of you will want a bullet in your leg because we took too long."
As one they all headed out and met with the guy's side that was being lead by Jack, someone that Isabelle had become acquainted with. He held the position of being the right-hand man of her Master, a position that she herself wanted, and as a result this sparked a rivalry between them.
As they marched out to the field, they were all wearing black armored uniforms, black boots, gloves, a helmet, utility belts, large backpacks, pistols on each hip, a rifle, and a large army knife around their leg. Their packs contained a set of clothes, some rations, a medical kit, ammo, a machine gun, and a couple of other weapons.
As they stood in front of her Master, she felt a sense of affection go to the man that had done so much for her. Not only had he freed her, shelter her, and taught her, but he had also kept his word and bought the slave contract of all of her friends the very next day. She had visited their boarding house on a previous occasion, a different residency where they were being taught general education by someone else. Today she would make sure to make him proud, and not betray the trust he had place on her.
She made sure to pay attention once he began speaking, "Good, you all seem to be properly prepared." He raised one hand up to the sky, and suddenly the world became night, the mansion behind them also disappeared giving way to only wilderness. "What you see here is a simulation of what you are expected to fight. Your mission is simple. There is a city some distance away from here, the journey should be two-days on foot. At the center of this city there will be an extraction point where I will be waiting. You are to use all that you have learn to make it there. You are to destroy anything that stands in your way. Am I clear!"
"YES, SIR!" they shouted as one.
"I wish the best of luck Cadets," he said before he took off into the sky and flew into the direction of the city.
Jack being prepared took out a compass and looked at the direction where his boss had flown, "He is heading North. Alright everyone get into groups of three. Michael, Jon, you are with me."
Isabella chose Pamela and Rachel as her teammate, having worked well with them in the past.
Once everyone was prepared Jack began to talk again, "We will begin by-"
He was however cut off as they heard a strange moaning come from the line of trees. Slowly a man dressed in peasant rags emerged from the woods and began to limp its way closer to them. They were all put on guard and they all had one hand on their pistols.
As the strange person began to come closer, the putrid scent of decay was the first thing to hit them, next was the grey rotten flesh that the person seemed to have.
"Valentine! Take care of it," Jack commanded.
Isabella was quick to pull out her pistol and shoot it in the head, the hollow point bullets completely destroying the head. They waited for five minutes straight to make sure it wouldn't get back up again before they were sure that it was truly dead. "It would appear that our enemy is the undead sir."
"It appears you are right, for the moment conserve your ammo, stick to unarmed take downs and your knives. I am sure that the woods and the city are just infested with these creatures. Now move out!"
Silently they moved as one, and just as Jack had predicted, the woods were infested with them.
Isabella kicked one on the head bring it crumpling down before stepping on it, destroying the brain, something they had discovered killed them instantly. Behind her was Pamela that was straddling a downed zombie and raining blow after blows to its head with the help of her knuckle-dusters, a present for being first in the obstacle course. Rachel killed another as she stabbed it in the neck and then the brain with her combat knife.
All around her she could see the others taking care of their own zombies with ease. Once they were finished they began their march again, taking care of any more zombies that popped up.
It took them a day of hiking before they finally made it out of the forest and into a large plane with fields of wheat that reached them to their chest. Nodding to each other Isabella and Jack began to order the troops into a diamond formation, the front edges armed with machetes would cut down the wheat while the back line would cover their rear with their riffles, making sure that nothing was hidden inside the tall wheat.
It was slow, but they pushed through, their opponents this time were hidden zombies that carried large scythes. It was a close call but thankfully no one was injured.
Making it out of the crop fields they saw a dirt road that seemed to head towards the city. They continued their march before making camp for the night, although from what they could gather, this entire place was always night only the moon and the stars provided light.
Isabella walked up to Jack once she had finished setting up her own tent, "I will take first watch with my team, you get some rest."
Jack didn't complain as he just nodded, "Very well, we will switch every two hours. Here take this scroll, it will set up a barrier to keep these zombies out if you need it."
Taking the scroll, she stood watch over the camp, a large fire in the center with plenty of makeshift torches around the perimeter. Two hours later she was relieved, and she headed to her tent where her team began to sleep as soon as they hit the mats.
A couple of hours latter they had a quick breakfast and began their march. Following the road, they went around the mountain, having to take care of a squads of zombies dressed in Roman armor and armed with short swords every couple of hours. They proved more difficult to take down unarmed, but a couple of bullets took care of them easy.
Once they made it around the bend of the road, they finally saw their destination. It was a large Roman city on the opposite side of a large river, that was at least a mile wide, a large bridge the only way to get a across.
As they made their way to the bridge, which was eight car lanes wide, they once more made camp, deciding to tackle the city once they were all fully rested.
With grim determination they all took a careful stock of their equipment and headed out once more. They quickly began to run across the large bridge, legions of shield carrying zombies already on the bridge ready to meet them. This however was futile as the well-trained soldiers sprayed them full of bullets or threw grenades into their formations. They only stopped to gather the tower shields from their defeated enemies once the other zombies began to rain down arrows and javelins on them. Some unfortunately were not fast enough and took an arrow, their heavy body armor made sure that it was non-lethal, but they had to pull them out and made a quick patch up job until they could find a better doctor.
Using their newly acquired shield they marched on wards in a turtle formation, shooting the archers with their sniper rifles form a distance.
Two hours later they finally made it over the bridge and Isabella ordered everyone to keep their guard up. A good thing too because down the street, came charging some type of monster that looked like a hybrid of a man and a bull, parts of it decaying. Calmly they took out their machine guns and opened fire into it. It was swiftly ripped to shreds from a distance.
"Hold!" Jack said as he held a closed fist. "Goggles everyone."
They all put on their set of night-vision goggles, and Isabella was able to spot a large mob of legionnaire zombies and minotaur. They new that the fight was far from over but it was too late to back down.
The air was filled with the sound of gunfire and explosives, as they steadily made their way down the street. Paying close attention to their surroundings and the many houses that dot the area, having figured out early that the zombies could hide in them. Jack used his Desert Eagles to shoot at the larger zombies, while Isabelle showed amazing skill as she used her enchanted sword to dance around her opponents before killing them swiftly.
There were more injuries this time, and many were starting to bleed out, thankfully they had finished clearing a path, and were only a couple blocks from the extraction point.
Just as they thought they were going to make it, all of the zombies in the area quickly began to gather together, piling up until they formed a giant 40-foot-tall Zombie, covered in golden armor, and wielding two short swords.
"Fuck!" Jack cursed, "Take the injured to the extraction point! Valentine! You and my group will buy them time."
Her team nodded as they began to open fire on the large titan in front of them.
Their bullets proved mostly useless, merely bouncing off the armor. Thinking of an idea she threw two grenades below the place that it would soon step. They exploded, and the large titan was knocked of balance as it tumbled to the ground, shaking everything around it, and almost knocking them off their feet. It was soon being pelted by grenades until a red light from behind them showed that their group had made it to the center of the city and fired a flare gun to tell them to come too.
They were quick to make a break for it as they sprinted towards their destination with everything they had. Behind them the legion zombie stood back up and began to chase them, it huge steps catching up with them quickly. Isabella leaped to the side to avoid a down ward strike from a sword, and then had to move to avoid being crushed by the saddled foot. She only took a second to stab it in the foot with her flame sword before following the others.
The Legion zombie roared in rage as its foot caught on fire and it continued to chase the woman responsible.
Isabella was the last one, she dodged and weaved threw the attacks before she leaped inside the large drawn circle that indicated the safe zone. The zombie however continued onwards and was aiming a large fist at her downed form.
Just as she thought that it would finish her off, Neville appeared in a flash of speed and stopped the punch with an opened palm. "Good work out there Isabella," he said as he showed no sign of struggling to keep the large giant back. Then from his hand a wide beam of magic shot out completely destroying the zombie and part of the city as a result.
He turned back to face the group of astonished soldiers, "Congratulations! You have successfully passed your graduating exam." With the snap of his fingers the world around them broke like a mirror and they were back in the training field outside the mansion. "Take a well-earned rest and be ready for an announcement tomorrow."
Taking out a stack of papers from his inventory he ripped them all in half, and every single one of the slave collars fell to the floor. It began slowly but soon loud cheers could be heard, as they finally realized that they were once again free men and women. They hugged and cried among each other, not believing that this day would ever come. As one they began to head back to the mansion to sleep the day away.
Turning back to Isabella Neville held out a hand to her since she was still on the ground and pulled her to her feet, "You did good out their solider. I want you to know that you made me proud. I was not wrong in putting my trust in you-"
He was cut off as the 28-year-old woman wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He laughed and hugged her back, having grown fond of the woman and the spirit she held.
Isabella savored the feeling of contact that she had with the man that she had grown to admire.
(Scene change)
Neville back in his bedroom was over looking some reports on his companies, both magical and non-magical. With the way things were going they should be ready to start the selling of their first TVs before Christmas, they only had a total of 15 channels so far, but more were steadily being made. In the normal world, he was steadily making a vast fortune thanks to his many business ventures.
Much still needed to get done, for example he needed to inspect the job applications for the various types of companies, having declared that he was accepting all even squibs and muggle-borns. He was steadily coming out into the limelight as result, although the disguise he crafted for the public was that of an elderly gentleman that was came from a long line of pure-blooded wizards and was looking to make a home in England. His connect to Gringotts made forging such an identity possible.
He was taken out of his thought as he heard the sound of his door being opened. He quickly recognized the image of Isabella as she stepped into the room and locked the door behind her. From the nervous yet determined gaze that she sent him, he could somewhat guess what she wanted. She was still far from being called beautiful but she had grown her black hair out, and there was now a sense of femininity that she had lacked when she first arrived. "Is there something that you wanted Isabelle," he said.
She said nothing as she walked to the side of his bed and taking a deep breath gathered all of her courage and kissed him on the lips. He had known how she felt about him for weeks now and had never seen fit to say anything to contrary, as they had motivated her greatly. He didn't respond to the kiss however.
Breaking away from the kiss, she looked at him with pleading eyes and whispered in a soft voice, "Please."
Taking a firm grip on her shoulders he looked seriously into her eyes, "Before you go any further Isabella, know that I cannot love you at this time, you know what is at stake, and what needs to be done. …however can give you my affection." She looked sad for a moment before nodding in understanding.
This time Neville was the one that leaned in for the kiss, she was a loyal solider that had proven herself time after time, someone that he knew he would trust with his life, and he tried to pour as much as his own feeling in that one kiss.
As they collapsed right on the bed still kissing, Neville removed his shirt, giving way to his muscular body. He had not been with a woman since Evaline, not knowing who he could trust and the lack of free time, but that was not a problem for him right now. He would claim the woman in front of him not because she was pretty, but because she was a trusted colleague that deserved for her feelings to be answered.
The next hours were spent with Neville showering her with affection. He made sure to be as gentle as possible with her, seeing as it was her first time after all. Together they made the beat that was as old as time until early in the morning.
Neville woke up with Isabella cuddled to his side, both completely naked under the sheets, and having satisfied smiles.
Getting out of bed he began to get dressed and woke up Isabella.
"Wake up, Valentine, or else you will miss your own graduation ceremony."
She mumbled a bit before she finally waking up and stretching, Neville payed close attention to her large bosom as a result. He then left her to get the ritual he had been developing ready.
Isabella smiled to herself as she got ready, before making it back to her room where the rest of the girls were already waiting to hear all of the juicy details. Everyone had already known how Isabella felt about their boss, the looks she gave him were borderline worship after all. She refused to say anything, but the smile and her limp were telling.
They all had breakfast together once more before they were brought to a dark underground room, the walls painted in golden runes, green flames illuminated every corner, and a large pool of swirling glowing gold liquid at the very center made them only a little nervous.
One by one they filled into the room and Neville addressed them, "During these short weeks, I have watched you all grow from worthless rejects and into marvelous people that I can proudly call my own. This is my gift to you, in front of me is what I call the pool of rebirth. Once you enter it all of your wounds, past and recent will be healed, your bodies will be modified to the peak of perfections, and all of your attributes shall be doubled. We will start of in alphabetical order, you will take off all of your clothes and submerge yourself in the pool, before getting out.
One by one Neville over saw each of his solider enter the golden pool. He had been developed the ritual to permanently enhance his future soldiers to better fight such forces. The reason why he hadn't undergone the same ritual was because it only doubled stat points if they were below 80 meaning it would be useless to him. As they emerged he noticed that everyone now had the appearance of extremely beautiful fashion models, and it was all thanks to the beautification potions that he had brewed and added to the mix.
Finally, Isabella was the last to get in, she took a deep breath and fully submerged under the surface.
It only took a couple of seconds of waiting for her to surface again but once she did, Neville grinned and helped her out of the pool. All of the scars that had once covered her body were now gone, her rough skin was replaced with smooth ivory, her face also became much more feminine. The only startling difference was that her short hair had become silver with a violet hue. All in all she had become a sexy beauty that any man would be lucky to have.
Neville's only thought on the matter however were, 'Huh, she looks exactly like a younger version of Ivy from Soul Calibur.'
Wrapping a towel around her, she inspected herself carefully before giving him a blinding smile.
Yes, Neville might have a huge weight on his shoulders but as he looked at his soldiers he knew that he was no longer alone.
"All Right Privates, what say you we test your new abilities?"
"YES SIR"
"Good! That's what I like to hear."
A/N: Done with this chapter. As you can see Neville is finally building up his army to shut down the portals. These twenty will only be the first of many to come.
Isabella is Ivy from Soul Calibur. While I was trying to come up with a general for Neville's army, she was the only person to appear. Pairing is still undecided however.
