Chapter 23: Xul Sharur
Jereth
(16 weeks after the birth of the 8th Campione)
A violet sky in the throes of sunset, a few puffy clouds that are glowing bright orange in the dying sunlight, a comforting breeze that blows throughout the forest…
And let's not forget the Divine Wolf the size of a small yacht trying to tear my throat out.
Gotta love Mondays.
"SHI-"
My aggravated shout is cut short as a deafening howl emanates from the Divine Beasts' throat, drowning out my curse as it opens it's maw wide, revealing a mouth of teeth that could crush a truck with ease.
Only a frantic sideways roll allows me to keep my body from being squished by doggy pneumatic press and Fenrir get's a mouthful of forest dirt instead of delectable Human.
I mean, I'm assuming this is Fenrir I'm facing off against, there's not exactly a shortage of wolf-related deitys out there.
The fetters on it's leg are kind of a giveaway though, a remnant of it's attempt to chow down on Odin.
Regardless, I put aside my adrenaline rush from the near miss and instead summon a plain metal spear with a 'Clovis' style head using Forge of the Father and chuck it at the wolf while it's taking a moment to get it's bearings.
The weapon strikes it's front left leg, although Fenrir's only reaction is to give me an annoyed growl and promptly use it's jaws to yank the thing out, ignoring the barbed head entirely.
Well…this thing is a bit larger-and meaner-than a mammoth.
Muttering under my breath I turn tail and sprint off farther into the Mendecino National Forest, moving onto the next step of my plan. A split second later there's another ferocious growl and I hear trees being pushed aside with alarming ease, Fenrir hot after my scent yet again.
Well, here's hoping my backup is ready and waiting.
Way quicker than I'd like I hear heavy breathing and footfalls maybe ten meters behind me, alot closer than what most people would consider healthy.
Instead of changing course I just sprint even faster, not bothering to do all that zig-and-zag bullshit in favor of increased speed.
Not that I'll be able to outrun the Wolf forever of course, but then again I don't need to.
The unceasing spread of trees abruptly comes to an end as I rush out into a clearing…and smirk as I see a small glint of reflected light, as if someone flashed me a signal using a bit of metal.
I take another 3 long strides, Fenrir tearing through the last barrier of wood and vegetation before giving a victorious howl, seeing that I'd reached the end of my rope and run into an unencumbered area.
Time for the coup de grâce.
Jumping as far as I can I clear most of the open space with a single bound, landing heavily on a tree branch and quickly intoning, "Spit and crackle, tear the sky asunder, Kop'yo Groma!".
The lightning spear flares to life in my hands and I pull back to throw it, locking eyes with the charging canine and carefully choosing where to throw.
The wolf in turn pays extremely close attention to me, eyes not wavering a millimeter from where I'm posing…
…And misses the most classic of all traps, a pitfall almost 5 meters deep and dissapears feet-first into it.
With a loud crack one of it's front legs snaps sideways, it's own insane momentum working against it as solid Earth battles against flesh and bone and comes out the rather conclusive winner.
Fenrir flips ass over tea kettle with a loud yip of pain and I can't help but feel like a scumbag.
Kill and maim Humans? Sure, no problem. I do it all the time.
Hurt an animal, even if it's a gigantic Deified wolf that wants to tear my throat out?
…Not so easy. I like animals.
Booting my dumb personal hangups aside for the moment I complete my throw and the Kop'yo Groma impales the wolf's neck as it goes flipping by me, eventually landing with a loud wham and upending something like 7 redwood trees in one go.
"Violent skies fly to my side and sound our clarion call, the founder of lightning and guardian of the one true root seeks your aide! Father of Storms!"
With a dull booming noise that quickly escalates into full blown artillery fire the sky is overwhelmed by thunder and lightning, which predictably causes me to grimace. Looks like I'll have lots of lovely borderline hypothermia practice after this…
"Guardian of the Olden Tree, raise your weapon against the watery depths and march against the shapeshifter of death. Perun's Stones!"
Not wasting another second I leap forward one more time, raising my fulgurite axe as I do so. Fenrir struggles up on it's 3 still working legs…only for me to embed my weapon into it's skull with a rather mundane sounding crunch, causing it to whine in pain once more before rolling away in a massive cloud of dust.
Jumping away from it's frenzied action I heave a quiet sigh and mutter, "Sorry bout this pup…", before giving a slight wave of my hand.
Right on cue a massive bolt of lightning shrieks out of the sky-
-And strikes the axe still embedded in Fenrir's face, illuminating the forest for miles around and blowing off most of the Divine Beast's head in an explosion of frying meat and disintegrating flesh.
Hmm…smells like burnt duck.
There's a brief moment where the wolf's massive body stands upright, ridgid and motionless…before it gently collapses to the ground, golden motes of light rising from it's body and slowly disappearing into the gradually darkening sky, a rather peaceful conclusion to this whole fight that had come about rather suddenly.
One moment I'd been working on Soul Read back in San Francisco, the next I heard a weird howling noise alongside with the odd, brain lurching sensation of a Heretic God incarnating on the planet.
So I'd thrown my hands up in the air and headed north, hoping that J.P.S. wouldn't decide to break tradition and bother investigating unless it was clear the thing would head towards L.A.
The rest is history. Very recent history, but history nonetheless.
"That went better than expected!"
I glance towards Audrey and Eliza as they walk out of the treeline, Audrey grinning like a mad person while Eliza is her usual stoic self.
Smirking at Audrey's comment I happily reply with, "Well what did you expect? Hopefully it wasn't an unprecedented disaster, because that's more Eliza's pessimistic outlook than it is yours."
Said Witch just rolls her eyes and dryly says, "Speaking of pessimism, are we gonna have to carry you out of the forest since you just used your Authority and everything?"
I'm about to snarkily retort when a sudden wave of tremors hits and I have to sit down on a nearby log, instinctively hugging my arms to my chest.
"…Shit, t-that totally killed m-my retort."
Eliza shoots me a look that's part smugness and part sympathy…until a strong pair of arms wrap around me from behind and her eyebrow suddenly twitches before she schools her expression into one of impassivity.
"Well if you're cold, I've heard that sharing body heat helps with that~…"
I can't help but chuckle at Audrey's words and still my chattering teeth long enough to playfully reply, "I've heard it works even better if you're naked."
"Funny, I've heard that too! Shall we test it?"
…I'm not about to turn down that offer. In fact my mouth is just opening to accept said proposition when all of the sudden there's a strange sensation that meanders through my head, like the metaphysical equivalent of someone opening a mailbox and dropping off a package.
…Well I'll be damned.
"Hey Eliza, can I see your arm for a moment?"
She looks doubtful for a split-second but shrugs and holds out her left arm while I carefully whisper, "Loose from Leyding, Strike out of Dromi, howl horribly, death of Odin. Gleipnir!".
With a playful smile on my face I gently hold Eliza's proffered hand, taking a moment to just enjoy the sensation…before I activate my newly acquired Authority and with a loud metallic clang an old style metal fetter appears around her arm, the iron ball attached to the end of the metal chain burying into the ground with a violent spray of dirt.
Her eyes shoot open in surprise as she yanks on her arm, not moving the thing in the slightest before she violently scowls in my direction.
"Jereth?"
Enjoying this way too much for my own good I drawl out, "Yeeeees?"
"If you have the slightest concern for the wellbeing of your manhood, you'll take this fucking thing off. Right. Now."
Audrey suddenly makes an erotic hum and huskily says, "Oh I don't know Eliza…I think you look pretty damn hot restrained by chains…"
Panic joins righteous indignation and Eliza urgently hisses out, "Take the damn thing off before the rapist in training over there gets any funny ideas!"
I release an overly dramatic sigh and reply, "Oh fine, take all the fun out of it why don't you…"
With a quick mental command I dispel Gleipnir and Eliza wastes no time in maneuvering me in between her and Audrey.
Chuckling I internally reflect that Fenrir must have been just powerful enough to warrant gaining an Authority out of this whole deal. A cursory inspection pegs it as not quite as powerful as my already existing Authorities, but then again…any power usurped from a Divine being isn't exactly weak.
But perhaps most importantly…
With a quick dive into my subconsciousness I gently bring out the Avatar, my first one earned thus far, of Fenrir.
With a soft rustling of fur followed by a brief growl that's more friendly than it is threatening, a gigantic wolf the size of a Gaur Bison pads up beside me before shaking itself like a dog…and lazily flinging itself at my feet before settling down for a nap.
…FUCK YES. I've always wanted a dog!
A childlike grin appears on my face as I scratch it behind it's ears, eliciting a happy pant from the massive canine as it pushes it's head against my hand.
After a moment I glance at Audrey and Eliza, the former still wrapped around me as they stare at the Fenrir look-alike (minus the fetter) with open curiosity on their faces.
"An Avatar I take it?"
I nod in response to Eliza's question before replying, "There's another benefit to this other than having a giant wolf at my beck and call though."
Audrey removes her arms and curiously asks, "Oh? And what would that be?"
Instead of using words I wrap my arms around my Avatar's neck, mentally giving it a command. With a quick toss of it's powerful neck it flips me around onto it's back and I quickly snuggle down into it's toasty fur, happy for the natural insulation.
Eliza suddenly mutters, "Dammit, I want a ride…"
Never one to pass up so obvious an opportunity Audrey smirks and asks, "Be more specific Ellie. Do you want to ride him or be ridden?"
The smaller Esoteric's only response is a low growl while Audrey just snickers. Smiling myself I try channeling a bit of Magic into Fenrir 2.0 and am more than a little pleased to see him grow in size, almost 12 meters long now. I bet I could get him to his previous size if I transferred enough Magic…
Making an imperious gesture with my hand I say, "Well my Fair Ladies, would you fancy a ride back to the City by the Bay?"
Audrey doesn't hesitate to jump up and once again wrap her arms around me while Eliza looks evidently more hesitant about the whole thing.
"What's wrong Ellie? Afraid of a little horse ride?"
Fenrir makes an odd huff noise at Audrey's mention of being a horse while Eliza instantly replies with zero emotion, "Of course I'm not." before jumping up herself.
Nothing like a little peer pressure…
I can't help but frown as I'm using Forge of the Father to make a variety of test 'products'. I briefly drop my concentration as a piece of armor floats out of the lava ball and I eye it critically. A full arm-length gauntlet of dark grey metal, reminiscent of a European knight's vambrace. I go ahead and activate Weaving of Black Wool, adding some basic Magic formulas for strengthening and kinetic impact reduction before banishing it in a flash of flame.
Taking a deep breath I summon the very same gauntlet around my arm, another miniature burst of fire marking it's appearance as it smoothly wrpas around my skin.
The first couple summonings hadn't gone so well and ended up crushing the shit out of my limbs after I'd screwed up the size of the armors. Moving extremely carefully I flex and twist my appendage, checking to see if it's workable.
Well, the spell for strengthening is working fine, seeing as how I'd based it off of the formula the Monasteries use for increasing Hime-Miko's physical durability, so far it seems to be working fine for the armors. I'll have to test the kinetic dispersal after I take the thing off.
All that said though…it's not great. If I bend my elbow too far the whole thing pinches my arm, and while the locomotion for the fingers is smooth and silent, I can only bend my fingers half as far as I normally can, totally unacceptable if I need to punch something or firmly grasp ahold of a smaller object.
With a sigh I slip the whole piece off and toss it over my shoulder, where it lands with a resounding gong on top of half a dozen other rejected pieces of armor, ranging from helms to cuirasses that I haven't bothered to manually disperse yet.
Turns out making custom armor for a certain body type with certain dimensions isn't as easy as I thought it would be.
Who knew?
…Probably everybody, actually.
"Another reject?"
I glance out of the corner of my eye at Audrey, who's standing guard while I work on this stuff and am 100% distracted by the whole process.
With another sigh I let go of Forge of the Father and watch the massive ball of magma fall back into the crater of one of the Clear Lake Volcanoes, before I go ahead and toss the practice bits of workmanship inside as well.
"Yah, I'm getting better the more I work on this but it's still kinda slow going. Honestly I was kinda just hoping that I'd be making super badass stuff right out of the gate…"
"Hmm…well all work and no play makes for a boring day. Why don't you take a break and do something more fun for a change?"
I cast an amused glance towards where she's sitting cross legged on top of a nearby boulder and archly ask, "Oh? And just what do you have in mind?"
"Well ordinarily I would suggest bullying Ellie but she's not here right now…I suppose we could have a bit of a mock-fight against each other…or we could call Creele and bother him with dumb questions…or we could go visit Charlton as Vincent Freedman and Adrianna and mess with her head for a bit…or…"
At this she subtly shifts her body so that one leg is hanging off the rock, one arm supporting her chin as she gazes directly at me and oh boy it's erotic in a way that I really don't know how to describe.
"…We could relax with something more, shall we say, intimate."
Damn if that isn't tempting…but for whatever reason her mention of Creele reminded that there's something very important I want to get done as soon as possible.
"While I'd be more than happy to 'intimately relax' with you later Audrey, you just reminded me of something very interesting that I want to do…the reformation of the Xul Sharur."
Her eyes briefly widen in shock before an unstoppable grin appears on her face, eyes practically dancing with excitement.
"King, I like your idea way better than mine. The Xul Sharur eh? Well, if there's anytime that needs a group like that, I'd say it's now."
Xul Sharur. An old Sumerian term that roughly translates to 'Demon Hunter'. The Xul Sharur consist of 12 of the best Monastic Esoterics drawn from all the disparate Branches into one group that takes on the deadliest and most important assignments that typically require a unilateral approach. There's only 2 instances of the Xul Sharur being formed in recorded Monastic history.
The first was during the Godslayer with Ten Lives campaign, often serving as his personal execution squad. The second was during the crusades of around 1100-1250 A.D., since having large swathes of religious people suddenly come under threat from an outside faith tends to provoke significant amounts of Heretic God activity.
Each time the Xul Sharur was formed it was during a period of incredible deity related attacks, necessitating a powerful group of Esoterics that could quickly answer to a variety of dangerous threats in significant numbers, ranging from putting down large cults to straight up fighting a Heretic God.
Needless to say, the Xul Sharur have high attrition rates.
But they're the best, always standing at the forefront of whatever universe-ending crisis is thrown our way and always walking away victorious, no matter the cost.
We're going to need that kind of strength in the coming years, if not decades.
I bring myself back to the present where Audrey is still visibly giddy about my plan and calmly ask, "On that note, can you get ahold of Creele and tell him to have the other Branches send 9 of their best Esoterics?"
"Sure thing! Wait…why 9?"
I grin and innocently reply, "Well obviously because you, Eliza and-I can't believe I'm fucking saying this-Tim are the first 3 Xul Sharur in almost 800 years. So congratulations on your likely fatal promotion."
She snorts at that but then seems to grow pensive, looking up at the sky as she quietly whispers, "The first in 8 centuries…now how about that."
She turns a legitimately grateful and relaxed smile on me and says, "Thank you, Jereth."
I'm momentarily confused by her sudden attitude but then recall that she always seemed…well, envious of my and Eliza's drive, our willingness to do what needed to be done for a cause we believe in.
Maybe this is just the thing she's been looking for.
Her smile effortlessly turns into a grin again as she cutely asks, "So you trust Tim enough to let him in on this, hmm?"
I roll my eyes and dryly respond, "The guy plays everything so damn close to the chest I'm surprised he can even extend his arms. I had to ask Mateo for his take on the dude and he's easily a top tier Esoteric. Then again I probably could have guessed that since he kicked my ass before I became a Campione…"
She suddenly snickers as she holds the now ringing phone to her ear and bemusedly asks, "Tim kicked the crap out of you? Now that's something I would have liked to see…"
"Funny, that's something I would like for you not to see."
I turn back towards the lip of the volcano and frown slightly.
…At some point in the near future I'm gonna have to get taught by someone who knows the intricacies of Magical metalworking, because I feel more than a little limited in what I'm doing right now…
"Well your buddy was weirdly enthusiastic after hearing this bit of news, normally he's all grumbles and pissyiness whenever he hears one of your ideas."
That drags a snort out of me and I offer a relaxed smile.
"So how about that offer of physical relaxation? Still open?"
She laughs and punches me playfully on the arm.
"Totally flattered King, but you don't honestly think I want to do it in this kind of setting, do you? Sure, it'd be 'hot' and all, but I'm pretty energetic during sex, something that sharp volcanic rocks don't mix well with."
"Oh curses, blue-balled yet again, this time by the environment of all things."
Audrey just laughs before winking at me and slowly running a finger down my arm.
"Feel free to remind me later, I'll make it worth the wait."
"My anticipation is throbbing."
"Oh man, I can see why Creele often sounds so exhausted after talking to you. Your wordplay is painful."
I defensively raise my hands and reply, "Hey he has no shortage of bad jokes himself, he just likes to think he's funnier."
?
Oh? A consensus has been reached? Then that means it's time for us to continue our work, is it not? Although…
Portents suggest that the enforcers of this universe's iteration are gathering power, centered around their 'Godslayer' and preparing to spill forth across the planet, their crusade beginning yet again.
Well, should they do so we will be there to meet them with the blessing of the Nighted Throne itself, much like we did millennia ago.
What comfort malice and vengeance bring…
.
.
From the Notes of Creele
(Monastic Exoteric, Second in Command of the North American Branch)
In the interest of my own sanity I have decided to compile a list (which will be ever-changing I imagine) of Jereth's Authorities and their myriad effects. Thus far his Authorities have been derived from Deities comprising the Triglav, while even more unprecedented is that he has been given more than 1 Authority from both Veles and Perun, although Svarog only imparted one Authority, we can assume from now on that it will be one Authority per deity slain. Thus far Jereth has acquired 8 Authorities.
From the God Veles:
World Tree Usurper: Based off of the legend when Veles offered a grieving widow passage with his flocks in order to heal, angering Perun, this Authority summons any trees, birds or amphibians nearby to attack Jereth's enemy. While the trees can be controlled according to his will, he cannot create them from nothing and must use the available flora to be effective.
This Authority cannot be activated unless someone other than himself is attacked and injured, additionally he must consider the attacked person to be an ally, friend or innocent bystander.
Incantation: "Lonely Widow wishing for release cry no more, the Earth will grant you passage and protection for you're journey, whether threat from God or Man be made apparent. World Tree Usurper!"
Serpent's Skin: Veles was considered to be a shapeshifter in many Slavic legends and he used this trait in order to avoid Perun's attacks which would have otherwise struck him down. Jereth considers this power to be very well suited for his work as an Esoteric, and is already planning to use it's powers of concealment and deception to it's fullest.
This is a viable strategy since apparently not even other Campione can tell if he is using this Authority or not. When Salvatore Doni, an incredibly instinctive and observant fighter, encountered Jereth using this Authority he didn't take notice of it's activation or it's effect.
The only restrictions this Authority seems to have is that the user must have a clear image of the appearance they wish to take (a walk in the park for any Monastic) and stay within 10 meters of at least 1 other Human being. We're not sure why 10 meters, perhaps something to do with the distance Sheep would maintain from their shepherd? Jereth's thoughts on the matter were, "Who cares why it works if we know how it works?"
Incantation: "Slither through the fields of lightning and thunder, deceive our foe and live to fight another day. Serpent's Skin!"
Weaving of Black Wool: The Authority Jereth considers to be the most valuable, and potentially overpowering, of Veles's repertoire. This power affords Jereth the ability to 'see' and 'weave' the very fabric of Magic itself. This sounds impressive, although largely useless against other Campione and Gods due to their naturally strong resistance against Magic, until you consider the possibilities.
Jereth has been experimenting continuously with this Authority, attempting to find out just what this strange ability is capable of. So far he hasn't found any discernible limits to what Black Wool can do given enough time.
He has successfully engraved spell effects onto armor and weapons (similar to how our body engravings automatically enhance our strength when Magic is pushed into them), begun creating several new pieces of Magic and proven that he can both alter or destroy Spells that have either been created or are being created.
Jereth is confident that given the time to do so he can create original spells that are capable of matching Authority level Magic, even if they aren't as efficient as the original powers themselves since they are fueled by Jereth's own Magic power rather than through some other effect.
An additional benefit to this Authority is that he's proven able to combine it with Forge of the Father and directly inscribe spells onto the works he's created. While already very powerful, Jereth is convinced that, given the opportunity to learn and experiment, he can create weaponry or armor on the level of ancient artifacts created by master craftsmen of millennia past.
This power requires no incantation although it has two strange drawbacks. The first is that whenever it's activated Jereth's eyes glow in strange, shifting patterns of color. Seeing as how this rather obviously telegraphs when he is using it he has taken to wearing special contact lenses during combat. The last wrinkle is that as of now he can only keep it activated for about 12 hours at a time before a rather…fitting price is paid. Once he de-activated the Authority during one of these hours long sessions his eyes were immediately assailed by a pain that he so eloquently described as, "Getting fucked in the eye-socket by a barb wire cock."
He's more careful to time his usage now.
From the God Perun:
Father of Storms: This Authority allows it's user to create a lightning storm wherever and whenever they wish, as well as alter it's ferocity. However, Jereth said that summoning a storm from almost nothing rapidly left him in borderline hypothermia, meaning that any fight should be ended quickly if such a method is used. What he instead discovered was that using an already existing storm has practically no consequences whatsoever. Even physically moving the weather formation from one location to another takes trivial amounts of effort.
While actually being able to summon the storm is impressive, Jereth's level of control over the actual lightning isn't as awe-inspiring. According to him trying to precisely hit targets with the lightning strikes is a hit-or-miss proposition at best (exuse the pun).
Incantation: Violent skies fly to my side and sound our clarion call, the founder of lightning and guardian of the one true root seeks your aide! Father of Storms!"
Perun's Stones: While we're unsure as to whether this can be considered an Authority, since it has effects and perks more akin to an avatar, it requires a chant nonetheless, so we'll just go ahead and call it it's own Authority.
Invoking this power arms Jereth with Perun's fulgurite axe and bow, along with all the powers they contain. Having these weapons active greatly increases a Campione's already substantial resistance against poisons and Magic, while other Lightning based attacks will be either useless or mitigated. Obviously we haven't been able to test how effective this Authority is at controlling other Campione's lightning Authorities.
Regardless there appears to be almost no cost to using this 'Authority' and should one of the weapons be broken, they can be re-made almost instantaneously. After all, fulgurite is easy to make when you have a lightning storm under your control.
Jereth mentioned that he found the electrical storm much easier to manipulate when using the Stones, able to use the weapons almost like a conducting stick to control the lightning strikes.
Incantation: "Guardian of the Olden Tree, raise your weapon against the watery depths and march against the shapeshifter of death. Perun's Stones!"
Golden Apples: By far the most immediately lethal of Jereth's available Authorities are the Golden Apples, Perun's quintessential ace in the hole. Initial testing by Jereth made it clear that while powerful, this Authority comes with a great deal of limiting factors. First of all is the necessary requirements for it to be activated. The enemy has to verbally state their intention to either hurt, defeat or kill Jereth or people he considers close to him. This requirement likely came about from Perun's role as a guardian against Veles, being unable to use his most destructive power unless forced to.
Any opponent with half a working brain and prior knowledge of this Authority's requirements can easily circumnavigate it, simply not stating their intent to do harm. Also Jereth has very shaky control over the actual Authority itself. He's unable to summon all three 'Apples' as of now, only managing one. He also has to keep the Authority physically contained in his hand, if he tries to have it orbit him, or even throw it, it rapidly dissipates with large scale destruction as a result.
But these requirements seem fair once you consider just how lethal this Authority really is. The Golden Apples are nothing more than ball lightning, but not just any old lightning. At the heart of the orb of electricity sits a micro-singularity, the power source keeping the ball from spreading outwards violently. Any opponent hit directly by this will find themselves burnt from the highly compressed lightning shell or torn to pieces once the singularity reaches their body, in fact it ripped straight through Svarog's armor and skin without the slightest bit of resistance, a terrifying display of lethality if you ask me.
A very telegraphed move, but very powerful.
Incantation: "He grabbed three golden apples And threw them high into the sky, three lightning bolts burst from the sky, the first struck at two young grooms, the second struck a horse in a stall, the third struck six hundred wedding guests, not an eyewitness left, not even to say how they died. Golden Apples!"
From the God Svarog:
Forge of the Father: Svarog was often associated with metalwork and was considered the Slavic approximation of Hephaestus, and this Authority certainly continues that comparison.
The requirements for using this Authority are quite simple. It needs to be used over an active volcano…and that's it.
The more complicated part is the actual effects the Authority has.
When used, a large ball of molten rock and metal is levitated above the lip of the volcano, the raw material that's used to create the metals that will be crafted into something usable.
Jereth described using it as if his body became the very flow of magma itself, his muscles and mind working in tandem to bring about whatever creation he can envision. So far he's created many different kind of melee weapons and various armor pieces, but is still working on creating more complicated things. There are also limits to what can be created using this Authority. Synthetic materials like plastics and composites are either impossible to create or Jereth simply hasn't found a method to do so yet, so unfortunately mass producing magically enhanced modern firearms and the like is off the table for now.
More's the pity.
Anyway, there are a few interesting perks to the actual weapons and armor or whatever created using this Authority. Jereth can summon whatever he's created with this Authority with zero incantation and almost zero Magic strength expended, initial estimates suggest he could summon thousands, if not tens of thousands of spear sized objects before his reserves start to become dangerously low. A slight downside to the summoning is that said tools appear in a blaze of fire and sparks, not exactly the most stealthy of methods.
Not that the Bat-Gwai cares, he friggin' loves eye-catching stuff like that.
Continuing with the conditions, there's one that could be considered extremely limiting by most, but not by us.
Namely being, whatever construct Jereth makes using this Authority can only be used by someone he considers 'worthy' of using it.
You can see the difficulty this might present.
When testing this out he gave a random civilian on the street a kitchen knife he'd made and asked them to cut a vegetable for him, citing some weird excuse about him being a street vendor. As soon as the civvy had made to start chopping, the knife disappeared in a flash of flame, requiring a rather hasty bout of hypnotism.
Not that this bothers us overmuch, in fact it could be downright beneficial. Jereth considers anyone who's trained by the Monasteries to be automatically worthy of his creations, having had first-hand experience of just how brutal our training can be, as well as the sacrifices we make over the course of our lives, however long or short they end up being.
He may not like every Monastic in existence, but he doesn't deny that they are, without a doubt, worthy of handling his creations.
Other than that things are rather straightforward. He can dispel the things created with a simple mental command, or leave them summoned and they'll automatically dispel themselves after 24 hours.
The only real downside is that the actual act of using the Authority, the creation process itself, is heavily taxing in terms of Magic power expended.
As of now Jereth estimates that he could run Forge of the Father for 8 hours maximum before bleeding himself completely dry, an impressive cost considering Campione's incredible reserves of Magic.
Incantation: "Place of the Sun, Creator of Metal and Fire, awaken from restful slumber and stoke the fires of the Great Blacksmith once more! Forge of the Father!"
From the Divine Beast Fenrir:
Gleipnir: Not the strongest or most versatile of the Bat-Gwai's Authorities, but perhaps that is to be expected from a being that was only slightly above the level of a Divine Beast. Using Gleipnir Jereth can summon up to 3 metal fetters that can be used to restrain or immobilize an opponent. The only catch is that physical contact must be made in order to apply the fetter, he can't just will it into existence on somebody. Some initial testing with this Authority revealed that a single fetter can easily restrain a normal Human, even talented Mages with Witch ancestry such as Elizaveta found themselves unable to break free of the trap, and Jereth believes that it can impair abilities to turn incorporeal and similar things like that. Additionally he can also combine the 3 separate fetters into 1 exceedingly strong trap, something that will likely be necessary against stronger targets or those that can Magically enhance their strength. It remains to be seen whether it can stand up to a God or Campione's level of strength however.
This is the first Authority Jereth has earned that let's him manifest an Avatar (Provided we ignore the pseudo Avatar that is Perun's Stones), said Avatar being the wolf Fenrir himself. This Avatar can be fed Magic power to allow him to grow in size, all the way to his original state that was roughly the size of a small yacht. Fenrir is also exceedingly obedient and receptive to Jereth's commands, acting more like a normal house pet around him than it does a deified beast.
Leave it to the Bat-Gwai to do something as utterly idiotic as use a Divine Beast as a Companion Dog…
Incantation: "Loose from Leyding, Strike out of Dromi, howl horribly, death of Odin. Gleipnir!"
Ok, first time we've got a list of Authorities actually added in a chapter, lemme know if the format for it is fine, I tried to make it clear where the story ends and the list begins, but one man's page break is another man's question mark, as the modern saying probably go's.
Also, is it a little too obvious who/what the being at the end is? I tried to drop hints without it being overly simple to find out XD
Kshail: Your mention of the journal being picked up by some random person made me think of Burn After Reading's 'it was just lying there...' scene and couldn't stop laughing XD Yuri is going to have a role farther down the road, in fact she kicks things off in a manner of speaking lol.
HelpfulNudge: Well you didn't have to wait long then, this chapter got right off into it. That said it'll be awhile before Jereth ends up with another Authority, for now this is the hand to be played with.
pwashington: Athena definitely shows up, and that never say die till dead spirit of hers plays a part, stay tuned :D
xanothos: Thanks for the reviews, and yah, the HRH was a LN original but I'm not gonna have it play much, if any, roll in this fic. Alec will end up confronting Guinevere in a far different manner, and it's gonna cause Spain's coastline quite a bit of grief.
polarpwnage: You hit the nail on the head, I have a number of chapters devoted to the inevitable showdown between those 3 and the end results of it.
piddle: No problem, thanks for the review and feel free to let me know if the format of the Authority list works!
Next chapter is a long one, about twice as long really, but one I had an interesting time writing. Stay tuned!
Also holy crap, just passed the 10,000 view mark on this story! Not exactly a large number by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm a small time writer, so seeing a 5 digit number is like getting free pizza!
...I must be hungry.
