Chapter 17: Display of Power
Author's Note:
Another chapter done and this one is interesting. More set up than anything, but frankly I enjoyed because I loved writing cute moments for the main threesome in the story. Of course, I am doing my best to balance things like world building and exposition. I know not a lot of people like reading paragraphs of exposition, so I am trying not to over blow it. Still mistakes can slip through, but I am doing best on whatever advice I can get. Anyway, I hoped you enjoy the chapter! This is TheFoolOfTheNoon signing off!
/
Ankha's P.O.V.
The next day came after celebrations died down and life returned normal for these people. Funeral rites were performed for the dead soldiers who lost their lives in the battle, there were plans made to retrieve their bodies today so they can be buried. We all attended, me myself appearing to give special prayer to their souls while wearing my priestess attire. After that we met up with the kings so I can negotiate the refurbishing of their Temple to the cat mother. I explained to them what I need in order to make the temple an appropriate hallowed ground for Bastet's worship.
("Ah…I see, after your help we will be more than happy to get you the items you require,") Taimolche said happily.
("No doubt the populace will be happy to know they will be able to worship the goddess correctly. You say this will bring her power too?") Olemach added with interest.
("Yes, with your large population much of her power will be restored if not completely restore her. Though, I am not sure why your gods have not been revived yet,") it really has been bothering me ever since their existence was brought to my attention.
("Ah, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca need more than worship to gain power. They require sacrifice, in this case blood tribute. They normally require full on lives, but due to their situation and not willing to push on us old traditions they lowered their demands to simple blood.")
Taimolche's explanation made sense to me as well to everybody else as they were discussing among themselves on the topics brought up, ("Well I guess that covers everything, I will make you a letter so you can send some men out to retrieve the items from Ser-Ka. Don't worry, I will leave out any details about your hidden kingdom.")
("Thank you Ankha, well that's settled,") they both extended an open arm for a handshake which I gave them with a smile. With that done, I only had more thing to ask of the two kings.
("Sorry to ask for one more thing, but is it alright that I that I explore the water temple? Clearly it was made for me however, I didn't want to just walk out there without your permission.")
("It's quite alright Ankha, you have our blessings. Honestly, we are quite curious of the temple ourselves so we hope you can enlighten us with what you find in there.")
("I can certainly do that; well I'll be seeing you then with that letter.")
("We will be waiting for it,") we gave respectful bows to one another before we left the throne room where we held the meeting.
We return to our huts and I quickly got to work on that letter. It did not really take long but it should be enough to convince Ser-Ka the people they sent over are from me. Still, thinking about her returned my mind to her relationship with Bladeius. Just how did they meet and what was their relationship like? Sigh…questions for another time. I still have one more problem before setting out for the water temple, Nacho's condition.
I practically promised that I will help him somehow, but I have not got the foggiest clue how to go about that. As I was informed, purification magic will not help so really the only way is to get him to release the beast within in a safe place. Maybe Azhum can teleport him to a place where there are no signs of life to be infected by the virus. If such a place exists, then we can easily solve the problem. Though I will have to be there with Isabelle just so he does not go out of control.
With the letter done I asked Lucky to deliver it to the kings as I handle the situation with Nacho then the temple. He agreed and took off with the letter as I sought out Azhum who was not far and was meditating,
"Azhum? Pardon the intrusion but I wonder if you can help me out with Nacho's corruption?"
"I assume you have a different idea how to do it? Because I already said magic won't help him."
"I am aware, but is there any place without any life that you know of?"
Azhum paused as he began flipping through pages, this lasted a couple of minutes before stopping on a single page, "Ah! There is one location that is lacking life in this world. It is called the deadlands, nothing grows or live there anymore due to an incident in the past."
"What was the incident? It must have been seriously bad if no life thrives there."
"I can tell you more about it later, but yes it can work. I doubt your lover can do anything to make the region even worse."
"Well I wouldn't make a bet on that but at least it will be an isolated area. So how soon can we do this?"
"I'm ready when you are, but I will need time to recharge once I make the portal to go there. So, I must ask if you really have time to waste helping your lover. As I recall there is a temple you must attend to."
"Yes, but Nacho and Isabelle take higher priority on my list. Besides, it will still be there waiting for me. There no need to rush."
"Heh, at least you know what's important. Okay, gather your lovers and meet me outside. Let us deal with this corruption problem before it gets out of hand."
I agreed and left the talking tome to get Nacho and Isabelle. It did not take long and once we were together Azhum created a portal for us and we stepped through it.
/
The trip through the portal was quick and sudden as our surroundings shifted from the green foliage and blueish stone to open grey sands and scorched earth. The air here was different and sent a shiver down my spine. I looked around and saw no sign of life anywhere, it was completely dead, and it unnerved me. I tried not to show it though.
"It certainly lives up to the name. Just what happened here?"
"Its kinda spooky…" Isabelle shuddered.
"Yeah, deserts have more life than this place," Nacho said as he gazed around.
Azhum did not say anything as he just let out a wistful sigh as he looked around. As if some old memories were coming back to him. He shook his head as he turned back to us, "Well…a Magi-Beast happened. A Volcannondon, a thrill-seeking magi beast that loves to live in volcanos and stir them up to explode. One of the dastards launched himself so high that when he landed it wiped out a city to pure nothing. It was a horrible sight, an explosion comparable to a meteorite impact simply erased this place to what you see today. The lives here just simply ceased to exist; I assume many did not know what happened after they died. All because those things wanted cheap thrills. I truly detest that Magi-Beast."
We all looked at each other in silence as Azhum's eye closed before he spoke again, "Sorry…that was many years ago. It was the main reason why I pursued the path of a magic master."
"It's quite alright, but with that context in mind. Are you sure you can let Nacho to go Apex here?"
"Yes Ankha, the once proud city is gone now, and all is left is dust and sand. If it means I can prevent another city-wide calamity then by all means, release that darkness."
"Alright, Nacho you hear that? Feel free to release that pent up…wild side of yours?"
"I know what you mean, okay here goes nothing. You might want to stand back everyone."
We all gave Nacho a wide breath as Nacho closed his eyes and began to do…something. Honestly, it looked like he was trying to…'let one rip' as they say. It is certainly a less than flattering for the kind of man he is, I might tease him for it later. Still after a minute something began happening to him. I felt his mana surge in his body as the air around me started flowing and the earth began to quake. My eyes widen as I took a few more steps back as the pressure increased and Nacho began releasing a dark red aura that floated off his body before being carried by the wind.
"What's going on?! What's happening to Nacho?!" Isabelle shouted at me as the winds picked up.
"I don't know! I felt his mana surge and then this is happening! This is new to me!"
"By the gods…my suppression spell! It must have backed up the corruption in his body! I don't know how but its reacting to the mana in his body!"
"What's that suppose to mean Azhum?!" I shouted at him with a hint of anger.
"Isabelle and Nacho asked my help in suppressing his corruption! It worked but it would look like it had done more! I had no idea this would happen! I don't even know what's going to happen!"
Azhum casted a protective barrier on all of us to protect us from the growing powerful pressure that kicked up the sand and debris from the area and swung them around. Nacho himself had his magical aura erupt from his body, sending another wave of power that pushed us back even with the barrier up. What made things worse is the barrier cracked thanks to Azhum's waning magic power as he used up a lot making the portal; he needed our help.
"Girls! An impromptu lesson! Stick your hands out and imagine making a wall of magic! When multiple barrier spells are used together, they collectively strengthen! Quick! Do it now!"
Isabelle and I looked at each and nodded before doing as he instructed. Sticking out hands out and imagining creating a barrier. I felt mana flow out of my hands and adding its magical power to the barrier. Turning the purplish barrier somewhat golden.
"RRRRRAAAAGGGHHHHH!"
Nacho's roar nearly had me lose focus as the sudden push almost made me yelp in surprise. Who did yelp was Isabelle who lost her footing from the sudden movement, "Isabelle! Focus!"
"I know! Come on…come on…"
I watched as Isabelle took a deep breath as her own green aura of magic kicked in and began adding to the barrier. Reinforcing it even more, I smiled as we kept it up. Nacho's roars though weakened can still be heard through the barrier as another wave of force push us back. It was insane at how much power Nacho was holding back from the corruption. It was scary but also a testament to Nacho's willpower. I'm glad I came along for this or else this would have been more complicated.
"RRRRRAAAAGGGHHHHH!"
One more wave of pure power came at us and it was the strongest wave. It felt like something huge exploded in front of us, but we could not see anything as darkness enveloped our barrier and blocked out the light of day. We kept the barrier strong as the wave of force stayed out longer and pushed us a fair distance. After a few minutes, the force ceased and nothing else happened. Carefully we all lowered the barrier and the dark clouds pass us by. Only after this we were able to see what was going on, and we were horrified. Large crater was all that was left of the spot where Nacho once stood and quickly, we were sliding down it. Down in the center of said crater was the glowing form of Nacho…well sort of…
He had beast triggered during his release of his corruption and it was that one form he only used once before. The Chimera form, I was wary as he had no practice with the form and its highly likely that he already lost control. Once we hit the bottom of the crater, I was nearly floored by the amount of power he was emitting. His familiar dragonic chimera form was breathing heavily and viciously, but he wasn't moving.
"What is this power…are you sure your lover is human? What is this?" Azhum said with wonder.
"Well…mostly human. He does have monster DNA and you are aware he can beast trigger," I gestured to Nacho, "Though this is what we call the chimera form, which he has no history of being able to control."
"But he isn't doing anything, just heavily breathing…" Isabelle pointed out.
She is right, despite the huge output of energy that was released and his transformation into his chimera form; he did not do anything. Like a living statue he was only giving small movements from his breathing alone. Cautiously, Isabelle and I approached Nacho with small steps. As we got closer, we can feel a pressure pushing down on us. Like the gravity around him was somehow heavier. The closer we got the harder it got to move as the pressure grew more crushing. It didn't occur to me until now that the crater wasn't just created by the explosion we felt, but also the heavy gravity near Nacho.
"Nacho! Can you hear me? Its us! Snap out of it!" I shouted at him,
"Please! You're hurting us!"
Our words reached him as he turned to look at us. He saw our struggle against the heavy gravity and almost immediately the heavy weight on our bodies lifted and we nearly stumbled from the change. Thankfully, he quickly came to our aid and stopped us from falling. Though clearly this was his instinct to protect his mates as he did not speak to us as he did it. Just making growls and other beastly sounds. Still this form is unique due to the mix of features from the monsters whose DNA he absorbed. Said monsters being the Great Jaggi, Zamtrios, Brachydios, Sliver Rathalos, Kirin, Shagaru and Chaotic Gore Magala.
"Thank you, can you hear us?"
"Nod your head if yes or shake your head no."
Nacho nod his head which was relieving as it would mean that he wouldn't run wild, but still I can feel that he hasn't worked out all that corruption in his body. Maybe he needs to release some of the power a bit more. Well, I suppose we can let him use some of it here and hopefully nothing terribly bad happens.
"Okay, Nacho. Listen to my words, I need to you to blow off some steam. So, help us out of the crater and feel free to do what you want under our supervision. Okay?"
He nodded as he picked us both up and flew out of the crater with Azhum quietly following us. We landed on a solid piece of land with more open desolate land in front of us, but we could not tell how far it went thanks to the darkness that blocked out the daylight. I know by now that its' Nacho's scales carrying the virus into the air and creating a dome of territory. He looked at us, looking for approval to run wild on the open land. We gave him a firm nod and he took off; we were not prepared for what would happen next. A display of power that shook the land as Nacho crash landed into the ground and erected a stone pillar from the ground. He then proceeded to punch and shatter sections of the pillar with vicious explosions. The rubble created from the shattered stone flew off like a shotgun blast thanks to his Ki.
"By the name of Ra, never did I think he had this much power. It's frightening to see him to be let loose like this."
"Yeah, I only saw a glimpse of this back on the attack on the base. This isn't the Nacho we know and love."
"Yes, but it is a part of him, at least I think it is," I took her hand into mines and gently squeezed it.
"I think so too…he needs us more than ever."
"No, we need each other more than ever. We all have issues in one form or another. Something made apparent by Aten. We need to stay strong or else everything will fall apart."
I look over back to Nacho who summoned more stone pillars and began using more abilities from the monster's DNA he took. However, the attacks were devastating and shook the ground we sat on. The savagery was simply unreal, and power can be felt even from a distance.
I looked over to Isabelle who closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, "I don't want everything to fall apart. Not after everything we been through. That is why I will do all I can Ankha, for you and Nacho."
"Thanks Isabelle, I will do the same," I pulled her in for a kiss. Her soft lips meeting mines as we let our passion speak for us and comfort us. We let our lips remained locked with one another for a few minutes before pulling away for oxygen. It was only after we broke our kiss, we noticed that the banging of Nacho's rampage has stopped. We looked up to see our shared lover, in his transformed state, looking at us with concern in his eyes.
I smiled softly at him as he leaned and hugged us both. Showing that despite his savagery, Nacho's heart is still in there. An animal he was now, but a man with a heart of gold remains. We gave him small pecks on his scaly cheeks before letting go to waste the rest of his energy. It was odd, this felt like a small break in a park. I closed my eyes as I slowly began to hum a little song in my native tongue.
Its sweet melody calmed me further and brought me peace of mind. I sang the song for probably five minutes, breaks included just to have Isabelle point out to me that Nacho has begun to slow down. I opened my eyes to see he was yawning and heading back towards us. We welcomed him with open arms as we let him lay on our laps and gently pet his scaly hide and surprisingly silky fur. Eventually, he fell asleep and a dark cloud of smoke covered him before blowing away and revealing a very human Nacho sleeping soundly.
"Hehehe, he looks so cute when he is sleeping like that," Isabelle gushed.
"Heh, I will admit, it's hard to resist the urge to take a picture."
We shared a small laugh as Azhum flew into view. Having been silent this entire time this event has been playing out. We looked at him as he stared off blankly into the empty space that has been ravaged by Nacho's rampage, "What power…here I thought a Volcannondon was capable of shifting lands, changing the landscape. However, your lover is something else…"
"It surprised us too, still…it was a great idea for him to let go here than a public place. I can only shudder to think the damage he would have done. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself."
I looked down to the sleeping form of Nacho and took note that much of the corruption has receded, but his hands are still wholly covered in the darkness that once threaten to consume him. I sighed as I took his hand and gently massaged it.
"It would appear that not all the corruption left him," Azhum said as he noticed my discovery.
"Yeah…I assume its because we took too long to release him."
"Well…its better than what could have been," Isabelle said optimistically.
"Indeed," I gave a small smile as I kissed his hand and put I back down.
"I must ask, this…Chimera form. What do you two know about it?"
"Well…we don't actually know a lot about it," Isabelle sheepishly smiled.
"What we do know is that it is indeed Nacho's most powerful form that he can transform into, but how can he transform into it is uncertain. We tried to get him to turn into the beast many times before with the plan of helping him control it, however, to no success. We only saw him transform into this form once and it was during a battle with a nigh unstoppable elder dragon. The form itself is composed of the DNA of monsters he absorbed and mixed to form a new beast. So, it has all their powers and whatever Nacho can develop himself."
"That is a terrifying thought, if this ever goes public, I have no doubt the guild will send people to detain him. His potential damage to the world is too much for them just let him run free."
"Really? Then this is something we must keep to ourselves."
"Indoubly, by the way, how long does this dome of the virus last?"
"I don't know…the beasts who can create fields like this have different conditions. The Gore Magala only lasts as long as it is enraged, but its adult form the Shagaru last as long as it is alive."
"Where does Nacho fall into?"
"I…" I paused to think, the process of elimination in my mind had me come to a terrible conclusion which I hope isn't true, "He…could possibly fall into the latter…now that I think about it…"
"Oh no…" Isabelle managed to squeak out.
Azhum went silent as he emitted a magical ball of light that scanned the surroundings of the land. I assumed he was checking how far the dome goes and with bated breath to hear the results. Once he was done, he cursed under his breath as he turned to us, "Here I thought he couldn't make the dead lands deader, your lover just created a dome of his virus that covers nearly over sixty percent of this landmass!"
Our eyes widen as he showed us an outside view image of the dead lands and revealing the size of the dome, "By Ra's tail feathers…not even the Shagaru made one this big!"
"W-Was this because of his corruption?" Isabelle uttered in pure shock.
"I can only assume so, no doubt this will gain the attention of the guild already. We must take our leave and figure new methods to keep your lover's corruption in check, so he doesn't do this again."
"Agreed, though, he isn't going like the fact that he just created a dome of his virus that won't go away until he dies."
"That is something that must be dealt with in time, but for now. Let us take our leave," Azhum erected another portal and with Isabelle's help I was able to carry the sleeping form of Nacho through the portal.
/
Adofo's P.O.V.
The volcanic heat was merely an annoyance to me as I stared down the fiery molten pit with disdain. I was never fond of volcanos, not since that one time I shudder to remember. The dusty and warm air made breathing a chore as the burnt smell was constant. Still, where my lord goes, I must follow. I was quietly observing and listening to his words, his plans that currently are in motion.
"As you can see Adofo, lying in wait in the volcano are creatures with great power of destruction waiting to be invoked. Dragons, Serpents, Golems, Demons, Devils, and all sorts of magical creatures associated with fire."
"I see, I imagine you are going to bring one of these creatures here to start trouble for Ankha. I assume a dragon as they are powerful creatures."
"Indeed, but that would be narrow thinking my dear Adofo. This world has proven that there can be more dangerous things than dragons. As a matter of fact, what I am looking for is already here."
A small rumble within the volcano shakes my footing and alerting me to a larger presence, "What was that?"
"That my dear Adofo, is the magi-beast I am looking for. With it I shall…add some pressure to the lovely feline that may cause something cataclysmic damage to this kingdom she grown fond of. Decisions decisions…of course…there is that one other monster I want to unleash…"
"I am aware lord Aten. Just what is exactly your plan with…that one?"
"Simple, spread chaos. Until that time comes though, the pawns must be put into place," he smirked, his fangs glistening under the fiery light which gave me a glimpse of what he has become. Scales on his face, pronounced fangs…snake like eyes, it was truly terrifying.
He charged a spell in his hands before flinging it into the hellish pit of the volcano. Something in there reacted to the magic power and made its way to where it landed. The thunderous shaking nearly had me lose my footing as I got a glimpse of a molten carapace leaping out and gobbling the magic.
"It eats magic?!"
"Only certain kinds, hehehe, this will speed things along."
Aten evilly chuckled to himself as I can only watch him feed a monster and giving it more power than I can imagine.
/
? P.O.V.
"Hah!" a great magi beast fell before me. Something that I grew to know as a Roccer, its feathers made of thin sharp crystal fell from the sky as my savage blow knocked the monster back to earth. Its body making an impact to the ground, shaking it, and cracking it under its weight. I smiled as I sheathed my weapon to the side and checked my armor. It needed some repairs and the monster managed to cut through it cleanly enough where I was bleeding. It was only after I saw the wounds, I began feeling the stinging pain.
"Ow ah…shh…that hurts…that hurts a lot."
"Really? Again? You really must stop making yourself the center of attention. I can only mend your wounds so much," Spoke a stern yet caring voice from none other than my companion. A beautiful arctic wolf with fur white as snow that contrasted the earthly and rocky terrain, we are in. Her stern blue eyes had me chuckle as I removed my armor to reveal the damage done to my body. She went to work healing my wounds and in no time at all the wounds were closed.
"Thanks Whitney, ow…still sore."
"Of course, you knuckle head. You would think the time we spent together hunting these beasts for the guild you would have remembered that by now. Don't you think Marshal and Kiki?"
"Well we are kinda newbies, but I can only imagine with you two. Here I though our mayor Nacho did crazy things on adventures, but we been practically iskaied into another world! Honestly, I didn't think we would keep up!"
"Yeah, hehehe, you were grinning like a child in a candy store when we first came here," Kiki teased as she petted the white squirrel.
I laughed as Marshal blushed red and his tail stiffened. It was a long story how I got these two to join me and Whitney on this crazy adventure trip, but so far it has been fun. However, this little merry band of fun was interrupted as I got a notice on my adventurers scroll which caused it to beep in alert. I took out the magi-tech device and checked it to see it was an urgent notice from the Guild. Taking out my Arcanite adventurer tag and scanned it to allow me access to a video message from the head himself.
"Ah, Lavi just the man I was looking for!"
"What's going on? What's the urgency?"
"A large disturbance occurred in the deadland region. A powerful magical force was released, we already used some magic to give a quick view of the land. Here, let me show you."
He pulled up a sky image of the land and to my shock it was a large dome of darkness that covered a large portion of the land. Swirling around and blocking any view from getting in, "Who in the heck would do something like that? There is nothing the deadlands that have any sort of value that would require that kind of power! What does that dome do?"
"We have no idea but judging by the quake we felt and the size of the dome we assume it might be someone testing a powerful spell. However, due to how recent it is, we can only just throw ideas around. You are one of the best adventurer's we have in this guild and I am asking you to investigate. We will update you when we can if something new develops, tread carefully."
"Will do, over and out," the video message ended, and the investigation quest was just added to my quest list.
"What was that about?" Whitney asked me with a concerned look.
"Well gang, looks like we just got a quest from the higher ups. We need to investigate a large black dome that appeared over the deadlands."
"The deadlands?"
"Oooh…that sounds scary."
"We are just investigating, but its best not to go unprepared. Whitney, do you still have some magic left to use to make a portal back to town?"
"Just enough, stand back everyone!" Her eyes glowed and with a small chant, a blue portal opened. Marshal and Kiki did not hesitate to run into the portal while me and the lovely white wolf took our time, we walked towards it together.
"I don't know why, but you always look graceful when you cast magic my lovely snow angel."
She chuckled a bit before looking at me with a smile, "And you are brutish as ever Mr. Incredible."
"Hey, you told me you wouldn't say that out loud!" I exclaimed while blushing red.
"And you told me you wouldn't forget leaving marks for the guild so they can collect the Magi-Beasts we slayed," I slapped myself in the head as I took out a flare gun and shot it upwards.
"Better?"
"Much better," she gave me a quick peck to my cheek before pulling my hand and leading me into the portal. Another adventure awaits, but what is going on? Only one way to find out as they say and I am ready for it.