Mince used to be the cook of a minor lord, as such, he regarded himself better than the farmer in the village the lord's manor overlooked. And he regarded himself almost nobility, he was well groomed, handsome, and well built, he'd catch the eyes of the ladies and their daughters who would pay the lord's family a visit, and he'd preen like a peacock, displaying himself for their pleasure. This came to a stop when he made too good an impression on the betrothed of the lord's son, and was reminded of his place. His hands were horribly scarred, and he was forced to work barehanded during the worst of the north's winters. When Thane beheaded his master and his master's family, he happily joined him, eating Thane's promises of his own castle and servants. He trained hard, and was one of the first to accept magic power, he was one of the lucky ones, both surviving and being found to be in the top half in terms of power, he would have been captain of this squad if not for the old timer, a 1 in 100 lucky break beyond any farmer's normal station. Mince scowled behind the man's back, and bided his time, waiting to undermine him. This excavation, whatever it yielded, would definitely be of use by his reckoning.
He had thought those thoughts until a boy leapt out of the fallen rubble and called on their surrender, amongst the men, he was the only not to laugh, he felt rage, but also trepidation, the boy seemed familiar. As the child, merely ten or eleven, crushed his soldiers and broke past their mental defenses, he felt realization and terror. "You're Faris Ser!"
"Oh? You remember me?" Faris smirked, knocking out the last rebel other than the one who knew of the treachery aimed towards the elves. He looked at the man, he was certainly better kept than the other rebels, but he didn't seem particularly striking in any way, he certainly didn't remember the man.
"Yes… I definitely remember, my lord was well enough to do that he could afford those magic mirrors, we watched you face the children of the nobles in this region, the Lord's son was amongst them." His face paled, "You fought 10 trained mages and defeated them all, but…" He smiled nervously, "You lost your magic, we saw it, it was announced when you were found, the lord had it verified and used to to comfort his son, you're just a skilled swordsman, and they…" He grows more confident, "They're just simple farmers, they probably don't even remember the names of spells." He smiled confidently, and began speaking in the ancient language, weaving his magic around his words to spell death to the boy. He began to laugh, then stopped as Faris rubbed the inside of his ears with his pinky.
"Uh… was that supposed to do something?"
The man sputtered, and was about to speak again. "No! Y-"
Faris knocked him out with the flat of his blade. "The old farmer you insulted so badly put up a better fight."
"...He probably didn't hear you." Tartarus muttered, this elicited hushed giggling that echoed in his mind.
"Quiet from the peanut gallery." Faris muttered, he turned back to the cave. "Atlas, where did you put Tamera and our supplies?" As he said that, Marigold stirred from her slumber.
"Faris!" She yelled in elation upon seeing him. "You're still alive!"
"Good morning to you too Marigold, and thanks, thanks to both of you." Faris smiled and bowed lightly. He rose up and switched to a business voice, "Now, again, Tamera and our supplies?"
After refitting their supplies, Faris began to peruse through the rebels' gear. He picked out the armor closest to their sizes and gave weapons and pieces to Marigold and Atlas.
"We don't need armor Faris." Atlas said.
"I know, but this helps keep up appearances, you're about to walk towards a siege, that's been going on for a few days, we need to look like we can fight, of course carrying the unconscious bodies of captured rebels is good too." He smiled, "I'll need to take this one." He picked up Mince, "I need proof, as we speak some morons are planning to burn down the elven forest, they've attempted a racial genocide for less."
"We're splitting up?" Atlas exclaimed, "Are we not useful to you any longer?"
Faris couldn't help but laugh at his expression, "No, you've both been a great help, but you need to help people and stop the siege."
"What do you want me to do?" Marigold asked.
"You know my friends, you've spoken to them before, they should trust you somewhat." He smiled, handing her her crystal. "Put most of your energy in that, and use that crystal, they'll just think you have a large reserve of energy stored in the crystal and won't judge any overly impressive feats of strength while battling."
"How do you know your friends are in danger?" She asks.
"Because of what I witnessed with the dream stare." He frowned, "Seya is fighting Alpha, with Manny and a gold rank mage I recognize but never formally met being in the crossfire, and Nya and Johnathan are fighting Gamma, Bartholomew is running for dear life, so I scryed his golems and found that they were fighting something or someone. So you should probably go to him first."
"What about the others?" Atlas began.
"They can handle for some time longer, Gamma isn't proactive, so she won't capitalize on her advantages. Bartholomew probably sent out some form of reconnaissance into the forest anyways, so joining up with him would give you a better view of the battlefield. Seya is by Doctor Mandel's own words stronger than Alpha is, so as long as she's able to keep the fight from Manny, they shouldn't have too much trouble. Cynthia and Vern are defending a relatively decent outpost, alongside some people I recognize as mages, and others I had never met before, they are all still alive, though one of the mages is bleeding from the forehead, they all seem alive and their enemies, who I can't see, are sparser and from their movements, not as dangerous."
"What about Venka? you haven't mentioned Venka, Katya, or Morgan." Marigold said.
"That's because they're fighting someone I don't recognize and Delta, but…" Faris smiled, "The chances of that combination losing to anyone, especially given what I witnessed? Is little to none." He closed his eyes and extended his mind to Marigold, giving memories of what he witnessed through his most recent scrying. She nodded, and rushed off into the forest. Faris nodded and leapt up unto Tamera, extending his mind to the faithful horse. "Alright girl, let's keep the world from blowing up."
Atlas nodded, "Alright. I'll fulfil my task Faris, be careful."
"You as well friend" Faris called out, racing into the forest…"
…
Morgan, Venka, and Katya, were doing better than they had expected, Delta and the mysterious girl both used magic, so they wouldn't be able to benefit from using a green blade, as its ability to dampen magic would make the fight a physical one instead of a magical one. Delta was extremely powerful, gouts of flame followed by bursts of wind, followed by water condensing from the air, forming sharp spikes of ice and launching towards them. Morgan and Katya fought against her in tandem, he'd use dirt dampen her flames, Katya would disperse her winds with multiple thin layers, and they would use their combined control to halt her ice. Her mind was erratic and flighty, reflecting a great level of fear and paranoia, they couldn't get a firm grasp on it, but at least, they could keep it from passing their defenses. The mysterious girl with antlers was a different thing entirely, a massive wealth of magic, much like Delta in that way, but with a mental attack pattern that could only really be described as purely forceful, much like Nya her attacks and defenses in the mind were solid and straightforward, like a ram and fort, but to many degrees higher, the amount of force would have blown past their defenses if not for Venka, who held fast like a steel door. Her weakness was a jittery mind like Delta's, while Morgan and Katya would only last seconds against the antlered girl's overwhelming blows. Even in the fight against Delta they long since used up their reserves of magic, though Delta had blown past her considerable reservoir emptying their crystals. Venka had provided them the energy to continue, whilst also fighting against the antlered girl. Who attacked with poisoned air and exploding thistles. The air grew hot then cold, then the air lacked oxygen, and then there would be too much and they needed to move to avoid burning through their warding blocking the flames of the explosion. Much of the fight was mobile, though on the physical side, the pearl initiates were the aggressors. Delta was physically stronger and faster than a normal human, but evidently had no actual formal fighting ability, likely relying on her strength and speed, which in the face of someone with a high reserve like her own, was almost useless. The antlered girl fared much better, but Venka had improved greatly since they first met, she was probably the third most skilled fighter in their group, with Nya and Seya taking the first place. They remembered how she flinched, surprised when Venka blocked her surprise attack, and how the ground cracked beneath their feet. Eventually the fight changed in game plan. Delta and the antlered girl's main goal was to separate the group, the further apart from each other they became, the more strain on the connection, and at the moment, Venka footed the power for all three of them.
The ground split and warped as they attempted to separate them, and again and again they'd devize the easiest way to keep from splitting, be it, moving one bit of the stone to slip through, enhancing their strength with magic and leaping the crevices, or even using some of the debree as ledges to hang and leap from. It came to a head when Delta suddenly teleported in front of Venka, her goal to touch and teleport her out of the battle, they all watched in shock as her movements bypassed Venka's wards, and Katya, in a panic, activated the teleportation spell, shifting Venka to the left by inches, just enough that Delta wasn't able to grab her. Morgan retaliated with half the electricity he reserved, gathering it and blasting out a burst of yellow lightning, combined with his own magic and the captured static, the area exploded in nearly blinding light and sound as he launched it into Delta, who's wards seemed to come to life as they blocked the lightning. On the other side, a spear of ice bypassed her wards and stabbed her in the small of the back, causing her to scream in pain and fragment her mental attacks, weakening them. Before they could capitalize on that, her hair began to glow blue, and the ground shattered, fragmenting and disintegrating. Katya and Morgan were petrified, until Venka began to scream, they leapt backwards, and realized that in those short seconds, Venka had resupplied their power dozens of times over each. Delta looked at them, her eyes sparkling, and her fearful mind was twisted with rage. The antlered girl capitalized on this, pressing against Venka's mind.
Katya thought fast, and cast a few spells, opening her mind to the assailants. They ceased their attacks on the others and ravaged the forefront of her mind, even as she groaned in pain she did not cease in her concentration, letting the tiniest nub in the center of her mind, the core of her being, remain protected, even as they ravaged and tore through the rest of her mind. Morgan, enraged at her and Venka's pain, launched the last of his lightning, using ward piercing magic to pierce the lightning, breaking and destroying the antlered girl's staff, before the lightning dissipated, he arced the branches of lightning to snake around and strike her from multiple angles. Their mental attacks faltered again, giving Katya enough time to activate her spell, and the three of them teleported out
Nytheria could only stare in surprise. "She bypassed my wards, as was able to teleport, not just once, but twice, this is the first time…" She was interrupted as Delta screamed in rage, and rushed her, Nytheria wasn't surprised, Delta had warned her that she was unstable, and that if the enemy was not with them, she would attack whatever she considered the greatest threat. Nytheria attacked Delta mentally, gripping her erratic mind and casting a shield spell, using Delta's own reserves to protect herself from Delta's attacks. It was a trick Callan had taught her, and she marvelled at its engenuity. Eventually Delta exhausted herself enough to regain her sanity, and she looked down in embarrassment and shame. Nytheria observed the devastated forest, and felt a slight pang of regret, but shook her head. "We've learned interesting things about their fighting style, and you are proven as strong, if not stronger than that Venka girl, who… is regrettably extremely impressive in her own right…"
They flinched as a huge explosion of flame burst in the distance.
"That must be Alpha…"
…
Seya leapt through the enemy, expending energy only to remain a step ahead of Alpha, who, lost in her rage burned the area around her with an air of impunity. Rebels burning left and right. Seya made sure to keep away from locations populated with any knights on her side, and after some time circled back into the center of the forest, flames surrounding them and growing in size. "Yeesh, this entire place will be a wasteland by the time you're done."
"Doesn't matter, it doesn't matter who wins." Alpha said quietly, charging forward. Seya took out her dagger and twirling it a bit, lunging forward, their exchange was quick and uneventful, neither were able to bypass the other's defenses. As they observed each other, Seya smirked,
"It'll be my win." Alpha scowled at her smirk and the two of them charged each other. Seya started with a feint punch, switching to a side sweep, Alpha went through with her punch, allowing her to push back Seya, who grabbed unto Alpha's hand, ignoring the extreme heat and flipping her over, whilst Alpha was in the air Seya screamed out "THRYSTA VINDR! (Compress the Air) Gusts of wind swirled together, gathering in Seya's palm and blasting Alpha further into the air, Alpha returned this blast of magic with her flames which exploded, destroying the already burning clearing. Before the blast hit her Seya yelled out, "Blautr Deloi!" (Soft earth!) The ground at her feat softened as liquid rose up, "Thrysta!" (push), and she sank into the muddy ground, submerging completely. She watched as the earth around her began to crispen, her wards protecting her.
Alpha breathed heavily, the area an ashen, molten wasteland, reminiscent of her fight with Epsilon, just the thought made her angry. She looked around for traces of Omega, and saw in disbelief as the black haired girl rose from the ash covered earth.
Encased in a quickly crumbling orb shaped mound of dirt, Seya smirked, "The ground is a decent insulator, the heat generated from your blast of fire was only so strong, especially with how deep underground I went." She looked around, "Geez, that must have taken its toll on you." She smirked, eyeing the molten earth around her, her smile faltered as she spied two badly burned husks of humans, one had cowered against a stone, the other seemed to have been They were uncannily child sized, and both long dead. Seya returned her attention in time to see Alpha's hair was glowing a deep red, air had begun to swirl around her.
"Acting like you're better than everyone, I hate it." The air swirled in her hands. Alpha smirked at Seya's frown. "I learned this trick from seeing you bastards do it, I wanted to save it for Epsilon, so that I could watch his bastard smile fade, but I'll do it to you."
They aren't far enough away from the forest. Seya thought. "Oh come on Alpha, like you can hit me with that." She moved to Alpha's back.
"Not this time, you were trying to buy time for those two weaklings to get further away, this will hit the entire forest Seya, my allies will survive, what about yours?" Alpha launched the explosion.
Seya's hair began to glow white as she screamed out hurried words, teleporting the blast as far upwards as she could, it exploded in mid air and she nearly died, growing painfully cold. "W-wha-what?!" She sputtered, surprised at her exhaustion, the white light seemed to shatter, her hair immediately turning black.
Alpha, also exhausted, but less so, laughed, "That, that was a trick from that dark skinned bastard, he said if I created a large blast of wind and flame, you'd probably try to get it out of here by teleporting it, since it isn't just fire nor is it just wind you wouldn't likely think you had the time to be that specific, so… you'd just teleport or block the explosion. And you couldn't just block it, not when those weaklings were to be protected."
Seya felt a cold pit in her stomach, and barely kept herself standing. "How would he even know…"
"He tested your strengths, remember? You were the fastest, and the redhead could use the spell. He guessed your capabilities, so I snuck a pretty big boulder in those flames, too bad it didn't kill you." Alpha basked in Seya's despairing look. "So, now after I finish you off, I'll go after the rest of your friends." She charged forward, and was blown back as what felt like a sledgehammer blasted against her forehead. Seya looked in shock as a loud noise rang through the air, almost like a burst of thunder. She turned to see Manny, holding long metal hollow pole, smoke wafting from it's open end. His face looked sick, and he had a fearful yet determined look on his face, he quickly took out a scrubber, cleaning the inside of the barrel, then pouring in a black powder, then pushing it back with the same scrubber, then putting in a polished looking iron ball. Before he could finish Alpha rushed to her feat. "You little nothing! You dare attack me?!"
Manny yelped, but kept at it, Seya stood in front of Manny, extending her hand. "You'll have to get past me Alpha, and that probably hurt more than you care to admit."
Alpha ignored her and moved to attack. But she was interrupted by Surmon, who uttered "Atra iet hávr iet verkr." (Let my enemy have my pain). Alpha screamed as she collapsed once again. This gave Manny enough time to fire again, the bullet shattering her wards and blowing a hole in her shoulder, the musket round lodging a hole into her shoulder. Manny began to clean the musket, but yelped as it melted in his hand, dropping it. Alpha looked at them with hatred and fury, standing up and running. As she did, Surmon collapsed.
"Cut the spell you fool!" Seya yelled. Surmon shook his head, taking out a knife, and jamming it into his side. Alpha screamed and fell. Smiling, despite his rapidly deteriorating look, Surmon took out the knife and pointed it at his throat, but before he could plunge it in Seya knocked the knife out and forcefully had him uncast the spell before it's strain would kill him. Alpha took the opportunity to keep running, cursing them all and swearing vengeance.
"We could have killed her! Why would you let her escape! Didn't you see what she's capable of?!" Surmon yelled.
Seya smacked Surmon, "Are you stupid, you think I didn't see this destruction?! You're a moron! She can regenerate! In fact, even if you killed yourself, she could still regenerate, and if you hadn't realized, she was still alive, and she had more than enough magic to kill all of us. If you died, then we'd be next."
"Oh, still only caring about yourself I see." Surmon smirked, "How astute of you to notice that then."
"Surmon, Seya directed Alpha away from us, she protected us at the risk of her own life."
"And it didn't result in anything worthwhile, this forest is almost gone now." They looked around at the death and destruction in the wake of the battle. "We should have killed her, even at the cost of our lives…" Surmon muttered bitterly, "Because like you, she'll only get stronger like the freak she is…"
"Then how about you don't be a waste of space like you were this time." Seya retorted weakly.
Surmon snorted, "Hah…"
…
Bartholomew felt some fear when his fire golem died, he felt a rising panic when his ice golem followed suit, even after wreathing itself in wings of flame, and he nearly relieved himself on the spot when the Surdan ripped through his Rock Snake and burned away his Verdant Dancer. And now, equipped with the green staff in one hand, and with Bartholomew's own green sword in the other, the boy grew wings and took off after his trail, smashing through his mirror he used to observe the scene. Bartholomew was currently on his second rock snake, it rushed through the forest as quickly as possible, explosions ringing out as the most powerful of his friends duked it out with their force of nature counterparts. He observed their battles, and cheered each time it seemed like his friends survived. From his observations Alpha was on the back burner against Seya, until a huge explosion rang out, and more of the forest was set on fire. It was also in that moment that Callan caught up, and destroyed his rock snake, Bartholomew tumbled and crashed into the forest floor as his mount was destroyed. Callan walked forward, taking his time, Bartholomew sent out five dolls with quartz crystals embedded in their foreheads, they took in dirt, stone, and leaves, becoming nearly human in size.
"Play house!" He yelled, as the 5 dolls charged forward. The Surdan dispatched of them easily, but what he did next surprised Bartholomew.
"Catch." Bartholomew ducked just in time as the blade sailed past him and into a tree, right where his face would have been. The Surdan smiled, "My name is Callan, and you've earned my undivided attention and ire."
"Yay me…" Bartholomew muttered dryly. But, he picked up the sword, muscles tensing as he pulled out the blade from the tree, it took some effort, which Callan smirked at. "Laugh it up, yuck yuck yuck…" Bartholomew muttered.
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy beating the tar out of you." Callan laughed, charging forward at near superhuman speed. Bartholomew blocked it, and broke his arm. The summoner lept backwards, watching as Callan laughed.
"Brisingr." The ground beneath Callan exploded as Bartholomew uttered those words. Bartholomew threw several more bags of refined explosive powder, something he purchased from Faris's smithy and saved for a rainy day.
"Huh… gunpowder." Callan stepped out of the swirl of dust. "How funny, I hear trains also run in this world, is it the industrial revolution, or did your resident earthling have a hand in all this?"
"Our… what?"
"Oh, he never told you, mum's the word I guess." Callan swung his staff, shattering Bartholomew's already broken arm. Much too late, Bartholomew retaliated by dropping several crystal quartz, which gathered dirt and stone, compressing and shooting out jutting spikes. Callan causally broke the needle like jutting stones, but didn't notice the massive fist smashing him away from behind. Bartholomew picked up his sword with his left hand.
"How's… how's that?" He said, keeping himself from collapsing. He observed his golem, it was missing several pieces, it seemed like Callan had retaliated as he was hit, breaking off a piece of the golem. Bartholomew dropped more crystals, and a golem in the shape of a vague humanoid with massive arms moved out of the ground.
"I'm thinking…" Callan began, "How would you like your guts prepared? Boiled? Baked? Or scrambled?" He bared his sharpened teeth, and sparks of electricity flowing freely through him and his staff. "Cause I was thinking roasted on a stick!" He charged forward...
…
Marigold rushed into the forest, putting out any rogue flames when she could. Protecting life extended to the forest, especially since after such conflict there would inevitably be rebuilding.
"Thank ye so much, I thought the flames woulda burned me… wait, who are y-" The farmer fell as Marigold knocked him out.
"...Sorry." Marigold cast magic induced sleep on the knocked out farmer, and he began to snore loudly, she moved him towards the others she had knocked out and placed on a makeshift sled. She pulled the sled, finding barely alive men and women and healing them, knocking them out, and dumping them on the sled. Eventually she ran into a group of men, but this time she sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, Cuenon soldiers."
The soldiers, the last remnants of the new recruits who had been used as sacrifices to kill of John and the other knight apprentices, were shocked and frightened that the woman they shot arrows at out of reflex was completely fine, and even more shocked when she smiled, seemingly happy to see them. "Umm… ma'am?" One of them lowered their bow.
Marigold bounded over and gave the soldiers hugs, causing them to grow even more flustered. "I really needed to drop these off!" She dragged the sled forward. "These are all rebels, can you take them to be captured and arrested please?" She put her hands together in a pleading look, smiling as they nodded. "Thanks!" She ran back into the forest, missing the starstruck faces of the young men.
As she ran, she heard, "Cause I was thinking roasted on a stick!" She turned towards the noise and ran towards the yell...
...
AfterWord
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Nothing much to say at the moment other than thanks for reading so far.
Thank you kindly to Idhun's Durmgrist Feldunost for your review.
I made a lot of glaring spelling and grammar mistakes last two chapters, so I'm gonna try and fix them, I believe I was halfway done with fixing chapter 72, and I'll need to look over 73.