Hey-ya all, I'm still writing this thing :D!
Haven't been able to post due to real life dramas and all, but here's the next chapter and hopefully the next one doesn't take forever to get posted.
Before this chapter goes underway, I just want to say a few things; first I know some of you might be confused by my story and I understand that. The constant reviews have made that obvious and I'd like to take the time to say why Garmadon is so weak in certain areas.
Second, these reviews are for supportive criticism and I'd like to thank the most recent reviewer ('d') post for opening my eyes further on my fanfic.
He/she has encouraged me to write this part and while the description of my MC's stats may be confusing for some beforehand, I'm going to describe them as best I can for those who don't understand (and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people who don't have a clear idea of it).
So, if you have any questions, please let me know. I want to make this story as clear as possible outside of my head as it does inside. Once again, I'd like to thank 'd' for posting his thoughts on my story and not being a snickering troll like some (Shalltear Bloodfallen).
Garmadons abilities
Garmadon possesses the ability to self-heal almost instantly from any injury. Any part of him that is severed from his main body crumbles to ash with the exception of any blood that's already made contact with the air and will grow back in time. The source of his healing is the ruby shard comprised of millions of lives, and when he heals it uses that life force.
The jewel does this by providing energy to tissue cells and stimulating them to accelerate healing. So say there are two bottles of water, one in reserve and another that always remains full. If the second bottle loses half its water, then the first bottles' water is used to refill it. The healing works in the same way. This cell stimulation also increases his muscle strength at will, making him stronger and faster.
Garmadon can also externally use this force on others or objects, but by doing so; an appropriate amount of the life force is used. When Garmadon repaired the hole in Nazarick, he ended up using more than a full quarter of his remaining energy. He can also widen the range of effect by using his blood as an extension of himself, a catalyse.
The ruby's nature causes it to always reside in the centre of the body where all blood converges. However, to achieve this it needs to reside in the heart of its hosts body, which it does by navigating from any part of the body to. To extract it successfully, (without the use of a life syphoning tool (Shalltears lance))one must carve out the heart intact successfully.
His power to manipulate molecules and transmute materials (by manipulating the atoms themselves) is related to his healing ability. Because the jewel provides an energy that stimulates tissue cells, it's also able to do the same to particles he's close to. The jewel can also absorb their kinetic energy and in doing so slow the molecules down to the point of freezing (yes this also replenishes the ruby's energy and he can use it to suck the life out of those he touches).
His main ability to create isn't a spell of any kind, but a natural power from within his right arm. The creations manifested all stem from his creations both drawn and made from LEGO in his original world, but he can only do it by understanding how he made it, what it looked like and what he imagined it would in the first place. The creation itself is caused by the insignia in his right palm. The arm is something akin to a container that channels his mental capacity into it, allowing him to construct what he does.
Moreover, when he creates a construct it is comprised of both practical materials and his own mental energy, in this case mana, as being a product of the mind and insignia. The constructs return to their original state if Garmadon doesn't maintain physical contact, so in a way he acts as an anchor to keep them in existence. He can keep the constructs manifested by using his own blood as an extension of himself.
His trump card is the amplification of the insignias' creation ability and arms' containment capabilities resulting in a mentally created world that doesn't exist within the material one. Within it, Garmadon has complete control of the world itself and the constructs created, he doesn't even need to be touching them to keep them in existence. Though while he's able to able to control his mental landscape, he can't control those captured by it nor himself.
The amount of people affected have to be within a 50-meter radius and he needs to acknowledge their presence if he wants to capture them. This action puts a large amount of strain on both the arm and insignia, so Garmadon can only hold it for 15 minutes. After every use there's a max cool down time of 24 hrs, depending on how long he used it. During this time, he can't use his right arm or create until then.
Now for the one you all seem to speculate about sometimes, his right eye. The eye itself is both a natural and unnatural part of him by elevating his visual senses beyond normal capacity. In some cases, he can perceive actions to a tenth of a second or more if he goes all out. The eye also allows him to achieve x-ray, microscopic, binocular vision and the ability to see the flow of mana fluctuations. But the eyes' true ability is to peer through the depths of reality and visualize any location at a thought. Though the only trigger in Garmadons case is the loss of his own consciousness.
Hope this helps for those who are having trouble understanding the MC's powers (and I know there are a few). If you guys have any further questions that I didn't cover in this, let me know in the comments and how I can answer you. Who knows, there could be others with the same query's as you ^_^.
Now, without further ado, here's the next chapter!
Side note: Thankyou MadDan90 for being a supportive friend and proof-reader for this story. It means a lot :)
Chapter 11
The land was barren, dry of moisture and wild life with dust picked up in the wind. In the middle a duo stood as though waiting for a car to pass them by while facing towards an oncoming cloud of dust barrelling towards them.
Just ahead of it, an eight-legged lizard, big as a house with light green scales atop it back with grey underneath charged while wailing about. Despite its vicious features with fangs longer than a human's arm and pointier than a knife, its yellowish eyes were wide with panic.
Behind its tick tail scampered an oversized hamster with light grey fur and a dark strip from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail. The hamster was constantly whipping the beast with a scaly tail of its own which easily extended over 4 meters, dodging and whipping again while easily keeping up.
"Milooord, sorry for the wait!" it yelled in a high-pitched voice as it dodged again and delivering a barrage of whips. "It's a Gigant Basilisk! Your faithful servant Hamsuke is now driving it towards you!"
Back at the duo, one of them was fully clad from head to toe in raven-black armour with edges outlined in gold. A red cape was draped thickly around his neck while the rest would've extended to the ankles if it weren't flapping in the wind.
"It may be large, but given its inability to evade Hamsuke I doubt it's level is very high," his deep voice echoed from within his helmet.
His compatriot, wrapped in a light brown cloak looked on in disappointment which some people have come to believe is a fixed expression of hers.
"My Lor…Mr Momon," Naberal corrected. "There's no need for you to get your hands dirty. I could simply electrify it."
"As entertaining as that would be, your spell would simply strike Hamsuke as well," he protested.
"Of course, my apologies."
It was at that moment that the basilisk was towering over them, yellowish eyes filled with wild insanity.
"HHmmmmUaarrgh~!" Momon grunted as he swung a giant sword at the basilisk.
Suddenly the beast halted its advance, grinding to a halt and snatched the first strike in its mouth. Normally the force created would've been enough to shatter its teeth, but the basilisk moved its head back when it bit down on the blade.
This minimized the impact force. Unexpected to say the least, but Ainz didn't raise Momons fame with just one sword alone.
"Nice try," Momon retorted, driving the other blade at the basilisk's lightly scaled neck.
In mid-air the blade was stomped on by the lizard and held down firmly to the ground.
Momon glared at the basilisk's face, but what starred back wasn't the mindless brute from before. It's previous yellowish eyes were now glazed over in a deep crimson.
The look it gave now wasn't of wild insanity, but actual intelligence!
"Hoh~. Seems you were concealing your true colours before, well played," Momon lightly congratulated. "STILL WEAK THOUGH!"
With that cry, Ainz let go of the sword under foot and gripped the remaining sword with both hands before pushing harder. The Basilisks teeth began crackling under the strain until giving out in splinters.
With the teeth not holding it in place any wore, the sword drove into the back of its jaw, splitting it in two before running down the full length of its body.
In an instant he'd run the full length of the basilisk, splitting even the tip of its tail in half. The basilisk's top half flopped to one side with strands of intestines, blood, organs and greeny-yellow digestive juices emptied out of it.
"Congratulations, my Lord," Naberal applauded, suddenly appearing next to him. "That mindless beast didn't even stand a chance."
"How many times must correct you, Nabe," Momon's voice echoed inside the helmet, walking back to retrieve his blade from under the basilisk's foot. "While we are as adventures, you are to address me as Momon, or sir Momon, unless deemed otherwise. I know no one's around, but it's good practice in situations such as these."
It's not that Naberal detested saying Ainz's preferred alias, it's just that she sometimes had trouble addressing him as anything lower than the supreme being that he is.
"My apologies L-Momon sir. It was a grave slip of the tongue," she bowed deeply as Momon sheathed his swords onto his back.
"sigh~ You are forgiven. But I wouldn't call this beast totally mindless," gestured Momon to the gory mess. If he still had all of his humanity and stomach, he'd through-up at the sight. "Until the end, the basilisk managed to conceal its true intelligence-."
Momon stopped himself, seeing the dead basilisk's yellowish eyes.
'Funny, thought they'd be red now that it's dead-.'
Suddenly a murderous intent made itself known from behind from behind.
"LORD!" Nabe yelled in surprise.
In an instant, she had jetted to Momons side and deflected a strike from Hamuske's scaled tail with her drawn sword.
The tail retracted back to the oversized hamster where it swung above its head.
At this point, Momon would've reprimanded Naberal for addressing him as 'Lord'. But this was a more pressing issue.
"You ungrateful gerbil. How dare you assault your master!" Naberal enraged, shifting into a pose that would allow her to quickly close the distance between the two, awaiting her orders of engagement.
But instead she felt her masters' iron cold gauntlet rest on her shoulder.
"Steady Naberal. Hamsuke doesn't appear to be himself now, look at his eyes."
At his words, Nabe looked carefully into Hamsuke's eyes. But what looked back weren't the determined dark-brown eyes of 'The Wise King of the Forest', but eyes glazed with deep crimson holding a different kind of determination all together!
"It seems to be a possession or mind manipulation spell. That would explain what happened to the basilisk before," Momon deduced, stepping closer. "Besides that, the real Hamsuke would've immediately applauded my win before."
In an instant, Hamsuke went on the offensive again, striking with the full force of his tail like a scorpion. This time, Momon was ready for it.
Unarmed, he caught the scaled tail, spun so his back was facing Hamsuke and gave it a light yank over his shoulder. Well, it was light to Momon, but in actuality, it was enough to hoist the poor fur-ball up and over before doing a slam dunk.
With Hamsuke on his back and frantically trying to righten himself, a flash of light engulfed the Raven Hero for a split second until leaving to reveal the undead king himself in a pitch-black gown, pair of white tusks upon his shoulders and golden armour on the sides.
Now able to use more effective spells without his melee armour, Ainz reached his hand out to Hamsuke who'd got a paw on the ground.
"[Hand of the puppeteer; String Sever]."
An orange ripple beat from his hand and wafted over Hamsuke who almost got back onto all fours. In a moment he froze mid-scramble, slumping down onto his back with his glazed eyes darkening and returning to their original soft dark-brown.
"M-Master…~?" Hamsuke whimpered. "H….has the time come? Has Hamsuke's usefulness been outlived?"
'Uhh…wait, what?'
Hamsuke laid completely on his back, exposing his soft round belly in despair.
"Please, quick make it. Hamsuke doesn't like pain~."
'Oh~, I see what's going on here.'
"Hamsuke, it's alright," Ainz assured in his usual caring tone, releasing Hamsukes tail and walking round to his head. "You don't remember, but you were being mind controlled by a magic user before. But rest assured, I've severed the connection."
Hamsuke looked both anxious and confused at his master for a little bit, but then started tearing up.
"So Hamsuke hasn't been cast aside and won't be skinned by the loud one~."
'Loud one..? oh, he must mean Aura.'
"~No Hamsuke, you won't be. Rest assured you're an essential ally, your uses haven't been expended at all~."
Hamsuke was tearing up even more, but Nabe told him to quit the water works. A harsh thing to say but when you spend so much time around her you get the general idea when she's trying to be comforting or rubbing salted lemons in your wound.
Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind coming across the land. Nabe instantly reacted by jumping in front of Momon, sword at the ready. Again.
Looking in the direction she was, he saw a massive shape scarring low to the ground towards them. It was a wyvern with dirty grey silver scales and dark horns pointing backwards. It was smaller in size compared to a dragon, but where it lacked in brute strength it more than made up for in speed.
"Lord Ainz," Nabe began as her Lord had reverted back from Momon.
"I see it," he replied, seeing the scaly face of the reptile. "Its eyes are the same!"
Sure enough, the wyvern's eyes were glazed over in a deep crimson as well. But unlike the two before, this one didn't hold any malice in its gaze. Instead it was akin to pure observation.
It beat its outstretched wings and began ascending rapidly before turning to a new direction and heading South.
Ainz was confused by this development, but what was more surprising was that the wyvern wasn't the only one flying in the skies South.
Countless flocks of birds, harpies, bats, griffons and other creatures capable of flight were joining in.
Soon the ground was rumbling, monsters and animals loomed from over the horizon with a cloud of dust following after them.
"What in the hel-bleepbleep," a static beep sounded off in Ainzs' ear canal, interrupting him and raising a pair of bony fingers against it. "[Message]."
"[Lord Ainz, we have an issue]," spoke Albedo. "[The beasts residing on the 6th floor are running wild!]"
'WHAT!'
"[Aura and Mare have attempted to subdue them as they're their responsibilities, but they've actively resisted them-.]"
"What do their eyes look like?"
"[….I'm sorry-?]"
"Their eyes. What colour are their eyes?"
"[..Umm…They'rrree~ RED. They're all red]."
'What's going on?' Ainz thought looking first to the sky and back to the horizon. 'Could this be a World Item at work, or is this related to Garmadon? Doubt it, even if he did punch a hole right through Nazarick.'
"Assume they're all under some form of mind control. Don't expect them to be unintelligent either. I'll be returning shortly."
On that, the message ended.
"Naberal, I'll be leaving for Nazarick. I need you to get Hamsuke back to E-Rantel, finish the job and…," trailed off gazing over to Hamsuke who'd rightened himself. "…try to keep his emotions brightened. He won't be much use if he's constantly upset."
Naberals' face cringed slightly at the order. She knew there was an issue at Nazarick, but didn't like carrying Hamsuke often. He tends to shift around in her grip, making it extremely difficult to balance him.
"Yes L-Sir Momon. We'll fly above the hordes as to avoid fighting."
"Fret not. I Hamsuke, can fend off these brutes in a gif-," Hasuke froze at the sight of a group of barrelling minotaur's and several basilisks, smaller than the first but just as menacing with the blazing look of determination in their eyes. "I..if master says so, maybe leave by air we should."
"Hmf, scared of a few critters. But the wisdom of the supreme beings are absolute," Naberal monotoned.
Hamsuke rose onto his hind legs in silent defeat. Naberal got under his belly and hefted him up as Hamsuke slumped over. Her top half was almost completely buried in fur.
"[Fly]."
The pair levitated off the ground before soaring Eastward and over the oncoming hordes. They all paid them no heed, completely fixated on their charge.
"I feel like I'm going to regret not killing all these beast," Ainz groaned. "But I just don't have the time. [Teleport]."
In a sudden flash of pale light, Ainz disappeared from the landscape just as serpents, minotaur's, wolves, basilisks, dear and other beasts trampled past.
Interlude: Inner workings of 'Overlord'
[Back when the universe was still one, God ruled with a loving heart to all planets throughout the cosmos. But after an eternity there were two, though God wasn't the one who had created it. Unlike the first, the second didn't exist on the material plane but rather the imaginary. An existence not unlike the space in between walls. You can't see it on the surface, but it's there.
At first, God didn't know where it came from as he was the only one who had the power to do it. but as more of these dimensions were inexplicably created, he found they were the products of imagination from the inhabitants of the first. In reality, they were stories, imagined by one but were soon shared with the imagination of many.
Normally, God would accept these new creations, and love them as something a-kin to grandchildren.
But before God could even comprehend, the number of imaginary dimensions had multiplied well beyond his sphere of care. To compensate, he set up a system so that when a dimension was born, a deity was created to oversee the new one.
So, in a way, they were still under his care by being under the care of his deities.
At some point, one of these deities became troubled that not all the dimensions worshipped God the same as the first, hers included. Feeling as though it was her duty, she worked her way around all the dimensions to change their religion, striking down deities where need be.
Though at some point, God notices and confronted the deity before decreeing, 'All shall be as it is. One's own individuality is what makes them a treasure'.
The deity protested and, as punishment, was imprisoned within the inner workings of the dimension that defiled her beliefs and had just as many religions.]
Reading those last words, Vosdulite closes the thick tome with a deep thump. It was made of black leather with a golden cross covering nearly the entirety of the front of the book.
"~Huurrghh~," she sighed, laying back in her pale throne before sliding down like a student bored of their class. "You'd think after five years they'd change some facts about that event in here," she groaned to no one.
The book she held was her bible, every race had some form of one written by them, for them and about their divine heritage.
Giving it one last look, she gave a hurumph before dropping the tome by the foot of her chair and sitting up.
What was written in it wasn't all wrong though, she was trapped in the innerworkings of her dimension after attempting to overwrite every other dimension. Though it left out the part that she still had some influence from within her prison.
When a deity perishes by the hands of another, their dimension becomes the responsibility of the other. Vosdulite had countless of these under her thumb, granted she can't enter them, she can observe and send stuff into them.
"Alrightt-tah~…Let's see what those munch-kins are doing in the 'Akame ga….what's her face' dimension."
Sitting back up, Vosdulite smacked the air with her left hand-donngg-and a blue disk spun into existence then duplicated into another. They both slowed down to a stop and each was focused on a particular person amongst a group of people.
One was of a young teen, dressed in casual clothing, red shirt with white and dark blue chequered shorts. She was walking through busy streets, shoulder-to-shoulder with another person with green hair, red goggles atop his head and wore a very dark green jacket.
They seemed to be having a friendly conversation, though the green haired was trying to impress the other. It was so obvious that he was and, in a way, his attempts were comedic.
The other image, however, was one of an older boy. Dressed in full black jeans and a buttoned up long-sleeved t-shirt. The only other colour he had on him was a small white rectangle in the middle of his collar.
He was surrounded by people in red and white gowns while he pummelled a tall figure, who wore similar patterned clothing but wore the skull of a bull on his, with a thick red tome in one hand. In the other he held a wooden cross with a metal individual nailed to it.
"Cease this heretic order," he was yelling. "The power of Christ compels you, only he can grant you true happiness."
"At least one of them is making some progress," Vosdulite mumbled in annoyance.
She slapped the disks again into a spin before slowing to a stop and showing a pair of different figures.
One was of an elder teen in a bloodied white shirt and had a mechanical right arm. He was sleeping in the back of a wagon on a girls lap who had pink hair.
The other showed a slightly younger boy dressed in a camou green cloak. He was speeding at inhuman speed through a maze of trees and vegetation with a literal army of wildlife and mindless monsters at his side.
He swiftly halted at the edge of the forest and was overlooking a small walled up town in the distance.
"Hmm, wonder what's going to happen here," Vosdulite chuckled as the boy in camou turned to a large, dark orange furred fox with purple splodges on the tips of its ears next to him.
Interlude: Slane Theocracy
The sun had risen high in the sky with scattered clouds. In the middle of a wide stretch of a dirt road, a pair of horses pulled an average wagon resembling a large wooden barrel on its side with a flat top and bottom.
At its head and clutching the reins sat silver haired-Harold in his leather armour, hunched over with a long strand of grass sicking out of his mouth.
"This sucks~," he groaned, looking though a window in the wood at the base of his seat. Within sat his other teammates, Halitosis who sat in silence and Thousand Leagues who was looking into some red liquid which pulsed into a ball. Whenever he asked her about it, she would say it's a tool for vast range surveillance.
Laurissa on the other hand sat on the floor with their prisoner in her lap. He was still sleeping, but for some reason, was crying.
"tch, lucky bastard."
Garmadons capture and recruitment had been their mission from the get-go, though they'd only completed half of that. He was more than resent in joining.
Though despite that, catching him was a lot easier than he originally thought despite the fight they all watched him partake in. It was like he'd lost all his powers after the fight.
Turning back to steering the horses, he felt a soft breeze over the land and calmly listened to the rustling of the grass and the clopping of hooves.
'….But still….this is pretty nice~.'
"Harold, incoming!"
Harold snapped back into looking through the hole to Thousand leagues, she was waving her hands around and the liquid was rapidly sloshing around in the air while she glared into the ball. "How many?"
"Just one on horseback-wait, it's Aurita! She's alone…."
Strapping the rains to the rail on the side, Harold jumped onto the roof and did a quick survey of the area until he spotted a shape galloping towards them. With her chestnut hair tied into a ponytail flapping in the wind, sure enough it was Aurita.
After the meeting between their teams in the E-Rantels alley, they headed off to the Forest of Tob, as per ordered by the cardinals.
"This is unexpecteeeeddd~… something's not right. Halitosis, get out and take the reins, Laurissa, you're with me and Thousand, keep an eye on things," he yelled, unsheathing his swords. "We might have a fight coming on our hands."
As Aurita came closer, Harold and Laurissa jumped from the roof and skidded to a halt as the wagon sped on with swords drawn.
"Stop right there, Aurita!" he yelled, the horse slowed to a stop with the girl atop bearing a shaken expression. "Where's the rest of your team Auri-."
"We don't have time for this!" she blurted, jumping down and turning to the duo. "I need to talk to the Thousand Leagues right now, we need to alert the Theocracy! Something's coming, and he declared he'll slaughter the kingdom in two days from now-."
"S-slow down," Harold said, lowering his guard. "Start from the top, who's 'he', where's your team and is this about the rise of the Dragon Lord?"
She was starting to catch her breath. "No. He… he killed everyone, my entire team," she began. "A boy in dirty-blonde hair dawned in a dark green cloak with a pet fox-like creature. He somehow had control over all the animals in the Forest, he used them to kill."
At this point, the wagon was making a comeback and pulled up behind. The rear door fell down and Thousand Leagues practically jumped out at Aurita.
"Aurita!" she yelped, embracing her comrade. "I overheard what you were talking about, we can alert the next town over to send a messenger if they don't already know."
After discussing a bit further, the group climbed back into the wagon and road for the next town. "So this kid's what caught the Slane Theocracys' attention? He looks like a little cry-baby."
"He only looks like that cuz he was crying in his sleep. Sure would like to know what affected this heart," Halitosis motioned at the kid still sleeping where they left him. "Believe you me, this kids tough. He went toe-to-toe with a truly monstrous vampire and came out on top. That thing even had me quaking in my boots."
"Surely that vampire wasn't as strong as the Black Scripture-."
"Actually," Thousand Leagues spoke up in a gloomy voice. "If the Black Scripture went up against that vampire, our best chance at even surviving would probably be using one of the ancient relics of the gods."
"Y-you're joking…..?" Aurita stuttered in the complete honesty by one of the Black scriptures. She then noticed the glowing orange obsidian black shackles around his forearms. "So that's why he's wearing the [zero point shackles. Though, aren't you concerned about any physical enhancements he might have?"
"Ah, don't go worrying yourself over that," Halitosis slightly boasted. "He had them on last night while he was conscious, and he couldn't do a thing. I'm thinking his right arm's a magical tool and since he wasn't able to move it last night, I believe the shackles are doing their job."
"While we're on that subject, do you know what these things are?" Thousand Leagues inquired, pulling a small pair of silver rods. "Garmadon used these in his fight and I've never seen them in any of the Theocracy records. We're thinking it might be a new magical item."
"A new….new magical items aren't something someone can make everyday~," Aurita remarked, taking one and inspecting the artefact. "Well it's got blood on it, that's a big one-."
"We….never really got round to cleaning that off."
"-I see~," still looking at it, Auritas' finger brushed lightly against a small red knob near the base of the cylindrical object. "..I wonder…"
"Oh, don't push that!" Halitosis yelped, snatching it away from her. "We should've told you, this is something very dangerous."
Reaching under his chair he pulled out a lump of twisted metal with a squiggly line running through it.
"Trust me, if this axe head is anything to go off of, these weapons could easily cut through any armour," holding it away from him. Halitosis pushed the button and a long blue beam shot out, threatening to burn the opposite wall while humming before pushing it again and retracting the beam with a loud sucking sound.
"….This could be a big boon for our military forces~," Auritas' face was beginning to light up a bit with hope as she took it back and turned it over. "If we can master the incantation residing in this contraption, we might even have an unstoppable holy army in the future."
"Yeah, but it's not going to be easy," Thousand Leagues monotoned, taking both rods back into the bag. "When I was looking this over last night, I can sense magic coming from this but it's constant. Whether the beams are in or out, a type of creation magic is in use. Almost as if it were made of magic. I couldn't even find an obvious way to open opening it. The only one who knows how it works right now is lying asleep on the ground right there."
"Oh~," looking back at Garmadon, sleeping soundly with a bit of drool coming out of his mouth, Aurita found it weird he hadn't woken up yet.
"Ah that, don't worry. I slipped a little something into his dinner last night to help him rest easier~," Thousand leagues gave a slight wink.
"OY, everyone, we're coming up on Daigel!" yelled Harold from outside the wagon. "And they've done some remodelling last I saw it."
Laurissa shifted Garmadons head off her lap before got up and kicking the back door down, grinding against the road before gripping the top of the archway and flipping up to the roof. She was followed by rest with a less stylish manner.
Sure enough, the entire upcoming town didn't look like any old town. A thick brick wall had almost been completely erected surrounding the town and was towering at least 20 feet high with a gate receiving an iron barred fence. Workers were dotted around the construction.
Surrounding the entire wall were hundreds, if not thousands, of thick wooden spikes jutting from the soil and pointing outwards.
As they came closer and stopping just before the wall, a guard with his silver helmet on popped his head over the top of the wall. "Who goes there?"
"We are holy soldiers of the Slane Theocracy sent forth by the cardinals," Harold yelled at the guard. "I am a Harold Kipfler of the Clear Water scripture. We were returning from our mission but have received grave news that must be delivered to the capital, may we please speak to the lord of this town."
Thousand Leagues would've introduced the team herself, but on account the Black Scripture being the Theocracies strongest military scripture, it's ideal to keep their members a secret. Unless you expect the other person to be extremely trust worthy or extremely dead by the end of the introduction.
The guards head disappeared for a minute before the iron fence before them slowly rose while shuddering, followed by the wooden doors opening outwards. A trio of soldiers in bulky armour were making their way out to great them. One was an elderly man with his helmet under arm and short-cut pale hair, which just emphasized his age but did no justice to his stoic expression. "I am Nicoli, head knight of security and protection here at Daigel, please come inside."
Having led them inside, Nicoli explained that late last night someone half dead-on horseback rode into town with nasty scratches and bite marks all over. He claimed to be a survivor from an attack that same night in his home town North-East of Daigel.
Walking towards the main hall, now serving as the current command post, Nicoli continued to explain that the survivor said they were struck after dark. The forces were comprised of a variety woodland and magical creatures, they even had a number of dryads and a confirmed human magic caster whom set the town ablaze.
"Could it be that the animals revolted or attacked on instinct for food?"
"Unlikely, the town had its own guard division," Nicoli replied. "If animals were to overpower them, then the guards were either incompetent or the animals were organized, meaning there's someone commanding them. More than likely the magic caster."
"How many soldiers do we have will be defending?"
"33 foot soldiers and 53 magic casters, including reserves and local street security. Some of the townspeople have offered to fight, so that'll put us up 104 defenders," he answered just as they arrived out the front of the building.
They parked the wagon outside the front and everyone headed in, say for Laurisa who stayed in the behind to guard the still sleeping Garmadon.
They walked for a bit through long corridors until turning into a large room crowded with some important looking people dressed in royal clothing. In the centre was a large rectangular table with a map of the entire town with figurines on top and props for representing defences.
"Though I must say, we're lucky you're now here. We've sent a messenger to the capital for reinforcements but your participation will surely bolster our defences. Our strategists, have assumed that the opposing force will reach us this afternoon, if they're really following a strategic assault."
"You need to send out another rider," Aurita spoke up. "We have information that the entire kingdom will be attacked in two days."
"Two days?" someone questioned in the room. "You must have a couple of screws loose honey; the kingdom was attacked last night and still is. Even if that were the case, if we stop them right here right now we won't need to worry about any further assaults on the kingdom."
"Seriously young lady, if we at least manage to hold out until the reinforcements arrive, we should have this dilemma behind us by breakfast."
'Somehow, I seriously doubt that,' Thousand Leagues mulled over. 'If those reinforcements don't make it here in time, we might not even make it through the night…'
"Now, for a more suitable defence, your team will be assigned to the east gate where the main force is bound to strike from-."
"Pardon sir, but I have an enquiry," Harold said, raising his hand.
"Yes young lad, what seems to be the problem?"
"I'm 25 you old geezer," he hissed through his teeth before pointing at the spot they were assigned to. "I have a problem with this formation. It looks like you've focused your main force at the Eastern and Northern gates with not much consideration for the other two."
"Well… statistically speaking that's where we predict the assault will be greatest, so it only makes sense we focus more on that point there-."
"You're assuming they won't attack the others? But as Nicoli said before, these animals are organised and could very well think about diverting your gaze to strike from behind. Or have you never seen any real combat?"
The whole room fell silent under Harolds' declaration.
"We managed to corner a robber with this kind of method-."
"Alright, that's it!" frustrated, Harold grabbed a number of pieces from the two heavily occupied gates and moved them back further behind towards the centre of town. He even put a few closer to the lightly defended gates. "How's this for a formation? Our group will assign ourselves to the Eastern and Northern gate to make up for the loss in man power."
"And the ones closer to the middle? They'd be more affective when they're closer to the enemy."
"Your source claims they had dryads when they were attacked, so wouldn't that mean an assault from underground is possible? We need to be prepared for every scenario."
"This could work," one said.
"We should provide bulkheads in case of oncoming projectiles," another said.
"What about shelter for those who can't leave the town?"
"The sewers are quite large and inforced.."
"Now we're getting somewhere…hm," Thousand Leagues was tapping Harolds shoulder. Turning round, they huddled so not to be heard by the others. "Yes?"
"This is problematic," she said. "We can't fight and keep Garmadon in custody, he'd slip out of they're custody if we gave them to him. What with all the chaos."
"…..I agree, you've got anything in mind?"
"….."
"….."
"….."
"No, no that's a terrible idea."
"You know it's practical, and the help we can get with those constructs would be a big boon for defence."
"Yes, but we'd still have a problem trying to keep him with us. If anything, he'll have more opportunities to make his escape."
"Which is why I'll use [Phantom restraints] again to keep him near one of use, no matter how far he goes. And before timing out I just recast it."
"…. You'll be distracted in those moments and the extra strain on you to maintain that magic will be too costly."
"Better that than loose a valuable asset to humanity in times of battle."
"Black Scripture's philosophy?"
"…..My own…"
"…."
"…."
"Fine, but as leader, your responsible for what happens next."
"I know."
As the meeting went on, there was a ton of debate as to what would happen if the front of the attack was going to be a distraction and the real force would come in through the rear. In the middle of it all, Thousand Leagues left the others in the meeting and made her way back outside to the wagon.
Looking in, Garmadon was finally up and about and having a little chat with Laurissa. But being as anti-social as she is, Garmadon was doing most of the talking.
"Oh, hey there Thous. We were just talking about what would be better; mashed potato infused with tomato paste or a variety of spices with ginger instead. What's your opinion?"
"Did you just call me 'Thous'?"
"Yea, I spent some time mulling over your name, and 'Thousand Leagues Astrologer' was just too much of a mouthful to say. Could say 'Thousand Leagues', but still a mouthful," he said, shuffling in his seating position with his arms still bound behind him.
"I prefer tomato paste with mashed potato-but that's not the point," she groaned, climbing into the wagon with the others and sitting on the opposite bench from Laurissa. "Listen, I'm not going to be cryptic, so I'll just straight about it. This town will be under siege by nightfall, and frankly we don't have enough people. I doubt even the four of us, of the Slane Theocracy, will be enough. Especially since we'll have to keep you in custody. So, I'll ask you, Garmadon of Australia, vampire slayer and master of the creation spell-."
"And current hostage of a cult."
"-And current hostage of a cu-NO," she snapped at Garmadon who had a slight giggling grin on his face from almost making her say something she'd regret. "Will you help us?"
"….," there was a few moments of silence as the two of them starred into each other's eyes, trying to figure out what the other was thinking.
"You're really laying this on thick, aren't you?" Garmadon heaved before laying back with his eyes closed. "….but I'm going to have to give a hard pass. Fighting on the front lines has never really been my thing. Quite frankly I don't care what happens to this town if I'm not going to get anything out of it."
Creaking open an eye, he glared at her.
"And I'm still against the idea of helping a racist cult on pare with the Nazi's."
"….Nazi's?...W-we can strike a deal."
"But you're not offering anything I want. How about this; let me go and never come after me again after I save this place spec-tacularly."
'This isn't working, he's completely resentful against the Theocracy. There's no point.'
"….tfu~…."
Resentfully, Thousand Leagues got up and stormed out of the wagon and leaned against the halls wall, hat sagging more than usual. She reached into her side pouch and pulled out her personal spell book and started flipping through the pages.
'Surely there's a brainwashing spell in here. Though it would be better if Kaire was here to use [Downfall of Castle and Country]. We'd have a great weapons developer on our side-.'
Before she turned the next page, a hand grabbed hers, snapping Thousand Leagues out of her thoughts. Looking up, Laurissa was staring back with a concerned look in her silent eyes.
"Show him the town," she quietly said, her green eyes glittering amongst her pink hair.
"Pardon?"
"If you want someone to fight, they need to know what they're fighting for," she said, raising her voice with a hint of sadness. "Words alone don't hold enough power to compel someone forward if the meaning of those words is lost to them. How did you become a devoted servant for the great gods, did someone tell you they perform miracles and bless random strangers for no apparent reason? No, you believed because you were blessed with life, a loving family and a great spellcasters magical aptitude by the gods themselves. The miracles you received was the opportunity to fight for that family and life while protecting others like you. That's why you joined and to this day you give your heart to that cause. So don't go thinking you can just simply force someone to fight for a cause and expect them to give their heart for it. Garmadon's no different, so if you want him to fight for our cause, you need to show him what that cause is."
A few moments of silence passed, and Thousand Leagues lightly closed her book and lowered it to her side. "That's the first time you've said more than just a sentence."
"I felt like doing it~," she said, going silent again and turning to the side.
'I feel like something happened~.'
Giving a light smile, Thousand Leagues packed her book away and turned to face Laurissa, taking a deep breath. "Alright, well then shall the three of us do some sight-seeing?"
"Without Halitosis, Harold or Aurita knowing?"
"Oh, they'll be fine," she said, skipping back to the wagon. "Let's go~."
The small Clearwater scripture member gave a slight nod and came along with her.
'Looks like she's back to her normal self.'