Hello fellas! I'm sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but I'm still trying to juggle having two fanfictions at the same time. I think I'm finally getting settled though.
Guest 2: I'll try to revise more, though what you said wasn't particularly helpful. Or polite, for that matter. And everything is going at the pace that I believe it should go at. Can you believe how incredibly boring things would get if I spent 40k in between each chapter?
ScorinVoidseeker: I'll do it again sometime in the future, though not anytime soon. As for your other question… that was actually sort of the interpretation that I wanted to give, yeah. Though, not you in particular. You were one of the more… let's say, tame ones. *shudders* Shippers…
And yes, Francis happens to be my brother for real. I'm still unsure whether or not to give him actual magic, but know that he's gonna whine nearly all the time about it.
The Omakes happen when I have an interesting idea that's too silly or outlandish for the story to hold. I simply didn't have anything to put in there at the time, plus the previous chapter had basically been one massive omake. As for whether he's comfortable with it… his words, not mine "It's your story. Do what you want. Although I would've preferred Lucina." And I'm still unsure on the shipping. What is sure is that I'm not gonna leave it up to the readers.
Nick, the one most likely to be used as a baseball bat.
Guys, you know what really irks me? When shitty coincidences happen. You know Ophelia, Lissa's granddaughter? She has a personal tome called Missiletainn.
It's ice magic. I only found out later. God fucking damn it-
Anyways, read and review, fellas!
25: Treading on thin ice
This day couldn't be going fucking worse, I tell you.
(Can't even say it could rain, since we're in the middle of the desert. Rain would actually be helpful right now.)
Yeah, exactly.
I got my ass handed to me today, which earned me a broken arm.
I've sent Cordelia back and they're probably sending a search party for me.
I fucked up my directions in a spectacular way, thinking it was still dawn when I woke up. It was actually already past twelve, which meant I ended up going NORTH instead of south.
I still haven't eaten anything.
My brother somehow got into this world, because OF COURSE HE WAS GONNA GET IN HERE HE HAS A DAUGHTER.
(To be honest, fate just played us using ourselves.)
I KNOW
THAT'S WHAT'S SO FRUSTRATING ABOUT IT
Then I got swung around as if I were a FREAKING MACE by a dragon loli.
And now I have to follow the orders of someone who hasn't even completed Eliwood mode!
(Well, his strategy is sound though. Would you have done anything else?)
I…
(Nevermind, stupid question. You would've probably charged blindly against all of them.)
I could've afforded to do it!
(… This is the mindset that makes people get mad at you.)
Well fuck you too.
(In the meantime, while this beautiful conversation played out, four things have happened: Nowi has transformed, much to the surprise of everyone sans you and Rose. Gregor and the newly transformed Nowi have begun charging, followed by your brother and Lilina. You've been standing around, with the same mage from before hitting you in the back, and Rose has been staring at you oddly, waving a hand in front of your face.)
Oh.
"Are you alright, uncle?" She asked. A few moments passed as I briefly pondered whether or not I should lie, before I sighed and said. "No. I'm not." I was gonna leave it at that, but then I thought of something. "Give this to Fra' for me, will you?" I asked as I summoned the shield in my hand. She stared at me for a second before nodding and starting to follow our frontline, shield in hand. I was about to do so as well when a THIRD blast of dark magic hit my back.
I turned to see the five (actually three, if you count only fighters) of them impact with the two horsemen, one holding a lance and the other a sword. The lance guy was promptly felled by dragon fire. He never even stood a chance as the tar-like substance was hurled onto the rider, melting him down. Ouch.
The other tried to get a hit in on Gregor, but he jumped back into the sand, stumbling only slightly. The poor horse, however, was not as lucky: unused to the desert and without being able to compensate for the lunge its rider made, it fell face first into the ground. Fairly sure that its left front leg broke too. More importantly, its rider was sent flying right in front of Gregor, who planted a boot on his head, most likely knocking him out.
Well, it seemed they didn't need me right now. Guess I'll visit the village to my left then, to avoid it from being-
A fourth ball of shadow impacted against my back. This guy certainly chose the wrong day to be a fucking idiot. I turned around, nearly growling at my opponent from how mad I was, only to realize that a lot more people had made their way to me. Quickly counting… three barbarians, a myrmidon, and the shaman from before. The other guys were ignoring me in favour of going after my brother.
" (You should get distracted way less on the battlefield. One of these days it's gonna cost you.)
Yeah, yeah. But it's definitely not today.
"onethreefiveeight Ten on one? Come on guys. It's not fair." I grinned ferally.
"You definitely should've brought more people."
(STOP WITH THE ONE-LINERS. What are you, an anime protagonist?)
I pouted (in my head) at him. He wasn't even gonna let me have my fun?
"Because if you wanna kill me…" I started, mana-created-water turning into a spear floating slightly above my right hand. They had the sense to at least stop and look vaguely threatened.
"You're gonna have to catch me first!" I said, sprinting past the cavalier that was closing in from the south, my icy spear shooting itself into his midsection, knocking him off his horse and impaling him onto the ground. The ice tinged itself a bright red color.
Arriving to the oasis, I turned around to see that they were, understandably, all trying
Alright, focus… I closed my eyes as I willed the water to come out and encase the legs. I opened my eyes to see that it was actually working: they were all staring at me in alarm as his legs became stuck. And then… freeze!
Holy shit it actually worked. Now onto running away again.
(Hold on, aren't you gonna fight them head on?)
Fuck no. The last time I went against more people at once I wasn't handicapped and even then it was way too close for comfort. I'll just act as a distraction for these goons.
(… I'll admit, I'm both proud and surprised to see you learn from your mistakes.)
And I feel both nice and insulted from that.
(Fair enough.)
Another blast of dark magic struck me in the back. It was starting to go numb, but numb was a constant state of being with me so I wasn't too preoccupied.
(I'm preoccupied that you're not preoccupied about that.)
Anyways, I actually managed to get inside the village that was built all around the oasis, running around the small barricade that blocked them from the battle itself. It was… small, to say the least, barely even a village. A handful of houses made of sandstone, a few merchants going on about their lives in the plaza of (An Anna included, Naga fucking damn it). Even smaller than the village I helped to protect with Anna. Four-scratch that, five men, two women and a child were going about with their daily lives. The sounds of battle didn't reach here, so I guess it was normal.
(Isn't a dragon's skeleton supposed to be here? Has it been moved? The village is bigger than I remember too…)
"Everyone! There's a battle going on! Get into your houses!" I shouted at the top of my lungs into the village. The effect was immediate. The villagers began panicking scrambling to get inside somewhere as the enemies approached. I heard thumps from the doors, confirming that they were barring the doors. Good.
Only two of them remained; one of the men that I saw earlier, and the little kid. Both of them had bright green hair, the father having a beard of the same color and hazel eyes. He was carrying what seemed to be his daughter on his shoulders, who was sucking on her thumb in a very uninterested manner. He grabbed my wrist.
"Come on son, get moving!" the guy shouted. I wrenched my hand free from him.
"I can't! My friends are fighting out there! Now get in- SHIT, DUCK!" I shouted, tackling him as a ball of darkness flew over both of our heads. A silent gasp that I couldn't keep in tore its way out of my lips as I fell onto my arm, opening the wound again and no doubt breaking it even more. The child on his shoulders fell off, but quickly got up and toddled over back to us.
"Good, good. It's been a while since we've sacrifice a brat to our fell savior Grima." The dark mage who shot the aforementioned blob of darkness chuckled. "Two brats even. Ain't this our lucky day guys?" He asked. Four of the eight guys behind him chuckled, while the others remained stoic.
(Mercenaries.)
Uhh… It's two myrmidons, a cavalier, three shamans, a priest-
(Not what I- you little shit, you know exactly what I mean.)
Whatever.
I remained silent for the time being while getting up, still panting from the painful experience of falling on my broken fucking arm.If Lissa was here she'd be absolutely livid and punt me through a wall for injuring myself further.
(Then why do your emotions feel like you're looking forward to that? Do you perhaps have a… crush?)
No. It's blatant masochism. I blame my extraordinary pain tolerance.
"You can't do that! We have already paid our dues Father Chalard! Leave us alone!" the man behind me shouted. I turned to him with a "Really?" look.
"Well, under normal circumstances, it would appear so, but it just so happens that you're providing asylum to an Ylissean soldier and well… should a man or two disappear while they're doing so, we would all know what happened…" he let out a raspy laugh, in which the two axe fighters and shamans behind him laughed. They were in a square formation with the dark mage who spoke at the center, while the mercenaries were in an arrow formation in front of them, protecting.
"But-but-" The man said, clearly taken off guard before doing what any sensible person would do. He ran.
Without his daughter.
"Your daughter man!" I shouted over to him, but he surprisingly called back. "She ain't mine!" And suddenly ducked into a house, barring it off as well.
(I'm not usually the one to say this, but what a f*****g c**t.)
Well then.
"Heya pipsqueak." I said, grabbing the astonished child by her armpits, who looked to be on the verge of tears. "Things are gonna get pretty scary, but I need you to hold on tightly and do whatever I tell you to. Can you do that for me?" She nodded tearily, hugging me tightly around my neck as I held her by the crook of my broken arm. I turned to stare at the men that were closing in on me. They all had taken out their weapons, and the two mercenaries were advancing warily. Smart guys. The rest… not so much. They had begun dashing towards me. Well, it'll make it all the easier to do this.
"Hold your breath, alright?" I said, and without waiting for an answer I dived headfirst into the oasis.
I'm gonna pull one out of Todoroki Shouto's books. Do you think I'm gonna get a copyright strike?
(You're no longer bound by the laws of your world, Nick. You gotta Let It Go.)
We'll leave the readers frozen solid if we continue like this.
(Agreed. We definitely have to chill with these puns.)
Thrusting my hand out as I swam, I willed for the massive body of water that was the oasis to freeze while focusing on lowering its temperature down to the maximum it could. I had zero idea of what I was doing, but if Celsius could pull it off I should be able to as well, right?
The answer was… a surprising yes. Things hardly go my way when I first try them, so I'm glad that it actually worked in a situation like this one. I could not afford to make mistakes now.
I broke the surface of the water from convenient hole in the ice I had left and opened my eyes to see that five of the men had their legs actually encased in ice. However…
"Nice parlor trick, brat." The myrmidon who was free spoke up for the first time. He had bright yellow hair and a bandanna keeping it up. "But that's not gonna be enough." He dashed for me.
DodgeDodgeDodgeDodgetoofast-
A dent in my armor was left as the guy stabbed into my armor's side, thankfully without actually hitting any vital part. However, that didn't mean it didn't hurt. I was knocked back and sent skidding from the sheer strength put behind the blow and the icy ground. I grimaced as I said "Parlor trick, huh?" I asked rethorically. "Well, then you're gonna love this! Ice Knife!" I called, as three spears of ice materialized on my hand. I had already done this with the wyvern riders already, it was one of the easiest spells to pull off.
Raising my hand into the air, the spears followed my hand. The man tried to dash towards me, but he apparently forgot about the frozen ground, because he slipped while I casually skated outside of his reach. A brutal show of gore appeared as his body began spraying blood after I lowered my hand. He wasn't dead, I made sure that I didn't hit anything vital, just his shoulder and thigh, but it was enough to make him turn tail and run screaming and slipping.
What I didn't expect to happen, however, was the priest turning his back to me to fire an orb of darkness at his runaway ally. The other four grimleal simply chuckled while staring at the guy, uncaring of their frozen legs while the one who was attacking me looked genuinely shocked, both at his employee's actions as much as I was.
I stared as the guy screamed, writhing onto the ground as the darkness literally ate him. It was a sickening scene, and I was forever thankful that the child in my hands, who was shivering from the cold, didn't see any of it.
The cavalier decided to try and turn coat on the man because of what he had done. He charged at him, the horse surprisingly not slipping on ice, but one of the bandits who were chuckling suddenly tossed himself in the way of the lance, getting impaled. He moaned lightly as he died. A blast of dark magic finished his life as he too was turned into a writhing mess of eaten flesh.
"Well? Aren't you going to kill him? Or do you want to meet the same fate your brothers did?" 'Chalard' asked, looking straight into the eyes of the man who had his brother just ripped from him. Three of the men chuckled while the priest raised a staff. Did these guys even have a soul? All they seemed to be was stereotypical minions for the guy…
However, I didn't have time to ponder any further as the barbarian suddenly glowed and growled in frustration and started charging at me, a whole new demeanor from the guy.
"Are you sure what you're doing is a good idea?" I asked him, while starting to skate away from him. He was slipping on the ice like his brother, but not as much as I hoped he would be. I raised my hand once more, but he seemed to be ready to counter it, because he took out both of the throwing axes from his bel and chucked one of them at me. I simply dodged out of the way.
"Is that the best you can do?" I taunted creating my ice spears in my hand once again, but noticed that the guy had been smirking. He tossed the other axe to me and I dodged back once again, the axe passing harmlessly through my legs but effectively making me drop the spell. I stared at the guy who was… slowly moving towards me, trying not to trip on the icy surface. I raised an eyebrow at him. "zat seriously all you're gonna do? Slowly make your way towards me like that while interrupting my spells? You're gonna run out of axes." I turned my stare for just a second to the others in the back, but it seemed all they were interested in was freeing themselves of my icy prison. Good.
I raised my hand in the air and for the third time an axe was tossed my way. I had to lower my hand to let the axe sail over it. "You're sure an annoying fellow, aren't you? You're also out of axes though. Unless you plan on tossing me that huge one on your back." I casually called. He had a huge twin-headed axe on his back that promised pain to anyone stupid enough to stand in its way.
"Don't worry, little sheep. Everything's gonna be over soon." He grinned, a bloodlusty look in his eyes that certainly had not been there before. I was about to ask what he meant when suddenly Law interrupted.
(Shit, behind you!)
I quickly whirled around to realize that I had my back to a myrmidon who I hadn't seen free himself and sneak up behind me. Turning back to the guy, the crazed glint in his eyes had magnified tenfold, and he began running towards me as fast as he could with his axe in his hands.
I tried to dodge, but with nowhere to run I couldn't get out of there in time-
The kid whimpering as she was about to meet an axe head on-
(How can you make these horrible puns right now?)
Ignoring my other self, I raised an ice wall in front of me and put the kid between me and the ice wall, my back to the axe guy. I whirled around once again, steeling myself-
The axe hit me square in the chest. I felt it as it destroyed nearly everything in its path, and sadly at the time it was me; I felt my ribs crack as my back was steadily being held up by the icy wall. I looked down and saw that the kid was staring back at me with wide eyes, before running away from under my legs, the ice hindering her a little. I agreed; this was certainly not a show for children.
(And yet you're the star here.)
Yeah. Exhilarating, isn't it?
I felt as my ribs finally gave way to the axe, meeting more flesh painfully. After what felt like an eternity, the offending weapon finally being retracted from my ribs where it pressed very painfully; the motion alone making me gasp out non-existent air. That didn't mean nothing came out of my mouth; I spat out a mouthful of blood in the guy's face. However, he didn't look like he was even remotely concerned by it. He started laughing as he removed the axe fully, removing my only support as I fell to the ground. I mustered what little force I had to lift myself back up while the man cackled gleefully (crazily).
"That…" I wheezed. "That definitely ranks fourth on the most urgh" I hunched over as I spat another glob of blood. It was rapidly starting to pool under me. "On the most painful experiences I've felt. Not quite podium, but you should be proud, right?" I joked. "Let's hope this works or I'll be like a tomato on a cutting board…" I muttered.
Channelling the magic into my hand, I ducked under the axe that was about to take my breath (and my neck) away, I extended my hand towards him. From the already frozen ground, a massive hand (though claw would be more accurate) of ice came out, homing in to my attacker. Not expecting this, he didn't have time to react and simply let himself be grabbed. He was stuck in it, miserably trying to rip himself free of the hand while the frostbite started spreading on his skin.
The myrmidon from before came rushing at me, the same crazed look as the guy from before. Gathering ice around my right hand, I narrowly dodged the blade and slashed the guy into two.
I looked at him in the eyes, but saw only anger on him, not the desperation I expected but not hoped, I wasn't a monster…?
(Why did that come out as a question?)
Ignoring my inner voice, I made my way to the guy. When he looked at me, he struggled even further, but it was to reach his weapon on the ground rather than to set himself free. The guy had gone completely stir crazy.
"I'll put you out of your misery." I said, without a hint of emotion in my voice, completely done with this shit. The guy didn't reply to me, he hadn't even heard me. I sighed.
Channelling mana once again in my hand, I let my hand be coated in ice. I got even closer to him and grabbed his throat. Frost spread over his neck as fast as it could, leaving him in a silent gasp of anger. I squeezed, and the warmth of blood greeted my hand in between all the frost from the ice. The claw, finally satisfied, let its prize fall down in a fountain of blood and frost.
"I hope you loved your brothers just as much as I did mine." I told him. My hand fell to my side once more, but only for a moment as I grabbed the little flask that was at my side, downing it in one go. There wasn't much left of it anyways.
(That was… brutal.)
Heh, guess I've gotten colder Law.
(…)
Feeling my chest get repaired, I briefly wondered if I wasn't doing more damage sealing the wound without repairing my ribs. I could feel them puncturing in my chest, but thankfully not bursting through a lung. Yet.
A slow clapping snapped me out of my staring at the dead man as the Grimleals made their way over to me.
"Amazing. Such a great power in such a tiny body. You will make an exquisite sacrifice." "Father Chalard" laughed. The man wasn't all right in the head.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen old man. I'm very pissed right now, so you better turn tail and leave this village alone." I growled, this guy was already pissing me off. Those two from before were probably brainwashed into fighting somehow, I can just feel it.
"Oh? Ha ha ha, you dare defy Grima, god of annihilation?" And with a sweeping gesture of his hand, a globe of darkness slammed harmlessly into my chest.
"Yes. Yes I do. Let's hope this works because I'll look like an idiot otherwise…" I muttered under my breath.
'Magic is all about visualization, right?'
(Mostly. You obviously need to visualize what you're doing happening, or you won't even know how to direct the flow of magic. Then you need to know if-
Yeah, yeah. Now shut up, I'm gonna visualize a way to kick this guy's ass.
"Well. You've brought this upon yourselves." I said with a confidence I wasn't feeling. Making my hands meet, I united them into a Ram seal straight out of Naruto.
"Hyoton: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!" I shouted. To the surprise of every party included, a dome of twelve mirrors lifted themselves from the ground around them, completely trapping them in an open dodecahedron of mirrors. Sadly, despite my apparent affinity for ice magic, I couldn't do reality-bending bullshit like entering the mirrors at will, so it was just a dome. But it would serve its purpose well enough.
"Samu! Kill the little girl!" The dark mage shouted, pointing at the kid that was looking at me from far away. With a nod and a chuckle, one of the minions dashed towards the clearly open path between me and him as I got in between him and the green-haired child. When he tossed an axe at me, I simply leaned out of the way, letting it pass harmlessly to my side. And when he finally arrived right in between two of the mirrors…
"Flip." Following my waving hand gesture, the two mirrors that he was closest to flipped to face him. "Crush." I said, no. This was barely the husk of a man. Clapping my hands (with a good deal of difficulty thanks to the sling) together, the ice replicated my gesture. Suddenly, in between my hands there was a resistance. I pressed them harder together. I heard a sickening crunch in front of me as the man was crushed, thankfully not in a spray of gore as his neck had been the first part to give way. I let my hands drop.
I pointed my hand towards the other man, who was waiting for orders from the priest who looked horrified at the prospect of being killed as he realized that I was very capable of doing exactly that. "Aurora beam." I calmly stated as if I was talking about the weather. Which I suppose I was.
Today's weather is ass-kicking with a chance of death.
Interestingly enough, it didn't come from my hand; one of the mirror that was closer to me shattered, turning into a much smaller prism. Flying above both our heads, it started gathering energy from the sun, shining a nice rainbow color. I suppose physics still had to come into play, even if I didn't understand them.
"FIRE!" I shouted. All the light that had been gathered into the prism condensed into a beam of rainbow light that hit the man in the chest. He fell to the ground, blood pooling under him. He didn't get back up.
Balling my fist and doing what basically amounted to fistpumping, a spike of ice emerged from under the grimleal-robed priest, impaling him.
"As for you, "Father" Chalard…" I taunted. The man deserved this. A flick of my wrist had the remaining eleven mirrors shatter, but instead of dropping into the ground, they all became sharp shards that hung in the air. I let my hand hang up in the air, keeping all these ice shards was not nearly as easy as it looked.
"Any last words?" I asked. This guy was a mage; it's not like he could hurt me. Might as well enjoy the moment as much as I could.
(That's a bad idea, don't be a stereotypical villain please Nick-
"Just one, boy. Luna!" He shouted. As a globe of darkness that shined with a silvery glint appeared in his hands. I lowered my hand, and all the shards of ice started chasing after the guy.
Too little; too late; he had already fired. And I was right in its way.
I could only stare in shock as the ball collided with my chest, a feeling of numbness that despite the cold, still felt…
(WrONgWRoNGWroNgThEDaRKnESsStOPIT!)
I fell to the ground as the whole numbness spread to even my brain; it was too much to handle.
I blacked out, not sure which was up and down, empty or filled, human or monster, alive or not. What was I?
With the last thing I could see being Chalard's body being torn asunder, a drop of something gooey suddenly felt in my mouth. I hope it wasn't blood. My muscles spasmed slightly as I blacked out completely.
This chapter has been Beta'd by Kidemonas! That's it. Wow. This is the first chapter where I have nothing to say. This is weird. So… here's the stats and the Omake I guess.
Nick
Otherwordly Soldier
Lv 3 Exp 12
Class: Basara
Stats: Hp: 0!/35 Str: 0 (20) Mag: 21 Skl: 17 Spd: 22 Lck: 14 Def: 12 Res: 25
Skills: Riposte; Toss; Rend Heaven; Ice gift (Ice spells cost only 1 HP to cast)
Status: Broken arm; Broken Ribs*; Unconscious*;
*Moving more than 3 spaces per turn causes Bleeding (Poison like state, removed by healing.)
*Unit is unconscious. Cannot Move, Attack or Talk.
Items: Uruz; Convoy
Supports: Miriel B;Roy B;Kellam C;Marth C;Ricken C;Sully C; Lilina C
Bond Support: Francis: 10%, Rose 5%
Omake: Marth can't tech the fangirls
I quickly whirled around to realize that I had my back to a myrmidon who I hadn't seen free himself and sneak up behind me. Turning back to the guy, the crazed glint in his eyes had magnified tenfold, and he began running towards me as fast as he could with his axe in his hands.
I tried to dodge, but with nowhere to run I couldn't get out of there in time-
The kid whimpering as she was about to meet an axe head on-
(How can you make these horrible puns right now?)
Ignoring my other self, I raised an ice wall in front of me and put the kid between me and the ice wall, my back to the axe guy. I whirled around once again, steeling myself-
But the hit never arrived. However, I felt the gripping sensation of a hand on my neck, and opening my eyes it was-
"Marth?"
"Please, please unsummon me." He pleaded to me, still gripping my neck before I managed to wriggle my way out of his grasp.
"What's going on? How did I even get here?!" I asked him.
"Suitors. And I grabbed you." He muttered as he started looking around himself.
"You… grabbed me?" I asked, incredulous.
"Yes, but we have no time for that. We need to hide, or else- THEY'RE HERE!" he screamed.
Suddenly, from the doors that led to the Throne room that we were currently in, a massive amount of women came out, chanting "Marry me, King Marth!"
Creating a large mass of water, I lifted it up to create a wall and made if freeze. A solid wall of ice separated us from the screaming women.
"Fangirls?" I asked. He nodded, his left eye twitching in nervousness.
"So… this is what you've been up to…?" I asked him.
"You don't even have any idea. It just keeps getting worse. They've even started using rescue staves-" whatever he had been saying was cut off by his body glowing and being lifted up in the air, only to disappear in a blue light.
"Poor Marth…" I muttered.
(Another brave man has been felled in the battle against the thots.)
In another dimension…
"Jaegan." Queen Caeda barked out in anger, prompting the elderly knight to quickly arrive.
"Yes Milady?" he asked in fear. Not of her though, of her wing spear. Him being transformed into a Great Knight by the Awakening laws made him twice as weak towards the thing.
"Fetch my dragon. My dear Marthipan is getting molested."
"Yes ma'am."
The fangirls never knew what hit them.
