Magic: the Gathering
Chronicles, Volume 22
Delta was not one to make battle plans to defeat his enemies, nor would he have much patience for others who took time off to formulate battle strategies. He rolled his massive shoulders, the iron and wood shoulder padding clanking against his body plating as he clenched his fists. "Hey! Quit whispering and fight!" he challenged the kids and Planeswalker. "That's boring."
"You've got a long way to go, Delta," Theta taunted his bigger ally, standing at the ready with his half-sword. "Don't you know the importance of battle plans?"
Viktor was busy pointing out a few select cards for his allies to use when Tohru shouted a sudden warning. "Here he comes!"
"Whoa!" Viktor exclaimed, and so did Theta and Omega: the two partial-Hunters had prepared a battle stance for two-part combat, but they were plowed aside when Delta charged like a rhinoceros, his head bowed and feet slamming heavily on the wooden floor, splintering it underfoot. Both Theta and Omega were knocked aside like bowling pins as Delta lunged forth, his claw brass knuckled reaching out to impale his enemies.
Employing his usual surprise blocker, Viktor allowed his Vine Trellis to sprout into existence to stop Delta's attack, the vines, leaves, and woody shoots unfurling and growing to form the full wall. Viktor moved to his left closer to Tohru, preparing a creature to attack with, but before he could, Delta ripped right through the Vine Trellis, his equipped claws shredding the vines and leaves like a machete.
"A little shrubbery like that isn't gonna stop me, kiddo!" Delta shouted gleefully as Viktor was forced to back up, dodging and tumbling to avoid Delta's crazed swipes, not even having time to cast a spell until he found an opening. Delta was forced to call off his attack for only a second when a Raging Goblin with Giant Growth cast on it pounced from behind, the goblin's massive ax slamming into Delta's back.
The goblin was apparently used to its targets being hacked in half by its gigantic ax, and its mean little eyes widened in shock when Delta's wood and iron armor stopped the ax's sharp edge dead. "Hey, little goblin!" Delta teased before he sank his brass knuckle blades into its neck, killing it. Viktor took his chance to escape, Tohru following him.
"Quick, we need to execute the plan!" Viktor told them, and the others nodded. Theta, Omega, and Delta advanced, the two smaller foes grinning wickedly as they tapped their open palms with the blunt edges of their swords.
"Who are you gonna cut up first, Theta?" Omega asked the other. "I want the guy who acts like he's in charge. I don't like leadership types."
"Except Lord Alpha, of course," Theta reminded him. "But really, I want to attack all of them! It's no fun if we divvy them up ahead of time. Though I wouldn't mind taking down that Planeswalker…"
"Okay, now!" Viktor shouted as the three foes closed in, Delta's wild-colored hair flying as he pounced again and launched his massive body into the air. Kelly's quick Darkness spell made for a good cover, the inky dark wisps blasting into existence and covering the faces of the three attackers.
"Gaaaah! I can't see!" Omega wailed, dropping his sword and clutching at his obscured face. "Where is everyone?!"
"Boggart Ram-Gang!" Devin cried, and the massive Boggart siege vehicle roared to life, consisting of a fallen tree sharpened at one end with some sword-wielding goblins riding on it and others carrying it. Before the Hunters could recover, Tohru pointed the way and the Ram-Gang charged, the goblins cheering and screeching their glee as they plowed into the wooden wall of the castle, blasting a huge hole in it with the help of another Giant Growth.
The Ram-Gang's simple plan was a success: half of the wall was gone, revealing the massive throne room next door. The room they were currently in was along the higher wall of the throne room, with the floor being several floors down.
"Come on!" Viktor urged the others, and Ashley's Lifted by Clouds got the five of them lowered to the throne room's floor, taking the samurai guards inside by surprise, the men drawing their katanas.
"Um, I think they're all Enslaved…" Devin hesitated, looking back up at the room they escaped from. "Did Delta do it?"
"Enslavement patterns are consistent with the voracious nature of red and green mana. Expect… brute tactics," Tohru said, analyzing the advancing samurai guard with a detection scroll and a fascinated expression on his face. Further in the room was Konda himself, the familiar old man looking alarmed and outraged at once, thrusting a pointing finger at the kids to order his troops to kill them.
"Enslaved creatures are taking his orders?" Kelly noted in a hurry, aware that Delta, Omega, and Theta would be following after them as soon as the Darkness spell wore out. "Then again, perhaps Konda can't even tell. At any rate, it would be advantageous for the Hunters for the Enslaved creatures to stand between us and our goal. They have the advantage."
"Excellent analysis. Was thinking the same thing myself," Tohru said proudly, patting himself on the back. "Though immediate action is necessary. Prepare yourself!"
Tohru blocked the katana of a particularly large samurai with a shield scroll held in his hand, the white magic barrier not unlike Ashley's Withstand spell. Making a quick motion in his other hand, Tohru muttered something in Japanese and a golden fireball appeared in his hand, and Tohru used it to blast the samurai away with a surge of golden flame. The samurai flew back and slammed into a wall, burnt and limp. Meanwhile, Viktor was confused.
"So… where is Makoto?" he wondered out loud, his Elvish Warrior trading blows with a second samurai as Devin's Scythe Tiger bashed at a pike-man with its ferocious claws. "I don't see him anywhere!"
"Can you use the Kraken's Eye?" Kelly asked in a rush, straining to block a court mage's crackling magic bolts with a Wall of Bone, the enemy's magic stopped dead by the regenerating bone wall. Viktor concentrated and channeled his awareness into that basketball-sized glassy eye, quickly scanning the room for his friend's presence. However, Makoto was nowhere to be found, only dozens of samurai, pike-men, and court mages along with Konda himself.
Viktor shook his head. "No good! I can't find him. He's either been moved somewhere else, or is cloaked with powerful magic. That, or he was never here to begin with."
"The second guess is the winner!" a gleeful voice shouted, and Viktor whipped around to find Theta and Omega jump down from the broken upper-story room, their cloaks flapping as they fell and landed on the wooden floorin identical crouched postures to break their fall. They looked up at Viktor, grinning widely as Theta went on, "Your pal Makoto is in here, but you're not gonna find him, you hear? Our magic is too strong for you to circumvent."
"Because we have the all-consuming power of lord Alpha within us," Omega gloated, swinging his half-sword wide in a ready position as Theta did the same. "There's no way to best our master, and no way to defeat those who follow him!"
"They're still such braggarts," Devin complained as he and the others were pressed into a tight circle by a swarm of court samurai and pike-men. "It annoys me!"
"Keep your cool, okay?" Ashley consoled him, her Sigiled Paladin parrying blows that came too close to her. "They must be trying to trick us. There's bound to be a way to uncloak Makoto."
"Maybe brute force?" Devin suggested. "I bet that hitting them hard enough will do the trick!"
Kelly sighed in exasperation. "It can't be that easy," she countered him. "You ought to have learned by now, in a world ruled by magic and monsters nothing is ever that easy."
"I think you forgot," Devin said firmly as he held up a few cards in his remaining hand, "That I'm red-green. I'm at my best when I operate this way. Worth a shot, isn't it?"
Viktor grinned. "Have it your way," he said.
"Gotcha," Devin grinned back before shouting over the din, "Deus of Calamity!"
Viktor had to admit that Devin's 6/6 Spirit Avatar looked impressive as hell in these confined quarters, even more so as the monster swept its arms imbued with fire and sent all of the samurai and pike-men flying away in a swarm, the men falling on the floor in volleys. Viktor was forcibly reminded of tornadoes that swept frogs into the air and made frog rain, and that's what the Deus had done to the court defenders, awing even Konda himself.
"Hey! They're playing rough! Get your butt down here!" Omega shouted up at the room where the fight had started and Delta still was, but the kids were not willing to wait. Kelly's Vicious Hunger sent the Deus of Calamity into ravenous overdrive, the colossal red and green monster charging the tiny pair of defenders like a tsunami.
The Deus' massive hand was slammed down, intent on crushing Theta and Omega like insects. The two demi-Hunters leaped into the air at the last second, back to back as they spun in place, their half-swords cutting into the Deus' arm and making it howl in pain and rage. In response, it tried to grab them with its other hand, only to get a fistful of sharp steel as Theta and Omega floated in the air, performing a bizarre fighting style involving spinning and covering each other's blind spots.
"Try this one for size," Viktor muttered, a certain Aura held tight in his hand. "Oakenform!"
Wooden armor erupted from the card like a stream, rapidly coating the Deus like a layer of paint. Thick, wooden armor encased the Deus from head to foot, granting it even greater heights of power and toughness.
"Oooooh, looks like big boy has some new clothes!" Theta joked, making Omega cackled hysterically as the two of them charged at the Deus of Calamity's face, launching their spinning duet attack again.
This time, however, their half-swords were stopped dead by the wooden armor on the Deus' face, armor that left only its eyes and mouth uncovered. Infuriated, Theta and Omega swung again, tracing blindingly fast arcs of half-sword steel through the air at point-blank range, impossible to dodge. Viktor was sure that most creatures would be instantly minced by such a ferocious attack, but the Deus was different: it stood there, only blinking its thick eyelids to protect its eyes, allowing the armor to take the rest of the attack with no consequence.
"Ha! No matter how fast your attacks are, they're no good if they can't cut their target!" Devin yelled enthusiastically, pointing. Viktor had to agree: weathering Theta and Omega's onslaught, the Deus took advantage of their fatigue by waiting until they paused for breath. Its wooden fist slammed into them with sickening force, sending the screaming demi-Hunters flying through the air and crashing through the opposite wooden wall in a burst of dust and wood chips.
"Excellent attack! Direct methods sometimes the best," Tohru complimented, stoking his beard.
Only a few seconds later, Theta and Omega came crawling out of the massive hole in the wall they formed, coughing and gasping. "Del… Delta!" Omega wheezed a shout.
"Where are you?" Theta growled, his arms shaking from the exertion of dragging himself back into the room. A shadow passed over the both of them as the Deus of Calamity lurched forth to stand right before them, roaring as it brought down a fist to squash them both. Omega blanched, then shouted in rage and alarm, "Deltaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
In a streak of red and green, Delta was instantly on the scene, going from the upper room to the Deus' fist's path in a split second. The Deus huffed in surprise as the bulky Hunter stood right over Theta and Omega, his linebacker-like arms straight over his head as he held the Deus' fist over his head with his large hands. If he had been a second slower, the fist would have pulverized Theta and Omega.
"Are you guys okay?" Delta asked in concern, looking down at the two demi-Hunters he was protecting, the Deus' fist still held in place.
Theta and Omega grinned before they both vanished in a puff of blue magic, re-appearing on top of the Deus' head, much to its surprise.
"Hahaha! Thanks for the hand, Delta!" Omega shouted over at his superior Hunter ally. "Or rather, hands!"
"We only needed a second or two more to recharge our mana auras enough to teleport out of the way before you came," Theta added. "Now that we're clear, could you do some more good and fight those damn kids with us? Why did you take so long to help, anyway?"
Delta shrugged, still holding the Deus' hand in place. "The darkness reminded me of night, which reminds me of sleep, which reminds me of my much-needed naps," Delta shouted back at them. "I grabbed few winks back there."
"You did what?!" Theta and Omega yelped in unison.
"I figured you and the Enslaved guards could handle it. Sorry," Delta apologized. "But now, I'm gonna fight again. I've got to prove my worth!"
The Deus of Calamity had other plans. Its left fist was still being held by Delta, so it reached with its right hand to seize its much smaller Hunter foe. Quick on the upkeep, Theta and Omega leaped off the Deus' head just before Delta heaved the Deus' fist into the air, freeing them from deadlock.
Delta turned to see the Deus' right hand trying to seize him, so he grinned and slipped a new weapon out of a pocket in his armor: a wide, blunt brass knuckle with a stone hitting surface. From where he was, Viktor could only watch as Delta slipped the sledgehammer-like brass knuckle on his right hand and punch with it. The impact of his knuckles against the Deus' hand made a sickening crunching sound as the wooden armor was shattered and the Deus' hand bones were fractured, making the gigantic red and green beast stumble back, howling and clutching its injured hand.
"Angel of Mercy!" Ashley cried, in conjunction with a Curse of Chains: Theta and Omega had to dodge the blue and white spells raging past them, the glowing white and blue chains wrapping around a surprised Delta and shackling him against the wall, high in the air. The Angel of Mercy swooped before the Deus' maimed hand, Ashley working out an alternate effect as the Angel's life-gaining triggered and the Angel placed her hands on the Deus' hand, healing its wounds.
"Hey! I'm trying to kill that thing! Move!" Delta cried, squirming in his bonds. "Give me a chance here!"
"You're not going to have a chance to hurt anything else!" Ashley defied him.
"Fine. Guys, hold them off for a second!" Delta shouted, and the two demi-Hunters were more than happy to comply.
"Gotcha! You're going down, wing-girl!" Theta and Omega shouted, heading for the angel and running in mid-air using the blue aspect of their mana auras. Devin's Firebolt and Kelly's Vicious Hunger were too slow to stop them, however, as Theta and Omega teleported in a flash of blue magic to evade the attacks. The two demi-Hunters reappeared in front of the Angel, ambushing it. Then, Theta and Omega spun in place as they moved toward the Angel, performing their bizarre two-part sword attack again. The Angel was helpless as its wings were slashed off and its head sliced off its neck, the whole Angel dissolving in sparkling white mana that faded in a few seconds.
"Need a hand, buddy?" Theta asked, jumping off the Deus' arm to free Delta. The Deus rumbled its denial as it swung a mighty fist at Theta, only to have Omega teleport before the fist and hold it back with both his arms.
"How can he do that? I thought they were weaker than Delta!" Devin cried, his eyes bugging out at the sight.
"Speculation. Blue magic excels at negation. Perhaps Omega has ability to drain power from the punch?" Tohru suggested, watching. "Trickery can always subdue brute force using the right methods."
"Like this," Viktor muttered, an idea springing into his head. "Twiddle!"
Viktor's Twiddle sought to untap the Deus' attack, a normally strange concept for the game that applied perfectly well here: Omega had indeed been using a tap-like ability on the Deus' punch, and now the Twiddle's arc of electric blue mana zapped the Deus' hand, freeing it from Omega's magic and allowing it to swing again.
Omega dodged the punch, snarling his shock and rage as his half-sword was unable to harm the Deus' arm to stop it from closing in on Theta and Delta. Even so, Delta had been freed from Ashley's Curse of Chains just in time to stop the Deus' fist again, but he strained from the effort.
"We've got him! Overwhelm him!" Viktor cried, and Devin's Predator Dragon and Kelly's Final-Sting Faerie zoomed forth to aid the Deus, along with Viktor's Acidic Slime and Ashley's Water Elemental. Delta's eyes widened as all these creatures closed in on him, and he was helpless as their combined attack shook the whole Castle with a powerful impact and debris cloud, along with residual mana, obscuring everything in range.
"Did that… work?" Viktor breathed, before Theta and Omega erupted from the debris cloud, their rapid spinning swords hissing in the air.
"Nice try!" Omega shouted, and the two of them teleported all of a sudden, reappearing at point-blank range at the kids and Tohru, giving them no chance to block the murderous half-swords. Viktor prepared for the worst, but a clang of metal on metal made him stand back in awe: two new warriors stood between the two demi-Hunters and the kids, familiar warriors at that.
"Silverstorm Samurai… and Nagao, Bound by Honor?" Viktor breathed, as the fox-warriors and the dutiful samurai hero pushed Theta and Omega back with their blades, giving some room for new spells to be cast. Before anyone did anything else, a familiar voice spoke up behind Viktor.
"Hey, man. Good to see you all again," Makoto said casually, wandering up behind them all, beaming.
"We found you!" Ashley cried, unable to help herself and embracing her friend in a tight hug. "And we were really worried…"
"Well, thanks. But I'm all right," Makoto assured her, returning the hug and parting from Ashley. His clothes and hair were a little ragged and dirty, but he looked otherwise unharmed. "I never thought I'd see you all again."
I guess that hitting Theta and Omega did release Makoto from their sealing magic, Viktor realized. And he just needed a minute to escape the loosening magic effects to come to our aid. His timing couldn't have been better!
"Well, if that's the case, then you'll all get the chance to die together!" Theta spat, and he and Omega released their blades from the deadlock with Makoto's creatures, renewing their assault. Nagao and the Silverstorm Samurai were pushed back but held fast, aided by Makoto's Indomitable Will card.
Then, Viktor triggered his Lethargy Trap card, making Theta and Omega gasp for breath as their strength was weakened, making them slump. The two samurai and a Yamabushi's Flame blasted them away, damaging their armor and cutting their skin.
"Damn it! Stop leaving the battle, Delta! We need backup!" Omega roared back at the dust cloud from the battle against the Deus of Calamity. Viktor's Elvish Warrior, equipped with Trusty Machete, leaped forth to join the two samurai in pressing their attack on Theta and Omega, making the two demi-Hunters strain to defend themselves. Devin and Kelly prepared a few finishing spells, but before they could, Delta re-entered the battle.
"Man. I guess this is a good chance for me to show off, huh?" he commented, stumbling out of the fading dust cloud. The defeated Deus of Calamity gave a final utterance before collapsing, dissolving into primal green and red mana. Scrambling to their feet, Theta and Omega narrowly escaped the trio of attacking creatures in order to back off, apparently not wanting to get in Delta's way.
"No matter what tricks you've got in store for us, you're going down!" Devin shouted, his Fireball making his point. However, Delta continued to stumble forward, knocking away the Fireball with one hand, grinning as he clutched at his face with his other hand.
"Now you're gonna see why I'm the middle strongest among the five original Hunters!" he shouted excitedly. "Forget that metal-boy Kappa or Theta or Omega here. I'm going to crush you all myself! Who-hooooooo!"
There was something chillingly animalistic about Delta's howling, and shivers ran up and down his body as the summoned creatures fell back to defend their card-wielding masters.
Delta took one last unsteady step forward, his red and green mana aura flaring to full strength, warping and seething out of proportion, growing like crazy. Delta's body began to expand, his arms, legs, and body growing and morphing. His legs seemed to reverse their joints, bursting out of the leg armor and his feet becoming paw-like, complete with large black claws and brown fur. His hands did the same, the fingernails becoming claws and a coat of fur growing on his fingers and arms, the armor straining and breaking off from the growth as Delta transformed.
Viktor's eyes widened. "This has got to be his Ascendant State!" he shouted, remembering Beta's horrifying transformation into a fire wraith atop the Jund volcano. "Don't let him finish it!"
"Volcanic Dragon! Giant Ambush Beetle!" Devin roared, assisted by Kelly's Skeletal Vampire, Ashley's Water Elemental, and the creatures Viktor and Makoto had already summoned, along with a gold fire spell Tohru cast. All these creatures raged forth to destroy Delta, only to be vaporized once he flared up the final stage of his transformation, giving off a fantastic amount of sheer mana.
"Not good enough! Ah-woooooooooo!" Delta howled, his aura striking down the attackers, to the kids' and Tohru's dismay. His head was lengthening, his jaw and nose protruding and growing fur as his eyes became yellow and his ears moved to the top of his head. Now even bigger than before, Delta took a few steps forward on his paw-feet, feeling his face with his paw-hand as his transformation into his Ascendant State was completed. Once he lowered his hand, Delta leered his wolf face at the kids, a wide, sharp-toothed grin on his canine face.
"He… he's a wolf-man! Or a werewolf!" Devin cried, taking in the beast before him. "Like in the movies…"
"Werewolf? Ah-wooooooooo!" Delta cried, with a wolf-howl at the end of his sentence. "No, no! I'm a wolf shaman, see?"
Indeed, Delta now carried a thick wooden staff in his right hand, as tall as he was and with three wolf skulls on the end, numerous iron bands and runes along the wooden shaft. His armor was replaced by a crude set of shaman clothing, mostly a loin-cloth and armbands on his wrists that had metal studs. Otherwise, his rippling brown and black fur made up his clothing. Delta huffed.
"Come on! Aren't you impressed yet?" he complained, waving a hand. "Look at me! I'm a wolf shaman, currently the most powerful being in this plane! Granted that Alpha didn't decide to come here for some random reason… but still!"
"He seems… kind of unfocused," Viktor commented dryly. "But don't let your guard down."
"I heard that! Fire!" Delta shouted, tapping his staff once on the floor before swishing it through the air in a wide arc, hundreds of thin fire beams launching from the wolf skulls, all the beams curving in to collide with the group of kids.
Ashley's Wall of Denial bolstered by Battlegrowth took on the full brunt of Delta's sudden and withering attack, but like with the battle against Beta, even their strongest defense couldn't last long. The last of the fire lances vaporized the weakened shield, leaving the kids exposed again.
"How do you like that? Ah-woooooooo!" Delta shouted in glee. "Come on, Theta and Omega! It's time to party!"
"Gotcha!" Theta and Omega said in unison, leaping into the fray with their spinning attack. "This is it!"
"Not just yet!" Viktor retorted, slipping a few new cards out of his pocket as everyone else prepared their spells. This was going to be a tough one.