Beyond several planes, a certain entity was watching the scene unfolding at Morvunskar with great interest.
He knew that in the depths of the fortress, several heroes from different worlds had defeated one of their demon lords in an unconventional yet effective fashion. They would let nothing get in their way home, except maybe a desire for vengeance against a divine creature.
The fortress itself was guarded by a small battalion of Stormcloaks, strong and proud fighters born in Skyrim raring for a fight for freedom.
Just south of them, a large gathering of bandits was preparing their assault on their stronghold as they were outnumbering their enemies two to one.
Barely westward, a large company of haughty Thalmors was readying an assault against humans that they saw as barely more than domesticated beasts.
A group of silent assassins shrouded in the shadows was slowly approaching from the north, their blades guided by the perspective of an impressive payout.
Another identical squadron firmly opposed to them was closely following on their heels with another target on their mind.
He could also see an unusual, colorful group of monsters and angelic beings running straight at the core of the problem. They kept bickering at every turn, but deep down they were united by the goal of rescuing their friends, if only because they were acting as the glue that held their group together.
Their steps were careful as the field was brimming with energy. Several dark abominations residing in their own corners of reality were preparing to unleash their servants in so many attempts to claim this group or the hero they were trying to rescue as champions.
One of them was even sending his own greatest champion. A man whose name was barely dared whispered was soon going to make his entrance on the battlefield to claim vengeance in the name of his dark master.
Far above them, dozens of dragons led by Alduin, the World Devourer himself were preparing to jump in to feast on any unfortunate soul below them. The dragon only had the goal to remove the one threat to his reign, and all of his current partners were only so many expendable pawns in his plan.
And then there was the distracted merchant on the road who was innocently making his way to Windhelm to sell his cabbages, trying to enjoy the beauty of nature and the somewhat strange weather and unaware that he was almost right at the center of it all.
The poor guy.
Time was flowing at its own rate for the merchant whose convoy was slowly progressing on the paved road, pulled by a horse that was visibly going on its twilight years.
Only a few more hours and I'll be in Windhelm… and there hasn't been a single bandit attack for once. People can say what they want about those heroes, they sure did make the roads that much safer. Maybe I'll even take a drink and find some company…
Bah! As if anyone would want to spend more time than needed looking at this ugly mug or taking care of those old bones for bringing in cabbage! Today, all those young'uns only think about is meat, cheese and mead! Back in my days, we didn't have a choice, and we took it whether we liked it or not. It's the same for those ladies, I don't care for some girl parading herself like a cheap street worker! Only hard work should get its just reward! In all seriousness, what do they think they can achieve like that?
"Hello sir, have you seen Luka?"
The merchant jumped around to face a pair of glowing blue eyes surmounting a demonic grin. An incredibly sweet smell was filling his nostrils. The words coming out of his mouth amounted to inarticulate blabber. He didn't even know what to say yet felt himself prompted to answer her query.
"Nnnope, it doesn't look like you did. Good day sir!"
The pressure lessened, and he could finally look away from that pair of bewitching eyes. The little he could see of his surprise interrogator left him filled with shock and desire. She was wearing barely a ribbon and fabric strips that only hid her naughty bits, certainly nothing enough to protect oneself against the incredibly harsh conditions of the region.
He didn't have more time to spend gawking at the girl as his senses picked up the sound of frantic stomping. A large mammoth appeared from the forest, running away from something in obvious panic.
"Hey, wait a minute… Lest?!"
The mammoth stopped dead in its track, knocking up a large cloud as he went from full charge to complete immobilitu. Its eyes locked on the girl, and the merchant could see that it was mutual.
If the beast had come charging in visible fear, it was now fleeing from them in utter terror back to where it came from while crushing anything that got in its way.
"Get back here! I promise I just want to help you this time!"
"Damn it Morrigan, do you understand the concept of discretion and waiting for people?"
Another raspy feminine voice echoed from the treeline behind him, attracting his attention. A group of strange girls appeared.
"I don't care! I found Lest! He's transformed in a big mammoth and dispel doesn't work!"
The mammoth in question froze like a statue, grinding on the ground for a meter before a duo of witches and their servants approached the beast.
"Good grief, you're right, it's Lest…"
"Told you!"
"And I can't dispel his transformation either. Whatever transformed him has a power greater than my own." The black witch clacked her fingers. The mammoth disappeared. "There. He's safer than us. Now, given the danger his transformation revealed, I would advise being ACTUALLY cautious from now on!"
"You don't need to tell me twice!"
"More like ten times and counting."
"Great, now even Eden is bullying me..."
As the strangers bickered, a dark vortex of energy appeared near them. The merchant felt his pants moisten up with a mix of fluids as a quartet of sinister daedras came out of the portal. Their spike-covered armor looked impenetrable to any assault, and their ominous black axes promised horrible deaths to anyone unlucky enough to cross their path. With their power, they could exterminate a city.
A rain of light arrows fell on them before exploding. The demonic warriors all flinched as they suffered the assault, barely managing to stay standing. Then the two angels swiftly tore them apart with their spear and sword in a series of rapid yet elegant strikes.
"Good work Sonya. You too Eden and Lucifina-chan. Now, let's try finding the heroes and quickly go away. I can say that they're at the very bottom of this fortress."
War cries echoed from the forest. A horde of bandits was now charging in the direction of their destination, completely ignoring the group in their assault.
"My, may I recommend that we hurry? It would be a shame to miss that big tea party ahead of us! I'm sure the heroes are going to enjoy it!"
"Mmph." The merchant felt his bowels empty themselves when the more severe angel looked in his direction. "Maybe we should make sure nobody remembers our actions and remove everyone that sees us."
The black with took on a haughty tone. "Nooo, we already talked about that. THAT will make things worse. Only do it when there are no other choices. Now, enough talking, more acting!"
"Really? You're the one who says that?"
"Then it proves just how much we need to do it!"
The company became invisible, leaving the merchants alone. His hands were trembling. He could feel his heart threaten to burst from his chest with each beat. His horse had fainted while standing still. His mind simply couldn't comprehend what he just saw.
"What… what… WHAT…"
"Hold fast, soldiers! For the Stormcloaks! For freedom! For Skyrim!"
The Stormcloak captain swore under his breath and released the first arrow of what promised to be a long, grueling battle ahead of him. The tension had reached its apex when an explosion echoed down the road. He didn't have time to look for the cause before the bandits charged the fortress like a wave of locusts. His only relief was the visible lack of strategy amongst them. He remained cautious however, as their number and the presence of mages in their ranks could be enough to turn the tide in their favor.
A fireball flew past his head to remind him of this danger while another knocked down one of his companions. He looked further away and saw a grinning elven mage raise a magical barrier to protect himself before preparing another fire spell. The captain aimed at him, then at one of the men on his side who wasn't enjoying the protection of any spell before finally releasing his shot. His target kneeled on the ground, bent in two from the pain of the attack. His victim he took a potion from somewhere under his robe, but before the vial of red liquid could touch his lips, another arrow from the captain threw him down for the count. The last sign of life hadn't even left the man that one of his allies grabbed the potion for himself.
Buzzards, the whole of them… pray be to Talos those damnable heroes don't try to come out of the fortress as well!
Several soldiers positioned themselves at the entrances to force the bandits in the relatively narrow way, cutting off the advantage their number could afford. He could only hear the war cries and sound of clashing steel under him as the bandits charged in an anarchic fashion while his own soldiers kept a tight line, each one relying on the companions on his sides.
Good… we will hold even with the lower numbers. If those mild-drinkers don't make things worse, our victory is assured.
Why are those bandits attacking us instead of a vulnerable village? They would have no reason, unless someone gave them one. Those pseudo heroes are getting suspicious…
As if the world or a cruel god decided to mock him, a small group of Daedras appeared near an outer wall. His mouth was agape in a mix of shock and horror at this surreal vision. Just when he didn't think that it could possibly get worse, a salvo of arrows hit them. It's only when the Daedra turned toward his assailant that he saw them. The forest was absolutely teeming with Thalmor soldiers. As he tried to consider his next move, he saw even more daedras appear around, including in the courtyard of the castle. The soldiers in reserve held their position, scared out of their mind by the sudden demonic apparitions. Insultingly, the daedras didn't look interested into them, only having eyes for the door leading to the fortress.
"What are you doing? Charge them! Keep the back of your brothers safe! CHARGE!"
Motivated by their captain, the soldiers charged with a trembling war cry. The very first one who reached the daedras was cleaved in two by the large axe of the demon. A clumsy attack bounced from the armor of the monster, and he nearly cleaved his assailant in two, instead only chopping the arm of another unfortunate soldier. Before he could throw another hit, a well-aimed axe blow struck the demon in the head, stopping his onslaught. The other ones were dispatched just as quickly, although at great loss as well.
A flying arrow passing near him reminded him of the presence of the elves. Several archers on the walls were now exchanging shots with them. However, the thalmors were trying to reorganize themselves as well to face both the daedras and the unfortunate bandits who encountered them when trying to attack the fortress from its accessible flank.
"Captain, we're surrounded! What do we do?!"
The captain of the Stormcloak swore. There was only one thing to be done…
"It's all the fault of those heroes. Get in the dungeon and kill them once and for all!"
"Captain?! They reinforced the door! We can't cross it without wasting too much resources! Shouldn't we pierce through the bandits while they're busy and inform Windhelm of the danger?!" The soldier looked at him, aghast.
"You have your orders, get to it!"
Furious, he jumped down from the wall and rushed the door with his war hammer raised. His first attack barely took out a few splinters from the door before he continued.
Thalmor… Daedras… they've all been guided here by them! It's all their fault! They have to die! All the people they got killed through their machination must be avenged! And I will make sure it happens!
Let the ones who enjoyed their ploys weep!
In his rage, he ignored the huge explosion shaking the earth as well as his lieutenant calling out to him.
"Sir! Something is destroying hordes of bandits! Sir! We should use the opportunity to leave!"
The captain ignored him, still trying to destroy the door. He only had one goal. He wouldn't let anything get in its way.
However, before he could do any visible damage to the door, what remained of the dungeon on the surface collapsed on his side. It was only thanks to extreme luck that he hadn't been buried by tons of debris and the dragon on top of it. The sudden shock completely froze his bloodlust. The beast itself was dead, its jaw hanging loosely half open. Ignorant of the panic around him, he looked up to the sky to see angelic beings fight a horde of dragons. The captain fell on his knees in despair.
"The end of the world is upon us…"
Ten minutes earlier
"Good grief, how are we supposed to get to this fortress?! It's not merely attacked by bandits, it's surrounded from every direction!"
"Then we just have to clear every direction!" Lucifina enthusiastically pointed her sword at the bandits who were still ignoring them. On their side, Alice could only shake their head at the pathetic display. The mages amongst the bandits could have detected them long ago, but no one was looking on their flanks. While most of the group was trying to gauge the battle and build a potential strategy, Promestein was frantically taking even more notes.
"Fascinating… bandits are even more prevalent than marauding monsters are in our own world. And just like a lot of monsters take to banditry when there are other options presenting themselves and consenting partners are available in no short supplies, those humans turned to lives of crime even when they could live just as richly by joining the common citizenry. In both case, their behavior isn't so much guided by necessity rather than by greed and the desire to get more through ways that are detrimental to their next of kin."
"…Thanks for the sociological study, but this wasn't the best of time…"
"Mph! This only proves that the guidance of Ilias is necessary!" Eden's aura flared. "You will not find any angels deliberately harming their next of kin for their personal benefit!"
"Eden, don't flaunt your power that much! Our cloaking won't work if you flex yourself that hard!"
It was already too late. Several bandit mages were now looking in their direction.
"Good grief, Eden, we already knew subtlety wasn't part of your vocabulary, but self-control as well?!"
"You lowly monster have no right to criticize one of her divine messengers."
"I… wished we could get out of this one without a bloodbath on our hand." Sonya looked down, slightly depressed."
Boring.
Alice sighed and patted her on the back. "For how little a reassurance it is, everyone who's currently fighting there of their own accord even as a magical demon-"
"Daedra"
"Daedra-summoning tempest is coming has their lives basically forfeited." Alice pointed at the bandits approaching them. They were still invisible, but the few bandits who had spread from the attack were quickly going to stumble on them. "Also, they would probably make you their toy if given the opportunity. And it won't be as pretty as monsters who at least try to pleasure their partners when they feed on them."
Booooooooring.
"I know, I know, it's just…"
"LESS TALKING, MORE FIGHTING!"
Lucifina-chan summoned a fire blast that exploded amongst the bandits, torching the group closest to them. Several more warriors were now looking at the fully revealed group, and, more importantly, she could feel several flying beasts above them also give them attention. Alice pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Eden, Morrigan, Lucifina-chan. Make sure the heroes are safe. We'll keep them distracted."
"I refuse to work with this shameless unbridled pack of desire!"
"This. Is not. Negotiable."
"YES! LET'S GO!"
"Hey, wait for me!"
Lucifina-chan took to the sky, quickly followed by Morrigan. The small angel first checked on the battlefield and pouted: a berserk man was attacking the fortress her Luka was hiding in. However, his pathetic attack wasn't making a dent in the door. Lucifina-chan focused on the bigger threat that made for the dragons. The very first beast she came across looked surprised at the small angel grinning at him, indignation appearing in his reptilian eyes. The dragon didn't have the time to prepare an attack before Lucifina cut a large gash in one of its wings. Its panicked cries attracted the attention of its allies before the angel slashed at its head repeatedly, cutting it in a shower of gore. Another beast that tried clawing at her found its attack suddenly stopped by a field of energy, surprising him. The head of the beast was suddenly pierced by a spear of light, its carcass plunging in the depths.
"Lucifina-chan!" Eden approached her with the air of a severe teacher. "What did happen when you acted recklessly against those scaled beasts last time?"
"Sowwy…" Lucifina-chan looked up at Eden with big puppy eyes, her arms behind her back. A dragon attempted to bite them suddenly deviated from its trajectory and ended up closing its jaws on one of his partners instead.
"Hey! If you two would kindly remember that there are dragons around trying to kill us, I'd appreciate that!" Morrigan grimaced under the effort, her hands glowing.
"Then we'll find the biggest, strongest dragon and kill him to become their boss!"
"This is a sound plan, Lucifina-chan. Let us find it." Eden attacked another beast with a spear of light. The dragon reacted by releasing a breath that failed to find a target. Lucifina-chan nonchalantly cut the wing of one of the dragons while searching for her opponent.
Not this one… this one is a runt… oooh, this one is big! … but this one does the same size, so it's not him we're looking for… And this one is seriously annoying me!
Lucifina-chan impaled the brain of a dragon who charged her from inside his mouth right before the beast could close its jaws. She quickly pulled out her sword and saw the beast crash in the castle, nearly smashing a few people in its fall.
Ooops. Oh, well, Luka-boy's too deep in the fortress to be in danger from those nasty lizards.
A large roar echoed from the clouds, attracting the attention of everyone. At its source, Lucifina-chan could see the largest, most malevolent dragon that existed. Sensing its power, Lucifina-chan flew up to its face, shocking the monster with a big, goofy smile.
"Wow, you're huge." Her goofy smile turned into a sadistic grin. "It means you've got huge guts…"
She flew sideway just in time before the beast released an ice-cold stream. Lucifina-chan dived at the head of the beast with her sword ready to strike. The attack barely glanced on the head of the monster, nearly making her lose her grip over her weapon as it bounced back. Lucifina-chan looked at her sword in surprise, only barely avoiding the tail of the dragon that attempted to smack her. The small angel imbued her weapon with holy power and followed the dragon, trying to plant her sword in the back of the beast again. While the dragon flinched, the sword didn't penetrate its thick scales. Another dragon caught Lucifina-chan by surprise and tossed the angel with a strike from one of its claws. The small angel spun around, furious, and her whole body started glowing when the largest dragon attacked her again. As its teeth ineffectively bit into her, a comet appeared from nowhere and pushed the beast away. Lucifina-chan continued her onslaught, but once again her attacks left no visible marks to her growing frustration.
Grrr… I'll kill this damn lizard!
As Lucifina-chan attempted to strike the dragon down again, she was caught off-guard by another one and was enveloped in a fiery breath. She screamed in pain before another wing strike cause her to spin in the sky. As she saw the large dragon charge her to devour her, she released another devastating counter-strike. Once again, the dragon tanked the hit without visibly suffering more than the sheer weight of the attack hitting him on the side. However, a series of spears of light further pushed him away, then finally, a raw burst of psychic energy threw him further across the valley in the mountain. Morrigan and Eden appeared, the older seraph leaning over her little sister to heal her while Morrigan raised a barrier to protect them from another breathing attack.
"Are you alright Lucifina-chan? I'm sorry I let that beast hurt you!"
"I'm not alright." The small seraph sniffled. "I wanted to kill that big, dumb lizard!"
"Good new then…" Morrigan answered with a tense, worried grin. "That big dumb lizard is still alive! In fact, I'm not even sure tossing him in a mountain really hurt it. Fuck. Tossing him took a shit ton of energy, and even stimulating him didn't do jack shit."
"Then what do you suggest we do if you're that smart?!"
"Give me a minute so that I contact Mephisto and Promestein to see if they have any idea about this thing. I'm sure you'll have no difficulty with the remaining flying lizards." Morrigan flew slightly away from the melee to get some tranquility.
"Mmph. Typical succubus. She gets sidetracked by her own idea and forgoes her allies in their hour of need."
"It doesn't matter! It will make more dragons to kill for us!" She gestured around her. Between their victims and the flying monsters that left in one direction or the other, there was less than half as there was when they arrived, and none of them were daring to attack her.
"We must not lose track of our own goal. Killing dragons is only the mean to protect the heroes."
"But they won't be threatened if there's no dragon!"
"Yes, and we will kill them all, but we must first make sure the heroes are safe."
"But they are safe! They are deep in that big fort-" Lucifina looked down. Even from her spot, she could identify a few people swimming in the river below them. More importantly, a dragon had noticed them and was diving in their direction with an obvious lethal intent.
KillhimkillhimKILLHIM!
Lucifina dived toward her target at an impressive speed, her sudden rage coalescing in pure speed even attracting the attention of her target. When she hit the dragon like a meteor and tossed it in a mountain, she heard Luka's voice from the river.
"Holy Shit!"
"LANGUAGE, YOUNG BOY!"
I'll wash his mouth with soap once we're back home!
Once she was sure no other dragon was immediately threatening her son or his friends, she returned by the side of Eden. There were more dragons to kill to sate her rage.
A few minutes earlier
"Seriously, what are those monsters?! And why did they choose to come out of their book now?!
Kazuya shot the head of another ink giant before Hakunen punched the monster down. He barely had the time to breathe that another monster appeared from the book only to be skewered by several swords. Lauratt dived with an impressive dexterity to close the book before it could spew more abominable creatures. As the sudden shock wore off, Luka shook his head in exhaustion.
"Let's just get to a proper working place and leave this world before it decides to throw more shit at us."
Hakunen gulped loudly, surprised to hear Luka swear. Their last fight had further damaged the castle, and he could now see some cracks appearing on the wall. An outside explosion shook the castle, and the heroes quizzically looked at each other.
"What was that? I don't remember the Stormcloaks carrying explosives, and they weren't looking approvingly at magic either!"
Lauratt summoned several magical symbols. The young mage went wide-eyed and started heavily sweating. Luka approached him to support him and understand why the mage was so scared. A few heavy minutes passed before the runes disappeared. As the light in the room dimmed, Lauratt gave out a small tense smile that quickly disappeared. Even without a word, Hakunen quickly picked up on the meaning.
"Wait… people from Luka's world are here? That's amazing new! I knew we could count on them!"
Lauratt grimaced and stepped back. However, his visible reluctance didn't stain Luka's enthusiasm.
"Yeah, I'll be glad to see Alice, Sonya and the crew again. I wonder how they managed to get to this world? Promestein's probably with them then."
Kazuya was worriedly looking at the ceiling, slightly more reserved. "I hope they brought some help as well…" He pointed as the Oghma Infinium. "I'm worried about the mess that will get thrown at us when we try to get back home."
Lauratt visibly flinched but nodded positively. Luka raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You're saying that they brought some help, but that they may cause some problems... oh, it's fine as long as they don't bring either Alicetroemeria or Morrigan. They both have a bit of a tendency to get carried away and would attract the wrong kind of attention."
"…huuh, are you alright Lauratt?"
Too engrossed in his exposition, Luka continued. "I mean, they're powerful and they're supposedly aware of the stakes of our fight, but they keep screwing up for their selfish fun… and it's worse when the angels are around since they often butt head. At least, the latter are reasonable when Micaela-chan is here to hold them back, but otherwise, Grandeur nearly got destroyed last time Eden and Lucifina-chan got out on their own without Micaela-chan. Seriously, the former's proselytizing get unbearable at time…"
Another explosion made the structure rumble, this time even kicking up dust from ceiling and making several stones roll. Lauratt was now trembling while his eyes were fogging up.
"Oh, for fuck sake." Luka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I shouldn't have gone on a rant and instead focused on leaving before they wrecked everything… the only way out is blocked I guess?"
Novissa solemnly nodded. Of course it was. Several more cracks appeared in the wall, water springing from them.
"Alright. It won't be the first time I get a bath against my will while Morrigan is fighting with an angel… let's hope at least they're not in a duel against each other this time."
The heroes positioned themselves at the opposite end of the room as water was gradually filling the room, Novissa effortlessly carrying Gilgorn on his shoulder while Lauratte protected the book. Kazuya sighed.
"Am I the only one who thinks we're getting a little too used to this? I mean, I don't want to imply anything, but we've fought demons, bandits, other nameless creatures, and the time we're coming the closest to all dying during this adventure is at the hand of Luka's friends a minute after we learn they're here."
"Well, there was that time with the dragons… and also, which of you didn't nearly get killed by one of your allies?"
Every one of the heroes shamefully looked down. "Touché."
Luka felt a huge rush of energy outside.
"Ah, I think we're about to be free."
Finally, the wall of the dungeon didn't so much cave in than it was tossed inside the room in an explosion, small pebbles bouncing against a shield summarily raised by Lauratt. Water flooded the whole place in an heartbeat. The heroes quickly swam up, each one of them making sure that their friends were doing fine. Between their might and their skill over water, it was only a matter of seconds before they reached the surface of the river. When they emerged, the heroes were aghast at the scene of chaos. The sky had turned red and was filled with dragons, the sound of clashing steel and panicked cries were filling his ears, and part of the forest around them was on fire.
"What the fuck… we were gone for less than an hour, what the hell just happened?"
"Let's get ashore quickly before we get noticed."
A roar from the sky informed Kazuya that it was already too late on that front. He looked up to see one of the dragons diving straight toward him, his gaping maw open aimed straight at Luka. However, the dragon was suddenly kicked of course by a small projectile that had the weight of a meteor, throwing the dragon in the forest across the river.
"Holy shit!"
"LANGUAGE, YOUNG BOY!"
Luka nervously chuckled. If anything, he was glad to hear that for once. Then he heard Morrigan's voice in his head.
Don't struggle, I got this!
He felt a strange but familiar force pull him toward the coast faster than he could swim. While he didn't struggle, he was worried at the sight of the earth approaching at an impressive speed.
Shit!
The hero and his companions didn't so much reach the coast than ram in the wet, muddy dirt making for the shore. They all landed in a cacophony of surprised groans, Luka even having the bad luck to end face-first.
"Ooops. Sorry. I promise I'll make it up to all of you afterward. And you'll loooooove it."
Luka groaned under his breath. These last thirty seconds perfectly encapsulated his life in the Pocket Castle.
I don't know if I'm looking forward to get back to it or not…
A minute ago
"Shit…" Morrigan swore under her breath and brought a hand to her head, focusing on Mephisto. The yoma was busy herself, but she wouldn't suffer from her unannounced mental contact. "Hey, sorry to disturb you, but do you or Prommie have info about a huge-ass unkillable dragon in your book?"
Mephisto answered her like a teacher giving a lesson. "That beast would be Alduin, known as the world-eater. Depending on the version, he is either the descendant or the avatar of Akatosh, the divinity of time, and was supposed to eat the world to allow for its renewal. However, he instead attempted to dominate it against his order, and was banished by the effort of valiant heroes." Her tone radically changed. "Good grief, what are the odds that we end up facing him?!"
"I'd have said a hundred percent."
"I hate when you're right… in any case, he's the creation of a god that doesn't have to consider the concept of death. I don't know how or if we can take him down. There's a legend about a mortal named the Dragonborn who has the soul of a dragon that exists to counter him, but the odds that he exists and is here are nonexistent… actually, forget that very last sentence, and make sure you and the angels keep your eyes out on a man with the soul of a dragon. That is more their domain than mine."
"Got it!"
Morrigan brought her attention back to the battlefield. Lucifina-chan had just rammed apart a dragon that was diving toward some people who had decided to take a bath in the river. Even amongst the chaos, she could recognize the heroes.
"Oh crap, they're sitting ducks here!" She mentally addressed them. "Don't struggle, I got this!"
Morrigan focused her telekinetic skills toward moving the heroes on the safest shoreline around. As she moved them as fast as she could, she suddenly felt a large dragon breath from behind.
"Shit!"
Her concentration broken, the succubus flew out of the attack slightly too late, getting an arm and a wing singed. She dodged the jaws of the beast as it attempted to devour her, and used her aura to amplify its momentum to throw it in the forest in a cacophony of splintered wood. When she checked her original handiwork, she awkwardly grimaced as she had ended up throwing the heroes straight in the shoreline instead of delicately moving them as she intended.
"Ooops. Sorry. I promise I'll make it up to all of you afterward. And you'll loooooove it."
Morrigan could feel the heroes groan in pain. Oh, well, at least they were safe for now. A look up informed her that Eden and Lucifina-chan were correctly handling the large number of dragons with impressive dexterity, the older seraph covering the back of her little sister each time the latter pushed her assaults a little too recklessly.
"Man… I miss Lilith and Asta… let's just find that Dragonborn and kill that Alduin before he decides to bother us again."
Morrigan flew over the battlefield that was now filled with the sound of clashing and screaming. Bandits, soldiers and elves were fighting one another in a melee getting even more chaotic by the minute as daedras periodically appeared. Even amongst the chaos, a squad of human archers noticed the flying succubus and instantly shot a volley of arrows toward her. The succubus stopped them mid-flight with her aura and turned them around, threateningly aiming them at the soldiers.
"Alright! Who wants to be a pincushion?"
The soldiers scattered in a panic, sometimes even jumping above the wall to escape her. However, their hurry landed them straight amongst daedras and elves who promptly slaughtered them, making the succubus pout.
Fuck. Next time, I'll rape and kill them myself. At least everyone will enjoy it…
Morrigan moved on to the dungeon where she sensed an unusual form of life. Besides the slain dragon, the succubus saw a man-cat half buried under the rubble. The male creature was visibly struggling to free himself, their pain-filled expression turning into one of pure shock and despair when they saw the succubus.
"Sup."
Morrigan used her power to remove the rock and pull the khajit from its trap, healing his most marked fractures in the process as well.
"Oof… J'Zargo thanks you, strange savior."
"You're welcome! Say… you wouldn't happen to have heard about a Dragonborn?"
"He's only a myth and legend from somewhere in this land. J'Zargo and his powers are real and at your service."
"Damn it…" Morrigan fully analyzed her interlocutor. If he was unique to the region and had some magical power, he was definitively not what she was looking for. She shivered when she sensed a subtle but dangerous movement in the air behind her. The succubus reflexively raised a barrier and used her power to pull everything from that direction, tossing a human silhouette clad in black and red in front of her. Her victim yelped in pain before she even placed the tip of her sword on their throat.
"Alright, I have no fucking patience for sneaky assassins. You either tell me what the fuck you're doing here on a battlefield or I pull the information from you myself."
"Screw you, whore!"
"Wrong answer!"
Morrigan used her aura to stimulate and drain the would-be assassin, making him scream in panic and pleasure. Once he stopped struggling, completely dazed, she took a quick peek in her mind, completely ignoring the sound of heavy fighting around her and the stupefied look of J'Zargo.
"Looking for heroes… well, shit. Mephisto?"
The yoma answered in a particularly strained voice. "I'm in the middle of a little something. Is it important?"
"Yeah, sorry to disturb you again, but keep your eyes peeled harder, there are assassins on the battlefield looking for the heroes."
"Good grief, how did they reach Skyrim before us?"
"It's not even the ones we attracted back on that island, they call themselves the Dark Brotherhood or something like that. What should we do?"
"For the love of the Dark Goddess… you're the ones with the superior telepathic power, inform the heroes as well! I can't do it right now!"
"Yeah, I was going to tell them as well, I just wanted to know how we were supposed to deal with them…"
"With extreme prejudice. This means don't lose your time when dealing with them. Don't leave them the chance to escape either. If they're professional assassins who have the goal to kill Luka, then they won't stop until either he or they are dead, and they will ruin any escape attempt. Just make sure to still keep your eyes out for that Dragonborn."
Morrigan evilly grinned, scaring the unfortunate Khajit who preferred the proximity of the battlefield.
"Alright, you wait here you cat-boy, I'll show you Heaven once I come back."
"Wait, what you wanted to do to J'Zargo?!"
Morrigan flew away. She had just been given carte blanche for a slaughter. She was going to enjoy it.
"Did you just give Morrigan free reign to slaughter everyone around?" Alice released a blast of wind that knocked several bandits back.
"I only did when it comes to assassins." Mephisto focused on throwing quick fireballs at enemy mages at a rate they couldn't hope to equal. "And I gave my reason as to why. Now, the most rational move would be to grab the heroes and escape this chaos to properly start working on a way to leave this world, but I don't think that they will agree themselves." A vindictive deafening roar echoed in the sky as an extremely large dragon released waves of fire everywhere.
"How rude! This is not how a guest should behave to a tea party!" Alicetroemeria answered with a quick thunderbolt that barely irritated her target while completely obliterating the smaller dragon flying beside it.
"Ah. So this is Alduin…" Mephisto grimaced. "Good grief, I think that little move is bound to have attracted that attention… now, may I suggest keeping energy in reserve to prevent an unwanted death that would involve being burned alive, or worse, masticated before being slowly and painfully digested by an incredibly potent acid in a dark, cramped and slimy space?"
"Sweet Goddess, Mephisto! Did you have to go in so many gruesome details?!"
"Actually, she has a good point… completely burning your prey until they're improper for consumption is counterproductive." Promestein gave out her lessons without missing a beat even as she unleashed an elemental explosion that tore apart another group of bandits.
"Focus everyone, we have to find the heroes." Alice sniffed the air. "They're close. And they smell like mud. They're near the river!"
"Hey, wait for us, young lady!"
Alice started slithering at high speed toward the river, her heart beating like an earthquake as she approached the place where the heroes should be. She didn't slow down in the slightest when Alduin tried to dive on the party, throwing an orb of darkness without looking up. As he was once again pushed into the sky, the dragon roared in anger and indignation.
She felt her heart rise when she saw the seven heroes cleaning themselves up. They looked battered, discouraged and dirty, but, more importantly, they all looked alive.
"Alice!"
"Luka!"
"Sonya!"
The two girls rushed at the hero to embrace him, not letting go until the reconciliation became physically awkward.
"Good grief, aren't we glad to see you all doing fine…" Mephisto's smile soured a bit. "Ah… I think we have an answer that raises a lot of questions."
Alice quizzically looked at Mephisto before her brain caught up. There were seven heroes in front of her when they had already found Lest earlier, so there should only have been six... then she saw the small horned silhouette of the unconscious Demon Lord.
"What is Gilgorn doing here?"
Kazuya awkwardly smiled. "She… wanted to escape our world because she felt badly treated by all monsters. We didn't get the details of how she ended here."
"Awww, but we've always been so much caring host! Leaving without a word is just rude of her, don't you agree Sonya?"
"Please don't drag me into this…"
Another roar echoed from the sky, reminding everyone of the scaled, nigh-invincible fire-breathing dragon that was devastating the region with its cohorts. While Mephisto looked more aggravated than worried, Alice could feel legitimate worry in her voice.
"Yes, yes, we know you're here, we just need to find that Dragonborn to kill you, don't you worry about it."
"It's Novissa."
"What?"
Hakunen innocently pointed at the concerned hero. "The Dragonborn is Novissa. We learned it from monks that were living in a mountain."
A minute passed as Alice and her more reasonable companions were aghast even as the sound of battle was still raging around them. Alice sighed and crossed her arms in front of her.
"This can't be that easy, there has to be a catch."
"And unfortunately, you're right."
Kazuya explained the gist of their encounters with the Greybeards and Paarthunax. Namely, that Novissa was noticed as the Dragonborn, and Hakunen could learn the shouts of the dragons through his advanced mastery of sorcery. They had even met a dragon named Paarthunax who was willing to help them, but who ended up killed by Alduin before he could teach them a way to fight the latter. Alice could feel his anger rise when he talked about the assault of Alduin on the monastery.
"…and he killed them to the last! He must be stopped!"
"Calm down, Kazuya! We're going to deal with him. Don't you worry."
"Sorry…" Kazuya meekly looked down. "I can't remember the last time I got carried away so hard…"
"I would bet it involved Daji. Back on the matter, what about that book Gilgorn found?" Mephisto pointed at the Oghma Infinium. "I don't imagine her carrying around that without a good reason, and it looks quite powerful."
"Wait!" Kazuya nearly threw himself over the book. "We had to face monsters last time this book was opened. They looked like they were made of ink."
That sounds awfully familiar… then again, that book smells just like the Apocrypha.
"Don't worry, grandma Mephisto is used to deal with those whippersnappers and their friend." Several symbols appeared around the book before Mephisto grabbed it. "If there is a way to kill that nasty dragon available in that tome, then I will find it without an issue."
This time, Alice joined in the alarming. "I don't want to second guess you, but do you really think that this is a good idea? I mean, we attracted the attention of the lord of the place this book comes from! And the hero confirmed us that they're connected!"
"Don't be a sourpuss! I'm suuuure Mephisto has the experience to appropriately deal with any danger hidden in this book!"
The air felt unusually cold as Alicetroemeria offered a mad grin to everyone, being only ignored by Mephisto who was too busy examining the book.
"Mmh… this tome actually is conceptualized knowledge that has been condensed. This will only take a minute, don't disturb me."
"Tell that to the daedras and dragons!"
"Right… Eden, Lucifina-chan, Morrigan, get back to us as soon as possible, we need some tranquility. -I can't believe I just said that.- You'll have fun with them later! Get back here now! Luka needs you!"
Even as they were dealing with an enemy that proved impervious to damage, Alice felt filled with confidence. She was back to fighting on Luka's side, and his presence had a stabilizing effect on any team. Sonya and Promestein imbued everyone with their magic while she released barrages of spells with Alicetroemeria and Lauratt. When more daedras suddenly spawned in the middle of the group, she didn't even have the time to signal for their presence that Luka and Lars were already fighting them, their swords making sparks fly each time they met the weapons of their demonic foes.
Above them, the few remaining dragons were now raging blindly, covering the battlefield in flames. Promestein even periodically released a cold wave to cool the area around them.
"Almost there… aaand voilà! A power that can kill Alduin!"
Several black runes appeared above the book Mephisto was holding. Alice felt a sense of familiar dread fill her when a large number of eyes appeared from them.
Then chaos erupted. Alice couldn't exactly tell what happened, but after she blinked, their surroundings transformed from a burning yet green battlefield to a vision of hell that included some elements of the apocrypha. She could still hear the sound of battle, more hectic than ever. And last but not least, most of the group had disappeared. Right now, only Mephisto and Promestein were still with her.
The small Monster Lord glanced at Mephisto. The yoma herself was a darker shade than usual, half of her face covered by her hat.
"You said that you would find a solution to kill Alduin without issue. I would call what happened a pretty big issue."
"I admit I might have been a bit arrogant on this one… Oh, and before you ask, I did find how to kill Alduin, but… we don't have what is required."
"Damn it Mephisto…"