ere we go.

Fighting the red wolf of Radagon was like trying to actually catch your dog when you chased it around the house. It was fun at first, and pretty exhilarating.

Then it got old real fast. I was jumping after the damn thing left and right, but it would not hold still. I was not a tarnished it thought it could snap in half. I was double this things size, and it recognized me for the threat I was.

I sent a wave of dragon flame his way, only for him to bound over it entirely, barking like mad in my direction.

"Shut up and die, mutt!" I yelled back.

The dog responded to this by launching an obscene number of spells my way. Some I dodged, others I tanked. And when it finally seemed like the wolf was starting to tire, I counter attacked.

Charging my magical dragon head, I fired a cometshard at the beast, forcing it to keep moving.

The red wolf of Radagon jumped to avoid the magic I leashed from Smarag, and launched a projectile of its own. I swiped my tail through the air and dispersed it against a layer of my glintstone scales.

The cometshard from the dog was stronger than any spell from the academy mages thus far, and the magic missle did more damage to my hide than I expected. Still, I made that trade willingly.

It let me close the distance after all.

I threw my axe forward and grazed it in the ribs. It howled in pain and bit my arm, leaping away before I could retaliate with my left.

Good thing I had been charging another cometshard, which I fired at the where I thought the wolf would land. I clipped it's hind leg as it came down and staggered the animal. I charged across the debate parlor with a battle cry, seeking to end it in one decisive blow.

Im not fast enough to make it in time, and my wild and desperate axe swing misses as the wolf retreats to the other side of the room. I pursue it, and as I get closer the wolf forms it's orange blade and winds up. I leap as it follows through on the attack, and thought it tries to run I slam down on its hind quarters before it can escape me again.

The wolf lets out a keening whine as I grind down and its hind quarters. It's legs and lower spine breaking under the force. Finally got you, you slippery little shit. Even still, I don't let the animal suffer, and I quickly jam my sword through it, putting it out of its misery.

With the enemy felled I slumped back, exhausted. I couldn't stop now though. Not when I was so near to the finish line.

I went over to the wolf, and I won't lie, I sort of broke my own rules. Rather than carefully doing any kind of graft, I just took the limb it severed on my right and jammed it in along with another smaller limb I ripped up, before pretty much pulling the thing in half.

The end result being I now had a decently sized 'wolf arm' just above my main right troll limb, serving as a kind of magic tool limb that didn't get in the way of my axe swing. A slightly more practical deal than the dragon I had mirroring it on the other side.

I know I should have taken more time to prepare the body and my own, but I was so close!

The great library containing Renalla and her great rune was just a hop, skip and a jump away. I could feel the stamp practically burning a hole in my pocket, and the closer I got the more the rune within me burned.

I brought the red wolf to life, and shuddered in place as I was assaulted from taking on the dogs senses. I quickly force its eyes closed, as they don't agree with me like Smarag's do. I contemplate jabbing them out, but leave it for now. Who knows? Its vision might come in handy later. Its hearings and of smell on the other hand will be useful immediately. I thought having the nose of two dragons was crazy, but the wolfs was so much more sensitive to every little thing.

I tested the motion of my newest addition, practiced biting a couple of times, and then went for the real draw of adding the wolf to my body. It's magic.

I fired a cometshard from it, and even created a couple sword emblems that became glintblades. Once I had those down I moved onto the main event. I tested the spell that was unique to the wolf. It's blade.

The magic blade formed in its teeth, and I was smiling as I swung it back and forth. Wasn't quite the fantasy of swinging a lightsaber around, but a magic sword was a magic sword. The only thing that would make it cooler was if could form it with my bare hands.

The red orange blade cut through the air with a satisfying buzz of noise, a trail of light following it in a cool afterimage. This was the kind of magic I wanted. The flashy, powerful shit that let me live out the fantasy of being a spell sword.

I finished with a full 360 spin, whipping my tail and swinging the blade in conjunction. Completely unnecessary and very badass. I let out a chuckle, I couldn't help it.

Magic was cool.

I settled down after a minute and caught my breath, mentally planning the route in my head. The courtyard was just up ahead, with two paths to Rennala. One of those paths was completely pointless. I didn't trust the crumbling stairs on the right to hold my weight and the weight of the iron ball trap at the same time. Even if it could, risking my neck in a trap like that was stupid.

There was a perfectly accessible second path available to me. Maybe it was blocked in game by a door, but my size meant doors weren't a problem. That or I might just climb over it the structure entirely. I certainly had the height for it, and I could jump surprisingly high with these draconic legs of mine.

One thing was for certain, I was speed running this last leg of the academy. I was to close to my goal for anything else. There was nothing left between me and renalla that had any real value. An abductor virgin and a giant crab were not things I was excited for.

No, I had only one true objective today, and that was to go bag Radahn's mom. Hehe.

In seriousness, the plan was simple. Get up there, get her down from the air, put a stamp on her and grab the rune in the egg. Fight the illusion if necessary.

There was no need to make this more complicated than it needed to be.

I slipped my veil on and off again as I moved out of the debate hall.

The second I was in the courtyard I pulled the veil off and started running. Great thundering footsteps echoed as I dashed for the left side, stamping up and over the dilapidated architecture.

The sorcerers out here clearly hadn't been prepared for me like their now dead fellows had been. There was no defensive lines, no cuckoo knights or marionette soldiers, and when the academy sorcerers caught sight of my form rampaging towards them they began to scream in terror.

The crowd of dilapidated nobles who are below them are the first to go, as I slam into where they are standing and whip my new red wolf blade move around. Their bodies split apart in sprays of red as their meat slumps to the ground. Note to self: magic swords were messier than actual swords, they just didn't get covered in the gore like an ordinary blade would.

Moving further up the stairs, I descend upon a sorcerer with my axe, laughter at my lips. I swung forward and decapitated the mage in a brutal explosion of stone and blood. It was like playing whack-a-mole.

My dragon arm descend and savaged one of the nobles who had managed to flee from my blade, while Smarag's head roared as it unleashed azure flames across the stairs, cooking the two up top.

Sorcerers screamed as the smell of charred meat filled the air, a scent my nostrils had long since dulled themselves too.

I felt impacts in my back, and whipped around to see two sorcerers on the other side, frantically firing shards my way. I raised both arms, both my dragons coiling back to fire and my new wolf graft charging a cometshard of its own.

Firing with all three is definite overkill, and makes me smile as my assailants are ripped apart by magic shards before cooking in dragon flame. Smarag's bolt actually rips one of the stone heads clean off, like I fired an anti material rifle at him. His buddy only has time to yell in shock once as he gets covered in his fellow scholars arterial spray before being cooked by the aforementioned flames.

Turing back to my objective I keep pressing forward, rushing up and jumping on top of the building whose door is barred. I cross it in three steps, the stonework beneath cracking as I hop down onto the walkway. I rush across the narrow stone bridge, and the stonework cracked more and more.

I moved across as fast as I could and jumped the remaining distance in an almost pointless move.

I land in the small courtyard and bring my blade down on the lone sorcerer, splitting him in half, his ribs breaking apart and flesh tearing as I ripped right through him.

The noble wretches in the…was this a garden? They all gave groans and started shying away from me. I planted my axe in their backs one by one.

Only one more obstacle.

I crouched low and flexed my muscles before leaping as high as I could, up over the gated wall and on the other side, in the area just before the grand library.

The lone knight had already been waiting for me, having heard the carnage on the other side. It was generally assumed that the tarnished was the first one inside the academy in years. Still I wonder how many from the academy alone Moongrum had faced here over the years. He was guarding this place for a reason.

This wasn't some unseasoned academy sorcerer who spent the whole day nose deep in a book, nor was this animal that had learned some flashy spells after eating enough mages.

No, this was a Carian knight. Part of a group of select warriors that are legendary in caliber. Only ever twenty of them, and yet they could hold the line indefinitely against the finest of Leyndell in two back to back wars.

I looked down at the knight. "Well, Moongrum, I need something inside that Library. I don't suppose if I told you that no physical harm would come to Lady Rennala you would let me pass?" I asked him. I already knew he'd say no.

"You will not touch her, demon" his voice growled out from behind his helm.

I raised an eyebrow at the vehemence, but ultimately shrugged. Well, what had I really expected? I was going to kill him anyway. Still, I couldn't help but snort. "Buddy, I'm gonna do a lot more than just that."

"You will not even lay eyes upon her, you will fall here, monster!" The knight charged me with a battle cry.

I spun my axe in my hand and lunged to meet him. I knew right away that I was on the money with my initial assessment of him being a true opponent when the knight knocked my axe away with his shield and retaliated with a thrust. I leaned back and brought my second axe up to block, while my red wolf blade appeared. I blocked his thrust and brought the wolf around, the magic blade trailing a red arc towards him.

He riposted the magic blade using his shield, which was enchanted to block magic such as my ethereal blade. It resounded with a clang, and Moongrum's blade shot up to slice at the wolf, where he managed to stab one of the limbs it was connected to and nearly severed it. I pulled back with a shout of surprise and brought my dragon arm crashing down to try and force the knight back.

Moongrum didn't let that phase him. He seamlessly put his sword in its scabbard while swapping his shield to the opposite arm, his now free hand reaching for his staff.

He blocked the blow from the dragon, causing him to stagger, but he planted his feet and leveled his staff at me. It glowed blue as he thrust forward, and the Carian piercer caught me dead center. If I hadn't prepared for my assault on the academy by armoring myself in Smarag's scales then that would have been a kill shot.

"Argh, fuck!" I choked out as I was knocked backwards. My feet remained planted but my body was rearing back. The carian piercer was an anti-cavalry move designed to unseat horse riders and had a side effect of knocking a horse down too. Big glowing blade through the body ain't good for the horse either, who knew?

It was enough to knock down a horse, it was enough to nearly throw me off my feet.

Moongrum was already taking advantage, continuing forward with his hand going for his blade to follow up. Smarag's head was charging, but it wasn't ready to fire yet.

I dropped my left foot and turned my flail into a spin, my tail whipping around to catch him by surprise. Just like everything else I threw at him, the shield blocked it. That didn't stop the inherent force behind my tail however, and the last Carian knight was thrown backwards.

To his credit he rolled right to his feet. That was what saved him from taking a glintstone cometshard courtesy of Smarag. I began charging another shot, and I shoved my left dragon maw into the earth while letting its flames loose.

I grabbed cobble and dirt, dragging the maw through the ground before ripping it into the air, launching makeshift magma rocks at him to buy some time and harass the knight. The burning stones soared down and one of them was battered away by the knight.

I fired Smarag's head and growled as it was also deflected away.

The knight dropped back and began reaching for his staff.

I spun my axe in the air and conjured the storm winds. Rather than setting them alight and doing my rolling attack, I instead used them for a burst of speed in my attack the same way the banished knights would.

Launching forward I grabbed the head my axe with my dragon and used both 'hands' to bring it down on top of Moongrum as hard as I could. It was a strike that would have and had broken the bones of dragons.

Then this motherfucker parried it.

Once again I was stopped. Once again he went for a Carian piercer. I was ready for it this time.

My red wolf lashed out as the counter rather than the opener, catching his piercer and forcing him to disengage, as both his arms were locked up and I still had spare ones. My onyx lord blade stabbed out but just sliced air.

Moongrum fell back and raised his staff, a glow gathering at it. I braced myself to block whatever he sent my way, but was left feeling dumb when the spells energies washed over him. I knew that sorcerers didn't do healing, and he wasn't wounded besides.

So what did he just buff himself with?

My only assumption is the anti sleep and madness spell. He can't be so tired that he's literally falling asleep, right? And I don't have any frenzy stuff.

Shit, does it double as an adrenaline boost or something?

The knight surged forward with renewed vigor, changing staff for blade as he advanced behind his shield.

Alright, enough.

Both my dragons roared as I raised my axe and called the storm winds once more. The dragon flame whirled in a vortex around me, and Moongrum was forced to retreat as I stomped down and bathed the area in flame.

I dragged my axe through he winds and shot them in a vortex at the knight in two bursts of flaming vortex winds. The knight dodged and rolled, but I had been counting on that. I had my red wolf blade rushing to meet where he was rolling to, and even when he deflected that I was prepared.

I had moved in close and when he blocked the wolf blade I ran him through with the onyx lord great sword.

I didn't give him time for heroics either. He barely had time to gasp before one of my smaller arms slipped into my coat and grabbed a punch dagger, which immediately went through his visor.

I pierced his brain and the body gave a stilted jerk. His blade, which had been arcing for my neck fell from his grasp as he went limp.

I pulled the blades from him and let him fall to the ground, before I slumped down onto my knees. I broke out in a breathless chuckle. "You..still.. almost..got me…you bastard." I huffed out, pulling in desperate greedy breaths.

The body twitched but there was no response. He was dead.

"Heh. I'm gonna graft every almost every last piece of you" I told the corpse, which was pooling blood. Fuck, this was gonna be a messy one.

Well, nothing else barring my way. Might as well take the time to do it right.

I catch my breath then climb to my feet, grabbing the body and getting the clothes off. More of a pain then you could ever imagine. Looting bodies is not like Skyrim.

Once I had him bare I grimaced, both at the mess and the smell. I cut the legs off at the groin then just severed his whole bottom and tossed it over the edge. I'd rather have to deal with the smell of blood and spoiling organs than the smell of guts and shit.

From there I went to work on the man's arms, using them as the new caps to my recently taken cuckoo knight limbs. His torso and legs are made use of too, and found a place patching holes in my body or getting stuck on like everything else.

When I'm done, I straighten up and look up towards my goal. The grand library is just above.

I slip the mimic veil in my head for what I hope will be the last time. I walk to the lift and pull the lever, bringing the elevator down. I walk forward and trigger its pressure plate, taking me up. I move off the pressure plate on the way. When I reach the top I step out and gaze up at the library, before moving forward off the lift.

As I near the entrance I take the mimic veil off and toss it aside. It's job is done, and it served me well. If I survive what comes next I'll add it to my inventory as one of those items you never use but never get rid of for sentimental reasons.

I continued stomping forwards in my real form, and I bring my arms up against the door and slowly push it inwards. The door is heavy, and I pull back and throws a dragon kick at it in frustration, knocking them open with a heavy clang.

I stomp into the near pitch black room. I move inward until I spot the first child…gollum…thing. It smiles at me with a creepy ass look, as the candle stick it's holding lights up. More and more did the same, until light began to shine in the room, and all the kiddos looked up to their mom.

She was floating in the air in her, well it honestly looked more like a crib then a chair, she was just so tall that it basically became one. Whatever spell she was using do that effected the gravity of clothes, and the hem her robes and red ribbon were drifting in the air. She was holding the amber egg, which her gaze solely rested on.

"Rennala?" I called up to her, to see if I could even get her attention.

She didn't even look at me, just kept her eyes locked on the egg in her arms.

"Hush little culver." she spoke in a soft voice.

"Yeah, you aren't even really here right now are you?" I asked rhetorically.

"I'll soon birth thee anew, a sweeting fresh and pure." she continued speaking dreamily as she nuzzled the egg.

"Rennala, I really don't want to fight you or your children." I spoke aloud.

Nothing. She was pretty much catatonic staring at that thing.

She channeled the amber egg and summoned a bubble sheild, and like that the fight was on. The children raised their hands and summoned their books to launch at me, and they raised lanterns to turn and fire streams of flame.

…I stood there staring at both the kids below me and the woman above me.

See here's the thing: Books don't hurt when your covered in armor.

As for the flames, well all they could do was try and set my feet alight. My feet that I had taken from a literal fire breathing dragon.

The only attack that might have harmed me was having a chandelier dropped on me. Here's another thing. It's hard to see sometimes in game due to the camera. It's not hard to in real life. The chances of me getting hit by one of theses things is low. If I get taken out by one then I deserve it.

Which meant I just kinda stood there. Menacingly.

Listening to a bunch of children sing a lullaby to their mother.

I…

Ok…..

Guess I just, find the one supporting the spell then…

I looked around the room and found the one I was looking for, covered in the golden aura. I walked over and looked down at the kid with a straight face while it threw books at me.

I looked to the left, then looked to the right. I felt so weird about the situation, it was like I was half expecting someone to jump out and yell 'surprise!' Or something like that.

I drew my leg back and kicked the little fucker into a bookcase. The child cried out and the light shattered, Rennala's shield cracking a little.

Alright then, I guess I just keep going? I walked over to the next one who had the golden glow further in the back and did the same. The shield cracked some more.

As I was coming back into the main circle the chandelier above me started prepared to drop. I stood up as tall as I could with my legs and grabbed the chandelier with my dragon mouth, then when in it fell I carried it to the ground and just sorta set it there.

That was the most powerful attack they had.

Right. The novelty of this encounter had worn off. It hadn't even really been there to start with.

I found the third child and punted it into the wall. Rennala sheild let out a loud crack, and then she came down to the ground where the amber sheild shattered entirely.

Despite how anticlimactic the situation was my hearts were still beating wildly. This was it.

I stepped over to Rennala and and grabbed her right hand with one of my lower ones, while my main hand fished out the stamp. I moved her moon bracelet down just a tad and pressed the stamp down on the back of her hand.

I breathed in and out, counting the seconds while I listened to the chorus of children.

1

2

3

The stamp started to glow in my hand and I pulled it away, looking down at Rennala's hand. The stamp mark glowed and tinged to a carian royal blue.

I had done it. I stamped her. There wasn't a feeling of accomplishment or anything, just a kind of dull relief that I hadn't been able to grasp yet. I was nearly in shock. I hadn't thought I'd make it this far.

Then the stamp disappeared from my hand. Glowed brighter and brighter than it just went poof. I blinked and stared dumbly down at my now empty hand.

What the fuck? Was that supposed to happen?

What do I do now?

I…Did I just get ripped off?

I growled aloud like a lunatic. I shook my head, this wasn't the time or place for this. Don't worry about it now. Just get what you really came for.

Of course, my time in lala land had cost me. Rennala re-cast her shield and threw me back in a brilliant explosion of gold.

"Come sweetings, time to be born anew" her soft voice called out in contrast to my violent tumble.

I slammed back first into a book shelf, and slumped there. I took a deep breath in through my nose. Then let it out.

Right.

This was fine.

As if on que, the books dislodged from me hitting the shelf all came falling down, covering me in a layer of tomes.

I took another deep breath in though my nose and let it out.

This was also fine.

The mark was still on her hand. It would be fine. I just had to step on three horror movie toddlers and then grab the stupid fucking egg. I could do this, no problem. I burst up and made my way for the first one, and sent him flying.

Then I was moving across the room to punt one more, and I finished it by just grabbing the last little shit with my hands and throwing him like a dodgeball straight into the ground.

Rennala came down again and I stomped over to her, before bending down and grabbing the egg. I tried to pull it away, but Rennala latched onto it and wouldn't let go. I struggled with her, trying to get the egg but not really wanting to actually hurt the woman.

When I finally almost pried it away, she cried out and flailed her limbs, sending the egg away form both of us and rolling across the ground.

I let go of the woman, who pushed away and fell to the ground. Her eyes had never turned away from the egg. She immediately started army crawling toward, which was a bit hard in a full robe that came past her feet.

"Ahh my beloved" she called while scraping her way across the ground. "Have no fear, I will hold thee, patience…" she called.

"Jesus Christ, woman. Get a grip." That wasn't fair, but I couldn't bring myself to care at the moment. I just wanted to be done.

I started moving forward, my gait much larger, but stopped when I saw the egg.

"Ye will be countless born, forever and ever." Rennala called from the the floor, her hand stretched towards the egg.

It was enveloped by shadowy, pitch black smoke, which quickly grew and started rising to the ceiling.

The shadows coalesced to form sort of pulsating mass of shadow that could vaguely be called a sphere. The shadows started to envelope the ceiling as the magic took hold.

My hands all went for weapons and gripped them tightly. I knew what this was…

"Upon my name as Ranni the witch" the voice from the shadow called as a blue light appeared. It started to form an image of Rennala. "Mothers rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee."

The form finished taking shape, and the glowing blue woman took a step forward. "Foul trespasser" Ranni's voice called. "Send word far and wide"

The illusion spread its arms wide, right hand holding a staff. Slowly it became solid, until the full illusion of Rennala herself was before.

"Of the last queen of Caria, Rennala of the full moon."

She held up her sceptre, and the replica of the Carian Blue glowed brilliantly on its end. The full moon rose behind her, a million and one stars shining along with it.

"And the majesty of the night she conjureth"

The illusion lowered its head and opened its eyes.

Despite how dangerous this potentially was, I started smiling again. Rennala began charging her comet azure, and I rushed forward, all my weapons bared.

Finally, something I could actually hit.

Almost there boys. Hope u like this one.