Trouble was already afoot in the city outside a far too frantic pace for the first act of the Moonlight Sonata, and thus he started with the third. The frantic beat echoing through the room as he sat in a world of his own, lost soon to the sound of countless other musicians that still played by candlelight late into the night for the various diplomats residing within.
Here they felt themselves safe even as the chaos spread throughout the city, and in a way they were safer than anyone. Just not because of their guards but because of his own as he felt Epsilon land lightly on the roof behind him.
"Rise."
"The third act, this night is coming to a conclusion in your eyes." She stepped up beside the piano he'd taken looking it over and at him as well. Looking over the monsters even as more grew in the city bursting forth from entrances at all the corners.
"He is using his troops poorly, that is why it must be the final act that approaches, for he is blustering loudly to distract me. A man who could not see victory would hoard his pieces and covet them hoping for a chance to turn the situation around. He is showing us the entrance to his base, daring us to cut down his armies and thus he must see a victory without them."
Epsilon nodded, "A cornered animal will lash out regardless of circumstance." They watched over the scene even as he let the notes overcome the silence. "You have given out a bait enticing enough to lead him out when he would be better served not to take it."
He eyed the portal in the sky hearing its siren song of mysteries for him to touch. It would have brought him out as well at almost any time just to catch a glimpse of it. And that was the problem as he watched over things. The gaze that had looked through the portal, the overwhelming demon that lay beyond the gate must be the demon that Mordred had spoken of. Ragnarok the trump card and the last redoubt when all else failed. Right now he did not have the strength to fight it, but would Mordred unleash it?
He had said at the Bushin Festival that he wanted to take its power, so he merely tapped his fingers on the keys of his piano. It was a bet, and if he got called on it things would go south quite quickly. If Mordred reached the gate and let the beast into the world in one fell swoop then the entire city would go up in flames.
But a rampaging monster was free of anyone's control and as long as Mordred felt he was fooled he would seek to take the power first and use it second. It was a bitter response for he should have been strong enough to crush him anyway. A true Eminence in Shadow would have been.
"Sometimes you must choose not to interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake." The piece came to a close Epsilon smiling back at him even as he wondered what he should play next. Words coming to break the silence as he thought. "He thinks that there is power to be had beyond the gate it seems… yet he wasn't even able to grasp the power that was already in his hand. Let him step beyond the gate while we claim everything that remains in this world."
The familiar tingle of a thread of his own magic pulsed into his mind. A droplet of power he'd given away returning and he grinned finally a chance to regain his power and get back in on the action. He rose from the piano in a slow pace, calm and confident even as outside he heard the shattering of brick and mortar as the screams began. Until he found himself face to face with a monstrous skittering mass scythe like limbs staring back at him through the window.
He wasn't getting this drop of blood back now was he?
He hummed lightly in place the picture of confidence even as he raised a hand for Epsilon to stand down. If he wasn't going to do anything he wouldn't have left his seat in the first place even as he tugged at the droplet of his own power working its way through the monster.
The window shattered and the wall was torn asunder as it turned a dozen whirring blades crashing down towards him. With a flick his own magic trapped within sprung to life and turned them aside the blows crashing around him harmlessly as he stood before the storm.
"Kneel." One word brought it crashing down in front of him as he revelled in the power he held.
Helpless and scrabbling for purchase beneath his feet. Already under his control as he let his own magic run rampant and reverse the changes and a human dropped out of the receding mound of flesh and limbs.
Well in the end it was all mana overload so there was barely anymore need to think about things. "Daring to show such paltry tricks in front of a master, it seems Mordred underestimates me once again. In time with your own control you too will learn to do such a thing I am sure."
Epsilon bowed her head even as she let the slime constructs bounce and smiled at him. "Should I be trying to convert the others as well, even though I cannot do so at range."
"There is no need it is better to stop them than to save them." He only needed one person to open up the entrance to Mordred's base later anyway so what did it matter.
The girl in front of her sniffed the air and nodded as she rocketed off once again.
Beatrix followed the only person she knew. She was being dragged along and in the wake of the demons rampaging perhaps that was for the best. For the two of them were clearly close to his heart and would know more. "That boy back there was Azrael wasn't he?"
The wolf therianthrope bobbed her head. "Boss is boss always, he uses many names and Delta can't remember them all."
She paused to take that in. Azrael wasn't exactly some long-lost name but rather the one he'd introduced himself by yesterday when they had sat in the same room. "Well you remember yesterday."
"Delta just nods her head along." The interruption was immediate as the girl smiled back at her. "Delta switches her head off so she can't answer questions."
It was a bold lie, because she had seen the girl be brought along by Azrael when he was masterminding his plans. In the same way that it was a bold lie it was a flawless one for there was nothing to glean from the words she gave. "Then you at least know the immediate plan we're working for right now so I can better work my way forward."
"Hunt." The single word was accompanied by a howl echoing off the streets around them and a burst of speed through the head of the first monster they'd found. Tail swinging backwards to decapitate it a moment later even as the girl smiled happily. "Have fun, kill things, eat good food. Delta knows what to do when the boss says so."
She looked across the corpse of the monster, to the portal in the sky bathing light into the world. To the members of the Black Rose to the members of the True Black Rose who had appeared just when the battle had begun to rage. "The plan behind it though."
Delta stared at her in return confusion written across her face. "There is no plan so Delta doesn't need to remember it. Alpha thinks too much." The wolf cocked her head, "Weak Alpha that is real Alpha also thinks too much but isn't here."
The second therianthrope bobbed her head along in agreement. "Real Alpha would know. Just go along with it and everything will be fine."
She paused letting hope fill her heart for the first time in years. "Is real Alpha a girl who looks like me?"
Two thumbs up greeted her in response even as they settled down to the next building. "Just like you." It had been so long since she'd had a real lead that she could chase after and it was dangled right in front of her. Her missing niece might really not be dead. "She works for the boss too."
The building moved as the roof itself crashed towards them and she danced past the blow. Colour fading into existence as the mirage broke and a lizard-like creature stood across from them on the rooftop.
"Delta is first." Like a rocket the girl was already in midair slamming into it, tail whipping around like a buzzsaw as she hacked into its flesh. Blood and gore pouring out of the screaming abomination as it struggled to pull itself away.
Her own blade traced the edge of its neck pulling tight as she felt blood pour free of the beasts flesh. A soft gurgling coming from it even as it fell into the streets below. "You have really seen a girl like me, can I meet her."
Nicoletta had slung her bag over her shoulder, a huge thing that seemed almost as big as she was that she carried without any visible effort and guided the children away.
He followed after Nicoletta for many reasons in the aftermath. Sancho Panza as a name was actually known around the castle and could get the door open. The fact that he'd moved slower and the other four had already vanished into the distance faster than he could track.
Without the strength bestowed on him before he was now nothing more than an insect standing before the storm. A single gust of wind more than enough to tear him down without even noticing.
Just him and Faustus and Nicoletta standing in the shadow of an eye that seemed to swallow the sky as it bathed it in a red light. He watched the sky with Faustus even as he felt tiny before that one eye that towered above the sky.
The moment they'd returned Rose had come running and the King was nowhere to be seen. The sight of three knights leading thirty girls ranging from twelve to twenty wrapped only in sheets should have been hard to explain. All he and Faustus could do was shrug and nod as they searched for an explanation.
Nicoletta spoke as she stopped directly in front of Rose. "They were possessed. They will be staying in your castle for the next few days. Whatever spare rooms you have we will use."
"The guest wing it is then. Will they need food?" Rose led them on through the almost empty corridors at this late hour and this late at night there would be no problem. It was for the morning after that they needed to work something out because even the question of where they had come from would be hard to answer. "Should I be preparing to give them jobs as servants or…"
"Do they need further treatment?" Faustus asked the question that hadn't even occurred to him. If Azrael had just driven back the symptoms were they all sitting on a timebomb waiting to go off.
Rose was as lost as he was.
Nicoletta ignored them all. "We will take them home once we are done here." Then she walked past to check the rooms herself eyes flicking over them for a moment before she nodded in satisfaction. "These rooms will be sufficient as long as you have the staff bring them meals."
The three of them left behind shared glances. But if the other two didn't know then Azrael had told him to wing it as he searched for an answer. "They will be being taken in by the order for the moment as we teach them to fully master their transformation."
Faustus nodded at his reasonable explanation. Rose looked away but then she knew he was just making it up. So he continued knowing Faustus at least was new and couldn't refute it. "We have a secret base to train them up in…"
"Alexandria." Contempt and derision met him in an equally frigid glare. "My lord did not create a cure for possession to abandon them in their hour of need."
Nicoletta was better at this than he was on making things up it seemed even as she turned to Faustus. "You can check on them if you want to study it, but they won't need any more treatment." She refuted his previous lie without a second thought, had she not heard it or just not consider it worthwhile to humour him? No better to let it pass and shrug to keep up the illusion of his knowledge.
The moment Faustus had left Nicoletta turned to him. "Do not lower their expectations of Azrael's presence, as a fake member you just need to know he will be successful and nothing more."
Yes he was one of the fake members. His mind caught up a moment later with the truth that meant there were real members. "You are one of the full members of the Order of the Black Rose?"
"I am one who was gifted with the truth of this world and have been serving him faithfully ever since." The other half left unsaid even as it was clear as day that those who did not know were beneath her.
"Chi, Omega there is something to report?"
Two others barely twenty appeared out of the shadows eyes fixed on Nicoletta. "Nu, we will need to be taking the two members that were sent along with you, and Rose along with them. Shadow sent us to get some stuff he left with them. As long as the seal on Freya is still holding it's been commanded for you to remain hidden."
Nicoletta nodded, and Rose disappeared off down a corridor. He turned in question. "Nu?"
"It is my real name, the one given to me as a member. You cannot have truly joined until we give you a name. Chi and Omega are more members of the true Black Rose."
The two of them inclined their heads and waited until Rose returned. A large bag slung over her shoulder. "This will be what he wants."
Ten minutes later the two real members were leading them through the streets uncaring of the monsters that seemed to lurk in the distance. A single one that crossed their path dying instantly to a swing he barely registered.
Until they finally reached a palace in the diplomatic quarter, a simple piano echoing from the topmost level even as no other lights remained to be seen.
The moment they entered the two girls leading them knelt. Even as a boy in simple clothes, barely on the cusp of manhood sat playing the piano in front of them.
Faustus stood straighter eyes fixed on the boy even as he looked shorter than either of them. A rictus of fear and awe existing for a brief moment and he caught himself looking back as the lazy gaze directed between them turned sharp. "You know who I am." The kid asked almost carelessly looking past them both.
At that moment the last sputter of magic within his body recoiled, a tiny vestige of the power that Azrael had bestowed upon him rocking back in his skull as the boy grinned back at him. Even as he held his silence Faustus spoke the word they both knew. "Azrael."
"Are you surprised?" Sitting calmly next to his piano the boy watched them both. "Although I suppose Faustus hasn't met me in this form before although at least Sancho would know me, we were both there when the king returned were we not."
There had been a lot of people there, he certainly hadn't remembered a single boy hanging in their midst. "I don't think anyone would have suspected a child throughout their time watching."
A smile lit up Azrael's face at his words. "A child." The drawl that came out was amused at him. "But perhaps it is just that sixteen is the age at which I achieved immortality and stepped beyond the limitations of humanity. While you struggled to learn even the basics I mastered the power to change fate itself and step beyond your tiny world."
"A truly impressive feat I must admit." Faustus praised him even for an insult.
"It is." A hand rested on each of their shoulders even as he turned to Rose. "Leave my new costume in the corner and take these two downstairs for a while, there work here is done."
They hadn't done anything. But even as he tried to get those words out Azrael stared back at him. "I have schemes to run, and your part is only a small one."
Arrogance and indifference and still he bit his tongue and accepted it.
Indignation from being the strongest of knights to being the weakest. Anger surged at her touch as it boiled through her veins and out into the magic touching the world. A flame as red as her hair burning the world in all its glory.
She poured it all into the flame as it sprung to life around her like the petty thing it was, because in a way it was all unimportant. A simple hole in the attack aimed directly at the enemy, a void where her attack should have been its strongest.
When Shadow had formed his own attack using her flames he'd done the same and now that she tried it herself it became obvious. The flames slipped into the void in one single motion crashing out into a single concentrated burst of power that tore straight through the flesh of the giant like it was made of paper.
It toppled to the ground as blood splattered over the streets. A single swing enough to slay a monster that might have pressed her only earlier today. The other two had finished with their quarry as well… and it didn't sting as much as it had before.
No.
For all the resentment of losing her position, of having to skulk in the shadows rather than walking in broad daylight and having the world bow down around her. There was joy here as well, in the way the wind rushed through her cloak as they took to the sky once more, the sight of a monster in front of her eyes.
The first time she'd felt she'd pushed her limits in more than a year. Because having to run a knight order, giving orders and tracking her recruits. None of it compared to the thrill of battle with a sword in her hand and a flame in her heart.
A roiling bonfire the grew with each passing moment as she got lost in the moment. The blade in her hand so much more responsive than one made of steel as she filled it with magic past the bursting point, the strike roaring across the sky to strike down her fourth kill of the day.
Zeta blasted past her a single word carried on the wind. "Faster." Even as her own suit extruded a dozen blades that flew across the distance and slew two more. The flash of lightning flashed before her eyes and without even tracking it she knew that was another.
It was less like a team and more of a competition, a race to see who could slay them fastest. She was last even as she pushed herself past the bursting point, even as she forced out more magic than she'd ever had before it didn't matter.
Zeta was a whirlwind of blades and explosions tearing through everything in her path, tireless as she flitted every which way killing demons like swatting flies. Victoria was slower, closer to what she could compete with and yet seemed to have an endless fervour as lightning rained down around her.
It would be so easy to let herself fall into third position without even putting up a fight. The hatred for her own weakness poured into her flames too and she redoubled her efforts, the same fanatical drive for perfection that had driven her through life burning hotter around her.
"Good." Zeta stared off at the city around them. Eyes darting around for more prey. "Turn that hate for the enemy into power and let it drive you forward until there are no enemies left before you."
He cleared his throat and looked at the sky waiting patiently.
Eta feigned sleep as though he did not know the difference between her languid sleeping state and when she was lying to him. He'd used most of the magic he'd took back from Faustus to heal her and so all that was left was to talk things out. "It was truly a wonderful attempt on my life I had a lot of fun with it."
What was a little violence between friends? Nothing in his opinion and he'd gladly both sparred with them during their childhood and gladly walked them in on his own little bandit slaughters throughout their childhood. One fight wasn't really that big of a deal.
Silence met his answer for all that it was worth, but it wasn't like he was going to stop from something like that. "I think I liked the bombs the most, ah you think you have won and yet you merely walked into my trap. Although your attempt to pull an atomic was by far the closest piece to killing me off."
"I didn't want to make an attempt on your life." Eta tried to bury herself further into the couch he'd left her on. Petulant and honest he let the words wash over them. Sulking and running away from the awkward problem of admitting anything in truth.
He was like that too with the Shades often enough and she'd learned it from him. Maybe he'd teach her to walk off and shame the other side until they felt it was their own fault because that was how he dealt with his mistakes. Leave it long enough and by the time you came back no one would bring it up ever again.
But Eta wasn't quite as heartless as he was and was actually sulking and looking guilty. "Instead think of it that you gave me a chance to peer into another world and glimpse the differences in how it is formed."
Eta didn't raise herself back up even when he promised her new knowledge. For Epsilon he might play a song, for Beta to tell a story. For Eta giving her a truth from this world and a glimpse past the curtain should have been enough to put anything behind them. "It will be your first time seeing a new world doesn't that intrigue you?"
He paused lining up his fingers against the sky. "Like the horizon splits heaven and earth, a perfectly fine line that splits the world is like a blade resting in the sky. The angle right now isn't quite right but if you stood beneath it the whole thing would seem to disappear and yet be ever the more deadly because of it." It was a wonderful phenomenon to see and an even better opportunity if he could become one of the few who understood how to deal with it.
She shuffled slightly and slipped back down. "Have you already finished learning about other worlds as well then."
He paused because it had been a long time since he'd thought of Earth in the first place. "Perhaps I have seen a world beyond the gate once before, but it was not like the one seen before us now. That world was empty of magic that no matter how I searched for it I was unable to find it, it did not burn like the gate before us now."
"An empty void?" the languid despair faded away as he heard curiosity in her voice again. "A barren wasteland is all you found devoid of all life."
Which was not how he would have described Earth at all. I mean the idea of life without magic was pretty simple since all you needed was the biological processes on their own, an isolated experiment.
But there was nowhere isolated from magic in Midgar.
Everything in the world breathed in air filled with magic. To use your magic to the fullest would exhaust oneself beyond anything like mere physical exhaustion. Even for himself to take it away again would make him frail beyond anything he had felt in years.
For the people of this world there really was no creature alive that did not possess magic. So of course to her she saw it differently and associated life with magic in truth. For all living beings were bathed in its glow.
"Yet there was still life in that place even if I could not accept it." He peered at the flames hanging in the sky before them. "Just as it seems there is a life amidst the flames before us, though no living creature of this world could stay there forever."
Eta was sitting up at this point considering the gate as well. "Is it possible that it relates to the nature of the world having a soul in the same way that some people have magic attuned to certain elements?"
He eyed the gate and grinned. "Well, there's an easy way to test that we just have to steal ourselves a flame from the sky and see if its magic changes as we expose it to the world's surface. I guess our second guess would be quantity causing it to erupt and the other side is more magically powerful than our world, the three I've seen representing a void, a gas and a liquid in magical concentrations."
Eta looked deeper herself. "Could this be an anomalous section of the planet in the first place? I mean the place we see is filled with fire, but the tundra in our world is filled with snow and yet it does not touch everything."
He only had two datapoints from the beginning so how would he know an answer to that. "Even if such a thing is true that does not change that I want to see the desert and the tundra, the fields and the cities and the void of space as well. Only by glimpsing the world before us can I know for sure and prove my hypothesis isn't that true?"
"We'll steal this flame today and then see where it takes us."
A single swing tore the monster in twain even as he ignored it for the greater question racing through his mind. It had been Shadow who had claimed to be Loki he was certain, but was it a chance he'd known to take advantage of or a simpler truth. Had Shadow always been Loki using a new clone to take out his rival.
Surely when Shadow Garden had first taken advantage of the chaos to disrupt Midgar it had been Loki who had argued that it was a show of failure of Fenrir's part rather than enemy action, had argued it at length.
And if it was backed by Loki it would explain much, how Cid had known to appear in front of Fenrir back in the trial of the goddess, how he knew so much about the Cults plans. If it was the case then the demon wouldn't belong to Azrael as he let the Eye of Avarice drink but a sip from its corpse.
The familiar taste of Diabolos' magic flowing freely into his body in a way reminiscent of when he drank from a third or a second, uncontrolled and wild but so invariably a part of the Cult. It was nothing like the blood of the vampire that worked for their enemy.
Mordred, the monsters belonged to Mordred. With Petos here as Loki's representative then if Shadow had always been Loki his true plan wasn't to feign weakness because he wasn't weak. It was to drag out everything from Mordred's workshop and then move in one fell sweep to grasp the riches within, all the years of research that had been held back and the reigns of an empire.
He grinned as he drank deeper pulling all of its power back within himself, feeling the thrum of power as it revitalised his old bones and marched onwards towards the building it had come from. Another entrance to Mordred's lab awaiting him.
Because to throw things away like this was a sign of weakness, and to take from the weak was only natural among the cult. It was his place as the man on the scene to ensure that everything was not lost in the chaos, and to perhaps commandeer anything that might be of use to him.
He strode past corpses torn apart in their haste and entered the depths themselves ever keeping a small thread of magic watching for the presence of another trap like last time. The Eye itself pulling on every source of magic around him to feel them as a kind of second sight.
Perhaps one day it would even be good enough to give him warning before Shadow appeared behind him. The most unnerving habit he'd ever come across even as he kept one feeling out as he pored over the first set of documents he found.
"Gaunt I see you have learned to scrounge like a rat after your betters leftovers." He froze at the words for but a moment, having gotten almost used to the sudden interruptions.
He turned even as a tiny light flickered to life in the corner of the room, the shadows themselves stretching out around him as they seemed to thrive in the ambience. The figure casting it remained utterly frozen a look of quiet contempt staring back at him. "To think the knight of one himself turns up I had not thought the Black Rose so important to merit your presence."
"Is it so wrong to want to tie up some loose ends?" The tiny ball of light rose above them both casting a pallid light over the room, just bright enough to see the shapes cast across the walls grow darker still. "I have need of tools in this place at the moment young Gaunt and as Mordred leaves the stage I still have a task for you."
A task he could not complete himself. Fear or weakness as he looked over the ancient horror taking the shape of a young man and wondered perhaps for the first time. Had Vafthrudnir grown weaker over the centuries, was his power too in decline. The lump rising in his throat as he considered his choices.
"Better men have tried, and now sleep in shallow graves. But if you truly wish to join them I will be happy to oblige." Vafthrudnir spread his arms in confidence and stepped within his reach ever filled with confidence.
He let his sword fall, a smile forming on his face as he took a seat himself eyeing around the room. "Can you blame me for my greed when Mordred's lab is crumbling around him and so someone has to take hold of the riches before he loses them. I am just disposing of some loose ends for it would be a shame for his works to be wasted."
"Yes you seem to be picking up various things as you walk around, Such a strange collection you are amassing including even my Eye of Avarice, though I had long discarded it after its failure." The shadows thrived around them as a dragon took form amidst them and scattered an army of knights. "Well it can't be helped I have no more use for such things anyway just like this trash I am fully willing to give it to you as payment for acting in my stead for these next few days."
He looked over the remnants of the room, books from an age lost to time when artifacts of power had been commonplace. The remnants of a laboratory that hinted at how powerful they had once been. How could someone give it up easily. "You do not covet it even now I have never understood how you can be so blaze about throwing it away."
Laughter spilled out across the room. "My own workbench is full for the next three hundred years at least, perhaps even longer. I'd rather even an idiot looks at it then just have it gather dust and fade away before I find the time."
Which of course made him the fool, he bit back a scowl because he could not afford it and kept his smile.
"Of course you are… you and Mordred are both fools rich in the childishness of youth and the bliss of ignorance. Although you rate higher right now… mere decades to find a good use for my work when Mordred hasn't made anything of Ulther's in centuries." The pause hung in the air. "I guess that's why I'm fine with giving him a helping hand when it comes down to it."
Laughter spilled back. "I need someone on this side to open the gate again, it is fine I will provide everything you need it is just… I can hardly allow myself to show my face or it will ruin my plan."
He raised a brow at those words. "May I know to what we are working for then, is it the Black Rose that makes you move, or Shadow Garden that has piqued your interest?"
The grin widened as Vafthrudnir let himself be encased in the shadows the light around him fading. "Shadow Garden is the Black Rose, I would say if you had studied history but I fear I did not teach it. How to explain… at the height of the demonic invasion Ragnarok stepped through into this world and was defeated by Albion."
"In the aftermath we scattered the remnants of the knight orders and set them to flight. However, Uther's successors were not Uther and countless knights slipped through the ranks and disappeared into the depths of time. One of them went east, sought out the dragon and raised its banner high as a calling point."
"Alexander was the founder of Midgar of course and the rest should be easy even for you to understand. The only shock is that a single one of their old guard still lives nothing else."
"My plan itself shall remain wrapped in shadows, that it not be undone by the light of day. Consider it my secret for now."
The battlefield was dying down, everything was in place and he could just see it. Mordred in the distance making his way towards the gate in what might have been subtle if he did not know where to look.
With only a thought he pulled the new limbs together wrapping the cloak around himself as he leapt up to the top of the building a grin on his face as he let his voice boom out. "Mordred."
"You are too late Azrael." A light laugh echoing from the man standing before the gate. "Perhaps you have broken my empire, and all my troops lie dead at your feet and yet what of it? The true goal, my apotheosis stands before me in this moment so what do the lives of pawns matter. Think not that you have won but that I have let you win for all you have taken from me are trivialities."
He grinned beneath his mask. "Bold words coming from a coward who only knows how to run."
Mordred cupped his chin and gazed down at him. "I would say I know truly how strong you are, that in this world you might even be considered unmatched. I also know how strong Ragnarok is, I know that against the demons lurking beyond the gate something as mere as humanity can easily be brushed aside. It is because I know these things that I will hold my tongue, today you may live and tomorrow I shall avenge my honour against these ingrates who do not know their place in my world."
"How wonderful that you know to speak politely to your betters. Alas I cannot return your praise for you have no virtues for me to commend but know that if you had them I would surely praise you in kind. I suppose you could come down and fight me, and then I could sing of your bravery before you died if you wished for it." He was not ready right now and would lose if Mordred called him on it. But what of it the man in front of him would never come down regardless of what he said.
"Three days." Mordred let his voice echo over the entire city as it boomed through the night. "In three days, I shall return amidst a blaze to devour the city. Do with the mortals what you will and know that it was all futile. Cry against your fate and bemoan the tragedy that will unfold and know… any struggles you make will be futile in the end. That is the fate of mortals who only know how to writhe on the ground like insects."
His retort rose to meet it. "Such eloquence Mordred but words alone are meaningless. You could not even use the power right in front of your eyes, let everything you held fall from your grasp. The power beyond the gate will slip through your fingers as well for you do not understand it."
Mordred towered over the city. "Are you so blinded by the wretched and the weak in this city that you cannot see it? While you have mustered your armies, trained in your swordsmanship and weaved your magic my eyes have always seen higher than yours. For I seek the truth above this world, the pure and undisputable power that lies beyond the gate is something such insects could never even dream of. Perhaps I shall show you a glimpse."
One hand plunged into the gate and the flames within wrapped themselves around him into a tide of power purer than any other. A condensed flame burning brighter as it turned from red and orange to blue and finally a pure white flame incandescent amongst the darkness.
It wasn't on the level of his atomic but still held easily enough power to ravage entire streets and here he was with but a flicker of his old magic. If Mordred really stepped down and dragged the full power to bear against him in this moment he would lose.
He stood even straighter and laughed in his face. "Is that all the flames you can muster, even the power of a demon will never allow you to match me Mordred. Run now into your little gate and know when you return I shall reap your life."
The spark fell erupting into a torrent, a wave of flame that crashed down towards him unfurling until it stood enough to consume the entire street. A searing presence crashing down against him even as he stepped back, falling from the pillar as he felt it approach.
"Eta." With a flick of a switch the pillar he'd been standing on activated. The mana absorption effect swallowing up the tide as the river of flame was consumed before his eyes. Not his victory though, but hers.
It was a bitter respite. If he'd been at full strength he wouldn't have needed it, could have sent the flames spiralling ever higher into the sky until it was nothing more than a distant memory and laughed at Mordred for the futility of his attempts.
"Without even raising his hand."
He let his gaze fall across the few people surrounding him, and at least they were impressed so it was fine. He let his cloak writhe around him in a burst of power as he turned to those around him. "Mordred is a fool who could not even find power in this world, there is nothing greater beyond the gate for a man like him."
AN: Aaaaah still two weeks. Things go as they must so oh well.
I'm mostly happy with it so there is always that.
Borregoddilon9: More chapters arrive.
Aniisomeone: Congratulations you have more Seven Shades this chapter as well.
Lie48:The twelfth member from Shadow Garden will not be Alpha, can confirm that much.
Beatrix and Shadow Garden. Beatrix envisages having found her niece and finally being able to save her and be the cool aunt to her little niece and certainly views joining Shadow Garden as a way to get that.
But Alpha is no longer five and doesn't feel like she needs a cool aunt. Beyond that I haven't fully plotted out the entire shape of her arc in much the same way I have not done so for Iris. Much of my planning happens exactly one or two chapters in advance and only the most basic outlines venture further than that.
I shall burn whatever bridges I find for that answer when I come to them.
Extra note - Am still fine just a bit behind on this chapter, probably Wednesday is a good estimate right now.