ULTRAMagic Interlude - Chapter 15
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Blood-Wraith was ready to take on Dunja… until he fell over on the ground. “Can I… have… a second?” He struggled to ask as he tried to catch his breath. Everyone was shocked by this.
Dunja nervously glanced side to side, then deactivated and sheathed her blades. “Blood, you need to be ready if you’re going to challenge fate like this…” She remarked as she got down beside him.
“One… second…”
Englehart approached the two. “Blood, my boy, what happened? You look like you just ran several marathons.”
“I… ran as fast as I could…” he replied as he propped up his body. “... I’m not going to let another one of my friends die.”
“A friend?” Englehart questioned.
“Yeah, Dunja’s my friend now…”
The king looked over to his former queen. “Mind if I ask what’s going on here?”
Dunja looked even more nervous. “Er, yeah… we had a bit of a talk last night.”
“She gave her… agh, I accepted her soul fragment in what she said was remembrance of her… yeah, like I’m going to let someone jump off a cliff like that…” Blood-Wraith added as he got to his feet.
“Wait, YOU DID WHAT!?” Radovan exclaimed from the crowd, startling everyone. “Good lord, do we need to supervise you every hour of the day?! Blood, I appreciate your diplomatic attitude, but this entire conflict is beyond you!”
Blood-Wraith sighed. “She’s being earnest with her actions, father. When I accept a fragment, I can see into that person’s thoughts and feelings, their soul if you will…”
Radovan was beside himself. “Well, I suppose that does change things a bit…” The crowd was beginning to mutter amongst themselves.
“...and furthermore, dad, I’m not going to turn into another Lich of Old, destroying everything in sight to achieve his goals.”
“Fair enough. Better to have standards then no standards at all…”
“How do we know we can trust his weird, sixth sense of sorts?” Octavius put forth. “Can anyone vouch for this?”
“I can, councilor,” Dragoslava said with a raised hand. “Blood revealed at Aqua World that he had read my mind a bit while we were fighting the Lich at the Metal Oasis.”
Octavius was still a bit skeptical, but things were seeming more plausible at this point. “I see… I have no reason to doubt you, Ms. Raynot. Do you trust your brother?”
“With my life, Councilor.”
Seeing the crowd continuing to mutter, Drazhan spoke up. “Hey, Englehart, Blood? How about all of you rest up and move this to the colosseum? I just figured there’s no sense in doing this on an empty stomach and potentially wrecking the city in the process.”
“Hmm, that would be a bit better than what’s going on now…” Englehart then groaned and faced the crowd. “My citizens, I have a confession to make: I have NO plans to end Dunja’s life!” Many gasped at this, while others knew their king all too well. “Look-In truth, I want everything to return to the way they were too. All of you want things to return to the way they were. Dunja clearly wants everything to return to the way it was. Therefore, I have a better idea: I propose a new kind of duel. This will be a proper duel with no death. Dunja will fight Blood-Wraith and I. If we win, this conflict ends here and now…”
“And… what if I win?” Dunja inquired with a subtle dread in her voice.
“Simple: I shall abdicate the throne to you and go into exile.” Everyone was terrified and horrified by this. Englehart could see this in the faces of his subjects. “If I can’t overcome my past and end up getting bested by my significant other in addition to that, then I am not fit to be a king. It’s as simple as that. Besides, we haven’t had a truly gripping contest in a very long time…” He turned to his royal court. “Radovan!”
“Your majesty?”
“Let’s start getting everything ready. Prepare the colosseum for maximum capacity.”
“Yes Sir! You heard his majesty, let’s get moving!”
The crowd dispersed as the King and his court went to get the event on the way. Naturally certain councilors were losing their minds over all of this. As for Dunja, she just stood there, completely dumbfounded. Everything had flown completely off the rails for her. She barely reacted as Blood-Wraith took her by the hand, led her to his house, and sat her down on the couch. Trying to process everything left her speechless. She was eventually snapped out of this funk when Desislav set a warm plate of food on the coffee table for her. Blood-Wraith was next to her with his own plate.
“Hey, Dunja?” Desislav asked. “Hungry?”
“Oh, yes. Thank you… Wait a second, this is Milosh’s old house…”
Blood-Wraith nodded. “Yup, but now it’s my house. Corentin and Aureolus cleared it out for me so I’d have a place to work on my studies in peace.”
Dragoslava was leaning up against a wall across from the couch. She let out a heavy sigh. “Dunja? I got a lot of thoughts and feelings right now, being completely honest. It’s odd seeing you sit there like that… BUT, if Blood trusts you, then I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet.”
Vexation tapped her shoulder. “Well to ease your concern Drago: If my plans had come to fruition, Dunja would have been one of my first recruits… not before Torunn and Andelin though.”
“Huh, well there you go. Vex trusts you too.”
Dunja looked over at Vexation. “It’s surreal, I guess… to be here with you...”
Vexation chuckled. “Well Dunja, It looks like fate still has more in store for us.”
She nodded, ate some food, and looked over to her right only to be startled by Aureolus. “Goodness! Wait a second, are you Aureolus?”
“Yup. I’m that one result of that one experiment Milosh did…”
Blood-Wraith ate some more of his food. “I gave him that name. He’s pursuing ULTRAMagic, like I was. He just needs 2 more fragments, I think…”
“Actually I got that fragment from her grace while you were gone...”
Aureolus was interrupted by Valentina bursting through the doorway. “Blood! Sorry I’m late! I had Englehart get me all caught up on what’s happening.”
“Val!” he replied with a mouth full of food, then swallowed. “We’re finishing this issue today.”
“I see… are you sure about this? Your parents and I are incredibly worried.”
He nodded. “Yup. This is Dunja, by the way.”
This caught Valentina’s interest. She studied Dunja for what felt like an eternity, her angelic gaze feeling like it was piercing her soul. “Indeed. What an intriguing turn of events this has been… Now Dunja, you realize that you have a lot to answer for, right? The past can be forgiven, but not forgotten.”
She sighed. “Yeah… I’d apologize in full, but we’d probably be here for an eternity…” Everyone else laughed in sympathy for her.
“To somewhat echo what Drago said, I have a lot of feelings towards my existence” Aureolus stated. “I didn’t want to exist in the first place, but I forgive you, Aunt Dunja.”
“Aunt? I beg your pardon?”
“Yeah. Barna adopted me, so now you’re my aunt.”
Dunja took a second to process that. “Huh… you want me as your aunt?”
“Why not? I sensed there was nothing truly bad about you back in the day. You beings of light underestimate how perceptive us beings of darkness are… wait a second, Descendants are… no, that’s right; you’re from Shadowland. Sorry about that, Unlight denizens always throw me for a loop. Anyways, don’t beat yourself up. Milosh is the real bad guy here.”
“Oh, thank you, ne-nephew…” Dunja felt strange saying that. “Desislav, this food is fantastic.”
“Thanks. I figured I’d put a bit of elbow grease into it this time since you and Blood got that big showdown today.”
Dunja was surprised. “You’d do that even for me?”
“I don’t see why not…” Desislav gave a slightly exasperated sigh. “I mean, yeah, my current state of affairs does have your name written all over it… but I take pride in my work. Plus you two should be ready to go when the time comes. I’m not the kind of guy to sabotage someone like that. If I didn’t sense good coming out of this, I wouldn’t be this hospitable.”
Valentina gave him a pat on the back. “You’re so sweet. I wish our universe had more people like you.”
“Ha, thanks, Val.”
“He’s one in a million,” Dragoslava pointed out. “Now Dunja, I have an important question before things start firing up…”
She swallowed her food. “Sure, go ahead…”
“Did you have any hand in The Lich’s commanders? The Tar Man in particular?”
She nodded, looking a bit guilty. “Yes. Him specifically as I was the one who procured the power.”
Dragoslava inhaled and exhaled. “Do you know who that power originally belonged to? Because it had an interesting interaction with Desislav here…”
“It originally belonged to Ethor Kovarik.”
That sent Dragoslava into orbit internally. She looked at her boyfriend, seeing him for who he truly was. “ETHOR!” She exclaimed as she went and hugged him with all of her strength.
“AGH! DRAGO, EASY! TIGHT, TOO TIGHT…” Desislav panicked as he was squeezed.
“Careful, Drago!” Blood-Wraith called out as he started to get up. “You’re going to crush him at this rate!”
She relented. “We are getting married soon after Kresimira’s wedding. No two ways about it!”
“Ow, jeez… Not even going to let me buy you a ring first?”
“No back sass, goat boy. Ahem, Dunja, why did you use Ethor’s power?”
“Um, well… I was kind of on the spot and didn’t want his power to get taken by something else and… hold up, are we sure he’s really Ethor?”
Aureolus nodded. “Yeah. I’m surprised you guys didn’t pick up on it sooner. It was clear as day as soon as I met him. Truth be told, I was a little confused as to why he kept calling himself Desislav…”
Dragoslava facepalmed. “Oh of course…” She looked at Valentina. “Don’t tell me you knew too…” She nodded. “DAMN IT! Why did I never ask?”
“Well to be fair, you were incredibly distracted given everything that has recently transpired” Vexation pointed out. Dragoslava groaned in response.
Dunja felt guilty again. “Dragoslava, I am so sorry for what happened…”
She raised her hand. “Don’t worry about it. We’re all here now and that’s what matters. And call me Drago.”
Before she could respond, an alarm clock went off. “Oh hey, it’s time,” Blood-Wraith calmly pointed out.
The contest that would determine the fate of Dunja and Englehart was officially upon everyone. The former queen was incredibly nervous, but Blood-Wraith had ungodly vigor knowing that the stakes were no longer as high as they once were. He had set out to save Dunja’s life and succeeded in doing that. Now they had a thrilling fight to look forward to. He was so stoked to get to the colosseum that he took on the form of Golden Dragon and took Dunja there on his back. She felt unworthy of the privilege, but Blood-Wraith insisted.
The excited dragon flew around the giant, magnificent colosseum a few times. He gave triumphant roars here and there as he did his laps. The crowd cheered, despite Dunja being with him. Below them was an orchestra playing a victorious symphony while the royal mages shot firework spells up into the air. Blood-Wraith would shoot fireballs at some of these, making the explosions even more spectacular. Everyone that could see them loved it.
A confidant Blood-Wraith eventually landed in the arena with a thud, giving one last energetic, bellowing roar before letting Dunja down and reverting back to normal. “See, Dunja? That wasn’t so bad.”
She was somewhat frazzled, but nodded even if a bit shaken. “Haha, indeed…”
The orchestra swelled as Englehart made his way to the center. This elicited massive applause and cheering from the audience. He smiled proudly before raising his hand to quiet everyone so he could speak. “Citizens, subjects, workers, nobles, councilors, generals, knights, mages, and all those that bear witness-Today is a momentous occasion! An event that shall go down in history! Today, we decide the fate of The Iron City!” The crowd was in suspense, but applauded regardless. “Queen Dunja has expressed the desire to return to us and restore her honor!” To her surprise, the crowd cheered, which brought a tear to her eye. Englehart noticed this and stood aside to give her a chance to speak.
“I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to all of you! I’ve hurt you all dearly and it will take a long time to earn your respect and forgiveness, but I am honored and humbled that all of you are willing to give me a second chance!” The audience cheered once again.
“We cannot let this go without a challenge though,” Englehart declared. “What would life be if everything was handed to us on a silver platter? In order to restore her honor, Dunja will have to face Sir Blood-Wraith and I. If she loses to Blood, the contest ends. Likewise if she loses to myself. Her honor shall be fully restored and she will rejoin me on the throne if either outcome occurs. There is a catch to all of this, however. If she defeats both of us, then I shall step down as king, hand the throne to her, and go into exile.” The audience was shocked by this declaration. “...As I stated previously: If I can’t overcome my past, then I am not fit to be your king!”
“Englehart? May I have one last word before we get started?”
“By all means, Dunja. The floor is yours. Speak your mind.”
Dunja stepped forward, getting out what looked like a strange orb the size of a skull. “Ladies and gentlemen? I know some of you still don’t trust me and you are fully justified in that mistrust. Since actions speak louder than words, allow me to prove my intent right here and now…” She held up the orb for everyone to see. It was a crimson, crystalline skull with black veins all over it. “This is the shadow orb, a vile mistake of my own making! It is the source of those disgusting Shadow Constructs. If I smash it right now, that worm Milosh will never be able to make another one ever again!”
The audience was given a moment to take it all in. Once she was sure they were all ready, Dunja summoned all of her strength and violently crushed the orb in her hand. The shards fell to the ground as a dark vortex of screaming spirits erupted in the air. It rapidly settled, with the spirits becoming engulfed in radiant light. Being freed from their prison, they sang a melodic hymn in thanks as they flew around the colosseum. A truly beautiful rainbow was left in the wake as they took off into the great beyond. Once they were gone, the audience cheered and applauded as loud as they could.
Englehart laughed triumphantly as he hugged and swung his queen around. “HAHA! I KNEW THAT HEART OF GOLD OF YOURS WAS STILL IN THERE! YOU STILL GOT IT, DUNJA!”
Blood-Wraith was a bit smug (in an innocent way) and stated while pointing at his father “And I officially rest my case.” Radovan promptly stood up, gave him a big thumbs up, and applauded him.
“With all of that out of the way, let’s begin this bout!” Englehart announced, followed by the audience cheering with anticipation. “Dunja, blood; proceed to opposite ends of the field and prepare yourselves.”
“Right, my king,” Dunja said with energy.
“Yes Sir!” Blood-Wraith replied proudly.
Next: Chapter 16
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Blood-Wraith was ready to take on Dunja… until he fell over on the ground. “Can I… have… a second?” He struggled to ask as he tried to catch his breath. Everyone was shocked by this.
Dunja nervously glanced side to side, then deactivated and sheathed her blades. “Blood, you need to be ready if you’re going to challenge fate like this…” She remarked as she got down beside him.
“One… second…”
Englehart approached the two. “Blood, my boy, what happened? You look like you just ran several marathons.”
“I… ran as fast as I could…” he replied as he propped up his body. “... I’m not going to let another one of my friends die.”
“A friend?” Englehart questioned.
“Yeah, Dunja’s my friend now…”
The king looked over to his former queen. “Mind if I ask what’s going on here?”
Dunja looked even more nervous. “Er, yeah… we had a bit of a talk last night.”
“She gave her… agh, I accepted her soul fragment in what she said was remembrance of her… yeah, like I’m going to let someone jump off a cliff like that…” Blood-Wraith added as he got to his feet.
“Wait, YOU DID WHAT!?” Radovan exclaimed from the crowd, startling everyone. “Good lord, do we need to supervise you every hour of the day?! Blood, I appreciate your diplomatic attitude, but this entire conflict is beyond you!”
Blood-Wraith sighed. “She’s being earnest with her actions, father. When I accept a fragment, I can see into that person’s thoughts and feelings, their soul if you will…”
Radovan was beside himself. “Well, I suppose that does change things a bit…” The crowd was beginning to mutter amongst themselves.
“...and furthermore, dad, I’m not going to turn into another Lich of Old, destroying everything in sight to achieve his goals.”
“Fair enough. Better to have standards then no standards at all…”
“How do we know we can trust his weird, sixth sense of sorts?” Octavius put forth. “Can anyone vouch for this?”
“I can, councilor,” Dragoslava said with a raised hand. “Blood revealed at Aqua World that he had read my mind a bit while we were fighting the Lich at the Metal Oasis.”
Octavius was still a bit skeptical, but things were seeming more plausible at this point. “I see… I have no reason to doubt you, Ms. Raynot. Do you trust your brother?”
“With my life, Councilor.”
Seeing the crowd continuing to mutter, Drazhan spoke up. “Hey, Englehart, Blood? How about all of you rest up and move this to the colosseum? I just figured there’s no sense in doing this on an empty stomach and potentially wrecking the city in the process.”
“Hmm, that would be a bit better than what’s going on now…” Englehart then groaned and faced the crowd. “My citizens, I have a confession to make: I have NO plans to end Dunja’s life!” Many gasped at this, while others knew their king all too well. “Look-In truth, I want everything to return to the way they were too. All of you want things to return to the way they were. Dunja clearly wants everything to return to the way it was. Therefore, I have a better idea: I propose a new kind of duel. This will be a proper duel with no death. Dunja will fight Blood-Wraith and I. If we win, this conflict ends here and now…”
“And… what if I win?” Dunja inquired with a subtle dread in her voice.
“Simple: I shall abdicate the throne to you and go into exile.” Everyone was terrified and horrified by this. Englehart could see this in the faces of his subjects. “If I can’t overcome my past and end up getting bested by my significant other in addition to that, then I am not fit to be a king. It’s as simple as that. Besides, we haven’t had a truly gripping contest in a very long time…” He turned to his royal court. “Radovan!”
“Your majesty?”
“Let’s start getting everything ready. Prepare the colosseum for maximum capacity.”
“Yes Sir! You heard his majesty, let’s get moving!”
The crowd dispersed as the King and his court went to get the event on the way. Naturally certain councilors were losing their minds over all of this. As for Dunja, she just stood there, completely dumbfounded. Everything had flown completely off the rails for her. She barely reacted as Blood-Wraith took her by the hand, led her to his house, and sat her down on the couch. Trying to process everything left her speechless. She was eventually snapped out of this funk when Desislav set a warm plate of food on the coffee table for her. Blood-Wraith was next to her with his own plate.
“Hey, Dunja?” Desislav asked. “Hungry?”
“Oh, yes. Thank you… Wait a second, this is Milosh’s old house…”
Blood-Wraith nodded. “Yup, but now it’s my house. Corentin and Aureolus cleared it out for me so I’d have a place to work on my studies in peace.”
Dragoslava was leaning up against a wall across from the couch. She let out a heavy sigh. “Dunja? I got a lot of thoughts and feelings right now, being completely honest. It’s odd seeing you sit there like that… BUT, if Blood trusts you, then I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet.”
Vexation tapped her shoulder. “Well to ease your concern Drago: If my plans had come to fruition, Dunja would have been one of my first recruits… not before Torunn and Andelin though.”
“Huh, well there you go. Vex trusts you too.”
Dunja looked over at Vexation. “It’s surreal, I guess… to be here with you...”
Vexation chuckled. “Well Dunja, It looks like fate still has more in store for us.”
She nodded, ate some food, and looked over to her right only to be startled by Aureolus. “Goodness! Wait a second, are you Aureolus?”
“Yup. I’m that one result of that one experiment Milosh did…”
Blood-Wraith ate some more of his food. “I gave him that name. He’s pursuing ULTRAMagic, like I was. He just needs 2 more fragments, I think…”
“Actually I got that fragment from her grace while you were gone...”
Aureolus was interrupted by Valentina bursting through the doorway. “Blood! Sorry I’m late! I had Englehart get me all caught up on what’s happening.”
“Val!” he replied with a mouth full of food, then swallowed. “We’re finishing this issue today.”
“I see… are you sure about this? Your parents and I are incredibly worried.”
He nodded. “Yup. This is Dunja, by the way.”
This caught Valentina’s interest. She studied Dunja for what felt like an eternity, her angelic gaze feeling like it was piercing her soul. “Indeed. What an intriguing turn of events this has been… Now Dunja, you realize that you have a lot to answer for, right? The past can be forgiven, but not forgotten.”
She sighed. “Yeah… I’d apologize in full, but we’d probably be here for an eternity…” Everyone else laughed in sympathy for her.
“To somewhat echo what Drago said, I have a lot of feelings towards my existence” Aureolus stated. “I didn’t want to exist in the first place, but I forgive you, Aunt Dunja.”
“Aunt? I beg your pardon?”
“Yeah. Barna adopted me, so now you’re my aunt.”
Dunja took a second to process that. “Huh… you want me as your aunt?”
“Why not? I sensed there was nothing truly bad about you back in the day. You beings of light underestimate how perceptive us beings of darkness are… wait a second, Descendants are… no, that’s right; you’re from Shadowland. Sorry about that, Unlight denizens always throw me for a loop. Anyways, don’t beat yourself up. Milosh is the real bad guy here.”
“Oh, thank you, ne-nephew…” Dunja felt strange saying that. “Desislav, this food is fantastic.”
“Thanks. I figured I’d put a bit of elbow grease into it this time since you and Blood got that big showdown today.”
Dunja was surprised. “You’d do that even for me?”
“I don’t see why not…” Desislav gave a slightly exasperated sigh. “I mean, yeah, my current state of affairs does have your name written all over it… but I take pride in my work. Plus you two should be ready to go when the time comes. I’m not the kind of guy to sabotage someone like that. If I didn’t sense good coming out of this, I wouldn’t be this hospitable.”
Valentina gave him a pat on the back. “You’re so sweet. I wish our universe had more people like you.”
“Ha, thanks, Val.”
“He’s one in a million,” Dragoslava pointed out. “Now Dunja, I have an important question before things start firing up…”
She swallowed her food. “Sure, go ahead…”
“Did you have any hand in The Lich’s commanders? The Tar Man in particular?”
She nodded, looking a bit guilty. “Yes. Him specifically as I was the one who procured the power.”
Dragoslava inhaled and exhaled. “Do you know who that power originally belonged to? Because it had an interesting interaction with Desislav here…”
“It originally belonged to Ethor Kovarik.”
That sent Dragoslava into orbit internally. She looked at her boyfriend, seeing him for who he truly was. “ETHOR!” She exclaimed as she went and hugged him with all of her strength.
“AGH! DRAGO, EASY! TIGHT, TOO TIGHT…” Desislav panicked as he was squeezed.
“Careful, Drago!” Blood-Wraith called out as he started to get up. “You’re going to crush him at this rate!”
She relented. “We are getting married soon after Kresimira’s wedding. No two ways about it!”
“Ow, jeez… Not even going to let me buy you a ring first?”
“No back sass, goat boy. Ahem, Dunja, why did you use Ethor’s power?”
“Um, well… I was kind of on the spot and didn’t want his power to get taken by something else and… hold up, are we sure he’s really Ethor?”
Aureolus nodded. “Yeah. I’m surprised you guys didn’t pick up on it sooner. It was clear as day as soon as I met him. Truth be told, I was a little confused as to why he kept calling himself Desislav…”
Dragoslava facepalmed. “Oh of course…” She looked at Valentina. “Don’t tell me you knew too…” She nodded. “DAMN IT! Why did I never ask?”
“Well to be fair, you were incredibly distracted given everything that has recently transpired” Vexation pointed out. Dragoslava groaned in response.
Dunja felt guilty again. “Dragoslava, I am so sorry for what happened…”
She raised her hand. “Don’t worry about it. We’re all here now and that’s what matters. And call me Drago.”
Before she could respond, an alarm clock went off. “Oh hey, it’s time,” Blood-Wraith calmly pointed out.
The contest that would determine the fate of Dunja and Englehart was officially upon everyone. The former queen was incredibly nervous, but Blood-Wraith had ungodly vigor knowing that the stakes were no longer as high as they once were. He had set out to save Dunja’s life and succeeded in doing that. Now they had a thrilling fight to look forward to. He was so stoked to get to the colosseum that he took on the form of Golden Dragon and took Dunja there on his back. She felt unworthy of the privilege, but Blood-Wraith insisted.
The excited dragon flew around the giant, magnificent colosseum a few times. He gave triumphant roars here and there as he did his laps. The crowd cheered, despite Dunja being with him. Below them was an orchestra playing a victorious symphony while the royal mages shot firework spells up into the air. Blood-Wraith would shoot fireballs at some of these, making the explosions even more spectacular. Everyone that could see them loved it.
A confidant Blood-Wraith eventually landed in the arena with a thud, giving one last energetic, bellowing roar before letting Dunja down and reverting back to normal. “See, Dunja? That wasn’t so bad.”
She was somewhat frazzled, but nodded even if a bit shaken. “Haha, indeed…”
The orchestra swelled as Englehart made his way to the center. This elicited massive applause and cheering from the audience. He smiled proudly before raising his hand to quiet everyone so he could speak. “Citizens, subjects, workers, nobles, councilors, generals, knights, mages, and all those that bear witness-Today is a momentous occasion! An event that shall go down in history! Today, we decide the fate of The Iron City!” The crowd was in suspense, but applauded regardless. “Queen Dunja has expressed the desire to return to us and restore her honor!” To her surprise, the crowd cheered, which brought a tear to her eye. Englehart noticed this and stood aside to give her a chance to speak.
“I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to all of you! I’ve hurt you all dearly and it will take a long time to earn your respect and forgiveness, but I am honored and humbled that all of you are willing to give me a second chance!” The audience cheered once again.
“We cannot let this go without a challenge though,” Englehart declared. “What would life be if everything was handed to us on a silver platter? In order to restore her honor, Dunja will have to face Sir Blood-Wraith and I. If she loses to Blood, the contest ends. Likewise if she loses to myself. Her honor shall be fully restored and she will rejoin me on the throne if either outcome occurs. There is a catch to all of this, however. If she defeats both of us, then I shall step down as king, hand the throne to her, and go into exile.” The audience was shocked by this declaration. “...As I stated previously: If I can’t overcome my past, then I am not fit to be your king!”
“Englehart? May I have one last word before we get started?”
“By all means, Dunja. The floor is yours. Speak your mind.”
Dunja stepped forward, getting out what looked like a strange orb the size of a skull. “Ladies and gentlemen? I know some of you still don’t trust me and you are fully justified in that mistrust. Since actions speak louder than words, allow me to prove my intent right here and now…” She held up the orb for everyone to see. It was a crimson, crystalline skull with black veins all over it. “This is the shadow orb, a vile mistake of my own making! It is the source of those disgusting Shadow Constructs. If I smash it right now, that worm Milosh will never be able to make another one ever again!”
The audience was given a moment to take it all in. Once she was sure they were all ready, Dunja summoned all of her strength and violently crushed the orb in her hand. The shards fell to the ground as a dark vortex of screaming spirits erupted in the air. It rapidly settled, with the spirits becoming engulfed in radiant light. Being freed from their prison, they sang a melodic hymn in thanks as they flew around the colosseum. A truly beautiful rainbow was left in the wake as they took off into the great beyond. Once they were gone, the audience cheered and applauded as loud as they could.
Englehart laughed triumphantly as he hugged and swung his queen around. “HAHA! I KNEW THAT HEART OF GOLD OF YOURS WAS STILL IN THERE! YOU STILL GOT IT, DUNJA!”
Blood-Wraith was a bit smug (in an innocent way) and stated while pointing at his father “And I officially rest my case.” Radovan promptly stood up, gave him a big thumbs up, and applauded him.
“With all of that out of the way, let’s begin this bout!” Englehart announced, followed by the audience cheering with anticipation. “Dunja, blood; proceed to opposite ends of the field and prepare yourselves.”
“Right, my king,” Dunja said with energy.
“Yes Sir!” Blood-Wraith replied proudly.
Next: Chapter 16
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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