ULTRAMagic Shadowland - Chapter 24
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In line with the previous day, the demolition was sheer chaos. The Eternal Church was swarmed with knights and soldiers, all trying to clear it out before it was demolished. Sten had no love for it as it was erected during the reign of the Vozenilek’s, but it did have valuable items and artifacts inside it. And as to be expected, cultists were trying to interfere with the destruction of their church. Sten had given orders to subdue any aggressors and focus on clearing out the building, but Captain Saul’s men were a little too heated to heed those orders.
“FOR THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH!” A cultist with an assault rifle screamed as he barreled forward.
“SILENCE HEATHEN” Logan shouted back as he swung his mace into the cultist’s side. This knocked them to the ground, dropping the weapon before it could be fired.
“Haha, nice one, brother!” Saul complimented.
“Blithering blaggards…” he then caught something out of the corner of his eye. “SHIELDS UP! GUNNER IN THE GALLERY AT 12 O’CLOCK!”
Claudius emerged from the sacristy only to see the knights blocking rounds of gunfire with their tower shields. He quickly took cover behind the doorway. “MADRE DI DIO! Boris! Fire your shield!”
“Finally!” The knight exclaimed as he stepped out of the other doorway. His shield was vastly different from the others, being a portable cannon in the shape of a large heater shield. His hammer was also special in that it served as the ignition mechanism for the projectile. Infusing it with fire, Boris slammed it on the shield. A loud explosion rang out as an iron ball rocketed towards the upper floor, severely damaging its structural integrity. The gallery collapsed, causing the cultists to fall to the ground with a thud. “BULLSEYE!” Boris proclaimed.
“Well done, Boris…” Saul remarked, a little frazzled. “Reckless, but I’ll take it. Claudius, what’s your status?”
“Almost done, Captain. The last lock to the vault is being undone as we speak.”
“Good. The sooner we… hold on.” A third cultist was evading some of the soldiers, unaware of who he was about to run into. Saul rammed his massive shield into him, knocking the cultist out cold. The soldiers promptly hauled the individual out of the church.
“Claudius! The vault’s open!” A soldier called out.
“Eccellente! Take whatever there is and get it out of here!”
About a block away, Barna was waiting with the detonator. Accompanying him were Albrecht, Weaver, Gabriella, and Aureolus. Everything was nerve racking given that the smallest problem could screw everything up. The idea of Milosh skulking about did not help either. Barna was incredibly nervous himself, gritting his teeth as he waited for the all clear. Aureolus noticed this unease, figuring talking to him might help relieve the tension.
“So um, dad, how does that work again?”
This snapped Barna out of it. “Huh, what? Oh, this? Haha, well apparently it’s what they call ‘wireless,’ relying on your magic to send a signal to the charges. Once it goes off, the explosives should ideally explode with a delay between each explosion. This should give us a nice, clean collapse with minimal collateral damage…” As he said this, one of the church’s spires fell to the ground.
Albrecht walked over to his side. “Assuming Saul and his men don’t collapse the church before we get to it, ha!”
“Aye yai yai, that’ll be a waste of explosives if they do… Any word on Dunja and the blades?”
“Yeah, Mom’s on her way here now,” Albrecht replied.
“Good. And The Fear is safe I presume?”
“Yup. He’s with Sten and Yngvild, being guarded by Maximus and Rumbler.”
Barna took a deep breath. “Very good…”
As he said that, Claudius approached with haste. “Barna, everything is set and the church is clear. Detonate whenever you’re ready.”
Everybody began encouraging him to press the button, but Barna hesitated. A grin formed across his face. “Hold up, someone’s here…”
Dunja came running up with Torunn, Andelin, and Gratiana. “Barna! Do it!” She said with urgency. “Milosh is…”
“HERE! AND READY TO PARTY!” He maniacally declared from a second story rooftop, surrounded by shadow constructs, wearing his best tuxedo.
“I thought I smelled a rat…” Barna remarked. He then began laughing.
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY!?!”
“Oh, you’ll see in a minute…” Milosh’s attempt to be menacing would have been pathetically adorable, had it not been for the history between the two.
“That coward tried to stall us on the way here,” Torunn pointed out.
“Ah, a lovely menagerie of enemies and vile traitors I see!” Milosh declared. “What a shame, Gratiana. Looks like I’ll have to pluck you like the weed you…” He screeched as a magic spear shot by him, mere inches from his head. Gratiana had not even flinched.
“Had you uttered such blasphemy back in Feuerland, my father would have had your entire brood executed on the spot,” Gratiana pointed out. “The only reason why I don’t do it now is because Sten and Dunja deserve that honor.”
“AS IF!” Milosh barked back. “Go ahead, ransack my church! I’ll just rebuild it, bigger and better than ever! And once Lia gets back, I’LL RAZE ALL OF SHADOWLAND AND THE IRON CITY TO THE GROUND!” His laughter was truly unsettling, completely unhinged and psychotic. “My constructs are already on their way to the church, Barna! You’ve lost, you flea-ridden mutt!”
Barna shook his head and chuckled. “You see, Milosh, there’s one problem with your assessment: If you had at least one functioning piece of brain in that thick skull of yours, you’d realize that you’re late to the party…”
He pressed the red button on the detonator, triggering the explosives. Everyone turned to watch the church falling to the ground in a cloud of dust and debris. A good portion of the shadow constructs were caught in the blast and collapse, wiping them out on the spot. Barna enjoyed Milosh’s dumbstruck look. It was satisfying to seal the zeal and fervor drain out of him. This reminded Barna of the day when he first took a young Corentin to school, as Milosh had a similar look on his face back then.
Despite all of Milosh’s huffing and puffing, it finally sank in: He had lost. That was it. The cult was dwindling, Dunja and the blades had turned against him, Lia was nowhere to be found, the shadow orb had been destroyed, all of the money was gone, and the church was nothing but a pile of rubble. He lost it. Milosh began screaming incoherently, gnashing his teeth, and stomping his feet like a petulant child. He then screeched at the shadow constructs to attack. Having become fed up with this nonsense, Barna roared with his inner beast at the fool, sounding like a bear crossed with a wolf. Milosh screamed and fled as fast he could.
With no one to command them, the remaining shadow constructs wandered aimlessly and attacked anything that moved. This made them easy to battle. Everyone got a piece of the action, with Dunja and Gratiana taking great catharsis from all of it. Gratiana felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders as she shot spear after spear into the malignant creations. As for Dunja, it was truly a wondrous feeling knowing she could finally undo her past blunders.
As the battle continued, Aureolus noticed the constructs were starting to gang up on Gabriella. He raced over, hurling a flurry of fireballs that bounced all over the place. Albrecht then glanced over, noticing another group about to catch the two off guard. He called out, with Weaver heading the call in his beast form. Aureolus and Gabriella braced themselves, only for a torrent of magic lava to obliterate the attackers. One last construct was going to sneak up on Weaver, but Torunn caught it and pummeled it with her mace.
Eventually what remained of the constructs began to disperse. Andelin summoned Inkling and brought forth as many as she could, sending them after the fleeing constructs. The group then split up so they could cover more ground. Dunja chased after a few that were going off the beaten path. After wiping out two with her whip blades, she noticed one ducking into an alley. Following it led to a dead end with it looking like it was panicking.
“Just one more and this will all be over…” Dunja remarked as she approached with her blades ready.
“NO! PLEASE DON’T” it pleaded in an unnatural voice.
Dunja stopped, shocked by what had happened. “Wait, what did you just say?”
“Please, don’t kill me. I don’t want to hurt anyone…” It said as it began to sob. This construct was different from the rest. Whereas standard ones were all black and goopy, this one was sleek and had red patterns all over it.
“You’re not tricking me, are you?”
“No no, Haze would never do that…”
“Haze? You have a name? That’s a new one. Last time I checked, shadow constructs don’t have names…”
He chuckled and nodded. “Yes, my name is Haze. I saw a paper with that word on it and liked the sound of it.”
Dunja smiled. “So I trust you’re not loyal to that worm of a man then?”
Haze shook his head. “No, not at all. I never wanted to fight for him. I don’t know what I want, but that’s definitely not it.”
“Well aren’t you special then” Dunja commented. “As much as I regret crafting the shadow orb, I can’t be that callus and snuff out someone like you. Despite all the havoc I caused, at least something good came out of it. You can’t stay here though as things are pretty heated at the moment.”
“Then where should I go?”
Dunja thought about it for a second, then had an idea. She focused and presented a lilac flame to him. “Well firstly let’s give your soul a little substance. Second, go to The Magician’s Labyrinth and find Deimos, The Mage of Old. Ask him for help and tell him I sent you.”
“Alright! Thank you, Dunja!” Haze said as he took the flame into him. “I won’t let you down. Goodbye!”
“See you later, Haze! And stay safe!” She called out as he flew off as a cloud of smoke.
A few seconds later, Aureolus came running up, looking for Dunja. “Aunt Dunja, is everything okay?”
She smiled again. “Yeah. Just seeing someone off is all.”
He was confused. “Oh, um, alright then. Anyways, we need you at the church. Sten is going to show up to say some words on everything that’s happened.”
“I take it you guys dealt with the rest of the constructs?” Dunja asked as they began walking.
“Yup. Was that the last of them on your end?”
“Indeed, Aureolus. Thank the Source.”
The two made their way to the remains of the church, where everyone else was. The Knights and soldiers were directing workers in cleaning up the rubble. Torunn was addressing the crowd that had gathered, with Andelin and Gratiana. Her main goal was to explain what had happened and make it clear that Gratiana wanted to turn over a new leaf. Barna was busy marveling at his work with Albrecht while Weaver and Gabriella were taking a breather. As for Claudius, he and Captain Saul’s squad were assisting anyone who was injured.
“We’ve come a long way, Aureolus,” Dunja pointed out.
“That we have, Dunja. I wish Blood could have been here to see all of this. Either way, I think he’ll be proud of us.”
Roughly ten minutes later, Sten showed up. He was escorted by Maximus and was followed by Folkvar, Yngvild, The Fear of Old, Fyodor, and the rest of his royal court. “Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow Shadowlandians; lend me your ears” Sten spoke, standing atop where the altar once stood. “Today we stand here victorious over the villains that tried to topple us!” This elicited a round of applause from the crowd. “The war is not over, but this battle has ended The Eternal Church once and for all. We stand stronger than ever before! And so many people have helped us in our time of need: The Schindewolf’s, The Craddock’s, The Raynot’s, The Pari’s, the brilliant Claudius Alfieri, Dunja and her mighty blades, the radiant Achasiah, the wise Deimos, The late Dragon of Old, and so many others. We owe them a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid. Despite this, we can still do the right thing going forward. We shall not shut our doors to the outside world, but we will stand firm with clear minds in the face of adversity! On an ending note, I think it’s about time we rectify our lack of a day for celebration and reverence. Starting today, this day shall be known as Shadowland Day, commemorating our triumph over the forces of evil!”
The crowd cheered and applauded Sten’s words, feeling a renewed sense of vigor and pride. Sten was correct in that Milosh was still out there, but the people did not care. If that criminal ever showed his ugly mug again, they would stand their ground. Nothing could defeat them now. Barna had also stepped up to say some words, followed by Dunja. They had as much stake in the conflict as Sten did, after all. It was truly one of the greatest days of their lives. There was rebuilding to be done, but it was nothing they could not handle.
Next: Chapter 25
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
In line with the previous day, the demolition was sheer chaos. The Eternal Church was swarmed with knights and soldiers, all trying to clear it out before it was demolished. Sten had no love for it as it was erected during the reign of the Vozenilek’s, but it did have valuable items and artifacts inside it. And as to be expected, cultists were trying to interfere with the destruction of their church. Sten had given orders to subdue any aggressors and focus on clearing out the building, but Captain Saul’s men were a little too heated to heed those orders.
“FOR THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH!” A cultist with an assault rifle screamed as he barreled forward.
“SILENCE HEATHEN” Logan shouted back as he swung his mace into the cultist’s side. This knocked them to the ground, dropping the weapon before it could be fired.
“Haha, nice one, brother!” Saul complimented.
“Blithering blaggards…” he then caught something out of the corner of his eye. “SHIELDS UP! GUNNER IN THE GALLERY AT 12 O’CLOCK!”
Claudius emerged from the sacristy only to see the knights blocking rounds of gunfire with their tower shields. He quickly took cover behind the doorway. “MADRE DI DIO! Boris! Fire your shield!”
“Finally!” The knight exclaimed as he stepped out of the other doorway. His shield was vastly different from the others, being a portable cannon in the shape of a large heater shield. His hammer was also special in that it served as the ignition mechanism for the projectile. Infusing it with fire, Boris slammed it on the shield. A loud explosion rang out as an iron ball rocketed towards the upper floor, severely damaging its structural integrity. The gallery collapsed, causing the cultists to fall to the ground with a thud. “BULLSEYE!” Boris proclaimed.
“Well done, Boris…” Saul remarked, a little frazzled. “Reckless, but I’ll take it. Claudius, what’s your status?”
“Almost done, Captain. The last lock to the vault is being undone as we speak.”
“Good. The sooner we… hold on.” A third cultist was evading some of the soldiers, unaware of who he was about to run into. Saul rammed his massive shield into him, knocking the cultist out cold. The soldiers promptly hauled the individual out of the church.
“Claudius! The vault’s open!” A soldier called out.
“Eccellente! Take whatever there is and get it out of here!”
About a block away, Barna was waiting with the detonator. Accompanying him were Albrecht, Weaver, Gabriella, and Aureolus. Everything was nerve racking given that the smallest problem could screw everything up. The idea of Milosh skulking about did not help either. Barna was incredibly nervous himself, gritting his teeth as he waited for the all clear. Aureolus noticed this unease, figuring talking to him might help relieve the tension.
“So um, dad, how does that work again?”
This snapped Barna out of it. “Huh, what? Oh, this? Haha, well apparently it’s what they call ‘wireless,’ relying on your magic to send a signal to the charges. Once it goes off, the explosives should ideally explode with a delay between each explosion. This should give us a nice, clean collapse with minimal collateral damage…” As he said this, one of the church’s spires fell to the ground.
Albrecht walked over to his side. “Assuming Saul and his men don’t collapse the church before we get to it, ha!”
“Aye yai yai, that’ll be a waste of explosives if they do… Any word on Dunja and the blades?”
“Yeah, Mom’s on her way here now,” Albrecht replied.
“Good. And The Fear is safe I presume?”
“Yup. He’s with Sten and Yngvild, being guarded by Maximus and Rumbler.”
Barna took a deep breath. “Very good…”
As he said that, Claudius approached with haste. “Barna, everything is set and the church is clear. Detonate whenever you’re ready.”
Everybody began encouraging him to press the button, but Barna hesitated. A grin formed across his face. “Hold up, someone’s here…”
Dunja came running up with Torunn, Andelin, and Gratiana. “Barna! Do it!” She said with urgency. “Milosh is…”
“HERE! AND READY TO PARTY!” He maniacally declared from a second story rooftop, surrounded by shadow constructs, wearing his best tuxedo.
“I thought I smelled a rat…” Barna remarked. He then began laughing.
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY!?!”
“Oh, you’ll see in a minute…” Milosh’s attempt to be menacing would have been pathetically adorable, had it not been for the history between the two.
“That coward tried to stall us on the way here,” Torunn pointed out.
“Ah, a lovely menagerie of enemies and vile traitors I see!” Milosh declared. “What a shame, Gratiana. Looks like I’ll have to pluck you like the weed you…” He screeched as a magic spear shot by him, mere inches from his head. Gratiana had not even flinched.
“Had you uttered such blasphemy back in Feuerland, my father would have had your entire brood executed on the spot,” Gratiana pointed out. “The only reason why I don’t do it now is because Sten and Dunja deserve that honor.”
“AS IF!” Milosh barked back. “Go ahead, ransack my church! I’ll just rebuild it, bigger and better than ever! And once Lia gets back, I’LL RAZE ALL OF SHADOWLAND AND THE IRON CITY TO THE GROUND!” His laughter was truly unsettling, completely unhinged and psychotic. “My constructs are already on their way to the church, Barna! You’ve lost, you flea-ridden mutt!”
Barna shook his head and chuckled. “You see, Milosh, there’s one problem with your assessment: If you had at least one functioning piece of brain in that thick skull of yours, you’d realize that you’re late to the party…”
He pressed the red button on the detonator, triggering the explosives. Everyone turned to watch the church falling to the ground in a cloud of dust and debris. A good portion of the shadow constructs were caught in the blast and collapse, wiping them out on the spot. Barna enjoyed Milosh’s dumbstruck look. It was satisfying to seal the zeal and fervor drain out of him. This reminded Barna of the day when he first took a young Corentin to school, as Milosh had a similar look on his face back then.
Despite all of Milosh’s huffing and puffing, it finally sank in: He had lost. That was it. The cult was dwindling, Dunja and the blades had turned against him, Lia was nowhere to be found, the shadow orb had been destroyed, all of the money was gone, and the church was nothing but a pile of rubble. He lost it. Milosh began screaming incoherently, gnashing his teeth, and stomping his feet like a petulant child. He then screeched at the shadow constructs to attack. Having become fed up with this nonsense, Barna roared with his inner beast at the fool, sounding like a bear crossed with a wolf. Milosh screamed and fled as fast he could.
With no one to command them, the remaining shadow constructs wandered aimlessly and attacked anything that moved. This made them easy to battle. Everyone got a piece of the action, with Dunja and Gratiana taking great catharsis from all of it. Gratiana felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders as she shot spear after spear into the malignant creations. As for Dunja, it was truly a wondrous feeling knowing she could finally undo her past blunders.
As the battle continued, Aureolus noticed the constructs were starting to gang up on Gabriella. He raced over, hurling a flurry of fireballs that bounced all over the place. Albrecht then glanced over, noticing another group about to catch the two off guard. He called out, with Weaver heading the call in his beast form. Aureolus and Gabriella braced themselves, only for a torrent of magic lava to obliterate the attackers. One last construct was going to sneak up on Weaver, but Torunn caught it and pummeled it with her mace.
Eventually what remained of the constructs began to disperse. Andelin summoned Inkling and brought forth as many as she could, sending them after the fleeing constructs. The group then split up so they could cover more ground. Dunja chased after a few that were going off the beaten path. After wiping out two with her whip blades, she noticed one ducking into an alley. Following it led to a dead end with it looking like it was panicking.
“Just one more and this will all be over…” Dunja remarked as she approached with her blades ready.
“NO! PLEASE DON’T” it pleaded in an unnatural voice.
Dunja stopped, shocked by what had happened. “Wait, what did you just say?”
“Please, don’t kill me. I don’t want to hurt anyone…” It said as it began to sob. This construct was different from the rest. Whereas standard ones were all black and goopy, this one was sleek and had red patterns all over it.
“You’re not tricking me, are you?”
“No no, Haze would never do that…”
“Haze? You have a name? That’s a new one. Last time I checked, shadow constructs don’t have names…”
He chuckled and nodded. “Yes, my name is Haze. I saw a paper with that word on it and liked the sound of it.”
Dunja smiled. “So I trust you’re not loyal to that worm of a man then?”
Haze shook his head. “No, not at all. I never wanted to fight for him. I don’t know what I want, but that’s definitely not it.”
“Well aren’t you special then” Dunja commented. “As much as I regret crafting the shadow orb, I can’t be that callus and snuff out someone like you. Despite all the havoc I caused, at least something good came out of it. You can’t stay here though as things are pretty heated at the moment.”
“Then where should I go?”
Dunja thought about it for a second, then had an idea. She focused and presented a lilac flame to him. “Well firstly let’s give your soul a little substance. Second, go to The Magician’s Labyrinth and find Deimos, The Mage of Old. Ask him for help and tell him I sent you.”
“Alright! Thank you, Dunja!” Haze said as he took the flame into him. “I won’t let you down. Goodbye!”
“See you later, Haze! And stay safe!” She called out as he flew off as a cloud of smoke.
A few seconds later, Aureolus came running up, looking for Dunja. “Aunt Dunja, is everything okay?”
She smiled again. “Yeah. Just seeing someone off is all.”
He was confused. “Oh, um, alright then. Anyways, we need you at the church. Sten is going to show up to say some words on everything that’s happened.”
“I take it you guys dealt with the rest of the constructs?” Dunja asked as they began walking.
“Yup. Was that the last of them on your end?”
“Indeed, Aureolus. Thank the Source.”
The two made their way to the remains of the church, where everyone else was. The Knights and soldiers were directing workers in cleaning up the rubble. Torunn was addressing the crowd that had gathered, with Andelin and Gratiana. Her main goal was to explain what had happened and make it clear that Gratiana wanted to turn over a new leaf. Barna was busy marveling at his work with Albrecht while Weaver and Gabriella were taking a breather. As for Claudius, he and Captain Saul’s squad were assisting anyone who was injured.
“We’ve come a long way, Aureolus,” Dunja pointed out.
“That we have, Dunja. I wish Blood could have been here to see all of this. Either way, I think he’ll be proud of us.”
Roughly ten minutes later, Sten showed up. He was escorted by Maximus and was followed by Folkvar, Yngvild, The Fear of Old, Fyodor, and the rest of his royal court. “Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow Shadowlandians; lend me your ears” Sten spoke, standing atop where the altar once stood. “Today we stand here victorious over the villains that tried to topple us!” This elicited a round of applause from the crowd. “The war is not over, but this battle has ended The Eternal Church once and for all. We stand stronger than ever before! And so many people have helped us in our time of need: The Schindewolf’s, The Craddock’s, The Raynot’s, The Pari’s, the brilliant Claudius Alfieri, Dunja and her mighty blades, the radiant Achasiah, the wise Deimos, The late Dragon of Old, and so many others. We owe them a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid. Despite this, we can still do the right thing going forward. We shall not shut our doors to the outside world, but we will stand firm with clear minds in the face of adversity! On an ending note, I think it’s about time we rectify our lack of a day for celebration and reverence. Starting today, this day shall be known as Shadowland Day, commemorating our triumph over the forces of evil!”
The crowd cheered and applauded Sten’s words, feeling a renewed sense of vigor and pride. Sten was correct in that Milosh was still out there, but the people did not care. If that criminal ever showed his ugly mug again, they would stand their ground. Nothing could defeat them now. Barna had also stepped up to say some words, followed by Dunja. They had as much stake in the conflict as Sten did, after all. It was truly one of the greatest days of their lives. There was rebuilding to be done, but it was nothing they could not handle.
Next: Chapter 25
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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