ULTRAMagic Chaos - Chapter 17
Previous | First | Next
Master Post - Patreon
It was a glorious sight to see the Arbiters of Droom stand united. Even though a literal rogue god was manifesting before them, a good amount of the citizenry had made their way to the walls to watch the confrontation. Osbeorn got out his mace, Beorhtric readied his bardiche, Waltheof held his greatshields firmly, and Cyneberht prepared his deck of cards. Wynnstan stood there, nervously shaking as he gripped his rifle. It was intimidating standing in the presence of his fellow arbiters like that.
“So… who are we up against again?” Wynnstan asked as the rogue god took shape.
“It appears to be The Shadow God,” Beorhtric stated.
“Well I’d dare say this confirms what our spies have told us” Osbeorn pointed out.
“...that Dunja invoked this one to create the Shadow Ord.”
Wynnstan quickly realized something. “Wait, a spy? Aren’t we all 6D and above? Since when do we need spies?” The Shadow God promptly laughed at him as a massive, shadowy arm emerged and grabbed the ground, pulling itself up.
Osbeorn gave a frustrated chuckle. “Well, kid, there’s one of your answers.”
“It’s a truly terrifying idea that these entities can interfere with us like that,” Cyneberht said with a hint of dread in his voice.
Looking at the god again, Wynnstan noticed a distinct lack of action from it. “Why isn’t he attacking?”
“Good question, son,” Wulfric said, getting his sword ready. “Alright, buddy. We can do this the easy way or the hard way!” he declared to the greater god.
The Shadow God had finished forming, resembling a fiery, black and red shadow brought to life. “Ooh! How about the ‘middle of the road’ way!? HAHA!”
Wulfric looked confused, then turned to Eadlhelm. “Is it always like this?”
“The Thundering God came close. Shadow God, pardon my asking, but what did you mean by that?”
He laughed. “Do you have potatoes in your ears!? It goes like this!” The Shadow God summoned a great fireball over Droomopolis, striking immense fear of the end into everyone… only for it to fizzle out into nothing. “Now you try to attack me!”
Osbeorn and Beorhtric took a breath to steady their nerves and charged forward. They swung their weapons only to miss and fall to the ground. The Shadow God danced around laughing, as if it were all a game. They kept trying to attack the god only for him to keep bouncing around like a child on a sugar rush. His laughter was maddening not in a cosmic sense, but in the sense that they were dealing with a spoiled brat. Ealdhelm was staring at the spectacle in disbelief, unbelievably relieved that his parents were not present to witness the mockery being made of the Arbiters of Droom. For the others sheer terror and dread was setting in given that they could not effectively deal with The Shadow God.
“Okay, maybe not like The Thundering God as he actually tried to attack us…” Ealdhelm observed.
“HAHA, see?” The Shadow God continued to dance around. “Middle of the road!”
Wulfric growled. “A wise guy, aye?” He ran forward, ready to swing his sword. “TAKE THIS!”
The Arbiters watched as Wulfric tried to slash at The Shadow God over and over again. Wulfric was one of the best swordsmen in the Realm of Chaos, but the god dodged every attack. No one wanted to admit it, but the scene was actually quite comical. Wynnstan was beside himself in disbelief that something was actually avoiding his father’s wrath. He was not disappointed in his father, rather he was utterly terrified. This god did not actually seem all that powerful, yet it was running circles around them. What was he even supposed to do given that he had a long way to go before matching Wulfric’s might?
The Shadow God was full of taunts, grooving around like there was some form of eldritch, energetic rock music to his antics. “Too slow, just missed it!... Where did you learn to swing?... Sun Tzu says you missed!... Close, but no cigar!”
Back at the wall, Raisa was growing concerned. “Should we go help Uncle Wulfric?”
Delphine was deep in thought over it. “I know how you feel, dear…”
“Oi, that god’s slippier than a freshly molted snake,” Hannibal remarked. “Could we even help in the first place?”
Sigmund stroked his beard, contemplating the issue. “A good question, Hannibal. Right now I say protecting the city should be our priority. We don’t know what this god has up his sleeves.”
“Stupid, braindead cult…” Tusk moaned. “It’ll take weeks to grow my bark back! And right before my wedding too…”
Razor tried to pat him on the back. “Don’t worry, Tusk. Doesn’t Donia have…” he was cut off by a low, threatening growl. “Ok, sorry, sorry…”
Quasar was picking up on something in relation to the bout. “I don’t think that god wants to fight, guys…”
Leonard nodded. “Duly noted, kiddo. I was ready for a fight to the death, but this feels like we’re dealing with a child.”
Ultimatum pondered it further until he had an idea. “I’m going to go see if I can help.” He then teleported to the arbiters. “Ealdhelm, any developments?”
“Ah, hello, Schwarzes… and not really,” he replied as Wulfric ran back and forth, fruitlessly chasing after The Shadow God.
“Get back here!” Wulfric ordered, running out of steam. “I’ll run you through!”
“Ah yes, that’ll be 75 dollars please!” The Shadow God… teased?
Wulfric felt his waning rage mount despite running out of energy. “That doesn’t even make any sense! What even is a dollar?! Good lord I need to apologize to Wynnstan for scolding him for being hyper…” Wulfric struggled to take a breath and tried to keep attacking The Shadow God, only to feel his energy continue to dwindle.
“Do you have something in mind, Ultimatum?” Cyneberht inquired.
“Maybe…”
“Whatever it is, it’s worth a shot,” said Beorhtric. “Especially given the stalemate we’re in.”
Wulfric finally stopped to catch his breath. “Okay, I’m done. You guys deal with it…” He then teleported to the wall.
“Bears to the left! Bears to the right…” The Shadow God paused, realizing he was not being chased around anymore “Hey, wait! Aw come on!” he complained. “I just got warmed up!”
Ultimatum stepped forward, nervously chuckling as he had no idea what he was getting himself into. The Shadow God was utterly terrifying, pulsing with a terrible energy beyond comprehension. “Shadow God? Are you aware of who you’re working for?”
“Eh, kind of? That crazy dame of a queen, Dunja, called on me to make some orb doohickey, two actually… but that last one was requested by someone else.”
Osbeorn leaned over to Beorhtric. “That’s not good. Make a note of that” he whispered.
“Noted…”
“Are you affiliated with The Crimson God, Shadow God?” Ultimatum asked.
“That creep!? Absolutely not!” He then put his arm around Ultiatum’s shoulders and summoned a magic phantom in his hand that was running around like a fool. “He cramps my style and is an utter bore to hang around with,” he answered as he crushed the phantom in his hand with comedic squishing noise.
“Well that’s a start. Shadow God, let me break it down for you: Milosh? He’s a bad man. Dunja? She was lost and confused. The Running God? He’s nothing but a swindling con man. I think you should hang with us and have a cold one instead.”
The Shadow God tilted his head, then went and danced around a little. “Can it be root beer?”
Ultimatum snapped his fingers and created a huge mug of the soft drink. “Does this suit your fancy?”
“Ooh, nice…” The Shadow God took a quick swig. “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Biest. Deal!”
“Biest?” Wynnstan questioned.
Ultimatum chuckled. “It’s part of my original name.”
The ground then shook, with a pair of mangled, stone pillars rising from the ground. Out of the twisting portal stepped The Madman, looking quite happy. He was followed by The Automaton, who looked cautiously optimistic. The Arbiters bowed in respect as they approached. “At ease, gentlemen,” The Madman said as he stopped before Ultimatum and The Shadow God.
“Hello, Madman,” Ultimatum welcomed. “Here over him I presume?”
“Most certainly, my boy. I just so happened to be in the neighborhood when…”
“Hold on a second!” Wynnstan interrupted. “You were on your way here? What took so long!? Don’t mind us, just dealing with a threat to the Cosmos!”
The Automaton cleared his throat. “Actually, Wynnstan, we were dealing with The Vermillion King’s old army. It got pretty messy for The Madman, Terrus, and I, requiring us to call in Ignatius for help.”
“So that’s why my brother had to step away like that…” Ultimatum muttered to himself.
“Oh, my apologies…” Wynnstan admitted.
The Madman laughed and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, kid. Your first rodeo will always be a wild one.” He then turned his attention back to the matter at hand. “Now, Shadow God, you’ve been quite the troublemaker recently. Normally we’d do something like sealing you away, but God is forgiving and I am in a very good mood right now. How about you come with us and set things right, yes?”
The Shadow God nervously sipped his Root Beer… only to run out. “Angel boy, can I have a refill?” Ultimatum snapped his fingers again, causing a phantom stream of root beer to pour into the mug. “Thanks. Um, what’s in it for me, stone man?”
“Returning to the light, helping people out, and maybe even becoming a true god like you were originally supposed to be” The Madman proposed.
“Hum… can we also go to the Reverse Dream Falls in Somnium?”
The Madman laughed again. “We’ll tour the entire Dream Realm, if you wish.”
After some thought about it and one more sip, The Shadow God nodded. “You know what? Fine with me. Let’s go!” This received a round of applause from the arbiters. “But I want a root beer float too.”
“Hey, we can do that too.”
The Automaton relaxed and smiled. “Very good, very good. Take notes, Wynnstan, that not all rogue gods need to be beaten into submission.”
He nodded. “Right, ha, haha…” Wynnstan was a bit frazzled to say the least.
“Let’s roll, gentlemen!” The Madman said as the three stepped towards the portal. “Arrivederci, everyone! Have a good one.” Everyone was silent for a moment once the portal vanished.
“He has to be mad to be that cheerful all the time…” Ealdhelm remarked.
Waltheof chuckled. “Well at least he got The Shadow God out of hair and away from that bumbling cult. Now I could go for at least a month’s vacation. What about all of you?”
“Absolutely, dear friend,” Ealdhelm replied as they all began to walk back to the city. “Schwarzes, that was a stellar job you did. If you ever want to join the Arbiters of Droom, please let us know. You got the kind of ingenuity we’re looking for.”
“Thanks, Ealdhelm. I’ll keep that in mind.”
The Arbiters were met with thunderous applause and cheers as they returned to the city. Annoyingly there were still some ruckus inside as some of Milosh’s cultists had managed to sneak in. There were five in total, accompanied by two, 10 foot tall shadow constructs that were distinctly bulkier than the normal ones. Tusk, Randalph, Mayhem, Razor, and Mizuki ran off to deal with it only to encounter Sir Gebhard confronting them.
“I may have failed my men, but I shall not fail this city! HURRAH!” The Knight charged forward, his blade glowing with brilliant sunlight. He cleaved one of the constructs right in half, leaving the cultists shocked.
The other construct began to retaliate, but was struck down by a beam of roaring, crystalized magic. It was Audawakrs, which Tusk and the others had last seen at the Northwind Archive. He was looking quite proud of himself and seemed like he had new meaning in his life. This was evident by the fact that he had ditched his glittery robes in favor of armored robes and looked genuinely confident.
“MASTER AUDAWAKRS, HOW COULD YOU!?” One of the cultists barked. “YOU’LL BURN FOR IN HELL FOR AN ETERNITY FOR THIS!”
“YOU TRAITOR!” another yelled. “GRATIANA WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS!”
Audawakrs scoffed. “Be gone.” He snapped his fingers, causing the five to vanish. “That waste Milosh never actually saw me for who I was…”
“Well done, friend,” Gebhard held out his hand and Audawakrs shook it.
Tusk laughed as he and his friends approached. “Well you two just saved us a lot of trouble.”
“Mr. Willfort!” Gebhard walked over and gave an apologetic bow. “I am so sorry for how dismissive I was when you first arrived. I heard about your accomplishments and they make my attempt look like a joke. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”
Tusk smiled. “Water under the bridge” he said as they shook hands.
“Hey, Gebhard, what happened to your men?” Razor Inquired.
He sighed. “The ones that survived left me, pretty much dissolving the Vestergaard Knights. And honestly? They made the right choice. I’m not fit to be a leader…”
“The path to the brightest mountain top starts in the lowest valley,” Mizuki stated. “Perhaps it’s time for you to start over.”
Gebhard nodded. “Agreed, Miss. Humility is a foolproof whetstone, my father always told me. Truthfully I should’ve listened to him more.”
Randalph and Mayhem went over to inspect the remains of the first construct. “This isn’t good…” Randalph concluded.
“Just what are these?” Mayhem wondered. “I’ve never seen constructs like these ones before.”
“They’re Shadow Golems,” Audawakrs explained. “The outsiders Karnage and Anne brought in have been experimenting with new types of constructs, separate from the ones Dunja created.” He then noticed something else odd. “How truly strange, these ones don’t have the same chronological signature as us…”
Tusk groaned as he lightly kicked the head of the dead golem. “That implies there’s another Shadow Orb running around…”
“Do you know anything else, Audawakrs?” Gebhard inquired.
He shook his head. “Sadly no. The info I have was overheard by chance. I don’t even think Dunja and the Blades fully know about what Anne is up to.”
Randalph finished collecting some samples and stood up. “Not good at all, Tusk. We’re going to have to tell Englehart about this as soon as possible.”
“Agreed… but first let’s go see what’s up at City Hall and then go relax.” He twitched a little. “Jeez, I can still feel Gratiana’s lightning bolt…” The others chuckled sympathetically.
“Tusk, I’ve heard about The ULTRAMagic Guild and it sounds very fascinating” Audawakrs stated as they all started to walk. “Are there any openings at the moment?”
“Like I say with the others: If you have the patience to achieve ULTRAMagic, absolutely.”
“Then count me in too,” Gebhard added enthusiastically. “It’s about high time I made my family truly proud.”
Next: Chapter 18
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
It was a glorious sight to see the Arbiters of Droom stand united. Even though a literal rogue god was manifesting before them, a good amount of the citizenry had made their way to the walls to watch the confrontation. Osbeorn got out his mace, Beorhtric readied his bardiche, Waltheof held his greatshields firmly, and Cyneberht prepared his deck of cards. Wynnstan stood there, nervously shaking as he gripped his rifle. It was intimidating standing in the presence of his fellow arbiters like that.
“So… who are we up against again?” Wynnstan asked as the rogue god took shape.
“It appears to be The Shadow God,” Beorhtric stated.
“Well I’d dare say this confirms what our spies have told us” Osbeorn pointed out.
“...that Dunja invoked this one to create the Shadow Ord.”
Wynnstan quickly realized something. “Wait, a spy? Aren’t we all 6D and above? Since when do we need spies?” The Shadow God promptly laughed at him as a massive, shadowy arm emerged and grabbed the ground, pulling itself up.
Osbeorn gave a frustrated chuckle. “Well, kid, there’s one of your answers.”
“It’s a truly terrifying idea that these entities can interfere with us like that,” Cyneberht said with a hint of dread in his voice.
Looking at the god again, Wynnstan noticed a distinct lack of action from it. “Why isn’t he attacking?”
“Good question, son,” Wulfric said, getting his sword ready. “Alright, buddy. We can do this the easy way or the hard way!” he declared to the greater god.
The Shadow God had finished forming, resembling a fiery, black and red shadow brought to life. “Ooh! How about the ‘middle of the road’ way!? HAHA!”
Wulfric looked confused, then turned to Eadlhelm. “Is it always like this?”
“The Thundering God came close. Shadow God, pardon my asking, but what did you mean by that?”
He laughed. “Do you have potatoes in your ears!? It goes like this!” The Shadow God summoned a great fireball over Droomopolis, striking immense fear of the end into everyone… only for it to fizzle out into nothing. “Now you try to attack me!”
Osbeorn and Beorhtric took a breath to steady their nerves and charged forward. They swung their weapons only to miss and fall to the ground. The Shadow God danced around laughing, as if it were all a game. They kept trying to attack the god only for him to keep bouncing around like a child on a sugar rush. His laughter was maddening not in a cosmic sense, but in the sense that they were dealing with a spoiled brat. Ealdhelm was staring at the spectacle in disbelief, unbelievably relieved that his parents were not present to witness the mockery being made of the Arbiters of Droom. For the others sheer terror and dread was setting in given that they could not effectively deal with The Shadow God.
“Okay, maybe not like The Thundering God as he actually tried to attack us…” Ealdhelm observed.
“HAHA, see?” The Shadow God continued to dance around. “Middle of the road!”
Wulfric growled. “A wise guy, aye?” He ran forward, ready to swing his sword. “TAKE THIS!”
The Arbiters watched as Wulfric tried to slash at The Shadow God over and over again. Wulfric was one of the best swordsmen in the Realm of Chaos, but the god dodged every attack. No one wanted to admit it, but the scene was actually quite comical. Wynnstan was beside himself in disbelief that something was actually avoiding his father’s wrath. He was not disappointed in his father, rather he was utterly terrified. This god did not actually seem all that powerful, yet it was running circles around them. What was he even supposed to do given that he had a long way to go before matching Wulfric’s might?
The Shadow God was full of taunts, grooving around like there was some form of eldritch, energetic rock music to his antics. “Too slow, just missed it!... Where did you learn to swing?... Sun Tzu says you missed!... Close, but no cigar!”
Back at the wall, Raisa was growing concerned. “Should we go help Uncle Wulfric?”
Delphine was deep in thought over it. “I know how you feel, dear…”
“Oi, that god’s slippier than a freshly molted snake,” Hannibal remarked. “Could we even help in the first place?”
Sigmund stroked his beard, contemplating the issue. “A good question, Hannibal. Right now I say protecting the city should be our priority. We don’t know what this god has up his sleeves.”
“Stupid, braindead cult…” Tusk moaned. “It’ll take weeks to grow my bark back! And right before my wedding too…”
Razor tried to pat him on the back. “Don’t worry, Tusk. Doesn’t Donia have…” he was cut off by a low, threatening growl. “Ok, sorry, sorry…”
Quasar was picking up on something in relation to the bout. “I don’t think that god wants to fight, guys…”
Leonard nodded. “Duly noted, kiddo. I was ready for a fight to the death, but this feels like we’re dealing with a child.”
Ultimatum pondered it further until he had an idea. “I’m going to go see if I can help.” He then teleported to the arbiters. “Ealdhelm, any developments?”
“Ah, hello, Schwarzes… and not really,” he replied as Wulfric ran back and forth, fruitlessly chasing after The Shadow God.
“Get back here!” Wulfric ordered, running out of steam. “I’ll run you through!”
“Ah yes, that’ll be 75 dollars please!” The Shadow God… teased?
Wulfric felt his waning rage mount despite running out of energy. “That doesn’t even make any sense! What even is a dollar?! Good lord I need to apologize to Wynnstan for scolding him for being hyper…” Wulfric struggled to take a breath and tried to keep attacking The Shadow God, only to feel his energy continue to dwindle.
“Do you have something in mind, Ultimatum?” Cyneberht inquired.
“Maybe…”
“Whatever it is, it’s worth a shot,” said Beorhtric. “Especially given the stalemate we’re in.”
Wulfric finally stopped to catch his breath. “Okay, I’m done. You guys deal with it…” He then teleported to the wall.
“Bears to the left! Bears to the right…” The Shadow God paused, realizing he was not being chased around anymore “Hey, wait! Aw come on!” he complained. “I just got warmed up!”
Ultimatum stepped forward, nervously chuckling as he had no idea what he was getting himself into. The Shadow God was utterly terrifying, pulsing with a terrible energy beyond comprehension. “Shadow God? Are you aware of who you’re working for?”
“Eh, kind of? That crazy dame of a queen, Dunja, called on me to make some orb doohickey, two actually… but that last one was requested by someone else.”
Osbeorn leaned over to Beorhtric. “That’s not good. Make a note of that” he whispered.
“Noted…”
“Are you affiliated with The Crimson God, Shadow God?” Ultimatum asked.
“That creep!? Absolutely not!” He then put his arm around Ultiatum’s shoulders and summoned a magic phantom in his hand that was running around like a fool. “He cramps my style and is an utter bore to hang around with,” he answered as he crushed the phantom in his hand with comedic squishing noise.
“Well that’s a start. Shadow God, let me break it down for you: Milosh? He’s a bad man. Dunja? She was lost and confused. The Running God? He’s nothing but a swindling con man. I think you should hang with us and have a cold one instead.”
The Shadow God tilted his head, then went and danced around a little. “Can it be root beer?”
Ultimatum snapped his fingers and created a huge mug of the soft drink. “Does this suit your fancy?”
“Ooh, nice…” The Shadow God took a quick swig. “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Biest. Deal!”
“Biest?” Wynnstan questioned.
Ultimatum chuckled. “It’s part of my original name.”
The ground then shook, with a pair of mangled, stone pillars rising from the ground. Out of the twisting portal stepped The Madman, looking quite happy. He was followed by The Automaton, who looked cautiously optimistic. The Arbiters bowed in respect as they approached. “At ease, gentlemen,” The Madman said as he stopped before Ultimatum and The Shadow God.
“Hello, Madman,” Ultimatum welcomed. “Here over him I presume?”
“Most certainly, my boy. I just so happened to be in the neighborhood when…”
“Hold on a second!” Wynnstan interrupted. “You were on your way here? What took so long!? Don’t mind us, just dealing with a threat to the Cosmos!”
The Automaton cleared his throat. “Actually, Wynnstan, we were dealing with The Vermillion King’s old army. It got pretty messy for The Madman, Terrus, and I, requiring us to call in Ignatius for help.”
“So that’s why my brother had to step away like that…” Ultimatum muttered to himself.
“Oh, my apologies…” Wynnstan admitted.
The Madman laughed and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, kid. Your first rodeo will always be a wild one.” He then turned his attention back to the matter at hand. “Now, Shadow God, you’ve been quite the troublemaker recently. Normally we’d do something like sealing you away, but God is forgiving and I am in a very good mood right now. How about you come with us and set things right, yes?”
The Shadow God nervously sipped his Root Beer… only to run out. “Angel boy, can I have a refill?” Ultimatum snapped his fingers again, causing a phantom stream of root beer to pour into the mug. “Thanks. Um, what’s in it for me, stone man?”
“Returning to the light, helping people out, and maybe even becoming a true god like you were originally supposed to be” The Madman proposed.
“Hum… can we also go to the Reverse Dream Falls in Somnium?”
The Madman laughed again. “We’ll tour the entire Dream Realm, if you wish.”
After some thought about it and one more sip, The Shadow God nodded. “You know what? Fine with me. Let’s go!” This received a round of applause from the arbiters. “But I want a root beer float too.”
“Hey, we can do that too.”
The Automaton relaxed and smiled. “Very good, very good. Take notes, Wynnstan, that not all rogue gods need to be beaten into submission.”
He nodded. “Right, ha, haha…” Wynnstan was a bit frazzled to say the least.
“Let’s roll, gentlemen!” The Madman said as the three stepped towards the portal. “Arrivederci, everyone! Have a good one.” Everyone was silent for a moment once the portal vanished.
“He has to be mad to be that cheerful all the time…” Ealdhelm remarked.
Waltheof chuckled. “Well at least he got The Shadow God out of hair and away from that bumbling cult. Now I could go for at least a month’s vacation. What about all of you?”
“Absolutely, dear friend,” Ealdhelm replied as they all began to walk back to the city. “Schwarzes, that was a stellar job you did. If you ever want to join the Arbiters of Droom, please let us know. You got the kind of ingenuity we’re looking for.”
“Thanks, Ealdhelm. I’ll keep that in mind.”
The Arbiters were met with thunderous applause and cheers as they returned to the city. Annoyingly there were still some ruckus inside as some of Milosh’s cultists had managed to sneak in. There were five in total, accompanied by two, 10 foot tall shadow constructs that were distinctly bulkier than the normal ones. Tusk, Randalph, Mayhem, Razor, and Mizuki ran off to deal with it only to encounter Sir Gebhard confronting them.
“I may have failed my men, but I shall not fail this city! HURRAH!” The Knight charged forward, his blade glowing with brilliant sunlight. He cleaved one of the constructs right in half, leaving the cultists shocked.
The other construct began to retaliate, but was struck down by a beam of roaring, crystalized magic. It was Audawakrs, which Tusk and the others had last seen at the Northwind Archive. He was looking quite proud of himself and seemed like he had new meaning in his life. This was evident by the fact that he had ditched his glittery robes in favor of armored robes and looked genuinely confident.
“MASTER AUDAWAKRS, HOW COULD YOU!?” One of the cultists barked. “YOU’LL BURN FOR IN HELL FOR AN ETERNITY FOR THIS!”
“YOU TRAITOR!” another yelled. “GRATIANA WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS!”
Audawakrs scoffed. “Be gone.” He snapped his fingers, causing the five to vanish. “That waste Milosh never actually saw me for who I was…”
“Well done, friend,” Gebhard held out his hand and Audawakrs shook it.
Tusk laughed as he and his friends approached. “Well you two just saved us a lot of trouble.”
“Mr. Willfort!” Gebhard walked over and gave an apologetic bow. “I am so sorry for how dismissive I was when you first arrived. I heard about your accomplishments and they make my attempt look like a joke. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”
Tusk smiled. “Water under the bridge” he said as they shook hands.
“Hey, Gebhard, what happened to your men?” Razor Inquired.
He sighed. “The ones that survived left me, pretty much dissolving the Vestergaard Knights. And honestly? They made the right choice. I’m not fit to be a leader…”
“The path to the brightest mountain top starts in the lowest valley,” Mizuki stated. “Perhaps it’s time for you to start over.”
Gebhard nodded. “Agreed, Miss. Humility is a foolproof whetstone, my father always told me. Truthfully I should’ve listened to him more.”
Randalph and Mayhem went over to inspect the remains of the first construct. “This isn’t good…” Randalph concluded.
“Just what are these?” Mayhem wondered. “I’ve never seen constructs like these ones before.”
“They’re Shadow Golems,” Audawakrs explained. “The outsiders Karnage and Anne brought in have been experimenting with new types of constructs, separate from the ones Dunja created.” He then noticed something else odd. “How truly strange, these ones don’t have the same chronological signature as us…”
Tusk groaned as he lightly kicked the head of the dead golem. “That implies there’s another Shadow Orb running around…”
“Do you know anything else, Audawakrs?” Gebhard inquired.
He shook his head. “Sadly no. The info I have was overheard by chance. I don’t even think Dunja and the Blades fully know about what Anne is up to.”
Randalph finished collecting some samples and stood up. “Not good at all, Tusk. We’re going to have to tell Englehart about this as soon as possible.”
“Agreed… but first let’s go see what’s up at City Hall and then go relax.” He twitched a little. “Jeez, I can still feel Gratiana’s lightning bolt…” The others chuckled sympathetically.
“Tusk, I’ve heard about The ULTRAMagic Guild and it sounds very fascinating” Audawakrs stated as they all started to walk. “Are there any openings at the moment?”
“Like I say with the others: If you have the patience to achieve ULTRAMagic, absolutely.”
“Then count me in too,” Gebhard added enthusiastically. “It’s about high time I made my family truly proud.”
Next: Chapter 18
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Comments
Post a Comment