ULTRAMagic Interval - Chapter 31
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“Valentin, what is that?” Marcus questioned as the ground shook beneath the group.
“A shadow titan…”
The sky in front of everyone darkened at the eastern edge of the city. Slowly approaching was a giant as tall as a skyscraper, looking strong enough to easily topple one too. A thunderous cacophony of gears could be heard as great jets of steam and smoke erupted from its hulking body. The black and red chunks of metal that formed its vessel leaked chaotic bolts of lightning, and its malformed face bore a passing resemblance to that of Sebastian. Soul-crushing dread set in as everyone watched the soldiers fire everything that had at it to no avail. Thankfully combat helicopters were able to distract the colossus, but this would only last for so long.
“A SHADOW TITAN?!” Marcus shouted as he felt his blood pressure rising, struggling to rationalize the threat before them. “JUST WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THAT THING!?!”
“It's an amalgamation of an uncountable amount of shadow constructs…”
“GREAT! ANY IDEAS? ANYTHING AT ALL, VALENTIN?” Marcus barked.
Valentin quietly groaned over being yelled at and pulled out a card from his deck. “DAMN IT. If this card had just formed correctly, we wouldn’t be in this situation!”
Marcus growled in frustration. “PEACHY.” He then got out his phone and punched in a specific number. “This is Colonel Marcus Trelawney to Reginald Air Force Base! Prepare the Valkyrie Bomber Squadron for take off and send them to Red River City on my mark…”
“DAMN IT, MARK! YOU IDIOT!” Antares jumped in, knocking the phone out of his hands. “THE BOMB? Are you insane!?”
“WE HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE, ANTARES!” Marcus shot back. “I don’t see Camelot, DO YOU!?”
“Wait, a bomb?!” Will interjected, startling everyone. “What bomb!?”
“That bomb is using experimental technology, Mark!” Antares pointed out, grave concern laced with anger in his voice. “We have no idea what it will do to that thing or the city!”
Marcus gritted his teeth in anger, as this was not the time for arguing from his perspective. “STAND DOWN, CAPTAIN BRIGGS!”
“NO! YOU’RE NOT BLOWING US UP IN THE PROCESS!”
“FOR ONCE COULD YOU DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD!? I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!”
As everyone took a few steps back from the ensuing shouting match, Will glanced at the shadow titan, who had started moving again. “Adrien? We got trouble…”
Adrien groaned as he looked at his commanding officers. “Alright, since those girls are having a hissy fit, I’m taking over until they get over it. We need solutions and we need them now! Anyone got any ideas? Vlastimir? You’ve dealt with this stuff before, right?”
He shook his head. “Nada. I mean if we had Leif or Blood here…”
Adrien facepalmed. “Damn it… Morrigan, you got anything?”
“Karnage did employ these things, but Blood and Dreadnought destroyed them before we even got to take a shot at them.” She felt bad about not being able to do anything, but she had nothing else to offer.
“Blast!” Adrien complained as he kicked a mailbox. “Do we have anything at all!?”
“Morrigan, are you sure you can’t get a hold of Blood-Wraith right now?” Zoltan asked. “I’m certain he could handle this…”
Morrigan looked like she was about to have a breakdown. “I… I can’t… I… I don’t know…”
“Argh, nix that idea, Zoltan,” Adrien cut in. “We’ll just have to figure this out by ourselves…”
Mayhem thought back to his past battles, especially in the Realm of Chaos. An idea was brewing in his head. “I’ll go…”
“Go?” Adrien questioned, a bit confused. “Go where?”
“I’ll go take care of the titan. I’ve fought Wulfric enough times for this to be a walk in the park.”
Adrien looked at the titan who was even closer, then back to Mayhem. The ground shakes were getting more intense and they were running out of time. “Alright, if you think you can handle it…”
“You sure about this, buddy?” Faustus asked.
“No, but what other choice do we have?”
“Probably many others, but…” Faustus could see a smile starting to form on Mayhem’s face. “You want to show off, don’t you?” Mayhem gave him a wink, causing Faustus to laugh. “You chaos devils are something else. Zoltan, can you take care of the phone?”
“Already on it…” he answered as he picked up the phone off the ground. “Zoltan Dracul speaking for Colonel Trelawney: Hold off on deploying the Valkyrie Squadron, we have an idea we’d like to try…”
“HOLD UP A SECOND!” Marcus broke away from his argument with Antares, trying to get the phone back. “GIVE. ME. THAT!”
Zoltan was quite tall, even for Marcus’ standards, allowing him to keep the phone away from him. “With all due respect, Colonel; Mayhem wishes to take care of this…”
“Mayhem? What is he…” Marcus glanced over to see the devil take off in a fiery aura of blue and yellow flames towards the titan. “Milan, get him back here!”
Antares raised his hand. “No, Mark, let him cook…” This warranted a growl with hints of concern from Marcus.
Milan looked incredibly worried regardless. “He’s powerful, but I really hope he knows what he’s doing…”
The titan was roughly a mile away from the city, so Mayhem had to act fast. His foe looked strong, and all of his viable spells required set up. He would have to make his choice count, as this was not like his clashes with Wulfric, who was honorable to a tee. Mayhem glanced around and noticed River Thrill Park way off in the distance. A brilliant idea popped into his mind, a memory of a technique that he never got to use against Wulfric. Mayhem was about to make his old opponent very proud…
“HAHA, CHAOS CHAOS!” Mayhem proudly exclaimed as he summoned a giant Ferris wheel made of chaotic magic.
An unbelievable sight to behold, the glowing ride lit with flashing lights began to spin. A triumphant, circus-esque symphony began playing all around the city as Mayhem reveled in the untamed energy surging through the air around him. He then snapped his fingers, causing what looked like small rockets on the sides of each of the carriages to fire, accelerating the wheel to mind-boggling speeds. The axle for the wheel creaked and ground loudly, looking like it could give out at any moment. The only thing left to do was set the wheel ablaze, which Mayhem did with his firebreath.
Once ready, Mayhem kicked the Ferris wheel up into the air and flew after it, using his magic to get a hold of it with an invisible force. The spells were straining him greatly, but he charged towards the titan regardless. The great monstrosity noticed the approaching threat and threw a powerful punch with great force. Mayhem slammed the wheel directly into it, destroying it on impact. The titan recoiled and roared in what seemed like pain, but Mayhem laughed.
“Is that all you got, big guy!?!” he taunted. “BECAUSE THE MAIN ACT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!”
The titan stumbled forward and launched another punch, only for Mayhem to destroy that fist too. Feeling a surge of rambunctious fervor infest his blood as it raced through his veins, Mayhem started to repeatedly slam the wheel into the titan, forcing it back and continuously chipping away at it. And he did not let up, as his blood had turned to adrenaline that screamed at him to keep going until his opponent was no more. The attacks got faster and faster as Mayhem heard nothing but the triumphant music ringing as loud as it could in his ears. Anyone who beheld the spectacle was in speechless awe, enraptured by what they were witnessing.
Inevitably Mayhem felt himself start to tire, so he planned one last attack. He had to make it count as he knew he would collapse soon. Mayhem slammed the wheel into the titan for the final time, hitting its core head on. The wheel then spun faster than it ever had before, creating a blinding, billowing light to form. With one last defeated roar, the titan exploded into a beautiful shower of glowing light, sending Mayhem flying back.
The group panicked for a moment, completely lost on what to do. Fortunately Milan was already on it, having deduced Mayhem’s trajectory. “I GOT HIM! I…” Milan held up his hands and caught the devil with an invisible force. “...GOT HIM!” Everyone cheered and clapped as he slowly brought him down.
Seeing that Mayhem could barely stand, Aelia gestured for everyone to stay back. “Now now, everyone. Give him some space…” she cautioned.
Mayhem weakly chuckled as he tried to stand. “I still need to bow… whoops!” he said as he fell to his knees. “Come on, Mayhem, it’s proper etiquette…” he tried to stand up again, only to fall backwards, with Milan catching him.
“Whoa, take it easy, Mayhem…” Milan replied.
“Mr. Highland?” Marcus cut in, sounding excited. “That was incredibly reckless, but good work!” he complimented. “Seriously, how did you even do that!? That was amazing!”
Antares laughed. “Told you so, Mark,” he teased.
“Not now, Captain…”
“Are you going to be alright, Mayhem?” Faustus asked. “I mean jeez! Just wait until the folks back home hear about this!”
Mayhem smiled with a thumbs up. “I’ll be right as rain after a quick rest.”
“Then let's get back to M.A.I.G., everybody!” Marcus instructed. “On the double!”
“Well actually, Marcus, Randalph knows a remedy that’ll perk me right up. If I could go back to him real quickly…”
Milan nodded and put his fingers in his mouth to whistle. “Sam? Can we send him back to your house then?”
“Do it, no need to ask me,” she answered.
Umuka came running up. “Here, Milan!”
“Umuka, where have you been?” Will inquired.
He was about to answer, then sighed. “I…I was hiding in the base.”
Will shook his head with a smile and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. We were screwed without Mayhem either way.”
“Agreed,” Marcus added. “You can help Mayhem here instead.”
A purple light then came zipping over, buzzing around like a bee before settling down. “What do you need, Milan, sir?!”
“Yale, Umuka, I’m going to send you two back to Sam’s house with Mayhem,” Milan detailed. “Keep your eyes peeled and call us if anything weird happens, got it?”
“Roger that!” Yale confirmed.
“Loud and clear, you can count on us,” Umuka replied.
“Great. Sending you back in 3…2…1…” Milan then snapped his fingers.
Over at Sam’s house, Orion and Antonio were playing a 3D platformer video game. Specifically they were having a match in the two player battle mode while they waited for Kyu and Randalph to prepare the next magic lessons. The two were having fun, but Antonio was losing. Orion had him on the ropes and Antonio was getting desperate as their characters shouted one-liners at each other.
“Oh come on, little buddy, don’t do this to me…”
“Hey, Antonio? THINK FAST!” Orion exclaimed as he activated his character’s super attack, winning the match. “HA, GOT YOU.”
“Argh, every time! How are you so good at this game?”
“I played it a lot at the orphanage.”
Antonio ruffled Orion’s hair, making him chuckle. “Well good game regardless…” he was then cut off by the sight of Umuka shoving the door open, trying to drag Mayhem into the house.
“Guys? We need some help…” Umuka said as he caught his breath.
“Haha, hello, gentlemen…” Mayhem tried to say, still a bit weak. “Good to see you again.”
It took a second for it to sink in, but Anotnio eventually noticed how banged up Mayhem was. “GUYS!?!” Antonio called out as he stumbled off the back of the couch. “RANDALPH! KYU!”
“Jeez, no need to shout, Antonio,” Kyu chided at the top of the stairs, starting to walk down with Randalph. “We’re right here…” he then noticed the obvious. “OH JEEZ!”
“Oh my goodness!” Randalph exclaimed as he hurried down past Kyu. “Mayhem, what happened!?”
“Ha, a lot of chaos in Red River just now… can you make me some Limboberry tea?”
A look of worry quickly grew on Orion’s face. “ARE MOM AND DAD OKAY?”
Mayhem nodded. “Don’t worry, lad, they're doing fine.”
“Phew, that’s a relief…” This warranted a slightly incredulous look from Antonio.
“Alright, alright…” Randalph said as he quickly assessed the situation. “Antonio, Orion? Get Mayhem comfy on the couch. Kyu, report back to M.A.I.G. and tell them Mayhem is here. Umuka, go get the ghost family. Weird little dire fairy… um… keep an eye on everything. I’ll be back in a second!” Randalph said as he hurried out the door, with Umuka vanishing and Kyu heading back up stairs.
“Okay then…” Antonio remarked as he helped Mayhem onto the couch. He then pointed his finger at the purple light. “Err, who are you again?”
The light then morphed into what looked like a tiny, purple-haired boy with triangular, glowing wings. “The name’s Yale, pleasure to meet you! Milan sent me here with Umuka to keep an eye on things.”
He nodded. “Oh, okay. I’m Antonio and this is Orion.” He then turned his attention to the couch. “Mayhem! What’s going on? You look like… you look like a mess.”
Mayhem chuckled, then winced. “I’m going to feel this one in the morning… If only you could’ve seen my greatest performance yet…”
Back at M.A.I.G. headquarters, Marcus had gathered everyone at Canteen AF-1. He looked very happy and triumphant. “Ladies and Gentlemen? We’re not out of the woods just yet, but I think this victory deserves it; Pop a cold one, everyone! Drinks are on me!”
They all cheered, followed by the group heading over to get their drinks. As Marcus went to the jukebox to set the music to a jamming rock tune, he invited the small group of soldiers present to join them. Despite Sebastian still being out there, destroying the shadow titan was a massive victory. Valentin surmised that Sebastian could only make one every once in great a while with his current skill set. They were all clear to kick back and relax a bit.
Once they were all set, Bethany and Valentin went over and sat next to Will, who was enjoying a soda with Morrigan and Faustus. “Not going to lie, Will, I’m pretty sure we couldn’t have actually beat Mayhem…” Bethany remarked.
“It makes me realize how dangerous that tar pit scheme actually was…” Valentin lamented.
Will laughed, taking it in stride. “Well hey, live and learn, am I right?” He then turned to Faustus. “Hey, Faustus? Why was Mayhem so exhausted after all that?”
“Yes, I’m curious too, given the power he’s sporting,” Valentin added.
“It’s the human realm,” Faustus replied after a burp. “We have to contend with your physics, hindering our power greatly. It’s part of the reason we need magicians to work with us, as humans and similar entities can help us unleash our power in these realms-don’t ask me how, as that has always boggled my mind. If we were in, say, the Realm of Chaos, The Unlight, or Inferno, Mayhem could have solo’d Sebastian no problem. And I’ll happily put money behind that.”
“Now there’s an idea…” Valentin remarked to himself.
Morrigan chuckled. “Yeah, this realm is a pain. I could probably do so much more if I wasn’t hindered by freaking physics. All of this is making me miss the Unlight, not going to lie. You can do so much there because the physics are all loosey-goosey.”
“Wait, really?” Will inquired.
“Yup. You could probably do all sorts of crazy stuff with Faustus, Boyo. Oh, Valentin? If you can find a way to lure Sebastian into the Unlight, I’ll have the entire ULTRAMagic Guild on his sorry ass before he can even say ‘wiener schnitzel,’ ha.”
“Hehe, duly noted, Miss Devilfay,” Valentin replied with a smile.
“Wait, Sam…” Will interrupted. “I thought you had reservations about returning to the Unlight and the guild. That’s what you were hinting at…”
“Ah ah ah, Boyo. Things change…”
“And you’re sure about that?” Valentin inquired. “Not trying to rain on your parade, just making sure…”
“Positive,” Morrigan answered with an old confidence returned to her. “The guild is cool like that. I mean, the minute I turned against Karnage they were trying to offer me every little piece of help under the sun that they could…”
Next: Chapter 32
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
“Valentin, what is that?” Marcus questioned as the ground shook beneath the group.
“A shadow titan…”
The sky in front of everyone darkened at the eastern edge of the city. Slowly approaching was a giant as tall as a skyscraper, looking strong enough to easily topple one too. A thunderous cacophony of gears could be heard as great jets of steam and smoke erupted from its hulking body. The black and red chunks of metal that formed its vessel leaked chaotic bolts of lightning, and its malformed face bore a passing resemblance to that of Sebastian. Soul-crushing dread set in as everyone watched the soldiers fire everything that had at it to no avail. Thankfully combat helicopters were able to distract the colossus, but this would only last for so long.
“A SHADOW TITAN?!” Marcus shouted as he felt his blood pressure rising, struggling to rationalize the threat before them. “JUST WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THAT THING!?!”
“It's an amalgamation of an uncountable amount of shadow constructs…”
“GREAT! ANY IDEAS? ANYTHING AT ALL, VALENTIN?” Marcus barked.
Valentin quietly groaned over being yelled at and pulled out a card from his deck. “DAMN IT. If this card had just formed correctly, we wouldn’t be in this situation!”
Marcus growled in frustration. “PEACHY.” He then got out his phone and punched in a specific number. “This is Colonel Marcus Trelawney to Reginald Air Force Base! Prepare the Valkyrie Bomber Squadron for take off and send them to Red River City on my mark…”
“DAMN IT, MARK! YOU IDIOT!” Antares jumped in, knocking the phone out of his hands. “THE BOMB? Are you insane!?”
“WE HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE, ANTARES!” Marcus shot back. “I don’t see Camelot, DO YOU!?”
“Wait, a bomb?!” Will interjected, startling everyone. “What bomb!?”
“That bomb is using experimental technology, Mark!” Antares pointed out, grave concern laced with anger in his voice. “We have no idea what it will do to that thing or the city!”
Marcus gritted his teeth in anger, as this was not the time for arguing from his perspective. “STAND DOWN, CAPTAIN BRIGGS!”
“NO! YOU’RE NOT BLOWING US UP IN THE PROCESS!”
“FOR ONCE COULD YOU DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD!? I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!”
As everyone took a few steps back from the ensuing shouting match, Will glanced at the shadow titan, who had started moving again. “Adrien? We got trouble…”
Adrien groaned as he looked at his commanding officers. “Alright, since those girls are having a hissy fit, I’m taking over until they get over it. We need solutions and we need them now! Anyone got any ideas? Vlastimir? You’ve dealt with this stuff before, right?”
He shook his head. “Nada. I mean if we had Leif or Blood here…”
Adrien facepalmed. “Damn it… Morrigan, you got anything?”
“Karnage did employ these things, but Blood and Dreadnought destroyed them before we even got to take a shot at them.” She felt bad about not being able to do anything, but she had nothing else to offer.
“Blast!” Adrien complained as he kicked a mailbox. “Do we have anything at all!?”
“Morrigan, are you sure you can’t get a hold of Blood-Wraith right now?” Zoltan asked. “I’m certain he could handle this…”
Morrigan looked like she was about to have a breakdown. “I… I can’t… I… I don’t know…”
“Argh, nix that idea, Zoltan,” Adrien cut in. “We’ll just have to figure this out by ourselves…”
Mayhem thought back to his past battles, especially in the Realm of Chaos. An idea was brewing in his head. “I’ll go…”
“Go?” Adrien questioned, a bit confused. “Go where?”
“I’ll go take care of the titan. I’ve fought Wulfric enough times for this to be a walk in the park.”
Adrien looked at the titan who was even closer, then back to Mayhem. The ground shakes were getting more intense and they were running out of time. “Alright, if you think you can handle it…”
“You sure about this, buddy?” Faustus asked.
“No, but what other choice do we have?”
“Probably many others, but…” Faustus could see a smile starting to form on Mayhem’s face. “You want to show off, don’t you?” Mayhem gave him a wink, causing Faustus to laugh. “You chaos devils are something else. Zoltan, can you take care of the phone?”
“Already on it…” he answered as he picked up the phone off the ground. “Zoltan Dracul speaking for Colonel Trelawney: Hold off on deploying the Valkyrie Squadron, we have an idea we’d like to try…”
“HOLD UP A SECOND!” Marcus broke away from his argument with Antares, trying to get the phone back. “GIVE. ME. THAT!”
Zoltan was quite tall, even for Marcus’ standards, allowing him to keep the phone away from him. “With all due respect, Colonel; Mayhem wishes to take care of this…”
“Mayhem? What is he…” Marcus glanced over to see the devil take off in a fiery aura of blue and yellow flames towards the titan. “Milan, get him back here!”
Antares raised his hand. “No, Mark, let him cook…” This warranted a growl with hints of concern from Marcus.
Milan looked incredibly worried regardless. “He’s powerful, but I really hope he knows what he’s doing…”
The titan was roughly a mile away from the city, so Mayhem had to act fast. His foe looked strong, and all of his viable spells required set up. He would have to make his choice count, as this was not like his clashes with Wulfric, who was honorable to a tee. Mayhem glanced around and noticed River Thrill Park way off in the distance. A brilliant idea popped into his mind, a memory of a technique that he never got to use against Wulfric. Mayhem was about to make his old opponent very proud…
“HAHA, CHAOS CHAOS!” Mayhem proudly exclaimed as he summoned a giant Ferris wheel made of chaotic magic.
An unbelievable sight to behold, the glowing ride lit with flashing lights began to spin. A triumphant, circus-esque symphony began playing all around the city as Mayhem reveled in the untamed energy surging through the air around him. He then snapped his fingers, causing what looked like small rockets on the sides of each of the carriages to fire, accelerating the wheel to mind-boggling speeds. The axle for the wheel creaked and ground loudly, looking like it could give out at any moment. The only thing left to do was set the wheel ablaze, which Mayhem did with his firebreath.
Once ready, Mayhem kicked the Ferris wheel up into the air and flew after it, using his magic to get a hold of it with an invisible force. The spells were straining him greatly, but he charged towards the titan regardless. The great monstrosity noticed the approaching threat and threw a powerful punch with great force. Mayhem slammed the wheel directly into it, destroying it on impact. The titan recoiled and roared in what seemed like pain, but Mayhem laughed.
“Is that all you got, big guy!?!” he taunted. “BECAUSE THE MAIN ACT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!”
The titan stumbled forward and launched another punch, only for Mayhem to destroy that fist too. Feeling a surge of rambunctious fervor infest his blood as it raced through his veins, Mayhem started to repeatedly slam the wheel into the titan, forcing it back and continuously chipping away at it. And he did not let up, as his blood had turned to adrenaline that screamed at him to keep going until his opponent was no more. The attacks got faster and faster as Mayhem heard nothing but the triumphant music ringing as loud as it could in his ears. Anyone who beheld the spectacle was in speechless awe, enraptured by what they were witnessing.
Inevitably Mayhem felt himself start to tire, so he planned one last attack. He had to make it count as he knew he would collapse soon. Mayhem slammed the wheel into the titan for the final time, hitting its core head on. The wheel then spun faster than it ever had before, creating a blinding, billowing light to form. With one last defeated roar, the titan exploded into a beautiful shower of glowing light, sending Mayhem flying back.
The group panicked for a moment, completely lost on what to do. Fortunately Milan was already on it, having deduced Mayhem’s trajectory. “I GOT HIM! I…” Milan held up his hands and caught the devil with an invisible force. “...GOT HIM!” Everyone cheered and clapped as he slowly brought him down.
Seeing that Mayhem could barely stand, Aelia gestured for everyone to stay back. “Now now, everyone. Give him some space…” she cautioned.
Mayhem weakly chuckled as he tried to stand. “I still need to bow… whoops!” he said as he fell to his knees. “Come on, Mayhem, it’s proper etiquette…” he tried to stand up again, only to fall backwards, with Milan catching him.
“Whoa, take it easy, Mayhem…” Milan replied.
“Mr. Highland?” Marcus cut in, sounding excited. “That was incredibly reckless, but good work!” he complimented. “Seriously, how did you even do that!? That was amazing!”
Antares laughed. “Told you so, Mark,” he teased.
“Not now, Captain…”
“Are you going to be alright, Mayhem?” Faustus asked. “I mean jeez! Just wait until the folks back home hear about this!”
Mayhem smiled with a thumbs up. “I’ll be right as rain after a quick rest.”
“Then let's get back to M.A.I.G., everybody!” Marcus instructed. “On the double!”
“Well actually, Marcus, Randalph knows a remedy that’ll perk me right up. If I could go back to him real quickly…”
Milan nodded and put his fingers in his mouth to whistle. “Sam? Can we send him back to your house then?”
“Do it, no need to ask me,” she answered.
Umuka came running up. “Here, Milan!”
“Umuka, where have you been?” Will inquired.
He was about to answer, then sighed. “I…I was hiding in the base.”
Will shook his head with a smile and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. We were screwed without Mayhem either way.”
“Agreed,” Marcus added. “You can help Mayhem here instead.”
A purple light then came zipping over, buzzing around like a bee before settling down. “What do you need, Milan, sir?!”
“Yale, Umuka, I’m going to send you two back to Sam’s house with Mayhem,” Milan detailed. “Keep your eyes peeled and call us if anything weird happens, got it?”
“Roger that!” Yale confirmed.
“Loud and clear, you can count on us,” Umuka replied.
“Great. Sending you back in 3…2…1…” Milan then snapped his fingers.
Over at Sam’s house, Orion and Antonio were playing a 3D platformer video game. Specifically they were having a match in the two player battle mode while they waited for Kyu and Randalph to prepare the next magic lessons. The two were having fun, but Antonio was losing. Orion had him on the ropes and Antonio was getting desperate as their characters shouted one-liners at each other.
“Oh come on, little buddy, don’t do this to me…”
“Hey, Antonio? THINK FAST!” Orion exclaimed as he activated his character’s super attack, winning the match. “HA, GOT YOU.”
“Argh, every time! How are you so good at this game?”
“I played it a lot at the orphanage.”
Antonio ruffled Orion’s hair, making him chuckle. “Well good game regardless…” he was then cut off by the sight of Umuka shoving the door open, trying to drag Mayhem into the house.
“Guys? We need some help…” Umuka said as he caught his breath.
“Haha, hello, gentlemen…” Mayhem tried to say, still a bit weak. “Good to see you again.”
It took a second for it to sink in, but Anotnio eventually noticed how banged up Mayhem was. “GUYS!?!” Antonio called out as he stumbled off the back of the couch. “RANDALPH! KYU!”
“Jeez, no need to shout, Antonio,” Kyu chided at the top of the stairs, starting to walk down with Randalph. “We’re right here…” he then noticed the obvious. “OH JEEZ!”
“Oh my goodness!” Randalph exclaimed as he hurried down past Kyu. “Mayhem, what happened!?”
“Ha, a lot of chaos in Red River just now… can you make me some Limboberry tea?”
A look of worry quickly grew on Orion’s face. “ARE MOM AND DAD OKAY?”
Mayhem nodded. “Don’t worry, lad, they're doing fine.”
“Phew, that’s a relief…” This warranted a slightly incredulous look from Antonio.
“Alright, alright…” Randalph said as he quickly assessed the situation. “Antonio, Orion? Get Mayhem comfy on the couch. Kyu, report back to M.A.I.G. and tell them Mayhem is here. Umuka, go get the ghost family. Weird little dire fairy… um… keep an eye on everything. I’ll be back in a second!” Randalph said as he hurried out the door, with Umuka vanishing and Kyu heading back up stairs.
“Okay then…” Antonio remarked as he helped Mayhem onto the couch. He then pointed his finger at the purple light. “Err, who are you again?”
The light then morphed into what looked like a tiny, purple-haired boy with triangular, glowing wings. “The name’s Yale, pleasure to meet you! Milan sent me here with Umuka to keep an eye on things.”
He nodded. “Oh, okay. I’m Antonio and this is Orion.” He then turned his attention to the couch. “Mayhem! What’s going on? You look like… you look like a mess.”
Mayhem chuckled, then winced. “I’m going to feel this one in the morning… If only you could’ve seen my greatest performance yet…”
Back at M.A.I.G. headquarters, Marcus had gathered everyone at Canteen AF-1. He looked very happy and triumphant. “Ladies and Gentlemen? We’re not out of the woods just yet, but I think this victory deserves it; Pop a cold one, everyone! Drinks are on me!”
They all cheered, followed by the group heading over to get their drinks. As Marcus went to the jukebox to set the music to a jamming rock tune, he invited the small group of soldiers present to join them. Despite Sebastian still being out there, destroying the shadow titan was a massive victory. Valentin surmised that Sebastian could only make one every once in great a while with his current skill set. They were all clear to kick back and relax a bit.
Once they were all set, Bethany and Valentin went over and sat next to Will, who was enjoying a soda with Morrigan and Faustus. “Not going to lie, Will, I’m pretty sure we couldn’t have actually beat Mayhem…” Bethany remarked.
“It makes me realize how dangerous that tar pit scheme actually was…” Valentin lamented.
Will laughed, taking it in stride. “Well hey, live and learn, am I right?” He then turned to Faustus. “Hey, Faustus? Why was Mayhem so exhausted after all that?”
“Yes, I’m curious too, given the power he’s sporting,” Valentin added.
“It’s the human realm,” Faustus replied after a burp. “We have to contend with your physics, hindering our power greatly. It’s part of the reason we need magicians to work with us, as humans and similar entities can help us unleash our power in these realms-don’t ask me how, as that has always boggled my mind. If we were in, say, the Realm of Chaos, The Unlight, or Inferno, Mayhem could have solo’d Sebastian no problem. And I’ll happily put money behind that.”
“Now there’s an idea…” Valentin remarked to himself.
Morrigan chuckled. “Yeah, this realm is a pain. I could probably do so much more if I wasn’t hindered by freaking physics. All of this is making me miss the Unlight, not going to lie. You can do so much there because the physics are all loosey-goosey.”
“Wait, really?” Will inquired.
“Yup. You could probably do all sorts of crazy stuff with Faustus, Boyo. Oh, Valentin? If you can find a way to lure Sebastian into the Unlight, I’ll have the entire ULTRAMagic Guild on his sorry ass before he can even say ‘wiener schnitzel,’ ha.”
“Hehe, duly noted, Miss Devilfay,” Valentin replied with a smile.
“Wait, Sam…” Will interrupted. “I thought you had reservations about returning to the Unlight and the guild. That’s what you were hinting at…”
“Ah ah ah, Boyo. Things change…”
“And you’re sure about that?” Valentin inquired. “Not trying to rain on your parade, just making sure…”
“Positive,” Morrigan answered with an old confidence returned to her. “The guild is cool like that. I mean, the minute I turned against Karnage they were trying to offer me every little piece of help under the sun that they could…”
Next: Chapter 32
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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