ULTRAMagic Babel - Chapter 9
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The coast seemed clear in the hallways leading up to the Sublimatio Library, but the group knew better than to make such assumptions given all of the chaos they had been through. Thankfully Waramunt was there to greet them, but something was off. Ensio was not with him and he was speaking oddly. He had awkward inflections, put emphasis on the wrong words, and he would not stop speaking informally. Lia had a good idea as to what was going on and these suspicions were confirmed when he gave a subtle salute to Lia that was used by members of The Eternal Church. With a flick of her wrist, Lia chopped off the head of the imposter with a clean swipe. Everyone else was frozen in shock, trying to process what had just happened.
“LIA, EXPLAIN!?” Adriana ordered, still trying to rationalize what she had just seen.
“That was a shadow construct, Captain,” Lia answered as the head rolled to her feet. “Specifically this one was from the Homunculus Project, something I personally oversaw in Warehouse Omicron.” She then picked the head up and peeled off the fake skin, revealing what she described. The others nodded as they visually inspected the black and red skull. “Honestly, is that rat really that stupid? This looks like Construct-16, one of the failed constructs…”
Fortunately Ensio appeared cawing above the group’s heads, with the real Waramunt running up to them. He looked worried, out of breath, and a bit roughed up all around. “Thank…God… You’re all alright! Valdemaras was hinting at this crude imitation of me and I noticed something was off on my way here.”
Lia went and hugged him, then tidied him up a little. “Don’t worry, dear, we’re all okay… despite a close call we had in the Coagulatio Library.”
“Waramunt, were you able to take care of Valdemaras?” Adriana inquired.
“No. I was only able to hold him back. He’s certainly a persistent vermin. Let’s get inside quick, as I’m certain he’s on his way.”
Everyone hurried into the library, with the librarians securing and barricading the doors. If the current situation had not been so dire, the group would have stopped to admire the eldritch majesty that was the Sublimatio Library. Any semblance of Earth architecture was gone and instead the library invoked that of a temple from another dimension that paid reverence to storms and the heavens. The library itself focused on magick, alchemy, and the occult, allowing for a truly otherworldly atmosphere. Radboud met with the group immediately, also giving his son a hug and making sure he was okay. While not the physically strongest father, it was clear he was an experienced and storied individual, with faded brown hair and golden eyes.
“Goodness, my boy!” Radboud said as he patted Cornelius’ shoulder. “I haven’t seen ruckus this great since The Dead Sea War! Are you sure everything’s alright on your end?”
“We made it here without a scratch…” Cornelius started to say.
“Barring the crude little parlor trick we had to deal with outside,” Lia added, still annoyed that her work had been desecrated. It still stung despite having left The Eternal Order a while ago.
“Ah, I see those foul blaggards are up to their dirty tricks as always,” Radboud replied. “You all will be happy to know that the Chief Librarian has everything locked down and ready to go…”
“Well almost ready to go, as we can’t activate the beacon just yet,” an older gruff voice said. The man in question was tall, strong, and had graying red hair with light indigo eyes.
“What’s wrong, Iudris?” Radboud worriedly inquired. “I thought we had a good front blowing through-Oh, everyone, this is Iudris Schindewolf, the Chief Librarian.”
“Hold up a second,” Tusk interrupted. “Barna’s Uncle Iudris?”
“Haha, indeed, lad,” he answered with a smile. “And given all the chaos happening, I really wish I had learned to fight like my brother and nephews. Alas I’m a scholar, not a soldier. As for our weather situation, the winds from outside still need to pick up enough. We’re incredibly high up, so it shouldn’t be a problem… but I sense we’re not going to be given that courtesy…”
Adriana looked at the doorway and grimaced. “Lock and load, everyone,” she instructed as she summoned an alien-looking shotgun with her magic.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, are we?” Yoshihiro asked as he assumed a ready stance.
“I’d dare say this is just a clearing we’ve found ourselves in,” Serjiel remarked as he loaded both of his revolvers. “The worst is yet to come…”
Waramunt leaned over to Lia and softly said “Grab Buster and make a run for it when I give the signal…”
“What signal?” she replied quietly.
“You’ll know it when you see it…” He then held his right hand behind his back, giving finger signals to Iudris and Radboud that led to the two whispering ‘Rainbow then fire’ to the other librarians.
A massive thud was heard at the entrance, followed by Odo drawing his sword and taking a breath. “Here he comes…”
After a moment of quiet there was another loud thud, with the great doors starting to buckle. The next thud began to split the entrance open. And finally there was a mighty ramming charge that obliterated the doors, with Valdemaras looking quite proud of himself as he shook the rubble from his fur. His rats were dwindling, but he made up for the deficiency with shadow constructs that waited behind him. The librarians readied their rifles, as they knew there was going to be a brutal fight.
“ENOUGH OF THIS CAT AND MOUSE GAME!” Valdemaras barked. “This ends here and now! I will have Lia and Buster’s heads on a silver platter by the time we leave!!”
Odo electrified his sword, with it giving off the fiercest hum of electricity imaginable. “NO, you’re leaving here as a charred corpse!” he growled. “I’m through playing games…”
Valdemaras laughed, with his legion trying to follow suit. “HA, AS IF, PATHETIC LITTLE BOY.”
A rat had snuck too close to the group, so Odo stabbed and electrocuted it. “TRY ME.” Valdemaras naturally growled at him so hard that it nearly turned into a roar.
Seeing the conflict about to ignite, Waramunt stepped forward waving a white handkerchief around. “Quick parley, gentlemen. Before we start this brouhaha, Richard of York gave battle in vain…”
“What!?” Valdemaras snapped as he focused in on Waramunt.
“Richard of York gave battle in vain,” he proudly reiterated.
Valdemaras took a second to think about the strange babbling from his enemy, then put it all together. “A RAINBOW!?”
And with that confused exclamation, Waramunt threw a powerful fireball straight at the rat’s head. With Valdemaras flailing about on the ground, Lia ran with Buster to the entrance of the beacon chamber while everyone else sprang into action. Tusk and Odo went to deal with Valdemaras, Serjiel and Yoshihiro took on the rats and shadow constructs, and Adriana began giving orders to support the others and keep the beacon chamber safe. Everything erupted into sheer chaos as shadow constructs filed in to replace the ones that were rapidly destroyed. It was all turning into a harrowing situation, but the group and the librarians were not going to take the attack sitting down.
Odo was going to kill Valdemaras, one way or another. His sword had turned into the giant mace from before, and he had assumed a form that was more akin to an armored, skeletal beast. He let out a howling roar and began charging wildly towards his enemy. Given that his friend was going all out, Tusk focused and assumed the form of the mighty tree titan within him at roughly the same size as Valdemaras. What followed was a fierce clash of blows that nearly broke limbs, the combatants slamming into each other with great force. A punch to Tusk’s jaw dislocated it, but he immediately snapped back into place and whacked Valdemaras upside the head with both of his fists, breaking one of the rat’s horns in the process. With Odo’s ferocity prompting equally measured responses from Valdemaras, any rat or construct foolish enough to get in between was done for.
A group of shadow constructs tried to gang up on Odo, but he roared and let loose a shockwave of lightning that stunned them. Serjiel took the opportunity to pick them off with his revolvers. Valdemaras tried to go after the demon in response, but Tusk violently yanked him back by the tail. Yoshihiro caught wind of this and used an aura technique that created a sphere of great gusts around him that drew in gunshots and redirected them towards their enemies. Seeing a golden opportunity to greatly thin the enemy’s numbers, Serjiel cast a special spell on one of his revolvers and took aim at the aura sphere. He fanned the hammer like a madman, catching his ally off guard. Yoshihiro was being overworked and Serjiel’s gun could have exploded at any minute, but the results were undeniable.
Adriana was doing her best to keep track of everything, but the mayhem of the battle was pushing her to her limits. She was a tactician, not a commander. Her hopes that her old commanding officer, Brigadier General Dryden, would come out of nowhere and take control of the situation were dashed with each passing moment. The evolving uncertainty was driving the captain mad, agitating the undead plague within her, and her magic could only soothe her for so long. The lack of Ozymandias and Tereza did not help either, but it was safe to say they were off dealing with Gudrun. Adriana would just have to grin and bear it until the battle was won.
From a tipped over table Adriana did her best to command the situation, giving orders as to how the librarians were to support the others and take out various targets. Things were going mostly smoothly (aside from the elephant in the room) until Adriana saw something that curdled her blood. Valdemaras had leapt towards her with the intent to kill in his pitch black eyes. In the nick of time Valdemaras had been hit with a laser blast from Buster, whose arm had taken the shape of a cannon. Tusk then dragged Valdemaras by the tail again and began repeatedly slamming the abhorrent beast around like a ragdoll. That save lit a fire in Adriana’s core as she could feel the adrenaline surge through her veins, giving her the will to keep fighting. Her orders became more concise, allowing the librarians to take out even more of the enemy.
Lia and Buster had a bad feeling that the battle was going nowhere as the shadow constructs continued to pour into the library. They had to do something to turn the tide in their favor and looked around for something, anything. Nothing came to mind until they looked down the hallway leading to the air beacon. It was then when they had the same idea and it could be seen as plain as day on their faces. The beacon had to be activated right then and there as it was clear Valdemaras had no plans to retreat any time soon. Even if the beacon was not ready, they had to do something, even if it meant powering it with their own magic.
“You thinking what I’m thinking, Lia?” Buster wondered.
“Absoluely, sweetie…”
“Iudris, does the beacon have a manual activation like the earth beacon does?”
“Argh, no, and I’m kicking myself for not implementing one like Donatas did…”
“Hold up, what if we use our magic to help it along?” Cornelius proposed. “Dad, you still know wind magic, right?”
Radboud thought about it, then hesitantly nodded. “Well of course I do, my boy, but I can’t make any guarantees in regards to the strength of my gusts…”
“Good enough, Radboud,” Iudris replied. “Waramunt, go inform Adriana and the others of our plans!”
“Yes sir!” he said as he started to head in that direction. “Ensio, stick with Lia!”
As the crow settled on Lia’s shoulder, she looked down the hall, then over to the battle. “Here’s hoping we can pull this off…”
“We have to, there’s no other choice,” Buster stated. “Alright, let’s go!” The five then ran as fast as they could down the long hallway, with some of the librarians moving to guard the entrance.
Adriana had noticed the activity at the hallways entrance and was slightly confused when Waramunt came hurrying over. “Waramunt, what’s going on?! Why are Lia and Buster running away?”
“They’re going for the-hold on!” he had to pause to throw a fireball at a straggling rat, incinerating it. “They’re going to try and activate the beacon themselves, accompanied by Iudris and the others.”
“Are they mad?!” Adriana questioned as she shot a shadow construct. “I mean if they can pull it off…”
“Exactly. They’re going to make it go off, come Hell or high water.”
The captain groaned a little, the pandemonium of the battle wearing on her despite her earlier vigor renewal. “Very reckless, but I’ll take it if they can get it going. Men! Make sure nothing gets past our line!!”
“And don’t worry, I sent Ensio with them…”
Adriana could not help but laugh a little as she took another shot at a shadow construct. “No offense, Waramunt, but how is a mere crow going to fend off a giant rat if this mess hits the fan?”
Waramunt chuckled after torching another rat. “Not to throw Ensio under the bus, but I’ll concede I did that more for peace of mind. He’s a good familiar, but not a miracle worker. Let’s just hope Tusk and Odo can keep Valdemaras distracted for long enough…”
Next: Chapter 10
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
The coast seemed clear in the hallways leading up to the Sublimatio Library, but the group knew better than to make such assumptions given all of the chaos they had been through. Thankfully Waramunt was there to greet them, but something was off. Ensio was not with him and he was speaking oddly. He had awkward inflections, put emphasis on the wrong words, and he would not stop speaking informally. Lia had a good idea as to what was going on and these suspicions were confirmed when he gave a subtle salute to Lia that was used by members of The Eternal Church. With a flick of her wrist, Lia chopped off the head of the imposter with a clean swipe. Everyone else was frozen in shock, trying to process what had just happened.
“LIA, EXPLAIN!?” Adriana ordered, still trying to rationalize what she had just seen.
“That was a shadow construct, Captain,” Lia answered as the head rolled to her feet. “Specifically this one was from the Homunculus Project, something I personally oversaw in Warehouse Omicron.” She then picked the head up and peeled off the fake skin, revealing what she described. The others nodded as they visually inspected the black and red skull. “Honestly, is that rat really that stupid? This looks like Construct-16, one of the failed constructs…”
Fortunately Ensio appeared cawing above the group’s heads, with the real Waramunt running up to them. He looked worried, out of breath, and a bit roughed up all around. “Thank…God… You’re all alright! Valdemaras was hinting at this crude imitation of me and I noticed something was off on my way here.”
Lia went and hugged him, then tidied him up a little. “Don’t worry, dear, we’re all okay… despite a close call we had in the Coagulatio Library.”
“Waramunt, were you able to take care of Valdemaras?” Adriana inquired.
“No. I was only able to hold him back. He’s certainly a persistent vermin. Let’s get inside quick, as I’m certain he’s on his way.”
Everyone hurried into the library, with the librarians securing and barricading the doors. If the current situation had not been so dire, the group would have stopped to admire the eldritch majesty that was the Sublimatio Library. Any semblance of Earth architecture was gone and instead the library invoked that of a temple from another dimension that paid reverence to storms and the heavens. The library itself focused on magick, alchemy, and the occult, allowing for a truly otherworldly atmosphere. Radboud met with the group immediately, also giving his son a hug and making sure he was okay. While not the physically strongest father, it was clear he was an experienced and storied individual, with faded brown hair and golden eyes.
“Goodness, my boy!” Radboud said as he patted Cornelius’ shoulder. “I haven’t seen ruckus this great since The Dead Sea War! Are you sure everything’s alright on your end?”
“We made it here without a scratch…” Cornelius started to say.
“Barring the crude little parlor trick we had to deal with outside,” Lia added, still annoyed that her work had been desecrated. It still stung despite having left The Eternal Order a while ago.
“Ah, I see those foul blaggards are up to their dirty tricks as always,” Radboud replied. “You all will be happy to know that the Chief Librarian has everything locked down and ready to go…”
“Well almost ready to go, as we can’t activate the beacon just yet,” an older gruff voice said. The man in question was tall, strong, and had graying red hair with light indigo eyes.
“What’s wrong, Iudris?” Radboud worriedly inquired. “I thought we had a good front blowing through-Oh, everyone, this is Iudris Schindewolf, the Chief Librarian.”
“Hold up a second,” Tusk interrupted. “Barna’s Uncle Iudris?”
“Haha, indeed, lad,” he answered with a smile. “And given all the chaos happening, I really wish I had learned to fight like my brother and nephews. Alas I’m a scholar, not a soldier. As for our weather situation, the winds from outside still need to pick up enough. We’re incredibly high up, so it shouldn’t be a problem… but I sense we’re not going to be given that courtesy…”
Adriana looked at the doorway and grimaced. “Lock and load, everyone,” she instructed as she summoned an alien-looking shotgun with her magic.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, are we?” Yoshihiro asked as he assumed a ready stance.
“I’d dare say this is just a clearing we’ve found ourselves in,” Serjiel remarked as he loaded both of his revolvers. “The worst is yet to come…”
Waramunt leaned over to Lia and softly said “Grab Buster and make a run for it when I give the signal…”
“What signal?” she replied quietly.
“You’ll know it when you see it…” He then held his right hand behind his back, giving finger signals to Iudris and Radboud that led to the two whispering ‘Rainbow then fire’ to the other librarians.
A massive thud was heard at the entrance, followed by Odo drawing his sword and taking a breath. “Here he comes…”
After a moment of quiet there was another loud thud, with the great doors starting to buckle. The next thud began to split the entrance open. And finally there was a mighty ramming charge that obliterated the doors, with Valdemaras looking quite proud of himself as he shook the rubble from his fur. His rats were dwindling, but he made up for the deficiency with shadow constructs that waited behind him. The librarians readied their rifles, as they knew there was going to be a brutal fight.
“ENOUGH OF THIS CAT AND MOUSE GAME!” Valdemaras barked. “This ends here and now! I will have Lia and Buster’s heads on a silver platter by the time we leave!!”
Odo electrified his sword, with it giving off the fiercest hum of electricity imaginable. “NO, you’re leaving here as a charred corpse!” he growled. “I’m through playing games…”
Valdemaras laughed, with his legion trying to follow suit. “HA, AS IF, PATHETIC LITTLE BOY.”
A rat had snuck too close to the group, so Odo stabbed and electrocuted it. “TRY ME.” Valdemaras naturally growled at him so hard that it nearly turned into a roar.
Seeing the conflict about to ignite, Waramunt stepped forward waving a white handkerchief around. “Quick parley, gentlemen. Before we start this brouhaha, Richard of York gave battle in vain…”
“What!?” Valdemaras snapped as he focused in on Waramunt.
“Richard of York gave battle in vain,” he proudly reiterated.
Valdemaras took a second to think about the strange babbling from his enemy, then put it all together. “A RAINBOW!?”
And with that confused exclamation, Waramunt threw a powerful fireball straight at the rat’s head. With Valdemaras flailing about on the ground, Lia ran with Buster to the entrance of the beacon chamber while everyone else sprang into action. Tusk and Odo went to deal with Valdemaras, Serjiel and Yoshihiro took on the rats and shadow constructs, and Adriana began giving orders to support the others and keep the beacon chamber safe. Everything erupted into sheer chaos as shadow constructs filed in to replace the ones that were rapidly destroyed. It was all turning into a harrowing situation, but the group and the librarians were not going to take the attack sitting down.
Odo was going to kill Valdemaras, one way or another. His sword had turned into the giant mace from before, and he had assumed a form that was more akin to an armored, skeletal beast. He let out a howling roar and began charging wildly towards his enemy. Given that his friend was going all out, Tusk focused and assumed the form of the mighty tree titan within him at roughly the same size as Valdemaras. What followed was a fierce clash of blows that nearly broke limbs, the combatants slamming into each other with great force. A punch to Tusk’s jaw dislocated it, but he immediately snapped back into place and whacked Valdemaras upside the head with both of his fists, breaking one of the rat’s horns in the process. With Odo’s ferocity prompting equally measured responses from Valdemaras, any rat or construct foolish enough to get in between was done for.
A group of shadow constructs tried to gang up on Odo, but he roared and let loose a shockwave of lightning that stunned them. Serjiel took the opportunity to pick them off with his revolvers. Valdemaras tried to go after the demon in response, but Tusk violently yanked him back by the tail. Yoshihiro caught wind of this and used an aura technique that created a sphere of great gusts around him that drew in gunshots and redirected them towards their enemies. Seeing a golden opportunity to greatly thin the enemy’s numbers, Serjiel cast a special spell on one of his revolvers and took aim at the aura sphere. He fanned the hammer like a madman, catching his ally off guard. Yoshihiro was being overworked and Serjiel’s gun could have exploded at any minute, but the results were undeniable.
Adriana was doing her best to keep track of everything, but the mayhem of the battle was pushing her to her limits. She was a tactician, not a commander. Her hopes that her old commanding officer, Brigadier General Dryden, would come out of nowhere and take control of the situation were dashed with each passing moment. The evolving uncertainty was driving the captain mad, agitating the undead plague within her, and her magic could only soothe her for so long. The lack of Ozymandias and Tereza did not help either, but it was safe to say they were off dealing with Gudrun. Adriana would just have to grin and bear it until the battle was won.
From a tipped over table Adriana did her best to command the situation, giving orders as to how the librarians were to support the others and take out various targets. Things were going mostly smoothly (aside from the elephant in the room) until Adriana saw something that curdled her blood. Valdemaras had leapt towards her with the intent to kill in his pitch black eyes. In the nick of time Valdemaras had been hit with a laser blast from Buster, whose arm had taken the shape of a cannon. Tusk then dragged Valdemaras by the tail again and began repeatedly slamming the abhorrent beast around like a ragdoll. That save lit a fire in Adriana’s core as she could feel the adrenaline surge through her veins, giving her the will to keep fighting. Her orders became more concise, allowing the librarians to take out even more of the enemy.
Lia and Buster had a bad feeling that the battle was going nowhere as the shadow constructs continued to pour into the library. They had to do something to turn the tide in their favor and looked around for something, anything. Nothing came to mind until they looked down the hallway leading to the air beacon. It was then when they had the same idea and it could be seen as plain as day on their faces. The beacon had to be activated right then and there as it was clear Valdemaras had no plans to retreat any time soon. Even if the beacon was not ready, they had to do something, even if it meant powering it with their own magic.
“You thinking what I’m thinking, Lia?” Buster wondered.
“Absoluely, sweetie…”
“Iudris, does the beacon have a manual activation like the earth beacon does?”
“Argh, no, and I’m kicking myself for not implementing one like Donatas did…”
“Hold up, what if we use our magic to help it along?” Cornelius proposed. “Dad, you still know wind magic, right?”
Radboud thought about it, then hesitantly nodded. “Well of course I do, my boy, but I can’t make any guarantees in regards to the strength of my gusts…”
“Good enough, Radboud,” Iudris replied. “Waramunt, go inform Adriana and the others of our plans!”
“Yes sir!” he said as he started to head in that direction. “Ensio, stick with Lia!”
As the crow settled on Lia’s shoulder, she looked down the hall, then over to the battle. “Here’s hoping we can pull this off…”
“We have to, there’s no other choice,” Buster stated. “Alright, let’s go!” The five then ran as fast as they could down the long hallway, with some of the librarians moving to guard the entrance.
Adriana had noticed the activity at the hallways entrance and was slightly confused when Waramunt came hurrying over. “Waramunt, what’s going on?! Why are Lia and Buster running away?”
“They’re going for the-hold on!” he had to pause to throw a fireball at a straggling rat, incinerating it. “They’re going to try and activate the beacon themselves, accompanied by Iudris and the others.”
“Are they mad?!” Adriana questioned as she shot a shadow construct. “I mean if they can pull it off…”
“Exactly. They’re going to make it go off, come Hell or high water.”
The captain groaned a little, the pandemonium of the battle wearing on her despite her earlier vigor renewal. “Very reckless, but I’ll take it if they can get it going. Men! Make sure nothing gets past our line!!”
“And don’t worry, I sent Ensio with them…”
Adriana could not help but laugh a little as she took another shot at a shadow construct. “No offense, Waramunt, but how is a mere crow going to fend off a giant rat if this mess hits the fan?”
Waramunt chuckled after torching another rat. “Not to throw Ensio under the bus, but I’ll concede I did that more for peace of mind. He’s a good familiar, but not a miracle worker. Let’s just hope Tusk and Odo can keep Valdemaras distracted for long enough…”
Next: Chapter 10
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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