ULTRAMagic Eon 2 - Chapter 21
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The amount of shadow constructs Karnage had created to wipe out The Iron City would have been beyond imagination and utterly apocalyptic for a realm such as Earth, but The Descendants were not going to go down without a fight, despite the insurmountable odds. The fight was at the east wall, with the vast army of The Iron City fending off wave after wave of attacking shadow constructs, supported by suppressing fire from the giant cannons of the city’s defense systems. Soldiers to guardsmen to knights were giving it all through a mix of gunfire, blades, and magic. There were minimal casualties so far and Englehart planned to keep it that way. And as much as he wanted to join his fellow Descendants, he was advised to stay back at the wall as several important people needed to meet with him. That did not stop him from providing ranged support with his magic when his soldiers were ganged up on, however.
Maximus, being a smaller recreation of The War Machine of Old, naturally received a massive upgrade that invigorated him with the power of his source when the city defense systems activated. Outfitted in heavy armor with two, giant howitzers on his back and rotary cannons mounted to his lower arms, he utterly annihilated anything that stood in his way. Evidently Karnage had found some large cells of the old Eternal Cult that were still loyal to Milosh, and they froze in sheer terror upon seeing the colossal knight zero in on them. They had become well acquainted with Maximus back during the fall of the church and even considered him a bit of a pushover at the time. Seeing the magical bomb the cultists were preparing, Maximus roared as his eyes blazed with untamed, red energy, and from them shot out a fearsome laser that evaporated all but two who fled as fast as they could.
“HA, WHO’S THE PUSHOVER NOW, YOU ETERNAL-CHURCH DOGS!” Maximus bellowed as he fired his howitzers at the group of juggernaut-class constructs the cultists were trying to regroup to. That was not exactly the most heroic thing to say, but Maximus had some pent up frustration from the time before Barna and Dunja showed up in Shadowland to finish off Milosh. Maximus then spotted a group of shadow golems that were trying to block a key route to the battlefield off in the distance and aimed his howitzers once more. The projectiles exploded out of them and detonated on impact with the golems, allowing many squadrons of mounted cavalry to ride into battle. To his surprise they were not from The Iron City or Shadowland, but from the Discordant Realm of Blood. They were Adelheid’s forces, which meant reinforcements from The Realm of Chaos were on their way. “YES, NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!” He cheered as a flock of jabberwocks and wyverns from the Discordant Realm of Lightning descended from the sky to rain furious lighting, plasma, and fire upon Karnage’s army.
Maximus needed to meet up with the squad from the ULTRAMagic Guild that were standing guard near the centermost entrance, and while he was on his way he saw something that got his blood pumping as hard as it could. Dragutin had soared in with Maxima and Mayhem, of which the chaos devil flew up into the sky with indigo fire. In his hands was what started out as an orb of blue and yellow fire, but grew into a massive sun that he compressed back into a ball-sized orb. He then wound up like a baseball pitcher and tossed the orb as hard as he could. “CHAOS MIRACLE BEYOND-HELLFIRE!” he called out as the orb went into the midst of Karnage’s army and created a mushroom cloud with its explosion. A force of that magnitude had the potential to harm their allies, so a knight in black armor with two greatshields slammed his armaments into the ground. Colossal, magical hands appeared and redirected the shockwave towards the enemy, which helped do even more damage to them.
Maximus laughed, feeling so proud to witness such incredible power. “Shoot, was that Waltheof!? Haha, time to get back to the others though…” Running as fast as he could despite being weighed down by his armor, he soon made it to the guild squad.
The group in question consisted of Wynnstan, Schwarzes, Ludwig, Audawakrs, Gebhard, Tressacht, The Hunger, and Morrigan. They were each fending off shadow constructs and providing any help to the soldiers that they could. Seeing a massive amount of golems and juggernauts making a break for them to get into the city walls, Audawakrs waved his wand in an elegant motion and the area around him began to rumble, as it felt like the fury of the Cosmos itself was about to explode out of him. “SACRED COMET OF AZURE-REND THE ENEMIES BEFORE ME!” The glowing beam of magic fury, brilliant like the moon, roared from his wand with the screams of reality itself straining to contain it as thousands of constructs were obliterated on the spot.
Someone amongst Karnage’s army had been preparing for such an attack and even more constructs charged forward, numbering in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. They were seeking to take advantage of Audawakrs’ exhaustion from such a great spell, but Tressacht laughed with hearty, condescending pride at them. The grunts approaching him were mere cannon fodder compared to the power he could wield. “BY THE SERPENT, COME FORTH, MIGHTY ROGUE WAVE!!”
Suddenly the immense force consisting of cultists and constructs that had barreled forward found themselves standing on an unending ocean, utterly confused by what had happened. And then they saw it, a mind-shattering wall of water that had to be at least 200 feet high that blocked out the light of day. The roar of the encroaching wave was enough to shatter anyone’s eardrums and the cultists felt any fervor they had drained from them as they realized they would not survive. Some tried to run, but most of them fell to their knees and accepted their fate with tears in their eyes as the shadow constructs roared in vain at the wave. Back in The Unlight, a juggernaut shadow construct was attempting to summon the force back, but this was stopped when The Hunger leapt up into the air and tossed down knives of golden, holy energy that ensnared the construct. He then slammed his greatsword into a sheath on his back and crashed down with a gigantic hammer as he landed. The immense force of the chunk of iron smashed the construct to pieces, something that was nigh-impossible for any normal person to do to a juggernaut construct.
“An excellent follow-up, honorable Hunger of Old!” Gebhard complimented as he slashed up a group of constructs with a sword sheathed in electrified sunlight. “HURRAH!” he roared as he slammed his blade into the ground, causing the ground beneath his foes to explode with great force.
The Hunger was about to thank him with his pride poking through, but he felt the winds whip around him and looked over in the distance to see a great tornado of lightning and glass sucking up construct after construct. “Brace yourselves, looks like Ludwig is going all out!!”
“NO PROBLEM HERE!” Wynnstan called out over the sound of gunfire as he fired his rotary cannon into the sky, taking out a group of flying constructs that were avoiding the fierce winds. “Slippery little-MORRIGAN, MAKE THEM STAY STILL!”
“RIGHT!” Her sword began glowing as she held out her hand. Roughly twenty of the flying constructs froze in air, allowing Wynnstan to finish them off.
A group of soldiers and knights began to run past once the coast was clear. “We were just about to ask for some cover, thank you!” the leader said as they moved forward.
“No problemo!” Wynnstan said with a salute. He then resumed firing his gun, only for nothing to come out of the rotating barrels. “BLAST, someone cover me while I reload!”
“I got your back, Wynnstan!” Maximus called out as he thundered up to them, opening fire on any shadow construct that tried to approach.
“Wynnstan, Ealdhelm told you to bring extra ammo reserves!” Schwarzes scolded as he flew in, firing off his starlight bow into the sky. This caused a meteor shower of shining arrows to rain down upon the enemy.
“I DID,” he shot back as he fumbled to summon a box of ammo that he slammed into the side of the gun. “We’re fighting thousands, if not millions of shadow constructs and I don’t have infinite ammo!”
“I’ll vouch for the boy, as The Eternal Order has definitely caught me off guard more times than I would like to admit to,” The Hunger said as he hurried over just in case he needed to provide any help.
Ludwig then flew over in his winged dog form, reverting back to his human form, and appearing out of breath. “I need a breather… just for a second…”
“You’re not running out of steam, are you, lad?” Tressacht asked, even though he was also trying to catch his breath a little.
“Well I think it’s fair to argue that we’re up against a bit of a wall here,” Audawakrs reasoned as he finally recuperated his strength, lifting up his torso after having leaned on his legs.
Morrigan gripped the hilt of her sword, feeling a knot in her chest that sought to shame her for her inadequacies. Feeling that anger surge to the top, she ran forward screaming her fury. Enveloped in violet lighting, a spectral blade in her other hand, she flew up into the air and came back down as a comet of purple fire. She took out a great deal of constructs growing nearer to the group, sailing up and down across the battlefield. The others called out for her to take it easy as she left herself wide open multiple times. As she circled around for another strike, a shadow golem with a mounted cannon fired a blast at her that knocked her out of her attack and sent her plummeting to the ground in a daze. By the time Morrigan regained her senses it was too late, but something grabbed her just in the nick of time.
The group cheered as what looked like a mix of an elegant swan and a majestic dragon carried Morrigan in her foot. Riding atop the beast’s back was Waramunt, so that could only mean that it was Lia. “And your connecting flight is here, Morrigan, haha!” Waramunt called out as he snapped his fingers, causing orbs of fire to appear alongside Lia and soar ahead.
“HOLD ON TIGHT, EVERYONE!” she warned as she ascended high into the sky. Waramunt and Morrigan could see an entire fleet of fighter planes and bombers in the distance before Lia suddenly plummeted, balls of what looked like wind being shot from her mouth. These hit the fire orbs and caused them to expand into mighty meteors that struck the battlefield with great power and took out the construct that had shot down Morrigan in the process. Lia then flew over to the group and gently deposited Morrigan next to them before landing.
Waramunt was about to speak, but had to cover his ears as the fleet of aircraft thundered overhead in a deafening symphony of engines, propellers, and jets. “Well, it looks like Shaye and Ahhotep have taken to the skies!” he declared, pointing out the B-17 Bomber leading the pack as the planes fired their guns and dropped hundreds of bombs on great swathes of the shadow construct army. “We’re in good hands now-trust me, I know from experience!”
And then another plane soared overhead lower in the sky, looking out of place amongst the fleet. It was a tri-plane with what Ludwig recognized as the regalia of the Almany Royal Air Fleet, but it was incredibly out of date. It then occurred to him who he was witnessing and he leapt up and cried out in proud joy. “THAT’S THE DUKE OF BULLETS! TOMEK KRAKOWSKI! OH MEIN GOTT!” The sudden excitement was invigorating, even if the others were not quite sure what he was talking about.
“Easy, lad,” Gebhard said, trying to calm him a little. “You’ll have to pardon us if we’re not quite sure who Tomek Krakowski is…”
“The Duke of Bullets is a hero of Almany! He led the charge of the Raging River Front, winning a decisive victory for Almany against the Vorherrschaft-Rodentia during World War II! How is he even here?! He died in the Battle of the Crimson Rhine!”
The Hunger nodded as the triplane dove, unleashing a hail of gunfire on the enemy. “From what I’ve learned, ULTRAMagic and his desire to fight brought him back, and now he’s joined the guild as ULTRAMagic Baron.”
“Ha, I like the cut of jib already,” Wynnstan complimented as he worked on repairing his gun. “Source, I hope Karnage isn’t planning something while we’re resting…” As if to spite him, a maniacal, bellowing laugh could be heard in the distance. “OH OF COURSE!!”
The foul laugh had come from a fierce, black and red colossus in the far distance. Covered in harsh armor that hurt the eyes merely by looking at it stood the false Tyrant God that Karnage had created. Standing on its shoulder, Karnage ordered it to attack the group. Inhaling a great breath and creating a typhoon in the process, the malignant abomination let out a grotesque stream of fire that screeched across the land like an evil comet ready to erase the group from existence. They all braced themselves as Schwarzes prepared to protect them, but this was not necessary. Two shields slammed down on the ground, creating a spectral great wall that blocked the attack. The knight then summoned a massive cannon mounted above his shields, and it fired with a thunder that could have deafened any mere man. The blast hit the false Tyrant God in the face, causing it to stumble back in a panic.
“Haha, a better shot was never loosed!” The knight declared as he dispelled the cannon and relaxed his stance.
“Good timing, Sir Waltheof McDarstin,” The Hunger said with a bow as he also relaxed.
Wynnstan audibly scoffed. “JEEZ, cutting it a little close, don’t you think?!”
“Well I’d dare say you didn’t bring enough ammo, as per your uncle’s warning…” Waltheof started to playfully chide with a laugh.
The group was then startled by one of the loudest cracks of thunder they had ever heard, followed by a being of metal and blue lightning flying over to them. “Are all of you okay?” It was Gratiana, whose spears were still sparking with the electricity of her previous encounter.
“Right as rain, Lady Arlotti-Schindewolf,” Waltheof replied. He would have bowed, but his armor and shields made that difficult.
“How’s the rest of the guild doing inside the city, Schwarzes?” she inquired.
He nodded, taking a breath to steady his nerves. “Aside from a few stray shadow constructs, everything’s good.”
Gratiana then turned to Lia. “And the city walls?”
“The Golem sent me and Waramunt to go out and assist the soldiers, given who has been showing up,” she answered.
“Very good. Here’s hoping Englehart isn’t growing too stir crazy…”
Maximus quickly realized that he was supposed to go to the western front to fortify it and silently panicked. “Oh shoot, Grandma, I was just about to head over to…”
“Don’t fret, Maximus, everything is secure over there,” she said, smiling as her right spear sparked a little. “How are things on this end?”
Schwarzes exhaled, looking incredibly frustrated and exhausted. “Please tell me we’re making progress with this godless battle…”
Tressacht laughed. “Godless, you say?”
The angel groaned. “One more time, Tressacht, and I’ll reveal who you actually are…” Tressacht laughed once more as it really did not matter at that point. He would prefer that that did not happen, but he also knew Schwarzes was stressed out and did not mean it.
“We’re making progress, Schwarzes, despite not actually putting a dent in Karnage’s vigor…” Gratiana lamented. “More reinforcements from the Realm of Chaos are on their way…” she then noticed a far off battle near one of the entrances. “Hold on one second…” She snapped her fingers, causing the most wicked thunderbolt to destroy the group of shadow constructs that were swarming that part of the wall.
A cavalry of spectral knights of golden light on horseback soon rode past, led by Alexia who had a bow and arrow of lightning ready to go. “My unending gratitude, Gratiana!” she called out as they thundered past. “SISTERS OF THE HOLY LIGHTING, READY-AIM-FIRE!” she ordered once they were in position. The arrows screamed into the sky, raining back down as spears of lightning that razed the battlefield and destroyed more of the encroaching shadow constructs.
“DAMN IT ALL, just how many shadow constructs does Karnage have!?” Waramunt complained. “And I thought Sebastian back in Red River City was bad…” he muttered to himself.
“We’re dealing with a twelfth dimensional god in Karnage, sadly,” The Hunger pointed out. “We’re going to need help, and soon.”
Wynnstan felt his irritation reach its breaking point and began stomping his feet. “HEY, OZYMANDIAS, TEREZA! GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE!” And that callout rang across the dimensions, as Wynnstan spoke it as loud as he could.
“ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE, MY BOY!" Ozymandias called back as he soared over them enveloped in golden light into the heat of the war.
Tereza was not too far behind him, and stopped to address the group. “Aplogies dears, but we had to take care of something with The Madman and Lord Anti!” She then flew off to join her husband.
“OH SURE, NOW THEY SHOW UP!” Wynnstan groaned.
“Better late than never…” Waramunt remarked with hands on his hips. He received a slight glare from Wynnstan for that comment.
Just as Gratiana was about to further ask what the status of The Iron City was, she sensed a figure looming over her. She turned around to see a beast that looked like Milosh in his bastard beast form from so long ago. Gratiana was about to strike it down out of pure rage and disgust, but something had stabbed its head and caused a torrent of white lighting to electrocute it. As it fell to the ground with a massive thud, a knight in gold and white armor that Gratiana knew all too well stepped towards the group. “Eyes in the back of your head, sister. Don’t forget what father taught us…”
That gruff, yet comforting voice sent a surge of adrenaline through Gratiana’s veins, as she finally found the family member she had missed for so long. “GIDEON?!”
Next: Chapter 22
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
The amount of shadow constructs Karnage had created to wipe out The Iron City would have been beyond imagination and utterly apocalyptic for a realm such as Earth, but The Descendants were not going to go down without a fight, despite the insurmountable odds. The fight was at the east wall, with the vast army of The Iron City fending off wave after wave of attacking shadow constructs, supported by suppressing fire from the giant cannons of the city’s defense systems. Soldiers to guardsmen to knights were giving it all through a mix of gunfire, blades, and magic. There were minimal casualties so far and Englehart planned to keep it that way. And as much as he wanted to join his fellow Descendants, he was advised to stay back at the wall as several important people needed to meet with him. That did not stop him from providing ranged support with his magic when his soldiers were ganged up on, however.
Maximus, being a smaller recreation of The War Machine of Old, naturally received a massive upgrade that invigorated him with the power of his source when the city defense systems activated. Outfitted in heavy armor with two, giant howitzers on his back and rotary cannons mounted to his lower arms, he utterly annihilated anything that stood in his way. Evidently Karnage had found some large cells of the old Eternal Cult that were still loyal to Milosh, and they froze in sheer terror upon seeing the colossal knight zero in on them. They had become well acquainted with Maximus back during the fall of the church and even considered him a bit of a pushover at the time. Seeing the magical bomb the cultists were preparing, Maximus roared as his eyes blazed with untamed, red energy, and from them shot out a fearsome laser that evaporated all but two who fled as fast as they could.
“HA, WHO’S THE PUSHOVER NOW, YOU ETERNAL-CHURCH DOGS!” Maximus bellowed as he fired his howitzers at the group of juggernaut-class constructs the cultists were trying to regroup to. That was not exactly the most heroic thing to say, but Maximus had some pent up frustration from the time before Barna and Dunja showed up in Shadowland to finish off Milosh. Maximus then spotted a group of shadow golems that were trying to block a key route to the battlefield off in the distance and aimed his howitzers once more. The projectiles exploded out of them and detonated on impact with the golems, allowing many squadrons of mounted cavalry to ride into battle. To his surprise they were not from The Iron City or Shadowland, but from the Discordant Realm of Blood. They were Adelheid’s forces, which meant reinforcements from The Realm of Chaos were on their way. “YES, NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!” He cheered as a flock of jabberwocks and wyverns from the Discordant Realm of Lightning descended from the sky to rain furious lighting, plasma, and fire upon Karnage’s army.
Maximus needed to meet up with the squad from the ULTRAMagic Guild that were standing guard near the centermost entrance, and while he was on his way he saw something that got his blood pumping as hard as it could. Dragutin had soared in with Maxima and Mayhem, of which the chaos devil flew up into the sky with indigo fire. In his hands was what started out as an orb of blue and yellow fire, but grew into a massive sun that he compressed back into a ball-sized orb. He then wound up like a baseball pitcher and tossed the orb as hard as he could. “CHAOS MIRACLE BEYOND-HELLFIRE!” he called out as the orb went into the midst of Karnage’s army and created a mushroom cloud with its explosion. A force of that magnitude had the potential to harm their allies, so a knight in black armor with two greatshields slammed his armaments into the ground. Colossal, magical hands appeared and redirected the shockwave towards the enemy, which helped do even more damage to them.
Maximus laughed, feeling so proud to witness such incredible power. “Shoot, was that Waltheof!? Haha, time to get back to the others though…” Running as fast as he could despite being weighed down by his armor, he soon made it to the guild squad.
The group in question consisted of Wynnstan, Schwarzes, Ludwig, Audawakrs, Gebhard, Tressacht, The Hunger, and Morrigan. They were each fending off shadow constructs and providing any help to the soldiers that they could. Seeing a massive amount of golems and juggernauts making a break for them to get into the city walls, Audawakrs waved his wand in an elegant motion and the area around him began to rumble, as it felt like the fury of the Cosmos itself was about to explode out of him. “SACRED COMET OF AZURE-REND THE ENEMIES BEFORE ME!” The glowing beam of magic fury, brilliant like the moon, roared from his wand with the screams of reality itself straining to contain it as thousands of constructs were obliterated on the spot.
Someone amongst Karnage’s army had been preparing for such an attack and even more constructs charged forward, numbering in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. They were seeking to take advantage of Audawakrs’ exhaustion from such a great spell, but Tressacht laughed with hearty, condescending pride at them. The grunts approaching him were mere cannon fodder compared to the power he could wield. “BY THE SERPENT, COME FORTH, MIGHTY ROGUE WAVE!!”
Suddenly the immense force consisting of cultists and constructs that had barreled forward found themselves standing on an unending ocean, utterly confused by what had happened. And then they saw it, a mind-shattering wall of water that had to be at least 200 feet high that blocked out the light of day. The roar of the encroaching wave was enough to shatter anyone’s eardrums and the cultists felt any fervor they had drained from them as they realized they would not survive. Some tried to run, but most of them fell to their knees and accepted their fate with tears in their eyes as the shadow constructs roared in vain at the wave. Back in The Unlight, a juggernaut shadow construct was attempting to summon the force back, but this was stopped when The Hunger leapt up into the air and tossed down knives of golden, holy energy that ensnared the construct. He then slammed his greatsword into a sheath on his back and crashed down with a gigantic hammer as he landed. The immense force of the chunk of iron smashed the construct to pieces, something that was nigh-impossible for any normal person to do to a juggernaut construct.
“An excellent follow-up, honorable Hunger of Old!” Gebhard complimented as he slashed up a group of constructs with a sword sheathed in electrified sunlight. “HURRAH!” he roared as he slammed his blade into the ground, causing the ground beneath his foes to explode with great force.
The Hunger was about to thank him with his pride poking through, but he felt the winds whip around him and looked over in the distance to see a great tornado of lightning and glass sucking up construct after construct. “Brace yourselves, looks like Ludwig is going all out!!”
“NO PROBLEM HERE!” Wynnstan called out over the sound of gunfire as he fired his rotary cannon into the sky, taking out a group of flying constructs that were avoiding the fierce winds. “Slippery little-MORRIGAN, MAKE THEM STAY STILL!”
“RIGHT!” Her sword began glowing as she held out her hand. Roughly twenty of the flying constructs froze in air, allowing Wynnstan to finish them off.
A group of soldiers and knights began to run past once the coast was clear. “We were just about to ask for some cover, thank you!” the leader said as they moved forward.
“No problemo!” Wynnstan said with a salute. He then resumed firing his gun, only for nothing to come out of the rotating barrels. “BLAST, someone cover me while I reload!”
“I got your back, Wynnstan!” Maximus called out as he thundered up to them, opening fire on any shadow construct that tried to approach.
“Wynnstan, Ealdhelm told you to bring extra ammo reserves!” Schwarzes scolded as he flew in, firing off his starlight bow into the sky. This caused a meteor shower of shining arrows to rain down upon the enemy.
“I DID,” he shot back as he fumbled to summon a box of ammo that he slammed into the side of the gun. “We’re fighting thousands, if not millions of shadow constructs and I don’t have infinite ammo!”
“I’ll vouch for the boy, as The Eternal Order has definitely caught me off guard more times than I would like to admit to,” The Hunger said as he hurried over just in case he needed to provide any help.
Ludwig then flew over in his winged dog form, reverting back to his human form, and appearing out of breath. “I need a breather… just for a second…”
“You’re not running out of steam, are you, lad?” Tressacht asked, even though he was also trying to catch his breath a little.
“Well I think it’s fair to argue that we’re up against a bit of a wall here,” Audawakrs reasoned as he finally recuperated his strength, lifting up his torso after having leaned on his legs.
Morrigan gripped the hilt of her sword, feeling a knot in her chest that sought to shame her for her inadequacies. Feeling that anger surge to the top, she ran forward screaming her fury. Enveloped in violet lighting, a spectral blade in her other hand, she flew up into the air and came back down as a comet of purple fire. She took out a great deal of constructs growing nearer to the group, sailing up and down across the battlefield. The others called out for her to take it easy as she left herself wide open multiple times. As she circled around for another strike, a shadow golem with a mounted cannon fired a blast at her that knocked her out of her attack and sent her plummeting to the ground in a daze. By the time Morrigan regained her senses it was too late, but something grabbed her just in the nick of time.
The group cheered as what looked like a mix of an elegant swan and a majestic dragon carried Morrigan in her foot. Riding atop the beast’s back was Waramunt, so that could only mean that it was Lia. “And your connecting flight is here, Morrigan, haha!” Waramunt called out as he snapped his fingers, causing orbs of fire to appear alongside Lia and soar ahead.
“HOLD ON TIGHT, EVERYONE!” she warned as she ascended high into the sky. Waramunt and Morrigan could see an entire fleet of fighter planes and bombers in the distance before Lia suddenly plummeted, balls of what looked like wind being shot from her mouth. These hit the fire orbs and caused them to expand into mighty meteors that struck the battlefield with great power and took out the construct that had shot down Morrigan in the process. Lia then flew over to the group and gently deposited Morrigan next to them before landing.
Waramunt was about to speak, but had to cover his ears as the fleet of aircraft thundered overhead in a deafening symphony of engines, propellers, and jets. “Well, it looks like Shaye and Ahhotep have taken to the skies!” he declared, pointing out the B-17 Bomber leading the pack as the planes fired their guns and dropped hundreds of bombs on great swathes of the shadow construct army. “We’re in good hands now-trust me, I know from experience!”
And then another plane soared overhead lower in the sky, looking out of place amongst the fleet. It was a tri-plane with what Ludwig recognized as the regalia of the Almany Royal Air Fleet, but it was incredibly out of date. It then occurred to him who he was witnessing and he leapt up and cried out in proud joy. “THAT’S THE DUKE OF BULLETS! TOMEK KRAKOWSKI! OH MEIN GOTT!” The sudden excitement was invigorating, even if the others were not quite sure what he was talking about.
“Easy, lad,” Gebhard said, trying to calm him a little. “You’ll have to pardon us if we’re not quite sure who Tomek Krakowski is…”
“The Duke of Bullets is a hero of Almany! He led the charge of the Raging River Front, winning a decisive victory for Almany against the Vorherrschaft-Rodentia during World War II! How is he even here?! He died in the Battle of the Crimson Rhine!”
The Hunger nodded as the triplane dove, unleashing a hail of gunfire on the enemy. “From what I’ve learned, ULTRAMagic and his desire to fight brought him back, and now he’s joined the guild as ULTRAMagic Baron.”
“Ha, I like the cut of jib already,” Wynnstan complimented as he worked on repairing his gun. “Source, I hope Karnage isn’t planning something while we’re resting…” As if to spite him, a maniacal, bellowing laugh could be heard in the distance. “OH OF COURSE!!”
The foul laugh had come from a fierce, black and red colossus in the far distance. Covered in harsh armor that hurt the eyes merely by looking at it stood the false Tyrant God that Karnage had created. Standing on its shoulder, Karnage ordered it to attack the group. Inhaling a great breath and creating a typhoon in the process, the malignant abomination let out a grotesque stream of fire that screeched across the land like an evil comet ready to erase the group from existence. They all braced themselves as Schwarzes prepared to protect them, but this was not necessary. Two shields slammed down on the ground, creating a spectral great wall that blocked the attack. The knight then summoned a massive cannon mounted above his shields, and it fired with a thunder that could have deafened any mere man. The blast hit the false Tyrant God in the face, causing it to stumble back in a panic.
“Haha, a better shot was never loosed!” The knight declared as he dispelled the cannon and relaxed his stance.
“Good timing, Sir Waltheof McDarstin,” The Hunger said with a bow as he also relaxed.
Wynnstan audibly scoffed. “JEEZ, cutting it a little close, don’t you think?!”
“Well I’d dare say you didn’t bring enough ammo, as per your uncle’s warning…” Waltheof started to playfully chide with a laugh.
The group was then startled by one of the loudest cracks of thunder they had ever heard, followed by a being of metal and blue lightning flying over to them. “Are all of you okay?” It was Gratiana, whose spears were still sparking with the electricity of her previous encounter.
“Right as rain, Lady Arlotti-Schindewolf,” Waltheof replied. He would have bowed, but his armor and shields made that difficult.
“How’s the rest of the guild doing inside the city, Schwarzes?” she inquired.
He nodded, taking a breath to steady his nerves. “Aside from a few stray shadow constructs, everything’s good.”
Gratiana then turned to Lia. “And the city walls?”
“The Golem sent me and Waramunt to go out and assist the soldiers, given who has been showing up,” she answered.
“Very good. Here’s hoping Englehart isn’t growing too stir crazy…”
Maximus quickly realized that he was supposed to go to the western front to fortify it and silently panicked. “Oh shoot, Grandma, I was just about to head over to…”
“Don’t fret, Maximus, everything is secure over there,” she said, smiling as her right spear sparked a little. “How are things on this end?”
Schwarzes exhaled, looking incredibly frustrated and exhausted. “Please tell me we’re making progress with this godless battle…”
Tressacht laughed. “Godless, you say?”
The angel groaned. “One more time, Tressacht, and I’ll reveal who you actually are…” Tressacht laughed once more as it really did not matter at that point. He would prefer that that did not happen, but he also knew Schwarzes was stressed out and did not mean it.
“We’re making progress, Schwarzes, despite not actually putting a dent in Karnage’s vigor…” Gratiana lamented. “More reinforcements from the Realm of Chaos are on their way…” she then noticed a far off battle near one of the entrances. “Hold on one second…” She snapped her fingers, causing the most wicked thunderbolt to destroy the group of shadow constructs that were swarming that part of the wall.
A cavalry of spectral knights of golden light on horseback soon rode past, led by Alexia who had a bow and arrow of lightning ready to go. “My unending gratitude, Gratiana!” she called out as they thundered past. “SISTERS OF THE HOLY LIGHTING, READY-AIM-FIRE!” she ordered once they were in position. The arrows screamed into the sky, raining back down as spears of lightning that razed the battlefield and destroyed more of the encroaching shadow constructs.
“DAMN IT ALL, just how many shadow constructs does Karnage have!?” Waramunt complained. “And I thought Sebastian back in Red River City was bad…” he muttered to himself.
“We’re dealing with a twelfth dimensional god in Karnage, sadly,” The Hunger pointed out. “We’re going to need help, and soon.”
Wynnstan felt his irritation reach its breaking point and began stomping his feet. “HEY, OZYMANDIAS, TEREZA! GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE!” And that callout rang across the dimensions, as Wynnstan spoke it as loud as he could.
“ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE, MY BOY!" Ozymandias called back as he soared over them enveloped in golden light into the heat of the war.
Tereza was not too far behind him, and stopped to address the group. “Aplogies dears, but we had to take care of something with The Madman and Lord Anti!” She then flew off to join her husband.
“OH SURE, NOW THEY SHOW UP!” Wynnstan groaned.
“Better late than never…” Waramunt remarked with hands on his hips. He received a slight glare from Wynnstan for that comment.
Just as Gratiana was about to further ask what the status of The Iron City was, she sensed a figure looming over her. She turned around to see a beast that looked like Milosh in his bastard beast form from so long ago. Gratiana was about to strike it down out of pure rage and disgust, but something had stabbed its head and caused a torrent of white lighting to electrocute it. As it fell to the ground with a massive thud, a knight in gold and white armor that Gratiana knew all too well stepped towards the group. “Eyes in the back of your head, sister. Don’t forget what father taught us…”
That gruff, yet comforting voice sent a surge of adrenaline through Gratiana’s veins, as she finally found the family member she had missed for so long. “GIDEON?!”
Next: Chapter 22
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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