ULTRAMagic Eon 2 - Chapter 26
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Anton was not sure how Blood-Wraith would react to his presence given his recent history, but that outburst came from a place of admiration, no doubt stemming from a certain video game series the boy had played. “Indeed, Sir Raynot. I know this is a bit sudden, but now is not the time to be careful-footed given that our enemy is currently running amok.” Anton was a strong, handsome man wearing a strange military uniform that belonged to no military any common man would know. His black hair was combed back neatly, a thin pair of sideburns ran down to his trimmed beard, and his eyes were red like a gleaming apple.
Blood-Wraith let off an air burst that caused him to bounce up his chair. He was feeling a mix of excitement and wonder as so many questions raced into his mind. He had to pick the most important ones given how dire things were, however. “General Anton Bloodthresher! And if his majesty called you father, does that mean you’re the core personality of the Tyrant God?”
“Indeed I am, Blood-Wraith,” he answered as he took a seat in the cozy chair across from The Virus God. “I would say I’m surprised that you and the others in The Iron City didn’t figure it out sooner, but at the same time I have been going out of my way to hide my escape from The Requiem Cosmos from a certain god we all know and love…” He then called out The Sepulcher God in between coughs, causing everyone else to laugh and chuckle.
“Give me a second while I piece this together, my memories are a little fuzzy from dying…” Blood-Wraith said as he got up to pace, causing Anton and The Vermilion King to give each other regretful looks. “So if I remember Requiem Series lore correctly, the thing that caused the events of GRO was when Zistratorr went rogue and started rebelling against you… Who caused that?”
“I, Blood,” The Vermilion King answered. “I managed to slip into The Requiem Cosmos undetected and picked out Zistratorr as the most unassuming commander to help my father recall who he was. And I’d say it definitely worked…”
“Baring the fact that Zistratorr reincarnated as a gorgosaurus on Earth-23 in time for the extinction of the Dinosaurs…” Anton added with sympathy for his former commander.
“I’m sorry, what?” Damien interrupted. “A what-o-saurus? Also huh?!”
Anton chuckled as the boy’s confusion was endearing. He knew such questions would arise given all the strange things Damien had been through. “Gorgosaurus, a theropod that would have been native to western North America and popped up roughly 8 million years before The Tyrannosaurus Rex. They weren’t as big as the T-Rex, but were fast and nimble in comparison. As for Zistratorr, he reincarnated as what is commonly referred to as an animal spirit…”
“Quite the step up for a being that was never supposed to exist in the first place,” Ozymandias complimented.
“And who said The Reverse Serpent’s powers couldn’t do good?” The Virus God proposed, causing the others to chuckle.
“Where did he end up on Earth though?” Blood-Wraith inquired. “Adriana has been insistent about finding him, amongst the others under your command, Anton.”
“From what I’ve been told, he survived to modernity, went on to found the DELTA Corporation, and joined The League…”
“The League, I’ve heard about that…”
“Sorry we’re late, everyone!” Mads of all people interrupted as he walked into the lounge with another ar’ton following him. “Anti had to deal with Lord Shadow in Regnum Contritum again…”
“Hello, everyone!” Anti said with a wave. “Hopefully I didn’t hold things up too badly.”
“Lord Anti!” Tereza cried with a bow. “It is an honor to be in your presence…”
Anti chuckled and shook Tereza’s hand when she rose. “No need to be so formal, Tereza-we don’t have time for formalities at the moment, ha!”
“Oh, Blood, come here please,” Tereza said as she gestured for him to approach. “Blood, this is Lord Anti, Master of Positrons, one of the few thirteenth dimensional ar’ton.”
Blood-Wraith was amazed by Anti’s presence, but also intrigued by how simple he was, all things considered. He was a being of metal and his element (being a strange, red fire that acted and looked like plasma) adorned in spectacular armor, and one would think he was just a regular ar’ton at first glance. “It’s nice to meet you, Lord Anti,” Blood-Wraith said as he held out his hand.
“And it is an honor to meet you too, Sir Blood-Wraith Raynot…” Anti then noticed the unfortunate state of the boy as he shook his hand and quietly took a breath. “Oh dear, Karnage really did a number on you, didn’t he?” He then knelt down and gave Blood-Wraith a hug. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you all fixed up soon enough.”
“Oh, before we get started!” Blood-Wraith said as he went over to Anton in his chair. “Anton, please sign my GRO instruction booklet when you get the chance, please?”
Anton smiled and laughed, feeling incredibly warm for once in a long time. “Of course I can, Blood,” he promised with a handshake.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said as he went back to his chair. Something then occurred to him, a thought from before his death that he nearly forgot. “Wait a second! Tressacht and Siegberht are Thorogor and Senot-Drow, aren’t they?!”
“You’ve found me out, Blood!” Anton said with another laugh. “I sent them back in time in the hopes we could avert this catastrophe, but I see now their role was to make sure things went according to plan.”
“I know how you feel, Anton,” The Madman stated. “Trying to avert one’s fate only serves to hasten it. There are so many messes I would’ve preferred to prevent…”
“Um, hey, you guys aren’t mad at me for helping turn Audoin into a monster, are you?” Damien sheepishly inquired.
“Of course not, lad,” Anton answered. “You were manipulated by Karnage, who is the real enemy here. Now, since everyone is here, God himself wanted to join in on the conversation, but I’m not sure how he plans to do that. While he figures that out, I do have some housekeeping I’d like to address. Mads, when I asked you to take care of Camden, I expected you to take him to the Schindewolf’s…”
Mads chuckled as he leaned on Blood-Wraith’s chair. “Aw, don’t worry, Uncle. Reynard will keep him safe. Besides, you know him and General Dryden need to be updated on what’s going on.”
“Fair enough, I suppose…”
“Wait, he’s your uncle?” Damien questioned.
“Err, not quite. The Reverse Serpent is my dad and him and Anton are close, so I see Anton as a bit of an uncle now.”
Blood-Wraith leaned forward to look at Damien. “It’s complicated, especially given everything that Adriana’s division has data-mined from the Requiem games.”
“And that’s not to mention everything the games did not document,” Anton added. “Secondly, Blood-Wraith…” Anton wiped his face like he was changing a mask and revealed someone all too familiar to him. “To answer your burning question, yes, I was Milosh Proch.”
Blood-Wraith froze for a second seeing the face of the man who had manipulated Dunja and tried to usurp Shadowland so long ago. “I… I… I don’t know what to say… I mean, we pretty much had it figured out, but to hear you say it here and now…”
“I know, I have a lot to make up for,” he said as he returned his face back to normal. “It’s going to be a herculean task to apologize to Dunja, Barna, and Gratiana, and it’s a hole I dug for myself…”
“Tyrant, you can’t keep blaming yourself for the interference of Sepulcher, Threrth, and The Dead God,” The Virus God objected.
“I know, but I still could have stopped at any time-in fact, I had that little voice that tells you to quit while you’re ahead screaming at me to stop and give Shadowland back to Sten… Blood, how is Gummi doing?”
Blood-Wraith paused again, knowing Gummi nearly getting crushed in the final confrontation was weighing on Anton’s shoulders. “He’s doing fine, Anton. He joined the guild as ULTRAMagic Zenith and he’s been a good friend of mine.”
Anton gave a gentle sigh and it was like one could see the burden being lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you, Blood, for accepting him and giving him a place to be truly great…”
“A lesson all must learn-you can achieve greatness no matter what your origin is, as God loves all of his children regardless of what they do in life,” an older, yet wise voice said as it entered the room. Approaching the group was a bearded man with long hair, wearing a pointed magician’s hat, well-worn robes, and an ornate, leather coat with various tools and materials in the pockets.
“Well I’ll be-The Child of Old himself!” The Madman said as he went over and patted him on the back. “What are you doing in this neck of the woods, Hermes?”
Hermes laughed as The Madman’s pat was quite strong, causing him to stumble a little. “It is good to see you too, Madman. As for my presence, blessed by the light, The Source; God, has asked me to speak on his behalf and be his eyes and ears for this most important forum. And I see the one chosen by The Dragon of Old is here with us.”
Blood-Wraith got up and was quietly overwhelmed by Hermes’ greatness. “Venerable Hermes Trismegistus!” he said with a bow. “It’s an honor to meet you, as I’ve read your works, especially the Corpus Hermeticum…”
Hermes chuckled as he got down to give Blood-Wraith a comforting hug. “And it makes me proud to hear that you are so studious, but I will note that my original text was in Atlantean, which was subject to degradation over the vast eons.” Hermes then made his way over to his chair and took a seat, with a butler preparing some tea for him. “My works have been added to by various authors claiming to be me, and even Asclepius and Tat have taken their turn writing in my name. I do not detest such additions to my work, but there are things I wish I could publicly correct. You must certainly know how frustrating information loss can be…”
Blood-Wraith nodded as he returned to his chair, feeling like he was talking to a long time friend in the great mage. “Yeah, I’ve certainly had trouble studying certain subjects like the Lost Era, the Epoch, and The Epoch-Modernity Transition Era… Hermes, I know it’s a lot to ask, but would you like to join The ULTRAMagic Guild? It would be an honor to have you with us.”
“I don’t see why not, my boy, as you’ve already invited Spiritus Magni Drusa into your fellowship, and she was one of Atlantis’ best scholars-an underrated one if you ask me, as the things she dared to study were freighting to those just beginning to seek gnosis and Nous. You can imagine that her following was not the biggest given those circumstances…”
Anton cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. “Not to interrupt you, honorable Trismegistus, but I’d argue it is time to inform Blood on what he needs to do…”
Hermes laughed, feeling a little bad for holding things up. “My apologies, General, as I tend to get carried away when I speak of God and enlightenment.”
Anton then turned to The Vermilion King. “Son, would you like to explain your plan to Blood?”
The Vermilion King gave a nervous smile as he noticed Blood-Wraith’s expression turned to that of inquiry. “Right… my angle… How do I put this delicately? Blood, I needed you to die at the hands of Karnage…”
Blood-Wraith groaned as he felt the pain of Karnage ripping his ULTRAMagic out come back, but this time it was out of frustration. “Why exactly?" he asked in a slightly drawn out tone.
The Vermilion King began to walk around the lounge, sticking close to the chairs. The guilt he felt was almost perceptible. “Following my defeat at the hands of Ignatius and The Arbiters of Droom, I inevitably came to my senses and began to formulate a new plan, one that didn’t involve overthrowing God. Karnage was still my target, and I needed to take advantage of his arrogance. The idea was after Shadowland was freed, you would come to Karnage’s attention so he would steal your ULTRAMagic…’
There was a moment of silence as Blood-Wraith had the most incredulous, annoyed look on his face, and the king froze in guilt when he saw it. “I’m sorry, but what does this have to do with me and Leif?!” Blood-Wraith demanded to know.
“Well, we needed you to come here and for Karnage to assume he had won…”
“HOLD UP, why don’t you guys just smite him from existence?! We literally have a thirteenth dimensional ar’ton right here!” Blood-Wraith exclaimed as he pointed at Anti.
“Easy now, Blood,” Tereza cautioned.
“No no, it’s a fair question, Tereza,” Anti replied. “Theoretically yes, I could smite Karnage right now and we’d all be done with this issue. With third and fourth dimensionals it’s terrifyingly easy-in fact I’ll show you…” Anti then formed a bubble of light in his hand and poked a finger into it. “Oskar Schlösser, one of Audoin’s top advisors? Gone-out of our hair!”
“Wait, who?” the others said in near unison (with variations of the question).
“Exactly. I don’t like doing it to begin with, and the fact that Karnage is anywhere from 8D to 12D makes it extremely hard, to the point where I could actually destroy the Cosmos itself. I’m bigger than all of creation, so it would be like stepping on a toy and breaking it at my scale. I could put it back together, but let’s avoid this issue altogether.”
Damien seemed a little scared by Lord Anti’s display of power. “Wait… you-you didn’t…”
“No, of course not. All I did was send him somewhere else where he can’t do any harm.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Hermes spoke up. “As much as I can empathize with your frustration, Blood-Wraith, it would be disrespectful of us to take such drastic measures. As much as Karnage has sinned, for all of the damage he’s caused, for all of the irreverence he has committed-we are in no position to say who should and should not exist within the Cosmos. As much as God weeps over the havoc The Behemoth God has wrought, he cannot bring himself to truly hate him, as he is his child just like you and I. And who would we be if we were to smite him? Karnage has not smote anyone, so we’d be arguably worse than him in that regard…”
Blood-Wraith groaned as loud as he could, his flames reappearing for the briefest of moments. “Oh of course it has to be a matter of morality…” he growled.
Anton felt a little cheeky, reflecting on his past for a second. “Blood, I figured you were better than that…”
“Zip it, Milosh!” he shot back, causing everyone else to laugh.
“Don’t worry,” The Vermilion King interjected. “I know this seems like a mess, but we have the upper hand at the moment…”
“Vermilion, please be fully transparent this time,” Ozymandias cut in.
“Yes, I’m getting to that. Blood, Leif was aware of all of this and made plans to vanquish Karnage once and for all. Ideally he would have handled it himself, but he needed to reincarnate. He was looking for a successor to inherit his power and your bravery against The Lich of Old made it clear to him that you were the one, Blood.”
“Gee, I thought killing Karnage was a bad thing…” the boy mocked, feeling his irritation linger.
The Vermilion King stuttered over his words for a second in frustration. “I know what I’m saying, but this is a case where he has become an unrelenting force of evil and irreverence, and he won’t stop unless we stop him once and for all…”
“If only it were that simple…” Anton quietly remarked, mostly unnoticed by the others.
“This isn’t like the Extinction Order floozies on Earth that Will and The League deal with, where we can shame them into giving up,” Mads pointed out.
Blood-Wraith nodded and calmed down, taking it all in. “Alright then… but wasn’t Leif only fifth dimensional? I think I am going to need a lot more power than that to stop Karnage…”
Mads grinned and tapped Blood-Wraith’s shoulder. “Ready for the big reveal, buddy? Leif was actually tenth dimensional.”
“Wait, really?!”
“Leif left half of his power in The Ogdoad for you to claim, Blood,” The Virus God continued. “And you were given the half he held onto when you accepted his soul fragment, with him using a makeshift form of void magic in the final battle with The Lich. As an aside, you wouldn’t believe how much convincing we had to do to get The Great Unspeaker to help us with all of that, haha.”
The amazement in regards to that level of planning Blood-Wraith felt was second to none, and it made him appreciate Leif even more than he had before. “Incredible… So I was 5D this entire time?”
“And you’ll be a proper ar’ton once you accept Leif’s power,” Anti answered. “Not only that, but you will become the new Dragon of Old-an ar’ton dragon, if you will.”
Hermes stood up, sensing something dire in The Unlight. “Perhaps we should move this discussion to the gateway of The Ogdoad, as I can sense Karnage beginning to increase his efforts to destroy The Iron City…”
Anton could sense it too and nodded. “Indeed, Trismegistus. Blood, Damien, follow us.”
“Wait, what am I supposed to do when I get back to The Unlight with Leif’s power?” Blood questioned as he followed the group out of the lounge.
“You’ll use your power over curses to show Karnage and Sepulcher what a true mage sanctified by God himself can do,” The Vermilion King proudly stated, the anticipation of his vengeance against Karnage coming to fruition tantalizing him and being felt by everyone around him.
"Sepulcher's got his own curses, but it’s about time we show him what Ermenrich’s magic can really do,” The Madman added. “You think you’re ready to dish out some serious magic, Blood?”
Blood-Wraith exhaled, feeling incredibly nervous. “I’ll do whatever it takes to save my friends, family, and home, Madman… I’m still nervous though.”
“Aren’t we all, Blood?” Anton asked. “The anxiety is murder, but also exhilarating in a ‘laughing in the face of danger’ kind of way.”
Next: Chapter 27
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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Anton was not sure how Blood-Wraith would react to his presence given his recent history, but that outburst came from a place of admiration, no doubt stemming from a certain video game series the boy had played. “Indeed, Sir Raynot. I know this is a bit sudden, but now is not the time to be careful-footed given that our enemy is currently running amok.” Anton was a strong, handsome man wearing a strange military uniform that belonged to no military any common man would know. His black hair was combed back neatly, a thin pair of sideburns ran down to his trimmed beard, and his eyes were red like a gleaming apple.
Blood-Wraith let off an air burst that caused him to bounce up his chair. He was feeling a mix of excitement and wonder as so many questions raced into his mind. He had to pick the most important ones given how dire things were, however. “General Anton Bloodthresher! And if his majesty called you father, does that mean you’re the core personality of the Tyrant God?”
“Indeed I am, Blood-Wraith,” he answered as he took a seat in the cozy chair across from The Virus God. “I would say I’m surprised that you and the others in The Iron City didn’t figure it out sooner, but at the same time I have been going out of my way to hide my escape from The Requiem Cosmos from a certain god we all know and love…” He then called out The Sepulcher God in between coughs, causing everyone else to laugh and chuckle.
“Give me a second while I piece this together, my memories are a little fuzzy from dying…” Blood-Wraith said as he got up to pace, causing Anton and The Vermilion King to give each other regretful looks. “So if I remember Requiem Series lore correctly, the thing that caused the events of GRO was when Zistratorr went rogue and started rebelling against you… Who caused that?”
“I, Blood,” The Vermilion King answered. “I managed to slip into The Requiem Cosmos undetected and picked out Zistratorr as the most unassuming commander to help my father recall who he was. And I’d say it definitely worked…”
“Baring the fact that Zistratorr reincarnated as a gorgosaurus on Earth-23 in time for the extinction of the Dinosaurs…” Anton added with sympathy for his former commander.
“I’m sorry, what?” Damien interrupted. “A what-o-saurus? Also huh?!”
Anton chuckled as the boy’s confusion was endearing. He knew such questions would arise given all the strange things Damien had been through. “Gorgosaurus, a theropod that would have been native to western North America and popped up roughly 8 million years before The Tyrannosaurus Rex. They weren’t as big as the T-Rex, but were fast and nimble in comparison. As for Zistratorr, he reincarnated as what is commonly referred to as an animal spirit…”
“Quite the step up for a being that was never supposed to exist in the first place,” Ozymandias complimented.
“And who said The Reverse Serpent’s powers couldn’t do good?” The Virus God proposed, causing the others to chuckle.
“Where did he end up on Earth though?” Blood-Wraith inquired. “Adriana has been insistent about finding him, amongst the others under your command, Anton.”
“From what I’ve been told, he survived to modernity, went on to found the DELTA Corporation, and joined The League…”
“The League, I’ve heard about that…”
“Sorry we’re late, everyone!” Mads of all people interrupted as he walked into the lounge with another ar’ton following him. “Anti had to deal with Lord Shadow in Regnum Contritum again…”
“Hello, everyone!” Anti said with a wave. “Hopefully I didn’t hold things up too badly.”
“Lord Anti!” Tereza cried with a bow. “It is an honor to be in your presence…”
Anti chuckled and shook Tereza’s hand when she rose. “No need to be so formal, Tereza-we don’t have time for formalities at the moment, ha!”
“Oh, Blood, come here please,” Tereza said as she gestured for him to approach. “Blood, this is Lord Anti, Master of Positrons, one of the few thirteenth dimensional ar’ton.”
Blood-Wraith was amazed by Anti’s presence, but also intrigued by how simple he was, all things considered. He was a being of metal and his element (being a strange, red fire that acted and looked like plasma) adorned in spectacular armor, and one would think he was just a regular ar’ton at first glance. “It’s nice to meet you, Lord Anti,” Blood-Wraith said as he held out his hand.
“And it is an honor to meet you too, Sir Blood-Wraith Raynot…” Anti then noticed the unfortunate state of the boy as he shook his hand and quietly took a breath. “Oh dear, Karnage really did a number on you, didn’t he?” He then knelt down and gave Blood-Wraith a hug. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you all fixed up soon enough.”
“Oh, before we get started!” Blood-Wraith said as he went over to Anton in his chair. “Anton, please sign my GRO instruction booklet when you get the chance, please?”
Anton smiled and laughed, feeling incredibly warm for once in a long time. “Of course I can, Blood,” he promised with a handshake.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said as he went back to his chair. Something then occurred to him, a thought from before his death that he nearly forgot. “Wait a second! Tressacht and Siegberht are Thorogor and Senot-Drow, aren’t they?!”
“You’ve found me out, Blood!” Anton said with another laugh. “I sent them back in time in the hopes we could avert this catastrophe, but I see now their role was to make sure things went according to plan.”
“I know how you feel, Anton,” The Madman stated. “Trying to avert one’s fate only serves to hasten it. There are so many messes I would’ve preferred to prevent…”
“Um, hey, you guys aren’t mad at me for helping turn Audoin into a monster, are you?” Damien sheepishly inquired.
“Of course not, lad,” Anton answered. “You were manipulated by Karnage, who is the real enemy here. Now, since everyone is here, God himself wanted to join in on the conversation, but I’m not sure how he plans to do that. While he figures that out, I do have some housekeeping I’d like to address. Mads, when I asked you to take care of Camden, I expected you to take him to the Schindewolf’s…”
Mads chuckled as he leaned on Blood-Wraith’s chair. “Aw, don’t worry, Uncle. Reynard will keep him safe. Besides, you know him and General Dryden need to be updated on what’s going on.”
“Fair enough, I suppose…”
“Wait, he’s your uncle?” Damien questioned.
“Err, not quite. The Reverse Serpent is my dad and him and Anton are close, so I see Anton as a bit of an uncle now.”
Blood-Wraith leaned forward to look at Damien. “It’s complicated, especially given everything that Adriana’s division has data-mined from the Requiem games.”
“And that’s not to mention everything the games did not document,” Anton added. “Secondly, Blood-Wraith…” Anton wiped his face like he was changing a mask and revealed someone all too familiar to him. “To answer your burning question, yes, I was Milosh Proch.”
Blood-Wraith froze for a second seeing the face of the man who had manipulated Dunja and tried to usurp Shadowland so long ago. “I… I… I don’t know what to say… I mean, we pretty much had it figured out, but to hear you say it here and now…”
“I know, I have a lot to make up for,” he said as he returned his face back to normal. “It’s going to be a herculean task to apologize to Dunja, Barna, and Gratiana, and it’s a hole I dug for myself…”
“Tyrant, you can’t keep blaming yourself for the interference of Sepulcher, Threrth, and The Dead God,” The Virus God objected.
“I know, but I still could have stopped at any time-in fact, I had that little voice that tells you to quit while you’re ahead screaming at me to stop and give Shadowland back to Sten… Blood, how is Gummi doing?”
Blood-Wraith paused again, knowing Gummi nearly getting crushed in the final confrontation was weighing on Anton’s shoulders. “He’s doing fine, Anton. He joined the guild as ULTRAMagic Zenith and he’s been a good friend of mine.”
Anton gave a gentle sigh and it was like one could see the burden being lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you, Blood, for accepting him and giving him a place to be truly great…”
“A lesson all must learn-you can achieve greatness no matter what your origin is, as God loves all of his children regardless of what they do in life,” an older, yet wise voice said as it entered the room. Approaching the group was a bearded man with long hair, wearing a pointed magician’s hat, well-worn robes, and an ornate, leather coat with various tools and materials in the pockets.
“Well I’ll be-The Child of Old himself!” The Madman said as he went over and patted him on the back. “What are you doing in this neck of the woods, Hermes?”
Hermes laughed as The Madman’s pat was quite strong, causing him to stumble a little. “It is good to see you too, Madman. As for my presence, blessed by the light, The Source; God, has asked me to speak on his behalf and be his eyes and ears for this most important forum. And I see the one chosen by The Dragon of Old is here with us.”
Blood-Wraith got up and was quietly overwhelmed by Hermes’ greatness. “Venerable Hermes Trismegistus!” he said with a bow. “It’s an honor to meet you, as I’ve read your works, especially the Corpus Hermeticum…”
Hermes chuckled as he got down to give Blood-Wraith a comforting hug. “And it makes me proud to hear that you are so studious, but I will note that my original text was in Atlantean, which was subject to degradation over the vast eons.” Hermes then made his way over to his chair and took a seat, with a butler preparing some tea for him. “My works have been added to by various authors claiming to be me, and even Asclepius and Tat have taken their turn writing in my name. I do not detest such additions to my work, but there are things I wish I could publicly correct. You must certainly know how frustrating information loss can be…”
Blood-Wraith nodded as he returned to his chair, feeling like he was talking to a long time friend in the great mage. “Yeah, I’ve certainly had trouble studying certain subjects like the Lost Era, the Epoch, and The Epoch-Modernity Transition Era… Hermes, I know it’s a lot to ask, but would you like to join The ULTRAMagic Guild? It would be an honor to have you with us.”
“I don’t see why not, my boy, as you’ve already invited Spiritus Magni Drusa into your fellowship, and she was one of Atlantis’ best scholars-an underrated one if you ask me, as the things she dared to study were freighting to those just beginning to seek gnosis and Nous. You can imagine that her following was not the biggest given those circumstances…”
Anton cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. “Not to interrupt you, honorable Trismegistus, but I’d argue it is time to inform Blood on what he needs to do…”
Hermes laughed, feeling a little bad for holding things up. “My apologies, General, as I tend to get carried away when I speak of God and enlightenment.”
Anton then turned to The Vermilion King. “Son, would you like to explain your plan to Blood?”
The Vermilion King gave a nervous smile as he noticed Blood-Wraith’s expression turned to that of inquiry. “Right… my angle… How do I put this delicately? Blood, I needed you to die at the hands of Karnage…”
Blood-Wraith groaned as he felt the pain of Karnage ripping his ULTRAMagic out come back, but this time it was out of frustration. “Why exactly?" he asked in a slightly drawn out tone.
The Vermilion King began to walk around the lounge, sticking close to the chairs. The guilt he felt was almost perceptible. “Following my defeat at the hands of Ignatius and The Arbiters of Droom, I inevitably came to my senses and began to formulate a new plan, one that didn’t involve overthrowing God. Karnage was still my target, and I needed to take advantage of his arrogance. The idea was after Shadowland was freed, you would come to Karnage’s attention so he would steal your ULTRAMagic…’
There was a moment of silence as Blood-Wraith had the most incredulous, annoyed look on his face, and the king froze in guilt when he saw it. “I’m sorry, but what does this have to do with me and Leif?!” Blood-Wraith demanded to know.
“Well, we needed you to come here and for Karnage to assume he had won…”
“HOLD UP, why don’t you guys just smite him from existence?! We literally have a thirteenth dimensional ar’ton right here!” Blood-Wraith exclaimed as he pointed at Anti.
“Easy now, Blood,” Tereza cautioned.
“No no, it’s a fair question, Tereza,” Anti replied. “Theoretically yes, I could smite Karnage right now and we’d all be done with this issue. With third and fourth dimensionals it’s terrifyingly easy-in fact I’ll show you…” Anti then formed a bubble of light in his hand and poked a finger into it. “Oskar Schlösser, one of Audoin’s top advisors? Gone-out of our hair!”
“Wait, who?” the others said in near unison (with variations of the question).
“Exactly. I don’t like doing it to begin with, and the fact that Karnage is anywhere from 8D to 12D makes it extremely hard, to the point where I could actually destroy the Cosmos itself. I’m bigger than all of creation, so it would be like stepping on a toy and breaking it at my scale. I could put it back together, but let’s avoid this issue altogether.”
Damien seemed a little scared by Lord Anti’s display of power. “Wait… you-you didn’t…”
“No, of course not. All I did was send him somewhere else where he can’t do any harm.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Hermes spoke up. “As much as I can empathize with your frustration, Blood-Wraith, it would be disrespectful of us to take such drastic measures. As much as Karnage has sinned, for all of the damage he’s caused, for all of the irreverence he has committed-we are in no position to say who should and should not exist within the Cosmos. As much as God weeps over the havoc The Behemoth God has wrought, he cannot bring himself to truly hate him, as he is his child just like you and I. And who would we be if we were to smite him? Karnage has not smote anyone, so we’d be arguably worse than him in that regard…”
Blood-Wraith groaned as loud as he could, his flames reappearing for the briefest of moments. “Oh of course it has to be a matter of morality…” he growled.
Anton felt a little cheeky, reflecting on his past for a second. “Blood, I figured you were better than that…”
“Zip it, Milosh!” he shot back, causing everyone else to laugh.
“Don’t worry,” The Vermilion King interjected. “I know this seems like a mess, but we have the upper hand at the moment…”
“Vermilion, please be fully transparent this time,” Ozymandias cut in.
“Yes, I’m getting to that. Blood, Leif was aware of all of this and made plans to vanquish Karnage once and for all. Ideally he would have handled it himself, but he needed to reincarnate. He was looking for a successor to inherit his power and your bravery against The Lich of Old made it clear to him that you were the one, Blood.”
“Gee, I thought killing Karnage was a bad thing…” the boy mocked, feeling his irritation linger.
The Vermilion King stuttered over his words for a second in frustration. “I know what I’m saying, but this is a case where he has become an unrelenting force of evil and irreverence, and he won’t stop unless we stop him once and for all…”
“If only it were that simple…” Anton quietly remarked, mostly unnoticed by the others.
“This isn’t like the Extinction Order floozies on Earth that Will and The League deal with, where we can shame them into giving up,” Mads pointed out.
Blood-Wraith nodded and calmed down, taking it all in. “Alright then… but wasn’t Leif only fifth dimensional? I think I am going to need a lot more power than that to stop Karnage…”
Mads grinned and tapped Blood-Wraith’s shoulder. “Ready for the big reveal, buddy? Leif was actually tenth dimensional.”
“Wait, really?!”
“Leif left half of his power in The Ogdoad for you to claim, Blood,” The Virus God continued. “And you were given the half he held onto when you accepted his soul fragment, with him using a makeshift form of void magic in the final battle with The Lich. As an aside, you wouldn’t believe how much convincing we had to do to get The Great Unspeaker to help us with all of that, haha.”
The amazement in regards to that level of planning Blood-Wraith felt was second to none, and it made him appreciate Leif even more than he had before. “Incredible… So I was 5D this entire time?”
“And you’ll be a proper ar’ton once you accept Leif’s power,” Anti answered. “Not only that, but you will become the new Dragon of Old-an ar’ton dragon, if you will.”
Hermes stood up, sensing something dire in The Unlight. “Perhaps we should move this discussion to the gateway of The Ogdoad, as I can sense Karnage beginning to increase his efforts to destroy The Iron City…”
Anton could sense it too and nodded. “Indeed, Trismegistus. Blood, Damien, follow us.”
“Wait, what am I supposed to do when I get back to The Unlight with Leif’s power?” Blood questioned as he followed the group out of the lounge.
“You’ll use your power over curses to show Karnage and Sepulcher what a true mage sanctified by God himself can do,” The Vermilion King proudly stated, the anticipation of his vengeance against Karnage coming to fruition tantalizing him and being felt by everyone around him.
"Sepulcher's got his own curses, but it’s about time we show him what Ermenrich’s magic can really do,” The Madman added. “You think you’re ready to dish out some serious magic, Blood?”
Blood-Wraith exhaled, feeling incredibly nervous. “I’ll do whatever it takes to save my friends, family, and home, Madman… I’m still nervous though.”
“Aren’t we all, Blood?” Anton asked. “The anxiety is murder, but also exhilarating in a ‘laughing in the face of danger’ kind of way.”
Next: Chapter 27
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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