"In the glory of combat, we will be eternal! gods, men, devil, and those beyond will hear our name and tremble!"
Speech by the mad king of Grannarius.
Rose de Castellon. Tomoe and Hvtial stalked among the freshly cut grass road leading to Lucrezia's base, all around them, boxes, carts, men, and women running, walking, and sometimes flying with boxes, and weapons, among other stuff.
"Her forces must be already number in the 600. not counting the men she brought over as personal guard" Tomoe spoke in hushed whispers "Look at that, Dire Horses! I've seen the ones in the steppes of the Shogunate but never the Northern ones! Majestic creatures"
Hvtial pointed to the skies "Gods above and below, Principality airships"
The girls looked up into the horizon, indeed those were the banners of the fair elves who seldom interacted with people outside of their borders, above them a great white dragon flew lazily, enjoying the warm breeze and sunshine on her scales.
"Fighters? nay it can't be, those are learned folk from that pretentious hellhole" Rose spoke and spat on the ground "Gods I hate those elves"
Hvtial shared a glance with Tomoe, and she nodded, yep best to not talk about it, she was still sore about the princeling it seems.
A small group of Wulfgrem Knights trotted by on top of their horses, on patrol it seemed, Tomoe stretched her hand to pet the hell beast that towered above her, and somehow she didn't lose her arm to it.
The Knight who was removing her plate was astonished "How, it took me 2 full weeks to even earn the right to get near that beast!" in that strong northern accent of theirs, which was music to Hvtial and Rose's ears.
Tomoe smiled "I am from the Steppes ser...?"
"Yda" the young woman took her glove off and shook Tomoe's hand "Ah makes sense then, Hjor here has Shogunate Steppe blood on her, from her mother I am told" Hjor neighed with pride "Yes I know you love your mother very much"
"Come to join the war effort eh? if you need directions just keep going straight, Richard is taking people now, our Knight Commander is drilling the first batch of recruits, well as much as he can with noble scions..." Yda trailed off "If you want to ride Hjor here you gotta join first Little one! I'll be around!" she somehow made her plate and gloves disappear and got up the horse, riding off to what the trio assumed was the Knights Barracks.
"Dimensional storage? that's not something you give to random rank and file Knights" Rose whistled "No wonder Lucrezia is having so much cargo being moved to here"
The trio marched on, on their way more and more of the Academy trinity activity was revealed to them, from ironworks to crafts and even the art folk! the School band was out in force, their shiny new Magi-Tech instruments blaring tunes that filled the trio with fervor.
"Music, she's using music to deepen the fighting spirit of this "army" of hers, a curious strategy, do you recognize this song in particular Rose?" Tomoe's ears perked as she got close to her friend, who nodded a no.
"Nay, not a tune my Knights sing or is played in the ballrooms of high society, this must be one of her own if I had to guess, word around the Academy is that the morale of her men has raised tenfold thanks to it" Rose finished with a sigh "All that without a single Musical Blessing, can you believe this Hvtial? my old man had to grant a lease of a small town to our Chief Bard in charge of keeping morale, and the woman barely knows how to lift a sword!"
"I feel your pain Rose, our Bard was the same, but at least the man had raised himself 5 daughters who became fine Knights for my family" He spoke with a bit of pride.
"From different mothers, who were also Knights, in your family's barracks" Tomoe laughed, as did Hvtial "Heads up, we are at the end of the journey"
The trio saw Richard sitting, in front of him a desk full of papers he was neatly writing on as his Blessing blasted divine power all around him, some came to talk with him from time to time but it was clear even in this lull the man was keeping busy.
"I heard he's fucking Lucrezia together with the Arch-Mage boy, every night" Rose whispered to her friends, Tomoe had a look of surprise but Hvtial shook his head "Lies by those who dislike her, we would've seen the signs at class had something of the sort happened with any sort of frequency"
"Oh excuse me mister Saal'Xhir fan number one, I can't smell cock juice a mile away in the womenfolk of the Academy" Rose fired back with a smirk only for the Dragonkin to shake his head.
"Enough with the banter" Tomoe barked before the two started yet another round of their dance that indicated (to her at least) they had a thing for each other, she approached Richard with fast steps, with the other two following right after her.
"Tomoe" Richard smiled "And our class representative as well, is that Miss Castellon I spy as well? Look at that, what do I owe the honor of your presence on this fine day?" Richard spoke without stopping writing on his paper, his eyes locked with Tomoe's.
"That's a good skill to have" Rose spoke "Yes hello Richard, I've come here to join Lucrezia's little offensive against that rotten bastard" she spat on the ground again.
"Indeed, We were wondering if we could be placed together in the same squadron? We three have ample experience with monster hunting and dungeon delving, as with horse riding, archery, and siege tactics"
Richard made a face that said he was impressed "Siege tactics huh, she did say that...Ki and Magic-users as well..." he began filing a piece of paper, Rose looked at the paper and the others in the pile
Their paper was crimson.
Richard smiled, his head still down while he wrote "Sharp as always Rose, indeed you three are not being sent to do grunt work" he finished writing it and got up, in his hand, three small badges died crimson "You are working under me know, as officers in training for my very own squadron"
An elven woman, her face marked by combat scars came up to them and saluted "Force Commander Richard, you are to meet by Lady Lucrezia right now"
He smiled and rubbed his hands "C'mon friends, time to meet the woman in charge!"
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Kaine watched as Richard, fresh off the meeting with Lucrezia and now his personal aides from their class began mastering spells that would take even the most gifted acolyte a few good weeks of intense training and studying.
"Richard" Kaine called him and the boy froze up, with a nod Kaine began casting spells that would flush out any Fallen or Cosmic entity influence on him and there was...Nothing, nothing but the hum of his Divine Blessing of some merchant god.
"Anything wrong with my form Kaine?" He asked looking at the spear, whose insides now had a wand because Lucrezia was apparently a fan of modular weapons.
"Yes, you are breathing too much mana into what should be done with shaping and weaving, don't overpower your spells as our friend does, you don't have the reserves for it, I'll give you a book on shaping exercises and math-related equations that will better the flow of your inner reserves"
Richard's trio as Kaine had internally called them whispered amongst themselves when Lucrezia came into their little training ward, she was flanked by a Kitsune woman that was as tall as a bloody ogre, she was somehow hiding behind Lucrezia's frame, her face red as a lobster and on her back an impressive staff of silver and obsidian.
Kaine's eyes narrowed, that was Imperium made, it had all the hallmarks of their particular brand of sorcery, focusing on speed and overwhelming power that could make a single battlemage as strong as a full battalion.
Lucrezia stopped and watched as Richard mixed spells and attacks, his spear flowing in focused strikes.
"You fight like an orc," She said to him "Anyway, Kaine this is Kaede, our strongest would-be mage of this army" the tall woman squeaked and went even redder, if that wasn't a fever then Kaine probably found the shyest person in this Academy.
"Greater Blessing by that whelp who thinks too highly of herself for being so close to mana" His patron goddess boomed in his left ear, he could only shake his head at the fact she spoke with him now of all times.
Petty, stuck in her ways, quick to anger, the Goddess of Time was a handful, but Kaine dealt with worse.
"A pleasure miss Kaede" he extended his hand but she refuses to shake it, nodding to avoid even more awkwardness he turned to Lucrezia and asked, "You aren't known to attract shy people, what gives?"
"She was being bullied by her classmates over her Imperium ancestry, you know how these nobles are" there's always a note of disgust when Lucrezia spoke of nobility, even when she was part of that group Kaine noticed.
"Squandering talent thanks to preconceptions, a tale as old as time" Kaine shook his head, his parents told him time and time again about this, trying their best to not do it in the places they had power but seeing it happening right in front of him was another experience altogether.
"Well Lady Kaede, you can be absolutely sure I will not treat you so rudely" Kaine spoke in an authoritative tone staring down the woman who was taller than him by more than a few centimeters. She nodded in silence, good she got the message.
Lucrezia called Richard and his gang for a walk, leaving the two alone in their field, Kaine not minding the fact she was silent as a grave went on casting repair spells across the place, as Richard had wrecked his targets and surrounding area quite a bit.
"...Why do you shape your mana like that, it feels off like the math isn't there but..." Kaede spoke after a while, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"That's mostly Gwenarius influence on my spellcraft, notice how the weaving of this particular repair spell for wood and metal seems to bend the Agameon coefficient" he pointed to a target in the background "Yet it doesn't it, now an arch-mage might be able to do the same with sheer mana as the stuff is interlaced with time-space but it would take literal centuries for said arch-mage to even begin to crack this"
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Kaine began rattling off odd and ends of how having control of a Greater Blessing like his was a monumental boon to his spellcraft, Kaede's eyes were wide as a child as she fired more and more questions about it.
"Oh but you totally can get there, matter of fact I bet you Gwennarius would get mad even" Kaine had a smirk on his face "A greater blessing by the Goddess of Magic, that's powerful stuff Kaede, powerful enough to fill the gap and get to my level"
"...Or surpassed it..." The Kitsune smiled for the first time and Kaine knew she had finally broken out of her shell, teased along by his mastery of the inner workings of the many theories and principles every mage knew but was hungry to know more, for knowledge was power.
"Now I've rattled off theory to put my mother to sleep," Kaine said "Fancy a round of spell-slinging? whoever can fire the most spells before tapping out wins" Kaine snapped his fingers and a tally made out of mana went up, showing their names below it.
"I don't know as many spells as you do but sure! let's do this!" She grabbed her staff and began sending down bolts of green lighting, red gusts of air, and dark ice spears into the targets, Kaine grabbed his Magi-Tech staff and got to work, weaving a series of magic missiles, a thunderbolt cloud, and will-o-whisps that would track down and hunt moving targets.
As he watched her and she watched him he saw more than a few issues in her form, poor mana control, the Blessing was doing triple time duty in regulating the power output of each spell, fixing shaping and weaving issues on the fly, and filling the blanks where her technical and arcane knowledge failed or wasn't there, to begin with, in a way she reminded him of Lucrezia's using magic as a hammer, uncaring to the many improvements she could do to it.
Kaede was expecting a rant from him he could tell, that those bullied had their tells when it came to handling stress and Kaine was seeing how as time dragged on and he kept quiet just firing more and more complicated spells she was getting nervous, after a good 10 minutes she stopped and turned to him "You...Aren't saying anything? about my form or my poor control of mana?"
"Figured you were already aware Miss Kaede" Kaine replied matter-of-factly "now that we had our proper introductions made in the dance of the arcane" Kaine cringed a little when saying that, even if it was something his parents drilled on him ever since he was a wee child "what do you have to say about my form?"
She was caught off guard, her face going red again "The way you mesh divine energy and mana together is just...beautiful, I can feel the touch of it around you it's like a type 3 aegis spell even!" she had a smile when Kaine nodded, it did feel that way after all.
"But I can also see you aren't using it as a crutch, the math in the shaping is plain to see even to my untrained eye, each spell was fine-tuned for efficient usage in the field of battle or outside of it, like how you cleaned up the targets without even sparing a glance, power hums through you Kaine, it is quite honestly a terrifying sight" Kaede finished looking away.
Yeah, the woman was right Kaine thought to himself, he smiled a bitter smile when certain memories of one of his many fights with his old friend Arthur came to mind.
"Monster, you aren't even human! you have no emotions!" He screamed at him for some silly reason or another he couldn't remember well, maybe failing to fix a toy? or breaking it he would have to ask Arthur, the Queen made him apologize on the spot after Kaine complained to his parents. The boy was quite worried he would lose Kaine as a friend, and to this day he still felt bad about calling Kaine those names.
It was true in a way, Kaine wasn't one who would cultivate regular friendships with regular folk, he lived for magic and found a deep nearly existential fulfillment in peeling its many layers, of course, recent events have made him more social but in his mind, he still thought to himself as that loner of yore...
"I...I wanna learn it! Teach me how to be that good please!" Kaede spoke forcefully, her words fast as she nearly trembled on the spot after saying them.
"Of course, let's get on it shall we?" Kaine smiled, oh yes, he was about to peel yet another layer of it.
And become stronger in the process.
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William watched as all the paperwork on his desk was done, yet he was still missing a crucial piece in this whole ordeal.
A name and coat of arms for his army.
Calling Lucrezia's army would've been a bit too on the nose, so he called up his friends for an evening brainstorming session, he would be cooking of course.
"William, your little divine-powered force field is working on screening the recruits, I can feel the blessings pulsing and checking for spies and people with foul intentions getting rejected at the entrance, I must say using symbols of worship as mobile broadcast stations is ingenious," Lucrezia said as William felt her soul just beneath his skin, the woman had grown fond of staying with him this close nowadays, she could enjoy the sensations faster, there was still a delay on them but she was learning to appreciate it.
"It has been done before, by the ancient orc clans in the first skirmishes against the sea elves, way before the Imperium nobles arrived in these lands, back in those days the then building nation of the Orcs had plenty of strategists who relied on these out of the box maneuvers for their clan wars, sadly when the sea elves invaded they aimed first at those individuals" William explained.
"Ancient Vermilion history, you speak like you were there hehe, you think they will come back? the sea elves I mean?" Lucrezia asked.
"It was speculation that the sequel to the game would take place when they gathered enough power to strike Vermilion and her allies, so yes I am sure they will be back, luckily for the new world, we are here to stop them" William grinned.
"I wonder when those responsible for all of this will show up, what's your plan when that happens?" Lucrezia asked, her voice betraying a hit of fear.
"Hear them, even after derailing their plan, or assuming I did derail it, if they come in peace then it would be only right to not be rude, after all, they might have the keys to solve this and grant your body back" William explained.
"And you?" she asked.
"Go home? stay and become a shade? I don't know Lu, we can cross that bridge when we get there" William nodded to himself "Time to go, we gotta come up with a name for this outfit"
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The walk to Hope's living quarters was a short one, all around him people who had joined up to his cause stopped and saluted, or shook hands, gave kind words, and such, one interaction, in particular, stuck with William.
"Lady Wulfgrem" An ancient-looking beast-kin that looked like the meanest crocodile William had seen stopped him on his walk, the Knight saluted him and said "My liege has pledged alliance to his cause and so do I, House Farshores has seen horrible times of late but something tells me you and yours will grant us another chance" There was a tinge of hope there that touched William, his mind searched for the name of the house then it clicked.
In a thread on the forums talking about tragic NPC fates, one of the early NPCs named Annabeth Farshores was killed in the Dragon's maze while searching for gold, her state was stolen by some sort of scheme a corrupt priest of Uumaries was running, and her parents were shipped off to be sold as slaves, the story was told by idle chatter among NPC dungeon delves across the length of the main campaign, and the player could find her family sword in the deepest levels of the place, its fluff text said.
"For my family, for never-ending retribution, for honor in death" the words escaped William's lips without him noticing, it was one of the end game weapons, after all, any build that needed a longsword would recommend grabbing it and thus he knew the weapon well.
The Knight smiled, a bittersweet smile but that tinge of hope William felt before was still there "Aye Lady Wulfgrem, tis an honor knowing you know our motto, I look forward to the day we take that castle"
It was nice William thought to himself, he had saved that young girl's life, maybe even her parents with the razing of Talos, with such thoughts in his head he breached the hallway into the dorms, and took the stairs to Hope's room.
Standing at the door was Saa'ryu in her casual clothing, near her five or so odd young women all in pajamas or night gowls looking extremely pissed.
"Lady Lucrezia! what is the meaning of this! bringing men to this side of the dormitory!" the leader of the pack said, she was carrying a wand and a sword.
"Battlemage" Lucrezia said with a smile.
"We are having a meeting to discuss important details for the offensive against the current holder of the Fields" William was short and to the point.
the girls all nodded their heads, some even smiled at William "That's right Lucrezia, kick that perverted cunt in the balls" one rather tall dwarven girl said, the leader shushed her with a hand gesture "Manners my good woman manners! you can't be saying things like that!"
She made a gesture to disperse her posse "It seems my own turned against me, no matter, I don't want to hear nothing improper coming from this room you hear me Lucrezia? you may be a... non-believer but I trust you to respect decorum and protocol anyway" and she went off, the giggling of her friends echoing in the hallway.
"Did the woman think I was going to run a goddamn orgy in the middle of the week? blimey," William said out loud only to hear Saa'ryu giggle as well.
"Can't take a sneeze without those Uumaries people getting mad at you can Lu? c'mon get inside, we have been waiting for you, people are getting hungry" William laughed and both walked into the room, it was a spacious one at that, with a big round desk in th middle.
"Ahh the round table, party management, item management, leveling up characters and talking with them, nostalgic" Lucrezia whispered in William's mind, now that Arthur was near she had retreated to the Monolith.
"You speak as if you were there for the first time play" William fired back.
"I was" Lucrezia replied with a strange tone, goddamn William thought to himself, how much of his memories have been compromised already? he halted and thought about Lucrezia's memories, but nothing came to mind, was the process of the melding of the souls acting strange? or was Lucrezia more susceptible to it due to being the one who should've inherited William's Terran knowledge?
"Lucrezia please, don't stand at the door staring at the unseen like you are a wraith whisperer, the living hunger for substance and they want your food!" Castra-Cam spoke from the table with a laugh "wait I guess she is kinda like a whisperer now, given that frankly absurdly good soul familiar spell you cast in the fight"
Richard smiled "You know if this was a story, written or sung by tavern bards you would be the perfect villain Lucrezia, lead a coup, killed kin, can use necromancy!" he laughed "and yet these good for nothing noble scions were lining up to join our little band, even their Knights spoke highly of you and your mad hat plan you know, they weren't so keen on having me lead the war effort on the other hand..."
William waved the worries of his friend off with a smile "Mind not, soon they will see your worth Richard" He patted the young man on the back.
"Ah, I see we have a new quest?" William asked when he saw a smug-looking man holding a spear "Thadeus! come to join us?" he asked.
"Indeed dear, your field commander asked me for some pointers and I thought why not? the Academy has been boring for a while now and you hehe have the gift to spice things up"
"Less talking more cooking, I am dying of hunger here, Castra tried to send me to the long queue twice" Kaine spoke "Lucrezia you doing the cooking right? I got the goods in the kitchen right there"
William saw many faces in Hope's room, new and old, the trio from his class, Orthus, Raffa, and Dhkar, the Ancient? Oh wow, he thought to himself as the woman bowed "I have seen your little terraforming project Lady Lucrezia, an honorable craft the people who once lived in the south of these lands were found of, I've talked with your people and your master crafter, your little vehicle will be ready before combat" she spoke in a low tone "I was never one for war games, but I'll make an exception for you, Together with young Kaine and his companion we will be leading the would-be mages of your army.
William felt the news wash over him, Ancient magical combat support, holy shit!
"Holy shit!" Lucrezia mirrored his reaction, William bowed and spoke "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart"
William was waved off by the ancient, much small talk went by as he made pizza, cheese sticks, breaded chicken, and hamburgers topped off with a variety of juices and alcohol (Kaine was drinking coffee like a madman while eating the first batches of food)
Time went by slowly, eating and talking about the many things to do in the army filled the room with a warmth tinged with a splash of the grim reality of combat, even if their lives were spared thanks to the magical barrier employed at the Fields.
"We need a name," William said and everyone nodded "Any ideas?"
"We also need a symbol, for the flags and armor" Richard spoke taking notes "Maybe a sword and a Magi-Tech rifle crossed?"
"We need something else to complete the coat of arms" Kaine took out a big shield from below the table "Honorable Dragoness would you be willing to lend your likeness to our cause"
Kallista was taken aback "Oh you making me blush young one! surely you mean my dragon form yes?" Kaine nodded "Then of course dear, I am sure Lucrezia there would be delighted in that"
William nodded "I didn't know you could draw Kaine" he scoffed and said
"Math involves quite many drawings, plus there are spells that can bridge the gap where my skills are lacking, now silence" Kaine began his rituals, the image etching itself on the shield, a beautiful silver dragon, in her forearms a sword and rifle.
"Kaine, not silver" William pointed out and the man nodded, with a snap of his finger the dragon went white as snow.
"If only old Kravier was alive, he would be more than happy to become the sigil for your army little one" Kallista smiled with nostalgia "Legendary fighter that one, but after the loss of his mate he decided to leave the mortal coil"
"And the name?" Hope asked.
Richard raised his hand, all eyes fell on him as he spoke "Reclaimers"