"The economic reality is that any arcane spell related to the creation of mana-borne foodstuff is simple, total collapse of every farm from here to the ends of the world, as such we as Gods and shepherds of mortals must ban such practices!"
Intro speech given by then Overseer Kalstad, chief God of the Chamber of Divines who dealt in Commerce, he was killed shortly after by Devils hired by human food mages.
Queen Malphas surveyed the battlefield with a keen eye as the Divine behind her back sighed in exasperation, Morugarius was doing quite a bit of that the past hour and with good reason.
As someone blessed by not just a Greater Blessing of War, but a personal friend to the chief general of the All-Father, Malphas was privy to much of the many war spheres of power worked, a constant push and pull, balancing each other out as to avoid supremacy, after all the All-Father needed his troops to play nice whenever he deployed them in his major conquests.
The whore's little army, plus the actual army backing her had not just upset the said balance, it had effectively thrown it into the bin, the weapons and means of locomotion in particular being the gravest offenders.
"Otherworldly knowledge not meant to be tested in this plane" Morugarius spoke "Nevermind the fact Mother and Father are watching her do this, the Old man is likely enjoying himself at my expense" another sigh from the Goddess.
Malphas could also tell Morugarius wasn't pleased with her, knowing she willingly shielded her son's misdeeds irked the Goddess something fierce, but the woman was bound to Vermilion by oaths stronger than iron, and so when Malphas called her to battle, she came.
After all, the opposition also had Divine support.
Imperium, Grannarius, Northern Raiders. Enemies of the Kingdom now under her banner, Nobles, merchants, commoners, and Knights from hundreds of clans and families big and small, Had it been any other person Malphas would shake their hand and grant them a title, but it had to be her.
"Priority Targets, Call em" Malphas spoke and the Goddess got to work "Those bloody airships, the big one, in particular, the smaller planes, the godsdamned train powered by Spirits and a living ancient" Morugarius seethed "Just how in all that is sacred and golden, by my father's balls she found a living ancestor?!?"
"Focus old friend, leave such questions to later" Malphas calmed the Goddess down, she was right, a living ancient whose magical might and command of the arcane were praised by a supreme deity like Faal was worrying, but her people assured her the woman was a scientist, not a fighter.
A sonic boom went off above Malphas as she saw the smaller airborne targets fly by her, Malphas gave the nod to her husband and jumped up flying, as she neared the planes she too broke the sound barrier, telling the...
"Fighter Jets they are called Fighter Jets" Morugarius spoke in her mind as her form shimmed behind Malphas "Beware of its movements, it will not fly as some of those machines you fought in the dwarven lands"
Malphas Greater Blessing now in synch with the Goddess began absorbing information about the new weapon, catching up to the trio of Jets she saw all 3 pilots were dwarves, a demon carved in the nose of the jets made her arch her eyebrow, gaudy.
A split second later Malphas leaped into the leftmost Jet, a mix-up of Flying and Teleportation magic, and slammed her hands into what her Blessing told her was the engine, the other two jets flipped out a second later, their engines roaring so loud Malphas felt the ringing in the ears coming.
She felt Morugarius sigh in wonder, as the war machines danced in the skies to get distance "Don't let them get behind you for too long, those weapons have Anti-Magic rounds in them"
Alas, the warning came a tad too late, the leader's jet did an insane maneuver that would certainly put any flying mage squad leader into the ground thanks to gravity, Malphas felt a ping in her spine as Morugarius began telling her to fly up.
Rearranging her flying path further up was easy, her mastery of Teleportation and Flying making her an insanely hard target in the air, yet the Jet didn't lose her and as the seconds dragged on Malphas felt a very old sensation creep up on her.
Fear.
"Moruga do something" she barked orders to the Goddess and the Goddess grunted, Malphas head snapped when she heard metal and crystal grind and a projectile fly out of the Jet, on instinct Malphas flew higher, nearly in a straight line up as Morugarius manifested herself and spread her arms, wings of divine energy flying out of the projection as the missiles slammed into the wings.
"Too close!" Malphas spoke, there would be no underestimating these Jets anymore as she halted herself in the air before teleporting behind the Jet, she let the Rage loose as the world around her got sharper, and slower.
Combining her might together with Morugarius it was easy to reach the leader, she sent a mental image to the Goddess who readied the spell weaving, and a great lance made out of part Gold and part Red energies was formed, trailing behind the Jet Malphas waited for the honing spell to lock into the craft and with a satisfying mental click and a nasty grin on her face let the Lance loose.
"Got em" Morugarius spoke with gusto, as the spell flew at great speeds towards the jet, alas it was spoken too soon, maybe it was the Rage, maybe she got caught in the moment but the Jet somehow halted his entire momentum in the air and flipped as Morugarius and Malphas zipped past him, Malphas's eyes locking in the dwarf piloting the flying menace, he too had a nasty grin on his face and his eyes were glowing red.
A worthy foe, even if he was serving under the whore.
What followed was a tense minute, where the Jet began firing live rounds into Malphas instead of his missiles, Morugarius was struggling to keep up with the weapons as her wings dimmed, that was until the other Jet joined in and the fight got twice as intense.
Flying low Malphas deployed her ace in a hole, a minute-long continuum shift spell that made her be in two places at the same time, highly dangerous Time Magic even the current chronomancer Kaine would've struggled to keep it stable, the Jets put out a good fight still, immediately flying into her two positions but at this point, they were running out of ammo.
With the spell active, she tricked the leader and the remaining Jet into a loop and killed both of them with a titanic explosion in the air, the battlefield growing silent as the heaping carcasses of steel and crystal flew down.
Alas Malphas was a bit too slow in returning to her post, seeing the red streak of lighting making her way into the backline Malphas rushed in desperation but she was too late, Lucrezia had gotten there first and in her feet was Jason, head off his neck and blood all over.
There were no words, Malphas roared like a beast possessed and lunged at the woman who neatly dodged and flew towards the entrance of the fields, her intention was clear, buying time for her forces to overpower the Royal Knights now that they were reduced to small unit leadership.
Malphas flew after her, sword in hand as Lucrezia's name flared in its blade. She would have her revenge, gods, and the rest be dammed.
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Castra-Cam landed in a dirt patch far away from the huge melee and creaked her bones, a sigh came from her as the sounds of all-out war drowned her senses for a second, she didn't need a war blessing to see the sheer damage those weapons were causing to the royal knights.
Those same knights were also heroically holding their own, a battle of attrition was the favorite of many of Vermilion's wars in the past so she couldn't say for sure if Lucrezia's and Richard's troops would be able to regain momentum.
Castra readied herself to return to the battlefield when she saw 5 red flares coming out of Lucrezia's huge airship.
"Shite" the woman spat on the ground "that's too soon you crazy noble" the flares meant one thing, Lucrezia had engaged with the Queen, and the remaining troops were to push further, a mechanical roar came from the far eastern side of the field and Castra felt unnatural shivers, seems the first secret weapon of O' Lucrezia had been deployed.
"Wonder who will win there, the Arch-Mage is a powerful sorceress whose might is well..."
A shadow pierced the skies as a humanoid figure landed in front of Castra-Cam, clad in ceremonial robes and with the Symbol of the Unbroken hung around its neck, the masked figure let out a smile, its lips the only thing not covered by its gear.
'Baswiar Ma'Rinht" Castra spoke with caution, virtually no info on this person, only the Unbroken knew what they really were even, the leader of the Necromancers working for the crown of vermilion kept to themselves most of the time.
"Castra-Cam, an honor to meet you in this hallowed field of battle" they bowed "I have a message from our patron, for you"
"Speak it then" Castra-Cam ill liked the sound of that.
"Castra, you are to defeat Baswiar Ma'Rinht in single combat, do it so and I will personally aid you in the coming fights, fail in this trial and your friends will meet the direst of fates" Baswiar Ma'Rinht snapped back to reality with a grin "Rare for him to demand trial by combat isn't it? something special will happen today I can feel it in my old bones"
Castra-Cam sighed loudly, only to hear Baswiar Ma'Rinht laugh "It seems the reports were right, Lucrezia just keeps putting you in hmm awkward situations doesn't she" They laughed with mirth in their voice.
"Worry not M'lady, you are one of the finest First Scythes we have ever seen, I may be powerful yes but believe in yourself, this shall be a good fight for us both, these old bones haven't seen proper combat in a while"
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"A fight it is then, Baswiar Ma'Rinht I challenge you in formal combat with the Unbroken as our witness" Castra spoke and punched the plate around her chest, clad herself in the new armor Lucrezia and her dwarves made for her, snapping her fingers she summoned a brand new Magi-Tech Scythe breaming with power.
"I Baswiar Ma'Rinht accept thy challenge, Unbroken as our witness" they bowed and summoned a staff made out of dragonbone, Castra felt the hairs in her arms rise up but managed to calm herself for the coming storm, her mind snapping into combat mode already.
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Andromeda watched as her squad was cut down by arcane trickery and brute force in equal measure, Lucrezia's machines barely holding their own against the sheer onslaught the Arch-Mage brought to the field.
It was no wonder whenever they were deployed in the last war the enemy focused all their effort on shutting them down as fast as possible and even then it was always a slaughter for the Grannarius elves.
"Oh, the little slut is tired her friends got cut down like trash huh? c'mon then, let's finish this sorry shite of combat already" the woman howled as more obscenities flew from her mouth, Andromeda kept her cool, listening to the many beeps and flashes her armor gave.
Yet it wasn't enough, with a leap into the air the Arch-Mage turned invisible and then multiple clones of her rained down from the skies, Andromeda was overwhelmed as the clones rained spell fire from the air and ground, her ZENOS unit creaked under the onslaught and for a second she thought that was it, she would fail to hold down the enemy and the Arch-Mage no doubt would rush Lucrezia, who by now should be fighting the queen herself.
"Just a few more minutes" Andromeda spoke to herself and to the machine, taking a deep breath she got on the offensive again, weaving into melee and ranged combat and trying her best to dodge the clones who now got into melee range and were slashing the outer shell with mana blades, acid, lighting, fire and pure raw mana to crack the shell and kill Andromeda.
A ping from the rear radar came a second too late and Andromeda felt a spear of mana tear into her flank, bone smashing inside her armor as she sprayed a gulp of blood.
"Ohhh the little metal whore can't take a wee small Mana Spear!, what should we do with her?" the Arch-Mage spoke only to reply to herself like a lunatic "RUN HER THROUGH IT!"
Andromeda closed her eyes cursing her lack of strength, she then saw a vision of a tall human man with eyes made of crystal, skin looking like steel plates, and a warm smile on his face.
"Fight ye childe of men, fight and let no one stop the march of progress," He said and Andromeda felt her entire being overflow with divine energy, her mind was reminded then of Ra'Tyrius, Lucrezia's patron and now her personal savior.
Knowledge bloomed inside her brain, as the entire frame of the ZENOS creaked and groaned with the divine energy of Ra'Tyrius himself, it grew in shape and took a wicked form, horns on top of its head, the plate taking after a design akin to the one the warriors in the Shogunate favored, that power also flowed towards Andromeda whose gloom and doom was tossed aside and now was poised to fight, to destroy the enemy.
The Arch-Mage fell into deathly silence as her form shifted and the clones disappeared in puffs of mana smoke, as the dust cleared she appeared in full armor with a shield and mace on her arms, a malicious grin on her face as the helmet covered her entire face minus the lips.
Another battle that would shake the foundations of the country began as both women threw themselves at each other.
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Malphas blade shone a black purplish light, Lucrezia's name engraved on it.
"I can't believe the cut-content god mode blade is actually real," William said as he, Lucrezia's shade, and Malphas stared each other down. The queen was content in being silent it seemed.
With a grunt of effort, William let loose the Rage's influence inside of him, his War blessings, well every single blessing of his kicked in at full throttle, the Gods knew he would need every edge in this fight.
In the game, the battle against Queen Malphas was a Harder than Extreme DLC fight, sold at the demands of the 1 percent of the player base who loved to push themselves to the absolute mechanical limits of the game. William while not in that particular category, was a completionist and if he had to bash his head against a week-long wall of a boss fight he would.
And what a boss fight it was, complete with 6 orchestral renditions of brand-new battle themes composed by the team's sound department, a true test of knowledge, skill, and tenacity, lauded even by naysayers as the fairest but hard fight in recent years of the industry.
"But how will you stand to the real deal" William spoke as he began circling the Queen who looked at him with a puzzled expression "The real thing sure is pretty I can say that at the very least" and he smiled at Lucrezia's shade.
Malphas spoke her voice full of restrained anger as William felt the weight of a Level 3 Rage user bear down on him "Crypt words will do you naught whore, I faced far more powerful and mystical foes than you"
William felt the rush of ecstasy as the voice of Saal'Xhir bloomed in his mind "It is such a waste my gift has to be used in the field of battle you know?" he felt the Goddess smile "Don't die dear, we all need you for what is to come"
Lucrezia's shade nodded and both leaped into action, ax in hand William fell into the pace of high-speed combat, using all of his magical knowledge to keep up with Malpha's absurd speed.
The queen snarled in rage, trained swings with the nefarious blade nearly nicking William more than once, he knew it would take a stab through his heart or head for the deed to be done, but little did the fair queen knows the name in her blade wouldn't enact its curse.
After all, it was his spirit in charge of the body.
No fancy air drops, summoning huge metal spikes and most of his slower repertoire of spells, William was a well-oiled machine of speed now, Ice flechettes and Razor sharp Iron daggers kept Malphas locked in place, every single move of hers William had seen it, their frame data, the milliseconds between stance changes, tells, voice grunts and even how the very Rage tinged mana around her moved.
And so did Lucrezia, Katana in hand the woman was a sight to behold if William could spare but a second, Malpha's ability to fend off both of them did not falter on the other hand, but William already knew that.
With a dash, Lucrezia slashed Malphas's legs and the queen fell to her knees, Rage exploding outward as William rushed in and tried to cleave her face in two, the queen grabbed him by his metal arm and pulled, tearing the apparatus off.
William howled in pain as the contraption's tendons of crystal were pulled off, with a kick the queen downed him and he saw white, but the Rage inside of him together with the Gods blessings made him recuperate fast and he leaped into the air.
A single kick and he nearly blacked out, truly Malphas' power was not to be underestimated!
"Call your Gods whore, your machines, your allies, they will only forestall your doom, today I will gut you and feast on your entrails" Malphas snarled as a furry of blows came raining upon William.
He struggled to block the blows, his mind still reeling thanks to the pain, but the divines who blessed him were not idle in this fight, feeling the power surge from Velkarius William regained his senses and deployed a floating Iron shield where his arm was, Immediately the blessings of the Silent Soldier and the Raider kicked in and he was back in the fight.
He felt a shiver when Malphas took a knee, leaping as far back as possible when the scarlet explosion came, the woman had just activated the stage 3 transformation of the Rage-that-Dwells.
Lucrezia's shade came running to his side and nodded to him, now the fight would get hard.
Real hard.
An explosion followed as Malphas closed in clad in scarlet, her blows warping the fabric of the material world as William scrambled to block, each swing would hit him, be deflected then hit again as if the first hit didn't happen.
"Temporal control" William spoke out loud as Malphas leaped back, with a snap he produced a carved crystal in the image of Gwenarius and slammed it on the ground "In her name, may the river of time and the ocean of the cosmos be not intruded upon!"
"It will not help" Malphas came again, William barely holding again as Lucrezia slammed the queen with her most powerful attacks, a gap in the offensive gave William a window to land a bullet right into Malphas's unprotected tight and the woman snarled again.
William fell into a dance of Magic and Gunfire, his mind and body honed to a sharp edge as he neatly dodged Malphas attacks and hammered her with Ice and Iron. Yet, for his perfect onslaught aided by the first stage of the Rage-that-Dwells, it was Lucrezia doing the real damage, for all his athletics with the arcane and Magi-Tech the queen was shrugging off most of his faster spells.
He wouldn't have the time to summon the necessary mana for the big lighting spells, nor to actually weave and shape the arcane for them with Malphas on his ass like she was, yet a part of him was weary, something was off about this and he didn't like it.
Lucrezia slashed Malphas's face with her weapon as the queen tried to grab William, he leaped backward again and fired a flare into the air, within seconds the Nautilius was firing its guns on the smoke and William smirked when he heard Malphas howl in pain.
Without the time manipulation afforded by level 3 of the Rage, William knew he had a fighting chance, all he had to do was stall long enough until Hope and the rest got here, together they would absolutely wreck the queen and...
William gasped as a spear made out of red blood pierced his abdomen, he fell to the ground as Malphas came out of the smoke with a nasty grin on her face "Got you whore" the queen spoke with venom as Lucrezia's shade screamed a wordless scream.
"...Damn it all..." William spoke as blood gushed from his mouth, he felt the claws of the long queue reach upon his shared soul and felt a shiver, he got too cocky it seemed, underestimated the worst foe he could've, and paid the price.
His mind went to the Duchy, the pale white snowfall upon his castle as the people of the duchy enjoyed themselves in the streets, he missed the cold and his home so much...
"...I am...Sorry Lucrezia..." he felt the light close in and closed his eyes.
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Lucrezia had seconds, maybe less as she hurled herself to the depths of William's soul, the boy was dying and he needed help, FAST.
Trying not to think about the murderous demi-god in the waking world, the once proud Noble came upon the bowl in the rivers of blood that marked William's covenant with the god from Earth.
She sucked in air, ready to commit treason the same way her parents did, and screamed "ZARUEL, ARM OF YHVH I BESEECH THEE!"
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It was a calm day in the Department of Extradimensional travel, Chief Ut'ur watched from his chair as the many entities under the All-Father command came and went through the gates and portals.
"WARNING TERMINUS LEVEL ENTITIES BREACHING BARRIERS 1 THROUGH 10, WARNING TERMINUS LEVEL ENTITIES BREACHING THE SANCTUM ALL FIGHTERS TO YOUR STATIONS I REPEAT ALL FIGHTERS TO YOUR STATIONS!"
Ut'ur could barely bark an order when a being the size of a mountain crashed through the main portal, following him was another smaller being, the shape of a pyramid who unleashed an unholy scream, stunning the portal defenders, going through the portal to the All-Father's favorite and home-world.
"We are fucked" Ut'ur said to himself.
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Malphas walked towards Lucrezia's fallen body, the woman still living, clinging to life like the parasite she was, coming closer to her she raised her sword and...
A flash of light from Lucrezia's back made Malphas's airs stand up, she had felt that before in her time adventuring around the world. An entity from beyond the stars was being summoned!
"The final surprise heh, and now you too are a heretic!" Malphas screamed to the hole that tore apart, her eyes going wide as a mountain came through the portal!
The eyes of the entity shone pale gold and Malphas barely had time to dodge the attack, a scream so unholy nearly stunned her as another entity appeared, its form akin to a pyramid but the flesh of the abomination shifted to angular forms, a barrage of these attacks came and Malphas had to retreat.
Yet the mountain came after her, it disappeared and teleported right on top of Malphas, who in her Rage induced state saw the form of terrifying beings from the beyond in the shimmer of the spell.
"bE aFRaid" the pyramid entity spoke straight to Malphas's mind "yOu wILL lOOSE!" the queen felt shivers again, usually entities from beyond the cosmos were dumb killing machines, if these could think she was in for a hard fight.
A beam straight from the heavens landed by Malphas's side, and a 7 feet tall woman clad in silvery armor armed with a greatsword of pure crystal manifested herself. Morugarius Goddess of War, Commander of the All-Father's armies, and Patron Deity of Vermilion.
Malphas through her blessing and after years together with the Goddess felt the sheer fear from her, and very few things could make Morugarius feel fear.
"What are they?" Malphas asked and the answer made the hairs on her arm stand tall
"Terran" one word from her friend and Malphas now knew she was in for a really hard fight.