"Armed with the knowledge and the means, volition, and grit I send thee unto the mortal coil, for it is thy domain"
All-Father ushers the first mortal creations onto his newly found planet.
Lucrezia stood facing the veritable gang of friends as she started giving out her orders "We start simple today, and increase the pace as I deem fit" Everyone nodded as a small crowd gathered around the pit they were in, Lucrezia's caught bets being placed by a few enterprising Knights who were on escort duty, the men and women who had to serve their lords scions always looking for something to do in these instances.
"I don't like fighting you without Kaine" Richard shook his head "Rose, Vivienne, stay close and hammer her with any spells you can cast that delay cast times and muscle movements, Hvtial my friend I am afraid you going to have to be at the front, our Orc Prince is taking an extended vacation from the Academy" Hvtial grunted with a smirk in his face, the Dragonkin conjured a staff made out of black bones "New gear"
He tapped the staff on the ground, his body shifted as a gnarly-looking armor made out of dragon bone and scale conjured itself onto him "Ready"
"Arthur, Hope, support" Richard barked more orders and the two nodded, from the corner of her eye Lucrezia saw the Royal Knight in charge of the prince lean in, clearly wanting to see if Richard was a good commander, or was being carried by his Blessing, he would be in for a surprise Lucrezia thought with pride in her chest, her man was everything in the tin and more.
She must've let some of her excitement show as Richard's eyes narrowed "Vivviene" his hands formed the sign they had come up with a few weeks ago, a way to ask for buffs, debuffs, and healing without saying the words, as to avoid counterspells.
"Ready?" Lucrezia asked they all nodded and she cracked her neck and shoulders, feeling the cacophony of blessings activate themselves, including Wynnur's which gave her some very nasty powers, a favorite of hers was gap-closing spells that couldn't be tracked with regular divination spells, only Kaine blessed by his Goddess had the means at the moment and he was hard at work to devise counters to be shared with the group.
Hope and Arthur both let the rage flow through their bodies as Richard bellowed out a mighty war cry, Lucrezia lept through the air ready to strike the mage's support, her hands brimming with rust-colored mana as she pointed her arms forward, causing mighty spikes of rusted metal to burst out of the ground, with a leap backward she slammed her hands on the main pillar, and the entire thing fell apart, a ball of red lighting made itself manifest as the feint worked, with both Hope and Hvtial being caught unaware.
"Not today!" Rose's voice boomed as a huge shield made out of divine energy gleamed in front of the duo, the lighting causing a huge flash and Lucrezia feeling her body getting slammed with spells meant to disabilities her, her magicks working overtime to keep Rose and Tomoe's spellwork at bay, it only took a second for her to get distracted when the Prince leaped towards her, slamming her back with a might blow of his shield.
In a flash, Richard made himself leap through the smoke and tapped both Hope and Hvtial in the back as he rushed towards Lucrezia, she barely had time to defend her belly as a mighty kick sent her up, and she landed on her foot but their onslaught had just begun as Arthur came forward with an uppercut, she dodged only to get shoulder checked by Richard and then headbutted by Arthur right in her solar plexus.
Time slowed down to a crawl as her War Blessings kicked in full gear, she bellowed out a scream that shook Arthur out of the hook he was about to throw, and with inhuman speed, she parried the kick Richard threw, and then dodged as the boy snapped into position with incredible speed as the soft glow of his blessing had him take 3 steps back and with a high pitch scream, try to kick her with an honest to goodness dragon kick. and then as she dodged a godsdamned flying kick!
Warm winds told her Vivienne had just cast a healing spell on Arthur, and so Lucrezia had to kick the tempo up, with a dash she screamed and grabbed both legs as Richard flew past her and with a mighty heave threw him outside of the pit, she saw his eyes widen in sheer surprise at the act, but her clock was ticking fast, Arthur screamed and Hvtial leaped into the air, spreading his wings for the first time.
Cheers erupted from the crowd as the Dragonkin's form flew to grab his commander, Arthur fed his Rage and Superman punched Lucrezia right into her right arm, she felt the bones nearly crack and a short but strong pain sting her, only for the War Blessings to numb the pain and mend the hurt, feeding the Rage herself she backhanded the prince away and lept into the backline again.
But it was not meant to be, she felt hands grab her by the legs and throw her to the pit's edge as both mages squeaked in terror and backed out, only for said mage's images to melt away and reveal the illusion, Vivienne stood tall to the side as Tomoe picked her staff from the ground and said "Fuck me I did it" only for Hvtial to bark from the other side of the arena "Focus! she's still in fighting shape"
Hope came from the back, armed with the Warhammer from the Mad God, With a single swing Lucrezia was flying again, from below Arthur conjured a spear, which Magi-Tech made as he pointed to Lucrezia's form in the air and she smelled ozone.
The sound came first as a bolt of Lighting struck her, breaking her magical defenses down to a single barrier of the Aegis spell she had running throughout the match, oh he was properly mad now Lucrezia felt as she pointed her finger towards Hope, and a jagged spike of black ice formed, feeding mana to the weave she let loose a downpour of the suckers and then flew back down, ready to kick Arthur in the nuts.
"Shit!" Lucrezia spoke as she landed, Richard came crashing down like a comet from the skies and his entire body slammed into her form, the fight ended right there and then as she sighed in defeat.
"Stellar work everyone, Tomoe and Rose that trick was good but you guys need to work on the speed, Hvtial what did I say about talking mid-combat?" Richard began talking and the big Dragonkin threw his hands up "Look I got flustered!" Richard shook his head with a smile "Man, you don't know how scary it is to face down her like that! ugh I'll just shut up now"
"It's always weird, fighting you feels like I am pushing myself to my utmost limits" Hope spoke as she grabbed Lucrezia's arm and pulled her up "I've been running the Dragon's dungeon for a while now with many a people but you and your fights...they take me to a whole new level" she bowed with red flaring up her cheeks, Lucrezia saw Richard mouth a "Sorry" from the distance as Arthur came around, armed with the spear that had screwed her something fierce.
"Your weapons, as always are sublime my friend" he smiled at that "Again?" Arthur asked and most nodded.
"Give me 5 minutes, I need to take a breather" Tomoe spoke out loud and the group relaxed. Lucrezia felt a cold breeze blow past them as Hope finished casting a series of spells meant to restore stamina, clean the body, and heal the pain of the ones targeted by it, she felt a small hit of nostalgia hit her as memories from the game cascaded within her mind.
It is a good spell, loved by the community as a must for any build that even remotely uses magic...Lucrezia stood silently, feeling the arcane energies that powered the magic wash over her before someone tapped her shoulder.
"My Lady" Saa'ryu bowed, decked out in her full combat gear and with a mask to boot "I wish to join on the training" She sent a not-so-subtle sign to Richard as Lucrezia shook her head in amusement, and with a shrug she called the party over and everyone was keen on the Maid joining. As everyone got ready and took their positions Lucrezia let herself loose a little more than usual, with Saa'ryu here it would be a nasty spar if she didn't step her game up.
"3, 2, 1!" Richard counted down and the race was on again, Immediately Lucrezia began forming small ice rings around her, and floating so her feet couldn't be snared by whatever stealth attack her maid could employ.
It was a grueling fight alright, she had to fully tap into her rage and War Blessings to even keep up with the Onslaught that was Hope, Richard, and Saa'ryu, but somehow she did via grit she didn't know she had in her, time slowed down to a crawl as she felt her body and soul enter the battle lust state and flow, an alarmed look flashed in Arthur and Hvtial's faces as they bellowed out warnings.
Tomoe, Rose, and Vivienne came out of some group camouflage spell, and below them was a mighty red sigil of arcane power brimming with enough mana to level a small building, she saw a flash of light go off and then a shockwave knock her straight into the fighting pit's southmost wall, seconds went by before she felt one of the rings break and Saa'ryus form pop in her field of view, dagger in hand.
A melee ensured as Lucrezia parried her first two strikes and planted her knee right onto the maid's forehead, only to feel solid iron hammer her sides and nearly crack her ribcage as Hope's weapon connected with her body, breaking past every single layer of her aegis, not letting up magic and steel were rained on her before she bellowed out a raw primal scream, knocking the melee combatants out and stunning the mages.
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Vivienne snapped out of the stun first, quickly doing the same to the others as Lucrezia slammed her feet on the ground and conjured stakes of iron aiming to strike the melees, only Arthur got hit with them as he was the last to wake up. Hope grabbed her beloved and screamed as Lucrezia called forth a bolt of crimson lighting and slammed the levinstrike on her back.
A fireball came from the right side as Hvtial's face contorted into itself, a mighty dragon maw appearing and roaring the ball of flame and plasma in Lucrezia'd direction, without waiting for her to move the Dragonkin man leaped forward, coming with a superman punch that nearly rocked her jaw off, she felt the fireball heat close and summoned walls of ice around her person, dark blue slabs of magical ice barring the inferno that he had conjured.
She felt the edge of a blade on the nape of her neck and raised her hands "Stellar work Saa, truly one of the best trained by the Owl" The maid bowed as everyone around the two slowly disengaged from combat mode, Lucrezia closed her eyes and felt her cascading list of powers shut itself off one by one, akin to slamming power switches that control the electricity of one's home.
"Had Kaine been here as your support, half our strategy wouldn't worked" Richard ruminated as Arthur gave him a tap on the shoulder "Don't worry I am not angry or anything, but it's good to have more magical users against us next time so we can improve faster and better"
Lucrezia saw Hvtial fall to one knee and huff air like he was about to drown "All-Mother above I hate doing that, I can't feel my nose, teeth, and tongue ugh" he then sat down and collected himself before asking Vivienne for healing "Oh gods be good, I feel normal again"
"Ok everyone, we will take a longer break now" Lucrezia spoke and fell on her ass with a mighty thud, she felt Vivienne hug her from behind "Be healed my dear, let this holy power take thy burden away" and so she did as the divine energy washed over her like the warmth of a summer day.
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Lucrezia sat on an unremarkable bench, watching the people of the city come and go as a small dwarf woman, barely noticeable in the multitudes who went on about their day, sat down next to Lucrezia and with a practiced move began reading a book, its cover had no name or emblem.
"Greetings Duchess Wulfgrem" a tired voice that belonged to someone far older than the woman who was next to Lucrezia was heard "I have a message from concerned third parties"
The dwarf flipped a page as Lucrezia felt invisible sigils flare up, barely making a sound as well and she only caught them due to Kaine's insistence on training her and Richard on how to detect high-level applications of invisibility in the middle of arcane sigils and weaving of the mana itself, Richard liked but Lucrezia found it dreadfully boring given the sheer mathematical power it took to understand the underlying principles of it.
"More than one? our high friend is making good on his word?" Lucrezia asked with honest puzzlement, she knew about the secret agreements to talk but to think they would hear him? impressive to say the least.
A proud smile blossomed on the dwarf's face "If you would permit me to speak for myself, lady Lucrezia the things you have done and the progress you have ushered forward have made many a powerful individual finally show their true colors, ask our master if you are able and you will see the unholy fire you have lit inside of him, institutions we thought long disbanded moving again, rogue agents, gods of spycraft and stealth too if you can believe it"
Lucrezia cast a glance at the woman, she saw that same unholy bonfire in her as these intelligence outfits got to work on what would be in the future the greatest intel-gathering operation of the new world.
"Alas, this is not the reason I am here, as per my master's orders we have intercepted communications with bad actors who intend to finish what the Queen started, but their aim is solely on Hope, you are a secondary target from what we have gathered so far, in this matter his hands are tied but they will not get Royal Knight support on this which should make any actual fighting less of a shitshow"
The dwarf coughed and then continued "We are trying to run more interference without being stonewalled by the Queen, should more come of it we will let you know" She pointed to her "Communications via other magical means are risky now so I will be running info for you and my master"
Lucrezia watched as the dwarf gave goodbyes and left, the magic following her as she blended with the crowd, she was expecting such an outcome, the king would not be able to help her in the trials to come, and without the sword, or the sacred shield she would need to improvise...
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Stevan Silverbrand was by all measures an unremarkable man, save for an appetite for doing business, such as it was that he eventually got involved with the Lioness of the Silverbrands, and eventually fell in love with the lass.
Dealing with High Nobility was a skill he kept sharp, from the ones who thought of themselves as walking gods, to the ones who delighted in pretending to be kin to their common brethren, and the few who were genuine about it.
"A linchpin of volition" his son often said whenever his wife asked what he thought of his Father, and so when it came time for little Richard to walk that same weary road that is romantic life for young adults, Stevan gave his sole son his blessings and advice, so that the road while difficult, was not insurmountable, of course when news came out who the bastard of a son decided to declare his undying love to, the man felt conniptions for weeks.
It didn't help to see his son leading a military charge against the very best of his own country as well, Alas thanks to political machinations which he was more than happy to not be a part of, everyone came out of the whole ordeal happy and hale.
"...Now where's that spice blend I had him fetch from the warehouse..." A tall young woman spoke a few meters from him, she moved across his humble kitchen like a machine, focused and with deadly precision, it didn't take a minute before she found said spice blend and a wicked smile blossomed from her face "Oh the old woman will love this" her icy blue eyes and grayish hair cast a visage of an ice elemental who took the form of a girl.
"Lady Lucrezia, forgive me for saying this but isn't unbecoming of a noble to cook..." Stevan had to make sure this wasn't some sort of twisted noble lark, he had seen it happening before! "Surely Miss Saa'ryu could cook for you"
"Please Sir Stevan, it's just Lucrezia, I am no Lady in this house, even if dearest mother-in-law has land in the north" She laughed at the deal of a lifetime Catarina had gotten, one of the many deals of a lifetime she enjoyed with Lucrezia over here.
Both Richard and Catarina were away for the moment, having to fetch the Matriarch of the Family so they could enjoy an often missed Silverbrand family tradition "To cook for the Family" they called it, Stevan had to do it himself but later found out that was just the Matriarch being a hard-ass on her favorite daughter's boyfriend.
And so, feeling the young Duchess was not in a foul mood Stevan sat down in his chair, it was time he did his part of the deal, the same as his Father-In-Law did to him, it was hard he had to be honest with himself as Lucrezia had what he and the people in the business called a "Wrathful aura" mostly due to several War blessings, plus her Rage powers.
But Stevan was made out of stronger, sterner stuff and he wasn't about to let his son get swayed by some would-be monster in disguise, even if her record was spot clear, if one ignored the whole Kinslaying and Heresy business of her early career...
"Don't forget sedition against the crown" Lucrezia laughed as she began dicing vegetables like a chef "Yes I am aware of what's to happen, Richard couldn't help but spill the secrets the second Catarina sent the invitation" she said while grabbing an obscene number of potatoes.
"Gods be good he wasn't kidding about those," she said with a chuckle "Then again, who doesn't like them eh?" Lucrezia gave Stevan a cheeky wink.
"What can I say? you really can't go wrong with those potatoes" Stevan laughed "You know those two didn't tell me you were his cheerful I was honestly expecting someone more sour, and less candid" Stevan said as her smile said as much, there was weight there but she was dealing with it the best she could.
"Maybe before, maybe," Lucrezia said as she began preparing the main dish, a slab of meat from some exotic insect "Now I just want to enjoy it all, the good and the bad, a balancing act if you"
Stevan nodded "Tis true, I've always said so myself in a relationship one must be there for his better half in the good times and the bad times, It's good knowing you see that way as well, Richard takes after his mother that aspect, too passionate at times"
"You worry this is just tryst then, spurn by the new Goddess's favor to meddle with his mind and heart?" Lucrezia asked and Stevan felt a tiny sliver of pride, damn the girl was sharp!
"Can you assure it? I come from common stock Lucrezia, we are often used as fodder by the powers that be, divine or otherwise, and often I would talk with my wife about this for I feared her ambitions would take over, force my son into a relationship where he's but a piece of meat, or worse a name in a trade agreement" Stevan said earnestly, he saw Lucrezia nod in contemplating as she ruminated over his words.
"I've spoken with Her, and my Patrons on the matter, personally and they all assured me there was no meddling" Lucrezia spoke with conviction "If you wish to I can arrange a meeting, provided your own God agrees to it" Lucrezia began cooking the meat as Stevan fired another question "And do you believe Richard loves you, truly?" there was no right answer as his Father-in-Law had told him once, but it was a good way to see how their relationship was going.
"Gods I hope he does Stevan, There's much I know about him but he knows little of me in turn, but I believe that yes, it is genuine" The sound of oil sizzling against the aromatics filled the kitchen "Sometimes it feels like a...a mirage of sorts as if this is all an illusion but every day I wake up in this" he saw her flex the slender metal fingers of her arm, but the sound of the cooking cut off much of what she said, "I think to myself "no, this is real" and then try my best to be someone worth loving"
Lucrezia coughed "Forgive me, cooking often makes me spire into semantics and self-reflection, you can ask Saa'ryu for more stories if you want hehe," Lucrezia said as Stevan detected a strange melancholy to her words, as if she missed something...
Sometimes she would stand on the rooftops, watching the snowfall Stevan heard the voice of his son ring in his mind, he felt it click as the puzzle pieces came together.
"You miss your old home," Stevan said with sympathy, he had seen it, mostly in the many delegates of faraway nations who were on the job for a long while, it's subtle and takes a while but once you hone into it, you can see it.
"I love it here, I do but Gods I miss the cold" Lucrezia laughed "I hope he likes it, the throne room gets quite drafty"
"His mother never liked the cold, he even got her a fancy coat when you started doing business with her" Stevan laughed at the sight "Worry not, for I know the best tailor in this city, and by all weaver gods alive my son will have the best coat there is"