"Faith is ever a fickle thing to mortals, immortals, and everyone in between, minor gods starved as they are, need to be especially careful in rewarding their faithful, yet the same is seen among the greater gods who loath to expend important Divine Power but must to make sure their flock is always aware their patron will not forsake them, this delicate balance is explained by the clergy of the All-Father as a necessary mechanic to foster growth and free will among his Children"
On the Divines Volume 1.
The soul residing within the Sacred Bow screamed as the unholy rites were performed, twisting the once noble being into an amalgamation of pox and decay birthed by the blessing of the two women presiding over the ceremonies, they crackled in delight and cheer as another rite clicked into place, transforming the now cursed bow into a beautiful form, hiding its hostility from the world and its people.
Wards were put in place, rituals forced into shape to stop detection from all forms of magic, divine and human both, within minutes the women made arrows out of eldritch energies, and those two were hidden with the same rites, these arrows would deliver the blow meant to kill an exceptional someone, someone who without firepower compared to the current Queen, or aid from a legion of Gods, would not die easily.
All for the sake of taking back the man they loved, to have him as their and live their fantasies until death claimed their souls, a dangerous notion but one the women couldn't even begin to worry about, willing to give everything to these dark powers in exchange for the means of killing Hope, little did they know however, that other forces were conspiring against them, and soon they would clash.
One such conspirator sighed as She beheld the foul ritual "Out of all the scenarios, but then again those terrans do have a flair for the bloody dramatic, to think I thought no one here would be so...vicious" Winnur whispered up in her hidden realm where none save her husband and the All-Father could contact her she labored as the scout and diplomat of this multi-reality empire of her creator.
"Very curious, they earned the favor of a very old enemy too, when I plotted this possibility it was something locally sourced, but then again the Queen had the bright idea of Killing the poor boy with that foul blade gifted by the dragon, Gwennarius must be fuming with my meddling now, this a good reminder that one can't be too careful and had I not covered my tracks with those rituals, a very pissed off aunt would be barreling into my domain now..."
Power for her beloved, a fresh planet full to the brim with Divines tailor-made for war, Winnur had much riding in this project of hers, half of it already accomplished by the gestalt being born of the Terran boy and old Lucrezia, even if she preferred the boy a little more. Still, the alliance with Terra was proving a tough nut to crack, with time she would win but...well she couldn't do much about it, they had pissed off a major spacefaring empire in their universe after all, nevermind the fact the Divines there refused to show themselves.
Complicated stuff.
Winnur was surprised she didn't have to move a finger to save Lucrezia from this ploy, that mage friend of hers had done all the work in record time, it was no small wonder Lucrezia called him the strongest, yet much was hidden away now that Gwennarius was more active, and while Winnur knew Lucrezia wouldn't die, bad things would happen to the woman, and it was her duty to shield her from the worst of it.
After all, she was one of her chosen, and the woman was a pious believer of the Divines that blessed her, helping their faith grow in many ways, it had the fortunate side effect of basically forming a coalition, not unlike that of the Divines in charge of music, but all geared towards Lucrezia, of particular note were the War Gods from the Imperium who had more than once promised their entire ranks to the woman.
Winnur smiled as her view shifted towards the Palace of Vermilion, Lucrezia's biggest torn sat upon her throne as the Goddess watched her conspire to aid in the effort of Killing Hope, with the hopes that the women doing the nefarious deed would also kill Lucrezia in the process, so much power Winnur thought to herself, but such a lack of vision, a grieving mother who would never let go, perfect fuel for growth the Goddess thought coldly.
"I wonder I wonder, what will you do, Lady Malphas?" Winnur spoke out loud, but no one answered.
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Queen Malphas paced around her private quarters as she digested the information gathered by her loyal spies, it was hard nowadays given her loving husband's insistence on meddling with her affairs, it had come up after a rather hard night that the man was assisting Lucrezia but she forgave him, it was Jason's nature to seek stability and having the Queen of his country fight against what was now the most prosperous duchy was not a good look in the international stage.
Still, she was pleased with the progress on her more subtle ploys, again her adventuring days paid off as she managed to track down the right entity from beyond the cosmos to aid those two women, of course, she would have them killed later, no cultist would lay a finger on her son even if said son had outright disowned her of late in a nasty twist of family drama, her daughter had outright vacated the palace as well, in a "diplomatic" mission to the Principality.
Another causality of the Whore's meddling, but soon she would be dead, and so would that annoying peasant woman who dared snare her son, sent to the Queue never to return even if Lucrezia had deep ties to the necromancers, her man on the other hand, could pose a problem later as he was strong enough to act foolish, the same could be said for Kaine who did act foolish and ended up defeating his mom in combat.
Valtas was not pleased when he learned what Malphas had done to his wife, nor was the woman herself, cutting off contact and completely ending their long friendship, It was a shame she couldn't use their powers anymore, that meant she would need to take things personally should her current plans fail, Malphas sighed as she flopped down on a chair tired of walking around the room, so many things to do. so little time to do them.
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"Another week until we know what the event's group section will entail? that's worrying" Hope spoke as she and Lucrezia shared a private moment, the woman was getting clingy of late Lucrezia thought to herself, the fight with Richard shook her a bit that was clear to anyone but the fact she had lost stung deep, and ever since then she's been pushing herself to greater heights.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Arthur was worried, he had spoken with Richard earlier even, Lucrezia couldn't help but smile as he told his good friend that this would soon pass and that defeats are just as important as victories, of course she was constantly sparring against him now, sometimes even against Kaine and Arthur, or Richard's trio who while not on the absurd level of Lucrezia and her gang, could hold up in a fight under his command.
It was fascinating watching those later spars Lucrezia thought as Hope leaned in for a kiss, a peck on her cheek and she was in a better mood already! Lucrezia smiled and let her mind float to the day when the trio decided out of their own volition to join the fray. Lucrezia's blessing of the All-Mother hummed in response to the draconic power Hvtial employed in that spar and she wondered if she could bless him like she did the Son of the Knight-Commander of the Royal Knights.
Alas Hvtial himself said his blood was too thin with the essence of the great dragon that lived in the capital, at best he could make his flames hotter which still was enough to make the young man happy. "I know you are thinking about that fight, it wasn't fair that Tomoe woman somehow snuck past all my detection spells!" Hope pouted "Are you sure your Owl friend didn't train her? That was something else..."
"Well, if you really wanna know" Lucrezia smirked as Hope leaned closer, ready to hear the secrets she had.
With lightning-fast reflexes she hit Hope's forehead with her finger, the woman yelped with indignation "Ouch, what was that for? you can't blame me for being curious! I've been training with Kaine for days on these spells, do you know how boring Divination without the aid of actual Divines can be? I am not a fan of math thank you very much..." Hope backed off and sat down.
"In short, she's not dodging the spells in a real sense, Tomoe has very unique spells that work in tandem with her Blessing allowing near-instant cancellation of all magical weave and shaping, but it doesn't work that well with Divine miracles or even demonic enhanced incantations, something you could learn if you get close to her I imagine, or ask Kaine about it?" Lucrezia said with an uncertain tone "He's busy of late sadly so you might as well ask her"
"Feels weird still going to classes after all of this you know?" Hope asked as she started to meditate, then swapping through numerous silent prayers, Lucrezia smiling as all energy sources that permeated Hope swept throughout her body, the life-affirming potency of Ki, seldom used by Hope of late as she focused on her magical might, Mana that felt like Lucrezia was eating a Terran multifruit candy, and the power of the Divine, All-Father's essence that felt like... an urge?
"It's the Sphere, Free Will is so broad yet powerful that it does funny things to people, me included" Hope mentioned offhand as she continued "I don't like how the next one feels and I am sure you can agree with me on this" Hope finished.
Ah yes, Lucrezia nodded as the wrathful power of the Rage shook her reserves, boiling oceans of blood pierced her mind's eye as Lucrezia gasped at the image she was seeing, that was the place where she met the Terran Entities! So they had indeed made contact with Hope, no wonder she had that Knife, the same as Vivienne's weapon...what did it all mean she wondered. What were their plans?
"Shallowwalkers like you can only taste a sliver of this malice," Hope said with disgust on her face "Now Abyssal Champions like me, Gods be merciful sometimes I wonder how I haven't lost myself to it you know?" Hope asked Lucrezia.
"Good friends, Good boyfriend soon to be spouse, worry not Hope you will not turn out Like your mother-in-law, I won't let you" Lucrezia squeezed her arm, the girl smiled with genuine affection and fired back "Oh look at you, trying to seduce me with your sly words!" she laughed as the meditation ritual ended and got up, stretching herself "Stiff as a board, I need to step up my physical training, especially if I plan on sitting those long-winded debates in the Church of the All-Father.
Hope moved towards the door, stopping for seconds as Lucrezia raised her head and nodded, telling her to speak what was bugging her "You think, you think I will be a good mother? a good Queen?" Hope asked, not facing Lucrezia still.
Lucrezia pondered the question for a solid minute "Yes" she spoke with conviction "You will be a good mother and a great Queen" Lucrezia felt something odd shift in the space the two women were in, as if she had set something off that would eventually rear its head, ugly or otherwise in and make a rackus, she shook herself to let go of this alien feeling, as warmth of the sun heated her skin.
'Well, it's high time we get back to work, let's get going Hope" Lucrezia said slapping her knee and getting up, Hope nodded and followed her as the two women made their way to the corridor and into an open space, with a flurry of chants the women teleported to the crafting zone of the Academy, which had morphed into a small city at this point as Lucrezia had poured no small amount of funding into the place.
"Wait until Kaine cracks large-scale deployment of dimensional runes and magic" Lucrezia spoke as Hope gazed in awe "Entire villages inside a single building, plenty of relaxation zones for the students, housing for dignitaries and clergy of other crafting-focused Gods, this place will be a hub of industry in a few years hehehe" Lucrezia crackled a evil laugh, Hope smiled at the scene as people walked past then greeting the duo.
"I thought Kaine was focusing on replicating the Field's enchantments, at least that was what Kaede told me the other day" Hope spoke "Then again that's not an easy task even for him, the Arch-Mage that put together was a once-in-millennium genius after all, still it would do good to crack it, see how it works so no one tries sneaking in items like the Queen did when we fought, speaking of you think..."Hope didn't want to finish.
"Poison? could work depending on what kind, but it was not an issue anymore, especially now that Vivienne could deploy the full might of her Greater Blessing, and that spell Kaine stole out of his mother's mind. Crazy he fought her you know? and won, Sophia is no weakling even for Kaine..." Lucrezia trailed off as the women walked into an open space filled with workers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen, finding their workbenches they got to work on armor for the upcoming group engagements, Lucrezia felt Hope switching one of her blessings to Magi-Tech, as her blessing sung with gusto, it had been a long while since this had happened huh.
"What a curious thing, these resonances isn't it? Kaine insists there's a way to make them happen at will but he told me it will take years for him to crack it, he's been stonewalled by the Gods on it from what I was told" Hope spoke as she began hammering at a sheet of crystal "It's a good thing I didn't swap to your other blessing eh?" Hope smirked at Lucrezia who rolled her eyes at her "Pass me the silvery sheet please, I wanna try something with this" Hope extended her hand and Lucrezia handed her a sheet of Silvery Mytrhil, watching the girl work was fascinating as she blasted through the raw materials with an absurd amount of mana.
Hammering, sometimes with enthusiasm, sometimes with pinpoint precision and Hope spent nearly 2 hours forging something out of those two sheets, Lucrezia, on the other hand, was busy with a far less creative and demanding job, she was making joints, bolts, and other useful but simple parts for a new suit of armor she wanted to make for Richard, inspired by the visions Kaine had.
It took her quite a while, Hope had already moved on and a pile of raw materials was stacked near her as she zoomed past Lucrezia humming a tune, she was rather inspired today it seemed, Lucrezia couldn't wait to see what would come off from this rare moment between the two of them, hopefully something beautiful she thought with a smile, as Hope was wont to do with her crafted items.
The sun went down as the duo kept working, inching ever closer to the next fight, day by day, hour by hour.