"On the eve of the assault to the elven capital we stood tall as the storm conjured by their mages rocked our camps and outposts, magic and miracles both protected us the mighty knights of vermillion but there was one sight no living soul could forget, the queen stood tall in a cliff, her gaze staring at the huge storm as lightning struck the ground around her and hail battered against her magical shield, a true beacon of hope and righteous fury!"
Anonymous account of a foot soldier from the war against Grannarius.
Malphas was sparring in the main arena of the palace, her husband keeping up with her even when she activated the second stage of the Rage, truly the best man she had ever known, even if his love for statecraft had made him rusty the past 10 years.
His bastard sword drew blood and they called a draw, the match-up was always in his favor as Jason could read Malphas like a map, one of the very few who had bested her in combat at that.
Jason left shortly after it, his eyes telling her many things, their relationship was a tad strained of late but she could still feel the warmth of his love, buried deep in the many responsibilities of being a king but still there.
The same couldn't be said for her youngest son, who by now had committed to his love with the peasant girl, and worse still the whore that had killed her dearest son, they barely talked nowadays, he somehow had found ways to dodge or skirt away from her presence, a feat no doubt taught to him by the whore.
Malphas eyes and ears were appalled at the sheer speed Lucrezia had established herself in the capital's many circles, from the lowest of merchant guilds to the High Priests and Priestess, and anything in between bet it mercenaries, adventurer associations, miners, independent artisans, and even godsdamned musicians. Her patron deities also extended their reach into the capital, with the church of Magi-Tech already having started its work.
"It's like she knows what to do when to do and how to do M'lady, I've seen shrewd political navigators in my time but Lucrezia? It's almost like she can read the future!" Malphas Head Spy said in his report, that the old Crocodilekin looked bewildered which was a rare sight.
"Chronomancy?" Malphas asked, she knew the whore had made fast friends with Kaine when she had him captive in her castle, to the point where the boy became the first chronomancer in centuries and was also working towards expanding his Goddess religion.
"Nay, we have means to check for timeline meddling, crude as they were but the boy has barely begun mastering the river of time, and the Goddess remains ever a thorn in his side, stonewalling him even with help from Lucrezia" the Head Spy spoke his face turning sour "Yet it is the peasant girl that worries me, where Lucrezia has made great strides in establishing social ties, that monster has also elevated Hope into a warrior that could pose threat to national security"
"She is grooming her to be her shield against me," Malphas said, her Head Spy closed his eyes but said nothing.
"Report again should anything of note happens, I have things to do," she said and the man went off, Malphas summoned a wooden staff to her hand and slammed the thing on the ground, transporting her to a faraway place deep in the polar region of the world, in this isolated sanctum she had once found after a series of harrowing solo adventures seeking a rogue lich.
In this ancient cove, the lich had made great advances into necromancy and found a way to hide from the gods, and thus Malphas used the place after his banishment to commune with the entity that gave her so much power, who single-handed destroyed cities and leveled mountains, it felt horrible taking the entity out of her soul and placing back in the world, even for a few seconds
"Come out you godsdamned creature!"
Alas, nothing happened.
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Lucrezia finished her daily set of combat exercises, at this point she was on par with the elite knights of her duchy, William often gave her a beating, but nowadays she was scoring more wins than him.
Her mastery of the weapon gifted by the Arch-Duke's wife also surprised him, William even said he thought she would favor a sword of more traditional Vermilion design, or a duelist's rapier which was popular with nobles, but the katana spoke to something deep inside Lucrezia, there's grace with each flowing strike and slash, a dance of death and precision that made her fall in love.
William reacted with humor, calling her names from his world that for once had parallels to her reality, it wasn't unheard of people being enamored with the culture of the Shogunate, or the Dynasty for that matter.
William then manifested more weapons from the shogunate, as he deemed the Katana more of a ceremonial weapon and the shorter blades would be best for the actual fight, of course, the boy forgot to account that Lucrezia could do the same magicks as him, and the Warriors of the Shogunate had their own brand of both Ki and Magical arts to assist in their fight, so she had William look for those.
It didn't take long, Vermilion had good relations with the Shogunate, even if the country was too fond of civil wars, books and more weapons were brought into the realm, armor too and soon Lucrezia looked like a mixture of noble duel attire and Samurai warrior.
Mastering their bow and spear technics took a while, but she had time in this eternal life granted by whoever brought William from Terra, as she was unable to channel Ki, learning the magicks took more time but with enough persistence, she got it under control, that was when William began trying to make new spells based of the many games he had played in his life.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The very first spell they got right was a short-range void slice which could be done both vertically and horizontally, tearing into the fabric of reality with an application of a series of math-heavy magicks he had Kaine come up, the tear was small enough that nothing could crawl from it but big enough to phase through armor and shield, magical or otherwise.
The second spell was a long-range series of slashes, Lucrezia would unsheath and sheath the blade at speeds the body wouldn't be able to do, but as a spirit, she wasn't bound by the limits of the flesh, these slashes would take the form of a sphere and it was a devastating sight to behold.
The third and final spell they came up together was a bigger version of the second one, summoning every once of Lucrezia's and William's mana reserves the area where the slashes would manifest increased tenfold, a strike strong enough to fell a demi-god according to William who was grinning like a madman when Lucrezia finally pulled it off, saying that when he finally mastered the necromantic arts they would be able to fight together and the whole world would witness true devastation from her blade.
Corny, but she couldn't help but want a bit of that, to fight in the real world again.
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Lucrezia was on the shores again, the Rage calling her, or perhaps William down to the murky waters, power vibrated through those waters and she could feel empowering her, making her mind sharper, faster, her muscles growing stronger and her thirst for battle becoming a hunger.
Yet beyond the shore, she felt the presence again, that river of blood that scared her something fierce all that time ago.
William's divine ties to his planet, his patron god.
The boy was a non-believer, and she couldn't blame him, knowing what he knew, she too thought Terra was one of those rare planets devoid of divinity and left to the beasts, until that voice spoke to her, in a language she couldn't understand.
Searching William's memories, she found a movie buried deep in his childhood memories, it told the story of a holy man, betrayed by his own and killed to save the humans of earth, a harrowing tale of God-Killing, but one that was quite normal in Lucrezia's world where humans put smaller and even bigger divinities to the sword more than once, it was that language the being had spoken, ancient and full of power.
Alas, William wasn't one to devel into the theological aspects of the religion he was gang pressed thanks to his family, much like the nobles here, in Terra it was both social and faith aspects that drove people to seek the higher powers, something that would make her laugh had she not been made aware of the sheer amount of atrocities Terra had under its belt thanks to it.
"The stories don't know the half of it, next to them we are all a bunch of peace-loving hippies huh," Lucrezia said to herself, even with the combined story of her country and the world it palled in comparison!
But the All-Father also had done the same, he perpetuated a state of warfare to further his conquest of realities near and far, Lucrezia cast her mind to the teachings of his firstborn son, Augurios the Mad, God of Order who rebelled against his Father after the realization that Warfare would never ever bring order to the cosmos, they would always fight, always struggle and suffer.
"Stagnation, Augurios would damn the cosmos to go out in a whimper in order to fulfill his duty as God of Order, static, frozen in god mandated red tape, paradise without moving forward" William had explained to her from what the game told him "And as you know Faal is still willing to forgive and forget, he loves his son that much that even an attempt at his life can be hand waved away"
Lucrezia knew, a point that caused many a fight among the priests and high priests of the All-Father, some demanded Augurios's head, others forgave the Mad God and his followers, and many kept their silence, not wanting to get involved.
As Lucrezia ruminated on such thoughts she finally arrived at the sea of blood, her connection with William growing strong enough where she could tap into that shard of his Patron God, as she walked in the blood a small basin could be spotted in the distance.
She rushed forward, the ground shook and the blood boiled as she felt her very soul being denied in this realm, yet she pressed forward, determined to talk with the entity that had scared her shitless so long ago on her Blessing day.
Her mind was blasted with images that terrified her, formless yet with a grace, eyes, and fire burning and staring, judging all of her, punishment ready to be delivered without no mercy.
"WAIT, I COME IN PEACE" Lucrezia mustered her power and essence to deliver the message, after a tense few seconds the blood stopped boiling and the nightmarish visions stopped.
"Drink from the fountain" A voice brimming with power spoke all around her, and so she did, it tasted like blood and raw meat, she nearly choked on it but somehow it went down and stayed.
"I am not responsible for bringing him here! I am a victim just like him! It was a God, someone strong enough to dodge the All-Father and the barrier that stands over your world!" Lucrezia's mind was on fire, something told her deep inside that this entity could stay by her side, all she needed was to prove she wasn't the villain here, that she and William were working together to escape this mess!
"Speak thy tale" and so Lucrezia did, everything as she remembered, a growl came from the space around her "Thy words ring true, both in tone and in the soul, He will understand then..."
Silence, the entity was likely talking with its master.
"Child of Faal, thou must know this, William's soul is no longer fit to live in Terra, this union of souls has passed the point of no return for him, he is to stay in your world, to live and die and be judged by your gods"
"Knowing this He beseeched thee, look after him, life was not kind to him, and yet he kept the faith, did right by his morals, and stood for the meek against the tyranny of evil men that plagues the world, He has no home to come back to, no family to welcome him now, All he has is You"
Somehow, Lucrezia knew this already, and she had an inkling William was of the same mind, she nodded and felt a warm feeling flood her very soul, easing her worries.
"Yet he seeks trouble! even now he's dead set on brazing a path none would dare, and the enemies he has made dwarf our power!" Lucrezia screamed, "If you are to ask me for a favor as important as this then I demand one in kind!"
"Ask Child of Faal, ask and we will see"
"William tells me of the power your kind has, the old tales tell the sheer destruction and calamity you can bring when your God commands you so, He also tells me that this is no longer allowed, but I ask of you mighty o emissary when the time comes to lend me and him your strength! So that he may prevail against the evils that lurk in the darkness poised to destroy us!
"We agree"
Blasphemy, Lucrezia had just committed high treason against the All-Father and much like her parents were now in an accord with the terror from beyond the stars, who one day she would summon to defend both her and William.
Gods forgive her for it.