Chapter 28: Battle
This was nothing like the previous arrivals of the divine beast. As the wall guards turned their heads from left to right, they could plainly see that the entire city was besieged by outrageous creatures from all directions. As large as Bretten was, monsters stood in a complete 360 degree ring outside the city walls. Several of them were nearly as large as the divine beast, too. The only thing preventing the guards from panicking was that the monsters were not advancing on the city, or at least, not yet.
“«Summon Creature of the Sky, a Dragon, Riding Wyvern». Yttria, if things get really bad, take this and try to escape straight up.”
“Sir Garfield, what is it? What’s happening?”
“The city is sieged by monsters. I’ll deal with it.”
“Sieged by monsters?”
“Basically, imagine there’s a second me, and he’s targeting this city.” That’s how Garfield chose to explain it.
“Oh dear…”
“I need to go. «Mapping: Display Map. Identify Vampires».” Garfield flew away.
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Hannah was walking with two magic instructors, chatting enthusiastically about attack and support magic. She had avoided revealing Garfield’s secrets, as he requested. Hannah and the instructors were startled when Garfield dropped down from the sky and hovered right in front of them.
“Hannah, I have an important job for you.”
“Sir Garfield!?” called out the magic instructor from several days prior. “How are you floating like that!?”
“Yes?” Hannah asked, unperturbed.
“Patrol the perimeter of the city at high speed and eliminate any creatures that shouldn’t be there. Focus on protecting citizens.”
“…All right. What about you?”
“I’ll deal with the creatures outside the city.” Garfield rose into the sky again.
The instructor turned to Hannah. “Is he always like this?”
“He gets that a lot…” Hannah ran off at a speed the magic instructors couldn’t track.
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West of the city, a silver-haired woman stood atop the head of a dragon. It wasn’t as large as Gaia Zygós, but it probably weighed over half as much. Garfield flew over from the east and came to a sudden stop a few dozen meters in front of Pandora.
“Garfield.”
Garfield did not respond.
“Thank you for explaining to me how your magic works. As you can see, I’ve studied the fiction of mortals and I too can summon in this new way.”
Pandora gestured towards her assembled army. “I’m ready to show you that your power, when wielded by an actual divine entity, rather than a strange anomalous mortal, is superior to your own ability. With this, you will learn once again to respect those above you.”
“Is that all?”
“What?”
Garfield looked down, then back at Pandora. “What do you want me to do?”
“Slam your power against mine! Challenge the gods! I expect to see a brilliant display never before thought possible from lesser entities. Despite this, your ultimate defeat will be a lesson that echoes through the heavens and the ages.”
“This isn’t a fair competition,” said Garfield. “It’s too soon.”
“True, alas, I will not wait eons for you to attain even a portion of the experience that an ageless god possesses.”
Garfield shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Hm?”
“You only attained that power since the last time we spoke, right?”
“Indeed. You opened my eyes. If nothing else, I will credit you for your novel thinking. Still, there is nothing you can do that We cannot.” Pandora gestured with her hand towards herself.
Garfield elaborated. “We’ve both seen how powerful fiction can be as a resources for magical combat. You only started studying that resource, and its potential, within the past day. I’ve been doing it for decades. To paraphrase what I once told your Goblin King, do you have any idea how many gods I’ve killed?”
Pandora remained silent.
“You may be my elder, but when it comes to the type of combat you’re challenging me to, I’m your senior.”
“Your words are meaningful, but you have no proof. Speak not with words, but with action! Face me and revel in your defeat at my hands!” Pandora cackled maniacally.
“That guy must be cracking up right now…” Garfield muttered under his breath, although Pandora could hear it.
“What?”
“I’ve prepared for this moment.”
“Since you’re so fond of establishing whose turn it is, I’ll let you go first, Garfield. I will beat you at your own game.”
Garfield floated backwards until he was over the wall again and began casting.
“«Reverse Teleport: Gaia Zygós». «Reverse Teleport: Lord Kelvar».
“«Summon Hellish Creatures of Legend, The Prime Igneous Demon, Leliurium; The Prime Aqueous Demon, Marine; The Prime Earthly Demon, Terrestrial; The Prime Heliophobic Demon, Lucifugous; The Primal Demon, Aërial; The Primal Demon, Subterranean; The Demon Of Pride, Lucifer; The Demon Of Envy, Beelzebub; The Demon Of Wrath, Sathanas; The Demon Of Sloth, Abadon; The Demon Of Greed, Mammon; The Demon Of Gluttony, Belphegor; The Demon Of Lust, Asmodeus; The Demons Of Fate; The Nightmare Demon, Lord Of The Incubi; The Nightmare Demoness, Mistress Of The Succubi; The Wandering Army, The Drudes; The First Abomination, Ancestor Of The Cambions; Chief Of The Scale, Behemoth; Chief Of The Scale, Leviathan; Fury Of The Scale, Alecto; Fury Of The Scale, Megera; Fury Of The Scale, Ctesiphon; Judge Of The Scale, Minos; Judge Of The Scale, Aeacus; Judge Of The Scale, Rhadamanthus; Fire Prince Of The Scale, Samael; Air Prince Of The Scale, Azazel; Water Prince Of The Scale, Azael; Earth Prince Of The Scale, Mahazael; East Prince Of The Scale, Oriens; West Prince Of The Scale, Paymon; North Prince Of The Scale, Egyn; South Prince Of The Scale, Amaymon; Author Of All Calamities, Acteus; Author Of All Calamities, Megalesium; Author Of All Calamities, Ormenus; Author Of All Calamities, Lycus; Author Of All Calamities, Nicon; Author Of All Calamities, Mimon; Prince Of The Spirits Of Lying, Python; Prince Of The Instruments Of Iniquity And Wrath, Belial; Prince Of The Deluders Of Miracles, Satan; Prince Of The Aerial Powers, Merihem; Prince Of The Calumniators, Astaroth; The Duke, Demon Allocer; The Hellhound, Cerberus; The Overlord, Laharl».
“«Summon Angelic Creatures of Legend, The Archangel of Kindness, Lord Michael; The Archangel of Power, Lord Gabriel; The Angel of Beauty, Lord Jophiel; The Archangel of Healing, Lord Raphael; The Archangel of Light, Lord Uriel; The Archangel of Death, Lord Samael; The Archangel of Unification, Lord Sandalphon; The Archangel of Holy Living, Lord Metatron; The Archangel of Wheels, Lord Raziel; The Archangel of The Brave, Lord Tzaphkiel; The Archangel of Glowing Amber, Lord Tzadkiel; The Archangel of Burning, Lord Khamael; The Archangel of Heavenly Rain, Ananiel; The Archangel of Lightning, Lord Ramiel; The Archangel of Justice, Lord Raguel; The Safer Seraphim, One-Winged Angel».
“«Summon Godly Creatures of Legend, The Primordial Of The Eternal Night, Achyls; The Primordial Of Light, Aether; The Primordial Of Eternity, Aion; The Primordial Of Inevitability, Ananke; The Primordial Of The Void, Chaos; The Primordial Of Darkness, Erebus; The Primordial Of Love, Eros; The Primordial Of The Earth, Gaia; The Primordial Of Daytime, Hemera; The Primordial Of Sleep, Hypnos; The Primordial Of Retribution, Nemesis; The Primordial Of Islands, Nesoi; The Primordial Of Night, Nyx; The Primordial Of Mountains, Ourea; The Primordial Of Sea, Pontus; The Primordial Of The Underworld, Tartarus; The Primordial Consort Of The Sea, Thalassa; The Primordial Of Death, Thanatos; The Primordial Of Heaven, Uranus; The Primordial Of Celebration, Aqua».
“«Summon Godly Creature of Legend, Hundred-Handed One, First Of The Hecatoncheires; Circle-Eyed, First Of The Cyclops; Titan Of Generation, Rhea; Titan Of The Oceans, Oceanus; Titan Of Rivers, Tethys; Titan Of Light, Hyperion; Titan Of Aether, Theia; Titan Of Mortality, Iapetus; Titan Of Constellations, Crius; Titan Of Intellect, Coeus; Titan Of Prophecy, Phoebe; Titan Of Law And Order, Themis; Titan Of Memory, Mnemosyne; Titan Hyperion Of The Sun, Helios; Titan Hyperion Of The Dawn, Eos; Titan Hyperion Of The Moon, Selene; Titan of Resistance, Eren».
“«Summon Godly Creature of Legend, King Of The Gods, Zeus; Queen Of The Gods, Hera; God Of The Seas, Poseidon; Goddess Of Harvests, Demeter; Goddess Of Wisdom, Athena; God Of Light, Apollo; Goddess Of The Hunt, Artemis; God Of War, Ares; Goddess Of Love, Aphrodite; God Of The Forge, Hephaestus; God Of Travel, Hermes; Goddess Of The Hearth, Hestia; God Of Wine, Dionysus; King Of The Gods, Jupiter; Queen Of The Gods, Juno; God Of The Seas, Neptune; Goddess Of Harvests, Ceres; Goddess Of Wisdom, Minerva; Goddess Of The Hunt, Diana; God Of War, Mars; Goddess Of Love, Venus; God Of The Forge, Vulcan; God Of Travel, Mercury; Goddess Of The Hearth, Vesta; God Of Wine, Bacchus; The Ferryman, Lord Charon; Lord of the Underworld, Hades; Queen of the Underworld, Persephone; The Hero, Hercules; The Goddess Of Youth, Hebe; The Goddess of Discord, Eris; The Fates, Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos; The Lawless One, Xena».
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“«Summon Sky Creatures of Legend, The Rainbow Serpent, Aido Wedo; The Oldest Aumakua Dragon, Kihawahine; The Lightning Dragon, Kirimu; The Mapuche Dragon Of Water, Coi Coi-Vilu; Guardian Dragon of the Aztec, Quetzalcoatl; The Fire Dragon, Boitatá; The Dragon Who Protect Treasures And Eats Fruits, Teju Jagua; The Lake Dragon, Gaasyendietha; The Rain Dragon, Rồng; The Space Dragon, Samal Naga; The Khmer Dragon Princess, Neak; The Multi-Headed Dragon, Yilbegän; The Orb Dragon, Druk; The Drought-Causing Dragon, Han Long; The Snow Dragon, Kuraokami; The Coiled Dragon, Panlong; The Soaring Dragon, Teng; Dragon Of The East, The Azure Dragon; The Volcano Dragon, Gonggong; The Storm Dragon, Shenlong; The Celestial Dragon, Tianlong; The Dragon Of 1000 Fangs, Kaliya Nag; The Serpent Dragon, Pakhangba; The Red Dragon, Y Ddraig Goch; The Mountain Dragon, Bheithir; The Dragon Who Kidnaps Princesses, Chudo-Yudo; The Cave Dragon, Smok Wawelski; The Poison Dragon, Cuélebre; The Golden Apple Dragon, Gaia Ladon; The Black Dragon, Fernyiges; The Shaggy Dragon, Peluda; The Devil Dragon, Dreq; The Air Dragon, Azhdaha; Dragon Zero, Bahamut».
“«Summon Sky Creatures of Legend, Lord of Rebirth, Phoenix Queen; The Song Bird, The Alkonost; The Healing Bird, The Caladrius; The Bird Of Prey, The True Roc; The Sphinx Pair, Criosphinx and Hieracosphinx; The Zombie Bird, Nightterror; The Fort Bird, The Condor; The Winged Reptile, Pterodactyl Lord; The Gargoyle Bird; Avian Glass; Tornado Bird, The Flying Shark; The Bird Knight, Owl Of The Knightly Order; The Colorful Bird, Peacock Of The News; The Demon Bird, Oath Owl Feathers; The Hooting Bird Wizard, The Bespectacled Spirit Wizard; The Autotelekinetic Egg, Scrambled Death; The Bird Of The Cloth, The Apostle Of Artemis; Gallus Of The Zodiac, The Rooster; Gary The Goblin, Hurdling Through the Sky; Murder Of Flight-Granting Crows, Friends Of The Baby Elephant».
“«Summon Forest Creatures of Legend, The Spider Queen, Arachne Anne; Canid Of The Zodiac, The Dog; The Elven King, Loran; The Best Sniper, Elvish Bowman Omni; Suidae Of The Zodiac, The Pig; Keeper Of The Forest, Father Treant; Muroid Of The Zodiac, The Rat; The Terrible Bear, Kodiak Mountainpelt; Felidae Of The Zodiac, The Tiger; Hero Of the Goblins, Goblin Champion; Serpent Of The Zodiac, The Snake; The Top Orc, Blind Blademaster; Primate Of The Zodiac, The Monkey; The Demon Slime, Rumuri».
“«Summon Plains Creatures of Legend, Bovine Of The Zodiac, The Ox; King Of The Plains, Leo Lion; Leporidae Of The Zodiac, The Rabbit; The Immortal, Brad Orlando; Equidae Of The Zodiac, The Horse; Brood Mother Of Resonance Runts, Resonance Queen; Capra Of The Zodiac, The Goat; The Hunting Genius, Larry Liger; The Goblin Siege Masterpiece, Enormous Reckless Trebuchet; The Blue Sorcerer, Axel; The Master of Flames, Brantley; The Brewmaster, Finnegan; The Wise Wizard, Dalfgan»
“«Summon Earth Creatures of Legend, The Grand Wyrm, Landtongue; The Diamond Golem, Cubic Crystal Carat; The Serpentine Horror, Largest Anaconda; He Who Watches Your Step, Sentient Sinkhole; The Dwarven King, Bronzebeard; The Playful Kobold, Galgenmännlein; The Feisty Kobld, Heinzelmännchen; The Human Digger, Simon».
“«Summon Water Creatures of Legend, Destroy Of Islands, The Kraken; The Shelled Terror, World Turtle»
“«Summon Item-Type Creature of Legend, The Unstoppable, Darksteel Death; The Living Castle, Marching Citadel; The Impossible Enemy, Lightspeed Attack Robot; The Disruptor, The Robot Chicken».”
“That takes care of the first available Lore. 57 more to go.”
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While Garfield continued summoning creatures, each one capable of toppling a city by itself, many of the creatures went to work reproducing themselves, using boosting abilities on each other, or summoning in their own subordinates, similar to Lord Kelvar’s ability. In fact, he already had a small army arrayed in front of him. The summoned creatures equally spread themselves out in a ring between the city wall and Pandora’s army.
Pandora’s face slowly warped as Garfield continued to summon such a large and diverse army of incredible creatures. This exceeded her expectations, but she did not think she would lose.
“Right now, our numbers are nearly matched,” she observed.
Garfield had to shout at this distance in order to be heard. “To quote a certain evil Emperor, ‘You can’t appraise a collection simply by looking at the quantity. It’s the quality that is worth anything!’"
“We shall see.”
“Swing.” The entire inner ring of Garfield’s creatures lunged forward and assaulted the outer ring.
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“Look out!” Hannah shouted.
Moving at incredible speeds, Hannah reached a child and pulled him out of the way of a falling slug monster of some kind. She quickly dispatched it with a fire spell.
Before the kid could thank her, she teleported to the next spot where hapless monsters were getting launched over the city wall.
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“By the way, do you think that summoning magic is my strongest asset in combat?” Garfield asked Pandora.
“What?”
“You seem to be trying to copy my ability to summon a large number of highly capable creatures. Did you not realize that I summon mostly because it’s convenient and fun, and not because of its particular combat effectiveness?”
“I don’t understand,” said Pandora. “Summoning is obviously the most effective way to utilize fiction as a resource. What else would you do?”
“You did notice that I flew here, right?”
“So? Flight is nothing for one such as me.”
“Yes, but as a result, you’re missing the significance of the fact that I can do it so easily.”
Pandora wasn’t following. “Meaning?”
“«Megadeath».”
The grand majority of Pandora’s army surrounding the capital was destroyed instantly. A few creatures managed to survive for one reason or another, but they were quickly surrounded and destroyed or detained by Garfield’s still-healthy army.
Pandora was shocked. She had no idea Garfield was capable of anything like that. A moment later, she was surrounded by several summoned god-type entities, each one bearing a degree of divinity that nearly rivaled her own, ephemeral nature aside.
“Next time I’m at the cathedral, I’ll have to recommend they rename you the goddess of impatience. Or perhaps, the avatar of going off half-cocked. I’m not sure they’ll know what that means, though… Oh, let me take just one precaution. «Teleportation Jamming».”
“Not yet. I haven’t lost yet,” she declared. “I acknowledge this setback, but I bear a responsibility to prevent you from walking away with the wrong message. I have a mandate which transcends mortality. You will learn humility.”
“I’m as humble as they come.”
Pandora, no longer able to teleport, rapidly floated up into the air. The creatures assigned to surround Pandora let her go up pending orders from Garfield.
“I admit this is a less than flawless victory, but my hands are tied. I will defeat you using a means that your borrowed powers cannot oppose. Death from above, they say.” Pandora cackled again.
“Hey, I’ve got a city below me.”
“It is of no consequence! See the form of your destroyer approach. These purely natural phenomena wrapped in divinity cannot be stopped by your fictional constructs or copied magicks. Only by physically countering the attack’s structure or using classically derived indigenous magic, clearly beyond your ken, will you parry these attacks. Those years you spent buried in fantasy won’t save you now!”
Garfield looked up and saw several energy-based attacks descending on Bretten from the heavens. Most likely, Pandora was telling the truth, and generically targeting them with spells Garfield pulled from fiction wouldn’t work. Only by understanding the underlying mechanisms driving them and counteracting them naturally could they be stopped. There were two important things about Garfield that Pandora didn’t know when she declared victory prematurely.
“I’m surprised.”
“It’s not too late to repent for your foolishness!”
“No, I’m surprised that you would suddenly choose to battle me on my home turf.”
“WHAT!?” she screeched.
“Do you really think I spent all my time ‘buried in fantasy’ in my previous world?”
“Huh? What else did you do?”
“Studying ‘natural phenomena’ was my hobby and literally my job for many years. Just how many courses in physics did I need to take… Perhaps fiction was a fun escape when I needed a break…”
“You bluff! Even if you tell the truth, there’s nothing you can do. Hurry and repent so that I may save you.”
“I’m also surprised that you think my powers don’t give me a way to directly deal with this problem.”
“Nonsense. You told me how your powers work. This divine assault precisely targets your weakness. Even if you do understand the natural phenomena involved, you don’t have a means at your disposal to counteract them. I graciously slowed their rate of propagation, but your time is short.”
“I left a few details out about the requirements for casting my spells. You should have asked my closest friends about them. They know the requirements…”
“Show me, then! Show me and REPENT!”
“Fiction is one of the two resources I can use for casting spells, you know.”
Using magic, Garfield studied the incoming attacks which slowly descended from way above. The first one was a wide-area shockwave, merely a compression of air molecules. Garfield understood the mechanism.
“«Counteract Mechanical Shockwave: Scatter Longitudinal Oscillations To 4 Pi Steradians And Overdamp».”
Garfield studied the next attack. It was an intense electromagnetic pulse, slowed to its current speed somehow by use of divinity, but still extremely dangerous. Garfield understood the mechanism. He used the electromagnetic equivalent of noise cancellation.
“«Counteract Electromagnetic Pulse: Superimpose Negative Waves».”
Garfield studied the third attack. It was a strange cascading breakdown of atomic nuclear bonds. A weird case… but Garfield understood the mechanism. He just needed to counteract any manipulations to the strong force binding the nucleons together.
“«Counteract Strong Force Fluctuations: Negate».”
Garfield studied the final attack. An extremely dense field of charged particles, basically a Fermi gas butting up against the Pauli Exclusion Principle, was hurtling down towards the ground, but the particles were not being propelled or controlled by any electric, magnetic, or gravitational fields.
“Do it!” Pandora shouted. Garfield really wasn’t sure whose side she was on at this point.
“This one’s pretty nasty. I can only think of one possible cause. If I’m wrong, I might destabilize the attack and cause it to explode in the airspace directly above the city.”
That would be a bad day.
“I’m not sure what my odds are, but I don’t have a lot of time… Man, and I’ve been trying so hard not to contaminate this world with futuristic scientific ideas…”
Garfield thought back to a little known effect in quantum mechanics. It was apparently possible to influence a charged particle remotely without using direct influence by an electric or magnetic field. All that was needed was an electromagnetic potential. Garfield wasn’t quite sure how this effect was being used to propel the charged particles but, fortunately, he didn’t need to.
“«Counteract Aharonov-Bohm Effect Influences: Reduce the Electromagnetic Potential to Zero».”
The charged particles safely dissipated in a brief flash of blue light.
“…What?” Pandora was clearly stupefied.
“That last one was tricky. It was like the extra credit question on a homework problem set…”
“Just what ARE you?”
“You already know the answer to that. Before you try any other weird things, let’s bring this to an end.”
“Very well,” Pandora agreed. “Destroy me. Today is the day when the mortals clawed their way up from the depths and grasped, successfully, at the unreachable—“
“Why would I destroy you?”
“What? Haven’t you slain countless gods in your previous capacity?”
“Yes, but that was just in games. I don’t want to actually do it in real life.”
“…Is that how you see it?”
“Yes. I have no desire to challenge your authority or whatever it is that made you cackle like a maniac before. As someone who doesn’t seek immortality or even extended life, and doesn’t want to exert undue influence on a scale that godly beings should even care about, I don’t even see why you’re so worried about me.”
“Hm… I see.” Pandora thought for a short while. “I will go visit Him. It has been a while…”
“Oh, say hello for me while you’re there.” Garfield waved.
“Very well, I will cease opposing you. Even I still have much to learn, apparently.”
“Humans have much to learn by studying ants. I don’t see why the same doesn’t apply between you and us down here in our inconsequential cities…”
“Until next time.”
Garfield laughed under his breath.
“Ugh,” she grunted.
“Need help?”
“Would you release that teleportation-blocking spell?”
“I worry about you.”