“Look me in the eyes and tell me this… Will you take this hand?”
Ellia’s eyes widened, her pupils dilating as if trying to resist an invisible force, though her willpower can never overcome such a level of magic. Her lips trembled, before stopping altogether no signs of further resistance, she had turned into nothing more than a cute, lovable puppet. Mindlessly gripping to the cold, extended hand of the man.
To the remaining cadets in the lecture hall, nothing out of the ordinary was happening, to execute such a manoeuvre in plain sights… “I see… that’s enough, leave now.”
Ellia gave a practised bow before leaving the lecture hall.
A few seconds later, the shadow of the lecturer moved slightly, closer inspection would reveal it was no shadow, but a member of the species thought extinct. Circles of magic, invisible to the naked eye, enveloped the area, translocating them all to what seemed to be an office. The wall consisted of cobble, despite a relatively large size in comparison to what one would expect of a single-person office. There wasn’t much decor to speak of.
A cloaked figure occupied the reading desk. The way he nonchalantly put his armoured feet over the desk, soiling several articles and papers, said something about the ownership.
“… General, what brings you here?” the lecturer offered an exchange of greetings, yet it was declined. “Wouldn't you like to prepare for your organisation class or perhaps have lunch? I heard some interesting children enrolled.”
“I will get straight to the point, grand officer Valmisc.” he brandished his blade, revealing cold steel plate to be beneath the cloak. “The moment you come to this place, your fate is sealed.”
Valmisc clicked his tongue, the general rushed with uncanny speed, as if the heavy armour was nothing but mere feathers. His long sword engulfed in blue colour flames left evanishing trails behind.
*SNAP*
Before the blade could reach, somehow, the armoured assailant was brought back to the desk, sitting nonchalantly as before. “What did you do?!” he exclaimed, just then spikes, no, numerous shadowy constructs erected from behind the chair at incomprehensibly fast speed, it emanates a vile aura, one that can physically be seen in purple tint.
A masterful dodge to the side was performed, yet the left hand of the man was replaced by air as blood and remnants of bones scattered across the room.
“A long sword would certainly be difficult to wield with one hand.” lecturer Valmisc snarkily said, he extended his free palm forward, sigils and circles began forming, not from his own but rather the ring he wore. “「Albus Nox」”
The room dimmed, as if the very existence of light had been erased, even the flaming blade nor the glowing magic circle got its light absorbed, but a second after beam of light pierced the air.
“Hah!” a swing of the blade wiped away the spell, yet the shadowy spikes were restless, more spawned from another angle, though this attempt would be deflected.
“Your movements improved, perhaps you should be fighting one-handed from the start. 「Albus Nox」”
“{Magic Destruction}” the spikes ceased alongside the room’s receding luminescence. The figure recovered quickly, despite dripping blood, showed no signs of slowing down, another attempt at a strike no doubt.
“Tch! [Lumine] 「Atelier」” bright light engulfed the room, despite sight blinded, a clash of metal reverberated across the room. Single turned to many, one after the other, the presumed blades matched each other with rhythmic pace, as if conducted in an opera house. Some five minutes of the constant back and forth.
The light cleared, revealing Valmisc to sustain a few scratches, the sound betrayed the instrument, for the weapon he had been holding all along was a shield, as for the general, his long sword replaced by a shorter one. The previous struck deep in the ground close behind, a blazing pile of ashes belonging to the shadow fiend.
“Not only are you a traitor, but also a fraud…” he coughed up some blood, perhaps the smog from previous spikes was not for display. Still with a determined look, he unleashed another wave of attack.
Steps after steps. Valmisc was losing more and more grounds behind, soon enough he would be pinned. “[Arcane Distortion]” desperate circles of magic began to form, archaic texts in purple engulfed the room.
“{Magic Destruction}!” the purple particles shattered into non-existence, with a wry smile, he would follow up quickly with “「Artificial Limbs」.” Green particles engulfed the man’s missing limb, from the stump grew another limb, much larger and more muscular than before, single-handedly sent the Valmisc flying against the wall, his shield useless against such a blunt display of force. The tremor caused by the impact shaken the room, but no one outside would be able to hear it.
“It seems this room’s enhancements come back to bite its master…” With two steps, he reached the collapsed man, aiming for the heart, he announced “Now die silently, traitor”
*SNAP*
The debris from the combat, splattered blood, misplaced limbs, damages to the armour and injuries, all of them vanished. The general’s location couldn't be less obvious, what had transpired.
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The lecturer laughed crazily, his “You thought you could take me alone. Believe me, a stepping stone for your fame, right Lazuli?” blue flames grazed the man’s ears, predictive slash to the unmoving Valmisc, the general would reverse his grip, attempts after attempts.
“Unfortunately, you have chosen the worst place for this cute ambush...” he calmly took a few steps back, watching Lazuli prepare for an attack, he took off his gauntlet, sliced his palm and soaked the blade with his blood and chanted some things. The blue flame turned to an incomprehensible shade, a quantum state between blue and red. With a single upward swing, the reality itself seemed to be cut in half, even the gods would be slain by this attack, that was how powerful it was-
*SNAP*
As their location seemed to rewind, the reality-cleaving projectile null. Shadows cast by the desk turned into an entity, launching multiple strikes forth, perhaps learning from the previous encounter, he decided to face them head on, though it was gravely a wrong decision.
As elusive spikes from behind impaled his various parts, only a fraction was successfully countered, miasma emanating from it and drips of black lipid filled his veins, swelling so much that people could see from several yards away.
“That attack was lovely, but did you really think the snapping was the work of some magic item? That I will run out of mana or reach its usage limits at any seconds?” the lecturer inched closer, Lazuli eventually succumbed to the futility of attempts to even move his limbs. “Seeing you not use magic destruction makes me wonder, confronting me with two conduits, do you really overestimate yourself that much?”
The mouth of the dying man gaped open, accompanied by only dry breathing without any words word. “Hm… not giving up yet? Unfortunately, whatever trump card you may have, you can’t utter a word with all that good stuff in you.” A larger spike popped up from the ground, though its speed was slow, graceful, expecting a warm rub from its master, of which Valmisc obliged, caressing it as it if were some sort of reptile.
“Shame that you couldn’t see any more, but don’t be too afraid…” A section of the wall twined away, as if it were some sort of sentient series of intersecting vines. Embedded within the gap seemed to be bodies of similar state, of various ages, of various races. So indiscriminate were the series of corpses that makes one wonder if the architect had any semblance of humanity. The bodies had no signs of rot. If one were to look closely, they could even see the hearts beating.
“Fine addition to this stage wouldn’t you agree?” the shadow nodded positively in response, it had fetched the two blades of the fallen general, at least masterpiece magic grade items from a cursory glance.
“In this theatre, I dub thee… Alazon… You have much left to show me still…” the body floated to merge with others, wounds clogged by the black substance, the twine wall composited back into material that resembles stone. “[Theos Ek Mēkhanēs]”
.
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Ellia couldn’t believe it, after listening for three straight hours, the assignment he gave was to summarise everything they had learnt.
“Didn’t that person have a question?” she thought to herself as many people began leaving the room, again none approached the two, but Ellia thought for it to be the best, after all, what need is there in having a friend-
“Gotcha!” the left arm of the one to her right locked neatly around her neck, the motion earned some giggles from Ellie. “Let’s grab something to eat!”
Ellia spied a glance at her little sister, the response obvious. “Okay…”
.
.
.
“You two are from East Tapol? That’s like, super cool!”
The trio decided to head back to the sister’s lodging, excuses aside, it was due to the pair seeking free food. Ellie apparently discovered a shortcut; thus they were following that path.
Ellia sighed deeply, “Super cool indeed…” apparently, in the long bygone era, Great Tapolian Horde dominated half of the continent for some years before disintegrating, the only remnant that remains would be the name, not its culture nor legacy. East Tapol isn’t even related to Great Tapol itself, merely a designated name for settlers of old. Aside from that history footnote, Ellia couldn’t tell what exactly was ‘super cool’.
“Where are you even from?” Ebony skinned people were a rarity in mainland Serinn, mostly due to their very thin population, the mass casualty during the four-way civil war did not contribute positively.
“Hm? Moi?” she laughed at Ellia’s annoyed expression, “My family is from Aftale, but I lived in Asac! Or previously named-”
“DO NOT SAY THAT!” the big sister was quick to cover Izara’s mouth, due to height difference, she had to reach a bit up. A member of the constable, saluted the trio without saying a word before walking past. Regularly scheduled patrols, it seems.
“Are they really effective…? I could be choking her for all he knows, but no question…? Are they even human?”
While citing the island's previous name would never go against the Imperial Code, thus 「Sight of the State」 would not flag such occurrence, it was not ‘legal’ to do so.
Asac’s an island to the right of Saint Tia, its previous name was ‘Alicia so cute exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark’. Historians could not determine exactly how such a name came to be, but they assumed it was named after the very region of Alicia rather than an individual.
“You’re pretty slow to let go~ Your hand is kind of salty if you’re wondering!”
“...O’evil deities strike me down this instance…” smiles all around turned into screams, as lightning manifested from nowhere, struck Ellia as she demanded. Her convulsed as the lightning coursed through her, More onlookers gathered, though the energy dissipated, leaving Ellia collapsing to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
. . .
I stood there shocked,
The strange girl really got struck by lighting,
Her sister is crying on her side,
Isn’t the sky artificial?
How can there be lightning, is it really divine intervention?
Does the evil deities truly exist?
A strange man approached us,
He seems to be some figure of authority, part-timer in the gendarmerie maybe?
“H-Hey what are you doing?!”
I called out, but to no response,
he was undoing Ellia’s clothes,
granted, she was face-flat on the floor,
“Lichtenberg figur…”
The man (?) muttered, I peeked
There was a tattoo..? No, burn marks from the lightnings, the pattern was pretty beautiful
But there was something else concerning about the strange girl’s back…
Still, I couldn’t catch much before she got turned to the other side.
I asked Ellie who the man was,
Apparently, he identified himself as Ellia’s friend, Lotte.
I thought that’s a pretty girlish name, but that’s beside the point.
Is that called CPR? I’m not sure,
She seemed to be breathing fine earlier, so I wasn’t sure why it was performed…
I had a careful look at the man,
he didn’t seem particularly lustful or have bad intentions,
So CPR was probably the correct call.
Oh… she’s being carried somewhere,
Some constables approached us and asked some questions,
I answered to the best of my abilities, of course,
But how am I supposed to tell them that a literal act of divine vengeance took place?
Even the lightning explanation made them express doubt
I comforted Ellie for a few minutes,
Lotte dude told us she should return in a day or two
He then slid in pretty masterfully…
The area was sealed for investigations,
I overheard something being broken, probably some science stuff.
Since all seemed to be well, I suggested we head to eat something as planned.
Unfortunately, the sister of the strange girl asked to be alone.
So with nothing else to do, I turned around and drag Lotte guy to another place instead.
…
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