As the archlich had seen Kanbe charging at him, he tried to prepare to cast a spell, but something felt terribly wrong as the spell was being created as usually as the mana around the area wasn’t heeding his commands.
That was a very rare instance for a veteran mage, as it was normal for a magician to be able to control the mana to a limited extent after learning the magician skill tree, and after enough experience and training they were able to become extremely capable of controlling and giving orders to mana.
Most mages learned magic either due to the skill points, making it harder to control mana at first even if it was faster to learn the magic affinities, or by learning how to craft spells and acquire through training the magician skill tree which would take a longer time.
So losing the control over the mana surrounding a mage who mastered the magician skill tree was something clearly impossible. But that impossible situation had happened, and the archlich was clearly noticing why.
Kanbe struck the archlich with his sword, as his own body had become one with mana, and managed to cut the archlich’s left arm in one swing. A clean slash that cut through both the defensive equipment of the archlich, and ignored the archlich inherent resistance to slashing weapons due to being an undead.
‘A Heavenly Defiance attack!? Dad warned me about those, and he had never been able to use one, as they were a special trait of those who used physical attacks!’ Caroline thought, impressed by Kanbe’s incredible display of that sort of attack.
And so the memories flooded inside Caroline’s mind, quickly remembering the words of her father as he taught her about the Heavenly Defiance attacks. A memory she would never forget, no matter how much time passed, as she would always cherish every single day with her father.
***
Ages past, back when Caroline was just a young succubus, back in a massive grass area which was just a part of the massive garden of 4 hectares of the massive manor that stood inside one of the greatest cities of that era. She was training to cast holy spells, as her father was teaching her how to use her mana as efficiently as possible, to become useful for her family as soon as possible.
The young Caroline was just a small girl, with long curly hair, pale skin that looked like porcelain, with curved horns akin to a goat, black leathery wings akin to a bat, a long fleshy tail that ended in a spade shape, and blue eyes. This young Caroline was wearing a frilly blue and dark dress, white stockings, and a pair of black flats.
Besides her in the grassy field, a young man of one meter and sixty centimeters with black curved horns, white hair, pale skin, and purple eyes was pointing out how to cast the spell correctly.
This man wore a black set of robes with intricate golden lines across the sleeves, a pair of black shoes, and a pair of golden bracers that covered his wrists.
“Grandine, you need to give the order to mana correctly. Magic requires concentration, and a clear image of the spell you want to cast. It’s like doing a cooking recipe, you have to give the mana all the recipe and explain it properly with the connection between your mind and the mana. To connect the internal mana with the external mana, you need to start by inputting the correct amount of mana to start making the spell formula. This way, the external mana will understand quicker what you are trying to do. That’s why mana control is the most important aspect for a mage.” The young man explained to the young Caroline.
“Yeah, but it’s way too hard, Dada! The warriors have it easier than us, they just have to use their internal mana and their skill variations are easier to make than us using a normal spell!” Grandine said as she pouted.
“True, but they tend to come out short if they don’t use mana. Of course, that is until you put Takuto Tokugawa in the mix. He is unique, and if he wasn’t so much invested in being away of the spotlight, he could easily reach the top 40s even if his build is so predictable.” Grandine’s father said, as he patted Grandine’s head.
“Why is he special, Dada?” Grandine asked as she tilted her head.
“He’s the only one who can consistently use the Heavenly Defiance attacks. If he puts his back onto it, he is dangerous even for me.” Grandine’s father replied.
“Heavenly Defiance… Attacks?” Grandine asked once more, as she looked at her father.
“Yeah, those attacks are special. Once a warrior’s mind, soul, and weapon unites as one, the mana flows perfectly through them. This makes their understanding of mana skyrocket, while they control the mana of the area, and their attack goes through all resistance effects. In simpler terms, all the enchantments that make a piece of equipment fail for a moment, so you have to take the attack with the physical defense you have, and the one granted by the armor. Also, all sorts of barrier instantly shatter. Which is why physical walls are better than barriers in this case, but most of the time: Barriers can be more useful.” Grandine’s father explained calmly, while patting her head., deep in thought as he considered the power of the Heavenly Defiance attacks he was talking about.
“But that means that if all the warriors can abuse of them, we are going to be easier to defeat!” Grandine said worriedly.
“Yeah, but it’s really hard to even do one of those. Never fight directly against someone who can use those at will, place yourself behind a very thick wall of meat bags. Heavenly Defiance is a tricky type of attack, as it drains your stamina like no one’s business, but the user never notices it. It is as if they have entered the zone, fully focused on the task at hand, so they’ll tire themselves out pretty quickly. Once they tire themselves out, murder them as quickly as possible. It’s a solid method to defeat any user of Heavenly Defiance. If you let them get a chance to shine, they might be trouble, but they are like a candle. Sooner or later, they’ll burn themselves out.” Grandine’s father said as he smirked at his daughter.
“I see! But can’t we use that the same?” Grandine said, as she smirked back at her father, while looking at her father.
“That’s the thing. We can’t. I tried all sorts of methods to recreate it, and I am not alone in that department. It seems like only a warrior with a physical weapon can truly use those. Isn’t that weirdly messed up? For all my attempts, nothing came out, not any sort of special effect by doing so. In fact, the only thing we get out of such a focus in the natural increase of mana control, as we are focused on using one spell. So, yeah, we can’t. At least, as far as I know. Obviously, mages will always keep trying that even after I am gone. Or maybe they give up, and surprise me, but that’s why the journey is so much entertaining after all.” Grandine’s father said, as he made sure to look at his daughter, while smiling softly.
“What a shame, but nonetheless we can improve in other ways: Like spell variations! I want to learn them already!” Grandine exclaimed, as she smiled brightly at her father.
“All in due time, little one. With lacking mana control, you might end up hurting yourself trying to overreach. Magic requires effort and hard work when it comes to mana control.” Grandine’s father said calmly.
The young Grandine could only pout, but then kept working on what her father was teaching her. One of the many times in which her father would spend hours trying to help her achieve the greatness she could reach if she worked truly hard.
***
Back in the fight, Kanbe had managed to cut the archlich’s arm, and the archlich was stepping away from Kanbe while recoiling from the damage inflicted by the young hero. Now, after the attack was delivered, the archlich could sense mana once more and even control it like it was normally capable of.
‘Good, this skill just works until it hits me or fails to hit me. Something tells me it can’t be used that easily, otherwise I’d have information of it from the bodyguards of the merchants. It’s dangerous, but there must be a sort of payment or cooldown for doing it. That means one thing: Keep him unfocused, push him away, and attack with powerful spells that can keep the distance. Using curses that block vision or cause mental effects should work too. The problem lies in the mage and the archbishop. I can’t attack the archbishop, as she’s forced to support them to cover her alibi, but she’ll undoubtedly attack me. Using instant death skills against the guy could end up failing if that attack happens again, I don’t know how strong he is, so it might take longer than the Reugios. Way longer, and that’s a time I can’t use, as the fire mage will undoubtedly use fire spells to distract me.’ The archlich thought to himself, as he used Space Distorsion Aura to create a transparent armor, made of mana, around his body.
Kanbe charged forward while shooting a few bullets made of holy mana, using the spell known as Holy Bullet, only to see them disappear. This made the young hero step away, and consider how to attack it, while May was shooting a fireball at the archlich only to see it dissipate instantly.
“A skill that makes an armor that protects against projectiles. He must be a Teleporter!” Mia said as she started trying to flank the archlich.
“By the name you said, I suppose it can also teleport a lot! So he may dodge the next attacks by using that spell!” Kanbe exclaimed as he tried to flank the archlich in the opposite side where Mia was going, to encircle the undead.
But as soon as Mia was about to flank the archlich, she was struck by a spear made of ice created by the archlich and was impaled on the left wall of the forge room. This made the young hero grit his teeth, and focus once more on attacking the archlich.
The archlich had combined the spells known as Ice Spear and Wind Burst to reposition himself while shooting a powerful projectile to the fire mage. This ensured that Mia would be incapacitated for the rest of the day, at least, due to the lethal damage she had received.
Caroline ran quickly to heal Mia, and used focused on making a slightly transparent yellow barrier that covered both Mia and her, as she tried to ensure Mia’s survival from an almost lethal attack to her guts.
This was the perfect chance the archlich was seeking, as Mia would have proven herself a problem for him, which made the archlich cackle while using mana to create a powerful tornado from his hand, aimed at the hero, in order to send Kanbe flying far away from him.
But the hero was smarter than he looked, and managed to dodge it by rolling to the side, as he shot several Holy Bullets to the archlich.
“Ugh, being forced to use this spell! Gale’s Wings plus Wind Improvement! Spell Combo: Sylph’s Gale!” The archlich said, while he released a wave of mana to make the wind surround his body, which was glowing green for a few seconds due to the second spell he had used. ‘With these two, using Wind Blade and Wind Fang won’t cost anything to me, and since they already have the wind ready that weird skill won’t be able to stop the spell itself this once. Should be good enough to cause some damage!’ The archlich thought to himself, as he circulated mana inside his bones, while aiming at the hero.
Kanbe considered the entire situation, and tried to think a way out of this fight by defeating the archlich. The armor stopped projectiles, but the archlich had focused on the mage first. That meant one thing: The armor couldn’t take many projectiles. He had shot already 50 Holy Bullets during the fight, but he knew that there was a solid chance that he was in a disadvantage in terms of firepower and mana reserves, yet that was when he had an idea. There was something that could shoot way more projectiles than him and Mia, enough to pierce through that barrier for sure, and that something was a Holy Turret.
“Caroline! Use Holy Turret! With it, the archlich’s barrier won’t withstand for long!” Kanbe exclaimed, as he looked at Caroline.
Caroline nodded quickly, and created four Holy Turrets, which made the archlich start preparing a teleportation spell with Space Jump. But then he noticed one thing, the Spacial Distorsion Aura nullified space spells like Space Jump, which meant that he had to move away without any teleportation.
‘Damnit, I can’t teleport away with the armor! Holy attacks like these will destroy me once the aura is gone, so I can’t dispel it! Ugh, okay, I will take the shots as I use Wind Blade and Wind Fang to kill the hero. Once the hero is dead, the archbishop can just dispel the turrets!’ The archlich thought, thinking it was the only chance he had against the hero, as Kanbe wouldn’t get into the range of the turrets. After all, getting into the range of turrets that could pierce him to pieces seemed too stupid to the archlich, until he saw Kanbe charging at him.
Kanbe charged at the archlich, trying to recall the sensation he felt when he managed to cut the archlich’s arm, hoping that the barrier would fall once he activated that attack from before. And so it happened once more, a sharp rush going all across his body while his mana went wild within his body, while the mana around the area become uncontrollable for the archlich.
As the turrets started shooting many piercing rounds made of holy mana, the archlich used the wind he had prepared to cast Wind Blade. This made a portion of the wind that he had brought under his control to become a horizontal sharp and thin blade of concentrated wind, and said blade was sent flying towards Kanbe.
The young hero had no other choice than to place his trust in the armor he was wearing, but even said armor couldn’t handle a powerful wind blade and the young hero was pushed away while feeling the damage caused by the strong impact from the wind blade.
But that wasn’t all the attacks the archlich had prepared, which made Kanbe to charge as fast as he could towards the archlich only to be struck by a thicker and stronger vertical wind blade.
This wind blade was the spell known as Wind Fang, which was enough to pierce the armor and slashing the young hero’s chest. This spell had used all the wind the archlich had prepared, but had hoped that the damage would be enough to make sure that Kanbe either died or at least lost focus.
‘I got him! This is it! Now, I can just use Dark Chains-’ The archlich thought to himself, as he was going to cast the spell, only to see Kanbe’s eyes shining.
As if inspiration had struck the young hero’s mind, he had used Holy Aura right before being struck by the Wind Fang and prevented the worst of the damage. That didn’t mean he was out of danger, only that he was still alive and focused, but it was as if something had clicked within his mind and understood all the spells he could use now.
“Holy Blade!” Kanbe exclaimed, as mana came out of his dominant hand and covered the sword.
After a few seconds, the sword started shining brightly as if it had been blessed. This had blinded the archlich for a few seconds due to the powerful output of the light at first, enough time for Kanbe to close in and deliver the second Heavenly Defiant attack of the day.
This second slash, due to carrying the holy element, burned the skull of the archlich upon touch, and pain seared the entire body of the undead while his clothing was burning due to the heat of the blade.
“Agh! How dares a level 1 scrub to do this!? How is it possible!? I surpass you in stats! I surpass you in skills! You shouldn’t even be able to cast spells so well! Not with such an unknown skill like that accursed slash!” The archlich exclaimed, as his voice came out from his sternum, where Kanbe could finally see a sort of massive dark jewel that seemed to be the core of the monster.
Kanbe simply used Holy Bullet to attack the core, but the archlich teleported away from the turrets and used a bolt made of mana to shoot at Kanbe. Yet, as the bolt was about to strike the young hero, a barrier exactly the same as the one protecting Mia and Grandine defended Kanbe and blocked the attack.
“I guess this is the end, archlich!” Caroline said, as the turrets aimed at the undead, while holding a completely healed Mia without the ice spear that had impaled her.
‘Oh, crap!’ Those were the last thoughts of the archlich, as a barrage of holy piercing rounds struck the archlich mercilessly. Even if it was strong, it had no equipment, had received holy damage which was one of its weaknesses, and had lost the head and an arm.
The archlich was pelted and turned to dust by the four Holy Turrets created by Caroline, as the holy mana increased vastly the damage it received, but it was not the end of its suffering as Kanbe used all of his strength to pull out the jewel from the corpse while using Holy Aura.
Without its core, the archlich was utterly defeated as its soul was embedded in the bones and the jewel was the ‘heart’ of the archlich.
“Okay, we defeated an archlich!” Caroline exclaimed, as she tried to smile.
“Yeah, but… We had some losses.” Kanbe weakly said, before falling to the ground as he was bleeding and the attacks had weakened him enough.
Caroline rushed to heal Kanbe, as she knew that she would be punished if he died right after defeating an archlich. During the fight, it was normal to take losses with a group of inexperienced adventurers, but not right after. It was the duty of the healer to ensure that the people didn’t die after a fight, and so she used all sorts of spells to stabilize Kanbe.
‘Shit, the archlich didn’t want to risk killing me with Putrefaction of the Living nor Aura of Death. And it was too proud to use decoys and hide, to then use any instant death spell or a Wind Bullet. Either way, since the heroes tend to have a big negative depending on how many bonuses they get when they are summoned… At most, he’ll be level 5 after defeating the archlich. But the problem lies in the Heavenly Defiant attacks, one makes someone so much better at using mana, but two consecutively is unheard of!’ Caroline thought, while healing Kanbe, clearly cursing her own luck of having too many people that could talk of her actions.
As she was healing the now unconscious hero, Sumeragi arrived to the forge room. The dark elf looked as he was dumped in a pool filled with blood, covered in blood, as he was wearing his armor and carried his katana in his good hand.
“What the hell happened, brother?” Caroline asked, while Sumeragi went near the unconscious Mia.
“Barbarian hero. The son of a goblin horde dared to drive a wyvern to my shop. Probably a pet of the archlich. What happened here, sister? Did my creations end up messing your plan?” Sumeragi said, as he was making sure that Mia was unconscious, while looking at Caroline.
“Absolutely. But that’s not the only thing. Reinforcements being another of the reasons. And you won’t believe the third reason, but it’s true: This hero has pulled out two Heavenly Defiant attacks consecutively.” Caroline replied to Sumeragi’s questions.
At first, Sumeragi’s eyes opened wide while looking at the hero. Then he started pondering whether to kill him right now, as he was preparing his katana to stab Kanbe’s head, while Caroline glared at him.
“Dad will be back soon. If he can use that, this means we have to take risks. Of course, it’s not a problem for Dad to deal with people like him. But he’s an utterly unknown variable, and so a problem for our plans.” Sumeragi said as he looked at the hero’s unconscious face. ‘He’s a danger. Not even I managed to pull out one Heavenly Defiant attack, and he has pulled two consecutively. He’s a danger for our plans, that’s for sure, but he may even be a bother for Dad’s reincarnation.’ Sumeragi thought to himself, while pondering if Caroline was just being mischievous or trying to ensure her cover.
“Yeah, but it’s not a must. I have an idea, but you won’t like it.” Caroline said, keeping her eyes on Sumeragi.
“Tell me, and then I shall decide whether I like it or not.” Sumeragi merely responded to Caroline’s words.
“I heard that Moriarty got a new job from the elven king. Probably that old fool will try to use that job to backstab Moriarty, and bring his daughter near the hero. We can warn Moriarty, with Nigredo, and he may kill the hero.” Caroline proposed with a serious face.
“You are right: I hate that idea. Letting that old fool get anything is a mistake. He tried to kill our nephew, and used his own sister against him. Remember that I didn’t lose my arm for shits and giggles. Legadonia is dead, and you want to help that fucker? I say we kill this hero now, carry his head to the elf king, and then decapitate that bastard!” Sumeragi said, clearly frowning, while Caroline simply sighed.
“We could try that, but we both know that’s not gonna work. Not with the Magic Corp near the elven king and the dwarves. Nope. Otherwise, I would have done so.” Caroline retorted, glaring at her brother.
“We can get them into the fun. A good payment, good word with our father, maybe fixing the grievances our father has with them… It’s not a half-measure, unlike what this crappy undead ended up being. It only works to help your position as an archbishop, which could have been done in a few months of normal PR work.” Sumeragi said, clearly focused on the idea of killing the hero.
“You are not that brainy with this sort of things, usually. What happened?” Caroline said, starting to get worried about her brother. ‘Something must have happened, he only gets this focused when the family is in danger.’ Caroline thought to herself, which didn’t help to ease her worry.
“Elise, she’s been taken by David Junior. As Lillian has been chosen to be one of the candidates to being the spouse of the hero… Prince David couldn’t marry her. So King David went to seek someone appropriate for the prince, and she found out about the old blood that runs within Elise’s veins. She’s part of the old royalty, and her parents adopted her as they were loyal to the old king. But they knew that if she wasn’t sold to the prince, he would happily kill the entire farm only to grab her…” Sumeragi said, clenching his katana with his organic arm.
“As Dad would say: F me across the Alps. Shit. This is bad. I will talk to the prince, find someone better!” Caroline said, as her eyes widened.
“If the hero dies, Lillian is free. And so Elise would be. The solution is easy, I stab his forehead. It’ll be quick, and painless, and anyone who dares to stand in our path dies. Simple as that. As all should be.” Sumeragi said, his eyes growing colder, while lowering slightly the katana.
“No! We can’t! Ruby is nowhere to be found, I am looking for her! I need the position of archbishop! Until I find our sister Ruby, I need that cover!” Caroline exclaimed, clearly worried about her brother.
Then both Sumeragi and Caroline heard heavy steps, as Kieli entered inside the room with a pale face. This made Sumeragi take a deep breath, and shake his head, as he started walking towards the Draconid.
“How much did you hear?” Sumeragi coldly asked, as he kept walking towards the adventurer.
“You bastards. I don’t know why are you planning to kill the hero, and I don’t care. Your sister killed my friend!” Kieli said, as she shakily prepared to strike Sumeragi, while Caroline closed her eyes.
“I see. You heard too much. Don’t worry, your head will be delivered to your family. Be grateful that my father isn’t around yet, I would love to deliver your head to him. A proper, and honorable, kill for a member of a race that was mainly an experiment of the gods. I promise it’ll be painless, even if you resist, as you are just someone who is choosing to fight our family and not a corrupt being.” Sumeragi coldly said, as he prepared to kill Kieli right there.
“Now all fits… You two are children of the Black Flame Devil, like Legadonia. Heh, she deserves what happened to her!” Kieli said as she smirked at Sumeragi.
Sumeragi took a deep breath, and lowered his stance, while holding his katana with both of his hands. Kieli’s words had clearly angered him, and he was going to make her pay for her insolence.
“Very well, I must retract my promise. I apologize, but I will not feel happiness until I kill you painfully. So I will take my time to kill you, and your screams will fill this cave. Your insolence to my family has reached the utmost level I can allow. So I will do as Dad did with all those who dare to be that insolence, engrave within your soul what pain is and make those that see your corpse remember our history. May our tale be told in fear, and paid in suffering and blood of our enemies.” Sumeragi said as Kieli charged at him with her spear in her hands.
As Kieli charged at Sumeragi, the dark elf merely waited for her to get close and attack with her spear. Sumeragi could have closed the distance quicker than Kieli, but he was going to apply a tactic his father did apply back in the day.
Kieli quickly released a barrage of spear thrusts, all striking the thickest part of the armor, but none of the thrusts ever dealt damage. In fact, after five thrusts, her spear broken in two separated pieces as the spear had reached its limits of durability due to the intense fighting she had done until the fight with the archlich, and split in the area that connected the staff with the spearhead.
Usually, that wouldn’t have happened… But it was a testament of how powerful Sumeragi’s equipment was, and this clearly shook Kieli’s core.
“M-My spear…” Kieli said, stunned due to how the spear had broken.
“Oh, yeah. It was decent quality. But using a normal rarity weapon against unique rarity equipment? Not smart at all. And not only that, Hardened Skin increases my defense. That means all my defense, both physical and magical. With all of this, it’s time for you to despair properly. But not so arrogant anymore, right?” Sumeragi said, as he smirked at Kieli, while his sword was covered in mana.
As Sumeragi walked closer to Kieli, which did terrify Kieli as she shivered and tried to protect herself by placing her arms in a crossed position in front of her face, he did a wide slash aimed at Kieli’s stomach.
As Kieli screamed due to the damage sustained by Sumeragi’s slash, she felt how Sumeragi used his prosthetic arm to block her mouth while the forearm part detached itself from the rest of the arm.
Sumeragi pulled the rest of the prosthetic arm out and aimed with it at Kieli’s face. The prosthetic arm itself had a massive gem connected from below the elbow, clearly meant as a hidden weapon, and Sumeragi was planning on using it on Kieli.
“You better be happy that you are going to die like this. I could have done far worse, but well, time is gold. It won’t be painless, though, but at least you have a proper muzzle.” Sumeragi said as he circulated mana to the massive gem, and it started glowing brightly.
Kieli tried to get away, but it was too late for her: Sumeragi shot a massive burst of raw mana, azure per nature, that left a clear hole in her chest. Her heart was gone with that burst of mana, as it had been incinerated to nothing, and the adventurer fell to the ground.
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“Hm, I guess that will suffice. But just in case…” Sumeragi said, as he walked towards Kieli, and cleanly decapitated Kieli with one swing of his katana. After doing that act, he sheathed his katana and grabbed his prosthetic arm. ‘I suppose that Grandine is right. Yeah, Ruby takes precedence… But, I don’t feel like this would be the best idea… No, trust your sister, Sumeragi. Father said it always: A good family together is stronger than any warrior.’ Sumeragi thought to himself.
As Sumeragi left the prosthetic arm on the ground, he got a piece of cloth and warm water to clean the arm to use it until he had a new replacement for it. After that, he placed Kieli’s head inside the inventory.
Caroline, or better said Grandine, went to see the child and made sure to leave with the girl, running quickly to Sumeragi’s side. She ignored the goblin babies, as there was no time to lose, which sooner or later would be a small mistake that ended surprisingly in a small commune of goblins who feared the hero.
“Got the child! We just need to evacuate the entire group. But we lack arms to carry them, sorry for the unseen pun there, brother.” Grandine said, with a focused look.
“Okay, I will follow your plan. In all of it. I just was too angry to notice the bigger situation. Luckily, I managed to find my way to calm down. But we have to evacuate everyone first. And I need a new prosthetic arm, the Draconid and the wyvern both messed it up. A shame she chose her path like this.” Sumeragi said, as he grabbed Mia with one arm, and carried her like a bag of potatoes.
“Yeah, becoming an enemy of the hero was a foolish choice. But you could have spared her.” Grandine said, while looking at Sumeragi.
“She would have become a problem for you, archbishop. I consider your safety a more pressing manner than being kind to those who would love to see us both die.” Sumeragi said, as he used his prosthetic arm to carry the hero as a second potato sack. Said prosthetic arm twitched and shivered, as it seemed to slightly malfunction due to some mechanism being displaced due to the damage, but it wasn’t something terrible for the blacksmith.
‘You are too overprotective, brother. That said, it was the same with Dad. Either way, it seems you can handle your anger better than Dad. I am sure he’d be so proud of you right now.’ Grandine thought to herself as she started moving, while guiding the boy out of the cave.
As Grandine and Sumeragi carried the rest of the group outside the cave, they knew that they would have to come back and loot the place. If their father ever heard of them ignoring loot, they both knew that he would tell them to first grab the loot and then carry the rest outside, as loot could always be useful for them.
Noche appeared inside the forge room and saw the damage, he clearly looked impressed by what had happened, but then noticed the goblin babies that were spared. An idea sparked in his mind, an idea that would end up causing a most interesting situation that would cause chaos to the world.
‘What if I teleport them to a safe place? Get them to be a good commune? It’d be hard, but I think I can get the chapel of Namika to do this. But now the first part of the prophecy is fully completed.’ Noche thought as he floated towards the goblin babies, while feeling a sort of weird feeling for him that made him feel sad for the goblin babies. It wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t melancholy, it was entirely different and something the grimoire couldn’t comprehend.
As the goblin babies started crying a bit, he was startled by the cries of the babies. But upon hearing them once more, he felt the same peculiar feeling again, as if a part of the grimoire screamed at him to remember something he had forgotten.
Something deep within the grimoire was stirred up by the baby cries, but something Noche couldn’t understand, even as much as he tried.
“Hm. Okay, this is weird… Agh, I will calm them down.” Noche said, as he floated towards the babies.
As the babies kept crying, he tried to float around them and make them laugh. But it didn’t work out, due to the book body he had, until he had a sudden idea as if it came out from the same part that had stirred inside him. A lullaby could make them stop crying, and so he started singing, as he was sure no one other than the babies was listening to him.
“Dream now, little ones. Dream of warm nights, where singing and laughter will thrive.
Warm nights where those who corrupt will die. A wonderful dream follows the Black Flame Devil. When his dream comes forth, everyone shall happily revel.
Dream now, little ones, as his wrath reaches beyond all existence.
The Black Flame Devil will be given joy when he sees all the corrupt die.” Noche sang, as it was a lullaby the commoners sang to their children.
And so Noche sang until all the babies were asleep, while feeling as if someone was secretly watching him from somewhere. And his feeling was correct, as some gods were always watching some mortals and he was the one kept in check the most.
***
Meanwhile, back in Andving, Moriarty was going to a small bar located below one of the massive trees that acted as apartment buildings. The path to said bar was hard to reach, unless you knew where to go, as it was under a small underground path only opened in the midst of the night with tons of neon lights.
The underground path could only be entered from a set of stairs hidden from plain sight with a combination of illusion enchantments to make it look like normal ground and a mythril vault door of a meter of thickness.
This door opened each night unless the Mondays, as it was a sort of tradition for the partygoers to not party in the Mondays, and only those who knew of the illusion could notice it once the door opened.
The underground path was a thin stone path, with stone walls filled with all sorts of paintings depicting all sorts of things in a chaos that made it impossible to discern anything. It had a small iron wall ready to ensure that no one fell out of the path, as an underground river ran besides the path, and the partygoers would arrive to the bar location after at least 200 meters of going through the underground path.
The bar itself was set in the underground, with three floors, but the entrance itself was another vault door where people would make a line as a massive metallic bodyguard would check everyone who tried to go inside.
The truth was this: The bodyguard was a robot with a humanoid aspect, a robot made of mythril and with enough mana cores to light up half Rivialt for a century, who was wearing a tuxedo and a pair of Oxford shoes. In the robot’s waist, there laid a gun with the shape of a semiautomatic pistol.
The pistol looked like a Colt Government, an M1911, but it had a couple of subtle changes. The grip itself was made of ivory with a small red gemstone engraved in the middle of the grip, which was a mana core, and it was of a grey color as it was made of mythril.
Moriarty simply walked inside the underground path, as he was the first to enter the place, because he had a meeting to attend in the bar. As the robot stopped him, he took a deep breath as he knew this could get annoying.
“Sir, I must inform you that you are not a regular who pays his monthly subscription. Entrance will cost a silver coin.” The robot coldly said, with a monotone voice.
“I have a meeting. With agent Metallican. I don’t mind paying, but I believe that being invited here for a job means free entrance.” Moriarty said calmly.
“I will check with my own abilities if what you said is true, sir.” The robot coldly said.
Moriarty simply shrugged, and waited while the robot sent a message using his circuits to the person Moriarty had to meet. After a few seconds, the robot stood aside and bowed to Moriarty.
“Good disposition.” Moriarty calmly said as he stepped inside the bar, and the robot returned to its normal position of blocking the entrance.
The inside of the first floor of the bar was a massive semicircular hallway, as two massive counters with many bar stools to sit on and an equally large shelf filled with all sorts of alcoholic beverages, which led to a circular set of stairs.
This first floor had a cold white light, as it acted as a pub for those who wanted a tranquil night, which showcased the black tiles made of porcelain placed on top of the clean-cut stone that made most of the building as it was merely a building made by excavating stone from the area.
Moriarty moved along, ignoring the entire first floor, as it was not the floor he had to be and only had five minutes to arrive to the second floor. And so he arrived to the circular set of stairs, and walked down the set of stairs to reach the second floor of the bar.
The second floor was totally different from the first floor, as it was separated in two part: Upper and Lower.
The Upper part was a sort of false floor made of reinforced glass, in which there was a U-shaped bar just like the one in the first floor but with red lights and a few tables with seats to have dinner.
The Lower part was the true second floor, with cleanly cut stone floor where the people danced while carrying drinks, and it just had a lot of lights of different colors that came from an array of spotlights akin to the ones of a disco or a theater.
As Moriarty looked at the lower part of the second floor, he walked to one of the wooden tables of the first floor, made of maple wood, and sat down in one of the maple wood seats. This wooden table had a small paper on top of it that said ‘Moriarty’, as he had been invited to be there to discuss business with someone he was about to see, and a pair of glasses filled with water (one per each side of the table).
While Moriarty sat down, and waited for agent Metallican, a man wearing a blue tuxedo with a blue necktie with black lines connecting in the center of said necktie walked to the table and sat down.
This man wore a metallic white helmet that covered all of his face, but it was clear he could see with it, the aforementioned tuxedo, and a pair of black Oxford shoes. Alongside that, he wore a golden wristwatch on his left wrist and a sort of blue bracelet on his right wrist.
“It’s a surprise to see a member of the Magic Corp coming so soon. Of course, the weapon you carry with that bracelet is not a suitable thing for a meeting. But I guess that seeing a mage is the same as seeing an armed individual.” Moriarty said, as he made sure to leave the cane near the table.
“Says the man who carries a sword within a cane. You are the first who brought weapons, two in fact, so don’t blame me for carrying mine. Did you think I wouldn’t notice that tophat with a creature of Evan inside? I may not be one of the oldest agents on the field, but I am not stupid. I have been briefed about the Black Flame Devil and his beasts.” The helmet wearing man said, with a machine-like voice coming out of the helmet.
“Also, you carry a voice modulator. I suppose I can’t know exactly who the agent Metallican looks like or sounds like.” Moriarty said, as he seemed sad, while taking a sip of water.
“Says the man of a thousand faces. I heard what you did to that boy. Atropine, smart. I thought you’d go with something different. Luckily, we know the secret of your identity, sir James.” Metallican said, with the same tone as before but having slight changes to show a cocky attitude.
“The Magic Corp may know my identity, but disclosing it wouldn’t help them even now. In fact, they know they’d be dead the moment they chose to do so. We made a deal for a reason. And here I am for another deal.” Moriarty said, with a calm voice, while looking at the helmet. ‘It’ll be hard to know exactly what he’s thinking about.’ Moriarty thought while looking at Metallican.
“Okay, okay. We’ll stick to titles then, sir Moriarty. Don’t worry, no one can listen to us right now. The tables have a voice disruptor barrier enchantment. Once us both sat down, no one could hear our talk aside us two. So what do you want, Moriarty?” Metallican said, as he looked at Moriarty.
“I want that the Magic Corp doesn’t assist the king in discovering who killed Donny, nor the noble that is appearing in the news lately.” Moriarty coldly said, as he kept his gaze on Metallican’s head.
“Hm, quite the conundrum. We have our deals with king Katas. And Lefeleim was our biggest benefactor in this country. Not like we delve in smuggling or lending money, but some of our investigations have been paid with Rayne’s money.” Metallican said, as he scratched slightly the helmet. This showed that he had black skin, as his hands weren’t covered by any sort of gloves, which was a good clue to know a few things.
“Yeah, but I will give you extra information. I have heard of a prophecy. Evan is coming back. I think that cutting ties with the king while he’s still out may save your skin. You know how the guy takes that someone attacks his family, and the king has done so thrice. His death won’t be pretty, and let’s pray that it is a soft one.” Moriarty said, as he smirked at Metallican. ‘Not an elf, nor an angel or a vampire. Both have pale skin, and even if vampires may have black skin… It still is less black than the hands of this agent. Normal height, that means he’s not a dwarf. Dragons and Magic Corp don’t work together normally, so I can discard that possibility too. He’s not an Aren, they never work with Magic Corp. So only leaves three options: Dark Elf, Demon, or Human.’ Moriarty thought to himself, piecing together the information he had acquired.
“In Magic Corp, we don’t believe in prophecies. You know that due to the vast amount of prophets and oracles, prophecies can be faulty. Who in their damned mind would bring that psycho back to this world?” Metallican said, with a tinge of disbelief.
“Who knows? Cinmos desired a lot of deaths lately, and it seems like the humans will prevent a war with Rivialt at any cost. Maybe it is easier to just drop that psycho. And killing a god of death like Cinmos is not as easy as other gods, we both know that as we both are godslayers.” Moriarty said, while tapping the table.
“Okay, let’s say I believe you. One way or another, we are fucked. We worked with him, but also worked against him. And now, Katas messed up in the worst manner possible, if that’s true. What do we do? Cut ties, and try to trick him? We both know that he’ll catch us lying, and he’ll burn us for it.” Metallican said as he looked at Moriarty.
“Well, you can always help one of his pals. Not too bluntly, to not drag his paranoia around, but a small investment. You cover for me, make it harder for the heroes to catch me if they are close to finding out who killed Donny and Rayne.” Moriarty said, as he smiled. ‘Not even the greatest corp, Magic Corp, wants to deal with the man who turned the blade meta into blunt meta with his undead. Give him any chance, and he’ll fuck you up in ways no one could consider. So the best way to not lose anything is to not mess with him.’ Moriarty thought to himself, reaffirming his own plan to himself.
“So, we cover for you. And what do we get? It may be a huge loss, but I believe we can-” Metallican started saying, before hearing a loud buzzing sound from within his helmet for a few seconds. ‘Shit! The bosses still hear me with the helmet! But I didn’t say anything about Magic Corp sensitive data! Is it because I said something stupid!? What did I say that was stupid!? That necromancer can’t be that dangerous!’ Metallican thought to himself, as he clutched his hands.
“Human it is. I know already most of your identity. Also, Magic Corp can’t and won’t deal with Evan. The moment they do, it’s clear what the murimists and Chimeralot will do to the corporation. So help me out, and let the Pavilions of Murim to deal with him. And you shouldn’t believe that Evan can’t defeat any of the three big groups without a bit of prep work.” Moriarty said, as he smirked at Metallican, before drinking some water.
“Okay, shit. We will help you out with this. But tell me the truth: Did you kill Rayne?” Metallican said, as he took a deep breath. ‘Probably it’s from the big boss and the executive group, telling me to not be that conceited with Evan. But this Moriarty is dangerous, he found out a lot from almost everything. Is it because I am not old enough to recall anything that aren’t legends of that devil? Crap, I should be more careful about that.’ Metallican thought to himself, while clutching the helmet.
“I didn’t. Donny did. But they’ll dump the case onto me for sure. Or that, or I will be sought for killing the boy without the permission of the country. One way or another, they’ll try to catch me. And I am sure that Katas wants me out, so he’ll happily help. But that’s why I don’t want you to help, giving that elven king any sort of power is going to backfire. Once he doesn’t need you, you are the next one in his chopping block.” Moriarty said, just before finishing the glass of water. ‘And the confirmation of my gamble 50/50 with the agent worked out, he seems distressed about what I found out. If I am wrong, someone needs to give an Oscar to that agent. He certainly seems distressed enough.’ Moriarty thought to himself, clearly proud of his deduction.
And so the agent only could sigh, and use his abilities to contact telepathically with the bartender behind the counter. The bartender was a robot who looked exactly like a dark elf, with long black hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a black tuxedo. This robot carried the food, a pair of bowls of chicken noodle soup, with such a normal movement that no one truly noticed that the robot was indeed a mechanical construct.
Metallican Status
Race: Augmented Human.
Gender: Male
Age: 20 years old
Height: 1 meter and 70 centimeters.
Likes: Taking care of his missions, good deals, special salary missions, gems, freedom, loyal people, godslayers, being with his comrades.
Dislikes: Bad deals, Moriarty, corruption, slavers, having to deal with the executives, Zerax’s church, messy missions.
Level: 60
STATS:
HP: 40000/40000
MP: 40000/40000
STR: 100
VIT: 300
INT: 600
DEX: 600
AGI: 300
Magic affinity: Earth, Thunder, Wind, Basic.
Skill affinity: Gem Wielder, Trickster, Alchemist, Magician, Merchant, Wizard, Energy Weaver, Survivalist, Teleporter.
Job: Assistant Manager of the elven branch of the Magic Corp. Rank 10 manager (lowest rank for managers).
Special skills:
Vitality Augmentation: Due to the biological augmentation done on the user, they have 100 points in Vitality, and 200 points more in both intelligence and dexterity, with no cost.
Advantages of Mana Tattoos: Due to using a Mana Tattoo of Stat Increase of the highest quality, the user has 100 free points in Strength and Agility. Alongside the fact of having a resistance to mind manipulation skills and spells of a 50%, immunity to instant death skills, poisons, and curses, and a 50% resistance to magic.
Disadvantages of Mana Tattoos: As all Mana Tattoos have to be balanced (if it’s too positive, it requires a constant supply of mana from the user. If it’s too negative, it gives constantly mana which makes it easy to locate and can cause mana overload.), the user has less resistance towards cold temperatures and less resistance towards sound attacks.
Mana resupply: Active, 0 MP. The user recovers an 80% of the total mana the user has used in the last hour. Only works once every day.
Skills:
Gem Wielder (Master):
Gem Mastery: Allows the user to recognize all sorts of gems, and detects quickly the mana gems that can be used for the Gem Wielder’s skills.
Gem Mana: The user’s mana regeneration rate increases vastly when they wear bracelets with gemstones embedded within them. This slowly drains the mana within the gemstones, which means that the user might require to change the gemstone from time to time. It doesn’t work when the user doesn’t require regenerating mana.
Gem Vitality: The user’s vitality regeneratio rate increases vastly when they wear bracelets with gemstones embedded within them. This slowly drains the mana within the gemstones, which means that the user might require to change them gemstone from time to time. It doesn’t work when the user isn’t damaged.
Gemstone Protection: Once each three months, the user can sacrifice one gemstone to prevent being hit by a lethal attack.
Gem Blast: Active, 20 MP. The user utilizes the mana within the gemstone to create a powerful mana blast. Effects and element depends on the quality and type of gemstone used by the user. It can also be used with the mana of the user, but it needs to be channeled through the gemstone (this might damage the gemstone).
Gem Trap: Active, 5 MP. The user utilizes their own mana alongside an empty gemstone to create a trap. Effects and element depends on the quality and type of gemstone used by the user. This will undoubtedly shatter the gem.
Gem Levitation: Active, 20 MP. The user uses their own mana to make a gemstone float for a definite amount of time. The size of the gemstone can be up to half of the user’s INT value.
Gem Amplification: Active, 300 MP. The user uses their own mana to amplify the effects of a gemstone, and improve the quality of said gemstone. This can lead to failure at times, which will damage the gemstone.
Mana Gemstone Creation: Active, 400 MP plus a gemstone with no mana. The user can impart their own mana to a gemstone with no mana, to create a mana gemstone that can be used. The quality of the gemstone and the magic power of the user will be essential to the success of this process.
Gem Link: Active, 30 MP and a gemstone with no mana. The user can use a gemstone with no mana to connect different mana traps with each other.
Gemstone Healing: Active, 3000 MP and a mana gemstone. The user can heal any ailment they may be suffering by using a gemstone with mana. This will undoubtedly shatter the gem used.
Gemstone Procreation: Active, 10 MP and a mana gemstone. The user can use a mana gemstone to create a massive wall of 20 meters of thickness. This wall is made of the same variety of gemstone than the gemstone used, and the quality depends on the user’s INT value, but has no mana inside.
Gemstone Duplication: Active, 400 MP and a gemstone with mana. The user can duplicate a gemstone with mana they have. The success rate depends on the INT value of the user. Pinnacle skill.
Trickster (Master):
Drilled dodging: The user can dodge attacks faster, and their speed is a 10% higher than average.
Tricking is magic: The user’s mana control, magic power, and mana pool is enhanced a 20%.
Acrobat: The user movement is fully optimized, and so their stealth and speed is enhanced a 25%.
Quick Phasing: When the user is going to touch an ally, they can phase through them to avoid colliding.
Trick Dodge: Active, 10 MP. A quick translocation of 5 meters of range, that can only be activated when being attacked. It can leave a mark if used alongside Mark Creation or Trickster Bomb.
Mark Creation: Active, 5 MP. The user can place a magic mark on the ground/air that is under the feet of the user. This mark can have beneficial effects or negative effects like: Healing, boosting physical/magical capabilities, binding a target to the ground for a small amount of time, poisoning a target, blinding a target.
Foul Trick: Active, 20 MP. The user can swap positions with an ally, if the ally allows it, or an enemy. Can be combined with Mark Creation.
Trickster Bomb: Active, 25 MP. The user can leave under his feet a mine that will explode upon touch. While the damage caused by this explosion is no bigger than a firecracker, it can disorient a target.
Trickster’s Dash: Active, 50 MP. The user can dash linearly, in any linear trajectory the user sees, even midair.
Slow Flow: Active, 60 MP. The user can use it while dodging an attack. Implants a moderate amount of mana inside a target, which makes the target becomes slightly slower for a moderate amount of time.
Arcane Dodge: Active, 200 MP. Pinnacle skill. It can only be used while dodging. After a successful perfect dodge, which is when the user dodges an attack that should hit them by inches, the user can cast any spell immediately (it still costs mana).
Wizard (Master):
Wizard's blessing: The user's magic skills are a 20% stronger.
Grand Magician's Regeneration: The mana regeneration base speed becomes 100 MP/second instead of 1MP/minute.
Wizard Channeling: The casting speed of the user's spells doubles.
Wizard Extra Chanting: The user can cast two times the amount of spells they should be able to.
Mana Bolt: Active, 1 MP. The user shoots a bolt made of mana, which can go through physical defenses but deals a rather small amount of damage. It can get stopped by barriers made by mana or by anti-magic fields.
Heavy Mana Bolt: Active, 10 MP. The user shoots a reinforced mana bolt that goes through physical defenses and deals a moderate amount of damage. It can pierce barriers.
Mana Decoy: Active, 25 MP. The user can leave a decoy made of mana, that is a foul mimicry of life, and gets eliminated rather quickly.
Mana Sound: Active, 100 MP. The user creates a clear sound in an area that is 300 meters away from the user. This sound acts as a diversion to lure the enemies away from the user.
Homing mana bolts: Active, 50 MP. The user can leave small clumps of mana that will be turned into mana bolts. These bolts will follow and try to hit anyone who gets in an area of 50 meters near the clump of mana. The bolts won't deal much damage, but these bolts slow down those they hit.
Enhanced Flesh: Active, 1000 MP. The user can enhance their body to block physical attacks easily and run fast for a moderate amount of time.
Mana Reparation: Active, 5000 MP. The user can repair any item to its optimal state.
Alchemist (Master):
Knowledge of medicinal and poisonous herbs: The user can recognize the plants that are good to use for medical use and the ones that are used to make poison.
Knowledge of medicinal properties: The user can recognize all the items that can be used to make items to heal people.
Synthesis: Active, 5 MP. The user can merge several items using different methods to create an item. The user needs to have the equipment to do it.
Mass Synthesis: Active, 50 MP. The user can merge huge amounts of materials using different methods to create an item. The user needs to have the equipment to do it.
Decompose: Active, 5 MP. The user can decompose anything as long as he/she can touch it.
Mass Decompose: Active, 50 MP. The user can decompose vast amounts of anything as long as he/she can touch it.
Restore: Active, 5 MP. The user can restore things that have been damaged but needs materials similar to what has been lost. For example, an arm lost would need meat, calcium and lots of time.
Alchemistry of terrain: Active, 20 MP. The user can modify the terrain using his ability.
Alchemical Eye: Active, 0 MP. The user can recognize anything and be capable of reproducing it.
Magician (Master):
Magic Knowledge: Passive. Allows the use of magic.
Magician's soul: Passive. All spells cast by the user are a 20% stronger.
Magic control: Passive. All spells are cast 10% faster. Some can even be used without chanting.
Magic modification: Passive. The spells can be modified to give them new effects and change the way they are used.
Chantless: Passive. The minor spells will be automatically cast without even saying the name of the spell and the user only has to think in the spell and the adept spells only will have to be chanted entirely when using magic modification.
Earth Magic (Master):
Earth Golem: Active, 5 MP. The user creates a golem that will follow orders. It can be customized and enhanced, but cannot be healed.
Earth Wall: Active, 5 MP. The user creates a wall of earth to protect himself/herself.
Earth Shot: Active, 8 MP. The user creates a stone shard that is shot to an enemy. The speed and magnitude of the stone shard depends on INT.
Break Earth: Active, 1 MP. The user can break rocks.
Rock Fall: Active, 10 MP. The user summons a giant rock just above the enemy.
Earth Dome: Active, 25 MP. The user creates a barrier made of rock to protect himself/herself and those who are close to the user.
Concentration of Stones: Active, 40 MP. The user can concentrate shards of stone and put them together. Can be used to repair golems, enhance their abilities with enchanted stones or shot them like a shotgun to the enemy.
Burial: Active, 5 MP. The user can bury anything under the ground.
Earth Binding: Active, 50 MP. The user can bind the enemy with stone hands.
Earth Eruption: Active, 70 MP. The user can make the ground that is below the feet of the target explode.
The Heart of Stone: Pinnacle spell, 100 MP. The user increases his defense and the defense of his golems a 300% but makes them all weaker to wind magic.
Power of Stones: Pinnacle spell, 0MP. The user can add the earth element to any other spell.
Basic Magic (Master):
Minor Analysis: Active, 1 MP. Allows the user to see the stats of the target. It can be tricked with false status skill.
False status: Active, 3 MP. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status.
Medium analyze: Active, 5 MP. Shows to the user the status and the personal data of the target. It can be tricked.
False data: Active, 15 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window and the skill window when they use analyze skills like Greater analyze or medium analyze.
Fly: Active, 8 mp/second. Allows the user to soar through the sky.
Greater analyze: Active, 10 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target. It can be tricked with false self.
Telepathy: Active, 12 mp/second. Allows the user to speak to the mind of the target.
False self: Active, 20 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window, the skill window and even the name and gender that appears in the status window when they use analyze skills.
Teleport: Active, 15 mp. The user can make small teleports. Range of 1500 meters.
Full analyze: Active, 20 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target.
City Teleport: Active, 30 mp. The user can teleport to any city that the user has visited.