Tales of magic: grimoire of transmogrification

Chapter 29

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Arc 2 - "The hunter and the beast"

Chapter 13- "Defiant blade."

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The sword that refuses to listen to it's master, targets her heart. It's only goal- freedom. Freedom from the chains of oppression, Freedom from the hand that holds it's handle and freedom from the ever present tyranny of the thing they call 'destiny'~ Words of The Philosopher.

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The Valkyrie/ Ashley vanished into thin air. Jordan looked around in confusion.

'Where is she?'

His eyes darted around until they landed on Lancaster. Lancaster was grinning for some reason.

Valkyrie reappeared behind Lancaster, facing away from him.

"Why is your head not severed from your body?"

"Shut up and fight, b*tch."

A vein popped on Ashley's head. She jumped again. Jordan tried his best to follow her movements with his eyes. He still didn't see anything. All he saw was that she was behind Lancaster for one moment and then in front of him, with her back facing him the next.

More veins popped on her forehead. It happened again. Over and over again.

"Not seven lives?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. But what I know is , for all your big talk you haven't managed to put a scratch on me."

'Why am I completely useless again. I can't help Lancaster...I can't even see his opponent!' Jordan thought.

"It's as though my sword is cutting through you..as if you weren't there. No matter, I'll just cut this one first."

Then the Valkyrie vanished again. This time, Lancaster reacted.

"Jordan!"

The Valkyrie had reappeared right in front of Quill. However, Lancaster had teleported between the two not a second too soon. Her blade collided with Lancaster's outstretched palm. It sounded like metal clanging against metal. Her muscles were pushed to their limits but Lancaster's hand barely moved an inch.

The massive sword in her hands was being held back by the Mage's hand. Sparks flew between the two as the blade shone with white energy. Neither force was weaker than the other, not Lancaster's hand nor Valkyrie's sword. But neither was backing down.

It was Jordan's time to scream.

"Lancaster!"

The sword finally won as Lancaster was pushed away with a hole in his hand.

The Valkyrie grinned.

"It seems you care about your associates' well-being. Very well then. I guess you have a weakness after all."

"Actually, on normal circumstances, I would let you kill him. I wouldn't dare risk my life protecting some piece of shit. But you see, right now, in my little game he just so happens to be an important piece. That's all there is to it."

"Aww. Did I strike a nerve?"

Lancaster stared at her blankly.

'Was she... trying to provoke him?'

The Valkyrie pointed her sword at him again, fixing her stance.

"She's about to use her instant sword attack!"

"Bad naming sense, Jordan. Try lightning sword needle."

"But it's a fat sword. And my idea was better!"

"Shut-it!"

Lancaster managed to do it again, blocking her attack before it reached Jordan. This time, Jordan got a good look at his hand. It wasn't bleeding and the part that was stabbed as almost looked like it was a skeleton..

'What's going on?'

"Jordan, I'm in a bit of trouble here. I think it's best if you leave." Lancaster smiled at Jordan.

"What are you saying?"

"What's wrong with your ears?"

The sword pushed Lancaster's hand away again, but before it did, Lancaster kicked Ashley's stomach with so much force that it sent her flying back. She stopped her momentum by smashing the sword into the ground, thereby preventing herself from flying into the wall of fire.

Lancaster looked at his hands. The skin was shriveling up and the flesh was almost completely gone. The hole in the centre of his palm was now joined by another one and both were old and dry. No blood. Lancaster didn't look like he was in pain but Jordan doubted that he would show it, even if he was in pain.

"Jordan, I am not joking. You're in my way. Get out of here or we'll both get killed."

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Jordan nodded his head.

'This isn't the time to be a hero. I can't beat Valkyrie. I can't help Lancaster. But I can ...'

"Wait, who's going to.."

"Just go."

The woman had recovered enough to stand up. So she wasted no time in sprinting towards Lancaster.

"Running? You must've ran out of energy."

The Valkyrie's sword reached his chest and passed through to the other side. The next moment, she passed through herself, but continued to run towards Jordan.

Lancaster performed the exact same technique and blocked the attack. This time, sweat dripped from his forehead.

"You're the one getting tired, Mage. You are two milliseconds slower than before."

"How the heck are you counting?

"Lancaster tried to kick her behind the knee, but she intercepted his leg with her own, kicking his leg away right before kicking his groin. Lancaster grunted and his grip on the sword slipped enough for The Valkyrie to move another inch closer to Jordan.

Jordan turned back and ran. While he did so, the flames shifted following Jordan as the centre. The huge pillars of fire became dangerously close to the two fighters.

The sword finally shifted out of Lancaster's grasp. Just before it did, Lancaster whispered something that made Ashley jump to the side.

"Your wind scythe failed."

"Did it?"

A line of red appeared on her cheek. She touched her cheek with a dark look on her face.

"You cut me. You actually cut me." It sounded as though her voice changed again. It was lighter than before.

"I kicked your gut a moment ago, why is it so surprising that I can cut you too?"

"Lady Valkyrie, please lend me your strength."

"Who the hell are you talking to?"

A white light glowed around her. The condescending glare was back.

"I just stepped out for a moment to try to move my body towards Jordan over there. I didn't expect you would be so weak that you wouldn't hold your own against him."

The Valkyrie pointed her sword at Lancaster again.

"Now, why don't you attack? Our minds are still synchronizing, so I can barely move. This is your best chance, Mage."

Journal, this has to be the most confusing fight ever. But unlike Lancaster said, I'm not running away. I have to figure out a way to help Lancaster win. But for the life of me, I can't understand what they're even doing. I'll start by analysing them. Lancaster said his Bird abilities allow him short distance teleportation, the ability to fly, and 'Free-movement'; the ability to pass through physical objects. So that would mean he was using free movement to get out of her attacks whenever she attacked him and short distance teleportation to get to me and intercept het attacks on me. The problem is, what kind of magic is he doing to block her sword? It's as if the sword is piercing him, but it's only making holes and staying stuck there..

Lancaster didn't take the chance to attack. Instead, he just stood there and waited. The paladin recovered and vanished to Lancaster's location this time, swinging the sword vertically. The Mage threw himself out of the way. The illumination from the sword expanded and landed on him, somehow sending him flying into a nearby firewall.

'I'm not invincible, it seems.' Lancaster thought as he got his body out from the fire and ripped his shirt out of his chest.

'That weird light.. I'm guessing it's the reason behind my messed-up hand. It's also the reason why I felt that scorching pain, and it threw me across the area. So what exactly is it?' Lancaster thought.

"Valkyrie, could we have a minute?"

"You have finally realized that you can't win, right?"

"I guess. Are you Athena or Ashley?"

"Get to the point."

"I want to ask you. What is that energy you're using? I mean the special white light? What exactly is it?"

Valkyrie raised her sword again and light emanated from her armour. She smirked. Then she vanished again.

'No dice. All I know is, it's not possible. Or is it..'

Lancaster got into a fighting stance again, right before the sword came. Horizontal slash now, but he stopped it with his left hand- the not yet decayed one. As the white energy started to eat into his hands, Lancaster whispered something.

"Curse. Athena. Ashley."

The sword reached his hand not a moment later. It's tip touched his hand but didn't pierce it. The white energy didn't appear to have any more effects on Lancaster's body.

"What did you just do?"

"I cursed your sword a while back...but I forgot to curse you too. So now I've done that."

The sword cracked like glass. Athena's eyes widened. She wasn't expecting this.

"Interesting.."

"That's not all. The truth is, right now I don't need to do anything."

Lancaster let go of the sword to further emphasize his earlier comment. His opponent cracked a smile all of a sudden. Sweat went down from the Mages' brow.

Valkyrie's body surged with white energy. Then, suddenly, the sword shattered into pieces and fell on the floor, only the handle remained.

Lancaster sighed.

"What did you do?"

"You're so confident that I'd tell you?"

"No. I'll guess then. You used your black magic to rob my sword of it's structural integrity."

"Wrong. Guess again."

"I can't. I'm not as smart as you."

"Alright muscle-bound warrior, I hardly did anything. You see, earlier, I cursed your sword to become heavy. So heavy infact that no human being could carry it. Of course, I also ended up making it incredibly dense too as a side effect. So I was surprised that you were still able to slug it around like it was nothing...then I discovered your little white energy and you Athena. And connected the dots. You are the source of the white energy and explosive speed and power. All I had to do was pit you two against each other. Your power against her body."

Valkyrie remained silent and staring at him.

"It took me a while to figure it out. Anyways, with every movement you make any time that white energy is activated, you'll find that your own power will be hindering you. If you push yourself and go super-speed like before, you'll probably stay in one place and die. Or rather, the poor sap you're controlling and feeding power will die. Either way, Good luck."

"How did you manage to block my sword?"

"Trade secret. Not gonna tell."

"Fine then. You leave me with no choice. It's time I got serious."

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