Francis gazed down in the darkness. ‘Down’ being a relative term to the massive flying fortress beneath him.
He had already been impressed with the Floater, but he could now see why Frederick had chuckled and said ‘you’ll see’ when he asked his mother’s opinion on them.
“I want it.” And to remake it to work in any world. And just what were those advanced-looking cannons?
“Patience. We need our people in position so it doesn’t get destroyed in a sudden fall.”
“I could probably support the whole thing,” Francis speculated. A combination of [Gravity Domain] and [Eldritch Flight] should be enough.
“I’d rather not bet you holding up a thousand plus ton piece of magnificence on ‘probably’ and on the fact you are just interested in seeing if you could rather than thinking it is a good idea.”
“Got me. And only a thousand tons?”
“Plus.”
“Well I could say a one plus pound fortress and be just as accurate as you.”
“Don’t sass your grandfather.”
“Technically you are my great-great-grandfather.”
“That’s one too many greats, kid.”
“No? I mean Rainer’s my mother, Sophia is his mother-”
“Why am I more bothered by that conclusion than you?” His grandfather’s face was a bit green.
“No idea. Isn’t some degree of incest pretty normal among Mages?”
“Well a bit-”
“So I’m sure there is some aunt-mothers out there, why not a brother-mother?”
“I-”
“I mean it is a magical family. So isn’t it plausible?”
Frederick wanted to argue. But then he remembered the Van’row Family. That was knowledge that should have stayed deep… deep within the recesses of his mind. Considering they had started their twisted family tree with himself in mind, Frederick momentarily shuddered in fear.
He had been far weaker back then and the Van’row’s had come after him in a time in his life where he was doing more running than anything else. It was good they hadn’t understood enough about Arcane Magic back then for the imprisoning spell they used to actually work against him.
That was one of the few families he never felt guilty for wiping off the face of the earth.
“So… how’s the kids?” Frederick coughed awkwardly, trying to change the subject, though his mind was unfortunately still stuck elsewhere.
“Bradley is doing quite well at his new job. Though I have to admit I’m pretty worried about Samantha. She is taking her break-up quite hard. I will admit I never liked the boy she was dating, but that doesn’t mean I want to see my daughter in tears,” Francis answered.
“What?” Frederick responded. Before he realized the nonsensical question he asked.
“Going senile?” Francis asked with a chuckle.
“Don’t sass your grandfather. I had thought you would have matured given what you went through.”
“Oh, Rainer did. But the soul splitting kind of rewinded that for me. Speaking of kids, let me tell you about a little Elemental I created from nothingness…”
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“We’re ready,” Sophia said before giving a weird look to Frederick, “Is everything okay?”
“No.”
Francis gave a worried glance at the steeled look on his grandfather’s face. Yes, he had been just as pissed at first, but Talvara had assured him the Elemental would have a great life, and there was nothing Rainer could do against a race of people that even the combined might of the Void Lords couldn’t win against. And no doubt they had excellent defenses against [Void-walking], so the usual advantage he had didn’t exist.
But explaining how well his Elemental would be treated did nothing to affect Frederick at all, save for making him more angry. The joke about it not technically being his kid per say only got a well deserved glare.
“Francis.”
“Yes?”
“Go work on your [Void-walking]. Enough playing around with this world; disable as much as you can with [Void Descent] and go. Me and your mother will handle the rest. We’ll call you if you are needed. But I will handle the rest of the issues related to the war.”
“Frederick, you-” Sophia started to ask, confused.
“I am not having a discussion.” His words were punctuated with a massive flare of Arcane. It was nothing like a ‘presence’ but was merely a raw expression of an unmistakable power. There was nothing elegant nor skillful about it. Not that it mattered.
Francis wanted to argue and frankly bristled at being ordered around. He was too powerful to care for that.
But now he found himself just as angry about what happened to his Elemental. And much of that anger at himself. Had he given in too easy because ‘there was nothing to be done?’ Had the near-death experience temporarily cowed him? When was Rainer Nvos such a rational person?
Whatever jokes he made, he created it, it was his child and he let some random Elemental have it just because they were strong and Talvara said it would have a ‘good life’? Plenty of his friends back on Earth led ‘good lives’ because they were rich, but were all of his friends happy? Not even close.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He knew it wasn’t completely fair to Rainer, having Sarah, Luna, Kara, and whoever else to worry about, but he found himself disappointed in the former him. And the current him. And all the hims. Far too disappointed to bother taking offense at his grandfather who wanted to get under the system so he could do what Rainer should have done months ago.
The world flashed grey for a brief moment before returning to normal.
“I’m on it.”
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Francis stood at the edge the floating fortress. They had captured it three days ago and were guarding it on the way back to the city. Practicing on a moving vessel turned out to be useful in his efforts of mastering [Void-walking] in a world of Mana.
There was, however, a major issue. He still couldn’t take others with him. He doubted even his grandfather could survive the trip as he did the first time he came here. A telepathic message from his mother brought him out of his sight-seeing and he rushed over to the command center.
They found a spy?
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“After I ambushed him and went through his mind the first time he’s become resistant. And he just laughs whenever we ask him a question. I figured I’d call you over before I escalate the situation.”
His grandfather was back to normal, but you could tell from how he ignored all protests and searched everyone’s mind to see if they were a traitor that he wasn’t relaxing here anymore. Not that he really had been before, but his study on Rainer’s ‘world-teleportation’ spell had been going nowhere, so in the past there wasn’t much he could do other than hope that his grandchildren were okay wherever they were.
He was now probably desiring to eliminate anything that might distract Francis from his current task. He ended up only finding a single one.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Francis walked over the captive, currently in one of the numerous runic suppressing shackles they had now.
He opened up [Arcane Revelation] with his Aura as he prepared to use [Mana-Reading]. He could easily tell the Mage had a too-stable Mana Pool, so he opted to try a closer looking method alongside the truth-detector skill.
But he froze at what he saw. Divine Power. Nothing compared to a descended Divinity, but it was enough to show the Mage in front of him was a serious follower. It was well hidden but such methods were pointless in front of [Arcane Revelation].
“Grandpa?”
“Yes?”
“Is there a serious religion on this planet?”
The grin the prisoner had on his face fell as he looked at Francis in shock. Power surged within him, but Francis had been a step ahead. Before the Divinity follower could act, a manipulated lightning charged fist hit him.
“Before anything else, anyone know a spell to hold him better?”
“I can cast a medical stasis spell,” Sophia said, and went forward to do so without further input.
“What do you mean by serious religion?”
“Exactly that. He has some Divine Power in him. I see no other conclusion.”
“Divine Power?” both his relatives asked in confusion. They, of course, remembered the Divinities from his stories of the past, but they had a typical atheist Mage view of the world. A powerful enough Mage would be indistinguishable from a God, and therefore an actual God was unlikely to exist.
They had not known there was a power system to it though.
“There is one,” Frederick said after a few moments of thought. “On the other side of the world there is a Theocracy. It follows the tenet that ‘Mages exist to serve the needs of mankind’. Their priesthood is all Mages while the Pope and his Archbishops are ordinary humans who are rumored to have special and strange abilities granted by their God.
“But…”
“But?” Francis asked. Though he had to admit he was pretty disappointed. Meeting a friendly Divinity for once would have been interesting. Especially if they were related to magic. Oh well. It was a wide wide world out there, he was sure one existed on some planet or plane. Talvara was close enough to a Divinity, so he’ll count her as one for now ignoring completely how one of her followers’ greatest enemies was a race made of literal magic.
“This place is far, far larger than Earth. I can’t see how one of them could infiltrate our number. Or even know of us. We’ve only openly declared ourselves a few days ago. Especially with how difficult any form of teleportation is here. He was one of the few slaves who joined us from the Port City. It is likely a coincidence and he was acting in his subversion without orders.”
“A question for another time. But can we assume any believer of theirs is our enemy?”
“Most certainly.”
“I’ll check everyone then, in case your memory magic missed anything.”
A full search found no others, and Francis decided to leave any further interaction with their spy for later. He had more important matters to handle during the day.
----------------------------------------
Francis stared at his hand in thought. Was it impossible? Talvara had concluded that making an actual blade of raw Void wasn’t feasible. That the closest he could come to a Void-like sword was an expert manipulation of [Void Call].
But that wasn’t of any use to him, it would be the definition of frivolous to do so. What was the point of having such a thing by your hand when it wasn’t controlled by it?
He smiled for a moment as he brought the runic formula for [Arcane Blade] to mind. If he couldn’t make a blade of Void, why not try Void Will? He ignored that his [Arcane Blade] wasn’t made of Arcane Power, but Arcane Energy, but he supposed it would still work. It was just a question of whether it would do anything of use. A blade made of pure Mana rather than crafted in a certain way by a spell would be next to useless.
He cut out the Arcane part, and left only the framework. He brought the spell to mind, his Mana rapidly shrinking into the incomplete spell before quickly managing to input Void Will. It took a few tries, especially since this fake world of Talvara’s wasn’t perfect, but he finally managed it.
The lack of a skill or spell being made was not promising.
He gripped his hand mid-air as a blade of pure Void Will materialized in it. No reason to extend it from his fingers if he didn’t have to. The dark energy merely floated there, giving off the usual unerring presence of anything related to the Void.
He casually sliced in across his arm. A shiver passed through his body, but otherwise the blade did not affect him. It was like getting hit with a [Void Presence].
“A bust,” he lamented.
“Perhaps you need to use Rainer’s space. Mine may not be perfect enough, so this may not be your fault at all.”
Talvara’s oddly encouraging and placating comment was as transparent as her current dress.
“Rainer’s space,” Francis mumbled to himself, thinking of Talvara’s own compliments and grumbles about said space as well as the space’s origin from his grandfather.
He stood up and headed to a more open area, materializing a grassland beneath him from the otherwise nonexistent scenery elsewhere. He found it helped him think.
With another Void Will blade in hand, he held it in front of him, imitating a basic stance of his [Arcane Blade Mastery]. He swung it a few times before focusing his mind.
Natural Laws. That’s what they called it. And the [Sleep Learning] white void existed by borrowing Natural Laws from the Arcanium and perhaps the Void as well.
Then what of [Void Descent]? It took a relatively harmless skill - at least when used alone - and gave it killing potential by borrowing strength from the Void. Francis had no doubt that further levels could do far more than bring someone unconscious.
Then could the Void Will he wielded leverage the power of the Void?
With every swing of the dark blade, Francis thought over all his Void Skills and his practice in achieving [Void Descent]. He sank further in further into his Void Will, not the part of it in his body, but the part of it in his blade.
For a brief instant he felt the Void itself in his swing. Consuming all at the edge of the blade.
Space and time distorted as the blade became sharper than reality. Nothing seemed capable of barring its path. Talvara’s illusory space shook and seemed to only stabilize because that single swing had ended far too quickly.
Francis let out a predatory grin as he looked at the once again harmless Void Will blade. He wasn't surprised at the lack of skill. This was a skill, or perhaps a spell, outside of Talvara’s knowledge. He’d have to do it reality or in Rainer’s [Sleep Learning].
“Talvara.”
“Yes?” The Void-Being asked, staring at the blade just the same as he was.
“Use a [Void Call] on me. At a strength somewhat weaker than Aurora could manage.”
Talvara thought for a few seconds before pointing at Francis, likely just to give him the timing of it. He sank into the Void Will on his blade again, and then lashed out. Talvara froze as she felt her connection to the [Void Call] vanish.
The only sound left in the space was the deep laughter of Francis.