I descended from the temple atop of Avalon and met Guinevere at the temple base.
“Is everything alright?” she asked me. “You were in meditation for a couple of days, I was going to get you tomorrow if you weren’t done and make you eat something.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Are you?” Guinevere asked. “Your eyes… well they’re very different.”
I brought out a mirror and looked at my face. My eyes had looked inhuman before with multiple pupils looking in all directions but now… Two orbs that resembled the Star of the Void hanging over the city looked out. They were completely inhumane, they weren’t soulless it was more the opposite; a naked soul that had no need to shield itself from sight, whose power could not be contested by anything physical.
“Its just another mutation,” I said. “I lost some previous effects but overall its just an improvement.”
“You had a bunch of mutations during your battle against the Ancients,” Guinevere said. “Did you ever even find out what they did to you?”
“I’ve done some examinations,” I said. “As best as I can tell my Might attribute mutated my muscles to use ethereal and mana instead of blood, I’m not sure if I actually have blood anymore either. Whenever I bleed it just evaporates away, I think my Power attribute has finished mutating it into some sort of pure energy instead of blood.”
“What about your Endurance?” Guinevere asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said with a shrug. “I think it effected my organs, but I’m not interested in cutting myself open to find out what it was.”
“Are you ready to head out?” Guinevere asked.
“No,” I said looking down at my feet.
Ever since Kalesa had destroyed my boots I’d been going around barefoot, plus I wanted to try something, I had World Forge at my disposal as well as Mab and now a much better understanding of magic and runes. I wanted to do what the Magi had done when they had created Mab, create an Artifact without the help of the gods or the System.
“I need some new gear for you and me,” I said.
I had a full set of artifact armor, Guinevere’s armor and gear was good but I could make better I knew.
“Is there anyone I need to speak with or something that needs me to handle before I get to work?” I asked. “This might be another few days of work.”
“Nothing needs handling but don’t you need to sleep?” Guinevere asked me concerned. “You could relax…spend some time with Aurora.”
My heart sank at that, there was nothing I wanted more than to just hold my daughter for days on end. But the gods would be coming for us again, we only had a short time to prepare and there was no time for me to take in the joy of my daughter.
“Not now,” I said. “This isn’t forever Guinevere, but we have to be strong until Aurora is truly safe.”
She nodded, her own eyes filled with sadness and understanding. “I’ll keep watch and keep everyone away,” she said.
I sat down on the ground. I didn’t need a forge or tools to work with other than Mab. Laying out the grimoire I brought out the materials I wanted to work with. I didn’t have tons of rare materials like when I had crafted Clarent but what I did have were the relics of defeated Champions. I’d given out any tier V artifacts to my vassals but the lesser artifacts I’d kept. I’d destroyed one artifact before which I had used to create Clarent and boost is power from a tier IV artifact to a tier V.
First I activated all my defensive abilities then reached out towards the first item, a helm that would help with underwater exploration and pushed on it with World Forge. It resisted but I flooded with ethereal energy and it began to crack and crumble. I could feel a god sense the destruction of one of their artifacts they tried to reach out and curse me like last time but this was my realm. The connection to the god cut off as I asserted my will on the Void around me repelling their advance.
I couldn’t tell if I had heard it or it had only been in my head but I thought I heard a scream of pain and frustration.
The artifact itself tried to kill me the shards of it shattering and speeding towards my face. I raised my hand and gripped them with Force of Will the shards buzzed and strained to kill me but I held them until whatever pseudo-will or intelligence that gave them purpose died away. I compressed the metal and leather shards into a single ingot.
That done I shattered another artifact, then another and another.
It took around ten artifacts until I was satisfied with what I had to work with. I knew what I wanted to make, set armor for Guinevere. I poured over my runes and worked on dozens of enchantments with Mab discarding and improving them as we worked out exactly what the rune script needed to be. This was the process that took the longest but after studying the rune script that made up my abilities I was much more mentally equipped to work on the armor. It helped that Mab could copy the runes from artifacts just by touch them, we’d already learned so much from the captured enemy artifacts and I felt confident in my work.
The armor flowed together; it wasn’t going to be heavy plate armor like I usually made for Guinevere but a more flexible form fitting scale mail. I was also just making it a three-piece set, no helmet since she couldn’t wear one and her diadem at the same time. I wasn’t going to have time to make the full set today, but I would make the chest piece at least.
It was all metal, at our rank the need for padding pretty much went away. Besides which I was able to interlock the scales so smoothly that touching the armor was like petting a serpent. It would cover her neck, down to her elbows and down to her waist. Stepping back to view my finished work I smiled as I looked at the glossy black metal, I had accented it with gold to make it match my own armor but it was a different beast entirely.
Scales of the Midnight Queen, Type: Armor (Torso) (Artifact Rank V): One of the three pieces of the Armor of the Void Queen, crafted for her by her husband the god of the Void. Crafted from the condensed remains of shattered artifacts of rival gods and the raw power of the Void. This scale-mail cuirass is part of a larger set that gains more power the more pieces of the armor the wearer possess. Made from Void-matter, Artifact-alloy and Crystalized Storm energy. Can only be worn by Guinevere, the Dark-Valkyrie.
Living Mithril: The hardness of your body is increased by .5 per rank you have, including your skin, hair, muscles, bones and even cells of your blood turning you into the ultimate defender where no mortal blade can leave so much a scratch on your perfection.
(2 Pieces) Reaper’s Harvest: For every Severe wound you inflict your armor stores up to 1% of the damage dealt as healing which when released will instantly be expended to heal as much damage you are suffering as it can.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
(3 Pieces) Iron Maiden: Your weight increases while in battle by 1lb per rank making you an unmovable fortress and giving such force and momentum behind your attacks that city walls break before your charge.
Weight:
105 lbs
Holding it out for Guinevere I watched her set down Aurora in her crib as she walked over.
Guinevere ran her fingers over the armor.
“Its beautiful…how did you craft something like this?” Guinevere asked.
“I had to use a lot of the relics we looted before we left for Earth,” I said with a shrug. “Other than that Mab helped with constructing the enchantments and here in the Void, power is endlessly available to me.”
“I can’t wait until you finish the whole set,” Guinevere marveled.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d be thrilled about the last one,” I said. “The System and Mab took some liberties with that.”
“Are you implying it will make me fat?” Guinevere asked me raising an eyebrow.
“My lawyers have advised me not to answer that question,” I responded. “I’ve got two more things I’ve got to make before we can go.”
“We only have about a week-and-a-half left,” Guinevere reminded me. “You need to be ready to fight another god by then, this time I don’t think the one that shows up will be like the last one.”
“Your right but these will help just as much if not more than a few new abilities would,” I said.
Sitting down again I shattered half a dozen more artifacts focusing on the ones made of wood, leather and other more natural products. I’d worn a pair of boots but they hadn’t really gone with my armor, it was fine you wore gear for stats more than appearance but presentation was part of design.
I’d thought of what I needed in my next set of footwear for awhile and it was a lot easier to work with Mab to design and write the rune script for them. The set of sandals began to form they were mostly just woven straps but there were hard metal disks along the front of the shin sections. They would run all the way up to my knees like the sandals you see in movies of adventures in ancient Greece. It wouldn’t be a set item, I already had one set and I was looking to fill gaps not replace my armor.
Sandals of the Void Walker, Type: Footwear (sandals) (Artifact V): Made from the shattered remains of his enemies’ artifacts these sandals were made by and for Modred the god of the Void. As he walked the infinite Void, he now walks the finite world and woe to those who stand in his way for they will be broken in his wake.
For the cost of 100 mana you can teleport to any location you can see, or have seen within eyesight or 2000 feet of your location.
You draw in strength from the earth itself, while in contact with the ground your flesh regenerates at twice its normal speed.
Increases your Speed attribute by +3 for every ten ranks you have.
Weight:
38 lbs
The sandals fit perfectly as I slid into them strapping them on tight. I looked the proper image of some Greek god of war now just as Ares had intended his armor to appear. Now I just had one more piece of equipment I wanted to make for the day. I shattered all the small pieces of artifact jewelry, none of which had been useful to me or Guinevere. I condensed them all and formed a single band of metal that I poured ethereal into turning the mix of gold and silver into a dark black that sucked in all the light around it. I only had a few effects in mind for this ring and held it up as I quickly finished it.
Ring of the Void Eye, Type: Jewelry (ring) (Artifact V): One
Directs the ability Omniscience helping to guide it wielder to the most likely future.
Increases the strength of your gaze allowing you to kill or paralyze creatures with merely a look, drains significant power from your soul, the more powerful the creature the more the drain on your soul, if drain is to much you will be left extremely vulnerable.
Three times per day you can summon ten of your Void Knights from anywhere in the same universe as yourself.
Weight:
6 lbs
“One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them,” I chanted as smile spreading across my face.
“Lame,” Guinevere said.
“Lame?!” I gasped in mock outrage. “I beg your pardon that was a classic.”
“It is, you big nerd,” Guinevere agreed a twinkle in her eye, “but its also unoriginal and you aren’t anything like Sauron.”
“The giant floating eye thing above my fortress begs to differ,” I said pointing at the Star of the Void hanging above Albion.
“It’s not really the same but I see your point,” Guinevere said. “So, are you ready to go and kill something?”
“Absolutely,” I said sliding the ring onto my finger.
---
Excalibur cut through the base of the Exarch rank boss’s neck as Arthur faced it alone. If he died his kingdom would fall with him…but if he didn’t push himself they would all fall to Mordred. He looked at the ability he got from the kill with satisfaction.
New ability gained! Savior of the Realm: (Rank 1); You are the hero of your people, the one they look to for salvation, for every allied creature within 100ft of you, your regen rate for your Celestria and mana increases by .5 per second.
Cost:
N/A
Casting Time:
Passive
Rank up this ability to increase its range, effects and the amount of resources recovered per second. Each rank increases your Power and Spirit attributes by 1.
He collected the loot from the boss chest and left the dungeon, he had a group of mages portaling him from dungeon to dungeon across the kingdom to run them all as often as they came off cooldown to ramp up his power as fast as he could. He still felt like he was going to slow.
“A moment of your time king,” a voice soft as silk but with the danger of sword at your throat said.
He recognized her as soon as he saw her, there were no temples to her in Camelot but the history books had depicted her often enough for him to recognize the goddess of war and conquest.
Arthur froze as the goddess stepped out in front of him, she carries herself with a deadly grace and beauty, her pale blue skin spattered with dark bloodstains. His hearts began to beat faster as fear and adrenalin pumped through his veins and he steadied his grip on Excalibur.
“Calm yourself your majesty,” Kalesa said. “I’m just here to talk.”
“What interest would I have in speaking with you?” Arthur asked.
Kalesa crossed a pair of her arms across her chest and her other set drummed their fingers against the hilts of two crossed swords hanging at her waist.
“Because you can’t beat Mordred in a one-on-one fight,” she said.
“I can,” Arthur insisted.
“You couldn’t before,” Kalesa pointed out. “And you don’t understand just how powerful he has become and the allies he now has at his disposal.”
“Allies?” Arthur asked suspiciously.
“You’ll hear about them from Lancelot soon enough,” Kalesa said. “They’ve spent the last three days in the Event you skipped killing your friends over and over again.”
Arthur’s fists clenched. “How did he get into the Event? He isn’t a Champion anymore.”
“He is Mordred, he has always broken the rules and done what he shouldn’t have been able to,” Kalesa said.
“And we have you to thank for that,” Arthur growled. “It was you who brought him to this world?”
“And if he hadn’t embraced the power of the Void he would likely still be my champion,” she said with a shrug. “But that is why I have some to see you.”
“Why?” Arthur asked suspiciously.
“I wish to make you my champion,” Kalesa said.
Arthur laughed. “You’d think I’d abandon my goddess to serve you?”
“Who said abandon?” Kalesa asked. “I give my power to you freely with no strings attached.”
“Why?” Arthur asked again releasing his grip on Excalibur and crossing his arms.
“Because despite your failures you are the closest to ever having killed Mordred,” Kalesa said. “With my blessing and power you just might close that gap.”
“You cannot serve two gods,” Arthur said. “Especially two so diametrically opposed to each other.”
“Some say you can’t have more than one wife, yet you have two,” Kalesa pointed out. “Do not pretend your loyalties are so firm. Remember what you said, ‘whatever the cost’.”
“Then I lied,” Arthur snapped. “If the cost of defeating Mordred is that I become him then it is too much.”
Kalesa shrugged. “My offer stands, when you change your mind call out my name and I will answer.”
“I won’t,” Arthur spat but the goddess was already gone.