image [https://cdn.midjourney.com/f4bcb1f5-631b-49bc-b026-0fc6e2adeaf6/0_1.png]

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Martin descended the stairs, two by two, trying to be inconspicuous, carrying his great axe on his shoulder. Amazingly, the boss didn't pay any attention to the priest, preoccupied with the smartphone, the device emitting bright lights, and loud noises. Huascar was playing games. Profiting his foe's lack of attention, Martin hurried toward the opposite side of the room, so that when the battle started, the monster would have his back turned to the rest.

"I'll fuck your mother in the ass!" the Juggernaut yelled.

The dead man on the throne jerked, a gesture human in nature, but weird in the context. "Did Michelangelo send you?" the Boss structure spoke.

"Come and fight me, you oversized dog food!" Martin shouted, waving his axe.

"Or what? How did you get in here?"

"On second thought, I won't fuck your mother in the ass," Martin said. "She's too ugly."

"You call my mother ugly, you motherfucker?" the Boss screamed and launched itself at the priest, finally Taunted.

What was Martin's plan? Ardent had no idea, but logic demanded the priest would go for the legs, trying to disable the giant but unstable Boss. Yet the construct had not one, but eleven pairs of feet. Letting itself fall forward, the giant covered the distance to Martin in a blink, now moving like an insect, his position changing from vertical to horizontal.

The priest was all but invisible to him now, and Ardent had to focus on his task. His Sure Shot went true, and one of the skulls in the chair exploded. He was trying to see if that was a more vital spot. D'Ávalos shot too, multiple times, but where he had aimed or if he had hit something was anyone's guess.

[Ardent]: Donnie, check Martin's status.

[Donatello]: He's alive, I pumped him full of Heals. The shield you gave him is gone, but he has a few invulns and damage reduction skills he rotates. Why don't you ask him?

[Ardent]: He reads very slowly.

[Donatello]: Whatever. Don't clutter the chat unless necessary, I have a lot of trouble keeping your minion alive.

The Mimic was shooting his tongue out, grabbed some bone on the Boss, then pulled itself forward, bashing against the skeleton to do blunt damage. The living chest looked on the verge of breaking down, its lid almost unhinged and an eyestalk crushed, the hits seeming to do more damage to itself than to the enemy.

Just when he wondered where Dragon was, Ardent noticed the steed circling the upper platform, examining the battle with a keen eye, in his horse form. Changing in his Dragonling form, the monster dived on the monster's back, biting and clawing on the bony vertebrae. Raph was still invisible, but crescents of darkness erupted toward the monster's neck. Ardent shot another skull, before the Boss collapsed. The Spaniard had shot at some of the hind legs, and with two destroyed, the balance was gone too.

That allowed Dragon a better position and grip. The point he attacked broke, and so did the neck, under another attack from Raph. The Boss was in three pieces: the throne of skulls, now protecting the dead man by circling it and emitting a forcefield, and two halves of the body, which were trashing around more or less aimlessly.

Martin reappeared in Ardent's field of view, swinging his axe with abandon at the energy shield. Still invisible, Raph was launching Shadow Shurikens at the same target, making the shield flicker and crack. Nevertheless, it reconstructed itself after each hit. Ardent added to the assault, but his next bullet was reflected by the protection, ricocheting and missing the Mimic by an inch, and he moved his target to the vertebrae in the largest section available, throwing an Insight.

HP: 555.000 MP: ???

[Ardent]: Keep it going, it's almost at half health.

The ground started to rumble like a growing stampede was approaching. From the tunnel on the far side of the cavern, a flowing river of crocodiles entered, pushing one another so hard they fell in a heap into the cave below. Squeals and flapping wings could be heard behind, the giant bats.

"On it!" Donatello shouted. "Those are true undead."

[Ardent]: Use the chat, moron.

"Ultimate: Purify," the Lifemancer yelled, and strands of light started to shoot up, then down from his hands, searching for the abominations. As soon the strands met their targets, they turned into dust, screaming in a horrible high-pitched voice.

The downside was that Donnie was now a clear target. The skull on top of the throne turned around, looking at him with its empty eye sockets. In the next second, rays of light erupted out of the skulls' orbits, moving wildly around and buzzing like a mad swarm of wasps. Donatello got obliterated along with the tunnel behind him, the stones collapsing.

Fuck, he really needs all those Fate points, Ardent thought. Hit by a lucky shot, Raph became visible for a second, only to crash into the sand and disintegrate into ash. Martin got hit by a ray in the chest and got thrown back thirty feet, falling unconscious, while d'Ávalos took his goodbyes and ran into the tunnel behind after a ray hit two feet on his left.

Ardent managed to send Dragon and Meanwood into the spatial storage, the Mimic half burned, and the steed intact, and used a short-distance Warp at the last moment. A beam hit his replica too, destroying it, but he was saved. Rushing to protect Elisa, he found himself protected by her instead, the Karmic forcefield she put up stopping no less than three direct successive hits.

All of a sudden, silence fell. The forcefield around the Priest disappeared, and the larger segments of the giant skeleton's body vanished into a cloud of yellow dust. Only the dead man and the skulls remained.

"He's low on Mana, everybody, go for it!" Ardent yelled.

He ran down, abandoning the rifle but shooting his revolvers on the way. Eight skulls were remaining, and he got three, then a fourth with Meantongue and its Sonic Boom.

Huascar produced a series of smaller shields, around the skulls, which it moved around, using them as blunt weapons or shields. They were fast and hit hard. Ardent had a light cuirass on him, and he felt it cracking, along with a few ribs, and had to Warp and use a Combat Heal.

Elisa smashed a fifth skull, projecting a blob of force ahead.

"Good job!" Ardent shouted.

"Divine Smiting," she yelled. "Sorry, forgot about it…"

Martinko appeared near them too, which complicated Ardent's life, but there was no time to chase him away. The youngster struggled to lift Martin's axe after checking his father was alive, and by luck, a sixth skull threw itself at the blade and got obliterated.

Dumb luck, or the dumb's luck? Ardent asked himself rhetorically.

Remembering Dragon was in good health, Ardent resummoned him. The dragonling bit on a seventh skull, crushing it, his master broke the eighth, and only the dead man remained.

"Wait!" Huascar screamed. "If you kill me, you die! Let's nego—"

Swinging Meantongue, Ardent hit the Evil Priest in the middle of his head, and the Plasma Coating cut the body into two separate parts. A Firebeath from Dragon finished the job, reducing the body to ashes.

Elisa rushed into his arms, crying. "Hey, it's OK," he hugged her, patting her back. You did exceptionally well in your first battle. Few keep their cool…"

"The Rezzes don't seem to work… Poor healer… and the other guy…" she sobbed.

"Oh, that," he grimaced, taking advantage she was not looking at him but crying on his chest, an extremely pleasant and arousing sensation. "In time, you get used to losing friends in battle. Concentrate on positive thinking. For instance, Donnie was a hundred and fifty, and he had a long fulfilling life… And Raph… err…" he bit his lower lip because he didn't know much about the Ninja. Once, he had searched for his paintings in the phone's database but found them lame. "He was a good guy and gave his life for a good cause."

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"What a pathetic eulogy!" a voice said. Raphael's. "And I thought you my friend."

"You're alive!" Elisa exclaimed happily.

"Rezzes work," Donnie said. "Just took longer."

"Happy to see you, man," Ardent said, and he wasn't lying.

The last specks of ashes from the Boss touched the floor as he finished his sentence. Instead of settling down and becoming just an annoyance not to be stepped on, they started to shine a deep red and flew up again. Soon, more and more soot became light and joined them, too many to count, gathering in a vaguely humanoid form.

Warning: THE SYSTEM is detecting a massive Wild Magic surge in Rome. Probable Cause: The Boss enters the second phase.

"I detect a great evil!" Martinko yelled. "I'll try invoking my most powerful ability, a Miracle…"

"What are you waiting for?" Ardent scream.

"You try doing poetry in combat!" Martinko replied in kind, before continuing:

"In shadows deep, where curses dwell,

A miracle's light, a cleansing spell.

Evil's grip, now fades away,

In magic's wake, a brighter day."

On his last word, a voice above shouted: "Fire in the hole," and a series of loud explosions ensued. Debris, rocks, earth, and sand began to fall, but a ray of sun arrived first, bathing the humanoid light shape.

Both Elisa and Ardent called for shields, but while he projected them individually, she created a dome of force over the whole group. The falling projectiles kept coming for a long minute, during which both of them recalled protections until they were almost out of Mana.

In the center of the cave, the new apparition had changed color toward a pale yellow. "I'm free…" it asked. The voice sounded clear, almost like a child's. "And cleansed… Feels nice…"

[THE SYSTEM]: The corruption blocking my abilities over Rome is gone, but the wild magic concentration remains. And it's sentient…

"You cleansed my corruption away," the shape said, floating toward Martinko. "I'll reward you. You'll be my new vessel."

[THE SYSTEM]: I estimate it needs a physical body to coexist with, or it dies at sunset. The Saint is the only option around, as I protect the rest. I can't predict the consequences for Martinko. Probably bad.

"Don’t touch me," the youngster started screaming and running around, with the creature following slowly, its arms stretched to grab him.

"Hey! Leave my boy alone!" Martin, back to lucidity, shouted, grabbing his axe and swinging it at the light shape. The weapon went through.

"I won't hurt you," the childish voice promised. "Let me hug you. Your Sainthood smells yummy…"

Insight, Ardent thought, following with the usual Fuck!

Pure Concentration of Sun attuned Wild Magic. HP: 1.000.000 MP: 1.000.000

Regenerates HP and MP at 5%/second as long it touches direct sunlight.

Strengths: Mind Magic tier S. Sun Beam, tier S. Sun Flare, tier S. Immune to Physical Attacks, Light, and most Elemental Magic.

Weakness: Shadow Magic, Darkness, Cold, Gravity.

One option was to make Martinko run into the tunnels, and hope the darkness there would be detrimental to the new form of the Boss. Yet, was it possible for the Saint to run fast enough? Plus, the tunnels were still infested with the walled skeletons, controllable through Sun Magic.

To me, Dragon, Ardent dashed forward, near the Wild Magic concentration. Enveloping all of them in an energy shield and taking hold of his mount, he ordered the dragonling to Warp up in the sky, through the hole in the ceiling, and then once again over the sea. He grabbed the humanoid shape in his arms and forcefield and Warped down by himself, into the depths.

The shielding was dismissed almost instantly, and he felt crushed by the huge pressure, however, his enhanced body managed to resist. It took a lot of grit to stay there, but he checked on the Sun Magic blob first. It was faring badly, glitching, breaking, and reconstituting itself, diminishing in size very fast. There were both Cold and Darkness in the depths of the sea.

Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me, I'm good magic, I'm good magic, I'm good magic! A desperate cry erupted in his brain, the childish voice of the Wild Magic.

Be my minion and I'll save you, he tried to convey.

Yes, please, yes, please, yes, please!

Create Monster, Ardent ordered in thought. The Wild Magic concentration accepted, he could feel it stabilizing.

The Sun Magic was now only as big as a fist, clutching around his wrist like a bracelet, but Ardent wasn't in much better shape, feeling his lungs almost on the verge of exploding. He warped up, taking the new minion with him.

They jumped out of the water and then splashed back. Amazingly, the dragonling was on the sea, floating like a duck; it stretched a wing underneath him, pulling him up. Ardent crawled forward and collapsed on the steed's back, heaving, while the Sun Magic left his wrist and grew back in size in a few seconds. Now it looked like a human adolescent, albeit still transparent. "Hurry, master, chose my class," it said with a deeper voice.

Albeit barely able to move, Ardent concentrated on the notifications in front of him.

You have successfully bonded a sentient concentration of Magic. This is a unique occurrence. Please name your minion and select among the available iterations:

Wizard Familiar. The Sun Magic minion will be able to appear only during the day, taking various shapes and executing assigned tasks. While it can have both offensive and defensive capabilities, its best use is in household tasks and buffing your crafting abilities.

Protector. The Sun Magic minion will be able to appear both during the day and the night, but in the latter case, it will feed on your Mana at a rate of 5%/second (ATM, can be improved through training). During the day, it has an unlimited degree of autonomy, by night it has to stay close to its master. Peerless defensive and buffing abilities, medium strong combative skills.

Sun Wrath. The Sun Magic minion will be able to appear only in battle, once per day. Its offensive capabilities incinerate everything in its path. Limited autonomy. Direct control is advisable to avoid collateral damage.

"What do you prefer… err… Sunny?" Ardent asked, closing his eyes. He was tired to the extreme and reading the texts had taken all his remaining will.

The new minion emitted a brief buzz, which the condottiere interpreted as approval of the chosen name. "I don't wish either to mop floors or kill people… I have vague recollections of many… deaths… indirectly linked to me…"

"Sure," Ardent shrugged. "Protector it is."

There was a shove in his shoulder, a second later, Dragon had used the tip of his wing.

"You have dozed off, master," Sunny said. "About ten minutes. While you read the rest of your notifications, allow me to put you back in shape."

A huge influx of energy shook his body, a hot, yet pleasant feeling. Twenty seconds later, his Mana was full.

"What the f… I mean, wow!"

New Minion: Sunny. Type: Protector. Level 10, rank S+ (Unique).

A concentration of formerly Wild Sun Magic, Sunny is very grateful for the chance you gave it. Good-natured at heart, it will follow your orders enthusiastically as long they are at least chaotic-good in nature. Your relationship starts at +60.

Important: You have to choose an anchor for your minion, or it will dissipate at sunset. Any object with a minimum of magic potential will do.

Skills:

Oppressive Heat (grade A, starts at tier E): AOE or cone Debuff. Slows the target and inflicts various conditions: minor sunburns, dehydration, fainting, blisters, itches, rashes, etc.

Blinding Beam (grade A, starts at tier E)): A unidirectional ranged Debuff that blinds and disorients one target. It cannot be blocked and works on any hostile, including top-tier Bosses. Duration depends on the enemy's class tier and levels, going from a maximum of one minute to a minimum of 3 seconds. This ability is a prerequisite for more offensive abilities.

Sun's Shield (grade A, starts at tier E): A powerful forcefield that disintegrates physical projectiles and is exceptional against Physical Attacks too. Weak to Shadow Magic, Darkness, and Gravity. Can be applied to you or your allies.

Sunny's Buff (grade S, tier S, unique): As long Sunny is in contact with daylight, it can regenerate both its and your HP and MP at a rate of 5%/sec. Cannot be interrupted. The same effect can be applied at the same time to one chosen ally for 1%/second. CD: 10 minutes.

"You're a great addition to the team, Sunny," Ardent said.

"Thank you, mas—"

"Let's not go into master thing…. You can call me uncle."

"As you wish, Uncle Ardent. If you don't mind, I'll go into storage for now. It saves my energy."

"Sure, Sunny."

Once alone, or rather only with his steed, who was not much into making conversation, Ardent checked his stats. His eyes widened. There had been a lot of notifications about quests, vanquishings, taming, overcoming, and stuff, but the important part was the numbers.

Name: Ardent the Morlako Class: Jack of all Trades. Level 61

STR: 55 / DEX: 55 / CON: 55

INT: 39 / WIL: 39 / CHA: 64

Available ATs: 10 Available FPs: 19

"I did level a lot…" he pursed his lips. "How many FPs will I need to bring all my stats to a hundred?" Ardent asked himself aloud. Despite his Mana being replenished, he felt so tired that he didn't even have the energy to extract his phone and do the math.

[THE SYSTEM]: Considering the ATs obtained by leveling, about a hundred. But you're on the right track. Good job, Champion. You performed above all expectations. I'm able to install myself in Clement's territories, Rome, the Papal States, and Florence.

[Ardent]: Florence? Since when is that Clement's?

[THE SYSTEM]: He's a Medici. Man, c'mon! Read your history.

[Ardent]: I make history, don't read it.

[THE SYSTEM]: HAHAHA! Good joke. Well, Champion, my advice would be to take some time off and relax. You deserve a vacation. I can take care of things on my own for a while.

"Yeah… good idea. How about you take us to Rome?" Ardent patted Dragon's back.

Dragon growled. It probably meant yes, as moments later, the steed warped above Rome, then let himself glide down.