Folen, Norse God POV
Damn bastards!
Several of my arrows pierced the heads of some annoying gnats.
And as satisfying as it was to put arrows through their skulls, there were far too many. Though despite the numerical advantage, that wasn't the worry aspect.
Especially when the thing claiming to be the brat's cousin was using the World Serpent as a bludgeoning tool. Granted, it was far from its 'real' size after the wounds it suffered during the battle for Asgard.
But still, the thing swung it around like it was made of paper.
I admit to taking a small bit of pleasure when she smacked a bunch of those uppity gnats with the serpent.
However, I was focused on the more powerful sources that were approaching, and the really powerful ones that were watching from a distance.
Ones that made me – a newly ascended god – feel a touch of concern.
There was a reason that despite this place being so far out of reach of most, that it was untouched by even Gods in past ages.
They had their own defenders.
And that idiot swinging around poor Jormungandr just barged right in and ignored all of that!
"You look familiar, have we met before?" A cold chill ran down my back as a shadowy figure emerged from the intensifying snow storm.
I quickly put an arrow in it, but it wasn't real.
Truthfully, I hadn't had long to get used to being a God now, despite being stronger, I wasn't as strong as I could be.
And I was old….I hadn't kept up with the times in my old age. I normally only grabbed my bow when the stray monster or beast needed to be put down. My hands were far too used to simply caring for the wounded.
The sound of a tongue clicking became apparent over everything. "Now this is going to bother me for a while. I know that you're familiar somehow, but I really can't put my finger on it. Which clan are you from?"
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, drawing upon the unfamiliar Divine Power inside of myself and I swiftly jerked my bow up, pointing to the sky and pulled back the bow string.
A single Golden arrow shot up, piercing the cold wings, and burst out into a thousand more arrows, falling down like rain.
That young lady I recall during the battle did something similar.
I'm no longer an old dog, learning new tricks is something I can do.
My golden arrows swept away the surrounding cold, revealing the person stalking nearby.
He let out a hiss of anger, pulling several shallow arrows from himself. "A God?" He spoke in disbelief. "How could…" He seemed to come to a realization. "Oh, you're one of those exiled clans from a long time ago. How amusing, one of you became a God for the ones outside?" He laughed.
"Great Fairy then?" I grunted.
He tilted his armored head. "Good, you know my title. How fun,would you consider surrendering? I think you would make a great member of our hunt."
"Not just a Great Fairy, but a leader of the hunt?" Annoying.
Great Fairy was a status, like calling someone 'Ultimate Class' or such that the kids do these days.
A leader of the Hunt was another notch above that. Only exceedingly powerful or cunning ones among their number became a leader of the Hunt.
I'm not surprised he feels about equal to me despite the fact that I recently ascended to Godhood. Perhaps if I had more time to temper myself, I would have been able to easily deal with him.
"Even after killing so many of your people, you're inviting me?" I questioned, flicking the string of my bow, killing a few dozen more under his gaze.
He nonchalantly glanced at the deaths of his kin and shrugged. "The strong survive. None of those you killed were ones I found value in."
"Ah." He turned completely away from me all of the sudden. "Well, you better quickly accept my offer. Our Queen seems to have lost her patience."
The cold felt different.
Sharper, deadly.
Over the castle in the distance, I felt two chilling eyes appear, and the shadow of a mighty figure enveloping the entire area.
I paid no attention to the Hunt Leader who departed.
I leveled my bow and gathered all my Divine Power, releasing a barrage of arrows right towards the Queen Bitch herself.
They didn't reach, each one exploding in divine power before hitting, but it was enough that she had to pay it the briefest of attention and I ran towards the stupid girl, giving her a firm kick in the rear.
"Hey!?" She looked at me, dropping poor Jormungandr to the ground.
"We're leaving. Now."
She turned to look at the Queen as well, frowning. "Alright."
She hesitated for a moment.
She apparently considered fighting the Queen.
I was old and wise enough to know when I was a tad out of my league.
"I regret agreeing to this." Jormungandr whined. "You owe me for this, Elf." It said with a small huff looking at the girl with noticeable fear and hesitation.
"I'll pay it back, now turn up, and take us out of here." I jumped on his head, grabbing the girl too to make sure she didn't run off.
"Don't forget me"! The strange flying object chimed in, floating up with us.
I didn't know what that was exactly, but I stopped caring awhile ago.
Jormungandr was exceedingly fast, especially for his size. He was faster than we could run by ourself, and with some effort, he was able to put a bit of distance between us as the Castle.
However, we were far from out of her reach.
I flicked my bow, sending more arrows back, feeling my Divine Power draining rapidly.
It just pissed me off more because that old one-eyed bastard offered to help me train and I kicked him away.
Her gaze was ever present, but it seemed she wasn't attacking us directly. My mind was going through the possibilities, but it was hard to guess what they were thinking.
No, her gaze shifted.
To where, that was answered rather quickly as well.
A crimson hue set on the horizon, followed by a furious roar that shook the air around us.
"Great Welsh!?" Jormungandr blurted out in surprise.
Why does it seem like when ever something happens, it involves him or those close to him?
@***@
Wilhelm POV
I could taste the amount of power being radiated.
Which is common for powerhouses of this level, but in this specific case, it felt like it was bleeding its Magical Energy without regard.
Ddraig was right, we've been had.
It's not often that I'm led by the nose so thoroughly.
We both thought it was a copy of me that happened to have a simulacrum of the Boosted Gear. But it turned out to be the exact opposite in this case.
The Spell Ritual created a copy of Ddraig with a simulacrum of me 'around' it so to speak. The reason why it simply stalled for time and didn't properly engage me, why it felt so weak, It couldn't have put more than 10% of its accumulated Magical Energy into the fake copy of myself.
However, it was met with its own restrictions.
The copied Ddraig was copied in its current state, chained within the Boosted Gear. It still had to go through the process of activating Juggernaut Drive.
Of course, if it was able to trick me, it had the intelligence to know I wouldn't just stand there and let it activate Juggernaut Drive unabated. Technically, you could bypass the chant with enough stress and will combined with the threat of death, albeit unintentionally. There was a reason why the Boosted Gear had the stigma associated with it regarding rampaging hosts.
However, it's highly likely this thing was capable of such 'emotions'.
I watched as scales manifested all around it, building up into a moderately large silhouette. It abandoned a 'humanoid' form rather quickly, or rather, it never had designs for one.
Its neck elongated, and its jaw opened up with razor sharp teeth. Spikes emerged down its back, and its large tail swept up a whirlwind with each movement.
It let out a furious roar. The force of which nearly blew me back.
[Tsk.] Ddraig sounded annoyed. [It's barely reaching past half the amount of power I had in my prime]
That's what you're mad about?
[Well, if it's going to copy me, it should do it properly!]
Still, half a prime Ddraig was frightening.
[Even if it has half my 'power' in comparison, it'll be weaker than half my true strength. It's too mindless to be able to utilize everything properly.]
And truthfully, it's highly doubtful it's even a 'perfect' copy to that extent.
I could feel its Magical Energy leaking with every passing moment.
It was an amalgamation of an amalgamation.
I think it was having trouble maintaining a coherent form like this. It had assumed the realm that Gods stand in at its 'birth', there's no way that's a naturally acceptable occurrence. It must be pulling apart at the seams, its Magical Energy simply monstrous enough to hold it together for now.
Dragons, at their basic, were just giant clumps of Mana.
This doppelganger was a giant clump of Mana.
So, it made sense, in hindsight, why its target of copying was Ddraig over me. I was far harder to 'copy' in any reasonable regard compared to Ddraig who had somewhat similar origins.
Sir Wiggles was back on the Boat, so I wasn't overly worried about everyone down there for now.
And I knew I didn't need to tell Nurarihyon that I was going to be preoccupied.
I never used Juggernaut Drive before because I was never confident.
The Gauntlet, the Boosted Gear let one utilize a portion of Ddraig's power, a small taste of it.
Balance Breaker allowed you to access his full power, limited by your own ability.
Juggernaut Drive…
Juggernaut Drive, you become Y Ddraig Goch.
The concept of Ddraig would overlap with your own, which is one of the major reasons that the users were driven to madness.
It wasn't an intentional action by Ddraig, it was simply the price to pay. In return, you would be strengthened to an obscene level and become the Red Dragon Emperor.
And I saw it activated for the first time.
It wasn't fully dragon sized, but likewise, it was far larger than a normal person.
It threw its head back and roared again before settling on me unwaveringly.
I could guess that the Spell Ritual to manifest the doppelganger had principles intertwined in it that forced the copy to focus on their 'source'.
[I still don't feel a genuine Draconic nature from that thing.] Ddraig sounded confused. [Yet, it's almost like seeing a bit of myself.]
Copying the outermost layer without copying the essence, it makes sense.
The Dragon opened its mouth.
[Dodge!]
I barely reacted in time as a condensed beam of fire blew past me at frightening speeds.
"Ddraig, what the fuck was that?" I was prepared again and I used Shunpo to dodge out of the way, but I felt the edges of my shirt get singed.
[I wanted to make my breath attack faster, so I turned it into that. Where do you think your Dragon Shot comes from? Well, that's the basic form of it, hopefully it can't use my real flames].
Right, Ddraig decided to turn his breath attack into a fucking laser.
The Dragon, however, seemed a bit more mindless than I anticipated. It shot another of its laser breaths up towards the sky, scattering what remained of the clouds.
Despite its mindlessness, it still focused on me, its large wings stretched out, and with a single flap of them, it shot at me with speeds that matched my own Shunpo.
I brought up Mirage to block in time as its clawed hand smashed into me, slamming into the side of the lighthouse, which surprisingly didn't break.
Its large maw opened right infront of me, the split second that it used to charge its laser breath barely gave me an opening.
"Fus." I blew out, smacking its head away so its breath attack shot off to the side. My swords from fighting my own copy beforehand, they emerged from the water and stabbed into the back of the dragon.
The mindless fake Dragon released me, turning around and roaring in confusion as it seemingly didn't understand it was attacked by 'nothing'. It flexed its body and my swords were forced out of the shallow wounds they caused.
"Boost, Dragon Shot." I hit it point blank with my Dragon Shot then reached for Ascalon, as my Dragon Slaying sword entered my hand and I swung it at its head.
The Dragon turned around quickly, eyes glowing and deflected my swing with its arm with a noticeable expert precision. My sword left another shallow cut, but that was ignore in favor of the dragon's tail swinging up and slapping at me in that small opening.
My Aura flared up protectively, but I still felt the sheer force of the casual movement from him as I was slammed back into the Lighthouse. Noticeably it still didn't show any signs of damage.
The Dragon let out a low and rumbling growl, a strange intelligence clearly visible in its eyes now.
[Maybe you knocked some sense back into it?]
Maybe….
It whipped its head towards me and I felt the danger creep down my spine, kicking off the Lighthouse and pushing myself out of the way.
I glanced back and a chunk of the lighthouse was missing and the dragon was chewing thoroughly.
[My teeth were pretty strong. I am a Dragon, don't forget that. Despite the abilities I developed over the years, my teeth, my claws, my scales, they are the weapons that every Dragon has since birth.]
It flapped its wings once more, and its speed was higher than previous, its claws raked across the air creating a deathly gale as I braced myself, taking it head on with my Aura flaring to life.
I found myself hitting the ground hard, with the sky above me covered in the red hue of numerous 'Breath' attacks falling downwards.
With a scowl, I whispered a few words under my breath. "Feim Zii Gron."
The area around me erupted in a blaze of fire, leaving only the Lighthouse standing where this small landmass used to exist.
The Dragon let out a challenging roar, so I responded in kind.
"Welsh Dragon, Balance Breaker!"
My own Draconic Nature was released to match it.
Was it pride? I had other options, I could have used the Spear, but I felt this was more appropriate.
"Boost, Boost, Boost, Boost, Boost, Boost!" I let out a series of Boosts that surprisingly wasn't my limit. The strengthening I received recently increased that threshold just a tad.
My Dragon wings burst out of my back and with a casual swing of them, I shot into the air right at the fake Ddraig with my Divine Lightning crackling around me.
However, it simply floated there, unmoving.
"Reset."
It wasn't my voice, even if it sounded like Ddraig, it didn't come from him.
The command to reset the number of Boosts the user had accumulated.
I found myself no longer flying, but rather, falling upwards due to the momentum I accumulated. It was like someone slammed on the breaks while going a hundred miles an hour on the freeway as I momentarily became disorientated.
All I could see was a bright red light before the searing heat hit me and parts of my Scale Mail were burned away.
It took me a moment to realize where I was now. The lava around me was sizzling against the salty water.
[It was able to copy some mechanisms of the Boosted Gear. The Reset thing isn't from me, it's something built into the Gauntlet for my users.] Ddraig's words reached me as I reorientated myself.
It's not like the Boosted gear is inviolable.
Hell, I have a spell that jailbreaks it for a bit.
But a Fake Ddraig with some copied mechanisms able to trick my own Boosted Gear? That's not something I expected.
Ow.
I floated out of the water, finding solid ground.
Standing up on my feet, I could feel that last one.
The fake Ddraig roared again, shooting off its breath upwards as if declaring itself to the world.
It took notice of me rather quickly and shot down at me, mouth wide open as if wanting to devour me.
I released my Balance Breaker.
It was pointless if the thing had the ability to reset my Boosts on a whim.
As it was about to reach me, I withdrew a certain staff.
"Bex Zii Zoor Frul Lo!" We both roared out together as I slammed my staff onto the ground. "Disgyniad yr Ymerawdwr!"
Before the fake Ddraig could touch me, a large Magic Circle appeared at the side, and a massive black dragon's mouth clamped down on it tumbling forward.
The Fake Ddraig was tossed to the side as my Ddraig coated in Níðhöggr's form roared defiantly.
I quickly put away that staff and pulled out my Staff of Magnus.
"I have a plan, Ddraig.. It's not a real living entity, simply smashing our heads against it in a fight to the death is also foolish."
If it were a living being, a life-and-death battle had a different meaning. But it would willingly sacrifice itself to inflict any kind of wounds on me, I could tell that much.
Without giving Ddraig a moment to respond, I flicked the staff forward and released a very powerful bolt of Lightning right at the fake.
It was a fake dragon, but it inherited quite a bit of Ddraig's physiology.
As Ddraig said before, the scales of a dragon aren't to be underestimated.
It barreled through my spell, flying right at us.
Ddraig shot forward, tackling it as both began to claw at each other with my Ddraig at a noticeable disadvantage.
"The Lighthouse!" I shouted, as I began to cast a more powerful spell.
Ddraig caught my mean and twisted its body so their fight went airborne and he forced it towards the 'exit'.
I gathered all the broken pieces of earth out of the water, and they formed a gigantic stone and earth hand, and it pushed them both through the 'portal' to the other side.
Without hesitation, I sprouted my Devil Wings and followed after them.
@***@
I felt the same sensations as the first time entering the Lighthouse from the other side.
The twisting of time and space threw me out in front of the Lighthouse with a blanket of ice and snow falling from the sky.
Dragon roars reverberated overhead and I glanced to the side to see Captain Hook casually carving a piece of wood, sitting at a fire.
I blinked at him once as his eyebrows raised and gave me a nod.
Right, had no time to pay attention to him.
"Gather!" I shouted, flying up into the air, not caring about the disorientation and disconnection between the earth and the sky. I wrested control of this small area, the skies became mine despite my Authority still activated over the original camp. "Fall!" I commanded and lightning began to drop from the skies.
Ddraig disengaged as the rain of lightning slammed down on the fake, sending out monstrous roars from the copy.
Ddraig also added his own miasmic breath, bellowing it out towards the copy.
Unfortunately, the copy was just so damn crammed full of Magical Energy that my Lightning wasn't doing much.
Despite the large bolts of lightning raining down nonstop, it still opened its maw and its fiery laser breath pierced through the miasma and collided with Ddraig, knocking him out of the sky.
"Boost!" A thunderous roar resounded, and it didn't come from me.
"What!?" I blurted out as the copy moved at ridiculous speeds. Its claw raking down on me. "Bakudō #44, Sekisho!"
It gave me a fraction of a breath to push out my Aura defensively through the Hogyoku and pull up my arms to block. The clawed hand of the Boosted fake Ddraig tore through it all until my Shadow emerged behind me and took a significant portion of the blow as well. Despite that, the fake's claw still reached me and several cuts across my chest opened up as I was sent hurling down to the ground.
"Ven Gaar Nos!" Ddraig shouted, a cyclone emerged, colliding with the fake but I lost sight of it as I landed in a strange….house?
Blood flowed down my chest as I looked to the side to see a Fae, presumedly an adult and parent as it looked like another Fae, a smaller one.
The Parent was holding the 'child' by the leg over a pot of stew.
They both silently stared at me.
"Hadō #4, Byakurai" I pointed my finger at the eldest one, my bolt of lightning seared through its head and it fell over.
The child however leapt over with a gaping maw full of sharp teeth as if to eat me.
I slapped it away with my staff with a huff.
Fucking Fae.
I downed a Health Potion I pulled from my Ring and shot out of the hole in the roof of this house I made.
I glanced downwards and saw that it seemed to be some kind of….port city?
…..if there's such a thing without it being directly on a body of water.
There were literally docks on the ground.
"Bastard!" Ddraig hit the ground not far from me either, demolishing a few houses.
I didn't care for the locals as I shunpo'd next to him. "I thought you said that you didn't use Boost offensively when you were alive."
"I didn't! That's stupid, it would heavily damage me if I tried to double my power and strength like that! It was only meant as a counter against Albion!" He grumbled, rolling over back onto his feet. "Look at it, it's body can't handle that kind of stress, it's literally pulling apart."
I reinforced my eyes as the fake seemingly was lost in its own mind again, releasing breath attacks every which way uncaringly.
It was flaying even more at the edges, scales were starting to burst.
Still, a fake Ddraig able to boost at the cost of its nonexistent life, that was terrifying even if it wasn't using its full power intelligently.
Fucking Dragons.
"Get its attention, I have a plan." I waved my Staff around as a new Runic Circle Emerged.
"On it." Ddraig roared again, flapping its wings and soaring back into the air. "Wuld Nah Kest!" He bellowed out, turning into a whirlwind and slamming back into the rampaging fake.
He didn't have much left in him before that form dissipated.
Better act quickly.
This will be my first time using this spell in combat, but it's the perfect target.
The ground and air around me became completely deathly. Not necrotic, not necromantic, it was the sum total of experience I had visiting realms of the dead that allowed me to craft this particular spell.
Opposite of Life was Death.
The chilling air made way for the deathly touch and a pale shimmering sword floated out of the Runic Circle.
"Touch of Death – Helheim!" The pale sword shot out and Ddraig jerked out of the way despite the copy's claws tearing out part of its body.
The Pale sword pierced the Dragon, but it caused no physical damage, as it was completely immaterial.
It wasn't a physical attack, it was a Curse.
A particularly powerful curse. It had a singular and direct effect, it took a living thing and moved them closer to the concept of 'death' the longer they were exposed to it. For a normal living person, it would simply drain their lifeforce. It only became more interesting on more complicated enemies.
The fake Dragon didn't even react, but the effects became apparent. The already straining body began to leak Magical Energy four times faster to sustain itself now.
The Fake opened its mouth, ignoring its own self destructing, and released dozens of breaths down upon me.
The Fae town – city, habitation was annihilated as I jumped on Ddraig's head flying away in time.
I looked back at the smoldering town and had a realization.
"Huh." I looked into the distance and saw light. "I don't think we should keep this little present to ourselves, what do you think, Ddraig?"
Ddraig let out a bellowous laugh. "You're right, let's let all these Fae see how magnificent my Juggernaut Drive is!"
The fake followed after us quickly.
The fact that it had Boosted, and it was cursed by me and it was merely an amalgamation and yet held together still, it was a testament to how much sheer Magical Energy the thing had inside of it right now.
"Wuld!" Ddraig let out, shooting forward, but the fake behind us was catching up still.
I turned my staff around. "Scatter!" I quickly made dozens of illusions of us like it had done before.
It grabbed an illusion, popping it. Its tail whipped around, and it barreled through a good portion of them before something changed and it seemed to target us specifically, letting loose another breath.
I cast a shield to block it, despite struggling, I was able to fend it off.
But that just gave it time to catch up and I quickly jumped off Ddraig as it grabbed hold of him, tumbling through the air again.
I looked down and saw something good.
"Ethereal!" I shouted for Ddraig.
"Feim Zii Gron!" Ddraig caught on quickly, making its false body go ethereal for the fake to fall through him.
It saw me, which is what I wanted and it took a deep breath, followed by a breath that could easily destroy several mountains.
Pushing my speed to its peak, lightning crackling around me, I used Shunpo to evade in time as it narrowly missed me.
The explosion below happened to be just ontop of what looked like a Castle with a bunch of armed forces!
How unfortunate.
I activated my semblance to once more narrowly dodge a raking of its claws and quickly shot back towards Ddraig and jumped onto his head again as he flew away.
The Fake let out a furious roar.
"I think he's mad." Also, it seemed like it was slowly weakening, not much yet, but it was noticeable.
"You don't need to be a dragon to be able to understand that." Ddraig snorted. "I see another town." He dive bombed towards it, the copy in tow.
Ddraig, with the grace of a meteor, happily slammed into a random building, causing a bit of an earthquake at his landing.
"Shield of Asgard!" I slammed my staff down, putting a significant amount of power into it as another breath enveloped us completely.
As my shield vibrated and shuddered, and the fiery breath relented, all that remained around was us molten slag and flames.
"Bakudō # 75, Gochu Tekkan!" Five tall pillars fell from the sky ontop of the Fake Ddraig, forcing it to the ground. "Leg it!"
Ddraig and I flew away again as the spell only held it for a fraction of a second before its Draconic aura burst out, shattering the spell and it furiously gave chase once more.
We went further inland, and the icy chill seemed to intensify.
I felt it creep up rather quickly, and I felt a familiar feeling like when I was claiming ownership of the sky above the camp.
I felt like someone was looking right at me.
Regardless.
"Hey, that's a big looking city." I pointed down at what probably houses tens of thousands of Fae."
I had no time to analyze the architecture or layout, even if I was somewhat curious as to how these things lived in their own 'society'.
"You dare?" A chilling voice sounded out across the icy tundra. It became incredibly hard to see even a few feet in front of myself, but I felt something push through the air.
A gigantic – female – hand, made of ice and snow swept downward. Ddraig and myself had no time to dodge, bracing for it as we were quite literally slapped out of the air and sent hurling to the ground again.
The roar of a furious and fake dragon was not far away either.
"Hmph." The faint voice echoed out again with a scoff.
"Ddraig, buy me a few moments again." I said, throwing off the mischievousness from a few minutes prior.
"I got a tiny bit left in the tank, this is my last clash." Ddraig said before flying towards the fake.
I created another Runic Circle, not thinking I would use another spell like this so soon.
Another of my Nine Realms Spells manifested.
The heat of a furnace, the clanging of a hammer.
A large ethereal Anvil appeared in front of me and I tossed out the Bow of Auriel onto it.
"Crafting for the Gods – Nidavellir"
The faint outline of a dwarf holding a hammer appeared behind me. It raised its hammer up high and slammed it down onto the anvil and my bow.
The Bow, which wasn't releasing any significant power without a wielder, suddenly became blindingly bright.
Nidavellir was a simple but powerful spell, it temporarily enhanced a weapon of my choosing.
The surrounding snow storm was immediately burned away by holy flames.
Without even pulling the bow string bow, a sun appeared overhead.
Far away, very far away, I could feel the eyes of the person who spoke before.
I lifted up my bow and pulled back the string.
It felt like I was trying to move a mountain with my fingers, my muscles strained and I had to use all my strength.
The Sun overhead, it swirled and distorted, the light and flames of it shimmering downward between my fingers. As the Sun above disappeared, a bright arrow formed on my bow.
"What is that!?" A panicked cry was all I heard before I released it.
The force of the arrow being shot knocked me back, nearly sweeping me up in its gale.
My arms went numb, as if my muscles became taut all at once. The pain was followed rather quickly, and I was fairly sure I pulled several muscles in my arms.
However, the arrow seared through the cold winds, evaporating the icy malevolence.
It was too far away to see.
Only the release of another Sun emerged briefly on the horizon, almost like it was setting, was an indication that it hit true.
That and the shrill cry that echoed across the tundra.
"Boost!"
"Brat!" Ddraig shouted, getting my attention as a tail slammed into my side.
The world flipped around several times as my body skipped across the ground before coming to a stop.
Dizzy.
Disorientated and possibly a few ribs broken.
Where was I? Wasn't there a town right next to me?
I stood up, wiping away the blood dripping from my mouth, refocusing myself as I measured the distance from where I was before.
I then realized it was pointless because I was very far away from where I was standing and I just got the shit knocked out of me.
Atleast I still had the bow in my hand. Actually, I was having trouble opening my fingers to even release it.
Note to self, the combination of Nidavellir and Bow of Auriel is very powerful with repercussions.
Two different roars echoed as I felt Ddraig return to me.
[It boosted again, be careful.]
Right…..
It flew at me again with reckless abandon,
This is exactly the situation I didn't want, but I guess I had no choice.
My Aura healed me enough that I felt a feeling return to my arms despite the pain, and I put the bow away, however, the spell appeared behind me once again.
This time, Ascalon was placed on the anvil.
The Fake Dragon came flying at me again, its Magical Energy depleting at increasingly rapid speeds, but its power amplified by several boosts at this point.
I grabbed Ascalon off the forge.
Swallow Returns.
The 'me' infront was ripped apart without hesitation by the monster, it didn't notice the 'me' behind it pierce its 'heart' by an empowered Ascalon.
"Boost!" It let out a monstrous roar again and swung its body around.
I let go of Ascalon and tumbled across the ground a few times before sliding back onto my feet.
"Hanuman!" I called out and my Shadow emerged, grabbing the Dragon briefly, but the empowered fake ripped it apart.
I really didn't want to reveal my Zanpakutō so openly here. I learned from my fight with Kronos to not be so flippant with my trump cards, but I guess I had no choice.
"Reflect—"
"Wah!" A strange and loud cry came barreling down a snowy mountain, a mix between what sounded like someone was trying to roar, but was more….whining.
[Jormungandr?] Ddraig answered the question of who.
But that brought up more questions.
Like, why the fuck was the World Serpent colliding head first into a fake copy of Ddraig.
Why was Folen riding it.
Why was Ruby floating next to him.
"Hey cousin!'
"Arcueid!?"
"This was in no way my fault, whatsoever!" Ruby quickly hid from my very angry gaze.
"I came to visit!" She happily smiled.
"What in the Nine Realms is that thing!?" Folen, the Elf God pointed at the Fake Ddraig that quite literally threw Jormungandr to the side.
"A copy of Ddraig." I said rather bluntly, still staring rather blanky at the fact that Arcueid was right here.
I had so many questions right now.
Before I had a chance to voice them, the fake opened its mouth again. "Boost, Boost!" It boosted more and the scales on its body literally burst, the Magical Energy it exuded became visible.
Arcueid waved her hand, and the surrounding space shattered and collapsed onto itself.
The fake's body had many more of its scales crack and shatter under it. However, it seemed to ignore the damage and jumped at Arcueid.
She seemed genuinely surprised as it grabbed her and it opened its mouth point blank in her face.
I pushed everything I had into my Demonic Side again and called for my Sword of Destruction and slashed down on the hand with all the Power of Destruction I could muster.
It was severed, but the Fake didn't care one iota, simply swinging its large head towards me instead and released its breath at me.
It was more powerful than the ones I took before by many degrees.
I even used my Power of Destruction protectively.
Burns appeared across my body and my Aura nearly shattered. I fell to a knee as it abated coughing erratically.
Jormungandr's shadow loomed above and it grabbed the copy with its mouth, and using its snake body, it whipped away, flinging the copy far off into the distance.
I stood back up with heavy breaths, using my sword to steady myself.
"You alright?" Folen was on my quickly, and I felt his Divine Power seep into me, the Authority of his – his healing was soothing.
"I'll live." I breathed out.
"….you protected me?" Arcueid walked up to me, looking at me strangely. "I would have been fine."
I clenched my hands, feeling good enough as I stood up straighter. "Don't be an idiot." I gave her a bop on the head. "You're my cousin, obviously I would move to help you."
"It's coming back." Jormungandr rumbled, looking at where it flung the copy.
I looked at Arcueid with realization. "You don't have reinforcements here?"
She shook her head.
"Idiot." I sighed.
"I'm not an idiot!" She frowned. "You mean it, right? That we're cousins for real? Altrouge told me that we were sisters once and I believed her. She tricked me and cut off my hair."
I wanted to say something, but I just ended up patting her on the head.
I would get mad at her later, we had something bigger to deal with.
The rampaging fake Ddraig that was looking like it was on its last legs, time-wise. But it still had enough to cause some serious damage.
Arcueid stook up with a smile. "I'll show it to you, my home." She held her hand up and the world changed.
The fake Dragon came flying back over, my Ascalon still pierced through it, my Curse still draining its power and vitality.
"Millennium Castle Brunestud!" She declared and the world was overwritten.
Towering columns, gothic architecture. A large castle, looking like it was made of crystal, appeared towering overhead.
And hanging in the sky was a rather familiar and malevolent looking Crimson Moon.
A Reality Marble manifested through the use of a Marble Phantasm.
That was the Millennium Castle Brunestud.
The home of the original Crimson Moon that only those who inherit the Brunestud name can manifest.
The Dragon became confused for a moment, stopping, a few low growls as it looked around.
Arcueid held her hand up with a smile. "Fall."
The copy looked up, perhaps the flicker of intelligence returned because it seemed to just stare blankly.
The others, they also looked up wide eyed.
The Crimson Moon that hung up in the sky began to fall right towards the fake dragon.
@***@
Non-Canon Omake: The Little Spider Part 3
Arachne was in a good mood.
She discovered something interesting. Her father told her about the 'Mists' and other nonsense around here, but she only half listened.
She discovered that she could use the Mists to change how people perceive her clothing!
Originally, she either had to choose to change into 'normal' clothing or use her own magic to hide her appearance. Both of which annoyed her in some small measure. But the Mists, they did it automatically after 'activating' the effect, and she didn't need to keep a spell continuously cast!
She hated not wearing her combat attire, so this was a most welcome discovery, and she was very happy after discovering this.
Not to mention she could even walk around with her spear in hand if she desired. Though her mom taught her to handle her weapon properly and not just show it off for no reason. Thus, she still stored away her favorite spear—her Gae Bolg copy—even if she didn't want to.
If she remembered right, she should be around the school her dad went to, and the 'camp' or whatever it was supposed to be was a couple hundred miles southwest.
She just needed to figure out a way to get there quickly. The thought of riding a bus for around four hours, maybe five, did not sound too thrilling.
Before she could decide on what to do, there was a vibration through the ground, almost like an earthquake.
For the normal people around her, it must have felt like such, but she could see the mists swirl around and hide what was truly happening.
Was that a Frost Giant?
She fought a few before! And it was a dead ringer for one of them, a bit on the smaller side, but each of its steps shook the ground, a good 15 feet tall!
It was walking towards the river.
Her first instinct was to throw her spear at it and fight it to the death!
But she was curious about what it was doing, so she followed it silently.
It continued to walk towards the large river running through the city as she followed; fewer and fewer humans were around, which indicated that something was happening.
That was when she saw it; there were many monsters all gathered around the edges and within the waters as if they were trying to catch something.
Very quickly, as if a blur, something would shoot out of the water, narrowly avoiding capture, creating splashes of water.
Arachne could see it clearly though—a beautiful large fish with glistening blue scales. The only oddity was that it had the head of a cow, but to her, she just found it more appealing!
I want it.
That was her only thought that pushed her feet forward.
"It escaped again!" A monster she didn't recognize hissed out.
"It's too fast in the water."
"Where are the nets?"
"If we don't hurry, we're going to get the attention of something bad, and we won't get any profit!"
"What's going on?" Arachne casually walked up.
Perhaps due to her casual demeanor and rather arrogant way she ignored everything going on, the monster she spoke to barely spared her a second glance. "Don't' think about getting involved!" It hissed under its breath. "We're the ones who found it first; there's no one taking it from us."
"Just here to watch the show." Arachne hummed.
The monster pursed its lips, perhaps annoyed that it was on the proverbial sidelines. "A few of us found the Ophiotaurus, the legendary Bane of Olympus!" It sounded excited. "After we capture it, we can ask for almost anything from Olympus!"
She felt that was a dumb name.
Though the monster said that, the fish, every single time, 'narrowly' escaped from capture.
That was until two sides of the river froze solid and large ice walls rose up.
The Frost Giant from before made its move.
"Wait, you're not."
Arachne wasted no time stabbing the monster through the heart before it could utter anymore words.
Her Power of Destruction ignited in her hand. It wasn't 'mutated' like her fathers, as she took after her aunt grandmother in this regard.
It raged in her hand, and she grabbed the head of another monster as it turned around to look at her, swiftly destroying it in one go.
The others became alerted, and immediately, a sharp and spiked tail swept at Arachne.
Arachne stabbed her spear into the ground and used it to push up, vaulting over it and slamming her foot downwards on the owner's head, knocking it to the ground.
Some sort of lizard alligator creature she didn't recognize.
Her head tilted to the side as an arrow-like feather passed by. With a screech, a birdwoman—most likely a harpy—took to the sky, and razor-sharp feathers rained down.
Arachne, however, just smiled viciously, and her spear swung at increasingly impressive speeds, blocking and deflecting each one.
With a lull between the barrages, Arachne jumped backwards to fix her stance, her feet pushing into the ground as she pulled her arm back and threw her spear.
The Haryp in the air barely had time to screech again before the spear pierced through her. To others, it would have only looked like a red beam of light that shot right through the monster.
"Throwing away your weapon, foolish!" A roar bellowed as a shadow was cast overhead. A large, icy hand came downwards. "Demigod!"
Arachne perhaps got too caught up in the thrill that she allowed something like the Jotun to get this close to her.
However, under the massive hand that threatened to squash her, she smirked.
Her index finger twitched downwards.
Barely noticeably, as the sun shined on it, an extremely thin thread was revealed, swaying in the wind before her movement caused it to become taunt as it extended from her finger.
Before the large hand could slam down on her, the Jotun let out a pained cry, and his body was knocked down by a familiar 'red light' as her spear returned, impaled on his side.
Ever so slightly, if you paid close attention, you could see that extremely thin thread connected to the base of the spear.
Arachne then leaned back, cartwheeling backward to avoid claws swiping at her. Years of practicing elegant and dexterous movements allowed her to easily avoid such obvious attack patterns.
She jerked her hand, and the thread connecting to her spear caused it to dislodge from the Jotun and return to her, but rather than catching it, she kicked it, sending it impaling through the head of a cat-like monster that had just tried to gouge her stomach.
The ground shook, and the sunlight vanished again as this time the Jotun's large fist was clenched, barreling down upon her.
Arachne, with grace and skill, lightly tapped the side of its hand, pushing herself out of its way, and gathered her Power of Destruction at the tip of two fingers.
Dodging the attack, she jabbed the two fingers forward, and a condensed beam of destruction opened a hole cleanly through its head.
The Jotun dropped to the ground like a puppet having its strings cut before turning to dust like many other monsters in the area.
There were about a dozen more monsters left, and they were all acutely aware of her now and preparing to attack.
However, after the Jotun died, Arachne lost her motivation to fight as they were just small fry.
Without even turning around, she waved her hand, and dozens of shadows shot out. Within the blink of an eye, the remaining monsters were skewered by spears, each of which was one of her treasures that she collected just like her father.
Holy, Demonic, Magic, Divine—all manner of legendary spears sunk into the ground as the bodies they impaled turned to dust.
With a gesture, they all flew back to her, and she returned them to storage. Peace returned to the area.
She did briefly question why a Jotun was participating in something that involved Greek monsters—or whatever was happening, but she settled on not caring for the reason and tossing the thoughts away.
All monsters were dead, bar one.
A cow head popped out of the water.
"Mooo~"
Arachne smiled lightly, squatting down at the edge of the river. "Hello."
"Moo." The strange fish cow greeted her back, jumping into the air very high, far higher than the walls of ice had been.
"Ah." Arachne came to a realization. "You were playing. I apologize for interrupting your fun. I believed you to be in peril and wished to assist."
The fish made another strange cow noise, like it was confused. The monster was by no means unintelligent, perhaps naive, whimsical, and innocent, but it had clear intelligence.
It stared at her because it was the first time anyone had 'protected' it. In its long life, it's only ever been chased after as people tried to use it.
"Cute." Arachne muttered, looking at the cowfish.
The fish head butt her playfully.
"My Da has a pet partner. Would you like to be my pet?" Arachne was never one to beat around the bush. If she wanted something, she was direct about it.
The fish blink. "Moo."
There was a beat as Arachne registered what seemed like an agreement from the fish. She had a beat of her stoic demeanor crumbling before she grabbed the fish from the water in a big hug, startling the fish at the speeds in which she moved and the strength in which she squeezed it.
"A will call ya Mr. Blueberry, and a will love ya forever." She squeezed happily.
"Moooo~" The now-named Mr. Blueberry didn't know what was going on, but it was happy.
"What can you do?" She asked her newest partner.
"Moo." It wiggled around and escaped her grasp before jumping back in the water and jumping in and out. "Moooo~"
She realized that her pet could only do cute things and had no combat ability.
"That's okay, A love you anyway." She grabbed him back into a hug as he swam back up to the edge of the water.
It didn't matter to her; she fell in love with Mr. Blueberry the moment she saw him and didn't mind if he couldn't fight.
"I finally found you!" The words were followed by deep and tired breaths.
Arachne turned around to see the satyr from earlier heaving in exhaustion with a big lump on its head.
"You –" It paused. "Is that the Ophiotaurus!?"
"His name is Mr. Blueberry." Arachne corrected.
"Mooo~"
It was insulting; it was like calling him Satyr.
Said Satyr stood there, mouth open.
"Oh my gods." The Satyr breathed in and out. "The Ophiotaurus! This is huge; if we bring it back... my punishment."
"His name is Mr. Blueberry." Arachne punctuated with her spear against the Satyr's throat.
The saint swallowed hard as sweat dripped down his brow. "…..Mr. Blueberry."
"Hmph." She withdrew her spear. "Why are you following me?"
"You….." He hesitated because he had been beaten up already, and he found he was rather intimidated by the... probably rather young girl if he could guess her age to be in her early teens. "Are you Annabelle Schweinorg?"
"No, my name is Arachne." She denied.
The Satyr choked as soon as he heard that name.
Did she want to be cursed!?
Who would name their child that?
"But you appeared in the house of Wilhelm Schweinorg!"
"That's my da. He gave me the house. It's my house. That you were in without permission." She gave him a slight beating earlier, but that didn't mean she forgave him. "Why were you in my house?" Her spear raised up again.
"Wait!" The Satyr raised his arms up defensively. "I can explain; please don't hit me with your spear again."
"Explain from the beginning."
The Satyr swallowed again as her spear didn't lower. "I was told to come collect Annabelle Schweinorg to bring her to camp Half-Blood. I couldn't find her anywhere, and Goddess—" he stopped. "Her parent said that if I couldn't find her, then I shouldn't come back... No one's been able to find her for three years. Since I had no leads... that was the only place I knew about, so I...bummed in the house for awhile."
Arachne pondered what he said.
If he were telling the truth, then technically, he was trying to 'help' her.
It didn't sit well with her to harm him if he was being nothing but helpful and nice.
"I'll make it to the camp on my own; your mission is over." She nodded to herself.
"Wait, so you are Annabelle Schweinorg?" He asked for clarification.
"My name is Arachne." She said it stubbornly.
The Satyr looked at her with his mouth open again because he knew who her mother was. Of course, Satyrs weren't supposed to reveal godly parentage, even if it wasn't a secret. The less they get involved in godly matters, the longer their lives tend to be. And it's often the whim of a god if they wanted their kids to know or not, so best leave it up in the air.
Especially the gray eyes were a dead give-away.
That just made it all the more absurd that her name was Arachne.
The Satyr wisely decided not to say anything. Between a young demigod that could beat him up rather easily and a goddess that could smite him, he chose to keep his mouth shut.
Otherwise, his eyes looked towards the legendary Ophiotaurus.
It was called the Bane of Olympus.
Legend had it that if you killed it and burned its entrails, you could even bring down the gods.
Who wouldn't be greedy for something like that?
Not to mention there was a standing bounty on the thing from thousands of years ago that was never rescinded.
The Satyr licked his lips.
"Why don't you let me take care of your... friend?" He cleared his throat. "I don't think Camp Half-Blood lets fish inside. Besides, he can't stay away from the water, right?" He smiled, putting on his most charming smile. She was a young girl; he was decades old; he felt like he could easily trick her. "Just let me take care of the ophiotaurus for you."
Arachne frowned. "His name is Mr. Blueberry."
The Satyr barely registered what she said before his eyes rolled back, her spear smacking upside the head once again.
"Mooo." Mr. Blueberry just bobbed his head happily.
Arachne was upset because he did bring up a point. He was a fish; fish needed to stay in the water.
As if divining her thoughts, Mr. Blueberry swam out of the water, a thin, almost membrane-like water layer clung tightly to him, and he continued to make little cow noises as he swam or rather flew around Arachne.
Despite Mr. Blueberry being significantly larger than her, she still grabbed him and held him up again with a big smile.
"It's okay, a will protect you." She cooed. She wasn't stupid; she knew that Mr. Blueberry was apparently very famous, even if she didn't know the specifics. But she didn't care about that; he was Mr. Blueberry, and she wouldn't let anyone harm her pet.
She would kill anyone that tried.
"Let's get going. I need to figure out how to get to this camp though." She looked at him. "You wouldn't happen to know the way?"
"Mooo!" Mr. Blueberry seemed to nod.
Arachne smiled and swung one leg over her new pet, sitting on its back. "Let's go, Mr. Blueberry!"
@***@
A/N
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name.
War is done over there, and a new world will be revealed soon. I also have two Arachne omake chapters ahead, and a Cyclops snippet chapter ahead if you're interested.