Warning! Warning! Warning!
Automated Mana tracking relic activated!
Unknown mana anomaly detected, Location = Labyrinth city Miletus, Scale = 6, Magnitude = 8. Damage = Unknown, suggestion action = Gather additional data points.
Speculative sub-routine activated. Speculated potential damage = Minor Apocalypse. Assigned threat grade = Extremis. Recommend action = Deployment of sub-captain rank Legion forces.
…
ɆⱤⱤØⱤ! Mana tracking relic exhibiting non-optimum patterns. 𖤢𖦪𖦪𖣠𖦪! Mana tracking relic suffering from overload! ɿ҉༙྇ o҉༙྇ ɿ҉༙྇ ɿ҉༙྇ Ǝ҉༙྇ ! ɆⱤⱤØⱤ! Mana tracking relic overloaded. Deploying secondary systems.
Mass anomalous energy detected!
Reanalysing
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Reanalysing
…
Demonic Energy confirmed! Reanalysing ... Confirmed! Reanalysing … Confirmed!
Demonic energy = 𐌄𐌐𐌐Ꝋ𐌐… E̯̬̲̎ͪ͟͝r̷͚̦̩̰ͫ̇ͪ̽̐͊͛̈͌͘r̴̛̛̹͇͉͈̯̻͇̳͓͚̬̭̾ͩ̈̑̎̄ͩ̀ͨ̑ͥ͋̉̕͠͠͠ộ͔͕̘̱̭̓ͪ̒͐͞_̵̟͉͙̣̐͌͐͂r̴̡̧̢̥̫̥̯̗̣̪͎̾̽̇́ͦͪ̉̓̂̐ͨ̿͝… ᛊᏒᏒᛜᏒ… Unquantifiable, reanalysing previous parameters:
Mana anomaly scale = Ṷ̶̵͈̺̗̣̰͍͚̲̒̍̈͑ͪͥ̆̽ͩ̏̊̐̄͟͢n̞ͫ͌̎ͯ̈ͩk̴̛̛̪̗̙̝̟̘͉̮̊̉ͪ̾̈́̾̋ͫ̇̂ͪͧ̑͜n̡̡̘͎̘͚̳̱̜̭̤͚͚̉̅̓ͩ̈͆ͮ̑͋̃ͩ̿͋̏̉͘͞͠o̸̝͇̮͖ͨ_ͪ̈́__̷̧̡̜̼̹̤͎̗̱̤͚̠̯ͭ͂̄͒ͫ̋̿̈ͮ̽́ͪ̓w̠̠̯͢ń͍͈̖͎̹̖̟̳̖̳̤̦̰͍̦̫͛̑̉͋͋ͪ̅̓ͪ͊̂̂̇̍̎̾. Mana magnitude = 𐌵ክ𐌊ክꝊሠ𐌍̦̫̎̾. Potential threat = Ự̸͍͚̲͎̖͕̰͔̫̰̺̘̱͔͎͇͉͇̄͗ͨͯ͗̏͑̊͗ͨ͒̔͘̕ņ̥̦̯͇̿ͤͪ̎̾̃͐́͐͂͝k̨̧̡̞̲͇͇̙̙̰̜͍͉͓͇̦̰̂̃ͤ̀̂ͮ͗͌̆̐͘ͅń̬̟̩͛ͩ̓̄ơ̢͖̥̮̥͓̱̺̠̜͑͒ͫ̓ͮ̽́͐̈̀͘ͅw̵̸̧̛̱̖̮̰̹̺̪̟̳̌͌ͣ̓͗ͥ͆̀ͬ̏̄̄̎̄̉͝n͖̹̼̣̺ͬ̽ͩ̊̐͑ͩ̾̚͠.
Threat grade revised. Current threat grade = Ultima Majoris! Zone Mortalis designated! Cull of ѕυяяσυη∂ιηg ρσρυℓαтιση authorised under the ρՐԾʍȝԵɧՄՏ ዐዪጋቹዪ, pending authorisation. Attempting to calculate potential damage values. … E̍̄̓r̳̘r͙or͔̞̋̌̎. … E̻͚͈͑̏̚r̵̦̰̻ͬ̈͗̕͞ṛ̈ö̸͔̺́̽̍͑̈́̀͛̈́͜͜r̻̠̦̆̊͛̔̈́ͭͬͧ̍ͧ͢. … E̴̵̸̡̤͇͖̖̮̼̻̻̥͚̝͇̦͉̥͒̍̈́̈̇ͩ̒ͤ͑ͨ̋̒̌ͨͩ̚͟r̎r̶̡̛͙̟̩̣̦͖͎̹̳̂ͪ͛ͬͭͥ̓ͪ̂ͪ̈́̀̇͘͟͝o̡̡̻̼͓̙ͮͧ͊̾ͤͅ_̶̡̺͎̄́̐ͨ̿͑̐ͥ͒ͤ̆͢͢r̴̢̢̯̜̰ͮ̀͗̆͒̏̀ͤͬ̚_̯͈̭̫̘͓ͦ̉͌͠͝.
Potential Damage = ł₦₵₳Ⱡ₵ɄⱠ₳฿ⱠɆ! Moral Threat = Inexcusable!
Action suggested = Immediate đēꝑłꝋɏᵯēꞥⱦ of Knight legion forces of ꌅꍈꀧꁅꀟꇞ ꍟꉤꁄꉈꉣ꒒ꅔꎡ rank or higher.
Attȩ̸̩̰̜͙̫͚̝̞̣̯̏̃͒̂̆̽̀͝m̶̡̨̨͕̟̬̥͕͈̬̞̿͜ͅp̸̨̨̛̻͈͚̣̥͖̼͎͋͂͊̆̑͂̌͌͜͠t̴̘̻̖͓̺̟͙̠͖͌î̵̧̈́ͅņ̵̨͚̗̟̹͇͉͋́͐͛̎͒ģ̷̳̣̭̟̭͕̼̮͎̊͛͆̐́͐̑́̂̽̕̚͜ ̵͔̼̘̗̞͚͙̂̃͜ͅ to ̴̢͍̬̟̖͙̱̻̂̑͘͠cont̸̛͍̦̰͖̖̙̮̙̺͙̯̥̣̝̭̍̈́̔͊͝ą̵̘̹̫̟̮͔̪͍͗̌̅̍̍͊̿̂c̴̖͇̀͊̽ẗ̸̙̲̦͇͉́̈̔̀͊̕͝͝͝ͅ ₱Ɽł₥₳ⱤɎL̷̨̛̗̮̞̅͑̑̐̍̊ͅe̵̱͈̪̟͙̹̺̊́̓͊͝͠ģ̶̳̘͕̒i̵̢͈͙͚͓͕̫̦̇̒̍o̸̧̧͔͉̝͐̉͐͆̾͒̊́̌̍̂̋̚͘͜͝ͅn̵͕͎̤͎̖͉̞̜̟̼͔̜̏͋̽̑̉͑͜ ӻⱥȼīłⱦīēꞩ!
Ť̢͚̣̥͖̐ͫ̽̿̅̕͡_͎̱͖ͨͣ͒͛̐͂̏_̸̴̢̬̥ͣ̐̓ͣ͠ͅr͎_̨̨̧̖̮̪͖̥̏͛̐͑͋ͥ̒͒̌̇̓͘̚ä̵̴̧̢̭́͆̏͂̿̃̃̓͜͢͠ͅ_̜͒ͮ̃͟ṅ̷̥͈̖̉̐s̶̶̩̥͈͍̬͍̖ͣͣ̈́̐̏̔͛ͬͧ̎̓̇̀̕͜͡m̡̟͈̩̬̘̞̪̠̗̲ͣ͋̊ͯ̄̓͢î͎͍̺̞̯ͩ̄̆ͮ͗̇̓ͫͤ͒͒͘͢s̸̷̡͉͕̞̫̠͔̦͍͉̿̀̑̓͆̏̈̔̉ͭ̆͐͌͜͢͡͠ş̵̶̧̠̹̖̗͍̤̮̲̤͇̱̫̩̳̩̏̔͛̆ͣͦ̾̃ͬͬ͒̇͂̋̆ͯ̚̚̕͠͠ͅ_̈i̜͙̓_̹̩̺̳̈́̿̑͟͡ǫ̯̩͎̈́̑̆ͮ̉͋̀͞ͅň̵̡̹ͯ̌ͤ͐ é̶̲̹̙͇̠̊́r̹̯̲ͧ̅̋͜ͅr̴̓o̶̤̖̪͙̓̂͊r̶̷͖̩͚̗̟̥̝͉͈̼̣ͮ͒ͯ͋̊̂̚. ₕᴼₛᵀᵢᴸₑ ᵢᴺₜᴱᵣᶠₑᴿₑᴺᶜᴱ ᴰₑᵀₑᶜₑᴰ. ₴Ɏ₴₮Ɇ₥ ₵ⱠɆ₳₦₴Ɇ! S̸̶͔̗͎̮͈̻͕̿̃̓̈́ͩ͑͜͜_͔̹͈͈͚̖̺͕̬̒ͮ̓̍͐͘͢͞ỹ̾͟s̷̷̷̢̛̞̹͙̫̱̲̱̯͓͉̰͔̻̳͈̯̣̿̾́ͫ̑ͧͬ͗́ͥ͊́̋́ͩ̐͘̕͟_͖̬̃̊t̛̲̜̭̑̅͐̋̆͂͝͞͠e̘̘̠̼̤̱͐̑̀͗̍̎̑ͫ͑͒̔̈ͪͥ͟m̵̢̡̞̫͕̮͉̳ͤͩͦͩ͌̑̀̅̏͐̕͟͞͝͡͠ C͓̱ľ̶̺͇̳̤̻͓̹̦̞͇͎̠͛͛̀͂̿ͫ͐ͪ̈́́̋ͣ̿ͬ̑͝_̷̼̠̟̟̯̽̔̉͊̏́͟e̷̴̡̩͉̝̘̯̬̗̪̺̥̝̗̮̯̩̠̅͛̿̓̀͊̏̑̉ͣ͒̚͢a̵̸̢̛̙̭̞͓̦͚̯͍̔͋͒̎͂ͣ̍̈́ͮ͆͐͐̉͆̍ͩͭ͊̕͘͜͠ͅń̳̜͌̕͠s̸̸̼͇̦̠̹͍̣̓ͥ̑ͬ͆̈́ͨ̀ͨ̋̚͝_̭̙̯̯͑ͥ̆̽̌̂̀͝e!̦̥͓̯ͭ̈͌̂̉̌̽̅ͧ̓ꈜꐔꈜꋖꑀꂵ ꏳ꒒ꑀꁲꃔꈜꑀ!
System cleansed. Mana anomaly = erroneous data, Threat level designated Minoris, recommend action continued observation. Report compiled, awaiting offload by designated system administrator.
…
"The great work has begun".
A voice spoke loudly echoing in the silent heights of an abandoned cathedral. Faint tendrils of shimmering ethereal light caressed the edges of the room from a colossal shattered stained-glass window whilst a few flickering torches helped to illuminate the grand space. Light danced off of shattered plinths illuminating the detritus of a defiled holy place. The broken remains of statues, shattered fragments of stained glass and other detritus covered the floor surrounding a colossal table that sat in the middle of the open space. Six figures clustered around that table, each figure was cloaked in a thick layer of darkness that made them appear like floating spectre's with only the faint traces of the most general features visible. Those few visible features made a mockery of the human frame.
Close to the head of the table stood a giant close to ten feet tall with hulking bat like wings extending from his back, its colossal form held a great war axe lazily in one hand and fiery red eyes poked out from beneath its veil of shadows. Besides him stood a stick thin creature with a far too bulbous head, the faint glow of multiple blinking eyes could be seen constantly opening and closing beneath its veil. The others around the table were all hyperbolic extremes of humanity, one being appeared to be impossibly rotund layers of what could be assumed to be fat jiggled disgustingly with each of the creatures breaths. Small wings protruded from a vaguely femininely shaped horned figure and of the remaining two only blinking amber eyes could be seen from beneath their cowls.
"Oh, my dear third master you shouldn't tease a lady with such promising words, I fear I may lose control of myself", a tail with a heart shaped barb on the end caressed the bulbously headed thin figure who had spoken leg seductively as a feminine voice spoke longingly to him. It belonged to the horned creature who made a seductive purring sound, "Couldn't you help a poor damsel controlling such powerful … urges". The bulbous head many eyed figure gently seized the tail caressing its leg before lovingly kissing it. It coincidentally just so happened to catch fire at that exact moment. The tail withdrew rapidly as the creature it belonged to hissed angrily.
"Whilst my lady the fifth mistress is as usual disgusting, her point is a valid one, to make such a claim with such flimsy evidence is nothing short of heresy, the magnitude of the cataclysm you would invite upon us is beyond imagination!" The rotund globule of fat spoke its voice a phlegm coated rasp full of contagion, despite the sickening moistness of its words the venomous undertone made it very clear on who he wanted to level those calamities.
"I will not be questioned by an upstart who has not even held his seat for a measly decade!", the many eyed figure shot back, "Know your place, child". The bulbous mass hissed in fury and began to swell faintly visible clouds of toxins rolling off its disgusting form. "I earned my seat by right of might as the lord dictates, my youth", the creature spat the words with a voice loaded with contagion and bile. "My youth bears no relevance to the strength of my position, perhaps if you could see past the cataracts in your enfeebled gaze o ancient one you would know that!". The winged fifth mistress gave a small snort at the barb whilst the two pair of amber eyes withdrew slightly from the table as the many eyed figure focused dozens of unblinking eyes on the globule of pestilence that dared to raise its voice at it.
Pre-empting the imminent slaughter of a fat idiot, a horrific screeching sound filled the room. The figures around the table all winced except the many eyed figure as the colossal giant ran one taloned finger down the colossal war axe. The screeching sound forced the bulbous fool into silence, after the echoing sound gratefully vanished the socially inept idiot opened its mouth to speak again.
However, before the fool could say more than a word the sound of screeching filled the chamber again as the giant ran another finger along the side of the great blade. The rotund figure may have been a fool, but it was not completely socially colourblind and did not need to be warned a third time. The many eyed figure grunted in annoyance at the interference of the giant, "A lesser being would be annoyed that you interfered with its hunts, I wasn't going to kill him, … today at least".
The giant said nothing, but its silence spoke volumes about its doubt. "That is what he said when he killed the last seventh master right?", the winged fifth mistress whispered conspiratorially to one pair of floating amber eyes. The pair of eyes visibly shrunk back as the dozens of eyes from the thing figure slowly ground their way towards the pair. The pair of eyes fashioned glowing spectral hands from nothing and raised them placatingly as it moved to distance itself from the splash radius in case the petulant third master decided that the ranks of their order required violet rearrangement. Again.
Before any potential bloodbath could begin though, every figure in the chamber suddenly flinched as an unspoken aura of danger filled the room. At the head of the table a figure seeming made of the darkness detached itself from the shadows. Unlike the others nothing about its character was visible beyond its silhouette, it was a moving silhouette. A patch of lighter darkness moving against a pitch-black background, nothing beyond a vaguely flapping cloak could be seen which moved erratically in an invisible wind.
As it moved a thin white line flowed from nothing before solidifying into an ornately engraved bone staff. Covered with murals of beasts hunting each other the bone staff stood close to two metres long and was capped with a series of floating crystals which arced gentle parabolas around the staff. As it approached the head of the table another shadow detached from the wall, unlike the other figures this one eschewed the layer of darkness covering the others and revealed itself fully.
An amorphous mass of bright purple writhing tentacles it rolled forwards moving like a ball as the cephalopod followed in the wake of spectre. A single colossal yellow eye could be seen at the centre of the mass of tentacles and dozens of smaller eyes adorned each writhing limb as it moved with equal portion grace and ungainliness. It sprung onto the tabletop at the same time the spectre reached the table. The pair brought the gathered number up to eight but as the cephalopod lowered itself it became clear that only the seven shadows were of import.
The giant nodded its head silently at the spectre as did the many eyed figure, the other four figures immediately crashed to their knees in respect and fear. Or the fat figure tried to at least, his form lacking knees compressed itself downward with an excretion of gas that made every eye in the chamber glance at him in a mixture of confusion and contempt. The cephalopod made a friendly gesture at the giant and crawled onto the creatures massive shoulder as it made a contended cooing sound.
Silence filled the room.
The cephalopod began rubbing several of its tentacles together rhythmically as it settled onto the giant shoulder. After a moment the sound intensified, and a wet grating voice became audible from the thrashing tendrils. "Begin", was all the hoarse wet voice said.
The many eyed figure cleared it's throat drawing all attention to it as the others rose from their kneeling positions. "As of a few hours ago, the inept monitoring systems of the Knight's legion detected a colossal mana anomaly in the Labyrinth city of Miletus, though since it levelled almost a third of the city it is almost laughable that it took them a full hour to notice". The many eyed figure reached into the folds of darkness that surrounded its figure and pulled out a series of dried parchments that floated from his hand and hovered in front of each shadowy figure. The sound of dried leather shifting filled the now silent room as the sheafs of flayed human skin were sifted through for a few minutes by the figures. After a few minutes of intensive study, the winged fifth mistress let out a low catcall whistle. "Not to be rude my many eyed compatriot", the words purred from moist lips as she traced a finger down the flayed skin. "But this holds the distinctive smell of shit".
Murmured sounds of agreement filled the room, all eyes in the room shot to the rotund figure who was the only one stupid enough to vocalise their agreement. The many eyed figure ignored the fool and shrugged turning his dozens of irises on the winged giant who stood closest to the spectre at the head of the table. The giant studied the information for another few seconds before turning its glowing eyes to the cephalopod which shifted from a glowing red to a vivid violet. "The Voice of the Will and Second Master agrees with the Third Master, the information provided corroborates with the whispers from behind the veil", the rasping words filled the room as the cephalopod rubbed its tendrils together.
"My Lord Voice", the folds of fat that made up the Seventh master voiced in respectful protest. "If this report it to believed then surely a hallowed Duke would have had to shatter the veil and bless this lowly realm with its presence, for all the great ones might such a thing would not be possible in such a small-time frame". The winged fifth mistress flapped the skin in her hands to draw attention to herself, "The Ancient ones for all their might cannot break the veil of this world without aid from this side, aid none of us here surely provided without informing the others", as she spoke her gaze fell on each member of the room threateningly searching for any signs of a concealed agenda. "Since none of us provided such aid then there is only one potential source of such a concentration of the Lord's gift".
The room fell silent as the import of the fifth's mistress's words sunk into the gathered members. Such a volume of the Lord's gift so crudely dubbed demonic energy by the lesser beings of this world could only have been released by either the one of the great Ancients that lurked behind the veil of reality or …
"Or it could have been provided by the Lord himself". The many eyed Third Master's statements caused every figure bar the spectre to visibly tense. The cethalpod shifted uncomfortably on the shoulder of the giant whose eyes turned from violet to a prismatic shifting hue. "Blasphemer!", the Seventh Master hissed. The two cloaked floating pair of amber eyes seemed to phase in and out of reality in discomfort, briefly becoming incorporeal before remanifesting into material reality.
The two pairs of floating amber eyes turned to each other, and an invisible conversation passed between the two. After a moment the air around the two began to vibrate and words rung themselves from the shaking atmosphere, "፪ረልነየⶴቹጮሃ, ቻልርፕ, ዪቹነየዐክነቹ, ነልጮቹ, ነቹዪህጎርቹ, የረልክ, ጋጎርፕልፕቹነ, ልርፕጎዐክ". Each word was a staccato rumble of thunder forced from the unwilling air and all eyes turned to the cephalopod who translated swiftly. "Blasphemy, Fact, Response, Same, Service, Plan, Dictates, Action, or that is as close as I can translate to your tongue"".
"But" the Seventh Master began his folds of flesh rippling with discomfort but was cut off by another echo of thunder filling the room. "Service, Obedience, Lord, Serve, Plan, Action, Fulfil", the cephalopod translated after a second. "As clear as ever", the Fifth Mistress muttered under her breath. The Third Master gave thankful nods to the Voice of the Will and Sixth and Fourth Masters, with their support he had the backing of four of the seven masters of their order giving him the majority of support amongst the masters. With that support he turned to face the silent spectre at the head of the table and repeated his claim.
"The great work has begun". The Third Master braced himself for immolation for his temerity but to his great and unspoken relief he found himself not a loose collection of atoms several second later. The Cephalopod rubbed its tendrils together again spilling more raspy words forth, "As the Sixth and Fourth Masters say, our duty is to serve, we follow the lord plan, but I will not commit to begin the great work before the Lord makes contact from his ordained vessel, holder of the Third seat, Eyes of the Lord you will investigate this matter and confirm the truth, as for the rest of you we will begin the first phase of the great work but will take no further action".
The Cephalopod's message finished it sprung from the giant Second Master's shoulder and leapt into the darkness of the spectre which simply ceased to exist and vanished from the chamber.
The room was silent for several seconds in the wake of the spectre disappearance. The Third master of the Demonic host released a breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding. Raising his head, he met the shadowy faces of his fellow masters; he received a few nods of encouragement and the odd death stare, but no one spoke. Gradually beginning with the colossal form of the Second Master each vanished from the chamber, turning into smoke or melting into the shadows as the spectre had.
Silence descended on the still pitch-black room before an explosion tore the room apart as a woman with pristine silver hair slammed through the ceiling annihilating the building and every object in a hundred metres into nothing.