Chapter 72: Spiraling Out of Hand
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[Third Person Point of View]
Vortemis Leviathan fled the Leviathan clan because he found their goals and policy very bothersome. Being one of the four leading clans of the Old Satan Faction, their goal of starting another Civil War to somehow overthrow the current generation of Satans didn't suit his taste.
Vortemis was always more interested in magic and women. Leaving the clan made it so that he had ample of both of these, but it was still too bothersome to deal with the responsibilities that came with being part of such a rebellious Clan.
Luckily, he found an opportunity to gain power and fame on his own. Thanks to his great talents, he managed to get into the Magician Association. He could train his magic better there, and despite his interest in magic, he soon reached a bottleneck.
Even after decades of working to fix it, he couldn't find a solution. He was stuck. He lost interest in magic and ventured out in the mortal realm to lose himself in alcohol and women. In that journey of his, he came across a treasure horde – a way to grow stronger. It was a Dark Magic Spell Book.
The book helped him grow his arsenal. After years of inactivity, he managed to rise in the ranks once more. But he knew this wasn't all rainbow and sunshine, the Magician Association wouldn't accept him if he returned as a Dark Mage. So he had no choice but to leave the organization and form his own group.
In the last few months, he's been planning to perform a ritual. A magic ceremony that would summon a creature from the Other World and bind it to his will. If he had that beast on a leash, he'd be able to match the other factions with ease.
However, the process was a little harder than usual. As it was a sea beast, he had to sacrifice a Mermaid Princess to please the beast and lure it to this world. That was why he went as far as to kidnap Poseidon's granddaughter. This would piss off that old and arrogant God for sure, but by the time that geezer would find him, the sea beast would be here to protect Vortemis.
Today was that sweet day, the day when he would execute the ritual. There have been no interruptions until now, but just a while ago, Vortemis received a report that the connection with the base had been cut off.
"We're under attack," Captain Vortemis scratched his beard and chuckled. "It's not an issue. The fish bastards in that base were bait, to begin with. To waste the time of whoever might come to rescue them. The attackers wouldn't be able to reach us in the sea since they must be tired after that fight. We'll finish the preparations and execute the summoning right away."
At least, the last person that came here, Mage George – a junior who he knew back from his tower days – wasn't this dumb. Yesterday, when he scouted those islands and found that the Princess wasn't there, even if there were lots of merfolks, he left the base and began to search for the Princess instead.
George found them in the sea and began to attack them immediately. His fighting style was as annoying as ever thanks to his Sacred Gear, Dimensional Lost. But even George was caught off guard when he saw Vortemis, a Senpai of his. Even when he managed to regain his composure for his duty's sake, shoving his personal emotion away, he didn't expect just how strong Vortemis was now.
Vortemis barely managed to take him out, and then with the help of Magic Sealing handcuffs, locked him up in a prison in the ship. He didn't want to kill him; even he wasn't arrogant enough to provoke those bastards from the Hero Faction. Unlike the father of the sea, Poseidon, who had lots of responsibility and a restricted amount of actions he could take, the Hero Faction was a small group that could do whatever they pleased.
Instead, Vortemis planned to do another ritual later with George – he'd suck all the power from George and leave him be.
For now, the mermaid was his focus. He clapped his hands, gathering everyone's attention. "Alright, guys. Gather around and prepare everything. We are ready to perform the ritual. Be quick!"
The wind whistled, the sun began to grow dark and the sky cloudy, as the dark ritual began.
They placed the massive 38"11 mermaid in the center of the deck, in the middle of a red and black magic circle. The annoying fish bitch cried, while the sky rumbled and a storm brewed.
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[First Person Point of View]
My Tiger [Mirage Frame] blurred towards the western horizon, carrying me through the air while I stood inside the head, my arms crossed. I was moving fast, leaving an explosion of the sound barrier behind me, but suddenly I realized I wasn't fast enough.
"Ah," my senses warned me of a brewing danger ahead. "Damn. Shit." What the hell was that?
At least that confirmed the location. My speed picked up and my eyes narrowed as I felt the dark energy grow thicker. As if it was an ancient being slowly waking up… no, something was being summoned.
I used [Electromagnetic Propulsion] and increased my speed, and Blink also helped with moving faster. In under a minute, I was on the skies of the scene.
There was a massive ship on the sea, with a couple dozen mages. They were circling the deck where a magic circle was spinning. In the middle of the circle, there lay a large woman with the lower half of a fish. It was a mermaid. And she smelled of divinity. A man stood before her, with his arms spread while he muttered a spell. In the air above them, energy was extracted from the mermaid by the magic circle and poured upwards to form a portal.
Tentacles were coming out of the portal. There was a Kraken on the other side of it, and a really, really strong one at that.
I stared at it, bemused for a second before blinking and looking back at the mermaid. "Wait, is that fucking…" Shirahoshi? That Mermaid Princess from One Piece? What the hell?
"W-waaahh! Stop! Stop! It hurts! Please end this-!" She cried, clearly in pain as she thrashed around to free herself. But chains were coming out of the circle of magic that kept her locked on the spot.
My Tiger [Mirage Frame] hovered in the air as I surveyed the chaotic scene unfolding below. The ominous magic circle pulsed with dark energy, drawing power from the captive mermaid - and pouring it into the portal to expand it.
It didn't matter that she looked and acted like Shirahoshi from One Piece, I didn't have the time to question the logic of this world more than I already have. I couldn't stand by and let this ritual continue. That Kraken is powerful, it will be extremely troublesome if it comes through. Do these fools have any idea what they're trying to summon?
"You fools!" I shouted, my voice carrying through the tumultuous winds. The man leading the ritual turned to face me, looking shocked. His minions turned to me too, all caught off guard.
I accelerated toward the ship, propelling with incredible speed. The mages on the deck trembled in nervousness at my approach, at the intimidating figure of my tiger armor, and some tried to cast defensive spells.
"Haap!" Before I could lunge at them and kill the summoner, who was most likely the Captain of this ship, the man yelled and made a motion with his hand. The movement caused the emerging three tentacles to jerk toward my direction, causing me to react quickly and call forth Blade Qi in my claws. The blades of thin blue energy coming from my claws met the tentacles, running smoothly across them and cutting them in clean halves as black blood gushed out of the wounds.
"Huh, its defense isn't that good-" My words caught at the end of my throat as the wound healed and tentacles began to regrow. Ah shit, right, it's an octopus.
This is not good.
"I have to take out the summoner," I muttered, realizing the gravity of the situation.
I needed to stop the source of the magic. I turned my attention back to the man orchestrating the ritual. I took the single second that the tentacles needed to regenerate and reached the deck.
"S-stop him! Don't let him come close to me!" The Captain yelled, and his crewmates listened. They ran and leaped in the air, trying to clash blades with my claws. Swift and precise, I incapacitated them one by one, making my way to the center of the chaos, but the Mages didn't stop coming.
The man Captain sneered at me. "Stop! How dare you try to take advantage of I—Vortemis—when I can't move?! Back off!"
Right, he can't move. There is no reason to waste time dealing with the incoming pirates who blocked me from reaching him. Instead… I changed my path and jumped toward the princess.
"Y-you, Mister-"
"Stay silent." I stopped her from talking as my shining claws ran through the chains that restrained her. With a powerful kick, I knocked off many of the mages that tried to stop me, sending them into the sea. I seized the opportunity to cut the mermaid's restraints, freeing her from the cruel magic circle.
In under a second, I severed them all and lifted her on my back. My Mirage Frame grew wider, bigger, to have her comfortably on top of me. She clung tightly as I took off in the air. Shirahoshi gasped for breath, her eyes wide with fear and gratitude. The Pirate Mages, infuriated by my interference, launched a final assault, but I fought them off with ease.
Meanwhile, Vortemis was now disoriented and desperate, struggling to regain control. His hands, still spread in the spellcasting pose, were stuck like that.
"You fools, stop him! The ritual will fail if- cough!" Vortemis, let out a painful cough of blood as he fell to his knees. The magic circle trembled and changed targets. As the magic circle lost its main target, it leaped onto the only other person left within it. Himself.
"Ugh, no, don't! I'm not the sacrifice!!" Vortemis screamed, realizing the consequences of his actions. But it was too late. The vortex of energy pulled his mama and life force, expanding the portal even further.
"T-this isn't good! That thing is very dangerous!" The giant mermaid in my back yelled in horror, but I couldn't stop Vortemis' death - it was too late.
His body wrinkled up, and his eyes lost their color until all energy was drained from his body and he fell to the floor. His body burst into dust. The other pirates all yelled in shock, but it was their turn next. There were six tentacles out of the portal now, and they moved to shove the Mages into the magic circle. It seemed the Kraken was quite smart, it was trying to make the portal bigger at all cost.
"H-hey! You!" My mind was broken out of the daze, trying to figure out a way to handle this situation, by a familiar yell. I turned to look at the ship, at the very edge of it — George the Mage was there. "Come down and free these shackles!"
Ah, right. He has space-related powers, he might be able to close the portal! I immediately sent a tendril of wind down, grappling him by the waist, and pulling him toward me just before the Kraken could. He reached near me, and I used my chaws to break his shackles. Mana flowed into him from the air, but I could tell that much couldn't do anything to change this situation.
"This is horrible! We need to call for reinforcements! I- I will go, I'll bring help, don't worry!" Before I could say anything, the mage, the coward, used his ability to cloud himself in purple mist and teleport away. On his own.
"What the fuck-?!" I growled and, as if triggered by that, the entire dimension began to tremble. All the humans were dead, the magic circle had dissipated, but the portal was growing bigger. Eight tentacles were out of the portal, and they were pulling the portal to either side to spread it bigger.
The stunt caused the entire dimension to tremble, making the princess on my shoulders start crying. Her cry caused the sea to tremble further, all the fish and monsters in the sea seemed to be angered by her sadness. Gosh, did she have the same power as the Shirahoshi from One Piece?
However, before we could get help from some ancient sea monster, the portal blinked. It didn't vanish, it let out a surge of power and washed over us. The area around us changed, and cruise ships and boats appeared around us.
"No. Oh no." We were back on the Far Shore. In Hawaii, Earth. And the portal was now opening up here, twelve tentacles wiggling out of it, ready to wreak havoc around the world.
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