Tales of magic: grimoire of transmogrification
Chapter 26
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Arc 2 - "The hunter and the beast"
Chapter 10- "Hide and seek II"
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4:08 AM
"Demon? Please tell me, why isn't Hunter here?"
You sound cute.
"Shut the f*ck up."
Now you're back. I was afraid I might have lost you there.
Lancaster turned towards Desire and gave him a strange look. He was sweating profusely, so he pulled off his shirt.
"Do you actually expect me to insult or disrespect you every time I open my mouth?"
No. I expect you to bow down to me.
"Tell me, where is Hunter?" He said while using his shirt as a fan.
He had a straight face so no-one would easily know exactly how uncomfortable he was.
I won't. Rules dictate I don't favour you.
"Rules that you made."
A familiar odour wafted into his nostrils. It was a stench he knew all too well. As this gas found its way into his body, he started a fit of coughing.
"Fire."
'Why didn't I realise it sooner. The woods are... burning.'
The demon smiled wide and said nothing more.
'You knew...'
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Ist May, 1886.
Screaming Woods,
Closer to Rimus than Weidson,
Pridon.
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4:01 AM
William Sharpside stood before the warrior with his chest out and his head held high. The lady still had her massive blade pointed to him, the tip just inches away from his neck. However, he wasn't the one trembling in fear.
His opponent had been standing still for a minute, perspiration flowing down her forehead. The once steady greatsword was now swaying from side to side ever so slightly as her hands and feet were shaking.
"What kind of magic is this?" His companion stuttered.
William didn't utter a word in response. Instead, he dipped his right hand into his pocket and brought out a cigarette. Then, whilst standing infront of the paladin, he lit the cigarette and smoked it.
Margaret's head tilted from side to side as she took a quick glance at both of them, and then shook her head in confusion.
"What is going on?"
"You know, I could ask you the exact same question, Maggie. My opinion is that the poor little knight of justice is terrified. The problem with that theory is that I'm a little bit scared of her too. Her power is phenomenal. The sheer level of Power emanating from her eyes is not something you see every day, you know. And by her stance earlier, I know she must be skilled. So why? Why is this happening?" He took another puff of smoke and stared her in the face.
"My name is not maggie!"
"Come on. I am taunting you. Insulting you. Why aren't you even responding to that? Could it be that..."
"Could it be what?" Margaret was beyond confused.
"Could it be that you're deaf? Or you suddenly can't fight?"
The feral Veronica had recovered from the last attack and rushed in again. William watched carefully.
The lady in armour swung her blade to left. The truth was, it actually appeared as though her hands moved on their own, as there was no change in her facial expression whatsoever. The massive greatsword found it's way through Veronica's neck, severing the head from the body, resulting in an ugly sight as the body twitched and twitched before collapsing on the floor near the severed head.
All of that happened in only a moment.
Now it was William's turn to be shocked. He wasn't particularly surprised at how easily her sword cut through flesh and bone as though it was paper nor was he surprised at the fact that the so-called heroes killed an innocent like it was nothing. No. William was surprised that whatever she did, she did so without changing her aura. Her presence remained completely the same.
'No intent to kill. No rage. No emotion. Just power. Nothing but power.'
'I can't see anything at all. I can't see into her thoughts. I can't understand her.'
"There's nothing to understand." She said with a deep voice. The petite female swung her sword again, slamming it on the ground to her right. Blood flowed down from the blade. There were strange black things inside the blood, Hunter couldn't make out what they were.
'She spoke?'
"My Lady, The Valkyrie has took over my body. I was shaking because at that time, her mind hadn't been fully integrated with my own. Now, you've given me all the time I needed. You know, for your reputation, you're not nearly as perceptive."
'How can this be possible? What is this? What the heck is going on.'
Her voice deepened further, sounding more like a man's voice than that of a woman.
"There was no other way available for us to fight you Mages. My power alone is sufficient enough, but Ashley would be in danger if I had left her alone. This outcome is ideal. Now you do not need to fully comprehend my power, I doubt that you can. I will exterminate you now."
For the first time since the battle with The Beast, William felt a cold chill go down his spine.
'For the first time in so long, I feel like prey. So this is what Sword meant. The heroes, huh.'
He shook his head. Suddenly he felt something on his head, his vision tilting as he saw his own headless corpse.
Blood spattered around.
"Six."
"Bloody hell, that hurt." William gritted his teeth, his head and body completely fine.
The Valkyrie/ Ashley tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"Clock, In exactly thirty seconds, I want you to suspend a 10ft diameter area around me in time. Don't worry, I'll pay you back."
"But they can hear us."
"They can't. They can read my mind though. Don't worry, I have a way around that."
Blood spattered on the ground again. His head flew out of his neck.
"Five"
William was completely whole again. No wound. The blood was still there, though.
"Do you have to focus your soul on that spell to use it? Exactly what kind of sacrifice are you making?" The woman in chain mail asked. Then she continued.
"No matter. You're dead either way. All I have to do is kill you five more times."
William raised his cigarette to his lips again. Before he could smoke, he suddenly felt the exact same pain in the exact same spot on his neck.
The same move.
"Four"
"Now, I just have to kill you four more times."
'You know, you could just let me smoke in piece. Not like I'm running anywhere.'
William chuckled. He could almost feel his father watching him, and then shaking his head in disappointment.
//"You are just too weak"// Edmund Sharpside's voice echoed from beyond the grave.
Rather than being dismayed, his smile only widened.
'This situation is almost impossible. Yet, I have hope.'
Tendrils emerged from the bloody remains of Veronica's body, joining with the tendrils emerging from beneath her head. In a moment, her head reconnected with her body.
Tears streamed from her eyes.
The Valkyrie paid no heed to the monster, instead remained focused on William. The lady in armour who could move faster than the eye could see had a steady stance, and the soft expression on her face was replaced by an apathetic look.
It was impossible to dodge.
'I still have hope, because I'm still human.'
"Three"
"Two"
"One"
"Now!"
Ashley's eyes widened, but did not close. She stopped moving completely, not even trembling like before.
The feral Veronica was still as well. So was the wind.
"Thanks, Maggie."
"Don't thank me, just explain to me what just happened."
"No time. Thirty seconds, right? I'll make it short, while we move and while I cast my spell."
"No chant?"
"I'll draw a diagram. Listen." William got moving.
Margaret nodded her head. She held her timepiece tightly in her hand and followed behind William.
"That woman lost all of her sensory abilities for the magical ability in her eyes. It's not a spell. It's some kind of magic, though. I think it grants her the ability to sense soul aura and adjust the frequency to match her target. She was capable of matching my intensity and essentially copying my perceptive abilities.."
William picked up a long dead branch after they had walked for a few seconds. He started to use the branch to carve a mark on the ground as they walked. This time, he walked in a curve.
"..I used them against her by splitting my consciousness or soul into two portions. I had the outer one that she could hear,or see or whatever. And the inner one that came up with a plan. Simple."
"One problem though. Exactly how is that possible!"
"You're really asking that question?"
"Which spell did you use?"
"None. I didn't use a spell or an ability. It's all skill. Think of it as emptying your mind and then thinking two different things at the same time, granting the same level of attention to both so that they occupy half of your attention at all times. Then you can use a little 'magic' to assign a name to each thought process and essentially split them into two separate entities. Except I only assigned a name to one of them - the inner soul."
"You're full of shit."
"I can't prove anything to you. But you do believe me, don't you?"
Margaret stayed silent with her eyes fixed on the timepiece.
"Any ways, with Inner soul I came up with a plan to defeat her. Knowing my ability, I couldn't avoid getting cut by her. From the first loss, I calculated her speed. She's even faster than Beast. I also discovered that even if I told you to pause her in time, she could kill me seven times before thirty seconds could pass."
William completed a circle and started drawing some more diagrams inside.
"She's free. She'll be here any second now."
"I guess I can't finish my little story..."
William tore his shirt off, revealing his scared body. Then, without warning, he grabbed her close to him. Margaret looked away. The former prince only smirked, before closing his eyes.
"Sun. Heart. Rock. Rage."
The runes drawn all over his torso started to glow.
"Cast my spell for me, no more words are necessary. Conflagration."
Suddenly, everything in a two mile radius outside that small circle caught on fire. Huge pillars of fire rose up from the ground, consuming everything it came in contact with, and spreading.
"You were reckless. Now it's my turn." He said while staring at the direction of the campfire close to Weidson.
"What is this! Who are you even talking to?"
William stuck out his cigarette and lit it with the fire. Then he took a long smoke. Then he let it out.
"Where do you want me to start?"
"You know what? Don't. I've had enough confusion for one night."
"It's morning, Maggie."
"Would you quit doing that!"
"I was at first talking to Crow. Lancaster told me exactly where they were- with that fire- but I refused to challenge them. I tried to get to the heart of the reason why he hasn't been torn to shreds by the demonspawn in these woods. Before I could do that, I realised something, Clock. It was the general feel I got from the campfire area that gave it away. Unnatural fear associated with whatever is there. It's me, Clock. I'm the afraid one. My bottled up fear and tension is artificially affecting others- the paladin for example. My fear is being harnessed by magic. Lancaster's magic."
Hunter looked at his hands.
"Now I think about it, it's not just my fear. He was practically able to shift my desire to hurt to another target, forcing me to shoot that girl instead of him. I think - And thanks to my abilities I'm usually right- that that boy has placed a dormant magic in me. This mark is capable of shifting my desire to hurt people and my fear, and localising it in a fixed area. The campsite. Whoever connects their minds to the campsite feels a bit of my fear...this probably isn't the goal of the spell, or curse, but it's doing it anyways. I doubt if even Lancaster knows what he's doing. Any ways, I think it's time to go and face him. We'll end it all in a swift attack."
"All we have to do is catch you, Lancaster. And this battle of yours would be over." He said to the skies.
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