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Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2200 Hours.
Ignalius
“LOSANTIA!”
I bore no harsh feelings for the child playing mercenary.
Indeed, if he survived this, I’d have played the reticent deuteragonist in his story. A role — nay, a calling — that fate so often bestowed on its most deserving, to act as culler, separating the wheat from the chaff.
He’d grow stronger by my actions, become wiser to the world through my well-intentioned deceits, and perhaps even learn a valuable lesson — about things as they were outside of the colorful realm of delusions and flights of fantasy.
Today the boy playing Dreadwolf would die, and in his place would come forth a wiser man.
That was, of course, provided he did survive.
Which, in the flash that followed, didn’t seem likely.
I lowered my wand but only ever so slightly as I awaited the dust to settle amidst an otherwise unsettling sound that tickled my ears.
Dragon’s Lair. Cave Entrance. Local Time: 2200 Hours.
???
The air bristled with the wrath of a mother scorned.
Her features hidden, her presence muted, but her rage exposed through that sharp and steady droning — an elevating whiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrr that tickled my senses and nipped at my scales.
Energies swirled, manifested from nothing.
I opened my eyes — all of my eyes — watching through these pathetic restraints with a curled snarl.
Do it.
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2200 Hours.
Fisia the Swift
My job has always been simple.
Take care of the horses, stay behind with the mounts and wagons, be ready for any retreat no matter how sudden or swift… and of course, the dreaded cleanup duty. A job, which was clearly once again needed, because surprise surprise…
The boss had done it again, right in front of me this time, in fact.
Not that I minded.
In a repeat of the events at Rontalis, he’d disposed of another set of would-be travelers.
I could only hope that their deaths were of the corporeal variety, as I could already feel the tingly sensation of separating goop from armor when the call to loot eventually came.
Not that I cared much.
A ten, forty, fifty split was decent, and unlike some other travelers who I felt for, the uptight, self-assured aura this lupinor gave off simply made it impossible for me to sympathize with his demise.
So I waited, rubbing my eyes in an attempt to work out the ‘haze’ of that soul-splitting attac—
BANG!
The whole world shook, and my lungs gave in — air and wind forcibly squeezed out — as if some spiteful air elemental had claimed my breath as their own.
POP!
I heard… no… I felt something give, something inside my head, followed by a sharp piercing pain that sent me to my knees.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinngggggggggggg
I screamed out but heard nothing, only the ringing in one of my ears and my own cries echoing within my skull.
My hands reached out, grasping the sides of my head, deafened by the sound and blinded by the pain.
Only a few seconds later did I finally notice something else besides that infernal ringing.
It started as a thin mist of something warm and viscous, sticking and running down my exposed skin.
Then an unmistakable metallic tang forcibly entered my nostrils, filling my lungs with a faint rusty scent.
My whole body clenched, freezing in fear, before curiosity finally overtook uncertainty forcing me to open my eyes to assess what had—
…
No.
Nonononononononono…
I struggled to my feet only to find myself falling flat against my rump next to the pool of what had used to be the Alicorn.
My eyes quickly turned to the boss, who stood where his prized mount had just stood, that fancy armor actually doing what it was supposed to… or at least, I think it did.
Because despite the sacrificial swap, the boss should’ve still been wearing it.
It couldn’t have just disappeared.
It couldn’t have just vanished.
The only reason why it could’ve been lost in the swap was if it had been irreparably damaged in the attack.
…
…
Crap.
Dragon’s Lair. Cave Entrance. Local Time: 2200 Hours.
Emma
“What the hell?”
[RAILGUN DISCHARGE COMPLETE. AMMUNITION CYCLE… COMPLETE. CHARGE CYCLING IN PROGRESS...]
My eyes widened as, in what seemed like an instantaneous moment in time, I found that my target had quite literally just… swapped places.
The Alicorn… was gone; no sign of its existence remained save for the mist of red that caked the entire area.
And in the space that it had once occupied was now an armorless Ignalius, his pure-white gambeson and pants stained, as was much of the left side of his face.
Indeed, quite a few personal effects had scattered from his person following the swap and apparent disappearance of his armor. From sacks of gold to belts of potions to even daggers and…
…
No…
I motioned silently for the EVI to hone in on a particular bloodied artifact caked in dried blood at Ignalius’ feet.
A brief zoom and a cursory glance, even without the EVI’s forensics suite, was enough for me to tell what it was.
Its suede brown cover, the built-in bookmark resembling a forked tongue, and that handwriting complete with a signature that looped around resembling the four ‘horns’ of a kobold… it beckoned a master that was no longer with us.
If there was any lingering doubt as to Ignalius’ involvement with Togor’s murder, then all of it, every last shred of it, died the moment my eyes landed on that book.
The whole world went silent.
But while all were shocked by the power of the railgun — raw, unmitigated, and loud — I remained silent because of something else entirely.
I fell silent… for silence. Or more accurately, the loss of a voice.
My breath escaped in a seething huff, my piercing eyes watching, staring, and glaring through tinted lenses at the sadist playing adventurer who’d just narrowly escaped that very thing he so wantonly loved committing.
Then I unholstered my pistol, glancing momentarily towards Thalmin who seemed fixated not on the book but on some coins that had similarly scattered — each minted with a different face, symbol, and heraldry — no two alike.
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2200 Hours.
Katiya
I couldn’t see.
I couldn’t hear.
My whole body trembled as the golem sent the skies cracking with the sounds of terrible thunder.
Then and only when the world had calmed did I see the beast of beasts, the Master of the Skies second only to the dragonkin… disappear.
I… couldn’t describe it as anything else.
There was, without a shadow of a doubt, nothing else with which to describe what had happened.
A creature that should have been a nightmare for a fully outfitted adventuring party to dispatch, synonymous with an adventuring rank just beneath that of the draconics, had just vanished to an invisible thunder.
I felt my knees wobble as the golem’s master moved forward to match its posture.
Then and only then did the world go mad.
Dragon’s Lair. Cave Entrance. Local Time: 2201 Hours.
Thalmin
Shock and awe.
That was what Ignalius had attempted with his first strike, an attack whose shock served pure theatrics and whose awe was to be inflicted on allies, all to serve the vapidness of ego, not the utility of battle.
Then came Emma’s rebuttal.
A single strike that brought the army of cartmen and riders at the foot of the hill to their knees. Their blood-curdling screams now filled the air as all clutched desperately to their bleeding ears.
The footmen fared no better, leaving only the patrolling mercenaries relatively unaffected by what was an air elemental’s attack in all but name.
The latter even managed to regroup despite the veritable stampede of mounts and beasts having fallen to panic and instinct in the wake of Emma’s attack.
I kept my silencing spells active, Emma’s clever battle cry serving not as a mechanism of ego but as a tactical warning as to the horrors she was to unleash.
Indeed, we’d drilled for this very occasion — for a time in which our communication would be done solely through that manaless conch, as the world around me would be deafened for my own safety.
Suffice it to say, that drilling was now being tested in a trial by fire. One that I couldn’t help but excitedly partake in. That familiar surge of hot blood pumped through my veins, my senses sharpening, and the world becoming ever clearer in what all Havenbrockians understood to be the thrill of the hunt.
The likes of which… felt even more pronounced than it ever did in Havenbrock, let alone in the field of battle.
My ears perked as my fur bristled with the richness of mana unheard of back home. I focused leftwards towards a shatorealmer who’d surprisingly survived this sonic attack by virtue of distance, luck, and perhaps sheer tenacity.
And in a testament to Ignalius’ competence as commander, his left-attending swooped in, flying in spite of the pain painted across his visage, quickly grabbing the otherwise catatonic elf under both arms, poised for flight towards some unknown rendezvous point.
“Emma, kill that guy.” I gestured to the evading party. “I’ll deal with the rest of his ilk.” I added under a growing and excitable breath as I turned towards the amassing force of patrolling mercenaries. Their 29-strong forces were grouping and regrouping, some uncertain, yet others clearly committed. As each of their eyes locked with my own, each committed to seeing this through to the end.
Despite this, there remained one obvious outlier. A suspiciously absent right-attending — the pack leader of this sorry troupe — the long-eared, red-eyed, white-furred leporidian.
But even without their party leader and even with the sheer power of Emma’s attacks, their cohesion still remained.
Admirable.
However, this sentiment was more sarcastic than genuine, as my eyes glanced at the coins scattered around Ignalius’ feet and precisely what each and every ill-gotten sovereign meant.
‘I’ve always wanted to face off against the enforcers of Nexian primacy.’ I thought to myself with a bloodthirsty smile.
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2202 Hours.
Salazan the Scaled
We stood ready.
29-strong.
My own party, 6 full-blooded Nexians.
This wasn’t our first foray into untenable odds.
In fact, this wasn’t our first fight with an uppity, self-assured adjacentrealmer.
From Rontalis to Anurarealm and Aetheron, and even Havenbrockrealm itself… there was always the one, two, or even three or four ‘hero-types’ that believed themselves to be capable of defying the odds.
Perhaps they got one or two good kills early on in their careers.
Perhaps they may have bested many of the… less-than-capable Nexians who themselves underestimated the risk that was the adjacent wildlands.
But we weren’t here to play around.
And if my observations served me right, then it was clear we were evenly matched in our own right.
The lupinor was very clearly relying on some nth-tier enchanted artifacts, just as we were.
That golem was merely being his trump card, capable of extending his own reach… but not his own skills.
“Take out the head, and the body shall fall.” I announced firmly, halberd at the ready, as we moved to charge on the lupinor’s position.
“Highground can only go so far, mutt…” I heard a voice echoing behind us, resonating with my own sentiments.
I craned back my head, looking at the two archer parties entrenched and ready to rain a full hail of arrows.
I grinned, knowing well that at least in this battle, numbers would be the deciding factor.
A second more following a flinch and a breath, I waited for the whip-crack chorus of ten tense strings to be let loose all at once.
…
TWANG!
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2203 Hours.
Katiya the Coward
I hid behind a cart, peering over and watching in horror with bated breath at the hail of arrows expanding overhead.
From ten to twenty to forty to eighty, the enchanted arrows multiplied mid-flight, blotting the small patch of sky above Dreadwolf’s position, threatening to end it all with a hail of sharp mana-steel-tipped fury.
My ears flinched downwards as the death wail of falling missiles reached me, forcing me to look away in fear of what was assuredly a grisly sight.
…
“Heh.” A familiar voice sounded.
“Heh… hahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!” It continued, rising in volume and deepening in pitch, as I opened my eyes to see…
…
…the impossible made manifest.
That hail of arrows… never reached their mark.
Instead they all hovered overhead the maniacal Dreadwolf, his hands raised tauntingly by his sides, palms spread open as if holding the invisible weight of these arrows looming ominously.
“Good form.” He chewed out with a harsh growl before raising a single finger, twirling it and reorienting mana-steel to feather-tip, the sharp shafts now pointing towards their original shooters.
“My turn.” He spoke through an excited breath, as that wall of death now whistled back at blistering speeds towards the bottom of the hill.
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2204 Hours.
Salazan the Scaled
I stood frozen and unmoving, my heart skipping one, two, then three beats as I witnessed the impossible.
The arrows—
FWEEEEEEEEEEEE…
—were now poised towards us.
“SHIELDS!” I commanded, raising my own up high and feeling the disheartening thud thud PLINKS of arrows slamming against enchanted manasteel.
None pierced–
SHNK!
“AGH!”
Though the same couldn’t be said for the stray archer and skirmisher caught in the crossfire.
With our leader still attempting his gambit, we did what we could in these circumstances.
“FORWARD!!” I cried out, corralling another party to my side as we surged forwards towards the hill.
I held no fear. Not when adorning my scales was the product of ten years of hard pay; layer upon layer upon layer of enchanted linens, hardened gambesons, and thrice-forged mana-steel.
And within my hand was a weapon no fool could evade.
I lifted my weapon, poised to strike alongside the rest of my berserkers, halberds ready and—
ZAP!
My whole body clenched, my vision momentarily fading and then exploding into a flurry of colors and blurry wisps.
But I ultimately felt no pain, no real damage as a result of my enchantments.
This brought a delighted smile to find home on my face, as I only had to endure the lightning, pushing through its paralysis and twitch-inducing properties by sheer force of will alone, before…
I felt my armor tightening. Skin pinched under armor that felt two sizes too small, and my head ached from crushing forces I couldn’t make heads or tails of.
Then I heard it.
Screams from Elazen, Bellatri, and then—
CRACK!
I saw them fall, one by one, every comrade dropping like flies until finally…
I met the lupinor’s gaze, seeing nothing but a focused, condensed rage.
Then it all went black.
Dragon’s Lair. Above the Forest Canopy. Local Time: 2204 Hours.
Lieutenant Hofar the Soarer
“Snap out of it, boss!” I yelled, crying, desperately pleading for the elf to come out of… whatever had gotten into him. “Boss, PLEASE! I can’t… I can’t! Fuck, my ears! Cast heal! Cast heal now, PLEASE!” I pleaded until my voice was hoarse, unable to make heads or tails of exactly where we could go, my whole world spinning. The act of flying only worsened the disorientation that wracked me.
But that was all I could do right now — hover above the mess and fly… anywhere, just to get some distance, even if it was only vertical.
“W-...wha… What’s…” The Captain finally began speaking, though his words were unintelligible, and his eyes looked absolutely glazed over.
“Captain, I can’t… I can’t hold this for much longer. My head… it’s ringing. I can’t even hear my—”
WHIIIIIIZZZZ!
CRACK!
I felt and heard something whizzing past, and thunder cracking in the distance—
“AGH!”
Something hit me, something… small, hard, sharp, and… it…
CRACK!
My eyes widened, craning my head to my wings as I saw holes torn into the membrane—
SNAP!
CRACK!
More sounds, more noises. It felt as if I was being pelted with solid punches against my shoulders.
…
Pain surged through me not long after.
But even worse than pain or disorientation… I felt control slipping from me.
My wings no longer responded to my will.
Nor did my hands and arms, as the forces of leypull now conspired to drag me back down without mercy.
I desperately flailed like a fledgling in distress as I lost all sense of poise and any degree of discipline, and was now at the mercy of the ground.
“U-ugh…” Ignalius came too once more as he pulled out a scroll, fumbling with it against the forces of the wind. I could see the treetops clearer now. We were too close to the ground, my eyes darting between my Captain and our nearing demise.
He unfurled that scroll; inscriptions began to glisten and chime. Then—
SHRK!
A swath of black and green was the last thing I saw.
Dragon’s Lair. Somewhere in the Forest. Local Time: 2207 Hours.
Emma
I waded through the woods.
The EVI had calculated more or less the general location of where the pair would’ve landed.
Landed… being a bit of a euphemism here.
NVG and augmented sensors made short work of the dark, as I smashed tree bark and branches alike, all in order to reach the small clearing the shatorealmer had landed in.
My body felt like it was running on autopilot, especially as I was met face-to-face with exactly what I’d wrought.
The shatorealmer… was a bloodied mess.
His face resembled what he’d done to the dragon with that gauntlet just a few moments ago.
But in his arms, shielded from the impact by his own form… was the elf in question.
A part of me hesitated.
In fact, something at the back of my mind stopped my otherwise trained and poised trigger finger from taking the shot.
This was despite having everything lined up, and despite the current objective, as was helpfully highlighted by the EVI — to dispatch all local hostiles.
Ignalius, in this case, was highlighted in red, target reticles trained on his center mass and head.
However, seeing him here completely unarmored and seemingly unarmed… this felt different, somehow antithetical to the man I'd just shot a few moments ago.
He looked… pathetic and, most of all, completely helpless in this state.
The wrath and simmering rage within from the literal murder of Togor wavered… if only slightly, at this sorry sight.
More importantly, my mind went through protocol and rules of engagement, combing through the best possible course of action following the incapacitation of an enemy.
…
Hors de combat might actually apply here, especially given how he was well and truly wounded and unable to participate in combat.
And so… I relented, the pistol still raised, but a dialogue otherwise opened.
“LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS! DO NOT REACH FOR ANY WEAPONS. IF YOU DO, I WILL BE FORCED TO ENGAGE!” I shouted, rehashing the few lines drilled into me despite the adrenaline pumping through my system forcing most other superfluous thoughts out.
The elf, surprisingly, complied. Or at least, he seemed to try to do so at first, feigning some difficulty in pushing the shatorealmer off of him, but otherwise preoccupied by something on his belt. “Speaking through a golem? Heh… That’s new. What? Are you too afraid to face me, Dreadwolf? Too scared to duel me one on one? Sparing my life for what? Capture? Like I’d ever allow animal filth like you to lay your hands on an actual pers—”
“SURRENDER, OR I WILL BE FORCED TO—”
Time, once again, slowed to a crawl. The elf, with a surprising degree of speed and dexterity, reached for a wand with clear and antagonistic intent.
My world narrowed to the weight of the trigger behind my finger. I felt the break — that thin, crisp resistance — then… I pushed past the slack.
BANG!
The tension, the intent, that life behind the man’s eyes, and the animation of his body… just stopped.
Everything simply stopped. His arms, his features, his torso, and everything else just… went limp.
I felt my breath growing harder, my hands starting to tremble, all while a light-headed sense of… flightiness threatened to swallow me whole.
I forced my eyes to dart through the HUD as a result, out of protocol and in a purposeful attempt to just… focus, grounding myself and forcing my mind to remain present.
I ran through everything, every threat assessment, every diagnostic and SITREP, until finally… there was nothing else to address but the body that lay dead in front of me.
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2212 Hours.
Katiya the Coward
They all fell like insects.
Each warrior, every mercenary, each much, much more powerful and far more intimidating than I, just… ceased at the foot of Dreadwolf’s domain.
From the mighty Salazan, who’d push me whenever he could, cutting in line, and even locking me in the trunk for amusement… to Ruroria the Honorable, who’d revel in any chance to pull up insects and crawlies on my bedrolls just for his amusement… to even Yvir the Terrible, who’d force me and others to haul impossibly heavy gear and equipment despite that not being our jobs…
All of them, each and every one of these chosen ones, had just crumpled and died. That word being more literal in the case of some than others.
By the end of these bloody few minutes of fighting, there was scarcely anyone left.
Archers had fallen to their own arrows, some skirmishers to a mix of impossibly powerful magical attacks, and what was left was picked off by Dreadwolf with little to no mercy shown.
However, I still counted two warriors who stood defiantly at the cusp of Dreadwolf’s precipice.
And beyond that, there existed the wild card that was Commander Ulther.
There had to be a reason for his sudden disappearance.
There had to be something that sly rabbit was—
My eyes widened as I saw a shadow creeping behind Dreadwolf, just as he was about to face the two minotaur skirmishers in front of him.
Dreadwolf raised his blade, poised for a frontal assault, completely unaware of the dangers behind him.
Something within me broke at that moment, as if I’d finally pushed through a door that’d previously been locked.
Then, and only then, did I find my voice.
And I screamed.
“DREADWOLF, BEHIND YOU!”
However, before he could even react, Ulther materialized. His enchanted blades poised for the lupinor’s back… only to have the attack halted at the last second by bands of kelp restraining his arms in place.
The lupinor grinned at the development, shooting me a bloodied smile from a distance as he moved to reposition himself, now fully focused on the two minotaurs in front of him.
“We do this as warriors!” He bellowed before craning his head back towards Ulther. “Not as cowards.” He paused, taking a moment to glare at the commander. “I will deal with you later. Now…” He let out a satisfied breath, turning towards the minotaurs. “Shall we continue?”
The minotaur twins turned to one another, their features momentarily colored by abject fear.
Though despite that, motivated by whatever loyalty they held to the Captain, they surged forwards anyways.
Blades clashed as the lupinor managed to parry and push back against the physically superior opponents that towered over him.
Harsh CLANGS and sharp TINKS echoed throughout the forest, as despite their best efforts, the lupinor always seemed to be one step ahead.
Finally, and seemingly out of frustration, the twins SLAMMED their warhammers on the ground where the lupinor stood… only for the wolf to leap upwards, jumping, and landing on each of their backs.
Two stabs, each through the gaps in their armor, were all it took to take them down, as they fell unceremoniously down on the rocky hillside, tumbling down without much fanfare.
Following this, did Dreadwolf turn back slowly, methodically, and menacingly towards the leporidian still bound in the Kelpie’s wet seaweed embrace.
“You ready, turncoat?” Dreadwolf spoke through a bloodthirsty growl.
“You, lupinor, should understand by now… that there is no shame, but only glory, in embracing the winning side.” He countered, before just as quickly nodding. And with Dreadwolf’s command, the kelpie released Ulther from its vice grip.
No sooner than that happened did the rabbit leap upwards, far, far above Dreadwolf, as a hail of knives and throwing stars peppered the rocky surface beneath him.
Dreadwolf, in keeping to some duelist’s honor, actually dodged these attacks, refusing to actively use his magics from earlier to simply return the offending objects to their sender.
What objects he couldn’t dodge merely CLINKED off of his armor, barely even scratching it, and most certainly not denting it either.
After seemingly exhausting an armory’s worth of throwing blades, the rabbit dived down, holding his signature thin blade poised for Dreadwolf’s head.
Yet despite this all-in assault—
CLANG!!!!!!
—Dreadwolf somehow still managed to parry it.
The leporidian pushed back and landed across from the lupinor, each now pacing around the other, trying to outmaneuver with blades in hand and eyes reading one another.
But unlike the initial assaults, it was Dreadwolf who struck first. His blade crashed hard against the leporidian’s, nearly shattering it and staggering the commander for a single split second.
That opening was all it took for the lupinor to seize the initiative, because before the rabbit could recover, Dreadwolf had taken advantage of his momentum. He flicked his wrist, letting the blade glide down the opposing edge in one smooth motion, following its length until the tip cleared the opposing rabbit’s guard.
Then—
SHNK!
“AUGH…”
…
It was all over in a blink of an eye.
The blade pierced through the commander’s armor like a pointed pick through hard shell.
The man soon fell limp, Dreadwolf’s face barely inches apart as the life from the commander’s eyes faded. A moment of silence dawned, interrupted only by some whispers from Dreadwolf, and a slow but cautious lowering of the commander’s body to the ground, as if out of some respect.
The whole thing felt far too fast, much too… quick for a duel.
But ironically, that was what Ulther had once championed to many of his opponents.
There’s a difference between fighting and showmanship. If your fight starts to look like something out of a noble’s ball, then either something very wrong is happening, or you aren’t even fighting to begin with.
An uneasy silence eventually descended on the battlefield following Ulther’s death.
Indeed, I saw no movement, no attempts at anything else, other than the cries and whimpers from the riders, carters, and footmen that were in varying states of distress down at the foot of the hill.
“Alright.” Dreadwolf announced, breaking the silence, and garnering the attention of all present. “Anyone else?” He beckoned, gesturing at the devastation left in his wake.
Murmurs and cries of surrender came shortly thereafter. What few ranks remained of our troupe dropped their blades, bucklers, and hatchets from their persons.
“Good. Now I want to make something very clear.” Dreadwolf began as he made his way down from the outcropping. “Each and every one of you…” He paused as sweat began running down the brows of all present. “... can leave.”
A collective wave of confusion echoed throughout the night, as footmen and riders alike began snapping their heads to one another, all in varying states of disbelief.
“But understand one very important thing. Should a word of the night’s events leave this forest, I will personally and without hesitation, hunt each and every one of you down.” He began marching towards them, feet stomping hard against the rock. “There will be no mercy, no quarter given, and no hesitation, as righteous retribution is called upon each of your souls.” His words caused even the most seasoned of carters present to shiver in place. “Should suspicions be raised, then look only to the dragon.” He added sternly before ending up in front of the lead carter. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Y-yes, S-Ser Dreadwolf!”
“What was that?” He gestured towards his ear. “I don’t think I quite caught that.”
“YES, SER DREADWOLF!”
“LOUDER, ALL OF YOU!”
“YES, SER DREADWOLF!”
“Good.” The lupinor nodded, crossing his arms in the process. “You may all leave.”
Hurried footsteps of horrified masses were quick to mount up, the clopping of steeds and the creaking of carts erupting shortly thereafter. I was too stunned to even hitch a ride in the carriage I hid behind as it too sped off and I soon found myself left behind by the retreating ranks.
“Ah. Katiya. Are you hurt?”
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2225 Hours.
Emma
I returned to what could only be described as a massacre.
My whole body felt like it was running on autopilot, even as I found Thalmin in the mess, tending to a passed-out Katiya.
“Thalmin?” I asked, gesturing to the baxi. “Did you—”
“Oh, ancestors no, Emma! She seemed to have passed out when I addressed her. Ancestors know why. I even offered a friendly smile!” He explained, to which I could only let out a long sigh, gesturing at his armor.
“The blood might have something to do with that.”
“Eh, and what’s a bit of blood to an adventurer? Her reaction just proves she’s not meant for this life.”
“I guess…” I managed out dourly, as my mood and tone were quick to be picked up by the lupinor.
“What’s wrong, Emma? You aren’t injured, are you?”
“No, no. I’m fine.”
“Then is it Ignalius? Were you unable to pursue him?”
“No, he’s…” I paused, my whole body clenching at the sight of it all. “He’s dead. Along with that shatorealmer.”
“Ah! Good! That’s good then!” Thalmin beamed excitedly. “So what seems to be the problem, Emma? We have the shards, we have your lost ‘drone,’ and we’ve dispatched the enemy! All should be well, yes?”
“Yeah… but I…” I trailed off into an uneasy silence, causing Thalmin’s features to sharply shift into something less boisterous and more reserved.
“I see.” He lowered his voice. “Am I to assume that this is your first kill? Aside from the null of course. Creatures like that are more like hunting animals than people, after all.”
I blinked rapidly, my hand reaching for my shoulder as I slowly nodded. “Yeah.” Was my only response. “It is.”
“Then I must apologize for my… flippancy in light of everything you see. I understand how difficult it must be, and to be met with such an attitude following your first blood must be jarring.” He spoke with a degree of compassion in his voice, clearing his throat before moving on. “If you feel the need to discuss things, I am more than willing to do so at your own pace, Emma.”
“Thanks, Thalmin.” I managed out after a short pause, gripping my shoulder tighter as I did so.
“Now… we might need to discuss exactly how we are to move on from here. But in order to maintain our cover, might I suggest we set up an altar with these bodies as an offering to—”
“L I TT-LE… B-BEEINGS. CC-COME TO ME-EEET?”
A voice erupted from the dense foliage, prompting the both of us to turn, weapons raised, to meet a mangled shatorealmer. Its arms were limp but crooked, and its head hung low, unsupported and ungainly like some twisted marionette. But from behind it, triggering EVI’s proximity sensors, was a large draconic silhouette, with purple glowing eyes slitted and staring right at the both of us.
(Author's Note: Hey guys! This chapter has been a huge challenge to write, so I hope I managed to do the action justice! My editor was a huge help in this one as he helps me a lot with the action haha, so hats off to him too! :D However I'm afraid I also have something important to announce. I'm going to have to ask you guys if it'd be alright for me and my editor to take 2 weeks off over the holidays. My editor is currently spending some much needed time with his family, while I'm dealing with some hectic stuff at home over the holidays too, while preparing for a big move next month as me and my mom are going to have to move out of our home. As a result, Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School will be returning on the 11th of January 2026. Again I'm really sorry for having to take some time off over the holidays, and I sincerely appreciate your guys' patience and understanding! ^^; I'd also like to take the time to wish all of you a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Years too! :D)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 155, Chapter 156, and Chapter 157 of this story are already out on there!)]
The cheese merchant has been avenged, may he rest in peace.
Balance has been restored. Rest In Peace Togor. May you be as cheesy in the afterlife as you were in life.
Many levels to these words lol
Sir. U left with a kliffhanger. Just to do it again!
Thanks for the chapter!
So he just had to have something that saves his life at least once, switching places is solid though. Didn’t save him in the end.
And seems the “Enforcers of the Nexus’ primacy” did not meet Thalmin’s standards.
And so, dragon talk next chap.
Next year, sadly
considering thats only about three weeks away, i think i can wait.
It's tolerable. Much better than ending it right before the railgun shot.
Yeah, crap, if last week's chapter was just before the break...
The wordsmith granted us mercy this year.
Unless you’re on Patreon, then you get a cliffhanger of epic proportions.
I'm glad to be poor then.
You cant just say that like wtf is happening?! Rethorical question dont tell
True.. :(
I mean, none of them were true mages. So there was a power gap between them.
Yeah. And also Thalmin noting that he noticed how much more efficient he is with mana compared to people in the nexus since he comes from a much less mana dense environment.
That high altitude training
If Earth figures out how to make the mana resistant material easy enough that Emma could do it with her setup(very big if btw), then she might be able to make a smaller tent that still big enough to do some of the mana exercises in, and slowly get the gang‘s mana efficiency up by doing it all in less and less mana then even the lowest mana realms (that isn't Earth, cause absolutely no mana, which would shrivel into a husk and then dust them). See how low they can go and what that would allow.
Dragon assuming direct control.
Dragon (having witnessed Emma and Thalmin TPK the other group): "uhm... parlay?"
THREAT LEVEL EXCEEDING PARAMETERS, ASSUMING MANUAL AVATAR CONTROL
I suppose this is inspired by Mass Effect, where captured rachni queen used dead asari to comunicate with Shepard.
Or the Reapers using Protheans as meat puppets,
Don't forget about the Collector General's chant, "I am assuming Direct Control"
It is the entirely willing gift of this reader to harbor no ill will whatsoever towards your entirely reasonable and proper request for enjoyment of your well-earned rest.
tl;dr - WTF are you ASKING PERMISSION for? Take some time off yew fewls! ;)
The dragon sings, though they can not hear, but through the dead, it can speak their simple tones.
It gives of rachni vibes (from Mass Effect), with the focus on mothers, percieving the unseen and being able to speak through the dead. The dragon is very perceptive to Emma's body language, or, more intruiging, can percieve Emma through her armor and her presence is not "muted" completely, just dulled.
Ignalius' hubris and that of his men is also fascinating, as they seem to never have contended with anyone close to being of high enough status to be admitted to a magic school, because Thalmin mistakes Ignalius' killing blow for theatrics. Which implies to me, that he/they have only ever faced people slightly above "chosen one" status, never any true mages.
It would also seem that true highborn mages are just that much more powerful than any "chosen".
Iggy being of royal blood (lesser blood at that) was particularly weak compared to true mages, yet even HE was considered powerful even for a Chosen, and he still couldn't hold a candle to the likes of Thalmin, or in this case, Emma.
The last seems unlikely, given that he helped defeat the sitting royalty and then fought to surpess rebellions by local nobels.
More likely, his standards are a bit off due to the increased availability of mana in the nexus.
Or he was just overconfident, given he thought he was fighting a base mercenary and a construct, and too arrogant to think that maybe his threat assessment might be just a bit off.
TBh, it is kind of amusing to think that he never once considered the possibility that two people caught trespassing in a place they aren't allowed to be in would lie about their identities.
Moreso that he almost certainly didn't consider that the (clearly lying) trespassers would be actual royalty, and an experienced veteran to boot. It'd be like arresting an old lady for trespassing only to find out it's Queen Elizabeth II, you simply wouldn't believe it at first.
TFW you try to backstab some hapless travellers but they turn out to be King Bradley and the Terminator.
No wonder they hated the gods. The "disguised as a mortal" trick must have been the bane of their existence.
he was the disposable sibling for a reason it would seem.
I'd presume that Thalmin has gought actual warriors and not pampered nobles/assassins at best.
I suspect the dragon can sense electricity or something else other than mana. (Or perhaps the "+1" kind of mana.)
Emma's first kill is just like i expected it. A moment of doubt followed by a bang, Ignalius had it coming, even at his final moments he could let his pride behind, even after barely recovering from the shock of having his mount and full armor erased (also, it means its possible to cause enought damage to let someone unarmed yet intact, good to know) and his unappreciated mount.
His cousin surely is about to have the mother of all headaches after he hears how the "Dragon" erased the full party meant to hunt it.
Well, Emma gained a new trauma, i only hope Thalmin can carry her out of it.
Now, Dragon meeting, finally, a little creepy but now we are finally here.
I think Earth is going to tell EVI to get the anti-mental trauma meds out for her (they’ve got to have personalized medication perfected by then), plus whatever other therapy is there to help that.
well well well. How the situation unfolds.
Fifth, I think ?
And UTR !
Justice has been served, finally.
Thalmin has shown quite a superior martial and magical prowess. Poor Emma will need some time to deal with her first kill, but it looks like the introspection and such will have to wait. It's gonna be interesting to listen to the discussion with the dragon.
You and your editor enjoy your holidays, good luck for your move and I hope it will go smoothly, and I look forward to the next chapter in January, it will be the best way to start the new year !
Ah, that sucks for the Alicorn. I was hoping it'd be freed, but I guess it wasn't to be. Still, justice for the cheese lizard has been achieved.
The combat... or perhaps 'combat' really goes to show the difference between mages and people without magic. No wonder they're considered chaff. Arrows thrown back, armor pierced like it was paper. It's really no contest. And, yes, I'm sure Thalmin's training had a lot to do with it, but he really does have access to the impossible in comparison to them.
Katiya survived, which is nice. I'm not sure if Thalmin actually needed a warning about the guy sneaking up on him, or if he knew and simply didn't care until he got close enough, but it's the thought that counts.
Emma is going to need some time to process this. I hope EVI can help her through this if Thalmin can't. He seems so blase that it may be off-putting to her, but he's lived a very different existence than hers. His advice may be... counterproductive.
Now to have a conversation with a DRAGON.
Yeah, diplomacy checks always harder.
I knew that dragon wasn't down for the count! Such fantastical intelligent beings don't go down so easily. Much thanks for my dopamine fix of the week.
Yeah now hopefully Emma may think twice about trying to consign the dragon to eternal imprisonment now that she knows it's very much sapient. Regardless at least the cheesebold has been avenged.
Now, that's intense. Someone f*cked around badly, but a boy did become a man today, he-he. Ufff...
I wonder if allowing people to leave will bite them in the ass eventually. Thought everyone is too scared right now, they may speak about the weapon itself later when drunk or smth like that. And there's a certain child with a certain diary who may connect the dots. I'm sure the gang will handle it though, but I do not envy whoever will be forced to investigate this. Ignalius is not a big loss, and many other people have died to the dragon, so there may be no official investigation. And yet, it takes one guy to be stubborn and suspicious to get the plot moving.
He was hired SPECIFICALLY to be expendable, win or lose, his death was of little consequence, and in fact whether he beats the dragon or dies was to the benefit of basically all parties involved, both would be even better.
Yeah, I could see Ignalius' cousin Skylord Rasante having a toast to his troublesome family member being gone and, even better, dying in a way that doesn't shame his ex-family any more at least.
Prehaps even sending a gift basket should he learn who rid him of his lovely cousin xD
Lets just hope he doesn't seek revenge out of principal. The Nexus hasn't rid themselves from the cycle of violence, just institutionalized it.
Agree, its a very common writting cliche to let people escape with a warning. Normally it works and its a genuine reason why no one will investigate any further, Ignalius's cousin was very clear explaining how no one wanted to take actions regarding the dragon and Ignalius was sent with the cover of adventuring. Its very much possible his cousin wont investigate further, even if he knows someone else killed him, and be very confused because the dragon is still alive
What I love here is that the boss was executed, but the minions were allowed to walk away. Normally it's three hundred dead workers and then the boss gets spared.
Specifically those who didn't keep attacking were spared, which is common.
The dragon has a little avatar to converse through?
And here I was waging that the dragon will be using the baxi as it's intermediary/comms interface
The manbat is usefull now
It would seem that the Dragon can use magic (necromancy in this case), but also seems unable to speak or truly understand Nexian (or any language) without some kind of puppet.
But through the zombified bat, can speak and understand the languagea the Bat knew.
slightly more uncomfortably it seems to have decided to puppeteer the broken, bullet riddled body of the shatorealmer Emma killed, which I bet is gonna make for some particularly unpleasant visuals.
I'm reminded of the Therapod from that one Love Death and robots episode that puppeted a corpse to talk to the captain.
Seems a lot cleaner than the alien from independence Day using Brent Spiner's voice box
I know everyone is probably going to be distracted by the battle, Ignalius' death, and the necromantic dragon, but the bullet dodge is probably the most important thing that happened this chapter.
Because it appears that Ignalius didn't trigger the spell because he sensed danger, it triggered for him.
That means all the prior combat worldbuilding about the Crimson Waltz that gave some semblance of balance between Earth's and Nexus' power capabilities has just been disconfirmed and annihilated by a single gifted commoner available "crown enchantment" that does three things:
1) Magic easily identifies a completely foreign projectile weapon of alien materials despite Emma not projecting any hostile intent on a frequency a spell can detect because Emma doesn't have a manafield. Human weapons cannot surprise magic spells because spells are somehow 'super-intelligent', but spells can surprise humans.
2) Magic casts counterspells at bullet-time speeds.
3) Magic allows instant teleports and sidesteps from danger, cheating in shooting video-games style.
It's just a matter of combining those capabilities with other magical effects, so instead of wastefully sacrificing an alicorn, the magic user moves a layered shield of manasteel with reactive armor, water, or a stone in front instead, or opens a small portal to relocate the projectile completely, turning it back on the attacker.
No hard limits on the capabilities of spells and enchant combinations in a meaningful combat sense have been established, so there is no way to easily wiggle out of this worldbuilding decision, unless we are to assume that alicorns have the irreplaceable and innate natural property of being bullet detectors and sponges and there are only a finite number of them.
I know this is an aggressive thing to say, but I think this is a significant worldbuilding mistake that should be modified on Royal Road to have Ignalius priming the spell as he instinctually senses danger because then at least you have an 'active' mind directing the magic's 'attention' in the loop - magic needing a mind because magic is about the casters as opposed to tech's semi-autonomy is how most magic has worked to date. As is, this armor infringes on tech's thematic carveout. The price of Constant Vigilance/Concentration adds the necessary "mortal" weakness.
Edit: And also let me clarify that I am not opposed to this type of bullet dodge power on characters who have (or are in the same formation with) high perceptive sense to detect manaless projectiles or have bullet time mental processing, but if this is a standard piece of Crownland's equipment, it is going to be a ball and chain on every future fight. Why didn't this guy Emma just fought also wear video-game cheater insta-dodge armor? Hypothetical opponent B is richer and better connected than some outlander demoted from noble - surely he would be able to get fancy armor too.
Now that this is out of my system, If I have other comments about the chapter, I'll reply to my own comment.
There's a difference between an impromptu duel and entering a combat environment. The Crimson Waltz was spur of the moment and in a 'safe' environment. Setting up insurance ahead of time would be paranoid. Hunting a dragon, on the other hand, requires setup and gives you time to set up precautions. One can assume that he had this set up ahead of time. That doesn't mean that there is no threat to it, but it does not mean that Nexians are suddenly immune to bullets. As we saw, it only worked once.
Now, we don't see exactly what or when the spell was triggered. It might have happened in the instant it touched his skin, or hit his armor, or maybe it happened just before it would have hit him, like striking an aura or protection. It might have been Alicorn-dependent. Maybe we'll find out later, but this is definitely something EVI would file away as pertinent information.
But this is something a demoted noble picked up, probably "secondhand." And I don't think we are seeing anything near the peak of what Nexian enchantments are capable of. Yes, the armor barely worked, but imagine someone marginally more capable that this mercenary chump, and a bit more clever too.
The ability to instantly respond to any object that enters a bubble around your person and activate an equally as fast teleport is still a hilariously broken power with equally broken required secondary powers - like super mental processing.
It looks instant, but I bet it wasn’t. Lots of other tech looks instant even now.
So later watching the replay at like a millionth the speed(the compered have to be able to do millions of frames per second minimum by Emma’s time) might show what happened.
The really important thing in here is that it worked only once.
There are two possible explanations as to how the enchantment worked, and I'm getting my ideas from the knowledge of game-based mechanics, so bear with me.
The enchantment is a one-time use item that is triggered when signs of a lethal injury are detected. Nexians can pull a person back into the body through magical means, so it is possible that Emma hit the target, target died, the enchantment sensed a disturbance in the vitals and pulled the man back into the body using the nearest animal as a sacrifice for this process.
The enchantment is a very good sensor. It scanned the environment, identified a fast-moving target the collision with which will result in death, and intacted an emergency protocol. It did work fast, but not fast enough since the man ended up injured still.
It's kinda a combo of the two previous options. The damage is transferred to the nearest living non-sapient creature using soul magic when the damage threshold is breached. It's hardly a stick-a-portal-to-it scenario, and it clearly has a limit as to how much damage can be transferred. It's as if the magic portion of the body did what it could, and the rest endure what it had to.
I believe the mechanics of this are not easily modifiable, and given the fact that Nexians are not currently at war and no AR can fight them on an equal footing, there's no reason for mages to modify said enchantment to achieve the effect you've just described. This kind of tool mostly exists to help with extremely strong magical creatures (or noble assassinations), and I assume they are luxury items.
Edit: And if they are part of the crownland equipment, then there's a limit as to how many people the Crown will provide with it without compromising its own position. You really don't want the nobles to be dressed well enough to overthrow you, or start a battle royal among themselves within your palace walls.
I think this is a soft read. Nexus anticipates war. Mal'tory said big shit was coming down the pike in the scene where he steal's Emma's crate. Ilunor mentioned in his sightseer that Nexus has the attitude of being constantly ready for war and requires the Vunerians to keep drakes and riders trained at all times, and he also mentioned the last battle and his thought to Thalmin that Earthrealm might the ones. That vault of creatures was kept under Elaseer in the national security warehouse district for a reason.
And as I said in the above comment, this is armor that a demoted noble could pick up. It's not whatever "military grade" special goods the real warriors of the Nexus reserve for themselves and would go out of their way to get back if someone stole a set. We aren't seeing the good stuff yet - Mal'tory's underarmor tanking a point blank explosion was probably better, but it's also something that would be interfacing with his own far more significant powers.
I agree that the good stuff is yet to be seen, yet considering the quality of the Nexian society, I doubt it is prepared for war to the extent that the Crown thinks it is. The corruption issue must have its presence in a totalitarian society. The Vunerians are required to train riders. But do they? Surely, the Nexus poses a great threat regardless of its state of preparedness, and their "poor prep" may be our "wtf even is this, opps we are dead now" fate. But I have reasonable doubts about scalability when it comes to a regime that values loyalty and has corruption problems.
The ability to detect the bullet had to have been done via the "walk facefirst into a minefield" method of explosion detection. Notice the armor was completely destroyed upon it's use, and it was NOT supposed to break like that. The armor took the damage and activated upon that destructive force being applied to it.
I don't think anyone has argued that magic can't make you immune to bullets, set up the right spells and of course it can. It's magic. It's ultimate versatility and limited by your willpower, your available mana supplies, the mana in the area, and of course your imagination. Summoning barriers in front of the bullet aren't going to work when overpenetration is a thing, but spacial warping and time manipulation are both clear options for an easy out.
They don’t have time magic of any kind.
Maltory has a dragon locked in temporal stasis held as decoration inside his office. The dragon was shown to still be alive, and was caught in a point of disintegrating. Parts of it's tail and body exposed to the bone while spells keep it forever bound in that eternal moment of agony.
If portals (spacial warping) can work to send emma to other places, then time stop (temporal warping) has a fairly good chance at working on emma too. It won't kill her. Would just turn her and that suit into yet another 'sealed evil in a can' that fantasy settings are sprinkled with. But I can't picture any defense emma might have for this if her suit isn't immune.
To say nothing of just spells that time-lock anything that makes contact with the outside of suit of armor.
The implication from the observer perspective is that the armour responded not to "sensing danger" but to being struck. Even if it did "sense" the attack (or at least an impending collision with enough force to cause harm), the fact remains that it was still surprising to not see the armour still on him, with it explicitly stated that would only happen if it were damaged beyond repair. Meaning that either way, it didn't respond at "bullet-time speeds". The armour itself was still struck and demolished by the impact. It managed to discharge its enchantment, but I'd say that Ignalius' shell-shocked state is testament to the fact that he wasn't left completely unscathed. Which I'd say moves it from being completely systems-breaking to being somewhat lateral to kevlar (better resistance to penetration, but less resistance to multiple hits). We also don't know that "swap with a designated target on hit" can be modified in the ways you suggest. Yes, there are a wide number of spells, but just as there are some tasks that seem simple but are virtually impossible to have a computer perform, magic might not be as simple as mixing and matching effects to trigger conditions.
EDIT: To be clear, when I say Ignaltius' state is an indicator he wasn't unscathed, I don't just mean that he was clearly not expecting what happened. I mean that the man was completely insensate until after he was pulled into the air. The implication from the text would seem to be that he took enough of the impact before the teleport went off to be left physically stunned by the blow.
Fair assessment for a one time, but I feel that's a very short distance from chaining: summon in the next bullet-proof shield with the teleport instead.
Given the way Sorecar's weapon's are constructed with cores made of stacked functions, the form of the enchantment system suggests one of some modularity rather than weird niche use functions strung together.
If you can detect a projectile and swap the armor's user away with speed teleport, it feels like targeting is an extremely close magic-technical leap. It would probably exist as an armor of disarming or get rid of arrows: try to swing a weapon at me? Your weapon is over there now.
This whole bit feels like JCB was just going to have Ignalius shot, and then he realized he needed Emma to figure out Ignalius definitely murdered the merchant, so JCB added this armor dodge in slapdash to spill the evil mercenary's personal items everywhere without realizing he had dumped a can of worms in the spaghetti.
I'd note that enchantments are supposed to basically be spells bound to a physical object. Meaning that actual mages should probably be able to do this at least a couple of times, and talented mages like Thalmin, Thacea, Ilunor, Ping, and Qiv (let alone one of the profesors) should be able to abuse it even more.
I feel like the armor didn't detect, but reacted to being struck with dangerous level of force. And it was still enough to completely destroy it.
While the spell's "reaction time" was fast enough to be significant, the setup as a whole isn't that big of a deal.
It consists of two linked sets of armor, swaps wearers' positions instead of simply teleporting one of them to the safety, and both were pretty close to each other. It seems to be more of a last-ditch failsafe, rather than something you can rely on as base line of defence.
Here's the thing, though: A teleport swap doesn't need any logic or calculation. The destination is preset, and guaranteed to be safe because it's already being safely occupied. A "free-targeting" teleport would very likely end up trying to teleport someone into a wall or other creature. In order for that not to be the case, it'd have to have some sort of smart algorithm to determine a safe landing location, which is a degree of "smart" magic I don't believe we've ever seen from undirected enchanted items. Not only that, it'd have to be able to determine that safe target location in basically 0 time, since we see in this chapter that there's no spare time for calculation.
Additionally, it could very well be reasoned that teleportation this fast needs an active magical anchor at the target location (i.e. the alicorn). It could easily be the case the non-"swap teleportation" reactions just can't be fast enough (at least at Ignaltius' price point).
Have you considered that the Alicorn could have been trained to trigger the enchantment if Iggy wasn't paying attention?
I don't think it was the Alicorn. The guy who witnessed all of this happening noted that the armor was missing and that this would only happen if it was destroyed. So the trigger was likely "if armor gets significantly damaged or breached, swap places with Alicorn". This swap happened instantly, between the time it took for the bullet to hit the armor and before it could puncture through.
So why swap with the Alicorn and not some wooden dummy? Perhaps the swap only works between two creatures of similar mana field strength.
And I don't think a primed spell triggering on a condition is anything new to the story. It's just that we now witnessed an application of the Nexus's magic that can protect someone from Earthrealm's weapons. I think Sorethar explained something about how enchantments work, but I can't remember right now.
Or that the enchantment is essentially always on. The armor passes all injury to the alicorn, constantly.
I did, but I figured it wouldn't voluntarily throw itself into danger/commit suicide because it didn't like him that much. If the Alicorn had a mind bind to force its behavior, that would be a pretty acceptable explanation.
That or it just realized that a threat was coming for its master and triggered the enchantment as trained
It never realized how much power was behind the threat
Like, I imagine it felt the disturbance of the bowshock of the projectile going at mach fuck and confused it with an air magic attack, so it must have been casting an air counterspell, when in reality it should have been projecting a forcefield
The way I read it was that the enchantment would automatically trigger upon disruption or damage. Something akin to fine sensing filaments breaking and triggering a set of pre-prepared enchantments and spells to swap itself with its pared similarly heavily enchanted sacrificial object.
A bunch of very well put together automatic triggers connected to a set of high quality teleportation spells. Possibly single use a probably exceedingly complicated and expensive to make.
To me the most shocking part is actually it's speed of activation, everything has got some lead and trigger time. But that all depends on how fast Emma's railgun actually was, and the armour did get completely and utterly obliterated in use.
This is sensible, but it's also reflavored tech on top of magic. So JCB has given Nexus all the powers of the tech (The super speed, the automated judgment) plus the physics breaking of magic. Emma is winning fights, but if Nexus has all these miracle enchantments and they don't start using them sensibly in the future, at some point it's going to look more like Nexus is taking a dive so the author can make the humans win. That's why I am skeptical of the choice to give Nexus an advantage this significant at demoted noble grade.
Sorcar already explained that the defence enchantment on a suit of armour didn’t work when Emma punched it because it worked off of detecting the mana field of an incoming threat, and Emmas fist is of course mana proof and so has no mana and didn’t trigger the enchantment. It’s physics, not metaphysics.
And the Nexus so far does seem just that arrogant as a whole. And I doubt Earths will give them the time to change that enough.
Otherwise I can just see some teleportation prevention or interdiction magic preventing particular life saving measure from working, so as far as the Nexus is concerned it might not be that good in every case. Likely even has a range limitation, and putting on the stuff needed for long distance teleportation just isn’t worth it for one reason or another.
We don’t even actually how the magic mechanics work outside of simply shaping fields, not in the actually pure explained fantasy novel way yet. So that, and what Earth concludes are the mechanics of magic, will be interesting to actually learn.
Emma's bullet and her mana blocker-coated armor are different in that regard, but this sounds like an argument for that the armor shouldn't have done anything and Ignalius should have been obliterated without swapping.
I agree Nexus' arrogance will cost them. But at the same time it isn't fun to read stories where the bad guy lost because they were dumber than a box of rocks. I've read books where the author built up this interesting opponent, only to throw it all out without exploring it. It sucked. A slightly less powerful enemy using their powers intelligently that loses in spite of being powerful and clever because the protagonists were even more clever and developed counter-tactics is a way more interesting read.
You complained about it being too tech like, we already know enchantment can work off of tech principles anyway. Enchantments is just tech entirely based around this radiation.
And I’m with the person who already noted that the enchainment might have seen the pressure wave from the projectile as a lethal attack. And if it somehow did see the projectile, well that its back to just coating everything in mana resistant stuff for an Earth-Nexus conflict that been talked to death about.
I think it is important to keep a thematic division in powers. Without caveats like "magic doesn't operate efficiently without a thinking mind prompting it", the setting will devolve into Nexus having both the advantages of high speed, autonomous tech and physics breaking powers while humanity only has one of those. Then JCB will have to force the plot with Nexian stupidity and Adjacent Realm carrying to hand humanity the victory because if Nexus actually used their advantages cleverly with their >30,000 years of development and study, they probably would win.
One of those So far. I still think any mana advantage is oging to go away in the coming months in story (in a technical sense) as Earth mass brute force the research (like i’ve said before) mana and magic while the Nexus doesn’t know it should have been scienceing for the last 30k years.
And again, the Nexus really seems built for stagnation, or that skipping over so many steps and not understanding baseline reality really did slow things down just that much. Ignoring that research might literally still be done at medieval or renascence era levels, scholars plinking away at their favourite thing, not rigorous scientific method at industrial scale.
I don't think the mana blocker production is going to multiply beyond reinforcing the portal room, and, at most, putting second rate blockers on a few other suits of armor if an adjacent realm expedition comes up. The manablockers being restricted so humans can't just ignore magic (outside of Emma) is one of the foundational story contrivances.
Are you seriously just ignoring what’s been said earlier in the story? They’ve only been making the material for a Year, to get good stuff for a suit but still enough for a portal room, while also keeping the whole project secret.
If they go full Manhattan project scale on searching this(which I think they will once they get Emma’s data), let alone all the independent pure scientists out there who get to explore an entirely new field to help save civilization and the spices and get full funding from the government for it, then they should be able to crack how to mass produce the material. If not do even more with it then just be immune to mana. Like Ive said before..
I honestly don't think there was any reactive elements to the magic here, just a clever use of magical effects. The primary one I can think of is in the armor, as certainly it contains some form of protection against the user being forcibly teleported out of it mid-fight. The second would be some teleportation spell that can be held constantly trying to swap him with the sacrificial target. You'd keep it simple as to minimize it's needed mana, possibly drawing mana from the alicorn which may have a larger reserve to keep the effect up longer. In this setup there is no need for exterior sensing or reactive elements to a spell, it's merely two spells held in tension like a spring.
This is actually supported by the statement about how the only way a swap could have happened was if the armor suffered a total failure, a complete destruction (which is probably more about it's enchantments failing given nexian mindsets). In this scenario the armor would prevent the teleport swap continuously being held active untill it's enchantments were rendered entirely inert due to overwhelming damage, and the external spell would perform the swap the moment he was no longer anchored by the enchantment in the armor. Even if the railgun was exceptionally overpowered and somehow flung a round at lightspeed, there is presumably still distance between the enchantment bearing materials and the wearer's body, allowing for the teleport to act only near instantly and for there to still be some time for it to complete before the kinetic energy arrived.
If the enchantments pulled from a single pool of mana to prevent harm to it's occupants, itself, and also anchor the wearer, then that pool would be entirely consumed before the round even started denting the armor, giving the external spell even more time to complete.
The first part of what you said is exactly opposite of my read of the text claims
But a dead man's switch is still a decent idea for other protective magical effects. I just don't think that is what happened here.
Ah, memory got a bit messed up on that one then, but my theory still stands that it's set up as a two piece enchantment that does nothing while the armor is anchoring the user against teleports. Then, when the main mana pool runs out, the enchant anchoring the user against the active swap/teleport goes dead while the rest of the enchantments probably pull from an auxiliary. The total eradication of the armor while the user survived is likely a matter of luck and good design. Good design in that to the greatest extent possible the armor took all the damage itself before allowing the user to come to harm, and luck in that things happened slowly enough that the teleport pulled him out of there before the armor's failure allowed direct harm to come to him.
Consider that opening a portal, letting a part of a thing through it, and terminating the portal is a spatial blade that cannot be stopped with mundane technology. Nothing is cut, half of the target is just somewhere else. Or the option to weaponize the ongoing Big Bang beyond the veil. Or how pooping works in power armor that cannot be taken off for many days. Or what controls golems, and how an intent is translated into the actual magic. Let's not have pretend physics get in the way of a good story...
I thought he just got revived using the life of the horse as a sacrifice
After mulling it over a bit, I don't think it's as bad as a worldbuilding blunder, and it can be rolled back with some simple clarifications if it does get out of hand. Drop in a scene with a worried Emma asking about Crownlands capabilities and Thalmin clarifying (based on his understanding at least).
The Crownlands have been established as the 'core world' of the Nexus, with the Outlands and Farlands serving as the 'outer rim', to do the sci-fi analogy. So Crownlands gear basically being OP bullshit tracks.
Iggy was established being a successful hatchet man for the Nexus, so it would make sense if he got a boon /favor for some Crownlands gear. That way, Crownlands stuff is still rare, it's just that Iggy got his gear through special circumstances.
I also think that it's been hammered on a few times already that if the Crown truly catches on to what's going on, it's game over (Emma's nightmare about the mana flood). I think every crisis involving someone snitching to the Crown about Emma/Earth's true nature has ended with the antagonist silenced somehow.
I feel like that's what we're going to get going forward. Nexian stooge rolls up with scary Crownlands magic, hijinks ensue, the stooge is silenced, and The Terrible Secret of
SpaceEarth is safe until the next arc.PAK CHOOIE UNF. THE ELVES HAVE GONE DOWN THE STAIRS. OUR MISSION IS COMPLETE.
And now comes the time for the real diplomacy.
This was, and I can't stress this enough, extremely well-written chapter covering part of the story that I have been anticipating for a very, VERY long time. And while one part of me demands new chapter and screams for next part of the story to come out next week, another part of me fully understands that everybody needs time to relax and get some time with family (especially during holidays).
I believe that I will survive until new chapter comes out, even if it's going to be hard waiting that long.
JUSTICE FOR THE CHEESE MERCHANT HAS BEEN ARCHIVES
Of course Iggy the Murderous Clown had one last trick to ensure the death of an innocent before he drops. What an absolute bastard. I know Emma's going to need time to accept what she did today but if there's any such thing as a righteous kill, this was it.
I'm kind of worried (and sickened) that such a means of defense exists. Combined with the sorts of tactics we saw in that strategy game... any attempt to overthrow Nexian Feudalism by military force is going to be unspeakably ugly.
Also, wow, Thalmin finally getting to flex on halfway decent opponents. We knew he was a talented duelist but seeing him flatten every mercenary within bowshot (including a party of 'near-peer' Nexians) at basically the same time showed me that I've been drastically under-rating his skill as a mage.
It reminds of this trope in manhwa where you face some wicked loser, overpower him and he then proceeds to steal the life force of his minions to enhace his magic, actively killing all of his subordinates. Some high-end evil sh*t
Thalmin is a real mage, as opposed to the mercenaries. Ignalius was the strongest of them all and still had to use a wand. He didn't even realize he wasn't facing an adventurer but royalty.
I’ve waited longer for far less. Enjoy yourself and relax, we will wait until the next chapter.
Merry Christmas!
So the dragon can puppet corpses? That's kind of disturbing. Interesting, but disturbing. Does solve the communication issue nicely, though.
Maybe Emma can procure a radio-loudspeaker combo for the dragon so it (she?) can talk directly by producing electric signals ...?
Nice chapter.
***
Taking time off --- sure.
But why not post the next chapter here as a Christmas gift, so you are once again ahead only 2 chapters on Patreon?
Enjoy the Holiday break JCB and Editor, you've earned it.
Great work as always, and enjoy your holiday break!
This was brilliant, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the follow up discussions with the dragon.
Don't take it the wrong way, but I believe it would be better for the pacing if the same scene wasn't described 5 separate times in details from different POVs. There is nothing wrong with having multiple POVs. It's just would be better if it could be described once by the character of your choice and for the rest actions speak louder than lengthy internal monologue. Or if you really want to give a word to a character, just give their unique takeaway from the situation.
Look, I like the story, like most people here. But often it feels like that infamous truck crash video. Every POV does add a little bit of new details that weren't seen from the other ones, but overall, we get most of the picture from the start and the rest feels redundant and bitters the conclusion. I would guess you tried to add suspense this way, but it was a cheap one. Especially compared to one when the team got detected by Ignalius and the suspense was maintained by back and forth between him and Thalmin giving readers a developing situation without a clearly predictable outcome.
Anyway, have good holidays.
I had diffrent experience and did like the POV's. Not to say it is wrong to like or disslike it , but I just wanted to say that there is a certain appreciation for the style. I admit , 5 POV's were a bit much. I did need to do a double take on the whole dissapearing thing. But I think it is more about balancing it rather than not using it at all.
(Saying this to give opinion contrast in the feedback for the creator if they read this.)
Yes, I found it rather hard to follow with all the shifting perspectives and rapid shifts in action.
Oh, so the dragon can do some necromancy. Niiiiiiiiice :D
Saving the dragon talk for next year, i see...
Well, thanks for the chapter and happy holidays!
Go have that well-deserved break.
"That Golem was strong enough to trigger my emergency sacrificial swap enchantment on my armor and the attack was so powerful that the armor was destroyed while invoking it. Surely I can defeat it with my wand while partially trapped under the body of my squire and it has what I should recognize as a weapon pointed directly at me.
I am very sm-"
This Chapter was a Blast
Justice severed but did anyone else get emperor Palpatine vibes when it thought "do it"? Lol Excellent chapter!
JCB: makes excellent amazing fiction available for free to all. Also JCB: asks our permission and if we'd be okay with them taking a break over the holidays.
My brother in Christ, take your break! You deserve it and no one gets to tell you otherwise! Anyone who does, well, they can stare down the business end of Emma's railgun.
Enjoy your holidays, please! We can be patient.
First!
Just 6 min. late!
Thanks for the chapter
Damn, the bot is starting to give the notifications early now. That’s nice
Either I've been missing multiple story parts, or things have moved at breakneck speed.
In any case, well done on this one!
The justice will sate our hunger wordsmith
See you next year, I'm really looking forward to the dragon chat
Have a good vacation! Happy holidays/Merry Christmas!
Prediction check:
www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1pmkdxg/comment/nu57lm0/
1) Kayia survived. Yay. But so did some other riders and footmen of the mercenary troop. Half point?
2) Too early to tell, but still likely Katyia will be hired by Emma.
3) Yep, the dragon WAS up to something. Though it didnt wait, staying in chains. Half point again?
Was the dragon playing dumb the other chapter? Went from extremely intelligent, to big dumb beast, to now using corpse animation to communicate. I'm guessing this dragon is ancient and a rebel against the Nexian god-king.
Woot!
More to read!
UTR
Thanks for the chapter!
I wish you, your family and your editor happy holidays and a good new year too.
Same goes for the reader, wish you all well too.
See you all next year.
New chapter is here. And it is GLORIOUS.
Oh, sweet sweet justice ! Let the joy I feel reading your work be seen, Oh great wordsmith.
Justice Served!
No >:[
You may not take time off under literally any circumstances ever >:[
(/s, obviously. Take the holidays off if you wanna.)
BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILT IN THE NAME OF THE FALLEN! BLOOD FOR THE CHEESE MAN! SKULLS FOR THE BI-TREADER!
Hell, take the whole month off, we can wait.
Enjoy yourself the well deserved rest
I don't mind the break even if I will wait impatiently.
Thank you for your story, but don't work yourself to death over it. The reason I'm reading your stuff out of the near infinite amount of content available, is because it is very high quality. So despite any shouts of MOAR, if you need a break take a break.
So I found this story and read through Chap 40 or so (Mal'Tory and the crate timer were still main concerns) a bit over a year ago and then RealLife™ struck hard. Finally found it in me to start reading again and in the last two weeks I've burned through the 120 chapters since.
Wow! What a ride it's been!
Some hard chuckles from some of the references. Can't wait to find out what the Nexus really is! Love seeing the relationships forming within the peer group. Above all, Thank You!
I'm kinda sorry to have caught up but I guess I can at least start reading comments and not worry about getting spoiled! Raise a glass to Togor! The best cheese merchant the Nexus ever had!
And as for taking time off, it's the holidays, as much as I'm going to be hurting for a hit of the good stuff it's totally understandable. Enjoy your holidays! And hope your move goes smoothly!
It matters not how good a swordsman you are when a metal slug approaches faster than sound -Sun Tzu probably
Take all the time you need, it is well deserved. Well done on this chapter, it was exhilarating!!
Pfft. You are the author. We are simply here to enjoy your efforts. So when you post we will read regardless of it being next week or two months.
Dont be sorry for taking a little break from writing. Life and living come first! Enjoy your holidays and be safe in your move. We will be here when you return to enjoy more shenanigans ^-^
Moar
Best chapter by far. A real tribute to HFY.
A great end to the year.
Absolute cinema! Dragon using the body like how that one giant crab did.
Thanks so much for the chapter! Take all the time you need. You give us so much quality writing all for free. Enjoy the holidays!
Homie G (JCB) if you were in Maryland, I would help you move. If you're in Thailand, I got a friend that can do that for me there. Take some time for yourself.
But that being said, I was under the impression that having a few advance chapters would buffer life events. But happy holidays and new years!
Another great chapter, thank you so much.
Take any time you need, thanks for letting us know.
Sad the Alicorn bought it, at least it was quick. Railshot to the face will do that.
Necro-dragon, using a puppet for translation services is pretty cool.
Looking forward to the chapter next year.
Have a happy holidays whatever you celebrate.
Ah yes, there it is - the yearly tradition continues.
Rest easy, writer friend, we will await your return - Happy holidays to you and all adjacent folks.
"Marry Christmas" and "Happy New Year"..... you can cash those in when needed ^^ cya next year =D
I'm eagerly awaiting January 11th.
Man i wonder what is up with all those coins the not so good Ignalius had. Feels like there is a lot Thalmin could tell us. And likely some of it would help Emma work with her troubles by understanding that he was a Nexus enforcer and not just some less than neutral mercenary leader.
JUSTICE ACHIEVED!
All is well with the world
Great chapter. Witnessing that last scene with the dragon using the dead body as a translator would have definitely creeped me the hell out.
Shit, time to see what this dragon will cook.
Wow, this was awesome!
Of course! Take whatever time off ya'll need. HUGS!
Mawp! ... Mawp!
Also BFG Division goes well with this one.
Also The Great theme of Cid for some reason :D
Excellent. Perfect job as always, excited for more.
Take your time.
Hey, happy holidays and celebrations, Jcb!
As long as it is a week or two and not an eternity or two that you will be gone, we will allow it. Just come back more rested than when you leave. Editor too. Enjoy
Ahh yes the red mist, for when you have done enough damage to move beyond gibbs or even chunky salsa.
Also seriously real life and health take priority if you need a break take a break.
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Is Ignerd actually dead? What did the scroll do, just protect himself and not the bat? Transfer damage to the bat, which is why its face was exploded? The scroll could've been to create a remote controlled fake body double, and he used it while Emma wasn't near enough to notice the mana spike
Another aspect that shows how weak Iggy was and honestly one I'm surprised at given his arrogance. He used a wand. That is only for those too weak to cast normally. I'm surprised he let even his lackies see such weakness.
JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE. The cheese kobold can finally rest.
The looming dragon conversation! I have long awaited this!
Bro thought he was deuteragonist. He was barely the antagonist of the week lol.
The chapter was good. Would have preferred more descriptions of the internal panicked states of the war crime brigade.
especially the catatonic cheese murderer. That internal dialog would have been delicious.