Racknar returned to the castle at the capital of Bramble with the rest of the Monster Mash and received some light questioning before they could negotiate for the purchase of land. The area Racknar was looking to buy was by was the former capital that the gold dragon lived at and the area around it which included an abandoned mineshaft that would be a perfect spot to set up a Shatterkin geode for Krys'tal’s family. After a bit of haggling the party managed to buy the land but it took a good chunk of the massive amount of gold they got from.the dragon.
With the land bought it was time to start migrating. Getting the remaining spiders of Racknar's family there was as easy as using the Badge of Arachne to summon them there. Then once in Ran the party split up to get different parts of the move done. Krys'tal would talk to her people, Marionette to her family, Racknar would be grabbing Rek and his goblin tribe, Finally Davy, Ariagoria, and Ivory went to tell the Da Vinci's what was going on and wait for the others to meet up.
Thanks to Dimension Door, all the goblins and Shatterkin were migrated in one trip, while Giuseppe Abstergo required a trip all on his own meaning it took a couple days just for Racknar to be ready to move Da Vinci and meet up with her at her shop. She had been making a bunch of notes and tinkering with inventions made thanks to all the different things Racknar told her about that existed in his world and what he knew about how they worked mechanically. Da Vinci stated that her friend who helped her with the underground resistance that was undermining the Empire, Dante, would likely also want to move to this new area if it was to be a base of operations for what would eventually be an all out war.
Racknar nodded in agreement and grabbed everything the Da Vinci's needed as well as all of Dante’s things in one last trip. With everyone moved and the new residents of the town settling in, Racknar instructed the goblins and Kobolds to make use of the spiders and start building a new wall around the town so outsiders wouldn't see the monsters living there and attack on site. Racknar looked at the town with some pride, hands on his hips, when suddenly his moment was interrupted by Ariagoria.
“You realize this makes you a Lord in this kingdom, right?” Racknar had a shocked look on his face. “I didn't even think of that but that does remind me of something else we need to do.” Ariagoria looked a bit confused. “This town looks like it's got everything we need and we grabbed everyone and everything and set them up in new places. The Shatterkin are even going to be working on tunnels so they can get into town from the mines without surfacing and risking an attack.’l” Racknar nods. “Yeah, but I was thinking since our base of operations is here in Bramble we might as well migrate Elizabeth and establish her as crown princess of the kingdom now. It'll be a while before we need her to be queen, but still.”
Ariagoria put her hand on her chin. “Well Davy is helping Ivory set up her own alchemy and artifact shop so she can stay in town and support us from here. She's also going to set up a special teleportation circle and attach artifacts so we can teleport straight here from anywhere without using the gates. Krys'tal and Mari are helping their families settle in. So the only member of the Monster Mash that's not busy is me. Want me to take the trip with you?”
Racknar considered it, but decided there was something else more important for her to do. “I want you to fix up and get the church that's here up and running. But in addition to Christian iconography, have small shrines to the various pantheons and gods. That way everyone who has a god they devote themselves to has a place of worship.” Ariagoria nodded. “Be careful, traveling alone can be dangerous.” Racknar nodded back as he hopped on Achilles the spider and started riding his way to the gate so he could start the long journey back to Flowers for one last time.
Several more hours of boat riding and gate hopping to cross borders and once again Racknar was at Flowers. After parking Achilles he headed straight for the castle where Elizabeth lived in and governed from. When he got to the castle he was stopped by the guards and asked to start his business. “Seriously? I'm a personal friend of the Duchess, and I'm fairly sure both of you know that considering I probably have a reputation after the Duke's assassination.” The guard looked nervous. “We have our orders not to let anyone in the castle outside of an emergency.” Racknar tilted his head. “Orders from who?”
The guard shifted uncomfortably. “Archduke Flowers, father of Duke Flowers. Since the Emperor is also the King of Ran but can't always be around to do King stuff he assigned a “Duke of Dukes” to manage things on that level.” Racknar grumbled. “Alright then, I'll leave. You didn't let me in. So if for some reason I'm spotted inside later it's not on you.” They looked at each other briefly before nodding, paying no attention to Racknar as he went to the side and out of sight with clear intention to sneak in.
Racknar climbed the wall.with ease thanks to being a man spider, and entered the window closest to Elizabeth’s personal living area without breaking straight in. He had to go down a few hallways and climb a few steps but eventually he made his way to her quarters. Her door was unlocked and once inside he heard her voice talking to a male voice. He made his way to the office that she did paperwork in, the source of the voices, and paused to listen in. “The fact of the matter is, regardless of how it happened, you were betrothed to my son so he could sirecan heir and now he is dead. You were never officially married but you were promised to my family so that you could bring in the next generation of them.”
Racknar groans softly to himself. “(I don't like where this is going.)” The man continued. “My family effectively owns you, so if I have to be the one that provides the seed, so be it.” Racknar went to open the door, but it was locked. So he kicked it down. Inside he saw a rotund man that looked like an older version of Duke Flowers standing on one side of the desk Elizabeth was sitting in. “People aren't property, Archduke. I suggest you back off. The deal was to marry your son, not to be your slave. I've come from Bramble to collect the princess and bring her back home since the deal is obviously void.”
The Duke looked at Racknar with anger. “Who the fuck do you think you are barging in like that and talking to me with such disrespect?” He then paused for a moment before his face went from anger to confusion and back again. “Oh, you are that knight in coal black armor I've heard so much about. Someone ought to teach you your place. You're not even an official knight let alone a noble.” Racknar shifted from side to side. “Actually…~ I just recently became a Lord in Bramble and bought a patch of land. Turns out I'm within the six degrees of separation from.a Queen and qualify to own land in Bramble.”
The archduke stood in stunned silence for a moment. Blinking with a blank expression on his face as what he heard sunk in. He then looked back and forth between Racknar and Elizabeth before suddenly developing a wicked smile that he quickly subdued. “Ah, my apologies Lord… knight. Perhaps we can… negotiate like calm and reasonable people.” He took a few steps closer to Racknar. “After all, even if the deal is void and Lady Elizabeth is to return, that means I too must be compensated for my losses.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Racknar gets right up in the Archduke’s face and points at him aggressively. “The only compensation you'll be getting, is your own life as I'm more than happy to take that too.” The archduke slapped the hand holding some sort of red ribbon with strange sigils on it. The ribbon wrapped around Racknar's limbs and he dropped to the floor as the magic item quickly bound him. He struggled against it but found he couldn't break free no matter how hard he tried.
The archduke laughed. “Struggle all you want sir knight Lord Aradae, that flimsy looking ribbon is a one of a kind mythic rare magic item. The Bindings of Fenrir.” He moved to behind the desk and put Elizabeth in a hold from behind, keeping her from escaping. She struggled but he slipped some sort of handcuffs on her. “It's anti-magic dear, so don't bother. Same to you, Sir Aradae. Nothing shy of divine intervention will free you from those bindings.” He gives Elizabeth a perverted kick on the face, much to her disgust. “Now I'm going to make you watch as your precious princess is turned into my personal fuck toy exclusively for breeding. And thanks to magic items, by the time I'm done she'll be bagging to receive my seed nightly till she's fat with my progeny over and over and over-”
Racknar starts beating his head against the floor, there is eventually a displeasing squelching sound followed by Racknar placing his forehead on the floor and rolling it. Muttering something under his breath. This causes the Archduke to let out roaring laughter. “Hahahaha. Look at your proud knight as he gives into despair, my dear princess. Look at him wallow in self pity as he is made powerless before me. No amount of magic or physical might has any meaning before the Divine right to rule given to my bloodline by God himself. I'll always triumph, I'll always win, and I'll always get what I want.”
Racknar stopped rolling his head and lifted it up, on the floor is a circle with symbols drawn in blood. Racknar’s fangs curl into a smile, something only Elizabeth can see. He then speaks loud enough for everyone to hear him. “I call onto you, oh messenger of heaven. I call onto you, oh warrior of light. I call onto you, in my moment of desperation. I offer onto you, for a limited time, this body and this life. Oh messenger of grace, I plea to thee to hear my call and respond to my devotion in kind. I call upon thee with thy true name, oh messenger of heaven. Come forth and use my body to do thy will. Accept my offer, oh messenger of violence. Accept my offer, oh messenger of vengeance. Accept my offer, oh messenger of anger. Accept my offer, ye who is the most wrathful of heavens warriors! Accept my offer and come forth, Af Simikiel!”
Both the archduke and Elizabeth are stunned to see the rune Racknar drew with the blood from the tongue he bit glow with intense blood red light as wind and magic energy oozed out of the sigil. The archduke shouted. “What?! But how?! You're not a mage! You're a damn martial, a type known for going in recklessly and punching things really hard until they die. You shouldn't have the knowledge or ability for such a powerful ritual spell!”
Racknar’s chitin started to turn red as his body increased in size, becoming large. His face morphed to look like a mouthless mask with multiple eye holes for the black angular slits that were his eyes. The illusion broke as his four arms, now as red as blood, were on display. His body became thicker and more muscular looking as his more human shaped feet became more like flat hippo feet covered with chitin with four angular toes that flexed and moved. handed After grunting in pain, wings made of what looked like rusty and blood stained daggers shot out of his back as a halo ring made of dripping sanguine blood formed over his head. The ribbon burned away and the imposing figure that looked more like an angel in blood red armor then a spider person stood up, slouched as to not touch the ceiling of the room. The archduke let go of the princess and backed away before getting on his hand and knees and praying while bagging for his life.
The large red figure looked at its hand and clenched its two right fists a few times while looking at it, then did so with the left. It reached up a hand and touched the halo before it came back down, shaking. The angel spoke in a deep distorted voice. “This form…” he then looked around the room. “So this is Mortalus. I'm not impressed.” Elizabeth then let out a nervous chuckle. “This is just one room in one building in one nation on one specific world among many worlds in the plane of Mortalus.” A light growl came from the creature as its attention moved to the archduke. “Your prayers are wasted. Despite my appearance right now, I stopped being an agent of Celestia many millennia ago. When I heard my old name, I couldn't help but be curious. Tell me girl, who was it that summoned me and why?”
Elizabeth shuffled nervously. “A noble soul who goes by Racknar Aradae in this life. He was bound by a magic artifact that could not be broken by normal means when trying to save me from this depraved soul.” She gestured to the Archduke. He began his groveling again. “Please, oh servant of Celestia, have mercy on me for I am a devout man of God, one of those specially blessed by the light of the one true Lord of creation.” The creature let out a growl. “You obviously weren't listening.” He said to the rotund man before looking at Elizabeth. “Normally I wouldn't bother with such a mundane request, especially considering your friend only offered his body for a limited time in exchange.”
He looked at the archduke again. “But I find this one’s presence displeasing and Racknar is a friend of one of my mortal children. So maybe, just this once, I'll oblige.” A fire red ring manifests at the angel’s hand and manifests a jagged and rusty looking sword. He cuts into the air creating a red portal with screams coming from it. The archduke tried to crawl away but hit the wall. He begged and pleaded not to be sent into the portal but the angel grabbed him anyway. “Go to Hell.” The angel said before impaling the rotund man and tossing him into the portal by flicking him off the sword.
The figure then despatches the weapon before reaching in the portal and pulling out what looked like a black mace. The head had several blades made of obsidian around a shaft that had what looked like lava coming off it between the shaft and blades of the mace. He sets it on the deck. “Tell Racknar that this mace is an early… or is it late? I always forget how time moves in different planes… an eighteenth birthday gift to my daughter. I'm going back to my realm, a mortal body and soul can only handle so much and who knows what mischief is going on down there without me.”
Racknar shifted back to normal and collapsed on the floor with a groan. “Ugh… my whole body feels like it's on fire.” Elizabeth ran over to Racknar. “Are you insane summoning that… angel indoors like that?! He looked like he'd either burn the place down or flood it with blood. Who the hell was that?” Racknar groaned. “Charity’s father.” Elizabeth looked confused. “I thought her father was the demon lord of wrath, Amon.” Racknar nodded. “All first generation demons were once angels. I summoned him with his true name from before the rebellion.”
Elizabeth looked at him in stunned silence for a moment before slapping him across the face then waving her hand from hurting herself in doing so. “That has got to be the most reckless and irresponsible thing you've ever done!” Racknar chuckled. “Heh, it worked through. I'm just glad you're safe.” Elizabeth gets down in her knees at his side and gently grabbed Racknar's head and moved it to her lap. “You big dummy. What if that killed you?” Racknar coughed. “If you were alive and he was gone so you could return to Bramble and become its Queen, then it would have been worth it.”
Elizabeth rubbed Racknar's head, running her hand through the thick specialized hairs on top of it. “I don't want you throwing your life away like that, got it? No sacrificing yourself trying to make the world a better place. Because it's a lot worse off without you in it.” Racknar laughed and coughed. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you were right smitten with me.” Racknar broke into a slight Southern drawl when he said: right smitten with me. Elizabeth slapped him again. “Just shut up while I get this anti-magic cuff off me so I can heal your dumbass.
After a bit of struggling with a hairpin she got the cuff off and started to cast healing magic. “Now sit still while I patch you up, you big dummy.” Racknar laughed and coughed again. “You sound like a tsundere right now.” He then groaned in pain as his body was forcefully mended. “Just shut up and sit still.” Elizabeth scolded as she continued healing. She looked Racknar in his many eyes and at his mandibles and fangs and gulped hard. “Though you did save me from a creepy old sex fiend, again. So I suppose you deserve some sort of reward.”
Racknar started to object. “That's not necessary, did had-” but before he could finish the sentence about the Archduke getting what he deserved Elizabeth moved inwards and gave him a kiss on the cheek behind the fang. “You'll… have to settle for a peck on the cheek.” Racknar rubbed the spot where she kissed, silent. Elizabeth ran her hands through his hair again. “I'm glad you're safe too.” She paused for a bit before playfully slapping at him. “Now get up, you have a gift to deliver.” She pointed to the mace. “It's for Charity I assume.” Racknar got up and grabbed it, putting it in his bag of holding. “Set up someone to take over, we're going back to Bramble.”
