Tales of magic: grimoire of transmogrification

  Chapter 46

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  Arc 2 – “The hunter and the beast”

  Chapter 30- “Valkyrie and Lancaster II.”

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  “Who is the strongest? Let me fight them.” ~ words of the greatest champion in the War of the Mages. The one with the greatest chance of defeating all other mages and obtaining the full power of magic.

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  2nd May, 1886.

  Weidson, Pridon.

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  10:27

  “Nice work, necro-lich.” Lancaster replied, grinning.

  “I’m glad to be of use to you, Lord Lancaster.” She even bowed to him.

  “What the heck is going on?!”Jordan interrogated, suddenly standing up. He was panting after making that statement.

  The blonde musician gestured for him to sit down. He nodded, and obeyed reluctantly. Jordan still had a hostile expression on his face though.

  ‘It seems as though our little touchy conversation earlier did the trick. He won’t be difficult for no reason. Not anymore.’ Lancaster thought.

  Lancaster relaxed on the chair, as if he was some sort of king. Then he spoke.

  “When we split up, I was thrust into a difficult battle with the Valkyrie. Honestly, It’s one that forced me to use every single trick I had, and then start developing more...”

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  1st May, 1886.

  5:35.

  Lancaster continued to run. He willed his body to move faster. And faster.

  He sprinted across the dirt road with an excited expression on his disfigured face. The scenery around him just zoomed by as he was fully focused on what was ahead.

  Though, his ears told him that Valkyrie was closing in from behind with abnormal speed.

  ‘This is the first time this is happening. Owl, what curse was it exactly?’

  You know what it is. You tried to curse her to instantly die by making her heart fail. Her holy magic stopped your curse before it got hold of her, and it was redirected to you.

  ‘But your curse delay intercepted it and held it in place. How long do I have left?’

  Twelve minutes at most. We can’t keep using your ability with our own Power. You’ll have to give us more to sustain ourselves and cast you spells.

  ‘I already knew that, bird brain.’

  A loud crash disturbed him from his thoughts.

  “End of the road, Mage.” A voice erupted from right behind him.

  “You’ve caught up with me.”

  She didn’t waste time. The young man felt cold, sharp steel at his neck in less than a second. The stillness in the air suddenly felt different. It was hostile, aggressive and oppressive.

  Without any hesitation, she thrust the blade forward right through the nape of his neck. Then she pulled it out, right before the blood spurted out of the fresh wound. The body collapsed on the floor without incident.

  “Mage. I know you’re not dead.” Valkyrie called out, her sword dripping with crimson blood.

  Nearly a hundred meters above her, Lancaster smiled widely.

  ‘It doesn’t get any worse than this. Yet my joy knows no bounds.’

  The young Mage somehow managed to look even worse than he did before. His skin was so dry, it might as well be dead. His body was emancipated like he was malnourished. His eyes were the only organs that seemed to be full of life, shining with excitement. Smiling wider, he leapt down. His legs behaved as though they let go of the imaginary pavement in the sky he was standing on, and he fell down like humpty-dumpty.

  “There you are.” Valkyrie called out again.

  ‘Owl. Tell the others to line up. Let them get ready to manifest themselves in the material realm. We’re going to put on a little show just for her, before we give up the ghost.’

  What?

  ‘Nothing. You’re right. We’re not dying today either.’

  Who are you talking to?

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  He landed on the ground, behind Valkyrie. Dust went into the air, obscuring him for only a moment.

  “You foolish Mage.” Valkyrie’s sword clashed against his right hand like metal striking against metal. A sudden burst of light from the sword made Lancaster retreat, flying across the area with the momentum from valkyrie’s strike. He landed on his two feet and the sound of something cracking filled the air.

  “You... How do you still stand? Your body is barely alive. And where did you get the magic power to dull this blade?”

  “Come on. Do you want a fight or a conversation? Pick one.” Lancaster rushed towards her with superhuman speed.

  Ring around the rosies.

  On the way there, one of his knees twisted unnaturally. Then the other followed suit. A pained expression found away to his face. He collapsed on the floor on his hands and now broken knees.

  “Your body is falling apart.”

  “Thanks for the commentary, bitch.”

  A pocket full of posies.

  He managed to pull out a middle finger, and give her a big smile. And then he forced himself on, propping his body on his wobbly feet. Once her opponent was standing, Valkyrie pointed her blade at him.

  “A one move jockey, huh? Is that sword technique all you know?” He taunted, obviously stalling for time.

  She didn’t seem to listen. She did it anyways. Vanishing from where she stood, Valkyrie reappeared right in front of him. Somehow, he managed to see it coming and move to the side. The blade lodged itself inside his shoulder.

  A-tishoo! a-tishoo!

  Valkyrie tugged at the sword, trying to pull it out. Suddenly, it caught on fire.

  “Your sword isn’t stuck. It’s,”

  “Cursed.” She completed the sentence for him with a smug grin. The fire was extinguished as suddenly and as mysteriously as it was ignited.

  Lancaster smiled wider.

  Suddenly a pillar of light rose up from the sword. The light shone so brightly it was almost blinding.

  “Tyr, god of justice. Let your consuming light purge out all that is unclean and revolting.”

  “Is that a prayer or a spell?”

  He made one last joke right before the light flared up and consumed him completely.

  We all fall down.

  As though it was summoned, a small black crow appeared out of nowhere. The crow flew around for a moment. However, it seemed tired, so it perched on the ground right next to the pillar of light consuming Lancaster’s body.

  Suddenly the crow’s body shrivelled up aa though all the moisture inside it was suckled dry. It stopped moving.

  The light pillar disappeared, and Valkyrie easily removed the sword from Lancaster’s shoulder. There was no blood on the blade.

  Lancaster smiled, proudly. His body was covered in ash, and he was ragged and worn out. Yet he was still standing.

  I’m not the one falling down today.

  This time, Athena didn’t see it fit to ask why. Rather she smiled as well.

  “You’re indeed formidable.”

  “You can say that again.”

  She raised an eyebrow. When she didn’t get a reply, she went back to her usual stoic expression and raised her sword with both hands.

  Owl. What’s the death toll?

  One dead. It seems the parrot materialized as a crow. Your doing?

  No. It seems 'Crow’ is carrying his weight. Finally something cool came out of this stupid title.

  Is that really what you should be worried about?

  Lancaster pointed his finger at Athena, brimming with confidence. He kept silent, all he did was point, his finger inches away from the center of her forehead.

  You know what to do.

  Fine. Relaying information. The remote spells would be activated shortly. Just, know we’ll run out of ready-made spells soon. And your blood...

  Is worth nothing. Let them take as much as they want, after burning through my back-ups of course.

  Valkyrie slashed at him, welcoming the challenge. The sword- glistening with white light- stopped an inch deep into his side.

  His wobbling feet were forced to stand still. Another crow appeared, then and died. It too shrivelled up and died as dry as it could be.

  “Is that damage reflection?”

  “No. It’s blood magic,” He finally explained. “Spirits sucked it dry. It’s funny how inhuman they could be. Betraying their own kind once in a while for a little bit more Power is normal for them. When humans do it, most people make such a big fuss over it.”

  “I can’t kill you?”

  “No, and yes. No, of course you can kill me. It’s only regeneration, low level magic nullification, and one of Jordy boy’s force barriers- because why not? And yes, I won’t let you kill me.”

  A line of red coloured her face once more. Then another appeared immediately after words, dangerous close to one of her eyes.

  You fucking birds missed a silent seriously expensive untraceable wind scythe? Really?

  Valkyrie’s face contorted into an expression of raw primal rage.

  “How dare you harm my face?” Athena’s thuderous scream echoed in the night.

  “Curse. Athena, Athena.”

  “You wretch! Do you think your sorcery would work on the likes of me!”

  She struck him over and over again. He finally started evading her attacks again, relying solely on teleportation this time. With each attack they both moved several feet away from where they were. Lancaster would teleport and one crow would appear and die, giving him the opportunity to evade a single attack and throw a single wind scythe at her or touch her garment and cause it to tear. This went on for a few minutes, until she stopped all of a sudden.

  Now, she had disposed of the armour’s chestplate and her inner shirt. There was not a trace of sweat on her though- she had been fighting at full power effortlessly.

  “What the... what’s going on with me?”

  “The curse from earlier. It’s finally taken effect.”

  “I’ve rejected the curse. It’s gone.”

  “My curses never go away. They become omens of things that may come. Fate cannot be stopped, it can only be delayed.”

  Her hands moved stiffly as they turned the sword on her.

  “Now die, bitch!”

  A sword went right through someone. Lancaster screamed out in pain.

  The sword had impaled them both, Valkyrie had made it so- bending the curse only just enough for her to hurt Lancaster in the process of ending her life.

  Except she didn’t die like that.

  “I will kill you, Lancaster. Then I’ll complete my objective.”

  “What the fuck is that?” He said, coughing out another mouthful of blood. Crows were appearing and dying left and right.

  “I must kill Lycan and save Weisdon. It is his order and I will carry it out.”

  “Whose order?”

  “My god’s. Not Tyr, but my master, The Philosopher.”

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  Jordan frowned.

  “That was... quite the story. How much if it’s true?”

  Lancaster simply waved back disapprovingly.

  “Then I flew around, found you, saved your life, yada yada... You know the rest. After William left us, your body slowly shut down. We were all exhausted. I thought it best to wait till we were all well rested, to start laying down the foundations for our plan of attack.”

  “Plan of attack?”

  “Yes. You still want William’s blood right? You’ll get it. But I remember telling you I’ll explain everything when you were well rested, freshened up and we were all together. Veronica is here, and you’ve slept for an entire day. I think you’re ready.”

  Jordan nodded.

  “This isn’t my house.”

  “Already knew that.”

  “Alright, I see you have a brain. It’s Oliver’s house.”

  “Who’s Oliver?”

  “Your junior. He went to the same school as you. How do you not know him? Anyways, he’s still as rich and privileged as ever. His parents happen to be ‘out of town’ but it isn’t really my business. The point is; he’s locked up in his wardrobe.”

  Jordan glared at him, shivering.

  “Relax. I feed him twice a day. He doesn’t suspect a thing; the poor sap just thinks I’m bullying him again- it should stay that way. After coming here with you two, I left you in the bedroom upstairs, and Veronica in the living room. Curious about how she got into this mess, I kept her there to keep an eye on her....”

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