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Board & Conquest 99: The Gauntlet
🕑 Added 2025-09-02 09:27:17 +0000 UTC-------
The Lady’s new Idol sprung forth from the remains of Saguenay’s cathedral.
A mana-powered tree the size of a hill grew until its golden branches cast the entire city in its shade, while the original tree in the middle of the Forest of Broceliande grew twofold at the same pace. The leyline connected these twins, joining them through roots old and new that stretched across the region.
Wepwawet watched these miracles through the eyes of his Champions, with his Influence now overlapping with that of the Lady of Broceliande. Her Influence stabilized into the divine image and portfolio befitting her new rank as a minor local goddess of nature. The transformation had been a complete success.
She was alive and divine.
By helping a local spirit ascend to the first tier of divinity, you have fulfilled the Hidden Quest: A God of my Own. You can now create a Side Deck.
A Side Deck is an extra reserve of 10 Miracles kept in storage; while you may not cast the Miracles contained inside, you can switch them out with those in your main deck once per day.
The notification flashed in front of Wepwawet and shook him to his core. He had been informed of hidden quests since Ganesha told him about Elphion’s Wonders, but to think one could grant him access to a side deck? Having the possibility of keeping ten more cards in reserve opened so many more avenues of power and tactical possibilities!
But he would explore those options another time. Danger still lurked.
“This is… this is incredible,” the Lady said as their spirits met in their overlapping realms of Influence. “I can sense the world’s heartbeat… all the feet on the grass, the breath on the bark, the wind flowing through the leaves…”
“You aren’t strong enough to claim Champions and Altars yet, let alone produce a Providence of your own, but the area around your twin-trees has become the core of your Influence,” Wepwawet explained. He immediately sensed the Lady’s confusion and cursed his short-sightedness. He was used to his fellow gods understanding the terms. “I mean that you’ll be able to project your divine energies within miles of your trees.”
“My… divine energies?” The Lady glanced at her hand, marveling at the raw essence of mana bending to her will. “You speak of those ‘Miracles’, the likes of which the Horse Goddess can cast?”
“Yes, like smiting the wicked.” Wepwawet grinned ear to ear. “Might I suggest a certain candidate?”
“Yes…” The Lady closed her eyes and focused her new divine senses on a certain Archdemon. “I can think of someone.”
Wepwawet turned his attention back to Victoire and observed the Lady materializing a spiritual projection of herself in front of the Saguenay tree, the same way Wepwawet showed himself to his worshippers. She was quite the fast learner.
“Fascinating,” Archon said after pushing Glatisant off him. His alien eyes studied the Lady’s projection with immense interest, and a tiny bit of fear. “So the Betrayer was right, we can become mana itself… bind our spirits to magic itself and transcend physicality.”
“It cannot be her spirit,” Glatisant countered. “Elves don’t have souls! It is well-known!”
Victoire blinked in surprise upon summoning her spear back to her hand. “But they do? Our god revived a dark elf by bringing her soul back–”
“Child, a soul is like a muscle, you need meat to grow it,” Glatisant interrupted with a professorial tone. “That is why dragons have the biggest, most beautiful souls in the universe, and grass-eaters like the elves cannot manifest one.”
“Don’t dig deeper unless you want a headache,” Wepwawet informed Victoire through telepathy before she could suffer from an aneurysm trying to make sense out of Glatisant’s insane logic. Even the likes of Watatsumi didn’t buy into it. “It’s dragon pseudoscience.”
“Archon,” the Lady’s spirit projection said. “Whether you may call yourself a demon or a lunarian, the truth is that you remain a fiend who only seeks to enslave others. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I have no lesson to receive from a weed despoiling our garden,” Archon replied, his body radiating psychic power. “We cultivated life on this world to serve our needs, and serve you shall!”
A telekinetic torrent of immense strength surged from the lunarian, cracking stone and unleashing a booming sound through the air. Such a blast would have easily torn apart a small building or any normal tree.
The Lady’s oak didn’t even flinch.
Mana surged from its bark and branches in a wild display of primeval divinity. The Lady’s counterattack had none of the streamlined confines and sophistication of B&C-System Miracles, but it was raw and mighty nonetheless. Great roots thicker than bridges sprung from the ground and seized Archon’s wings and arms. The lunarian panicked and attempted to repel them with his power, but the tide of wood would not relent.
For what was an alien demon to a god?
“Weeds you call us,” the Lady said sternly. “And thus weeds you shall be.”
The Lady’s essence seized Archon, taking root in his body, burying his wicked mind in a torrent of mana. He struggled and screeched, his body exuding foul, bloody miasma in an attempt to corrupt all in its path; yet the pollution swiftly turned into pollen and his blood into sap. Archon’s screams, both physical and psychic, were swiftly buried under the bark growing over his exoskeleton. His tail soon became a trunk and his antennae branches on which sprouted leaves and flowers; his struggle at last ceasing.
The dreaded Archon, lunarian creator of demonkind, had become naught more than a tree.
—------
A disaster had been averted.
Saguenay had certainly taken heavy damage to its infrastructure from all the roots crawling through its streets, and many had lost their lives, but in Victoire’s opinion, the situation could have been so, so much worse. Archon’s defeat had put an end to his control over the recently transformed demons, which allowed Gaspar and the Hood to pacify them through a mixture of spells and force. The situation was well under control by the time Valentine’s cavalry showed up to help reestablish order in the streets.
Most importantly, Victoire was finally allowed to reunite with her fellow Champions, the Free Brotherhood, and her trusted squire at the foot of the Lady’s new tree. She was glad to see that all of them had survived, even Soumis.
“Milady!” Filou immediately knelt at her feet, a bloody bag on his back. “How I have missed you so much!”
“How good it is to see you again, Filou,” Victoire said upon patting him on the shoulder. Her wererabbit charge seemed to have grown a few inches, both in body and stature. “I was so worried about you.”
“You didn’t need to be,” Renarde commented. “You should have seen him fighting. He slew those foolish archmages in a single stroke!”
“Sir Rapoleon deserves the lion’s share of praise, Renarde!” Filou insisted as he opened the bag on his back and revealed two ugly demonic heads inside. It didn’t take long for Victoire to recognize one of them as Melchior’s. “These foul villains will never trouble you again, Milady!”
“I wouldn’t have been able to sneak up on them if you hadn’t beheaded one and baited the other into focusing on you,” Rapoleon replied with a shrug. “Yours was the most dangerous part.”
“I am impressed, Filou,” Victoire congratulated her squire. In more ways than one. “You’ve performed admirably and shown great courage in the face of danger. I am proud of you.”
“Milady’s words are balm for my heart.” Filou’s expression grew crestfallen. “Though I weep for those poor souls we could not save.”
Victoire bit her tongue, her gaze wandering to Saguenay demon-infected civilians. The group had gathered dozens of them at the tree’s foot and used a sleeping draught to keep them docile for now until they could figure out what to do with them.
“Is there no way to return them to normal?” Victoire asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Gaspar the mage replied. He had surrendered after the battle’s end, with Rapoleon clapping chains on his wrists and keeping him close. “Or if there is a cure, we have yet to find it.”
“Their minds remain their own,” the demonic creature the Hood had turned out to be said. “In time, they will come to terms with their transformation and regain a semblance of normal life.”
“You are a devil, are you not?” Victoire guessed. “The child of two demons.”
“I thought devils were all feral,” Sagesse said.
“Most are,” the Hood replied with a shrug. “I have the Lady’s guidance to thank for my current disposition. She quelled the demonic fury within my soul. I hope I can do the same for these poor people.”
Victoire’s eyes spotted three forms flying above them; a group she identified as three pegasus riders with armor colored red, blue, and yellow, respectively. It didn’t take her long to identify them as the same Champion trio she had fought in Lavaland a few weeks back.
They landed near Victoire’s own group, and though their faces remained hidden beneath their helmets, the way they gripped their mounts’ reins and the tension in their body language told her it was quite the blow to their ego to see their old capital saved by their very own foes.
“We meet again, Princess Victoire,” the yellow rider said. The mere word seemed to leave a sour taste in his mouth. “As much as it pains me to say so, Lady Epona sends her regards and thanks you for your assistance in protecting Saguenay.”
“Our assistance?” The Hood snorted in disdain. “We saved this city from your own leaders.”
“And we will clean up our own mess,” the yellow knight replied before turning to the last surviving member of Valentine’s Three Sages. “Lord Gaspar, you are under arrest for treason, conspiracy, murder, and sedition. Your execution order is to be carried out on the spot.”
While Gaspar himself seemed to resign himself to his fate, Filou immediately moved to defend him. “Sir Gaspar has committed many crimes, but he fought to save this city when his help was needed most. Many lives would have been lost without him.”
“Those lives wouldn’t have been at risk without my foolishness, young wererabbit,” Gaspar replied with shame in his voice. “I will bear the responsibility for my crimes.”
“Bad actions do not wipe away the good ones,” Victoire replied before facing the knights. “Gaspar has information we need both on the lunarians and their agents in the city. His execution would be a waste.”
The knights exchanged glances, then fell silent for a second. Victoire guessed they were probably in telepathic communication with their own divine patron.
“Lady Epona is currently arguing with your own deity on the traitor’s fate… and that of the Lady,” the yellow rider said, marking a short and ominous pause as he spoke. “We shall wait for her judgment.”
The Hood showed his fangs. “If you think I will let you do anything to her–”
“I will also file a formal complaint to your dragon master!” a thundering voice echoed across the air, startling everyone. “This nation shows terrible and intolerable signs of democratic backsliding!”
Victoire shuddered. Oh, right, how could she have forgotten the third giant dragon stalking her?
“Why are you still here?!” Victoire complained to Glatisant, who had been observing the scene. “The battle is over! Go home!”
“I am here to boast!” Glatisant nodded to herself. “The world deserves to know of my genius discovery! I have created a breed of princess so resilient it could survive global democratization!”
“This is an incredible discovery!” Soumis agreed with a sharp nod like the sycophant he was. “Now Soumis wants to create his own kingdom one day!”
“I forbid you, you dimwit!” Victoire scolded him. She had had enough headaches today already.
“Soumis would never cheat on his princess while she is alive!” Soumis replied with a groan of pleasure. “But Soumis is so happy to know his mistress values him…”
“We are thankful for your assistance, Princess, but Valentine will never bend the knee to you or a dragon,” the blue pegasus rider said. “Our nation is free and shall remain–”
“See, this is exactly why we should strive for universal minion education,” Glatisant complained to Soumis, while blatantly ignoring the knight. “You vanish for a few centuries, and they all forget their place in the food chain. Some even return to the wild without a good dragon hand to keep them on the straight and narrow path.”
“How can we save them from themselves, Wise Glatisant?” Soumis asked with the deference of a student addressing a teacher.
“My solution was to train a small but very loyal order of knightly minions utterly devoted to their princess and who would watch over them in my absence–”
Victoire suppressed a shiver of shame. She feared Lord Raymond’s reaction and that of her fellow Glarmes once they learned that the kingdom they fought so hard to reestablish had been little more than a dragon’s pet project.
“In spite of everything that happened, I am so glad to return to milady’s side,” Filou said, doing his best to ignore the two dragons continuing to discuss how to best ‘tame’ humans into obedient monarchy-loving minions, to the dismay of everyone present. “I am at your service once again.”
Victoire watched her student for a moment before reaching a long-overdue decision. “That won’t be possible, Filou.”
“What?” Filou choked in fear and surprise. “Milady, I do not understand.”
“You have been an admirable squire, Filou, but your deeds today belong to a knight.” Victoire smiled from ear to ear. “It is about time we made it official.”
—-----------
Epona observed the newborn goddess with an undecipherable gaze.
The Lady’s Influence was so weak and small that she barely appeared bigger than a fairy or imp when compared to the gods of the Nexus, but the fact that she could manifest in their realm at all was a miracle in itself.
“Did you plan for this?” Epona asked Wepwawet.
“No,” Wepwawet replied. “But I threw my full weight behind her once the process started, as per procedure.”
“Do you even understand the mess you’ve put me in? The theological issues of hosting a second goddess in my territory, even a minor one?” Epona let out a sigh. “But I am not an ingrate. The two of you spared one of my cities from disaster and likely averted a greater calamity, for which I am thankful.”
“All I wish is for my followers to live in peace, Lady Epona,” the Lady of Broceliande said, her voice pitifully quiet in comparison to the greater deities surrounding her. “I have no quarrel with you or Valentine.”
Epona watched for a moment before reaching a decision. “I had hoped to unify this country around my faith so the likes of Ishtar and Beelzebub wouldn’t find an opening to foster unrest… but I am open to a settlement. If you agree to swear an oath of loyalty to Valentine and stick to your new territory, I will allow you to watch over Saguenay without interference and grant general amnesty to your followers. They shall be allowed to practice their faith within our borders without fear of inquisitorial judgment.”
Wepwawet knew it was a rather generous offer, albeit a self-interested one. Epona simply couldn’t afford a new front inside her own homeland while she had to contend with Ishtar, and opposing the heroes who had defeated Archon would no doubt lead to contestation among her supporters. The Lady appeared to recognize it as well and thoughtfully considered the proposal.
“You have a rare opportunity to make peace with Ishtar,” Wepwawet informed Epona. “The two of you warred over Archon, but he is dead now. This conflict is even more futile than before.”
“Is it? Archon was part of the problem, but our nations’ grudges stretch back centuries, and recent wounds won’t heal so easily.” Epona shook her head. “The truce will stand, but Ishtar will not rel–”
A surge of mana coursed across Elphion and interrupted them. Wepwawet immediately turned his focus to Goreville’s sight, who had been observing the Incursion-powered barrier splitting the Wyld from the rest of the universe.
It had crumbled away, and monsters poured out.
A veritable tide of monsters stormed out of the sealed area in a sea of chitinous plating and crawling pincers. Monsters akin to monstrous insects with elongated heads, sharp mandibles oozing caustic saliva, and bladed tails swam into Elphion’s sea alongside hordes of writhing white maggots the size of a human arm.
“By the gods…” Goreville muttered to himself in horror. While he was standing on a shore far away from their creatures, the nauseating stench coming from them swiftly reached his nostrils.
Wepwawet trembled for a second, as he briefly feared that Artemis had lost the Incursion battle… but his dread swiftly turned to relief when his friend reestablished their Influence connection and appeared in their shared realm. She looked terribly exhausted.
“We won…” she said with an empty gaze. Artemis was the kind of person to boast about her victory, but whatever happened in the rift had drained her of all enthusiasm. She didn’t even seem to notice the Lady’s presence. “We… won.”
“How long?” Wepwawet asked in concern. “How much time did you spend in there?”
“A year.” Artemis let out a sigh and all but collapsed in Wepwawet’s arms. “We spent a whole year battling that snake.”
“My spies tell me that creatures are pouring out of the closing rift,” Epona said with a scowl. “Are those Tiamat’s brood?!”
“Yes.” Artemis grit her teeth. “While she tried to take the Altars, she spent most of her turns breeding those creatures. My territory is overflowing with them now!”
“What about the others?” Wepwawet asked. As much as he was relieved to see his friend safe and sound, a terrible possibility was forming in his head. “Did Anansi and Sun Wukong survive, too?”
“They must have,” Epona replied. “If Tiamat elected for the altar conquest battle format, then either she would have defeated all opponents or failed herself. Since Artemis won, so did the others.”
And that was exactly the problem. With the Lady’s ascension, it now seemed that thirteen gods ruled Elphion once again.
“From the System’s point of view, it looks like we’ve defeated all Titans so far without suffering any losses,” Wepwawet realized, the cruelty of the Titans’ trap becoming clear. “Tiamat wasn’t looking to outright defeat you, only to weaken us and set the stage for–”
An earthquake shook all mana leylines, startling the gods and causing them to shiver and freeze in dread.
“The world…” The Lady muttered in agony. “It is weeping…”
Wepwawet already knew what was going on before the dreaded notification appeared in front of them all.
The Third Incursion shall begin in 48:00:00 hours.
Invading Titan: Hastur, the King in Yellow.
---------
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A/N: And I'm back. I admit the full Saudi Arabia/USA/Tunisia round trip and its associated jetlag destroyed me and I'm still not at a 100%, but it's good to be back in the saddle. More chapters to come soon.
Comments
Andrew Joseph Robinson
I don't know much about Hastur, just that they are an Eldritch figure in the Cthulu mythos with similar powers to both Lunarians and Tiamat. If I got anything wrong, please correct me.
George R
Amazing chapter thanks so much
Antony444
Ah. Okay, this is very bad. Fortunately, they have three relatively fresh Gods and Goddesses for this Incursion...but if all the battles have to be fought side by side, it's going to be a nightmare to survive to the end.
Andrew Joseph Robinson
Argh! This System is the absolute worst! How can it think they are anyway prepared for back-to-back Incursions?! They need to fix the bugs in it, immediately.
gostsamo
dragons making sense is a sign of a mental affliction, but I still get your meaning.
Daniel Everest
Obviously without a dedicated Dragon watching over the monarchy they fell victim to mental afflictions and developed poor breeding practices or weren't wealthy enough to instill reverence and awe in the peasants they ruled. Or perhaps it's a Fomor scheme to deprive Dragons of princesses
Arthur Glenn
There is a huge plot hole in this world's lore, which is unbecoming of you. When I learned about this, I nearly dropped the series. That is a system of governance made by a dragon with an intelligence stat of over 49 square points would fall to Ugh democracy, it just doesn't make sense. I know this is a work of fiction, but there are limits.
Unlisted Pokémon Hudson
Hastur is the god I’m most excited for
Publius Decius Mus
This celerity is rather unbecoming of the system. Let the wee gods catch their breath, by Jove!
TheCrazyDuck
I finished the Vanqueur series in the break, and the dragons make so much more sense now.
gostsamo
no rest for the wicked and I have the terrible suspecion that Weppy will end up with three dragons, which he would not wish even on his worst enemies.
