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Chapter XI
🕑 Added 2025-06-13 09:07:57 +0000 UTCThere was a Bounded Field hidden by a piece of illusory wall that gave way when I made like a Dark Souls protagonist and rolled into it headfirst, leaving Luviagelita flabbergasted. That was par for the course considering her definitive lack of intellige-
"Are you thinking something rude again?"
...How'd she know?
"I can see the grin on your face," She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
I hammered my palm in epiphany. "Oh yeah, banshees can see in the dark. Sorry, I forgot."
"Perkele." She groaned, but still led through the newly revealed cavern in the old sewer systems.
Every once in a while, we would pass a few discarded human bones, some pieces of fur, and the trace of burns on the decrepit walls. It was rather easy to get used to seeing them considering my expectations for this world and my copious hours surfing the internet as a bored man... What? Everyone got blasted with unwanted gore every once in a while.
"There it is," Luviagelita pulled me from my thoughts, nodding to a strange barrier. "Hm. Do you have any doubt regarding my ability now?"
"No." I eyed it curiously, benevolently withholding the fact that I would have certainly found it earlier than her... definitely. A closer look revealed that this 'barrier' held certain characters from the earlier siphoning spell. Specifically, the characters regarding electricity itself.
Reinforcing my arm, I tore a small chunk of stone from the wall beside us and lopped it at the barrier. As expected, lightning tore it to shreds the moment it made contact, leaving nothing but a small cloud of rapidly dissipating dust.
Luviagelita kept quiet as I treaded up to the barrier. It was good that she'd come to understand that I was taking the lead whether she liked it or not. The next part was easier than even walking up. It was a stationary, constant spell, always active. The same as the one running Waver's favourite cafe into the ground, in essence, even if it had different effects.
Then, like before, breaking it, or at least, causing a momentary lapse in its action was as easy as introducing chaos via random characters. To my surprise however, the spell slowly began knitting itself together again, reorienting based on the data in the areas I didn't mess with.
"That's interesting... but slow."
I unceremoniously stepped through, beckoning Luviagelita to follow.
"We've entered another magus' workshop. Be on guard." She warned, striking that weird pose with her two fingers against her forehead she did whenever she was excited.
I just threw up my hands. "Man this workshop ain't shi-"
The reality of it bent me over a table and shoved its massive coc-... I was silenced long before I could even finish my words. This workshop WAS the shit after all. The moment we exited the tunnel, we came into a massive hall with a tiled floor. Massive thick pillars reminiscent of the Parthenon in Athens stood erect to either side, rising into the darkness of a gabled ceiling.
Immense mana pulsed through every part of the structure, coalescing at a massive statue standing at the head of this Parthenon knock-off. Thick arms, a massive chest covered by a sash, long hair and a majestic beard. It was obvious this was supposed to be Zeus.
I knew how symbolism could influence magecraft because of Waver's lessons so this grandeur stood to reason. Little more could be further steeped in ancient mystery and meaning than a picture of Zeus himself, one of the most well-known deities in the modern world.
"I'll admit this'd look incredible," I smiled... "if we weren't three steps away from a sewer."
"Please. This is a poor man-"
"You have some guts barging your way into my workshop and then insulting it." A man interrupted her. I could make out the distinct clack of wood against tile as he made his way over in the dark.
"Yeah Luviagelita, you don't enter someone's home and call it poor. Even if it looks like an outhouse I wouldn't tell my worst enemy to shit in."
"Silence!" The stranger slammed the butt of his staff against the floor. "I will not suffer insults from a pair of upstart runts that were never taught to respect their seniors. You speak to Gurdoa Davenant!"
"...This isn't a Wuxia, is it?" I couldn't help but ask.
"No. Respect is earned, not begged for with a childish tantrum." Luviagelita dropped some wisdom on the angry boomer.
Expectedly, he immediately took the piss, got offended, and slammed his staff on the floor again. This time, the whole workshop lit up in answer, revealing him in his... well, it wasn't glory, and I had no other words for it. Lightning danced around the statue and arched into the air, crashing around us and ripping into... his own floor.
The man was wearing a shoddy, hooded cloak and no shirt but a pair of suit pants. Honestly, he looked like a roadside pervert, especially with that braided beard hanging just below his belly button.
"I'll give you reason then."
Around us, from the darkness of the pillars, emerged dozens more of those lightning rabbit familiars, fur standing on end, eyes beaming a bloody red. But by then, my initial surprise had waned. I couldn't help but see them for what they were.
Lightning using rabbits... where had I seen that before. Well, I knew why the guy from Pokemon was eternally 12 or something now.
I ignored my William and channelled my inner Londoner, Henry, "Goddamn Ash Ketchum fell off. I knew playing around with animals all day wouldn't pan out well as he aged but damn, I did NOT think it would turn out this bad, fam. Bro is living in an actual sewer. Unreal."
A snort echoed in the hall... and it wasn't from the unknown magus, Gurdoa. He looked about ready to pop a vein. It was from Luviagelita. She immediately turned her head to the side and covered it with a hand. But then, she couldn't hold it anymore and started full on laughing at him, all red-faced and pointy.
"Bwahahahaha...!"
Needless to say, I joined in.
I did not think she could get any hotter... but Luviagelita knew Pokemon. It tugged at mandem's heartstrings.
Jokes aside, the situation didn't really look all that great. We were surrounded by lightning rabbits. One was easy enough to destroy, but there were dozens here. Not to mention the lightning Gurdoa was channeling through the statue. I sincerely doubted even Luviagelita could handle it all alone.
He looked retarded, but the guy was probably double our ages combined, and just as experienced.
I was abruptly ripped from my thoughts when lightning formed into a ball near the statue's shoulder. I reacted before it could shoot out, and did a totally unnecessary backflip to dodge it. It ripped into the floor underneath me, blowing the tiles to shrapnel.
I wasn't expecting that to work honestly. As William, I could manage dozens easily, that was one of my hobbies, but Henry was a lanky youth that didn't have the luxury of doing what he wanted. His body didn't have the strength or flexibility.
"If Spiderman gets to do it, I do too."
Luviagelita was less than amused. "Spiderman got tossed into a wall for that unnecessary backflip."
I gasped.
She knew Spiderman too!
Really, I'd thought she'd be too high and mighty for such commoner things as watching shows and movies.
"You should have used the Iron Claw, although I doubt you could reproduce the elegance of Fritz von Erich." She shrugged her hands idly before turning to Gurdoa. "Are you willing to explain the abductions and murders of people not related to our world?"
"What does it matter if some nobodies die to fulfill our goal of reaching the Root!" He declared, shooting off more lightning. This time, at her. At that moment, I was forced to reveal a card I wanted to hide for a moment longer for dramatic effect.
I grabbed the lightning headed her way with my hand by holding it out between them... then, unceremoniously shoved it into my mouth. Yes, I ate the lightning. It threw a wrench into the little conflict. Both Luviagelita and Gurdoa seemed too shocked to do anything.
I understood Gurdoa's surprise but Luviagelita should have seen it coming. If I could copy Flat, I could certainly imitate and augment Gurdoa's lightning spells to my leisure just as easily. That was the reason I wasn't so desperately worried about what could come my way so long as magi were concerned.
"Of course." Luviagelita groaned a moment later, finally gleaning the nature of what just occurred. "Of course you can steal his spells too."
"Mere luck! Let's see how you deal with this!"
Gurdoa, on the other hand, seemed to discredit what happened as a fluke. Two of his beasts charged me openly. I only opened my hands. Reinforcement broke the beasts' momentum once they struck my palms, and then Gurdoa's augmented siphoning spell ripped the electricity sustaining their existence from their core in haphazard waves that coalesced into a thin, black storage strip under my eye.
In the few moments leading up to the confrontation, I'd stolen and augmented every spell he'd shown thus far, improving them and making my own body the siphon and the storage unit for what was siphoned.
"What... What did you just do?!"
"I just stole your life's work. It was easy as hell so get off that high horse already."
"Impossible!" He shouted like a seasonal villain that added nothing to a story. "You deciphered my spells?! How long have you been working to sabotage me?! Who sent you?!?"
Luviagelita looked like she sympathised with him on that one, the traitor.
"Fam, I didn't know you existed until ten or so minutes ago."
"But that's... what? How?"
"For your crimes, and your violation of the policies enforced by the Clock Tower, surrender." Luviagelita spoke seriously, crossing her arms under her chest. "Sacrificing civilians is taboo, you know this. You've risked revealing our world with your recklessness as well."
"Do I murder him?" I inquired politely. The guy was sacrificing people and stealing electricity from poor folks, he deserved it. Unfortunately, Luviagelita put a hand on my shoulder and shook her head in denial.
But then, she smirked. "Lord Barthomeloi's Policies Department will have worse in store."
"Come on... Gurdoa, is it? You're not just going to give in, right?" I shamelessly encouraged him. "You're a great magus that's going to put us in our places, aren't you? Come on, make me pay for stealing your spell!"
I needed to steal more shit off him. And, I was having so much fun.
He eyed me cautiously, measured his options and then his shoulders lost their strength. His staff clacked on to the floor, and the beasts surrounding us faded away along with all the lightning in the workshop.
"...I surrender."
"Goddammit."
What was this 'live to fight another day' bullshit? Since when were magi so smart?!
"Wait... won't he tattle about what I can do?" I tried to plead with Luviagelita.
The bitch just giggled. "Certainly, but will anyone believe him? They'll just think he's a sore loser trying to cope with the fact that he got outdone by his 'juniors'."
Why was everything so reasonable?
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Hope you were sufficiently entertained.
Comments
Potato
Too risky leaving him alive...
