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Arc 9 Chapter VI: At Distant Shores
🕑 Added 2025-08-08 09:31:35 +0000 UTCAn: Just a touch of aura farming and some personal satisfaction for yours truly, the need was stronger than I could ever hope to contain. Hope it wasn't too out of hand.
This world will last only for a chapter and a half by my estimate, two at most.
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The turbulence I expected upon my second world-walk was nowhere to be found, this time all I could perceive was Robert's fingers snapping and myself briefly spaghettifying before blinking and reappearing surrounded by all manner of greenery.
Scorch poofed into existence atop my shoulder and I sniffed the air.
"The magic of this place" I muttered "It's... flimsy-"
"Weak." Scorch chirped "Just call it what it is."
"Yeah, yeah" I waved him off while observing yet another forest I found myself in, though this one was less eldrich horror and more fae wonderland, if one would pardon the oxymoron.
Of course, the deep darkness surrounding everything, held back by only the tiniest of veils and this place's inherent lightness was what drew most of my attention. It was hungering and reaching in ways Oblivion never was, excepting some specific realms.
And yet I did not find myself threatened in the least.
Instead, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath of the crisp air, reveling in the fact I was walking on a world that was not Nirn.
"You have any idea where we are?" I pondered aloud as I opened my eyes and began walking the forest trail "This place feels vaguely familiar but only as a distant reference."
"How should I know?" Scorch shrugged his wings "It's damn pretty to look at though."
I cupped my chin and hummed "True" Before snapping my fingers and casting an illusion-based recording spell "Excellent inspirat-"
The way the ambient magic reacted made me pause. It was like a gust of wind blown back by a rock suddenly appearing out of nowhere, and the grass and plants that were touched by what little wasted discharge still plagued my most rushed spells either wilted to death or went through a small bit of spontaneous growth before they too wilted.
""Huh"" Scorch and I blinked ""Neat.""
Out of the corner of my vision I noticed a small creature flying at us, it was a tiny humanoid with butterfly wings followed by a trail of twinkling dust.
He? The creature lacked the parts but still looked masculine, stopped in front of us, eyes filled with panic as he let out a barrage of words, voice like a little bell yet still tainted by utter terror.
I raised a finger to forestall him "Give me a moment."
Poor fellow was still terrified but couldn't really do anything but wait.
Closing my eyes, I cast a highly complex translation spell, one that employed everything from illusions to mysticism to even psionics, and opened my eyes again.
"Care to repeat that?" I asked the creature.
He looked visibly relieved as he quickly spoke "We need help! Demons are invading Elfhelm, they are killing everyone! Please!"
"Elfhelm?" I quirked an eyebrow and shared a sideways look with Scorch "That is where we are?"
"You are a new arrival?" He gasped, covering his mouth "You came at a terrible time stranger" He paused, hesitating before clutching his tiny hands "If you can't fight, then at least flee, save yourself!"
My, how selfless.
"Calm down, calm down" I waved him down patiently and took out Robert's scroll, eyeing the tiny crimson ribbon he had inscribed with the recipients name, naturally only visible after I arrived 'God Hand'.
My eyebrows went up.
"That sounds reaaally fucking familiar." Scorch noted as he looked over from my shoulder.
I kept snapping my fingers rapidly as I dug through my brain before suddenly pausing "Berserk." I huffed and snapped my fingers a final time "Damn."
Scorch whistled.
I looked at the little fairy, my grin a cruel and deadly thing "Lead the way my good fellow. I do believe there is some mass murder to perform." I sighed half excited, half content "It has been a while since we've had a proper moonlit walk after all."
The little thing paled and startled but was too scared for his home to ask questions, and quickly led us down a winding forest path.
Incidentally, a bright full moon dominated the skies.
(General POV)
Schierke's heart thundered in her chest as she gripped her staff, the wooden implement creaking under the pressure of the magic she was channeling to hold back the small horde of demons ignoring Guts as he pointlessly battered their master's astral form with the Dragonslayer.
Whenever he managed to get by the hulking and far too quick form of Nosferatu Zodd that is.
Behind her, Farnese was dragging the bleeding and unconscious Casca back into the hut, while Serpico stood guard just a step to her left, sword in hand and eyes peeled.
The other residents of Elfhelm were also doing their best to fight the grotesque creatures back, but they were no warriors. Dozens of centaurs were broken by massive blades, treants screamed as they were set aflame, and her fellow mages too fell as they were overwhelmed.
The sole part of the battlefield not belonging to the demons was that surrounding the Skull Knight, as the ancient undead king cut through them atop his steed with all the skill and hatred of a millennium.
Deep within, Schierke knew there was no hope of escape from this.
Even the Flowerstorm King's power was steadily being pushed back by the Demonic creature who was at best humoring Guts' attempts at revenge.
Still, she grit her teeth, and summoned the spirits, rending a fat demon into pieces before taking a shaky step back as he was immediately replaced by a goat-faced creature wielding a great rusted axe.
She narrowed her eyes, and prepared for a last stand.
Except just then, something happened that left her completely lost and stunned, as a Glorious Golden Hawk blurred out from within the forest in in a trail of sun fire, chirping a merry "Sup bitch!" Before passing the goat demon by and leaving the creature screaming and eyeless.
Only for a moment though, as it was then engulfed by that very same golden flame.
The inhabitants of Elfhelm seemed to get a second wind at the sight, or more likely at the sudden burst of healing everyone was struck by as wounds closed and limbs regrow, and hearts were paradoxically set alight by the vulgar 'battle cry'.
The demons tried to react, throwing themselves and their weapons at the bird, but the golden creature would simply dodge them without even looking at them, before it once more left them eyeless and burning alive.
A demon looking like a great crystalline dragon began chasing the bird in the air, and was quickly drawn away as numerous insults one would need multiple dictionaries to list were thrown his way in the form of merry and mocking chirps.
Despite the hopeless situation, Schierke found herself feeling reinvigorated, and swiftly turned the winds upon a distracted demon, cutting him to pieces and saving a charging centaur.
The battle, if it could even be called that, turned slightly more even after that, but it was obvious the demons' victory was still inevitable, their ferocity was simply too much for even the bolstered defenders.
Except, the cacophony of war was suddenly cut off as a slow footstep echoed across the battlefield.
The air turned even heavier as the all encompassing darkness and what little of the King's light still remained was pushed back by a deathly simmering flame that was held back only by boiling ash, but no less suffocating for it.
All the demons, even their leader once he ensured Zodd had kicked Guts away and into a nearby tree, stopped what they were doing and followed the Elfhelmer's gazes east.
Out of the forest, gait lazy yet steady, stepped an imposing figure.
He was as tall as a very tall man, yet grey skinned, pointy eared, and red eyed, clad in immaculate black robes over full plate armor, and in lightly shining deep purple runes, a masterwork messer blade hung off his belt, lacking a scabbard.
"Apologies for the interruption" A cultured if slightly accented voice came from the still walking figure, seemingly carrying everywhere equally "I heard a fun little moshpit was going on just over the hill and I just couldn't help but take a look" He smiled.
And out of everything that happened, that expression was what terrified Schierke the most.
The sheer disinterest in the lives of everyone here, demon or not, or the completely relaxed and uncaring posture... it simply did not belong.
"What are you?" The, to everyone's bafflement, leader of the demons asked, sounding... confused?
"Didn't expect someone like me to pop up now didja?" The elf? rounded on the completely naked apparition of a silver haired man, and sneered "My, aren't you just the filthiest fucking thing on this world?"
Even the Skull Knight was utterly silent, astonishingly not trying to take the chance and murder the demons next to him.
The lead demon narrowed his eyes "I am-"
"I don't give a singular fuck." The elf interrupted, sneer still firmly on his face, a satisfied flash in his eyes as he saw the demon glare at him.
Before he could go on, one of the demons, a centaur with its torso on the horse's back looking thing armed with a glaive rushed him with fury in its eyes.
It roared, full of hate, and swung its weapon for the grey elf's neck.
Many voices called out in warning but ceased just as quickly as they came.
For the elf merely directed the demon with a sideways glance, and the creature combusted into grey flames, dying in a blink.
"Rude" The elf sniffed, waving his hand and removing what little ash remained. He cleared his throat "Right then, where was I?"
One of the more slimy looking demons smiled at him and slurped, its voice disgustingly sycophantic "You were introducing yourself, great one."
"Aha!" The elf snapped his fingers, combusting the thing "True enough, don't speak to me with those eyes though, it is quite disgusting." He mimed a light shudder.
With each word that left his lips, all but the mightiest of the demons took instinctual steps back, their fear growing palpable and their eyes trailing to their leader, pleading.
"Anyway" He cleared his throat again for emphasis "All you disgusting creatures need to know is that I am but the messenger of a higher power."
"A messenger?" The leader of the demonic army floated forward, but not too much closer, his voice mocking "A being like you serving as a mere messenger?"
"There are powers out there beyond your greatest imaginings, thing." Red eyes gleamed with cruel amusement "And kindly do not make your disgusting little attempts at me. I am of the belief you should have died in your cell, knowing exactly how worthless you are. And yet here you are, making your crawling ambition the world's problem."
The pressure around the demon exploded, and his retinue bellowed at the elf, charging at him in a blind fury.
Most simply exploded into grey flame, unable to scream before died.
Those stronger than they had the privilege of burning alive under unbearable agony.
Only Nosferatu Zodd managed to push through the flame at the cost of his fur and skin, swinging his great scimitar in a wide murderous arc, only for the elf's form to blur slightly backwards, evading the stealthy explosion of power the lead demon's powers-
-And in one cruel thrust, summoning a dark stabbing dagger, moving far quicker than even the demon champion could react so suddenly, and burying the blade into his gut.
The elf's red eyes gleamed with cruel satisfaction as they met those of Zodd and the pressure around the demon increased a hundredfold and he was split groin to shoulder with an agonizing slowness, the elf's gaze growing more cruel with each second of the agonizing execution.
To the utter horror of everyone, the demon let out the most miniscule whimper before falling onto its back, its entire chest gouged out and missing.
"Now" The elf flicked his hand, all the blood previously sticking to him simply flopping onto the ground in front of him "Are there any more interruptions or can I do my job?"
The leader of the demons looked up from Zodd's corpse and gave the elf a look of utter hatred "Speak." He commanded.
The elf raised an eyebrow but generously let it go "Just to confirm, you are associated with the group known to themselves as the God Hand, yes?"
The demon grit his teeth "Yes."
"Excellent" The elf clapped his hands and reached for a scroll emblazoned with a simple yet intimidating crimson rune, once more clearing his throat for what Schierke would swear were solely dramatics "Dear Five Fingerfuckers and Co." The demon's teeth began grinding "It is ya boi, Robert."
The elf paused and shrugged "Don't ask me why that is his name, I have no fucking idea."
And then went on as if nothing happened "Your little gang of chuckleshits has been running roughshod over an entire realm for far too long, and just because your little brainfucker of a leader got lucky and managed to connect to your hells when he was still a dumbass little kid. My bad, I shall fix this posthaste."
By this point, the eyes of the lead demon were threatening to pop out of his astral skull.
"And thus, for generations upon generations of crimes committed upon the most sacred of aspects of the being, the soul, I sentence you and yours to a cleansing so absolute even legends of your mention will one day disappear."
The demon tried speaking but something in the air made him choke on his words.
The elf pretended not to notice "Do try not to die too quickly however, your executioner will appreciate a little challenge at least."
Just as he finished speaking, the elf read something no doubt meant for himself, and snapped the wax emblem on the scroll, disintegrating it, and a great bright bloody red rune Schierke recognized from the scroll carved itself into the ground.
A slow three word chant one could only ever describe as even more demonic than the demons began echoing across the forest.
The elf's mouth threatened to split at how wide he was grinning, as he too muttered the chant.
While the demon was trembling under some instinctual fear, quickly summoning whatever other creatures of evil were connected to him.
But no observer could pay anymore attention to the source of their recent suffering as the chanting picked up, and a figure clad in thick segmented armor of green, and his face hidden behind a baleful yellow visor stepped out, what looked to be a firearm worthy of the greatest dwarf artisans hanging off his belt.
"Greetings, my lord." The elf offered an elaborate but earnest bow to the man, who merely stared at him in silence "I believe your targets for this excursion should be rather obvious" He indicated the demons and smirked "Rip and tear, as you have always done. But do remember to have fun." He added with a wink.
The knight stared at his summoner for a long moment before simply looking back at the demons, and nodding.
And in a blink, the armored figure disappeared, a moment before Griffith's astral form got its teeth punched out and was launched through half the forest, and half the demons around him exploded into gore.
The Skull Knight wasted no time in falling upon the rest of them, the ancient skeleton far more animated than ever.
"Well" The grey elf clapped his hands seemingly in satisfaction "Now that that is done with." He turned to Schierke "I suppose proper introductions are in order."
Schierke gulped.
----
(Reyvin's POV)
"Well, well, well" I hummed as I looked down at the armored wreck of a man known as Guts "How old was he again?" I asked the short witch next to me, her male companion following despite his obvious fear of me.
"I am not sure... my lord?" She blinked, unsure how to address me.
"The proper term is Your Imperial Majesty." I grinned as the two gaped at me "But my lord will suffice for now."
"Right" The now even more terrified girl trembled slightly "He should be around twenty, I think."
I quirked an eyebrow "Looks to be in his late forties" I kicked him slightly casting an analysis spell as I did "Unless you have some incredible healing magic on hand, kid is going to be dead within the year."
The man whose name was Serpico hissed while the witch Schierke lowered her gaze.
"But" I grinned cheekily "You are in luck."
Four hopeful eyes looked up at me.
"I happen to be something of a sorcerer myself" I winked at the two, though they did not share in my amusement "And I just can't help but reward the sheer brass balls on the mortal motherfucker who willingly threw himself at a creature of Griffith's power."
"He" Schierke looked away "Didn't have much of a choice."
I snapped my fingers and they both flinched away "Right, the curse thing. Never liked those bullshit magical contracts personally, that filth is banned in my domain, especially if one-sided."
"Debating the vileness of the act seems pointless." Serpico tuned in, having finally gathered his courage.
"True enough" My lazy response both surprised them and made them relax "Now let us see..."
My Magicka made the air visibly shudder as it formed into a restoartion spell, and my Aedric Magicka made it outright retreat as I added a bit of a cleansing effect to it, and as I cast it on the child soldier, something within his armor tried to attack me.
But it was just a spirit connected to a piece of equipment, and one of my greater aspects dealt with that kind of bullshit, and thus the overly eager shadow puppy flinched away from a burst of glorious grey flame, and retreated with a pained whimper.
By now the little witch had fallen on her rear, gaping up at me like I was some kind of alien.
Heh.
Within those few seconds, the man's entire body seemed to de-age back to where it should be, and the scar carved into the side of his neck momentarily sizzled before disappearing from existence, only a light paling of the skin vaguely shaped like it revealing it had ever existed.
Keeping perfectly tight control over my magic was a slight annoyance but thankfully the surrounding interference was far too light for me to make a mistake now that I knew what to expect.
Fucking Scorch thought using the embattled fae creatures as healing practice, how utterly unsurprising.
"Anyone else 'blessed' by something similar?" I leadingly asked the witch and swordsman.
Telling Serpico to guard the berserker's body, Schierke practically dragged me into a half-ruined hut, passing by a vaguely familiar woman who looked at me with a familiar silent terror, and lead me to an unconscious dark skinned woman, one I was far more familiar with.
One could not fail to pity Casca after having even the slightest idea of what she had gone through, and that was only with the Golden Age arc that I had consumed in my previous life.
Something told me things did not get better for her over time after that.
Schierke bowed deeply and stammered "Please heal her."
"No need for that, kid" I ruffled her pointy witch's hat, and act that seemed to terribly annoy her if she was annoyed enough to glare up at me as she held it down, and looked down at the once-mercenary.
I went through the same process as outside, and quickly repaired all the damage done to her, fixing her to her perfect state "Her mind is almost completely fucked." I noted as I finished the physical healing.
"Yes" Schierke whispered forlornly, clutching at her staff "We managed to help fix it but any mention of... what came before makes her lose herself."
"And seeing the man who had done unspeakable things to her would no doubt trigger such a thing" I hummed, fingers scratching my goatee as I regretted not personally punching the glowing asshole "How unfortunate."
"It's worse than that." Schierke added as she looked away and proceeded to narrate how the unconscious woman had truly connected with a young spirit child the entire previous day, only for it to transform into Griffith as the moon rose.
My mouth thinned into a line "A shame."
"Which part?" The young witch asked bitterly, now slightly more used to my presence.
"That child will not survive the Slayer." I tried to remain serious and solemn but a bit of the giddiness I felt at seeing the man and myth in action pushed through.
Schierke looked down "There is no chance?"
"Man fears the demon" I pretended to quote "And the demon fears the Slayer." And with that I cast a series of mental locks on the woman, allowing her to observe certain memories while completely locking out her emotional response to them.
It was for the best, I'd say, that she knows what happened and is still able to move on after.
"That should do it." I nodded in satisfaction "She should be mostly fine now."
Schierke looked at me hesitantly "Will she... will she be able to talk to Guts now?"
"Should be" I shrugged "I rarely use my psionics to build minds but my skills should be solid enough that the mental blocks will work." At her panicked look I added "She will remember most things, they will merely not be able to drag her down."
"Ah" She exhaled "I see."
"I am happy for your eyesight" I quipped and clapped my hands "Now where can a Mer find some good coffee around here? Methinks I earned it."
The two conscious women in the room looked at me curiously.
They had no fucking coffee.
Comments
Aiko S.
That was hilarious and satisfying, RIP AND TEAR!
Curiosity44
Most of my thoughts have been stolen once more. Woe me for the weakness of my flesh. This was hilarious. Anyway, doing a great job man, i hope you keep following the ideas that bring you the most fun.
