Chapter 31: To help a friend? We do what we must
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"Much can be said about the Shogunate, but today I want to focus on their warriors whose mastery of Ki goes beyond even of the Vermilion Knights! With but a swipe from their swords mountains can be cleaved in half and the very seas part before them"

On the Shogunate Volume 3.

 

William was in his room writing in his diary. The events of the past few days weighed heavy on his mind as he was unable to sleep for the better part of the week, according to Erwin his Silent Curse was worsening and he would be wise to prepare for intense nightmares and hallucinations.

"How in all that is arcane and magical you found a near-endless supply of Ardarite?! Father had to kill an entire civilization of undead dwarves to get a mine opened a few years back did you know that?!?" Kaine spoke a tad too loudly from his seat, the young man was working on several Magi-Tech puzzles he and a few priests had come up with.

"Also can we please take my sister out of that dungeon? I know she sliced your arm off and all that but I don't think it's fair-"

"Kaine the girl told my people numerous times she doesn't wanna leave, and that the sun is better than this "detestable snow of the north" but if you want to convince her again, by all means, be my guest" William swiftly cut his old new friend off with the ease that bespoke of a friendship years in the making.

Kaine eyed him for a second before talking "It's honestly scary how well you can read me you know? You know the right words, how to phrase them, and how to tease me enough to find your company near hypnotical. I would suspect foul play but you don't have a Mind Magic & Illusion License so It has to be that blessing of yours" He pointed to William's womb with the grace of a sailor.

"You wonder why your mother mocks you for not having a girlfriend...Oh, Kaine what I'm to do with you" William laughed as his mind went back to Earth and the game, Kaine was always a fun character to talk to. The young man knew just enough to survive in the social fields but not enough to be smooth about it after all only magic and the arcane were worthy of any importance. His words.

"Don't you "oh Kaine" me! I've dealt with Saal'Xhir people before! That blessing gives them unfair advantages when it comes to dealing with other people and I have a working theory that proves it!" and to his credit, the theory had grounds to stand on as Kaine went on and on about how a Sphere of Power such as love can be as wide as the All-Father's even if not on the same level of power.

William on his hand explained to the young man how there were several limiters at work which mortals weren't privy to (but he knew thanks to outside of the game lore and explanations from the dev team) plus some of his own and the game's community theories about how the inner workings of a Sphere were set and what bounds they had to obey as to preserve the ever-changing balance of power in the Divine Game.

Two days, it took William two days to break Kaine's aversion and fear of him by feeding him the bread crumbs of knowledge the young man craved so much. And the man knew it by the looks he gave off every time William pretended to be busy.

"You are hiding something from me Lucrezia. You know something very important and is teasing me with shades of it" Kaine said as he finished the last puzzle "I don't understand why. Why would you play with me out of all people you know?" His eyes told William the young man wasn't suspicious but genuinely curious about this whole song and dance William and he was doing.

"You know about the Ancient Race that once called this planet home, long before All-Father came?" A rhetorical question as William knew Kaine was fascinated with them, as their sole Goddess was magic focused many a spell that was derived from this Ancient Race were prized by mages in the whole world.

Kaine nearly jumped off the table in surprise and hit his foot in the chair support. William laughed as he cried out in mock outrage.

"I hope you don't lure him later for" Lucrezia began speaking and William immediately replied, sensing her intent.

"What is wrong with you? Kaine doesn't care for stuff like that! Sweet Jesus Lucrezia" William spoke.

Lucrezia laughed and said "Pot calling the kettle black William, now explain to our guest what you plan on doing before he notices you staring at nothing again" William turned to Kaine as Lucrezia finished her laugh.

William sighed and began talking about his plan, with a map he went over Kaine and said "Near the underground fortress my people are using there lies ruins of the Ancients, a mighty ziggurat made for their begone Goddess. Now according to this" William pulled a notebook that looked old as dirt and said "Diary from one of the last priests of the place they were working on a mighty time spell to reverse the flow of time and stop their Goddess from leaving"

Kaine's eyes went wide, the boy was nearly drooling like a predator staring at prey. With good reason after all Time Magic was extremely hard to pull off since the Goddess Gwenarius hated any sort of meddling in her Sphere.

That is until the news got out said Goddess was secretly desperate for followers! more and more power to up-and-coming Gods and Goddesses were muscling on her territory since while her power was big it was unguarded by Faith! this placed insane pressure on the Goddess and thus she began secretly Blessing mortals all over the world. Alas, Gwenarius was something of a novice when it came to properly foster faith among the people, and not wanting to show weakness she dared not seek help.

Thus people like Kaine had to "Earn" their blessing from that foolish Goddess by performing worthwhile acts thus unlocking the Blessing's full potential and giving the sigil to its holders. William knew Kaine was currently hiding his "Unknow Blessing" from his parents and this was the perfect opportunity to rope the best Chronomancer of the country to his side.

"Come with me, Kaine! Together we will brave the depths of this Ziggurat and you will have a spell so mighty that even our Goddess of Time will not be able to ignore! And then the truth of your Blessing will be made manifest!"

The young man looked flabbergasted "Wha- How did y- Impossible! Not even my parents know about that!" He then realized he had given himself away and slumped back to his chair, hands going up to his face and hair.

"You going to end up bald like your uncle if you keep that up Kaine," William said while laughing "I know many things, my dear. Now get ready for we are leaving in an hour!" William moved the map back to his desk and gave Kaine the ancient diary " The translation is over there in my desk, now I must talk with Saa about the expedition. Ring the bell if you want anything" William left the room as Kaine moved towards his desk, he grabbed the translation and began pouring over the diary.

Of course, William didn't tell the young man how he had translated the text when Ancient Languange took years to master, if he had to explain that it was English with a few different rules he would no doubt be smitten here and there. With a laugh in the corridors of his castle, he walked with a spring in his step because today would be the day of dungeon raiding!

And a High Level one at that!


Margareth watched as her brother pleaded once again for her to come out of the "dungeon" only for her to wave him away, honestly, the boy worried too much but she was touched nonetheless for the gesture alleviated a bit of the sorrow. Sorrow for her dead boyfriend whose's killer was currently sucking up to her brother like the Saal'Xhir whore she was, and yet for all the rage she felt that day now only a deep sense of emptiness remained.

The Silent Curse found many a way to strike. For some, it would be a mania so strong they would lose themselves, for others they would lose love for life and family. Her case was one of the more common ones, the Hopelessness and Empty she felt were part and parcel for many a Knight and Solider all over the world and thus the treatment would work. Hopefully, that is.

Mevant Goddess of Redemption was the leading force against the Curse. Her churches were humble places of peace and healing for those who needed it, all Margareth needed was to go back to the Capital and petition the aid of the local branch, and yet...

There was something here, in this damned cold cursed land that made her ponder, think, and ruminate. Why did Lucrezia not take the First Prince prisoner? Why slaughter him like a common thug together with his people and spare his Knights? to use the degree of force she did and not destroy her opposition as it was her right? Margareth knew something was up, and she suspected her brother was also wondering the same.

Thus she remained in her vigil. Granted one at a lovely recreation of a beach thanks to arcane magicks and a dungeon core but still lovely. If only those insane madmen from the Imperium realized the untapped potential for tourism instead of using cores as weapons...But that was a rant for another day to an actual audience instead of the bored-looking maid who was tending to her needs.

When she asked to be washed by "Lucrezia's best" she was honestly joking and trying to give a hard time to the Duchess. Alas, the woman took her at face value, and thus this tall merwoman was the one Margareth had to deal with daily.

Lapis Laar was her name. According to the woman herself, she was a new hire that came over after the work in Lucrezia's deep seaport was done and she didn't want to go back to the Diamond Reefs. In her words "working as a barmaid for drunken sharks and crabs was tiring and annoying, plus the Duchess pays better" to round up the trio Margareth would often "speak" with the Dungeon Core.

The thing wasn't sentient per se. As the Imperium had harsh laws regarding creating new life, but it was capable of speech akin to an arcane automaton. And so she wasted her days away with this crew of hers.

"Miss Antewood if you don't me asking, why remain here when Lady Lucrezia said you were free to go?" Lapis asked as she got out of the "seawater" according to the woman it was just an ungodly amount of magical water made real thanks to the core and it tasted like booze to her. On a dare, Margareth drank the water and indeed it tasted like wine made with magical fruits.

Imperial mages were well known to be boozehounds, Margareth could only guess the creator of this core was one of them. She turned to Lapis and said "It is clear your Duchess has an uncommon interest in my brother. I will not turn tail and run and let her do whatever she plans to do with him" plus her parents were busy for the foreseeable future, something they told her and her brother before the left as they were going to explore some sort of pocket dimension an Elven mage from the principality made for them.

Of course, should Margareth or Kaine run into mortal danger the ward on them would ping her mother and father, but she knew from experience popping the ward for anything that wasn't "help us we are about to die" would mean a very angry par of mages nagging her for days on end so she decided to not use the ward, for now, that is.

"Maybe she just likes the lad? I mean your brother isn't as good-looking as some of the Squires but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz... Gods know people blessed by Saal'Xhir have the strangest of tastes in partners haha"

Margareth's lips formed a thin line, ugh, of course, that oaf of a maid would bring that up again. The fate of anyone who has friends with people blessed by that Goddess it seems, Margareth prayed that her brother would be spared from this teasing but then again the boy was both anti-social and a master of avoiding people. Took his Illusion permit test earlier than even father just to learn magicks that let him blend in and disappear.

The day after that convo Margareth was awakened by Kaine who was hopping around the place like a kid on their birthday. It took a few minutes to calm him down and explain that Lucrezia was taking him on an expedition in a gods forsaken ruin from the Ancient race that once called this planet their home. And worse yet Lucrezia told him the loot was a chronomancy spell of yore!

She knew Ancient Magic was of orders of magnitude above theirs. To think a spell made from a time where there was no God to Defend the flow of time from tampering would exist was something very scary.

But Margareth trusted her brother, he had a host of issues but being irresponsible with his magic? that wasn't one of them. If anything she was the worse of the two, slinging high-level magicks around like nothing in her early days.

Like that Wind Blade with overcharged mana that tore Lucrezia's arm off, she had seen the woman walk around without an arm like nothing had happened but that had to hurt right? According to Kaine, she would often complain about phantom pain but nothing else. Plus they were making a Magi-Tech arm for her at any rate...

Margareth sighed, sadness seeping over as it did when the core when in its recharging state and the sun dimmed. She watched as Lapis bid farewell and the sun "set" Hoping her brother would not hurt himself in the expedition.

Gods knew she couldn't afford to lose another loved one.


"Are ye sure of this missy?! It's a big drop from here!" Screamed the leader of the dwarven miners who were blasting away through the underground to reach the Ziggurat, So far they had to kill a few rock worms and big slimes but nothing hard in William's opinion.

"That's ok my good man. I have the spells to make a safe landing, By the time we are back you will be finished with those stairs right?" Asked Kaine who was constantly casting spells to map the tunnels, read the mana currents and look for more enemies, they had reached a huge abyss where the Ziggurat was located and they were ready to jump to the bottom.

The Dwarven man nodded and thus William and Kaine jumped into the abyss, the spell gently floating them below.

After they reached solid ground William began burning massive quantities of mana and pulled the iron from the rocks around them. Forming torch holders to the entrance of the Ziggurat. With a prayer for the All-Mother, he chanted a miracle of fire and light and the torch holders lit up in blue flame, the way clear William began walking towards the entrance.

"Not worried about monsters?" Kaine asked as he began casting spells "Also that's an impressive feat of Magnetism and Weaving of arcane matrixes! granted we could optimize it far better because you just burned a huge quantity of mana and that was a waste! Gods, it's like you skipped the first 3 years of magical theory Lucrezia... Wilson would be ashamed if he saw that" Kaine was winding up for another rant, probably how unfair it was for mages with low mana reserves and so William decided to cut the boy right there and there.

"Kaine" It was all he said. He got the message fast as he clamped and up for a solid minute only to speak later "Sorry, I tend to get a bit too into the nuts and bolts of spell weaving" he cleared his throat and asked "How's the new arm by the way"

William smiled as he flexed his Magi-Tech hand. The Mark I arm was very much a prototype and it had several improvements to be built for it (There was a godsdamned itch where his skin met the construct for example) But so far? the thing was great.

William could punch a goddamn bolder with it! He had already drafted a series of upgrades to it, from heated blades that could impale enemies to walls. to sonic blasters and heat-seeking taser rounds in the knuckles for less than lethal takedowns. He had also drafted a rocket punch but Idun was against the idea as he would need to replace the entire arm thanks to the limitations on the tech.

Made out of mana crystals and enchanted ice. The deep azure color of the arm pleased William's sense of aesthetics, he turned to Kaine and said "It's great but there's room for improvement" he nodded and spoke "As anything be it magical or technical. Never settle for good enough when you can reach near perfection!" words from his father that William knew the young man held dear to his heart.

They reached the threshold and Kaine spoke "According to the diary we will need to prove our worth by a trial of might or wisdom, now I'm fairly knowledgeable about Ancient culture and customs but I rather not risk my skin and end up dead because whatever is there asked us an esoteric question few know. I vote for a trial of combat" he finished with a smile.

"The trail will demand us to carve our way through the Ziggurat's defensive systems, Kaine you ready for it?" William asked just to make sure, he wanted to let loose a little after nearly two weeks of being cooped up in the castle.

"Don't you worry, now say the words to that statue over there" he pointed to a statue of a mighty warrior, the Ancients had for the longest time lived life in a utopian society, of course, that went down in flames after their Goddess left them and they began warring against each other. This warrior must've been someone important if William was remembering his lore right.

William pulled his ever-trusty dragonbone ax and focused into his Magnetism as a Steel Halo formed right above his head.

"Keep your training up and soon your Magnetism will be able to tame even special alloys! Gods I always loved going to the Academy and watching the mages of your element there weaving and bending the arcane and the metal. Such a sight of skill and flow always left me a tiny bit jelly but one must not blame the Gods and Fate for the element of magic they can control"

Kaine then grabbed the Magi-Tech staff William had made for him and began casting spell after spell in speeds only the son of the Arch-Mage could do it. Wards against poison and soul attacks, protective barriers, and even a regenerative spell that was infamous for being hard to pull off. Just like his game counterpart, the young man was the perfect support mage to have at the party. Low damage but with a repertoire that shored up enough for that weakness to not matter.

Especially once you unlocked time magic for him. And William was going to turn him into a late-game monster even before they set foot inside the Academy!

It wasn't just the staff William had to remind himself. A tailor-made robe the very first of its kind for full integration of spell casting and Magi-Tech in an offensive capability, Armored Boots, and gauntlets, and a crystalline circlet all made with Enchanted Ice and Mythril meant Kaine was packing end game gear and William made sure he wouldn't get the items back, they belonged to him now.

William said the words to the Statue and a path opened up "Let's go" and Kaine followed with a nod.

They were slowly making their way inside with William at the front ready to take damage when Kaine tapped his staff 2 times. A sign they had set up before going underground, his spell had picked up enemies! William nodded and pulled his ax as he stalked forward.

Arriving at the entrance of an arena he sighed in disappointment. Of course, he forgot about the layout of the dungeon! There would be no trash mobs until they cleared the first mini-boss and a barrier broke somewhere else in the Ziggurat.

William made a sign to go forward and stepped into the arena together with Kaine as a shade made itself manifest and said

[.......]

"It's doing something! Kaine!" William barked the order and the mage began precasting more defensive spells, All William could remember from the first boss was that it liked doing huge AoE attacks every 60 seconds.

Feeling his body being enveloped in Kaine's spell William grinned in expectation as his Lust began heating his body readying itself for the slaughter, a beam of light burned the middle of the arena and with a scream William dashed forward towards the form inside of it, a golem towering above him wind up a punch that came faster than its size should've allowed.

William screamed again and the Halo of Steel formed a sheet that blocked the punch as he threw a mighty swing at the leg of the golem. In his mind, he thought the construct would've simply shrugged off the attack and kept pounding away at him but reality decided to play a trick on him and his ax fell the leg in a clean sweep! William didn't even compute the fact when his lust took over and went for the other leg as the golem went down like a bag of bricks.

Kaine finished casting a mighty Arcane Arrow and pierced the head of the golem as William dodged to the side with the grace of a rhino. The boy laughed and screamed "Hell of an ax strike there Lucrezia! You should've seen it from my point of view! it was like you were one of those monks from the far east who can imbue themselves with lighting and strike as fast as the element itself!... Are you ok?"

William focused his mind and sat down to meditate. After a tense few seconds, he spoke "Give me 3 minutes to get this...in order" Kaine nodded and said "Oh yes your battle lust. forgot about that caveat of your blessing... I can cast many cleaning spells if you need for it" He said dead serious and William had to hold his wheeze in, God bless this dude he thought. Not a single ounce of lewd intent in his bones.

"When you told me Kaine Antewood was "magic sexual" I had thought you were messing with me, William. Well well," Lucrezia said in his mind with a hint of humor in her voice. William laughed inside and out and replied to Kaine "I'm good thank you. Let us continue shall we?"

Kaine nodded and they began moving forward when the same shade showed up. William immediately pulled the ax and got ready. In the game, the shade loses steam after the first boss battle and goes away in flames! What was going on?

[Stay thy weapon, Alien, I bear thee no ill will] the voice spoke in his mind, and from the whelp Kaine gave, it spoke to his as well. Fucking A William thought another thing he did not know about it.

"Lucrezia! These are Ancient Spectres! arcane entities meant to guard very important locations! It looks like it is at the tail end of its life too! I can feel the arcane matrix fraying away as it speaks" Kaine raised his voice and spoke to the shade "We are no Aliens! We are natives of this world! Your race has perished construct and we-"

A sigh came from the shade that cut off Kaine's words [So they failed? The calculations showed as much and yet they raged on trying to bring back the Goddess...How long has it been Alien?]

"Eons" Kaine replied.

[And yet there's life on the surface. Including those silly Emotional Spirits from the Markar Collective...tell me Alien, who rules our world now?]

"All-Father Faal, the Conqueror" William replied with the full name, the very earth trembled as William could feel the divine energies focusing on him for a split second. Kaine gasped and whispered, "She does have the All-Mother blessing after all..."

The shade stayed quiet for a few seconds and then spoke [My time nears its end as your companion said Child of Faal, Yet I sense thee and thy companion came for the spells housed in this place. A trial of combat was chosen and thus I must make the prize ready should you and yours complete it. No steel yourselves for the enemy comes] The shade left as Kaine picked up multiple small golems converging at their location.

William and Kaine moved forward and found their first targets, 5 small golems patrolling for them in the maze as William gave Kaine the signal to open a salvo. Spears of Light and Crystal made themselves manifest as William charged forward and slashed the trash packs with ease. He watched as Kaine circled between elements with the ease of a druid. The perks of being born of the greatest arcane practitioners of the kingdom heh. Kaine might not be a powerhouse in the damage category but his sheer utility had no equal as the young man mastered the elements in but a few years.

After the first two trash packs, William picked up the pace as Kaine was now in full fight mode. He went deeper and deeper getting more and more enemies to come at them with controlled abandon. Healing and Shielding plus wards became more and more common as William required more of that than magical might which he could cover with his Magnetism and Ice spells.

They arrived at the second and final arena. Kaine was gasping for air as he spoke "Please...Just 5 minutes...I'm nearly empty!" William threw him a potion made out of mana crystals meant to boost mana and he drank it deeply.

Taking the time to dust himself off from the dirt the Golems left in his armor William tried to recall the strategy for the upcoming boss. According to his last playthrough where he come down here it was something about always making sure no one stood in the same place for more than 5 seconds. Otherwise, the boss would tie them down and the player would need to rush to release the one tied.

He told Kaine that as the young man nodded and sat down on his bag with a plop. He rested his back in the walls and said "Gods above you madwoman! Are you trying to make me bottom out my reserves or something?! I don't have a boatload of blessings like you! Peace yourself better!" He wanted to scream but for William, it sounded more like a whiny kid.

William smiled and said "What's the matter, Kaine? Can't last more than 20 minutes?"

Kaine sighed "Ugh, bloody Saal'Xhir followers..."

A few more minutes past the initial 5 Kaine asked were enough for him to get better and both stepped into the arena as the Beam of light showed up again and a humanoid golem appeared.

With a scream, William jumped forward and slashed the thing, this time the golem came prepared with twin great shields as it used for both offense and defense. Kaine was casting a spell and running as he could feel the bidding spell trying to root him in place.

The golem turned to Kaine and slammed both shields on the ground. The young mage whelped as the damn thing charged towards him like a mad bull! He cast a flight spell as a last-ditch effort right when the golem slammed into the ground where he was standing. William slammed his hands into the ground and burning a massive quantity of mana and pulled 3 wicked-looking iron spikes from the ground. Impaling the golem as Kaine blasted him from the air with a firebolt spell.

"I hate Flying! oh, my mana reserves..." Kaine said as he landed on the ground "Gods what I wouldn't give for a blessing from one of the wind gods so flying would be so taxing on my mana" he dusted himself and turned to William who was dizzy from burning so much mana "I told you Lucrezia stop doing these silly attacks! gods what a waste of mana! when we get back I'm teaching how to properly weave mana and spell!" He laughed as he hit the ground and said "After I'm done resting that is"

The shade came back and said [The way is open Child of Faal, the prize is your]

Both him and Kaine got up and followed the Shade, their prize waiting at the end of the long corridor

Time Magic!

 

As always don't forget to rate/comment/review 

Any grammar errors let me know in the comments

Big thanks to my patreons

Huge shoutouts to my friend Webbysaurus

More and Merrier tier: Ranamga.

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I hope you all enjoy this little slice of dungeon action. It was rather fun to write a combat sequence that was well, straightforward as this one.

As always if you want more, Patreon is 4 chapters ahead, I will be uploading the first part of chapter 36 tomorrow!

The otome dream lives on!

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