Chapter 35- Assassin
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Announcement
So Nath'aniel gets his First Servant in this chapter. I put a limited time poll at the end of chapter because in book 2 the person that will be bound as Servant qualifies for two classes, and would like some input in how it will end. I am leaning towards one, but have ideas for the other as well, and no, i will spoil who will be bound in book 2.

Chapter 35- Assassin

Preserve Jungle- North of the Citadel, Date unknown (Noon)

Nath’aniel-

The mage stared at the soldier with the odd double-tubed weapon as he passed out. Despite the Healing spell, a part of Nath'aniel still hurt. Maybe it was from the flesh being exposed to the elements, but he doubted it.

Suddenly his own pain became nothing as he heard John’s words.“Nath! It’s Betsy. I don’t think she’s breathing.”

Nath’aniel took only a second to direct two Saber class Constructs to the capture of the fallen soldier, before moving over to check on the first person he saw when he awoke. Once next to her, he swiftly wrote the Appraisal spell rune to see what was wrong. Even with his own eyes, he could tell that she was lacking a right foot. Add to that a similar burn, to that he healed in his chest, was in the center of her chest.

He didn’t even need to wait for the data to show itself, to know that she was dying. In the second and a half it took for the magi symbols to appear in front of her, Psylocke’s skin tone had worsened by two shades. While her lunges were working, the air wasn’t getting to the rest of her.

And the mage knew there wasn't a spell he trusted himself to cast or that he had enough time to treat her like he had Basilisk.

Nath’aniel closed his eyes before he took a deep breath.

"Come on mate, you can’t just sit there. Do something." John said beside him.

When he released the breath that he had been holding, Nath'aniel felt something inside his chest and his arm responded. The mage pulled his sleeve to see that one of his decorative inking's, tattoos Gypsy had called them, was glowing. Nath'aniel wanted to rub his eyes but knew if he did it would cause Pyro to panic. ‘I really should have taken some time to scan myself.’ The mage thought as he tried to understand the Intent his body was trying to tell him.

Nath’aniel could feel an echo of Intent, but Nath’aniel hated to cast a spell that he didn’t understand the theory behind. But from all that he did know, the woman before him was minutes, if not less, away from dying.

Nath'aniel suddenly remembered the words of his mother. 'Stop digging runt, once the hole is too deep, you only have one option. Climb.' The mage knew that he was in too deep. He should have never left the Citadel and left this to these X-geners. But now he had left, and she was before him. And he only has one option. The unknown Intent cried inside him again.

"If this doesn't work, I have nothing. I'm sorry. Not only to you but more so to her." Nath'aniel said as he realigned the Intent in his body. He held his left hand over the dying woman. When the two Intents aligned he Willed it to Psylocke. Unlike a rune that he usually used, a chant began to appear in the mage’s mind. He disliked chants. It always took too much time to say and made him feel like a fool.

“In the darkness you shall find them, always the hunter never the prey. Unleash your blade hunter of the worldwide board room, for now is the time for you to be, from now and forever. You shall be, My Assassin.”

When the chant finished Psylocke gasped one last time, before her eyes closed and she lay still for the last time. Nath’aniel felt the urge to cry, but before he could pain flared into his left hand. Not the arm from the inkings, but the back of hand's his flesh. As a new ink image appeared from nothing, a detailed three-stage marking. Not too different from to sketch of three lightning bolts, or hiltless daggers, that had formed on the back of his hand.

Pyro seemed confused like the All-Speak runes hadn't translated the chant. Nath'aniel doubted that it had in fact did, as most magic was outside the treaty of the Ten Realms. But more than that, he seemed exceedingly saddened by the clear degradation of Psylocke’s body.

But before the novelist could find his voice. Strange purple lights appeared near Psylocke. And standing next to her dead body was a new uninjured Psylocke. Her hair was no longer a fading purplish brown color but had a deep purple shade to her hair. And instead her moderately effective purple-dyed padded armor. She wore a skin-tight blue latex suit that only covered her chest and groin. She had on also fingerless gloves and leggings. Although these items did reach high, up to her elbows on her arms, and up to her thighs on her legs. And finally around her waist was a red sash, which had a short blade tucked into it.

She took two deep breaths, clearly happy to being able to again. Before she bowed almost ninety degrees, both her hand pressed against her sides during the motion. As she did so she greeted Nath'aniel saying. “Assassin, ready to serve her Master.”

Her voice was cold, and the movement of her lips didn't match the languages that she usually used. Then he realized that she had actually had spoken Magi to him. Ignoring this revelation, Nath'aniel cast another Appraisal spell and was pleased to see that she was not only healthy and at no risk of dying. But all of body was in its peak shape.

Pyro must have learned to read the colors of an Appraisal spell, as he moved to hug the new Psylocke. Clearly ignoring the dead one, laying on the ground behind her. However, she stepped back and materialized a sword. It was like the one in her sash but made of pure psychic energy. And was held in her left hand, and held it pointed toward the happy man's neck.

As she glared at Pyro, Nath’aniel noticed a new inking of her own. It was on her face. And it appeared to him as the shape of a red downward pointed dagger. He also noticed that the usual ‘hilt’ of energy had appeared around the real hilt of her summoned sword.

“Woo. Bess, it's just me.” Pyro said as he held up his arms in surrender. “Look I get it, you have a brush with death, and both you and the mage are speaking strange languages, but it’s all good now. You are here, and you're healthy. So nothing to worry about.”

But as Pyro spoke Psylocke didn’t seem to recognize him, despite their history and him standing before her.

Since he had cast the unknown spell, Nath'aniel could feel an itch in the back of his mind. Like the Eastern Tribesman and he was linked in some way. But not in a way he understood. The Appraisal spell told him that she was unchanged and healthy. Going against his nature, the mage trusted his instincts and said. "Assassin, stand down. He is my ally and guest."

She immediately responded to Nathaniel's words. The summoned sword vanished, and she nodded to Pyro. Before walking past her old ally and standing beside the mage. Nath'aniel could see that she was using her psychic abilities to reach out and learn. But he was surprised by how much of her attempts were not at her 'allies' but towards the Citadel's Thought Engine.

‘What have I done to her?’ the mage wondered.

While Nath’aniel thought about his actions she continued to question and learn. When suddenly Psylocke spoke. “Sir. Two of your guests are in danger. They are amongst the company of your enemies, while also in the hunting grounds of great beasts of the jungle. It would be best if we retrieved them.” There was a pause before she added. “Before further harm happens to your Guests.”

The mage didn't take her chiding remark to heart. She wasn't wrong. If this new spell hadn't worked she would be dead. And both Quicksilver and Exodus were down. Let alone what condition Magneto and Gypsy were in.

Nath'aniel turned towards the gathering of Constructs and pointed to the closest and order. "Obey Pyro as if he were me for the next hour."

“What! Bloody hell no, I’m going with you.” The man in question argued.

The mage pointed to the two sleeping members of the Brotherhood. “They are down. The Constructs will be your muscle, but you must be their brains. Can you do that?”

Pyro looked at the two downed men, a couple of times, before nodding.

"Good, have them gather the dead and wounded as well." Nath'aniel added, before nodding to the new Psylocke and casting the Rapid-Steps spell on the two of them. Which he wasted on her, as she vanished soon after the casting. A part of him knew that she had somehow cast off her physical form to move faster.

 

 

Preserve- Jungle north of the Citadel, 2008 February 14 (Noon)

Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto)-

Erik glared at the large black man. He had dared to try and harm his child. With the two dinosaurs defeated the various mercenaries were aiming their weapons at the primitives. Who were watching them. But also a couple pointed their weapons at him and Gypsy.

“You have a lot of nerve to try that Wakandan.” Erik said coldly.

The large man dropped his clearly useless weapon, before saying. “What did you say?”

“You heard me. She helped your people finish that beast off. And yet the first chance you get you to turn on us. You are no more than a mongrel." Magneto continued to glare at the source of the animosity. He could feel that more of the standing mercs were turning to face him, but he wasn't worried. He was not close enough to shield the both of them if he needed to. After all, after the dinosaur attack, there are less than ten of them left.

"You’re the one with a lot of nerve, bringing my homeland into this." The man said as he slid out a large bladed knife from behind his back.

Erik smirked, as he didn't have a similar soft spot, well other than his family. And they should know the cost of trying to harm them soon enough. "Well, your blade gives away your heritage. Nothing feels quite like vibranium. If you really wanted to abandon it completely, you should have discarded the thing.”

Then Erik felt something moving towards them. It was clearly metal, but it was off, different from what he was used to. And it was moving fast. Too fast. The only thing that could move like that would be his son. So his smirk grew into a smile. "And it looks like you've lost completely. I can feel our speedster coming towards us. And with both your choppers down, what is your way of escape? And with your vanguard defeated, that only leaves, what, the nine of you?”

The brute snarled and threw his drawn dagger at Erik.

Most people know that vibranium can absorb any energy directed at it, which makes it honestly an excellent material to make into armor. However, what most people didn’t know, is that it is super sensitive to magnetism. Because it wants to take the energy aimed at it. This means for people like Magneto it only takes a faction of effort to grab the thrown weapon.

But this brute must not have expected the knife to do much, as after he threw it he went after Gypsy. However was Erik caught off guard by the change of targets, and the blade flew deeper than he expected.

“He’s Enhanced.” He warned his daughter as best he could.

And when the large man launched punches into both Erik's magnetic barrier and Wanda's red aura. After a couple of strikes the brute somehow managed to land a strike into his daughter's gut. Wanda was thrown a good four meters back from the hit, and Erik tried to move to protect her. but the Enhanced moved too fast for as big as he was.

He stuck twice more at Erik's poor daughter. Her shoulder hung limp as the bone was no longer attached after that blow, and then her cheek broke and bleed all over a piece of bone flew off. The brute went for a third punch but was instead hit with an arrow of purple energy, right in his knuckles.

Psylocke stood just inside the tree line, a longbow made from psychic energy held in her hand. From nowhere a new psychic arrow appeared in her hand before she knocked and drew. When she let the arrow fly the air seemed to screech in terror. The second arrow struck the large man on the opposite shoulder.

Betsy then reached down to a sword stashed in a red sash. A sword Erik had never seen her use or train with before. Before the blade was drawn she seemed to dematerialize in a flash of purple lights. A few seconds after she disappeared, Nath’aniel exited from the trees behind where had been.

He gazed, first at the three groups of primitives, then the wreckage, and finally at the mercenaries. The mage's gaze stopped at the large brute. After a moment he then walked towards the various leaders of the primitives. But in the end, he looked at the brute. Nath'aniel then crossed his wrists before his face and said as he lowered his head. “In’hern ater’rum.”

“You speak Wakandan, how?... No, it is not possible.” The brute whispered, before shouting. “You’re supposed to be dead! The mages are all dead! Millennia dead!”

Nath'aniel twisted his head as he listened to the word the brute uttered. Then he wrote into the air the rune of a check attached to a cloud. But unlike when they first met, the mage let it float in the air, as it got brighter and brighter. When the rune was as bright as a light bulb he slapped it toward the air in front of him.

"Is that your personal opinion Inheritor? Or should I count your homeland among the ranks of my enemies?" Erik loved the cold why the mage asked that. When he looked at the Enhanced, he finally saw fear on the man's face.

The brute stepped away from Wanda and Erik. Magneto tried to reestablish his protective field around his daughter, but something stopped him. When he looked he saw that Psylocke had reappeared and was helping Gypsy to her feet.

The large man reached for his left breast. Or something concealed by his body armor.

“Are you willing to call upon your Heliopolitan? Are you her Avatar? Are you willing to offer her your soul? If you're not ready, perhaps you should first answer my question." The mage continued to question the brute, as he took a casual step here and there.

Erik wondered how much the primitives understood from the mage’s words. Then it dawned on him that he was still wearing his helmet and he yet he understood Nath’aniel’s words. ‘How?’

The brute looked at the other mercenary leader. If he was afraid, she was outright terrified. But a man talking about souls and avatars was clearly above her. The brute then looked back at Nath'aniel. Bowed and crossed his wrists as he said. "W’Torri, of the Red Lion cult, seeks parley with the Magi.”

Book twos Servant class
  • Lancer Votes: 11 78.6%
  • Berserker Votes: 3 21.4%
Total voters: 14 · This poll was closed on Aug 17, 2023 04:37 PM.
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