41There was a certain unease permeating through the air as hundreds of adventurers and multiple gods gathered in our manor. So far Loki, Ganesha, Dionysus and one other god I didn't recognize were the gods in attendance. It didn't look like Freya would be joining regardless of my efforts to convince her, which was unfortunate, but not something we couldn't deal with. With hundreds of adventurers loitering about I had to search for Fels. I could detect him through his magic so it didn't take long to find him, but I had to wade my way through a dozen adventurers to get to him.
"Quite the party you've gathered." Fels said in a rasped voice as I approached him.
"Better to have and not need, than to need and not have. Especially so when lives are on the line." I said stoically. Hopefully everything went well, but I had an ominous feeling this raid would be met with death.
"Well said. I imagine you feel sufficiently prepared now with so many powerful adventurers, not mentioning the aid of the Xenos." Fels said, likely not meaning anything by it, but I still didn't feel comfortable. I knew my family were stronger than me magically, so the only real strategy I could use was to sit back and prevent them from casting using Counterspell while the others closed the distance. The real problem was that Knossos was completely littered with traps, though I suppose with my own knowledge and whatever else Loki gathered out of Dix we should be able to put together a map.
"I'll only know if we were sufficiently prepared after we win." I said.
"I didn't take you for the nervous type Matthew." Fels responded. Yeah, I was acting overly nervous, but I figured it was warranted. I mean, we were basically going to be fighting at least two stronger versions of me, and I wouldn't want to fight me. I could possess people for the gods sake.
"Normally I wouldn't be, but we're facing at least three powerful adventurers, two wizards that surpass my own ability, and an unknown number of weaker adventurers." I said as Loki and Hestia began waving over for my attention. "We'll speak again before the raid."
Making my way over to the five gods I saw they were all huddled around their executives. Or at least I assumed. I didn't know who were considered the executives of the familias other than Loki's and my own, but with how few adventurers compared to everyone in the building total.
Beside Loki was her cohort of course, everyone I've already knew. Next to Ganesha were two ladies, one an Amazon with long red hair and the other a Human with short blue hair. Dionysus had two elves by his side. And lastly, there was the god I didn't know. He had a feathered hat and a scarf, beside him was an adventurer I did recognize though. Not that I've personally met her, but she was simply one of the only people in this world capable of creating honest real enchanted items. That must have meant the unnamed god was Hermes.
"Matthew." Fin greeted warmly before turning his hand to Hermes and Dionysus, "I figured you would appreciate more help."
For a moment I looked at the gods with a arched brow. I didn't know why Hermes would want to join in on such an assault, but ultimately it didn't matter. What concerned me was Dionysus. Loki had held her suspicions of Dionysus earlier. Did she really trust him enough to bring him along?
'Master I watched over Dionysus for days and he's done nothing wrong'
'Yes I know, it just feels strange to invite along someone we were suspicious of'
"Pleasure to meet you Matthew. I've heard quite a lot about you." Hermes said with a sly grin.
"The pleasure is mine Lord Hermes. I want to thank you for joining us on this raid." I said before turning to Dionysus. I was about to thank him for joining us as well, but I've never formally met him before, so it would be quite out of place for me to address him by name, "Too you as well Lord."
"Oh please, call me Dionysus. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said with a warm smile. Well, he couldn't be that bad if he was willing to join us in this raid.
"Dionysus," I said with a smile before turning to the other gods, "So, Should we begin discussing the plan?"
"Yes. As all of you may or may not know we-" Finn began before I coughed to gather attention, "Matthew... had discovered the existence of a man-made dungeon. After capturing a member of evilus we spent the last night interrogating him."
Finn then laid a crudely drawn map, but from what I could remember from the curse, it was quite accurate. Everyone in attendance leaned forward to look at the map before Hermes asked what all the red marks on the map were. If I had to take a guess, those red marks were all of the traps in Knossos.
"So we have a map then? What about the enemies?" Dionysus asked which I piped up to.
"That's where Lefiya, Tiona and I come in." I announced as Pride swooped down from above and landed on my shoulder. "The three of us have familiars we can use to scout ahead and pinpoint the location of our enemies."
"And what sort of opposition are we supposed to expect?" The Human standing next to Ganesha asked.
"We know of two adventurers who are at least level four, possibly higher. There is an estimate of fifty to seventy level one and two adventurers and then there's..." Finn began before trailing off to me. I suppose it would be best for me to explain this part.
"Then there's my family. They are evil and need to die just the same as evilus so don't hesitate to kill anyone that looks like me on sight. The issue lies in that I don't remember the full extent of their ability. One of my brothers is an assassin, so you won't likely see him until after he's made an attack so be on guard from the moment we enter Knossos. Then there's my father and other brother. They're both wizards of higher ability than me. Don't engage them unless I'm there." I explained.
"Eh? Why should I be scared of a spell caster. I mean I saw your war game, but I don't think it would be that hard to take you on." The redheaded Amazon said. To illustrate a point I threw a Firebolt towards her which she then easily dodged, "Was that supposed to prove something?"
"Yeah. How long did it take for me to cast that spell?" I asked. Several of the other executives looked around uncomfortably obviously aware of the implication. Your average adventurer took upwards of a minute to cast powerful spells that could actually cause problems, whereas short chants could be reliably ignored by someone like her. I think her confidence came from the fact that she thought the spells would be weak enough to ignore.
"Short chant spells are weak enough, your chantless spells are nothing to fret over." She dismissed. I didn't really want to reveal what I knew of the stronger magics, but if it was for the sake of minimizing casualties...
"The most powerful spell I know to exist is Wish. Though it is debilitating to use for the caster, the spell itself has the ability to alter reality itself. As quickly as I threw that bolt of fire at you, a more powerful wizard could simply wish you were never born and erase you from reality. Now while I don't know exactly what my father or brother know, for your safety, you should assume they could kill you with a single utterance." I explained much to the horror of everyone in the room and the second I finished speaking was when I got bombarded with questions.
"Then how do we fight them?"
"Can you do that?"
"How is that even possible?"
"How are they debilitated?"
"To answer your questions in order, you fight them like you would fight anyone else, just make sure I'm there as I have a way to prevent them from casting. No I can't cast Wish. It's possible only really to the most skilled magic casters in existence, and casting Wish causes severe exhaustion to the caster and prevents them from using magic for a time." I said calming some of the fears, but these people were still unsure.
"So we just avoid those two unless you're there?" One of the Elfs by Dionysus asked.
"Yeah, I'll be able to counter any spell they try to use. And I should also mention that I do have one more brother. He's probably a wizard as well, but I don't remember." I said.
"So, Likely three wizards of unknown power, one assassin, two level four or five adventurers, and fifty or so level one adventurers? Is that right?" Hermes asked.
"Than and your fair share of traps." I said.
"Great. So how are we throwing this part?" Hermes sighed.
"And what will be our part in this raid?" One of the elves next to Dionysus asked.
"As of the moment we only have one feasible route of attack through the sewers under Deadalus street. That will be our way of attack. As of now the enemy shouldn't suspect that we are aware of them." Finn said. It was at this time I looked over to Fels and I saw him give me a nod. May as well bring up the Xenos now.
"As well as the advantage of surprise there is one other thing that puts the odds of this battle in our favor." I said nervously, honestly this probably wasn't the greatest idea, but what's done is done. "A group of sapent monsters have been discovered in the dungeon. I have spoken to them previously and some have pledged to aid us in our assault."
In response nearly everyone other than the Ganesha familia and my own burst into chaos. Questions of how they could trust monsters, how I could allow the existence of intelligent monsters amongst other things.
"Alright everybody settle down. Matthew, explain yourself!" Finn demanded, silencing the descent.
"I know you have no reason to trust these monsters, but they've had ample opportunity to kill me and chose not to. I believe their offer of aid is genuine and I'm willing to accept any punishment you deem necessary if I'm making the wrong call. They can help us." I pleaded.
"Do yah really trust monsters so much?" Loki asked.
"These ones." I responded honestly.
"Well if ya trust em, ah'll trust em." Loki shrugged.
"You would really trust the lives of your children to monsters?" Hermes asked.
"You guys trust Matthew right?" Loki asked turning to her familia. Ais and Bete looked skeptical of the idea, but the rest of them seemed to come to a general agreement. "So are there any other objections?"
There was still argument amongst the gods, but with Loki supporting my decision, it didn't last long. Eventually we moved on to planning for the actual attack. There wasn't much to discuss initially. We would alter our strategy once we knew more about the enemy formations. We did however agree that the weaker level one adventurers would block off access to Daedalus street. The level one adventurers mostly being Our familia along with maybe two dozen from Ganesha's and Dionysus'. Not long after we made our way to Knossos.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Finn asked me as we walked.
"I've stacked the odds in our favor as much as possible. If all goes well, we will all be coming home from this." I said honestly. We should be more than capable of bringing these terrorists to justice, but I just had a bad feeling about this. That bad feely only compounded when we reached Daedalus street. There was necrotic magic here. A lot of it.
"Everyone be on guard." I warned as Gareth broke a massive hole into the ground. With the weaker adventurers fanning out and securing the area, the rest of us hopped into the sewers. It didn't take long for us to reach the adamantium doors of Knossos by following the map. Pulling out my mini chest I activated the spell and called forth my real chest from subspace.
"Open!" I commanded as I felt magic flow through the key. The massive adamantium doors slowly opened upon the command and revealed a long and foreboding hall. I knew these guys were evil, but the could certainly do with some more lighting. "Tiona, Lefiya and I will begin searching the premises, be on guard."
Entering Pride's body once more I acclimated myself to the bird body once more and took flight into Knossos. One of the things that was immediately and disgustingly apparent, was how empty the first few chambers of the dungeon. The blood splotches dotting the place would have made me question what happened, but the abundant presence of necrotic magic flowing throughout the place didn't leave much to the imagination. It did take me awhile to find the zombies though. Four floors down and seven rooms into Knossos I found an absolute armies worth.
Well, an obvious show of where the important thing is. Flying past the undead horde I found myself in what looked to be a ritual chamber, only there was noone there. In the center of the room was a large and rather intricate magic circle drawn in what appeared to be blood and four bloodied stone tables, though it would probably be more accurate to describe them as slabs. Unfortunately, there was nothing more in the room which could indicate its purpose and it was a dead end, so I had to leave and search the rest of the dungeon instead.
After an hour or so of searching and not finding a single living soul I elected to simply leave Pride's body and woke up with the rest of the raiding party. As I got up and stretched I saw that Tiona and Lefiya were already up and about and it looked like the raiding party was just waiting on me.
"What did you find Matthew?" One of the elves asked.
"The entire place is empty save for a room filled with undead proceeding a ritual room." I explained.
"Do you know what this ritual is?" Finn asked.
"I would need a closer look at it. I could tell it was complicated. Very complicated." I responded.
"And you didn't see anyone else?" He asked.
"Did the other two not find anyone either?" I asked and unfortunately Finn shook his head at that.
"Then I guess We just have to investigate that ritual room then." Finn said.
"Here Fels," I said tossing the monster the key to Knossos, "Make sure the Xenos know that the enemy haven't been spotted and that they should remain cautious."
With Fels running off into Knossos to let the Xenos in through the eighteenth floor Finn began directing the rest of the raiding party into the dungeon proper. Obviously there wasn't much resistance on the way to the ritual room other than the undead horde, I still made sure to guide everyone away from the traps littering the dungeon.
"Be aware everyone, there are undead in the next room. They shouldn't be too tough, but you should watch your back regardless." I warned. Several of the adventurers present looked hungry for combat as they were rather bored.
"Let's do this." The Amazoness from the Ganesha familia cried running into the next room without a care in the world. This prompted the rest to jump into the fray. These people are far too bloodthirsty. We don't even know where our most dangerous enemies are. Sighing I turned to Bell and the others who thankfully were keeping their heads on a swivel. At least I could rely on my own familia to be more cautious.
"Do you have any Idea where they could be?" Lili asked.
"I won't know what they're up to until I get a look at that ritual circle." I said as a large explosion could be felt on the other side of the dungeon and a bright flash could be seen in the room directly ahead of us. I didn't even need to say anything as Bell, Welf and Mikoto sprang into action, running into the next room.
Inside the room Finn and the rest of the raiding party were fighting against the horde of undead, though the fight wasn't nearly as one sided as I had hoped it would be. Fighting Finn was an undead that moved at absurd speeds, even matching Finn himself. From what I could tell she was a woman in life with short purplish hair and to my surprise the undead was smiling. Undead weren't supposed to have emotions. Unless... Was she a litch?
"I was surprised to see you so soon Finn, but you're too late!" The undead woman laughed with glee. Okay she was a litch, but that just rose the question of why my father would bother turning her into a litch in the first place. I wanted to help against the undead, but if these things were able to stand toe to toe against Finn. There was no way I would be able to fight them.
"Welf, use your rings against as many of them as possible. Undead are weak to fire." I said trying to keep an eye on the battlefield. With Welf starting to fire off the equivalent of a Fireball spell multiple times, our allies began to sway the combat in our favor. It looked like the undead would be the ones to fall. By no means was our side dominating, but the undead were being killed and any attacks our side took were being healed.
As the battle progressed the litch became more and more agitated, screaming about how unfair it was that they were being destroyed so easily. With so many powerful adventurers, I didn't really see any other potential outcomes. Once the undead were cleaned up Tiona used her familiar to investigate what that loud explosion earlier was and the rest of the party stood on guard while I entered the ritual room with a few others.
When I entered the room I saw that it wasn't empty like I saw when I had scouted ahead with Pride. On the stone tables I saw one goddess I recognized and two gods I didn't. Completely naked and sleeping soundly Ishtar was laid out on one of the tables with a black haired slightly chubby god and a skinny purple haired god sleeping on two other tables. On the side of the room I saw my two brothers sitting on a set of chairs and my father in the center of the room. Shouldn't there be a third?
Seeing the enemy before me I was ready to cast Counterspell at a moments notice as Finn and the other higher leveled adventurers closed the distance. Only that didn't happen. Turning around I saw that there was no one at my side, there wasn't even anyone in the room that had all of the undead. Damn. With all of the necrotic magic present, I didn't sense whatever spell they had used to trap me.
"Ah Matthew." Father said calmly as he turned to me, "It's been so long son."
Okay, so he wasn't going to immediately smite me with a meteor or something. That was good at least. If he wasn't going to instantly kill me, then maybe I could figure out what he was doing. "What is this?"
"I'm glad you asked son. Do you remember why I created you?" He asked, giving me time to respond. When I hesitated he continued, "You were practice. The process of fusing two souls together to create something new."
So it was true. I really was two souls fused together. Though that wasn't important now. What was important was that he had not so subtly implied he was going to fuse himself with a god. "Wasn't I a failure? Do you think it's a good idea to do this?"
"Matthew, you weren't a failure. The mistakes I made creating you gave me invaluable information. Now I'm certain I can complete the process without the old soul dominating the new." He said with a soft smile.
"And why wait for me?" I asked. If he was going to try and turn himself into a god why not simply do it already? When I asked the question the assassin over in the corner audibly scoffed in annoyance.
"Like I said earlier. We've decided to forgive your earlier treason." Wizard brother said with a warm smile.
"It's not too late to kill him. He obviously won't help." Assassin brother said.
"Alivard! I know you haven't forgiven Matthew, but he's still your brother." Father said dismissing the plan to kill me.
"So if you're not going to kill me, why am I here? Why haven't you already completed your ritual?" I asked cautiously.
"There's four of us and only three gods." He said calmly. Did that mean he wanted me to help capture one of the gods that came along? That he wanted to make me a god as well?
"You want me to betray the gods? And why would I help you? You killed an entire city!" I cried.
"Do you really care about those nobodies Matthew? We are talking about godhood here. True immortality. What are a few hundred mortals compared to four brand new gods. A new pantheon even?" He asked extending a hand to me. "I won't even ask you to sacrifice a god you like. The members of evilus, they planned to destroy the city of Orario and unleash the dungeon upon the world. Even if godhood does not tempt you, I know your heart is soft. You won't allow every soul in this city to be devoured."
"What do you mean? Every soul in the city? Aren't the gods present and the people you've killed the members of Evilus? What more could they plan?" I asked.
"Well you see son. We didn't kill all of the members of Evilus. I knew you might have some reservations about taking your place by my side so I left you a choice. You can join us, or the remaining members of Evilus will destroy this city." He offered.
I couldn't really describe how tempting it was to accept the offer then and there. Not only was I freely being offered godhood, but to stop whatever plan Evilus had. That is, if I could trust him. Not only was there the issue of trust, but I didn't really think it would be a good idea to allow my family to ascend to godhood when they care so little for the lives of mortals. Evilus were gods that wanted to throw the world into chaos from what I understood. What would stop them from simply becoming the new Evilus? That said I was trapped in some sort of spell and was isolated from my allies.
"And what of the raiding party outside. I won't turn my back on them, and they're too strong for you to fight." I said feigning compliance.
"We don't need to fight those commoner nobodies brother," Wizard brother said locking me into a hug from behind, "Dionysus and Demeter are the last members of Evilus. We can't do anything about Dionysus with that big party you've thrown, but Demeter is all alone. Help us retrieve her and we can all become gods."
"Demeter? The goddess of harvest?" I asked in shock. Why would she be a member of Evilus. And what about her familia? They were responsible for eighty percent of Orario's food supply. If they were wiped out, Orario would face a famine.
"I know right? Who would ever suspect the farmer girl? But in all seriousness, she's been organizing this for a while, even trying to manipulate us from the shadows. Alivard saw right through her lies though." Wizard brother said, releasing me from the hug.
"So, how do we avoid the mass of adventurers outside of... here?" I asked.
"We are in a separate plane, there is no danger to us here." Father explained, "You only need to follow Alivard and Evan to the Demeter farms, where your brother can bring you to the correct plane and you can abduct Demeter."
"Alright, I'll help you." I said. If I was in an entirely different plane of existence, I was more than just isolated. The only hope I had of stopping father's plan was to somehow beat my brothers once they brought me back to the proper dimension.
"I've got my eyes on you." Alivard said, venom dripping from his voice as he stood up to leave. Having nothing else to say I followed my brothers out of the ritual room.
The walk outside of Knossos and into Orario was extremely eerie. The world was almost exactly the same barring the existence of people. All of the buildings, the roads, the sky. It was far too quiet.
"Why did you do it?" Alivard asked as we made our way through the empty streets of Orario.
"Alivard he doesn't remember." Evan dismissed. The dismissal wasn't enough to dissuade the assassin though as I soon found a dagger at my neck. "Alivard, father will be quite angry if you kill our brother."
"And yet he forgave Matthew for it." He snarled, taking a swing at me and I was forced to dodge out of the way. Could I use this as an excuse to kill Alivard without making Evan attack me?
"Blight!" I commanded as I felt the magic take hold of my brother as he cried in pain. Rot began to eat away at his flesh as he screamed and made a stabbing attack towards me. I was off balance from before so he was able to easily hit me in my stomach.
"Brothers stop!" Evan cried in panic as he tried to pull Alivard off of me to no avail.
Though I was reeling in pain I could immediately tell I had an advantage over my brother. I had taken plenty of hits from monsters in the dungeon thanks to the safety net of False Life. I had even allowed monsters to bite and claw at me intentionally to increase my defense stat. Though I wasn't immune to pain, I could certainly bare it much better than my brother it seemed. The grip on his dagger wasn't as secure as what one would expect from an assassin.
Wrestling the dagger from his hands I began stabbing at the assassin again and again as Even cried desperately for us to stop. As the blood of Alivard began spilling on me I had to begin planning on how to take care of Evan. He was a wizard so in a contest of strength I should be able to beat him, but the problem with killing him here was that I wouldn't be able to return to the proper dimension without spending an absurd amount of time studying. Then again, if I killed him in the proper dimension, I wouldn't be able to return and kill father. Ideally I return and send a warning to pride and allow Evan to bring me back.
"Matthew stop stop!" Evan cried, struggling to pull me off. For now I just needed an excuse for him not to become hostile.
"He tried to kill me!" I cried pretending I was in much more pain than I actually was. Evan looked at my bloodied shirt with undisguised concern.
"Alivard! Alivard please!" Evan cried as I looked at the corpse with apathy. I needed him to keep moving. As much as I despised the thought of relying on my brother, I needed him in order to stop Evilus and my father.
"Father wants to become a god right? It's unfortunate that Alivard had to be killed, but once we return and complete the ritual, surely we can bring him back." I said, lying through my teeth. Evan looked at me for far too long with teary eyes. At first I thought he had seen through my bluff, but then he began wiping his tears. Taking a potion out from my pouch I drank and felt the wound slowly close.
"You're right. At least you two won't be able to kill each other once we're gods." He said with a pained smile. I felt bad for what I was about to do. He really did seem to care about me. I couldn't allow myself to show mercy though. Even if he did seem like a nice guy, he was still a mass murderer.
"Let's go fetch Demeter." I said trying my best not to betray my true emotions. After Evan spent a moment mourning the loss of that bastard Alivard, we made our way out of Orario. No guards at the gates, no farmers in the field, just me and Evan.
"That's the building she stays at most of the time." Evan said in a horse voice as we came across a large building in the middle of an empty field.
"What was her plan anyways?" I couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know the specifics of it, but father said something about six monsters that could cast a spell powerful enough to destroy the city." He said as we walked into the building. Ah, six monsters? Well I'm sure Finn could figure that part out after I trap myself in another dimension.
"Plane Shift." Evan cast as the world returned to us. In the blink of an eye the eerie aura that permeated the world disappeared and the empty house we had entered was suddenly full. Dozens of people sitting at a dinner table with Demeter at the head. I wasn't worried about them at the moment though.
'Pride, this is important. Dionysus is a traitor and there are six monsters somewhere throughout Orario with the power to destroy the city with a powerful spell. You need to warn the gods'
'Master! What happened to you?'
'My family was hiding in another dimension. They plan to kill multiple gods and become gods themselves. Pride, in order to stop them I'll have to be trapped in another dimension for a while if I want to stop them'
'Wait master is that really all you can do'
'I need to go Pride, warn the gods. If you can kill those monsters the city will be safe'
"Matthew?" Evan asked as the Demeter familia looked at us in confusion. Looking to him I just nodded. Puffing out my chest and Looked Demeter in the eyes.
"Demeter, there is reason to believe you are affiliated with Evilus. Come quietly and you won't be harmed." I announced much to the surprise of her familia. Several of the adventurers stood and drew knifes at us. Seeing that they weren't conventional adventurers and were sitting down for lunch, all but one of the knives was mean for eating.
"You know who I am and you should know that none of you are strong enough to fight me." I said referencing my display at the war game and the fact that there were several dozen undead of mine in the immediate area, "I will be taking Demeter into custody. Don't make me kill all of you before I do."
"Very well, I surrender Matthew." Demeter said to my surprise. I hadn't expected her to give up that easily. I could wonder why she did that all I wanted, but at the moment I didn't really care.
"Thank you for your cooperation Lady Demeter. Plane Shift." Evan said as the dimension shifted once more. With the house empty once more and only the three of us present I knew what needed to happen next.
"Oh my, how interesting." Demeter commented as I drew my sword.
"We are in another- Matthew what are you?" He began to ask.
"Enlarge." I cast doubling in size. Even if I was to assume Evan was the same level and had the same strength stat as me, I had a massive advantage over him. A wizard can't cast magic if they cant speak and with my free hand grabbing onto his lower jaw, there was no spell he could cast to stop me. With a single strike my brother had lost the top half of his head.
Looking back to Demeter I saw she was completely unperturbed by that display of violence. She was even shining me a disturbingly disarming smiling. "Thank you very much Matthew. Would you kindly bring me home now?"
"What makes you think I plan on returning you?" I asked much to her confusion.
"You were lying when you said you were bringing me into custody?" She stated in a questioning manner. Ah, that's where the confusion came from.
"You're still going into custody, just not any time soon." I explained.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"You and I are going to be stuck in this dimension for a good while." I said turning from her and heading back into Orario. After I killed father I could Interrogate Demeter on my own to make sure whether or not she was truely affiliated with Evilus. If it turned out she was, I could just abandon the four gods in the nothingness dimension and be rid of the evil gods that way. But that was a little cruel. Even if they were evil, damning them to an eternity of just the four of them and nothing else seemed a bit much. I would probably leave them there like they were in jail while the other gods deliberated on whatever punishment they deserved.
"And what does that mean?" Demeter cried indignantly.
"There are two people in this dimension capable of bring you out. One of them intends to kill you, and I'm the other." I said entering the empty city and casting False Life.
"This isn't fair! I'm not affiliated with Evilus." She said. I didn't quite believe her, but I could determine that later.
"I'll determine that later." I sadi simply as I entered the sewers and entered Knossos. Ultimately Demeter did end up following me all the way to the ritual room, but it wasn't like she really had another option. She could either follow me and wait for me to bring her back or be trapped here for a boring eternity.
"So what's your plan then? Just to keep me here until you think you've gotten the truth out of me?" She asked.
"To be honest, you were an afterthought." I said which very obviously offended her. "You might want to stay back. There's a non-zero chance you get injured in this upcoming fight."
"Fight?" She asked.
"Do you remember how I said there was someone here that wanted to kill you? I'm going to kill him first." I explained as I prepared to begin this fight. Ideally I would grab his tongue and keep him from speaking, but the second he saw me enter he will try to avoid that. i'll need to be ready to counterspell at moments notice to prevent myself from being turned into magical mush.
"Longstrider." I cast. I suppose I'll just have to close the distance. Entering the room I saw my father look up from his spell book immediately recognizing that I was alone and had blood all over my clothes. Not even bothering to speak I sprinted towards him.
"Time Stop!" I heard him say. Before I could even react I felt blight crawl across my skin, several slashes cut into me and I saw a fireball in front of me that I couldn't avoid. It hurt beyond belief as I was consumed by flame, but False Life had manage to prevent me from instantly dying.
Looking to him I saw shock in his eyes. He hadn't expected me to survive that. I still had a chance. "Disintegrate."
"Counterspell!" Father cast in retaliation. He may have negated my spell, but I was closing the distance. "Feeblemind!"
"Counterspell." I retaliated grabbing ahold of his shirt. I didn't know what that spell did, but it didn't sound good and I didn't want it to affect me. Taking my free hand I shoved my fingers into his mouth impairing his speech. Reaching for my sword I found it wasn't there. He must have grabbed that during the time stop.
"Mafhew whhy?" He choked out. "Eh culd ee gogs."
"Gods are suppose to foster the lives of mortals, not squander them." I said coldly. I could have killed him quickly if I still had my sword, but I suppose he would need to suffer a slower death. I could only cast Blight once more after all.
"Blight." I cast while watching indifferently as rot began to eat away at his face.
"Ice Knife." I recoiled. The knife pierced his face, but the area of effect part of the spell covered my hand in a biting frost. Unfortunately for him, he was tougher than he looked. I needed up having to repeat that process three more times. My hand hurt like hell and was covered completely in frost.
"That was rather anticlimactic." Demeter sighed as I leaned over the corpse of my father. Or would it be more accurate to say creator? "What now?"
"Now I need to do some studying."
Sorry this chapter took so long to put out. It wasn't hard or anything, I was just being lazy. And that's the end of the story. Not really, as I plan to add an epilogue, but there's no real reason for me to add a chapter dedicated just to hunting down the monsters. I mean I could, but I need to end this. It's been a fun experience. I feel like I've learned a lot and I want to take what I've learned to write a better story. In fact I have an idea for a completely original story I want to publish someday.
YuanDxD: Thank you very much. And I'll be happy to read whatever you put out.