Luca DR
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Accidentally summoned 14
🕑 Added 2024-02-06 23:19:25 +0000 UTC14 – Dead matter
Liù glowed brighter than a miniature sun. Goddard’s eyes, up until now full of rage and greed, suddenly turned downwards like those of a beaten dog. Raw, pure fear was all that could be seen in them.
Then, a shift happened. They became filled with the mad, desperate resolution of a man who knew he was about to die. Goddard lifted the sword up high, aiming at the pixie, and swung.
He’s going to be faster than her. She’s strong, but only when she attacks. Shit.
Ishrin pushed his Minor haste to its limit. A Tier 1 spell with the functional effectiveness of what a Tier 3 would be and then some. But he was standing outside the door, and Liù was between him and the attacker. He would not get there in time. Physics was a bitch at the lower tiers, and while a haste spell made you faster, it didn’t really help much when you had to navigate cramped space.
What could he do? Could he cast something? But what did he have? Weak foundation or not, it was a Tier 3 adventurer he was up against. The sword was falling faster than a blur, and with enough strength behind it to cut thick steel.
Suddenly a flash, then the rush of air. Ishrin was in the middle of casting yet another magic that would have burst his magical core like a balloon but suddenly Goddard was on his knees, clutching his chest. He was bleeding, his armor torn and contorted. A fist poked out of his chest and then disappeared inside his guts. As Ishrin turned his gaze upwards, he saw her, Lisette, standing behind Goddard with an unreadable expression on her face and a bloodied hand. She shrugged and kicked the man to the ground, and he rolled while clutching the hole in his chest, his eyes frozen open in shock. Barely a sound escaped his lips.
Meanwhile, Ishrin was in awe of what Lisette had just done.
Tier 4 Grand Haste. She’s good!
***
Earlier. Melina was walking with Lisette in tow, headed towards the volcano. She hated having to do this when much greater matters awaited her in the form of Ishrin, but work was work. She couldn’t deny, at least to herself, that she couldn’t wait to be done with it. She hoped it would be a quick matter. Ishrin had promised to show her some rituals, among which were also his tier maximization ones and while she couldn’t use them herself, she still intended to learn everything she could.
He also mentioned that he can downscale and upscale spells to his liking. I wonder how he does that? It shouldn’t be possible under known magic, and yet he says he does it like it’s nothing.
The benefits of learning how to do that would be enormous.
It felt good to have someone like Ishrin in her debt. She shook her head. Bad thoughts. They could be actual friends, united together against the big bad guild, and she could reap the benefits of having such a knowledgeable man by her side entirely by coincidence. Yep. Good plan.
Then, her thoughts drifted to the adventurer walking alongside her.
“You’re different when you are around him.” She said, trying to make conversation with Lisette.
“I do not know what you are talking about.” Lisette stated in her usual deadpan, almost emotionless voice.
“You look… human. You know?”
Lisette turned to stare at the foxgirl.
Melina was two full tiers above Lisette in power, and yet when she looked into Lisette’s eyes, she didn’t see what she usually saw whenever someone looked at her. She only saw defiance, steadfastness, a will of iron. A hint of something that could be interpreted as boredom, but was actually utter focus with a distinct lack of distracting emotions.
Lisette was not one to bend to power, it seemed. Especially not to hers, she thought as she looked back into those deep red eyes. She felt intimidated, even. A feeling she hadn’t felt in long years, made even more strange by the fact that, she reminded herself for the second time in a few seconds, Lisette was two tiers weaker than she was.
The gap between tiers grew larger the higher up you went in cultivation. Already at Tier 6, the gap was wide enough that someone a tier below her couldn’t really hurt her in a straight, fair fight unless she let them. There were many ways to bridge the gap somehow, ranging from rituals to overpowered items and spirits one could summon, but as far as magic and raw strength was concerned, there was just too much of a difference.
Lisette, two tiers below her, didn’t seem to care. And Melina was inclined to believe her.
“I’m not saying that you don’t look human now… just… how do I put it… you don’t really act like you have emotions other than rage and anger.” Melina said.
“I do not.”
“You mean that you don’t have them, or you don’t agree that you act like that?”
“I do not have them. Positive emotions are a distraction.” Lisette said.
Melina hummed pensively. “I see, I see. Sorry I asked.”
“It is not a problem. You did not distress me.”
Melina was about to ask something else, to give voice to a thought that had crossed her mind, when suddenly she turned around. They were right outside of the city, they had left not ten minutes ago, and yet something was happening at the Guild already. Lisette too was looking around, and even she took a couple seconds longer than Melina, she too homed her gaze in on the Guild. They both disappeared but Lisette was faster. She reached the entrance to the guild in less than ten seconds, and there she saw the scene that was about to happen. Her first thought was murder. Melina only arrived after the fact, and her first thought was how to avoid disaster. Liù was about to blow up, and she needed to do something quick!
“Liù! No!” Ishrin screamed.
Then she looked at Liù. She was burning brighter than ever, about to level the whole building with what was surely going to be the most powerful blast she had ever produced.
***
A lot went through Ishrin’s mind in very little time, and most of those thoughts were curses. Even after he recovered from the initial shock. In the last few days, he had come to really appreciate having some peace of mind, enjoying some calm after a lifetime spent… not really all that well.
Yet, there seemed to be people who were quite invested in making his stay in Noctis quite miserable. Not just multiversal powers and gods, those he could understand, but small fries as well.
It was perhaps his old self coming through a little, but he really did not have much patience to deal with small fries who thought themselves worthy of more than a side glance and a snicker.
Perhaps a more level-headed Ishrin would have argued against himself, noting how Goddard was having a much rougher time that he did, hole in the chest and all. Then he would argue back that there was also the whole guild affair to consider. To which, level-headed him would have said that you can’t really hold a grudge against a god who – torture or no torture – had saved your life after you messed up a ritual and almost blew up a universe in the process.
Anyway. Think productive thoughts.
Ishrin felt himself calm down a little. This was among the better outcomes, all things considered. He would have felt rather bad if Liù hadn’t been stopped and all the people in the guild had died. Instead, what he got was just a badly wounded Goddard. This he could deal with.
Melina was stroking Liù’s hair and little wings with great care, whispering comforting words in her little ears. “It’s all going to be okay. Your summoner is safe. See? He’s all right. There’s no need to be scared.”
Her light dimmed slightly, but her eyes remained alert. She seemed to consider what to do for a moment before slamming into Ishrin’s face, right on the nose, nuzzling against him. Then she fleed to his pockets. Mere moments later, she was snoring.
“That must have taken a lot of her.” Melina said.
“Yeah,” Ishrin nodded, “I’m lucky I got a spirit who cares for me so much.”
On the ground, the wounded man groaned. Lisette was pressing a booted foot on his forehead. As if he could still fight. She shook the blood off her arm and turned to stare at the others, mainly at the group of people Goddard usually drank with. They were all standing, hands to their weapons, but none of them had dared to move an inch.
“Do not cross me or my friends ever again.” She said.
Melina sighed and looked at the smoke that filled the air above the city. The pyroclastic cloud took up most of the sky, grey and dark and ominous, and it was expanding rapidly. The ground shook every so often, and lightning struck at the tip of the volcano.
“Well, I guess I have to sort this mess out now.” She said. “You will have to go alone.”
Lisette nodded solemnly. “I will carry out the mission.”
She left without a word. Again.
Ishrin held up a finger. “If I can offer my help…”
Melina turned around, brows furrowed and mouth so tight that her teeth were showing. She blinked, twice, and then her face cleared.
“Go on,” she said after clearing her voice.
“It’s only fair that I fix this.”
“You might want to be quick,” the foxgirl said. “He doesn’t look like he’s got long to live. His Tier 3 foundation is keeping him alive, but barely.”
“I—” Ishrin blinked. “I think he’s dead, actually.”
Melina cursed, rushing to the dead man.
“Don’t worry. I can still do something about it, but we need to be quick.” Ishrin said.
“You can bring dead people back to life?” She asked.
The crowd all around was watching very intently.
“I can. So long as they have only been dead for a few minutes.”
Unfortunately.
“Okay, what do you need?”
“Space. And the ingredients to do the ritual. I will need a room, and privacy. A big room.”
“Done. Follow me.” she said. She straightened her back and walked towards the back of the guild, where she intercepted a guild staffer. “You, take the body and follow us.”
