A wise but corrupt health inspector would do the former. Because the health inspectors gotta eat somewhere too.
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
- Location
- The Roots of Yggdrasil
So, I think we are all forgetting this little line from the chapter.
This leads me to believe that you need to go 9 generations up the nazi-vamp's own living bloodline, and then DOWN 18 generations from those ancestors. Then take the nazi's sire, and 8 generations up HIS living bloodline, then down 18 generations again, etc, etc.
And then, what if some of those ancestors/descendants had ALSO been turned at some point after having natural children, then how would that factor in? Can vampires sire children naturally, and if so, how do they fit in?
The number of people affected could in theory be the entirety of Europe if enough of his family had been turned at some point.
- Pronouns
- Him/His
Thought he might have gotten a magatama from Toukiden at first, but those are apparently called Mitama instead.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Depends. How much slashfiction is there regarding the two of them?
- Location
- Whadjuk Noongar boodja
Yes.
My immediate thought was of of the Blue Seed anime*, but then, I Am Old Nerd.
(*) And manga, but I only ever watched the anime. Translated manga was bloody hard to get hold off back in the 90s if it wasn't Ranma 1/2 or similar levels of HUGELY successful.
If he were more notably heroic, I feel that he would've put on a skintight costume and picked an elemental attack spell as one of his first abilities rather than Esuna. Then we would've seen him trying to actively fight crime right up until he went a little too hard. Maybe by having one of his spells level up towards 'Lethal' rather than just 'Painful'.
Probably would've started with thunder and used it to shock people up until he hit someone with a pacemaker.
For villainy... He probably would have started off with the same status curing spell but marketed it to the Penguin instead. At that point, the real struggle would be getting out of the crab bucket that is Gotham, especially if he's tethered to one of the gangs as an increasingly valuable asset.
Probably would've started with thunder and used it to shock people up until he hit someone with a pacemaker.
For villainy... He probably would have started off with the same status curing spell but marketed it to the Penguin instead. At that point, the real struggle would be getting out of the crab bucket that is Gotham, especially if he's tethered to one of the gangs as an increasingly valuable asset.
- Location
- U.S.
question, but if he did that vampire entaglement heal trick on the white light entity....would it basically affect everyone alive in the universe?
I... Don't know.
Every living being is connected to it, as it's the light of life itself. But with that being said, is it a direct connection? An inherited one? Everyone alive feeds into it and draws strength from it, but I kind of feel like any of the Emotional Spectrum Avatars could be used in the same way.
Necron and his Black Lanterns are a much clearer distinction and connection but then I wouldn't say that Necron is connected to all of the other undead out there, just the ones raised for his Black Lantern Corps.
I'm going to go with a tentative yes, but that doing so would draw the direct attention of the White Light Entity and would probably have some major feedback issues.
- Location
- U.S.
everyone in the universe suddenly hears "I FEEEEEL GOOD!" and a music track starts playing and they all break into dance
Frescko
King of Silver 🏳️⚧️
everyone in the universe suddenly hears "I FEEEEEL GOOD!" and a music track starts playing and they all break into dance
I'm imagining that the dance is the Spooky Dance
Frescko
King of Silver 🏳️⚧️
Doesn't alchemist have a perk that makes him straight up immune to cursed objects? I ask this as I remembered that JJK is getting a mobile game soon so I'm just imagining Alchemists going to JJK eating all of Sukuna's fingers then leaving making everyone confused especially Kenjaku who has Sukuna be a major part of his plan.
Not only does Alchemist now have cursed energy and the potential to unlock Sukuna's powers but also Sukuna unwillingly suck inside of his soul protecting it from soul based attacks.
Sukuna is too prideful to just kill himself or let someone kill him and with Perks he can't take over Alchemist's body.
Also want to see what would happen to Sukuna got all of Alchemist's Insight into the Eldritch. He'd probably tough it out like Gilgamesh did to all the Worlds Evils but I don't think he'd be completely unaffected.
Not only does Alchemist now have cursed energy and the potential to unlock Sukuna's powers but also Sukuna unwillingly suck inside of his soul protecting it from soul based attacks.
Sukuna is too prideful to just kill himself or let someone kill him and with Perks he can't take over Alchemist's body.
Also want to see what would happen to Sukuna got all of Alchemist's Insight into the Eldritch. He'd probably tough it out like Gilgamesh did to all the Worlds Evils but I don't think he'd be completely unaffected.
I don't think it would affect anyone. Very few being would be within 9 generations of the origin of life. Unless it starts from the 1st living generation?
Possibly some of the Guardians of Oa? And wouldn't that be hilarious... super serious meeting of the Guardians, discussing who to blame and punish for their latest screwup, and all of a sudden ***HEAL*** ... and now they're on the warpath trying to figure out who did that so they can interfere and somehow make it
Chapter 233
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 2.3.3
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
November 6, 2010
Jinx followed along behind Alchemist and Yuffie, with Kary at her own side as they trekked through a small, crowded part of Japan that apparently dealt in retro electronics.
"They just don't make stuff like this anymore," Alchemist was telling the little ninja as he pointed out a shop that had a handful of old, boxy televisions displayed behind grated glass. "Stuff nowadays is sharper and clearer but also a lot more fragile-"
Jinx took a deep pull on a straw stuck cup of this weird purple tea she'd picked up at a food stall along the way. It was apparently made out of some kind of root vegetable and it was really sweet. They even put these thick, solid chunks of pudding in the bottom!
The girl was still worried about Alchemist, especially with what had happened earlier in the morning. He seemed alright but she wouldn't-
Jinx froze, straw dangling from her lips as she looked at the televisions in the window. As they played a news story about Europe-
'-experts are still struggling to understand how millions of people were affected by this strange healing light and what connection it may have to the ever-growing list of missing persons who inexplicably left behind their clothes before disappearing!' Jinx's eyes grew wide and she nearly let go of her taro tea in shock. 'The list of those missing has since grown to include Germany's head of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Emma Schmidt. The numbers continue to grow by the hour as panic and confusion grows with it.'
"...Al!" Jinx shouted, wildly turning in the direction the man had gone to. He was easy enough to find with Kary standing tall next to him. "Al! We have a problem!"
She rushed towards the taller fallen, jostling a few confused Japanese people in her haste.
"-get an ink block and brush?" and Jinx interrupted Yuffie as the girl was talking to the only man in their group. "Mom used to-"
Jinx felt a little bad about interrupting the girl but the current issue was incredibly pressing. She grabbed on to Alchemist's sleeve and turned back around, only needing to drag him for a moment before he was walking alongside her.
"Jinx?" he asked, the crowd parting around them as they returned to the antique electronics shop. "What's going on? What- oh."
His 'oh' was very quiet as he took in the numerous screens.
"Have you watched the news at all since we got here?" Jinx asked, pointing at one of the televisions that was reporting on an old folks home in Denmark where the patients were rioting.
"...I've been trying not to," he said to her. She watched his eyes flicker between the different reports for a second before she turned around herself to really focus on things. "...I think I'm going to have to report this, aren't I?"
"We gained, like, one level," Jinx moaned, only just barely keeping herself from leaning forward against the glass. "This is a lot of crazy for just one level!"
Instead she turned to the side as Alchemist opened his system. She watched as he opened his notifications.
It had lagged and frozen when Alchemist had dealt with Hans so they hadn't bothered worrying about it. Now, at the bottom of the screen, it held a summary instead of countless individual notifications.
Jinx would bet that was a hotfix from Terra considering this was the second time Alchemist had managed the same feat.
~~ Quest 'Fin-al Destination' Rejected! ~~
~~ Vampires slain - 65,535+ ~~
~~ People healed - 300,000,000+ ~~
~~ Passive Ability 'Spirit+' has reached level [200] ~~
~~ Passive Ability 'All Attributes+' has reached level [200] ~~
~~ In healing more than 1,000,000 people, a special quest 'Absolute Virtue' has been completed! ~~
~~ Perk 'Absolute Virtue' has been awarded! ~~
~~ Absolute Virtue - Healing effects +100%, Holy effects +100%, Healing and Holy magic/skill costs -50%. Undead slain through Healing/Holy skills or magic cannot be reanimated through Necromancy skills, magic or abilities! ~~
"...That's just ridiculous," Jinx mumbled as she read it alongside Alchemist.
"...Yeah," the mage agreed as he closed the window and opened a different one.
The messaging system?
"I'm definitely going to have to report this," Alchemist said with a sigh as he began to type.
"The league?" Jinx asked as Yuffie and Kary finally fought their way through the crowd to see what had drawn the dragons away.
"My other self is working on that," Alchemist told her as he continued typing. "I'm double checking with Terra because the last time she tried the whole 'milestone' awards thing, I nearly died from the system glitching."
"...Ah," Jinx said lamely as the news stories went on repeat.
She didn't exactly have any plans about trying to replicate that feat but she did wonder if there was some sort of similar perk for illusion magic...
And she was morbidly curious as to how the League would react when Alchemist told them about what happened.
-----
November 5, 2010
Zatanna Zatara was almost ready for bed, her teeth were brushed and she was freshly showered when she heard something pounding on the door downstairs.
The young magician waited for a moment to see if her dad would get it but the pounding just kept going. It was oddly even and regular in tone, though. Almost mechanical.
Rolling out of bed and grabbing her phone, she padded her way downstairs barefoot and looked through the peephole.
She saw a golden helmet with wings, floating in front of the door.
There... Wasn't a person inside of it.
After a second, the helmet flapped those wings and darted forward, smacking against the door again before it resumed its position hovering just in sight.
Zatanna frowned, her lips thinning into a line as the helmet just... hovered there. In the air. With a note stuck to it by a magnet.
The girl swiftly extracted her phone from her pocket and opened the chat app.
-- Hey, dad? waht is this? --
-- (1) image attached --
Waiting for a long moment and several more knocks, Zatanna brought her phone back up when she felt it buzz.
-- dont open door. be right there --
Zatanna put her phone away and looked through the peephole again.
The helmet just continued to hover. It didn't do anything else, it just hovered and occasionally headbutted the door.
That was so weird...
"Zatanna!" Her father's voice came from behind her, panic clearly audible. He hadn't even been in the house before, so she was guessing he used a lot of magic to teleport from wherever he'd been. "Is the creature still at the door?!"
"Yeah, dad," Zatarra told him, rather calmer than her father. "It's just hovering there. Did you see that it has some paper stuck to it? With a magnet!"
"I did, yes." Giovanni pushed her to the side and took up a ready stance next to the door, his new cane held out like a club. "I will open the door and we shall see what business this strange familiar would have with us. Be ready to flee, Zatanna!"
Zatanna backed away to the doorway leading into the parlor as her father reached out with a cautious hand towards the doorknob. Swiftly undoing the locks, he held the opened the door and interposed himself into the doorway.
"Greetings, resident of Shadowcrest," the helmet intoned flatly, sounding for all the world as though it were a recording. "I am come bearing a message that must be delivered to one 'Giovanni Zatara' or else his progeny, 'Zatanna Zatara'."
"Creature, tell me what you are!" Giovanni boomed. "Name the one that you serve!"
"Angel. Cassisian," The creature explained, continuing to hover in place. "I am come bearing a message that must be delivered to one 'Giovanni Zatara' or else his progeny, 'Zatanna Zatara'."
And rather than answering the question of whoever it served, the flying helmet just repeated itself.
Maybe it wasn't able to?
Her dad just looked at the thing with a constipated look on his face. Considering the thing just claimed to be an angel, Zatanna kind of felt the same way.
She thought they were supposed to be, like, beautiful, graceful people with wings and robes and... This thing was just a dumb, floating helmet.
"...Very well, Cassisian," Giovanni spoke slowly as he looked at the creature, his posture remaining firm and ready to act. "What were you sent here to do?"
"Instructions: Fly to the 'Zatara' residence known as 'Shadowcrest' in the city of 'Gotham' and knock on the front door until someone answers. If greeted by the mortals known as 'Giovanni Zatara' or 'Zatanna Zatara', I am to inform them that I come bearing a critical letter detailing parts of the international vampire coven that was the target of eradication several days prior," the helmet explained mechanically. "Upon receipt of the letter, I am to dispel immediately. If greeted by someone without appropriate authorization, I am to inform them that I must deliver my message directly to 'Giovanni Zatara' or else his progeny, 'Zatanna Zatara'."
Vampires?
Zatanna thought they were dealing with a lot of people being healed. Why would they need to worry about vampires?!
"...Very well. I am Giovanni Zatara, Cassisian," her dad told the summoned angel.
The summoned creature hovered in place for a moment as it seemed to process what he'd said before it flew a bit higher in the air and presented the letter attached to itself. Accepting it, her dad jumped back in shock when the gold finish on the helmet tarnished instantly and the helmet dropped to the ground, sinking into the shadows and leaving only a small magnet, a little thing that looked like an unfurled scroll with a picture of a boat over the water that had a dock behind it and a castle in the distance. On the bottom left of the magnet it had the words 'Helsinki, Finland' clearly embossed.
Her father's mustache twitched dangerously for a moment before he held the letter up and began to read it.
Then, in the pale light of the crescent moon, Zatanna watched as whatever color was left in her father's face disappeared entirely.
"...Dad?" Zatanna tried, creeping up cautiously to check on her father, she could see that he was reading and then re-reading the letter at speed. "Dad? What's going on?"
"...This- This states that- Zatanna, I need to get back to the Justice League, immediately!" Giovanni shouted, practically running out the door.
For a moment, the girl wondered why he wasn't just teleporting back before she reminded herself that he'd probably burnt through most of his available magic when he'd teleported into Shadowcrest.
"Dad!" Zatanna shouted, freezing the man in place halfway down to the road. "Let's call a cab! It'll be faster!"
She could see her dad look down to the letter, then to the road before he inhaled deeply and began walking back to the house.
"...Good thinking," Giovanni mumbled once he was close enough for Zatanna to hear. "We must make haste, yes, but that is no excuse for a lack of thought."
He set the letter down on an endtable in the entryway and pulled out his phone to make that call... which was the perfect opportunity for Zatanna to grab the letter to read it for herself.
'A group of vampires in Helsinki, Finland have been preying on tourists. An unknown number of victims have been turned. An unknown number were otherwise butchered and the meat sold throughout Europe. The leader in the Helsinki facility was a vampire that was also a decorated Nazi officer by the name of Hans Brunner.
To ensure that Hans, his brood and as many members of the clan were slain, restorative magic was cast upon the family line. As can be seen, this magic has spread throughout the majority of Europe.
You will find the meat processing facilities as well as a significant amount of order data at this address-'
Zatanna let the letter drop through numb fingers.
One person had accomplished that? One person had somehow cast a spell that targeted a family line and not just a person? A spell that actively went up and down the family tree instead of just propagating to the descendants?
"Who- Who did this?" Zatanna asked, turning to face her father, fear in her voice. "Who could have-"
"Doctor Fate, like as not," Giovanni explained tiredly. Her dad looked like he'd aged years in the few moments since the angel had delivered its message. "That much power? And the creature that was sent to deliver the message looked rather akin to the Helmet of Fate. I know that Kent Nelson has held a grudge against the axis powers since World War Two but this..."
"Isn't he on our side, though?" Zatanna asked, her voice small as the enormity of what happened fully hit her.
"He is on his own side, dear," Giovanni explained as he picked the letter up and went to wait by the door.
"We're just lucky enough that we typically share it."
-----
November 6, 2010
Stepping out of the Zeta Terminal in Helsinki, Finland, Batman was immediately followed by Wonder Woman and the Flash.
He'd have liked to have a magic user with him but Alchemist was on vacation and Giovanni had gotten roughly four hours of sleep in the last two days.
Silently, Batman shifted his list of priorities so that finding a few more practitioners was placed higher up. Only having two on hand in comparison to the dozen or so direct hitters...
"Batuman!" their on-site officer greeted as soon as the Zeta Tube closed up behind the group. "We are so glad that you could be coming here!"
"Kasper," the caped crusader greeted as Barry Allen disappeared from their side in a blur of red. "What do you have for us?"
"We are not having much yet," the officer explained, handing over a folder as they walked out of the United Nations Office for Project Services. Batman wasted no time in opening it to peruse what they did have as they walked towards a squad car. "We are getting a call some nights ago about the location you asked of us. We are receiving an anonymous tip, were told of murder that is taking place there."
With every page, Batman's visage grew grimmer. Piles of dust surrounded by clothes, those were practically expected. The corpses that had been hung up to drain out, the report detailing a large number of human spleens, the photographs of a woman that had been cut apart with almost surgical precision-
"This is monstrous," Diana muttered, looking over his shoulder as Batman took in the details of the crime scene photographs.
"Monstrous, yes," Kasper agreed as he held the car door open for Batman and Wonder Woman both to get in. "We are thinking cultists, maybe, but are waiting for lead investigator Eemeli. He has not been showing up for work since the taking."
"...Your lead investigator has been absent since this event occurred?" Batman asked after Kasper had closed the door on them and taken his own place in the driver seat.
"He is, yes," Kasper confirmed as they got moving. "We are worrying for him. He is not answering calls from work!"
"...I see," Batman had a lot of bad feelings about all of this. The pictures of the bloody sink stood out to him especially strongly but he had latched on to what Kasper had told him and drawn up a particularly unpleasant theory. "Would Eemeli happen to have some kind of skin condition? Perhaps a light sensitivity?"
"...How did you know?" Kasper asked, looking at them in the rearview mirror.
Batman met Kasper's gaze steadily as Diana lightly touched his arm.
"A guess," Batman offered as he tapped Diana's hand twice. The woman nodded at the silent signal. "It's been a common factor among those that were 'taken'. It might be best to send someone to check on your investigator."
That... was a rather mixed issue. This investigator, this Eemeli, he might have had some very valuable insight into the local situation. Perhaps been able to offer up some kind of connection that Batman wouldn't have been aware of.
On the other hand... If this was an attack perpetrated against vampires then it was entirely possible that Eemeli would have obstructed the investigation, assuming he was one.
And it was incredibly worrisome that, given their current knowledge of events, this Eemeli had gone missing in connection to what may have been an attack on European vampires at large.
In the front seat, Kasper frowned but said nothing. Something Batman was going to have to appreciate as it gave him some uninterrupted time to review the facts of the case in front of him.
"...What all has been removed from this crime scene?" Batman asked as they pulled to a stop in front of the building they'd been directed to.
Barry was hanging around outside, a skewer of some kind of food in each hand which he waved at them while he had a third in his mouth.
It looked foolish but Batman was well aware that Flash had likely already been through the building and seen everything that was actually there instead of just what Kasper and his team would want the League to see. Barry had an image and the man leaned into it, masking his other capabilities incredibly well.
Stepping out of the car, Batman leaned down towards Diana as she was opening her own door.
"Wonder Woman," Batman started, interrupting her before she could get out. "Would you go to the station and get whatever other information they may have? Any records on who owned the building, ownership transfers, anything else that may be relevant?"
"...Fine," she grumbled, snapping her seatbelt back on with a click. The nod she sent to him was small and subtle, exactly as it was supposed to be. "I'll send any documents I find through your communicator."
With another, this time obvious nod towards Kasper, the man restarted his vehicle and drove off.
Batman had wanted to take a look at what could potentially be the nexus of a great magical working in person, without being directed to whatever the police simply wanted him to see.
Grabbing one of the skewers from Barry, Batman quickly and efficiently devoured the meal in a handful of bites while Barry got started on eating the other one.
"So, what did you find?" Bruce asked after tossing the wooden stick of his meal in the trash. He ignored the blue and white barrier tape that was strung up around the doorway and walked into the building, called 'The Warehouse' in Finnish.
"Pretty messed up stuff," Flash began as Batman walked through the club floor. The place was a mess, alcohol bottles and food plates sat at the tables they'd been at for days. Some were clearly molding already. "They got all the, ah, 'perishable' evidence removed already. So, no bodies. The retro apartment downstairs is loaded up with Nazi soldier memorabilia. Copies of landscapes on the walls made by Hitler, war medals, even found an old uniform in the bottom of the dresser."
Which, in and of itself, did not necessarily denote that they were dealing with an escaped war criminal. There were countless individuals in the United States who collected such materials, for good or ill.
"Did find something kind of odd, though," Barry continued as he led Batman to a side door that was marked 'Employees Only'.
"And that is?" Batman asked as they descended a set of stairs.
"I don't actually know," the Flash admitted as he led the Batman down the hall and to an unmarked door. Pushing it open, Bruce was met with a room that looked like it would fit right in at an animal shelter or kennel.
Provided they only dealt in small dogs kept in inhumane conditions.
A couple dozen cages were lined up on the back wall and stacked on top of each other, each with a water bottle fed through the side that was stained crimson and black. Each of them also had a tray on the floor with a fairly obvious dust pile.
"I've got an idea on what this could've been," Barry admitted quietly. "I just really, really hope I'm wrong."
Bruce wasn't sure of how much dust or ash an adult vampire would leave behind, he hadn't been allowed access to any of the 'Taken' yet...
But he was absolutely certain that the dust in each tray didn't match up to what an adult would leave behind.
Extracting the folder he'd been given that had photographs of the crime scene before the victims had been moved, Bruce flipped through it until he came to the dissected woman.
Viktoria Morozov. The coroner's report estimated that she was eight months pregnant at her time of death. The location of her fetus was unknown but the woman's womb had been found in the sink nearby...
"Did you think they were children?" Bruce asked, handing the folder over to the crimson speedster.
"...I was kind of hoping they weren't."
Bruce would have liked to have that kind of hope.
As it was... The more they dug, the worse the situation looked.
-----
Alchemist wiped the sweat from his brow as he headed towards his cabin on the mountain, a full day of work behind him.
Good, solid work elbow to elbow with Andre the blacksmith and Aine the firekeeper. Together, the trio had built a new forge for the ancient, undead smith to work with. Alchemist and Andre had worked on cutting and placing the firebrick, a lightweight and very heat-resistant material, while Aine had quite a bit of fun coating and mortaring the whole construction with an even more fire-resistant material called 'Satanite'.
There wasn't really anything wrong with Andre's old forge. It could handle the properties of the magical coals the man used well enough. It just didn't seem to like containing the soul of the fire demon 'Flamelurker', one of the myriad beasts from the world of Demon's Souls.
Unusually, Alchemist found a visitor waiting for him on his step. An old, bent man with a messy, scraggly beard.
Gael.
"...I've been waiting for you to seek me out, warrior," the old man's voice was a harsh whisper, belying the countless years he'd walked his world as an undying slave knight. "Waiting for you to demand that we engage once more in battle. To hear the ringing of steel, the song of flesh as it severs."
"I didn't restore your form for the sake of fighting you," Alchemist explained as he turned around and leaned against the wall next to the door of his home. "Though, I'm not going to lie and say I did it for no reason, either. I figured you would stay close to the painter and Yorshka, provide a layer of defense if someone came for them."
For a long time, a very long time, Gael said nothing. He leaned forward and groaned softly as he curled into a ball but didn't act. He did not speak or move at all.
Alchemist pursed his lips as he looked over the pitiful sight.
Gael was ancient, even by the standards of Dark Souls. There was no record of when the man came into existence but he'd traversed the ages of light and dark to reach the very end of time.
He just hadn't done so unscathed.
The body of the undead may regenerate endlessly so long as they can cling to Humanity but the mind? The mind was both infinitely stronger and yet still fragile as spun glass.
Perhaps a Prince Rupert's Drop would make for a better analogy, Alchemist thought as he pondered on what to do.
Alchemist slid down to the ground, his head upturned to see the slim sliver of silver moonlight that hung overhead.
Two more weeks to the full moon. Two more weeks until the Atlanteans summoned Poseidon to pass judgement on Orm.
Two more weeks that Alchemist was going to have to keep feeding the pegasi that were leaving horseapples all over his demi-plane.
"...Do you remember what it felt like, Gael, when you had the Dark Soul within you?" Alchemist asked, his voice quiet and soft.
"...Yes," Gael whispered, rasping slightly on his 'S'. "Power and purpose, direction, it almost felt as though Manus had placed his hand upon my shoulder once more."
The old man uncurled slightly so he could look at his hands, held out in front of him with the palms facing up.
"It felt like my friends were with me," Gael sounded almost reverent as he spoke. "From across the ages, all of them stood ready with me. With their strength, with everyone's strength, I knew I could not be felled."
Gael dropped his hands and curled himself once more into a tiny ball.
"...You proved me quite wrong," Gael's hoarse whisper was difficult to make out, even in the still night air.
Alchemist tilted his head back, hitting the back of his head against wall of his cabin.
Gael had been sent from battlefield to battlefield. From war to war to war. His red hood had been iconic enough that even Artur recognized him. That did not quite mean that the old Undead was strong or powerful, no, but it did mean that he'd been through a lot. More than Alchemist could imagine.
Being idle, having the freedom to choose what he did with his time...
Well, Gael was known as a Slave Knight for a reason. He was hardly the only one, if Alchemist remembered his lore properly, but it still meant that the man found such freedom to be foreign. Perhaps it was so difficult for the man to comprehend that he was distressed by the actual lack of conflict.
Alchemist bit his lip as he tried to wrap his mind around it.
"...Gael," the mage spoke after several long minutes spent in thought. "Would it help if you were to accompany me? To fight against great and powerful foes?"
"Yes!" the old man's head snapped up and Alchemist could almost swear he felt Gael's gaze piercing through the red hood he wore. "Yes! I can be useful! I swear it!"
There weren't any red flags there. Nope, not at all.
Alchemist closed his eyes and sighed slowly.
Ancient, immortal, broken people. Even Yorshka and the painter girl were both older than he was, though one wouldn't know it by looking at them.
"Very well. Wait a moment, Gael, and we can be off." Alchemist had an idea he'd been tossing about recently, a few items he'd wanted to pursue, but he'd been hoping to wait until after his vacation was over. "I need to speak with someone, first."
The way the ancient man begged and groveled did not sit well with the wizard. If he was familiar with Manus, that meant that Gael was old enough to have potentially known Artorias. The man could literally be a peer to the gods like Gwyndolin and Artur.
Standing up, Alchemist wondered if it might be worth the time to try and pursue a degree in psychology.
He discarded the idea as quickly as it had come. He didn't have a fixation on his own trauma, he wouldn't fit in at all with his potential classmates if he tried that.
Stepping out into the open area between the rows of cabins, Alchemist looked up once more to the crescent moon in the sky. Ideally, he'd wanted to wait a few more days for the new moon before he did what he was planning but, really, that was more about theatrics than anything else.
Raising his hand up high above his head, Alchemist snapped his fingers as his magic formed a black sigil around him. The crickets in the distance went silent, owls stopped hooting and even a nearby spirit in the form of a wolf that walked on its hindlegs stopped howling and instead scampered away on all fours-
As a set of hooves ripped their way out of the faint shadow behind Alchemist. The mage turned around and watched as Sleipnir tore his way into existence, Odin sitting astride him.
"...You have called, Champion." The god's bronze mask turned from side to side, his lone crimson eye glowing through the eye-hole. "Yet I cannot find a foe worthy of my blade."
"I called to ask you a question, Odin." Alchemist inhaled slowly through his nose as he looked up at the avatar.
"...Speak, then, and I shall answer." Odin tilted his head down, to focus his gaze on the mage. "But I will have you answer a question of my own."
"Those who wield the dark blade consider you to be the greatest master of the Dark Arts," Alchemist stated, framing his question. "I want to ask if you would be willing to teach me."
"...Impertinent," Odin stated before he turned his great, antlered head up to look at the sliver of the moon overhead. "You are blessed with Gaia's system, Champion. It would offer you access to a facsimile of the Dark Arts. You need not ask for my assistance."
"That's true. I don't," Alchemist agreed. He was tempted to try and stroke Sleipnir's mane but he had no idea if the divine war-horse would take offense. "But then I'd need to rely on Gaia's system if I wish to use the arts at all. I wouldn't know them, master them, I'd just be a conduit through which they were channeled."
"..." Odin's crimson gaze slid back down to Alchemist's face. The old god looked at him, looked into him. Judging him. "...You have one of my spears, Champion. Stolen from one of my Valkyries. Give it to me."
It took Alchemist a second to find the spear in question but he soon had the Gungnir in hand, stolen from the strange, animal-like Lenneth Valkyrie copy that he and his team had fought inside of the item world of the Dragoon Laser.
Odin accepted the weapon silently. He held the spear up, his one eye sliding slowly from the tip and down the shaft.
"Gaia and her fixation on placing numbers on everything. Feh." The spear, once the color of gray iron, was slowly coated in black pitch as the god handled it. "True strength cannot be measured, not by arbitrary numbers. Those who wield such power need not compare it so. Here, Champion."
Odin handed the black spear back down to Alchemist and the mage nearly dropped it. The weapon was hardly unwieldy but it had greatly increased in weight!
"Wield that spear in battle, Champion. When it has had its fill of life, you will find it has grown to be an extension of yourself instead of some crude, simple tool," Odin's cold words were accompanied by a dismissive sniff. "Now, I was promised an answer in kind."
"You were," Alchemist agreed as he set the butt of the spear into the ground and leaned against the tool. "What did you wish to know?"
"What have you done to yourself?" The god waved one black gauntleted hand in Alchemist's direction. "When last I saw you, your spirit was splitting at the seams of your mortal form. Now, now you seem akin to an Einherjar, more spirit than man."
"I'm... still working on figuring that out, honestly." Alchemist sighed quietly and looked away from Odin's mask and up, towards the moon. "I was tampering with some primordial spirits called 'Magatama' and..."
"And if you were not Gaia's Champion, I would cut you down where you stand," Odin declared before shaking his head. "I trust you comprehend the wariness that I and the others must feel, knowing that you've touched on power that belongs in the realm of the gods?"
"I've already been named a god-killer," Alchemist said, though his voice lacked any real heat. "Is this really that much worse?"
"Yes."
Alchemist waited for a moment but Odin refused to elaborate.
"If that is all, Champion, then I shall depart." Odin stated before the shadows around them seemed to grow deeper, more malevolent.
"Well, I've got one last thing, actually," Alchemist said, interrupting Odin as the god began to unsummon himself. "I'm about to go and pester one of your Valkyries. Maybe break a seal or two. Anything you think I should be aware of?"
"...Which one?" Odin asked, his tone far lighter than it had been mere moments earlier. "I would ask that you leave Gwendolyn be. She has found happiness in my absence."
And it went straight from light to melancholic.
"Lenneth," Alchemist specified for the god. "There are a few artifacts in that world that I was thinking of making copies of."
"...At the height of her strength, she could kill even you, Dragon-man." Odin shook his head and laughed, actually laughed at what Alchemist had told him. "I'll not stop you from your foolishness but I would ask a favor of you. Should you find yourself in battle against her, I would ask that you summon me."
"I can do that," Alchemist agreed. "Can I ask why, though?"
"I find, Champion, that apologies are better made in person." Odin's words were wistful and, when the shadows came to claim him, they did not feel as though they were full of glaring eyes or chattering teeth. "Even if what I must apologize for was necessary at the time."
-----
Item Lost: Gungnir
Item Gained: Error! File not found!
AN/ Next chapter on Friday. It's gonna be a big one.
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
November 6, 2010
Jinx followed along behind Alchemist and Yuffie, with Kary at her own side as they trekked through a small, crowded part of Japan that apparently dealt in retro electronics.
"They just don't make stuff like this anymore," Alchemist was telling the little ninja as he pointed out a shop that had a handful of old, boxy televisions displayed behind grated glass. "Stuff nowadays is sharper and clearer but also a lot more fragile-"
Jinx took a deep pull on a straw stuck cup of this weird purple tea she'd picked up at a food stall along the way. It was apparently made out of some kind of root vegetable and it was really sweet. They even put these thick, solid chunks of pudding in the bottom!
The girl was still worried about Alchemist, especially with what had happened earlier in the morning. He seemed alright but she wouldn't-
Jinx froze, straw dangling from her lips as she looked at the televisions in the window. As they played a news story about Europe-
'-experts are still struggling to understand how millions of people were affected by this strange healing light and what connection it may have to the ever-growing list of missing persons who inexplicably left behind their clothes before disappearing!' Jinx's eyes grew wide and she nearly let go of her taro tea in shock. 'The list of those missing has since grown to include Germany's head of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Emma Schmidt. The numbers continue to grow by the hour as panic and confusion grows with it.'
"...Al!" Jinx shouted, wildly turning in the direction the man had gone to. He was easy enough to find with Kary standing tall next to him. "Al! We have a problem!"
She rushed towards the taller fallen, jostling a few confused Japanese people in her haste.
"-get an ink block and brush?" and Jinx interrupted Yuffie as the girl was talking to the only man in their group. "Mom used to-"
Jinx felt a little bad about interrupting the girl but the current issue was incredibly pressing. She grabbed on to Alchemist's sleeve and turned back around, only needing to drag him for a moment before he was walking alongside her.
"Jinx?" he asked, the crowd parting around them as they returned to the antique electronics shop. "What's going on? What- oh."
His 'oh' was very quiet as he took in the numerous screens.
"Have you watched the news at all since we got here?" Jinx asked, pointing at one of the televisions that was reporting on an old folks home in Denmark where the patients were rioting.
"...I've been trying not to," he said to her. She watched his eyes flicker between the different reports for a second before she turned around herself to really focus on things. "...I think I'm going to have to report this, aren't I?"
"We gained, like, one level," Jinx moaned, only just barely keeping herself from leaning forward against the glass. "This is a lot of crazy for just one level!"
Instead she turned to the side as Alchemist opened his system. She watched as he opened his notifications.
It had lagged and frozen when Alchemist had dealt with Hans so they hadn't bothered worrying about it. Now, at the bottom of the screen, it held a summary instead of countless individual notifications.
Jinx would bet that was a hotfix from Terra considering this was the second time Alchemist had managed the same feat.
~~ Quest 'Fin-al Destination' Rejected! ~~
~~ Vampires slain - 65,535+ ~~
~~ People healed - 300,000,000+ ~~
~~ Passive Ability 'Spirit+' has reached level [200] ~~
~~ Passive Ability 'All Attributes+' has reached level [200] ~~
~~ In healing more than 1,000,000 people, a special quest 'Absolute Virtue' has been completed! ~~
~~ Perk 'Absolute Virtue' has been awarded! ~~
~~ Absolute Virtue - Healing effects +100%, Holy effects +100%, Healing and Holy magic/skill costs -50%. Undead slain through Healing/Holy skills or magic cannot be reanimated through Necromancy skills, magic or abilities! ~~
"...That's just ridiculous," Jinx mumbled as she read it alongside Alchemist.
"...Yeah," the mage agreed as he closed the window and opened a different one.
The messaging system?
"I'm definitely going to have to report this," Alchemist said with a sigh as he began to type.
"The league?" Jinx asked as Yuffie and Kary finally fought their way through the crowd to see what had drawn the dragons away.
"My other self is working on that," Alchemist told her as he continued typing. "I'm double checking with Terra because the last time she tried the whole 'milestone' awards thing, I nearly died from the system glitching."
"...Ah," Jinx said lamely as the news stories went on repeat.
She didn't exactly have any plans about trying to replicate that feat but she did wonder if there was some sort of similar perk for illusion magic...
And she was morbidly curious as to how the League would react when Alchemist told them about what happened.
-----
November 5, 2010
Zatanna Zatara was almost ready for bed, her teeth were brushed and she was freshly showered when she heard something pounding on the door downstairs.
The young magician waited for a moment to see if her dad would get it but the pounding just kept going. It was oddly even and regular in tone, though. Almost mechanical.
Rolling out of bed and grabbing her phone, she padded her way downstairs barefoot and looked through the peephole.
She saw a golden helmet with wings, floating in front of the door.
There... Wasn't a person inside of it.
After a second, the helmet flapped those wings and darted forward, smacking against the door again before it resumed its position hovering just in sight.
Zatanna frowned, her lips thinning into a line as the helmet just... hovered there. In the air. With a note stuck to it by a magnet.
The girl swiftly extracted her phone from her pocket and opened the chat app.
-- Hey, dad? waht is this? --
-- (1) image attached --
Waiting for a long moment and several more knocks, Zatanna brought her phone back up when she felt it buzz.
-- dont open door. be right there --
Zatanna put her phone away and looked through the peephole again.
The helmet just continued to hover. It didn't do anything else, it just hovered and occasionally headbutted the door.
That was so weird...
"Zatanna!" Her father's voice came from behind her, panic clearly audible. He hadn't even been in the house before, so she was guessing he used a lot of magic to teleport from wherever he'd been. "Is the creature still at the door?!"
"Yeah, dad," Zatarra told him, rather calmer than her father. "It's just hovering there. Did you see that it has some paper stuck to it? With a magnet!"
"I did, yes." Giovanni pushed her to the side and took up a ready stance next to the door, his new cane held out like a club. "I will open the door and we shall see what business this strange familiar would have with us. Be ready to flee, Zatanna!"
Zatanna backed away to the doorway leading into the parlor as her father reached out with a cautious hand towards the doorknob. Swiftly undoing the locks, he held the opened the door and interposed himself into the doorway.
"Greetings, resident of Shadowcrest," the helmet intoned flatly, sounding for all the world as though it were a recording. "I am come bearing a message that must be delivered to one 'Giovanni Zatara' or else his progeny, 'Zatanna Zatara'."
"Creature, tell me what you are!" Giovanni boomed. "Name the one that you serve!"
"Angel. Cassisian," The creature explained, continuing to hover in place. "I am come bearing a message that must be delivered to one 'Giovanni Zatara' or else his progeny, 'Zatanna Zatara'."
And rather than answering the question of whoever it served, the flying helmet just repeated itself.
Maybe it wasn't able to?
Her dad just looked at the thing with a constipated look on his face. Considering the thing just claimed to be an angel, Zatanna kind of felt the same way.
She thought they were supposed to be, like, beautiful, graceful people with wings and robes and... This thing was just a dumb, floating helmet.
"...Very well, Cassisian," Giovanni spoke slowly as he looked at the creature, his posture remaining firm and ready to act. "What were you sent here to do?"
"Instructions: Fly to the 'Zatara' residence known as 'Shadowcrest' in the city of 'Gotham' and knock on the front door until someone answers. If greeted by the mortals known as 'Giovanni Zatara' or 'Zatanna Zatara', I am to inform them that I come bearing a critical letter detailing parts of the international vampire coven that was the target of eradication several days prior," the helmet explained mechanically. "Upon receipt of the letter, I am to dispel immediately. If greeted by someone without appropriate authorization, I am to inform them that I must deliver my message directly to 'Giovanni Zatara' or else his progeny, 'Zatanna Zatara'."
Vampires?
Zatanna thought they were dealing with a lot of people being healed. Why would they need to worry about vampires?!
"...Very well. I am Giovanni Zatara, Cassisian," her dad told the summoned angel.
The summoned creature hovered in place for a moment as it seemed to process what he'd said before it flew a bit higher in the air and presented the letter attached to itself. Accepting it, her dad jumped back in shock when the gold finish on the helmet tarnished instantly and the helmet dropped to the ground, sinking into the shadows and leaving only a small magnet, a little thing that looked like an unfurled scroll with a picture of a boat over the water that had a dock behind it and a castle in the distance. On the bottom left of the magnet it had the words 'Helsinki, Finland' clearly embossed.
Her father's mustache twitched dangerously for a moment before he held the letter up and began to read it.
Then, in the pale light of the crescent moon, Zatanna watched as whatever color was left in her father's face disappeared entirely.
"...Dad?" Zatanna tried, creeping up cautiously to check on her father, she could see that he was reading and then re-reading the letter at speed. "Dad? What's going on?"
"...This- This states that- Zatanna, I need to get back to the Justice League, immediately!" Giovanni shouted, practically running out the door.
For a moment, the girl wondered why he wasn't just teleporting back before she reminded herself that he'd probably burnt through most of his available magic when he'd teleported into Shadowcrest.
"Dad!" Zatanna shouted, freezing the man in place halfway down to the road. "Let's call a cab! It'll be faster!"
She could see her dad look down to the letter, then to the road before he inhaled deeply and began walking back to the house.
"...Good thinking," Giovanni mumbled once he was close enough for Zatanna to hear. "We must make haste, yes, but that is no excuse for a lack of thought."
He set the letter down on an endtable in the entryway and pulled out his phone to make that call... which was the perfect opportunity for Zatanna to grab the letter to read it for herself.
'A group of vampires in Helsinki, Finland have been preying on tourists. An unknown number of victims have been turned. An unknown number were otherwise butchered and the meat sold throughout Europe. The leader in the Helsinki facility was a vampire that was also a decorated Nazi officer by the name of Hans Brunner.
To ensure that Hans, his brood and as many members of the clan were slain, restorative magic was cast upon the family line. As can be seen, this magic has spread throughout the majority of Europe.
You will find the meat processing facilities as well as a significant amount of order data at this address-'
Zatanna let the letter drop through numb fingers.
One person had accomplished that? One person had somehow cast a spell that targeted a family line and not just a person? A spell that actively went up and down the family tree instead of just propagating to the descendants?
"Who- Who did this?" Zatanna asked, turning to face her father, fear in her voice. "Who could have-"
"Doctor Fate, like as not," Giovanni explained tiredly. Her dad looked like he'd aged years in the few moments since the angel had delivered its message. "That much power? And the creature that was sent to deliver the message looked rather akin to the Helmet of Fate. I know that Kent Nelson has held a grudge against the axis powers since World War Two but this..."
"Isn't he on our side, though?" Zatanna asked, her voice small as the enormity of what happened fully hit her.
"He is on his own side, dear," Giovanni explained as he picked the letter up and went to wait by the door.
"We're just lucky enough that we typically share it."
-----
November 6, 2010
Stepping out of the Zeta Terminal in Helsinki, Finland, Batman was immediately followed by Wonder Woman and the Flash.
He'd have liked to have a magic user with him but Alchemist was on vacation and Giovanni had gotten roughly four hours of sleep in the last two days.
Silently, Batman shifted his list of priorities so that finding a few more practitioners was placed higher up. Only having two on hand in comparison to the dozen or so direct hitters...
"Batuman!" their on-site officer greeted as soon as the Zeta Tube closed up behind the group. "We are so glad that you could be coming here!"
"Kasper," the caped crusader greeted as Barry Allen disappeared from their side in a blur of red. "What do you have for us?"
"We are not having much yet," the officer explained, handing over a folder as they walked out of the United Nations Office for Project Services. Batman wasted no time in opening it to peruse what they did have as they walked towards a squad car. "We are getting a call some nights ago about the location you asked of us. We are receiving an anonymous tip, were told of murder that is taking place there."
With every page, Batman's visage grew grimmer. Piles of dust surrounded by clothes, those were practically expected. The corpses that had been hung up to drain out, the report detailing a large number of human spleens, the photographs of a woman that had been cut apart with almost surgical precision-
"This is monstrous," Diana muttered, looking over his shoulder as Batman took in the details of the crime scene photographs.
"Monstrous, yes," Kasper agreed as he held the car door open for Batman and Wonder Woman both to get in. "We are thinking cultists, maybe, but are waiting for lead investigator Eemeli. He has not been showing up for work since the taking."
"...Your lead investigator has been absent since this event occurred?" Batman asked after Kasper had closed the door on them and taken his own place in the driver seat.
"He is, yes," Kasper confirmed as they got moving. "We are worrying for him. He is not answering calls from work!"
"...I see," Batman had a lot of bad feelings about all of this. The pictures of the bloody sink stood out to him especially strongly but he had latched on to what Kasper had told him and drawn up a particularly unpleasant theory. "Would Eemeli happen to have some kind of skin condition? Perhaps a light sensitivity?"
"...How did you know?" Kasper asked, looking at them in the rearview mirror.
Batman met Kasper's gaze steadily as Diana lightly touched his arm.
"A guess," Batman offered as he tapped Diana's hand twice. The woman nodded at the silent signal. "It's been a common factor among those that were 'taken'. It might be best to send someone to check on your investigator."
That... was a rather mixed issue. This investigator, this Eemeli, he might have had some very valuable insight into the local situation. Perhaps been able to offer up some kind of connection that Batman wouldn't have been aware of.
On the other hand... If this was an attack perpetrated against vampires then it was entirely possible that Eemeli would have obstructed the investigation, assuming he was one.
And it was incredibly worrisome that, given their current knowledge of events, this Eemeli had gone missing in connection to what may have been an attack on European vampires at large.
In the front seat, Kasper frowned but said nothing. Something Batman was going to have to appreciate as it gave him some uninterrupted time to review the facts of the case in front of him.
"...What all has been removed from this crime scene?" Batman asked as they pulled to a stop in front of the building they'd been directed to.
Barry was hanging around outside, a skewer of some kind of food in each hand which he waved at them while he had a third in his mouth.
It looked foolish but Batman was well aware that Flash had likely already been through the building and seen everything that was actually there instead of just what Kasper and his team would want the League to see. Barry had an image and the man leaned into it, masking his other capabilities incredibly well.
Stepping out of the car, Batman leaned down towards Diana as she was opening her own door.
"Wonder Woman," Batman started, interrupting her before she could get out. "Would you go to the station and get whatever other information they may have? Any records on who owned the building, ownership transfers, anything else that may be relevant?"
"...Fine," she grumbled, snapping her seatbelt back on with a click. The nod she sent to him was small and subtle, exactly as it was supposed to be. "I'll send any documents I find through your communicator."
With another, this time obvious nod towards Kasper, the man restarted his vehicle and drove off.
Batman had wanted to take a look at what could potentially be the nexus of a great magical working in person, without being directed to whatever the police simply wanted him to see.
Grabbing one of the skewers from Barry, Batman quickly and efficiently devoured the meal in a handful of bites while Barry got started on eating the other one.
"So, what did you find?" Bruce asked after tossing the wooden stick of his meal in the trash. He ignored the blue and white barrier tape that was strung up around the doorway and walked into the building, called 'The Warehouse' in Finnish.
"Pretty messed up stuff," Flash began as Batman walked through the club floor. The place was a mess, alcohol bottles and food plates sat at the tables they'd been at for days. Some were clearly molding already. "They got all the, ah, 'perishable' evidence removed already. So, no bodies. The retro apartment downstairs is loaded up with Nazi soldier memorabilia. Copies of landscapes on the walls made by Hitler, war medals, even found an old uniform in the bottom of the dresser."
Which, in and of itself, did not necessarily denote that they were dealing with an escaped war criminal. There were countless individuals in the United States who collected such materials, for good or ill.
"Did find something kind of odd, though," Barry continued as he led Batman to a side door that was marked 'Employees Only'.
"And that is?" Batman asked as they descended a set of stairs.
"I don't actually know," the Flash admitted as he led the Batman down the hall and to an unmarked door. Pushing it open, Bruce was met with a room that looked like it would fit right in at an animal shelter or kennel.
Provided they only dealt in small dogs kept in inhumane conditions.
A couple dozen cages were lined up on the back wall and stacked on top of each other, each with a water bottle fed through the side that was stained crimson and black. Each of them also had a tray on the floor with a fairly obvious dust pile.
"I've got an idea on what this could've been," Barry admitted quietly. "I just really, really hope I'm wrong."
Bruce wasn't sure of how much dust or ash an adult vampire would leave behind, he hadn't been allowed access to any of the 'Taken' yet...
But he was absolutely certain that the dust in each tray didn't match up to what an adult would leave behind.
Extracting the folder he'd been given that had photographs of the crime scene before the victims had been moved, Bruce flipped through it until he came to the dissected woman.
Viktoria Morozov. The coroner's report estimated that she was eight months pregnant at her time of death. The location of her fetus was unknown but the woman's womb had been found in the sink nearby...
"Did you think they were children?" Bruce asked, handing the folder over to the crimson speedster.
"...I was kind of hoping they weren't."
Bruce would have liked to have that kind of hope.
As it was... The more they dug, the worse the situation looked.
-----
Alchemist wiped the sweat from his brow as he headed towards his cabin on the mountain, a full day of work behind him.
Good, solid work elbow to elbow with Andre the blacksmith and Aine the firekeeper. Together, the trio had built a new forge for the ancient, undead smith to work with. Alchemist and Andre had worked on cutting and placing the firebrick, a lightweight and very heat-resistant material, while Aine had quite a bit of fun coating and mortaring the whole construction with an even more fire-resistant material called 'Satanite'.
There wasn't really anything wrong with Andre's old forge. It could handle the properties of the magical coals the man used well enough. It just didn't seem to like containing the soul of the fire demon 'Flamelurker', one of the myriad beasts from the world of Demon's Souls.
Unusually, Alchemist found a visitor waiting for him on his step. An old, bent man with a messy, scraggly beard.
Gael.
"...I've been waiting for you to seek me out, warrior," the old man's voice was a harsh whisper, belying the countless years he'd walked his world as an undying slave knight. "Waiting for you to demand that we engage once more in battle. To hear the ringing of steel, the song of flesh as it severs."
"I didn't restore your form for the sake of fighting you," Alchemist explained as he turned around and leaned against the wall next to the door of his home. "Though, I'm not going to lie and say I did it for no reason, either. I figured you would stay close to the painter and Yorshka, provide a layer of defense if someone came for them."
For a long time, a very long time, Gael said nothing. He leaned forward and groaned softly as he curled into a ball but didn't act. He did not speak or move at all.
Alchemist pursed his lips as he looked over the pitiful sight.
Gael was ancient, even by the standards of Dark Souls. There was no record of when the man came into existence but he'd traversed the ages of light and dark to reach the very end of time.
He just hadn't done so unscathed.
The body of the undead may regenerate endlessly so long as they can cling to Humanity but the mind? The mind was both infinitely stronger and yet still fragile as spun glass.
Perhaps a Prince Rupert's Drop would make for a better analogy, Alchemist thought as he pondered on what to do.
Alchemist slid down to the ground, his head upturned to see the slim sliver of silver moonlight that hung overhead.
Two more weeks to the full moon. Two more weeks until the Atlanteans summoned Poseidon to pass judgement on Orm.
Two more weeks that Alchemist was going to have to keep feeding the pegasi that were leaving horseapples all over his demi-plane.
"...Do you remember what it felt like, Gael, when you had the Dark Soul within you?" Alchemist asked, his voice quiet and soft.
"...Yes," Gael whispered, rasping slightly on his 'S'. "Power and purpose, direction, it almost felt as though Manus had placed his hand upon my shoulder once more."
The old man uncurled slightly so he could look at his hands, held out in front of him with the palms facing up.
"It felt like my friends were with me," Gael sounded almost reverent as he spoke. "From across the ages, all of them stood ready with me. With their strength, with everyone's strength, I knew I could not be felled."
Gael dropped his hands and curled himself once more into a tiny ball.
"...You proved me quite wrong," Gael's hoarse whisper was difficult to make out, even in the still night air.
Alchemist tilted his head back, hitting the back of his head against wall of his cabin.
Gael had been sent from battlefield to battlefield. From war to war to war. His red hood had been iconic enough that even Artur recognized him. That did not quite mean that the old Undead was strong or powerful, no, but it did mean that he'd been through a lot. More than Alchemist could imagine.
Being idle, having the freedom to choose what he did with his time...
Well, Gael was known as a Slave Knight for a reason. He was hardly the only one, if Alchemist remembered his lore properly, but it still meant that the man found such freedom to be foreign. Perhaps it was so difficult for the man to comprehend that he was distressed by the actual lack of conflict.
Alchemist bit his lip as he tried to wrap his mind around it.
"...Gael," the mage spoke after several long minutes spent in thought. "Would it help if you were to accompany me? To fight against great and powerful foes?"
"Yes!" the old man's head snapped up and Alchemist could almost swear he felt Gael's gaze piercing through the red hood he wore. "Yes! I can be useful! I swear it!"
There weren't any red flags there. Nope, not at all.
Alchemist closed his eyes and sighed slowly.
Ancient, immortal, broken people. Even Yorshka and the painter girl were both older than he was, though one wouldn't know it by looking at them.
"Very well. Wait a moment, Gael, and we can be off." Alchemist had an idea he'd been tossing about recently, a few items he'd wanted to pursue, but he'd been hoping to wait until after his vacation was over. "I need to speak with someone, first."
The way the ancient man begged and groveled did not sit well with the wizard. If he was familiar with Manus, that meant that Gael was old enough to have potentially known Artorias. The man could literally be a peer to the gods like Gwyndolin and Artur.
Standing up, Alchemist wondered if it might be worth the time to try and pursue a degree in psychology.
He discarded the idea as quickly as it had come. He didn't have a fixation on his own trauma, he wouldn't fit in at all with his potential classmates if he tried that.
Stepping out into the open area between the rows of cabins, Alchemist looked up once more to the crescent moon in the sky. Ideally, he'd wanted to wait a few more days for the new moon before he did what he was planning but, really, that was more about theatrics than anything else.
Raising his hand up high above his head, Alchemist snapped his fingers as his magic formed a black sigil around him. The crickets in the distance went silent, owls stopped hooting and even a nearby spirit in the form of a wolf that walked on its hindlegs stopped howling and instead scampered away on all fours-
As a set of hooves ripped their way out of the faint shadow behind Alchemist. The mage turned around and watched as Sleipnir tore his way into existence, Odin sitting astride him.
"...You have called, Champion." The god's bronze mask turned from side to side, his lone crimson eye glowing through the eye-hole. "Yet I cannot find a foe worthy of my blade."
"I called to ask you a question, Odin." Alchemist inhaled slowly through his nose as he looked up at the avatar.
"...Speak, then, and I shall answer." Odin tilted his head down, to focus his gaze on the mage. "But I will have you answer a question of my own."
"Those who wield the dark blade consider you to be the greatest master of the Dark Arts," Alchemist stated, framing his question. "I want to ask if you would be willing to teach me."
"...Impertinent," Odin stated before he turned his great, antlered head up to look at the sliver of the moon overhead. "You are blessed with Gaia's system, Champion. It would offer you access to a facsimile of the Dark Arts. You need not ask for my assistance."
"That's true. I don't," Alchemist agreed. He was tempted to try and stroke Sleipnir's mane but he had no idea if the divine war-horse would take offense. "But then I'd need to rely on Gaia's system if I wish to use the arts at all. I wouldn't know them, master them, I'd just be a conduit through which they were channeled."
"..." Odin's crimson gaze slid back down to Alchemist's face. The old god looked at him, looked into him. Judging him. "...You have one of my spears, Champion. Stolen from one of my Valkyries. Give it to me."
It took Alchemist a second to find the spear in question but he soon had the Gungnir in hand, stolen from the strange, animal-like Lenneth Valkyrie copy that he and his team had fought inside of the item world of the Dragoon Laser.
Odin accepted the weapon silently. He held the spear up, his one eye sliding slowly from the tip and down the shaft.
"Gaia and her fixation on placing numbers on everything. Feh." The spear, once the color of gray iron, was slowly coated in black pitch as the god handled it. "True strength cannot be measured, not by arbitrary numbers. Those who wield such power need not compare it so. Here, Champion."
Odin handed the black spear back down to Alchemist and the mage nearly dropped it. The weapon was hardly unwieldy but it had greatly increased in weight!
"Wield that spear in battle, Champion. When it has had its fill of life, you will find it has grown to be an extension of yourself instead of some crude, simple tool," Odin's cold words were accompanied by a dismissive sniff. "Now, I was promised an answer in kind."
"You were," Alchemist agreed as he set the butt of the spear into the ground and leaned against the tool. "What did you wish to know?"
"What have you done to yourself?" The god waved one black gauntleted hand in Alchemist's direction. "When last I saw you, your spirit was splitting at the seams of your mortal form. Now, now you seem akin to an Einherjar, more spirit than man."
"I'm... still working on figuring that out, honestly." Alchemist sighed quietly and looked away from Odin's mask and up, towards the moon. "I was tampering with some primordial spirits called 'Magatama' and..."
"And if you were not Gaia's Champion, I would cut you down where you stand," Odin declared before shaking his head. "I trust you comprehend the wariness that I and the others must feel, knowing that you've touched on power that belongs in the realm of the gods?"
"I've already been named a god-killer," Alchemist said, though his voice lacked any real heat. "Is this really that much worse?"
"Yes."
Alchemist waited for a moment but Odin refused to elaborate.
"If that is all, Champion, then I shall depart." Odin stated before the shadows around them seemed to grow deeper, more malevolent.
"Well, I've got one last thing, actually," Alchemist said, interrupting Odin as the god began to unsummon himself. "I'm about to go and pester one of your Valkyries. Maybe break a seal or two. Anything you think I should be aware of?"
"...Which one?" Odin asked, his tone far lighter than it had been mere moments earlier. "I would ask that you leave Gwendolyn be. She has found happiness in my absence."
And it went straight from light to melancholic.
"Lenneth," Alchemist specified for the god. "There are a few artifacts in that world that I was thinking of making copies of."
"...At the height of her strength, she could kill even you, Dragon-man." Odin shook his head and laughed, actually laughed at what Alchemist had told him. "I'll not stop you from your foolishness but I would ask a favor of you. Should you find yourself in battle against her, I would ask that you summon me."
"I can do that," Alchemist agreed. "Can I ask why, though?"
"I find, Champion, that apologies are better made in person." Odin's words were wistful and, when the shadows came to claim him, they did not feel as though they were full of glaring eyes or chattering teeth. "Even if what I must apologize for was necessary at the time."
-----
Item Lost: Gungnir
Item Gained: Error! File not found!
AN/ Next chapter on Friday. It's gonna be a big one.
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- Location
- Wisconsin
Looks like Terra put a cap on the kill count after the zombie earth incident given the significance of that particular integer.
- Location
- Here
Heads up everyone, I have some horrible unbelievable news!
The baby eating Nazi vampire empire? Turns out that they were up to NO GOOD!
The baby eating Nazi vampire empire? Turns out that they were up to NO GOOD!
Al back to headache-inducing shenanigans for the denizens of DC.
the paperwork. so much paperwork for the Justice League. It's an international incident too, so they probably have to answer a lot of questions posited by the UN. probably have to do it a couple more times to prevent anyone else from taking credit, or taking advantage of the sudden miraculous healing, and the sudden culling of heretofore unknown individuals, and maybe people finding out that they were vampires, and those healed were of their bloodline.
also, Al really taking the beta tester role to the hilt with unintended consequences, crashes and glitches with the whole Gamer system. and he wasn't even really trying. Terra probably regrets the whole chain of decisions that led them up to this point. the gods wanted entertainment, Al gave them more work.
thanks for sharing.
the paperwork. so much paperwork for the Justice League. It's an international incident too, so they probably have to answer a lot of questions posited by the UN. probably have to do it a couple more times to prevent anyone else from taking credit, or taking advantage of the sudden miraculous healing, and the sudden culling of heretofore unknown individuals, and maybe people finding out that they were vampires, and those healed were of their bloodline.
also, Al really taking the beta tester role to the hilt with unintended consequences, crashes and glitches with the whole Gamer system. and he wasn't even really trying. Terra probably regrets the whole chain of decisions that led them up to this point. the gods wanted entertainment, Al gave them more work.
thanks for sharing.
- Location
- Paradise, Hawaii
A mention of a Baby Eating NAZI Vampire who murders Tourist's?
I admit I did Not See it coming.
Will Player One go to a Zombie zone and find a Version of Hitler in Germany?
One hand, Hitler. OTOH? NAZI TREASURE! Loot they stole and can be recovered. Even if it is not the original it can be given?
I admit I did Not See it coming.
Will Player One go to a Zombie zone and find a Version of Hitler in Germany?
One hand, Hitler. OTOH? NAZI TREASURE! Loot they stole and can be recovered. Even if it is not the original it can be given?
- Location
- Elsewhere
I'm not sure I agree with that for TVs.
I distinctly remember static-y, bent, off-color images cutting in and out, scratchy speakers, and large glass screens that shatter.
They were "built to last" in the sense that they were "built to be compensated for with constant adjustment and corrections."
In comparison the worse I've ever had with a flatscreen is a dead pixel.
I've never actually had one break or degrade in performance over time, even over 10 years.
Just recently I dropped my monitor on the floor, and the plastic frame popped off, but I was able to snap it back on easily.
Since it was all plastics and solid-state components, it's surprisingly robust.
If that was an old box television I'd be picking it up with a dustpan.
I've watched a cat bite the edge of a flatscreen television and it ruined half the screen. In contrast (Get it? Get it???) I can tell you how many BBs you have to shoot at a floor model tv to mess up the screen.
It was 32.
...My friends and I got up to some really dumb shit when we were kids.
It was 32.
...My friends and I got up to some really dumb shit when we were kids.
I've got an 11-year-old 55" LCD flatscreen that was once dropped three feet onto concrete and is still in perfect shape (minus a small crack in the plastic - and in the concrete) - and still has a better picture and sound than most new TVs. Quality on them is really variable, and depends heavily on the manufacturer, but a lot of what gets pumped out to consumers these days is designed to fail and die after a few years, so people will have to keep buying more, and that's not even starting to get into the flaming garbage heap that is "Smart TVs" - which are either full of malware, or abandoned by their makers within a few months of release and left to have all of their "Smart Apps" stop working within a year of purchase. My parents and sister have a collection of smart TVs full of dead/abandoned/non-functional apps that all have outside boxes like a Roku or Amazon stick on them so they can still actually use them.
They really don't make them like they used to, because the way they used to make them didn't result in frequent replacements.
They really don't make them like they used to, because the way they used to make them didn't result in frequent replacements.
- Location
- Oz
Seems a bit distant for talking about someone they've known for years and who helped raise Zatanna while Giovanni was getting himself set up as a hero. Who helped teach Giovanni.
Or is that another thing you've thrown out the window from Young Justice canon?
I admit, I'm starting to feel a bit more uncomfortable about the apparent collateral damage the more I learn about this vampire situation. Granted, it was probably for the best, given the number of victims just in this location, but the number of kids (vampire kids, but still kids) swept up in this is a bit distressing.
The League's reaction to things has been quite amusing, though. It's not clear if any of them suspect Alchemist yet, but when the truth outs I imagine they'll have some very loud questions.
The League's reaction to things has been quite amusing, though. It's not clear if any of them suspect Alchemist yet, but when the truth outs I imagine they'll have some very loud questions.
I'm pretty sure that anything that that that has been touched by Nazis in the DC universe would be heavily cursed so you might have to like hire an extra shift or something or you'd be better off just getting rid of the gold I mean like that stuff is literally blood money, so not a good idea to have a hit your hands on it Bad luck indeed. I'm not really sure that like player one alchemist, or any of them would want cursed gold for any purpose.