A few more months pass after Michael's run-in with the Dark Brotherhood, he felt like they were in a kind of peace period since the Thalmor were seemingly fine with allowing the Dark Brotherhood to do their jobs, not knowing that the assassination attempt had already failed.
Michael wanted to take another 'vacation' while he waited for his property to be built, but knew that a few things had to be taken care of. The first is the excavation of Saarthal to acquire the Eye of Magnus, which would have to be recovered before the structure was actually built. Primarily due to how the tower was designed... The Aetherium symbols and ebony wiring made it incredibly sensitive to magic, so Michael didn't dare do anything 'drastic' anywhere near them. He'd also made this clear to the workers and Arch-mage, making sure to mention how 'explosion' it could be if his warning was ignored... Which only annoyed the powerful mage.
His relationship with the Arch-Mage had become frosty, which only made it more difficult for him to ask for the key to access the Labyrinthian so he could grab the Staff of Magnus before anyone else could.
Savos tried to convince him out of it, despite their rocky relationship, knowing that there was a high possibility of Michael's death if he went on ignorant of the dangers.
Michael assured the man that he already knew what awaited him however, explaining that the Skeletal Dragon and Dragon Priest wouldn't be a problem, and that he already had countermeasures... Which was a lie, kind of, but it still managed to convince the man, who handed him a large ringlet that'd be used to open the Labyrinthian.
With it, he entered the tomb alone, not wanting to get the others involved or possibly harmed. In all honesty, he had no idea how powerful the dragon or dragon priest would be, but he was sure he could deal with them, especially the mage with all the abilities that'd counter it.
Inside, he encounters ghosts of the Arch-Mage and his friends... Which Michael completely ignores, moving on through the place until he walks into a large room that had a skeletal dragon waiting for him, along with a horde of skeletons waiting at the sides of the room.
"You're not a dragon! Just a big ass wyvern! Damn imposter!" Michael jokingly accuses while shooting a Laguna Blade at its head. The lightning bolt strikes it and scorches its previously pale skull, causing the lights in its eyes to flicker out as it falls dead.
The spell hadn't damaged the bones, but the damage was enough to remove whatever magic had been holding it together... Kind of anticlimactic if he was honest. Michael was about to go and deal with the remaining skeleton soldiers when the dragon stands back up, a breeze blowing through the tomb as the voice of what could only be the Dragon Priest whispers ancient indistinguishable words.
"Alright, Winter's Curse." he intones, casting the spell on the dragon, freezing it and causing all nearby skeletons to start whaling on it without a single ounce of reason or rationality... Not that they possessed such a thing even before this.
He then Blinks to the opposite side of the room and through the door that had metal bars blocking it off. He was here for the Staff of Magnus, not to brawl with an undying dragon... He encounters more obstacles after this, all of them negligible, some doors that require fire or ice spells to bypass, some skeletons... By the end of it, Michael enters a huge cavern where he could see a couple ghosts of the Arch-Mage's old companions restraining the Dragon Priest.
The Dragon Priest continues speaking in dragon tongue, but he ignores it and systematically slaughters the ghosts, releasing the Dragon Priest... Not before planting a shit ton of explosive oils and fire runs around it though...
As soon as it's able to move...
*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*
The entire cave shudders from the explosion, causing dust and pebbles to drop down from the ceiling as smoke fills the room. Before it clears however, Michael spots two glowing blue eyes... "All that didn't kill you? What the fuck?" he mutters.
"Hi lost bolaav zey stin. Ol urid, Zu'u bolaav hi kog dinok." the Dragon Priest rasps out, its rotten throat making the words sound like powerful curses.
It then raises the Staff of Magnus in its hand and points it towards Michael, who immediately blinks behind some stone rubble to take cover, knowing exactly what kind of weapon the staff was supposed to be.
*SHHIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!*
A laser-like blast comparable to a magical Kamehameha fires continuously towards the area Michael was hiding. Thankfully, it doesn't do anything but instantly kill any bacteria left on the stones, doing nothing physically to the rocks...
The Staff of Magnus wasn't a traditional weapon, instead, being designed to control the Eye of Magnus. If hit by the ray, you'd first have all of your magicka sucked out of you, and once that was done, your life force would be next. If you stood there and took it you'd be left as a desiccated husk and looking uglier than the Dragon Priest himself.
*SHIIIIiiiiiiiiii....*
Once Michael hears the attack come to an end, he peeks his head over his cover and thrusts his hand forwards, casting Monolith Wards directly next to the priest, causing many large hands made of shadow to burst from the floor and start attacking the mage.
*SHUIII!*
In response the priest whips the staff around and blasts a ray through the hands, completely dispelling them due to their magical nature. But this just allows Michael to go on the offensive without fear of instant death. Or whatever else would happen if he was hit.
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"Arcane Curse! Last Word! Hex! Spatial Scatter!" Michael shouts, attempting to silence and disorient the mage before it could use the staff again. His silence spells work, covering the mage in a sickly blue glow that seems to be constantly attacking the target, along with the white/blue glow that surrounded its feet. His Hex fizzles however, doing literally nothing. Spatial Scatter works to a limited extent, the black bolts tearing through some of its armour as it attempts to dodge then, one managing to destroy its left leg... Which doesn't do much since the priest just floats around everywhere.
Unfortunately, this is where Michael realised a misconception of his... Staffs in Skyrim were just magical foci, they were magical items... Which couldn't be silenced...
"Oh shit." he mutters as the orb atop the staff glows a bright blue, the laser mere moments from being cast. "COUNTER SPELL!" he exclaims as the laser strikes him, slamming against the spherical blue shield that appears, causing the laser to deflect in random directions as if it'd hit a disco ball, causing smaller lasers to strike out at many random points in the room.
Even the Dragon Priest looks ready to piss himself in fear as it stops floating and begins crawling along the floor, then staff for some reason refuses to cease the attack.
Michael's just thankful he hadn't brought the others with him since they'd have been mulched by this attack. He doubted any defences they could set up would do anything, barring Tiffania's Teleportation Gate to transport the attack elsewhere... Which is neither quiet enough nor quick enough to be used in such a reactionary manner without a shit load of planning.
Luckily, the Staff of Magnus stops firing before Michael's shield ends, allowing him to Blink over to the Dragon Priest with Derflinger at the ready...
"Fo Krah Diin!" the Dragon Priest suddenly shouts, forcing Michael to cast Cold Embrace on himself as huge blast of ice is expelled from the undead's mouth. The ice-cold winds caused the temperature in the cavern to drop significantly, freezing any free liquids that were present.
It was powerful, incredibly so, more than the Draugr or Illococoo were able to show... Which made Michael slightly fearful of what the Dragons will be able to do.
He allows Cold Embrace to dispel but has to move again as another laser is shot towards him... He does manage to Blink Strike behind the Dragon Priest as it starts its attack however, quickly sliding Derflinger between its armour and into its back.
*Shink!*
"HHHhaaaarrrrghk! Zu'u Los Vozahlaas! Aar Do Rah! Fos Los Hi, Pusojur!?" the priest screams out as he feels the attack slip through. No blood spills out due to its undead physique, but Michael could sense magicka leaking out from its body.
He pulls out the weapon and makes another attack, this time for the neck, only to duck under the flail-like swipe of the priest as it swings the Staff of Magnus at him as if it were a club.
"Dragon Tongue my balls!" Michael shouts, driving the tip of Derflinger into the bottom of its jaw that wasn't blocked by its dragon priest mask. The blade successfully pierced its skull and brain, prompting it to immediately drop to the floor, dead... Or deader than it was before.
Michael drops to his ass and lets out a breath after scooping up the Staff of Magnus. The thing glowed an eerie blue in his hands, as if it were aware of its change in ownership.
"Oi partner, don't think about replacing me with this thing, ya hear?" Derflinger says, causing the Staff of Magnus' light to flicker as if making responding to it.
Michael shrugs, "You're a sword, it's a staff, two completely different things, buddy." he says, not answering either way.
"Hmmm. Makes sense. I think...?"
"Anyway, let's see what you can do..." Michael mutters, thrusting the Staff of Magnus towards the wall on the opposite side of the cavern.
*THWWWOM!*
The same laser as the priest had been using fires out, drawing a dustless line across the wall before it stops. "Oh, this is really cool." he says before bending down and prying the disgustingly sticky Dragon Priest Mask from the corpse and depositing it into his inventory, noting that it direly needed a clean before use...
With the Dragon Priest dead, Michael goes ahead and clears up the rest of the tomb, copying the Word Wall that'd been placed in the dungeon for Illococoo, taking the abundance of loot that was lying around, and then leaving via Dimension Gate.
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A week after he'd scavenged through the Labyrinthian, Michael decided that it was probably a good time to hop to another world. He hadn't forgotten his goal of becoming powerful enough to resist whatever stunts the Daedric Princes would try to pull, and he wasn't stupid enough to think that they weren't away of him now that he'd made a name for himself in Skyrim.
He'd leave for a week or two, just like how he'd done with the zombie world, and he'd put Tiffania, Megumin, and Maria in charge of managing the construction process. They each had the general idea of what he wanted to create, though, Tiffania was more in the know than anyone.
As for what world he'd pick to go to? He had no idea, Tiffania couldn't pick the destination, so his copy of her spell certainly wouldn't either.
Regardless. After packing up all the essentials and making sure there were no loose ends to deal with, he gives a short farewell to his friends before diving into the portal, this time attempting to expedite the travelling process by 'swimming' in the air... It didn't do much but he got a chuckle out of it, and he was sure any Cthulu gods that manage this space would get a kick out of it as well...
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