"Hmm, I wonder was Mary had for me? That set of jewellery she sent last time suited my tastes perfectly." Anais mutters to herself as she thinks about the things Mary would use to 'earn' her support.
At least, that's what she was doing... When suddenly-
*Zz-THWOOM!-Clatter!*
Anais' enchanted neckless covers her with a shield as an arrow shoots from somewhere above and clatters to the floor after failing to penetrate it... Of course, her neckless immediately disintegrates afterwards, as protective equipment such as that could only be used a limited number of times depending on their quality.
Anais, her guards, and the Baleine gang members all begin looking around for the intruder, each shouting orders to apprehend whoever dared to act so imperiously with regard for the owners of the territory.
Anais herself immediately draws her wand, that'd been strapped to her forearm and flicks it to the side while chanting "Flame Guard!", this causes a large orb of fire to form and start circling her. The heat it gives off is enough to burn the ground around her, and make anyone nearby swear profusely, but Anais herself is completely shielded from the heat.
She'd chosen the right spell however, as another arrow fires towards her, but is intercepted by the orb as it barrels into it, turning the arrow tip to melt and its shaft to burn to ash. The spell was the perfect defence against assassins but had an obvious vulnerability to it... Attacks from multiple directions couldn't be blocked. So she'd either have to expend a great idea of magic summoning multiple orbs, some of which might try to intercept the same target, or use a different spell entirely.
For Michael however, the Flame Guard was more than enough to ward off his arrows... Fortunately, he wasn't a one-trick pony.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael scowls as his second arrow is easily blocked, his eyes scanning the many guards and gang members who were searching the street... Some were even looking at the tops of buildings, meaning they might eventually spot him if he continues to attack like this.
He isn't worried however, instead, he just smirks and points his finger at Anais while whispering, "Serpent Ward."
*HIIISSSSSSSSsss!*
His rank 3 ultimate ability explodes into existence in the middle of the street, ten 15ft ephemeral snakes forming and surrounding Anais with their tails. This seems to be the anvil that breaks the mouse's back, as almost everyone still lingering around the street screams and starts fleeing in all directions.
Anais herself feels golden fluid leaking from between her legs as the huge magical snakes tower over her. Her wand almost snaps due to how tightly she is gripping it, and her breathing had become incredibly erratic and irregular. If left alone, she might just faint without Michael even having to attack.
He wasn't willing to give her the possibility of escape however, instead just thrusting his hand forward and commanding the snakes to "Attack.".
Each snake seems to take in some air before spitting out large orange bowling-ball sized projectiles at Anais... She flicks her wand and screams, "Flame Fotres-AAAAARRRRRGGGHH!" but doesn't manage to get the spell of in time before she'd completely and utterly shredded to pieces.
Each projectile that hits punches a huge hole into her body, both burning and shocking any flesh that isn't destroyed. With ten of these combined, Anais is completely wiped from this world, with nothing but her charred heels that still had her dismembered feet in them.
A few of the braver guardsmen attempt to attack the snakes with their swords, but aside from reducing a single snake's size slightly, they do almost nothing... After Anais is killed, the snakes turn their attention to the other enemies, immediately unleashing a barrage of shock-fire projectiles that decimate everything in their path.
The five guardsmen were turned to ashes in second, the Baleine gang members who came from all around the territory like rats were the same not long after... Michael hadn't even left the area yet, as he wasn't sure if he needed to be nearby to get EXP... And since his ultimate was doing WORK! He might as well stick around until he disappeared.
Ten minutes later, Michael spotted a large contingency of heavily armoured soldiers slowly marching through the street and towards the stationary Serpent Wards. He was sure they'd be wiped out with no problem, but as soon as the projectiles collided with their shields, he knew something was up.
"Enchanted shields?" he murmured to himself from below the gargoyle, watching as the soldiers quickly advanced on the snakes and started attacking them.
*HISS!*
One snake down. Two...
A couple soldiers get killed as a snake gets a lucky shot around their shield, but his Serpent Wards continue getting killed.
A minute later, none of his Serpent Wards remained... The only thing left in the street were the heavily breathing soldiers, and a huge pile of bodies belonging to both the Baleine guardsman, Anais' guards, and the soldiers.
Unfortunately, it seems that either one of his snake's projectiles or an upturned lantern had started a fire... As two nearby buildings were already heavily smoking, with plumes of black smoke flowing from all its visible windows.
Bells are rung from many places around the area at this, with the soldiers commanding people to ignore the corpses and start to try to put the fire out...
Michael chews his lip but ignores the damage he may or may not have caused, instead, using the chaos to escape, slowly shimmying around the building and hopping down to a second-story rooftop once he was sure no one was looking. With that, he rushes to his inn room and jumps atop his bed.
He was slightly worried that the fire would go out of control, but even if it did, he was on the other side of the city. So it probably wouldn't affect him... Probably.
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Earlier :
Loutiel smirks as he observes the sheer chaos caused by Michael's actions. He was sitting cross-legged in his home while utilising a Wind-based scrying spell to keep an eye on the boy. His eyes were closed, by he had an eagle-eye view of the street where Anais had just been turned to ash.
If someone from Earth were to see from his point of view, they'd think it was incredibly similar to what one would see when operating a portable electronic drone.
Loutiel couldn't help but break into laughter as he witnesses Anais' last moments just before she was completely obliterated by Michael's conjured snakes. He honestly hadn't been expecting something like that from happening, it all seemed quite anti-climatic actually. He'd known about Anais' life-preserving jewellery as she hadn't exactly made it secret. Instead, she advertised it to prevent people from trying such simplistic methods of assassination.
He'd wanted to see a life and death struggle between Michael, Anais, and whatever troops she could muster to assist her. He wanted to see the true extent of Michael's power... Loutiel was more than aware that Michael was the 'Gandalfr' from legends, and wanted to test him further so that he might be useful in his future plans.
Loutiel had spent a good amount of time studying the mysteries of Brimir, Void magic, and everything else related to it. This is why he was so surprised to find that this Gandalfr actually possessed magic...
From what he'd understood, the Void Familiar Runes specifically chose individuals who didn't possess magic. Not because having magic would interfere with the ritual, but because it seemed to be intentionally designed that way.
Loutiel concluded that magic users would be more likely to rebel against their masters, the magic of the runes that enthralled the familiar is likely less effective at actually affecting magic users... Which explains why Michael had betrayed his master and gone on the run. After all, no prideful person would willingly subject themselves to a life of slavery...
Regardless, it seems that he'd been severely underestimating Michael thus far, even now that the battle had ended, a good portion of the city was on fire... Loutiel waves his wand in the air slightly to assist the winds in blowing the fire away from his home.
A good portion of the Baleine gang's territory had gone up in flames, destroying a great many establishments and many trade vessels that were docked nearby. The only saving grace was the areas close vicinity to the ocean, allowing people to gather it in buckets quickly.
This single action by Michael had single-handedly crippled the Baleine gang... Not only did the Viscountess die in their territory, but the bodies of the gang members would serve as evidence of their involvement in her death, and the subsequent fire afterwards.
"Hmm, Hmm, Hmm." Loutiel chuckles under his breath, he wondered what Marquess Carmel would do in response to this. He was the official ruler of the city, so if he didn't make a public statement the Capital might simply strip him of his position.
He dispels his scrying spell after watching Michael return to his inn and leans back in his chair, "I wonder just how great your potential is, Gandalfr."
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The next morning :
Michael wakes up with a start, but his immediate thoughts weren't to eat breakfast, brush his teeth, or even get dressed. No. It was to summon the Book of Commoners to see the changes that might've occurred.
He was too exhausted yesterday, but now that he was fresh and bright-eyed. He was incredibly excited to see the new changes to his Status.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name : Michael Hunt
Rank : Common
Stats :
Strength : 9
Agility : 11
Intelligence : 11 > 12
Abilities :
[Gandalfr] : Enables user to utilise any weapon at two ranks above their current proficiency while granting them the knowledge necessary to use them. While wielding a weapon, temporarily gain +100% in all stats.
[Language Comprehension] : Enables user to understand all spoken tongues, and increase the rate of which they learn reading and writing.
Spirits :
Shadow Shaman : Lvl 19 > MAX
Spirit Slot +
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THERE IT IS! Spirit slot! He can get another hero! Thank fucking god he wasn't just stuck with Shadow Shaman, or he might've been royally screwed!
He shakes his head and claps his cheeks, "No, first patience!" he mutters, glancing over at his stats and frowning slightly at the relatively small improvements. The only thing that'd improved was his Intelligence, probably from casting his Ultimate, but he wasn't really sure... Again, his Stat improvements were just too erratic to realistically track. Plus, he knew it'd only get harder the higher the stats were, so he might have to find an alternative... Like Slark's ability to permanently steal agility, or Silencers ability to steal Intelligence.
Regardless, he first flips the page to his Shadow Shaman Spirit and taps the upgrade button, causing light to flash from the page.
"We are the messengers of those gone by!" the recognisable voice of Shadow Shaman shouts out from the book, shocking Michael momentarily as he stares down at the picture of said hero, which was now casually sitting on the ground crossed legs, entirely animated...
"Y-you're alive!?" Michael exclaims, his eyes wide as he stares down at the smiling Shadow Shaman, his mangled and crooked teeth making it look far more menacing than the hero probably intends.
The picture on the book gives a jolly laugh, the sound echoing from the book as Michael's face cringes at the strangeness of it all. "Heh-Hahahaha! It is true, Young One! I am Rhasta! The Shadow Shaman!... I am not sure how I ended up here, but from what I can tell... I am dead! Heh-hahaha!"
...
"You... Don't seem all that upset about that." Michael mutters, giving a tentative prod to the 2D shaman's chest to see if it'd affect it... Which it doesn't, big surprise.
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