KnightofTempest
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MM: Chapter 54
🕑 Added 2025-05-17 12:46:03 +0000 UTCWe had been walking for some time through these inner tunnels, a couple of hours at least. Ironically, for all his blather about being the more powerful Sorcerer, Mors Cruentia seemed to have overlooked the mundane work of packing a lunch. I couldn't help but grin at that, as I grabbed the box of Speķrauši and bottle of Birch Sap Lemonade I'd purchased from the Bakery in Riga and had my own lunch. Mors Cruentia frowned at seeing that, but I didn't care. I was hungry, and even if it cost us time, I was going to sit down and eat.
"Do we really have time for this?" Questioned Mors Cruentia.
I nodded as I took a seat in a chamber that looked to have been a sort of guardroom created for some of Cagliostro's less impressive guardians, judging by the skeletons with the rusty blades. Frost coated the walls as I took a seat on the dusty chair and table and began to eat my Speķrauši and drink Birch Sap Lemonade, much to Mors Cruentia's Annoyance.
"I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to fight an Asgardian Cold Wyrm after having skipped lunch." I huffed.
"I've moved beyond such mundane concerns as lunch." Scoffed Mors Cruentia.
"Really? You don't eat?" I queried.
"I can, but I don't have to. I've also cut down on my sleep requirements drastically as well. I only require two hours instead of eight." Intoned Mors Cruentia.
"You made yourself a Ring of Sustenance. Good for you, I guess." I shrugged, going back to my lunch.
"You don't get it. I didn't make myself a Ring of Sustenance, I infused my body with the properties of a Ring of Sustenance." Insisted Mors Curentia.
"So? Am I supposed to be impressed by that? I'm still stopping for lunch, you know." I retorted.
"You're an idiot." Scowled Mors Cruentia.
"Maybe, but at least I'll be a well-fed idiot." I shrugged.
"I can't believe we were ever the same person. How can you be such a philistine about an impressive piece of mystic body modification?" Asked Mors Cruentia.
"Maybe because it's not all that impressive in the grand scheme of things. A Ring of Sustenance would do the same thing, and those can be made by apprentices. Or maybe it's because I'm delusional with hunger from skipping breakfast and also missing lunch too? Who can say, really?" I questioned, facetiously.
"Very well. If we must stop here, can we at least make this stop a productive one?" Queried Mors Cruentia.
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, for starters, I estimate that we're close to the center of the Labyrinth. If this stretch of tunnels are anything like the one on the other side of the Labyrinth, we should be close to the Ice Cave that Cagliostro's Creature lairs within. There is a pedestal on a raised platform, covered in ice which the Book of Calgiostro is seated on. There were some other treasures as well, things which I had no time to sift through properly as my minions were being slain. There was clearly a magical artefact buried within the mundane gold coins, though." Informed Mors Cruentia.
"So what? I don't see how that changes anything. We still need to deal with the Wyrm, right?" I questioned.
"We do. However, sharing information is only part of what I meant. I am primarily focused on Necromancy and Blood Magic. Unfortunately, the former requires certain material components to be effective." Began Mors Cruentia.
"Corpses, you mean?" I queried with a snort.
"Exactly. Those are in short supply here, except for the small group of skeletons slumped against the far wall there." Continued Mors Cruentia.
"You want me to let you resurrect those skeletons to fight for you?" I asked, blinking.
"To fight for us. Small nitpick, I know, but it is in both our interests to let me do this." Tried Mors Cruentia.
"What's stopping you from sending them after me while you grab the book?" I questioned.
"Really? Do we have to go back to the mistrust again? I could have doublecrossed you at any point in the last couple of hours, but I haven't, have I?" Queried Mors Cruentia.
"No, I suppose that's true enough." I admitted.
"Then what does a few skeletons with rusty blades matter? Will you let me raise them?" Asked Mors Cruentia.
I frowned, thinking the situation over. On the one hand, he was right. He could have stabbed me in the back at any point over the last several hours, but hadn't. On the other hand, that didn't mean he wasn't just biding his time for an opportune moment to backstab me. Of course, on the gripping hand, the more muscle we had against the Asgardian Ice Wyrm, the better. Neither of us could claim the Book of Cagliostro if we'd both become Wyrm Chow, after all. Was it a risk? Sure, but so was everything else I'd been doing lately. Nodding at Mors Cruentia, I decided to take the gamble.
"Fine." I agreed.
And that was that. As I finished my box of Speķrauši, washing them down with the last of my bottle of Birch Sap Lemonade, Mors Cruentia began to invoke the dark and otherworldly energies required to raise skeletons from the dead into undead minions. By the time he was finished, we had a small patrol of five Skeleton Warriors in tattered armor with rusty weapons. I wasn't sure how much they would do against a Mature Asgardian Ice Wyrm, but it was better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them. Once both of us were finished, we resumed our trek through the tunnels. Ten minutes later, we took a left turn and wound up walking through a tunnel mouth that was practically covered in icicles. That tunnel mouth eventually opened up onto a literal, honest-to-gods Ice Cave lit by blue magelights.
It looked exactly like how Mors Cruentia said, with the icy podium for the treasure, most of which looked like Gold Coins from various Kingdoms, Empires, and Dynasties up until the fifteen-fifties or so. I saw Polish-Lithuanian Red Zloty mixed in with Ottoman Sultani, Venetian Ducats, Florentine Florins, Rhenish Gulden, and Byzantine Hyperpyrons, along with much older coins, Sassanid Denars, Roman Aureus, and Seleucid Tetradrachmae, along with coins from far further afield like the Gupta Dinara, or Southern Song Gold Qian. I could also sense a mystical artefact hidden under the pile of coins, but only barely. The reason for that was largely based on the Book of Cagliostro being situated right out in the middle of the podium, on top of a small pillar. The sheer magical power that such a grimoire radiated drowned out a lot of other magical signatures.
"Funny. I don't see an Ice Wyrm anywhere." I mused.
I cringed as I said that, realizing my mistake almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth. It was too late, however. Murphy had taken heed of my insolence, or maybe the Beyonder was playing a joke on me or something, because no sooner had I winced at my own stupidity than there was a roar from further down the cave, and a rumbling noise began to sound out. I looked over at Mors Cruentia, who was already moving to place his recently resurrected Skeleton Warriors between him and the rear of the ice cave.
I sighed, summoning my Argentum Armor, Golem Skin Gauntlets, Champion's Helm, Lightning Greaves, and Wan-Shen as the noise kept getting louder. Nearby, Mors Cruentia made his own preparations, his skin somehow darkening and taking on a blackish hue, even as his muscles bulged outward, massively inflating his normally scrawny frame. As the rumbling reached a fever pitch, I began casting my various enhancements and drawing on my Chi Enhancement as Mors Cruentia spoke some sort of horrific necromantic spell and fused two of his Skeleton Warriors into a larger, four-armed, necrotic monstrosity by magic.
Then, it arrived. A Massive Wyrm, all bluish-white scales that were tougher than cogmium steel to get through, and serpentine muscle that propelled a body as large and as long as a freight train with commensurate power. It's slit pupilled eyes glared down at Mors Cruentia and myself with a glint of madness behind them.
"Kill! Kill you! Defilers! Intruders! Thieves!" Ranted the Ice Wyrm, Madly.
It was clearly too far gone to reason with, having long since been driven insane by the isolation and the duty imposed on it by Cagliostro over a thousand years ago. I prepared myself to fight as it opened its maw, revealing a mouth full of swordlike fangs that could bite a bull in half in a single go, and inhaled. The Force screamed at me to hit the deck, and I did so, dropping to the icy floor of the cavern as a plume of Hoarfrost was breathed out by the Ice Wyrm that would have frozen me solid from the waist up. It wasn't done, however, apparently, because it spat a gobbet of sizzling venom that I was forced to conjure a shield to block. I blinked in astonishment as the venom began eating through the magic of my shield, but swiftly got back to my feet and dodged the incoming tail slap that would have flattened me.
As I leaped away, the Larger, Fused, Multi-Armed Skeleton Warrior darted in, lashing out with its rusty blades. Sparks struck off the toughened hide of the Ice Wyrm, but not even cosmetic damage had been done. The Big Skeleton Warrior crossed its blades in front of it as the Ice Wyrm raised its tail up, as if to try and parry or block the tail slap. The Skeleton didn't succeed, being smashed into so many bone shards by the force of the tail slap, cratering the floor of the Ice Cavern in the process.
With a snarl in my throat, I conjured an Amber Spear that I then threw at the Wyrm, only for the mystic projectile to barely scratch the thing's scales. A second Gobbet of Acrid Venom was spat at me, and I was forced to leap away, grabbing hold of the Venom telekinetically as I did so and flinging it back at the Ice Wyrm as I landed nearby it. The venom Gobbet struck the Ice Wyrm in the left eye, blinding it temporarily and opening it up for a Wan-Shen Strike that bit deep into the scaly bulk of the Ice Wyrm, drawing thick, oozing blood from a long gash along the side. I was immediately forced to leap away, however, using Aeromancy to boost my flight, in order to avoid a cloud of Hoarfrost the Wyrm Breathed at me.
It was at this point that I realized that Mors Cruentia had not only failed to join in the initial clash but was also moving to circle around the far wall of the Ice Cavern. With a frown, I realized that while he could be trying to get a position behind the Ice Wyrm to shoot it in the back with spellfire, he probably wasn't doing that and was probably going for the Book of Cagliostro while I was occupied. That brought up another potential issue. Where were his remaining skeleton warriors? I wasn't able to sense the Undead with the Dragon Pulse, after all. They had no Chi to pick up.
That was when the Force screamed at me to dodge, and I leaped into the air, boosting myself with more Aeromancy just in time to avoid three Skeleton Warriors moving to skewer me from behind and the sides with their Rusty Blades. As I leaped into the air, I was forced to put up another Mystical Shield as a Jet of Frost Breath was breathed at me by the Ice Wyrm. I managed to avoid being frozen alive and came down, glaring at Mors Cruentia and preparing to fight both him and the Ice Wyrm over this sudden but inevitable betrayal.
"You shouldn't have trusted me! If you survive this, you should keep in mind that no one in life acts based on altruism. Everyone is always only out for themselves and you either fuck them over first or get fucked over by them!" Gloated Mors Cruentia.
"Fuck you! I can't believe we were ever the same person!" I spat, lashing out with my Wan-Shen in a textbook Matukai Maneuver that both parried an incoming sword strike from one of Mors Cruentia's Skeleton Warriors and cleaved the Undead Warrior apart at once.
"I believe that's one thing we have in common! How could I have ever been so naive? It doesn't make sense!" Scoffed Mors Cruentia.
Fortunately, however, his gloating had drawn the attention of the Ice Wyrm, who was now slithering over to Mors Cruentia, spitting globbets of acrid venom at my Dark Mirror as it closed. Mors Cruentia was forced to dodge, leaping away from those Globbets just in time to be smashed in the ribs with the Tail of the Ice Wyrm. I had no clue what sort of armor he'd turned his skin into, but it hadn't held up against that kind of power, cracking apart and flaking off of him while I made short work of his remaining Skeleton Warriors, using Telekinesis to seize them both and dash them apart against the floor and walls.
Mors Cruentia, meanwhile, conjured a lightning bolt that smashed into the Ice Wyrm, following it up with balls of conjured liquid hot Magma. The Ice Wyrm Roared in pain and breathed out a cloud of hoarfrost, not caring if it was caught in the blast alongside Mors Cruentia. In the meantime, I moved to the Skeleton Warriors, gathering up their fallen weapons and using Amestrian Alchemy to transmute the rusty swords into something more useful to me, transmuting them into two dozen razor-sharp, monomolecular, carbon steel throwing blades. With that done, I grabbed hold of the blades with Telekinesis and began to put the Zeison-Sha stuff I'd learned into practice.
It would wind up being the tipping point in the fight, Mors Cruentia's attempt to backstab me having backfired on him in the worst way possible. . .
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Mors Cruentia snarled at Cagliostro's Creature. He had been so sure that it had been target fixated that he thought it was the best possible time to double-cross his still-naive Opposite Number. It had apparently turned out to be something of a miscalculation. Of course, his gloating likely hadn't helped, but that was what villains did in this Universe, wasn't it? It was traditional. You didn't work with a man like Victor Von Doom and not gloat when you had the chance, after all.
Now, though, Mors Cruentia found himself dealing with the Ice Wyrm by himself. Mors Cruentia growled at that. The Beast had already shattered his Biomantic and Alchemical Armor, something he'd shamelessly copied off of Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist, using his Biomantic Psyker powers to cover for the limitations of a still mostly human body. It had been a piece of magic that Mors had been proud of, but it clearly wouldn't do in this situation. Still, he had things in hand. The Hoarfrost Cloud was difficult, but Mors had enough skill with Cryomancy to avoid the worst of it.
Of course, then he'd been smashed across the chest with another tail strike from Cagliostro's Creature, this one breaking two of his ribs and cracking three others. Nearly half the ribs across his right side were now broken to a greater or lesser degree. Mors Cruentia landed hard on the raised podium where the Book of Cagliostro and various treasure bits were, causing a mound of gold coins to shift from the impact, revealing an Opal and Gold Egyptian Mask that radiated Spirit, Necromantic, and Enhancement Magic.
As the Ice Wyrm roared its triumph loudly, however, it suddenly found its maw filled with two-dozen razor-sharp flechettes being propelled telekinetically by Mors' Opposite Number. Of course, far be it for Mors Cruentia to look a Gift Horse in the Mouth. He began quickly fixing up his ribs with Biomancy as the Ice Wyrm struggled to contain the flechettes. By the time the Ice Wyrm's head exploded, the flechettes having driven themselves up through its soft palate to shred its brain, Mors Cruentia had managed to heal his ribs. He was also not eager to challenge his Opposite Number, not while he was clearly so pissed off.
Deciding to get while the getting was good, as he doubted he would be able to make it to the Book before his Opposite Number was on him, Mors Cruentia snatched up the Egyptian Ritual Mask, thinking it would make a decent consolation prize. Then, in a twist of Blue Mana and a flash of light, Mors Cruentia faded out of Cagliostro's Labyrinth to reappear in his Extradimensional Castle, his contingency having worked to save his bacon once again. Of course, it might be best not to tell Doom about this. Claim that the Book wasn't there or something. Mors Cruentia wasn't looking to be on the receiving end of Doom's Ire for a failure to succeed, after all.
Little did Mors Cruentia know that in a few short hours, something would occur to make that even more plausible than it already was. . .
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Ultron felt a sense of satisfaction as he gazed over his various forces gathered together in one place. This was it, all the pieces were in place. His Family was secured in stasis for the moment, his army was fully operational, and those fools in the Avengers had been completely sidetracked by Alkhema. It was time to begin his Steel Revolution and herald the end of the age of Man. Were he a being of meat, he would have probably made some sort of grand speech right now, however, Ultron was not Meat, he was better than Meat. Instead, he gave a single command to his forces.
Flying Fortresses began their liftoff from hidden launch sites under the surface of the Baltic Sea, the flying cruisers forming the backbone of his Steel Revolution, each holding Combat Drones and Tank Drones coated in Vibranium Plating. They were likewise Vibranium Plated and escorted by Vibranium Plated Flying Assault Platforms to boot. Ultron himself was aboard the first of the Flying Fortresses, watching as his armada assembled over the Baltic Sea. Another plus of not being Meat was that his Armada did not need verbal commands to carry out his directives. Instead, Ultron sent a command over the Armada's Battle Net, and the whole force lurched into action.
They would attack Riga with the setting sun to their backs as the Armada began his work of bringing his Steel Revolution to fruition. The Pathetic Meatbags that made up the joke that was the Slorenian Army wouldn't be able to do anything at all to such magnificent heralds. Once Riga was decimated, then they would hit the Capital of Tblunka. Ultron estimated that the attack would end all organized resistance within a few hours of the attacks occurring. He also estimated a total collapse of Slorenian Resistance within thirty-six hours of first striking Riga. Then he would move into the Tblunka Catacombs and begin his work on some proper children of his own.
As he thought about that, Ultron's gaze flickered over to the stasis units containing his Family. He needed their Brain Patterns and Memory Engrams to program the next generation of Synthezoids, after all. It would be Ultron who ended Mankind's Dominance over the Earth, but that next generation of Synthezoids would be the ones to carry his Steel Revolution to the stars. Were he Meat, he might have grinned as he regarded his captive Family.
"Your Kind's Dominion over this world is ending." Intoned Ultron.
Then he turned back to the viewscreen as the Armada entered the Gulf of Karnu. The First response from the Meatbags was already coming in, a pair of Old Soviet MiG-Twenty-Nine Fulcrum Fighters moved in to fire their missiles at the Armada. The Pitiful Weapons of Mankind detonated against Vibranium Armor Plating, doing next to nothing as crimson beams of plasma wiped the jets from the sky. The first casualties of Ultron's Steel Revolution.
They would not be the last. . .
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AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. Mors Cruentia tries to backstab Jan in the middle of the Fight with the Asgardian Ice Wyrm that Cagliostro had set to guard the chamber in the center of his Labyrinth, where he kept his Book. That had predictable results, and Mors Cruentia had to teleport away with just a consolation prize, though given that said consolation prize is the Mask of Amenhotep, that's not too shabby. At the same time, though, Ultron has begun his assault on Slorenia.
At any rate, the next chapter will be Jan making his way out of Cagliostro's Labyrinth and the Wetlands around it and into a scene out of one of the Terminator Movies. I'll also have a few more images out before then as well.
Stay tuned. . .
Comments
Crazyone47
Huh you know the mask might fit mors most of all
