Chapter 135
Chapter 135
It didn't take long for Mara to get there.
“Was it odd? Finding out that you were a prince of all things?” Kathrine asked while sipping at her tea again and giving Riven an appraising glance. “Did it phase you?”
“It doesn’t mean much to me, honestly. I was more interested in finding out about my mother and father rather than anything else, but it appears none of you know what happened either.” Riven yawned, putting a hand up against his mouth to cover it and then waved Mara over from where she was being escorted onto the balcony by a set of vampiric guards. Her undead had been forced to wait outside and were standing at the fortress gates, but she’d come nevertheless. “Hey. Did you bring them?”
The ghoul woman knelt with her head bowed, a large linen bag at her side. She gave the other vampire a side-eye of distrust, but quickly averted her gaze when set upon by Kathrine's own. “Yes, my lord. As Allie commanded.”
Riven gestured for Mara to rise, and she did so while pulling out a pair of pauldrons connected by a thin strand of shimmering black mana.
They were each very… engaging to the eye, and the pauldrons changed in size to fit his body when he picked them up to hold them. Why these items shifted or morphed whenever attained was beyond his knowledge, but he hoped to get answers from his off-world compatriots very soon.
[The Apocalypse Beasts, Chalgathi, Quest Update: Riven Thane has acquired 3 of 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s Inheritance.]
Each pauldron was a porcelain, ivory white like the mask he’d taken off the rogue just earlier that day. Each pauldron was crafted in the shape of a horned devil’s skull. The eye sockets actually flickered with infernal flames, which was a rather neat trick in Riven’s opinion, and with just a thought they whipped around and latched across his head and onto his shoulders with a thunk.
Immediately he felt a difference in how his body felt, though he couldn’t place just how that was. Was it a stat boost? Some other bonus? He had no idea.Which brought him to his next question for The Blood Moon Requiem.
“I was hoping you’d be able to identify these things.” Riven stated, pulling out his dragon amulet, and then the smooth porcelain mask with red tendrils of power wafting off the interior side, only for the three items to abruptly interact with one another.
[The Apocalypse Beasts, Chalgathi, Personal Quest Update: 3 of 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s Inheritance have been acquired. Checkpoint reached. Participant under evaluation, identifying weaknesses, strengths, and orienting artifacts to the most powerful affiliated build.]
The old man’s eyes went wide at seeing the artifacts, and his jaw slowly started to drop while taking a step back. “Those... Those are dangerous to have on your person. My prince… Why do you have these items in your possession?”
Riven gave the old man a frown. "What do you mean by 'dangerous'?”
*WHAM*
The mask in Riven’s hand slammed onto his face, the tendrils of red power off the backside began to claw into his eyeballs and mouth - forcing their way into his body as he let out a scream of pain and surprise. He clawed at his face, only to be attacked by the other two items next. The amulet lurched downwards onto Riven’s chest and began tearing itself through his shirt to dig into his skin, and the pauldrons clamped down around his shoulders with jagged teeth that sank into his muscles.
"RIVEN!" Athela immediately whipped into a humanoid form and began to pry the mask off frantically, but was blown back with a pulse of power that shot her straight off the castle walls and far to the ground below a hundred yards away.
“PLATIUS! DO SOMETHING!” Kathrine screamed, getting to her feet while maids cried out for help and guards rushed over to try and help the prince - only for the older vampire to hold up a hand in a gesture to stop them from approaching.
“STOP!” Platius yelled out over the sudden turmoil. “These are soulbinding items! DO NOT TOUCH THEM unless you want to do harm to the prince! We do NOT know what will happen if you rip them off during the fusion!”
“Fusion!?” Kathrine choked back, hands shaking and wondering just how her family would be murdered if the queen found out her great grandchild had died horribly in her custody after only barely escaping with his life on the first visit.
“Fusion!” Repeated the old man, physically pushing her back with a warning waggle of his finger. “I said do not approach! Let it finish first, he’ll be fine… I hope.”
Kathrine froze in horror and shock, reliving the previous experience where her charge had almost been assassinated - now only to watch as Riven writhed on the floor while screaming and thrashing. Guards looked on nervously, awaiting orders, while Riven’s two remaining minions didn’t really know what to do either.
Azmoth bent down over his thrashing master, watching the mask shift and mold with red tendrils spreading down Riven’s neck. Watched as the amulet warped and twisted, the ivory etchings of the dragon changing into something else entirely, and watched as the pauldrons twisted with new features.
The blazing infernal eyes of the pauldrons became glowing red orbs similar to Riven’s own, balls of blood magics that radiated sinister intent. The horns along the pauldrons elongated, becoming much sharper and sleeker than their originals, and the demonic visage of a devil warped down into a more skull-like appearance of the original with vampiric teeth protruding from an open mouth.
Riven continued to scream.
The porcelain mask remained without any holes on the front surface. It remained smooth and covered the entire front of Riven’s head, but it sprouted seven peacock-like feathers made of glowing crimson blood-mana along the edges that protruded from his hood, making it look somewhat like a headdress.
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The amulet’s dragon visage completely disappeared, while spikes of bone ripped out along the circular jewelry piece and gouged into Riven’s chest like anchors just below the sternum where his demonic pentagrams were located. In the center of the circle where the circular amulet had originally been, a large gaping whole opened up with razor sharp teeth - expanding up and down to create a vertical maw that split his chest in half down the center. It grew to about two feet in length, and lead in into an abyss of black. The mouth in the center of his chest opened and closed, expanded and contracted, letting wisps of black protrude from Riven's center until the sharp teeth of the maw closed over the hole to seal it shut in an interlocking pattern.
Afterwards: All along Riven’s skin, a thin woven layer of bloody threads began lacing themselves up and down his body. They covered him completely, creating a lattice of skin-tight fabric under his clothes that in turn connected all three of his Chalgathi artifacts over the course of a few minutes.
[The Apocalypse Beasts, Chalgathi, Personal Quest Update: 3 of 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s Inheritance have been acquired. Checkpoint reached. Participant has acquired the most powerful affiliated build available based on soul aspects for current acquired pieces. Item set is now sentient and is linked to your Core of Original Sin - Gluttony. Item aspect attained: Gluttony. Participant must acquire remaining set pieces within 6 month's time, or participant will be consumed by the worn items due to pathway’s requirements.]
***
Allie’s gauntlet crunched into the face of the elvish warrior, splitting his skull open along with the winged helmet he wore in a snapping of metal and bone.
“HAAAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!” She shrieked with a gleeful laugh when the body hit the earth, radiating death mana that pulsed and surged along her figure while the screams of innocent and guilty alike echoed through the air.
Huts burned, shadows moved on the outskirts of the firelight, and weapons clashed in the roar of battle as she stood over the enemy commander’s corpse with red-tinged eyes glaring down.
Two shimmering spots shifted in the air about her peripheral vision and she whirled, six neon-teal flaming skulls erupting about her position and launching towards the incoming assassins.
The attacks broke the sound barrier, causing sonic booms to radiate from her position. The skulls shrieked and catapulted into the two stealthed enemies, blowing one hooded elf’s chest clean out his back and causing him to drop his daggers. The other hooded figure dressed in leathers managed to dodge with a dash ability that blurred his body to her right, but a flickering black ribbon of power whipped out of her wand and eradicated him with extreme prejudice.
The nearby screams and crackling of flames was interrupted by a loud crash, and looking left she saw one of her bone giants crush a nearby hut with all the people inside it under an enormous club. The small house was utterly decimated, and the giant slowly turned to the next target while lumbering off into the dark - seeking out hiding prey.
Her excited breathing ticked up a beat. All around her in the firelight under the night sky were dozens upon dozens of bodies, combatants and civilians alike. “Just look at all this material we get to use!”
Vin, who’d been watching from the shadow of a still-standing cabin, looked up to her from where he’d been scribbling down notes about an experiment he was performing on a twitching elf nearby. He motioned for this skeletal minions to keep the flailing, frothing peasant man in place and headed over to stand beside his queen. “You nearly get as excited as Nin does about seeing new bodies!”
She gave him a chuckle, and raised her hands out to either side while black and teal mana shimmered and ripped from her fingertips to enter nearby bodies. Flesh began to melt off in swaths of necrotic tissue. First it was five corpses, then ten, then over twenty corpses as blue lights started flickering to life in the sockets of their skulls. Groaning and gradually pushing themselves to their feet, they stood to look at their new master in silent decorum.
“War is profitable, it makes harvesting that much easier.” Allie muttered, waving her hand towards the remaining lines of defenders at the back of the elf village they were tearing apart, and the undead scattered - off to find their old brethren to eat, claw, and rip apart the living. “How goes your experiment?”
Vin clicked his teeth together in irritation, and the skull’s lower jaw twisted to the side. “Poorly. I cannot seem to keep their souls intact. Progress is slow and I don’t know if we’re even on the right path. Perhaps your newfound allies, the vampires from afar, could enlighten us? Do you think they have knowledge of such necromancy?”
Unholy sigils flashed up above in the sky where her ritualists were calling down meteoric showers of offensive magics - raining hell down on the hill where the last group of elvish defenders were quarantined. She watched her skeletal minions rush forward in a wave from all sides after that, and listened to the sing-song screams of her enemies as they begged, pleaded and died under the green flag of a white doe.
How funny that they ask for mercy when they’d almost wiped a human town clean off the map before she’d gotten there. If it wasn’t for her, the town of Bradshire would be nothing but a smoking husk in the wake of the elvish forces calling themselves 'Tereen'. Saving the town and purging the elvish forces attacking it was a strategic move that gave her an excuse to essentially anex Bradshire entirely, with its citizens not only thanking her for the help she provided - but outright praising her as she walked through the streets even despite being a vampire. Now, after removing the closest elf threat in this small village where the routed Tereen forces had congregated, she’d found abundant supplies for the war effort. She’d taken more corpses to create undead, body parts for modifications that were in high demand back in Brightsville, and more slaves to add to the farmlands her brother was cultivating. If anything was to be said about these elves, it was a certainty that they had a knack for growing crops - and she’d be damned if she let that go to waste when the humans of her kingdom and even some of the undead could utilize various crops that grew in the haunted lands she ruled over.
“What do you think the Kingdom of Dawn will say when they realize I’m not going to give Bradshire back?” Allie asked with an amused hum, turning back to Vin with a sadistic smile. “Do you think they’ll want to fight us too!?”
“I think making such rash decisions without Riven’s input is going to cause you to butt heads with him again.” Vin stated while scratching his head. “If you truly do want to rule in conjunction with him, it would be wise to ask his opinion first before claiming the town as your own.”
Allie paused, thinking it over with a scowl, and then motioned for Vin to walk with her. Killing the convulsing man on the ground while they walked by with a flick of her wrist and a pulse of mana, Allie headed back into the east where Bradshire was located a few dozen miles away. “I will speak to him first. Though I don’t think he’ll be around much longer.”
Vin abruptly stopped in his tracks, eyeing his queen with a sour expression even for a skeleton. “You don’t mean you’re going to kill him, do you? He’s your brother!”
Allie’s jaw dropped and she let out an abrupt laugh. “No, you fucking idiot! Of course I don’t mean that. God.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes, turning back around with Vin close behind her. “Moron. I’d rather off myself before killing Riven, he’s everything to me. No, what I meant is that he’s likely going to pursue events that take him far away from this place. We both see the writing on the wall, and the world is changing. We cannot just simply stand by and let rogue forces go berserk to tear our new world apart, so one of us must leave to address the problem. Meanwhile, one of us is going to have to stay behind to make sure things here get run right. That person who stays - is likely going to be me.”
“You speak of the world quest?” Vin asked dubiously, stepping over an armored, bloody elf corpse that was missing its arms. “Would it not be wise for both of you to pursue it, if the results of failing are so grim?”
Allie paused in her stride, then shrugged and shot a wide fangs-bared smile over her shoulder. “Riven is strong enough to do it by himself, and I have an empire to build.”