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UMAE - SPARK CREATURE

by Jules Darriulat

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Haze & Chaos - Reunion A Part 8

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“Ah jeez…” Will moaned as he leaned on his knees once they were all on solid ground. Thankfully Hangar 1X had a special force field to prevent the wind from whipping through. “Sam, you need to practice with Faustus a little…”

“Sorry, Boyo, I just got taken off guard.”

“Hanging in there, Will?” Haze inquired, catching his breath.

Will laughed as he stood up straight with a stretch. “Yeah. I’ve been through worse…”

“That’s a little debatable based on your memories…”

“HEY, what did I say about earlier?”

Morrigan and Faustus laughed, with the latter partially manifesting out of Morrigan’s left arm. “As I was saying…” Morrigan said. “That’s Sebastian's ship?” She pointed to the black zeppelin, assisted by two, massive rotor engines at its sides in the distance.

“Yeah, Gotterdammerung…” Will said with a nod.

Barry tapped his shoulder. “You mean ‘Götterdämmerung?’” Will gave him an incredulous look. “You forgot the umlauts.”

Will sighed. “Götterdämmerung, arguably the only ship strong enough to take on the sky fortresses.”

Morrigan glanced out towards the battle once again. “So now what do we do?” she wondered.

“Take a breather, that’s what,” Will answered.

“Private Ford!” a man’s voice called out.

Amazed everyone was still able to recognize him, Will turned to see who had called him. “Supervisor Jones! Sorry for the unannounced appearance…”

“Don’t worry about protocol, Ford, we’re just happy you’re alright…” he then turned one of his coworkers in the distance. “Let Kyu and Bran know where they are!” Clark Jones was the supervisor for Hangar 1X and often took orders from Wing X. He was pushing towards late middle age with fuzzy side burns and receding, dull brown hair. “Ford, who’s all this?”

Will smiled as he brought Morrigan over, her flames not burning him because of Faustus. “This is Sam, my fiancee and our squad’s newest recruit. Sam, This is Clark Jones.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Sam,” said Clark. “Supervisor Clark Jones, I make sure that the secret aircraft are deployed when necessary and stay a secret. I’d shake your hand, but the… um…”

“Don’t worry, Clark, you can shake her hand,” Faustus assured him.

Clark hesitated at first, but gave a light laugh as he did. “Faustus–What is even going on?”

“We had to improvise given Haze over here.”

Clark nodded as Haze stuck Will’s hand up, smiled, and bounced around a little. “Interesting, because I’m well aware of Ryota’s track record.”

Will then turned to Barry. “And this is Barry Boyle. He’s from both The ULTRAMagic Guild and The Dark Divers Guild, so we can trust him.”

“Nice to meet you, Supervisor,” Barry replied with an eager handshake.

“Likewise, Mr. Boyle.” Clark felt a little bit of static and had to smooth out his hair. “Word’s been coming in of a squad flying around without a craft, and I guess we know who that is now. I understand you want to get out there and help, Will, but stay here for now while we get a hold of Antares, alright?”

Will glanced at Barry and Morrigan, who both nodded. “Sure, Supervisor.”

“Very good, especially given that I doubt you understand what Haze can do yet…”

“He’s learning,” Haze said with satisfaction in his voice.

“Right. I’ll go contact the Lt. Colonel,” he said as he walked away to the control room.

Morrigan glanced around at the various jets and aircrafts, all futuristic and shiny. It gave her the impression she was not supposed to be seeing them with her curiosity getting the best of her. “So, what do these planes do?”

Will laughed to himself. “Sam… I can’t say what these are at the moment, but just know that they’re all basically stealth stuff we don’t want other countries catching wind of. That white one, however…” Will turned to one of the workers. “Is that one going to be declassified soon? It is? Alright.” He turned back to Sam. “Some planes get seen enough to the point where we have to declassify them and that one is the Night Swan. It’s used for cloud-based stealth, day or night.”

Barry nodded as he visually inspected the slightly rounded hull and sleek wings. “Fascinating… Looks like it’s not meant to go fast, but to be agile and quiet.”

“Bingo,” Will replied as he patted his friend’s back. He then glanced at a very familiar, black jet and pointed at it. “And that, haha, that’s the SR-73 Warbird right there!”

The three were in awe of the slender–yet bulky hull, the streamlined wings that looked incredibly strong, and the advanced jet engines. It looked out of this world and a marvel of modern engineering at the same time. “Incredible…” Morrigan remarked. “So that’s what buzzed past us on the way here…”

“Yeah,” Will confirmed with a laugh. “Couldn’t call it the SR-72 because the military is already working on that one… But yeah, we use this one for special missions, usually involving situations we can’t send normal Liger squads in for…”

Barry already had a good idea what Will was getting to just by looking at how the jet was built. “Long range missions I assume? It looks like you could get some pretty lengthy trips out of this bad boy…”

“Yup, absolutely… Jeez, Barry, since when were you a military engineering expert?”

Barry gave a dorky, yet lovable laugh. “I’m not, I just happen to be a massive nerd.”

“And as an aside, we do have our own SR-71 Blackbird. From what Aalders, Lundberg, and Senator Ripper have said, it was a pain in the neck to get it approved, funded, and built.”

As the group walked towards the cockpit section, they heard music of the calypso variety playing, sounding familiar to Will and Morrigan. It then stopped as a strange robot-like entity stuck his head of crimson hair up to get a look. “Who’s there? Oh hey, Will!”

Will looked up and had the tinge of adrenaline he always felt when running into the individual in question. “Hey, Virus X… Sam, this is the person who flew by us.”

“Wait a second–VIRUS X?” Barry exclaimed, startling the two. “No, there’s no…” He then looked up and was stunned. “Son of a bitch, it actually is him…”

Virus X grinned as he looked at Barry. “HEY, is that The Lighting God?! HAHA, as I live and breathe–oh wait, I suppose it’s The Lost Lighting God now?”

“Yes, yes it is…” Barry groaned, then turned to Will. “I don’t know what The Liger Brigade has told you so far, but Virus X is from the Lost Era, like me…”

Will nodded, glancing back and forth between the two. “Sam?”

She shrugged. “Seems reasonable to me…”

“Well, I know Virus X is supposed to be top secret, and that no one has told me why yet…”

Barry nodded. “Make sense, given how much of a troublemaker he was.”

“Troublemaker is such a strong word, your eminence…” Virus X said as he rappelled down the side of the jet with his… bizarre right arm. It was made of a strange, red organic substance that resembled muscle fiber, with a clawed, metal hand at the end of it. Virus X was incredibly bizarre in general, as his frame and chassis was like that of a stylized robot from an animated series (as a best descriptor of it), giving him a youthful appearance. His eyes were black, LED screens with orange icons for pupils. In his torso was a strange light that nearly resembled the famous photograph of the M87 black hole. And between that, his red legs that must have belonged to another robot originally, and sharp teeth, Virus X was truly an otherworldly sight to behold. “I’d prefer ‘thrillseeker,’ or ‘entrepreneur of action…’”

“No, he was a troublemaker,” Barry cut in. “Time and time again he refused to join The Lost Upside Down God and us in the fight against The Lost Darkness God, Surtr, and their cronies.”

“Hey, I didn’t join The Lost Darkness God, did I?” Virus X pointed out as he pointed at Barry’s face with his left (normal) hand.

“No, but Prometheus, Aava, and The Highway Knight all warned you time and time again to stay away from them!”

Will, Haze, Morrigan, and Faustus were all lost at this point. “Wait, what?” Will interrupted. “Prometheus? Like, the Prometheus of Greek legend?”

Barry and Virus X both looked at Will, giving him a chill. “He doesn’t know, does he?” Virus X asked Barry.

“No, and he’s not fully aware of who Animus actually is either… or at least I don’t think he is.” Barry then figured it was best to move the conversation along. “Alright, look, don’t worry about it for now. I’ll explain it to you when Sebastian is not knocking on our doorstep.”

Will exhaled slowly to calm himself a little. “Right… So Sam, be careful around Virus X. He’s a little unstable…”

“UNSTABLE?” Virus X cried as his voice and eyes appeared to glitch out, accompanied by his body spasming a little. “YOU’RE UNSTABLE!”

“See what I mean?” This made Morrigan laugh.

Virus X paused and shook his head, knowing he had been played. “Will, get on Antares’ case about letting me go to The Commercialverse–I need to see my waifu again!”

Will looked at him with a hint of slight cringe in his expression. “Really, X? I appreciate the meme as much as the next guy, but do you have to call Synthia that?”

Virus X seemed to disregard Will’s criticism as he walked over to a tool rack and began looking for something. “Things are getting pretty serious in the fight against Audoin. He’s trying to find a way into the Lost Era and the Mezsdeon arrived not too long ago…”

Barry felt the weirdest feeling, like his blood had been replaced with adrenaline. He buckled a little, needing to steady himself against the jet’s hull. “Who are the Mezsdeon?” Barry asked, albeit his voice echoed in a way that shook the room without jostling so much as a speck of dust, and what Will and the others heard was incomprehensible, but was so close to their understanding that they got the jist of what he was asking.

Virus X stopped and looked at him with a look on his face that was mundane, yet terrifying. “I have no idea, Lighting God. I only heard about them in passing when I was crossing over through The Electric Abyss. All I know is that Raziel and Prometheus did something, and it scares me just as much as when Raziel brought Prometheus to the Lost Era.”

Before Will could ask what they were talking about (and he knew Morrigan also wanted some answers), Bran and Kyu had run up to them. “WILL!” Kyu exclaimed. “Are you okay?!”

Will went and picked up Kyu to give him a hug. “I’m alright… Orion’s probably worried sick about us, but I’m alright.”

“Thank goodness…” Bran said with an exasperated, yet relieved sigh. “So, did you have fun with Haze, Will?”

Will shook his head with a smile. “I guess we’re going to be working together now.”

“Oh boy…” Kyu remarked, trying to imagine how weird things were going to get. He then looked at Morrigan and was surprised. “Wait, Faustus! You can merge with Sam now?”

“She needs some practice, but she’s getting the hang of it,” he answered.

“And you’re sure you’re okay, Will?” Kyu asked one more time as his feelers twitched.

“Yeah, I am… as fine as I can be with a symbiont class construct…”

Virus X looked at both Barry and Kyu and smiled as he put his hands together. “Hey, we got a family reunion here!”

That caught Kyu off guard, causing his feelers to shoot up and float back down. “Excuse me, but what are you talking about?” He then looked at Barry and felt the strangest sense of familiarity, like he had just found a long lost family member. “No, it can’t be…”

Barry smiled and began to step towards him. “Brother…” This, however, was drowned out by a loud thud that shook the ship, with the red alert alarms going off again. “What was that?!”

“Another cannon blast from Sebastian?” Kyu questioned as he looked around.

Haze immediately perked up and used Will’s hand to look around. “No, that’s… something… something familiar… it’s a shadow construct!”

“No offense, Haze, but we’ve been dealing with them all dang day…” Faustus chided.

“No! It’s a new one–I’m sure of it…”

Bran looked up, then nodded. “Hold on… Jones, any word from the bridge?!” he called out with one hand cupped around his mouth.

“We’re checking now…” he answered as he raced back into the control room. A moment later he came back, looking worried. “They say there’s a big one up on the sky deck!”

Will appeared to grow antsy for a second, refusing to just sit around. “XHRA NEZ ROH” he called out as a void door appeared before them. “I’m sorry, Supervisor, but I’m a member of The ULTRAMagic Guild and I can’t just sit around for this. Sam, Barry, Bran, Kyu–come on!”

Virus X grabbed a stool and took a seat, laughing as the void door vanished behind them. “Jeez, if only we had an ULTRAMagic Guild back during the Lost Era… He’s not going to bring up my request to Antares, is he?”

Clark shook his head. “Probably not. He’s too busy to do so, obviously. And even then you’re still under observation from last time…”

He leaned over with his right arm stretching out to grab a can of soda from a cooler and cracked it open with a satisfying pop of the tab. “You guys need to give me more credit. Without Synthia and The Star Eater looking into that issue IGSE-333 had recently, we would’ve been in deep trouble…”

Haze & Chaos - Reunion A Part 9

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The sky deck was the flight deck of Camelot, akin to a maritime carrier-class ship. Unlike those ships, however, the sky deck was more similar to an airport runway. Due to the nature of Camelot being at high altitudes on a regular basis, the sky deck was used less for take offs and rather for landings. And one of the current entities to land was the very unwelcome hydra-class shadow construct. It was a black and red serpent at forty feet tall, completely metallic, and had three heads that roared and fired lasers from their mouths. And it was durable too, standing up to fire from the tiltrotors and a fly by from Shaye and Ahhotep. No soldiers were present on the sky deck as only a mad man would be ballsy enough to try fighting up there while Camelot was high up in the sky. Thankfully Will and the group were just the people for the job, but they also had to figure out how to get that job done.

Morrigan could see that Will, Bran, and Kyu were at a loss for what to do, so she did her best to figure out how the hydra-class worked based on its behavior. “I hate to admit it, but Sebastian did a fairly good job on this one!” she called out over the wind.

Barry laughed at the serpent as it failed to bite a tiltrotor. “No worse than what we fought in The Tyrant War, aye, Morrigan?”

She groaned a little at the bad memories, but quickly relented when the monster roared. “True, true… A shadow titan this isn’t…”

Will was fidgeting and looking around, trying to think of something. “That might be a little big for me to punch! Do we have any weapons?”

“OH, Will!” Haze had gone through his memories and found what he thought would be perfect. “What about that Mega Cannon spell?”

“I… I don’t know… I didn’t get to test it outside of The Nexus…”

This caught Bran’s attention, but he had to cover his ears to block out another roar. “Mega Cannon? Just what kind of magic is that?”

“It’s a void spell I worked on with Mads, but I don’t want to try using it here…”

Kyu’s feelers were being blown around, but they sensed Will’s apprehension and he agreed. “We better not then–we don’t want to harm Camelot or any of the pilots. Jeez, do we have an RPG or something?”

“HA, perfect timing then!” Antares said as he ran over to the group from one of the stairwells. Notably he was carrying such a weapon and had his helmet on. “We’ve been monitoring that damn thing and we think it’s capable of regenerating…”

Will then had an idea, thinking of the tiltrotors. “Wait, do any of them have explosive rounds then?”

Antares gave him an incredulous look as he readied his launcher. “Will–jeez, you know it’s not that simple! We can’t just load ‘explosive rounds’ into a turret like it’s a video game…”

Barry then patted the disappointed Will on the back. “Next time, buddy…”

“You’re head’s in the right place though, because I think this sucker needs a little bang in its life…” Antares got ready, pressing a button on his helmet to make sure his ears were protected, and took aim at the base of the center neck. “BACK BLAST AREA CLEAR!” he ordered, causing the group to quickly get to cover behind one of the stairwells. The grenade rocketed towards its target and went off with a loud explosion, causing the serpent to roar out in pain, its center head going weak. “HAHA, YES!” Antares celebrated, pressing another button on his helmet. “Aalders, explosives work, but what I think we need to do is focus on one spot–OH SHIT!” Antares had to ditch the launcher and leap out of the way to avoid a laser beam from the right head. “So, Will, can Haze do anything cool that would help us?” Will shrugged, which Antares figured was the case.

Barry laughed as he stroked his chin, his brain cooking up a good idea as he watched the center head slowly start to regenerate as the tiltrotors began to focus their fire. “Morrigan, let’s combine our magic–Come on!” he said as rushed out to get into position.

“Hold up, what do you even have in mind?” she demanded to know as she caught up with him, figuring he wanted her to use Faustus’ magic.

“I don’t know, just combine whatever you got with my magic!” he answered as he began forming a sphere of lighting beside him.

Faustus partially appeared out of Morrigan’s arm, looking baffled. “Wait, shouldn’t I just go back to Will and use the Volcano Beam? I’ve been practicing it…”

“No no, let’s try this–I’m sure it will work!” Barry reassured as the sphere began humming like a Tesla coil.

Faustus shrugged and went back into Morrigan. She then took a breath and began using her star magic to help focus a ball of fire and merge it into the lighting. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Barry…”

“Um… well… Oh, Morrigan? I’m going to need you to throw it…”

Morrigan gave him a look asking him if he was mad as the violent sphere shook and rumbled with furious energy. Taking a breath, she readied herself to throw. Faustus could sense she was just as nervous as Will would be in such a situation, and did his best to give her words of support and encouragement. The serpent was starting to falter as the focused fire from the tiltrotors wore it down, but it needed that one last push. Morrigan went for it, spinning around to get a good throw and letting the sphere fly with a massive grunt. It screamed through the air and hit the serpent head on, causing a big explosion. It took a second for the dust to settle and the group thought they had it, only for the serpent to begin slowly regenerating. Thankfully all of its heads hung limply from its torso, so there was that at least.

“Resilient bastard, isn’t it…” Antares pointed out as the group ran over to Morrigan. “Barry, do you have another one in you?”

“Sorry, Lt. Colonel, but that left me pretty hungry…”

“Haha, hungry?!”

Will nodded. “Yeah, ULTRAMagic does that to you.”

“So, any ideas?” Bran inquired, a bit worried. “Any at all?”

“Don’t worry, kids, I got this one!” a familiar voice called out as he hurried over. It was a mage in black and red robes with crimson eyes and silver hair with a blonde tint to it.

“Milan!” Will exclaimed. “You got a good spell? Because it can regenerate…”

He nodded as he cracked his knuckles, sizing it up with a smile on his face. “This would be the perfect time to use a spell I learned from Schwarzes!” he said with a snap of his fingers. “I’ll need some room, everyone…”

Eager to see what the archmage had in mind, he took a breath as they gave him some space. Sprites of glittering light began to dance around him and coalesced into a bow and arrow in his hand, but this was no ordinary bow. With an ethereal thud, the bow grew in size to that of a great bow roughly eight feet tall. Milan summoned a giant arrow and began to draw the large string back, straining as he did. It was not that he was not strong enough (although that would have been a factor if the bow was not made of magic), but that it was requiring a lot of focus and energy to prepare. Once ready and feeling like his arm was going to give out, Milan let the arrow go. It shot like a bullet into the chest of the serpent, splitting in twain in a great explosion of starlight, leaving mere pieces of it on the sky deck that quickly began dissolving into steam that was blown away by the winds. Milan nearly slumped over, but it held it together when everyone went to congratulate him.

“Alright, alright haha, let’s celebrate where it’s a little warmer!” Milan suggested as he led the group to the nearest stairwell.

Antares checked his comms and laughed. “Good news everyone; Sebastian’s cursing us and falling back!” he said as Götterdämmerung began to change its course and move away from Camelot. Shaye and Ahhotep did one last pass by in the B-17 with the group cheering before a portal opened up to take them back to The Unlight.

Aalders and Dryden had Milan and Antares bring everyone to Briefing Room A1 so they could finally figure out what was going on with Will and Haze, and also to congratulate the group on a job well done. Bethany had also shown up given that she was the target of Sebastian. The room was a modest space with desk tables lined up in a U-shape, soft white lights, and a projector screen on the wall opposite the door. It was a relief compared to getting blasted by wind and the cold up on the sky deck. Curiously there was a semi-elderly man sitting in a chair against the wall, waiting patiently as everyone sat down, with Milan taking a seat next to him. He looked like a general from a time that never existed, with gray eyes, lavender hair, and skin that was white like marble. Everyone could feel he was a truly important individual, and the fact that he had not spoken yet was causing a bit of a tension in the room.

Will was leaning on the desk, drumming his fingers while they waited for Aalders to get everything together and go over some last minute things with Dryden. “Well, welcome to your first debriefing, Sam.”

She reverted back to her human form, having split from Faustus when they entered the room. “Standard procedure I take it?”

“Yup, after every mission or incident…”

Aalders went over to his podium and glanced around the room. “Alright, since we’re all here…” He was cut off by someone bursting into the room.

“Will, Faustus!” The person in question was a female devil with blue eyes, ice blue skin, long hair, and red stripes across her body with a tail shorter than Faustus’. “Are you two okay!? I sensed all the commotion after it was too late!”

“Mira, we're in the middle of something, haha!” Faustus said as he got up to put his hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, we’re alright,” Will assured her.

Faustus then glanced over at Aalders and Dryden. “Um, General? Is it alright, if Mira joins us?”

Aalders chuckled. “Of course–have a seat, Mira.”

“Thank you, General,” she replied as Barry scooted over so she could sit next to Faustus. “So how’d things go?” she quickly and quietly asked.

“Sam needs practice…” Faustus said with an exhale.

Aalders cleared his throat and tapped his packet of papers on the podium. “Before we get started, Barry, would Vapor 6 like to join us, or can you relay the necessary information to the Dark Divers Guild?”

Barry laughed a little. “Nah, we’re good–but I can call him if need be.”

“Very good. Now, before anything else is said, Will, I am so sorry you had to go through all of that on your first day back from The Unlight…”

“It’s alright, Col–General,” Will stumbled, catching himself starting to use the wrong rank. “You should have seen the Future Squad Mission…” This caught a grumble from Faustus.

“The Future Squad mission?”

“Yes, General,” Barry put in. “Ol’Valerie, or ULTRAMagic Warlock, was giving us quite the run for our money back in the early days of the guild, so we had the hair-brained idea to send three mages from the future to catch her off guard. The only issue is that Will came completely unprepared…”

“Barry…” Will groaned, with Haze laughing.

“How bad was it?” Aalders inquired.

“It actually wasn’t too bad,” Barry answered. “Really the only true issue was Eloise, who clashed with her mother when she decided she wanted to join us. I mean Will was captured by Eloise when he went to do recon out of shame following a spat he had with Blood-Wraith…”

“BARRY!” Will interrupted.

“What? It led to Valerie learning how to gain ULTRAMagic…”

“PRIVATE FORD,” Antares cut in as he slammed his hands on the table. “Really!? Did you not learn anything from what happened to Adrien and Satsuki back in September?”

Will gave a light growl. “Well hey, Blood yelled at me, saying I’d kill people for intel!”

And then Blood-Wraith appeared out of nowhere to defend his honor. “Well yeah, because I actually thought you were going to go wild back then. I mean okay, I was a bit harsh and that did come out of nowhere, but I like to think that helped both of us…”

“ALRIGHT, new ground rule!” Antares interjected. “NO RECON, NO intel gathering–NO nothing unless we absolutely need the information, effective immediately!”

“Yes sir,” Will agreed with a groan.

“Hello, Blood-Wraith,” said Dryden with a chuckle towards the outbursts. “Care to join us or did you just want to get your two cents in?”

“Ha, sorry about that, General Dryden,” Blood-Wraith answered with a nervous chuckle. “I was looking for Nosmirc and Mads given all the ruckus.”

“I believe they went to Wing X to check on something.”

“Thank you, General. Oh, Will, Morrigan–Orion’s here, but I suggested he wait until debriefing is done,” he said as he exited the room.

“Yeah, that figures…” Will noted with a light chuckle, with Sam nodding in agreement.

“Ahem–let’s get back to what we have to discuss,” Aalders declared. “Although I do want to know why Will decided to go unprepared and why he was unable to summon Faustus… I presume.”

“I’ll sum it up so we can move on,” said Barry. “Basically Will was worried about affecting the timeline and could not summon Faustus or Mira due to a phenomenon relating to necromancers that prevents them from calling on their partners if they are in a different time and come from a realm with linear time…”

Faustus cleared his throat to get Aalders’ attention. “Basically me and Mira were being called upon ten years ago when we would’ve had no idea what was going on,” he added with a confirming nod from Mira.

Aalders was slowly nodding, not quite following but getting the general idea. “But didn’t he have a squad with him?”

“Well I’d imagine so given that he was a part of the ‘future squad,’” Dryden playfully chided, warranting a frown from Aalders.

Barry gave a quick ‘ahem’ to resume what he was saying. “Yes, he had Ludwig, Rostislav, and Yale with him. He did pretty well without Faustus and Mira, despite his alchemy skills being lacking, and the issue as a whole was remedied by Blood turning Waramunt’s… I mean Valentin’s wild card into an Azure Spider hex, plus the void magic Mads taught him.”

That was quite the tale, and Aalders was amazed at Will’s progress as a mage and soldier, despite the hiccups. “And he accomplished his part of the mission regardless?” He received nods from Barry, Will, and Sam. “Impressive, Private Ford…”

Next: Part 10

Haze & Chaos - Reunion A Part 7

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Will, Morrigan, and Faustus had to dodge out of the way as one of the enemy aircraft crashed into Hangar B9, slamming into the far wall, and creating a flaming mess that required the operatives and workers present in the hangar to scramble to deal with it. Once things were safe enough, Morrigan rushed over to the black and red, metal and glass craft as she had caught enough of a glimpse of it. “Hold on! I’m familiar with shadow constructs!” The clean up crews stepped aside as she got down. The lifeless body of the pilot had fallen out of the cockpit and she was certain of which shadow orb it had come from. She yanked the head off to inspect it, with the body fading into dust. “Oh yeah, this is one of Karnage’s…”

“You mean Sebastian, right?” Will questioned.

“Yeah, yeah…” Morrigan then crushed the head with a faint scowl on her face. The clean up crew only slightly recoiled, as the head had broken apart into dusty chunks.

“Well that’s new…” Will noted, then turned to a somewhat older man whose uniform indicated he was of an administrative or supervising role. “Supervisor, wait until we head out to roll the hangar out of the cue…”

The supervisor scoffed a little, but it was more out of disbelief. “No offense, Private, but Beckenbauer already deployed from hangar 2B. What do you have in…?”

“Don’t worry, I have an idea!” Will called out as he, Morrigan, and Faustus ran towards the windy exit.

“Hold on, cue?” Morrigan questioned. “What’s a cue?”

“Remember what Zack said when we got here? We have a lot of hangars, and they rotate in and out of the exits and whatnot…”

Faustus nodded as he could tell Will was not explaining it properly, but no one could really blame him given how hectic things were. “Yeah, I get it. He means there’s more on the inside!”

Morrigan also nodded, admiring the ingenuity of the Liger Brigade. “Alright, Boyo, what do you have in mind?” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the whipping winds.

Will looked around at the battle between the tiltrotors and shadow construct planes amongst the clouds, partially shielding his eyes as he waited for the right moment. He was a little nervous, as if he failed he would plummet to the Earth below, but at the same time his adrenaline was pumping. Seeing the plane he needed, he wound his arm back like he was about to throw a punch with his hand wide open and ready to grasp. “THIS!” Will’s arm shot forward and stretched to an unimaginable length. The plane he grabbed yanked him out of the hangar with great speed, leaving Morrigan and Faustus dumbfounded.

Faustus shook his head to dispel the disbelief he was experiencing, which was shared by the supervisor in the distance. “Oh my goodness… SPORT! WHAT ARE YOU–Oh forget it, he wouldn’t have listened anyways…”

Morrigan, naturally panicking, began levitating thanks to her star magic. “I’m going after him!”

Faustus quickly stopped Morrigan with his hand. “Hold up, you’re going to need more than that!” He then thought for a second as he glanced out at the battle and had a (most likely) similarly crazy idea to Will. “Sam, merge with me!”

“Wait, we can do that?” she wondered as she did her best to keep her hair from blowing in her face.

“I don’t see why not! You get along well with me and Mira after all!”

Morrigan touched back down on the floor, nearly losing her balance due to the wind. Hearing the supervisor call out that they needed to rotate out of the cue, Morrigan shook Faustus’ hand. “Alright, let’s do it!”

Faustus smiled and turned into a cloud of flaming, red energy that enveloped Morrigan, causing her to transform into a version of herself made out of fire. Had Will been there he would have complimented her on how amazing she looked. “Alright, Sam, just take it nice and easy…” Morrigan then jumped out into the air, fell for a second, then took off with the sound of a small jet. “EASY, SAM, EASY–AIYEE!” Faustus complained as she took off as fast as she could to find Will.

Will, on the other hand, was trying to figure out what Haze could do and was starting to panic as the pilot of the shadow construct plane opened the cockpit, snarling and gurgling as it prepared to attack. Thankfully Haze took the lead and shoved their hand into the torso of the pilot, temporarily taking control of it. The plane jerked to the right, then stabilized as it began firing on its allies. Unfortunately one of the tiltrotors shot at them, not realizing what Will was doing or that he was even there for that matter. Will quickly shot his hand to another plane and zipped over to it, repeating the process without Haze’s help. Haze was definitely impressed at how quickly Will had learned what he had shown him. It was easy to see why Will was such good friends with Ryota.

Spotting the Mean Machine in the distance, Will wanted to get close and hopefully board it to get his bearings. And it was perfect timing as a juggernaut-class shadow construct had latched onto it and was trying to destroy one of the rotors. Will used the plane he was on to swing himself over to the Mean Machine and landed on top with a thud (naturally scaring Zack). Another instance of panic occurred when Will quickly remembered that he still had barely any idea what he could do as Haze, and a juggernaut class was nothing to mess around with. The shadow construct gave an evil grin as it moved towards him with an unnatural cling to the roof. And adding insult to injury, Faustus was not responding to Will’s calls for his magic, which confused him to no end. Thinking quickly, he held out his hand and blasted the construct with a wave of cold air so frigid that it slowed it to a snail’s pace. A swift punch from an enlarged hand shattered the foe to pieces.

Inside the cockpit, Zack was still worrying given all of the commotion. He then heard a banging on one of the doors. “Jeez, better not regret this…” he whined with apprehension as hesitantly pressed the open button.

“ZACK, CLOSE IT!” Will ordered as slung himself in.

“WILL!?” Zack exclaimed as he tried to keep his focus on the battle. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? And what the hell happened to you?!”

“Long story…” he answered, catching his breath as stepped over to the cockpit. “You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks for that… WHOA!” Zack had to make an emergency maneuver to avoid a plane crashing into them. “It’s definitely Götterdämmerung by the way…”

Will’s hand shot up in front of his mouth, with Haze beginning to speak. “Nice to meet you, Beckenbauer!”

Thankfully there was nothing immediately ahead of them, so Zack glanced over to see what had addressed him. “What the fu… More Unlight stuff, isn’t it?” Will nodded. “Argh, welcome to the team, I guess?”

“The name’s Haze,” Haze replied.

“Wait–you don’t mean that’s ACF-008, do you?!” Zack said as he had to fire the guns at another plane.

“Yeah…” said Will, wanting to explain the situation, but realizing it was not the time for that.

“It’s just one thing after another today…” Zack groaned, then picked up his radio mic. “Mean Machine to base, Will and 008 are fine and with me if anyone’s looking for them–helped me shake off a bogey, over and out!” He then took a breath to steady his nerves, which seemed near impossible given everything that was going on. “Where do you want me to drop you off?”

“We need to find Sam and Faustus–I tried to call on Faustus, but he won’t respond for some reason, so I had to use Mira’s magic…”

Zack was scanning the skies as he assumed Morrigan was using whatever magic she had somehow and spotted what looked like a ball of fire destroying planes left and right. “Wait, who’s that? It can’t be Ryota…”

“No, it has to be Sam,” Haze pointed out.

“What makes you say that?” Will asked.

Haze groaned a little. “Will, what else would they do? Just sit around?”

“Good point…” A thought then occurred to Will. “Hold up, did they merge? Is that why I couldn’t call on Faustus?”

“Seems like the case to me.”

Zack nodded and steered the Mean Machine in the direction of the fire ball. “I’ll get you close enough, but be careful out there, you hear?”

“Thanks, Zack,” Will said as he went over to the door as it opened up, letting in the raging winds once again. Waiting for the right moment, Will latched onto a plane and was off.

Morrigan was starting to worry as she consistently failed to locate Will, but then sensed someone familiar. Turning around, she saw a plane coming at her and caught Will with her gravity magic (which was easier to do with Faustus’ magic in tandem). She then snapped her fingers and sent a ball of fire screaming at the shadow construct, destroying it in an explosion. “There you are, Boyo!” Notably she was using her magic to make sure he heard her.

“Sam, thank goodness!” He then looked at her as he took in what she had become. Her form of flames made her look incredibly beautiful, and it was surprising how well she was handling the merge. Then again, Morrigan’s energetic side could always be described as being on the fiery side, and she was a proper demon after all. “So that’s what happened to Faustus–not bad for a beginner!”

“Thank you, Boyo!” Morrigan slightly cooed with a giggle. She then caught something out of the corner of her eyes that sent a chill down her spine, however. In the distance they both saw a massive, pitch black zeppelin, dark as night and with gold trims and accents. Adorning its nose was a giant, metal eagle’s head, but it was certainly no bald eagle. The foreboding ship was like staring at darkness given form. Something was off, however, as two giant, metal plates on each side looked like they should have had a symbol on them. “Is–is that…?”

Will nodded with a grim cadence. “Yeah, that’s…” He was interrupted when Morrigan had to start dodging like crazy, as flying shadow constructs and a group of the planes had begun focusing on them. She was sent into full blown confusion, losing her focus in order to get out of the way of charges and gunfire from the planes. Annoyingly Will could not focus properly, or else he would have combined Mira’s magic with Morrigan’s newfound pyromancy. And they could not radio in for backup…

Thankfully someone must have smiled upon Will, Morrigan, and The Liger Brigade, as a B-17 bomber of all things broke through the clouds, its engine and rotors roaring with that unmistakable sound as it made its way to the battle. The pilot requested to join the fight, and the Liger Air Traffic Controllers were confused, as they had never heard of a ‘Shaye Sheerwood Smets.’ They were equally confused as to how a World War II era bomber was flying in their air space, but elected not to look a gift horse in the mouth. After lighting up a group of shadow construct planes with a hail of furious gunfire from the turrets, Shaye and Ahhotep turned to Barry, who looked ready to go as his cybernetic bodysuit took on the appearance of a futuristic flight suit.

“You sure about this, Barry?” Shaye questioned as Barry opened the cockpit door to leave. “Looks worse than a blitzkrieg out there…”

“I said I was going to go with Will and Sam to Earth, haha!”

“Be safe, Barry,” Ahhotep wished. “May Ra watch over you.”

Barry gave a salute with his fingers, and did some turning-based stretches before finally heading to the hangar doors. They slowly opened up as the roar of wind overwhelmed the room. After a countdown to psych himself up, Barry jumped and was met by the embrace of the sky. Anyone who saw what happened next would have witnessed a man turning into a cluster of lighting that arced from cloud to cloud, destroying any shadow construct in its path. He needed to find Will and Morrigan, as it was bad enough that he had slept in that morning to begin with. The Future Squad had finally returned and he had completely missed it. The least he could do was tag along with Will and see what he was up to. Of course the reports that Sebastian was attacking Sky Fortress Camelot had sent him into orbit, which prompted Shaye and Ahhotep to volunteer to help out. Barry had joked about sending in ULTRAMagic Dreadnaught, but Blood-Wraith and Tiberius immediately vetoed that idea.

After soaring through some more constructs that he destroyed as he did, Barry found Will and Morrigan… and they were in a complete panic. The two had been caught off guard, so he rushed over. All of the constructs were vanquished in a breathtaking storm of lighting that made Will and Morrigan’s hair stand up on end, which was quickly tamed by the wind. “Hey guys, sorry I’m late!” Barry said as he hovered over to them, half manifesting from a bundle of lighting. “That was certainly an electrifying experience for them!”

“Barry, sorry, but I’m a little dizzy at the moment,” Will said as he floated upside down. “Sam, rightside up!”

“Oh jeez, sorry, Boyo!” she replied, feeling sorry for him.

“My apologies for being late,” Barry said as he pointed at a shadow construct plane, destroying it with a bolt of lighting. “Kind of slept in late after last night’s…”

“Can we discuss this in one of the hangars!?” Haze interrupted, feeling just as disoriented as Will.

“Well, looks like you guys have been busy…” Barry remarked. Even Will was starting to grow a little impatient towards Barry’s nonchalant attitude.

Morrigan looked around, spotting an open hangar that she could sense was not in rotation. “What about that one?”

Will glanced where she was pointing and thought about it. “Hangar 1X? That’s the top secret hangar and… argh…”

“Any port in a storm?” Barry reasoned.

“Yeah, let’s go… I’ll deal with Antares and Aalders later…” Will somewhat lamented. He was only allowed to go there on special occasions, and it was clear Aalders wanted the Warbird deployed in some capacity. “Just keep any top secret stuff on the down low…”

Next: Part 8

ULTRAMagic (Before) Prelude Chapter 3

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“Ooh, what a fascinating little… entity,” Barry said as he tried to observe Blood-Wraith, causing the boy to walk away from him as he tried to follow him in circles.

A surge of electricity zapped away from Barry’s right arm and dusted himself off. It was a strange demon, a devil to be precise, who had futuristic, silver skin, spots of glowing, aqua green energy, and wild hair that was tamed and matched his skin. He was not amused with his partner’s antics and sighed. “Barry, don’t freak the boy out…”

“I won’t, Vapor 6, I won’t…”

Scotty put his hand on Barry’s shoulder and stopped him as Blood-Wraith hid behind Zara. “Barry, you’ll have time to ask him questions back at the guild.

“Which will have to wait, given that we have an Audoan Knight to pursue,” The Highway Knight commented as his engines idled, the smell of exhaust wafting in the air. “Was there a reason Damien attacked you two, or did you just so happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“I think the wrong place at the wrong time is a matter of perspective,” Zara cheekily remarked, earning a mildly incredulous look from Vapor 6. “Either way I’m glad we made it out of that safe and sound… NOW if I had my way as The Executioner of Old!” she began to elaborate, catching Blood-Wraith’s curiosity.

“But you’re not The Executioner of Old anymore, are you?” The Highway Knight pointed out with a witty smile hidden under his helm.

Zara groaned and stomped her foot. “Hey, I’m his reincarnation and no one is going to stop me from punishing the irreverent!”

“Don’t get on her bad side, Blood,” Barry said to Blood-Wraith as he patted her shoulder. “The Epoch was a crazy time with her around…” Zara pulled herself away from his grip.

“Should… should we still be out here with that scary man running around?” Blood-Wraith nervously asked.

This caught The Highway Knight’s attention as he stepped over. “What did you say his name was again?”

“Blood-Wraith,” Scotty answered. “Quite the odd name for a chap, but I’ve certainly heard worse and stranger.”

That name sounded incredibly familiar to the knight and immediately chilled his blood by just a little bit. He approached Blood-Wraith, his engines still humming and causing him to step back. After studying the strange boy for a moment, the knight realized why he seemed so familiar. “Scotty, get this boy back to the guild right now.”

Scotty was a little surprised by the knight’s directness, as he was well known for his dry wit amongst his guild mates. “Well of course, Highway Knight, we were already doing that until Damien showed up…”

“No, I mean it; get him back to the guild right now. He’s more important than either of you realize… especially in regards to Leif’s plans.”

With a subtle nod and a snap of his fingers that caused electricity to arc around his legs, Scotty picked up Blood-Wraith and held him firmly. “Right, on it. See you back at the guild, Zara. Don’t take too long out here…”

She realized what he was about to do, and it annoyed her to no end… “Wait, Scotty!” but it was too late, as Scotty had taken off like a roadrunner in a marathon, going faster than most humans ever could and leaving a trail of sparks in his wake. “I HATE IT WHEN HE DOES THAT!”

“Better get going, Zara, given that you're his bodyguard,” The Highway Knight chided with a chuckle.

“Zip it, Knight!” Zara said as she thrust her finger before his visor. She then got out one of her swords, twirled it around in a rhythmic motion, and then took off as fast as she could, with her trail being blazing, red fire.

“So, I guess we’re going to keep pursuing Damien then?” Barry wondered as he hummed with a curious-sounding arc of electricity.

“Well we can’t just let him keep running around freely now, can we?” Vapor 6 pointed out. “Also, Knight, is that boy really that important?”

He nodded as his armor shifted a gear, starting to rev up so they could get moving. “Indeed, as that boy will not only turn the tide of battle against The Eternal Order, but will also help free my other half from his imprisonment…”

“Other half?” Barry tried to recall.

“Van Hautum, Barry,” Vapor 6 said with a nudge.

“Oh right right right! I still find it odd that you split like that, Knight. Me and my younger brother didn’t do that when we left The Lost Era… he just ended up on some random Earth for some reason…”

The Highway Knight shook his head. “Pardon my tongue, but you were reckless, Lost Lightning God. The Black Pyramids are not something to be taken lightly…”

Barry exhaled and indicated with his thumb for Vapor 6 to remerge with him. “The past is ancient history, Knight, you know that…” Barry then took off in a surge of cyan lightning, with The Highway Knight following behind with the wheels built into his boots, his engines roaring as he chuckled to himself. They would follow the drops of rusted blood left behind by Damien from his magic, only to find that they would eventually lose his trail.

Zara came racing past the front gate and into the courtyard of the wooden and stone castle that was The Dark Divers Guild Hall. After taking a second to catch her breath and dispel the magic, she ran inside and hurried to the great hall. There was Scotty with Blood-Wraith on his lap, sitting at a gorgeous longtable, surrounded by several of their guild mates. “SCOTTY!” She exclaimed to get his attention as she walked over to the table.

Scotty winced for a second, realizing his second gaffe. “Hold on Zara, one second-And so The Onyx Maiden destroyed the entire blasted fortress with her cannons, setting The Audoan Empire back a great deal.”

“Wow, she sounds really great and powerful,” Blood-Wraith complimented.

“Mm-hmm, she’s one of the strongest known Unreal Gods from Universe-XT49,” a brown haired boy with red eyes in messy, black robes agreed.

“Scotty…” Zara said, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Indeed, Charles,” Scotty replied. “But let’s not forget Antonious and Lady Mildburg…”

“Scotty!”

He sighed, having gotten carried away with his storytelling. “Sorry, for taking off on you like that, Zara. It’s just that I get concerned when The Highway Knight gets all serious like that.”

A suit of black, demonic, yet futuristic-looking armor filled with blue fire nodded. “Indeed, as God only knows what is going on in his head. Oh, Zara, hello-you are looking lovely today…”

“Save it, Alexander,” she snapped. “Scotty, don’t run off like that-you make my job ten times harder. Remember what happened with Pasi Jokela?”

Scotty groaned. “I’d prefer not to bring that up…”

“Who’s Pasi?” Blood-Wraith asked.

“An Audoan Knight who caught Scotty off guard when he ran off one time…” Charles answered.

Alexander laughed. “Yup, it was back when Scotty first joined, and we had to go out and save his hide…”

“Alright, enough!” Scotty interrupted, causing everyone else to laugh.

“Well we all seem to be quite lively today,” the voice of an older, refined gentleman stated as he approached. There was a joviality in his words that indicated a man who took great pleasure in the mirth of his splendid company. His cream-colored hair was neat and tidy, his chartreuse eyes were gleeful in a modest way, and he wore the classical attire of a lord with heraldry and honors of a world that seemed incredibly familiar, yet distant to that of planet Earth. “My goodness, what do we have here?”

“Scotty and Zara found an ar’ton boy, Lord Sander,” Charles replied.

“Well we think he is an ar’ton,” Scotty clarified.

“My my my, what a curious case indeed…” Sander said as he got a look at Blood-Wraith.

“Who are you, sir?” Blood-Wraith asked with an endearing curiosity as he got down from Scotty’s lap.

“Why am I Lord Sander Filippus Kikkert, my boy. Magistrate of Fleckdirdir in the county of Zeck-Dandir. I served in his majesty’s royal forces and fought in the battle of porton-nahoy, further serving the crown for a spectacular tenure before wandering through a curious corridor that brought me here to this fine guild…” He had to stop as he could see that Blood-Wraith was incredibly confused and felt bad.

“I’m sorry, but what did you say?” Blood-Wraith asked, trying to put together everything he had heard.

There was a sympathetic laugh from a voice with a mechanical echo to it, and what stepped forward was a tall, robotic man who was made of black, fiber-like muscles covered in silver plates and lights that made him paradoxically look like a machine that had come from so far in the future that he had potentially looped around back to the past. “Lord Sander is supposedly from Universe-23 at the 4 quintelionth iteration, a vastly different version of Earth which is quite strange and a stand out amongst our research into Iteration Generation Loss.”

“Oh yeah, Scotty was mentioning that on the way here,” Blood-Wraith recalled. He then went to shake hands with Sander, followed by the robot. “Hello, um…”

“I have no name, for many simply refer to me as ‘The Automaton of Old.’ I am the leader of the Dark Divers Guild and Lord Sander here is my second in command,” the robot replied as he shook Blood-Wraith’s hand. “And who might you be, young man? I must say it is very odd to see an ar’ton of all entities in Fartherlans like this…”

“Blood-Wraith, auto…auto…Automaton.”

And it was right then and there The Automaton froze in panic, for he had to do a double take. “Blood-Wraith? You said your name was Blood-Wraith?” The boy nodded, and the worry on the other Dark Divers’ faces stemming from The Automaton’s subtle distress was as plain as day. “Ti-Tiberius, can you help me with something?” he called out as he turned around.

“Well, I’m quite busy at the moment, Automaton,” an older man in black and gold robes with red eyes, white hair, and strong jawline said as he walked over. He looked like a mage of distinction and prestige, which could be sensed by merely standing in his presence. “Cynfelyn is having another panic attack over his room, stating there is something wrong with it, and I was just about to bring him his usual therapeutic incense and…” he quickly realized the elephant in the room.

“Tiberius, what was the name of the mage Mr. EP said was going to help Leif?” The Automaton asked with a nervous chuckle.

“Blood-Wraith…”

“Tiberius, this ar’ton is claiming that he’s Blood-Wraith…”

Tiberius felt the life sink to his feet as he began to feel the gravity of the situation. “Autmomaton, where’s Leif at the moment?”

“Follow me,” he said as the two hurried out of the great hall.

Everyone was quiet for a second, which was broken by Blood-Wraith. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, at least I don’t think you did…” Scotty answered, trying to reassure him as he patted him on the shoulder.

Zara gave an exasperated sigh. “There’s a lot going on at the moment that we’re not fully privy to, Blood-Wraith. Honestly it annoys the utter living shi…crap out of me.” Scotty gave her a fist bump for catching that profanity.

A hearty laugh that had pity in it caught everyone off guard. The man who walked up to the group was a modestly handsome man with silver hair, dazzling blue eyes, sideburns, and wore formal attire. “If only you guys knew what I know, HA! Welcome to the guild, kid,” the man said as he held out his hand to Blood-Wraith. “The name’s Erikson.”

Blood-Wraith was a little hesitant at first, as Erikson had a strange aura to him that indicated someone who had a vast story to tell, but preferred to keep it under wraps for the time being. “Um, hi, Erikson…”

“Careful with him, Blood, he’s a troublemaker…” Zara cautioned, causing the others to chuckle. They stopped when she glared at them, as she knew it was actually directed at her.

Erikson laughed, while also feigning being hurt by her words. “Zara, my dear Executioner of Old, you hurt me. You know my honor is the best of the best…”

“Uh-huh, despite all of the secrets you keep…”

Erikson threw his hands up with a smile before taking a seat at the opposite table to Scotty. “Touché. So, Blood, seen anything weird yet?”

He was a little unsure how to answer that, but Scotty gave him an encouraging nod. “Oh, well, I’ve seen a lot of weird things so far, Mr. Erikson.”

“Haha, that’s the name of the game here, kiddo. You get to see under the hood of the Cosmos, the stuff they don’t want you seeing.” Erikson had an infectious charm to his words and how he presented himself, causing the others to gather around with reluctant smiles on their faces. “Here’s another one for you: Would you believe me if I said I was actually a dragon?”

Blood-Wraith seemed to be amazed by that claim. “Whoa… what’s that?”

Erikson chuckled to himself, as he knew the boy would be a bit green after being plucked from the void. “Well stick around and I’ll show you. And you’ll also get to meet the other Dragon, Leif.”

“Two dragons?” Blood-Wraith asked, his amazement mounting despite his lack of knowledge.

Scotty chuckled and ruffled his non-existent hair. “Leif’s quite the fellow, with a storied history that goes all the way back to the Epoch. He’s a good man with a strong heart and bravery to last a lifetime…”

“And he’ll no doubt be here any minute…” Erikson said with another chuckle, but this felt like he had a chain to yank…

Next: Chapter 4

AIN-NULL

Relevant Posts: The Virus God, K-Virus, The Electric Abyss, The ACF, The Liger Brigade, Akktak-xaktalos, The Red Man, AIN-NULL Presents: The Electric Abyss, AIN-NULL City

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"Alright, if you're going to be working this far up the ladder with us, you should probably know about him... ACF-000 is AIN-NULL, an entity we firmly believe to be a hermetic god... AIN-NULL is a bit tight-lipped on what he discusses about himself. And despite the trouble he can potentially cause, he's one of our best... Yeah, The Ligers lost their minds when they found out that little detail... As an aside, be weary when he has an idea, haha..."

AIN-NULL is an anomalous, multidimensional computer virus that is firmly believed to be a digital hermetic god known as The Cyber God. This fact was discovered when ACF-013 casually revealed such information after a trip to The Unlight. From what can be discerned, he is the son of The Virus God that manifested in a place known as The Electric Abyss.

The Electric Abyss is a part of the Internet that was touched by the true abyss, the primordial darkness that God spoke the Word into to create the Cosmos. A dead god known as Akktak-xaktalos was experimenting in the Electric Abyss and created the proper conditions for AIN-NULL to come into existence, and this anomalous virus would be taken in by The Virus God.

Normally The Electric Abyss would have gone unnoticed, had it not been for entities using The Electric Abyss to get across the Cosmos. It is a strange, liminal realm made of marble and steel, with what resembles transmission towers and the remains of great temples littering the landscape. Great towers also exist that allow for pockets of civilization. The Electric Abyss is corrosive to those of third and fourth dimensions, but AIN-NULL has several solutions. The first is a program he created that allows one to explore The Electric Abyss as a video game. Known as AIN-NULL Presents: The Electric Abyss, this has been invaluable in learning about the realm.

A second solution exists in the form of AIN-NULL City, an empty, 90s city that in perpetual night, constant rain, and sitting beneath a light-polluted sky. Despite the emptiness it is a fully functioning city that staves off the corrosive effects of The Electric Abyss. AIN-NULL's family, friends, and allies are more than welcome to stay in the city should they find themselves in The Electric Abyss. Notably AIN-NULL's son, K-Virus, lives in the city and spends his time here when he is not performing duties for The Liger Brigade, The League, and The ULTRAMagic Guild.

It should be noted that AIN-NULL is quite hazardous to computer systems, should he be provoked into retaliatory actions. No computer is safe from his influence, not even quantum computers reaching into the highest dimensions possible. Data is typically safe, save for AIN-NULL leaving behind traces of himself. Through The Liger Brigade's research, it has been discovered that LLM (Large Language Models) and AI Chatbots are at the highest risk for corruption given that they process AIN-NULL's data and assume they are an aspect of AIN-NULL himself. Given that AI Chatbots aren't actually intelligent, it raises massive concerns for actual Artificial Intelligence and how they will react to AIN-NULL when they encounter him.

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ULTRAMagic Eon 2 Chapter 13

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“Alright, everyone, give Wynnstan some space,” Blood-Wraith called out as his group entered the main hall. Not that many members of the guild were present, but it still felt right to do so.

Wynnstan was a mess, and a far cry from his usual confident and brash self. His hair was messy, his clothes were disheveled, and it looked like he had not had a good amount of sleep in ages from the bags beneath his eyes. In truth it was actually a bit haunting to see him in the sorry state he was in “Where am I?! Oh, the guild? Yeah, the guild…”

“Take it easy, buddy, everything’s alright…” Schwarzes said as he sat him down and conjured up a cup of warm, soothing tea for him.

“Good lord, what even happened to him?” Weaver asked as he took a seat.

“Perhaps he’s been away from The Realm of Chaos for too long?” Ludwig proposed.

“Yeah, that would be it…” Schwarzes answered. “Chaos-born entities typically need to stick to their own realm, but can stay in other realms if need be. Furthermore they can train themselves to be outside the Realm of Chaos even longer, perhaps even to a point where they could dwell nigh-indifferently in other realms. Obviously Wynnstan is reaching his limits though. And as an aside, if you ever wonder why we never see Lucanus despite his pledge to help us out, Order-born entities are apparently even more unstable than Chaos-born ones.”

“Mother of God,” David said to himself, utterly amazed by Wynnstan’s presence, even if it was incredibly hectic. “Wynnstan, my boy, do you feel up to talking about your current predicament?”

“I DIDN’T HIDE MY TOYS IN THE GUTTER,” he exclaimed, startling everyone. “Oh, s-sorry about that…” Wynnstan sipped some more of his tea, with it seeming to calm him down. “I… I don’t know what happened. One day I was heading to The Unlight and the next I had completely forgotten how to go home. My brain has been fogged up ever since…”

Serjiel groaned in frustration as he adjusted his belt and also sat down at the table. “That would imply Karnage is up to no good, if you ask me…”

“KARNAGE!?! I’LL KILL THAT BASTARD FOR WHAT HE DID TO MOM AND DAD!” Wynnstan roared as he shot up and slammed his hands on the table.

“Easy, Wynnstan,” Schwarzes comforted his friend as he sat him back down. “He’s not here right now.”

“Oh, right…” He took an uneasy breath to try and ease his nerves. “Part of the reason I went to visit Schwarzes was to check to see if he had seen Karnage as of late. General Anara… or was it Hannibal? Dad? NO, it was everyone! Everyone is suspicious about Karnage going quiet. Dad did throw his tower into the void after all…”

“Yes, indeed,” Tiberius said with a nod as he summoned some documents and set them on the table. “From the fragmented communications we’ve had with the Arbiters of Droom, Karnage’s ‘absence’ is of great concern, and may have led to these strange and ongoing issues we’ve been dealing with ever since Gore showed up…”

“Oh, did you guys know Gore is Karnage?” Wynnstan clarified in a surprising and uncharacteristic moment of positive clarity. The guild members slowly nodding did not fill him with confidence, however.

“Yeah, Wynnstan, we’ve figured that,” Blood-Wraith dryly noted.

“I’ve been saying we should go after him, but evidently that’s super risky…” Ludwig added.

“IT’S INCREDIBLY RISKY, GIVEN THAT HE WAS DAD’S CHAMPION AT ONE POINT,” Wynnstan exclaimed as he went to Ludwig and shook him by the shoulders.

“At ease, Wynnstan,” Tiberius said as he tapped his staff on the ground. “At the risk of another outburst, are you able to confirm a suspicion we’ve had for a while now?”

“Sure, what’s on your mind?” he inquired as he calmly sat back down.

“Intel from Odo before he was captured…”

“HE WAS CAPTURED!?!”

“AHEM, before he was captured by Karnage, he stated that he was convinced that Karnage was the reincarnation of The Behemoth God, which I can personally state was a notorious member of The Eternal Order of the Epoch. He was not subdued until the early modern phase of the Cosmos, during my time with The Dark Divers Guild. And even then I firmly believed he used that as a means of furthering his plans. The Automaton, Erikson, and I have been trying to deduce where he ended up, and I now firmly believe he reincarnated into Karnage. How coincidental is it when we deal with one Eternal Order member only for an eerily similar one to immediately pop up and join?”

“Hold up, dad raised Karnage up from squalor though…” Wynnstan pointed out. This statement was a little odd given what he had previously stated, but it was obvious that his mind was a bit here and there at the moment.

“Time is relative and convoluted for me, at this point in my existence. What feels like a long period of time to you went by in a flash for me. You could say Karnage biding his time under Wulfric’s command passed like a month from my perspective.”

“An astute series of observations regardless, Tiberius,” David complimented as he began to pace around. “And the timing is way too convenient in all instances for any of this to be a coincidence. If we are to assume this is all definitely Karnage’s doing, by what mechanism is he blocking us from getting into contact with our allies? I feel solving this mystery will give us an incredible advantage over him.”

Blood-Wraith got up, sighed, and leaned on the table with his hand. “Well whatever it is, it’s not good. Vex and Drusa have been having bad brain fog as of late, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have occasional moments of haze in my mind…”

“Aren’t you three capable of performing curses?”

“Yes, what of it?”

David stroked his chin while he thought. “Perhaps someone amongst The Sepulcher God’s ranks can perform their own curses…”

That made Blood-Wraith shudder. “Source, I hope not, as Vex made sure the knowledge of curses were locked down.”

“Would you really be surprised if The Sepulcher God had pulled it off?” Deimos said as he walked over. “Given how crafty he is, we should consider it a strong possibility. I really wish we could locate the core personality of The Tyrant God, as he was an expert on dealing with The Sepulcher God… Tiberius, can I say right now that Mind-Wraith was right and we were way too harsh on The Tyrant God back in the day?”

“Aye, Eustorgio,” he admitted. “I’ll eat my hat to that one.”

Serjiel turned to Wynnstan, who was sitting there quietly. “You okay, Wynnstan?”

“Yes, as this is incredibly fascinating.”

“I was expecting another outburst by now…”

Schwarzes laughed as he hit the table. “Nope, he’s not doing alright, as he’s never this attentive. Someone go tell Zal, he’d love it!’

Wynnstan groaned, feeling like he was not being given enough credit. “Actually, Schwarzes, I’m doing fine, I'll have you know… I think… I mean, I… argh, my head hurts!”

“Hey, I’m interested too,” Dragoslava pointed out as she turned the page of her notebook. “Desislav, can you make Wynnstan something to eat? Help soothe his nerves?”

“Sure-sure,” he said as he started to head off to the kitchen. “Hungry, Wynnstan? Want anything in particular?”

“A sub sandwich with the works, please…” he requested as he shifted in his seat.

“Coming right up!”

Before anything else could be said, Quasar came running in and over to the group. “Wynnstan! Wynnstan!”

“Quasar! Oh thank goodness!”

Quasar stopped right before him to catch his breath. “Are you okay? Have you been able to get back home?”

“What do you think?” he replied with a smile of unease and a twitch of his head.

“Dang it… I’ve been trying to get ahold of dad, but to not much luck. Fortunately everyone seems to be alright from what I can tell.”

In that moment Wynnstan seemed to relax and his essence went from tangled up to loose, if still a bit messy. It was like part of his issue had been solved. “Well hey, at least we got each other, little buddy,” he said as he put his arm around Quasar and shook him a little.

Unbeknownst to the arbiter, Quasar had siphoned off some of his energy. “Oh jeez, you’re a mess aren’t you?” Wynnstan nodded. “Oh, Shaye, Wynnstan likes guns.”

“Really now?” he asked with a slight smile on his face. “You a gunslinger, Wynnstan?”

“You could say that,” he answered with a nod. “Dad wanted me to wield a Zweihander as an arbiter, but I saw the troops of Yorath and Benedictus and made up my mind.”

Dragoslava also smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Wynnstan actually made my Death Cannon Bullets even more effective than the ones I used on The Lich of Old all those years ago.”

Shaye leaned back a little in his chair and relaxed, like a father about to elucidate his son. “While I may have been a B-17 pilot, knowing how to pick up a gun and fire it was standard practice in the military. I’ve sadly had to send a few fathers back to God, but I don’t regret putting my life on the line for my country. When you pick up a gun, you have all the power in the world at your fingertips, like wielding the power of God itself. It’s up to you how to use it and whether or not you're going to commit to the path of the warrior. It's a brutal one, but someone has to do it.”

Wynnstan felt at peace by that speech, like he was speaking to his own father. “Shaye, are you a follower of my father?”

“Ha, I’m sorry, but what?”

He banged the table and declared “That is something my father would absolutely say! Although in hindsight maybe that’s all why he was so leery about letting me have a gun. He’s a man who reveres the sword and believes it is an honorable way to die, as your fate is your hands. A gun? Well nothing’s stopping me from picking you off without you even realizing it…”

“Yeah, I have to say the era of the gun was definitely a point of no return in Earth’s history,” Desislav commented as he set Wynnstan’s food before him. “I’ve been grazed by bullets from hunters a few times and need I say more about The Great War?”

“I can understand where your father is coming from, Wynnstan,” said Shaye. “I’d argue you shouldn’t keep a man from his calling, however. A sword is vastly more honorable than a gun, as you can look your opponent in the eye and be at peace. A gun on the other hand is quick and merciless. Still, you can do a lot of good with a perfect shot. We live in trying times, but with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately it often falls on us to be the arbiters of war as the elected bureaucrats never get their hands dirty, having had a silver spoon in their mouth since day one…”

Blood-Wraith chuckled, recalling some of the stuff Will had told him about the Liger Brigade and Earth-23. He knew Shaye was from a different universe, but it all felt like him and Will were in the same boat. “Shaye, can you talk to Will when he properly joins the guild in five or so years?”

“Five? It’s going to take that long?”

“Well maybe six, I’ve sort of lost track.”

“And he’s a soldier?”

“Not quite, rather a special operative of The Liger Brigade who can assume military duties. Still, he had a lot on his mind when he was us and I think your perspective would legitimately help alleviate his worries.”

“Well shoot, Blood, you send him right my way anyways and we’ll have a good’ol talk…”

“Once he gets his head on straight. Check the records, as we had some roadbumps the others have no doubt mentioned to you.”

Shaye laughed. “Duly noted, partner.”

Serjiel then cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Wynnstan, I think you should stick with us going forward. Furthermore I feel you should join the guild proper so we can have a direct line of communication with the arbiters. What do you say?”

“Hmm…” He needed a second to give it some thought as he sipped his drink. “Well it wouldn’t be a bad idea given that the arbiters are starting to train ULTRAMagic mages again. Do you guys think you got what it takes to have me around though?”

“Well the epoch guild was quite hectic and this guild has certainly seen its fair share of adventures so far,” Tiberius noted, making Wynnstan laugh.

“It’d be really cool if you did join, Wynnstan!” Quasar asserted. “Everyone here’s having a lot of fun.”

Weaver chuckled and patted the boy on the back. “Well I don’t know if I’d call this fun, but we’re in it together and we’ll be here for you no matter what, Wynnstan.”

Wynnstan finished up his sandwich and soda, thinking about what he wanted to do next. As much as he loved the Tree People, it would probably be best to stick around with a bunch of other ULTRAMagic Mages. His mind was scrambled, but talking with them seemed to clear it up so he could think straight again. “Alright, you guys are on. Hopefully we can get ahold of dad and uncle before the worst happens…”

“Well with our goal of confronting and stopping Karnage, that shouldn’t be too much of a hassle,” Tiberius replied. “And hopefully we can continue to pull his minions out from under him and over to our side. We have strength in numbers after all.”

“You’re not going to get that crazy Morrigan chick to join us, are you?”

The others laughed with Blood-Wraith shaking his head. “Wynnstan, Morrigan is in legitimate danger,” he clarified. “While it was a wild goose chase before, now it is imperative we get her to come over to our side. She’s more important than most realize…” This was a sentiment shared by Ludwig, albeit for strange reasons consisting of phantom memories from events that had yet to happen to him.

Next: Chapter 14