Book 3: Chapter 96: Divine after Divine and Narrative |
Gilbert didn't know what Divine Hourglass's words meant but he wasn't foolish enough to ask the man to clarify.
The headmaster of The Academy was known for many things, being amiable chief among them, but he was also very well known for being the most powerful mage in existence, and over the hundreds of thousands of years that he had been a Divine, the man had killed dozens of his peers and even injured an Ancient once.
He was not a man to be antagonised, regardless of how friendly he presented himself to be.
Divine Hourglass frowned, sending a chill down Gilbert's spine.
"That won't do. Sarah, stop anyone from interrupting me for a moment, yes?" Divine Hourglass requested before he put a hand out and began to focus.
The loudest silence Gilbert had ever heard in his life descended upon the dozens upon dozens of people present. 'She's not known as the most powerful Divine for no reason.'
A few seconds later, Divine Hourglass waved his outstretched hand and Breena Redtail appeared at his feet, curled up in a ball. She was unconscious as far as Gilbert could tell.
"Young Breena!" he exclaimed. "I apologise for interrupting, but is she okay?"
Divine Hourglass waved his hand dismissively. "You interrupted nothing. I finished when I rescued her. She is fine, and will benefit greatly from bathing within the pillar, but any longer and she would have become a part of it. It was actually quite the challenge to extract her. And that is despite my unique skill."
Gilbert already knew this. Grand Guildmaster Sarah had told him in passing during one of his few but meaningful meetings with her. Divine Hourglass was originally from an incredibly magical world, far more magically oriented than Altros was, which said a lot.
His unique skill was a bit unknown but the general gist of what it allowed him to do was public. It let him intuitively understand almost anything he put his mind to immediately. No one knew anything further than that as that was all Divine Hourglass had decided to reveal.
The man with glasses looked around a little bit in surprise. "I must offer my admiration. Most people would jump into the pillar upon hearing my words, thinking this to be an opportunity. I see the members of the Crimson Foxkin Clan are more sensible than most."
Elcudia Redtail frowned and asked, "What would have happened had one attempted it?"
Grand Guildmaster Sarah laughed, "I would have killed them before they got the chance. There's a gold-silver adventurer badge in there, so that means ones of mine is responsible. If Glasses thinks it's a good thing, like fuck would I allow some idiot to ruin it for one of my own."
Divine Hourglass nodded. "Indeed, death by Divine Persistence would be the result, but assuming someone got past her, the beam would kill them. This child was very lucky. I wonder why she survived and benefited from the experience... Well, the most likely answer is that she holds a lot of significance to the source of this phenomena. It is uncommon, but sometimes, during events like this, those close to the origin benefit massively or get protected while all others suffer or perish. How envious I am, and of a child, no less. What a day, what a day."
"How presumptuous," a deep voice rumbled as the sky darkened entirely, turned everything pitch black.
The only light to be seen was the incredibly powerful beam of whatever Lone was doing. Gilbert felt himself begin to sweat in nervousness. 'What a ferocious aura. It's at least as powerful as Great-Grandfather, if not more so. Has a Divine from the Council of Elders arrived?'
He wasn't sure. The aura certainly felt Divine and perhaps even stronger than that of Divine Dragonsworn's, but he wasn't collapsing onto his chest while struggling to maintain consciousness, and no one was actively fighting off the aura as far as he could tell. The only thing that made sense was that perhaps Lone's magical pillar was warding it off somehow, and as little sense as that made, it was the only conclusion Gilbert could come to right now.
"Me or you?" Grand Guildmaster Sarah asked softly of Divine Hourglass.
He inclined his head and waved to her. "Please, go ahead. Far be it from me to deprive you of some fun after having dragged you here."
Grand Guildmaster Sarah smiled madly before she cracked her neck and arched her right arm back. The next moment, she let loose a punch that was surprisingly visible to Gilbert's eyes.
'I've never seen her fight before. Is she about the battle another Divine just because Divine Hourglass demands Lone and his pillar of magic be protected? Just how special is this event you've created, Son? And just how close is the Grand Guildmaster to The Academy's Headmaster?' Gilbert thought.
His mind then went blank as he witnessed the dark sky crack, fracture, and shatter. A blurry black figure plummeted out of the sky before it thumped onto the grassy earth with a wet slap.
"Stop acting so dramatic," Grand Guildmaster Sarah sighed as she blew her fist as if it were hot. "That was only a 10% punch, so if you're at death's door with just that, then you really shouldn't have come here cock-first."
Gilbert was astonished. 'That was only 10%? I know she's called the strongest Divine on the continent, and she's one of the oldest, but 10%? Just how weak is that... Ravenkin? I don't recognise him. It doesn't help that he's covered in blood now...'
He then heard Elcudia Redtail mutter, "Divine Omen Flayer... How? In just one attack?"
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Three figures with thunderous auras appeared at the near-dead man's side. One immediately began casting spells to heal Divine Omen Flayer while the other two stood in front of them protectively.
Grand Guildmaster Sarah laughed. "That's it? Only four? You guys do know that you're among the weakest group of Divines, like, anywhere, right? There could be 40 of you and it wouldn't change a thing. Y'all are way too conservative with how you get stronger. Leads to weakness, y'know?"
"They are aware," a deep masculine voice said calmly.
Gilbert turned only to see a High Elven man with an uncharacteristically large amount of muscles walking towards them from the east. One moment, he was hundreds of metres away, the next moment and he was within striking distance of the Grand Guildmaster.
'That's Divine Eternal. What's the oldest living Divine doing here?' Gilbert wondered in worry.
"Divine Omen Flayer apologises for his faux pas," the High Elf claimed. "I think your actions were more than enough, anything further would be unmerited given this is currently the land of the Council of Elders. Now, what do we know about this occurrence? Divine Hourglass, do not hide anything. Many more Divine are on their way, we were just the fastest. I need to know which side I should stand on."
"You don't know?" Divine Hourglass asked without taking his eyes off of Lone's magical pillar. "How disappointing. Have your years been wasted?"
"You know magic is a hobby to me, not a focus. I have ideas, but it would be beneath me to speak as an expert to one so attuned with magic as yourself," Divine Eternal replied.
"I have only have ideas myself," Divine Hourglass responded. "Strong ideas, but ideas nonetheless. The impossible is happening. Whoever is behind this is, if I am correct, creating a tool that surpasses Divinity."
Gilbert noticed that every present Divine seemed to be shaken by those words, even Grand Guildmaster Sarah and the half-dead Divine Omen Flayer. Not a moment later and five more beastkin with extraordinary auras appeared.
Grand Guildmaster Sarah frowned. "Could you guys stop flaunting your Divine auras? It's becoming a pain in the fuckin' ass preventing the non-Divines from exploding."
'Ah, so it was the Grand Guildmaster, not Lone's magical pillar,' Gilbert thought.
The Divine beastkin shared a glance between the nine of them before they all nodded and retracting their auras.
Divine Eternal spoke carefully, "You mean to tell me a crafter of some sort has figured out what many have failed to do in millions upon millions of years?"
"And not only that," Divine Hourglass said cheerfully. "They, if I am correct and how I hope I am, are also in the process of birthing a new school of magic."
"What?! That's impossible!" the High Elf exclaimed.
Divine Hourglass smiled. "I did say the impossible was happening."
Suddenly, new magical elements were appearing within the pillar of light, expanding it. Divine Hourglass and Divine Eternal stepped back.
"Who oh who are you, person responsible?" Divine Hourglass asked no one in particular.
"It must be a Divine we were unaware of. An old one, and a very practised one." Divine Eternal frowned. "There's no such talent among the Council of Elders, so I wonder why they chose to build whatever it is they are building here, of all places."
"It's an A-ranker," a voice pointed out with venom in her tone.
Gilbert's face dropped. "Be very careful with your next words," he warned.
He didn't care that there was a dozen Divines present with more on the way, nor did he care that he had just warned an XXX-ranker. The less everyone here knew about Lone, the better his chances were to somehow escape unknown once whatever was happened had concluded.
A set of seven more beastkin Divine showed up at that moment, totalling to 16 of the 17 Divine members of the Council of Elders being present. Something to note was that they had only displayed their auras for a moment before retracting them, which told Gilbert they had been communicating with the other nine elders before their arrival.
A women among them stepped forward. She was a Cloudy Kirinkin as made obviously by her ethereal single set of kirin horns and her cloud-like kirin tail. Non-colour-based beastkin were incredibly rare. They were variants born of the more normal colour-based beastkin, and Gilbert had never actually met such a person before.
Kirinkin themselves were rare enough as is, about as much as dragonkin were. But for such a person to have only one beastial trait, be a Divine, and be a variant beastkin, told Gilbert a tale of multiple figurative lottery winnings. This woman was a miracle walking.
"Is it him?" she asked of Elcudia Redtail. "The Void-touched? He's the source of this?"
"H-Head Elder! I-It's an hon-"
"Answer me," the kirinkin Divine interrupted. "I have no time for pleasantries while one of the clans we manage is being invaded by outsider Divines."
Gilbert saw Grand Guildmaster Sarah chuckle upon hearing that. 'So she's the leader of the Council of Elders? She can't be too strong if the Grand Guildmaster isn't worried at all. This is really putting into perspective how weak my great grandfather is... among his peers, at least. Divine Hourglass and Divine Eternal haven't even stopped looking at the magic pillar, though I can tell. They are curious about Lone. I need to control the narrative here.'
Before she could answer, he quickly but loudly stated, "This is the Spirit Pavilion that was granted to Lone Immortus. He was placed under house arrest by Elcudia Redtail here for finding a traitor amidst the local elders who had allowed the kidnapping of dozens of Crimson Foxkin children. He is an A-rank individual and a gold-silver plate adventurer under the permanent protection of The Adventurer's Guild, and he has temporary protection from both Divine Dragonsworn and as of a few moments ago, Divine Hourglass. He also has a connection to Divine Tethered."
As if summoned, a shimmering purple portal appeared out of nowhere and a large panther slinked out of it gracefully. The large cat looked around, assessed the situation, and smiled with all of her very sharp teeth. "It has been a while since I've been in the presence of so many of my peers. I also extend my protection to the young man. I haven't finishing teaching him how to fish quite yet."
Before anyone else could comment or respond to another Divine appearing, more and more magical elements were mixing into the pillar, forcing Divine Eternal and Divine Hourglass to retreat even further.
"It's at a critical juncture," Divine Hourglass muttered. "Whatever this Immortus fellow is doing, it's about to fail or succeed."
"What do you think will happen if it fails?" Divine Eternal asked.
Divine Hourglass pursed his lips thoughtfully. "The Council of Elders will be the proud new owners of a crater that takes up the space of about two-thirds of their land. Everything within a radius of about 2,000 miles, give or take a hundred, will be reduced to mere memories."
"Nonsense. Surely if we all worked together, we could suppress it," the Divine kirinkin retorted.
Divine Tethered laughed coyly. "Silly little magic horse. He doesn't want to do that. Nor do I, thinking on it."
Divine Hourglass nodded. "This will happen, fail or succeed. Suppressing it risks the birth of a new magic type. I will not allow that."
Divine Eternal creased his brow in thought before he also nodded. "Neither will I."
"Fuckin' assholes," Grand Guildmaster Sarah scolded. "He won't fail. I know the name Lone Immortus. The boy's made of somethin' special. Ain't that right, Gil?"
He was a bit shocked to be asked that but he immediately answered, "Of course. If anyone can make this work, it's him."
"Well good for you," the Divine kirinkin said, "but I will not be putting my trust in one tainted by Void. And you have given us enough time to set up our formation, so thank you for that. Elders! Suppress that thing."
Divine Hourglass sighed. "Some people never learn. You'd think being cautious all your life would get rid of unintelligent tendencies."