Arcanum of Magic

[Publica]

Uhh, I've been busy with school ._.

But now I have 7 days without school and absolutly nothing to do! :D
No, I didn't get suspended. I know you thought that! ;)

I plan to write a new chap of my fanfic tomorrow or the day after that. No the fic isn't dead, I just have to get my idea's into a plot :/

[jiahao_94]

I got spoilered before I could think that =)

What fanf-

Oh! That! =P

Joking.

[xdgr]

What am I missing with this fic?
Why are the chapters so damned long?
Why do I never have the time to read this?

Well whatever it's about, keep it up!

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

Chapter 22

I sighed and sat down beside Freya. "Killing people is......" she moaned sadly. "It's fine as long as you don't hurt innocent people," I patted her on the back and got back up. Stopping halfway through, I picked up a faint magical trail somewhere in the room. It wasn't Freya's or mine, it was something new, but still vaguely familiar...... I cast a glance at a puzzled Cody, then at the sword on his back. Something wasn't right.

Right then, I felt something that seemed to be nagging at the bottom of my mind, and turned my attention off Cody's sword for a moment. Something was coming... or someone. The room started shaking, and the lights went off. I held up my hand and whispered a quick spell. A puff of flame appeared and started hovering over my outstretched palm. It was small, but it would do the job. Freya had the Genesis Crossbow out, and was looking around frantically. "Stay calm," I advised and started trying to search for a magical presence as the Rifle of the Falling Stars had taught, reaching out with my mind. There was one right under us.

The ground collapsed under us, sending us falling down in the midst of the room's debris. I saw a bag over me and quickly grabbed it, then started cutting up the falling debris around me with the Rifle's blade. "Really, you're more of a Gunblade now," I smiled as I landed safely on three limbs. I was actually holding the Gunblade and the bag with one hand. Seems that I had a lot more strength than I had expected. Freya was hovering above me, with Cody in her arms. "What happened?" she floated down and released Cody. "Something loosened the earth under our room," I stared upwards. Even with dragonsight, I couldn't see anything. Turning around, I scanned our surroundings. We were in a large, circular rock tunnel, with parts of the circumference covered in red magma. "Don't touch the red stuff," I warned, walking forward. As if on cue, an earthquake brought a rockslide tumbling down in front of me. I quickly jumped backwards, just in time to avoid a giant boulder. "Only one way left," I stared down the other end of the tunnel gloomily.

We proceeded down the tunnel, wondering if we would ever get out. The air in here was saturated with fire magic particles, which the Gunblade explained was Pyrion. The further we got, the hotter it was. Eventually, we were all sweating, but I knew we had to push on. I sidestepped a magma puddle and walked on, wearing my race clothes. It was just too hot...... Freya didn't need to change, her armour was already revealing enough. "If only I could drop the temperature," I groaned as another heatwave hit us. "My water magic's no good here," Freya shook her head.

After a quick thought, I reverted back to my half-dragon form. "Whoa......" Freya gasped when I emerged from the ball of light that had been covering me while I was changing. Cody simply stared, slack-jawed. "The sauna upgraded it," I smiled and spread out all my wings to their fullest, including the small ones. The ones on my chest popped out the side of my armour, while the already exposed pair on my hips opened up. They started glowing red as we continued, and I felt the temperature dropping. To my surprise, Freya's wing was doing the same. "I didn't know mine could," she shrugged.

The Pyrion particles being absorbed by our bodies would decrease the temperature slowly, but only around us. Cody had to stay close, or he would get fried. The particles were crystallizing on us as usual, and my vest kept shrinking and getting thicker. Freya was receiving an addition to the armour around her chest. A vein of red crystals crept around the armour there, outlining her breasts and forming orbs right on top of them. She was absorbing the particles faster than I was! She shuddered slightly as her armour started shrinking. "It tickles," she managed a grin and continued on, stepping in a magma puddle. It fizzled, but she walked off it unscathed, and with thicker boots.

Half an hour later, we found ourselves in a massive cavern with a hole in the roof. Light was shining down through it. "Yes!" Freya cheered. Her armour now only covered her breasts and hips with thick, ornate armour plates. In the case of her chest, the metal was only a frame for the half-transparent crystal layer. Everything she was wearing had red streaks on it, and the Genesis Crossbow had lengthened until the bow section was as wide as her hips. As for me, my set now featured blue lines. The back of my shirt had a pattern of the Bahamut's head on it, and the front neck was still V-shaped, only wider. Nothing else had changed much, only adding to thickness. The bony section of my wings now had blue armour around them, and there were peculiar protrusions poking out from them.

"I FOUND YOU, GIRL!" a familiar voice screeched. I looked up and saw the same Earth magician that had attacked me, floating in the air. "You're a persistent one, aren't you?" I aimed the Gunblade at him. "One? KONRAD MUELLER IS NOT ONE!" he yelled. Konrad Mueller? Not... one? "Oh my god," I gasped. Two more of him were floating down. An illusion? Three more came down. "You gotta be kidding me," Cody groaned. The guy continued multiplying himself until there were about a hundred of him. "WE ARE KONRAD MUELLER!" all yelled in unison.

The power radiating from them bore an ominous darkness to their nature. So they were using black magic... "How about I tell you to shut up now?" I spread my wings out and held down the trigger of the Gunblade. Seconds later, a charged Fire-elemental Megaflare blew through where the army of Konrads had been floating moments ago. In their place, was a giant, three-headed, fire-breathing creature. "Oh no..." I whispered. The creature from my nightmares. Cerberus, the watchdog of the underworld......

Cerberus roared and started thundering towards me. I somersaulted backwards and grabbed Cody, launching myself up into the air. To my surprise, I found him riding on Cerberus's back, having Blinked out of my arms. "Haah!" he yelled, stabbing downwards with his sword. Something cracked dully. Not a giant hellhound bone. He was thrown backwards as the beast reared up, but Freya caught him. "You're reckless," I jumped over to him. "Hey, I can't let you two save me all the time, can I?" he winked. "Heads up!" Freya ducked a tail swing that unfortunately crashed into me and knocked me into the cavern wall. "Handy," I remarked, wringing my left arm as I flew out of the rubble. There was a small crystal-lined metal shield strapped to it.

Freya was unleashing magical bolts at Cerberus in an attempt to distract it while Cody was fencing with its tail. I aimed the Gunblade at the beast, holding the grip with my right hand and steadying it with my left. The wings on the gun spread out to their maximum wingspan as a fireball flew towards me. I dodged aside and re-aimed only to have to dodge another one. "Ugh," I grunted as it grazed my right wing. The next second, another fireball had slammed into me, but the shield absorbed most of the attack. Literally. It expanded and the protrusions on my wings lengthened. Another fireball hit the shield and was immediately absorbed. I nearly threw up as my abdomen shrunk and grew another layer of muscle tissue. Then, it stopped. I peeked out from behind the shield and saw Cerberus start breathing fireballs at Freya. She was absorbing the attacks too!

I jumped back to my feet, but my back felt heavier. The protrusions on my wings looked like needles now, and had folded into the shape of the wings. They didn't feel like a part of my body though...... It seemed that they had a life of their own. I concentrated for a moment, and my wings felt lighter as twelve needle-like objects broke off from them and started hovering around me. "Go get it!" I pointed at the hellhound. All twelve streaked off so fast I could only see a blur. Cerberus was hit with twelve magic beams from all directions at the same time, and roared in pain. Another volley followed, but they didn't do much against a hastily raised earthen shield.

It was then that I noticed that I didn't have a tail anymore. I decided to ignore that and concentrate on trying to break Cerberus's barrier. Freya was adding her power to the attack. She seemed a little curious about the needles though. Cody was hacking away at the shield with little effect. I was starting to sense some really strong magic emanating from his sword, and stopped to watch for a few moments. All of a sudden, the shield broke down, and Cerberus roared, throwing everything nearby into the wall near me with a powerful sonic blast. Right afterwards, it opened all 3 mouths and started charging up a massive fireball that my needles couldn't do anything to stop. Once it was almost twice as big as the beast itself, the fireball flew towards us, cracking the ground underneath. I closed my eyes in fear.

"Oh no you don't!"

There was a sudden flash of light, and I opened my eyes to see Cody standing in front of the fireball, trying to push it back with his sword. The heat from the thing was immense...... "Cody!" I yelled. The fireball was pushing him back slowly...... The ground under him cracked as he kept on pushing stubbornly. Then, the inevitable happened. The sword cracked and shattered. Another flash of light.

"Heh, so the third one's been with me all the time," Cody smirked. I opened my eyes and found the fireball gone. A surprised Cerberus was staring at the light being emitted from Cody's new sword. It was almost as big as himself, with a hilt decorated with steel, angelic wings. The blade had markings running down it, and even Cody himself had changed. He now had demonic black wings growing out of his back. His new clothes consisted of extremely heavy and thick black gold-lined armour that covered his entire body except his head, which had pitch-black hair. I couldn't see his face. The Gunblade observed, "A Shadow Knight. I thought they were all killed thousands of years ago."

When Cody moved, I noticed how slow he was. Even so, a fireball from Cerberus failed to even scorch his armour, and he kept on walking. His armour would, of course, reduce his mobility, but that didn't seem to matter. He looked like he could tank just about any attack! That, coupled with the size of his sword, would be enough to scare off just about anyone. "Let's go," he nodded and charged forward, still a little slowly. The next second, he was hacking away at Cerberus, having Blinked to it. "So speed won't be a problem for you," I smiled and aimed a Megaflare at it.

Instantly, all twelve needles flew back to me and started spinning around the Gunblade. They suddenly merged with the gun, doubling the length and adding five more barrels around the first! I felt the weight increase, and the barrel drooped. "Ugh," I moaned, trying to lift it up. Freya flew over to me and held her crossbow under the gun. Both merged, and the gun doubled its length again, gaining a bow shaft at the end. Now I really couldn't lift it...... "Need a hand?" she slid under the barrel nimbly and hoisted it up. "Thanks!" I aimed as Freya held up the barrel for me.

I held down the trigger even as Pyrion particles started flowing into the barrel in the form of an ethereal red stream. Needless to say, all our wings spread out and helped. The barrel started glowing as the charge built up, and Cerberus spotted us. It roared and threw a fireball at us, but Cody deflected it with the Seraphim Claymore. "Shoot!" he yelled. "Take this!" I let go of the trigger. Freya staggered backwards from the shot's recoil as it exited the barrel as a really big fireball. Cerberus paused in fear, then tried to dodge aside. No luck for it. The Exaflare blew through its body and left a lasting impression in the cavern wall. Blood splattered everywhere as the Gunblade reverted back to normal and the needles returned to my wings.

Cody had Blinked to our side just before the shot hit, with no damage taken at all. I could see his features now, but his face hadn't changed. "Nice shot," he gave me a thumbs up and slung the Claymore on his back. "Freya helped, otherwise I wouldn't be able to even lift the Gunblade," I smiled and returned it to it's usual spot on my right arm in tattoo form. "Talk about recoil," Freya moaned, massaging her shoulder where the barrel had been resting on earlier. Something sizzled under us. "I think your shot opened up a magma vein," Freya quickly floated up. Indeed, magma was starting to flow into the cavern from the hole the Exaflare had created earlier. Already it was covering my feet but it didn't really feel hot.

Cody started flapping his wings, and the three of us flew upwards, towards the hole. I looked downwards at the scene, noticing that Cerberus's lifeless head was staring at us as it got covered in magma. Shuddering at the look, I looked away and found my suit's top only just a solid blue crystal bra that didn't even cover half of my breasts. It wasn't transparent, much to my relief. Steel plates all around my suit had been changed into similar crystals too. I looked downwards again, and spotted something heading towards us. I grabbed it and found out that it was a small plastic container. It burst open to show its contents, six of Cerberus's pointed teeth.

I closed my hands around the teeth and continued flying up. Finally, we exited the pit and found ourselves over a farm on the outskirts of Shanghai. A crowd around the place looked up as we flew out, and I quickly distorted the flow of wind around us to mask us. However, before it was finished, I saw a camera flash, and groaned in disbelief. Only one got us though, the later ones flashed after I finished the stealth windshield. I directed us towards a building nearby and landed behind it. "Damn," Freya groaned as she landed. "Change into your normal clothes!" I sighed and changed. Again, the ball of light as I stepped out in my normal clothes. Nothing had changed on them, fortunately. Freya and Cody changed too. "I thought that armour was going to crush me," Cody wrung his arms. Nothing had changed to indicate he was a Shadow Knight, and I could see the Seraphim Claymore's tattoo on his arm. We walked the rest of the journey back to the Guild, moving on my dragonsight.

[jiahao_94]

Cool! =)

Lol, below 10.

[jiahao_94]

Double post in order not to let Ivan feel sad.

1) Kon's name was a surprise to me; I wasn't expecting it.
2) Kon = Hell-hound.
3) Staff = Crossbow = Rifle = Tatoo = Keychain. Apparently, the creator was powerful o.o

[Publica]

Dragon Ball! D:
Nice one, though. I like the story. :D

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

Chapter 23

We got back without much of a problem, and found a crowd waiting for us anxiously. "We heard a sound in your room and went in there only to find that the entire thing had collapsed! Are you three okay?" Ling stepped out and asked. "German magician found us," I sighed. Everyone in the room fell silent. "We got him though, or more accurately, them. That guy had about a hundred of himself, and they just turned into a three-headed fire-breathing dog!" Cody explained.

"Three-headed...... dog?" the leader went white.
"An earth magician shouldn't be able to summon Cerberus!"
"That guy looked like he was using black magic," Freya said.
"This...... is serious. We must make preparations as soon as possible."
"Shaun, we'd better take them to the next stop."
"Yeah. We'll head back over the ocean to Australia."
"That will be no good. Local police are making frequent patrols, so you will not be able to get out of China undetected."
"Actually, I can make our car invisible," I offered.
"We still got spotted by the press."
"YOU WHAT!?" Averess gasped.

We ended up having to retell the whole story of how we were forced into fighting Konrad, the German Earth magician. I tried to speed things up a little, eager to get some rest. Apparently the leader sensed this, and sent us off to our repaired room with Averess escorting us. "I guess the circumstances were inevitable, huh..." she sighed, opening our room door for us. We walked in and found everything as it was before the floor fell in. I walked over to the magic box inside the bag on my bed and took out a small airtight plastic bag, dropping Cerberus's teeth inside and sealing it. I slid the bag into my bosom, thinking it could be useful sometime in the future.

"We'll be all over the international press in a few days," Freya sighed. I nodded gloomily. The camera flash I spotted had come directly from our front, which meant our faces had been seen. I only hoped that it wasn't clear enough to figure out who we were. Cody was polishing the Seraphim Claymore with a cloth on our bed while listening to us talk. Averess's name was announced over the intercom system, so she returned to the leader's room. "I just wonder... how did that Earth magician duplicate himself like that?" Cody wondered.

"As far as I know, illusions can't be manifested into reality with magic......" Freya stretched, then took on her Kamael form. Her usual wing burst out of her back and nearly hit Cody. "Sorry," the former quickly apologized. "Some old games I used to play on that old computer on ours...... Do you think it might be possible that the Germans are cloning that guy?" I mumbled. Freya nodded. I laid down on my bed. "You know......" she murmured. "Yeah?" I looked at her. "What's the point of having such flashy suits if there's nothing to show off?" she stared at her small breasts. She still hadn't reentered the sauna since her first time in. Before I could find a good answer, she was closing the door to the bathroom. I sighed and turned back to Cody. "Just hope she doesn't overdo it," I shrugged.

She came back out about 5 minutes later, with her chest just about the same size as mine. Her suit barely covered even half of it. "It tickled," she complained and sat down beside me after wiping her sweat off with a towel. Averess burst into the room just a few seconds later, panting. "You wouldn't believe it. Word passed faster than you thought!" she started waving a picture around. "The picture's quite clear, unluckily. You three are staring at everyone on the Internet now!" she gasped. I nearly fainted. Now how were we going to walk around? I blew the picture into my hand with a spell and stared at it. As she had said, it was quite clear, and our features were quite easily discerned. "Ugh," I groaned.

"Not only that, apparently some non-governmental organization is planning to try and catch you for research purposes. Some kind of weird-named extraterrestrial research group, PLUTO or something. They just announced it on their website," Averess walked over to the self-constructed laptop in our room and tinkered around on it, bringing up a website with a computer-generated UFO on the front page's background. "They think we're aliens or something?" I moaned after reading the contents. "Actually, thats what they think. We DID come here in an unidentified flying object after all," Averess pointed out. "They're funded by some really rich paranoid guy, so they've got lots of high-tech stuff and are spread out all over the world. You'll have to be ready to fight if necessary,"

"High-tech as in..." I frowned. "They've got a PMC branch, or better known as Private Military Company. In other words, they'll have their troops out for us, and those guys have some kind of matter disruptor technology to scramble your molecules." Averess explained. "Doesn't sound too friendly," I groaned. "Magic has to have a medium for control, and that medium is matter. In other words, those guys have anti-magic technology but don't even know it," she went on.

In the end, our departure was arranged for tonight, and we had to pack again. The journey over the ocean would take a few hours with the Dredgocet though, leaving us vulnerable if I didn't maintain the windcloak. Then again, PLUTO would probably have something for that, they'd seen the photos and could figure out I knew how to cloak us. Their website soon broadcasted the name of their operation to catch us, namely Operation Seraphim. "Kinda ironic," Cody remarked, referring to his sword.

The leader of the Chinese Guild passed me a small box before we left, explaining that it was filled with self-regenerating magic stones. These stones would provide a steady supply of extra magic that we would be able to use whenever needed, and would regenerate themselves, as the name suggested. I thanked him and left it inside my bag, beside the first one we had gotten. Surprisingly, the next time I opened it, I found that the only box in there had two lids. Opening the first one would reveal the one we used to get stuff we needed, while the second lid was for the magic stones. Well, this would help a lot.

We trudged out into the entry tunnel to the Guild, and I sent my mind out, searching for the Dredgocet. The air in front of me distorted, and cleared to reveal the car, already waiting to be loaded with the trunk open. Everything we had fit in, including our food. Shaun took the driver's seat on my insistence while Averess sat beside him. Cody, Freya and me were in the back as usual. Ling seemed a little troubled, and stared at the Guild's leader for a moment. He nodded. The former hugged him and dashed towards us. "I can go with you!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Hop on then!" I smiled and pushed open the back door. She jumped on and sat beside me. The car obligingly extended itself by another row of seats, which Ling stared at in surprise before sitting on.

Before we took off, I activated the car's windcloak by thought, as there wasn't a real button for it. Shaun nodded thankfully and jerked the height controller upwards. The car jolted, causing the plastic bag containing Cerberus's teeth in my bosom to jump out. "Ah!" I reached for it, but the teeth pierced through the plastic from the impact. Two landed on my chest and were absorbed into them. "Great," I sighed. Looking to my side, Freya was also staring at her chest, while Cody was mumbling something about pointed teeth in cars. Nothing much happened afterwards, so I relaxed and tried to forget about it.

"You think PLUTO will try and find us now?" Freya asked. "Most probably." Shaun nodded. There were searchlights everywhere in the night sky now, but something didn't seem right. The lights seemed somehow... special. As Shaun flew past one, it suddenly swerved under us and the inevitable happened. The light beam shone through my windcloak and illuminated the underside of our car. Instantly, loud squawks came from below and the searchlights started tracking us as we flew. "Ugh," I moaned. A beam of red energy shot through the air, narrowly missing our left wing. The air in the path seemed to fizzle...... "Matter disruptors! Shit!" Shaun cursed and floored the accelerator and afterburners.

The car's speed kicked up to almost 1000km per hour as we held on for our lives. The G-force dampener did its job well, so that we wouldn't throw up. Even so, the matter disruptor beams kept flying, some narrowly missing us. "Ugh!" Shaun yelped as one hit the engines. The car instantly slowed down. "Great spot to land a hit on," I groaned. As we were now over the ocean, the people after us were chasing on hovercars. Noticing that we were immobilized, they started closing in. "We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Ling exclaimed. I looked out the window and tried to estimate how long it would take to get to Australia. "What're you thinking, Cecilia?" Averess noticed. "Let's put it this way. Are you three afraid of heights?"

"Split up!" Cody ordered as I sent the car back into an alternate dimension. All six passengers immediately fell out of the car, but the three flight-capable ones spread their wings quickly and grabbed the ones that couldn't. "Hold on tight!" I nodded to Ling. Cody had Shaun, while Freya was with Averess. We headed off southeast as the PLUTO members followed in their cars. I knew I couldn't hurt them, but I had to do something to stop them following us. They were getting closer, and I could see nets hanging out of their windows. No more beams. "How about this?" I tensed my wing muscles, sending me into a short drop which I quickly recovered from. Unbeknown to our pursuers, I released the magic needles stored in my wings. They floated in mid-air, waiting for the car to fly over. When it did, they shot upwards, right through their engines. There was a shout from behind as the car slowed to a halt.

One down, two more to go. Freya flew over to Cody and had him help her hold Averess for a moment. He obliged, holding the weight of both Shaun and Averess easily. "Leave us alone!" Freya spun around in mid-air and fired off three shots from the Genesis Crossbow in rapid succession. Her eyes flicked around madly as I watched the bolts twirl around in mid-air, being manipulated by her eyesight alone. The car she was targeting unleashed beams at the bolts, but were easily dodged, much to their anger when the bolts flew into their engines and detonated.

Freya returned to Cody's side and picked up Averess. A beam from the remaining car forced Cody to break off from Freya, and he let Shaun dangle from his right hand while he reached for the Seraphim Claymore with the other hand. The sword materialized in his hand, and he turned around, pointing the blade at the last car. "How about you taste a little trick I just learned?" he switched his grip on the weapon, taking a javelining pose. His arm snapped forward and launched the Claymore straight at the car. All attempts to shoot it down failed as the weapon curved under their line of fire and cut their engines off neatly. Instant immobilization.

The Seraphim Claymore returned to Cody's hand after turning the previous car upside-down cheekily, and he swung it in mid-air. The claymore vanished and he grabbed Shaun's other hand. "I felt like a useless puppet back there," he remarked. "Although really, turning that car upside-down? You went overboard!" I laughed. "They deserved it," Ling chuckled.

We flew faster and faster as time passed, reaching the shores of Australia in about 6 hours. By then, it was almost morning, and I found out that I could use the needles on my wings to let the others sit on as they rested by forming a hovering platform with them. Australian Coast Guards didn't give us trouble landing though, I windcloaked us as their ships appeared on the horizon.

I directed us towards an isolated cove nearby, and we landed inside a small sea cave there before I deactivated the windcloak. "I'm hungry," Freya moaned, sitting on a rock. She got up quickly and kicked a crab off it. "Ouch," I remarked as the Dredgocet materialized in front of us. The engines were in the middle of regenerating themselves, but luckily the trunk wasn't damaged. I opened it and brought out our food, as well as the bag with the magic box in it. Degradable polystyrene boxes containing preserved fried rice were brought out and opened. "Yum," Ling mumbled.

I found that I wasn't really hungry at all, despite our long journey. I walked over to the spot where the seawater flowed into the cave and sat down there with my legs immersed in it. The place was peaceful, unlike American sea caves. There were a lot of people exploring them at any given time, so it was rather noisy there. "Not hungry?" Cody sat down beside me, in his Shadow Knight form. He was still munching on his fried rice. "Yep. I don't know why, though," I mumbled and started twirling my finger around in the water. It rippled gently. "I have a question for you," I declared.

"Mmm?" Cody looked at me curiously.
"Do you still...... love me?"

Cody nearly vomited.

"Why're you asking me that?"
"I just wanna know!"
"Okay, okay...... I guess I do..." he blushed.

I blushed when he said that, and found our suits pulsing gently. As I watched, my entire suit vanished into thin air, exposing my naked body. "Ahh!" I covered my own chest shyly. Cody was also naked, hands between his legs. "I don't think this is the right time for this......" my face turned a deeper shade of red, and the suit reappeared. So did Cody's. "I guess it doesn't want to stop us from doing private matters," he remarked slyly, then pulled me towards him and kissed me right on the lips. "He..hey..." I whispered, then sighed and locked him in a hug, kissing him back. The feeling was heavenly......

[Timmias]

Nice Updaties Ivan matey, Im feeling o childish at the monet

[jiahao_94]

Thumbs up for updating! Loved every moment of the fight, and really hope to see more; "the power in imminent death" seems a little cliche. Maybe you could make him DIE for some time, much as Kal did with Ascion Blade. *shrugs* A suggestion.