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Thread: [M] Dragon Wars, Chapter 1: The Wandering Swordsman

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    Default [M] Dragon Wars, Chapter 1: The Wandering Swordsman

    Rated M for the usual four horsemen of violence, language, drugs, sensual situations, etc.

    Cosmic Fury and Holeypaladin



    Chapter 1: The Wandering Swordsman


    Quote Originally Posted by The Ancient Sage
    During the golden age, a great civilization of dragons ruled over the world. These massive, powerful, intelligent creatures were the pinnacle of life, superior in every way to the lesser life forms that sprung up through the ages. Rather than succumbing to entropy like most animals, the great dragons instead grew stronger with age. The only thing that could hope to bring this great civilization down was a war among their own kind. Which is exactly what happened. The golden age ended with a massive, cataclysmic war between the Metallic descendants of the dragon Bahamut and the Chromatic descendants of his sister, Tiamat.

    In the aftermath of the destruction of the golden and silver age civilizations, the magically-inclined elves and fae created their own civilizations, rich in magic and culture. Thus began the Bronze Age, in which many of the few remaining gods rose to power in their own places… many of which were killed in the dragon/giant-assisted human uprising that brought an end to the silver age. The elves and fae, as it turned out, didn’t learn the lesson of yore, and were generally cruel overlords to the younger human race. With the advent of rebellious and increasingly powerful human realms, the Iron Age has dawned on many parts of the world.

    The Iron Age of this world still brings hard times for most humans. The world is ruled by a motley of the remnants of ancient races such as the dragons and fae, and there is just enough room for human empires to hold their own against the world's strongest creatures. As for the gods, they are few in number, and these days take whichever side suits their fancy. Some favor the strong, others the weak

    It is said that history repeats itself on many worlds. It is in such a world we find ourselves, full of lost places and magic. Among the most wild of these places is the ancient and vast Lost Continent, which the Empire is based in. The incarnations of the ancient dragon gods Bahamut and Tiamat have been slowly regaining strength once again in their endless struggle for domination. Along with their metallic and chromatic descendants, they each bide their time and slowly increase their numbers where they may.

    The gods and dragons alike are no longer a match for humanity on an epic scale, so they instead pit humans, elves, and other races against each other. Another dragon war is on the horizon… a war which will reshape the world once again. Once more, the gods of this world will fight other gods, dragons will fight dragons… and mortals will rise to replace the fallen. Who will rise from the ranks of the common folk to become the lords and deities of the age to come?



    A young man that looked to be a half-elf tossed away the flyer with those same contents into a nearby fire. It was the first page of the last job request he had received personally from a rather... eccentric client as he had left the guild. Having fulfilled his obligations the month prior while on the run (which was but a simple courier task that paid pretty well for its general lack of effort), he had forgotten that he had left those papers in his magic holding bag. Today, it would make for a good substitute for firewood. It joined a series of other old job requests that he had been filing for years to keep track of his portfolio in the Free City of Firenzia.

    Not that it mattered anymore. He had already resolved never to return to that town except to help some sort of army attack it, or personally and physically destroy the treacherous Adventurer's Guild that had used his skills, only to repay his hard work by attempting to claim credit for his best achievements at every turn they possibly could, and then betray him the second it happened to convenience his fellow Guild Masters, out of a fit of jealousy that someone as young as he was would make Master and be paid even more than they were for his services. Treacherous pieces of scum. They'll get what's coming to them, by my hand or another's. There's no doubt about that.

    Although he was almost fifty meters high up in a vast tree that formed the only tall object in a borderline forest clearing, Masamune decided not to touch any of its branches. After all, it wouldn't do to literally burn down his best (and only) form of truly effective cover out here that he'd found in three weeks. On top of this, he simply felt too lazy to leave the relative security of his makeshift outpost near the vast tree's canopy to go search for actual firewood. Instead, he took the opportunity to rummage through his bag and dispose of spare outdated paperwork the easy way.

    As restful as this place was, Masamune was painfully conscious of the fact that he had already been up in this tree for almost a full day, resting from the fights and flights he had to keep to stay three steps away from pursuers from his old guild. Apparently, they had sent some of their best men after him, and try as he might to evade rather than fight, one or two still had to feel the sting of the former Master's blade to deter the rest -- if only for a while.

    There was also the fact that there was some minion of Tiamat's in the area -- whatever the hell that meant. Apparently it was a man of some unknown race with the ability to transform into a lesser red dragon. Regardless of whether that was the truth (as outlandish as it sounded), Masamune still decided not to bother. He was as immune to fire as it got, and that was the red dragon's first source and type of magic. If he ran into a real one like the rumors suggested, he supposed that he might be able to kill it despite his very low level of power if he tried... really, REALLY hard.

    Optimally, the thing would do the killing for Masamune, so that he wouldn't have to fight his old guild mates himself, and leave him alone. Unfortunately, the likelihood of that was irritatingly close to zero. Odds were, in fact, that he'd have to deal with those pursuers AND this alleged "dragon" as soon as the coming daybreak. With that in mind, he continued his vigilant rest high up in that tree in an effort to save his strength for the coming fight.
    Last edited by Cosmic Fury; 06-27-2020 at 08:39 PM. Reason: minor grammar error

    Braving the Storm (A Short Story) -- role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55314

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    Throughout the tranquil forest, sounds of various animals could be heard. However, they soon grew silent as the tranquility of the clearing was disturbed. A large, red-scaled dragon landed with a thud, several of his scales showing fresh wounds. With a cry of pain, the creature shifted forms into that of a mortal man, wearing the copper scales of a different breed of dragon. "Curses..." he murmured, "Why did I shift back?"

    "It seems your amulet's charge has expired," said the disembodied voice of a man before the source of the voice shimmered into existence... a somewhat ordinary looking man in armor, with the exception of the magnificent crown worn on his head. Despite his ordinary appearance, the man radiated an aura of power that could quite clearly be felt by everyone around him. "Did they neglect to mention that it only lasts for an hour?"

    "You'll not have me so easily!" the knight in copper scales shouted, drawing a sword and charging at the Emperor. "It was foolish of you to reveal yourself!" However, he soon ran face first into an invisible wall, rebounding off of it and falling onto his back.

    "They fall for that every time," the Emperor said with a chuckle. Glancing up into the air, he got a good view up the armored skirt of an angelic girl as she flew down to land beside him. The girl looked to be about half his age or so and was far too beautiful to be mistaken as human even without her wings. "Good job protecting Daddy," he said to the guard, giving her a sort of kiss that definitely didn't suit a father-daughter relationship while sliding his hand up the back of her skirt. "Now go finish him," he said, patting her rear and urging her forward to fight the man who had recently been in dragon form.

    As the winged guardian began to overwhelm a man twice her size, showing superhuman strength and speed in the process, the Emperor looked up in the direction of the tree where Masamune was resting. "Were you hunting the dragon knight?" he spoke loud enough for the young sword sage to hear him, though human sensory perception shouldn't have been good enough to notice him. "Sorry the girls had to claim your bounty, but if they don't kill something powerful every once in awhile, they start to doubt their ability to protect me."

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    Masamune's sleep was rudely interrupted by the sounds of stirring in the woods. It was clear that something was going down, and the animals were taking flight. Masamune made ready for combat, and just as he did, he heard a loud crash from the sky. He looked out into the direction the sounds came from, and it turned out to be a red dragon suddenly coming in and taking refuge in the very clearing whose sole tree Masamune happened to be perched in. By the way the giant lizard was flying, it was obviously wounded quite grievously.

    Masamune observed the dragon's change back into a human, and quickly rummaged through his bag to pull out a wanted poster. Taking advantage of the timing, Masamune quickly confirmed the target's identity, and then hurriedly shoved the paper back in his bag and made ready to fight. At almost that exact moment, two other people showed up: one a strange-looking angel girl type person, and the other a knight in fancy armor... with a crown. Definitely not your normal townsfolk. These two strange people were already hunting this dragon down by the looks of it, and the way the girl (undoubtedly some sort of guard) dispatched him with ease was somewhat unsettling.

    Instead of joining in the action, he decided to let the hunters seal the deal with their prize. They got him first, and they got him quickly. Masamune carefully observed the girl's actions. She obviously had a long way to go in terms of skill, but she made up for it with brute strength. With the scene opening up before him, it became crystal clear that Masamune was probably the first person of such low level ever to get this far in the forest. In a sense, he was a peewee in a land of monsters, and he was staring at people who hunted those same monsters for sport.

    Of the two hunters almost fifty meters down on the ground, he could possibly take the girl in a protracted match because of his extremely high agility and excellent endurance, if he avoided her attacks and landed enough chip damage to get her to stop and retreat. As for the other... his high-grade heavy armor alone made the concept of a decisive blow into a pipe dream at best. Even if he wasn't wearing a full-cowl helmet right then and there, he could tell that there was a face plate attached, only it was tilted upwards to give a better view. He couldn't see the eye-slits, and even if they allowed for a knife or arrow to pass through, getting a blow through those would be damn near impossible, if he had any real skill -- which, judging by the guard's own training, was likely the case for this knight-king looking person.

    It was also very like that they'd spot him soon enough, given his position way up in that tree. So, he decided to come out of hiding to see what these people were all about -- and if he should effect a quick escape. And sure enough, they called out his way before he could make a good entrance. Not only are they definitely not your normal townsfolk, but they're definitely not human.

    Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Masamune decided to give the knight the dignity of a civilized response. "It's good to meet you, too, but that wasn't my dragon. There seems to be more than one in this area, or this one intruded on my target's territory in a bid to escape from you." There was no need to tell them that he had the wanted poster for the actual target. There was no lie in his voice, and given the types of people those seemed to be, his words would probably not fall on deaf ears.

    Masamune rapidly descended from the tree in a manner that most people of such low level weren't ever going to be capable of doing. His speed, dexterity, and agility allowed him almost beautiful movements as he landed without so much as a sound. When he alighted on the ground, he picked up his thoughts as if nothing else had happened "So, is this some sort of high-level guard training session going on here? It seems to be the case, from what you were saying."

    It was clear, even from his still-modest distance, that Masamune was clearly gesturing towards the guard. If that's what she actually is to this man. Still, Masamune at least owed them the courtesy of warning of other unsavory... creatures in the area. "If you were most people, I'd advise you to clear out and find some sort of shelter. But it's clear to see that you're not most people. What brings you out to the middle of nowhere, with that fancy getup of yours? I don't think it's an ordinary stroll in the woods. Or am I the one who's lost?"
    Last edited by Cosmic Fury; 07-02-2020 at 03:29 AM. Reason: grammar and added clarity

    Braving the Storm (A Short Story) -- role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55314

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    The Emperor continued to watch the angelic guard as she continued to pummel her opponent with heavy blows. While she was designed with superhuman speed and agility as well as strength, it was much more amusing to see a grown man overpowered by a seemingly little girl a third his body mass. Plus, he rather enjoyed the view, as every other maneuver had her flashing what appeared to be violet panties with a a large pink heart print. Something was written on the heart, but she was moving much too quickly to read it.

    As the wandering swordsman descended his tree to greet him, the man wearing a crown turned his attention to him. "Oh, hello Masamune. Long time no see.... though I suppose this would be your first time meeting me in person since your last reincarnation." Returning his attention to the angelic guard, he said, "Something like that. There were actually two of them, but they fled in opposite directions, and my other guard went off to finish the other. They're not true dragons, though... merely humans with the ability to polymorph into dragon form. I wouldn't normally let one of my girls try and solo a red dragon, as they're far too dangerous."

    As the swordsman asked him what brought him here, the Emperor chuckled and said with a shrug, "A long range teleportation spell." While true in the literal sense, he had a few reasons of his own for appearing in this exact place at this exact time, and the dragon hunt was merely an excuse. "You probably are lost, though... it's not at all uncommon for lost people to show up randomly on this continent, even when the last place they remember being was thousands of miles away. But since you're here, I'd like to offer you an opportunity."

    It was around that time that the angelic girl removed her opponent's head with a clean blow of her sword and turned to the Emperor, beaming with pride. "Nice job," he said. "You didn't even have to end him righly because he was so much weaker than you."

    As the crowned man reached out to the girl, he began to stroke her feathery wings, causing her to moan lightly. "Who's this, Daddy?" she asked him, finally turning her attention to Masamune. "He's dirty. Does that mean he's some kind of bad guy? Does Lavender need to protect her Daddy from him?"

    Instead of answering, the angel girl's "daddy" chuckled and turned his attention to Masamune, allowing the kid an opportunity to introduce himself properly to perhaps the most adorable girl he had ever seen in this lifetime.
    Last edited by Holeypaladin; 07-06-2020 at 10:45 PM.

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    Teleportation magic? Neat. This meant that Masamune had a very good idea what kind of a guy he was talking to. In fact, he proceeded straightaway to completely ignore his cute little guard in favor of her master. He's probably her master in way more senses than one. Literally, "Daddy"? Whatever... whatever. Masamune tried shoving the idea out the back of his head, but the scantily clad female warrior's behavior was simply too unsettling to ignore.

    As for being called "dirty," that was a plain insult and Masamune's sharp look indicated as much. As for being the lusty sort of gentleman, Masamune clearly was not. He had other hobbies. Not to mention, the smell of people doing the nasty clung especially heavily on that guard. Fucking disgraceful. As the thought passed through his head, an expression full of dismissal five seconds ago turned into a look of utter distaste.

    Masamune was rather proud of the fact that, even as a "dirty" traveler lost in the woods, he had the common decency and resourcefulness to wash himself after a romp behind the bushes, never mind a hard day's work. He'd taken his pride of staying clean to the point where he'd developed a special kind of use for his fire (and his near-immunity to it) to rid himself of any stench-producing impurities, even when there were no bodies of water nearby... of which there were plenty. In short, Masamune was well-prepared for any sort of encounter, even if his oddly matched garb didn't exactly advertise as much. Dirty traveler, my ass.

    The climax of this thinking was met with a sound clearly indicating disgust from the much younger man. The guard might not have heard it, but the armored knight certainly would, if his hearing was even half as good as his sight. Advanced magic users seem to be that sort, after all. Before he decided whether or not he wanted to bother gracing the guard with any dignity of a response, he simply dismounted the tree in a few seamless, graceful maneuvers that ended with his alighting on the ground with nary a sound on the leaves underneath the great tree in which he was perched.

    As soon as he landed, he took another quick look around, and allowed his mind to process the other thoughts running through his head. Reincarnation? His masters had told him something similar, but none of the three had ever taken the concept seriously. New life, new start, is what the one said, and the other straight up didn't care. "Greetings, I'm Masamune. I'm a traveling swordsman from the Far East."

    He decided not to bother throwing his empty princely title around, nor his title of master swordsman. There was no need for either here, and he sensed that a title of nobility of any sort was all but useless in this neck of the woods. A prince without anyone around wasn't a real prince, after all, and he preferred to enjoy his accomplishments without them being marred by inane comments like "that's a prince for you," and the like. As for being a master, masters rarely talked about being a master -- it was as close to a number one rule as they tended to get in Masamune's line of work. Actually, his former line of work, now.

    Besides, he had a feeling he'd been being watched. After that "reincarnation" comment, he got the feeling that this knight person knew a lot more about him than just that. So, he decided to test the waters and see what sort of offer this fancy-clad stranger had to present. "I can't help but be curious as to your comments. I know I've not met you before in this lifetime, whatever that means. So naturally, I'm curious as what sort of opportunity you have in mind. I'm all ears."

    By this point, his attention was squarely on the knight, and definitely not on his guard, who now occupied a very distant point in the back of Masamune's mind. Between his refusal to address her first and his treatment of the knight as more an equal than anything else made exactly two things obvious: he was set on addressing the knight tentatively as a moral equal, and he had already decided that the guard wasn't yet worth his time.
    Last edited by Cosmic Fury; 07-07-2020 at 12:13 AM.

    Braving the Storm (A Short Story) -- role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55314

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    It was clear that the young guard had given somewhat of a poor first impression to the swordsman... after all, calling someone dirty and asking if they were a bad guy wasn't the best way to make friends. Though the boy proceeded to ignore the guard in favor of addressing him, the Emperor gave a light spank to the guard. "Lavender..." he said in a chastising tone. "What have I told you? It's bad manners to call someone dirty simply because they don't wear the same thing as those snobbish nobles. And it's always important to greet them politely... treat him as if he is a visitor to the palace, not some random thug you met while protecting Daddy. Now apologize."

    The cute guard's lips twisted into a bit of a pouty face and she sulked a bit. "Lavender is sorry..." she said. "She's just on the lookout for threats to her Daddy right now. If Daddy says you're ok, then you're ok." The girl gave a deep bow in his direction before standing up straight once more. Clearing her throat a bit, she announced in a more formal tone. "Good traveler, you stand before His Royal and Imperial Majesty, Emperor Friedrich I. We bid you welcome, and good tidings." She then turned to whisper to the Emperor, "How was that?"

    "Better," said the man who she had called Emperor. "I try to teach them manners, but they're so protective that they sometimes see threats where there are none," he explained to the Glacian elf. "The far east, you say? You don't look like a samurai or ninja... in fact, your sword is clearly of Firenzian origin." This much he could tell by the hilt. He knew very well of the boy's hereditary title as a prince, though by the looks of him, he clearly had yet to claim it.

    The man regarded the elf with curiosity. Though he knew quite a bit about his previous incarnations, his personality would of course be somewhat different each time.... but never so polar opposite to his original incarnation as to be incompatible. "Like I said," he remarked. "I'd like to offer you an opportunity... or perhaps scholarship is a better word. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Arcane University, located in the Imperial City in the sky realm of Empyrean?"

    The University was, of course, famous all across the Empire. Students of magical talent and means would study their entire childhood for an opportunity to attend, and great discoveries and rediscoveries of advanced arcane techniques were researched there. Though everyone within the Empire knew... those beyond the Empire's borders were often familiar, however, as the world was vast beyond the comprehension of the common man. As Friedrich had some clue where Masamune had been the day before he got "lost," there was a chance the elf might not have heard much... though Firenzia was still a major port along one of the Empire's long range trade routes.
    Last edited by Holeypaladin; 07-12-2020 at 06:57 PM.

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    An Emperor? Masamune only observed the one man and a single escort. Thankfully for them, he'd seen stranger situations in his lifetime... thanks to his masters' odd antics. But even by those standards, this was still a stretch. He narrowed his eyes and carefully examined the two. It was obvious that the guard was quite strong, but he needed a second to read the other's aura. Aura reading was a technique that Masamune was still getting the hang of, as it used his precious MP instead of Qi.

    Thankfully, they bought the needed time for him by making the unruly guard issue a proper greeting, this time. Deciding to return the favor, he exchanged much the same introduction he conferred on her master. Almost as soon as he was done talking, his aura magic got to work. Finally. The immediate moment he got his magic going, he scanned the both of them to see what they were really all about. As he suspected, he could reasonably take the guard on at his skill level, but for the other... He was too well armed, too well-armored, and he had that unknown aura...

    It was definitely draconic, yet he was human. He'd heard rumors from old, high-level masters of beings like this in and near this part of the world (especially the Empire). That is, there were humans who somehow possessed draconic auras of their own, and the only real way to identify them before they identified you was to be both resistant to their type of aura and use the difficult magic required to sense their presence and aura in the first place. Outside of that, his own masters had told him a thing or two about such people. But that was it -- rumors, and a thing or two.

    Given all that, Masamune was almost ready to breathe a sigh of relief. I guess it's my lucky day. This guy was the real deal, and whatever draconic aura he had was a type that Masamune felt he was outright immune to for some reason. That said, his offer was, indeed, one of the strangest he'd heard so far in his entire lifetime. A scholarship to a university? As a Master? Masamune was the first to acknowledge there was a thing or two he could learn outside of his field. And, for a member of an Elfinshi race, he was still quite young in years -- especially for being a full-fledged Master of his craft.

    As for familiarity, Masamune had barely heard of the Empire's flagship University. Although he was expected to know of each of his fellow Masters' backgrounds, there were no graduates in Firenzia that worked for any of the Guilds. Thus, he knew little to nothing of the school itself, or its quality. Or, for that matter, even the Empire itself. Not much other than merchants and some half-assed rumors passed between there and other places, and not to locations as distant as Firenzia.

    Still, the offer came at an opportune moment. With him being freshly unemployed and freshly bored, Masamune was looking for something decent. Still, he wasn't thoroughly convinced. He did hear the Emperor mention the word "Arcane," but he didn't need the typical spells used by other mages. He controlled his fire freely, and Masamune of Valeria was about the only being he knew capable of doing so.

    "Alright, I'll bite." Masamune adopted a somewhat more relaxed posture, but it was clear he was still wondering what, exactly, to make of his two new acquaintances. "What is this university to you, and what subjects do you have to teach? And, most importantly, what's the single best thing about it? As the Emperor, you'd certainly be equipped to provide an unparalleled opinion on the matter."

    Strong or not, Masamune still found it hard to believe that this guy was the real deal instead of some doppelganger or representative. He'd encountered folks representing people that claimed to be the people themselves as a matter of style. Was it one of those? Or is this guy really going incognito and being spectacularly bad at it? Honestly, Masamune needed more clues on whether to take this guy at face value. Whatever this guy and his guard said and did would easily contribute to the answer. I've got a read on their auras, after all.

    Braving the Storm (A Short Story) -- role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55314

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    As the Emperor watched the elf to see how he would react, the guard began to felt lonely and eventually snuggled up next to him. His hand slid to her soft wings, stroking them and caressing them as a look of contentment fell across the girl's face. She then let a soft moan escape before blushing and trying harder to keep silent as Friedrich watched Masamune to gauge his reaction.

    By the looks of it, he was comparing the magical auras of both himself and the homuncula. It seemed the kid thought himself more than capable of handling Lavender in a fight, though Friedrich figured such an assumption to be altogether too hasty. Violet was most likely stronger physically than the kid, with a much larger pool of magical energy to draw from, along with numerous magical circuits designed to optimize her performance in a variety of different combat situations, even though her sword skills weren't on the same level.

    The kid seemed to fall into the same bias as most sorcerers did, however, as it didn't seem like he had any interest in Arcane spells, preferring to rely on his own pyromancy instead. "You seem skeptical..." he remarked. "Lavender, would you cast the Protective Field of Frost spell?"

    As she was addressed, the guard eagerly nodded in an effort to impress her Emperor. "Ixen fethos, gul!" she incanted in the Draconic language. In response to her words, a field of icy blue flames enveloped her body, while causing no harm to her.

    "The spell Lavender just cast grants her immunity to fire," he said, "While also freezing anything that comes into contact with her. Should you attempt pyromancy against her with this spell active, it would do nothing to her, but should you strike her with your blade, you will be struck twice as hard by frost magic... the elemental weakness of a pyromancer. With a single Arcane spell, she has nullified your flames and your physical attacks at the same time, while also giving herself an easily exploitable disadvantage... the same field that makes her immune to flame also makes her vulnerable to frost. A shame you lack any sort of frost magic to exploit this weakness, yes?"

    He was interrupted by the sound of a massive explosion nearby, which shook the ground. "Sounds like Big Sis ended her opponent rightly!" Violet chimed in cheerfully. "Can Violet cancel the spell now? She would like more snuggle time." The Emperor, who had stopped touching her to avoid being frozen by her icy flames, nodded to her, wrapping an arm around her waist once the spell had been cancelled.

    "As for which subjects the University teaches... well, all of them," he said with a chuckle. "It's hard to say a single best thing, as there are so many. The Great Library is one of them... along with a vault that contains an artifact katana with your name on it. There's also ongoing research into Qi magic, Sorcery, as well as how to combine them with Arcane magic. Our philosophy is that the right spell can accomplish literally anything, as knowledge is true power."

    "But in your case..." he said as he examined Masamune's magical aura. "Perhaps the greatest advantage to you would be to allow you combine your mana pool with your Qi pool, as they're essentially the same thing. It's only your own personal bias that leads you to believe your mana pool is lower than your Qi. Magic is magic, after all, and Qi is nothing if not magic."

    As he finished saying this, another winged guard flew down to see him, this one clearly wearing nothing under her short skirt. "Lapis, Phantsu!" he said to the guard, reminding her to use her phantsu spell to cover her lack of underwear in the presence of Masamune. Thankfully, she landed behind him so that he wouldn't have the same view up her skirt that the Emperor got before walking up to his other side, opposite Lavender. "I heard you ending that nasty slut rightly... good job!" he said, reaching out to pat her head and stroke her dragon-like wings.

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    It was clear this stranger knew how to read one's abilities in great detail. His unique combination of magic and Qi was easily his greatest trump card. That, and his ability to channel Qi into his weapons and force them to refract incoming magic energy at the same time. Magic was magic, after all.

    That said, the man did have a point: Masamune really was lacking in key areas when it came to the arcane arts. He felt he was close to a breakthrough in countering others' magic, but something was holding him back that was, for some reason, barely out of reach. He could, by using his deep skill in the area, use his weapons to refract and thus deflect incoming magic, but to absorb it and send it back using Qi -- or anything else, for that matter? That was next level stuff he simply wasn't strong enough to pull off. Yet.

    There was also the methods of using Arcane magic that his masters had taught them. There were three ways of doing it. The first was with draconic language, and that was the most well-known to mages -- because it was easiest, with the sole drawback being that it used a lot of MP, which Masamune simply couldn't afford to waste during a fight. Draconic words, in short, told mana to manifest and/or do what the words said.

    The second was to use one's own innate magic to cast whatever raw magic that they have the most affinity with. Masamune always made heavy use that very rare ability to do what he could to avoid using precious MP. Combined with his Qi, his already-potent fire magic knew no equal if wielded in the highest-stakes fights. It was tiring and exhausting, as using both types of magic simultaneously put a strain on his mind and body -- and that wasn't even factoring in efforts at destroying his enemy with his knife or sword.

    The third was almost entirely the sole purview of dragons. When one becomes stronger than magic itself, it's a mere matter of visualizing what one wants, and bending mana to their will. The most advanced spells could be mimicked in small part with draconic words strung together in long incantations, but dragons' magic was always at an advantage. Certain gods, divine beings, and one or two mortals every few generations used magic as if it were an innate force attached to their very beings. All one needed was imagination and skill to craft some crazy spells that words could never do justice for.

    Masamune was told by his masters that, very long ago, in his first life, he achieved that level of mastery and performed feats that made him the stuff of legend in that era. Masamune always called bullshit... Until he met this guy. He could tell that those guards used spells not quite crafted with the dragons' words. While it was mundane enough to almost make Masamune cringe, it was clear that this was an original spell, undoubtedly taught by her master... or this school.

    In short, this guy had him intrigued -- and the new draconic guard suddenly making an entrance jogged Masamune's memory. One of his masters had once told him that, if he met someone such as this, he'd deliver a message of some sort. Deciding to forego introductions to the new arrival, he looked his counterpart in the eye.

    "Do you know an old elf named Vrael?" Masamune wanted to confirm one last thing. The old elf taught Masamune a lot of stuff about people of days gone by, and knew a lot more that he didn't let on. Odds were that the man would know this guy. If so, he'd have told Masamune all about it. The old elf did like to reminisce about the old days, after all. Depending on what he was told by this Emperor, he could easily tell if he was, beyond a doubt, talking to the real article.

    If this guy's who I think he really is, then his offer might be more than well worth taking up.
    Last edited by Cosmic Fury; 07-23-2020 at 07:43 PM. Reason: minor grammar issue

    Braving the Storm (A Short Story) -- role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55314

  10. #10
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    The Emperor watched the elf kid to see how he would react, wrapping an arm around Lapis' waist and holding her closer with one arm, his other arm around Lavender's waist and holding her just as close. Both winged guardians seemed incredibly content with this, enough that that essentially ignored his "boring" conversation with Masamune. It seemed as if the elf didn't pay much mind to the guards, despite the fact that they were undoubtedly some of the most adorable creatures he had ever seen.

    He wasn't sure what all the elf's masters had taught him, but he was pretty sure they were wrong about at least a few things. There were numerous ways to perform different types of magic, and multiple languages in which they could be incanted. The elves, for example, preferred to use the Sylvan language when casting spells, as their magical aptitude was due to their fairy ancestry. Humans with no elven blood couldn't use fairy magic, but all races with any sort of magical aptitude could learn to incant Draconic incantations, the language itself being a sort of catalyst to reduce the amount of energy required to use them. However, when it came to Arcane spells, each desired affect required a separate spell, or at least a modification of a spell, meaning that mages were more limited in what they could perform compared to sorcerers, who could simply bend magic to their will in much the same way that dragons could, albeit usually in a more limited field of magic, such as Masamune's pyromancy.

    As the kid brought up the name Vrael, Friedrich chuckled. "That old dinosaur?" he remarked. "He still telling stories about that time he fought Tiamat's champion along with Severus and your original incarnation? We've met before, but what of it?" He was a bit curious why the kid would be mentioning Vrael of all people, as it was quite the random topic change away from the Arcane University he had questioned him about.

    Holey Paladin's armor by Haya

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