Ch 48: The General of Altera Veritas

While trying to evacuate the Council, a surprise encounter with Alastor occurs. Toying with Alexander, he warns them of a bomb within the palace while tying him down with a face from the past.

            Making their way through the halls, Grey and the others found the entire palace had become like a battlefield. Everywhere they went they found guards battling against the no longer inanimate hordes of dolls and suits of armor. Corpses lined the halls, and as they pressed further, Felix muttered, “I suppose it was a mistake not to bring in a good number of Special Forces members. I felt there was no danger as long as you yourselves were restrained, but now I see how fortunate it is that you weren’t. I never expected something like this…” Fast approaching the elevator to the landing spine where the Council’s airships were docked, the King said, “We can only hope not to encounter further obstructions once we reach the landing spine.” Then they suddenly heard shots fired from behind them, and the guards defending their flank fell. Catherine shouted, “Get down!” Then Alexander quickly said, “Amy, barrier!” Concentrating, Amy raised a psychic barrier between them and a legion of manikins wielding EDE weapons. They continued to fire against the barrier as Rufus, still recording with his camera, breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That was a close one!” Thinking quickly, Alexander said, “Richter, Catherine, get everyone to the elevator. Grey, follow my cast. Amy, lower the barrier and drop to the floor on my command.” Richter and the others headed for the elevator as Alexander and Grey began chanting, “Cesso, Enoch Aeterna Flamma Consumeret Invocavi Te Ab Omni Malo!” Both aiming their weapons at the oncoming manikins beyond the barrier, Alexander said, “Now!” The barrier vanished as Amy quickly dove to the floor, and Grey and Alexander both shouted, “Iacio!” Twin beams of searing fire shot from each sword and engulfed the manikins. As the resulting explosion of fire shook the palace, clouds of ash and smoke filled the hall. Turning to follow the others who went on ahead, Alexander said, “Let’s go!” Rushing to the elevator, as they reached it Grey heard it coming down and said, “Why’s it coming back? We haven’t pressed the button…” The doors opened and the Council, Catherine, Rufus, and Schmitt stumbled out. Immediately, Grey said, “What happened?” Noticing his absence, Amy added, “Where’s Richter?”

            Standing out on the landing spine, before Richter the airships lay completely destroyed, and standing amidst the wreckage stood Alastor. Holding up his pistol, Richter said, “You’re the one from before! The leader of Altera Veritas! Alastor…” Blankly staring back at him, Alastor said, “It seems my reputation precedes me.” Behind Richter the doors of the elevator opened, and Alexander and Grey quickly rushed out. Spotting Alastor, Grey shouted, “So you are here!” Quickly, Alexander said, “Calm down Grey, remember what happened before!” With a faint smile, Alastor said, “Come now dear brother. It’s natural to feel hate for one who’s destroyed something precious to you. Weren’t you the same?” Angrily, Alexander shouted, “Enough! I have no interest discussing the past with you!” Alastor’s faint smile widened slightly as he said, “So you really haven’t told him. How pitiful…” Alexander just scowled and said, “What are you here for? Trying to prevent our escape?” Turning his head to look at one of the destroyed airships, Alastor said, “No, the dolls are responsible for this. I merely came here to make sure Conwell does not go overboard. I need young Ms. Grant alive after all…” Grey took a step towards Alastor and shouted, “Over my dead body!” Glancing at Grey, Alastor said, “Don’t worry Mr. Greyson, I plan on it.” The three stood ready to fight, but Alastor turned away and said, “I’ll leave you with a couple of gifts. First, let me give you some information. Conwell is not your average shade as you no doubt have been thinking. He is a cursed puppet, an ancient artifact created by the Dollmaker of Urachresh, who once terrorized Gaia with his army of puppets. We had Conwell’s shade possess it, and it took on his form and warped personality. His power is great, but I have no use for an unpredictable doll who does whatever he pleases. Anyways, somewhere within the palace, Conwell has placed a high powered EDE bomb that the Professor had been working on perfecting. Quite the cliché tactic if I do say so myself. I do not know the duration of the timer, but I suggest you hurry. The Professor never finished his work on it, but I’m sure it could at least destroy the palace if fully charged.”

Unable to hide his surprise, Richter asked, “What games are you playing?! Why are you telling us this?” Glancing back at him, Alastor said, “As I said, I need Ms. Grant alive. Despite my orders, Conwell has put her in jeopardy. I’m simply using you to get rid of him now that he’s gotten out of hand. Yet I will not just walk away without giving you trouble, which brings me to my second gift. A very special surprise for you Alexander…” Extending a hand, Alastor summoned up a dark vortex, and out of it appeared an unknown figure. Laying eyes upon the figure, a look of shock fell over Alexander’s face. The man who stepped out of the vortex looked in his thirties and had spiky brown hair and cold, lifeless blue eyes. He wore a black cape and a suit of high tech armor, and where his right hand and the lower part of his right arm should have been he had what looked like an arm cannon of some sort, very high tech looking as well. Also, on the right side he had a single, black feathered wing that looked real but was also in fact mechanical. Opening another dark vortex, Alastor stepped into it and said, “Perhaps if you do not wish to discuss the past with me, you can discuss it with your old friend, Scathe. I’ll let you decide Alexander. You can help your friends disarm the bomb and protect the future, or you can abandon them to face your past. The choice is yours…” With those words, Alastor disappeared into the vortex. Looking at Alexander in confusion, Grey said, “Hey, what’s all this about? Who is this guy? What past?” Alexander remained silent, and Richter said, “You don’t have to talk about it Alexander, but if what Alastor said is true, time is of the essence! We must go!” Leveling his weapon at Scathe, Alexander said, “Yes, go. You two can diffuse the bomb. This is my battle…” Grabbing Alexander’s arm, Grey said, “Hey, didn’t you hear Richter?! There’s no time for this! Weren’t you the one who said calm down, I-” Quickly Alexander pulled his arm free and shouted, “I said GO!” Backing away, Grey muttered, “What’s gotten into you?” After a moment, Richter turned to head back towards the elevator as he said, “I see his mind’s made up. We have no choice Grey! We have to go, now!”

            Despite their reluctance to leave Alexander alone against an unknown opponent, Richter and Grey made their way back to the elevator. With one last glance at Alexander, Grey stepped in. As Richter joined him, he pushed the button. The elevator doors closed, and after a moment Alexander said, “Why aren’t you dead?” Staring back at Alexander, Scathe said, “I do not require any other purpose to live than to be of service to our master.” Gripping his sword angrily, Alexander muttered, “All this time and you’ve still been alive?! I thought Amelia’s arrow had at least seen to it that you paid for killing her! I’ll never forgive you for what you did!” With a blank expression, Scathe answered, “I neither desire nor require your forgiveness.” With a furious tone behind his words, Alexander chanted, “Veni Gelidus Spiritus Glacies Septem, Ego Voco Ad Vos In Gladio Meo Gelo Mea Hostem, Congregare, Ut Hiberno!” A chilling wind swirled around Alexander’s sword, and seven glowing blue runes appeared upon it‘s enormous blade. As Alexander leveled his sword at him, Scathe said, “In one on one combat against me, your odds of survival are zero.” Lunging forth at him, Alexander shouted, “I will avenge Amelia!” Vertically swinging his blade, Alexander shouted, “Falcatae Gelu!” Scathe moved to the side as the blade came down and freezing energy ripped through the air from it in an arc, flying out across the landing spine and slashing through one of the destroyed airships. Jumping with a spin kick, Scathe struck Alexander in the face and knocked him across the landing spine. Rising into the air and raising his arm cannon at Alexander, Scathe said, “My injury at the hands of your wife was only due to carelessness. The odds that I will make such an error again are minimal, and my level of power is far superior to yours.” Struggling to his feet, Alexander said, “Just shut up!” The barrel of his arm cannon glowing, Scathe said, “New directive approved. Begin elimination process.”

            Breaking into a run, Alexander barely avoided as Scathe fired a powerful beam of atomic energy from his arm cannon. Following Alexander with his arm cannon, Scathe channeled EDE into the barrel of his arm cannon, and released it in waves of spheres made of atomic energy that rained down after Alexander. Bobbing and weaving through the spheres, as explosions erupted all around him Alexander struggled to find an opening. Raising his sword, he shouted, “Grandine!” From his sword came seven blue wisps and that rose into the air around Scathe and began firing freezing mist at him. Flying and swerving through the streams of icy mist, Scathe held up his hand and charged up a burning ball of atomic energy. The energy glowed brightly, its mass increasing exponentially to the point where it generated a powerful gravitational field. Raising the atomic energy ball, Scathe focused it’s gravity to suck the wisps into the burning energy. Leaping into the air as Scathe dealt with his wisps, as Alexander came down at Scathe with his blade, he shouted, “Altum Gelo!” Scathe raised his arm cannon and blocked Alexander’s blade with it, and powerful freezing energy quickly froze over the surface of the arm cannon. Scathe shoved him away, and as Alexander fell back down and landed on the ground once more, Scathe charged up his arm cannon to defrost it. Meanwhile, trying to come up with a plan, Alexander was thinking, “The Revenant of the Black Sun, General of Altera Veritas, he who wields the powers of the atom itself. In my current state I may not be able to maintain it for very long, but I need my Master’s Spell!” Quickly, Alexander raised his free hand and ran it across his blade as he chanted, “Magistri Alica!”

            As his Master’s Spell activated, red and blue runes formed upon Alexander’s hand, and after staring at them a moment, Alexander balled his hand into a fist and dropped his current sword enchantment, instead chanting, “Adhevo Septum Flagrant Spiritus Ignis Quod Septum Gelidus Spiritus Glacies, Sol Quod Luna Unit Intra Meus Gladius, Ultima Magistri Ignis Gelu Acies!” This spell was none other than his mighty Master’s Frostfire Edge enchantment. Frostfire briefly spiraling around his sword like a tornado, on one side of the blade of Alexander’s sword appeared seven glowing red runes, and on the other appeared seven glowing blue runes. Blue and red flames danced upon his blade, burning with both heat and cold. Seeing the power that had been bestowed upon Alexander’s sword, Scathe gathered a mass of EDE in the area around himself. It quickly crystallized into two large rings of crystallized EDE that radiated atomic power, and as Scathe willed it, all across the rings began to form spheres of atomic power. Slapping his rune covered hand on the ground before turning and breaking into a run, as the spheres broke off of Scathe’s rings and began to shoot out all across the landing spine in a deadly barrage, Alexander dodged for his life as he ran in a wide circle around Scathe, chanting, “Geminus Cesso, Di Fervens Solis Dominis…” Scathe heard this chant and immediately turned his arm cannon on Alexander as well, firing even more spheres of atomic power. Alexander continued to evade as he slapped his hand on the ground again in a different spot and chanted, “… Gelida Luna Coire Et Impleat…” After making his way to the third area he had chosen, Alexander quickly slapped his hand on the ground yet again as he continued chanting, “… Petitionem Qui Caelestes Uirtutes Magistri Tui…” Scathe rained everything he had down at Alexander, but reaching the fourth chosen spot Alexander slapped his hand on the ground and jumped away as atomic spheres came down, not stopping in his chanting as he finished, “… Pactum Soliset Lunae!” Then raising his blade into the air, Alexander chanted, “Nihilio Turpis!” Erupting from the blue runes of his sword, icy power swirled across the battlefield and created a blinding snowstorm.

            Letting up in his attack as Alexander disappeared from his sight, Scathe activated his EDE sensors and searched for any sign of him. Using his enchantment’s power to make them appear upon his back, Alexander flew through the snowstorm on wings of fire and ice, and raising his rune covered hand he chanted, “Geminus Secundus Cesso, Magistri Manus, Catenas Signatorum Aere Daemon!” Struggling to find Alexander with his senses, Scathe suddenly sensed a source of EDE fast approaching from the left, and turning he opened fire with a beam of atomic energy. Striking Alexander’s sword, which Alexander had charged with EDE and thrown at him, as Scathe’s senses were clouded by the energy from his own attack, Alexander flew through the blizzard with his hand outstretched. Slapping his hand on Scathe’s chest, Alexander chanted, “Secundus Iacio!” Chains of wind formed in the air around Scathe, binding his arms, legs, and even his body firmly in place in the air. Breaking away from Scathe, Alexander willed the snowstorm to cease and hurried to reclaim his sword. Picking the blade up as Scathe struggled there in his carefully laid trap, Alexander chanted, “Magistri Circuli, Vena Iacio!” His first delayed spell activated, which he had combined with the Master’s Circles incantation, a trap spell he had placed by slapping his rune covered hand upon the ground. From each of the four points that he had placed his hand, four red and blue rune circles formed and lifted off the ground to rise up into the air around Scathe.

At last ceasing to struggle after concluding he could not break free with brute force, Scathe quickly started gathering EDE. Meanwhile, Alexander’s four red and blue rune circles each split into a red and blue rune circle, making for a total of eight rune circles. As they shined, from each red circle meteors of fire shot at Scathe, while from each blue circle comets of ice barreled out at him. Yet in the face of this powerful attack, Scathe quickly unleashed the energy he had gathered, channeling it through his atomic rings and shouting, “Critical Mass!” Scathe disappeared in a blast of atomic energy that covered the skies above the landing spine. Alexander’s spell was engulfed in it as well, and standing below shielding his eyes with his hand as he watched his attack disappear, Alexander grumbled, “Such absurd power…” As the explosion subsided, Scathe came into view, vapor rising from the surface of his armor, his atomic rings becoming brittle and slowly dissolving into dust as the wind blew slightly. Breaking into a run, then flying up into the air, as Alexander flew above Scathe and then came down with a slash of his Master’s Frostfire Edge, he shouted, “Damn you!” Scathe quickly reformed the components of his arm cannon, and in its new configuration it emitted a blade of atomic energy. Raising his new atomic blade, he parried Alexander’s attack, and as their blades clashed, Scathe’s strength knocked Alexander high into the air. Chasing Alexander into the skies, Scathe continued to strike, and as Alexander barely managed to block over and over, he kept getting knocked higher and higher. Then Scathe flew up above him, and with a powerful dropkick he sent Alexander crashing back into the ground.

            Striking the ground hard, Alexander felt weak, having pushed beyond his limits in his weakened state. His Master’s Spell and his Master’s Frostfire Edge enchantment faded, as he was unable to maintain them any longer. Struggling to stand, Alexander thought, “Never… I will never give up! Even if it is dangerous… I’ll avenge Amelia by the only means left to me!” Scathe’s arm cannon reverted back to its original form, but as he leveled it at Alexander to open fire, he paused as he sensed the dark aura gathering around him. Calling out to Alexander, Scathe said, “To go that far is illogical.” Laughing strangely, Alexander muttered, “Why not? You’ve already taken away that which I cherished most! I have nothing to lose!” Alexander’s sword began to glow with a dark light, and gathering a mass of EDE that spilt off into multiple masses and took shape, Scathe quickly readied himself. The masses of EDE formed into various high tech attachments, such as an armored mask, a pair of steel shoulder plates with power cores in them, and another power core mounted on the chest. Then as machinery clanked and whirred, Scathe quickly converted his arm cannon into a different form that was optimized for maximum power instead of energy conservation. Charging up a powerful atomic energy attack within his new power cores, Scathe poured all the power into his new arm cannon and said, “Without control, Corrupted EDE will consume your body and essence in no time. When that factor is considered, eliminating you now with my Sol Fornax might be seen as mercy…” Taking aim, Scathe initiated a countdown, saying, “Five, four, three, two, one, zero…” Scathe unleashed a powerful atomic energy ray, but as the deadly amount of energy came at him, Alexander simply muttered, “Too late…” A dark aura of Corrupted EDE flaring up around him, Alexander swung his blade vertically into the atomic ray and sliced it in two. The halves of the atomic ray streamed past Alexander and disintegrated the ground on either side of him, and as the dust settled Alexander rushed at Scathe just as the ground beneath him crumbled away. Charging up EDE in his arm cannon again, Scathe fired atomic orbs at Alexander, some of which stopped in the air and began rapidly firing smaller energy orbs at Alexander. Yet Alexander quickly chanted, “Celeritate Ardentis!” Flames sparking from his heels, Alexander began moving so quickly through the onslaught of energy attacks that he probably could have dodged rain. Then, using his new powers of darkness to defy gravity, Alexander flew through the barrage and into the air, zipping past Scathe. Coming around, he veered through and deflected the continuous barrage of energy spheres, and reaching Scathe he swung at him with his sword. Scathe quickly channeled EDE into his normal hand and formed three atomic spheres that linked together and formed a small triangular energy shield, and moving the shield between him and Alexander just in time, Scathe managed to block the strike.

            Reforming his arm cannon back into atomic blade form, Scathe began a heated swordfight with Alexander, who continued to strike out at Scathe with his sword viciously. Yet Scathe’s skill with a blade was nothing to laugh at, and he finally grazed Alexander’s cheek with his atomic blade. As Scathe swung again, Alexander backed off as he clutched his cheek, the radioactive energy burning his face. Reforming his arm cannon back to the high powered cannon form and taking aim, Scathe quickly fired dozens of energy orbs at Alexander as he reeled from the radioactive strike. However, as Alexander quickly pulled himself together and readied himself to deflect them, the spheres of energy did not come at him but rather they stopped in the air around him, and he soon found himself trapped within a cage of energy spheres. The spheres then glowed bright, and with a flash Alexander disappeared in a powerful explosion. As the air cleared, Alexander was nowhere to be seen. Then a dark vortex suddenly appeared behind Scathe, and from out of it Alexander appeared, striking out with his sword. Turning to block again with his arm cannon reformed into a radioactive blade, as they grappled against each other’s blades, Scathe said, “So this is Alexander of the Dark Crusade? I believe the appropriate phrase is ‘how the mighty have fallen.’” Glaring at him with utter loathing, Alexander chanted with a tone of hatred, “Septimo Spiritus Terra!” A shockwave of sonic power blew Scathe away from Alexander, and as Scathe struggled to halt himself in the air, Alexander gathered EDE into his sword and shouted, “Enough of this!” Alexander ran a hand over his sword, and the sword disintegrated into a mass of Corrupted EDE that wrapped itself around his arm, forming into rune circles that hung around his arm like bracelets. Quickly Scathe took aim and charged up power in his power cores, counting down, “Five, four, three, two, one…” Raising his rune circle bound arm at Scathe, Alexander channeled all the EDE he could possibly muster into it and shouted, “Deathsoul Summoning!” What looked like a swirling, dark hurricane shot forth from his hand, strange blue lights visibly flickering within it, and as it tore across the skies at Scathe, the villain returned fire with his mighty atomic ray as he said, “Zero.” Striking each other in the air, the two attacks grappled, writhing as though they were a pair of monstrous creatures locked in battle. Then they finally went critical and exploded in the air in a massive blast.

            The skies between them clearing, Alexander hung in the air feeling very drained. Glaring at Scathe, who was hovering there without showing any sign of getting tired, Alexander thought, “I can’t keep this up. I’m already starting to…” Suddenly the image of Amelia appeared in his mind, her bright blue eyes, her long pink hair adorned with cute cat ears. Clenching his fists, Alexander thought, “No!” Staring at him blankly, Scathe said, “You’re at your limit.” Raising his arm cannon, he added, “Alternately, I never run out of energy.” As Scathe charged up his power cores, Alexander raised his arm again. Suddenly, a voice cried out, “Arcane Spellblade!” Sailing down from above on her broom wielding a purple crystal spellblade, Mythra flew straight at Scathe. As Scathe tried to aim his arm cannon up at her, she swung her blade and cut his arm cannon clean off. Swerving back up and around, as she flipped upside down in the air above the disarmed Scathe, Mythra aimed her spellblade at him and fired a beam of arcane magic which struck him and blew him crashing down into what remained of the landing spine. Hovering in the air, Mythra stared down at her fallen opponent, as behind her Alexander said in surprise, “Mythra? Why are you-” Glancing back at him with an unpleasant look, Mythra said, “I never thought you could be so stupid! I don’t care what the reason, don’t you EVER think about throwing your life away like you were just about to! Or did you forget you still have responsibilities to keep?!” On the ground below them, Scathe struggled to his feet. Quickly Mythra formed her Elementum Orbis, and as she spread her crystals out in a circle around her, she called down to him, “I don’t know or care who you are, but you’re gonna pay! Let’s see how long you can survive against Mythra the Spellweaver when she gets serious!” A dark vortex appeared before Scathe, and stepping into it he said, “This battle is over due to unforeseen circumstances. I will withdraw.” With that he disappeared into the vortex.

Reviews

[Ryan Henderson]

This chapter was very, very interesting! I love the whole bomb defuse scenario, it's one of my favorite scenes in books and movies: Bomb defusal.

The chapter was written at excellent pace and the dialogue is great as always. No spelling or grammar mistakes here, haven't seen any in a while. The battle between Scathe and Alexander was awesome and very action packed. I LOVED Mythra's entrance at the end there. PERFECT!!!

“I don’t know or care who you are, but you’re gonna pay! Let’s see how long you can survive against Mythra the Spellweaver when she gets serious!” - Probably my favorite quote made by Mythra yet. LOVE her character!

The bomb defusal scene is most likely coming in the next chapter or two, can't wait for that! It promises to be very high pressure and the stakes will be high as well. I love your book so much, keep up this awesome series!

~Ryan