Magical Engineering

Chapter 293: A Song of Beauty

SanquarHe had felt the teleportation effect when it hit the wall. This sensation jogged something else loose in his mind, an occurrence for him that was becoming more and more common in the last few days. Sadly, he wasn't strong enough to fight against the Jester's will yet.

One day, though, he would again be able to resist the forces of others. In fact, if they tried it again, he might just be strong enough now. He had seen the individual threads that made up the effect. It was possible, with the right focus, that he could have broken them.

Though that did assume he could make his new strange core magic work. He still struggled a bit there. But given that these were the enemies of the first man to give him any sort of hope for salvation, he would push himself no matter what it took. Dave had earned his gratitude beyond even this task.

That was why the nightmares that crashed against his mind found no perch to truly manifest their menace. Sanquar was beyond that now. The jesters’ dark magic held no power over his mind.

That was why, instead of fighting those voices, he calmly stood exactly where he had been dropped and focused his senses, pushing them out from himself, searching for the ‘Best’. He couldn't help the others in their personal fight at the moment, and he knew they would overcome it without him. But if he could use this moment to track down their true quarry, it would push them all further ahead in their mission.

“Hello, little failed hero. What brings you back into the world? Why would you ever side with the Spiral, given what has happened to you? Do you know how much more glory we could bring to you?” A cheery voice rang out in his head.

It held no temptation. He knew exactly who it belonged to. He had made contact with the jester he searched for, and this was its attempt to fight back.

In that moment, Sanquar was glad for its stupidity. It had no idea how ready he was for this battle.

“Come, let's talk,” Sanquar replied inside his own head, working to trap the creature's mind within his own. The longer he could hold it here, the better his friend's chances would be to beat it in open combat.

“You are a fool, old hero, if you think you can hold me here. Do you know what I am? Do you know the being I was born of? I am not like the spawn you have fought so many of. I am a true elder,” the voice continued.

“Please understand, this is my mind you're in now, and I'm sure you can see the memories that are flooding back to me. Look at the giants I have slain. Oh, and do you hear that? That music that just sprang up,” Sanquar replied. Even he hadn't expected to hear the beauty that had suddenly encompassed the tower.

The music of the bird song flowed through him, strengthening his hold on the mind of the jester. Deep in his mind, he knew that he wasn't powerful enough to win this fight yet. But as long as he could hold on to it for just a little longer, it wouldn't matter.

Yorela

“Mel, is that you?” Yorela yelled, spotting one of the drones coming around the corner.

“Nah, it’s my new mapping service, but follow the thing, and it will get you back to me,” the drone said, speaking the words Mel had sent it.

A sense of relief flooded her body at the invitation. She had been worried she was alone here. Again, fighting against a horde of monsters in the dark.

Had it turned out to have been the truth, she had no intention of returning to the ship. She would have fought through the endless hordes until her body gave out, not willing to live with another eternal nightmare. But now it seemed she had a choice.

And then the bird song hit her ears. This wouldn't be a nightmare. This would be a story they told of victory.

Moose

The moose had decided to allow the teleportation to take effect. He had done so primarily because he knew that Vrilk was too young to understand what was happening. And that he was the only one here who was able to control things like that, so he hijacked the spell to go along with him.

He did not like monsters that hurt children. He especially did not like these jesters, and he would not leave Vrilk alone with them. What he hadn't expected was to see both of the cats there, along with them. But that would make his mission a little easier.

He knew where William was in this tower, and it was time to go find him. After all, no matter how prepared those jesters were, it was impossible to prepare for him. But first, he bowed his head, signaling to the youngest member of their group to climb onto his back.

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The moment Vrilk was settled, he triggered several of his shield abilities as well as his new class abilities and charged straight through the wall in front of them. He was done using doors. They were nothing but trouble.

The jesters in this new room looked up at him in terror. He snorted loudly. And as though on cue, the sound of birdsong hit them all.

Moose and cat moved through those tower halls with both strength and grace, ripping down any wall that stood in their way. No jester in their path escaped their rampage.

Alex

The clash of several battles resounded throughout the tower as I led my brother and sister-in-law towards our goal. Whatever the jesters had done to our allies was proving to be a giant mistake. All it had done was spread out the fight.

From what I could gather from Maud and John's experience, the jesters’ goal with their attack had been to separate everyone and then convince them the others were all dead as they were fighting a lost battle. What I knew and those monsters didn't was that almost everyone on this mission had expected that in the end, and every one of them was fully willing to go out fighting that lost cause.

These were likely the worst group of people they could have tried that strategy on. But thanks to their misstep, William's rescue was in sight.

The melody of the birdsong encompassed all three of us. I could feel it shielding us, pushing out the worst effects of the jester tower. And stretched out in front of me like a guide, the lights danced down one hall, brighter than the others.

“Can you two see the radiance all around us, or is that something for me alone?” I asked, curious about the strength of the spell and just how it worked. While now might be the wrong time to ask such questions, considering we were heading towards the battle of our lifetimes, there was always that chance it was the small scrap of important information that would change the outcome.

“No, I'm guessing that's pretty obvious to everyone. It looks like we're standing inside of a rainbow, Alex,” John answered.

“Yeah, but it's a really cool rainbow. Also, the soul chat works again. So whatever you're doing is blocking out the interference,” Maud added.

“Good. Let Dad know that we'll be bringing William home soon,” I replied, the confidence in my words growing. I could still see him, and for some reason, he had stopped moving away from us. Either the ‘Best’ was waiting for us for the fight, or someone else had found them first.

“Just going to paraphrase his response, but he's really busy at the moment, but super glad that we'll have William soon,” Maud replied.

I could tell there was something unsaid in her response, but now wasn't the time to push it. Dad had his own battles to fight, and we had ours. We could reminisce about our victories when we were all home again.

“Alright, are you both ready? I know where the ‘Best’ is, and we're going to try to find the others on our way,” I asked, looking at both of them for any doubt in their eyes.

There was none. Instead, they just returned two nods and stepped up behind me, ready for what was coming.

I followed after the lights, chasing the brightest ones around each corner. We were moving faster than we were before. The magic seemed to push us all the harder. The rejuvenating effects of birdsong were something to behold.

The only downside was I wasn't sure how long I could hold this. The further we moved from my initial blast of radiant mana, the more I had to recharge it, and that cost me mana from my core. But I didn't care at the moment. I would push myself through this, no matter the price.

“Alex, over here!” A loud, drill sergeant voice boomed from around a corner. Mel and Yorela were in a pitched battle with several larger jesters.

“So that was your music then? Good timing with it,” Yorela added as we rounded the corner, seeing the full sight of the battle.

Mel was launching drone after drone as halberds rained down across the room. Two of the ‘Greats’ were already dead, and Yorela was standing over them, working to suppress their death curses.

“Damn, I wish I had the cats!” Maud yelled as she ran to Yorela's side. “After I learned what happened back at Alexandria with their death curses, I've been working on a way to try to stop this, but I can't do it without the cats.”

“Well, you're damn well gonna have to try anyway, ‘cause I can't hold this much longer,” Yorela growled back.

“John, go with Maud and Yorela. Try to protect them from any new attacks if you can. I'll back up Mel as best I can,” I ordered them both, much more gently than Mel or Yorela would have.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Despite my training with Mel and my new skill with the Mana Orb, I was still a novice when it came to real fights like this. That didn't mean I wasn't going to try.

The moment I was next to Mel, I unleashed a fresh burst of radiant mana, overwhelming the field around us. Several of the jester spells died mid-air, just in time for Mel's halberds to crash into their chests.

Behind me, Maud yelled. “Whatever you just did, don't do it again! It's screwing up my casting! But it did make things easier for now. So, there's that, I guess.” She hadn't said the last two sentences nearly as loud as the first two, but I heard them nonetheless. I didn't know if it was affecting everyone quite like this, but the bird song was making it easier to hear everyone's words.

That left me with one other main option. I ramped up the birdsong as strongly as I could push it. Surprisingly, the drain felt like it decreased in my core. Was I gaining an increased rejuvenation effect? The way the spell was worded, I didn't think it would affect me as well. But something was happening here.

Several jesters crashed to the ground, dead, as Mel's halberds tripled in the air. He moved like a monster with a mission. And there was nothing that jesters could do to stop him.

“Dammit, I can’t hold the curse, run!” Maud yelled. But it was too late. The curses were coming free of all of the jesters at the same time.

Magical Automation by Henjen Klank