The Siege of Stros M'kai (5, 6) : By the Powers I Was Granted

Another Double Chapter cuz I can!

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(Part 1)

As if a mountain was falling, the gigantic metal arm high in the air descended. Before it lands, its movements caused an incredible pressure that made everything in its way tremble.

At the forefront, Jon was standing tall raising his hands up fusing [Greed] with [Ahzidal's Evil Fist] to create [Ahzidal's Titan Fists]. Those titanic hands were all what is there to receive the Metal Fused Right Arm of the Gigantic Flesh Atronach.

All were behind him. Isha, Mirren, Miranda, Jax, Governor Kareem, Faten, the Hunding Chargers, and the Local Defenders.

"Madness!"

Kareem, the man who led the last charge of Stros M'kai, muttered while watching Jon, a complete stranger who out of nowhere, stepping between them and the Flesh Atronach demanding to receive the attack all by himself. Even the people around him were either in a storm hope or in a feral state raising their hands up with Jon.

"Not madnesses!" A little child following Jon's group spoke, "This man stayed in a Martial School for eight months only to learn one move."

Little Boethiah was standing there and she knew better. She was not tense at all knowing how the scene will unfold.

Jon's actions, moves, pose, facial expressions, everything about him was nothing but firm. He wanted to take that attack so bad to test the move he learned.

And as he wished, he got it delivered.

Those who witnessed the scene from the back saw a man raising a pair of giant metal hands to receive a giant metal arm. The arm descended like the wrath of heavens but…

*TINK*

That's all what was heard from the anticipated clash.

All they heard was the sound of metal clashing with metal. No devastation, no struggle, no counterattack. Just the two hands clashing with the arms and the whole thing stopped.

Those who turned their faces while gritting their teeth opened their eyes as they slowly turned their heads forward again. They believed it, the didn't believe it, the thought the time stopped, they thought the space halted, they thought reality broke.

The people in the field, those on the walls, and even the Necromancers were all silent as the dead.

But those who expected more than this anticlimactic result were not disappointed at the end.

*RUMBLE* *RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*

The land under their feet shook and shook hard. An earthquake in this kind of situation was either too good or too bad to be true. Yet those who could feel the power of that rumble realized one thing.

That man standing over there carrying the whole weight of the Metal Arm of the Flesh Atronach was at the center of the earthquake.

This rumble caused everyone to think back about what just happened. The city was besieged, the defense was standing, the Flesh Atronach appeared, the situation became helpless, a flying Minotaur came for aid, the Governor turned the tide, the Chargers overtook the undead, the situation worsened, the Governor led one last hopeful charge with the power of his magic sword, the blood of the Redguards boiled, the Flesh Atronach was about to end it all… then that man showed up shouting and cursing demanding to receive the attack which he strangely stopped, then for some reason, a random earthquake decided "hey, this looks like fun, I'll join up too".

"Wh… what the fuck!" One man muttered.

"... You've got to be fucking kidding me." Said another.

"Fucking Oblivion!" And another said.

It wasn't the people losing sanity but completely the other way around, it was people regaining their goddamn minds.

Standing this close to a battle of monsters? Who in their right mind would do that?

"Run!" Now that someone said that, it sounded like the most reasonable thing to do.

Everyone turned tail and ran, there is no point in staying here anymore. The primal instincts of the Animalia found its way to the mind of those highly evolved humans. The best action to take at that moment was to run and preserve their lives.

The ones who stayed were the ones strong enough to handle these instincts.

And the battle continued.

The Flesh Atronach raised its arm to reveal Jon who was standing there the same posture he was standing in. The only difference is, he was panting out of breath.

"That! That move is fucking insane!" He said.

Jon stayed in the Desert Wind temple learning Martial Arts. He picked up some moves that he can execute with his Aura but his aim was to learn one thing and one thing only. In the Gautfang Martial School, the School which Mane Topaz learned from, the Adepts train on controlling the flow of the impactful forces through themselves and how to channel it.

Channeling the impact in no simple thing by any means. What Jon did just now was to absorb all the Kinetic Force from the Flesh Atronach's Attack, direct it through his body while maintaining his own Static Force through Magicka and Aura to channel all that to the ground without harming his body.

As long as he has enough inner energy to handle the outside energy, he could deal with whatever physical attack coming at him. And that was the Martial skill Jon spent months to learn.

———————————

« Powers »

[Gautfang Stance]

- Channeling impacts and momentum

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[A/n: a picture in Discord Gallery]

Disbelief didn't last long. Those Necromancers who realized that Jon had blocked the attack wanted to retaliate as soon as they can. They manipulated the Flesh Atronach to direct another attack.

"Not happening!"

Jon aimed his left giant gauntlet towards the pillar-like metal arm of the Flesh Atronach and activated the Greed Effect Enchantment, [Flying Grip].

*Tsss* *Swosh*

The grip of Jon's left gauntlet was shot like a bolt towards the Atronach's metal arm and grappled to it, an evil-sealing chain extended between Jon and the grip. As the Gigantic Flesh Atronach pulled its arm up, Jon was pulled from the ground. He also started to reel himself up by the chain.

"Hahaha! That's the spirit! Big thing, I'll murder the shit out of you. Sheogorath!" Jon said and called for the blessing of Sheogorath.

His heart raced faster, his red hair glowed with power and his smile reflected the maniac thoughts that he was having as a side effect from the blessing of the Mad God. He detached the left grip from the Atronach's metal arm and shot the right grip to its face then pulled himself closer at a high speed.

"Say Aaah!"

He raised his left hand and with the oversized gauntlet on it, he cast his favorite close-ranged spell.

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a Super Mega Thunder Cookie!"

*Kwaaang*

The hit landed with a metallic ring right on the hideous face of the Flesh Atronach sending away its first lower jaw. (It had multiple)

The undead tried to balance itself and get of Jon with his other imbalanced hand but…

*Kwang* *Kwang* *Kwang*

Jon started punching with the two great hands making holes in the face of the Atronach. The Atronach shook itself and tried to get rid of Jon but the latter shot one of the grips up to the forehead and left the area for Pride that was hovering and casting magic on its own.

[Meteor]!

The Expert level Flame spell landed on the face of the Atronach with a loud bang completely getting rid of the lower jaw area. The tongue of the creature dangled down uncontrollably in a very grotesque manner.

"Haha! Serves your right!"

Under the wild effect of the Blessing of the Mad Champion, Jon didn't cease his attacks aiming to destroy the face of the Flesh Atronach. With the Atronach desperately trying to shake Jon off, the later didn't stay in one spot and kept moving all over the place.

"Forehead? Smash! Cheekbones? Must have hurt! Eyes? Whoops, that looked important."

By the time the face of the Atronach was completely disfigured more than it once was, Jon stood above its head and shot one grip towards the forehead. He then ran to the back of the Atronach, used [Ahzidal's Boots of the Apostle] to run in the air then shot the other grip towards the ground.

"Jax! Now!" Jon shouted while reeling the chains of the two grips at the same time. The Atronach resisted being pulled back by Jon who was hung between the two chains of his gauntlets.

In the shadow of the Flesh Atronach, the core members of the Necromancers force felt that the Flesh Atronach was being pulled towards them.

"Run! That's a madman!"

"We are not his opponents, we must report to the Elders!"

"Retreat!"

The Necromancers didn't even bother to attack Jon, at this rate, they witnessed Jon's strength and were sure that they are no match for him. Also, judging by the direction he came from, it was safe to assume that the other team of Necromancers in the south was annihilated by him.

Back to Jon, he was desperately trying to bring down the Atronach with his raw power but even if he utilized the weakness of the Flesh Atronach, which is its face, there was no way it can be done with few attacks. That thing was built to endure.

And that's where Jax comes to play.

On the other side of the Atronach, the fiery Minotaur was flying in the air with the Bound Flame Wings, he has dealt with most of his injuries so he could use his two hands to dual cast a spell while rising up in the air.

That spell was an ordinary [Fireball] but under Jon's teaching, Jax was very capable of Amplifying Spells by overcharging it with Magicka. The spell started to grow bigger and bigger on his hands as he reached the broken jaw of the Atronach.

"Eat this!"

And Jax shot the spell in the open mouth of the Flesh Atronach.

The whole head of the Flesh Atronach brightened as it started to swell then… With a booming sound, a spectacular explosion happened!

The towering Flesh Atronach twitched hard as its body lost power. Losing the head was not the problem to a normal undead but a Synthesized Atronach needs a core to operate and it was best to hide it under the thick bones of the skull.

[A/n: In the Lore, there are Daedric Atronaches and Non-Daedric ones. Daedric ones are the normal (Flame, Frost, Shock, and variations) while the non-Daedric are actually Golems.]

With the effect of Jon's grappling gauntlets, the Atronach started collapsing backward.

Jon, who was in the way, hurriedly teleported to the other side while those of the Necromancers who didn't escape fast enough were leveled under the Flesh Atronach.

Looking back at his handy work, Jon saw a large cloud of dust rising up where the Flesh Atronach should by lying.

"Man! That took some time to bring down." Jon said while returning his gauntlets back to normal.

"You want to do it faster than that? You have already given those Redguards the fright of their lives." Mirren said while dusting off his robes.

"That will make it easier to communicate with them." Jon said.

"More undead are coming." Little Boethiah pointed forward, there was clearly a number of Zombies and Skeletons passing the dust and running towards Port Hunding.

"The Necromancers are escaping and using their undead as decoy. Useless!" Miranda said while raising her [Bow of Shadows] ready to deal with those small fries.

"Let's not do that." Jon stopped her, "Nefertiti will track those Necromancers and we'll leave the undead to not make them suspect that were are watching them. Also, the city defenders would find it fun to bully the last bit of undead to regain their confidence."

The team decided to end the action here today.

**********

(Part 2)

It was about dawn when the whole thing was over. The corpse of Flesh Atronach was lying there waiting to be burned so no diseases spread out, the decoy undead headed towards the city wall, Jon and his team arrived at the city, and the young Governor Kareem was managing the aftermath from his post on the wall.

Jon walked up the city wall followed by his team. No one stood in his way but rather most people took distance from him. Such a monster who stopped the pillar-like metal arm of a gigantic Flesh Atronach is by no means human.

Once he topped the wall, he looked left and right until his eyes landed on Kareem.

"Hey, you are that boy Jax talked about?" Jon spoke loudly.

Kareem and his men looked at Jon with tensed faces. No matter how much he helped them, they were fearful of him nonetheless.

"Sir, my name is Kareem, Governor of Stros M'kai." Kareem was less tense in front of Jon.

"G- Governor? I just call you… nevermind!" Jon brushed it off.

"... Jax is?" Kareem didn't mind it and inquired about the name.

"Oh! Tall idiot, cow head, loves fire." Jon said.

"The Hero Minotaur?" Kareem's face brightened.

"Pffft!" Jon faked a laugh, "Yeah, that bastard who didn't report to me when there was a fun thing going on here."

"Where is the Hero Minotaur?" Behind Kareem, Faten popped out asking.

"He's healing." Jon said raising his hand to imply that Jax is in the Ring Cube.

"??" But no one understood it of course.

Jon looked around and spotted the scene down the wall where the undead were gathering trying to climb the wall, they weren't anything important now that their masters abandoned them.

"Sorry for not dealing with those. Had a good reason."

"It's okay, Sir. You are our savior who took down that Abomination. We owe you a great debt. By the way, would you please honor us with your name." Kareem said.

"Oh! Where are my manners? I'm known as Krilon, a mercenary." Jon said.

"Oh! It sounds familiar…"

"Hey, what is that sword?" Jon noticed the sword dangling from Kareem's hip.

In Jon's eyes, it was a fancy longsword with a great design but what he noticed the most was the magic in the sword. It felt like this sword had many secrets. Truth is after that sword was held by Kareem, it no longer became old and dull but now it brightened and smoothened looking like the sword of someone rich.

"Eh! It… it is the sword of my family. It lost for generations but it finally found its way to me. My ancestors can finally rest now that it is back." Kareem said.

"Amazing. It looks very old judging by the carvings. How old is it?" Jon asked out of professional curiosity.

"I don't know but it was said that this sword was passed down by the first from my family, ancestor Iszara." Kareem said.

"Iszara? Like the "Iszara"? The sister of Cyrus the Redguard?" Jon questioned.

"Yes. You know the tale?"

"In 3D… in details, I mean."

Iszara and Cyrus are a sister and a brother who lived 800 years ago during the Tiber Wars. They fought for the Independence of Hammerfell against the new Emperor Tiber Septim and ended up with a good peace treaty with him which was favorable to Hammerfell. Cyrus is the player character from the Elder Scrolls Redguard, a very early game in the franchise.

A sword related to that tale is only one sword.

The Soul Sword.

The Soul Sword is a shimmering longsword imbued with the soul of Prince A'tor following his death in 2E 864. Aside from being a powerful weapon, the sword can move of its own accord and allows A'tor's spirit to communicate with the wielder.

Seeing such a sword is like getting a glimpse of history.

"Your Lordship! Your Lordship!"

As Jon was conversing with Kareem, some men started running on the wall towards Kareem. These were Zayed, Hammad and other rich and nobles who were here for many reasons.

Hammad checked on his daughter and pulled her towards him. Zayed tried to pass Jon but the latter was too large to notice the short fatty.

"Hey, you! Move aside. Who do you think you are?" Zayed shouted at Jon.

"Krilon, a mercenary." Jon said.

"Hmph!" Zayed snorted and turned to Kareem, "Your Lordship, thank the gods for your safety."

Zayed was shaking in front of Kareem.

"Thank you, advisor."

Zayed turned to Faten afterward and approached her.

"Young lady, when you ran from the docks a while ago, you took my family's sword." Zayed was speaking in a low tone.

"A what?" She questioned.

"Nothing much really, is it with you? Did you lose it?" Zayed asked softly but Faten has already seen through something.

"No, I didn't lose it." Faten realized something was wrong about this fatso so she acted along. She picked an old longsword with some similarities to the sword she carried and handed it over to him.

The man snatched it rather than taking it and retreated a few steps away, Faten then realized something was amiss.

According to what Kareem told her, there was another story to this Soul Sword involving the late generations of his family. The Soul Sword carrying the soul of Prince A'tor have mostly reacted to the descendants of Iszara or the descendants of Cyrus thus it was proper to only be carried by them. Also, this sword has his political views as it supports the Crowns faction, more to that, it prefers people with power and potential.

The thing about it is that it became a symbol of power and the badge of a ruler in Stros M'kai thus an incompetence Governor once created a replica to claim he hears the voice of Prince A'tor. Many replicas were created later by some generations of Kareem's family until they started to decline and the real Soul Sword disappeared at some point of time.

Knowing this and that, Faten whispered a few words to Kareem who was conversing with the curious mercenary Krilon. Kareem's face stiffened and he looked at his vizier Zayed with sharp eyes.

Even a seven years old can understand what happened right now. Jon could hear the whispers of Faten and he looked at Kareem curiously waiting for his reaction.

Kareem put his hand on the hilt of the sword in his hip and closed his eyes for a moment before have a momentary sly smile.

"Zayed." Kareem called.

"Yes, my Lord." Zayed said while keeping the old sword in his robe walked closer with a sweaty face.

"That's your family's sword?" Kareem asked pointing at the sword Zayed was desperately hiding.

Zayed looked left and right while swallowing his saliva and nodded with wary expressions. Kareem then opened his hand towards Zayed.

"May I?" He said.

Zayed felt like his head was getting light and his knees were losing power but he hardened up his face and replied.

"I am sorry, my Lord. This sword is an old thing with obscure powers, it is a miracle that Lady Faten used it without hurting herself." Zayed claimed.

"Obscure powers? That sword is not even enchanted." Out of somewhere, Jon appeared behind Zayed and patted the man's shoulder.

Zayed saw a Nordic Goliath standing next to him with a suffocating presence. He felt that his shoulder from just now was about to turn into dust under that man but what's on stake was much more important than surrendering here.

"It… What does a brute like you know about magic swords? Hmph!" Zayed retorted but later felt that he shouldn't have tried his luck this far.

"Oh, my sweet summer child!" Jon said, "Well, other than being a Master Enchanter and knowing how to do that…"

Jon used Greed to transfer [Ahzidal's Evil Fists] to [Ahzidal's Titan Fists] that covered the whole view of Zayed then returned them to normal.

"... Other than that, I don't know much about enchanting, right?" Jon said with a smug smile.

Zayed couldn't help but be on the verge of collapsing with a fine hint from Jon's Tyrannical Aura.

"Zayed." Kareem called once again, "May I?"

To Kareem's hanging hand, Zayed couldn't help but offer the sword he has with a shaking hand. Jon wanted to see what happens next.

Kareem took the sword and looked at it making a hum then a theatrical act started.

"The Soul Sword of Prince A'tor? Wow! This is the lost relic that guided my family. Zayed, you found it… oh! The sword is speaking to me. What? Zayed's ancestors stole it! Impossible… but it makes sense! Zayed is from the Forebears, could it be… No! I am shaken."

"M- My Lord!" Zayed wanted to retreat as Kareem turned to him but he found Jon behind him.

"It seems like I need to punish you, Zayed and all of your family." Kareem said.

"Wait!" Zayed stopped and raised his hand, "Lord Kareem, think about this carefully. You can't handle the opposition of the Forebears if something happened to me. Even if you have allies in Sentinel, they won't forgive it if one of their own was killed by a Crown."

It seemed like Zayed wasn't a dumb ball and used the political bargaining chip. Kareem stopped and looked with sharp eyes at Zayed.

"If it is about the Forebears, I am not even worried about them. And in these times of great distress, who is going to care about a tiny Lord like you, Zayed?"

Kareem was willing to seal Zayed's fate here and now that's why he acted extreme.

But there was someone whose whole character was based on the extreme itself.

Jon simply threw the dirty vizier from the battlements with a light push.

"WAA! WAAAAAA!"

"""..."""

Every single person who witnessed that was utterly speechless. Jon just murdered an official by throwing him off the wall. Those who looked where Zayed fell saw him sinking in the remnants of the undead horde gathered under the wall.

"Now that what's done is done, let's talk real business here guys. Miss, I'll be borrowing that guy but because it is getting dangerous, I want you to answer some questions?" Jon spoke to Faten.

"... Ok."

"Do you like this guy and would want to spend your ever after with him?"

"I do." Faten nodded.

"And you, Governor. Do you love that girl and would want to spend your ever after with her?"

"Of course I do." Kareem said firmly.

"Ah! Young love! I always wanted to say that next part." Jon became all excited.

"Ehem! Then by the Powers I was granted from Akatosh, Talos, Kyne, the All-Maker, Sheogorath, Azura and Hermaeus Mora; I pronounce you man and wife. You can kiss already!"

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